Chapter 36

1-12-14, 11:14 A.M.

It was a calm Sunday, and Jeremy was incredibly bored. Right now, it was day on Earth, meaning Luna was probably busy with her royal duties, and Chrysalis had bade him goodbye temporarily as she once again had to check on her hive. Lyra was on the computer, leaving him in his home lab, waiting for a compound to finish filtering so he could wash, dry and set it on fire. Hearing the garage door open, he tugged off his goggles and glove, and walked out. He jerked in surprise when he found that it was in fact Princess Celestia standing in front of him.

“Hello… I’m sorry, was I interrupting something?” she politely asked.

Jeremy quickly recovered. “No, I was just surprised to see you here,” he replied. “So, what’s up?”

Celestia smiled, peeking around him to examine his lab. For the first time in a long time, Jeremy wished he could keep the place clean – right now, the worktable was so crowded with glassware and chemical containers that he barely had room to place things. “Just that Luna requested that you come over to the castle when you get a chance. I elected to carry the message over, as I was heading to bed anyway.” Jeremy thanked her, and she headed back through the portal, stopping once to acknowledge Lyra bowing with a calm “Good evening, Lyra Heartstrings.” As she left, Lyra looked at Jeremy in surprise.

“P-Princess Celestia knows my name?” she squeaked. Jeremy smiled.

“I imagine she would, universe creator,” he jokingly replied.

Lyra gave another small squeal of delight, seemingly having a heart attack of joy. Jeremy attempted to hold in his laughter at the sight of her, succeeding only after a long and valiant effort. With that, he quickly put on some better clothes and headed through the portal himself.

Luna was waiting on her royal throne, and to Jeremy’s shock, Twilight, Spike and her friends were there as well, bleary-eyed from the lack of sleep. They were chatting about something, and Jeremy considered the possibilities. The fact that all six were present meant that something was clearly going down – but hadn’t someone mentioned the Mane Six wouldn’t visit Canterlot again until the finale? Maybe they were just meeting with Luna for some reason. As he hid behind a pillar, just out of sight, he overheard a snippet of conversation.

“…Shouldn’t he be here by now?” Rainbow Dash was saying.

“It is rather impolite to keep us waiting at such a late hour,” Rarity added.

“Actually, he is here at this very moment – just too shy to reveal himself. Come out, Jeremy,” she called, and Jeremy stiffened.

Nervously, he walked over to the pillar. Spike screamed and immediately hid behind Twilight, but Jeremy was too distracted to pay much attention. Luna. WHAT, he mentally queried, nervous and also irritated.

Relax – we ensured that nothing was happening. It is perfectly safe, she replied.

Jeremy gave a deep mental sigh, and turned to Twilight, holding out a hand. “Hello, my name’s Jeremy. I’m an alien.”

As usual, everyone in the room except for Luna stiffened when he spoke. Twilight nervously shook his hand with her hoof. “Hello, my name’s… Twilight Sparkle…” she falteringly responded.

“What in tarnation are y’all?” Applejack asked bluntly. To everyone’s surprise, Spike was the one who answered.

“That’s a human! They’re terrible creatures who hunt and kill dragons with their metal death weapons, and eat the young ones!” The other six looked at Jeremy, apparently dreading his reaction, and Luna looked as though she wanted to issue a sharp retort. They were evidently surprised when Jeremy burst into laughter. Finally, when he calmed down, he addressed Spike.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be rude. It’s just… what you said is extremely ironic. We have the exact same legend on our planet, in reverse – that dragons would kill and eat hapless humans, and were considered unstoppable and terrifying forces of nature. Anyway, relax! I’m not going to attack you guys,” he finished, the earlier tension broken. Twilight shifted nervously, then held up a hoof as though she were in class. “…Yes?” Jeremy asked after a brief pause.

“Did you come through the mirror?” Twilight inquired curiously.

“What mirror – oh. No. No, I come from a different world – a different universe, in fact. No relation to the mirror’s inhabitants at all, aside from basic biology,” Jeremy explained. The others were looking at Twilight curiously, but she didn’t explain.

From there, the conversation quickly went downhill for Jeremy. “So, why have you been so reluctant to meet me?” Twilight asked, and Jeremy stiffened. He looked at Luna nervously, and she gave an almost imperceptible shake of the head. He turned back to Twilight, who was still staring at him.

“I... was unaware you wanted to meet me," Jeremy claimed. It was half-true - he had no idea of Twilight's reaction once she learned a human had been running around for quite some time.

