Chapter 22

After so many months spent agonizing, Jeremy simply stared at Celestia, and she stared back. For a minute, they didn’t break eye contact. Jeremy couldn’t believe it. She was back – she’d come back for him. Part of him refused to accept that it was real, that this was all clearly just a dream. A second later, she had teleported right in front of him, causing him to silently stumble back into the darkness of his room. They spent another moment just staring at each other, Jeremy noticing that Celestia looked tired. In turn, she appeared to be examining his physical differences – a slight change in height, as well as the beginnings of a beard.

“…Jeremy? Is it really you?” Celestia finally spoke, still looking at him. Apparently his thoughts were answer enough, because she immediately hugged him, head on his shoulder and tears streaming down her face. “I am so, so sorry for how I treated you,” she frantically apologized.

“No… really, it’s alright,” Jeremy said, patting her hair in an attempt to console her, and still extremely shocked by her sudden return. She was apparently unconvinced, and continued gently sobbing into his shoulder. After a moment, he gave up any attempt to be stoic and joined in, shoulders heaving slightly as he buried himself in her mane, sobbing out of both joy and sorrow. All the tears he had shed those many months ago came back with a vengeance, and for a long time they stood like that, holding each other and crying their eyes out. Finally, Celestia stopped sniffling long enough to speak.

“I was selfish, and wrong, and I want to make it up to you. But… if you don’t want to, that’s fine. I can respect that,” she hurriedly amended.

“I... you mean it?” he asked, his voice sounding small.

"With every atom of my body," Celestia replied.

Jeremy looked at her, still shocked by her sudden reappearance. It occurred to him that she was waiting on his response, and he gave a shaky smile. "You have no idea how I've wanted to hear that," he replied, and promptly went right back to crying into her shoulder.

After giving him a watery smile in return, Celestia hugged him once more, and Jeremy felt as though he were having the life crushed out of his ribcage – and yet, he was infused with a feeling that something was being created down there – as though the void in his chest had finally begun to fill.

Sensing this, Celestia stepped back, apologizing with a quick “Sorry!” Jeremy rolled his eyes and gave her an even tighter hug, wordlessly expressing his gratitude at her presence. "Thanks for coming back," he whispered.

He led her through his hotel room to the kitchen, and poured her a cup of the sweet passionfruit-orange-guava nectar. He just had to ask the first question on his mind. “How long?” he quietly asked her as he set her cup down on the table. Celestia seemed confused for a short moment, but quickly understood.

“Not long. Perhaps three months? It's the middle of winter for us. But… you look so different… how long has it been for you?” Jeremy sighed deeply, partially relieved but even more saddened by the time gap.

“It’s been a month longer for me, due to time travel,” he informed her, and Celestia clapped a hoof to her mouth, shocked.

“I – I’m so sorry, I had no idea,” she sympathized. Jeremy turned on the light, and Celestia’s brilliant white coat temporarily blinded him, causing him to look away while his eyes adjusted.

Jeremy decided to give her a more exact estimate. “It’s been around four months, give or take a few days – I got sent back in time to early September, and right now it’s late December.” Celestia almost looked as though she were about to start crying again, and Jeremy sat down heavily next to her, all thought of sleep gone.

“How did you find me? Were you seen? And… where’s Luna?” he asked, almost dreading the answers.

Celestia hesitated for a moment before answering. “I found you by use of a simple tracking spell, combined with the use of one of your ingenious ‘portals’. I arrived at your house, to find it empty. Another tracking spell slowly led me down here – you may have heard a buzzing when I got close,” she explained. “I made sure to be invisible for almost all of the trip, and apart from a few close misses with some strange giant flying metal devices, made it here just fine. As for Luna… she insisted that I go find you. I believe her reasoning was to prove that she trusted me once again… and you can too.”

Jeremy smiled. “So she’s alright? And Chrysalis too?” Celestia returned his smile, sipping from her cup and apparently enjoying the taste.

“Well, Luna seemed about as sad as you were when I last left her. Though she agreed to ruling in my absence, and to our duties of the sun and moon, she will only truly begin to heal when you return to her. As for Chrysalis…” here Celestia’s smile turned to a frown, but one of concern rather than disgust or hatred.

“Chrysalis too mourns your loss, but she is also concerned with her state as queen. She claimed you were to support her position by force, but died before you could do such a thing. Is this true?” Celestia asked, and Jeremy nodded.

