Chapter 05: Welcome To Equestria
It was quiet in the hospital Wing, empty except for the two sleeping patients on three separate beds.
It was quiet, except for the trio’s even breathing to break the silence.
Jon felt cold, his muscles ached from not moving too much, but what caught his attention was that he felt weird, as if his body...changed…
Blue eyes slowly opened, his eyelids feeling like 50 lbs weights that took a small amount of energy that he didn’t have to open them fully.
What happened? Where am I? He thought to himself as he tried to move, grunting slightly as he felt how little his muscles tightened and pull, yet…
Something feels wrong, as if his body wasn’t…
His eyes snapped open after closing them from tiring himself out and looked down at his body.
He didn’t scream, he didn’t gasp, he just… stared…
Am I in Equestria? Jon thought to himself as he lifted his cream-colored left forehoof to inspect it.
It was almost like the color of his human skin, but with FUR. It was very weird.
He then felt his daughters wake up and began to study their father’s new form, squeaking and slightly shrieking their opinions.
That coat looks good on you, it sorta looks like your human skin, Father! Said Stepha.
I think the black veins are something to be concerned about. Said Monica, who was studying the pulsing darkness spreading under her father’s fur coat and skin.
Jon had noticed that too, and the painful exhaustion came back as soon as he acknowledged the fact.
There was the sudden sound of hooves on stone, and his daughters whirled around to the door, ready to strike at the source of the noise.
Jon lifted a shaking hoof and said with a hoarse whisper,
“ Calm down, girls. They might not be hostile to us. Let’s see who it is.” He turned to Monica, “ Peek out through the crack in the doorway, see who’s there?”
Monica bobbed her pincers and slithered as quietly as she could to the cracked open door.
Jon closed his eyes, then Monica’s camera lens flickered to life with a blue light, showing him what she sees.
Coming down the hallway, pushing a metal cart with a tray of some type of soup, was a unicorn mare with green eyes, a pale yellow coat and a red mane highlighted with stripes of white.
Her cutie mark was a champagne glasses on top of a tray, maybe some kind of waitress talent?
The mare kept going down the hallway, slowing down as she got closer to the room where he was laying down in, humming a familiar tune that Jon couldn’t place at the moment.
Monica went back from the doorway and returned to her father, who opened his eyes that were bloodshot, his blue and grey irises dilated and we’re dim instead of glowing in the darkness.
He was turned, so very very tired…
He wants to rest…
His drifting thoughts were interrupted by the door opening, making him achingly lift his head from the pillow and look at whoever was coming in…
It was the mare that Monica spied on a few moments ago, humming that same familiar tune, eyes closed, but somehow able to get to where she’s going without bumping into anything.
Monica’s sinuous body moved along the ground, making sure to be extra careful as to not get heard by the new arrival and caught.
She is the more paranoid one out of the four, after all, she wanted to make sure that this mare isn’t a threat to her father…
The mare opened her eyes and sighed happily, clearly thinking that her day couldn’t get any better…
Then she locked eyes with Jon’s, whose, while dimmed down immensely since falling unconscious, still glows enough to be noticed.
That’s when Monica struck from behind, rearing up her body and wrapped around the mares throat, a smaller tentacle coming out of the pincers to wrap over her mouth to prevent her from screaming and alerting anyone nearby.
Jon sighed internally, noting absently to give a Stern talking to Monica about being paranoid, she has gotten better over time, but not much progress was made.
“ I apologize that my daughter decided to be precautious, especially around strangers. As you can see, I am vulnerable at the moment and just woke up.”
The mare only stared at him with fear in her eyes, and Jon smiled softly,
“Monica, let her go, she won’t hurt us.” He asked, almost commanded the actuator wrapped around the young mare, willing to give her a chance to speak.
After a few seconds of reluctance, she uncoiled herself and slithered back to him, laying her pincers against his pudgy barrel.
The blue mare didn’t run, didn’t scream, only stared at him with an emotion that he could identify as shock, awe, and worry.
“ Um… My name is Shine Glass. I was told to bring you food in case you woke up soon.” She stopped and eyed the black veins pulsing under the stallion’s coat with worry and slight disgust.
Then she continued, her confidence coming back, since she now knew that the strange Stallion won’t hurt her, “ Well, looks like I came at the right time!” She ended the sentence with a smile, “ So I thought you’d be hungry.”
Jon chuckled, then began coughing hard as it hurt his chest immensely to even laugh, much less even breath normally.
Shine began to trot forward with a hoof outstretched to help, a look of worry on her face, when he held up his left hoof.
“ I’m… I’m ok, Miss Glass.” Swallowing his saliva to wet his dry throat, Jon asked, watching his daughters move around the unknown room with curiosity, scanning the books with a foreign language that must be Equish.
Shaking his head internally at the sight of Rosie looking at a pony fashion magazine, he turned his attention back to Shine Glass.
“ I don’t suppose you could answer a couple of questions for me, Miss Glass?” He asked, tilting his pale cream head, his brown-frost mane falling onto the right side, almost covering his eye from view.
The mare opened her mouth to reply, when the door to the room opened, and in came a mare that Jon, and by extension, Shine Glass, recognized.
Princess Celestia watched the metal snakes that were attached to the Stallion’s back, one of them, might be even the same one, watching her every move with careful and accurate precision.
The Solar Diarch watched her new maid bow to her presence.
Amusedly, her flank and rear were practically in the Stallion’s face, causing his ears to press against his head and burn a bright tomato red.
Stifling her chuckles, Princess Celestia turned her attention to Shine Glass, who was still in her… compromising position.
“Rise, Miss Glass. How long has the guest been awake?” She said, asking the question at the end with a slight tilt of her elegant head.
The young mare rose from her bow, causing the stallion behind her to breath a silent sigh of relief, his cheeks still pink.
