//------------------------------// // Chapter VII: The Return And A (Pinkie) Promise // Story: The Needs Of The Many // by SapphireWings999 //------------------------------// Upon hearing Twilight’s voice ringing out, everypony looked behind with gaping mouths, save the princesses Celestia and Luna, as her dark shape came flying towards us at full speed. I quickly realized she was coming in too hot as all the others did. Twilight tried to slow down, but nothing could stop her from colliding with Flash. The two of them tumbled over each other until they finally stopped with Flash on top of her. He chuckled awkwardly at their current position. “You know, we’ve really gotta stop bumping into each other like this, Princess,” he stated, getting off of Twilight and helping her to her hooves. "Oh. It's just Twilight thanks," Twilight blushed as she accepted his help. I smiled myself at the sight of this, but I noticed that Shining Armor had a different look on his face; one that I was all too familiar with. It wasn’t an outright angry face, but was more of the stern, overprotective big brother look that seemed to say, “I’m her older brother so don’t try any funny business with her.” No pony else seemed to notice this so I just let it go. Twilight then shook herself off and approached me. “Twi,” I greeted, “Ah was almost afraid ya wouldn’t make it.” “Well it’s a good thing I did,” she replied. “I’ve found something very important.” “What is it?” “Remember that blank page in the spellbook?” Twilight asked, using her magic to pull the book from her travel bag. “Yeah. What about it?” “Well I was finally able to reveal what was on it. It’s a trans-dimensional travel spell; one that, if my calculations are correct, dates back to well before Star Swirl the Bearded first attempted such a spell.” Celestia and Luna were visibly curious by this point. “Twilight,” Celestia started, “did the page say who created this spell?” “Yes. The name listed was somepony by the name of Laurel.” At that moment, I saw something I would never forget: Celestia and Luna had looks of visible shock written all over their faces. I was nervous to speak up at first, but finally got up the courage to open my mouth. “Umm… Princesses? Is… everythin O.K.?” I asked. “Who’s this Laurel? Did… did you two know her?” There was almost a full minute of total silence. Finally, Luna spoke up. “Empress Laurel… was our mother,” the night princess uttered, “and Star Swirl's teacher. She must’ve hidden this spell away thinking it too powerful for anypony to use.” “But now it’s been found,” Twilight spoke up, “and, with it, a way for David to return to our world, should he so choose.” “Indeed,” Celestia began. “Of course, I would need the book returned to me for the safety of others who might try to follow.” “Ah understand,” I bowed to her before turning to Twilight. “So, Twi, how does this work?” “Well I would need a personal item of yours to place the spell on,” she answered. “How bout this?” I replied, showing her my new necklace. “Perfect,” she stated, planting her hooves and lowering her horn. I just stood there perfectly still as Twi’s magic charged up, snaking up the spiral of her horn before finally bursting forward and striking the necklace, enveloping it in a bright rainbow of colors. As the magic came over my necklace, I could feel a tingling numb sensation running through me. After a minute of the rainbow miasma covering my necklace, the aura vanished. “What now?” I asked. “Flip the pendant over.” I took the pendant in my hand and flipped it over. On all three ovals, a single line was engraved into each of them. I quietly read all three of the lines to myself. Equestrian Son/The victory won/Return to thy home. “Once you get back to where you’re from, you can return to Equestria at any time just by reciting that incantation,” Twilight explained. My heart was overjoyed at the fact that this wasn’t a permanent “goodbye”, but instead, simply “goodbye til next time”. I then ran up to Twilight and hugged her with both hands and wings. “Ya have no idea what this means ta me,” I stated, gratefully. “Thanks, Twi.” “No problem,” she smiled back. “You know what this means?” Pinkie asked. “What Pinkie?” I replied. “I’ll be able to throw you your ‘You saved Equestria from an evil hag and found out you were a pony prince’ party the next time you come back.” “Ah look forward to it,” I smiled at her. “Pinkie Promise you’ll come back soon.” “Cross ma heart, hope ta fly, stick a cupcake in ma eye,” I recited while going through the motions, including flapping my wings for the “hope ta fly” part. “Okey Dokey Lokey. Now come here, Davey,” Pinkie stated with open hooves. I smiled as I went up to hug her, before motioning for the rest of the Mane Six to join in for one final group hug before I would return home. This group hug, however, was much happier as we now knew that I would return in the near future. Still, there was no shortage of parting words from any of them. "Ya remember that advice Ah gave ya bout yer sister, K?" Applejack reminded me. "Sure thing, AJ," I answered. "Equestria won't be the same without you," Rainbow Dash stated. "Looks like yer gonna hafta work hard ta keep things Awesome round here, huh, twin?" "Haha. No problem with that," she laughed. I smiled back before Fluttershy spoke up. "You take care of Savannah," she started, "and don't forget to bring her back so we can meet her." "No need ta worry bout that." "Your eventual return here will be very highly anticipated," Rarity chimed in, "not to mention you introducing Savannah to all of us." I pulled out of the hug as I looked at them with a smile. "Ah'm sure that y'all'll like her. 