Chapter 27

12-28-13, 6:00 A.M.

Jeremy sauntered into the hive, ready for just about anything. He was therefore surprised when Chrysalis was waiting for him outside, no attack in sight. “So, what’re we doing today?” Jeremy asked. In answer, Chrysalis gestured towards an area that had a few of the larger changelings milling about. Speaking of larger changelings… “Where’s that huge one? Chitin, or something?” Jeremy asked. Chrysalis gestured towards the nursery, where muffled thumps could be heard as though some giant object – presumably Chitin – was having a party.

“The wrigglers love him,” Chrysalis explained, “…And it keeps him busy.” Jeremy shrugged – the thought of a changeling the size of a building taking care of the adorable, tiny infant changelings only made the spectacle that much cuter.

He walked over to the larger changelings, most of whom nodded in greeting. “So… what exactly are we-“ Jeremy began, but a changeling tackled him before he could finish. And judging by the dripping green fangs, this one meant business. He shifted his position so his legs were under it, and kicked it off. Jumping up, he noticed that he had been promptly surrounded. Jeremy grimly took out his metal pipe – at the sight of it, some of the changelings backed away, still hissing. The ones that still came after him stayed out of arm’s reach, so after a few swings he switched to the assault rifle. This caused them to burst into action, but they didn’t attack him – instead they took to the air. Jeremy grimaced – hadn’t they tried this before?

He took aim, and was about to start firing when he was knocked onto his front by the recuperated changeling from earlier. “Remember where everyone is, idiot!” Chrysalis yelled from the sidelines, and the surrounding changelings snickered. Okay, now he was pissed. Jeremy began to issue bursts of hot lead into the air, and these hit a few stray changelings.

The fight went on for hours – it seemed like every single damn changeling that had fought him before was returning for a second round. Eventually, Jeremy settled into a sort of routine, and began to move around the hive instead of staying stationary. The changelings that were defeated were quickly carted off – and Jeremy didn’t really care what happened to them so long as they didn’t reenter the fight. He was startled out of his daze by a particularly boisterous changeling who insisted on getting close enough to where his gun wasn’t working. When it tried it again, Jeremy snapped his arm out and punched it on the nose, stunning it so he could step back and dispatch it with a burst from his rifle – which still had infinite bullets. At this point, Chrysalis was openly smiling, though Jeremy did his best to ignore her and focus.

12-28-13, 12:32 P.M.

“Alright, stop,” Chrysalis called out. The remaining changelings, which seemed noticeably fewer – how many had he beat? Jeremy briefly wondered – slunk off. After taking a moment to ensure the fight was actually over, he leaned against the wall, tired but twitching from adrenaline. “It took a while, but you’ve still got it,” Chrysalis remarked.

“Why did I even use guns? The whole point is not to use them, remember?” Jeremy asked irritably.

“That was a just-in-case scenario – if you had lost the weapon, say, or it got broken. When the Equestrian research team finishes building it, you can test fighting with it all you like. Until then? More running, jumping and shooting.” Jeremy groaned, and Chrysalis gave him a ‘dismissed’ signal with her hoof. As he left, Jeremy noticed that most of the changelings around the love machine today had bullet wounds – and were apparently just fine after they fed. Huh.

Jeremy exited the portal into his office, wiping the sweat from his brow. The adrenaline had kept him going at the time, but now that he had had a chance to slow down and stop fighting, it hit him how tired he was – he could use a nap. But, unfortunately, he did have things to do. Approaching his desk, he saw a note in his inbox. Jeremy pulled it out and read it over in his head. “Liquid-based Tranquilizer Launcher, Approved,” was written across the top. Below it appeared to be a personal note from Princess Luna. “Take the day off and practice your singing – not to mention rest! Chrysalis contacted me about what you’re doing, and you need to sleep more. Love, Luna”, he finished. He was tempted to write an appreciative thank-you note back, but it would be a waste of time – he could just thank her in person later tonight.

