A cool breeze blew through the air, causing Kyle to shiver as he stopped along the side of the road. Even at midday, the sun could not keep the chill in the air at bay. It was late September now, and autumn was definitely coming along in full force. Kyle sincerely hoped that Rarity would be able to whip up something a bit warmer than his summer clothes as he looked over his destination.
Kyle began to walk up the front walk, noting how different the house was now from when he had last visited.. The lawn was freshly cut, the bushes trimmed back, and the weeds had been plucked from the garden. Though he could still see the hole in the house where he had smashed through the window, the broken glass and shattered remnants of the window frame had been removed and the hole covered by tarp for the time. All in all, it looked far more inviting and homely as Kyle walked up to the front door. He raised his hand and knocked three times.
A moment later, Kyle could hear the soft clip-clop of hooves on wood. The door swung inwards, revealing Lyra. She had a smile on her face, which was quickly replaced with shock as she realized who was at her door. “K-Kyle?” she stammered. “W-what are you d-d-doing here?”
“May I come in?” Kyle asked, not answering her question.
“Of course!” Lyra stepped backwards and ushered Kyle inside, closing the door behind him. “Please, come in, have a seat,” she said, leading him to the living room. “Let me go get us some drinks.”
As Lyra walked away, Kyle looked around the house, once again taking in the stark contrast between today and the last time he had been here. The cobwebs had all been swept away, and the mess and clutter tidied up. Light filled the house with a sense of openness and warmth, rather than the cold darkness from before. A large fire roared in the fireplace, but even that seemed far more inviting than the one Lyra had been sitting by on that evening.
The sound of hooves on wood announced Lyra’s approach a few second before she entered the room, levitating a pair of cups and a jug of lemonade in front of herself. She sat the glasses down and poured lemonade int each one before levitating one over to Kyle.
He reached out to take the cup and brought it to his lips, but hesitated. A small voice in his head whispered that Lyra was not to be trusted, that she had probably done something terrible to the drink he was about to ingest. He watched carefully as Lyra took her own glass and took a deep drink, appearing no worse off than before. Kyle shrugged, satisfied, and took a light sip himself, ready to use a Detox if necessary. The drink was light and refreshing, and as seconds passed and he felt no ill effects, Kyle felt a surge of guilt for feeling such untrusting thoughts.
“So… what brings you here today?” Lyra asked. Kyle looked up to see that Lyra was not meeting his eyes, but instead seemed fascinated by the patterns in the wood grain on her floor.
“I just came to see how you were doing,” Kyle replied, setting his glass down on the table beside him. “You’ve been through a lot in the past couple of weeks. I was concerned.”
“You’re not the only one,” Lyra said, taking another sip of her drink. “Bon Bon has been stopping by every day, and Octavia and Vinyl have been by at least thrice each since I got back home. I keep telling them I’m fine, but…”
“They’re worried.” Kyle finished. “You’ve got some good friends there if they’re keeping up with you like that. You’re lucky to have them.”
“Don’t I know it,” Lyra sighed. “I guess I’m lucky to have any friends at all really. Everypony else seems to think I’m…” she trailed off, waving her hoof in a circle as if searching for the right word.
“Odd?” Kyle suggested.
“That’s one way of putting it. Bon Bon and I grew up as the only two foals on our block. Kind of forced us to become friends really. Not that I’m complaining. Before I got this job, she was my only friend.”
“What job is that?”
“I’m a harpist,” Lyra replied. She pointed to her cutie mark, which displayed a golden lyre prominently against her mint-green coat. “For the Ponyville Symphonic Orchestra. I always prefered the lyre, but it turns out not many orchestras have a lyrist. And a harp’s not that different. Just a really big lyre, really.”
“How do you like it? Your job, I mean.”
“I love it,” Lyra replied, smiling for the first time since Kyle had entered the house. “I’ve always wanted to be a musician. I’m living my dream job. Plus, I met Octavia through the orchestra.”
“Can’t say I’ve met Octavia before,” Kyle admitted.
“She’s not much of a socialiser. Tends to keep mostly to herself. She plays cello in our orchestra. Really good at it too. You wouldn’t expect an Earth Pony to be able to maneuver a bow on such a large instrument, but she does it, and better than most Unicorns too.”
“I might have to come see you all perform sometime,” Kyle said, taking another sip from his lemonade. “Can’t say I’m any good at music, but I enjoy listening to it every now and then.”
