Let’s get some things cleared up.
It’s been six years since I went to Equestria. So that’s a decent place to start. Yes.
My sister and I have grown closer, six years will do that. We had gone on a trip that Darcy had always wanted to take, but that I kept putting off. Coming back from the dead for the sixth time seemed like well enough, so we went on the trek to Erebor. Darcy had enjoyed it immensely. Myself? I was wrecked with anxiety by the time we made it home to the girls and Thorax. For good reason, mind.
Thorax had picked the next adventure. Some idiot had told him about Star Wars. Oof that’s a travel I’d like to forget. Being passed over for Jedi Master was a sore spot for me. It had been Mr Spencer’s favorite movie saga so it made sense that I’d want to be a Jedi for all the wrong reasons.
Lilac and Cookie had come on a few adventures too. Lilac was excited to see human worlds that didn’t involve dying or nearly dying. Cookie just wanted to run and play.
The next few years had been the family bouncing from world to world. Psych, How I Met Your Mother, Criminal Minds (I’d rather avoid thinking about what happened there), Doctor Who. Yeah I’d wrung my new family through the ringer.
But we were Home now! That’s what matters in the end, right? The five of us, back in Equestria, to take on the world and any who’d tell us no.
Starting with Tracy Strauss.
“I’d rather none of you go back before the Queen can finish these papers.” Tracy instructed the family that had only been in town a single day.
I had been packing away a Christmas colored dress. This was a new favorite that was definitely being brought to Equestria with me. “I’d rather take the paperwork in Equestria. Better manage my time, as it were. I’ve got a Time Lord in my brain, I know how to work with time.”
Tracy had growled.
We went back to Equestria an hour later. Life was so much fun when you were annoying people who hated you.
==CAH==
Once we were back in Equestria, the first thing we did was go to my house. I’d used the power of the Reality Watch to construct a new room.
While Thorax and I usually opted to share, we both learned that I could get a bit...manic...without my own space. It was mostly used for planning, but the space was still appreciated.
Darcy, Lilac, and Cookie didn’t care about rearranging their rooms. They enjoyed all their own things as they were. They ran off the second the magical construction was done. Darcy made a joke about having to ‘dust the fucking place, nobody appreciates knives anymore!’.
As I stared at my house, Thorax came up to my side for a hug. He wrapped his insect wings around my back. I welcomed it with a long sigh. My wing wrapped
“We’re back.” Thorax remarked.
“So we are.” I agreed. My head leaned over to rest on his shoulder.
“Been a long time since I’ve been here.” Thorax looked in the distance from our house, to the Ponyville buildings far enough away that we had no proper neighbors. “It...it doesn’t feel the same.”
“It wouldn’t.” I remarked. Despite it being centuries ago, I remember the first time coming Home after my first extended Travel. The house felt too small. I was suffocating there. “You’re different now. It would make sense that the land feels different to you. Like a dream you’ve had for years, but it’s different in real life.”
“Yeah.” Thorax nodded. After a pause, he kissed the top of my head-mindful of my horn. “Wanna go to our room?”
I giggled.
“Not for that.” He used his wing to tap my forehoof. “A nap. I just did time travel. Met the Doctor. Crashed an alien spaceship. I want to sleep in a bed.”
“I knew that.” I teased. My hips bumped his. Thorax laughed. It got me laughing too but I refused to stop. “I’m tired too. Do you have any idea how exhausting it is to recreate the Big Bang? I don’t think you do. The work I had to put in.”
The two of us walked into the house, still laughing.
==CAH==
As the first evening came around, I made dinner. Since time had been paused while we were away, all the food was still good.
I’d made spaghetti, with hayballs (jewels on the side if Lilac wanted any).
The four of us managed well, adapting quickly to our changed bodies. From humans, to various. Darcy was the only one having trouble. She was using her wing as a hand to pick up her fork. The girls were giggling at her.
“Shut it!” Darcy snapped at them. She fumbled with the fork, sending it flying across the table.
I grabbed it with my magic, passing it back to float in front of my sister’s face. She glared at me. As a counter, I took a forkful of spaghetti in my mouth. All without dropping the fork or struggling at all.
Darcy grabbed the fork with her hoof. She glared at it, then me, then the fork again.
“Maybe it’s a bad idea to use the wing-” Thorax suggested. He barely dodged a hayball to the eye. He grabbed it with his magic. “I was only trying to help!”
The girls were continuing to laugh.
I laughed under my breath, still enjoying my dinner.
==CAH==
That night, after Thorax and I fell asleep, I dreamed.
In my dream I wasn’t alone for long. Princess Luna appeared in the dream, looking regal as I remembered.
She gave me a small nod of her head. “Raspberry.”
I nodded my head back. “Luna.”
“How does your land fair?” Luna asked me.
“Good.” I answered. “Good. Family’s good too. All alive and...alive. Sorry do you mind if we just jump straight to the dream adventure thing?”
Luna gave me a fond smile, nodding again.