He practiced his singing – effectively a useless exercise in terms of actual practice value, but it did help his confidence. As usual, it was perfect – and Jeremy was beginning to suspect why. Thankfully, his suit still provided music, although the speaker was now hidden somewhere inside the front, the sound coming out the top just below his head. Of course, because it was a duet song, it went a little oddly without Celestia actually present, but his part was just fine. Jeremy finished his lyrics, and satisfied with the results, he pulled out a book from his backpack and began reading, glad of the relaxation. Unfortunately, he had read this book quite a few times before – Jeremy didn’t find much interest in new book series nowadays. He put the book down, marking his page, and casted about for something else to read or do. It occurred to him that he could revisit the Canterlot library in hopes of finding a fiction book, but he didn’t feel like moving around at the moment – he was still very tired. So, what to read? Starved for ideas, he pulled out some of his drawers, vaguely remembering that he had read something while he was here. And at the bottom of the largest drawer lay a stack of heavily written-on pages – Lyra’s script! Jeremy pulled it out, noting where he had left off last time. Settling down on his bed, he turned a page and began to read.

To be fair, it was a fascinating story. Plenty of romance and intrigue, even if the characters were slightly two-dimensional – and one of them seemed like a bit of a Mary Sue to Jeremy. Wait… wasn’t this supposed to be the origins of his own world? Hmm. Jeremy wondered about this for a while, and then shrugged and continued reading.

12-28-13, 5:07 P.M.

After a while, he put the latest page down, blushing heavily – well. Um… Lyra had quite the vivid imagination, he gave her that much. He’d probably better come back to that part when he wasn’t so flustered. But hey, at least he had managed to kill time. He only had an hour before dinner, and then a few more hours after that until the show. So… what to do? Jeremy was starting to get kind of bored – having a day off had its benefits, but after a while you just ran out of things to do. He was tempted to take another trip into dreamland, but he felt a little apprehensive for doing so, considering Luna had basically told him off last time.

Thankfully, he had plenty of paper, and pencils were not hard to come by. Even more luckily, he had remembered to bring a pencil sharpener from Earth. Unfortunately, either he had the worst luck in manufacturing or was just really bad at sharpening pencils – he kept snapping the point off. After Jeremy finally got a working pencil, he began to doodle. The sketches quickly turned to pictures of his friends here – Celestia, Luna and Chrysalis being prominent. From there, they turned to drawings of all the scenes he’d been through – he tried to sketch areas such as the Canterlot caves, the Ponyville town square where he had first arrived, and the final showdown with Nightmare Moon among them. Too bad he couldn’t draw.

Despite Jeremy’s woeful inadequacy at drawing what was so vivid in his mind, he did manage to keep himself occupied until dinner. Dinner was inside now, due to the cold weather – the dining hall was comfortably warm. Seeking out Celestia, he found her deep in conversation with Luna, the two stopping only when he approached. “Am I interrupting something?” he asked, politely concerned.

Luna shook her head. “No, we were just discussing some royal business. Care to join our table?” Jeremy accepted, taking a seat across from the two of them. It was a fairly small table, so they could still converse easily.

“Hey, Luna,” Jeremy began, and Luna perked up. “Just wanted to thank you for the day off – that was nice.” Luna nodded her head in polite agreement.

“We thought thou might enjoy the time off – Chrysalis tells us thou hast been working hard.” Jeremy placed his elbow on the table, leaning into his hand in a gesture of exhaustion.

“Oh, you have no idea,” he replied. To show them he wasn’t actually displeased with the training, he gave a weak smile before going back to his food. The conversation wasn’t too interesting after that, so he excused himself and headed back to the apartment complex.

12-28-13, 10:00 P.M.

After keeping himself somewhat entertained for a few hours, Jeremy decided he couldn’t stand the boredom and headed out early, making sure his suit was still musically functioning before leaving. Satisfied that it was, he ventured towards the restaurant, only to become aware of a growing commotion.

