Two days later, the six mares and I were on a train. The train was going to Canterlot, the capital city, where I would be meeting Princess Celestia and her sister, the other co-ruler, Princess Luna. Suffice is to say, as a midwestern nerd, I was freaking out.
"Forgive me for not being used to this," I said about halfway through the trip, "but I am nervous as hell."
"Don't worry, Jack," Pinkie said, craning her neck between Twilight and I from the seat behind, "there's nothing to be nervous about. The princesses are going to love meeting you."
"That's fine," I said, "but still, this is the equivalent of meeting the Queen of England. What am I supposed to say, what am I supposed to do?"
"Calm down, Jack," Twilight reassuringly put a hand on my shoulder, "The princesses don't expect you to be anything but yourself. Just act natural."
I knew they were right, why wouldn't they be right, but the effect it had on my disposition was minimal. But, in the end, there was nothing I could do about it but wait until the rubber met the road, and I met the royals.
The train soon pulled into the Canterlot station. With Twilight leading the way, the seven of us walked to the castle. I was a little confused as to why the princesses didn't send someone or something to pick us up, but upon asking, I was told that Twilight hated to put the royal guards through more work than was necessary. And here I thought that was their job.
When we reached the castle proper, the guards actually did start doing their job, happily grabbing the luggage the girls had brought. Fortunate for me, for I had been carrying most of Rarity's. Guess I kind of threw what the doctor said about my shoulder out the window.
Now that that was taken care of, we traveled through the castle until we reached a relatively small room which was mostly empty, save for the large, round table in the middle. The only occupant of the room was a white mare who was sitting at the position where she could see anyone who entered the room. As we entered, she rose and walked over.
In a word, I was awestruck. The mare was easily seven feet tall, her height accentuated by her horseshoes, which were slightly platformed. Her tri-colored mane and tail billowed in an imaginary breeze. Her entire figure cast off a sort of glow, which I knew wasn't from some kind of special make-up.
For a time, I was so stunned by Princess Celestia's appearance that my muscles forgot how to work. It took me a minute to remember that I should of bowed already, and I quickly went to rectify the faux pas. However, as I began to dip my head and body, both were stopped by a golden aura which I recognized as magic. The aura lifted me back upright, where I could see that it was Celestia who was casting the spell.
"Save the formalities," the princess spoke in a calm, but motherly, tone of voice, "Sit, you are just in time for tea and cake."
We moved to the table, where there was indeed tea and cake set out. Celestia insisted that I sit at her left hand, with Twilight on her immediate right. I also noticed that while the seven of us had a nice slice of cake on our plates, Celestia had a whole single-layer cake in front of her.
"Tell me, Mr. Christiansen," Celestia began again, turning toward me, "what do you think of Equestria so far?"
"Well," I began, "though I've suffered a separated shoulder, being dropped in the lake when I can't swim, dropped on my back, knocking my head on the ground too many times, and having a tooth kicked out of my jaw, I would say that it is a lovely place."
"Yes, we have heard about your various misadventures so far. And I hope that they don't continue ad infintum."
"Me either. I hope that you have some way of sending me home. Not that I haven't enjoyed being here, for the most part, but I don't belong here."
"Understood. But I do hope in the time between, you enjoy your stay in Equestria."
We all began partaking in the tea and cake, the others all making various small-talk with the princess. I noticed that Celestia was steadily devouring the entire dessert on her plate, in a manner which suggested she did this all the time.
*--*--*--*--*
After the snack, Celestia returned to court and most of the girls went to their rooms until dinner. Twilight took me to see the various stained glass mirrors which decorated a hallway of the castle. They each depicted a scene from history, many of which concerned the six mares from Ponyville. In this way, Twilight taught me about the duties of the princesses, how Celestia and Luna were responsible for raising the Sun and the Moon, respectively, in addition to other historical facts.
For dinner, we all dressed up a bit. Rarity had made me a suit for the occasion, a simple black and white with a blue-gray tie. All of the girls cleaned up quite nicely, even Rainbow, who I could tell was a little out of her comfort zone in a dress.
At the dinner table, we were seated much like we had been at tea. Celestia at the head, I on her immediate left, follwed by Rarity and Applejack, while Twilight, Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Rainbow sat on the right. For a time, the seat at the other end of the table remained empty, but that didn't last long.
Soon, the doors opened once again, and I saw another alicorn enter the room. This one had dark blue, almost black, fur, with a midnight blue mane and tail, both of which were flecked with bright points which acted like stars in the night sky. Princess Luna had made her appearance.
"Evening, Tia," she greeted. I could tell she was even less formal than Celestia, "Evening, girls.
As she walked to her place on the far end of the table, she scanned the room, freezing in place when she spotted me.