“Ever heard anything by Vinyl Scratch?”
“Your other friend?” Kyle asked. “Not that I know of.”
“Does DJ Pon3 ring a bell?”
“Eh… nope.”
“What?” Lyra exclaimed. “Come on, you’ve been in Ponyville for what, two months now? And never heard anything by Vinyl? She’s like a local legend when it comes to music!”
“I’ve been a bit busy,” Kyle chuckled. “Is she in your orchestra as well?”
Kyle raised an eyebrow as Lyra burst into laughter. For a long moment she didn’t reply, simply laughing and holding her sides. Finally, she calmed down and wiped a tear from her eye. “That’s… that’s a good one,” she chuckled.
“I’m guessing that’s a no.”
“Not a chance. She’s never been into classical music. She’s a DJ. Usually playing at the local club in the evenings.”
“DJ?”
“Disk Jockey?” Lyra raised an eyebrow. All she got in return was a blank stare. “Are you serious? You don’t know what a DJ is?”
“Nope.”
“Ever heard of Dubstep?”
“Uh-uh”
“ How about Electro?”
“Negative.”
“Trance? Industrial? House?”
“Not in terms of music, no.”
Lyra closed her eyes and sighed, shaking her head as a small smirk formed on her face. “Dude. You’ve got to get out more,” she chuckled. “How can you say you enjoy listening to music when you’ve never even heard of this stuff?”
“Music where I come from is apparently quite different,” Kyle shrugged. “Lyre, Harp, Cello. I’ve heard of these instruments. I know what they sound like. I have no idea what this DJ deal is, or House, electo, wubstep… whatever you call it.”
“Vinyl would be freaking out so hard right now if she was here.”
“So if you’re in the orchestra, and she’s doing… well, whatever she’s doing…” Kyle continued, “Then how do you know her? I thought you said Bon Bon was your only friend before the orchestra.”
“She was. I met Vinyl through Octavia. Turns out they were roommates back in college, and just never lost touch.” Lyra chuckled again. “Never really understood how a cellist and a DJ could be such good friends. Octavia never liked Vinyl’s music, and vice versa.”
“But enough about me.” Lyra suddenly sat back in her chair, levitating the pitcher over to refill her glass. “I want to hear a little bit more about you.”
“Well, what do you want to know?”
“Well let’s start with your profession? What did you do back on Azeroth?”
“I was a soldier,” Kyle replied. “A Monk. Still am a Monk. I specialize in fighting unarmed, though I can also use a variety of weapons.”
“Bon Bon told me a bit about Monks,” Lyra nodded. “She also mentioned something about Pandaren - whatever those are - and Tushui and a whole load of confusing stuff…”
“Yeah. The Pandaren are another race of people on Azeroth,” Kyle explained. “We only connected with them about a year ago. They are the ones who taught us the ways of the Monk. There are two styles. Tushui is more calm and collected, while Huojin is more aggressive and freestyle. Monks in the Alliance practice Tushui.”
“So you trained to be a Monk?” Lyra asked. “But I’m assuming you were a soldier before then. What were you before you were a Monk?”
“It’s not really too pleasant to think about,” Kyle admitted. “Before I trained to be a Monk, I was what my people call a Rogue. Rogues are masters of stealth, able to hide in plain sight by manipulating shadows. They strike quickly and then fade back into darkness.”
“What made you choose to give that up?” Lyra asked. “Sounds like a pretty sweet deal, being able to use shadows to hide you in plain sight and stuff.”
“Rogues often employ cheap tricks to overcome the odds,” Kyle explained. “Attacking from behind without warning. Using cheap punches and kicks to more… sensitive… areas. Utilizing poisons to cripple a foe. Being a Rogue often means sacrificing your honor in order to win. They usually can’t go up against a more heavily armored foe head-to-head and win without using some cheap tactic. I always prefer to be light on my feet in a fight, and being a Rogue allowed me to do that, but the backhanded tactics I had to use always left a bad taste in my mouth. When I heard about Monks, with their own graceful agility and strong sense of honor, I was hooked. The rest is history.”
“Speaking of history…” Lyra trailed. She paused for a moment before continuing. “Sorry. Just organizing my thoughts. So, what about your foalhood? Where did you grow up?”
