Act VII - Borrowed Time With a Ruler
Celestia and David stood together alone in his room just as Luna had left them. A few odd moments passed while Celestia waited for her sister’s hoof-falls to fade away. Hearing that they were alone, she turned to David and spoke, wearing a very stern expression.
“If I may take a few moments of your time to chat, Sir David,” she seemed to ask.
“Of course, Princess. I would like to talk a bit as well. After eating such a wonderful cake, it reminded me of some of my hobbies at home. I’m actually a pretty good baker, if you were able to ask my friends,” he said, attempting to steer the Princess into friendly waters.
“Well, that aside, I have—”
“Ooh, maybe after a while you could introduce me to your chef’s staff. I bet I could whip up something that we could all try,” David pressed forward.
“That may be so, but I have something to ask first,” Celestia said, making her thoughts known.
“Oh.”
“You are in a precarious situation… I hope you are well aware,” Celestia started.
“Yes,” David responded quickly.
“I imagine that as intelligent as you are, that you do understand. But what you do not have is experience in ruling a kingdom, or am I misjudging you unfairly?”
“No. That’s true.”
“Then I expect that you may not be privy to the standards, traditions and scrutiny that we are subject to. While you are not royalty or even a true subject of our kingdom, I must request that you respect our responsibilities, our customs, and our rule. Can you do that?”
David nodded. “Yes, Princess. I require education, but I can learn.”
“Well then, as you have accepted this, I have a few words to share.
“My sister and I have been alone for a long time. It is the curse of our eternal lives and of ruling this kingdom. During the peace of our rule, I have deterred any suitor’s approach to myself, but my sister has seen admirers in her life before. Ponies come and go, some seeking her heart, some for wealth or power. Some were quite sincere, and my Lulu allowed their dalliances here and there, but never found them to be of much interest. They were at most a distraction and at least an annoyance. Eventually, they all were dismissed without much concern. You have now entered into the halls of these forlorn few. Your rise has been meteoric though, and I sense a different path for you ahead. But you must first answer one further set of questions I have for you.”
David trembled quietly as he stood before Celestia. She spared him no quarter as her words cut deeply into his mind and heart.
“You have entered into a relationship with one of the royal family, my sister. You will be under my constant scrutiny as you have intruded into the boundaries of our lives. Do you really think that your relationship with my sister is something you wish to pursue? Do you think that your feelings are true enough that you will not crush her heart? If you really want this to be, and will give it your utmost, then I will not stand in your way. But if you do damage or mislead her heart or her trust, I will make your fate for you. What do you say?”
Celestia stared at him, searing her intentions into his mind. David thought to himself, not daring to break her gaze and then took to one knee and spoke.
“I have heard your demands and will answer them. I do wish to pursue this relationship, my feelings are true, and I will stand by my decision. I stand here now, as a supplicant to you, a loyalist to the crown princesses, and as an ardent suitor to Princess Luna. Please teach me so that I may not dishonor you both.”
“To Luna.”
“Pardon?”
“When you are with me, you may speak my sister’s name without her title. I will honor her request, as will you.”
“Yes, to Luna. Thank you,” David said softly, still shaken from the intense conversation.
“Stand. There is no need to thank me. But please keep the informality between yourself and the other princesses. That is the line you must tread.”
Celestia turned to go and was halfway out the door when David cried out. “Celestia! I—”
Celestia whipped her head around, staring daggers at David.
“Sorry, Princess, I’m just a bit rattled. I was hoping you would be willing to talk a bit longer,” David said, regaining his composure.
“Oh I suppose I could spare you a few minutes,” Celestia replied, trying to be nice.
“Thank you, Princess. Thinking about everything I’ve encountered recently has really gotten to me, even scared me a bit. I really think I just need someone to talk to for a while.”
“That is understandable, and I know Luna would not want you to suffer alone. I will be with you until you have calmed down. Perhaps we can discuss some of your writings as well?”
“Yes, I have them right here,” David said, as he opened the dresser drawer and pulled out the stack of papers he had used to catalog his knowledge.
“Well, if we are to talk, let us do so in a more comfortable location. Would that be acceptable, Sir David?”
“Yes, Princess, of course.”
Powering her horn, she enveloped both of them in her golden glow. Releasing the prepared spell, the two of them popped out of existence, leaving the room empty.
***
A split-second later, Celestia and David appeared in a dimly lit room. Looking around, David did not know what to make of things as his eyes struggled to focus in the darkness. He felt quite disoriented and somewhat nauseous.
Celestia closed her eyes and concentrated on her magic, her horn’s glow brightened for a moment, then disappeared as a quick spell was cast. She saw David looking over with a puzzling expression, still looking a bit sick.
“Just a soundproofing spell. Something I prefer to use whenever I’m talking with guests.”
“Oh. Is that all,” David spoke, somewhat slurring his words.
