Chapter 43

By the time the train rolled into Canterlot station, Jeremy was half-asleep. He dazedly looked up at the doors opening, and therefore was very surprised to find that a bright flash of light and a millisecond later, his view of the trainstation had been replaced by thousands of feet of open sky. “WHAT THE-“ Jeremy began as he flailed around to keep himself from falling, but was stopped by the feeling of landing  on something.

Confused, he looked down to find Luna looking up at him with concern. “What – how didst thou – “ she began in consternation, but she too was cut short by Chrysalis’ laughter.

“The look on your face!” Chrysalis howled with mirth, doing somersaults in glee as her changeling wings buzzed through the air.

Celestia too was present, looking over with her utmost lack of amusement. Jeremy looked over at Chrysalis. “Okay, not cool – pranking people and making them think they’re about to die aren’t the same thing!” he called over to her. Chrysalis stopped laughing, although she couldn’t suppress a chuckle.

“What, you thought I’d let you get killed so easily?” she teased. Jeremy crossed his arms.

“I’m sorry, was I aware it was you teleporting me? For all I know, this could’ve been an assassination attempt.” Chrysalis sobered up at that.

“…You’re no fun,” she muttered. Jeremy simply glared at her.

After watching this uncomfortably, Luna cleared her throat. “This… was to be our surprise – we were to take thee flying. If thou art uncomfortable, though, we will land at once.”

Jeremy considered it, looking down at the terrain thousands of feet below. He was sorely tempted to say yes, but a small part of him was exhilarated at the thought of actually flying – enough for him to surprise himself by replying “Go for it.” He trusted them to not kill him – and besides, this was a welcome relief from the boredom he’d been experiencing. He adjusted his position on Luna’s back, moving his legs in front of her wings so she could fly more effectively.

A few moments later, Luna and Celestia were flying loops in the open sky, Jeremy laughing with delight as he was carried along and buffeted by sheer acceleration. Evidently, the two alicorns knew how to pull off some tricks – but where had Chrysalis gotten to? Jeremy wondered. Looking back, he found his answer: She was trailing some hundreds of feet behind, not really making an effort to join in. Noticing him looking back, Luna stopped her aerial ballet and looked at Chrysalis in concern.

“She is… capricious,” Luna noted.

“Yep,” Jeremy simply responded.

“Art thou… angry at her for her japery?” Luna wondered.

Jeremy sighed. “Really, I should be. Part of me still is. But… if she seriously meant it in good fun, and didn’t understand how I’d feel about it… can I really blame her?” To his surprise, Celestia nodded, having hovered over to the two as well.

“You have every right – after all, it was not her place to put you in such a position, no matter the intent.” Jeremy frowned in thought.

“Hmm. I don’t know – I’ll think about it.”

After a while, Luna got bored of the loops and aerial tricks, and decided to try something new. “We would like to try a dive… art thou willing?” she asked. Freezing, but exhilarated, Jeremy nodded eagerly. With that, Luna swooped forward, accelerating to shocking speeds as she screamed through the sky. Shouting with laughter, Jeremy’s eyes watered as the ground sped toward them… only to bounce away as though it were the one flying and not them, as Luna pulled out of her dive.

“That was so cool!” Jeremy enthusiastically proclaimed once they had reached more acceptable speeds, and Luna laughed.

“We are glad you liked it. Our sister has been enjoying herself, as well…” She pointed upwards, and Jeremy could just barely make out Celestia, still delightedly swooping around as though she owned the sky – which, Jeremy supposed, she did.

They began to fly over the country, Luna and Celestia pointing out important landmarks. “Over there is Appleloosa – you can just make out the bison herds and camps from here,” Celestia called out. Chrysalis had rejoined earshot, and looked down, trying to look interested but convincing nobody.

“Huh… I’d have thought it would be smaller…” Jeremy commented, trying to remember the sole Equestrian map he had studied. Up here, he was high enough to see the curvature of the planet below them – but somehow the atmosphere had only barely thinned. Pegasi magic, he supposed.

10-5-14, 5:37 P.M.

A few hours later, it was time to lower the sun and raise the moon. Jeremy shakingly stepped off of Luna’s back, legs wobbling as he took a few steps forward and got reacquainted with walking. “Whoa… heh, I feel like I’ve been on a boat, or something,” Jeremy commented as he stretched out his legs. He walked with Luna and Celestia up to the palace balcony, Chrysalis following behind uncertainly as ponies stared.

