“What did you mean by ‘always being able to come back’, Justin?” Fluttershy asked as they got out of the Huracan.
Justin shut the driver’s side door and opened up the trunk. “It means, that if my portal works, and if your friend Twilight Sparkle can connect to it, then a complete connection is made between Equestria and my portal. And that means you can come back if you wish so.”
Fluttershy snapped to attention with glowing eyes. “Really?!”
Justin looked straight back at her with his most convincing smile. “Really.”
After putting away the scuba gear, Justin sat down on the couch in the family room with Fluttershy as they both gazed out to the wide open Californian bay.
“I was thinking, it would be nice to wash down after your adventure in that salty ocean,” he said. “Meanwhile, I’ll install that last part from the—” He stopped abruptly.
Fluttershy caught on. “The Supra?”
Justin nodded. “My portal project is top-secret. I had recently done a collaboration project with a few friends to finish one vital component. But a few details ended up getting leaked. To keep the component safe, I hid it in the Supra. That’s why I asked you to drive it all the way here.”
Fluttershy gasped. It all made complete sense. She headed off to the bathroom, thoroughly washing the fishy smell and the ocean salt off her furry body.
Meanwhile, Justin grabbed the last vital component and headed down to the basement. It was rather damp and eerily dark, with only one small fluorescent light fixture. He typed in a secret code, and a panel in the wall slid back to reveal a large room full of gadgets, controls, and gizmos of a million types. It was like a mix of a musician’s room and NASA’s Mission Control.
“After all these months, finally. I have the last part,” Justin thought happily to himself, sliding the last component into a slot in the machine’s panel. The pins slid into the holes…a light came on, wires were hooked up according to a set configuration…and a swirly light from the portal began to appear.
“It’s working!” he said with joy. “It’s finally working, yes!”
With trembling fingers, Justin typed in a block of code that would direct the portal’s alternate universe navigation to Equestria. Sure enough, after the component that had been taken out of the Supra worked seamlessly with the rest of the computerized electronic scientific system, the end of the portal began to sway, as if it was searching for something. Soon, it locked onto one target. From where he was, however, Justin couldn’t see the end of the portal’s tunnel – it was riddled with lighting sparks and bright blue light.
“Equestria = target == confirmative,” the code display read.
Justin was so happy he could just jump up and down. He did it anyways, letting the spirit of a little child having accomplished something great and wonderful slip into his manly body once again after such a long time.
Fluttershy was outside, sitting on the porch, with her saddlebag full of items.
“Um…is it ready?”
Justin nodded, and together they headed down the steps to the basement, and through the secret doorway. There, Fluttershy saw the portal, buzzing, whirling, and spinning with a hairdryer-like sound. It looked terrifyingly similar to the circular storm that had sucked her and Princess Luna up back in Equestria, and that made her all the more nervous. Justin, however, was the total opposite, feeling all hyped-up and joyful.
“Well, Fluttershy, there it is. Your gateway back to home. Your one-and-only home of Equestria.”
Fluttershy swallowed and gave a sad sigh. “I’m not sure if I’m ready to leave. It looks rather…difficult.” She didn’t want to offend or insult Justin for all the hard work he’d put into the contraption.
Her eyes already welling up with tears, Fluttershy stripped down from her “humanized, clothed” form and back into her “nude, pure, pony” form.
“Wait,” Justin called out as she took a step towards the portal. “I need to do something important.” He ran out of the room, and returned about ten minutes later with a small stack of papers and a key.
“My last gift to you,” he said with a smile, kissing her. It was the Supra’s license and registration papers, Fluttershy’s driving license, her made-up ID card, a few photos of the Supra, and the key to the Supra.
