> Celestia's New World
>  by Omega Dracomancer
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1: Princess Celestia
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A sensation of falling. A dream she's had before. It usually meant that she felt overwhelmed, but this time...

She awoke to a sudden landing, giving off a groan of pain. Falling out of bed was not one of her favorite ways to wake up.

She cracked her eyes open, expecting the darkness of her room. Instead, an unexpected bright light from above caused her to look back to the ground, blinking away the stinging sensation. Discord had turned on her light again as she slept. She groaned again, annoyed.

The ground was a lot harder than her floor usually was. She opened her eyes again and looked down. She came to a startling realization. This was not her room. The ground was hard, like stone, but unlike any she had seen before. A black surface with thick yellow lines covering it.

Something was wrong. Her body felt strange. She couldn't move her tail. Her horn and wings were completely missing. Upon looking down, she noticed that where her hooves once were, hands took their place.

"What is this?" she whispered to herself in shock.

She sat up as best she could, but something was terribly wrong. She looked to her hooves... hands once more. She lifted them from the ground, and after bending her fingers a few times, she briefly examined the rest of her body. This was the body of a human, exactly as her former student had described.

In place of her usual attire, she had been given a full set of clothing, though she had no idea where it could have come from.

"Where... Where am I? Is this... the human world? Am I... a human? That..."

She looked on in utter shock. Just moments ago, she had laid down for her night's rest, and now she was here, wherever 'here' was. She knew in an instant, this was no dream.

"What... What happened?" she asked nobody in particular.

She moved herself onto her hands and knees for a small while before looking back to her feet. Her student had told her how humans were supposed to walk. Instead of four limbs, humans walked only on their two feet. Bracing herself against the metal pole behind her, she stood herself up. She held onto the pole, unable to keep her balance on these new limbs.

She looked around. Her surroundings were unlike any part of Equestria she had seen before.

"This doesn't feel right." she said to herself, "How did I get here? Did somepony transport me here? Luna, if this is your doing, it's not funny. Please bring me back home."

She waited a few moments for a response from her sister, but received nothing of the sort. It dawned on her that she might be alone here.

A worrying feeling settled itself in her gut. She wondered how she could get back, or, more importantly, if there was even a way back in the first place. She was lost in a strange land and didn't know how to get home.

The first thing she realized was that it was dark out. Late at night... or perhaps early in the morning. It was warm. Likely during the end of the summer, as it had been in Equestria. She took note that the metal pole behind her was a light post. She kept a grip on the pole as she looked around for something, anything that could help.

Her student had described many things about this world, but the reality was rather different from what she had pictured. She felt a curiosity towards it, but knew that there were more pressing matters to attend to.

As she looked around, she noticed a particular human nearby. He was staring right at her, eyes wide, mouth agape. The Princess blinked as she examined him. He just stood there in stunned silence. His expression made her think that he had seen how she had gotten here.

She looked at him closely. He seemed to be on the young side. His clothing seemed cheap, he looked tired, and he was holding a bag in one of his hands.

"H-Hello," she said with a cautious smile and a small wave of her new hand.

The man blinked. He quickly shook his head. He blinked again, then rubbed his eyes. After opening his eyes for the final time, he pointed to her and exclaimed, "What the fuck was that?!"

This bewildered man was me... and I just saw a goddamn pony drop through a portal.

She jumped, startled by my outburst. Trying to lean towards normality, I started to think that this was part of my imagination and that I had just shouted at a poor, innocent lady that... happened to look a lot like Princess Celestia.

Her mouth parted as if to say something, but she hesitated. Finally, she got out, "Wh-What... did it... look like... it was?" She sounded just as confused as I was.

"I..." I couldn't continue past this letter for a long while. "I don't know. You... You tell me."

"I... I don't know... either." she replied.

Screw it, I already look like an idiot, it won't hurt to make myself look even stupider. "You just... gaahh... outta... nowhere..."

"Out of... nowhere?"

"Y-Yeah, you kinda... just... uhh... You k... You kinda... just... dropped outta nowhere."

"Dropped? From... where?"

"Just... right..." I vaguely gestured towards where I saw her appear, still feeling a little stupid.

"Right here?" she asked, moving her hand to the same place.

I nodded quickly. "Yeah, you... fell... and... Are... Are you ok? Are you alright? Are you... hurt at all? You... looked like you were... having a little trouble, there."

"I... So, you... saw me fall?"

I gave her another quick nod.

"And it was... out of nowhere?"

"Yeah, yeah... pretty much."

"So you... saw me... enter this world?"

"Ahh..." Ok, things just got a bit weirder. "Ahh... Mmm... Ye... How do I answer that?"

"I..." She gave me a more pleading look. "I need help. Can you help me?"

"Uh... Maybe. What... do you need?"

"I don't know where I am right now."

"Oh, that's... not good." That didn't look like a healthy fall. She could've hit her head. "Alright, I might be able to help. I'm Phil, what's your name?"

"I am Pr... My name is Celestia."

"Celestia?" I looked to her long hair. Many different colors coming together in a beautiful pattern that reached down to her hips. The colors were perfectly separated from each other. It covered one of her eyes. She... Ok yeah, she looked like Celestia. That does not help me understand this situation. "You..."

"What's wrong?" she asked me.

"Uh... You... Princess Celestia?"

"Th-That's right! So you've heard of me?

"I know... about Princess Celestia." I replied. I was starting to think that the hallucination that I just had... was not a hallucination. At the same time, I felt...

"So you have heard of me! Oh, this is such a relief. But, how could a human know who I am? Are you one of the humans that Twilight met while she was here? She didn't mention you. That... look on your face... I'm... am I wrong?"

What in the god damn...

"I'm sorry, I must seem foolish for assuming. How do you know about me?" she asked again.

Honestly, I felt sick. My stomach was knotting up. "You... ahh..."

She gave me a curious look. "So... back to before... You said that I... fell from nowhere?"

"Ahh... Yeah..."

Her gaze turned sympathetic. "I'm sorry, this must be confusing for you. I was... transported here, somehow. I don't know how it happened. Last I remember, I had lain down for my night's rest, and... I woke up here... wherever here is."

I was absolutely stunned right now. I was having trouble even formulating proper thoughts. I was stuck in the same position. If she was trying to help me make sense of this situation, she was failing.

"I... I need help getting home."

"H... H.... Home?" I stuttered out.

She nodded. "That's right. Home. To Equestria."

"Equestria?" I asked, shocked. What was happening right now?

"Yes, Equestria."

"So you... You're... Princess Celestia?"

She gave me another nod. "That's right. Do you... not believe me?"

"Well... P-Prove it." I said to her. Ha! There's no way she could prove something like this.

"What?" She looked uneasy. "But it's true! You saw me come here. I... I can't prove it. B-but... You have to believe me!"

I blinked. Wow, now I just feel mean. "I... I don't know what I saw."

"Please... I just... need to get back. The doorway may be lost soon and I don't know where it could be. I... I need help."

"I... I don't know if I can..."

She stepped towards me before letting out a yelp as she fell to her knees. She looked up at me. The pain from the fall covered her face. She groaned to herself, then stood back up, legs wobbling. "What... am I to do, then?"

She started to fall again. This time, I caught her before she landed on the ground. Her heavy body came as a surprise to me.

She stood back up on her feet, holding onto my shoulder. "Thank you. I'm... sorry." she said to me.

As she stood against me, I could finally see exactly what she looked like. I was stunned. I've never seen anyone like her. I've never seen anyone so... beautiful.

Her face was... gorgeous. She had a sexy, curvy body and she was very tall. I made a guess at about six feet even, more or less. I wasn't good at estimations, but I could see over her head, and I was 6'4". Everything about her radiated perfection and beauty. From her body, to her hair, to her eyes.

Even in the dark, I could see the power inside her deep magenta eyes. Whether she was crazy or not, this feeling was real. And... the look she was giving me... it was making me believe her. She was confident underneath her confused exterior.

I could see a sun-shaped tattoo on each of her shoulders, underneath her sleeves. Her cutie mark...

"What is it? Stop giving me those strange looks!"

I immediately looked away. I was having trouble coming up with a response.

She pulled away from me, falling back against the lightpost behind her.

"I'm... sorry..." she said to me, "I'm just... worried. I'm scared that I might be stuck here, in this world. When my student came here, she described a far different environment. You seem to know... at least... about me, so... can you help me?"

Can I help her? I've been replaying her fall over and over again in my head. She just... popped in out of the aether. And what's worse, I caught a glimpse of where she came from. A circular window... A window into another world. And if she really is who she says she is... There's not a damn thing I can do to help her. The thing is... I couldn't stop myself from believing her.

I finally mustered up the courage to say, "I... I think I can try."

She gave me a warm smile. It was a kind, genuine smile that seemed to wash all of my worries away.

"Thank you."

Her smile... Pretty didn't do it justice.

Did I really believe her? I know what I saw, but... there's just no goddamn way. That is not... feasible. In any way. There has to be an explanation for this. Should I really trust her? Should I just take her to the police?

"So who... are you?" she asked me.

"I'm Phil. Just... Phil. I... I'm... boring." I chuckled. "I work for a living. And you? You say you're Princess Celestia, but..."

"You don't believe me?"

"I don't know what to believe anymore, man." I unintentionally let a joke slip out in this serious situation.

She smiled. "Come on, don't be like that."

"Look, I wanna help you, but... how? If you're... really..." I shook my head. "I don't think anybody here can help you."

"I don't belong here. I just need to go home. To do that, I need to find this world's crystal mirror. That will let me return."

"This world's crystal mirror?"

She nodded. "That's right."

"Well... this might put a damper on your mood, but... There... There is no crystal mirror here."

"What?"

"In this world. It doesn't exist here."

"How do you know?"

"The crystal mirror doesn't connect to this world."

"What do you... mean? This is the human world, isn't it? How much exactly do you know about Equestria?"

"I know... more than you would think."

"How... much more?"

"I know about Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. I know about Twilight Sparkle and her friends in Ponyville. I know..." I briefly recounted a few of the major events in Equestria up to the first movie.

Now it was her turn to be shocked. She stared at me, wide eyed. "What? How? How is this possible?!"

"It's... a little complicated, but... Us humans have devices similar to your mirror that can... look into your world. And we can... just... watch it. Like a movie."

She looked at me as if I was the crazy one. Well, I kinda was, but that's a different story.

"So, that... that mirror that you were talking about... It wasn't just an assumption, it doesn't lead here."

"You can't know if that's true."

"Maybe. Is that how you got here?"

"I don't know. I don't see any other way I could have."

"I saw... something when you first dropped... into this world. It feels weird just saying that. I couldn't make anything out beyond, but you fell through a circle. An oval, maybe. So, it could be your mirror."

She nodded.

"I don't... Look, what I meant was that the world that Twilight Sparkle visited and this world are not one in the same."

"What do you mean?"

"That world is much different from what we have here. Equestria itself is in some sort of different reality, with its own human world. Hell, there may be an Equestrian counterpart to this world, as well."

She shook her head. "I don't believe you."

I shrugged. "Yeah that's fair. I don't even really believe it myself, anymore. Alright. What are you gonna do now that you're here?"

"What am I... going to do? I don't know. I've been on my own before, but never like this. What would you have me do?"

"Me? I... I dunno. I've never had to deal with this either."

"Well... Can you give me an option?"

"An option? Geez... You're really putting me on the spot here. Are you sure you want my opinion?"

"Anything can help."

"Well... I can't just leave you out here on your own like this. You'd probably get into trouble. So... I guess... You could... come stay with me. For... a little while. It's a... This might sound like a bit much, but... Well, you asked me, so..."

"Stay with you?"

"I don't wanna let you just wander around alone out here. If you wanna... do something else, I'll make sure you're able to find your way."

She looked to the store. It said right on the front that it was a 24 hour store, so she could go inside for temporary shelter, but she knew that it wasn't a solution.

"Look, it was the first thing that came to mind, alright?" I said, defending myself.

"I understand. It's... We've just met. I barely know you."

"Yeah, I get it. It ain't hurting my feelings none. Look, I'm tired. I don't really want to be out here right now."

"Trying to pressure me won't convince me any faster."

I sighed. "You know that I don't have to help you, right?"

"Ah! No! Don't say that! I'm sorry." She sighed. "You don't... seem bad, at least."

I just wanted to go home... "That's a start."

"Why were you out at this hour?"

"Just shopping. My buddy told me that there was this sale on this set of headphones, and I've been wanting to try them out for a while, so I stopped in."

"At this hour?"

I shrugged. "Ended tonight. He told me too late, I freaking missed it."

She nodded, but it seemed like she expected me to say something else. "Tell me... what else you know about Equestria. What do you know about... me? How am I portrayed in your... movies?"

"I... It's been a while since I've seen it, so I might be a bit off on this, but..." I took in a breath. "You maintain a healthy and benevolent rule over your kingdom alongside your sister, Luna. You're always kind to all of the ponies that you meet, though you're not afraid to poke fun at them as well. You do what has to be done for the good of your kingdom, even through great sacrifice. You're powerful, you're wise, you're kind-hearted and slow to anger. You're..." I looked to her. "You're majestic. You're commanding, even in the most trying of situations. Your voice always carries weight. You're... You're a Princess... and you're so much more..."

She chuckled again. "You're making me blush... It's nice to hear such things from a complete stranger." She looked to the store again, then back to me. After a long period of silence, she finally said, "Very well. I accept your offer."

"You... Really? Well, that... Alright... Wow, I didn't expect... Alright, then."

She nodded. "It's already quite late and I've been woken from my night's rest. I would like a place to sleep soundly tonight and would prefer being near someone who, at the very least, knew who I was."

I gave her a small smile. "Makes sense." I gestured to my nearby car. "C'mon, I'll take you."

She stared at it, hesitant. "Is it... safe?"

"Course it is. How do ya think I got here?"

"I suppose... Alright. Um... I'm sorry to ask this, but... can you help me to it? I haven't yet figured out how to walk on two legs."

"Yeah, no problem."

I approached her and had her hold onto my shoulder as I walked her to the passenger side of the car. It seemed like her knees still stung from the fall.

I opened the door for her. She hesitated once more.

"Are you having second thoughts?"

"No, I..."

"It's normal to be cautious, you know." I paused. "I'd imagine, at least. Like I said, I haven't..."

She chuckled. "Right."

She grabbed onto the car and sat down in the seat. I closed the door after her. She watched me closely as I rounded the front of the car to get into the driver's side.

After I sat in my seat and buckled myself in, I told her to do the same. She pulled the seatbelt over herself, copying what I did to latch it. Wearing seatbelts, much like democracy, is non-negotiable.

I smiled to myself. I think I made a new friend. That, or I was crazy. I'd prefer the first one.

She stared at the dashboard as it lit up, amazed by the perceived complexity of it. She had absolutely no idea what was happening, and for some reason, she seemed to enjoy it.

As I started driving, she sunk back into her seat, holding it tightly.

"Don't worry, I've been doing this for a while."

She let out a quiet noise to signify that she understood, but still looked frightened. "There's certainly a difference between being in control and having someone take you somewhere." she said.

I left the parking lot. There were very few cars compared to the ones parked in the area, but there were so many other lights and buildings. She seemed a little overwhelmed. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"I used to always think that I was superb at determining one's character, but ever since the incident at the royal wedding, I found myself doubting my own abilities. If I were to have second thoughts, you'd let me out, right?"

"Course I would. Who do you take me for?"

"Thank you, Phil. For putting my mind at ease."

"Uh... Sure."

She chuckled nervously. "I probably should've asked that before getting in."

Walmart was a few miles from my home. I gave Celestia specific directions as I drove, which she listened to carefully. She took in the sights of the town, no doubt trying to memorize the layout in case she needed to return on her own. Midway through the trip, we crossed one of the bridges over the river that ran through town, splitting it into east and west sides. My house was on the west.

As we pulled down my street, Celestia noticed the darkness of the area. There were no streetlights here. The only thing that illuminated the area were my headlights and the uncommon house light.

I pulled into my driveway, then gestured to my house and said, "That's it. It's gonna get dark when I turn my car off. Just so you know."

She nodded at me. I turned the car off. As I said, dark. There wasn't much of a moon above us to brighten the area. She did as I did, unbuckling and opening the door. She stood up, bracing herself against the car as she did. Her legs wobbled a little, but she managed to stay up.

I walked over to her, offering to help. She accepted the offer and grabbed my shoulder again. I walked her to my door and opened it so we could go in. I immediately flicked on the light. She gave the room a quick examination.

"Here, go ahead and sleep here for tonight." I said to her, leading her to the couch next to the door. She took a look at it, then hesitantly sat down. Aside from a small coffee stain on the bottom of one of the cushions, it was a clean couch. At least, as clean as it should be for being four years old.

She watched me intently, on edge. It looked like she was ready to run at the first sign of danger. That's fair.

"You know, I'm hoping you're actually real." I said to her, "Cause if you're not, then I probably need to talk to a shrink."

"Well, in that case, you have nothing to worry about."

"That's the spirit. You know... You being... Celestia and all... That would mean that you really are trapped here."

"What do you mean?"

"Like I said earlier, the crystal mirror you were talking about is a magical item from your world. There is no Canterlot High or anything like that in this world. The statue that Twilight came through doesn't exist. Unless someone like your sister can find you, I don't think there's any way for you to get home."

"How can you be sure about this?"

I didn't want to say that it was because she was fake and that this was all a figment of my imagination caused by finally going insane. Something like that would ruin the mood. "I..." I sighed. "I dunno. I guess I can't really prove it. And with you just... being here, I'm not entirely certain of anything right now. I just wish there was more I could do for you. I know my house isn't much, but it's about the only thing I think I can offer you."

She gave me a smile and a slow nod. "It's just fine, Phil. Really. I'm grateful for your help. But..." She frowned. "The way that you keep trying to convince me that... there's no way for me to get home... Is it... true? You're not... lying... are you?"

I solemnly shook my head. "No, I'm not."

She let out a short sigh. "Perhaps you're right. I don't... sense anything magical about this world. I don't even sense my own magic. All this happening at once... It's not..." She looked down.

Seeing her like this made my heart feel heavy. I took a step towards her. Then another. She stared at me as I moved. I lowered myself down to her level. She gave me a curious look.

I gave her a hug. She gasped in response. Her arms slowly raised and her hands lightly touched my back. She was hesitant, but didn’t seem displeased about this.

I pulled away. "Sorry. You just really seemed like you needed that. I'm gonna... I'm gonna go to bed, alright? So... Goodnight, Princess."

"Good... Goodnight. And... thank you."

I nodded, then went to my room. After a brief call to my boss's answering machine to say I wasn't showing up tomorrow, I went to sleep.
> Chapter 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

August 22



Today, like any other monday, I woke to the sound of my phone's alarm. It's been the same thing since I got it two years ago. Right now, it was just the worst sound in the world. I was up too late.

My phone had a message on it. My boss said it was fine if I stayed home, so I basically woke up for nothing. I heard the sound of rain on the roof.

I walked out to the living room with a yawn. Oh yeah... Her... She was sleeping soundly on the couch, a thin, warm blanket covering her. This wasn't normal. Not at all.

Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?

I wanted to talk to her again, but I didn't want to wake her just yet. I can wait.

With nothing else to do, I took a quick shower and put on some fresh clothes. With consideration to my guest, I brought my clothes into the bathroom before I showered.

She was still asleep when I returned. Guess I'll just get something to eat.

I went into the kitchen and made myself a bowl of cereal. The soft pitter-patter of rain against the house and the clanking of my metal spoon against the glass bowl were all I could hear. I poured another bowl and finished it off before drinking the milk and rinsing it out in the sink.

I was just waiting for her to wake up. Waiting... waiting... waiting... This is creepy. I grabbed a chair and opened my laptop. If I looked like I wasn't watching her sleep, it wouldn't be as creepy, right?

She stirred some time later. She rubbed her eyes and stared at her hands, probably still questioning whether this was real. She looked to me.

"Good morning." I said to her.

"Good morning." She sat up, her blanket falling into her lap. Her hair had lost some of yesterday's brilliance. She gave off a yawn and looked at me with tired eyes. "I'm still a human."

An astute observation. "Sleep well?"

"Yes, actually. Your couch was surprisingly comfortable."

"I know, right? So... let's talk." I set my laptop down and looked at her. This time, I was waiting for her to start.

She rubbed her eyes again and stretched her body out. "Alright." She yawned. "You wouldn't have happened to think of anything for me, would you?"

"Not really."

"Mmm... Nothing?"

"I was tired."

"Can you think of anything, now?"

"I guess. Uh... I mean, you were pretty set on looking for that mirror, yesterday. Even if we looked, it was just too late, you know?"

"I understand."

"But aside from that, I got nothing. If it's not where you showed up from, there's no way you're finding it."

"Why do you say that?

"It's a... big town for that. It could be anywhere."

She looked down, then back to me. "Do you think that there's a way for me to go back to Equestria?"

I stared at her for a short while before answering, "No."

"Then what should I do?"

"I dunno. Not much you really can do."

"Do I just stay with you?"

"If you want. You're still free to leave."

"That's not what I meant. I'm grateful for this, truly. I'm just worried.

"Yeah, I get it."

"I don't want to impose on you, Phil."

"It's no problem to me. Just don't break anything."

She smiled. "Thank you. I'm grateful that you've brought me here."

"Well, I couldn't just leave a crying lady alone in the middle of the night like that."

"I wasn't crying."

"You were a little."

"I hurt my knees." she replied.

"Fair enough." I looked to her legs and noticed small bloodstains on her pants. "Do you wanna... clean those up, or... put a... bandage on them? I can get you..."

"Hmm?" She looked down to her knees, then she reached down and began pulling up her pant legs. Her pants were loose around her legs, so they easily slid past her knees. There was a lot of dried blood on them. She licked her thumb and wiped some of it away. "It's nothing to worry about."

"Sure?"

She nodded, smiling at me. "Thank you for worrying about me, though." She covered herself back up.

"You know Celestia... you scare me a bit."

"Hmm? Why? How could I scare you? You're a lot bigger than I am."

"'Cause you're not supposed to be here. I don't wanna be responsible for ya, you know? What if you get hurt?"

She gave me a sympathetic smile. "I know. I'm sorry. I don't mean to cause you trouble."

"I know, it's just weird for me. I don't usually have guests, as you can imagine. Especially ones as important as you."

"I am no more important a guest than a friend."

Yeah, that's gonna convince me. "Well... at least we're friends, then."

She smiled. "But... You're not alone when you say you're scared. I can't use magic here. I can't contact my sister. If we aren't able to find the crystal mirror, I may not even be able to go back home at all. It makes me feel so... helpless."

"You'll go back soon, Princess. You'll see." I smiled at her.

She chuckled. "You may have had an easier time convincing me if you had not been trying to convince me that the crystal mirror doesn't exist just last night."

"Sorry. Hey, I know what'll cheer you up! Ice cream!"

"Ice cream?" She smiled and started to laugh. "Ice cream... That sounds wonderful."

"Great! Wait here."

I went back out to the kitchen, pulling out some bowls and spoons. I retrieved a half-eaten tub of cookie dough ice cream from the freezer in the bottom of the fridge.

I tried to scoop some out, but only ended up bending the spoon. I showed the spoon to Celestia. She giggled. I liked that sound. I bent it back into shape before filling two bowls for us.

I returned to her, handing her one. She thanked me for it and grabbed a spoon. She slid over on the couch, pulling the blanket with her, then smiled at me, gesturing to the empty spot with a hand. I sat down next to her, making sure I was closer to the edge than I was to her. I still wasn't sure whether it was alright if I was close to her, yet.

I found myself glancing at her every so often. I'm sure she noticed my looks. She was cute from this angle...

After a while of the two of us sitting in silence, I retrieved my laptop. She stared at the screen as I opened it again.

"This is a computer." I told her, "Specifically a laptop. For use on the top of your lap." I smirked.

"Computer? I believe my student mentioned them before..."

"Hmm... Let me see... How can I explain it? It's a personal data storing and accessing device. That's not a very good explanation..." I opened up the 'computer' article on Wikipedia and gave it to her. "Careful, it's kind of expensive."

She silently read what the screen said, then looked at the keyboard. She tapped the down arrow and more text appeared. Lucky guess.

"This is a lot to take in. You humans are amazing." She intently read the article. "I don't even know some of these words."

"There's a lot more information than that on just about everything. See that bar up there?" I pointed to the URL bar. "That tells you what website you're on. Uh... It tells you what database you have accessed. Right now, you're on Wikipedia, which is... what was it... It's pretty much the most complete public knowledge database. The world's best free encyclopedia."

"I hope you're not expecting me to know what you're talking about."

"Right..." I chuckled, slightly embarrassed.

She continued her reading.

Explaining computers and Wikipedia to someone who didn't know what they were... She wasn't stupid, she just simply didn't know about them.

What is the ruler of Equestria doing on earth anyways? She doesn't really seem to mind being here, but she was all sad earlier. Why's this pretty lady in my house? Did I die or something? This has to be some kind of divine punishment.

As she studied the article, I studied her. Normal. Almost normal. In terms of looks, not normal at all. Her beauty was beyond any normal woman. She was an amazon of a woman with a prominent figure and well endowed features. Hehe... Boobies...

She seemed content right now, but I was sure some distress was circling around in the back of her mind.

"You're staring at me." she said, glancing over to me. It didn't even sound like she cared that I was staring.

"Sorry." I looked away.

She seemed happy enough. Her smile alone brightened my mood.

"Why am I here?" she suddenly asked, "I don't mean this world, but here, in your house. I don't mean any offense by this, but you don't seem to be all that special. Why were you the one to find me?"

"I dunno. Maybe you got lucky. Or unlucky. Maybe I got lucky. Could be there's no reason."

"I'm beginning to think the same thing. But... Why here? And why now?"

I shrugged. "I dunno. What was the last thing you remember?"

"It was just another normal day. I bid my sister goodnight and I had fallen asleep. There was nothing out of the ordinary."

"Nothing?"

"Nothing. There hasn't even been any news with my student. You know, she gets into a surprising amount of trouble for a mare of her age." She chuckled.

"Do you think something she did had anything to do with it?"

"I couldn't say. If anyone would have something to do with this, I would suspect Discord, but I don't think even he has the power to do something like this."

I shrugged. "Yeah, I couldn't say either."

"Will I live here with you until I can return?"

"That's up to you, really."

"What if I'm stuck in this world forever?"

I shrugged. "Welcome to the family."

"Welcome to... You can't adopt me, you don't even know me!"

"It'd probably be easier just to marry you, honestly."

"You're not marrying me!"

I started to laugh. She smiled, then joined me.

Soon enough, she gave the laptop back to me and stood up. She stretched herself out. "Do you have anything for me to eat? Other than ice cream."

"Yeah, there's some stuff. The cupboard by the fridge has food in it. Just pick something that looks good, I guess."

She started walking towards the kitchen, then paused. "Do humans... eat meat?"

"Yeah."

"Ponies don't eat meat. We're very close to our animals. They're... our friends. They're the same as us. Our diet is vegetarian."

"And copious amounts of sweets." I added.

She chuckled. "I'd rather avoid eating any sort of meat, if I could."

"Oh yeah, no problem. I still got plenty of stuff that you'll like. Probably."

"Thank you."

She walked through the doorway. I picked up our two now-empty bowls and followed her. I rinsed them out as she opened the fridge.

I didn't typically buy extravagant or expensive food and the fridge was usually just filled with essentials. There was an old pizza in there, though. Old pizza sounds kinda good, actually. I joined her.

"This is almost depressing." she said to me as I grabbed a piece from the box.

"Really?"

"Is this all you have?"

"I eat when I'm bored and if I have a lot of food in here, I'll just eat it all at once and I'll get fat and lazy."

She chuckled. "You and I are the same in that regard. I suppose I expected more. The royal kitchen is filled to the brim with the best of the best, but here, I wouldn't be surprised to see mold."

"Hey, that's rude." I took a bite of my cold pizza. "I don't let my food get moldy."

"Your pizza is moldy."

I looked at it with my jaw hanging, disgusted that I hadn't noticed. She let out a small laugh.

"You've swindled me."

"Sorry." she said, a pleasant smile on her face.

"The meat's in there." I pointed to the drawer. "So avoid that. And veggies are in the one next to it. I don't think I have any fruit right now." I got myself a glass of apple juice while she reached into the pizza box.

She inspected it, then took a bite. "Better than I thought it would be."

"It's better fresh."

"One would think." She closed the door.

The two of us just stood there, eating our cold pizza together. It was an excellent bonding exercise.

"So the rest..." She swallowed the piece in her mouth. "Sorry. So the rest of your food is in here?" She pointed to the cupboard next to the fridge.

"Yep. And, uh... cereal in there." I pointed to the cupboard underneath and to the right of the sink. "And... ramen and mac and cheese and... Well, just bigger boxes."

"What's in this one?" She pointed to the one above the microwave.

"You can look, you don't need my permission to open the cupboards in the kitchen."

She smiled like a kid in a candy shop. Almost immediately, she started to go through the cupboards, learning where stuff was if she needed it.

"Having... fun?"

"Uh..." She closed the cupboard she had opened. "Sorry. I got excited."

"Over cups and forks?"

She gave off a small, embarrassed laugh. "It's not every day I see the inside of someone's house. I'm usually never in the kitchen, especially when I'm away from the castle. But this is... Well, it's a little disappointing."

"Hey."

"Sorry." She gave me a small smile. "I just expected more. Do you enjoy living like this?"

"Do I enjoy it? What kind of a question is that? Course I enjoy it." I rinsed out my empty cup and put it upside-down in the sink. "Anyways, if you want more food, I can head to the store for ya. It'd be nice if you had some things to snack on while you're here, eh?"

She nodded, staring at me as she took another bite of her pizza.

"You seem to be taking this rather well."

She blinked. "Well... I don't see a point in worrying."

"Mmm... Yeah, I guess. Are you worried?"

"Oh, of course I am! But if I showed it, it would worry you. I don't want to worry you after you've been so nice to me."

"You're very... direct about that."

She just smiled at me.

"Alright, if you say so." I... guess she has her reasons for telling me.

"Besides, it's not all bad. I get to experience a whole new world for myself. My student could never have described this well enough."

"She couldn't have described middle class living well enough?"

She lifted the crust of the pizza she had eaten and looked to it. "Could you describe the taste of cold, day-old pizza?" She took another bite.

"I... doubt it. You sure you wanna be eating pizza leftovers for breakfast? Normal people eat cereal or toast or something."

She chuckled. She finished off her piece and retrieved another from the box.

"You know, not even I eat pizza for breakfast, weirdo."

"Wh... You just had a piece!"

"That was lunch."

She curiously raised an eyebrow. "How long were you awake before I was?"

I shrugged. "I dunno. Like an hour. Two, maybe."

"And you were just... staring at me as I slept?"

"A little bit."

She blinked. "A little bit?"

"Just a little. I was on my laptop."

"Why were you... staring at me?"

"You're cute when you're sleeping."

She stifled a laugh. "I don't know whether to feel flattered or uncomfortable."

"I'd accept both as an answer."

She gave me a small smile in response.

"Are you sure you're alright with living here, Princess? I mean, it ain't exactly a castle."

"That's what you're worried about? It's not a problem to me."

"Well..." I shrugged. "If you say so."

"It's not like I've always lived in a castle, you know. In fact, before my sister and I discovered the Elements of Harmony, we were almost peasants."

"That so?"

"Well, it was primarily due to Discord's reign, but yes."

I nodded. "Is your sister gonna be fine without you?"

"She is a fine leader in her own right, but without me by her side, there's no way of telling how things will fare." She sighed. "It's sudden, but I know she's capable. Equestria is capable."

I smiled at her. "That's the spirit."

She gave me a small smile. She turned and opened the fridge, then got another piece of pizza from the box.

She took a bite before turning towards the doorway. As she ate, she began wandering through my house. I followed her around. There wasn't a lot she could look for. It was a one bedroom, one bathroom home with a basement. Even so, she explored the house that she had slept in. It seemed like she was habitually attempting to use magic to grab things and open doors, only to be disappointed when she failed.

I saw that she was bracing herself against the walls as she walked. Seemed that she wasn't used to her new body, yet.

It wasn't long before she reached my room. She looked inside the open door, then to me. I nodded at her, giving her permission to go in. A bed, a nightstand, and a dresser. Notably boring. I walked in after her, noticing a brief look of disappointment on her face.

She looked at my closet door, then to me.

"Nah, nothing in there that you'd be interested in. Besides, something could fall on you if you open it."

She shrugged, then continued to look around.

She looked at another door in the front room, but I think the excitement had already ran out. It was just my basement. I had a desktop computer and a washing machine and dryer down there. And another couch.

"You seem disappointed." I said to her.

She sighed. "I know it's not my place to say this, but your house is boring."

I shrugged. "It's practical."

"Why is this door so thick? The other doors are rather thin. It doesn't even match the style of your home."

"Extra protection. My valuables are down there. You can check it out, if you want."

"Mmm... Perhaps later. I don't mean to be rude, but I would like to try to find the crystal mirror, today."

I nodded. "Alright. The earlier we start looking, the better."

"That's right. I feel I've wasted enough of my time already." She paused. "I don't mean any offense."

"No prob. So... do you have any way of locating it, or..."

She shook her head. "No, no I don't. And... it worries me. What if we can't find it?"

"I dunno."

She frowned at me.

"I mean, like I said, you can stay here all you want. But if you don't have any way of finding it, then... What, should we just drive around town for a while?"

She nodded. "I want to think that I would be able to sense it if I'm near. I could in Equestria, over a rather impressive distance. If there's a chance that we could find it..."

"I get it, I get it. I'll help you."

"Thank you."

I smiled. "Come on, let's find that mirror. Where should we go first, do you think?"

"Hmm... My student first arrived near a high school, so perhaps we could start with that."

"Sounds good. Are you... ready to go, now?"

She nodded.

"Alright, I'll be just a second."

I moved to my room to retrieve my keys and phone. With these, I was ready to go.

I helped Celestia to the car, locking the door behind us out of habit. I paid attention to the Princess as she walked. If she needed help, I was ready. Fortunately, the short trip from the house to the car proved to be of little issue to her, though the swinging arms did worry me a bit.

Celestia did not like my car. She was hesitant to even touch it. "Are you... absolutely sure that this is safe?" she asked me.

"I drove fine last night, didn't I?"

"I don't know. Yes?"

"Well, you don't exactly have much of a choice for transportation."

"I suppose." She got in, same as yesterday.

I opened my door, then paused as I saw the white bag sitting on the backseat. I forgot last night's purchase in here. Oh well. I hid it under my seat.

The engine noises fascinated Celestia. As I drove, she looked all around, almost like a kid, taking in all the details around her.

"Alright, the school I'm taking you too isn't too far away." I told her.

"Is it one you attended?"

"Yep. Then we got another high school across town from it, so we can head there, next."

"It couldn't hurt."

I gestured to a large building as I pulled into the parking lot across the street, as if it wasn't obvious already. The lot was fairly empty. Has school started? It is August... I guess not.

"That's the school?" she asked, "I saw it on the way to your home, but I couldn't have imagined..."

"Getting out?"

She looked to me, then nodded. She undid her buckle and opened her door. I turned off the car and joined her. I leaned against the car as she looked at the building.

"Looks like school just started." I said to her.

"So, how big is this building?" she asked me, looking to the top.

"It's four floors, counting the basement. Over there's the gym." I pointed to the end of the building. "We have two swimming pools, an outdoor jogging track, and a football field."

"How many students attend this school?"

"Around 1500, I think."

"1500 students..."

"To our left, that big, grassy field over there, that's also part of the school. The whole thing takes up about four city blocks."

"Impressive..."

"You can get closer, if you want."

"I... suppose."

I followed her as she walked towards the school.

"So how long did you attend this school?"

"Four years. Favorite had to be year three, when I was in eleventh grade. I had AP chem, and the most I remember out of it was our teacher telling us a scary story during Halloween."

"Is that so? Did you even pass?"

"Yeah. It was pretty hard, but I guess it just wasn't for me. But that was a long time ago. Nowadays, high school is the last thing on my mind."

She chuckled.

"What?" I asked.

"Oh, nothing..."

We stopped at the street between the building and the lot, looking up at it.

"It's weird being this close to the school." I said, "I mean, it's not exactly out of my way, but still."

"It's a strange nostalgic feeling, isn't it..."

"Yeah, something like that. Think the mirror's here?"

"I don't know. I don't feel anything."

"So, this isn't the place?"

"Perhaps not. Let's try the other high school."

"Alright."

The next school was on the other side of town, near the hospital. At least, that's how I remembered it. I've never actually been there, myself.

As I pulled into the parking lot, I asked her, "Any luck?"

She sighed. "No..."

"Aw..."

"Perhaps it's near where you first found me. Near... I believe it was called... Walmart."

"Good idea."

She sighed as she looked out the window. Her voice sounded almost sad. I think she was losing faith in this. I didn't like seeing her like this.

I took a specific route to get back to Wal-Mart to show her where the hospital was. It never hurts to know where the hospital is. Unfortunately, it was on the other side of town from my house. What if I got a booboo?

I pulled into the parking lot and found a place for us to park. She looked to the building and to the people moving about the lot.

Celestia got out. I did as well. She stood with a hand on the car, looking around the area. She took a few steps forward, walking around to the front of the car.

"Anything?" I asked, joining her.

"No, nothing..."

"That's a shame..."

Hmm... Now that I think about it, she could be with me for a while. If she spends more than a few days here, she'll need a change of clothes.

I asked her about it, and her reply surprised me.

"Couldn't I wear your clothing?" she asked, "They may be a little big, but it would mean that you wouldn't have to spend any more on me than you need to."

"What? That's kinda weird."

"Is there... something wrong with that? Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't know. Is... Is that a human thing?" She seemed worried that she may have offended me.

"No, it's not... I just didn't expect you to be so..." I didn't really have a word for it right now.

"I don't want to be more of a burden than I already am. As long as your clothing has been cleaned, it should be fine for me to wear it."

"Really? What if they don't fit?"

"You're much bigger than I am. Why would they not fit?"

"Ah... You..." Bigger chest, wider hips. "You'd still need underwear, anyways."

"Don't you have underwear that I could wear?"

"Ok, now that is weird."

She chuckled. "I suppose you're right."

"Besides, you'd still need bras."

"What's a bra?"

I paused for a moment. Right... "Ah... Well... Your bra is what holds your... uh... Your bra holds your boobs."

"Boobs?"

I blinked. I didn't think this one through. "O-On your chest. Your... uh... Your chest, your..."

She looked down to her chest. "You mean these?" she asked, poking the side of her breast, "They're heavy..."

"Celestia."

"So... a bra holds my... boobs. So, this is a bra?" She reached underneath the collar of her shirt and tugged on her bra strap, making her chest jiggle.

"Yes, that's a bra. Please don't do that in public." I said to her. I felt really awkward right now.

"Oh..."

"Your bra supports your boobies."

She let out a small laugh. "Boobies... What a funny word. Mine seem bigger than many of the women here. Is that normal?"

"I..."

"What's with that look? Is it not normal?"

"I feel like you're messing with me."

"I'm not!"

I gave her a small smile, then sighed. "Yes, it's normal. But yours are still... pretty big..."

"W-Well, is that normal?" she asked me.

"Yes, it's normal."

"Well, it doesn't feel normal. It feels like they're weighing me down."

"You're just gonna have to live with that."

"I suppose."

"Either way, you'd probably like pants that actually fit you. And shirts. And... I guess you could use a robe, too."

"That does sound nice. Thank you. Is this... really necessary, though?"

I shrugged. "I dunno. Think of it this way, you'll get to experience human clothing first hand."

"When you put it like that, it seems more exciting."

"There you go. Ready to head in?"

She looked back to the building. "I'm ready."

"You're not gonna fall over again, are you?"

"I... certainly hope not. You'll catch me if I do, right?"

"I'll try."

As we walked towards the building, Celestia took slow, careful strides. Like before, I was ready to catch her if she fell. She looked up at the building in awe as we walked in.

She was almost clung to me while we walked through the store, as if she were scared. Her hand held the cart almost the entire time. She didn't seem confident enough to walk without holding onto something. I'd certainly have trouble walking if I suddenly went from a life of four legs to two...

This wasn't any different from normal shopping, though I did feel pretty excited with Celestia in tow. She made a normal shopping trip into something much different. She studied the foods as we walked isle to isle and studied the people we passed. With all these new things to see, a smile was on her face the entire time.

After I had picked out the food, it was time to pick out clothes for her. In hindsight, clothing should've been first. I brought her to the clothing section.

"Since we don't know how long you'll be staying with me, I guess you should pick out a few sets."

"Phil, I don't need all this. It's alright."

"Well... just think of it as a gift, then. I mean, we're not exactly at the most luxurious place, here. You're hardly gonna break the bank."

"A gift? If you're sure..."

Celestia looked at the clothing available to her. After a while, she picked out one shirt because she liked the design and a few cheap pairs of pants, along with a skirt after seeing that one of the mannequins was wearing one. She was like a kid in a candy shop.

"Just one shirt? Are you really gonna wear my clothes, Celestia?"

"Well, yes. There's no need to get any more."

I sighed. "Fine. Think those will fit?"

"I have no idea!" she excitedly said, a smile on her face.

"Alright, well there's a changing room over there. You can try on what you got there."

"Oh, how useful."

"And make sure you're comfortable in them."

"I know how to wear clothing, Phil."

I actually had no idea where the changing room was. Thankfully, there were signs posted to lead us to it.

There was a lady who worked here sitting just outside the changing station, watching for people who might want to snatch clothes. She smiled at us. We smiled back. Celestia took the clothes she picked out into the room. After a while, she came back, new clothes in her arms.

"Pick the right size?" I asked.

She shook her head. "The pants were all too tight. I'll need to try a different size. I noticed something about the clothes I'm wearing, though. They don't have any size tags. The new clothes do, but these do not."

"Really? Weird."

She nodded. "I'll be back with new pants, wait here."

"You can leave the old ones here with me." said the lady at the counter.

"Oh, thank you."

"You gonna be ok on your own?" I asked as she returned them.

"I'll be fine. I've been walking for a while, now."

I waited near the counter as she left, like she said. I could see her head above the rows of clothing as she picked out some new pants. She was still a bit shaky as she walked, but she had gotten better. She returned after a short while, this time with pants that fit her.

She placed the clothes into the cart. Next was underwear... She just smiled at me. She knew... I've never bought lady's underwear before. Celestia has never bought lady's underwear before, either. Well, she might have...

"I think the women's underwear is over there." I said, vaguely gesturing back towards the woman's clothing section.

"Would you like to help me pick some out?"

I blinked, surprised. "N-No..."

She smiled. "Sorry. You're easy to embarass."

I turned to the lady and asked if she could help Celestia. At first, she refused, but with some convincing from Celestia, she changed her mind.

Celestia did that on purpose...

After she returned, Celestia was smiling at me, clothes in her arms. She also had a bathrobe, like I had suggested.

She dumped her new delicates into the cart. I took a brief look, but it wasn't too exciting. I've seen it all before. The thought that this lady would be wearing them, though... We were done shopping, as far as I knew. I just trusted her judgement that she got the right size. I started towards the front of the store, Celestia in tow.

"She told me that the bras may not fit me. We may have to come back at a later date."

"Could be."

"This was fun. We should come here often."

"You sure are cheerful for someone trapped in a different world."

"If I'm going to remain here, then I may as well enjoy myself. Is there something wrong with it?"

"Nah, I guess not." That's not what I meant. She probably just didn't want to worry me. "Glad to see you cheerful."

She smiled. "Thank you. For that and for... this." She gestured to the cart.

We got a few looks from the others in the store. Celestia smiled at everyone as we passed. We checked out and headed home.

The two of us got out of the car. "Go ahead and head inside." I said to her, handing her my keys. The house key was singled out so she knew which one it was.

"Are you sure? You don't want me to help?"

I shrugged. "If you want."

She joined me in unloading the car. Her wobbliness had slowly disappeared throughout the day. Now, she was confident enough to help me carry groceries inside. This time, I remembered the bag from last night.

Celestia was in the front room, her bags of clothes sitting on the coffee table. She took out the shirt that she had bought and looked at the front of it. I had just finished putting the food away.

"Where should I store these?"

"Oh. Good question. Uh... I guess I could clear out a drawer in my dresser for you. That'd probably be the easiest way to do it. Here, bring 'em in."

I moved to my room and removed the top drawer of my dresser, then dumped it into one of the lower drawers. After I was done, she began neatly placing her clothes inside.

"This had been surprisingly fun." she said to me as she put the clothes away.

"Fun? That so?"

"I've been enjoying myself in this world. With you." She smiled.

"Oh... Well, that's nice to hear." I had a smile of my own.

"Now that I have new clothing, I'm free to bathe, yes?" she asked.

"Uh... Yeah. Just make sure to lock the door behind you."

"And my old clothing?"

"Just toss 'em downstairs."

"Alright. Thank you, again, for this."

With that, she grabbed her new robe and walked into the bathroom. I could hear the water running.

I sat on the couch. She was so nice...

Now that I was alone with my own thoughts, I think the reality of my situation was starting to set in. I stared blankly at the wall. The nicest, most beautiful woman in the world is using my bathtub. Nothing about that sentence was normal. And as for who it was... No answer would satisfy me.

I sighed. Looking for an answer would just cause me more headaches. Caught in a landslide, no escape from reality.

It felt strange just waiting for her to get out. I didn't have anything else to do. Eventually, she walked back out, wearing her new robe, a towel on her head. Her old clothes were in her arms. She opened the basement door and threw her clothes down. I have never actually seen anybody wear a robe in real life...

"Certainly not something I do often." she said to me, closing the door. She smiled at me before going into my room and closing the door.

She soon came back out, fully clothed, drying off her wet hair with the towel. Compared to before, her pants were tighter around her hips and her shirt was tighter around her chest. Her feet were bare.

"I suppose they're comfortable. A bit small, maybe. I liked my old clothes, better."

"Hey Celestia..." I said to her, "Are you really alright with this?"

"Hmm? You mean the clothes? It's alright. As I've said..."

"No, about... just... About being here. Staying here with me. Are you sure you're alright with this?"

She gave me a caring smile. "It's fine, Phil. You don't have to worry about me. I do appreciate it, but it's unnecessary." She sat next to me on the couch. "So, tell me, is this... all you do?" she asked.

"Hmm? Oh. I do stuff. You know, like chores and... games and... stuff... I go to work."

"Seems like a dull lifestyle. Do you spend time with your friends, often?"

"Often enough. I talk to them alot. You know, play games with them."

"That's good to hear."

"So, now that you've gotten a change of clothes and you're freshly bathed, are you ready to head back out into the world?"

"I... want to think over what I've been through so far. Now that we've returned, I would like to rest. It's been an exciting day. We can continue our search tomorrow."

"You sure? It's still kinda early."

She nodded.

"Well, ok."

She smiled at me. What a nice smile...

"Hey, just so you know, tomorrow I gotta get back to work." I said to her.

"Oh... What... do I do?"

"I dunno. You can use my laptop if you get bored. You're probably gonna get bored fast, here."

"Actually, it's more exciting than Equestria usually is."

"Ah, if you say so. I can, uh... I can sleep out here. You can take the room."

"Phil, I'm not..." She paused, then smiled. "Thank you. That's very kind of you."

"If you'll excuse me, I have some things to do."

"Hmm?"

"Chores."

"Oh. How exciting." Wonderful sarcasm.

I shrugged, then stood up and headed to the kitchen. She got up and followed after me, watching what I did. Dishes led to other basic housework. She watched me as I worked, usually standing out of the way. She seemed interested in what I was doing, even if it wasn't that interesting.

Towards the end of the day, I gave her a new toothbrush so she could brush. As she went to bed, she kept her smile on her face as she disappeared into my bedroom. She was happy, so I was happy.

Yeah... I'm crazy.
> Chapter 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

August 23



So... Princess Celestia was living at my house. Princess Celestia... was living at my house. I'm... Do I need to see a therapist?

Thankfully, as far as I could tell, she liked it here. She and I had become friends. I never imagined that I'd even get to talk to a Princess, let alone become one's friend. It was nice, and not just because she was a Princess, but because I found a new friend.

As we talked about last night, our plan involved going through the town to find her mirror. Since I had work, we could only do it in the evening. With a town like this though, there was no way we could cover it all within three days. Still, in hopes of keeping her spirits up, I'll do my best to help her. Or... I'll try to do my best.

Celestia gave me a pleasant smile as I returned home. I gave her one of my own. I noticed that my laptop was in her arms.

"Hello, Phil."

"Hey, Celestia."

"I'm ready to go, if you are." she said to me.

I looked her up and down. "You don't even have socks on."

She looked down to her feet. "Oh, right... One moment." She stood up and disappeared into my bedroom, passing by me as if she had already settled into her new life.

I looked to my laptop. What was she doing on it? With her in my room, donning a pair of socks, I sat on the couch and opened it up. Oh, she was googling herself... Giggity...

The open page was the Princess Celestia article on the My Little Pony wikia. The search history showed that she had looked up herself on the internet and found this site. She did quite a bit of research about Equestria, as well. It showed me that she was studying this world, as well. She looked up the history of the world, though I don't know how far she got.

She was also looking up cake recipes. To each their own.

"It's a strange feeling." she said, surprising me a little.

I looked up to her. She's so big, how did I not notice her returning? It's probably the socks...

"To see something dedicated to knowledge about my world in another. There's even some I didn't know myself. It's almost like I'm spying on my subjects, don't you think?"

I shrugged.

She chuckled. "Sorry. I'm ready to go, now."

I set the laptop down and closed it. "Alright. I'm gonna grab a snack, then we can head out."

I went to the kitchen. Celestia was not a picky eater, by any means. Most of my snacks have disappeared overnight. There was no chocolate anywhere in this house anymore. The chips had taken a hit as well. The trash can was full of cellophane packaging. The boxes that the chocolate came in had been neatly folded up and placed into the recycling bin that I kept near the fridge. Who would do such a thing...

I grabbed a banana and munched it down. An easy snack. I returned to the front room, keys in hand, and we left to the car. She had gotten much better at walking while I was gone.

"Where are we going today?" she asked me, a smile on her face.

"Well, I thought I would take you downtown this time. There's a lot to see down there."

"That means that there are a lot of places to hide the crystal mirror."

I just gave her a small smile.

I drove us downtown, showing her where the police station was on the way. She glared at it as we passed, knowing that it would create a lot of complications for her if she were to involve herself with them. As we passed through, the air smelled heavily of burnt metal. A metalworking factory was just a street away, crossing the state border into Illinois.

The downtown area was almost like an outdoor mall. Stores lined the streets for quite a while, stopping a ways down. Not just stores, though. Tax places, a few banks, many restaurants, car dealerships, all sorts of places, new and old. It was clearly an older part of town.

Celestia stared out the window. It wasn't even a few minutes before she said, "Phil, could we... perhaps... continue on... on foot?"

"Hmm? Oh yeah. Yeah, no problem."

I found a place for us to park and the two of us got out.

Celestia took in a smell of the air around her. She smiled. She stretched herself out, then sighed. "I was feeling rather cramped in there. This should be a lot better."

"That so?"

She looked around. "What an interesting little town you have."

We started down the street together. Celestia's smile was brightening my day.

"I've seen very little of this world so far. Your neighborhood is such a small part of it. And this is just a single town. If I didn't have to go home, I'd love to see more. It's exciting to see so many humans at one time. How many humans are there in this world? I didn't look that up in my studies."

"More than seven billion."

"Seven... billion... Truly?"

I nodded.

"Incredible... Wow... I couldn't even imagine seven billion humans. It's unfathomable. This world is so amazing. There's so much to learn. How many live here, in this town?"

"It's... I'd say it's pretty average. Last I checked, there were around 35,000 people living here."

"Amazing... Canterlot is one of our most populated cities, but this city almost has the same population as it. And you said it was average? What exactly is considered large?"

Bend over, I'll show ya. "Out east, New York City has over eight million people, I think it is."

"Inconceivable..."

"Yeah, it's a pretty crazy thought. Our country has 300 million or so. They gotta go somewhere."

She let out a chuckle. "Yes, that's certainly true. I often found myself concerned with the rapid population growth of my little ponies. This really puts it into perspective... The more I learn about this world, the more amazing it becomes."

She paused to look into a shop, then continued walking. I led her up and down the streets for quite a while. If she had a question, I would answer her as best I could, but other than that, she seemed to be enjoying the scenery. It almost seemed like she forgot about the mirror. I reminded her, but she just chuckled and told me not to worry.

Later in the day, Celestia let out a sigh, then went to sit on a nearby bench.

I joined her, asking, "What's up?"

She looked up. "I haven't found anything, yet. I'm starting to think that it's not here."

"It could be anywhere in this town. It might not even be in this town."

"I know... You don't have to say it. I still have faith. But... We've been out here for a long time. I'm getting tired. It's a strange feeling. I don't get tired like this as a pony. I miss Equestria. I've never been... I've never been trapped like this. It's great here, but..." Another sigh.

"Great, huh?"

She smiled. "It's so amazing to be in this world. I've been saying it a lot, but I truly mean it. I'm awed by it." She smiled at someone passing by, who gave back one of their own.

I looked to the sky. "Yeah, it can be pretty great, sometimes." I looked back to her.

"We should return home. It's getting late and I'm getting hungry." To emphasise her point, her stomach growled loudly. She bent over and covered her stomach with a hand, embarrassed.

"Sounds good." I stood up, then turned and offered her my hand. She took it and I pulled it to her feet.

I let go of her hand, not giving much thought to it as I turned to lead her back to the car. Well, she led me, but that's beside the point. I actually started down the wrong street before she corrected me.

Celestia and I returned home, where I made her some food. Nothing extravagant. Just peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. She still loved them.

We parted ways, with Celestia leaving to my room to go to bed. It was weird sleeping on the couch in my own home. I wanted my bed back...



August 24



"Oh, you seem ready to go." I said to her, noticing her sitting on the couch when I got back home, "I'm ready too, just say the..."

"Phil." she said to me, stopping me.

I waited for her to continue.

"The crystal mirror is only active for a few days at a time. Sadly, our deadline has passed, meaning that any more searching will be in vain."

"Man... Maybe I shoulda taken some time off from work to help you out."

She shook her head. "No, it isn't your fault. In truth, I didn't expect us to find anything at all."

"That's... kinda... disheartening."

"The crystal mirror is only functional for a few days at a time. When my student came to this world, she was able to return soon after she had arrived. I must wait thirty moons before I can return again."

I sighed. "That sucks."

"I have been unable to feel the presence of the mirror, but last night, I felt something strange. It was the unmistakable feeling of magic. I don't know what it meant. I can't use magic anymore, but my body is so used to using it. It's been difficult to adjust."

"Looks like you really are staying here, then."

"It looks like it. I'm afraid that I'll remain a burden to you for the next thirty moons."

I gave her a smile. "Come on, you know that's not true."

She looked down. "I know. Thank you, Phil."

"What are you gonna do now?"

"Nothing, I suppose."

"Nothing?"

She nodded. "What can I do?"

"I... I dunno. I guess you're doing nothing, then."

She tilted her head, a smile on her face. "Though... I am interested in this w..."

A knock on the door cut her off. A knock to the tune of Shave and a Haircut, with the last two notes being the handle turning and the door opening without waiting for a response.

"Hey what up, Phil?" asked the cheery guy who barged in, looking at me as he walked through my house without care. He passed Celestia without even noticing her and went directly for the kitchen.

"Yo, don't just show up!" I replied, "I coulda been cleaning the clarinet or something!" With the arrival of my friend, I accidentally let a dirty joke slip out in front of Celestia.

"Hey, I leave my gamecube controller here?" he asked me, ignoring my complaint.

"What? No, you... You never even brought it over."

"Yeah? Maybe not. I didn't look too hard."

I followed him to the kitchen doorway to see him going through my refrigerator. He pulled out a can of mountain dew and opened it.

"You come into my house, accuse me of having your controller, and now you're stealing my pop."

"I didn't have any at home."

"That doesn't mean you can just fu..." I stopped myself from swearing. "That doesn't mean you can just take my food."

"Oh, what was that? Cat got your dick? Anyways, here. I'm done with this." He reached into his pocket, then tossed something small and white at me. Despite its size, I managed to catch it. It was a USB flash drive I had let him borrow.

"Oh... Well, thanks." I pocketed it. "Was that all?"

"You wish." He said, heading back into the living room, taking a drink. It would prove to be a mistake, because as soon as he saw her, he spit some of it out. He swallowed, then coughed a few times. "Holy crap! Phil, who is this?"

"I'm me, who are you?" I asked him.

"No, you f..." He was not pleased with my joke. He stared at her for a little bit, then asked, "Who are you? Am I intruding on something?"

"No, no, of course not. My name is Celestia. And yours?"

"My name's... Uh... My name's Tristin. Celestia? What? Are... Are you a cosplayer or something? Well, obviously you are, but... Wow... You really put a lot of work into that."

"Why, thank you." she replied with a smile.

"Where'd you pick her up?" he asked me.

"Walmart."

"Oh yeah?" He looked back at her. "Man, you really look like her. Oh! You even got the eye color. Did... Wait a second... Pretty woman at Wal-Mart... Into costumes... Oh..." He paused. "What's your fee? Is it like hourly, or..."

"Tristin!" I yelled at him.

"What, I'm just asking!" He turned back to her. "He doesn't make you say anything weird, does he?"

"I will punch you." I threatened.

"What, is she your girlfriend or something?" He turned to her. "Are you his girlfriend?"

"No, I'm not." She chuckled.

"Ah, then it must be prostitute."

"Tristin, I swear to god, I will beat you! You really think I would pay for a woman when I barely even pay for my own things?"

"Yeah, I guess you do got a point there. You greedy fuck."

"Well, you did buy me clothing." said Celestia.

"You are not helping." I said, pointing to her.

She just smirked, knowing full well what was happening.

"So, what... Who is she?" he asked me.

"Just... New friend."

"Well, I've never heard about her. Did he meet you at a bar or something?" he asked.

"No, it's like he said. We met at a store."

"So you brought her here?" He looked back to me, then to her, then me again, then to her. "He didn't make you eat any eggs, did he?"

"I don't have any goddamn eggs!" I said to him. Speaking of, I needed eggs.

"You really met her at Walmart? Man, maybe I should spend some more time there."

Celestia giggled at us. "I like your friend." she said to me.

"Wow, you even sound like her, too." said Tristin, "Are you two being serious right now?"

"Of course. I'm always serious." she replied, a smile on her face.

"Same." I said.

"You're never fucking serious." he said to me.

"Yeah, that's fair. Glad one of us is, though."

"Like, dude... there is a supermodel sitting on your couch right now! What am I supposed to think here? That you didn't pay for her? You don't have this kind of game, man."

"Got more than you."

He laughed at me. "You've got as much game as a dead possum."

"Well at least my dick's not the size of a possum's. Uh... Sorry, Celestia..." I did it again. I need to watch my mouth around her.

Another laugh. "Fuck, ya got me there."

"Your penis is as small as a possum's?" asked Celestia. Maybe I wouldn't have to watch my mouth as much as I thought.

"What? No!" he quickly replied.

"Yeah, it's more like a rat." I said.

"Shut up, Phil!"

"I think I'd like to see that." Celestia said with an impish smile, "Should be funny."

"Well..." He shrugged. "Hear that? It's called game."

"It's not game if she laughs at it."

"You shut the hell up!"

Celestia laid back against the couch, laughing. "Well, it's nice to meet you too, Tristin."

He sighed. "This is... kinda crazy, though." He looked at me. "Usually you at least tell us if you get yourself a girlfriend."

"I am not his girlfriend." said Celestia, "Though our relationship may not be strictly professional, we haven't even known each other for more than a few days."

"Yeah, that's true." I said.

"Phil helped me out quite a bit when I became lost."

"You got lost at Walmart?"

"Please, it's embarrassing. I don't want to speak of it."

"Man... Nothing about this seems right." he said, "It's much easier to believe that you're a hooker."

"Believe what you will." she said, "I won't stop you."

"You sure don't seem to mind me calling you a prostitute."

"Tristin, be nice." I said.

"Yeah, yeah. Anyways yeah, nice to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you too, Tristin." she said, a cute smile across her face, "So, you know of Equestria as well? You recognized me when you saw me, so I can only assume."

"Yeah, I watch the show. Haven't seen it in a while, though."

"Same." I said.

Celestia nodded. "Do any of your other friends... watch the show?" she asked.

"Yeah, a few of them." I said, shrugging.

"How interesting..."

"So, uh... Where do... Are you just passing through, do you live in town?" he asked.

"I'll be staying in town for the next month or so. Phil has offered me a place to stay while I'm here."

"Wait, you're... You're staying here?!"

"That's right."

"With him?" he asked, flabbergasted.

She nodded. "Yes. Is that a problem?"

"Ah... I... No, I guess not. I just didn't... Whatever, it's fine, it's fine."

"Phil has been helping me adjust to the area. I've been enjoying myself. It's such an easy life compared to before."

"What do you do?"

"Oh, I'm a Princess, of course." she replied without missing a beat.

"Uh, huh..." I could almost feel that he wanted to call her an idiot.

She just kept up her smile. When none of us said anything, Celestia stood up and said, "Excuse me for a moment, I'm going to get myself something to eat."

"You have fun." I said, moving out of her way towards my friend.

When she was out of earshot, my friend excitedly whispered to me, "She's so fucking hot, dude!"

"I know, man!" I whispered back.

"They're fucking huge, dude! Is there seriously nothing between you two? Does she... Does she pay rent?" An insinuation if I've ever heard one.

"No, she..."

"You better make a move soon, cause if you don't, I will."

"I can hear you talking about me out there!" she called to us, "What was that about 'paying rent'?"

"Uh, nothing!" I called back. I glared at him. "Idiot."

"Hey, she's the one with the big ass."

"Tristin, shut up."

"You're thinking the same thing I am."

"So? Doesn't mean you have to say it."

He smirked.

I sighed. "Oh! Dude, I got a new pair of headphones."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Trevor talked me into getting a pair."

"Any good?"

"Not as good as the ones I have."

"Mmm..." He nodded.

"You want them?"

"What?"

"I don't need them, you can have them."

"Really? Shit, alright. Works for me."

"Yeah, lemme get them for you." I retrieved the headphone box from my room and gave it to him.

He opened it and took them out, examining them.

"Happy birthday!" I said to him.

"My birthday was like half a year ago. You couldn't have been further away from my birthday."

"I forgot your present."

"You gave me some cash, didn't ya? Yeah, cause you told me not to blow it all on booze."

"Did you blow it all on booze?" I asked, a sly smile on my face.

"I'm sure I... tried not to."

"Alrighty then. Catch!" I tossed him my phone. He scrambled for it in the air, but it hit the floor with a clunk. I held in a laugh.

"Good fucking throw there, buddy." he replied. He picked it up and plugged the headphones in. He jumped as the music started, not expecting the high volume. "Jesus! Warn me next time."

"Sorry." I replied, indifferent to his suffering.

I could hear a song playing from the headphones. After a little bit, he took them back off and said, "Yeah, these are pretty good." He unplugged them and gave me my phone back. "Alright, nice."

He slipped the cord into his pocket and wore them around his neck as he sat down on the couch.

Celestia was standing in the doorway, looking at us while lazily chewing on a sandwich. She smirked. "Is my butt really that big?" she asked.

"Don't worry, it looks great." said Tristin.

"Well, thank you." she replied.

Celestia didn't seem to mind. She was a little bored right now, even I could see that.

"So, what do you do for a living?" she asked Tristin, "Phil manages a fast food restaurant, so he says, but what about you?"

"Uh... I work at that Staples out by Walmart."

"Oh, I know the building." she said.

"Yeah, yeah. Nothing special, you know."

"What do you two do for fun?" she asked.

"Video games, mostly." he said.

"Video games?"

"Yeah, video games. You play?"

"Um..."

"Nah, she doesn't." I spoke for her.

"Oh, ok."

"Is that it, then?" she asked, "Just... games?"

"We read." I said.

"I don't read."

"Manga counts as reading."

"Oh shit, you're right. Yeah, I read all the time."

"Ah, something we have in common! Even across worlds, we can share interests same as in Equestria. It's a strange thought. Perhaps humans and ponies aren't so different after all."

"Uh... Yeah... Man, I wish I could read more." he said, "Used to read all day, all night. Now I'm too busy."

"Yeah, I hear that." I said.

"You're usually more busy than I am. You know, this crazy guy used to work two jobs."

"Oh?" She seemed interested.

"Yeah, I was... I was a computer repair guy for... Yeah." I didn't want to get into it right now.

"You barely even had time for video games."

"Yeah, but that was a while ago." I said, "I still work harder than you do."

"Oh, no question there."

"You're too young to work that much." Celestia chimed in.

"Well, it's not like I had anything better to do. It was... a bit much, though."

"You haven't been online much recently, either. What's up with that?"

I pointed at Celestia as if it couldn't have been any more obvious.

"Casual." he stated, "You're letting that thing rot down there, all alone."

"Hmm?" Celestia gave us a curious look.

"He has a gaming computer downstairs."

"A... gaming computer..." She clearly didn't understand.

"Have you seen it?" he asked.

"I've... seen it, yes. Phil told me that he kept his valuable possessions downstairs, so I avoided it. I wanted to be careful."

"Oh... Well... I appreciate it." I said, "There's that, then there's the washing machine. And the drier."

"Not terribly exciting, one would think." she said.

"I don't know Celestia, the washing machine is pretty exciting." Tristin said as a joke.

"Washing machines don't excite me as much as you may think." she said, followed by a small giggle.

"Yeah, not a lot exciting here." I said.

"There are many interesting things here." she said.

"Well... I guess. To be fair though, I've kinda been living with all this excitement for a while."

"That is true." she said with a smile.

"Mmm... It's hot in here." I said, "Did you mess with the thermostat while I was at work?"

"No, I didn't touch it." she replied.

"I like it hot." said Tristin.

"That's because you weigh like 90 pounds." I said to him.

"I don't weigh 90 pounds, you weigh 90 pounds."

"I weigh 90 pounds more than 90 pounds more than 90 pounds."

"You weigh 270 pounds?" he asked.

"No, I don't weigh 270 pounds."

"What do you weigh? I bet I'm close."

"Like 230."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"I'm like 180."

"I got muscles." I said.

"Pfft..." He stifled a laugh.

"I got bigger muscles than you."

"Yeah, fair enough."

"I go to the gym."

He let out a sarcastic, "Oh."

We both snickered.

"I bet you had to cancel like eight trips to the gym for this." he said.

"Eight? More like nine. I just go so many times. I don't even do anything, I just show up. Say, 'I'm at the gym!' Call all my friends, let them know I'm at the gym. Like, 'Hey Joe, I don't know if we had anything planned today, but I can't do it because I'm going to the gym. I'm actually there right now. Gonna do some labs, crunches...'"

He started cracking up. "Labs."

"You know, abs and lats. Just combine words because you can't spare a single moment because you're at the gym. Any moment at the gym should be spent working on my delts and tris and treps..."

"Treps?"

"Yeah."

"What's a trep?" he asked.

"Triceps."

"You said tris."

"Worked 'em twice."

He let out a laugh.

"But I don't wanna be redundant." I said, "That's one of my tricks. Refer to the same muscle group seven different times by fictional abbreviations. Who even knows? Most of the people I talk to are nerds who don't know anyway."

"You're a nerd."

"Course I am. That's why the company that I keep doesn't know anything. I don't even know anything. I just go in there and start pushing things. People, machines, doesn't matter. It's all there for me to be... jacked."

We laughed at each other for a short while. Celestia seemed amused by our antics as well.

"Are you always like this?" she asked after we had calmed ourselves.

"Ah, more or less."

"You two are so different from my usual company. So much more bearable."

"Bet that's the best compliment you've gotten from a woman in a long time, ey Phil? Bearable."

I replied with a jokingly loud, defensive, "So?!"

He laughed again. "Ah, fuck... Boss, what time is it?"

"I dunno. Like six. Seven, maybe."

"I gotta get headed home soon."

"Mmm... Taking off?"

"Yeah, I should." He stretched his arms in the air and let them drop. "Alright. See ya, Phil."

"See ya."

"And goodbye, Celestia."

"Goodbye, Tristin. It was nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you, too."

He left through the front door, leaving the two of us alone.

"He stole my soda." I said aloud.

"He seemed nice." said Celestia.

"Yeah, he's nice."

"So... What is a... video game?"

"It's... ah... It's hard to explain. You know that laptop you've been using?"

She nodded.

"It's... a game that is played on that. A computer."

Her head tilted to the side. "Alright..."

"They're... Hold on, I'll just look up the definition." I got out my phone and quickly searched the term, 'video game'. "A video game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user inter... interface to generate visual... feedback on a video device such as a TV screen or computer monitor. Is that... still too complicated?"

"I suppose I understand. Perhaps you could give me an example."

"That's a thought. Later though. I gotta... I gotta do laundry first."

"Oh, ok." Her bright smile still covered her face. She didn't have a care in the world.

Well... time to get to washing her dirty clothes. Celestia picked up the laptop again as I went downstairs. There were two sets downstairs by the time I started cleaning them, as well as a set of my own.

'Handle with care' does not mean 'throw in washer and forget about it.' As I picked up her clothes, I noticed that her delicates were meant to be washed differently than normal clothing. Her new delicates had the size and washing instructions, but the original ones were blank. I would have to directly handle her underwear and clean them separate from the normal clothes instead of balling them all together and just tossing them in. It was a somewhat uncomfortable experience for me.

Her bra was huge. The cups were each almost the size of my head... And no, I didn't test that theory. It was... well it was impressive, to say the least. No size tags, like she said. How strange...

Laundry was a long and boring process. I waited for the washer and dryer to finish while talking to Celestia. We didn't talk about anything important, but I found myself repeating what she said in my head.

After making sure her underwear was treated correctly, I returned upstairs, laundry basket in my arms.

When I entered the front room, Celestia asked, "Would you like me to help you with that?"

"Hmm? Oh, no. I got it." I replied without thinking, pushing the bedroom door open with the plastic basket.

"Well, alright. If you say so."

It actually sounded like she wanted to help. Mistakes have been made.

I folded her shirts and pants neatly and put them into the drawer I had cleared out for her. I paused as I went to close it. Something about looking into a strange woman's clothing drawer reminded me of the eternal words of Patrick Star... It's not a panty raid, I swear!

My clothes, I were less kind to. They were folded carelessly and dropped into whichever drawer they belonged.

I walked back to the front room, empty basket in hand.

"Did you find anything interesting in there?" she asked me.

I stopped in my tracks, looking at her like a kid caught in the act.

"If you're going to ogle my undergarments, you should at least close the door first." She chuckled, looking back to the computer with the same pleasant smile as before.

"Sorry." She didn't actually seem to mind, which I was thankful for.

"Don't worry about it." she offhandedly replied.

I returned the basket to its place downstairs. I saw that Celestia had placed the laptop onto the table when I got back up.

She looked up to me before yawning. "Ahh... Doing nothing all day can be so exhausting."

"Got that right."

"I suppose now is as good a time as any to go to bed. What do you think?"

I shrugged. "You're kinda on my bed right now, so I don't have the option."

"Oh, you're right! I'm sorry. I don't often spend my time on a man's bed like this." She bashfully covered her mouth with a hand, slyly looking away. "Oh, look at me, a Princess making such jokes. I'm sorry. I can't enjoy these freedoms in Equestria." She yawned again. "I'll get up."

She walked past me into the bathroom to brush her teeth before retiring to the bedroom for the night. We bade each other a good night before she closed the door behind her.



September 1



"Hello, Phil!" she said with a smile as I got home.

"Have you been sitting there all day? You were there when I left."

"I have! All day! I'm hungry, can you make me a sandwich?"

"Have... Have you eaten?"

"What? Of course I have. What do you take me for?"

"Right, right. Sorry."

She just smiled her same smile.

I got Celestia a meal and joined her on the couch. "So what now?"

"Hmm?" Her mouth was full.

"Now that you can't search for your mirror, you're just kinda stuck here."

She swallowed before responding. "It's not all bad. I'm enjoying my time off. I did enjoy the trips that we took, though."

"That so? I suppose there's still more I can show you."

"How nice. You know, it's a strange feeling, being around you."

"Yeah?"

She smiled. "Staying with a man that cares and provides for me... It's almost as if we're a married couple."

"Uh..."

She chuckled. "I'm sorry. You have the funniest face when you're embarrassed."

I sighed. "Anyways, yeah. There are still some things you haven't seen. And hey, maybe later, we can go on a picnic!"

She gasped loudly, bringing her hands close to her face. "Oh, my goodness! That sounds wonderful! Are... Are we going now?" Her excitement filled the room.

"Soon. We'll have to prepare, first. I'm gonna go get some snacks for ya." I got up and started towards the kitchen, then stopped. "You didn't eat them all again, did you?"

"Should I not have?"

"Aw, really?" I walked out and opened the cabinet. They were all still there. Almost all. "Again, you have made a fool out of me."

I heard her giggle. "Oh, It's been so long since I've had an actual picnic." There was a certain fondness in her voice.

"Yeah, same here."

"I'd usually have one with my sister, but our guards are very obtrusive. Don't tell any of them I said this, but sometimes they can get annoying."

"I don't think you'll have to worry about me telling them anything."

She chuckled. "I suppose. Are there any places with a good view?"

"I might be able to find something like that."

"Oh, I feel so free. No guards following me, no little ponies to look up to me. I'm not expected to do the right thing every minute of my life..."

"Well, I still expect you to do the right thing." I said, poking my head through the doorway.

She sighed. "If I made a mistake in Equestria, a whole nation could be affected. It's more stressful than you may think. Here, if I made a mistake, nobody would be there to judge me. But... I loved it. I loved my life as Princess. Seeing the smiling faces of my subjects as the sun rose day after day..." She sighed again.

"Sounds fun." I replied, returning to the kitchen. I already had a plan brewing for the rest of the night.

Celestia was eagerly waiting for me on the couch, almost like a dog about to go for a walk to the park. I had a plastic bag with food inside in one hand, my keys in the other. "Ready to go?"

She nodded, a smile on her face. "I'm ready."

The two of us headed to the car. I set the snack bag in the back seat as I got in. She immediately reached back and took out a Twinkie. I stared at her as she unwrapped it.

"What? Why are you staring at me like that?"

I rolled my eyes, turning away.

She took a bite of it as we left the driveway. "So, where are we going?"

She has no idea where we were going, yet got in the car without a second thought. She's cute when she's innocent.

"Oh, just... around. It's not a very big town, you've seen a lot of it. But there are some things that we've missed."

"I like doing this." she said, looking out the window, "It's like a vacation."

I didn't even answer her.

This time, I drove south, crossing the nearby state border to show her the rest of the surrounding area. There wasn't too much down there, but there was enough to fill time. Celestia's gaze was fixed to the window. She was still having fun.

I heard rummaging in the back seat. Celestia was eating again. After a short while, she let out a loud, "Phil!"

I jumped, which was very unsafe as a driver. "Y-Yeah?"

"There aren't any left!" she said to me, shaking the empty bag.

I glanced at her. Really? "Is that so? What a tragedy... Whatever shall we do?" I jokingly asked.

"How can we have a picnic without food?" she asked, a worried tone in her voice.

"Oh, don't worry about that, Celestia. I have a plan."

"A plan?" She smiled. "What is it?"

"To get more pizza!" I said with a celebratory attitude.

She gasped. "That sounds great... I rather liked it cold."

"You'll like it even better fresh."

She gave me a wide smile.

I stopped the car before calling in a large pie with nothing good on it. They said it'd be ready in a little while, which gave me a little more time with Celestia

"It's nearing nighttime." she said to me, looking up to the sky. The sun was close to the horizon right now. The sky was a warm amber.

"Yeah, it looks like it." I replied, "Pizza should be ready soon enough."

"That's not soon enough." she said to me. She giggled.

I just drove her around a little more before we headed to the restaurant. I passed by an older section of town, which she liked. Then again, she likes everything. Especially pizza.

"I'll be back. Wait here." I told her.

"Can't I come in?" she asked.

"Oh... Yeah, absolutely. Oh, but... um... They have meat here, as well. So..."

"We aren't getting any, are we?"

I'm not, you might... "Nope. I just wanted you to know. I only got us a plain cheese, anyways. I don't usually go for ones with meat."

"Plain cheese sounds boring."

"But it's so good."

Her smile still hadn't disappeared.

The heavy pizza flavored aroma of the restaurant immediately hit us as we opened the door.

"Oh, it smells delicious!" Celestia let out with glee on her face.

I paid for our meal and we returned to the car.

"This smells so good..." she said to me in the car, holding the pizza on her lap.

"No eating in the car, you'll make a mess." I said to her.

"I don't know if I'll be able to restrain myself..."

Thankfully, she managed to make it to my destination without opening the box.

I took Celestia to a park near the town college. It was out of the way, so it was usually empty even though there was a playground on it.

Like she wanted, it had a nice view.

"How does it look?" I asked, parking nearby.

"It's perfect."

She carried the pizza box with her as we found a spot. Her eyes stared over the field.

"You know, I've never actually been here before." I said to her.

"Is that so?"

"Yeah. I pass by it all the time, but I've never stopped here. Here's a good spot." It was no different from any other part of the area.

"Looks good." She smiled at me. "We can get a good view of the sunset from here. Did you plan all this?"

"I planned the pizza." I said, shrugging.

She sat in the grass, looking at the horizon. She opened the box as I sat. The two of us got a slice each to start off with.

"This is really, really good." she said after taking a bite.

"You got that right."

We ate in silence for a while. It was actually pretty nice. After a few pieces, she turned to me. "So... was this a date?" she asked, mouth full of food.

I looked to her, my eyes wide. "Where did... that come from?"

"It just seems like it is. Is it?"

"Uh... I... Yeah, I... I guess it is." What an embarrassing question. "I mean, I don't think it started out like that, but I think it turned into one at some point."

"That's what I thought, too." She chuckled. "Are you sure it didn't start out like that? You seemed to have the whole day planned out."

"Well, I didn't think about it like a date." Am I lying about that?

Another chuckle. "Don't worry, I'm not mad."

"Hmm?"

"Why should I be?"

"Fair enough."

"In fact, I think I'll take it as a compliment. 'Why does he want to date me? Is it my personality, my sense of humor, my looks...' It's always a mystery with you men. Though I personally don't understand the looks. I am a pony, after all."

"Well... you are beautiful, Celestia. It's not... Uh... Nevermind."

"Is that so? How nice." She reached for the box for another piece and took a bite. "This is fantastic." She continued talking with a full mouth. "So, is that how it works here? A man takes a woman around town and buys her pizza and then she sleeps with him?"

"Celestia, oh my god!"

"What?"

"Of course that's not how it works!"

"So how does it work?"

"How does what work?"

"You know, your human courtship rituals."

"Human wha... What in the hell are you talking about?"

She laughed.

"Why are you asking me this?!"

She kept laughing. "Because it's so funny! Your reactions are priceless! You should see how red your face is right now."

"C'mon, don't do that to me."

"You're the one who's taking me on a date."

"Who cares what it is!?"

"Then why did you say it was?"

"You shut up!"

More laughter. She laid back in the grass, holding her hands over her stomach. I sighed. I guess it was pretty funny. Her laugh was so cute.

"Ohh, my stomach..." She let out a few more small chuckles as she calmed down. After a small while, she spoke again. "I'm sorry. It's not right of a Princess to say these things. I suppose that I am rather flattered you think this way."

"What?"

"We're both adults, are we not? We can make our own decisions. And... My decision is... to be... flattered."

"I feel like I'm getting some mixed signals, here."

"Hmm... Perhaps I'm not as good at this 'flirting' thing as I thought I was. It has been a while." She finished her piece of pizza and got another.

"And I thought you were just messing with me."

"Perhaps I was."

"You were!"

Another laugh. "Yes, I suppose you're right. Still, I feel it needs to be said, I'm not necessarily rejecting you."

"You're... not?"

"I am an object of beauty in Equestria, as well, and as such, I'm no stranger to advances of this nature. With my position as a Princess though, I was not approached very often. I can't spend time with a man without my guards breathing down our necks. Guess how long it's been since I've been on a date, Phil."

"Uh... five... years?" The look on her face told me that I was clearly wrong. "Ten years? Fifteen? Fifty? A hundred? More?"

She nodded. "It has been a very long time, Phil. And out of nowhere, you appear in my life and take me on a date within the first week of meeting me." She sat back up, focusing on me as she spoke. "Even if it didn't start as one, I'm still enjoying it."

"I'm glad you're enjoying yourself, Celestia." Her big, purple eyes were so beautiful... I looked away, still feeling embarrassed. "Should we just go home? This got really awkward for me."

"Awkwardness makes things interesting, don't you think?"

"Mmm..."

"You know, you're fun to embarrass."

"So I've been told."

She got another piece. I wasn't hungry anymore. Soon enough, she had devoured the rest of it.

"Geez, you get enough?" I asked her.

"I could ask you the same thing. You barely ate any."

"I wasn't that hungry."

She gave me a smile. "Alright, I'm sorry for teasing you. I was just kidding around."

I looked to her.

"You know, you're a strange person, Phil."

"Me?! I'm a strange person?" I jokingly burst out.

She started laughing again. "Don't make me laugh, I'm full of pizza!"

I chuckled to myself. Her laugh made me happy.

She sighed. "Oh... What a night..." She turned her head to look at the sunset, then sighed again. "You planned this down to the time it would take for us to eat the pizza... Amazing..."

I actually had no idea...

The two of us stared at the sun for a while. Celestia gave me a glance, then lowered herself back onto the grass. She laid her arms behind her head and gazed at the dimming sky.

I joined her, laying next to her. When she got up, we would leave.

"You know, if this really was a date, I think it went well." she said.

Even after all these years, watching the sunset was still amazing. The top of the sun dipped under the horizon, but Celestia didn't move.

It was getting dark. We sure have been here for a while... Her breathing had changed without my noticing.

"Celestia?"

No response. Is she... I reached over and poked her on the cheek. She's sleeping. Why is she sleeping? I poked her again. You gotta be kidding me, lady.

I let out a sigh. Fine... I got up and took care of our mess, then opened the car door.

I approached the sleeping Princess, my first thought to just carry her. Looking at her now though, she was a massive woman. I wouldn't be able to do this without some trouble.

"Are you really asleep or are you just messing with me? 'Cause I'm gonna pick you up if you don't say something."

No response. Well... Celestia's an understanding woman. She won't be mad if I wake her by doing this.

It took a little careful maneuvering, but I soon picked her up and carried her to the car. Funny, I was carrying a Princess with a 'Princess carry'.

She was really, really heavy. What if she wasn't asleep? She strikes me as the kind of person to joke about that. I buckled her in and took off for home.

The streets were empty at this time of night. I always liked empty streets. I didn't trust other drivers. However, I did notice a pair of headlights in my rear-view mirror taking the same route as me.

As I got close to home, I turned off of the main road onto a side street, as I always did. The car turned down the street as well. After this, it made its own turn. I felt like an idiot. Every time someone makes the same turn as me, I think they're following me.

When I finally pulled into my driveway, I shut off the car and looked at Celestia.

"C'mon Celestia, tell me you're awake." I said, not loud enough to wake her, but loud enough for her to hear me.

No response. Just her quiet breathing.

Right then...

After making sure the path to her bed was clear, I brought her inside. I gently lowered her onto my bed and covered her in the blankets.

Her forehead was so exposed... No, no... Come on, it's just a little kiss, she won't care... No, I can't. No... I pushed these thoughts out of my head.

I walked back out and closed the door on the car, then finally went back inside.

I grumbled to myself for no real reason. That car from earlier... Come on Phil, stop getting annoyed at other drivers, it's so petty...

Oh, I'm so stupid... I should've kissed her cheek while we were laying in the grass...
> Chapter 4
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

August 25



Celestia slept in the next morning. I was nearly out the door before she came out. Her hair was a mess and her eyes were still half-closed.

She greeted me with a yawn, covering her mouth with a hand. "Going to work?" she tiredly asked.

"Yeah, soon."

"I remember... lying in the grass. Did I fall asleep in the park?"

"Yep."

"Oh... I'm sorry. How did I get home, then? Did you... carry me?"

"I tried to wake you, first."

She let out a small, cute chuckle. "That's embarrassing... Well, thank you. You... said that you work at a restaurant, didn't you?"

"Yeah. Fast food."

"What kind of food do you sell?"

"Ahh... Stuff like burgers and fries and... soda and pie."

"Burgers and fries? We have those in Equestria."

"Our burgers are made from meat."

"Oh... Interesting..."

"Interesting?"

"Meat... I keep thinking that humans and ponies aren't so different, yet our diets are opposite from one another. We ponies are vegetarian, while you humans are omnivorous."

"We may look different, but deep down, we're a lot alike."

She nodded, still smiling. "All this talk of restaurants has made me curious... What's your favorite food?"

"Uh... Peanut butter."

"Peanut butter?"

I nodded. "Yeah. That, or steak."

"Steak?"

"It's a finely prepared, semi-expensive piece of meat."

"Hmm..."

"What's your favorite food?"

"Oh, I couldn't say... Probably some kind of chocolate. You can't go wrong with chocolate. How... How long is it... until you leave?"

"Not too long. Few minutes. Why, what's up?"

"Could I come with?"

"Oh! T-To my work? I... I guess." That was a bit of a surprise.

Her face brightened. "Oh, how exciting!"

"It won't be as exciting as you think, Celestia. I'll... be working. I can't talk to you all day."

"But, it's a restaurant. I could simply sit at a table and wait."

"Uh... Yeah... Yeah, you... could... Why?"

"I'm just curious, is all. You didn't show me where you worked."

"Well, alright. But if you get bored, that's on you. You can bring the laptop, if you want."

"Thank you, Phil."

"I didn't do anything. You gotta get ready."

"Right! I'll get dressed."

She disappeared into the bedroom and returned with a new pair of socks on. I waited for her on the couch as she ate. She soon approached me. The look on her face was a soft one.

"Phil, about last night... I'm sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable."

"I'm always uncomfortable around you." Another unintentional joke.

"Really?"

I didn't mean what I said. "Ah... It's hard to explain. You make me nervous. You're... a Princess. When I'm around you, I can't help but feel that you're... looking down on me."

"It isn't like that, Phil."

"I know. I can't help it. And with you being from another world, I wanna make extra sure that you're safe, you know?"

"And I appreciate that. But in this world, I am no different than you. You don't treat me like a Princess."

"I'm sorry."

"No, that's a good thing!" she said, her tone becoming excited, "You treat me like a normal woman. Like a friend. And I can respond to you in kind. Not as a Princess, but as a fellow human."

"Human, huh?"

She smiled. "Maybe this short time I've spent here has taught me a thing or two about being a human."

"Maybe it has."

She chuckled. "I think that if we don't leave soon, I'll say something even more foolish."

"You got something to eat?"

"Uh..." She didn't answer. Her face started getting red.

"I'll get you some food."

"No, no! I can do it! I can do it."

She quickly turned away and disappeared into the kitchen again. While she was gone, I put the laptop and its charger into a bag. She returned with a plastic bag in her hand, smiling.

Celestia was acting strange. She was a little flustered, a little happy... All in all... it just seemed like she was acting... playful.

"Shall we?" I asked.

"I'm ready."

I led Celestia outside. She followed me all the way to my workplace. Thankfully, it was just a few blocks away. Well within walking distance.

"So Phil, I have a question for you."

"Shoot."

"Does it bother you at all that I'm not human? You do remember that I'm a pony, correct?"

"Course I remember. That doesn't change anything."

"Oh..."

"What?"

"Nothing. Is that it?" She looked upwards to the golden arches that signified obesity.

"Yep, that's it."

As we got near, she slowed to a stop. I stopped and looked to her.

"Something wrong?"

"It's... the smell..." Her face scrunched up. She pinched her nose shut. "It's terrible. How can you stand this all day?" She sounded funny with her nose closed.

"It's not that bad."

"It's disgusting! What is this?"

"Probably some kind of cooking grease." She didn't move from where she stood. "You want me to walk you back home?"

"No, no... I'm already here, aren't I?"

"I guess."

"I'll join you in a while. I need to get used to this smell, first."

I shrugged. "Suit yourself."

It took a little while, but she eventually mustered up the strength to walk in. She still had a look of discomfort on her face. She got the laptop out of the bag and opened it.

Some of the people on my shift noticed her as they came in. One of them asked me how long she's been here.

"Hey Phil, that woman over there has the same kind of laptop as you." said one of my coworkers, Timmy. He was one of my personal friends, so we spoke often on the clock.

"Huh, I think it might even be the same model." I responded, smirking.

"Yeah, I think it is. What's with that look?"

"What look? I don't have a look."

"What, is that your laptop?"

"Could be."

"Yes or no, you ass."

"Yes it is."

"Well, what's she doing with it?"

"Oh, you know."

"No, I... don't... What? Who is she?"

"She's that nicaraguan kid I keep in my basement."

"Are you dating a cosplayer or something, what's going on?"

"Date? Girls are icky. They have cooties."

"You're pissing me off, Phil!"

I chuckled. "She's just a friend."

"Yeah, a friend that's at your work and has your laptop."

"You're a friend that's at my work and you sometimes use my laptop."

"Phil, oh my god!"

"What?"

"I'm gonna fucking end you, I swear to god."

"Trying to kill your boss can get you written up, you know."

"There's not gonna be a try, it's gonna happen, buddy."

"Killing your boss might get you fired."

"Oh, but it'll be so worth it..."

"You know, I'm allowed to have friends outside of you freaks."

"Bullshit, you don't have any friends."

"Fuck, you're right... She's just visiting for a while. She's staying at my place while she's in town."

"Christ dude, you better get a lottery card with this luck you have."

"Yeah, come over after work and I'll introduce you proper."

"What? She's already right there." He pointed to her.

"Well, go talk to her."

He gave her another look. "I... I don't even think I fucking can, dude. How do you even approach someone like that?"

"I usually just make incoherent noises and hope they think I'm funny." I sighed. "High school was a rough time for me."

"Are you serious?"

I ignored him.

Celestia wasn't paying attention to much of anything at the moment. As if on cue though, she looked up and met my eyes. As soon as she saw me, the corners of her mouth perked up. She smiled briefly, then returned her view to the computer. Cute...

It was a while before anything interesting happened. I sat with Celestia for lunch, which was nice. She asked about the restaurant and I answered as best I could.

My phone rang while I was working. We weren't supposed to have phones while we were on duty, but I just didn't care. I pulled it from my pocket to see who it was. My neighbor. Weird. He doesn't usually call me.

I accepted the call as I stepped into the break room. "Phil here, what's up?"

"Uh... Phil? A detective just asked me if you knew anything about a 'Celestia' person."

"Wh... What in the god damn?"

"Yeah, a car parked in front of your house and a few guys got out. One of them came over and said that he was a detective." He didn't sound very worried. It must've gone well for him.

"Whaaat... Well, what did you say?"

"Well, I told him about your new girlfriend, but I didn't know anything else."

"And what did he say?"

"He just thanked me for my time and left."

"Huh... So... did... anything else happen?

"Yeah, the two other guys started poking around your house. One of them opened up your door while the detective was talking to me and they both went in."

Isn't that illegal? He needs a warrant for that. I haven't done anything bad, yet. "This is... fuckin' weird."

"Yeah, you're telling me."

"I... Uh... Go... Go over there and talk to them. Tell them I'll be there in like ten minutes."

"Sure?"

I wasn't sure at all. "Yeah, sure. Go on."

"If you say so."

"Ten minutes."

"Yep, bye."

I hung up. My head lowered onto my phone in my hand and took in a slow breath. "Gotta be fucking... kidding me..." I groaned to myself.

From a co-worker, I heard a curious, "What's up?"

I sighed. "You're in charge, Tim. If he asks, tell the boss-man that I had some important stuff to deal with."

"What? You're leaving?"

"Yeah."

"Something wrong?"

"I gotta go find that out."

"Oh, well... ok."

I told Celestia that I was going home for a short while.

"What? You're at work, you can't just leave. What's wrong?"

"There's someone asking about you at my house."

"About me?" She gasped in realization. "They could be from Equestria!"

"Uh..." Why didn't I think of that? "Yeah, you could be right."

She quickly closed the laptop and placed it in its bag. "We need to go now, before they leave!"

"They aren't going anywhere, don't worry."

Celestia rushed out the door, still zipping up the bag. She moved at a brisk pace, excited that someone else knew about her here. I followed close behind and made sure she took the correct route back. Plus, the view was nice from back here...

"That must be them!" she excitedly let out, making her way to the men standing in my yard.

There were three of them. One had blonde hair, another blue, and the third, the most normal looking of the three, had brown. The third was the detective, no doubt. Then the other two were...

"Shining Armor! Soulfire Dawn!"

To their surprise, Celestia wrapped her arms around the two of them. The look of shock on their faces soon disappeared as Celestia pulled away to get a look at them.

"Oh, it's good to see you." she said to them.

"Are you alright, Princess?" asked Shining.

"Are you hurt?" asked Soulfire.

"I'm fine, I'm fine. Please."

"What is this bag you're wearing, Princess?"

"Who is this following you?" asked the blonde one.

The group focused their gaze on me.

The detective stepped forward. "You must be Phil."

"Yeah, that's right."

"My name is Detective Norman Jayden." He pulled out his badge to show me.

I briefly looked to it before returning my gaze to him. My stomach immediately knotted up. I haven't done anything, I had no reason to be nervous. Just standing in front of someone like him made my heart race.

He turned to her. "And you are Celestia, I presume?"

"That's right. What's all this about? Shining, Soulfire, why are you with him?"

"He helped us find you, Princess."

"He led us here."

"That's right." he said, "These two were pegged as suspicious characters and brought in for questioning. They told us that they were looking for you, so we helped them out. Soon enough, one of our officers spotted you. That led us here."

"You couldn't have called, first?" I asked.

"I decided that it would be better to see you in person." he replied, "Now, I have some questions for the four of you, if you don't mind." He pulled out a pen and notepad.

I pointed at him. "You went in my house."

He stopped. "I did."

"Without a warrant."

"It was our fault." said Shining Armor, "We walked in while he was speaking to your neighbor."

"I had no choice but to follow them inside." said Norman, "I told them not to leave the car."

"We're sorry, sir."

I was getting a headache. This was a lot to take in.

"Look, buddy..." I started.

They all looked at me. To my surprise, their attention made me feel anxious.

"I want to thank you for reuniting my friends. It means a lot to them and it means a lot to me. Celestia and I spent the past few days looking for them. Truthfully, we were about to come to you guys for help."

"I'm glad that I could be of service. Now, I have a few..."

I put up my hand, stopping him. "I'm going to overlook you going into my house. But in exchange, I don't want to hear any of your questions. I have enough to deal with already. So, I'm sorry."

He hesitated for a short while. "Hmm..." He nodded. "Alright. Then, I suppose with that, I'll take my leave." He turned to the guards. "You two have made this a rather odd week for me, but I am glad that I could be of some help."

"Thank you, Detective." said Shining.

"You were a big help."

He gave our little group one last look before turning and walking away. He looked at us one more time before shrugging and getting into his car.

"Do you think we'll see him again?" asked Celestia.

"Hopefully not."

"Yes, perhaps it is for the best. So..." She paused to get out attention. "How did you two find me?"

"Discord found you and told us where you were." said Shining Armor.

"It couldn't have been easy to put trust in him." she said, "I'm glad that you did."

"Thank you, Princess. After he found you, he suggested a number of us come to this world to rescue you. We settled on two."

"How strange of him to be worried about me..." She put on a thinking face, raising a hand to her chin. "Did he transport you to this world?"

"He did, Princess."

"Hmm..."

"Whatcha thinkin'?" I asked.

"If Discord could transport them, he could very well have done the same to me."

"Think he did?"

"It... is something he would do. But why would he?"

"He's very unpredictable." Shining said to me, "Questioning his motives will get us nowhere."

"He's right." said Celestia, "I wouldn't put it past him, but he may be innocent in this case."

"Princess."

She turned to him. "Yes, Soulfire?"

"Who is this man?" he asked. His voice was serious, as if he saw me as a problem.

"Calm down, Soulfire. This is the man that I have been staying with in this world. His name is Phil."

"Nice to meet ya." I said to the two of them.

"Thank you for taking care of our Princess." said Shining Armor, "You've done us a great service."

Soulfire was less receptive. He glared at me. "You took care of the Princess?"

"Yeah, I... I did, yeah." I felt strange. Meeting that detective stressed me out. My heart was still racing. "Let's head inside. Not like you haven't already seen it."

"Right... We're sorry about entering without permission. We were worried about our Pr..."

"Yeah, yeah..." I started towards the door, my mood still soured.

Our little group went inside. Celestia sat on the couch while her guards stood. I stood near the opposite wall from them.

Celestia, her guards, and me. Sounds like something I would write...

"So, how did you get here? What did Discord do?"

"We don't know. All we know is that it involved the crystal mirror in some way. He told us that he cast a spell on it before we went through."

Celestia put on a thinking face again. "Perhaps I did come here through the mirror... Hmm... If that is the case though, what was the plan regarding our return?"

Return? Right, right, Celestia has to go back home... I kinda wish she would stay, it's been nice having company. It would be a load off my mind if she were to leave though...

"If we could find you in time, he would open the portal and bring us back." answered Shining. He frowned. "It seems we've failed, though. We took too long to find you."

She was still smiling that same smile she always does. "You haven't failed." she reassured him, "You found me, didn't you? That's more than I had hoped for. I was convinced that I would be trapped here for a long time. I had nearly settled in to this new life of mine." She chuckled. "You have no idea how much your arrival has helped me."

"Thank you, Princess."

Celestia took in a breath and put on a serious face. "Even so, I'm getting ahead of myself. The three of us will have to stay in this world until the path home reopens."

"In thirty moons." said Soulfire.

She nodded. "That's right."

The... three of... Oh no...

"Have you been faring well here, Princess?" asked Soulfire, "You've been here a while, is everything well?"

"Yes, yes, of course. Phil has taken very good care of me, as I've said. It is a tad less luxurious than I'm used to, but if it means that I can have a place to stay, I can accept it."

He nodded. His gaze shifted to me. I don't think I'd be reaching far if I said he didn't like me. "And what about us?" he asked, "How would we be taken care of?"

I was a little taken aback by his tone. How would he be taken care of? He'd be right out the door with that kind of attitude. I raised my finger to him and said, "Hey, I don't owe you anything. You, or your Princess."

"What'd you say?" He stepped towards me.

"That's enough, Soulfire." commanded Celestia. Her stern voice surprised me. I haven't heard this side of her.

Her words had an immediate effect. Soulfire stopped dead in his tracks. Her eyes were fixed on him. It looked like he had trouble meeting them.

"We are not owed his kindness." She glanced to me, then back to him. "Staying here is a privilege, even for me."

"Yes, Princess."

Celestia turned to me again. "They... They do need a place to stay." she said. She gave me a sympathetic look. She knew that this was troublesome for me.

I really didn't like this. Two more people staying in this tiny house... It was barely big enough for two. "Where did you two stay before this?" I asked.

"Nowhere." said Shining, "There wasn't anywhere for us to go."

"We can't repay you for this." said Soulfire, "That's what you want, isn't it? We don't have anything here."

"It isn't about being repaid. It's more complicated than that." How am I gonna boink Celestia if her guards are here?

I couldn't tell them no. I couldn't turn down someone like this. I wasn't that kind of person. I didn't have it in me to turn them away. If the situation were different, if I didn't know them, it would've been fine to say no. They might even have expected it. But these guys weren't even from this world. They needed someone. I would love their company, I really would. It's just...

Why am I even thinking about this? It isn't a choice, I have no choice. There's nothing I can do.

Looks like I have two new roommates. It's not all bad, I guess. Saying yes would probably score me some points with Celestia.

"There's already three of ya, is anyone else gonna show up?" I sarcastically let out.

"It's unlikely. After the Princess disappeared, the crystal mirror was put on a strict watch." said Shining.

"Good to hear." I replied having not expected an answer.

I still felt uneasy about all this...

Much of the rest of the day was spent debating about where we would all sleep and passing complaints from the guards about the house itself. There were way too many people in my house. It was crowded. With just one bedroom, there wasn't even enough rooms for everyone.

I didn't feel like we accomplished much yet, but I was getting a little hungry. I broke off from them and went to the kitchen. Celestia followed me and they followed her.

I was in the mood for grilled cheese. Celestia had no idea what I was making, yet asked me for one as I started. I made the two of us five of them. Shining and Soulfire said that they didn't want any.

As I cooked the bread, I asked Celestia to start opening the cheese, which she seemed to enjoy doing. Each sandwich was given a copious amount of cheese. When the first was done, I set it onto a plate. Celestia took it, then almost immediately took a bite.

"Ith hot!" she exclaimed.

"Careful, it's hot." I said to her.

She cried out again, then put the sandwich back down on the plate, a trail of melted cheese connecting her hand to it. She brought it up to her face and scraped the cheese off with her teeth.

"That was hot." she said, "But really good. Shining, Soulfire, try one!"

"I think we've both had grilled cheese before, Princess." said Shining, a little embarrassed.

"What, not hungry? More for me, then." she said, shrugging it off.

She reached for the sandwich again.

"Celestia, don't burn yourself." I said, picking up the second sandwich with my spatula.

She already had the first sandwich in her hand again. I set the second onto the plate while she took another bite.

"Hot!" she cried out again.

I laughed at her. She smiled back at me.

"Oh, hold on a minute... I forgot Tomato soup." I said.

"Huh? Tomato soup? That sounds nice. Do you have any?" asked Celestia.

"Yeah, it's in the closet." I said, leaving the third sandwich to cook and turning to it.

"Ooh, let me!" Celestia excitedly let out, opening the closet before I got to it.

She was being... cute.

She got a can from the closet. "If you two aren't hungry, go sit down." she said to her guards, her voice playful.

They looked at each other, confused looks on their faces. The two of them left the room.

Celestia smiled at me again.

She retrieved the can opener. Celestia made tomato soup while I made grilled cheese. This was fun. Five grilled cheese sandwiches and a bowl of tomato soup.

Celestia ate as she made the soup, burning herself each time her impatience got the better of her. She didn't seem to mind in the slightest. Instead, it just seemed to make her laugh even more.

When I was done with my targeted five sandwiches, I moved them to the table. Even though I made five, two were already gone, with another partially eaten. Celestia sat down, picking up the bitten sandwich and eating it.

I got the two of us glasses of milk.

"Man, I might have to make more, at this rate." I said, taking my second sandwich so far.

"Maybe." she said, mouth full. She dipped her sandwich in the single bowl of soup. It didn't seem like she cared whether or not it was shared between us. "Shining and Soulfire should've had some. They'd love it."

I sighed. "Bet they eat a lot. First you, now them... That's four people living here. Four people living off of one income."

Celestia swallowed the food in her mouth. She stopped eating. "Your concerns are... important to us. More important than you think. No matter what though, you feel obliged to help us. I appreciate that so much... but it's making me feel guilty taking advantage of you like this."

"I don't know. I just wasn't prepared for this, I guess. I can handle a group like yours for a few weeks." I smiled at her. "I guess I just can't say no to a pretty face."

She smiled bashfully. "You'll make me blush if you say things like that."

We returned to our meal. Five sandwiches was definitely not enough. I made two more for Celestia before she was satisfied.

I cleaned up the mess we had made when we were finished eating. After I did that, I called into work to say that I wouldn't be there tomorrow. My boss said I was taking a surprising amount of time off. I didn't give him a meaningful reply.

Celestia washed her hands, then returned to the front room, taking her usual position behind my computer. The other two sat on either side of her. Soulfire briefly eyed me as I entered the room, but went back to admiring the piece of human technology his ruler was using.

I stood against the wall, taking in the sight in front of me. Three people that I didn't really know were now living in my house. If they were normal people, I wouldn't even have given them a passing thought. But they aren't normal. This isn't normal.

None of this is normal.
> Chapter 5
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

August 25



I felt anxious. Anxious and... bored. I shouldn't be bored right now, this was exciting. Maybe I should do something to get my mind off of this.

"Hey Celestia, I'm gonna head downstairs." I said to her, "I'll be back eventually."

"Hmm? Oh, ok. We'll be here."

She turned back to her guards and continued her conversation.

I opened a game and leaned back in my chair, sighing. I wanted to relax to a simple game. Team Fortress 2 fit the bill.

I always just played the PvE content in TF2. It was simple, quick, and I knew the ins-and-outs of just about every mission. I chose the easiest mission, my favorite one.

A short while later, I heard footsteps. Someone was coming downstairs.

"That sure looks a lot different than this." Celestia stated, noting the differences between my laptop and my gaming computer.

I looked at her mid-wave, pushing my headset off my head. I still heard the hit-sounds of my sentry as it rested around my neck.

"What'd ya figure out?" I asked her.

"Nothing important, I suppose." Her voice was soft. Smooth. It was pleasant to hear. "What are you doing? What is that?"

"It's a video game. It's called Team Fortress 2."

"This is a video game? Interesting."

I chuckled. "Yeah, I kinda forgot to tell you about them, didn't I..."

"It seems violent."

"Yeah, a bit. You know, I used to play this game all the time before you showed up."

"I don't need to be watched, Phil."

I shrugged and turned my attention back to the game.

"What... is this?" she asked again.

"It's fun." I replied.

"That doesn't answer my question."

"Well... It's gonna be hard to explain. Really, it's just... a movie that you can control."

She just stared at the screen. "Well, if you can't tell me what it is, can you tell me what you're doing? Tell me what that thing you're hitting is. What does it do?"

"That's a little easier to explain." I gave her a brief runthrough of the engineer and his tools, as well as an even briefer explanation of the game's setting. It was a little difficult talking to her while playing, but I managed to pull through.

"Oh, you won!" She was happy for me. She didn't understand what winning meant. She didn't understand how easy it was to win. Still, she was happy for me. She really was just like a kid.

"You wanna play?" I asked her.

"Play? You... You mean, this?"

"Yeah." I got up and set my headset on the table. "Here, sit."

"Oh! Ok..."

She took my place in the chair and faced the center screen. She looked to me, curious for more instructions.

"Grab the mouse and put your hand on the keyboard like I did."

"The mouse is... this?" she asked, taking it.

"Yep. And for the keyboard, you'll want your hands on the W-A-S-D keys."

"Um... Like this?" she asked.

"Mmm... Close. Here, let me show you." I started manually moving her fingers to the correct keys. "And you can use the bottom bar to jump, so you'll want your thumb over that."

"Ok, I think I have it."

"Looks good." I said, taking my hand away.

That was... unexpected of me. It's like my body moved automatically to correct her. Well, if I don't mention it, it isn't weird.

She pressed the keys down a few times, but since we were in the menu, it did nothing. "This feels strange. You made it look so easy." She moved the mouse back and forth on the table, watching it move on the screen, learning how to use an actual computer mouse instead of just a touchpad.

I told her what to click on and lead her to the bot training mode. She looked over the instructions at the beginning before starting the round on attack.

"Ah! What's all this? This is so different from what you were doing."

I gave her some basic tips for the start of the round. She seemed to take my information to heart. As she listened, she practiced her mouse aiming in the spawn room. Her first pick being Soldier, she accidentally damaged herself quite a bit.

"And one last thing." I said, picking up the headphones. She watched as I brought them to her and sat still as I slid them onto her head.

She reached up and adjusted them so they fit properly. "Thank you."

For her first round, she played exactly as a new player would. Stopping to aim, missing shots, dying often, that sort of thing. However, she must've been enough of a distraction to the enemy team because before long, her team captured the first point.

She gasped. "What happened? Did I do good?"

"You did great, Celestia! You just won the first point."

She was smiling proudly. "Now what?" she asked me, ready for combat.

"Now you have to capture the second point. Try switching to Heavy. He's easier to play. Easier to aim."

"How do I..."

"Right. This button." I reached over her and tapped it for her.

She switched to the Heavy and made her way onto the battlefield. Being a Heavy, the Medic bot on the team began pocketing her almost instantly. What I wouldn't give to pocket Celestia...

Her new role put her into a better position to do damage. These easy bots didn't stand a chance. I noticed that her aim was actually decent for a beginner, which helped her out some. Her reflexes were incredible. She was very dexterous for someone who had spent the past few thousand years with hooves.

"I did it!" she exclaimed, "I won!"

"Great job, Celestia."

"Can I do it again?"

"I don't see why not."

I led her through her next game. With her assistance, her team successfully defeated the enemies.

"This is really fun! I can see why you do this so often."

"It really is fun. And this is just a single game. There are tons of games out there, some of them more fun than this."

"Really? Maybe you could show me. I wanna play again."

She started up another game. I just watched her from behind, enjoying myself almost as much as she was.

She was focused on the game, trying out new characters every so often.

Celestia...

Say something. Say something to her. Tell her that she looks cute with the headset on. Tell her how beautiful her smile is. Come on, you've done this before... We're alone, this is your chance...

I was having trouble talking. I was hesitating.

Just as I mustered up the courage to say something, she spoke first. "So you can do this with other people?"

"Ah... Y-Yeah... Yeah, all sorts of people. From all over the world." Smooth.

"I can only imagine how such a thing is possible... We ponies are far less advanced than you humans."

"Oh, don't worry. It'd probably take you eighty years tops to get to where we are."

"Eighty years? Is this merely a guess?"

"You've been looking stuff up, haven't you?"

"Well... That is not... entirely true..."

"Hmm?"

"In truth, my spare time has been consumed by... Oh, this is embarrassing for me to say... I've been looking at... silly videos of cats."

I chuckled. "Really, Celestia?"

She started to giggle. "There's just so many of them!" Her face was getting red. She pulled her hands from the keyboard mid-game and placed them onto her cheeks. "They're all so cute! I can't stop watching them!"

I laughed. "Yeah, I used to do the same thing all day long."

"Oh! The match!" She returned her hands to the keyboard and continued, short giggles escaping her lips.

I sighed, soon realizing that the reason I came down here was to use my computer. Now she was on it. Still, being with her was nice. Just a little while longer...

"Would you like this back?" she asked me, "You've been hovering around me for quite a while."

"Hmm? Oh, I..."

"It isn't a problem." She stood. "Here, take it."

"Uh... Yeah, alright. Thanks."

I took my place on my throne once more. She gave me my headset. I just set it onto the table.

"Show me how you would do this." she said to me.

"You got it." I replied.

Unlike her, I had an in-depth knowledge of how the game worked and knew the best ways to defeat the enemies. The first minute of the match had barely gone by and I was already on my way to the second point.

Celestia started talking again. She asked about different types of games and computers. I had some trouble explaining, but I did my best.

We were downstairs for a long time. I'm surprised that one of the guards hadn't popped in to check on us.

We had gone quiet for a while. I started speaking, this time. "Hey, Celestia."

"What is it?"

"I don't know if I really feel comfortable with your guards staying here."

"I understand, Phil. The three of us have barged into your life and taken over your home. I wouldn't be comfortable, either. It's very kind of you to give them a place to stay."

"I appreciate what you're saying, Celestia."

She sighed. "I'm sorry about them. I know that I put you into a position that you couldn't refuse. It wasn't right of me."

"We didn't have another choice."

"I know." She sighed again, then surprisingly, let out a chuckle. "Looks like we may have to postpone our next date."

"It wasn't..." I let out a frustrated groan.

"Yes it wa~as. I remember you saying that it was."

I shook my head. "Well, postponing it won't change anything. You'll be leaving when they leave."

"Maybe I'll come back for a visit. It's always nice to see friends."

"That..." She'd what? "That'd be nice." I turned to face her. "Celestia... That'd be nice."

She just smiled that same smile she always smiles. What a nice sight...

"It's... It's getting a little late, don't you think?" I asked, nervously changing the subject.

"Perhaps..."

It's funny... I came down here to relieve my stress with video games, but after spending all this time down here with Celestia... I didn't feel any stress at all. However...

"I gotta... I gotta set your guards up with a place to sleep. And... And get them...

She nodded. "You did have extra bedding for them, correct?"

"Yeah, yeah, I did."

"Good."

The two of us returned upstairs to her guards. They were both sitting on the couch, waiting patiently for us. The mere sight of them reminded me why I went down in the first place...

I set up places for the guards to sleep downstairs. The couch offered one bed. They would have to argue amongst themselves to see who slept on the floor. I had toothbrushes and the like for them as well. My supply was running low...

With the guards' beds being downstairs, I wasn't able to stay on the computer for much longer. I made sure to turn it off before I finally went upstairs.

I had told my boss that I wanted tomorrow off, but right now, I was kinda regretting it. I didn't need to stay home. I was just being a drama queen.

I sat on the couch with my laptop in my lap. Celestia sat beside me and watched what I was doing, invading my privacy with the innocence of a child.

I just accepted it. Thankfully, I was sure that I could find something to keep us busy for the next hour or so. Cat videos were plentiful.

I yawned. It had gotten late. I turned to her and said, "I think it's time to go to bed, Celestia."

"Yes, I suppose you're right. You'll be needing the couch, then."

"Yep."

She stretched her body out before standing up. "Well, goodnight, then." She started towards my room, then paused. "Hey..." She turned to me.

"Hmm?"

She kept quiet for a small while, then said, "No, it's nothing. Never mind. Sorry. Goodnight then, Phil."

Was something on her mind? "Goodnight, Celestia."



August 26



Today, I got to sleep in. Maybe staying home from work was a good idea. I could stay in bed as long as I wanted.

Or, at least, until someone wakes me. With my bed being the couch in the middle of the house, it didn't take long.

My eyes lazily followed Shining Armor as he walked upstairs and to my room. His footsteps woke me. I blinked slowly. He glanced at me before raising a hand to knock on the door

I heard a quiet, "Hmm?" from beyond the door.

"Princess, it's Shining Armor." he announced himself.

"Leave me be, I'm sleeping." she replied.

He was surprised by his Princess's laziness. He started saying something, but the Princess cut him off.

"We can speak later."

He took a while to respond, but finally said, "Very well, Princess."

He stepped away from the door, then looked to me. I lifted my hand an inch or two as a wave.

"Um... Food?" he asked.

I gestured to the kitchen doorway. "Whatever."

He nodded and left to the kitchen. Not too long after, Soulfire came up and joined him.

I turned away and closed my eyes again.

They were being considerate but no amount of politeness would silence them completely. I wouldn't be getting back to sleep. Should I sleep downstairs? I'd be out of their way. They wouldn't have room, then. Hmm...

I laid still in my makeshift bed hoping to fall asleep once more. I quickly realized the futility of it and simply enjoyed the rest.

Celestia would wake up to eat, soon. Shining, Soulfire, Celestia, and myself... Food, water, electricity... Mmm...

Shining and Soulfire had finished their meal by the time the bedroom door opened. Celestia walked out and yawned. A shirt that was too big, messy hair, tired eyes... She was cute...

"Hey, Phil." she lazily said to me.

"Hey."

She lazily blinked at me before moving to the kitchen. The guards were still out there. I heard familiar cereal sounds. Celestia complained to them about letting her sleep. I didn't pay attention to what else she said.

I should've just gone to work...

Footsteps. I felt someone poke my shoulder. "Hey, wake up." I heard her say.

I opened my eyes and looked to her.

"Take me into town, again. I wanna see more." she said to me. Her voice was far from demanding, but something told me that this wasn't a request.

"Maybe later." I grumbled, turning away from her.

She poked me again, her finger becoming insistent. "Show me more of the town."

"You got the laptop, just look it up."

"Not the same. Get up."

"Um, Princess..."

"Quiet, Shining."

"We'll go later." I said.

"But I'm bored now."

"Celestia, you sound like a kid."

She stopped poking me, grumbling.

"Princess, what are you..."

Is she gonna drag me off the couch, or something? She probably could if she wanted to. I should jus- Holy fuck!

A massive weight started pressing down on my back. I looked up to see what it was. It was her. She was sitting on my back.

"Get off me!"

"Oh, you're awake."

"Yeah I'm awake, you're crushing my ribcage!"

Celestia's bottom weighed heavily on me. I couldn't take in full breaths. Even so... It wasn't entirely unpleasant.

She gave me a smile. Her smile. "You know, I was wondering when you would get up." she jokingly stated.

"It's hard to breathe under your big butt."

"Oh? Is my butt really that big?"

Yes, it's huge and amazing. "C'mon, get off of me."

"Alright, but you have to do something for me."

I just laid there and accepted defeat. "You don't have to pin me to my furniture every time you want something from me."

"Oh please, you're having fun."

"Yeah, and how would you figure that?"

"You haven't tried to push me off."

"That would be rude."

She gave off a light giggle. "Take me around town again."

"There isn't any more stuff."

"I don't believe you." she said in a childish, singsong tone.

"Can't a guy sleep in for once? I'm gonna poke you."

"Hmm?"

I stretched upwards and poked at the side of her head with a finger. "Poke ya right in the noggin."

She stifled a giggle. "So, where are we going to go today?" she asked.

I gave her an annoyed groan. "Fine. Somewhere. I'll think of something."

"That's what I wanted to hear."

I waited a few moments before saying, "Will you get off me now?"

"Maybe later."

"Oh, ha ha..."

I struggled to free myself from her bottom, though quickly gave up. Breathing soon became an unimportant part of my life.

Celestia moved atop me. I watched as she picked the laptop from the coffee table and placed it onto her lap. Shoulda just kicked her off, now she's got precious cargo. As if her butt wasn't precious enough...

She knew what she was doing. She had to. Why else would she do this? A woman doesn't forget hundreds of years of social grace and maturity in a week.

My back hurt...

She got off me after a few minutes and moved into the kitchen, humming a tune to herself, leaving me with the task of figuring out what we were going to do. Very little came to mind. Fewer still seemed fun.

Fuck it, let's just get wasted.

It was about time to introduce some more of my friends to these ponies. What better place to do so than at a bar?

I wasn't that big on drinking. I'd have some with my friends, but rarely drank alone.

"Hey Celestia, do you drink?" I asked.

"Drink? As in alcohol? I enjoy a glass of wine every now and again. Why do you ask?"

"Let's head to a bar tonight. I'll invite some of my friends and we'll all have a sort-of party or something."

"I don't know if that's a good idea." said Shining.

"Are bars here any different than in Equestria?" she asked me.

"Not by much, I wouldn't think. Drinking, eating, playing darts, shooting pool... Typical bar stuff."

She gave it some thought before responding with, "A bar... Sounds fun!"

"Are you sure about this, Princess?" Soulfire chimed in.

"If he thinks it's a good idea, then I'm fine with it." she replied, "Besides, if anything goes wrong, I have you around to protect me, don't I?"

"Oh, nothing's gonna go wrong." I said, "I got a nice place in mind for ya. You'll love it. It's... not gonna be a fancy place, though. I doubt the place even has wine."

I told her that it would be a while before any of my friends were out of work. I wasn't working because I thought that some time off might be beneficial. Maybe it was. I eventually invited three of my friends, Tristan, Trevor, and Timmy. Thankfully, they were free.

It was about 6:00 or so before we left. I had to keep Celestia entertained until then with more computer questions. The bar in mind was somewhat close to my house, so the drive wasn't unpleasant.

I saw Trevor's car, but the other two weren't here yet. A familiar smell of cigarettes and alcohol filled the air as we walked in.

Trevor waved us over when he saw us. I led us over to him. The bar was somewhat full, but it seemed calm enough.

Trevor looked over my posse. "Hey Phil. What's up? Who're these fine gentlemen? Am I getting mugged tonight?"

"It won't be a mugging if you give the money willingly." I responded.

"So who are they? And the woman, is she also with you?"

"The woman?" asked Soulfire, stepping towards him. Celestia put her hand on his shoulder.

"Well, she is a woman, isn't she? Although, knowing Phil..."

"Yup, they're with me." I said to him, "You guys take a seat, I'm getting myself something to eat."

"Get something for me!" said Celestia.

"Alright. Whadda ya want?"

"Surprise me!"

I blinked, then shrugged and walked to the counter.

Trevor followed me. "Uh, Phil? Is it ok to be scared right now?" he asked.

"Don't be a bitch, bitch."

"Who are they?"

"Ah, just some friends I wanted to introduce to the gang."

"So we're a gang, now?"

"Yeah, The Bitchy Bunch."

He chuckled.

I ordered some onion rings for myself and the Princess.

Trevor was staring at the three of them, confused.

"So... So how much did he pay the three of you to do this?" he asked them when he knew I could hear.

"You’re not the first guy to say something like that." I replied.

"Yes, I have... heard it before." said Celestia.

He looked to them, then to me, then back to them. "Well... whatever."

Timmy arrived after a few minutes. I introduced them to each other. Timmy was surprised to see two extra people around me.

I retrieved my baskets of food from the bartender, ordering few beers for the group as I did. This would give me some much needed stress relief. Even when it was just Celestia, I felt like I had too much to deal with, and now there were three of them.

I opened my can and took a drink. It wasn't a pleasant taste, but it was cheap and easy. Without asking, Celestia grabbed the next can. She looked at me and opened it.

"Princess, are you really sure about this?" Soulfire asked.

"What did I say about calling me Princess?" she said before taking a long drink. She didn’t give any reaction to it, but set it down on the table.

"They’re staying with you?" Trevor said with a sigh, "You guys enjoying yourself at Phil’s house?"

"It’s pleasant, if a bit boring." Celestia stated.

Shining shrugged. Soulfire didn’t react. They haven't been there long enough to say.

I grabbed some onion rings and finished my can. Trevor took the next can. Celestia tried an onion ring.

"My, that was very... greasy." she said after she had finished it, "I don't eat much deep fried food. That may be the most unhealthy thing I have ever eaten." She proceeded to grab another.

The guards were slowly coming to terms with their Princess's attitude.

After she finished her own basket, she reached towards mine.

"Hey, order your own food." I said, pulling the basket away as her hand reached out for it.

She looked to me with exaggerated puppy dog eyes. I glared at her as I slowly pushed my basket back towards her. She smiled at me. I just sighed as she took one.

The door of the bar opened and Tristan walked in. He saw us and walked over.

"Hey, man." I said.

"Hey. Who's the new guys?"

More introductions.

"Do they pay rent or something? I know you're a cheap ass, you wouldn't let them stay for free. She clean the hose or something?" asked Trevor.

Celestia chuckled. I'm pretty sure she knew exactly what that meant.

"Knowing you, it’s probably one of the other two who does the dirty work." he said.

Timmy let out a poorly concealed snicker.

"I'll fukkin' pay your rent, boy." I said to him.

"What?"

"What?" I grabbed another beer. "I'm hungry."

"We're all hungry." said Trevor.

"I'm not actually that hungry." said Tristan.

"Statistically, we're all hungry." I said.

"That's not statistical at all." said Timmy.

"You're not statistical." said Trevor.

"Well... I can't argue with that." Timmy replied.

Both of my other friends grabbed the beer I got. We had already run dry. This was going to be a long evening.

Seven people sitting in the corner of a bar, slowly getting drunk. I ordered some more food and some more beer. Living the dream...

I didn't come here to talk. I came here with the intent of getting drunk, so that's exactly what I did.

I remember playing some pool a lot. Celestia was definitely a ringer. The dartboard saw some action, too.

Eventually, as is typical with alcohol, things became blurry. I don't remember much, but I know that we had a great time. Even the guards joined our little party after some convincing from their Princess.

All in all, I think this was a pretty idea.

How much money did I spend...
> Chapter 6
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

August 27



Waking up after a night of drinking. Not the best feeling in the world. Such is life... If I could get just a few more hours...

It took me a little while before I finally realized that something was amiss. I was lying in my bed. Man, that's... great. But... why? Celestia was the one that slept in my bed. Guess she can't persuade drunks.

Something else wasn't right. I was having a lot of trouble moving my arm. I felt sweaty. Did I forget to turn the fan on? It gets hot in here sometimes.

I finally opened my eyes, blinking a few times. Something bright was in front of me. I didn't know what it was. I still couldn't move my arm. I think it was caught in my blankets somehow. It felt really warm.

Something bright... This was... Hair. Her hair. Celestia's hair. Princess Celestia's hair... I blinked a few more times.

From where I laid, I could see her multicolored hair and part of her back. Unlike any time I had seen her before, her back was entirely bare. The rest of her was covered with a blanket. The same blanket that covered me...

As I pieced together what might have happened, or what might not have happened, I could only come to one conclusion.

Oh...

I blinked a few times. My mind was blank. I didn't know what do think.

My arms moved on their own, closing around her body. She was nothing but softness.

I heard a gentle chuckle from her. A hand gingerly touched my wrist. "Good morning."

I replied with my own quiet, "Good morning."

She didn't move. Neither did I. We laid still, together on this bed we shared. We had a lot to talk about. I had a lot to say to her. I'm sure she had a lot to say to me. Yet, we were silent.

My arms moved with her stomach, rising and falling with her every breath. To me, nothing was more important than this moment we shared. I would do anything to make it last.

Sadly, all good things must come to an end. That end would be a long yawn from the Princess in my arms. When she was done, she tapped my arm, signaling me to let go. Celestia pulled away from my embrace, sliding up the bed so that she was sitting against the headboard. She paid no mind to the blanket dropping into her lap, revealing her bare chest to me.

I sat up as well, unable to keep myself from stealing a glance. Her eyes met mine as I looked up. There was no shame or embarrassment in them. Whether it was because she was a pony or... some other reason, she didn't care that she was exposed.

"You don't remember... Do you? All the... things that you said to me... All the things that we did..."

I blinked. Her usually cheerful voice was... sad.

"You don't have to say it." She hung her head. "I can see it in your eyes."

What should I say to her? Do I... comfort her?

My thoughts stopped as she looked to me once more, meeting my eyes.

"Phil?"

"Yes?"

"Can you..." Her voice cracked. She cleared her throat and tried again. "Can you do something for me?"

"Yeah, sure. What’s up?" She wanted something from me? What?

"I just... need you to say something. It’s... important to me. I just really... really need to hear you say it." Her voice was shaking.

I didn't understand. I was getting concerned for her. "Are you alright?"

"Tell me... Tell me that you love me."

"What..." I was taken back by her request. This wasn't something small. Not to her and not to me.

"I keep thinking back to the picnic we shared. You said that you were attracted to me, but..." She looked away from my eyes.

"Celestia..."

"I don’t care if you have to lie to me..." she said, her voice cracking again, "I need to hear you say it."

"Celestia, I wouldn’t... I don’t lie about that. I don’t."

"Then say it... Say it like you did last night..."

"I love you."

Her eyes widened. She looked to me again, eyes narrowing. "That was too easy." she stated quietly, "Was that... really how you... Was that only because I asked?"

Only one thing came to mind. I barely gave it another thought before I leaned in and pressed my lips against hers. She didn't move away.

It lasted only a few seconds before I pulled away from her, a soft smacking sound as I did. My lips were tingling. My stomach was knotted. It may have just been a side effect of the hangover, but I liked this feeling.

We stared at each other. Her beautiful magenta eyes were so big. I couldn't look anywhere else.

"I love you, Celestia." I slowly moved my hand around her. "I think I always have."

I pulled her towards me for another kiss. This time, she did the same, placing her hand onto my leg. Her lips were so soft. I squeezed her tightly as we kissed, not wanting to let go.

It took a while before I pulled away. She opened her eyes, stunned. She didn't say anything. She didn't do anything. All she did was stare. Her eyes were still so big.

"I don't know if we've spent enough time together for me to really know it, but that's how I feel. And I know that this is a lot more complex than what you're asking me, but I don't care. I love you."

She blinked a few times, keeping silent.

"So..." I hesitated. Guess this is the question... "Does that mean that you..."

Her eyes briefly widened. She looked away again. "I don't know. I don't know how I feel. I've been in love before, but this feels different. It always feels different. I needed... I wanted to hear you say that after... what we did. What you said before... When we went on our little picnic... That I was beautiful, that I was..." She paused. "The more I thought about it, the more doubtful I became that you weren't just using me. Even if you were intoxicated. Maybe I was just using you... Maybe I knew it would happen. Maybe I... wanted it to happen..."

"If it means anything, it wasn't... my goal."

She took in a deep breath. "It... does. Thank you."

"So... What now? What does this all mean?"

She shook her head. "I don't know. What do you want it to mean?"

"I guess... I want it to mean..." I placed my hand on her cheek and met her eyes. "That... the two of us... could be together."

"Together?"

I nodded. "Yeah. Together. Would you like that, Celestia?"

I could see her face reddening. She smiled at me. "Yeah... I think I would."

I returned her smile with my own. "How does it feel?"

"It feels... normal."

"Normal?"

"I think so. I feel better."

"Good."

We stared at each other for a while, not knowing what to say. I gently caressed her face. She leaned into it, laying her head on my hand.

She stared into my eyes as I stared into hers. I pushed my lips against hers once more. This kiss was much longer. We kissed passionately, holding each other close.

A tiny smacking sound completed our connection. Our eyes opened to meet once again.

I slowly lifted my second hand around her body, straightening my own back inthe process. She moved with me, seemingly without knowing. She was curious about what would happen. I was a little curious myself...

I wrapped my arms around her bare back. She wrapped her arms around mine. She rested her chin on my shoulder. I held her tightly.

When she moved to hug me, her blanket shifted. I could see that she was completely naked. But right now, I didn't care about that. I just wanted to hold her. The warmth of her body put my mind at ease. The longer I held on, the less I wanted to let go.

She sniffed. I held her tighter.

"I never expected you to take me as your girlfriend." She let out a small laugh.

"I never expected you to accept me as your boyfriend." I replied.

"You know, you can be very talkative when you're drunk. You said a lot of things to me last night. A lot of it made sense."

"Hope I didn't say anything rude."

Her body shook as she chuckled again. "Oh no, nothing like that. Last night... you told me that it wasn't about love. The two of us were simply having fun the way that adults would. I know that some are only together for a single night. We ponies are the same. Even I am guilty of it. But... when a man and a woman share a bed... it should be about the love they share... Don't you think?"

"Yeah..."

"Even so... With you... I wouldn't have minded if it were just for fun..." She giggled.

She let go of me. I did the same. She leaned back against the headboard, looking to me. I joined her.

"I'll admit, I expected something a lot different before I first saw it."

"Hmm?"

"Your penis."

"Oh."

"I was surprised. It's so much different than a pony's penis. A little smaller than most I've seen, though."

"Ow."

She chuckled. "Don't fret, it was just a joke. This new body of mine... " She leaned against me. "Having sex with this human body was such a strange experience..."

I reached around her back and placed my hand onto her far hip. "Bet it was."

"How much of it do you remember?" she asked, looking at me with curious eyes.

"Nothing that happened here."

"Do you remember the bar?"

"Some of it. I get hazy after playing pool."

"If this is what happens when you get drunk, then maybe you should do it more often."

"Maybe we could skip the 'getting drunk' part."

"Maybe. It was... very... fun."

"Fun?"

"You took me by surprise. I haven't done anything like that with someone I had these kinds of feelings for in a very long time."

"Man, I just wanted to destress. I didn't think anything like this would happen."

"Oh, don't worry about that. You and I 'destressed' all night long."

I let out a laugh. That was kinda funny.

She gave me a smile. "Do you remember... after we had gotten back here, when you kissed me?"

"I don't."

"It was so sudden and out of nowhere. It was... powerful. Breathtaking... Well, now that I think about it, some of the feelings could've been more in my head. You're not a very good kisser."

"Hey."

"Everything after that went by so fast. The next thing I knew, we were on the bed, and you were on me."

"I don't need a rundown of what happened. I get the picture."

"It's a big picture. I didn't think we'd ever stop."

I sighed, smiling at her. "Hey, I'm hungry. Do you want some breakfast?"

She nodded. "Make me some pancakes."

"Alright. You coming with?"

"No, I'll wait here. I need rest. My body isn't used to such vigorous... activities."

I wanted to say something in jest, but my mind wandered back to the pancakes.

I pulled the blanket off my lap and stood up. She smiled at me, moving her eyes up and down my body. My clothes were at the end of the bed, which told a story on its own. She gazed at me as I dressed myself.

"Don't forget the syrup!" she called as I opened the door.

I just smiled at her, closing it behind me.

My first stop was the bathroom to do something about this headache. The mirror showed me what Celestia had been talking about. Bite marks covered my neck and shoulders and my back was covered in scratches. Now that I noticed them, they started stinging.

Shining was on the couch, but I didn't see Soulfire. I didn't particularly care right now.

Pancakes... How do I make pancakes? Flour, water, milk, and eggs, right? Do I even have any flour?

The flour jar was empty. I had to find a bag I hadn't opened yet. In my hunt, I managed to find some old poptarts that Celestia hadn't gotten to yet. Thankfully, a bag of flour was stashed away in a cupboard.

I looked up a recipe on my phone, not confident in my cooking skills. The clock told me that I was very late to work. I called my boss and gave him a brief talk.

As I poured batter into the pan, I sampled some with a spoon. After I was satisfied with my modest pile of pancakes, I cleaned up the mess I made. I grabbed the plate and brought it to Celestia.

By my second trip for toppings, Celestia had already scarfed one down and was stuffing her face with a second pancake, no silverware in sight.

"You're disgusting." I smiled. "That's probably why I like you."

She said something behind a mouthful of pancake.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll be back."

"Milk!" she called after me.

I sat down next to her in the bed. She took the cup of milk I had poured for her and tipped it up. She let out a loud breath before setting it down. "This is delicious."

"Glad you like."

She suddenly stopped wolfing down her food.

"What's up?" I asked.

"Oh, I was just... thinking."

"I'm surprised."

"Shut up." She chuckled. "You didn't... You didn't use a condom. I might've gotten pregnant, you know..."

Isn't it funny how sudden news while you're eating can lead to unintended consequences? Pancakes going down the wrong pipe is not a pleasant feeling. Thankfully, I was able to cough it up before it did any damage.

"Jesus Christ..." I said through a string of coughs.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm fine. Geez..."

"Well?"

"Well, what?"

"Anything... to say?"

"Anything to say, huh? Well... If you got pregnant... I guess I'd be ok with that."

I don't think she expected that answer. "That's not what I... Phil, you..." She paused. "R-Really?"

"I think so, yeah."

She stared at me with wide eyes for a long time before quietly saying, "Th-Thank you, Phil. That... makes me feel a lot better."

She was silent for a while, idly poking at her food with a smile. Her face was getting red.

"Well, it's... I've... I am..." She slowly brought her fork up to take a bite of her pancake, continuing to mumble with her mouth full. "It's not..."

"Celestia, I think you should calm down a bit."

She nodded. "You're right. I'm sorry. It's just... The thought of having a child has made me flustered. It's exciting, isn't it?"

"Yeah, I guess it is."

"But... back in Equestria, when I was a pony, I couldn't get pregnant. Not... Not normally, at least. It... An alicorn such as myself... I'm different from the other ponies. My body... works differently." She stopped, then looked away. "It must not make much sense to you, as a human." She seemed down...

"Do you want children, Celestia?"

"I do, yes. One to call my own... I've dreamt of it since I was a little filly. Though, 'little' to me still means much older than you. So... What about you?" she asked me, "Do you want children? You must, or else I'm sure you would've at least tried to pull away."

"God, you're disgusting."

"I had no control over the situation! That was all you!"

"Yeah and I'd do it again if I have to!"

"You can't threaten me with a good time!" she retorted, "Although... n-not now... Give a lady some time to recover... Well, Phil?"

"I dunno. I've thought about it, but I just... I just don't think I'm... responsible enough for them. You know?"

"I do."

"My brother and sister both have kids and I've spent a lot of time with them. I've seen what they can do. I'm just... not ready."

"You have siblings?" she asked, completely ignoring anything else I had said.

"I have two brothers and two sisters."

"Why haven't you told me yet?" She was cheerful again. I liked this smile. Funny... I was paying more attention to her smile than even her bare breasts. Now that I was thinking of them though...

"Well, it didn't come up."

"I was under the impression that you were an only child."

"Well, I'm not."

"So, are you younger or older than them?"

"I'm in the middle. Got a brother and sister on each side."

"How was it? Being a younger brother, I mean. Was it fun?"

"Well, it was alright. My older brother was usually nice, but sometimes he picked on me. And my sister was always really nice to us, even if we did get on her nerves a lot."

She sighed. "I don't know what Luna thinks of me. The time we've shared... The time we've spent apart... It's all so much."

"Take it from me Celestia, she thinks the world of you."

"You really think so?"

"That's how little brothers and sisters are. Deep down, they really care for you."

"It's always awkward whenever one of us touches on the subject of our relationship. I always feel she's hiding her true feelings from me."

"There's nothing to hide. She loves you, same as she always has."

"It's more complicated than that."

"Trust me, it isn't. Luna loves you more than any little sister can love her big sister."

She smiled. "You're such a sweet talker..."

I gave her a quick peck on her syrupy lips while we faced each other. Her expression warmed up fast.

She continued eating. We didn't speak for a while, but she broke the silence.

"So, if you did have a child, would you prefer a boy or a girl?"

"A boy. I'd be too scared my little baby girl would get an awful boyfriend. And boys are tough. You can just toss them outside and as long as they aren't eating dirt, you're doing a good job. What about you?"

"A girl, I think. It would be easier to relate to a girl."

"I suppose. Hey Celestia, could you cover up? I'm having a hard time paying attention to you."

"Hmm? You mean my chest?"

"Yeah, where's your bra?"

"Phil, we're a couple, now. I want you to be comfortable with that. I want you to be comfortable with... me. Pony or not, it is still my body." She smiled. "I want to share my body with you as your girlfriend."

"You just don't want to put it on, do you..."

"It's really tight! The straps dig into my shoulders."

"Alright, you don't have to cover up."

She chuckled. "I was afraid you were going to grab them again. You were so rough with them last night. Mmm... You were rough with my whole body." She snuggled against me. "I kinda like rough..."

I held her tighter against me. Suddenly, she chuckled. I looked at her. She smiled awkwardly.

"Not experiencing an orgasm for decades at a time does funny things to a lady's head." she said.

"Time to stop counting, right?"

She smiled at me. "Oh, you have absolutely no idea..."

Was that a yes or a no? "Hey Celestia... Would you have... done that if you didn't have any alcohol in you?" I asked her.

"I think I would have. I wasn't very inebriated in the first place. I did like you, Phil. There may not have been fireworks, but you could probably tell there was... something between us. I guess I was looking for someone like you."

"Someone like me?"

"Yeah..."

I stared at her for a few moments before saying, "I love you."

"You don't have to say it again." she said with a smile.

"I'll say it as many times as I want. As many times as you want me to, Celestia."

Her smile grew. A smile full of happiness. "Alright... Say it again."

"I love you."

"Again."

"I love you."

"A-Again..."

"I love you, Celestia."

Tears were beginning to form in her eyes. "O-One more time?"

I closed in on her for another kiss. She eagerly accepted my lips. I soon pulled away, gazing right into her eyes. "Celestia... I love you..."

Her eyes slowly closed. Tears dripped down her cheeks. She looked at me again through her tears and gave me a quiet, "Thank you..."

It didn't take long for the pancakes to disappear. When they were gone, we sat in silence. After a while, I gathered everything up and brought them into the kitchen for a rinsing.

Aside from a glance as I walked through the front room, Shining ignored me. I hope we didn't keep these guys awake...

Is my... car...

I checked out the front room window. It was nowhere to be seen. "Did I leave my car at the bar?" I asked Shining.

"You did. One of your friends took us back."

"Oh, ok."

I returned to Celestia and bent over the bed to give her a quick peck on the lips.

"I gotta go get my car back. I'll be back soon."

"Alright. I'll stay here, then. I don't know if I could come with even if I tried. My legs are still a little... numb..."

I blinked, unable to tell if she was serious or not. "Anyways, yeah. Twenty, thirty minutes, maybe. I should probably get a shirt on." I started putting on my clothes from last night, unwilling to get a new set. "Won't take me long."

"Come back soon... lover." She giggled. "Sorry, that sounded strange."

I left the room.

As I started putting my shoes on, Shining Armor stood up. "Where are you going?" he asked me.

"Just... gonna get my car."

"I think I'll come with."

"Alrighty then." I wasn't very fond of this idea, but it'd probably be better if he smacked me around outside where I wouldn't have to pay for the property damages. "Ready when you are."

He didn't tell his Princess that he was going, but I doubt it mattered.

It was already warm. The sun was out and there were few clouds in the sky.

"So..." Shining started, "You and the Princess..."

Quick and to the point. I looked to him, but didn't reply.

"I could hear you talking behind your door."

That's not your business... Maybe I'd say that if he wasn't her guard...

"Was all last night just building up to that?" He was speaking calmly, but he didn't seem happy with me.

"Look, I wasn't planning for this to happen. I just wanted to relax. You three put me through a lot of stress."

"That doesn't make it right."

"What do ya mean, 'doesn't make it right'? You don't get a say in what's right or wrong here." That came out more aggressive than I wanted it to.

"Don't tell me what I can or can't do. Especially if it involves my Princess."

"I'm not giving you an excuse. What happened, happened. If you're angry about it, bring it up with her."

He took a while to respond. "Princess Celestia is very important to me. Not only am I the captain of her royal guard, a position I take very seriously, but I am also part of her family. My wife is Princess Celestia's niece. This is not something that I can take lightly."

I nodded. Made sense.

"Look... It's supposed to be my duty to protect and serve the Princess. So... I'm going to give you a warning. If you do anything to hurt our Princess, you're going to pay. Do you understand?"

"Yes, yes I do. I understand." That's... a little scary, I will admit.

"Good. I'm sorry that I had to say that. You're a good guy and even if Soulfire doesn't seem to like you, he knows it too. The only thing we want is for our Princess to return home safe and sound. But... in the same vein... The way you treat our Princess is... troublesome."

"What do you mean?"

"You don't... seem... like you treat her with the respect she deserves as a Princess."

"I respect her. I respect her like I respect all my friends. In fact, I respect her a lot more than I respect my friends. I even respect the two of you guards."

"You do?"

"Well, yeah. You're guarding the rulers of a country. That kinda job don't come easy, I know that. It takes a lot of hard work to be put into that kinda position."

He nodded.

"Shining, when I talk to Celestia, I talk to her like she's my friend. Because she is. She's my friend. Was my friend. She's more than a friend. She's never gonna have any fun if everyone treats her the same way. And... And... I'm not capable of giving her the respect she deserves. She deserves more than I could possibly give her. So I do what I can. And as long as I see her smiling, I've done things right."

"That's very... romantic of you. I'm surprised. I can't believe the Princess actually took a liking to you. I've never seen her in a relationship before. It's nice to hear that she found someone, even someone like you."

"Like me?"

"You know, a human. Someone not from our world."

"Not from your world, huh? Hmm..."

"I think... she needed someone like you."

"A human?"

"Someone that treats her like a friend. She needed something like this."

Did he just tell me that Celestia needed to get laid?

"Celestia may be much older than the rest of us, but she can be just as normal as you or I am. She just doesn't see it that way very often. I think that she needed someone like you to treat her like you do. She doesn't open up that well to someone she doesn't trust."

"You think she trusts me?"

"I think she does. Sorry. My wife is better at this kind of stuff than I am. I'm just happy to see my Princess happy."

"Yeah, me too."

"No matter what I think, she decides what happens in her life. And if her choice is to... fall in love with a human, then it's our job to support her."

I was stuck on what he said earlier. Other world...

The car in the parking lot was thankfully undamaged. Shining got in the passenger side as I got in the driver's.

There was no damage, but something felt off. The more I drove, the more I felt it. I had a sneaking suspicion a while ago, but the faint grinding sound whenever I stopped confirmed it. The breaks were bad.

I took a wrong turn to try to hear it again.

"Where are we going?" he asked me.

"Shush, my car's making noise."

"What? It's always making noise."

"No, when I stop. Listen."

I stopped at a corner.

"I... don't hear anything." he said.

"The brakes are... old."

"What does that mean?"

"Mmm... Nothing much... I just... gotta replace them. Dang it... I'll need to take a look at them, buy new..." I grumbled to myself.

After I got out of the car, I gave the front tire a tap with my foot. Shining went back inside. I crossed my arms, thinking about the car. Maybe I should check more than just brakes.

I made a mental list of what I would need to pick up from the store as I walked back inside.

Celestia was sitting on the couch in her robe, wet hair draped to her side. There was a pleasant, soapy smell in the air.

"How did it go?" she asked.

"Made it back in one piece, didn't I? Ah, but there's an issue with my car."

"Issue?"

"The... brakes sound old, I probably need to replace them."

"Sounds fun."

I shrugged. "It is what it is."

She patted the couch next to where she was sitting, smiling at me as she did. She leaned against me as I joined her. Her wet hair was cool to the touch.

Her eyes flicked up at Shining Armor. He left into the kitchen. I heard his voice from the other room.

"You know, there are hand prints all over my butt." said Celestia, "It's no wonder I'm still sore. You were not very kind to my bottom."

I stared right at her. "How do you expect me to respond to that, Celestia?"

She giggled.

"I am not apologizing for art."

"Oh, is that what it was? I never understand you artists. What was your piece called?"

My first instinct was to come up with a witty response, but it felt a little immature.

"Oh wait, let me guess! Hmm..."

"You're being gross."

"Sorry. My mind's been in the gutter all morning. I'm just so... excited..." She giggled again. She smiled wide, then let out a loud girlish squeal. "Ahh! I finally have a boyfriend!" she cried out, snuggling tightly against my arm.

She looked up at me, smiling her perfect, little smile. I just smiled back at her. We just stared for a small while. Then, she laid against me, closing her eyes.

This was... Wow... This was incredible... Celestia was just... laying on me! She was laying on me like it was nothing! Oh my god...

I pulled my arm out from under her and rested it in her other side, holding her. She opened her eyes, looking up and smiling at me.

My mind was stuck on her. I couldn't think of anything else. Nothing else mattered as I gazed into her big purple eyes. She soon laid against me again, closing her eyes. I took in a breath. Wow...

"Your heart is beating so hard, Phil." She chuckled.

My heart beats for you.

It took me a while before I mustered up the nerve to say, "Hey, Celestia."

"Yes?"

"I need to go to the store."

Her eyes lit up. Her body pressed against mine in her excitement. "I want to come with!"

"Oh... Well, alright."

She gave me a giddy smile.

"You need to put some clothes on first, though." I said.

"I know, I know. I can't go into the public without clothes. That would be... distasteful..."

"To say the least, yeah. Before that though, I need to check my car. It's a bit old, so some of the parts are going bad."

She chuckled. "I hope you don't feel this way about all old things."

"Oh please, you can't be a day over 2000."

She smiled. "You'd be surprised..."

"Well, you're still a cutie."

She giggled.

I leaned my head down and kissed her on the forehead. "C'mon, up. I gotta check it."

"So soon?"

Regardless of how she felt, she got off me and stood up. I stood as well. She was just smiling. Her smile was infectious.

We had been together for less than a day and already we were acting so close to one another. I'm sure some doubt lingered in the back of her mind, but I think that she felt the same way I did. She wanted to enjoy this while she could.

I ran through a mental checklist as I opened the hood of my car. Engine, dirty. Oil, low. Battery, still there. I made sure the blinker fluid was topped off as well.

I heard the front door open. A smiling Celestia walked outside, a new set of clothes on. Her hair still looked wet.

"What are you doing?" she asked me.

"Uh... Maintenance." I said.

"What... are you maintenancing?"

I gave her a rundown of some common car issues I could remember. The list was smaller than I wanted it to be, I'm not a car person. I finished with, "I wanna check underneath, now."

"Underneath? Seems a little cramped."

"I've worked with tighter spaces before." I held a straight face as I looked to her.

She blinked. "And you say I'm disgusting..."

I smirked. "Well, I gotta lift it up first."

"Lift it up?"

"Yep. Be right back." I moved to the garage to retrieve the carjack. She watched as I got to work.

"That's an impressive device." she said, examining it closely, "I believe we have something similar in Equestria. I'm not certain though, it's not my area of expertise."

"Wanna help me jack?" I asked.

"What?"

"Hmm?" I moved to the side, opening my hand on the bar, offering it to her.

"Oh! Oh, that's what you meant. I'm sorry. Yes, I'll give it a try." She chuckled nervously.

I let her take it from me and watched as she did the same as I did, lifting the front of the car.

"You're pretty good at jacking, Celestia."

She chuckled. "I'll show you just how good I am at 'jacking' later."

I don't know if poking fun at her will work if she's going to respond so positively.

"That should be enough." I said, placing my hand onto hers to stop her. She let go of it.

I placed a jack stand underneath the car before lowering it. Celestia let out a tiny yelp of surprise as it dropped. I returned to the garage and retrieved a pair of safety glasses and a flashlight to check underneath. To my lack of surprise, it was rusty and grimy.

Celestia looked down at me from above the engine. When she noticed that I could see her, she smiled and waved.

Hmm... "Hey, Celestia."

"Yes?"

"Do me a favor, would you?"

"What do you need?"

"Get in and push on the brake pedal for me."

"Get in? While you're still under it?"

"Don't worry, I'm sure a few extra zeros to the weight will be fine."

She gave my leg a playful kick. "How rude!"

"Though, you do have a point." I pulled myself out from under the car before she got in.

Celestia sat in the driver's seat and looked down at me.

"The middle pedal." I said, "Just push it down with your foot."

She did as I asked. I was disappointed to find that it didn't sound out of the ordinary. I wanted to impress Celestia.

"Try it again." I said.

"What does this do, exactly?" she asked, pressing it down.

"The middle one is the brakes. Right is the accelerator and the left puts the car in gear. Don't touch that one, the car might move."

"Oh! Ok!"

I asked her to do it a few more times, but heard nothing. With a disappointed shrug, I stood up. I heard Celestia giggling.

"You're covered in dirt." she happily let out.

I shrugged, then brushed myself off. "Alright, then... Here." I reached into my pocket and took out my keys. "Turn it on for me."

"Turn it on?"

"Uh... Pull that lever, there." I said, pointing to the emergency brake in the center console.

"What's this?" she asked, pulling it up without hesitating.

"Emergency brake. Now the car's not going anywhere."

"Sounds like you should've pulled it before you crawled under."

"That... was a lapse in judgement." I said, admitting my mistake.

"Be more careful! I just got you!"

"Sorry. Alright, now push the brake in and the leftmost pedal in and turn the key forward."

She did exactly as I said, the car turned on, same as normal.

"I did it..." she said, looking at the steering wheel with a surprised look on her face, "I turned it on."

"Now you can touch the stick." That's what she said. "It's in first gear right now. Pull it back a small bit until it... um... releases and goes into neutral."

She pulled the gear shift back.

"Great, great. Let go of the clutch. The, uh... left pedal."

She did. No issues.

"Alright, you can let go of the brake, now."

She pulled her foot back, then looked at me. She was smiling wide, proud of what she accomplished.

The car sounded completely normal, which was what I expected.

I walked in front of the hood, obscuring my line of sight with her. The engine was... normal.

"Hey, push in the right pedal. Only a little, though."

"Ok!"

She pushed down on it. The car briefly got louder before returning to its idle level. I didn't notice anything wrong so far. That's good.

"Alright, turn it off." I said, "There's a button near the keyhole. Push that in and turn the keys back."

"Right!"

The sound quickly died down. I closed the hood, which showed me her smiling face behind the dirty windshield. She was having fun.

"Right. Put it back into first gear and disengage the emergency brake."

She did as I asked.

"Keys." I held out my hand to her.

She set the keys in my hand. I went to the back of the car and opened the trunk, retrieving the tire iron.

"You don't have to stay there if you don't want to, you know." I said to her.

"Oh, right." She got out and closed the door.

I sat down next to the tire and started removing the lug nuts one by one. I hit my palm against the tire iron when they didn't turn so I could loosen them up.

After the fifth one was off, I tried pulling on the tire. It didn't budge, so I slammed my foot against the tire until it came loose.

"Is that normal?" asked Celestia.

"Sometimes you just gotta use a little finesse." I replied, dropping the tire to the side.

"That's what you call finesse? I suppose that explains last night."

I removed the brake assembly to take a look. Celestia hovered over me at every step of the way, looking closely at the inner workings of the tires.

"Yep, I was right." I said, showing her the brake pads. "They're almost completely worn away."

"So this... squeezes the tires in order to stop the car?" she asked.

"Yep."

"Something like that would cause a lot of friction. What are these made out of? Perhaps I could employ such a device in Equestria."

"I dunno. Some kind of metal."

"Metal? How does the brake pedal cause these brakes to work?"

"It's a... uh... a hydraulic system. You'll have to look this up on your own. I don't know much more than that."

"Interesting..."

I worked the pieces back onto the car and stood up. Reassembly was easier than disassembly.

"Stand back, I'm gonna lower it." I said to her.

She took a step away before the car dropped back onto the ground. Celestia helped me put away the tools I had used.

I turned to her. "Hey, Celestia."

"Yes?"

"Thanks for the help."

She smiled warmly. "Of course. Are we leaving now?"

"Yep. You should probably let them know."

"Mmm... I should. Don't go without me." She smiled before turning and walking back to the house.

I looked to the house, then back to the car. I wanted to talk to her again, just the two l of us. I just couldn't figure out what I wanted to say.

Shining Armor came with us. Soulfire was busy eating, so he got a free pass. The trip to the store was a quick one and I easily found what I needed.

The two of them had no idea what most of the stuff there was. Some of it confused me as well. Again, I wasn't a car person. After we got home, Shining went back inside at his first opportunity, leaving Celestia to watch me work.

The brakes weren't hard to replace, just time consuming. Thankfully, I had a handy assistant. I'm glad she was out here for a number of reasons.

I had no idea how long it took before I was done. My hands were covered in grime. In retrospect, I probably should've worn gloves.

"Alright... done." I said to myself, satisfied with my work.

"You're done?"

"Yep. Thanks for the help, I really appreciate it."

"Of course! So... Is this... something you do often?"

I walked to the door where she sat. "Not all the time, but yeah. Every few months, you're supposed to do some fixing up on these guys. Especially if they're older like mine." I patted the top of my car. "I haven't done this since I got it, it was due."

"Interesting."

I started cleaning the driveway, Celestia eagerly helping me pick up the tools.

"You know, there is one other thing I could do to it." I said.

"What's that?"

"I could wash it."

"Wash it? How do you wash a car? Soap and water?"

"Sometimes."

"Oh!" She didn't expect me to tell her yes.

"Though I prefer taking it to an automatic car wash. It's much faster."

"Can I come?"

"Well, I won't stop you."

She giggled. "Good!"

"I'll be back soon." I told her, "Gotta clean myself off a bit."

She smiled. "I'll wait here, then. Make sure my guards know. They get so grumpy when they don't know where I am."

"Yeah, I wonder why..." I sarcastically let out.

She let out another laugh.

I headed back inside so I could clean the grease off my hands. Soulfire stood in the doorway, which meant that it was his turn to talk to me. He said Shining had already spoken to him, but I felt like he wasn't as ok with it as he led on. Of course, if I pursued it, he'd probably skin me and turn my skull into a hat.

I heard a brief car horn that made Soulfire jump. I just laughed at him.

"What was that?"

"Oh, just the car horn." I answered, "Celestia's waiting out there."

I told him where I was going and that I was taking the Princess, which of course meant that he was coming with. Or he was, until Shining stepped in for him. Soulfire seemed relieved that he didn't have to spend any more time with me than he had to. I don't think he liked me very much.

Shining and I walked back outside. Celestia was still sitting in the driver's seat.

"Sorry!" she called, "That was me."

"Don't worry about it." I replied, "Scoot over, you don't know how to drive."

She gave me a brief, exaggerated disappointed look before climbing over the center console into the passenger seat.

The two of us got into the car.

"Is a car wash exactly what it sounds like?" she asked.

"Not even close." I replied, "You know, other than the car getting washed."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You'll see."

I drove my little party to a nearby car wash. It was near Woodman's, so Celestia recognized the area. I parked the car in the empty queue line to the automatic wash. There was a car inside right now though, so we had to wait on him. I paid for it using the terminal next to me.

"Is waiting normal?" she asked me.

"Yeah, it's normal."

"What exactly does a 'car wash' entail?"

"Don't worry, you'll like it."

"How do you know?" she asked.

"You like everything."

She giggled. "I suppose that's true."

It was a little awkward for me with Shining in the car, but I guess that's a tad unavoidable.

The door opened. We watched the other car pull out. I drove inside.

"Seems a bit drab." said Celestia. She looked up. "What's that?"

"That's what dries the car when you pull out." I replied. I do not think she knows what's coming.

I stopped the car.

The machines started moving. Celestia's eyes widened in shock as she watched the machine above us move to the back of my car.

"This is what you meant..." she said, a surprised tone in her voice. She smiled, then started to laugh.

I glanced back at Shining. He seemed just as surprised as his Princess.

This was what I was hoping for... Their complete bewilderment. More so with Celestia. Shining was just a bonus. It was hilarious. I was just getting my car cleaned and Celestia was giggling and giggling as she watched the machine move back and forth.

Even I was entertained by the car wash, but watching Celestia giggle like a little child was more entertaining. What made her think this was funny? I mean, I expected a surprised reaction from her, but not laughter. I liked the sound of her laugh...

This was straight out of an anime, I swear. Which one though, was the question... Jojo.

It didn't last especially long, as is typical for a car wash. Celestia's favorite part was definitely the colored soap covering the windows.

Celestia took in a deep breath and smiled widely. "Oh, that was fun." she said as I pulled the car out.

"Yeah, you looked like you were having fun."

"It was certainly something." said Shining.

"Ready to head home?" I asked her.

"Can we do it again?"

"Celestia."

"Sorry." She laughed again.

I took us home. What an eventful and enlightening trip. We all headed inside and settled down for the day.

I took a relaxing shower to get rid of the rest of the dirt on my body from playing with the car. Just what the day called for. I made sure to bring clothes into the bathroom beforehand so I could dress myself before I got out.

That night, the Princess and I slept in separate rooms, just like before. Celestia gave me a strange look when I got onto the couch, but just smiled and closed the door behind her.

Confound these ponies, they drive me to drink.
> Chapter 7
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The guards didn't do much here. Soulfire mentioned that there wasn't enough room for them to properly exercise like they did on duty. There wasn't a whole lot I could do to help them.

Shining Armor started to help me with the chores. It was, of course, optional. Neither Celestia nor I told him to do it. And it's not like I'm gonna ask Celestia to help. She's a Princess, she's not supposed to do chores.

I guess it's just the husband in him that compelled him to help. I wish I had a husband like him...

While the guards were busy complaining about their new situation, Celestia had become... my girlfriend.

If I ever found myself sitting on my couch, be it to eat or use my laptop or just to relax, she was sitting next to me, leaning on me or snuggling up against me. Celestia was a cuddlebug. She was a cuddlebug and a little puppy dog. She followed me around the house as I moved around and she didn't care if she was obvious about it. I didn't care either. I liked when she was with me.

She was affectionate and playful. At times, she really was almost like a pet. I rubbed, pet, and scratched her whenever she held onto me. I certainly wasn't complaining about her affectionate attitude. It was a dream come true to have my very own big, squishy huggy-buddy.

Now that we were together, we were free to be ourselves. Celestia had a lot of pent up love and I was the one that she wanted to share it with. She was a clingy girlfriend and I loved it.

One thing was stuck in my mind, though. The morning after we woke up in the same bed, she felt that she had been manipulated. At least, that's how I understood it. She was vulnerable and scared. I never thought I'd see her like that. I never want to see her like that again...

And... She never said that she loved me back. If I ever said it to her, she would giggle or maybe just smile at me. Even if she didn't say it though, I knew she felt that way. With the way she's been acting, how could she not? There was no doubt. None at all.

The more I thought about Celestia, the more my mind became muddled. I loved her. I loved her a lot. After a point, it became hard to separate the truth from I wanted to believe about her. Thankfully, she was happy to answer anything I wanted to know.

Over the next week or so, Celestia and I spent every minute of our time together. Our love only grew. Kisses became our favorite method of communication.

Today, I was on my laptop after an uneventful day of work. Celestia was to my side, lying against me. I wasn't doing anything special, just checking Facebook. I clicked away to another site when the internet on my laptop started to fail. Naturally, my first thought was to reset the Wi-Fi. I went downstairs and did just that, Celestia following without questioning what I was doing.

It didn't seem to change anything, even after doing it again. I checked it on my phone as well. It wasn't working there, either. I unplugged it again and left it alone for ten minutes. Still nothing. It wasn't just the Wi-Fi, the computer wasn't working either.

Celestia had no idea what I was doing and didn't hesitate to ask. I answered her as best I could. She seemed to understand about half of what I told her, maintaining her cute little smile the whole time.

Nothing was wrong with the network from what I could tell. No luck from anything, though the lights on the router told me something was wrong. Wait, router? That's not my end. Against my usual troubleshooting methods, I made a service call.

Apparently, they couldn't connect to my house either, meaning something was wrong outside of my personal setup. They scheduled someone to come and take a look at it, but it was going to be a few days.

I told Celestia about the situation, but she didn't seem particularly bothered by it. I didn't expect her to be.

Without the internet, Celestia wouldn't be able to study anything. Her smile told me that she didn't mind. She didn't complain.

Two days later, a very large gentleman came to check my network. I was curious about what he was doing, but I let him work in peace. As it turns out, a squirrel had gotten to the outside cables.

With no internet to distract us, Celestia and I spent even more time together. I noticed that we were alone more often than before. The guards were conveniently somewhere else whenever we were together. I couldn't help but feel that it was on purpose, but was unable to figure out if she had asked them, or if they did it on their own.

When I got back home today, Celestia was at her usual place. She looked to me and smiled as I walked in. "Welcome back."

I smiled back at her. "Hey, Celestia. I'm gonna go shower."

"Have fun!" she said with a smile.

I went to my room to pick out some clothing. To my shock, my drawers were devoid of pants.

"Oh, come on..." I growled to myself as I checked more thoroughly. "You gotta be kidding me. Seriously?"

Looks like it's laundry time. Celestia came down with me. Surprisingly, there weren't any clothes at the bottom of the stairs. Maybe I already washed them and forgot about it.

"Shining Armor cleaned our clothing while you were gone." Celestia told me.

"Did he? How nice of him." Guess I'll put them away.

As I pulled clothes out of the dryer and put them onto the floor, Celestia began picking them up and folding them in her arms. I gave her a look, but all she did was smile. I thanked her for her help and the two of us took them upstairs.

After we put the clothes away, I picked out a pair of pants so I could finally shower. My shower wasn't an especially long one, but the water helped me clear my head a bit.

Celestia and her guards have been here for a while. Celestia wasn't a problem, but it made me feel uncomfortable that the house was always full. The lack of pants didn't help, but the clean clothes did.

