Chapter 45
September, fall, my favorite time of year. Though time at home has been wonderful, I've been playing with Dot and Cloud Burst, I've been watching my son's romance with Gold Dust blossom, and I've been enjoying the time home. Spent a little time at Lightning Electric, though I've hired a manager, trying to get out of day to day operations of the company. I've even entertained a thirty-five million dollar offer to buy the company, and then declined.
My phone interrupts my thoughts, a flick of the ear answers.
"Hello?"
"This is Mrs. Wallace from the school, your Mayor Mare has been working on the new curricula for the school, and I wanted..."
I sit up straight, "Hold on, what new curricula?"
I hear a laugh from the other side of the conversation, "A few months ago, Mayor Mare, the mayor of that town of ponies you guys have gotten, they have been working to set up schooling. They decided to not build their own schools, and instead are sending the foals to school here. She said that living with humans was a fact of life here, and integration was the best idea, so we've quadrupled the class sizes, we've hired a lot of new teachers, including some pony teachers, and are teaching the foals of your town."
I frown, "That's all well and good, but why am I being asked to go over coursework?"
"Lightning Dust, she said that as a former wonderbolt, and as a pegasus, you can help the pegasi with their flying lessons."
I groan inwardly, teaching little pegasi how to fly is fun, but dozens if not hundreds at a time, nope, not this mare, what I say is, "I am not a teacher, Mrs. Wallace."
"Oh, I'm not asking for that, though I think the students, from more than one class, would be happy to have you come and talk to them, would you like to come over and see what we've been doing?"
I look around, it looks like everyone is busy, Mindy is playing with her foals, Irony and Moon Shadow are in the kitchen with Helen, and I'm just lazing around, the stallions are around as well, but I don't hear them, "Sure."
I give my loves a kiss and fly off to the school. My first impression is amazement. The whole time I've lived here, the entire class size was around two hundred fifty in the high school, being an oil town, the school is a lot larger than you would expect for a town that size, due to the money flowing around. Now, it seems they have a dozen temporary buildings up, and heavy equipment is running around in a large fenced off area, it looks like a new addition is being constructed. I flutter down to the entrance, and push through the front doors, heading for the office. In moments I'm in the principal's office, though I have to fight to suppress the memories of times in such offices, as a human, and as a pony. School was rough for me, I'll just say that.
"Hi Lightning Dust, would you like a tour before we start?"
I nod and follow her out of the office. As we walk she starts a running commentary, "Mayor Mare was busy with us all summer, and when she informed us of how many students from the new town are going to be coming here, we didn't know what to do. Until she said that the expansion and construction costs will be handled by the town, and the added teacher salaries as well, then that was a load off my mind. Having to deal with nearly a fivefold increase in students between the high school and elementary schools, that was stressful I tell you."
I stop and look at her, "From what you are saying, pony students outnumber the human students?"
She nods, I continue, "Any friction? I know that this is a small town, with small town attitudes, not wanting change, and having it thrown in your face can be rough."
She smiles, "Actually, I think the novelty of students that walk on four legs and write with their mouths hasn't worn off yet. The new food choices in the cafeteria have been fun. Though it's amazing to watch some of the pegasi children enjoy chicken sandwiches with the human kids has been fun. Though beef has been completely removed from the menu."
I chuckle, remembering my attempt to eat a perfectly good steak, "So, how are you organizing things?"
"Well, let's go look at the unicorn section first. Some extra precautions have to be made there, since a magic surge could be disruptive, but we've gotten a few really good unicorn teachers, they can fix any damage, and they are wonderful at teaching our magic users, both human and pony."
I furrow my brow, "Human magic users? My daughter is one of them, but how many do you have?"
"Thirty seven, if I remember correctly in the high school, another dozen or so at the elementary school."
A low whistle from me, "That many?"
She nods, "Apparently word has spread, if you find yourself manifesting magic, come to Montana. Though some adults have also gained that ability, so we have an after school program for them."
