//------------------------------//
// Homecoming 
// Story: Minecraft: A New Adventure 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
//------------------------------//

Pinkie and Octavia stared out at the open plain that was just outside Ponyville, as they were both glad to be home and still surprised that the spell had worked as intended, even though that was why Octavia had spent her time figuring out how to make sure this was successful. Steve and Alex followed them not a few moments later, where it was clear that they were just shocked by what they were seeing right now, especially when one of them looked at the sky and discovered the tale that the pair had told them was true, the sun wasn't moving on it's own. Such a thing came as a surprise to them, even though they trusted their friends and suspected they were telling the truth on the matter, while also informing the pair that there were beings in this world capable of such amazing feats. Even Pandora followed them through the portal, since she wanted to know more about the strange world that the pair had come from and the residents who called it home, especially since she knew that the powers resting inside Pinkie and Octavia had allowed her to finally best Herobrine and their brothers, not to mention being freed as well.

The pair, on the other hand, simply smiled as they stared out at the familiar sights that they had seen in the past, as while it had been an interesting adventure, in an entirely new world that neither of them knew about, they were happy to be home at long last.

"You know, generally this is where I'd be springing up and welcoming you to Ponyville, in my hyper manner." Pinkie said, a fact that Octavia knew, just like all of the other residents knew when thinking about the mare in question, causing her to let out a chuckle as she gripped her scythe and it disappeared, becoming a crescent necklace, while her armor became more casual, not that the others were surprised by this, "So, welcome to Ponyville. I'd throw a party, but first I should check in with Mr. and Mrs. Cake, see if I've been replaced as their employee... after everything we've been through, making cake sounds like the easiest thing in the world right now, and might be more exciting with all the items I've recovered... might be able to make something entirely new in that field as well."

"I would love to head home and see if Vinyl, my roommate, has done anything in my absence, but there is someone we had better check in with before we do anything else." Octavia remarked, where Steve and Alex were lost as to what the pair were talking about right now, since they didn't discuss their lives before coming to their world all that much, but they decided to go with it as the pair started to turn back to the portal, "Princess Twilight must have felt the portal opening, so we had better make a portal structure and switch it off for the time being... just to make sure no stray beings, ponies or otherwise, end up in another realm that they aren't familiar with."

Pinkie nodded her head for a moment as she pulled out more materials and repeated what she had done in the past, as in placing them and the six crystals in the spots that Octavia wanted them to be put in, so the connection could be stable and not be in danger of collapsing. As she added a way to power the portal or deactivate it, while still having a link to the portal they had walked through not that long ago, Octavia addressed their friends, informing them that it would be best if they put their armor and weapons away, since this was a peaceful world. Sure, there were guards watching over three of the known Princesses, since Twilight, the fourth, didn't have any, but they were more of a formality requested and enforced by the few noble clans that still existed in Canterlot, so they were nothing like the statues back home. In fact the only time she recalled seeing the guards fighting anyone was during the Changeling invasion, during the wedding of Shining Armor and Princess Cadance, but, even with their current skills, she knew the guards had fallen to all of their attackers, before their Captain and his bride beat them by utilizing their love.

Steve and Alex glanced at each other, not sure what to make of that information, though decided to do as Octavia said, they pulled off their incredible armor and stored it, plus their weapons, away in their Inventories, putting them within reach if the situation turned hairy on them, leaving them in their ordinary casual attire for the first time in a long time.

"What in the world was that? There I was, simply relaxing, and suddenly I get the shivers..." a voice said, where Pinkie and Octavia turned their heads for a moment and found that Discord, in all of his chaotic glory, had appeared in the area that the portal was in, though he paused for a few seconds as he stared at them, their friends, and even Pandora, "Huh... and here I thought I was the only Draconequus."

"Is that what we are? The Builders must have been inspired by you when they made me." Pandora replied, finding that she and the new being were nearly identical in terms of body style, in fact their claws, wings, and legs were the same, save for the coloration of their bodies, meaning her makers had been inspired whenever they visited this world, if they did so since she had no idea what the Builders had done before or after making the worlds she watched over.

"Discord, we've had an interesting adventure in another world... that being said, is Princess Twilight around? I'd love to talk with her about magic and what I've learned." Octavia inquired, because she knew that the mare in question would have the same opinion when she showed her the tomes she had acquired, save for the more terrifying one that she was going to keep hidden for the time being, hence her question.

As it turned out Twilight and her friends were already on their way, where they came to a sudden stop as they found that Pinkie had changed, not that Steve and Alex were surprised by that fact since both had seen it far more than the mares who came to check on her. Each of them had their own coat and mane colors, the latter resting on their tails as well, and they discovered that there was an earth pony, which Pinkie and Octavia had been before ending up in the forest Alex had found them in a lifetime ago, two pegasi, ponies who flew and manipulated the weather, a unicorn, who loved fashion and was a skilled seamstress, and an alicorn. Octavia explained that the alicorns were few in number, in fact there were only four right now, one who controlled the sun and her sister who controlled the moon, another who was linked to love, and Twilight, who was the Princess of Magic, given her affinity for the immense subject. Twilight informed her that there was a fifth, Cadance's own daughter, meaning she might have missed it during one of her previous events since Pinkie had been with the others in the Crystal Empire, causing her to shrug for a moment as they told Pinkie's friends about the adventure in another world.

While they did so they made sure to head inside the crystal castle, that way no one asked any questions about the newest arrivals or their mysterious friend who looked like Discord, before Pinkie and Octavia told them about everything they had been through, the monsters they had seen, the materials they had acquired, and saving the world from the Admins who were using it like their own personal game.

"You've had... quite the adventure." Twilight said, as she wasn't sure what to make of part of what they were told, though she did enjoy flipping through the two tomes that Octavia had shared with her, even though part of her wanted the third one they had recovered as well, before she glanced over to Pandora, "I'm sorry you had to suffer like that."

"Me too... I just wish I could have done something to prevent it from happening." Pandora replied, because she had taken the time to think about such a thing, ever since the day her brothers turned on her and locked her away in that prison she had spent most of her life in, though such a thing caused her to glance over to her new friends, "I did some research and found out why Herobrine's realm didn't collapse, like what happened when Null and Entity fell... the realm you fought him in wasn't actually his, it was the first realm the Builders had made for my world, a place without an Admin to rule it, and he took it so it could act as his seat of power."

"At this point, nothing about them surprises me." Alex remarked, as the three brothers had been nothing more than pure trouble for her, her friends, and even Pandora, not to mention those who followed Pandora before her imprisonment all those years ago, though now their world could step into a new age with a wonderful Admin watching over them.

Pinkie and Octavia grinned for a moment, as now that they were back home there were ponies who might seek to see the wonders, including the dangers, of the world they were sent to, meaning they would need a crash course of what to do to survive their visit, and both of them were looking forward to whatever the future held in store for them, their friends, and the worlds they knew about.