Chapter 23

12-25-13, 8:22 A.M.

Jeremy woke up, an odd twinge in his heart. Today’s the day, he thought. Finally going back. He grinned, and pulled on a pair of long pants and a t-shirt, grabbing a heavy winter jacket.

Celestia, of course, was already up by the time he got downstairs. “Ready?” she asked.

“I still have to pack some things,” Jeremy answered, and she politely nodded. They ate breakfast in silence, and Jeremy went up to hurriedly pack a few comforts – toothbrush and toothpaste, music player, and of course his ever-present armor suit. Before he left, he logged in to his computer, and checked his email. Unsurprisingly, the response had come just a few minutes after he had turned it off, consisting of a simple smiley-face emoticon. Jeremy smiled slightly and turned his computer back off.

Celestia was waiting downstairs, an orange portal swirling on a wall. Jeremy shouldered his backpack, and nodded to her. She gestured for him to enter first, and he did so.

12-25-13, 9:15 A.M.

Jeremy once again marveled at the seemingly instant transportation across universes. He stepped out into what appeared to be Celestia’s private room – it was surprisingly clean. Celestia came through a moment later, closing the portal with her magic just after she came through. “Alright, so where’s Luna?” Jeremy asked her.

Celestia checked a clock on the wall before answering. “She should currently be in the throne room. I hope she isn’t too sleepy – ruling over both the sun and the moon can be hard.” Jeremy understandingly nodded and made his way out the door, Celestia following behind.

As Jeremy got closer and closer to where he remembered the throne room to be, he kept getting these odd twinges of dread. What if she found someone else? What if something had happened, and they could no longer be together? The rational part of his brain argued that these thoughts didn’t make sense, but that didn’t stop Jeremy from having them.

He opened the door out onto the throne room, and Luna was sitting on the throne, evidently addressing royal business. Writing a letter, she hardly looked up as he approached, so he walked directly in front of the throne and casually leaned over. Annoyed, Luna looked up, but her expression changed to that of shock when she saw it was him. Jeremy raised an eyebrow. “Merry Christmas,” he joked. After a second of just staring, Luna dropped the letter and quill and tackled him, hugging him with all the might she could muster – which was evidently quite a lot. “Ow – okay, okay, get off, I can’t breathe!” Jeremy laughed.

Luna reluctantly let go, and sized him up. “Thou hast grown,” she commented. “But thou could not have attained even such a small change of height in just three months – and is that facial hair on thy chin?” Jeremy chuckled, and nodded.

“It’s been four months for me.” Luna looked horrified, and Jeremy quickly thought of something better to say. “But it’s fine, really, I’m fine! Point is, I’m back. And Celestia and I are friends now, so that’s cool!” Luna smiled appreciatively.

“We hoped by sending her first, the two of you would have the chance to bond. Glad to see that is the case.”

With that, Celestia quickly took back over her position as ruler of the day, and Luna retired to bed. Jeremy followed her up, discussing what he had been up to over the past few months, and leaving out the parts that were particularly depressing. Luna knew he wasn’t telling her everything, but apparently decided not to press it. They arrived at her room shortly, and Luna looked around before rearing up to give him a quick peck on the cheek. “Go see Chrysalis – and when thou get back, we have some catching up to do,” she whispered in his ear. Jeremy nodded once to show he understood, and Luna gently closed the door on him.

So, was his office still open for business? Walking along the snowy streets of Canterlot, he noticed that ponies were back to pointing and whispering. Jeremy smiled, by now long used to it, and walked on.

His office was locked, so he supposed he’d be taking the long way. Heading back to his apartment, he stopped a moment to take in how alien this room felt. The last time he had been here, he had been kidnapped by a possessed Celestia. A stack of papers was sitting on the table – evidently Lyra’s old script. In the closet, he discovered his Long Fall Boots, cleaned and polished. To his satisfaction, he also discovered his office key in a drawer, and slipped it into his pocket. Dropping off his backpack, he set off into the wintry air towards his office again.

The walk back to his office seemed shorter than he had remembered, but he kept reminding himself that everything was smaller here. He unlocked the door and stepped inside, and was shocked to see changelings milling about, working on various projects. One looked up at him and smirked. “Nice try, Keratin. You almost had me going for a moment there.”