A few days later, something changed. Instead of Celestia's beautiful, cheerful smile as I walked through the front door, I was met with nothing. Huh... I was looking forward to seeing her there when I got home.

The bedroom door was open. Shining Armor talking to Celestia inside. I walked in.

"Hello, Phil." said Celestia. It sounded like her nose was stuffed. She was sweating and her nose was red.

Shining Armor looked to me before leaving without a word.

"Hey Celestia. You alright? You don't look so good."

"I'm sick."

"Aw, poor Princess."

"Yes, poor me. It would explain why I felt so tired last night."

I placed my hand onto her shoulder over her blanket. "Did you check your temperature?"

"We didn't know where to find a thermometer."

"I'll get one for you, don't you worry."

"Thank you, Phil... Shining and Soulfire were so worried about me."

"I bet they were. I'll be back."

She smiled at me.

It was a simple task to collect the thermometer for her. While I was in the area, I got her some headache medicine and a bottle of water from the fridge.

She looked to me as I walked back in, still smiling. "It's just a cold. I'll be fine after some rest." she said.

"Sure?"

"I'm sure."

"C'mon, let's check your temperature."

She scratched her head and yawned before sitting up against the wall. Even as miserable as she looked, she kept smiling.

As she placed the thermometer into her mouth, I brushed her hair out of the way and placed my hand over her forehead. Warm. She looked up at my hand, then back to me, still smiling.

The thermometer beeped at us. She was a healthy 100.6. Wait, that's bad.

She let out a sigh as I put it away.

"Oh, what's wrong?" I caringly asked her.

She let out a small grumble. "My head hurts, my nose is clogged, I feel nauseous..."

"That... sucks."

"What's that look? It's too early to be morning sickness."

"I wasn't thinking that."

"Yes you were, I could see it on your face." She chuckled to herself, then started to cough.

"Here, this might help." I held out the bottle of medicine for her.

She took it and the water I held and started reading the label. She tipped out two of the tablets and downed them.

"You don't need a bucket, do you?" I asked, taking the bottle and setting it aside.

"No, no... I should be fine." She laid back on the bed and turned to her side, facing me. "I haven't been sick like this in quite a while."

"Oh yeah?"

"It's been... years. I can't remember. Maybe it's because I'm not in Equestria anymore."

She moved her hand out from under the blanket, staring at me. I moved my hand to it and she grabbed on.

She looked up at me. "Stay here. They leave me alone when you're with me."

Seeing her like this dampened my mood. I nodded at her, lowering to my knees next to the bed.

She looked to me as a small smile grew across her face. Her eyes closed again. She pulled my hand closer and laid her head on it. When I tried to take it back, she let out a soft giggle. "You can have this back when I'm done with it."

"I need that, you know." I said with a smile.

"I need it more."

She opened her eyes. I looked right at them, setting my head on the bed next to her.

"You're always welcome to lie with me, you know." she stated.

"Hmm?"

"We haven't lain together since the night after the bar, Phil." she said, "Did you forget? We're a couple now. I've been wondering why you've been sleeping on your own."

"I... Um..."

"Did you not think you could?" She chuckled. "Come... lay with me."

"But you're sick."

"It's not contagious, I promise." Another giggle. "And I wasn't talking about sex, if that's what you were thinking."

"It may have crossed my mind."

"Is that so? I suppose the thought crossed my mind as well." She gestured to the bed with her head. "Join me, Phil."

"No need to convince me, Celestia."

Another chuckle. She turned to her other side and lifted the blankets behind her, allowing me to get in next to her.

I draped one of my arms across her midsection and slid the other underneath her as she dropped the blanket. She pushed herself against me, her back pressing against my chest. She was sweaty from the cold.

Her hair was getting in my face. It had a faint smell of strawberries to it. Odd, considering I didn't have any strawberry scented hair care products. I ran a finger through her bangs, moving her hair away from her face. She giggled.

This was... a little awkward. I wasn't used to this kind of thing with Celestia. She was right, we were a couple. Even so, the most we've done since night zero was kissing.

I don't know if I was comfortable enough to lie with her yet. It had all happened so fast. Here I was though... My Princess in my arms.

She must have known how I felt. She just liked to push my buttons. She liked it when I was flustered. I guess it was just one of her ways of showing her feelings.

I could feel her heartbeat pressed up against her like this. It was so fast. Maybe she was flustered as well.

Celestia grabbed the hand I had draped over her and brought it to the center of her chest, fingers intertwined with mine. She took in a deep breath and let it out in an audible sigh. She was enjoying this. She was close to me, and not just because our bodies were touching.

Up against her like this... I felt warm. My body and my heart were both so very warm.

I could not think about anything else. My Princess had taken over my thoughts. She squeezed my hand. It's like she knew I was thinking about her. I squeezed her tightly. Her warm body snuggled against mine.

After a few minutes, she fell asleep. Unable and unwilling to move away, I would sleep here tonight. It was so early in the day, yet when I held her like this, I felt sleepy.

It was exactly how I thought it would be. Hair in my face, a squashed arm, and an awkward boner. This is what love is, isn't it...

I lifted myself and planted a small kiss on her cheek. She didn't react. Goodnight, Celestia...

I woke up to a buzzing noise. After groggily looking for the source, I realized that it was the phone in my pocket.

As I went for it, Celestia mumbled something in her sleep. "Mmm... Not now... Too tired..."

I checked who it was, the bright light briefly stunning me. I put my phone up to my ear and let out a tired, "Trevor, c'mon... Can't a guy masturbate in peace?"

"Phil-man, what are you doing up at three in the morning?"

I turned onto my back. Celestia was on my arm. I couldn't move it. "Doing up? Fuck you. What do you want? I'm busy fondling my roommate."

"I'm sure he can wait, I need some help."

"Fuck do you need at three AM?" I asked again, "You should be asleep by now."

"Fuck you, you're not my mom."

"I'll be your mom for $35." I humorously replied, laughing quietly to myself.

"So what are you doing?" he asked me.

"Huh?"

"You busy or something? I didn't wake you, did I?"

Celestia began to stir. She turned to me, giving me a curious look. I could see the light from the phone reflect off her eye.

"Of course you fucking woke me."

"Ah, sorry man. Anyways, I need some help."

"Serious? What with?"

"I got some car issues."

"What?"

"Yeah... I blew a tire about... six miles out off Afton road. I managed to pull it to the side of the road, but it's not going anywhere."

"Oh... You alright?" Huh...

"Yeah, I'm good. Just a bit stranded."

"How the hell'd you blow a tire?"

"I musta went over a broken bottle or something. It looks like I went over a fucking spike strip. I don't have a spare, so I'm sadboys out here."

"Geez... Alright, I'll be there."

"Sweet... Thanks man, I owe ya."

"Yeah, you fucking do." I closed the call and dropped my head back onto my pillow. This sucked.

"Who was that?" she asked.

"A friend. I gotta go help him." I sighed. The arm with the phone in the hand was idly hanging off of the bed and my other arm was still under Celestia. I looked to her. "Sorry I woke you."

"Don't worry, Phil."

We looked at each other for a few more moments before sharing a brief kiss.

I laid where I was for a small while longer before pulling my arm out from under her. She sat up as I did.

"Go back to bed, honey." I said to her.

She giggled. "Honey..."

"That felt weird."

"I liked it... honey."

"Ok, now it's weird."

She let out another cute giggle. I smiled at her.

"You're going to help your friend?" she asked.

"Yeah, he has a... his car has a flat tire."

"Can I come with?"

"Wouldn't you rather go back to sleep?"

She shook her head. "I want to come with you."

"Are you sure? You were just sick. You've only been asleep for like... wait... I guess it's been like eight hours, that's normal."

"I feel better."

"Well, alright then. I guess. It won't be that exciting, I'm just changing a tire. I'm not waiting for the other two though, so either go without or stay."

"I don't need them to follow me everywhere. I have you, don't I?"

"Yeah, I guess you do." I know they aren't doing it on purpose, but I was a little sick of them following and coming between us.

Celestia yawned loudly as she stood up and joined me. She was already fully dressed aside from her socks.

The two of us made our way to the car, stumbling about in our tiredness. It was cold outside. Not surprising, given the time. We probably should've at least left a note for the guards. If they woke up without her being there, they would be pissed at me. Not my problem.

As I got into the car, I rested my head on the top of my steering wheel before doing anything. Celestia stared at me, a tired smile on her face. What... did she see when she looked at me?

I knew where he was. There were about three different bars past where he was talking about, but he didn't sound drunk.

Except for my headlights and the occasional street light, it was pitch black. I didn't usually drive this time of night, and for a good reason. I hated driving late at night. The glare from car lights really bothered me. It was hard to stay focused and it was even worse when I was tired.

"You should take a shower." I told Celestia, "Wash all that sick off."

"You're probably right. Will you join me?"

"Join you?"

"In the shower. We're a couple, Phil."

"Let's... take this one step at a time, Celestia."

"Very well. Even though you skipped a few steps already."

It didn't take long to get to him. He was signaling me to the side of the road. I pulled up in front of his car.

"It's cold out here." Celestia stated as she joined me.

"I'm sure it is." I walked up to him and crossed my arms. "Pull me out of my house at 3 AM... Away from my comfy bed..."

"And me." Celestia added.

He glanced at her. "Uhh... sorry."

"I was dead asleep..." I sighed. "Well, we better get to it, then."

As I retrieved my spare tire from my trunk, I noticed that his tire had already been removed. That made things easy. Less than ten minutes later, we had successfully replaced his worthless tire with the new one.

"Man, you really were missing a spare."

"Well yeah, dumbass. That's what I said."

"What happened to the old spare? Wait. You know what? I don't care."

He held his fist out towards me. I bumped mine against it.

"Thanks man. I owe ya." he said

"Yes. Yes, you do." I said with a yawn, "Go home, ya fekkin... What the hell were you doing out here anyways?"

"Oh, I..."

"I don't give a shit." I grumbled.

"Kinda figured that. Yeah, home sounds nice right now. See ya, mate. Thanks again."

"Get the fuck outta here." I pointed down the road.

He waved at us as he took off down the road, leaving the two of us alone.

I yawned again and looked to Celestia.

"That was easier than I thought it would be." she said.

"I told you it wouldn't be exciting."

"What shall we do now?"

"Now? Go home. Sleep."

"Oh, must we?"

"Huh?"

"We've finally separated from my guards. I don't want to go home so soon."

"Well... alright. What do you want to do?"

"I... Um... I... don't know."

I chuckled.

"What do you think?" she asked.

"We could get a midnight snack."

"I don't know if I'm that hungry."

"I kinda am. I doubt we could find something good at this time of night. Guess there's nothing."

"Don't say that, I'm sure we could find something."

"I'm too tired to figure it out."

"This would be much more fun if we had more sleep."

"Yeah." I yawned again. "If you really wanna do something, I think I can manage."

She sighed. "No, I couldn't do that to you."

I leaned my back against the car and blankly looked up. It was pretty cloudy, there weren't a lot of stars. It might even rain today. "I don't like it when they're with us. I don't like being watched. I feel like they're judging my every move. I can't stand it."

"I'm not too fond of it, either. I'm not saying that I don't like them, but..."

"No, no, they're good guys. Real friendly and nice. Great guys to hang around with."

"Of course. I'm glad to call the two of them friends, I just dislike how over-protective they can be. They're almost like parents, even though my sister and I are much older than them."

"That's 'cause they care about you. It's more than just a job to your royal guards. You're a great person as well. Pony. Whatever. You must've done something right for them to want to keep you this safe."

I was telling her things she already knew, but it seemed that hearing them from me brightened her mood. A warm smile spread across her face. "You don't know how good it feels to be able to speak with someone like this. It's like a burden has been lifted off of my shoulders. I feel like an entirely different woman."

"Well, you kinda are. You have that new beautiful body of yours."

She lifted her hand and looked to it. "I suppose you're right about that." She leaned against the car next to me.

"I'm starting to think that your body is like a representation of what you looked like as a pony."

"Is that so? I can believe that. Shining and Soulfire were both very handsome stallions in Equestria, and from what I've gathered, they're quite attractive here as well."

"Damn right, they are." I said.

"Oh? What was that?"

"Hey, I know a good looking guy when I see one."

"Oh?" She found this funny and it showed in her voice.

"Princess Cadence is a lucky woman."

"I'm a lucky woman." she said with a smile.

"That's really nice of you to say... honey."

She giggled. "I had so much freedom here before they arrived. I rather liked it."

"Well, you have freedom now. What do you want to do?"

"That isn't what I meant.."

"Hmm?"

"The freedom to be alone for as long as I choose. To be able to walk out into the world without any supervision. That's the freedom I was talking about."

"I'm not gonna let you wander around without supervision, Celestia."

"I didn't think you would. I have no problems with that, though. You're not a guard. There's quite a difference."

"Yeah..."

"I like this. Being able to do nothing at all without having to worry about the entirety of a nation."

"You're quick to let go." I noticed.

"There's nothing I can do, is there?" She repeated with a more serious tone, "Is there?"

"I dunno."

She sighed and shook her head. "It's nice."

"Yeah..."

We both looked up at the sky for a small while. It felt nice being out here.

"Hey, Phil..."

"Huh?"

"Can I ask you something embarrassing?"

"Sure, what's up?"

"You're not allowed to laugh, alright?"

"Yeah, what's up?" I asked her, looking at her.

"Well... I was just curious... whether... we would ever... have sex again..."

"Uh... What?"

"I... L-last time... I... You... I don't... know what to say."

"Did you... want to have sex again?"

She nodded. "Yes. I... did. I didn't... know what you'd say, so I kept it to myself, but... Yes... I want to..."

I moved in front of her and put my arms on either side of her, leaning on them against the car. She slowly moved her hands towards me and placed them onto my sides. "If I knew you thought this way, I would've done something sooner." I told her. "You know... I did say I was hungry, didn't I?" I moved my face closer to hers. I gave her a quick peck on the lips.

"Is that right? Well, I... I hope I can provide a satisfying meal." she said, a seductive smile covering her face, "We're doing this here?"

"Unless you'd like to go somewhere else."

"We're not exactly concealed. What if someone saw us?"

"At three in the morning?"

"It's just been quite a while since I've done this outdoors."

I pushed my lips against hers again. I remembered what she said about kissing. I didn't really care about disputing her claim. Her mouth wasn't necessarily where I wanted to put my lips anyways. I pulled away and said, "If you want, we can wait until we're back home."

"Don't make me wait."

Another kiss. I grabbed her lower lip with my mouth and gave her a small pull. I moved close to her, wrapping my arms around her body as I continued kissing her. She gave off a sensual sigh.

I lowered my hand down her back, sliding it over her pants. I grabbed onto her bottom and she pulled away from my lips to sigh.

I rubbed her bottom with my hand. Her hands moved to her pants and started to unbutton them. I heard her zipper being pulled. I allowed my hands to enter her loosened pants and squeezed her soft bottom.

She sighed again. "So forward..."

I drug my tongue out from the very top of her chest to the tip of her chin, licking up her neck. She gave out a tiny, "Oh..." in response.

I did it once more, tracing the curves of her body with my hands leading into a gentle caress of her hips. She placed her hands over mine. Her gorgeous hips were so wide that her pants refused to slide down on their own.

I lowered to my knees, reaching around her body to grab her butt once more. I started to lick the very bottom of her stomach, just above her pants. She pulled the hem of her shirt up a bit for me.

"Keep going..." she quietly let out.

I reached to her pants, looked up at her, then started to pull.

[Scene missing]
> Chapter 8
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

September 12



Week three of Celestia's stay. By the end of the second week, Celestia and I were deeply in love. Spending this extra time together only strengthened our feelings.

I loved her and she loved me. She was my girlfriend. She loved hearing the word, a great, big smile forming across her face every time I said it. With the way my heart fluttered as I met her eyes, I knew that 'girlfriend' did not represent how much I loved her.

The love we shared was more than a connection between us. It was an active, physical relationship. To put it bluntly, we fucked. A lot. My Princess the sweetest little nymphomaniac I've ever met.

Before, Celestia had begged me to show her the town. Now, her idea of a perfect evening is staying home and cuddling. It seems she had lost interest in this little town of mine. Instead, her interest lied with me. She always wore a beautiful smile whenever she was with me. I had my own smile from being with her.

Tonight, the two of us were up late. It was just another monday night. Celestia and I were sitting on the basement couch. She was watching the screen intently as I played a game for her. In my hands was a gamecube controller to use with an emulator.

Celestia was lying against me, her eyes fixed on the screen. Today, I was playing Twilight Princess. Throughout the night, she asked me questions about it. Thankfully, Zelda games were one of my areas of expertise, so I was able to answer her.

I can't say that what I was doing mattered. The game was simply background noise. To me, the only thing that mattered was that I could spend time with her.

I played well into the night. It was nearly three in the morning by the time I shut down the game. Celestia's eyes were drooping. I was having trouble keeping my own open. I yawned. I was done. Tired.

"I think it's time to call it quits." I said aloud, looking to her.

"So early?" she joked, followed by a short chuckle, "I don't suppose you have any other plans, do you? Maybe we could stay awake all night."

"Hey, I still have work, you know. So unless there's something you want to do, I wanna go to bed."

She blinked before briefly looking away, thinking. "Well... There is something I'd like to ask you."

"Oh... Well, what is it?"

"I've been thinking about this for a while, Phil." She let out a short sigh. "Do you remember what we said... about when I would leave? When I... could leave."

My heart dropped in my chest. "I've never really stopped thinking about it." I solemnly replied.

"When my time here is up... When I finally go back home to Equestria... What will happen to us? To... you?"

"I don't know. That's not something I have an answer for."

"What... do you want to happen?" she asked. I noticed a shift in her voice. She was getting upset. "What do you... want?"

"What I want..." I shook my head. "I already know what I want. I want you to stay with me. I want to stay with you. I don't want you to go. I don't want you to leave me. That's what I want."

She looked away as she murmured a quiet, "I knew you were going to say that. I didn't need to ask, but I did anyways..." She seemed even more upset.

I turned to her and placed a hand on her leg. I looked to her eyes as I asked, "So what do you want, Celestia?"

Half of me knew what she was going to say. The other half was scared. Scared that she would say something different.

"I want to stay here." she replied softly, placing a hand over mine. "I love this world. I love being here with you. I... I love you."

I smiled at her. I knew how she felt. It was plain as day that Celestia loved me. Her feelings had always been genuine. I didn't need to hear her say it, but I'm glad I did. Even so... "We can't stay together like this. You'll have to go home. There's a chance we'll never see each other again."

"There's also a chance that it won't happen." she said, her voice briefly quivering, "I could end up trapped here forever. Or... I may choose to stay."

"Celestia... you can't do that."

"And why not? Am I not allowed to enjoy my love?"

"You have a lot of ponies counting on you, Princess. You can't just abandon them."

"This is between you and me. Leave them..." Her voice cracked. "Leave them out of this."

I think she was lying to herself. "But... We can't leave them out of this... can we, Celestia? All of the ponies in Equestria... not to mention your family. Your sister, your niece, your nephew... Your student, Twilight. You can't leave them like this."

Her head slowly bobbed in a nod. "I know..."

I placed my second hand over hers, grabbing her hand with both of mine.

"Do I... have to go home?" she asked me, looking into my eyes, "If I stay in this world, can I stay with you?"

"Of course you can, Celestia. You're my girlfriend, aren't you?"

She smiled. "Thank you, Phil." Her voice was still sad.

"Celestia?"

Her eyes wandered upwards and began gazing at the ceiling. "Sometimes... I would dream of a life like this. I would be a normal mare, in a normal house, with a normal husband. I would live a normal life."

What was that third thing?

"But I can't have it. I can't have... any of it. It isn't fair." Tears began to drip down her face. She looked back to me as she cried. "I've lived like this for thousands of years. I've seen so many happy families come and go. Everypony else could live a normal life. But I..." She sniffled. "But I never could. I could never be normal. Not until I came here. Not until I met you. I'm not a Princess to you. You've never treated me differently because of who I was. You've always treated me like I was normal. Like I was... just another human. I don't want to leave this, Phil. I don't want to go. I..." Her voice went silent, aside from a short shuddering sob.

Instead of her usual joy and curiosity, nothing but pain and sorrow filled her eyes. She didn't know what to do.

I wasn't going to try to change her mind and I wasn't going to try to convince her to do anything. As much as I wanted to be with her, this was something that I could not change. Something deep inside wanted her to be normal. I wanted to feel like she truly depended on me. At least at times like these, when she showed her weak and helpless side. It makes me feel... wanted. This was just something that that I had no control over.

Or maybe... it was something I didn't want control over. I couldn't bring myself to say anything on the matter. I felt like a coward.

She already knew she had to go back. I think what she needs right now is just someone to help her through it. Someone to be there for her in this trying time.

I leaned forward and took her into my arms. Her hands rested on my back as she returned my embrace.

"It'll be alright, Princess... You'll see." My hand rubbed her back. I held myself back, not wanting to upset her any further. She already knew how I felt.

As much as I hated the thought, I knew she couldn't promise that she would stay. That was ok with me. It had to be. For her. I wanted to be strong for her. I wanted to prove that I was something I wasn't to someone I cared for. Just for a little while longer.

"Do you really think that?" she asked, her voice full of sorrow. Her fingers tightly gripped the back of my shirt.

"I do, Celestia." I affectionately told her, "It will be alright."

No, I didn't believe it. How could I? My heart was aching at the sound of her voice. If she left, I wouldn't know what to do. It was heartbreaking to see her like this. It was even more heartbreaking to know that she had to leave. I couldn't say anything. If I said anything that would make her regret leaving, it would just hurt her more.

"Phil... I'm scared."

"I am too, Celestia."

"Don't let go."

"I won't."

Her chin nestled against my shoulder, her grip on me tightening. It felt nice to hold her in my arms. Her body was so warm. It put me at ease.

The rise and fall of her chest steadied as she calmed down. She had stopped sniffling and her grip on me had loosened somewhat. I smiled to myself, proud that I could at least help her with this.

"I have to go back to Equestria... don't I?"

I wasn't going to answer that.

"I'll have to say goodbye to this life. Goodbye to you. I'll have to return to my life as a Princess."

I had nothing to respond with. Nothing that would help her.

She took in a deep breath and let out a long, sad sigh. "My only chance of staying here with you is if I really were trapped in this world. I shouldn't be hopeful for something so selfish, but deep down, I wish for it to be true. It would be out of my control. I would have no guilt."

"There's a lot that can happen, Celestia. We didn't manage to find the crystal mirror when we looked. Maybe we won't find it next time."

"Maybe we won't find it the time after that. Maybe... I secretly wasn't looking. Maybe I didn't want to go back."

"Celestia."

She sighed again. "Discord seems to be the only one that knows how to move us between these worlds, but if I were to say that I trust him to bring us back, I would be lying. I'm afraid that he's more powerful than my sister. Thankfully, we have the Elements of Harmony to persuade him, but even so, he may still weasel his way out of it."

I reached up and began stroking her hair.

She looked up at me. "If I go home, I'd still like to see you again, but I don't know if that would be possible. Maybe I could come back somehow. But to do that, I'd need to find a way back. I don't know how I even got here in the first place. If I stay here, there may not ever be a chance to go back. If I can't go back, Phil... Well... That'd be alright with me."

"Celestia..."

There was a mutual silence between us for a long while. I spent this time gently stroking her long hair. I was happy that she had stopped crying, but the thought of her leaving was still there.

I pulled away from her. She looked up into my eyes, her expression one of sadness. I gave her a kind smile before asking, "Want me to get you a snack?"

A smile slowly crept across her face. "Yes, please." she replied in a cute, childlike tone.

I rubbed her shoulder and kissed her forehead before getting off the couch. I returned to her with a plate of sweets and a glass of milk. As I grabbed them, I thought about how much I had spent on food alone. I didn't care. As long as she was happy. As long as I could make her happy for a little while longer...

Soulfire was sleeping on the couch, but Shining was nowhere to be found. He may have taken my room. Or he was in the bathroom. I didn't check. I didn't care.

I set the plate onto her lap before sitting next to her. She leaned against my shoulder again. I set my hand on her leg, then reached to her hand as I looked to her eyes. "I love you, Celestia." I said. This went against what I knew I shouldn't do. I needed to say it. I needed to tell her. "No matter what happens, I'm never going to forget the time we spent together."

"Thank you, Phil." she quietly let out, "I love you, too."

We stared at each other for a long while. Eventually, she reached for her first treat.

"You're never going to get to sleep after that." I said, yawning afterwards.

"I'll be fine."

"Mmm-hmm..."

After she had finished her first snack, she looked to me. "I hope I do the right thing."

"Yeah... Me too." I softly replied.

More silence. Celestia didn't make much noise as she ate, but the food had helped cheer her up.

Eventually, I broke the silence with a short sigh. "Hey miss, you look kind of sad. Give me just a moment I'll make you glad."

"Hmm?"

"If you don't want any help, just you say."

"What?" She looked to me with a slightly confused expression.

"You know, I've got a PHD in brightening days."

"Are you... Is that... a song?"

"You may not see what I see in you, but let me tell you what I see is true. My eyesight's fine and I'm rather in my mind. I've got you in my thoughts all the time."

I could see her smile again. I smiled back at her.

"If I could take your hand and kiss you. If I could hold you close and love you. And love you..."

She leaned against me like she usually does. Whatever I was doing was relaxing her.

"The summer breeze or the winter frost. Not a season's moment will be lost, for sadness is just a... waste of your days. I could cheer you up in a million ways."

She stared at me. Her eyes were so relaxed. Almost sleepy.

"If I could... take your hand and kiss you. If I could... hold you close and love you..."

I stared right into her eyes with a small smile on my face.

"That was cute." she said before planting a kiss on my cheek.

We smiled at each other. My hand lifted to her face. She briefly looked to it as I caressed her cheek. We closed our eyes and pushed our lips together. She seemed... reluctant.

We pulled apart. She smiled, even through her sadness. I smiled back.

The two of us laid together on the basement couch that night. It wasn't the most accommodating couch in the world, but it was good enough. She needed to be held. Celestia was hurting and I could do little to comfort her. While she was in my arms though, nothing else mattered. As we snuggled together to go to sleep that night, she was peaceful.

Celestia didn't brush her teeth.



September 13



I awoke to the gentle stirrings of my Princess, still in my arms. She let out a quiet sigh as I held her closer. My Princess was sandwiched between the couch and I while my back faced the edge.

Even though we were both awake, we said nothing. Instead, we cuddled against each other, enjoying the warmth of each other's bodies. Then, Celestia's stomach growled, followed by a cheerful giggle.

"Are you up?" she asked me.

I lifted my head and kissed her cheek. She looked at me, a smile on her face.

"Hungry?" I asked her.

"Mmm... A little..."

"What do you want to eat?"

"Just... stay here. With me... Don't leave. Not yet."

"Alright, Celestia..."

I snuggled up against her back. She pushed against my body.

"Phil... about... about what I said last night... I'm sorry..."

"You don't need to apologize, Celestia. It's alright."

"I don't know if I can believe that..."

"You don't have to believe it, Celestia. Believe in me. Believe in me when I say that it will be alright."

She sighed, then let out a short chuckle. "You're weird..."

"You're weird." I decisively rebutted.

She chuckled once more. Shortly after, she began humming to herself, not moving from her spot on the couch. It was a long while before either of us really moved. We could lay like this all day.

Celestia gently tapped my wrist, signaling me to let her up. I slowly got off the couch first before helping her to her feet. She smiled at me as we hugged, enjoying each other's warm embrace for just a little while longer.

We pulled away from each other. She straightened her long hair with her hands before turning to the stairway. She glanced back, waving at me to follow her as she walked upstairs. On her face was the same beautiful smile she always wore. My favorite smile.

Celestia sat at the kitchen table and yawned. Shining and Soulfire were both awake, though they weren't with us. It felt like we chased them out of every room they were in.

A sudden notification from my phone surprised me. I got it out and looked at it. It was a message from Timmy. Odd, he didn't message me often. We usually just talked at work. I replied as I made her something to eat.

-You still on?- he asked me.

-What?-

-on steam-
-it says you're on-

-oh-
-No, someone must be using my laptop.-

-Oh ok.-

-what up?-

-I'm on this new Minecraft server. Wanna join in?-

-Maybe later.-
-Too busy now.-

-No you're not.-

-Yes I am.-
-Besides, you know I'd just get banned again-

-Stop hacking asshole.-

-gotta git gud somehow-

-hacking is not gitting gud.-

-it is when you just don't give a shit.-

-Git gud, kid.- he said to me.

I chuckled to myself.
-Hey, look-
-I'm busy wallowing in self-pity right now. I'll get back to you on this, alright?-


-What-

-Celestia and I gotta deal with some stuff.-
-I'll probably take some more days off work because of it.-

-I was wondering what was bugging you recently.-
-You aint been the same since she showed up-

-I know-
-I can't stop thinking about her-

-Why not?-
-Are you two really together?-
-Trevor said you were-

-yeah well trevor's a cunt-

-Irrelevant-
-Answer the question-

I stared at the screen for a short while, not typing anything. Finally, I decided that it didn't matter if anyone knew.

-yep-
-We're in a relationship-

-eyy took ya fuckin long enough-

-unfortunately though she might leave soon-

-Leave?-

-Like, go back home.-
-To her home.-

-oh-
-That sucks.-

-Yeah-

-That's rough buddy-
-She is way out of your league, I'm surprised she even likes you-
-I don't even like you-

-Yeah well you're a cunt-

-so?-

-She's out of everybody's league, man. Nobody deserves her.-

-Especially you-

-Exactly-

There was a long pause of him writing and deleting his message.
-well I hope everything turns out alright-

-Yeah-
-me too-
-I'll see ya later-

-Alright, see ya.-

I sighed to myself, then presented Celestia with a meal, a bowl of cereal with buttered toast on the side. She smiled and thanked me. I liked her smile.



September 13



In the meantime, it was just me and my Princess. And her guards. And... her guards. Guards...

The two of us were sitting on the front room couch. I had gotten home from work not too long ago. She laid against me, her soft breathing the only sound she made. My arm was wrapped around her. It was a nice change from crying in my arms.

The guards were in the kitchen, away from us. We were as alone as we could be. I didn't feel alone. If I didn't, I knew she didn't. The keys in my pocket gave me an idea.

I leaned in and gave her a soft, "Hey."

"Hmm?" Her eyes focused on me.

"Let's go for a ride." I whispered.

"Where are we going? I'll fetch my guards."

"Fuck 'em."

Her big, beautiful eyes widened in surprise. "Wh-What?"

"Fuck 'em. Let's just go."

"Oh! Ok!" A sly smile spread across her face. "They're going to be mad at you."

"Fuck 'em. Now..." I lifted my finger with the idea of putting it over my lips, but decided that instead doing it to her lips would be more fun. She smiled behind my finger before nodding.

I got up from the couch, extending a hand to her. She eagerly took it, grabbing my hand so I could pull her to her feet. Her hand was so soft. Just holding it warmed my body. Looking at her beautiful smile reminded me of how much I loved her.

Celestia couldn't help but to giggle as we put our shoes on. She looked to me for support, but I could do nothing to quell her joy. Without a word to the guards, we were out the door. They no doubt heard us leave, so we both rushed to the car.

"It feels like I'm sneaking out behind my parents' backs." she giggled, getting in, "Just like my teenage years."

"What would you know about teenage years?" I jokingly asked.

"You may be surprised to hear this, but I was a teenager once."

By the time we had pulled out of the driveway, the house door opened. There was nothing they could do as their Princess was driven away.

"Bullshit." I said.

"It's true! Not very long after my twelfth birthday, I had a thirteenth. And it may be hard to believe, but I had six more birthdays right after. All of them teen birthdays."

"That's a scary thought, Celestia."

The two of us went silent for a few moments before we both burst out laughing. Her laugh was so cute...

"Oh, what are we even saying?" she asked between laughs.

"I have no idea." I responded, still giggling.

"So where are we going, Phil? What will we be doing away from my guards?"

"I'm sure something will come to me."

She let out a short chuckle. "That's just like you, isn't it... I should have known you didn't think this through. Well, if you don't know where we will go, then tell me what you're doing."

"Hmm?"

"When you drive this car. Teach me about driving. I've looked it up myself but what better teacher is there than someone who already knows?"

"Oh... Well alright. Um... Where to start... Uh... Th... Right."

"You get in, you turn the key, then it turns on. Then what happens?"

"Well... Actually, in that case, you're not entirely correct."

"Oh?"

"For cars with a manual transmission... uh... For cars that... have three pedals, you need to push down the leftmost pedal to turn it on."

"Oh, yes! I remember pressing it when I helped you."

"Yeah, exactly."

No matter what, Celestia's attention was trained directly on me, listening closely to every single word I said. I went on and on, noting many of the major functions of a car and my understanding of how they worked. I also made sure that she knew that I didn't know everything about it, because I'm sure I was wrong on many points.

"Now, do you see that sign?" I pointed to a speed limit sign.

"Yes. 25 miles-per-hour. I know what it means, too. It is a 'speed limit'. That is the legal maximum speed in this area."

"That's right. Now, look here." I pointed to the dash of my car.

She leaned to me and looked at the dash. After a few moments, she took in a quick gasp. "Phil! You're going too fast!"

"Correct."

"You're breaking the law."

"I am."

She crossed her arms. "It must not be a very important law if you would so casually break it."

"Look behind us."

She turned her head and looked out the back window.

"That car is also breaking the law. I know that because I am. We are both going over the speed limit. That car over there." I didn't point this time. "That car is going over the speed limit. You see Celestia, everybody is going over. You're expected to drive over the speed limit. In fact, if you drive the speed limit or below, as you legally should, you will annoy the people behind you."

"Why even have a speed limit, then?"

"Speed limits give a general speed that you should be near. Personally, if I could always follow the speed limit, I'd like to. However, being a safe driver is not always possible. In some instances, driving the speed limit or below will back up traffic behind you and can lead to the police giving you a ticket for disrupting traffic."

"That doesn't make sense."

"Exactly. Now, if you don't feel safe driving a certain speed, then just don't do it. Being nervous behind the wheel isn't safe."

"You make it sound as if you expect me to drive."

"Oh you'd be a great driver."

"I think I'll leave the driving to you... You've given me a lot to think about. Perhaps I could implement such a machine in Equestria."

"Celestia, you could build a fully functioning car from instructions you can search on a computer."

"I wasn't aware such instructions existed."

"There's a lot here that you still don't know. You're in the middle of a technological wonderland."

"I'm in an incredible new world and all I want to do is laze the day away with you. Day after day, we're on the couch or in the bed cuddling. It's such a relief to me that I can simply sleep all day."

"It's nice, isn't it..."

"It is. I love this world, Phil. I can finally relax and be myself. Shining and Soulfire will be very upset with us when we get back."

"Let's make the most of it then. Are you hungry?"

She let out a short giggle. "I could eat."

"Good. I was getting sick of driving."

It didn't take long to find a restaurant she would like. Since we were in the area, I took her to a pleasant little Italian restaurant. I found a place to park and the two of us got out of the car. Celestia stopped before we reached the door and looked to the name of the restaurant on the building. She smiled to herself.

I opened the door and stood to the side, holding it for her. The smell of the food wafted out to us.

She chuckled. "My, what a polite young man you are."

"Ladies first."

"Oh please, you just want to stand behind me."

"So?"

She chuckled once more before walking in.

The two of us were led by the friendly greeter to a table near one of the walls. Celestia's eyes were scanning the restaurant, taking in the decorum of a proper human eatery. After we sat, she immediately picked up the menu she had been given.

"Oh, there are so many delicious-looking dishes to choose from." she said with a sigh, "Spaghetti, lasagna, mostaccioli, rigatoni, tortellini, fettuccini alfredo... pizza and calzones... Oh! They even have a vegetarian section!"

"Careful, you'll start to drool."

"We don't even have some of these in Equestria!"

A waiter joined us as she flipped through her menu. After his introduction, we ordered drinks to start us off, which came out promptly. After he got back, he asked if we were ready to order.

I looked to Celestia. She was still fumbling through the pages.

"Oh, I don't know..." she nervously let out, "There are so many options to choose from... What are you getting, Phil?"

"I'm getting the lasagna." I replied, pointing to it.

"Mmm... I love lasagna... Maybe... Hmm... Oh, this sounds good. And it's vegetarian! I'll have the eggplant parmigiana with mostaccioli.

"Very good. Anything else you'd like to add?" he asked us.

"No, that's it for me. Celestia?"

"I don't need anything else. Thank you."

He took the menus from us and let us know how long it would be before our food was ready before leaving.

"This restaurant is so beautiful. It looks nothing like the rest of the town." Celestia said as she took in the nearby details.

"This place has Italian heritage. So I've heard, at least."

"So this restaurant is styled after those of a different country. That's another thing about this world that I wanted to see."

"Hmm?"

"Different countries. I've only seen this small town and yet I can already tell that this world is so diverse. I could only imagine what I might see if I were to visit other countries. Even this country, I'd like to explore. It's far larger than Equestria. But... I can't. I won't get the chance." She sighed.

I frowned at her. "Celestia."

"I know, I'm sorry."

No matter what happened, Celestia was still thinking about leaving. I suppose I was, too. That's why we were here. That's why we left without the guards.

I placed my hand over hers on the table. Her eyes brightened as she looked to me. With just a gentle touch of her hand, she was happy again.

We said nothing as we met each other's eyes. There was no sorrow behind her big, beautiful eyes. Magenta... Such a strange eye color for us, but for her, it could be no other.

She placed her other hand over mine, holding me. I did the same. She looked down at our hands before giggling. Her bottom hand slid out from underneath mine and moved to the top.

I glared at her as I did the same. Again, she moved her bottom hand to the top, giggling as she did.

At this point, our little joke devolved into something much more playful. For the next few minutes, we fought over top position, speeding up our movements to get an edge over the other. The slapping sounds of our hands against each other and Celestia's constant giggling quickly filled the air. I couldn't help but to smile when I heard her laugh.

Eventually, we calmed down, but not before we received some looks from the tables around us. I didn't mind that they were looking. After all, I wasn't alone in this. My Princess was the one giggling.

It seems she took longer to notice the others than I did. She stopped moving her hands, allowing me to stay on top. Her giggling slowly quieted, though didn't stop for another minute or so. Her cheeks had a soft redness to them.

I moved my top hand away from our pile. She did the same with hers. Before she could take her second hand away, I maneuvered my fingers between hers, intertwining our fingers. Her hand felt so warm...

"I love you, Celestia."

"I love you too, Phil."

I didn't feel the slightest twitch that indicated that she wanted her hand back until our food arrived.

As the waiter placed our food onto the table, Celestia's eyes lit up once more. She looked between my and her meals before taking in a deep breath through her nose.

"Ahh... It all smells so good..." she let out with a sigh.

"It looks amazing." I said, picking up my fork, "I can't wait."

She took a bite of her meal, letting out a soft sigh as she chewed. Her fork lowered to her plate. She swallowed. "It's delicious! Human food is so good!"

I took a bite of mine. Very good. Beats frozen lasagna by miles.

I reached my hand across the table, spreading my fingers. She looked to it, more curiosity on her face. I tilted my head to it. Seems she got the message. She smiled another cute smile as her hand returned to mine. I held her gently as our eyes met once more.

I broke eye contact as I began eating again. My plan was a simple one, yet I knew it would be effective. She began eating as well, unaware of my scheme.

I tightened my fingers as I felt her pull away. She stopped almost immediately before smiling at me. With no hesitation, Celestia simply used her other hand to pick up her drink. Mission accomplished: Hold my girlfriend's hand.

"I can't believe how I've been acting recently." she said, "I felt so nervous when we ordered that I couldn't choose anything. Do you have any idea how long it's been since I felt nervousness like that? My giggling must have been so obnoxious to the other people here." She chuckled. "But I just kept giggling. I didn't care. I'm not in Equestria anymore. I'm not a Princess. I don't have to be a beacon of social grace and etiquette. Far from it, it seems. I've been nothing but a nuisance since I got here."

"Oh, you're not a nuisance."

"Perhaps. Perhaps not. I must admit though... I kind of like being a nuisance."

I sighed. "You're the best kind of nuisance."

"Why, thank you." she replied with a smile, "This food is wonderful. I'm so glad you brought me here."

"Yeah... Me too. I'm not looking forward to going home."

"Neither am I. Though, I suppose my reasons are a little different than yours."

"That so?"

"Mmm-hmm..."

"Why don't you want to go home?"

"I want to be alone with you for as long as I can."

"You're such a sweetie."

Her smile widened. "How about you, Phil?"

"I just don't want the guards to yell at me."

"That's what I thought you'd say."

"They're probably so worried about you."

She lowered her head in a single nod. "Impulsiveness is not a good trait for a Princess."

"Maybe not. I guess we just gotta get this over with."

"I still need to finish eating."

"Me too."

True to my word, I refused to let go of her hand for the rest of the meal. She never seemed to pull it away. Even while I was signing my name on the check, her hand was in my grasp. I pulled her to the car with me as we walked out. She placed our leftovers inside as she got in. Sadly, it would seem that we could not get into the car while holding hands.

Celestia laughed as she saw me look to our hands. "Looks like you'll have to let go, Phil."

"I don't wanna."

"How will we get home?"

"I'm sure we'll find a way."

She wore a playful smile. "I don't think so. Come on. Let's go... honey."

"Honey."

Celestia giggled. "Well, you're my... honey."

"Then you're mine."

"I think I can live with that. Now get in, would you?"

"Alright, fine."

I finally released her hand. To my surprise, a deep chill covered my hand without her touch. I already missed holding her hand.

The drive home was calming. Celestia held our leftover boxes on her lap, watching me intently as I drove. She was smiling. That's all I really wanted. If I could keep her smile up for a little while longer, I'd be satisfied.

Shining and Soulfire weren't happy at us. I ignored their complaints. I'm sure Celestia listened but I couldn't be mithered.

Though Celestia and I shared a touching moment, the days that followed weren't much different than before. We did as we usually did, which wasn't much.

Even after our little moment together, my Princess never lost touch with her cheerful side. As we spent more time together, she became more honest with me. Nothing made her happier than when she could truly be herself. Though her guards were always nearby, she allowed her emotions to run free.

At the start, she hid herself, even from me. She kept her negative emotions bottled up inside. Eventually, the feeling overwhelmed her and for the first time in many years, she cried in the arms of her lover. Hearing this from her helped me understand more about her. Seeing how she truly felt has made me love her even more.

In the back of our minds, we dreaded the days to come. Celestia avoided the subject, but I couldn't forget what she said. All we could do was push past the pain into each other's arms. We would face this together.

When the time came, Celestia and I were prepared to search the town for the crystal mirror. Though I could not force her to search for it, I trusted that she would make the right decision.

As the month came closer and closer to its end though, Celestia's smile began to fade. It seemed that no matter what I did, she would only get more despondent. Even her libido had been affected. We both knew what had to be done. As far as we knew, she had one choice.

After a point, she stopped trying to hide her misery. It seemed that her only comfort was resting with me. I began taking days off from work just to be with her. Unlike before, she didn't mention my absences.

At the end of it all, there was still one question that stuck with me... Was I doing enough for her?
> Chapter 9
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

September 23



Celestia and I laid together in our bed. Her warm back was pressed against my chest. A soft sniffle from her got my attention. Without even realizing it, my arms squeezed tightly around her waist. Her hand rested against mine.

I moved my head closer to her and whispered a gentle, "I'm here, Celestia."

She said nothing. My heart was already aching at just the sound of her sorrow. Even though it was still early in the day, the two of us fell asleep together. We wanted nothing more than to be close to each other.

I was awoken by a sudden squeeze to my hand. She was grabbing me tightly, not letting go. Soft whimpers escaped her lips as her body trembled. I think my little Princess was having a nightmare...

Before I could react, she took in a soft gasp. Her breathing was deep and erratic. I gave her a small squeeze to reassure her.

"Phil?"

"Mmm..."

"Are... Are you awake?".

"Mmm-hmmm..."

"Did I wake you?"

"Dunno. Maybe."

"I'm sorry. I... had a bad dream."

"Gonna be ok?"

"It was nothing. Just a dream."

"You sure?"

"Yes, I'm... I'm sure."

"You don't sound sure."

It took her a while before she responded. "Maybe... Maybe I'm not."

"Celestia..."

She sighed.

"What was your dream about?"

Her grip on my hand tightened. "It... was about you and... my sister Luna. The three of us were in my castle, speaking with each other, but our words meant nothing. After talking came shouting. Shouting at each other at first, but then..." As she spoke, her words became rushed and panicked. "The two of you turned your attention to me and kept shouting and shouting and shouting and you wouldn't stop and I felt like I was getting smaller and smaller and..." She took in a shaky breath. "And after that, I woke up."

Pressed against her like this, I could feel her rapid heartbeat. Her grip on my hand had tightened further.

"Come on, Luna would never shout at you. We both love you very much, Celestia."

"I know. She's a kind pony."

"You know, Celestia... I'd like to meet Luna someday. I owe her an apology."

"An apology?"

"I want to apologize for speaking for someone I don't know. Even if it was something small. And... she is your sister after all. Any family of yours is family to me."

"I don't like speaking for others, even when I know what I'm saying is true. Your sister, from what I've seen, and heard, is a very kind pony. I'd enjoy a chance to meet her."

Her hand loosened, but she didn't let go. "I would love if you could meet my dear Luna. I could only imagine how she'd react to you. It would certainly be quite the interaction. If you ever do happen to meet her, you'll have to watch what you say. My sister deserves the utmost respect."

"What, and you don't?"

"My sister is not your girlfriend, Phil. I do not want you to treat my sister as you treat me."

"I won't, Celestia. I know it doesn't bother you, though."

"Of course not, Phil. You can always act freely with me."

"You always seem to act freely around me."

"It's fun to act free."

"Yeah..." A short silence came before I said, "You know, I had a dream too."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. I was eating carrots in a room."

"What?"

"And they were really sweet, too. It was a good dream."

"Carrots?"

"Yeah."

"You had a dream about eating carrots?"

"Yeah."

She giggled as she said, "That's wonderful." I could feel her cheer enter her voice once more. I managed to make her smile again, at least for a brief moment. "What do you think it meant?"

"My dream?"

"Well, yes."

"I... have no idea."

"Make something up."

"Uh... Alright... I guess. Um... I was... sitting in a room eating carrots. I was sitting in a little wooden chair and there was a dull light above me. There was a door on one of the walls."

"So what does it mean?"

"I... uh... I... think it was about us."

"Us?"

"Yeah. The room wasn't very impressive, but the carrots were still sweet. So... the carrots are you."

"Me?"

"Yeah. You're the sweetest thing in my life, Celestia. So, you're carrots."

"I'm carrots?"

"You're carrots."

"Why am I carrots?"

"Because you are."

"Well, why do you have to be eating me?"

"You know how much I love eating you, Celestia."

Celestia didn't respond. Her silence told me that she knew exactly what I meant.

"It could just mean I really like carrots." I said, "Because I love carrots."

She pushed past what I said and replied with, "Why carrots? Why couldn't I be candy or cake?"

"You're my carrot, though."

"I don't wanna be a carrot. I wanna be a cake."

"Spoken like a true five-year-old."

She smiled at me. "I like cake."

"I like cake, too."

Celestia let out a short laugh. "Oh, I can't believe you said something like that! You're such a pervert, Phil!"

"I'm a pervert? You're the one that insists that we sleep in our undies."

"It helps me feel close to you, Phil. Besides, I usually sleep naked. Usually by this time, we would have already made love."

"Would you like to make love?"

"I... don't... No. No, maybe not."

"That's ok. I still like snuggling with you."

"I like it, too."

I gave her hand another brief squeeze before I snuggled up against her. She had finally calmed down.

The crystal mirror would become active soon. If what her guards said was correct, it was only a matter of time before she would go home again.




September 26



Our little group was gathered in the front room. Celestia and I had taken the couch. The other two were speaking with their Princess, though they didn't say anything important.

Celestia stopped mid-sentence. She looked agitated by something. Before I could ask what was wrong, she said, "I feel something strange."

"Something strange?" I asked.

"Yes. It feels like... something I have felt before. When I..." Her eyes slowly widened. "When I first arrived."

"Princess?" asked Shining.

"Celestia?" I turned to face her, understanding the meaning of her words shortly after. My heart sank. If she had felt this when she first arrived, that could only mean one thing...

"Is it a spell?" asked Soulfire.

"It could be the crystal mirror!" Shining suggested with a smile.

Celestia and I could not share in his excitement.

Shortly after she mentioned it, I felt something strange as well. It almost felt like static electricity.

Celestia's eyes fixated themselves towards the center of the room, seeing something that I didn't. In an instant, a large, white sphere appeared where she was looking. Dazzling sparks of yellow energy flowed along the surface. Shining and Soulfire backed away from it. The sphere itself seemed rather large, reaching almost to the ceiling.

Celestia cautiously stood. I did the same, not knowing what to expect. Shining and Soulfire had told us that they didn't know how they would return home. None of us knew what exactly was happening.

So this was... magic?

We heard an unfamiliar yelp and a loud bump. The sphere vanished a second later, revealing a woman sitting on the ground. The first thing I noticed about her was her long blue hair. Princess Luna... Another pony. She groaned as she rubbed her bottom with a hand. Rough landing.

Joining her on the ground was a large brown book. I didn't recognize the design on the front, but it seemed very old.

"S-sister?" Celestia started.

Luna jumped in surprise before turning to face Celestia. A smile formed on her face as she laid eyes on her elder sister.

Luna picked up her book and slowly rose to her feet, her legs wobbling as she did. Soulfire hurried to her side to support her.

"My thanks."

"Of course, Princess."

"Wh-What are you doing here?" Celestia asked, clearly surprised to see her sister.

Luna answered with a definitive, "I've come to return you to Equestria."

I took a step out from behind Celestia to get a better look at her sister. Her face had a certain beauty that seemed out of place in this house, just like Celestia. She was a shorter woman, the top of her head not even reaching Soulfire's chin, and though her body wasn't as 'full' as Celestia's, it was still just as captivating.

That wasn't my main concern, though. I didn't care about what she looked like. All I cared about was finding out just what was going on. Part of me wasn't surprised that another pony-turned-human had been transported into my house. I had almost expected it. Even so, I had no words.

She noticed my curiosity and turned to face me.

"You must be Phil."

A chill ran down my spine as her eyes looked through me. Her gaze made me feel small. I had just met her and already felt like I was disappointing her. "Y-Yeah..." I cleared my throat and said more assuredly, "Yes. I am."

Her piercing gaze didn't change.

"Sister... how did you know his name?" Celestia asked.

Luna looked to her, her eyes softening. "I have been watching you, sister." she replied, "We found a way to observe you in this book." She displayed it to us. "I cannot tell you how much of a relief it was to know that you were safe this past month."

"Forgotten Magics?" Celestia read the title of it. At a closer glance, the book was obviously very old. Its brown binding had faded in places and the pages had a yellow hue to them.

"It was discovered within the ruins of our old castle, sister."

"The old castle? How strange... May I?"

"Of course, sister."

Luna gave the book to Celestia, who held it close to her body as she opened it. I glanced over her shoulder. I could read what it said, but I didn't understand it. From what I had gathered, it was a spellbook. That's all I knew.

Luna turned a curious gaze to her own body. She examined her hands, opening and closing them a few times. She wore a plain white t-shirt and jeans, just like Celestia when she first arrived.

Luna was here to take Celestia home. She was here to take Celestia away. This has been planned from the beginning. Ever since they realized that Celestia was missing. We've known since the guards have arrived that this would happen.

No... I didn't want Celestia to be taken away from me.

A sudden tightness in my chest caused me to gasp. At first, I was shocked to see Princess Luna. But now, hearing those words... The reality was beginning to set in.

Celestia turned her head to me. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." I replied, not-so-reassuringly.

She paused for a brief moment before lowering her head. The smile left her face as if it were never there to begin with. She knew how I felt.

Celestia and Luna began to speak. Luna spoke of Equestria, listing the problems that have plagued the country due to Celestia's absence. When she spoke to her sister, her voice was kind, nothing like it had been when she spoke to me.

"And that brings me to my next point." said Luna, gesturing to the book in her sister's arms, "A spell capable of returning you to your rightful place in Equestria."

Celestia briefly looked to the book before returning her gaze to Luna.

"The spell we found, though simple to cast, requires a great deal of energy."

"This is the spell used to send Shining Armor and Soulfire Dawn to this world?"

"It is not. Discord was the one that sent them here."

Celestia frowned. "How?"

"We don't know for sure. He wasn't very forthcoming."

"I'm surprised you weren't able to get anything more from him. Is... he the one that sent me here in the first place?" she asked.

Luna shook her head. "We don't know. To put blame on him would be..."

"So it was Discord." Celestia sighed, "Another ploy to get us away from Equestria. Or perhaps just one of his jokes."

The corner of Luna's mouth curved up in a smirk. "It's probable."

"Do you... Do you think that this spell can be used again?" I asked Luna, making sure she was finished speaking.

She shook her head, looking to me. "I don't know. Right now, the barriers between our worlds are thinner than they should be. We don't know what's causing it, but we know that it will not persist." Luna paused. For the first time as a human, she seemed unhappy. "If you are asking if you and my sister will meet again... The answer is no."

The answer is no.

What? No, that... No... This isn't how My Little Pony works. It's supposed to have... happy endings... right? Right? I know I haven't seen the show in a while, but...

I felt a tightness inside once more.

She continued. "Additionally, with any spell of its nature, there are risks. To travel between worlds is not a simple matter. This spell creates fractures along the walls of our worlds. Fractures that will not heal. If these walls break, it will no doubt spell disaster for both our worlds. And... if she were to become trapped here, we truly may never find a way for her to return."

"Luna..." Celestia's voice was faint.

"Sister... We all know how you've felt about coming home."

I looked up again.

"And... I've seen the way you two act towards each other. I know that you are... in love." She mumbled something under her breath before continuing. "I'm sorry to say this... but you need to come home. Your kingdom needs you."

Celestia let out a long breath. Her gaze turned to meet my eyes. Nothing but sorrow remained in her eyes.

"I know." Celestia said, turning back to Luna, "I know what has to be done... I've thought about this for so long. To stay or to go. What could be done differently..."

Luna looked to me. It was the same disappointed gaze at before. I knew what she felt. I did this to her sister. I was the reason her sister was in pain. At least... that's how I saw it.

My gaze shifted downwards. Luna scared me. She was nothing like her sister. Celestia's nightmare was burning in my mind. That's not going to happen here. I'll make sure it doesn't.

"Shining! Soulfire!" Celestia barked.

They both gave an abrupt, "Yes, Princess?"

Celestia opened the book and began reading a passage aloud. Shortly after, another strange white oval appeared in the middle of the room.

"Both of you are to return home immediately." she commanded.

They looked to Princess Luna, who nodded.

"As you wish, Princess." Shining said to her.

They both took deep breaths.

Soulfire turned to me. "I guess this is goodbye, isn't it?"

"I... I guess it is." I mumbled, a weakness in my voice.

"It was nice to get to know you while we were here." Shining followed.

"Yeah... Take care..." I couldn't give them full replies. My mind was stuck on Celestia.

They turned to the portal. Shining Armor stepped into the shimmering light, followed close behind by Soulfire. There was nothing on the other side of the light for us to see.

Unlike when Luna arrived, the portal did not disappear immediately.

Celestia set the book onto the table and faced the portal. Was she... already leaving?

"Phil?" she whispered, turning to me. Her eyes were so soft...

She lifted her hand to me. I rested mine on top. Celestia gently pulled me with her until we reached the portal.

"Maybe... Maybe it will work on you, Phil... Maybe we could forget this whole thing... Maybe we could be together..."

The sound of Celestia's hope cheered me up. "Yeah..."

She looked to my hand, then lifted it to the portal. To our surprise, while her hand was able to go through, mine stopped as if it had pressed against a wall.

I let go of her and rested my hand against the portal. It wasn't going through... I couldn't come with. This was it... This was it...

"Phil... My heart hurts..."

The pain in her eyes... I felt my heart in my throat as I looked at her.

"Sister..." started Luna.

Celestia turned to face her sister, gingerly wiping her tears with her hand.

"Do you really want to stay with him?" Luna asked.

Celestia looked to me, then back to her sister. "I do."

As Luna talked to her sister, her face lightened as her expression changed to a gentle sympathy.

"Would you rather live in this world than in Equestria?" Luna asked her.

Celestia hesitated before answering. "I would."

"Why?" she let out softly, almost sadly.

"I want to stay with the one I love. Is that so much to ask, sister?"

Luna looked at me again. "I've watched the two of you grow closer to each other with every passing day. The thought that you could find love so quickly... I'm happy for you sister, I truly am." A pleading tone entered her voice. "But you need to come home. I miss you. I miss my big sister."

I looked to Celestia. This was just putting more of a strain on her heart.

"I'm not proud of this." Luna continued, "I would never want to hurt you like this sister, but it must be done."

"Talking about it like this isn't going to get us anywhere." I solemnly stated. Nothing was going to change from talking. Nothing at all. It would be better if I were gone. I moved myself to the kitchen, out of the way. Nothing I wanted to say would ease the burden on Celestia. Painless words won't mean a thing.

The way Luna treated me... She resented me for the pain I caused Celestia. She was right to resent me.

My hands rested on the counter. There was nothing but pain inside. I couldn't accept this.

Someone entered the kitchen after me. It was Celestia. I knew before she said anything. I didn't turn to face her. I couldn't.

"Are you alright?" she asked, her voice quiet.

I silently shook my head.

"Say... something. Anything." she pleaded with me, "Talk to me. Please..."

"I can't." It hurts too much.

"You can't let this go. I don't want to go back. If you could convince my sister that..."

"It's not my job to convince her of anything." I said, cutting her off.

"Your... job? What do you mean, 'your job'?" For the first time since I've met her, she was becoming angry. Even a Princess can feel this way about... someone she loves...

"I don't have any say in the matter. I'm not the one that can make this decision."

She kept her voice quiet, even through her anger. "If you would just say something, then maybe I wouldn't feel so hurt!"

"If I... said something..."

"It's like you've given up already."

"I have given up, Celestia. I've always known that I wouldn't have a say in the matter. Even before our relationship turned into this, I knew that I would have no control over whether you left or not."

"Is there nothing more you can say? Is this all I am to you?!"

"What can I do?" I snapped back at her.

Celestia took in a shocked gasp.

I turned and took a step towards her, meeting her eyes as I said, "What could I possibly do to stop the woman I love from leaving my life? Could you tell me what to do? Could you, really?"

"I... I don't know."

"I don't want this, Celestia. I don't want this. You've changed my life so much and now you're just going to leave. It's not fair."

What will I say... What could I say that would let her stay with me...

I could ask her to marry me.

No... No, I couldn't. I can't say it... even then, she can't stay... No matter what I did, no matter what I said... She couldn't stay...

Her eyes were pleading with me, still expecting me to save her. She was still expecting me to say something. She needed me to say something. Anything.

I could only say one thing... "You have to go back."

She looked away. "I know." Her voice was almost silent.

Was this really the last of us?

I wrapped my arms around her without a second thought. She held me the same way.

"Celestia..."

Her arms tightened around my back. I felt tears running down my cheeks. There was no use hiding it anymore. I couldn't hold in the pain any longer.

"I-I'm not the type of person who can... hold back tears for long..." I said to her, burying my face into her shoulder. I sniffed. I couldn't stop now. "I k-knew I would break down... when it c-came to this. I'm not gonna pretend... that I'm not hurt... that I'm a strong person... B-Because I-I'm not. I never have been, I never will."

Her hand rubbed my back. "I know."

"Now... you're just going to leave... and it hurts so much. You'll b-be gone and I-I'll be alone again."

I didn't try to keep myself from crying. I couldn't. All I could do was cry on her shoulder. I didn't know what else to do.

"I don't want to say goodbye." she said, her voice quivering, "I'm not ready for this."

We stood in each other's embrace for a long time. After all this... nothing hurt more than the sounds of her sobbing. She was crying because of me. Because of what I had done. It hurt more than anything to know that I caused this. Even more than the idea of being alone again, or the thought of losing her, her quiet sobbing was the most painful thing in the world.

I had nothing to say, but I started talking anyways.

"C-Celestia... I'm not worth crying over. I know I'm not. But you're st-still crying because of me... Why did I do this? Why did I let this happen? This could've had a happy ending, today could've gone so well. But I had to love you, didn't I... I had to make you feel the same way I did. I'm sorry... I'm..."

"Sh-Shut up!" she yelled at me, pushing me away so that we could see each other properly. Tears covered her perfect cheeks. "This past month has been the best of my life and you're saying that you regret it?! How do you think that makes me feel? What about me? I felt the same way you did. I thought it was all my fault, that our relationship was a mistake."

She paused, a short series of gasps stopping her speech.

"Celestia..."

"Well, it's not!" she shouted, "It's brought me so much happiness. When I was with you, I felt free. For the first time in years, I had someone who truly loved me because of who I was... not what I was. I... I don't... I don't want to go back..."

More and more tears poured from her eyes. She rested her forehead on my chest and began to wail.

We both felt like we had caused the other to suffer. We were both blaming ourselves for the sorrow we felt in this moment. I didn't care about myself. As long as others were happy, I was happy. She wasn't happy. I wasn't able to hold back my tears, but I could hold back how hard I wanted to cry. I wanted to wail same as her. I wanted to cry like a baby. But holding her in my arms like this... I felt strong. Maybe I was stronger than I thought. Maybe I could be strong for her.

I gingerly placed my hand on the back of her head and began to stroke her long hair. Nothing I could say right now would make her pain go away. All I could muster was, "It's alright, Celestia... It's alright."

I didn't even believe what I was saying. She knew it all too well. Still, it seemed to have a calming effect on her. It took a while, but her howls of anguish slowly turned back into sniffles. She laid the side of her head against me.

"Th-Thank you..." she whispered, "Thank you for everything you've done for me... For trusting me... For giving me a place to call home... For the time you've spent with me... For the love you've given me... And for the happiness that I've felt... Thank you. I love you."

"I love you too, Celestia."

We stood motionless for a long while, wanting nothing more than to be together for just a little while longer. We both knew that it couldn't last forever. I stopped stroking her soft hair and let my hand rest on her head. Her tears were warm against my chest.

"If we only had more time... Why does this have to be goodbye? My heart is breaking..."

I pulled away from her and stared into her big, beautiful, tear-filled eyes. Our heads moved closer for a brief kiss before we returned to our embrace

It was a long time before we moved. Our attention was drawn away by a soft, "Sister."

We both looked to the doorway. Luna was standing against it, regret drawn across her face. Even she had shed a tear at our sorrows.

"Just a little while longer, Luna... Just a... little while... please."

"I'm going to return home, sister." Luna said.

"Alright..."

"And... Phil?"

"Hmm?"

"I'm sorry... for the trouble. Goodbye, Phil. I'm afraid that this is the last time we will see each other."

Without another word, she disappeared back through the door. Luna had gone home. It wouldn't be long before Celestia did the same.

We could've stood where we were for hours and nothing would stop us. But our time was truly up. Dragging it out any longer would only prolong our suffering. Still, we held each other for as long as our hearts could take, both of us sniffling and sobbing like children without their toys.

Eventually, even this became too much for us. A twitch from Celestia told me that it was time. We slowly pulled apart, meeting each other's eyes.

Celestia...

My lips pushed against hers once more. She responded with the same affection against mine. We needed each other now more than anything. This too, would soon come to a painful end.

Our lips parted. Our bodies followed suit. Celestia started towards the front room. I followed behind. The portal was still active, waiting for her. We both stood facing it, tears running down our faces.

"I'll miss you." she said to me.

"I'll miss you too, Celestia."

As if by instinct, we faced each other and pressed our lips together for one final kiss. Our arms wrapped around each other once more. We gazed at each other until we couldn't take it anymore.

"Goodbye Celestia. I love you."

She closed her eyes and turned away, replying with a tiny voice, "Goodbye."

That was the last thing I heard before the woman I loved disappeared.



End part 1
> Chapter 10
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Oh boy, depression. My favorite.

It's natural to feel depression after a breakup. This wasn't the first time it's happened, but nothing could have prepared me for how much it hurt. Celestia was special to me in so many ways. She was my puppy dog. She was my cuddlebug. She was my sun. She was my Princess. Now she was gone. All I wanted was to see her again.

We knew each other for just a month, but in two short weeks, I felt that I had met the woman I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. In such a short amount of time, our feelings for each other evolved into a deep, mutual love. Celestia was the perfect woman. Nothing but pain remains.

For the first week or so after she left, I often found myself lying in bed, staring up at the ceiling, crying. Nobody would see my tears in this empty house. Eventually, the tears stopped coming. All that was left was the crushing weight on my chest I felt without her.

It's better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all. Isn't that how it goes? Though I have lost, I have loved, and I have been loved in return. The past month has been the happiest of my life. The memory of the time we spent together is something I will keep forever. And the memory of her smile... The memory I cherish most... I could never let it go.

My last memory of her wasn't of her beautiful smile, but of her tearful eyes as she said goodbye. I could only hope that her smile would come back soon. Something told me that it was still gone. Even after all that's happened, just knowing she was upset made me even more miserable. Everything I felt, I knew she felt just the same. Abandoned, heartbroken, lonely... It hurt. Not long after she left, my 25th birthday came and went. I'm sure that if Celestia knew, it would just hurt her all the more.

After a few days of my depressed stupor, an angry call from my boss convinced me to leave the house. Even when all I wanted to do was be alone with my thoughts, life went on. The world wouldn't stop turning for me. Nothing has changed. Nothing will change.

Then something changed.



October 27



It had been a normal day so far. I was at work, leaning against a wall in the break room. Time had gotten away from me. Depression had turned into apathy. These past few weeks, I've done the bare minimum, both at work and in life. My only comfort was music. The sound drowned out the world. My eyes were closed. I was relaxed.

A pull on my headphones startled me back to reality. I jerked away out of reflex, opening my eyes to see what was happening. The earcup was yanked from their hand, snapping back to my head. I reactively tugged the headphone cable out of my phone. It was faster than turning the music off manually.

I glared at the short woman next to me whose hand was near my head. This must be the offender.

"Uh..." She pulled her hand back. "S-Sorry, but you're not s-supposed to listen to music during work hours, sir."

"Huh?" I blinked a few times. Sir? Nobody called me sir. At first glance, I didn't recognize her, but she wore our uniform. "Who are you?" How embarrassing, I didn't even know her name.

"M-My name is Sarah Lockhart, sir. I'm... I'm new. I j-just started today."

"That was today? Geez... Sorry, I wasn't thinking." I was supposed to mentor her in the ways of minimum-wage-fu. Now that I think about it, I did see her around. Her short brown hair made her look like one of the guys and being the shortest person on the crew must have hidden her from sight. Clearly her camouflage skills are well trained.

From what I remembered, her résumé was rather impressive for a WcMonald's employee. There was no previous work experience, but she had spent four years in college working towards a degree in veterinary medicine. My assumption was that she was taking this job to learn more about the working world. Aw geez... That makes her smarter than me.

She was right, though. This was a work environment. Headphones had no place behind the counter. As much as I disliked the idea, I pushed them back, resting them around my neck. It wasn't that I cared about the job, but ignoring her would be impolite.

"Is there anything else?" I asked, noticing too late the irritation in my voice.

"W-Well, I... just wanted to introduce myself... I suppose. Before the d-day was up."

That's as good a reason as any to talk to me, I can't fault her there. I was just annoyed because she touched my headphones, but it was my own fault for wearing them at work.

"Right. Well... It's nice to meet you. Just..." I sighed. There weren't any rules if you weren't an idiot, I didn't need to explain that to her. "Is it lunchtime yet?"

When her eyes met mine, I noticed that she would look down or away. There was an obvious nervousness about her. It can only be expected. I was nervous on my first day, just like her.

"N-No, the shift is almost over, sir. Lunch was hours ago."

"Hours ago? Geez, I must've lost track of time. Oh right, you can just call me Phil. We're working at McDonalds, there's not exactly a hierarchy thing going on here."

"A-Alright."

I brought my hand to my mouth and cleared my throat. "I'm sorry, I'm being rude. It's nice to meet you, Sarah."

"Th-Thank you, sir... uh... Phil."

"So how's your first day been?" I asked.

"Oh, um... It's nice... Th-The vice... I m-mean, Timmy introd-duced me to the other workers. He s-said to tell you if I ever g-got around to talking to you."

"Oh, thank god. I'm glad you had someone help you. He knew I wasn't feeling well. Aside from that though, how are things so far?"

"It's been... um... interesting. It's... cleaner than I imagined it would be. Uh... s-sorry. This... This is my first job... so..."

It felt nice to talk to someone new. I was enjoying myself. "Don't worry. We got a good bunch of people here for you to work with. If you work hard and always do your best... ah, you know the drill, eh?"

"Y-Yeah."

"See? You got it." I noticed that some of the night workers had already showed up. The clock said that it would be just a few minutes before the shift ended. "Is it really that late? Huh..." I looked back to her. She hadn't moved. Maybe she wanted to say something else. "Was there something you weren't sure of? Any questions about work? Any complaints? Are you gonna blackmail me for ignoring you all day?"

"No! No, no, I would n-never! I... N-No. I... I didn't have any qu-questions. N-Not about work."

"Not about work? Is something on your mind?"

"W-Well... I was... j-just... wondering..." The nervous stutter in her voice seemed to worsen. "W-Would you like to get some coffee, sir?" she blurted. As soon as she got the words out, her gaze shifted to the floor.

Wait what? A brief glance to the other workers showed me that we were alone in this conversation. Nobody was even paying attention. I decided to see for myself what she wanted out of this. "Coffee? That sounds nice. I walk to work though, just so you know."

"D-Don't worry, it's nearby. I... Uh..."

She may have had something else to say, but she didn't continue speaking. I shrugged it off and said, "Nearby? I didn't know there were any coffee shops nearby. I guess I haven't checked recently. Well, if you're ready to go, I am too."

She nodded, her eyes still avoiding me. Asking out your boss on the first day, what a power move.

Sarah and I retrieved our coats and left the building together. She wore a windbreaker and carried a small, light purple purse. Now that I got a better look at her, I noticed that her outfit was... clean. Her purse, her coat, and especially her shoes... You're not gonna find those in the bargain bin. Did she have money or did she simply make poor spending choices? It wasn't my business to ask.

It's been windy these past few days and today was no different. Today was a very cold autumn day. It didn't help that it was already getting dark. There was no doubt in my mind that she felt the brunt of the wind. Even so, it didn't seem to bother her.

"Are you r-ready?" she asked, fidgeting as she stood.

"Yep. Lead the way."

She nodded before starting down the sidewalk. I followed behind. It wasn't a particularly long walk, but it was out of my way. I knew the area, at least. This was fun, I enjoyed just having something to do.

"It... It's getting cloudy." she said, looking up, "Do you think it will rain?"

A grey layer of clouds covered what little light we would've had left. "Yeah, looks like it." I agreed.

"I hope it waits until I get home. I didn't bring my umbrella."

"Yeah, you gotta be prepared for these kinds of things. I always bring my umbrella, even if it's clear."

She gave me a confused look. "You do? It doesn't look like it."

I unzipped my hoodie and pulled it partially out of its inner pocket, saying simply, "Umbrella." I returned it to its rightful place.

"Oh... well... a-alright. That's a good idea." She stopped in front of a small store and said, "Here it is."

"Huh... Yeah, I had no idea this place was here. Looks super nice."

"Y-Yeah, it's... It's really g-good."

It was a small restaurant that didn't seem part of a chain, a pleasant little family business. There were a few small tables scattered about the main section and the counter had some treats inside. It seemed a little bit like Sugarcube Corner. I guess I had ponies on the mind.

Sarah ordered herself a small cup of coffee. I did the same, getting a chocolate doughnut from the display case. We paid for our own orders and sat at one of the tables in the center. I bit into my donut, eyeing her. She looked down, taking a sip of her coffee.

"H-How is it?" she asked.

I smiled. "Really good, I love it. I might have to come back sometime."

"I'm gl-glad."

"Yeah, thanks for inviting me. So... I guess I'm a little curious... uh... What's up?" I asked, "I don't really get this too often. Is there any particular reason you invited me out here?"

"I... Well..." She began tipping her cup on the table, looking to it as she spoke. "I... guess I just wanted to cheer you up, is all."

"Huh?"

"I... I s-saw that you were... Y-You looked down, s-so I asked around and T-Tim told me that you broke up with your g-g-girlfriend, so I... thought... th-that I could..." She stopped.

"Oh... Well, thank you." That's a little surprising. My friends knew that I would prefer space for this situation, but Sarah was new. "That's very nice of you. Yeah, it wasn't easy. For either of us."

"Either o-of you?"

"She had to leave. Go back home. It wasn't that we chose to break up, it's just how it had to be."

"Oh, I'm so sorry. S-So she was foreign?"

I hesitated before giving her an ambiguous, "Sure."

"I... I guess it wasn't really any of my business, w-was it..." She let out a short chuckle as she looked down.

"Ah heck, don't worry about it. I appreciate it. It's nice having someone like you to talk to."

"Like me?"

"Well... Someone new, I guess. A change of pace, really."

"It... It sounded like you r-really l-liked her."

I nodded. "Yeah... Yeah I did. I loved her. A lot. But sadly, it didn't last." I smirked. "You know, you're not exactly helping by bringing it up."

"Oh... right. S-Sorry."

"It's alright, it's alright. Still, I guess I just really didn't expect this today, you know? Kind of an odd reason to ask me to get some coffee."

"Y-Yeah, I suppose."

"It's a good thing I like coffee."

She smiled. Guess I cheered her up too.

"But... you know..." I paused. "Did they... tell you she left a month ago?"

"They... didn't. I guess that..." She let out another nervous chuckle. "Makes this a bit unnecessary, doesn't it?"

I smiled at her. "No, it was nice. A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one."

"Oh. Well, I'm glad." She glanced towards the window. "Oh, no..."

I looked to see what she was worried about. Drops of rain had started to fall against the window. The rain had just started, but had already picked up. She let out a sigh.

"Won't be the first time I've walked home in the rain." I said.

"It'll be my first. At least after work."

"How do you get to work, anyways?" I asked.

"I... I take the bus."

"Bummer. How far's the bus stop?"

"It's far. At least a mile away. And it gets there at six-thirty."

"Wait, isn't it six-thirty now?"

"Yeah..."

"Ah! That sucks! When's the next stop?" Wait, if it's supposed to arrive around now, how was she planning on making the trip?

"At eight."

"Dang. That's rough."

She nodded, probably not looking forward to her walk.

"Got anybody to pick you up?"

"Well... m-my dad, but he... I don't know if he's home. I c-could call, b-but I think he's busy."

"Mom?"

"We only have one car right now. We just moved here, things are a little hectic at the house, still. I guess I could... maybe call a cab, couldn't I?"

"Or uber."

"I don't... like uber."

"Mmm..." To each their own.

"I don't know, I've never used it. I just d-don't like the idea of getting a ride from a st-stranger."

"Same here."

"I don't even know how I would..." She sighed. "D-Do you think someone back at work could g-give me a ride?"

"Yeah, probably."

"I... I don't... want to ask th-them."

"Why not?"

"I... uh... I'm n-not... g-good at talking to p-people..." she said, looking away, "That's why I got the job at M-McDonalds. I'm a little... sh-shy when it c-comes to people."

"Mmm... Well, how's this... I'll head home and get my car so I can take you home."

"N-No, it wouldn't be r-right to m-make you walk home in this rain just to c-come back. I... I wouldn't want to impose. You'd do that for m-me?"

"Yeah, it's not like I'm not getting home any other way."

"I... I s-suppose... W-Well, in that case, l-let me come with you!"

"What, you wanna stay the night in the rain?"

Her eyes immediately widened. "No! No, no, no! No... No, no... Th-Th-There's just no p-p-point in making you come b-back for me."

"Right, that makes a lot more sense. Sorry." My attempt at a joke has fallen flat. It wasn't a good joke to begin with, now that I think about it. I retrieved my umbrella from my pocket and waved it in my hand. "Guess we should head out."

"R-Right."

We threw away our trash near the door and stared outside, dreading what was to come. We haven't had a flash storm like this in the past month. Almost seemed like we were overdue.

"Good luck, you two!" called the lady behind the counter.

The two of us stepped outside to the cover of the awning. There was a cutting wind in the air. I opened the umbrella above us as we set off. As soon as we stepped away from the building, rain came in from the sides. With how short Sarah was, I was wearing the umbrella as a hat to make sure it covered her, even crouching for her as I moved. It didn't matter what I did, the rain still stung to the touch. We were both soaked well before we reached at our destination.

Though it usually takes around ten minutes to get to work, it felt much longer in this rain. I didn't drive to work, so my car keys weren't on my key ring.

"I didn't bring my car keys." I told her as I unlocked the front door, "C'mon, you can dry off for a few minutes."

We pushed inside. I flicked on the light as the umbrella hit the floor.

"S-So... this is where you live?" she asked.

"You sound so disappointed."

"N-No! It j-just... isn't what I expected."

I just shrugged as a response. "Stay here for a moment."

"Ok..."

After quickly retrieving a towel from the bathroom for her to dry herself, I disappeared into my room to change out of my work clothes, locking the door behind me.

"Oh! You ch-changed!" she exclaimed as I walked out.

"Yeah. I don't want my work clothes getting any dirtier."

"I-I j-j-just didn't expect you t-to change your clothes while I w-was h-h-here..." she said, looking away.

She was embarrassed at a simple change of clothing? My bad, then.

"Th-Thank you. F-For taking me home, n-not for..." She stopped.

"No problem, Sarah. You know, you could've just stayed at the restaurant."

"I... I didn't want to be... left alone."

"Well, alright." She's surprisingly honest.

"I... I'm sorry it was so... awkward. I r-really didn't know that it had been a month."

"Well, I still appreciated it, Sarah. You know, I'm not good at talking to people, either."

"Y-You're not? You don't seem too bad to me."

"Well, when you get a job, you gotta learn real fast." I chuckled. "You'll get it soon enough."

"Ah... Y-Yeah... I hope so."

It wasn't too late in the day, but the clouds made it dark like night. "Man..." I laughed to myself. "If it gets any later, you might just have to stay here. You ready to head out?"

"I... I'm ready... Yes." She didn't seem to hate my joke, though she was definitely surprised.

Geez, I did it again. Sorry Sarah, that was mean of me.

I made sure she had an umbrella of her own before we turned for the door. It was still raining outside, but from the sound of it, the worst of it had passed. It was quite common for a storm here to last no longer than thirty minutes or so. She gave me her address as we left, but I didn't recognize the street, so I had to ask her for directions. Aside from that, the trip was silent. The house was in one of the rich neighborhoods in town, which was actually quite a drive from work.

"That one there. That's... my house." she said, pointing down the street. Her house seemed rather impressive from the street. It was a two story home with a sizable lawn.

I pulled to the side of the street in front of the house.

"Thank you for your help." she said as she opened the door.

I opened mine as well. "Lemme walk you up. I gotta take my umbrella back."

"Oh, uh... A-Alright."

It wasn't about the umbrella, it was about walking with her again. I followed her up the sidewalk to the steps leading to her door.

"That was fun. We should do this again sometime." I said, following it with a laugh.

"Uh... Y-Yeah... M-Maybe..."

Sarah turned to the house and opened the door. On the other side was her brightly lit entryway.

To someone like me, it was a lavish home. Everything was either colored or painted white, making it look spotless. I saw a dining room to the right and a staircase leading to the second floor in the middle of the house. A hallway was to the left of the stairway. I couldn't see it with the way the door was opened, but with the size of the house, another room was to the left.

I smiled as I retrieved the umbrella. "See ya at work, Sarah."

"Y-Yeah, see you." She closed the door.

That was nice. She was nice. That put me in a good mood. I was smiling to myself on the way home, going over the day in my head. I think I earned a second date. That can wait, though. The day was over. Time to relax and unwind and...

"That woman seemed to like you. Who was she?"

A woman's voice as I entered my house caused me to jump. "Huh? What?"

"Who was she? That woman you were with."

Much to my surprise, there was yet another woman in my house. The first thing I noticed about her... was her long blue hair. Her face had a certain beauty that seemed out of place in this house. Though her body wasn't as 'full' as Celestia's, it was still just as captivating. That wasn't my main concern, though. I didn't care what she looked like. Not in the slightest.

Princess Luna was in my world once more. She was back. And that means...

"Wh... L-Luna?" Confusion and excitement welled up inside my body, making it difficult to even talk.

"That 'Sarah' woman. Who was she?" she repeated herself.

Princess Luna had returned. She was standing in the middle of my front room with an inquisitive look on her face.

"Y-Y-You... You're back!" I exclaimed, struggling to get out a coherent sentence, "You're..."

"You acted very... friendly towards her. For someone who's supposed to be shy, you certainly seem to be very open with meeting new people."

"I-I-I... Sh-She was just... just a..." I couldn't continue. My mouth just hung wide open in shock.

Everything about her seemed to brighten as she smiled at me. "You seem surprised to see me."

"Wh... I am surprised! I thought I'd never hear from you guys again! Why are you... here? Why are... And not... I mean, not that I'm not happy to see you, it's just... why are... you..."

Her smile faded, but the warmth that came with it stayed in her eyes. She raised her hands to stop me and said, "Calm yourself, please. I've had enough headaches today. My sister wouldn't stop talking about how excited she is to see you again. It was a refreshing experience to see her so happy, but in truth, it became irritating."

"Y-You mean that... She's..."

She smiled once more. "That's right, Phil. My sister is returning to your world."

"Wha... Oh my god... This is amazing! This is..." I wrapped my arms around her, unintentionally lifting her tiny frame off the ground as I hugged her. She let out a surprised squeak, an adorable sound I've never heard her make before. Her hand awkwardly patted my back. I was so happy that I was laughing.

"Yes..." She paused until I released her, which I'm sure took longer than she wanted. "Thank you."

"Uh... S-So... when can I see her?" I asked, next to trembling with excitement.

"Soon enough."

"Soon enough isn't soon enough!"

"It will depend on when she is ready." she said, "I doubt she wishes to stay away for longer than she has to, but she has responsibilities in Equestria that require her attention. I decided to take this chance to speak to you myself. Our first meeting was... not under ideal circumstances. This will be our first chance to speak freely."

"I... I think I'd like that, Princess."

"However, before that, you did not answer my question."

"Question?" With Celestia in my thoughts, it's no wonder that whatever she said had slipped my mind.

"Who was the woman accompanying you today?"

"Oh! Right, right, sorry. Right. Well, her name is Sarah Lockhart. She's a new employee at my job and works under my supervision."

"Is that so? And why were you with her?"

"We went out for coffee, then it started to rain so I took her home. Uh... Oh! I used my car... Is why she was here with me. We had to walk here in the rain, it wasn't fun." There was no point in lying to her.

She didn't seem entirely satisfied with my answer, though didn't seem interested in pressing me. Instead, she said, "Very well. Now, tell me... Who are you?"

"Well..." Staring off with the big one... I rubbed the back of my neck with a hand. "There's not really much to tell. I mean, you probably know a lot about me already. I never have an answer for this question."

"You've no need to worry. I'm not here to decide for my sister whether she'll return to this world. No matter my opinion, I'm sure she'd want to see you just the same."

"Still, I don't..."

"Perhaps it will help if you repeat your name." she suggested.

"Well... I guess. Yeah, alright. My name is Phil, I'm sure you could've guessed." Awkward pause. Bad joke. "I'm... someone who works for a living. I live a life that I can say I'm proud of. I'm almost always at home in my free time, I rarely go out. Luna, I don't see how this..."

"Keep going." she said. It seemed almost like she was encouraging me.

"Well... I just... I don't know what you want me to say."

She chuckled, then crossed her arms across her chest. "You could say that you're a loving, caring man who enjoys seeing the smiles of others. That you'll go out of your way to help those in need. That you're a strong man who isn't afraid to reveal his feelings."

Wow... "Is that... what you really think of me?"

"It is what my sister thinks of you. I would like to form my own opinion. From what I have seen, you're more interesting than you let on. I've learned a lot about you these past two months. You certainly aren't a bad person. Despite your flaws, it would seem that you are one of my sister's more suitable candidates."

Flaws? Well alright, I'm not perfect. "Candidates?"

"Indeed. Many have tried to win her heart. Some even better men than you." She hesitated. "Forgive me. I do not mean to insult you, but the facts are clear."

"It's... alright." I was a little too excited to be insulted.

"At times, my sister would become infatuated with them. She loved her partners just as she loves you now. Though, I'm sure you will be happy to hear that you are a special case. You are my sister's first lover from a different world."

"I'm special, huh?" I said, almost to myself.

"You're a lucky man. The love of a Princess is not something just anyone can say they have." She sighed. "It always seemed like her potential suitors were in it for money, fame, or power. It's disgusting. I chased many away. Few stood out. This led to the majority of her relationships being short lived. Still, some blossomed into things of beauty spanning many years. You are not her first, Phil."

"I know. She told me."

"You cannot truly blame me if I am shocked by her feelings, can you?"

"No, I can't. It sometimes shocks me, too. Somebody like her... Smart, strong, beautiful... I know I don't deserve her."

"No, you don't."

"Thanks Luna, I knew you'd have my back."

She chuckled to herself. "I'm sorry if I have offended you, but I do not believe that anybody deserves my sister. She is... above you. She is above even me. She is..."

"Luna." I cut her off. "I know. I know." She put her sister on such a high pedestal.

"I apologize. I'm getting off topic. For many days following my sister's return, the castle was filled with her sobs. Even around me, she rarely shows this side of herself. I was not prepared for her tears. The last time she shed tears of sorrow was when she was forced to banish Nightmare Moon to the moon. When she was forced to banish... me. It made me truly ponder the nature of your relationship. To think that such a man would catch the eye of my sister... 'Why would my sister become so infatuated with this human?' I would ask myself. I couldn't answer this on my own. That is one of the reasons I am here. I want to know why my sister fell in love with you."

I gave her a smirk. "Would you believe me if I said it was my charming personality and dashing good looks?"

She chuckled. "I could not say. From what I have seen, you are... plain. I do not know you as a person, merely what my sister has lamented to me between sobs. You are no different from the men in our world, yet still, you have captured her heart." Once more, she paused. "Please do not take offense. I am merely stating what I know in order to better understand you."

"It's alright, Luna. You're right, I'm not special. And she still loved me. She liked being normal, Luna. She liked that I treated her like a normal woman. I know that I'm not worthy of Celestia's affection. I don't deserve the love of somebody as perfect as her."

She sighed. "I don't believe that you would do anything to hurt her, but If anything were to happen to her... I don't know what I'd do. I wanted to judge you based on your words, not simply what I have seen."

"I understand. But... I mean... Well, I'm not unhappy to see you, it's just... I... I would've preferred Celestia."

She chuckled. "Don't worry, I understand. My sister is most likely resting. She has spent many long weeks in the library searching for a method to return to you. Toward the end of it, she would go without sleep for days at a time. She pushed herself so hard all to see you again, Phil, even shirking in her duties as Princess. I have seen to it that her work is sparse, but I cannot do everything. We Princesses don't have much free time. This burden can become too much at times. I cannot put blame on her enjoyment of this world."

"I'm sure she appreciates your help, Luna. When Celestia and I were together, all we did was relax. Our time spent together was as boring as it could be. It... It made me feel like Celestia didn't like it here. But I know that she did. She liked how boring it was. My life didn't change after she got here. And if she came back, I know that it'll just be the same."

"Perhaps. Unlike my sister, I found my life in Equestria to be rather interesting. The work is difficult, yes, but only rarely are we stuck inside signing forms or speaking with ponies of interest. Our lives are peaceful. To her, this may be a simple vacation. With no responsibilities, she can truly relax in this world." Luna paused before letting out a sigh.

"Everything alright?" I asked.

She looked to me. "My sister's duties will keep her occupied for a time. Until she arrives, I have... something to ask of you." She was hesitating. "I would like to ask for your hospitality in this world."

"You... want to stay here? I find that hard to believe."

She nodded. "It will put me in an ideal position to learn more about you."

"Well... I guess that's alright. I can't exactly provide the same level of comfort that you'd get at your castle, but at least the bed's nice."

"You'd have me sleep on your bed?" She almost seemed offended by the offer. Perhaps appalled is a better word.

"It doesn't matter where you sleep. You can pick wherever. I can't change my house around every time someone new shows up."

"What if I asked you?"

"What?"

"You act as though you are merely doing my sister acts of kindness, but it's more than that. You would do anything she asked without question."

"I..." I paused. I didn't really understand what she was saying.

"My sister and I are still Princesses to you. So, my question is, why? We're normal women here. Even less than that, we're jobless, homeless, and you know very little about us. None of these are worthy of your respect."

"Luna, just because you're not Princesses here doesn't mean that you aren't Princesses at all. You and Celestia lead an entire nation with compassion and kindness. What's more to get? And you're really nice to me. I like you guys. Girls. Ladies."

She crossed her arms over her chest. "Very well."

"You... sure accepted that quickly."

"Your honesty is all I seek. I'd like to think that my coming here was justified. I'm not here to engage you in a philosophical debate."

"Well... glad I could be of assistance. So... can I ask you a question, Princess?"

"You may."

"Is this... fun to you? You seem to be enjoying yourself."

She chuckled. "To an extent. It's exciting to try something new. You're somewhat of a special case to me. You'll understand why I am doing this soon enough."

"Well Luna... It's nice to see you again." I stretched out and yawned. "You did show up kinda late though. How about we get you settled in before we worry about any more questions?"

She smiled in return. "I'm certain that I can tolerate a few days here." She paused. This time, she did not apologize.

"Home sweet home." I shrugged before moving towards the kitchen. It's been a long day. I was hungry. The leftover spaghetti in the fridge was calling for me.

"I'm surprised." she said, standing in the doorway, "You're not going to make sure I'm comfortable like my sister?"

"Nope." I spoke with a half full mouth. "'Cause I know that you're not. I'm sure you'd rather be back in Equestria."

"What makes you assume that?"

It didn't sound like I was wrong. She was curious. "Well, I certainly wouldn't wanna be hangin' around this dirty little place if I were you. Plus, your only company is me."

"You're good company, Phil."

"Really? How so?"

"How... you are good company?"

I shrugged. "Yeah. You answer that, then you can ask one."

"Are we going to ask questions back and forth, then?"

"Hey, it's not your turn."

She let out a small laugh. "I suppose not. Alright, I'll play your little game. You're interesting. Any that capture my sister's heart interest me. You have also been very kind to me, despite what has happened. I know your feelings towards my sister. I have no reason to believe that they are false."

"Hmm... Alright then. Your turn."

She nodded. "Why did you fall in love with my sister?"

"Geez, another big one."

She simply stared at me.

"Well..." I rubbed my neck again. "She's a nice woman who pays attention to me. Luna... I'm... I'm an introvert. I love anyone who pays attention to me."

"Is... Is that it? Because you're shy?"

"And she's... she's beautiful. She's so beautiful."

She seemed confused. "I... I don't understand. Your words are shallow."

"A little bit, yeah. I'm 25, Luna. I'm still young. All men my age are like this. I don't know what true love is, yet. It might take me some time to really find that feeling, even if it's with Celestia."

"So you mean to say you don't know if you love her?"

"I love her!" I quickly got out, "I just... have trouble explaining it."

"Then... why her?"

I suppose I didn't actually answer her. "She made me happy and I made her happy. And her... her beautiful smile... It made me so happy to see her smile. That's all love is to me. Just being happy to be around someone. It's not complicated to me. But... in a way, it is complicated. You know?"

She nodded. "Love is not a simple matter."

"So... what about you?" I asked her.

"Me?"

"I've... just been a bit curious. Have you ever been in love with someone?"

Her arms crossed, a sign that I have overstepped my boundaries. She replied with a short, honest, "I have."

"What... was he like?"

"My past romances are not your business." She was stoic, neither angry nor defensive. She simply did not wish to share.

"Right... Sorry."

"As with my sister, I have felt love many times in my life. Perhaps one day I will share, but not today."

"Alright. Sorry, Luna."

"Why do you think my sister fell in love with you?" she asked me, "If it were as simple as finding a normal man, she would have found someone many years ago. It's not uncommon to see her in the presence of the citizens. A normal pony could easily have stolen her heart, yet here we are."

"I don't... I don't really know. I'm sure it... had something to do with her staying here. She told me... uh... I'm sorry, it's just been a while. Celestia said... She said... I don't remember what she said." I chuckled to myself, worried that I had annoyed her. "Anyways, we were housemates. Celestia and I lived together, we spent almost every minute of the day together, even before our relationship started. I treated her like I would treat any other woman. She doesn't get a chance to speak with others on an even level. I gave her that chance. I gave her a friend. Maybe I was just lucky. Well, I know I was lucky. But... But I wanted to keep her safe. She was in my world, alone and powerless. I just wanted... something that I could care for on my own." I chuckled to myself. "Pretty cheesy, huh?"

"It's honest."

"When I met her, I wanted her to like me. I did my best to impress and interest her to keep her attention on me. I... wanted a relationship with her. I was so happy when she told me that she... didn't reject me. She was nice to me. She never spoke to me like a Princess. She was always just my friend. I was open with her and she was open with me. We just... connected. Am I right? Did... she tell you?"

"She didn't. I doubt even she knows the reason. Love is a mysterious thing. I can't claim to understand it."

"Yeah..." I sighed before taking another bite of spaghetti. "Hey Luna, when I was talking to Celestia... I said that... you think the world of her, no matter what."

"I do."

I nodded. "I just... I guess I just wanted to apologize. I was trying to cheer her up. I just don't like... speaking for someone else."

"I love my sister. I always have. I always will." Luna was smiling as she talked about Celestia. "She did what had to be done and we've come to accept it. I've forgiven her and she's forgiven me. I appreciate your concern, but apologizing for telling my sister that I love her is almost insulting."

I smiled as well. "Alright, sorry about apologizing."

She chuckled.

"Hey, Luna..."

"Another question?"

"I'm gonna have to go to sleep, soon. Are you gonna be using my bed?"

"I..." She seemed caught off guard.

"It's clean, by the way. Contrary to what you may think, I do clean my house. At least once a month."

"Very well. In that case, I will accept your offer." She raised an eyebrow. "Once a month?"

"At least once."

She chuckled.

I covered the bowl and set it back into the fridge. Luna watched what I was doing for a while, but after realizing that I was just preparing for bed, she lost interest quickly. Much like her sister, she began exploring the house, familiarizing herself with the rooms. Also like her sister, she had difficulty balancing on two legs. After a while, Luna and I ended up in the bathroom. I was brushing my teeth at the end of the day. She was holding an unopened toothbrush that I had given her, examining it. Clearly our advanced human dental technology was too much for her.

While Luna took my room, I slept in the basement. The cool air and warm blanket made it a comfortable night. I wouldn't fall asleep anytime soon. With Celestia on my mind, I was too excited. Not long after I laid down, my phone started to ring. I assumed that it was a friend that would simply insult me then hang up, but I didn't recognize the number. The number was local, so I decided to answer it.

I put the phone against my head and grumbled out a tired, "Whaddup?"

"Hello... Phil? Uh... S-Sorry, this is Sarah."

What? "Sarah? What's up? Did you forget something in the car?" I didn't give her my number. How did she get it? Well, there could be a lot of ways.

"No... I... S-Sorry about calling like this, but... um... I... I have a f-favor to ask of you."

"What's up?" I repeated.

"My... parents... um... Th-They... uh..."

"Everything alright?"

"Y-Yeah, I'm... Can you... c-come to... my house again? I m-m-may have told my parents that you were... my..." She stopped.

That I was her... what? "Huh?"

"I... I said that you were my... my... b-boyfriend..."

Really? "Really?"

"I... I made a mistake. I m-made a big mistake. Th-They really want to meet you now. They want me to bring you in for dinner."

"Can't tell them the truth?"

"I... I... I c-c... c-ca... can't." Her stuttering was getting worse.

I sighed a long sigh. "Don't get your hopes up. I'll have to get back to you on this."

"O-Ok!"

"I'll see you at work."

I hung up and let my phone rest on my face for a small while, thinking about what just happened. After a while, I wrote her name as a contact and dropped it to the floor.

"Oh, what has my life become?" I asked myself before finally laying my head on my pillow.
> Chapter 11
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

October 28



Today was the first day since Celestia left that I woke up looking forward to the day. A smile covered my face as I met Princess Luna in the front room. For a little while, I thought it may have been a dream. It was real. My Celestia was coming back.

"Good morning." I greeted the younger Princess with a cheerful wave.

She seemed lost, though she nonetheless replied with a short, "Good morning."

"I know that look. 'Don't know what to eat at a stranger's house'. Come on, I'll get you something nice." Though merely a guess, it seemed I was correct.

She followed me into the kitchen. "Thank you, Phil."

"I can make you breakfast, but I won't be here to make you everything, so make sure you know where stuff is, Luna. You got your choice of toast or cereal. Eggs, if you want. Pancakes, waffles, whatever." As I spoke, I retrieved a bowl for cereal.

"I am not... used to this. I'm sorry."

"No worries, Luna. It's a learning experience."

I got out the cereal and poured it into a bowl for myself. After pouring the milk, I looked to Luna. She still seemed a bit lost. In an attempt to help her out, I slowly pushed my bowl across the counter towards her before turning my attention to another bowl. She eyed the bowl I had given her.

"What's with that look, Princess? It's not poison. You'll like it, it's sweet."

She looked to me, then back to the bowl. A spoonful of it seemed to change her mind completely. "Oh my goodness, it's like candy!" she exclaimed after swallowing.

"You like it?"

"I do! It's delicious!" She took another bite, giggling as she chewed. "My breakfasts are nowhere as sweet as yours."

"Happy to hear that. I'll be heading to work soon, Luna. Do you have any plans for when I'm away?"

"I don't." she answered.

"Sounds fun."

"Fun?"

"Yeah. You could spend the day relaxing."

"Relaxing? For what purpose?"

"For what purpose? That's a bit of a silly question, don't you think? You deserve a break every now and again."

"I suppose. It has been a while since I've... taken a break."

"That's the spirit. You can take a nap or look at funny pictures of cats on the computer or do whatever you want. Then when I get home, we can have another chat. Sound good?"

"Very well. I will look forward to it."

After we ate, Luna observed my morning rituals as I got ready for work. I retrieved my hoodie and loaded it with my usual items. My now-dry umbrella and my phone were among the things I collected. Speaking of phone...

"Oh, Luna."

"Hmm?"

I retrieved my laptop from the front room table and returned to her in the kitchen. "If you need to talk to me while I'm away..." I opened it and showed her what to do to get ahold of me.

"Thank you. I suppose now, I won't feel completely alone."

"Do I detect a hint of sarcasm?"

She smirked. "Perhaps. Don't worry about me. I will simply... relax."

"I'm sorry to say that I can't just stay here whenever I want. When Celestia was here, I took a lot of days off. I'm still recovering from it. I happen to enjoy my job."

"Of course. I understand." She took in a breath. "Phil."

"Yeah?"

"My sister will return home after thirty moons, same as before."

"So, she'll be here for a month at a time?" I asked her.

"No." she replied, a strange solemnness in her voice, "She cannot spend that much time in this world. I'm sorry, but as much as you may love each other, our nation comes first."

"Ah, yeah... Yeah, that... I... I get it. Equestria comes first."

"Celestia loves you Phil, but she cannot abandon her duties as Princess. Her visits cannot be as frequent as you may wish. If you are to stay with her, you must come to terms with this."

I nodded. "I will. For her."

"I'm glad you understand. I know this isn't what you wanted to hear. Celestia doesn't like it either, but she must accept it as well."

I nodded again.

I didn't have any questions for her at the moment. Until it was time for me to go to work, I could make sure the house was in order. Before I left, I told Luna, "I'll be back just after six. Make sure to clean up if you make a mess."

"Of course."

"See ya later, Luna." I locked the door behind me. The only thing it would do is make me feel better about leaving her alone like this.

What Luna said was stuck in my head. I already knew that I couldn't keep Celestia forever. I had always lived in the moment with her. Thinking ahead about our relationship was so surreal.

I had to talk with Sarah today. I can't believe I didn't just outright deny her. I should have. She wants to drag me into something I had nothing to do with. I really couldn't say no, though. She asked so politely. I didn't want to let her down. If I could help her, I would, but with Celestia coming back, I couldn't promise anything.

With Celestia on my mind, I had a smile on my face as I walked through the door. As always, I was the first of my shift to arrive. I greeted the night workers, who returned their own tired greetings. They knew that my arrival signaled the end of their shift. Even after the work day started, my mood would not be soured. My excitement to get back home made time slow to a crawl. Even if it was just Luna, I wanted to get home as soon as possible.

Sarah was on time, as she should've been. Starting off with a punctual schedule was a good goal for her. She was quiet today, giving me nothing more than a simple greeting as we passed each other in the morning.

"You seem happy today." Timmy joined me as he prepared for the day.

"Things have gotten better." I said, "Everything's coming up Milhouse."

"Phil-house."

"I will kill you."

"That's fair. So, that have anything to do with your little date last night?"

"Nope. And it wasn't a date. Well, it might've been. Anyways, I don't wanna talk about it at work. That kinda stuff doesn't belong here."

"Right, right. Wait, so what happened?"

"What did I just tell you?"

"You can't say?"

"We got coffee, that's about it."

"That's it?"

"Yeah, as far as I remember."

"What, she spike your coffee or something?"

"I doubt it. I had it the whole time, I would've noticed."

"You need some memory jogging? I'll beat your head in, maybe that'll remind you."

"We just had coffee. There's nothing more to say."

He grumbled. "Whatever."

I hadn't thought about what would happen if someone thought I was dating a co-worker. I'm sure it doesn't look good to supervisors. I've never had this problem before. Still, I needed to talk to her. Lunch break would a good time. Until then, we didn't speak at all.

Sarah and I sat across from each other in the break room. She avoided my eyes, staring down to the table.

"You're not... mad... are you?" she asked, not looking up.

"Nah. Not really. What did your parents want, exactly? I was pretty tired last night, I can't remember what you said."

"They just w-wanted to invite you to dinner... T-To get to know you. That's all."

"To get to know me, huh? Then what happens?

"Th-Then I s-say that we... we... aren't together... a-anymore."

"So... why can't you... just tell them the truth?" I asked again.

"I... I p-panicked and told them that you were. If... If they f-find out that I lied, th-they might think s-something much w-worse about you."

"Worse? Like what?"

"L-Like... Th-They might think that we're... c-closer than they thought... or th-that you're a b-bad person... That you c-could be a... a d-drug d-dealer... or... m-maybe something worse..."

"Huh... I guess..." It kinda made sense. It seemed clear that she was protecting herself, despite her supposed intentions.

"Th-That's why I wanted t-to ask you to c-come over again. S-So they could s-see that you weren't... like... that."

"You know, you're not supposed to cover up a lie with another lie."

"I... I know..."

"You sure picked a bad time to ask me for this, though." I glanced over my shoulder before saying in a hushed voice, "I wasn't planning on telling anybody this, but I just heard that my girlfriend was coming back."

"Oh, that's... th-that's... wonderful, Phil... I'm g-glad to hear that." She didn't sound glad.

"Well, thank you."

"I... I guess... that's a n-no, then?"

"Well, Sarah..." I rubbed the back of my neck. "I don't have a problem meeting your parents. In any case, I wouldn't turn down free food. But I don't know how she will feel about it. So, I can ask her, but if she says no, I can't help you."

It seems she took my 'maybe' as a good thing, because a small smile crept across her face. "Th-Thank you, Phil."

"Don't thank me yet, Sarah. Celestia can be really sweet, but that doesn't mean she'll help you."

"I-Is that her name? Celestia?"

I nodded. "Yep."

"It's a n-nice name.

"I'm sure she'll appreciate that. Look, we have to either explain this to them or at least make sure they never see me again. And that isn't a suggestion, Sarah."

"I... Y-Yes... I understand. I can tell th-them that we're... n-not together after."

"Good."

"Right... U-Um... You wouldn't happen to b-be allergic to anything, do you?"

"That's a negative. I'll eat anything as long as it's not a brat."

"Brat? As in bratwurst?"

"Yeah, that. Everybody here loves them. It's ridiculous."

"So, no... brats?"

"Oh god, no. I can't stand them. Just the smell is nauseating."

"I... like brats."

"I think I'm the only person I know who hates brats."

"What do you have against brats?"

"Last time I had brats I threw up, alright? Let's just leave it at that."

"Oh, wow... No brats, then."

"And sausage, too."

"B-But sausage is delicious!"

"I can handle it on pizza but anywhere else is just... bleh."

"Bleh?"

I nodded. "Bleh."

She giggled. "Alright, no sausage, either."

Looks like she cheered up a bit. Mission accomplished. "Looks like breaktime's almost over. You ready to get back to work?"

"We didn't talk for that long, did we?" She looked to the clock on the wall. "Oh gosh, I suppose we d-did."

Sarah and I exchanged pleasant goodbyes before parting for the day. So did most of the crew. They've been rather inclusive of Sarah since she arrived. Then again, it's probably the first time these savages have seen a woman.

While I was away from Luna, a few more questions popped into my head. I'm sure she had a few new ones for me as well. I unlocked the front door kicked off my shoes. Luna wasn't in the front room, but she wouldn't be hard to find.

"Luna!" I called out, "I'm back."

I heard mumbling coming from my room. The door was closed, so I gave it a knock.

"Yes?" she asked.

"I'm back, Luna. Did I wake you?"

"I wasn't sleeping."

"Are you lying?"

She took a moment before answering with a short, "Yes."

"Can I come in?"

"Do as you wish."

I opened the door and walked in.

Luna was sitting against the headboard, her hair frazzled. She yawned. "I followed your advice. You were right. There's a certain level of comfort that's difficult to attain in my position as Princess. Did you have a pleasant conversation with your new co-worker?"

"Sarah? Yeah, I had a talk with her. She needs some help with something, but I told her it's up to Celestia if I could or not."

"What did she need?"

"Her parents want me to show up for dinner. They wanna meet me 'cause Sarah told them I was her boyfriend."

"She's covering up a lie?"

"Yeah, she says it's better this way."

"Do you believe her?"

"Kinda. She worded it a lot better. I just told her that I would ask Celestia."

"I find it strange that you would be willing to help her. You are most certainly not her boyfriend. You met her before you knew that my sister would return to you. Perhaps her lie was truthful to her."

"I don't wanna... think about it that way." I rubbed my neck. "Celestia's my sweetheart, I don't wanna think about anything else."

"What do you think about Sarah?"

"What? What do you mean?"

"Sarah is a nice woman that pays attention to you. Does that not mean that you like her?"

"Luna, she's... she's just a friend. It's the same situation with you, you know..." I pointed at her.

Her eyes flicked to my hand. "Me?"

"Yeah. You're my friend, Luna. But nothing more. I know the difference between love and friendship, even if it doesn't seem like it. Celestia is my partner. She's my best friend. I love her more than anything. We both know that it's true. I don't know what I'd do without her." Geez, I went into a monologue about how much I loved her again.

She didn't respond for a short while. I think she was mulling over what I said. Finally, she replied with a short, "Very well."

"What, that's it?"

She nodded. "You answered my question. That is all I need from you."

"Are you... holding back?"

"I am."

That caught me off guard. "Oh. Well... alright."

"As I have said, I am not here to debate you. I cannot offer any words of advice concerning my sister. There are no shortcuts in love."

"That's... fair." Huh... What a strange way of thinking.

"I spoke to my sister while you were away." she said.

"You... You did?" I immediately perked up.

"She's excited to see you, Phil." she said with a smile, "I expect your reunion to be a most wondrous occasion."

"I'm excited, too! I can't wait... Oh, wait a minute, can she hear us?"

"She can, if she so chose. However, I have asked her to refrain from spying on our conversations."

I breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank god."

"Hmm? Did you have something that you would like to keep from her?"

"I... do. And... I'd like to apologize in advance for this, but..." Her eyebrow raised. "I've been thinking about this a lot, and... and I know it might now be what you want to talk about, but Celestia and I... We have sex. It's just... We're... both adults, we're in a relationship, it just... happens..."

There was a certain annoyance in her eyes that wanted this conversation to end as soon as possible.

"A-Anyways, the first time we... made love, Celestia was worried that she might get pregnant." Her eyes widened in what I could only guess was a mixture of horror and disgust. "And I just... I don't know... anything about... about... Luna, what would you do if Celestia got pregnant?"

She stared wide eyed at me for a long while. After regaining her composure, she said, "I cannot say that I was prepared for such a question. It has been many years since I was last asked this."

"W-Well?"

She moved a hand under her chin in a thinking pose. "It would undoubtedly complicate things. Even if you were a pony, even if you lived in our world, it would complicate things. Yet, you are neither. You are a human living in a world different from our own. It raises far too many questions. Questions that I cannot answer. Even before this, there are other complications."

"What do you mean?"

"My sister and I cannot bear children. I am sorry to tell you this, Phil. We are unable to conceive."

"What?"

Luna looked down as she lowered a hand to her stomach. "We possess the same reproductive organs as our fellow ponies, yet for reasons we cannot explain, are unable to have children of our own."

"Oh... wow, that's... I'm sorry, Luna. Celestia said that she was different, but I didn't think it was... like that."

"Thank you for your sympathy, but you need not worry for us. We have come to terms with it. At least..." She looked away. "That is what we like to tell ourselves."

I sighed. "Alright, Luna... Look, forget I asked, but... I have another question. One that might be a little easier to answer... Or... maybe not. Uh... Celestia and I spend a lot of time together. We... We love each other, you know that. And... well... Luna... What if I wanted to marry her?"

"You wish to wed my sister?!" she exclaimed, dropping any sense of refinement.

"I... Luna, a lot can happen between us. I just... want to know..." I stopped, fumbling for my next words.

"Are you... Are you asking for my blessing?"

"Y-Yes? No! Maybe? I don't know! I'm just... I'm scared! What if? Just... what if it happened? Because the more I think about it, the more I'm liking the idea of it. Not right now, but... Luna, if this keeps up, I might just do it!"

"I'm just as scared as you are!" she replied, her demeanor slipping into a panic, "She's never wed before! I don't know how to deal with that!"

"Luna, I need help."

"You're not the only one that needs help! You met merely a month ago and now you're telling me that I could have you as a brother-in-law!" She grabbed one of the pillows behind her and brought it up to her face. A long muffled scream came from behind it as she fell backwards onto the bed. When she was finished, her arms dropped onto the bed, accompanied by a long sigh.

I took in a deep breath. "You alright down there? I asked.

She briefly spoke, but it was muffled by the pillow. After removing it, she repeated, "I'm fine. I can't believe this. I can't believe that my sister would find someone so..." She stopped and shook her head. "A human..." she mumbled, almost too quiet for me to hear.

"I hope that's not a bad thing."

"I couldn't... say."

"Wow, rude."

"I didn't mean it in that way. There is nothing wrong with humans. You live in a different world, in more ways than one. It causes problems."

"I know, I'm just joking. I mean, some of my best friends are humans."

She smirked. "I would imagine."

"Hey, are you hungry?"

The sudden change of focus caught her by surprise. "Yes, I am."

"Great, great." I gave her my hand. "Come on, let me get you something to eat."

She took my hand, allowing me to pull her to her feet next to the bed. Her clothes were wrinkled and her hair was still a mess. "Thank you."

"So what else have you been doing here, Princess?" I asked, "Did you sleep the day away?"

"I was studying your world. Your... laptop holds troves of information."

"Learn anything interesting?"

"You humans are decades ahead of us ponies, technologically. I must seem primitive to you."

I shrugged. "Kinda."

"It seems that there were rapid technological advancements during times of war. That may explain our lack of advancements. Ponies are a peaceful race. Our last war was many centuries ago, if you could even call it a war. Compared to your wars, it was but a schoolyard scuffle. You've been killing each other for millennia. I can't help but wonder what we ponies would be if we were more like humans..."

She looked to the food I had made. Three peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Two on one plate and one on another. I picked up one of mine and began eating. Shortly after examining her plate, she grabbed her own sandwich and took a bite. She chewed for a short while, swallowed, then took another bite. I guess she liked it.

I made sure my mouth was clear before talking to her again. "So what's your favorite kind of food, Luna?"

"My favorite kind of food? Oh, I've had so many wonderful meals over the years, but if I were to choose, my favorite food would be my mother's special chocolate chip cookies. Whenever my sister and I knew that my mother was baking, we would rush to the kitchen to be the first to have a taste. She was such an amazing cook. There was always..." She glanced away. "A little love in every bite."

"Oh, how sweet."

A gentle red blush adorned her cheeks. Little Luna was embarrassed.

"And... what of you? What is your favorite food?" she asked.

"Peanut butter!" I answered without hesitation.

"Peanut... butter? That's hardly a meal. Funny, I had expected you to say some form of... meat."

"Heck, I love meat, but peanut butter is still on top."

"Hmm... What would you say is the best part of meat? Is it the taste? The texture?"

"Taste, definitely. And texture. It depends on how it's cooked, how it's prepared, that kinda thing. You understand."

"I do. Preparation is everything in a meal. I will admit to a... curiosity. Perhaps some other time."

"Oh, interesting. Yeah, maybe some other time."

"There is something else that I would like to discuss."

"Oh, ok. What's on your mind?"

"My sister trusts you with all her heart. I... cannot say the same."

That's fair, I suppose. That couldn't be all. "What are you getting at?"

Her eyes were trained on me, unwavering. "I want to trust you, for my sister's sake. But there is something that worries me. Just before I arrived, you were with Sarah Lockhart, a woman that you have developed feelings for."

Developed feelings for? I haven't... Maybe I have. Even so, I found myself staring at her in disbelief. Is she really saying what I think she's saying?

"It seemed as if you were trying to get close to her. I can't help but think that your feelings for her could interfere with your relationship with my sister."

How dare she say that... "Luna... do you really think that little of me? That really hurts, you know. You... You have no right to insinuate that I would be unfaithful to Celestia. You apologize. Right now." I've never really asked someone to apologize to me before. I knew that it would have more of an impact with her. She was an honest woman. A Princess. To her, words were more binding.

She eyed me for a long while, already understanding the true weight of her words. It was taking her a long time to respond. She would apologize if she felt that she was in the wrong. If she didn't apologize... she wouldn't be welcome here. Her eyes never looked away. "You're right. I'm sorry, Phil." She seemed almost... impressed.

Even if she didn't mean to insult me like that, I knew that she had her reasons. Celestia was important to her. She didn't want anything bad to happen to her sister. I understood why she had suspicions, but that doesn't mean it's ok.

"Luna..." I took in a breath. "When Celestia left, I was devastated. I loved her. But we were together for barely a month. After some time passed, I had almost gotten over her leaving. As far as I knew, she wouldn't be coming back. I was starting to accept that. With Sarah, I was... exploring the possibility of a new relationship. I won't lie. I'm not gonna say I don't care for Sarah, but for you to just... say something like that... It's infuriating, Luna. Please... Don't ever say that to me again." Man, I really don't know how to be angry...

This wasn't how she really thought. It couldn't have been. She's much smarter than that. She wanted to provoke a reaction. She knew how I felt. She knew how I would react. She's testing me. That's all this was. One big test.

There was a strikingly well timed pause before she replied with a simple, "I understand, Phil. I have crossed a line, and for that, I apologize."

A deep breath relaxed me. There was no way I could stay mad at her. "It's alright, Luna." A response out of habit. "I know that you care for Celestia more than I ever could. I still want to do whatever I can to make sure she's happy. I love her, Luna."

All she replied with was a nod. For a short while, she looked away, a contemplative look on her face. Finally, she returned to me and said, "If it means anything to you... I think that you would make a fine partner."

Oh wow, really? "That... That actually does mean a lot to me, Luna. Thank you."

She smiled. "Perhaps we are not so different, you and I."

"I... wouldn't be too sure about that."

"We both care so much for Celestia. We both want what's best for her. Neither of us knows what we can do for her, nor what to say about the future."

"I... guess. Luna, is... Is that really how you feel about me?"

She took another bite of her food, thinking over her answer as she chewed. "You are... interesting."

"Yeah, you said that."

"You are a man from another world who has taken my sister's heart. I think there is no better word than 'interesting'. You are a good man, Phil. It is obvious to me that you cherish the happiness of others, even at your own expense."

"Geez, Luna..."

She brought her hand up so she could finish. After a short breath, she continued. "In the time we have spoken, and from what I have gathered from my sister, I have determined that you are a kind-hearted man that speaks his mind, often without concern for the other's feelings. I believe that I have come to understand why this is. While my sister treats your words as playfulness, she understands why you talk the way you do."

"Aw man, have I been rude this whole time? I'm sorry, Luna."

"That is exactly my point. Your culture, your upbringing, your life up until this point... They are all so far different from ours that we cannot put blame onto you. I know that you are a good person inside. You are someone that I am pleased to call my friend."

Friends! We're friends! I felt so warm inside. "Aw geez, that means a lot, Luna. I'm glad to be your friend, too. I guess I just... I wasn't expecting a psychoanalysis."

"A psychoanalysis is used to profile mental-health disorders in order to find effective treatment methods. What I have provided is merely an abridged version of what I think of you as a man."

"Abridged? I think I'm satisfied with what I've heard."

"Then I shall keep the rest to myself." she said with a chuckle, "I wouldn't want to bore you with the details. Perhaps some other time. I'd like to take this moment to thank you, Phil. I have asked you many hypothetical and unreasonable questions, yet you have answered honestly every time."

"Of course, I'm happy to help. Luna, I wanna... say something. About before. I really thought Celestia was gone forever. So, when Sarah invited me out, I was happy to accept. Now that Celestia's coming back, she needs to know what's happening. I need to make sure that Celestia is comfortable knowing that I was thinking about a relationship with another woman. And if not, all I can do is apologize and hope she forgives me. That's something I've accepted and I'm prepared to make it up to her any way I can. I know she's usually so kind, but I can't expect her to let this go so easily. I can never tell how she'll react. Celestia's strange like that."

"What do you mean?"

"Celestia is... sensitive when it comes to love. At least it seems that way to me. So... even if she accepts my apology, this might... plant the seed of doubt in her mind. I don't know. I really don't know a lot about her. We didn't really talk much about our lives. I... I don't think I even have any pictures of her." That last part just occurred to me.

"Perhaps you could do something about that."

I nodded. "This time is gonna be different. I'm going to make sure that she doesn't just love what I am, but who I am."

"What do you mean?" She seemed to know the answer to her own question. Maybe she wanted to hear my reasoning.

"Well, the two of us met very recently. Our relationship formed quickly, so we're still in the early stages, despite how it may seem. We're still exploring each other's personalities. We're both still in awe at the fact that we're together. And... to tell you the truth, Luna... I don't know if she's in love with me... or the thought of me. Maybe... once she finds out who I really am... she'll stop loving me. I'm scared, Luna. I love her."

"Do you love her? Or do you love the thought of her?" she echoed.

As she said that, everything came to a stop. A deeper question came to mind. Why did I love Celestia? Was it my shallow expectations? My longing for companionship? I said it myself, I would love anyone who showed me affection. So why her?

Luna waited patiently for an answer. She wouldn't rush me for a question such as this. I appreciated her kindness.

"I don't know." I finally answered.

"You don't know?"

"Maybe it doesn't matter. Maybe I don't need to know. I want to love her. I want to make her happy. I would be lying if I said I didn't have doubts about why she chose me. There's no reason she should love someone like me, but she does. As grateful as I am, I can't help but feel like I'm holding her back. In my heart, I know that I don't deserve even an ounce of her affection. But... she's mine. She's mine and I'm hers. And that's how things are going to stay."

Just like before, Luna was thinking over what I said. Anything that would help her sister is useful to her. Anything I say can and will be used against me in a court of law. Wrong genre.

"If you truly love her, you will come to understand that my sister doesn't need or want anything more than you have already provided. That what she needed was a friend that loves her not for what she is, but who. She needed you."

"She... needed me?"

"As much as it pains me to say it, you are perfect for her. You have... impressed me."
> Chapter 12
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

October 29



Princess Luna was staying at my house. She arrived during the night two days ago, meaning two nights that she has slept in my bed. The bed wasn't an issue, of course, but the longer she stayed, the more anxious I became. The more questions she asked me, the more I felt the need to see my beloved. The longer it went on, the more I looked forward to the return of my precious Princess.

It was the afternoon, after work, and I was using my computer once more. I haven't used it much recently, so with the good news cheering me up, I found myself wanting to open it up again. There wasn't anything new to be seen. I didn't expect much. With nothing in particular standing out, I idly started a game, Assassin's Creed: Black Flag. As it opened, I questioned why I wasn't simply speaking with Luna. It would be the perfect time waster. Still, I didn't move from my seat.

As soon as I had gotten myself situated with the game, I could feel eyes staring at me. I tilted my head around and stared at the young Princess.

"I'm not letting you play." I said to her, straightening myself and pushing my headphones from my ears.

"This game certainly seems more realistic than the one you played earlier." she said, taking in the details of the game. After our talks, it really seemed like she was warming up to me.

"That so? Did you need something, Luna? I can put this on hold."

"I wished to speak to you again."

"What's on your mind?" I paused the game and turned to her.

"You've asked me questions that I could not answer, questions that I was unprepared for, now it is my turn. I know how much you value your relationship with my sister, but what if you were to grow apart instead of together?"

"If I grew apart from Celestia?" Just saying the words brought me discomfort. I leaned forward on my knees and gave careful thought to my answer. "If I stopped loving her... then... that's it. There would be nothing more I could do. I wouldn't want to be in a relationship with someone I didn't love. But if she stopped loving me... It would be... hard. I've thought about it before. About what would happen if our relationship failed. I wouldn't know what to do, Luna. I don't want to lose her, more than anything. But if I did... It would mean that it just wasn't meant to be for us. That's just something that we'll deal with when the time comes."

She nodded. "This may not mean much, but perhaps I could offer some relief. My sister is in love with you, that much is true. Her love has never been given freely. Though few and far between, her faith in her partner is powerful. She believes in the love she feels. She believes in you. Your relationship is strong. I truly believe that it will remain strong."

"That's really... That's really nice of you to say, Luna." Wow, Luna... She's being really sweet and I appreciate it so much.

"It shouldn't be long before my sister returns." she said, "She would not shirk the opportunity to see you again.

"Oh! That's good news." I replied with a smile.

She took in a breath. "I am satisfied for now. Perhaps I should try to relax again before I leave. I will wait for my sister upstairs, though I may return with more questions."

"I'm sure you'll be able to find me."

She uttered a short chuckle before turning for the stairs. Mere seconds after I turned back to my game, a loud cry startled me. It was immediately followed by a thump, then a pained whine.

What the hell was... I looked back to the stairs. "Luna? You alright?"

"I... fell." she groaned, "My ankle... It hurts badly."

I got up and started up the stairs after her. She was sitting on a step, holding her foot with her hands, rubbing her ankle.

"Are you... alright?" I asked again, crouching down to meet her.

"I don't know. I'm not used to this body."

"Did... Did you... step on the side of your foot?"

She nodded. "I did. That seems quite specific. Is it significant?"

"You may have sprained your ankle. Do you think you can stand?"

She looked to her foot, letting go. She winced as it moved. "I don't know. Likely not."

"Alright... Alright. Don't force yourself. Hmm... Alright... How about... I pick you up and bring you upstairs? Maybe."

"Please be careful with me."

There was no hesitation in her voice. She was more accepting of my idea than I thought she'd be. I suppose she has no reason to shun my help.

I moved to her side and hooked my arms underneath her legs and behind her back. Her close arm wrapped around my shoulders, holding me. I stood up with her in my arms. Compared to her amazon of a sister, Luna hardly weighed more than a feather. With her tiny body in my arms, I shuffled sideways up the stairs, trying my best not to shift her around. She didn't complain, but I'm sure she was hiding the pain so I wouldn't be worried. Now that my face was closer to hers, I could see that the fall had also marred her beautiful face, just below her right cheekbone.

I rounded the coffee table and lowered her to the couch, setting her legs on the table. This was the second time I've carried someone in my arms. Both times were Princesses.

"Thank you, Phil." she said to me, "This is... strange. It has been a long time since I've hurt myself due to my own clumsiness."

"Thankfully, it's usually not all that serious. You'll be fine after a few days. Gonna swell up though. I'll get you an ice pack. It might be a good idea to take off your sock."

"Very well. Thank you."

I left Luna alone for a short while to retrieve some tools to nurse her back to health. The bathroom cupboard had instant ice packs to cut down on swelling and towels to alleviate the ice-on-skin discomfort. She would also need a bandage for her facial injury. I retrieved that and an antiseptic. All the good stuff.

Luna was still struggling to remove her sock by the time I returned. The other foot was on the floor, her unequipped sock placed neatly onto the table. I noticed that she was only using one hand to work on it. The other rested against her abdomen, just below her right breast. Was she hurt there, too?

She noticed my gaze. "I need your help. The pain is too much for me." That... must be her way of saying 'this kinda sucks'. She didn't seem to be terribly hurt, just... annoyed.

"Oh... Alright, I'll give it a shot."

I placed the medical supplies onto the table and lowered myself next to her leg. She leaned back against the couch, breathing slowly. Her hand remained on her stomach.

I gave her foot a brief lookover. The sock was already scrunched up around her ankle. It should come off easily, I just had to be careful about where I grabbed it. I slowly widened the fabric around her heel, and after a short struggle, it pulled right off. Luna let out a single pained grunt, but nothing more.

I could already see that her foot was swollen. I gingerly reached towards her bare foot. "It doesn't... look that bad." I said, examining her, "Then again, I'm not a doctor."

"I have a great deal of medical knowledge, but I know nothing of human anatomy."

"You're holding your chest as well. And you got that cut on your cheek. You fell pretty hard, Luna. Are you alright?"

"I'll be fine. This new body is simply difficult to control." she said. It sounded like she didn't want to admit her fault. I understood completely.

I nodded, looking back to her foot. "This... may hurt."

"Do what you must."

I gave her a light tap where her foot was red. She let out a whimper and pulled her foot away.

"Are you alright? How much did that hurt?" I asked.

"The pain while I am at rest is bearable, though moving or touching is a great deal more painful."

I nodded. "Alright, that sounds normal to me."

"You may release my foot, now." she stated.

Oops. I pulled my hand away from her. "Sorry Luna." Time for treatment. I handed the towel and ice pack to her and said simply, "Ice pack. And this..." I lifted the compress. "This slips over your foot."

As she took it from me, I retrieved some band-aids and rubbing alcohol for her face. She was watching me as she applied the ice to her foot. I gave her another look to make sure I had the correct bandage. It wasn't a particularly large opening, but a red bead of blood was already creeping down her cheek. As an instinct, I reached a paper towel to her face to wipe away the excess blood. She closed the eye above the cut, saying nothing. Her one-eyed stare made me realize how strange this really was. It made me a little uncomfortable. Nonetheless, I continued, picking up the antiseptic.

"You know what this is." I said, applying it to a new paper towel.

Her nose wrinkled. "I can smell the alcohol from here."

I lifted the paper towel to her face and cleaned her injury. She twitched from the sting, but otherwise didn't react, apart from once again closing the eye above the cut. Her other eye was trained on my hand. There was a... softness about her face. Maybe she... liked that I was taking care of her. She must still be studying me, I had no doubts about that. But even so... why did she seem so... kind?

I'm sure she was learning a lot about me, both good and bad, even during these past few seconds. Maybe she liked that I wanted to help her, but disliked that I took charge and didn't ask permission first. Or maybe she liked that my first instinct was to help her myself, but didn't find the physical contact enjoyable. That was for her to decide, I suppose. Maybe I was just overthinking this.

After her cut had been cleaned, it was a simple matter to cover it with a bandage. When I was finished, she examined her cheek with a hand. Her eyes met mine before she let out a soft, "Thank you, Phil."

"You feeling a bit better?"

She gave me a cute half-smile. "I am. Your help is much appreciated."

"I think you should get to that rest you've been wanting."

She chuckled. "Yes, it will do me well to lie down after this. It will provide a more comfortable position for my ankle. If you could though, a pillow, to elevate it?"

"Oh, yeah of course. Be right back."

I popped into my bedroom to retrieve a number of pillows for the injured Princess. She placed one underneath her injured foot as she laid on the couch, resting the ice on top. She took another pillow for her head.

"Oh, when I get back home..." She trailed off, leaving her thought up to interpretation.

"Let me guess... You're going to take the longest, hottest bath in the whole world."

She smiled as she turned her head to me. "That sounds lovely. I don't often neglect my bathing like this. It's not as if I feel dirty for having stayed here, mind you. I've quite enjoyed my time spent here."

"You've barely done anything here."

"Indeed. I find it quite relaxing to be alone with my thoughts."

"Yeah, it can be nice. Geez, you do not look too good. That booboo on your face looked like it really hurt."

"It was quite unpleasant." she said, reaching a hand to her injury.

"Are you hurt anywhere else?"

"When I fell, I pushed my hands to the stairs to catch myself, but I only succeeded in hurting my wrists. I could not lessen the damage on the rest of my body. Thankfully, my other injuries seem minor."

"That's good."

"I hope this will not interfere with my return home."

"Oh, I'm sure you'll make it back, no problem.

She seemed content with herself, even after her fall. It was nice seeing her so calm and relaxed.

"Hey, Luna? I've been... doing some thinking. About... Celestia. Something I... noticed about her. About her body."

"Her body? What do you mean?"

"While she was here, her body didn't... change. At all. At least, not enough for me to notice. Her body was exactly the same from the day I met her. And I have... had the chance to... look."

Her face soured. "Yes... She has told me."

"Well... E-Even her legs were as smooth as the day I met her. And I know she didn't shave. Despite her diet of snack foods and candy, even her weight was exactly the same." That last one was a guess.

"You're concerned about her longevity?"

"Yes. I am. I know that Celestia is... much older than I am."

Luna chuckled. "By a factor of thousands of years."

"Yeah... s-so... Say... Say I do actually spend my life with Celestia. We live together for years and years and years... then... I die. What then? Will... Will I just... be a memory to her?"

"I'm afraid so."

"I don't... I don't want that."

"Neither does she. Nor I."

"I don't... want it... because... because it would take away all that I am... all that I live for... I live to make others happy, Luna. If all I become is a memory... Then... Oh, I shouldn't say this... Then I almost wish she would forget about me. To cause that much pain to her... It's stupid and it's selfish and I know Celestia that would hate it if I told her... but..." I stopped. She understood.

Luna let out a sigh. "Worrying will only bring despair. I can promise that my sister is prepared for when that time comes."

"She shouldn't have to be prepared, she shouldn't have to feel that pain. Partners can die, yes, I know that. But if they die of old age, the other partner shouldn't have more than a few years left. It's grim, but it's true. And that's not the case with Celestia. It's..."

"Phil."

I stopped immediately.

"Worrying will only bring you despair." she repeated, "My sister is... prepared. Believe me, I know that we shouldn't have to prepare for this, and I know that we shouldn't have to feel the pain of living after our loved ones parish... But it is the price we pay to be Princesses. It is the price we pay to live as long as we have. It is the price we pay... time and time again... It feels like we pay more every time..." There was a pain in her voice, not one I expected from her. "It is both a blessing and a curse."

"I'm... I'm sorry, Luna."

"If my sister could not accept the pain, she would not have shared her love. She understands what her love will mean. What would you do, Phil? If you were in our situation. Would you choose to love again? Could you choose to love again?"

"I... I don't know. I would want to, Luna. I would want to."

"Often, it is better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all. You must cherish the good times you have shared with her, rather than dread the pain the future will bring."

I nodded. "Yeah... You're right."

"I am sure she appreciates your concern as I do. I do not wish any harm upon my sister. I am grateful that you feel the same. You are wiser than you appear."

"Uh... Thanks, Luna. I have another question. It's kinda related, but... it's a little less important."

"Very well. Ask."

"How... How do you and your sister live so long?"

"You would be hard pressed to get an answer from me."

"You don't know?"

"I have my guesses, but no explanation has satisfied me. I do, however, have an explanation I favor. We are gods. You have no idea how it feels to be able to claim, with no level of uncertainty, that I am a god. I know, of course, that it is not true. It is an extraordinarily arrogant claim, but for reasons I cannot explain, it makes me feel powerful." She paused for a short while. "Please do not tell my sister. She would laugh if she heard I had a god complex."

"No worries there, God-Luna."

A laugh escaped her lips before she stifled it. "Don't you dare refer to me by that name."

"I won't, God-Princess Luna. Please don't smite me with your divine powers."

"I will smite you with my own powers if I hear that again!"

The two of us shared a short laugh before I followed up with another question. "So, that's one possible explanation, what about some others?"

"It is not an immortality in the traditional sense. My sister and I can die, same as any other. We will eventually succumb to old age, given enough time. Our parents both lived far longer than us and they have both long since passed. I've always believed that our immortality... our long lives... came from our parents... from our race. I believe that is why my sister and I can live for so long, but it does not explain the reasoning behind it."

"Hmm... That's a thinker."

"I choose to believe that my abilities were given to me in order to make the world a better place. What would you do if you could live as long as us? If you were granted immortality. Or at the very least, if you were granted long life."

"I dunno. I'd try to use it for good, at least. If I could. I'd want to spend my time with... beings like you. You and Celestia. If I could live forever, I'd want to spend my eternity with her."

"Forever is a long time to be in love."

"I'd try."

She looked to the ceiling for a short time before looking back to me. "Before anything happens, I have a favor that I would like to ask of you."

"What is it?"

"Do not ask my sister to marry you."

"What?"

Her expression became more serious. "Do not propose to my sister." she commanded.

"I've only known Celestia for a month, Luna. But... now that you mention it..."

"I understand. All I ask is that you wait. As I have said, my sister has never wed. I do not want her first to be initiated with a spur-of-the-moment proposal with no future planned."

"Oh... That... That makes sense. How can you go this long without having been married?"

"There were many factors that prevented weddings across the years. Political and personal matters... Often, her relationships simply didn't last. It's tragic, really."

"Yeah, it... I guess it is."

"What I said before, that I chased some away, I fear it may have been too effective. Soon, suitors stopped coming altogether. I suppose I am not the only one at fault, though. My sister did the same when she didn't like my... suitors. I suppose it's funny, in a way. We prevented each other from meeting anybody, even though we both desperately long for companionship." She paused for a few moments. "I did not mean to say that."

"So you're in the same boat as Celestia, huh?"

"I do not wish to talk about my personal life."

I shrugged. Fair enough.

She sighed, then continued. "After a time, the cycle began anew. Over the years, many, many different ponies tried winning her heart... Our hearts. So..." She chuckled. "Yes, I was in the same boat as my sister, as you say."

"Have... Have you ever gotten married?" I asked her.

"No." she solemnly stated, "No, I haven't."

"Wow... I'm surprised, more than anything. It could be like a simple courtroom wedding that takes like ten minutes and yet..."

She lifted herself and slapped a hand on the table. "The Princesses of Equestria will NOT have a 'courtroom wedding'!" she barked.

"Y-Yeah... uh... Yeah... S-Sorry..."

She glared at me for a short while longer before returning to her lying position in a huff. "We deserve more respect than that."

Even if she seemed calm, I didn't want to ask anything else after her outburst.

Instead, it was Luna that spoke next. With another sigh, she stated, "Things could have been very different had I been transported here in my sister's place, don't you think? I may have fallen for you just the same."

"You must've hit your head pretty hard to be thinking that."

"Perhaps."

"Celestia was enough of a catch. I definitely don't have what it takes for you to fall for me."

"Are you saying that I am more of a prize than my sister? What makes you say that?"

"Do you really think that you'd want to stay here like she did? I mean, just a few days ago, you didn't even seem to like me."

"It didn't take you long to change that."

"Well..."

"Why does my sister enjoy it here? It's because of you." She turned her head towards me. "You make it enjoyable to be away from the castle. I'm more like my sister than you may think. In a way, I'm envious of my sister. To have a man such as you..."

"Luna, you can't mean that. I mean, look at me... To you, I must be disgusting."

She chuckled.

I gave an apathetic, "Hurtful. I've just always thought that you were... would be harder to... to charm."

"What if it had been the case, though? If I had come to this world."

"I dunno. Same thing, probably. Except the whole... relationship part."

"Perhaps. Your relationship is a strange one, I think. Had you not... seduced my sister the way you did, the most you may have gotten would have been a kiss on the cheek as she left. As much as I hate to admit it, and as much as it pains me to say... your relationship truly started the morning after... you and my sister..." It caused her great pain to think about her sister's intimate life. "If I were in the same position, I do not know if I would have given in."

"Uh..."

"Why am I telling you this?" She stared at the ceiling. "I've never been comfortable discussing matters such as this. You've gotten me to drop my guard. It's a terrifying thought, really. I don't know you. You could be anyone. I don't want to talk about this anymore."

"Are you gonna be alright?" I asked.

"I just need rest. My mind is tired. However... it seems we are out of time."

"We are? Why's that?"

Luna gave me a smile. "She's coming."

"What? Sh-She is? You serious? She is?!"

Luna sat up again, then yawned. "Just as I was getting comfortable, too."

As she said this, a strange, familiar feeling of static electricity began to build up in the room. It felt just like before, when Luna first arrived. Once again, a large, white sphere of energy appeared in the middle of my front room. This time, it was pure white and seemed to condense itself into a flat circle. For a brief moment, everything was still. Then the whiteness began to fade. Shapes started to form a picture on the other side.

I could see what looked like a pony. The longer it lingered, the clearer it became. It was like a window into another world. And through that window, one thing stood out above everything else. A majestic white pony with beautiful magenta eyes and long, multicolored hair stared back at me through the portal. Her smile widened as she looked to me, as did mine when I looked to her.

Celestia.

We gazed at each other in mutual silence. Maybe we were both questioning the reality of the situation. Two lovers meeting once again through a portal to another world. It was a while before anything else happened, but she was the first to make a move, and in a way I had not expected.

Before I could react, she leapt through. Her body was transformed into that of a human as she passed through the portal. Her arms wrapped around me as her heavy body knocked me backwards over the table and onto the couch with a yelp from her sister as we almost crushed her.

As I returned her embrace, she buried her face in my chest. After a few moments like this, she looked up to me. Tears rolled from her eyes. Unlike last time, these were tears of joy. "I missed you." she whispered.

I pecked my mouth against hers, pressing hard against her soft lips in a passionate kiss. After we had finally disconnected, I placed my hand on her head and began to stroke her long, silky hair. "I missed you, too." I replied.

As we shared our tender embrace, Princess Luna began to move. She stood up next to the couch, a hand on the back for support. We both ignored her in favor of gazing lovingly into each other's eyes. She reached a hand towards the portal from where she stood and pulled it back towards herself, commanding the portal closer.

Luna looked to us one last time before passing through. A majestic blue pony took her place on the other side, one of her hind legs held off the ground. We were allowed a long time in each other's arms before she interrupted.

"Sister."

At first, Celestia didn't respond. It wasn't until Luna repeated herself that she turned her head towards her sister, laying against my chest. Celestia said nothing, waiting for Luna to continue.

"I have accomplished what I had set out to do. I have spoken to your partner and learned much from him. I wish you well, sister. Goodbye."

"I'll be back soon, Luna." she said, her voice shuddering, "Goodbye."

Luna gave us one last smile before the portal disappeared, leaving the two of us alone.

"She likes you." She turned back to me with a smile.

"Does she, now?"

We returned to our hug. Celestia pulled herself up my body and rested her knees on either side of me, sitting on my lap. I set my feet on the ground and moved back against the couch. For a while, this was all there was, broken by an occasional kiss.

"It's been so long." she said, not moving.

"It's been too long."

"Did you like talking to my sister?"

"Yeah, it was nice. I learned a lot from her."

"I'm sorry that I couldn't be here sooner."

"You're here now, that's all that matters to me."

"I've longed to be in your arms from the moment we parted. I love you... so much."

I kissed her again. "I love you too, Celestia."

We stared at each other, then met for another kiss, much longer this time. As our lips parted, she rested her forehead against mine, staring directly into my eyes.

Another kiss. The two of us started to move, gazing into each other's eyes as we did. Our lips pecked together as she moved to her back, my body following suit directly above her. Once again, I kissed her wanting lips.

My hand slid down her curvy body and rounded her soft rear, grabbing the back of her leg. I pulled as I went in for another kiss, squeezing her plump thigh.

"Make love to me like you used to."



[Scene missing]



"You couldn't even wait five minutes?"

"You laid me underneath you. Are you saying it wasn't your intention? I've worked very hard to get back here. Don't you think I deserve a reward?"

"A reward? Are you in heat?"

"What's wrong with sharing an intimate moment with my boyfriend?" She giggled.

Celestia has been in this world for not even an hour and yet we were already snuggling naked together in the bedroom.

"You lost weight." she said to me, caressing the arm I had draped over her.

"Hmm?"

"A little bit, you did."

"I... I guess I didn't eat much while you were away."

"Did you miss me that much?"

"Yeah."

"You still need to eat right."

"Yeah, yeah. Sorry."

She turned her head to me. "I mean that."

"You're the one that doesn't eat right around here. You eat enough junk food in one day to feed a small village for a few weeks." Her stare told me that she wasn't pleased with my response. I had almost forgotten how much she cared about me. "Alright I'll eat better, Celestia. I think you already know how good I can eat."

She chuckled. "Oh, I know exactly how good you can eat." She turned to lie on her back. "You spoke with my sister, now I have a few questions for you." she said, her voice soft and tired.

"I knew it, the questions are never gonna end."

"I promise that my questions will be more to the point. Now... What is your relationship with that woman, Sarah?" She seemed to be serious about this, despite her tired tone.

"She told her parents I was her boyfriend, so they wanted to invite me to dinner." I answered honestly.

"That's a lie. You're my boyfriend."

"I told her that you'd be the one to decide if I would attend."

"Why?"

"I like helping out my friends."

"Why did you tell her that I would decide this?"

"I wanted to shift the blame onto someone else so I didn't seem mean."

"Phil!"

"I didn't wanna just leave her to fend for herself, but I knew I would have to ask you anyways."

"Oh honey, you know that I wouldn't have an issue with it. What if she tries to do something, though? Luna doesn't trust her."

I knew? I guess I didn't know Celestia as well as I thought. "Well, I trust her."

"Do you want to go?"

"Kinda. I wanna know what sort of food would be prepared."

"The easiest way to a man's heart is through his stomach." She chuckled. "Perhaps I should cook for you, sometime."

"I'd love to try your cooking."

"Would you still want to go if there wasn't food?"

"Yeah. She made a mistake, I'm just helping her sort it out."

"She can sort her own mistakes out." she pointed out.

"Alright, guess I'll tell her I can't show."

There was a short pause before she said, "I didn't... say you couldn't go."

"Celestia, it's fine if you don't want me to. I told her not to expect it."

"No, no... It's just..."

"Are you alright?"

"Well, I... I'm a little..." She mumbled the next word.

"Celestia, are you jealous of Sarah?"

She gave me a slow nod.

"What do you have to be jealous for?" I lowered my hand to her rear to caress her soft, bare bottom. "Your butt is way cuter than hers."

Her body shivered under my touch. "Gentler... please... Were... Were you looking at her butt?"

Odd, I had barely touched her. "It caught my eye once or twice."

She placed her hand over mine. "Does it... look nice?"

"It looked alright. Average, I suppose. Suited her figure."

"How... How was she? You became friends with her quite quickly. Is she a kind person?"

"Yeah, she's nice. She's really shy and she stutters when she talks. It's her first job, so she's been nervous."

"Do you... find... shyness... attractive?"

"Celestia."

"You told my sister that... you liked her."

"Were you spying on us?"

"No... A little. Only at the beginning. I was curious about her. I didn't listen to the rest, I promised Luna I wouldn't. It's... alright if you did like her. We weren't in a relationship. It wouldn't be right of me to be cross. You couldn't have expected my return."

"I don't wanna worry you, Celestia. I can tell her that I can't help her. You wouldn't have to think about her again."

"No, there's no need for that. It's alright, honey. But before I make a decision, I would like to meet her."

"Are you sure, Celestia?"

"If you trust her, I will trust her as well."

"Alright, I'll let her know. That's nice of you, Celestia. I'm so happy to see you again."

"I'm happy to see you, too."

"I love you."

"I love you, too. So what did you and my sister discuss?"

"We just... talked. About all sorts of stuff. We talked about how I felt and how she felt about me and about how much I really loved you. A lot, I promise. She seemed to warm up to me towards the end."

"I'm glad." I'm sure she realized that I didn't actually answer her question.

"She had a real nasty fall towards the end though. She twisted her ankle, I had to carry her to the couch."

"Oh? Luna was hurt?"

"She's fine, she's fine. I made sure her booboos got patched up and made sure she was comfy until you got here."

"I'm glad. Wait, what do you mean by 'patched up her booboos'? How badly was she hurt?"

"Like I said, she twisted her ankle while walking up the basement staircase and fell. She struck her face on one of the steps. I cleaned it for her with rubbing alcohol and bandaged her up."

"How nice of you." she chuckled, "I'm sure my sister appreciated your help."

"It was nice spending time with Luna, even if she did keep provoking me."

"Oh?"

"She questioned my faithfulness to you, Celestia. I know she only wants to protect you, but it really made me mad."

"What did you say?"

"I told her the truth. I told her that I loved you."

"Oh... You're so sweet... I suppose if you trust that my sister had no ill intentions, I'll leave her be. She's quite the mysterious mare." She chuckled. "I'm tired."

"You sound tired."

"Are you tired?"

Not really. "Yeah."

She giggled to herself. "Maybe we should go to sleep."

"Yeah. Together."

"Yeah... Together. I love you, Phil."

"I love you too, Celestia."

Even though it was still early in the day, Celestia fell asleep in my arms. Her back pressed against my chest was so warm that I couldn't help but to join her. That night, I was truly happy. The feeling of her body in my arms was like falling in love all over again. Celestia was mine once again. She was mine to hold... and mine to love.
> Chapter 13
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

October 30



Waking up to the sight of her multicolored hair the next morning was like waking to a dream. The woman I loved was back in my life. The warm embrace we shared was a reminder of how much I truly loved her.

I pulled my hand off of her body and ran it through her soft, silky hair. She breathed a short sigh.

"You're finally awake." she said without moving.

"I didn't think you were up."

"I've been awake for a while."

"A while? What time is it?"

"I don't know."

"I didn't miss my alarm, did I?"

"I don't think so." She reached forward to my nightstand and picked up my phone. "It's still early. It's a shame you have to leave today, of all days."

"I know."

We laid together in silence. Just being with each other was more than enough. It was a long while before either one of us moved. Celestia turned towards me, meeting my gaze with a smile.

"I've missed you." she whispered.

"Yeah, I missed you too."

I wrapped my arms around her, resting my forehead against hers. One of her arms was stuck between us, but the other she draped over my side. We were just staring at each other. Even through her sleepiness, her eyes were so bright. I had no idea how much time we spent like this.

She chuckled. "I need to shower."

"I think we both do."

"Maybe you'd like to join me..."

"Maybe."

She waited for a short while longer before getting off my arm and pulling off the blanket. She sat up on the side of the bed, her long legs reaching to the floor. Her hair draped messily down her back. She looked back to me with a smile. "Come. Join me." She reached back and placed her hand over mine.

I returned her smile. "As you wish, my Princess."

She let out a short chuckle before standing and stretching her body, raising her arms. She stretched in just such a way that her bare, puffed out chest appeared far curvier than it's natural beauty.

I got out of bed after her, also lacking in the clothing department. Celestia didn't seem to mind my nudity. I certainly didn't mind hers. Where was our underwear? Nobody's allowed to be naked while moving through the house, even Celestia. I may have to make an exception for today.

"Hey, Celestia?"

"Hmm?"

"I'm... sorry."

"For what?"

"For what I said last night. About... Sarah. It was inconsiderate. I'm sorry."

"Thank you." She smiled at me. "I'm not worried. My butt is much cuter than hers."

It was hard to tell if my apology was necessary, but she seemed to appreciate it.

Our dirty clothes were strewn about the front room. Celestia didn't seem to mind, but I felt embarrassed, even in my own home. Thankfully, the blinds had already been drawn, but the risk of a friend barging in uninvited was all too real. I rushed us into the privacy of the bathroom. She giggled, finding my urgency amusing. I must say though, just seeing my love walk nude through the house was a spectacle in itself.

Celestia turned on the water, leaving me to prepare the bathroom. I set out towels as she stepped into the tub and closed the curtain, beckoning me with a finger. I joined her as soon as I was prepared to witness her beauty once more. It took a little while.

She stood underneath the water, letting it run down her curvy body. I got close, placing my hands on her hips. She responded with her hands on my shoulders. We gazed at each other for a short while before I raised my arms around her back. She did the same to me. We shared a loving embrace for a long while, our bodies pressing against each other in the shower. There were no words between us, even long after we pulled apart. We still held each other, but gazed into each other's eyes as our foreheads met.

"Can you wash my hair for me?"

She caught me off guard with such an innocent request.

"Wh... Your hair? But there's so much!" I complained.

She laughed. "Well, I don't want to do it."

"So? You're a big girl."

"Please? I like it when you do it."

I sighed. "Alright..."

She pecked her lips against mine before pulling away with a smile. "Thank you, Phil!" she said, almost as if celebrating an important victory.

"Yeah, yeah. Turn around."

"Ok!"

She turned as I grabbed the shampoo bottle. Her many feet of wet hair always took so long to clean. It wasn't the first time I've done this and I'm happy to say that it will be the last. Celestia began humming as I ran my hands through her hair. I didn't recognise the tune, but her humming meant that she was happy. After shampoo came conditioner. When Celestia's hair was as sleek and shiny as it could be with my mortal hair-care products, I stepped back and admired my handiwork. Among other things.

We left the shower together and moved to the bedroom to get dressed. While I put on my work clothes, Celestia gave up after putting on nothing more than a shirt and panties. She rested with her legs hanging off the bed, her wet hair sprawled out above her head.

"Come on, don't get the bed wet, honey." I said, crawling over her with a towel to collect her hair.

She giggled. "Phil! That tickles!"

"So, did you ever figure out how you got here in the first place?" I asked, finishing the hair-wrapping

"Hmm?"

"When we first met. Did you figure out how you got to this world?"

"It was Discord, as we suspected. One of his many pranks. Why do you ask?"

"I... I guess I was curious. I was... thinking about the time we first met."

She smiled. "I'm glad it happened."

"Yeah... Back then, we didn't even know each other. Now here we are."

"Isn't that how relationships are supposed to work?" She chuckled.

I smiled. "Yeah, I guess you're right. I just didn't think it would get like 'this'."

"I'm quite surprised, myself."

"We just... seem so different, you know?"

"We're more alike than you may think. Why do you think I kept you all this time?" she said with a small chuckle.

"You kept me, huh? You know, Luna said I was more like her than I thought, too."

"Did she, now? I wonder what she could have meant."

"Oh hey, before I forget! I have something for you."

She sat up with a wishful, "I like things."

She watched as I reached into the drawer of the nightstand to retrieve the small, red flip-phone inside. She examined it in my hand as I held it out for her.

"Oh, what is this?" she questioned, taking it from my hand and looking closer.

"It's a phone. You can use that to get ahold of me when I'm not here."

Her eyes lit up with a small gasp. She cradled the phone against her chest, staring at me. After a short while, she looked back down to it, then began opening and closing it before looking at the screen. I sat next to her on the bed to teach her how to use it.

"This is wonderful. Thank you." she said with a smile. Her special smile.

I wanted to be with her all day. I should've taken the day off, I wasn't thinking. Still, she would be here for the whole month. We would have time. The world wasn't going to stop turning for us. After finishing my preparations for work, I went back to the room. She had laid back down, though perked up when she saw me. I joined her on the bed.

"Are you going to invite her over today?" she asked.

"I'll try, yeah."

She sighed.

"Celestia, it's alright if you don't want me to go."

"I know, I know. I've been... thinking about... when I left. I know that you didn't have a reason to think I would ever come back. Even my sister doubted it was possible. But... You... You didn't have any faith in me. You didn't... think I could get back."

"Celestia, I... Y... No, I... guess I didn't."

She sat up again and looked to me. I joined her. "I'm sorry that I'm being so difficult, Phil. I don't want to say no. I don't want to prevent you from spending time with your female friends, but I just... I don't want to... to... to risk anything." Her eyes widened. "I... I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that."

"Celestia, if you're really worried that something is gonna happen, then maybe you don't have faith in me, either. If it was a guy, you probably wouldn't care."

"If it were a man, you wouldn't have looked at his butt."

"I don't care about her butt! Your butt is the only butt I care about! I already have someone whose butt I love."

"Enough with the butts!"

"Sorry."

"Thank you, though."

"It's nice."

"You've mentioned."

"Anyways, what I'm trying to say is that I love you, Celestia. If I didn't wait long enough after you left to find someone else, then I'm sorry, but it is how it is."

She sighed and shook her head. "I can't believe this. I'm jealous of a woman that I don't even know."

"A little jealousy is normal in a relationship."

"I know. It just... It doesn't feel like you've 'cut things off' with her, so to speak. If I'm the woman you love, you... you shouldn't be... spending time with other women in such a private manner. I just... I'm jealous, Phil... I don't know what else to say. Idon't want to just say no. If you want to spend time with other women as friends, I shouldn't have a right to get mad."

"So you're mad?"

"No, that's not what I meant! I'm not mad! Oh, I finally get to see you again and it turns out that you were trying to get close to another woman! What else am I supposed to think?"

"Celestia, you were gone. I didn't know what to do with my life at that point. When she showed up and offered to help, I accepted. I was trying to move on. While you were fighting to get back here, I gave up." I grumbled to myself.

There was nothing in her beautiful eyes that suggested she was angry or upset anymore. Maybe she had accepted my apologies. Maybe she understood the situation enough to forgive me. I keep forgetting who she really is. She's far older than I am, even if she doesn't look it. She's had years to contemplate her own definition of love. Maybe she's even experienced something like this before.

She let out a short sigh as she leaned against me. "I just got here and you're already scaring me."

"I'm 'scaring' you?"

"Yes! Quit it."

"You're the scary one around here."

"I'm not scary, you are. Look at you. You're so much bigger and stronger than me. It wouldn't be hard at all for you to just..." She paused. "How could you be scared of little ol' me?"

I think her mind was wandering. "I... am having trouble figuring out what we're talking about."

"How am I scary, Phil? What do you mean?"

Ok, so we're pretending she didn't just say that? "It's just that... whenever I'm with you, I'm scared that I'm going to say something insensitive, or insulting, or that I'll do something you just won't like or approve of. You can do whatever you want, but I don't know if I have the self-control."

"Phil, I feel the same way. I don't know how I should act around you. I'm... so different in Equestria. I don't act like this in my castle. I don't act like this in my world. I'm a Princess! You know how I feel about this life, Phil. You know how much I love this... how much I love you. Our relationship has been working because we've changed for each other. You don't know how much you mean to me. Just because our relationship just began doesn't mean I don't feel as strongly about it as you."

"Celestia... if I ever... made a mistake... If I said or did something that came between us... I would do anything to fix it. I just don't know if you feel the same. You're so much better than me. You've got so many responsibilities."

"Did you think that I wouldn't want to spend my life with you because of who I was, because of what I was? Living with you, in this little house of yours, has been a paradise. My paradise. I don't care where I am. As long as you're with me, I'll be happy. Isn't that what you want? For me to be happy?"

"Of course it is, Celestia."

"Well, I am happy. I don't understand why you're saying these things, Phil."

"You know what I think, Celestia. You know that I think you're perfect."

"I'm not, Phil."

"You are. At least to me. I don't deserve someone like you."

She pulled away from me. "You do deserve me! Stop saying things like that! You know I don't like it."

"I'm sorry, Celestia. Ever since Luna got here, I've been questioning it more and more. I just still can't understand why someone like me can get someone like you."

"So what if you're not perfect? I love you, that's all that matters. Saying that you didn't deserve me or my love... It hurts, Phil."

I blinked a few times, looking at her. To my surprise, I felt myself tear up. "You have no idea how much it hurt when you left me."

I didn't know why now of all times I felt such a strong wave of emotion. My sudden voice crack caused her to recoil in shock. She did have an idea. She understood how I felt all too well. Her own pain brought her back to me after this long month. But out of nowhere, I had teared up and uttered this. It brought our argument to a stop.

"I just... I wanted to... I... I don't want you to leave me. Not just leaving for your home, but leaving my life. I couldn't take it again. No matter what you do, I'll always want to be with you, but I'm scared that if I step out of line, you'll be the one leaving."

She didn't respond right away. She's a kind woman, I'm sure she wanted to reply with more kindness to ease my stress, but sometimes kindness just isn't the solution. "Phil... That's exactly how I feel... Exactly how I feel. I don't know how I should act around you. I know that you're... a patient man, but at times I feel like I'm taking advantage of this. Like I'm taking advantage of you. Every time we speak, I question what I thought I knew about you. I just want to be with you, Phil."

We gazed at each other for a long while before falling back onto the bed.

"All this over a single woman." She breathed a small sigh. "I'm not usually this jealous, I promise."

"It's alright, Celestia. I want you all to myself."

She smiled. "I would still like to meet her."

"I'll invite her over today. Hopefully she's free after work. I don't wanna drag this on if I can avoid it. I'll call ahead to make sure you're fully clothed by the time I get home."

"Fully clothed?" She found this amusing.

"Yes, honey. Fully clothed."

"Honey... I like it when you call me honey... It still feels so strange hearing it, though."

"Maybe another name would feel better. How about sweetie?"

"I like sweetie. It's still strange."

"Baby?"

"No, that's too strange."

"Cutie-pie?"

"Now you're just listing off names for fun."

I couldn't help but to smile. She was totally right. "Snookums?"

"That's a made up word!"

"All words are made up. Love-muffin?"

"No, not that one either. I prefer cupcakes anyways

"Love-cupcake?"

"You can't just add 'love' as a prefix to things."

"Love-you?"

"I... I love you too. That isn't a name, though." Her face was turning a cute red. "Enough with the names, Philly. You're embarrassing me..."

We stared at each other again. I didn't know what to say right now. I think I just liked staring at her.

She let out a short laugh. "Any time I'm scared that I've acted out of line, I find myself in bed with you. It... It puts me at ease. Not all of my lovers were... active in bed with me. At times, it makes me feel lonely. I... I like having someone that I can connect with on a more personal level."

"I don't think sex should be the answer to our arguments."

"Why not?"

"I don't know, it just... doesn't seem healthy."

"Honey, you don't believe that."

"Maybe not. Do you?"

"Why can't it be?"

"Well... It just... Look, just because I can't answer that doesn't mean..." I stopped as she started to laugh. I let out a short sigh.

"It's alright, Phil. I think I understand. I just hope this doesn't interfere with our love life."

"Huh?"

"I don't want to stop having sex."

"Oh. Yeah, that's...Are you a succubus or something? Like, did I get the wrong Princess?" I tapped her forehead with a finger. "Is this still Princess Celestia?"

She brushed away my hand with a giggle. "Of course it's still me." She paused, smiling. "I may be thousands of years old, but I am still a woman. I don't use this phrase often, but I have needs, too. I like being able to talk about sex with someone. It's not as if I had any friends to listen to me. I can't tell anypony in Equestria, but you're my boyfriend. I can tell you anything."

"I'm glad I can help, Celestia."

She let out a relaxed sigh before turning to look at the ceiling. I looked up as well. I reached my hand out and grabbed hers. Her thumb rubbed against my hand. She was smiling her special smile again. This was nice...

"You know what, Celestia? You're mine, you don't get to leave me."

"I don't have a say in the matter?"

"Absolutely not."

"That's a tad abusive, don't you think?"

"You're the abusive one around here." I retorted.

"I'll abuse you if you keep this up!" she threatened.

"You're an abusive man." I said.

"You're an abusive... woman!" She didn't know where this would lead, but she happily played along.

"I'm more of a woman than you are."

She turned over and faced me. "You most certainly are not."

"Yeah, I guess my boobs aren't as big as yours are."

She chuckled before looking down to her chest. "You guess?" She proudly puffed out her chest.

"Big ol' tiddies, in the hearts and minds of every man and woman on this planet."

"Man and woman?"

"I truly can't imagine a world where man and woman alike aren't equally fascinated by a big ol' set o' bouncin' boobies."

"It's actually somewhat painful when my breasts bounce. I have to hold them in place when I walk downstairs." She chuckled again. "I suppose that's just an issue with being human. My wings would never hurt like this just from moving."

"Your wings?"

"Did you forget I had wings?"

"No, but why'd you bring them up? Are they... sensitive?"

"They... can be. Not as... much as my breasts, though."

"So... your one complaint about this world is that... your boobs are too big? Well, I for one like women with big boobs."

She giggled. "I know."

"Some women would kill to have a chest like yours."

"Flattery will get you everywhere."

"Then they'd kill again to have their gift taken away. It can't be an enjoyable existence carrying those around all day."

"I didn't say I didn't like them. It's more of me for you to love."

"I love you."

"I love you, too."

We laid together for as long as we could before I had to leave. When I finally got off the bed, Celestia sat up to face me with a look of sorrow

"Is it time?" she asked.

"Yeah."

"Aw..."

"Sorry. Our first full day together, too."

"It's alright, I just don't like being alone."

"I know."

She smiled. "Don't worry, I'll manage."

I bent down and met her lips with a brief kiss. "I'll be back soon, my little sunflower."

"Sun... flower?" At first, she seemed a little confused, but her smile returned quickly. "I kind of like that one."

"Not just any sunflower. My sunflower."

She nodded. "Right. Your sunflower."

I smiled at her one last time before getting off the bed. I reached into my pocket and retrieved my phone, then shook it in my hand, drawing her attention to it. "Don't forget to call if you need anything."

"Can I call if I just want to hear your voice?"

"Of course."

"I might not be able to help myself."

I smiled again, then turned and opened the door. I retrieved my things from the front room and made my way outside. There was a briskness in the air. Thankfully, it was a comfortable chill.

Sunflowers aren't little.

Today, I needed to let Sarah know what was happening. I wonder how she'd react to meeting Celestia. She can be kinda intimidating at first. Not as much as her sister, though. Thankfully, Sarah would not be meeting Luna. We greeted each other as we met at work, but I elected to tell her at lunch when we had time to ourselves. Like I had done before, I sat across from Sarah as she ate. She immediately looked away.

"A-Any news?" she asked.

"My girlfriend showed up last night." I reported.

