"Your Majesty, you just made it back -- spend the night here? After seeing what has happened here, are there any ponies left in the castle to assist us?" I asked, exasperation creeping into my voice. I was ready to go home, damn it! And Nick was in no less of a hurry to get back home as well!
"This is true -- however, I can not allow you to leave just yet. There is more information I need to know from you before I can let you leave."
"Your Majesty, please. At least allow Nick to return to his home in Austin, Texas. His girlfriend must be worried sick!"
"And what about you?"
"To be honest, Princess, I don't know how much time has passed since I left my world. I believe I might have another day I can remain in Twilight's body, but I have to be at work at 8:00 on Monday morning, and I must be in my human body and in my work uniform at my workplace by that time. I do not wish to lose my job, so I'm sure you might understand my desire to leave as soon as possible."
"Very well then, Michael, I will permit you to take Nick back to his home, provided you return within half an hour."
"I don't wanna go home naked!" Nick exclaimed with exasperation.
"Your Majesty," I began.
"Michael, you may drop the formality, given the circumstances. You may refer to me as Princess Celestia, if you wish."
"Begging your pardon, Princess Celestia, but I would like to return to Ponyville and see if I can salvage some clothing for Nick at Rarity's boutique. Rarity, I would like you to accompany us as well. I would also like to check back on the library to see if some books can be salvaged as well."
"Michael, I would like to accompany you as well, as it has been too long since I was last in Ponyville," Celestia stated.
"My horn is starting to ache from all the teleporting I have done today, not to mention casting shimmer a few times. That actually took quite a bit out of me, but I figured it was necessary. My copies did most of the work and I will need to find out how they were able to do the separation magic. That's something I didn't know I could do."
"Imagine how much trouble you could have saved me if you had done that for me when we first met!" Nick said, almost angrily.
"Now, come on, Nick, you know you enjoyed that big party in the ball room," I chided.
"Yeah, and you cried like a little beeyotch because you're scared of parties!" he retorted.
"Thanks for the compliment, it means a lot coming from you," I said sarcastically.
Princess Luna laughed out loud and Celestia and Rarity just smiled. Pinkie was looking a little exasperated.
"Very well then, shall we be off?" Celestia asked.
"Tia, are we all visiting Ponyville? I would like to see what has happened as well," said Luna.
"Yes, Luna, we're all going. I can only hope some pony's still alive there."
Princess Celestia enveloped all of us in her golden aura and we arrived in front of the library. I was shocked to see just how many ponies actually had survived. I trotted inside the library, checking the shelves. Quite a few books were able to be salvaged, and I telekinetically placed them on the shelves, not bothering to organize them. "There'll be plenty of time for reorganization later," I thought. Suddenly, I was attacked by a baby dragon.
"Twilight! Twilight! I feared the worst!" Spike cried, hugging me tightly. His claws dug into my neck, scratching me up a little.
"Spike, could you relax the claws a little? It hurts a bit," I said.
"Oh, oh, sorry, Twilight," he chuckled. "I was so worried about you! What happened?"
"Oh, Spike, I wish I had better news for you. Nightmare Moon killed your Twilight."
"That's NONSENSE!!" he screamed. "You're standing right in front of me!"
"Princess Celestia? Could you come in here and tell Spike about what has happened? Pinkie? Can you come too?"
They both entered, and in short order, Nick, Rarity, and Princess Luna entered as well. Nick was still feeling quite self-conscious, and covered his modesty with both hands, and looked very uncomfortable.
"Nick, we'll head over to Carousel Boutique in a minute," I said to him.
"What -- who?" Spike almost choked on the words upon seeing a human for the first time.
"Spike, this is what a human looks like. And if I were not inside Twilight's body, I would look fairly similar to him, except I would look older, and I weigh about 50 pounds or more than him."
"Wait -- you're saying you're not really Twilight?"
"Sorry Spike, no I'm not. Nightmare Moon killed her."
"Michael, do you think you could have broken the news to him a little bit better than that?" Celestia asked, glowering at me.
Spike cried and ran to Rarity's embrace. "There, there, Spikey-Wikey, it's gonna be all right. I'll protect you and keep you company at my place -- after I get it cleaned up, of course!"