Kyle closed his eyes and shuddered, a sudden chill filling his veins as dark memories were brought back to the surface. “Well… I was born in Lordaeron,” he began. “The northernmost of the seven Human Kingdoms. I spent the better part of my childhood there, until the Scourge wiped out Lordaeron.”
“The Scourge?”
“Yeah. The Scourge,” Kyle hissed, anger evident in his voice. ”The Scourge was an army controlled by the Lich King, an army composed primarily of undead Hum-”
“MOVING ON!” Lyra exclaimed loudly, clasping her hooves over her ears. “Don’t wanna hear anything about undead. Nope. Didn’t hear anything.”
“It wasn’t pleasant anyway,” Kyle shook his head sadly as Lyra slowly lowered her hooves. “I lost a lot of friends that day. My family managed to make it out on a boat before the nation was completely overrun. We made it to Stormwind, and my brother and I joined the army to fight the Scourge, the Burning Legion, and the Horde.”
And so they continued throughout the day. Kyle began to relax as he and Lyra exchanged questions, shared laughs, and swapped stories. Kyle began to judge time not by the clock on the wall, but by the shadows through Lyra’s windows as the afternoon wore on and on. Before he knew it, the sun was ready to set.
“... So Morkie showed back up three nights later covered in claw and beak marks, wearing nothing but a loincloth and covered with feathers. Poor little Gnome.” Kyle chuckled. “You even mention the word ‘harpie’ to him now, and he has a nervous breakdown.”
Lyra snorted in amusement, shaking her head. She opened her mouth, but was cut off by a soft rumbling. She glanced down, and her ears flattened against her head.
“Hungry?” Kyle smirked.
“A bit yeah,” Lyra admitted. “I was just about to fix lunch when you showed up.”
“I’ll fix us something,” Kyle offered. Lyra stood up and led him to the kitchen. “Ever heard of an omelette?”
“I heard Fluttershy mention them once. Never tried one.”
“You’ll like it. Got any eggs?”
“In the refrigerator.”
The next few minutes passed in silence as Kyle cracked eggs and chopped vegetables, while Lyra watched from the table. A few moments later, Kyle placed a plate in front of her, containing an omelette stuffed with mushrooms, cheese, tomatoes, green onions, and red peppers. He sat down as Lyra cut off a small section and took a bite.
“Wow. That’s really good,” she mumbled past her mouthful.
“Thanks.” Kyle grabbed his fork and took his own bite.
“So, I’ve been meaning to ask you.” Lyra began as she swallowed. “You were a soldier. Surely you’ve been in some interesting battles. Got any stories about any of them?”
“Bit of an odd topic for dinner,” Kyle commented.
“Sorry. I’m just curious,” Lyra said quickly, averting her gaze. “Forget I even mentioned it.”
Kyle chuckled. “Didn’t say I wouldn’t share a few war stories. I have a couple that stand out to me.”
“First one I can recall was when my brother and I joined a large group of adventurers to go hunt down a dragon. This would have been… oh, what, six years ago? Something like that. Anyway, yeah. Dragon. Onyxia, she was called. She had been disguised as a Human for years, posing as nobility in our city, and had been responsible not only for the kidnapping of our king, but for the delay in sending aid to other parts of the kingdom that were under attack from various forces. Onyxia was finally exposed and retreated to her lair. My brother and I, along with thirty-eight others, sailed across the ocean to Dustwallow Marsh. We charged into her lair and confronted her among her brood of eggs, just waiting to be hatched.”
“And what happened?” Lyra asked, leaning forward. “Did you win?”
“Am I sitting here to tell the tale?” Kyle laughed. “Of course we won. Onyxia was vanquished, her clutch destroyed, and her head brought back to Stormwind to be hung as a trophy and a warning to all who would threaten the Alliance.”
“That’s… pretty gruesome,” Lyra murmured, her face turning a slightly deeper shade of green.
“Yeah, and it weighed a ton,” Kyle muttered as he took another bite. “Bloody thing nearly sank our ship trying to sail back.”
“Do you have any other stories?” Lyra asked. “Preferably ones that don’t involve taking heads as trophies…”
“Well, I guess I can tell you about my latest adventure before I ended up here.” Kyle swallowed his bite before continuing. “I mentioned the Horde before, right? Told you how they’re pretty much against everything the Alliance does?”
“Yeah, you mentioned them.”
“Alright. So recently, the Horde basically tore itself in half. The Warchief, Garrosh Hellscream, was using dark powers to try and conquer the entire planet. Most notably, he attempted to harness the Sha.”