“You’ve shown such amazing bravery and boosted your social skills since you came here. As such, I can understand why you’re having a hard time deciding. It’s extraordinary to think that it’s been only about two days since we met and we’ve become the best of friends. I know you don’t want to leave me, but Equestria is your true home. Here on earth you haven’t got any other ponies to relate to. As such, I’m giving you the Supra as a gift. I’ll keep the key, license, and registration papers here at my home, but you keep your license and ID card. If you have any thoughts about driving, don’t hesitate to return and take the Supra out for a spin. It’s yours. Besides, I hardly drive it anyways.”
Fluttershy smiled and kissed him back, tears in her eyes. “Thank you so much, Justin. Thank you for everything you’ve given me and taught me. I love you.”
Justin started crying himself. “I love you too, Fluttershy. Now let’s fire up this machine.”
Fluttershy tossed her saddlebag and the clean clothes Lorraine had made for her into a small box next to the wall on the room’s far side.
“Just stand right there,” Justin ordered, walking into the control section and pointing to a triangle shaped section of the floor. As soon as Fluttershy stepped onto it, it began to rise with the hiss of hydraulic piston beneath.
Flipping a few switches and adjusting countless knobs, Justin prepped the portal, aligning it up and increasing the power to 80% for the strongest signal. The portal whirled, buzzed, and lit up with a dazzling blue light. The floor shook and trembled with the power of the extreme energy.
“You’re ready to go,” Justin shouted over the loud noise of the machinery behind the portal and the loud electrical wind noise the portal itself was making.
“Goodbye, Justin. See you again sometime…hopefully,” Fluttershy said, crying all over again. Grapsing the rolled-up photos securely in her hooves, along with her license and ID card, she spread her wings and kept flapping them until she could fly well enough. Closing her eyes in agony, she rose into the air and flew straight into the epicenter of the circle of blue energy, Justin sobbing all the while. Once a faint white light indicated that Fluttershy had indeed reached Equestria, he slowly adjusted the portal until it was completely shut off.
Back in Equestria, Starlight Glimmer had managed to successfully perform a cloud-walking spell, and was prancing through the clouds near the Friendship castle. All at once, a large bluish-white ball of energy started accumulating and formed a tunnel of some sort that appeared to connect with the sky. It flashed, sparkled, and buzzed with magical energy as the sky appeared to split open for a moment before quickly closing again and dissipating. Out sprang the dazed Fluttershy.
“What’s happening?” Twilight Sparkle said, coming out on the balcony. Using her horn’s magic she fired a thin blast at the opening, capturing a portion of the energy in a ball – and nearly dropped it upon seeing Fluttershy fall out of the hole in the sky.
“Gotcha!” Starlight exclaimed, reaching up and catching Fluttershy in her arms, then carefully setting her down on the cloud.
“Yay! I’m back!” she exclaimed, taking in the sights, sounds, and smells of Equestria once again.
Starlight Glimmer then helped Fluttershy across the clouds back down to the Friendship Castle’s balcony, where Twilight Sparkle was waiting.
“You’re back!” Twilight exclaimed, embracing her friend in a big hug.
“I missed you so much, Twilight,” Fluttershy said, tearing up just like she’d done with Justin.
“I missed you a lot too,” Twilight Sparkle replied, noticing the large photos, documents, and cards her shy friend was holding. “What’s this?”
Fluttershy backed off and blushed. “I'll tell you in a second.”
“I’m back!” she called out, entering the main room of the castle. Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie all ran over to hug and greet her, before they all sat down in their respective seats. Meanwhile, Twilight sent out a letter to Princess Celestia stating that Fluttershy had returned and Starlight Glimmer was the one to rescue her from falling.
With the letter sent, out sprang a load of questions.
“Where did you end up?”
“Did you have a lot of fun?”
“Anyone you met?”
“What’s the rolled-up photos for?”
Everypony gasped in surprise as Fluttershy unrolled the papers to reveal high quality photos of the car she’d driven. Then she set down her license papers, her license card, and her ID card on the table.
“Well,” she said, turning to face all her friends, “It’s a long story.”