Chapter 15

9-22-13, 3:06 P.M.

Jeremy relaxed in his office, reading the Manehattan Times. His interview had made it into the paper immediately, and he was pleased with the results: They didn’t make assumptions, they didn’t speak for him – it was pretty clean journalism, all in all. Luna had quickly checked in last night to make sure the changeling escapade went well, and he assured her that all was going smoothly. After that, she teleported a single computer back to its original location and left to do her own thing. Frankly, Jeremy couldn’t believe he had just reconciled two bitter enemy nations – then again, a lot of stuff he had done recently was unbelievable. Folding up the newspaper, he cast about for something else to read – the game was still loading, and he needed something to do. His eye fell on the karaoke brochure – not exactly new material, but maybe he missed something? He was beginning to develop an awful habit of not reading important documents.

Much to his dismay, he had indeed missed something – there was to be a third night, where a most-popular newly formed couple would sing a closing song for the crowd. Jeremy rolled his eyes – he wasn’t arrogant, but if he and Luna weren’t the most popular couple, he would be very surprised. Plus, of course the third night was tonight – when else? So, time to think of a song…

Jeremy scrolled through the list of songs he knew – thankfully, Luna had copied over his music files as well. When he or Luna had sang before, the songs had meant something – some subtle symbolism that only they would understand. So, what would compliment her Carly Rae impression and his Owl City? Oh. Oh. Jeremy scrolled down, grinning. Perfect.

The game loaded, and he took out another weapon and began drawing it, pausing a moment to fight off some enemies that had spawned. Jeremy liked drawing weapons, almost as much as he liked making replicas of them. A thought occurred to him: Why didn’t he ever see the design team? Maybe they worked in the morning? He’d have to ask Luna when she showed up – she had promised to meet him tonight, presumably to break the news about the third night. Jeremy sighed, somewhat displeased with his sketch, and set it to the side before starting a new one.

He vaguely remembered he had another interview scheduled – again at six. Then, he had to go to dinner and meet up with Luna, who he’d hang out with until about ten o’clock, when they had to be at the karaoke place. Not only that, he had to finish this drawing – and he was just not getting this goddamn perspective right. Jeremy groaned in frustration, erasing yet more lines.

9-22-13, 5:54 P.M.

A few hours later, he headed back to the karaoke bar for another interview. Starshine was already waiting, ready to go – she led him inside as soon as he arrived. “Wow, our article yesterday was really popular!” gushed Starfire. Jeremy wished he could emulate that enthusiasm – truly, it was something to behold. He smiled in response.

“Yeah, I read it too. Good job.” Starfire beamed.

“Thanks. Okay, so, next question: What do you think of Equestria so far?”

Jeremy smiled – finally, an easy question. “Oh, man. Don’t even get me started – this place is too great to quantize.” Starshine grinned, and Jeremy continued. “The monarchs are nice, they care about the civilians, there’s basically no crime, the education system looks great, the economy isn’t exploited, there isn’t any prejudice, just… I think this qualifies as a utopia back home. It’s amazing!” Jeremy finished, by now openly smiling.

“And yet, there’s plenty of evil along with that good,” Starshine reminded him. Jeremy grimaced.

“Sure. But all the good and evil is so well separated. Back on Earth, there’s almost no one you can point at and say ‘They’re good’ or ‘They’re bad’ because everyone is just so morally gray. They have some good morals, some bad ones, and a whole lot of neutral ones. Here, you can tell when someone’s evil – it’s really obvious.”

Starshine searched her papers for another question to ask, evidently pleased by his answer. “Okay, last question for the day. What do you think of Princess Luna?” Jeremy laughed.

“Is this a setup? Is she going to burst down the door if I don’t answer correctly?” he joked. Starshine laughed along with him. After settling down, Jeremy actually answered the question. “She’s… intelligent, funny, cute, everything I could possibly ask for in a girl and so much more.”

Starshine smiled at this, writing more notes. “Nice. Anything else you want to say?”

Jeremy considered for a while. “Not really.” And with that, Starshine and her assistant gathered up their notes.

