Does Faust Play Dice?

by herfaithfulstudent

Chapter 6: The Prisoner

I wake up to the sound of repeated knocking. I hear a groggy Smart Cookie call out to ask who’s at her door. After a moment of quiet that offers a glimmer of hope that I might be able to fall back to sleep, I hear my host yell, “Astraeus, it’s time to start the day!”

“Just a few more minutes, Cookie! The sun’s not even up yet!” I tiredly plead. Last night’s visit from Luna caused me to get back to my temporary home later than usual. As a result, I got less sleep than I’ve grown accustomed to during my time as a workhorse.

The response I get isn’t from the old secretary at all. Instead, I hear Celestia call out, “Sorry for waking you, but that’s kind of the point. I thought you might want to see the sunrise.”

I trot down and find out that the trio of powerful unicorns are finally ready to try and send me home! I say my (potentially final) goodbye to Cookie who smiles and says, “Well it’s been a real treat having you here, and if sending you home doesn’t work out today, I expect you back here tonight for dinner.” She looks to Celestia. “You and your family should come too.”

Celestia stiffens and gives me a terrified wide-eyed look. I try to non-verbally scream ‘I swear I didn’t tell her about Luna,’ but I don’t know how to convey all that without words, so I have no way of calming the white mare. Did Smart Cookie go looking for me last night when I didn’t make it in time for dinner? She could have overheard Luna and I talking! I feel a rush of guilt when I hear how scared the unicorn is as she responds, “M-my family…”

“Of course!” the old mare says. “Just because Starswirl and the archmage aren’t blood, doesn’t mean they’re not your kin. And here I thought you were supposed to be a filly with some sense.”

“Of course,” Celestia replies, still sounding a bit shaken. “I-I’ll let them know. Thank you, Secretary Smart Cookie.”

“And stop with all that formal talk. The fact that Starswirl doesn’t get into all that official nonsense is the main reason we get on so well. You’d best take a scroll from his library in that area.”

Celestia assures her that she will, sounding slightly more relaxed than the near-panicked state she was just in. Then we say our goodbyes and she puts her ha-hoof on my shoulder. “Are you ready to teleport, Astraeus?”

I nod, and a moment later, the world disappears in a golden flash.

When I reorient myself, I'm standing in a grassy field near the unicorn castle. About a dozen unicorns salute Celestia when they see us and she explains, “This is Astraeus. He’s my guest and will be observing us this morning. Is that alright with everypony?”

The soldiery nods and a few offer an “Of course,” or a “Yes, ma'am.”

The mare in charge smiles and thanks the other unicorns. “Alright then, let's get started.” Celestia faces the horizon and lights her horn first. The other unicorns stand behind her and follow suit.

The darkness fades away as the sky becomes a brilliant pink that matches the lead mare’s mane. Once the sun reveals itself, the sky turns its expected azure blue, but the light rays themselves seem to be an extension of the glow coming from Celestia’s horn. I feel some kind of energy throughout my body. A few tears fall and I make no motion to wipe them away. Is this what magic feels like?

For a few heartbeats, I’m paralyzed. The only things that exist are the sun and the mare controlling it. This bliss is ruined by several thumps and the sound of hard panting. Four of the dozen soldier ponies are either dead or passed out, and the rest look too tired to do anything about it.

I rush over to the nearest unicorn and thankfully realize he’s breathing.

Celestia turns around to look at the rest of us. “Is everypony alright?” the serene mare asks with genuine concern but no trace of alarm. Several soldiers manage to force themselves to answer in the affirmative which causes the only unicorn who doesn’t look like she’s in incredibly pain to smile, “Wonderful job all of you. Amber, this is your first time not passing out, isn’t it?”

The mare whose coat matches her name manages a smile and nod as her eyes droop sleepily.

“I’ll have my aunt give your stallion the day off so the two of you can celebrate properly,” Celestia says with a wink. “Once you’ve had a nap and something to eat that is.” She then turns her attention to the group. “That’s all for today; dismissed, everypony.”

Once the conscious members of the sun-raising team head far enough to the castle to be out of earshot, I turn towards Celestia only to see her facing east once again. “Umm,” I try to form the beginning of a thought before I become the new focus of the young someday monarch.

“So, what did you think?” Celestia asks with a hesitant smile.

Seeing the four (thankfully alive) bodies on the ground, I figure the more pressing issue is, “Shouldn’t we be worrying about these ponies first?”

