Chapter 4

Tommy awoke from his nap several hours later in the early afternoon. He was a little disoriented at first, being in an unfamiliar place, but he quickly remembered that he was in Luna's private chambers. He had fallen asleep after Celestia… a shiver ran up Tommy's spine. She had completely immobilized him and he had acted like a scared puppy. He slapped his forehead and dragged his hand down face, stopping at his mouth. Tommy dropped his hands to the couch on either side of his hip and pushed himself up. Again, he looked around the room and took in his surroundings. In all, he felt that, while they weren't to his tastes, the decorations were nice.

He soon spotted his host, Luna, asleep at her desk. Tommy grinned to himself and approached her. He thought "She really is pretty, despite not being human, and that soft snoring is really cute." He also thought that if he let her stay hunched over her desk like that, she was going to be really stiff and sore when she woke up. Very carefully, he slid her chair out some and scooped her up. "She's a lot heavier than she looks. Man, if only she were a little lighter." He began imaging how easy it would be to carry her if she weighed a few pounds less and his thoughts seemed to manifest. "Huh, mind over matter I guess."

Carefully, Tommy laid Luna down on her weird bed. He didn't mean to see anything, but her top had raised up. It wasn't anything serious, but her toned tummy was completely exposed to the world and more would be if things were to progress. With warming cheeks, Tommy pulled the sheets over her torso, pulling them up to her chin.

"Sleep well, Lulu," he whispered, using the name he had heard Celestia address her by. Luna smiled upon hearing his words and pulled the sheets to her muzzle.

Tommy was making his way towards the door when he passed by Luna's desk. He looked at all the things she had sprawled out upon it. There were scrolls stacked in pigeon holes, there was a small puddle of drool (which he wiped up with his sleeve), and a few framed pictures. There was one of her and Celestia in formal attire at what appeared to be a wedding hugging a pink bride in white groom in a military uniform. There was another one of her surrounded by the citizens of some small town that appeared to have been decorated for Halloween. The last one to catch his eye was one that showed six girls and one little boy. He recognized the boy as Spike and one of the girls was Twilight, the others he didn't know, but if they were anywhere near as beautiful in person as they were in this photo, he would love to meet them. Preferably one-on-one, or two-on-one if he were lucky. Really lucky if it were that white one and the orange one.

His curiosity sated, Tommy went to the door and opened it. He was stopped by the guards only briefly, though somewhat violently. They had been told about his presence, but they were still caught off guard. Cautiously, Tommy lifted his open hand and waved at the guards.

"Um, hi," Tommy nervously said.

"Greetings, Mister Fairday. Princess Celestia has informed us to send you to meet her when you awoke. You can find her in the throne room."

"Great. Thank you." Tommy walked off down the hall.

"Ahem! It's the other way," one of the guards advised as he pointed the way.

"Yep, got it."

A few moments later, Tommy managed to wander into the throne room and found Celestia sitting on her raised dais. She was speaking with a robust and handsome stallion in a white tux with white fur and a blond, styled mane. Next to him was a tall, slender mare in an emerald dress with a slit up to her waist. Upon closer… inspection, he saw that she was not like anyone he had ever seen before. She had insect-like wings, holes in her arms and legs, green mane and tail, and fangs that protruded from her mouth. The weirdest thing was that she was wearing a small crown and seemed to have a black carapace instead of flesh and fur.

"…and thanks to the quick actions by several drone guards, the problem causer was quickly expelled and business was able to proceed as normal. Oh, what have we here?" this last bit from the stallion was directed at Tommy and his unexpected entrance.

"Oh, Tommy, you made it," Celestia said as she stepped down from her throne. "Please allow me to introduce you. Tommy Fairday, this is my nephew, Prince Blueblood."

"Greetings," Blueblood bowed slightly.

"And this is Madam-"

"Ahem"

"Apologies. Queen Chrysalis. She and her changelings run several brothels throughout the kingdom."

"While not my preferred way of collecting love, it is an efficient way of doing so." She approached Tommy, large breasts bouncing in her silk dress. The exposed cleavage shined in the light through the stained glass. "But enough about business, on to pleasure. What manor of creature are we?" she asked as she leaned in slightly, exposing more of her cleavage.

Tommy leaned back to avoid her crooked horn and forced his eyes away from her ample bosom. "Human, what about you?"

"Direct and to the point," Chrysalis closed the gap between them, causing her breasts to push up against his chest, "I like that."

Her sultry tone had Tommy at odds. Part of him was really liking the attention, but the rest of him was a little put off by her forwardness and unusual appearance.