“That’s all we have for a while – if we find any other questions, we’ll find you.” Jeremy nodded, and the two groups left.

Jeremy walked over to the castle for dinner. He was rather pleased about this interview – it wasn’t so harsh as the last one. He took a seat in the royal dining hall, and waited for the meal to be served. Luna quickly arrived, and sat next to him – this was unusual, as typically the princesses were situated at the end of the table. “Hey,” he greeted.

“Hello,” Luna jovially replied. The course was served – it appeared to be some sort of cooked salad? Jeremy shrugged and tried it. It was good, as always – the cuisine here defied all his expectations. Ordinarily he was a bit nervous about eating with the upper echelons of society – all that stereotyping about the plethora of utensils was true here. However, Jeremy was usually able to guess what each one was for, and asked if he had no idea. As for manners, he did try somewhat, though he rarely thought others were impressed with his table skills.

They finished dinner, and Jeremy and Luna walked out, heading up to her room. “Welp, we’ve got time to kill before the third karaoke night,” Jeremy mentioned. Luna looked at him askance.

“So thou actually read about that. Good, we were hoping not to break the news a third time.” Jeremy chuckled.

“I plan ahead. Sometimes.” Luna laughed in response, and opened her door.

They relaxed on the bed, playing through a singleplayer campaign. Although his job was fun, Jeremy reflected, it was nice to actually just play games every once in a while. Luna seemed utterly at ease, stretching and watching the screen. As the next level loaded, Jeremy handed the keyboard over to Luna, as they were switching every level. Jeremy watched for a while, sleepy, and put his hand on Luna’s side, gently rubbing it. She seemed a bit startled, but a moment later allowed him to continue. A moment later, she had paused the game and was laying on her back, evidently in ecstasy. “How art thou doing that?” she asked. Jeremy very seriously wanted to laugh – it seemed ponies were especially weak to belly rubs. It was so cute.

“No, I’m not continuing, I’ve been doing this for an hour now, my hands are tired,” Jeremy said as he stopped.

Luna pouted. “But it felt so good!” Jeremy rolled his eyes.

“I’d better stop before you get addicted.” They continued playing the game for a short while, both blushing slightly.

“So… what wouldst thou think about marriage?” Luna prompted out of nowhere. After taking a moment to make sure he had heard correctly, Jeremy adopted a more serious look.

“Girl, I’m like, seventeen years old – way too young for that. Humans usually don’t marry until they’re nineteen to twenty-one years old, if I remember right.” Luna looked upset.

“Does that mean we have to wait two years at least?” Jeremy shrugged.

“If I ever decide to go home, I’ll look it up. Besides, I’d be… uncomfortable with marriage this early on.” Luna reluctantly nodded, and Jeremy gave her a small hug. “Relax, the answer isn’t ‘no’.” She smiled and returned the hug. “Hey, I got an idea for the song we could sing tonight,” Jeremy mentioned.

“Do tell,” Luna replied, interested. Jeremy clicked on a file in his music folder, and Luna listened attentively. Then she smiled. “Perfect,” Luna complimented.

Jeremy nodded. “I thought it’d be nice for a closing song.” Luna agreed, and left for a short while to rummage through the workshop.

Jeremy watched, curious, as she pulled out what appeared to be a second copy of the love machine. “We had the idea that the changelings should be allowed to attend – under the promise that they only fed from here.”

Jeremy raised an eyebrow. “Gonna be hard to resist all the love in the air, don’t you think?” Luna grinned.

“And therein lies the challenge – let us see if they can resist the temptation.” Jeremy gave her a devilish smile. This was going to be good.

He stepped through the portal, greeting a surprised Chrysalis. “What do you want?” she snapped, before realizing it was him. “Oh, my mistake. I thought you were someone else,” she amended hastily.

Jeremy waved a hand, dismissing her apology. “Yeah, that’s fine. Hey, listen – you know that couples’ karaoke thing? You and a few changeling friends are invited.”

Chrysalis stared at him. “By who?” she finally asked.