Jeremy looked at him confusedly. “Who’s Keratin?” he asked. The changeling stared for a moment, then ducked out of the room. Jeremy looked after it as it headed for the lime-green portal he remembered setting up, quickly vanishing into the dark Hive. After a moment’s hesitation, Jeremy followed.

Chrysalis was hard at work, viciously fighting another changeling with a shell the color of rust. Deciding not to interfere, he watched as she gave him a quick bite to the neck, followed by a kick to the head. The other changeling dropped like a stone, and she hissed in triumph. The changeling from the office earlier skittered up as soon as the fight was done, and using the changelings’ unintelligible language spoke to Chrysalis, pointing at him. Chrysalis whipped around and stared. “Sup,” Jeremy greeted casually, only to find himself on the floor a second later as Chrysalis furiously shook him by the shoulders.

“I’ve been mourning you for months, and you’re not dead? What have you been doing? Where have you been?” she screeched before collapsing on top of him. Jeremy, by now thoroughly confused and scared, tentatively wrapped his arms around her.

“I came down with a bad case of death, but I got better,” he explained in view of the surrounding changelings, who muttered nervously.

Chrysalis quickly led him back to her room, and forced him to sit. “You are going to tell me everything,” she demanded. Jeremy frowned.

“Not everything,” he argued. “Some things no one but me should know.” Specifically, he was thinking of both the presence of Orion and Solaris, and his depression – two useless details that would only complicate the story. So, he told her what had happened, making it sound like he simply woke up back on Earth, and spent some months there. Chrysalis was quiet for a moment.

“Are you… okay?” she finally asked.

“How so?” Jeremy replied cautiously.

“I can smell the emptiness in your heart – and you said you’d been gone for months? No, you’re not okay,” she rhetorically answered.

Jeremy frowned. “Okay, yes, I went through some rough times. But that’s not important! What’s important is that I’m back, and you’re still here.”

Chrysalis gave him a smirk. “What, you think I would have died without you?” Jeremy grimaced.

“No, that’s not what I-“ he was cut off as Chrysalis pulled him into a kiss, her fangs gently pressing down on his bottom lip.

“Because you’re completely right,” she answered as she pulled away. Jeremy was still for a moment as he attempted to process that, and Chrysalis softly laughed at his discomfort.

“So… anyway… how’s it going?” Jeremy asked. Chrysalis went back to frowning.

“Not good – the other hives are not backing down on their claims, no matter how many of their ambassadors I defeat. At this rate… we won’t be able to hold out much longer.”

Jeremy sighed. “Well, it’s a good thing I was only gone for a few months in your time,” he mentioned. “Now I can start helping.” Chrysalis brightened.

“You remembered!” she happily exclaimed. Jeremy nodded, smiling slightly. He then remembered another reason he was here.

“Hey, what’s with not accepting Celestia’s help?” he asked. Chrysalis’ lip curled into a disdainful frown.

“If I were to accept such a thing as an entire outside army, I wouldn’t be able to be queen. I’d be seen as weak. But a lone fighter from an outside race… I think I can get away with that,” she mused.

“Okay, good. I don’t want to have to turn into a changeling just to help,” Jeremy mentioned, and Chrysalis looked somewhat hurt.

“What’s wrong with becoming a changeling?” she asked indignantly. Jeremy, embarrassed, scuffed the floor with his shoe.

“Well… I don’t know, I’d like to keep this body.” Chrysalis raised an eyebrow.

“So if say, Luna asked you to become a pony… you wouldn’t go through with it?” Jeremy shook his head, then looked at her suspiciously.

“Is there something you know that I don’t?” he asked. To his surprise, Chrysalis denied this.

“While I know more than you about  a number of things, that was purely conjecture.” Accepting this, Jeremy moved on to a different topic.

“So… I don’t know if you know, but Celestia and I have been hanging out for a short while,” he mentioned. Chrysalis looked up, interested.

“Really? I would’ve thought you’d have murdered her on sight,” she remarked. Jeremy was almost hurt.

“Hey! She was possessed, I don’t hate her!” Chrysalis made a calming motion with her front hoof.

“Relax, I was only teasing. Really, you seem unusually sensitive today,” she noted. Jeremy made a short groan of frustration.