The mare flinches and her ears fold back, “Oh right! Of course, I’m sorry.”

Before I can respond or… apologize for wanting to make sure the unconscious unicorns got medical attention, the world disappears in a flash.

We end up in a stone room, probably the castle, that has what looks like 50 beds only about a third of which have ponies sleeping in them. There are also several unicorns who look reasonably shocked at the assumed dead unicorns in the middle of the room

“Miss Celestia, what is an earth pony doing here?” One mare asks as the other unicorns float the four other teleportees to the beds. Okay, so not surprised by the fainted ponies.

Celestia glares, “Leech, can bring whoever I want to see the sun rise and I’ll thank you to not say another word about it.”

“That may be so, but you do not have authority in my ward. Just because you’re the cause of most of our morning patients does not mean we owe you anything. And it’s Doctor Leech.”

“I’m not the cause of anything! You know before me there were four times as many ponies here each morning.” One of the other medical ponies snorts at the comment which earns him a serious glare from Doctor Fuckface.

“In any case, you’d better be careful with your mud pony. I’d hate it if The Princess accidentally had the spy executed.” The pink-maned unicorn’s eyes go wide.

Okay, this is too much. Time to say something. “How could you think that Celestia-”

“That I wasn’t going to bring him to Princess Platinum right away,” Celestia cuts me off. “So, we need to get going.” She begins to lead me out and then turns back to the non-combative medical ponies, “Please make sure my team is taken care of.”

A mare other than Leech responds, “Don’t worry Celestia, they’re in good hooves like always. Thank you for bringing them in.”

“And for the sunrise,” one of the stallions adds.

The mare magically dragging me out of the room hastily responds, “Of course, it’s just part of my duties.” She slams the door and briskly leads us away.

Once the pony manstallionhandling me releases her telekinetic bindings, she begins to lead the way through the castle corridors. To fill the silence, I ask, “What the hell was that doctor’s problem?”

“She’s never liked me,” Celestia responds, her ears folding back.

“Because…”

“My aunt says it’s because fewer ponies on my team get injured than they used to. I only use a dozen other unicorns, but the moon rising and setting team has over twice as many. Add that to the fact that my ponies have been getting even better at staying conscious and you end up with lots of empty beds in the medical ward.”

“So, this Leech mare is pissed because you’re making her work easier by having less ponies get hurt? That doesn’t make any sense.” I stop walking.

“Yes, it does,” Celestia turns around and frowns. “The Princess has pulled funding back from the ward since it’s not as necessary now. I’m glad I can help my team move the sun more safely, but I took away a lot of power from Leech so I can’t be mad if she hates me.” She then shakes her head and looks at me with a strained smile and changes the subject. “So, what did you think of the sunrise?”

“It was,” Actually, what can I say about it? It looked like an especially pretty sunrise. Ponies don’t pollute, so the clean air probably helped with that. It felt warmer than when you watch a sunrise on earth but that’s not what made it special. There was that feeling, the magic that I felt… “It felt like you shared an experience with me. Something that only you and maybe the ponies on your team get to feel. My world has sunrises, but they’re not… alive like this one was. And I can tell you feel connected to it, so thanks for sharing something so personal like that.”

The forced smile Celestia wore just moments ago melts into one of genuine happiness. Good, I guess that was the right answer. And then she steps forward and OH SHIT! She’s going to kiss me. What do I do?

I tense every muscle in my body and shut my eyes and… feel something warm but far larger than lips rub against the side of my neck. I crack my eyes open and see the white mare nuzzling me. I relax and strangely find myself reciprocating the gesture. This is weirdly nice.

“Thank you,” is all she says before the moment ends and we resume walking in silence. Why was she so happy about my answer? Maybe she still thinks her Lauren Faust god sent me here so she’s glad the envoy of said god was pleased with her sunrise. This could be a problem.

I follow Celestia through the castle and we eventually reach the main entrance. Instead of veering off a side hallway to Starswirl’s tower, we walk straight through to the throne room where I see a number of finely dressed ponies mingling under the bored gaze of a tall mare sitting up on a dais. Her mane is a deep pink and her coat color gives her identity away if the crown didn’t already make it obvious.

“Princess Platinum,” Celestia bows as her magic forces me to follow, “How are you today?”

The monarch’s eyes light up, “We are much better now that thou hast arrived, Celestia! During dinner yesterweek, Clover mentioned you may have an earth pony with you in the coming days, and I have found myself curious ever since. Pray tell, who is this stallion thou hast brought to our court?”