"Rarity, can I please get some clothes? Being naked just sucks," Nick grumbled.
"I'll have to see what's salvageable," she said with some sadness in her voice. Spike continued to cry, holding Rarity's neck tightly. "Spike, your claws! Please!"
"I want Twilight back!" he cried.
"Princess Celestia, I think there might be a way he can have Twilight back," I offered.
"Are you talking about casting shimmer again?"
"No, I heard legend of a mirror pool in the Everfree," I said.
"That's far too dangerous, Michael. There's no telling if you'd be able to make a duplicate of yourself, or die trying. I do not want to take the risk of losing Twilight just because Spike wants her back."
"Pinkie Pie knows of this legend," I said.
"Well ... I do know of the legend ... but I'm afraid to try it out, too! I have seen so many bad things happen in the past year or so, I don't think I could go to that pool."
"Why can't you stay here, since you're in Twilight's body?" Spike asked, drying his tears.
"Well, I have given it some thought...and after having seen so many ponies running around Ponyville now -- where did they all come from? We checked out the town earlier, and there seemed to be no pony alive," I said, almost dumbfounded by their appearance.
"Did you check the basements of the houses you searched?" Spike asked. "We were hiding until we thought it would be safe." My face dropped as he said this. I had completely forgotten about the basements.
"Well, no Spike, no I didn't. It hadn't occurred to me to do so."
"Can't you stay?"
"I'd like to, but I have obligations in my home world," I said. "I have to be returned to my human body so I can meet those obligations."
"If you don't mind," Nick said impatiently tapping his right foot on the wood floor. Pinkie imitated his movement with her right hind leg, and started giggling uncontrollably. Princess Luna shifted on her hooves, deep in thought.
"Okay, off to the boutique then," I said cheerfully.
"I'm coming with you!" Spike shouted.
"Of course! You think I'd forget about my number one assistant?" I smiled.
"Twilight! I knew it was you!" he cried gleefully, hugging me tightly again.
"No, it's just Mike -- look, I will try to find a way to bring Twilight back, okay? If not, maybe I can make a double of myself at the mirror pool, and have him either stay here or go back to my home -- either way, he would still be me, but in any case, I would at the very least be willing to try to be Twilight for you, okay?"
"Well, I guess that would be okay. So you're Mike, huh?"
"Ee-yup!"
"Okay, guess I better remember that -- but you know, I might still call you Twi because you're in her body," he said.
"No problem, Spike, call me what you wish -- as long as it's not late for dinner!" I chuckled.
At the mention of food, Pinkie Pie seemed to collapse, her body appeared to have given out from lack of nourishment.
"Is there something we can do? Where is the hospital? Is it too late for her?" I asked too quickly.
"I appreciate your concern for Pinkie Pie, Michael, and I can assure you she will be okay. I will take her to the hospital. You and Rarity can go to the boutique to get some clothes for Nick. I will be waiting in the hospital," Princess Celestia stated.
"I shall be accompanying my sister, and you are free to visit when you are finished."
With that, both Princesses took Pinkie Pie to the hospital. That left Rarity, Nick, Spike and me to go to Carousel Boutique. I teleported us over there, and rested for a minute to let my magic refill.
"Rarity, have you ever used magic to the point where you're getting a serious horn-ache?"
"Michael, darling, you've been pushing yourself too hard. Please let me see if I can find something for you."
We went into her shop and the daylight showed just how bad it was. Tears started coming down Rarity's cheeks as she surveyed the damage. "My beautiful shop! Nooo! Who could have done such a terrible thing!" she cried.
"Looks like a bomb went off in here," I muttered. Scraps of fabric littered the floor, any decorations hanging from the ceiling were scattered about, and the mannequins -- well, the less said about them the better. We could hear other ponies outside chattering to each other, trying to repair damages as best they could. We headed upstairs to check out the living quarters.
"All my sheets are gone!" Rarity cried. "All that's left are the mattresses!"
"Rarity, any fabrics up here? Anything useful?" I asked. She rifled through her closets, finding a single bolt of cloth, apparently yellow cotton. She brought it out to show us.
"This is all that's left which I consider to be useful," she said as the stress started to affect her.