"Oh... Th-That's nice. Wh-What's her n-name?"

"It's Celestia."

"It... s-sounds foreign."

"She wanted to meet you."

"M-Me?"

"Yep. She wanted to see you herself before she made a decision, so I told her that I'd invite you over tonight if you'd be willing."

"Oh, I don't know about that. I mean... I..." She stopped.

"This is getting kinda complicated, Sarah. Are you sure this is a good idea?"

She nodded. "M-My dad is a very... um... a very 'influential' man. H-He even helped get me th-this job. H-He never said that he did, b-but I kn-know he did. So I d-don't want him to think you're a b-bad person. I lied... I lied and I-I'm so sorry for all this. I appreciate the effort you're going through to help me."

"So... your dad. Is he... nice?"

"Yes. He's nice to me. H-He j-just doesn't like... the m-men I... I spend time with."

That seems pretty normal for a father.

I was distracted by a vibration in my pocket. I reached in to retrieve my phone. Celestia was calling me. "I gotta... take..." I pointed to it.

"Is that her?" she asked.

I answered the phone, and without waiting for a response, I heard, "There's a problem." There was an uncharacteristic panic in her voice.

"Problem? What do you mean?"

"There's someone else."

"Someone... else?" I stood up, on edge. Was someone at the house?

"Someone else from Equestria came to this world."

"What?" I asked, relaxing a little. Nobody from Equestria was dangerous. She got me worked up for nothing.

"My sister just informed me. We need to find her before she gets into trouble."

"What? Trouble? Alright, alright... What does this mean, then?"

"I don't know. Luna's working on it."

"Alright... We'll leave her to that, then. One problem at a time. Do you know who it is? Is she in any sort of danger, do you think?"

"I do know her, yes. She's very bright, and I think that she's still safe, but I'm still worried."

"That's good. Look, I'm gonna come home and we can talk more then, alright?"

"Alright."

"I'll be there soon. Love you." I closed the call and put my phone back in my pocket. I sighed a soft expletive.

"Is... everything alright?" asked Sarah, starting towards me.

"Mmm... Kinda. I gotta head home though. Gonna have to postpone our little meeting, sorry." I grumbled as I left the table. I walked over to Timmy and said, "Hold the fort, I gotta take off."

"What? You're leaving?"

"Family emergency." I lied.

"Oh, damn. Alright, hope everything's ok."

I left as soon as I was able and jogged home. Celestia said this... 'whoever' was pretty smart, so she should know enough to keep herself out of trouble. I just didn't want Celestia to worry.

Celestia stood up in a rush as I entered. "What took you so long?"

"Sorry, I..." It wasn't important. "So who are we looking for?"

"The one who has entered this world is a notorious thief known as Red Shadow. She followed me into this world in order to escape capture."

"A thief?"

"That's right. She is, although I would not like to admit it, incredibly crafty and talented. She's evaded my guards for many months."

"Kinda smart to come here. They can't follow her. How'd she even know about this world?"

"We don't know. Luna's assumption is that she was merely looking for an escape route and found the crystal mirror."

"What was she doing in the castle?"

"I... I don't know. We don't have time to discuss this now, we must find her as soon as possible." She reached up and grabbed a handful of her long hair. "If she's anything like my guards and I, her hair will be a deep crimson and she will have a diamond on each of her shoulders. Unfortunately, she has been concealing herself from our view using magic. The most my sister could provide is a general location. We must find her on our own."

"Magic? I thought you couldn't use magic here."

"The spell I used on the crystal mirror has created a stronger connection to Equestria."

Interesting, though I didn't really understand. "So... where do we need to go?"

"When I last spoke with Luna, she said that she has been heading east. She can't have gotten too far and I doubt she'll leave town."

I nodded. "East..." East from where I lived made up the rest of the town. I had no clue where to start. "Maybe she's looking for someplace to stay. Her options are limited. I have no idea where she could be."

"Being careful is one of her strong points. Thankfully, her own skills will be her undoing. As long as she keeps using her concealment magic, I can find her. If we get close enough, I'll be able to sense it. I just hope she doesn't get into trouble before we find her."

"Yeah. Come on, get your shoes. Let's go."

I really need to talk to Celestia.
> Chapter 14
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

October 30



"Celestia, how long's it been?" I complained, still driving around town.

"Four hours." she answered, just as bored as I was.

"I've never even driven this long before. We haven't even gotten anywhere. My butt hurts." I grumbled.

"As does mine."

"I'll have to give you a massage later."

"I don't know if we'll have the energy. At first, this was exciting, but after four hours of nothing, I'm becoming burnt out."

"It'll be more exciting when we find her. I hope we find her soon, I'm getting hungry."

"Me too."

"We should've eaten before we left. You feel anything yet?"

"No, nothing. One moment. Perhaps Luna can offer some assistance." She suddenly became very quiet. A glance to her showed me that her eyes were closed. She seemed to be concentrating. "Make this next turn here." she said, pointing to the right, "It seems she's been able to narrow down our search."

"Oh, wow. Good job, Luna. So you can just talk to her anytime you want?"

"It requires a great deal of concentration to initiate the conversation in my human form, but yes."

"Cool. So what did she tell you?"

"My sister has managed to create a picture from the holes Red Shadow has been leaving by hiding herself."

"Smart."

"It has narrowed our search considerably. Thankfully, she's still in town."

"That's nice. Oh dang, we're almost out of gas."

"Gas?"

"Yeah, the car runs on gasoline. We need to take a short break. We can stretch our legs, get some snacks."

"Alright, I'll accept that. But only if you get me some twinkies."

I rolled my eyes. "You're lucky you're cute."

"I know."

Celestia joined me next to the gas pump as I filled up the tank.

"Are you doing alright?" I asked.

"I'm fine. I'm just worried."

"Yeah, me too."

"She's not supposed to be here. Red Shadow must be brought to justice for her crimes, but getting her back to Equestria is our top priority."

"Geez, that's a bit harsh."

"She is not exempt from our laws by simply leaving our country."

"I guess. Try not to mention that to her."

"Of course."

I sighed and shook my head. "This searching shit is definitely not for me."

"I know. I'm sorry I'm making you do this."

"Oh, don't worry about that. As long as I'm with you, I don't care what we're doing."

She smiled.

"At least we're not hauling around two extras. Did they finally trust me enough to leave me alone with you?"

"Something like that. To tell the truth, Shining wanted to see you again. Unfortunately, he's not able to simply leave his post."

"And you are?"

"I'm the Princess, I can do whatever I want."

"Aye, fair enough. I kinda wanna to meet up, too. He's a good lad. Still, I'd rather be alone with you."

"Indeed."

"I'm gonna head inside and pay. Grab a drink for myself. You want something to drink?"

"I'm fine."

"Be back in a sec."

When I got back, I set the soda in a drink holder and gave Celestia her twinkies. She immediately tore one open and devoured it. Afterwards, she reached for the soda to take a drink.

"Thought you said you were fine." I said as we left.

"Maybe I lied."

"I would've gotten you one."

"I like sharing with you."

"You know..."

"I know, I know. I'm lucky I'm cute."

I just smirked.

It had to have been another hour before we got any sort of clue. Fortunately, it was a big clue. We had both been getting anxious by this point.

"Oh!" Celestia suddenly perked up in her seat. "Magic! I can sense it! Here! Turn here!"

Without any indication of where I was going, I careened the car into a nearby parking lot, quickly finding a place to park. A bar. I knew this place, I used to come here to get really salty potato wedges. We were on the outskirts of town, near a highway. There was no better place for a thief.

"Thank goodness. I don't know how much more of that I could take." She breathed a sigh of relief.

"Yeah, same here."

"She hasn't left yet, thankfully. She may not know we're here."

"So... how should we do this?" I asked.

"We go in and speak to her. I see no other alternative."

I nodded. "Right."

"Be on your guard, Phil. She's run from me before. We can't lose her, not in this world."

"Yeah."

I got out of the car and stretched my body. That was unpleasant. I never want to drive for so long again. The two of us walked inside. A faint aroma of cigarette smoke filled the air. I immediately spotted her standing at the counter. The hair was a dead giveaway. She was alone, at least as far as I could tell. It seemed like she was being ignored by the bartender.

I looked to Celestia, who nodded.

"Try talking to her. I'll wait here." she said.

"Uh... alright. I'll give it a shot." She must think I'd have a better chance.

I joined our target at the counter, sitting on the stool next to her and ordering a soda. She caught the glance I gave her. There was no reason she would know who I was, so she didn't react.

As soon as I got my drink, I slid it to her. She looked up and smirked at me.

"You looked thirsty."

"Thanks, but I don't take things from strangers."

"I'm Phil. How about you?"

"Call me Red."

"Now we ain't strangers."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." She reached to the soda and opened it. "Thanks, then." She took a short drink.

"So Red... Cool tattoos."

"I was young."

"I'm sure. So what are you doing here in these parts?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Try me."

"I'm actually from the magical land of Equestria, where I was a super-duper magical unicorn who escaped to this world so I could be free of the shackles of society." The sarcasm from this one was a force to be reckoned with.

"Equestria, eh? No shit! My buddy Celestia came from there too! Do you know her?"

The color drained from her face.

"Well, I guess it's a little racist to assume that all ponies know each other. Anyways, I do know who you are, Red. I didn't wanna make a scene. Sorry about dropping that on you all of the sudden."

"I've heard about you. You're the man the Princess lives with."

"That's right. How long have you been here?"

"Eighteen hours."

"Geez. You been on the move since you got here?"

"Of course I have."

"You didn't make it very far."

"I've been busy."

"I see. I take it you're not exactly up to going back to Equestria, are you?"

"If you know who I am, you know why I can't go back."

"Yeah, I know. But coming here was a huge mistake."

"It's starting to look that way. You found me in less than a day. I'm impressed."

"You hungry?"

"Huh?"

"You said you've been here for eighteen hours. You must be starving."

"I'm not a child, food isn't going to convince me to go back. Why do you think I'm here? Look at all these people. Their wallets are so unprotected. I'll steal my fill and rent a room somewhere while I figure out my next move."

"What if you get caught?"

"Trust me, I never get caught." She raised her hand. Held in it was a wallet... My wallet.

"Very funny, give it back."

I swiped at it, but she pulled away. She opened it and took the money out before returning it to me.

"I don't appreciate being robbed." I pocketed my wallet, "Don't forget to pay for your drink when we leave." She wasn't going anywhere. If it'll help convince her to come with us, she can have the thirty dollars that were in there.

"What kind of man asks a lady to pay?" she asked, brushing a hand under my chin.

Another hand grabbed her wrist. I turned to see Celestia glaring right at her.

"P-P-Princess!" I looked back to Red. There was no more playfulness about her. In its place was fear. Celestia released Red, who took her arm back and turned towards the counter. "I... didn't expect to see you here, Princess."

Celestia turned to me. "Phil, this is going nowhere."

"I thought it was going well."

"We didn't come here to make friends, Phil."

"Too late for that." I replied, "Celestia, this is Red. Red, this is Celestia."

"We've met." said Celestia.

"Oh, you have?"

Red merely nodded, staring blankly at the counter.

"Well... where does this leave us?" I asked.

"Nothing has changed." said Celestia, "Red Shadow, you will come with us."

"What if I don't want to?" she asked without looking back.

"What you want is none of our concern."

"What if I refuse?" Red was provoking her Princess.

"Then we will take you by force."

"Uh, Celestia..." I started.

Red took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. She turned back to us, a smirk creeping across on her face. "I think I know what's going on here." she declared, "You can't do anything, can you? If you could, we wouldn't be having this conversation. You aren't a Princess in this world. Neither of you have any power over me."

Celestia glared at her. As much as she disliked the thought, Red was right. I think I needed to step in before they said anything else.

"Will you excuse us for a moment, Red?" I asked, grabbing Celestia's arm and stepping away.

"What? Where are we going?" she asked, confused but nonetheless following my lead because she trusted me.

When we were a short distance from Red, I turned to Celestia and asked in a hushed tone, "Is everything alright?"

"What do you mean?"

"You're being really... aggressive with her."

"She must return to Equestria. There's no debating this."

"I know, I know. But there's no reason for this. Are you alright, Celestia?" I asked again, gentler this time, "You've been acting weird ever since you came back."

She crossed her arms and looked away like a frustrated child. "I'm not acting weird, you're acting weird." she grumbled.

"You want something to eat?"

She looked back with an innocent smile. "Yes."

"Alright, I'll get you some onion rings."

"Thank you." She sighed. "I don't want to discuss this in front of her."

"Let's talk when we get back home, alright?"

She nodded. "Alright."

"What are you two plotting over there?" Red asked us.

Celestia stood behind me as I moved back towards Red. Seems she was letting me talk again.

"Not plotting anything, yet." I replied, trying to get us back on track. I was trying to analyse the situation we were in. Red had an advantage over us given that we were in public.

"Yet? So you're going to?"

"If this doesn't go well, we might have to." I moved to the counter and ordered some food for our group before turning back to Red. "You know, coming here was a bigger mistake than you might think."

"What do you mean?"

"The crystal mirror is only open for about three days. After that, it takes a month to... I guess you could call it 'recharge'."

"I can't go back to Equestria? Like... at all?"

"Not for a month."

"And if I wait that month here, they'll really be ready for me. Looks like I'm stuck here."

"Are you really not gonna go back?"

"It's either stay here or go back to prison in Equestria. It's a no brainer."

"Come on, you don't wanna stay here."

"Why not? I'm a thief, I can just steal for a living."

"That... No, that's bad. And you definitely can't get away with it here. We're way better at catching people than ponies. And our prisons are way worse."

"Way worse, huh? So... I suppose I should ask, just in case I'm wrong... What did you two want from me?"

"We want you to return to Equestria." I replied with the truth.

"So I can get put into jail?"

"That's... out of my hands."

"Well, 'Princess'?" she looked to Celestia.

"That's right, Red Shadow." she replied.

"Then why would I ever want to go back?"

I stepped forward. "Because you can't live here, Red. Does living in a dumpy hotel room for the rest of your life sound like a fun idea? This world isn't like Equestria. To do anything you need registration. Not even Celestia can be registered, nobody from Equestria can." Pause for dramatic effect. "You can't live a life worth living."

"He's right, Red Shadow. Regardless of how you feel about Equestria, you can't stay in this world forever." said Celestia.

"Then I'll stay as long as I can. You two might not realize this, but I'm kinda wanted in Equestria. Anything I can do to stay out of prison is good enough for me. Now unless the next words out of your mouth are 'you're free to go', we're done talking."

Red turned back to the counter, proceeding to ignore the two of us. Well shit. I should've made a quicksave before trying that speech check. I turned back to Celestia. Her arms were crossed over her chest. She was glaring directly at Red. Bottling up her anger like this probably wasn't good for her. The worst thing we could do was stop talking. We won't get any further unless we keep pushing.

The bartender came back with a basket of onion rings. As I thanked him, Celestia took the basket for herself. Her sour mood seemed to disappear as she took the first bite.

I stepped forward and joined Red at the counter. "Hey, Red..."

"Not listening."

"Well, you're gonna have to. But that's all I'm gonna ask from you right now. Alright?"

She sighed, shaking her head. "Fine. Make it quick." she snapped.

"You need to go back to Equestria."

"No, I don't."

"I thought you weren't listening."

She shot me a dirty look. "This better be good."

"We... can't let you stay here. No matter what. The Princesses told me that ponies coming here could have some... deeper consequences. They told me that the more ponies that come here, the less stable the connection could be."

"What does that mean? And what does it mean to me?"

"I don't know what it means, exactly. I don't think the Princesses know either. But Princess Luna told me that it could be very dangerous, for both worlds. She said something like... She said... the walls holding our worlds apart fracture when someone moves from one world to another."

"That... doesn't sound good. Are you lying to me?"

"No, she did say it. At least something to that effect. I can't remember exactly."

"Hey wait, if that's true, then why the heck is she here?" Red turned and pointed to Celestia, who was enjoying her junk food.

Celestia looked to Red, then to me. She picked up another onion ring, not answering. She gave another look to me. I think she was waiting for my answer.

"Actually Red, that's a bit of a... different situation."

"Different how? I heard that the Princess disappeared for a month, then she came back. Now she's here again. And... she can't go back for another month like you said. There's no way she knew about me before she got here. Huh... I didn't get here until recently and... Wait, wait, wait... Wait a minute... Are..." She stepped in front of me. "Are you... Are you... together?!"

Celestia and I glanced to each other before returning to Red. A smile slowly crept across her face.

"No way... No way, no way! Oh my gosh, you are!" She started to laugh. "Oh, this is too much!" She bent over, hands on her stomach, laughing even harder.

"I... didn't expect laughter." said Celestia, "It isn't very funny to me."

"It's a little funny. You know, you and me." I said to her.

"I suppose, in a way."

Red patted my back, still giggling. "Good for you, we all know everyone needs someone t-" She burst out laughing again. "I can't do it! This is the funniest thing ever!"

"Yes, thank you Red."

"You got it, man." she joked.

People were starting to stare at us. I didn't mind it this time. Red was having fun, there's nothing wrong with that.

Eventually, she took in a deep breath and slowly exhaled. "Ok...Ok... I think I'm good."

"Now that we've gotten that out of the way..." I started.

"What, that's it?"

"What's it?"

"I don't know, it just seemed kinda... never mind. Just... Princess Celestia with a boyfriend... It's crazy, right? I heard about you, I just never thought..."

I shrugged.

"Man, I just... I... Wh... How? How did this happen? How did you two meet?"

"I'll tell you if you come with us."

"Ha! Not a chance. Good try, though. Although I am curious, now. Still, no. How exactly would it benefit me to come with you?"

"Well... you'd be safe." I repeated.

"Here we go again." she huffed.

"My house is the only place in this world that I can promise you will be safe." I said.

"So what?"

"You don't want to live in a world like this. Thievery isn't the answer."

"You sound just like my mom."

"She sounds like a smart mare." said Celestia.

"Of course she does, she's my mom."

"If you're just gonna take what you need from other people, then just let me give you the money instead." I offered.

She blinked a few times before saying, "Are you bribing me?"

"If that's what it will take, then yes."

"I'm listening. What do you have to offer?"

"I... Er... Uhh... I... can get you what you want, really. Aside from, like... jewelry or anything extravagant like that. Celestia's the only one I'd buy jewelry for."

Celestia turned to me. "What?"

"But everything else is on the table." I finished.

"Hmm...No jewelry, huh?"

"I'm... not a rich man."

She shook her head. "No. You couldn't offer me anything I couldn't get myself."

"Please?"

"Really? 'Asking nicely' is your last resort?"

"Well, close to it."

"So what is your last resort?"

I looked to Celestia again. I think she was curious as well.

"We'll just take you ourselves, no two ways about it."

"Oh, you'd get violent with me?"

"As a last resort. There are a few more... steps along the way."

"What if I screamed? I bet all these nice people would come to help me, wouldn't they?"

"Well yeah, that's why we'd follow you out of here."

"Dude, that's super creepy!"

I shrugged. "You asked. I'm certainly not planning on it. I was planning on just... talking. Seeing where things went."

"And look where it got us. I'm still not convinced. You're gonna have to try a lot harder." said Red.

"Geez, Red... You sure aren't making this easy for me, are you?"

"It's not supposed to be easy. Play your games somewhere else if you want easy. I'm not moving from this spot."

Oh... Wow... Maybe she was right. I haven't been treating this very seriously from the start. Red might be a pony but she had all the emotions and feelings of a human. I might need Celestia's help after all.

A glance to Celestia was all she needed to step in.

"Staying in this world is not a choice I can allow you to make, Red Shadow. Unfortunately, for the next month, there is no returning to Equestria. Perhaps we could come to an agreement in that time." offered Celestia.

"What kind of agreement?"

"I can't promise you anything yet, but you are no doubt aware that I have the authority to reduce or otherwise lessen your punishment. I will do everything within my power to return you to Equestria. I'm sorry, but I cannot allow you to remain here."

"I... I don't want to go to jail, Princess."

"I know, Red Shadow. You've made many mistakes and you must face the consequences of your actions, but if we could come to an agreement, perhaps things could turn out favorable for you. Come with us, Red Shadow. We can provide a place to stay while we wait. The rest will be up to you."

Wow... Celestia's 'Princess voice'... So soft... So commanding... So pretty...

Red looked down, her hands lifting and holding her arms. "I don't know how I feel about this." There was a certain timidness to her voice. She was uneasy. Uncomfortable.

An order from Celestia was not something she could simply ignore like me. Celestia's presence demanded an answer. I didn't want to force Red to come with us, but I messed things up enough already.

"Come with us, Red Shadow." Celestia repeated. "Please. Come rest."

"I... I guess I am pretty tired. Alright. Alright, I'll come with you."

Celestia smiled. "Thank you."

Red nodded. She reached into her pocket and retrieved the money she took from me. "You owe me." she said, holding it out to me.

"You got it."

After Celestia had finished her snack, which didn't take long, I paid for the food and we finally left. As Celestia sat in her usual passenger seat, I instructed Red how to buckle her seatbelt. She was sitting behind Celestia, who glanced back at us a few times.

Red patted the seat next to her a few times. "This is a bit less exciting than I thought it would be."

"What do you mean?"

"Being in one of these... things."

"The car?"

"Is that what it's called? I didn't ask anyone. I didn't wanna draw attention to myself. It was hard enough balancing on two legs with this new body. I totally didn't expect this when I came here. My work is shoddy thanks to these... things on my arms."

"Hands."

"Yes those, thank you. I was almost caught a few times. It's nothing like using magic. I tried that too, but I just couldn't get any spells to work right."

"What do you mean?" Celestia asked, "You had a cloaking spell. It prevented my sister from locating you."

"Well, I can't tell you all my secrets, can I?"

"Speaking of secrets, is there something you'd like to be called by?" I asked, "Or do you just want us to call you Red Shadow?"

"My friends call me Red. That's all you need to know."

"Where did this alias come from? Shadows are not inherently red, you know."

"I know, I'm not stupid. It's an old name, I thought it was cool when I was younger."

"It's kinda cool." I said.

"Thank you. See? He gets it. I also went by Scarlet Witch for a while, but your guards didn't figure that one out."

"Do not speak of my guards in such a tone." Celestia growled in response.

"Come on, be nice. She didn't mean anything by it." I said.

Celestia looked to me, then slunk back in her seat. I glanced to her. She was looking down.

Red chuckled. "Are you really taking orders from him, Princess?"

Celestia looked to me again, incredulous that I would let Red bully her.

"Red you be nice, too."

"Alright, fine."

We pulled into the driveway after a short, quiet ride home. I got out of the car first and moved to Red's side to open her door. Celestia and I led her inside.

"So this is my new home?" she asked as we walked.

"At least until you go back to Equestria." I answered.

"I have to stay here for a whole month? I'd rather just steal dirty hotel money every day."

"Rude. Don't worry, it's much worse on the inside."

"You serious?"

Celestia brought up the rear, making sure Red didn't bolt as soon as the two of us had our back turned. Even though she was kind at the bar, after my intervention, Celestia still didn't trust Red.

"Wow Princess, you live like this?" asked Red, her eyes exploring the front room.

Well, it's been less than a minute and I'm already embarrassed about my house. "It's... been a little while since I've cleaned." I said.

"Looks like my place." said Red, "I don't clean much either. So where's my bed?"

"Basement." I replied.

"Are you serious?"

"It's better than you think." I said, "Probably."

"What about that room?" she asked, pointing to my open door.

"That's my room." I said.

"It's our room." Celestia added.

"Wait, wait, wait... You two sleep together?"

"Phil and I are both adults, Red Shadow." said Celestia, "It's not strange for those in a relationship to share a bed.

"I... Yeah, I just... Well... I just didn't expect the Princess to... to... y-yeah..."

"It's our relationship, you have no place to judge." Celestia crossed her arms.

"I... guess. Are you... You aren't just pulling my leg here, are you? Are you really... together? Like... together, together?"

"I'm still wondering how it happened myself." I said.

"That's crazy... Well... good for you."

"Thank you." said Celestia.

"Well anyways, I can't help but feel I'm in the way of something." said Red, "I'm gonna head down and check it out. You two have fun with... whatever's going on between you."

With that, Red stepped into the basement stairwell. Celestia closed the door after her and turned to me.

"It doesn't lock from this direction." I pointed out.

"I know. I don't want her to hear this." She stepped away from the door, closer to me. "I don't like how she acts around you."

How... Red acts? Is that what this is about?

"She was flirting with you at the bar!" she said, her voice hushed, yet forceful, "When she put her hand on you, I..." She paused for a moment before turning to the side with her arms crossed over her chest. "I didn't like it. You didn't seem to have a problem with it either."

"I... was a little uncomfortable. But I thought... you know, pushing her away would... make it harder to talk to her."

She gave me a short glare before saying, calmer this time, "That's something else I'd like to talk about. You... You seem very close to your female friends."

"I am close to them. They're my friends. Even... her. Red's my friend, too." I replied as honestly as I could.

"You've just met her! You don't even know her. And this whole situation with your coworker on top of this... Everything you've been doing so far has involved other woman. It feels like you're ignoring me."

"Celestia, no... Come on... You know that's not true."

"I know. That's what it feels like." Her eyes were like a dog caught with its mouth in the garbage. Guilt, regret, shame... I know she didn't like feeling this way. She didn't like accusing me of ignoring her.

Even if she was upset, I still wanted to defend myself. "Celestia, Sarah is my friend, and even if I haven't known her for very long, so is Red. At least that's what I want. I don't even know if she likes me. Red needs to go back to Equestria. I just thought the easiest way would be to befriend her."

"I just... I don't like all these new women. I don't like that they're taking your attention away from me. I'm... jealous. I'm sure you've figured that out."

"Celestia... We've talked about this."

"I know. I know. You already know how I feel. I don't like that the time we have together is being taken away from us."

"I don't either, Celestia. We'll have time soon enough."

"With the way things have happened with Red Shadow, we may not have time at all." She sighed. "I... I need some time to think this over.

"Alright Celestia, I'll leave you to it. In the meantime though, I think it's a good idea if I talked to Red again. Maybe I could get her to open up some more."

She nodded. "Good luck, honey."

I smiled at her before wrapping my arms around her in a warm hug. She returned my embrace, squeezing me tightly. When we pulled apart, Celestia moved to the couch while I turned to the basement door.

I knocked and called, "Coming down!"

"Can't wait!" she called back.

I opened the door and walked down the stairs.

"You know, for some guy's basement, this is surprisingly cozy. What's that?" She pointed at the desk.

"Called a computer." I explained it in the same way that I explained it to Celestia. I didn't really need or want to, but it gave me a chance to study her reactions. No doubt she was doing the same for me. "Are you doing alright here?" I asked.

"Well, if it keeps me out of prison. Can you talk to her about that? I doubt she'd listen to me."

"I can't, Red. You're gonna have to talk to her yourself. It's not my place."

"C'mon, please?"

"I can't ask her about that. It's not my business."

"What could I even do about this?" she grumbled.

"I don't know. Try... just... talking to her. She said she would listen."

"She just said that so I'd come here."

"Celestia doesn't lie."

"Whatever."

"Mmm... Still, I guess I'm not too fond of my friends being jailed."

"I'm really your friend? Seems like I'm just making problems for you."

"You are. I don't care if you make problems, just don't do anything stupid."

"Thanks, I guess. The only friends I have are other thieves and they're all untrustworthy."

"Maybe she'd go light on you if you turn them in."

"No, absolutely not. I'm in the same sinking ship as them."

"No honor among thieves."

"Tell me about it. Also some of them scare me. I don't want to be on their bad side."

"More than a Princess?"

"Mmm... Tough call."

"So what exactly did you do? Like, what did you steal, who did you steal from?"

"I'm surprised you don't have a notepad with questions like that."

"Oh, like I'm gonna interrogate you. I don't have anything to do with this."

"Aside from the whole 'dating a Princess' thing."

"Right... So... what kind of thief are you?"

"The best. At least, I think I was the best. If there were better, I doubt I'd know about them." She chuckled. "I always got away clean. The castle robbery got me a lot of money, but my cut seemed a little smaller than the others. I knew something was up with them."

"Whoa, castle robbery? Really?"

"You don't know? I'm surprised the Princess didn't tell you. Wanna hear about it?"

"Yeah, sure."

"So... Me and a group planned a big heist on the castle. It was a simple plan, in and out. We managed to map a route to the treasure room. The plan went off without a hitch until we started bagging the loot. A guard spotted us and we had to book it fast. We took a good haul, but there was still a lot left. That's where things went wrong."

"Wrong?"

"Yeah. My 'friends' weren't satisfied with that. When they said they wanted to finish the job, I told them that they were crazy. In return for my advice, they reduced my cut and kicked me out. Of course, I was right, and the guards were ready for them. Jokes on me though, I had to pay for their silence."

"That sucks."

"Yeah, you're telling me. Lost a lot of money already. You try being held back by a bunch of idiots."

"Well, I'm talking to you, aren't I?"

"Oh, ha ha."

"So what else did you do? Let me guess, aspiring artist?"

"As if! I work at a bakery. It's a good hobby to have when I'm not out and about."

"Oh, cool."

"I didn't have any family or anything to keep me occupied either, if that's what you were gonna ask next."

"So, so far I've got that you live alone and work at a bakery, probably in Canterlot. With red hair and a diamond as a cutie mark, it won't be hard to find you if you decide to go home."

She snickered. "If it were that easy, I'd already be behind bars."

I shrugged, then turned to my computer. "I can't use this while you're sleeping, so I'm gonna do it now while I have the chance. That alright with you?"

"Go ahead. Is that how you treat all women you meet? Just ignore them?"

"Usually."

The computer was, of course, an excuse. I barely had anything to do on it. It was a way to get close to Red.

"So what exactly... does this thing do?" she asked again, stepping behind my chair.

"Anything. With enough work. For most people though, it's used to store and search for information."

"What kinds of information?"

"All kinds. Anything. Everything. Anything at all. But I just use it to look at funny pictures of cats. Don't worry, you don't need to concern yourself with it."

"Alright, if you say so. Looks expensive."

"Don't try to steal it. It's too heavy and you wouldn't know how to sell it. Also I'd kick your ass if you did."

"Yeah, you probably could. I'm sure you've got at least a hundred pounds on me. The Princess is pretty big, too. I wouldn't wanna get in a scrap with either of you."

"Don't worry, she's nice. She would never do that."

"I can't help but notice you didn't include yourself in that."

"Someone's gotta catch you if you run."

"What, aren't you nice too? Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere. You already got me here. You know, if I really did want to leave, I think it would be easiest to sneak out while you're sleeping. I already took your wallet without you noticing. I could sneak by you no problem."

"Yeah, probably. Celestia might be more watchful than I am though. I mean, I have a job, I can't just take days off to watch you all the time."

"Where do you work?"

"I manage a fast food restaurant." I shrugged. "It pays the bills."

"So we both work with food, eh? Ah... The Princess doesn't seem to like me. I don't have high hopes for talking to her."

"Give her a chance. She's easy to be friends with."

"If she gives me a chance first, that is."

"She's a lot more easygoing than you may think."

"Is that so? I don't think I see that in her."

"Well, you haven't been living with her."

"I'm also not her boyfriend."

"True."

"So you and the Princess... Do... Do you two... Was... Was that a joke, before? Do you two really... You know..."

"Yes we do."

She didn't respond for a little while. I think she was embarrassed. "I don't think anypony thought the Princess... did that sorta thing. But I guess it's... Y-You know, like she said. You're both adults and... y-yeah." She cleared her throat and continued. "I mean, I've never thought about her as someone who would even want a boyfriend. She's so... so different from us regular ponies. I guess I've never thought of her as anything other than just 'the Princess'."

"She's pretty normal when she wants to be." I said, shrugging, "She lazes around a lot. Get to know her a bit more, Red. She can be a good friend."

"She can also be terrifying."

"Yeah, I guess. You know, Celestia was really worried about you while we were looking for you."

"She was?"

"Yeah. Until we found you, she made it seem like you were a lost child or something. You don't know how important it is for you to return."

"Do you even know?" she questioned.

"No, not really. But if it's important to Celestia, it's important to me." I turned to my computer for a short while before saying, "I won't be long down here. Hope it's not too uncomfortable."

"No, it's pretty nice, actually." she replied.

I reached under the desk and retrieved my water jug to take a drink. "Oh man, have you eaten?" I asked.

"I have, I have. But thank you for asking. Actually, if you'll excuse me, I have to use the bathroom." She stood up.

"Oh alright. You can ask Celestia where it is. She's just on the couch."

"Right, thanks." She moved to the stairway and stopped as she grabbed the rail. She sighed before turning to face me. "You're a lot nicer than I thought you would be."

"Oh... Well, thanks."

She hesitated before climbing the stairs. I turned back to the computer.

Getting kinda tired. I'll have to call it a night soon. I hope Red doesn't leave during the night. We'll have to go get her again and today was bad enough. Guess I'd better head up.

As I turned the chair to stand, my hand fell into my lap. The drowsiness suddenly intensified, spreading through my body. When I tried to open my mouth to question to myself what was happening, I couldn't speak. My body felt so heavy.

No... She didn't... The water!

My first thought was to tell Celestia. I couldn't call up to her with my voice, but maybe there was another way... Phone! As I grabbed the phone on my desk, my head dropped onto my arm. A panic began to set in. I managed to open the texting app, but I could barely keep my eyes open to see the letters. I only needed to tap out a single word.

R... e... d... Send.

The phone dropped from my hand onto the floor with a thud as I finally fell asleep.
> Chapter 15
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

October 30



Distant shouting broke my slumber. I recognized Celestia's voice, but couldn't make out the words.

I was laying on the basement floor. The carpet was digging into my chin, leaving an itchy imprint. I pushed myself over to my back and stared up at nothing, still dazed.

As I came to my senses, I could feel an annoying headache. Thankfully, there didn't seem to be any other side effects. None that I could see, at least. I slowly stood, bracing myself on the desk. It seemed like it was wearing off. If Celestia was yelling at Red, then it must be the same night. Doesn't seem too useful a drug if it wears off in less than a few hours. I must not have taken a full dose.

I really thought things had been going well with Red. Guess not...

Well, time to confront reality.

With my contaminated water jug in hand, I made my way up the stairs. If I didn't deal with it now, I'd forget about and take another drink later. The arguing died down as I neared the closed door. They must hear my footsteps. There was nothing but silence on the other side as I grabbed the handle.

Celestia stood above Red who was sitting on the couch. There was a noticeable red mark around her left wrist. Both of them stared directly at me. Red's eyes were wide. She briefly glanced at the jug in my hands before looking back up to me. Both of them were taking in slow breaths. From what I could see, Celestia must've chased after Red after she left. What happened after must've left them both out of breath. I can only hope they didn't cause too much commotion. The last thing we want is for the police to be involved.

Celestia didn't say a word. She had a strange look on her face. I didn't know what it meant. Maybe she was just worried about me.

I didn't understand. Why did Red do this? Why did she feel the need to do this? Did she not like me? She said I was nice. She was nice, too. I just can't wrap my head around it. I didn't know what to say to her.

"D-Don't hurt me!" she squeaked.

I blinked. What? Did she think I would? Is that who she thought I was? I made sure to keep my distance from her so I didn't scare her, though I didn't back away.

"Phil, what should we do about this?" asked Celestia. She sounded worried. I didn't know if the worry was for me or for Red. She's never encountered this part of me before. She's never seen me angry.

I didn't have any answers for her. Celestia asked me what we should do... Why would she ask me? She rules an entire country, punishing criminals is part of the job. And yet she asked me what we should do.

"Phil?" she asked again.

"I don't know." I replied. It was the truth. I didn't know how to react to this. I'm still at a loss for words. I thought about lashing out at her. Verbally, of course. I had a good reason, I knew that very well. Red knew it too. Not even Celestia knew what I would do. I think the thought frightened her. After all, Red was her subject. It was Celestia's duty to protect her.

They had nothing to fear. I would never hurt Red. It just wasn't in me to punish her like that. Celestia might want to punish Red, but she wouldn't condone violence under any circumstances. None of this felt right to me. I wanted to go back to sleep and forget this ever happened. But I couldn't ignore this. There was no way. This is not a normal situation by any means. At the very least, I didn't want to hurt her.

I looked to Celestia. She didn't offer any words of support. Maybe she just wanted to see what I would do. I let out a long sigh as I focused my gaze on Red. "I don't know what we should do with you."

"I-I'm sorry."

"I know... I know. I'm just... I'm not happy that you've put me into this position." I wasn't as angry as I could've been. I think I was just... disappointed. Like a parent would be disappointed at a child who misbehaved. "I thought things were going well, Red. Why would you do something like this?"

She looked right at me. "I wanted to get away. I thought about it, I really did. I weighed my options and I was really considering staying... but... anything is better than prison, even this world. With you... unable to follow me..." She looked down. "I thought I could get away."

"So you came with us just to leave?" I asked.

"I didn't! It wasn't a decision I made lightly. It was a risk, I knew that from the start. It was a risk to come with you and it was a risk to... to leave."

Celestia had remained quiet. She's usually very talkative around me, so I felt a little lonely as I spoke with Red.

"Stay here for a moment." I said to Red, remembering the jug in my hands.

She didn't respond as I stepped into the kitchen to empty it. It was a simple matter to pour it into the sink. When it was empty, I set it onto the counter. Footsteps. Celestia, no doubt.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

"I don't know. I don't feel alright. None of this feels right at all. What would you do, Celestia?"

"I would lock her in the basement to prevent her from escaping again."

"She won't try to leave again."

"How can you be sure?"

"I trust her. She won't leave."

"Do you really?"

I thought about it for a long time, staring at Celestia as I did. "I do."

"You've trusted her before. How can you trust her again after this? She poisoned you, Phil... Don't you care?"

She was getting upset. Maybe I could calm her down. "I was talking with her just before she left. She's scared, Celestia. She's scared her life will end if she's sent to prison. At least, that's what it felt like. Getting angry about it isn't going to solve anything. Even if I got angry, yelled at her, locked her up... It wouldn't accomplish anything. She isn't from my world, she's from yours. I can't. I just can't."

"I..." She hesitated. "I understand. If you're choosing to forgive her, I'll respect your wishes."

Celestia didn't trust her. There was no way she did and no reason she should. I don't blame her. Red doesn't deserve her trust. Even so, I won't turn my back on her.

Is it naive of me to think that everyone from Equestria is trustworthy? My Little Pony is a kid's show. Then again, I've never seen Red Shadow in the show.

Red stared at me as I entered the front room. She hadn't moved at all.

"Go downstairs. I'll deal with this in the morning." I said, pointing to the basement door.

She nodded, and without a word, stood and moved downstairs, keeping her distance from me. I closed the door behind her. I took in a deep breath before moving to the couch where she was sitting and collapsing onto it.

Celestia stepped towards me. There was a short hesitation before she sat next to me, a concerned look on her face. "Are you alright?" she asked again.

"I feel..." I paused. "Empty."

"Empty? What do you mean?"

"I just... I don't feel anything."

"Anything?"

"I feel trapped. Like I can't do anything."

"Why?"

I shook my head. "I can't get angry at a frightened stray that snaps at people that get too close. I don't want to be angry at her. But I am. She doesn't deserve any extra punishment. I can't do anything with these feelings. I can't bring myself to really be angry at someone who had no intention of hurting me. I can't just send her to a corner, she's not a child. I wouldn't even know where to begin with her."

"Perhaps... if you are looking for an outlet... you could turn your anger towards me." she offered.

"You? Celestia..."

"I know that you are being kind to her for my sake. You don't want to worry me by feeling anger towards my subject. Perhaps I could take your aggression in her stead."

"Celestia... I could never be angry at you."

The corners of her mouth turned up in a tiny smile as she bashfully looked away. "Yes... I know."

I'm sure it wasn't her intention to make such a cute face, but just seeing her smile brightened my mood.

She sighed. "I have mixed feelings about this as well. I don't want to unduly punish one of my subjects, but doing this to someone I love... Doing this to you... I don't want to sit on the side and do nothing."

"I know, Celestia. I'm sorry."

"It's alright."

"Maybe. Maybe not. How about you, Celestia?"

"Hmm?"

"How are you feeling? I know I'm putting you through a lot right now. I'm making a lot of dumb decisions."

"No, no, no... Don't say that. You aren't a child, you don't need to ask me every time you want to do something. You have just as much of a right to make your decisions as I do mine. I don't want to change how you think. I don't want you to value yourself any less than you value me." Like a hawk, she pinpointed the source of my doubts.

It makes me so happy to hear her say that in her sweet voice. "I'm sorry, Celestia. You know I'm only saying that because I love you."

"You mean a lot, Phil. You mean a lot to me. Are you sure we should just leave her down there?" She changed the direction of the conversation at a good time.

"It'll be fine. She's not going anywhere."

"Ok, if you say so, honey... You know, we'll just have to find her again if she does leave."

"I know. You look tired."

Celestia leaned back against the couch. "I had to use magic to stop her. It certainly took its toll on me. Using magic outside of my pony body is exhausting. I'm impressed Red Shadow managed to hide herself for so long."

"You should rest."

"What about you? What are you going to do? Are you coming to bed, as well?"

"I don't know. I think I wanna keep an eye on the front room tonight, so I'll sleep out here."

"Not with me?"

"Not tonight."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

"I'll be lonely without you."

"I'm sorry, Celestia."

She reached out to me and squeezed my hand as she leaned against me. She sighed. There was a pause. "I want you to promise me something, alright? It's about Red Shadow."

I looked to her.

"She might not have made the best decisions, but I want you to promise me that you won't hurt her, alright?"

"Don't worry, I promise."

She gave me a small smile. After a while, she reached down to the side of the couch and retrieved the blanket that had been pushed aside. With it, she covered our laps. I just smiled at her.

"I didn't want you to go to bed alone." she said.

I gave her a brief kiss on the cheek. She smiled her special smile. In just a few short minutes, she managed to lift my spirits. It wasn't long before the two of us were snuggling on the couch. My back was against the couch while my chest was pressed against her, my arm draped over her side. Sleeping next to her is so much better than sleeping alone.

I cracked my eyes one last time to glare at the basement door. The only sound I could hear was Celestia's gentle breathing. Red wasn't going anywhere.

With Celestia in my arms like this, it was difficult for me to think about anything else. Her hair still smelled like strawberries.

I still had on my work clothes. And we forgot to brush our teeth.



October 31 - Halloween



My alarm woke me up today. Seems like forever since that's happened. Celestia grumbled as I reached for my phone on the table in front of us. I couldn't tell if she woke up. Eventually, after poking her shoulder enough times, she stirred awake.

A small smile replaced her tired look as she turned her head to greet me. She yawned as she rubbed her eyes with a hand, then giggled as I poked her again.

"Come on, I can barely feel my arm." I joked.

"You're so warm." she replied, snuggling against me.

I gently squeezed her in my arms. "Are you hungry?"

She smiled. "You know me so well."

Food was the only way to get free. Still, it was a short while before she finally got up.

Sleeping on the couch... I had an unpleasant crick in my neck. As I lifted myself, I stretched out, then gave my head a twist in both directions to crack it. I felt a little better, but not much. Celestia watched as I stood up, a gentle smile on her face.

I yawned. "Cereal?"

"Perfect."

I smiled at her before walking into the kitchen to make the two of us breakfast. All I had was Frosted Flakes. Celestia loved Frosted Flakes. They're really sweet, just like her. I brought the bowls into the front room and set them on the coffee table, then made a second trip for the cereal bag in case we wanted more. Celestia always wanted more.

The clinking of our metal spoons against the glass bowls and our breathing were the only sounds we made for a long time. Celestia soon poured herself a second bowl of cereal, then a third. I had to get more milk for her. When I came back, she was eating out of my bowl. She didn't have a care in the world. This was nice. It was peaceful.

I needed to talk to Red. Not right now, though. Celestia was too happy. We have time. Celestia probably wasn't even thinking of her right now. She had food to keep her occupied. When she was finished, I cleaned our bowls and put them into the sink.

Celestia smiled as I returned to her. We leaned against each other without a word. I wrapped my arm around her. We were just sitting together. This was nice.

"You're thinking about her, aren't you?" she asked after a short while.

"Yeah."

She sighed. "This facade was nice while it lasted, don't you think? It's not healthy to be kept waiting like this. Go speak with her."

"Alright. Be right back."

I stood and approached the basement door. "Coming down." I called, knocking.

No response. She'd better be down there.

I opened the door and walked down. The light was on. I stopped on the bottom step. Thankfully, she was still there. "Red?"

She looked to me.

"You don't look too good." I stepped to the ground. "How much sleep did you get last night?"

"I don't know."

"Look, Red..." I had to say something meaningful or I'd never get anywhere. I didn't exactly have a speech prepared. Guess I'll just wing it. "If you're worried that I'm going to do something to you, you can stop. I'm not planning to punish you for this."

"Really?" It didn't sound like she believed me.

"I'm sure you were listening to us while we spoke to each other up there."

"I heard some of it."

"So you know why I'm telling you this."

"What if I had lied?"

"Lied?"

"I told you why I did what I did. What if I lied? What if I didn't care about going to prison? What if I was just toying with you? You don't know me. You don't know anything about me." She started to stand. "And I seriously hate how you're going on about how you don't want to 'punish' me. You're acting like you're better than me because you're ignoring what I did." She closed in on me, furious.

"Hey, I came down here to say that I forgive you. The least you could do is pretend that you care."

"So what? I don't want your forgiveness. What, I'm supposed to stay here and go to jail like the good little pony I am because I'm your 'friend'?"

"I'm not in control of that." I replied, irritated that she would rebuff my forgiveness.

"So the bad guy goes to jail and everybody gets a happy ending?"

"Red come on, you're not a bad guy."

"Yeah, so what? You don't even care about me. You just wanna get rid of me so you can be alone with your Princess."

That... is an entirely different matter. "That's not true, Red. I don't know how this must feel for you, but you do not belong in this world."

"And she does? What's so special about her?"

"Uh..."

"Don't answer that." She scowled. "Why did we talk like that if you only cared about me going back?"

"Why did we talk like that if you were going to knock me out and run off anyways?" I shot back at her.

"I..." She paused for a short while. The ferocity started to drain from her face. "I don't..." Her voice was starting to shake. To my surprise, her eyes started to water. "I... I don't... I don't wanna to go to jail." She sniffed. "I don't want t-to go t-to jaa-aiil!" she wailed..

She took a step towards me before her body collapsed against mine.

"Geez, Red..." I let out. I wrapped my arms around her in a sympathetic hug. It certainly wasn't enough to hold her in place, just enough to let her know that I was there. She broke down at the first sign of aggression. Is she lying again? Did she ever lie at all? It doesn't matter to me. I couldn't turn away a crying lady.

"I was... I was having fun being a thief. Kinda... sounds stupid, right? But it was so exciting. I'm too young to go to jail. I'm sorry, Phil... I didn't mean for this to happen to you. You're really nice and..." She sniffed. "And you went through the trouble of forgiving me and all I did was get angry. I don't deserve your friendship."

It seemed like she was trying to stop crying, but only managed to quiet her wailing into sobbing against my shoulder.

I think it's time to take a page from the book of Pinkie Pie. This seems to work a lot in the show, so maybe it'll work here too. "Oh come on, that's not true. Everyone deserves a friend. You just made a mistake, is all." To try to cheer her up, I spoke in a cheerful tone.

She sniffed again. "You don't really think that."

"Of course I do, Red. If I'm willing to be your friend after all this, then it's up to you to be willing to be my friend, too." Too pushy. Still, I said what I wanted.

She chuckled. Her arms lifted around my back. "You mean it?"

"Yeah, I mean it. You know Red, you might be here for a while. I bet if you tried enough, you could make friends with Celestia too."

"I don't know. After what happened, she might not think too highly of me."

"She'll come around."

"Phil, what is going on down here?" I heard my girlfriend's unmistakable voice from behind me.

Red let out a shocked squeak and pushed me away. "Nothing, Your Highness!" she exclaimed, clearing her eyes with her hands.

I turned to Celestia. I thought perhaps she would be mad or otherwise upset at me for getting personal with Red like this, but it just seemed like she was... confused. I didn't understand.

"Looks like you two have finally made up." she said.

"Y-Yeah." Red got out.

"That's good."

She stared at us for a short while longer before turning around and walking right back up the stairs.

"Uh... Sorry." Red whispered to me.

I sighed. "Well, this could lead anywhere."

"Good... uh... Good luck." she encouraged.

Celestia could very well be upset with me. Not something I was happy to say. She had lots of reasons to be angry right now, my poor decision making being the cause of all of them. I walked upstairs and closed the door. Celestia was in the kitchen with her hands on the counter, leaning over it. I joined her.

"Um... Celestia?"

She looked to me, then back down to the counter, avoiding me.

"You ok?" I asked, a little more concerned about her odd behavior over my own situation.

Her head popped up and turned to me. "Do you have any idea how it felt to see that as I walked down? Any idea at all? I couldn't believe my eyes." She got off the counter and stepped towards me. "At first I thought that there was no way you were holding her. Then I got angry! 'How dare he do this behind my back?' I asked myself. But it wasn't behind my back, nothing was even happening. I could hear you from the front room, I already knew. Still, curiosity got the better of me and I decided to take a look for myself. It wasn't hard to see what was going on, you were just being a friend towards her. But in my mind, walking in on my boyfriend holding another woman threw all my sensibilities in the trash. Oh, I got jealous! I got so, so, so jealous!"

"Celestia."

"And the very next moment after I got angry I knew exactly what you were doing. So was I going to shout at you? Of course not! It would've been so petty of me to stay angry at you for that! We've talked about this so much, we've gone over this so many times. Yes, I know I get jealous easily, but that doesn't mean that it's justifiable when I do. I can't just keep you from other women! It's not fair to you. I can't..."

"Celestia!" I repeated, louder.

"What?" The fight immediately left her cute face.

Her sudden outburst left me in shock, but now I understood what she meant. I took in a breath. "I love you."

She smiled. "I love you too, honey." She frowned. "I'm still mad at you, though."

"I'm not apologizing for trying to help my friends." I crossed my arms to emphasise my point.

"I know, honey. I won't expect you to. It wouldn't be right of me. But what am I supposed to do when all you think about is other women?"

"I... I don't know." I didn't have anything to say. It didn't matter how I tried to twist it, she was completely right. She was twisting it a bit, too. She's just lucky she's so cute.

She waited for a short while. I don't know if she expected me to say something else, but ultimately, she spoke next. "Maybe... I can learn to put this behind me. I don't want to be mad at you, honey. And I don't want you to be mad at me either. But the positions we're finding ourselves in are putting a strain on this relationship."

She keeps using 'us' and 'we' as if it weren't my fault entirely. Maybe it wasn't, I don't know. I know she feels guilty about it too. She doesn't like when I talk down about myself or put myself beneath her. I've been trying to work on that, but years of self-esteem issues and self-deprecating humor won't disappear overnight. It's hard to compare myself to the woman I loved.

"I know you're not doing anything, Phil. You would never. I trust you. But I still don't like it. Especially concerning Sarah."

"Sarah? I kinda thought you'd be more worried about Red 'cause she's stuck here anyways."

"Red Shadow is different. She'll stay with us together. Not only have I not met this Sarah, but you meet with her while I'm not with you."

"I was gonna ask her to stop by yesterday, but something got in the way."

"Indeed."

"I don't think it would be a good idea to invite her over with Red hanging around."

"Why not?"

"I dunno, I just... don't wanna deal with both of them right now."

"I suppose. Very well. Hopefully, this matter will be resolved soon. My sister is trying to find a way to travel between worlds without the aid of the crystal mirror. It is not an easy task, but if she succeeds, we could send Red Shadow home early. Afterwards, it will be just us."

I smiled. "That sounds nice."

"Honey."

Serious Celestia voice. I perked up and faced her, ready to listen.

"I'm sorry that I'm making this so difficult for you."

"It's alright, honey. I love you."

She smiled. "I love you too. I can't believe you kept your composure even after all this. I thought you'd be mad at Red Shadow, but you dealt with it far differently than how I would have. We're so different, but I still love you."

"I'm sure the only reason I forgave her was because she was from Equestria, like you. I'd trust anyone from Equestria, good or bad."

She chuckled. "That's foolish of you."

"It's my kind of foolish."

"I suppose it is." She sighed. "I don't like arguing with you."

"What?"

"You're so sweet, you shouldn't have to deal with an emotionally unstable woman like me."

I brought my hand to my mouth to stifle a laugh. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't laugh. Well... you are a little unstable, honey."

"Hey!"

"You're the one that said it."

"You didn't have to agree with me! It was a joke!"

"I did laugh."

She smiled, then began to giggle. "I guess you did. Maybe I am a little unstable. But... do you really think so?"

"No, no."

"Thank you. Oh, I'm not used to having such a complacent boyfriend."

"Well, would you prefer we argued all the time?"

She shook her head. "Of course not." I just smiled. She seemed satisfied with the outcome.

"I think the worst part about making you angry at me is that I can't really do anything to make it up to you." I said.

"Can't you?"

"Anything I could do, I would've done it even if you weren't angry. It wouldn't be special."

"You're special. That's all that matters to me."

"What an emotional roller coaster this has been... I'm glad I got to ride it with you."

"Oh, Philly..."

I sighed. "We gotta take a vacation."

"I'm already on a vacation."

"Huh... Maybe we should go on a vacation."

"What do you mean?"

"Go out, stay at a hotel, eat some fancy food, swim in the pool, all the good stuff. Just the two of us."

If she was still a pony, I'm sure her ears would've perked right up.

I continued. "There's a tourist town not too far up north, the Dells. It's my family's favorite place to go, we used to head up there like once a year. It might not be as nice as Canterlot, but I'm sure you'd love it. There's all sorts of amusement parks and water parks too, indoors and out."

"An indoor water park? I've never been. Oh, I'd love to go swimming as a human. It sounds so fun!"

"You're gonna have to get a swimsuit before we go, though. And not some trash from Wal-Mart, you already ripped two of your bras."

"Hey, that wasn't my fault. You were too rough on them."

"It was a group effort, then."

"No it wasn't! How can you blame me for that?"

"They're your boobs."

"I didn't ask for them to be this big."

I kinda did. "I wonder what your cup size really is. Maybe a G-cup. Or maybe more. Or... less."

"I... don't really understand what that means."

"Big and squishy."

"Yes, that sounds right."

"I know that some women have trouble finding properly fitting bras. We have to get you measured sometime so you can wear bras your size."

"I'd like that. The straps dig into my shoulders. Sometimes I even keep on the one I came here with. It... always happens to be in the drawer when I need it." She raised an eyebrow at me, evidently suspicious of my laundering.

"It's a shame it doesn't have any tags though, that'd make it easy to find you more. It'd help getting you swimwear as well. I don't think you can wear a bikini in public, though."

"What's a bikini?"

"It's like underwear, but for swimming."

"What does that mean? Why couldn't I wear it?"

"You're too curvy. It'll accentuate your cleavage too much."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"In public, it can be."

"Why?"

"Well, it might not be that big of a deal, but I... Well... I just don't want other guys to look at you like that."

She let out a very long, "Ooohhh?"

"What?"

"I knew I wasn't the only one who was jealous! I was worried for a bit." She laughed. "You told me you were, but I didn't take it seriously at the time. I thought it was just something you were saying to make me happy. You really do want me all to yourself. That's why you didn't want to tell your friends, isn't it?"

"Uh... Yeah, kinda." Also I didn't want to go through the effort again. Neither did the writer.

She smiled, looking pleased with herself. "So how 'like underwear' is it?"

"The shape really isn't too different from your bra and panties."

"Is that so? Is it... often worn with other clothing?"

"No, usually just the swimwear."

"My... A bikini is actually starting to sound... risqué."

"Plus you'd need a good-fitting set, otherwise your boobs could slip out when you're swimming."

"Oh, I imagine that would be bad."

I nodded. "There are other types of swimwear for women, of course. Types that cover more skin. You can pick what you like."

"Where's the fun in covering up?" she joked, "Still, it seems strange to me. I've never worn anything when I swam in Equestria."

"Well, you can't swim naked."

"I know! I wasn't planning to. Maybe a little... B-But only with you!"

"You shouldn't get swimwear just because it's sexy, Celestia. That's what lingerie is for."

"Explain."

She fell for it hook, line, and sinker, as if she knew it was a setup. No 'I'm not familiar' or even 'We have that in Equestria'. Simply, 'Explain'. "Lacy, form fitting panties and bras."

"Perfect. I need some."

"That was fast." Having had enough of this subject, I said, "How about this... We can go swimsuit shopping after Red leaves. We can get you measured, get you some proper undies, and get you some sexy sleepwear. Sound good?"

She nodded, a particularly cute smile on her face, as if she were proud of herself for getting more clothes from me. I'm starting to think that Celestia was a woman. Women like clothes, right? It's all coming together... She looked down at her chest. "How would you even measure these... things?"

"Measuring tape."

"Oh."

"You sound disappointed."

"I thought there was... some sort of specialty tool for it. In that case, couldn't you measure me now?"

"I don't have any measuring tape."

"There are other ways of measuring around something."

"True. But we'll save that for later, alright?"

She smiled at me. "Alright, honey. Isn't it about time for you to leave?"

"You know the rules. I always have exactly enough time to finish our conversation before I go to work."

"Phil, we're not supposed to say that. Besides, pointing out plot holes doesn't make your work any better, most just find it lazy."

"I am lazy."

"I know. That's why I love you."

Just before I left for work, I told Celestia, "Try to be nice to Red while I'm gone. And be sure to give me a call if something happens."

"Alright, I will. See you soon. I love you."

I smiled at her before wrapping my arms around and kissing her. After I pulled away, I said, "I love you, too."

She was blushing as we pulled apart. Maybe she wasn't used to being so personal yet. I don't know. She's cute when she blushes. She's cute when she doesn't. She's just cute.
> Chapter 16
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

October 31 - Halloween



I needed to speak with Sarah. Due to unforeseen circumstances, she wouldn't be meeting with Celestia anytime soon, meaning that I won't be able to meet with her parents. As I walked to work, I thought about how I should tell her. I just wanted to be polite.

What was the excuse I gave Celestia? That I didn't wanna deal with both of them? Yeah, that much is true. I could just change my mind and get it over with. But if it makes Celestia jealous again, I don't want Red to be there to deal with it. She has nothing to do with this. Yeah, that's good. I don't want to go to work. I miss Celestia.

"Hey Sarah."

"Uh... Hey. Is... Is everything alright? You seemed pretty w-worried, yesterday."

"Things are... well... managed, I guess. It was just a bit of trouble with... uh... one of Celestia's friends. But we took care of it. It was a... really personal matter, Sarah. You don't need to concern yourself with it."

"It's... It's alright. That's g-good, though... that it was... taken care of."

"Because of this though, I need to hold off on having you meet her so we can move along with all this."

"O-Oh..."

"I'm sorry, Sarah. It's not that we don't want to. Celestia loves meeting new people and she's always understanding of people's problems, but.. uh... How should I put this... She can get... jealous, at times. That's why she wanted to meet you. She wanted to get to know you."

"That's not... unreasonable."

"Right. But right now, with what happened... It isn't the best time. Sorry."

"It's... ok."

"I'll let you know how things go, Sarah."

"A-Alright."

She was quiet for a while, idly staring downwards. I didn't have anything else to add to the conversation, so I just relaxed in my chair.

"S-So..." she started.

"Hmm?"

"D-Do you have any p-plans for Halloween?"

"Halloween? Oh shit, today's Halloween!"

"D-Did you f-forget?"

"I totally forgot! Aw man, I gotta... Uh... Dang it." Celestia would've loved to go trick-or-treating.

"M-My family hasn't celebrated it in a while. The last time I w-went out was when I was f-fourteen."

"Fourteen? You're never too old for free candy, Sarah. I went out in a Michael Myers costume last year. It was great, I got so much chocolate."

"You trick-or-treated last year? How... um... old are you? If you don't... mind me asking."

"25."

"So you were 24 and you trick-or-treated?"

"Yeah."

"And p-people gave you candy?"

I nodded. "Mmm-hmm. Not everyone. Some people wanna save the candy for the little kids and some people just outright refused to give me any. I couldn't really complain. I just move along to the next house."

"Wow... I n-never would have expected y-you to still be trick-or-treating."

"I would've gone this year if I had a costume prepared." And if Celestia had a costume. And if Red Shadow wasn't trapped in my basement. Today would be the perfect day to escape. There's too many people, especially in costumes. We'd never find her, at least not without Celestia's magic tracking skills.

I rushed home today. We might not have costumes, but Celestia and I could still be involved in the holiday by handing out candy. We didn't live on a popular street, but kids walked down the sidewalk last Halloween, so this year would be no different. The biggest problem with that was that I had no candy.

"Hi Celestia, I'm going to the store, be back in twenty minutes." I said to her, jogging to the kitchen to get my car keys.

"What? Oh hi, Phil. You're going to the store? What's the rush? Can I come?"

"You stay here and make sure Red doesn't leave. Be back soon. Love you." I made sure to give her a drive-by kiss on the cheek before I left.

"Bye, Phil." Even though I rushed through, she was still happy to see me.

The event was just about to start, but thankfully, I had enough time to go to the grocery store and pick up a few bags of candy. I wasn't the only one. A lot of other people were doing some last minute candy shopping.

When I got back home, I told Celestia, "I got candy!"

"Candy!" she celebrated, standing, "What did you get? I hope there's chocolate!"

"I got all sorts of stuff. Come on, let's get this in a big ol' bowl."

"Ok!" she said, a little confused, but happy to be a part of it nonetheless.

"Do you know what today is?" I asked.

"October 31st? Is it... Nightmare Night? It would explain all the candy."

"Close. In this world, we call it Halloween."

"Can I still eat the candy?"

"Not all of it. We have to give some away to the kids."

She gasped. "Oh, children! I can't wait!"

"Just a few more minutes and we'll start seeing trick-or-treaters."

"Oh! Let me help, then!" she said, excitedly grabbing one of the bags.

As I retrieved a bowl, Celestia opened her bag. Before I managed to even put it on the counter, Celestia had unwrapped one of the chocolates and took a bite.

"What?" she asked, mouth full, "Don't look at me like that, I'm helping!"

I sighed. Just looking at her cute, chocolate-stuffed face reminded me of how much I loved her. "Alright, dump the rest in."

"Ok!"

The two of us poured the rest of the bags in and mixed them together. We were as ready as we could be with barely any time to prepare. Though we didn't have any festive decorations, I could still enjoy a holiday with Celestia. That's all I really wanted.

"So Celestia, do you want to wait outside with the candy or inside?" I asked.

"Oh! Outside! Outside!"

I laughed. "Alright, outside it is. You're gonna wanna get a sweater though, sweetie." I told her, "It gets chilly this time of year."

"Ok, I'll be right back. Don't start without me!"

"I won't."

Celestia rushed into the bedroom to collect a sweater. As she did that, I carried the bowl of candy to the front room. We had what we needed, but after giving it a second thought, sitting on the stone stoop for a few hours would get pretty uncomfortable, especially during this time of year.

"Blankets too, Celestia!" I called.

"Ok!" she cheerfully called back.

Not long after, she returned, a number of blankets folded neatly in her arms. She put a lot of care into folding them when she could have very easily just draped them over her shoulder. Why are you so cute, Celestia?

"Our butts'll get cold without those." I said.

"Oh, good idea. Shall we?"

The two of us headed outside, placing the blankets down and sitting, the bowl of candy between us.

"How long should it take before we see someone?" she asked, looking down the sidewalk.

"Shouldn't be long. The lady three doors down that way has a son and a daughter that are young enough to trick-or-treat."

"I wasn't aware there was an age limit."

"I don't believe in that sorta thing. If you have a costume, you get candy."

"What about me? I don't have a costume."

"Yeah, but you're my girlfriend, you can have some whenever you want."

"Even right now?"

"Of course right now, just don't eat it all. You'll get a wicked bad tummy ache."

"I won't, I won't. I'm not a child, I know when to stop."

"You're already eating it."

"So?" she asked, her mouth full of chocolate again.

I sighed, shaking my head.

"Oh! Children!" She snapped her attention to the small group of people walking down the sidewalk. It was a group of four, a man and a woman with two kids. One of the kids had a stormtrooper outfit and the other was a princess in a pink dress. As the two kids saw us, they ran down the sidewalk, much to the chagrin of their parents. However, they let their kids run right up to us without a word, watching them from the sidewalk.

"Trick or treat!" they sang in unison as they got close. The kids held out their bags with expectant looks. At least, I imagined the kid behind the mask was as excited as his sister. He seemed a little short for a stormtrooper, though.

"Oh, aren't you two just so cute!" Celestia exclaimed, a wide smile on her face. She could hardly contain her excitement when faced with such bright smiles. "And what are you two dressed as?"

"I'm a Princess!"

"And I'm a stormtrooper!"

"Oh, how nice." Celestia replied with a smile, "I'm not familiar with stormtroopers, but I'm certainly familiar with Princesses. You see, where I come from, I'm a Princess."

"What?!"

"No way!"

"It's true." I said, "How else would her hair get so pretty?"

"Wow!" they both said, completely awestruck. I know the feeling.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" She reached into the bowl. "For you... and... for you." In each of their bags, she dropped a loose handful of goodies.

"What do you say?" called the mother.

"Thank you!" they said once more in unison.

"Bye, Princess-Lady!" said the boy.

"Bye-bye!" said the girl.

The two of them rushed back to their parents and continued on their journey. Celestia waved them farewell as they left.

"Philly?"

"Yeah, honey?"

"They're so cute... I'm gonna cry."

"You're gonna what?" I looked to her.

"I'm gonna cry." she repeated. Correction, she was already crying.

I wrapped my arm around her and held her close. "Where did this come from?"

"I don't know. I've never had this problem talking to children before." She started wiping her eyes.

"You gonna be alright?"

"I'm fine." She sniffed. "I'm fine. I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me... I'm fine."

"You sure?"

"I'm sure."

"More kids are coming. Are you gonna be alright through the night?"

"I'm fine, honey. They were just... so cute. I want one."

"What?"

"Nothing! Nothing. I didn't say anything. I didn't... I didn't say anything. Why, did you... hear... anything?"

I gave her a long look before I said, "No, I guess not."

She smiled before turning her head to the next group of kids coming our way.

I think we might need to have a little chat about this later.

For the next few hours, it was just the two of us on the front porch. Celestia had a lot of fun handing out candy to the little kids that stopped by. She would usually strike up the cutest conversations, asking what their costume was or how old they were.

It wasn't long past the hour mark, during a lull in traffic, that Celestia leaned against me, making a distinct sniffling sound. She was crying again. I didn't know what it was about handing out candy that made her so happy. Maybe it had something to do with her earlier comment. Just like last time, she quickly got ahold of herself, insisting that nothing was wrong. I knew nothing was wrong. She was happy. So happy...

Towards the end of the night, Celestia struck up a conversation with a brown haired woman that seemed to be in her twenties. They talked about the fair weather and the fun costumes they've seen so far. Apparently someone had been wearing a huge cardboard box as their costume, which Celestia found hilarious. Something about her seemed familiar, but the shadows on her face from the porch light made it hard to see clearly. In the end, even though she wasn't wearing a costume, Celestia offered her a small chocolate bar, which she accepted before leaving.

"It's starting to get late." I said, "It's already past closing time." Halloween officially ends here at 7:30, but sometimes you can see people walking around close to 8:00 or later. It was 8:00 right now.

"Is that so? That's too bad. We still have a lot left."

"I'm sure you're not complaining about that."

"Of course not."

"Come on, let's head in. I know your butt's sore, you've been shifting around for the past hour."

She giggled. "So have you."

I got off the stairs, my knees cracking as they straightened, and placed my hands on my back. I bent myself backwards, and after several satisfying pops, I straightened myself out and offered my hand to Celestia, who took it with a smile. I pulled her to her feet. It was too early to go to bed, but after all this, we were exhausted.

We collected our blankets and went inside, making sure they were clean before we put them back on the bed. As soon as things were settled in the house, Celestia assaulted the candy bowl, taking a handful of chocolates to the front room couch.

I gave it a few seconds of thought before saying through the closed basement door, "We got some candy up here if you want some, Red."

"My parents warned me about taking candy from strangers!" she called back.

"Did they say anything about jewelry?" I retorted.

"Oh, shut up! Alright, I'll be up soon."

Celestia giggled.

Red joined us upstairs for a short while. She was comfortable enough to eat with us, though I could tell that she was still uneasy. I wouldn't ask for anything more. It would be a slow process, but I knew the two of them would make up.

Before we went to bed, I placed the candy bowl in the fridge so the chocolate would stay cold.



November 2



Day four with Red. Celestia found living with a guest to be quite irritating. The more intimate aspects of our relationship were off-limits while someone else was here. If only we had that rule when the guards were here, we could've spared them the embarrassment. Our relationship wouldn't be where it is today if we avoided sex back then.

Aside from love-making, Celestia had a hard time 'being herself' around Red. After all, she was supposed to set an example for her subjects. Thankfully, our bedroom was still private enough for her to laze about.

I was a little annoyed as well. Red took my computer room. I didn't need to use it, but I liked the option.

During the past few days, Celestia had reaffirmed that moving someone to or from Equestria without the aid of the crystal mirror was next to impossible. Though Luna was trying to find a way, it wasn't easy. Red Shadow would be living with us for the remainder of these thirty days.

Celestia must have been speaking with Red while I was at work. They've warmed up to each other quite a bit, at least on a personal level. Celestia still disliked that Red was interfering with our privacy.

Today, Celestia came to me with an urgent look on her face. The empty box of Twinkies in her hands suggested that it was not as important as it could have been. "Phil, we're out of Twinkies!" she cried, shaking the box.

"I bought like six of those things when you got here." I said, trying to conceal my smile at her innocence.

"Well, they're gone now." she replied, concerned.

Though she sounded genuine, I couldn't help but think that her priorities weren't entirely straight. "You're gonna get fat if you keep eating them like that."

"But they're so good!"

"I only had one." I moped.

"Can we go get more?" She gave me a powerful puppy-dog stare.

"You don't have to look at me like that, you know I'll say yes."

Her stare only seemed to intensify.

"Did you want to go now?"

She nodded.

"Alright f... Hey, what about Red?"

Her stare disappeared.

"We could... invite her." I suggested.

"Do you think that's a good idea?"

"I don't see why not."

"I suppose."

"Red!" I called through the open basement door.

"Yes?" she called back.

"We're headed to the store to get food, you wanna come with?"

"Are you sure you want to be bringing me out in public?"

"Just thought you might wanna get outta the house. Up for it?"

"Alright, I'll come with. Give me a sec."

I looked back to Celestia. She didn't seem to mind. Red joined us in the front room. Her hair was frazzled and unkempt.

"You look miserable." said Celestia.

"I haven't showered in a week and a half." she replied.

"Oh, goodness."

"Impressive." I said.

"You said I can't go around naked in this world." she said, looking to Celestia, "And I've tried, it makes me uncomfortable. Makes me feel... well... naked. I'm not wearing the same thing like him, either. No way."

This seems familiar. "Yeah, I guess you got a point. Geez... Um..." I looked to Celestia. She just shrugged. "Yeah, no way around it, you need some new underwear. Celestia's won't fit you. Not that you'd wanna wear hers anyways, I'd imagine."

"Yuck. No."

"Right. Thankfully, you'll be easier to shop for."

"I can help you choose the right ones." said Celestia.

"Why can't he do it?"

"This isn't really... something a man can do." she replied.

"Whatever. As long as I can clean up a little."

"All you need is underwear. You can wear Celestia's clothes." I said.

"Hand-me-downs from the Princess?"

"Clothes are expensive. You're a big girl, you can deal with it."

"Alright, but I won't like it."

"I don't remember asking."

"Ooh, a bit sassy today, are we?"

"A bit sassy every day."

"Mmm-hmm... So when am I going home again?"

We both looked to Celestia.

"27 days. I'm sorry, Red. There's no other option."

"Wow, seriously? What great news that is... I'm just overjoyed to be here." The sarcasm is strong with this one.

"Well, at least you can get your hour in the yard." I said with a smile.

She smirked at me.

The three of us left for the store. Since I needed to get Red underwear, I had to go to Wal-Mart again. It felt a little strange leading around two women, but I got over it. Celestia was attached to my arm as we walked around. Even though we brought Red, Celestia still had her fun.

Red seemed content with her situation. She followed us around without complaint and even seemed to be interested in the world around her. I caught her chewing something a few minutes in, but she just smirked at me. If she got me in trouble, I would not be happy. I glared back at her.

While the original plan was to get more snacks for Celestia, the whole house needed restocking. That, alongside Red's clothes, could cost more than expected. I directed Red to the clothing department, where she and Celestia split off from the cart. I watched them over the clothing racks for a little while before I lost them behind a shelf. If I left to get food, it'd take too long to find them, so I stayed put in the aisle. They returned shortly.

"Find everything alright?" I asked.

"Yeah, I think so." Red replied, "This seems really complicated. Do I have to wear these?"

"Yes." Celestia and I replied in unison. We smiled at each other.

"Trust me, they help." Celestia added.

"Alright, if you say so."

I leaned in towards Celestia and whispered, "Red's not as big as you, they might not be as necessary."

"I suppose."

After Red put the clothes into the cart, we moved to the food section of the store. Celestia went a little overboard with the snacks. She's lucky she's so cute.

When we got home, Red immediately got in the shower. Celestia offered Red her robe for when she got out.

During the few minutes where we were alone, Celestia and I started talking.

"Can we get rid of Red yet?"

She sighed and shook her head. "My sister has made little progress."

"Worth a shot. At least you're starting to become friends."

"It helps that I have someone to talk to while you're gone."

"There ya go, silver lining. What do you talk about, anyways? You're not just abusing her, are you?"

"No, no, I would never. I've gotten past what happened between you and her. She's a good pony inside, even if she is a thief."

"So what's going to happen to her when she gets back?"

"I'll see she gets a fitting punishment. Her lawlessness cannot be ignored, but perhaps some good can come of this. She has so much talent. It would be a shame for it to go to waste. If I could take her in as my pupil, maybe I could help her use her powers for good. What do you think?"

"What do I think? I love it. Great idea."

She smiled. "I'm glad you think so."

"I think it won't be as easy as that, though. Red is... well... If the rest of your ponies find out about this, you might be seen as soft."

"I am soft."

Oh, do I know that... "You know what I mean."

She giggled. "I do. I'm willing to risk appearing soft if I can help my subjects. She has a lot to make up for, though. No matter what, this won't be easy for her."

"You'll figure something out."

She nodded. "I'll need to come up with a decision by the time I go home."

"By the time you go home, huh? You're going at the end of the month again. At least this time we'll know what's happening."

"Don't worry, I'll be back for the next month."

"But... you can't... can you?"

She frowned. "Phil..."

"Luna told me. She said that you can't be here for me every month. I know that she's right. I can't expect you to stay. It really hurts thinking about it."

"I know, Phil. It hurts me, too. I never like when we're apart. It makes me feel even more alone than before I met you."

"Yeah. But if this... keeps happening... To see you only three days a month, Celestia... It's heartbreaking."

She nodded, silent.

"So, Celestia... With that in mind, I... want to ask... What... kind of future do you see for us?"

"What... kind of future? I... I don't know. Our relationship has just started, Phil. It could go anywhere. How can I know? I want to answer, but I can't. All I know is... I love you."

"What kind of future... do you want?"

"What do I want? I... I just want to be with you... Oh, what's gotten into you? You're never this serious. I'm scared of the future, honey."

"I am, too."

"See? You understand. I'm sorry that I can't answer you now, Phil. I'm sorry that I can't... offer any sort of commitment to you. But... I'll have an answer for you. I promise. I don't know when and I don't know what I'll say, but I'll have an answer. But in return... I... I want an answer back. I want you to tell me what future you see for us."

"I already have my answer."

"You do? Wh-What is it?"

"I think you already know."

She didn't respond for a while. I guess I surprised her. Maybe she's wondering what I meant.

I smiled. "Maybe you don't. It's ok. I'll tell you after you tell me, Celestia. Alright?"

She sighed, disappointed but nonetheless accepting of my wishes. "For now... I just want you to remember that I love you. With all my heart."

"I love you too, Celestia."



November 3



Red was sitting at the kitchen table, a cereal bowl in front of her. Her eyes followed me as I poured my own and joined her.

"Getting sick of this place yet?" I asked.

"I was sick of it the day I got here."

"Oh yeah? That's rough. Has the Princess been nice to you? She's not here, you can be honest."

"Yeah, she's been nice. I guess I... don't exactly deserve it, though."

"Not really."

"You weren't supposed to agree with me."

I shrugged. "I'm glad you're getting along. I was worried for a little while. That being said, I can't wait until you're gone."

"How kind of you to say. Yeah, I heard what you and your Princess were saying about me. That it'd be better if I wasn't here. Not saying you're wrong, but it isn't nice to talk about someone behind their back."

"That's fair. I won't say things behind your back, then. I don't want you here any more than you do and you're interfering with our personal life. Still, you're my friend and I'm glad you're safe with us."

"That's a little harsh. You didn't have to say it like that."

"Honesty is important."

"I don't wanna hear about honesty. I'm a thief, it's not exactly in the job description."

I shrugged again before taking a bite of my cereal.

"Hey, did you... really mean that? That I'm... your friend?" She was looking to her food, idly moving her spoon around.

"Yeah. Of course."

She hesitated, still looking down, before saying, "Thanks."

"Oh, hey Red, I had a question."

"Yeah?"

"Are gems actually valuable in Equestria?"

"Of course they are. Why do you ask?"

"I dunno, I just... They aren't too hard to find, is the thing."

"They're still worth a lot. Why do you think I stole them?"

"That's fair. Who do you sell them to?"

"That's pushing it a bit. Your Princess set you up to this?"

"No, I'm just curious."

"That so? Either way, it's none of your business."

"Alright."

I asked her some more questions before I had to go to work. She seemed happy to talk about Equestria, as long as I didn't press her on her line of work. It was interesting to hear a different perspective on Equestria.

Celestia was happily sleeping away by the time I left. If she needed me, she would call. For now, she had Red.

Sarah and I spoke a bit at work, but it wasn't too meaningful. It wasn't much more than a repeat of our previous conversation. Speaking of Sarah, I heard a rumor that her father had gotten this job for her. It wasn't the first time it's happened, though. It's not like it really matters who works here as long as they don't mess things up. She's a fine worker.

For the first few hours, things went smoothly. It wasn't until near the end of my shift that something out of the ordinary happened. I was in the kitchen, doing as I do, when one of the cashiers, a man by the name of Greg, came back and told me, "Hey Phil, someone wants to see the manager."

"Yo, what?" It wasn't the first time this has happened. Though not common, we get all sorts of people asking for me. It was just part of the job.

Standing at the counter was a middle-aged woman with a cup of soda in her hand. Her arms were crossed. As soon as I came into view, her eyes narrowed at me.

"Are you the manager?" she shot at me.

"Yes I am. My name is Phil."

"I don't care what your name is."

Oh... A rude customer. How unlucky for her that I am an incredibly petty man.

"I ordered a cheeseburger without mustard for my son and there was mustard on it! I demand a refund for it!"

"Of course, I'm sorry for the inconvenience. And do you have the receipt?" I said with a smile.

She reached into her purse and slapped her hand onto the counter.

A line had started to form behind her. I tapped my co-worker on the shoulder and pointed to the other register. He went back to work as I spoke with her.

I picked up the receipt and examined it. It listed the alleged cheeseburger without mustard, along with some other food items. The receipt was dated five days ago and was for a different McDonald's location in Illinois.

I placed the receipt back onto the counter. "Everything seems to be in order. Refund for one cheeseburger, $1.05. One moment while I..."

"Not just the burger, the whole meal."

"I'm sorry?"

"I want a refund for the entire order."

I wonder how much harm it would cause if I pushed back a bit... "Well, as you've stated, the burger was the offending item."

"So what? You got my order wrong."

"Indeed. And we will happily reimburse you for the cheeseburger."

"And the rest of the order."

"I'm sorry, but as you have said, the problem lies with the burger. Asking for a refund for an entire order because of one item is not a request we can entertain. I can refund the price of the burger, but not the full order." Need to speak slow for these people. Too many words and the gears in their head start to burn out. Ironic considering I'm just some kid working at McDonald's.

"Well the other burgers had mustard on them, too."

"Indeed. Our cheeseburgers are served with mustard."

Someone in line snickered.

"I ordered them without mustard."

"Is that so? It says on the receipt that they were ordered without any changes."

"Well, you obviously heard me wrong."

"Actually ma'am, it wasn't us who would have heard you wrong. Upon closer inspection, it seems this receipt is from a different location. I suppose that would be on them to give you your refund. I'm sure they'd be more than happy to help you. If you'd like, I could give you their phone number. I could even direct you towards their location."

I know I'm not supposed to be doing this kind of thing, but to see the look on their faces, questioning why this burger-flipper isn't immediately caving to their demands, it's priceless. Really strokes the ego. I can totally give her the refund and send her on her merry way. Oh, but to witness this... Jeopardizing my job has never felt so good.

Though to be fair, in my defense, I didn't actually know if we could refund her. After all, it wasn't our restaurant that committed this heinous crime. In her defense, that's entirely up to me to know.

I'm glad Celestia isn't here to see this. I'd never act like this in front of her. Oh... But if I act like this when I'm not around her, is it really any better? She would never approve. I think I have some issues to work out. That kinda killed the mood.

"It's all McDonald's, who cares where I got it? Are you going to help me or not? I'm not going anywhere until I get my refund."

"Unfortunately ma'am, this seems to be all I can do."

"All you can do?!" she shouted at me.

"Yes, I'm sorry ma'am. Again, I could give you their number, they'll be more than happy to-"

"I don't want their damn number, I want my refund!"

Ah yes, the pièce de résistance... 'If I raise my voice, people will listen'. "There's really nothing else we can do. I'm sorry."

"I'm not going anywhere!"

Now for the cherry on top... The phrase guaranteed to enrage anybody in any confrontation... "Ma'am, I think you should calm down. You're making the other customers nervous."

I didn't know what it was about those two little words, but as if flipping a switch, 'calm down' awakened the demons. There wasn't a single word that she said that I didn't ignore completely.

After the seemingly endless tirade of four letter words came to a stop, I simply replied, "Ma'am, all this shouting is making the other customers uncomfortable. I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

"Ask me to leave? How dare you?!"

"You will have to return to the other McDonald's restaurant in order to receive your refund. As it stands, we cannot help you. Please leave."

"I'm not going anywhere until you refund my order."

This was honestly starting to sound like a scam. "You're making both my customers and my employees uncomfortable. If you don't leave, I'm afraid I'm going to have to call the police. I would really prefer not to do that."

"You wouldn't dare."

"Ma'am, this is your last chance. Leave now, or I will call the police."

"I'm not going anywhere." she repeated.

Normally, calling the police is a big no-no for us. The presence of an officer scares the customers and looks bad to the superiors. Not one to bluff though, I reached into my pocket and retrieved my phone. As soon as I had unlocked it, she swiped for it, taking it from my hand. She smirked at me, as if she had somehow got the better of me.

At first, I didn't realize what she did. As the reality set in, I could only question how taking my phone helped her. Other people touching my phone made me nervous. Very nervous. I didn't know why, it wasn't like I was ashamed of the adult pictures or erotic stories on it. Maybe it was the risk that they would somehow be deleted. No matter the reason though, when I saw my phone in her hand, my entire body tensed.

I held out an open hand and said simply, "Give that back."

Without warning, a hand struck my face. There was a gasp from the crowd. For such a skinny lady, she hit hard. I sucked in a breath, staring at her as I did.

"Phil?" asked my co-worker, his voice worried, probably for the safety of the woman across the counter.

I took in a deep breath before slowly letting it out. "Greg, please call the police."

He nodded before retrieving his own phone.

Despite the sting, I didn't react any further to the pain. Once more, I said, "Give me my phone and leave... now."

"Give me my money."

Does she really think this will work out for her? "This is the last time I'm going to say this." I growled, "Give me my phone, or I will take it from you."

There was a mountain of reasons preventing me from retaliating. Even if it were legally justified after being struck, I'd lose my job for sure. The ice has been thinning since I met Celestia.

She looked to Greg, then back to me. "Fine."

She slapped my phone against my hand and turned towards the door without another word.

"Still... call the police?" Greg asked after she left. I noticed that he hadn't dialed yet.

"Uh... Shit... Yeah. Lemme take care of it."

"You got it."

"Right... Sorry about the inconvenience, everyone." I announced to the people in line, "Please resume enjoying yourselves."

There were a few sympathetic murmurs from the crowd, but nothing more. Business resumed as usual. The people near the counter simply re-queued into their line and ordered. With the situation de-escalated, I didn't feel the need to bother the police dispatcher. It was easy enough to call the non-emergency number and tell them what happened. They said they would send someone for a copy of the security footage.

"Ow..." I complained to nobody in particular as I sulked off to the break room.

"Are you alright?" asked Sarah.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little assaulted."

She was the only one who came to talk. Not that the others didn't care, of course. Most knew that it was better if I was left alone for a little while.

"That didn't end too well, did it?" she asked, staring at the red mark on my face.

I shrugged. "Aren't I great with customers?"

"Well... you got her to leave."

"It took a while."

"Y-Yeah... D-Does this happen often? You seemed pretty calm."

"Not often, but not never. We see people like her from time to time. This is the second time I've been struck when talking to a customer."

"Oh, goodness..."

"They think it's fine 'cause I'm a big guy, but I still got feelings." I chuckled, "But it usually goes well. I don't know why I gave her so much trouble."

"Well, I think you handled it just fine."

"Thanks, Sarah. You know, someone tried to rob this place before."

"What? R-Really? What happened?"

"It was back when I was in Timmy's position. You know, assistant manager. So anyways, this skinny guy in a hoodie walks in and just points a gun at us. Old manager freaked out and ran off, so I stepped in. 'And what can I do for you, sir?', I asked him. He said he wanted the money in the register. And you know what I did, Sarah?"

"N-No, wh-what?"

"I did exactly as he said. Life isn't an action movie. If you endanger yourself or others by taking matters into your own hands, boom, you're fired. They don't need that kind of liability. Anyways, I grabbed a bag, put the money inside, and off he went. Called the police as soon as he was gone and they caught him in like half an hour. He wasn't the brightest knife in the drawer."

She chuckled nervously.

"Old manager was fired 'cause he just left us to fend for ourselves, and between you and me, the numbers at the end of the day didn't always add up. Big dogs look down on that kind of behavior. They were so impressed by my bravery that they promoted me on the spot. Got a raise and everything. I sure didn't feel brave when I went home and threw up that night, though. Made me super nervous for like the next month."

"Oh, I'm so s-sorry."

"It's alright. My face hurts."

"Are you going to be alright?"

"Yeah, I'm good. 'Bout time to go home, anyways. Looking forward to it."

It wasn't long before an officer came to follow up on the report. Thankfully, it didn't take long.

As I walked home, I noticed an extra shadow from behind me. I turned to look and saw that it was an admittedly good looking, brown haired woman in her mid-or-so twenties. Reminded me of the woman Celestia spoke with on Halloween. Actually, it was her. Huh...

"Hello!" I greeted with a wave, slowing so we walked side-by-side.

She responded with a simple, "Hello."

"I think I recognize you from last night. You were the lady that Celestia offered a bar of chocolate."

"Oh, was that her name? I forgot to ask."

"I was surprised to see someone like you. I dunno. You didn't have any kids with ya and you didn't have a costume or a bag, so you weren't trick-or-treating."

"It's not too strange to meet the locals when you move in. With all the people, I figured it wouldn't hurt to strike up a few conversations."

"Oh, you're new here! Ok, I guess that makes sense."

"You must've just got off work with that uniform you're wearing. I remember your house was in this direction."

"That's right."

"So... tell me... That woman, Celestia... Who is she to you? Maybe a... girlfriend?"

"Yeah, she's my girlfriend. We've been living together recently."

"Is that so? I figured I'd ask, just in case."

"I guess." Was she interested in me? Was she interested in Celestia?

"What's with the red mark?" she asked.

"Oh, difficult customer."

"How awful. Is your girlfriend nice?"

She went right back to the Celestia topic. "Yeah, she's a real sweetheart."

"She's very pretty. You're a lucky guy."

"Yeah, I know."

"Not many men can say they've won the heart of a Princess."

I stopped walking.

She took a few more steps before turning around with a smirk on her face. "Oops, maybe I've said too much." She giggled.

"So you're from Equestria, too?" I asked.

"I am. You know what a changeling is, don't you?"

"You're a changeling? What are you doing here?"

"Don't worry, I'm not here to cause any trouble. I simply enjoy being a human. Walking on two legs is a nice change of pace."

"I don't believe you."

"I would have been surprised if you did. I've wondered what the Princess was doing here, but I never would have expected her to fall in love with a human."

"Why are you here? Who are you?" I asked.

"All in due time. You see, I am in need of your services. A certain pony you know has stolen something from me that I would like back."

"Red?"

"Indeed." To my surprise, her eyes trailed downwards. She crossed her arms over her chest as she began shifting on her feet. I didn't know why, but she seemed... vulnerable. "It is something... near and dear to my heart. If I could get it myself, I would. She is in possession of a number of magical artefacts, among them one that grants her the ability to see through my disguise. I can't get close, nor does she trust me."

This is... manipulation. Her body language... Her soft voice... She knew exactly what to say to interest me. I knew who this was.

"Queen Chrysalis?" I asked.

She sighed, her smile fading. "I tried not to make it too obvious, but you really couldn't let me have my fun?"

"Sorry."

"Yes, you're right. I am Queen Chrysalis. Since you already seem to know who I am, it makes this easier. By now, you must realize that this is no small matter to me."

"So, say I believe that you're not here to cause any problems, what do you want me to get from Red?"

Once more, she looked away. "Before I say it, I want you to know that not a soul in Equestria knows about this. Not even my own comrades. It is not something dangerous or... particularly valuable. With this in mind, I expect you to be discreet. I can reward you handsomely."

"I... I can try. So... what is it? What did she take?"

She kept silent. Her gaze shifted away from me.

"Chrysalis?"

"It's... embarrassing to say. You are the only other person who will know about this. She... She stole... a stuffed bear. My stuffed bear."

"Are... Are you serious?"

"I wouldn't come to you if I weren't serious." She crossed her arms, glaring at me,

This could all be a total lie but I believed her completely because I have trouble distrusting ponies. "So you followed her here to retrieve it?"

"Very few of my comrades know I am here. None of them know why. As I said, I am unable to retrieve it myself. I am enlisting your help with this and I do not expect you to do this for free. As you know, I am a Queen. I have the resources of a nation at my disposal. I can and will repay you for this."

"How did you get here, anyways?"

"If you retrieve my... possession, I will tell you."

I paused. If it was a secret, then it could help Luna's information gathering. Should I really do this? Hmm... "Alright... I'm going to be honest with you, Red's a lot smarter than me. She'll see me coming as soon as I let on that I know. So before I accept this, I wanted you to know that I am not confident in my abilities to retrieve it for you."

She took in a breath and let it out slowly. "I am aware. I have no choice in the matter. I cannot get close to Red Shadow and I will not involve my own comrades in this matter. Asking you is my only option. Do we have a deal?" She's been using 'comrade' a lot... Why that particular nomenclature?

She held out her hand to me. I looked at it, then back to her face. She was serious about this. I looked back to her hand. Should I trust her? She'd probably get angry if I say no.

"Alright, deal." I grabbed her hand.

"Thank you." She smiled. "You have quite a special relationship with that Princess of yours, you know."

"Yeah, I like to think so."

"I'm surprised. Your love is so strong. You truly care for her, don't you?"

"Yeah. I do. I love her."

"What would happen if I were to take her form, I wonder."

"I... don't know."

"Not a guess? Perhaps you just don't want to say."

Filthy succubus don't tempt me. "Is there something else you want from me?" I asked, annoyed that she so easily made me uncomfortable.

"Oh, have I struck a nerve? Or perhaps... Do you not like me?"

"I've seen what you do. You're a bad influence."

"That's one way of putting it."

"You know, a disguise like that wouldn't even work out for you in the long run."

"If I can fool the Princess, I can fool you."

"That's not what I..." I paused. "Alright."

"To tell the truth, I had planned on meeting you regardless. Red seems to have sped up the process."

"Why so?"

"You're drawing quite a lot of attention amongst those interested in the Princess. There are other beings in our world keeping their eye on you."

"Really? That's kinda weird to think about. They better not show up here, too. I got enough to worry about."

"You've handled yourself rather well, given the circumstances. You have Princess Celestia quite literally eating from your hands. I've never seen her so... subservient."

"Dunno what you're talking about."

"She's powerful, Phil. More powerful than even I am. You have someone with that much power at your mercy. It's impressive, really."

"Calm down, Chrysalis. She's my girlfriend. We love each other. It's not complicated."

Chrysalis chuckled. "I've known Princess Celestia for a very long time. She is a force to be reckoned with. She's brilliant, powerful, and charismatic. She's an incredible mare. I'm not surprised you've fallen for her the way you have." She chuckled again. "I did not expect her to fall for you. I think I understand why, though. She's just as lonely as anyone else. With that loneliness comes a weakness of sorts. You'd understand if you were as old as we are."

"I don't need you analyzing my relationship, Chrysalis. You gotta mind your own business."

She scowled, crossing her arms. "How rude. I thought we were business partners."

"Just because I'm helping you doesn't mean I have to put up with you. But... I don't want to be on your bad side. So... I apologize for my rudeness."

She chuckled. "You're serious about this. I appreciate your apology. I suppose it's time for me to take my leave. I'll be in touch." She turned and walked away without another word.

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"In due time, Phil. In due time."

I don't think I told her my name.

The disembodied voice of a woman began speaking to me. "Who was that woman you spoke to?" It seems Luna was spying on me.

"It was... I... I don't think I should say."

"I wouldn't advise testing my patience, Phil. She's not normal, your refusal to answer proves this."

"She's from Equestria."

"Is she? Did she tell you that?"

"Yeah. She's someone you know. Someone... not on your side."

"Why are you protecting her?" She seemed to calm down a bit. Luna already knew that I responded well to kindness. It would be easier to get an answer from me like this.

"She might know another way to travel to this world. I'm sure you've been keeping watch on the crystal mirror. It wouldn't be easy for someone to slip through again after all this."

"Astute deduction. And you're afraid if we take action, we could lose this information:"

"Yeah... Yeah. It's... I'll tell you who it is, Luna. It's..."

"No, no... Don't tell me." I heard a chuckle. "This is quite the mystery you've given me. Instead of telling me who it is, tell me what she said."

"She said Red took something from her. It's something personal. Something private. Something that couldn't be dangerous to anyone." I added that last point to try to convince her that Chrysalis meant no harm. I didn't know if I believed it, myself.

"I take it this is a secret as well?"

"Yeah. She asked me to be discreet about it. It's... It's really not my place to share, either."

"Why?"

"It... It's her private possession. Everyone has a right to keep some things secret."

"Everyone? Including you?"

"Well, yeah."

"Are you keeping these secrets from my sister?"

"S-Sometimes."

"Hmm... Just remember where your priorities lie, Phil. I'll keep this from my sister, for now. Is that what you would like me to do?"

"Y-Yeah... Thanks, Luna."

"I bid thee well, Phil. I must return to my studies."

"Luna, wait... before you go..."

"Yes?"

"Do you... Do you see a future for Celestia and I?"

There was a long pause before she finally said, "Goodbye, Phil."

I wasn't given a chance to respond before her presence left my mind. I sighed to myself before saying to nobody, "Bye, Luna."

Well... things have just taken an interesting turn.

I have been given a mission. A mission to retrieve Queen Chrysalis's... teddy bear. Why would Red steal a teddy bear? What kind of person steals a teddy bear? I certainly don't go around swiping people's teddies. Maybe it would be worth a lot if she sold it, I don't know. She said that Red had artefacts on her. What kind of artefacts does she have?

It won't be easy to get information out of Red. This would be an interesting next few days.

After speaking to Chrysalis, I continued home. I briefly looked behind me as I got to my door, but saw nothing.

"Hey, Celestia." I greeted Celestia as she sat on the couch.

She looked up and smiled, but her smile faded as she took a closer look at my face. "What's that red mark?"

"Isn't that a hand?" Red asked, "Oh, someone slapped you!"

"You sure seem happy to say that." I noticed, "This is just something a rude customer gave me."

"What happened?" Celestia asked, an innocent concern in her voice.

I told her what happened at work today, including the part where I told Sarah the story of the robbery, which I also told Celestia. I kept Chrysalis out of it. Mentioning her would just make things more complicated.

Red laughed. "You're a real charmer, aren't you?"

"I'm gonna go shower." I said.

"Ca..." Celestia started to talk, but stopped herself, a disappointed look on her face. I think she had less than pure intentions.

I left the two of them for the basement to get some clothes. I had to wash Red's clothes, including her delicates. She showered yesterday, right? Yeah, she changed. Just like Celestia, there were no size tags on Red's clothes. These missing tags were getting annoying. I probably shouldn't be handling Red's underwear for longer than I have to. If she saw me with them, she'd get the wrong idea. Or she'd poke fun at me. I don't know which is worse.

The shower was uninteresting, though it revealed to me that our hair care products needed replacement. Both Celestia and Red put a lot of care into their hair. The three of us could probably go through a bottle a week. Or more. Or less. I am not good with estimations.

I thought about what Chrysalis said and brainstormed ways to get her bear from Red. Nothing notable came to mind. Soon, my thoughts started to wander. Did Chrysalis have a place to stay? I'd offer for her to stay at my house if it weren't for the obvious. Red is enough as it is. I couldn't see myself making it a foursome no matter how hard I tried.

I heard my phone ringing from the front room. It stopped after a few seconds, which was a little confusing, as it usually rings for quite a while if I don't answer. I found the reason shortly after, with a cheerful greeting from Celestia. She must have answered the phone for me. Kinda strange since she's never done it before.

I stopped washing for a while so I could listen in.

"Hello? He's in the shower right now. Oh, I'm sorry! My name is Celestia. I'm Phil's girlfriend. I should have introduced myself. It's nice to meet you too, Sue. Oh, that sounds wonderful! I'll let him know. I'd love to! Alright. Goodbye, then! I hope to see you soon!"

See you soon? I knew by the name that she was talking to my grandma. I guess she wanted to invite me over, and when she learned about Celestia, she was happy to invite her, too. Honestly, that sounds like such a good idea that I would take Celestia to meet her regardless.

When I was finally clean, I stepped out of the shower and dried myself with a towel. I looked at myself in the mirror, wondering what's really been going on with me since Celestia arrived. My six-pack was long gone. Haven't been to the gym in at least a year. How much did I weigh? I had no idea. I might need a haircut soon. I don't know, I kinda liked it long. I'll ask Celestia.

There was a knock on the door. "Phil? You got a phone call."

"Yeah, I heard you talking."

"I... hope that was ok. It was from your grandmother."

"It's alright. You can talk to my family." I replied.

She giggled. "She invited us to her home. She said that you should bring a rake."

"A rake? Oh, alright. Are you excited?"

"More than I've been in a long time. Truth be told, I was a little nervous when I answered the phone. I'm glad she was so kind to me. She was shocked to hear that you had a girlfriend."

"I bet she was. It's been a while. I guess since we're going somewhere, I may as well shave."

"Good idea. You've gotten messy."

After a short shave, I finally exited the bathroom. I cleaned my mess and met Celestia and Red in the front room. Wait a minute... Red...

"Hey Red, Celestia and I are leaving soon. Don't eat all our snacks."

"You're really just leaving me here alone?" she asked.

"What? She can't stay here on her own." said Celestia.

"Well, I don't wanna bring her with. I'm sure she doesn't wanna come with either, right Red?"

"Nope, leave me out of it."

"See?" I said.

"Are you sure, Phil?"

I nodded. "It'll be fine. Red can stay here while we head out and have fun with the family."

"Well, alright." She smiled. "In that case... Red, I have something for you." She reached into her pocket and retrieved her phone. She held it out to Red, who took it. "Use that to get in contact with us."

Red opened it, then closed it, then opened it again. She raised an eyebrow at Celestia.

"Don't worry, I'll teach you how to use it." Celestia sat next to her on the couch and ran her through the process of making a call.

As they worked with the phone, I moved outside to the garage to retrieve my rake. I kicked the side door open, mainly because it was always stuck and had no functioning knob in the first place. Thankfully, the rake was easy to reach. I grabbed it and put it in the trunk of my car. Celestia was still teaching Red how to use the phone when I returned.

"What is this?!" Red held up the phone to me with wide eyes.

"It's a phone." I answered.

"I know what it is! How does it work?! It's so small!"

"Well, Red... It just works."

"That's not an explanation!"

"It's all you need to know."

"No it isn't! This is just crazy..."

I got out my phone and called the one in her hand. As soon as it started ringing, she pulled her hand away, dropping it to the couch. She just stared at it, letting it ring.

"Careful with that." I said, "You tell her how to answer it yet?"

Celestia picked it up and gave it to Red, who opened it.

I put mine up to my face. "Hello."

She stared at it, then did as I did. "H-Hello?"

"See? Easy." I said into it.

She pulled it away from her face. "Whoa... I saw the Princess pick up yours but I didn't really understand what was happening. Hey, how come yours looks so different from this one?"

"Different model, different features."

"Oh... Ok. This is... pretty cool."

"You'll be fine here on your own, right? Yeah, of course you will. We'll probably be gone all day. Just call if you need something, alright?"

"Yeah, I'll try."

"And don't run away."

"I won't!"

I looked to Celestia. "Ready?"

"Oh, this is so exciting!" she said with a smile.

"I'll take that as a yes. C'mon."

She followed me out to the car, smiling brightly. She's never met anyone from my family. No wonder she's so excited.

To grandmother's house we go.
> Chapter 17
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

November 3



As soon as we got to the road leading us out of town, Celestia seemed to get excited.

"Oh, I remember this street!" she said, admiring the scenery of the... trees, "We had to go this way to help your friend get home."

"Yeah, that's right. That was so long ago."

"I seem to remember something else happening after he left..." she said with a giggle.

"Right..."

"This is the furthest I've been from the city so far. It's beautiful... The smell, not so much." She laughed. There was a distinct skunk-like smell in the air. Probably a skunk.

Celestia's eyes wandered from side-to-side, taking in the sights. Having traveled this road many times, I knew that there was nothing special to see. It was all farmland out here. Maybe she liked that. She didn't know what was out here. I certainly wouldn't spoil the surprise for her.

I had to cross the river to reach my grandma's house. For the rest of the trip, the river would be just to our left. During the rainy season, this road was often covered with water. Thankfully, it was clear today.

I noticed that her gaze was fixed on the river. It wasn't much of a spectacle, and the trees kept blocking her view, but she was having fun, which was all that mattered.

"What are you looking at?" I asked.

"Oh, the... I don't know."

"You don't know?"

"The river, I suppose. This is all so new to me."

"Fun, ain't it?"

"Yeah."

"You know, one of these days I gotta teach you how to drive."

"Teach me... how to drive? You mean... how to drive a car?"

"Well, what else would I mean, silly?"

"Isn't that dangerous?"

"No, no... Well yes, but no."

"Yes?"

"It can be dangerous if you don't know how. That's why I want to teach you."

"I've... never really thought about it. Do you think I could?"

"Oh, I'm sure you'd be a great driver. Knowing me though, I'm gonna forget about this. I definitely don't want to force you to learn."

She let out a nervous chuckle. There was a short pause before she spoke. "Who do you think is going to be there?"

"My brothers and sisters, most likely."

"What about your parents? Are they busy?"

"My dad doesn't usually show up for gatherings on this side of the family. And since my mom passed away, I doubt she'll show up either."

"Your mother... passed? My goodness... I'm so sorry."

"It's alright, honey. That's life. That's what all the people say."

"Well... If it's any consolation... my parents are also gone."

"Yeah, Luna told me."

"My sister did?"

"That's not much of a consolation at all, actually."

"Oh, no, no, no... I mean... They died a long time ago... I... You understand, right? Please tell me you understood what I was trying to say."

"Yeah, I understood. You're cute when you're flustered."

"Oh, shush."

It wasn't difficult to travel to my grandma's house. I turned down another road after we got into town and we were there in just a few minutes.

"There it is." I said, parking alongside the curb across the street. I saw two cars in the driveway and two in the street, but I didn't know whose cars they were. "That one." I pointed across the street.

"It's a cute house. Looks bigger than yours."

"Gee thanks, Celestia."

"No, I didn't..." She grumbled. "Do you think they'll like me?"

"Of course they will. You're the nicest person I know. Besides, you're my little sunflower, aren't you?"

"There's that name again. It makes my heart flutter when you say it like that, honey..."

I smiled at her. "Are you ready, Celestia?"

"I'm nervous."

"Nervous? You?"

She nodded. She looked embarrassed, which I thought was really cute.

"Don't worry, honey. They'll love you."

She put on a warm smile. "Perhaps you're right."

"Oh, darn."

"Hmm?"

"Ah... It's just... the meal she's serving. I'm sure it's meat. I... should've picked something up for you. I wasn't thinkin'."

"There will be other food, right?"

"Well, yeah. Probably Potatoes and stuffing and stuff."

"I'll just eat that."

"Well... alright. Let me know if... uh... you feel uncomfortable with anything."

She nodded. The two of us got out of the car. I waited for Celestia on my side of the car.

"Phil?"

"Yes?"

"I'm already uncomfortable." She chuckled. "But... I think I know how you can help."

"Hmm?"

Our eyes met. Hers flicked to her outstretched hand. I grabbed on with a smile. Together, the two of us walked across the street and up the sidewalk leading to the door. I opened the door for us and stepped inside, Celestia following close behind. A pleasant smell of cooking food filled the air.

I'm sure they had been watching us walk up through the kitchen window.

"Hi Phil!" my grandmother said in a welcoming voice as she saw me. She was a short, thin woman in her seventies that still looked quite young despite her diet of soda and cigarettes. She always wore her grey-blonde hair short.

"Nice of you to drop by." said my younger sister, Katie, a taller woman with dyed-green hair.

"Hi Gamma!" I replied, walking up and hugging her. She was tiny, even smaller than Luna, so I had to bend down to do it.

"Did you get bigger since the last time you were here?" she asked, hugging me back.

"No, you just shrunk."

She gave me a sarcastic, "Thanks."

"So you're his new girlfriend?" asked Katie, talking to Celestia.

"That's right. My name is Celestia. I'm Phil's... girlfriend. It's nice to finally meet a part of his family." She still sounded nervous. It was kinda weird. Celestia didn't have any reason to be nervous. She's the Princess of Equestria, nothing should make her nervous. Maybe I just didn't understand how she felt. Well, I definitely didn't understand how she felt, I already knew that.

"Oh... Wow... I love your hair."

"Thank you. Yours is quite nice, as well."

"Thanks. It's nice to meet you, I'm Katie."

"I hope you're better than his last girlfriend. I heard she was a real bitch." said my grandmother, as eloquent as ever, "Oh, I'm Sue. We talked on the phone."

"That's right. It's great to meet you in person." Celestia replied with a smile.

"It's great to meet you, too. It was a real surprise hearing a woman's voice on the other side."

"Who else is here?" I asked.

"Just Heather. And Lily. Your brothers were busy."

"Alright. C'mon, Celestia. Down here." I waved her over as I started towards the stairs.

She smiled as she followed behind. My sister and grandmother watched her as she moved, curious about the goddess in human form that had entered their house.

The stairs creaked loudly as we walked down, no doubt alerting the people in the basement.

As I got to the bottom, there was a loud, "Philly!" A woman ran to me and greeted me with a big hug, which I was happy to reciprocate. My sister Heather, a cheerful lady. "It's been a while. How have... Oh my god! Are you Phil's girlfriend?"

Celestia smiled. "That's right. My name is Celestia."

"I'm Heather, I'm Phil's older sister." Her eyes were wide. Eventually, she stopped staring and said, "I didn't think Phil would get a real girlfriend anytime soon. Especially one like you."

"Rude." I said, "Where's Lily?"

"Oh, she's over with Rick." she replied, gesturing to them.

"I'm gonna say hi to her."

I left the two of them to chat while I stepped over to the computer desk in the corner where my niece Lily was playing. Though she was wearing headphones, she quickly noticed me.

She waved at me, a smile on her face. "Hi, Philly!"

"Hi, Lily!" I cheerfully replied.

She giggled. We waved at each other for a small while longer before she returned to her game. It was probably some Frozen dress-up game with Let It Go blaring in the background. She loved that song, much to our annoyance. It's a good song, but hearing it on repeat for hours on end isn't healthy.

On another computer near her, my great-uncle Rick was watching a video on youtube. He seemed busy, so I turned back for Celestia.

Though Heather was shorter than Katie, she was taller than my grandmother, who was about as tall as her brother. Lily still had a few more years to go until she passed grandma, but was quite tall for her young age.

"Have you played Cards Against Humanity?" Heather asked Celestia, continuing their conversation as I got back.

"No, I haven't." she answered.

"You wouldn't like it." I said, "It's full of dark humor."

"I can enjoy... dark humor. Sometimes."

"Nah, you still wouldn't like it."

"Ok." she said with a smile, taking my word for it.

"Well, how do you know if she wouldn't like it if she hasn't played?" Heather asked.

"Celestia has a pure, innocent heart. She'd never like something as dark as Cards Against Humanity."

"Phil, you know that isn't true." said Celestia, "But, if he doesn't think I would enjoy it, I probably wouldn't. He knows what's best for me."

"What about Apples to Apples?" Heather asked.

"Hmm?"

"Never played it, either?"

"No, I don't think so."

"That one you'd love." I said.

"Oh! Can we play?" she asked with a smile.

"We gotta rake first." I said, "But we can play right after."

"Does your friend want to help? Maybe she can take Katie's place in the kitchen. Are you any good around an oven?"

Celestia glanced at me for a short while before saying, "I... suppose I could help if I were needed."

"No, I got it!" Katie called from upstairs.

"Guess not." said Heather.

"C'mon Celestia, let's go see the back yard. You don't gotta rake if you don't want to." I said, turning back to the stairs, "I'm gonna start a fire."

The three of us walked back upstairs and out the back door to the connected garage. Katie joined us after we got upstairs. We walked next to the car and out the back door. The backyard was larger than mine, though it was average for the city. Various pieces of wood were stacked in the back on pallets along the chest-high metal fence. Small trees and other plants covered the back fence, blocking most of the view to the neighbor's yard behind us. It was quite a nice looking yard to someone like me.

I started work on the fire. With a copious amount of paper recycling to use as a fire starter, the only thing stopping me was the unusually active wind. I piled some logs over a layer of paper in our fire pit, a metal bowl about a foot or so off the ground with a tall cage around it. I did not know the proper name for it, so I can only hope my riveting description can fill the void I have so carelessly left in your hearts. Unfortunately, with no organization to the wood, it wouldn't start.

"Phil, get a rake." said Katie, noticing my inactivity.

"You get a rake." I rebutted.

"Phil, get me a rake." she said, subtly changing her order.

"Okie dokie." I moved to the shed, which was connected to a screen-house of sorts. My grandmother would come here to enjoy the outdoors while reading. It was pretty cozy, if a bit cramped. Inside the shed were three rakes, making the total four with the one I brought.

I got two rakes out. As soon as I passed one to Katie, Heather said, "Me too."

"Okie dokie." I repeated, turning back for the third.

I heard Celestia chuckle.

When I came back out, Celestia was looking to the leaf-filled yard. "This yard... It looks beautiful." she said, smile wide.

"Yeah, it does looks nice." said Heather.

The four of us paused, standing together on the edge of the patio. Celestia's words must've gotten to them, because it was quite a while before anyone said anything.

"Anyways, gotta rake it." Katie said, stepping forward.

"Yep."

Celestia watched as we got to work. This was how it was every year. Our family gathered at our grandmother's house to rake the leaves a few times every fall. We dumped them in the road for the cleaner, ate, played games, then went home. It was always nice spending time with my family. I'm glad Celestia was able to join us. She seemed so happy. After a while, we were joined by Lily.

"Hey, I seriously love your hair." said Katie, "How'd you get that color to line up like that?"

"I visited a stylist, of course." she replied without hesitating.

"Where do you go? I gotta know."

Celestia chuckled. "My stylist operates out of an establishment known as the Carousel Boutique. It's quite a journey away."

"Why did you... pick that hairstyle? If I might ask. Don't get me wrong, I think it looks great on you, it's just pretty weird."

"I like it." she answered, smiling.

Katie seemed disappointed.

"Can I... help?" asked Celestia.

We looked to her.

"Yeah, alright. One sec." I said. I walked over to them and set the rake up against Katie's body. "Hold that, I gotta get something from the car."

"Gee, thanks."

I went back out front to retrieve the rake I brought. I tried to trade with Katie as I got back.

"No, I want this one." She pulled it away.

"You're just gonna stand there and watch us."

"I'm gonna watch you get hit by a rake is what I'm gonna watch."

"Whatever." I turned to Celestia. "Here ya go. Have fun."

She took it, examined it, then looked back at me, a small smile on her face. I didn't completely understand why she was so excited to work, but if it made her happy, I was happy.

"I'm gonna go check on my grandma. Be right back." I said.

I rested my rake against the back of the garage as I walked inside. With the stove on, it was warmer inside than it was outside. A strong smell of cooking food had filled the air.

"Having fun?" I asked.

She was sitting at the kitchen table reading a magazine. "Having a blast." she said, "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, everything's fine. I just came in to check on ya."

"Oh, well I'm fine. Katie helped me make the food, now it's just cooking."

"Alright, cool. Hey... Celestia doesn't eat meat. Sorry, I should've mentioned this earlier."

"There's other stuff for her. She can fill up on rolls. Just have her skip the ham."

"That's what she said. I just thought I'd let you know. You know, so you're not offended when she doesn't eat it."

She smirked. "Yeah, yeah. Oh, I bought pie, too. You liked pumpkin pie, right?"

"Uh... Yeah. Kinda."

"Kinda?"

"Well, I... prefer other pie."

She smirked. "You picky little shit. I got apple, too. Do ya like apple? If not, too bad. More for us."

"I like apple. Thank you."

"Food'll be done in about an hour." She said with a smile. "I expect that yard to be raked by then."

"We'll do our best."

"I am not used to this." Celestia said aloud as I walked out. She was still working with the rake, which was a little surprising to me.

"Having fun?" I asked her.

"I am. It's been so long since I've done yard work like this."

"Good, then you can have fun together." said Katie, setting her rake on the ground and pushing the handle towards me.

I jumped back, letting it land on the ground. "You touched it last."

"Have fun with it." She moved to one of the nearby seats and pulled out her phone.

I ignored the rake and took another look at the unlit fire pit.

Celestia joined me. "You seem quite fascinated with making the fire."

"Of course! Starting a fire is a man's romance!" I struck a dramatic pose.

"What?"

"I dunno, I'm sure I heard it from a show... Movie, maybe."

She chuckled. "A man's romance? You're just saying things."

"I'm always saying things."

"I've seen a lot of men claiming something to that effect. I think I've come to understand why."

"Why?" I asked.

"Men are odd."

"Women are odd." I eloquently rebutted.

"She's right." called Katie, "Men are weird."

"I'm with Phil, women are weird." Heather added.

"See, she gets it." I said.

"Get back to work!" Heather called, "Grandma might see you."

"Alright, I'm coming." Katie stood back up, retrieving the rake from the side of the garage instead of picking up the one she dropped.

"I won't be long. I just wanna get this started." I said.

"Hurry up, then."

"You can't rush perfection."

"I'm not rushing perfection, I'm rushing you."

I turned back to the fire pit. Only after employing ancient Zarosian techniques was I able to get the fire started. I rearranged the larger pieces of wood into a triangle and the extra airflow allowed the smaller sticks to catch and stay lit.

After I was satisfied with the fire, I turned to the yard. "Alright, back to raking."

With Celestia's help, it didn't take long at all to work the leaves into a pile. Lily ran around to help, but without a rake of her own, she was left picking up sticks. She wore an adorable pink jacket. Celestia loved watching her run.

Every once in a while, someone jumped into the pile. Usually Lily. We would cover her with leaves only for her to burst out and make a huge mess. Cleaning the mess was worth her laughter. Geez, feels kinda corny saying that.

I tended to the fire every so often, adding sticks and paper at random, but aside from that, I was just raking. It was surprising to see Celestia working through the entire yard with us. She's always really lazy at home. I don't know what's gotten into her.

This was fun.

Just as we were finishing, our group heard from the back door, "Food's ready!"

"Food!" Katie exclaimed, dropping her rake and rushing to the door.

"Come on Lily, time to eat." said Heather, gently grabbing Lily's hand to bring her inside.

Everyone filed through the back door, leaving Celestia and I alone outside.

"What do you think?" I asked her.

"I like them... and they seem to like me."

"They love you."

"So... your last girlfriend was a... bitch, I think your grandmother said?"

"Yeah, she was mean. She's gone now, though. Moved to Italy with her new boyfriend."

"My goodness."

"I'll tell you more about her later, if you're interested. Now's not the time, I don't think."

"No, perhaps not. I'm hungry."

"You're always hungry."

She giggled. "Hmm... Maybe."

I smiled at her.

She sighed. "Perhaps I'll try some of this... meat that your grandmother is serving."

"Really? You don't have to, you know."

"I know. I'm curious. I won't force myself to eat it."

"Well... Alright. If you really want. Make sure you know where the bathroom is, incase things go wrong."

"I'm not going to throw up!" She laughed. "Where is the bathroom, by the way?"

"It's... uh... down the hall in the kitchen. Only door on the... right."

She nodded.

I gave the back yard a quick clean, picking up our rakes and putting them in the shed. The two of us returned to the house, leaving the fire to burn on its own.

When we got inside, everyone was in a seat, aside from my grandmother, who was pouring milk into a few cups. I noticed a shortage in the number of cups on the table

"Us, too." I said.

"Right, I forgot you brought someone."

She reached to the cupboard above the counter and got another cup.

"You got pretty hair." said Lily, who sat next to Heather. She was a smart kid, perfectly capable of correct grammar, but choosing not to because it was funny.

Celestia looked at her and smiled. "Thank you very much. My name is Celestia. What is yours?"

"Lillian!" she said with a smile.

"And how old are you, little one?"

"I'm six!"

"Six! You're so old!"

"No I'm not, you're old."

"Oh, is that so?"

"How old are you, anyways?" asked Heather.

"I'm 27." she replied.

"Older than Phil, huh?"

Celestia just smiled.

I sat at the end of the table closest to the door and patted the seat to my right, looking at Celestia. The table was rectangular, so it was around the corner. She sat and looked to my sisters with a smile. They both looked at her for a short while before returning to their plates.

Katie was next to Celestia while Heather and Lily were on the opposite side of the table, towards the wall.

Celestia's eyes scanned the table, taking in the modest feast before her. I noticed her pausing for a moment as she saw the ham. Her eyes held a subtle glimmer of curiosity, one I've found easier to detect in her over these past few weeks.

As the rest of the family began collecting their food, Celestia gave me a look. I didn't really know what she wanted, so I just shrugged. She's a big girl, she can use her words.

"Could you... get me a piece of ham?" she asked me.

"Yeah, sure." Though I was aware of her stance on eating meat, I supported her decision to leave her comfort zone. I cut a small piece of ham for her with the side of my fork and placed it onto her plate.

She stared at the lone chunk of meat sitting on her plate. So far, it was the only food she had. I could feel that she was uneasy. She had an almost guilty expression on her face. She seemed to be working through some internal issues. Perhaps it was a bad idea to go about this so casually. This probably wasn't the best situation to try something so different.

"Is everything alright, Celestia?" asked Heather.

"She's a vegetarian, Phil said." my grandma responded.

"Oh. Well, don't make her eat it if she doesn't want to."

"I don't want to be rude." said Celestia.

"Oh honey, it's not rude." my grandma reassured, "You don't have to try it on my account."

Celestia poked it with her fork and turned it upside-down. "My stomach feels strange." Moments later, her stomach growled quite loudly, and with it, all of the tension disappeared from her face. She began to giggle as a bright red blush adorned her cheeks. The rest of us joined her infectious laugh. As our little party calmed down, Celestia lifted the ham chunk to her face. She stared at it for a short while before smelling it.

"Are you worried it'll taste bad? 'Cause it's good." I said, taking a bite of my own to prove my point.

"I... don't know."

"Don't force yourself, sweetie." I said, "There's all sorts of food here for you."

"You call her 'sweetie'?" asked Katie.

"Yeah. She's my sweetie." I replied.

"That's kinda cute."

"Shush."

Celestia was still focusing on her fork. "I don't know how I feel. It seems normal enough."

"It is normal." said Katie, "It's just meat."

"Maybe not for someone like her." said Heather.

"I tried being a vegetarian once." Katie said, "I made it like two months before I gave up on it. It was such a strict lifestyle change for me. I couldn't keep up with it."

Celestia was still staring at her piece. "I just... all my life, I never... I've never..."

"Wait, you've never had meat? What are you eating to maintain your figure?"

"Twinkies, mostly."

"Anything else?"

"Not really." I said, "I watch her eat. It's scary, it's like a vacuum."

"You watch her eat?"

"I know what I said."

"That's creepy."

Celestia turned her attention back to her fork. She brought it closer to her mouth, then hesitated. After a few brief moments, she bit into it, taking a piece of it. She chewed it for a long while before swallowing, then lowered the fork to the plate.

"How was it?" I asked. She didn't seem disgusted yet. I had high hopes.

"I don't know what to think." She rubbed her chin with a hand.

"You alright?" I asked her.

"I..."

My phone started ringing. I sighed and pulled it from my pocket. It said Celestia, which meant that Red was calling. I answered. "What's up?"

"Oh wow, I didn't think this'd work. So I just talk into it? Uh... I'm bored, what do I do here?"

"You called to tell me you were bored?"

"You said to call when I needed something."

"I dunno. Figure something out."

"But there's nothing here!"

"You can use the laptop."

"I don't know how. Or anything else about it. What even is it? Nevermind."

"There's a pack of cards downstairs somewhere on my desk."

"Seriously?"

"Well, what do you want from me?"

"Something to do!"

"Who is it?" asked Celestia.

"It's Red. She's bored." I replied.

"Who's Red?" asked Katie.

I waved my hand at her so she knew that I didn't care enough to tell her.

"What?" asked Red.

"I was talking to Celestia."

"Celestia's there? Tell her I said hi!"

"Red says hi."

"Oh. Well, tell her I said hello."

"She says hello back." I relayed to Red.

"Tell her I'm bored."

"You tell her."

"Celestia, I'm bored!" she said.

"She can't hear you."

"What? But you said to tell her! I don't know how this thing works!"

"That's... fair."

"See! You bully."

"Do you wanna talk to Celestia?"

"Uh... sure."

"Celestia, talk to Red." I held out the phone.

She took it with a somewhat surprised, yet cheerful smile on her face. "Hello, Red."

As she spoke, I made sure I had taken some of everything on the table. Celestia seemed to be responding to Red's complaints. She answered similarly to me, though she was much more sympathetic. She gave Red with a short farewell and gave the phone back to me so I could close the call.

"So how's Red?"

"She's bored, Phil. It's not particularly fun being alone like that. Perhaps there's something we could do to help her."

I gave her an understanding nod. Maybe I could find something for them to do. I changed my focus to her plate. It still had the chunk of ham on it, but other food had taken up the empty space.

"Who was that?" Heather asked.

"It was one of Celestia's friends. We call her Red. She's staying with us for a little while."

"Staying with you? Like, the both of you? So you two live together?"

"That's right." said Celestia.

"And... how long has that been going on?"

Celestia looked to me. My turn to answer.

"Past few months." I said. There wasn't much point in lying yet.

"Few months? I had no idea."

"Man, Celestia... you can do a lot better." said Katie.

"Wow, rude." I said.

"Like, a lot better." she continued.

"You're so mean to me."

"So, uh... How... did you meet?" Katie asked.

This was something we should probably should have rehearsed. "We met online." I said.

"You do online dating?"

"Not exactly."

"Oh, so it was one of those mail-order bride things?"

"Yeah, that's it."

"Why would you need to go online to find someone?" Heather asked Celestia, "Guys should be lining up to date you."

"I don't get many opportunities to meet men in my position. I don't have a lot of time to myself. Truth be told, many men find me... unapproachable. I used to live in a different world. Now I'm here. With him." She looked to me. "Now everything is better."

I couldn't help but to smile as I met her eyes. Everything is better? That's really nice to say, honey...

Katie looked at me. "Does she owe you something? Did you like save her family or something?"

"No, no, it's nothing like that." Celestia answered.

"Were you at some point a man?"

"No, of course not."

"Hmm... What's 5*5?"

"What? 25. Why?"

"9*8."

"72."

"15*7?"

"105."

"276*47."

Celestia blinked. "Can I have a pen and paper?"

Katie chuckled. "Well, you seem smart enough. You got looks, you got brains..."

"Um... Thank you?" Celestia seemed confused.

"So you must be crazy."

"I'm... not crazy."

"That's exactly what a crazy person would say." I said.

"Whose side are you on?" Celestia turned to me in mock anger.

"I'm on my crazy girlfriend's side."

"So she is crazy?" Katie asked.

"Yeah, she's insane."

"I'm not crazy!"

"You'd have to be to date him." said Katie.

"Well, if you put it like that." said Celestia, a smile on her face.

Katie laughed.

"Grandma, they're bullying me!" I complained.

"Oh, shut up and eat your food." she said, somewhat amused by our antics.

Good idea. Before that, though...

I reached my fork to Celestia's plate and took the piece of meat, popping it into my mouth. "You gonna be alright after that, Celestia?"

"Yes, I'll be fine. I don't think I'll want any more, though."

"Alright. More for us. Did it taste good, at least?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Oh... Ok."

Celestia reached for her fork and began eating, a warm smile on her face. She seemed especially happy right now. I liked it. Maybe she liked being with my family. Maybe it was something else.

"Mommy, can I go get a juice?" asked Lily.

"Did you already have one?"

"No."

"Then yeah, go ahead."

"Thank you!" she let out before getting up and going down the basement stairs.

Katie was staring at Celestia. I didn't know why, but staring isn't exactly a crime. I sensed mischief from her smile.

Celestia picked up her cup of milk for a drink.

"So did you fuck her?" Katie casually asked.

Celestia spit her milk back into the cup, spilling it onto the table. She started to cough.

"Katie!" I complained.

"Watch your language at the table." warned grandma.

Katie stopped laughing. "Sorry."

Celestia groaned as she retrieved a paper towel to clean her face.

"Gonna be alright?" asked Katie.

"I'm fine." she replied, wiping the spilled milk. She wiped off whatever had gotten onto her shirt, but was dismayed to find that it was still wet.

"Katie, quit bullying my girlfriend."

"It's fine, honey. It's fine." said Celestia, "And yes."

"Yes what?" asked Katie.

"Yes, we do have sex."

"Stop encouraging her." I tried to steer the conversation away from this topic.

"Oh. Gross."

"You asked." I said.

"I didn't think she'd answer."

"Well at least you're doing it safely, right?" my grandmother inquired.

Celestia blinked. She looked to me, then to my grandmother.

There was a long pause. When she finally realized that neither of us was going to give an answer, she frowned. She glared at me and repeated herself. "Phil... You are doing it safely, right?"

"N... No. No, we aren't."

"What do you mean, 'no'?! Phil, you are too young to be having children!" She turned to Celestia, pointing at her, "And you don't look old enough, either! What would you do if you got pregnant?!"

"I... I..." Celestia's cheeks immediately flushed with a bright red. Her eyes were on her food. She didn't seem able to answer. This... has turned into a difficult situation.

Grandma stopped, pulling back her finger. Her expression softened. "You have a lot of life left to live. You two don't want to make a mistake like having a child this early."

"Uh... Thanks, grandma. Celestia, do you want to finish your food outside?"

She nodded.

The two of us stood, gathering our utensils. The kitchen was quiet as we made our way outside.

"Oh, Katie." I started.

"Yeah?"

I held up my middle finger at her. She returned with a bird of her own. I closed the door behind us.

Celestia sat on the bench a distance from the fire, her plate on her lap. I joined her and continued eating. She was still a little red. It was rather cute, but the reasoning behind her embarrassment was a bit troublesome. I didn't want to push the topic with her if she didn't want to say.

"You... have an interesting family." she let out, taking a bite of her food. She still sounded so nervous.

I just chuckled.

"So... what exactly..." She held up her middle finger, emulating my sister and I. "What does this mean?"

"It means 'fuck you'."

She quickly hid her hand.

"It's how the younger members of our family greet each other." I continued, "And many of our friends."

"You greet each other with... obscenity?"

I nodded. "Mmm-hmm."

"That doesn't make sense."

"It's how we show our love."

"You're never obscene with me."

"I'm obscene with you all the time."

"You know that's not what I meant."

"Well, would you like it if I was obscene with you?" I asked.

She hesitated for a moment before saying, "Probably not. It's... nice being alone like this." She changed the subject.

"Yeah. Red took over our alone time at home. I really wanted to spend this month alone with you."

"I did, too. I missed you so much while we were apart. Now we're together and we barely have the privacy to even cuddle. I suppose there's nothing we can do about it now."

"Yeah."

Celestia chuckled. "I can't believe your grandmother lectured me. Me, of all people. She's right, though. Our relationship is still so young." She was smiling.

"Yeah. We can still do all sorts of things."

Celestia leaned against me. She looked to me as she chewed. It was chilly. We weren't very close to the fire. She was warm against me. I looked down at her.

"I wish we could have more of this." she said.

"Yeah."

"Hey, what did you think about coming to my work?"

"Hmm? What do you mean? That was quite a while ago."

"Well, maybe you could come with me. We could be together more."

"No, it wouldn't be the same. I'm comfortable with how things have been, Phil. It feels... almost like I'm a real housewife. You go to work while I stay home to... I suppose I don't do much of anything, do I?"

"You're a Princess, you shouldn't have to do anything."

"That's not how a housewife should act."

"Alright, then how about this... You're my Princess. You don't need to do anything for me. I want to take care of you."

"That's a bit better, I suppose. Would you like me to cook something for you before you get home?"

"Do you even know how to cook the food in the kitchen?"

"I could learn. For you."

"I dunno. Sometimes I just want a sandwich."

"I could make it for you."

"But I make you sandwiches."

"I didn't say you had to stop."

"I feel like we aren't getting anywhere."

"Maybe you're right."

"I like the idea, though. I'd appreciate it. We might have to talk about this another time."

She nodded. "Alright. I'll hold you to it."

"Celestia, your plate was full like five seconds ago. Are you sticking it in your pockets or something?" I poked her pants to check.

She laughed. "I was hungry."

"You're always hungry!"

She laughed again. She reached her fork to my plate and, despite my glare, took some of my mashed potatoes. I continued to glare. She giggled at me as she chewed, clearly finding something amusing.

"Can I actually eat my food, now?"

"You should've said something before I started eating."

"What, so it's my fault that you're taking my food?"

"Of course. You let your guard down." She chuckled. "Alright, here." She held up a bit of stuffing to my mouth.

"Really?" I wasn't unhappy that she was offering me food. I was just surprised that it hadn't happened sooner, all things considered.

"Well, if you don't want it..."

I took the food from the fork without another complaint.

"See? Wasn't that easy?"

"My family must be a bad influence on you. You've gone from good noodle to bad egg."

"I'm not a bad e... Good noodle? What?"

"It must be Katie who's influencing you. I know how things are."

"Oh, don't be like that. Your turn." She offered me the fork.

"My turn?" I took it from her.

"That's right." She closed her eyes and opened her mouth. "Ahh~"

Though this game was just getting started, I decided to put an end to it so I could finally eat. I set the fork on my plate and picked up my roll, then stuffed it into her open mouth.

"Mmff!" She pulled back, eyes wide. She reached up and took the roll out of her mouth. A large bite had been taken out of it. Our eyes met for a short moment before we started to laugh.

She leaned against me and looked up. I smiled at her. She smiled back.

"Do you want me to feed you again?" she asked.

"Later. Let me eat my own food for a little while."

"Alright. I suppose I'll do the same."

Finally, food. No more interruptions. Sadly, after all the shenanigans with Celestia, my plate had only a few bites left. I would have to get more from inside. Celestia was in the same situation.

"I think we should go back to your family." she said, " It's not polite to keep them waiting."

"Yeah, you're right. Hey, you know what this reminds me of?"

"What?"

"How much I love you."

"Phil, you're going to make me blush." She giggled.

"Alright, let's go."

"So soon?"

"Didn't you just say it wasn't polite to keep them waiting?"

"That doesn't mean I don't cherish the time we spent alone together."

"Geez Celestia, now you're gonna make me blush."

She smiled.

I gave her a gentle push to let her know that I was going to stand up. She moved away, taking my plate so I didn't have to worry about it. I glanced at the dwindling fire pit. "Hey, I'm gonna put a little more in. We can go in after that."

"Aright, honey. Have fun with your 'romance'."

"A man's romance is not a joke, despite... how I may have presented it."

"Oh... I'm sorry, honey. I misunderstood. Why is tending to a fire a man's romance? Do all men feel this way?"

"It can be different for all of us. Sometimes a man is simply compelled by his nature. Just as I am compelled to tend to this fire, I am compelled to tend to our love."

I knew I could spin this monologue to include our relationship. My sudden change of tone seemed to surprise her. As I spoke, she became reserved, glancing away as a gentle redness flushed her cheeks. A smile covered her face.

Leaving my little Princess to her thoughts, I moved to the back fence and retrieved a few pieces of wood. I set them near the fire before feeding a few of them into the flames. When the wood was gone, I picked out a filled in crossword puzzle book from the paper recyclables and began tearing it apart. Every so often, some pages would fall out, or I would just miss. If they were on fire, I would stomp them out before returning them to the flame.

There was still a spot in the fire pit devoid of flame, so I began filling it with paper. Instead of working in my favor, I burned my hand when it got too close to the flame. In my anger, I whipped the book into the fire to punish it for burning me.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah."

"Did you burn yourself?"

"Yeah."

"Want me to kiss it to make it feel better?"

"I would, but standards won't let me."

"What?"

"Ready to head in?"

"Uh.... Yeah." Celestia stood, our plates in hand. She moved towards me, but her focus seemed to shift. Her eyes were fixated on the pile of leaves we made earlier.

Her intentions quickly became clear. I took the dinnerware from her before she made her way to the pile. She looked back to me one last time before lying on top of it. She closed her eyes and took in a deep smell of the dried leaves around her. She grabbed a handful of leaves and lifted her arm and opened her hand. Flakes of crushed leaves sprinkled onto her shirt.

"I love being a human."

I set the plates on a nearby table and joined her in the yard, looking down to her.

Her eyes gazed into the sky staring at nothing. "I'm doing so many things I haven't done in a long time. I haven't lain in a pile of leaves like this in years."

"Really?"

She chuckled. "Maybe I have. Who knows? Who cares?" She chuckled again. "That's right... Who cares?" She laughed a long, joyful laugh. "I can't say that in Equestria. Just the ability to say it... It's... fantastic."

I took out my phone and aimed the camera at her. "Hey, Celestia."

"Hmm?"

"Smile."

She gave me a warm smile as I snapped the picture.

A picture of my Princess Celestia lying in a pile of leaves during the fall. It was a nice picture, though my phone didn't have the best camera.

This was my first picture of her. I hope it wouldn't be the last.

I offered her my hand. She looked at it for a few moments before taking it. I pulled her to her feet and into my embrace. She was still as heavy as before, that hasn't changed.

She briefly squeezed me with her arms before we parted. I brushed off the leaves from the back of her shirt and jeans.

"It feels like I have leaves in my hair. Do I?"

I briefly checked her long, silky hair. "A few." I replied, cleaning them out. Her hair was still as radiant as ever.

"Did you take a picture of me?"

"Yeah. I think it turned out well." I held out my phone to show her.

She smiled. "I look ridiculous."

"I need to take a lot more of these." I said, "I wanted to take a lot of them when you came back, but that never happened."

"You'll get more chances." She pecked her lips against my cheek. "Come on, I'm still hungry."

"Geez, Celestia."

The two of us returned to my family, dinnerware in hand and stomachs ready for more.

"Welcome back." said my grandma.

"Uh... Sorry, Celestia." said Katie.

"It's... quite alright." Celestia turned to my grandma. "I... can have more... right?" she asked, not wanting to be rude.

"Of course, help yourself."

Her smile widened. "Thank you."

"So is this a... special occasion or something?" I asked grandma, "We don't usually have ham."

She shrugged. "I won $50 off a scratch card."

"Oh, wow."

"Nice, grandma."

"And my lawn needed clearing." she continued.

"Your lawn always needs clearing."

"And since Thanksgiving is coming up, I thought we could have a little get together of our own. It didn't really turn out the way I had hoped, with your brothers being gone, but I didn't really give them time to prepare in advance. I made sure to save some for them."

Celestia had already collected another plate and was eating as she stood. I think she was waiting for me so she could copy me. I returned to my seat, and sure enough, she did the same. I poured milk for the both of us from the gallon on the table and got myself more food.

"Celestia, why are you with him?" asked Katie, turning to her once again, "Seriously, why?"

"What do you mean?"

"I just don't understand this. You should be able to get someone like... Nobody's coming to mind right now."

"Chris Evans?" I asked, picking off the top of my head.

"Oh my god, yes."

"Who's..."

"Some celebrity." I said, "Some hot celebrity."

"But instead, you picked ol' fuckboy here."

"Fuckin' wooow!"

"Do you... really want to know?" Celestia asked.

"Yes. Wait, do I? Is it weird?"

"Are you sure you want to know why we're still together?" Celestia teased.

"Uh... I... think so."

"Is this gonna be appropriate?" Heather asked, "Lily's still here, remember."

"Hi!" Lily called, happy to be a part of the conversation.

One by one, everyone responded to her with a short, pleasant greeting. Even Celestia joined in on the fun.

"It's appropriate, I assure you." Celestia continued, "If you really want to know, I'll tell you. The reason we're still together..." She paused, purely to leave us in suspense. "Is because we love each other."

I sighed. All that buildup for that? Still, it was really cute.

Katie seemed less than pleased. "What, that's it?"

"There are so many compounding reasons the two of us have stayed together that it's impossible to pick just one. Love is a complicated thing. But in a way, it's not complicated at all. I like him and he likes me. We make each other happy when we spend time with each other. And... he was the first person I met when I got here."

"Oh, that's it? He was the first one you saw?" she asked, glossing over the rest of Celestia's monologue.

"Got here? You move to Wisconsin or something?" asked Heather.

"God, why would you move here? All we got's cheese. Wait, never mind, cheese is pretty good."

"It's peaceful here. I'm not from this country, so I was a bit disoriented. I got lost and he showed me around town."

"I thought you said you met online." Katie said to me.

"Well, it's a lot easier than going through the effort of talking about it." I said.

"You lazy bitch." she said to me.

"That's much more romantic than meeting online." said Heather.

Celestia looked to me for a small moment. She was smiling. Smiling her special smile. "I suppose that's true."

"So, if you're not from this country, where are you from?"

"Europe."

"Huh?"

"Really? Cool? Where in Europe?" asked Heather.

"Oh, I moved too often to call any one place my home. Work moved me all over the place."

"What kind of work do you do?"

"I... suppose I'd like to keep that to myself, if you don't mind. I work in management. That's all I'm willing to say."

Management. Good joke. What a backstory... Was she working on that? It seemed quite prepared.

"Your life sounds awesome. I wish I could afford to travel around."

"It's quite chaotic, I assure you."

"So why did you come here? Like, what's this place have that you didn't have overseas?" asked Heather.

"Other than a surplus of fuckboy." added Katie.

"Why do you hate me?" I asked.

"I had business in the area. A series of meetings and other such nonsense. I was weary from the trip, so I had to push it back. During that time, I began exploring. I met Phil not long after."

Celestia must have practiced this. She's never seemed like someone who would lie so easily. Maybe she doesn't... Hmm... Our situation is complicated. She may simply be respecting my wishes to not overcomplicate things.

"For a number of years, my life has been stressful and chaotic. To push all that aside with someone else, even for a short while, has been wonderful."

"Mmm-hmm. I know how it feels." grandma agreed, "With your work as hectic as you say, how does that affect your relationship?"

"It's been tough. I was pulled away for a month to return to work. At the time, my... my responsibilities were more important than my own happiness. It wasn't just to work, but to my family. I had no choice. I didn't know if I would be able to come back at all. It was heartbreaking." She looked to me. "For both of us."

I nodded.

"Now that I've returned to Phil, I'm finding it harder and harder to go back to work."

"What, are you gonna quit? For him?" Katie asked.

"Hey, I'm not... that bad." I tried defending myself.

"Phil, you're wonderful." Celestia reassured me.

I didn't necessarily need that confidence boost, but I will happily accept it.

"Ohhh! I see what's going on here." said Katie, a look of realization on her face.

"What is going on?" I asked, having no idea what she was talking about.

"You got her pregnant! That's why she's stuck with you."

"No-no-no-no-no-no!" Celestia shook her arms in a panic. "I'm not pregnant! I would know if I were pregnant! I... I'm not."

"Katie, you shouldn't say things like that." said Heather, "It'd be up to her to tell us if she was. It's not our business."

"I... guess. Her face got really red, though."

"Hey, be nice."

"I thought I told you 'not at the table'." grandma enforced.

Katie stopped. "R-Right. Sorry, Celestia."

Celestia cleared her throat. "Thank you."

"Nyeh, Phil having kids? Gross."

"What's wrong with having kids?" asked Heather.

"Yeah!" Lily added.

"Nothing's wrong with having kids, it's just the thought that this guy would do it. God, it makes me feel old."

"I bet feeling old's really hard on you, huh?" said my grandma, always a charmer.

"Sorry, gramma."

Celestia flashed me a smug smile, having swiftly recovered from her little episode.

We returned to our meal. Celestia noticed that I hadn't touched my food for a while and began picking food from it. I glared at her, but she just smiled in return.

"Leave some room for dessert, Celestia."

"Dessert? Right, dessert!"

Having already been available, the pies on the table were quickly assaulted. I stood and cut them into slices for the group, then distributed the pieces accordingly.

Celestia lifted her fork to take a bite, but before she could, I said, "Hold on there, Celestia. Aren't you forgetting something?"

She looked to me. "Am I?"

"Hey grandma, could you get the whipped cream?"

Celestia's eyes lit up.

"Of course." She retrieved a can of whipped cream from the fridge and set it on the table.

Celestia hesitated for a moment before taking it. She took a quick glance at the instructions before shaking it in her hand and turning it upside down. When she was finished with it, her piece had been entirely covered in cream. She set the can down and poked her fork into the pile on her plate.

Heather was the next to take it, swiping at the can and immediately spraying it directly into her mouth. Celestia giggled as she watched.

"That's enough!" said grandma, a bit irritated, "Put it on your pie before it's all gone."

"Sorry." Heather apologized before applying it to her piece, then to her daughter's.

The can was passed around the table until it was finally empty. We set it aside and got to work on the pie. It may have been store-bought, but it was still delicious.

When our pies were gone and the table was cleaned, we decided that it was time to finish work on the yard. We made our way outside and retrieved a plastic tarp from the shed. It was a simple task to push the leaves onto it, though it would need a few trips to move it all.

Celestia joined us once again. It was nice to see her work with the rest of the family. Felt... normal.

"Celestia, I wanna braid your hair." Katie said as we worked.

"What?" Celestia laughed. "Braid my hair?"

"Can I? Please?"

Celestia was still laughing. She was enjoying herself. "Why do you want to braid my hair?"

"Cause it's so long! How long did it take to grow it like that?"

"I have no idea." she replied, a giddiness in her voice.

"Must've been a while. Doesn't it get in the way?" asked Heather.

"Sometimes, but it's usually easy to manage."

"Won't she look so pretty with a braid?" said Katie.

Celestia smiled sheepishly. "Well, if it'll make me prettier."

"Yay!"

Celestia prettier? Think of the consequences.

When we were done, we all gathered in the back yard to stand around the fire. I made sure it burned bright.

"This was fun." said Celestia.

"Fun? A little bit." replied Heather.

"I'm not used to all this..."

"Physical labor?" I asked.

"Yes... I was usually the one who told people what to do, not the other way around."

"Sounds like this guy." said Katie

"Hey, I work hard."

"No you don't, you stand around and just watch people."

"I do other stuff."

"Like what?"

"Stuff like... you know... stuff."

"Oh, right."

"Weren't we going to play a game?" asked Celestia.

"Yeah, but that's so far away." I said, "We'd have to move to do that."

"What's wrong with that?"

"That's work, you know?"

"Phil, don't be lazy." said Heather.

"You don't be lazy." I replied.

"Ok." She turned away from the fire and went back inside.

"Where's she going?" asked Katie.

"Probably breaking out the rusty chainsaw." I said.

"I'm going back in." she said.

"Katie don't leave, we'll be lonely!"

"I'm leaving."

"Don't leave!"

"Leaving." She started walking.

"Don't do it!"

"Doing it."

"Noooo! C'mon, let's go." I said to Celestia.

She giggled.

Leaving the fire once more, we returned to the house. I followed the family downstairs, Celestia close behind.

Grandma, Heather, and Katie, were already sitting at the downstairs table. Rick and Lily were back to their computers.

"Pick a seat." I gestured to the table as I walked the other direction to the downstairs refrigerator.

I got myself a can of Mountain Dew, but as I went to close the door, Heather called, "Phil, get me a Sprite!"

"Get me a drumstick." said Katie.

"Me, too." said Heather.

"Mountain Dew for me." said my grandma.

"You think that's enough?" I called back.

Three sodas and two drumsticks. Celestia would want a drumstick, too. I would have to make two trips. I came back with the soda first and returned for the ice cream, with one for myself and one for Celestia.

"What is this?" she asked, opening it, "I've never had a... drumstick."

"Chocolate and nuts in ice cream." I said to her.

"It's sooo good." said Katie.

She took a small bite out of the top chocolate bit. "Phil, we need these at the house."

I smiled at her. "Yeah, I thought you'd say something like that."

The first game we played was the game Heather suggested, Apples to Apples. It's a very simple game. One person flips the green card up and the rest play red cards that they think would match it the most. For example, if the green card were 'sad,' you may play 'rain,' or 'stubbed toes,' or 'my love life.' For us, the winner of the round is usually the funniest answer. The person who won ten rounds first was then declared the winner.

As I dealt the cards to the players, the four of us explained the rules to Celestia. Thankfully, she seemed to catch on pretty quickly.

After the game was finished, we put it away and got out Uno. It was a tradition at this house that the winner chose the next game, not out of celebration, but out of punishment. Since my grandma won Apples to Apples, she chose Uno.

Once again, we taught Celestia the rules, along with our own small house rules that either sped up the game or made it more interesting. In our case, we ignored the rule that prevented you from winning with a wild card.

Uno, as is typical, was not an overly long game. As such, we would play two to three games before switching to the next. I won the first game, Celestia won the second, which she was very excited about, and Heather won the third. The final winner gets to choose the next game. She chose her favorite, Munchkin. Though it was often quite a long game, it was also very fun. Not all of us shared the same sentiment, though the dissenters still accepted the choice and played with us.

This time, given the number of rules and exceptions, I retrieved the rule book for Celestia. Well, it was more a rule 'pamphlet'. She read it carefully as we set up. Since it wasn't a long read, and since we all wanted to help her, she was able to understand the game and adapt to any situation she encountered. Munchkin is a card game where your munchkin would collect loot, fight monsters, and level up. The first person to reach level ten by defeating a monster wins.

For this game, our players would often play very passively during the beginning, throwing away or otherwise wasting cards that could hinder another player. Celestia followed suit. Later on, we would play more aggressively, actively preventing players from reaching higher levels while ganging up on the highest level. Heather would often play cards against me, even if I wasn't an active threat. I would do the same to her. The two of us became very competitive during this game. Usually while we were sabotaging each other, grandma would take the lead, leaving us to settle our differences to stop her.

Today, though the battle was hard fought Heather reached level ten first and was declared the winner. The rest of us were scattered around the board. Celestia, despite it being her first time playing, drew a number of lucky cards and had reached level nine alongside grandma. Katie reached level seven while I was in last place at level five. If you were in last place, other players would be forced to give you the excess cards from their hand, so I tried using this to my advantage, but it seems to have failed.

Celestia had a smile on her face the whole night, even when she was playing cards as aggressively as us. She loved this. That's all I really cared about. Anything that was fun for her was fun for me.

Though these games can become quite interesting, an episode of Yu-Gi-Oh, this is not. I summon Princess Celestia in face-down position... I'd apologize, but I'm not sorry.

Throughout the night, I periodically checked on the fire, making sure it was still burning. There was no reason it should still be up, I just liked burning things.

After the game, our little group all put in a bit of effort to clean up the table. It had gotten late, so we all agreed that this would be our last game. Celestia wasn't happy that we were leaving, but she quickly rebounded, her mood never souring for long.

"Oh Phil, I have something for you." My grandma stopped me before I made it to the stairs.

"Thing? What thing? I like thing."

"Here, let me get it packed up for you." She moved around me, walking up the stairs first.

The rest of our party moved upstairs after her.

Grandma walked down the hallway, returning a short while later with a paper grocery bag. She then opened the fridge and began pulling things out to put into the bag. She rolled the top of the bag closed and pushed it towards us on the table.

"I put some leftovers in there as well for your friend." she said to the both of us.

"Oh! I'm sure she'll appreciate it." I replied, "Thanks, grandma."

"Wait, what did you give them?" Katie asked.

"Oh, just a little champagne I wasn't going to drink myself. It certainly wasn't expensive, in case you were wondering."

"I want champagne, too!" she complained.

"Well, we can have some together another time. I felt Celestia would appreciate it a little more than us."

"Alright yeah, some other time."

Before I picked up the bag, I went to her to give her a goodbye hug. "Love you, gramma!"

"Love you too, sweetie."

I let go of her and turned to hug Heather.

"Bye, Philly! See you later."

"Yep, see ya." We let go of each other.

"Bye, Katie." I said to her, giving her a hug as well.

"Bye, Phil! Love you!"

"Love you, too."

As soon as I let go of Katie, Lily ran to me and grabbed onto my waist in a tight hug. I reached down and gave her a squeeze as well. "Bye, Lily!"

"Bye, Philly!"

Celestia took the initiative and picked up the paper bag. "Goodbye, everybody. It was very nice to meet you all." she said with a smile.

All three of them replied with a similar enthusiasm. Looks like today was a success.

"Be sure to come back soon." said my grandma, "You're welcome anytime."

"Thank you, Sue."

The two of us returned to the car. As we left, Celestia looked into the bag on her lap.

"Is the champagne any good?" I asked.

She reached in and pulled it out. "Do you... want my professional opinion?"

"I take it, no?"

"I couldn't say anything about the taste, but she wasn't lying when she said it was cheap." She chuckled before putting it back into the bag

"So how was it?"

"It was nice. I loved your family, Phil. They were so kind to me. Perhaps we could do this again, sometime."

"That'd be nice. They really seemed to love you, too. You're part of the family."

"I'm... part of the family?"

"Yeah. Of course you are."

She looked down, saying nothing. I could see flashes of her bright smile out of the corner of my eye.

"You know, we're alone right now." she said.

"Hmm?"

"We're... away from Red. We could do anything we wanted."

"What do you want to do?"

"Maybe... Go for a walk?"

"A walk? Do you have any idea how late it is, young lady?"

"I know how late it is."

"Oh. Are you sure? It's gotten pretty dark out."

"I'm sure."

"Alright. Any thoughts on where you would want to walk?"

She didn't respond.

"Did you think that far ahead?"

"I... I don't want to go home yet. I want to be alone with you for a little while longer." She seemed almost... upset. Maybe it was a good idea.

"Alright, honey. I'll find us a place. How about a park?"

"Did you... have one in mind?"

"Yeah. There's this park nearby I used to go to as a kid. There shouldn't be anyone around this time of night."

"That sounds nice."

She watched me as I drove us to our destination, a cute smile on her face the whole way there. She didn't care what we did as long as we were together. As I said, nobody was around. It was too late and too cold for anyone but drug dealers and romantics. I wonder which we fell into.

This was a stupid idea. It was really dark and there were no lights.

"This was my favorite place to come to as a kid." I told her as we got out.

She made sure her coat was zipped as she stepped out. "Have you been here since?"

"Once or twice. Not recently."

We started to walk. Though I was in front, I walked slowly, making sure Celestia got what she wanted from this. She followed me through the park.

"See that over there?" I pointed to the playground equipment. "You probably don't actually. Anyways, it's a slide that has spinning rods instead of a flat surface. I would always get my fingers pinched between the rollers." I chuckled

She joined my laugh with one of her own. "It sounds fun." she said, her voice warm.

As we walked, I told her a few stories about how my brother, sister, and I played in this park and how much bigger it used to be back then. I told her how much we all used to love coming here with my grandma and older sister while they were babysitting us while mom was working.

We slowly made our way past the park, following the dirt trails into the forest beyond. We'd get lost in this darkness without Celestia's sense of direction.

"Oh, a clearing." she said, speeding up to pass me.

She stopped in the center, waiting for me to join her. A faint moonlight shone down through the treetops, seemingly illuminating her perfect smile. We looked to the sky. Celestia's gaze briefly flicked down before she began lowering herself to the ground. I looked to her.

"Join me, Phil." she said with a bright smile, offering me her hand.

I'm sure she knew that it wouldn't benefit either of us if I took her hand. I still did it as I lowered myself next to her. The grass was cold, but her hand was warm.

She sighed.

I let her relax for a while before I asked, "So what was your plan here, Celestia? Did you wanna fuck?"

Her grip on my hand tightened. "Wh-What? No! I just wanted to be alone with you, Phil. Is that too much to ask?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Of course not, honey. Though... you've never been this apprehensive about making love before. Is everything alright?"

"Everything is fine, Phil. You're right, I shouldn't have been so surprised."

Her hand was trembling. Either she was cold, or... something else. Something didn't feel right. Still, if she felt everything was fine, I didn't want to press the issue. She would tell me if she felt I should know. She was honest with me.

"We... are alone out here." she said.

"Yeah?"

"Maybe... I did want to fuck."

"Pottymouth."

"What? I'm not allowed to swear? I swear all the time."

"You only swear when we have sex."

"Do I? I suppose you're right. I hadn't noticed. But..." She began to move, turning and crawling over me. Our eyes met. The brightness of her beautiful eyes shined even in this darkness. "It does bring up a good point." She chuckled.

I pushed my lips against hers. She returned my affection. To my surprise, our kiss was short lived. Celestia pulled away, lying her head on my chest. She was quiet, motionless. I waited for her to continue in some way, but she did nothing. The silence was becoming eerie. It wasn't really like her to have a change of heart like this. Love making was always something she enjoyed or looked forward to. But now...

She hasn't moved for such a long time. She's always loved cuddling, but if that's all it was, she would've said something. Finally, after waiting for so long, she uttered, "I want a baby."

"Honey?"

She pulled away, sitting up and grabbing my hand. She pulled my hand underneath her shirt, resting it against her stomach. I looked to her face. The light of the moon reflected off the tears forming in her eyes.

I shot upwards in a panic wrapping my arms around her body. All I could offer her was a sympathetic, "Hey, hey..."

She started to sob into my shoulder. "I want a baby." She began repeating this phrase, rocking back and forth in my arms.

I knew something was troubling her, but I couldn't have expected it to be something like this. I could only hold her as tears dampened my shirt.

She sniffed. "All my life, I've dreamt of being a mother. I've dreamt of having something to raise, to nurture, to care for. Something of my own that I can be proud of with all my heart. My mother told me that I was different. She told me what the other mares went through. I've watched them over these thousands of years. I've seen so many mothers, so many families. It's given me nothing but heartache."

I held fast. "You'd be a good mother, Celestia."

"It doesn't matter how good a mother I would be. I could never have a child of my own. My body is wrong. No matter my feelings for those I love, this body would never give me what I want. I'm a freak."

"Celestia..."

"Is this the price I pay to live this long? Can I trade it all for a child of my own? For a life of my own?"

This couldn't have been the first time she's cried about this.

"You're my first lover that's treated me like a real woman. You've always made me feel normal. That's why I thought that maybe you were the one. I thought that you could lift this curse. I heard... what you said to my sister. She told me not to listen, but I couldn't help it. I lied to you. I've been lying to you from the start and I am so, so sorry... I've never been able to carry a child. I never will. I can't give you a child. How could you still love someone who lies to you? Why would you ever want to marry someone like me? Someone who can't give you a complete life... Someone who lies to you for her own selfish gains..."

Is this what Celestia really believed? Is this what she thought about herself? Was she ashamed of what she was? This time, she wanted an answer. She needed an answer. "Yes."

"Y-You... R-Really?"

"I knew, Celestia. Luna told me. It's never changed how I felt about you. Not even a little."

She sniffed again. "You... You don't... You don't... hate me?"

"Celestia, no... I would never. I love you. I love you, Celestia." This meant so much to her. More than I could have ever known. More than it meant to me... She saw so much importance in normal lives... and everything that came with it.

"But I can't bear children. I can't... I just can't."

I slid my hand down her body, pulling away from her as I placed it onto her stomach. "Whether you can or not, Celestia... I don't care. I have you. That's more than enough for me. It always has been. It always will be."

"I..." She stopped. We stared into each other's eyes for a long while.

Celestia slowly moved towards me. Our lips met briefly. We both hesitated before kissing again. She lowered her hand, placing it over mine.

She closed her eyes, more tears streaming down her cheeks. She lowered her forehead against my chest. "I don't want to take this away from you. I don't want you to live your life without experiencing the joy of your own child. That's how a life with me would be. We'd never have children of our own. Are you sure you could accept that?"

"I'm sure. As long as I'm with you, I'd accept anything. There's nothing you can do to make me hate you. Nothing in the world."

"You'd still want to marry me, even knowing that I can't have children?"

"Yes, Celestia. You're the woman I love."

She looked up at me. "Are you sure?"

"I promise. You're my little sunflower. You always will be."

She stared at me for a long while. Her tears slowly stopped as we gazed into each other's eyes.

I lifted my free hand and wiped away her tears. "Come on, let me see your smile again. I know it's still there."

The corners of her mouth slowly turned up once more in an apprehensive smile.

"There it is."

She sniffed again. "If all this turns out to be untrue... If I really am lying to myself... and you really do give me a child... then I will be happy to marry you."

We stared at each other again. I brought her smile back. Through all we've been through, at least that's the one thing I know I can do for her.

"It's been almost two weeks since I've felt your touch." she said, an uncharacteristically innocent smile across her face. She began pushing my hand downwards, down her body.

"Are you sure, Celestia?"

She merely nodded. Today was different. She wanted to be intimate with me, to feel close to me. She wanted to feel loved. To her, and... to me, making love was the most intimate thing there was. That's what she's always wanted. Being alone in the woods like this, after our powerful heart to heart talk, was more intimate to us than we've ever been. The possibility of a child was undoubtedly still in her mind. It was more than just pleasure for her. Every time we did it, in the back of her mind, the thought was there. She wanted more than just the feelings it brought. She wanted a child.

If adoption were an option here, she wouldn't have cried like this. If she adopted, I think it would just be a harsh reminder that she couldn't make a child of her own. I'm never going to bring it up to her. I'm... being very presumptuous.

In truth, I didn't believe that she was infertile. I'm sure even her own mother has gone through the same feelings that she's going through now. To me, the fact that Celestia has a mother is proof enough that she can have children.

This was never something I could've figured out on my own.
> Chapter 18
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

November 4



Celestia...

I had no words to offer her. It wasn't like me to stay silent, but I knew that words were not the solution to this problem. I would say that only time could help, but she's already held this burden for so long on her own.

Celestia seemed to be in a state of emotional shock after our talk last night. Instead of her cheerful, friendly demeanor, she was more reserved, wanting to be left alone, even turning down her usual snacks. It must have put a lot of stress on her to share her heartache with me.

I'm ashamed to admit that I didn't feel the same pain she felt. I didn't want children, at least not as much as her. I could only offer her my sympathy. The sight of her tears still weighed heavily inside.

Maybe I could start work on Chrysalis's request during this downtime. Celestia was still in bed, awake but resting the day away, leaving me alone. I decided to pester Red. Her eyes shot to me as I walked down the stairs.

"What's up?" she asked, sitting up.

I shrugged. "Wanted to check up on ya."

"How nice of you. You guys came home pretty late last night. What took you?"

"We took a walk."

"Last night?"

"Yeah."

"That must've been cold."

I shrugged. "A little."

"What's wrong with the Princess? You too, while I'm at it. You didn't seem yourselves when you got home last night."

"We... talked. A lot. Celestia... became very emotional."

"Was she running out of Twinkies?"

"Red."

"Sorry."

"Look, I don't... really know if I should say."

"Come on, you can trust me."

"Yeah, 'cause the last time went so well."

"I said I was sorry."

"I know, just messin'."

"So you don't wanna say, huh? Can I have a hint?"

"It was a very personal matter, Red."

"That's not much of a hint."

"It wasn't supposed to be."

"Come on, a little more than that. Please?"

"Red."

"Alright, if you won't tell me, I'll get Celestia to tell me."

"Red, don't. I mean, like... Not now, at least. She needs space. At least, I think she needs space. I don't know. I'm not good at this kinda thing."

"How bad could it be?"

"I dunno. I'm just worried I'll make things worse, you know?"

"You won't know until you try."

"I know. I'm just scared."

"So... what's wrong? Did you have a fight?" she asked, seemingly concerned about my plight.

"No, it wasn't a fight. We don't fight."

"Every couple fights, at least a few times."

"We aren't fighting. Celestia shared something deeply... personal with me last night. It was draining for her, painful even."

"You guys always act all lovey-dovey when you're together and you always seem pretty happy. I guess I don't understand why you don't just talk to her."

"You'll understand when you get a boyfriend of your own."

"I dunno about that. I don't think I'll ever understand you. What did she share that was so important?"

"I can't say, Red."

"Please?"

"No."

"Pretty please?"

"No, Red."

"Pretty please with a cherry on top?"

"What are you, twelve?

"Hey, it works when Celestia does it."

"Celestia's my girlfriend."

"Ew, don't say that. It's gross."

"What? Girlfriend?"

"Eww."

"Oh, grow up."

"Grow up? You're really telling me to grow up? You?"

"I'm not the one still scared of getting cooties."