"Um…"

Luckily, Blueblood came to his rescue. "Now, now, Chryssi. You know better than to give away the best product. Leave the poor colt alone."

"Fine," she said as she stood up straight and raised her hands into the air in surrender. Her breasts also seemed to shrink two full cup sizes, though they didn't lose their sheen. "I was just having a little fun with our new friend anyway. Besides, you know full well I don't give anything away for free."

Blueblood blushed heavily, tugged on his collar, and look sideways at his aunt's scolding face. "Yes, well, I believe it's about time we head back to the office. Farewell, Aunty, Mister Fairday."

"Toodleloo," Chrysalis blew a kiss at Tommy.

"Have a good day," Celestia bid with a wave.

"Yeah, see ya," Tommy said. Blueblood paused to see if Tommy would correct himself and address him according to his station. When Tommy did not, Blueblood simply left.

Once they were alone, Celestia approached Tommy. When as she drew nearer, Tommy took several steps backward. Upon seeing his actions, Celestia stopped her advance. Clearly, she had done more damage than she thought.

"Tommy, I want to apologize for my actions earlier. I never intended to cause you any real stress."

"Oh, so you're saying you only wanted to scare me a little bit then."

"Yes, actually. You are an unknown in this world. My duty, first and foremost, is to the safety and protection of my little ponies." Celestia stood a little straighter, gaining a couple inches in height. "You are the first one to ever break out of and then back into the palace. Not only the palace, but two royal chambers. An act considered an impossibility until last night. I meant to intimidate you, I did not intend to traumatize you."

"So wait, I'm an 'unknown'…"

"Yes."

"…and you thought it best to risk my life."

"You were not at risk, I had complete control over your body the whole time."

"As far as you know! You had no way of knowing if my body would absorb your magic, or would somehow disrupt your control. You may not have wanted to, but you still could have wound up dropping me a hundred feet to my death. In the future, do me a favor, ask me a question and then leave me the hell alone. Or better yet, go and play hide and go fuck yourself with that little blue girl."

Celestia was a patient pony, but she was also a princess who had her limits. In an instant, she had closed the gap between them and grabbed his shirt in one hand while waving a threatening finger under his nose with the other, and lifted him bodily into the air with no apparent effort. "Listen to me and listen well. I am no mere filly in a schoolyard that you can threaten. I am Princess Celestia, ruler of Equestria and commander of the sun. If I were to deem you a threat, I could have you thrown from the very mountain up which we stand, ending you in an instant, and nopony would even question my actions. You roam freely because I allow it." Her ire released, Celestia calmed down and realized the harshness of her words. She let go of his shirt, causing Tommy to fall to floor. "I-I'm sorry. I didn't… I didn't mean to…"

Tommy crab-walked backward as quickly as he could until his back hit a wall. "No more! Please, no more! I don't know what the fuck is going on anymore, but I don't like it." Tommy curled up, making himself as small as possible. "Please, just let me wake up in my cell. I want this all to be a bad dream."

Celestia started to approach but froze when she saw him quivering and hugging his knees. She realized just how scary this whole situation must be for him. She also knew the perfect filly to fix this mess she made.

She pulled a rectangular tablet made of white opal from a well-hidden pocket in her dress. Her horn glowed, as did the tablet, and after a brief moment, she spoke into it, "Twilight, I need you to come to the throne room, please." Celestia rolled her eyes, "This might be a friendship prob-"

The room was filled with a brilliant light that faded to reveal none other than the Friendship Princess herself, holding a glowing amethyst tablet, similar to Celestia's. After a quick look around the room, Twilight spotted Celestia and sprinted toward her, stopping just shy of actual, physical contact.

"What's the friendship problem?"

Celestia waved toward the human still curled in the fetal position. "I fear that, in a fit of passion, I have traumatized our guest. Twice."

Twilight rushed over to Tommy's side and placed a comforting hand upon his back. "Princess, what happened?"

"I… may have… overreacted. He conned his way out of his cell last night, scaled the palace walls, and found his way into my chambers."

"Really? Nopony's ever climbed the palace walls before. That's impressive, but not something you would normally get angry about."

"And I didn't. No, what got me upset was he said he saw 'the little blue girl'."

"Wait, you mean he knows about-"

"Stop," Celestia held up a warning hand. "I do not believe he knows the particulars, but I am not willing to risk such a secret be revealed. Doing so would be too great a risk to Equestria's security at these unstable times."

Twilight turned back to Tommy with a solemn look. "Yes, of course. I understand completely."

