When It All Went Wrong

Author's Notes:

About a year ago, I had this silly little fantasy, and I always had the idea of making it into a story, similar to what I did with Regret, but wasn't sure how it'd be received if I were to add an OC. I originally made it so that it was first person and the MC was not named, but I figured that would make his importance... less important.

I enjoy writing. Maybe this'll become popular, maybe it won't. Either way, I'm excited to see where this goes and how you think of it.

Started this story on January 21st. Wanted to put this here before I ended up forgetting. :P

Quick edit 10/1/19: I decided to use an OC in the story because people initially called it a self insert. This is not a self insert. I'll be removing the OC name from the chapters, but this is no self insert. Okie dokie.

Edit 1/20/22: I just remembered how pointless this storyline was. Good concept, bad execution. I'd love to make another story focusing on this, because it just has no weight in the rest of the story. Sorry.

If you had asked me the question, "How did it all go wrong?" soon after it all 'went wrong,' it would be...strange to answer the question. Magic was such a complicated wonder to work with, whether you were a unicorn or not. But it was also dangerous if even the slightest mistake happened.

Luckily...or, rather, unluckily, fate had it all go completely right for me.

The day everything went right was also the day it all went wrong.

The sun shone high over Ponyville, soaring past noon. The townsfolk were busy on their tasks at hoof, smiling and talking to one another. It was a perfect unison that truly made the town sparkle and stand out.

Speaking of Sparkle...I was on my own way to do my own task at hoof. Twilight Sparkle, a friend of mine, invited me over to her home, to help her with a little project she had been working on for the past few months. Well, rather, it was more or less a test, which - in its own way - was helping her out. The project was behind closed doors. In that sense, only she knew what it was. Not even Spike knew what she was 'cooking up', which made it all the more interesting as soon as the rest of the Elements of Harmony caught wind of it.

Today was the day we were all going to see it out for the first time - see just what this was going to be.

And I was going to be the guinea pig. I wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

Eventually, the large, crystallic structure that was the Castle of Friendship appeared from behind the stoic homes that made up the town. The library stuck out, literally, like a sore paw, a tree that literally sprung up from the ground, and became the perfect center for the folks of the town to take one of the many books and read to their heart's desire.

It was a while back that Twilight's former home had been destroyed, and...well, it's still strange.

I walked up to the front door and knocked on it three times. At first, there was nothing to hear from inside the house, but after a few seconds, I could hear the faint noise of, "Just a second!" coming from above. I could immediately recognize the voice as Spike's own. The seconds ticked by slowly before the door swung open, and the familiar smile of the drake peered back at me.

"Hey!" he exclaimed, "you're here!"

"Sorry I'm late," I apologized as I walked into the house. "Breakfast took a bit longer than usual to make."

The coffee machine needed to be replaced.

"No sweat. I don't think Twilight'll mind that you're late.... or notice. She hasn't really come up from the basement all day."

"Really?" I looked towards the doorway that led down to the basement, but didn't venture towards it. "What's she been doing all day?"

"I don't remember," he said. "I think she wanted to do some final preparations, you know, just to make sure it's safe."

"Did she ever say if it was a machine or a spell or...?"

"I think she said it was a spell?"

My ears drooped back not in sadness, but in a bit of uncertain, faint irritation.

"And she's going to test it on me, right?" I asked, and Spike was quick to answer. "I mean, it's nice to help Twilight out with this, but to be honest...I'd really like to not be at risk of being vaporized in case it all goes wrong."

"Twilight's smart," he said to me. "She'll make sure that doesn't happen."

I smiled. "I know. I always have faith in her. Well...almost always."

Spike laughed a bit. "She should be out in a few minutes. You still hungry or-"

"No, I'm fine for now. Maybe in an hour, after we're done with this whole test thing."

"It might be more than an hour."

"Seriously?"

He nodded.

"Well...heck, why not? What do you have?"

The baby dragon proceeded to the kitchen fridge, where he told me everything that was available to eat. Be in mind that I only had a couple of pieces of break and half a cup of coffee, so practically anything he told me sounded delectable. Hay bacon strips, hay burgers, pancakes, grilled cheese, the list went on.

"Hmm...what about-"

Before I could answer, the door to the basement creaked open, and a feminine voice called out.