“You may feel a bit disoriented from the teleportation, but it will pass.”
A few seconds later, lamps circling the room began to glow, giving a soft light to the new location.
David started to feel a little better and took a look around the room. They were in a very large room, one homely and yet strangely opulent. An absolutely gigantic four-poster bed sat in the middle of the room and David finally seemed to recognise where Celestia had brought them.
“I thought it would be best to talk in my personal quarters. I do hope that is okay with you, Sir David,” Celestia said.
“I’m not so sure if this is a good idea. I don’t think I should be here.” David’s voice trembled a bit.
“You may be correct, but this is where I want to be and I have brought you here, so you should understand it is okay with me. And any place in which you are with me is one where you will be safe, that I assure you.”
“Yes, well, if you’re okay with it, Princess.”
“Good. Now please have a seat over there.” She gestured casually to a corner near balcony doors where a few lounges and divans were placed.
David cautiously walked over to a lounge and waited for Celestia to get comfortable.
Celestia did not move towards the couches however, instead she chose to climb onto her bed. She didn’t remove her finery, not even her golden shoes. The only amenity she offered herself was to pile a few cushions and pillows up to make a comfortable backrest that she could lean against.
Having built her berm, she settled into the soft bed and leaned back on her side, allowing the pillows to take her weight. Only then did David choose to sit himself down on the lounge.
“Now, where were we… What would you like to discuss first?” Celestia asked as she lit her horn and sparked a fire in the nearby hearth.
The warmth of the fire quickly soothing him, David spoke. “Well, now that my house arrest is over, one of my main concerns is related to the validity of what I know of Equestria. I’m afraid that I am still working on assumptions, and that doesn’t make me comfortable at all.”
“Oh. I can see how that can be disconcerting. Since you have your writings, may we start with those and see how much I can understand of your language?”
“That sounds great.” David made to stand up.
Celestia held out a hoof to stop him, and instead gently took the papers in her magical grasp. “Please, allow me.”
“Sure. Go right ahead.”
She picked up the papers and floated them over to her side. She studied the papers carefully, turning pages as she attempted to decipher the written words.
“While I can see some similarities to our language, I believe we will need to have this transcribed before we can properly learn to translate and understand your language. For now, can you read me a bit of what you have written?”
“Yes, that seems to be a good place to start.”
Instead of retrieving his papers, David thought for a bit and decided to recall his writings by memory. Believing that the best place was to start at the beginning, he told the tale of Twilight’s first adventure in Ponyville as he had written it: the story of the Elements of Harmony and the defeat of Nightmare Moon.
Celestia looked on in wonder, hearing the story retold to her from a fresh perspective, one that seemed as though it was told by an unseen, omniscient spirit.
David finished the first story and then transitioned straight into summarizing the next writing that he could remember. Meanwhile, Celestia had begun to engross herself in attempting to match the tales David spun to the words on the page. She had some luck too, finding names and places in the midst of a soup of characters, grammar and jargon she failed to understand.
As David finished relaying the events in ‘Lesson Zero’ and how Ponyville was saved by the princess herself, Celestia held up her hoof to halt his progress.
“I believe I have heard enough,” Celestia said matter-of-factly.
“Well, how true are the stories?”.
“I can equivically say that they are as close to the truth as any account could possibly be. Unfortunately, I think they are a bit too close to the truth. It might not be good for my little ponies to know that you have this knowledge of them. Even I am amazed at how much you know, as you even have some insight into Twilight’s life that is unknown to me, even when the events were relayed to me from her letters or directly.”
“Oh. I hadn’t thought about that. That must be a little scary. How do you feel about that?”
“Honestly, Sir David, I do not know. It is possible that you know much more about this kingdom than you are letting on, including some secrets that nopony should know.”
“I don’t think you have to worry about that Princess. As I said before, most of the stories follow Twilight and her friends in Ponyville. As far as I can remember, there are so few things that could possibly provide information about your kingdom’s security or even about you or Luna, that whatever information I have is probably outdated or insignificant.”
“I will have to take you at your word. If you do know anything, please discuss it with me or Luna or even Twilight. Otherwise, please keep it secret.”
“Of course.”
“For now, may I keep your reports? Perhaps we can get together later and you can help me translate them.”
“That sounds fine.”
“Thank you. Now, how do you feel knowing that you have knowledge of our world that nopony has? What do you think of Equestrians?”
“Actually, Princess, I don’t know what to think about your people. Although the events I know are true they are colored through the lens of their presentation, imparting feelings and ideas of faces I’ve never met, and I can’t base my evaluations on that.”
“I see, that is an excellent observation. The stories are told from a perspective and that perspective may represent the facts, but not the emotions, words, or even the actions correctly.
“Well, now that we know where you stand on your knowledge, did you not say that there was something else on your mind?”