"I didn't mean it like that, you jerk! I think it's gross that the Princess has a boyfriend! I mean, she's the Princess, you know? Well, you don't live in Equestria. You wouldn't know. Princess Celestia is somepony all of us little fillies would look up to when we were growing up. We all wanted to be like her. Now that she has a boyfriend, my image of her has been totally changed."

"Oh. That's..." I didn't have anything to say. Best not to say anything.

"It makes her seem... uh... more... normal. Like she's just another mare. She's always seemed so far detached from the rest of us that I never even considered the possibility of her in a relationship. Don't look at me like that. It's just really weird for me. You wouldn't get it."

"Nah, probably not. So we're cool, you just don't like the idea of me, is that right?"

"Uh... I... guess."

I chuckled. "Do you have anyone, Red?"

"Are you asking if I have a boyfriend?"

I shrugged. "You don't have to answer. I know it's not my business. I just thought it'd be nice to get to know each other since we're forced to live together."

She sighed. "No, I don't have a boyfriend. It's hard enough living a double life. I don't need somepony else butting in on my business. Besides, all the good ones are taken."

"Yeah, I hear that."

"And I certainly don't want to get stuck with someone like you."

"I wouldn't wanna be stuck with me either."

"Ouch. You weren't supposed to agree with me. You were supposed to insult me back."

I shrugged. "I can admit that I have flaws. I know that some of these flaws can make it difficult for... some people to be around me. I've come to accept that. The most I can do is try to hide them from the people I like and the people I love."

"Oh... uh... I really wasn't expecting that from you. You... uh... You seem nice, at least. I... I guess that means I should share something about myself."

"If you want."

"I kinda still feel like I should say something. Is there... something you would like to know, then?"

I stared at her for a short while before settling on a simple question. "How old are you?"

"I'm nineteen."

"Geez, you are young. I can't really say that though, I'm 25."

"Yeah, I know."

I raised an eyebrow. Did I say it around her?

She shrugged. "I looked at your ID when I took your wallet."

I blinked. "I watched you the whole time, you barely opened it."

She just shrugged again.

"Geez, Red. Can I ask another question?"

"Go ahead."

"How did you get into the castle?"

"Did the Princess put you up to this?"

"No, not this time. I'm just curious. I know the guards are... They do their job. How did you get past them?"

"Easy. I'm just better than them." She smirked.

"Your crew got caught, though."

"They did that on their own. I had no part in that. We had a good thing going, too. Now they think I sold them out. That's one of the reasons I don't wanna go to prison, you know. They're in there, too. Speaking of... Could you... talk to the Princess about that for me? Maybe put a good word in?"

"That's out of my hands, Red."

"Please? Why not? I mean, I know why, but why?"

"She's already got enough going on without me meddling in her affairs. I don't wanna force her to do anything. Even if it's for you."

"You don't have to force her. Just tell her I've changed."

"Have you?"

"Yes. I haven't stolen anything since I got here. I haven't even opened the safe in your closet."

I crossed my arms. "How do you know about that?"

"I... uh... snuck in while the Princess was eating. I just wanted to see what was in there, I swear!"

I glared at her for a few more moments before saying, "Anyways, if you really want to do something about your punishment, your only option is to convince her that you've changed yourself. Celestia's very nice, Red. Talk with her more. Be her friend. Kiss her ass a bit. You should know this by now, but she's very easy to talk to."

"What was that third thing?"

"Hmm? Kiss her ass? Don't you have that phrase in Equestria?"

She seemed slightly horrified.

"Just make her happy." I clarified.

"Wait, so kissing her butt makes her happy?"

"Isn't that how it is for all women?"

"Ew... You made it weird again."

"I made it weird?"

She smirked. "I guess I can't lie around you."

"That was a lie, too."

"Right again. Don't worry, I'm not gonna be kissing her butt anytime soon. I'm straight, after all."

"Spaghetti's straight until it gets hot."

"Has anyone ever told you that you're a terrible person?"

"Yes, many times."

"I see... Was there anything else you wanted to know about me?"

"It kinda feels like you want me to ask you questions."

"Sitting down here all day gets boring. Talking seems to be the only thing that happens."

"Was there anything... specific you wanted me to ask?"

"Um... Not... exactly."

"Not exactly?"

"I... have a favor to ask." Her eyes drifted downwards.

"I told you I can't talk to Celestia for you."

"It's not that. This is... kinda a strange request, so don't laugh. When I get back to Equestria... and I get sent to prison... I want you to visit me."

"Visit you?"

"I wanna have someone on the outside to talk to. Somepony who's not related to me or associated with me. I don't have many friends... or really... any at all. I don't exactly have a good reputation."

"Well... Red... I can't."

"What? Why?"

"I'm not going to Equestria."

"Oh... Really? I thought you were. But... what about the Princess? She's not staying here, is she?"

"No, she's heading back when the crystal mirror activates again. You are too, if we can't find any way to get you there any sooner."

"So... Is she... Or are you like... Wait, how does that work between you and... her?"

"When she comes here, she stays for a month, then she goes home for a month. After that month has passed, she either comes back, or stays home for another month. She can't keep coming here for months at a time, though. I imagine that there'll be a few months in between her visits at some point. It's just... something that we have to deal with."

"Really? That's terrible! I don't know much about your relationship, but you really seem to... like each other. I'm sorry. You really can't go to Equestria?"

"Yeah. It's... It is what it is. I want to. I wanna live with Celestia, always."

She gave a slow nod.

"I'd be happy to visit you though, Red. You're my friend."

"Yeah... Thanks." She turned. I don't think she was expecting me to be so nice.

"So... what else have you stolen, Red?" I asked her, changing my line of questioning. I felt it was a good segue into Chrysalis's request.

Her mood brightened as she began to share her various exploits. "Well, aside from jewels and gold, you know what ponies pay big money for?"

"What?"

"Magical items."

"That so?"

"Oh yeah. Everypony buys them. Everypony that can afford them. I've even collected some magical items for nobility. I've managed to get my hooves on a few things that could buy your house five times over."

"I don't doubt that. Have you picked up anything particularly interesting?"

"Interested in the exotic, are we? Well, get this..." She leaned in closer. "I managed to steal Queen Chrysalis's teddy bear right from under her nose." she whispered.

Surprise, surprise. "Seriously? Why would you steal something like that?"

"To see if I could. Unfortunately, I got cornered before I could show it off and had to escape fast. It's why I ended up here. I still have it, you know." She held her hand out and a red bubble appeared above it. Inside the bubble, I could see the bear. It looked completely normal to me. Just a cute little bear. She closed her hand and the bubble and bear disappeared.

"The heck are you gonna do with that thing?" I asked.

"I haven't decided yet. Whatever it is, it's gotta be big."

I crossed my arms. Red was a lot smarter than I was. She'd figure out that Chrysalis talked to me if I pursued it. "Think she'd be embarrassed to have something like that revealed to the public?"

"Oh, I bet she would. I figured that's why she hasn't tried to get it herself. She knows I'd do something crazy."

"Crazy? You? The very idea. You know, when I was growing up, I had a little stuffed dog I named Ralphie. I still have him, actually. Somewhere around here. I really wouldn't have any problem with people knowing about him."

"I don't know if I could say the same. We all had stuffed animals as kids. We're supposed to grow out of them. I still have mine, too. It's a stuffed bunny I called Hopkins."

"Cute."

She smiled. "Yeah, I... thought so too. You know, I've actually been thinking about what I should do with this bear. It's nice to gloat and all, but Chrysalis is super scary. She even beat the Princess!"

"Chrysalis had been feeding on Shining Armor's love for a long time."

"Is that what Celestia told you?" She smirked. "I'm just kidding. I know what happened. It's still scary. Like, it's either I give it back, or I get bragging rights and the wrath of Queen Chrysalis. Actually now that I say it like that, it's a little scarier."

"You could sell it back to her."

"I thought about that, too. I dunno. Until I figure it out, this thing stays with me."

"Man, you'd better hope Celestia's not listening in on this." I said, "She's been hearing a lot of things she's not supposed to recently."

"The Princess? She's hearing things she shouldn't? Like what?" She gasped. "Are you having an affair?"

"Don't ever say that, Red! Our relationship isn't a joke. I don't appreciate that kinda language."

"Oh... Sorry. I didn't mean it, you know."

"Thank you."

"So what did she hear?"

I hesitated for a small while, unsure if I should tell her. "If I tell you, I want you to keep it to yourself, alright Red?"

She placed a hand over her chest. "Scout's honor!"

"You're not a scout."

"True."

"I mean it, Red. This is really private, what I'm gonna say. It's part of our relationship."

"I won't say anything, I promise. Keeping secrets is part one of the big book o' thievery."

"Fine. Celesta overheard me telling Luna that I wanted to marry her."

Red pulled back. "Seriously?"

I nodded.

"That's... That's super cute!"

"Uh..." I didn't expect even a smile from her, let alone this enthusiasm.

"I mean, it's super weird, but it's so cute! I never thought Princess Celestia would get married!"

"Keep it down, would you?"

"So what kind of wedding do you think she'd want? Something big? Small? Public? Private? Can I come? I'll bring presents! I won't even steal the rest."

"You... You'd want to?"

"Of course! You're my friends, aren't you?"

"Well, I'd love it if you'd be there. I'd have to ask Celestia how she would feel about it, though. I don't know what kind of wedding she'd want. I know what kind of wedding she deserves, though. Something huge. Something extravagant. Something that'll be heard around the world. The kind of wedding I'd plan for her wouldn't be filled with fanfare or cheering people or ponies, or anything like that. It'd be something small and nice, in a pleasant, grassy field surrounded by our family and friends. Could you imagine?"

"I really could... That sounds wonderful." She sighed.

"Aren't you a little too young to be daydreaming about marriage?"

"A woman can have goals!" she shot back, "Just because I'm thinking about it doesn't mean I want to do it! Marriage is too scary, anyways."

"Yeah... Yeah it is."

"You're really sweet, you know that?"

"I've... been told."

"I don't know a lot about... relationships, but you and the Princess really seem to be doing well together. If I ever found someone, I just hope they'd be as nice as you. You know, as long as the rest of them isn't like you."

"Ouch."

"You're too much, Phil. A woman needs her space."

I smirked to myself. "It takes a special kinda lady to love me."

"So... Um... Maybe I shouldn't ask this, but you and the Princess... You sleep together, right? Like... often?"

"Yeah. We're not much different from a normal couple, Red."

"Do you... mind if I ask... Do you... like..." She rubbed the back of her neck. "Do you have sex?"

My eyebrow raised. I didn't know where she was going with this. Celestia was honest with my family yesterday. I doubt she'll mind if I mentioned it to Red. "Yes, we do."

"Huh... This is so weird. I mean, you never think about these things, but the Princess having sex? Sorry, that was kinda... I... I think I've heard enough about this, sorry."

"You don't seem very comfortable discussing this, Red. Why'd you bring it up?"

"I was just curious, alright? Can we talk about something else, please? It was a mistake to ask in the first place."

"Ah, don't worry about it. Was there something else you wanted to talk about?"

"Uh... Well, what... um... Did... Did you have a nice time? At your grandma's?"

"Yeah, it was great! We raked the yard, ate some dinner, I got to introduce Celestia to a part of my family... Celestia and I talked about our feelings for a while. Actually..." I turned around again and plugged my phone into the computer.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Nothing important." I replied, "Well, maybe a little. I took a picture of Celestia while we were playing in the leaves."

"Oh, a photo? It's cute."

Though it was still a thumbnail, she could see it from where she was on the couch. I looked back at her. "You must like carrots."

She smiled brightly. "I've always had good eyes."

"What other kind of skills do you have?"

"Well, I have great hearing, I'm quick on my feet, I'm pretty good in a fight, I can pick locks, I'm a competent magician..." She stopped listing her skills, growing desolate. "Magic is a lot harder to cast in this world. Princess Celestia was still able to use such powerful magic. I couldn't defend myself from her. She's in a whole other league."

"Celestia hides her powerful side around me." I said, "She's never anything more than kind, caring, and compassionate."

"That's how she is in Equestria, as well. She was always so soft and gentle. You were right. When I got to know her, she was so nice to me, even after all I did. It's so weird seeing her act this way. Wait a minute... She's been acting weird recently, and you... well, you... you know... Is the Princess pregnant?"

"No, she's not pregnant. She would tell me if she was."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure."

"Alright, just asking... Just asking."

I sighed. "I think coming down here was a mistake."

"Oh yeah? You getting sick of me already?"

"I should have stayed with Celestia. I think she needs me and I left her alone because I was scared of saying something wrong."

"That's what I thought was going on. Go get her, champ. Good luck. Bring me back a souvenir." She laid down on the couch and stared at the ceiling.

I went back upstairs. Celestia was in the bedroom, same as before. I gave the door a small knock and said, "Coming in."

There was no response. I opened the door and moved inside. Celestia was lying on her side, her body under the covers. She glanced at me as I walked in. I closed the door behind us so we could be alone.

"Are you alright, Celestia?" I asked, kneeling next to her.

"I'm alright. I'll... be fine. I've dealt with this before." She was depressed. I knew that tone of voice all too well.

"You don't have to deal with this alone, Celestia." I offered.

"You couldn't understand how much this means to me."

"Celestia."

"You could have met another woman and had a family of your own. Instead, you chose me and I led you to believe that... that I..." It sounded like she was breaking down again.

I placed my hand over hers, sitting next to her on the bed.

"What a strange family we would make." she said. She looked up to me, her big, sad eyes piercing my heart.

"I don't... I don't have anything to say to you, Celestia. Nothing that would pull you out of this rut. But I want you to know that I'm here for you. I'll always be here for you. I want to be with you when you're sad and when you're happy and every other time in between because I love you, Celestia."

She let out a small chuckle. "It almost sounds like you're proposing to me."

"Maybe it does."

"Y-You're not, are you?" There was a sudden panic in her voice. She sat up, getting level with me.

"No, honey. Not right now."

"Not... r-right... N-NOW?" More panic.

I sighed, giving her a smile. "Deep breaths, honey."

She had a nervous smile on her face. "You're starting to scare me a little with all this."

"That so?"

She gave a quick nod.

"You already said you would, Celestia."

"I... I what? What did I say?"

"You said you'd marry me if I got you pregnant."

"I... I said that... That's right... I did say that... That's... That's right..."

"Did you mean it, Princess?"

"I..." She nodded again. Tears started to form in her eyes. "Of course I did." She paused and looked away. "I really did."

I smiled at her again. I really didn't know what to say about all this. I figured if I kept her talking, maybe something good would come of it. We gazed at each other. We did this a lot. Was it normal for people in relationships to just look at each other like this? I don't know.

"Hey, Celestia..."

"Hmm?" She wiped her eyes.

"Would you like me to stay home with you the next few days? I could take a few days off work."

She smiled. "Phil, no. Please. I'll be fine. You know me. You've already done more than enough for me."

"Are you sure?"

She nodded. "Of course. I always have Red to talk to."

"You and Red haven't been making any plans, have you?"

"Perhaps. Have you been making plans with her?"

"Not a lot."

"I know when you're talking to her, you know."

"Well... I'm allowed to talk to her, aren't I?"

"Of course, of course. I can't very well say you can't when I speak to her as much as I do."

"You've been getting along well with her, recently."

"I suppose. Do you... have any regrets about her, honey?" she asked.

"No."

"I'm glad. If you have no regrets, then I don't either. If becoming her friend was a mistake, then I don't want to be right. I have to, though. For my kingdom. She has to be an example, not an exception."

"She asked me to visit her. When she's in jail. She told me that she won't have anyone else."

"How sad. She's a kind young woman. Perhaps I could visit her in your stead."

The two of us went silent for a long time. I just sat next to her as she laid on my bed.

"Hey, Phil?" she started, breaking the silence.

"Hmm?"

"Would you... Would you really want to become the father of my children?"

"Celestia?"

"Would you, Phil? Would you... truly want that?"

"Y-Yeah! Of course, Celestia! I..." Did I? I had trouble finding the words to continue.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Celestia... I'm scared of having children."

"I know, honey. I am, too."

"I don't know if I'm ready, Celestia."

"Me either. I don't think I'll ever be ready."

"I want a little more time with you, Celestia. Just you and me, for a little while longer."

She nodded. "I think I understand."

"I might be a bit young and... stupid, but I know that I love you. Whatever you think that love includes, that's what I want. The thought of us getting married and starting a family... It's scary. I'm sure you're scared, too. It's a scary thing. But you're already a part of my family, Celestia."

"Wh-What?"

"Celestia... I want to ask you something important. What is marriage to you?"

"What is... Wh-What is... Oh my gosh... Oh no... No-no-no... Y-you're not... Are you?"

I placed my finger over her lips to quiet her. "Please."

She swallowed, then gave me a quick nod. I removed my finger so she could speak. "R-Right. W-Well... t-to me... marriage is... marriage... is... Why are you... asking?"

"I want to know, Celestia. What is it to you?" I repeated.

"Marriage... It's when two people who love each other become... become..." Her voice lowered. "A real family..."

I stared at her, not satisfied. "But what does it mean to you."

"To me?"

I nodded at her. "I know there's a lot more that you want to say, Celestia. It's just me here. Tell me."

She gave me a slow, understanding nod. I wasn't here to judge. "To me... Marriage is the most sacred of vows. It's the most powerful commitment one could make. It's a promise to love one another until the end of time. But... It's even more than that." Her voice got softer. "It's... It's when a husband and wife wake up next to each other with a smile each morning. When they hold each other, their hearts beat in sync. When they look into each other's eyes, they fall in love all over again. When they're with each other, they know that everything will be alright, no matter how bad it gets." She sniffed, then wiped her eyes with her arm. "Sorry..."

I reached for her face and placed my hand on her cheek. She lightly grabbed my wrist and smiled at me.

"Keep going, Celestia."

I took my hand back. She held onto it as I lowered it to the bed. Her eyes drifted downwards. "Marriage is... It's been a dream of mine for so long now. Ever since I was a child. I've wanted to get married for as long as I can remember. Then... you came along and... we became lovers. Now you're speaking to me as if... as if it were normal."

"Do you really want to start a family with me? Me, Celestia? Of all people?"

She nodded. "Of course, you. I love you, Phil. I don't want to hear you say that I deserve better. I want you. When I heard you tell Luna that you might... ask me to be yours, I felt so happy. I found myself crying at the thought of it. I'm... I'm truly sorry for eavesdropping. I... I was curious. I have no excuse."

"It's alright, honey. I love you, more than... More than I've loved anyone else before. More than I love myself... You're my sun. My little sunflower... What I told Luna was something that seemed so far off, but now that you're here with me, it doesn't seem far at all. So... yeah. I want to marry you."

Her eyes began to water. "I... I feel the same."

We stared at each other for a while. Celestia still seemed ready to cry at a moment's notice, but at this point, they may have been tears of joy. She looked beautiful right now. More beautiful than before. Was it because of her expression, or was it something more?

"D-Does this mean that... we... we're... engaged?"

I looked downwards. "I don't know. I haven't given you a ring, yet."

"I don't care about a ring."

"I do." I replied, a little force behind my words, "We each want our own versions of this. If I can't kneel in front of you with a ring in my hand, then what kind of man would I be?"

"You would be my man." She paused. "If it's what you truly want, I won't take it from you. I was looking forward to it, myself."

The two of us chuckled together, finding her little reveal amusing.

She continued. "But... if not now, then when?"

"That's not easy to answer. Our situation isn't exactly ideal. But... What you said... It got me interested."

"What I said?"

"If we were to have a child, I would be happy to marry you. But until then, being forced to live half my life away from my wife... It doesn't sound nice at all. Right now, I don't even know when I'll get to see you again."

She nodded slowly. "Our situation is... complicated."

"How would we even raise a child, Celestia? We won't be together all the time. It can't be healthy."

"I... I've given that some thought, Phil. If we were to have a child, I would want to live here with you."

"Wh-What?"

"At least, that's what I would like to do. As you have said, our situation complicates things."

"Man..." I rubbed my neck. "Are you sure that's the best course of action?"

"Of course not. How could I be?"

"I dunno, Celestia."

"What about you?"

"Me? I dunno. It's hard to say, you know?"

"What if I were pregnant right now? What would you want?"

"Right now? Geez, Celestia..." I started to think of an answer, but as I did, I only felt doubt. I'm scared. I can't handle a child. I'm not responsible enough. I'm not strong enough. I'm a bad influence. I'm too young. I don't like kids. My house is too small. I don't make enough money. I could never forgive myself if I raised them wrong. I would never want to bring a child into this world. I could never raise them how Celestia would want. I could never match her love.

"Honey?" Celestia noticed my silence.

I looked at her. The longer I wallowed in my own self-doubt, the harder it became for me to accept that answering truthfully wouldn't make her happy. I chose cowardice over trying to face the truth together. "I can't answer that." I said, "I'm only 25, Celestia. I'm not prepared for a child."

She looked away. I think she was disappointed, but I couldn't tell for sure. I'm sure she realized that I didn't answer her. Finally, she turned back to me, a small, comforting smile on her face. "That's ok. Neither am I. Oh! If I delivered a child in this world, would she be able to come to Equestria?"

"That's... That's a good question."

"I wouldn't want to deliver her without you with me, but I wouldn't want to prevent her from coming home with me. Hmm..."

"Her?" I asked.

"I want a daughter."

"Oh. Well, alright. Celestia, this is really complicated."

"I know, honey."

"But... you know, I feel like this is perfectly normal."

"Normal?"

"Yeah. What we're going through. It's normal. Well, most of it, at least. We're thinking about the future, we're scared we might do something wrong, and... I imagine, at least... we're both scared of the thought of actually becoming parents."

"I..." She nodded. "Yeah. I'm scared."

"What parent knows how to raise their first child? It's normal to be scared. I don't want you to think you're alone when you feel this way."

She nodded.

"Getting married, having children, living together. It's what normal couples do. Maybe it's the scariest thing there is."

She smiled warmly. The tears that had formed in her eyes had vanished. After a small while, she spoke again. "What would you do? If I were to move in with you. If we were to become... parents."

"I'd... Well, I'd get a new home."

"A new home?"

I nodded. "Someplace bigger. Someplace where we'd have room. Someplace with more than one bedroom. If we... If you and I really had a kid... I'd want a better life. I'd want to give you a better life, even before myself. A life where you wouldn't have to do nothing all day. I want that now, even. I don't like leaving you here with nothing to entertain yourself with."

"Phil, please."

"I mean it, honey. I don't feel right leaving just for you to sit around without anything to do."

"There's plenty for me to do, Phil. You don't have to worry about me."

"Are you sure? Aren't you bored?"

"Are you bored?" she asked.

"Well, no. Not really. Sometimes, I guess."

"I enjoy relaxing, Phil. Perhaps you should take a deep breath and enjoy the simpler things in life. Besides, when you're away, I can look forward to you coming home!" Her smile was wide. "And when you're here, it's impossible to be bored! We always talk or cuddle or... even make love. There's always something to do. If this is how it will be when we get married, then I wouldn't want it any other way."

I hesitated. "Even if you say that, I feel inadequate. It's like you're saying that just to make me feel better."

"Stop it, honey. You're wonderful."

"Thank you, Celestia."

"You still have no idea how much you mean to me."

"Yeah... I guess I don't. Maybe I'll figure it out someday. Maybe I'll figure it out by the time I lift your veil and see your beautiful, smiling face."

"Oh, honey..."

"I love you, Celestia."

"I love you, too."

I crawled over to her on the bed and sat next to her. Our backs were resting against the headboard. I looked to her, smiling. She sighed and leaned against me.

"I love your romanticism." she said.

I wrapped my arm around her waist. "You and I are gonna make a great family some day."

"Promise?"

"Yeah. Promise." I'm not one to make promises easily. She probably realized this by now. I only did when I knew I could deliver. Right now, I truly believed my own words.

She turned to me. Her face got closer to mine. A moment later, our lips were together. She soon pulled back, smiling her warm smile.

We kissed again. Our eyes had closed. She grabbed my hand and lowered it from her waist to her bottom. She became more forceful with me. Her tongue pushed into my mouth. I did my best to follow her movements. I felt her grasp for my other hand, which was near her lap. She pulled on it until my palm was pressing against her soft breast. She gasped and let go of me, leaving my hand where it was.

This really shouldn't continue. Not right now, at least. I pulled my hand away from her chest, then pulled my lips from hers. She opened her eyes, her eyebrows angled down in confusion.

She looked down. "I'm sorry." There was an unexpected shame in her voice.

"Celestia..."

I wrapped my arms around her. She laid her head against my chest, returning my embrace.

"I want her to go." she said.

"I know, Celestia."

"I want to be alone again. Our love was supposed to be private. I came here without guards so we could make love in peace. This isn't fair. I have needs just like anypony else."

"It's alright, honey. We'll get our chance."

She sighed, clearly disappointed.

We held each other for a long time. It was nice. Peaceful.

"Your sister never braided my hair." she murmured, breaking the silence.

"Huh? Oh yeah. She said she wanted to. Do you want me to?"

"Hmm?"

"'Cause I can. If you want."

"You... know how to braid hair?"

"I grew up with my sister. Of course I know how to braid."

"Well... by all means." she said to me, her spirits lifting.

"Here, scoot." I instructed, giving her room.

She slid forward on the bed. I sat behind her, taking her long, soft hair into my hands. There was a bit of regret in the back of my mind as I ran my hands down the length of her hair. This would be a lot of work. She seemed to enjoy my hands running through her hair. I combed through it with my fingers, letting her silky smooth locks flow around them.

I immediately ran into a problem. I was only taught how to braid with three locks, but Celestia's hair had four distinct colors. With no interest in learning a new technique, I began mixing the strands of her hair together. As if it had a mind of its own, her hair refused to cooperate, always separating as quickly as I mixed it.

"What in the world are you doing?" She laughed.

I felt as if I had been defeated by her hair. The battle was lost, but the war was far from over. Against the wishes of her hair, I grabbed a handful and draped it over her shoulder as I began. It wasn't as complicated as I thought it would be, there was just a lot of moving around. I kept tossing her hair over her shoulders and pulling it back to keep it separated. She seemed quite entertained by my antics.

Even with her occasional assistance, my arms had gotten sore by the time I was finished. Celestia had to keep moving away from me so I could continue down the length of her hair. As I reached the end, a thought occurred. I didn't have a hair tie. Hmm... Wait, I think I had some in my nightstand drawer. Thankfully, her hair was more than long enough to reach over and search. I just needed to hold her braid in place with my other hand or it would come undone.

"What are you doing, honey?" she asked, watching me blindly open and reach into the drawer.

"I need a hair tie." I answered.

She leaned towards the drawer. "Here, let me help. No, not that. Deeper. Close. No, that's the... uh... Closer. There you go, that's it! Oops, you dropped it. Let me get it." She reached into the drawer and dropped it into my hand.

"You could've got it the whole time?"

"Well, of course." she replied, smiling.

I bundled the end of her hair together and made sure it was tight enough to stay on its own. I ran my hand down the hair I had just styled.

"Is it done?" she asked.

"Yep. Check it out." I threw her braid over her shoulder.

She reached her hands to her braid, slowly examining it by running them along the many bumps. "I love it."

I wrapped my arms around her from behind. "I love you."

She lowered her hands to my arms. "I love you, too."

I held her for a long while. She always enjoyed my affection.

She let out a short sigh.

"Hmm?"

"It's nothing." she said.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm horny."

I chuckled. "I know, honey. We're going to have to bear it."

"Is it so wrong to want a physical relationship?"

"Come on, we're adults. We can take a break from love making."

"This isn't what I had in mind when I came here." she complained.

"I know, honey. It's alright. After she leaves, you and I can fuck like bunnies."

She giggled. "My, you sure know how to make a lady swoon."

"You're no lady."

"What am I?"

"I think you know."

"Say it."

I closed in on her ear and gently nibbled her earlobe before whispering the answer.

"Oh my... You're such a bully, Phil. Turning me on while we have a guest... Shame on you."

"I think I know how to make it up to you."

"A quickie in the shower?"

"Besides that."

"Aw..." She sounded disappointed. "What is it?"

"Ice cream."

"Oh, you know me so well. The perfect thing to cool me off."

"Not just any kind of ice cream, though. Drumsticks!"

"Oh! I love drumsticks!"

"See? I knew you'd feel better. The only problem is that I don't have any, so we'd have to go get some."

"And I can show off my pretty braid while we're out!" She laughed again.

I patted her side. "I'm gonna go start the car. Grab your coat and come out when you're ready. And make sure Red has the phone, alright?"

She gave me a cheery, "Ok!"

I let her go and got off the bed. She was smiling at me as I looked back at her. She looked cute right now. She always looks cute.

Keys, wallet, hoodie. Phone, umbrella... I picked up what I needed from around the house before heading outside. Celestia headed to the basement as I walked out the front door.

"Hello, Phil!" An upbeat voice greeted me as I got to the car. One I recognized.

"Well, there goes my good mood." I sighed. Queen Chrysalis. Again.

"Oh, don't be like that. We're best friends, right? What's with that look? We are friends, aren't we?"

"Maybe."

"Yes or no." Her cheerfulness suddenly disappeared. I think she had an ulterior motive.

"Well, then yes. I guess."

"Good. Since we're friends, I have another favor to ask."

"There's a catch to our friendship?"

"Call it what you will, but I need something else done."

"Fine. What?"

"Something important. You'll see. The reason I came to you now is to give you your reward beforehand." She held out a clenched hand to me.

"What? Why?"

"As much as I hate to admit it, this matter is far more important than my stuffed bear. I have my reasons. I need your help, but I need time first."

I looked at her hand for a small while before moving mine under hers. She dropped something heavy into my hand. I looked at what it was.

"Uh... What is this?" I asked in disbelief. A coin. Small, heavy, yellow... It was gold. A gold coin.

"I don't know how much you'd want for this. I don't know what your money is worth. Gold, however... Gold is always a good incentive."

I weighed it in my hand, failing to correctly measure it.

"It's half an ounce." she answered before I asked. She seemed apathetic towards it.

"That's still a lot of money here! Are... Are you serious?" I looked back up at her in disbelief, not at all used to such a gift.

"Enjoy your trip. I'll give you more details later."

"Wh-What? No, you gotta tell me now!"

"Phil, I thought you said you were going to start the car!" Celestia called from the doorway.

I quickly looked back at her, then back where Chrysalis was standing. Gone, as if she never were. She Batmaned me.

"Is everything... alright?" she asked, closing the door behind her.

"Yeah, yeah. Sorry. Forgot what I was doing."

"Oh. Well come on, let's go!"

"Aren't you excitable."

"I'm just... happy."

"I'm glad."

"I'm glad, too." She giggled.

I stepped to the passenger side to help her in. She thanked me as I closed the door. I sighed to myself as I moved to my side. My dingy little car isn't suitable for her to travel in. Ignoring another of my inadequacies, I sat next to her and drove us to the store. It brightened my mood that I was able to get Celestia out of the house. I could spend time with her alone. It may not have been private, but it was enough for me.

It was hard to forget about the gold coin in my pocket. What does Chrysalis want in return? I couldn't sell it without doing her favor first. It would be dishonest. Even if it was Chrysalis, I would feel guilty. Maybe I could take Celestia on a real vacation with this thing. Not just to the Dells, but on a real vacation, maybe by the ocean. Oh, she'd love that. Gosh... My first thought wasn't that I could pay bills or buy myself any more computer parts... It was that I could take Celestia on an expensive trip.

She giggled. "What's with that smile?"

"I just remembered something."

"Oh?"

"I remembered how much I love you."

Another giggle. "Is that so?"

"Yep. I love you."

"I love you too."

"I love you." I repeated.

"What's gotten into you, honey? Are we really going to get Drumsticks?"

"Love you."

"I... love you too." she said, giggling.

I laughed with her. I think this is what our relationship should be right now. The two of us laughing at nothing at all. I don't know if I wanted anything more.

I took in a deep breath. "I'm scared, Celestia." I said, my cheerful tone contradicting my words, "So all I can ask from you is your patience. I'm not going to ask you now, but one day, I will. And when that day comes, I want to hear you say it, Celestia."

I heard her breathe a faint whisper to herself, "I do."

"Until then, Celestia... We just love each other. You think you can do that for me?"

"Y-Yes! Of course! I'll be patient! I'll be patient for as long as you need. I've waited this long. I can... I can wait a little longer."

"You're my little sunflower, Celestia. Don't you forget that."

"I won't. I won't ever forget. Oh Phil, you're acting so strange."

"Is it strange to love you the way I do, Celestia?"

"N-No, of course not! I... I love you, too."

With my little speech gone, we had finally arrived at the store. Celestia's braid swayed back and forth as she got out of the car. It looked quite nice, I felt. Celestia joined me on my side of the car before we grabbed each other's hands and moved inside.

"You know, this is probably a good time to just pick up some groceries." I said, picking out a cart.

"Wasn't that what we were doing?"

"Ice cream isn't groceries."

"Lying won't do you any good, Phil." She giggled.

"What do we need, do you think?"

"Snacks! Lots of snacks."

"Besides snacks."

"Hmm... Apple juice. And milk."

"Right, apple juice and milk." I repeated, "Apple juice, milk, snacks, ice cream, bread, peanut butter... Uh... I need more toothbrushes. Toilet paper. Pizza rolls."

"Fruits and vegetables."

"I'll let you pick those out."

"Yay! I want some more strawberries."

"Mmm..."

"Don't complain, honey. You don't have to eat them. I can share them with Red. You're a picky eater, you know that?"

"I'm an adult, I'm allowed to be picky. Besides, I thought you said strawberries were too cold for your nipples."

"They were too cold. They were covered in water, I didn't expect it. These store-bought packages are nothing like fresh strawberries."

"I could prepare a smorgasbord of fruits and sweets and we could see which tastes best when eaten off your naked body."

"Oh, I like the sound of that."

"We could try some more chocolate sauce too, if you want. And whipped cream."

"No, the last time we tried that, it was a huge mess. It got all over the bed."

"It was fun, though."

She giggled. "Yes, it was."

"It's not the worst thing that's gotten onto that bed, either."

Another giggle. "That's true. Oh, I've missed our creative love making."

"You just miss getting to eat in bed."

She stifled a laugh, snorting behind her hand. "Perhaps you're right."

I chuckled to myself, enjoying our playful banter. "Anyways, you think Red might want somethin'?"

She shrugged. "Maybe. She doesn't eat much."

"You have been letting her eat, haven't you?"

"What? Of course I have! I don't eat that much. Actually, Red has a much healthier diet than I. She's rather muscular for a woman of her age."

"She doesn't have anyone to lick chocolate sauce off of."

More wonderful laughter. "Stop it Phil! You're starting to embarrass me!"

"Oh! Potatoes! I can make some fried potatoes sometime." I said, more groceries coming to mind.

"I like potatoes."

As we walked through the store to collect our groceries, I semi-jokingly suggested more foods for us to add to our 'smorgasbord'. Her amusement at my dedication to a joke was endless. I think she also realized that I wasn't joking, which made the joke even more enjoyable. Teasing her was one of my favorite parts of any day.

Our shopping list was fairly straightforward, but it soon became a shopping amorphous-blob as Celestia threw anything she wanted into the cart. She was like a kid with a credit card, obsessed with her sweet treats. I was happy to pay for any kind of food she wanted. After all, I got to eat it too.

There was a brief hesitation from her as she reached for a nearby bottle of chocolate sauce. She gave me a look, smirked, then grabbed two and put them into the cart. Luckily, I loved chocolate milk, so win-win. Of course, near the chocolate was the ice cream of our dreams, drumsticks. The whole reason we came here. I knew they would be eaten pretty much instantly, so I made sure to collect a few boxes for our little rag-tag family back home.

Though there were no direct interactions, Celestia politely greeted many of the people we passed in the aisles. Some greeted us back, some nodded, some merely grunted, and some simply ignored us. I noticed some passing glances at my goddess of a girlfriend from both men and women alike. I hope they liked her new hairstyle. I did.

Celestia convinced me to use the self-bagging aisle at the checkout. I didn't really want to, but she thought it would be fun, so I didn't put up much resistance. Celestia scanned the food and sent them down the conveyor belt for me to bag.

"That's everything!" she called as the last bag of bread moved down the conveyor.

"What are the damages?" I asked, placing the last bag into the cart.

"Um... Oh! It says... $145.53. That sounds like a lot."

"We bought a lot of food." I replied, card in hand.

"Did I get too many snacks?"

"No, no. You wanna learn how to use a debit card?"

"Ok!"

I handed her the card and led her through the process of paying for groceries with a debit card. I also briefly explained what a debit card was, as she seemed somewhat confused.

Celestia was beaming all the way home. She had such an unexpected enthusiasm today. I wonder what's gotten into her. Maybe I should take her out more.

Throughout the whole trip, I found myself fondling the coin I had received. Part of me didn't want to tarnish it, but I just couldn't help myself. What did Chrysalis want from me? Did Luna know what Chrysalis wanted me to do? I'll have to tell Celestia about this sometime. I don't feel comfortable keeping it from her, but I just couldn't take away her smile.

As I opened the door to the house, I called inside for Red.

"What's up?" she responded from the basement.

"We're back, get up here and help us with groceries!"

"Help you with groceries? Do I have to?"

"You wanna eat, don't ya?" I called back.

"What? Seriously? Fine. Be there in a sec." Red joined us in the living room as we brought in our first set of bags.

"There's not much. I just wanted you to know what we got so you can find it when you get hungry." I told her.

"I'm already up here, let's do this."

"Hold on." I took off my hoodie and gave it to her. "It's cold out."

"Thanks." Her appreciation seemed somewhat sarcastic, though she equipped the too-big hoodie regardless. "What in the world happened to your hair?" she asked Celestia.

Celestia smiled proudly. "You like it? Phil did it for me."

"Yeah, it..." She stifled a giggle. "Looks great. Really... Really nailed it there, buddy." She snorted, then started to laugh.

"I don't think she likes it." I said.

Celestia was still smiling, unaffected by Red's teasing. "Don't worry. She's just jealous that she doesn't have a boyfriend to braid her hair for her."

Red stopped laughing immediately. "For your information, I've had plenty of guys that wanted to be my boyfriend!" she growled.

Celestia laughed. "I'm sorry, Red. I was joking."

"Celestia, be nice to Red. She's allowed to be jealous if she wants."

"I am not jealous!"

Despite her protests, Red helped us just as I had asked. When all the bags were inside, I made sure the trunk was closed before joining Celestia and Red. It was getting colder outside. Winter coats may soon be in order.

Red was trying to escape back downstairs as I walked back in. "Oh, no you don't!" I stopped her. "Gotta help put it away."

"Seriously?"

"It won't take long."

She sighed. "Fine."

Like I said, it didn't take long. Red was back downstairs in less than five minutes, leaving Celestia and I alone.

"Want one?" Celestia asked, mouth full, a box of Twinkies in her hand. She offered the box to me and gave it a shake.

I reached inside and took one. "I didn't even see you open this."

She merely shrugged and took another bite. Celestia is so much more beautiful when she's happy. Sadness doesn't suit her. Cheer always filled the house when she smiled.

I unwrapped mine and took a bite. As I ate, I began thinking about the coin in my pocket again. What if she wanted something that would strain my relationship with Celestia? I'd hate to have to give this back. What if she wanted something dangerous? I heard she was crueler in the comics. She's not to be taken lightly.

Maybe I could use the coin to buy a ring.
> Chapter 19
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

November 5



I woke up at the same time I always did. Celestia's warm body was in my arms. I held her tightly, not wanting to let go.

"Are you going to get up?" she asked, gently touching my arm with a hand.

"Maybe."

She chuckled to herself, but said nothing. I had time before I needed to be at work. I just wanted to cuddle for as long as I could.

I think I was starting to feel what Celestia felt. Holding her erotic body in my arms... Her large breasts, her wide hips, her full bottom... The two of us barely separated by our underwear... I understood exactly what she meant. Still, we were following our self-imposed rule. Maybe a break from physical love would do us good. It didn't feel like it.

She kept her hair styled in the braid overnight, but it was already coming loose. I brushed it out of the way, draping it across her front, exposing her neck. She slowly ran a hand down her hair.

A soft sigh escaped her lips as I began nibbling on the side of her neck. "Honey, stop it... That tickles." she murmured. Her tone betrayed her words.

She said nothing more as I continued chewing and kissing her soft skin. The various noises she made only encouraged more from me. It wasn't until I released her did the noises stop.

"Tell me again why we can't make love." I asked.

"I thought... you knew."

"Maybe. Maybe not. We have a guest, I suppose. It didn't stop us before."

"Red Shadow is my subject. It wouldn't be right. My guards were different."

"When has right and wrong ever stopped us before?"

"Oh Philly, stop it. You're teasing me. You know I want to make love. Why must you push me?"

I got close to her ear and whispered, "Because I love watching you squirm."

"Oh, you bully! No more love bites. I can't hide them with my hair in a braid."

I chuckled. "Alright. I love you."

"I love you, too."

I moved my arms back to her stomach, squeezing tightly. She merely responded with a giggle. It was nice having such a strong lady as my beloved. I could give her stronger squeezes.

Sadly, cuddle time didn't last forever. I waited until the last minute to get out of bed. She covered herself with the blanket and watched me as I got dressed for work. Her eyes followed my every move. After stepping out of the room, I continued readying myself for work. I ate breakfast then made my way into the bathroom to make sure I was presentable. When I was finished, I began searching for my hoodie. I think Red had it last.

The basement door was cracked, but I gave it a knock just in case. There was no response, so I invited myself in. Red was still asleep. I could hear her little snores. They were kinda cute, actually. Not wanting to wake her, I used my phone's flashlight to search the floor. I found my hoodie as the light shone over Red for a moment. She was still wearing it. This was less than ideal. Thankfully, I had many backup hoodies. I picked one out and returned upstairs.

Geez, even Celestia hasn't worn my coat to bed. Funny.

I returned to the kitchen to retrieve a Pop-Tart package for Celestia. She liked the chocolate ones best. Pop-Tart in hand, I walked back into the room and sat on the blanket next to her. I dangled the snack just on the edge of the blanket in front of her face. Her eyes lit up when she realized what it was and she snatched it from my hand. She sat up, opening the package. As she ate, she stared at me with a smile.

"Thank you, honey. You're wearing a new jacket."

"Yeah, Red has the old one."

"Red?"

"I gave it to her last night when we were doing groceries."

"Oh, right."

"I didn't want to wake her. I gotta take off. See you soon, Celestia."

"I'll miss you."

"I know, honey."

I leaned in for a goodbye kiss, which she was happy to accept. She tasted particularly chocolatey.

At work today, nothing of note happened. If it were to be added to a work of fiction of some kind, it would probably be easy to describe in a single line of dialogue.

When I got back home, Red was sitting on the couch instead of Celestia.

"Hey, Red."

"Hey, Phil."

"I see you still have my hoodie."

"It's really comfy."

"Yeah, I know. That's why I wear it."

"Your girlfriend is acting weird." She pointed to the kitchen, successfully changing the focus of my attention. I heard the clinking of glass through the doorway.

"Celestia, what are you up to?" I asked, joining her. Something smelled nice. She was making herself a meal, it seemed.

She looked at me as I walked in, a pleasant smile on her face. The braid in her hair swung around as she turned to greet me. "I made grilled cheese!" she proudly proclaimed.

I noticed that the kitchen was messy from the cooking. "That's what I was smelling."

She turned and reached to a plate on the counter. Three delicious looking sandwiches were piled on top. She held out the plate to me, her smile widening.

I took the plate and set it onto the table so I knew where to find it. "What's gotten into you? You don't usually cook."

"I... thought I should take a more... wifely role around the house." Her smile turned bashful. "Now that... everything is in the open like this."

"Wifely role?"

"Maybe it's a bit much now, but... Oh! I... I did the dishes for you!" She changed the subject.

Sure enough, the sink was clear. She had even cleaned any water spots that may have been left behind.

"I was planning on getting a little more done before you got home, but... I overslept." She seemed a little embarrassed, but she was still smiling.

"Well thank you, Celestia. You know, you don't have to do these things."

"I know. I just... I want to. For you."

"For me? That's nice of you, honey. Thank you."

That got a huge smile from her. "Here, sit!" she excitedly let out, going to the table and pulling out a chair for me.

Bits of the table glistened from a recently applied liquid. It looked like she had cleaned it recently. Celestia had done quite a bit of work while I was away. It was a strange feeling coming home to a clean home I hadn't cleaned. Still, I wouldn't complain.

She waited until I sat before joining me in the chair beside me. Her smile never faded. More than usual, she was happy. It was nice seeing her in such a good mood.

I looked at the plate of food in front of me. Though Celestia had never single handedly cooked for me before, I had no doubt that these sandwiches would be great. The bread had been cooked to a perfect golden-brown.

"Watch, I've been practicing using magic again." she said. She turned her attention to the counter. A medium-sized bowl surrounded with a golden aura floated towards the table and landed just in front of me. It had tomato soup in it. Next, two cups of milk joined the bowl on the table in the same manner. She smiled, proud of her achievement. "It's getting easier to use."

I didn't understand anything about magic or why she could use it again, but she was happy, so I was happy for her. I stared at her for a short while before extending my hand and placing it onto her head. "Good job, Celestia."

"I'm not a dog, Philly."

"Sorry." I lifted my hand.

She reached up, grabbing my wrist and pulling it back down. "I didn't say stop."

As I gently caressed her head, the two of us chuckled together. She's so cute when she's having fun. After a short while, Celestia started to eat the meal she had made for herself, smiling away without a care in the world. I liked this side of her. I think she's happier than I've ever seen her.

I started eating as well. I loved grilled cheese, so it was easy to love hers. She did a great job with them. Each sandwich was perfectly cooked on both sides. It didn't take long to figure out why. As she picked up one of her own, I noticed a lot of brown on the bread. She gave me the better ones. Oh, she really does love me.... I think she added extra cheese, too. What a sweetheart.

"My goodness, I've almost forgotten. Red, there's a plate in here for you, as well!" she called to the front room.

"You made me food?" Red walked into the kitchen. "Oh wow, that looks nice."

"Help yourself. I made plenty." She certainly did. Celestia's own plate started with six, but she was already down to four.

Red picked up the last plate of sandwiches that had been sitting on the counter. She turned back to the front room to leave us be.

Celestia spoke again. "Won't you join us, Red?"

Red looked at the two of us. "I'd rather not get in the way of whatever 'this' is." She gestured to us with the plate in her hand.

"Suit yourself." said Celestia, turning back to me.

As she walked away, she picked up a sandwich and took a bite. "This is pretty good. Thanks." she said, her mouth full of food.

We both finished another sandwich each before Celestia said, "Phil." She set down the sandwich she was eating. It seemed like she wanted to say something important.

I swallowed the food I had been chewing. "What's up?"

"I spoke with my sister again. She's rather furious with you."

"What'd I do?"

"She told you not to propose to me."

"I didn't. I haven't. We went over this."

"That's not how she sees it."

"She can see it however she wants, I know what I said. I chose my words carefully."

"I know, Phil. I tried to tell her, but she wouldn't listen."

"She's not entirely wrong, though." I said.

Celestia hesitated to respond. I think she wanted to know what I meant.

"We have a 'condition' that we agreed would lead to marriage, but that condition hasn't been met. You aren't pregnant. At least, I don't think you are. Are you?"

"I don't think so. I've gained a little weight recently, though."

"That's not... You gained weight?"

She nodded. "A little. I don't think it's related to pregnancy, though. It was most likely from stress."

"Stress? Honey?"

"Leaving hurt a lot. The only times I could stop crying were when I was stuffing my face." She let out a small chuckle. "I'm sorry. It's not particularly funny."

I reached for her hand to comfort her, but stopped just before touching her. "Sorry, my hand's greasy." I settled with pressing my finger against hers.

She giggled. "So are mine."

"Alright, so not pregnant."

"No, not pregnant."

"Not yet."

"Yes. Not yet."

"So yeah, we're not getting married."

"Not yet?" she asked, hopeful.

"Not yet." I answered.

She gave me a warm smile. She loved talking about this subject. "I think I know why my sister's so mad."

"Yeah?"

"She's jealous." She giggled. "Seeing her older sister in a relationship while she is unable to find a man."

"What, is that it?"

"Well, she's a bit angry that you disobeyed her, but it's not something you need to concern yourself with. My little sister won't stay angry for long."

"I didn't disobey her, ask any lawyer. I merely expressed my desire to disobey her."

She laughed. "I'm sure she'll be relieved to hear that."

"Oh god, don't actually tell her I said that."

"I won't, I won't." She gave me a smirk. "Are you afraid of my sister?"

"Yes."

She let out a small laugh. "You're scared of Luna? She's scarcely more dangerous than a fly and she's as cute as a button. How could you be scared of somepony so sweet?"

"Did you get paid to say that?"

"Thirty bits each. It adds up." She chuckled. "I understand your feelings of my sister. She can be quite intimidating to approach at times. I just found this whole thing to be funny. My dear little sister is angry because we have such a loving relationship." Celestia picked up her sandwich and took a bite. She continued to talk while chewing. "I know she means well. She simply wants what is best for me."

"Is it best for you that we don't get married?"

"Perhaps to her. You must understand that she wishes only to protect me."

"You know, I seem to recall her adding a qualifier to the end of her request."

"Oh?"

"All she asked me to do was wait. I can wait. Can you wait?"

"Of course I can wait."

"Good."

"How long are we waiting?"

"Hmm... I'll let you know when I know."

"Alright."

"We gotta stop talking about this, honey. We're gonna go mad."

"I think you're right." She chuckled.

"Did you talk about anything else?" I asked.

"Like what?"

"I dunno. Equestria? How's Equestria doing?"

"It's been doing rather well, even in my absence. Luna has been handling things to the best of her ability. She didn't speak much about it. We just argued a lot." She laughed.

I smiled at her.

"She very rarely lets her emotions get the better of her, and even then, she is quick to calm. It's the same with me. I'm usually very calm and collected. When Luna started yelling my ears off about marriage and the future and Equestria..." Celestia burst out laughing. "I was caught by total surprise. She's supposed to be better than I am at staying calm! She was acting like a child! Of course, I was no better. We argued back and forth for almost thirty minutes before we both gave up. Oh..."

"Sounds like you had fun."

She giggled. "I'm the Princess of Equestria! I've ruled over an entire nation for thousands of years! I am many thousands of years old! And yet, I was arguing with my sister over love! Over something as simple as my love life... It's unbelievable. Really, after all this time, you'd think we'd be mature enough to have a civil discussion. I doubt I've matured past the mental age of twenty."

"Well, you got me beat. I'm still sitting at four. Four-and-a-half, tops."

Another laugh. "Do you think I'm mature, honey?"

"Am I under oath when I answer that?"

She gave me a playful push. "You're so mean! Answer honestly, Phil. I want to hear it."

"Of course you're mature. Physically. Like, god damn, Celestia."

She gave me a pouty face.

"Oh, you meant 'mentally'!"

"Of course I meant mentally!"

"Hmm... That's a little hard to say."

"Phil!"

I heard laughing in the front room.

"It really depends on what you're doing, honey. You're always as mature as the situation calls for and you're mature enough to know how you should act. Your mind is like a fine wine, aged to perfection. Meanwhile mine is like a fine milk, aged to perfection."

"Milk... does not age as well as wine."

"I know."

"Oh. Oh! Phil, you know that I don't appreciate this kind of humor." She chuckled. "I liked that one, though."

"At the same time Celestia, in this world, you have the mind of a child. I think it's the cutest thing ever."

She smiled at my compliment, even if I had just inadvertently called her childish. "I like that I don't have to be mature around you. You don't care what I say."

"I always care about what you say, honey."

"Aw... How sweet of you... I'm surprised Luna acted the way she did while she was here. It seemed like you and her made fast friends. You got her to open up faster than anypony else I've seen speak with her in a long time."

"Did she open up to me?"

"Of course she did, honey. Luna is... untrusting of those desiring my feelings. To even hold a conversation with her at this point is an accomplishment."

"She felt bad about taking you from me."

"Oh, you know she didn't do it on purpose, right?"

"Yeah, I know. I didn't blame her. We just didn't get a chance to talk before that. It was so sudden and there were a lot of emotions pouring out all at once. I think she wanted to make a good impression."

"You did the same to me. I've told you things I rarely tell anypony. Private things. Things I don't always feel comfortable sharing." She was gazing at me. "It's almost a talent, of sorts. Perhaps that's your special talent."

"Hmm?"

"You know, the special talents that give us ponies our cutie marks." She lifted her sleeve to display the sun tattoo on her shoulder. "Mine represents my responsibility to move our sun across the sky. I wonder why my mark was moved to my shoulders as a human. It was on my flanks as a pony."

"Your shoulders are easier to show off. You can't just go around without pants in public, I don't care how much you want to, Celestia."

"I don't want to! Well, maybe a little, but that's beside the point."

"If your cutie marks were on your butt, I'd be the only one who could see it."

She giggled. "That's right."

"It would've been harder to find Red. That kinda sounds like a pickup line. 'I'll show you my cutie mark if you show me yours'. Hey Red, would that have worked on you?"

"Not a chance!"

"Ok, not a good pickup line."

Celestia laughed. "Perhaps you should test your pickup lines on me first."

"Not a good comparison, you'd date a sack of potatoes with a bouquet of flowers stuck in it."

"Well, it would depend on the flowers."

"Would it, though?"

"Perhaps not. After all, you have not once given me flowers."

She's right. "Well... I'll do that. Some time. Why am I in competition with potatoes?"

"Oh, you have no need to worry, honey. A sack of potatoes lacks many of the key factors that I look for in a man."

"Oh yeah?"

"Of course. For one, I'd prefer my men to be alive. A pulse is a must. Now that I think about it, I almost dated a zombie, so maybe I'm not that picky."

"You almost what?"

"A story for another time, perhaps."

"Uh... Alright, so if not a pulse, then what?" I asked.

"Well, there is something that you have that a sack of potatoes couldn't." She raised her eyebrows at me, smirking.

"What are you talking about? I'm sure you've dealt with a lot of 'dictators' in your time."

The laughter in the front room told me that Red understood the joke before Celestia did. After a few moments, Celestia rolled her eyes. "Your jokes bring me great pain." She smirked.

"I am not apologizing."

She chuckled. "You know, cutie marks are a sign of maturity. I didn't get mine until much later into my life. In fact, my sister and I were often seen as immature from our lack of cutie marks. What do you think your cutie mark would be? Being easy to talk to might be one of your talents, but I don't think you'd have it as a cutie mark. What talents do you have?"

"Well, I'm good with computers."

"Are you?"

"Yeah. I went to school for two years to learn about computers. I worked as an intern for the city fixing computers."

"You went to school?" Her smile seemed to warm even further. "I never knew. Such an important part of your life and yet you've never shared."

"I've been wanting to talk more about our personal lives, but we always get a little side-tracked."

"Do you think working with computers could be your special talent?"

"Could be. I play video games a lot, too. I guess I wouldn't consider it a talent, though. I'm not really good at it."

"You seemed to be doing well the last time I watched you play."

"I dunno. I'm usually doing the same thing over and over again. Hardly a talent."

"Well, there is something else you're quite talented at." Her smile was sly. She had impure thoughts in that head of hers.

"If my cutie mark has anything to do with the bedroom, I would be so pissed."

She laughed. "You wouldn't even be allowed in public."

"That's discrimination!"

"It is, it is. We don't have any laws regarding obscene cutie marks. Thankfully, the matter hasn't come up. Perhaps you wouldn't even have one. You are human, after all. I have no idea if a human would have a cutie mark in the first place."

"Good point. There's really only one way to find out."

"Yes, there is." She sighed. "Oh, how I wish you could join me."

"Yeah. Me too."

"At least we can still see each other while I'm here."

"I love seeing you."

She giggled.

"Celestia, are you sure you don't want me to stay home from work?" I asked, wanting her approval to stay home.

"I'm sure, Phil. Your life is just as important as our love."

I nodded. She was right.

"Besides, it makes the time we do get together all the more special."

I smiled at her. "Yeah."

She smiled back.

"You know, I can see why you're called the Princess of the Sun."

"Hmm?"

"You know just what to say to 'rays' my spirits."

She snorted, then started to laugh. "Phil, that was a terrible joke!"

"And you're always so 'sunny'."

"Stop it! Stop it!" She laughed harder.

"You're always 'beaming' with happiness." I quickly ran out of sun puns.

She was bent over in her chair, hands across her stomach. Her warm laughter filled the house. I began chuckling alongside her infectious laugh. It wasn't even that funny. After a time, she met my eyes, holding back giggles as she caught her breath. It wasn't even that funny.

"I love you." I told her.

"Phil!" Her laughter resumed, just as hard as before.

I leaned in closer. "Love you."

"I love you, too!" she got out through her laughs.

I stood for a moment and pressed my lips against her forehead. Her laughter quieted as she looked into my eyes.  "I love you." I whispered.

I could see tears beginning to form in her eyes. Tears of laughter, tears of happiness... She had stopped laughing. "I love you too, honey."

I sat back down, still gazing into her eyes. "This is the happiest I've seen you in a long time, Celestia."

She gave me a sheepish smile. I couldn't tell what she was thinking. Celestia reached to her plate, retrieving a sandwich and taking a bite. It reminded me that I still had food to eat. She sniffed as she ate. "It's cold."

I smiled. "I love you, Celestia."

"I love you, too. I'm... I'm so happy that you're mine." She swallowed the food she had been chewing on. A moment later, she hiccupped. It happened again a few seconds after. She was trying to ignore it, but it didn't seem to be working. The two of us started to laugh again. Every time she hiccupped, she would laugh even harder. It took a while for her to calm back down. Her hiccups persisted long after she stopped laughing.

Her food quickly disappeared. So did mine. I stood and offered her my hand. She accepted, letting me pull her to her feet. "Here, let me clean this up." she said, turning back to the table. She piled our dishes together and picked them up.

"I'll get the table cleaned up." I said.

"Thank you."

The two of us worked on cleaning the rest of the table and the kitchen. As soon as I felt we were finished, Celestia always found something else to clean. I watched her for a moment before joining in.

Celestia stopped me, moving a hand in front of me. "You've helped enough, honey." She smiled at me. "Let me take care of the rest for you."

"Are you sure?"

She nodded. "Please. Let me."

"Alright. If you say so."

I didn't understand this Princess of mine. Doing all these things for me, this 'wifely role' she's taken... Did it really make her happy? I was happy to have someone willing to clean up after my messes. No, that doesn't sound right. It was nice to have someone willing to clean with me. That doesn't sound right, either.

"What's gotten into you, honey? I can clean my own messes, you know."

"A wife is... supposed to do the household chores for the husband." It seemed like she had to force this sentence out.

"Celestia, no."

"I... I suppose my ideals for a relationship are... a bit outdated. I know that things are different now. Even in Equestria, the relationship between a stallion and a mare has changed over time to promote equal responsibilities. But right now... Would you allow this old mare to indulge in her fantasies for a little while longer?"

I gave her a short chuckle. "Of course, honey." I leaned in and pecked her lips. "You've done such a good job so far."

Sweet nothings, merely modest praise. Celestia would swoon nonetheless. She loved for my happiness, as I loved for hers. With reddening cheeks, Celestia turned back to the counter, unable to hide her wonderful smile from me.

I watched for a few moments before stepping away into the living room. Though it seemed to make her happy to clean on her own, we may have to have a talk about household responsibilities. She said it herself, her ideals were outdated, but if it's something she wanted, I wouldn't take it from her.

Whoops, Red still has dishes. I picked them up and brought them to Celestia.

I returned to the front room. "Hey, Red." I joined her on the couch.

"Hey, Phil."

"I see you still have my hoodie."

"It's really comfy."

"Yeah, I know. That's why I wear it."

She laughed.

"You gonna give it back?"

"I'll keep it warm for you."

"Yeah, 'cause that worked so good this morning. You wore it to bed."

"It's really comfy."

"Yeah, I know! That's why I wear it!" I parroted, increasing my volume.

She laughed again. "Alright, I'll give it back. But you gotta get me another one in exchange for it."

"Wh... I'm not your butler! I'll take it back myself, if I have to!"

"But it's so comfy!"

"I know! That's why I wear it!" I smirked.

She burst out laughing. "Come on, new sweater. And make it quick."

I grumbled, then stood, having no choice but to follow her demand. I picked up the hoodie I wore to work and threw it across the room at her. She let out a short yelp.

"Hoodie, please." I said.

"Alright, fine."

She unzipped my hoodie and pulled it off, dropping it on the couch next to her. As quickly as she took the old one off, she pulled the new one on. I retrieved my hoodie. As I held it in my arms, I noticed that it smelled strongly of... Red. She smelled kinda like cut grass for some reason.

I sat on the opposite side of the couch from her and retrieved my laptop from the table. She immediately turned her head to watch what I was doing. My plan was just to watch something on the Yeetubes while I waited for Celestia. I clicked on the first video I was recommended, which happened to be from Vinesauce. I set the computer onto the table and let it play. Red watched with me, though she didn't understand what was happening. She still seemed amused, though. It got about halfway through before Celestia finished her work in the kitchen and stepped into the front room. She joined us on the couch, sitting between Red and I.

As Celestia leaned against me, Red stood and said, "Alright, I'm out."

Celestia chuckled. "See you soon, Red."

I just waved her away.

Red disappeared downstairs once more, leaving us alone.

"We took her seat." said Celestia.

"Yes we did." I kissed her on the cheek.

"What are we going to do now?"

"I don't know. Did you have any ideas?"

"I'm happy resting here."

"Guess that's that."

Celestia yawned. "Let me get into a more comfortable position."

She moved on the couch, laying her legs over mine as she rested her head on the cushion at the opposite end.

I placed my hands on her shin and looked down her body. "Comfy?"

She nodded.

"What if I wanted to get up?"

"You're a strong man, you can lift my legs."

"You're such a lazy pony."

She smirked. She reached her hand to the laptop, focusing on it.

"Want the laptop?" I asked.

"It's so far away." she complained.

"Lazy pony." I repeated, beginning to lift her away.

She held her legs down with a surprising amount of force, stopping me. "I can do it." Her hand began to glow a pleasant golden yellow. The laptop became surrounded by the same glow. It started to move through the air towards her.

Wary for the safety of my electronic device, I followed it with my hand, ensuring it wouldn't drop to the floor should some catastrophic event occur. She levitated the computer to rest on her chest. My hand followed the computer until she was finished. Unfortunately for her, and fortunately for me, my hand ended up directly next to one of her plump breasts, which I took the opportunity to grab.

She let out a yelp as she reactively slapped my hand away, something she had never done before. She let out another noise before saying, "Ah! I'm sorry, Phil! You surprised me. Oh, you know how I feel! Why must you continue to tease me?"

"I like watching you squirm."

She sighed. "Yes, you... said that. I think I'm starting to believe you. Your endless teasing will be the death of you."

"I'd die happy."

She chuckled. "I'm sure. The laptop is too close." She pushed it to her stomach. "Now I can't even see it. My breasts are getting in the way."

"Your boobs are never in the way."

"Yes they are! They're very annoying."

"Celestia, boobs can't be annoying."

"Yes they can!"

"You're delusional."

"You're delusional!" she retorted.

"No, no, you're crazy."

"They get in the way! They're too heavy and the bras we've purchased are too tight."

"Well, maybe we can go bra shopping again. Maybe we can get you that bikini we were talking about."

Any irritation that may have been in her voice had disappeared completely. "Alright."

"Wow, just like that? You're just happy you got me to buy you more clothes."

"Well... you're not wrong." A short laugh escaped her lips.

I was content with my current situation. It was quite comfy underneath her legs. We stayed on the couch for a long time, until Red came back upstairs to get herself something to eat. This made Celestia want something as well, which meant that I had to get up and get her a snack.

As bedtime neared, Celestia and I retired to the bedroom.



November 6



An idea began to form in my head as I got ready for work the next morning. Despite what Celestia said, I still wanted to find something for her to do while I was away. I already knew Red was bored out of her mind. A quick examination of the front room before I left told me that I had more than enough space to complete my goal. Though it would cost a pretty penny, I had just the solution for this problem... Video games.

"What are you doing?" Celestia asked, rubbing her eyes as she stood in the bedroom doorway.

"I have a plan." I replied.

"I like..." She yawned, barely covering her mouth with her hand. "I like plans. What's your plan?"

"I wanted to get you a gift."

She smiled. "I like gifts. What is it?"

"It's a surprise."

"I like surprises. What is it?" she asked again, smiling

"If I told you, it wouldn't be a surprise anymore."

She smiled wider, excited. "Tell me!"

"I thought you liked surprises."

"That was the old me! The new me wants to know!"

"The old you, five seconds ago?"

"Of course!"

"You'll find out when I get home, honey."

She crossed her arms in a huff. "Fine."

I closed in on her and gave her a brief peck on the lips. "You'll love it, I promise."

Her cheeks reddened. "I'll look forward to it."

I smiled back at her. "I'll be back as soon as I can, honey. Love you."

"You'd better. I love you, too."

I stepped outside and started towards the car. I walked back into the house a few seconds later.

"You know, it might help if I had my keys." I said as I passed through.

She let out a laugh.

"Round two."

"Love you." she repeated.

"I love you, too."

As I got into the car and drove to work, I thought over the specifics of my purchase. After all, I didn't want to abuse my spending limit. I made a mental checklist of the things I needed to buy. Some of the guys at work asked why I drove to work today. I gave them simple, honest answers. Aside from that, work wasn't especially noteworthy.

As I approached my car after work, I noticed a familiar woman standing near it. She seemed to be waiting for me.

"Chrysalis, people are gonna see you." I told her.

"So what? We're friends, aren't we? I hope you've enjoyed that bit of gold I gave you."

I stared at her, crossing my arms. "It's back at home. What did you want from me?"

"Now isn't a good time. Besides, you seem to be busy right now."

"I am busy, yes."

"You seem to be pushing me away. Where are you going in such a rush?"

"I'm gonna go buy something for Celestia."

"Oh? A gift? What are you getting her? Is it a ring?"

"No, it's not a ring."

"Mind if I tag along?"

"Kinda, yeah."

"But are you going to stop me, is the question." She smirked as she opened the passenger door. Super cool that she can just open a door that was supposed to be locked. Didn't make me uncomfortable at all.

"Chrysalis, what are you doing?" I asked as she got in.

"I'm coming with."

"Why? Why do you want to come with? Why are you so keen on ruining my day."

"Am I ruining your day? Are we not having fun?"

"One of us is having fun."

"Don't you have something to do?"

I sighed. There were many compounding factors that made Chrysalis the very worst person I could be spending time with. Still, she insisted on bothering me. Her actions may not be directly antagonistic, but they would still cause problems. Truthfully, I was curious where this would lead. There was a cautious optimism in the back of my mind that we could really be friends, but I don't know if I really believed it.

Since we were in public, I decided that trying to get her out of the car would be more trouble than it's worth. Heck, maybe this could be a good thing. Yeah, keep telling yourself that.

"Buckle your seatbelt, Chrysalis." I said, getting in.

"Hmm... Seems uncomfortable."

"That wasn't a request. Seatbelts are non-negotiable." I said to her, "Buckle or get out."

"Are you joking?"

"No, I am not."

She chuckled, reaching over her shoulder for the belt. "Very well. You seem quite adamant about this. Why the hostility?"

"It's a safety thing. Celestia wears her seatbelt, too."

"Oh, are you comparing me to your Princess now?"

"Yeah, I'm saying she's smart enough to understand the importance of safety."

"Well, I'm glad you care so much about me." She smiled a bright, genuine smile.

I've never been so unsettled by such a pleasant smile in my life. It almost seemed like she was flirting with me. Maybe it was just my ego convincing me that her overly friendly behavior was flirtatious. Still, that she was acting friendly at all was reason for worry. Chrysalis made me anxious. She knew it, too.

"Where are we going?" she asked, still smiling.

"To the store."

"What are we getting?"

"Quit saying 'we'."

"What are you getting, then."

"I'm getting... I'm getting something for Celestia. A game. Something for her to do while I'm at work." I answered honestly. There was no reason to lie about something so simple. I started the car and backed out of the stall.

"A game? Can I play?" she asked.

"No."

"Why not?"

"Celestia hates you."

"She does not. We merely share a strained relationship. Until we make up, I suppose I'll have to keep paying for your companionship." She laughed at her own joke.

"Do you even like me?" I asked.

"I suppose."

"You suppose?"

"Well, we are friends, after all."

"I feel like you don't believe that."

"Of course I do. Why else would I want to spend time with you?"

"Well, I can think of a few reasons."

"I've no doubt. Is it so much to ask from you?"

"You say that, but I'm getting the feeling that there's something else on your mind."

"Oh, you've caught me. Fine, I'll admit it. I'm merely here to feed off your love." She admitted that very easily. I don't think she was planning on keeping it a secret.

"That sounds more plausible."

"I've expended a great deal of energy while in this world, Phil. Energy only true love could replenish."

"True love?"

"Of course. The love you feel for your Princess is so strong. A tad misguided, but strong nonetheless."

"What do you mean by misguided?"

"I'm sure you already know, Phil. It's been a long time since I've felt love so strong. The Princess is a lucky woman to have you."

A compliment? From her? "Thanks, I guess."

"Have you made any more progress on my task?"

"I dunno. Maybe. She showed it to me."

"My bear? I'm surprised. I didn't have high hopes in you."

"Thanks. I told her that she should try to just sell it back to you."

"Hmm... I suppose I could offer her a deal. Pride can be expensive."

"Sounds like a happy ending to me."

"It sounds almost as if you were trying to push me away again, Phil. That couldn't be the case, could it? After all, I'm your friend, aren't I?"

"Chrysalis... you make me uncomfortable."

"Hmm? What do you mean?"

I think I needed to speak carefully. "I... I'm scared of you, Chrysalis. I'm scared you're going to hurt my relationship with Celestia."

"That wouldn't benefit me."

"You're lying."

"I don't appreciate these accusations, Phil."

"You're using me to get to her." I growled.

"I am not!" she snapped back, "If you're so scared that I'm going to sabotage your relationship, why are you trying to provoke me?"

Why was I trying to provoke her? "I... I guess... I guess because I trust you."

"Oh, so now I'm supposed to believe that you suddenly 'trust' me, after all that? You have more issues than I thought."

"I... I guess I do. I'm sorry. But you have to understand why I'm scared, Chrysalis. You want me to keep you a secret from Celestia, from my... my girlfriend. I feel like I'm betraying her every time we talk."

She crossed her arms. "You rebuff my kindness and expect me to simply accept your apology? I'm hurt, Phil. I acknowledge that our history has been rocky, but that gives you no right to insult me."

"I..." What do I say? I'm too scared to answer.

"Do you know how many friends I have, Phil? None. To receive nothing but abuse from the one person I call a friend... It hurts, Phil." There was a quiver in her voice, one that tugged at my heartstrings.

My gut told me that she was lying. It told me to ignore her crocodile tears. I just couldn't. Something inside me couldn't turn away from a woman in need. Maybe it was my desire to protect her. Maybe it was my desire to feel needed. Maybe it was my desire for attention. In any case, she had me completely under her control. She knew it, too.

"I'm sorry, Chrysalis." I apologized again, "I didn't mean it. I just..." I sighed. "I love Celestia more than I could ever value our friendship."

She took in a breath. "I know how much you love her. I'm a changeling. I'm... drawn to love, in a way."

"Don't... Don't hurt her. Please." I begged.

"I don't think I can."

Regardless of how I felt, I silently continued the journey. Chrysalis seemed to be taking in the sights as I brought her through town. I think she was curious about the town, just like Celestia.

The purchase of the day: a Wii U.

But I couldn't just get the Wii U. What would she play it on? I had to get a TV as well. And where would that TV sit? I needed an entertainment center to lift it off the ground.

Though undoubtedly cheaper to shop online, I wanted them now. Thankfully, I was still able to compare prices between Wal-Mart and the GameStop just across the street. Naturally, the game store had better prices. First, I would collect the entertainment center and TV from Wal-Mart.

Chrysalis seemed rather excited to get out of the car. She looked to the store in awe and quickly joined me as I began walking.

"So, what exactly are you getting?" she asked, "When you said you were going to the store, I assumed you were going to get her a ring to propose with."

"No, I'm... Celestia and I aren't ready for marriage, yet."

"Yes, very true."

"Uh... Yeah."

"Perhaps you could get her something else she'll like while you're here. I know she likes chocolate."

"She has enough snacks."

"I like chocolate, too." she replied, ignoring what I said.

As we walked to the store, Chrysalis followed behind at a rather slow pace, examining her surroundings. She seemed to be enjoying herself. After we got in, she started picking up and looking at whatever we passed. She was smiling, even when I wasn't watching her. Was she having fun?

I picked up and placed a fifty-inch TV box into my cart. Thankfully, it was cheaper than I thought it would be. It was a bit excessive, but then again, so was my love for Celestia.

Chrysalis began to wander through the electronics section of the store, eventually finding herself staring at the multitude of TVs playing Frozen along the wall. I joined her.

"If you want, I can grab whatever else I need while you stay here." I told her.

"Do you promise to come back?"

"I promise."

She smiled. "I'll wait here."

The entertainment center was much cheaper than the TV. It didn't need to be particularly extravagant, but even in my little house, I liked having nice-looking furniture. I could've just used the coffee table in the front room, but we liked putting our feet on it. We would have to put it together, but it shouldn't take too long.

After I had collected my purchases for the day, I returned to Chrysalis. "Come on, time to go."

She glanced at me, then back to the movie. "Do you think... maybe someday... you could show me what more this world has to offer?" she asked quietly, still staring.

"I dunno, Chrysalis. I hope I can." I don't know if she was putting on an act. If she was, I appreciated all the work she put into tricking me.

She didn't respond.

"Come on. Time to go." I repeated.

She turned away from the TVs and joined me.

As we stood in line to make the purchase, I grabbed a package of Reese's Cups from the shelf near the check out. After my purchase was completed, I tossed it to Chrysalis, who let out a cute yelp as she caught it.

She examined it, then smiled at me. "How kind of you." She opened the package and took off the paper, then took a bite. Her eyes widened. "This is really sweet!" The rest of the chocolate barely lasted a few seconds. She popped a finger into her mouth to clean off the chocolate. "Thank you, Phil. It's been... a very long time since anypony has given me a gift."

It was nice to see her happy.

Turns out, my car is just a little too small to fit both of these items in the trunk. Thankfully, the back seat was just big enough to fit the TV. Chrysalis watched me struggle to put it in the car, amused at my antics, not even offering to help.

Next stop, GameStop. In total, I bought a refurbished Wii U, Mario Kart 8, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, and three Wii U Pro controllers, because comfort is apparently more important than money.

I think I spent like $800 today. Wow. Honestly, not upset.

"This all seems a tad excessive for a game." Chrysalis noted as I loaded my purchase into the trunk.

"Well, two games." I replied. We stood behind the car as we conversed.

"It still seems excessive."

"Hey, they're great games."

"Are they worth all this effort?"

"Effort, yes. Money, no. But Celestia's worth that much. To me."

"She's worth more than this to you, isn't she?"

"Much more."

"I'm not surprised. Why do you love her so much?"

"'Cause I'm lonely."

"Lonely?"

"I dedicated my life to her the moment she showed me the slightest bit of attention."

"I see. I'm thankful you've simplified it for me. I don't have to try to find out for myself. It explains a lot about you. Might I ask, have you loved another before the Princess?"

"I had two girlfriends before Celestia." I answered honestly.

"What happened to them?"

"Well, the first was a mutual thing. Neither of us really... loved each other. We were just friends. Nothing more. Love became a chore. The relationship just... fell apart. The second was abusive towards me. She left me for someone else. Someone willing to put up with her longer than I did."

"Then you found the Princess."

"Yeah."

"You're a lucky man, Phil."

"Yeah, I know."

"I'm a bit foggy on the details surrounding your relationship. It wasn't until Equestria found out the Princess was missing that I began looking into it. Could you tell me how you met?"

I was happy to share with her the details of our first meeting. She seemed rather interested in what I was saying, to my surprise.

"Perhaps it was simply fate that you met." she said, "If you believe in fate, that is. It was merely random chance that you were the man to find the Princess."

"I'm glad I did. I found someone to love."

She chuckled. "Indeed."

"Hey Chrysalis, where should I take you?" I asked.

"What, getting rid of me already?"

"You can't stay with me. I gotta go home. You can't come with."

"Even after I've paid you?" She chuckled. "Very well."

"That's another thing. Are you ever gonna tell me what you want for that coin?"

"The coin is merely leverage. I will require your assistance soon. Unfortunately, now is not a good time. You'll see what it is that I want soon enough."

I sighed, giving up quickly. "Alright. So where am I taking you?"

"You really want me gone that badly?"

"If you and Celestia didn't have issues, I'd be fine hanging out with you. I'm sorry I have to just abandon you, but Celestia's a lot more important to me than you."

"I understand. Princess Celestia is your partner, after all. I wouldn't want to come between the two of you. Besides, it's much more difficult to feed on the love of an injured relationship.

"Feed on? You've mentioned that before. I know you... do something with love. I guess I don't really understand."

"Love is what makes a changeling's powers grow. For example, feeding on Shining Armor's love allowed me to overpower your Princess. I feel I could easily overpower her again with the love I've taken from you."

"Uh... Could... Could you not?"

"I won't do anything to your precious Princess, Phil. This world isn't the place for hostility. The longer you two are together, the more powerful I can become."

"Uh..."

She chuckled. "Worried?"

"A... little. Was spending time with you a mistake?"

She yawned, covering her mouth with a hand. "Perhaps. Perhaps not."

"Are you tired?"

"Yes. Quite exhausted, actually. There's a reason I've been spending time close to you. I needed to replenish my spent magic. I've been very busy in this world. It's kept me up late and sapped my strength. I barely have enough energy to stand."

As if emphasizing her point, her body started tilting towards me. As an instinct, I moved to catch her as she fell.

She chuckled again. "You're such a foolish man. My dizziness was merely a ruse. Your caring heart has provided me even more love." She stood up straight and met my eyes. "Though it's nice to feel the embrace of a big, strong man again."

I pushed her away at the shoulders, my face reddening. "Could you not? Seriously. That kinda stuff makes me uncomfortable."

She laughed. Her hands brushed mine off her shoulders. "There's no need to be so defensive. After all, I've just fainted. I'm so weak and helpless." There was nothing in her voice that showed weakness.

"You're... You're pushing it."

She brought a hand to her mouth as she yawned again. "Take me back to your place of work. I've been awake for far too long."

"Wait, you were tired?"

"I've been awake for the past 32 hours."

"Geez. You don't look like it. Alright, get in. I'll drop you off."

The two of us got in and I drove us back to McDonald's. Chrysalis didn't really seem tired aside from her occasional yawning, but I didn't want to push. She was allowed to be tired.

"Are you... really gonna leave the two of us alone?" I asked.

"Please, you really believed that?"

"Chrysalis, please. No jokes."

"My plans are none of your business, Phil. Besides, any attempt would merely be a waste of time. You ponies and your 'magic of friendship' always get the better of me, somehow. Maybe it's best I give up while I'm behind."

"Are... you serious?"

"Perhaps. Perhaps not. You're trying to involve yourself in things far beyond your control, Phil. I'd suggest doing something better with your time."

I sighed. Maybe she was right.

"Do you mind if I ask you a... private question?"

Do I mind? "Go ahead."

"Is your Princess pregnant?"

"No, she would have told me. Why do you ask?"

"No reason. I merely noticed a... shift."

"A shift? Uh... Yeah, she would've told me." I repeated, "That's kind of a... big thing in our relationship right now. I'm surprised you asked about that."

She took in a breath. There was a barely noticeable flash of green in her eyes. I wouldn't have seen it if we weren't at a stop sign. She let out a short, "Interesting."

Huh...

The rest of the trip was fairly uninteresting. Just like before, Chrysalis showed interest in her surroundings, much like Celestia. I told her about some of the nearby areas and landmarks.

After she got out of the car, she leaned back down to say, "Have fun with that Princess of yours. She's quite the catch." With that, she turned and left down the road.

I had no idea what she meant by that. I had no idea where she's going.

Suddenly, what felt like a deep cold began creeping inside my head, a voice accompanying it. "What are you doing with that woman?" Princess Luna asked me, "Why does she keep speaking to you?"

"You... know who she is, right Luna?" I said aloud, taken aback by her soul-piercing voice.

"Do you think me a fool? She's our enemy, Phil. She's the enemy of both Equestria and my sister, Celestia. Your girlfriend, Phil."

"She's... I'm not gonna defend her or anything, but you saw how she sat in my car, right? I couldn't do anything about that."

"What did you discuss?" An icy chill ran down my spine. She didn't want my excuses.

"I'm gonna... I'm gonna tell you what I can right now. I don't know all the details yet, but... Red stole something from her. I told you that. It's a personal item that would be embarrassing to her if it were to be revealed to the public. She's trying to use me to get it back."

"What item is it? What could be so valuable to her?"

"It's... um... Can you promise not to tell anybody about this?"

"What? Pray tell, who do you think you are speaking to?"

"Please, Luna?"

"Tell me." She was getting impatient. If she didn't like my answer, she would not hesitate to relay the information.

"Alright... It's... It's her..." I lowered my voice, even though there was nobody around to hear me. "It's her teddy bear."

"Teddy bear?"

"Yes. Red Shadow has it. I've seen it. She's shown it to me."

She was silent for a short while before saying, "Continue."

"And... other than that, she's given me a gold coin as an incentive to help her with something else."

"Something else?"

"She hasn't told me anything about it. She keeps saying that she needs more time. I don't know what she could want."

"Hmm..." A pause. "Perhaps... Hmm... Continue."

"And... she talked about being... my friend."

"Your friend? Among all the things you've said, I'm having trouble believing that the most."

"I don't know if she really meant it, but she said that we're friends."

"Are you friends?"

"I don't... I don't know. Maybe. I don't hate her, at least. And... you know me... I like making friends. But... she was pushing my buttons. Her teasing goes too far and I think she knows it. I don't know what to think."

"You're more accepting than I would be in your position." she said to me, "I suppose that's just another difference between us. If I were to inform my sister of this, I'm sure your new friend would be rather displeased. You have my silence. I'll not interfere with your retrieval of Queen Chrysalis's... teddy bear." She let out a poorly concealed snicker.

"No telling anyone about that, right? I promised her."

"I'll not say a word. Be sure this doesn't last, though. I cannot prevent my sister from discovering anything on her own. I don't particularly enjoy keeping secrets from my sister. I'm sure you don't either. Perhaps you should return home. She's been anxious to see you."

"Alright. Thanks, Luna."

"Don't make me regret lying to my sister for you, Phil."

Another chill ran through my body as her presence left my mind. I shivered. What a weird feeling.

I need to tell Celestia about Chrysalis. I couldn't keep this up. I had no idea how I would start the conversation with her. 'Hey you know the Queen Chrysalis that attacked you during your niece's wedding? Well, I've been hanging out with her.' Celestia would kill me. No, she wouldn't. She wouldn't be happy, though. She would... I don't know what she would do. I still gotta tell her. I'm going behind her back. It doesn't matter how it turns out for me in the end, I've been lying to her. This wasn't right. 

I left the parking lot and headed home. It was almost dark already. Celestia was waiting for me. She's gonna be so excited to see all this stuff. I'm pretty excited already.

Hmm... Wonder how I should get this stuff into the house. It's not that heavy. The TV's a little big, but I managed to move it on my own. I retrieved the bags from the trunk and headed inside. Celestia jumped from the couch as I entered.

"Phil! You took so long. I was getting worried. What's that? Is that my gift?"

"And a hello to you, too." I said, smiling.

"Sorry... Welcome home." she sheepishly let out, "What's in your hands?"

I set the bags onto the table. "Nothing you'd recognize. There's more in the car."

"More?"

"Yeah. Then I gotta set it all up and... You'll like it, you'll like it."

I held my arms out and wrapped them around her for a big hug. She hugged me back. We pulled apart and briefly kissed each other before I stepped back. Just that little act brightened my mood.

"I'll be right back with the rest of it." I told her.

"Oh, let me help!" There was nothing in the world that could stop her from helping me.

"Don't forget your coat."

The two of us moved outside to the open trunk.

"What's this?" she asked.

"Just a table." I responded, "Set stuff on it."

"Stuff like... what's in this box in the back seat?"

"Exactly."

I pulled the entertainment center from the trunk. Celestia immediately took the other end.

"Got it?" I asked.

"It's much lighter than I thought it would be." She looked behind her as we started to move.

I shuffled at her pace until we got back into the house. Thankfully, it was light, so we could open the door with ease. We were both too excited to think about how we would get through the door.

"What are we doing with this?" she asked.

"Right there against the wall." I gestured to the wall opposite the couch, next to the basement door. There was just enough room.

She backed to the wall so we could set it down. Though it was rather plain, it was also solidly built. It was little more than a cube with a door.

"Now what? Are we getting the other box?"

"Yep."

"Will it be heavy?"

"A little heavier than this, but we'll be fine. I got it to the car on my own."

"Well, you're strong."

"So are you."

"I'm not strong. I am a delicate flower."

"Delicate?"

"Alright, maybe not delicate."

"Could you two wrap this up?" said Red, "I wanna see what you got."

"Oh! Red, you help him!" Celestia let out.

"What? I'm not helping him."

"But it's my gift."

"He's the one that got it for you."

"Well, I'm the Princess."

Red's eyes narrowed. "Fine."

"I got it, Red." I said.

"No, no... she's the Princess."

"Well, if it's any consolation, you can use this, too." I told her.

"Huh?"

"What?" asked Celestia.

"More than one person at a time can use these things." I said, "All three of us can play. Even a fourth can play, but we don't have a fourth."

"How exciting." Celestia smiled.

"That sounds kinda nice, I guess." said Red.

"I'm gonna go get the last box." I said.

"I'll help." said Celestia, following me, seemingly forgetting the earlier conversation with Red. I'm sure Red didn't mind.

Just like last time, the two of us went out to the car to retrieve the TV box. I took the front this time, walking backwards into the house. We set it on the ground in front of the entertainment center so we could take it out of the box.

Using my car key as a rudimentary box cutter, I cut the tape on the top of the box to open it. There were a few accessories sitting atop the styrofoam inside. We took them out and set them aside.

"Hey Celestia, help me with this." I said, reaching into the box.

"Like this?" She copied what I did.

"Ready?"

She nodded.

We pulled up. The box came with it.

"Uhh... Red?" I asked.

"I've got it." said Celestia.

She pushed the box downwards, dropping it to the ground. I instructed Celestia to set the TV on the entertainment center and lean it against the wall. I pulled off the styrofoam and tossed it to the side.

"So this is a..." Celestia looked at the box. "Television?"

"Yep. Nice, huh?"

"I suppose."

I saw a piece of styrofoam in her hands. She was just holding it.

"I'll be right back." I said. I retrieved a screwdriver from a drawer in the kitchen and began to attach the stands to the bottom of the TV. I set it right side up on the entertainment center and centered it. I retrieved the power cord and plugged in the TV, then went to the bag with the game system. I opened the box. Both Celestia and Red periodically asked me questions as I plugged the console into the wall and the back of the TV, which I was happy to answer. They mostly questioned what I was doing.

I plugged the gamepad into the wall so it could charge and turned the Wii U on. After making sure the TV was using the correct input, the screen turned white, followed by the Wii U logo appearing on the screen.

"Turn the Wii U gamepad on, and then press the SYNC Button on the Wii U console." read Celestia, staring at the TV screen, "What does that mean?"

"I have to connect this little number to this doohickey right here." I said, gesturing to the gamepad, then to the console. I had to input a series of symbols to sync the gamepad to the Wii U. I didn't know it did this, having never set one up previously. After that, I followed the instructions given to me by the system.

"Wait what? I have to use my TV remote?" I asked, becoming confused with the instructions on the TV.

"Is something wrong?" asked Celestia.

"No, it's... uh..." I clicked the option for TV remote. It asked me for my TV's manufacturer, which I provided. "I can... change stuff with the Wii U?" I asked, pointing the gamepad at the TV and tapping the volume button that had appeared on the screen. The volume meter on the TV appeared as I did. "Holy crap, I didn't know that. Ok... configured. No remote needed, then."

I continued with the setup on the gamepad. I connected it to my Wi-Fi connection. Update? Yeah, sure. I set the gamepad back down onto my entertainment center.

"What's it doing now?" asked Celestia.

"Updating. Gotta wait."

"How long are we gonna wait?" asked Red.

"I dunno. Oh... It's done. Or... it failed? Whatever. Now I gotta... make a Mii. Oh! Celestia, this is perfect for you!"

"What is it? What am I doing?"

I gave her the gamepad. "Here, make a person."

"Make a person?" She gingerly held the gamepad, probably scared of somehow breaking it.

"Yeah, make something. It don't matter what it looks like. You can pick random if you want."

She stared at the screen, then used the stylus I gave her to tap one of the options. She continued to stare. She backed off a bit, then sat on the couch, starting to tap away at the screen. A smile grew over her face.

"So, is this the thing?" Red asked.

"Almost. Setup just takes a while." I replied, "I thought it'd be a bit faster, but whatever."

Celestia was working on the gamepad for a while. She began to giggle as she worked, looking up at us every so often. Red went over her to see what she was doing, but Celestia hid the screen from her and said, "It's a secret."

Red rolled her eyes and stepped away.

When Celestia was finished making her mii, she smiled proudly and held out the gamepad, saying, "Phil look, I made Red!"

"You what?" Red shot out, swiping the gamepad from her.

I looked over Red's shoulder. It was a pretty good likeness for a Mii. I let out a short laugh.

"Oh, ha ha..." Red sarcastically let out. She shoved the gamepad into my arms and looked away, crossing her arms across her chest. She smirked, then looked back at us. "Alright, I guess it's kinda funny."

"Are we gonna keep it, Celestia?" I asked, holding it up for the final verdict.

"Of course."

"Ok. That's our Mii." I accepted the created Mii and continued once more. After a short waiting period, The Wii U was finally set up. "There we go! There we go."

"What's that?" Celestia asked, continuing to be cute. She was looking at the TV screen.

"We're on the main menu right now. It lets you access the stuff you need. We're not done yet, though. I gotta..." I trailed off as I opened the plastic bag again.

I picked one of the controllers out of the bag and opened its box. Celestia looked over my shoulder as I examined them for the sync button, which was on the back. Wait, do these need batteries? No, it looks like they had battery packs. They came with chargers, which should've tipped me off to the battery pack in the first place. I plugged the three controllers into the console and, after a short while, was able to connect them.

Celestia had turned her attention to the TV box while I was busy. She was reaching into it, though I didn't know what she was trying to get.

The controllers were charging, but the cords were pretty long. I bet if I moved the console closer, we could sit on the couch and play.

"Now for the fun part." I said, getting their attention.

I opened the Mario Kart 8 case and inserted the disc into the console, then tapped it on the gamepad to start the game. The screen went black before the logo of the game showed up and Mario's voice played through the speakers.

"Oh, so this is another video game!" said Celestia, "I was wondering what all this stuff was."

"Yep."

"What's a video game?" asked Red.

"A game that you can play in video form." I answered.

"I am going to hit you, jerk."

"Red, don't hit Phil! He's too nice to hit."

"Yeah, yeah."

"You don't gotta worry about what it is, especially 'cause I don't really wanna explain it." I said, "But it's gonna be really fun."

"I hate you."

I picked up the first controller and moved to the couch. I patted the couch next to me, staring at Celestia. She smiled and sat down, taking the second controller that I picked up for her. Her grip was a bit awkward, but she figured out that she could replicate how I held mine.

"You too, Red." I said.

Celestia picked up the third controller and held it out to Red. Red hesitated for a moment before giving in and joining us, sitting next to Celestia.

"Bit snug." she said.

"Oh, sorry." Celestia moved closer to me, giving Red more room on the couch.

"Alright, a few things you need to know before we start." I said, "This is a racing game. I'm sure the two of you know what a race is."

"I think I can guess." snarked Red.

"We race around in little go-karts around tracks with all sorts of hazards." I continued, "You can collect items and use them on other players. You'll see what I mean when we start. It's gonna be a bit challenging to get into it, but I know that the two of you are gonna love it. How about we do a few practice rounds?"

"Sounds great." Celestia kept smiling, simply enjoying the time we spent together.

I went into the multiplayer option on the menu. Inside that, I chose verses so it was just us with no computer racers. "You can choose racers here." I said, continuing my tutorial, "There are some differences in terms of stats, but don't worry about those for now." I chose toad as my racer. Normally, I would choose Isabelle because she's cute, but I didn't have any of the DLC.

Red was still fumbling a bit with her controller. Celestia was going through the characters one by one. It seemed like she was checking what each one looked like.

"She has a crown!" Celestia excitedly let out as she got to Peach, "Is she a queen?"

"She's a Princess. Princess Peach."

"Oh, how cute."

"I'm taking her." Red moved her cursor over to Peach and pushed accept.

"No, I want her!" cried Celestia, pressing accept as well, bringing us to the next screen.

"Oh, we can both pick her." said Red, "I don't want her anymore. Go back, I want someone else."

I pressed the back button to take us back to the racers. "Red, don't bully Celestia."

"Yay, I'm the Princess!" hummed Celestia.

"Celestia, you're already a Princess." I reminded her

"Bu-But I wanna be a Princess in..." She trailed off, mumbling on purpose because she knew I found it cute.

"How are you the ruler of our nation?" Red asked in bewilderment.

"There's another Princess if you still want one, Red." I said.

"This one?" asked Celestia, moving to Daisy. She frowned and moved back. "I like Peach more."

"What are you? Why did you pick that mushroom-looking one?" asked Red.

"Light racers have more acceleration." I said, "But they also have a low top speed."

"Wow ok, I thought we were practicing."

"I'm practicing too. I can't remember half the controls."

"You really aren't going easy on us. So that means that heavy racers have a low acceleration and high top speed, right? So... A medium racer would be best. Is this one medium?" She highlighted Mario, the first option.

"Yep, he's a medium racer. Daisy is medium as well."

"Shut up."

"Is Princess Peach medium?" asked Celestia.

"Yep, medium."

"Am... I medium?" she joked.

I poked her tummy with a finger. "You're clearly large."

She giggled.

I had picked Toad, Celestia picked Peach, and Red picked Mario.

The next screen is where we chose our vehicle configurations. We could change our car into a bike, we could change the wheels, and we could change the glider we used for flying sections. Following my racer choice, I chose a low weight/high acceleration configuration.

I told them how to view the stats, but it didn't seem to matter to them. Red copied what I chose and seemed satisfied. Celestia clearly chose based on looks.

After cart select, we were brought to a menu that allowed me to remove the computer racers. I then picked a map for us, Sunshine Airport. This particular map took place in the middle of an airport and had us ride through the lobby and down the runway of an airport. It was my favorite map aside from the Excite Bike map, but that too was DLC. Accepting the map brought up one final ready screen with a large 'go' on it.

"You hold this button to accelerate." I said, lightly tapping A for them to see.

They both looked to their controllers.

"And this one brakes." I went through the basic controls with them, showing them how to drive and how to use items and drift.

When I was done, I looked back to the screen. "Ready?" I asked.

"Ready." replied Red.

"I'm ready." said Celestia.

They both readied their controllers. I started the race.

The game camera panned around the map before stopping behind the three of us. I looked to the two of them to see their reactions. They were both focused on the screen.

"Watch the countdown. Between two and one, hold A." I said.

Both of them followed my advice. None of us correctly got the timing and instead spun out when the race started.

"Uh, my bad. Maybe I was wrong." I apologized.

It wasn't hard to follow the map, but they kept bumping into walls around corners and driving along the edge of the map.

"Make sure to watch your speed around corners." I said, "Going to the side of the track will slow you down. Try staying on the track as much as possible."

"You're a real Captain Obvious there, aren't you." said Red.

Red got a red shell from the first item box. I got a coin and Celestia got a mushroom. Since Red was in last place, when she used the item, it went straight to Celestia.

"Ah! You hit me!" Celestia exclaimed, falling into last place. She used her mushroom as she recovered, bringing her next to Red.

"No fair, I just got past!"

"My goodness, you're really good at this game." said Celestia, watching my part of the screen. I had been constantly drifting, which allowed better cornering and gave me speed boosts.

"Celestia, watch your own screen. Red already passed you." I said.

"What?!" She corrected her position and continued racing.

"When you guys go off ramps, try to hit the jump button. You'll do tricks and get speed boosts."

"Tell us these things earlier!" complained Red.

At the end of our race, I finished far earlier than either of them. Red finished in second with Celestia following in a close third.

"Aw, I lost." said Celestia, still enjoying herself, "That was really fun."

"It was." said Red, "We need this in Equestria."

"How would you use the controllers?" I asked.

"Magic." said Celestia, pulling her hands away from her controller and holding it up with a spell.

"Fair enough. It would leave Earth ponies and pegasi out, though."

"Maybe pegasi could use their wings." suggested Red.

"Wings don't work like that." said Celestia.

"I knew that."

"Up for another?" I asked.

"Of course." said Celestia.

I started another race on a different map. Once more, Red ended up in second while Celestia took the illustrious third place. The three of us raced together on two more maps before I backed us out of versus mode and moved to grand prix mode.

"Now in this one, we're gonna have other racers against us." I said, "It's much more fun. More fun than your body has room for."

"More fun than this?" asked Celestia, "It sounds wonderful."

"This is really fun." said Red, "I can see why Celestia was so excited."

"She didn't even know what I was getting her." I said, "I mean, I could've been out getting her an engagement ring for all she knew."

Celestia gasped and turned to me.

"Didn't you meet like... a month ago?" asked Red.

With Red's comment, Celestia seemed to calm down, but she was clearly listening closely.

"It was about a month and a half ago." I said.

"You definitely haven't been together long enough." she said.

"We've been together long enough to know that we love each other." Celestia defensively replied.

"I'm not saying you don't love each other. I'm just saying that a month and a half isn't long enough to know if you want to marry someone."

"What would you know? You've never been married." said Celestia.

"Well, I know enough to know that proposing after a month is stupid!"

"Easy, easy." I said to them, "Here, I'll start the game so we can all calm down."

They both seemed fine with that. I started the first grand prix cup.

"How long would you want a man to wait, Red?" asked Celestia.

"I don't know. Two years, maybe? Three? I know my mom and dad were in a relationship for five years before they got married. I've never exactly had a steady boyfriend, so I couldn't say for sure."

"You've never had a boyfriend?" asked Celestia.

"That's not what I said!" Red shouted, "I've had boyfriends before! I just... haven't really had any... steady relationships."

"Really? Why not? You're such a kind mare, Red."

Her cheeks began to redden. "I just haven't, ok? I didn't have the time, anyways."

I lowered the volume of the TV using the gamepad so they could hear each other easier. The race was about to start.

"You don't always need time to have a boyfriend." said Celestia.

"Yes you do." Red retorted, "At least for the good ones. And who would want a bad boyfriend, anyways?"

"Celestia, apparently." I said.

Red laughed.

"What? You're the best boyfriend I've ever had!"

That... is very nice to hear from her. My entire body warmed from her sudden compliment. I know it's probably an exaggeration, but it still felt nice.

"Seriously?" asked Red, "Him?"

"Yes, of course."

"I find that hard to believe. There must not be a lot of competition."

"You'd be surprised, Red."

"Well, how many boyfriends have you had then, Princess?" asked Red.

"Red, my love life is none of your business. I'm only willing to share because you're my friend. However, you must consider my age. I am many thousands of years old, Red. Though my relationships have been rather infrequent, the number is far higher than any normal mare."

"So, do you have a number?" Red asked, "Like ten? Twenty maybe?"

"I feel you are underestimating how old I am."

"How old are you?"

"Well, a lady isn't supposed to answer questions like that." She chuckled. "Not even Phil knows how old I am."

"I told him how old I was." said Red.

"What?"

"He asked."

"Phil, what have the two of you been talking about without me?"

"Age, apparently. You know, you first left the day before my 25th birthday."

She gasped. "Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry!"

"It's alright, honey. The month we spent together was the best birthday present I ever could've asked for."

"Oh, Philly..." She pecked her lips against my cheek.

"Alright, here's another question, then. You might not remember how many boyfriends you've had, but what about husbands? How many times have you gotten married, Princess?"

"Well, Red... zero. None. I've... never been married."

"Wait, what? Are you serious?"

"I am, Red."

"Wow. That's kinda weird. How could you have gone this long without getting married?"

"I guess I just haven't found the right one yet."

"So Phil is the right one, then?"

"With any luck, Red. With any luck."

Red paused for a short while before saying, "I never really had a special somepony back home."

"You'll find someone. Eventually." said Celestia, "If I can, you can too."

"Yeah, but you had to go into a totally different world to find someone."

"Well, you're in a different world too."

"I seriously doubt I'm gonna fall in love with somebody when I can't even leave the house."

"Maybe Phil can invite one of his friends over for you to meet."

"I'm not setting Red up on dates." I cut in, "Besides, my friends are weird."

"Well, you're weird, and I still like you."

"She's got you there, you're pretty weird." Red agreed.

"What I'm saying is that all my friends are a lot like me and Red doesn't want someone like me." I clarified.

"Got that right. You're way too clingy for me."

"See? Am I clingy?" I asked, suddenly feeling a little insecure.

"You're just fine, honey." Celestia reassured me, "I'm clingy."

"No, you're perfect."

"You're both pretty clingy." said Red, "It's like you were made for each other."

Celestia smiled. "I'm glad you think so, Red."

"So are you two... Are you two really getting married?" asked Red.

"We... We might." said Celestia, "Our situation is... not as easy as other men and women."

"Why's that?"

"Well, Phil doesn't live in Equestria. It... complicates things." Celestia answered.

"I guess. What kind of ring would you get her, Phil?" asked Red.

"A plain platinum ring." I answered.

"Oh wow, that was fast. You've already thought about this, haven't you?"

I nodded. "Ya gotta be ready for these kinds of things."

"I don't know about that one, buddy. Plain seems kinda cheap for a Princess."

"Do I look like I could afford diamonds?"

"You don't look like you can afford this house you're living in.

"Just because something's true doesn't mean you have to say it. I could never find a diamond as beautiful as her, anyways."

"Philly..." Celestia softly let out.

"I've always wanted to give my wife a platinum ring. Platinum is more valuable than gold. It's stronger, too. Strong like the relationship we would share. It's symbolic, in a way."

"Oh, how romantic." Celestia swooned, lovingly leaning against me.

"Or maybe I'll get you one of those little plastic spider rings that sit on the top of a Halloween cupcake." I joked, "I'll even let you lick the frosting off."

Red laughed.

"We're not gonna get married for a while, though." I said, "Like she said, it's complicated."

"We've talked too much about this matter recently. I'm feeling worn out. Can we go back to racing?" Celestia let out a breath.

"I like that idea." I replied.

"So this is what you do all the time?" Red asked, "This game? I heard you say you play video games all the time."

"I used to, yeah. I played all sorts of games on my computer downstairs. Oh, I got another game for us to play, too. Maybe tomorrow, I'll get it out for us."

"I like that idea." said Celestia.

Eventually, it got too late to keep playing. We definitely lost track of time. I had to go to bed. When I finally mentioned that, Celestia decided that she was done as well.

Red, on the other hand, was glued to the TV screen. "You two go ahead." she said, "I'm gonna stay up a little longer and play some more."

Celestia turned to me, smiling again. "Let's get ready."

I smiled back at her. The two of us made our way to the bathroom to brush our teeth before heading back to the room.

"Goodnight, Red." I said to her as we passed.

"Goodnight." said Celestia.

"Yep, goodnight. Have fun with your girlfriend. But, like... don't actually have fun. I'm right here."

"She knows?" asked Celestia. She shrugged, then looked back to me. "Come on, let's go."

The two of us retired to the bedroom and closed the door behind us. We got into bed and snuggled together under the covers, her back against my chest. I could hear the sounds of the game outside the door, but the sound of Celestia's gentle breathing seemed to drown it out.

"We've talked about marriage quite a lot recently." she said.

"Yeah."

"I'm getting so exhausting."

"I know how you feel."

"Philly?"

"Hmm? Yeah?"

"I... would like you to do something for me, please." She seemed serious.

"What is it, honey?"

"Instead of... calling me your girlfriend... could you... could you call me... your fiancée?"

"My... fiancée?"

"Mmm-hmm..."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure, Philly."

I lifted my head and kissed her cheek. "Alright, Celestia. You're my fiancée, now. Don't forget it."

"I won't."
> Chapter 20
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

November 7



Waking up with her in my arms... It was always incredible. I reached for my phone and turned off the alarm. Celestia was still sleeping. Or, at least, she was pretending to sleep. I slid my arm out from under her and stood. After a yawn and a stretch, I began dressing myself. There were noises coming from the front room. The game was still running. Red must've forgot to turn it off. I left the room, closing the door behind me. To my surprise, she was sitting on the couch playing Mario Kart.

I gave her a friendly, "Hey, Red."

She glanced at me, then back at the screen.

"You don't look so good."

"I haven't slept." she said, her voice gravelly and tired.

"Geez. I know that feeling. Pause the game, I'm walking past."

She did as I asked to let me through. As I moved past, she asked, "What time is it?"

"Wake-up time."

"Yeah, when's that?"

"Seven-ish."

"Alright."

"How've you been doing?" I gestured to the TV.

"I got a lot better. I figured out that you can get three stars if you get first place in all of the races. It's pretty fun."

"You should go to bed."

She grumbled at me.

I moved into the kitchen to get something to eat, a bowl of cereal. When I was done, I cleaned the bowl and returned to the front room. Red hadn't moved at all by the time I came back. I watched the screen as she played. There was a definite improvement to her skill from last night. She was also using a character we didn't have before that she must have unlocked during the night.

"Well, you have fun with that." I told her, aiming to go back to the room.

"Wait."

"Huh?"

She paused the game and reached for one of the controllers on the table. She lifted it and held it up to me, her tired eyes boring into me.

"You want me to play?" I asked.

"You kept winning last night. I want to see how good I've gotten. I know you have time."

I grabbed the controller from her. She slid over on the couch so I had a place to sit. She exited out of her race and started a new game with two players. When we got to the map select screen, I saw that she had a number of two and three star ratings in the 50cc series. Impressive for someone who picked up the game just yesterday. She wordlessly picked a cup.

Red did well, but she didn't manage to get ahead of me. Even after going years without practice, my experience was just too much for her to handle. I am glad I didn't say that out loud.

After the final screen passed, Red grumbled again. "I would've done better if I wasn't so tired."

"Then go to bed."

"Yeah, whatever." She didn't wanna hear it. "Hey Phil, tell me the truth. Are you two really gonna get married? I mean, it didn't seem like you were joking about it, but..." She paused. "So?"

I nodded. "There ain't no gettin' offa this train we're on, 'til we get to the end of the line."

"Man... that's crazy."

"Yeah. It's pretty crazy. Go to bed."

"I don't wanna."

"What's Celestia gonna say when she finds out you've been up all night?"

"I don't care, she's not my mom."

"Whatever." I stood and opened the door to my room, but once I saw that Celestia hadn't moved, I picked up my coat and closed the door behind me. "She's asleep. I'm just gonna take off."

"See ya."

"Yep. See ya, Red. Go to bed." I closed the door before she could respond.

On the walk home from work, I was once again joined by Chrysalis. Her eyes were tired, but she seemed rather pleased at something. "Hello." she said.

"Hello." I replied, my mood worsening.

"I'm finished. I need your help."

"What? You're finished? Wait, you need my help now?"

"Yes. I need you to take me somewhere." After she's toyed with me for so long, a simple, direct request is almost unlike her.

"Take you somewhere? So you give me gold?" I asked, questioning the extreme contrast of the two.

"It's not the whole story, of course. Your precious girlfriend has been hiding things from you."

"So?"

She chuckled. "I suppose it doesn't matter. After all, she certainly has the right to keep things from you. Just as you have the right to keep things from her. Things such as this. Your friends and I are not the only ones here right now. Just as Red Shadow came to this world, a number of changelings have done the same."

"That's... really bad. Ok, yeah. Whatever you say."

"I'm glad you understand. I've been hunting them in order to capture them and bring them back. I've tracked them down, but unfortunately, they're too far away for me to simply follow them on my own. I don't know this world as well as you. That's why I need your help. You're going to take me to them."

I nodded. "I'm gonna have to get the car."

"Indeed. Make haste, Phil. The longer we dawdle, the further they get."

I sighed. What horrible timing... Like the obedient slave I was, I continued on my journey home. Chrysalis followed as I walked. My heart sunk as we neared the house. To help Chrysalis, I would have to lie to Celestia again. Unfortunately, this seemed to be a dire situation. We did not want unchecked Equestrians in this world under any circumstances.

"Is something wrong?" Chrysalis asked.

"I... I'm having trouble." I said.

"Your personal troubles are none of my concern, Phil. This is bigger than you. You understand that my changelings cannot be allowed to stay in this world, do you not?"

"Yeah, I understand. I just..." She's right. "I'll be right back."

Was I really going to lie to Celestia again? Was I going to just walk through the house like nothing's happening? I don't think I had a choice. There was a lot at stake. At least, it feels like there is.

Steeling my will, I approached the door. To my surprise, I heard the familiar voice of Princess Luna in my head. "What are you going to do?" she asked, her voice soft and kind.

"What I have to do." I murmured.

"What do you have to do?"

"Something I don't want to do." 

"Phil?"

"I'm sorry, Luna."

I swallowed as I grabbed the handle. I can do this. In and out. Get the keys and leave. I took in a deep breath before opening the door and walking inside. Celestia was on the couch waiting for me.

"Hello Phil!" she cheerfully greeted me.

"Hey Celestia. I'm not gonna be home for long. Sorry. I just need to get my keys. My, uh... My friend needs help with his computer, so I'm gonna head over and give him a hand."

"Oh, I'll get my shoes." She stood, smiling.

I expected that response. "No, no, it's... he doesn't do too well with strangers, honey. He likes his privacy. I'm sorry."

"Is that so?" She frowned. "Well, alright. I hope it doesn't take you long."

"Yeah, me too."

My excuse was flimsy, but she trusted me. I was abusing that trust. I didn't like the way she was looking at me. Her inquisitive gaze made me feel like she knew something was going on. She didn't push me, even if I was acting suspicious. Celestia sat, letting me through. I moved to the kitchen to get my car key. Red stared at me as I entered the kitchen, a bowl of cereal on the table in front of her.

"Red, cereal is a breakfast food." I said, brushing past her.

"This is my breakfast. I just woke up."

"Oh. Well, ok."

"Where are you going?"

"Friend's."

Her eyes narrowed. "Bring us back some more Twinkies."

"I'll try."

Celestia and I gave each other pleasant a farewell before I left to the car. Chrysalis was already inside, having utilized her unnerving ability to unlock the door on her own.

"Seatbelt." I said, putting mine on.

"Oh yes, you were quite serious about that." She put on her own.

I backed us out of the driveway before anybody could see Chrysalis sitting next to me. "Where are we going?" I asked, starting down the road.

"You'll need to take me south. I don't know their exact location, but I can direct you to them."

"So, can I just drop you off or something?"

"No."

I sighed. "How far are we going?"

"It's difficult to get an exact measurement. I would say within twenty miles."

"Geez, that's almost to Rockford." I offhandedly commented. Chrysalis certainly didn't know that.

"I have spent the past few days searching for them. My only option was to search using magic. The little magic I did use has sapped my strength. Even I could not stop them on my own. I needed you, Phil. I appreciate your help. It makes my job much easier."

"Well... I'd say I'm glad to help, but I'm kinda not." Maybe I was. I don't know.

She chuckled. "Perhaps we will get along one of these days. Wouldn't that be something?"

"I feel really guilty right now." I said.

"The feeling will pass."

"I don't think it will."

"I'm not interested in your griping, Phil. We have a job to do." She coldly ignored my complaints.

"Yeah, yeah."

"If you're worried about what your Princess may think, tell her that I forced you to help me. She knows I'm more than capable."

"I wanted the two of you to get along, Chrysalis. That wouldn't help."

"Our relationship is none of your concern, Phil. Don't meddle in our affairs. Do as you're told."

I didn't want to admit that she was right, but we couldn't allow anyone from Equestria to go unchecked. This needed to be done, whether I liked it or not.

As per her instructions, I headed south. As we started, she gave me very general directions. I've done a decent bit of traveling in the area, so I picked a route I knew. Chrysalis didn't object to my choice, so I think I made the right one. I eventually turned away from town, driving down the freeway.

Chrysalis's gaze drifted between the infrequent businesses and factories dotting the sides of the road. "How fast are we going?"

"What?"

"Our speed. How fast are we going?" she asked again.

"Um... 63. Why?"

"Is it... safe?" she asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Going this fast in such a... large machine."

"Yeah, course it is."

"It doesn't seem safe."

"You want me to slow down?"

"No. We need to find them as soon as we can."

"I'm not going any faster."

"I don't want you to go any faster."

"Are you alright? You seem kinda stiff."

"I'm... uncomfortable."

"You don't need to worry, Chrysalis. I won't let anything happen to you."

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed her turn to me. "Do you mean that?"

"I promise."

She let out a breath. "Thank you. That makes me feel better. You'll need to continue in this direction for some time."

"Alright."

She went quiet for a while, looking out the window. With no other instructions, I stayed on the freeway. 

I decided to break the silence with some idle conversation to try to ease the tension. "My grandma lives over there."

"Hmm?"

I gestured to a group of houses about half a mile from the freeway. "Over there. She's got a big house and lives with two big ol' cats."

She smiled. "How nice. If I recall correctly, your other grandmother lived not too far to the north, correct?"

"Yep, that's right. A lot of my family is in the area. Makes it easy to visit each other." I chuckled.

"I would imagine. I don't have a family myself, but in a way, it feels as if my subjects are my family. It's my duty to keep them safe."

"Yeah."

"Phil, could I confide in you for a moment?"

"I guess. If you want."

"I fear I am losing control of that which is mine. I fear for the future of my kingdom. I fear... I fear I will lose my place in Equestria."

"Why?"

"I... cannot say."

I hesitated for a bit before responding. "I don't know a lot about you, Chrysalis. But what I do know, it isn't pretty. So... if you ever need someone to talk to, I'll be happy to listen."

"I'll keep that in mind. You'll be turning soon."

"Where?"

"To the right, when you can."

"Alright... To the right."

I changed lanes and waited for the next turn. It wasn't a long wait. We were on the outskirts of another city right now. Turning right kept us on the back roads. I followed her directions for quite a long time, turning often, but going in the same general direction. I didn't know where we were going. The buildings became sparse as we once more left town.

"There." said Chrysalis.

"That building?" I asked, pointing to a building down a dirt road. It was dark, but I could see a fence surrounding it.

"Yes. They're inside."

I followed her direction. As we got closer to the building, details became clear. Seems like a storage warehouse, maybe. I pulled to a stop at a tall fence gate that blocked our path. Chrysalis unbuckled and opened her door. The two of us got out of the car.

"In there?" I asked, confirming what she said.

"Yes. They're alone."

"Do you see a way in?" I asked.

"Hmm..." She scanned the fence.

It was an old, yet sturdy chain link fence. On the side of the building, train tracks led away. This must be a... I had no idea what this building was. Guessing wouldn't do me any good. I'm not versed in the art of building identification.

"The gate's locked." she said, pointing to a rusty chain holding it shut, "We'll have to climb it."

"Barbed wire." I said, pointing up, "You're gonna get tetanus, you climb that thing."

She raised a hand towards the wire, surrounding it in a magical glow. I heard the sound of metal snapping. As she swiped her hand to the side, the wire was pushed away.

"Huh... That works."

"Phil, before we do this." she started.

"'We'? What's this 'we' stuff."

"Phil."

I stopped my complaining. Apparently I wasn't done here.

She took in a breath before an emerald flame surrounded her body. She was changing her form again. I hope she didn't transform into Celestia. It makes me really uncomfortable. As the flames disappeared, I gasped to myself. Before me was a woman I had never seen before.

Under the low light of dusk, I could tell that her skin was pale, as if she hadn't spent a single minute outside. She was tall and slender, standing a few inches shorter than Celestia. She had a slim frame, defined by well-toned muscles.

Her black dress ran loosely down her body, terminating midway down her long legs, decorated with numerous, tasteful holes along the hem. Two thin bands of fabric ran over her shoulders, holding the dress above her modest chest. Her long, blue hair covered her back, reaching down to her hips, more holes peppering the edges. Truly, this form was befitting of her title as Queen of the changelings. 

Her deep, emerald eyes bore into me. Meeting them was like staring into an ocean. I couldn't look away.

She crossed her arms over her chest. "Well? Are you going to say something or are you simply going to gawk at me?" she asked. Her voice had changed as well, to one I recognized from the show, even after all these years.

"You're beautiful." I got out, stunned by her sudden gorgeous appearance. There was something about her that made it hard to look away. Though her body was certainly shapely, I couldn't help but to gaze into her eyes.

She paused for a moment. "I suppose it should come as no surprise that you are stricken by my appearance. I would expect no less of a man your age. This is the real Queen Chrysalis. This is the real 'me'. At least, it is who I am while in this human body. I've taken quite a liking to it, actually. It seems you have, too."

I finally broke my gaze away from her. She really was pretty. It was difficult to keep my eyes off her. I'm sure Celestia would have an earful for me if she knew about this.

Chrysalis turned to the gate. "Those are my changelings in there. To meet them in a form they recognized would be best."

"You always kept yourself disguised around me. I never thought I'd get to see you for real." I said.

"Consider yourself lucky, then. I had no intention of showing you this form. I've hid my true self from you since we met. Maybe I thought that you would run away when you saw me. I suppose it doesn't matter what I look like. You would see through any of my disguises."

"Would I?"

"You saw through my first disguise."

"That was after you told me you were from Equestria. Who else would come here after all this?"

"True. My appearance does not reflect who I am. You know who I am. I am exactly who you think I am. I am not a 'nice' pony. Far from it. I am an enemy of Equestria. I am an enemy of you. I'm grateful that you would treat me with any sort of respect. Help me over." She changed the subject back to the matter at hand.

"Hold on, hold on. Tell me what we are doing here, exactly."

"We're going to return my changelings to Equestria, by force if necessary."

"By force? Geez... Are you sure?"

"It's as your Princess says, they must return to Equestria."

"So you're just gonna kick the crap out of them?"

"What do you suggest, then?"

"W... What? You have your words, Chrysalis! Aren't you supposed to be a master manipulator?"

"They won't listen to me. Why do you think they're here in the first place? Ever since our defeat by your precious ponies, there have been dissidents among my changelings. I didn't come here to talk."

"Well... What about someone else?"

"Someone else?"

"You're a changeling, aren't you?"

"Don't ask stupid questions."

"There are no stupid questions, just stupid people."

It took her a few moments, but she smirked at my self-insult. "Continue."

"These guys should know a lot of people, right? Ponies. Changelings." I corrected myself twice before finding the right word. "You just gotta change into someone else they know."

"Who?"

"Anyone. Just... not you."

"Not me? I thought we were finally getting along."

"Maybe someone from..."

"Phil."

"Huh?"

"Where are we?"

"What? Uh... I guess..."

"We're in the human world." She cut me off. "We're both humans. They're humans. They would recognize nobody."

"That's... true. Damn."

"Hmm... Perhaps... I think I just came up with an idea of my own."

"Good! Perfect. Just anything that doesn't involve violence."

"Step back."

I did as she said. She took in a breath before transforming. Emerald flames covered her body, hiding her current form before revealing...

"No!"

She smirked at me. "Anything that doesn't involve violence... except 'this'?"

"Yes! Except that. Please. I don't like when you transform into Celestia."

"You're the one who came up with the idea to use the form of someone they recognized."

"Can't you just beat the crap out of them so we can go home?"

"No, no, you were right. This is much more suited to my style. So... how do I look?"

I sighed. "Like an angel." She looked exactly like Celestia. Saying anything else would be a lie.

"How kind of you. It's been a while since I've taken the Princess's form. It shouldn't be a problem. They'll believe anything I tell them."

"How did you get the clothes right?"

"I don't know where the clothing comes from. I've told you."

"Yeah, but she was wearing that when I got home today."

"I haven't claimed to understand every aspect of this world." she shot, "Would you rather I be naked?"

"I don't think I should answer that."

"Help me over the fence." she said again.

"Fine." I moved to the fence, crouched with my back facing it, and netted my fingers together in front of me.

Chrysalis stepped a few feet in front of me, lining up straight to make it easier to climb. "Are you ready?" she asked.

"Yep." I knew exactly how much Celestia weighed. This may not be entirely easy.

She approached me, then placed a hand onto my shoulder and a foot in my hands. With moderate difficulty, I lifted her body. 

"Be careful where you're grabbing!" she shot, "I may have the body of your beloved, but that does not give you free rein to do as you please."

"If I wanted to grab Celestia's ass, I'd do it at home. Now get going, would you?"

She lifted her hands to the top of the fence and pulled herself up, stepping on my shoulders. "What would your Princess say if she heard you talking like this?"

"I'm sure she'd have a few choice words for me." Have I been flirting with Chrysalis? Kinda feels like I have.

She pulled herself over and jumped down, landing quietly.

"Good work. What about me?" I asked.

"Climb."

"Seriously?"

"I certainly can't help you."

I sighed. "Damn it. Alright."

I haven't climbed a chain link fence since I was a kid. With no care for what I was doing, I started upwards. Though the chain links groaned under my weight, I found it was built quite solidly. I was able to scale it with relative ease. I landed hard, dropping to a knee when I hit the ground.

"Ow."

"Are you hurt?" Chrysalis asked.

"No, not really." I stood. My feet kinda hurt.

"Good. Suck it up."

"Thanks for the help."

"I didn't help you." She turned.

"Vandalism, breaking and entering, trespassing. What else?" I listed our current crimes committed. "Oh, identity theft. Can't forget identity theft."

"Keep quiet. Your incessant prattling is irritating me. Follow me." She started along the inner road of the property.

"You're the boss." I followed behind.

I noticed a light on inside the building as we approached. It seemed to be flickering. A campfire? It was pretty cold out. Though it was dark, details were still clear. The building was in a state of disrepair. Most of the windows were broken and graffiti covered the walls.

Chrysalis stopped suddenly, causing me to bump into her from behind. She didn't seem to mind that I almost knocked her over.

"This way." she said, turning. She led me down the side of the building until we reached a cracked staircase leading to a thick metal door. She stopped again.

"In here?" I asked.

She nodded. "I may need your assistance if I am to convince them to return to Equestria."

"Me?"

"You're good with your words."

"I... Am I?"

"Better than some."

"I'll take it."

"Are you ready?"

"As I'll ever be."

She grabbed the rusty handle and twisted. The door squeaked open, whining loudly, alerting those inside of our presence.

There was movement inside. Over the top of Chrysalis/Celestia's head, I saw three figures stand. The light inside the building turned out to be a fire, as I thought. From what I could see, it was an empty building with a few wooden pallets stacked along the walls. There were rafters above and a few staircases leading up. More graffiti covered the inside walls. It was actually pretty good, at least what I could see.

"Oh, I've finally found you!" Chrysalis let out, a discomforting warmth in her voice. She stepped forward into the building.

I moved in after her, keeping a respectable distance. She would be doing most of the talking, at least until things turned sour.

"Stop!" called one of the changelings.

Chrysalis stopped in her tracks, no doubt worried she had been found out.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"Why, I'm Princess Celestia, of course." Chrysalis lied as naturally as she breathed.

"Princess Celestia? What are you doing here?" His voice changed immediately upon hearing her speak. There was a distinct relief behind his words.

"I'm here to return you to Equestria." she answered.

"I'm sorry Your Highness, but we can't go back. We can't serve another minute under our Queen."

"My goodness... What in the world has she done?" I think Chrysalis may have taken offence to his comment.

"She is a cruel leader. After we were defeated in Canterlot, we changelings experienced failure after failure under her rule. She only grew more intolerable. We couldn't take it anymore. We couldn't take serving under her tyranny. We had to leave."

"I'm so sorry." she said, her voice still kind. She took in a breath and let out a soft sigh. "Sadly, this is not a matter that is up for debate. You must return. You must go back to Equestria. Your very presence in this world is causing problems."

"What do you mean, Your Highness?"

I cleared my throat, stepping forward. Their attention was turned to me. "If I may, Princess, allow me to explain."

"Of course." she said, stepping aside.

"Who are you?" the changeling demanded.

"Well... I'm a human. I am a human that the Princess has enlisted the aid of. She's told me a great deal of things. She explained to me why you can't simply enter this world of your own volition. Our worlds, Equestria and the human world, are connected for three days every thirty moons. During this time, travel to and from our worlds is much easier. However, the more you travel, the more unstable the connection becomes. The longer you stay in this world, the more dangerous it could be for both worlds. That's why you have to go back."

"What kind of danger are you talking about?" he asked.

"We don't know yet. Princess Luna told me that the connection between our worlds was already unstable. She told me that if it were to destabilize further, it may cause catastrophic consequences. Our worlds could collide, in a way. Ponies would get lost in this world. Humans could flood Equestria."

"A dangerous eventuality." Chrysalis agreed, "Not one we can afford."

"We really have to go back?" the changeling asked, defeated.

Chrysalis nodded. "I cannot allow the actions of a small group to affect our worlds in such a way. I'm sorry to force this upon you, but it was a mistake to come to this world."

One of the other changelings knocked the leader's shoulder. "I told you!"

He brushed his friend off. "We understand. We'll go back."

"What if Chrysalis finds us?" the third asked.

Too late for that.

"I'm afraid that is a risk we must take." said Chrysalis, probably laughing on the inside, "This is a far larger matter than any of us."

The leader let out a sigh. "Alright, Princess. We'll go back."

"We can't go back!"

"We have to." he told them, "Like she said, we can't stay here. We can't... risk it."

"What if she finds out we came here?"

"We'll have to cross that bridge when we get to it." he replied, "Until then, we can keep hiding. I heard Chrysalis was missing, anyways. Maybe we'll get lucky."

"I... cannot attest to her whereabouts." said Chrysalis, "Now, if you'll step this way, I'll send you back."

"Wait, what?" I mumbled to myself, focusing on what she was doing.

The changelings dejectedly approached her. She lifted an arm to cast a spell. I noticed that the aura around her hand was the same golden yellow as Celestia's. She thinks of everything when she's disguised.

Exactly as she said, a portal opened next to her. My eyes widened. She could just do this?! What? How? Why? When? With no incantation, no nothing? But... 

The three changelings looked to us with sad eyes.

Chrysalis sighed. "I'm sorry it had to be this way. If you would..." She gestured to the portal.

The leader nodded. They started through one by one. The last stopped before moving through and looked at Chrysalis.

"It was nice to meet you, Princess Celestia."

"Yes, it was nice to meet you, I'm sorry."

"It's ok. I understand. We did something bad, didn't we? We have to make things right."

"There's no need to fear. After all, you had no way of knowing what consequences your actions may have had."

"Thank you, Princess." With that, he stepped through as well.

Chrysalis took one last look through the portal before closing it in a flash. She stood still for a few moments before saying, "Catch me."

"What?"

Thanks to her warning, I was able to grab her just in time before she dropped to the floor. She groaned as her body collapsed against mine. She stood, leaning against me. Though she was on her feet, she was using me as a support, her back against my arm.

"Are you... alright?" I asked.

"I'm... I'm fine. The portal spell... It... It's too much for me to handle, even as I am now." She was panting between sentences. Emerald flames began appearing across her body. It was different than before. Instead of covering her completely, the flames raced around her, transforming sections of her body at a time. After a short while, she reverted to her original form. There was noticeably less weight as she stood against me.

"You sure you're gonna be alright?"

"I'll be fine. I'm... I'm fine. Just... " She turned her attention to something else. "Your arms are very strong."

"Don't say that."

She smirked. "Your Princess is a lucky woman."

"You don't look so good, Chrysalis."

"Hmm? That so? I suppose I don't feel very good, either."

"Do you need to lie down?"

"Perhaps. Not here, though. It's filthy. Let me rest on the way back."

"Alright. Are... uh... you gonna be able to get out of here on your own?"

"Well... Probably not. Seems you must carry me."

I sighed.

"Try not to sound too excited."

"Any particular preference?" I asked.

"Hmm?"

"On... how you'd like to be carried. I could just throw you over my shoulder if you'd like."

"Well, I'm sure you'd have no problems whisking me away with your big, strong arms."

"Don't say that."

As per her request, I scooped her into my arms, holding her close so I could move freely. She lifted her arm around my neck. Compared to Celestia, it was considerably easier to hold Chrysalis, though I had my limits. I was a bigger man, but still, I wouldn't last more than a few minutes.

Our eyes met for a brief moment as I steadied myself. It was... awkward. I tried to act like a mature adult in these kinds of situations, but even then, it really was awkward.

It would be a lot more fun if this were Celestia.

"Let's go." she said, gesturing towards the door.

I started moving, my steps heavy. It didn't help that I landed hard on my feet earlier. She pushed the door open so we could get through.

"I haven't been carried in quite a long time. It's quite... cozy. A woman could get used to this."

"Don't say that." I parroted.

"You seem quite good at this. Do you carry your Princess often?"

"Every once in a while. I had to carry Luna, as well."

"Oh?"

"She twisted her ankle. Nasty boo-boo. I brought her up the stairs."

"My, how terrible." She chuckled. "I'm sorry, it's not funny."

"It got dark." I noted.

"Don't worry, I can see."

My initial thought was to move straight to the car, but I remembered that there was a gate as we neared. It was still very locked. I stopped and scanned the fence, looking for another way out.

"Your chest is warm."

"Don't say that."

"Hold me tighter."

"Fuck off." I couldn't hold back the chuckle that came after.

"How rude." She chuckled.

I started off to the right, trudging parallel to the fence, looking for a way to get us out of here. Chrysalis was keeping her eyes on me. It was kinda annoying, to be honest. Either she was purposefully pushing my buttons or she really was enjoying this. I didn't really like either option. Well, I say that, but I kinda did. I didn't want to, but it was... nice.

She moved her head closer and whispered, "I feel so safe in your arms."

Goosebumps covered my skin at the feeling of her breath on my ear. I stopped, glaring at her. "I can drop you."

She chuckled again. "Then do it."

I grumbled. She called my bluff. But... I loosened my grip, at the same time bending my knees to give her the sensation of falling. She gave off a panicked scream, bringing her other arm around my neck and holding tightly. I smirked. My face reddened as I realized that I could feel her heartbeat.

After a few seconds, she realized that she had been tricked. She released me, returning to her previous position. "What a bully you are. Can't I have a little fun before I go?"

"I think you're having a bit too much fun."

"Allow me to indulge myself, will you? It's been hundreds of years since I've felt the warmth of a man."

"That wasn't vaguely sexual at all."

"Your reactions to such honeyed words are quite amusing. What would your Princess say if she knew about this, I wonder."

"She would probably encourage me to drop you."

Chrysalis chuckled. Her eyes wandered to the path and she let out a sudden, "Stop, stop!"

I froze. People? Animals? What was happening?

"You almost tripped, fool. Pay more attention."

A quick gaze over her showed me what she meant. The path ahead was in a state of disrepair. The ground was cracked and full of holes with vegetation covering a good portion of it. 

"Thanks." I continued carefully.

"I don't want you dropping me." she said.

"So it wasn't because you cared for my safety?"

"I am not your caretaker."

Up ahead laid train tracks. If the gate from the road didn't work, this might. Same as before, a chain link gate blocked our path. This one was a bit larger than the gate blocking the road. I stepped closer, giving it a more thorough look.

"Take your time." Chrysalis let out, "Let me know if you see something."

"Aren't you gonna help?"

"I'm enjoying this more than I thought I would."

A stronger man would've dropped her ages ago. My will is weak. I just had to play along with her antics until we got to the car. I still wasn't sure if she was being entirely truthful, either. It made me a little uncomfortable.

Hmm... This gate doesn't seem locked. I bet I could...

"Chrysalis, I'm gonna need to set you down for a moment." I told her.

"Don't you dare."

"I wanna try pulling the gate open. I can't do that holding you."

"Very well. Set me on my feet.

I found a nice, flat place near a wall to set her so I could get to work. She leaned against the wall for support, waiting for me to retrieve her.

I approached the gate. It was old and rusty, but it was on wheels. If there was a mechanism to open it, I didn't see it. I grabbed the bar at the edge of the gate and pulled. With a loud, high-pitched screech, it started moving. I pulled it about halfway open, more than enough for the two of us to leave.

"Good work. Take me home." she told me.

Right, I still had to carry her to the car. She was smiling as I returned to her. I swept her into my arms, wanting to get this done as quickly as possible.

"Watch where you're grabbing." she told me, "We're not that close."

"I'm getting real tired of your shit." I replied, "That's the second time you said that."

She chuckled to herself as I moved onwards. I went through a mental checklist in case we had forgotten something, but I didn't bring anything and Chrysalis was clearly done here. I had no business here, unless I wanted to visit my grandma on the way home. I kinda did, but I was busy. Maybe sometime later. I could bring Celestia. If she was still with me after this, that is.

Chrysalis seemed to drift further and further away as I neared the car. The last thing she did for herself was open the door so I didn't have to put her down again. I carefully lowered her onto the passenger seat, much like Celestia before her. I reached over her to buckle her seatbelt before moving to the other side and getting in myself. This time, she didn't make a comment on what I was doing.

I turned the car around and drove us away.

"Hey, where am I taking you?" I asked.

"Hmm? Oh... I... Take me... Uh..." She paused.

I waited for a while before saying, "Chrysalis."

"Huh? Right. Sorry." She was nodding off. Her words were becoming slurred. "Take me to... your... house."

"No. Where were you staying while you were here? Wait, were you staying here? What have you been doing for the past few weeks? Chrysalis?"

She didn't respond.

"Chrysalis. Hey, Chrysalis!"

I reached to her shoulder and gently shook her. I did it again with a bit more force. Her only response was a soft snore.

Oh, no... She's really out. There's no way I'm taking her to Celestia. I do not want to be a part of that. What other choice do I have, though? I can't just leave her somewhere, especially while she's sleeping. Damn it.

As if on cue, my phone started ringing. I already knew who it was. I didn't even check the screen before answering the call.

I answered with a simple, polite, "Hello!"

"Phil, when will you be getting home? I miss you." Celestia asked. I could hear a cute, childish worry in her voice.

"Well, I'm on my way back now. It shouldn't be more than thirty minutes." I responded with the truth.

"Oh, good. That's quite a distance if you're thirty minutes away."

"Yeah, it was... quite a drive."

"I'm glad you're alright. I got a little worried. I'm sorry."

"No, I'm sorry. I'm... I'm sorry, Celestia."

"Oh, don't worry, Phil. It's fine."

"No, Celestia. No, it's not."

"What... do you mean, Phil?"

"I lied to you about what I was doing. I wasn't going to help a friend with his computer."

"Wh-What... were you... doing?" There was a certain twinge of panic in her voice. 

There's no reason to dance around the issue. "I was helping Queen Chrysalis."

"You were... Oh! Oh, my goodness! Oh my... Oh, my heart... I thought you were... I thought you were going to... Ok... That's much better than what I thought."

"Wait, what? What did you think I was going to say?"

"Nothing, honey. Nothing."

I heard Red say something in the background, though I couldn't make out the words.

"I was not!" Celestia exclaimed at her. "I'm sorry, honey. Red was merely... being Red. Now, what was it that you... said you were doing again?"

"I was... Celestia, did you think I was going to say I was seeing another woman?"

"No! I would never!" Now, there was a clear panic in her voice.

"You did, didn't you?!"

"Don't turn this around on me! You're the one helping an enemy of Equestria! What in the world were you doing with Chrysalis? What did she want from you? How did she even get to this world, anyways? My sister is having the crystal mirror watched at all times. She couldn't have snuck through."

"I... I don't know. You'll have to ask her yourself."

"Myself? Are... Are you still with her?"

"Yeah. I'm bringing her to the house."

"Wh... Why in the world would you do that?!" she shouted.

"Honey, I can hear you just fine."

"I'm... sorry. Phil, please explain this to me." She was clearly furious, but I knew that there was a gentle woman underneath.

"Look, I'm gonna give you a brief summary here. We can talk more when I get home. I don't like talking on the phone while driving."

"Very well."

"Alright. Chrysalis told me that some of her changelings had entered this world. She told me that she needed me to take her somewhere far away so she could bring them back to Equestria. We met them and Chrysalis cast a portal spell of some sort and they went back to Equestria. The portal spell took too much energy from her and she fell asleep without telling me what to do with her. Now I'm stuck with a sleeping Chrysalis and I'm panicking a little because I don't have any other options but to bring her home with me."

Celestia took in a breath. "I will prepare a place for her." she said, her voice calm.

"I'd say I appreciated that, but I want nothing more than to be rid of her as soon as possible."

"I understand, honey. We'll talk more when you get home."

"Yeah. I love you."

"I love you too, honey."

Oh boy... She's mad. What do I do? Celestia's never been mad at me. I don't know how to deal with this. Maybe she's not as mad as I think. Maybe she'll have calmed down by the time I get home. Yeah, that's comforting.

At least I still have Mario Kart.
> Chapter 21
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

November 7



It was nearing ten by the time I got home. There was movement at the window as I pulled into the driveway. Celestia must be checking for me. Just after I got out of the car, the front door of the house opened. Celestia stood in the doorway, holding it open. It was difficult to gauge her emotions from this distance.

I moved to the passenger side and opened the door to retrieve Chrysalis. She snorted as I began moving her, but didn't wake up, or at least didn't let me know she had woken up. Picking her out of the car was a fair bit harder than putting her in considering she was unresponsive. I pushed the door closed with my back and made my way towards the house.

Celestia stepped aside as I approached, holding the screen door open. "Put her on the bed." she said.

"In our room?"

"Yes, she'll need a place to rest."

I nodded, moving inside. Celestia closed the door behind me as I moved into the bedroom. The room had been cleaned and the bed had been straightened. I lowered Chrysalis onto the bed, gently resting her head on one of our pillows.

"I can't believe you were actually serious when you said 'Chrysalis'." said Red, watching from the doorway. She didn't seem to want to enter the room.

"I was a little skeptical myself." said Celestia, "You've never kidded about something so serious, Phil. Queen Chrysalis... Queen of the changelings. An enemy of Equestria, sleeping in our home."

The three of us were just staring at her. To nobody's surprise, she continued to sleep.

Celestia turned to me. I met her gaze. She seemed nervous, somewhat. Her lips parted as if she wanted to say something. She hesitated.

"Phil, what the hay?" Red asked.

"Yes, Red. Thank you." said Celestia, "I'm speechless, Phil. I don't know what to say."

"I don't know how this happened." I replied, "I mean, I know how it happened, I just don't know how..." I gestured to Chrysalis. "This happened."

"I... There are too many questions, Phil." said Celestia, "Far too many questions."

"Well, I got all night." I said.

Celestia sighed. "Indeed. Before that..." She lifted a hand, picking up the blanket using her magic. With it, she covered Chrysalis's body. "Come, Phil. I want you to tell me what happened."

With that, Celestia started towards the kitchen. Red moved out of the way, letting her through. I followed behind, taking one last look at Chrysalis. If I didn't know any better, I'd say she was smirking at me. Celestia sat at the table. I joined her, sitting next to her. Red rested against the counter, likely curious about what I had to say.

"Today isn't the first time that Chrysalis and I have spoken." I started from the beginning.

"You've met her before?" Celestia asked.

I nodded. "You have, too. Do you remember the woman we spoke to during Halloween?"

"That was Chrysalis?"

"Yeah. She came to me the next day as I got off work. She told me that Red stole something from her. Something she wanted me to get back. Something she couldn't get herself."

"Wait, you were working for her? No wonder you got all buddy-buddy with me so suddenly." said Red.

"I also told her I wasn't confident that I could do it."

Red paused, then shrugged.

"What did you steal from her, Red?" asked Celestia, curiosity in her voice.

"Uh... I don't... think I should say. Not with you-know-who out there."

"If what Phil said is true, it will be quite a while before she awakens." said Celestia, "Even if she does wake up, I am sworn to protect my little ponies. You have nothing to fear."

"That's... reassuring, Princess. It really is. I... I stole her... teddy bear." She briefly showed Celestia in the same manner she showed me.

"Her teddy bear? Red, that is very rude. You..."

"Celestia." I stopped her from scolding Red any further. We had more important matters to attend to.

Celestia turned back to me. "Have you spoken to Chrysalis any other times?" She changed her focus.

I nodded. "The night I went out to get the games. She was with me from the moment I left work until just before I got back."

"Honey, why didn't you tell me about these meetings?"

Ah, the big question. "I was... put into a difficult situation. She told me that if I got her the bear, she would tell me how she got here. That's why I kept all this secret. I thought that if you found out about her, the deal would be off. I thought that I could maybe help out a bit. I just made things harder for myself. Every time we spoke, I felt more and more guilty. I just wanted her to leave me alone. I know I shouldn't have lied to you. I think I... wanted to see how far things went. Even if I did find out how she casts her spell, you'd ask where I got it from. I wasn't thinking. I never think."

"Oh honey, don't say that..." She placed her hand over mine. "It's alright. You were just trying to help."

"It's not alright! I lied to you and I didn't even get anything out of it. I haven't accomplished anything."

Another voice joined our conversation. "You have accomplished something. You've gained Queen Chrysalis's trust."

Red's eyes widened. "Is that Princess Luna? Hi Princess Luna!" She seemed elated to be speaking with not one, but two Princesses.

"Yes, hello Red Shadow." Luna replied with a casual indifference, "From what I have seen, Queen Chrysalis has placed a certain trust in you, Phil. You are likely the only one of us that she would listen to."

"How much did you see, sister?" Celestia asked.

"Chrysalis is not without her tricks. Though their conversations were hidden from my powers, their actions were not. Chrysalis has been using her powers on Phil since the moment they met. It seems he has a form of immunity to her charm."

"I what? Really?"

"However, he is not immune to manipulation via words. In fact, Chrysalis seemed to realize very early on what she needed to say to Phil to convince him to help her. I could only guess as to what she said exactly. It may be unimportant when considering what happened today."

"What do you mean, sister?" asked Celestia.

"I will leave this to you, Phil. Tell my sister what happened."

Well... I guess I couldn't hide the details anymore. Not that I wanted to. I took in a breath and let it out slowly, then recounted the events that transpired during the past few hours. I went over the trip there, the multiple discussions at the fence, Chrysalis's transformation into Celestia, her juvenile comments regarding hand placement, the discussion with the changelings inside, and her casting of the portal spell and subsequent loss of power and what happened after.

If I forgot a detail or tried to hide something, Luna would correct me right away. I begrudgingly finished the story, details intact. I was embarrassed at how Chrysalis treated me. My cheeks reddened as I recounted the events.

I watched Celestia's reactions as I went over the words Chrysalis used to fluster me. She just seemed confused. I couldn't see much else from her. Her expressions were usually very telling, but this is a rather serious situation. Celestia mulled over what I said for a while. I waited patiently for her response.

"Hey Princess Luna, if you've been watching him this whole time, why didn't you tell Celestia that Chrysalis was here?" Red asked, "Seems a bit deceptive to me and that's coming from the master of deception herself."

"That's my fault." I said, "Luna knew who she was from the beginning. I begged her not to say anything."

"Do not be so modest." said Luna, "You made a rather convincing argument. In truth, I was curious to see how these events would unfold. I am partially to blame."

"Please, there's no need to place blame." said Celestia, "I love you both very much. I know you would never do something like this without good reason. I trust your judgement. Both of you."

Geez... I don't deserve her. I wanted to talk more about this, but it could wait until later. In the meantime, I gave her a simple, "Thanks, honey."

Celestia cleared her throat, commanding our attention. She turned her gaze to me. "It brings me no pleasure to say that Queen Chrysalis will never be our friend, Phil. I have known her for many years, and I know that she is far too stubborn to accept anyone as a true friend. Those she allies herself with are merely tools for her own gain. Including you."

I nodded, agreeing with her, but not wanting to say anything. It wasn't an easy thing for me to come to terms with.

"I am still hopeful, though. If you could show her the true magic of friendship, it may thaw her frozen heart. Chrysalis..." She paused. "I know there is good in her somewhere. I could not find it myself. Maybe you could." She took in a breath. "Bringing Queen Chrysalis here has created many opportunities for us, Phil. You made the right decision. I have much to discuss with her."

"What makes you think she'll just sit around and talk to you?" asked Red.

Celestia smirked, smiling for the first time since I got home. "Though rare, a unicorn, or alicorn even, can incapacitate themselves through overuse of their magic. Chrysalis made a rather large mistake in casting her portal spell. It took far too much energy from her, leaving her completely unable to use magic for a short while."

"Really? That sounds pretty dangerous."

"It can be. She knew the risks. It's likely that she will be unable to cast spells of any kind for a number of days. Considering the nature of the spell she used, it could take weeks. In addition, she will be drained of energy in the physical sense. To what extent, I don't know. We may have to take care of her ourselves."

"Nuh-uh. Not happening." said Red, "You have fun with that."

"Phil and I are more than capable. You have nothing to worry about." Celestia turned back to me. "It is difficult to determine what Chrysalis will do when she regains her powers. I have no doubt that she has been feeding on your love, Phil. Though worrying, it is not within my power to prevent her from doing so. Thankfully, as my sister stated, you have an immunity of sorts to her charm."

"I'm still wondering what that means." I said, "Like, how did that happen?"

"I couldn't say. Chrysalis will be the only one who can answer that question. It won't be long before she is once again more powerful than I. I'm confident that she will not challenge me in this world. She must recognize that this place is a neutral ground of sorts. It is neither Equestria nor the changeling kingdom. Here, I have hope that we may come to an agreement. I feel I will need your help to accomplish my goals. Both of you."

"Wait, what?" asked Red, "What do you need me for?"

"You possess something that may help sway her opinion."

"I..." She blinked, realizing what Celestia meant. "Hey, I stole this fair and square, alright? I'm not just gonna give it back because you asked nicely. I still have my pride."

Celestia lifted a hand. "On the contrary. In exchange for the bear, we are prepared to offer you something I'm sure you'll be quite interested in."

"Oh!" Red seemed to relax a bit. "Well... What is it that you're offering?"

"In exchange for Queen Chrysalis's stuffed bear, my sister and I offer a pardon for all crimes committed by Red Shadow, provided she puts an end to her criminal lifestyle."

Red's mouth hung open. "You... You really mean that?"

Celestia nodded. "I do, Red. Though our relationship has had a difficult start, you have more than proven to me that you are capable of making the right choices. This was not an easy decision to make, but..."

Red rushed towards Celestia, throwing her arms around her and crying out, "Thank you, Princess! I promise, I won't let you down!"

Celestia smiled, returning Red's hug. "I know you won't, Red."

As if Red had realized she made a mistake, she jerked away from the Princess, face reddening. Celestia merely smiled as Red pulled away.

Celestia waited a short time until Red looked at her again. "Now, this was not an easy decision for us to make. Allowing one such as yourself to go unpunished is a matter far larger than you may think. If we allow even one pony to go free, it may upset the delicate balance of justice that our legal system is based on. As Princesses, it would be an abuse of our power and pick and choose who is incarcerated. This is not something we offer to you on a whim."

"I... I understand, Princess. Thank you. This really means a lot to me."

Celestia smiled. "Now, the bear." She held out her hand expectantly.

"Yes, yes of course." Red conjured the bear once more. This time, when the red bubble vanished, the bear remained. Red placed the bear into Celestia's hand.

Celestia placed the bear onto the table and examined it. Now that I got a closer look at it, there were noticeable signs of wear. There were a number of small stitches piecing together the matted fur. It was an old toy, obviously cared for.

Celestia lifted a hand and cast a spell on the bear, encircling it in a golden-yellow bubble of her own. The bear disappeared before our eyes. "Thank you, Red." 

"So, what now?" asked Red.

"Now, we wait. We cannot continue while Chrysalis sleeps."

"What are we supposed to do while we wait?" Red asked.

"Video games?" I suggested, "As if you'd be doing anything else."

Red shrugged. "Not a bad idea."

"I feel like we aren't taking this situation as seriously as we should." said Celestia, "Queen Chrysalis is one of the most dangerous threats to Equestria and we're talking about playing video games while she sleeps."

Red thought about it for a little, but seemed to give up quickly, looking to me to take her place. Her mind was already set on Mario Kart.

"What else are we gonna do? She'll wake up when she wakes up. Besides, video games are fun. It's how I spent my childhood and I turned out fine."

"Maybe you're right, Princess." said Red, "Maybe I shouldn't be spending all my time playing games."

"Smartass." I glared at her.

She laughed.

"We're acting as if Chrysalis were merely our roommate." said Celestia.

"Celestia... you know as well as I do that's exactly what's going to happen." I said.

She let out a sigh, thinking over my words. "Yes, it certainly seems that way."

"Well, whatever. You two have fun out here." said Red, walking back to the front room.

"Keep the volume low." I said.

"Yeah, yeah."

With Red out of the room, Celestia and I had a chance to discuss more personal matters. Celestia turned to me. "I'm sorry that I'm trying to work while I'm on vacation, honey."

I chuckled. "I think your work is a little more important than a vacation right now."

"Maybe to some. Why don't you ever carry me?" She changed the subject quite abruptly.

"Hmm? What?"

"You carried Chrysalis in your arms. Why don't you ever carry me in your arms?"

"I did once."

"You did?"

"You were asleep."

"That's not the same."

"Maybe not."

"You carried my sister, as well! Why am I the only one you won't carry?"

"I never said I wouldn't carry you."

"Carry me now!"

"Are you... Alright, fine." I stood. I didn't want to argue about this, especially because it wasn't exactly something I didn't want to do.

"Really?" She seemed surprised, though she quickly stood. "Alright!"

She placed her arms around my shoulders and allowed me to scoop her into my arms. I lifted her high and held tight. Our eyes met. I was right. This was a lot more fun with Celestia.

She smiled. "There we go, that wasn't so hard, was it?"

"Wasn't hard at all." I replied.

"Hmm... Take me to the basement!" she ordered.

"The basement?"

"Well, with Chrysalis sleeping in our room, and Red sleeping in the front room, we don't have anywhere else."

I nodded, the realization setting in. "At once, my Princess."

She giggled.

I carefully maneuvered us to the front room, making sure not to bump her on the various obstacles on the way there.

"You alright there, buddy?" asked Red as we blocked her screen.

"I'm fine." I answered.

"Really? 'Cause it looks like you're wobbling a bit."

"Shut up, Red."

"Rude."

"Shut up, Red." Celestia repeated.

Red gasped. "Princess!"

Celestia giggled. She opened the basement door for me and the two of us made our way downstairs. She flicked on the light on the way down.

Must... not... bump Celestia into anything. Must... not... show Red that I'm struggling. Must... not... say anything to Celestia about her weight.

Celestia didn't seem to mind the bumpy ride down the stairs. In fact, it seemed like she was having fun. I loved the smile she gave me when we were just fooling around.

As I approached the basement couch with the intention of letting her go, she stopped me, saying, "I never said you could put me down!"

I chuckled. "Alright, my bad." I returned my gaze to her beautiful eyes. She was still smiling.


With my arms getting a bit sore, I adjusted her position a bit, pulling her closer. I began to shift on my feet, slowly moving around the room. Thankfully, there was plenty of room to move between the couch and the computer desk. I moved in a circle, walking slowly but never stopping. She seemed to enjoy it.

"I'm sorry." I said.

"For what?" she asked.

"For... everything that's happened with Chrysalis."

"Oh, Phil... I know this means a lot to you, but I love you. Forgiveness is a part of love, isn't it?"

"Yeah. I guess."

"That wasn't enough, was it?"

"It doesn't feel like enough."

"Perhaps I should be angry at you. After all, you were spending time with another woman behind my back again. You know how jealous I get."

"I don't want this to be something you just brush away, honey. I still feel guilty about it."

"What's gotten into you? You're usually so carefree. I thought you'd be happy that I forgave you."

"I am happy. I just... still feel guilty."

She sighed. "Perhaps this is my fault. Our relationship is still developing. We still don't know each other very well. I should have realized. I have to apologize as well. To think that I had so little trust in you that my mind immediately jumped to adultery when we spoke on the phone. It wasn't right of me."

"What else were you supposed to think when I opened the conversation with, 'I lied to you'?"

"For all I knew, you could have been out getting me a gift. I know how much you dislike lying."

"Maybe we're both just shit at this whole relationship thing."

She giggled. "We've spent so little time together. We have much more ahead of us."

"Do you think you can trust me, Celestia?" I asked.

"Only if you can trust me, Phil." she replied.

"I trust you."

"I trust you, too." She rested her head against my chest, closing her eyes. "I haven't been carried like this in a very long time." she quietly let out, "It's nice."

I smiled back at her. With my little movements, it was as if I were rocking her to sleep.

"Mmm... Your chest is warm."

She was heavy. Far heavier than Chrysalis. I've held her before, but never for this long. Still, it was nice. Her body seemed to fit perfectly in my arms. I loved the warmth of holding her so close.

"Hold me tighter." she said.

She was... repeating what Chrysalis said. Luna and I told Celestia Chrysalis's exact words and now she's repeating them to me. Not one to disappoint, I squeezed her body. She was still smiling.

"Did it make you jealous?" I asked.

"Hmm?" She looked at me.

"When I told you how I carried Chrysalis."

She gave me a bashful smile. "A little."

"I'm sorry, honey."

"It's alright. Do you think she meant what she said?"

"You tell me."

"Maybe she did. Maybe... it was the first time anypony has ever held her."

"You think so?"

"It's difficult to imagine how Queen Chrysalis has spent her life. She's... not a kind mare. Woman. Maybe it gave her some form of comfort."

"You sure are optimistic."

"Well... it gives (me) comfort. You know, we ponies don't carry each other like this. And with me... well, it's not always satisfying being the bigger spoon."

"You mentioned."

She chuckled. "It's nice being the little spoon for a change." She was quiet for a while before saying, "I feel so safe in your arms." Once more, she copied what Chrysalis said.

I smiled at her. "Don't worry. I won't ever let you go."

She looked up, meeting my eyes again. I noticed a blush adorning her face. I pulled her close for a kiss. She gripped me tightly until our lips parted.

"I love you, honey." I told her.

"I love you, too."



November 8



Chrysalis was still very asleep in the morning. I had checked in the room, but there was no change. I shrugged and walked to the kitchen. Hmm... I shouldn't go to work with Chrysalis here. Bossman isn't liking me taking so many days off. I'll let Celestia deal with her. Chrysalis doesn't like Celestia, though. Damn it.

"Hey, Red."

"Hey."

Rad was sat at the kitchen table, a bowl of cereal in front of her. I poured myself a bowl and joined her.

"You look like shit." I said.

"Thanks, that's just what I wanted to hear first thing in the morning."

"You do. You stay up all night again?"

"Of course I did."

"You gotta quit that, young lady. It's not healthy."

"Oh, like I'm gonna listen to a lecture on health from you, chubbs."

"Hey, I'm not that fat."

"You expect me to believe that?"

"I... Well..."

"What, did you just realize it?"

I looked down to my stomach. "I guess I haven't gone to the gym in a while."

"You go to the gym? Could've fooled me."

"C'mon, didn't you see me carrying Celestia through the living room last night? She's huge!"

"Yeah, you got me there. She is huge."

"That's not what I meant."

"Yeah, I bet. You and her are both pretty huge."

"Now you're bullying us."

"Yeah I am. I don't need to sleep like you do. I'm a thief. I'm used to staying up all night. How else do you think I made it this far on my own?"

"Cunning wit and skill?"

"Uh... Y-Yes! Exactly! I'm glad you figured it out." She clearly didn't expect that.

"You wanna play some Mario Kart?" I asked.

"Yeah! Actually, I'm in the middle of a cup. I need to finish it first."

"I got a little time."

After cleaning our places, the two of us moved to the front room. As Red resumed racing, I noticed a significant improvement in her skill. It's only natural she'd improve after playing so much. I also noticed that she was going faster than before.

"Is this 150cc?" I asked.

"Yep. I made it through both 50cc and 100cc."

"I haven't managed to complete 150cc before." I said, "I'm actually pretty bad at the game, like compared to someone that's actually good."

"Hey, what does 'cc' stand for, anyways?"

"I dunno. Cat... club."

She smirked. "Cat club."

"It's the size of the engine, I know that. I just don't remember what cc stood for. Some measurement. You got pretty good at this."

She shrugged. "I guess I did."

I haven't watched someone play a video game in the same room in a long time. And considering just who was playing, this whole thing was still so surreal to me.

Though she managed to get gold for the race, she was only in first place once, meaning that she didn't get any stars for the cup. She was notably frustrated. I understood her pain. I picked up a controller while she started another cup. The character select and cart select screens were much more populated than before. She's put so much work into this that she's unlocked a number of things.

Red grumbled. She had crossed the final finish line behind me. Even with my experience, I wasn't able to collect three stars and complete the cup. I knew Red was just as frustrated as I was.

"Hey, has Celestia been playing this with you?" I asked.

"Sometimes. Sometimes she watches. She likes seeing me succeed."

"Well, that's nice."

"She's getting pretty good, too."

"Yeah, she picks things up pretty quickly."

"I guess you can teach an old dog new tricks."

"Low blow."

"You got enough time for another?" she asked.

"I doubt it. I'm gonna go check on Celestia."

"Have fun."

I spent a brief moment checking to see if Celestia was awake. There was no movement on the couch so I decided to let her sleep, closing the basement door. Before rejoining Red on thd couch, I collected everything I needed to take to work. After I was ready, I sat next to Red and watched her play part of another cup until it was time to go.

"Alrighty then." I said, standing and stretching.

"You leaving?" she asked.

"Yep. Later." I started towards the door.

"Hey..."

I looked to her. "Hmm? What's up?"

"Uh... Nothing."

"Nothing?"

"Well... pick up some Twinkies before you get back."

"You got it. Though that's a trip to the store. I'll go out and get groceries after I get back. How often do you eat Twinkies, anyways? I thought you were supposed to be healthy."

"Oh, shut up. You never tell the Princess what to eat."

"Celestia doesn't get fat."

"Yes she does! Have you even seen her?"

"She's not fat, she's curvy."

"So she's got a big butt, so what?"

"Is that what this is? Are you jealous of Celestia's butt?"

"Wh... No! How could you even get that from what I said?!"

"Don't worry, your butt's just a different shape than hers."

"M-My butt looks fine, thank you very much!"

"Well, I'm not arguing with that. Jealousy is perfectly natural, Red. It's alright."

"I'm not jealous! Enough about my butt!"

I chuckled. "Yeah, alright. Anyways, see ya."

She sighed, then smiled. "Yeah, see ya."

I stepped outside. The weather was cold and clouds covered the sky. The umbrella in my pocket may see some use today.

Hmm... Maybe I should lighten up on the teasing a bit. Red took it rather well, but it might not be entirely appropriate. Maybe it doesn't matter. I tease all my friends.

As always, a normal work day. Sarah approached me just as it was time for me to go. I gave her a simple greeting, though she remained silent for a while.

"Everything alright?" I asked.

She looked up to me. "When... When do you think you'll be able to come over?"

I put my hand on my chin and gave it some thought. Though Red was no longer a problem, Chrysalis was. In fact, Chrysalis was a much bigger problem than Red ever was. "I... have no idea. Celestia and I are taking care of someone new at home and the whole ordeal has been pretty hectic. You still need to speak with Celestia, but we aren't in a good position to do so. It'll... It'll probably still be a little while, Sarah. I'm sorry."

"You're... taking care of s-someone?"

"Yeah. The... The details are... private."

"S-So all I can do is wait?"

I nodded, feeling a little guilty. "If things go well, I might be able to invite you over to meet Celestia soon. And if things go well during that meeting, I'll be able to visit your parents."

"My p-parents are getting suspicious of me." she said, worried.

That really isn't my fault. "What have you been telling them?"

"Th-That you're b-busy. Like you s-said. They don't b-believe me."

"Well... I dunno what to say. I am busy. Celestia still needs to meet you in person, but like I said, we're not in a good position for that right now."

"Phil, please..." She hesitated, then lowered her voice. "I need your help."

"I'm sorry, Sarah."

Her head lowered. After a time, she nodded silently before turning and walking away.

My heart sunk whenever I met her timid eyes. She would always look away. I didn't know what to do. I felt like a total jerk. Why am I making these excuses? This happens when Chrysalis gets better. No later. It doesn't matter if she's still there. I need to try harder.

As I walked home that evening, it began to rain. This time of year, the rain was ice cold. I may have to start driving to work if the weather gets any worse. For now, my umbrella was almost enough.

I opened the door to see Red still playing Mario Kart. She turned to me and gave me a brief greeting before turning back to the game. I glanced through the bedroom door, but noticed no changes

"Any luck with you-know-who?"

She shrugged.

"Where's Celestia?" I asked.

"Kitchen." she responded, gesturing vaguely towards the doorway.

I shrugged and walked past her, joining Celestia in the kitchen. She was eating a peanut butter jelly sandwich over a paper plate. The definition of regality. 

She smiled as she saw me, something I've come to look forward to after a day of work. "Welcome home."

"How's Chrysalis?" I asked.

"Still asleep. When did this start?"

"I dunno. Sometime last night-ish."

"She's been asleep for almost 24 hours."

"Is that bad?"

"Not necessarily. As I've said, this isn't a common occurrence. Only beings with exceptionally powerful magical ability can bring themselves to such a state. My sister and I aside, there are few who could do such a thing on their own."

"Hope she's alright."

One of her eyebrows raised. "Do you?"

I nodded. "Yeah, of course."

Celestia smiled again. "How kind of you. I'm sure she'll be fine, but she will need more rest before she fully recovers. I'll keep checking on her."

I nodded.

"How was your day, honey?" she asked with a smile, changing the topic.

"It was terrible, I had to spend nine hours away from you."

"Oh, how sweet."

"I talked to Sarah. She's getting desperate and I feel really bad about it. I need to have the two of you meet."

She frowned. "You've put this young woman into a very unfavorable position, Phil."

"I know. You don't have to remind me. I wanted to help her, but Chrysalis put a stop to that. I don't think we should have anyone over while she's resting."

Celestia nodded. "I think that's a good idea. What are you planning on doing to help your friend?"

"I wanted to invite her over as soon as Chrysalis recovers."

She gave me another nod. "I feel we both have a hand in her desperation."

"You don't have to patronize me. I know it's my fault. I thought if I ignored the problem, it'd go away. Life doesn't go away."

"Acceptance is a sign of growth. You're a different man than the one I first met, even after such a short time."

"Wise words won't help me this time. But thanks."