"Spike? Is he here yet?"

"He's in here, Twilight!"

I heard her call my name, and I responded back with the same thing. There was a moment of silence, only silenced by the clip-clopping of hooves on the hardwood floors, getting louder and clearer as they got closer. After a few more seconds, there she was, standing in the doorway of the kitchen, looking at me with the most tired, but proudest smile she could make.

Twilight Sparkle wasn't a heavy sleeper, nor was she an average sleeper. Far from it, actually. Instead, she would fall asleep at midnight, wake up at six in the morning, and work or do what she usually does until midnight to repeat the process the next day.

But whatever she was doing was making her grow bags under her eyes. And yet, even with the obvious tired look taking over her body, it didn't stop her from feeling alive and awake when she saw me standing near her.

"You made it!" she exclaimed, walking over to give me a hug. "I missed you so much, it's been forever!"

I looked over at Spike, who snickered.

"Uh...Twi, we hung out yesterday?"

Even when I couldn't see her face, I was still able to hear her eyes open from surprise and embarrassment.

"Has it really only been that long?" she asked, pulling away from the hug. "I'm sorry. It just feels like it's been longer."

"Maybe it's because you haven't been getting much sleep?" I asked her, gently bonking her on the snout. She recoiled, but not that much, like it hardly bothered her at all.

"Hey! I'll have you know, I got a good five hours of sleep last night! That's-..."

She stopped dead in her tracks.

"Oh. You're right." Twilight blushed in embarrassment. "Heh heh...whoops?"

I shook my head, a smile faint on my face.

"But I've been practicing the spell! With Starlight, a lot, just to get this all right! We just need to wait for the others to get here and then we can start!"

"Speaking of Starlight, where's she?" I asked her.

"Down here!" Starlight yelled from the basement. "Hi, by the way!"

"Hey," I shouted back, somewhat quiet. WIth a turn to Twilight, I asked her what exactly is it they were working on. "A spell, a piece of equipment?"

"Spell," she quickly remarked. "I don't wanna spoil any of the work the two of us have been working on, but...let's just say it could potentially revolutionize the world if we get it right. Wouldn't that be great?"

"Potentially?"

She tilted her head to her right, giving a grimace-like expression. "Well...that's why we've been working non-stop to get it right! I mean, we ran some tests on some things like apples and chairs and-"

"That's the thing, Twilight," I interrupted her. "I'm not a fruit or a piece of furniture. I'm a pony. I know that's the whole point of today, but...what if it goes wrong? What if it all goes bad and something happens and I...you know?"

"But you won't," she tried to reassure me, "I've run countless tests, day and night, to make sure everything works properly, and you become a helping hoof in making history! I mean, I don't wanna brag, heh...but you've got one of the smartest minds in the world working on this. It'll be a snap!" She proclaimed, a cheery grin on her face, even through her tired reality.

Spike scoffed with a little smirk on his face and his arms crossed. "I can see Rainbow Dash's bravado is starting to rub off on you."

The alicorn turned away with a blush forming on her face, but she quickly turned back to me with that caring look she always held. "Don't you trust me?"

I stared at her with my own smile, whether it was truthful or simply out of guilt, and rested my hooves on her shoulders. "Of course I trust you. I've always trusted you. I guess I'm just nervous after all this time. I know everything'll be fine, but...just in case - please make sure I'll be okay before we do this?"

Her smile came back, never forming a grin, but showing her personality thoroughly. "Of course I will."

"Thank you. I trust you, Twilight. Really."

Adjusting my stance, I stood up and kissed her gently on the forehead, just beside her horn, and I held it there for just a second longer. Maybe it was the nervousness of it all. Not just from this test, but...

I removed my lips and stood back down on all fours, working to clear the blush from my face, hoping neither party would notice. "So," I began, "when are the others supposed to get here?"

"They should be here in a few minutes," she answered. "Rainbow's finishing up weather duty early today, and Pinkie's wrapping up a couple more deliveries. After that, once they're all here, we're set."

"Cool. ... Um, quick question: If...I'm going to be the guinea pig for this, why exactly are they coming here?"

"They're our friends. It'd be wrong not to bring them along to see potential history in the making. Plus...I kind of like having an audience."

