//------------------------------//
// Aftermath - Log Six Part 1 
// Story: My Dear Shy 
// by Keeper-of-Harmony 
//------------------------------//

I was extremely shocked.  When I assumed I was watching a cartoon show -- My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic -- I never had thought a mare's face would pop out out of nowhere on the center of my television's screen; a mare I've acquainted with - Princess Celestia.  I wasn't sure what was happening or what was going on.  I sat on my couch, dumbfounded, with no idea why Princess Celestia's face was on my screen directly staring at me while I stared back.

My voice shook when I spoke,"H-hello?"

And to a wicked surprise she actually responded, "Hello, Rick," she said perking up a gentle smile.  "It's good to see you again."

I cannot be certain whether it was my special sauce or an hallucination because that alone made my body shiver from the supernatural.

"You- you actually responded..."

"Of course," Celestia contently replied, looking at me with yet another smile.  "I have been observing you from my world, Rick, and I sensed that you now remember everything that's happened."

I tried to respond without sounding nervous, "You've been watching me?  For how long, if I might ask?"

It wasn't long before she answered, "After the spell occurred, I've been looking over you since then.  When you began acting strange as of late, I realized you had remembered."

I took a brief silence and rose up from the couch; walking back and forth while rubbing both my temples, contemplating as to what Celestia stated.

"Let me get this straight," I started.  "You've been watching me for a whole week and you were aware of all of this?  Why couldn't you have contacted me sooner?"

"I would have, but our universe and yours are widely spread apart." Celestia said bluntly.

"What do you mean by that?" I questioned with a raised, confusing brow.

"I'll try my best to carefully explain what I meant," Celestia obliged.  "You see, there is a large universal gap between our world and yours.  Because of this, it exhausts a great amount of my magic power doing something similar to what I'm doing now.  Before me and Twilight came to your world, I had my student study a spell that could teleport us to different universes, and it took merely two weeks for her to perfect it."

"I can understand that," I partially lied; I had no clue to what she was saying. "But if it took her two weeks to perfect it, then why did it took all of you fourteen years to get here?"

"I'm getting to that." said Celestia.  "Please, allow me to finish."

"Very well," I nodded as I sat back down onto the couch.  I motioned my hand as a 'proceed' sort of gesture, "Go ahead." I said.

Celestia then continued her plausible interpretation.

"When Twilight had located your world and teleported us to it, it took a vast number of her power that she wasn't able to perform any other magic for a little while.  It was why I came along to ensure we can come back home safe and sound.  And this is where your question comes in.  Our universes have different timelines that are either divided or multiplied through light years by the gap; determined by how far a parallel universe is between each one."

I placed some of the thoughts together and asked out of curiosity, "Are you saying a week here is like a day in your world?"

Celestia looked at me a bit uneasily.

"Not necessarily," she shook her head.  "It's more likely a year...."

I blinked, and then I scrubbed one of my ears with a small finger and leaned closer so I could hear her more clearly in case if I misunderstood.

"Come again?" my voice cracked.

"You didn't misheard it." Celestia re-assured with a small frown.  "I'm afraid that was the reason why you raised Fluttershy for fourteen years."

If you all thought I was bewildered from Celestia's face on my television screen, think what my reaction was when I heard what she said.  I was utterly dumbfounded.  I just can't believe it.  A year.  A WHOLE year on Earth is like a day in their world!  That really explained everything about why they took a long time getting here in the first place.

I leaned back against my couch, baffled beyond recognition, as I buried my whole face into both my palms, murmuring to myself.

"I-... I can't believe this." I painfully said with my voice muffled.  Pulling my hands away, my eyes were swelled as a tear formed only on my right eye, trickling its way down to the bottom of my chin.  Then my mouth anchored to a deep, depressing frown.

"I'm sorry," Celestia apologized sympathetically, looking at me with a concerning expression.  "Will you be okay?"

I held a finger out in a way to tell her to hold on, and a cough came out before I could open my mouth.

"It's fine..." I grunted between my coughing.  "This is all a bit too shockingly sudden.  However, now that it occurred to me, and you couldn't have been here in the most convenient time, I must ask something about the spell."

Celestia cocked a brow, "What is it that you want to know?" she asked.

Before asking I breathed heavily in and out, building confidential bravery.  My forehead and palms were sweating, my arms and knees anxiously shaking, I felt I was about to become limp.

I finally built up what courage I had and gave Celestia a stern gaze as I pulled a preened feather from my left pocket.

"You see this here," I raised presenting the feather for Celestia to see.  "I found this in Fluttershy's blanket."

There was a momentary silence between Celestia and me.  Her pupils shrunk while her eyes were examining the feather with a somewhat bewildering expression.  It was hard to notice, but I saw that she was quite surprised seeing Fluttershy's feather.

"How and where did you get that?" Celestia asked.

Even she didn't know?

"I was about to ask the same thing; why didn't the blanket go with the rest of everything?" I asked.

Again the both of us went silent for a minute.  Celestia hanged her head, as if she was contemplating; deeply thinking on the possible solution she can muster.  After a couple minutes of thinking, Celestia perked her eyes up to meet mine, which inclined me to believe she could have figured it out.

Her brows narrowed slightly, "I might need to ask you to retrieve this "blanket" so I can examine it." Celestia politely demanded.

I jumped from the couch and springed into the garage and grabbed the blanket and returned to the living room.

"Here it is." I said holding the untainted fabric in front of her.

Celestia huffed out a large, meditating hum, and she soon came to an unsettling conclusion.

"That blanket..." said Celestia, her pupils slightly recoiling from the sight.

Her saying that had made my stomach loudly protest; my intestines felt like they wrapped themselves in to a big knot, and my legs were wobbling and my hands were shaking due from the intense anxiety building within me.

"What about it?" I nervously asked.

Celestia stared at me with a slight, petrified frown.

"You see, Rick, before I executed the spell, I wanted to leave you a gift; a precious memoir that should've been oblivious to you."

Is she going to say what I think she is going to say?

"However, I never thought that feather still remained in your world."

"W-what are you trying to say...?" I choked.

Celestia huffed out a sigh and answered, "I," she then briefly paused.  "I bounded the blanket to you, ensuring it'd travel with you.  Now I realize it was a big mistake."

What Celestia had said had left me paralyzed out of pure shock.

Deadpanned, I inaudibly whispered, "No... this cannot be happening...."

To be continued... on 'Part Two'