Celestia lit her horn and the sun sped down from the sky like a downcast angel, the moon just as quickly rising to take its place as the sky turned black and stars began to twinkle. Jeremy gazed up at the night, shivering slightly. “Come on, let’s get thee someplace warm,” Luna mentioned, and Jeremy obediently followed her into Celestia’s room, where a mug of hot chocolate was waiting for him.

With that, the two alicorn sisters filed out to attend to their royal duties, leaving Jeremy and Chrysalis alone in Celestia’s bedchambers. After an awkward moment, the two looked away from each other. Chrysalis sighed, her hair shifting forward to cover her eyes. “Look, I just… I overstepped my bounds, I know. I thought since you had been okay with everything I’d pulled so far, I could afford being overconfident like this, and… I’m sorry,” she finished. Jeremy looked away.

“Even I have limits,” he replied, and Chrysalis visibly flinched. Seeing this, Jeremy immediately felt sorry. Placing a palm to his forehead, he massaged his temples before continuing. “I’ll be straight with you, I’m disappointed. But… I can see myself pulling the exact same prank, so… I’m not sure what to think. I mean, you’re right – we’d never let each other die so easily. So… I guess I’m just confused.” Chrysalis nodded, evidently feeling the same.

“Why don’t we just… forget it ever happened?” she proposed, looking up at him.

“Yeah, that sounds good… Hey, have you tried this?” he asked, motioning towards the hot chocolate in an attempt to change the subject.

“No, what is it?” she queried.

“It’s… you’re serious, you’ve never had hot chocolate before? Okay, this is an insult to culture – you need to try this right now,” he asserted, giving her the mug. Chrysalis took a cautious sip. Her eyes narrowed in suspicion, then widened.

“Wow. Not bad,” she commented, and Jeremy smiled.

10-5-14, 8:42 P.M.

“Hell of a Sunday, huh?” Jeremy commented, as Chrysalis lay on his stomach. She chuckled.

“Was Cadance happy to hear she was planning a wedding for me?” Jeremy returned the chuckle, then considered it.

“She... Well, she was surprised to hear we ‘troll’ each other so often. Apart from that, she seemed to be okay with it. Shining was a lot more suspicious, though, but he agreed to back off when I said the feelings were mutual.” Chrysalis rolled her eyes.

“He hasn’t learned a thing – I could be mind-controlling you, for all you know.” Jeremy grimaced.

“Don’t remind me – I don’t feel like questioning my reality today.” Chrysalis immediately sat up.

“What – no! No, I was kidding, I’m not – “ Jeremy lazily pulled her back down.

“Relax, I’m not that suspicious. Jeez, you seem on edge about that.” Chrysalis grumbled as she reluctantly resumed laying down on his chest.

“Everyone jokes about that on the Internet! ‘Better not meet Chrysalis if you go to Equestria, she’ll mind-control you and rape you! Or turn you into a changeling, or a breeding slave!” She shuddered at that last one. Jeremy frowned.

“It’s the Internet, every single idea no matter how dumb gets put on there,” he reminded her.

“You don’t see stuff like that about Celestia!” Chrysalis fumed.

“You don’t?” Jeremy questioned. Chrysalis gave this some thought.

“…Okay, you do. But not as blatant, and not nearly as disgusting!” Jeremy waved a hand in dismissal.

“The only time we saw you in the show, you were mind-controlling someone and ‘stealing their love’. And since we don’t have magic, let alone love magic…” Jeremy trailed off. Chrysalis rolled her eyes.

“Thanks for the cultural seminar. Next time, I’ll follow your advice and not search myself on certain websites.”

Jeremy laughed. “Good plan.”

Celestia trotted in, humming a merry tune. “So, how did you enjoy the flight session?” she asked Jeremy.

“That was amazing in every single way,” Jeremy replied as seriously as he could. Celestia smiled.

“It’s a great way to relieve stress when work gets too busy. Say… shouldn’t you be getting back to your dormitory?” Jeremy checked the time and yelped, pushing Chrysalis off of him in a mad dash for the door.