"And Trixie, it seems," Spike mentioned, adding to his comment from before, and earning a brief glare from Twilight, followed by a roll of her eyes.

"It'll be fine. And with them all here to watch, it'll be even better."

I smiled at her. I didn't want to say anything else simply out of nervousness of worrying her further and risking messing it up on my hooves. If she said everything would go right, then it would. I could trust her on that.

...Right? Ha?

The basement door was simply pushed aside as Starlight Glimmer came walking into the kitchen to fix herself a quick drink of water.

"Whew," she exclaimed, "I'm kinda...exhausted. ... That's a first."

I raised an eyebrow at her and asked, "Like, first time being exhausted or-" and she simply nodded her head back at me.

"I mean, sure, I can conjure up spells in the blink of an eye, teleport anywhere I want without breaking a sweat, turn books into teacups, create shields powerful enough to knock down every book in the library..." She went on for a couple more moments about all the things she could do and had done, before finally adding, "and yet doing something as complex as-"

"Ap ap ap ap!" Twilight stopped her from finishing her sentence in that manner, a smile on her face as she moved her hoof in a 'zip your lips' manner.

Starlight rolled her eyes with her own smile and continued with Twilight's notions in mind. "Doing something like this can really take a lot out of you. I mean, it's fun to do this whole thing, knowing it could change everything...probably...but it's just...soul-draining."

With one of my hooves raised from the floor, I told her, "I'm not sure if I should be more glad to be the guinea pig now." But the pink unicorn looked up at you and laughed with a caring hold to it.

"So you're the pony Twilight chose to test it on?"

"Is you laughing supposed to comfort me or worry me?"

"Heeheehee," she giggled to herself. "Don't worry. Everything's going to be fine. Twilight and I have been making-" She was unable to finish.

"Preparations for the past several blah blah blah," Spike 'finished' for her with an irritated moan. "I mean, not to be rude or anything, Starlight, but I've heard that sentence over twenty times in the past day! Can't you guys replace it with something that sounds more, I don't know...bearable?"

"Hmm...what about, 'The cookies are almost done'?"

"I said bearable, not mouth watering!"

Starlight giggled again before turning back to me. "It'll be okay. If you can trust Twilight when she says that, you can trust me when I say it. Right?"

"Of course I trust you," I told her with a smile. It wasn't a lie. If she asked me that immediately after the whole 'Rainboom Fiasco' last year, I would've pushed her away and said no, constantly checking behind my back to see if she wasn't planning my doom. Maybe it had been my paranoia, but I chose to listen to Twilight and trust her - and I still do trust her...even with this.

She's come far.

I fixed myself my own glass of water and the four of us drank together, waiting for the rest to arrive. The first to come in were Applejack and Rarity, having come back from a recent friendship problem in Canterlot; both seem content with life as it seemed, as if pampered with leisure and care. Then again, Rarity was with AJ.

Fluttershy came in a few minutes later, apologizing for being late - mentioning a trapped animal in a well outside of town - but Twilight promised the timid mare it was no trouble at all. Rainbow Dash came in ten minutes after, looking like she had just gotten out of bed, but being drenched in what looked like the rain from storm clouds, it was very likely she wasn't sleeping in bed.

Then finally, after a few more minutes of waiting and refilling my cup, Pinkie Pie waltzed on in, a smile on her face and some little smidgens of dough leftover in her hair; a baking sale done right, it seemed, and it didn't even seem to bother her that the dried up dough was just...there.

Hopefully she wouldn't eat it.

"I'm glad you were all able to make it!" Twilight exclaimed to the group as she stood in front of them.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world, darling," said Rarity with a kind smile on her face. But the smile faded soon after. "Um...what, exactly, are we here for again?"

The alicorn's head tilted for just a moment before realizing. "Ah, right. So, I've gathered you all here today for something very special that Starlight and I have been working on for the past five weeks." She started her way towards the door that led to the basement. "Follow me, please," she answered, reminding me a lot of the voice on the intercoms that you'd hear in train stations...in a weird sort of way.

The group all followed Twilight down into the basement, whereas Spike, Starlight, and I lingered behind, walking at a slower pace than the rest.

"So," Spike started, "you still nervous?"

I shrugged. "A little...but maybe the rest of them being around might not be so bad."