"And who, pray tell, is our guest?"
I went to answer, but Celestia cut me off, "This is Mr. Jack Christiansen. His species is called humans. He was ripped out of his own dimension, his own world, and thrust into ours."
"A pleasure to meet you, Jack Christiansen."
"The-the pleasure is all mine, your highness," I said with a nod of my head. Luna smiled slightly before finishing her trip to her seat.
Throughout dinner, I mostly remained silent. I didn't need to talk, what with Pinkie filling Luna in on all of the various woes that had come upon me since my arrival. Luna listened to all of this in silence, though not without various facial reactions. Twilight also indicated to Celestia that since I had started taking the medicine Zecora had given me, I hadn't had another "green-out", which seemed to please the princess of the Sun.
Once dinner and dessert were finished, it was high time to call it a night. We all retired to our chambers, except for Luna, of course, to have a good night's sleep.
*--*--*--*--*
It had been two hours, and I hadn't fallen asleep.
There was no reason for it, I just couldn't sleep. I was in the most comfortable bed I had ever laid in, it wasn't too hot or too cold, it was perfect, and yet I couldn't sleep.
Deciding to do something about it, I got out of bed, threw on some loose clothes, and headed for the door. On the other side, I noticed a guard who was wearing black armor, instead of the usual gold. I didn't think of why until he turned to look at me.
"Is there something wrong, sir," I noticed when he opened his mouth that he had a pair of fangs.
"No, nothing wrong," I said, trying not to be frightened by the vampire, or whatever they called them in this world, "Just can't sleep. Maybe if I take a walk, it'll help."
"Would you like me to accompany you, sir?"
"No, no, stay at your post. If I get lost, I'll just ask someone else to escort me back."
"Very good, sir."
I walked away from my room and began wandering the halls. I noticed the rooms where the others were sleeping, even hearing Rainbow's tell-tale snoring.
Eventually, I made it to a room with two guards. And, unlike the others, there seemed to be a commotion inside. It was muffled by the heavy door, but I was pretty sure I heard the word "motherbucker". Confused, I approached the door, the guards quick to cross their spears to block me.
"Who goes there," one of them asked, "what business do you have in Princess Luna's chambers?"
"This is Princess Luna's room," I asked, honestly not knowing, "I'm sorry, I've been unable to sleep and was just wandering about. This is the first place where anybody seems awake."
"Well I suggest you leave," the other one said, "Come, I will escort you back to your chambers."
We were about to leave, until the door opened, revealing the princess. She was not wearing any of her regalia from before, instead now opting for an over-sized black t-shirt that read "Best Princess" and sweatpants. A wireless headset hung around her neck.
"What is going on out here," she asked.
"This pony was wandering the halls, still awake at this hour," the first one explained, "we simply offered to show him back to his chambers."
"Are thou truly still awake? Are thou not sleepwalking?"
"Can't sleep," I said, "no idea why."
"Hmmm. Come, we wish to speak with thou. Guards, back to your posts."
The two guards returned to their places beside the door. Luna motioned for me to enter, and I did so, shutting the door behind me.
Princess Luna's room was, interesting, to say the least. Sure, there was the large canopy bed which I kind of expected, but there were many things I did not expect. Like the pile of dolls and plushies which took up a sizeable corner of the room. Or the minifridge next to the bed. Or, most interesting of all, the 98", I guesstimated, flat-screen TV hanging from the wall. Gazing over to it, I saw that it displayed a title screen of a video game, one called "The Trotting Dead".
"You...you play video games," I asked, both bemused and befuddled.
"Indeed. Why, do you not enjoy the electronic arts?"
"Enjoy them," I started chuckling, "oh, you don't know the half of it. In my world, I create video games, I am one of the people that makes them."
Luna's eyes got even more over-sized than usual at this.
"You...you make video games," it was now her turn to stutter.
"Yes. In fact, it was while programming a game that I was transported into your world."
"Well," Luna said, taking a seat in a beanbag chair on the floor, "wouldst thou like to play with us? We haven't had a gaming partner in quite some time."
There was no gamer worth his salt who would pass up this opportunity.
"Of course, princess," I said, taking a seat on another beanbag, "but be warned, I play to win."
"I would hope for nothing less," she said, lighting up her horn and bringing over two skinny, silver, cans, "Red Minotaur?"
"Don't mind if I do," I said, grabbing the energy drink offered and popping the top, "don't mind if I do."
*--*--*--*--*
The several hours that passed felt like nothing. Not only was I hopped up on energy drinks, but playing various games helped the time go by quickly. I soon found that Luna's gaming skills far exceeded my own, helped by the fact that she could hold the controller in her magic and push any button or make any movement the moment she thought of it, rather than the minor delay that it took a mere mortal like myself to make the same move.