It seemed like all of Equestria had stayed up to watch Celestia sing – Jeremy sorely reflected on Luna’s comparative obscurity. The whole area was crowded to the point of impassability – he simply could not get through. Fortunately, there was a back alley he could duck through, and a few hopped fences later he was directly behind the restaurant building. He entered a back door to find the staff staring at him. “Front entrance was blocked completely,” he explained, and most nodded and pointed him to a door on his right. Entering it, he exited onto the stage, and stepped down. Celestia and Luna were waiting in the audience, and looking at him curiously. “Took the back entrance,” he said by way of greeting, and Luna nodded understandingly.

“Art thou ready?” she asked, and Celestia looked at him, seemingly interested in the answer.

“I, uh… didn’t expect this to be so popular,” he responded. Celestia blushed slightly and looked away.

“Sorry about that – I hope you aren’t too nervous?” Jeremy suddenly remembered his old days as a blossoming drama student, which he had given up in favor of his other hobbies. He might have the mental fortitude to engage in street gunfights, but did he seriously have the guts to sing in front of a crowd of what looked like hundreds?

Jeremy referred back to his old standard for dealing with psychological problems, which was Screw it, just get it over with. He nodded grimly. “I can handle it.”

The ponies started slowly filing in, and Jeremy appreciated how relatively few tables there were – that would make this somewhat easier. The other singers were lining up backstage, and he motioned for Celestia to follow as he got up and headed back towards the stage. Looks like he wasn’t the only one who was nervous, Jeremy noted as he waited backstage with Celestia and the others. Most of the others had noticed the popularity of this show, and were sweating bullets. After reassuring them that they were going to be fine, he went back to taking several deep breaths of his own. He was going to enjoy singing the song, that was true… but all the same, he wished this night was already over. There were quite a few other singers, and once again he and Celestia were scheduled near the end. Jeremy watched them progress with increasing trepidation. Finding nothing else to do, he turned to Celestia, who was casually brushing her hair. “You sure you’re ready?” he asked. Celestia calmly nodded. Inside, Jeremy groaned. Right. She was the princess, stuff like this was nothing new to her.

Finally, it was their turn. Feeling his heartbeat increase to what he thought might be dangerous levels, he took advantage of the lighting overhead to temporarily blind himself, thus making him unable to see the actual audience. Ah. That was better. The music started, and he calmly waited for his turn to start.

“I opened my eyes… last night… and saw you in the lowlight… Walking down by the bay, on the shore, staring up at the planes that aren’t there anymore… I was feeling the night, grow old, and you were looking so cold… Like an introvert, I drew my overshirt, around my arms and began to shiver violently…” As he sang, Jeremy easily relaxed – it was soothing to hear himself.

Celestia was absent for a moment, then as he finished and the music preluded her part, she walked on stage to some applause. “Time together, it’s just never quite enough~!” sang Celestia.

“When you and I are alone, I’ve never felt so at home,” Jeremy joined in.

“What will it take to make or break this hint of love?” she continued, gazing at him with an expression of utmost satisfaction.

“We need time! Only time…” Jeremy replied, grinning at her. For now, she was all he could see, and that was fine by him.

Once they finished their duet, wild applause could be heard from the audience – and from outside. In fact, Jeremy realized that their performance had probably been broadcast to the entire outside world. Celestia smiled at him once more, and Jeremy realized her eyes were watery. In fact, he was very nearly crying as well – he’d forgotten how good that felt. “Princess Celestia,” he began, turning to face her and smiling slightly. "How would you like to be my marefriend?" Jeremy asked while they were still on stage.

Celestia bowed her head. “With all my heart... yes.” They hugged once, to raucous applause, and then exited backstage.

Jeremy wanted to wait until the other singers finished, but Celestia evidently had other plans. After a nod from Luna, Jeremy found the two of them standing in her bedroom. Jeremy blushed. “Quick on the draw, aren’t you?” he asked, to which Celestia giggled. A second later, he found that all his clothes, including his suit, were once again missing. Shocked by the sudden cold, he drew his arms around himself. Celestia grinned as she gestured for him to join her on the bed. He sat down, and before he could react, she had kissed him deeply on the lips.

After spending a moment like that, he drew away, and Celestia looked at him with an element of nervousness on her facial features. “I hope you don’t think I’m going too fast,” she admitted, recalling both of them back to their earlier encounters. To her surprise, Jeremy pulled her back into the kiss.

