"Very well then, your Majesty. If I may have my saddlebags, I shall be off again," I stated flatly.
"Certainly, Michael." Princess Celestia used her magic to summon the saddlebags, even going to the trouble of placing them on my back. Something felt odd about them, though...
"Your Majesty, has anything been removed from the saddlebags? I remember them being a bit heavier than this."
"There were certain ... items ... which I felt were unnecessary for your travels, so I took the liberty of retaining possession of them."
"Those were a gift to me from your counterpart in the other universe -- she told me they would prove useful to me in my future travels. I would appreciate their return, if you would be so kind, your Majesty."
"Be that as it may, Michael, I feel you would be tempted to misuse those items, as they have a great deal of magic imbued within them."
"Your Majesty -- have I not shown you I am capable of acting responsibly enough to control such items? Or is it because Trixie tricked you into thinking she was me and you do not wish for a repeat of what happened earlier? Or am I in yet another alternate universe?" I asked, a slight tinge of anger starting to creep into my voice. "Better calm down now, Mike, you don't know what she might do if you make her angry," I thought.
"Although your sincerity proves to me you are fully capable of maintaining control of your emotions, for the most part, I feel that the temptation of these items would prove to be too much for you to manage with the degree of responsibility such power requires; therefore, I cannot return those items to you ... just yet. Perhaps in future, I shall return them to you."
I figured that I would be better off cutting my losses at this point. "Your Majesty, I understand. I shall take my leave now, so thanks once again for your hospitality. Until we meet again," I stated, just a slight hint of resentment in my voice.
"Until we meet again," she echoed my words, her voice tinged with enough anger to let me know I had displeased her. Her smile had vanished, just a slight frown on her features.
I lit my horn, enveloping myself in my pink aura and teleported to the Golden Oaks Library to have an audience with Twilight. I knocked on the front door of the tree and Spike answered.
"Hey, Trixie, I thought you had been punished for what you did to Mike," he said with some surprise.
"Check out my cutie mark," I said, turning to my right a little to let him see. "I'm still Michael, just a slight change. Any chance I can have a chat with Twilight?"
"She's busy studying a new spell, Mike. You can come in if you want, though."
"If she's busy, I'll come back later. I need to check around with the others -- I have something big planned."
"What is it?" Spike smiled broadly. "When you think of something big, it's REALLY big, isn't it?"
"Yeah, I suppose you could say that. I can't spill it yet, I need to talk to several other ponies first. I just hope ..." I covered my mouth with a fore-hoof. I might have said a little too much there...
"Hope what?" the little dragon asked, his face showing deep puzzlement.
"Well, I hope it works out ... for me, anyway," I chuckled. "And I hope the others don't think I'm crazy for even thinking about what I have planned. That's why I need to talk to Twilight -- I have a tendency to trust her judgment."
"Spike, who is it? What's going on down there?" asked the lavender unicorn. She trotted down the stairs and came to the front door. "Trixie? When did they ... oh. Different cutie mark. Trixie?"
"Hello, Twilight. Nice to see you again. No, I'm not Trixie, I'm Michael, and I need to have a short talk with you if I may."
"Please, come inside, Michael! So how did things go for you back on Earth?"
I entered the Library and took a seat on a couch. "Not well, I'm afraid. There is another matter I wanted to discuss with you, though -- and it involves this Trixie here, not the other one."
"Not planning on revenge, are you?" she asked with some surprise. She gave me a look to indicate a bit of worry.
"No, Twi, nothing like that. To be honest, I was wanting to marry her," I said nonchalantly.
"WHAAAAAT??!" Spike and Twilight cried simultaneously. "Michael! She tried to KILL you! You were in a coma for two weeks! I was worried so deeply about you! And now you want to MARRY her?!" asked the very exasperated librarian.
"I know it sounds crazy, believe me -- but she was under the influence of that amulet. I met with her last night in the castle's dungeon -- she expressed deep remorse for her actions. I am willing to forgive her for what she did. I still feel very deep attachment to her -- I guess you could call it love."
"Love makes ponies do strange and stupid things, Michael! I think it's a very bad idea to marry her! Did you talk to Princess Celestia about this?"
"I just came from the Castle -- and the Princess echoed your sentiment, even going so far as to forbid even another visit with Trixie. Personally, I think it's unfair."
"Well, if it's Trixie you want, why not go to that other universe and ask the OTHER Trixie for HER hoof in marriage? She seems to be rather nice," suggested Twilight.
"Yeah! You must be CRAZY to marry Trixie!" Spike exclaimed. "You don't even know her well enough to make THAT kind of decision!"
"Twilight, believe it or not, Celestia gave me the same advice. The only problem I have with that is that even though the Trixie in that other universe looks like this one, the personalities are very different. In a way, that Trixie is more like you -- so in effect, it might be like me asking you to marry me," I explained. Twilight blushed.
"Ooh, um ... that caught me by surprise. I ... um ... do you really want to marry me?" she asked in her confusion.
"As much as I might want to, I'd have to say no, sorry, Twi. I have another plan, though -- and I was wanting to know if you might be willing to help me."
"Oh. You were just pulling my leg, weren't you? Whatever. Tell me about this plan of yours."
