My head was being split by a railroad spike when I woke up.
Not really, but it fucking hurt. I inwardly questioned what led to my current predicament, trying to remain as still as possible to avoid causing myself any more pain.
Let's see, I got a bath against my will, Celestia was being creepy, Twilight came out of nowhere and Celestia...
Ohh, that BITCH. Throwing the blanket off myself, I stood and...immediately collapsed. I squeezed my eyes shut right before my head hit the stone floor, my body barely responding to my commands. I groaned weakly, struggling to regain my motor control. Come on, I couldn't have been out for that long... I forced my legs under me, the limbs feeling heavy and clumsy. Pushing myself off the floor, I stood up on shaky legs and used the bed to brace myself. I swear, as soon as I see Celestia, my foot is going SO FAR up her ass!
I pushed off from the bed and stumbled to the center of the room. My arms flapped out like a stupid bird, but I managed to stay upright. And speaking of...I glanced down, to my unusually drafty body. Yep, she took her towel back...fuck. I needed to find something to wear.
Closet? Nothing my size.
Bathroom? I was tired of towels.
Bed? I grinned at the thick white sheets on the massive mattress. I've always wanted to wear a toga...
-----
Twilight Sparkle wanted to be anywhere else right now. The seven pairs of eyes stared down at her, some with understanding, some with disappointment, and some with utter contempt. She forced herself to look away from Princess Luna, whose expression rested firmly in the third category. "And...that's it, until I stole the crown and snuck back through the mirror."
Fluttershy shuddered slightly, fidgeting in her seat. "I just...I could never hurt one of my critters!" The introverted pegasus curled in on herself, visibly sickened. "Much less trick somepony else into...eating them..."
Twilight turned to the yellow mare with a serious expression. "If it were that simple, I could forgive them. But they weren't eating animals. These are cows they were eating, like it was nothing!" Twilight gulped and shuddered. "Talking, thinking creatures. That's murder, even griffons aren't that barbaric."
"Did you ever see that world's cows?" Celestia asked, managing to keep her expression calm. "It was a completely different world, Twilight. Things may be different there."
Twilight shook her head. "Making that kind of assumption is too dangerous, Princess. If it's wrong, and with one of them here...There's not much difference between eating cows and pigs and eating ponies. The safest course of action is getting Jason as far from Equestria as possible."
Applejack stood, glaring at the fledgeling alicorn. "Maybe if ya'd given the feller a chance, we wouldn't have ta chase 'im down in the first place!"
"Applejack," Celestia began, her voice firm but calm, "there is no need to capture him. Jason is asleep in my quarters. He will not be waking for several more hours." The solar diarch turned to her student, an oasis of calm in the midst of the worked up mares. "I am not saying we should let him go without supervision. I have already done so, and..." at this Celestia's eyes cast downward, her expression making every year of her rule apparent on her face. "That was among the worst mistakes I've made, concerning my subjects."
"Then how do we FIX it?!" Applejack shouted, shaking slightly. "Standin' round here gabbin ain't gonna fix Jason, and Ah'm sure as sugar not gonna jes' wait for 'im to wake up n' run off again." The southern mare's ears plastered themselves against her head, her voice wavering at the end. Fluttershy, though clearly not comfortable in the tense atmosphere, moved in and laid a wing across her back for comfort. Applejack continued, pulling her hat down over her eyes, "Ah can't jes'...sit here n' watch him hangin' from a tree again." Though she hid her face, she couldn't keep the hiccups and trembling out of her voice. "Ah can't..."
Celestia placed a forehoof under the distraught mare's chin, lifting her head up. "You clearly have a stronger bond with Jason than anypony else. Myself included. So you tell me...what should we do?"
It was a tense, silent moment before she got a reply, the other mares either too upset or too uncomfortable to voice their opinions. Finally, Applejack wiped her eyes and replaced her hat, looking up at Celestia with a determination only she could achieve. "Ah wanna talk with 'im. Alone. Ah took care of 'im after he..." She gulped and pressed on, "tried ta hang 'imself. He knows me. And Ah'm sure he trusts me more n' anypony else. Ah have the best chance of talkin' some sense inta him."
Twilight was about to object, but was cut off by Celestia. "Very well. We'll leave him to you."
"Princess Celestia, we just got through talking about how he could be a pony-eating monster, and now you want to let one of my friends in a room with him alone?!" Twilight's wings flared, her face clearly frustrated, bordering on outright anger. "With all due respect, what the BUCK are you thinking?"
The princess turned to her student, all traces of her serene smile gone. "Dietary needs aside, Jason and I have talked at length, and he poses no threat to Equestria. You yourself had a chance to speak with him—"
"AND HE ATTACKED ME!" Twilight screamed, hooves digging into the floor. "He. Attacked. Me. What part of 'dangerous' is hard for any of you to get? Even back in Ponyville you were all 'oh the little human's just misunderstood, he's my friend, you're a disappointment,' but you SAW him attack me!" Twilight finished, gasping for breath.
Celestia looked at the purple alicorn with concern and slight wariness, lowering her voice to a quiet, soothing tone. "Twilight...I haven't visited Ponyville for quite some time."
Twilight's eye twitched.
Celestia slowly took a step forward, maintaining the same tone. "Are you...feeling well?"
"I'M NOT CRAZY!" Twilight shrieked, clenching her eyes shut. "I SAW you in Ponyville! We spoke! How could you not remember that?!"
"I assure you, I haven't been to Ponyville in months." Celestia's expression had morphed from concern to a mixture of fear and pity. "Twilight, have you been sleeping well?"
The mare gave a frustrated groan through clenched teeth and teleported away.
Rainbow Dash was the first to recover. "Uhh...Princess?" When she got Celestia's attention, she continued. "did you visit Ponyville?"
Celestia shook her head. "No. Twilight sent me a letter concerning Jason. When I saw he couldn't be found, I sent Discord in my stead." Seeing the confusion, she added, "Discord has a knack for finding things that don't want to be found. When he returned empty-handed, I feared the worst."
-----
Oh, this was the worst. I'd been walking around this castle for what felt like forever, and I was no closer to finding my way out. It was nice to be clothed for the first time in weeks, but the faint chatter and clip-clop of hooves I heard echoing from God knows where kept me paranoid. I was dreading every turn, walking as quietly as I could, and my heart was pounding in my chest like a drum. Come on, this place CAN'T go on forever...
Then finally, a staircase! Going down, too. I was fairly certain I was pretty high up. I know I went up at least six flights of stairs, probably more. So the next floor down was at least progress. With a faint smile on my face and a toga covering my ass, I continued my stroll through the castle.
Another half-hour of wandering, sweet! Another staircase.
More walking, and awesome! A new flight of stairs. One of the walls was lined with windows, so I knew I was at the very least on the outermost edge of the castle. If I kept to the edges, I'd have to find a door eventually. The rhythmic slapping of bare feet on stone floors was the only companion I had now, the muffled speech long gone. I was starting to relax. Maybe everyone was gone? At least it was peaceful. Yep, absolutely nothing was gonna go wrong, smooth sailing from here on out.
My ninja-walk turned into a stroll, which turned into a silly walk as I rounded the next corner...and immediately ran gut-first into a white and blonde unicorn stallion. He screeched, I yelped, he shuffled his hooves, I punched his muzzle, he fell, and I ran past him like a chicken. Why does this happen to me?
-----
Applejack's ears perked up. "Y'all hear that?"
Celestia turned towards the source of the noise, her worried expression still firmly on her face. "That sounded like my nephew..."
"And Jason!" Applejack insisted, bolting for the door. "C'mon, we can't let 'im get away again!"