Still, the time spent was enjoyable. Luna even used the little bit of down time to grill me on human gaming. I assured her that it was much like how it was in Equestria: console wars, repetative sequels, quick time event button mash fests, the works. I even told her about the hot new IP I had been working on, what was supposed to be the next big Christmas release. I said that I hoped I got back home in time to enjoy the fruits of my labors.
Eventually, it was time for Luna to lower the Moon, in order to allow Celestia to raise the Sun. That task over with, the two of us made our way back to the dining hall for breakfast. For this, Luna opted to change back into more princess-appropriate clothing, she was even able to magic me into some slightly better clothing.
When we reached our destination, I noticed that Celestia and the others were already there. However, there was some differences. For one, my place at Celestia's left was not empty. Instead, it was occupied by a white unicorn stallion. His eyes were shut and his nose was pointed so high I feared for his ability to breathe. Also, for reasons that I didn't know at the time, but which I learned later, Rarity and Applejack had switched places with Pinkie and Rainbow, away from this new pony. This left the only seat remaining at Luna's immediate right.
I didn't think anything of it and made my way to the empty seat. And I wouldn't have thought anything of the stallion if he hadn't opened his mouth.
"Auntie," he barked, "what is that thing, and why is it in my presence?"
I stopped dead in my tracks and looked at this pony curiously.
"Calm yourself, Blueblood," Celestia said, cool as ever, "he is my guest, and you will treat him as such."
With Celestia on my side, I made my over to introduce myself to the stallion properly.
"My name is Jack Christiansen," I said, extending a hand, "good to meet you."
"Prince Blueblood does not shake hands," he smacked my hand away with one of his, "you will show me the proper respect."
At this, five of the six rose out of their chairs, Fluttershy opting to attempt to make herself as small as possible.
"Now listen here, pardner," Applejack drawled, "you mess with Jack, you mess with us."
"Well put, darling," Rarity concurred.
"Easy girls," I said, motioning with my hands, "if the prince doesn't want to shake, then we won't shake."
"Don't worry, Jack," Rainbow said, coming over and throwing an arm around my shoulder, "you could take old Blueballs here in a fight, anyway."
"What did you call me," Blueblood growled.
"C'mon Rainbow," I said, removing the pegasus' arm, "I'm a gamer, not a fighter."
"Gamer," Celestia questioned, first looking to me, then to Luna, "Well that explains why you two showed up together."
"Couldn't sleep," I explained, "I happened upon Luna's room and we ended up playing video games together."
"As long as it was that and not something else."
"Tia!" Luna blushed slightly.
"Who cares what this peasant was doing with Luna," Blueblood snapped, drawing the attention back to himself, "he still hasn't shown me the proper respect."
"Oh shut up, Blueballs," I said, catching onto Rainbow's nickname for him.
"How dare you," his horn began to glow with a bluish color, which soon enveloped me. The prince was straining, obviously trying to do something to me, but nothing was happening. With a quick throw of my hand, the aura vanished. Blueblood stood in stunned silence.
"That's interesting," I quipped, "wonder why the magic didn't work?"
"Zecora's medicine," Twilight said as if she knew all along this would happen, "it must make you immune to magic."
"But Celestia used magic on me just fine yesterday."
"Hmmm, Rarity, try to pick Jack up."
"OK, darling," Rarity's horn glowed a blue shade of its own, which soon surrounded me. The unicorn turned her head this way and that, but like before, nothing happened, and I was able to dissipate the aura with a wave of my arm.
"I guess one has to have very strong magic," Twilight theorized, "so Celestia, and probably Luna, could use magic on you, but nopony else."
"Cool, I'm magic-proof," I chuckled, which was soon brought to a halt by a dark blue aura surrounding me and moving me bodily into the chair which I originally had gone to sit in, next to Luna, whose horn was glowing.
"Thou can figure this out later," the Moon princess said, "for now, breakfast."
I couldn't argue with that, and we all started eating, with the exception of Blueblood, who had stormed out of the room in protest.
With the royal pain in the tail gone, we all enjoyed a pleasant breakfast together, until Luna decided it was time for her to get some shut eye. But before she did, she lifted me up in her magic again and glided me into an unexpected hug.
"Thank you, human Jack," she said as I was afraid that she was going to crack my ribs, "It has been a long time since we have been able to share a good night of gaming with another individual in the same place. I look forward to more times in the future."
"No problem, Luna," I said, gasping for air, "but I won't be able to if you suffocate me."
Luna quickly let me go at this statement, my hacking and gasping getting more than a laugh out of Rainbow.
"Don't worry, Luna," Celestia reassured, "this isn't the last time Jack will be here, trust me."