I held Dust in my hands. "Dust...don't be mad at me--"
"I'm not mad." Dust puffed out her cheeks. "You just told me my ideas aren't good--"
I took a deep breath and walked Dust over to the edge of the hotel bed. "There are times in my life when I've been right." I set Dust down next to my head and put my hands on my hips. "Niagra Falls is just as good, if not better, than Buffalo."
Dust didn't turn to me. "Yes, but I wanted to see Buffalo!" She swung herself towards me, puffing out her lips and staring into my dome. "Such a nice name...it would have been wonderful."
I stared at her. "Americans all killed their buffalo...just, for the record."
"What!?" Dust popped her eyes open wide as I spoke. "I- how could they!?"
I coughed roughly, my hand shooting up to my lack of a head. "To...wipe away their natives." I shook my head. "My American history isn't great, but I think that's the gist."
Dust stared at me, starting to frown. "Jason...I don't want to go to Buffalo anymore."
I nodded. "Well good, because neither do I."
Dust stared at me, still frowning. "Kiss and hug? I need somepony to hold me right now...." She held her eyes open wide, letting them get a bit glassy as she watched me move. "Sam...hug me."
I bit my lip. "I'm not sure I should. You've been really mean to me lately--"
"I play with you!" Dust shouted, holding her mouth open with a hurt frown. "I would never hurt you."
I shook my head, burning my chin on the hotel sheet. "You do though. You're very, I'm a girl, I can get away with it." I looked out the window at the vast tracts of Canada. "You're good at being that girly guilt trip, but bad at reeling it in."
Dust gasped loudly. "Jason! I only ever play with you--"
"Yeah well it gets old some times." I felt my lips stiffen. "I'm about to go crusading across the multiverse to help you both! And you just keep playing the cat to my bloody mouse!" Dust used her magic to pull us together, rubbing herself against my cheek. "Don't--"
"I'm sorry...." Dust cooed, keeping her ears back. "I don't mean it--"
"Don't tell me to punish you! I'm not- wait...." I popped an eye open and watched the pony nuzzle under my chin. "You're not--"
Dust continued to coo softly and rub up against my side. "I've been so long without a mouth...and you act funny when I play with you." She kept on with her warm mumbles and whispers. "I'm sorry. Please don't hate me."
I plucked the pony head from the bed and cradled her in my arms. "I don't hate you, I wouldn't be here if I hated you. I wouldn't have ripped Cosmic in two again if I hated you--" The door flung open like mad. "Hello Cosmic."
Cosmic slowly pulled a sledful of magical equipment into the room. She stopped half way and tapped her hooves on the ground, signalling a hello. "Cosmic say hello." Dust mumbled, peeking over my arms at the now fit pony. "Stop staring at my flank, Jason!"
"I'm not!" I stared at my pony in my arms, half a room away. "I've been looking at you!"
"Aww." Dust nuzzled in against my arms as Cosmic started to scatter our hotel room with tools, tossing them onto the fine carpet and across the bed. "You should still stare at my flank so I can tell you to stop-- Ow ow ow ow--"
I pinched her ear hard, tugging at the hair along its tip. "See, that's what I'm talking about!"
"Ow-ow-ow-ow!" Dust sank into my arms as I pinched her. "Jason stop!"
I rubbed the thin skin between my fingers and eased up the pressure. "Well...ya just need to slow down with all the prodding and mean and such."
Dust looked up to where my head should be. "I'm not mean!"
I rolled my eyes and turned to watch Cosmic work. "You poke and prod me, you tease me, and you're constantly--"
"I said I'm sorry...and I did mean it." Dust settled into my arms, turning her chin forward to look at me hanging off the edge of my wrists. "It's hard to tell when you're actually mad and when you're just playing too." She turned slightly and kissed my forearm. "I'm sorry."
I sighed softly and went back to watching Cosmic lay out old metal artifacts. "I know. But you really need to cool it just a little." Cosmic kept to her work, sorting out her tools and filling the fancy room with tenth century. "So, what's the plan here?"
Dust turned and joined me in my pony watching. "Not sure. Sending you through worlds to fine.... Jason, what exactly are you looking for?" She turned to me with a single raised eyebrow. "I understand what you're trying to do, but I don't see how you're going to do it."