“Yes.” David shifted nervously in his seat. “I know there hasn’t been much time, but do you think that I will be able to return to my world?”
Celestia paused. “That is a very difficult question to answer. Unfortunately, as you said, it has been a very short time, and what little we were able to discern about the anomaly that we assume brought you here is only that it was composed of an energy that we are not familiar with. As it left no other obvious clues to study, Twilight has offered to go and investigate the area in order to gather more information. In short, I do not have a way for you to return yet, and I do not know when it will be possible. I am sorry.”
David’s face paled at her words. “That’s okay, Princess, I understand. I just needed to ask.”
“Now that we have a few moments, maybe you can tell me what you remember of that night.”
“Of course.” David sighed and closed his eyes. “I was in my world, shopping for groceries at the store. The weather was becoming stormy, which is pretty normal for the season. When I was about to leave the store, the storm was still going strong, but it seemed to be moving away, so I chanced going outside with my umbrella. I remember there being some lightning and I thought about going back inside while I squinted from the light. However, when I opened my eyes there was a large black mass in front of me and it was growing. It swallowed up my legs, and the next thought I remember is waking up in the field.”
“Hmm,” Celestia mumbled in thought. “We were notified of a rogue storm and a magical anomaly. When we got there, we saw both you and the foreboding mass of energy. It was expanding overhead and I used my power to disperse it as it was wholly unknown to us, and I was not willing to wait and see its effects. After it was gone, we confronted you and then you fell unconscious. The rest, I suppose you know. I do not suppose anything like this has happened in your world before?”
“No, I don’t believe so. We have stories of odd disappearances and crazy people speaking of abductions from space, but never anything about black voids taking people to other worlds. At the very least, nothing like any of that is ever reported to happen in such a populated area.”
“Just how heavily populated is the area you speak of?”
“Oh, my city is home to almost one million people. But it’s not as densely populated as other major cities though, we have a lot of land to spread out in.”
Celestia balked. “A—a million citizens!? I know you said before that there were billions in your world, but I was hoping that was said in error.”
“No, I’m afraid not. And although we are the only race with a civilization, the rest of the wild creatures of Earth still outnumber us greatly by a huge factor. There are even large parts of our world that are left unexplored by humans.”
“The wildlife I can understand, but not the sheer number of inhabitants. How do you all get along?”
“Well, that’s a tough question. One I’d like to start by having another question answered first.”
“Please, go ahead.”
“Thank you, Princess. In all the knowledge that you have come across, have you truly not met or heard of my race, of humans before now?”
Celestia pondered for a moment. “No, Sir David. I have not. I spent quite a bit of the last few days confirming the answer to that very question. There are also very few bipedal creatures in this world and none are the least bit like you.”
“I was pretty sure you’d say that. If you knew what I was, if you knew of my world and where I came from, I would almost expect you to have me imprisoned.”
Celestia’s eyes went wide as saucers, pupils shrunk to nothingness. She scrambled to her hooves and her huge white wings spread out in an amazing display. Her face went from calm, to stoic, to furious with anger. She held her head held high and with one forehoof drawn back she spoke words as if thunder was her voice. “IS THAT A THREAT!?”
David shrunk back, stunned. “No! Wait! I didn’t mean it that way!”
“If that is so, choose your words carefully then. Explain yourself!” Celestia demanded, adrenaline still coursing through her system.
“Yes, my humblest apologies. You asked how we all get along. The truth is, we don’t. In my opinion, mankind is not that noble of a race. We are numerous, technologically advanced, and as a collective can do almost anything, but in our history, and in the current state of human-kind, I can say that we are not all open-minded, kind-hearted and accepting individuals. Though a great majority of us live good, simple and somewhat decent lives, the actuality is that crime is rampant, justice is rare, morals have degraded such that many people now only live life for themselves. If you knew of humans and evaluated our race as a whole in comparison to your own, I would think it was rational to distrust humans and consider them a potentially dangerous race.”
“Is that all?” Celestia questioned, the shock gone and her pulse returning to normal as she settled back in her bed. “I see no reason to imprison you based on the actions of some of your people. Luna and I only know you, and you are none of those things. Why should we judge you in that way?”
“Okay, perhaps I sold my people a bit short. They aren’t all bad, it’s just that sometimes I can’t understand why humans can be so self-destructive. Wars, killing, discrimination, selfishness. It all seems so pointless.”
“You know, I do not think humans and my subjects are all that different. They once warred and discriminated blindly, and many are still selfish and sometimes cruel. We may not have much violent crime, but with our population being much smaller the number of incidents is decreased as well.”
“You amaze me, Princess, and I’m very thankful for not being imprisoned, by the way.”
Celestia smirked. “You should be. But please try to phrase things a little better next time, okay?”
“I will.”
