In Want for a Wand

by Leila Drake


Epilogue - Where The Heart Is

"It's so weird to come home after months and nobody thinks you were gone that long." Jonathan shook his head in disbelief.

"It is, isn't it?" Twilight laughed.

It was two days after their return to Equestria. Both Twilight and Jonathan were busy unpacking and sorting their things. Jonathan had brought his cardboard box upstairs and quickly hid some of his belongings inside it, including a book from Undercity: his Hearth's Warming present for Twilight. He quickly closed the box, then he unwrapped the wand and put it on the central table. After that, Jonathan drew Clara from his bag. He rubbed his chin.

"Hey, Twilight. What d'you think would be the best spot for Clara? She looks like she's kind of a social flower."

The rummaging in the kitchen stopped for a moment and Spike stuck his head through the door.

"How about here?", he said, pointing back at the kitchen with his thumb. "Everypony's bound to come here several times a day. Especially me", he muttered, "but that's beside the point."

"I like that." Jonathan joined Spike in the kitchen and put the flowerpot next to another plant on the windowsill. "Plus, the water is right next to her. Good for lazy people." He grinned guiltily.

"Hear, hear", came Twilight's voice from the library.

Jonathan smirked back at her as he returned from the kitchen.

"Yeah, I know", he said. "I promise I'll take better care of her." He sat down next to his backpack and resumed unpacking. "Man, half of the stuff I have in here I didn't even need. My Jeweler's set... parchment... the oil lamp... garlic? Hey, look, Twilight: The enchanted sheet of paper you prepared for emergencies. Great idea - and totally didn't work because the elves had your saddlebags." He rolled his eyes.

"Well, I still think you should keep it, just in case", said Twilight. "One never knows."

•°

"You're back, you're back, you're back!" Pinkie Pie pulled Twilight and Jonathan into a hug, almost strangling both of them.

"Yes, we are", said Twilight happily.

"And for good", added Jonathan. He waved at Mara Dust and Arcus who entered the Steaming Cup just now.

"This is great! So did you get your wand?", asked Spirit Rez, pouring Jonathan a cup of coffee and floating it over to the table with his magic.

The human accepted the cup and leaned back in his chair. "Yep. Enchanted by Princess Luna herself. I feels great, being able to cast spells again. So, Pinkie, you already told everyone?"

"Of course! I've also set a date for the 'Welcome back to Ponyville and Sort-of-Cuteceñera' Party. It's tomorrow! At first I wasn't sure if you wound want a party but then I realized that it's been way longer for you than it has been for us so I thought, 'why not?' and I went and told everypony. There will be lots and lots of your favourite cupcakes and sweets and cake and all of your bestest friends will be there: Mara and Spirit and Ditzy and Rarity and aaall the other ponies. I couldn't get a hold of Discord, yet, but -"

"Wait, you want to invite Discord?", Twilight asked, shoving a hoof in Pinkie's mouth to interrupt her wordstream.

Pinkie pulled the hoof out, her smile growing even wider. "Well, somepony has to start inviting him to things or else he will be not invited all the time and I can't imagine that would be a nice thing, now would it?"

"Well", said Mara, "you can ask Fluttershy to tell him. They have those tea parties, don't they?"

Arcus poked Twilight's side. "Any word from Darren?", he said quietly.

Twilight sadly shook her head. "I tried several spells to track his movements but it didn't work."

"Well, pity we didn't drag a Blood Elf over to Equestria, like Gladius, for instance", said Arcus. "They sure would know how to do that."

"I suppose they would", sighed Twilight, playing with her piece of cake. "I'm still going to keep trying. If there is any chance he ended up in Equestria, we've got to help him find his way to Ponyville."

"Yeah. I wish I could do something to help." Arcus's ears splayed back.

"Hmmm." Twilight rubbed her muzzle. Then her face lit up. "Hey, maybe you can. Both you and Priest. Arcus, you have traveled a lot all across Equestria, haven't you?"

Arcus nodded.

"And Jonathan..."

"Huh? What's up, Princess?"

"You are really good at drawing. Do you think you can make a picture of Darren?"

"Yeah, I think so", said Jonathan. "What for, 'WANTED: dead or undead' posters?"

Twilight grinned. "Something like that. We could send letters to different ponies and ask them to keep their eyes peeled for a human knight. I mean, not counting you, Darren would be the only human on the planet. He's got to stick out."

"I like that. It's a great idea." Arcus smiled.