"That's the spirit! ... I think. But, just don't focus on it and everything'll work out great," he exclaimed louder to me, a confident but equally nervous smiles appearing on his face.

"Now you're starting to sound like Twilight," I told him.

"Heh...is that bad?"

"Depends on how you think of it, I guess."

Starlight joined in between the two of us, intent on adding her own bit of info.

"Look," she started, "how about, after this is all done and over with, we can...I don't know, grab a bite somewhere? To calm your nerves, kind of ground you down?"

I looked at Starlight intently with an expression of flattery, and simply joked, "Why, Starlight...are you asking me out on a date?"

As expected, the unicorn began to turn red and stammer her words. "N-No! Of course not! I-"

"Relax," I calmed her with a laugh, "I'm just kidding." But her face didn't simply go back to normal, but I could tell it was turning to the kind of 'embarrased-and-don't-want-anypony-to-know' red.

"Pfft, y-yeah, I knew that! I was just playing along, you know? Ha ha ha!"

I simply stared at her with my own smirk. "You're a terrible liar."

"...I know."

"But hey, I'm feeling a little better, at least."

Even through her awkward quarrel, Starlight smiled back. "That's nice."

The rest of the somewhat long walk down the spiral stairway was in silence, with Spike trudging along faster than us.

As soon as he was far enough away, I told Starlight, "I'd still like to grab that bite, though, after this. If that's alright, I mean."

Her face was more content, the red now faded and gone. "Okay. Maybe we can-"

Suddenly, the familiar voice of Rainbow Dash shouted to us from below, "Pick up the pace, lovebirds!"

Even I turned red. Not that they'd know.

After another minute of walking - why is this stairway so long? - we reached the basement level of the castle. I had to admit, I'd never really seen the basement until now. The place seemed to be filled with all types of trinkets and equipment that was more than for the likes of Twilight. And Starlight, of course.

It wasn't long after we arrived that Rainbow had decided to fly on over to us and ask, "What took you guys so long?"

"I was just trying to help him relax," Starlight answered. "That's all."

"Oh, I think I understand just fine," Rainbow remarked, proceeding to mimic kissing with her hooves.

The unicorn rolled her eyes, but couldn't hide the blush as she walked over to Twilight, leaving Rainbow alone with me.

"Careful now, buddy," the pegasus whispered to me, "I think you're gonna make Twi jealous."

I raised an eyebrow at her. "What's there to be jealous about?" I asked. "Starlight and I are just friends, that's all."

"Are you suuuure-hey!" Her cheeky question was interrupted as Applejack marched over and pulled Rainbow away by her tail.

And even though I didn't verbally answer, I did so mentally. Of course Starlight and I were just friends. If she was truly making a move or trying to 'be with me', I'm pretty sure I would've noticed.

Besides, I had my heart set out for Twilight. ... I think. I didn't think of getting optimistic with my chances, but even that was enough-

"Hey!" Twilight hollered, calling my name. "Can you come over here so I can explain?"

Realizing I was standing on my own, with the others looking at me, I also realized I probably looked a bit...weird.

"Right. Sorry, Twilight!" I apologized, walking over to the group and standing in between AJ and Rarity. I could hear Rainbow snicker to herself before being elbowed by Applejack, an audible 'ow' being heard a second later. Twilight then finally gave her speech.

"So," she started, "we all know that unicorns have the capabilities to travel through time, right? We've all seen it: Starswirl The Bearded, Ponybius, even me!" A moment later, she recoiled, adding, "Not that I'm on the same scale as those two...of course," giving a sheepish grin before continuing.

"Anyway, we all know that unicorns can travel back in time, as proven by both me and Starli-"

"L-let's not bring me up into this, ha ha ha....heehee...ohmmn," Starlight answered, the shame from what happened last year coming back to haunt and embarrass her for a moment. Twilight rested a hoof on her shoulder and gave an apologetic look.

"Anyway," she said again, "we know unicorns possess the power to travel back in time, as proven in the past...no pun intended. BUT...what if there was a way for a unicorn to time travel...into the FUTURE?"

Instantly, the room was silent, and at the same time, filled with the sounds of perplexity, interest, and disbelief.

"Wait," Rainbow spoke up, "are you saying...?"