After getting over the feeling of being magically shoved to the floor–at least Celestia had the courtesy mouth an apology–I stand up and answer, “Astraeus, your highness.”

Celestia quickly interjects, “Please forgive him majesty. He-”

“Neigh, do not worry thyself over such things. The stallion cannot be expected to know about the proper ways to refer to those of the royal bloodline. We are far more interested in why he is here.”

“Oh! Um… he’s going to help Starswirl and I with some experiments,” Celestia says, eliciting hushed whispers from the other ponies in the throne room for some reason. “Mainly hauling heavy equipment around and acting as our test subject.”

The Princess sighs and holds a hoof up. “No need to continue my darling Celestia, we already know a bit about this. This has to do with why Starswirl The Great teleported into our chambers several days past and requisitioned our favorite vanity mirror, does it not?”

“You were using that mirror to help you get ready in the morning!?!” Celestia almost shouted.

“Why art thou looking at us in such a way? That positively beautiful piece of art was gathering dust in the vaults. We gave it a lovely home amongst our other treasures in the royal bed chambers.”

Celestia looks like she’s about to have an aneurysm, but then just deflates, “It’s nothing, your majesty… anyway, I’d like to formally request that Astraeus be given the same protections I’m afforded while he’s here. He’s already undergone an interrogation spell, and it’ll be easier for him to move freely in and out of the castle to get supplies for Starswirl and I.”

“Oh, of course, anything for you, Celestia,” the princess smiles. “When we have lunch with her, we shall tell Clover to inform the guards and castle staff that Astraeus is to be treated with the same privileges befitting the apprentice archmage herself.”

“Thank you, Princess,” Celestia bows and I imitate the gesture. It’s a weird feeling on four legs.

“No need to thank us, Celestia. Although, we would very much appreciate it if you could see that our former archmage returns the mirror when you two are done playing with it. We have so missed seeing ourselves in it each morning,” Princess Platinum said in a very regal whine.

“I’ll see what I can do,” Celestia said with a slight giggle. “And to make up for lost time with your reflection, how about I make those cakes you like when we have tea tomorrow?”

The Princess clopped her hooves together in excitement. “That sounds absolutely divine! We shall now have something to look forward to amongst all the banal tedium that court brings.” I turn to look at the mingling courtiers who are all looking slightly ashamed and glancing away from the princess.

“Then I’ll see you tomorrow, Princess! But for now, Astraeus and I really do have to get to work.”

“We understand. Although, we do wish you could stay longer. Fare-thee-well, Celestia, and you as well, young stallion.” We bow and I follow Celestia out of the throne room.

Once we were in the mostly empty part of the castle that leads to Starswirl and Celestia’s tower, I bring up something that was on my mind after meeting The Princess Of Being Rich. “You seem to get along really well with the Princess…” I trail off, not knowing how to continue that thought without offending her.

“Is that strange? She’s known me almost since I was a little filly.”

“I just mean, you seem really down to earth and friendly to everyb- everypony. Meanwhile, I think Princess Platinum just called everypony in that room except us too boring for her. She just seems kind of-”

“Snobby and full of herself?” Celestia asks, and I nod. “Well, she definitely is, but I still like her. I know that might not make much sense to you, but…

I pause, waiting for her to continue. “I don’t meet a lot of ponies willing to talk to me as an equal, let alone talk down to me. Being around the Princess - not having her revere me ­– it lets me know that she actually likes me, not the magical prodigy little filly adopted by ponykind’s great savior, not the second highest ranked guard, and not even the eventual archmage. I’ve seen Princess Platinum argue with Starswirl, order around my aunt, and act like I’m her grandfoal even though she's not even a decade older than I am. That mare doesn’t view anypony as more powerful or important than her no matter how much magic they have. In a weird way, I really like how full of herself she is.”

“I can’t exactly relate, but it kind of makes sense,” I say and then go quiet, thinking about how weird her life must have been to result in Princess Diva being the pony she can find to treat her semi-normally.

“Hey, Astraeus?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks for not being afraid of me.”

***

When we arrived at Starswirl’s and Celestia’s tower, the latter immediately went to prepare breakfast. I sat at the table with Starswirl and an exhausted Archmage Clover. She’s definitely not a morning person.

To pass the time, I decide to strike up a conversation. Starswirl’s busy scribbling in a notebook and comparing diagrams and magic-y looking circles on several sheets of loose paper so he’s out. The mare of the group on the other hand isn’t doing much other than sip her tea.

