Chapter 42

As he strolled through the Canterlot autumn, he waved hello to the various passersby he recognized. Some waved back, smiling, while others simply gave him a cool nod. There were no leaves in the streets, as the majority of Canterlot lacked large trees. Even if the place had trees, Jeremy had little doubt some magic would be used to keep the area clean – such was the nature of life here. Magic was used for every little thing, from streetlights to display stands. Jeremy enjoyed the fall breeze, a welcome reprieve from the harsh temperature swings of Ohio’s buildings, and headed up to the castle.

Celestia greeted him as soon as he arrived – it seemed it was a slow morning for business today. “How’s it going?” Jeremy called out by way of greeting. “As good as ever,” Celestia cheerfully replied. “So, any reason I’m over here, or are we just hanging out?” Jeremy asked. Celestia gave a small chuckle as she used her magic to reveal a small scroll, with a different royal insignia than Jeremy recognized. “Princess Cadance has requested to see you on the matter of our upcoming wedding – she has some ideas she would like to go over with you.” Jeremy took the scroll from her magical grasp, reading it over for a moment before nodding. “Did she specify a time?” he asked. Celestia shook her head. “No, although she did mention this weekend as a possibility,” she explained. Jeremy shrugged, handing the scroll back to Celestia, who made it vanish once more. “Sounds good, I’ll see her then.” With that, he hung out with Celestia for a few hours – the fall morning was a perfect time to have a light discussion.

Bidding her farewell, Jeremy strode off towards the Canterlot train station. Once he had arrived, he waved delightedly at a familiar train conductor, who stopped his business. “Haven’t seen your face in a while – from the looks of things, you been busy,” the stallion said, grinning. “Yeah, that’s one word for it,” Jeremy replied. A thought occurred to him, and he dug around in his pocket for a moment before handing some coins over to the conductor, who took them with some surprise. “Payback for earlier,” Jeremy said, grinning. “This is three times what the ticket cost, though… ya sure?” the stallion asked him curiously. Jeremy nodded. “Treat yourself,” he replied, and strode into the crowd, the train conductor looking back at him with a hint of amusement and gratitude.

Once he had arranged his own transportation to the Crystal Kingdom, Jeremy headed back to the portal. Thankfully, his roommate was still out – Jeremy reflected on how convenient it was that they had so active a lifestyle they would never notice if he left. He awkwardly jumped up through the portal, rolling sideways onto his dorm floor – he wished he had a better place for that. With that, he pulled on his pajamas once more and climbed into bed.

10-3-14, 7:30 A.M.

Jeremy reached up and turned off his alarm, sitting up for a moment before groaningly slumping back down again – it might have been Friday, but he wasn’t about to thank anyone for it. At least he had remembered to actually study for his chemistry exam this time – he didn’t think he could handle cramming in the one hour of non-class time he had this morning. Swinging over and jumping off his bed, he landed on the tile floor with a soft thump, before hurriedly getting dressed and heading out into the blustery October morning.

A few hours later, he had returned from lunch, and classes were over for the week. With that, he started to pack for his trip to the Crystal Kingdom – clothes, toiletries and all. His roommate came in, and stared. “Going to be gone all weekend, uh… for a convention,” Jeremy informed him, hating himself for stuttering on the lie. Thankfully, his roommate accepted this, apparently taking it as him being cagey about the type of convention, and didn’t say anything. Their schedules were so different that his roommate left a short while later, and Jeremy slung his newly repacked backpack over his shoulder and swung through the portal.

Trains were very odd in Equestria: As long as the train wasn’t full, and you had a ticket, you could actually board at any time, making prearranged tickets very convenient. Unfortunately, Canterlot was nothing if not a tourist trap, and thus Jeremy had to wait a couple hours before a space was open for him. He stepped onto the train, noting how old-fashioned and relatively small it looked – like something out of a 1920’s railroad photo, repainted bright pink and green. He took a seat, and decided to zone out for a bit, watching the countryside zoom by as they departed from Canterlot.

Unfortunately, he had to go through Ponyville to get to the next train, which was a nervous experience. He thanked the powers that be that the fifth season wasn’t on, and therefore nothing could be happening, although he did notice Rarity some distance away, haggling with a vendor at a shop just barely visible from the train station. He was tempted to wave, but decided to simply board his train instead. Thankfully, this one didn’t have as long of a wait, and Jeremy once again zoned out in his seat.

Finally, they pulled into the Crystal Kingdom train station, and Jeremy noted the drastic change in temperature – where it had once been so cold he was sure the train would freeze over on the outside, it was now back to being balmy and sunny. Stepping off, he made his way towards a hotel he had done some research on – it was cheap, and Equestrians seemed to like it. Making his reservations for the weekend, he went upstairs to examine his room.