"Yep," Twilight and Starlight said simultaneously. Starlight then proceeded to unveil a small scrolled up parchment of paper. A grin was plastered on her face as she looked at each and every one of us.

"We give you..." The unicorn then unwrapped the scroll, revealing a series of symbols and combined words. "...Futurus Incarnis!"

Her eyes beamed at the rest of us, who 'ooo'd' at the parchment. It was likely that half the group was genuinely impressed and amazed, while the rest...

"Fu-what?" Rainbow asked, setting her own example.

"Name's a work in progress," Starlight answered with a sheepish grin. It grew into an equally 'cute' expression. "But the spell is all there, bold and all! I've been working extra hard to make sure everything was working exactly as intended!"

"And you did a great job," Twilight told her with a smile, obvious that she was proud of her student showing off her talent.

"So you're saying with this," Rarity piped up, "a unicorn would be able to travel forward in time?" The pair nodded, leading Rarity to ask, "How far?"

"So far, the furthest we've planned is up to six months," Starlight began to explain, "that way, we don't accidentally fling somepony a million years into the future, for example."

"So this thing works, then?"

"Yep!" Twilight said proudly, then paused and remembered. "Well, yes and no."

Starlight added, "There's just one problem."

Then it was my turn to speak up and answer for them. "You haven't found a way to test it out without testing it on somepony, so you need a guinea pig."

"Exactly."

It wasn't that I was as nervous as before; the idea of being part of a time travel experiment was, in every sense of the Prench language, bucking amazing!

At the same time, that's exactly what was needed to keep my fear instilled. Experimenting on a time travel spell that's still in the works, not to mention with a variant that's never been used in the history of ponykind? That was bounds for all kinds of going wrong in the worst ways. Sure, Starlight said the maximum time of going forward is six months, but even then-Wait a second, time and length first.

"Right," I began, "so where, or should I say when, will I be going..." It garnered an awkward, but humored laugh from Starlight. "...and how long am I gonna be there?"

"Good thing I planned this beforehoof," Starlight added. "Right now, this test is going to send you an hour into the future. You'll only be there for about twenty seconds before being sent back to the present. You'll appear back right where we zapped you at the right time to accommodate the seconds spent. That way, you won't lose any seconds! ... Technically."

That was nice. But...one more question couldn't hurt, right?

"How can I convince you that it worked when I arrive?" I asked, "Is there some kind of codeword or something?"

Twilight said, "Well, you'll just appear from thin air, so we...kinda figured that would be enough...maybe."

I raised an eyebrow at the 'maybe' part, but Starlight remarked, "Don't worry. We'll know if it worked, especially once you come back a few seconds after it's casted. So we don't necessarily need to wait an hour."

"Right." I chose to end it there, not wanting them to go all...scientific with the explanation. It wasn't that I couldn't understand...it would just take too long.

"So," Twilight began, "are you ready to start?"

"You know, you can still always say no," Starlight added.

The girls - and Spike - looked at me, not intently, but I could tell they were all waiting for my answer. The two geniuses stared at me with similar looks, but there was the hint of sympathy. They understood if I was scared.

But I wasn't scared, just nervous. And if I wasn't scared, I wasn't backing down.

"Yeah," I answered, "let's do this."

"Great!" Twilight exclaimed. "Step right over there and let us handle the rest." She then pointed over to an empty space of the basement, away from everything. It was definitely meant to be a 'testing ground,' if the circles were any indication.

I walked over to the space and stood firmly in the center circle. With a deep breath, I kept calm. The nervousness lingered, trying to grab a hold of me. But as soon as I remembered whose hooves my life was in, it shrank back into the shadows.

Probably should add that they're metaphorical shadows, by the way.

I could hear the sound of hooves clip-clopping on the crystal floor, and before I knew it, Starlight was standing in front of me a few steps away, and Twilight presumably behind me.

Twirling her hoof subtly on the floor, Starlight asked if I was still nervous.

"Definitely." And so I took it upon myself to fix that problem my own way. "But I trust you."

She smiled.

"Ready?" Twilight asked Starlight, who nodded in response. She then asked me the same question, and I responded the same way.

I looked to my side and saw the others all standing there, watching the scene intently. I never knew why, but it just felt awkward; maybe it was because nothing had happened yet. But as soon as I felt the calm, gentle volts of magic coursing through my body, it became less awkward and more of a spectacle.