“What?!” Lyra exclaimed. “He’s mad!”
“Yeah. He is. Needless to say, the Sha didn’t exactly help his mental stability. In the end, most of the Horde turned against him. He fortified the Horde capital city of Orgrimmar and turned it into a fortress, where only he and his army of Orcs were free - everyone else was either held captive, conscripted, or killed. This all-Orc Horde was renamed the ‘True’ Horde. The rest of the Horde was lead by the Troll Chieftain, Vol’jin.”
“I’ve no love for Trolls, and even less so for this one, but there’s an old saying. ‘The enemy of my enemy is my friend’. Vol’jin and his rebellion allied themselves with the Alliance for a time. The Horde attacked Orgrimmar by land, while the Alliance attacked by sea. I was part of the force that spearheaded the assault. Our first obstacle was actually getting onto the beach, which was guarded by a legion of Orcs backed up by a massive Proto-Drake, Galakras. We managed to turn a pair of cannons against the beast and shoot it down, where we finished it off.”
“Our next task was to get into the city itself. Vol’jin and his forces were being held off by a monstrous robot that we’ve come to call the Iron Juggernaut. You name it, if it was a weapon, it had it. Shock pulses, buzzsaws, lasers, crawlers mines, drills… We lost a lot of good men to that thing before we finally reduced it to scrap.”
“So you beat that thing and got into the city,” Lyra nodded. “What happened next?”
“Next, we faced a large group of Orcs training in the main valley of Orgrimmar. I swear, it felt like we were fighting for days. Once we finally secured the valley, we thought we were in the clear. Until the Dark Shaman showed up.”
“Dark Shaman?”
“Shaman are magic users who control the powers of the elements,” Kyle explained. “Fire, earth, wind, and water. Normal Shaman ask the elements for aid, either convincing elements to give them their power or sealing deals with powerful elementals. The Dark Shaman did not ask - they instead took the power by force, twisting it in the process. Foul water, poisonous fumes, choking ash, twisted earth… It was chaos. In the end, my brother cut one of their heads off, and while the other one was intent on taking out her revenge, I got behind her and broke her neck.”
“Again with the beheadings,” Lyra groaned.
“Well you have to admit,” Kyle shrugged, “it’s a surefire way to make sure something dies.”
“Anyway… what then?”
“Well, a small squad of adventurers delved deeper into Orgrimmar, into the caverns deep below the city. They eventually toppled Garrosh, and he was imprisoned and tried in Pandaria for his crimes. I never heard what happened to him…”
“What about you?”
“I got assigned guard duty,” Kyle sighed. “Making sure that none of the Kor’kron - Garrosh’s army - regained control over the city. We were eventually recalled as Vol’jin and the Horde that had fought against Garrosh moved back into Orgrimmar. I still say we should’ve finished them all then and there…”
“And then you wound up here,” Lyra chuckled.
“Yep.”
“Well, dinner was delicious,” Lyra smiled as she levitated the dishes into the sink. “Thank you.”
“No problem.” Kyle stood up from the table and glanced over at the clock. “I’d probably better get going. Twilight is probably wondering where I ran off to after I got out of the hospital, and she said she had something for me.”
“Well thanks for stopping by,” Lyra said as she walked towards the door with him.
“No problem. I think it’s safe to say that you made another friend today.”
“And it looks like I got that dinner date after all,” Lyra chuckled.
“Wait what?”
“Kidding, kidding!” Lyra laughed. “Have a good evening,” she called out as she closed the door behind him.
Kyle closed his eyes and shook his head, smiling slightly. Yeah, Lyra was a bit odd. “But hey, odd isn’t necessarily a bad thing,” he thought as he walked away from the house, down the street towards the library.
Still, that last comment… While visiting with her, Kyle had forgotten entirely about what had brought him there that day, or what had caused Lyra to fall prey to the Sha in the first place. “Seems like she hasn’t entirely given up on winning me over yet,” he mused. “Gotta be careful around her to not send the wrong signals…”
“Oof!” Kyle grunted as he collided with something. He stumbled backwards and shook his head to clear his thoughts, looking down at what he had just run into. Or rather, who he had just run into.
“Kyle!” Scootaloo exclaimed, pushing herself back to her hooves. “There you are! I heard you got out of the hospital this morning. Where have you been all day?”