“No,” he said, once they had pulled away once again. “This is perfect.”

Celestia smiled, and rolled onto her back, her dripping marehood present. Jeremy blushed as he looked at it – he’d never get used to the sight of that. He himself was already aroused – he had been the moment his clothes came off. “You know what to do next,” Celestia said, and Jeremy nodded. He positioned himself over her, but stopped just as he was about to enter. "What's wrong?" Celestia asked nervously.

"Nothing, nothing," Jeremy soothed. "I just had a better idea." Changing position so that he was kneeling on the floor just in front of Celestia, he leaned forward and took a lick of her dripping fluids. Celestia gasped as his tongue flicked her clit, which had winked out just in time. Jeremy grinned, and licked her once more. She tasted sweet, not at all like he had been expecting - he vaguely wondered if she had used magic to alter the taste.

"What - ooh... What brought this on?" Celestia asked, quivering slightly as he continued his ministrations.

Jeremy stopped for a moment to answer. "I wanted to make things right between us, you know? Show you that I care," he mumbled.

Celestia blushed, a small, delighted smile coming to her lips. "I - why, thank you.." she falteringly responded. Jeremy gave her a sincere smile of his own, and returned to his prior activity, Celestia shivering in excitement.

A few minutes later, they were well into it - Celestia's gasps and shivers had turned into moans of pleasure. He had since added his hands into the mix as well, groping and rubbing her teats as well as teasing the nipples. As she got louder and louder, Jeremy increased the speed and complexity of his foreplay, swirling his tongue around in circles before suckling on her clit the instant it popped out. At this, Celestia gave out a shocked cry, and came, her back arching right off the bed and her wings flaring out with enough force to topple Jeremy over as her fluids coated his face. He quickly leaned forward once more, grinning with satisfaction as Celestia came down from her orgasm.

"My... goodness..." she panted, after a solid minute. "Where... on Earth... did you learn... that?"

Jeremy laughed. "I did some studying after me and Luna got together for the first time. Was it... was it good?"

At this, Princess Celestia surveyed him with a surprised expression. "Good? Jeremy, no stallion's ever done that for me before... I don't think any stallion's ever thought of that before..."

Jeremy gave her a concerned frown. "Do I need to speak with Princess Cadance about the state of romanticism in this country? Because reciprocating with your partner is... well, it's common sense!"

Princess Celestia smiled. "My little ponies, bless them, are normally more concerned with their heat cycle than their skill," she answered.

"What about you, how does your estrus work?" Jeremy asked. This, too, he had read about, though it left him more confused than anything.

Princess Celestia blushed, and looked away. "Well... it started just a few days ago... I was trying to hide it-" she was cut off as Jeremy leaned over and kissed her.

"Sorry to keep you waiting," he replied, and Celestia merely looked at him for a moment before smiling once more.

Jeremy once more positioned himself over her entrance, and looked to her for confirmation. Celestia nodded once, and he slowly pushed himself inside her.She moaned a little as he entered, not as loud as earlier - but Jeremy was determined to change that. “Oh! I can see why Luna enjoyed this,” she commented as he slowly started moving.

“I really think you two should reconsider – I’m not the biggest there is,” he replied. Celestia, showing astonishing flexibility, leaned up and kissed him on the cheek.

“It’s not like we choose our partners for their body… although that is a sweet bonus,” she responded, and Jeremy remembered another conversation he had had with Chrysalis. He looked at her mock-suspiciously, and Celestia giggled. "Besides, yours is so... alien... I've never experienced anything like it before..." Jeremy gave an embarrassed laugh. Sensing his reservation, Celestia looked him straight in the eye. "Jeremy, in the past few days you have shown me more consideration, care and outright love than any stallion before you... I don't care if it's your cultural training, your own personal preference, or anything else - you have earned the right to call yourself my lover. And... I hope I've earned the right to the same," she trailed off, now looking guilty.

Dismayed, Jeremy stopped for a moment to lean down and hug her tightly - this was rather uncomfortable, but he didn't care. "Of course you have. Don't ever think for a second you haven't," he answered. After a moment, Celestia gave him an emotional smile, and her wings wrapped around him.

