"You Can't Go Back, Michael."

by Mike the Red

I Thought I Told You

Twilight awoke to find herself laying on a cold stone floor. Groggily she rose to her hooves, noting the stiffness of her back. She yawned and stretched out before she realized where she was. Upon seeing her predicament, she panicked and started screaming.

"Where am I? What's going on?" she cried out. She couldn't make out much -- the dimness of the room kept her from being able to ascertain her location. She noted that she was in what appeared to be a jail cell. The walls behind her were dark and slimy, the wetness glistening from the dim light. The wall in front of her was a set of metal bars with a door cut into them, a large padlock keeping it secure. Instinctively, she tried to use her magic -- and immediately regretted that decision. Her world exploded in pain, seemingly shooting through her head. She looked to her horn and noticed a ring had been placed on it.

The draconequus returned with another pony under his lion's paw and noticed the librarian had awoken. Twilight gasped to see Pinkie Pie in the clutches of the chaos entity and called her name.

"Well, well, well -- looks like you're awake now," he chuckled. "You'll have plenty of company soon enough," he added as he disappeared again after placing the baker in an adjacent cell.

"You're not going to get away with this," she called out after him. He reappeared almost immediately upon hearing her retort.

"Oh, but I am, little Twilight! I should thank your double -- he was the one who freed me!" Discord cackled almost maniacally just before blinking out again.

"What did he mean by that?" asked Pinkie. "Does that mean there's another pony who looks like you? Wait a minute, I remember! I never got to throw that copy of you a Welcome to Ponyville party! When we get outta here, I'm gonna do exactly that!"

"Um, that's if we get out of here," the librarian stated glumly. "I can't even use my magic!"

"That's okay, neither can I!" the pink party pony giggled. Twilight gave her a look of exasperation before shaking her head in bewilderment.

---

"So, Twilight, what seems to be the problem?" asked the Princess. Her expression showed a small degree of puzzlement but she maintained a smile nonetheless. Seeing her initially brought a smile to my face, but I also remembered her warning from yesterday. My smile left as quickly as it came.

"Um, Princess, I have a bit of bad news for you -- I'm not really Twilight -- and Spike and I have been looking for her -- but we don't know where she is. I tried to scan for her magic signature, but I don't know how to do that -- yet," I offered, flashing a somewhat sheepish grin.

"Hmm. You look like Twilight -- who are you if you're not her?" she asked, her tone a bit more serious.

"I'm Michael -- we met yesterday when I had my human wife with me," I replied. Her smile returned as she recalled the previous day's events. Spike gave me a puzzled look as he pondered the thought of his surrogate sister accompanied by something he'd never seen. This elicited a soft chuckle from the Alicorn.

"Ahh. Yes, I remember you from yesterday -- but if I'm not mistaken, I believe I also told you not to return, except when I requested it. So this means you've disobeyed me -- pray tell, Michael, why did you return?" she asked, her stern tone causing me to wilt under it, a look of fear making itself evident.

"Well -- um, I wanted to have some more fun," I replied meekly. "I mean, it's been so long since I last had an opportunity like this -- and my life has been so empty back on Earth -- and I didn't even get to have a real Pinkie Pie party," I added, flashing another hopeful look -- or was it a big cheesy grin?

"I see -- so when did you return?"

"It was a bit later on yesterday -- Twilight and I talked for quite a long time before we retired for the night," I said. The Princess noted the unkempt bed and sniffed the air, then scanned it with her magic. She frowned. "We didn't have sex, if that's what you're implying," I added nervously. Did we have sex? I don't think so -- at least, I don't remember us doing anything other than sleeping...

"You two slept in that bed -- but -- I sense the presence of Discord," she noted. My eyes went wide at that mention. "Ah, so you know of him?"

"Um, not very much, your Majesty," I replied meekly. The thought of seeing the mismatched creature sent a shiver down my spine.

"I believe he might have taken her -- if that's the case, I need to gather the other Element Bearers before he does anything else," she stated firmly before teleporting out of the room.

"What am I supposed to do?" I asked aloud, my query only addressing a puff of smoke. "I would have appreciated some guidance, Princess!"

"I dunno, Mike, but I guess we have to wait for Princess Celestia to return," Spike offered. "I just hope Twilight is okay and that the Princess can find her."

"Yeah, I'm worried about her too -- but didn't you say something about breakfast?" I asked as my stomach grumbled in protest at a lack of food. I began to saunter into the kitchen at this point, the drake running ahead of me.

"I made breakfast for Twilight and me, but if you want some pancakes, I guess you can have the ones I fixed for Twilight -- I can make some fresh ones when she gets back," Spike opined. "At least -- I hope she gets back soon!"

"I think Princess Celestia can handle the situation -- I'm sure Twilight will be back before you know it," I said, flashing the drake a reassuring smile. I sat at the table and began to tuck into the plate of food in front of me, pouring syrup onto the pancakes. As I chewed, I noted an odd texture to the food and an even stranger flavor to them. "Hey, Spike, what did you add to the pancake batter? It tastes kinda funny," I said.

"I put quite a bit of hay into the mix -- Twilight likes the taste, so I make them like that for her. I've gotten used to the taste myself," he replied. "Twilight was going to visit Rarity at the boutique today -- something about a dress or something --"

"I'd like to go there and see her again -- and perhaps we can stop by the bakery and get some sweets -- these pancakes are pretty good, but I've got a taste for chocolate -- or perhaps another taste of that Marzipan Mascarpone Meringue Madness cake again -- that was very tasty!"

"Sounds like a good idea, Twi," he said. I opened my eyes at him in surprise. "Oh, sorry -- I guess it's just a habit," he grinned sheepishly.

"I guess I'll have to get used to being called that, since I'm in her body. I'll help you clean up," I offered as I finished the pancakes, though Spike blanched a little when I licked the plate clean of syrup. "This syrup's about the best I've ever tasted," I smiled before rising to my hooves again. I trotted over to the sink, noticing a few dirty dishes. I used my magic to turn on the water, wet up a towel, soap it up, and then proceeded to wash and rinse the dishes, placing them in the drying rack.

"Um, that's one of my chores, Twi -- you don't have to -- oh, you're done already?"

I giggled in response to his query, smiling warmly at him. "It's fine, Spike, I just wanted to do this to practice my magic some more," I said. "Okay, let's get going."

"What about your saddlebags?" he asked. "And didn't you make a checklist of things to do today?"

"Twilight makes checklists, Spike -- I suppose I should get in the habit of that, I get so absent-minded sometimes -- let me get the saddlebags, I think I might need them. Did Twilight make a checklist last night? Oh, wait -- we were talking til well past midnight last night, I don't think she made one," I mused as I trotted into the main room. Spike fetched the saddlebags, holding them out with his arms outstretched. "Thanks, Spike," I smiled as I took them in my aura and placed them on my back. He clambered onto my back at this point.

"Okay, I think that's everything," he said optimistically.

Comments

[theguysaidhi]

That like bar is interesting.