“Hey Scoots,” Kyle grinned, rubbing the filly’s head. “I was just visiting with Lyra. Making sure she was alright. What are you up to?”
“I was just headed home,” Scootaloo replied. “Got a lot of make-up work to do for school.”
“Well don’t let me keep you,” Kyle chuckled. “I’ve gotta get going anyway. Twilight wanted to show me something.”
Kyle waved as Scootaloo walked away, feeling that same warmth in his heart that he had felt in the hospital. “She’s gonna go far,” he found himself thinking as he turned away and began walking towards the library.
Eventually, Kyle found himself in front of the giant oak tree. He knocked twice before pushing the door open. Instantly, the smell of food greeted him. Sure enough,as he poked his head into the dining area, he found Twilight and Spike finishing their dinner.
“There you are!” Twilight exclaimed, nearly choking on her food. “Where in Tartarus have you been all day?”
“I decided to pay a visit to Lyra,” Kyle explained. “We ended up talking for a while.”
“How long of a while?”
“Uh… seven hours?”
“You could have at least let somepony know where you were going,” Twilight huffed, levitating her dish towards the sink. “Honestly, if I didn’t know you could take care of yourself I would have been worried.”
“Sounds like you’re worried anyway,” Kyle smirked.
“Am not!” Twilight replied loudly.
“I had to stop her from putting out ‘Lost Human’ posters.” Spike deadpanned.
Kyle snorted. “Honestly Twilight, just because I’m not a Pony doesn’t mean I can’t go somewhere without telling everyone.”
“Oh hush,” Twilight groaned. “Look, maybe I was a little worried. Doesn’t matter. You’re here, and now I -” Twilight froze for a moment, staring out the window as the last rays of the setting sun faded behind the horizon. “I can show you that surprise I promised,” she finished, her voice much quieter.
Without another word, she walked over to the basement door and down the steps. Spike sighed and walked away, heading upstairs with his tail dragging behind him. Kyle hesitated for a moment before entering the basement himself, slowly descending down the stairs.
As Twilight’s research lab came into view, Kyle could see her walking across the floor towards the large open area on the far side. A small chest was floating next to her, as well as a large, leather-bound tome.
Suddenly, the pieces clicked into place. “Ah. So she thinks she’s made another step towards the portal,” Kyle smiled.
Soon, he found himself observing as Twilight’s horn flashed purple time after time. The air around him waved and shimmered as various counterspells and magical barriers formed around the area. Finally, Twilight levitated the box over to her. Just as last time, a large number of crystals floated out of the chest, and Twilight spent several minutes making small adjustments to their placement or orientation. Finally, she stood back up and walked out of the array of crystals. Three crystals, however, were floating next to her, and as Kyle watched, they were deposited back into the chest.
Twilight closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Okay Kyle. This is it,” She began slowly.
“You could’ve just said you needed my help with an experiment for the portal,” Kyle chuckled. “Honestly, the way you were acting, it made me think something bad was about to happen.”
“Well, that’s the thing. I don’t need your help with the portal,”
Kyle’s smile slowly vanished, replaced by an expression of confusion. “Then… why am I here?”
“Because it’s done. The portal is ready.”
Kyle felt his jaw drop. “You… are you serious?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“But… but you were so far away last time,” Kyle stammered. “I mean, the mana requirements… How did you overcome them? And how did you improve the accuracy?”
“The accuracy problem was tied to the power problem,” Twilight explained. By getting the appropriate amount of power into the portal, it naturally tightened its focus. I distinctly remember seeing the symbol you drew for me, in blue and gold colors. And a large city of white stone.”
“Stormwind…” Kyle murmured. He felt a smile creep onto his face. “Home… How did you do this?”
“With these,” Twilight closed her eyes, and a small pouch flew from the chest, one that had previously gone unnoticed. The pouch opened, and three small, dark crystals floated out. Three small, dark, very familiar crystals.
“Are you serious?!” Kyle yelled, lunging for the crystals. They jerked backwards, just out of reach of Kyle’s hands as he thudded to the ground. “You’re using the Sha Crystals to power this thing? Have you lost your damn mind?!”
“Kyle, please, calm down!” Twilight exclaimed. Kyle paid her no mind, instead jumping for the crystals again. He missed once more, and as he fell back to the ground, he felt a sense of weightlessness wash over him. A faint purple aura surrounded him, holding him off of the ground.