We come into a large courtyard, fifty or so unicorns are sitting, along with a half dozen human children of various ages, being taught by a peach colored unicorn mare, with three stars on her flank, and a mane color of brilliant yellow. She demonstrates a spell, and then coaches the students. I sit in wonder for a long moment, then the mare sees me.
"Lightning Dust, could you come here please?"
I look at Mrs. Wallace, pleading with my eyes as magic gently picks me up and brings me to the front. I wave at the students, "Uh, hi."
The unicorn smiles, "I'm Lemon Drop, I'm the intermediate magic teacher. And class, this is Lightning Dust."
The ponies and humans all intone a greeting.
The unicorn seems to be in lecture mode, "Lightning Dust is actually a rarity among pegasus ponies. She can do magic. Though her power level would indicate she would be a higher level unicorn, but since her abilities are limited to only be affiliated with her talent, with her cutie mark. By the definitions of different unicorn levels, what would that put her as?"
A hand shoots up, Lemon Drop nods to the boy in question, "Mrs Drop, since she's confined to basic magic per her talent, that would put her at a level one unicorn."
Lemon Drop beams, "That is correct, Travis." She looks at the entire class, "Lightning Dust can manipulate and generate electrical charges with her wings." She gives me a sly look, then continues, "I'm not going to ask her to do a demonstration, but suffice it to say, she has considerable abilities, within the confines of her talent."
I look at all the bright faces, even the human children are raptly listening to the lecture. Lemon Drop apparently decides to move on, and I bid my leave of them.
Rejoining the principal, we move on, I marvel at the gym, ponies and humans running under the watchful eyes of both a pony and a human coach. The pegasi are getting taught as well, outside in a set of clouds that the teachers apparently brought down for learning.
Mrs. Wallace continues, "We've been very busy with all this. Over the summer, the school board approved the construction, the new curricula."
"Hold on, hold on." She stops, looking at me curiously, "How in the holy bleeding hell did you get the county school board to go along with it?" I remember dealing with the school board, just trying to get them to modernize the schools was like pulling teeth.
Another chuckle, "Because your Mayor Mare knows how to grease the wheels."
I hold up my forehooves, "Oh, no, she didn't."
Mrs. Wallace looks confused, "Didn't...what?"
I shrug my wings, "Usually greasing the wheels means money changed hands."
She shakes her head, "Oh, dear no. Not at all, let's just say she knows the right words to say to get things to go the way she wants. She was able to get what she wanted without ruffling any feathers. She was the squeaky wheel that got the grease, you have a master politician in her. Watch out."
I smile, "I think she deserves a raise." We laugh as we continue the tour.
***
Landing at home, I'm glad to be home, and I'm amazed. I spend a good hour updating my family about what's happening. After I'm done, Helen pipes up, "Dylan said they were doing some work at the school, but he's never elaborated."
I laugh, "With ponies all around his home, and having a marefriend, sounds like school is no different in that respect."
We all laugh, but are interrupted by the door slamming. I look up to see my son as he rushes towards the stairs and his room, I notice something, "Dylan!" I call out.
He rushes up the stairs and I flare my wings, only to have him gently grabbed in light blue magic. I hear Sunset Shimmer, "Dust called you, Dylan."
The young man struggles in her magic as she brings him down the stairs. I end up on my hooves as I get a look at his face.
"Dylan, what happened?"
I look at Sunset, she lets him go, and he simply stands there, tears streaming down his face.
My wings bring me over to him, I try to hug him, getting my hooves slapped away and he turns around.
"Dylan, what's wrong?"
After a long time, he finally speaks, "I got in a fight."
This isn't like him, he was never a fighter, then I get a good look at his face, he has flecks of blood on his upper lip, and a red stain on his burgundy shirt, I didn't notice that at first. And he also has the beginnings of a shiner. I cock my head to the side, "With who?"
"Lucas," He mumbles.