“Now you said at your room that you were scared. Was the possibility of imprisonment all that bothered you? The possibility that after I learned more about your people, that I would judge you as a danger to us all?”
“No, not really. Especially not after I was treated so well. What worried me was confirmed by the answer you gave before. That I was alone here. That as far as your world is concerned, I’m unique and foreign. So much so, that my existence is lacking the basic magic that all things in your world possess. I knew that if there was any sign of my people before I came, it would mean that there was a better chance of finding my world again or that this wasn’t the first time humans had appeared. But now I know that I am the first, the only human. And that does scare me.”
“Surely you know that your arrival proves that there is a way to connect our worlds. Whether or not that will actually happen is only to be revealed in time.That is the rational thought. And as for you being alone, while I can understand a bit of forlorn feelings for your own kind, we will certainly not leave your side. You are not alone.”
“I want to believe you, Princess. I know you’re right, but through my fears I just couldn’t see that my own existence is the evidence that may show a possible path to return.”
“As I said before, our people are not all that different. We all have fears, dreams, desires, ideas, and more. Sometimes we can get caught up in the storms of our thoughts and forget to have hope.”
David looked at Celestia with a warm smile. She had successfully disarmed his concerns and returned peace to his mind again. In return Celestia met his gaze, returning the smile. She then shook her head and neck a bit, diffusing the tension she was carrying as she attempted to relax.
“So, would you like to continue with our talks, or would you prefer to retire?”
“I—can we keep going for a bit, if that’s okay with you?”
“Well then, would you be willing to enlighten me with more of your world, your people? Or is that too much to ask for at this moment?
“No, that would be fine. Please forgive me if I choose not to talk about some of our less appealing traits.”
“Of course.”
David began to tell of his home, his city, and the different sights and sounds there. He segued from that into the organization of his country, and a bit about its government, the system of its laws and elections. These topics seemed to be of great interest to Celestia and David found himself wishing he knew more details to share with her.
Trying to do his best to convey the concept of his government, run by the people through elected representation, he filled in some gaps with personal commentary on things such as corruption, the voice of money, lobbyists and special interests and the lack of accountability for officials. It seemed a little depressing, but Celestia absorbed the information, enraptured.
After running dry on the intricacies of a governance, David shifted a bit to the technology that he felt introduced him to most of what he found interesting, ‘television.’ Reusing the concept of film, he described how it had advanced in his life and the rise of the ‘digital age’ in his world. He did his best to relate the concepts of complicated gadgets and such: the ‘Internet,’ ‘computers,’ ‘software,’ and electronics in general.
Celestia constantly twitched or stretched her neck as she sat, but always listened intently. She however, gave in to the stress, and levitating a large pillow over, she bunched it up and placed it under her head, resting on it and continuing to stare at David while he continued his lengthy dissertation.
David casually moved on from technology to talk a bit about his personal life, the loss of his family and his position at the job that he worked at. He continued to ramble on into the depths of the night, occasionally punctuated with comments and questions from Celestia.
After talking about ‘automobiles’ and travel across the planet, he noticed that it had been a while since the princess had asked him a question. Feeling a little confused, he checked her comprehension.
“Does that make sense to you, Princess?” he asked.
Much to his surprise, the Princess of the Sun was silent and did not reply. Somewhere within the last topic or so, Celestia’s will had fallen to her body’s desire for rest and she was now peacefully sleeping on her bed.
There she lay, sleeping soundly, still wearing her full regalia. As her body relaxed, she rolled to her side, her mouth open slightly as she breathed deeply in slumber.
David sat in awe as he stared at the snow-white monarch. Not sure what to do, David felt the tell-tale signs of panic setting in. Once again his thoughts turned to his location and decided he wanted to be anywhere else but there. Attempting one more time, he called out to the sleeping ruler.
“Princess? Princess, if you wish to retire, I should probably go. Can you send me back now?”
Despite his attempts, the soundly sleeping pony did not reply. David thought to himself, ‘I really hope that she isn’t upset when she wakes up. I mean, nobody likes to feel unguarded around a stranger!’
David pondered his options.
‘I could attempt to wake her. That might be good, but I’ve already tried to get her attention, and I wasn’t even being subtle. To actually wake her, I’d probably have to either yell or physically wake her. I could always just try to leave… That may be the worst option though, I would definitely be captured by the royal guard and I don’t know if any amount of explanation would get me out of that.’
Carefully weighing this info, he opted to go in another direction completely. David decided to go to sleep. Hopefully, his choice would be viewed as passive and maybe even appropriate. Considering the state of the princess, perhaps he would appear to be just as unguarded and innocent when he was eventually found.
Settling into the makeshift bed the best that he could, he rested his head on his arm as a pillow. He looked across the floor at the pristine-white ruler lying peacefully on her bed and smiled. His previous anxiety had been so quickly thawed by her words that he was amazed. Feeling thankful for her support, he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.
***