Twilight and Starlight's horns lit up with their respective colors, and in an instant, I was enveloped in a combined field of lavender and purple. It tickled every inch of my body, and I couldn't help but let out a little giggle. I could see Starlight give me a puzzled look, but smiled as soon as she understood.

I could hear and feel the sensation of the magic beginning to build up as the spell started to take its form for the first time. The spell started a current - loose papers scattered about, manes and tails blew in the wind. The magic in my body made me feel weightless, like I was as light as those same pieces of paper.

This was...it felt amazing.

And then suddenly, Starlight let out a pained scream and fell to the ground, and a blast of her magic shot me. I was barely able to say her name before the darkness took hold in an instant.

* * * * *

To be honest, I think it was the first time I was ever knocked unconscious.

I could feel my body and mind start to stir themselves awake, and I let out a moan that wasn't entirely pained, but I could tell I wasn't feeling pleasant. My face was grimaced, even if I couldn't see that it was. It took a whole minute or so for me to open my eyes and get a good feel for where I was.

Which was...

Where am I?

Getting slowly up on all fours and looking around, I seemed to find myself in a library of sorts. There were shelves stacked with books upon books upon books. No doubt, this was likely a place of Twilight's choosing. Maybe even Starlight's choosing too. I was never too sure.

As I got closer to the books, enough to see the covers, I started to read the titles. Not a single book had the name of an author, and every book's title was...well, I've never heard of them before. But it was less of 'novels' and more of 'textbooks,' if textbooks looked like novels.

"Hmm...what the heck, let's pick this one," I said, grabbing one of the random books from the head-height shelf and looked at the front cover. "Let's see...Earth: The History of the Cretaceous-Paleogene Era. Earth? Where's that? Better yet, what is that?"

I knew there were Earth ponies, but this was just plainly saying 'Earth,' as if it was its own thing. I decided to open the book and read a random page aloud - not like anyone was here to mind. "Upon the impact of the massive comet, the force of the explosive yield was equal to 100 trillion tons of TNT. Jeez. What kind of book is this?"

Looking around the book for any explanation, I eventually found this little slab of paper on the very last page of the book. ""This account of the end of the Cretaceous-Paleogene Era resulted in the extinction of all life on Planet Earth. The surface is barren and dirty with bedrock and the remains of the creatures that perished. The planet never recov-" Okay, so this is apparently another...planet? Hold on, what's this..."

At the very bottom of the page were a set of coordinates. The sheer amount of coordinates in place were baffling, and I was confused, though intrigued. Unfortunately, I didn't have the time to mess around; I had to figure out exactly where I-

Wait a second...

"You'll only be there for about twenty seconds before being sent back to the present."

If that was the case...why wasn't I back yet?

Starlight...

Starlight! She screamed! Is she okay? Was she fine? What happened to her? I had to find out, somehow. I needed to get home. Why didn't I teleport back yet?!

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, hoping I could calm myself down. There was no point in panicking, at least not right now. First, I needed to figure out where I was. Obviously, it was some sort of library, but where? And what kind of library? I've never...seen...this place...before...

Looking up to the ceiling, I discovered...well, there is no ceiling. What should've been the ceiling was in fact stars, clusters of stars, planets, moons, galaxies, comets, asteroids, gas giants...

It was space. Was I in space?

No. That's impossible, there's no way I was in space. This was probably just some sort of visual effect, some kind of illusion.

Right?

I shook my head. "Okay," I said. "I need to find the way out. Maybe this way?" I chose a random direction and started walking down.

Twenty minutes later, I was still walking down the hallway. My legs started to feel a pinch of soreness, whether it was walking on what felt like a marble floor, or just walking for a long period of time. Occasionally, I looked upward, to the 'ceiling.' Usual illusions would see the stars not following you, staying in place but still trying to make it look realistic. Here, they were following me. It was nothing like you would see in a mountain range - then again, space is bigger than a mountain range.

The whole time, I was a mix of confused, concerned, and nervous. Confused at the ceiling, nervous of my surroundings...and concerned for Starlight. I just hoped she was okay. She put so much effort into comforting me, but was she even taking care of herself?

I had to find her. I just had to.

