//------------------------------//
// Epilogue 
// Story: Dashie Come Home 
// by Midori_Kuroba 
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Dashie Come Home: Epilogue

Rainbow Dash felt herself awoken with a hoof to her side, her eye crawling open as she stared at her room. She got up staring down at her drool covered pillow, and then took a look at who had been prodding her in her sleep. It was her father, who had a rather stern look to his face as he said, "Dashie, what do you think you're doing? The sun hasn't even gone down yet and your mom's working on dinner. Wake up!"

Rainbow Dash grumbles and tries to lie back down, gasping as a wave of cool air hit her when her father yanked the bed sheets off her. "Aw come on dad, I've been working all day! Can't I take a nap in peace?"

Her father spits out the sheets, not quite used to doing everything with the same thing he eats with. "You're not fooling me you lazy mare. You were out playing with your friends all day while others took care of your work. Now get up and get out of bed!"

He shoves her with his hooves, sending her flailing off the opposite side of her bed with a loud thud. "Alright, alright, I'm up already! Yeesh…" Her father smiles and nods triumphantly, trotting out of her room. "What are we having for dinner anyways?"

Her father said from outside, "Flower bouquet casserole and spinach burgers, with your mother's special honey glazed biscuits for dessert!"

That got Rainbow Dash up. She hated spinach, but her mother's casserole and honey biscuits were the best in town. She hurries past her father and down the stairs to the kitchen where her mother, Honey Dew, was indeed cooking the aforementioned meal. Honey Dew was a tall elegant looking creamy furred mare, with long flowing rainbow colored hair. She wore pink eyeliner around her eyes that were blue as a clear sky, and a blue sun hat with a purple ribbon around the base, which she kept off to the side on the counter while cooking. Her cutie mark was a big pink heart, with five multi-colored rain drops falling from it like rain.

Rainbow Dash notices a bowl of her mother's honey on the counter, and brings her wings in close as she sneaks over towards it. Her body close to the ground, her ears folded back. She slowly and cautiously reaches for the bowl, only to have her hoof met with a wooden spoon. She yelps and hugs her hoof with a whimper, looking at her mother who was glaring daggers at her with the spoon in her mouth. "Rainbow Dash that honey is for dessert, and I will not have you spoiling your appetite!"

Rainbow groans and as she's scolded and says, "Aw, come on mom, it's just a taste!"

A knock at the front door catches her attention, but she can hear her father answering it so she turns back to her mother who still looked a little upset. "No dessert. Think of it as ransom to make you eat your spinach burgers tonight."

Rainbow Dash crosses her front legs and sits there with a pout. "I hate spinach. Why couldn't we eat something tasty like carrot dogs, or apple pie, or broccoli?"

Honey Dew giggles and sets down the spoon, nuzzling into her daughter. "Spinach is good for you, silly mare. Now stop acting like a little girl before I treat you like one."

Rainbow Dash blushes and sighs in defeat. "Okay mom." She nuzzles her mother back as her father peeks into the kitchen.

He says, "Dashie, there's a royal guard her to see you. Said something about a message from the princess?"

Rainbow Dash blinks and says, "I wonder what it could be." She shrugs and makes her way to the door to find a green pony wearing Princess Luna's royal guard armor. His eyes were a deep blue and his mane was an even darker shade of green than his body, and his wings were as draconic as the rest of Luna's personal guards. He said in a deep tone, "Miss Rainbow Dash I presume? I have come to check up on your current living conditions, by order of Princess Celestia and Luna."

Rainbow couldn't quite put her finger on it, but there was something familiar about this stallion. "Don't I know you from somewhere?" The guard doesn't answer, staring forward blankly as if he was on duty. She waves a hoof before his eyes and walks around him, examining him. Then she notices his cutie mark and goes wide eyed. It was a white door with a golden knob, and a red question mark on it. "No way, it can't be…"

The guard looks back with green eyes, along with red and blue yin-yang pupils. "See something you like back there Dashie?" came a familiar tone.

Rainbow Dash jumps and shouts, "Xam! Oh my gosh, what are you doing here? And why are you a pony?"

Xam chuckles and turns back to her saying, "I can take a form based on the dimension I'm in. As for what I'm doing here, this dimension is rather peaceful and I needed a vacation. I'm now one of Princess Luna's royal guards."

Rainbow Dash blinks in surprise and says, "That's some interesting news. I seriously never expected to see you again."