Ah, Lucas White, the quarterback of the football team, generally the most popular guy in school, and a total shit. I banned him from the house years ago, and Dylan eventually saw through his nonsense. He was one of those smooth talkers, who said everything right to the parents, but when the parents weren't around, he was a totally different child. The child reminded me of Eddie Haskell, from Leave it to Beaver. Don't laugh, I watched that show when I was young, after a growl, "Who started it?"
He looks down, he knows my rules, never ever start a fight, but finish it if it's brought to you. Judging by his reaction, he threw the first punch, "Dylan!"
He looks up sharply, "I had to, he said something really horrible!"
"Words are just words, Dylan, you don't need to get physical over words."
He growls.
After a long pause, "What did he say, Dylan?"
"He called me a horse fucker."
"Really?"
He nods, I sigh, "Dylan, as horrible as that is..."
He interrupts me, "I was out with Gold Dust."
I apply hoof to face, "He said it in front of your marefriend?"
He nods, I understand, "Did hitting him do anything?"
He shakes his head, "He hit me back, we ended up fighting pretty badly, then Gold Dust got involved."
I have to laugh internally, "And she really got her licks in, right?"
He nods, "She didn't put him in the hospital, but he's a lot worse off than I am."
I smile at him, "She's an equestrian mare, Dylan. You've learned a lot about Equestria from us, mares are going to protect our stallions, yet she had a lot of misgivings hitting another stallion, if that were a mare fighting you, she would have done worse. We are a feisty lot, us mares."
He giggles, I notice, "And very passionate, right?
His face turns bright red, I smile. I've had the talk with him, and apparently Gold Dust has been showing him what that means, I move forward and place a wing on his shoulder, "She loves you son. Just remember that, love is a powerful thing in this, and any world. I hope you feel the same way about her."
He sniffles and nods, I rear up and give him a hug, "I love you son, just take care of her, and I guarantee, she will take care of you."
The front door opens and a golden face peeks in, Gold Dust canters over to Dylan and rears up to give him a hug. He reflexively wraps his arms around her, kissing her passionately. I have to clear my throat after a moment, "Gold, do you have a house?"
She looks back at me and nods, smiling lasciviously, I continue, "Well, I'm already aware of your activities with him." This gets a furious blush from her, and renewed flames in his face as well. I sigh, my son is going to want to move out before too long, he's a senior in high school, with a steady marefriend, he's even looking at colleges. Sunset has been working with him on getting him accepted to Cal Tech, her alma matter. This kid's life is going pretty well. "Why don't you guys go to your home." They both smile and head to the door, I call out, "And Dylan, if you aren't in bed by midnight, come on home, k?"
He shyly waves, I'm pretty sure he won't be back home tonight. I have to fight my natural desire to protect him, and my desire for him to be happy. I've had a nice long talk with Gold Dust, she's smitten with him. I hope they work out.
I get back to watching a little bit of the ole television when I hear a knock at the door. Before I even open it, Trixie barges through.
"Oh, Lightning Dust, Trixie has the most awesome news!"
I look at the blue mare, then see behind her, Lightning Flash is there with her. Both are beaming, "Okay, give."
Flash answers, "Bronycon."
I narrow my eyes, "I know the word brony, but bronycon? What is that?"
"It's a big convention for the bronies, and the great and powerful Trixie has been invited."
She giggles, "Just got the email Dust." Then she looks down, "Trixie was asked if she wants to bring anypony with her, and she said, Lightning Dust, and the convention organizers were really happy to hear that. So, Dust, will you come to bronycon with us?"
I look at my herd, smiles are everywhere, there are a lot of bronies that turned ponies in my family. I finally seek out the face that has never steered me wrong over the years, Helen nods at me, so I turn to Trixie, "Well, when is this geek convention?"
She giggles, "This weekend, they had a lot of trouble tracking me down, with all the rumors of the humans turning to ponies, they knew we existed, but finding us wasn't really easy."
I chuckle, "So, in two days, we are going to be gawked at by hundreds of bronies?"
