Six months later ...
"Hey, Candy! Mail for you!"
I had just barely donned my saddlebags, a half-eaten bagel in my teeth, as I rushed out into the living room of our tiny apartment. I chomped off a large bite and rolled my eyes at the indigo unicorn mare who stood at the door. "Ugh, Middy, I barely have time to breathe this morning let alone read a letter."
My roommate Midnight Skies smirked as she dangled the envelope before me. "Not even for this one?"
I swallowed the bite of impromptu breakfast and gasped as I saw the Ponyville postmark. I snatched it from her magical grip into mine. "It's from Mom!"
Middy smiled as she stepped up to me. "Gonna make some time to read it then?"
"I wish," I said as I headed for the door. "I have to rush over to Coco's to put the finishing touches on a dress repair before heading off to school. I'll have to read it on the way."
"I was about to head out myself. Can I tag along? I'd like to know what's up with your family, too."
I smiled. "Sure, come on!"
When I had first heard the name of who my roommate would be, I was sure she would be a pegasus. Only once I saw her cutie mark -- a sweeping paintbrush leaving a starry sky in its wake -- and talked to her did I discover she was an artist whose talent was painting nightscapes. The only downside was finding watercolor paints everywhere in the apartment and having to use a sleep mask because she often stayed up late painting. Small price to pay, as her paintings were positively breathtaking.
I wolfed down the last of my bagel as we barreled out of the apartment. I tore the envelope open as my hooves hit the sidewalk, and I plucked the letter out as we turned and cantered down the street, weaving effortlessly about the other ponies. As Middy leaned over to look, I smiled as I recognized Mom's elegant writing the moment I laid eyes on it:
Dearest Candy,
I have very good news! It seems that my Canterlot Boutique is doing so well that I now have the funds to open a third store. And that third store will be in Manehattan!
"Oh, that's awesome!" said Middy.
I smiled. "She's been wanting to do that ever since she opened the one in Canterlot."
"Do you think this means I'll finally get a chance to meet her?"
"Well, let's see ..." I said as I returned my gaze to the letter.
This means I will be planning a trip to Manehattan in the next few weeks. Pinkie Pie has expressed an interest in coming along, especially if it falls on a particular day that apparently has some significance to her and her sister Maud (so you may get a chance to meet her as well). I am so looking forward to this, Candy, not just for the new location but a chance to spend some time with you in the city that you so love. And I promise not to try to steal you from Coco for my store (as tempted as I am to do so).
I laughed as the police-pony's whistle blew, and we raced across the street. "Sounds like a 'yes' to me."
Middy playfully poked me in the side. "And you can't tell me you're not the least bit tempted go work for your mother, from the way you go on about her."
I snickered. "Eh, maybe. But I get along so well with Coco, and she's been able to bring in a lot more business because of me."
Middy smirked. "If you do say so yourself."
I lifted my muzzle in the air like I had seen Mom do so many times. "I am merely stating the facts, darling."
We both giggled as we turned back to the letter.
I have other news as well. Twilight has informed us that Princess Cadance has given birth to a daughter! We are all invited to attend a special ceremony called a "Crystalling" to commemorate the event, and we will be leaving for the Crystal Empire in a few days. You are, of course, invited to attend if you wish, but that will likely mean you'll be out of school for almost a week.
"Oh, wow!" Middy said. "A Crystalling! I never thought I'd see the day. You gonna go?"
I rolled my eyes as we turned down a wide avenue. "Pass."
"Come on, really?"
"Yeah, really. Look, maybe I get along well with kids Sweetie Belle's age, but a little foal? And royalty on top of it?"
Middy stared at me.
"Don't give me that look! Listen, this is going to be filled with so much pomp and circumstance that I'd be bored to tears. It's really going to be just a big non-event."
"Party pooper," Middy said with a smirk.
I gave her a raspberry and turned back to the letter.
So if you wish not to attend, I'll understand. The only thing you'll really miss is meeting Twilight's new apprentice, Starlight Glimmer, as she'll be coming along with us. Apparently, her old friend has taken up residence in the Crystal Empire, and Twilight thought this would be a good chance for Starlight to reconcile with him.
Middy gave me an odd look. "Starlight Glimmer?"
I frowned. "That's what it says."
"Isn't she that nutball you told me about who went around removing cutie marks?"
"Well, yeah." I reread the name to make sure we got it right. "I think."
Middy rolled her eyes. "You did tell me Princess Twilight was a little ... odd sometimes, but this seems a bit strange to me."