Xam sits and shrugs. "I can be more random than your friend Pinkie Pie sometimes. Anyways, the point of this visit is to find out how you're doing! How you been Dashie?"

Rainbow smiles and sits in front of him, having to look up at the slightly taller pony. "I'm better than ever. My mom's still getting used to living on the ground, but my dad lived that way before so having this house built worked out great. I had to build an extra room for my parents though."

Xam smirks raising an eyebrow and says, "Not extra 'rooms'?"

Rainbow Dash blushes and chuckles nervously. "Let's just say they've really hit it off since we got back and leave it at that. So did you really come here on orders?"

Xam shakes his head and says, "Nah, I just snuck away for a minute."

Rainbow perks up with a look of confusion and says, "How do you just sneak away from the palace for a minute? Isn't it all the way in Canterlot?"

Xam rolls his eyes and says, "Hello? How do you think I got to this dimension in the first place?" The core Secret Door appears next to him.

Dash gasps and says, "Oh yeah, you got that door thingy whenever you want it!" Rainbow Dash fidgets a little and says, "I'm actually kind of curious about something. Twilight was talking about some egghead stuff, and it made me think of you and how you can do this door thingy. I was wondering… can you show me what the fabric of time and space looks like?"

Xam laughs and says, "A very odd request, but you know what, I like you Rainbow Dash. If it wasn't you I'd say no, but I don't see why not. You got time though?"

Rainbow Dash grins and nods vigorously rushing to her front door to call into the house, "Mom, Dad, I'm going for a quick walk with my friend! I'll be back in time for dinner! Okay let's go!" she said excitedly as Xam opened the door to what looked like a swirling vortex of various colors swirling about with numbers floating amongst them randomly.

"Ladies first," he said, lowering his head and offering her way.

Rainbow Dash approaches cautiously, staring inside trying not to get dizzy. She rears back, and leaps in, finding herself flying forward through the vortex. Her body began to change color rapidly like a rainbow strobe light, and she felt like she was being stretched like warm cheese on a pizza. All the odd feelings flowing through her body came to an abrupt stop as she found herself panting on a black and white checkerboard floor. She almost pukes as she manages to stand up, looking around to see an indigo sky casting a similar hue on the floor, which seemed to be wobbling and unsteady like an ocean current. Xam walks up beside her in his wolf form and says, "What do you think?"

Rainbow Dash has a hard time walking straight as she says, "What is this place?"

"The fabric of time and pace, just as you asked." He pulls a pair of half moon reading glasses out of thin air and puts them on, his eyes turning red. "The fabric of the universe is written out in black and white, white being the light that gives the universe life and color, and black being that which takes it away. The checker pattern means that everything is evenly distributed amongst itself and balance exists. But the universe is always active and moving."

Rainbow Dash blinks and says, "How do you do that with your eyes?"

He smiles and responds, "My eyes can be red, green, or blue. I like changing them depending on where I am to suit the mood."

Rainbow Dash looks around, and notices a section of the floor missing, a similar rainbow vortex circling in the square shaped hole in the floor. Next to it was an odd yellow sign with writing on it. She tilts her head and says, "What is that?"

Xam looks to where she was looking and walks over. "Oh this thing? It's called a wet floor sign. I don't know, I thought it would be funny, I mean just look at this floor."

Rainbow Dash shakes her head and says, "Not the sign, that portal!"

Xam chuckles and says, "This is the way we came in. You can find an assortment of these throughout this area that lead to different parts of time throughout the history of Equestria, hence the 'time' part in time and space."

Rainbow dash blinks looking at it and says, "That's pretty cool. So do you live here or something? Or do you live in that foggy place, what's it called, limbo?"

Xam shakes his head and says, "Nah, I live outside of reality." The Secret Door appears and he walks through it, changing back into a pony. "Come on, I'll show you."

Rainbow Dash didn't need to be told twice, she'd had enough of this weird place. She hurries through the door, and gasps in marvel at the sight before her. A stone path led through the air to a structure that raised several stories up to a glass dome top. It has several sections branching off of it into separate wings, structures, and balconies. The surrounding area was wide open space leading off to an area surrounded by waterfalls that lead down into a basin below, and the sky was blocked out by the roots of what seemed like a large tree that glowed brightly enough to light the area like the sun. "This is amazing! You live here?"

Xam looks back and says, "Of course I do. I made it myself, just for me and my wife. But it gets boring without visitors every now and again."