Irony laughs loudly, "Dust, Bronycon has had average attendance of over ten thousand bronies every year, even after the show ended, the fandom kept producing for years, the voice talent still shows up. And there are always rumors of a reboot to the show, and bronies eat it up."
My ears fall, "ten thousand?"
She nods, "Though if ponies are actually going to show up, there might be a lot more."
I shudder, "That is a lot of humans."
She laughs again, "And a lot of them are going to want to talk to Trixie, and to you. They will likely have you in a panel, have you gals talk about Equestria."
***
"Hello there Bronycon!" I shout, to thousands of people yelling at the top of their lungs.
It's been an amazing time, when Trixie, who was dressed with the wizard hat and cape from the show, and I walked into the convention center in Baltimore, everything went totally quiet, for about ten seconds. Then they started cheering for the ponies in their midst. The rest of the herd followed sedately, I was really wowed by the mass of humanity, all devoted to us. I got to see people dressed as the mane six, I even saw some that were dressed as Trixie. Then I saw something that floored me, people dressed to look like me. Wonderbolt suit and everything, I had to stop and talk to them. More than once I was called best pony, which caused a furious amount of blushing from me.
I even got to meet the voice talent for the show, I was truly amazed! The voices of the ponies I watched on television, though every one of them wanted my autograph! And the voice of Discord, I had liked him in previous roles he had played, but he was charming. He even apologized for what his character did to us in the finale. I had to get his autograph, so we settled on a trade. I've got a picture of me and him together, both smiling like fools. Then I got to watch Trixie wow the crowd, both talking about her time in Equestria before Discord, and her time since then. She told them about Lightning Flash, about our fight with Discord, and after she wowed them with her magic, she introduced me. And I get to talk to them, though I'm going to do things differently.
I watch as the shouting finally dies down, "You all heard Trixie's story, and I'll let you know mine, but I want to tell you a few things before I turned into Lightning Dust."
I gesture to the guys in back, and the lights come up, I can see the bronies now. I smile, "I wasn't a brony, I barely had heard about the show, in fact, my daughter could tell you a lot more about My Little Pony than I ever could. And then these appeared on my flanks." I indicate my cutie mark, "Since then, it's been a wild ride. We've been taking care of the ponies that have turned all over the world. We've built towns, we are starting lives here. And a lot of us are planning on staying." This gets more cheers.
"But, I've wanted to know about the bronies, I've heard a lot about you, I've met a few. I've liked those I've met, but I want to hear what you guys think about ponies showing up, I want to know what you think of us being real!"
After a few moments, everything calms down, I look around expectantly, in moments, a young man stands up, "Lightning Dust," He giggles, apparently talking to a turquoise pegasus is a novel thing to him, "What about Equestria? Are you going back?"
I sigh, "I don't know, I love living here, and my family is pretty well established. That being said, I'm pretty certain I'm going to stay here."
One of the other attendees stands up, "What if a human wants to move to Equestria?"
I look at him, "Why would you want to go to Equestria?"
The young man looked about ready to cry, I gestured for him to come closer, and he approached the stage, I got up close to him and sat on my haunches, I repeated myself, "Why would you want to go to Equestria?"
He thought about it for a moment, then put the microphone up to his lips, "Because your home is so ideal. Peaceful, idyllic, beautiful, colorful. And lots and lots of ponies."
I chuckle, glad for the headset type microphones that were handed to us ponies, "I'll address all of that, but first, yes, there are lots and lots of ponies." This gets plenty of laughs, I look at the rest of the audience, "Let me get a show of hands, how many here would love to just pull up roots, step through the portal, and start new lives in Equestria?"
At first a few hands shot up, then more and more, and eventually over half of the attendees of the panel have their hands up. I have to sigh, "Well, it's not as easy as you all might think."
