Well, I'm back. Not much else to say besides that, except check out my other story, A Simple Job. Okay, now back to the story.

Oh, and in case it wasn't obvious, I own nothing.

Twilight walked up to the door and opened it. Outside was Celestia, in all her true glory. The Mane Six all immediately bowed, but I remained standing, partially out of curiosity as to how tall she was, and partially because I didn't really give one about whether or not she was a sun goddess.

As she walked in, her gaze wandered around the room until it fell on me. She smiled and walked right up to me. "You must be John."

I was taken aback a little. I mean, how would she know my name? "Um, yeah. You're Celestia, I'm assuming?"

She nodded. "Yes. Now, I believe I'll have a few answers for you."

Wow. It's like she read my mind. Wait, can alicorns do that?

"No, I cannot read minds."

Oh, that's a WHAT THE F-

She chuckled. Great. First I get a concussion in a little girl's show, then I am trolled by a little girl's show. Screw you, universe.

"Really, I can't. It's just my way of having a little fun." Her demeanor grew a bit more serious. "Now, as I said, I have some answers for your questions. Twilight, do you think you could get some tea?"

"Certainly, Celestia," she answered. Looking around the library, I heard her mutter "Now where's Spike…"

The closet door burst open, and Spike jumped out of it, gasping for air. "There…are some really big spiders in there," he panted.

"Uh, sorry Spike," Twilight said, blushing a little. "Now, could you happen to grab us some tea?"

"Sure," he answered, walking towards what I assume is the kitchen.

"Now John, ask away, and I will answer," Celestia said as she sat herself down. The rest of the ponies and I followed suit.

"Well, first off, is this real?" I asked. Hey, might as well know the basics.

"Yes," she replied. "This is all very real."

"Alright. Now, why-"

I was cut off as Spike came in, wearing a pink apron and wheeling a cart with tea and pastries on it. Yep, he must be really comfortable with his masculinity. "Dig in!" he called out.

Grabbing a cup of tea and what looked like a scone, I thanked Spike and turned back to Celestia. "So, as I was saying, why am I here?" Once I finished, I took a sip of tea.

"Quite simply, because you are dead."

I had a perfect cereal guy moment where I spat the tea I'd just drank straight at Rarity. Spike leapt in front of her, taking the shot Clint Eastwood style. "WHAT!?" I shouted.

"You died in your world," Celestia answered, completely unfazed. "Here, let me show you."

Her horn glowed a second, then a beam of light came out and hit me in the forehead. I faintly remember falling back, then nothing.

0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0

The world slowly came into focus. However, once I could see it, I realized it wasn't Equestria. It was the street I had to walk down every day to get to school. Looking around, I saw a clock on one of the billboards. It said 8:35.

Looking around a bit more, I saw myself. I was walking along the left side of the street, humming 'Dragon Soul' for some reason.

As I watched myself walk along down the street, something caught my eye. A semi on the right side of the street abruptly swerved into the left lanes, forcing a car to swerve, which in turn put it in a path directly towards my past self.

The car had time to honk once and try to put on its brakes. My past self barely had the chance to turn his head before the car hit.

I mentally winced at the crash. The car had been going near forty-five, and it pretty much ran me over. The driver stopped as soon as he could, then got out and ran over to my body. I could tell I was dead through a mixture of the head angle, the blunt force trauma, and the fact that my midsection was essentially an organ and bone pancake.

0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0

Gasping, I shot up. However, while I was out, the ponies had crowded around me, with Applejack standing right over me. And of course, when I got up, we managed to run right into each other's lips.

We stayed like that for a second. Then we pulled away, each of us turning a very deep shade of red. Rainbow Dash was snickering a little, but a harsh look from Rarity silenced her.

"Um…well…so, what did you see?" Twilight asked awkwardly.

"I saw myself die," I answered numbly. Seeing the image of my body again, I felt the heavy urge to retch.

"I apologize for showing you that," Celestia said, a touch of genuine sympathy in her voice. "But I knew you wouldn't believe me otherwise."

"No, no, it's…okay." I was still a little shell shocked over the whole matter, so my next thought was slow to appear. "But…why am I here? Is this like Heaven? Hell? Purgatory? Helvin?" (A/N: You gotta read Dilbert to get that last one.)

"None of the above. To be perfectly honest John, your life was awful. I could see you in my dreams every so often, and I could not help but feel sorry for you. Every chance you had at happiness was snatched away, and then you ended up dying at such a young age…" I could see that the sad state of my life had genuinely saddened her. How about that. One person who actually cares whether or not I'm happy, and she lives in an alternate universe.

"John, I brought you here so that you might live out a new life. One where you can make your own fate instead of just trying to cope with the one that fate dealt you."

I was silent for a full minute, processing what she just said. Finally, I began to smile. "Thank you, Princess. Thank you."

She nodded, beaming. "My pleasure, John. Now, may I ask a question of you?"

"Shoot."

"You do realize that you are the only human in all of Equestria, right?"

I nodded.

"Now, I have one question for you: Would you like to remain like that, or would you like to become a pony?"

Well, another chapter done. Now, time to ask for feedback. Should John become a pony or stay human? Answer either in the reviews or PM me, but I would really like to hear what you think.