"Then let's do this." Twilight ate the last bit of cake and stood up. "I'll make a list of all the helpful ponies I can think of. And I'm going to do it right now. See you later, Jonathan. Bye, everypony! Thanks for the coffee!"

Jonathan gave a lopsided smile, watching Twilight rush out the door.

"Aaand she's back to being Twilight. Thank the Light for that pony." He grinned.

"I'll make a list, too." Arcus rolled his eyes, adding, "But not right now."

He looked around the café. He saw familiar faces everywhere and his friends were by his side.

Spirit brought more cake to the table. Pinkie quickly grabbed a huge slice and ate it in one piece. She looked at the door for a moment, confused that Twilight was already going back to the library. Mara shuffled closer to Spirit, giving him a hug, while Jonathan drank his coffee, sighing happily.

"I want to have this moment", said Arcus to no one in particular.

His eyes fell on the door as the bell jingled.

A beautiful light brown earth pony entered the café, looking around. Her red wavy mane fell out of her face as she turned her head, recognizing Arcus. She trotted over to him and kissed him on the muzzle.

"Hello, husband", she said.

"Maple Leaf! I thought you were with your parents."

"I heard you were on a special adventure so I decided to come back early", said Maple, smirking at him. "I got a pretty cryptic letter from Princess Twilight Sparkle yesterday. It said that you were gone for both four days and three months... and that you missed me. I want to know what that's all about."

"That mare", grumbled Arcus, not really unhappy about that.

Maple still had that smirk on her muzzle.

"Well.. was she right? Did you miss me?", she asked.

Oh, sweet Celestia, he could get lost in those orange eyes. A strand of red mane fell into Maple's face. He brushed the hair aside, touching her cheek.

"Yeah", said Arcus, his eyes suspiciously wet. He hugged Maple tightly, ignoring the d'awws from Mara and Pinkie and the happy grin on Jon's face. "Yeah, she was definitely right."

•°

Princess Celestia lit her horn. As she reached for the sun and pulled it up into the sky, she smiled happily. Princess Luna was probably already asleep. She had happened to eat her pancake today which was a rare occurence. Celestia had made the pancakes as she did every morning but usually Luna just ignored her efforts. It was nice to make her happy once in a while.

Celestia left the balcony, stepping into the tower. A piece of parchment was on her desk. She unrolled and read it once again. There was only one pony that would write her a letter this early in the morning.

Dear Princess Celestia,

thank you again for helping us with the portal. Jonathan is very happy with his new wand. He uses it to enchant many items, mostly small things like parchment, mirrors and gems. His customers use the mirrors to talk to distant relatives and the parchment can be used to store small spells, making them popular among the earth ponies and some pegasi.

Jonathan has moved into his own little house on the edge of town. You can see the Everfree Forest from there, it is pretty close to Fluttershy's cottage. He left today to go on a gem hunt with Rarity. I think they will be back in the evening.

There's still no word from Darren. We sent letters to many friends across the land but nopony has seen a human knight anywhere. We will keep trying.

I think it's safe to say that even when you lose track of a friend yor never lose the connection you have with them. We all miss Darren, especially Arcus Tangens.

I have been thinking about the conversation with Queen Sylvanas. I agree with what Princess Luna said the other day. Sylvanas probably let us go because she knew that she could not get what we have and wanted at least one Forsaken to get away from his curse. It's really sad if you think about it. She must have a kind heart somewhere below all that hate and fear or else she would have just killed us. Luckily, her moment of kindness happened when we were there. I like to think that was the magic of friendship. Jonathan said that she liked that he was being nice to her. I hope that somepony will help her to find a way out of the dark. If she would have to care for more than only undead people she just might find friendship again.

Arcus disagrees with me on this, though. He says that it was just dumb luck that the Banshee Queen let us go.

I am looking forward to Hearth's Warming. Jonathan already said he has a special present but I can't wait until he sees what I have in store for him.

Are you going to celebrate with your sister? If you want to, you can come visit us once the official celebration in Canterlot is over.

I'm looking forward to seeing you again.
Your friend and always your faithful student
Twilight Sparkle

P.S.: Here is one of Jon's enchanted mirrors. I bought a pair from him yesterday. It activates when you touch the glass and say the name of someone who has the counterpart.

Celestia rolled the parchment up and stored it in a big chest that stood in the corner of her office.

It was time to start Day Court. She rummaged through the drawers of her desk, trying to find some documents that she was going to need. When she had found them, she tucked them under her wing.

With a last glance at her office, Celestia left. She exited the chamber and closed the door with a resounding click.

She had not noticed the faint blue glow in the new mirror that hung on the wall behind her desk.