Rainbow Dash blinks and says, "You're married?"

Xam laughs and says, "No, I'm not surprised you made your own reality Xam. Tell me more about your life partner." Rainbow Dash scowls and blushes from his comment. "Yes Dashie I am indeed married. Want to meet her? Follow me." He spreads his wings and flies towards the home, Rainbow Dash quickly going after him. He lands on the balcony to one of the upper floors and walks in, Rainbow following to see another pony. She was blue, and had long blonde hair styled similar to her friend Fluttershy's. She was a slightly chunkier pony, mostly in the flank, and wore a small pair of glasses. Her cutie mark was an X-box 360 controller, but Rainbow Dash had never played one even when she lived in the human world, so she didn't recognize it. The mare was dragging a large plasma screen TV with her teeth, grunting and struggling. "Rainbow Dash, meet my wife, Alice."

Rainbow waves and says, "Pleasure to meet you?"

Alice grunts through her teeth, "Charmed!"

Xam blink and says, "Love, wouldn't that be easier if you took a different form?"

Alice growls and let's go of the TV to say, "If we're going to be staying in a pony dimension then I need to get used to doing things as a pony! Even if I don't have wings or magic or any of that other stuff, I can figure things out. I am the smartest girl in the universe after all."

Xam rolls his eyes and says, "Obviously."

Rainbow Dash tilts her head and walks over, recognizing the TV to be a similar model to the one her father got when they moved to their new home. "What are you going to do with this thing anyways?"

Alice smiles and says, "Well, if you must know, thanks to Xam's new job I'm friends with Princess Luna. I thought tonight would be perfect to introduce her to video games. I've invented a modified version of a three sixty controller to better accompany hooves. I've got it in my bag with my need for speed game."

Xam groans and says, "Love, if you're going to convert Luna into a gamer girl, could you at least use a game that's not boring? Like Borderlands! That game is fun and cool and exciting!"

"And violent," Alice adds. "I'm not taking anything to such a peaceful dimension that could warp minds. And need for speed is a very fun game, and without any violence."

Xam smirks and says, "Sure, vehicles travelling at speeds over the sound barrier enhanced by explosive chemicals crashing and ramming into each other for right of way is completely non-violent."

Rainbow Dash blinks and says, "Actually that sounds pretty fun!"

"HA!" Alice exclaims pointing a hoof at him.

Xam grumbles and says, "Yeah, have your moment. Just shut up and get us something to drink."

"I'm not your maid, get it yourself." She bites the edge of the TV again and continues to drag it off and out of the room.

Rainbow Dash giggles and says, "She's a keeper."

Xam chuckles with her and says, "You can see why I fell in love with her. Anyways, I think you've been gone long enough. We don't want you to miss dinner."

Rainbow Dash frowns and says, "But I like hanging out with you. This place is so cool, and I'd love for you to meet my friends. How can I keep in contact with you?"

Xam blinks and rubs a hoof over his chin in thought. "I got it!" He squints his eyes, and a key on a necklace morphs into view, wrapping itself around Rainbow Dash's neck. "There you go. Use that key on any door, and when you open it, you'll come here! That way you can visit anytime you please. And to get back you simply do it again. Go ahead and give it a try." He walks over to the door to the room and shuts it. Rainbow Dash lifts the key to her mouth with a hoof, and grabs it in her teeth to press it into the keyhole. She gives it a turn and plucks it out, opening the door to see her bedroom. The sun had gone down and everything was dark. "Alright, off with you then, I have to go to work. I'm probably late because of you." He places his hooves on her flank and shoves her through the door.

Rainbow Dash walks into her room and looks back at him with a smile. "See you again soon, Xam!" The green stallion winks at her and shuts the door. She opens it again to test it, and she could see her house. She removes the necklace and hooks it on to a bedpost, smiling as she went downstairs where the lights were on. "Is dinner ready?"

Her father notices her and smiles nodding. "You're just in time."

She hurries in and sits at the dinner table where her mother had set up their meal and dinner plates. Honey Dew smiles at her daughter and says, "So how was that walk you took with your friend?"

Rainbow Dash blinks and tries to think of a way to describe it. "It was… interesting." She giggles as her father joins them. She looks between her parents with a happy sigh. Between her parents and her friends, as well as everything she knew at this point, Rainbow Dash was happy. She didn't fear or worry about the future at all, everything was good in her world… Well, everything except spinach.

THE END