"If you..."

A scream from the front room interrupted our conversation. Red had let out a loud yelp. It didn't sound like a 'home invader' or 'severed limb' type of scream, so I didn't worry too much as I poked my head through the doorway to check on her. I assumed something in the game got her. 

Red was staring directly into the bedroom. I stepped into the living room to see what she was looking at. To my surprise, Chrysalis was sitting against the headboard, her eyes focused solely on Red.

Chrysalis began to speak in a weak, yet still audible tone. "Ree~eed... Where's my bear, Red? Where is he? I know you have him." Her voice was quiet and lacking a lot of the power I've come to expect from her.

"Stop staring at me, you... c-creepy..." Red was trying to act tough, but Chrysalis's unwavering gaze was getting the better of her. Red let out another yelp before jumping up and rushing into the kitchen. "Tell her to stop staring at me, Phil!"

Celestia soon stood and joining me in the front room.

With Red out of view, Chrysalis's gaze shifted to me. Where once bright green flames glowed in her eyes, dull, grey-green embers took their place. Chrysalis yawned, covering her mouth with a hand. Her gaze was now fixed on me, but it wasn't as intense a stare.

I started towards her, entering the room. Celestia watched from the doorway.

"Have a nice nap?" I asked.

"Better than I... would have thought. You put me in your bed." She spoke slowly, without energy.

"How are you feeling?"

"Numb... Exhausted... I feel as if my body has been drained of its power."

I got closer, eventually moving next to her. "You gonna be alright?"

"I shall recover in time. This does not... come as a surprise to me. I understood the risks. How long was I asleep?"

"Just under a full day."

"Hmm..." She turned her head towards Celestia, who had remained at the doorway. "Your highness." Chrysalis smirked before moving her gaze to the ceiling.

"Queen Chrysalis." Celestia replied.

"Do you... need anything?" I asked, concerned about her weakened state. I didn't know what was going on here. Celestia and Chrysalis might know, but seeing her like this was a bit disconcerting.

"Perhaps... some water."

"Uh... Yeah, sure."

Celestia stepped out of my way as I went to retrieve a cup of water for Chrysalis. Meanwhile, Red had found a nice corner to cower in. I got a medium cup and started filling it.

"You keep her away from me!" she said.

"Are you alright, Red?" I asked.

"Alright? No, I'm not alright! Queen Chrysalis was staring at me for I don't know how long with those beady little eyes! It's so creepy! Gonna have nightmares about that."

"Ah, you'll be fine. Lemme talk to her for a bit. She'll come around."

"Oh, you'll take care of it? What are you gonna do, tell her to stop being evil? Yeah, that's gonna work."

"Well... Yeah. And Celestia and I are here to protect you, Red. We won't let anything bad happen to you."

Red blinked. "That... Alright, that kinda makes me feel better. Not every day I can say a Princess is my bodyguard."

I smiled at her before turning and bringing the cup of water to the bed room. It didn't seem like Chrysalis had moved at all.

"Just... place it onto the stand."

I did as she said. "You... alright?" I asked again.

"I'm fine." she asserted.

"You... I don't believe you."

She let out a small chuckle. "Yes... you would be right not to. My careless use of magic has left me... somewhat of an invalid."

"Delayed onset energy disorder." stated Celestia, stepping forward.

"Indeed." said Chrysalis, "Your Princess is familiar with this state. It seems you will be in charge of my well being for a time."

That's... less than ideal. "I guess. So, what does that entail?"

"She'll be weak, both physically and mentally, for a number of days." said Celestia, "She'll need rest and care until she recovers."

Chrysalis smirked. "Your Princess is right. You'll be caring for me, Phil. Doesn't that sound fun?"

"Fun's not the word I'd use. Well... If we gotta take care of you, we gotta take care of you."

"Is that all you can say?"

"I have a few more words, I just don't think you'd appreciate them."

She chuckled before turning to Celestia. "This is your new boyfriend, Princess?"

"I'm glad you like him." said Celestia, stepping forward. She smiled as she neared Chrysalis.

I stepped aside, not wanting to get in the way of whatever it was Celestia wanted to do.

"Well, 'like' is a bit of a strong word, but..."

Celestia sat next to Chrysalis on the bed, which seemed to surprise her. Though she was still partially under the blanket, she pushed herself away, powering through the discomfort of movement in order to distance herself from the Princess.

Celestia continued to speak. "It's been so long since we've been in this position, Chrysalis. We've been given a chance to speak peacefully." 

"I have nothing to say to you, Celestia." Chrysalis turned away from her. "The only reason I'm still sitting in this bed is because I can't feel my legs."

"You sure you're gonna be alright?" I asked.

"I'll be fine soon enough." she growled, brushing me aside, "If you want to talk, then talk, Celestia. I won't be listening. You're nothing but a nuisance to me."

"There's no need for hostility, Chrysalis. After all, who do you think is going to take care of you while Phil is away?" she said, still smiling.

"Is that a threat?"

"Oh, no! Of course not. I'm merely pointing out that antagonizing the only person willing to feed you might not be your best option."

Celestia was bluffing. She was too nice. Or... maybe she was serious.

Chrysalis chuckled to herself. "Enjoy this while you can, Celestia. I am going to destroy you when I regain my powers."

"Until then, maybe we could come to an agreement of sorts."

Chrysalis narrowed her eyes. "An agreement?"

"The spell you used to transport your subjects back to Equestria. I want you to teach me how to cast it."

"I cannot do that."

"Oh?"

"I lost the source books of the spell. You'll have to find them if you want to travel between worlds on your own. Even then, the magical energy necessary to cast such a spell is beyond even your power. After all, it put me into this state."

"Do you remember any details?"

"I might. Perhaps your red-haired friend could assist me in remembering them."

"You leave me out of this!" Red called from the kitchen.

"You're after your bear." said Celestia.

"I should have known my secret would be revealed." Chrysalis grumbled, "I do not regret entrusting this task to Phil. I had no choice. Even now, I am powerless to take back what is mine. Pathetic, is it not? All this work just for an old stuffed animal."

"It's not pathetic." I told her, "I think it's kinda cute, even."

"Save your kindness for your Princess. Your words do nothing but humiliate me." she shot. She sighed. "My... My bear is important to me. It's a remnant of my past. Perhaps it... reminds me of better times. You'll have to excuse my sentimentality. Yes, I want it back. I would do anything to get him back."

Geez... We're holding it as insurance. This feels wrong. I know she could be lying but she's also really good at lying so I'm just going to believe her. With the way Celestia was looking at me, she seemed to agree. She already knew Chrysalis was a liar. We had no reason to trust her.

"Red Shadow no longer has your stuffed bear. I am the one you must deal with now. Please, tell me everything you know about these books."

"Oh? You have him? This changes things. You've never lied to me before, Celestia. Is it a deal, then? If I tell you what I know, will you promise to return my bear?"

Celestia replied with a slow nod. "I can make that promise, Queen Chrysalis. You have my word."

Chrysalis gave Celestia a sly smile. "You're aware of who you're making a deal with, right Celestia?"

"I am aware. You've betrayed my trust before, Chrysalis. I fear one day you may do it again. My only wish is to be with the one I love. Are you so cruel as to give us hope just to dash it?"

"I think you already know the answer to that."

Celestia remained silent.

"Very well. I accept. Allow me to tell you the tale of these accursed books." She smiled an evil smile. "You are looking for three books once owned by the unicorn Star Song."

"I don't recognize the name."

"Nor did I. Seems she was quite the spell caster. Her skill may even rival that of your Starswirl the Bearded."

"Noteworthy praise, coming from you. I will have my sister search for this Star Song. Perhaps we could find more information on her."

"One book was a spellbook written by Starswirl the Bearded. It appeared to be a first edition copy. On the outside, it appears to be a typical spellbook, specifically one detailing rather advanced spells. I'm sure you have numerous copies in your libraries. However, this particular book contained many hoofwritten notes, apparently written by this Star Song. Much of it was nonsense. There were many hypotheses proposed by this unicorn, most of them fruitless, though proved quite interesting. I will let you decide for yourself when you find it."

Celestia was concentrating hard on what Chrysalis was saying. I'm sure more and more questions were forming in her head.

"Another book was a dissertation of sorts on the theory of parallel worlds."

"A dissertation?"

"If I were her professor I would have failed her after the first page. It's nothing but the ramblings of a mad-mare, as if she had lost her hold on reality while creating it. This was the easiest of the three to read. Alongside these was a diary. Barely legible, as if it were written by a child. A nightmare to translate. Without these, you'll have no chance of accomplishing your goals."

Celestia nodded. "How did you lose these books?" she asked.

"They disappeared before I was finished working on them. I suspect they were charmed in some way. This was hardly longer than a month ago. I used what information I could remember to create my own portal, but it won't be of any use to you. Even if I could cast it again, it is not stable enough to send somepony such as yourself through. I've been debating whether to simply wait here with you for the crystal mirror to activate again. It wouldn't be possible for me to teach you, either. Not without the books."

"Where did you find these books?" Celestia asked.

"An interesting question. In my recent travels, I happened upon a tear in space of some kind. A voice emanated from it, one I've come to believe was Star Song herself, as after the tear closed, the books had been left behind. It was difficult to discern what was being said, but I distinctly remember the haunting howl of a windigo, so clear to me that I thought I was being hunted myself. Odds are, this Star Song was in danger."

Celestia brought a hand to her chin, thinking over what Chrysalis told her. "If what you're saying is true, Star Song would have lived near the birth of Equestria. I find it hard to believe that such a spellcaster would go unnoticed at that time. Windigos aren't known to actively hunt, either. They are drawn to extreme hatred or discourse."

"Do you think I am lying?" Chrysalis asked, her expression unchanged.

"It's difficult to believe what you're saying."

"Is it not also difficult to believe you've fallen for a human, Celestia? We are living in strange times. The reality is that I can create a portal to the human world. It is up to you if you believe me or not."

Celestia sighed. "It's the only lead we have at the moment. I'll believe you, Chrysalis."

"I'm grateful for the trust you've placed in me, Celestia." She chuckled. "Now for your end of the bargain."

Celestia nodded. Chrysalis's eyes followed Celestia's hand as she raised it. Just like before, a golden-yellow ball of energy appeared. In it was Chrysalis's bear, safe and sound. As soon as Chrysalis laid her eyes on it, her expression softened. She seemed almost vulnerable as she gingerly reached forward towards it.

The orb disappeared, setting the bear in Celestia's hand. At long last, she relinquished the bear to Chrysalis. Chrysalis took hold of the bear, gently lifting it from Celestia's hands. She was smiling. It was a far more genuine smile than I've ever seen her make. She was truly happy to have her stuffed animal back.

"Oh, I'm so glad to have you back, Mr. Cuddlesworth." she let out, bringing it close and holding it tightly against her chest.

I kinda wished I was that bear right now... Celestia shot a glance at me. I think she knew what I was thinking.

Chrysalis raised her head. "Thank you, Celestia."

Celestia smiled. "I'm glad to see you in such high spirits, Chrysalis."

"My work here is complete. As soon as I am able, I am leaving for Equestria. I have no desire to stay longer than I must."

"I understand, Chrysalis. Until then, you're free to stay. We'll make sure you're well enough when the time comes, right Phil?"

I nodded. "You got it. This is pretty weird."

"Oh, what isn't weird these days?" said Celestia.

She's got me there. 

Celestia patted the bed next to her. "Sit with us, Phil. There's much to discuss."

"I... thought you said Chrysalis needed rest."

"She can spare some of her time for us. Isn't that right, Chrysalis?"

"I... don't know what you're playing at, Princess." she responded, "Your overt friendliness will get you nowhere. I am not so indecisive that I would forget our history after a few moments of kindness. We are still enemies, Princess. Remember that."

"Perhaps. I just thought, with you unable to do anything to stop me, I would take this opportunity to speak with you."

"You wouldn't dare."

Celestia chuckled. "I have a lot of things to say to you."

Chrysalis let out a sigh. "I'm not going to turn over a new leaf over a few words between us. Get it over with. The sooner you finish speaking, the sooner you'll leave me be."

"Phil, please. Sit with us." Celestia said again, "I want you to be a part of this."

I shrugged. Celestia gets what Celestia wants. I joined the two of them on the bed, something I thought I'd never say. Chrysalis gave me a look, but I just shrugged it off..

"I can't expect you to change your ways, Chrysalis." said Celestia, "I have offered you my hoof time and time again yet you continue to push it away. We ponies offer you our love, yet you still insist on taking it for yourself. You are a vain, misguided mare, too stubborn in your quest that you forget your purpose. You are unfit to lead your changelings and you are unworthy of the power you possess."

Chrysalis smirked. "Your words cut deep, Celestia. I had no idea you held such hate in your heart."

"I don't hate you, Chrysalis. I'm just disappointed. You could be so much more, yet you choose to go down this path of malice. You could do such good with your powers."

"I don't want to do good. I want to take over Equestria!"

"For what end?! Your goals are misguided! Is there nothing in your heart but contempt? You could never take over Equestria. We have proven time and time again that you could never defeat us with your heart of ice. The magic of friendship is far more powerful than you could possibly imagine."

"Have you forgotten how I bested you on my own, Celestia? Your magic of friendship means nothing against my abilities. I can only thank you for allowing me to stay in a home with such deep love. Thanks to you, I will be able to recover faster than ever."

"I haven't forgotten. You feed on the love of others to make yourself stronger. Without them, you are weak. You could never defeat me on your own."

"I don't need to defeat you on my own. I have others to do my bidding for me."

"Your bidding? That's pride and vanity that talks! Not leadership! Your subjects are not merely pawns in your plans!"

"My subjects are whatever I desire them to be."

"Is that why three of your changelings escaped to this world? Did you desire to come all this way just to take them back to Equestria?"

"They were traitors and will be dealt with accordingly once I return."

"You're nothing but a tyrant to your changelings."

"How I lead my changelings is none of your business."

"It is my business. I care for each and every citizen in Equestria, even your changelings. Even you, Chrysalis. Seeing you waste your potential on something like world domination is heartbreaking."

"Wasting my potential? Is that really what you think? You are not my mother, Princess Celestia. You are in no position to look down on me. I have every right to live for myself. I live how I see fit. You can't quash my dreams simply because you don't like them."

"Your dreams involve attacking innocent ponies and draining them of their love!"

"Your point, Celestia?"

"You are a vain, greedy, cruel mare!"

"And you are an old hag and a fool." Chrysalis was brushing off everything she was saying.

Celestia stared at her, mouth hanging open. "A fool, yes. I was a fool to think you would listen. I am a fool for trying again. I won't stop trying."

"I am not here to discuss my surrender to you. Our battle is ongoing and I will not stop until you fall before me. I will have my vengeance against you soon enough."

Celestia sighed. "This isn't over."

"It is for me."

"I still have you for a few more days, Chrysalis."

Chrysalis smirked. "As long as there's not a quiz at the end."

I tried to stifle a laugh, but Celestia's stare told me that she heard it clearly. "Phil! Don't encourage her bad behavior."

"Sorry, it was funny."

"I'm glad someone here appreciates me." said Chrysalis, "It was not my choice to become incapacitated. Taking advantage of my weakened state to simply speak to me is a waste of your time and my sanity. I have not forgotten what you've done to me."

Was I supposed to be participating? Celestia said she wanted me to be here.

Celestia was scowling. "There is good in you, somewhere. I know there is."

"Search all you like, Celestia. You'll find nothing."

"Will you take nothing from this, Chrysalis? Will you truly continue to pursue this wicked goal?"

"I will continue to pursue my goals to my heart's content. I am not under any obligation to listen to you. You are no Princess of mine."

"I was afraid of this. You are further gone than I thought. I'm sorry, Chrysalis."

"Yes, apologize for your mistakes, Princess. You will never change me."

Celestia seemed genuinely heartbroken by Chrysalis's arrogance. "I'm sorry that I couldn't meet you sooner to lend you my hoof, Queen Chrysalis. Your plight is my fault."

"That's what I've been saying this whole..."

Celestia leaned towards Chrysalis, wrapping her arms around the changeling, silencing her for a moment.

Chrysalis tried to pull away, but Celestia wouldn't let go. "What are you doing? Release me at once!"

I didn't really get what made Celestia all huggy all of the sudden, but I'm sure she knew what she was doing. Chrysalis didn't struggle for long, but she didn't seem to give in, either. Celestia took this drop in her guard to move closer. Chrysalis let out a squeak.

"This is embarrassing." said Chrysalis, gently placing a hand onto Celestia's back.

Celestia noticed me looking at her. She gave me a smile before pulling away from Chrysalis, letting her go. "Wasn't that nice?"

"I... suppose."

"I know that I can't trust you, Chrysalis. When you return to Equestria, I know that you will return to your wicked ways. I don't want to leave you on your own, but I fear I will have no choice. For that, I am truly sorry."

"I'm surprised it's taken you this long to realize."

"I wanted to offer you something, Chrysalis. A chance to do the right thing."

Chrysalis didn't answer right away. No snarky comment or insulting reply. After a while, she said, "You know that I am going to use this to manipulate you and take over Equestria, don't you?"

Celestia nodded solemnly. "I never expected anything more."

Chrysalis let out a chuckle. "What a pair of fools we are."

Celestia nodded slowly. "I cannot change you any more than you could change yourself. If we find ourselves in such a position, I will stand against you with everything I have."

"And I will force my way through with everything I have." said Chrysalis.

"And when you inevitably lose again, you can come hang out with me." I said.

"Hmm... Tempting, but I think I'll pass."

"Oh, come on. What'll you have to lose?"

"My self-respect. My sanity. My lunch."

"Ah, it'll be fun! We can play video games, we can talk about Equestria, maybe order a pizza."

Chrysalis remained silent for a while, mouth agape in disbelief. Finally, she spoke, turning to Celestia. "You've found quite the match, Celestia."

"Isn't he great?" Celestia replied, ignoring Chrysalis's sarcasm.

Chrysalis frowned. "I can tell that I'm going to hate staying here."

Celestia finally stood. I did the same, not wanting to bother Chrysalis for longer than I had to. "I think we should let Chrysalis rest for a bit longer, Phil."

"Alright." I said, stepping away.

"Finally, you're leaving me alone." Chrysalis breathed a sigh of relief.

We made our way to the door. "Sleep well, Chrysalis." said Celestia, "Tomorrow is going to be a big day for us. I have so much more for us to discuss."

"I am going to take great joy in destroying you when I regain my powers."

Celestia chuckled. "I'm sure you will."

With that, as if watching over a child, Celestia turned off the light and closed the door behind her.

"Wait, what?" Red asked from the kitchen.

"What?" I asked.

"Is that it? Is everything... good?" She crept into the front room, treading lightly incase Chrysalis was around the corner waiting to ambush her.

"We're working on it." I said.

Celestia nodded.

"Are you... sure things are gonna be ok? She's not gonna stare at me like that again, is she?"

"I dunno. I doubt it. You'll be fine."

"I know, it's just... really creepy."

"Everything will turn out just fine, Red. You'll see." Celestia assured.

"I'll... I'll take your word for it. Can I go back to playing Mario Kart?"

"Go ahead. But keep it quiet. Chrysalis still needs rest, even if she's creepy."

Red nodded. "Sure." She still seemed uneasy, but much like an addict, she was unable to think of anything other than returning to her video games.

Leaving Red to fend for herself from any rabid Chrysalis attacks, Celestia and I retreated into the basement, enjoying another night together on the tiny couch.
> Chapter 22
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

November 9



Though the basement couch left little room for us to adjust, our love prevailed. It was actually pretty comfortable, all things considered. I always loved the coolness of the basement.

I got off the couch and headed upstairs, where Red was napping on her own couch. I was surprised to see her asleep after all this time. The game was left on, so I turned it off before heading into the kitchen. The house was pleasantly quiet.

As I went to return to the basement, I heard a noise from the bedroom. A bit curious, I gave the door a soft tap, not enough to wake Chrysalis if she was asleep, but enough to get her attention if she was awake. With it, I let out a quiet, "Chrysalis? You up?"

"I'm awake. Come in." she said.

I shrugged, seeing no reason not to open the door and walk in.

Once more, Chrysalis sat against the headboard. She watched me walk in.

"Doing alright?" I asked, already trying to care for her.

"What time is it?"

"Seven-ish."

She blinked. "I'm hungry. Get me something to eat."

"You've been here for a day and a half. You must be starving."

"I am. Get to it."

"Hmm... Think you can wait long enough for pancakes?"

"Pancakes?" She nodded. "I can wait."

"Alright. I'll be right back."

Usually, speed was not a primary factor in pancake making, but I still did my best to make a batch as quickly as I could. The smell of cooked pancakes quickly filled the house. When I had a modest pile of pancakes, I returned to the room, plate in hand.

Red was still asleep, and if Celestia was awake, she would have jumped at the smell of pancakes. I had no intention of waking them. It was just the two of us.

Chrysalis was waiting patiently for her food, though it wasn't as if she was able to do anything else in her position. I gave her the plate, which she set on her lap. The moment I gave her the fork and knife, she began cutting into it, cutting it into eighths before stuffing a piece into her mouth.

"I'll get you some milk. Don't choke before I get back."

She gave me a brief look before returning to her pancake.

In addition to a glass of milk, I retrieved a bottle of syrup. When I returned, Chrysalis was already working on her second pancake. I set the glass of milk onto the nightstand. She immediately grabbed it and took a long drink before returning it to its place. As for the syrup, she held out her hand, and I gladly gave it to her. Unlike Celestia or Red, who covered their pancakes in syrup, Chrysalis used only what was needed. In fact, she was a rather refined eater compared to the two of them.

"Thank you." she finally said, her mouth clear, "This is... good."

"I'm glad you like it. I don't want you feeling like you're unwelcome here. You're just as much my friend as Red is, even if you're a little... uh..."

"Manipulative? Evil? Heartless?"

"I didn't say that. Out loud. Recently."

"You don't have to hide your disdain behind honeyed words. You don't like me. You never have."

"Yeah, yeah. I gotta go soon. We can talk later. Get some more rest, Chrysalis. Relax a bit."

She said nothing.

"See ya." I waved her goodbye as I left the room, closing the door behind me. I hope she'll be alright here until Celestia wakes up.

Work was pretty typical today. Sarah was quieter than usual, but that may be because I shut her down pretty hard yesterday. Just a little longer, Sarah. When Chrysalis recovers, I'll try to help you. I promise. These empty words meant nothing right now. My excuses were wearing thin.

When I got home, Red was once more playing Mario Kart. I gave her a short greeting before checking the kitchen for Celestia, expecting her to be eating. When that failed, I returned to the front room. Red briefly pointed to the bedroom door, but kept silent, focused on the game. I once more passed in front of Red, irritating her in the process. I gave the bedroom door a quick tap.

"Come in, Phil." I heard Celestia on the other side.

I opened the door and entered, closing it behind me. Chrysalis was still in bed, sitting in the same position as before. Celestia sat on the side of the bed.

"We were just talking." said Celestia.

"Yes, talking more nonsense. I'm glad you're here, maybe you could talk some sense into your Princess."

"Ah. I get the picture. Celestia's been bullying you all day."

"What? No I haven't!"

"She's been just awful to me." said Chrysalis, a smirk growing across her face.

"She's lying!"

"Celestia, I can't believe you." I made my way to her.

"Phil, you know I would never!" She returned my smile with one of her own. I don't know if she was just happy to see me or if she caught on to our joking.

"Sorry Chrysalis, I gotta borrow this for a sec."

Before Celestia could question what I meant, I bent down and hefted her into my arms, taking full advantage of her seated and exposed position on the bed to wrap my arms around her. She gave off a loud yelp as she scrambled to grab onto my shoulders. Like I have many times before, I underestimated how much my fiancée weighed and had to shift her into a more comfortable position in my arms.

"Phil!" Celestia pulled away for a moment before smiling again. "How was work, honey?"

"Pretty good. Nothing to report." I pecked my lips against hers.

"What's gotten into you?" she asked, smiling warmly.

"You were so open that I couldn't help it."

"Are you two done?" Chrysalis asked.

"Not yet." I answered, squeezing her tightly in my arms.

Celestia chuckled. "What's the matter? Are you intimidated by our affection?"

"No, it's more like, I want you to leave."

I relaxed my hold on Celestia, "Alright, done." I bent back down, placing Celestia into the same position she was in when I found her.

"That was nice, honey." Celestia cleared her throat before turning to Chrysalis. "I won't be going anywhere just yet, Chrysalis. I still have things to discuss with you."

"Oh, you can discuss those things later." I said, "Come on, break time."

"Break time? I appreciate the thought, but this is more serious than that."

"Your man seems to understand. Perhaps you should listen to him." said Chrysalis.

I patted her back. "I'm sure you've been at this all day. And I doubt any of it's been working. You should take a break. Give her time to process what you've said." I offered her my hand.

She let out a sigh. "You always know just what to say." She took my hand, allowing me to pull her to her feet. She held my hand for a little longer than needed, but soon smiled and moved to the door.

"I won't be 'processing' anything." said Chrysalis, "Your efforts are in vain, Princess."

"Are you hungry, Chrysalis?" I asked.

"Somewhat." Her eyes narrowed. She didn't seem pleased that I completely ignored her mocking.

"Alright, I'll grab you something. Uh... Do you... um..."

She raised an eyebrow at me.

"Well... I was just thinking, you've been in the room since you got here. Do you... wanna come out and do something fun? Maybe, Mario Kart?"

"What?"

"Oh, that's a great idea!" exclaimed Celestia, "I hadn't even thought of that. Let me tell Red."

"Tell Red what?" we heard from the front room, "What are you telling me?"

Celestia opened the door. "Red, good news! Queen Chrysalis will be joining you in your game! Isn't that exciting?"

"What?! That's not good news!"

"I never said I would join!" Chrysalis called.

I turned to Chrysalis with a smile. "Come on, it'll be fun."

Chrysalis scowled at me. "Why must you insist on ruining my day?"

"Oh, your day was already ruined."

"This isn't helping your argument."

I shrugged. "Give ya something to do, at least."

"Fine, if it will get you off my back. You'd better leave me alone tonight."

"Don't worry, we'll leave you be. Promise. Let's get you to the front room."

"I hope you don't expect me to get out of bed on my own. I have enough trouble moving as it is."

"That's true. I'll help ya."

She smirked. "Carry me like your Princess."

"Really?"

"How else do you expect me to make it to the front room? After all, I'm so tired that I can't move my legs."

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were malingering."

"I'm surprised you even know what that word means."

"Whatever. Meanie. Come on." I grabbed her blanket and tossed it to the side.

"Oh, you're actually going to do it?" She raised her arms, allowing me to slide my arms around her back and under her legs. 

I stood, picking her up with me.

She placed her near arm around my shoulders. "You know, it really is nice to be carried."

"Yeah, it looks like it'd be nice." I moved to the front room.

As Celestia saw us in the doorway, she chuckled, placing her hands on her hips. "You really shouldn't enable her, Phil. She's capable of walking with your support."

I shrugged, which was a tad more difficult than usual given Chrysalis's size. Though her height was above average, she was fairly slim. Still, like Celestia, Chrysalis possessed an otherworldly beauty. I was more used to carrying her around by now, but I'm pretty sure my face was getting red again.

Red, on the other hand, seemed to want no part of this, as the moment we entered the room, she sprung up like a cat and darted into the kitchen. "What the hay?! I thought you were kidding!"

Chrysalis smirked. "Seems she's happy to see me."

"Yeah, about as happy as I'd be if I stepped in dog droppings!"

I deposited Chrysalis onto the couch, making sure she was comfortable. She was sat near the front door.

This was a rather interesting situation I've found myself in. Not only have I taught Princess Celestia and Red Shadow how to play Mario Kart, but I was also about to teach Queen Chrysalis the same thing. I still couldn't tell if she was actually enjoying all of this or if she was just bored and looking for something to do.

"This is what you bought when I was with you?" Chrysalis asked.

"Yep. Red and Celestia have been liking it so far. Mostly Red." I went through the same process to teach Chrysalis as I did the others.

Red peered through the kitchen doorway at us. Chrysalis merely smirked at her before turning her attention back to the TV.

"Join us, Red." said Celestia, "Chrysalis won't hurt you, I promise."

"Didn't you say yesterday that you can't trust her and that she's still our enemy?"

"Do you really think I'd be foolish enough to jeopardize my position in this household while I'm still debilitated?" asked Chrysalis.

"Stupider things have happened. Just look at Phil."

"Whoa! Hurtful!" I said.

Red smirked, despite her previous attitude. 

"Join us, Red." Celestia repeated, "Please."

Red sighed, then started towards us. "Fine, but if she tries anything funny, I'm out."

"I have no intention of exacting revenge on you for stealing my stuffed bear, Red Shadow. Even though I want to."

"You see?!" Red glared at us. "She's out to get me!"

"Red, I promise you that you are safe. You have my word." Celestia chuckled. 

"There isn't even any room for me to sit." she grumbled.

"I got you." I said, pausing the game. I gave my controller to her as I moved away.

Red hesitated for a moment, glaring at Chrysalis. Chrysalis patted the space next to her, in the middle, smirking back at her. There was some clear rancor between the two of them.

Red finally joined us, still keeping her distance from Chrysalis, sitting nearly on the opposite armrest, furthest from the door. She glared at Chrysalis for a little while longer before turning to the game. With Red now player one, she was able to start up another game. She was shooting glances at Chrysalis as she played, making sure she didn't do anything funny. Celestia joined the two of them, sitting between them. She waved me over and instructed me to sit in front of her. I shrugged and did so, sitting on the floor and resting against her legs.

"So, what happened between you and Phil before we met, Chrysalis?" Celestia asked.

"Did he not tell you?"

"He told me. I want to hear it from you. Tell me what he and you did while he was buying this game."

"Well, it's a simple story, really. I accompanied him in his travels around town."

"Tell me what happened."

Chrysalis chuckled. "Very well, if I must. I joined him in his car as we traveled to a store called..."

"Wal-Mart." I finished.

"Yes. There, he collected a large box with a picture of that device." She pointed to the TV. "I found myself captivated by a movie playing on a similar device nearby. He stepped away for a short while before returning with another box. As we left, he gifted me a particularly sweet chocolate candy."

"Chocolate? How thoughtful." Celestia patted my head.

"Afterwards, we stopped at another store. We briefly spoke of his past relationships before he told me how you met. It was quite an interesting story, Princess. Soon after, I suddenly became faint and collapsed, falling into his arms."

"You said that was just a trick." I said.

"I was exhausted. You knew how long I had been awake."

"She kept saying stuff that made me uncomfortable." I said, "Like the stuff she said last night."

Celestia sighed. "That's what I was afraid of. I'm afraid Chrysalis has developed feelings for you, Phil."

"No she hasn't." I said, Chrysalis immediately growling in agreement.

Celestia chuckled. "Well, either she's developing feelings, or she was telling the truth. I'd say both are equally likely."

Chrysalis hesitated for a short while before grumbling. "You're poking fun at me, aren't you?"

Celestia let out a pleased laugh.

"Wait, does Chrysalis like Phil?" asked Red, "You could do better."

"C'mon Red, always with the bullying." I replied.

"I can hardly tolerate Phil, let alone develop feelings for him." Chrysalis stated, "He's little more than a child in an adult's body."

Red chuckled. "I guess we agree on one thing."

"Be nice to Phil." Celestia protested, "He's a kindhearted man. He doesn't deserve these harsh words."

"A man needs to have certain traits to catch my attention." Chrysalis explained, "Phil is far from the ideal man, even without my high standards."

I shrugged. "That's fair."

"Phil, don't let her talk down to you like this." Celestia encouraged, "You are every bit as perfect a man as you need to be."

"To you, maybe." said Red, "What kind of traits do you look for in a man, Chrysalis?"

Chrysalis paused for a moment. "Hmm... Interesting question. I haven't given it much thought. I'm not particularly interested in looking for men."

"What about women?" she asked.

Chrysalis narrowed her eyes at Red. "I'm not interested in looking for a partner of any kind."

"Oh, why not, Chrysalis?" asked Celestia, "Finding someone to love is one of the best things in the world." She turned to me with a smile.

"I do not desire the love of others. I merely wish to take the love from others." She smirked.

"You're kinda a terrible person, aren't you?" said Red.

Chrysalis snickered. "Do you think you're one to judge, thief?"

"Stealing gems is hardly a crime when you consider trying to take over a kingdom! If the length of the prison sentence was a contest, you've got me beat!"

"Isn't that a bit unfair? After all, juvenile detention is hardly a prison."

"What'd you just say?!"

"Given your age, you'd hardly get any time at all."

"You wanna go, bug?!"

"Red, please." said Celestia.

"She started it!"

"I started it." I said.

"It's not her fault." said Chrysalis, "Children are more prone to violence and aggression."

"I'm gonna make you regret that!"

"Ladies, please!" Celestia once more tried to calm them.

"Everypony is a child to Celestia and I. We've come to find that age is not a particularly good indicator of one's growth. I wouldn't think much of it if I were you. Though, if I were your age, I wouldn't be thinking much of anything."

"I'll take you down, I don't care if you can't fight back!"

"Oh, seems someone's cranky. What's the matter? Did you miss your afternoon nap?"

"I'll show you an afternoon nap! Get over here!"

After uttering her battle cry, Red lunged at Chrysalis, the two of them still sitting on either side of Celestia. I immediately turned my attention to them, wishing I had popcorn to enjoy this with. Chrysalis let out a yelp as Red attacked her, trying to pull away.

Red scrambled over Celestia far faster than I've ever seen her move. She stopped atop Chrysalis, straddling her lap while she brought her hands in. Chrysalis tried to push Red's arms away, but was nowhere near strong enough to defend herself. Red quickly proved that her skills were far superior to the partially-handicapped changeling as she began drilling her fists into the sides of Chrysalis's head.

"Yeah, call me a child now, will ya?"

"Ahh! Release me at once, fool!" Chrysalis tried to pull Red's hands away from her head, but she just couldn't muster the strength.

"Oh, so I'm a fool now, am I?"

Chrysalis cried out again.

"Red Shadow, let her go this instant!" Celestia ordered.

"Not until she learns her lesson!"

"Get off me, thief!"

I chose not to act in defense of Chrysalis. She totally had it coming.

Celestia's brow furrowed. "I said that's enough!" she shouted, lifting her hand. As a golden-yellow aura surrounded Celestia's hand, the same aura surrounded Red's body. She was lifted into the air, off Chrysalis.

Red struggled against the spell for a moment before giving up, unable to pull away.

"You don't wish to be called a child, yet you seem to have no problem acting like one." said Celestia, glaring at Red.

Chrysalis combed through her ruffled hair with her fingers, straightening the mess that Red made. She locked eyes with her assailant. "You'll get yours, thief." she growled.

"I'm not scared of you anymore, bug."

Chrysalis smirked. "Let's hear you say that when you return to Equestria." Before Celestia could stop her, Chrysalis lifted her hand and began to pinch and pull Red's cheek, taking advantage of Celestia's spell keeping Red immobile.

"Ow-ow-ow! Lemme go! Lemme go!"

Celestia once more used her magic, this time to break Chrysalis away from Red. "You're both acting childish! I expected this from Red, but not you, Chrysalis."

"What do you mean you expected this from me?" Red asked, struggling to break free again.

"You three better behave or you're grounded." I said.

"Wh... Phil, I'm trying to stop them from fighting!"

"Yes, behave Celestia." said Chrysalis.

"Yeah Princess, behave."

"Oh, let them play. Kids roughhouse all the time." I said.

"You want some of this, too?" Red tried to shake her fist at me, but was still trapped in Celestia's spell.

"Bring it, short stuff. I'll put you in the ground."

"Phil, don't encourage her!" said Celestia.

Chrysalis chuckled.

Celestia looked between the two of them for a short while before removing her spell, dropping Red onto Chrysalis. The two of them let out a yelp as they collided. Their eyes met for a moment before Red jumped off her. Red circled the table and returned to her seat, resuming the game. 

"Don't take it so hard, Red." I said, "Celestia's just as childish as I am."

Red snickered.

"I am not!"

"You kinda are." I said.

"Well..." She looked to the side, then back to me. "This was supposed to be a private place. Somewhere my subjects wouldn't be judging my every move. Now it's merely a resting place for those trapped in this world."

"Yeah, get out of here, you two." I said, "Celestia and I want to be alone."

"I have no business here. I will leave as soon as I am able." said Chrysalis.

"Yeah, well I can't leave." said Red.

"Chrysalis, take Red home." I said.

"No."

"Come on, it would save us a lot of trouble."

"Your troubles have nothing to do with me."

Well... technically...

Celestia patted my head. "Don't worry, Philly. We can spend a little more time with Red. She's our friend, after all."

"Yeah, yeah."

As we played, Chrysalis spoke. "The two of you are quite close. Closer than most others I've met. I was surprised to hear that you've found a companion while you were gone, Celestia. It came as quite a shock to find that it was a human. The love you share has already given me so much energy. I shouldn't have any problem overpowering you again, should the need arise." She chuckled to herself.

Red warily pushed herself further from Chrysalis, but kept playing.

"We'll be ready for you, Chrysalis." said Celestia.

"Good. I wouldn't want it to be too easy. Where's the fun in that?"

"I still don't-"

A knock at the front door interrupted Celestia. Who's here at this hour? Well, I guess it's not that late.

I stood with a shrug and moved to the door to pull it open. "Sarah! Wh-What are you doing here?"

All three women on the couch moved to a position where they could see the doorway. Chrysalis merely turned her head.

"Phil!" she barked. She paused as her eyes wandered to the three women. "Who... are they? Are you Celestia?" she asked Chrysalis, who was simply closest to the door.

Chrysalis pointed at Celestia, clarifying for Sarah.

"Sarah, what are you doing here?" I asked.

"I... I needed to speak with you!" she let out, rather forcefully.

"Uh... C-Come in. Uh..." I stepped back, giving her room to step inside and close the door. "I'm surprised to see you here."

"This is the Sarah from your work?" asked Celestia.

"Who was she again?" Red cut in, "I remember you saying something about a 'Sarah', but I wasn't really listening."

"She and Phil went on a date just before I got back." Celestia explained, "She told her parents that she found herself a boyfriend and they wanted to meet him."

"Phil, what the hay?" asked Red.

"Hey, it's her fault." I blamed Sarah, "She's the one that lied to them."

"Wait, you went on a date when you were with Celestia?" asked Red.

"It wasn't a date, it-"

"Phil, I need you to meet my parents soon!" Sarah interjected, "My father is getting suspicious of me."

Celestia stood, approaching the two of us, confronting Sarah. "I fail to see how that is his problem." she said, her voice firm.

Celestia was immediately taking my side. Ah... I didn't deserve her.

Sarah immediately looked to her feet, falling silent. Celestia's imposing presence was frightening the little lady. Celestia had at least half a foot on her, I'd be scared too..

"So what happened between you two? Was it a date or wasn't it?"

"Red, please shut up for a minute." I said.

She seemed mildly offended, but it wasn't any worse than when we spoke regularly.

"You'd better have a good reason for barging into our home like this." said Celestia.

"I... I j-just... I... n-need Phil t-to..." She stuttered along the way, but eventually got her message across. There was no change in her motives. She wanted me to pretend to be her boyfriend for a night.

Though Sarah was clearly nervous, Celestia showed no signs of backing off. "Why is it you need my fiancé for your meeting?"

"F-F-Fiancé?" Sarah asked. I never told her, I bet she's shocked by the news. "I... I don't h-have any... any other f-friends... None th-that can... f-fool my father."

Celestia stood unfazed. "Why do you need to fool your father?"

"I... I can't tell him the truth. I just c-can't."

"Tell me, Sarah. Please." Though still stern, Celestia was reintroducing kindness into her voice, softening it, trying to deescalate the situation.

"I... I'm scared. I'm scared of what he'll say, I'm s-scared of what he'll d-do... I'm j-just s-scared."

"What will he do?" Chrysalis asked.

"We've heard enough. We don't need to go into details, Chrysalis." said Celestia, "Phil, what do you think?"

"I get it. I can't agree with it, but I get it. Dads can be scary."

Celestia looked to me for a moment, eyes soft with curiosity. Her gaze soon returned to Sarah. She crossed her arms. "Why should I let you take him?"

"It... It's not... I j-just... I... Y-You... You shouldn't. I was d-dumb and I m-made a mistake! I kn-know I made a mistake. I'm asking f-for your help b-because I have n-nobody else to t-turn to."

Celestia turned her gaze to me once more before letting out a sigh. She turned back to Sarah. "Perhaps we should discuss this over dinner. Are you hungry, Sarah?"

"I... I..." She seemed caught off guard.

"Phil, could you prepare us something to eat?" she asked, a pleasant smile on her face.

"Huh? What? Uh... Ok. Sure."

"N-No, I... I'm fine. I... I don't want t-to impose." said Sarah.

"Nonsense, Phil loves to cook!" Celestia said with a smile, "Isn't that right, honey?"

"Absolutely. I'll make us up something nice. Chrysalis, Red, hungry?"

Chrysalis looked at me. "Yes. I'd like something with a bit of class."

"Yeah, I bet you would. Red?"

"Uh... Sure. I could eat."

"Cool. Be right back." I moved into the kitchen.

What the heck? Why am I making food for five people? Whatever. I had no idea what to make. Spaghetti, perhaps. No, I can't make spaghetti with the ponies being vegetarians. My spaghetti is full of meat. Dad's recipe. I guess I could just not add the meat. Aw man, but that's the best part. I could order a few pizzas, instead. Ah, too late. I already had spaghetti on the mind. I'll make a big batch. Extra noodles.

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy! I get to make spaghetti for my favorite person in the whole wide world! Not just that, I get to make spaghetti for a bunch of my friends, too! I love spaghetti.

The process was fairly simple. While waiting for the water to boil, I opened a jar of sauce and poured it into a separate pot. Into this, I added a vigorous shake of oregano and garlic powder. Typically, I would have poured the sauce over browned beef, but most of my guests were vegetarian.

Huh... I was cooking spaghetti for Princess Celestia, Queen Chrysalis, a third mare from Equestria, and another woman from my own world. If I really think about it, this was the strangest thing I have ever done. And usually I don't need to add the qualifier 'from my own world' when referring to other people.

Celestia entered the kitchen not long after I broke the noodles into the water like the uncultured barbarian I was.

"How's it going out there?" I asked.

"It's going well. It smells good."

"Glad you think so. I'm a little bummed out that I couldn't make it the way I liked it."

"Oh?"

"Well... with meat."

"I would have tried it."

"It wouldn't be fair to Red and Chrysalis."

"That's true. Sarah has been very nervous. She doesn't like being the center of attention."

"She should've thought about that before coming in unannounced."

"Perhaps. I didn't expect her to intrude on us like this. Just what have you been telling her to make her so desperate?"

"Like I said, I just told her that I was busy. Did you leave her out there alone with Chrysalis?"

"Don't worry, Red's with them."

"Red's not exactly a role model, either."

"I heard that!" Red called.

"I don't care!" I replied.

Red let out a laugh. The three of them were speaking, though I didn't hear what was being discussed. It seemed Chrysalis was leading the conversation. I don't know if I trusted her around this matter.

"Do you think we should give her a chance, even after her intrusion?" Celestia asked.

"Course I do. I owe her this much for dragging her around like this."

"So, you feel you owe her a debt?" she asked.

"Yeah, I guess. Sorry I pushed this on you."

"It's alright. I'm glad you wanted to get my permission. I'll see this through, honey."

I smiled, knowing full well that I didn't deserve her kindness.

"What did you tell her, exactly? She said that you were ignoring her."

"I... kinda was. I didn't wanna deal with it. But I needed to. I told her that I was busy and I told myself that I'd deal with her when Red left. Then this whole thing with Chrysalis comes along and ruins my plan."

Celestia nodded. "It was a surprise, to be sure. How long do you think this will take to prepare?"

"Hungry?"

"A little."

"You're always hungry."

She let out a short giggle.

"This has to cook for a little while. Let's see how the three of them are getting along."

We returned to the front room, catching the end of Chrysalis speaking to Sarah. "I'm merely a friend of Celestia's. I met Phil just recently."

"Stop harassing her, Chrysalis." I entered the room with a smile, immediately finding an opportunity to poke fun.

"I will harass whomever I please."

"I'm their friend, too." said Red. She gestured to Chrysalis. "The two of us don't really..."

"Know each other." Chrysalis finished.

"Yeah, we don't really know each other."

"Spaghetti for dinner tonight." Celestia announced, a sunny cheer in her voice.

"Spaghetti?" Chrysalis frowned. "I thought I requested something with class."

"Spaghetti's classy." I said.

Her eyes narrowed.

"'Til it gets on your sweater, at least. You could just not eat it."

"You would starve me, wouldn't you?"

"Now, now, it's a perfectly fine meal. There's no need to complain." Celestia acted as peacekeeper between us. "Sarah, do you have any complaints?"

"N-No, ma'am."

"Ma'am? Please, call me Celestia."

"A-Alright... Celestia."

"Before we continue though, perhaps we could do with some proper introductions. Sarah, would you be so kind as to start?"

"Oh, um... Alright." Sarah turned towards the center of the room, making sure she could see everyone. "My name is Sarah Lockhart. I w-work with Phil at McDonald's. And... m-my reason for being here is to convince Ph-Phil to... to help me t-trick my parents into thinking I have a boyfriend."

"Wonderful." Celestia smiled. "My name is Celestia. I'm Phil's fiancée. I've been living with him while I'm in the area."

"I'm Red. I can't leave or they'll tie me up in the basement."

"Red, please." said Celestia.

Red chuckled. "Sorry. I'm staying here while I'm between houses."

"Your name is... Red?"

"It's just what everyone calls me."

"Al-Alright." Sarah looked to Chrysalis expectantly.

There was a long pause before she finally decided to respond. "Chrysalis. I'm staying here while I recover."

"R-Recover?"

"It's difficult for me to move my body without aid. I have no choice but to rest here before I can return home."

"Oh, my god... M-May I ask... what happened?"

Chrysalis shifted her gaze to me for a moment. "I don't wish to share."

"Oh... Ok..." Chrysalis had no interest in sharing, so Sarah gave up without a fight. "I hope you g-get well soon."

"As do I."

"So I hear you met Phil just before Celestia came back." said Red.

"Y-Yes. That's what he said, at least."

"Luna showed up right after I took Sarah home." I said, "I told Sarah that Celestia was coming back."

"Why'd you have to take her home?" Red asked.

"She missed her bus and her house is on the other side of town."

"How old are you, Sarah?" asked Celestia.

"I'm... I'm 21."

Celestia stared blankly at her for a few moments before leaning towards me. "Does she look young for 21? I can't tell." she whispered.

"I dunno. Red's nineteen."

"Hmm..." She pulled away. "What do you do for a living, Sarah?"

"I... I used to go to college, but since the move, I've had to suspend my schooling. I'm planning on starting again soon."

"Oh, that's wonderful! What are you studying?"

"I'm working towards earning a doctorate in veterinary medicine."

"A veterinarian? What a noble goal!" said Celestia, "How many years have you been studying?"

"Um... F-Four. I still have a lot of work to do."

"Four? But you're so young!"

"I... I graduated high school at sixteen."

"You must be very talented." said Celestia, "You remind me of one of my good friends back home. She specialized in..." Celestia paused, remembering that magic wasn't exactly commonplace in this world. "Well, she was certainly passionate about her work."

"Geez..." I rubbed my neck, a little ashamed that my own education paled in comparison to this little lady. "I took two years at a tech school, I couldn't imagine putting in that kind of work."

"What did you study?" Sarah asked, her face lighting up. She seemed pretty excited all of the sudden.

"Oh, uh... I..." I cleared my throat. "I have a two year technical degree in computer science."

"Technical degree?" asked Chrysalis.

"Got a problem with that?" I asked, immediately becoming defensive. Chrysalis usually didn't have the best intentions in mind, and I knew that she could sense my jealousy.

Chrysalis chuckled. "Technical degrees aren't especially common..." She flicked her eyes at Sarah. "Where we're from. Neither is the 'computer science' field. I'm curious as to how easy one would be to obtain."

As she said that, her eyes were trained directly on me. It's impressive that she went to such lengths just to call me stupid. She knew exactly what to say to push my buttons.

"I don't think it would be easy by any means." said Sarah, "A technical degree requires the same level of skill and understanding in its field as any other degree."

"Exactly." I agreed. Thank you, Sarah.

"Um... Phil?" she asked.

"Hmm?"

"I have a question. W-Where... Um... D-Did you have another job before you started working at McDonalds?"

"Yep. Spent two years working IT at the city as an intern and a year as a printer support tech for the hospital. Then McDonalds. It doesn't pay as much, though. One of these days I'll get a better job. I certainly haven't been looking."

"Phil, are you not living up to your full potential?" asked Celestia.

I shrugged. "Maybe not. But I'm happy."

She smiled, pleased with my response. "Well, I suppose that's all that matters."

"Have you ever thought about continuing your education?" asked Sarah.

"Oh, god no. School was the most stressful part of my life and I'll never go back by choice."

"Oh... Alright... What... about you, Celestia? Have you attended a school of higher education?"

Celestia chuckled. "I have formal education in the fields of law and business."

"You... Oh my goodness... How... How old are you, Celestia?"

"I'm 27." she said, giving her the answer she gave my family.

Once more, Chrysalis decided to poke fun at us. "Quit lying to the poor girl."

"She... She hasn't been to college?" asked Sarah.

"I have no doubt that she's been to college, but she's not 27."

"Chrysalis?" asked Celestia.

"The old hag's in her forties!" she said with a laugh.

"Wh-Who are you calling old hag?!" Celestia seemed a bit caught off guard by Chrysalis's accusation.

"Oh, I know it's tough, but denial isn't the right way to deal with this." said Chrysalis, obviously enjoying Celestia's plight.

I heard a distinct sizzling coming from the kitchen. Knowing exactly what it was, I rushed back to stir the boiling-over pot of noodles. After a small adjustment to the heat to stop it from happening again and stirring both pots, I returned to the front room.

"Sarah, I'm 27! You believe me, right?"

"Uh... I... I don't know."

"Phil, tell her!" she turned to me in desperation. Though she seemed to be losing this battle, she was still smiling. She was having just as much fun as Chrysalis.

"Tell her what?"

"Tell her how old I am."

"Yep, she's 27." I said, as per her instructions.

"See?"

"Oh, like you even know. I bet she lied to you, too." said Red.

"She's quite a bit older than even I am." Chrysalis added, "And that's saying something."

"Stop saying I'm old!"

"You're the oldest one here." said Red.

"That doesn't mean anything!" She was still trying to defend herself.

"Y-You look good for a woman in her forties." Sarah joined in on the fun.

"I'm 27!" Celestia shouted.

Sarah stifled a laugh. Red was less courteous and burst out with her own laughter. Chrysalis was just smiling, reveling in Celestia's anguish.

"Phiiil!" she complained

"Alright guys, be nice. She can say she's 27 if she wants."

"I AM 27!" she shouted at me.

I let out a laugh. Her faux anger immediately disappeared as she began giggling alongside me.

As our laughter died down, Sarah spoke again. "So... She is 27?"

Red just shrugged. Chrysalis didn't react to the question. 

I shrugged. "Yeah, as far as I know." I wrapped my arm around Celestia's shoulders, leaning in near her ear and whispering, "You are pretty good looking for a woman in her forties."

She playfully nudged me away. "So Sarah, do you have any hobbies?" she asked.

"Oh, I study a lot! I have a lot of work to do to prepare for my next semester. I-I'm on my computer a lot, as well. I spend time with my friends... when they're... not busy. I don't go out much. B-But sometimes I do volunteer work."

"Oh?"

"Y-Yeah... I volunteer at animal shelters and v-veterinarian offices. I love working with animals. It... comes with the profession."

"Oh, how nice." Celestia had such a kind voice with Sarah.

"You're friends with Phil, yes?" asked Chrysalis.

We all looked to her.

"Y-Yes, I am." said Sarah.

"Are you... good friends?" she asked.

"I-I don't... M-Maybe... We met just a short while ago... s-so... n-no."

"We're friends." I confirmed, "What's up?"

She turned her attention to me. She had a dull look on her face. Kinda creepy. "I'm just curious. From what I saw, you spoke quite often."

"Well I am her boss. Wait, were you spying on us?"

"I was spying on you. I had no interest in your friend. Not until today."

"Well... ok."

"Is the food ready?" Red asked.

"Ah, lemme check." I turned back into the kitchen to once more check how the noodles were progressing. They looked done, but I needed to confirm it with a taste test. I scooped a few noodles out with my wooden spoon, pouring off the excess water. After blowing on it for a short while, I popped it into my mouth. It was still exceedingly hot, but I could tell immediately that it was done. I threw the strainer into the sink and picked up the pot.

Celestia poked her head through the doorway to watch.

"Careful, hot." I warned, moving to the sink. She stayed out of the way so I could drain the water, but was still watching.

When it was drained, I set the pot back onto the stove and added a heaping spoonful of butter to the bottom, then emptied the noodles back into it. I mixed the butter into the noodles before nodding to myself and announcing to my guests, "Food's ready!"

"Oh! Come along, Sarah. Join us for dinner." said Celestia, walking in.

"Smells pretty good." Red followed Celestia into the kitchen.

Sarah stepped inside shortly after, queueing up for her food. I set out dishes and toppings, such as shredded mozzarella and grated parmesan.

Celestia was the first to get her food. She grabbed the serving spoon and shoveled spoonful after spoonful onto her plate.

"Not so much, honey. Leave some for me." I said.

"Phil, it's really hot!" she let out, continually readjusting her hands on her plate so she wouldn't burn herself.

"Careful, it's hot." I warned her.

As she got her cheese, Red collected some noodles. She and Sarah were far more sensible with their portions. I think Sarah just didn't want to take advantage of our kindness.

Wait, we're missing someone. I looked back into the living room. 

Chrysalis smirked at me. "Yes?"

I walked to her. "If you don't want spaghetti, I can make you something else."

"No, that won't be necessary. I'm certain there's nothing you could prepare that could satisfy my desires."

"Oh, I'm sure you'll like it once you give it a try. Can you get up on your own?"

"No. It seems you'll have to assist me again."

"I can bring you a plate out here."

"And leave me out of all the fun?" She smirked.

I shrugged. "Alright, but I'm not carrying you this time." I offered her my hand.

"Oh, and here I was hoping you'd carry me like your Princess just one more time." She grabbed my hand and allowed me to pull her to her feet.

As I pulled her close to support her, her eyes locked with mine. I turned my gaze away, cheeks reddening at our sudden closeness. She stood still for a moment, testing herself in my arms. Her legs soon gave out and she collapsed against me. Her arm wrapped around my shoulder as she straightened herself. I reached down to hold her hip, keeping her stable.

"I gotta get you a wheelchair. Make Red push you around."

"You can't make me do anything!" she called from the kitchen, once more overhearing a somewhat private conversation.

"Seems she's not interested in helping me."

With slow steps, the two of us made it into the kitchen. Celestia pulled out a chair for her to sit, which I deposited her onto. She seemed indifferent to the looks of Red and Sarah. I moved to the stove to prepare a plate for her.

"How hungry are ya?"

"Just give me a plate. I'm not playing this game."

"You got it." Right. I doubt this is much fun for her.

I gave her what I considered a small portion of noodles with a healthy scoop of sauce to cover it. Of course, an American small is an Equestrian medium. I placed the various cheeses onto the table for her to use as she pleased.

Chrysalis picked up her fork to poke at the noodles on her plate. She picked up a few for a quick examination before lowering her fork and twirling it to pick up more. 

I don't know why she felt the need to do a double take with the food I cooked, but whatever.

She gave her spaghetti a bite before going in for another.

"How is it, Chrysalis?" I asked, the fragility of my ego riding on her opinion of my cooking.

"It's fine." she answered simply.

"I'll take it. How about you, Celestia?"

"It's great, honey. I love the spices. So simple, yet so delectable." She smiled.

"Good, good. Sarah? How about you?"

"It's... It's good. Th-Thank you." she replied.

"I'm glad everyone likes it. Maybe I'll make it again sometime."

"Aren't you gonna ask what I thought of it?" asked Red.

"No."

"What? Why not?"

"'Cause I don't care."

"Oh, you jerk!"

I smirked as I turned to get some food for myself. I'm glad I made extra noodles, it's my favorite part. I knew they'd go fast. I turned back to the table and quickly realized, "Oh yeah, I only have four chairs out here."

"Oh!" started Sarah, "I'm almost f-finished! I can move."

"Nah, you're good." I set my plate onto the counter. "Wait a minute, lemme get you guys something to drink. Girls." I opened the fridge and checked what we had. "Uh... Milk alright? We got other stuff, if ya want it. Water, apple juice, mountain dew."

I pulled out the gallon of milk for myself. Nobody seemed interested in the other options, so I placed it on the table while I got us some cups.

"Thank you, Phil." Celestia said through a mouthful of food.

"What is mountain dew?" asked Chrysalis, taking her cup.

"It's a lemon-lime soft drink." answered Celestia, "Served in an aluminum can."

"Hmm..." She didn't seem interested.

I moved to the table, standing between Red and Celestia and placing my plate onto it.

Sarah turned to Celestia. "Th-That's a v-very unique name you have, C-Celestia."

"Hmm?"

"It's... It's Latin, isn't it?"

"Is it?"

"Of course!" she said with a wide smile, "It's a variant of Celeste, which means 'heavenly'."

Celestia smiled, thinking over what Sarah said. "Heavenly... How nice."

"Did you know that?" I asked.

"I had a feeling."

Sarah seemed pretty proud of herself. "A-And Chrysalis, your name is also very unique."

Chrysalis eyed her. Her gaze briefly flicked to Red before she said, "Keep in mind that your words dictate the punishment this impudent fool will receive once I regain my power."

"What?! Why am I the one getting punished?" cried Red.

"Oh, I-I... I d-don't..." Sarah stammered.

"You know, don't you? You seem the type." said Chrysalis, "A chrysalis refers to the pupal stage of a butterfly."

"Y-Yes, that's... true, but..."

"But?"

"B-B-But... d-do you know the origin of the word ch-chrysalis?"

Chrysalis raised an eyebrow.

"Chrysalis is... It has origins in th-the Greek language. Namely, the word chrysós, meaning gold. It refers t-to the gold sheen of s-some butterfly pupae." Sarah explained.

"Gold?"

"Does that mean I'm safe?" asked Red.

Chrysalis smirked. "For now."

Sarah smiled, having appeased the beast across the table. She then turned to Red. "And Red... It's... It's a..."

"Color, yes." she said, smirking, "Can you guess where it came from? I'll give you a hint, it's also red."

"Y-Your hair, right?"

Red paused for a moment before shrugging. "Sure, let's go with that."

"I-It's a very lovely color. Is your hair... naturally red?"

"From the day I was born."

"I th-think it looks really nice."

"Oh... Um... Thank you."

Sarah turned back towards the group. "S-So... Where are you all from? C-Celestia, Phil mentioned that you travel a lot for work."

"That's right." Celestia gave Sarah the same roundabout explanation she gave my family, that she moved often with work. More notably, she ran a hand through her hair.

"That sounds so exciting. Where are you from, Red?"

As Sarah turned her attention away, Celestia began to pout.

"Oh, around." said Red, "Same... Same place as... Actually the two of us worked together. Me and the Pr... Me and Celestia, I mean. I was her secretary."

"Oh, a secretary? What kind of work did the two of you do?"

"I'm sorry, Sarah. That's confidential." said Celestia, going along with Red's lies.

"Alright. I w-won't ask again. What about you, Chrysalis? Where are you from?"

"I don't wish to discuss my personal life." She immediately shot down Sarah.

"Oh... Alright." There was a bit of disappointment in her voice, but she bounced back quickly.

Celestia turned her attention to me, staring intently. 

I raised an eyebrow. "What?"

She lifted her plate to show me that it was clear.

"Use your words."

"Can you get me some more, please?"

I took the plate from her. "There's not much left."

"That's fine."

I collected more spaghetti for my Princess, sprinkling some cheese on top and placing it in front of her.

"Thank you, honey!" she said with a smile. She twirled her fork into the pile and stuffed it into her mouth. "So, Sarah..." She swallowed. "If we can get back to the matter at hand... Tell me about your home life."

"My home life? W-Well, there's not m-much to t-tell. I... I live a... nice life with my parents. My father is usually busy with work, b-but my mother doesn't work, so she's always at home to take care of me. I-If... If I need it. I don't... uh... I'm an adult. I can take care of m-myself."

"What does your father do for a living?"

"He... He owns a building manufacturing company. It's why he's always so busy."

"My, how impressive! Your family must be very wealthy."

"W-We're not that wealthy."

"There's no need to be modest. I come from a very wealthy family, myself. Even Red is quite wealthy. You see, in her off-time, she procures and sells valuable gems and jewelry."

Red gave her a sarcastic, "Oh, ha-ha."

Celestia smirked at her.

"Well... th-then... I suppose... Y-Yes, I come from a wealthy family. M-My father's business is very successful."

Celestia nodded. "What's he like? Your father."

"He's... He's always been... strict. B-But... he always has the best interests of h-his family at heart. That's what m-my mom says. L-Like I said though, he's a busy man. I don't s-see him much." She looked away, grabbing her arm. Geez...

"What about your mother? What's she like?

Sarah's mood seemed to brighten. "My... My mother is a very nice woman. She always spends time with me when I want her too. Whenever I'm feeling down, I can always go to her for support." She let out a nervous chuckle. "She's not... the brightest woman out there, so when she sees me succeed in school, she's always so proud of me. She always listens to what I say, even if she doesn't know what I'm talking about. It's always great to see her smile."

Celestia smiled. "She sounds wonderful, Sarah. Tell me, with all your education, why take a position at McDonald's? It doesn't seem particularly..."

"It's pathetic." said Chrysalis, "A woman of your talents should be on top, not taking orders from someone like him." She gestured a hand to me.

"Hey, just because it's true doesn't mean you have to say it." I said.

Sarah shook her head. "M-My father wanted me to get more experience working with people. At least until my next semester starts."

I nodded. "Not a bad idea. Just a shitty place to start."

"But I've also been trying to start my volunteer work again. I need to see what options are available locally. You see, I can't drive myself. I'd need to take the bus or walk."

"You can't drive yourself? Why not?" asked Celestia.

"I... I don't have a car."

Celestia nodded. "What a busy woman you are. And you still get time to yourself?"

"I don't need much time. I really enjoy working with the animals."

I don't really see Celestia like this very often. She had such a warm smile. Her voice was soft and she had such a sunny disposition. She really liked talking with Sarah. She's always this way around others. Should I take her out more? Oh, I'll have time. We'll have plenty of time for that later.

"How'd you get stuck at Micky-Dee's with all your volunteer work?" I asked.

"I... I've never had an actual job before. I've interned, but it's all been... on my own... away from anyone else. I needed... time with people, not just... animals."

"I guess. McDonkey's isn't too bad a place for that. You'll meet all sorts of people. It's been nice having you around. You're worlds better than the last few people we had. It's... It's just such a shame that you have to be wasting your talents at a fast food restaurant."

"It's alright, Phil. I knew what it meant to t-take this job."

I nodded. "I hope you did. You know, I used to be kinda like you. You just need a bit of experience, like your dad said. Works wonders."

She smiled. "I'm happy to hear that. I've never really been good with people. I'm usually very... shy."

"You didn't seem too shy when you burst through the door and shouted at Phil." said Red.

"I... I'm sorry about my intrusion. It was... just... It was a mistake."

"Perhaps. It certainly was rude at first, but you turned out to be such a kind woman." said Celestia, "If a bit misguided."

"Yes... Thank you."

"It's nice to meet someone new." said Red, "They don't let me leave, so I can't just go out and socialize. I haven't made any friends outside of our little group here, and for half of these guys, 'friends' is kinda pushing it."

"Red, please." Celestia tried to intervene.

"I... I haven't made any other friends here, either." Sarah responded.

"Oh, how awful." said Celestia.

"Didn't you say your friends were all in college?" I asked.

"They... They were in college. When I was s-still going, that is. Not... Not here."

"Oh."

"Well, we can be friends." said Celestia, "For the short time we have left here, at least."

"Short time?"

"Chrysalis is planning on leaving as soon as she recovers. Red and I are returning to work in a few weeks."

"I'd kinda prefer staying here to play video games, to be honest." said Red.

"You're not staying here." Celestia put her foot down. Metaphorically. Hoof.

Red shrugged. "Alright."

"I assume you'd like me to return as well?" asked Chrysalis.

"I... can't imagine you would want to stay here."

"Perhaps."

"I don't have the power to stop you from doing so, but yes, I would like you to leave. Though it may serve you well to spend some more time with Phil. Perhaps your time spent here would change you for the better."

"Hmm... I'm afraid you're right. Very well, I will return."

"You're returning for work?" Sarah asked, "W-Will Phil be joining you, Celestia?"

"Well..." Celestia looked to me. "It's a complicated matter. With my position at work, I can't be away overlong. Even if I've... found myself with somebody. There is business that I need to attend to. I'd love to stay here with him, but right now, I cannot. Sadly, he cannot join me."

"She can't spend too much time with him or her wrinkles will start to show." Chrysalis let out, "They take breaks so he won't have the time to notice." 

"I am not old!" Celestia shouted at her.

"Wow, that was cold, Chrysalis." said Red. Red held up a fist towards Chrysalis, who gave her a confused look in return. "Come on, don't leave me hanging." Red shook her arm to get her point across.

Chrysalis slowly lifted her hand and bumped it against Red's closed fist.

"See, that wasn't so bad." said Red.

Chrysalis chuckled, a small smile on her face. 

Celestia took in a breath. "It's somewhat of a private matter. I don't wish to say any more. We're learning to deal with it."

"I understand. I'm sorry."

"Thank you, Sarah."

"I... I'm sorry to say this so s-suddenly... but I need to go home s-soon. Can... Can Phil help me? Can he... come to d-dinner with me?"

Celestia smiled at Sarah. "Of course he can, Sarah. You can set up a time with him later."

"Oh, thank you so much!" Sarah brought her hands together in front of her chest.

"Now then, you wouldn't want to worry your parents, would you?"

"No, y-you're right. I should go." Sarah stood, "I... Um..."

"Don't worry about your dishes, we'll take care of them." said Celestia.

"N-No, it's..."

"What's the matter?"

"Well... I walked here after work. I..."

"I got ya." I said.

"No, no, it's just..." She stopped herself, then looked down. "Thank you. I'm sorry for all this."

"Phil, you're taking her home?" Celestia asked. 

"Yep. Be back... uh... I dunno. Tonight, sometime."

"See you soon, honey!" Celestia said with a smile.

"G-Goodbye, everyone." Sarah let out, giving them a short nod.

"Goodbye, Sarah." said Celestia.

"Yeah, bye."

Chrysalis said nothing.

"Alright, ready?" I asked.

She nodded.

I grabbed the keys and the two of us headed outside. I'm glad I had a hoodie, it's getting really cold out. I zipped it up as I stepped out.

Not long after the two of us left for her house, she spoke up again. "Hey, Phil?"

"What's up?"

"C-Celestia was... much more kind than I thought she'd be."

"Yeah. She's wonderful. I love her."

"You met Celestia j-just a few months ago, right?"

"Yeah, that's right."

"And... she's been gone for a month?"

"Sadly, yes."

"It... It seemed like... you didn't know that she was... coming back. Did you?"

"No. I thought that was it for us. I thought she was gone forever. It still doesn't help that you're bringing it up."

"Ah! I-I'm sorry! I... I just..." She stopped.

"Hmm?"

"N-Nothing... F-Forget about it."

I shrugged. "You got it."

There was a long pause before she quietly said, "C-Celestia is... very... pretty."

"Yeah... Yeah."

I brought Sarah home as I had done once before. This time, I pulled into the driveway. We bid each other farewell before parting ways. After making sure she could get inside, I headed back home.

As I walked inside, I could hear the distinct clinking of glasses and plates in the sink. Celestia was doing dishes, cleaning up after our mess. Red was sitting on the couch playing Mario Kart again.

"Welcome back!" called Celestia.

I joined them in the kitchen. Chrysalis was still sitting at the table. She glanced to me as I entered.

"Doing alright, Chrysalis?" I asked.

"I need to use the restroom."

I blinked. "Celestia?"

Celestia let out a short chuckle as she placed her dish back into the sink. She dried her hands before turning to Chrysalis. "Phil's not helping you for this one."

"This is embarrassing." said Chrysalis, standing with the aid of Celestia.

"I know. Let's get this over with."

The two of them moved to the bathroom. I took this opportunity to continue washing the dishes. They paused at the door for a short moment, trying to decide if Chrysalis would be able to make it on her own. Eventually, the two of them disappeared behind the door. Celestia stepped out after a short while, closing the door behind her. She joined me at the sink.

"Get those thoughts out of your head, honey."

"No."

She smirked, then reached a hand towards the dish I was wiping. I gave it to her so she could start drying.

"She didn't compliment my hair."

"Huh?"

"Sarah said she liked Red's hair but didn't say anything about mine or Chrysalis's."

"She probably thought it was a wig."

"It's real!"

"I know, I've pulled it enough times to make sure."

She nudged me with her elbow, but the playful smile on her face betrayed her intentions.

Eventually, Celestia retrieved Chrysalis and deposited her on the couch, then returned to me to finish the dishes. We stood together as we washed, enjoying each other's presence. It was almost like we were alone right now. Almost.

After the dishes had been dealt with, the two of us moved to the front room. Both Chrysalis and Red were sitting on the couch, five feet apart 'cause they're not gay. Red was playing on her own while the rest of us watched.

"Red. Chrysalis." said Celestia, getting their attention.

Red paused her game. The two of them focused on the Princess.

She nodded towards me, letting me know that she wanted me to pay attention as well. "In regards to our return to Equestria... Chrysalis, I suspect you already know, but as for the rest of you, there are some things you should know. These worlds connect directly once every thirty moons. Though Chrysalis has managed to create a connection of her own, it was not an easy task, by any means. However, it is more complicated than it appears. Phil, if you'll recall, my former student, Princess Twilight Sparkle, traveled to a different world than this. Red, you likely have no knowledge of this."

"I heard about Princess Twilight disappearing for a while. Didn't know the details." said Red.

"My sister and I have theorized that there are alternate versions of this world. With this in mind, we do not understand what factors may lead to one going to one world or the other."

"Or perhaps returning to an alternate version of Equestria?" asked Chrysalis.

Celestia nodded. "It is only a theory, but we believe that it is possible. With this in mind, we have decided that staying in this world for any longer than necessary cannot be allowed. Without knowing why we came to this version of the human world, we cannot control where we may end up, whether it will happen while returning to Equestria, or even if it will ever happen again."

"And you, Celestia?" Chrysalis pointed out.

"I have... special privileges."

"Because you're the Princess?" she prodded.

"Yes."

Chrysalis laughed. "How foolish. You don't need to worry about me. I'm not coming back to this world."

"I trust you to keep your word, Chrysalis." Celestia turned back to us. "Unfortunately, we have made no progress on the books Chrysalis mentioned. We are still searching for information on them. Until something is found, Red, you will be returning within the same window as I."

"Fine by me. Gives me enough time to collect these cups."

"This has been an interesting night." said Chrysalis, "I didn't expect our little guest."

"Interesting's a light word for it." said Red, "She came in and just shouted at Phil. I wish I could do that."

"What's stopping you?" asked Chrysalis.

"I dunno." she replied, "I don't got much to shout at him about. What the heck was with Sarah talking about her dad? He seemed kinda..."

"Neglectful." Chrysalis finished.

"I wasn't gonna say that."

"You don't know him. Please keep that in mind." said Celestia, "Still, I would like to thank you for your kindness, Queen Chrysalis."

"Kindness?"

"You treated Sarah fairly. You even participated in our discussion."

"I have no interest in this woman."

"Even so, thank you."

"Enough. You've gotten your point across. Your kind words are wasted on me. I'm hardly listening."

"Oh, am I really such a bother to you, Chrysalis?"

"Far more than you may think, Princess."

Celestia sighed. "Very well. I'll leave you to your malevolent ways. For now."

Chrysalis smirked. "I'm curious to see how this dinner will turn out. Phil could find out just what kind of a man Sarah's father truly is."

I shrugged. "I'll let ya know when I get back. I still gotta talk to Sarah about a time, though."

"Well, at least she turned out to be pretty nice." said Red.

Celestia nodded. "I was unsure about this when Phil first mentioned it to me."

"Our guest seemed unsure herself." said Chrysalis.

"I wouldn't say that." said Red, "She had a goal and she accomplished it. Even if she was pretty nervous."

"She has a nervous stutter." said Chrysalis, "It became far worse when I questioned her. Am I really that scary?"

"You're terrifying." said Red.

Chrysalis chuckled.

"I don't know, I thought it was kinda cute." said Red.

I blinked. "Huh?"

"What?" asked Red. After a few moments, she seemed to realize something. She quickly turned back to the game, unpausing and resuming play.

The rest of the night was fairly uneventful. I brought Chrysalis to the bathroom and made sure she had a toothbrush. She seemed thankful, but I was pretty sure she was just being polite. Actually, Chrysalis being polite in the first place was already pretty strange.

Hmm...

"Hey Celestia, where's Chrysalis sleeping today?" I asked, returning from the bathroom, Chrysalis held at my side. Chrysalis gave me a brief look.

"She should return to the bed until she's healthy enough to move on her own."

"Alright. You gonna hang out here any more, Chrysalis?"

"No. Take me to bed. I've grown tired of your presence. Especially you, thief."

"Right back at ya, bug!"

Chrysalis grumbled, her brow furrowing.

"Alright, that's enough, you two." I said with a bit of a laugh, "Come on Chrysalis, let's get you to bed."

Chrysalis glared at Red until she was safely in the bedroom. I brought her to the side of the bed. She moved the blanket out of the way before I sat her down. She placed her hands onto the bed and tried pushing herself further onto it, but didn't make much progress. After struggling for a few moments, she looked up to me, clearing her throat.

"What?"

"My legs." she said.

"Oh."

I bent down to lift her legs, making sure my hands were low to avoid her various comments. Finally on the bed, Chrysalis laid down and covered herself with the blanket.

"If you need anything, just shout." I said, heading for the door.

"What, not going to kiss me goodnight?" she asked, followed by a short chuckle.

"Not on your life, sport."

With that, my day was complete. Celestia and I soon retired to the basement, leaving Red in the front room to play her games.

As we laid together, Celestia let out a short chuckle of her own.

"What?" I asked.

"You mustn't let her treat you like a child, Phil."

"Chrysalis? She's just playing around."

"Do you know that for sure?"

"Well..."

"She's taking advantage of your kindness."

"That's not really a big deal."

"Perhaps not, but I fear she may be using her place here to get to me. She's made it no secret that she dislikes me."

"Are you sure you're not just jealous again?"

"I didn't say that." She chuckled. "But you don't know Chrysalis like I do."

"I guess."

"She's more of a problem to us than you may realize. I don't want you falling for any of her disguises."

"I do not have high hopes that I will see through it. When she transformed into you, I couldn't tell the difference at all."

"Well, if she transforms into me again, just ask if she'd like to have sex." She laughed. "If she says no, it's Chrysalis!"

"Oh yeah, that'll work. Wait, what if she says yes?"

"Hmm..." She paused. "It's not worth worrying about. She's not going to say yes."

"That's fair."

She quieted before letting out a nervous chuckle. "Though..."

"Hmm?"

There was a notable hesitation before she replied. "Philly, I need to ask you something you might find a bit... unconventional. Is that alright?"

"Uh... Ok.

"And... I would like you to answer me seriously."

"Oh. Alright, I'll be serious." She didn't usually preface her questions with that kind of request.

She nodded. "I want you to... imagine something for me."

"Alright."

"Imagine that the two of us are in bed after we've just made love."

I nodded. It wasn't hard to imagine.

"We're staring into each other's eyes, but then you notice my eyes. They're green."

I blinked. This was serious.

"It dawns on you that the woman you just made love to was not me, but... Queen Chrysalis. What would you do?"

Ok, big boy pants time. Need to choose my words carefully. "Uh..."

"You don't know, do you?"

"I... N-No. No, I don't. Celestia, where is..."

She cut me off with a quick, "Allow me to finish, please. Before you say anything else."

I immediately closed my mouth.

"I know what you're thinking. Your first thought would be that you betrayed me, somehow. Allow me to offer some reprieve. After much thought and consideration, I have decided that if you, for some reason, find yourself in this situation... I would forgive you."

I couldn't respond. Without a doubt, that would be my first thought. And for her to just accept this... "You shouldn't have to overlook my shortcomings, Celestia. If I can't tell the difference between the two of you, it's my fault."

"No, Phil. Chrysalis's ability to change her form is not something that you would be able to see through. I cannot hold you accountable for something you could not control."

"That's not something you should have to prepare for."

"I know, Phil."

"Do you really think she would do something like that?"

"No, I don't." She sighed. "But I can never predict what Chrysalis will do."

"Are you... just telling yourself that you'll be ok with it?"

She shook her head. "I would have no reason to direct my anger towards you."

"This doesn't help at all, Celestia. I don't want this kind of permission. I don't care what the context is, you shouldn't have to make excuses for me."

"I'm not making excuses! It isn't about that!"

"This is really making me uncomfortable, Celestia."

"Oh Philly, I'm so sorry. I knew I should've kept this to myself."

"This is... a lot to think about, honey." I just couldn't understand her.

She let out a short whine. "I'm sorry!" There was a moment before she spoke again. "Perhaps... there's something else I could say to help ease your conscience."

"Huh? After all that?"

There was a softness to her voice as she spoke. "The two of us... We share a very... honest relationship. It's something I've come to love about you. I can tell you anything and I know... well... I know you won't judge me. If I had shared this with any of my previous lovers, they would have scorned my words. But you, Phil... You've never judged me as a lover, as a woman, or even as a Princess. I don't want to hide myself from you."

"Wait, so you wouldn't be ok with it?"

"Phil... The truth is... the thought excites me."

Oh.

There was a long, heavy silence between us. In my arms, I could feel her every move. She kept still, not even looking to me for a response. She laid bare a private desire, and I just couldn't respond.

She stayed hopeful for a response, but the silence only grew deeper. Finally, she ventured a quiet, "W-Well?"

"Well?" I asked, still struggling for a proper response. 

"Are you... going to say something?" There was a weight to her voice, like someone asking out their crush for the first time, an anticipation from deep within.

Usually, there was time to think through these thoughts, to offer her support and respect while setting boundaries and showing love. This time, her sudden admission left me dumbfounded. Still though, I spoke. "What do you want me to say, Celestia?"

There was a hesitation before she spoke again. She shrunk in my arms. "No, no, I... I understand. I knew this would come as a shock, but I... I just... wanted to tell you how I really felt."

"Are you really telling me you'd be excited if I slept with Chrysalis?"

She responded with an almost inaudible, "Y... Yes." She paused for a moment. "And... And perhaps... If you'd like me to... be present... I would be... open to it."

All this time with her, after all our talks, she can still blindside me. Maybe the time for dumbfoundedness was over. I've laid with her in my arms, unable to speak, long enough.

Her words were clear. Clear enough, at least.

Forming a response was actually easier than I expected. "No." I said to her, my voice firm, "It wouldn't be fair to you."

"Fair? What do you mean?"

"I will never invite another man to the bedroom. There will be no discussion about that."

"No, no, Phil, that's... That's fine. That's alright. I didn't... want that. I don't want that. I'm... open to inviting another woman. If you'd like. It doesn't have to be Chrysalis. It could be anyone you want. As long as I meet her first."

This... was not... Maybe there was a me in the past that would have jumped at the opportunity she was giving me. Maybe there was a part of me that wanted this. But right now, there was only discomfort. Not because I saw her words as offensive in any way, not because the notion wasn't appealing, but... It just felt wrong.

Why was she saying this? There's no ulterior motive, she doesn't do that. But...

The specifics can wait. I think right now, it was best to give her my support. My arms squeezed around her, holding her tight. She seemed to relax, her worries fading away.

I took in a breath. Sometimes, brutal honesty was appropriate. Perhaps this was one of those times. "Celestia." I started, trying to keep my voice relaxed for her.

There was a subtle shift from her in my arms.

"I'm not ok with this. It makes me uncomfortable, and I don't want to discuss this any more. Our relationship is too new for this. Maybe in time, I'll be ready to discuss it with you, but not now."

There was a pause from her. Suddenly, she shook with a giggle. "No, I'm not convinced, Philly. I can feel your 'disapproval' poking into my thigh."

Just because it was true didn't mean she had to say it. I reached up to her face, pinching her nose between my knuckles as I gave her a playful, "Shut up."

She laughed, her voice muffled as I held her nose. "Noooo!" she cried out in mock indignation.

I gave her a gentle shake before letting her go.

She continued to giggle. "See Philly, it's perfect. I'm excited, you're excited, we can both get what we want."

I sighed. "No, Celestia. Please. I don't want that. Some things are better kept private."

She gave a short pause before speaking. "Very well. But... the offer will still stand. I love you, Philly. More than anything. There's nothing that will come between us."

"I love you too, Celestia. Maybe... open with that next time. "

"Sorry." She giggled.

"It... sounds like you really want this, Celestia." I said.

"I want it for you, Philly." She let out a short sigh. "I wanted to be honest with you, Phil. You're the only man I've ever felt comfortable sharing this with."

I... guess. I think I'm still feeling blindsided by this, but at least she's happy.

"So..."

"So?" I asked, kinda worried about whatever degeneracy would come out of her mouth next.

"Did you... have anyone in mind?"

"That's... hard to say. We both know exactly three other women. Red's too young, we barely even know Sarah, and Chrysalis..." I paused. "Well, if I had to pick someone."

She paused. "I... didn't expect you to... actually choose her. She was more of an example. I suppose I could discuss it with her while she's still here."

"Hey!" I reached up and once more pinched her nose. "Don't you dare!"

"Ah! Philly, sto~op!" 

She tried to pull out of my grasp, but I wasn't done with her. "You aren't off the hook here, missy. Tell me you will never say a word of this to her."

She started to laugh. "My nooose! Let gooo!" She pushed at my arm, but I don't think she cared much because it wasn't particularly hard.

Unfortunately, with her moving her arm and me looming over her, we started to tip. With a yelp from the both of us, we were on the floor. Celestia took advantage of our shift in position to crawl atop me, lying her head on my chest.

I poked her nose with a finger. "You promise me, Celestia."

She sighed, comfy in her new position. "I won't say a thing, Philly. I promise. Bu~ut... What if she says 'yes'?"

"I don't care!"

"I think you're just nervous."

"I am nervous. It's embarrassing to even think about."

She giggled. "So... Chrysalis?" With that tone, it was clear she was enjoying this a little too much. I couldn't see her eyes in this dark but I knew she was staring right into mine.

"Yeah, she's... pretty." I looked away, still embarrassed. "And like I said, options were limited."

"Oh, is that all? Just pretty? I know when you're hiding something from me, Philly. Your little friend down here is more honest than you are."

I sighed with an exasperated, "Shut up."

She giggled. She shifted position so her face was directly above mine, her arms and legs to my sides. Her eyes looked directly into mine. She wanted an answer.

Her hair spilled over me, tickling my face. She's right, I was hiding something. "I don't wanna say."

"Philly..."

I whimpered underneath her. "It's embarrassing."

"I think we're well beyond embarrassment now." She playfully lowered her chest, pressing her girls against me.

I let out a sigh. "Fine. And don't you dare tell Chrysalis."

"I won't, I won't." She chuckled.

I guess it isn't going to hurt to say it at this point. "I just think she might... need some, uh... physical... affection."

With my admission, her face lit up with a devilish smirk.

"I don't wanna hear it from you!"

"So you think Queen Chrysalis just needs a good fucking." she accurately summarized.

"That is not what I said!"

"And you think you're the only one who can give it to her."

"When did I say that?!"

"I think I know when my Philly is beating around the bush. You're a bad person." she purred, "But perhaps it would do her some good to get some... 'physical affection." She said with a laugh.

"Oh, now you're just making fun of me."

"I would never, honey." She teased me with another laugh.

I gave off a sigh before joining her with my own chuckle. "Whatever."

Celestia soon relaxed into me, lying atop my body once more. "We may be closer to a solution than we think."

"Huh?"

"Regarding Chrysalis."

"I... kinda doubt she's just gonna 'turn good' in the afterglow."

"That's not what I..." She sighed, frowning. "No. If Chrysalis had a companion, a true companion, perhaps it could change her for the better."

"You think?"

"Love is a powerful thing, Phil. It can do anything. For all the time I've known her, I've never once seen her with another. She's never shown interest in a genuine relationship, not with stallions or mares or... anypony. From what I've seen, she's never had even a single friend. I fear she will throw your friendship away simply because it amuses her."

I gave her a slow nod. "Maybe... Maybe. I guess I'll deal with that when it happens. Hmm..."

"What?"

"I was just thinking... If Chrysalis is so alone, does that mean she's never had sex?"

She blinked. "Uh... I... I don't know. I've never thought about it like that. Perhaps I could ask."

"Celestia."

"I'm just curious." She chuckled. "Stranger things have happened, I suppose."

I reached up, gently patting her cheek. "Alright honey, I think I've had enough."

She gave me a short sigh as she lowered herself onto my chest. "Alright, Philly."

"Goodnight, Celestia."

"Goodnight, Philly. I love you."

"I love you, too."
> Chapter 23
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

November 10



Every morning I wake to the sight of her long, bright hair is another day added to my life. Her sleeping form has such beauty. My heart screamed at me to stay, but the world would not stop turning for our love, no matter how much I wished.

I slowly maneuvered myself out from under her, trying my best to let Celestia sleep soundly. I dressed myself in my work clothes before stepping into the front room, closing the basement door behind me. Red sat on the couch, controller in hand. She raised a hand, gesturing the controller to the kitchen.

Curious, I moved on, passing in front of the TV, much to Red's displeasure. To my surprise, Chrysalis was in the kitchen. She was reaching into the upper cupboards, trying to get a bowl.

"You're lively today." I mentioned, grabbing a bowl for myself.

"My legs are still giving me trouble." She was bracing herself on the counter.

"You sure you should be walking around on your own?"

"Red Shadow wouldn't help me."

"Red!" I called.

"I shouldn't have to deal with her!"

Hmm... I shrugged.

"Not going to defend me?" asked Chrysalis.

"Well, she's not wrong. If you need something, just call for me or Celestia."

"You have no idea how embarrassing it is to be cared for by my enemies."

"I thought you'd be a little more appreciative."

Her eyes narrowed.

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding. You don't gotta think of us as enemies, Chrysalis. We're your friends."

"Celestia is not my friend."

"Well, I'm your friend."

"Hardly."

"You don't get to decide that." I said, brushing her off.

"Wh... Of course I get to decide that! I thought you ponies were all about your 'magic of friendship' nonsense. Forcing your friendship upon somepony isn't part of your prerogative."

"Well, in case you haven't noticed, I'm not exactly a pony. Come on." I reached into the cupboard and retrieved a bowl for her. "You've been trying to get this since I got out here."

She grabbed the bowl from my hand before begrudgingly letting out a slow, "Thank you."

"Let's get you sat down." I lowered myself, offering her my shoulder.

She grabbed hold of me so I could lead her to the table.

"You should really take a break, Chrysalis. Let Celestia and I take care of you for a little while. I'm sure you'll like it."

"I already told you, it's embarrassing. Do you have any idea how humiliating it was to... to have to be taken to the bathroom?"

"I get it, I get it. You'll live, Chrysalis. Besides, I thought you'd jump at a chance to order Celestia around."

"Not like this. Not while... I'm the weak one. I don't want her pity."

I sighed. "What kinda cereal you want? I got Frosted Flakes and Lucky Charms."

"Lucky... Charms?"

I got out the bag.

"That doesn't say Lucky Charms." she said.

"Yeah, it's a knock off Lucky Charms that I get out of habit."

"And... what is it?"

"Same thing, slightly different taste."

"You aren't answering my question."

"Well... it's got charms. And they're lucky."

Chrysalis took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Have I told you how much I despise you yet?"

"I haven't been keeping count."

"You're mocking me."

"Without a doubt."

Red called out to us from the front room. "He does that to all his friends, don't think you're special!"

"You'll get yours, Red Shadow!" Chrysalis fired back.

"Try me, bug!"

"Oh, you little..." Chrysalis, in her infinite wisdom, pushed herself away from the table and began standing. Forgetting that not moments ago she had trouble even collecting a breakfast bowl, she began to wobble. Thankfully, she managed to catch herself on the wall before she toppled over.

"You alright?" I asked, holding back a laugh.

"I'm going to destroy her." Chrysalis growled, continuing on.

"Red, c'mon. You know she's gonna bite your head off when she gets her powers back." I said.

"You know what else bites your head off? A mantis! You know, a bug!"

Red's joke finally got to me. I let out an unintentional laugh before covering my mouth. Chrysalis shot me a dirty look.

"I don't know about that, Red. I don't think the two of you are close enough for that." I said.

"What? Oh! Oh, ew! No!"

"Come on, Red... Let me bite your head off." Chrysalis was slowly entering the front room with malicious intent.

"You stay away from me you buggy freak!" 

I couldn't see what Red was doing, but there was movement in the front room, so I assumed cowering. There was a very nice corner near the door that I imagine she's taken refuge in.

I moved to Chrysalis. "Come on, that's enough. Quit pestering Red."

"Quit pestering Red?! After what she's said to me?"

"You can destroy her after you get your powers back. For now, you still need to rest." I placed my hand onto her shoulder, my firm grip preventing her from moving forward.

She looked at my hand for a moment before twisting away from me. "Fine. Once I regain my powers, not even your Princess will be able to protect you, Red Shadow."

"So you mean until then I can say whatever I want to you?"

"You infuriate me." she growled.

I helped Chrysalis back to the table so we could eat in peace. I poured her a bowl of cereal and got the milk out.

"Don't bite Red's head off, we need her."

"For what? It seems all she's done here is play her game."

"Exactly. She's doing it so I don't have to."

"I am going to enjoy destroying you."

I chuckled. "You know, you can be really sweet sometimes."

"What? I've done nothing but threaten you and Red Shadow since I've woken up!"

"Oh, you don't mean it."

"I assure you, I do."

"Maybe you do, but-"

"I do."

"But..." I repeated, "You're still having fun."

"In what way does that make me seem 'sweet'?"

I shrugged, giving her a smile. "Maybe I just think it's cute when you smile."

Her eyes narrowed. "I told you that I don't want you calling me 'cute'."

"Can't help it."

After my own bowl was prepared, I sat and began eating. Chrysalis watched me for a short while before grabbing her own spoon and joining me.

"At least there's one good thing about being in this world. The food is delicious."

When the two of us were done, I made sure the table was clear before helping Chrysalis up.

As I brought her through the front room, she said, "Leave me out here."

"Hey, no way!" said Red.

"Do you promise to play nice?" I asked.

"Oh, I'll play nice." she said, a sinister grin on her face.

"Come on, you're not just gonna leave her with me, are you?" Red complained.

"If she starts acting up, just bop her one. Or let one of us know."

"Oh, now you're talking."

Chrysalis glared at Red as I brought her to the couch. Red was mirroring Chrysalis's smirk from earlier. The two ladies sat at opposite ends of the couch. Red unpaused her game, trying to ignore Chrysalis.

I watched Red play for a little while longer before the time came for me to head to work. As I got ready, I went over what I needed to do today in my head. Namely, I needed to set up a time with Sarah. I didn't have a defined schedule, so any time worked. Celestia was still sleeping, so I left her alone before heading out.

As I opened the door, I looked back and said, "Chrysalis, don't attack Red while I'm gone."

Red stuck her tongue out at Chrysalis, who rolled her eyes.

"Red, be nice to Chrysalis."

"Hey, she started it." Red complained.

"No, she didn't. Be nice to her."

"You're not my dad, I don't have to listen to you."

Chrysalis rolled her eyes. "How mature of you."

"No fighting while I'm gone. And if something happens, Celestia can get ahold of me."

"I'll be on my best behavior." Chrysalis snarked.

"Cool. I'll be back whenever I damn well please."

"Ta-ta." She brushed me away with her hand.

I closed the door behind me and made my way to work, wondering how the day would go for the two of them. Physically, the two were no match for Celestia if things became physical again. Chrysalis could barely move in the first place and Red was a twig compared to my Princess.

Sarah greeted me with a smile as I arrived at work. We found an empty space to chat while we had time before the shift started.

"I told my parents that you're able to meet with them." she said, "They said they wanted to meet as soon as possible."

"Alrighty then. I don't got anything going on, any time after work is good."

"Great! I'll m-make sure they know. S-So... is... t-tomorrow alright?"

"Yeah, tomorrow should be fine."

"S-Seven o'clock?"

I nodded. "Fine by me."

"Good... Th-Thank you."

"Don't thank me yet." I said, "We still gotta actually get this over with."

"Right. Um... Phil... I... Th-This is... C-Can you w-wear something n-nice?"

"Nice? Uh... How nice? Are we going out, or..."

"No, no, nothing like that. Just... something nice."

I grumbled. "I'll find something."

"Not... It doesn't have to be especially formal, but... my father... He's very..."

"Yeah, yeah, I got it, I got it."

"He... M-My father isn't mean." she said, "I... I know you were thinking he was. He loves my mother and I more than anything in the world."

"I was only thinking that a little. All you said was strict. It's not really my business how your family lives."

"Y... Yeah... Yes, you're right."

I paused. "Sorry if that came off as rude. So how are we gonna deal with the aftermath? I don't wanna keep this up."

"N-Neither do I. I can take care of that. I'll tell them we split up."

"Why didn't you just say that before now?"

"I was... I was nervous. I didn't know how they'd react. They might've thought you broke up with me b-because they invited you to dinner."

"Do they do this often?"

"They're just c-concerned for me, is all. They just want what's best for me."

I nodded. "Well, whatever. I'll make myself presentable. I'm sure it'll work out."

"Yeah, I... I guess you're right. T-Tomorrow will be an interesting day. Well... I st-still need to speak with them about the time. I'll c-call you after work."

I nodded. "Sounds good. So... other than that, how've you been?"

"I've been... good. It was nice meeting your... f-fiancée yesterday. I'm... I'm so sorry again for barging in."

"Ah, don't worry about it. Celestia wasn't mad, she was just testing you. I mean, it was pretty surprising. Got me out of talking to Chrysalis though, so that's nice."

"Oh... Is... Is she... I... I don't know her, so..." She trailed off.

"Chrysalis is... an interesting case. She's..." I chuckled, trying hard to relate Chrysalis's position in Equestria to our human world, "Celestia and her have been kicking each other around for years. It's really their deal, not mine. I don't really wanna say anything about Chrysalis when Celestia is trying her best. Anyways... Yeah, Celestia liked you."

"Is... Is your house always that full?"

"No, no. Until recently, it was just me. Then it was just me and Celestia. Then Red showed up. She's been staying there recently. Chrysalis is hanging out until she gets better."

"S-So... What happened to her? If... If you d-don't mind my asking."

"Ah, she's got... hydro... endo... cardio... spatula... itis... syndrome."

"Hydroendocardiospatulaitis syndrome?"

"Yes. She's very sensitive about it, so we don't mention it around her."

"I see..."

"She overexerted herself and is having trouble moving around." I answered slightly more honestly, "Celestia's the only person she knows that would help her, so she's super embarrassed." I chuckled. "Oh yeah, she doesn't actually like Celestia."

"That's... Um..."

"Ah, I guess I shouldn't have said that. It's not really something I should spread."

"Oh... I won't ask, then. She seemed n-nice."

"Lucky you. She's usually very mean-spirited. She was probably just tired. I'm sure if you stop by again, she'll poke at your insecurities like she did to me. She's a frustrating woman to maintain a conversation with. Man, I'm sorry I brought it up. This is depressing, can we talk about something else?"

She let out a small chuckle. "S-Sure."

We spoke idly throughout the day, parting after work, like normal. The rest of the day was calm and peaceful. With nothing else to focus my mind on, I began thinking about the upcoming meeting at Sarah's house. I didn't know a lot other than I needed to wear decent clothes. I wonder if I even have anything decent at home. Celestia would know. Geez... Relying on my fiancée to clothe me feels weird. I went home as I did every day of my life. Work, though long, wasn't hard. I just missed Celestia.

On the walk home, I took a deep breath. The air smelled nice. It was a brisk November day. There were leaves on the ground, the sky was getting dark, and I was warm inside my sweater. It was a pleasant walk home. With the weather getting colder, I'll have to dress more appropriately. It'll start snowing soon, too.

A pleasant greeting from the wonderful woman on the couch told me that I was home. Celestia was such a bright light in my life.

Also on the couch were the other two women currently living in my house. Celestia sat between Red and Chrysalis, separating them like children in the back seat of a car. Red was still playing Mario Kart and barely gave me more than a glance.

"Good news." I said, "Sarah's gonna give me a call tonight to let me know that her parents will be ready."

Celestia smiled. "That's great!"

"I gotta dress all nice, though. I'm pretty sure I have exactly one nice outfit."

Red snickered. "Sounds like you're more than ready then."

"Will you need formal wear?" asked Celestia.

"Nah, nothing like that. At least, I'm certainly not going to wear it if I did. I don't feel comfortable wearing formal clothing."

"I can't say I'm surprised." Another jab from Red.

"I gotta look at least somewhat presentable. I mean, it's the polite thing to do."

Celestia nodded. "I suppose if it's what you think is right."

"Hmm?"

"Well, I have quite a bit of experience in high society, so I know that it's not just your clothes that matter."

"I have a lot of experience in high society too, but you don't hear me bragging about it." said Red.

"Red, shut up." I said.

Chrysalis chuckled at my negative treatment of the little thief. Red was somewhat amused as well.

"Hey, didn't you say you got another game for this?" asked Red.

"Oh yeah, Smash Brothers." I said.

"I kinda wanna try that one out."

"Alrighty, then. Lemme grab it for ya."

As Red finished her race, I moved to the TV, sitting next to it. I opened my new copy of Smash Bros. 4, waited for Red to finish, ejected Mario Kart, and pushed in the second disk. Red selected the game when it popped up on the Wii menu. A loud fanfare played, announcing to the entire city block that we were playing Smash Brothers.

"Hold on a minute." I said, "I gotta get something."

Ever prepared for Smash, I collected a gamecube adapter and some controllers from the basement, where they were sitting on the desk.

"What's this all about?" asked Red, taking the controller I handed her.

"Better controller. Gives you a better handle on the... controls."

"I don't know about that. It feels really weird."

"You can use the other controller if you want. I'm using this one."

"Oh no, I'm not letting you get ahead of me by using a better controller!"

I gave the next controller to Celestia, then reached over the party to give one to Chrysalis. She didn't take it.

"Wanna play?" I asked.

She glared at the controller in my hand before turning her gaze to me.

I shrugged. "Suit yourself." I stood to the side near the door so everyone could see.

Celestia was experimenting a bit with the controller I gave her, turning it upside-down and examining the back.

"Alright, this game is totally different from the last one." I said, "It's a 2D fighting game instead of, you know, a racing game. Here, lemme start up a game for us. It's really fun, one of my favorite series when I was a kid. So was Mario Kart, though."

I brought us to the character select screen and by instinct chose Ike. He was my favorite from Brawl, which is the last Smash game I played. I then made a name for myself so I could keep track of how badly they'll lose to me.

"Oh, I recognize some of these characters from the other game." said Celestia, leaning in to examine them closely.

"Yep. This series is basically a mash-up from a lot of other different series-es. They take the most popular characters from other games and smush them all together into a fighting game. They all have their own special abilities and movesets, so each new character you play can be more interesting than the last. Hold on a second."

I changed some of the settings to make the game a bit more fun, especially for the new players. I made it a stock battle because timed battles were... less fun, and left items on because they were essential to achieve maximum fun levels.

"It really doesn't matter who you pick." I said, "They all have their pros and cons. I always just play my favorites."

"Some of these look very regal." said Celestia, navigating through the characters, "Are there more in high standing like Peach?"

"Yep. There's... uh... Princess Zelda, Lady Palutena, Prince Marth, King Dedede..."

She snickered. "What a funny name..."

"Ganondorf and Bowser, too. Actually, we don't have Ganondorf yet. We gotta unlock him. You know, Palutena kinda reminds me of you, Celestia."

"Hmm?" she turned her head to me.

"Oh hey, you can change their colors!" Red let out, interrupting our not so private conversation.

Celestia turned right back to the screen, captivated by Red's newfound power. "Really? How?"

"You use these buttons." said Red, showing her on the controller.

Celestia changed the color of Peach's dress a few times before finally deciding on the vanilla pink dress.

I waited for them to choose their characters. Celestia chose Peach and Red chose Link.

I picked a stage for us at random, choosing the option to remove stage hazards for their first few matches so it was easier to learn the controls. After we loaded into the game, I demonstrated the various movement options and attacks to them. They moved around a bit, learning the controls on their own.

I moved my character to the side of the stage. "Alright, try fighting against each other." I said.

"What, just us?" asked Red.

"If I join in, it won't be as fun." I said.

"I feel like you're challenging us."

Celestia chuckled.

"Hey, if you really wanna try it, go ahead." I said.

They both advanced on me and were quickly and utterly put in their place. Even Chrysalis seemed amused at how easy it looked.

Celestia laughed. "Oh, you beat us so quickly."

"Well, you've played a total of about two minutes combined."

"We were attacking each other, it wasn't fair." said Red.

"Well, I can make it a team battle, if you want."

"Yeah, do that."

"I'll even throw in an extra handicap."

"We don't need a handicap." said Red.

Celestia laughed. "Yes we do."

I gave them a level nine CPU to fight against me. Even though they were so new, their combined efforts made it difficult to properly deal with their powerful teammate. Plus, since I wanted them to learn how to play, I tried keeping them alive longer. It didn't work. Celestia kept rushing towards me to give me a hug and got blown away by Ike's sword. She would laugh every time it happened.

"That fighter you gave us was so good." Red said in awe.

"Yeah. I forgot the how good computer was in this one."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"In the earlier games, the computer was pretty manageable at the highest level. In this one, the computer is a monster with perfect reactions. Here, lemme sit out for a few matches."

"Aw, you aren't playing?" asked Celestia.

"How are you gonna learn how to play if I keep beating you so fast?"

Celestia shrugged. 

The two of them started a game on their own. With the basic movement down, their skills could finally improve. It was a lot like watching them play Mario Kart for the first time. Red won two games in a row against Celestia.

"I want to try a different character." said Red, looking over them again.

"I'll do the same."

This time, Red picked Ike, I'm sure copying me. Celestia picked Palutena. They started their next match.

"So, what were you saying about this character before?" Celestia asked.

"Oh, right. Well, all of these characters have their different stories from their own game series. For example, Link is a hero who vanquishes evil with his legendary sword and Ike is a mercenary who fights for his friends. Palutena is the Goddess of Light and guardian of the human race."

Celestia chuckled. "I don't envy her. It's hard enough protecting my little ponies."

"Who's your favorite fighter?" asked Red.

"Hmm? Oh. Uh... Yeah, that'd be Ike." I replied.

"Why so?"

"'Cause he's so cool. And he uses my favorite kind of weapon."

"A sword?" she asked.

"A big ass sword. With one hand. The lad's built like a fridge and hits like a truck. When I was younger, I played the game he came from and really liked his character. He's super strong and has a heart of gold. As I got older, I grew to appreciate his character more and more. Aside from Ike, Link is a close second."

"He uses a sword and a shield. What's so special about him?" asked Red.

"His main... draw is his courage. No matter what, he never gives up. Also, I have a lot of nostalgia for him, considering I've played his games since I was... like... three."

"He sounds impressive."

"Oh, all of those guys are impressive." I said, "If you play the classic mode, you get trophies that tell you what makes all of these characters great."

"I'm starting to really like this game." said Red.

"You're getting better pretty fast. Maybe one of these days you'll be able to take one of my lives." I gave her a smirk.

Celestia burst out laughing. Red glared at me as if I had just wounded something in her. Chrysalis just seemed amused at my insult of my friend.

"Now Phil, be nice to her." said Celestia, "She's still a beginner."

"You're not any better!" Red snapped at her.

"No, perhaps not. Would you like to play again?"

Red grumbled. "Fine."

"There's all sorts of stuff you can do in this game." I said, "The classic mode even has a co-operative mode so you can play together."

"That sounds fun." said Celestia.

"I guess." said Red.

They had already started another game against each other. It was interesting watching them improve so quickly. 

Chrysalis seemed content with watching for now.

"And Red, you'll like this..." I said, "There are a lot of challenges in this game. There's like... beating the game with every character, beating the game on the hardest difficulty..."

"Why do you assume I would like that?"

"You got all those stars in Mario Kart."

"Yeah, that's true. Beating the game with every character seems like a chore."

"It's pretty fun. I'd know, I've done it in every other game in the series so far."

"I bet you have."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing, it sounds fun."

I squinted my eyes at her before turning back to the TV.

"Chrysalis, you should join us." said Celestia.

"Yeah, stop being a chicken." said Red.

"A chicken? I assure you, my unwillingness to play your childish game has nothing to do with cowardice."

"Bwak-bwak! Chicken! Bwak-bwak-bwak!"

Chrysalis's eye visibly twitched. For a moment, I thought I was gonna have to step in and prevent her from scratching Red's eyes out. Like a chicken.

Chrysalis took in a breath, letting it out slowly. "Give me a controller."

"Yeah, there you go!" said Red.

Celestia chuckled.

"If I can't defeat you as I am now, I can at least defeat you in this game."

As they started the next game, Celestia stood to the side as Red and Chrysalis battled. Chrysalis lost the first match given her lack of experience and Red's aggression towards her. After this, they seemed to be evenly matched. Celestia acted as cleanup, taking advantage of their low stocks and high percentage after one player was gone.

After a few games, Celestia said, "Do you girls think we can take Phil?"

"I doubt it." said Red. She grinned. "Let's do it."

I smirked, refraining from bringing attention to the innuendo that I'm sure only Red missed.

"Yeah, I'm sure you guys will do fine." I said, "Girls."

Another win for me. This was far easier without the challenge of the level nine CPU, though they did put up more of a fight this time. Maybe they were studying my very predictable play style. My little brother did the same thing and turned the tables on me for a while.

Our little group played a few more rounds until Celestia mentioned to me that she was hungry, which reminded me that I hadn't eaten since lunch. I retrieved the sacrifices to sate the beasts on the couch, namely Twinkies and Cosmic Brownies. She was also pretty happy to see me bring out some sandwiches for the group.

"Thank you." she said to me, taking one.

The other two were a tad more indifferent to my generosity, though did nod in appreciation as they each took one.

Though their skills improved, they were no match for my experience. My somewhat self-destructive game style did net them a stock, which they held over me until the match ended. Even Chrysalis seemed to be enjoying herself. Their skills improved further as we played through the night. It wasn't enough to beat me yet, but it was still interesting to see. Eventually, I found a comfy place on the floor to sit.

My phone began vibrating in my pocket. I took it out to check who it was.

"What are you doing?" asked Celestia.

"It's... Oh, it's Sarah." I answered. "Hello."

"Hello, Phil. M-My parents said that they were fine with tomorrow at 7:30. Is that alright with you?"

"Yep, that's fine. I'll be there."

"G-Good. Thank you."

"Yep. I'll make sure not to wear my Dethklok shirt."

"Uh... Thank you for that. I'll... s-see you then."

"Yep. See ya."

"B-Bye."

I hung up.

"What'd she say?" asked Celestia.

"She said dinner's at 7:30." I replied.

"Are you nervous?"

I shrugged. "Little bit."

She chuckled.

"How long have we been playing?" asked Red.

"Probably like twelve minutes." I erroneously replied.

"What? No, you idiot."

"Red, be nice to Phil." said Celestia.

"So how long has it been?" Red asked again.

"It's been about three and a half hours." said Celestia.

"Wow, really?"

"Perhaps we should start preparing for bed."

"You have fun with that." said Red.

"Chrysalis, you should rest." said Celestia.

"I don't need to rest. I need to put this insolent thief in her place."

Red turned, getting aggressively close to Chrysalis. "What was that, bug?"

Celestia sighed. "Suit yourself. Phil?"

I stood and stretched my legs. "Yeah, I gotta go to bed. I don't wanna be tired tomorrow."

Celestia chuckled. "Yes, you don't want to be tired for your big date." she joked.

"It's not a big deal. I just hope it's not awkward with her dad. Dads always hate their daughters' boyfriends. It's how they're supposed to be."

Celestia chuckled. "My father was very protective when it came to men in my life."

"I... wouldn't know." said Red.

"I was born without parents." Chrysalis offhandedly commented.

"Yeah, my dad never liked my sister's boyfriends." I said, "Then again, he never really liked anyone."

"Anyone?" asked Celestia.

I shrugged. "He wasn't the nicest guy in the world. But he got better after he stopped drinking."

"Your father was an alcoholic?"

I nodded. "Yeah. He's been sober for... I'd say four years, now."

Celestia smiled. "I'm glad he's taken such steps. I know that it's not easy, by any means."

"Addiction runs in the family, Celestia." said Chrysalis, "Perhaps there is something he is hiding from you."

Celestia turned to her in a huff. "I will have none of that, Chrysalis! You will keep silent on our relationship."

"Touched a nerve, have I?" She just chuckled.

Celestia looked back to me and in her sweet voice said, "I'm sorry, Phil. I didn't mean to raise my voice."

"You should've just told her to fuck off."

Red snickered before covering her mouth, holding in her laughter.

Chrysalis gave me a glare before looking back to the screen. "I suppose I deserved that."

"Hey, I didn't actually say it. I just felt it."

"Phil, do try to watch the... language around Red. She's still young." said Celestia.

"Stop saying I'm young!" cried Red, "I can swear if I want! Fuck!"

The three of us looked at her.

She returned our gazes before saying, "What?"

"No swearing in the house." I said.

"Then how come you can swear?"

"It's my house."

"Oh, there you go again with that. You're not my dad!"

"It's still my house."

"Perhaps you should listen to him, Red. A young woman such as yourself shouldn't be using such foul language." said Chrysalis, clearly amused.

"Fuck you!" Red shouted at her.

"Red!" Celestia tried to calm her.

Red laughed. "That felt good."

"Red, no." Celestia was doing her best.

"Fuck you, Red." Chrysalis replied with a smirk.

"Chrysalis!"

"Ok, that was really weird." said Red, "I'll stop swearing if you stop swearing."

Chrysalis chuckled.

Celestia let out a sigh. "I think it might be time for me to take a break."

She stood, joining me. The two of us moseyed into the kitchen to grab a bedtime snack before eventually retiring to the basement together. After brushing our teeth, of course. As we passed through the front room, we spoke briefly with Chrysalis on her bed situation. After a bit of discussion, Red begrudgingly said that she'll make sure Chrysalis makes it to bed.

Red and Chrysalis were big girls, they could figure out their own bedtimes. I didn't really care either way. They reminded me of my brother and I when we were kids playing Subspace Emissary together. Our insults were a little more aggressive, though.



November 11



It was raining the next morning. The gentle pitter-patter of rain on the roof was actually quite relaxing. I didn't know if it was going to get any better or worse, but I didn't mind. It would probably be pretty cold today.

Celestia was fast asleep, as far as I could tell. I got off the couch and dressed myself to exit the basement. I could hear the clacking of a controller in the front room. Red must still be playing.

I opened the door to get an interesting sight. Red was indeed still playing, but Chrysalis was asleep. On Red. I blinked a few times, wondering if I was really seeing this. Chrysalis's legs were laid over Red's lap as she slept. What the heck?

"Wh-"

"Don't ask." said Red.

"Red, how'd you let this happen?"

"I told you not to ask."

"Alright, fine. I won't ask. Do you need help?"

"N-No, it's... it's fine."

"Alright. If you say so. Anyways, moving through."

She paused to let me get through without interfering, unpausing after I passed.

I got myself a bowl of cereal, same as every day. My morning routine rarely changed. When I was finished, I returned to the front room.

"Quit staring at me." said Red.

"I'm not staring at you, I'm staring at Chrysalis."

"Well quit it, it's creepy."

"So..."

"I said don't ask!" She raised her voice.

"Fine, fine. Hey Red, if Chrysalis is making you uncomfortable, you can tell us."

"No, no, it's fine. Look... I lost a bet. Happy now? It's... It's just a little embarrassing, is all. Losing, I mean."

I shrugged "Looks kinda comfy. Heading through." I started moving past the TV.

"Nuh-uh."

"What?"

She pointed at one of the controllers. "Play."

I gave her a small smile as I took it. "Alright."

Red picked Sheik while I picked Ganondorf, who wasn't on the roster last night. Red's played so much that we had a good number of new characters.

With another win under my belt, neither of us was surprised. Red didn't seem bothered by my easy win. I think she was studying my play style. We played until it was almost time to go. After deciding that it would be my last match, I collected one more win before setting the controller down.

"Looks like it's time." I said, checking my phone.

Red made a noise to let me know she heard me.

I visited Celestia once more before leaving, kissing her gently on the cheek. I think I may have seen a smile, but it might've just been my imagination. Looking at her lying under the blankets like this... She was an angel. An angel with a nice, round bottom... Whoops, time to go to work. With that, I left the house. I made sure to put on a warm hat on the way out. It was still raining and still very cold. Thank goodness I had my umbrella.

Sarah and I spoke a bit about our upcoming dinner when we met at work. She reminded me once more that I needed to behave myself, which was a little embarrassing, to be honest. I was older than her and she was still telling me how to act.

"I'm not gonna go and ruin the dinner." I assured her.

"Y-Yeah... I just... I... I want it to go well. We can... have a f-fake break up from our f-fake relationship after."

"I'll be happy when all this is over." I said.

"Um... Ph-Phil?"

"What's up?"

"Wh-When this is over... Will... Will we still be friends?"

"Of course we will, Sarah. Celestia too."

She smiled. "Thank you. For... helping me."

"Yeah. Come on, let's get to work. We can put this whole mess behind us soon enough."

"R-Right."

Work was as normal as it always is. We had another complaint today, but I solved it with some good old fashioned free food. This person was much nicer than the last complainer. No doubt I provoked the last one, but still.

After work, I went straight home. It had been raining all day, but it was starting to let up. I had about an hour and a half before I had to be there. Plenty of time to clean up. As long as I can remember where she lives, I'll be fine.

"Hey, Celestia." I let out, walking into the house.

"Hello." she cheerfully replied.

"Hey." said Red.

No response from Chrysalis.

"Today's the day." Celestia said with a smile.

"Yep. Finally gonna get this over with."

"I'm just glad you're gonna stop complaining about this." said Red, "It's been pretty annoying, I gotta say."

"Nobody's asking you to listen, Red." I said, "Anyways, I gotta shower."

"I'll bring some clothes into the bathroom for you." said Celestia.

"Oh, thank you."

"Now that you mention it, it's been a while since I've cleaned myself as well." said Chrysalis.

"Ew, you're... Ah, same here." said Red. She giggled.

"Celestia?" I asked.

She just shrugged.

"Geez, we're all disgusting." I started walking past the screen.

"Hey, watch it!" Red let out, moving her head to look past me.

"Red, you're addicted to video games." I said to her.

"You're addicted to video games!" she wittily retorted.

"Got that right."

I went into the bathroom to take my shower. The warm water was a nice change of pace from the chilly rain.

A short while after I stepped in, I heard a knock on the door. "It's me, honey. I have your clothes." said Celestia.

"It's unlocked." I called out. I knew she would be the next one in, so I made sure to leave it open for her.

She entered the bathroom, setting the clothes onto the towel rack. She stood in front of the curtain. "It's just dinner, right?" she asked.

"Yeah, as far as I know." I replied, "Dinner, talking, that sort of thing. Then I get to go home with a full stomach."

"Are you nervous?"

"Didn't you already ask me that?"

"Well... yes. I'm nervous."

"You?"

"Well... you're having dinner with the family of a woman I barely know. It doesn't feel right."

"Yeah, I don't like it either. Feels weird. I'm sure it will be fine."

"Yes, I'm sure you'll do great. It's just come as a bit of a shock, I suppose."

"Same here. Maybe we could do something when I get back. I dunno."

"What kind of... something?"

"Maybe I could find a movie for us or something. Watch it on the computer downstairs."

"That sounds nice." she sounded distant, somewhat. Like she wasn't really paying attention.

"Is everything alright, honey?"

"Um... Phil? Can I... join you?" she asked.

"Join me?" 

She was asking me if she could shower with me. With our relationship being what it is, it was a little more complicated than that. The two of us showering together could lead to any number of things. With Red and Chrysalis out there... well... I didn't really care what they thought.

"Yeah, that's... wait... You're not Chrysalis in disguise, are you?"

She chuckled. "No, it's me."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure. Would you like me to say something only the real Celestia would know?"

"Sure, that'd work."

"Hmm... What to say... Oh, I know!"

Through the curtain, I could see her silhouette begin to strip. 

"Hey mister, you look kind of sad. Give me just a moment and I'll make you glad. If you don't want any help, just you say. You know, I've got a PhD in brightening days."

"No way." I can't believe this.

She pulled back the curtain, once more revealing her stunning body to me after so long. "You may not see what I see in you, but let me tell you what I see is true. My eyesight's fine and I'm rather... in my mind. I've got you in my thoughts all the time." She stepped into the shower with me, closing the curtain behind her. "If I could take your hand and kiss you... If I could hold you close and love you... And love you..."


I smiled. "I can't believe you remembered that dumb little song."

"It wasn't dumb to me."

The two of us shared an embrace, gently holding each other, foreheads pressed together, eyes locked.

"I've missed you." she whispered.

"You missed me?"

"I've missed your affection."

"Yeah. I feel the same."

"Oh! You're poking me, honey."

"I think you're gonna just have to deal with that for a little while."

"You might be right." She giggled.

I pecked my lips against hers before pulling away and proceeding to do the one thing you're meant to do in a shower, get clean. We had about an hour to spend together before I needed to leave. Seemed like we would be using a lot of that time here.

Though our history of tandem showers was a tad scandalous, today we were more reserved with our love. It was still a pleasant shower. Refreshing. The two of us cleaned each other and washed each other's hair. Celestia's big, plump body covered in a layer of soapy bubbles...

"My, what candor..." she said, her eyes directed downwards.

"It isn't easy keeping myself calm around you."

"Don't worry, honey. I know exactly what you're saying."

"C'mon Celestia, you think they'll ever let us live it down?"

She shook her head, smiling at me.

I returned her smile. "You're beautiful, you know that?"

"Oh honey, flattery will get you everywhere."

We held each other again as our eyes met. Once more, our lips pushed together. It was difficult to resist these temptations, especially for such a silly reason as trying not to offend our guests. It was comforting to know that Celestia felt the same way. Still, we had to hold out. For some reason.

"You're not gonna have to clean Chrysalis, are you?"

She giggled. "Get those thoughts out of your head. She has far too much pride to allow that. At any rate, she should be strong enough to bathe herself by this point."

"Do you think we made any progress with her?"

"I don't know. She has been acting kind, but she is a master of deception. It's impossible to say. Did you... notice Chrysalis resting on Red this morning?"

"Yeah, that was weird."

"I may need to pay more attention to the two of them. Chrysalis isn't one to get close without an ulterior motive."

"It's hard to trust her."

"It is."

"Think we should get out?" I asked.

"That's probably a good idea."

I suddenly pulled her close. She let out a whine as I held her tight. Her body went still as I growled something into her ear.

Her face reddened as we pulled apart. "Oh, you vile beast."

I smirked as I reached around her and turned the water off.

"Do you need me to grab you some clothes?" I asked.

"No, no, I brought clothes for myself."

"How thoughtful."

I reached up and began running my hands through my hair, squeezing the water from it. It's gotten rather long. I may need a haircut soon.

Celestia watched me for a few moments before doing the same with her own hair, bundling and twisting her knee-length hair. I tapped her shoulder to get her attention, then directed her so that her back was facing me. I grabbed her hair and started gently wringing out the excess water. With how much hair she had, a torrent dripped down.

Looking at her from behind like this... I raised my hand towards her head. She paid me no mind, assuming I was simply working on drying her hair. To her surprise, I grabbed tightly near the base of her hair and pulled. Her cry of surprise turned into a soft moan as I wrapped my arms around her and bit into her collar.

"Ph-Phil... Mmm..."

She kept still as I nibbled and sucked on her skin. I soon let her go, lifting my head. She turned back to face me.

She smirked. "How rude."

"Sorry, I couldn't resist."

"I shouldn't have let you go so easily." she said.

"A Princess shouldn't have such things in her mind." I said.

"Oh, you're just awful."

"And you're beautiful."

We shared a brief kiss before parting and stepping out of the shower. I grabbed a towel for myself before grabbing another and throwing it at her. She let out a yelp as it hit her face. It revealed a smile as it dropped. I looked at the clothes Celestia had picked out. Though I didn't own any truly formal clothing, these seemed fitting for the occasion. A plain, black shirt and a simple pair of blue jeans.

"Will those do?" she asked, drying herself

"They look fine." I said, doing the same.

Celestia waited for me to dress myself before going for her own clothes. She smiled at me as she clothed herself. "You're staring."

"Can't help it." I replied with a smile of my own, "It's like watching the sun set. It never gets old."

She chuckled.

I gathered our old clothing and the two of us left together. Celestia had her hair wrapped in a towel sitting on her head. As Celestia joined her friends on the couch, I threw the clothes downstairs to deal with later. Red once again complained that I was in her way. I checked the time on my phone before standing next to the couch and watching the game.

"Did you two have fun?" Chrysalis asked with a smirk.

"It was a rather pleasant shower." Celestia replied, "Will you be bathing tonight, Chrysalis?"

"Oh, I don't know if I could find the energy." She turned her gaze towards me. "If only there were someone big and strong to help me into the bathtub."

Though her tone seemed to be somewhat seductive, Red didn't pick up on it. Instead, she knocked Chrysalis off the stage while she was distracted.

Celestia maintained her smile, though there was a bit of a glare in her eyes. "I will be more than happy to assist you to do whatever it is that you may need, Chrysalis." she said in a cheerful, yet forceful tone.

Chrysalis looked back to her. "Perhaps I am... healthier than I realized."

Red let out a mocking laugh.

"And Red, you should shower, as well." said Celestia.

"I call before Chrysalis. I'm not running out of hot water."

"What makes you more deserving of the hot water?" Chrysalis asked.

"Because I'm better than you at this game."

"Have you forgotten your loss last night?"

"Oh, I didn't forget. Are you forgetting your loss just now?"

"You took advantage of me while I was distracted."

"Then stop getting distracted."

"Oh, you're going to get it."

"I don't think I've ever run out of hot water." I offhandedly commented.

"Seems the winner gets to shower first." said Celestia, stoking their rivalry.

"You're on!" said Red.

"No fair, you're so far ahead."

"Winner of the next game gets to shower first." I said.

"Fine. But only because I won't lose." said Red.

With Red winning this match, morale on Chrysalis's side was low. The two of them picked their characters and chose a map.

Midway through their match, I asked, "What happens if you tie?"

The two of them gave their answer at the same time.

"We'll play again. Duh." said Red.

"We'll shower together." said Chrysalis.

Red went silent, turning to Chrysalis in pure horror. Chrysalis, knowing exactly how her opponent would react, smirked as Red's fighter flew off the stage. Red didn't seem to notice her loss. She was still in a state of shock after hearing Chrysalis's proposal.

"Seems I've won. I shower first." Chrysalis set the controller down and began to stand.

"Do you need help?" Celestia asked, standing as well, offering a hand.

"I will be fine, Celestia." Chrysalis growled, wobbling as she took her first step. Though she needed to take some time to keep her balance, she slowly made her way to her destination, soon disappearing from our sight.

"Let me know if you need any help, Chrysalis!" Celestia called after her. 

"I will be fine, Celestia!" Chrysalis shot back. We heard her turn on the water.

"Clothes, Chrysalis!"

Chrysalis let out a loud, disgruntled groan.

"Don't worry, I'll get you a set!" Celestia called, chuckling to herself. She stood and moved into the bedroom, then took a set of clothing to the bathroom. She returned to us shortly after, a smile on her face.

After a brief delay, Red finally returned to us. "Was... Was she serious about that?"

"Don't pay her any mind, Red." said Celestia, "It was likely nothing more than a joke."

"What do you mean, 'likely'?" Red was not convinced.

"Well, perhaps Chrysalis has taken a liking to you, Red." Celestia said with a chuckle.

"No way! That's disgusting! And I'm not into girls!"

"Ok, time for me to go." I said, not willing to continue this conversation.

"Goodbye, Philly." Celestia waved.

"I'll be back in a little while. Don't burn the place down while I'm gone."

"I'll wait until you get back." she replied with a smile.

"Phil, you gotta keep Chrysalis away from me!" said Red, scrambling to keep me here.

"You'll be fine. Just tell her the truth and I'm sure she'll understand." I said, going along with Celestia's joke.

"Try not to break her heart, would you?" Celestia seemed fairly amused by Red's problems.

"There's no way she likes me! You gotta be messing with me!"

"Love you, Celestia." I said, opening the door.

"I love you, too." she replied with a smile.

"Later, Red."

"Phil, no!"

Ignoring Red's pleas, I walked outside, shutting the door behind me. I got into my car and made my way towards Sarah's house. I'm sure Celestia would tell Red that she's joking at some point. She'll be fine. Either way, this was going to be an interesting night.
> Chapter 24
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

November 11



I checked my clock as I pulled next to the curb in front of Sarah's house. I was right on time. Just like before, I was blown away at the sheer size of the house. I don't visit this part of town often, so I don't typically see houses of this magnitude. At an estimation, her house was easily twice the size of my own.

I got out and stood up, and even then, I still had to crane my head upwards to see the top of the house. It looked like it was three stories, or maybe two and an attic. On the outside, it seemed rather old, at least in the dark, but I'm sure it's been entirely modernized. Having seen the inside once before, I knew she wasn't kidding when she said her dad was rich.

I wonder how much a place like this would go for. I need a bigger house to store all the kids Celestia and I are gonna have. Raise. I meant raise.

Ah dang, I should've bought a gift. Like... a bottle of cheap wine. Would that have been appropriate? I should've asked Celestia. Whatever, too late now.

With a knock on the door, it swung open, bringing me face to face with Sarah once more.

"Phil! Come in, please." She stepped aside, welcoming me into her home.

I stepped into the house. Now that I had more time to look around, the whiteness struck me once again. This place was beautiful. It was so clean and well maintained. The table in the dining room to the right was already covered in dishes for us. The smell of cooked food wafted through the air. It smelled like ham. I really liked ham. I hope there's no pineapple on it, but I won't be picky if there is.

A neat collection of shoes sat near the entrance, so I removed mine and added them to the group.

"Is that him?" I heard a man enthusiastically ask from another room. He emerged from what I assumed was the kitchen into the dining room. As soon as he laid eyes on me, he let out a loud, "Ah, there he is!"

Sarah's father was a portly man whose hair was showing signs of greying. He sported a modest moustache and, from my best guess, was in his late-fifties. He looked kinda like Vernon Dursley from the Harry Potter movies, though he was a bit on the short side. He wore a sweater over a shirt, with a tie underneath, all neatly tucked into his pants. I felt a little out of place, but I wasn't worrying.

He approached with a smile. "You must be Phil."

We reached our hands towards each other, shaking like gentlemen. I think the last person I shook hands with was Chrysalis. This was a far different situation. There was a subtle strength in his grip, so I responded in kind. 

"That's right. It's nice to finally get to meet you, Mr. Lockhart." I responded.

"The feeling is mutual, Phil. Please, call me Ben."

"Of course. I must say, this is a beautiful home you have."

"Thank you very much. It took some doing, but we got the place fixed up. My wife Olivia is just finishing up tonight's meal in the kitchen." he said. His grip loosened, signifying the end of the handshake. I let go.

"It smells great. What are you serving?"

"We've decided to keep it simple for today. Roast ham as the main course with cooked vegetables and mashed potatoes to go along with it."

"That sounds great. Seems a bit much to me, though." I said.

"Nonsense. This is just our way of welcoming you into our home. That, and this isn't just any sort of meeting, is it?"

I flashed Sarah a look. "Guess you're right about that."

"Well, of course I'm right. Our little Sarah has finally gotten herself a boyfriend."

"Dad."

"Oh sorry, honey. Make yourself at home while we finish our dinner preparations. Shouldn't be long, now."

He gave me another smile before turning and walking back to the kitchen.

"He seems nice." I said, turning to Sarah once again. His breath smelled kinda funny. Beer, maybe. No, wine, I bet.

"I am so sorry for this." she said to me.

I sighed. "It's fine. You look nice."

"Oh... Th-Thank you."

Sarah wore a sleek outfit for our meeting, black pants with a white blouse. It wasn't a formal outfit, but it seemed to match Ben's dress shirt just fine. She was rocking it, though. I think she's wearing makeup, too. Maybe it's just the lighting. Her slightly red face brought the whole thing together. Just like every other father-daughter relationship, she was a bit embarrassed by him. Maybe she just liked my compliment. I felt a little out of place in my jeans.

"I... uh... S-So you're... You're good with computers, right?"

"Hmm? Usually." I replied.

"We have a little time b-before dinner will be ready. I... have a... laptop that's been having problems. C-Could you take a look at it for me?"

"Uh... Sure? I'll give it a shot. What'd you do to it?"

"I... don't know."

I shrugged. "Alright."

She smiled. "Th-Thank you. It's in my room." She gestured up the stairs.

I shrugged again before following her. On the way up, I noticed three pictures on the wall of the staircase. One of Sarah, one of her father, and one of her mother. The portrait of her mother was very eye-catching. I can see where Sarah gets her looks from. 

With Sarah's room, there were four rooms upstairs, along with a smaller door leading into what I presumed was a closet. All of the doors were closed, leaving no indication as to what could be inside.

"In here." she said, opening a door.

"Geez, you got a nice place." I said, pausing to look around for a little longer. I joined her soon after.

Like everything else in her house, Sarah's room was a blinding white. The room was very tidy. The bed against the wall was pretty big and well kept. There was nothing on the walls, but she had a few pictures in frames on her dresser. A closet door was closed in the corner of the room and a nightstand with a rather elegant lamp sat next to her bed. A computer desk was pushed against the wall opposite her bed. A sleek laptop rested on it.

"Is this the guy?" I asked, approaching the desk.

"Yep. That's... uh... Y-Yeah."

I opened it. Upon first glance, it was a pretty standard Acer laptop. If it were new, it would probably hover around the thousand dollar range. As soon as I turned it on, ads popped up on the screen. I raised an eyebrow towards Sarah. "So, what did you say happened to it?"

"I... Uh... I d-don't know." she said, "Can you... fix it?"

"Not a problem." I answered, sitting in her chair.

Sarah looked over my shoulder as I got to work. Some glaring problems immediately stuck out. There were numerous fake PC speedup programs on her desktop. It looked like she tried to fix it on her own, but it didn't seem to work. The homepage for the browser was changed as well.

Like any other computer I worked on, step one was Malwarebytes. There weren't many other steps. I leaned back in the chair and said, "Alright, that'll run for a while and clean up all this garbage. When it's done, you'll wanna restart it."

"That's it?" she asked.

"Yep."

"Wait, really? B-But that was so easy!"

"Virus removal ain't hard. But lots of people mess it up." I pointed at her fake programs. "Never pay for these."

"I... Are you... sure?"

"Yep. If we had some more time I could give ya some more info, but I wasn't really prepared for this kinda thing."

"Alright, if you say so. I can't believe it was that easy. How much do I owe you?"

"What? Oh... Uh... I'm good."

"You fixed my computer, I want to return the favor."

"It's no problem. I do this all the time. I could do this for money. I don't, but I could."

"Are you sure you don't want anything?"

"I mean, if you really wanted to, you could get me a bag of Doritos or something. But really, I'm good."

"Well... alright. Thanks."

"So..."

"So?"

"What did you look up to get all those pop-ups?" I asked.

"Um... N-Nothing."

"'Nothing'? You know, I used to say the same thing when I put viruses on my parents' computers growing up." I chuckled. She immediately looked away, so I followed up with a polite, "Sorry." I gave her a brief inquisitive gaze before standing. Sarah's pornography habits were none of my business and it was against my position as a computer service technician to snoop.

Sarah's face was a little red. "R-Right. We sh-should head back downstairs soon. They're probably wondering what's taking us."

"Computer work takes time."

She let out a nervous chuckle. She was quiet for a while before saying, "Hey, Phil?"

"Hmm?"

"I... Um... M-My... My father is... He's very particular about how you should act while you're here."

I nodded. "Anything I should keep in mind?"

"Y-You will need to act with respect towards him, and by extension, my mother and I."

"I'll be nice."

"R-Right. M-My father is a very religious man. My mother is, as well, to an extent."

"So what does that mean?" I asked.

"I... I just wanted to warn you before you spoke to him again. He has... very dated beliefs. He's very particular on when and how you should speak."

"Hey, I said I'll be nice."

She frowned. "M-My dad is usually nice, but he's very strict on the rules. Just be careful, alright?"

"It'll be fine. Everything will turn out great, you'll see."

"Oh, I hope you're right."

The two of us returned downstairs. The smell of the food was even stronger than before.

Ben appeared at the bottom of the stairs. "Dinner's... Oh, you're back. Dinner's ready, you two." he said.

"It smells great." I said.

"You get him to take a look at that computer of yours?" he asked Sarah as we followed him into the dining room. 

"Y-Yeah. It didn't take long for him to check it out."

"That's good. Take a seat, please."

A wide variety of foods had been set out on the dining room table. There was far too much to eat, even for four people. Maybe this is just how they lived their lives. I'm sure it'd all make great leftovers. Olivia joined us from the kitchen, carrying a rather large bottle of wine and setting it on the table. In addition to the wine glasses on the table, the four of us had been given glasses of milk.

Now that I finally saw her in person, I found that her picture really didn't do her any justice. Olivia was a beautiful woman of medium height, standing a few inches taller than her husband. She had a slim figure and her skin had a slight tan. Her sleek, brown hair reached midway down her back. She was younger than Ben, or at least appeared younger. She obviously put a great deal of care into her appearance. Her outfit was a simple black dress.

Her breasts were pretty big, too. Given Ben's obvious wealth, they may not be entirely natural. I didn't have anything against it, I was just a little curious. I think she noticed me staring at her, because she smiled at me. Her dress didn't exactly make it difficult.

Now that I think about it, Sarah wasn't anywhere near as tall as her parents.

Ben pulled out a chair for Olivia, which she took with a smile. I did the same for Sarah, emulating his gesture. Sarah still seemed a little nervous, which is to be expected, given the situation. Me, I was doing pretty good. I think. The women sat first, thanking us for our kindness. Naturally, the men followed.

As far as I could tell, the meal itself followed no sort of religious rule. I did see a crucifix above the door frame leading into the kitchen, though. Maybe I should teach Celestia about our religions sometime. I'm sure she'd be interested.

"Let us say grace before enjoying this wonderful meal my beautiful wife has prepared for us. Phil, would you lead us?"

Sarah shot me a worried gaze.

"Uh..." Which one was grace? No, I don't remember. "I... think it would be more appropriate if you were to lead us. I wouldn't want to offend by reciting it incorrectly."

"I thought as much. Very well. Let us bow our heads in prayer." Ben recited his prayer, following with an, "Amen." We did the same. He performed the sign of the cross, which we copied. I hope it was appropriate for me to follow along. I'm not religious, I don't know the etiquette.

The four of us began to collect food for ourselves. Ben, as the head, chose first. I took mine last, mostly because it felt awkward for me otherwise. I took some from each plate, collecting ham, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and some veggies. I'm pretty sure Ben wanted to show off a bit. Nothing wrong with that when it comes to food.

"It looks delicious, Mrs. Lockhart." I said.

"Thank you, Phil. And please, Olivia is fine."

I nodded, smiling at her.

"I must say, I am surprised that you knew the prayer of Our Lord." said Ben, looking at me. He reached for the wine. As we spoke, he poured a glass for himself and his wife.

"My family was a bit religious. Both my brothers and sisters went to a Catholic school."

"And you?"

He offered me some wine, but I politely declined, raising my hand. He didn't offer any to Sarah, but there were four cups, so I imagine she could have some if she wants. Personally, I disliked wine, but if I didn't have to drive, I'd try it.

"I've never been to a religious school myself." I answered, "I honestly don't know why. And we spent a lot of time there organizing events and community gatherings. I don't... really know why I was left out." I shrugged. I wasn't bothered by it, I just thought it was kinda weird. Maybe I should ask my dad sometime.

I took a bite of the ham. The first thing I noticed was that the texture was so smooth. It fell apart so easily. It was so soft and tender. There was a distinct sweetened flavor to it too, which I loved. This stuff was great.

"What a shame. Catholic schools are much more suitable for developing the young mind. So, you met my daughter at work, is that correct?" he asked.

"That's right. I'm her manager. We met on the job and went out for coffee."

"That was the day I was late to come home." said Sarah.

"Yes, of course. I trust she's being a good employee for you."

I nodded. "She's good at her job. As good as can be expected given her limited responsibilities. She's friendly around work and is always available if she's needed."

He chuckled. "And is he a good boss to you, Sarah?"

"He's... alright. I can't complain."

"I hope your relationship isn't interfering with your work." he said.

"Not at all." I said, "We keep things separate."

"Yeah, w-we try to avoid talking about it around others." said Sarah.

"So you spend time together outside of work?"

I shrugged. "Not often. We don't really get the chance."

"That hardly sounds like a relationship at all, if you ask me." he replied.

"We're t-taking things slow." said Sarah. She sounded as nervous as she looked, which is to say, pretty nervous.

"Is that so?" asked Olivia, "So that means you haven't been doing anything funny with our daughter, right?" asked Olivia. It kinda felt like she was having fun with this. It seemed different from how Ben was taking this all in.

"Of course not." I answered honestly, "Like she said, we're taking it slow."

"Nothing? Not even a kiss?" she asked.

I shook my head.

"Y-Yeah, we haven't done anything." said Sarah.

"To each their own." she replied, "Oh, you should have seen Ben when we first met. He was quite the horndog when we were younger."

"That's quite alright, dear." he said to her, "He isn't here to hear about us."

Olivia chuckles. "Yes, times are different, now. Oh, how the world has changed in such a short time." She let out a sigh.

Hey, this is going great! Sarah still looked a little nervous, but I'm used to seeing it from her.

The rest of the meal was filled with light conversation like what we had just been through. We shared a bit about ourselves and a bit about our lives. I learned that they've been married for 24 years. Ben was 57 and Olivia was 53. They told me that they moved to town fairly recently from Maine, like Sarah said.

Ben owned a shipping company specializing in furniture and other household amenities. In his boasting, he mentioned the company had a profit nearing a million dollars last year. I feigned interest to be polite. I guess it was pretty neat, but I didn't really care. All that mattered was that dinner went well. Sarah said she would take care of the rest.

It didn't take long for Ben to change the topic from his company to his daughter. Two things I'm sure he was very proud of.

"She's gotten fantastic grades in her schooling, all the way up through her college years. You see, our Sarah's trying to become a veterinarian."

I nodded. "She mentioned it to me, actually. She told me that she was about halfway done."

"That's right." he said, "It takes the right kind of person to devote themselves to schooling for so long. Yes, my little Sarah has proven herself to be quite the talented young woman."

"Father..." 

"We've been looking for a school for her to study at in Wisconsin." he continued, "Would you have any suggestions?"

"Uh... I... I'm sorry, but you'll have to ask someone else about that. I really have no idea."

"Hmm... Can't say I'm surprised."

"If you're looking for a place for Sarah to resume her schooling, does that mean that this is a permanent move?"

"It may very well be permanent. At least until I retire, but I still have a lot of time before that happens."

"So with this new move and all, is your family going to get involved with any... community events? I know it's a bit late in the year, but we have our fair share, same as any town."

"It depends, really. I'm not usually one to involve myself in those sorts of things. A gathering in a town like this would be rather uneventful."

"I wouldn't know myself." I said, "I'm not interested in that kinda thing either."

"Are there any parades?" asked Olivia.

"Yes, yes there are. Usually towards the end of the year there's a big ol' parade that goes through the downtown area. Makes parking a nightmare but it's always lively. I'm sure there are more during the year, but it's been a while since I've seen any."

"That's a relief. I love parades. The bigger the better." she said with a smile.

"They couldn't be as good as the parades we had in our old city." said Ben.

"Oh don't be such a stick in the mud. You didn't go to them anyways." said Olivia, "Perhaps we could help organize them, Sarah. Does that sound like fun?"

Sarah nodded at her mother. "Yeah! I hope there's one soon."

"So what made you move to Wisconsin?" I asked Ben.

"The housing was cheap. Not that the price mattered, of course. I can afford any home I wanted in this little town."

"I can see that you've been settled in for a little while now. How have you been liking it?"

"We've been here for about two months, and so far, I'm not impressed. Not that I expected anything in the first place. If it were up to me, I'd move immediately."

"Mmm, but it's not up to you, is it, honey?" said Olivia, still smiling.

Ben sighed. "Yes, Olivia has had quite enough of all this moving. I understand her frustration. Thankfully, the location is rather centralized for my business needs, among other things."

I nodded. "Exactly. Easy to find anything you need and it won't be too far away."

"Are there any good stores in the area?" asked Olivia.

"Ah... Let me see... Well... I'm not much of a shopper myself, but there's a mall in Janesville not too far north, though it isn't... It's pretty basic. Cherryvale Mall is in Rockford. Haven't been there in a few years, though. I'm sure if you stroll around downtown though, you'll find something you'll like."

She smiled. "I'll be sure to give them a look. I was thinking about getting some more clothes."

"You've lived here for quite a while, right?" asked Ben, "Are there any places you would recommend our family to visit?"

I shrugged. "I don't go out much, myself. But, I can recommend checking out the downtown area. The restaurants there make some great food. I... I'm not great at remembering names, but yeah, try some of them out. Aside from that, there's a wine bar across town called... Oh gosh, what was it... Clara Bo, that's what it was."

He briefly nodded, bringing his hand to his chin.

"And if you're looking to take a vacation, the Wisconsin Dells aren't too far away, either. Very nice place. I used to go once a year with the family."

"Yes, I've heard good things. Tell me Phil, if you were to move, where would your dream location be?" he asked me.

"Uh... I dunno. Never really thought about it. Somewhere cheap. Northern America where it's colder. I like the cold. Can't stand heat. And definitely somewhere away from the city. I hate dealing with traffic. Oh yeah, and somewhere with Google Fiber."

He chuckled. "That is one thing I'm not complaining about. The internet prices are fair here."

I shrugged. "Yeah, it's fine. I haven't looked around."

Once again, he reached for the bottle of wine and poured himself a glass. "Are you sure you don't want any?" he asked, tipping the bottle towards me.

"Sorry, no. I try not to have any alcohol in me when I drive."

He set the bottle down and took a sip from his glass. "They say you can tell a lot about a man by the way he enjoys his drink. I'm surprised there's someone in this town that can refuse a drink. Especially you."

"Huh?"

"You see, I didn't know if I liked the idea of someone like you dating my daughter."

I hesitated before giving him a questioning, "Alright..."

"I'm sure you understand my apprehension. After all, it's only natural for a father to want to protect her daughter."

Yeah, that's true. I didn't really see where he was going with this, though.

"So naturally, I collected what information on you I could. I do not like what I found."

Uh... Wait, what? I raised an eyebrow at him.

"Dad?" asked Sarah, just as confused as I was.

"I'm not so sure I'm comfortable with a man like you being in a relationship with my daughter."

"Well... uh..." I didn't have anything to say about that. It didn't really matter how he felt, even if we were in a real relationship.

"What's wrong with him?" asked Sarah, a bit concerned, "He's been really kind to me!"

Yeah, what's wrong with me?

"He can be as nice as he wants. It won't hide the trash that is his family."

"Whoa, hold on, there." I brought up my hands to try to calm him down.

"A lowlife from a family of lowlifes, that's what he is."

Wait... So he's just gonna insult me? I don't get it. I kinda thought this was going well. I mean sure, he might not like the area, but he can't blame that on me.

Ben continued to speak through my stunned silence. "Criminal records are public knowledge, you know. I don't simply call people trash without proper reasoning."

He's being really mean. I don't like this. I wanna leave.

"Your mother and your father, both of them drug addicts, alcoholics... Both of them were convicted for possession. Isn't that true? Your brother, too. All of them, lowlifes."

"Hey, there's no need for that." I got out.

"Simply put, Phil, you are unfit for my daughter."

Sarah just stared at her father, mouth agape. I don't blame her.

I took in a breath and let it out slowly. "Ok." I stood, glaring at him. "I don't feel very welcome here anymore. The meal was great, Olivia. Thank you." I turned to leave.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it." she replied, seemingly ignoring her husband's vulgar attitude.

"Yes, you're just too far beneath us, Phil."

Against my better judgement, I stopped. I turned back to him. He was still smiling at me. Sarah was still stunned, horrified at his words. Olivia didn't seem to have a care in the world.

"Are you done?" I asked, my hands clenching, "Is this how you treat your guests, Mr. Lockhart?"

He again chuckled to himself. "Only those like you."

"Like me? What, you mean someone who's poor? I obviously turned out better than you."

"Better than me? Ha! You couldn't hold a candle to me."

"At least I didn't run a background check on your family like I was looking through newspaper funnies."

"Perhaps you should have. You would know exactly who I was and exactly why I'm dismissing you like the vermin you are."

"Congratulations, your dick is bigger than mine. I'm done here." I turned and walked away.

"What, leaving so soon? You haven't even finished your meal!"

"No. I'm not staying. I'm not arguing anymore. Fuck you. Goodbye."

"So you're a coward, then!" he let out, "Too scared to even face me."

"Goodbye!" I loudly repeated, not looking back. He threw out more ego inflating insults as I left. I did my best to ignore them.

"Phil! Phil, wait!" Sarah cried as I began putting on my shoes. I looked up to see her panicked face. "I didn't know he would do this, I swear!"

"It's alright, Sarah." I said, standing. Geez. I felt so bad for her. Can't imagine how she's gotta be feeling right now.

"Phil, I..."

"Sarah, what are you doing?" Ben shouted, stomping towards the front door.

Sarah stood between her father and I, facing him. "What's wrong with him? He's done nothing wrong! He doesn't deserve this treatment!"

"Sarah, step away from him. I don't want you standing near such a lowlife."

"He's not a lowlife! He's my friend!"

"I don't care what he is! You're not to see him again, understand? You're getting a new job by the end of the week."

"Hey, don't make her quit her job." I said, "She doesn't deserve punishment for your shortsightedness."

"How dare you tell me how to raise my daughter?" he growled at me.

"She can make her own decisions."

"She's living under my house, so that means that she's living under my rules."

Well... Damn, he's got me there. It's a big deal getting your first job, though. Even if it's McDonald's. He's just being a dick.

"F-Fine! Th-Then I'll move out" Sarah shot.

"Where would you go?" he asked, "You can't make it on your own."

"I'd... I could live with Phil!"

I'd prefer if you didn't, Sarah. I guess it's fine. You might have to share a room with Red.

"What... You will not! And you! What have you done to my daughter?!" he roared, rushing towards me.

"Father, no!"

He grabbed my shirt and pushed me against the wall. There was a bit of force behind his arms. "What have you done to her?" he asked again.

I looked to his hands, then back to him. I took in a breath to calm myself, because if this didn't end soon, someone would get hurt, and it wasn't going to be me. "Alright, Ben... I appreciate that you're Sarah's father, and an old man besides... but if you don't take your goddamn hands off me, I will break you in half."

He glared at me for a few more seconds before pushing me again, letting go of my shirt. "Get out of my house. Get out of my house and stay away from my daughter!"

I turned around without another word and left through the door. I've had enough of this.

"Phil!" Sarah let out, following me outside.

"I've had enough." I said, continuing to walk.

She stopped. "I'm sorry!"

I glanced back, but couldn't find anything to say.

I got my keys and got into my car. Sarah stood outside on her own, watching me go. Her father was watching me from the doorway, a smug look on his face, I'm sure glad to finally get rid of me.

I have not been this... fucking enraged in... I have never been this angry, period. It took me this long to realize the full impact his words had. I wanted to fucking scream. He pushed every button I had.

That fat fucking asshole talking down to me? How fucking dare he?! Fuck!

Oh, I hated driving while in a bad mood. I needed to calm down before I got back to Celestia. I don't want her to see me like this. As I drove, I bottled my feelings, trying to push them aside. I wanted this to be over, but something told me that this was just the beginning. Oh, and poor Sarah...

I had a lot of trouble holding my rage in. I wanted to be a well-adjusted adult, but at the same time, I wanted to wring his fat neck. As I finally pulled to a stop in the driveway, I tapped my steering wheel with my hand. I paused for a moment before clenching my fist and punching the edge of the steering wheel in anger. I thought it might help calm me down, but all I managed to do was hurt my hand. The rubber surrounding the wheel softened the strike, but it was probably gonna bruise.

"Fuck."

I got out of the car and headed inside, rubbing my fingers, frustrated that I let myself slip back into old habits. I've been using 'fuck' more often and now this... I'm not a child anymore.

"Phil! How did it go?" Celestia turned to me with a smile, eager to hear the details of my night out. Her smile faded as she got a good look at my less than pleased expression.

"It... Uh.... It went pretty bad." I said, lowering my hands, "It went pretty bad."

"Bad?" Her smile disappeared. "What do you mean? What happened?"

"Sarah's dad... He... Uh... He insulted me and my family."

"He... He did what?!"

I explained what happened at Sarah's house. Though I was only telling Celestia, Red and Chrysalis found no issue in listening in. They were sitting next to Celestia on the couch, so I couldn't blame them. I told Celestia that the night started off very well, but fell apart after a point. Talking about it helped calm me down, so that's nice. I took in a deep breath. "Anyways, now I gotta tell Sarah that we're still friends."

Celestia was absolutely horrified. Red also looked displeased, but she probably didn't want to hear about it in the first place and was just displeased that I had included her in the conversation. Chrysalis just seemed interested in what I had to say. I didn't notice any change in her reaction as I spoke.

"How... vile." said Celestia.

I nodded. "I'm just glad this mess is over."

"It's far from over." said Chrysalis.

"Shut it."

"I just hope Sarah's alright." said Celestia, "Should we tell someone about this?"

"About what?"

"He spied on your family, Phil."

I shook my head. "It's not illegal. Everything he said was true, anyways."

"Phil, no..." she softly let out, "Don't you mind?"

"Yeah I mind, but it's not like I can do anything about it."

"You're far more forgiving than I." said Celestia, "I would not have stood by and allowed him to speak ill of my family."

"I'm not forgiving him. I'm gonna hold this grudge for a few years before it disappears on its own."

"Here, here." said Chrysalis.

"Shut up, Chrysalis." I said.

"Here, here." said Red, smirking.

"Red." I sighed. "Anyways, like I said it's not like he was wrong. I come from a family of screw ups. But that's all in the past. We all do stupid stuff when we're young, it's just... they did a lot of stupid stuff. But it's not who they are anymore. I... Red, Chrysalis, you two don't wanna hear this stuff, do you?" I asked, offering to step away so Celestia and I could talk.

"I'm quite interested. By all means, continue." said Chrysalis.

Ok, didn't expect that. "Red?"

She shrugged. "Eh... Yeah, I don't really care either way. Feel free."

"Alright... Yeah, my family got better. My older brother spent damn near ten years in jail 'cause of all the stupid stuff he used to do. And my dad... and my... mom... The two of them were the same way. Just a series of bad decisions after bad decisions. 

"Why the hesitation?" Chrysalis asked, pointing out my stumble.

I didn't answer right away. In my mind, I debated whether or not I wanted Chrysalis to know these kinds of details about me. I decided that it really wouldn't matter. "I... I kinda have a soft spot when it comes to... talking about my mom. She passed away eight years ago. And... And like I said, she isn't innocent, either. She lived the same... fucked up life as my dad. When she had kids... When my parents had kids... When they settled down, they quit that life."

Celestia's eyes were soft. She listened intently to every word I said.

Chrysalis said nothing. She merely maintained the same gaze as before. She understood that this was a more serious matter that had nothing to do with her. She was simply curious.

"At least... that's what I thought." I couldn't stop myself from continuing. With it, I heard a crack in my voice. Why was this coming up now? With Chrysalis and Red here...

"Phil?" Celestia asked, her voice quiet.

"I... I thought I would be fine talking about this... but..." I brought my hand up to wipe my eyes.

Celestia stood, placing her hand onto my shoulder. I met her eyes for a moment before she turned to the two on the couch. "Please excuse us."

They said nothing as Celestia directed me into the basement, closing the door behind us. She led me to the couch, having me sit down, and joining me after I did.

Now that we were alone, Celestia and I looked to each other. Her eyes were so big and full of love.

"Are you alright?" she asked me.

"Yeah, I'll be fine." I replied, "Just... Emotions are... I'm kinda... having trouble... holding back my tears." I sniffed and wiped my eyes again. "My mom died of an overdose, Celestia." I let out. I sniffed again. "I can't say it any other way. She died because of the fucked up life that Sarah's dad brought up. And him just pushing that button, and having to explain it to you..."

"Oh, come here." she softly let out, pressing against me, wrapping her arms around me.

I gently returned her soft, loving embrace. "It hurts, Celestia. It's been eight years and it still hurts."

"I know, Phil. I know."

I took in a slow breath, but I couldn't stop myself from shuddering. "It never stops hurting, does it?"

"No... No, it doesn't. But you can't give in to the pain, Phil. It never stops hurting, but that doesn't mean that it has to define who you are."

Her voice was soft, yet so powerful. Caring and wise... Her years were beginning to show. Sometimes I forget that she's so much older than I am. She understands this pain far greater than anyone else. 

"I know. It just... It hurts."

"It's alright. I'm here for you."

"Yeah... Yeah..." I rested my head on her shoulder for a short while. "Thank you, Celestia. I'll be fine." I said, lifting my head, "I'll be fine. I just had to... I had to let that out."

"I understand." she said. She lifted a hand to my face and wiped away my tears. "Feel better?"

"Yeah." I let out a sigh. "Thank you."

She smiled.

"I... I didn't... I didn't know a lot about my mom growing up. I knew she loved us, and as a kid, that's all I needed. She was busy, most of her life. Busy and stressed..." I took in a breath. "He cut deep, Celestia... He cut deeper than I expected. I don't like when people... corrupt the memory I have of my mother. It's all I have left of her."

"What you remember of her is special, Phil. My memories of my own mother bring me joy... I'm sure yours do the same."

I gazed at her for a long time, tears beginning to form in my eyes again. She reached up and wiped them away again.

I leaned forward. "I love you." I whispered, holding her tightly. 

"I love you, too."

I let out a sigh, still holding her. I pulled back. We shared a short kiss.

"You've been going through a lot recently, Phil. I can see it in your eyes. You're exhausted."

"Maybe I am. Maybe I should take a little time off to rest."

"Do what you feel is right."

"Yeah. I guess I have been feeling a little stressed, though. You know? The last time that happened..." I trailed off, smiling at her.

She let out a chuckle. "The last time you felt stressed, it led to our first night together."

"Yeah."

"If you hadn't done that, I may not be here right now." she said with a small smile.

"What a weird way to start a relationship."

"If we hadn't made love, I may not have fallen for you. Maybe I would. I don't know. I think I was already developing feelings for you by that time. I felt so young and free with you, things I haven't felt in a long time."

"That's cute, Celestia."

She smiled. "It might help to go out again."

"I dunno. I don't go out often, you know that. The last time we had a party like that, we had a few other guests."

"Yes, my guards."

"And my friends." I smiled.

"Perhaps we could invite Chrysalis and Red."

"Well, Red's not old enough to drink. And they'd need IDs anyways. They'd have to stick with soda. Though you and the guards didn't get carded, now that I think about it."

Celestia giggled. "Yes, that's true." 

I let out a breath. We stared into each other's eyes for a while before I finally asked, "Wanna watch a movie?"

She gasped. "Yes!"

I pulled away. "Alright, let me grab some snacks, then I'll get it set up for us."

She grabbed my hand. "Let me get them."

I paused. "That works."

"Oh, this is going to be so fun!" she cheerfully let out, standing and bounding out of the room.

With Celestia gone, I couldn't help but to smile. After all this, I had her love. That's all I could ever ask for. I went to my computer and turned it on. After it booted up, I navigated to my movies. The movie of the night was... uh... What should I pick? Deadpool? No, I can't show her Deadpool. Even if it was a romantic comedy.

It's gotta be a movie I actually had, though. My collection wasn't very big. Zootopia, that's a good one. There we go. She'd totally love that. I love it, so I know she'd love it.

I heard Celestia chatting with our guests for a moment before she came downstairs, arms loaded with a plentiful bounty of snacks.

With a quick test to see if everything still worked the way I wanted it too, I turned off the unneeded monitors, turned off the basement light, and joined Celestia on the couch. She gave me a smile as I sat next to her. She grabbed the blanket and covered the two of us with it. As if it were the most normal thing in the world, Celestia lied against me, resting against my shoulder. She looked up at me with a bright smile.

"We've never watched a movie together. I'm so excited!" she said.

"Yeah. I'm sorry I keep you trapped at home all the time."

"Oh honey, I've never thought that."

"Well, I kinda have."

"I know. You need to stop thinking of it that way. I like being at home with you."

"I'm glad. One of these days, I'm gonna show you the world."

"Until that day, all I need is you."

"You're sweet."

She giggled.

Celestia quieted down as the movie started. It was clear from the start that she was enjoying herself. I couldn't help but to check her reaction every so often. It was an annoying habit and I'm sure she noticed, but on the plus side, it gave me an opportunity to look at her, so I wasn't complaining. More than anything, Celestia just seemed to be genuinely enjoying herself. She was experiencing something new with someone she loved. I still felt a little guilty for keeping her trapped here all the time, even if she doesn't see it that way.

Every so often, she would pick up a snack for herself. Sometimes she would offer some to me. The sight of her shaking an already bitten Twinkie in her hand towards me while still watching the movie was just so cute.

As the movie reached its halfway point, Celestia turned to me and gave me an unexpected kiss on the cheek, getting my attention.

"What's up?" I asked.

"Oh, nothing." she said with a smile.

I squeezed her far hip with my hand. "Are you lying to me?"

She giggled. "I was... thinking of a name."

"A name?"

"Mmm-hmm. For our child."

"That so? Any luck?"

"It's difficult to decide. There are so many to choose from. And if it's a filly or a colt... Oh, it's not easy at all."

"Heck, maybe we'd wanna give them a human name."

"Yes, you're right! I hadn't even thought about that. Tell me some human names. For a girl, first."

"Hmm... Alright. Let's see... Jessica, Hannah, Kayla, Mary, Susan, Lydia... That's six right off the bat. I could be here all night with this."

"Now a few boy names."

I sighed. "Jacob, Eric, Kyle, Steven, Franklin, Walter, Tom... And these are only names from my culture, too. You'll find so many different names everywhere you go."

"Did you have any... pony names in mind?"

"Not... really. I'm not very imaginative when it comes to that kinda thing. And even then, I'd probably say something related to the sun."

She chuckled. "I'm sure we'll think of something."

"Maybe we could just call the kid 'Junior'. Easy."

"Philly, I'm being serious. What if I were to become pregnant? We need to think of a name sooner than later."

"Uh... Maybe we could let Luna name them." I suggested.

"That's... Hmm... That's not a bad idea. I would trust my sister's judgement. Still, it's a big decision."

"That's true. I've never really given it any thought before. We might have to hold off on this for a little while."

"Oh, very well. I suppose we won't have to worry about it for some time." She sighed. "One can only imagine what our child would become."

"Yeah."

"We could raise the greatest ruler Equestria has ever seen."

"He'd probably inherit our collective laziness and set a new standard for the phrase 'couch potato'."

She let out a short laugh. "Undoubtedly, he would be very bright. He could use his gifts to help others, as his mother and father did before him."

"If he turns out anything like you, I think we'll be fine."

"Like me?"

"C'mon, you're great. 

"What about you?"

"I'm not that good. I'm definitely not as good as you."

"Phil..."

"Hmm..." She didn't like my self-deprecating jokes. "So... have you decided where to have it?" I asked, changing the subject.

"I want to deliver my child in Equestria. And I want you right beside me."

I smiled at her. "And I want to be there with you."

She sighed. "I love you."

"I love you too, Celestia."

"You know, Phil... when you come to Equestria..."

"I know. I'll be able to propose to you." I paused. "I'm scared, Celestia."

"You're scared?"

"Yeah."

"I'm not going to say 'no'."

"I know, I know... I'm just... scared of getting married. I'm... I'm only 25, you know?"

"I'm scared, too." she said.

"It's a scary thing."

"Yeah."

"How would I even get a ring for you?"

"We have our ways, but it's not important, Phil. All that matters is your love."

"It's symbolic."

"Yes, I suppose it is. You don't have to worry. We have rings aplenty in Equestria."

"If you got married, everyone would know about it."

"Would you prefer to be wed in secrecy?"

"No, no, it's not that."

"Are you afraid to show the world our love?"

"Absolutely not! It's just... I never expected to be marrying a Princess."

"And I never expected to be marrying a human."

"I never expected to fall in love with a pony."

"I never expected to fall in love with such an ordinary man."

"I never expected to meet such an extraordinary woman."

"You're too kind, Phil."

I pecked my lips against hers, causing her to bashfully shy away.

"You're so cute, honey." I said. I let out a sigh. "I can't wait for the two of them to leave."

"Hmm? Oh. Yes... I can tell. I feel the same way. I have my cake but I cannot eat it."

I chuckled. "That's one way of putting it."

The two of us stared at each other for a while, saying nothing. Celestia cleared her throat once. I coughed.

"You wanna [REDACTED]?"



No having sex with guests in the house. That was the rule. Did we try to follow it? Yes. Did we fail? Also yes. Did they hear us? Maybe. Celestia usually makes quite a lot of noise, but she can be quiet if the need arises. Unfortunately, our guests include a professional thief and someone that feeds on love.

Either way, what's done is done. Celestia and I laid together on the basement couch, holding each other's nude bodies, the both of us covered in sweat. No words were shared, just the sound of our exhausted panting.

We kept silent for a long time, doing nothing more than gazing at each other. I didn't want anything more. I was more than happy to meet her gaze. The soft, loving look in her eyes told me the same of her.

Celestia's soft lips curved upwards in a smile. "I really liked the movie."

I returned her smile. "I thought you would."

"We may have to watch it again. I was a little distracted towards the end."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, I think I was, too."