"What I was thinking of doing was teleporting to Trixie's dungeon cell, bringing her back here to stay with you until her sentence is complete, and me taking her place -- I would have to use a magic spell to switch our cutie marks, but I would be willing to spend a few weeks in the dungeon if I could marry her."
Both Twilight and Spike stood in stunned silence, their mouths agape, trying to find words to express themselves. It took a few moments for Twilight to regain enough composure to glare very angrily at me. "If the Princess forbade it, then you have no business disobeying her! That's the craziest idea I have EVER heard! I suggest you find somewhere else to go -- I don't want to have Spike send a letter to the Princess informing her of your stupid plan! I thought you were smarter than that!"
"Okay, sorry Twilight. I was hoping ... gods, I sound desperate, don't I? You're right. I should take Celestia's advice and try to find somepony else to marry. It's been lonely for me since she attacked me. But she's gonna be crushed when she finds out I broke my Pinkie Promise to her."
"NOPONY EVER BREAKS A PINKIE PROMISE!! EVER!!" shouted the pink earth pony. "Mikey! Tell me what's going on!"
Spike and Twilight listened with rapt attention to my story about the promise I made to Trixie. Pinkie glared at me. "I haven't broken it yet, Pinkie! But Princess Celestia is going to force me to break it! Try to convince HER that I shouldn't break the promise I made Trixie!"
Pinkie Pie hung her head. "Okay, Mikey. You get another one, just because it's the Princess. DON'T LET IT HAPPEN AGAIN!"
"Sorry, Pinkie, I would if I could, but I can't. I begged the Princess and she denied me."
"So whatcha gonna do now, Mikey?"
"He wanted to switch places with Trixie! That's how much he loves her!" Twilight exclaimed incredulously.
"Oh, that's so sweet! I wish I had somepony willing to do that much for my love!"
"He has to be CRAZY! Nopony I know would do something like that!"
"Well, if you two don't mind, I have another mission to go on," I muttered.
"Hope it's not as crazy as the last one!" Twilight chuckled. "Care to let us in on this new plan of yours?"
"I'm gonna go back to my home world of Earth. I am going to take back my vehicle!" I shouted. "I put too much of myself into it to simply let somepony drive around in it!"
"Then what? If you get your vehicle back, what are you going to do after that?" asked the lavender unicorn.
"I'm playing another hunch. If it proves correct, you will never see me again. If that's the case, I wish to bid all of you a fond farewell -- this goes for Trixie as well. Please let her know I will always love her, even though I cannot be with her. I will miss all of you dearly."
"Mikey! Are you for real? This is really good-bye, as in, never coming back good-bye? But ... you never came to any of my parties! Or at least, just that one awhile back when you were in Twilight's body..."
"Michael, I hope to see you again someday -- I will inform everypony of your decision and give them your farewell. Good-bye and good luck, Michael. Take care of yourself."
"Seeya later, Mike," said Spike.
I lit my horn, enveloping myself in my pink aura once again. I focused my mind's eye on the Throne Room in the other universe's Canterlot Castle. Maybe I could reconnoiter with their Sun Goddess again. No matter how many times I did this, I still couldn't really get used to that blinding whiteness that became everything and nothing, and that awful stomach dropping sensation. I arrived in the other universe, standing before the throne. I noticed it was night-time again, the throne empty as Celestia must have gone to bed to get some sleep. "Even Goddesses need sleep some time," I thought.
I teleported to the Library and knocked on the door. The other Twilight answered it.
"Ah, I see you're back, Michael!" she grinned. "So how did things go over in the other Equestria?"
"Not as well as I had hoped. I can't marry Trixie over there -- and the Solar Princess confiscated some of the gifts your Celestia gave me."
"She's not going to be happy about that. Did she say why she took them?"
"Something about my need to control my emotions or something like that -- she said the items were too powerful for me to use them responsibly."
"That doesn't sound like the Celestia I know," mused Twilight. "So, Michael, would you like to get some sleep? It's rather late, you know, and ... I could use a little company ... if you'd like," she whispered in my left ear.
"The time difference between these two Equestrias keeps throwing me off. When I left the other universe, it was still fairly early in the morning. I'd like to stay, Twilight, but I am on a different mission. If this works out the way I'm planning, you might not ever see me again, and if that's the case, I bid you a --" I couldn't finish what I was saying as Twilight hugged me tightly and gave me a passionate kiss. I tried to break free from her embrace, but found my resolve quickly weakening.
"Twilight! What did I tell you about that?" asked an angry Trixie.
"Trixie, can I ask you something?"
"What is it?" came her exasperated query.
"What would you say if I asked you to marry me?"
The two unicorns looked at me as though I had lost my mind, then started laughing as hard as they could. "Not like how you look now, nor how you looked after Celestia transformed you into a stallion, either!" Trixie exclaimed through her laughter. "Twilight and I have been together for such a long time that you would have to either marry both of us or neither!"
"Okay, then, Trixie, Twilight. I bid you farewell. Hopefully I might meet up with you two again -- even if I did find myself the butt of your jokes."
"See you later, Michael," both of them said simultaneously.
I lit my horn yet again for another teleport, this time back to Earth. I was going to track down my vehicle and take it back!