Shine Glass smiled, happy to report to her ruler that Jon was only awake for a minute and a half…
…Trust me… She counted when she saw the small light peeking out at her through the doorway…
Celestia nodded, smiling softly as Shine Glass rolled the tray over to the other side of the bed and trotted out of the room, waving at the lying Stallion, who smiled with a nod. Acknowledging and returning the friendly gesture.
Rosie slithered over to where the benevolent ruler of Equestria stood and wrapped around her barrel gently, making Jon quirk an eyebrow and Celestia to stiffen slightly for a moment, before relaxing as Rosie began to nuzzle her cheek affectionately.
The Solar Diarch turned to Jon with a quirked eyebrow, asking with her eyes on what the Actuator was doing, but the only answer she got was a shrug, wearing the same expression she was using.
“ Rosie, what in the world are you doing?” Jon whispered, making Celestia internally cringe at the cracking vocal cords.
Cleary whatever was infecting the Stallion was making sure he was suffering…
A feeling welled up in her chest that was buried a long time ago, and the heat of the room rose a tiny bit, causing Monica to screech slightly.
The screech snapped Celestia out of whatever trance she was in, and her cheeks slightly pink in embarrassment.
“ I apologize, Mr. Whalen. It seems I am… Not myself today.” She said, her voice soft and gentle, making sure to not raise her voice to disturb the quietness of the room.
Jon shook his head, smiling weakly at the Sun Goddess.
“ It’s okay. Sometimes we all lose ourselves once in a while. You are no exception.” He said, weakly sitting up as Susie adjusted the large pillow so that he could sit up comfortably.
Celestia’s eyes widened a very small fraction at the sentence.
“ What do you mean, Mr. Whalen?” She said, trotting over to the side of the bed and sitting down on the royal purple pillow that was conjured there.
She wanted to hear him say what a small part of her was feeling, that she wasn’t just a Princess, a Ruler, or Diarch.
As if hearing her hopes, Jon let out his thoughts.
“ No matter how everyone else sees it, you are yourself, a Pony, not just a Goddess of the Sun, even you have to let down the mask you hide behind day to day, and show the world that even YOU have normal needs.”
Celestia felt something stir in her chest, and it wasn’t anger…
Nor arrogance…
It was relief and disbelief.
Because Jon accurately figured her out, as if she was a puzzle or a problem to solve, and gave the solution that would best suit everypony, because he sees the world a different way than her Ponies, he sees the best in everything, even Nightmare Moon; who was asleep recovering from the portal transfer.
She nodded after mulling over the piece of wisdom he gave casually, as if seeing what he says, and smiled.
Jon smiled back, then blinked in surprise as a glass of water was held up in front of him.
He looked to who was holding it, and saw Monica, her red lens beaming at him through the clear liquid, which was perspiring the glass from the two ice cubes floating in it.
Not wanting to ask how his daughter got the glass of water without him knowing, he asked her to bring it to his mouth.
After drinking slowly from the small glass, he sighed in relief as the water helped to make sure his voice can work.
Then he cleared his throat, and asked,
“ Where am I? I remember my sister and Nightmare carrying me to a statue, then nothing.”
Celestia lightly sighed, then said,
“ Nightmare Moon is recovering in the next room, and the other Me is currently in my bedchambers, sleeping.”
Jon raised an eyebrow, then smirked with mischief.
“ Oh? I didn’t know you were into that.”
Celestia would’ve done a spit take if she were drinking anything.
Instead, she choked on her spit, her white cheeks turning tomato red at the innuendo.
Rosie, who was still wrapped around the Solar Princess, chirped in confusion, tilting her pincer head cutely.
What does that mean, Father? She asked.
After chuckling at the now-glaring Celestia, he turned his attention to Rosie, only saying.
“ When you’re older, my dear Rosie. When you’re older.”
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After Celestia got her breathing under control, she glared at the impishly grinning Stallion on the bed.
“ She’s ONLY sleeping! And no!” She continued after seeing Jon open his mouth, “ I am NOT into that!”
Internally, she said in a whisper, Maybe…
The Stallion raised his hooves in a sign of surrender, still grinning as he said.
“ Alright, alright. I couldn’t resist the temptation.”
Celestia snorted, clearly showing him that she didn’t believe that.
Then Jon felt sleepy, and his eyelids were heavy.
His daughters returned from looking around the room and onto him, curling up around their father gently, including Rosie, who unwrapped herself from Celestia and joined the pile.
Celestia felt her heart warm at the sight, even though it was slightly ruined from the black veins on Jon’s body, it was still an ideal picture of a father-daughter moment.
Metal arms with the sentience of an average Pony and intelligence of Twilight Sparkle aside.
It was silent in the room for a moment, before a knock on the door interrupted it.
Celestia watched the sleeping Stallion for a moment or two more, before using her magic to open the door.
Speak of Tartarus, She mused internally as she looked over her shoulder to see who was at the door.
Twilight Sparkle, her former student and now an equal Princess of Equestria, more specifically, Friendship, was standing there with a clipboard and quill.
Celestia snorted quietly, some things never change. She thought to herself as she spoke,
“ Yes, Twilight?”
The lavender Alicorn jumped from staring at the Stallion lying in the bed surrounded by metal contraptions to her former mentor, now friend, and replied.
“ Um, Celestia, the other Celestia, I mean, um- You- UGH! The other Celestia is awake and waiting to see you.” She finished, her cheeks turning to an adorable shade of pink.
Celestia chuckled and trotted out of the room with Twilight, making sure to shut the door behind quietly.
“ It’s ok, Twilight. I know who you’re talking about.”
The pair of Alicorns trotted down the hallway in silence, their hooves interrupting the silence every second.
Then…
“ How is your daughter doing, Twilight?”