After a moment, Twilight appeared to accept this. Jeremy took a moment in the resulting silence to gauge the reactions of the Mane Six to his existence. Twilight was confused, but not altogether frightened. Fluttershy was, as expected, both shy in his presence and curious as to his species. Applejack, having gotten over her initial shock, was regarding him with a friendly but suspicious look, and Rainbow Dash was looking bored. Pinkie was smiling at him, with absolutely no trace of suspicion or dislike – no surprises there, and Rarity appeared to be judging his clothes, only stopping when he looked at her. Spike was still behind Twilight, but was glaring at him slightly less suspiciously and significantly less scared than before.

Just when Jeremy thought the conversation really couldn’t get much more awkward, a familiar laugh graced his presence. Luna glared at the walls and ceiling. “Discord, show thyself!” she demanded. Her throne warped, and turned into Discord himself, who lazily uncoiled as Luna jumped off in fright.

“My, my. So touchy, Luna. I’d think you would be more thankful – after all I did for your relationship!” Luna looked at Jeremy in confusion, and he sighed.

“He let me know you had feelings for me,” Jeremy muttered. Fluttershy looked at Discord angrily.

“Discord, what did you do?” she demanded.

“Well, instead of me giving you the usual reassurances, why don’t we ask the primary source?” Discord replied, moving over to Jeremy and placing a giant, flashing neon arrow sign over his head. Jeremy chuckled a bit – Discord was as funny as ever.

“Nah, it’s fine,” he answered Fluttershy. “He wasn’t that bad, really.”

Fluttershy clearly wanted to say more, but didn’t, and Discord disappeared the floating sign, instead manufacturing a couch out of thin air. “So, I might as well break the ice once more – Luna and Jeremy are dating,” Discord announced with an air of delight. He then teleported over to Twilight, stage whispering into her ear so everyone could hear as she reared back in shock – though from the information or from Discord’s sudden proximity, Jeremy didn’t know. “He’s also dating Queen Chrysalis and Celestia on the side, but we all know who’s really ‘caught his eye’…”

Jeremy shifted a little as he remembered that particular lyric – was Discord even there for that? Wait, yes he was. Twilight stared at him. “You’re dating Princess Celestia? And Queen Chrysalis?” she asked. Jeremy sighed again in irritation, and nodded.

“Believe me when I say that I didn’t see it coming either, on all three counts,” he answered. Discord was by now off in the background, delightedly munching on handfuls of popcorn. Jeremy glanced over to him, and immediately regretted it, trying to hold back laughter. Twilight was a little put off by this, but had heard of his exploits and defeat of Nightmare Moon, and so decided to accept it.

Finally, the conversation turned to a far easier topic, as Twilight asked Jeremy to explain just how he got here and started dating the three royals in the first place. Jeremy gave a brief summary, glossing over the sappier parts in favor of the more action-packed parts, as well as skipping the existence of the portal to Earth. “…And that brings us to now,” he finished. Discord took out a pair of reading glasses, shuffling a stack of papers titled “The Lost Human”.

“Hmm, looks like you missed some parts – let’s see here, Chapter 13, Chapter 13…” Discord mused, flipping quickly through the pages as the rest looked on in utter confusion. He turned to about halfway through the stack of papers, and blushed, looking around guiltily and hiding the papers back in whatever dimension they came out of. "Oh, goodness! Never mind, there are children in the room - looks like I'll save this for later, then." Jeremy was by now thoroughly confused, but decided not to press it.

With nothing much else to say, the Mane Six plus Spike left, Discord remaining behind to give Jeremy a wink and a nudge before poofing out of existence. Jeremy gazed at the space Discord had just occupied, unsure of whether to laugh, be angry, or just be confused. Eventually, he decided to let it go, and turned to Luna.

“So… is that how you imagined the conversation going?” he asked, trying not to sound irritated at how sudden it had been.

Luna shook her head. “We were not expecting Discord… but then again, nopony ever does,” she noted.

Jeremy chuckled as the unintentional cultural reference hit him – Discord in a Spanish Inquisition outfit would have been hilarious.

1-12-14, 3:27 P.M.

As Jeremy headed back through the portal, his stomach growled, and he remembered that he had accidentally managed to skip lunch. To his surprise, Chrysalis had returned, glaring at him the moment he entered the downstairs kitchen.

“Where were you? The house was empty, I thought something had happened!” she exclaimed. Jeremy held up both hands in a calming gesture.

“Whoa, it’s fine! Luna called me over for a surprise meeting with Sparkle and her friends,” he explained nervously. Chrysalis approached him threateningly.

“Don’t you dare scare me like that again!” she growled. Jeremy backed away, now thoroughly alarmed.

“Okay, I promise!” he replied, and after a moment, Chrysalis backed off.