He went back to moving after a moment, and began to sweat a little from the work of thrusting. Celestia had already been sweating from the get-go - whether from a combination of nerves, pleasure, or the same exertion that he was experiencing, Jeremy wasn't sure. His thrusts built in intensity and rhythm as he reached orgasm - but just as he was about to go over the edge, he noticed something - Celestia wasn't quite there yet. She was getting close, sure, but it didn't look like she was about to orgasm just yet.

So, Jeremy did the natural thing - he clamped down on his own rising orgasm, refusing to acknowledge the signals of pleasure coursing through his body. Celestia appeared to notice this, but she was quickly distracted by her own rising orgasm. Once more, Celestia's moans began to build in volume, until they were nearly approaching the Royal Canterlot Voice - Jeremy hoped the guards at the door weren't too embarrassed. Though the door was closed, so he'd never know.

Celestia gave one last scream - "YES!" and came, the sudden clenching of her inner walls breaking Jeremy's concentration and causing him to orgasm as well, their juices mixing together with near-explosive force.

Finally, Jeremy rolled over next to her, wrapping an arm around her and breathing deeply. “…You’re not asleep, are you?” Celestia asked, and he gave a tired laugh.

“No… just resting.” Celestia smiled and laid her head next to his.

"So... you... held yourself back, I felt," she commented.

"Yeah... I didn't know I could do that, I just didn't want to stop before you were done," Jeremy explained.

Celestia smiled. "Truly, you are full of surprises."

As they laid together, Jeremy considered his luck. He’d managed to bed both of the Equestrian royalty… and apparently they both enjoyed it. Not bad for a guy who was still in high school, huh? Some part of him still wished he were older, stronger…bigger, but another part of him responded that if he was good enough here, that should be enough for him. Jeremy sighed contentedly and went back to sleep, arms around Celestia like she was his life support – which she practically was, at this point.

"Um... Jeremy?" Celestia asked, after a while of laying together.

"Yes?" he asked, sleepily running a hand through her mane.

"You... you know the changeling trial we've been talking about?" she asked, audibly swallowing.

"Yeah?" Jeremy asked, still too sleepy to think much of this.

"Can you... oh, Jeremy... please don't go!" she cried, suddenly hugging him tightly - this woke Jeremy up. "Please, let's just send somepony else, just... please don't..." she trailed off, sobbing slightly. Jeremy looked over at her, alarmed. "Now you probably want to break up with me," she mumbled, turning away from him. Jeremy put a hand on her shoulder.

"Celly... I'd never, ever do that to you. Even if you went and broke every rule and tradition in the human dating book, even if we argue and fight, I'll always be there for you. I love you, Celestia," he whispered, pulling her into a hug. Celestia looked over at him, then returned the hug suddenly, sobbing into his chest.

"T-thank you... I needed t-that..." she mumbled, and Jeremy tousled her hair.

"Anytime, girl." He held her there for a moment, Celestia slowly calming down. Finally, when her sobs had subsided, Jeremy felt it was time to speak again.

"You know I have to fight. I wouldn't be doing my job otherwise," he gently stated. Celestia looked up at him.

"What job?" she asked, sounding like a stubborn small child. Jeremy smiled.

"You know, the Royal Pony-Changeling Advisor. Queen Chrysalis' lover. Those jobs," he answered. Celestia looked down glumly.

"I know... but part of me wishes you didn't have to. What if you don't come back?" she asked. Jeremy grinned at her.

"Then I'll just have to have some serious words with whoever runs the afterlife. I'll survive, Celestia. I always do." Celestia giggled slightly, and laid her head back down on her pillow. The two of them resumed drifting off to sleep, arms and legs intertwined in an embrace that expressed far more than just comfort.

Additional A/N: Due to spoilers, I couldn't place this with the rest - song is Saltwater Room, by Owl City and featuring Lights. And yes, Lights was chosen specifically for the pun.

Next Chapter: Chapter 28* Estimated time remaining: 7 Hours, 56 Minutes