I look around at all of them, then focus on the young man who spoke, "We have lots of ponies, we also have dragons, manticores, changelings, hydras and a plethora of very scary creatures. And I remember some of that from my time there, they aren't the cutesy wootsy creatures you see in the cartoon. A full grown manticore is downright scary, as well as very dangerous, the same with the hydras. A dragon roaring in your face can make you lose your bowels right there. We are peaceful, but we have the royal guard, we have the Wonderbolts for a reason. I'll get into the second changeling war in a bit, I was directly involved with that. Crime is low, very low in fact. But that is our nature. We are different than you humans in many ways. I will tell you that my heart aches every day, I miss flying in the pristine skies. I miss life there."
My ears fall, I feel the sadness that I think all displaced Equestrian's feel about our lost homeland, "But Equestria isn't the same as you see in the show, and it's not how I remember it anymore. A mad chaos spirit took over, he ruled Equestria for a quarter of a century. Two members of my family went through the portal and came back, and they told me that things are a lot different. The mane six, those who were the stars of the television show have gone home. But they have years of rebuilding ahead of them. And remember, they spent twenty-five years as humans as well, and that time affects us all. I'm not the pony I was before Discord happened. Neither is anypony that spent time on this Earth. There are a lot of reasons I've not gone back, the primary reason is because there are ponies here that want to go home, and I have promised, through my oath as a Wonderbolt, to protect them. And I will do so to my dying breath."
I look around, many people seem to be moved by my words, "Don't get me wrong, Equestria is a wonderful place, but it's not they utopia many of you wish it were. Will I ever go back?" I see my family sitting in the back, I look a long time at Helen, "I don't know. The ties that keep me here go even deeper than my commitment to the ponies." I see her smile at my words, causing me to grin, "But enough about the depressing parts. Any other questions?"
The microphone is handed to another, this a young pegasister, she steps forward boldly, "Can you do a sonic rainboom?"
I chuckle, "I haven't tried, to be honest. It's extremely difficult, Rainbow Dash was able to do it because she has magic like I do. Except her magic isn't throwing lightning bolts, or telekinesis. It's geared to help her go faster. If I really stretched the bounds, and pushed as hard as I could, I might be able to do it. I've flown with her, and when it comes to speed, I could keep up with her pretty well. Her and I are the two fastest pegasi alive. I've been told that the magic from being around the rainboom is amazing, I would love to experience it. Though I don't plan on trying any time soon, Rainbow Dash told me that the drain on her was severe, and she was confined to flying slow for days after."
I field a few more questions, then I decide to throw a wrench into the proceedings I go into my role in the second changeling war then, "I've been talking about a lot of subjects, but let me get somepony who was involved as much as I was in that war. Irony Shieldbreaker." I gesture out to the crowd and the spotlight goes to the back of the room, Irony was not expecting me to call her out, I have to chuckle as her face turns red and she slowly stands up, she dressed up for the occasion, staying in her two hoofed form. She told me that most would think she was just a really good cosplayer. I had to look that up.
After a moment she walks down the aisle and hops up on stage, she grabs a mic and turns to address the crowd, before she's able to speak, wild applause breaks out at the new pony. She waits a time, then hold out her hands for silence, "Greetings, I am Irony. Lightning Dust here wants you to know about the second changeling war. I was in Ponyville during that. But first, as you can see, I walk on two hooves and have hands. I'm a little different than most ponies. I was not born in Equestria, though I was brought there by a spell by Twilight Sparkle. She helped me acclimate to my new life there. For a long time, she helped me. She was always so nice to me. Then the changelings attacked. I had learned smithing during my time there, and I had become a fairly good armorer, and had joined the royal guards. But the guard contingent at the castle was not up to the task. Princesses Celestia and Luna were en route from Canterlot when their guards said they should get to Ponyville. And then the changelings crashed through the front door. I told Princess Twilight to head to the library and seal herself in. And then I discovered I could change forms, to the form you see before you. I grabbed the mace I had been showing her that I had made, and used it on the changelings. Their green blood ran like a river that day. I took quite a few injuries, changelings are very tough, very hard to kill. Their hooves are sharp, and their magic, though rather weak compared to most unicorns, got some pretty good hits on me."
