Gilzia/ Celestia
Pyre/ Luna

Celestia gave me an almost mischievous smile as Luna’s cheeks turned a light shade of purple, “So you find us beautiful.”

‘Crap!’ I thought to myself as I began to panic a little, ‘Did I just say that out loud?’

“No you did not speak it aloud.” Luna answered as she crossed her arms under her bosom, giving me an upset look as a slight frown formed on her lips and her wings fidgeted in exasperation,“And how dare you describe my sister’s hips in a more favorable fashion. Are mine so lacking?”

‘Crap! They can hear me! What the fuck do I do… uh… uh… uh…? Clear my mind. Yeah that’ll work. I just don’t have to think any indecent thoughts about them…Shit! This would be easier if they weren’t standing there naked in front of me.'

As I continued to silently freak the fuck out, the women shared a knowing look with each other before smiling.

‘Calm down Eric it is alright.’ I heard Celestia’s voice say in my head.

‘Fuck! Now I can hear their voices in my head! This shit ain’t happening. What the fuck did they do to me? Am I under some kind of mind control…?’ I panicked to myself as I began to ramble away in my mind trying to justify what was going on with me in a logical sense but I was falling woefully short.

On the other hand, Luna and Celestia seemed content to continue to let me spin in a death spiral down into insanity for a few more moments. Celestia personally looked like she was highly amused with my reaction while Luna eventually rolled her aqua eyes at me, the humor of the situation evidently gone for her.

“Please be at ease Eric Broussard. You are not going to be used as our plaything to create a group of hybrid super soldiers or whatever else you may think we mean to do with you.” She said to me as she walked over to me and touched the end of my makeshift club which had been trembling quite clearly by then, “What you are experiencing is more than likely a residual side effect of the merging of your mind with my sister’s and mine.”

At that phrase I stopped trembling almost at once and looked the shadowy princess in the eye, my own narrowed a little, as what she had said began to sink in, “You two did what?”

“We temporarily merged our minds with yours, so as to find the information we needed in order to be able to talk to you in your own language.” Celestia said as she sat down on the cot next to me gaining my attention, “We do apologize for not asking your permission prior to doing so but time is short and your situation is so unique that we could not go about with a less ‘drastic’ measure.”

“What do you mean unique? What’s wrong with me?” I asked her hoping to get some kind of answers to help explain some of the strange things that had been happening to me since waking up back in the forest.

“Nothing is wrong with you, at least not physically, mentally or even spiritually from what we could see during our bond. It is what’s different about you magically.” Luna stated as she took a seat on the other side of me. I could tell by the calming tone of her voice that she was trying to consul for some reason. It almost made me feel like she was a doctor who was trying to tell me, her patient, that I had some kind of incurable disease and shouldn’t be alive.

“Magically? What are you talking about? There’s no such thing as magic, all that is stuff is smoke and mirrors done by performers.” I replied a little upset that these two were in fact just trying to pull my leg.

“Wrong Eric, magic does exist and it is everywhere around us as the Magic of Harmony.” Celestia explained with a warm smile but I wasn’t convinced.

“What you mean like the Force? Once again that isn’t real,” I said as I took a couple of calming breaths and tried to think of another way to try and get some more information, “Okay let’s say I was to believe you, what is it that’s so ‘magically’ wrong with me?”

“Unlike every other species on the planet you are not connected to the flow of the Magic of Harmony. While it flows through Luna and me it instead seems to be repelled away from or is even neutralized by you, thus not allowing you to talk with us in the normal manner.” Celestia explained but I still wasn’t buying it.

“And how would this magic allow me to converse with you? “

“The world is made up of many different species who all speak their own unique language, which would make it very difficult for us to speak with say a minotaur because of that barrier. But being as both of our species are connected to the Magic of Harmony the words that comes out of our mouths are altered and changed inside the recipient’s ear canal so that all they hear is their language. Thus allowing everyone to prosper together in harmony,“ Luna explained to tell me as I saw her horn light up blue and two glowing figures of what seemed to be a minotaur and herself appeared in her open palms.