Bursting through the portal, he hit solid wood. What the hell? Someone had changed the location! He looked around – he was in his own closet. The back of the closet had been replaced by a smoother surface to allow the portal, but was otherwise unchanged – and a foam sheet in front of him covered it up nicely. Brushing away his clothes, he listened for his roommate before realizing the light was off – they were probably sleeping. Quietly opening the door, he made his way over to his bed, quickly changed, and slowly drifted off to sleep.

10-6-14, 12:20 P.M.

Jeremy packed up his backpack after yet another hour of watching the teacher do sums of forces and moments on the blackboard. To his surprise, Mary was waiting for him outside the lecture hall – they didn’t have much interaction, and students were staring at the unwarranted security intrusion. As Mary approached him, Jeremy decided to act unfamiliar. “…Yes…?” he asked, hopefully sounding as confused and apprehensive as he felt.

Mary never approached him unless it was for a strict set of reasons, and judging by the expression on her face, she meant all kinds of business. “We need to talk,” she said, carrying a hint of reproach in her voice, and students immediately started muttering to themselves.

“The hell, Mary?” Jeremy whispered in an undertone. “Way to attract attention – I’ll need a damn good alibi for that one.”

She walked with him, apparently heading back in the direction of his dormitories. “We’ll think of something along the way – right now, we’re headed to the security office to meet up with some people.”

Once they were there, she entered a password on the door lock, and it clicked open. Jeremy followed her inside to find several men and women in camo fatigues with bored expressions on their faces. Upon catching sight of them, Jeremy froze, an expression of shock on his face.

For a moment, all he could hear and see was himself from a year ago, angrily taking out a tiny, green cylinder about the size of his fist, pulling a pin as his inevitable death was discussed behind the closed classroom door in front of him, opening the door… and running… and a deafening shockwave that made him want to scream in pain, but he had to keep running...

Jeremy turned and sprinted out the door of the security office, heading for the relative comfort and safety of his dorm room while being chased by the dark daydreams that never quite left him alone. As he escaped the visibility of the security office, his place slowed to a jog, and finally a walk. A feeling of shame overtook him – he’d let his flashback get the best of him, and now he’d have to pay the price. Maybe he’d send an email apologizing and explaining. That led him onto a worrisome thought train that he should have been on earlier – why was the military even here on campus anyway? What had Mary wanted?

Entering his dorm room, he locked the door for a moment, and though it was still only early afternoon, crawled into bed. He wasn’t about to go to sleep again – as much as it might be good for him, he didn’t feel like interrupting Luna’s rest for yet another heart-to-heart chat. That left Chrysalis and Celestia to talk to, both of which would be laughably disappointed in him. So, he couldn’t talk to anybody, for fear of being ridiculed or further shamed. Fan-freaking-tastic. He had to get lunch, and go to his undergraduate research job – Mary knew this, and had probably already made excuses or some such. All the running had made him hungry, but he knew if he set foot outside his dorm Mary would eventually catch up with him. Oh, the joys of teenage PTSD, he thought bitterly. After a few minutes of waiting, he listened to the sounds outside his particular dorm room – it appeared nobody else was back from classes yet. Sighing, he was about to get up when a knock sounded on the door, and he froze once again. “Jeremy?” Mary asked from the other side, now sounding concerned.

“Mary, unless this is absolutely goddamn critical, I really don’t feel like talking right now,” Jeremy sullenly answered.

“Sorry to say, but it kind of is. Look, I’m alone – I told the others to wait in the office. What exactly… was that, back there? If you don’t mind me asking.” Jeremy shifted audibly on his bed, trying to suppress the memories that refused to go away.

“It’s… it’s complicated, okay? I just don’t trust the military. I can’t…” he trailed off, trying to say what he felt and failing miserably.

“Wait… is this about that time in your high school? Damn, should’ve remembered that – I am so sorry. Do you still want to see what’s up? It’s pretty urgent,” Mary pressed.

After a moment’s thought, Jeremy swung over the bed, slipping his shoes back on. “Okay, just… if I flip out again, give me some space. Those uniforms… they’re kind of messing with me,” Jeremy admitted.

Opening the door, Mary shot him a look. “Kid, you’re more messed up than the average veteran,” she muttered, shutting his door as he pulled out the key to lock it.

“You’re telling me?” Jeremy replied tiredly.

Next Chapter: Chapter 44 Estimated time remaining: 4 Hours, 54 Minutes