The beds, as was to be expected, were far too small for a human to lie across – so he improvised, dragging them across the floor until they were end-to-end. Dumping his backpack on the floor next to them, he set off to explore his new surroundings.

Jeremy had been aware that most of the Crystal Kingdom was, in fact, made of crystal – but this fact was never more obvious than when the sun reflected on the multitude of facets and temporarily blinded him, over and over again. Now more than ever, Jeremy wished he had remembered to pack sunglasses, and after a few hours of searching and wandering was rewarded with a relatively expensive pair. Part of him wished he wasn’t spending so much on temporary accessories, but it wasn’t like he used the money for much else – once he had taken what he estimated would amount to about his college debt’s worth in gold coinage, he still had the vast majority of his wealth left, and had begun donating it to various charities in an effort to stay afloat of all the money. “Don’t you want to be rich?” Chrysalis had asked him once, and he had violently shook his head. “If I’m not using the money, or even planning to use the money, it’s a waste of space,” he had answered. Chrysalis shrugged, and went back to what she had been doing – reading a newspaper Jeremy had picked up from campus.

Now that he didn’t have to worry about being blind, exploring became much more interesting. Most of the shops sold various crystal artifacts and trinkets, and he was surprised to find such things as crystalline cloth and food among them – he assumed the crystal food was a variation of sugar, or some such, and decided to avoid it for the time being.

A few hours later, he couldn’t decide what to buy, so he headed back to the hotel and turned in for the night. To his satisfaction, the bed was as comfortable as ever, and he gave a relaxed sigh before drifting off to sleep.

To his surprise, he woke up almost instantaneously. Luna stood there regally, eyes glowing in the moonlight. “This is a dream, do not worry about thy sleep cycle,” she informed him. “Oh, okay. So, what’s going on back in Canterlot?” Jeremy asked, sitting up. “Absolutely nothing – it has been quite the relief, actually,” Luna responded, casually snuggling up next to him. “Nice. I got blinded for a few hours, and got to explore around,” Jeremy mentioned, throwing an arm around her as he gazed out at the full moon over the Crystal Kingdom. It might have been a dream, but it was incredibly realistic. “So, why am I ‘awakened’? I don’t even remember dreaming…” Jeremy mentioned after a while. “We awakened thee while thou were still in dreamless sleep – somewhat more difficult, but it does save time,” Luna explained. Jeremy nodded appreciatively. “Anyhow, there was a purpose to this meeting beyond small talk – we wanted thee to know there is a surprise waiting for thee when thou return home,” Luna mentioned excitedly. Jeremy raised an eyebrow. “Really? Can’t wait – it must be special if you took the time to warn me.” Luna smiled. “We think thou will enjoy it, though it may not be what thou art expecting…” With that, she chuckled, and vanished in a blue flash. Almost immediately, Jeremy’s dream world faded around him, his consciousness quickly sinking back into the dark ocean of sleep.

10-4-14, 8:00 A.M.

The morning was rather uneventful – he came back from breakfast, a fascinating foray into the culinary world of crystal food, to find a letter waiting for him. It was from Princess Cadance, asking him to visit the palace whenever he was ready. Grinning, he turned around and headed out the door again, giving a small wave to the attendant as he passed the front desk.

Entering the palace, he greeted Shining Armor and Princess Cadance almost immediately. Shining Armor held out a hoof, and Jeremy smiled before bumping it. He merely nodded to Cadance, who smiled back. “So, apparently you had some ideas for the wedding?” he prompted, and Cadance politely nodded, leading him to a separate room. Here, clothes and wedding props could be seen strewn around, as well as notes. “Wow. Has this kept you up for a few nights?” Jeremy asked, looking around. Cadance laughed. “Not involuntarily…” she answered. With that, they got down to planning the wedding, as Shining looked on.

A few hours later, they had lunch in a private room. As soon as he finished, Shining cleared his throat. “Jeremy, could we talk in private?” he asked, and Jeremy raised an eyebrow before nodding. Cadance looked on curiously, but didn’t interfere.

