Aunt Em had just come out of the house to water the cabbages when she looked up and saw Dorothy running toward her.
"My darling child!" she cried, folding the little girl in her arms and covering her face with kisses. "Where in the world did you come from?"
"From the Land of Oz," said Dorothy gravely. "And here is Toto, too. So are my friends from Equestria. And oh, Aunt Em! I'm so glad to be at home again!"
Chapter 24: Home Again, Sunset said internally.
Suddenly, a swirling vortex opened up.
“Looks like we’re going home, too.” Pinkie said.
Dorothy looked a little sad.
“It’s okay, Dorothy,” Sunset said comfortingly. “Who knows? We might meet again one day. Until then…” She removed her Ruby Slippers and gave them to her. “You can have these to remember us by.”
“Thank you,” Dorothy said. “Good-bye, all of you. I shall not forget you.”
The Equestria residents entered the vortex and found themselves spinning inside.
Back in Equestria, the book opened on its own and spat the Equestria residents out, causing them to land in a tangled pile.
“I’m okay,” Fluttershy squeaked.
They got themselves untangled and looked around.
“Ah wonder what time it is,” Applejack asked.
“I wonder what day it is,” Pinkie added.
Sunset checked her smartstone. “It’s the same day we left,” she said. “But, 3-4 hours later.”
“Huh, that’s not so bad, right?” Pinkie asked.
“It’s actually pretty good,” Sunset said. “The last chapter was the shortest.”
“Indeed, that was pretty short,” Twilight said, glancing over at the book’s final chapter page. “That was quite an adventure we were on, but, I’m glad that we’re back safe and sound just as Dorothy is.”
“Wait, why isn’t the book sucking her in?” Fluttershy asked.
“The Portal Gem’s magic has been used up,” Sunset said. “Now, it’s an ordinary book again.”
“Oh, that makes sense,” Fluttershy said.
“Auntie Sunset?” Spike asked. “Are there other Oz books?”
“Including the one we just went into, there’s at least forty that are considered canon,” Sunset answered. “Those are called the Famous Forty.”
“Wow,” Spike said. “Hopefully, someday, we can venture into at least one or two of those.”
“That day isn’t in the foreseeable future,” Sunset said. “I only have the one book.”
“Okay,” Spike said.
“In a future book, I’m not saying which,” Sunset said. “Dorothy, Toto, Em, and Henry move to Oz permanently.”
“Whoa, really?” Applejack asked.
“Yeah,” Sunset said. “She figured that if she’s going to end up back in Oz anyway, she may as well live there.”
“I wonder how Em and Henry will like it,” Starlight thought aloud.
“Well, it takes getting used to for them,” Sunset said. “Up to that point, they didn’t think Dorothy’s stories of Oz were true.”
“With how fantastical Oz looks,” Trixie said. “If we hadn’t seen it ourselves, we probably wouldn’t have believed it, either. But, then again, we do see extraordinary things in Equestria practically every day, so, it’s not that surprising.”
“How many Portal Gems did you make?” Rainbow asked.
“Quite a few,” Sunset said. “I don’t remember exactly how many.”
“Well,” Rarity said. “We’ll see in due time whether or not we’ll be able to use them all.”
“We don’t have to use them strictly for Oz books,” Sunset said. “We could use them for Roald Dahl books.”
“Who’s that?” Applejack asked.
“Roald Dahl,” Sunset said. “Was a British author known for his dark, politically incorrect humor. He’s written classics like Fantastic Mr. Fox, Matilda, Esio Trot, Danny, Champion of the World, The BFG, James and the Giant Peach, The Twits, The Witches, The Enormous Crocodile, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, George’s Marvelous Medicine, The Magic Finger, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, and quite a few others.”
“Boy,” Spike said. “That is a lot of books.”
“I only have The BFG, James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Fantastic Mr. Fox, and Matilda,” Sunset said.
“Those sound interesting,” Twilight said. “But, what does BFG stand for?”
“Big Friendly Giant,” Sunset said.
“Ah, I see,” Twilight said.
“Ironically,” Sunset said. “The BFG himself is a rather runty giant.”
“Oh, I see,” Fluttershy said. “Compared to… bigger giants? Oh, my.”
“There’s nine other giants,” Sunset said. “That are at least twice as big as his 24 foot height.”
“Whoa!” Rainbow exclaimed. “That’s crazy!”
“Those other giants,” Sunset said grimly. “Are not friendly.”
“Oh, boy,” Spike said uneasily. “Something tells me that if we are going to experience the story, we’ll be sticking close by the BFG.”
“Unless you’re Greek, answer to the name Jack, or both,” Sunset said. “That would be a good idea.”
“My dad is named Jack Pot,” Trixie said. “And I don’t think he would be up to the challenge.”
“The giants are afraid of a human named Jack,” Sunset said. “The name alone puts fear into them.”
“Oh,” Twilight said. “Is it because of that one story with a boy named Jack climbing a beanstalk that I learned about in the human world?”
“That,” Sunset said. “Or the story, Jack the Giant Slayer.”
“Ah, I see,” Twilight said.
“And how would being Greek help?” Starlight asked.
“For two reasons,” Sunset said. “One, the giants hate the greasy taste of Greeks.”
Fluttershy grew uncomfortable at the statement. She got the idea right away. “And the other reason?”
“Greek mythology has stories of heroes no bigger than we are killing giants,” Sunset said.
“That would explain it,” Starlight said.
“I’m interested in the Chocolate Factory story,” Pinkie said.
“That’s Dahl’s most popular work,” Sunset said.
“Hopefully it won't be long until we find out why that is,” Pinkie said. “But, for now, there’s no place like home.”
The End