I lowered the letter as we reached a busy intersection. "I'm sure there's some sort of story behind it." I smirked. "Either that, or we're in an alternate universe."
Middy narrowed her eyes. "Don't even joke about that after some of the things you told me happened in your life.
I grinned. "Now who's the party pooper?"
We turned down another more narrow street. The taller buildings shrouded us in shadow, and I lighted my horn to provide a little additional light as I raised the letter again.
Sweetie Belle and her friends are doing well. Mostly. They seem to be more antsy than ever these days. One would think acquiring their cutie marks would calm them down, but no such luck.
"Ha, I could've told you that!" said Middy.
I chuckled and smiled. "I'm just glad they got their cutie marks before I moved out of Ponyville."
Middy smiled. "Maybe all that Crusading had actually paid off."
"Yeah, just not in the way they expected."
"If anypony would know about life not turning out as expected, it would be you."
"Huh, yeah, tell me about it." I grinned. "At least it turned out for the better."
Also, you will be happy to know that Bright Flame has a new fillyfriend. I knew you were a little worried about that when you left Ponyville, since he seemed to have a bit of a crush on you. I had started to wonder myself if he was still pining for you, but he apparently has moved on.
"Oo, you didn't tell me about this!" said Middy in a teasing voice.
I blushed. "There's nothing really to tell."
Middy smirked. "Uh-huh. Riiiight."
I face-hoofed but chuckled. "I went on one date with him, that's it."
I had gone to the harvest festival with him after all, and I actually had a good time. I had never felt pressured into anything further.
"There has to be something else."
I sighed. "Well ... all right. When I told him I was leaving Ponyville, he did confess that he had developed some stronger feelings for me, but he was holding back so I didn't think he was getting pushy."
Middy smiled. "Sounds like a great guy. And you had to go break his heart, you tease."
"Oh, hush."
Middy giggled.
I had to admit, I was flattered by his attention at the time. Maybe that meant I was slowly coming around to the idea of having that sort of relationship. Surely there were at least a few colts at school in Manehattan who seemed interested in me.
I would approach that the same way I did when practicing my talent: one step at a time.
To conclude, as much as I am proud of your accomplishments, I do still miss you terribly, and I hope you will have a chance to visit soon. Please write back when you can, and please give my best regards to your good friend Midnight Skies. I would be honored if she would consent to doing a portrait for me that I might show in my new boutique.
I love you always,
Mom
"Aw, that's sweet," said Middy. "Of course I'd do a painting for--"
"Hey, what?!" I cried.
A sudden gust of wind snatched the letter out of my magical grip.
"I have to get that letter back!" I cried as I galloped after it. "I'll see you later, Middy!"
"Okay, I'll catch you tonight," she said, her voice fading into the distance behind me. "Remember, it's your turn to cook!"
I frowned when I found I could not grasp the letter no matter how much magic I poured into my horn. The wind pulled the letter down a side street, and I turned the corner sharply, panting from the exertion. Yet just as I started gaining on it, the letter slipped into a narrow alley.
"Great," I growled as I slowed my approach.
I ducked my head into the alley and raised an eyebrow. It seemed darker than could be accounted for by just the shadow of the buildings on either side. I could not see the other end, which likely meant it didn't go all the way through, and I had a chance to recover the letter.
I lighted my horn and stepped into the alley. I shivered as an inexplicable chill crawled over me. Only when I had ventured halfway into the uncanny darkness did I realize what so unnerved me about this place. It reminded me far too much of the alley back on Earth where ...
I took a deep breath. "Stop it. That was another time, another world, another--"
Suddenly, a bright light encircled me, everything outside fading to near complete darkness. I about jumped out of my fur when a voice suddenly boomed: "CANDY SWIRL, THIS IS INDEED THE MOMENT OF THY JUDGMENT. THOU HAST SINNED BEFORE US. WHAT DOST THOU HAVE TO SAY FOR THYSELF?!"
I face-hoofed, even as my heart still hammered. "Oh, very funny, Discord!"
"What?" came the draconequus' amused voice from the darkness. "You don't want to reminisce about old times? Some friend you are."
"You have a very weird -- and somewhat macabre -- sense of humor."
"It's called a sense of the absurd, my dear." I heard a snap of talons. The light disappeared, and the alley returned. Discord stood before me and smiled. "Do pay more attention."
I sighed. "You do realize I'm going to be late for school?"
