On the things that I would say I have wasted a night doing, I never thought it would be “talk with a princess from another dimension”.

Princess Celestia explained herself as the ruler of Equestria. I didn’t know whether or not I should tell her that I kinda already knew what Equestria was when she started telling me about the country, because I’m pretty sure she wouldn’t like the fact there’s a TV show for girls that basically monitors what happens in Equestria.

Regardless, I let her talk, sitting on the couch as I leaned in towards the little princess on the table. Apparently, her former student Twilight Sparkle (which I had to stop myself for a moment, as that name and pony I knew) wanted to devise a spell of some sort that would travel dimensions, so that they wouldn’t use “magical artifacts” to go to different worlds and study them. Celestia didn’t really believe she would make much progress (well that’s a dick move for a teacher to say…), but eventually she found a way to cross dimensions by “using a golem of their similar stature or size” to “inhabit their consciousness for the time they are in that dimension”.

Yeah, the technical aspects I lost. It’s been a while since I was in school, I wasn’t a very good listener.

The spell required two beings. The caster, and the guinea pig. Eh, she didn’t use the word “guinea pig”, but when someone says they have something they need to test, and they want to test it on you, you’re kinda the test subject guinea pig there.

Twilight casted the spell and Celestia offered herself to be the test subject. According to her, she looked at what she thought was the night sky, and she had to touch one star in order to inhabit that “golem” and witness the new world. So many to choose, but then she noticed a patch of black that had only one star in the middle.

She was curious, touched it, and now she was here.

I would have just gone “enney miney moe”. If there’s a spot where the stars aren’t at, I would stay away, because there’s probably a chance that spot was a bit more dangerous than others.

She just thought the star looked lonely.

While she was talking to me, I could tell both her and I relaxed. Maybe we accepted the absurdity of the situation, maybe we were just getting used to each other. For such a tiny thing, her voice carried well, almost as if I was talking to another person right in front of me instead of something the size of a mouse.

She wasn’t terrified of me anymore, thank God. I guess after speaking to me and seeing I wasn’t going to hurt her she grew confident. It seemed like she was very proud of her student to develop a new spell that could lead to a whole new school of magic to study.

I silently hoped that I wouldn’t have to learn these “schools” while she was here, because she started getting into the technical aspect of the spell again, which apparently included equations and runes that were waaaaaay beyond my head.

Then my stomach rumbled again, and I was grateful for that rumble instead of the one before.

“Oh dear, have you eaten anything?” Celestia asked as I stood up.

“Nah, typically you don’t tend to eat when you faint,” I replied.

“Yes, I… I wish to apologize for my sudden appearance. I realize that maybe I could have introduced myself better back on the other table. I know that if a mouse started talking to me, I would probably not act in the right mind.

“Ah, don’t worry about it. Really, you were just one of the bunch of reasons of my stress.”

“A bunch? I remember you saying that your day wasn’t good. What happened?”

“Ah…” I hesitated. I’m just some guy that she randomly chose to meet with her spell. Maybe in the next jump she’ll choose someone different, and I’ll just remember this as maybe a fever dream. So I guess it wouldn’t hurt to actually talk to someone whom I probably won’t see again, so I decided to tell her my life.

While I was busy eating the rest of the pretzel dogs (Celestia didn’t like the smell of them because they reminded her of something, and she was a bit horrified that I was eating something that had that smell. Awkward to teach a different species that you eat meat, I’ll tell you that much.) I told her the story of Millie and me. I was 29 and she was 10. Our parents died when she was 7, and I decided to take care of her myself instead of having her sent to our grandparents the next state over.

When Celestia asked why not our grandparents, I just said that I didn’t trust them to do a good job. The princess didn’t need to know the whole story about our family, anyway.

She raised an unreadable expression at me when I told her I work at the bank. I guess since she’s the ruler of a nation, she too doesn’t like how bankers work and act. I quickly pointed out that I wasn’t a banker, I just worked at the building as an employee. She didn’t understand what I meant as a teller, but now she looked at me with the same interest as before, without that expression.

Never really finished my schooling. Dropped out of high school to go do what I wanted instead of being stuck in classrooms. It was also for another reason involving my parents, but again I didn’t want to tell her about that history.