I had halfway listened to her explanation as I was more transfixed on the glowing specters floating there in free space. As much as I wanted to continue to not believe them there really was overwhelming amount of evidence to support their claims between what I had seen with Xam and her friends. Maybe what they were saying was true and there was magic on this world or some force that they called magic, which meant with certainty that this wasn’t Earth and any chance I had to get back home now rested with Celestia and possibly even Luna.

“So you’re telling me because I don’t interact with this magic that none of your magic works on me, right?” I asked as they both gave me a small nod as I continued with my train of thought, “Then how are you able to talk to me now? How were you able to use magic on me when others couldn’t?”

“That is because we didn’t use magic.” Celestia stated matter-of-factly before deciding to elaborate more as she looked at my confused face, “My sister and I are of a species known as alicorns and we differ greatly from our subjects. We were able to mentally make a connection with you through physical contact.”

“Alicorns?” I asked as I pondered over the meaning of the word.

Celestia brought a finger to her lips as she looked like she was thinking of the best way to explain, “I suppose the best translation would be ‘goddess’.”

“Goddess?” I replied in disbelief as I stood up and walked over to the far wall to contemplate what she had told me, after a fleeting moment I turned back to them with a slight smile on my face, “You’re telling me that you two are goddesses?”

“Yes,” Luna replied with a nod of her head in confirmation, “My sister controls the sun and the day while I control the moon and the night skies.”

For some reason I found this statement hilarious as I started to laugh, maybe it was because of all the mind-boggling things I had heard and seen since I showed up in this world so why not add deities to the list. Starting out as just a chuckle deep in my throat my laughter soon grew until I was holding my sides and leaning against the wall to support myself so as to not fall over. I slowly began to regain my composure as I wiped a tear away from my eye, but one look back at the two women and I lost it again as I fell to my knees laughing in pure delight.

The two women continued to sit in silence waiting for me to stop laughing like a toddler. Celestia still had the same motherly smile on her face and almost seemed like she would join me in laughing at any moment, but Luna was anything but amused as she had her arms and legs crossed with a frown across her features.

“Is there something I said that amuses you?” I heard her say quite upset that I was making light of what she said.

As my laughing died down into slow giggles and the occasional cough to help clear my sore throat I stood back up and dusted off my knees. The saying that ‘laughter is the best medicine’ proved to be true for me as that outburst had cured me of any feelings of anxiety and fear that I may have had before. As I rested my hands on my hips I took one final deep breath to reset my calm demeanor as I turned to address the ‘goddesses’ once more.

“Sorry about that,” I apologized to them, “Just remembering how my people usually envision deities as old men with beards, so if you two are goddesses then I must have without a doubt joined the wrong religion.”

“Is that so?” Celestia said with a slight giggle.

“Yeah, but I’m still not entirely sure what you did and what was the big hurry. Not that I’m complaining mind you. It’s good to be able to talk with someone again. I guess you never really realize how important talking is until you can’t do it for a few days.”

“Even talking with one’s such as us?” Luna asked the tone of her voice made it sound like she was seemingly still upset at me for laughing at them, but the smug smirk on her face let me know otherwise.

I smirked right back at her, figuring that if I was willing to basically laugh at these goddesses to there face then might as well go for broke, “You two are in my head remember? So I would figure that you should already know what I’m thinking about when it comes to you two.” I told her as I tapped the side of my head and began to think up images of the two in the most carnal of context. If I was going to die because of this I was going to go down being myself, and after all they were the ones who came into my mind without permission.

The effect was almost immediate as Luna blushed deeply and averted her eyes from mine, finding a peculiar spot on the stone floor that looked particularly interesting, and even Celestia’s pearly cheeks held a rosy tint to them as I heard her mutter softly as her breathing increased, “I must remember that one.”