“Look, just… I’m not losing you, got it? Not again,” she mumbled. Jeremy looked at her – where she had appeared threatening before, now she just looked small and scared. He bent down to her eye level, placing a palm on her front shoulder.

“Don’t worry. I’m not dying that easily. It took a nuclear explosion to kill me last time, remember?” he joked.

Chrysalis looked away. “Don’t even joke about that,” she muttered.

“What, not funny?” Jeremy asked apologetically.

“Not really, considering we all thought you were dead for three months,” she replied. Jeremy glared at her.

“I thought I would never see you guys again for four,” he replied.

After a moment, Chrysalis dropped her head. “Sorry,” she whispered.

Jeremy sat down with her, placing an arm around her. “It’s fine. I get it, you’re worried. I am too, really…” he admitted.

Chrysalis laid down in his lap, and he stroked her hair, paying curious attention to the holes embedded within: Oddly enough, they kept their form even though he separated the hairs from the main body. Magic? To his embarrassment, his stomach growled again, and Chrysalis looked down, slightly alarmed. Jeremy laughed at her reaction, and attempted to get up. Chrysalis was having none of it, though, and refused to get off of him.

“Hey, get off, I’m hungry!” he protested.

“So am I!” Chrysalis retorted, and Jeremy blushed.

“Alright, fine. Just do it quickly, okay?” he asked.

Chrysalis kissed him on the lips, and Jeremy held her, feeling as though something was draining out of him. Sure enough, when Chrysalis pulled away, her mouth was slightly stained pink. Jeremy suddenly felt lightheaded, and shakingly got to his feet. He managed a few steps, before collapsing back onto the floor. Alarmed, Chrysalis caught his head before it hit the wall, and fluttered around him anxiously.

“Are you alright? I’m sorry – I didn’t mean to take so much!” she apologized hurriedly.

Jeremy dazedly looked up at her. “It’s fine, really. I’ll be fine, right?” he asked. Chrysalis slowly nodded. “Then do me a favor and grab some fruit – still hungry,” he reminded her.

Chrysalis flew over, grabbed a banana and an apple with her magic, and flew back, gently holding the apple just in front of his face. Jeremy reached a hand up and grasped the apple, feeling as though his limbs were made of lead. “Thanks,” he mentioned, lifting it out of her telekinetic grasp and taking a bite. Chrysalis stayed beside him until he finished, making sure he was feeling well. Jeremy didn’t want to show it, but he was a lot more tired than he let on – he knew this feeling: He’d probably pass out pretty soon. So, after he finished his food, he hesitantly stood up again, leaning against the wall for support. He stumbled his way over to the nearby couch in the living room, collapsing onto it in relief.

“I think I’m gonna stay here a while, that alright with you?” he sleepily asked Chrysalis.

“Of course,” she agreed, and Jeremy slipped off into a deep sleep.

Once again, he was dreaming, though he knew not of what. Luna made a few appearances, sometimes in two places at once. Finally, she walked up to him, touching him gently on the chest. Jeremy gasped like he had been drowning as control of his conscious mind returned to him.

“What art thou doing? It’s too early for thou to be asleep – did something happen?” Luna asked, concerned. Jeremy took a moment to recollect his memories.

“No, nothing like that,” he answered. “Chrysalis fed off of me, and I kind of passed out because I was already hungry.” Luna looked outraged.

“The nerve! We are beginning to think she is becoming greedy with thy love.” Jeremy shrugged.

“She was really sorry about it afterward, so don’t be too harsh on her.” Luna looked like she wanted to object, but finally nodded.

With that, she left him to his dreams, and he watched the scenes around him with a slight blush – was this really what his unconscious mind thought up? And more importantly... had Luna been watching?

1-12-14, 6:47 P.M.

When Jeremy woke up, he was surprised to find that a blanket had been carefully tucked around him, and pillows had been tucked under his head. Looking around, he spied Chrysalis, who looked up the second he moved.

“How are you feeling?” she tentatively asked. To her alarm, Jeremy got up and stretched.

“Better…” He sat back down, and Chrysalis sidled up next to him. “Luna visited my dream,” he mentioned, and Chrysalis looked over at him in interest.

“Oh? And just what do you two get up to in your dreams?” she commented devilishly. Jeremy smiled.

“Nothing like what you’re thinking, at any rate. Mostly we just talk.” Chrysalis rolled her eyes.

“You can do that perfectly well when you’re awake – honestly, you can be so boring sometimes!”

Jeremy chuckled. “I prefer being boring – much less chance of dying,” he quipped.

Chrysalis’ mouth curled up in a smile, and for a while they sat there on the couch, simply enjoying each other’s company.

Next Chapter: Chapter 37 Estimated time remaining: 6 Hours, 10 Minutes