"Let me see what I can find," I said. There were various scraps of different fabrics, odds and ends, different colors, needles, threads of various types. "How's your sewing machine looking?"
"Michael, it looks like it survived all right, so I might be able to put something together."
"Rarity, how long is this going to take?" Nick asked impatiently.
"I'll just have to take some measurements," she smiled.
"Rarity, I don't think we have time for that," I stated. "I'll see if I can magic something together for him, we're kind of in a hurry here."
"But Michael, darling! Your horn!"
"If you have something to drink, that might help. I am feeling rather hungry, so if there's something to eat, I'd appreciate that as well."
"Let's go to the kitchen and see if I can find something," Rarity offered.
We went into the kitchen and noticed empty cupboards and drawers. There was no food to be found, and only enough tea for four cups.
"I'll put some tea on then," she said sullenly. The wait for the water to boil seemed interminable. The tea seemed to have a certain restorative property to it, and I enjoyed it. Nick sipped from his cup and tried to cover his modesty with his other hand.
"I hope you two hurry, this is getting stupid," he said almost angrily.
"Have some patience, Nick, we're trying to help -- I hope you understand the situation here."
Spike looked like he was trying to help clean up the place, picking up scraps of fabric and putting them in piles according to their color. He looked absolutely adorable as he did this. "Just trying to help," he said, smiling weakly.
"Spike, darling, thank you so much!" Rarity smiled.
"Mike, don't tell me you're actually thinking of staying here?" Nick asked in bewilderment.
"Somehow or other, I feel compelled to stay, to try to help out in some way. I can still take you back home, or ask Princess Celestia to do so if you want."
"What about those obligations you keep mentioning?"
"I have been pondering that ever since I cast the shimmer spell and frankly, I think I might be better off here anyway."
"What about your wife?" Nick asked, exasperation coloring the words. Spike and Rarity turned to look at me when he asked that question.
"I've been thinking about her too. I still need some more time to think on that issue, but I'm still leaning towards staying."
"Michael, darling! You didn't tell me you were married!"
"Well, truth to tell, it hasn't exactly been a very happy marriage."
"When are they ever?" Rarity chided.
"Yeah, well, I have a tendency to equate my wife with the Changeling Queen," I snarked.
"Michael! Don't say such things!"
"You don't know my wife, Rarity. Try walking five miles in my hooves and you will come to understand what I mean."
"I'll make sure I tell her you said that, Mike," Nick said almost gleefully.
"You want some clothes, or do you want to go back home naked right now?" I asked sternly.
"Just kidding! Jeez, can't you take a joke?"
"Whatever," I said dismissively. "Okay, let's see what we've got. Thanks for making color piles, Spike, I think I see something useful in all this." I started with the blue pile to make a pair of pants for him. There were enough blue scraps to craft a make-shift pair of jeans for him. The white pile I used for making some underwear. The red and orange piles got used up to make a shirt for him. "Okay, Nick, try those on for size."
"Michael, darling, that is simply dreadful!" Rarity said, almost shocked by my haphazard design.
"Given the circumstances, Rarity, it's better than nothing. Nick, you okay with that?"
"Not bad, not bad. This'll work okay," he said.
"Function over form, Rarity. Sorry about that, but it'll have to do for now."
"What do you know about fashion?" she asked indignantly. I chuckled a bit loudly at her remark. "You'll NEVER be a fashion designer!" she said angrily.
"Who said I wanted to be one," I stated flatly. "I'm Twilight Sparkle, Element of Magic, not a specialist in haute couture."
"Wait, I thought you said you weren't Twilight!" Spike exclaimed. He wore a look of confusion at my remarks.
"Michael's speaking figuratively, Spike, so don't worry about him, darling!" she said, glaring daggers at me.
"Now, now, no need to be upset. I'm going to take Nick home now. If Princess Celestia asks, I'll be back shortly. I wonder why we're snapping at each other like this," I mused. I readied a teleport, but nothing happened.
"Michael! Your horn! It's GONE!!" Rarity said in shock.
"Huh. That's not possible," I said, then checked my forehead with my right fore-hoof. Sure enough, my horn had vanished.