As Shining led them out onto a balcony, his expression turned serious. “Is it really true, what I’ve been hearing about the changelings? They’ve turned… good?” Jeremy nodded. “Chrysalis is actually really cool when she’s not trying to take over nations, and the hive can actually be pretty cute when they want to – or maybe it’s just my alien upbringing,” he joked. Shining gave a short smile. “And yeah, I know this is kind of awkward, after she…” Jeremy began, but Shining held up a hoof. “If you really love her… and she, you... then I’m willing to put it behind us,” he stated. Jeremy appraised him with a newfound respect. “Of course,” he replied. With that, they walked back into the planning room. Cadance could tell a serious discussion had just been had, but she evidently decided not to press it, and they went right back to planning. They talked well into the night, and Jeremy was surprised just how much went into planning a wedding, especially a triple one such as this. “Is this even precedented in Equestria?” he asked once. Cadance laughed. “Actually, yes, there have been double and even triple weddings before. They’re kind of uncommon, because normally sustaining multiple partners can be quite tiring, but it has been known to happen.” Jeremy shrugged, and went back to the layout.

After they had a rudimentary plan down, Cadance took him on a tour while Shining stayed behind to oversee the royal court. As she took him around the castle, pointing out the various names of places and the history behind them, Jeremy responded by telling her a bit of his own history, both of Earth and himself. The two realized they shared a love of mineralogy, though Jeremy hadn’t followed up on this hobby in quite some time. After that, they quickly bonded over discussing gemstones of the two planets, and Cadance promised she’d send over some mining books when she got the chance. Finally, they took another short break to visit the crystal mines. Jeremy was extremely surprised when, upon arrival, Cadance grabbed a pickaxe and sauntered in, most of the other workers barely acknowledging such a move other than a cheerful greeting. After looking at her in confusion for a moment, Jeremy smiled and shrugged, grabbing a pickaxe himself and following her in.

“This is mining for you? The crystals are everywhere… it’s not even a proper hunt,” Jeremy complained. Cadance laughed as she swung her pickaxe, freeing a larger crystal from the bedrock and levitating it into a wheelbarrow. “It would be if we were looking for diamonds… but today we’re just scavenging all the beryl from the surface,” she explained. Picking up a vivid pinkish-red crystal, Jeremy examined it. “This is beryl? Red beryl is very rare, back on my planet. Aquamarine’s more common, and emerald is in the middle.” Shrugging, Cadance examined the stone he had, levitating it over to her. “Hmm… no, this is just garnet,” she determined, tossing the fist-sized lump behind her callously. Jeremy watched it go, tempted to go retrieve it when he reminded himself that there were far more valuable treasures waiting in these caves. Retrieving his pickaxe, he went back to searching the veins of the cavern. Cadance looked over at him, seemingly holding herself back from saying something. Finally, just as Jeremy was about to ask, she spoke. “So… Is Chrysalis… you know… good to you?” she asked uncomfortably. Jeremy raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?” he suspiciously responded. “She doesn’t… treat you as beneath her, or manipulate you into giving her love?” Jeremy thought about it, then laughed. “No, she does. Or, she used to. Really, it’s fine, I’m used to it.” Cadance looked at him as though he had sprouted an extra limb. “You’re… okay, I think we’re having a cultural disconnect here, I’m just going to stop there,” she muttered, going back to her mining. Jeremy shrugged. “At this point it’s more of a joke than anything… plus she’s learning how not to do that.”

Shining was still holding court by the time they got back, and greeted them with a casual wave. With that, Cadance moved on to the finer details of the wedding plans, and Jeremy was quickly stumped by her questions, finding that he didn’t have a preference one way or the other for most of her questions. “Sorry, I’m awful at planning events,” he apologized after a while of this. “Oh, that’s fine – I didn’t expect you to be good at it. No offense,” Cadance answered, dismissing his concerns with a wave of her hoof. “None taken,” Jeremy replied, smirking. From that, the topic turned to his thoughts on each of his marefriends – Jeremy was a little confused, but Cadance insisted it was important. Reluctantly, he agreed, and told her everything he thought of them. As he spoke at length, Cadance would occasionally write notes on a sheet of parchment she had found. She would nod at the oddest places in his stories, and smile at others. For the first time, Jeremy didn’t leave out the more intimate parts of the story, and both he and Cadance blushed as he clumsily waded through those particular sections. By the time he was done, she had covered the front and a good portion of the back of the parchment with notes, and rolled it up before levitating it over to a work table. “Thanks, that was really helpful,” Cadance noted. “Sure… I guess…” Jeremy responded, still uncertain how exactly that had helped. “I’ll go over the final plan with the other three, but I think you’ll like it,” she had enthusiastically finished, and Jeremy took that as an excuse to dismiss himself.

“Well, this was all kinds of fun. We should do this again sometime,” Jeremy concluded, hefting his backpack as he prepared to depart. “Come back anytime,” Shining called, waving a hoof. “Don’t forget what we discussed!” Cadance called, waving as well as Jeremy stepped onto the train. “I won’t!” he called back, smiling – their enthusiasm was infectious. As the train pulled out, he went back to wondering what Luna’s “surprise” was.

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