'N who knows. Maybe there'll be somethin' special that'll happen by tha time she comes back with me," I told her as I turned to wink at Twilight. Twilight winked back at me with a smile before I faced Celestia, Luna, Cadence, and Shining Armor to bow a final time. After bowing, I remembered the shooting star from the previous night as I turned to Luna. "Thanks, Luna," I started, "fer last night." Luna nodded and smiled understandably. “Take care of yourself, man,” Shining Armor stated. “Ah will,” I replied. “When you do return to Equestria, if there’s ever a favor you need, do not hesitate to ask,” Celestia spoke. “Thanks. Ah’ll remember that.” Looking around, someone was missing. "Hey. Has anypony seen Spike?" "Right here," a boyish voice spoke up as I felt something tug the bottom of my short pant leg. Looking down, Spike was tugging the leg of my shorts with his right claw. "There ya are, lil bro," I stated, reaching down to pick him up. "Ya didn't think Ah'd leave you without a goodbye, did ya?" "Nah. I was sure you'd remember me," Spike replied. "Thanks again fer contributin tha gems fer tha necklace. It really does look beautiful." "No problem. It's the least I could do." "Whenever Ah see ma lil brothers, Ah'll always remember you," I spoke up as I set him back down on the ground. "And I won't forget about you either," the baby dragon answered. With my last goodbyes made, I turned to face the door, walking towards it with a relieved feeling, as if a Herculean weight had just been taken off of me. Grabbing the doorknob, I turned back to the others, a smile upon my face and theirs. I turned the doorknob and opened it to reveal blackness. No sooner had I opened it then I felt like I was being sucked into a vortex as I was pulled towards the infinite blackness and the door closed behind me. Upon closing, the door vanished in a blinding flash of lightning. After this, Twilight approached Celestia with the spellbook. “Here you go,” Twilight stated as she handed the book off to her former teacher. “Thank you, Twilight,” Celestia replied, gratefully accepting the book. “Now I had been meaning to ask you about those other books you were going to send me.” Celestia simply smiled back before answering. “They’ll be delivered to your castle within the month.” "Pardon me, Twilight," Rarity started as she approached her royal friend, "but what did Prince David mean when he mentioned 'something special' happening?" "I'm sure that whatever it is, it'll be beautiful," Twilight answered back, smiling as she looked back at where the door once stood. * * * * * * * * After being sucked through the portal, I began falling head over heels through blackness. Soon, I remembered my wings and tried to use them to slow my descent. This proved to be useless as my wings were ripped painfully from my back. I fell for what seemed like an eternity until I started to hear music playing. I couldn’t make out what it was, but it kept getting louder and louder the farther I fell. After a few seconds, I saw something fast approaching me. As I got closer, I saw that it was me, lying in bed asleep. Before I could react, I landed on myself. * * * * * * * * I snapped wide awake, gasping for breath. The music that I had heard as I was falling I could now make out as the song As Long As You Love Me by The Backstreet Boys playing on my alarm clock/radio/CD player. I let the song play all the way through to the end like I always do before turning it off and putting my clothes and glasses on. “What a weird dream Ah had,” I stated rubbing my forehead. Suddenly, I realized something. Oh pony feathers. It was just a dream. None of it was real, I thought, frustrated and disappointed. I guess I won't be able to return to Equestria after all. I then grabbed my phone off of the charger, not bothering to check if it was fully charged, before exiting my room. On the way downstairs, I ran into my sister. “Good mornin’, Rebekah,” I greeted. “Oh. Good morning,” she replied. “Ya gettin ready fer work?” “Yeah. Imma stop off at Dunkin’ Donuts to get some coffee on the way.” “K.” As she turned to walk away, something rang in my head. …tell her how ya feel when ya get back ta where yer from. Let her know how important she is ta ya as a sister. Those words from Applejack came back to me clear as day. Even if it had just been a dream, I still owed my sister