Her ears fall flat, "As they kept coming, there were so many of them, I was past the point of exhaustion. But they were attacking, they wanted my princess. I had to stand between them and her. I kept having to fall back, and I ended up with my back against the door to the library. I had two other guards with me at that point, and then both of them fell. I was bucked to the side and the door was broken through. I chased them, Princess Twilight was using her magic on them at that point, but we ended up back to back, changelings around us. I could hear the shouts of the pony guards, the Wonderbolts and the extra pegasi from Canterlot had finally arrived, but they had to fight through the castle to get to us. Princess Twilight and I just had to hold until they got to us. It was a long fight though." Tears start to track down her furred face, "I just remember swinging my mace, both of my arms burning, I could hear Princess Twilight panting with the effort, she was about ready to give in. I turned and saw a changeling bite down on her foreleg. And I'll tell you, seeing her blood flow enraged me to a level I had never known. She told me later that I was a whirlwind until the guard crashed into the room."
She looks out at the crowd, "I was days recovering, I was told many times by skilled doctors that I should have died, with my injuries. But I didn't, and then the Princesses called me to Canterlot after I recovered. I had allowed my Princess to be injured, I was certain I would be punished for failure, for letting Princess Twilight be injured in my presence." She chuckles, "Imagine my surprise when they award me the highest honor in Equestria. And then I'm promoted to be the leader of Princess Twilight's personal bodyguard." She looks around at the silent crowd, "Princess Twilight had no desire to have anypony be tasked to go with her everywhere, but after her injuries in the battle, Princess Celestia insisted. So, I spent a few years as her bodyguard, before Discord happened. He actually took my five days before the rest of the ponies. He wanted me out of the way before he attacked the rest."
She puts a hand on my withers, and her finger taps a few times, I pull out my phone and stylus, tapping out a text message. She talks for a few more moments, then I thank her as she heads back to her seat to wild applause. I step forward, "And we aren't done, we haven't told anyone about this surprise, I doubt many humans know that she ended up here, but we have one more guest for you today." I smile hugely, "That guest is Sunset Shimmer!"
After a few shocked seconds, the entire room bursts into applause, loud whistles and yells from everyone. Sunset teleports onto the stage. And I was only thinking the applause was wild before, it doubles, then redoubles as everyone is on their feet screaming. I watch Sunset blush furiously, she told me that she didn't think the bronies would be all that enthused about her appearance. I promised her that they would love to see her. I move up to her, kiss her cheek and whisper in her ear, "See, they love you Sunset. Maybe not as much as I do, but they really do."
I sit next to her as the applause keeps going and going. Thousands of voices screaming Sunset's name. I swear we are going to bring the building down with all of the clapping and stomping of feet. She slips on a mic and steps forward.
"Uh, Hello." She says nervously, to renewed screaming. She blushes furiously as she waits for them to calm down. "As Lightning Dust said, I'm Sunset Shimmer. I was in your world many years ago. I spent several years as a human before Discord happened. And though the events shown in the movies were not a hundred percent accurate. Some parts were," Her ears fall, and she quiets a bit, "depressingly accurate."
She stops for a moment, then continues, "I was an evil mare. I was consumed with power. I wanted to get Princess Celestia back for not teaching me the way I wanted her to teach me. She took so long, I had mastered everything she threw at me in record time. But every time I asked to accelerate my training, she always said that I had to go at the right pace. I became bitter, and angry. And then I found the mirror, the mirror leading to this world. For six months I had to wait for it to open for me that first time." She looks around at the enraptured audience, "Then I came through, and found the school. I was a prodigy among ponies, I was barely fourteen when I walked through the portal, I had been Princess Celestia's student for six years. I was able to get into the school, after some research and popping back to Equestria a couple of times to be able to access my magic, I was able to enroll in the school. I rose to be the most popular student there."