After what felt like an eternity of wandering forwards, I saw something shimmer ahead of me. It looked like...

"An exit!" I exclaimed. "Finally!"

Running towards the doors, I prepared to push them open. Instead, what happened was a full-on smack.

In other words, I ran into 'pull' doors.

As I got up from the floor and tended my bruised bashing arm, I said to myself, "Note to self - check every door."

Once I was recuperated, I grabbed the door's handle and gave it a strong pull. With very little resistance, the large wooden door opened up, and the light behind it blinded me quickly, forcing me to shut my eyes tightly. Whatever was behind here was brighter than anything I've ever seen. But suddenly, as quickly as it came, the brightness seemed to dim down, and I found myself no longer having to cover my eyes.

"What was that, a sun?" I joked poorly. But as soon as I opened my eyes to adjust to the setting...

Oh. It was an actual sun. Well, rather, star. It was a star.

It was an actual star. A blue one!

I was able to stare at it with ease, its light no longer bright enough to blind me. I tilted my head, scratching it with my uninjured hoof.

"I don't understand..." Turning my body around, I took a look at where I just was, and whatever else was around me. And I still didn't understand. "Where am I?"

It didn't take long to get a feel of my surroundings, but it took longer than usual for me to realize that I was standing on...grass?

The outer rim of this...dome, it seemed, was covered with grass and a couple of small trees. They didn't blow about, as there was no wind for them to catch. And the inner rim was where I just...came...

Wait a second...!

I ran back over to the doors that I came out from and peaked inside. The interior was massive, filled with books and shelves full of them, and the hallway went off into the darkness, like it went on forever. And yet, outside, as I stared, it was...small! In fact, I could circle the entire piece in a matter of moments. It was that small! I opened one of the other doors on the other sides and peered in, and just like the first door, it showed a hallway that went on seemingly infinitely.

But the outside was small.

I wasn't sure what to be confused about more: the building that was bigger on the inside, or the fact that it looked like I was in the far reaches of space? Nothing looked familiar, I couldn't make out a single constellation or planet that even resembled my own. For all I knew, I was in a whole other star system!

No...it had to be a trick, a joke. No way this place, whatever it is, is real.

It can't be.

"Where am I?"

No answer. Instead, a massive comet flew right through the dome. Instead of shattering it to pieces and killing me in the process, it actually 'opened up.' Meaning, I could see every crack, every hole, every nook and cranny that made up the comet. I heard a great rumble of noise, and the entire place shook as the massive rock disappeared behind...something.

I ran around the dome to follow the comet, to see what would happen after it came out the other side. But when it did, the rumbling stopped, the shaking ceased, and the comet - without a single scratch or notice of our presence - continued to fly through space on whatever path destiny set it out for.

Normally, in any case, I should've been fascinated, impressed, excited. But right now, I was speechless.

"Starlight...where did I go?"

When I Finally Came Home

View Online

Time is funny.

Is it weird to say that? Time is funny?

I've never asked anyone that before. Well, I never assumed to ask anyone, not even Clanks. It was a strange feeling. All this time, all these books and all this space, not once did I ever think to ask if saying that time was ever funny. It's not a joke, or maybe it is, and I'm simply not getting it.

Hmm...just thinking about it, it makes it funny.

Even here as I sit, on this old wooden chair, looking at one of the last stars alive in the universe as it slowly dies away, with my own little set of sunglasses rested on my head, I wonder just how much I've seen, and how much I've yet to see. Maybe it would be a long time before I could ever get it or understand. Maybe-

Suddenly, I watched as the red giant in front of me started to pulse and flash, signaling its imminent destruction. I've seen the same thing plenty of times across the cosmos, but it was always so exciting. I felt like such a child, and I wasn't ashamed to feel it. With enough time to spare, I went to grab Clanks. He was an old machine I built myself to combat my loneliness. That, combined with magic, gave him a life of his own.

"Clanks!" I yelled to him. "Hurry, it's about to start!"

"What's about to start?" Clanks asked. "The explosion?" It wasn't like he had a monotone voice, far from one, but he reminded me of what a robot would sound like if you tried to give it life-like emotion - tried being the keyword.

"Yes!" I answered. "Hurry, before we miss it!"