"I didn't think we'd do that again until we were alone. I'm relieved. I'm glad to have found a partner so willing to make love to me."

"Celestia, shush."

She chuckled. "Am I being too naughty?"

I raised my finger to her lips, shushing her once more. She smiled behind it. There were few things I loved more than her soft, gentle voice, but there was no need to break this peace we shared.

"I love you." I said, immediately going against my own wishes. It was too hard not to tell her.

"I love you too, honey. Do you think that did it?"

"Hmm?"

"You know..." She turned to her side and looked down, placing a hand onto her stomach. She glanced up at me for a moment before returning to her previous position.

I smiled at her. "Maybe."

"Maybe? Yes... Maybe."

I lifted my hand to her face, brushing her hair from her forehead. "You're so cute when you're in love."

Her red face seemed to brighten further as she looked away with a bashful smile. Even after all this time, she was still so sensitive to my compliments.

"Quit being so cute." I told her.

"What?"

"You're too cute. Quit it."

"I'm not being cute on purpose!"

"Yes you are, nobody's that cute by accident."

"I'm no~ot!"

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure."

"Your pouty-face says otherwise."

She maintained her pout for a short while before relaxing. I squeezed her against me with my arm, smiling at her. The movie was over. It had been over for a while. It looked like Celestia and I were going to just fall asleep down here.

A faint buzz caught my attention. I glanced at my discarded pants on the floor. My phone was in a pocket and I was curious to see if someone had texted me. I reached for it, but it was too far.

"Hmm? Your pants?" she asked.

"My phone."

"Let me."

She extended her hand towards it. Her hand began to glow a golden yellow, followed by my pants glowing the same yellow. They lifted into the air and floated to my hand. I quickly collected the phone. The lock screen told me that I did in fact get a text.

"Oh hey, it's from Sarah." I said

"Hmm?" Celestia lifted her head, curious. "What does it say?"

"Oh, it's kinda long." I read the text aloud, my voice not reflecting the emotions that Sarah was trying to convey. "-Phil, I'm so sorry!!!! I didn't know he would be like that!!! He's never done this before. He's never been this cruel. I don't know why he did that, I swear! He's usually a nice man to us. He's not-..." I stopped reading aloud and summarized the rest. "She says that she's sorry for what happened and that she still wants to be friends with us."

"It isn't her fault that her father acted the way he did."

"I know. What should I say?"

"Tell her that we're happy to still have her as a friend after such trying circumstances."

"Yeah, good idea." I began speaking as I typed. "-Celestia and I are happy to still be your friends, Sarah. It's alright. We know what he said has nothing to do with how you feel.-"

We received a response after a few minutes. I read it aloud again. "-Did you tell Celestia what happened? Tell her that I'm sorry, too. I can't believe my father would do something like this.-"

"Ask her what happened after you left." Celestia suggested.

I did as she said.

"-My father stormed into his study. He's still angry. My mother told me that she would have a talk with him after he cools down.-"

"I could only wonder what they'll discuss." said Celestia.

"-Are you alright?-" I asked.

"-No, I'm not alright! I'm in my room bawling my eyes out! It was so scary! He's never exploded at anyone like that. And now he says that I have to get a new job, too. He says I can't see you again.-"

I started typing something before deleting it. I did this two more times before giving up. "I... I can't offer her any advice on that one." I said to Celestia.

"You don't need to give her advice, Phil. Just offer her your support."

I nodded. "-I'm sorry that things turned out the way they did, Sarah. We're worried about you. If you ever need to talk, we're here for you.-" I showed Celestia, and she nodded.

"-Thank you Phil. And tell Celestia thank you, too. I'm sorry to have worried you. I think my father is scared, Phil. I've never been this rebellious towards him before. I don't think he wants me to leave and live on my own, yet. That's why he exploded when I said I'd live with you. I didn't mean it. It just came out. I'm sorry it made him attack you. But I can't live like this. I can't live under him after this. I'll have to find a place somewhere.-"

"Did she really say that?" asked Celestia, referring to Sarah living with me.

"Yeah. It was a tense situation."

"Would you... let her stay here?"

"If she didn't have anywhere else to go, yeah. I wanna help her, but with Chrysalis and Red and with you here, too... Geez. Sarah won't be able to afford an apartment with her current job."

"She's in such an awful situation. I could only imagine what she's feeling right now. If she truly wishes to leave her father, perhaps it would be best to offer our hospitality."

"Are you sure?" I asked.

She hesitated. "Less sure than I would like. I can only think it's the right thing to do."

I nodded. "-Even if you were panicking when you said it, we want you to know that you'll always have a place here if you need it.-" I grumbled, hesitating to send it. "Does that sound right?"

"It's very kind of you, Phil. She's lucky to have you as a friend."

I grumbled again before sending the text. I then sent another text that asked, "-What will you do now?-"

The reply took some time to come back with how long it was. "-Thank you so much. You don't know how much this means to me. I just hope I never have to take advantage of your offer. I don't know what I'm going to do. I don't want you worrying about me. I don't think my father would ever kick me out. I'm going to make a plan for these next few months. I can't live with this man anymore. Not after seeing his true colors.-"

"-Alright. If it's too hard for you, ask for help. You're not in a position where you can afford to be stubborn.-"

"-I know. I'm sorry. For everything. I have to go.-"

"-Will I see you at work?-"

"-Yes. Goodnight.-"

I dropped the phone onto the floor, exhausted.

"Do you think she'll be alright?" asked Celestia.

"She'll be fine."

"This doesn't feel right."

"I know what you mean. I don't want to interfere in her decision making process. She's not ours to look after."

"Yes, I suppose. It must be the Princess in me that worries for her safety." She chuckled.

"I think I've had enough excitement for one day." I gently patted her back. "Come on, let's get cleaned up."

She nodded, then pushed off of me, standing and stretching.

I stood as well, doing the same. We faced each other, temporarily abandoning our objective of leaving the room. It really was a treat seeing her in the nude. I didn't know what she saw in return, but her gaze was just as clouded with love as mine. Not that it was a bad thing, of course.

As I began collecting my discarded clothing, she did the same. Though we took care to keep our love a secret, the scent of sweat and passion lingered. It would not be difficult to tell what happened between us. That begs the question though, did I really care? Is this how parents feel?

The two of us finally returned to the upper world. Chrysalis and Red were still playing video games. Reminded me of me when I was a kid. Oh god, this really is how parents feel. This relationship has given me a lot of insight into things I didn't really want to think about.

Chrysalis turned to the two of us with a somewhat suspicious smile. "How was your movie?"

I didn't like the look in her eyes. Did she already know?

"I really enjoyed it. The characters were so cute." Celestia replied with a smile, seemingly ignoring Chrysalis's gaze, "It's nothing like the movies we have in Equestria. We'll have to watch it together sometime."

Er... Was that a reference to... No, it couldn't be. Celestia wouldn't.... Maybe she would.

There was a brief period where Chrysalis pondered what Celestia said that made me further question whether we were still talking about movies. She replied with a pleasant, "Perhaps it would be fun. I haven't watched a movie since they started making them."

Red, blissfully ignorant of our ways, brushed us off as she took advantage of Chrysalis's distraction to secure her victory. Chrysalis didn't seem too bothered by Red's tactics, even as Red flashed her a decidedly smug look.

"The two of us are gonna get ready for bed." I said, motioning to them that we were going to step past.

"Don't let us stop you." said Red, "The sooner you're out of our way, the sooner we can get back to the game."

"Yeah, that... Alright." I shrugged. She was right.

Celestia and I moved into the bathroom to brush our teeth. Among other things. With our daily rituals complete, we finally returned to the basement.

Alone again. With her. Though we had just put our clothing back on, they were once again discarded, this time just to the underwear. The two of us laid on the couch. Her body always felt so warm against mine, her back against my chest. My arms tightened around her midsection as I was once again reminded of how much I loved her.

"Do you think she knew?" Celestia asked.

"Chrysalis?"

"Mmm-hmm."

"Maybe. I don't really care."

"Hmm... I don't either." She giggled, caressing my hands.

"We don't have to deal with them."

"No, but it's polite."

"Yeah, that's true. Well, maybe we can try to tone it down."

She let out a sigh.

"We'll get our chance."

"Yes... I miss our bed."

"Yeah. Chrysalis didn't even use it last night."

"We should still allow her to use it. She can't have recovered fully, yet. I can't wait to show you my bedroom."

"I'm looking forward to it."

"I can't begin to tell you how much I enjoy this."

I gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Haven't you said that already?"

"I'll say it as many times as I wish."

I gave her another squeeze. "Goodnight, honey."

"Goodnight."
> Chapter 25
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

4/21/2022
I have moved chapters 5-26 to 4-24. This is just moving the chapters around and has no baring on the story
> Chapter 26
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

4/21/2022
I have moved chapters 5-26 to 4-24. This is just moving the chapters around and has no baring on the story
> Chapter 27: Morning (Plot disconnect begins)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Note 11/10/2020: Due to current editing, there is a large disconnect in the plot of the story between the previous chapter and this. Additionally, the quality of writing drops significantly. 



November 19



Right... Work... Sarah... I had to go to work and talk to Sarah. Alright...

And I had to go to the store, too. I can't forget that.

I gave Celestia a loving farewell and Red a not-so-personal farewell before leaving. Red was playing Smash Brothers. She looked... just awful right now. She must've been up all night again.

On my way to work, I thought about what I would say to Sarah. The decision to leave your home isn't a small one. Even so, Ben is an insufferable jerk. I understand Sarah's decision.

As was the case with every other time, I was at work first. I greeted the previous shift as I walked into the building. They were a pleasant bunch.

Not long after I had arrived, Sarah showed up. I was a bit surprised to see her this early.

She immediately walked over to me. From what I could see, she was completely composed. As composed as she normally was, at least. So this situation wouldn't affect her work efficiency... Who cares...

I was sitting at a table right now, drinking a soda. I really needed something sweet right now. I was tired. She sat down across from me.

"How's your dad?" I asked.

"Angry. He's very angry. Phil, I'm worried. My father is a powerful man. What if he tries to do something?"

I shrugged. "I'm not worried about me. I'm prepared for whatever happens. What does powerful even mean, though? What was he talking about?"

"I don't know. He was saying it after you left."

"Whatever. Look, I'm more worried about you. You said you were gonna move out."

"I am. I have to. I can't live with my father anymore, not after this."

"When are you planning on moving out?"

"I don't know. Soon. I've been looking at some apartments nearby. It's expensive, but I can afford it. I have some money saved away."

"How about my place?" I asked, "Would you be interested in staying with us for a little while?"

She was surprised by my offer. She shook her head, eyes wide. "No, I couldn't do that to you."

"I'm pretty sure you don't have a lot of money, Sarah. You won't have any options, soon. Now, you don't have to stay with us. In all honesty, I don't want you staying with us. Don't get me wrong, I like you, but we already have Red. And even if she was gone, Celestia and I like our privacy. But it's available, Sarah. I just want you to know that. The choice is there if you need it. Celestia agreed to let you stay if you needed it. So if you can't find a place, or if you can't handle it on your own, you're always welcome in our home."

She smiled at me, then gave me a nod. "Thank you, Phil... That means a lot to me. You're... You're the only one I have here. You and my mother."

"How is she?" I asked.

"She's well. Are you worried about her?"

I nodded.

"My... My father may not be a kind man, but he's not a bad father. He's not a bad husband to my mother either, as far as I know. He's... He's not there often, but he's never unkind to us."

"I just... I just want to know you're fine, you know? You're my friend, I care about you. Celestia and I both care about you."

"Thank you... Thank you so much, Phil... You don't know how much this all means to me... I... I'm sorry my father acted the way he did."

"I know, Sarah."

"If... I should have known something like this would happen, I should've..."

"Sarah, it's not your fault. Come on. You're gonna have a lot on your plate soon, Sarah. You have enough to worry about, this isn't something that should be on the list."

"Y-You're right... Yeah, you're right."

"God, I thought he was supposed to be Christian. What happened to 'love thy neighbor'?"

"He... I was raised Christian, it's just how it's always been. I don't know why he's like this..."

I sighed. "Sorry. Ready to get to work, Sarah?"

She nodded. "Yeah."

"Good. It's showtime. Look busy, the boss might be watching. Hey, wait a minute, I'm the boss."

She gave off a small chuckle. "Y-Yeah."

I think a few of the others were a little suspicious of me and Sarah. We didn't talk loud enough for them to hear us and they didn't move close enough to catch what we were saying, so they still had no idea why we were so friendly. Unfortunately, this rumor might still end up in the ears of my superiors.

As we were getting up, I stopped Sarah and asked, "We're done, right? Our fake relationship is over, right?"

She nodded. "Y-Yeah..."

"Oh good... Good... This whole thing was a little worrisome, you know? But it's behind us now, so that's good."

"Yeah... We should get to work."

"Right, sorry."

Well, I had to talk to Sarah, and talk I have. I had a bad feeling about all this, but it passed after lunch, so I was probably just hungry.

I got a phone call about an hour after lunch. It said Celestia, but it could be either Celestia or Red.

I stepped aside and answered it. "What up?"

"Hello, Phil." I heard Celestia say.

"What's up?" I asked again, my mood slightly improved.

"I wanted to show Red the movie we watched yesterday. How do I do that?"

"Oh. You at the computer?"

"I am."

"Alright..." I led her to the movies folder from the desktop.

"Thank you!" she happily let out.

"Yeah, there are a few movies there. You remember what it was called, right?"

"I do, don't worry. Can we watch some of these other movies when you get home?"

"Of course we can. Don't you have something to do, though? Not to say you can't watch movies, but those books are still pretty important."

"It's not an issue. I'm taking a small break."

"Well... Yeah, you're right, it's not an issue."

"Oh, I wish you were here. With pizza. I'm hungry."

"Wh... Feed yourself! I'm at work, I can't come home and feed you!"

She laughed into the phone. "I'll see you when you get home! I love you!"

"Alright then. Love you, too."

I closed the call. When I returned to my job, I was given some strange looks.

"What?" I asked, confused.

"Who was that?"

"Girlfriend." I replied.

"I... thought you were with Sarah." said Timmy.

I shook my head. "I can't date employees, fuckwit. Sarah's nice, but I already have a girlfriend."

"Oh... So... you're over Celestia, then?"

I shrugged. "I wouldn't say 'over'. More like, 'she came back, so everything's good now'."

"Whoa, what? She's back? Holy shit, that's awesome! How come you haven't told us?"

"Yeah Phil, she was really nice." added another worker.

I shrugged. "It's not a professional thing to bring up."

"Phil, we flip burgers for a living, there's nothing professional about this." said Timmy.

"Yeah, maybe for you." I said, "I gotta keep a professional appearance. It sucks ass. And not the good kind of ass, either. Also, I hate you all, so I didn't want to talk to you."

"Oh shut up, you love us."

"Depends on how much you're offering."

"Well, I guess that would explain why you've been in a good mood recently." said Timmy.

"Come on guys, back to work." I said to them.

Even though it was work time, I was peppered with questions about my relationship. Everyone seemed to remember the beautiful woman that showed up here one day. Everyone was curious about her.

Why did today have to be a slow day...

I tried to give them as little information as I could, even speaking from the standpoint that Celestia was human. Timmy knew the truth, and thankfully, he kept it to himself.

"You are not very forthcoming about her." noticed one of my co-workers.

"You are supposed to be working." I replied to him.

"Yeah, c-come on, let's get back to work, guys." Sarah let out, joining us.

Some of them looked to her. She immediately became shy again. She looked to me for support.

"Hey Sarah, what happened between you two?" asked one of them.

"Yeah, we thought you were dating."

"Uh... We... We weren't..."

I stepped forward and said, "We were kinda, for a short while, but it just didn't feel right." I said. We needed to cover all angles, here. If word gets back to Sarah's dad that we were never actually together, something is bound to happen.

Sarah gave me a surprised look.

"Is that true, Sarah?" asked one of them.

"Uh... Y-Yeah! Yeah, it's true. W-We... We went... I... It d-didn't..." She was... struggling.

"Come on everyone, back to work." I said again, "Remember, until you leave here today, I own you all."

They grumbled amongst themselves as they returned to their stations.

Sarah walked up to me. "Thank you."

"Yep." I explained why I had told them we had dated.

"Oh..." She nodded. "Alright."

"Alright, you got something to do."

"Y-Yes, sir!"

I smiled at her. She smiled back.

As the day progressed towards the end of work, I found myself thinking of Celestia again. I was cheerfully in thought. I wasn't thinking of anything in particular, just of her. I missed her... All I wanted to do was go home and cuddle away the rest of the day with her.

Since I was anticipating something at the end of the work day, it dragged on. It didn't help that the work day wasn't very exciting.

I saw the manager for the next shift show up, which meant it was about time to go. I got excited at the thought of leaving, not because the work was awful, but because something better was waiting for me at home.

I gave Sarah a short goodbye before leaving.

On my way home, I remembered that I had some shopping to do. Idea! I could bring Celestia!

"Celestia!" I happily let out as I walked inside.

I looked to the couch and was surprised to see that it was empty. Where is she? Oh right, the basement.

I opened the door and walked down. I heard a movie playing.

Celestia looked to me as I entered the room. She smiled at me, then placed a finger over her lips to tell me to be quiet.

Red was asleep on the couch. Her head was in Celestia's lap. Celestia was gently stroking her hair as she watched the movie.

I went to the speakers and turned them down. I gave Celestia a smile. "Have you been mothering Red?" I asked her.

She sheepishly smiled. "A little..."

"You wanna go shopping?" I asked her.

Her face lit up. She nodded excitedly.

She gently lifted Red's head, then got up, setting Red down onto the couch.

Celestia stood up and walked to me. She had a pleasant smile on her face. "What are we getting?" she asked.

"Anything you want. Come on."

She eagerly followed me back up the stairs.

"I gotta change first, then we'll go." I said to her.

She smiled. "I'll get ready as well." She paused, then gave me a strange look. "You're staring at me."

"You have such a pretty smile." I said to her.

She smiled again.

"I'll be back." I said.

It didn't take me long to get ready. I needed to change out of my work clothes, but that was it. I didn't actually know what Celestia needed to do, but it must not have been very big because she was ready when I was.

"You need a coat." I realized as I grabbed mine. I gave my hoodie to her and said, "Here, I have another around here somewhere."

She put it on and zipped it up. She smiled at me, then grabbed the fabric near the zipper and brought it up to her face. "It smells like you." she said.

"Gonna smell you in a second here, you keep this up." I playfully threatened her.

She laughed.

I went into my room to look for my second coat. Actually... I had no idea where it was.

I let out a confused, "Huh..."

"Is everything alright?" she asked me.

"Yeah, it's just... I lost my other sweater."

"Oh! I washed it. It's in your dresser."

"Oh... Well, thank you."

She smiled. "You're welcome."

I retrieved the sweater from my dresser and put it on as I walked out of the room.

"You're still doing my chores, huh?"

She nodded. "That's right. You don't have to worry about a thing."

"I appreciate it." I said to her, giving her a pleasant smile.

I didn't really want her to do anything for me. I did it all myself before she got here and I will continue to do so after she leaves. It makes her happy to do the things a wife would do for her husband, at least in her own view of the world. If it makes her happy, there's no reason to ask her to stop.

The two of us left the house. Celestia told me that she left her phone for Red again on the way out. We were talking to each other all the way to the store.

"We'll be getting groceries for the house again. And Red needs tampons. And... for that matter, pads."

"Red's on her period?"

"She said she would be soon." I said.

Celestia sighed. "I wonder if I'll actually get a period before you get me pregnant..."

"Maybe. Speaking of, we should get you some pregnancy tests."

She giggled. "And more Twinkies."

"God, is the box gone already?"

"Maybe it is..." she let out with another laugh.

"Celestia, you have an addiction."

"Perhaps you're right."

I drove us to Woodman's. The two of us got out of the car. She was smiling brightly as we walked into the store together.

"You're home more often that I am, what do we need?" I asked her.

"Ooohh... Those..." she let out, not really paying attention. She was staring at the bakery section of the store near the door we walked in. Inside a clear plastic door, freshly baked doughnuts rested, blissfully ignorant that the bringer of their apocalypse stood just a few feet away.

"You can get some on our way out, we can't eat them before we pay."

She turned to me and gave me a powerful puppy dog eyed gaze.

"God, you're like a five year old. Get one and meet me by the register. Just one."

"Yay!" She gave me a kiss on the cheek before prancing over to the case.

"And don't eat it before it's paid for!" I called after her.

"I won't!"

I walked over to one of the nearby registers and waited for her. She walked over to me after a short while and I paid for it. By the time I turned around, the doughnut was completely gone.

"Can I get some more?" she asked me, her mouth full of food.

"Celestia, you are 27 years old, act your age."

She snorted, then started laughing.

"You can have more later. We gotta get the shopping done first. You're gonna run out of food if you keep eating the way you do."

"Phil!" she gave me a playful shove.

"Come on." I said to her, walking towards the carts.

Since Celestia knew more about the food situation at home, I allowed her to pick what she thought we needed. I quickly realized that this was a mistake. I clearly gave her too much freedom.

I made sure to pick up Red's feminine products as well.

"Hey, Phil." said Celestia. Her voice was a little more serious than before.

I looked to her. She was holding a small box in her hand. Upon closer inspection, I saw that it was a box of condoms. It was a bit hidden in her hand so others wouldn't see it and feel awkward.

"You know, just in case." she said, a somewhat nervous smile on her face.

"You're really stuck on that, aren't you..."

She just kept smiling.

I shrugged. "Nothing to lose by having them around." I said.

She placed them into the cart.

"Is that... everything?" I asked her.

"I think so." she replied.

"Now for your favorite part."

She smiled again. "Doughnuts!"

The two of us went back to the bakery. We picked out some doughnuts for ourselves that looked good. There were quite a few different types. Celestia had a much more varied selection than I did.

The second I had paid, Celestia started eating her doughnuts. I just smiled at her.

As we were packing our groceries into the car, I grabbed my own bag of doughnuts. I took one out and looked at it.

"Hey Celestia, remind you of something?" I asked her, holding it up and pointing at the center.

She laughed. "Phil, you're disgusting!"

I looked to her, then to the food in my hand. I smiled, then slowly ran my tongue along the middle of the doughnut, making sure she could see what I was doing.

She slowly stopped laughing. Her eyes were wide as she stared at me.

"Me next." she quietly let out, surprised by my lewd gesture.

I just smirked, then continued to put groceries away, eating the doughnut as I did.

She grumbled, then got into the car in a huff. When I was finished, I joined her.

I saw that her arms were crossed. She was looking away from me.

"Come on, you can't stay mad forever." I said to her as I left the parking lot.

She made an exaggerated gesture of looking away by turning her body.

I lowered my hand to her knee and gently rubbed it.

"You wanna stop at that motel and do something dirty?" I asked her in a tone one would use on a child, pointing to an older motel that was visible as you left the street leading to Woodman's.

She let out a small laugh. "No, no, I'm just kidding. It's alright."

"You're silly... Right... Now, Woodman's doesn't carry pregnancy tests, but they do." I said, gesturing to a pharmacy down the road.

"Will we really need a pregnancy test? I'm fine if it's a surprise."

"I don't know. Up to you."

"Well... Alright, let's get some. Red has been preventing us from trying to get pregnant anyways, it's not like it matters much."

"Oh, Red hasn't been stopping us. Besides, who knows, you might already be pregnant and you're just not showing, yet."

She smiled and looked down to her stomach, gently rubbing it with a hand. "You're gonna make me cry again."

"We've talked about this. You're too happy, Celestia." I stopped in the parking lot. "Coming in or staying here?" I asked.

"I'll come in."

"Alright, then."

We got out of the car and went inside. After a short while of searching, we managed to find what we needed.

Celestia looked at the test we were buying.

"You know, I've never... actually used one of these." she said.

"You pee on it."

"I know, I know... This is a rather new invention for us ponies, at least in my lifetime. I haven't had a need for it."

"Huh... Well, I haven't used it either."

She snickered. "You're a man."

"Oh, yeah."

"Oh yeah? What, did you forget?"

"No, I would never. Never... No... Forget... That. Come on."

We had enough tests for a while, provided we were going to test more than the one time. When we went to purchase them, the cashier gave us a friendly smile.

"I see someone's preparing for something." she said to us, scanning the products.

Celestia looked to me, then looked to the lady, a cute smile on her face.

"Something like that." she replied, "We're trying."

"Well, good luck to you."

"Thank you."

After we left the store, I said, "You know, I think it's kinda weird that lady now knows we're having sex."

"Well... it's not a secret."

"I know. It's just a weird subject to bring up. Everyone says being pregnant is such a wonderful thing, but they seem to skip the part where the expecting parents were busy making it happen."

"Nobody wants to think about that."

"Yeah, I know."

"But there is going to be a lot of 'making it happen' in our future."

"You dirty birdie. Hey, how long do you think it will take for you to get through those books? I think I already asked this..."

"I couldn't say for sure. It's not easy. It may take quite a long time. I might leave before I find my answers."

"How long do you think it took Chrysalis to master traveling between worlds?"

"There's no way of knowing. If she took the books just before entering this world, it took her less than a month. If she had the books before then, it could've been much longer."

"I kinda wish she stayed. It would've been helpful if she taught you."

"I understand her reasons."

"Good, 'cause I sure don't."

"She may be our friend, but she still has her subjects to look after. She knows I have the capability to learn these spells. Even so, these books contain other important knowledge. They contain information regarding..." She sighed. "Magic. You still have no idea what I'm talking about."

"Got that right."

"Hmm... The issue remains on how we would transport you. A being from a non-magical world would be nearly impossible to transport."

"Hmm..."

"I have doubts that the books were ever in our libraries. I have no idea where she could've gotten them."

"Think she lied?"

"She's done it before."

Celestia and I returned home before Red woke up. She told me that Red fell asleep recently, so she'd probably be out until the middle of the night.

Celestia disappeared into the bathroom and came back a few minutes later. "It was negative." she told me upon returning.

I shrugged. "Guess we gotta keep trying, then."

"Do you want to try right now?" she asked me with a smile.

"I dunno. It was hard enough keeping you quiet last time we did, even with my hand over your mouth."

"I still think that's hot."

"I know you do. I'm getting hungry, though."

"I'm hungry, too. What's for supper?"

With Red asleep, Celestia and I could spend time together privately. We took this chance to make supper together.

Today's meal was ramen. I put in a lot of extra spices and some chopped up onions, but it was still just ramen. Celestia liked it.

I didn't like that she didn't eat meat. It made it difficult to cook for her. *It also makes it difficult to pick unique meals.*

"Phil." Celestia let out as we ate.

I looked to her.

"I don't think I will be able to decipher these spellbooks before I return home. There's too much work for my sister and I in Equestria. We won't be able to complete our research as quick as I had hoped. I... am starting to dislike Star Song. Anyways... When I return to Equestria, I am going to introduce these books to my former student, Twilight Sparkle. I believe that she is the most capable pony for this task."

I nodded. "You gotta go soon."

She sighed. "Yes... And... I can't promise I'll be back the next month, either."

"Shouldn't Twilight be done by then?"

"I can't be sure about that." she replied, "She is an incredibly gifted pony. If any of us can decipher them, she can."

"Sure would've been useful if Chrysalis stayed with us for this part." I said, complaining a little.

"There's no use in bringing up the past. So... with this in mind, I have a question for you. Would you think my former student would appreciate a chance to study this world?"

"Are... you saying that you want to invite Twilight Sparkle here?"

She nodded. "It's not necessary, of course. I could take the books to my world and give them to her for her to study. I wanted your thoughts. I know that she would appreciate the opportunity to learn more about your world, but do you think it would be a good idea to bring her here?"

"I... I dunno... What do you think?"

"Well, I don't think that it would be a bad idea. Although... Now that I'm thinking it over again, the thought of letting a beautiful, impressionable, young woman stay in your home alone with you fills me with a deep anger." she said with a smile.

"I don't know how I feel about anybody staying in my home."

"I understand. What do you think she would look like as a human?"

"I dunno. Pretty?"

"Think you'd wanna..." She leaned forward and gave me a sly smile.

"Wanna..."

"You know..."

"I, uh... believe that you're thinking something inappropriate again."

"You know me so well..." She laughed. "Although... Now that Twilight Sparkle is legally a part of my family... Hmm... Perhaps not Twilight, I don't know."

"Celestia, would you stop it with that?!" I yelled at her.

She let out a loud laugh. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Back to before, though..." She took in a breath. "I think she would find it very interesting to stay here."

"I feel like you're kinda pushing this on me, to be honest."

"I... My goodness, no. I'm sorry. It was just meant to be a suggestion."

"It's not a bad idea. You're just... being kinda pushy." I said.

"I know... I'm just a bit excited at the thought of you finally meeting one of my friends. And..." She gave me a smile. "It's a little fun picking on Twilight. I know I shouldn't. It's very irresponsible of me... but..." She giggled.

"She could learn a lot here." I said, "She could learn a lot of information she can use in Equestria if she goes on the internet. And if she finishes the research while she's here, she could teleport right back whenever she wants. It's just... there's no actual reason we should invite her here, you know?"

"I understand that. Twilight has no reason to come here, of course. I just thought that it may have proven interesting."

"So... why do you want to invite Twilight here?" I asked her.

"I want to see her reactions. I want to know more about my former student. I want to watch her learn and improve."

"So you send her here and spy on her?"

"When you put it that way, it does sound strange, doesn't it..." She giggled nervously.

"Do you not have any reason other than 'it sounds fun'?"

"Uh... N-No. No, I don't."

I smiled at her. "I think it sounds pretty fun, too."

"Unfortunately, I don't know if I really want Twilight living alone with you. You are very... charismatic."

"It's the Stockholm syndrome." I said, "People who live here get attached to their captor."

She let out a short laugh. "We're not exactly allowed to leave, are we..."

"Well, Red isn't."

Another laugh. "I don't know how she would react to you as a person. I have no reason to doubt that you will be fast friends. You're both intellectuals, after all."

"Intellectual? Me? Celestia, I can't even spell intellectual." *I really can't, I had to look it up.*

"Stop belittling yourself, you're very bright."

"Whatever."

"Perhaps you could teach her what you know about computers."

"One step at a time here, alright Celestia? Alright, it's fine with me if Twilight stays a month in my home. I don't have a big issue with that. But you have some problems with that."

She nodded. "Yes. They're... complicated."

"Right, go. Name them."

"What?"

"Name the problems, go. Don't think about it, just talk. Go!"

"I don't want you touching her." she said.

"Understood. Next."

"I don't want her touching you."

"Are all of these problems related to sex?"

"S-Some of them are. I won't be here, I just want to make sure."

"Celestia, I am hurt. I mean, not really. Like, I understand what you're saying, but you get what I mean, right?"

She nodded. "I'm sorry."

"It's alright, I still love you."

"I love you, too."

I pointed at her with both hands. "Problems, go."

She took in a breath. "If Twilight were to come here, it would split up the Elements of Harmony. My sister and I are powerful as it is, but we're not invincible. Equestria would have a month long vulnerability."

"That's an issue."

Celestia nodded. "Another issue, if you can't become friends, she would be trapped with someone she dislikes, which would be awful."

"I can't see that happening."

"I can't either. Twilight is very friendly, you should have no problems becoming her friend."

I nodded.

"She holds some influence in Ponyville, even before she became a Princess. They should be fine without her, but it's still one of my concerns."

"Hmm..."

"Those are... the biggest issues, I believe. The issues I felt were the largest were all personal issues, to be honest."

I shrugged. "That just proves that you love me."

"It proves that I don't trust you." she said, her voice quiet.

"Celestia, come on..." I gently let out.

"What would you do if I did something like that?" she asked me.

"Hmm? If you did what?"

"If I was... unfaithful... If I cheated on you."

I gave her a surprised look. "I... didn't expect that question."

"Well?"

"I'd break up with you. Immediately. I wouldn't have to do anything else because I know how bad that would be for you. And I already know you won't do it anyways. It's honestly never been an issue to me."

"Wh... Why is... that?" she asked, curious.

"You haven't had a boyfriend in a few hundred years. You're not gonna ruin what you won't have again for hundreds of years just for ten seconds of shame."

"I..."

"How about you? What would you do if I was unfaithful?"

"I... I don't know." Her voice got quiet. "It's... It's not something I've ever had to deal with..."

"That so?"

She nodded. "No sane pony would ever become unfaithful to me."

I chuckled. "So... what if I was?"

"I... I don't know..."

"It'd probably be something you'd decide in the heat of the moment."

"I... I might... I might kill you." she said quietly.

"Ah... Alright then."

"A-Alright then? I... I just threatened your life and you respond with 'alright'?!"

"I mean, it's not gonna happen, so I'll be fine. Simple as that."

"S-Simple?"

"Celestia, you are really disappointing me right now." I said in a serious tone, "And I'm not kidding, either. I'm very disappointed in you right now."

She was shocked that I said this. A few moments later, a look of sorrow covered her face. She looked down, away from my eyes. "I... I'm sorry..."

"I'm sure you wouldn't like it if I was implying that you were going to do something like that."

"I... I wasn't... I... I'm sorry... I have no excuse..."

"You see Celestia, our relationship is perfect. No matter how much we might bicker at each other throughout the day, we'll always end up together in bed, cuddling the night away. Neither of us wants any more or any less from each other, and neither of us will ever want any more or any less. You might be wondering how I know this. I know me pretty well, so that's half of the question. The other half is you, Celestia." I pointed at her.

She looked up, curious.

"You're thousands of years old. Your personality is already set in stone. Your needs and your wants, Celestia... They're not going to change. So that's the second half of the question. Now, the third half of the question... Bear with me... Is our relationship as a whole. We've fought before, already. But we've gotten through it. And it's not like something worse is gonna come up. Not anytime soon, at least. And we'll get through that, too. Now... Are you gonna stop implying that I'm gonna lure Twilight to my bed while you're not here?"

"I..." She nodded. "I'm sorry. I'm really sorry..."

"I forgive you, Celestia... Come on, wipe your tears and cheer up. Take a deep breath."

She looked up in surprise, then quickly wiped her eyes. "I... I didn't realize I was crying... I'm sorry."

"Celestia, stop apologizing."

"Right, I'm s... I did it again..."

I laughed. She laughed with me.

"Hey..." I started, "You wanna skip the books for tonight and just go straight to bed?"

"Right now? Isn't it a bit early?"

"Well, you know... We can spend the whole night just cuddling away..."

She smiled at me once more. Her beautiful smile... "I'd like that... I... I don't think a boyfriend has ever made me cry this much before... Tears of joy, tears of sorrow... Tears when I make mistakes..."

"Tears of orgasmic ecstasy." I said, continuing her list.

She chuckled nervously. "Yes... Here, give me your dishes." She stood up.

I piled my dishes together and handed them to her. She collected what was on the table and brought everything to the sink. I stood up and walked up next to her.

"I love you." I said to her, looking at the sink.

"I love you, too. There are still some things I need to take care of before I can meet you in bed."

"Take care of?"

She nodded. "The dishes... I like when the sink is clear for the morning."

I moved my hand behind her and rested it on her far hip. I held her close to me. "You're beautiful when you're working, you know that?"

"It's almost like I'm a real housewife..." she said, her voice somewhat quiet.

"It'll be real soon, Celestia. I promise."

She leaned against me. "Stop making me so happy, I'll start crying again..." She chuckled quietly.

I rubbed her side. "We'll go to Equestria, get married, and have a kid. How's that sound?"

She sighed. "Perfect." she quietly let out.

After a short while, we pulled apart. I let go of Celestia. She started doing the dishes. Since Celestia was going to do the chores regardless, I cleaned off the table.

The two of us tidied up the kitchen together, quietly enjoying each other's presence. When we were done, we went into the bathroom to brush our teeth together. We were doing a lot of things together today, it seemed.

The two of us went to the bedroom at the same time. Celestia told me that she wanted to vacuum, but Red was still sleeping and she didn't want to wake her. I replied by telling her that she was cute, which made her smile.

After the two of us had finally settled into bed together, Celestia gave off a sigh. We were lying together, her back snuggled up against my chest. I was comfortable. She was comfortable.

"I never want you to let go, Phil." she whispered to me.

"You're mine forever, Celestia." I whispered back.



November 20



In the morning, I woke to the sound of my alarm. Before I had even moved to turn it off, it stopped. That's not a good sign... Did the battery die? Or...

"Did you do that?" I asked Celestia.

"Yes... Stay in bed with me."

"Alright... Hey... Can you give me my phone?"

"Hmm? Why?"

"I'll tell you in a minute."

I felt my phone enter the hand of the arm that laid above her. I brought it back to my face and called my boss.

After the standard semi-formal greeting, I asked him, "Would it be alright if I stayed home today?"

"I suppose so. Depends on the reason."

"Phil, I told you not to stay home because of me!" Celestia let out.

"My fiancée is sick, so I wanted to stay home and take care of her."

"I'm not sick, don't believe him!"

I pulled the phone away. "Celestia, shush."

"Your... Your fucking WHAT?! Fiancée?!" I could hear his voice even when the phone was away from my ear. Needless to say, he was surprised.

"Yeah, fiancée. So anyways, that's the reason."

"I... Yeah, that's fine. You didn't even tell me you had a girlfriend Phil, where's this fiancée talk coming from?"

"I have a life outside work, you know."

"No, you don't."

"Well, I do now, and her name's Celestia. I'll be there tomorrow, probably."

"Don't make a habit of it."

"Yep. See ya."

"Goodbye."

I set the phone down and draped my arm back over Celestia.

She gave off a grumble. "You're lucky you told him I was your fiancée or I'd be really mad at you for skipping work."

"I'm not just skipping work. I'm skipping work to spend time with my future wife."

She sighed. "You're lucky you're cute."

"I'm lucky to have such a perfect woman in my life." I said to her.

I squeezed my arms around her. She giggled.

"Let's have a fun day to ourselves." I said to her, "We could go out and get something to eat or something."

"That sounds great. What about Red, though?"

"I dunno. We can invite her to join in. Or we could just leave her here, I don't care."

"Oh, let's invite her. She's been cooped up in this home since she got here. It's not good for her."

"Sounds good. But... let's save it for later..."

She let out a pleasant noise. "Of course. Later."

I held her in my arms and pushed my body against hers. She sighed a pleasant sigh.

Right now, I felt somewhat well rested. I was very comfortable right now with Celestia in my arms. She was so warm.

I could feel her heartbeat. It was faster than normal. She was excited by something. It could be for any number of reasons.

We laid there in silence for a very long time. The second alarm went off. We turned it off immediately. Not too long after, there was a knock on the door.

"Is that Red?" I asked Celestia.

"We should see what she wants." 

"What's up?" I called.

"Don't you gotta go to work?" she asked through the door.

"I'm taking the day off." I replied.

"Oh... Well... Ok."

Celestia chuckled. "How thoughtful of her."

"Thank you, by the way!" she called back through the door.

Celestia let out a cute noise as she stretched her body out. She sighed.

The two of us laid in bed for a while longer. I was enjoying it. It was relaxing. I'm sure Celestia felt the same way.

After a while, she grabbed my hand. I gently squeezed her body.

"Should we start the day?" she asked me.

"Seems as good a time as any."

We didn't move for a while, even after saying we would. After that while, the two of us slowly started getting out of bed.

I yawned. Celestia yawned right after. We looked to each other as we sat on the bed. We both had warm smiles on our faces.

"Well, since you're taking the day off, what are we doing today?" Celestia asked me.

I shrugged. "I dunno."

She chuckled. "Make sure to tell me when you figure it out."

"I have some ideas."

I was staring at her right now, not really moving.

"What is it?" she asked.

"You... are pretty."

She smiled. "Well, thank you. Hey, come here."

"Hmm?"

"Come here."

I moved closer to her. She smiled at me.

"What's up?" I asked her.

She placed a hand onto my shoulder and moved her mouth towards my ear. "You know what doesn't make any noise at all?" She pulled back and smiled at me again. This smile was a little more mischievous than the last. "Yeah... You know..."


[Scene missing]


"Which do you want?" I asked Celestia, "The Frosted Flakes are almost gone, you won't get a second bowl of it."

We were in the kitchen getting some breakfast right now. Red was still playing her game in the front room. We gave her a pleasant greeting as we walked past.

"Is there enough for one bowl?"

"Uhh... No... Doesn't look like it."

"I'll have Lucky Charms, then."

I got it out and made us both bowls of it.

"Red, have you eaten?" I called out to the front room.

"I ate earlier, yeah."

I brought the bowls to the table and sat down. Celestia gave me a smile and thanked me. She started eating.

I joined her in the fun. Both of our bowls were emptied soon enough. She went for the bag again to get another bowl, but I stopped her.

"It's still early, so we're gonna go get some food before we start the day. Don't fill up on cereal."

"Alright." She smiled. "So we're eating out, then?"

"I am, you'll be on the receiving end."

She snickered. "I love you."

"I love you, too."

She poured herself a second bowl, but stopped after two, the thought of going out to eat still in her head.

"So, are we really inviting Red?" I asked her.

"If you want. I just thought it would be nice."

I shrugged. "I don't know. If it's just you and me, it would be a date. If Red was with us, it would be... a gathering. I guess, I don't... It wouldn't be as romantic, but it's fine by me either way. Two's company, but three's high society."

"You're fine with either?"

"Yep."

"Oh Red, would you come here for a moment?" Celestia called into the front room.

"Alright, one minute!" she called back. A short while later, she said, "Coming!" She walked through the kitchen door. "What's up?"

"Would you like to spend the day with us?" asked Celestia.

"Er... What?"

"Since Phil took a day off, we were planning on going out. I wanted to know if you would join us."

"Oh... Going out seems more like a two person thing."

"Well, I am inviting you." said Celestia.

"What are you doing?"

I shrugged. "I dunno. Shopping, eating, movies... Just fun stuff. If you think of anything, let us know. We have the whole day."

"That... sounds kinda nice, actually. It'd be a nice change of pace from sitting in this house all day."

"That's the spirit!" Celestia said with a smile.

"So, what... When is this happening?"

"Soon. Soon-ish." I said.

"How soon-ish?"

"I dunno. Soon-ish. So finish up in there."

"Alright. No problem."

"Should I get ready after I finish eating?" asked Celestia.

"Couldn't hurt."

"Well, I'm ready." said Red.

We both looked at her. She had a very messy appearance.

"Wouldn't you like to shower beforehand?" asked Celestia.

"Maybe. I don't smell, do I?"

"It's obvious that you haven't showered in a while. Your hair is very greasy, Red."

"Alright mom, I'll go shower." she sarcastically said to her. She laughed. "Sorry. I'll be back."

Celestia sighed a pleasant sigh.

"Like being called mom?" I asked her.

"Yeah... She's a good kid. I've been considering your idea of inviting her to the castle to study under my care. Do you think she'd accept?"

"Maybe. Couldn't hurt to ask."

"I'll bring it up with my sister later."

We heard the water running in the bathroom.

It was a little while before we spoke again. Celestia started the conversation back up. "Hey, if we were to ask Chrysalis, do you think you'd want to do it as a pony or a human?" she asked me.

"Probably as a human."

"I feel the same." She looked to her hand. "Having sex with this new human body is absolutely fucking incredible."

"Language."

"Oh, shush. Do you think she'd actually accept, though? I don't know how changelings view sex given their innate characteristics. Given her age, she may have a similar viewpoint to mine. Then again, the very idea of it could offend her."

"I dunno. It's not exactly the most important thing in the world right now, though."

"I know. I wish she had stayed in this world. I would've asked her."

"You would've?"

"Well... maybe not. Perhaps I'm getting ahead of myself... Asking may prove to be a mistake. I don't know. Like you said, it's not important. Can we fool around again while Red's still in the shower? The water will stop her from hearing me."

"Stop turning yourself on."

"Well, if you'd get me pregnant, we wouldn't have this issue."

"Yes we would!"

"You don't know that."

"Yes I do. In fact, having sex while pregnant can make it feel even better for the woman. It can make both your breasts and your vagina feel more sensitive."

She stared at me, eyes wide. "Are... Are you joking with me?" She looked down to her chest. "They'll get bigger and more sensitive?"

"I looked it up. I'm surprised you haven't. I mean, if you got pregnant while you were human. If you were a pony, I don't know. You're... You're thinking about it right now, aren't you..."

"Shut up and get in the bedroom." she said, standing up. She started undoing her pants as she walked away.


[Scene missing]


"We're gonna keep having sex after you have a kid, aren't we..." I asked her.

"You know we are."

"That's a lot of condoms..."

"I'll need birth control, too. I don't want an army of children running around the castle."

"Yeah..."

"One is enough, Phil. One is enough for me."

"I don't think I could survive having sex that often. There's something wrong with us, I swear."

"If we're wrong, I don't want to be right."

The two of us got out of bed again and dressed ourselves back up.

"Well... are you ready to go?" I asked her.

"In a little. I'll meet you outside."

"Think Red heard you?"

She sighed. "I don't care."

We walked out of the room. Red was playing her game on the couch again. Her hair was wrapped in a towel.

"There you two are. I was wondering where you went."

"I'm gonna go start the car. Grab a coat and meet me outside in a few minutes." I said.

Celestia wandered off as I talked to Red.

"Coat? Where from?" asked Red.

"Uh... Near the washer downstairs, there should be some cold weather gear." I said to her.

"Alright."

"Make sure to turn off the game." I said.

"Yeah, yeah."

I got my keys, then went outside and started my car. I had everything I needed right now. Coat, wallet, phone, umbrella... There was another umbrella in the trunk of the car if we needed it. I don't think we would.

I checked on my phone to make sure that my plans wouldn't be ruined.

Red showed up outside just after I opened the door to start the car.

"It's kinda cold out here." she told me.

"You can get another coat."

"No, I think I'm fine. It's just colder than I imagined it would be."

"You haven't been outside since you got here, have you?"

"You took me out shopping with the Princess before."

"Oh yeah... Well anyways, welcome back to the outside world. Try not to run off."

"Who knows, maybe I'll just get lost in the crowds."

"Do we have to hold your hand when we're outside the house?"

"Er... No..."

"Car's gonna be cold for a minute or two. Did you think of anywhere we could go?"

"Maybe. It depends how the day goes. I would like to shop a bit, though."

"What are you buyin'? Well, what am I buying you?"

"Mmm... Clothes?"

"Just like a woman. I don't know about that. You got ten days left here, you won't need any clothes."

"I guess..."

"I mean, maybe. It's just with ten days left, you probably shouldn't buy anything like that."

"I get it. Has Celestia made any progress on those books of hers?"

"I don't think so. She told me that when she returns to Equestria, she's going to invite Twilight Sparkle here so she can study the books herself. Celestia and Luna don't have enough time to study them."

"Twilight Sparkle? The Princess?"

I nodded.

"Well... alright then. Think that's a good idea?"

I shrugged. "Couldn't hurt."

"I guess."

The door opened again. Celestia walked out. She smiled at me.

"Are we ready?" she asked, walking to us.

"I think we are. Red?"

"I'm ready."

"Alright. Any place you have in mind for today?"

Red shook her head.

"Surprise me!" said Celestia.

I smiled. "Well... Good thing I wasn't relying on you two. So... How does bowling sound?"

Celestia gave me a wide smile. "That sounds great."

"Red?"

"I've never actually bowled before. Like... not even in Equestria."

"Well, you're in for a treat." I said, "However... Right now, it's pretty early. So, we're gonna go get some food while we wait for them to open."

"I like food." said Celestia.

The three of us got into the car. As we left, we continued talking.

"There's a nice little diner over by Woodman's." I said, "They have pancakes."

"I like pancakes." said Celestia.

"They also serve meat." I said, "Just a warning to you. I'll tell you what on the menu has meat in it if you ask, but I say stick with pancakes and hash browns. Ponies eat eggs, right?"

"We do." said Celestia.

"Well, they have that, too. And chocolate milk."

"What... kind of meat?" asked Red.

"Um... Pig. And I think cow."

"Huh... Is it... good?"

"Are you curious?" asked Celestia.

"No! No, no, I... I'm not... No, Princess..."

"If you're curious Red, you may try it. I've tried meat myself, recently."

"You have?"

"It was... strange. The taste was rather good, but the feeling was very strange. If you want, you are free to try."

"I... I kinda do, to be honest... So... what did it taste like?"

"It had a somewhat sweet flavor and had a rather moist texture. Like I said, it wasn't bad."

"Yeah, I eat something like that all the time." I said.

Celestia gave me a look. She smirked at me.

"We'll see how it goes when we get there." I said.

"Yeah..."

"I'd say 'good for you' for trying new things, but I don't know if it's something you should be proud of." I said, "If nothing else, you'll still have pancakes."

I parked the car outside the building and we all walked inside. Immediately upon entering, there was a warm feeling in the air, and it was more than just the heater. The pleasant smell of the food, the friendly atmosphere, and the homely decorations gave me a very welcome feeling.

As I directed our party to a table, I looked to Celestia. She was looking around, a curious look on her face. Red was a little less intrigued.

The dining area was rather full because of the day. I sat us at an empty table towards the center. There were four seats at the table, but we only needed three. It was a smaller table, but that wasn't an issue. Celestia sat next to me and Red sat on the opposite side of her.

A short while after we sat down, a friendly waitress came by and welcomed us to the restaurant. She gave us menus and asked if we would like a drink to start us off with.

"The back of the menus." I told the two of them, looking at the drinks, "Chocolate milk for me."

Celestia gasped. "Chocolate milk!"

"I... I guess chocolate milk." said Red, smiling politely.

"Three chocolate milks, coming right up." she said to us, "Is there anything else I can do for you?"

"No, thank you." I said.

She smiled, then turned and left.

"I know what I want." I said, briefly skimming the menu.

This restaurant was open in the mornings until midday, and as such served mainly breakfast food, but it also served burgers.

"What is it?" asked Celestia.

I pointed to it in the menu. "Pancakes, eggs, bacon, and hash browns." I replied.

"That sounds good! I want that."

"I guess we're all just gonna get the same thing." said Red.

"Minus the bacon." I said, "That's the meat part."

"Well... I'll try it, but..."

"Bathroom's over there." I said, pointing to it, "Don't throw up at the table."

"I... wasn't planning on it."

"Well, guess we're ready then." I said.

Celestia nodded.

"Yeah, ready." said Red.

When the waitress returned, I told her that we were ready to order, and got us three of the meal I had found on the menu. She wrote our order down and took our menus.

Celestia was already drinking her chocolate milk. I was, too. At least Red had some common sense. That's how they get you... They give you the drink first so you finish it and have to get more when your meal comes. It was really good, though.

"I haven't been here in years." I said to them, "Last time I was here, my sister was the one who wanted to go, and since I was the only one that could drive, I drove her here."

"This is yummy." said Celestia, her ever present smile on her face.

"I never expected that the Princess of Equestria would say 'yummy'." said Red.

Celestia laughed. "You've been learning quite a bit about me.

"Yeah, like I never expected the Princess to be a fat slob."

"Hey! Alright, you've got me there."

"Don't worry, Celestia." I said to her, "You're not... a slob."

"You're saying I'm fat?" she asked, feigning offense.

"Yes. We've been through this, Celestia."

"You're fat!" she defensively rebutted.

"Yes. Yes I am."

"Oh..." She paused, then giggled.

A few minutes later, our food arrived. Celestia had to get another glass of chocolate milk.

I immediately took Celestia's bacon from her plate with my fork.

"So... this is the meat part?" Red asked me, poking at it with her own fork.

I nodded. "You don't gotta eat it all. Or at all, for that matter."

She cut off a small piece with her fork and poked at it, picking it up. I tasted the bacon on my own plate.

"Is it good?" she asked me.

"Yeah, it's pretty good. Crispy. I prefer chewy, myself."

She stared at it, examining it much like Celestia did when she first tried meat for herself.

She opened her mouth and ate what was on the fork. She chewed a few times, then swallowed.

"Huh..."

"Good?" I asked her.

"Actually, yeah."

Celestia tilted her head and looked at her. "Really?"

She nodded. "I'm kinda surprised."

"Well, they're not gonna serve something if it's bad."

She picked up the strip with her fingers and looked over it. She took a larger bite of it.

"This is pretty good." she said.

I saw Celestia's fork go towards my plate. Before I knew what was happening, she stole back one of her strips.

"Oh, you're gonna give it a try?" I asked her.

She nodded. "If Red likes it, I can give it another try."

"You just like the idea of more food." I said to her.

She took a bite of it, then paused. She chewed and swallowed it.

"This is... really good." she let out, staring at the rest of it.

"Gonna set it down like the last time?" I asked.

"I don't know. It just doesn't... feel wrong."

She brought it closer to her face and smelled it, then took another bite.

"This is pretty weird." said Red, finishing off her last strip, "Shame we're such good friends with our animals, ey Princess?" She laughed. "I'm just kidding, I'm just kidding."

Celestia finished off her strip as well.

"In our world, our animals are considered citizens same as ponies. Many are perfectly sapient. There will be no eating of our animals by any pony." She smirked. "Then again, here we're not technically ponies. Perhaps I was wrong to say that meat was taboo as a human. I can't believe I've missed out on something so good while I was here."

"You're a total psychopath." said Red, "I like it. Can we get some of this at home?"

I shrugged. "Uh... Yeah, sure. You have other food on your plates, you know."

They both looked down to their plates.

"Right..."

We enjoyed a pleasant meal at a friendly diner. Celestia's plate was clear well before the rest of us were finished. She also finished off what Red couldn't eat. She tried taking my food, but I growled at her, which made her laugh. When the waitress returned, she ordered another of the same meal and more chocolate milk.

With a wave of my plastic and a flick of my hand, to sign the receipt, the meal was paid for, and we were out the door. I checked the time before we left in the car. Looks like it was just about time to go bowling.
> Chapter 28: Afternoon
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

With stomachs full of food, we headed to the bowling alley I had in mind. It was a lesser known place in town, meaning that it would be rather empty, especially at this hour.

I parked in the parking lot, noticing one other car. We got out.

Red looked at the building, examining the outside. She wasn't impressed.

"You girls ready for some fun?" I asked them.

"I am!" Celestia excitedly replied.

Red smiled. "This should be nice."

I led them inside. As we walked through the doors, we were immediately hit by the classic bowling alley smell.

Red was sniffing the air. "That's... a unique smell." she stated.

"They all smell like this." I said.

"I kinda like it."

As we walked in, to our left was a door to a separated bar area. Both Celestia and Red looked through the windows on the wall, but it was closed off and dark because of the time.

To the right, near the entrance, was a very small arcade, complete with a claw machine and a hunting game.

We walked into the main area.

"This place is pretty big." said Red, looking around.

One family was bowling in the end lane towards the snack area, which was the direction we turned to pay.

I went to the lady who was working the register. She asked us about the games and lanes we needed and the like.

"Hey, are we all gonna use one lane?" I asked the two of them.

"What's the difference?" asked Red.

"Nothing much, really. We'd bowl after another."

"I don't care." said Red.

"One lane is fine. How many games, though?"

"How long are we planning on staying?" asked Celestia.

"I dunno."

"Three games to start, then." she said, "We can get more if we want later, right?"

I nodded. "Yep. So, three games then." I said.

"Alright then. Shoe sizes?"

"Thirteen for me." I said. I turned to Celestia. "And you... Uh... What size are your shoes?"

"They don't say."

"Oh... Uh... Let's go with eleven. And Red... Same thing?"

She nodded.

"Uh... I don't know... Eight? Sure, let's go with that."

"Your shoes don't say your shoe sizes?" the lady asked.

Celestia shook her head. "The label on the tongues are blank."

"Huh... Well alright, men's thirteen, woman's eleven and eight." the lady said. She turned and retrieved the shoes for us. "If they don't fit, just tell me."

"Thank you." I said, taking my pair.

Celestia and Red both thanked her and did the same. We went to our assigned lane and began entering our names.

We agreed to let me go first because I was the only one who has bowled in the last hundred years. With their human bodies, they wouldn't know how to bowl correctly anyways.

I inputted our names, but the box only accepted five letters, so Celestia's name was shown as 'Celes', which Red laughed at.

"Alright ladies, shoes." I said to them.

"How do we know if they're too big?" asked Red, looking at her shoes.

"If you can't feel your toes at the end from the outside, they're too big." I said, "That's how I was taught."

We started putting on our shoes. As it turned out, Celestia's shoe size was more or less correct, but Red's was indeed too big. She returned to the lady to exchange shoes.

"We gotta pick a ball now." I said. I pointed at the places you could find them, which were a counter near us, and two areas along the wall along either end of the building.

Red was tying her shoes. Trying to tie them, at least.

"How do I... freaking do this?" she asked in frustration.

"Celestia, can you help her?"

"It's a bow knot." Celestia said to her.

"Oh. You know, usually I'd use my mouth to tie one of those." She chuckled.

After this revelation, she quickly tied it.

I walked to the nearby counter and examined the various bowling balls. Celestia walked to me.

"Which should I use?" she asked me.

"I wouldn't know, I'm not a very good bowler."

She chuckled. "Good thing I am." she said.

She reached in and picked one. She examined it for a number, but it was blank, as some of them are.

"Make sure your fingers fit." I said.

"Like this?" she asked, showing me how she did it.

"Yep, you got it."

"I was watching them." she said, gesturing at the other family.

I picked up a pink one that weighed eight pounds. "I like the lighter ones, but my fingers don't fit." I said, poking at it and showing her.

She smirked. I glared at her.

I shrugged, then went over and set it on the ball return.

"You're still using it?"

"I don't use the finger holes."

"Hmm? Why not?"

I shrugged again. "I don't like them."

I retrieved another ball at random. It was heavier and had big enough holes in it for me to demonstrate to them how to use them. Celestia was probably already comfortable with hers given that she had been examining the other family.

"How about me?" asked Red.

"I dunno. Just pick one."

She picked one seemingly at random.

"It's heavy." she said.

"Well, pick another one."

"No, I wanna use the heavy one."

"Oh. Well, alright then." I shrugged.

Celestia and Red placed their bowling balls onto the ball return as well. I picked up the second ball I had chosen and got into position.

We were far enough away from the family that it wasn't impolite if we bowled at the same time. I bowled correctly to show them how it was done. My first throw, I got eight pins, then got one more on my next throw.

"Something like that." I said.

Celestia smiled and approached the lane with her own ball. "Something like this..." she said.

I watched her as she threw it. She was confident and surprisingly graceful for someone who's doing something they've never done before. Alas, her first throw veered off to the side and rolled down the gutter.

"Aw..."

"This is just a practice game." I said, "In fact, all of the games are practice games. None of us are gonna do well."

Celestia threw the next ball and managed to knock all ten down at once.

She gave me a smug smile. "Is that so?" she asked me.

"Well... Celestia's gonna win this game." I said.

"It was only a spare, though." said Red.

Celestia shrugged. She smiled. "Your turn, Red."

Red walked up to the lane. She lined up her shot, then threw. Two gutter balls in a row.

She grumbled, turning around.

"Maybe we should've use bumpers." I said.

"I don't need your stinking handicap!" she said to me, aggressively pointing at me.

I shrugged, then walked up to take my turn. Once more, I demonstrated the proper way to throw the ball.

This time, I did not do as well. I got five pins and missed the second throw.

"Oh, maybe we should've used bumpers!" Red sarcastically said to me.

I looked to her. She snickered, then started to laugh.

"Red, stop picking on Phil." joked Celestia. She laughed as well.

"Your turn." I said to her.

"Right."

She walked up and threw her next ball. This time, her first throw connected with the pins. She knocked down seven. While she waited for her ball to return, she smiled at me. She got one more with her next throw.

"Doing great." I said to her.

She smiled again. "Your turn, Red."

"I'll try not to miss completely this time." she said.

She grabbed her ball and stood at the lane.

"Try taking a deep breath." said Celestia.

Red glanced back, then paused. She did as Celestia suggested. "Alright... I got this..."

She rolled the ball down the lane, this time knocking down four pins.

"I got some!" she excitedly let out, turning to us, a smile on her face.

"Good job, Red!" Celestia happily said. She was really proud of Red. "Let's see you do it again."

She quickly nodded, then grabbed her ball again.

"Remember, deep breath." said Celestia.

"Alright."

Red took in another breath to calm her nerves. She threw it again, knocking down five more.

"So close, Red!" said Celestia.

"I'll get them all next time." Red replied, confident.

This time, I bowled using the lighter ball. I didn't use the finger holes and just tossed it down the lane. It was more fun this way to me. My total was eight pins this time after the second throw.

"How long are we planning on staying?" asked Celestia.

"I dunno. Until we get bored. Or tired. They have food we can eat and drinks. Speaking of, what do you girls want to drink? They got pop. And water. And beer. You guys only know one kind of soda, so I think I can guess what you want."

"I'll have soda." said Red.

"Soda." said Celestia.

"That was easy."

I ordered us three large cups of Mountain Dew. When this place says large, they mean it. These were huge cups. I couldn't carry all three at once. Thankfully, the person manning the concession stand took the third and brought it with me.

I saw that people were starting to fill the place up. Another group of people were bowling a few lanes down.

I saw the results of Celestia's turn on the scoreboard. She got nine and a miss.

"Hey, you got close." I said to her.

"I'll get a strike soon enough." she said.

"My turn!"

Red bowled poorly this round. A three and a gutter ball. She grumbled again. "I'll do better next time."

"You're still learning." said Celestia.

"You're doing really well, though."

"What can I say? I guess I'm just lucky." She smiled smugly. "Your turn, Phil."

Our group kept up our bowling until the end of the game, cheering and high-fiving when we got a strike and groaning and encouraging ourselves when we missed. Celestia had a very proud look on her face when Red finally got a strike on her tenth frame. She was confused as to why she was allowed to go again, but didn't complain.

There was a clear winner from the start. Celestia got an impressive 193 while I had 87 and Red had 64. Celestia got a lot of strikes.

"Damn, Celestia." I said to her.

She smiled. "I could've gotten more. I just had to get a feel for..." She stopped, covering her mouth with a hand to stifle a sudden giggle fit.

I gave her a disappointed look for her dirty mind, which only seemed to make her giggle more.

"What's so funny?" asked Red.

We looked to her. Celestia looked to me. She burst out laughing, holding her stomach.

"Who's up for round two?" I asked, going to the input panel and starting the next game.

"Come on, what's so funny?"

"Oh, sweet, innocent Red." said Celestia.

"What'd I say?"

"Phil, what if we get hungry while we're here?" Celestia asked me, changing the subject.

"You can order food here. Nachos, hot dogs, burgers."

"Hot dogs and burgers are meat." she said. She was thinking it over, I saw it in her.

"There's a menu over there you can look at." I said, pointing towards it.

The food section of the building was connected to the sign in counter, but had stools at the counter leading around a corner to another area of the building with the bathrooms and locker rooms.

She looked over to the counter.

"Wait, are you hungry now?" I asked.

She smiled sheepishly.

"We just ate! Whatever. Here..." I got out my wallet and gave her my card. "Get yourself something. The hot dogs are really good, by the way. You know, if you wanted to try one."

"I'll be back." she said, taking my card.

"Oh, and get me some mini corn dogs." I said.

"Phil, we just ate." she joked.

I smiled at her.

I took my turn. Eight in total. Looking good. Celestia returned shortly to take her turn. She said they would call us when over the food was ready.

When we did get our food, I saw that Celestia had three things in her hands as she came back. She ordered nachos, one hot dog, and my mini corn dogs.

"And thank... you." I said, taking and eating one.

She eyed the plain hot dog she had ordered.

"What... is this?" she asked.

"It's pig." I said.

"I... I suppose I'm not used to seeing one so... small..."

"Oh, come on Princess, we're out in public!" complained Red.

"Look at this, Red!" she said, holding it up.

"Eww!" Red cringed at the sight of it.

"I know, it looks disgusting!" she cheerfully stated.

"If you won't eat it, I will." I said, taking it from the paper holder.

"No!" She immediately swiped it back from me. She looked at it again. "This isn't... what I think it is, right?"

"No, it's not a pig dick. It's basically just extra meat that's not used for other food."

"Extra meat? So it could include the penis?"

"I have absolutely no idea. Nobody really knows what goes into a hot dog."

"Can we just get back to bowling?" Red asked us, slightly annoyed, "It's your turn, Celestia."

"Oh, right. Sorry." She set her food down and took her turn. I stole a bite of her hot dog before she got back.

"Hey!"

"I didn't do it! It was a dog."

"Oh, so a dog did this?" she sarcastically asked.

"Yes, a dog. He just came up and took a bite. Oh hey, wow, look at that, it's my turn. I gotta go, see ya."

As I walked up to bowl, I heard, "Fine, if you're gonna eat mine, I'm gonna eat yours!"

"That's got meat in it!" I called back. I looked back. Too late.

"Huh? Oh... Oh, yes it does... This is really good..."

I shrugged, then turned back and took my turn.

"That has meat, too?" asked Red, looking at the food.

"The corn dogs are hot dogs surrounded by a layer of deep fried batter." I said.

"That sounds really unhealthy." she replied.

"Oh, yes."

"They're really good, though." said Celestia, having another.

"Hey, eat your own food!"

"Oh, right."

"Take your turn." said Red.

"Oh, right." She laughed.

She walked up and did as Red said, then walked back. She picked up the hot dog and examined it again. She took a bite of it. She let out a surprised, "Hmm!"

"Good?"

She nodded. She took another bite. It wasn't a very big hot dog, so it was gone in a flash.

"Can I get another?" she asked.

"Don't waste your nachos."

"Red can have them."

"I'm not hungry." she said.

"Oh..."

Celestia started on the nachos, which she seemed to enjoy. She really liked the cheese. I ate another of my own food before taking my turn.

"How much were those hot dogs, anyways?" I asked.

"I believe she said they were a quarter, right now."

"A quarter? Holy crap, I forgot about that. This place is awesome like that. They got cheap hot dogs sometimes. Yeah, order as many as you want. You still have my card."

"That's right, sorry."

This place had a special for 25 cent hot dogs one day of the week. I guess that day was Sunday.

"My turn." I said, walking up.

Celestia ordered more hot dogs before the end of the game. I finished my own food as well. We still had our drinks. Red took a few of Celestia's nachos.

Celestia and Red's scores went up this game. Mine went down. I'm not a very good bowler. Red almost passed me.

"Think you can get a perfect game?" I asked Celestia.

"No, no, absolutely not."

"Just cheat." said Red, "Use your magic."

"You've been cheating?" Celestia asked, surprised.

"No, of course not. But I could."

"No cheating, Red." I said to her.

"I know, I know."

I went up and started our next game.

"Hey Phil, is this a good look for me?" asked Celestia.

I looked back at her. She had put a bowling ball underneath her shirt, making it look like she was pregnant.

I smile warmly at her. "You look beautiful." I said.

She smiled back.

"C'mon guys, no lovey-dovey stuff around me. I deal with that enough at home."

Celestia took the ball out of her shirt and apologized.

"Besides, it already looks like you have two bowling balls in your shirt, anyways."

Celestia laughed. "Jealous?"

"Envious." I offhandedly corrected.

"How can I be jealous?! I don't even know what these things are!"

"They're for nursing children." I said.

"Among other things." said Celestia.

"Oh... Well, ok."

"Most humans agree that bigger boobs are more attractive." I said.

"What, so just 'cause mine are smaller, I'm less attractive?"

"Well..." I paused. "I'm more attracted to Celestia than I am to you."

"It's not all bad, Red. Your chest is still above average." said Celestia, "That's what Phil told me."

Red covered her chest with her arms and turned away. "Stop looking at my chest!"

"Way to throw me under the bus there, Celestia." I said to her, "Alright you two, let's get back to the game."

The three of us played our third game. We were all having a lot of fun. Celestia was enjoying herself, Red was enjoying herself, and I was enjoying myself.

Once more, Celestia and Red's score went up. Mind did as well, this time. Celestia had 238, I had 114, and Red had 102.

Celestia had a pretty long string of strikes, which surprised even her.

"That was the three we paid for." I said, "Do you wanna play some more?"

"Yeah, this is fun." said Red.

"I'd like to play a few more games." said Celestia.

"Alright. I'll talk at the lady. Three more?"

"Sounds good." said Celestia.

We stayed at that bowling alley for four hours. Four hours of bowling. It was borderline exhausting. It was fun, probably the most fun I've had in months, but it was tiring. Celestia had won every game we played, without fail.

It was around four right now. Midday. We were trading in our shoes and preparing to leave. Celestia had stricken up a friendly conversation with the cashier.

Red wandered towards the exit. I followed her.

"Hey, a claw machine." she said, walking into the small arcade room. It wasn't even a room, really. It was more of a pocket in the wall with a game or two.

"See anything you like?" I asked, watching her as she examine the contents.

"Not really."

All the machine contained was rubber balls with air in them. Not very exciting.

"Think they'll notice if I just took one?" she asked.

"At least pay for it." I said, giving her a dollar for the machine.

She put it in. She made very sloppy movements with the claw and dropped it without aiming it. It didn't close as it went up.

"These machines cheat, so I'm gonna cheat, too." she said, starting the second play the dollar gave her.

I didn't care. She was right, the machine did cheat.

This time, I saw a ball rise with the claw, even though it wasn't closed around it.

"There's no aura around it." I noticed.

"Cool technique, huh?"

"Yeah, it is."

She retrieved the ball she had 'won' and tossed it between her hands.

"No doing that in the car." I said.

"Yeah, yeah..."

Celestia walked over to us and looked at Red.

"Where did you get that?" she asked.

Red gestured to the machine behind us.

"I want one."

I sighed, then got out my wallet again. "You know, we always played with these on our way out." I said, giving her some money, "Me and my brother and sister. We all played around in here just before we left."

Celestia started the machine up. She dropped the claw right onto a ball, but it didn't close.

"What?! It was right on it!"

"They all do that, Princess. All of them, even in Equestria. That's why I just cheated."

"You cheated?"

"I picked one out with magic."

"Well, I'm going to get one without magic." she smugly replied.

"See, that's how they get you, Princess. They're set to only let you win every so often so if you play until you win, you're playing right into the machine's greedy claw."

"Red, be nice." I said to her, "I'll go pull the car up."

I gave Celestia enough for a few more plays and walked outside to get the car. I brought it up to the curb next to the door. They both walked out. Celestia was proudly holding a ball of her own in her hands.

"Hey, you did it!" I happily said to her.

She let out a small laugh. "I told you I'd do it without cheating, Red."

"Yeah, yeah..."

"Hey girls, how do you feel about the weather?" I asked them.

"It's alright." said Red.

"It's nice." said Celestia, "Why do you ask?"

"I wanted to do something else, but it's an outdoor thing. I was just wondering if you'd be fine with it given the temperature outside."

I started us down the road.

"It's rather comfortable, actually. A little brisk, but otherwise very comfortable."

"Yeah, I like it." said Red.

"You've planned out the whole day for us, haven't you?" Celestia asked, smiling at me.

"Well, I might have planned a bit... Or... I might have planned out the entire day. Let's see how it goes."

"So what are we doing?" asked Red.

"Mini-golf!"

"That sounds like fun!" Celestia happily let out.

"I'm up for some mini-golf." said Red.

"So Red, have you played mini-golf at home?" I asked her.

"This time, I can say that I have." she replied.

"Good, good. That'll save about a minute of explaining."

"A minute? Yeah, I guess it's a pretty simple game."

"Hit this ball into that hole with this club from there." I said, jokingly explaining the rules, "Don't hit it while it's moving and don't get in the way. Lowest strokes wins. How'd I do?"

"Yeah, that's accurate."

"It didn't even take a minute." said Celestia.

"Alright, bit of a journey to get there." I said, "It's on the other side of town, like in the opposite direction."

"How long is it gonna take?" asked Red.

"I dunno. Fifteen, twenty minutes, maybe. Or more. Or less, I'm not good with distances and time."

"It won't be long, Red." said Celestia.

"Is it uncomfortable to sit behind us?" I asked, "Do you have enough room?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine."

"Alright, good."

I took the three of us to a mini-golf course just north of town towards my grandmother's house.

It was located on a freeway, across from a small airport. I think it was a private airport, I don't know. It only had smaller planes, there were no passenger or cargo jets. Both Celestia and Red were very curious about it. Neither of them have seen a plane before.

I pulled into the small parking lot and we got out. There were some other cars here, but from the looks of it, the mini-golf course was empty.

"What a cozy little golf course..." Celestia let out, looking over the course as we went to the rental building.

"I guess that's one way to describe it."

I paid for our three games, one for each of us. We were given putters by the man in the building. There were different colors of golf balls in a holder on the counter, as well as pencils and score sheets.

"Are we keeping score?" I asked them.

"Of course we are." said Red, picking up a score sheet.

"Alright, pick a ball color." I said.

I picked green. Celestia picked pink and Red picked... red.

"Very imaginative." I said to her.

"It's my favorite color."

"That so? Could've sworn it was blue."

"I picked pink because I think it's cute." said Celestia, holding her golf ball up for us to see.

We both looked at her. She had a goofy smile on her face. Red laughed. I smiled back at her.

"You're like a six year old." I said to her.

"I'm six and a half!"

Red laughed harder. 

"Well... Anyways... Ladies first." I said, gesturing towards the first hole that was behind us.

"You're not going to teach us?" asked Celestia.

"Want me to?"

"I think we can figure it out." said Red, stepping forward.

Hole one was a simple hole with a decorative donkey standing above the hole. It was a straight shot to the hole, but there was a small ramp upwards, so a little force was needed.

Red placed her ball on the starting pad and attempted to aim her putter. She was struggling. Neither of them would know how to hold their putters.

"Like this." I said, showing them how to hold it properly.

"I don't need your help!" she quickly snapped back.

"Yes you do, Red." said Celestia.

She looked at me, then adjusted her grip. She lined up the shot, then hit the ball.

It went up the ramp, but it seems she hit it too hard, as it bounced back off the far wall and rolled right back.

"Mulligan." I jokingly said.

Celestia smirked.

"Huh?" asked Red.

"Try again." I said.

She nodded, then lined up her next shot. It got up the hill and managed to stay there, close to the hole.

"Good job, Red." said Celestia.

"Good job." I said.

"My turn!" said Celestia, placing her ball down.

This is going to be interesting...

She hit the ball. It made it up the hill and almost went in, but rounded the edge of the hole and rolled away.

"Oh, too much." she said, disappointed.

I patted her back. "You got close."

"Yeah, you did good, Princess."

"Thank you."

I hit mine next. Disappointingly, it didn't even make it up the hill.

"Oh, come on! I'm doing that over."

"No, you have to play it where it lies." said Red.

"You got to do it over!"

"I've never done this before!"

I smiled. "Whatever. Your turn."

She walked to her ball and gave it a tap. It went in.

"Alright, two." she said, "What's the par?"

"Who cares?" I said.

"I do. Oh, it says on the paper. Sure are a lot of threes on this thing."

"It doesn't matter what the par is." I said, "You're gonna be hitting the same number of strokes regardless."

"The par in golf is used to award a higher score on larger or more difficult holes." said Celestia, "Say, if a hole is par five and you sink the ball in three, your score is negative two, but if the par was three, your score is zero."

"Huh..." I shrugged, "I guess."

"Golf is weird." said Red. She reached down and retrieved her ball from the hole. "Your turn, Princess."

Celestia nodded. She took her shot, managing to sink it. She smiled, then picked up her ball.

I hit it up the hill on my next shot, then sunk it with my third.

"Looks like you're lagging behind a bit." said Red.

"It's the first hole!"

"Oh, look at the second hole." said Celestia.

Red examined the next threat.

"This one is notorious in my family." I said, "We all hate it."

"What's wrong with it? It doesn't look too hard."

Celestia chuckled.

Hole two seemed simple enough, but it was a lie. There was a longer straightaway that led into a hill. On top of the hill was a crater that had the hole in the center. It you got in the crater, you were good. If you overshot it, the ball would roll down the other side of the hill. After it rolls down the other side, your spirit breaks, and you keep hitting it between sides until you give up. I'm joking, of course. It's was just a little frustrating at times.

"Well, I'll go first." said Red.

She set her ball down and hit it. As I thought, she hit it past the hole and down the other side.

"Oh, that's not good." she said.

Celestia went next.

"I don't want to hit it down the other side." she said, examining the hole again.

When she was satisfied, she got into position. She took her time to line up her shot, then hit the ball.

To our collective amusement, Celestia got today's first hole-in-one. Red and I cheered for her. She had a pleased look on her face.

I waited for Celestia to collect her ball before hitting mine. Just like Red, I missed the hole and ended up on the other side.

"Curses." I said, walking towards it.

Red took her shot, which ended up just rolling her ball down the other side. This time, there was no wall, so it just kept rolling.

"No! Stop, stop, stop!" Red cried out, running after it.

Celestia laughed at her.

I hit my ball next and managed to get it on the hill, but the ball got caught on the edge of the worn out hole and stopped before going in.

"Dang it." I said, pushing it in with the edge of my club.

"Hey, it was my turn!" said Red.

"Put me down for three." I said.

"Take a deep breath, Red." Celestia suggested, "You don't need to hit it as hard as before."

"Yeah, yeah..."

Red paused and took in a breath like Celestia said. She aimed her putter, then hit the ball.

It made it up the hill, stopping before the crater. She hit the ball again, sinking it.

"Mmm... Looks like someone's lagging behind." said Celestia, a certain sarcastic tone in her voice.

"It's the second hole!" she replied.

"We're both behind." I said to her.

"Yeah, yeah..."

The third hole was a straight shot to the hole, but aiming off to the side would land it in a bunker or make it hit an obstacle. Thankfully, all three of us were able to get it past the obstacle and sink it in two strokes.

Hole four was the first unique hole. We hit the ball up a steep angle into a wooden building, where the ball rolled through a pipe and went through a flower garden and out the other side, rolling onto a rather large flat square of green with the hole on it.

"Oh, this hole looks pretty fun." said Red.

I nudged Celestia with my elbow. "Bet you hear that a lot." I whispered to her.

She hesitated, then laughed. "Phil, that's dirty!"

Red looked to us. "What's so funny?"

"Oh, nothing." I said.

"Is that why you chose mini-golf?" Celestia asked me.

"I mean... not at first. Look around you, though. You're surrounded by balls and holes... This must be a party for you."

She laughed again. Red snickered.

"Oh, you heard that?" I asked her.

She let out a laugh of her own. "That's such an offensive thing to say about your girlfriend."

"Fiancée." corrected Celestia.

"Oh, right. You two are weird."

"You're first, Red." said Celestia.

"Yeah, yeah, I know."

She set her ball down and took her shot. It hit hard against the outside edge of the building and bounced over the brick walls and off the side of the course.

"Ah! No!" She rushed to retrieve her ball. She placed her hand on the building and poked at the bushes the ball had fallen in with the putter.

Celestia laughed at her.

Red turned back to her. "Stop laughing!"

"Do you need help finding it, oh crafty master thief?" asked Celestia.

"No, I'm fine... Where is it, where is it, where is it..." she muttered to herself.

"I suppose I'll take my turn, then." said Celestia, chuckling at Red's misfortune.

Celestia's shot was aimed much better than Red's. She got it into the building. Celestia and I followed the pipe and watched it roll out, ending up near the hole.

"Good shot." I said.

"Found it!" said Red, reaching down to grab it.

Celestia lightly struck my arm. "Stop looking at her when she bends over." she said. She smirked at me.

I sighed at her. "My turn." I said, walking forward.

I hit it into the building same as Celestia. Easy. It rolled out and neared the same position that Celestia's ball was in.

"Red." I said to her.

"Yep."

She placed her ball back down and hit it correctly this time.

I struck Celestia's arm the same way she struck mine. "Watch the eyes, Celestia."

"I can't. It's so cute." she replied.

"Yeah, I guess you're right about that."

"Quit looking at my butt!" Red yelled at us, turning to us, "Bunch of perverts. I expect this kind of thing from Phil, but not from you, Princess."

Celestia had an embarrassed look on her face. I just laughed.

"Sorry, Red." I said.

"Yes... sorry."

I didn't know if Red was actually mad at us. She seemed like it, but we all joke around a lot, so I really had no idea.

The three of us moved to the other side of the pipe where our balls were. Celestia and Red managed to hit theirs in. I missed the first and sunk it on the second.

"Whoa, is this the next one? I like this one." said Red.

This hole was rather unique. It had a steep ramp that had a triangle cut in it that dropped down to the left, and if you hit it too hard, it hit the wall on the back and went to the right. The wall had a polar bear on it. There was also a polar bear statue to the left. It was cute. Left was the direction the hole was. If you went right, you had to hit it underneath the ramp.

Celestia and Red examined the ramp. They walked around it to calculate the best way of hitting the ball.

"This one's pretty weird." said Red, walking back to the starting zone.

She placed her ball down and lined up her shot. She pulled the putter back quite a bit and swung. The ball hit hard against the back wall and landed in the grass next to the brick wall.

"Darn it." she said, walking to it.

"Red, calm down." said Celestia, "It's not a matter of brute strength."

As if demonstrating her point for Red, Celestia's shot managed to make it through the triangle and land on the left side.

"Good job, Celestia." I said to her.

"Thank you."

"How did you do that?" asked Red.

"I've done this before, Red. I'm skilled when it comes to games such as these."

"She's really good at pool, too." I said.

"Ah yes, I remember that night."

"I don't." I said.

Celestia laughed.

"What's so funny?" asked Red.

"It's an inside joke." I said.

"It happened before you arrived in this world."

I hit my ball next. It hit the back wall, but instead of rolling to the right, it bounced off to the left, jumping over the wall and landing closer to the hole than Celestia's ball.

"Wh... You cheater!" Red let out, pointing at me.

"Interesting shot." said Celestia.

"He cheated!" repeated Red.

"It didn't land out of bounds, so technically, he didn't cheat." said Celestia.

Red grumbled.

"Your turn, Red." said Celestia.

"Quit missing, Red." I said to her.

"Meh meh-meh, meh..." she retorted, mocking me. She smiled.

Red hit the ball again. It hit the wall and rolled off to the right.

Celestia hit her ball in. I did the same. Red hit hers underneath the ramp to the left and sunk it with the next shot.

"At least this one looks simple." said Red.

Hole six had a simple corner we had to hit around. The corner was replaced with a 45 degree angled wall so hitting it directly on the corner was the best strategy.

Red managed to hit the corner. It rolled towards the hole. Celestia, impressively, managed to get a hole in one.

"Yay!" she let out, jumping in excitement.

I gave her a congratulatory hug and bottom squeeze. Red, albeit somewhat disgusted by my show of affection, congratulated her as well.

I took my turn, hitting it around the corner. My ball rolled towards Red's, then hit it away. That is correct, the balls have indeed touched. It is now gay.

"Oh, come on! I was close!" she let out, angrily marching over to take her shot.

"It was in the way." I said to her.

"You're in the way!"

Both Red and I managed to sink it with our next shots.

The next hole had a straightaway with an alligator/crocodile statue blocking the way to a large square with the hole. A simple hole. Celestia and Red got two, I got three.

Hole eight was a little interesting. We had to hit it up and around the brick wall so it rolled back to the area with the hole. It was angled upwards so it would roll back easily. I rather liked this hole. The statue for this hole was that of a sea serpent moving in and out of water and the color of the turf was blue to represent said water.

Celestia banked her shot perfectly, getting close to the hole on the other side. Red tried to do the same, but it just rolled back. She managed to get it around the second time, though. Me, I liked taking a different approach. I set my ball down and bent over, holding my putter right against it, aiming it so I could launch it over the wall and directly towards the hole.

"Phil, stop cheating!" Red let out.

Celestia laughed before I had even taken my shot.

I hit it. The ball merely bounced off the wall and ended up in the grass behind me. I quickly picked it up and redid my shot, this time making it over the wall.

"I'm still counting that as two." said Red, irritated that it had worked.

"I would've never thought of that." said Celestia, subsequently sinking her shot.

"Yeah, that's 'cause you're smart." I replied.

Red snickered.

Both Red and I took two swings to sink our balls. I was disappointed because it was really close before and I didn't hit it hard enough so I had to hit again. Celestia was close enough to only need one swing.

Hole nine had the classic windmill. Celestia seemed rather happy to see be able to play on a windmill hole. It also had two small statues bent over and kissing over the hole. It was rather cute, actually.

Red and Celestia hit their balls through the windmill. I actually hit one of the spinning blades, so it stopped before it got in.

"Dang it." I said, walking over to hit it again.

Celestia got two. Red and I got three.

"Alright, we're halfway through." I said.

"The other side looks like it'll be more fun." said Celestia.

"Hear that a lot, Princess?" asked Red. She snickered

"Wh... Red! My goodness..."

I laughed.

This mini-golf course was split into two with the building where we made our purchases in the center. There was also a resting area underneath an awning connected to the building.

"You girls want anything to drink before we continue?" I asked.

"I could use something." said Celestia, "What do they have?"

"Water and pop." I said, "Probably sports drinks and flavored water, too."

"Soda? I'll have a Mountain Dew." she said.

"Red? Anything?"

"Er... Yeah. What she said."

"Okie dokie, be right back."

I went to the building and ordered two sodas for our group. I didn't want a whole bottle. If I got thirsty, I'd just steal it from Celestia.

Celestia and Red were sitting at one of the tables of the rest area. They both looked rather pretty resting like this. I think it was the hair...

Holding the bottles in one hand, I got out my phone and aimed it at them.

"Say cheese, you two." I let out.

They turned to me. Celestia gladly smiled for the camera. Red just seemed surprised.

I brought their drinks to them and sat down at the table with them.

"How did it turn out?" asked Celestia.

I showed her the picture I had just snapped. Red looked over at it as I showed her.

"Why'd you take a picture of us?" asked Red, taking a bottle.

"'Cause you're cute." I said.

Celestia nodded. "You're very cute, Red."

I think we made her blush. She hid her face behind her bottle.

"What do you have planned for us after we finish here?" asked Celestia, opening her bottle.

"Mmm... There's a driving range out back. Other than that, dinner.

"I like dinner." said Celestia, "Are we eating out?"

I winked at her. She bashfully hid a smile.

"Yep. A nice place with some good food. All you can hope for, really. Driving range would be way too exhausting." I said, "I just thought I'd mention it."

"We could try it another day." said Celestia.

"Seems like you'd have a lot more fun just together than you're having with me here." said Red.

Celestia looked to her, a curious look on her face.

"I've seen those looks you've been giving each other. I'm getting in the way, aren't I?"

"Oh, Red..." Celestia sympathetically let out, "Of course you are."

"Oh... Well thanks, Princess. Means a lot."

"But it's much more fun with you around." said Celestia, "If it were just us, we wouldn't be having as much fun."

"Really?" she asked.

"Of course not." Celestia replied, keeping her positive tone, "Besides Red, you deserve a little something fun for the help you gave us with Queen Chrysalis."

"I... I'm already getting my reward for that." she said.

"Yes, you are. That's not what I meant. You're our friend, Red."

Red seemed a little surprised. "I... I guess so..." she let out.

"Would you rather be at the house right now?"

"I... I guess not, no. Alright, you're right."

Celestia gave her a smile. "We're having fun together. I've been enjoying your banter." she chuckled.

"Banter? She just repeats what we say back to us." I said.

"You repeat what I say!" retorted Red.

Celestia laughed. Red had a grin on her face.

"Ready to keep going?" I asked them.

"I'm ready." said Red.

Celestia got out of her chair and smiled. "Nine more holes to go."

The three of us walked to the tenth hole.

"Is this it?" asked Red as we walked over a bridge over another hole.

"Nope, this is eighteen." I said, "They got a box that collects the balls over there." I said, pointing to it.

"There are wedges here." Celestia curiously let out, approaching hole ten.

"Yep." I said, resting my putter against the holder and taking a wedge.

"Oh! They're used to hit it over the wall, it seems." she said, taking one.

This hole had a rubber tee to place the ball onto with a brick wall blocking the path to the hole. We had to hit the ball over the wall to sink them.

"See, I wasn't cheating." I said to Red.

"Yeah, you were."

I shrugged. "Got me there."

Red set her ball down and picked up a wedge. She paused, then set it back down and picked up a different one. Why did she... oh wait a minute...

"Red, you're left handed!" I let out in surprise. She had grabbed a left handed club. She's been putting from the other side this whole time.

She looked up at me. "Yeah."

"I just... I didn't... Neat. I don't know a lot of people who are left handed."

"Surprise, surprise, neither do I." she said to me.

"Right... hooves..."

Celestia let out a small chuckle. "I didn't understand that, at first." she let out.

Red hit the ball, then let out a gasp as it rolled into the hole.

"You did it, Red!"

"Yes, I got one!"

"Good job, Red."

Celestia took her turn. To our surprise, the ball bounced off the wall and rolled back past the starting position.

"Ah! Oh no..." she let out, going to retrieve it.

While she was gone, I took my turn, hitting it over the wall.

Red was still beaming because of her hole in one.

"You took your turn before me." said Celestia.

I shrugged. "You gotta play better." I joked.

"Oh, is that so?" she asked. She had a mischievous look on her face.

She set her ball down and took her time aiming her shot. She hit the ball harder than either of us had. It flew past the hole and soared over the brick wall at the end. With a clunk against the protective wall near the parking lot, it bounced back, landing back on the turf and hitting my ball, moving it quite a distance away.

"Holy crap!" exclaimed Red.

I just stood there in shock.

Celestia let out a laugh. "Perhaps you should play better." she said to me, smirking.

"Well then..." I let out, still surprised.

"That was so cool!" Red excitedly let out.

Celestia gave her a smile. "Thank you, Red."

I stepped forward and took a shot, getting it closer to the hole. Celestia sunk her ball. I did the same after.

We set our wedges back and retrieved our putters, then went to the next hole.

This hole had a straightaway that led to a wide ramp on the right. A purple tiger statue rested near the hole, making it so that we could only hit towards it from one direction. A surprisingly complicated hole, really.

Celestia and Red sunk it in three swings. Annoyingly, I got five.

"I like the next one." I said, walking to it.

This hole had a very long straightaway with obstacles that narrowed it in the middle. The straightaway led into a square.

Red took her turn first. Since it was so long to the hole, you want to put a bit more power into the swing, but as Red is demonstrating, that also means it's more likely to hit the obstacles.

Her ball bounced high into the air and landed in the grass a distance away.

"What? Come on!" she let out, walking to retrieve it.

Celestia, of course, managed to hit it all the way to the end. It even made it to the hole, but it bounced off the edge and rolled away.

"Oh... That was close." said Celestia.

"Yep. Good work."

I took my turn next, but only managed to imitate Red's shot. Red hit the ball again, but failed to get past once more. It rolled right back. She grumbled. Celestia sunk her shot and retrieved the ball from the hole, then stepped aside. I hit my ball next. I failed again. It bounced out once more. I went to go get it.

Celestia giggled. "Maybe you should hit it softer." she suggested.

"Never!" Red called, failing once more.

Red and I failed for a while.

Celestia once again suggested hitting the ball softer.

"Daga kotowaru!" I angrily replied, swinging and failing again. (Translator's note: Daga Kotowaru means I refuse)

"Why is this so hard?" Red let out, missing again.

Celestia caught the ball that jumped out and tossed it back to us. I took my turn. I missed.

Red hit her ball. It bounced out towards Celestia, who let out a yelp. The ball landed back inside the bricks.

"Ah! I'm sorry, Princess!" Red let out, rushing over to her, "Are you alright?"

Celestia was rubbing her arm. "I'm fine, I'm fine." She couldn't stop herself from letting out a laugh.

"You got the bank shot off Celestia." I said.

Celestia was smiling.

"Alright, we've had a casualty." I let out, "Enough messing around."

I hit the ball softer this time, like Celestia suggested. It still hit the bricks, but it didn't bounce out.

"It... made it back in." said Red, "Does it count?"

"Play it where it lies." I said.

"It counts." said Celestia, a laugh in her voice, "Try not to hit it out again."

"Sorry, Celestia."

"She's trying to take you out so she can make her escape." I said.

"No I'm not!"

"We made a mistake in giving her a weapon." I said.

"I'll show you a weapon!" she yelled, threateningly brandishing her putter.

"Red, please do not threaten my fiancé." said Celestia.

"Yeah, yeah..."

Red took her shot. I went next. We sunk it on our next swings.

"How many was that, like 33?" I asked.

"Seven each." Red begrudgingly let out, writing on her sheet.

"You swung more than seven times each." said Celestia.

"I know."

"Oh..."

"Alright, next hole!" I said, clapping my hands together.

Hole thirteen had an upwards slope with a block of wood on the top. A pipe led down and forward directly towards the hole in front of the piece of wood. Otherwise you would get down on either side of the block and roll past the hole.

Red and I missed the pipe. Celestia made it, but it didn't roll into the hole, which disappointed all of us.

Celestia got two swings. Red and I got three.

"Why do you have to be so good at this?" Red asked Celestia.

"I'm not that good."

"You bounced your ball off a wall and hit mine away." I said to her.

"Oh, right. I used magic."

"No you didn't." said Red.

"I did."

"Admit it, you're better than us." I said.

"I'm not better."

"You're more than ten points ahead of us." said Red.

"We're not exactly the best either, so that could mean anything." I said.

"I guess. Well, I got that hole in one."

"Celestia got two."

"And you've gotten zero." said Celestia. She was smiling at me.

"Gee... Thanks Celestia."

"Ah! No, that's not what I... I'm sorry..."

"Oh, come here." I said, suddenly wrapping my arms around her.

She giggled at me as I hugged her.

Red was looking at us. It almost seemed like she wanted to let out her signature groan of disgust, but she kept quiet. When I let go of Celestia, Red spoke up.

"You two have a cute relationship." she said to us.

"Thank you, Red." said Celestia, "That's nice of you to say."

"Let's keep going." I said, noticing that Red was embarrassed. I didn't care if my affection for my fiancée embarrassed Red, I was still gonna hug her. Maybe a little less bottom grabbing, though.

Hole fourteen. A simple hole. We hit the ball around a corner into a large square with a small turtle statue as a decoration. Celestia got two. Red and I got three. We weren't as good as her, alright?

"Ahh... The clown hole. And no, I'm not talking about you, Celestia."

"Phil!"

Red laughed.

Hole fifteen had an angled starting position that had us aim our shots through a clown's mouth on a board of wood. The starting pad, the black pad with three holes in it to place our balls onto, had a center hole that was worn out from the years of abuse. There were many, many circles on the clown board from where golf balls had struck it. My family was fond of using the phrase, 'You're gonna die, clown!'

"Good luck." I said to Red.

She set the ball down and aimed her shot. She swung. It went right through the clown's mouth, rolling all the way down the turf until...

"Yes! Another one!" Red cried out, jumping up as she celebrated her second hole in one.

"Very good, Red." said Celestia.

"Good shot."

She happily bounced over to the hole and retrieved her ball.

Celestia took her turn next. Her ball bounced back off the clown's face.

"Oh! I thought I had that." she said.

"My turn." I said.

I swung. I missed.

Celestia took her turn again, this time realigning herself and successfully getting the golf ball to the other side.

I swung again, but hit the clown again.

Celestia sunk her ball.

"Alright, I got this." I said.

I swung. The ball finally moved past the clown and towards the hole. I sunk it on the next putt.

"Getting close to the end." I said.

"This one is a bit strange." said Celestia, examining the next hole.

This hole had a slope upwards that led to two holes. These holes were pipes that led to the real hole down below to the left.

I think this one tricked you. The closer pipe to the hole actually led away from it, and the further pipe led closer. I didn't know for sure, but I decided not to tell them, anyways. It would be funny to see Red's reaction.

Red hit her ball, getting it up the slope. Celestia also got her ball up the slope, narrowly missing the first hole. I hit mine up as well.

As I thought, Red went for the closer pipe, and as I thought, it led away from the hole.

"What? Oh come on!" She gave off her special groan.

Celestia laughed. "If that pipe leads there, then this pipe must lead closer to the hole." she said, aiming backwards.

Both Celestia and I hit our balls into the first pipe. We ended up close to the hole when it came out.

Red hit her ball closer to ours. Celestia sunk her ball. I missed. Red and I got it in on our next turn.

"Two more." I said.

"This one looks interesting." said Celestia.

"Yeah it does. It looks pretty cool. Think I can get it to work?" asked Red.

"I'd like to see it."

Hole seventeen had an interesting path. Hitting the ball straight forward will cause it to roll against a horizontal loop on the ground and change the direction, outputting it to the right of where it entered.

Red hit her ball. It entered the loop and followed it all the way around, rolling out to the right towards the hole.

"Whoa... That was cool." she said, walking over to her ball.

Celestia did the same thing with her shot.

"Very satisfying..." she let out.

I made this hole three for three and rounded the loop right after them.

"I love this hole." I said. And no, I wasn't referring to my fiancée.

Red missed. Celestia got it. I missed. Red got it. I missed. I got it.

I picked up my ball, then walked back to the loop. I threw it against the loop, watching it roll out the other side of it. I let out a little chuckle.

Red did the same as I did.

"This one is fun." she said.

"Yeah..."

"Last one. Then we can go get dinner." said Celestia, approaching hole eighteen.

"Are you really hungry again?" I asked her.

"Of course I am!"

"What about you, Red? I know Celestia was pigging out at the bowling alley, but are you hungry?"

"I could eat."

"Alright."

Hole number eighteen had a long straightaway leading to a slope upwards. At the top of the slope was a square with the hole in the center. The hole led to a box to collect the balls. This was it.

Red and Celestia hit their balls onto the square. When my turn came, I aimed my shot, then swung.

"Whoa, hey... did that go in?" I asked, walking to the square. There was a staircase to get up top to where the balls where and a colorful railing surrounding the box so you wouldn't fall.

"I don't see it." said Celestia.

"You finally got one!" Red excitedly let out.

"Yeah, hole in one!" I let out.

Celestia gave me a wide smile. "Good job, Phil."

"Sweet..." I happily let out.

Celestia and Red took their turns. They both finished in two swings total.

"How'd we do, Red?" I asked her.

"Hold on, let me..."

She slowly walked back to the resting area, calculating our scores.

"Phil, you were two over par. I was three under... And Celestia... You got an incredible eighteen under par."

"Damn Celestia, leave some points for us." I said to her.

Celestia was smiling widely. "I didn't try to win that much, I swear."

"Of course you didn't." I said to her.

"I didn't!"

"I think she's telling the truth." said Red, "You saw what she did on hole ten."

"Yeah... Yeah... And you didn't use any magic?"

"None at all."

"Geez, Celestia."

"Imagine if she put in that much effort for the rest of the holes..." said Red.

"Yeah... Alright, are we ready?"

"I'm ready." said Red.

Celestia nodded.

"Let's give our putters back and take off." I said.

The three of us went to the window to return them. As we did, the man inside said, "Did I hear you correctly? Did you get a hole in one on the last hole?"

"Yes I did." I said, smiling.

"Hold on..." He grabbed something from under the counter and held it out to me. It was a small piece of paper. "Here." he said.

I took it and read it over.

"Getting a hole in one on the last hole means you get a free game the next time you come back."

"Oh... Well thank you..."

"Of course. I'm glad you've enjoyed yourselves today. Goodbye. We hope to see you soon."

"Goodbye." I said, smiling again.

Celestia and Red gave him a polite goodbye as we left.

I pocketed the ticket. "Well, that was a pleasant surprise." I said.

"I'd like to come back one of these days." said Celestia.

"Yeah, same here." I said.

"I can't wait to show you the mini-golf courses we have in Equestria." said Celestia, "Perhaps we could invite Red again."

"That sounds fun." I said.
> Chapter 29: Evening
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

We spoke as we traveled to our next destination. At least this time, we didn't have to traverse an entire town. Just half of a town.

Celestia sighed. "What a shame, though. It's nearing winter. Fortunately, I know of some indoor courses."

"I'm pretty surprised you're actually bringing him to our world." said Red.

"I know, isn't it great?"

"He told me he couldn't come with."

"He couldn't." said Celestia, "Now that we have these books, I'll finally be able to bring him to Equestria." She was smiling.

"That's what we want." I said, "So she's been working hard to study them. We're hoping she finds the answers sooner than later."

Celestia paused. "I can't say when we'll be done with the books. We're making progress, but it's slow. I was going to let my former student study them in my stead."

"Yeah, Phil told me about that. He said you were inviting Princess Twilight here."

"I thought it would be an interesting idea. Hmm... What about you, Red? Would you like to stay?"

"I... Uh... I mean... Not really, I guess. I like playing the video games, but it's not like I have any other reason to stay here."

"Also I don't want her here." I said.

"Yeah, and he doesn't want me here."

"So you'll be returning with me, then?"

"Yeah. Your guards know I'm not wanted anymore, right?"

"Of course, of course. I have a question for you though, Red."

"Alright. What is it?"

"This isn't a question out of curiosity, it's an offer."

"Oh... Alright..."

"Would you like to reside with me in my castle and become my student?"

"I... Wow... That's kind of a big offer..."

"You don't have to accept right now. Think it over, Red."

"I... Why?"

"Hmm?"

"Why me?"

"You have a lot of skill, Red Shadow. You could become a great unicorn under my tutelage."

"I don't know... That's never really been my thing, you know?"

"Think it over." said Celestia.

"I... Alright, I'll think it over..."

To get to my destination, I had to go back into town and turn away from the house once more.

"Oh, I recognize these buildings." said Celestia, perking up in her seat.

"I bet you do." I said.

"Red, look at that store." said Celestia, pointing out the window.

Celestia was pointing at the Wal-Mart where I first paid for her services. I mean, met her. I first met her here.

"Um... Ok... What am I looking at?"

"I first met Phil in that parking lot."

"Oh! Wait, how did you get there? How did you first get here?"

"It was a prank by our local Spirit of Chaos, Discord."

"The one and only." the three of us heard from out of nowhere, "I can't believe you went bowling and didn't invite me. Is this any way to treat your cousin, Phil?"

"Did you want to go bowling?" I asked him.

"No, but thank you for asking."

"So you played a prank on Celestia?" asked Red.

"Yes I did. And what a prank it was... Ah, I remember it like it was two months and twenty days ago."

"Yeah, here's a fun prank." I said, "Have your friend meet the love of her life then force her to leave after they fall in love."

"Well, when you put it that way, I sound like a jerk. Anyways, don't let me keep you. Have fun on your date, you three. Red, I recommend staying away from the alcohol."

"Uh... Ok... I didn't even know they... served... What? Why?"

"Celestia has a habit of playing her own pranks on drunk people. Isn't that right, Phil?"

"Discord, shoo." I said, waving my hand in the air.

We heard his laughter before he left us. Celestia was blushing.

"What kind of pranks did Celestia play on you?" Red asked me.

I snickered.

"Red, I don't play pranks on people." said Celestia, "Discord was making a joke."

"Oh..."

"That's exactly what someone who plays pranks on people would say." I said.

"Phil, please."

I smiled. "Well anyways..." I let out, finally turning into our destination's parking lot. *What are the odds I'd arrive just as Discord finished talking, ey?*

"Applebee's." said Celestia, reading off the name of the restaurant after we had gotten out of the car.

"Yep. Surprisingly, they serve neither apples nor bees. I like this place. It's a nice family restaurant. The soup is really good, you're both getting it."

"What if I don't want it?" asked Red.

"What, you think you have a say in the matter?" I asked her.

"I... What?"

"Celestia will eat it." I said.

"He's right." said Celestia.

"What if Celestia doesn't want it?" asked Red.

"I'll eat it. See, you gotta follow the process, Red. The way things are progressing. Come on, ladies."

As we walked through the parking lot, Celestia was sniffing the air. "It already smells yummy..."

"This place serve meat?" asked Red.

"Yep. They also serve not meat, too."

We entered the building. A pleasant smell was in the air. There was a small murmur of people talking.

"Hello, table for three?" asked the lady who stood at the front counter.

"Yep. A booth, please."

"Booth?"

"Yep, booth."

"Of course, right this way."

We followed her to our table. I sat down on one side. Celestia sat next to me and Red sat across the table.

She gave us three menus and said, "Your server will be with you shortly."

"Oh, could we get some kid menus?" I asked.

"Three of them?"

"Yep. Three."

She walked back to the front of the building and returned with the kid menus I asked for. After that, she walked back to her post.

"Kid menu?" asked Red, "What are you, twelve?"

I unfolded my kid menu and picked up one of the crayons. "They're fun." I said.

Celestia was looking through the menu we had been given.

"Hmm... What do you think I should have?"

"Maybe steak."

"What's steak?"

"It's a big, juicy slab of meat."

"I... I don't know if I want... something like that..."

A server came to our table to speak with us. "Hello, welcome to Applebee's. I'll be your server for tonight. Can I start you off with any drinks?"

"Oreo cookie shake, here." I said, "Celestia?"

"Oreo cookie shake? That sounds delicious! I want one."

"I... Alright, I guess I'll have one, too." said Red.

"And three French onion soups." I said, "With extra cheese. All of them. Oh, and two orders of garlic bread."

"Alright, I'll get those right out to you." He walked away.

I shrugged, then continued our earlier conversation. "I usually just eat the soup. It's really filling."

"Is that so?"

"I mean, it's good, but..."

"Oh, I'm sure it is."

"Yeah... But you don't gotta try it. There's a few vegetarian meals you can try. I remember seeing some, I think."

"You're not opening your menu."

"I know what I want."

"Ah."

I heard the whirring of the blender in the bar area. They were making our shakes.

"I want a steak." said Red.

"You do?" asked Celestia.

She nodded. "I'll try it, at least."

"It's a... It's just a big chunk of meat." I said.

"I know. You said that."

"Well... Just so you know."

"What about you, Celestia?" I asked.

"I'll... I'll have... This." She pointed at it on the menu. "Oh, it has meat in it."

"It says 'chicken' right on it, Princess." said Red.

"Well, that's fine, I suppose." she said.

I made sure to check the menu to decide which steak Red would get.

"Red, do you like mushrooms?" I asked her.

"Not really."

"Same here. Alright, that steak's out... Alright... Ready?" I asked them.

"Yes, I'm ready." said Celestia.

"I'm ready." said Red.

"Alright, great."

I saw two waiters coming towards our table with foodstuffs in their hands. They set down our soups and shakes, then said, "We'll be right out with your garlic bread."

"Alright, thank you." I said to them.

Celestia picked up her spoon and began poking at the cheese baked onto the top of her soup. I scraped in what spilled over the side of the bowl. Red pushed her spoon through the edge of the cheese and picked it up in its entirety.

"Wow, that's a lot of cheese." she said.

"Don't eat that all at once, you'll choke." I said.

"I know, I'm not a kid."

"Ow! Hot!" Celestia let out.

I looked to her. "And it's hot, so be careful."

Celestia took a drink of the shake to cool her mouth down.

The waiter returned with two baskets of garlic bread.

"Are we ready to order?" he asked us, taking out a notepad.

"Yep." I said, "An order of fries for me, three-cheese chicken penne for her, and house sirloin with veggies and..." I looked at Red. "Mashed potatoes?"

She nodded.

"Yeah, mashed potatoes. For her."

"Alright, and how would you like that cooked?" he asked, writing down our order.

"Medium-rare." I said.

"Alright. Anything else?"

"An order of onion rings." I said.

"Alright."

"And that's it."

"Alright, thank you." He walked away.

"It's still hot." I said to Celestia, noticing that she was bringing the spoon to her mouth again.

"I was going to blow it off."

"I don't believe you. Try some garlic bread, dip some in."

She set her spoon down and did as I suggested.

"That's really good." she said.

Red did the same.

The soups were the first part of the meal. Everything else came out soon after. Fries and a soup always used to fill me up, but it's been a long time since I've been here. I could just get dessert, it wasn't an issue.

Red was looking at the slab of meat on her plate.

"How do I... eat this?" she asked.

"Cut it into small bits with the fork and knife." I said.

She lowered her head and smelled it. "It smells good. What animal is this?"

"Cow."

"What if it were pony?" asked Celestia.

We both looked to her.

"Are you having regrets or something?" I asked.

"I... Seeing such a large piece of... meat... It's... a little..."

"Unsettling?" asked Red.

"Just... surprising..."

"Well, it's not pony." I said, "Americans don't eat pony. If you're still weighing the moral pros and cons, tell us when you reach a conclusion."

"I..." She sighed. "I'm just a little confused. I enjoy the taste, and I don't... feel wrong when I eat meat."

"I'm gonna eat it." said Red, "And I bet I'm gonna like it, too." She picked up her fork and poked it into the steak. She cut a piece off. "It's... juicy. Is that... blood?"

"No. No it is not." I said, "I can't currently remember what it is, but I know for a fact that it is not blood."

"Well... alright... I probably would've still eaten it..."

Celestia watched as Red ate the piece of steak on her fork.

"Holy crap, this is good." she said.

"Glad you like it." I said, "How about you, Celestia?"

"Oh, I... I haven't tried it, yet. One moment."

She picked up a piece of chicken and ate it. I could see on her face that she loved it.

"So ladies, how's the meal so far?" I asked.

"I like it." said Red.

"It's very good." said Celestia.

"Good, good... Well, I'm glad you're enjoying it."

"This has been a very fun day so far." said Celestia, "What do you think, Red?"

"Yeah, I've really been enjoying it. Um... Where's the bathroom?"

"Back of the restaurant." I said, pointing to it.

"I'll be back." She got up and walked away.

Celestia leaned against me. "Think she's going to vomit?"

"No, she likes the food."

"That's what I was thinking."

"How about you?"

"I like it."

"Make any moral decisions today?"

"If you feed me pony, I'm going to feed you your tongue. That's my decision."

"Yeah, I get it, I get it... Humans don't eat each other either, so I understand."

"What are you talking about? We eat each other all the time. In fact, I ate you just this morning."

I sighed. "Yes... Yes you did... Celestia, we are in public."

"Oh, no fun... What else are we doing today?" she asked.

"Movie."

"That sounds nice."

"Maybe shopping, but movie, definitely."

"What are we buying?"

"I dunno. I don't really have anything to buy. You?"

"No, I don't think so."

"Red wanted clothes, but she'll only be here for ten more days, so she doesn't exactly have a need for clothes."

"Perhaps we could gift her lingerie."

"That's really weird, Celestia. You don't just 'gift' people lingerie. I mean, I could get you lingerie, but not Red. Why, did you want some?"

She giggled. "Perhaps."

"We won't find any at Wal-Mart, we'd have to go to a specialty store. Probably a Victoria's Secret."

"You've mentioned that store before."

"Yeah, they sell ladies underwear. You're gonna have to get measured if we go there. Either way, with ten days left, there's no real point."

"I suppose you're right. I have lingerie I can wear for you in Equestria. Would you like that?"

"Let's deal with that when it happens."

"If you say so... Oh, here she comes."

Red sat back down at the table. She took a bite of cheese from her soup.

"Princess, why are you looking at me like that?" she asked.

"Oh, no reason."

I nudged Celestia with my elbow. She giggled again. She got off of me and continued eating.

The three of us enjoyed our meal. The onion rings disappeared quickly, Celestia made sure of that. My fries were being captured by enemy forces as well. Celestia and Red gave each other samples of their food.

"They're both really good." said Red.

Celestia nodded. "This meal is delicious."

"Which one do you like more?" asked Red.

"I think I like the steak more."

"Yeah, me too. That chicken stuff is good, too."

"Here, try some, Phil." said Celestia, holding up a fork with a piece of chicken on it for me.

I ate the chicken off the fork. It was pretty good.

"Red, give him some of your steak."

"Celestia, she doesn't have to share." I said.

"No, it's alright." said Red, cutting off a piece for me, "Just... use your own fork, I don't want to share silverware."

I picked up my bundle of silverware that was wrapped in a napkin and got the fork from it. I took the chunk Red cut for me and ate it.

"So?" asked Celestia.

"So?" I asked her.

"Which is your favorite?"

"The soup." I said, not hesitating in my answer.

"Oh... Yes, the soup is very good, too."

"I love the soup. I love all the cheese." said Red.

"The steak is great and the chicken penne is great, but the soup is the best thing here." I said.

"I like the shake, too." said Red.

"Yeah, the shake's good." I said.

Celestia nodded. "Yes, it's great." She was smiling.

Red set down her silverware. "Wow... The soup really was filling." she said.

"You're full?" asked Celestia.

"No, I'm Phil." I said to her.

She looked to me, then let out a laugh.

"Yeah, I'm full. Pretty close, at least."

"Well, I'm not." said Celestia, continuing to eat.

She finished both her own meal and Red's meal. She also took more of my fries.

Red had eaten all of the cheese out of her soup before Celestia took it from her.

"Isn't that kinda weird, Princess?" Red asked.

"Hmm?" She looked up from her food.

"You're eating with my spoon."

Celestia shrugged. She didn't respond otherwise.

"Guess not." I said to Red.

"I don't know." said Red, "You sure do eat a lot..."

Our waiter stopped by again and asked if everything was alright with our meal, and we replied that it was great. Celestia ordered another Oreo cookie shake. He took some of our empty dishes and left. Celestia got her shake soon after.

Celestia made sure that all of our meals had been finished off before we were finally ready to leave. As we were waiting for the waiter to return, Celestia and I started playing tic-tac-toe on the kid menus we had gotten.

It seemed completely random who won each game. There were a lot of ties. Red played a few games as well.

The waiter eventually returned to us and asked us, "Will there be any dessert this evening?"

Celestia's eyes lit up. She reached to the condiment holder near the window and picked out a pamphlet that had desserts. "This!" she happily let out, pointing to the picture of the triple chocolate meltdown on the front.

Red leaned forward and looked at the pamphlet in her hand.

"Oh wow, that looks delicious. One for me, too."

"Same here." I said, "And the check after that.

"Of course. We'll get those out to you right away."

I got out my wallet and picked out my debit card while we waited.

"Man, we really don't have any imagination." I said.

"What do you mean?" asked Celestia.

"We keep ordering the same thing."

Celestia shrugged. "You're the one that's eaten here before. You know what's good to order."

"Whatever."

Soon enough, he returned with our three desserts and placed the check onto the table.

I picked up the check and filled it out, giving him a modest tip. Celestia and Red were already working on their food. I set the check back down and ate mine.

Celestia let out a long, satisfied sigh after she had finished hers. She tilted her head back, resting against the booth. "Ahh... I'm fat..."

I put my arm around her shoulders and patted her far shoulder. "You sure are."

She snickered. "Thanks."

"Princess, you have chocolate on your mouth." said Red.

Celestia's head immediately came back up. "Really? Where?" She started cleaning her lips with her tongue.

From the look on Red's face, this was not the reaction she had expected.

"I love chocolate." Celestia let out.

The waiter returned and took my card, returning with it shortly after.

"Have a good day." he said to us.

"You, too." said Celestia, smiling.

"We ready?" I asked them.

"I'm ready." said Celestia.

"Well... You'll have to get up..." I said to her.

"Mmm... I'm so comfortable..."

I gave her a gentle push. "Come on, Celestia."

"Mmm..."

"Celestia!"

"I'm so comfy..."

"Red, can you help me with this thing?"

Red chuckled. "Alright, come on, chubby." she said to Celestia, grabbing her wrist.

Celestia let out a groan of irritation, but finally stood up for us.

I stood up and smiled at her. "You're weird."

"Carry me?"

"No. Not in the restaurant." I said.

"When we get outside?"

I sighed. "Fine..."

She gasped. "I'll meet you outside!"

She happily left the restaurant before us.

"You really shouldn't encourage her." said Red.

"Yeah, but... she's really cute..."

We left next. Celestia was waiting for me.

"You really want me to carry you the, like... twenty feet to the car?" I asked her.

She nodded.

I sighed. "Fine." I moved in front of her and kneeled on the ground with my back to her. She grabbed onto my shoulders and wrapped her legs around me. I hooked my arms around her knees. With some initial difficulty, I stood up. "Holy crap Celestia, you're so heavy!" I told her.

"Onwards!" she let out, pointing to the car.

Red laughed at us.

It was hard to walk with Celestia on me like this. The added weight wasn't the problem, it was my balance. And her boobies were pressing against my back, so I was a little flustered.

Legs, don't fail me now.

After a very short, uneventful walk to the car, I stopped and let Celestia down. She was very happy right now.

The three of us got in.

"I got one more thing for us to do today." I said to them, starting the car, "We're gonna go to a movie. It'll be starting soon."

"That sounds nice." said Celestia.

"What are we watching?"

"Some movie." I said, "Kiddie movie. You'll see. I haven't seen it, yet. Um... Actually, if I'm remembering this correctly... It'll be a little while until it starts... So... we can go shopping beforehand."

"Oh, that sounds nice." said Celestia.

"What are we getting?" asked Red.

"I dunno. Stuff."

"Well... alright."

"Just whatever, you know. You can get some clothes if you want, but only get like two things."

"Oh! Well, thank you."

I took our little party to Wal-Mart. We walked in together.

"Where are the clothes?" Red asked.

"Here, come with me." said Celestia.

I just followed along for the ride.

It seemed that Red was interested in getting some bras that fit her instead of using Celestia's too-big bras. It was... a little awkward. They went off the size I bought for Celestia and got something a bit smaller. 

Red also picked out a pair of pants that fit her and two shirts. I interjected at this point and suggested that she had gotten enough. I did not enjoy buying things that would not be used after they left. Actually...

"Hey, hold on..." I said, "If Twilight's going to live with me, she'll need some clothes, too." 

Celestia looked to me. "That's a good point. She might be the same size as you, Red."

"She might. Or she might not."

Celestia nodded.

"Get a few more, then." I said, "I don't think Twilight would like wearing my clothes like Celestia does."

Red looked to Celestia. She took a step away. "You wear his clothes?"

Celestia shrugged. "I've done it since I've first arrived in this world. There's no need to purchase separate clothing when his clothes more-or-less fit me."

"That's why your pants are too long sometimes... Wait... since you arrived? You mean like... before you got into a relationship?"

"That's right."

"That's... kinda weird."

"Perhaps it is. What do you think Twilight would like wearing?"

"Something skimpy that shows off her cleavage." I said.

"No, that's something I would wear."

"Oh yeah."

"Stop being gross!" Red sighed. "I thought you were being serious for a second there."

"We're serious. Twilight needs clothing." said Celestia, "And I don't think she'd be comfortable wearing clothing that Phil or I have worn."

"They wouldn't fit her, either." I said, "We're both huge. Twilight would be pretty short. Probably shorter than you, Red. I mean, if they don't fit her, I can return them, so whatever. Or I could give them away, I don't care. Anyways..."

Celestia and Red looked through the clothing section for a while longer to pick out Twilight some clothing.

Celestia liked helping Red pick out clothes.

Celestia picked out a bag of candy for herself while we were there. I got myself a pack of Yu-Gi-Oh cards before we left. I like Yu-Gi-Oh cards.

"What are those?" asked Celestia.

"Just... trading cards. It's one of my hobbies."

"I didn't know you liked trading cards."

I shrugged.

"Phil, you should tell me more about yourself."

"We'll have plenty of time to talk when we're in Equestria."

She smiled at me.

I paid for what we picked out and we stuck it into the car.

"Thank you, Phil." said Red.

"Yep. No problem. Right, now... the theater's a distance away, so it'll be a while until we get there."

That last part was a complete lie. It was actually just across the street, but they didn't know that. I think they figured it out as I was driving to it, though.

"Hey, wait a minute, isn't that a movie theater?" asked Red, "You said it was far away."

"I said it was a distance. This was a distance."

"Well, you said it would take a while to get here, too."

"It did take a while. A very short while."

Celestia laughed.

I pulled into the parking lot. As we walked in, I checked the time for the movie on the poster outside. Right on time. *What a coincidence that we would get here just before the movie started...*

The movie of the night: Moana.

I ordered the three of us tickets to the movie, then we walked up to the concession stand.

"That looks pretty good." said Red, looking at the slushie machine.

"Go ahead and get one." I said.

I ordered a package of Reese's Pieces and a Mountain Dew. I always got Reese's Pieces when I watched movies. It was a tradition at this point. After confirming that Red wouldn't mind sharing the popcorn, I got us a large bucket of it.

Celestia was looking at the menu. When Red noticed, she said, "Haven't you eaten enough today?"

"You're probably right." she said, "I want what he had."

"Well, I want one of these." said Red, pointing to the slushie machine, "The blue one."

"Any snacks?" I asked.

"Um... Yeah, the cookie dough one." she said, looking at the snack window.

They got us all of the food we had ordered. Red had a point though, we've already had enough food today.

"Alright, it was to the right." I said, "Hold on, I gotta put butter on this."

Around the back of the concession stand was a refilling station where we could get pop and popcorn refills. It also had butter and salt for the popcorn.

Red tasted her slushie. I saw a look of disappointment on her face.

"Is everything alright, Red?" asked Celestia.

"This..." She took another drink. "This tastes awful."

I got out my wallet and pulled out a few dollars. I held them out to Red. "You can go throw that away and get yourself a pop if you want." I said to her.

She took the money and smiled. "Thank you." She walked away.

As I was putting butter on the popcorn, Celestia spoke up. "It's a shame we didn't get two of these." she said, "We could cut a hole in one and... you know..."

I gave her a look, then sighed. "You're gross."

She giggled.

"I guess you like your popcorn with extra butter." I said to her, staring right at her.

She stifled a laugh, covering her mouth with a hand.

"Over there." I said, pointing in the direction we had to go.

She nodded.

"What's so funny over here?" asked Red, walking back to us.

"Extra butter." I said.

Celestia giggled again.

"What do you mean, extra butter?"

"Let's go."

Red grumbled, her pure, innocent mind once again leaving her out of the joke.

Our little party walked into the theater playing the movie and found ourselves a nice spot to sit near the front in the center. I was actually placed in the center of the two women. I don't know if it was an accident or if Celestia planned it.

I saw a few other families in the area, but it wasn't crowded, which was nice.

"I saw the poster for this movie." said Celestia, "It looked very tropical."

"That doesn't really describe it at all." said Red.

"How long will it take until it starts?" asked Celestia.

"I dunno. Some trailers will show first. Then maybe a short."

Unsurprisingly, I was right.

The short before the movie, Inner Workings, was pretty funny. There was a woman in it who was disproportionately t h i c c. I nudged Celestia and said it was her. She just laughed. Celestia, in her own right, was very t h i c c, but the lady in this animated short had her beat.

Moana was a good movie. I liked it. It had jokes, action, a mentally handicapped chicken, all the qualities I look for in movies. It was surprisingly emotional, too. The songs were great.

Celestia was captivated by the movie. She very clearly enjoyed it. I don't know which I watched more, the movie, or her beautiful smiling face. Probably the movie.

I think Red was starting to nod off towards the end.

When it was finally over, Celestia was smiling. Then again, I think she was smiling just about all the way through.

The credits were rolling on the screen right now. Some of the names were funny.

I turned to Celestia and asked, "Think there's anything else?"

"Hmm?"

"After the credits."

"Perhaps."

"You wanna wait and see?"

She nodded.

As it turns out, there was indeed something after the credits. There was a reference to The Little Mermaid that Celestia wouldn't get, which I thought was pretty funny.

"Is Red asleep?" asked Celestia.

I looked to her. "I guess she couldn't handle the credits. Let's just leave her here." I joked, "She'll be fine."

"Phil, we can't do that!"

"I guess. Red. Red!"

"Hmm?" She lifted her head.

"It's time to go."

"Huh?"

"Come on, it's time to go." I said to her, standing up.

She leaned forward, then stretched her body. She yawned. "Alright."

I held out my hand to her. She took it and I pulled her to her feet.

With that, we were finally done with the day. We left the theater and got in the car to go home.

"So ladies, you like the movie?"

"I loved it." said Celestia.

"Yeah, it was pretty good." said Red.

"I liked it." I said.

"I liked the stone." said Red, referring to the movie's McGuffin. 

"Oh, of course you did. You probably wanted to steal it." said Celestia

"Well, a little." she laughed.

"Hey Celestia, want a burger?" I asked her.

"What's a burger?"

"Piece of meat between two buns."

"Is..." She paused. "Is that a sex thing?"

Red snickered. "It's food, Princess."

"Oh! I'm sorry." She chuckled nervously. "No, I'm still full from before."

"Well, I'm getting one." I said.

I drove to Burger King and got a quad stacker. I didn't even know if I was hungry, I just really wanted it. I also got some fries.

"Get me one, too." said Celestia.

"You said you were full."

"I still want one."

I sighed. "Alright, looks like two burgers and two fries." I said to the ordering microphone.

When I got the food, I gave the bag to Celestia, then reached in and took a fry. It was pretty hot. Celestia took a fry as well.

"Red, want a fry? Red?"

Celestia looked back. "She's sleeping again."

"Oh. More for us. Gimmie a fry."

We shared the fries on our way home. They were really good.

I stopped the car and got out, then stretched myself out. Celestia did the same.

"What do we do about this?" I asked Celestia, pointing to Red.

"Here, take the food." she said, holding out the bag, "I'll bring her inside."

"Not gonna wake her?" I asked, taking the bag.

"There's no need. I'll let her sleep."

"Alright."

As Celestia got Red from the car, I opened the door to the house. I watched her as she walked with Red in her arms. They were both so cute.

Red was awake, I saw her eyes flicker. Celestia didn't seem to mind.

With Red in her arms, Celestia walked downstairs. I set my food on the front room table, then started taking in what we bought from the store. Celestia came out and helped me.

When we were done with what we bought, I sat down on the couch and unwrapped my burger. It smelled so fucking good right now. 

Celestia sat next to me. She looked at the burger in my hands. "That's a lot of meat."

"I'll show you a lot of meat, bend over." I said to her.

She let out a small laugh. "Is that a promise?"

I just kept eating. She joined me in the meal. Even after eating at Applebee's just a few hours prior, the burgers and fries were both gone.

I licked the sauce from the burger off my fingers. Midway through cleaning them, Celestia grabbed my hand and pulled it away from me. She started doing the same to them, staring at me. I just smiled at her, even though I really wanted to finish that.

I wiped off my fingers and laid back on the couch. I sighed. "You know, I fucking love you." I said to her, looking up at the ceiling.

"I love fucking you." she replied. She laughed. "I love you, too."

She leaned against me. A short while later, she turned around and laid down, her back lying on across my legs.

"That can't be comfortable."

"You're right. Help me with this." She got up.

It took a while, but eventually, we found her a comfortable position. We had to get a pillow from the bedroom, but we made it work. Her stomach was on my legs and her head was lying on the edge of the couch, the pillow below it.

She looked back at me, smiling warmly.

"You're gonna fall asleep?"

"You know I am."

"But... bed!"

"I'm comfy."

I sighed. "Fine..."

I placed my hand onto her bottom and squeezed her through her clothes. She let out a sigh of her own.

She started to hum a tune. I recognized it as 'You're Welcome' from Moana.

I just affectionately rubbed her bottom. I'd stroke her hair, but her head was further away than her butt. Also I liked touching her butt. Also she liked when I touched her butt.

I leaned my head back. I'm not gonna be very comfortable tomorrow morning... Her butt was soft...

"You're welcome." I said to her.

Her smile widened. "It's a catchy tune."

"Yeah..." I patted her bottom. "Come on, get up. I wanna go to bed."

"Do I have to?"

"Yes."

"I'm so comfy, though."

I let my hand get a little rougher on her rear. She let out a soft moan. It was not my intention, I swear.

"Come on, Celestia."

"Keep doing that."

I sighed. I did it, regardless of how I felt.

"Mmm..."

"You can't stay here forever."

"Yes I can."

"You have to get up sometime."

"Not tonight."

I paused. "Crap, you're right."

"I might get up if you do that a little harder."

"No you won't."

"Do it anyways."

I think she was beginning to use me for her own gain. I seem to have made a mistake. Regardless though, I did as she asked. I liked the noises she was making.

After a while, she said, "Alright, now take off my pants."

[Scene missing]


November 21


I sat up in bed. Celestia was sleeping next to me. She was snoring softly. How cute...

I turned off my alarm, then yawned. Yesterday was great... I wish we could do that every day.

Celestia was still asleep as I walked out of the room. I went to the bathroom to shower. It was a nice shower.

Midway through my shower, I heard a knock on the door.

"Phil, are you in there?" I heard Celestia ask.

"Yeah." I called back.

"I'm coming in."

The door opened. I watched as she stripped herself through the curtain. She stepped in. She looked tired.

"You left me." she said.

I gave her a warm smile. "Sorry."

I wrapped my arms around her. She sighed.

"We need to wash the bedding." she said to me, "I'll get it done for you before you get home."

"That's very nice of you." I let go of her.

She smiled at me. She tilted her head up. I lowered myself and pushed my lips against hers. She closed her eyes. I held her against me. 

I reached down and grabbed onto her bottom. She let out a sigh. 

"Are we gonna..." she trailed off.

I smiled at her. "If you want."

"I... don't know. I'm still sore from last night."

I pulled away and looked around to her backside. "You've got handprints, again."

She blushed.

"Come here..."

I pulled her in and held her tightly. She let out a slow breath.

I just held her in my arms. That's all I was doing right now. She was mine...

Her arms were around me, as well. She was enjoying my embrace. I was enjoying hers.

"I can't wait to shower with you in Equestria." I said to her.

"I'm so excited for you... I can't wait to show you my world. I can introduce you to my friends, I can teach you how to live as a pony... I can teach you how to love as a pony... We can finally have that threesome with Chrysalis..."

"Celestia."

She chuckled. "Sorry... I'm getting excited pressed up against you like this... Oh... It seems I'm not the only one of us who's excited..."


[Scene missing]


"Alright, I'll get you some clothes. You really should've thought of that before you came in here." I said to her.

"I know, I'm sorry. I was lonely."

I went to the room and picked out a set of clothing for her. I saw the new clothes they got in the dresser, stickers and tags still on them.

I brought the clothes into the bathroom for her. She got out of the shower and dried herself off, wringing out her hair like I taught her. She dressed herself.

She smiled at me. "What, just wanted to watch?"

"Well... Yeah..."

"What's for breakfast?"

"Cereal."

"I love cereal."

The pair of us went to the kitchen to get something to eat. A few bowls of cereal later, we moved to the couch.

"Red must've been so tired, yesterday."

"Yeah..."

"I'm glad she came with. It was fun."

"Yeah, I had fun. I'm surprised you ate all that meat."

"Red didn't seem to have an issue with it. I wanted to give it another try."

"Yeah, yeah... She really seemed to like it."

"It can be very delicious."

"Oh, absolutely." I said, "Red told me to get some bacon for home. Should I just stock up on different kinds?"

"That sounds nice."

"You're pretty accepting of this."

"I'm more curious than anything." she said.

"Maybe I can grill you girls up some of my own steaks." I said.

"Oh?"

"They're pretty good." I said.

"I'll look forward to it."

"When I get home, I'm gonna go out and do some grocery shopping. Are you coming with?"

"Of course I am."

"Good."

I turned to her and gave her a kiss on the lips.

"You are gonna eat so much meat these next few days."

"Are you referring to food or fellatio?"

I stared at her for a few moments before answering. "Yes."

She laughed.

"You're gross, Celestia."

She sighed. "I love you."

"I love you, too."

We cuddled on the couch until my alarm went off. I had to go.

"Looks like it's time." I said.

"Mmm... Yeah..." She yawned.

"You gonna go back to bed?"

"I might."

"Alright."

I moved my hand to her head and moved her hair out of the way, then kissed her forehead. "I'll be back soon."

She smiled.

I stood up and stretched myself out. "See ya."

"I'll make sure to work on the books while you're gone. I love you."

"I love you, too."

I left the house for the day. I was smiling. Yesterday was a good day. Today was going to be a good day, too.
> Chapter 30: Salutations
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

November 28



Our deadline was nearing fast. It's been a few days since our little excursion. Time seemed to flow quickly. Thanksgiving passed. I prepared a slightly larger meal for Celestia on that day. She appreciated my feeding her, just in general, really.

Red still played video games all the time. Celestia was still studying her books. Sarah was still worrying about her dad. Timmy was still employed. I was... alive, I think. Hold on, let me check the old pulse-o-rino... Yes, I am indeed alive.

So, it's been a few days... Celestia, Red, and I were all one small, happy family. We all really needed that day out of the house.

With Celestia and Red's new food interest, I was able to cook more meals for them. Hamburger Helper, burgers, steak, ham sandwiches... all the good stuff. They didn't have many days left here, so I made sure they got the premium eats.

Celestia and I snuck around behind Red's back more times than I would like to admit. I don't know how she didn't find out. I assumed that she knew and was politely ignoring us.

Red looked nice in her new clothes. Her breasts were more defined now that her bras fit her properly. Celestia noticed that I was looking at her. She brought up the subject again, which I once again brushed away. 



Celestia gave me a sigh as we sat together on the couch. It was early in the day. Red was still asleep. 

"It's almost time." she said to me.

I nodded. "Yeah..."

"Luna has called Twilight to the castle. Are you sure you would like her to stay here?"

I nodded. "It's fine."

"Good. What a shame it would be if we had to send Twilight home when she arrived..."

I gave her a small smile. "So... when?"

"Tomorrow, the gateway will open. I have a plan I would like to follow before our time is up, so I would like you to be available."

"Uh... Sure, no problem." I said, "What... will we be doing?"

"It's nothing unusual. You'll see."

I shrugged. "Alrighty then."

"I'll talk to Red while you're gone. If she ever wakes up, that is. I'll give her some instructions to follow."

"Instructions?"

Celestia nodded. "Luna has already informed the guards of Red's pardon, so I'm going to go over with her what that means. There are other things that I would like to discuss with her as well."

"Alright."

My alarm went off. That's fine. I gave Celestia a kiss goodbye and left for work.

Today was a normal day. As normal as normal got, I suppose. Sarah spoke less of her dad recently. She must've figured out that I didn't care about him. At all.

On the walk home, I told my boss that I would not be coming to work for the next three days. 

"Oh... Are you sure?" he asked me.

"I am sure, yes."

"Why? Is it your... fiancée again?"

"Yes it is. I'm going to be staying home to take care of some things."

"What if I say no?"

"Then I will not be at work." I said, "I said that I needed the days off."

"Yeah alright, go ahead. I'm just giving you a hard time."

"Thank you."

When I got home, Celestia and Red greeted me from the couch. I greeted them back. Celestia patted the couch next to her. I sat down.

"Alright, Phil... Grab a controller." said Red.

"We're doing this again?"

"Of course we are."

"Okie dokie."

I picked up a GameCube controller and chose a character for a Smash Bros. match. Red chose Link. I still like Ike. This would be an interesting match. Link had a lot of projectile attacks that she could use while I was further away.

Red put up more of a fight than ever before, but I still won.

"Oh, I lost." she let out.

"You did really good." I said.

"That's right, Red. You put up quite a fight." said Celestia, encouraging her.

"I still lost."

"You're getting better." I said to her, "You've been practicing well."

"Yeah."

"You've come a long way, Red." said Celestia, "Both in this game, and in life. I'm proud of you."

"Uh... Wow... Thanks, Celestia..."

"Ya done good, kid." I said.

"Uh... Yeah..."

"Are you excited to go back to Equestria?" I asked.

"Kinda. It'll be nice to just be a baker again."

"Where is your bakery located? Perhaps I could order something from you." said Celestia.

"It's actually in Canterlot. You know, Princess... You actually came into my shop before."

"Is that so?"

"I was so scared. I thought you found me out. You ordered some doughnuts."

Celestia laughed. "I remember that! That was you? You looked so young back then."

"Well, I kinda was young back then."

Celestia chuckled. "I just assumed that you were intimidated. Most ponies are."

"Well, most ponies don't know that you're just a big fluff-ball."

"I can be intimidating if I want."

"Oh, I know that. I remember when you saw me in that crowd. The look on your face... It gave me nightmares."

"What an odd thing to reminisce about." said Celestia.

"Yeah. I'm just glad our rivalry's over."

"I feel the same way."

"Have you prepared to go back to Equestria?"

"Well, it's not like I have anything to bring back."

"Yes, you're right. Any possessions you may have will travel with you, anyways."

"What's gonna happen to these clothes when I go back?" she asked.

"They'll disappear." I said, "Poof. Gone. I mean, if you wanna leave them with me, feel free to strip down before you go back."

"That's what I did." said Celestia.

"Don't listen to her, she's lying." I said.

She let out a small laugh. "He's right, I'm lying."

"And when she came back..." started Red, "Were you wearing the same clothes as when you left?"

"I... I don't remember. I wasn't focused on my clothes when I returned."

"You were focused on Phil." said Red.

Celestia looked at me, ready to start laughing again. It wasn't the whole story, but she was correct.

"That's right, Red." she said. I could hear the laughter hidden away in her voice.

"How romantic..."

"Do you think Princess Twilight would like it here, Red?" asked Celestia.

"Well, I like it here." said Red, "Think she'd be fine with eating meat?"

"Probably not." said Celestia, "Phil, don't tell her I've eaten meat."

"Alright. What if she asks?"

"Just tell her that I haven't done it."

"A Princess lying to her subjects?" asked Red, "How terrible..."

"You think that's bad? Here's a nice lie for you: You ponies are safe and there's nothing that would put you in danger."

Red paused her game and looked at Celestia. "What... does that mean?"

Celestia smiled at her. "Oh, nothing."

"Celestia, is there something you're not telling us?" asked Red.

"There is a lot that I don't tell my little ponies. You're better off not knowing, Red."

"I... You're starting to worry me a little, here. Should I not go back to Equestria or something?"

"You're joking with her, aren't you Celestia..." I asked her.

She let out a small laugh. "Of course I am."

Red let out a sigh of relief.

Celestia turned to me and whispered, "I'm not joking." She winked at me, letting me know that she was indeed joking.

"Hey, I heard that! What's out there?!" asked Red.

"Nothing, nothing! There's nothing you need to worry about in Equestria."

"That's exactly what someone would say if there was something to worry about." I said.

"Phil, don't encourage her!" said Celestia, laughing.

"Sh-Should I stay here?" Red asked again, her voice a little worried.

"Absolutely not. You have to bake me a cake."

"Well, I can do that here."

"Is that so?" asked Celestia, her attitude changing entirely.

"Well, yeah. I'd need a few ingredients, but yeah. "

"C-Could you do it right now?"

Red aggressively pointed at her. "Only if you promise me that there's nothing to worry about in Equestria."

Celestia laughed. "Of course. I promise you that there is nothing to worry about in Equestria."

Red smiled. "Good."

"Now, about that cake..."

"Phil." said Red.

"I guess it's time to go shopping." I said, standing up, "I'm gonna go change."

"I'll get a list of what we need written up." said Red, standing up as well.

"I'll... take a nap." said Celestia, turning her body and laying down.

"You're not coming with?" I asked.

"No, I think I'll stay here until that cake is baked." she said, a smug smile on her face.

"Oh. Ok, then."

"Don't worry about her, she's just being lazy." said Red.

Celestia let out a small laugh.

I changed into my normal set of clothes in my room and grabbed my keys to go start the car. Red came out shortly after.

"Oh, I... I guess I get the front seat, this time, don't I..." she let out.

"Yep."

She opened the passenger door and sat in the seat, putting her seatbelt on.

"You need a cake tin." said Red, "So I can make the one I have in mind."

"Alright then. No prob." I replied.

The two of us left for the store. When we arrived, Red got a cart and started hunting for her ingredients.

I got a phone call in the store. It was Celestia. I answered it.

"Phil! I'm sorry! I don't like being away from you, come back and get me!"

I sighed. "We're already here. We'll be home soon."

"What am I supposed to do without you or Red?"

"I dunno. Video games?"

She grumbled.

"You could look at porn."

"Um..." She paused. "Maybe..."

"Just do it in the bathroom, you're a slipping hazard."

"Well, I suppose... Stay on the phone with me, please..."

I looked to Red, who was already on the other end of the aisle.

"Alright."



[Audio corrupted]



I closed the call and pocketed my phone.

"Who were you talking to?" asked Red.

"Celestia."

"Oh, what'd she want?"

"She wanted us to go back and get her because she was lonely."

"Really?"

I nodded.

She let out a small laugh. "Funny. You were on the phone for a while. What else did she want?"

"Oh, she just needed help with something."

"What'd she need help with?"

"Just something."

"Not gonna tell me?"

"I doubt it."

Red sighed. "Whatever."

"Got everything?"

"Just about. I started picking out some things we needed for the house."

I looked at the cart. "Oh... So you did... That's very nice of you, thank you. You know you're not gonna be there after tomorrow, right?"

"I... forgot."

"You forgot?"

"Just a little."

"So what's the cake gonna be?"

"A surprise." she said.

"Oh. I don't have any allergies." I said, "Neither does Celestia. I think."

"Good, good."

I looked at what Red got for her cake. She got the baking tin and a lot of other ingredients. There were a few containers of frosting as well. I picked one up.

"Huh..."

"What's up?" asked Red.

"Red lid." I said.

"Hmm?"

"These ones taste like crap, let's get the ones with the blue lids."

She just stared at me, head tilted. "Really?"

"Hey, I know my frosting." I said to her.

"Well, alright. I just picked those 'cause they were cheaper."

"Yep. Like ten cents cheaper. And it shows in the taste."

"A ten cent taste difference?"

"You know it."

"How much is a cent, anyways? Not a lot, I assume."

"I'm sure you've seen a brown coin on the ground outside once or twice. That's one cent. Not even worth enough to pick up."

"Hmm..."

"Pick up anything silver, though. Anyways, frosting. Come on."

We returned to the cake aisle and made our exchange. 

"This is the good stuff." I said, "Just eat this with a spoon, you know."

"Like you do to peanut butter?"

"Yeah, exactly. I love peanut butter."

"That's gross."

"Hey, I don't reuse my spoons."

"Whatever."

I got a few extra. Even with a day left, there was no telling how much Celestia would eat. Also there's food play, so Celestia would appreciate it even more.

"Think it's enough?"

"Oh shush, you ponies can survive on frosting alone."

"Well... you're not entirely wrong." She let out a small laugh. "I'm surprised Celestia is letting us spend time together like this."

"She just called and said she made a mistake and didn't want to be away from me."

"I guess we shouldn't keep her waiting, then."

"Yep."

The two of us returned home with our ingredients. Celestia was eagerly awaiting our return. We brought in the groceries, setting them on the kitchen counter.

"Alright, go to the front room, I can take care of this." she said.

"You don't want any help?" asked Celestia.

"No. I'll be fine on my own."

"Alright."

"Come on, Celestia." I said to her, shaking one of the frosting containers in my hand.

She had a smile on her face as she followed me out. We sat on the couch. I had preemptively grabbed two spoons for us. I gave one to her.

I popped off the cap, then peeled back the foil under the lid. The strong, vanilla smell filled the air around our heads. I gave the container a deep smell. My eyes rolled back. It was such a delicious smell.

Celestia chuckled. "You make that same face when you smell me." she said to me.

"I don't know which tastes better." I said to her, "You're sweating."

"So I am..."

I held the container out to her. "Here, smell."

She did so. "Mmm... Vanilla..."

I pulled it back. We both started digging into it with our spoons.

"Does this make me fat?" she asked, taking a bite from her frosting.

"Yes, yes it does."

She shrugged. "It's not like I gain weight anyways."

I poked her belly. "You're gonna gain just about ten pounds one of these days."

She smirked at me. "Was that a baby joke?"

"It may have been."

I heard the whirring of the mixer in the kitchen.

"I'm getting excited to try Red's cake." said Celestia.

"Are you sure you wouldn't rather try her pie?"

"Oh, I love pie!"

"I bet you do."

That one flew right over her head, oddly enough...

We sat against each other on the couch, enjoying each other's presence while eating frosting.

"Well, I ate too much." I said, lowering my spoon.

"Already? More for me, then."

"How do you not have a stomach ache?"

She just smiled at me. "I never get sick eating sweet things."

"You're gonna get a cavity, Celestia."

"I'll be fine."

After a while, Red walked out to us.

"Is it done?" asked Celestia.

"It's baking, Princess."

"Oh, of course... You look cute in your apron."

"Oh... Well, thank you."

Celestia gasped. I looked to her.

"You have a ponytail!" Celestia let out in shock.

I looked to Red. So she did.

"Well, I didn't wanna get any hair in the cake." she said.

"You look good with a ponytail."

"Didn't you both have ponytails a little while ago?" I asked them.

Celestia gave me a small laugh. "You're correct."

"It should be done in about an hour." said Red.

"An hour? How big is this thing?" I asked.

"It's... pretty big."

"I can't wait!" Celestia happily let out, "Come, sit with us."

Red smiled, then walked over to us and sat down.

"You guys ate that whole thing?" asked Red, looking at the empty frosting container.

"I ate most of it." said Celestia.

"Holy crap. Try to make it to the toilet when you throw up."

"I'll be fine, Red. You're just like Phil."

"If you say so."

We waited out our hour with Red playing video games and Celestia and I cuddling. It wasn't actually an hour before there was a ding in the kitchen. Celestia sat straight up. Red laughed after she saw Celestia on high alert. 

"It's not done yet, Princess." she said, "I still have work to do."

"Oh... Alright."

Celestia disappointedly slouched back down. Red stood up and went into the kitchen.

"It smells so good." said Celestia. I heard her stomach growl.

"How are you always hungry?"

"My stomach is bigger than my brain."

"That's not hard to believe."

"Hey!"

I held her against me, letting out a small laugh. "Oh... You have no idea how much I love you..."

She smiled. "That's better. I love you too... You know... With it being Red's last day here... Maybe we could..."

"No."

"Alright. If you say so."

"You are just completely stuck on this, Celestia."

"Well, most men would jump on a chance like this. You know that it won't affect our relationship. At least, not much."

"I know... I'm just a little uncomfortable with asking Red."

"Hmm?"

"I don't feel like she's mature enough to deal with it."

"Mature enough? Interesting. That's one of the most mature things I've ever heard you say. Perhaps you're right."

"You should've been the one to think about that, Celestia. You're supposed to be the responsible one, here."

"Mmm... I suppose you're right... You know how I am... My mind is full of sex. There's not much room for anything else..."

"You slut."

She chuckled. "Oh, yes..."

"Alright, it's ready!" Red called out to us.

"Cake!" Celestia shot up and rushed into the kitchen. 

I laughed at her as I got up. "Celestia, you have a junk food addiction."

"There's more than enough for all of us, Princess. You don't have to take a piece that big."

When I got into the kitchen, I saw the cake sitting on the counter. It looked delicious. It was a circular cake with a coating of frosting. The frosting was actually rather smooth. I was impressed. There was a large chunk missing from it, almost a fourth of it. Celestia was happily eating away at the table.

Red gave me a look. She shrugged.

"It looks great, Red." I said to her.

"Thank you. I hope you both like it."

"I love it!" said Celestia, her mouth full of cake, "It'th really hot!"

"Slow down, Celestia." I said to her, "You're gonna choke."

Before I got myself a slice of cake, I got us all glasses of milk. Celestia needed it.

"Thank you." she affectionately said to me, "And thank you, Red."

"Of course, Princess."

I got myself a piece and sat next to Celestia. I started eating it. "Pretty good."

"Thanks."

"Aren't you going to eat?" asked Celestia.

"Nah, she drugged it." I said, "That's why she's not eating."

"Oh..." Celestia took another bite.

"I didn't drug my cake!" Red shouted at me.

Celestia smiled at me.

"I know, I know... You like using water." I said.

"Oh, come on!"

Celestia and I laughed. "Sorry, Red." I said to her.

Red calmed down. She let out a small laugh of her own. "Whatever."

She cut herself a piece of the cake she made and sat with us.

"What did you put in this?" asked Celestia.

"Ingredients." I said.

"It's a vanilla based recipe." said Red.

"Mm! I definitely taste it."

"Other than that, it's just a normal cake."

"It still tastes good."

"Oh, any cake would taste good to you, Princess." said Red.

"I suppose. But thank you."

Red nodded. "Of course."

I glanced at Red as I ate. My previous discussion with Celestia brought up a question. How mature was Red, really? It wasn't a question that would be readily answered. I wasn't Red's dad, I shouldn't really care. Maybe friends care about each other like this, I don't know. I've never cared about how mature my friends were. Well... maybe I have...

Red has a job, presumably a place to stay, money to sustain herself... She's in good graces with Princess Celestia. She's doing well for herself.

It was a strange thought... Good cake...

Even with Celestia's appetite, we couldn't finish it all. Red wrapped up what was left of the cake in tin foil and put it away in the fridge.

Celestia let out a sigh. "That was great..."

"I'm glad you think so, Princess."

Celestia giggled. "I feel bubbly. I think I had too much sugar..."

Red took a step away from her, her face changing from happy to worry. "Well, aim that way."

"Here. If you're gonna spew..." I grabbed the small plastic cup I used for milk and held it out to her. "Spew in this."

"I'm fine, Phil. Please, this isn't the first time I've gorged myself on cake and it definitely won't the last."

"Well, whatever. Anyone up for Mario Kart?"

"That sounds great." said Red, "Let me clean up out here first. I'll be there soon."

"Let me help." said Celestia, "I'll clean the dishes off."

"Oh. Well, thank you."

"I'll start it up." I said to them.

I went to the front room and changed games. I set the controllers onto the table where we would sit, then got us to the character selection screen.

I heard the clinking of glass out in the kitchen. Celestia was so helpful.

Ahh... It's good being a man. Both of my women are cleaning the kitchen while I was playing video games. I'm kidding...

They eventually joined me in the front room. I had given Red the first controller. It didn't matter too much to me. She probably preferred first controller anyways.

We had fun playing Mario Kart the rest of the night. We all won some, we all lost some. This would be our last night together as friends in this world, and we were using it to play video games. It was a good night...

We all made sure to go to bed at the same time. Celestia suggested this to us. Red and I weren't thinking at the time, but both agreed that it was a really good idea.

I was lying in bed with my Princess pony-turned-human. It would be interesting parting on happy terms. I was thinking about it for a while. She'll be back... Wait... No, she actually won't. If everything goes right, she won't have to come back at all...

Maybe we could take vacations in the human world... The future was full of possibilities.

And if everything goes wrong, we'll all be in the same rut as before. But I still had her. That's all that mattered. That's all I cared about. I could selfishly say, without a doubt, that she was mine and nobody else's.

I fell asleep with her in my arms. Her body was right up against mine. I felt warm, in body and in spirit. I loved this so much. I loved her so much...

I woke up to a bright light. Mmm... Oh hey, what's this? A dream! I'm dreaming! Oh, it's been so long since the last time I dreamt. 

What is it, though? Where was I? A field, I guess.

"Hello, Phil." I heard a woman say.

A voice! Oh, how neat. I don't hear a lot of voices in my dreams. Usually, they just talk to me when I'm awake.

"Would you stand up for me?" I heard her say. Her voice was pleasant. Pleasant and... familiar.

Stand up? Ok. Standing up. Boom. I stood up. This was a lucid dream, then. Or...

"Luna!" I happily let out, spotting my blue pony friend in my dream. She looked so soft, I wanted to hug her. I didn't though, out of respect for her and her personal space.

She smiled at me, walking towards me. "Are you surprised to see me?"

"Yeah! It's a good surprise." I examined my surroundings. An endless grassy field on a bright sunny day. "This is a weird dream."

"I may have had a hoof in that. Or shall I say... Hand..." She chuckled lightly.

She was a pony right now. She was shorter than I was, so she looked up to me when she spoke. She had a wide, friendly smile on her face. This was probably the happiest I've ever seen her. 

"Ah, all my dreams are weird anyways." I said, brushing past it, "So you're in my dream, huh..."

"That's right. I've been preparing for Twilight Sparkle's arrival in your world. She's at the castle right now. My sister has to speak with her before she joins you."

"I'm looking forward to it." I said, "Seems fun, just like Celestia said."

"You and my sister have quite the journey ahead of you, if things go well. You'll be thrust into a world you'll know nothing about."

"Yeah, but you'll help me though, right?"

"Of course."

"What are friends for, right Luna?"

She smiled. "My sister will help you as well. We all will. This may come as a shock to you, but you're rather popular in the castle."

"I... Really?"

Luna nodded. "That's right. Shining Armor informed his wife of you, and when my sister returned in tears, rumors began circulating. I've heard many things about who you could be."

"Well... They're all wrong. All of them."

"Some were rather... exotic." She chuckled. "I suppose you'll find out. I apologize, this is not why I have contacted you."

"You had a reason? I thought you just wanted to pop in and say hi."

"Perhaps I did. It is nice to be able to talk to you."

"Yeah."

"Before we continue, though... Which form do you prefer? My pony form..." Her body was covered in a blue aura of magic, obscuring her. When it faded, I could see that she had taken her human form. "Or this form..."

"I... I guess your human form." I said to her, "It doesn't... really matter, I guess."

"No, I suppose not..." She examined her fingers. "But this form does have its advantages. If not for my horn and wings, I would say that the human body is superior to the pony body."

I shrugged. "Probably. How have you been, Luna?"

"I have been... stressed."

"Oh..."

"Yes. I've taken over my sister's duties while she's away. It's... not what I would choose to do. But... I'm not here to complain. Come, walk with me."

"Walk? Alright."

I began following Luna. As we walked, the world changed around us. In front of us laid a hallway. We both walked through, leaving the field behind.

The hallway had a red carpet on the floor. Lanterns lit the hallway the entire distance down. Even though the appearance was new, this was an old hallway... Perhaps one from Luna's past.

"Is this your doing?" I asked her.

"Indeed it is. I wanted a change of scenery."

I noticed that the hallway was beginning to lose its clean design. The further we walked, the more it seemed like the walls would crumble around us.

There was a hole in the wall. Moss covered the bricks. Luna stopped and looked outside. I stopped next to her.

I saw a forest in the night. The full moon was large in the sky. There was an abundance of stars.

"Beautiful, is it not?" asked Luna.

"It's nice."

"This is our old castle, Phil." she said to me, gesturing downwards.

I looked down. I recognized this sight from the show. The ruins of the old castle in the Everfree Forest. So this is the old castle, huh... Interesting. 

I've never been in a castle before. Maybe I should visit Europe one of these days. They got lots of castles there. I bet Celestia would like to come.

"It must feel so strange to see another world like this." she said to me, "You've never seen Equestria before."

"Yeah... It's... beautiful."

Luna chuckled. She stepped forward, then sat down on the edge of the hole. I did the same, though I was not as comfortable with it as she was. I did not like being this close to an edge of something, even in a dream. I moved back as far as possible.

"Do you know of the story of the Mare in the Moon?" she asked me.

"You?"

"Yes. But... Not entirely."

"Nightmare Moon."

"Yes. A thousand... and one... years ago, I became jealous of my sister. The ponies we ruled over played all day in the light of her magnificent sun, and yet, they slept through my beautiful nights... I let my feelings overcome me, but in the end, I was defeated and banished to the moon for a thousand years."

She was staring up at the full moon. It reflected off her beautiful eyes. 

I looked to the sky. It was beautiful, but not as much as Luna.

"Do you think I deserved it, Phil?"

I looked back to her. "Luna?"

She looked to me. "I'm sorry, it is not right of me to ask that question."

"Are you alright?"

She gave me a slow nod. "I am not who I once was. I've accepted what has happened in the past. I've forgiven my sister, and I truly believe that she deserves forgiveness."

"That was kinda... That was a powerful question there, Luna."

"I apologize."

"It's alright, I just... I didn't expect that. Are you sure you're alright, Luna? It's alright if you aren't. I'm here for you. Celestia's here for you."

"I know."

"We all love you, Luna. Everyone does. You know that, right?"

She nodded, then gave me a look as if she had suddenly realized something. "Everyone? Does that... include... you?"

"Of course I love you, Luna. You're my fiancée's sister. It'd be a shame if we had a bad relationship. And you're one of my friends, Luna."

She smiled at me. "Thank you, Phil. It means a great deal to me that you think this way about me. I suppose I feel similar, but you may be disappointed to hear that my feelings of our relationship are not as strong as yours."

I shrugged. "That's fine."

"I do not feel that I am close enough to you to say that I love you. We're friends, yes, but... we are not..."

"Family." I said, cutting her off.

She solemnly nodded. "I'm sorry."

"Oh, don't worry about it." I said, waving my hand in the air, brushing off her comment, "We've only known each other for a few days."

She let out a sigh. "Yes... I seem to have ruined the pleasant mood of our conversation."

I reached for her and placed my hand onto her shoulder, looking up at the moon. "Don't worry about it."

Luna let out a chuckle, seemingly unprompted. I looked to her.

"Your way of thinking is different than mine." she said to me, "You're more impulsive than I am. It interested me. I wanted to do something on impulse, like you, so I contacted you."

"Oh?" I let go of her.

"When I decided to visit your dream, it was on a whim. I had nothing to ask, and I had nothing to say."

"Yeah, that kinda sounds like me." I said, smiling.

"Even so, I am glad that I have contacted you. I had... a desire to see you again. It's strange, is it not?"

"Well, I wanted to see you again, too. You're my friend."

"I would have never expected myself to befriend a human."

"Yeah..."

"I have friends in Equestria." she said, "But you're different, and I can't place the reason."

"Is it 'cause I'm a guy?"

She turned her head and looked to me. She stared for a short while. "Perhaps... I couldn't say."

"You have guy friends though, right?"

"Of course I do. I am very popular in Equestria." She had a bit of a smug tone in her voice.

"It's 'cause I treat you different, that's right." I said, "I remember now. You said that to me before."

"Yes... You respect me as a Princess, but you do not treat me as such, much the same as it is with my sister. My sister fell for you because you treat her like a normal woman."

"I just treat her like... Celestia. Just like I treat you like Luna and Chrysalis like Chrysalis. You might be the rulers of nations, but you're still my friends."

She let out another chuckle. "It's almost relaxing, being with you. You are an interesting man, Phil. I've not met one such as yourself in many years. It seems as though every time we speak, we discover something new about each other."

"Yeah..."

"Our time is almost up." she said, "You'll be waking soon."

"That so?"

Luna stood up. She held out a hand to me. I took it and she pulled me up. She was stronger than she looked, I was a heavy man. Maybe it was because this was a dream.

She looked right at me. She still had a friendly smile on her face. "We'll meet again soon enough. Goodbye."

"Yeah, see ya, Luna."

She took a step back, then faded away into a sparkling, blue dust. I let out a sigh. What a nice lady...

Alright, I guess it's time to wake up...

I closed my eyes. When I opened them back up, I saw my ceiling.



November 30



I looked to Celestia. She was staring at me. She smiled.

"Finally awake?"

"Probably not."

"Luna told me that she spoke with you. What did you talk about?"

"I have no idea." 

Celestia chuckled. "It seems that Luna was as clueless as you are."

"Funny. She said she wanted to try being impulsive so she impulsively joined me in my dream."

"How cute of her... Come on, get up. Today is a big day."

I sat up in bed, then yawned. I felt like I knew how the next three days would play out... I had a feeling... 

Celestia was smiling at me. She was sitting up as well.

"Well, come on!" she excitedly said to me, smiling, "We don't have all day!"

"Right, right..."

I got out of bed and re-dressed myself with yesterday's clothes. Celestia did the same with her own clothing. We slept in our underwear. Any more and it would be too uncomfortable. Any less and it would be too arousing.

"You sure you wanna wear yesterday's clothes?" I asked her, "You usually shower."

"It won't matter." she told me.

"I guess."

Celestia waited for me at the door. She opened it as I walked to her. She was giddy right now.

Red was on the couch waiting for us. She smiled at us. "Good morning."

"Good morning, Red. Are you ready?" asked Celestia.

"As I'll ever be, I guess." she said.

"Good. I'd like to get this done as soon as possible, if you don't mind. Luna?" said Celestia.

"I'm ready, sister." she replied from Equestria. Luna seemed to have a bit of a sarcastic or irritated tone to her voice. How strange...

"Alright, Red." said Celestia, "It's time."

"Right now? What, can't wait to get rid of me?"

Celestia just stared at her for a few moments. She knew it was a joke. "We have things to do before I leave. I apologize."

"Mmm... Well, whatever."

"Let's see if I remember this correctly..." Celestia said to herself.

She began to chant the same chant as before. I had bad memories of this chant...

To our side, near the wall, a white, shimmering portal opened up. It quickly stabilized. We could see something on the other side. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be the inside of the castle in Equestria.

Luna's head showed itself from one side of the portal. She walked into view.

"Whenever you are ready, Red Shadow." said Luna.

Red approached the portal. "So this thing will take me back, huh..." She turned back to us. "Guess this is goodbye then, Phil."

"Yep. I'll see ya again eventually."

"Hopefully. It's been fun hanging out with you."

"Yeah..."

Celestia chuckled. "You can hug him, it's alright."

Red turned to Celestia. "I didn't wanna..." She sighed, then stepped forward. 

Red draped her arms over the both of our shoulders. Celestia gave off a small noise of surprise. Red pulled away soon after. It didn't last long, but it was nice.

"See ya." she said to us.

"Yeah, see ya." I replied.

She turned back towards the portal. Luna watched her as she stepped through. 

Red turned around and looked at us. She was a pony again. A short, red haired, red coat pony. I liked her mane...

She looked to Luna, then back to us. "Bye!" she said to us, waving her hoof at us.

"Bye." I said to her.

Celestia just smiled.

Red stepped to the side, out of view.

"Luna, you know what to tell Twilight, right?"

Luna sighed. "Of course I do. Goodbye, sister." She still seemed mildly perturbed. 

Celestia smiled at her. With a wave of her hand, the portal disappeared.

"Oh... That was rather brief..." I said.

Celestia raised both of her arms into the air and stretched out her body. She let out a long sigh. She looked at me, a small smile on her face. "Are you just going to stand there or are you gonna eat my..."



[Lewd]



November 31



With Red out of the picture, Celestia no longer had to hold back her voice while we had sex. She took full advantage of this... I'd be surprised if the neighbors didn't call the police...

It was the morning of the next day. My body hurt... Celestia couldn't be doing any better... 

I heard her let out a groan of pain.

"Your pelvis still in one piece?" I asked her.

"I'm so hungry..."

I sighed. She's fine.

"I can't... feel my legs..." she let out.

"Was it worth it?"

She gave me a pained, "Yes."

I sighed. "I feel the same way..."

She remained silent for a while. "Mmm..." She paused. "We'll have to shower before we talk to my sister and Twilight..." She chuckled. "I'm pretty dirty for a Princess, aren't I..."

"You're pretty dirty for a normal woman Celestia, like holy shit..."

She started laughing midway through my sentence. "Oh... Ow... It hurts to laugh. You'll have to take me to the bathroom when we shower. I can't feel my legs at all."

"I take it we're showering together?"

"Oh, yes..."

I sighed again.

"Hey." She let out, turning her head to me.

"Hmm?"

"I love you." she said to me.

I smiled at her. "I love you, too."

