//------------------------------// // All That's Happened // Story: The Conversion Bureau: Preservation // by Westphalian_Musketeer //------------------------------// Sitting in the library, waiting for the days to pass before I could return to Equestria. That defined my life over the course of the next few days. I reviewed listings of all the books I had arranged to be sent to Equestria, so I could continue working on some of my other projects. For now, I was simply flipping through the pages of The Changing, and scrolling through Dracula. My eyes glazed over the text after a few minutes, an old conversation popping up in my head. "Brain scan just base for AI's. Need to trim, or 'prune' the unneeded bits. Replace with coding for the job." Shaking my head when I'd realized that I had gone through a full page without paying attention, I refocused on my task. Soon after, that rapid, energetic voice started coming again, but I couldn't recall where it was from. "Hi! I'm looking for my friend, Twilight Sparkle? Purple, my height, unicorn, really super awesome?" Wait. My height? I hopped down from my seat and looked out from the railing to the lower floor of the library. There I saw Pinkie Pie, mane still bouncing, along with the rest of her. "Hey there! I was wondering if you'd seen any other ponies around? I was just wondering because my friend is here, and I really wanted to see her!" "Pinkie!?" I immediately shut my mouth when my thought was superseded by speech. Pinkie's head immediately snapped to me. "Twilight? TWILIGHT IT'S ME! PINKIE!" She started charging down amongst the servers, and computer terminals bumping into them and nearly damaging them as she blasted past. "YOUR ALL TIME BEST FRIEND." My horn glowed as I tried casting a spell to slow her down. "DID YOU MISS ME?" Grinding to a halt, she stopped to round a corner. I launched the spell, but missed. "WHY--" I cast the spell again. "DID--" Miss. "YOU--" Another spell, another miss, and more servers possibly damaged as he careened up the stairwell to me. "STOP WRITING?" I sunk to the ground as I missed another spell, and one of her hooves kicked off a metal rail, bending it. "Oh... I missed," I pouted. "I KNOW YOU DID!" Pinkie yelled, hooves scrambling as she came to a stop and wrapped me in a near-strangling hug. "Oh, Twilight! You've been gone so long!" Pinkie started kissing me on the cheeks as she continued. "And I wasn't able to tell you about all the exciting things that had happened since you left!" She took a deep gasp. "And the newfoals! They were so neat I just had to see where they had all come from. So I came here and met super neat humans and then found you so you can be there for Rarity's wedding!" My eyes snapped open as the final statement sunk in. "Wedding? Rarity? To who? When!?" I leaned back as Pinkie continued hanging off my neck. "One of the newfoals! Alan Topatz! He started helping her manage her business with all the newfoals who wanted clothing, and well, now they're getting married!" She gasped again. "What about Applejack. Did she tell you what happened? She got married too." She bounced up and down on her back hooves, still anchored to my neck, and grinning wildly. "Applejack? Don't tell me she found a newfoal as well!" I scoffed, trying to use a hoof to pry off Pinkie in as subtle a way as possible. "Nope." Pinkie shook her head. "Oh, well that's interesting, who was the luck--" "It was two newfoals!" she yelled, finally unclasping herself and skipping in circles around me. "Two? But humans are almost all monogamous!" I exclaimed, throwing out my front legs in bewilderment. "Guess these two weren't!" she chimed cheerily. "Next thing you know you're going to say is that the Everfree Forest went and disappeared!" I stood up and shook my head. "Nope! Everfree is still there, still creepy too, but that's alright, because you're going to be home soon, aren't you?" Pinkie scooted over to me and started pouting. I looked down at her as she sunk lower to the ground to emphasize her plea. "Pinkie," I giggled, shaking my head. "I was going to head for Equestria within the next month. Come on." Looking at the damaged railing, I draped a hoof over her withers and guided her back to my room. "How was Dash doing when you left?" "Oh, on tour with the Wonderbolts." My mouth hung slack. I really should really have tried to keep updated on what was happening back in Equestria, distracting as it might have been. *** "I don't get it," Pinkie said on the train just outside of Ponyville. "Why am I not allowed to go back to Boston?" "It probably has something to do with when you damaged Harvard University's plumbing," I answered, leaning back in my seat as the train began to grind to a halt. When it came to a full stop, I used my magic to remove loose-fitting cloak I had bought once we entered the main port to Equestria, Foal's Haven. "Now Pinkie." I stared into her eyes to get her full attention. "Can you promise me that you won't tell Rarity or the others that I bought this?" She crossed a hoof over her chest before sticking it in her eye, making me smile. "Good." I stuffed the cloak in with the rest of my belongings and walked out with her to the platform. All my friends stood there, Spike included, along with Big Macintosh, and Written Script. As soon as I had all four hooves on the wood. Rainbow Dash had darted to Pinkie Pie. "Pinkie! Why didn't you tell us you were going to earth! I was worried sick! I thought you'd gone into the Everfree and been eaten!" She pressed Pinkie's head between her cyan hooves and stuck her face in Pinkie's. "You're lucky the Cakes found your note when they did! That first week was horrible." Big Mac stepped up and put a hoof on Rainbow's shoulders. She looked back at him, and he gave a smile. Rainbow Dash looked back at Pinkie, a cyan hoof running through her multi-colored mane. "It's uh... good to see you again. Both of you." She turned and pecked Big Mac on the cheek. We made eye contact as he somehow managed to blush through his red fur. "I missed something else while I was away, didn't I?" I asked. "Eeyup!" Spike walked up to me on all fours; he could easily stand at eye level, but he kept a slight bend to his legs. "Hey Twi." He formed his claws into a fist, and bumped it into my hoof. "Guess I go back to the way things were before?" "You were a little shorter before," I chuckled, laying my neck alongside his, he had grown into a young adolescent. "Yeah, well, the growth spurt pretty much ended once you left. Cyrus' pack managed to make a tunnel that leads into Ghastly Gorge that I can use to take off, though they hate when I do that." Spike smiled. "Should be useful once I get too big for the library." Spike stepped back, and Fluttershy stepped forward. "Oh, Twilight, I missed you so much!" She wrapped me up in a hug with her wings. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the embrace, that is until something hit my horn. "Ow!" I pulled back and rubbed it before looking at Fluttershy. Poking out of her mane was Angel Bunny. Fluttershy frowned up at her pet. "Angel! That wasn't very nice, you apologize to Twilight." The bunny responded by slinking back into her mane. She looked at me with a small smile. "He likes going with me wherever I go." She scooted back, keeping the smile as Applejack and Rarity stepped forward. "Twilight! Darling!" Rarity swept her hands over the town of Ponyville. "You have got to visit Carousel Boutique! Alan and I have been doing marvelously since we started managing the business together to sell clothing to the newfoals!" "That's great Rarity. I hope you two are happy with your new life together," I answered. Rarity leaned to the side and squinted at Pinkie Pie in an expression that could only say 'I wanted to tell her.' Applejack gently pushed Rarity so she was standing straight. "Oh, don't get yourself in a bunch, Rares. Least Twi won't miss your wedding." I turned to Applejack. "I'm sorry I wasn't here for the wedding!" Applejack threw out of hoof to stop me. "You've got nothin' to apologize for, Twi. Though if you want to make it up, you can tell us all about Earth." I looked at all my friends. So much had happened, but here we were, ready to accept each other after it all. Michael came to the front of my mind, and my face fell. Written Script stepped forward. "Er, Dr. Sparkle? Are you alright? The archives are in good order. You can take the time to catch up on what has happened." "You're right," I answered quickly, bringing my head up. "We have a lot of things to cover, but remembering old friends is important."