I looked out as Cosmic slowly propped up a strange picture frame we'd taken from Storm Side. "Step one, go to new dimension. Step two, find other versions of you. Step three, fix- wait.... I can't bring...worlds-- Shit! Fucking rift sickness would happen right?!"
Dust looked towards Cosmic as she pushed a bunch of metal bits into place around the painting frame. "I'm not sure. I know what you're trying to do and it might work." She made a soft frown. "To be honest, I don't see another option."
I sighed loudly. "Well, I should probably be in one piece for this, right?" I walked Dust back next to me and turned to face Cosmic. "Just for safety's sake, right?"
Dust looked over at me with a smile. "Oh no, you really think you'll be able to convince us to come with you as some strange alien creatu--" A loud electric crack filled the room, showering me in static. "Oh my-- ow!" Dust's horn fizzled and sparked, shedding the excess electricity. Cosmic was staring at the glowing frame, rubbing her chest with a hoof. "Well, I hope you're ready."
"No--no, what were you going to say!?" I shouted, starting to feel a burning in my chest. "Don't just stop talking when a magical portal is opening in our hotel room damn it!"
Dust turned to me with a quizzical look. "Hmm? Oh, I was going to say you'll have better luck convincing a headless mare that you're right, when you two are headless." Dust smiled at me. "Just a thought."
Cosmic walked over to my body and started playing with my hand. "Snarky bitch!"
"Don't call me a bitch, Jason! Not unless you're going to push my head down and skewer me, I'm not your bitch!" Dust grew a bit pink as she spoke. "Now are we going to go to the falls and take pictures, or are you going to go save me?!"
I felt something wrap around my finger as Cosmic stepped back. "I'm saving Cosmic too. And she's...well, not less mean, just more understandable mean." I rubbed my wrists as the glowing picture frame started to grow brighter. "So, how does this work? Am I just going to--"
Dust nodded. "Just walk through it when it's ready." Her horn slowly lit up, glowing orange. "Um...that's not- Me!" Dust's eyes glowed bright white as something shot from her horn into the picture frame. I jerked myself away, still not quite used to my mare shooting magic from her face. "Wah?"
I stared at the picture frame, watching as it started to glow bright purple. The lights in the hotel room went dim as Cosmic stood next to my body, looking into the fluctuating portal. "Um...Cosmic, what the hell?" I asked, picking up my head and turning to the slowly dimming doorway. The picture frame was just big enough for me to fit through it ducking down, but having it leaned up against a set of counters meant I'd be crouch walking into whatever alternet Equestria was on the other side. "Uh...so, what--"
Dust shook her head, slapping herself with her ears. "Ow, my head...." She shot a few sparks from her horn. "Oh, it worked!"
I stared at the now silver window stretched across the frame. "Um, you sure?" I turned towards Dust, finding her making a strange celebratory face. "Dust?"
"Hmm? Oh, it might not work Jason. There might be something wrong with the universe, like...I might be a man, you might be a woman. I might have died when they cut my head off, it's all possible. So, if the universe doesn't work out, just go ahead and come back through and we can try again."
I turned back to the now glowing painting. "Oh, it's that easy. Fuck you universe, you're not good enough, I'm gonna go home and pretend you never existed."
Dust shrugged. "Pretty much. And when we're done, I'm going to register us on the falls." Dust smiled wide. "Maybe my reasons for being here aren't exactly all that innocent, but how could you say no?"
I felt my cheeks burn slightly. "Register? Are--"
"Yes. At least for me. You can propose with a body, and who knows, maybe Cosmic will say yes when she gets her head back!" She smiled wide, eyes closed, face bright. "Now, I think you've got worlds to explore."
I rubbed my face. "Uh...I'm not sure making wedding plans--"
"If you love it put a ring on it." She sang, bobbing her head slightly. "Human music sounds like a bunch of noise, but if that's the lesson, I'll take it to heart."
I grumbled softly and turned to the portal. "Man is supposed to propose, not the woma--"
"Oh stop your grumbling and go have fun. Go find me in the woods again, be my hero again."
I stared into the strangely liquid portal. "If I die--"
"You won't die." Dust stated with utmost confidence. "If you die, I'll have to kill you for dying."
I sighed and ducked down towards the portal, static clinging to my arms as I neared. "Sure. Well...here we go--"