“Me and Luna, who else?” Jeremy impatiently replied. “Anyway, we have to go soon, but you guys can show up at the normal time. There’ll be a love machine there, so don’t feed off the ponies. See you there, I hope!” And with that, he stepped back through the portal.

A short time later, they headed out for the third and final night of karaoke. Jeremy took the infrared camera attachment for his glasses, and his suit. He and Luna chatted animatedly along the way, to the interest of passersby – though Jeremy could tell they were trying to hide it.

As they arrived, Jeremy clipped on the infrared camera to his glasses, and began looking around. No sign of Chrysalis yet, but he thought she would show up later. Carrying the love machine, Jeremy stepped inside and walked over to a refreshments table, placing the machine in the drinks section and hastily scribbling a sign that this was for changelings only, and for the other ponies to keep out. Just to make sure, he drew a biohazard logo on the sign and his signature, and made sure it was well away from the other drinks. Finally, he took out a small vial of sulfur that Luna had picked up along with the machine, and inserted it into a collection nozzle.

The audience began to pile in. Some were regular ponies, a significant portion were disguised changelings, and a rare few were undisguised changelings, making the hall surprisingly crowded. Chrysalis herself was undisguised, regally striding along before taking her seat at the front of the seats. To Jeremy’s surprise, Celestia had attended as well, glaring at Chrysalis when she thought no one was looking. She caught Jeremy’s eye, and he stared at her, one eyebrow raised. She turned around, not acknowledging his presence. Jeremy frowned – was she actually still angry at him? This seemed to be going well, in his opinion. Maybe he should meet with her and apologize later – perhaps this was all too sudden of a turn of events for her, or something like that.

The same announcer as from the previous two events walked onto the stage. “Fillies and gentlecolts, welcome to the two hundred and twenty-fifth annual Couples’ Night Karaoke, Day Three. It has been my great honor to observe our newly formed romantic partners, and it is now my privilege to announce the most popular, so that they may sing a closing song.” She opened a wax-sealed envelope, and after pausing for a moment to turn it right side up, she read “Would Princess Luna and the human Jeremy come onto the stage?” Jeremy and Luna got up from their seats to tumultuous applause – and Jeremy was surprised to notice that a significant portion of that applause was coming from the changelings.

Finally, all were quieted down, and Jeremy took the microphone. “This is a song that I thought fit rather well for Closing Night, and I’m glad I get to sing it. Feel free to join in on the chorus!”

And with that, his suit started to play the music. He and Luna took their respective positions, and he began to sing. “Woke up on the right side of the bed – what’s up with this prince song inside my head? Hands up, if you’re down to get down tonight~!”

The song was very upbeat and cheery, and the audience reflected this – Jeremy couldn’t spy a single frown. Even Celestia was smiling and nodding her head to the beat, if only slightly. They joined in perfectly on the second chorus, and were silent when they needed to be – Jeremy presumed this was what a music studio’s dream come true would be. Was there some magic in the air that only affected singing? Jeremy decided he would have to look into it before shouting out another “It’s always a good time!”, Luna joining in enthusiastically.

The audience gave them a standing ovation, although it was odd for Jeremy because there was no clapping, only hoof-stomping. Still, it made the place shake – they evidently liked the choice of song. Jeremy paused for a second, and then gave an overdramatic bow, to even more applause, while Luna did the same in her royal manner. With that, they stepped down into the audience.

Chrysalis walked up, sipping a cup of frothing, glowing pink liquid. She gave a sigh of satisfaction. “This is like a candy store,” she commented. “So much love… I might have to invade Equestria again just to hold nights like this every night!”

Jeremy lightly punched her in the shoulder. “You do that and Tartarus will be the least of your worries – this is way too tiring to do every night.” Chrysalis laughed, and filed out, her changelings in tow.

Jeremy walked up to Celestia, who looked at him expectantly. “Hey, can we schedule some time to talk? I want to go over some stuff,” he mentioned.

Celestia looked at him, as if trying to decide his motives. “Absolutely – come in any time tomorrow,” she answered, and Jeremy nodded before packing up the love machine and leaving.

Next Chapter: Chapter 16 Estimated time remaining: 10 Hours, 16 Minutes