We laid in bed for a while longer before we got up. My legs hurt...

We spent a long time in the bathroom this morning. It was a hassle getting her into the shower, but other than that, it went well.

Celestia stayed in the shower when I got out. I went to the kitchen to make us some food. Celestia was hungry, so I had to make a lot.

There was a dirty pot on the stove. I made us mac'n'cheese last night because Celestia was hungry, which made me hungry. We must've forgotten about it. We were busy.

I filled the pot with hot water in the sink to soak away the cheese.

Anyways...

Pancakes... Reminds me of day one as Celestia's boyfriend.

Celestia must've smelled the pancakes I was making because she was out in the kitchen just a few minutes later. She was standing near the table, waiting for her food.

"I thought you couldn't walk." I said to her.

"I'm getting better." she said. I could see that she was bracing herself against the chair.

"Gonna sit down?"

"Maybe. My tooshie hurts."

I smirked at her. "Mmm-hmm..."

"That smells good."

"Bet it does. How many you want? Three? Four? Eight? Ninety? 372,844?"

"I don't know if I can eat that many... Six. Let's go with six."

"Ok. Six pancakes, coming up. We need butter and syrup."

"Well... Go get it."

"I thought you said you were getting better..."

"I am... but I'm also lazy."

I smiled at her. "I know you are. Alright, just sit down, I'll take care of it." 

"I'll... I'll stand." she said again.

"First one's done."

She happily walked over to me and took the plate I was planning on stacking the pancakes onto. Luckily, I had foreseen these events and had taken out multiple plates.

I paused my cooking for a moment to cater to Celestia. I got out the syrup and butter, poured her a glass of milk, and gave her a kiss on the lips before going back to the stove.

I looked back at her. She was holding the plate in her hand, chopping and eating it with her fork.

I spent a long time making pancakes that morning. Celestia ate them almost as fast as I could get them to her. I had to make more batter midway through cooking.

"I love pancakes." said Celestia, mouth full of food.

"Didn't your parents ever teach you manners?"

"Of coursh they did." She swallowed. "I grew out of it." She giggled.

I smiled at her. "How you feeling?"

"Tingly. And sore. And you?"

"That's not what I..." I sighed, then smiled at her. "Sore, yeah..."

"I'm not hungry anymore."

"I don't believe that for a second."

She laughed. "I think the hand prints on my bottom are going to bruise." she let out, "I may even have to conceal my rear when I return to Equestria."

"Blasphemy."

She gave me a small laugh. "Perhaps." She let out a long sigh.

"Hmm?"

"Nothing. I'll... After I finish eating, I'll clean up the bed, then I'll leave for Equestria."

"You sure?" I asked her.

"Yes, it needs to be cleaned."

"No, I meant..."

"I know what you meant. At least this time, we won't have such a tearful parting."

"Maybe. Who knows, I might just start right now."

"No, please don't. If you start crying, I'm going to start crying."

"If you say so... How long do you think it will take Twilight to figure it out?"

"I couldn't say. Anywhere from a week to a month, is my guess."

"Mmm..."

"Perhaps more, perhaps less. Where will Twilight be sleeping?" she asked.

"Uh... Probably downstairs. She probably won't feel comfortable in my bed, and she'd probably prefer the basement as opposed to up here."

"That's a rather specific assumption."

"Are we gonna tell her about our relationship?"

Celestia nodded. "Knowing who you are will help her warm up to you. She'll find out anyways."

"What if she asks about the physical aspect of our relationship?"

She blinked. "Um... Tell her... If she asks, you can tell her that we do have sex, but don't explain it any further."

"M'kay..."

"She doesn't need to know about... what we do... what we've... done... I don't expect her to ask anything like that."

"I don't know, she's a curious little pony. Did you tell her what she would be doing?"

"Luna has told her that she will be sent somewhere to study something important. She knows that I am away, but she doesn't know where 'away' is."

"That's really vague."

She nodded. "It may not have been a good idea, but I wanted to be there myself to tell her what she would be doing."

"Mmm... Bet she prepared a lot of luggage."

Celestia chuckled. She smiled at me. "More than she would need."

"Honestly, she doesn't need anything at all. Is her little dragon with her?"

"You mean Spike? No, I made sure that she knew that it was a single person job. A single pony job."

"Alright, thanks. I don't wanna deal with an extra person poking around my place."

"Poking around..." She chuckled again. "That reminds me... I had a question. Is our... sex life too active?"

"Hmm? What do you mean?"

"It just... seems like it's all I think about. You're still young, so I don't know if you'll understand, but... I've told you this before, but none of my relationships have been this... physical. I've had... a number of lovers, both good and bad... and you're among... if not the best I have ever had. But... Is it... normal? To have sex this often? Is it normal?"

I shrugged. "Course it is. I mean, like... do you really care? Once a day is normal for a new couple. Granted, we usually pass once a day, but still... It's normal to be physical with your partner. Even if it's not, who cares? What goes on behind closed doors between consenting adults is no business of anyone else. I've said that before, I think. I mean, you're trying to get pregnant, Celestia. We're supposed to do it as much as possible. Probably. I don't know how ladies work."

"Perhaps you're right... But... If it were just about pregnancy, our sex life would be far less exciting."

"Celestia, shut up."

"Ok."

I smiled at her. "You're weird."

She smiled back. "I know..." 

Eventually, the food had disappeared. True to her word, Celestia started the laundry. After it had been started, she walked back upstairs and laid down across my legs on the couch.

I lifted my hand and placed my hand onto her back.

She sighed. "My bottom is really sore..."

"I bet it is."

"You're not a gentle lover."

"Neither are you."

She let out a small noise.

We rested together on the couch until we heard the washing machine beep at us. Celestia went downstairs and changed over the laundry, then came right back up to lay on me.

She knew she didn't have to continue with the laundry. In fact, she never really needed to start either, but it makes her happy, so I won't say anything. She was just making excuses to stay with me.

We had woken up late in the day, so it was about three in the afternoon when the dryer was finished. She went downstairs and retrieved the bedding, then went into the room with a laundry basket in her arms. She came out and laid back on me shortly after. She was quiet.

"You're gonna fall asleep if you stay like that." I said to her, rubbing her back.

She just sighed.

I let her stay where she was for a while, but eventually, she had to get up. I knew this, she knew this.

"Celestia." I gently said to her.

"Is it time?" she asked.

"Is it?"

"Yes... Oh, how I wish we could stay together."

"We'll see each other soon." I said to her.

Another sigh.

She slowly lifted herself off of me. I stood up after she did. She turned to me. A small smile was across her face.

I held my arms out for her. She immediately pushed against me. We held each other for a long time.

She pulled away, still smiling. She took in a breath. "Alright, I'm ready."

She walked to a clear space in the front room and chanted her spell. The portal opened once more. 

"Oh, Luna!" called Celestia.

Luna appeared in front of the portal shortly after.

"Could you call Twilight here for me?"

"Of course, sister. I'll be just a moment."

Luna walked away. Celestia looked to me. She had a sad expression, but still wore a smile. I smiled back at her.

"You be on your best behavior around Twilight, Phil."

"I will."

I heard the tapping of little pony hooves getting closer to the portal.

Celestia took in another breath and let it out slowly.

Luna stood in front of the portal, then gestured to it. Another pony came into view. Her big, purple eyes widened as she looked up at us. 

"P-Princess!" she let out in surprise.

"It's nice to see you again, Twilight." she let out. Her voice was... different. It's not like the voice she uses around me. I didn't know how to explain it.

"Y-You're a human!"

Luna was smiling. She was amused by Twilight's reaction.

"I am. I apologize for the short notice, Twilight."

"No, it's... It's alright, Princess."

"I'm glad you could make it. As you can see, we haven't been telling you the entire truth. I have a task for you, Twilight Sparkle."

Twilight tightened her stance and gave Celestia a serious, "Yes, Princess."

"Do you see this man?" asked Celestia, taking a step to the side, drawing more attention to me.

I smiled at Twilight.

"Hello..." she said to me, curious.

"This man is very important to me, Twilight. He is my fiancé."

Twilight paused. She blinked a few times. "I'm sorry Princess, I didn't quite catch that. Could you repeat that, please?"

Celestia chuckled. "This is my fiancé."

"That's what I thought you said. Would you excuse me for a moment?"

Twilight disappeared in a flash of purple. Our group heard distant, incoherent screaming from a familiar voice. Another purple flash appeared in front of us, leaving a very shocked Twilight in its absence. "WHAT?!" 

She was taking this rather well.

Celestia found this very amusing. "Yes, Twilight. You've heard me correctly."

"WHAT?!" she let out again.

Celestia was holding back a laugh.

"Y-Y-You... P-Princess..."

Celestia paused to let Twilight stammer around for the words she needed.

"Con... Congratulations!" she loudly let out. She still looked confused. I don't think she fully understood the gravity of what Celestia said.

"Thank you, Twilight." Celestia replied, a cheerful tone in her voice, "I appreciate it."

"I... I don't..." She let out a high-pitched, "What?!"

Celestia let out a small laugh. "It's true, Twilight." She looked to me, smiling. "He and I have fallen in love."

I smiled back at her.

"That's... That's... Well, that's incredible! That's..."

Celestia lifted her hand to calm Twilight down. Twilight immediately quieted herself.

"Your task ties into this, Twilight. I will tell you what I need you to do, if you are ready."

"I..." Twilight paused, then took in a breath. "Of course, Princess." She stood at the ready, a quill and scroll floating in front of her face from beyond our view.

"I would like my fiancé to join me in Equestria." she said. It seemed almost like an announcement. "To do this, I need to find a spell that bring him to Equestria. I don't believe that creating one would be possible, not without great effort. We have acquired three books that we believe contain the spell we need, but there is an issue with the books."

Twilight was writing down what Celestia said.

Celestia used a spell to pick up the three books from the table and show them to Twilight.

"This book..." Celestia grabbed one of the books with her hand. It was the thinnest book of the three. "This, we assume, was supposed to be presented to somepony, but it seems that the creator lost track of what it was as he wrote. In the end, it became a research book. Thankfully, it has been typed out. This book..." She grabbed the second book. "This is an advanced level spellbook."

"I've read that book before!" Twilight let out, eyes widening, "It's supposed to be very rare..."

Celestia opened the book to show Twilight the contents. Twilight gasped.

"This book has been used as a notebook, Twilight. There are notes in the margins of many of the pages, as you can see." Celestia turned the page a few times.

"I... I can't even read it! Who would do such a thing?"

Celestia closed the book. "The third book is a journal. At least, that's what we believe." She opened it to show Twilight. "It could very well be a child's sketch book."

"This..." Twilight stopped, just horrified by what she was seeing. This was probably some sick form of torture for her.

Celestia chuckled. "So you understand our problem."

"How can somepony let their penmanship get so bad?"

"The pony's name is Star Song." said Celestia, "Have you heard of him?"

"No, I haven't, Princess."

"Neither have we."

"It's a shame." said Luna, "Star Song is very bright. With this knowledge alone, he could have been one of the most famous unicorns in history."

"He is... brilliant... but he is also insufferable. I can't stand hearing his name after all the work I've put into..." Celestia trailed off, continuing to complain about Star Song under her breath.

"You alright, Celestia?" I gently asked her.

She grumbled. "No."

"You want a hug to make you feel better?"

"Yes, please..."

"Alright, come here, sweetie..."

She giggled as I wrapped my arms around her. "I thought you said no more nicknames..."

"I couldn't help it. You're so sweet..."

She hugged me back. We shared a pleasant embrace for a short while before pulling apart. We stood facing a surprised Twilight Sparkle.

Celestia chuckled again. "I hope you don't expect me to apologize for my affection, Twilight." she said. She said this in the voice she uses with me. She was flipping between her serious and playful personas.

"No, of course not! I would never..."

Celestia let out another laugh. "It's alright, Twilight. As you have seen, these books will be difficult to study. Luna and I have gone through the printed research notes, and while it contained a lot of useful information, it did not give us the answers we sought."

"Do you really think I would be able to read them?"

"I do, Twilight. When it comes to this pony, Star Song, Luna and I believe that he was one of the most brilliant ponies of his time, but due to his scatterbrained tendencies, he was unable to give his research to the world. Perhaps he simply forgot the deadline to present his work..." She chuckled. "If his work can be deciphered, it could bring about a new age of magic."

Twilight was captivated by her words. Don't quote me on this, but I think that she was interested. Her eyes were wide, and she stayed silent.

"I'm sure you're eager to start working." said Celestia.

She nodded excitedly. "I am, Princess."

"Wonderful. After we had finished with the printed book, Luna and I began working on the notes in the spellbook. I suggest starting by reading the notes we have made of the printed book, then moving onto the spellbook. Do you understand, Twilight?"

"Yes. I understand, Princess."

"This is your task." said Celestia, "However, I have both a task and a choice for you, Twilight Sparkle." She paused.

Twilight waited eagerly for her Princess to speak.

"Your task, as I have discussed, is to study these books and discover a way to bring my fiancé to Equestria. You are the only pony that I can trust to accomplish this, Twilight Sparkle."

"I'm honored that you think so, Princess."

"And... The choice..."

Twilight was 100% focused on Celestia right now.

Celestia glanced at me, then looked back. "Your choice is whether you wish to study the books in Equestria... or in this world."

"In... the human world?"

"Yes, Twilight. We have discussed it, and we have decided that, if you choose to, you will be allowed to stay in this world with my fiancé while you study."

Twilight blinked. "Wh..." She tilted her head. "What?"

"I know that it's sudden, Twilight. You couldn't have expect this."

"Perhaps it was a bad idea to make it a surprise." said Luna.

"Perhaps. But she's here, now."

Twilight was having a hard time coming up with a response. "I... I don't know what to say..."

"Now, Twilight... I want you to bear in mind that it does not matter which world you choose. You will be able to complete your studies in either. It does not matter to myself which you choose, either. I simply wanted to provide you with the opportunity. That is all."

I'm pretty sure she was lying to give Twilight an unbiased choice. She seemed pretty happy about this earlier.

"That being said..." Celestia continued, "There is a reason I am offering you this choice. Humans have created a nearly limitless source of information in their world. You would be able to access it as you please."

Twilight was interested once more.

Celestia chuckled. "I see that I have caught your attention... You will be residing with my fiancé until one of two things happen, Twilight. We will bring you home at the end of the month. That is one. The other is your discovery of a spell that would allow you travel to Equestria."

Twilight slowly nodded.

"You will be given until tomorrow night to decide." said Celestia, "After which, you cannot travel to or from this world. That is why I wanted to introduce you to him as soon as I could. It would give you time to decide."

I think Luna knew that Celestia told Twilight a fib. The first day that she was able to go back was used up for another purpose. I think that' why Luna seemed unhappy when we spoke yesterday after sending Red home.

Celestia turned to me and smiled at me. She gestured to Twilight.

Twilight looked to me. 

"I guess that's my cue." I let out. I took a step forward and looked to Twilight. "My name is Phil."

"My name is Twilight Sparkle."

"Princess Twilight Sparkle." said Celestia, "You mustn't forget, Twilight."

"Right. I am Princess Twilight Sparkle." she announced with more confidence.

Celestia smiled. "Very good." I heard the pride she had for Twilight in her voice.

I smiled. "It's nice to meet you, Princess Twilight."

"It's nice to meet you too, Phil."

"How funny..." said Celestia, "You're more formal with her than you are with me."

I shrugged. "Oh, I just met her. It'll pass."

She laughed in response to this. "Yes, it will pass." she cheerfully replied, "Oh, this is going to fun..." 

"Well, then let me introduce myself again." I said to Twilight, "My name is Phil, fiancé of Princess Celestia."

"Oh, that's a good introduction." said Celestia, "But your one-syllable name ruins it."

"Gee, thanks."

"What about your last name?"

I shrugged. "Maybe." I repeated the introduction with the inclusion of my last name. *Nice try, me. You can't fool me that easily.*

"That was better." she said.

"Phil is such a boring name, though." I said.

"I don't find it boring." she said.

"Well, her name is Twilight Sparkle." I said.

"Indeed it is. That's a normal name for us ponies."

"Yeah well, what about Bob? Bob's a boring name."

"I don't find it boring." she replied.

"You're weird." I said to her.

She smiled at me.

Twilight was clearly surprised to see her Princess act this way.

"Anyways..." I loudly let out, getting everyone's attention, "Twilight. It's very nice to meet you. I think I said that before."

"You did. But yes, it's very nice to meet you, too."

"Look at that, she didn't notice that you've already dropped the 'Princess' from her name." said Celestia, "That's the first step to becoming one of Phil's friends. Isn't that right, Luna?"

Luna chuckled. "Actually sister, Phil refers to me as Princess more often than Luna. Perhaps his respect for you has diminished somewhat."

"Hey, he still..." Celestia paused for a moment. "I... I suppose that's possible."

"Celestia, don't listen to the mean lady, I still respect you." I said to her.

"Mean lady?" asked Luna.

"Why, thank you, Phil." said Celestia, giggling afterwards.

"We're both friends with Phil, Twilight." said Luna, a smile on her face, "He's a kind man."

"In my case, we're more than friends." said Celestia, looking at me.

"Yeah." I said, returning her gaze.

"Now, Twilight..." started Celestia, turning to her, "I realize that this is a lot to take in. I'm sure you're still thinking it over. This is no small decision. You could be away from home for a full month, and while I'd like to think that you and my fiancé would get along, I can't be sure. I'll ask again, Twilight... Would you like to join my fiancé in the human world?"

"I..." Twilight paused. "It's not an easy decision to make, you're right. But... this is such a rare opportunity... and it can provide me with so much knowledge of the human world..."

"Oh?"

She gave Celestia a confident look. "I'll do it."

Celestia gave us a smile. She smiled her special, beautiful smile. "How wonderful..." 
> Chapter 31
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Celestia stepped forward, smiling at Twilight. She got down onto a knee, lowering herself to Twilight's level. Twilight looked right back at her.

Celestia held out her hand, palm facing up, just at the edge of the portal. "Take my hand, Twilight."

Twilight stepped forward, then lifted her front leg. She hesitated, but soon let her arm move through the portal. As her hoof reached through, it was transformed into a human hand.

It was actually very interesting, now that I could see the process. The purple fur of Twilight's pony arm didn't directly connect with the pale skin of her new human arm between the worlds. There was an inch or so where there was just nothing. That was probably the portal itself. So it wasn't just a window...

Twilight placed her hand into Celestia's. Hand holding... How degenerate...

Celestia grasped her hand and gently pulled her through, standing up as she did. Twilight's body passed through the portal. It had transformed her from a pony into a human.

Twilight Sparkle had entered the human world. She stood shorter than Celestia and I, and was a bit shorter than Red, which would work well with the clothes we picked out. She had a cute face, and her hair was somewhat long, reaching down past her shoulders. Her chest and hips were average... Maybe a little below.

She wore a plain light-purple shirt and matching skirt. She also wore tennis shoes. It was a bit different from the clothes she wore in the movie.

Celestia smiled at her. She gently pulled her into her embrace. Twilight returned with her own. Celestia soon pulled away and let go of her. "How does it feel, Twilight?"

"It's..." She examined herself. "Strange."

"You look cute." said Celestia.

"Uh... Cute?" She was blushing. "Th-Thank you, Princess..."

That doesn't sound like something a Princess should say...

Celestia was smiling, still looking at Twilight. "This is where you will be staying while you are here." she said, gesturing to the rest of the room.

"It's not much, but it works fine with two people." I said.

"Well... it's better than sleeping in a high school." said Twilight.

"That's the spirit!" I let out, smiling at her.

Celestia chuckled.

"I must admit, Princess, I'm excited to be able to study the human world." said Twilight.

"That's great, Twilight." Celestia happily let out. She paused. "Is this alright with you?" she asked her.

"What do you mean, Princess?"

"I want you to think about this one more time, Twilight. You will be staying a month with a man that you have just met. Is this something you're comfortable with?"

Twilight looked to me, then back at her Princess. "If you trust him, Princess... I'll trust him, as well." she let out with a confident smile.

Celestia smiled back at her. She nodded. "Very well."

Celestia turned to the portal, then stepped towards it. She paused, then turned around. She smiled at me. "This will be goodbye, again." she said to me.

I gave her a compassionate smile in return. "We'll see each other soon."

She nodded. She turned around again, then stepped through, her human body transforming into a large, white pony. She turned around once more to face us.

She may have had the face of a pony, but she still had the same beautiful smile.

She was still shorter than me. I stood almost a head taller than her, just like in my world.

"You look strange from this world." said Celestia.

"We can say the same thing." I replied.

"We have a gift for you, Twilight. Luna."

"I have it here." she replied, retrieving another book from beyond the frame. Luna stepped forward, passing the book through the portal. Twilight took it into her arms.

"Ancient... Magicks? I've never heard of this book before..." she said, looking at the cover.

"This book contains information that may prove helpful to you." said Luna, "It includes the spell we have been using to travel to the human world without the use of the crystal mirror."

"Thank you, Princess." said Twilight. She held it in her arms.

"Good luck, Twilight Sparkle." said Celestia, a smile on her face.

Luna smiled at us as well. "Good luck."

Luna seemed kinda strange to me. It looked like she wanted to say something.

"I'll be back soon." said Celestia, "Tonight will be a test, Twilight. I want you to feel comfortable staying with Phil for a long period of time."

"Of course, Princess." said Twilight, her face serious.

"If for any reason you feel uncomfortable, or you dislike being in this world, I need you to tell me."

"Yeah, don't be polite on my account." I said to her, "You can see how important this is to her."

"He's right. If you're unable to find a way home, you'll spend the entire month in this world. I'd like to avoid issues that may arise because of this."

"I understand, Princess."

"My own notes are on the table next to you, along with the books."

Twilight looked to it, then looked back. "You can count on me, Princess." she said to her.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Twilight. You can retrieve your..." She glanced to the side at something out of view. "Belongings then."

She nodded in response.

"Play nice while I'm away, kids." she joked.

With that, Celestia closed the portal. It was just me... and Twilight.

She looked to me. "Kids? How... old are you?"

"25."

"Oh... You're older than I am."

"Yeah?"

"I'm 23."

"How's being a human?"

"It's... interesting. I'm not fully used to it, yet."

"Yeah, Celestia and Luna had the same problem. Luna actually sprained her ankle walking up the stairs."

Twilight gasped. "Was she alright?"

"Yeah, she was fine. I gave her an ankle compress and she went home after."

"How terrible... I've had practice before. This may come as a shock to you, but I've been a human before."

I let out a loud, exaggerated gasp. "I'm just kidding, Celestia told me."

She smiled. "That's what I thought."

"You can pick where you wanna sleep. If you want. There's a couch up here, and a couch downstairs through that door." I pointed to it. "There's also the bedroom, but I kinda sleep in there."

"I'd... rather not. But thank you."

"That's what I thought. Basement, I take it? You can set up a studying..." I forgot the word. "Studying area down there."

"That would be nice. Thank you."

"There's a computer down there, so I'd like it if you were a bit careful. I think you've used one before, right?"

"I have, yes. I'm not very good with them, though."

"Alright. Well, don't touch it without my permission, please. They can be fragile. And expensive."

"I won't. I promise."

"Right. So, your room will be the basement. Now, sometimes I need the basement to do laundry and use my computer. If it's closed, I'll knock, but if the door is open, I'm going to assume that you're free."

She nodded. "That makes sense."

"Make sure to lock the bathroom door." I said, "I'm not used to living with people, yet."

She nodded again.

"And you can go into my room whenever you need. Your clothes are... in the dresser. Uh..." I scratched the back of my head. "You know what, I'm gonna move your clothes downstairs. Celestia put them into the dresser up here, but that's unnecessary. Speaking of clothes, bring some with you when you shower so you're not walking naked through the front room. See, I don't... I don't think I told Celestia that, I honestly don't remember." I let out a small laugh. "You can tell that I'm not used to people staying over for a while."

She nodded. "I'll try to remember."

"On the subject of clothes, women's underwear have two parts, so remember to wear both."

"You're talking about the clothing underneath my shirt, right?"

"Yes I am. It's called a bra. I'm not going to go into details, 'cause I don't know myself. Ladies wear them."

"Alright, I understand."

"You wanna take a look at what you're dealing with?" I asked her, gesturing to the books.

"That'd be a good place to start."

She walked over to the couch and sat down. She placed Ancient Magicks onto the table. I decided that now would be a good time to take care of something. I told her so before leaving for the basement.

She didn't respond. She was already engrossed in her book.

I went downstairs to begin tidying up. At least, I wanted to. It looked like Celestia had taken care of it. Even the couch was made neatly, just like a bed. Twilight should have enough space for whatever she needed down here. I shrugged to nobody in particular.

I heard a loud groan upstairs. Twilight must've fully realized what the issue with the books was. I went back up.

When she saw me, she began complaining about the books. "This writing style is inconsistent!" she let out, looking back to them, "It's practically illegible! This looks like it was written by a kid!"

She was upset.

"If anyone can figure it out, you can." I said, reassuring her, "That's what Celestia said."

"She said that about me?"

"Course she did. 'Cause you're a smart lady."

My compliment seemed to brighten her day. She sighed. She turned to the books again, examining them. I leaned forward and looked at it as well. A preliminary view did not give me any indication as to what this book contained.

"Can you believe this? Sloppy penmanship is the only thing stopping us from discovering a plethora of information..." she said.

She picked up Celestia's notebook, a three-ring spiral notebook I had given her. She opened it and began skimming through it.

"Can you use magic in this world?" I asked.

"No, not in the human world." she answered.

"Celestia could."

She looked up. "She could?"

"Yeah. Try it. It seemed like she used her hands to control it, so maybe try that."

She looked to her hand, then moved it above the books. A purple aura surrounded her hand. She gasped. It disappeared. The aura reappeared, then the book was surrounded by an aura of the same color. She pulled her hand up. The book came with it, floating in midair.

"That's very interesting." she said, "Why couldn't I use magic before..."

I shrugged. "Celestia... I think she said something about that, I just can't remember what it was."

"I suppose I can ask her about it later."

"Alright. You know, Celestia really trusts that you can study these books. She talked a lot about you while she was here."

"The Princess has?"

I nodded. "So I know how smart you are. You have a lot of book smarts in that noggin of yours. But the books aren't the only reason you're here, you know. Tell me, what is the reason that you are here, Twilight?" I asked her.

At first, she didn't understand my sudden change to a question, but she got it shortly. "Oh! To find a way to travel to and from Equestria."

"And?"

"And to bring you to Equestria."

"And?"

She paused. "And to study the human world."

"That's right. Celestia brought you here for a reason, and contrary to what you may think, it wasn't just to play a joke on you."

"Wasn't just to play a joke?"

"She brought you here to study this world." I said, ignoring her question, "And you're allowed to study it any way you please."

She nodded. "I understand."

"Twilight... If you manage to figure out how to get me to Equestria, I will love you forever."

She snickered. "I appreciate it."

"And don't worry, Celestia will love you forever too, so it's not just my bargain bin love, you get the name brand stuff, too."

It looked like she was holding back a laugh. She gave me a pleasantly confused, "What?"

"Speaking of studying this world, I have something for you to see. Stay here, I'll be right back."

I walked into my room to retrieve my laptop. After a brief, fruitless search, I returned to the front room.

Twilight gave me a curious look.

"It was not in there." I said, turning to the basement stairs. This time, I returned with my treasure in my arms. "Anyways... This is a laptop." I explained it to her in very general terms, knowing that I would explain it more in-depth at a later time.

"Now, you aren't supposed to use the one downstairs, but you are allowed to use this computer. You'll find it useful when you study the human world. This was expensive, so please be careful with it."

She nodded. "Of course."

I walked next to the couch. "May I?"

She slid over, away from me. "Please."

I sat down opposite to her, placing the laptop between us on the table.

She was intrigued by the laptop. I began explaining it.

I started with basic functionality, which she understood right away. I let her practice with it. After that, I taught her how to search for something with the browser.

Twilight was a curious little pony. She began asking more technical questions about how it worked, to which I simply replied that I didn't know. It was a complex machine, not something that I would understand, despite being a certified expert with them.

I told Twilight that if I explained it, I would get information incorrect and lead her to believe the wrong things.

When I told her that there was still so much more I could learn about computers, her eyes opened wide in wonder. I told her that I went to school for this subject, which she seemed impressed with.

"Look... Basicsly, this thing can give you any piece of information that you want. I don't know the physical process that makes it happen. That's beyond my capacity. But it might not be beyond your capacities. I mean, quite clearly, you are a very bright lady."

"Thank you, Phil. I have a question. What is that?" She pointed to the entertainment center, probably to everything that was on it. "Is it another computer?"

"Yes it is. That is a game that you can play using those controllers on the TV."

"It seems a little small to be a computer."

I got out my phone and held it up for her to see. "Well, this is a computer, too." I said, "You'd use this to talk to people over long distances. Specifically, a computer is anything that computes, though we attribute the term to electronic devices that can compute. An abacus, for example, can be considered a computer."

She eyed it for a while. "I have a lot to learn." she said, "But, first things first! I can study this world when I've accomplished my task."

I nodded. "Good idea." I closed the lid of the laptop and set it to the side.

She had a strange look on her face. She was hesitating to do something. "Hey Phil..." she finally started.

"What's up?"

"Are you really the Princess's fiancé?"

I nodded. "I am, yes."

"I'm really surprised to hear that."

I shrugged. "Yeah, we're a weird couple, ain't we? A pony and a human..."

"Well, they do say that love can find you when you least expect it." she said with a smile.

"Yeah, something like that. I think it surprised her more than it did me."

"Princess Celestia is such a unique pony. You're lucky to have her as your fiancée..."

"Yeah, I know..." I said with a smile. I stood up, then turned back to her. "It's nice to have you as a guest, Twilight Sparkle."

She smiled up at me. "Thank you, Phil. I'm glad that the Princess has given me this chance. I promise that I won't squander it."

I smiled at her.

I went into the kitchen. I ate not too long ago, I think. I wasn't too hungry, but I could snack a bit. Celestia may have left some Twinkies. Then again, knowing her, they're completely gone.

"How has it been with her, so far?" Celestia asked me from Equestria.

"It's been fine." I replied.

"Very good. My goodness, is this difficult... It's not very easy to speak with you between worlds like this. You seem to be friends already."

"Yeah, seems like it."

"How does she seem to you?"

"I dunno. Maybe... a little apprehensive, but I'm working on it."

"Is she pretty?"

"Yeah..."

"That's what I thought. It seems our theory is correct."

"The one where their looks are carried over?"

"That's right."

"So does that mean you have a massive ass as a pony, too?"

She chuckled. "Perhaps if Twilight completed her research, you could find out. Speaking of my behind, I can still feel the effects of what we did yesterday..."

"Well, I'm still sore." I said.

"Do you think penis size translates the same way? I looked it up, and pony penises are larger than human penises on average. I'm getting excited just thinking about it."

"I bet you are..." I sighed. "What should I do with Twilight? She's just gonna stay sitting here for a whole month if she keeps this up."

"Twilight won't be hard to please. If she looks bored, perhaps you could suggest a movie. You'll be fine."

"Maybe. It'll be kinda weird watching a movie without my cuddlebug."

"I want to be there, I do..."

"I know, Celestia."

"I'll see you soon. I love you."

"I love you, too."

"Take her into town. Show her the library. She'd enjoy that."

"Yeah, she probably would."

With that, Celestia took her leave. What a wholesome, mature conversation.

Oh hey, I forgot to tell Twilight something...

I poked my head into the front room. "Twilight!"

She jumped in surprise, then looked up to me. "Yes?" She had been spooked.

"Sorry... Anyways... Two days from now, I'll have work. I won't be here during the day if you'll need me. That won't be an issue, right?"

"No, of course not."

"Alright, that's all. If you need me, I'll be downstairs, passing the time."

"Alright."

"Although, before I do that..."

I went into my bedroom and retrieved Twilight's clothing, then brought them downstairs. After all her clothing had been moved. I sat down at my computer desk.

This was a rather interesting situation I have found myself in. I'm getting worried that Twilight would become bored in this world, even though I knew she wouldn't. I have to remember that Twilight was not Celestia. I did not have to entertain her like Celestia.

I started playing a video game. I had my headphones on, but only one cup covered my ears in case she needed me.

After a long while, I heard her voice.

She had called my name from the top of the stairs. I called back, letting her know that it was alright to come down.

I heard her walking down the stairs. I took my headphones off and turned to her.

Her eyes went from me directly to my computer. "What... is that? Is that another computer? It looks so different."

"Yes, yes it is. As you can see, the main machine..." I pointed to the tower. "Is connected to three output devices." I gestured to the monitors behind me. "The difference between the laptop upstairs and this computer is the processing capabilities. This computer is used for more resource intensive purposes, such as playing games. I trust I have answered your questions?"

"Yes, you... have... Thank you. What do you mean by... games?"

"Here, watch." I turned back to the screens.

"Alright."

Tonight's game was Overwatch. It's fun and addicting. I certainly wasn't the best at it, but it was so fun that I just kept on playing after losing.

I started a quick-play game. While we waited, I gave her an explanation of the game.

"This game has you play on a team of six against a team of six to push a payload or capture a point. And it's all with real people somewhere in the world."

"Real people? You play with other people? How?"

"It's... computer science. I don't know for sure."

She stared at the screen as the game loaded up. I chose my main man, Friendly DJ Healer. There were no other supporting characters on our team, which was unfortunate, as Friendly DJ Healer had a low, yet consistent heal rate.

"So this is the game." I said, "This is the kind of thing you would do if you're bored, or if you want to have fun, or if you're with your friends or something. Or, if you were really good, you could play at a competitive level."

"Huh..." She just watched me play. She was awestruck. She couldn't begin to understand how this was done. "You know, I used to play games with my friends in Equestria, as well. They weren't as... incredible as the game you showed me, but they were still rather fun."

We continued to talk as I played.

"You mean like Dungeons and Dragons? No, wait, wait... Yours was Ogres and Oubliettes, right?"

"Yes! How did you know?"

"Nerd."

"Hey!"

"We got that here, it's just called something different. I used to play when I was younger, but I became too busy to play. And by younger, I mean like two years ago. That was when our last campaign ended."

"How long did the campaign last?"

"Well, it officially lasted eleven years."

She gasped. "Oh my gosh!"

"But there was a six year break in there. They met up once a week, and I was there for the last three years playing some other campaigns."

"I've never been involved in a campaign that's lasted that long before."

I shrugged. "Really interesting crowd, though. Two college professors, a radio host, a museum curator, and a writer, all over the age of fifty. Then there was me and my sister. Literally the smartest people I know. Aside from you and Celestia, of course."

"That's incredible..." She chuckled. "You know, I once played a game that Princess Celestia created."

"That so?"

"She was a ruthless game master... That was when I was younger, though. I barely understood the game."

"Hey, maybe me and you could play a game one of these days, then."

"You and I." she corrected. She smiled. "That sounds like a lot of fun."

"But before that, we gotta get those books studied."

She nodded. "That's right. I was told that I might be away for an entire month. It was a bit of a surprise. When I asked why, Princess Luna didn't answer me. I can see why, now. It wasn't something that would have easily been discussed over letters."

"Yeah..."

"So this is where the Princess has been these past few months?"

"She... She arrived here two months ago, then went home at the end of the month. We had already fallen in love at that point, so it was a really tearful goodbye."

"The... Princess was crying?"

I nodded. "Yep. Me too, but don't tell anyone." I smirked. "Celestia spent the next month in her libraries looking for a way to come back, which she did find."

"Ancient Magicks." she said.

I nodded. "Yep."

"Didn't you have something to ask, or did you just wanna see what I was doing?"

"Oh, right... What should I eat while I'm here?"

"Uh... Well, anything would work, really. I have meat though. Celestia said that ponies don't eat meat, so I imagine you won't want to... I'll come up and help you in a short while, after I finish this game."

"Thank you."

After a while, I got a screen that said defeat. I think we won...

"Oh, you lost?" asked Twilight.

I shrugged. "It happens. It's no big deal. Let's get you something to eat." I stood up.

"You seemed to have a lot of control with your fingers."

I shrugged again. "Years of practice. You like mac'n'cheese?"

"I... Yes, I do. It's been a while since I've had it."

"Alright, I'm gonna make you some mac'n'cheese." I said to her.

The two of us headed upstairs and I got to work on preparing the both of us a meal.

"Yeah, you can eat anything you want." I said to her again, "The meat is in a drawer in the fridge, so just avoid that and you'll be good."

"I remember that humans eat meat regularly."

"Yep. Meats is my favorites foodses."

"Meat... is your favorite food." she corrected.

"Yeah, something analogous to that." I replied

"Uh... Yeah... You know, back in Equestria, I..."

My phone started ringing. Twilight stopped talking, curious. I looked down at my pocket, then pulled it out and looked at the name. It was Trevor.

"Hold on Twilight, my friend is calling."

She nodded.

I answered it.

"Talk to me, baby." I said to him.

"Phil-man, what are you doing?"

"Making mac."

"What do I do if my mouse stops working?

"What?"

"Yeah, it just stopped. The buttons on the side still work. Is it... like... the drivers?"

"Maybe. You've had it three years, maybe it's run its course. Try reinstalling the drivers, then..." I felt a sudden pain in my other hand. I yanked it away from the stove with a small gasp followed by a quiet obscenity and looked at it. Just a burn, I'll be fine. "Anyways yeah, the drivers." I said, shaking it off.

"What'd your dumb ass do?"

"Burned myself."

"Dumbass."

"Yes, my ass is dumb."

"Alright so what if that don't work?"

"Try another mouse."

"I did. My other mouse works."

"Mmm... You might have to buy another."

"Aw man... I didn't wanna hear that..."

"Well, too bad."

"No you too bad."

"Now look here, pal... You."

"No you."

"No, 'tis you who are the bad... too..." I said to him.

"No you."

"Yeah, well... Fuck you."

"No, fuck you."

"Finagle my cadoodle."

"Whatever. There goes fifty bones."

"Yeah, sorry. Keep it though, I might take a look at it later."

"Alright."

"Right, fuck off."

"Yep, fucking off."

I closed the call and put the phone back into my pocket. "So yeah Twilight, if you want me to make you something, just ask, 'cause odds are I will. You were saying something?" I looked to her. She seemed confused. "Everything alright?" I asked her.

"I thought that you said that was your friend."

"Yep."

"Well, you were very rude to him."

"Oh. Yeah, I'm always rude to my friends. I'm rude to them, they're rude to me, it's how we communicate. We love each other, don't worry. It's... hard to explain. Sorry."

I got the two of us some bowls and piled the food into them. Twilight seemed to like it, which was nice.

After dinner, Twilight returned to the couch to read her books. I had cleaned up the kitchen. It was nearing bedtime.

I gave Twilight a new toothbrush. While I was thinking about it, I threw away Shining's, Soulfire's, Luna's, and Red's toothbrushes. They wouldn't need them. I kept Celestia's just in case.

And while I was thinking about it... "You know, your brother actually came here." I said to Twilight.

"What?"

"Yeah. The first month that Celestia was here, he came to get her back. He ended up getting trapped here with her. Him and another guard, Soulfire Dawn."

"You met my big brother?!" she asked, surprised, "Why didn't I know about this?"

I shrugged. "We became friends, him and me. And Soulfire, to a lesser extent."

"That's great! I didn't even know he came here..."

"He was nice. He was very nice."

"That's my brother."

"Although, he could be pretty scary at times. I definitely didn't wanna make him angry. He didn't like how I treated Celestia."

"I can see why..."

"I know, I get it. It doesn't look like I show her respect. But you gotta remember... We're in love. We're a couple."

"I know, I know."

"We can be informal with each other, we can poke fun at each other. That's 'cause we love each other..."

"I know. I can really see it between you two. I'm usually clueless when it comes to that kind of thing, but I can definitely see it."

"I know, right?"

"More than anything, I'm just surprised that the Princess found someone."

"Yep. She came to another world and found love trying to get back."

"It sounds so romantic when you say it like that." she cheerfully let out, "It's like a fairy tale..."

I let out a sigh. "Yeah... Hey Twilight?"

"Yes?"

"Are you going to stay up late?"

"I want to. I need to research the books."

"Alright. Don't stay up past two. Tomorrow's important, too."

"Of course it is. Tomorrow is the day that will allow me to retrieve my equipment."

"Equipment?"

"I've brought along necessary traveling gear and some general tools that I use to study new places. If I had known where I was going, I would have packed a tad lighter."

I shrugged. "Yeah. Don't matter now, though."

Twilight uses more hand gestures than Red. Red was never a human before, so I guess I understand why. Interesting...

I wonder what I could do with Twilight...

As I made my way into my room, I gave Twilight a pleasant, "Good luck."

She thanked me as she read.

I closed my door and went to my bed. The sheets smelled fresh.

I miss her already... Why did I immediately miss her when I got into my bed? I wanted my cuddlebug back.

I wonder how long it will take Twilight to work on the books...



December 1



The next day, I woke up and went out to get some cereal. Twilight was missing, so I assumed she was downstairs. If I went down to wake her, it'd be pretty creepy.

What am I gonna do until Twilight wakes up? She's in my computer room. Hmm... Bored... It's really boring around here without Celestia.

Do I need to shower? No, I smell fine. Bored...

I'm really boring... It was like this two months ago, except instead of just being really bored, I was really bored and cried a lot.

It was early in the day. I grabbed my laptop and sat on the couch. The books were open. I looked at them, but I still had no idea what I was looking at. Twilight had made some progress, there were two different handwriting styles in the notebook. There were a few extra lines in the notebook that Twilight added.

Hmm... Here's a good idea... Clean out the dresser so I won't have to rummage through Celestia's clothing.

I went into my room to do just that.

Oh... Celestia already took care of it... There was a laundry basket full of Celestia's old clothing next to the dresser. She had a lot less bras than panties... Stupid Wal-Mart bras just kept breaking...

I could... do chores... Celestia took care of a lot of those recently, too...

Hmm...

I just went back to the front room and got on my laptop again. I hate not having anything to do.

How dare Celestia be so helpful...

Oh wait a minute... Video games! I'm such an idiot...

I wasted time playing Mario Kart as I waited for Twilight to wake up.

It was a short while later before I heard footsteps on the basement stairs. The door opened. She seemed shocked to see me.

"I almost forgot I was here." she said.

"Yeah, you get that sometimes."

She had very poofy hair. Bedhead.

"Cereal for breakfast." I said, "Or whatever, I'll make you something if you want me to."

"I'll eat cereal."

"You look terrible. How late were you up?"

"Two, like you said. Like you suggested."

"That was a dumb idea."

"I know, I'm sorry."

"Did you... Here's a question, did you sleep in your clothes?"

"Yes. Why?"

"Just wondering. Our guests here always slept in their clothes, so no big deal."

"Do you?"

"I... Personally no, but since I have a guest, and a lady guest at that, I do."

"Oh. Well, thank you."

"Yep. I moved your clothes downstairs yesterday, so you should be fine. You can probably tell that I usually don't have people staying here often. Red's clothes were just in my dresser, and Celestia didn't care. Your brother and Soulfire wore my clothes 'cause we were about the same size."

"Who is Red? Was it the pony with the red coat I saw in the castle?"

"Probably. We had an intrusion in our world whose name was Red. She lived with us, too. We just sent her back."

"An intrusion?! How did that happen?"

"I think... she came through the mirror like Celestia had. She was nice. Red was about the same size as you, so we thought about just giving you her old clothes, but you probably wouldn't have cared for that, so Celestia and Red got you a new set."

"Princess Celestia chose them?"

"Yep... I kinda feel like I'm rambling, to be honest."

"No, no, I appreciate what you're saying." she said to me, "I really do. You understand my situation, so you're helping me adjust. Thank you."

"Oh... Well, you're welcome... You're a very nice lady."

"Thank you."

I wasn't being too friendly, and I wasn't being too distant. I think spending all that time with Celestia made me view ladies differently from before I had met her...

Twilight had a pleasant smile on her face.

I may see ladies differently, but that didn't mean I was immune to awkward conversation pauses. Before it reached that point though, I said, "Have you made any progress with these things?" I gestured to the books.

"Yes, actually. It's slow, but I am making progress. It's very interesting how..." She explained something as if I would understand her.

I smiled as she spoke and when she was done, I said, "No idea what you're talking about, but it's great you're making progress."

"Oh right, you don't know anything about magic..." She chuckled nervously. "Sorry."

I shrugged. "Anyways... Breakfast."

"Oh, right... I forgot all about that."

"I ate a while ago. Uh... Cereal is..." I told her where to find the cereal.

"Alright, I'll be back soon."

"No cereal bowls in the front room, we don't want to risk a spill on the books."

"Good point."

Twilight went into the kitchen and prepared herself some breakfast. I looked through the doorway as she did. The milk and cereal were floating through the air surrounded by purple auras. She was using magic to make it. Neat. And lazy.

"Hey, Twilight?"

"Yes?" She looked to me.

"How long do you think it will take you to get through the books?"

"I couldn't say. The writing is inconsistent and hard to follow. I find myself stuck on the same line over and over again because I just can't read it."

"That... sucks..."

She nodded. "I'm confident, though. If I can isolate his writing style, I should be able to finish reading these books soon."

"That's great, Twilight!"

"The problem is, it almost seems that it was written by multiple ponies. The text was written in different ink using different quills, and the letters are written inconsistently."

"Maybe it was written by multiple ponies."

"It's possible."

"Maybe it's purposefully written like that."

She shook her head. "I don't know. I'll be continuing my studying after I finish eating."

"Well... have fun."

She gave me a small smile. "I'll try."

"In the meantime... I will be... Hmm... You're studying upstairs?"

"Is that an issue?" she asked me, curious.

"No, not really. I was gonna play a video game, but I don't want to distract you."

"Don't worry, I won't be distracted."

I could already tell that she would be distracted.

"Alright, then. Well, I'll be in the front room if you need me. Remember, I'll answer any questions you have."

"Any question?"

"That is correct."

"Well... I am curious about something."

"Ok, shoot."

"Can you tell me how you and Princess Celestia met?"

"Yeah, sure. As the story goes, Discord sent her here as a prank and I found her in a parking lot. So, random chance."

"Oh. That... was a little underwhelming. Why would Discord..."

"You really think he had a reason?"

"I have no idea... How... did you fall in love?"

"Ok... That's a bit harder to explain, but... Ok..." I took in a breath. "Celestia fell in love with me because I treat her like a normal person. Or pony, whichever you prefer in this situation. I treated her like she was my friend, not like a Princess. So that helped attract her to me, because I wasn't formal with her. Truth be told, I wasn't always nice or respectful, either. Since she was away from Equestria and away from her responsibilities, she let her emotions run free, including her love. She got attached to me, and we just... Before you knew it, we ended up together."

She was smiling. "What about you? Why did you fall in love with her?"

"Oh, I'm an introvert. I love anyone that comes into my life. Celestia was a really beautiful, really friendly lady. I fell in love with her as soon as I first saw her beautiful smile."

"Oh, how romantic..."

I just smiled.

"So you haven't been together long then, right? You said it was just a few months ago that you met and you're already saying that she's your fiancée. How do you know that she's the one?"

I shrugged. "I dunno. I just do what she tells me."

"What she tells you? Does that mean that she asked you to marry her?"

"Technically, neither of us have asked yet. I... We have a personal agreement. It's a little complicated."

"Oh... Alright."

"I dunno. I mean, there's a lot of explaining that I can do to show you how and why we love each other, but it's just really complicated and it'll take a long time."

"I have time."

I sighed. "You really want to know?"

She nodded.

"I... I'll tell you later. Maybe we could both tell you. I'll be out here."

"Alright."

With that, I went into the front room and turned on the game.

Twilight came out a while later after she was done. She was staring at the TV.

"This is... a video game?"

"Yes it is. More computer mumbo jumbo."

"Hmm... It seems that computers can come in all sorts of shapes and sizes."

"Oh yeah... Twilight, you are in an entirely different world right now. You are in a technological wonderland. And it's all ready for you with just a click of a button."

"It's... incredible..."

"It is. You wanna play?"

"Play? You mean your game?"

"Celestia did. And Red did, too."

"The Princess played this?"

I nodded.

"Well... I should really get to work... But..." She picked up the second controller I had gotten for her.

"One game can't hurt." I said, "However, one game can be a very slippery slope."

"Don't worry, I don't get hooked on things like these."

It was about an hour later before Twilight realized that she had been playing far longer than she had expected. She suddenly let out a yelp, then put down the controller.

"I'm supposed to be working!" she let out.

I let out a small chuckle. "Sorry, Twilight. Alright, I'll stop playing."

"No, you don't have to... Uh... Thank you..."

"Did you have fun?"

"Yes, I did..." She chuckled nervously.

"That's nice." I got up and turned the game off. "Celestia will be here in a few hours. Then you can get your stuff."

She nodded.

I sighed. "I really just wanna say 'good luck' and walk downstairs, but Celestia sent you here for a reason, you know? Me walking away kinda defeats the purpose of this. I did it yesterday, though. I... Mmm..."

She gave me a smile. "You're worrying too much, Phil. I appreciate it, I really do. I don't dislike it here."

"Well... Thank you. I really wish there was something I do to help."

"There... might be something..."

"Oh... Alright, lemme hear it."

"Did you help Princess Celestia with these books?"

I shook my head.

"Have you tried?"

I shook my head again.

She reached for the journal and picked it up, then held it out to me. "You may not understand the contents, but you should be able to help me read them."

I took the journal from her hands and opened it to the first page. "You know, you're really smart. Coming up with all these ideas."

"Why, thank you." she proudly replied.

"I probably could've helped Celestia the same way." I said, skimming the scribbles in the book, "But I'm lazy. I thought about it a few times, but going near her made her lose focus."

"What do you mean?"

"She would always look up to smile at me when I was near. She would rather spend time with me than study."

Twilight gave me a small smile. "From what I've heard, I wouldn't blame her."

I sat down next to Twilight and placed the book onto the table. I started with the first words. Some lines were more legible than others.

I traced the first few lines with a finger. It looked like an introduction page. "Star Song. Age... uh... fifty-something, maybe. This is hard to read."

"Keep trying." she said, encouraging me.

"Did Celestia leave any notes on this one?"

Twilight looked to the notebook, grabbing it and going through it. "Yes, she did. It seems she only went through the first few pages. It mentions Star Song's assistant and his occupation as a magical analyst. It also mentions that he... doesn't get paid for his work. Hmm... It says that she made it to page fifteen."

"Alright. Page fifteen." I counted out the pages. "Huh... You know what? These pages are a little... empty."

"What do you mean?"

"Here, look." I showed her. "There's a lot of white space on each page. He starts new lines often."

"That's an interesting observation. Good work." she said to me.

I didn't know if she was being nice to make me feel better or if she really meant it, but it felt good to get a compliment from her.

"It seems like he separates his points per line." I said.

"The same can be said for this book, as well." she said, "Although it's a tad less organized."

"Mmm... Hey Twilight... do you think this poor penmanship is a cipher?"

"I don't think so. Translating the writing in the book into readable text shows a clear dialogue. It would still be unreadable if it were a cipher."

"Mmm... Yeah, good point."

It wasn't very easy to read the journal. His penmanship was worse than mine, surprisingly enough. It was like he tried to write this with his hooves.

Twilight was right. With time, I could start to make out what was being written. I slowly followed along with the text on the page, initially writing down what it said on the notebook, but switching to my phone soon after because my own bad penmanship will render my own notes unreadable.

She looked to my phone and saw that I was typing as I read.

"What are you doing?"

"Copying using a different medium." I replied.

"A different medium? How do you retrieve what you've written?"

"I can print it." I said, "Onto paper. Later on."

"Hmm..." She seemed interested.

"I can... You could use the laptop to do the same thing. If you wanted. But it wouldn't be as fast as writing it down for you." I looked to her notes. "You're already doing so well with pen and paper. Pencil and paper."

"Could you show me?"

"Oh... Yeah, of course."

The laptop had been set to the side to give Twilight room to work. I picked it up and put it onto my lap. After opening it, I opened a new Word document for her.

"See, here. You'll be able to type using the keyboard." I typed out the phrase, 'Hello Twilight.'

She was gazing at the laptop, fascinated by it.

I deleted what I wrote. "Wanna try?"

"I would. Thank you."

I picked up the laptop and handed it to her.

"Try typing something." I said.

She tapped a few keys with her index fingers. A short while later, I saw the message, 'Hello Phil.'

I smiled at her. "I can teach you how to type properly. But it might take a while. You might just be better off sticking with the pen and paper."

"I'd appreciate the lesson." she said, "It's not often I get the chance to practice using my hands."

"Well, alright. Flatten your hands and use all your fingers. Place your thumbs onto the..." I began teaching Twilight the proper way to type, as taught by my elementary school's Captain Something's Something Something.

"Hey Twilight, do you know why the keyboard isn't alphabetical?"

"No, I don't."

"It started with the typewriter. You ponies have typewriters, I know that. They have three buttons on them. How they work, I do not know, but you have them."

"Oh, they..." She explained to me how their three button type writers worked. *I can't say anything here because I have absolutely no idea*

"Neat. Anyways, our typewriters had anywhere from 26 to... like... I dunno, like 50... keys. And all these keys are smushed up all into one little box, which was an issue. Can you tell me why?"

"Hmm..." She had her thinking face. "If the letters were too close together, the letter heads would jam!"

I gave her a surprised look. "Yes. Exactly. Very good." She looked proud of herself. "So engineers designed the 'QWERTY' layout based on the frequency of letters in our language, and the typical placement of one's fingers on the keyboard. Probably. I might have to fact check that last part."

"That's incredible!" she happily let out.

"I know, right?" I said with a smile. It really was incredible. Basing a keyboard layout on the frequency of letters is ingenious. "You know, you remind me of Celestia, a bit."

"I do?"

I nodded. "You both get excited learning about technology. Wanna hear something that'll really freak you out?"

"Freak me out?"

"Oh yeah. It'll blow your mind."

She gave me an excited smile. "Ohh, I bet it's something great..." she giddily let out.

"You ready for this?" She nodded. "Humans have been... to the moon."

"To... To the moon?"

I nodded.

"No... That's... impossible?" She looked like she wanted to believe it, but couldn't.

"It's possible, Twilight. 238,900 miles away, and we've set foot on it."

"You're... Are you joking?"

"I'm not joking."

"You're joking, you have to be!"

I smiled at her. "I am not joking."

"How?! How is that possible?! You're lying!"

"I can show you."

"You... You can... show me?"

I nodded. "I have proof. Humans have proof, Twilight. Proof that we have been to the moon."

"Show me! Show me now!" she demanded.

I just kept up my smug smile. "Alright, alright, calm down... Give me the laptop."

She immediately handed it to me.

I got on the internet and searched simply, 'Moon landing'.

Twilight was staring intently at the screen. She had no idea what to expect.

I clicked on the first YouTube link that looked genuine.

Twilight moved closer to me than what I would call comfortable.

The video played. She stared at it.

"That... That's the moon!" she yelled, "That's the moon, that's the moon, that's the moon!"

She grabbed my shirt and shook me as she excitedly repeated her phrase over and over again. She probably wasn't even aware that she was doing it.

Twilight let out a high pitched scream that would put even Celestia to shame.

She let go of me and brought her hands close to her face. They were clenched into fists and shaking with excitement. "Ahhh!! I can't believe it! Space travel is possible! If humans can go to the moon, then that means, given enough time of course, ponies could go to the moon too! That would bring about a whole new age of science! An age of exploration! Space exploration! Just a tiny sample of the lunar surface could give us an extraordinary amount of information about the history of our planet! And we won't stop there, no sir, we'll go even further! We'll go to Mars! Venus! Mercury! We'll colonize all the rocky surfaces in our solar system. Before you know it, ponies will be traveling amongst the stars. The things that have yet to be discovered, the things that..." She glanced at me, then paused. Her face got a little red. "I'm sorry... I got a little excited." She scooted away from me.

"Have you heard the experiment of the hammer and the feather, Twilight?"

She nodded. "The question as to why a hammer and a feather do not land at the same when dropped from the same distance."

"And the answer?"

"The feather's larger surface area is affected by wind resistance, so the hammer will land before the feather."

"Very good. It's a fact. There's no disputing it. Imagine if this experiment took place in a place with no air. Say... the moon." I searched for the video in question. "This experiment was done with respect to the philosophers of old. We know the answer now, of course, but I want you to see it for yourself."

The two of us watched the video. Exactly as the laws of physics would have described, both the hammer and feather landed on the ground at the same time.

Twilight kept silent this time.

"Incredible, isn't it?" I asked.

She nodded. "Thank you for showing me this, Phil." she said to me.

"He's full of surprises, isn't he, Twilight?" we both heard.

The two of us looked forward. We saw the portal to Equestria again. Celestia was staring at us through it. She was smiling.

"Princess!" Twilight let out in surprise. She stood up to show respect to her Princess.

I smiled at her, standing up as well.

Celestia stepped through the portal, transforming into a human as she entered my world.

"Were you listening to us?" I asked.

"I was, yes. I apologize. I was curious. I wanted to know how you were getting along. It seems you're doing well."

"We are, for the most part." said Twilight.

"Oh? For the most part?" asked Celestia.

"We're getting along well..." said Twilight. She was nervous. Even Celestia's friendly smile could unintentionally induce nervousness in the hearts of her subjects.

"Is everything alright between you two?" asked Celestia.

"It's probably the way I treat my friends." I said, "You know how I am."

Celestia chuckled. "Twilight, you may find this strange, but he treats his siblings the same way."

"You do?" she asked me.

"My younger ones, yeah." I said, "And they insult me the same way."

"When I met his family, his little sister gave him a rather offensive insult as we were leaving. It's one even I feel would be inappropriate to repeat. And yet, Phil took it in stride. It's rather interesting to see a part of his culture like this, is it not?"

"Part of his culture? I... I guess I didn't think about it like that..."

"Just 'cause it's part of someone's culture doesn't mean it's right." I said, "Otherwise, you get a bunch of idiots using incorrect formulas and getting incorrect answers to questions they don't even know." I made up an example on the fly to appeal to Twilight. Good thing too, I was thinking something racist before.

Celestia stared at me. "I... can't say that you are wrong, but I feel it's wrong to believe that."

"Sounds like customer support." I said to her, "See Twilight, Celestia is supposed to give you good advice, but sometimes good advice isn't as good as it seems."

"That's... He's right, Twilight. Phil, stop trying to confuse her. It's not your business how she chooses to live her life."

I shrugged. "Ok."

"I understand what you mean." said Twilight.

"Oh... Well good." I said, "Here's some good advice, don't listen to my advice."

"You give sound advice." said Celestia, "At some of the oddest times, too... It's... strange."

"Well, you and I have differing opinions on things. You're more optimistic and trusting than me so some of my advice would be less useful. I solve practical problems."

She looked like she wanted to question me further. She sighed, smiling at me. "Have you settled in yet, Twilight?" she asked, changing the subject.

"I suppose. I haven't been here long, but Phil is doing his best to make me feel welcomed."

I shrugged. "I feel like I'm doing well." I said, "Although it is a little awkward for me at times."

"I noticed... You seemed almost lost in your own home." said Celestia, "You won't need to worry. Twilight has grown into a rather independent woman. She's far more mature than our last guest."

"Th-Thank you, Princess!" Twilight let out, surprised with Celestia's compliment.

"And Twilight..." said Celestia, "I would like to thank you once again for your help with this matter."

"Of course, Princess." she seriously let out.

"I can't begin to tell you how important this is to me. Any progress you make will bring us another step closer to our goal. To... To my goal. It's a selfish request, I know. It was selfish of me to ask this of you."

"Not at all, Princess. I appreciate the opportunity."

"I'm glad, Twilight. I take it that you are choosing to stay in this world?"

"I am, Princess."

"Very good... You may return to Equestria now, Twilight. The portal will be open until midnight. This should be more than enough time for you to retrieve your equipment."

"Thank you, Princess." she replied.

Celestia stepped to the side. Twilight stepped forward. She glanced at Celestia before stepping through.

Celestia looked to me with a smile. "How is she?"

"Well, she hasn't tried to poison me, yet."

Celestia let out a laugh. "I'm telling Red that you said that."

"No, don't tell her, she's gonna yell at me!"

She laughed at me again.

"She's nice." I said with a smile of my own.

She leaned in close to me and whispered, "Her reactions have been quite amusing. I have not been disappointed thus far."

I gave her a smile. "I do my best."

She smiled back at me. "You're doing very well, Phil. I'm glad she's here. And... I'm glad you've become friends."
> Chapter 32
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight moved back and forth between worlds over and over again, carrying her 'equipment' into my world. She brought in a mountain of scrolls and quills. She walked through the portal and immediately went downstairs with it all. In addition to the equipment, she was writing something into a scroll as she walked.

Most of her things were just floating behind her. She had a smile on her face. I think she was enjoying this.

After I got tired of watching Twilight walk back and forth, I suggested moving the portal downstairs. Celestia quickly agreed with me. It made Twilight's job easier.

"Do you think she might need help?" I asked Celestia after she had moved the portal. We were both upstairs right now.

"She'll be fine."

"What did she bring?"

"Testing equipment, it seems. I don't know, myself."

"What exactly did you guys tell her to make her bring so much stuff?"

"My sister told Twilight that she would be sent somewhere to study. Luna told her that this 'place' had a different society."

"This isn't what you meant when you said 'study', is it..."

"Not exactly."

"Well... study she shall."

Celestia was amused by Twilight's present antics.

When Twilight was finally finished, she walked back upstairs, a scroll and quill floating in front of her face.

"Oh my gosh! A floating shopping list!" I let out in horror.

Celestia gave me an amused look.

"It is not a shopping list." said Twilight, "However, it is a check list. I find checklists very useful in my everyday life. You could say that I am a checklist aficionado." she proudly let out.

"Yeah, they're pretty useful." I said, agreeing with her spirit.

"Phil..." started Twilight, "Now that you're both together and I've been settled in, I was wondering if you could answer my question, now."

"What was... Oh right, right..."

Celestia looked to me.

"She asked me... how I knew that you were the one. How I knew that I wanted you as my fiancée. As my wife."

Celestia gave me a very loving smile. She really likes when I say wife.

"I told her that it was a long and complicated story, and that I might tell her with you."

Celestia turned to Twilight. Twilight seemed a little nervous.

"What an interesting question." said Celestia, "It is indeed long and complicated. You still seem to be interested in learning."

"I am, Princess."

Celestia nodded. She turned to me. "Very well. Phil, is it alright with you if we tell her?"

"Yeah, o'course."

"This is... a rather private affair." said Celestia, "Should we discuss what we should tell her?"

"I guess. Couldn't hurt."

"Twilight, would you excuse us for a short while?" asked Celestia.

"Of course, Princess." she replied, "I'll be downstairs. There's still so much that I need to take care of."

Twilight left us and went downstairs. Celestia closed the door behind her with magic.

"Phil." she said to me.

"Celestia."

She smiled. "What should we omit?" she asked.

"Chrysalis. As like... a whole."

She nodded. "I agree."

"Red being a thief. And..."

"Should we... omit my... breakdown?"

"When you were drunk?"

She nodded.

"Hmm... That was important to our relationship."

"Chrysalis's appearance was important to our relationship, as well. I... struck you because of her." she briefly looked away.

"Well, we definitely can't tell Twilight about her."

She nodded again.

Celestia and I discussed what to keep out of our story when we told Twilight. I brought up that we didn't need to tell her at all, but Celestia was fine with it.

"Are you ready?" she asked me.

I nodded. "As I'll ever be."

We called Twilight back upstairs.

"Alright Twilight, we've come up with an abridged version of our relationship." I said to her.

"That is a... blunt way of putting it, but yes, he's correct." said Celestia.

I paused for a short while. "What was the question again?"

"Phil..." said Celestia. She smiled at me, a small laugh in her expression. "Twilight wanted to know..."

"I remember! I remember. I remembered it... always. All the time, remember. Remember... all the time... I do. You wanted to know... Uh... how we... knew that each other was the one. It was kinda hard to word that sentence, I'll be honest."

"It turned out well." said Celestia, encouraging me.

"Thank you." I said, "Anyways... Celestia, would you like to start?"

She nodded. "Twilight." She addressed her fellow Princess. Twilight gave her a serious face. "There are many reasons that I see Phil as the one. He is a human. He's unique. He's not from Equestria. Perhaps he has his own counterpart as you did. I don't know."

"That'd be neat. Two Phils. I could be twice as lazy." I bet Celestia would like that...

"Yes... Twilight, you are aware of the feelings I have for the life I have grown accustomed to. I was bored in Equestria. In this world, I am no longer held back by my status as a Princess. I feel a certain freedom here that I rarely feel in Equestria. I soon realized that this freedom wasn't because of the world I was in, but because of the one I was with." She glanced at me again. "I was free to share any feeling I chose with Phil. I became infatuated with him. At first, it was nothing more than a playful affection, but the longer I spent with him, the more the feeling grew. We became a couple after merely two weeks together."

"We were together as much as we could be." I said, "We both just wanted someone to cuddle with as we rested or went to bed. Celestia and I usually sat on the couch and cuddled the day away."

"When I left for Equestria, it was devastating. For both of us. I refused to accept it, so I searched for a way back. When we met again... I haven't been that happy in such a long time."

"Then Sarah and Red poked their heads into our lives." I said, "Sarah is a co-worker of mine that I went out for coffee with the day I learned Celestia would come back to me. She and Red became rather important to me. Sarah had an issue of her own that she needed my help with, and Red required a lot of attention to make sure that she didn't act up."

"That's one way of putting it. I became jealous of Red and Sarah. Red had made a mistake, and when she and Phil made up, it upset me. And... Sarah made me very jealous because she worked with Phil every day, away from me. I disliked them, and it affected our relationship."

"We dealt with them though. Red and Sarah are our friends, now."

"Indeed. Phil and I have bonded over this past month. To the point where we would reveal some of our more private secrets. After hearing and understanding each other's secrets, we became even closer. After I told him mine, I asked him to call me his fiancée."

"It might seem like we're engaged." I glanced at Celestia. "And... maybe we are..." She smiled. "But I haven't proposed to her, so it's not official."

"Princess, if you asked him to call you his fiancée, doesn't that mean that you have already proposed to him?" asked Twilight, a little shocked to hear all this information.

Fair point.

"Perhaps it does." replied Celestia.

"We're not there yet, Twilight." I said to her, "But we want to be. We've been together for a short while, and while we know in our hearts that it is what we want, it's not the right time for it. If I were in Equestria, I would ask her. That's one of the reasons why this is so important to us."

Twilight nodded. She gave me a serious look. "I understand. I'll do my best to find a way."

"Twilight, this relationship is very important to me." said Celestia, "I appreciate your help more than you could know."

"Thank you, Princess Celestia."

Celestia glanced at me, then back to Twilight. She was smiling an excited smile.

"Ohh, I can't believe you get to finally spend time with one of my friends!" Celestia happily let out, excitedly bouncing in place, celebrating to herself.

I gave her a smile. "This should be nice."

Twilight was surprised to see her Princess this excited.

Celestia let out a small laugh. She looked a little embarrassed. "I'm sorry."

"Don't worry, Princess." said Twilight, "You can count on me."

"Yeah, you can count on her." I said, a smile on my face.

Celestia chuckled. "Thank you, Twilight. I wish you the best of luck. Phil..." She turned to me. She paused. Suddenly, she pushed against me in a hug. I returned her embrace. "I love you."

"I love you, too."

I gave her a quick peck on the lips before she pulled apart. She smiled at me, then stepped away.

Celestia spoke the magic words to cast her spell. The portal opened behind her.

"Goodbye, Twilight and Phil. With any luck, I'll see you soon."

"Goodbye, Princess."

"See ya." I said to her, giving her a small wave.

She turned around, then stepped through. She turned back to us. Our small group shared another round of farewells before the portal finally closed.

I sighed. "I miss her already." I said.

"Don't worry, you'll see her soon." said Twilight.

I smiled at her. "What did you bring?"

"I'll show you."

She led me downstairs into her evil lair. The basement looked completely different. There were various instruments all over the floor. A neatly stacked pile of scrolls sat on the computer table.

"I didn't touch your computer, like I promised." she said to me.

"What is this stuff?" I asked, not presently caring about the computer.

"Well, that is a..."

I don't know how long she had been explaining. I knew what some of the stuff was. I saw a seismograph, I saw... some machine, I saw beakers and vials... The floor was covered in lab equipment. Twilight went through every single one with me in meticulous detail.

I very quickly realized that I didn't care what most of this stuff did. Twilight explained not only what these things were, but what they were used for and how they were used. It got boring fast. I understood most of what she was saying, but she just didn't stop.

Twilight was just happy to be able to explain her methods. I think she just enjoyed speaking to me. She must've known that I was actually understanding her, so she kept going...

"I believe I've covered everything here. Did you have any questions?" she asked me.

I blinked a few times. "I'm... sure if I did, you'd be happy to answer."

"That's right." she proudly stated, "I take it that you don't have any questions right now?"

"No, I don't think so. You've covered just about everything I needed to know. Wow, that was a lot of information... I guess I did ask. Are you... sure you need all this?"

"It's... a bit excessive, I realize that. I was told that I would be studying a foreign land. I wanted to be prepared."

"Well..." I shrugged. "I guess it worked. Shame, though. Anything you could find out has already been discovered by us humans. I could've said something while you were moving your equipment, but it was kinda fun watching you."

"If any discoveries I could make have already been discovered, then I'll just have to find something new." she said to me.

"There you go, that's the spirit!" I cheerfully said to her, "Twilight, you are going to be amazed at the stuff humans have discovered."

"I'm already amazed. Ponies haven't been to the moon."

"And that's just the tip of the iceberg."

She opened her eyes wide. "What?"

"Well, maybe not the tip. Like, the tip and like... 20% more. 30%... Bad analogy. Anything you might be curious about, humans have discovered, researched, hypothesized further, and discovered the next step in your line of thinking. Studying my world could give you ponies a technological jumpstart."

The look on her face was priceless. You couldn't pay for this kind of entertainment. Well, maybe you could...

"Enough time here, and you could become the Mother of Modern Science back in your world with your countless technological breakthroughs."

The thought had interested her.

"No, even better, the Mother of the Modern Age... Although..." I paused. "You don't strike me as someone who would do that."

She blinked. "Oh?" She looked curious.

"You're the kind of scientist that doesn't take shortcuts. The kind of scientist that makes her own discoveries. The kind of scientist that creates her own future. You're a clever, curious little pony, and no amount of discoveries that you didn't make will help sate your curiosity."

She tilted her head. "You sure seem to know a lot about me."

"Celestia told me a lot about you, Twilight. She really respects your skills as a scientist." I said as if I had rehearsed this response. I didn't know if I should tell her about the show. Celestia knew. I didn't know if Luna or Chrysalis knew. Discord definitely knew.

I decided not to tell her. What she doesn't know can't hurt her.

Twilight was humbled by my words. "Did she really say that about me?"

"She did. Celestia is confident in you, Twilight. I'm confident in you." I gave her a smile. "You'll do great here, Princess Twilight. I'm sure of it."

She had a smile on her face. She believed my words. She was happy to hear that both Celestia and I believed in her. She was happy to hear that Celestia respected her. She was enjoying our conversation.

I'm really good at talking to ponies.

Twilight looked to her equipment. "Hmm..." She picked up her checklist and marked something I didn't see. "I have quite a bit to do while I'm here." she said.

"Maybe you should start tomorrow. It got a bit late while you were going through this."

"You might be right, but I don't know if I'll have time if I do."

"Well, do what you want, then. I have work tomorrow, remember."

"I remember."

"If you need... Uh... an assistant, I'd be glad to help. Celestia told me that you had an assistant back home."

"That's right. He was a young dragon named Spike. I would've brought him with me, but Princess Luna told me that this was not a task for him. Now that I'm here, I can see why she told me that. I had him stay at one of my friend's houses while I was away. Spike would help me with my experiments by retrieving what I asked him for, be it books or tools or even a glass of water, sometimes before I knew I wanted it."

"Sounds nice." I stepped forward towards Twilight's organized mess, looking down at it. "Be careful down here. Try not to trip. Or if you do, try to scream loud enough for me to hear you."

"I'll be fine."

There was a lot of stuff down here, but it had clearly been organized to Twilight's liking.

"Do you want me to help you move the books down here?"

"Yes, that would be nice. Thank you."

I smiled at her. She smiled back. The two of us went upstairs and retrieved the books.

As I walked back down, I glanced at the light. It was a bit dim down here... I think...

"Hey Twilight, can you use your magic to remove that light cover?" I asked, pointing up at it.

"Hmm? What? Why?"

"I wanna make it brighter down here for you."

"Oh, alright. No problem. Thank you."

I saw a purple glow surround the light cover. Soon after, it gently drifted down into my arms.

"Alright, that's what I thought." I said, looking up to it. There was an empty socket next to the bulb.

"Oh! You're going to add another lightbulb. Thank you. That will help me a lot."

I set the cover onto the couch and went upstairs. I returned shortly after with a box of lightbulbs. I stood underneath it and reached up with a bulb in my hand to screw it into the empty socket. The entire room got quite a bit brighter.

"Could you..." I picked up the cover.

"Of course."

She returned it to the ceiling.

"Man, that's super useful." I said, "Wish I could use magic..."

"You're very tall." she noticed.

I shrugged. "I get that sometimes."

Now that she had mentioned it, the difference in our height became very apparent. She was much shorter than I was. She wasn't as short as Luna, but she wasn't as tall as Red. It wasn't a surprise that I was this much taller than her. Even Celestia was quite a bit shorter than I was, and she was at least six feet tall. I never... properly measured her. Six feet and 200 pounds... ish. 'I'll take a large... What? Huh? Extra thick!'

"You're the tallest human I've seen so far." she said. She paused, then took a small step back. "Are you going to bed soon?"

"Yep. Soon-ish."

"Alright." She wrote something down. "When will you leave for work?"

"Like nine." I replied, "And I get home around six."

"Thank you." She wrote something down again. I think she was documenting my schedule.

"One more thing though." I said, taking out my phone, "I gotta print this off."

I sent the words I had translated from the book to the printer. Twilight snapped her gaze to it underneath the desk as it fired up.

I walked over and retrieved the printed sheet, then gave it to Twilight.

She looked it over. "Thank you."

I nodded. "Alright, it's getting late. I gotta go to bed."

She gave me a quick nod. "Of course."

"Good luck."

"Thanks."

I turned and headed back upstairs.

Twilight had spent a long time going through her stuff. It was bedtime for me. I made sure the house was tidy, an easy task, brushed my teeth, and retired to my bedroom.

I missed Celestia...


December 2


Oh boy! Work!

I headed into the front room after waking up. The basement door was open and the light was on. I think she fell asleep without turning it off.

I shrugged as I walked past the door and into the kitchen. I made myself a bowl of cereal.

Twilight probably fell asleep with her face in the books. What a cute thought.

I paused, setting my spoon down. If she fell asleep with her head on the books, she'd probably get drool on them. I should check on that.

I stood up.

Was this just an excuse to see her asleep? Yes it was...

I went downstairs. She was definitely asleep, but not on the books, which was good. The books were set on the table I had brought downstairs for her from my garage.

That is probably the most inelegant way of laying on a couch that I have ever seen. Her arm was twisted at a weird angle and was pointing straight up. One of her legs was hanging off the couch. Monsters are gonna get her if she's not careful about that.

And she was snoring. It was... also inelegant.

I went back upstairs because this felt really creepy and I didn't exactly want her to catch me staring at her.

After playing Mario Kart until my second alarm, I opened the door to go to work.

To my surprise, a layer of white was covering the ground. Snow! It was snowing! Oh, how wonderful! The first snow of the season... The sky was grey and snow was falling down. It looked nice.

It was really cold out. I needed another jacket. I went back in and got one from the basement.

As I was grabbing my coat, I heard Twilight snort.

"Wha..." She let out. She was looking at me, still half asleep.

"I'm going to work. Go back to bed."

"You're not Starswirl the Bearded..." she groggily let out.

She stared at me for a few more seconds before lowering her head back onto her pillow.

She's dreaming, how cute...

I forgot to teach her how to use the phone... Oh well...

I put on my coat and walked out the front door.

Work, work, work...

My second coat made the temperature more bearable. I was rather comfortable. It was a pleasant cold. The walk to work didn't take long. Only eight minutes. I would be fine.

When I got to work, there was so much snow on me that I could shake it off. I did so outside.

After walking in and stamping off my shoes, I immediately put out a wet floor sign. No lawsuits here. At least, no lawsuits that would work against us.

"Hey, when did it start snowing?" I asked the previous shift's cashier.

"Like two hours ago." he replied.

I nodded. "Seems about right."

My shift's child labor force started trickling through the doors soon enough.

Things went well for a while. I made sure the floor was kept clean of snow to keep up appearances and avoid any possible issues. Nobody slipped today.

Someone always does, though... Someone always does...

Ah, I see the lovely Sarah was still with us. Actually... now that I'm getting a closer look, she wasn't very lovely at all right now. She looked awful.

"What's up with you?" I asked her, singling her out from the rest of the crew.

"Oh, I just... I haven't... been getting a lot of sleep recently." she replied, emphasizing her point with a yawn.

"Why not? Nervous about your dad?"

She nodded. "He seems more agitated than before."

"Mmm... Still looking for a place to stay?"

"Yes. I'm thinking of an apartment on the other side of town. I can't move yet. I don't have enough money."

"If you're gonna change jobs, I'll give you a... a... I forgot what it was called. Uh... Yeah, don't get stuck at McDongers like me. You're too smart for this place. Uh... Letter of recommendation. That's what bosses do, right?"

"Thank you."

"You've been here just over a month though, so it might not do you much good."

"That's fine. Anything will help."

"You've gotten better at working with people." I said. I noticed Timmy passing by. "You can tolerate standing near Timmy, not many people can do that."

"Ey b0ss, fuck you mang." he said to me, continuing to walk.

I snickered. Sarah let out a small laugh, probably not understanding the reference.

"Thank you, Phil." she said to me.

"Yep. Yep... Alright, let's get to work."


Many hours later.


It was warmer on the walk home. I wrapped one of my sweaters around my waist as I walked.

I entered my home as I normally would. Twilight was not upstairs.

"I'm back, Twilight!" I called.

She didn't respond.

The basement door was open. I walked downstairs. She was sitting on the couch, moving her focus between books and writing things down.

Seems she was doing well...

"Hi, Twilight." I said to her.

She suddenly stopped, then looked up at me. She gave me a small smile. "You startled me."

"That so? I have something else to teach you." I said.

"Really? What is it?"

"I'll tell you in a little while. I need to change. I'll be back."

She nodded. "Alright."

I went back upstairs and into my room. I quickly changed my clothes and grabbed Celestia's old flip phone. I returned to Twilight.

I held the phone out to her. She eyed it, then took it from me. "What... is this?" she asked, examining it.

I got out my phone and sat down next to her. She scooted away from me.

I explained what it was, which prompted a somewhat surprised response from her. I taught her how to use it, same as I taught Celestia.

"Alright, now go ahead and try it out." I said.

She looked to the phone, then navigated to the contacts and called me. My phone began ringing. I loved my service, it worked even in the basement...

I answered my phone and said, "Hello."

Her eyes opened wide. She pulled the phone away from her face and looked to it. "This is... incredible... We don't have this kind of communication technology in Equestria."

"Yeah, I know. I knew you would be surprised." I closed the call. "You can use this to call me while I'm at work. Celestia used this as well."

"The Princess did?"

"Yep. She called me whenever she had an issue or just wanted to talk. It's how she told me about Red so we could track her down."

"You've mentioned Red before. Who is she?"

"She's a pony that came to this world at about the same time Celestia got here this past month. I don't know the details, you'll have to ask Celestia or Luna." Twilight didn't need that we were harboring a fugitive.

"Well, alright... Here, look at this." She reached forward to the notebook and textbook.

I leaned in to see what she was doing.

"I've made a bit of progress since you've been gone." she said. She traced a few lines in the notebook and turned a few pages in the textbook, showing me her progress.

"Good job, good job." I said to her.

She smiled. "It looks like he's going through and making changes to spells and other magical things in the book. I've managed to decipher a single spell so far, and from what I've tested, he's discovered ways to increase the potency of some spells."

"Neat. Do you think that's the case with the rest of the book?" Reminds me of the Half-Blood Prince... Twilight would love Harry Potter.

"It could be. I don't know. But I'm going to find out." she confidently let out.

"You're doing good, Twilight." I said to her, "Keep it up. Would you like some more help?"

"Yes, thank you."

I gave her a smile, then retrieved the journal so I could resume the work I had done on it.


December 5


It was like this for the next couple days. I helped Twilight with the books while I wasn't working. I felt like we were making great progress. It seemed like we would finish well before Twilight's month here was up.

By Twilight's calculations, at the pace we were going, we would be done translating the books on the fifteenth.

I came to Twilight today with a fun idea in mind. It was the same idea I had with Celestia when she first got her, although the context was a bit different.

"Would you like to see the town?" I asked her.

"Hmm?" She looked up from her book. "The town?" She gasped as if she just realized what I meant. She hopped off the couch. "Yes! Yes, yes, yes! I can't wait to see the rest of your world! Let me get my things."

"Things?" I asked her.

"If the rest of your world is anything like what I saw the last time I was here..." I watched her pick up some things from her mess as she spoke. "Then I could find out much more than I ever could before."

"You're... bringing all that?" I asked.

"It might be a bit much, but if I'm going to study this world, then I will need my tools."

"I don't... Twilight, I don't think that's what Celestia meant when she said 'study this world'." I said to her.

"Hmm?" She paused and looked to me. "What do you mean?"

"Well, you remember when Celestia first sent you to Ponyville?"

She nodded. "I remember. So, this is more of a lesson on friendship?"

"Yeah, something like that. She sent you here to see the sights. To spend time in a unique setting."

"Alright. I think I understand."

I smiled at her. "You look almost disappointed."

"No, no... It's not that I'm disappointed. I didn't know what to expect when I came to the castle. I couldn't be unprepared when I met the Princess. It turns out that I still wasn't ready."

"Twilight, you are doing wonderful." I said to her, "Bring a few scrolls. You'll be happy you did."

She smiled. "That's a good idea."

"Oh, no magic in public. Period. You're a totally normal human lady in public."

"Alright."

"Grab a... Grab a coat and meet me outside. Or two sweaters. It's getting colder out."

"I'll be out shortly."

"And if you're bringing anything, keep it reasonable."

She nodded.

"Good."

I walked back upstairs and retrieved my keys. I went outside, prepared for the rest of the day.

Twilight came out shortly after, wearing one of my winter coats. My only winter coat, actually. The arm sleeves reached past her hands and the hem reached past her hips to her thighs.

"This seems like a very large coat." she said to me.

"You look ridiculous." I said to her, a laugh in my voice, "It's perfect. Did you... Did you bring any of your scrolls?"

"Yes, I did." She unzipped her coat and showed me the inner pockets, just full of scrolls.

"Alright. So, you've seen one of these before, right?" I patted the top of my car.

She nodded. "I've seen them, but I haven't been inside one, yet."

"Well, you're in for a treat. This is a vehicle. A car. An automobile." She quickly got out a scroll and wrote as I spoke. "It is our most commonly used form of travel. As you can see..." I gestured to some of the neighbor's cars. "It is... They are incredibly common. A car can be cheap, like mine, or expensive, and the quality will follow the same model. A common sign of maturity among teenagers in our country is gaining the legal ability to drive one through driving tests."

She glanced at the car. "Interesting."

"There are quite a few complicated processes going on under the hood of this thing." I patted the hood. "But we can save that for later. I can give you a demonstration, if you want."

"That would be great! Thank you." she happily said, "It'll be much easier to learn about this world if I start by asking you about it."

I opened my door. "I'll unlock it. Go ahead and in on the other side."

She nodded. "Alright."

Twilight walked around the car and entered the passenger side door.

I put on my seatbelt and turned to her. "Seatbelts are not optional." I said to her.

"Oh! Ok." She quickly put hers on as well.

I turned the car on, watching her as I did. Her eyes widened a bit in surprise, but she didn't react too much otherwise.

"Cars aren't like computers. They are easier to understand because you can physically see the parts under the hood moving, albeit at very high speeds. You ponies probably have technology like this already. The pedal on the floor here controls the amount of power the engine puts out to the tires."

She looked down to the pedals at my feet.

"This one is the brake, and this one controls the gears. I don't know everything about it, but if you want to know more, you can look on the computer."

She nodded slowly, writing something down.

"And remember... No magic."

She looked up at me, then nodded again. "I understand."

I looked back and pulled out of the driveway.

"I'm sure you're wondering where we're going." I said to her, "That's a good question, I'm glad you asked."

"But, I didn't..."

"My town is one of many, many, many towns in this world." I explained to Twilight the general facts of the town and the area, as well as the country itself, similar to how I explained it to Celestia when I met her.

Twilight was very interested in what I had to say, poking in her own questions at times, most of which I could answer at this point in the conversation.

"This is all very interesting information..." she said, "But it doesn't answer the question that I had, but didn't get the chance to ask you."

I gave her a small laugh. "Yeah... I distinctly remember Celestia telling me that you liked books and libraries." She gasped. "So, I was going to show you the library here in town."

"Thank you! Oh my goodness, this is great! I've always wanted to visit a human library! I mean, I've looked through the library at Canterlot High, but a school library won't match a real library. A real library has a much wider selection of research materials. Ohh, I can't believe I get to see what a library looks like on another world!"

"Uh... Yeah!" I replied, trying to match her enthusiasm. She was more excited for this than she was about the computer. "You're gonna have a great time, there. I'm pretty sure you're gonna stick around the library until it closes, so I can take you to see more of the town later on. Sound good?"

"That sounds great."

Our library was located near the center of town, across the river from the high school. Twilight gazed out the car windows as I drove, taking in the sights. She took notes on her scrolls at times.

I parked my car and the two of us got out.

Twilight looked at the buildings around the area. This parking lot used to be for a mall, so it connected to multiple buildings as well as the library, such as a clothing store and medical facility. Actually...

I decided to tell her the explanation of the area I had in my head. "Right there." I said, pointing to the library.

She nodded. "I saw it."

"It's been a while since I've been here. I think I still have my library card in my wallet, actually." I pulled out my wallet and checked. "Oh... Guess not." I shrugged. "I can get another if you want to check something out."

"Could I get a library card?" she asked.

"Mmm... I don't know about that. I think you need an ID to get a library card."

"Oh."

"I could pose as your dad." I said, a small laugh in my voice, "You can pretend you're a little kid."

"I don't... think that would work. I... also do not feel comfortable with that idea."

I shrugged. "Alright."

We walked into the building. Twilight was impressed with the architecture of the building.

As we walked in, we noticed a colorful children's section to our right. The hall leading to the bathrooms was to our left. The central hall a very open area with a high ceiling that gave you a welcome feeling.

Twilight greeted the receptionists working the front desk as we passed.

"You have four hours here to browse and choose books if you were planning on staying." I said, "'Cause then it closes. Here, come over here. I wanna show you something."

I led her to a group of computers against a row of shelves.

"You can use these computers to search for books by name, author, genre, whatever."

She eyed it, then stood in front of it. "By author, huh? I wonder..." She tapped a key on the keyboard with her index finger. Nothing happened. She tapped it again. Nothing. "No, I have to... the mouse..." She grabbed the mouse with her hand and moved it.

"That." I pointed to the icon she needed on the screen.

I helped her start a search. She typed in the Equestrian author A.K. Yearling, and to no surprise, nothing appeared.

"Worth a shot." I said.

She let out a small laugh. "Thank you, Phil." she said to me.

"If we, uh... If we get split up in here, I'll be right over there." I said, gesturing to the big, soft, comfy chairs in a resting area, "And speaking of splitting up, I'm gonna go get a card. Five books. And no magic."

"I won't use magic. I promise."

"Well, I'm gonna keep reminding you. It's hard to break habits."

After this, I headed to the front desk, leaving her alone. She'll be fine, this is probably the safest place in town.

"Hello, I would like to get a library card." I said to one of the ladies at the front desk.

"Of course, we'll just need you to fill this out and show us a photo ID and proof of residence." She gave me a form and a pen.

"Okie dokie." I said to her, taking them.

What a simple and pleasant exchange...

After I was finished, I presented them with the items they needed. She tapped away at her keyboard for a while before saying, "It says here that you already have an account with us, and that you have a late fee that you will need to pay off before you can borrow any more books."

"Mmm... Yeah, that's what I thought. Sorry, that book's gone, I'll just pay for it. How much do I owe ya?"

She tapped some more, then turned the screen for me to see. "With your late fee, the price of the book, and a one dollar fee to replace your card, your total bill is $24.48."

I looked on the screen to verify, then got out my wallet. "Ok. Plastic ok?"

When I finally got my fresh new library card, I returned to where I had left Twilight. She was nowhere to be seen. I looked at the screen, but it seems that someone else had used it after her. Either that, or Twilight really likes baseball.

I crossed my arms across my chest. Well... Ok... I said I'd be in the chairs, so I'll just go there. But before I do...

I picked up an issue of One Piece before I went to my chair. I chose an older issue, as I had already seen everything anyways.

For a while, I just sat in the chair, reading manga and picking up more issues after I was finished. I began to wonder more and more where she was. After about an hour and a half, I decided to get up and look for her.

I wandered around the library, not calling her name because it was a library and that would probably offend her.

I bet they have Harry Potter here, actually. I'll borrow it for her. Later, after I find her.

How hard is it to find one single pretty, purple-haired lady? This is ridiculous.

Idea! The computer's browser would have a history of any searches she made. I'm so smert...

Following my idea, I searched for her possible location on the computer we used. Sure enough, I got a clue that led me to the history section. I felt like an idiot for not having checked here earlier.

I saw Twilight sitting on the ground in the center of a pile of books. She was focusing hard on the book in her arms.

"You know you gotta put those back, right?" I asked her.

She didn't react. She was too engrossed in her book. She turned the page.

"Twilight? Yoo-hoo! Hello! Twilight!" I let out, slightly louder than before.

She looked up to me. "This is incredible!" she suddenly let out, "Humans have been around for so long! I never even had time to think of where humans came from, and yet, I found a book that explained it for me after just a few minutes! Did you know that humans and apes shared common ancestors?"

"Yes. Yes I did." I simply replied.

"Right... Of course..." She seemed slightly embarrassed. "Well, I didn't, but now that I've read about it, it makes sense. Both humans and apes have similar bone structures, and apes can stand upright like humans do. We have monkeys and apes in our world, do you think humans could naturally evolve there? Perhaps there's already a tribe of humans somewhere..."

"Yeah, I don't know about... Did you read all these?" I asked.

"Some of them."

"Oh, ok... Impressive. Remember to put them all back."

"I know, I know."

"Five books. To bring home. And no magic."

"I won't use magic, Phil." she said to me, "You've said that before. I haven't forgotten."

"I... apologize."

"It's alright."

"Do you need help putting anything away?"

"No, I think I've got it." she said.

"Well... What are you... reading?"

I sat down outside her pile and picked up a book. I looked at the cover. It was definitely a history book.

She explained to me that she was curious about the history of my world. I saw an encyclopedia and an atlas in her pile as well. She was not gonna have fun picking this all up.

"You know, when I was young." I said to her, "When I was in... second grade, when I was... god..." I counted the grades on my fingers. "When I was six or seven or so... We were doing a fun little project. We had unrolled a spool of paper in the hallway, and we were marking it with years. So, being the curious little kid that I was, I noticed that the numbers went all the way down to 1100. And I thought... 'Holy moly, there was an 1100?!' So I had to ask the teacher to confirm my suspicions, you know, cause I just really didn't know at the time. And that was the first time little ol' Phil learned about the existence of years before 1492. It just blew my mind at the time."

She let out a quiet laugh. "You don't think about these things as a child, and when you learn of them, it's a rather startling realization."

I smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I know."

She gave me a questioning look. "Why 1492?"

"Grab your scroll, you're about to learn some human history."

She immediately retrieved a scroll and pencil. She stared at me, ready to write.

"1492 is the year that a man named Christopher Columbus sailed from Europe across the ocean to our land of America. In an effort to reach a country far to the east over land, he set out west over sea. Instead, he found our country between them. Now, while he was not the first man to reach our country, he was the most important. He brought back with him riches from this new land, making him a legendary explorer, and starting a new... a new age of exploration. People flocked by the thousands to this side of the sea, a three month journey by ship. The people native to this land were conquered, and their world was taken by these new settlers."

"That... took a dark turn..." she said, slowly lowering her scroll.

"You have no idea. So anyways, that is the significance of 1492. Every child in America is taught this in schools early on."

"Interesting... Hmm... There's no way that I could study all of human history with my time here."

"Well, stick with the C.E. years. Or, A.D., if you prefer."

"A.D.? What does that mean?"

"I believe that it meant 'after death'. As the story goes, a religious icon, known as Jesus Christ, was born on year zero. Or... one, I'm not... And when he died, at the age of 32, the years became A.D. According to official records though, he was born in 4 B.C.E."

"Wait, that doesn't make sense." she said.

I shrugged. "I'm sure I didn't say it correctly. There was another meaning for A.D., I just can't remember it. It was Latin, I know that. Attero Dominatus. No wait, that's a song. Anyways, to get rid of any religious undertones and avoid any confusion, we use B.C.E. and C.E., which are 'before current era' and 'current era'. Interesting thing though, the man I spoke about was real, it's just that his history and life is wildly disputed due to the shroud of religious myths around his life."

She blinked. "That's very, very interesting... We ponies aren't a very religious species, though I have heard of some who view our Princesses as Gods."

"I view Celestia as a God, but that's because she's my fiancée and I'm supposed to see her like that." I replied, "Also she's really pretty and smart."

She let out a small laugh. "Phil, do you... follow any religions?"

"Uh... Nah. I want to think that there's something after death, but I just can't bring myself to believe it. I kinda have a fleeting belief in some gods at times, but it's not something I base my life on. How about you, Twilight?"

"Hmm... While I don't believe that a god created the world we live in, I believe that there's something out there that's far above us ponies."

"Mmm... Yeah, same..." Specifically, your god would be Lauren Faust...

"I'm a scientist. I have a scientific view of the world."

"You know, that brings up another point..." I said, "We don't have magic in our world, yet the sun and moonrise same as yours."

"Interesting..." A classic response.

"Our universe does not function on magic. It functions purely on physics. As such, the earth has orbited the sun and spins on its axis to give us the days since its creation, never changing. The moon is likewise caught in the earth's gravitational field."

She stared at me as I spoke.

"Controlling the sun and the moon with your magic breaks many of our known laws of physics. If Luna and Celestia could do that here, they could bring about the end of the world."

She blinked a few times. She was thinking in that head of hers. Finally, she gave me a very creative reply, "Interesting..." She looked down to her book. "You've given me a lot to think about."

"Mmm... Alright, I'm gonna let you think. If you don't need me, I'm gonna head back to the chairs."

"I'll be there soon." she said to me.

She was thinking hard about what I told her. I think I may have broken her. My new Princess is defective, I think I need a replacement. Can I get the older model back? This new streamlined model has a few bugs. The older model had a few kinks, but the extra padding made her more durable.

So, as I told Twilight, I returned to the chair. I had another issue of One Piece with me.

As I should have expected, Twilight had not appeared anytime soon. I sighed, then stood up. I had been watching the clock for the past thirty minutes or so. It was 8:30 right now. She didn't have long.

I went on another quest to find her. As I looked, I passed by the fiction section and picked up the first Harry Potter book.

She had moved from her original location to a new one. I hypothesized that she was now studying astronomy, and as I suspected, she was sitting on the floor in the astronomy section, surrounded by books, reading.

"Having fun?" I asked her.

"Oh, yes! I've been learning so much about..."

I held up my hand to stop her from ranting again. "You have less than thirty minutes. Start packing up."

"It's that late already?" she asked.

I held my hand out to her. She took it and I pulled her to her feet. She was rather light.

She bent down and picked up some of the books, then put them onto the shelf behind her in the correct place as according to the numbers. She quickly cleaned up her temporary workspace, leaving a small pile of books for herself.

She picked up her pile and held it in her arms. It was a bit of a struggle for her, but she had it under control.

"Want me to carry some?" I asked.

"That would be great, thank you." she said.

She held out the pile. I took three off the top.

"Ready to go?"

She nodded. "I'm ready."

The two of us made our way to the front desk. We placed our books onto the counter and the nice lady started scanning them.

"What's that book?" asked Twilight, noticing the book I picked out.

"It's a story book." I said to her, "I thought you'd like it."

"Oh, it's for me?" She seemed happy to hear that I picked her out a book.

For her books, Twilight chose two history books, an astronomy book, an encyclopedia, and a book that seemed to be related to culture. No anatomy books today. We don't need any more demonstrations in human anatomy in my house right now, thank you very much... Also Celestia would rip my head off... And even worse, Celestia would get really angry with me. Twilight can demonstrate human anatomy by herself if she wants, I don't care.

After loading the books into the car, I drove the two of us home. It was snowing right now, so I had to be careful on the roads.

"I'm gonna have to shovel." I said aloud, starting a conversation.

Twilight looked to the ground as I drove. "Does... snow become a problem when you drive?" she asked.

"Yes, yes it does. Driving on ice will do exactly what you think it will."

"That sounds dangerous. Yet, people still drive while it snows?"

"Yep. No stopping us. The city has workers that clear the snow off the streets so it's not as dangerous, but before they start working, it can be very, very dangerous. Especially to people not used to or not comfortable with driving on snow. I'm comfortable driving on snow, though. I'm confident in my abilities."

"You won't get a lot of traction with snowy roads. These cars are so heavy..." She was thinking about something. "You humans must've thought about this beforehand..."

"Exactly. This isn't our first winter. Do you ponies have a lot of issue with the snow?"

"Sometimes. I imagine that it's a lot like how humans function in the snow."

"Mmm... Yeah... I hope it doesn't snow long. I don't wanna have to shovel again tomorrow."

"I could help you shovel." she said to me.

"Really? Well that'd be really nice of you, Twilight. I should be able to take care of it, though. I'll get it done fast."

"It would go even faster with two shovels."

"Good point. Thanks." I replied, not interested in arguing about shoveling alone.

I pulled into the driveway. After we brought the books inside, I went directly back outside. It was still just a light snow.

At this time of night, it was very dark out, especially with no street lights. I turned on my front porch light.

I went to the garage and retrieved a shovel. Twilight was standing outside the side garage door. I picked up a second shovel for her, having actually forgotten about her. Whoops.

"Just the sidewalk and driveway." I said to her, "We'll just clear off what's there. It's still light snow, so it'll be easy."

"You can count on me." she said with a smile.

Like I said, it was fast. It took less than fifteen minutes for us to clear the snow. I wiped the snow off my car, then retrieved a tarp from the garage to cover the windshield. It was a quick and easy way to clear snow off the windshield every morning.

While I was at it, I made sure the ice scraper was still in the car.

Twilight and I returned to the house, slightly more exhausted than when we had started.

"My hands are cold." she said to me, rubbing them together.

"Oh. Yeah, gloves are near the coats. And hats. And boots. Cold stuff. Did you have fun at the library?" I asked.

"I did, yes. Thank you for taking me there, Phil. I've learned so much, already."

"That's great, Twilight." I happily replied, "I'm glad. You certainly took your time though. I almost fell asleep on that chair."

"I'm sorry. There were just so many interesting books. I couldn't just choose five."

"I'll admit, limiting it to five was a little unfair, but we do still have something to do."

"You're right. I can do more research when I'm finished with my task."

I smiled at her. "You're doing amazing work here, Twilight."

She smiled back. "It's all thanks to your help."

I've been studying the other book, but ok. "We've been out a while. I bet you're hungry."

She blinked. Her eyes widened. "I'm starving!"

"You just noticed?" I asked with a laugh.

"I wasn't thinking about it before! I haven't eaten in hours!"

"Well, how does grilled cheese sound?"

Her stomach growled.

"I guess it sounds good." I said, another laugh in my voice.

This is nice. I'm treating Twilight like a friend and she's treating me the same. I'm trying not to view her as I viewed Celestia.

I've been giving her compliments often to keep her spirits up. I know that the spell is in the books, I've seen Chrysalis cast it. She'll discover that spell and we'll all have a celebration. There will be cheese! For everyone!

This is going really well so far. The only issue I see right now would be finding a spell to bring me to Equestria, but even if we don't find it, Celestia would still be able to visit me more often, which was a win in my book. Then we'd get married and have triplets and accidentally have one more younger child and we'll live happily ever after.

After we ate, I went downstairs to help Twilight with the books. Twilight and I bonded these past few days as we looked through the books. This was nice. This was a good idea. Celestia has good ideas.

After a while of this, I went back upstairs and went to bed.



December 6



The basement door was open. I asked down the stairs, "You up?"

"I am. I just woke up."

"Alright. Come on up, I'll make you some breakfast."

I met Twilight at the kitchen table for food. I made the two of us eggs, which she appreciated.

I had time before I had to leave. I invited Twilight to play Mario Kart with me, which she accepted. We played until I had to go. Twilight, being the quick learner that she was, played much better than her first time.

"You brought up some very good points yesterday." she said as we played.

"That so?"

"Your sun and moon aren't controlled by magic. They travel along their path due to the forces of gravity and momentum. Which has led me to question how our own celestial bodies move through the sky. Clearly, the sun and moon are controlled by our Princess's magic... but like you said, they don't seem to conform to the laws of physics in your world. They must adhere to a different set of laws... Or perhaps they don't follow any known laws. Of course, this is all assuming that our worlds follow the same fundamental laws. From what I've seen, there are some key differences between our worlds, namely the use of magic in our world. In my world, magic is one of the governing forces of nature. In your world, it seems magic is non-existent."

"You would have an easier time understanding the differences because you know more about magic than I do. There not being any magic here makes it hard to study it."

"I have a few theories."

"I bet you do."

"They're guesses at best, but they are theories nonetheless. If I only had some way to prove them..."

"'Tis the plight of the modern scientist. No longer do we need to question why we become hungry. Nowadays, our scientists are questioning the existence of supermassive black holes in the centers of galaxies or the existence of anti-particles."

Twilight looked to me for a few moments before she crashed into a wall in game. She snapped her attention back to it.

"You're more intelligent than you seem." she let out.

So basically, I look stupid. "You're mistaking an abundance of trivia answers for intelligence. I might not even understand what I'm talking about, I could just be regurgitating information I saw."

"No, you know exactly what you're talking about. Your knowledge is limited by the current studies that others have done, but you're still smart enough to retain and understand this knowledge."

"Well... I appreciate that."

After my second alarm went off, I headed out. Twilight had stopped playing and returned downstairs to her lair.

I am pleased with how things are going.

I forgot to shovel again... Work was boring. Nothing to report. I went right back home after. It was still snowing on the way back home. I shoveled when I got home.

Twilight and I continued our studies on our books. The journal was actually pretty interesting. Star Song had a rather exciting life. It seemed he had a wide variety of skills. I assumed 'he' because the journal said that he found his assistant attractive. We didn't know if the assistant was a mare or stallion. Or whether Star Song was gay or not. That would also affect our guess.

From what I have gathered so far, Star Song was primarily a 'spellcrafter'. It's what he called himself, at least. He was also an archeologist and explorer. He spoke more of his discoveries than any spells he may have created. Which was a total of zero so far, as far as the journal went.

Twilight was making discoveries of her own with her book. It seemed she had more luck than I, having discovered another improved spell and an interesting potion. She was super proud of this. I was proud of her as well. I'm sure Celestia was proud of her, too.

So that was that day. It was a few days later before we discovered anything else interesting.



December 10



"Uh..." I reread what I just wrote onto my paper. I was midway through a rather interesting monologue.

Twilight glanced at me.

I doubled my efforts, doing my best to finish this page quickly. Twilight noticed my increase in effort and read what I copied down. Her eyes widened.

"Are you sure you copied that correctly?" she asked me.

"I'm still working on it."

She stared at what I was writing.

Line after line was written out on my page. I had given up on writing in my phone. I basically forgot about it, really.

This journal page was written differently than the other pages. The text changed and style often, corresponding to what I was writing down.

Twilight looked to the journal, verifying what I was writing.

"Oh, no..." she quietly let out.

I turned the page. The next one was blank. The page after that continued as if the previous hadn't happened.

Twilight took the notebook from me.

Curse this blasted spell. I can't work like this. If I can't find a cure, this may be the end of my research. Even the Princess couldn't help me.

My assistant keeps forgetting who I am. I keep changing. This isn't right. This isn't what I wanted. Who would want this? My hooves keep changing from young to old and back to young again. My magic fades. I can't control it. My assistant has told me that my cutie mark has disappeared. I don't understand. I still see it.

I can't stand this. I must keep working. I will not let this research go to waste. If nopony else can help me, then I will help myself.

Twilight lowered the page. "This is horrible... What happened to him?"

"He mentioned his hooves changing from young to old. Do you think he tried to cast a spell related to time?"

"Maybe. I don't know of a spell that can remove a cutie mark."

"Mmm..."

"Keep reading. There has to be something else to that spell."

"He said the Princess couldn't help him. Does that mean he spoke with Princess Celestia?"

"Maybe. It may have been a different Princess from his own time. We don't know when Star Song was alive. Princess Celestia should have remembered a situation like this."

"Hmm..."

Two days later, Twilight discovered something in her own book, the spell book.

"He's crossed out some notes here." said Twilight.

I looked to her book. They weren't just crossed out, they were covered up with ink.

"Think you can read it?" I asked.

"No, I don't think so... Unless..."

She stood up, placing the book onto the table.

She walked to her pile of tools and picked up a magnifying glass, then returned to the table.

She turned the page over and began looking at the back of the page with the magnifying glass. She was trying to see the impressions of the quill that were made on the page before it was crossed out... Clever...

"I need... more light..." she grumbled.

"I got light." I said, turning on my phone's flashlight, "Will this help?"

"It... It's too much light."

"Alright, I'll go find something better." I said.

"Thank you."

I went upstairs and returned with a mini hand-held flashlight.

"How about this?" I shined it on the page.

"That's perfect. Hold it still, right there."

Holding things still was not my specialty. Nonetheless, I did my best.

"I... can see... some lines... but..." She moved the magnifying glass a bit. "I..." She sighed. "I can't make anything out."

She leaned back against the couch, giving up.

"Maybe... a microscope?" I suggested.

"Maybe... There are some problems with that, though. It would be difficult to secure the page without damaging it. This is too old a book. Even if it wasn't, the likelihood of somepony pressing down with enough force to leave an impression using a quill is very low. There's no longer enough evidence on the page to prove what was there."

"Mmm... If you say so, I guess. Well, no sense worrying about it. Back to work."

"You're right." She leaned forward and looked back to the book. "I'll try looking at it again, later."

I noticed that she was actually rather close to the end of the book. Maybe a hundred more pages. I... had absolutely no idea. The hundred pages was an uneducated guess.

I returned to my own book. Being a journal, there was no typed out filler, so I wasn't even halfway through.

"Hey Twilight..." I said after a while, "Do you think that crossed out part was what caused him to write about... his issues?"

"It might be."

"If it was, then I'm glad he crossed it out. We can't risk you testing something so dangerous. We all love you too much to have that happen to you."

"Thank you, Phil. That means a lot to me." She had a pleased smile on her face.

"I haven't seen anything else about that spell in here." I said.

"There may not be another entry."

"I guess. Alright, I'll keep reading."

"Hey Phil?"

"Hmm?"

"Thank you."

For what? "You're welcome, Twilight."

I think she needed another break. I'll take her to the library again tomorrow. Speaking of library...

"Have you read any of those books I gave you?"

"I have. You picked out a great story."

"Well, I'm glad you liked it. Tell you what... Tomorrow, we can head back and get you the next few books in the series. Sound good?"

"It does. Thank you."

"And maybe we can go out and get some pizza."

She smiled at me. "That sounds great."

I smiled back. Twilight was so polite.



December 13



As I said, Twilight and I went to the library again today after I got home from work. She returned the books she had borrowed, and we got the next three books in the Harry Potter series. Twilight was pretty happy to be able to continue reading them.

And as I said, we went to Pizza Hut to pick up a pizza that I had ordered beforehand, because I'm smert like that.

It was a plain cheese pizza. No meat for Twilight. Not unless Celestia was in the room, at least... I'm not apologizing.

Twilight admired the size of the building across the street from the restaurant. To my knowledge, it was an industrial building of sorts. It spanned a few city blocks along the river.

"Is every town like this one?" she asked me.

"Nope, not really. There are thousands of towns out there. Maybe even millions, depending on your definition of what a town is. They are all unique and they all have their own specialty. For instance, our town, while small, has a surprising industrial presence. I believe... one of our companies creates the engines of ships that are... they're massive. They're super massive. Like... Half of a city block kind of massive."

She blinked. "Incredible..."

"And you know that big white building across the river? That's the headquarters for a country-wide company with hundreds of other locations. So we're not an empty town, by any means."

"I would love to see the rest of your world." she said to me.

I smiled. "I bet you would. Maybe if you had like a year with nothing to do, I could take you and Celestia traveling around my world."

"Would it really take that long?"

"It... might. Maybe more like six months or so. Depends on... Basically, it won't work out, is what I was saying. There's so much to do and so much to see. But... I'd like to. Especially with Celestia. I wanted to show her everything."

"I'm sure she would have loved it."

"Yeah. But oh well. At least she can do the same in your world."

"That's something to look forward to."

"It definitely is."

I brought the pizza and Twilight back home. At least one of these things was going to be eaten tonight.

I brought in our pizza and set it on the living room table. I brought out some paper plates and some soda for us from the kitchen. Twilight placed a piece onto her plate and sat on the couch.

I joined her on the couch, picking up a piece for myself.

"Wanna watch a movie?" I asked with my mouth full of pizza.

She looked to me. "Hmm?"

I swallowed. "A movie. Wanna watch a movie?"

"Oh! Alright. What will we watch?"

"That... is a very good question. Mmm..." I took another bite. "Uh..." Celestia liked funny kid movies... I wonder what kind of movies Twilight would like... Oh! I know! Lord of the Rings! Twilight loves fantasy. I think... "I got one. Stay here, I gotta set it up."

I wiped my hands off with a napkin and stood up, then walked to the TV. Alright... I gotta connect this guy to the network...

It didn't look like it had Wi-Fi. At least, I didn't look long enough to make sure. Instead, I snaked a cable all the way up the stairwell from the basement and plugged it directly into my network. I got lazy.

I made the TV display the screen of my computer that was downstairs.

I paused as I remembered that one of the movies begins with someone murdering someone else by strangulation. Which one it actually was eluded me. Maybe not Lord of the Rings... Maybe a movie series that's a little less murdery... Maybe a movie that's not four hours long.

Um... Well... She'd like How to Train your Dragon. Ok, good idea. She even has a dragon of her own. Oh boy... Hope she doesn't get offended...

When I had finally managed to start the movie, I returned to the couch.

Twilight and I sat separated from each other. We weren't a couple, and we weren't going to be a couple. This was perfectly adequate for us. We sat together on the couch as friends, eating our pizza.

Twilight was intrigued by the movie. I gave her a brief overview of the animation process during the beginning, and answered any questions as she asked.

Twilight's reactions made this really fun, and I liked this movie too, so I enjoyed it even more.

We were about an hour into the movie when I heard something strange. It sounded like my conscience trying to break through the walls I had trapped it in. No wait, it was my door. False alarm.

Twilight and I looked to the door. The knocking got louder. Ok, someone was here... I paused the movie and got up.

Probably Trevor or something. He's terrible. It's not related to the current situation, he's just terrible.

So, I opened the door. To my surprise, it was...

"Sarah! What a pleasant sur... Sarah?"

She stared up at me. As soon as she saw me, tears began to stream down her face. She hiccupped as she reached a hand up to try to wipe away her tears.

"Sarah?" I asked again, concern in my voice.

Twilight stood up and moved so she could see her.

"He hic... He hic... He kicked me oooouutt!!"
> Chapter 33
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well... This was something.

My first reaction was to open my arms and lean forward. She immediately pushed herself against me, wrapping her arms around me. I gently held her as she cried.

Her sobs didn't get any louder. It was obvious to me that this wasn't a devastating loss to her, but she was clearly upset by this.

"When I hic... When I got home after work... I went to my room to study, and he hic... After... a while, he came into my room with a suitcase. And he told me hic... He told me that I didn't live there anymooore!" She began sobbing again, rubbing her face into my chest.

I didn't know what to say. I was already thinking of what this would mean for me. I had told Sarah that Celestia and I could accommodate her, but Twilight was using the entire basement for herself. There was simply no room.

"I tried begging and pleading with him, but nothing changed his mind... He told me t- hic... to pack my things and get out. At first, I thought it hic... might've been a joke or s-something, but..." She trailed off.

Poor Sarah... It can't be easy to suddenly lose your house like this, even if you are 23 and still live with your parents. She'll have some trouble dealing with this.

"You hic... You were the only person I could turn to..."

I didn't say anything. I just didn't know what to say to her right now. She probably just needed to cry right now. It would help her a lot to let this out.

Twilight kept quiet, probably having an internal debate on whether to speak or not.

I comforted Sarah in my arms. Her sobs slowed. She was calming down.

I could see a suitcase behind her. How... did she get here?

She pulled away from my chest and raised an arm to her face to wipe away her tears. She sniffed. "S-So I came here. I... I came here to... to ask... Can... Can I stay with you?"

I blinked. Oh boy... "I... I really... There's not really enough room."

"I won't take up much space! I promise!" she let out, desperately trying to convince me.

I sighed. God... "You can stay, Sarah."

"Thank you!" she exclaimed, pushing herself against me for a tight hug of appreciation.

"Phil... who is this?" asked Twilight, approaching us.

Sarah jumped in surprise upon hearing the unfamiliar voice. She pulled away from me a little, sniffing again.

I let go of Sarah and stepped aside, getting out of the way so they could see each other. Sarah quickly tried to clean up her face.

"Who are you?" asked Sarah. She turned to me. "W-Where is Celestia?"

"This is Twilight." I said to her, "She's one of Celestia's friends, and she's been staying with me since Celestia returned home."

"Celestia isn't here?"

I shook my head. I'm sure Sarah would've loved to spend more time with Celestia. Celestia would know how to make her feel better. "Twilight has taken the basement. And I don't have any other rooms other than... my bedroom. That's why I said it was... That I had no room. Because I don't. You can still stay here, you'll just be sleeping on the couch."

She didn't even glance to it before excitedly saying, "That's fine! That's fine. Thank you... Thank you so much, Phil..."

"Come in, please." I said, stepping away.

She walked into the house, her suitcase in tow. It was pretty big, actually. It seemed heavy. She closed the door behind her.

Twilight backed away to give us a bit more room.

I picked up some of the unused napkins that we had with the pizza and gave them to her. She took them from me and blew her nose.

"Thank you." she said to me.

"What are you going to do now, Sarah?" I asked her.

"I... I don't know... I need more money. I don't... think I make enough to afford an apartment, yet. I don't know, I haven't worked through it, yet."

"So you probably don't know how long you might need to stay here."

"No, no I don't. I'm... I'm sorry..."

She dried her eyes with a napkin and blew her nose again.

"Well, that's fine." I said, "I really didn't expect this..."

"I'm sorry that I've pushed this onto you, Phil. You told me that you w-wanted to avoid this, but... but I didn't see any other choice. If you hadn't taken me in, I didn't know what I would do..."

"I won't make you stay anywhere else." I said to her.

"Thank you."

I sighed. This was an interesting situation. I now had to accommodate Twilight and Sarah. I didn't have an issue with it economically. My concern was the relationship aspect of it.

I turned to Twilight and said, "Right, anyways... So... this is Sarah."

Twilight looked to her. Sarah gave her a timid wave and a soft, "Hello."

Twilight replied with her own polite greeting.

"Sarah is one of my fellow employees at my job."

"You've mentioned her, before." she replied, "I'm so sorry to hear about your situation. If there's anything that I can do to help, just ask."

"Th... Thank you..." replied Sarah.

"What... happened to you?" asked Twilight, "If I... might ask."

I looked back to Sarah. She seemed nervous again. She had accidentally shown a vulnerable side of herself to someone she didn't know.

"You alright?" I asked.

"Y-Yes..." she got out.

"I can tell her." I said.

She gave me a quick nod.

I turned back to Twilight. "Her father kicked her out of her home."

Twilight gasped. "Oh my goodness... Why would he do such a thing?"

"He was angry at her for dating a guy like me."

"Dating? Wait, but..."

I held up my hand. She stopped talking. I looked to Sarah, then back to Twilight. "On the first of this last month, Sarah invited me out for coffee. We spent a little time together and went home separately. When I got home, Luna told me that Celestia was coming back. Later that night, Sarah called and said that she told her parents she was out late with her boyfriend, me. They wanted to meet me, so I told Celestia and we met with Sarah and picked a date. I met her parents, and her dad turned out to be... a bit... standoffish, shall we say... So we parted on bad terms. Her dad told her that she would stop seeing me and that she would change jobs, but she didn't, and now we're here."

Twilight stared at us, eyes wide. "That's awful! I'm so sorry..."

"Yeah..." I let out, nodding.

"Thank you, Phil." said Sarah.

"Yep..." I nodded at her.

I glanced at her suitcase again. Damn... I don't know if I can make her sleep on the couch. It wouldn't be right. She's a woman, she needs her own room. I'll see how it goes. If it seems like she'll need it, she can have my room.

"Here, go ahead and set your bag over there, against that wall." I said to her, pointing to the far wall, "We'll, um... We'll deal with things from there."

She nodded. "Thank you..."

"Would you like some help?" asked Twilight, stepping towards her.

Sarah backed a step away from her. "N-No, I've g-got it." she let out.

"Oh... Ok..." Twilight gave her some room.

Sarah walked past without a word and set her suitcase against the wall, like I said.

I had absolutely no idea what to do now. I wonder what Celestia would say... I sighed. "Well, let's get you settled in, then." I said to Sarah.

She nodded at me. "Thank you."

"It's a... It's a small house, it doesn't have a complicated layout. Like, at all. Twilight's room is downstairs, like I said. My room is..." I gestured to it. "Over there. Uh... I... I guess you'll just stay out here for a while. Just... basically just use your common sense and everything should be fine. This is honestly like the fifth or sixth time I've explained this recently."

"Oh... Well, I'm sorry."

"Nah nah, don't... If you... If you need a room, like... mine's open. You can take that while you're here. I can take the couch."

"No, no, I couldn't... I couldn't do that to you."

I shrugged. "I gave Celestia my room when she first..." I paused. That was a special circumstance. "Nevermind. Nevermind. You're a lady, so it wouldn't be right to make you stay out here."

I went through the same list that I gave Celestia, the guards, Luna, Red, and Twilight. I gave Sarah some house rules that I had. It was more basic and general than the list I gave my pony friends due to the fact that Sarah had been a human for a little longer than them.

Kinda defeats the 'use your common sense' line I gave her earlier by explaining it like this.

Sarah listened to what I had to say. I wasn't being very enthusiastic about it, but she didn't even look away. Sarah was weird.

Twilight idly stood to the side. She had realized that she made Sarah nervous. She may think that Sarah didn't trust her, I don't know. For all I knew, Sarah didn't trust her.

After we spoke, Sarah had walked to the kitchen. Curiosity may have gotten the best of her. I don't know.

While I was alone with Twilight, I stepped closer and began speaking to her.

"Looks like you're going to have to try to avoid using any magic at all." I said to her, "I don't want Sarah to tell me that things are floating around when you're around."

She nodded. "Alright."

"And... The books... let's try to keep those between us."

"Of course. What if... she finds out?"

I smiled at her. "Tell her it's for Dungeons and Dragons."

She gave me a surprised look. "That's a great idea."

"I've been thinking about it for a while." I said, still smiling.

She smiled. "Alright, that's great."

"Speaking of... If you're interested, my sister still plays every week. I could try to get you in for a game."

"Of... Dungeons and Dragons?"

I nodded. "Yup."

"How would that work, with it just being one game?"

I shrugged. "We've done it before."

"Well... alright, yes. That sounds great." She had a pleasant smile on her face.

Sarah walked back through the door. She looked to me. I smiled at her.

"Oh shit, you know what?" I asked, remembering something important.

"What?" asked Twilight, concern in her voice after I suddenly said that. Sarah's eyes immediately widened.

"Christmas is coming up!" I happily let out.

"Christ... mas?" asked Twilight.

"Yeah, yeah, Christmas! Oh man, I love Christmas." I paused. The feelings were a bit mixed, actually. I don't need to tell Twilight why. Celestia knows why. I gasped. "Oh no! I can't share this holiday with Celestia! Awww... Oh well... I gotta set up a tree!"

"A tree? Wait, a pine tree?" asked Twilight.

"Yeah, yeah, a pine tree. Well, a fake one. I'm not dealing with nettles in my house."

"Where would you put it?" she asked.

"Ah... Um..." I looked around the front room. "Well shit. You got me there."

"That corner sh-should work." said Sarah, pointing at the corner at the edge of the couch opposite the door.

I looked to it. "Mmm... No, not enough room."

"How big is the tree?" she asked.

I shrugged. "Normal sized. So like... five-by-five. Or... Whatever the..."

Sarah walked to the side of the couch and examined it. She turned to me and said, "You would have to move the couch, but it would fit."

"Well yeah, I figured I'd have to move the couch. But where's it gonna go?"

"It could go against this wall." she replied, pointing to the ground near the wall next to her.

"That would be too close to blocking the kitchen doorway." I said, "And it wouldn't be facing the TV."

"What if you moved the couch and placed the tree where the couch was?"

She is taking some liberties, telling me to rearrange my front room like this... "That... That would work. Usually, I'd put it here." I pointed to the TV. "But that spot is full."

"This would be a great place for a Christmas tree. Do you have any ornaments?"

"Yeah, some." I replied, "Think they're in the garage. And the tree, too. You really seem to like Christmas there, Sarah."

"I love Christmas! I love the holiday season."

I gave her a wide smile. "That's great! I love Christmas, too."

"What is Christmas?" Twilight asked us.

"Oh, it's a holiday where you spend time with your family and give each other gifts." I said.

"Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, observed most commonly on December 25th as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world." explained Sarah, "Do they not have Christmas where you're from?"

"December 25th? Oh! Oh... We call it something different where I'm from." she replied. She gave me an awkward smile. She was still a little confused, it seems.

Sarah smiled. "I found it a bit odd that you have never heard of it." She paused, seemingly catching herself. Her usual timidness showed itself again. "S-Sorry. I shouldn't have assumed."

"No, no, it's quite alright."

"You know..." I started, "Sarah..."

"Yes?"

"I know that we might not be family, but what's say we have a bit of a Christmas celebration of our own here at my house?"

"That sounds great!" she excitedly replied, "I've never celebrated Christmas with a friend, before."

I smiled at her.

"This sounds like a lot of fun." said Twilight, a smile on her face.

"Yeah, we can do all sorts of Christmas themed stuff together as friends. It'll be great. It is... so late right now. I gotta go to bed. Which means you should do the same, Sarah."

"Oh... Y-Yes, you're right."

Twilight gave us a small, pleasant smile. "I think I'll do the same, shortly."

"C'mon Sarah, I'll get you a toothbrush." I said to her.

"Oh! Thank you." she said to me.

I led her into the bathroom and let her pick out a color of toothbrush. She picked red. It reminded me that I had to throw away Red's toothbrush. I did so now.

Twilight wasn't in here with us. She brushed right? Well, of course she brushed, I gave her a toothbrush. Nevermind

Sarah and I brushed together. It didn't seem weird at the time, but thinking back on it afterwards reminded me of the toothbrush scene in Monogatari, which made me feel slightly uncomfortable. Celestia would've liked it if I did that for her...

I looked to Sarah. I began remembering something. Wasn't I planning on giving this lady my house?

She noticed me looking at her and looked away.

Sarah brushed longer than I did, as she should. Sarah's not gonna have any cavities anytime soon. Two minutes in the morning and at night, every day. Reminds me of Celestia for some reason...

I turned off the TV as I returned to the front room. "Sorry we couldn't finish the movie." I said to Twilight.

"It's fine." she replied.

"Good luck on the book, Twilight."

She smiled and nodded. "Thank you."

Sarah showed up in the front room shortly after. I got her some blankets and a pillow and said, "See ya in the morning."

She gave me a small nod. "Yeah... Thank you, Phil. For letting me stay."

"Of course. If there's anything you need, just let me know. Or maybe Twilight, she might be able to help you."

Twilight nodded. "That's right. I'll try my best to help you with anything you need."

"Thank you." said Sarah.

Twilight smiled. "I'll be going to the basement, now."

Our little trio shared a round of 'goodnights' before retiring to our bedrooms. Sarah didn't actually leave the room because she slept out here.

I closed my door behind me.

Christmas without Celestia... I missed her even more. At least Twilight and Sarah can celebrate it with me.

This was an interesting situation I had on my hands right now. With no other friends and a low income job, she was going to be relying on me for a while. Probably even the whole month... Maybe more...

Speaking of money, should I charge her rent? I wouldn't be in the wrong given that she was staying here... Mmm... Nah. I don't have the heart to charge her anything. If anything, I'd charge her for the food she would eat.

I still missed my Princess... I wonder...

"Celestia, can you hear me?" I asked, hoping to talk to her.

"I can."

I felt a warmth enter my mind. It felt like Celestia was right here next to me.

"You know, I'm very proud of what you've done today." she said to me, "You've made Sarah very happy to know that she has a true friend in you."

"Thank you, Celestia. I've missed you."

"I've missed you, too."

"You're gonna miss my favorite holiday."

"Among other things." she replied.

"Yeah... Why haven't we talked more?"

"It is very difficult to speak with you like this." she replied.

"Difficult?"

"It requires a great deal of power and concentration."

"Oh... But you're powerful. And... concentrated. Like orange juice."

She let out a small chuckle.

"Luna spoke to us rather often." I said.

"She doesn't have as much distractions."

"You're silly." I said to her. I could feel her smiling.

"I can't wait for you to come to Equestria." she said.

"Me, too."

"How are you?" she asked.

"I'm well." I replied, "I'm doing alright."

"That's good."

"Twilight is a great guest. She's quiet and doesn't do much."

"You've been helping her."

"Yeah."

"Thank you, Phil."

"Hey Celestia, we found some really weird stuff in the journal."

"Oh?"

I explained the interesting page about Star Song's ailment that I found.

Celestia paused before saying, "Interesting..." Ponies say that a lot...

"He said that he spoke with a Princess. Do you know anything about this?"

"No, I don't... think so."

"Mmm..."

"I'm sure you and Twilight will find your answers soon enough."

"Yeah, you're probably right."

"I know that you've been feeling uneasy since Twilight arrived. Sarah's presence will only make it worse."

"Yeah, yeah..."

"They're both beautiful women." she said.

"Yeah, that's for true."

She paused for a short while before speaking again. "It would seem that one of the spells she needs is in the back of her spell book. You have made quite a bit of progress in it."

"We've been doing well." I replied, "Twilight is doing great. She's been working hard."

"I'm impressed by how much you have helped her."

"Thanks. I appreciate it."

"It's a shame that we weren't able to work together as much on them." she said to me, "Though perhaps we were too preoccupied at the time." She gave me a small giggle.

"Perhaps. It wasn't all bad."

"You're right. I quite like being preoccupied with you."

"You're silly."

I could feel her warm smile.

I chuckled. "I'm gonna have a hard time proposing to you, Celestia."

She gasped.

"Finding the perfect moment, the perfect day, the perfect time... Maybe I'll do it in the middle of one of your speeches."

"If you do that, I would be so embarrassed." she said, a laugh in her voice.

"Oh, is that so? Maybe I should then."

She gave me a chuckle of her own. "Looks like I have more speeches to plan this year."

"Maybe I'll do it when you wake up in the morning, out of nowhere."

She laughed. "That would certainly brighten the rest of my day."

Celestia and I shared a playful conversation for a long while before finally deciding to go to bed.

"Alright, Celestia. I gotta get to bed." I told her.

She sighed. "I love you." She sounded sad.

"I love you, too."

"I'll see you soon." she said to me."

"Yeah. Soon."

With that, I ended my day.



December 14



Twilight said we would be finishing the books around today or tomorrow, but that was a while ago. We've had a lot of distractions. We'd probably get done around the 20th or something. I don't know. How would Sarah react to us just disappearing? What if she saw us leave? That would be hard to explain.

Did Sarah wake up early at home? I don't know. I wouldn't wake her if she was still asleep.

I went out to the front room and checked on her. She was still sleeping. I saw her phone sitting on the coffee table. An alarm was probably set on it.

Twilight's door was closed today. Odd.

I went into the kitchen and ate a few bowls of cereal for breakfast. With Sarah in the front room, I couldn't play Mario Kart.

Man, this is weird. Celestia and Luna and Twilight and Red and... Shining and Soulfire, they're all ponies. They weren't human to begin with, so I didn't have much of an issue with them staying here. That's a long list of ponies, actually.

Sarah was different. Sarah was human. She had no obligation to stay here. She was here because she was my friend. Because I was her friend. It must've been so hard for her to ask me if she could say. She's so timid around others, though she has been making great progress, which actually makes me very proud of her. She's been doing very well at work.

I had been put into a situation that I couldn't have refused. There was absolutely no way that I could have denied her request. I am not a person that would have, in good conscience, sent her away. In short, she had a free pass. I don't know if she knew this, but it felt like she wasn't taking advantage of me. She had no other option. Well, she did, but they were less preferable.

I missed Celestia...

So I waited for either Sarah or Twilight to wake up. Sarah was first, to my knowledge. While I was in the kitchen on my laptop, I heard a song play in the front room. I did not recognize it, but it had a catchy tune. It turned off a short while later. She gave off a groan.

I heard movement in the front room. She was getting up. I heard her walk towards the kitchen.

I looked to her as she walked through the door.

She looked at me. "Hello, Phil." She seemed almost surprised.

"Hey Sarah. Sleep well?"

"It was... surprisingly comfortable." she replied.

"Oh. Well, that's good to hear. Go ahead and eat anything you want here. I got plenty of..." I waved my hand towards the cupboards. "And... And you don't need to... to... I forgot what I was going to say."

"Thank you, Phil. I'll try not to get in the way."

"Oh, don't think of it like that. Think of it like a sleepover. A sleepover that you don't come home from. Ok, nevermind, that sounds like the plot to a horror movie. Um... Just... Like, you're not causing me any issues by staying here. That's what I mean. I mean, you are, but those issues are negligible. You're... This is getting a bit difficult to explain. I'm glad that you're here, Sarah. Celestia would be happy too, if she were still here."

"Where... did Celestia go, if you... don't mind my asking..."

"She went home. There were some things that she needed to take care of. I'm a little fuzzy on the details myself, actually. Her work is very important to her, so if she needs time, then she can have it."

"She's... She's working?"

I nodded. "Yup."

"Are you sure?"

I blinked. "What? Yeah."

"Where... does she work?" she asked.

"Just... in Europe. She's private about her work, so she wouldn't like me telling you."

"Oh..."

"Are you hungry?" I asked her, "Go ahead and grab a... grab a bowl of cereal or something. Or... you can make... pancakes or eggs or toast. Whatever you wanna make, by all means, go ahead. Or you can ask me to make you something. 'Cause I might."

"W-Well, thank you. I think I'll have cereal, th-though."

"It's over there." I said, pointing to the cupboard, "And bowls are there. Spoons are in that drawer."

"Thank you."

"I feel like you're gonna say that a lot."

"I... I just... appreciate your letting me stay here. I... I can't... begin to tell you how much this means to me."

I gave her a smile. "Stay as long as you need, Sarah. You're welcome here any time. I know you don't make much, in fact, I know how much you make, and it's not enough to live off of, not around here. So, you can stay. You can stay as long as you need."

"Thank you, Phil. Thank you... s-so m-m-m..." She started tearing up. "Thank you so much!" She sniffed, then rubbed the tears from her eyes. "I'm sorry."

I smiled at her again. "Get something to eat. You gotta get ready for work."

She smiled back at me. "Right."

She made herself a bowl of lucky charms and sat down at the table in the seat next to mine.

She glanced at me. I glanced back. She quickly looked away.

God, I hope she's not developing a crush on me. Don't get me wrong, I would hit that like the side of a tree on the forest moon of Endor, but being engaged to Celestia made it something I should not and would not do.

Oh man, what if Sarah had shown up just before Celestia left? That would've been super awkward. Those two days were not free of sin.

I missed Celestia...

If Sarah was developing feelings for me, that would be a very, very bad thing. On my list of things that are ok, it is not on the list. Maybe my ego's getting to me, I don't know...

I really missed Celestia. I can't stop thinking about her...

"What... are you... doing?" she asked me.

"Hmm? What?" I focused on her.

"On your... your computer. What are you..." She stopped.

"I'm just... nothing really. Funny pictures, I guess. And Facebook."

"O-Oh..."

I shrugged. "Nothing too spectacular."

She looked down to her food again.

"We got about 45 minutes 'till we should leave." I said, "I usually walk, and you take the bus, so we could just walk together. Depending on the weather though, I could drive the two of us. Did you bring a coat?"

"I did. But... that's it. I don't have any others."

"Mmm... Alright. I can probably find something for you."

"Thank you."

"Hey, uh... This is... bit of an awkward question, but you and showering..."

"Oh!" Her face quickly became red.

"Uh... Take your clothes with you into the shower, alright? The bathroom, I mean. And just put them on in there. And you can throw your dirties downstairs so I can wash them. Or you can wash them, if you don't feel comfortable with that. But I'm fine with it. I have no problem with it. So... Yeah... Just change in the bathroom and throw dirty clothes downstairs. Alright?"

"Alright." she said softly, looking to me.

"Speaking of laundry, I can take care of the chores, so don't worry about them. I mean, you know, if you want to, I'm not going to stop you."

I went over a few more related rules. This was really getting old...

"Think Twilight's up?" I asked her.

"She... came upstairs late to brush her teeth last night."

"Mmm... Either way..."

"What does... Twilight do?"

"Do?"

"Here. What does she do... here? Does she work?"

"No, she's not here to work. She's kinda on vacation. Twilight's studying some books."

"That sounds interesting. What kind of books?"

"Just... books. Twilight's in a DnD campaign and the DM is serious about DMing. He's given us a challenge in the form of three books, and since Twilight was the smartest one, everyone delegated the task to her."

"That s-sounds incredible!" she excitedly let out.

I smiled. "Ain't it? She's been working hard at it for a while. Be careful if you ever go downstairs. I don't imagine you'll need to, but still. There's stuff all over the floor and her notes are everywhere."

"Alright. I'll try to be careful."

We held our small conversation as we waited to go to work. When Sarah was finished eating, the two of us continued to get ready to work. I found some cold weather gear for Sarah to wear.

The weather outside was adequate for walking, at least for me.

"Here, check the temperature." I said to her, turning back to the door.

She looked at me, then looked up at the overcast sky as she stepped outside. She took in a breath.

"Think you'd be alright with walking?" I asked her.

She nodded at me. "I think I'll be fine."

I shrugged. "Alright, cool. Ready to head off?"

She nodded.

I smiled at her. She smiled back. After locking up the house, the two of us walked to work.

Huh... "You know what?" I said.

"Hmm?"

"You're gonna need a key to the house. I'll get one for you when we get home, alright?"

"Oh... Well, thank you..." she said, a surprised tone in her voice.

"You're not gonna do a whole lot of leaving, are you?" I asked her.

"Leaving?"

"Leaving the house, I mean. You seem like someone who stays in a lot."

"That's... right."

"Mmm... Yeah, same here. So we'll be hanging around the house a lot."

"I used to go out and eat once a week, but that was... when I was... with my parents..."

"Yeah but you're broke now."

"Yeah..."

"Things'll go better for you soon enough Sarah, just you watch. Give it a couple weeks and your life will be right back on track."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you haven't been abandoned." I said to her, "Your dad can't stay mad at you forever. You probably won't move back in with him, but..."

"I will not accept his charity." she coldly stated.

I stopped walked, surprised by this.

She took a few more steps before realizing that I wasn't with her. She turned around and faced me. "What?"

"I... I just... You might not have a choice, you know?"

"I am not going to let myself be dependent on him anymore. I can't stand the way he treated you. He's shown his true colors to me. I don't want to be associated with a man like him."

I blinked. "You've really made up your mind on this."

She nodded. "I have. I'm not forgiving him for this."

She was surprisingly calm. She hadn't stuttered and she wasn't nervous at all. I was impressed.

I sighed. "You're taking a big risk here Sarah. You're lucky Celestia and I love you, or you'd be out of luck."

Her eyes opened wide. "L-L-Love?"

I paused. That was an unnecessary slip of the tongue. Friend would've worked just as well. I used it with Twilight as well... I need to calm my emotions... "You're staying at my house right now." I said to her, "If you didn't have my place to stay at, you'd be screwed. You told me that you didn't have anyone else. You'd be homeless, Sarah. What could you do?"

"I... I... I'd get an apartment."

"You're broke, Sarah. You're broke."

"I'd..."

I held up my hand to stop her from continuing. "Sarah... Celestia and I do love you. Celestia especially. We want to see you succeed in life, and we're both proud of how far you've come in such a short time. It might not mean a lot to you that we feel this way Sarah. After all, you've only ever met Celestia one time, and I ruined your relationship with your dad."

"No, you didn't..." She paused. "You didn't... Th-That doesn't matter to me. I like you, Phil... You've helped me so much, you're even letting me st-stay at your house! I know I can't stay with you forever." she said to me, "I need more pay or a new job."

"You still got like four months at the minimum until you get the opportunity for more pay."

"I know."

"Have you gotten other jobs in mind?"

She paused, then looked away.

"Answer honestly." I said to her.

"I don't know... I don't... know. I've looked, I have... I just... Nobody... n-needs me."

I nodded. "You're still welcome to stay, Sarah. My house is open to you."

"Thank you... Thank you, Phil..."

I smiled at her. "Come on. Let's get to work."

She smiled back. "Right!"

A short while later, I felt a familiar warmth in my mind. I heard my fiancée's voice. "Ohhh, you are so nice to her!" she excitedly let out, "You've made her so happy! It is so hard to talk to you, oh my goodness..." She let out a sigh. "What will you tell her when you leave?"

I just shrugged.

"Oh, yes I suppose it would seem strange if you began talking to yourself." She chuckled. "I appreciate your kindness towards Sarah in my stead. She's matured far more than she would have without you."

I smiled.

"Have a nice day at work, Phil."

I gave her a small nod before I felt her leave.

"You're doing pretty good in the cold, here." I said to Sarah.

"I've always... lived in the north. I just came from Maine, and that's further north than here."

I shrugged. "I've always lived here. I'm pretty used to the cold, too."

That walk felt longer than normal. I guess walking with someone will do that. I liked walking with Sarah. It was nice. I wish Celestia walked with me more, but she doesn't like the smell of the place. She totally would have if I had asked her, though.

Actually, the walk seemed a bit longer because it was a bit longer. I usually got there before everyone on my shift, but today, someone was actually here before me.

I greeted him as I walked in. He greeted me back, giving me the enthusiasm I've come to expect from someone waking up early to go to a minimum wage job at McDongers. Ahh... America...

I think he noticed that Sarah and I got here together because I was starting to hear rumors again. And by that, I meant that they were curious and directly asked me about it.

As the story goes, Phil and Sarah walked to work together this morning. After a brief discussion with Sarah on what to say, I answered them with, "Sarah lives with me, now. Her dad kicked her out."

Some gasps were heard amongst my audience, as well as, "Holy crap." and, "Seriously?"

"It is how it is." I said to them, "And I would appreciate it if you respected Sarah's privacy while we are at work."

Sarah stepped forward. "My father has shown me a much more controlling side of his strict, yet kind personality. He removed me from his home when I strayed from his rules. I no longer want to live with him."

"Well, you couldn't have picked a better guy to stay with." said Timmy, "Aside from his depraved side, he's a great guy."

"Thank you, that's..." I sighed. "Helpful. You're really... Real pal. Real pal."

He snickered.

"Well, if you ever need help, just ask." said one of them.

They all agreed to this.

"Yeah, we're all friends, here." said another.

Sarah gave them a short surprised look, then gave them a wide smile. "Thank you, everyone. This means a lot to me. I'm so glad you're willing to help me... Thank you..." She kept up her smile. "I... I should be fine with Phil, though. He's agreed to take care of me for a little while." She glanced at me, still smiling.

"Shame he's not single, you could have yourself a nice boyfriend." said one of them.

Sarah gasped. "N-No, no, no, no... I'm not... I'm not looking f-for... a boyfriend..."

"How do you know I'd be a good boyfriend?" I asked him.

"Well, you're hot." he replied.

"What are you, gay?"

"Well, yeah."

"Oh right, we've established this."

"Alex needs a girlfriend." said Greg, "Maybe you could talk to him."

"Actually, I... I have someone right now." he replied.

Our group collectively looked to him.

"I... met her three weeks ago."

"Good on ya, mate!" I said to him.

"Yeah man, that's great!"

"What's her name? Is she nice?"

"Uh, her name's Carol." he told us.

"Why haven't you said anything about her to us?"

"Well, she's not as cool as Phil's girlfriend." he said.

"That don't matter."

"Yeah, nobody's as cool as her. Hey, what happened to her, anyways?" asked one of them, "What was her name? Chastely?"

I poorly concealed a snicker.

"It was Celestia." said Timmy, "Apparently she had to go home for a while."

I shrugged. "As the story goes. Alright, alright... Everyone... I think it's about time to get to work."

I got various complaints from them, but I soon got the crew into working order.

Today was a nice day. Today was a good day.

I gotta get out the tree... I have to move the couch, too... Sarah's tiny, she might not be able to help me. Twilight could, though. I'm sure she wouldn't mind if I asked. I could do it myself if I needed to, but I don't have anything to gain by acting manly.

Nothing special happened at work today. Nothing of note, at least. I enjoyed days like this. It was almost relaxing.

Sarah and I left work the same way we got there. It was still chilly out, but it didn't bother us.

"You have anything to do while you're at my house?" I asked her on the walk home.

"Weren't we going to set up for Christmas?" she asked.

"Oh yeah." I said, remembering what I said earlier, "That'll take us a while. It's gonna be pretty different for you, huh... Spending Christmas away from your family. Or.. at least your dad. Your mom is welcome if she... Do you go out to spend Christmas with relatives or do you stay at home?"

"I always spend Christmas at home with my mom and dad. My grandparents came when I was younger, but they live too far away to visit, now."

"Mmm... Well yeah, your mom is welcome to join us. Your dad can come if he brings me a present."

She was taken aback. "You'd... let him in your home if he brought you a gift?"

"Yes, yes I would. A gift can help on the road to forgiveness. Don't tell him that, he has to learn on his own."

"You don't have to worry about that." she replied seriously, "I'm not telling him anything."

"Man, I can't believe Celestia is gonna miss Christmas." I said, my tone disappointed.

"There's always next year, right? H-Hey, maybe she'll surprise you and come back early!"

"That'd be a nice surprise... Hey, Sarah..." I slowed to a stop. "Sarah, stop."

She did so and turned to me. "What is it?"

"I wanted to say something important." I said to her.

"O-Oh... Ok..." She looked almost worried.

"I... uh..." I didn't plan this... Blurt it out? "I can't be your boyfriend."

"Wh-What?! What?!" She stepped away from me. "Wh... What... Ph-Phil, I... I..."

"I just... I wanted to let you know that. I already have Celestia, so... if there was anything between us... uh... If you did like me in that way, I'm sorry."

"O-Oh... Th-That makes sense..."

She didn't look particularly unhappy. I guess that's what I should have expected. She didn't look particularly happy, either. Her face was red, though. I embarassed her.

"So you... you th-thought that... there c-could have b-been something?" she asked me.

"I... did." I replied, "And I'm sorry. But I just wanted to make sure you knew. Not that... you... Sorry. Celestia is... she's important to me."

"No, it's... it's ok... It's ok, I underst-stand..."

I sighed, then chuckled briefly. "Let's get home."

"R-Right..."

I'm pretty sure that I could feel Celestia's laughter all the way from here. Either that, or it was my own embarrassment. Actually, it was safe to assume that it's both.

When I got home, I walked to the stairwell and called a greeting down to Twilight. She replied with a cheerful greeting of her own.

"Hey Twilight, could you come up here? I need your help with something." I called down to her.

"Oh! Of course! I'll be up in a moment."

I turned back to Sarah and said, "You know, I rather liked your idea."

"Hmm? My idea?"

"When you said to move the couch."

"Oh! Well, thank you."

Twilight joined me upstairs after a short while. I told her my plan.

Twilight looked to the couch. "How far do we need to move it?"

"A few feet away from the wall. Enough for the tree to fit in the corner." I replied, "And if there's not enough room... we'll figure something out. Sound good?"

She nodded. "Alright."

"Good. You head over there, I'll get this side."

And so, the two of us moved my medium sized couch a few feet to the side with little trouble.

"Thanks, Twilight!" I happily said to her.

She smiled. "You're welcome."

I scooted the coffee table over a few feet, and adjusted the TV so it better suited the couch's new position.

I looked over to where Twilight had been standing. "Eww..."

"What's wrong?" asked Twilight.

I pointed to the floor. Having never vacuumed under the couch, it was very dirty. Well, that's the next item on my list. Vacuum the floor. I got to it immediately. It didn't take long.

And now, for our main event... The tree!

"I'm pretty sure the tree's in the garage." I said to them, "I'll go get it."

"If it's as big as you said, you'll need some help." said Twilight, walking up to me.

"Oh. Well, thank you. You need a coat. Oh! This will work." I took off my own coat and gave it to her.

"Thank you." she said to me, a pleasant tone in her voice. She put it on and zipped it up.

"Do you need my help with anything?" asked Sarah.

"Uh... Yeah, you can bring in some ornaments."

Party in the garage!

The three of us migrated to the garage. I pushed the door open and stood at the doorway, flicking on the light. Well, I tried to, but it didn't come on. I flicked the switch a few more times before giving up.

"Hold on, I got this." I said, pressing the door open button. With a loud groaning of machinery, the garage door opened, letting in the outside light. "Well, that didn't help."

I began kicking snow away from the garage door as the two of them walked in.

"Uh... What... are we looking for?" asked Twilight.

"It's a... big box. Pretty tall. Wide. I think it has a picture of a tree across it. I... I can't remember where it is, but it shouldn't be too hard to find." I gave the garage a brief cursory look from where I stood at the door. It wasn't a very big garage, and I didn't notice it right off hand. "Well shit... where is it?"

"I don't see any big boxes." said Sarah.

I crossed my arms. "Huh... I thought for sure it was in here."

"Is that it?" asked Twilight, pointing up to the rafters.

I looked up to the dark rafters. I squinted my eyes. "You know what, it might be." I replied. I pulled out my phone and shined its flashlight at it. "Yep. That's it."

"How will we get it down?" asked Sarah.

"Ladder." I replied simply.

So I went and got my ladder. Easy. I set it up and climbed up a few steps until my head was above the rafters. The ladder wasn't incredibly big, but I was a bigger guy, so I didn't have to climb all the way up. It was so dark up here, holy crap.

"Be careful." said Sarah.

"Careful is my middle name. Actually it's Phil, but don't tell anyone."

"Wait, your middle name is Phil?" asked Sarah.

"I might have some trouble getting this down, actually." I said, "Maybe... I guess we'll see."

I started pulling on the box. It wasn't very heavy, but it was pretty big. Actually, I lied, it was pretty heavy, too.

I made sure that nothing was on top of it, though it was after I started moving it, which was an error in hindsight.

"Uh... Step back a bit." I said to them.

"Do you need any help?" asked Twilight.

"I don't know how you could... Uh... Maybe... Here, let's change places." I climbed down the ladder. "You can push it down to me, and I can catch it."

"That doesn't seem safe."

"What? Nah, it'll be fine."

"Are you sure?" she asked me.

"Of course, I'm sure."

"Alright..." She did not seem as confident in this as I was.

Twilight stepped onto the ladder. I held it steady for her. She climbed up.

I held a hand up underneath the box. "Just drop it on me, I'll catch it."

"Phil, this really doesn't seem like a good idea." she warned.

"Why not?"

"What if you get hurt?"

"I'm not gonna get hurt. I don't know if there is a safe way to get this down. Kinda funny though, if you weren't here, I'd be struggling to get this thing down myself."

"That... would be pretty bad." she said.

"Well, you have me." said Sarah.

"Well, if I had... if it was just me here... Is what I meant. So yeah, I appreciate the help, ladies."

Sarah smiled a small smile.

Twilight sighed. "Alright, if you say so." She took another step, then the box started moving again. "Here it comes." she said.

I was staring up at the box, waiting for it to tilt down. I smiled as it began to slide. All part of my master plan.

I heard Sarah gasp. "Phil, watch out!"

I reactively looked to her, which was fucking stupid on my part, I gotta say. I felt the tree box hit my hand, which is what I was expecting. Like, that's the reason Twilight was on the ladder in the first place. I also heard a loud noise. My first instinct was that something was falling, so I braced for impact, which was probably going to cause more physical issues than if I had relaxed my body.

I didn't feel anything, so it must've missed. Lucky. I also didn't hear a second crash, which I thought was odd.

I looked up. "Twilight, are you alright?" I asked, concern in my voice.

I saw something just above me. It was a... plastic thing surrounded by a purple glow. What... the hell was that? Oh wait, that's an electric air pump. Holy shit, that would've hurt! It must've been pushed down by the tree box.

I slowly looked at Twilight, a guilty expression on my face, knowing that she was going to reprimand me for not listening.

"Phil, you're lucky that I was here!" she angrily said to me, "I told you this was a bad idea! You almost got hurt!"

"I know, I'm sorry." I said, lowering the tree onto the ground as I stared up at her. Oh man, I feel so bad right now. I must've spooked her something awful.

"How would Princess Celestia feel if you got hurt because of something we could have avoided?"

"I'm sorry, Twilight." I said, apologizing like a child in trouble. I was still a little shocked that I was almost brained by an air pump. That was not how I wanted to go. If it's not 'suffocated by Celestia's fat ass', I don't wanna hear it.

"What is... that?" asked Sarah.

"Hmm?" I looked to Sarah.

She was pointing at the air pump that Twilight was holding. "Why is that floating? And... And purple?"

"I... uh... Power cord must've got caught on something." I said, coming up with something on the fly.

Twilight scrambled to grab it with her hands. The magic faded away as she did.

"I don't... see a..." started Sarah.

I shrugged. "It's dark.

"Wh-Why was it purple?" she asked again.

She set it back onto the rafter it came from. "It was... just a light that it gives off when it turns on." she said, coming up with her own excuse, "It must've turned on when it fell."

"B-But... how did it turn on? What even was that? Why would the light look like that? That doesn't make any sense!"

"I think that thing runs on batteries." I said.

"Y-Yeah, that must be it." said Twilight, a little less confident in her answer.

Sarah saw through our bullshit, but she didn't have any reasonable explanation in her head of what just happened. "What was that thing?" she asked, questioning me.

"Air pump. You know, to blow up stuff like... like tires, basketballs... uh... or some other third thing. Good for a car."

"Why would an air pump glow like that?"

I shrugged. "I dunno. Some have flashlights on them so you can use them in the dark."

"S-So, now that we have the tree, why don't we get inside and set it up, huh?" said Twilight, trying to cover up her magical mishap.

"We need ornaments." I said.

"Phil!" she let out.

"Why would it be surrounded by a purple light, though? That doesn't make any sense at all, even if it was a flashlight." said Sarah, still trying to make sense of what happened.

"I dunno, maybe the fall broke it." I said, "I'm gonna drag this inside. Looks like the ornaments are up there as well, so I'll get those down so we can bring those in after." I said.

"I'll help!" said Twilight, trying her hardest to leave the scene of the crime.

Twilight picked up the back end of the box and walked with me inside. After a bit of careful maneuvering through the front door, we set it down in the front room.

"That was close." said Twilight.

"Yeah, I almost got a wicked bad booboo. Thanks."

"Y-Yes... I meant her discovering my magic. I think we fooled her."

I shrugged. "It don't matter. Long as we don't say it outright, she'd have no reason to suspect anything. And even if she does, whatever. Who cares? Let's head back out."

"What should we say? I've never had to... hide my magic before."

"I dunno. Make something up. Wait, better yet, just stick with what we said. We don't know anything."

"I don't like feigning ignorance."

"Always works for me." I said, "Come on, today's supposed to be fun. As long as you don't knock anyone's head around with an air pump, we'll be fine."

She sighed. "Alright. Coming."

The two of us went back outside. I heard some clanging in the garage. Sounded like the ladder moving.

"There's no cord on this!" Sarah said to us as we walked in. She was suspicious of something, but even she didn't know of what, yet.

Sarah was on the ladder, looking down at us, holding the air pump in question.

"What?" I asked, "Really?"

"Yes, look." she said to me, holding it out to me.

"Huh... I thought it did. Wait, there has to be something, gimmie that." I retrieved it from her and started poking around at it. It wasn't long before I found what I wanted. "There it is. See, right here." I showed her the panel I had just opened. "The cables hide inside this thing for easy storage."

"Well, how did it get in there if the cable was holding it up?"

"Twilight prolly did it. 'Cause she likes when things are put away right." I gave the air pump back. "Hey, while you're up there, pass down the ornaments."

She set the air pump up top and stepped up on the ladder to get a better look.

She wasn't the only one getting a better look, goodness me... Celestia forgive me...

"It's too dark." she said to me.

"Here, use this." I said, turning on the flashlight to my phone and handing it to her.

She took it and shined it around. Twilight and I could see clearly defined shadows up top. I liked that light effect...

"What am I looking for?" she asked.

"Uh... Oh! White box with polka dots on it!"

"Polka dots?"

"My dad gave it to me." I said.

"I don't... Oh, there it is!" She reached a hand towards it. It slid a small bit away as she tried touching it. "I can't reach it. I'll have to climb to the top."

"I'll hold the ladder." I said, doing just so.

She climbed so her feet were on the second to top step of the ladder. A safety violation, but she was tiny, she wasn't gonna collapse it.

"I don't think you should be up that high on the ladder." said Twilight.

I glanced at her, then back up. "She's probably right. Come down, I'll grab it." As I said that, the ladder shook a bit. I held it tightly, steadying it. "Sorry!"

"Uh..." Sarah stopped. She pulled her arms back and wrapped them around the rafter. "I... I think I made a mistake..." she said, "I wanna get down now..."

"Sarah?" I asked.

She was not moving at all. She was clutching the rafter, trying her best to stay perfectly still.

"I've... n-never b-been on a ladder before." she let out, "I was a little afraid of cl-climbing it earlier, b-but I thought I c-could..."

Twilight quickly stepped forward. "Here, we'll help you down." she said to Sarah. She held the ladder with me. "Phil... um..."

"Take my hand, Sarah." I calmly said to her, reaching up towards her. I could reach the rafter by raising my hand, no problem. It was eight feet up, that's not an issue.

Sarah let out a scared noise. Kinda like a mix between a whimper and a squeal. She didn't let go of the beam.

"Come on, Sarah." I said to her, trying to coax her down, "Just grab my hand and step down."

"Phil and I have the ladder. We promise to hold it steady." said Twilight.

"We've got you, Sarah. Come on." I said to her. I tapped the rafter with a finger to get attention, then opened my hand, waiting for her to take it.

"Wh-What if I fall?" she asked. She was starting to take in quick breaths.

"You won't fall." I said, "Even if you do, you can just land on me. I'm big and squishy."

"What if I get hurt?"

"You won't get hurt, Sarah. Come on. Just take my hand. You'll get down before you know it. Hold on with one hand and use your other to grab mine."

She let out a shaky sigh. After a while, she said, "Alright..."

She slowly lifted a hand from the beam and blindly grabbed at my hand, not actually seeing it. Eventually, she hit it and grabbed on. She sure has a tight grip for someone so small...

She raised her head, then looked down at me. She was not a happy camper.

"Good. Now step down."

Surprisingly enough, she clenched my hand even harder. She nodded at me. As she began to move, the ladder felt like it was shaking again. Twilight and I held tight.

Step by step, Sarah descended the ladder. She held the beam until she couldn't reach it anymore, and held my hand until she got off.

"See, that wasn't so bad." said Twilight, smiling at her.

"That's easy for you to say." said Sarah, "My heart is pounding."

Sarah glanced to me. She let go of my hand. My skin was white where she was holding me.

"I'm... sorry, Phil..." she said to me.

"Are you alright?"

"I... I'll be fine."

"What was that about?" I asked.

"I... I think I'm scared of ladders..."

"You got up there just fine, though."

"I d-didn't realize how high it was."

"First time on a ladder, huh?" I asked.

"I... I've just never needed to use them..."

"You have never needed to use them?" I asked, jokingly surprised.

"I know, what a shocker..." she replied, a small smile on her face, "I... I think I need to go lie down for a little while. At least until my heart stops pounding." She let out a sigh.

"Alright, go in and take a little break. Twilight and I will take care of things out here. Isn't that right, Twilight?"

"Of course."

"Uh... My phone?" I asked Sarah.

"Right, right..." She gave it back to me.

Sarah gave us a small nod, then walked away. She moved slowly, as if she were still terrified.

"Will she be alright?" asked Twilight.

"Huh? Oh, yeah she'll be fine."

"She reminds me of a friend I have in Equestria. Her name is Fluttershy."

"Ah yeah, Celestia told me about her. She sounds really shy."

"She can be when she meets new ponies, but when she warms up to you, she's the nicest pony you'd ever meet."

"Sounds... nice." I said, "That reminds me, isn't she the... the element of kindness or some-such?" Feigning ignorance seemed like the right thing to do at the moment. It was also fun.

"That's right. She, along with me and my other close friends, make up the bearers of the Elements of Harmony." she proudly stated, "That is, before we returned them to the Tree of Harmony."

"Quite the title." I said, "Yeah, Celestia told me about you and your friends. She always had good stories to tell from Equestria." I looked back to the rafters, then got on the ladder.

"What did she say?" asked Twilight.

"Ah, you know... Nothing but good things. She told me about the letters that you wrote to her. Your friendship reports. Those were pretty fun. Learned a lot about you and your friends from that. And things like your Grand Galloping Gala fiasco. Your little group seems like the life of the party."

Twilight gave me a nervous chuckle. "I... would prefer not to talk about that."

I gave her a laugh. "She told me about all those times you and your friends saved Equestria. Just... I know a lot about you, Twilight. And your friends, too. You gotta introduce me when I get to Equestria. Imagine their shock when they find out who I am."

"I'm sure they'd like you." said Twilight.

"Alright, I got the box. Coming down."

"Be careful. We've had enough problems out here already."

"It's gotten really dark." I said, "Close the garage for me, would you?"

"I'll wait until you're on the ground."

"I appreciate that."

I descended down the ladder, Christmas ornament box in hand. It was fairly large, but there were a lot of smaller boxes and padding in it.

I opened it and looked in. "Hmm..."

"Something wrong?"

"This can't be... all... Right, I remember now. There's another box up there."

I set this box down and retrieved the next from the rafters.

The two of us left the garage, boxes in hand. Twilight hit the button to close the garage door as we walked out. I braced my box against my knee so I could open the front door. We walked inside.

"How ya doin'?" I asked Sarah, noticing her laying on the couch.

She sat up and looked to us. "Better." She smiled. "Looks like you have the ornaments."

"Yep." I set the box onto the coffee table. Twilight set hers next to it.

Sarah got up and looked into them.

I walked to the tree box. I slid it towards the wall, then opened it up.

"Do you have... lights?" asked Sarah.

"Yeah, they're in there." I said.

She glanced to the box.

"Looks like we'll have to put this together." said Twilight.

I smiled. "That's the fun part."

"I've never... put together a fake Christmas tree before." said Sarah.

"Neither have I." said Twilight.

"You use real trees?" I asked Sarah.

"No, actually. The tree was always set up before I could've helped. I suppose my father didn't want me to worry about it."

"First time for everything."

The three of us got to work with the tree. This particular fake tree was separated into the base, branches, and a central column. The column had colored stickers matching stickers on the branches. These denoted branch size, which went from smallest on top to largest on bottom, like a real pine tree, of course. Hooked ends on the branches fit into sockets on the tree.

I set the base of the tree onto the ground and fitted the column pieces together in it. Then I placed a round bit of fabric around the base. Decoration, really. Then, we got to work on the branches.

We separated the branches into three general piles based on size, then separated them into colors. Twilight enjoyed the organization part. We started at the bottom, working our way to the top with each individual layer getting harder and harder for Sarah to assist with.

Even if she couldn't reach the top, Sarah loved this. She absolutely loved this. She really loved Christmas, and building this tree seemed right up her alley.

"This seems like a lot of work." said Twilight.

"Yeah, but it saves on cleanup." I said, "Instead of vacuuming up nettles for the next few months and buying another tree, I can just pack it away for next year."

"Hmm... Makes sense." she said, shrugging.

With the three of us working on it, the tree was up within the hour.

Sarah was beaming. The very thought of the Christmas season got her excited. The sight of the completed Christmas tree clearly lifted her spirits.

When the tree was put together, we made sure the branches were fluffed so it looked nice. All in all, it was a great fake tree.

"Now we can decorate it, right?" asked Sarah.

"Someone's eager." I said, "And also correct. Let's start with the lights."

We went to the tree box, where coiled up strings of Christmas lights lay. Worked last year, hopefully the same can be said for this year. Needed untangling, I know that.

I loved untangling Christmas lights. It was unnaturally satisfying... Twilight and Sarah also got in on the fun. Twilight was definitely the kind of person that would like this kind of thing, and with Sarah's Christmas spirit, there was no way she would dislike something like this. We got it done quickly.

I plugged one end into a wall outlet and it lit right up. Looked pretty on the ground like this.

"You know, there's a really easy way to put lights on fake trees, check it out." I said, "Here..." I picked up the bundle of wires and gave them to Sarah. She gave me a surprised look, but held it regardless. "Hold this for me."

As Sarah held it, I took the other end to the tree. I wrapped it around a branch at the bottom, then reached inside the tree to its center column. I grabbed it, then began turning it. As I turned the tree, the lights began wrapping around.

"Oh, that's what you were doing." said Sarah.

"Yeah, makes it real easy. My dad taught it to me. Or my mom, I can't remember. Keep feeding it wire."

With my method, the tree was covered in lights in no time. Easy. I plugged the bottom in when I was done. Lit up like... well, like a Christmas tree.

"It looks nice." said Twilight.

"It does." said Sarah.

She stared at the tree for a few more moments before I said, "We're not done yet. Now for the fun part. The funner part."