“Kyle. Calm yourself and let me explain,” Twilight demanded.
Kyle squirmed and twisted in the air, but no matter how much he struggled, he couldn’t break free of the Alicorn’s magical grip. Finally, he went limp, and Twilight lowered him to the ground. “Alright… so,” Kyle growled, all trace of humor gone from his face. “What the hell are you doing with those things?”
“Well, I was studying them,” Twilight began slowly. “I noticed that, in close proximity to each other, they seemed to resonate with some kind of power. I examined them closely, and found that the Sha are not the only things inside these crystals. They also contain an unbelievable amount of mana. I’ve never felt so much mana concentrated into such a small area, not even in the leylines. We just couldn't sense it past the Sha, but if you look for it, it's clear as day.”
“I instantly thought of how to utilize these crystals in the portal. With Princess Celestia and Princess Luna observing to make sure nothing went wrong, I began my test. Sure enough, harnessing the mana inside these crystals is no different than any other source of mana. What’s more, this mana source continuously refills itself from the nearby leylines. And accessing the mana does not affect the Sha trapped inside. They’re completely separate! There’s no risk.”
“Besides overloading the gem?” Kyle demanded. “What happens if too much power flows through that thing and it shatters? What happens to the Sha?”
“That didn’t happen though,” Twilight smiled. “We used the three crystals already in this Krotian formation to open the portal, and the power flowing through the Sha crystals didn’t even come close to the power needed to shatter them.”
“Wait wait wait, back up,” Kyle waved his hands to stop her. “You’ve already used these crystals to open a portal?”
“Three, actually,” Twilight admitted. “Just to make sure the accuracy wasn’t a fluke. Each time it opened in right about the same place. All I have to do is make sure that the Sha Crystals are the first crystals to recieve the energy from my spell, and a fully-functional portal opens.”
“And… how long does this portal stay open?”
“In the three tests we ran, the shortest opening was 117 seconds, and the longest was 409 seconds,” Twilight replied. “By my estimates, we’d need all six Sha crystals to have the portal be self-sustaining.”
“So… You’re absolutely sure there’s no risk with this?” Kyle asked. “ ‘Cause remember what the Sha did to Lyra and Scootaloo. And they got off easy.”
“I know. For what we’re doing, it’s absolutely safe. Especially with the new safeguards I’ve put in place,” Twilight added. “One of my new counterspells dictates that if a crystal were to overload, it would discharge the excess energy as electricity, which would be dispersed through the area by another counterspell. We’d feel a very small shock, and I’d know to shut it down. But that has not happened yet.”
“Alright…” Kyle murmured, still eyeing the crystals with suspicion. He pulled his belt from his waist and gave it to Twilight, who levitated it in the air next to her. “Well… fire it up, I guess. Let’s see where this thing takes us.”
Twilight placed the three Crystals into position and closed her eyes. A bolt of bright purple energy flew into Kyle’s belt, and then out again, striking the first Sha crystal. Just as before, the crystals quickly formed a complex array of energy lines that hummed and radiated with power. Soon, the portal was open, and a path formed to allow Kyle to approach. He glanced behind himself and saw Twilight looking at him expectantly. Kyle gulped and slowly stepped towards the portal.
He reached out and touched it, and felt his hand go through, just like any other portal on Azeroth. The other side was cool, just as it was outside of the library. A small breeze ran through Kyle’s fingers. Kyle took a deep breath and closed his eyes before stepping through the portal. As he felt himself exit through the other side, he let out his breath and slowly opened his eyes.
He was in the middle of a small wooded area, with several large trees right next to him. Most prominent, however, was the large wall of white stone a few dozen yards in front of him. Kyle glanced behind him, making sure the portal was still there. He moved towards one of the trees and quickly ascended it before hopping up onto the wall, gazing out over the other side.
Purple roofs filled Kyle’s vision, shielding the streets below. Nearby, Kyle could see a large tower jutting into the sky. Off in the distance, several spires rose up from the ground, and a church bell tolled.
“The Mage District,” Kyle murmured quietly. “I made it. I’m home…”
Kyle quickly scrambled back down the tree. The portal was still swirling, and he stepped through once more.
“Well? How did it go?” Twilight asked as he approached.
“That’s the spot,” Kyle grinned. “Twilight, you’re brilliant. I can finally go home.”
“Yeah. You can.”