that. I had to tell her how I felt about her before it was too late. “Rebekah, wait,” I stated. “Yes, David?” she asked, pausing to turn around. “What is it?” I stopped for a second as I tried to put the right words I wanted to say together. “Ah know… that yer gonna be movin in a few short months… ‘n that it’ll be a while before Ah ever see ya again… but… Ah couldn’t let ya go without tellin ya what ya mean ta me. You were one o’ tha closest friends Ah had growin up… ‘n Ah miss how close we used to be… before we grew up... before we got jobs... before our lives got all hectic. Ah… Ah jus hope that we can spend some time together before ya leave… because Ah love ya sis.” After several seconds of just standing there, Rebekah finally walked up to me, hugging me as I returned the hug. “I love you too, bro,” she replied, “even if you can be a pain in the ass sometimes.” “Well ya have yer moments too,” I answered with a chuckle. She laughed a little too before continuing. “Anyways, I gotta get ready for work and your girlfriend is gonna be here any minute,” she stated pulling out of the hug. “See ya when Ah get back, sis,” I replied as I went to get some breakfast. After downing a blueberry muffin and a mug of black coffee, I went to grab my bags. After I had gathered them at the front door, the doorbell rang. Answering the door, there stood a familiar, 18 year-old blonde with soft blue eyes. “Savannah,” I greeted, with relief evident in my voice as I ran to embrace her. "Hey Da-" she was interrupted as I hugged her tightly. "-Oh. O.K. then. It's nice to see you too." I hugged her for almost ten seconds before pulling away. “Oh, Savannah, aren’t you a sight fer sore eyes. Let me jus get a good look at ya.” “Is everything O.K. David? I mean you’re acting like you haven’t seen me in days.” “Yeah. Ah’m fine. It's jus... ya wouldn’t believe tha dream Ah had last night. It all felt soo real. Almost as if Ah was away from ya fer days.” “Well maybe you can tell me all about it when we get to Old Orchard Beach." "Alright then." "By the way, loving the Southern accent.” “Thanks,” I blushed. “You should talk that way more often. I don’t get to hear it much from you.” She then looked down at my neck area. “What’s that?” she asked, reaching for my neck. She then pulled on a chain around my neck until a familiar looking pendant with an Emerald, Sapphire, and Ruby emerged from under my shirt. “This is beautiful. Where did you get it?” I was still in shock that I hadn’t noticed the necklace. Finally, I replied with a smile. “Ah got it as a souvenir from a distant place.” “Well it looks nice on you,” she smiled back. “C’mon. Let’s get going.” “K.,” I answered, putting my right hand down where my pants pocket was only to feel it was empty. “Wait one sec. Ah jus need ta grab one thing quickly.” “Alright.” On my way up to my room, I ran into one of my brothers. "Hey, bro," he greeted. "Hey, Spi- uh... Stephen," I replied, somewhat awkwardly. "So whachu up to?" "Jus grabbin somethin quick before me 'n Savannah head out. Are ya all set ta care fer ma gerbil over tha weekend?" "Sure thing, brosephasaurus." I laughed at this. "Wow bro. You are soo white." "Well guess what? So are you," he replied, snarkily. "Hey," I laughed. "Ah was never sayin Ah wasn't." "Anyways, you have fun with Savannah." "Ah will." At that moment, Stephen noticed my necklace. "BTDubs, nice necklace bro." "Thanks," I smiled back. Passing him to enter my room, I looked around frantically on my nightstand until I found what I was looking for: a small, velvet box that fit perfectly in my palm. Pocketing the box, I paused for a minute to look at my pendant. Flipping it over, there was an engraving on the back. Equestrian Son/The victory won/Return to thy home I then checked my phone only to discover that the battery was close to dead. After reading the engraving and seeing the status of my phone, I was completely floored as one thought dawned on me. All this was real. It wasn’t just a dream. Once the shock had worn off, I returned downstairs with an enormous smile on my face. Savannah was quick to notice this. “Is everything alright?” “Everythin’s perfect,” I replied, beaming. “O.K. Let’s go then.” I picked up my bags and followed Savannah out to her car where I loaded them into the backseat. Once everything was in place, we got in, set the GPS coordinates, and pulled out of the driveway. Turning to look in my passenger side mirror, I saw the four princesses, Celestia, Luna, Cadence, and Twilight, smiling back at me. They nodded to me with approval and I nodded back before they vanished from the glass. As me and Savannah smiled at each other, heading off into the unknown future together, one thing was certain: I would return to my homeland eventually. Equestria was destined to face many more dangers in the near future and I would be ready for them. Not only was I now a prince of the land, but I was also a defender of the helpless, a crutch for the weak, a Guardian of Equestria. The End... or is it?