I let them dwell on the thoughts for a moment before something important came to mind about what Luna had said earlier, “So how long should this mind connection last?”

Celestia was the first one to look up at me with a start, seemingly distracted for some reason, although what it could have been I couldn’t possibly of imagined. Or could I? She began to speak as Luna continued to blush, “We are not entirely sure because no alicorn has ever merged their minds with that of a lesser mind, or anyone not of alicorn blood for that matter. I would imagine that the connection should fade away over the next few weeks and maybe even faster depending on our distance from each other. But in the end I can not say for sure.”

I had to pause for a moment to think about what she was telling me before I thought about her statement of merging with a lesser mind, “Wait a minute, did you just call me stupid?”

Celestia had to laugh at this, it wasn’t a dainty giggle but an actual full on laugh that rang through the cell like the sound of a bells. “Hardly, I do apologize, I guess I should have said ‘mortal’ mind instead. But the process has less to do with your actual intelligence as it does with your brain capacity. The merging process literally adds the capacity of our brains together for a brief moment forming a mental bond, but the risk arises in that even though your brain functions at a much lower capacity it may have still been too much for either of our brains to handle. That is why Luna merged with you as well so as to help even out the mental load.”

She paused for a moment when she saw that I was having a little bit of a hard time understanding the theory she was trying to explain to me. With a thoughtful look she began to explain again, “Think about like this. Imagine you have two cups of water. In one cup you have the water filled most of the way, while in the other it’s only filled a quarter of the way. Now imagine if you were to pour the cup that was only a quarter of the way full into the cup that was mostly full or even the other way around?”

“The cup could overfill.” I stated getting an idea at what she was trying to get at.

“Exactly, now lets add another cup that is mostly filled and then pour the cup that is filled a quarter of the way equally into the two other cups. There is more space for the water in the cup that is filled only partially to go into between the two cups than just one. So the load is shared and we had enough control to ensure that it was us who shared the load as opposed to your mind having to bear both of ours.”

“Okay I’m pretty sure I get it now.” I told them, the same principle applied to when you overtaxed any type of system, whether that system was a computer, a car motor, or even a person if you asked too much of it you ran the risk of it crashing. Yet that raised even more questions for me, “I’m guessing that’s why Xam couldn’t do the mind merging with me earlier, because it would be too much for her mind? But it raises the question of why you would risk yourself just to be able to talk to me in the first place? Couldn’t you have just waited and done it the old fashioned way? ”

“Not quite, Xamspona may very well have been able to perform the task had she known about it,” Celestia pointed out as she emphasized with the raising of a finger, "but unlike Luna and I, she was not born a pureblooded alicorn and instead has only ascended to alicornhood status about three years ago. Unfortunately, even after that amount of time she still has a few more years to go before the transformation has taken full effect. In the end she will be the same as I, Luna, her sister-in-law Empress Gehluli of the Crystal Empire, but for the moment you could say that her cup is still being filled.

“So yes she possibly could have performed the task as far as mental capacity, had she known about that ability, but with her body still maturing I am not sure she would have been able to keep it under control without running the risk of injury to either you or herself.”

“But that does bring us to our next topic of conversation, the urgency of needing to be able to talk with you.” Luna said as she seemed to have finally regained her poise, and I couldn’t help but also think that she was trying to direct the conversation away from my other questions. But I decided to let this slide for now to instead focus on the matter of me leaving this prison.

“And that would be why I’m in this jail cell right?” I said as the sisters nodded in unison before Celestia began to speak again.

“That would be correct. You are here because of your physical assault on Prince Blueblood in the halls of this very castle.”

“He’s not my prince. And prince or not he should learn not to pick fights he can’t win.” I told the pastel hair colored woman as I crossed my arms defensively in front of me and smiled a little at the memory of slamming the man in question to the ground.

