//------------------------------//
// Chapter 17 
// Story: My Little Pony: The Visitor 
// by Hopeful Soul 
//------------------------------//


Epilogue


Three Weeks Later

Emerging from a restful sleep and pleasant dreams of home and familiar yet exotic places far from it, Declan Shay let out an almighty yawn. His body briefly felt like butter as the boy stretched to and fro, then catapulted himself onto two feet.
Declan rubbed his eyes with a small smile as he collected his glasses off the nightstand beside him. Putting the bifocals on, he blinked as his eyes quickly adjusted to the sunlight filtering in, then he peered at his clock. The digital face read seven o’clock; right on the dot. Declan felt his lips curl into a smile as the alarm finally went off, but with no sleeper to disturb.
The pinging was swiftly silenced, and Declan let out a chuckle to himself. “A day passes in Equestria, and only a moment here, and here I am beating my alarm. Man, time is weird…”
As he spoke, the boy padded his way over to his dresser, maneuvering around his rogue soccer ball that had somehow taken up an inconvenient section of the floor overnight. He quickly chose his distinct green-dominated ensemble from each drawer and set about his morning routine.
After a shower and with his outfit donned for the day, Declan headed downstairs, where his parents were busy around the kitchen and a third person was seated at the dining table. They were concealed behind a tall opened newspaper with a steaming mug of dark coffee in front of them, but Declan could already tell who it was, and his smile only grew.
Most of the table was already set for breakfast.
“Good morning kiddo!” Harvey Shay greeted his son with a smile, glancing up from the sink as he rinsed bacon grease out of a skillet.
Rebecca Shay shared Harvey’s radiant smile as she forked some bacon onto a plate with freshly buttered toast and scrambled eggs. “Good morning, Declan. I was just about to call you down,” she chuckled, “but it looks like you magically beat me to it, sweetie.”
“Mark me, honey, I think our son here might be the next Houdini, or Penn and Teller,” Harvey laughed, leaning towards Rebecca’s ear conspiratorially and causing her to arch a brow.
Declan shook his head sharply, and happily bolted to his empty seat at the table beside the newspaper reader while his mom and dad did the same. “Sorry, Mom and Dad, but no magic to it this time, I’m afraid. Just the smell of your exquisite cooking.” Harvey chuckled with pride and Rebecca now had both eyebrows arched, impressed at her son. Declan smiled sheepishly. “A friend or two of mine have quite the descriptive vocabularies; the bigger words kind of rub off on you after a while, what can I say?”
“I’ll take exquisite over ‘cool” or ‘happenin’ any day, myself,” Grandpa Shay remarked, finally lowering the newsprint and revealing his wisened yet sunny features. “Good magical morning, Scamp!” He gave Declan a wink.
“Hey, good mornin’ Grandpa!” Declan replied in between forkfuls of egg and bacon, returning a smile as golden as the eggs.
“Goodness Declan, you’re going to end up eating the plate and the entire table at this rate,” Harvey commented while Rebecca struggled not to spit out her orange juice from a giggling fit.
“‘Eh, but he looks like he could take on the world, couldn’t he son?” Grandpa Shay replied. “That’s some aura of confidence you got about yourself there, Declan. You’re positively glowing.”
“Aw, thanks, Gramps.” Declan grinned. Grandpa Shay gave the boy a second wink before taking a sip of coffee and returning to his newspaper.
“You have certainly changed a lot these past weeks, Declan,” his mother observed. “Any particular reason?”
Declan glanced away with a knowing smile. “Oh, you know… just following the advice of some friends of mine,” he replied. His smile then became warm as he thought of seven certain somebodies. “Really good friends…”



The Shays soon finished the remainder of their breakfast and before he knew it, Declan was already on his way to school with backpack in tow. The morning passed by like most ordinary days, pleasant, productive, if a little dull at times. He never told his parents or his school friends about his experiences in the strange new world of Equestria, those memories were important to him and he wanted to keep them to himself.
But at recess, however, Declan’s experience from Equestria and his newfound friends really began to show. After two rounds of cops and robbers, a few other games, and one epic bout of King of the Hill Dodgeball during what the teachers were calling “a surprise extended free day for outstanding academic performance and attendance school-wide,” Declan received many remarks from friends and fellow classmates about his more than average confidence and surprising “tactical awesomeness.”
In all, the team under Declan’s leadership won the first round of Cops and Robbers, emerged victorious in all instances of freeze tag, and all but crushed the opposition in King of the Hill Dodgeball for a grand finish to the recreation before everyone headed to lunch with either bragging rights, or just a growling belly.
After lunch and another period of recess, school was nearly out and it was time to pack up for home. At the moment, Declan was waving goodbye to some of his friends, who were currently leaving.
“Ok, see you guys later!” he called out before they left. He also began to leave also.
While making his way down his school’s cavernous front entry hall, Declan noticed an open, vacant janitor’s closet, and his eyes practically glowed with intent. Taking a quick glance around to make sure the coast was clear, which it surprisingly was, Declan slinked into the narrow room.
Declan then lifted up the Emperor’s gem, which he kept under his vest and smiled. As it faintly glowed in response to his touch, the boy smirked.
 “Alright Emperor’s Gem, you know the drill; Sugarcube corner, table for eight.” Declan smiled before the Gem, along with his body glowed before dissipating into green light and vanishing once more, leaving behind an entirely inconspicuous janitor’s closet in his wake.

Fin