"What kinds of ornaments do you have?" asked Sarah, moving to the boxes.

"Nothing fancy. Some old mementos. You'll see."

I removed the top layer of packing paper from the first box and set it aside. On the top lay an assortment of regular bulb ornaments. This box contained a few rows of these ornaments stacked on top of each other in cardboard holders.

Sarah reached in and pulled one out. She examined it. "Are there more in the other box?"

"'Course there are." I replied.

Twilight took one from the box.

Sarah looked to me, a giddy expression on her face. I gave her a confused smile.

"Can I put this on the tree?" she asked, her voice excited.

I smiled at her. "Have fun."

She let out a very happy noise and rushed to the tree.

"I got something out here that I've been saving for the holidays." I said, "I'll be right back."

"What is it?" asked Twilight.

"Something Christmasy." I said, Put something on the tree while I'm gone."

She looked to the tree. "Alright."

I turned and walked to the kitchen. I opened the food pantry. Up top was a paper bag. I grabbed it and pulled it out. Seemed lighter than it should've been. Celestia must've gotten to it.

Candy canes... The bag was full of boxes of candy canes. From last year, of course. They kept well.

I brought the bag to the front room and set it down. Sarah paused what she was doing and looked at it.

"Candy canes?" she asked, "There sure are a lot of them."

"Got them on sale last year." I said, "You know who buys candy canes after Christmas? Nobody. So they were ten boxes for five dollars."

"That's really cheap. Wait... Last... year?"

"They're still good." I said, "I'll prove it." With that, I reached in and grabbed one. I started at one of the ends and started fiddling with the package. "Uh... Hold on, I got this."

She just stood there, watching me fail, laughing at me on the inside.

"It can't be that hard." said Twilight, taking one for herself. She tried opening it. "All you need to do is... is..." She brought it up to her mouth and began gnawing on the end.

"I got it!" I happily let out, peeling the wrapper back. The candy cane immediately broke and fell to the floor as it became free of its package. I let out a yelp and quickly retrieved it. Covered in hair. Gross... "Uh... Well, this part's still good, at least." I tossed the other half of the candy cane at my mouth. Thankfully, I did not miss.

Sarah let out a small giggle hidden behind her hand.

"Yeah, still good." I said, shrugging.

"I'll take your word for it." she replied.

Twilight was still struggling with hers. She had ripped some pieces off, but the candy cane remained in its package.

I smirked at her. She pulled it away from her mouth. "Fine, it's not as easy as I thought it would be."

I picked a candy cane out of the bag. "Here." I said, holding it up to Sarah, "Put it on the tree."

She smiled as she took it. She turned back to the tree and placed it onto a branch. "Looks nice."

"Put some more on, I got tons." I said.

I went over to the bulbs and picked up a few. Twilight joined us.

Was this weird? I don't know, it kinda felt weird. Christmas is Christmas, like... I'm free to set up a tree in my own home. Nobody's gonna stop me. But was it weird that Sarah was here helping me? She's not my family, though my friends are always welcome to join. Sarah was a good enough friend, but she's living at my house, setting up a Christmas tree with me.

Mmm... Yeah, it's a little weird... But it'll keep her mind off her dad, so it's fine. I don't have a problem with it. I welcome the company.

I'm just disappointed that my fiancée wasn't here helping me with this. We should be decorating this together, all alone. It'd be really romantic, and I'm really disappointed that she's not here.

"You know, Twilight..." said Sarah.

I glanced to her.

"Your eyes remind me of hers'. Of... Of Celestias'." said Sarah, "They're purple, just like Celestia. You all wear those funny contacts."

"Contacts?" asked Twilight.

"You know, to change your eyes purple."

I cleared my throat, getting Twilight's attention.

Twilight paused, then said, "Oh! Right... Right, of course. I thought you meant... Eh... something else..." said Twilight.

"You all wear them, too. Is it just a fashion statement?" asked Sarah.

"Y-Yes, it is."

"Goes well with her hair, don't it?" I said.

"It really does. You know, you and your friends all seem to be very similar." said Sarah.

"What do you mean?" asked Twilight.

"You all have unique, vibrant colored hair, you all have those tattoos on your shoulders, and you all have those different colored contacts. Although, I don't think Chrysalis had a tattoo."

Oh, shit...

"I don't know, I can't remember seeing any. Her eyes were a very pretty green, though. Maybe she wore contacts, as well."

Twilight was staring at me, horrified at what she just heard. I stared back at her with no idea how to fix this.

"What's with that look?" asked Sarah.

"Uhh..." I shook my head. "Sarah, Twilight and I need to have a private discussion." I started towards the basement. "You stay up here and keep decorating."

"What's happening? What's going on?" asked Sarah, worried, "Was it something I said?"

"Don't worry about it. Twilight, downstairs, please."

Twilight was just stunned. She walked with me, almost as if she were on autopilot. She was trying to comprehend what Sarah just said, because it simply did not make sense.

I closed the door behind us as we walked down.

When we got downstairs, I immediately said to Twilight, "Don't freak out."

"D-D... Did she just say Chrysalis?!" she loudly whispered at me.

"She did." I nodded.

"Are you serious?!" she asked me. She was keeping her voice down so that Sarah wouldn't hear us, but it didn't stop her from conveying her emotion. Seemed it was currently a mix of anger and confusion.

I knew just the remedy for this, though. Celestia may not appreciate it, though.

I put up my hands to calm her, then said, "Princess Celestia and Queen Chrysalis have met here."

This shocked her even further. "Eh... Wha..."

I nodded. "Look, it's a really long story. Celestia and I were planning on telling you later. But Chrysalis was here, yes. And we worked hard to come to an agreement between us."

"Why didn't you tell me? Why didn't Princess Celestia tell me?"

She was hurt that we didn't trust her. I wanted to fix that. I've given this some thought before. I hope I knew what to say...

"Because we didn't have all the facts yet. We had to work with Chrysalis because she had something we wanted. The books. She is the one that gave us those books. She traded them with us for... So we cooperated with each other. But the thing is... Chrysalis isn't the most trustworthy woman there is. You know that more than anyone. We've tried to make peace, but we don't know if it worked. We don't know if she'll keep her word or not. So until we know, we couldn't let anyone know about her. Including you. So... I'm sorry. I'm apologizing for both me and Celestia. We thought it best to keep this from you."

"I can't believe the Queen of the changelings was in this world. What was she even doing here?"

"That's..." I took in a breath. "I can't tell you. It's... I don't know. Celestia would have to be the one to tell you that. Um... It was... Chrysalis... I didn't find... I trusted Chrysalis. She helped us and we helped her. So I don't want to worry about her right now. When we get back to Celestia, we can talk about what happened. Alright?"

"I... I suppose... Where did she get the books?"

I shrugged. "She said she took them from the library in the Canterlot castle, but Celestia doubted that. We don't know for sure. Look, Twilight... Chrysalis can be dangerous, I know that. She's not the nicest lady around. But I don't think that she came here to do harm to us. And if she did, it didn't work. So I don't want you worrying about her for now, alright? It's not good for you."

She sighed, then gave me a small smile. "Alright."

"Well, what do you say? Ready to head back up and help with the tree?"

She nodded. "Let's go."
> Chapter 34
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

After Twilight and I were finished talking, we went back upstairs. Sarah was curious about our conversation, but we didn't have any answers for her.

Working on the Christmas tree was a fun, relaxing break from our other work. Sarah and Twilight enjoyed it. Twilight enjoyed it a lot because she was learning about our customs. Sarah just *really* liked Christmas.

The second box of ornaments had no bulbs, but instead contained... well, everything else. From Charlie Brown Christmas or Disney themed ornaments to personal family ornaments. Some were old, some were new. Some were shiny, some were... blue? Some were glass, some were metal, some were plastic... I had a lot of ornaments...

The two of them made sure to handle them with care, which really made me happy to see, honestly.

Twilight, being from Yugopotamia, had no idea who any of the characters on the ornaments were. After Twilight asked my who Mickey Mouse was, Sarah just about snapped. To be fair, she had a right to be curious. Who in this modern world doesn't know Mickey Mouse? If there's no Mickey, this shit ain't Disney.

Twilight responded to Sarah's curiousness with, "Oh, you know me, I'm always reading my books. It was like that back home, as well. When I wasn't helping the P... Celestia, of course."

"But everyone knows who Mickey Mouse is!"

Twilight looked like she was formulating an excuse in that head of hers. I got her attention from behind Sarah and just shrugged.

Twilight emulated my shrug for Sarah, smiling awkwardly. Sarah let out a small groan, but didn't pursue the subject any further.

I've been doing well with these ladies, recently. I've convinced Sarah that the clearly magical floating air pump made sense, I explained away Chrysalis after Sarah blurted out her name... Oh... I'm only good at making excuses. I thought I was being impressive, here. Damn it.

This was super duper, though. I like having company for Christmas. Not exactly the company I wanted, but I wasn't complaining. Ok, I'm complaining a little.

We stopped decorating only when the box was empty. We even added some candy canes every so often. Also, we ate some. They still tasted good. Sarah cut her lip on one though. It happens to me sometimes, too. You may think that it takes a real retard to cut your lip on a candy cane... and you'd be right. Just thinking about it now makes me question my intelligence. Sarah has learned a valuable lesson about candy canes today.

When we were done with the tree, it was well past food time. I offered to make the ladies some mac'n'cheese. I would have made it anyways, I love mac. And cheese.

Boom, food. Easy. Eating. Humans do that. Boom, humanity achieved.

After the three of us had eaten our fill, I cleaned up the mess in the kitchen and headed back into the front room. I looked at the tree again.

"Hey Sarah, are you gonna want this light off?" I asked her, pointing at it.

"Hmm? Oh no, it's fine. I... can sleep with the light."

"Alrighty then." I shrugged. "Hey, you two wanna play a game?" I asked them.

"What kind of game?" asked Twilight.

"Game?" asked Sarah, interested.

I gestured to the TV.

"Oh! What games do you have?" asked Sarah.

Twilight walked towards it and examined it.

"You've mentioned this before. What does it do, exactly?" she asked.

"I'll show you."

"Do you not have video games where you're from?" asked Sarah.

"At this point, you shouldn't even be surprised, Sarah." I said to her.

"I..."

"Come on, let's play for a while." I said.

"What are we playing?" asked Sarah.

"Mmm... I got Mario Kart 8 and Smash Brothers 4." I said.

She gasped. "Oh, I haven't played Mario Kart in years!"

Guess I know what we're playing.

I started the game and laid out some controllers for us on the coffee table. Luckily, the number of participants hasn't increased, so I had enough controllers for everyone.

The three of us sat down on the couch and picked up our controllers. I was first player, as is tradition. Sarah sat next to me in the middle and took second. Twilight was on the other end of the couch with the third. Just like Celestia always did, Twilight emulated the way I held it. She would be a fast learner.

"So which Mario Kart game did you play last?" I asked Sarah as we started the game.

"When I was younger, I used to play the one on the Nintendo 64."

"Oh hey, same."

"That was back when... when I had friends to play it with."

"Yeah, it's way more fun with friends."

"I know, I know..." She let out a small chuckle. "That was... before we started moving."

"How many times did you move?" I asked her.

"The first time I moved was when I was ten. Then twelve. Then fifteen. Then sixteen. Twice when I was eighteen. Then when I was nineteen... And now this. I never had enough time to make long term friends."

"Holy damn, Sarah. And you kept up with your school work."

"Yep. Even graduated early."

"Wow... That's crazy impressive..."

"Thank you." she said, a genuine smile on her face.

"That sounds awful." said Twilight, "That couldn't have been easy on you."

"No... No, it wasn't." she replied, her enthusiasm diminished.

Aw man, poor Sarah. And I'm planning on leaving her as well. Sarah is a pure cinnamon bun that doesn't deserve all this suffering.

Celestia, by contrast, is a glazed doughnut...

"Don't worry, Sarah. You have some friends right next to you willing to play." said Twilight, brightening the mood.

She smiled again. "Thanks, Twilight."

"Come on, let's get your mind off this for a little while, ey?" I said to her, "Let's have some fun."

Her smile grew. "You're right. Let's play."

"You'll have to help me a bit." said Twilight, "I've never done this before."

"It's alright. I haven't done it in a long while, either." said Sarah.

"Well, I'm sure you'll be glad to hear that this game and Mario Kart 64 are very different." I said.

"Oh... Great..." she sarcastically let out.

I taught Twilight the basics and Sarah was able to brush up on her knowledge of the series as I spoke. As I started us a game, I saw the stars that Red worked so hard on. It reminded me of when my first party of ponies joined me on the couch. I took in a breath, pushing past the memories.

I started us in a 50cc game. Though the outcome was predetermined, Sarah fought hard against her fate.. I won, Sarah was in second, Twilight in third. As was tradition.

Sarah let out a laugh. She was enjoying this.

The three of us had fun in the front room until it was time for bed. We finished our races, then dispersed throughout the house to prepare.

That night, before falling asleep, I found myself thinking of Sarah again. I really didn't want to leave her alone when I went to Equestria. That would be so mean. I mean, I'd do it in a heartbeat, but I wouldn't like it. It's not like I can do anything about it. I don't know, maybe I can. Celestia comes first. I know Celestia doesn't like the thought either.

I don't know what Sarah expects. If she wants a place to stay, she has it. If she wants a friend... I don't know if I can help her. If things go well for me, I'll be leaving soon. I won't be here for her anymore.

Who else would I be hurting by leaving? My friends and family... Mmm... They'd understand.

I sighed.

It'll all be worth it to be with my love.



December 15



Wake up. Breakfast. Video games. Work. Blah, blah, blah, get to the fun part.

Keeping with the Christmas spirit, after work I asked the ladies if they would like to bake Christmas cookies with me. Naturally, they agreed. Who *wouldn't* want to bake Christmas cookies? Any time of the year, really.

"Did you have any special recipes in mind?" Sarah asked me, "Because it looks like you do."

"I do!" I replied with a smile, "Though I don't actually have the ingredients. I'll have to go buy some."

Sarah was smiling. "Do you need any help? Maybe I... could come with..." She got a little nervous there.

"That's a great idea! Hey, how about you, Twilight? You wanna come with?"

She smiled at me in response. "Of course. I'll grab my notebook."

"I gotta... look at the book, actually." I said.

I opened a cupboard in the kitchen and took out a cookbook. Sarah watched as I opened it.

"There we go." I said, finding the page I needed.

"That is a *lot* of sour cream." said Sarah.

Sour cream cookies. Along with standard cookie ingredients, it also calls for two cups of sour cream. Crazy, I know.

"Yeah it is. But the thing is, these cookies are amazing, even with all that sour cream."

"What?" she asked in disbelief.

"See, you wouldn't think sour cream would go well with cookies, but it totally does." I said to her.

"No way!" she replied.

"Well, you're just gonna have to try it and find out." I said to her.

"Are you serious?"

"I *never* joke about cookies."

"I... Uh... A-Alright... Alright! Let's go get some... sour cream."

"You know, I actually hate sour cream, but I'll eat it in these cookies no problem."

"I... Yeah! Let's go!"

Looks like she was willing to try anything right now.

We met Twilight on the way out and went to the car. Twilight took the front seat and Sarah sat in the back.

Why was Sarah coming with? I don't mind, I'm just curious.

I took this opportunity to stock up at home. I asked Sarah if she needed any more tampons. Directly. She immediately became embarrassed and tiptoed around her reply. I knew I shouldn't find it funny, but I couldn't help it. I'm a jerk... I picked some up anyways, despite her lack of an answer. It was a little embarrassing for the whole party, actually. My fault.

So, sour cream. And frosting as well. And sprinkles. I paused for a short while upon reaching the frosting. Impure memories of Celestia briefly came back to me.

Oh man, where was Celestia? She should be here right now. She loves this kind of thing. And me. And also I love her, too. And I really, really missed her.

Cheer up, you still have Twilight and Sarah! I mean, you can't snuggle with either of them, but they're still hanging around and being friendly.

I wanted my Celestia back.

Righto... We headed back home shortly.

We assembled the ingredients on the counters and consulted the recipe book. Both Sarah and Twilight were with me, ready to cook. I started us out by preheating the oven.

It was a simple recipe. Butter, sugar, eggs, flour, and what have you... and two heaping cups of sour cream.

Sarah was still weirded out by the sour cream. Like, you'd think the cookies would turn out a disgusting blob of gruel, but it's actually amazing.

It was a simple recipe to follow, though it didn't stop at the mixing. The fun part was next.

"Alright girls, now we need to clear off the table." I told them.

The three of us looked to it. It was covered in the various dishes and ingredients that we had used while mixing the batter.

Sarah gasped. "Are we going to cut out the shapes?" she asked, excitement in her voice.

I smiled at her. "That's right."

She shook her hands near her chest and hopped in place. "Yay!"

She had an almost childlike reaction to the Christmas season. It was really cute.

Twilight and Sarah got to work on the table. Meanwhile, I ignored them and turned around to rummage through the cupboards for my cookie cutters.

"What shapes do you cut them into?" asked Twilight.

"Oh, all kinds." I said, "Here we are..." I picked out the plastic bin that held my collection and showed it to them. "Christmas trees, candy canes, wreaths, snowmen, gingerbread man, stars, stockings... Speaking of, we could've got you two some stockings while we were out."

"Phil please, that's not... necessary..." said Twilight, an awkward smile on her face.

"I... I think I'm going to agree with Twilight on that." said Sarah, "There's no reason for you to go overboard on this just for us. You've done a lot for us already. Well... for me, at least..."

I shrugged. "Fair enough." I smiled.

"You're planning on getting us gifts, aren't you?" asked Twilight.

I shrugged again. "Yeah, I was thinking about it." I replied, "And I know you're gonna tell me not to, but I probably will anyways."

"I don't have anything to give you." said Sarah.

"Me either." said Twilight.

"Christmas is about giving, not receiving." I said, "It's about the spirit of things. Besides, I'm still having fun, and I bet you two are, too."

Sarah gave me a pleasant smile. She let out a small giggle. "I like spending the holidays at your house. It's much more fun than at home."

I smile back at her. "Let's get to work on these. Sarah, could you spread out some flour on the table for us?"

"I'll get right on it!" she replied.

"Twilight, could you grab the rolling pin? It's in that drawer, there." I said, pointing.

"Of course."

I retrieved the cookie sheet and made sure it was ready before we got started.

The cutting was the best part of cookie making. Aside from decorating, I guess. And eating, though that's not a part of making them. Rather, it's un-making them.

Before we started, I made sure my hands were clean.

I brought the bowl of cookie dough to the table and sat down. The two of them joined me.

"Sorry, I don't have any aprons." I said to them, "You'll have to deal with flour on your clothes for a little while."

"That's alright." said Twilight, "As long as *you* don't have a problem with it."

"Wha'?" I asked.

"*You* wash my clothes for me." she replied.

"Y-Yeah..." said Sarah, a nervousness in her voice, "A-Actually... I don't... know if I... actually want you washing... m-my... my clothes for me."

I shrugged. "Ok. You'll probably have to do yours in separate loads, then."

"Alright... Sp-Speaking of... I think I'll take a sh-shower when we're d-done with this."

"M-kay." I shrugged.

I reached into the bowl and picked out some dough. They did the same. We shared the roller to flatten it into the flour. I already had some on my pants. Neither of them were faring any better.

Where the fuck is my Celestia? She should be here with me making cookies, not these two. We'd probably start with throwing flour and dough at each other and end up in bed. I missed her.

Ah, but Sarah and Twilight are still great company. Maybe if I tried acting less like if they were Celestia, and more like they were just friends...

I wore a simple smile on my face as we worked. It was the same story as before. Sarah was loving all this Christmas stuff and Twilight just came along for the ride.

Twilight was an interesting case. She enjoyed this just like Sarah and I, and yet, she seemed almost rushed. I noticed this about her when we were working on the tree. Then again, it could just be her OCD kicking in. She works very quickly, whether by choice or by habit.

I ate some of the dough left over from my pattern of shapes. Sarah did the same, clearly not knowing if she were allowed to beforehand.

"Ah! Don't eat the dough!" Twilight suddenly let out.

Sarah let out a surprised yelp, then started to cough. I think she's choking on the dough... Ok, she stopped.

I glanced at Twilight, curious.

"W-Why not?" asked Sarah, worried.

"If you eat the dough, there won't be enough for the cookies the recipe said it would make!" Twilight let out, her tone just as worried as it was before

Sarah glared at her. "I choked on cookie dough because there wouldn't be enough cookies?" she asked, obvious irritation in her voice.

"And it's... not... healthy! It's not healthy! Eating raw eggs can make you sick." Twilight said to us.

"Oh, we'll survive." I said to her, "Try not to scare poor Sarah over here. I don't wanna have to tell her family that she choked to death on cookie dough."

"OhI'm sorry, Sarah."

"It's alright, Twilight." she replied.

We set our creations on the sheet I had prepared and put them into the oven. We had enough dough for two batches, it seemed. Well, if we stopped eating it, that is. We quickly got to work on the next batch.

There was a knock at the front door. I looked to the kitchen entrance and stood up, clapping my hands together to get rid of the flour on them.

"Coming!" I called out.

I opened the front door with no hesitation. It was probably a friend or something. Or not, whatever. However, I was rather surprised to find out that it was... Drum roll... Sarah's mom! Wait, Sarah's mom?

I smiled at her and said, "Oh! I didn't expect to see you here, Mrs. Lockhart."

"Yes, yes... Is my daughter here?"

I blinked. Er... "Yes, she is."

"May I come in?"

I blinked again. I didn't know if I wanted her in, yet. "One sec." I said. I turned to the kitchen and announced, "Hey Sarah, your mom's here."

"My mom?" She looked through the kitchen door. "Oh, mom!"

I stepped aside, allowing her inside. The two women walked towards each other. I closed the door, then walked next to Sarah.

"What's on your hands?" asked Olivia, noticing the white powder that Sarah was trying very hard not to touch to anything.

"Oh, this is flour." she replied, "We were making Christmas cookies."

"Cookies? Sounds fun."

"It is. I'd hug you, but..." She moved her hands a bit, drawing attention to them.

Olivia chuckled.

I saw Twilight looking out at us from the kitchen doorway.

"Wh-What are you doing here?" asked Sarah.

"Well, I'm here to make sure you're safe, of course. Your father kicked you out without telling me."

Sarah's mood darkened. "Of course he didn't tell you. He doesn't care."

"Sarah, he *does* care. You mean the world to him, he just doesn't know how to show it."

"Why are you here?" Sarah asked again, an angrier tone in her voice.

Olivia looked down. She sighed, then looked back to her daughter. "I couldn't convince your father to let you come back. You're an adult now, sweetie, there was nothing I could do."

"I wouldn't come back anyways." she coldly replied.

"I know that he hasn't made the best decisions recently, but he really does love you."

Sarah wasn't convinced.

Olivia sighed again. "I thought you'd be like this..." She nodded. "I'm here because I wanted to know how you were doing."

"I'm... I'm doing fine, mom. Phil is taking care of me." Sarah looked to me. She smiled. "He's letting me stay as long as I need until I can find a place on my own."

Olivia looked to me as well. "Thank you so much for taking care of my daughter. You have no idea how much it means to me that my Sarah has found someone like you."

I smiled at her. "Happy to help."

"I never expected to see her with a man like you." She looked down my body and back up. I felt both flattered and uncomfortable at the same time.

I just smiled the same smile as before.

She looked back to Sarah. "Oh, but the thought of you living alone with him..." She sighed. "I know you're an adult and you can make your own decisions, but these things still scare me. I'm still your mother. I know I can't stop you, so I can only hope that you're doing it safely."

I held back a laugh. Sarah seemed oblivious.

"What do you mean?" asked Sarah.

"Well, condoms of course."

"M-Mom! O-Oh my god..."

"I just wanted to make sure!" she replied, "You're too young to be having children." She looked to me. "Both of you are."

"Mom, you're embarrassing m-me!"

"You don't have to worry about that, Olivia. Sarah and I won't be having any kids anytime soon." I said to her.

"That's good." She turned back to Sarah. "You need to wait until you're at least 29 before you start having kids. I don't want to even *hear* the word 'grandmother' before I'm 50."

"Wh... Y-You can't tell me when I can or can't have kids!" Sarah retorted at her.

Olivia let out a laugh. "I'm only joking, Sarah. I'm only joking. I know how you young people are... I was young once, too. I know how it is. I know how hard it is to resist the temptation."

"Mom, can we *please* stop t-talking about this?" Sarah asked her, irritation in her voice.

"Fine, fine. I trust you, honey. Phil should make a fine father of my grandchildren."

"Mom!" she yelled at her.

Olivia laughed again.

"Sorry to burst your bubble there Olivia, but Sarah and I aren't together anymore." I said to her.

Olivia gasped. "What?! Why not?"

I looked to Sarah. "We never... really were to begin with. For a little while, we had a... thing, but it just... it didn't work out."

She let out an irritated sigh. "It's my husband's fault, isn't it..."

"No, no, it's not... Well, not entirely..."

"I knew it. I can't believe this. He chases away every man that Sarah gets close to."

"He wha-?" asked Sarah.

"Oh, nothing. He's never actually chased them away, but once they found out that *he* was your father..." She sighed. "And here, I thought that you'd finally found a nice man. Why did you break up? If you don't mind my asking..."

Improvise! "We... uh... I... I guess I just... didn't... feel that way about her. We never... It just wasn't..." I glanced at Sarah. She had a somewhat surprised look on her face.

"Oh, that's too bad... Did you find someone else? Is it that purple haired woman in the kitchen?"

"You mean me?" asked Twilight, poking her head through the doorway.

"Of course she means you, Twilight." I replied. I turned back to Olivia. "No, that's just a friend. I... I don't... I don't think I'd like to discuss this with you anymore. I'm sorry."

"It's alright. I don't want to reopen old wounds."

Why is my best skill making excuses? I'm not even that good at it.

Olivia looked to my tree. "Are you... staying here for Christmas, Sarah?"

Sarah glanced at me, then back at her mom. "I am."

Olivia gave her a sad look. "It'll be your first Christmas without your family."

"I'm sorry, mom. I just... I can't stay with... him... He kicked me out and I'm not coming back."

Olivia nodded. "I understand, Sarah. I'm not going to beg you to come back. I'm just worried about you. Going off on your own like this..." She glanced at me. "I don't know what to say..." She sounded upset.

"Mom..."

"Are you really living here? It's such a small house for two people. Where do you sleep?"

"I... It doesn't matter where I sleep!" Sarah let out, surprisingly defensive.

Olivia sighed. "No, I suppose it doesn't... As long as you have a place to stay... I can't believe this... Come with me to the car, I've brought some of your things."

"Uh... Ok... I'll be right there, I need to wash my hands."

"Phil, can you help us?" asked Olivia.

"Yeah, sure."

She smiled at me, then turned and walked back out the door. I followed her out.

"Phil, I wanted to thank you again for this." she said to me.

"Uh, yeah... No problem."

"Did you really break up, or did you lie to me?" she asked.

"We're not together anymore." I said.

"Oh, what a shame... You're a nice man."

"Thanks."

She opened the front driver side door of her car and looked in. "I have something for you. For your troubles."

I like things.

She reached in and grabbed something from inside the center console. Nice butt... She came back out and held out a white envelope. "Here."

I looked at it, then took it from her.

"Sarah's rent for the next few months." she said to me.

I looked to the envelope again. It *did* feel pretty heavy.

"I hope you're not expecting me to decline your offer." I said, pocketing the envelope, "I have no problem with accepting charity."

"It's not charity. I'm paying for my daughter's rent. I know she can't afford rent in this town."

The front door opened behind me. We both looked to Sarah. She slowed to a stop.

"Phil." said Olivia, tapping my shoulder.

I looked back. She held out a black bag, clearly a laptop bag. I took it from her and turned to Sarah. "I'll set this on the couch."

"Thank you." she replied.

Sarah walked through the door as I was walking out, pulling a suitcase behind her.

After I got back to Olivia, I said, "You know, I wasn't planning on charging her rent."

"I thought you said you had no problem with charity." she replied.

"I don't. You're not getting it back."

She just gave me a small smile.

I took in another suitcase and Sarah walked in with one more before we were done. The living room was officially full.

Sarah and I walked back out to Olivia.

"Thank you for your help, Phil." Olivia said to me.

I nodded. "No problem."

She smiled at her daughter. The two of them came together for a pleasant hug. "I'll miss you while you're here, Sarah."

Sarah sighed. "I'll miss you, too."

They held each other for a while before letting go.

Olivia turned to me again. "Sarah has my phone number incase you need it."

I nodded. "Alright."

She changed focus between the two of us. "I want you both to be safe, alright? Um... Not that... I mean... Just..." She looked to me. "Be nice to my daughter."

I smiled. "Course."

"You might not be together anymore, but don't think I don't know what happens with you young people. Make sure to..."

"Mom!"

Olivia stopped. She chuckled at us. "Alright. I'll be heading home now. Be... sure to call if you... need anything."

"We will, mom."

"I love you, Sarah." she said.

"I love you too, mom."

Olivia seemed saddened as she got into her car and left. We stood outside as she drove away.

I looked to Sarah. She wasn't smiling.

"You alright?" I asked her.

"Mmm..." She paused. "Let's go back inside." she finally replied.

I shrugged. "Alright."

The two of us headed back in. Twilight was waiting for us in the living room, a somewhat concerned look on her face. She gave us a friendly smile as we walked in.

"How did it go?" asked Twilight.

"Eh... Well?" said Sarah, seemingly irritated that she had asked, "She's my mom, it's not..." She stopped, then blinked. "I'm sorry."

"Come on, you'll feel better after you get some cookies." I said to her.

She smiled at me. "Yeah."

"They'll be done in a few minutes." I said, "We can cut out the rest of them while we wait."

We went back to work on the cookies. Sarah cheered right up.

I made sure I had a place to set them before taking the cookies out of the oven. They turned out very well, a delicious golden brown. I set the tray onto the stove top and moved the cookies onto a cooling rack.

Sarah stood next to me and bent down to smell the cookies. She let out a satisfied sigh. "Ahh, they smell so good..."

"They taste even better." I said.

"Do they, really? I wasn't sure about this sour cream before, but now, I think it was a really great idea."

"Well, you'll find out soon."

I put the second batch into the oven.

"So Sarah..." I started.

"Yes?"

"What comes after baking?"

"Decorating?" she asked with a smile.

"You got it!"

Her smile widened. "I've been waiting for this part."

"Let's get the table cleared off, then we can get these things ready to eat."

The three of us shared the task of cleaning the extra flour from the table.

We gave the cookies a few short minutes to cool before we got to work. I burned myself on one by picking it up too early and Twilight reprimand me for doing so. I deserved it.

I retrieved the frosting and sprinkles for us to use and some butter knives to spread the frosting. I got us some paper plates to catch any mess.

I grabbed one of the knives and scooped out a heaping pile of frosting, then immediately slapped it onto my cookie. Frosting hung over the edges and stuck to the plate underneath.

Twilight looked at my cookie. "That's a... lot of frosting." she said.

By comparison, her cookie looked as if someone sane had been decorating it. The very idea.

I shrugged. "Yeah, I suppose it's a bit much." I said. I squished around the frosting a little more, not helping my case.

"If you're going to use that much frosting, then you wouldn't even need the cookie in the first place. Shouldn't they all have... the same amount?"

"What, is his cookie making you uncomfortable or something?" asked Sarah.

Twilight paused.

"What? Seriously?"

She let out a nervous chuckle. "It's... a waste of frosting."

I grabbed the red sprinkles and shook some from the container onto it. Most of it spilled onto the plate. It clearly ruffled Twilight's feathers.

My cookie was ugly, but there was a lot of sugar packed into it, kinda like me...

"Well, how's my cookie, Twilight?" Sarah jokingly asked her.

Twilight looked to it. "It's a lot better than his."

Sarah laughed. Twilight chuckled.

I sighed. "You're just bullying my poor cookie." I picked it up and held it up for her to see. "Look how sad he is."

"It's definitely sad." said Sarah.

"Sarah! I'd expect this kind of abuse from Red, but..."

The tower of frosting on my cookie started to sag.

"Uh, Phil?" said Twilight.

"Yeah?" I asked, turning myself and my cookie towards her.

With a loud slap as it hit the plate, the frosting fell from the cookie in my hand due to its own weight. The red sugary sprinkles scattered across the table.

Sarah snickered, then started to laugh. Twilight joined her. I smiled at my own misfortune. Just according to keikaku. *Translator's note: Keikaku means plan.*

I started laughing along with them. The three of us were laughing at such a silly mistake. This was fun...

I dipped my cookie into the pile of frosting and took a bite. "Yep, just as good as I remembered." I said with a smile.

Sarah brought her cookie up to her face and took a bite from it. She immediately smiled. "This is delicious! I didn't expect it to be this good!"

Twilight nodded. "It turned out well."

I tried to make Twilight happy by using less frosting on the rest of the cookies, but I still used a lot. I'm 25 years old, I should be able to use as much frosting as I please...

Before long, the second batch of cookies were ready to go. I retrieved it from the oven, turning it off in the process.

This was it. This was it for today. Cookies. This was awesome.

"So, we're not saving these for Christmas?" asked Sarah.

"Nah. They're better warm, anyways." I said.

"They probably wouldn't last that long, anyways." she said.

"You'd be surprised."

"They'll last for ten days? Won't they go stale?"

"Eh, not really. As long as they're stored properly. But they'll still be good."

"Wow... I wish I had these when I was a kid." she said.

"They were very good." said Twilight, "Thank you, Phil."

"Yeah thanks, Phil." said Sarah.

I smiled. "Of course."

This was a good idea. I liked this idea.

Thus ends today's cookie escapades. Tune in next week for another exciting episode of: Nerds Making Cookies! The movie. The book. The video game adaption.

After we had cleaned our mess, we settled in for the night. With nothing else interesting going on, we played some more Mario Kart as we ate our cookies.

When I got to my room, I finally opened the envelope that Olivia gave me. I reached in, taking out a sizable stack of bills. I counted it out, my eyes widening as I did. I was holding two thousand dollars in cash. This would cover her for a solid year minimum. Had I been charging her in the first place, of course. Should I just... give this to Sarah? I don't have a problem with charity, but this seems... wrong... Mmm... It's Sarah's 'rent'. She's staying here, this covers it...

I glanced to the wooden box on my dresser where I had stored Chrysalis's gold coin. I have been making bank recently... I needed a better place for that. Looks like tomorrow was bank day.



December 19



Sarah seemed pretty happy living with me. It was probably because it was nearing Christmas. Christmas makes everyone happy. She and I eventually did trade rooms. She needed the space and privacy. She rarely closed the door, though. I suppose it wasn't too necessary.

Despite their protests, I took to shopping online to get Twilight and Sarah gifts for Christmas. I didn't want to get them anything crazy, but we were friends. Friends I liked more than my other friends, I can tell you that. Those guys are nerds. 

The purchases Celestia and I had made a while ago stared me in the face as I logged onto Amazon. It was mainly lube... Mainly... Stop looking at me like that.

I can delete things from my Amazon history, right? There it is... Boop-boop... gone...

For Twilight, books. That was easy... What would Sarah want, though? Hmm... What would Sarah want... I have no idea. A while ago, Sarah told me that she loved chocolate, Reese's Cups in particular. It probably wouldn't be special as books, but then again, I'm letting her live here.

What kinds of books would Twilight want? Harry Potter? No, she's read that already. Lord of the Rings, perhaps... Those are good. I just wanted to see the look on Twilight's face.

Just a few days before Christmas, though... Shipping might be an issue. 

Aside from that, I've just been helping Twilight with her books. It's been pretty difficult. Twilight and I were nearing the end of the them. She seemed a little stressed, actually. Her hair was messy. I think she may have been losing sleep over this. Not terribly healthy, but who am I to judge?



December 22



This book shit was getting old. I'm sorry, but it was. I can't read this disabled child's writing. It looks like he was having a fucking stroke while he was...

"Phil..." Twilight started as we worked.

"What's up?" I looked to her.

"I... I think I found something..." she let out quietly.

"What?"

"I think I found something, Phil!" she repeated. I saw her eyes frantically scurrying over her page. She quickly copied it down so we could read it. 

"Finally! Good work, Twilight!" I happily replied, "What does it say? What is it? What does it do?"

"This... This spell..." She seemed almost stunned. 

"Twilight?"

"This..." She cleared her throat. "It seems..." She was reading it over again. "Hmm... How should I put this... Well, it's clearly an unfinished spell. Clear to me, that is, you wouldn't... It isn't written as a completed spell, and as it is now, casting it won't do anything. But judging from the pages leading up to it, it's a spell meant to travel through time."

"Time? That's... pretty incredible. But it's not..."

"I know, I know. He was researching time travel spells, but he was going at it wrong. You may find this hard to believe, but I've used time travel magic myself." She said this with the proudest voice possible. "This spell could never allow a pony travel through time as it is. Not unless an incredible amount of power was used. That's because this spell uses a different method to travel through time."

Fucking what? "Go on."

"It seems like he was trying to go back in time by entering another world to do so."

"Fucking what?" Go on. I quickly covered my mouth in shock. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say that out loud."

"I know it's hard to understand, but try to bear with me. Imagine another world much like our own. At first glance, everything seems identical, but after a closer look, you notice subtle differences. For instance, my hair may be blue, or your eyes could be brown. Or perhaps the differences wouldn't be large enough to notice."

"So a parallel world? I get that."

"Yes, that's right. So you're with me so far. What Star Song was trying to do was to was to go to the past in another world instead of his own."

"How is that... easier? Wh-Why the... Why would he do that?"

"It seems that he wanted to avoid paradoxes that would come from altering his timeline."

"Uhh... Go on. I heard 'other world' so, I take it..."

"That's right! It seems he was successful in accessing another world."

"Oh, wow... That's... Holy crap. Good find, Twilight!" The excitement has worn off a bit with her explaining, but I'll gladly give her this one.

"And I think that if I were to combine this spell with the spell that the Princess used to come here, then I should be able to use it to get to Equestria!"

I gave her a wide smile. "Now that's what I like to hear! Man, I'm so glad Celestia sent you here. You're the only one who's smart enough to figure this kinda thing out."

She looked away, smiling a sheepish smile. "Well the... Princess could've..." she quietly let out.

"Ah, maybe. But the Princess believed that you could do it. And it looks to me like you can."

She let out a little nervous chuckle. "Thank you, Phil. But we're not done yet. I still have to test the spell and I have no idea if it will even work, but..."

I nodded, still smiling. "It's still progress. Ready to give it a test?"

"I don't know. Can you give me Ancient Magicks?"

I retrieved the book from the table and handed it to her. She opened it to the bookmarked page and started reading.

I can't believe that we've made progress... This is awesome.

She looked back to her notes, then to Star Song's book. Then back to her notes. She picked up her pencil and began writing again. She was writing pretty fast, actually. I couldn't follow it.

She stopped writing for a short while. "Alright... I think I'm ready."

Twilight stood up. I stood up as well, stepping away just in case.

She held the book in one arm, and held her other arm forward. "If I follow the incantation in Ancient Magicks and combine it with the spell in the book..." I'm pretty sure she's saying it so I can understand what she's trying to do. I appreciate it.

Her hand started to glow. She began reciting the incantation from the book. I knew it all too well... the spell that took Celestia from me... But now it's the spell that will bring us together again.

In front of her, I saw the same white circle as before. It started small before growing larger. As Twilight poured more energy into her spell, the aura surrounding her hand grew and began to give off magical sparks.

Twilight let out a grunt of exertion. Her eyes began to glow. As she used more power, the world she was from began to form in the window. I was in awe... A window into another world.. It was just as incredible as before.

Color slowly filled in the white circle until finally...

"AHHHH!!!"

Twilight let out a yelp in surprise and jumped back, landing on the couch.

A rather girlish scream from a rather manly being... I smirked at who I saw on the other side of the circle.

"Twilight, you should know better that to peek in when someone is bathing." he scolded.

"D-Discord!" Twilight loudly let out, angry at the one on the other side. She let out a breath, laying her head back on the couch. She was tired.

Discord raised his arm and snapped his fingers. The bath disappeared in a flash of magic, leaving him wrapped up in a towel with another towel on his head.

"Honestly Twilight, I'm flattered, but it simply wouldn't work between you and I." He reached one of his hands to the portal, but his hand stopped and smudged against the window. He poked at it again, but it didn't go through. "My, my, that certainly is a powerful spell you've casted, there. One to move from one world to the other, I see. If you would only have asked me, I could've taught you how in a jiffy."

"We did... ask you." Twilight let out, irritated. She was panting as she laid against the couch.

"You did? I'm sure I would've remembered that..." he replied, "Oh, wait a moment..."

He brought his hands together and spread them apart. A scroll opened in his hands, appearing from nowhere.

"Hmm, let's see... Ah, here it is!"

I noticed that his towel was gone. I didn't notice when it happened...

He turned the scroll around and showed us the contents. On the scroll, it showed, in full quality, with sound, a movie of Celestia directly asking Discord if he knew how, which he replied that he didn't.

"See?" said Twilight.

"Oh yes, now I remember! But if I had done that, you and Phil would never have met. Do you really think that I would prevent a friendship so beautiful?" He placed a hand on his chest and leaned back, a glowing halo appearing over his head.

"Yes." replied Twilight.

"I'll pretend I didn't hear that." He looked to me. "And you must be Phil! This is the first time we have met. Let me introduce myself. I am Discord, the Spirit of Chaos. I must say, your ponypedia article did not do you justice." He held out an arm. A laptop appeared on it, the aforementioned article on the screen. I saw that there was a drawing of me on it, though the nose was notably incorrect, a la Tangled. "I'd shake your hand, but it would seem that I can't enter your world at the moment."

I smiled at him. "Nice to meet you." I said.

"Well, don't keep us waiting." he said, "Try it."

I blinked, then stepped towards the portal. I raised a hand to it, but just as if I were pressing my hand against a glass window pane, my hand didn't go through.

I shrugged. "I guess I expected that. There any particular reason Twilight opened the portal to you?"

"Well, other than Twilight wanting to watch me bathe, I haven't the slightest clue." he said to me.

I looked to Twilight, who was still resting on the couch. She wasn't entirely happy that we were talking to Discord right now.

"Right..." I replied.

"It must be your fault." he said to me, "Twilight was never this daring before she met you."

"I didn't want to... see you bathe..." Twilight asserted.

"Is that so? Then why would you open the portal to me?"

Twilight leaned forward. She took in a deep breath. "I didn't!"

"Where's Celestia?" I asked him.

"Oh, probably in her castle." he replied, "She's far too busy to speak with us right now, though. She must be very important if you're going through all this trouble for her."

"Well y-yeah, no shit."

He took in an exaggerated gasp. "Phil! Language!"

"That was a stupid question."

"Fair enough. Well, allow me to provide a proper response to your answer. Phil and Celestia sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g!" he cheerfully let out, "First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes the baby in the baby carriage!" He started laughing. "Though in your case, I may have gotten the order wrong." Another laugh.

I sighed.

"What, didn't like my song?" he asked.

I continued to frown.

He shrugged. "Well anyhoo, this portal won't help anyone if you can't go through." he said, "Go ahead and try it, Twilight. I won't bite, I promise."

Twilight glared at him, but, probably against her better judgement, got up from the couch she and approached the portal. Discord stepped back, bowing as he gave her room to enter.

Twilight moved her gaze from Discord to the portal itself. She briefly examined it before lifting an arm. She touched it with her hand, letting it move through. She pulled her hand back, then examined it. She wiggled her fingers.

"Oh come on, we don't have all day. We're nearing the end of the chapter and Phil's getting tired of dragging this out."

Twilight looked to me, confused. I shrugged.

"Alright." said Twilight, "Here I go."

She stepped forward, walking through the portal.

On the other side, her pony body emerged. She dropped to the ground on her old hooves.

There was a crash from the side and she dropped out of view with a yelp. I heard a loud splash and water rose into view.

Discord was laughing at Twilight's misfortune, holding his stomach as he floated in the air.

I sighed again. Ok, it's a little funny...

Discord got closer to the portal and reached to it again. He physically moved it down, as if adjusting a mirror. I could see Twilight's unamused face as she floated in a mucky pond. Trees surrounded the area. A forest, probably.

"I said I wouldn't bite, but I didn't promise that they wouldn't." he said to Twilight, pointing at a bubbly area forming on the surface of the water. He started laughing again.

"Discord!" Twilight angrily screamed at him.

He stopped his laugh, wiping away a tear from his eye and flicking it away. "Oh, fine." he said, still enjoying this.

He cast a spell, making Twilight disappear in a flash. She was on dry land once again, soaking wet, but still.

"Here, let me take care of that." he said to her.

Another flash of magic conjured up a very large hair dryer, many times the size of Twilight's body. She grumbled to herself before it turned on. Within seconds, she was completely dry. After he turned it off, Twilight's mane and tail retained its windblown shape.

I held in a snicker.

"See, good as new." said Discord.

Twilight shook her head to fix her mane. "Discord, where am I?" she asked him, still irritated.

"Why, the Everfree Forest, of course!" he replied.

"Why did the spell take me here?"

"How should I know? You're the one who cast it."

She let out a sigh. "Well, at least I know that it works."

"Good job, Twilight." I said to her.

"I'm impressed, as well. You distorted reality so much, you made the impossible possible."

"It wasn't easy, but at least we can travel when we need to." she said.

"That's not what I meant. Phil knows what I meant."

"What did he mean?" Twilight asked me.

"I... don't know if I know..."

Discord chuckled. "I take it you're going to leave poor little me here all alone again?" he said to her.

"Yes, I am." she replied.

He shrugged. "Alright. I'll be sure to let Princess Celestia know that you've made progress here, Twilight."

"Thank you, Discord. That's... really nice of you."

"What's with that look?" He turned to me. "It's like she doesn't trust me to keep my word."

"Oh no, how terrible." I stoically replied.

He just smirked at me.

Twilight walked back towards the portal she entered through. "It's a shame that Spike couldn't come with. I could write a letter to the Princess so she'd know."

"Don't worry about that, Twilight." said Discord, "I'll let her know."

"I hope Spike's doing ok without me."

"Would you like me to check on him for you?" asked Discord.

"I don't know if... that's a good idea." she replied.

"Whaaaat? Why not? Spike and I are such good pals, Twilight. I'll make sure he's doing well."

"Um... Well... alright... Thank you, Discord." Twilight turned to me. "I don't directly have a way to let the Princess know what we did. We'll have to rely on Discord to let her know."

I nodded. "Alright. Unless she's already listening in on us."

Twilight nodded. "Yes, but Discord said that she was busy at the moment."

I shrugged.

She looked to the portal, then walked through it the same way she had left. I gave her my hand to steady her arrival.

"You kids have fun!" Discord said to us, "And be careful with all that hand holding! It's not healthy for you!"

Twilight closed the portal behind her without another word.

"That went well." she said to me.

"It went better than well! Now that you've figured out how to do that, Celestia can visit me whenever she wants!" I happily let out.

"That's right." said Twilight, "But we're not finished yet. We still need to find a way to get you into Equestria."

I gave her an excited nod. "Looking forward to it."

"Though... not tonight... I'm... too tired to keep going..."

"Yeah, yeah, go ahead and rest." I said, my smile still on my face, "We can keep going tomorrow."

She nodded, then fell back down onto the couch.

"I'll get the light." I said to her.

"Thank you." she replied.

I turned off the light for her before heading back upstairs. I closed the basement door, then silently celebrated to myself... in plain view of Sarah.

"What happened down there?" she asked me, "I heard you talking to someone."

None of your damn beeswax, Sarah. I'm sick of coming up with excuses. "We got a Skype call." I said, "He was a friend of Twilight's as well, so I put it on speaker."

"You seemed to be celebrating a lot down there. Did anything important happen?"

"We finally found what we needed from those books. Hopefully, with just a little more studying, we should be done with them soon."

"Oh. Well, good job. Hey Phil... I'll, um.. I'll be gone for a while tomorrow afternoon. I won't be back until late."

"Oh, alright. Where you going? Just to the store? Ah, it's none of my business. Wait, how are you... Are you gonna walk?"

"No, I'll be taking the bus." she replied.w

"Oh. Well, you can use my car, if you want." I said to her.

"What? Oh, no, no... Th-That's not necessary..."

I shrugged. "It's not a big deal. I wouldn't even notice if you scuffed it up, it's so old and worn out."

"No, that's not..." She looked down. "I... I can't drive stick..."

"Oh... That would be a problem. Still, you shouldn't be walking to a bus in this weather."

"I... I could ask my mom to pick me up, if that'll make you happy." she said.

I nodded. "That sounds better."

"I suppose it's not too bad an idea. She can help me while I'm out, as well."

"There you go. I'm... I'm gonna head outside for a moment, I gotta make a call."

"Alright. Be careful, it's icy out there."

I nodded, then vacated the building.

I made a show of lifting my phone to my ear before saying, "Celestia? You there?"

I got no answer. I said it again, but had no luck. Guess she really was busy. I'll speak to her later.

Or Discord is just messing with me and he's the one tying her up. Would he do such a thing? Yes, yes he would...
> Chapter 35
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

December 23



Sarah's mom picked her up from work today. She offered me a ride home, but I was fine with walking.

When I got home, I saw packages on the front porch. Sarah's candy, it seemed. Also Twilight's books. Twilight would be downstairs and Sarah wasn't here to see them. Lucky... I placed the books behind the tree and put the candy in the freezer so it wouldn't melt. I still felt kinda bad that I only got Sarah candy, but honestly, I've done enough for her already.

I headed down to the basement through the open door. Twilight was still working diligently. She was looking through the beginnings of the books, though...

"What are you working on, now?" I asked.

"I've been testing the spell while you've been gone, but I haven't made any progress. I thought that..."

"Maybe we missed something?"

"It's possible. I don't know if Discord kept his word, either. Celestia doesn't know yet, or if she does, she's too busy to speak with us. It shouldn't have taken him this long."

I shrugged. "It's not all bad. We can make it a surprise."

"We might have to. I can't believe..." She sighed. "Why would he lie about this?"

"Asking why Discord would lie?"

"I don't know why I thought he could be trusted."

I shrugged. "Well, she could still be busy."

"You don't sound like you believe that."

"Fair enough."

"I know how much you want to want to help, and I appreciate all you've done for me, but I don't know if you'll be able to help with this anymore, Phil. I'm sorry."

"Ok." I shrugged. "Want a sammich?"

"Oh, thank you." She seemed surprised by my complacency. "That sounds good."

"Yep. Be back soon."

I returned to her with a plate with two sandwiches and a glass of milk, which she thanked me for once again.

I headed back upstairs and took in a breath. We were nearing Christmas, and at the same time, depressing thoughts filled my head.

"Hey Twilight, I'm going to the store!" I called down to her, "Be back soon!"

She didn't respond. She was busy.

I grabbed my keys and left to a nearby gas station to picked up a twelve pack of beer. I sighed as I packed the box into my car. After I got home, I put the box into the fridge. Soon...

I guess I'll just play Mario Kart.

Sarah came back late, the corded handle of a nondescript paper bag in her hand. As she saw me on the couch, she hid the bag behind her legs.

"H-Hello, Phil."

"Hey, Sarah. Wanna play?" I asked.

"A-Alright. That sounds like fun."

"Twilight's still working downstairs. She's so busy all the time."

"Y-Yeah..."

She walked around the table and sat on the far end of the couch. I wonder if she thought that I didn't notice her dropping her package between the couch and the tree...

"It's close to Christmas." she said to me, picking up her controller.

I started a race for us. "It is, it is... Are you excited?"

"A little. I... I got you something. For... For putting up with me."

"Oh, that's very nice of you. I got you something, too. It's nothing special, it's just..."

"Don't tell me!" she blurted out, cutting me off.

I glanced at her. She looked away, her face turning red.

"Alright, I won't say it. But thank you, Sarah."

"Y-Yeah... I wanted to let you know how much I appreciated your... your help. Your... letting me stay with you... here. Here. Letting me stay here."

"It's been nice having you hang around."

"Thank you... I'm still looking for another job, but I'm not having any luck. I'm sorry."

"Yeah, I know it's not easy. You're welcome to stay as long as you need. Twilight will be going home soon, so it'll just be me and you here. Celestia might show up here soon enough, though. Well actually, I know she will. It's not a might. Now that I think of it, you've only ever met Celestia once."

"That was a very scary 'once'."

"Yeah, she can be a bit scary sometimes. She's usually really nice."

"I bet she is. She let you eat with my family, even after everything I did."

"Oh, don't worry about that. You didn't mess up too much."

"Too much?"

"You did mess up, but we fixed it up and everything turned out..." I paused. "I don't think I wanna say 'good'."

"It's for the best."

"Mmm... I guess."

"Do you think I did the right thing?" she asked.

"I dunno. That's something you'll have to find out on your own."

"I thought you'd say something like that."

"You know, I have a story about this kinda thing. If you'd like to hear it."

"I... suppose."

"My, uh... My dad, he told us this story about his dad, my grandpa, who left him when he was young. His mom tried getting him back into the kids' lives, but he was just a failure through and through. About forty years later, they reconnected a bit. They talked on the phone, my dad was talking about going down to see him. He hasn't done it yet, but I think you get the point. Sometimes family isn't all it's cracked up to be, but at the end of the day, it might be all you have. I'm not saying that you should forgive him, but think it over, you know?"

"Your... grandpa... left your grandmother?" she asked.

"Yeah. He was a cunt though, from what I heard. I never wanted anything to do with him."

"Doesn't th-that go against what you just told me? That family is important?"

"He's no family of mine." I said, "Even you're more family than he'll ever be."

"M-Me?" she asked, surprised.

I shrugged. "I've never met the man. Really, even Twilight's more family than him and I've only known her for like three weeks." And with any luck, she may actually become part of my family through Celestia.

"Are you sure you're not... mistaking... f-friend for family?"

I shrugged.

"Y-You know, I n-never thought that I would f-find someone like you. Someone that... I could... just t-talk with..."

"You aren't looking hard enough." I replied, "Life isn't given to you, Sarah. You gotta go out and take it."

"I know... I... I know... I've never done it, though... I've never... gone out and taken anything."

I nodded. "I hear ya. I hear ya. I was the same way."

"Y-You told me that. You told me that you g-got better." she said, "You... You said that getting a job... being in the real world... It helped."

"It did, it did."

"I'm still having trouble, though."

"You'll always have trouble. But you're doing a lot better."

"Thank you... B-But it isn't enough. I'm still... scared."

"What's there to be afraid of?"

"I'm... I'm afraid of talking to people. I'm afraid that they'll... m-make fun of my stutter. That they'll... That they'll laugh at me if I do something stupid..."

"Oh Sarah, come on. Those things aren't as scary as you think. I know how you feel. You don't want to go out and make new friends because you don't know how. I don't know how, either. But you just gotta keep moving forward, you know?"

"That's not the only reason."

I nodded.

"I... I don't want to open up to someone only to have them hurt me."

I nodded again.

"I don't want to realize that someone I thought was a friend has never really cared about me."

Another nod.

"I don't..." She took in a breath. "I don't want to be an annoying person that just bothers their friend whenever they try to talk to them."

I noticed that she was slowing down in the game. She set her controller down. I looked at her. She looked upset. Oh no... Poor Sarah.

"I'm... I think I'm going to go to bed early tonight." she said, not looking at me. She got up and started towards the room.

Oh... Oh, no... I quickly stood. "Wait, Sarah..."

She stopped, then turned to me, not meeting my gaze.

I gave her a smile. "Sarah, You're a great friend. I keep saying that I know what you're going through. That's because I really do. You're just nervous about things. Things you can't control. So, until you learn to let go of that nervousness, it'll keep coming back."

She gave me a small nod. "I know. Thank you, Phil."

I sighed. "Yeah... Uh... Don't forget to brush your teeth."

A small smile crept over her face. "Thanks for reminding m-me."

"You too Twilight, don't forget to brush your teeth before going to bed!" I called down to her, as if she were a part of this conversation.

"I won't forget!" she called back.

I just smirked to myself.

Sarah went into the bathroom, and as she passed me to go into my room, she bade me goodnight. I did the same for her.

I leaned back against the couch. Sarah's gonna be pretty bummed out when I leave... Oh well... Sucks for her. I should at least let get know.



December 24



"I can't believe we have to work on Christmas Eve." Sarah said to me on our walk to work.

I shrugged. "It's not like you had anything else to do."

"I know, but it's Christmas Eve! We shouldn't have to come in today."

"Yeah, I know. Sucks, don't it?"

"And I do have things to do, thank you very much!"

"Oh... Ok then. Wait, what? You have things to do?"

"Well, yeah... Of course I d-do..." she replied, not really convincing me with her shy tone.

"Mmm... Yeah, I have something to do, too."

"Really?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I have this... I have a little... thing that I do on Christmas Eve. Later in the day. It's... kinda personal, but you and Twilight are welcome to join."

"How personal?"

"Mmm... It's... hard to explain."

She noticed that I was uncomfortable talking about this, which is something she hasn't really seen before.

"Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'll tell you about it, later."

I let myself smile for the first time today. I couldn't tell if it was fake or not, but I smiled for Sarah. I smiled to cheer her up. It seemed to work. And seeing her smile back at me cheered me up as well. It was nice, having a friend like her.

Every single person on my shift complained about having to work on Christmas Eve. In fact, we were actually missing a few people. They called in, but still. Come on guys, you have work to do. There's no work tomorrow, stop complaining. I think I'm a workaholic...

When I got back home, I went downstairs to check on Twilight. She told me that progress has been slow, which was unfortunate. Nevertheless, I encouraged her on her journey for knowledge.

I guess it's time. The weather was perfect for this.

I went to the garage and rolled out the fire pit, moving it to the center of the driveway. It was... quiet. There was a weight in my stomach. She wouldn't want me to feel like this... I gave myself a small smile. That's right...

I saw Sarah at the doorway as I hauled wood to the front yard.

"So it was a bonfire?" she asked me, watching me work.

"Yeah, something like that."

"Can I help?"

"Uh... Yeah, sure. In the garage, there are some lawn chairs. They shouldn't be too hard to find."

She gave me a smile. "Alright, I can take care of that."

I brought out some more wood as Sarah got some chairs out of the garage and set them around the fire pit.

"Isn't it a bit cold for a bonfire?" she asked, "Aren't they better for the fall season?"

I shrugged. "Maybe. Maybe not. I'll be back."

I went inside and retrieved my recycle bin. It was full of paper and cardboard, ready to be burned. I sprinkled some loose pages along the bottom of the pit and arranged some small sticks in it, just like at my grandma's house.

"Will it start? The wood looks wet."

"Ah, we'll find out." I took my lighter from my pocket and did my best. The paper lit immediately and the small sticks soon followed.

It was dark. The fire provided most of the light around us, aside from the front porch light.

"It looks nice." said Sarah, staring into it.

I nodded. "Yeah. One more thing. I'll be back."

Our conversation was quiet. She seemed to understand my mood, but she didn't know what caused it.

Stepping away from the fire brought me back into the coolness of the winter night. It was a shocking contrast. I went back inside and retrieved the beer I had bought. As I passed by the basement doorway, I stopped.

"Hey Twilight, there's a bonfire outside." I called down, "If you wanna join, you're more than welcome."

"Oh? Alright. It's about time I took a break anyways." she replied.

I returned to Sarah. She looked to the box I was holding. "Beer?"

"What's better than beer at a bonfire?"

"I didn't know you drank."

I shrugged.

I sat down in one of the chairs she sat out, placing the box on the ground to my side. I opened it, then got out two cans, then held one out to Sarah. She eyed it for a short while before taking it. I cracked mine open and took a drink. Not the best, but it did the job.

"So... this is what you do? On Christmas Eve?"

I shrugged. "Yeah."

"It... I suppose."

I gestured to the other chair. "Gonna sit?"

"Right." She sat in the chair, then opened her can. She took a drink.

I sighed. Christmas Eve bonfire...

A short while later, Twilight joined us. A third chair was set out for her to sit.

"Do you... want?" I asked her, gesturing to the box.

"What is it?"

"Beer."

"Beer? Oh, I... don't usually..."

I shrugged. "Suit yourself." I downed my first can and set it to my side. I picked up another can and opened it.

I looked to the pile of wood next to me, then got up and added a few pieces to the fire to keep it going.

"The wood is probably too wet for it to grow any larger." said Twilight, "It looks like it was covered in snow."

"Maybe... Maybe. Man, I love bonfires. They're so relaxing, aren't they?"

"Yeah, I... guess they are." said Sarah.

We barely spoke for the longest while. I reached my third can of beer before Sarah finished her first. I asked Twilight again as I picked it up. This time, she accepted my offer. Sarah had another can, as well.



"It doesn't taste very good." said Twilight.

I shrugged. "Eh, not really."

"Then... why are you drinking it?"

I shrugged again. "It's how you celebrate a bonfire. At least, it's how my family does."

Though it was quiet, it was still very nice. Sarah and Twilight seemed to enjoy it, at least. The smell of burning wood, the heat of the fire against the cool winter air... It relaxed them almost as much as it relaxed me.

"You two don't do this too often, do you?" I asked them.

"No, not really." said Sarah.

"Not very often, no."

"I used to do it a lot when I was younger. All summer long. The bonfire pit in the backyard always lit up the dark nights. At least until about ten. Then we'd have to put it out because we were tired and wanted to go to bed." I chuckled.

"Phil..." started Sarah. Her voice was soft. 

I looked to her.

"What is... this about?" she asked me, "You don't... look... You seem... strange."

I blinked, then briefly glanced downwards before looking at her. "My mom always had a bonfire going in our backyard. It was one of her favorite things. She would spend time with friends and family around a bonfire, have picnics, cook marshmallows... Our whole family loves them. Really, they're great." I let out a sigh. "My mom passed away on Christmas."

They both took in audible gasps. Sarah covered her mouth with a hand, saddened by my reveal. Twilight's eyes were wide, her mouth open in shock.

I continued. "So... I sometimes have a bonfire in her memory. I grab a chair and some cheap beer and I just... relax. And it... keeps her memory alive. You know?" I smiled. "It feels good to be by a fire like this. On a night like this. With some good friends. Feels nice."

"I-I didn't know! O-Oh my god, I'm so s-sorry!" Sarah blurted out.

I smiled at her. "It's alright, it's alright. It's a part of life. It was a long time ago, Sarah. You don't have to feel bad."

"Does... Celestia know?" asked Twilight.

I nodded. "Yeah, she knows. She knows. I want to thank you two for joining me for this holiday season. You've really made it something special for me. I'm sorry for dropping this kinda thing on your plates like this, but... I appreciate that you listened to me. I really do." I smiled. "What's say we have a toast?"

"A toast? A toast to what?" asked Sarah.

I chuckled. "I dunno. Pick something."

"A toast to Celestia." said Twilight, holding up her first and only can so far, "Because without her, none of us would be here right now."

"Well, I would." I said, smirking.

"Besides that." she said.

"I like it." I said, "To Celestia. Hold on, I need some more beer. Sarah, do you..." She shook her head. "No? Ok. Twilight? No, no... Ok."

I got out two new cans. One for me... One for my mother.

I opened them both. "Cheers." I said, holding the two of them up.

Sarah and Twilight reached their cans towards mine.

"To Celestia." the two of them said, tapping theirs against mine.

"To Celestia." I replied.

I brought my can to my face and started chugging it as I tipped the other one over, letting it spill onto the ground.

My eyes started to water as I downed the can. The carbonation burned a bit as it went down, but that wasn't the only reason. 

When it was finally empty, I pulled it away from my face and took in a big gasp of air. I caught my breath, wiping my eyes. When I was done, I looked up again. "Ahh... What a good past few months." I said with a smile.

The two of them smiled at me.

We made light conversation as it got later and later. Twilight was the first to go back inside, having drunk a total of one can of beer. She left Sarah and I outside on our own. I was into my fifth can and was a little tipsy.

Sarah, on the other hand, who probably weighed less than 120 pounds, around half of what I did, was clearly drunk. She swayed as she sat in her lawn chair.

It was quiet right now. We haven't said a word to each other in a while. I was almost surprised to hear Sarah speak.

"I don't feel like my dad loves me anymore." Her voice was a little slurred.

"Sarah, you know he does."

"Yeah, well it doesn't feel like it. When I'm a mom, I'm gonna give my kids everything they want... No. That's a bad idea. 'Cause then they'd end up spoiled. Like me. I'm a spoiled child. A spoiled rotten little brat that pushed her dad too far."

"That's not true, either."

"Well, tell me what is true then, Mr. Know-it-all, since you're so keen on who I am. You don't know what kind of life I've lived."

"You've already told me a lot about you, Sarah. You just feel guilty because you're drunk."

"So what? I should be guilty. I've never given my dad a reason to be proud of me. I'm a deadbeat. I still live with my parents and I've only just got my first job. First! At 23!"

"Sarah, your dad is proud of you. You've been a full time student ever since you graduated high school. You couldn't get a job."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yes, Sarah. Yes."

"Well... maybe you're right. But I just don't see how he could've put up with me for all those years."

"Parents learn to live with it."

"Mmm... This is too much to think about, right now."

I just shrugged.

She visibly hesitated before saying anything else.

"Hey... Phil? I think... I need to tell you something else."

"Yeah?"

She stopped, still staring at me. Unlike when she's sober, she was looking right at me, no signs of nervousness in her eyes. But... there was something else in them. Tears...

"Phil... I... I think I love you..." she blurted out. Her bottom lip quivered. She took in a breath. Tears started to drip down her cheeks.

I blinked as I looked at her. How in the fuck do I respond to that...

"But you have Celestia!" she loudly let out, "You have Celestia and I knew that! I knew that, Phil! I knew that you had a girlfriend! But it didn't stop me. It didn't stop me from feeling this way about you..." She wiped her tears on her sleeves, but more just took their place. "I don' wanna hurt you or Celestia! An' I don't wanna get hurt! But it hurts. It hurts knowing that you're not gonna love me back. And I don't expect you to love me back. I don't want you to love me back. Not while you have somebody of your own. I know I'm not as good as she is. I'm not as pretty as her, I'm not as smart as her... My boobs aren't as big as her's are... But I'm smart enough to see that you don't care about that. You wouldn't care what I looked like and you don't care what she looks like."

She must've been thinking about this for a while...

"I hate that I did this to myself. I really love you, Phil. And I'm so sorry for it... I know that I don't have to apologize for loving someone, but I'm sorry! I couldn't help it..." She looked down, wiping her eyes again.

"Sarah..."

"No, no, don't 'Sarah' me... I said it. I had to say it. I couldn't hold it in anymore. Holding it in hurt. And... You just sat there... listening to me. So... thank you, Phil... But... But now that I've said it... Now that... Now that I've let it all out like this... I... I think... I think I feel better..."

"You do?"

"I already knew that our love was never meant to be. I'm not the woman for you. I can't be. And as much as I might want it, I know that it can't be. So now that I've let it out... I think... I think I'm gonna try to move on. I don't have anything holding me back anymore. So unless you say that you love me back, or you..." She blinked, a wave of drunken loss of focus washing over her. "I want to move on. Because if I don't, I'm just gonna keep hurting and hurting and hurting... And I don't want that. And I know that you d..." She paused, then blinked. "Hey, Phil... I'm... I'm pretty, right? Because I think I am, but nobody but my mom's ever told me."

"You're pretty, Sarah."

She laughed. "I knew I was pretty... Look..." She pointed at me. "Thanks for... for listening. I'm gonna... go inside and go to bed. If I say any more..." She stopped.

"You've never been drunk before, have you?"

"Nope... Goodnight."

"Night. Enjoy your hangover."

She laughed again. "I'm sure I will... Goodnight." She got out of her chair and headed towards the house without another word.

Ahh... what a night... I took a drink of my beer.

I hope Sarah doesn't go all loopy on me and try to kidnap me while I sleep. I doubt she'd even be able to lift me up. And Twilight would hear my body hitting the floor as she pulled me off the couch. Then again, she's been asleep for a while. She might not wake up. She wouldn't get far, I'm not exactly prone to staying asleep when someone's dragging me. I'd like to imagine. I haven't had much experience with it. Where would she even take me?

I took another drink. The fire was going out. The heat was almost gone. I should go in soon. Another drink. I waited a long time. The fire was gone. I think I was just still stunned by what Sarah said to me. It's cold out. I was still sitting quietly, staring into the dull embers. It felt so late. It wasn't midnight yet, but...

Merry Christmas, mom. I'll miss you.

I finished my can and got out of my chair, then started cleaning up, putting chairs away and cleaning my cans up. I left the fire pit where it was.

Walking inside felt amazing. It was so warm in here. I wanted nothing more than to lie down on my bed and fall asleep. Except I couldn't. Because Sarah was sleeping in it. God damn it. I guess I'll have to settle for the couch. Damn it. Fucking...

God damn Sarah and her heartfelt confession. Being so pretty... Fucking Celestia bringing up that... fucking... I groaned to myself. I'm ashamed to admit this, but Sarah pushed some buttons, there... I felt uncomfortable right now, I really did. When I finally get back together with Celestia, I am going to... Thinking about this doesn't help at all. I'm gonna... I gotta go to bed. I'm tired, I'm... Why is this affecting me more after the fact...

I let out a long breath before I finally laid down on the couch. It was nice to cover up with some blankets after being out in the cold like that.

I didn't feel any different waking up the next morning. In fact, I was a little bit annoyed because I forgot to turn off my alarm. That and the beer... I glared at my phone as I picked it up to turn it off, then dropped it onto the floor. I let out a sigh. I heard noises in my room. Seemed Sarah was awake.

I turned over on the couch and closed my eyes. I was still tired. I waited until one of the ladies showed up in the front room. Sarah was out first. I turned to look at her.

She avoided my eyes as she said, "Uh... G-Good morning. M-Merry Christmas, Phil."

I smiled. "Merry Christmas." I couldn't tell if she remembered what she said last night. I don't know how much she drank... Either way... "Should we wake Twilight?" I asked.

"Let's let her sleep."

I nodded. I sat up on the couch, yawning, stretching out my body.

"Do you want to see your present, now?" she asked.

"Hmm? Oh, yeah."

She smiled, then went over to the tree and retrieved the bag. "Here. Sorry that it's not... gift wrapped."

I took it from her. "Ah, not an issue." I reached into the bag and grabbed the first thing my hand touched. It was hard and thin... I pulled it out, then smiled at it.  A copy of Twilight Princess HD. I raised my smile to Sarah. "Wow... This is really nice of you."

"Do you like it?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I do. Man, I love Zelda. Thank you, Sarah. Makes me feel kinda bad I didn't get you anything special."

"That's ok. I didn't need anything."

"Yeah, it's... Hold on, I'll go grab it." I set the game onto the table and retrieved Sarah's present from the freezer. Thankfully, the bags were unopened. If Celestia were here, these'd be gone. "You know, like I said, not much." I said again as I entered the room, "But I figured, since you liked chocolate so much..."

She smiled. "It's perfect. Thank you, Phil." She reached forward and touched the bags, then quickly took back her hand. "Oh! It's cold." She smiled at me, then let out a short laugh. She took them from me.

"Come on, let's get this game going, eh?"

She gave me a big smile. "Yeah, that sounds great!"

I went to the TV to turn everything on and put the game in. I returned to the couch with her. She offered me one of her peanut butter cups. I happily accepted.

"You know, I got the original version of this game as a Christmas present from my mom." I said to her as it turned on.

"Oh! Is that so?"

I nodded. "Me and my little brother played it for hours on end. We loved every bit of it. God, I love Twilight Princess."

"Well, I'm glad I picked something you liked."

I went through the start of the game in a flash. Sarah seemed surprised at how quickly I went. Unbeknownst to her, watching speedruns of this game was a favorite pastime of mine.

"So... have you... ever played Twilight Princess?" I asked her.

"Mmm-hmm." She nodded. "I played the original version a long time ago. I... I played a lot of video games when I was younger. This was one of my favorites."

"Same here. Hey, are you hungry?"

"You... gave me these Reese's."

"For real food, Sarah. Breakfast."

"Oh! Sorry. I am. Maybe we could take a break and get something, then."

"Nah, I'll take care of it. You like pancakes? Course you do. Everybody likes pancakes." I handed her the controller and stood up. "I'll make us a batch of pancakes for Christmas breakfast. Sound good?"

She nodded, smiling. "That sounds great."

"Nice. While I'm at it, I can make Twilight some, too. Speaking of, I'm gonna go check on her."

The basement door was open already, but the light was off. I had no idea what she was doing. I couldn't hear her breathing or writing or any of those noises she usually makes.

"Twilight, are you up?" I asked in a soft voice, not wanting to wake her if she wasn't. No response. I started downstairs. What was she doing? I usually heard noises from down here when I checked on her. She's not dead, is she? Celestia would kill me if she was.

Couch was... empty. Where the... I turned on the light. She wasn't down here? Where the fuck is Twilight?

A piece of paper on the couch caught my attention. It was atop her blanket, folded up nicely. I picked it up and read it.

~Phil, I've gone back to Equestria to do some more research. I'm sorry to leave on such short notice, but I promise that I'll be back soon.

-Twilight Sparkle

P.S. I'll make sure Princess Celestia knows about our progress. I don't trust that Discord told her.

P.P.S. Merry Christmas to you and Sarah. Or as they say in Equestria, Merry Hearth's Warming.~

Huh... I put the note back onto the blanket and went back upstairs.

"Looks like it's just you and me, Sarah."

"You and me? What about Twilight?"

"She took off. She'll be back eventually."

"Where did... she go? She left during the middle of the night. Is everything ok?"

"Yep. Everything's good. She's a busy woman. Like Celestia. Celestia might show up again soon enough, too."

"I'll bet you're looking forward to that."

"You know it. I'll be back with some food for us."

She nodded.

I went into the kitchen to prepare us some breakfast. It turned out well.

That was it for the entire day. Sarah and I took turns playing Twilight Princess as we both devoured her Christmas present. I made us full meals a few more times, but other than that, we were both stuck to the couch. Sarah got a phone call during the day, but she ignored it after seeing who it was. I couldn't catch the name.

Before we knew it, it had gotten dark outside. It could've been anywhere from six to eleven at this time of year. All I knew was that my stomach hurt from too much Reese's.

I noticed Sarah turn to me, but being in the middle of a battle, I ignored her. She moved closer, and to my surprise, I felt lips against my cheek, complete with a soft smacking sound as she pulled away.

I paused the game and looked to her. She was smiling at me, embarrassed. 

"Thank you, Phil. This has been the best Christmas I've ever had. I'm sorry that I... did that... without any warning." She looked away, her smile remaining. "I just wanted to show you my appreciation. I know how you are."

She waited for me to say something. I sighed, then smiled. "Your turn."

She took the controller and continued where I left off, still smiling like before.

I guess this was a pretty good Christmas...

Our nighttime routine was the same as it's always been. I cleaned up the front room before getting ready for bed. Eventually, we settled into our respective beds.

I couldn't help but feel that her kiss was more than just appreciation. At the same time, pressing the matter would achieve nothing, and getting angry at her would be petty. I knew damn well Celestia wouldn't care. I'll still tell her. I gotta be honest with her. I gotta be honest with Sarah, too...

Aside from work, which was as boring as one would expect, the next day was exactly the same. We sat together on that couch playing Twilight Princess.

Twilight hadn't come back yet. I was getting a little worried. It'll be fine, she knows Equestria. Then again, Discord may be plotting something. If he messes with me and Celestia, I'm gonna... I'm gonna give him a few choice words. The hell am I gonna be able to do to Discord?



December 28



Twilight has been gone for three days and there was still no contact from Celestia. I was feeling a little left out. I felt a bit worried too, but Twilight wasn't exactly a stranger to Equestria.

Sarah was on edge at work, today. I found out why when her mother picked her up from work. Sarah told me that she was going to speak with her father again, though didn't mention what about. I didn't ask. I merely smiled and wished her luck.

She didn't come back that night. A phone call let me know that she would be staying at her home for the night, but the truth was that she was still unsure about it.

Good for her for giving him a chance. Good for her.

It was just me, tonight. Just me. Honestly, I wanted to spank it. But after all this time, patiently waiting for a chance to myself, it would be better to just wait for Celestia. I'm sure she would appreciate it. I chuckled to myself.

Just me... I felt lonely. 

I played Twilight Princess until I had to go to bed. We've gotten pretty far...



December 29



Four days without Twilight. One day without Sarah. Nearly a month without my love. I sighed. I'll see Sarah at work, at least.

As I was getting ready for work, I heard a loud crash from downstairs that scared the shit out of me. I got up to investigate before I realized that a noise in the basement could mean only one thing... Twilight!

I immediately went downstairs. Sure enough, Twilight Sparkle was sitting on the basement floor, looking through some notes. I didn't recognize them.

"Twilight! It's good to see you again."

She didn't react. She was frantically going through the notes she held. I noticed that her hair was frazzled.

"Twilight? Yoo-hoo! Anyone home?" I reached forward and poked her shoulder. She jumped, making me jump as well.

"Ahh! Oh! Phil! Yes!" She turned to me. I saw bags under her eyes. "Perfect, you're home! Here, hold this."

She thrusted a notepad into my chest, which I held onto. She stood up as I looked to it. She was mumbling something to herself, reading from some other notes.

Twilight's handwriting covered the pad. Hoofwriting. I could read it, but it just seemed to be spell details, which I didn't understand too much.

She faced me as she mumbled. Suddenly, behind her appeared another portal. A portal into the pony world, one that led to a grassy field.

"Read that page aloud and try walking through." she said to me.

"Read the... Are you saying that you found a way for me to go to Equestria?" I asked with a smile.

"I don't know. We need to test it. Read it, please. We don't have time."

"Don't have time? What do you mean?"

"As Princess Celestia left this world one month ago, she tasked me with getting you to Equestria, and in this past month, I've taken break after break, fooling around with your video games and... I haven't been working as hard as I could on the spellbooks, I..." She was becoming frantic in her words.

"Twilight, did you... talk to Celestia?"

"N-No, I... I didn't have time, I... I... j-just read the spell, please."

She didn't talk to Celestia? She said she would. If Twilight didn't so something she said she'd do... "A-Alright... Let's hope this works."

I read the page off, word for word. As I did, I was surprised to see that the portal was actually reacting. The more I read, the more the portal shimmered along the edges. The further I got on the page, the higher my spirits were lifted. She did it... Twilight did it...

When I was done, I looked to Twilight. I wanted to hug her.

"Try walking through."

I nodded, then stepped to it. I took a breath, then let it out slowly. I was shaking out of excitement. "Let's do this..."

I stepped forward through the portal. I didn't feel any different. In fact, as soon as I passed through, the basement light once again appeared, and my body unexpectedly bumped against my computer desk. I looked back. The same portal floated in the same place. Twilight had a profoundly disappointed look on her face.

"No, no, that didn't work!" she let out, distraught, "I was sure that... Ok, don't panic. I have another idea. Phil, the notepad."

"Y-Yeah, sure." I said, handing it back. I was disappointed as well, but right now, I was concerned for her. "Are you alright, Twilight?"

"Alright? Of course I'm alright?" She began scribbling on the notepad as she spoke. "Why wouldn't I be alright? I'm only a single day away from failing the most important mission that the Princess has ever given me, one that she gave me personally and put faith into my abilities as her student. A mission so important that she sent me to another world to continue my studies. Why wouldn't I be fine?! Here!" She gave the pad back to me. "Read it!"

I was taken aback by her attitude, but nonetheless, I read it past the crossed out text. The portal shimmered in the same way, but we achieved nothing from this.

"Ok, if that didn't work, maybe this will..." She gave it back to me. "This one is different. It uses a different spell incantation. It's a different type of spell."

"I can't cast spells, Twilight." I reminded her.

She stopped dead in her tracks. After a short while, she said, "R-Right! That's right, humans can't use magic. Silly me! What was I thinking... What was I... Th-Then there's only one way left to do this!" She began scouring her notes once more. "I wanted to avoid this because it uses rather dangerous magic, but it seems I have no choice." 

"Twilight, what are you..."

"I need to go back in time to speak with the creator of the spell himself to reverse engineer the spell and create a new version."

"You... You fuckin' what, mate?"

She began channeling her energy into her hand. It started glowing purple. A bright white shell surrounded it as the glow increased in size. She let out a grunt of excretion as she poured more into her spell. Sparks flew from her hand.

"Twilight, what are you..."

Suddenly, my vision was obscured by a bright flash of light. When the light faded, Twilight was gone. I wish I could say that was the only thing that happened...
> Chapter 36: Star Song
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

What did Twilight just do? What just happened...

It was dark. I was lying on the ground, the grass underneath me scratching my face. I... wasn't in the basement anymore. I was outside. Did Twilight just... teleport me?

My body felt different. I felt... small. And... Oh, I didn't have any hands. Hooves! I had hooves! I was a pony!

I jumped up, my four new hooves landing clumsily on the ground. "Yeah! Twilight, it worked! You did it!" I cried out, beaming.

I looked around with my new, probably gigantic eyes, but couldn't see her. I was alone. As amazing as this was, with no Twilight Sparkle I was totally lost. Thankfully, my excitement masked what would most certainly be debilitating worry.

This new body was... strange, to say the least. I felt so uneasy on four legs. My new tail was the strangest part. It was entirely new to me. It felt so weird moving it around.

"Twilight? You here?" I called out.

No answer. I looked around, taking in my surroundings. A forest. Ok. Everfree? Or... any other forest, I guess. In the dark, it was actually a little creepy. Well... Do I stay here and wait for Twilight to find me or do I look for help? 

Uh... "Discord? Celestia? Luna? Twilight? Anybody?"

Nothing. I was starting to feel kinda lonely. Guess I look for help... Which way is town?

If I'm remembering correctly, no forest in Equestria was big enough to prevent me from escaping by walking in one direction. I've been wrong before, though. No use prevaricating about the bush. I picked a direction and started walking. I had to take slow steps, otherwise I would trip over these hooves.

As I walked, I called out for Twilight. Unfortunately, that meant that I was also signaling to whatever else was in these woods that a tasty snack had shown itself. I probably didn't taste very good.

What was it Twilight said? That she would talk to the original creator of the spell? So, Twilight wanted to talk to Star Song? I guess... But I'm already here, I'm already in Equestria. I'm even a pony. Maybe she just teleported me somewhere else in my world. If that were the case, I wouldn't be a pony. Then, Twilight already knew how to cast the spell? That's cool and all, but why wasn't she able to transport me here in the first place? This doesn't add up.

"Hey!" I heard a hushed exclamation.

I looked to the source. A... pony. Someone else! Yay!

"Oh man, am I glad to see s-"

"Shh!" She gave me an angry look as she pointed a hoof upwards.

I looked up, mouthing the words, 'Oh, shit!' as I saw the outline of a large black panther sleeping on a branch above me. In this darkness, I had no idea what I was looking at.

She waved me over. I stared up at it as I slowly walked to her. I couldn't really get a good look at her in the dark like this, but I could see that she wore an explorer's coat.

I followed after her as she started walking away. Once we were in the clear, I said, "Thanks for the save. Are you Daring Do?"

"Daring who?"

I held in a laugh, not expecting that response. "I'm Phil, who are you?"

"My name is Star Song. I'm a researcher. What were you doing in these woods this late at night?"

"You're Star Song?" I asked, surprised.

"You've heard of me?"

"Yeah! A friend of mine was looking for you. Seems she dragged me with her."

"Is that what you were doing out here? You were calling her name and giving away your position like an idiot. Why would your friend think I was out here?"

"Because you are."

"Ah..." She paused, then nodded. "I suppose. Nopony should know that I'm out here. What did your friend need of me?"

"She needs help with a spell, but aside from that, you'll have to talk to her about that. I don't know the details."

"A spell? I don't know if I can help her with that."

"Uh... Like I said, you'll have to talk to her about that."

She chuckled. "Where is your friend, if you don't mind my asking?"

"I don't know. I was looking for her before we met."

"Twilight Sparkle, was it? I heard you calling for her."

"Yep. Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Equestria."

"You must be confused. Princess Celestia is the only Princess here."

"Hmm? No, she... Ah, I guess I'd better let Twilight do the... Wait, what about Princess Luna?"

"Have you not heard the legends? Long ago, Princess Celestia was forced to banish her sister to the moon after she refused to lower it."

"Wait, but... Luna... She came back."

"She did? That's news to me. Maybe the Elements of Harmony aren't as powerful as she thought."

"I... Um... You're kinda weird." I said to her.

She chuckled. "So are you, Phil."

"Yeah, I guess. Where... are we going? I need to find Twilight."

"I have maps of the forest at my home that we can use to help you find your friend. We're not far off. Right up this path."

"Oh, that's good. She's capable on her own, but I don't want to be split up from her for too long here. What forest is this, anyways?" I could see the house. A small wooden cottage in a clearing. Looked cute.

"You don't know? It's the Everfree. Your friend really didn't tell you anything, did she?"

"Ah, nah. I guess she didn't."

She walked up to the door and opened it, letting me in. It was actually quite spacious inside, despite its outward appearance.

"What kind of friend would just leave somepony like you in a place like this? If I were your friend, I would never let you out of my sight." She placed her bag onto the table against the wall.

"She didn't leave me alone on purpose. We just got separated. One minute she was there and the next, gone."

"Gone?"

"Yeah."

"How strange." She went to her desk and began looking through the scrolls piled up on it. "Here we go..." She unrolled one on the table.

I walked over and looked at it. It looked unsurprisingly like a map of a forest. She glanced at me, then back to the map.

"So, where did you lose your friend?" she asked.

"I dunno. Where did you find me?"

She tapped the map. "Right here. You were coming from this direction." She traced the direction I was going. "So you must've lost her right about here." She tapped the map above the route. "That's a pretty dangerous part of these woods. Unfortunately, it looks like it's the best place to search for her."

"Can't waste any time then, let's get going!"

Though this was a serious operation, she was cheerful as we walked out the door. I liked her attitude. After a short jog, she had led me through the woods to our destination.

The further we walked, the more distracted she became. "There's a powerful magic about this place. A very powerful magic. A powerful spell was cast here recently. Was... Was this your friend? You said she was capable, but..."

"Seems like something she'd do. She's an amazing little unicorn."

"You think? Well, then if we follow this magical signature, we'll find her." She started down a nearby trail. As we walked, she said, "Magical signature is a layman term. It's more complicated than that."

"I believe you."

"You... believe me? I've never heard a response like that before."

"Can you tell if she's close? I'm starting to get worried about all this darkness."

"I can't. If we were any later, I wouldn't even be able to follow her. We're lucky we've gotten this far."

I nodded. Hope she's ok...

"Stay close. If we're separated, I may not be able to find you again in this darkness."

"Can't you light a way with your magic?"

"Too dangerous. We'd be drawing too much attention to ourselves. I can navigate the forest in this darkness just fine."

We kept walking. I got the occasional scratch from a branch here and there, but it was an otherwise peaceful stroll through the woods.

"Hold on." She suddenly stopped. "Do you hear that?"

I listened closely to our surroundings. There was a light breeze in the air, but I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary.

"I hear breathing." she said quietly, slowly moving forward. She gasped. "Um, Phil? I... think I found your friend."

"Twilight?" I asked, rushing up.

I saw her laying on the ground. She was taking in long, shaky breaths. She didn't look hurt, but she didn't react to us.

"Twilight! Oh my god, are you ok?" I asked.

No response.

"Twilight?" I felt a sinking feeling inside.

"I've seen this before." said Star Song.

I looked to her.

"She's used too much of her power at once. Looks like she wandered off in a daze after casting her last spell."

"Is she gonna be alright?"

She nodded. "With some rest, she'll be back to normal within a few days. Probably. Let's bring her back to my home in the meantime."

"Yeah. Uh... How..."

"She's your friend."

"Uh... Right."

I lowered myself down and maneuvered myself underneath her to pick her up. She didn't weigh anything at all to me as a pony. I could feel her deep breathing against my back. 

"She's an alicorn?" asked Star Song, "You didn't tell me that."

"Didn't seem important at the time."

"Is she related to the Princess?"

"Ahh... Technically."

"Technically? Whatever. Let's head back."

Balancing Twilight on my back was a lot easier than I thought it would be. Back in Star Song's home, she instructed me to lie Twilight on her bed. I carefully did so, pulling the blanket over her. She was sweating, still breathing heavily. I was worried about her.

"Are you sure she'll be alright?" I asked out of concern.

"She'll be fine. Well, that leaves me without a bed." she said.

"How long did you say it will take for her to recover?"

"Usually just a few days. It depends on how bad she's got it. She should wake up by tomorrow morning."

"That's good to hear. I hope it's sooner than later. I need to get back home."

"Yeah? Where do you live?"

"It's... complicated. I don't live anywhere around here. Twilight brought me here accidentally."

"That so? No wonder she's so tired. Casting such a powerful spell on one pony would be hard enough. Casting it on the both of you could've been too much for her."

I sighed. If I'm not back home in around two days, people are gonna worry about me. People like Sarah.

"Anyways, I've only got the one bed." she said, "If you want somewhere warm to sleep, you can share a blanket with me."

I turned to her. Not what I expected to hear.

"What's with that look? I don't bite." She sighed. "What an exciting night. I don't think I'll get to bed anytime soon after that."

"Yeah."

"Tea?"

"Hmm?"

"It'll help you sleep."

"Oh, yeah. Alright, thank you."

"I'll get some water warmed up."

Within minutes, the entire house had warmed up with the heat of her stove. She soon had us each poured a steaming hot cup of tea. She smiled at me as she placed my cup on the table. I gave it a look over.

I lifted my new hoof towards my cup, but stopped as I touched it. If I picked this up, I would severely burn myself. Instead, I leaned forward and sipped from the edge of the cup on the table. Hot! Good, but hot!

She raised an eyebrow at me. "Er... Is it good?"

"Best tea I've ever had." I replied.

She smiled. "Good to hear."

"Well, it's the only tea I've ever had, but still, good."

"You've never had tea before?"

I just shrugged.

"That's just plain weird. Everypony drinks tea."

Another shrug.

"Well, I'm glad you like it. So... how old are you."

"25."

"And you... You're a blank flank?"

"Am I?" I looked down at myself. Now that I could actually see myself in the dim candle light of the house, I saw that I had a tan coat with a brown mane. And my cutie mark... "Huh... Guess I am."

"Funny. How does that happen? You just... not good at anything? I know you aren't very smart."

"Hurtful."

"You were yelling in the Everfree Forest. You could've been eaten."

"That's fair."

"So... nothing? How does a pony make it to 25 and not have a cutie mark?"

I shrugged. "Can't answer that one."

"Weird."

"What about you? What's yours supposed to be?"

In her house, I could finally see what Star Song looked like. She looked like... a cute little pony. She seemed pretty confident, but at the moment she was tired, just like I was. On her flank was an open book.

Star Song was shorter than I was, not a good comparison, and seemed somewhat thin to me. She had a purple coat and her mane and tail were a light pink with lighter stripes down them. Both were unprofessionally cut short.

"Mine represents my ability to collect information. At least, that's how I interpret it." she explained.

"Sounds useful."

"You have no idea."

This must be good tea, I was already sleepy. Between sleeping in the cold and sharing a blanket with Star Song, I was having a hard time deciding.

Star Song finished her tea and went to retrieve her blanket from a shelf near the bed. She set it onto the floor and looked to me. "Come on. Hope you don't mind that I sleep in the nude." she jokingly said to me.

I glared at her.

"Don't worry, I'll try not to cuddle too much."

Saying something negative would be petty. "Thank you."

She smiled. "Of course."

My pride, what little there was, was not worth a cold, sleepless night. I joined her underneath the blanket. While I tried to keep my distance, there wasn't a lot of blanket available.

Sleeping in this new body... I expected the first time sleeping as a pony to be with a certain Princess...



Unknown day 1



I felt something bump me, ruining my nap. My eyes cracked open to see what was happening.

Star Song turned to me, yawning. She stopped mid-yawn as she saw me and asked, "Who are you?"

"Huh?"

"Who are you?" she asked again.

"I'm... Phil."

"Phil... Phil... Right, right, it's coming back to me. Sorry. I need to get back to work."

"Have fun."

Star Song moved to her feet and stretched. She let out a sigh. "You stay here. Tend to your friend."

I gave her a groggy, "You got it."

After collecting some items from around her house, she headed to the door. "I'll be back late."

I gave her a groan, lying my head back down.

She chuckled. "Good to hear."

Off she went, leaving us alone. I fell back asleep.

When I woke up again, I stretched out my new pony body, feeling particularly disappointed that I was unable to crack my non-existent fingers. I didn't expect to be sleeping away from home like this.

Twilight was still asleep on Star Song's bed. Thankfully though, her breathing was normal.

Hungry. Cereal seemed to be a no go. No refrigerator. In the young daylight, I noticed a lack of electricity. Unsurprising, given where I was. In my search for food, I found a bowl of apples that seemed fresh and took one for myself. 

If I didn't find anything to do, the cabin fever would hit me like a truck. Hmm...

Oh, idea! I'll study the maps so I can find my way back here! She stored her maps somewhere over... Aha! I unrolled and examined the map I saw last night. I could see many landmarks, most of which I've never seen before. The old castle was on it, marked as 'Princess's Castle'. It was a distance away, but Twilight could find her way from there.

It marked our current location as well, 'My Home'. From what I saw, we were deep in the forest. I could... potentially make my way to Ponyville following this. Could, but won't because I'm not stupid.

That took all of five minutes.

I began pacing about the room, eagerly waiting for something to happen. I was concerned about Twilight's safety. It was agitating.

I don't know how long it took before she woke up, but as soon as I heard her making noise, I raced to her. She slowly sat up and looked around. 

When she saw me, she asked, "Where am I?"

"You're at Star Song's house, Twilight."

Her eyes widened. "So you're... How did you know my name?"

"No, no, Star Song left a little while ago. She... I... Twilight, it's me! It's Phil!"

"Phil?" She paused. Suddenly, her eyes shot open and her jaw dropped. "Phil! How did you get here?!"

"Don't ask me, you're the one that cast the spell."

"What? But how?! I couldn't get you to Equestria before!"

"Well I dunno! But I'm here now."

"I... can't believe it..."

She started pulling off her blankets. I placed my hoof over her to stop her and said, "Hold on, hold on. You need to rest."

"I need to rest? Oh..." She collapsed back down onto the bed. "Maybe... you're right about that..."

"Star Song told me that you used too much energy when you cast your spell. You accidentally brought me along with you and it was just too much for you to handle. You over-exerted yourself."

"Over-exerted myself? Hmm..." Her eyes wandered to Star Song's cupboards. She concentrated on the bowl of fruit. Her horn started glowing, but soon after, white sparks shot from the tip. She let out a loud breath. "You're right. I can't use my magic. Just that... little bit left me..."

"Here, let me get you something to eat." I said, turning to the cupboards myself. I returned with a few apples for her.

She took one and held it between her hooves on her chest. "Thank you. So you... spoke with Star Song?"

"Yeah. She's a real helpful pony. She helped me find you."

"Where... are we?"

"In the Everfree. Here, I have a map."

I retrieved it and gave it to her. She unrolled and examined it, sitting up again.

"We are right here." I touched the map. "I arrived here... and we found you here."

"This map is strange."

"How so?"

"It's... hard to say. I don't recognize some of these places, even though I've been through the area."

"What does that mean?"

"It means... that my spell worked." she said with a smile.

"Your spell?"

"That's right, Phil. We're in the past."

"The... Oh yeah... That's right, I think you mentioned that. I guess that would explain why she didn't know about Princess Luna."

"What?"

"She didn't know that Luna came back. She didn't know that Nightmare Moon was gone. So that means that it didn't happen yet."

"She didn't... know about... So that means that Princess Luna is... That can't be right."

"What are you talking about?"

"Star Song wasn't around after Nightmare Moon was banished to the moon. She isn't from that time period."

"Huh?"

"Are you sure that it was Star Song that you talked to?"

"That's who she said she was."

"I think I'll need to have a word with this 'Star Song'."

"Well, she seemed nice, if a bit weird."

"That's good to hear."

"Man... I can't believe I'm really in Equestria."

"Me either. I don't know why my spell didn't work. I didn't think that the portal would reject you. It worked for me just fine. I wasn't able to bring you to Equestria, but you're here anyways."

"Guess it just means you're better than you thought. Isn't it... really bad that we're in the past?"

"Don't... put too much thought into it. Trust me, I've done this before."

It was a while before Star Song came back. I had given Twilight some of the books in the cabin to stave off the boredom. When she got back, she set her bags down just inside the door. Dirt covered her hooves from her quest.

"Oh! Hello!" she said as she saw us, "What are you doing here?"

"Well, we're..."

"No, no, wait, wait, I remember now. So you're awake! How long has she been up?"

"Uh, few hours." I replied.

She went to Twilight, seemingly ignoring me. "Hello. My name is Star Song. We found you in the woods and brought you back here. Are you feeling alright?"

"I'm feeling fine, thank you. My name is Twilight Sparkle."

"Good, good. Looks like I was right."

"He said that you knew what happened to me." said Twilight.

"Reckless use of magic." Star Song closed in on Twilight's face, surprising her. "Hmm... You've been sleep deprived, haven't you? It's not a good idea to cast something as powerful as that in your state." She pulled away. "What spell did you cast, anyways? Your friend didn't seem to know."

"It was... It was a time travel spell."

"Time travel? Are you serious?"

"I am."

Star Song put on a thinking face before responding with, "That's a bold claim. Do you have any proof?"

"I..."

"Nope, no proof." I said, butting in.

She raised an eyebrow to me. "Is that so?"

"Thinking things through is not our forte."

"It wasn't just a time travel spell." said Twilight, politely ignoring what I said.

"Oh?"

"I also cast a spell that would transport me to Equestria from another world."

"Another world? Now that is interesting... A time travel spell and a powerful transport spell at the same time. And for two, no less."

"That's right." said Twilight, "Though, he was an accident."

"Well... alright... You've come a long way just to ask for help. I'll hear you out."

"Thank you. I have come here to ask you if you can help me deconstruct your spells."

"You'll have to explain that a bit more."

"I've developed a spell based on your trans-dimensional transportation spell that allows me to travel between worlds at will. Specifically, his world and Equestria." 

"My wh... His world? Uh... Could you go a little slower for me?"

"Phil doesn't originate from Equestria. He comes from a different world, a world without magic."

"A different world? What's the horn for, then?" she asked.

"I'm not actually a pony. I'm a human."

"And... that is?"

"Uh... It's... not important."

"How do I know that?"

Twilight cleared her throat, getting our attention. "Humans are characterized by erect posture and bipedal locomotion, high manual dexterity and heavy tool use compared to other animals, open-ended and complex language use compared to other animal communications, and a general trend toward larger, more complex brains and societies."

"So like ponies that walk on two legs? Alright. And they don't use magic... So you transported him here?"

"That's right. I meant to come here on my own but somehow he had joined me."

"Right..."

"Our issue is that, when I cast the spell, my friend was not able to go through the portal to Equestria. It rejected him for some reason. I'm hoping that if I deconstruct the spell, it would help me find the solution to this."

"It... rejected him, you say?" she asked, eyeing me.

"I don't know how he got to this world, but he was unable to come to our present day Equestria."

Star Song was... confused. The look in her eyes was almost angry. "That doesn't... make sense... So for some reason, you can bring him here only when you go back in time... Not only is that highly implausible, it's the stupidest thing I've ever heard! You've cast, what, two or three impossibly difficult spells at the same time, not just once, but twice back to back?! And yet you can't just cast one of those spells one time?"

"I..."

Star Song's attitude did a sudden 180 as a smile spread across her face. "You, Twilight... You are an incredible pony. Casting spells of this magnitude is... nothing short of amazing. You're lucky you ended up with just a little fatigue. In terms of skill, I think you've already surpassed me. And..." Her smile faded. "It also seems, in terms of knowledge, you've surpassed me. I don't know how I could help you. I don't know anything about traveling between worlds. I don't know what help I could offer you."

"What? But it was your writings that allowed us to come here in the first place! Without your journal, we wouldn't be here!"

"You have my journal?"

"Not with us, we left it in my world." I said.

"But you have my journal? And it told you... how to get here?"

"That's right. It contained valuable information. We never would've gotten as far as we did without it."

"But I... I've never... worked on any 'trans-dimensional transportation' spells. You're out of your mind if you think I'm going to be able to help you with that."

"What? But you... Your journal..." Twilight was dumbfounded. Star Song was denying the journal she had slaved over this past month.

"I'm sorry that you came all this way just for me to say I can't help."

"You've created so many spells!" Twilight blurted, "Your journal is full of notes detailing spells that would be next to impossible to cast without it. Phil and I have been studying it for the past month in our time! I've used its knowledge to travel to Equestria and back on my own!"

Star Song blinked. "Maybe it's... something I create later in my life. You said that you traveled through time just to meet me. Are you sure you got the right 'me'?"

"No, I'm not." Twilight responded, her tone shifting to be more serious, "Judging from the contents of the journal and the materials that make it up, I would date it as a Pre-Nightmare Moon artifact."

As Twilight said this, I could see Star Song visibly tense. Her eyes briefly darted about the room.

"But it was so well preserved that it could've been made just before we got it. Books of that era are fragile and often fall apart on their own, yet we were able to handle them with no issue."

That... is true... Hmm...

"Meeting you here... Meeting you now..." Her eyes narrowed. "Are you really 'Star Song'?"

"Wh-What are you talking about? Of course I am."

Twilight continued to glare at her. Star Song nervously looked away.

I cleared my throat. "We're not here to ruin your secret identity." I said, "If you aren't her, we'll just try again."

"I am Star Song! I am, I am, I am! Wh... Is this how you repay me for saving you from the forest? Have some shame!"

She seems really upset about this... I turned to Twilight and asked, "Why don't we believe her?"

"It doesn't add up. The journal is from hundreds of years before this point in time. My spell should've brought us to the origin of the journal, which led us here. To her. Star Song didn't live during this time period."

"You can't just come into my home and say I'm not who I am! You have some nerve to insult me like this after my hospitality!"

Twilight looked uneasy. She paused before replying. "I'm... I'm sorry... I've been under a lot of stress. It wasn't right of me to take it out on you like that."

"No, it wasn't." Star Song agreed in a matter-of-fact tone.

Twilight couldn't drive the nail home.

"Well, since you are Star Song, maybe you could help us." I said.

"Mmm... I don't know."

"All we have to do is get the books then, right Twilight?" I asked.

"In my current state, I couldn't bring us back to your world. I don't even have the power to cast a simple levitation spell."

"That's right." said Star Song, "So you'll be staying in that bed until you can."

Twilight nodded. "Maybe it will give me enough time to figure out why the spell I cast sent us to this time specifically."

Star Song blinked. "Uh... Right..." She turned to me. "And where do you fit in here? Why do you even need to be in Equestria in the first place?"

"I have a relationship with a pony and would like to spend the rest of my life with her in this world." I answered quickly and concisely.

Now Star Song was surprised. "I... thought you said she was just a friend."

"It's someone else."

"Uh... Really? You're not... pulling my leg, are you?"

"My relationship is not a joke to me."

"I... I didn't... How... How do you have a relationship with a pony? Didn't you say that you were from a different world?"

"Discord sent her to my world as a joke. I managed to find her and things just took off from there."

"Discord? You mean..."

"In the future."

"So... Discord... How does that work?"

"You probably don't want to think about it too hard."

"This is a lot to take in. You two are time travelers and one of you is from a different world... and you came all this way just to see me. It's just hard to believe, you know?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I get it."

"Your magic is no joke though. I'd have to be crazy not to believe you. So, I have to ask... in the future, is my work remembered?"

Twilight and I glanced at each other, then back to her hopeful face. Neither Twilight nor the Princess had heard of her.

As soon as we turned back, her disposition darkened. "Oh..."

"I'm sorry, Star Song." Twilight sympathized.

"It's alright. But I've already done so much... At least... And you said that you had my journal. You said that I did more."

"You have a lot to be proud of, Star Song. With your notes, I was able to do the impossible."

"Why even bother if nopony's gonna remember my work..." she sulked.

"Come on, you know that's not right." I said, "It's not about recognition."

"Oh, piss off. It's all about recognition. It's about sharing your discoveries, improving your work... It's about that sweet, sweet fame and fortune! What does Star Swirl the Bearded have that I don't? Why does he get all the credit for his work when I've devoted my entire life, even risked it a couple of times, to creating spells that I can't even cast?!"

"Spells you can't cast?" I asked before Twilight could aggressively defend her hero.

Star Song sighed. "I didn't mean to say that. Look, I... If you really want to know, I'll tell you. But you have to do something for me in return."

I looked to Twilight. "We'll... try."

"You're from the future. And... with your talent Twilight, you must be recognized by so many ponies. So I want you to promise, when you get back, make sure that my work is known. Alright? I don't want to be forgotten. Not like this. Not after everything I've done."

Twilight nodded. "Of course. Your work has gone unnoticed for too long. I'll see that it gets the respect that it deserves. We've already shown this to Princess Celestia."

"You... You have? That's great! Thank you, Twilight Sparkle." She sighed, a newfound happiness in her voice. "I guess I have to tell you now. When I was... younger... When I was as powerful as you... I was testing a new spell. It backfired, as many spells do, and sent me here. You were right when you said that this didn't seem right. I was born hundreds of years ago and sent into the future. From then on, whenever I tried casting something stronger than a simple levitation spell, I found myself on the ground, seizing."

Twilight took in a small gasp of surprise.

Star Song paused briefly. "My pursuit of knowledge has left me crippled. Crippled and lost in a time and a place far from home. When I finally convinced myself that my dreams of becoming a world-renowned spellcaster were gone, I settled on a more realistic goal, living the life of a hermit, exploring the Everfree Forest. So, yeah... That's... That's my story. Barely a day after meeting somepony and my secret is out the window."

"Oh Star Song... I had no idea... Your journal didn't say..."

"I don't want your pity. All I want is for you to hold up your end of the deal."

"I will, Star Song. I will."

Jesus Christ... That fucking sucks. Wow...

"I guess your story and mine aren't so different then, huh..." She chuckled to herself. "Ohh... No, this isn't funny... What good am I to you if I can't cast magic?"

"You aren't just magic. You've got a brilliant mind, Star Song." I said, "You're great!"

"I was great."

"You still are! I mean, you helped me find Twilight!"

"Y-Yeah! You saved my life." Twilight said, joining me, "Who knows what could've happened to me in these woods?"

Star Song's mouth curved up in a smile. "Yeah, I guess that's true."

"You're still the same smart little pony you were before." I said.

"I know. It's just... hard... It's hard to be... uprooted from your life like I was."

I nodded. "I could imagine."

"We need your help, Star Song." said Twilight.

She sighed again. "You wouldn't be here if this wasn't important to you."

I nodded. "It is."

"Well... then... If you think I can help, then I'll try my best."

"Thank you, Star Song." I said to her.

"Don't thank me yet. I haven't done anything. Before we start working on anything, you need to rest, Twilight Sparkle. You're as powerless as I am while you're like this."

"Of course. Thank you for this, Star Song."

"Oh, it's no trouble to me. I like the company. I've been out here on my own for so long."

"Don't you ever get visitors?" asked Twilight.

"Nopony wants to get lost in the Everfree Forest, so nopony ever tries exploring it. Cowards, I say! The Everfree Forest is nothing more than a bunch of overgrown weeds." She chuckled. "I'm just kidding, take this place seriously."

"Are... Are you... the first pony to map the Everfree Forest?" asked Twilight.

"I dunno, you tell me, Ms. Time Traveler."

"I... The first maps of the Everfree Forest, at least that I've seen, date back to around this time period."

"Well, guess I am."

"But... you're not... The first maps of the Everfree Forest were made by a stallion named Marble Lane."

"Then I'm not the first one. Whatever. Ruin my hopes, why don't you?" She chuckled. "The more maps there are of this crazy place, the better. You can't be too careful, here. It's like it changes its shape overnight."

"Well that would be impossible. Trees don't just get up and move on their own." said Twilight.

"You can never be too careful here." she repeated.

"Are you scared of the Everfree Forest?" I asked.

"Are you not? Just because they're overgrown weeds doesn't mean they aren't dangerous! There are all sorts of wild beasts in these woods! Not to mention the dangerous cliffs and pits scattered around. If you don't watch where you step, you could even find yourself in the middle of a patch of poison joke! Oh, how I hate poison joke..."

"What did it do to you?" I asked.

"I don't wanna talk about it." she replied, "Look, I don't mind having company, but the last thing I need is somepony on my mind while I'm out exploring these woods. So while I'm away I want the two of you to stay here, alright?"

"No problems there." I said, "Twilight can't use magic and I don't know the area."

"Good. You two need to go back to your own time as soon as you can. You shouldn't be messing around with magic like this."

"I'd go home if I could." I replied.

"Until I can control my magic again, I'm afraid that we're stuck here." said Twilight.

Star Song and Twilight's conversation drifted towards magic, leaving me out of the conversation for a long time until I heard, "Well, what about him?"

"Huh? Wha-?" I perked up, looking to them, desperate for any kind of interaction.

"Maybe you could cast the spell." Star Song suggested.

"Cast the what-now?"

"The spell to take you home."

"Uh... No." I replied.

"Well, you could try." she said.

"I am a human! I don't even know how to use magic in the first place! How do you expect me to cast something so complicated just like that?"

"Well, there is something that I've been wanting to try out." she said, putting on a thinking face.

"Ok. And?"

"Hmm... It... Honestly..." She turned to Twilight. "Since you already know how to cast your spell, it would be better for you to rest than it would be for me to try my experiment."

"What is your experiment?" Twilight curiously asked.

"I could link my magic with his, enabling me to use my skill as a spellcaster while my own body is incapable."

"Oh, I've heard of that! The process isn't well documented."

"I haven't done it before. It could prove dangerous and I don't think the risk is worth the reward."

"So why bring it up?" I asked.

"I miss casting magic." she responded, downtrodden, "Somepony new like you could provide me with a fresh slate."

"Oh..."

She shook her head. "I'm not going to endanger somepony else just for a few minutes of fun."

Helpful.

Being stuck in this little cabin, we spent much of the night getting to know each other. Star Song was an interesting little pony. She lamented about her inability to cast spells exactly once more before quickly changing subjects. Seems she's sensitive about it. I won't mention it.

The next morning was oddly similar to this. Star Song woke me up as she was getting up and asked who I was again. She left same as before and came back same as before, once again questioning us on who we were.

Star Song and Twilight quickly started on discussing their spells, leaving me out of the loop. I listened in, but couldn't understand what they were talking about, forgetting their words moments after they said them. They talked about different ways to cast Twilight's spells to accomplish our goals. Star Song would often sidetrack Twilight, asking about what the future would bring or even asking personal questions about her. Twilight danced around these questions and often refused to answer them. Star Song didn't seem to mind at all.



Unknown day 3



Once again, as we woke up, Star Song asked who I was.

"Why do you keep asking me that?"

"Asking you... Oh! Yes, that's right. I remember now." She smiled. "Phil! That's still a weird name."

"Shut up. Don't you have something to do?"

She smiled. "Nope! Today's Sunday! Sunday's my day off. Or was it Monday? Ah, who cares... I'm not leaving this house."

"Oh. Well, ok." I guess everybody could use a day off every once in a while.

I blinked, looked at Twilight, who was still sleeping, then laid my head back down.

Star Song yawned. "You know, you're an anomaly." she said to me.

"Yeah?" I replied, not looking at her.

"I've spent all this time talking to Twilight and I didn't get a chance to talk to you. I still don't really understand what a 'human' even is. What does a human look like?"

"They look like a... eh... Hard to explain, 'specially 'cause I just woke up."

"Mmm-hmm... What's the human world like?"

"Like your world but... well... I guess I'd say more violent."

"Violent?"

"Yeah. Overall, we're a few percentage points above you guys on the chart."

"Yeesh... That doesn't sound good."

"Nah, it's pretty great. I love the place."

"So why leave?"

"My fiancée can't stay in the human world. She has too many responsibilities in this world."

"I'm sure you have responsibilities, too."

"Just a job. Even if it were more than that, I'd still want to stay here."

She sighed. "How romantic... To go to such lengths for the one you love..."

"I'm not going to any lengths. Twilight's doing all the work. Poor girl's been working so hard for the past month. She's been stuck deciphering your journals over and over and over again all because you have terrible penmanship."

"Wh-What? I don't... How dare you? My penmanship is great, thank you very much!"

"No it..." Wait a minute... I finally got up, something piquing my interest. "But your journal was..."

"Where are you going?"

I mumbled to myself as I walked to her map collection. She got out of bed and joined me as I unrolled one.

Th... This is legible. The names on this are perfectly legible. "S... You... You made this, yeah?"

"Yes."

"And... you wrote the names down?"

"Of course I did. Who else would? What are you getting at, Phil?"

"The... The notes that we found were so poorly written that it took weeks just to read it. This is nothing like that."

"Told you my penmanship was great." she smugly replied.

This doesn't make sense...

"Ngh... What are you two doing?" a very groggy Twilight asked.

I turned to her. "Twilight, I have something for you to see."

"What do you mean?" She was still half-asleep.

"You know how those journals were practically unreadable?"

"Mmm?"

"Take a look at this." I gave the map to her.

She looked to it, then slowly unrolled it in front of her, yawning. "I don't... understand what I'm supposed to be looking at."

"The names. You can read them."

Twilight blinked. She read one of the names. She blinked again. I could see her eyes focusing on the map. She was finally waking up. "You're right."

"So, you guys found my journals, but they're unreadable?" asked Star Song.

"Yeah. The penmanship was terrible."

"Well, they aren't mine then. Somepony must be using my name."

"Using your name? But who? How? The spell I cast led us here, to you." said Twilight.

"You used a spell that relied on an unknown variable. It could've been any number of things that would lead you here. I didn't even know I made that kind of spell."

"I got it from your journal." grumbled Twilight.

"Didn't your mother warn you not to take things from strangers? Especially when the stranger has magic that can bend reality."

"What does this mean?" I asked.

"I don't know." Twilight replied.

"This is strange. Maybe if I had the journal in front of me, I could make more sense of this." said Star Song, "Twilight. You should be well enough to cast spells by now. Do you think you could try it out?"

Twilight nodded. "I think I can."

"It should be easier this time. You'll know where you'll be going. Still, be careful. If you push yourself too hard again so soon, you could end up in bed for a lot longer than just a few days."

"Right..." Twilight took in a breath and let it out slowly. "Stand back."

Star Song and I backed away as Twilight started her spell. A purple glow surrounded her horn. I glanced at Star Song as this happened. Her eyes were fixed on Twilight, not looking away for even a second. She was watching her. Examining her.

I saw a circle appear in front of us. Ahh... Such memories of magic circles.

As the color came to the circle, I could see my lovely little basement on the other side. Not Celestia's castle, but still workable.

"So... What is this?" asked Star Song.

"It's my house." I answered, "Which means... it's my cue."

Twilight let out a loud sigh. We both looked to her. She shook her head, then looked up at us. "Yeah... That's your cue. Could you... get the books for me?"

"Uhh... Yeah, sure. Are you alright?"

"I was able to cast the spell, but... I don't know if I'll be joining you."

"What do you mean?"

"I need to stay here so Star Song and I can work on the spell you need. Getting you home was a priority. I don't even know if I have enough energy to join you right now."

"So you're... staying?"

She nodded.

"What do I tell Celestia?"

"Tell her that I apologize for my tardiness. And that it won't be long until I am able to return."

"I'll make sure she knows, Twilight." I turned to the portal. "Time to go home." 

Ah, I could've thought of something better to say.
> Chapter 37
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I stepped forward and lifted a hoof, then pushed it through the portal. Unlike the last time Twilight cast the spell, something was different on the other side.

I could see a hand I knew instantly to be mine appear before me. My arm soon followed. As I walked through, I lifted my body so I was upright, landing on the floor of my basement. It worked. I was home.

After a brief examination to make sure all the pieces were there, I turned back to Twilight.

"So that's a human?" Star Song asked, "You're a lot bigger than a pony, that's for sure."

"Looks like it worked." I said, "I'll get those notes."

I walked around the basement and began collecting the notes Twilight and I had worked on this past month. As I went to pass them through the portal, I was surprised to find that I couldn't pass back through, my hand stopping abruptly at the edge.

"Looks like it's a one way trip." I said.

"Looks like it. I'll take those."

Her horn glowed as she cast a spell. The books in my arms disappeared in a flash of purple and reappeared next to Twilight.

"Good luck, Twilight." I said to her.

"We'll see each other soon." she replied.

I waved her a farewell as the portal closed. As the light faded away, I found myself in my dark basement.

Grove Street. Home. At least it was before I fucked everything up.

How many days has it been since I left? Two? Three? Two? The end of the first night... then...

I had clothes on but no phone. It must be upstairs. What time is it?

As soon as I touched the basement door to open it, I heard a loud gasp from the other side. I pushed it open.

Sarah was sitting on the couch. Her eyes were wide. Her mouth was hanging open.

"Hey Sarah." I casually said as if nothing had happened to me these past few days.

"Ph-Phil!" She scrambled off the couch.

As soon as I had cleared the stairs, Sarah ran into my chest, her arms wrapped tightly around me. I was a little surprised, but that didn't stop me from gently hugging her back.

"Wh-Where have you been?" she asked, looking up at me, still holding me.

I was shocked to see that she had tears in her eyes. I've only been gone for a few days and yet she's gotten so emotional over it.

"I... I've..." Need a good lie... "I've been with Celestia. I went to see her."

"You w-went to see Celestia?"

"Yeah. I'm sorry I didn't let you know, it happened so fast."

"B-But, all your s-stuff was here! Y-Your shoes, your ph-phone, your k-keys... You weren't at work, you weren't at your home... I was so worried about you..."

"I'm fine, Sarah. I'm fine. I'm so sorry for worrying you. I should've told you." You're not exactly my keeper though, Sarah.

I patted her on the back to tell her to let go of me. She pulled away, looking up at me. She reached a hand to her eyes to clear them. "I'm glad to see you safe and sound. How did you... How did you get into the basement?"

"I just walked down. Maybe you were in the bathroom or something."

"M-Maybe... Yeah, that m-must be it..."

I don't know if she believed me, but she didn't know enough about this situation to call me on it.

"What day is it?"

"Um... S-Sunday..."

"No, no, the date."

"It's the f-first, Phil. It's New Year's Day."

"Oh really? Happy New Year's, then."

"H-Happy... New Year's..." she replied, "Are you f-feeling alright?"

"I'm fine. I'm perfectly fine. It's just... I think Celestia said she'd be here by now."

"Didn't you say you were with her?"

"I was, I was... It's her turn to come here, now. Have you seen her?"

"No, no I haven't. Wouldn't it have been easier if you had brought her here when you came back?"

"She was busy."

"Hey, how would sh-she have gotten here before you? You were just with her."

"She's a funny woman. She coulda got here whenever she wanted."

"But you said she was busy."

"She was."

"How could she have gotten here before you if she was busy?"

I looked to her for a short while. "Sarah, you're bullying me and I don't appreciate it." I jokingly said.

She gasped. "I'm sorry... It just didn't... make..." She trailed off.

"She'll get here when she gets here, I guess. Wait... shouldn't you... Shouldn't you be at work?"

"We're closed today, Phil. Remember? It's a holiday."

"Oh yeah. We're usually open on holidays, though. Anyways... I'm gonna grab something to eat. You want anything?"

"Uh..."

"You're getting a sandwich."

"O-Ok..."

Sarah followed me into the kitchen and took a seat at the table as I got out the peanut butter.

I sighed. "Damn it, where's Celestia..."

"Phil!"

I let out a surprised yelp as I heard my fiancée's unique voice booming in my head.

"Phil?" Sarah asked, curious.

"Ah, I just... nothing, nothing."

"Where have you been?!" Celestia asked me, "I've been trying to talk to you for days but neither you nor Twilight were where you should have been!"

"Uhh... S-Sarah, I gotta put a pause on these. I'm gonna make a call." I said to her, stepping away from the counter.

"Al-right..." She looked confused.

I walked into the front room, holding my phone up to my ear so it didn't look like I was talking to myself.

"I'm sorry Celestia. Twilight went a bit loopy and decided it would be a good idea to visit Star Song." I said into the phone as if she were on the other line

"What? What do you mean, 'visit Star Song'? She can't... What do you mean?"

"Lemme start from the beginning. But... before that, I just want to say that it is so nice to hear your voice again."

"It's nice to hear from you too, honey." she replied, the concern in her voice receding.

"Twilight managed to find a way to travel to Equestria." I said, "Not too long ago, she traveled to Equestria and spoke to Discord."

"That would explain his attitude recently." she replied, "He has been extra... annoying."

"Hey! I resemble that remark!" we both heard.

"Discord please, this is a private..." Celestia stopped. "You... knew... that Twilight had returned to Equestria?"

"Of course I did, Princess."

"And you kept this from me... why?"

"You seemed busy. I didn't want to bother you."

I could feel my fiancée's annoyance even from another world.

"Please continue, Phil." she said.

"Twilight disappeared for a few days to do more research in Equestria. When she got back, she frantically tried to get me to Equestria. When nothing worked, she decided to do the only thing she could think of and go ask Star Song herself."

"Why in the world would Twilight..." She stopped again. "She should not have done this."

"But Celestia... when she cast her spell... I came with her."

"You... You what?"

"I came with her. I went to Equestria. I met Star Song."

"You... Oh m-my... Oh my heavens... Oh, this is wonderful news, Phil!" She sounded so happy. Her voice had such a beautiful brightness to it... I haven't heard her this happy in a long time...

"We keep getting closer and closer, Celestia."

"I'm so excited! I can't contain myself any longer! I'll be there shortly."

"You'll... Oh! You know Sarah is living here, right?"

"What? Honey, of course I do. Don't you remember? We've spoken before."

"Right, right, it's been a while sorry."

"It's alright. Though, I'd like to speak to her."

"I'm sure you would. Alright, I'll see you soon."

"It won't take long. I'll be waiting outside your front door. I cannot simply appear in your house now, now can I?" She chuckled. "See you soon."

Oh, how I have missed hearing her voice...

"S-So Celestia is coming soon?" Sarah asked me, standing behind the kitchen doorframe.

"Yep. She said she'll be here pretty soon." Sarah needed to go home when Celestia got here... Celestia said she would speak with her though. I guess I'll let her say what she wants.

How would I even explain this to her? She acts so innocent... If I have to tell her I will.

"How will... Will she be... staying? For... For a while?"

"Dunno. She has a busy schedule. She might not be able to."

"She has a busy schedule? Away from you?"

"Yeah, she's a busy lady. I'm lucky I got so much time with her before. She has all sorts of complicated rules about when she can and can't leave and when she can and can't go back. She's looking into getting that changed. The way things are going... I... might even move to her."

"Move? You're... m-moving?"

"I want to be with her."

"B-But you can't go! Wh-Wh-Who will w-watch the restaurant after you're gone?"

"Timmy's prolly next in line after I go, he's pretty solid."

"Wh-What about... What about your house? What are you g-gonna do about... th-this place?"

Not really your business... "Prolly sell it. Won't need it."

"Wh-Wh... Wh-What about m-m-me?" she asked me, tears visibly forming in her eyes, "W-Who will I talk to after you l-l-leave?"

"Sarah... Come on..." I sympathetically started. "It's not like we won't be friends after I leave. You're..."

A knock at the door.

"Yoo-hoo! Ph-il! I'm ho-me!"

Celestia.

I looked back to Sarah. "We'll have to hold onto this for later, Sarah. I'm sorry."

She looked down, gently nodding. She wiped her eyes.

She wouldn't pursue this if I didn't let her. She's like I was... Passive. This conversation happened at a bad time. I should've known this would happen.

I turned and went to the door to open it. The second it was open, Celestia jumped against me, her arms wrapping tightly around me.

"Phil! Oh, I'm so happy to see you!" she happily let out.

"Good to see you too, Celestia." I replied, hugging her back.

Celestia was made of sterner stuff than Sarah. She could take a much stronger squeeze. She let out a giggle as I tightened my arms around her. She did the same to me.

The feeling of her body against mine... I didn't want to let go. She didn't want to either.

Celestia took a deep breath before pulling her head from my shoulder. We looked into each other's eyes before closing in for a slow, gentle kiss. We soon pulled apart, resting our foreheads against each other, staring into each other's eyes.

"I've missed you." I whispered to her.

"I've missed you, too. I've missed your embrace."

We stayed together until it occurred to me that the door was still wide open. I pulled Celestia inside and closed the door behind her.

As I closed the door, we detached, settling on holding hands rather than a full embrace.

Celestia turned to Sarah and stepped towards her, letting go of my hand.

"Oh Sarah, it's so good to see you." she said, "I'm so sorry to hear about what happened. It must have been so hard on you."

"Th-Thank you, C-Celestia."

"Phil wasn't too rude, was he?" She chuckled.

Sarah let out a nervous chuckle of her own. "N-No, he w-was v-very nice."

"How wonderful! Did you get along well with Twilight?"

"We... Uh... We didn't have much time to t-talk, actually."

"Well, I suppose she was very busy."

"What was she... doing... anyways?" Sarah asked.

"Research." Celestia stated, "She's always on the path of knowledge."

"What was she researching?"

"From what I assume, she was researching the area. The geography, ecology, population, weather... I couldn't say for sure. She has her reasons."

"I... guess I'm still a little confused. She disappeared in the middle of the night. So did... you." She pointed at me. "You disappeared in the middle of the night, too. B-But you said you went to see Celestia. And... you said you missed each other."

"We can miss each other after a few hours, Sarah. I miss Phil when he goes to work."

Sarah is kinda pushing it. "Celestia, you said you wanted to talk with Sarah?"

"Yes, yes I did."

"And we were in the middle of something before you got here."

"Oh?"

"Y-Yes... Phil... told me that he... was... planning on m-moving."

"That's right. He was going to live with me. It would solve our traveling issue. If it doesn't work though, I will be able to visit him more often."

Sarah nervously glanced away. "I... I was j-just... worried... I-If he m-moves... b-before I'm able to get a j-job..."

That's not what she said at all... "Ah, not an issue. I'll still own the place, you can stay as long as you want"

"Um... Th-Thank you... b-but..."

"Hmm?"

"N-Nothing... Nothing."

Celestia looked to me for a few moments. It was an uncomfortable gaze. She looked back to Sarah. "Sarah... Sweetheart... I understand that this isn't easy for you to hear. I know it isn't easy to have a friend move away." She stepped forward, reaching to her and gently grabbing her hand. Sarah looked up into Celestia's eyes as she held her. "I know what you're feeling, Sarah. I've felt it well. It hurts knowing that you won't be able to spend time with them. But Sarah... We'll always be your friends. That's something that will never change."

It took a while for Sarah to respond. "Th-That's really nice of you to say, Celestia." I couldn't tell what she was feeling. Her face looked almost blank.

Celestia smiled at her and let go of her hand. "Come here." she affectionately said to her, spreading her arms out for a hug.

To her surprise, Sarah was captured by the larger woman. She didn't seem too unhappy about it. Instead, she smiled, wrapping her arms around Celestia's back.

Two pretty ladies sharing a tender embrace... Cute.

Celestia pulled away from Sarah. "You're a strong woman, Sarah. You can make it on your own."

Sarah blinked, her face reddened from embarrassment. "Th-Thanks, Celestia."

"Good. Now, I'd like to talk about the bed situation." Celestia said, changing topics entirely, almost comically, "You... have been sleeping in my bed." She pointed at Sarah.

"Oh! Uh... I'm s-sorry. I'll m-move for you."

"I suppose I just need a room. The basement could also work, Twilight is set to go home. She just has to take her equipment."

"What... is all that stuff, anyways?"

"Oh, just lab equipment. She's a very dedicated researcher."

"She... used quills and ink... I d-didn't think someone like her would use something like that."

"Some people are full of surprises. You shouldn't have to worry about the room situation for too long. Unfortunately..." She looked to me frowning. "I don't think I'll be able to stay for long this time."

"It's alright. When Twilight comes back, you two can figure this all out." I said.

"That's right. Until then, I'd like nothing more than to enjoy my stay. Phil and I will gladly take the basement while you use the room."

"I-I can move... i-i-if you w-want me to." Sarah said again.

"No need. As I've said, I won't be staying long." She wore a constant smile. She didn't have a care in the world.

"A-Alright... If you s-say so..." Sarah was much different. She nervously looked away from the Princess's eyes.

"It's such a shame that I had to miss such an important holiday." she said, "You've gone through all this work and I wasn't around to help you."

"It's alright. Sarah and Twilight helped me set it up."

"It looks lovely. I'll have to show you what our holidays are like."

"Looking forward to it."

"Can you make me something to eat? It seems in my excitement I forgot to get something for myself." she asked with a smile.

"Yeah, no problem. I was just in the middle of it, actually."

Celestia followed me into the kitchen. Two pieces of bread already sat on a plate next to an open container of peanut butter.

Sarah had elected to leave us be during the food making. Celestia took this chance to lean against me as I made the food.

"I've really missed you this past month." she quietly said to me.

"I missed you, too."

"I couldn't stop thinking of you. This time apart isn't good for me. I hope Twilight comes back soon."

"She'll be fine. She's Twilight, after all."

"You're right. She's more than capable of handling this. I'm just worried that you might not be able to come to Equestria. I don't want to just visit you, I want to be with you... I want to start a family with you."

"I know, Celestia."

"Do you think we'd be more likely to conceive if we were both ponies?"

"Could be."

"With Sarah staying here, we may have trouble with that."

"We didn't have trouble when Red was here."

"Red was..." She paused. "No, this is no different. Oh, look at me, speaking without thinking again. You're such a bad influence." She chuckled.

"Maybe I am... Maybe I am..."

Celestia's smile faded. "Honey? Is something wrong? You've been quiet."

I looked to her. "Nothing's wrong, Celestia. Nothing at all. I'm just... I'm just so happy to see you." I surprised her by giving her a tight hug.

She let out a soft, "Oh!" before wrapping her arms around me in return. "Is that all? You had me worried." she said, her voice quiet and soothing.

I held onto her for a long time, not wanting to let go. She must've felt the same. After a while though, I felt myself starting to choke up. I sniffed before pulling away and looking at her. I couldn't help but to smile as I gazed deep into her beautiful eyes.

"Ohh... Phil..."

Holding her in my arms... Her arms around me... I felt so warm inside.

Celestia's stomach growled. Her smile shifted to one of embarrassment as her cheeks reddened. "I wasn't lying when I said I hadn't eaten. I was so excited to see you that I rushed straight here."

I sighed. "You're lucky you're cute, you know that?"

She giggled. "I know."

We parted so that I could continue making food. Celestia took the first sandwich before I had even gotten the bread out for the next. She was finished with it by the time I had made the second.

"Slow down, you're gonna choke." I said to her as she picked it up, "Get the milk out."

"Ok!"

As I made the third, Celestia retrieved the milk and poured some glasses for us.

I made six in total, two for each of us. Sarah isn't as big as we are, she might not even need the second.

"Sarah, food!" I called out to her.

I pointed to her plate as she walked through the doorway. She picked it up and took it to the table.

Celestia sat next to her. I joined next to Celestia, across from Sarah.

"Thank you, Phil." Sarah said to me.

"Yeah, sorry it took so long."

"No, it's alright, it's... It's alright."

"It's still such a surprise to see you here, Sarah." Celestia said, "Are there any places you've been looking at?"

"Th-There are some. I d-don't have enough money t-to move yet, though."

"That's true. You've just started working. I'm confident that you'll find a job in your field soon. With your qualifications, you should be able to get a job anywhere you want."

"Y-Yeah... Thanks..."

Celestia finished her second sandwich and stood up to clean her place. She returned to us and leaned down to peck me on the cheek. "You need to call your boss about your absences." she told me.

"Shit!" I scrambled to get out my phone. "Right, yes. You're right."

"And tomorrow." she said.

Sarah gave us a look. "Tomorrow? What's happening tomorrow?"

I looked to Celestia, then back to Sarah. "Since Celestia just got back, she and I are going to spend the day at home together so we can..." I stopped. Whoops.

"Spend time together." Celestia finished.

"Exacto. So you'll be on your own going to work."

"On my own? A-Alright..."

I did as Celestia suggested and called my boss. He chewed me out for the absences without calling but calmed down quickly. I told him I would be gone tomorrow as well.

"Thanks for reminding me, Celestia."

"Of course, honey. I'll get a game set up for the three of us to play. Does that sound good?"

"Yeah, sounds great. We'll be out soon."

She turned and walked to the front room with a smile.

"So Sarah, now that you've met her again, what do you think?"

"She's... nice. She's really... p-pretty..."

"Yeah... When you're done out here, join us in the front room."

"Alright..."

"Oh yeah, if you can't finish your sandwiches go ahead and put them in the microwave. I wasn't thinking when I made it, you aren't exactly the heaviest eater."

"R-Right."

I joined Celestia in the front room. She had ejected Twilight Princess and put in Mario Kart for us. The old game was neatly put away as it should be.

She leaned against me as I sat on the couch. I wrapped my arm around her body.

"It's been so long since I played." she said.

"A month."

"Mmm-hmm. A month." She sighed. "Oh, where is Twilight..."

"She'll be here soon."

"I know. I'm still worried about her. This isn't the first time she's gone to the past. I didn't think I needed to tell her not to play with time, but apparently I do. It's not something to be taken so lightly."

"She knows that. She was scared she'd let you down. She said you gave her a month."

"I know what I said. I'll have to have a chat with my little time-traveler when she gets back. It baffles me how someone so bright could make such an idiotic decision."

"That's how I feel about you." I joked.

"What? I'm... Oh! Phil!" She started to laugh. "Loving you is the furthest thing from idiotic there is." She sighed. "Ohh... She is in a lot of trouble..."

"Oh come on, it's not that bad."

"You have no idea if that's true."

"Well... She had good intentions."

"Yes, I suppose. It does get us closer to our goal."

"Probably."

"Yes, probably."

Sarah walked through the doorway. We both looked to her.

"What are you... t-talking about out here?" she asked, curious.

"Uh..."

"Something private, Sarah." Celestia answered with a smile, "Something private. Now, come join us, won't you?"

Celestia patted the couch next to her. Sarah took a seat and grabbed one of the controllers.

I started the game.

All in all, it was a fun, relaxing game. Sarah was rather quiet throughout, but for her that was normal. Celestia was, as always, her cheerful self.

When it got late, we all retired to bed. Celestia and I went to the basement as Sarah took the bedroom.

As Sarah went into the room, Celestia said to her, "Please try to be careful in the morning, Sarah. I don't want to be woken up before I have to."

"O-Of course, Celestia."

"Goodnight, dear. I'll see you after work."

"G-Goodnight, C-Celestia. Phil."

After we walked downstairs, Celestia paused to shut the door.

She began stripping as I prepared the bed, stopping at her underwear.

"You too, off with them." she commanded, "Modesty won't be an issue, she won't come down here."

I smirked, then did as she said.

She smiled at me. "It's been too long, Phil. I can't tell how much I'm looking forward to tomorrow."

"I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to sleeping in."

She chuckled. "Yes, that's nice too. It wasn't what I was referring to."

"I think I figured that out."

She walked towards me. "I'm having trouble with all this waiting, Phil." she said, a seductive smile on her face, "I almost invited Sarah for a little playtime."

"Celestia."

"Too much? I'm sorry. It was a joke."

"A joke?"

"Well... kinda..." She chuckled nervously. "I'm not being too dirty, am I?"

"I think you should save it for tomorrow. Wouldn't want to wake her."

"Right..." She leaned forward and pecked my lips. "Let's go to bed. I've missed sleeping in your arms."

"I've missed having you there at my side when I woke up."

She sheepishly smiled. "Y-Yeah... Oh! One more thing. Your phone."

"Hmm?"

"Turn it off."

"Turn it off?"

She nodded. "No alarms, no calls, no messages. Nothing to wake us up."

"You're really serious about this." I said, retrieving it.

"I'm always serious about love."

I smiled at her. "I'm glad."

I paused as I was bent over to turn off my phone. Looking at her from below...

I sighed. "You're so beautiful." I said to her.

Her face reddened.

I really didn't know if I could do this. My cake was set out right in front of me, but I couldn't eat it.

I got onto the couch first. Celestia sandwiched me between the couch and her back. My hand immediately moved to her bottom. She sighed as I squeezed a handful of it.

I slowly slid my hand up her side as I said, "It's been a full month since we've slept together." I caressed one of her breasts through her bra. She sucked in a breath before I let go and moved back down to her stomach.

Celestia said nothing, but squeaked as I squeezed her in a tight embrace.

If I took this any further, neither of us would get to sleep. I was content. Her body in my grip, my rod sandwiched between us... It was nice.

"The things I would do to you if this story were rated M..."

"I've told you to change it, it's already popular enough."

"It's the principle."

"You're not a man of principles."

"I'm stubborn."

"You are."

"If I made it M, I would make pointless sex scenes."

"Our sex isn't pointless."

"They don't want to read it."

"Some do."

"Those 'some' are weird."

"I'd read it."

"Yeah, well you're weird."

"At least I can be weird with you."

"I love you."

"I love you, too."



I woke up to the sound of my fiancée's yawn. What a perfect way to wake up. No alarm yelling at me, no work to worry about, no responsibilities at all.

My arm is numb.

Celestia grabbed onto the hand I draped over her and held it close to her.

"Good morning, honey." she said to me, her voice tired.

"Good morning, Celestia." I pulled her closer, yawning. "What time do you think it is?"

"I have no idea. Just the way I like it."

"Yeah..."

"I've waited a long time for this."

"Eager to get started?"

"Yeah. Phil?"

"Hmm?"

"Make me a mommy."

"I will, Celestia. I will." She knows that I love hearing that... Already, she's pushing my buttons. I know a few buttons of hers that I can press. I leaned in close to her ear. "I love you, Celestia. I love you so much. I love everything about you, Celestia." I started slowly rubbing her stomach.

Genuine, loving compliments made my Princess's heart flutter. She let out a tiny whimper as I spoke.

"You're the most beautiful woman I've ever met. I love how your eyes light up when they meet mine. I love how your smile always brightens my day. I love how infectious your laugh is. You're my sunshine, Celestia. You're the light in my heart. You're my heaven... My paradise. You are... my day. You are the sun lighting my life. You're my everything, Celestia. You're my Princess. My Queen. You're my majesty. Every day we're apart, every minute you're in Equestria... it's unbearable... I don't want to spend another day without you at my side, Celestia. You're the love of my life." Will you marry me?

Oh god, did I say that aloud? No, no I didn't. Thank goodness. I wanted to wait... I wanted a special moment. Not this.

I heard her sniff. Celestia was so sensitive to these kinds of compliments. It wasn't hard to give my wonderful woman butterflies.

"Can we just move on to having sex?" she asked me, her voice quivering.

I chuckled and leaned forward to kiss her cheek. "Of course, honey. I need to go upstairs first."

"Don't you dare take a shower without me."

"I won't, I won't."

I maneuvered myself out from behind her and off the couch. She laid motionless on the couch, waiting for me to come back.

As I moved to the stairway, she said, "Get the light?"

"You got it."

I flicked the switch on for her as I went upstairs.

I yawned as I opened the door. I should've checked the time before I got up here, I was still in my underwear. Thankfully, Sarah's shoes weren't by the front door. She was gone. The sun was bright outside the house.

It's no secret that Celestia and I have an active sex life. That's why there was a box underneath the bed. A gift for her that I got before she got here. Unopened, otherwise Sarah may find it.

I brought it back down, locking the door behind me.

Celestia looked to me as I entered the room. She was sitting in the middle of the couch, her underwear in a pile on the floor. She was sniffling, tears dripping down her face.

"What's that box?" she asked, smiling at me.

"You alright?"

She giggled. "You did this to me. I can't stop them." She wiped her eyes, only for more to appear. "Oh, I must look so ridiculous."

I gave her a smile. "You look beautiful."

She let out another giggle. "Stop it, Phil... You'll make me cry again."

"Cry all you want, Celestia." I said, stepping to her. I bent over and gently held her chin, then pushed my lips against hers. We pulled apart with a soft smacking sound, our eyes meeting. "You're so beautiful."

"What's with the box?" she asked again, changing the subject.

"Oh, just a little something I thought you'd like."

"What is it? Wait! Don't tell me!" She eagerly took the box from me and opened it. As she looked inside, she let out a pleased sigh. "You know just how to make a lady swoon."

"Well... You're no lady."

"I suppose you're right about that."



[Scene very missing]



We sat on the front room couch after a shared shower. My fiancée laid against my side as I held her. Her pink bathrobe was almost as cute as she was. Her cool hair was draped against me. So cold...

We gazed forward into nothingness, simply enjoying each other's presence. I felt exhausted. I know she was the same way. We said nothing to each other.

The front door opened, snapping us out of our lull. We both looked to it to see what was happening.

Sarah gave us a strange look as she stepped into the house. The cold outside air and Celestia's still-wet hair didn't mix.

"Close the door, it's cold!" Celestia said to her out of nowhere.

"Right! Sorry!" Sarah scrambled inside to close it. She slipped off her shoes and turned to us again.

"How was work?" Celestia asked with a smile.

"It was fine. Nothing happened today."

Celestia sighed a pleasant sigh. "Sounds nice."

"H-How about you two? How was your day off?"

"It was nice." Celestia said, "I'm sure you'd like something to eat after a long day at work, hmm? Don't let us stop you."

"Uh... Y-Yeah... I'll do that, th-then..."

She seemed a little uneasy as she walked away. Celestia snuggled up to me again.

"She ruined it." she quietly said to me.

"Yeah, a little."

"She needs to leave."

"Celestia."

"It's true. She needs to take control of her life. Her brilliance is wasted at a fast food restaurant. As is yours."

"Yeah, I guess."

She grumbled. Not a sound I hear every day. "She can stay at that restaurant for all I care. I'm done thinking about her."

"Are you, though?"

"Absolutely not. For now, I don't want to care."

I chuckled. "Alright. We'll leave it at that."

At the moment, I didn't care either.

Sarah was out in the kitchen for a while. It sounded like she had made herself a sandwich.

"You should put some clothes on."

"Don't wanna."

"You should."

"I should. But I don't wanna." She snuggled closer to me.

"Aren't you supposed to be a proper woman?"

"Not here."

I looked down to her. She looked up at me.

"You look hot in that robe, Celestia." I said after a long pause.

She gave me a wide smile. "Thank you, honey."

I squeezed her bottom. "You're so sweet."

She just smiled before lying her head against me and closing her eyes.

Sarah eventually rejoined us in the front room. Celestia opened her eyes and looked to her.

"I-I-Is there something we can do t-together?" she asked us.

"You will have to find your own entertainment for the time being, Sarah." Celestia replied before I could say anything, "I need a day off, so that means Phil needs a day off.

"O-Oh... Ok... I... I g-guess I'll j-just go to the r-room, then..." Sarah looked down nervously as she spoke, disappointed that we had nothing for her.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart. Maybe tomorrow."

"N-No, it's... it's ok. If you need me, I'll b-be here."

She disappeared into the room without another word, closing the door behind her.

"Think she noticed that my hand was very openly grabbing your butt?" I quietly asked Celestia.

She chuckled. "Perhaps."

"It was a little embarrassing, I didn't know if I should've stopped or what."

"It isn't a secret."

"I know, but still. Let's go downstairs."

"I'm enjoying it here."

"Come on, we're in the way."

"We most certainly are not. She went to her room."

"If you won't put on clothes, we need to go downstairs."

She sighed. "Alright... But you need to carry me."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Fine."

She giggled as she leaned away from me, sitting up straight.

I stood up, my body cold without the warmth of hers. I moved closer and turned away from her before lowering myself to the ground.

Her arms wrapped around my shoulders as she leaned against me. Her chest pushed against my back. She lifted her legs around me, which I grabbed onto to hold her up. With some effort, I stood up, Celestia's massive body weighing heavily on me.

"Ready?" I asked.

"Onwards." She pointed to the door.

She opened the door for me when we got to it and closed it after we started down the stairs.

With heavy footsteps, I slowly walked down the stairs. Celestia held me tightly, lying her head against my back.

When I made it to the couch, I slowly crouched down to set her down safely. She let go of me and dropped onto it. I turned to face her.

"Don't make me climb stairs with you on my back, Celestia." I said to her, breathing deeply.

"What, you carried my sister up the stairs."

"Luna weighs like a hundred pounds less than you."

"I'm not that big."

"You're also a foot taller than she is."

"Oh, shush. Come. Join me."

I smiled at her before sitting down. She immediately laid against me, just like on the couch upstairs. I rested my hand on her side.

She sighed pleasantly. I gently caressed her side with my hand.

Something was coming to mind...

"You know what I'll miss when I'm in Equestria?" I asked her.

"Hmm?" She looked up at me, curious.

I moved my hand, cupping one of her breasts with it. She wasn't wearing a bra. The robe alone was between my hand and her soft skin. "These." I said.

I kept my hand against it for a small time before sliding it back down to her side.

"You sure like playing with them. I'll still have nipples in Equestria, though."

"I know that. But your big boobs are something only your human body has. They're so nice."

She hummed, pleased. There was a short pause before she said, "I'm going to miss having fingers."

"Yeah?"

"They're so much better for those times when you're at work."

"Pervert."

"Shut up."

"You know what else I'll miss? Movies. Series. Things that I'm watching or reading. I'll never see the end of Berserk, the end of The Avengers, the end of One Piece..."

"You can come back, honey. I won't stop you if you wish to return for a time. We could go on a vacation. You could show me the world."

"Yeah. There's all sorts of placed I wanted to show you. Paris... Rome... Venice... I am... drawing a blank aside from those."

"They sound nice. Those are in Europe, yes? I'd love to travel with you."

"We'll have years of vacations ahead of us."

"Sounds fun."

"Years of shows to watch. You and I should watch something."

"Did you have a movie in mind?"

"Well... not a movie, but... something really good. There's... There are a lot of masterpieces that I want to experience with you, Celestia. From books to shows to movies to games... You haven't seen anything that we have to offer."

"And whose fault is that?" She chuckled.

"Ah... Mmm... Mine... Sorry."

"It's alright, honey."

"We were busy."

"Busy having sex."

"Among other things."

"I quite like our relationship, Phil. Making love at the drop of a hat is such a new thing to me."

"We do more than just have sex."

"We do. It just seems minimal in comparison."

"Well, we aren't having sex right now."

"Correct. Though I wouldn't complain if that were to change."

"We went golfing with Red."

"Yes. Once."

"I took you to my grandmother's house."

"That was fun."

"We... uhh..."

She chuckled again. "Seems it's always on our mind."

"Well, we can't start a family if we don't have sex."

"True."

"Celestia..."

"Yes?"

"I just... wanna... I just wanna sit here. With you."

"Me too."

"I don't wanna get up again... Not... for a while..."

"Yeah... Me too."

"I wanna show you my favorite things. But... we don't have time. There's... I have a lot to take care of before I leave. If I leave."

"No 'if'. When."

"Yeah... When... My house, my car... My computer. My job. My... life..."

"You will be giving your life up to be with me in Equestria."

"I... I really like my life, Celestia. I've worked hard for 25 years to be where I am now."

"I know, honey."

"This is my dream. Truly. You might not understand this, but a stable job, an insured car, a paid-off house... A beautiful fiancée... This is my life... If I could just keep you here forever..."

"I know it will be hard, Phil. To leave all of this behind. To leave your friends and your family. To leave the life you've worked so hard on. All for me... I can't believe it, honey... To find someone that..." She looked up to me. "Loves me like you do... I... It's like... It's... It's like..."

I raised my finger to her mouth. She stopped her rambling, quietly staring up at me.

I sighed. "You know, we've been talking about staying home doing nothing all day... Honestly, Celestia... I don't regret it at all."

"Yeah... I don't either."

"I could stay like this forever."

"Me too. So..."

"So?"

"Are you ever going to show me those masterpieces you were talking about? Berserk, Avengers, One Piece... What are those?"

"Oh no, I didn't... Those aren't... Well... Ah... Berserk is a dark adventure story with a detailed art style and... an amazing plot. Avengers is an action movie series adapted from a comic series. One Piece is a very long pirate adventure story with funny characters."

Celestia chuckled. "When can I see them?"

"Uh... We can watch the Avengers whenever you want but One Piece is... like I said, long. It has damn near 800 episodes that are like... like... 20 minutes long."

"My goodness... Well, the best time to start something is now."

"Really?"

"No, no... Maybe later." She let out a short, cute chuckle. "What about the last one?"

"Well, Berserk is... gruesome. I don't know if you'd like the... themes."

"Hmm? Themes?"

I'm... explaining Berserk to Princess Celestia... I still can't believe that she's mine. "Well, it's... Berserks uses..." I'm not good at explaining things. "Ah, you're a big girl... Murder, torture, betrayal, rape, gore, corruption, demons, darkness... It's... truly beautiful..."

Celestia was silent for a while. She eventually asked, "Beautiful like me?"

"No, not... not beautiful like you."

"Not beautiful like me... but... beautiful."

"Yeah."

"Now I have to see it."

I let out a laugh. "Curious?"

"Yes! You can't dangle something like that in front of me and expect me not to jump for it! You should know that about me by now."

"Celestia, I think I know all about dangling things in front of you."

"Phil! Ah! Disgusting!"

I smiled at her. "You love it."

"You're so gross."

"Oh, and you're not?"

"Well, I never said that."

"Even if all we did was have sex... I really liked sex with you."

"Yeah... me too."

"Hey, Celestia..."

"Yes?"

"We should go on a date. Just the two of us."

"A date? I'd like that."

"You know, we've never been on a date."

"Have we not?"

"Not unless you count hunting down Red as a date."

"It wasn't my idea of a date, no."

"What is your idea of a date, Celestia?"

"Going out for dinner. Perhaps a movie. Maybe... Oh! Yes! We went on one date!"

"Did we?"

"Yes! You ordered me pizza and we ate while watching the sunset. I fell asleep next to you and you carried me to the car. You know, I was awake when you did that."

"Were you?"

"I knew that letting you know would've been embarrassing for you. It had been so long since I've been held in the arms of a man... I didn't want to ruin it, so I played along. If only I had known that it would be the start of our relationship... I would've given you a kiss as thanks."

"You're funny."

She smiled.

"I wanna take you on a date, Celestia. Thing is, I don't exactly live in a town of high society."

"Oh, I don't need a fancy-schmancy restaurant to enjoy a date."

"I know. I just... I wanna see you in a beautiful dress. As a human. At least once."

"I want to wear a human dress, too."

"One that... accentuates your cleavage... Opens on one side to show just a bit of your thigh and the rest of your leg."

"Thought about this, have you?"

"A bit. A dress for a six-foot-tall women with G-cup breasts though... I might have to custom order it."

"Well, I'm sorry I'm so big."

"No you're not."

She giggled. "No, I'm not. I could play dress up here at home for you. I'll wear anything you want me to, honey...

"Would you believe me if I said the dress thing wasn't a fetish?"

"Of course I do, honey."

"Cause it's not. At least, not at first. There's nothing wrong with wanting to see your beautiful fiancée in a beautiful dress. The boner won't mean anything, I promise."

"I'm sure it won't."

"There is another type of dress I'd like to see you in, though."

"Is there, now?"

"Yeah. I think you know what kind I'm talking about. It's white with a veil that will cover your face until the final few moments."

"Philly..."

"You're going to look so beautiful in that dress, Celestia..." I whispered to her.

"Phiiill... Stop making me cry..."

I looked down to her beautiful face at the tears forming in her big, beautiful eyes. I stared into her eyes as I said, "I want to see you in a wedding dress as a human, Celestia. You have to do that for me some day. You have to."

"I... I will..."

"Do you promise?"

"I p-promise... I promise... Ph-Phil?"

"Yes, Celestia?"

"Are... Are we... really going to get m-married?"

Are we going to get married? "I... Yeah... Yeah we are. I haven't... I haven't said it yet, Celestia."

"I know."

"I wanna marry you, Celestia."

"I wanna marry you, too."

"You're my fiancée, Celestia. Even if I haven't said it, that's who you are."

"I'm your fiancée... Every day, Phil... I wonder how you will propose to me. I wonder where we will be, what you will say, how you will say it... My heart skips a beat every time you drop to your knees before tasting me."

"Celestia..."

"Phil..."

"Celestia..." I stared into her eyes as I lowered my hand to the belt holding her robe closed. I pulled the simple butterfly knot she had tied, opening it. "I need you..."

"I need you, too..."

I raised my hand to her chest. "I'm so going to miss these in Equestria..."



"Hah... Hah... Whoopsies..." she let out, panting.

"Sorry... I got carried away."

She giggled. "It's alright, honey. Ohh... I feel sore..."

"Gonna be alright?"

"You have too much pent up energy. This past month must've been so hard on you. Such a virile man you are..."

"I'll make you a mother soon enough..." I whispered to her.

She sighed. "I'm... tired..."

"Yeah... me too..."

"I'm going to go to sleep. Wake me up in the morning."

"It's not even eight yet."

She snuggled against my chest. "Goodnight, honey."

"Goodnight."



I woke up before my alarm. My heart skipped a beat when I realized that my phone was off. My fiancée sleeping in my arms made it difficult to reach my phone, but I got eventually got to it. According to my phone, it was around five in the morning. In the basement with no sunlight, there was no other way to tell.

Hmm... I'm hungry. I didn't eat last night. I didn't get out of bed because of Celestia. It's so early in the morning. I've been asleep long enough. I didn't feel tired.

It took a lot of careful maneuvering, but I was able to get to my feet without waking Celestia. I looked over her as she slept before heading upstairs.

Five in the morning...

I started with a bowl of cereal for breakfast. I still had a lot of time...

Sarah walked through the door to the kitchen, rubbing her eyes. She was wearing a normal shirt and pajama bottoms. She had obviously just gotten up.

"What are you doing up?" she asked me.

"What are you doing up?" I retorted.

"You were making noise out here. I got curious."

"Sorry. Celestia and I went to bed early, so I got up early."

She silently looked at me with sleepy eyes.

"You should go back to bed."

"I'll be fine. I... I heard you and Celestia yesterday."

"Oh, you... Ah... You did..." So that means... Red did, too... Yeesh... I think we knew Red heard us. She's such a polite young lady... Wonder how she's doing...

"I... Um... I d-didn't have... anything else to add to that."

"Well we're sorry, Sarah. Celestia and I are... we're... We're trying for a kid."

"Oh! R-Really? Th-That's wonderful!"

"Yeah, yeah... Thanks. I'm... I'm really sorry, Sarah."

"No, no, it's... it's alright... I can... I can t-tolerate it... while I'm here..."

"Hey... Sarah?"

"Y-Yes?"

Would you like to join us? "H-How are... you doing?"

"I'm doing well, Phil. After all this business with my father and... you... I think I'm starting to... recover."

"That's good. That's good. How are your parents? Are things going well between you and your father recently?"

"I... don't know. I've been trying to take your advice, Phil. To... give him another chance. It's hard."

"I never said it would be easy."

"I know. I didn't think it would be. It's just... after what he did... and what he did to you..."

"It's alright, Sarah. Baby steps. These things take time. Forcing it won't work."

"I know. I know. He's my dad, Phil. I know he still loves me. Now that I've had time to calm down, I've thought about why he did what he did. He's scared. He's scared of losing his child. Of losing me. I know he is. Our lie... My lie... It hurt him so much. I feel... guilty."

"Are you going to tell him that it was a lie?"

"No, I don't think I can. Even if I could, it would just make things worse. I don't want to lie to my father, but this time, the lie... almost became the truth... I started... really liking you, Phil. For a short while, I started to think that it... wouldn't be so bad... you know? But... Celestia is the nicest woman I've ever met. I could never... scorn her. What I'm... What I'm trying to say is that... I like how things turned out."

"Yeah... Things aren't so bad, huh..."

"Yeah... Maybe one day we can have dinner again, no yelling."

"Maybe..."

"Hey, did you... tell Celestia what I... what I said to you? She hasn't said anything to me, s-so I'm... I'm a little worried."

"No, I haven't. But..."

"It's alright, Phil. Don't let me come between you and her. Do what you need to do."

I stared at her for a short while. She didn't look away... She's... confident. She's going to make someone very happy some day.

"Sorry for waking you, Sarah. You should get back to bed."

"Uh... M-Maybe... Uh... Alright. Yeah, alright. I'll see you in a few hours."

"Yeah."

She started to say something, but hesitated. She turned away and walked back through the door.

What a nice lady.

Uh... Mmm... I shoulda stayed in bed with Celestia. I'll wake her if I join her. Couch it is.

My alarm shocked me awake. I groaned. I shouldn't have fallen back asleep.

I heard cooking. I smelled pancakes. Mmm... Pancakes... I sat up, yawning. I could eat...

Celestia was standing at the oven, a spatula in her hand. She smiled at me as I walked in.

"Hello, Phil."

"Oh! Sarah. Hey."

"Enjoying your pancakes, Sarah?" Celestia asked her.

"I am! They're delicious. Thank you, Celestia."

"Phil, pancakes?"

"Uh... Yeah... Thank you."

I went up to her and retrieved a plate of them. Two were piled on it. I went to the table and started to eat.

Celestia joined us, a glass of milk in her hand for me. I thanked her and took a drink.

Good pancakes...

"You're up early." I said to Celestia.

"I wanted to surprise you."

"Well thank you, Celestia."

"Of course, honey."

Sarah briefly gave me a look, but said nothing.

I turned my attention to my fiancée. She smiled at me as she cheerfully ate her own cooking.

"You were lying on the front room couch this morning, honey." Celestia said to me.

"I got up early and didn't want to wake you after I got back."

"You should've woke me up so I could spend more time with you."

"I thought you might like the extra sleep."

"Well, you're not wrong." She smiled.

It wasn't long after breakfast that Sarah said to us, "I'll be leaving a little early today. My mother and I have something we need to do."

We parted ways an hour before we needed to be at work. I think she left us alone on purpose...

"Hey Celestia... I... have something to tell you."

"Hmm? What is it?"

I took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Well, this might not be easy to hear, but here goes... When you were gone, Sarah and I had some beers. She got drunk and... told me that she thinks she loves me."

"Oh?"

"She told me that she didn't want to feel that way because of us. Because of you. On Christmas Day, she kissed my cheek and thanked me. She told me that it was the best Christmas she's ever had."

"Oh, honey... I'm sorry that I couldn't be there for Christmas."

"Did you... hear me?"

She nodded. "I heard you. Phil, do you trust Sarah?"

"I... do. Yeah, I trust her."

"If I wasn't here Phil, if I never came back... Would you like to have been with her?"

"I... Celestia, is everything alright?"

"Yes, everything is fine, Phil. Could you answer my question, please?"

She didn't seem mad at all. She was her same cheerful self. Did she even care?

"Are you asking me if I want to be with Sarah?"

"I'm asking you, if I never came back, would you want to be with Sarah."

She was careful with her words. I don't know if I can be careful with mine.

"Yes."

She smiled. "That's what I thought. I'm lucky I came back when I did, then. I couldn't have expected you to wait, and while I've been jealous of her in the past, those feelings have passed. If it had taken me, for example, a year to return to you, I would have no place in your life. A kiss on the cheek isn't an issue, Phil. I'm just glad it wasn't more. Sarah is our friend. She's a smart woman with a delicate heart. She understands what can and cannot be."

"I... You know, I kinda expected you to say something like that."

"Did you? I'm glad. In truth, I expected Sarah to feel something for you. After all, you're wonderful."

"Funny joke."

"Phil..." She let out a nervous chuckle. "I can't believe she opened your conversation by telling you that she heard us. Oh, I was so embarrassed..."

"You were awake?"

"You woke me getting out of bed. I was almost back asleep when I heard footsteps, so I decided to investigate. I trust Sarah, Phil."

"Yeah."

"She said that she'll 'tolerate' us. Luckily for her, I'll be back in Equestria soon."

"Twilight hasn't come back yet."

"Indeed. If she comes here, send her to Equestria immediately. I need to speak with her."

With her thinking about Twilight, my mind was still on Sarah. I remembered what I had thought earlier. "Hey Celestia..."

"Yes?"

I rubbed the back of my neck. "I know... I wasn't entirely comfortable talking about this before, but... if I ask Sarah..."

She chuckled. "I thought your heart was set on Queen Chrysalis."

"I almost asked her this morning."

"Did you, now? Typical man, always thinking with his penis."

"Hey!"

"Well, I'll have no issue with it. I assume our little box is unopened? Twilight may have been attractive, but she was here to study."

"I didn't touch it."

"Good. Oh, how exciting... My fiancé's first threesome."

"Hey, that don't mean I'm actually gonna ask her. Just if I do. And if she accepts, 'cause she can just say no."

"Oh, who would say no to you?"

"Most... people?"

She chuckled. "Chrysalis could say no."

"She could. Besides, Sarah was raised Christian. She might not even want to have sex before marriage at all, let alone with two people."

"Christian, now that's a religion, yes? Christianity?"

"Yeah."

"Your world's religions can be very confusing. There are so many of them and so many branches of those I've found. Religion in Equestria is far less complex. It's also much less widespread. I feel many view Luna and myself as gods."

"Maybe to them, you are."

"I can't in good conscience call myself a god. My sister and I won't take the title by choice. We are merely Princesses. That is enough for us."

"You're so nice."

She smiled. "If you'll excuse me, honey..." She stood up, giving me a kiss to the cheek. "I'd like to get the dishes washed."

"Alright. I guess I'll help."

"No, no, I'll take care of this. As your wife-to-be, I need to get better at cleaning."

"Celestia, you don't have to..."

"I know. But I want to. Now go, rest. You have work soon."

I sighed, smiling at her. "Alright, Celestia."

My fiancée collected some of the dishes from the table. The rest floated in the air behind her, covered in her signature yellow glow.

She set the dishes on the counter and turned the water on, humming a small tune I didn't recognize.

This is my future wife. This is who she is. This is who she'll always be.

God, I loved her...

I got out of my chair, unable to keep my eyes off her. Despite her request for me to rest, I approached her.

She let out a surprised, "Oh!" As l wrapped my arms around her from behind.

She chuckled as she started placing dishes into the soapy water.

"No sex, honey. I need to rest, too. Any more and I'll bruise."

"I know. I just want to show you how much I appreciate you." I said, moving my hands to her hips.

She let out a whine as I jerked her pants around her wide hips.

"Hon... ey?"

I lowered myself to my knees behind her as I pushed her pants to her ankles. "Just worry about the dishes, Celestia. I'll take care of everything else."

She chuckled. "Very well, honey. I love you."

"I love you, too."



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