"Oh, pish-posh, you Manehattanites are too worried about time." He reached behind him and produced a mammoth timepiece with over one hundred hands. "I've wasted more time than you'll ever have."
I raised an eyebrow. "That makes no sense."
Discord let go of the timepiece. Some of its hands flapped like wings, and it flew off with a quacking sound. "Wasn't meant to."
"So what do you want?"
"Want?" said Discord. "Who says I want anything?" He waved a paw, and suddenly he was dressed in a loud shirt and sunglasses, a camera slung around his neck. A hat with the words "I <heart> Manehattan" sat on his head. "Maybe I'm just a tourist wanting to see the sights."
"Uh-huh," I deadpanned. "Right."
"Oh, very well." Discord's outfit vanished. "I'm here to fulfill a trope."
"A what?"
He reached behind him and pulled out what looked like a tablet PC. His paw danced over it. "Now let's see if I can find it on TV tropes."
I tilted my head. "Wait, is that really connected back to--"
Discord grinned. "Amazing what a little chaos magic can do, isn't it? Ah, here we go. The trope is: Book Ends."
"Huh?"
Discord tossed the computer over his shoulder, where it burst into a bunch of flower petals. "Let me tell you a little something about the metaverse, dear Candy. While a being like me can travel from one universe to the other, sometimes they overlap on their own."
I glanced around the alley. "And this alley ...?"
Discord smiled. "Is one of those places."
"Are you telling me this alley is somehow linked back to my old world?"
Discord snapped his talons, and canned applause sounded as confetti rained down on me. "We have a winner! It is indeed."
I brushed confetti out of my mane. "Um, okay. So?"
His smile turned sly. "So, I can teach you a spell that would open a portal between them."
I stared. "Why the hay would I want to do that?"
"Oh, to visit the old homestead, perhaps?"
I frowned. "Again, why would I do that?"
"I'm merely reminding you of what I told you back in that alley on your old world: there are always choices." He smirked. "I'll bet you're laboring under the misconception that you have somehow crossed a line, that there is no turning back." He flicked a talon to my flank. "Even getting a cutie mark doesn't set your life path in stone."
I glanced at my cutie mark for a moment, then back down the alleyway. I spied the letter and trotted over it. "Yeah, you're right, it doesn't." I levitated the letter before turning back to Discord. "But you're wrong about everything else."
Discord simply raised an eyebrow but said nothing.
I trotted up to him. "I'm not under any sort of 'misconception.' I'm where I am now because I chose to be here. Maybe at one point I talked about a 'point of no return,' and maybe I did think that it was all said and done. But I've since come to realize that's not true. No force or circumstance is keeping me here. I'm keeping me here, because I want to be here. I constantly choose every day to be here and to be who I am. So you can keep your spell to yourself. I don't need it."
Discord sighed and rolled his eyes. "Oh, very well. Really, things were much more interesting when your life was so chaotic."
I smiled. "Then you're really going to hate it when I thank you."
Discord blinked. "Er, what?"
"You helped me get where I am now when you gave me that second chance," I said. "Yeah, I know, you had your own motivations, and that second chance brought on so many changes it would make my past self's head spin if she had been told what would happen."
Discord suddenly brightened and smiled.
"And no, that was not an invitation to meet my past self."
Discord frowned and conjured a pull-chain. He yanked it with a click, dimming himself, and folded his arms. "Oh, you're no fun anymore."
I smirked. "You see, you're personally responsible for my life becoming sane and stable."
"Ugh, stop rubbing it in!"
"Yep, getting rid of all the chaos in my life was all your doing."
He yanked off his horns and stuffed them in his ears. "Can't hear you! LA LA LA LA LA ...!"
I laughed. Discord slowly smiled, his horns vanishing from his ears and reappearing atop his head. "Just don't let it get around, okay? I have a reputation to live down to."
I grinned. "Yeah, your secret is safe with me."
"And who knows, Candy Swirl," said Discord as he started towards the street. "Maybe some chaos will come your way in the future. After all, we can't have your life get boring, now can we?"
I rolled my eyes. "Just no more changelings, thank you."
Discord turned his head towards me, winked, and vanished.
I folded the letter and tucked it into my mane. I stepped out onto the street and smiled. The concept of a home being back on some other world seemed so far removed that it could very well have been a different life. Perhaps in a way it was. It no longer mattered.
I didn't need to go home.
I was home.
I headed away from the alley and moved forward with my life, never looking back.
THE END