“So, Archmage, you seem… tired today.” Oh, fantastic job! How is it that I’m kind of becoming friends with the future princesses of Equestria? I’m amazed that none of these ponies have seriously injured me yet for all the stupidity that falls out of my mouth.

Thankfully, Clover the Clever doesn’t kill me. She just lets out a grunt and sips her tea. Surprisingly, Starswirl pipes up with a laugh. “You’d be far more than tired if you had to force the moon to move, colt.”

“But Celestia seemed to do it no problem.” My thoughts were emphasized by the sounds of the mare in question humming a tune happily as she cooked, unaware of our conversation.

Clover’s face breaks into a small smile, “That filly is special. She’s never been able to make the moon so much as budge, but she moves the sun like it’s an extension of herself. I just wish her cutie mark was a sun and a moon; then maybe I could avoid feeling like I’ve climbed a mountain before breakfast every day.”

“That’s definitely the best part of retirement,” the old stallion laughs, causing his former student to give him a glare.

***

As we ate breakfast, Starswirl explained the magical mechanics behind sending me home. Celestia let him speak without interrupting and Clover seemed to be too occupied with waking up to interject. I understood next to nothing, but nodded my head absentmindedly. Normally, I’d be more interested in how this stuff works, but I had just woken up and magic theory was so far away from anything I had a clue about.

Starswirl’s lecture finally came to a close as we finished eating. “-and so for our preliminary trials, I’ll be maintaining the portal and Celestia will be monitoring you and Clover from our end. She can provide assistance if need be.”

“Wait,” I ask, finally taking an interest in something he mentioned. “Why does Clover need to come with me? And what kind of assistance could we need?”

“I’ll be there to protect you,” the older mare answered with only a slight yawn. Not exactly filling me with confidence. “In case something in the world we’re going to ends up trying to kill you.”

“Umm,” I began, trying to find a way to voice my concerns without insulting the mare who’s job it is to keep me away from the grim reaper. “Are you going to be okay doing that with how tired you-”

I stop mid-sentence and turn towards Celestia as she lets out a gasp. Her coat, and the whole world for that matter, match the pink of her mane for some reason. Then I look to my left at where her eyes are locked in horror and see a sharp paring knife about a foot away from me, locked directly between my eyes. My heart dropped.

The knife had Starswirl’s distinct grey-white aura around it as the stallion himself grinned at me. THIS PONY IS FUCKING CRAZY!!! I turn to the right and see my savior’s horn glowing, realizing everything is pink because of Clover’s magical shield. It took every ounce of willpower to not pass out right then and there.

“What did you do that for!?!” Celestia screamed at the stallion-almost-turned-assassin. With that, both of the older unicorns dropped their magic simultaneously.

Then Starswirl The Bastard started laughing! “If I hadn’t taught my little Clover well enough to stop an attack like that, even in her current state, then I would wholeheartedly admit my own failure as an archmage and accept a sentence of death for murder.”

“You’re an idiot, you old stallion,” my savior mutters before taking a sip of her tea.

“How could you say such a thing? Especially right after this demonstration of my trust in you,” Starswirl responds, sounding hurt. “I guarantee he feels far safer with you around now. Anyway, with that settled, shall we migrate to the mirror, everypony?”

Clover shrugs, downs the rest of her tea, and follows Starswirl out of the kitchen. The white mare walks over to me and puts a comforting hoof over my back, “Astraeus, I’m so sorry he scared you like that… and I’m sorry I didn’t react fast enough. He probably only pulled that stunt to teach me a lesson.”

Still too in shock to respond, I let Celestia lead me into the living-room/laboratory.

The mirror seems to be made of a strange purple metal and looks like an elongated horseshoe. It has rubies inset into it and thin pieces of silver spiraling around it to make it look like something at home in an old Victorian castle. The circular base is tiered like a two layered wedding cake. There’s a picture of a pony rearing up on a seemingly decorative element at the top of the mirror. The whole thing doesn’t really scream Arcane Interdimensional Portal.

As my heart rate decreases, I manage to ask the stallion who had, less than a minute ago, tried to kill me, “Why is your portal mirror so… pretty?”

“I know,” the stallion groans. “Her majesty saw fit to have the mirror improved. I actually don’t mind the appearance, but I was so worried it had been damaged. Thankfully, it passed all the tests we’ve been running on it.”