“He is our nephew and Lord Regent of the province of Canterlot, where we are currently at, and as such he is in his full right to declare for your immediate execution, which he has. Only Luna and I, as rulers of all Equestria and its surrounding territories, hold more power and the ability to rescind this order.” She continued to tell me probably thinking that it would make me change my mind, but I held firmly in my resolve.

“I’m not apologizing if that’s what you’re looking for.” I told them, pausing for a moment to let that sink in before continuing, “He was saying something that seemed to upset Twilight and her friends, and when I tried to resolve the situation he slapped me like I was some kind of two-bit hooker. Excuse my use of metaphors.”

“Quite alright please continue.” Luna said motioning me with her hand for me to go on.

“Well where I come from if you’re going to hit someone, then it doesn’t matter who you are you better be willing to take the repercussions. So I threw him to the ground and proceeded to ask him ‘nicely’ to apologize to the girls, and that’s when one of your guards hit me in the head.”

Once I had finished my story the two sisters seemed to mentally contemplate my story amongst themselves for a moment as they looked at each other out of the corner of their eyes. I tried seeing if I could listen into their internal conversation but was unable to, whether from not knowing how to, or them being able to keep me out of their minds I wasn’t sure. So I was relegated to stand off on the sidelines while my very fate was deliberated upon. After a few particularly harrowing moments the sisters directed their attention to me as they stood from the cot and walked over to me, their bodies holding such elegance and bearing as they walked the short distance to me. They stopped in front of me before giving me a calm smile that seemed to ease my apprehension and a slight bow of their heads.

“Thank you for being honest with us.” Celestia spoke as she continued to smile, “Your story of the events matches those of the other witnesses who were there at the scene.”

I felt a weight lift from my shoulders as she said this. I couldn’t believe that I was going to get out of this with basically what amounted to a slap on the wrist. She must have either seen this on my face or used the link between us to read it from my thoughts as she spoke again letting me know that I wasn’t out of the clear yet.

“However, there is still the matter of you attacking a member of the royal family that needs to be answered for.” She stated as I swallowed nervously as my throat went dry, “Normally the sentence for such a crime is either death or life in prison. But we must take into account the fact that you were provoked into your actions, and there is also the matter of a fellow princess, certain other high ranking mares of her court, and even members of our own royal guard who vouch for you in your defense.

“So in light of this, my sister and I have decided that you punishment shall be to accompany us to our private dining hall and to join us and your saviors for dinner so we can hopefully figure out a way to return you to your home, post haste.”

At that I couldn’t contain my excitement any longer at not only having my charges dropped but them also willing to help me get home as I quickly lifted the goddesses in my powerful arms and began to spin around whooping merrily. The moment only lasted briefly though as I remembered who it was that I was squeezing against my chest and I quickly set their feet back on the stone floor, giving them a sheepish grin in apology. The two deities didn’t seem any worse for the wear other than a light blush on their cheeks and a small look of incredulity on their faces.

“Sorry about that” I said as I chuckled nervously, “Kind of got over excited there for a moment.”

“Quite alright,” the day goddess spoke as she reclaimed her serene appearance before her and Luna turned to walk out the door to my cell. Once they were in the hallway they noticed that I had not yet moved from my spot in the cell. Celestia gave me that same mischievous smile that I was quickly coming accustomed to associating with her, “Are you coming? Your punishment awaits.”

“Yes ma’am” Was my crisp reply and I fell in behind the monochromatic siblings, as they started down the hall again.
Once we had reached the door at the end of the hall a guard on the other side opened it for us to pass. As Celestia walked through the door she stopped on the other side of the frame and looked back over her shoulder at me.

“Oh, and Eric…” She stated as Luna passed through the door next to her.

“Yeah?”

“We can still read your thoughts.”

‘Damn.’

Author's Notes:

Woohoo, two chapters in a weekend! This one came out a little shorter than I wanted it to be, because it and the following chapter were originally supposed to be one big chapter but I decided to give Eric and the princesses their own chapter of dialogue to help get the explanations going.

Anyways next chapter will be up asap (time permitting.)