She looks around, tears threatening to fall, "Then Princess Twilight came through the portal. I actually wasn't a student at that point, I had graduated, but I was a teacher's aide. I was still popular, and unknown to the teachers, I was running the school." The tears started to fall, "I had manipulated things, and I had gone through to get the element of Magic. I had been through the portal, and had found out that the elements had been found, and a new unicorn was the element of Magic. I was able to get the crown, and I turned into that demon you saw, and I was defeated by Twilight Sparkle, and the friends she had made in the school. Those friends weren't the same as her friends in Equestria, but they had similar personalities. They accepted Twilight where I could only sow chaos and discord. She found that magic existed in your world, and she used the crown that sat upon my head to defeat me."
She suppresses a sob, and I hear a few sobs from the crowd, looking around I see plenty of eyes shining with tears, I move up to Sunset and nuzzle her, then fold a wing around her. She looks at me gratefully, then continues, "Princess Twilight reformed me, she showed me the error of my ways. She even appealed to the principle of the school to let me keep my job." She stops and works through her emotions, "Six months later, the sirens showed up, I had found the book that allowed me to talk to Princess Celestia, I sent a message to Princess Twilight, and she showed up less than an hour later. She helped redeem me, she helped me become the mare I am now. I will always be grateful to her for not only defeating my selfish ambitions, but to forgive me for what I did." She looks down, "She was able to forgive me long before I was able to forgive myself."
She stands up, shrugging off my wing, but nuzzling me quickly, "A few years later, I went through the portal, I had wondered why Princess Twilight had gone quiet when it came to me talking to her through the book. I discovered what Discord had done. I destroyed the mirror on the other side to keep him from having control of that portal. And I thought, to conceal its existence from him. He already knew of the portal, but he hit me with his spell to send me back here as a human, and now I'm back." She looks at me, "I've found a new family, one that accepts me for my flaws, and gives me an opportunity to give back some of what was so generously given to me by both Princess Celestia and Princess Twilight. I will always remember the kindness of the Princesses, and more importantly, I am always thankful for the ponies I've gotten to know since I've become myself again."
She stops, and the entire room bursts into applause, everyone is on their feet. She smiles shyly at all the attention. I move forward and nuzzle her again, "You did wonderful, love."
***
Three wild days, I got to attend the brony version of the Grand Galloping Gala. And I'll tell you, it was far more fun than the one time I attended it as a pony back in Canterlot. I spent way too much money on pony merchandise, and I signed my name so many times I was tired of it. But everyone was so happy at this event, it made me happy.
Just after the closing ceremony, I was with a group of about fifty bronies and pegasisters of various ages, singing Pinkie Pie's song, Smile smile smile, when I was stopped by a hand on my withers. I turned and one of the even organizers was standing there.
"So, the portal is opening in a few months?"
I nod, "Beginning of December."
"Where is it?"
I cock my head to the side, "Why?"
"A lot of people want to know."
I chuckle, "How about this time, tens of thousands of ponies are going to want to get through, to go home. How about I tell you the location of the portal before it opens that time. Then if some humans want to visit, or make new lives in Equestria, they can."
I can tell he really wants to know the location, I sigh. "I think that is the best answer you are going to get from me."
His face falls, "I understand, it is your home, after all."
I nod.
But will you bring me to the portal? Just to visit? To see what Equestria truly is like?"
I cock my head to the side, "I'll think about it. You've given Trixie your contact information, so we can bring you, if we decide to. Good?"
His face brightens, "Certainly!"
I spot my herd, and rush over to them. Only to get bowled over by Mindy, "Oh Dustie, this place has been awesome. I have had so much fun, and so many bronies. I want to do this again!"
I have to laugh, "We've been invited again next year, I've tentatively said yes, unless something pops up, we'll be here. Along with some other ponies from home.
She bounces and cheers.
Irony comes up and nuzzles me, "Bronies are pretty awesome, aren't they?"
I look at the departing people, "They are a big source of magic for this world, our world has really resonated with them."
She follows my gaze, "Yes it has."