Kyle looked down as Twilight averted her gaze. Something about the way she had said that…
“You’ll want your belt, I’m guessing.” Twilight levitated the belt into Kyle’s hands. She looked back up at him, smiling weakly. “It’s been great having you here, Kyle. Thanks for all of your help. Without you, Equestria would be gone by now. Thank you.”
“It’s been great being here,” Kyle replied, looking back at the portal. He took a few steps towards it, stopping just in front of the swirling energy. “Tell everyone I said bye…”
“Sure,” Twilight’s voice cracked slightly.
Kyle looked over his shoulder to see the Alicorn looking away. A small drop fell from her cheek and fell to the floor.
Kyle looked back at the portal. He could see through to the other side, see the walls of Stormwind. He had been there. All he had to do was step through. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath…
And hesitated. Doubt flowed through Kyle’s mind as he looked through the portal. The Sha were still on the loose in Equus. Even though he could not destroy them, Kyle admitted that he had played a significant role in their defeats thus far. How would the battle fare without him? Doubt was replaced by guilt as he realized what he was doing. He was leaving the battlefield and leaving others behind to keep fighting instead.
“Kyle?”
Twilight’s voice penetrated Kyle’s thoughts. He shook his head and glanced over his shoulder again. “I’m alright,” he called out, turning back to the portal. “I’ve been waiting for over two months for this,” he thought firmly, shaking his head. “I have to go home. Matthias… I have to see him. And mom and dad. I have to let them know I’m alright.” He took another deep breath…
And hesitated again. Memories of his time in Equestria swirled through his mind. His abrupt arrival. His recovery in Fluttershy’s care. His revelation to the rest of the world. All the friends he had made. Scootaloo.
Scootaloo…
Kyle felt his own eyes grow wet as his thoughts turned to the young filly. She had come so far since he had arrived. She had started out wild, reckless, unstable. Angry and frustrated, full of loneliness and despair. She had been corrupted by the Sha, and dragged back from the brink of darkness. She had trained under Kyle’s watch, and developed the same skills that he had. She had become one of the most impressive Monks Kyle had ever seen. There was no doubt that she would go on to do incredible deeds. And she wasn’t even done with her training.
Her training… Kyle closed his eyes and frowned. Who would finish her training now? How would she develop further? She still had a lot to learn, and no one else on Equus knew how to train her.
“Kyle! The portal’s going to close soon!” Twilight called out, stirring Kyle from his thoughts again. “I can feel it collapsing! You have to go through!”
Kyle blinked, and a small drop fell from his cheek. A second passed, a second that to him felt like an eternity. The choice before him was difficult - more difficult than he cared to admit. And yet, he knew in his heart what he had to do. His face hardened, and he nodded once. He took another deep breath…
And turned around.
Twilight’s eyes went wide with shock as Kyle walked towards her. The portal fizzled and sputtered before finally dying completely, and the energy connecting the crystals faded from existence.
“What… what are you doing?” She stammered, her voice trembling. “The portal… your home…”
“The portal can be reopened,” Kyle murmured, kneeling down so that he was face-to-face with Twilight. “When the time is right, I can go home. But not now. There’s still so much that I have to do here.”
“W-what do you mean?”
“The Sha are still out there,” Kyle said gently. “I can’t leave you all to fight them on your own. I’d be a coward if I left while they still needed to be beaten. Plus… Scootaloo. I have to finish her training. She’s earned that much, at the very least.”
Twilight blinked as another tear fell from her eye. Suddenly, Kyle found himself enveloped by her hooves, and felt a pair of wings wrap around him.
“Thank you,” Twilight whispered repeatedly. “Thank you thank you thank you… We’ll make sure you get home soon. I promise.”
“Well hey, think of it this way,” Kyle continued, a small smile forming on his lips as he returned Twilight’s hug. “Once all the Sha are dead, we can use their crystals to make this portal permanent. Our worlds can be linked together. You could visit Stormwind at some point.”
“I… I’d like that,” Twilight cleared her throat, pulling back. “We’d… we’d probably better tell Spike that you’re still here. He was kind of upset that you were leaving.”
Kyle quickly scooped up the three Sha Crystals and followed Twilight away from the portal. As they ascended the stairs, he glanced back at the crystals still lying inert on the ground.
“One day,” He thought to himself as the crystals were obscured by the wall. “One day, I’ll go home.”
“But not today. There’s still work to do.”