“Sorry, it’s just – I had to go back and listen to twelve people try to decide if I was a hero or a murderer. Then, I had to go back to school, where I heard no end of murder jokes. They’re getting a little tiring,” he finished.

Chrysalis nodded sympathetically. “I’ll be sure not to make them, then,” she concluded, and Jeremy tiredly thanked her.

“Anyway, do you think you’re going to be Celestia’s lover?” Chrysalis asked. Jeremy looked at her askance.

“I... I don't know. She's nice now, which is great. But I just feel like this is all going too fast, you know?"

Chrysalis smirked at him. “Two princesses and the reigning queen of every changeling hive in the land are in love with you – why are you complaining?” Jeremy frowned at her, and she laughed.

“Yeah, well… Hopefully the list doesn’t get any longer,” he muttered.

Chrysalis seemed confused by this, but amended her expression a second later. “Right, right, you’re supposed to be monogamous,” she thought out loud. Jeremy nodded.

“Even if all three of you are perfect, it just feels weird to be with three different lovers – not to mention the whole ‘alien’ thing.”

They made small talk for the rest of the evening, and finally Jeremy departed, promising to see Chrysalis early tomorrow. He headed through the office, stopping to say hello to a few changelings who were still working. They seemed surprised at his appearance, but otherwise said nothing. Jeremy headed for the castle – after all, he had no reason to stay away from there anymore.

Of course, the pointing and whispering was back with a vengeance. He ignored them, and opened the front doors of the castle. Finding that Luna was still embroiled in official business, and Celestia was also there, he took a seat on the floor beside her throne and waited. Most of the stuff was pretty boring, but he looked up as a letter appeared out of thin air in a puff of green smoke, and Celestia opened the scroll and read it. “Oh! Twilight sent me her latest picture,” Celestia informed Luna, and Jeremy instantly froze in shock. Luna also looked at her in alarm. “…Did I do something wrong?” Celestia asked, noticing their discomfort. After taking a moment to compose himself, Jeremy leaned into view.

“No, nothing’s… nothing’s wrong,” he falteringly answered. Well, at least he had the cold comfort that that scene was a bare second of screen time – but it was going to feature in at least an entire season. Dammit.

Celestia got off her throne, and motioned for Jeremy to follow her. Talk to you later, he thought in Luna’s direction, and she responded with a practiced nod, staring straight ahead. Celestia led him to her personal room, before sitting down on her bed. “Is there something you should be telling me?” she asked.

Jeremy frustratedly took a seat as well. Not this again, he thought. “Okay, yes. But you’ll have to promise to not be mad, and hear me out until the end,” he forewarned. Celestia agreed, and Jeremy began.

When he finished, Celestia looked shocked and dismayed. “Our entire world is a story?” Jeremy made a so-so motion with his hand.

“I recently discovered that my world might have similar origins.” He told her the story of Lyra’s script, commenting on the many parallels and corollaries to his world. Celestia appeared to think for a moment.

“And you said the reason you and Luna reacted was because I was shown opening that letter in the beginning of every episode?”

Jeremy nodded. “So, now someone might notice that there’s a human on the show, and people might start asking questions. I did strike a deal with Hasbro in case this happened, though…” he remarked, thinking hard to himself.

“So is this 'Hasbro' in complete control of our universe, and Lyra is in control of yours?” Celestia thought out loud.

Jeremy shook his head. “I don’t think so, because they contacted me, and said that they tried to write some episodes earlier on, only to find that I mysteriously appeared in their drawings. If they couldn't 'edit me out', that indicates they aren't in complete control - that some things are outside even their scope.” Celestia frowned, and went back to thinking.

“Plus, there’s the time gap to consider,” Jeremy remarked. Celestia looked up.

“Ah, yes. You say that you didn’t see the invasion of the Everfree Forest for about a month after it happened, correct?” Jeremy nodded.

“I wonder how that works – does time pass slower here than there, or something?” he mused. Celestia shrugged.

“The nature of time is not something I have much experience with – it usually gives me a headache just to think about it,” she confessed. Jeremy agreed, and they went back to thinking.

Next Chapter: Chapter 24 Estimated time remaining: 8 Hours, 44 Minutes