"It doesn't help matters that we still don't know much about him. I want to be able to trust him, even help him get home, if at all possible, but as it sits, we just don't know enough about him or if he can even be allowed to roam free in the palace."

Twilight stood, ankles together, and bowed. "Princess, what would you have me do?"

Celestia smiled. Twilight had always made her very proud as her student and happy as her friend. "Princess Twilight Sparkle, I request that you take Mister Fareday with you to Ponyville. There, I ask that you and your friends do whatever is necessary to ascertain his true intentions toward the nation of Equestria and her inhabitants. If you discover that he is an agent of the Minotaurs, or any other nation, then you shall report him to the local guard who will detain him." Celestia placed a hand on Twilight's shoulder, "Twilight, I must reiterate that this is a request, not an order. If you do not feel safe in doing this task or feel that you are not up to it, you merely have to say so and I will not force you to undertake it nor will I be disappointed in any way. I know it is a lot to ask of you, or anypony for that matter."

"I'll do it, Princess. I have no doubt I'll be able to accomplish this task with the help of my friends." Twilight looked around conspiratorially and leaned closer to Celestia. "Uh, Princess, would you grant me permission to use that spell?"

Celestia looked upon her student sternly. "No. That spell has been forbidden for very important reasons and though I have complete faith in your abilities, you are not to perform that spell or any like it on any sapient creature. Am I understood?"

"Completely, your highness." Twilight raised her right hand, "I swear to obey your command and not perform that spell, nor any similar to it, on any sapient creature."

"Good. I know I can trust you, my most faithful student. Now, please prepare for your departure." Twilight bowed and left the throne room. Celestia watched her leave, then turned back to Tommy. "Mister Fareday!" Tommy pulled his eyes from the floor and forced himself to look up at her. "It appears that I am not the proper pony to welcome you to our lands, so my student, Twilight Sparkle, will be taking you to with her to Ponyville. There, she will help you to integrate into pony society, learn more about you while you do the same about us. She will also see about getting you back to your own world."

"*Grumble*"

"What was that?"

"Whatever it takes to get me away from you."

"Hmph, then we are agreed. You shall be escorted to the train station along with Twilight and Spike, as soon as they are prepared to do so."

"*Grumble*"

"Of course, if you prefer, I could simply have you chained up in your cell until we can end you home. However, that may take some time."

Tommy stood up and quickly walked to the opposite wall of the room. "Fine, I'll go with Twilight, just please leave me be."

Celestia took a deep breath and walked back to her throne to await Twilight's return, saying, "Very well. Have it your way."

"…no trees left at all?"

"That's not what I said, Twilight. I said that a lot of the ancient forests were destroyed in a desperate land grab for fertile farming soil. There were still some forests left, but they were few and far between."

Twilight looked out at all the passing old growth trees and appreciated and really appreciated them for the first time. "Your world sounds very bleak. Are you sure you even want to go back?"

"I don't belong here. Celestia made that painfully clear today." Tommy turned his attention back to the world outside the window. "'Though, I really wouldn't mind living in a paradise like this place."

"Well, I don't know about 'paradise,' but I do love it here. Although, in all fairness, I never lived anywhere but Ponyville and Canterlot."

"*Chuckle* I still can't believe your capital city is called Canterlot."

"Why? What's funny about that?"

"Aside from the pony pun, same with Ponyville, we had a legend about a city called Camelot where a wise and benevolent king lived. I just think the coincidence is funny."

Twilight rubbed her chin in thought. "Huh, that is interesting. I wonder if there's something there?"

"Nah. There's only so many syllables the tongue can make, so that's all there is to it." As Tommy continued to watch the scenery pass by, the forest gave way lush, rolling fields. "Wow… Last time I saw a field this big, green was certainly not the majority. I wish Earth still looked like this. Maybe then we wouldn't have to abandon the planet."

"Abandon the planet? Was your world really that far beyond saving?"

"Yeah. It started gradually at first, but the people who could stop it were too busy making more money than anyone could ever hope to spend in a dozen lifetimes. Things just got worse from there." Tommy let out a deep sigh. "I can't see that happening to this world. It's a little different when you can literally control the weather. Anyway, sorry to go on rant, I'm just being bitter about how good you have it here."

"No, that's okay. If our roles were reversed, I might react similarly." Twilight perked at seeing something coming up. Twilight gently shook Spike awake. He had fallen asleep curled up next to Twilight with his head resting on her thigh. "Oh, it appears we've arrived."

Tommy sighed yet again. "Well, guess it's time to get this over with."