Millie does well in school, thankfully. Some teachers have raised concerns over Millie’s home life, as we don’t exactly live in the nicer area of the city, but a quick meeting with me usually calms them down.

Usually.

Apparently the fact that Millie was a ten year old at school delighted Celestia. Took me a few seconds to remember that she too was also a teacher, and practically raised Twilight as her own, going on from what she was proud about her student’s successes.

Things ain’t pretty for us, but we get by from my salary and the check we receive from our parents’ Social Security, for Millie. When she’s 18, they’ll stop coming, but Millie is smart enough to excel and impress colleges for her to get scholarships and move out.

As for me, when it comes to that time… I don’t know. I’ll get there when we get there.

I took a glance at the clock. Jesus, it’s 10 already? I don’t feel like hitting the hay yet (goddammit, the horses are getting to me), so I decided to plop down on the couch and prop up some Netflix.

We have premium cable and somewhat good internet. Working at a bank doesn’t make bank, but it pays enough to get some nice things. And Millie, while I hadn’t talked to Celestia about this, is a bit of an introvert who just likes to watch TV or movies and never gets out much with her friends.

Maybe if Celestia comes back, she can help me with that problem, whenever I have the time to talk to Millie about it. Which… is usually never.

I hear little shufflings as a tiny princess decided to fly up to the side cushion next to me on the couch. “What, don’t you have a country to run at this hour?” I ask.

“Luna is certainly capable of lowering the sun as well as raising the moon. I am rather intrigued by your technology. I know of televisions from another world I have visited, but never have I seen one this big.”

Luna, huh? Well, it’s on her if she wants to procrastinate with Netflix while Equestria may potentially be on fire because of someone else’s mistakes. Could it even be on fire, or have they fireproofed everything with a spell or something?

“What are you planning to see?” Celestia asked from the side of the couch. While I think that it’s fine where she is, she could probably have a better view from my shoulder.

I picked up the little horse princess (Hah! She even squeaks like a mouse!) and placed her on my left shoulder. She let her forelegs dangle in front while her hind legs stretched out behind her on my back. After the brief panic of being picked up, she shifted a bit to make herself comfortable, and honestly I found it kind of cute the way she glued her eyes to the television up front.

…Which showed nothing but the Netflix screen still loading.

What to watch, what to watch… I have the leader of an entire nation from a new planet/dimension on my shoulder, who likes to squeak when she gets scared, and I need to show her something that can be relatable to both me and… her.

Fuck. Well, I guess it’s time to let the cat out of the bag.

“Celestia?” I slowly started, catching her attention, and slight worry from the tone of my voice. “I haven’t exactly told you everything about me. Technically, I know where you are from. There’s… something you have to watch.”

She cocked her head to the side (Goddammit, either she’s getting too cute or I’m getting too soft around her now…) in confusion. “You know of Equestria?”

“Eeyup,” I responded with a line I once heard from the bits of the show I’ve seen with Millie. I felt Celestia recoil back, and I looked to see her with a shocked expression. I guess she knew who also said that.

I tabbed into the search function and started pulling up My Little Pony. I clicked on the first item that came up, which featured a picture of 6 various ponies posing underneath the title of My Little Pony Friendship is Magic.

I heard the gasp from my left. Yup, we know about you and your world. Hell, this is probably some Truman Show shit for her.

I clicked the tab that started the first episode, and cranked down the volume a little bit so as not to get angry neighbors. The first few scenes in the episode showed that apparently there were two sisters who ruled the sun and the moon, respectively. I recognized one as Celestia, and judging by the name, that darker sister has to be Luna.

…Wait, eternal night? Wouldn’t that have caused all the plants that depend on sunlight to wither and die? Jesus, I thought this was a little kid’s show, not the Accidental Genocide special.

…Oh. Oh wow. So she banished her sister to the moon? Damn, that’s gotta make you feel bad and lonely. I wonder how she…

And she’s crying on my shoulder, and I can see it in her eyes that she just relived that memory.

…This is gonna be a long night.

Author's Notes:

Disclaimer: I do not own a Netflix account, so I have no idea what working it is like. If this isn't an accurate representation of a Netflixing night, I claim artistic license.

Also, this is another chapter written while procrastinating from work.

Specifically, my college essay.

...I don't prioritize well.