“One of my biggest regrets was that I couldn’t follow through with that – is there still time to do so?” To his relief, Celestia nodded.

“Whatever event takes place between the hives, it does not occur for a week or more. We have sent guards to the hive to assist her, but Chrysalis has refused all help from us – maybe you could help convince her.” Jeremy nodded once more.

“So, the portal to Equestria’s still at my house?” he asked.

Celestia shook her head. “I closed it after arriving, so no one could enter while I was absent. I’ll re-open it when we get back – that shouldn’t be too hard now.” Jeremy nodded appreciatively. Then a thought occurred to him.

“Hey… Could we stay here for a while? Just you and me?” Celestia nodded.

“It does look rather nice. How’d you manage to stay here?” Jeremy briefly explained, and she looked surprised.

“So humans can be generous after all,” she mused.

“Rarely,” Jeremy replied, back to frowning. He was grateful, but that wouldn’t stop his cynical side any day of the week.

They retired to bed, Celestia respectfully choosing the bed next to him. After a moment, Jeremy got up and crawled into her bed, hugging her tightly. Surprised, Celestia remained still for a moment before returning the hug with her wings. And for the first time in a long time, Jeremy slept peacefully.

12-20-13, 9:44 A.M.

When Jeremy woke up, he heard the sounds of cooking in the next room, instantly quieting any fears that the event last night had merely been the result of some fever dream. True enough, Celestia was standing in the kitchen over a sliced cantaloupe and a few quesadillas. She smiled as he came in. “I got up to raise the sun, but forgot I didn’t have to do that here,” she laughed by way of greeting. "So, I'm allowed to cook breakfast for you, right?" she asked, sounding nervous. "There aren't any human customs against that?"

Jeremy raised an eyebrow. "No... no, there aren't," he answered. Celestia relaxed, and he looked at her suspiciously, wanting to say something but also not wanting to come off as rude.

After a moment of awkward staring, Jeremy chuckled – and as he did, he began to remember how much he missed this feeling. The feeling that everything was right with the world… A guy could get addicted to this. He walked over and hugged Celestia once more. "Wow, I didn't think you'd be so... affectionate," Celestia responded, blushing. "It's just... I thought I'd never get the chance to see you again... Sorry," Jeremy muttered.

A few hours later, things had become significantly more relaxed. Jeremy and Celestia lay on the couches, simply enjoying each other's company and relaxing. “So… I don’t think people would react too well if you were seen in public as an alicorn. Maybe we could transform you into a convincing human?” Jeremy mused. Celestia looked at him.

“Why would I need to be seen in public?” she asked, confused. Jeremy grinned.

“What, did you think I was going to lock you in here? If I'm taking time off, it's only fair you should too.” Celestia smiled back. Lighting up her horn, she transformed into a form halfway between human and pony – the feet and hands, as well as the peculiar head shape and breasts were there. She had also kept her height, being slightly shorter than he was. However… “Humans aren’t normally that white – probably want a shade of tan, or even brown,” Jeremy commented, examining her appearance more thoroughly. After a few more trivial details, Celestia resembled a passable human. She tottered around on her legs for a bit, and Jeremy demonstrated walking for her. A few minutes of stumbling around passed, and Jeremy had to catch her more than once before she got the hang of it. “Alright, ready?” he asked. Celestia had created a fiery orange bathing suit for the day, and the effect on her skin was striking.

They slowly passed through the crowds of tourists and the occasional staff. Finally, they found the stairs down to the beach, which Celestia had some trouble with. She noted the vendors who haggled their various items up and down the beach. Jeremy, having long since gotten used to their presence, simply ignored them – they were already quite busy. They traipsed across the hot sand, Jeremy thanking himself for remembering to wear flip-flops – he’d burned himself on the hot sand just a day ago, and had no desire to repeat the experience.

12-20-13, 2:00 P.M.

It had been a pretty relaxing day, as Jeremy and Celestia enjoyed the smooth, clear ocean, and sunbathed on the pool chairs that had been placed in neat rows, with large umbrellas providing shade. Jeremy couldn’t get over how good he felt now that the ponies were back in his life – the past few months seemed like a distant memory, another person, even.  As they were relaxing in the shade after a particularly playful swim, Celestia turned to look at Jeremy, distracting him from his book. “…How is it so sunny here, anyway?” she asked.