“We haven’t tried to tune the mirror yet,” Celestia says. “So you’ll end up in the sirens’ dimension. Based on what I’ve seen of your world and what you’ve told of it, it actually might be it. All you have to do is go through, see if the world matches yours, and come back.”

Starswirl turns to the mirror and zaps it with his magic. It begins to glow and he invites Clover and I to step through with a flourish of his hoof. I nod slowly and approach, but then something hits me, “What was that about sire-”

I’m interrupted by a shove from behind, and the next thing I know I’m plummeting through what feels a magical toilet flush. I’m able to make out Clover’s voice saying, “You’ll be fine,” which isn’t fully drowned out by my screams of terror, but does little to suppress them.

I faceplant into a solid stone ground. I’m a little dazed but I need to make sure I didn’t break my nose… Holy shit I have a normal nose again! Am I really back to being a human? Let’s see: hands, check; feet, check; round ears, check; normal sized junk and balls, unfortunately check. Apart from that last part, this is great!

“If you’re done grabbing your crotch, we have some exploring to do,” I hear Clover say behind me. I can barely make out my surroundings since the area is just lit by a few torches, but I turn to see a woman staring at me who seems to be in her late 40s. Her clothes hug her toned muscles, yet she’s not overly bulky. She looks like a mom, with the body of a professional swimmer. Her face has a certain easy beauty to it, as though she was just born with a pretty face but never gave two shits about it.

“Clover, you’re hot!” I announce to the absolute milf yawning above me.

The now-human archmage studies her body with a hum. “Is this what your species looks like? Strange.” She helps me to my feet, barely keeping balance herself, and looks around, “Thankfully, we seem to be in a village, but the sun hasn’t risen yet. Let’s find a place to hide and observe.”

She leads us over to an alleyway between two stone buildings. The buildings and lack of electric lighting seem medieval at latest, but I’ve heard that there are some places that keep old buildings intact for historical significance.

We sit in silence for about ten minutes. Her staring at where the sun will rise and me staring at her tight athletic figure. Damn, guard training keeps her in shape.

Eventually light floods the sky and I’m reminded of the other sunrise I saw this morning. I feel really underwhelmed at this one. There’s no warmth, no jolt of magic. An image of Celestia excitedly asking me what I thought of her sunrise (to the point of forgetting about a few unconscious ponies) plays in my head. Then a question enters my mind, “Clover, do you have any idea why Celestia wanted to show me the sunrise this morning?”

“Compared to this non-magical garbage,” she nods to the possibly earth sunrise in front of us, “you didn’t find ours more beautiful?”

“No, it’s not that. It was amazing! But isn’t it sort of normal for you ponies?”

My stakeout companion nods at my question.

I elaborate, “What I mean is, Celestia seemed to be so excited to show me. She woke me up early when she could have just gotten me from Cookie’s house after breakfast. And even when we arrived in the castle, she kept asking what I thought about it.”

The mare woman (Ugh! Right when I start using proper species terms.) studies me carefully, “And what did you tell her?”

“I said it felt alive and that it felt like she was sharing something really personal with me. The thing is, then she nuzzled my cheek and thanked me like I just… I don’t know, but she seemed weirdly happy for just me complimenting her work.”

She remains quiet for a few seconds and then stairs out to the horizon, “Astraeus, I want you to consider the archmage position as a sentence placed on the odd unicorn for being powerful.”

“What are you talking about? And what does this have to do with how Celestia was acting?"

“If you want to understand that mare, you have to understand her responsibilities. Those responsibilities bind her and those of us who came before her. We’re all trapped even though we’re not locked away in dungeon cells.”

“Okay, fine, I want to understand her, but how are you trapped? You, Starswirl, and Celestia are the three most powerful beings I’ve ever seen. I don’t think all the other unicorns combined could stop any of you three from just leaving if you wanted to.”

“Duty,” Clover states plainly as the first signs of life begin appearing in the village. “I’ll never leave regardless of the problems we unicorns may have. Were you aware that Starswirl was the first archmage to ever resign?”

I shake my head, curious as to where this is all going.

“Well he was, and even he still remains in the castle. We refuse to abandon our tribe.”

“So what makes being archmage so bad? If you still want to stay, then what difference does it make?”

“Even prisoners have friends, Astraeus, so I’ll admit my life isn’t all bad. This position lasts our whole lives.” She lets out a sad chuckle. “And our lives are far longer because of the magic that earned us our titles. The truly awful thing is that it’s a sentence of isolation. The only living ponies close to me are my mentor and protégé. My parents started looking at me with more reverence than love the day Starswirl named me his successor.”