Jeremy was glad to remember the answer. “We’re near the middle of the planet. Here, the temperature’s pretty much like this for quite a lot of the year, because the Earth is tilted and heats up based on where light from the Sun hits it. Since we’re so close to the middle, this place gets light almost all the time.” Celestia nodded thoughtfully.

After a short lunch, they lounged about in the hotel room, Jeremy finishing his book and Celestia starting one he had finished the day before. “You have quite the voracious literary appetite,” she commented. Jeremy chuckled as he turned the page.

“Yeah, I’m a bit of a speedreader. Dunno why, it's just how I read things.” Celestia gave him a slight smile as she opened her novel, and the two simply read for a while, Celestia occasionally asking questions about the book series.

12-20-13, 8:42 P.M.

“So, looks like I’m missing Christmas again,” Jeremy commented again as he flicked through online sites, taking a renewed pleasure in showing Celestia how each one worked.

“What’s Christmas?” Celestia asked curiously. Jeremy tried to remember the name of the equivalent Equestrian holiday.

“Like… Hearth’s Warming Eve, but with gifts and pine trees,” he explained. Celestia nodded, intrigued. “We decorate the pine tree with ornaments – a family tradition for us was to pick out a single ornament and mark our name and the year on it, so we could keep a running tally,” Jeremy continued. “Then, each family member gets at least one gift for someone else – I was kind of bad at that part,” he muttered. “Mom and Dad were always providing the most gifts to everyone. Anyway, the mascot is this guy called ‘Santa’ – legend says he delivers all the presents to the kids who’ve been good, and only gives sacks of coal to the bad kids. Although, I could use a sack of coal…” Jeremy finished, now lost in thought.

Celestia smirked. “I’m sure we could dig something up,” she joked, and Jeremy laughed.

Jeremy began to walk Celestia through gaming – she wasn’t quite as interested as he seemed to remember Luna had been, but she listened nonetheless. Trying her hoof at some of the games, she seemed to be quite good at the simple puzzle games, but flat-out refused the ones involving killing. “I’m sorry, I just don't enjoy it,” she apologized.

“That’s okay, I’ve got plenty of games that are less bloody,” Jeremy replied.

They spent another few days like this, and Celestia expressed the desire to actually ‘ride’ a plane, having since learned what they were. Jeremy agreed, though he cautioned her that the experience was quite boring in between takeoff and landing.

Finally, it was time to leave Mexico in favor of the significantly colder and windier outskirts of Seattle. Celestia had transformed into a human for the journey, and Jeremy bought a last-minute ticket for her on the flight. She was startled by the sudden acceleration of takeoff, and Jeremy avidly stared out the window seat as they rose off the ground, the airport quickly shrinking. Finally, they reached cruising altitude, and passengers were free to move around.

Celestia looked around her. “So… we have to sit here for six hours?” she asked.

“Yep. Told you it was boring,” Jeremy reminded her.

After managing to re-read every single book he had brought along, they landed in the Seattle-Tacoma airport, where they took a shuttle to Jeremy’s car. “God, I hate this thing,” he mentioned. Celestia examined the black model, clearly old and with one side mirror only hanging on by a few wires and some duct tape. He started it up, remembering gratefully that he had filled it up before departing.

12-24-13, 11:37 P.M.

The drive was long, but eventually they made it home. Thankfully, the driveway was devoid of anyone, reporters or otherwise. Jeremy appreciated the gray exterior of his house for a moment, before unloading his luggage and opening the garage door. Celestia helped him move the luggage in, and Jeremy simply shoved it off to the side of the door before heading upstairs. “I’d offer my own bed, but it's kind of small compared to the hotel ones. Mind using the guest bedroom?" he asked Celestia, who nodded. Jeremy went to his own bedroom, getting into pajamas and brushing his teeth before remembering that he had to do something very important. He started up his computer at home, and after waiting a full ten minutes for it to go through all the software checks, opened his email. He paged through the usual spam, marking all of it as ‘read’ before scrolling down. He found the latest email from Hasbro, and clicked ‘Reply’. Frowning in concentration as he stared at the text, Jeremy began to type. “Looks like I might have to take you up on that,” he typed, and added in a smiley face for good measure.

With that sent, he powered the computer down and climbed into bed. “Goodnight, Jeremy,” Celestia’s voice called from across the room and down a hallway.

“G’night, Celestia,” he sleepily responded, before sinking back onto his cool pillow, and slipping off into dreams.

Next Chapter: Chapter 23 Estimated time remaining: 8 Hours, 54 Minutes