“Oh,” is all I can say. As the sun brightens the world, I see that Clover’s skin is a pale green, almost like she’s going to be sick. Not knowing what else to do, I press her on her last comment, “Are you mad at him? For retiring early, I mean.”

“No, I understand why he did it.” She sighs. “That stallion is more my father than the one who sired me. I saw what the old king’s death did to Starswirl. Imagine losing the only pony in the world who viewed you as an equal.”

I let out a gulp at the uncomfortable thought. “You're just exaggerating, right? It’s not like nopony sees you three as one of them.”

Clover shakes her head sadly. “Royalty is about it in my experience. It’s why I like Platinum so much.”

I sputter in surprise at that, “Really? You like that pony? You’re making about as much sense as Celestia. A pony like… well, you can’t like that stuck up mare.”

“Because I train guards and research magic all day and she’s a spoiled brat who’s never worked a day in her life?” I nod. “You’re not wrong, Astraeus. Our personalities are as different as night and day, and that means a lot coming from the moon’s maintenance mare.” She flashes me a halfhearted smile. “But she’s one of the few ponies I know who’s not the least bit afraid of my powers. And to tell you the truth, even her bossy attitude is refreshing. Everypony looks at me like I’ll blow up their home if they so much as step on my shadow.”

“Could you?” My fear causes me to ask the most pressing question as opposed to letting her finish her point.

“I hope you know that I’d never abuse my magic that way, but yes, all three of us are easily that strong. I can make a shield to fend off a full scale pegasus invasion. The earth ponies would probably all have to work for an entire year to build a fortification as strong as something the old stallion could conjure up in five minutes. And Celestia has more raw magic power now than either of us did at her age.”

I just stare at her in silent awe. I’ve seen Celestia use her magic to complete an obstacle course, drill a hole, and clean dishes, but from what Clover is saying, my fears of pissing her off and dying because of it aren’t totally unfounded.

“That look you’re giving me now, that’s why being archmage is like being sent to the dungeons.” Clover snaps me out of my reverie. “The sole ruler of the most powerful tribe of ponies is the only individual who ever considered Starswirl a true comrade. I’m kept too busy to settle down and have a foal, assuming I could even find a stallion out there who’s not terrified of me and the thought of the super powerful baby I might have. It gets lonely.”

I just sit there. Silently trying to process everything Clover just said, not to mention figuring out how this relates to Celestia’s sunrise. That turning out to be too difficult, I focus on the more important task at hand and look at the villagers who are walking from their homes to what appears to be an outdoor market.

“They’re too colorful,” I inform Clover.

“What?”

“The humans,” I explain, noting all the shades of pastel reds and blues that definitely aren’t normal. “People on my world aren’t as colorful. Plus, their technology seems way less advanced.” I point out a cart pulled by a horse walking through the village square.

I laugh a bit when I see Clover’s eyes go wide at the sight of the horse. This time I take the lead as we head back to the horse statue we came out of.

As we approach the portal, the mare-turned-human sighs. “My point with all that rambling is: Celestia was happy you didn’t freak out when you saw what she did.”

I stop right before the portal and turn back to Clover, “I didn’t know it was such a big deal…” I trail off. Well, I did, but I knew she’s basically going to be a god in the future, so this didn’t feel like much.

“Either way,” Clover smiles, “you're not scared of her. That’s enough.” As she walks past me towards the solid stone, she hip checks me. “At least for now…”

“What do you mean for now?”

“I’m just saying there are other ways to show her how ‘not scared’ you are before we find your actual world,” the sexy Clover milf says to me with a wink.

“Wh- I-” I stutter which elicits a cackle out of the archmage as she steps through the portal. I follow, cheeks burning.

Comments

[Luna Aeterna Solutae]

Dreadful

[Time Reaper]

Looking good, now let's see how Astreus will affect everything by accidently making Celestia fall in love with him.

[dark123]

more Thanks for the chapter

[JimboTex]

Previous chapter: "Chapter 5: The Earth Pony Way"
This chapter: "Chapter 5: The Prisoner"

That said, please continue.

[herfaithfulstudent]

10398594
Thanks for pointing that out! I didn't realize I mis-numbered this one.
Also, I'm glad you're enjoying it!

[JimboTex]

10383230
Plot twist: The real reason Moonbutt went loco in the coco is because she and her sister were both vying for the affections of Astreus!