Sure, we were only on the opposite side of the dome, but the best thing about seeing a supernova was being front and center, not back and side. I grabbed Clanks by his metallic hoof and hurried him over to where I had been a moment before. The massive star was starting to pulse harder, flash and give off excessive heat - not that it mattered in the dome.

Then, with a great bang and a flash of bright, vibrant color, the star exploded, causing even the dome to shake. It was strange: The dome didn't even exist in the universe, and yet when exposed to enough force, it could feel the presence of a dying star or a comet passing through it, so technically, it did have some grounds in it.

The shaking from the aftermath of a supernova lasts hours, last time I checked, and as cool as it was to see the aftermath, I could only tolerate enough shaking for a couple of minutes. Focusing my strength into the dome itself, I concentrated until I could feel my body relax and begin to glow. And just like that, the entire dome and its contents were whisked away to another part of the universe.

But there was not a star or cluster to be seen in sight.

"Didn't you tell me recently that the final stars were starting to die?" Clanks asked me. "Was that not the last star?"

"No," I answered him. But the answer was filled with doubt. "It couldn't have been. I've checked, double checked, even septuple checked. There should be a few more stars out there."

Clanks didn't respond back straight away, instead looking outward, to the contents of the black abyss that was once space. Once filled with all kinds of stars, galaxies, planets, moons, and such, now there was nothing to be seen.

"Should we go exploring?" I asked him.

"I don't mind that," he answered monotonously.

He does it only sometimes.

So we set off, using my magic to guide the dome through the blackness, hoping to find more stars or even planets. Perhaps there was some life out there? Surely? It couldn't have been just me and Clanks, even if we technically weren't in the universe.

We searched for a while. I could feel the metaphorical wind brushing against my body as we flung ourselves at light speed across Creation. But no matter how hard or how long we looked - there was nothing, other than the occasional black hole.

I released the dome and faltered a bit to the ground.

"Are you okay?" Clanks asked me, to which I nodded.

"Yeah," I told him, "I'm okay. I just never get used to that, no matter how many times I've done it."

"Would you like to take a break?"

"Yeah. I mean, no. I mean...hmm...I need to check the schedule." I got up from the ground and walked over to the bookcase just outside the Library. I placed it there to ensure I would never lose track of my journals, and so far, it's helped me.

It also never occurred to me until just now that the dome has its own lighting system, which was a good thing in its own, otherwise I would have been bumbling about in the dark, and I likely wouldn't have been doing anything. Anyway...

I picked out the journal-slash-schedule book I wrote specifically to track every star's birth and eventual death or expected death. A short time ago, I started to make sure to track every star that was left. Clanks came over and simply observed me looking through the pages, until I found the page I was looking for.

"Aha!" I exclaimed. "B-2948, or simply 'Holus'. Wait...Holus..." Then it hit me as soon as I could understand what I was looking at. "Oh."

"What is it?"

"Well...the star that just blew up?" I reminded him. "That was Holus. It was the last star I named and...presumably, the last star in the universe."

"So, does that mean..." I knew what he was going to say, but I stopped him.

"Not necessarily," I remarked. "Once the remaining black holes all die out, then you can consider the universe kaput. However...I guess the final star dying marks the beginning of the end."

"How long will it take for every black hole to die out?"

"I..." I paused, raising an eyebrow. "I'm actually not sure. I think that's something I've never seemed to explore. The books have taught me everything there is about black holes: How they're formed, what they do, how they die...but they never mentioned how long it would take for every existing one to die."

Pondering on new thoughts and ideas is always an opportunity, as long as there is a thought and an idea to be explored.

"How do you feel about another adventure?" I asked Clanks.

"I wouldn't mind one."

"Great!" I said, but then paused. "As soon as my mind's had time to heal, we're off to find a black hole. ... It's strange."

"What is strange?"

"Not once have I ever needed to eat, drink, or sleep here. And yet, every time I've ever used my magic, I feel...weak. Why is that?"

"Perhaps your brain is functioning differently from your other organs," Clanks suggested. It wasn't a reasonable answer or suggestion, but it was also its own thing to think about.

"I'll have to look in on that. I'll go take a look in the library and see what I can find on it. ... If I can find anything on that. Do you want to come with me?"

Interestingly, Clanks shook his head. "I'm going to stay out here. Perhaps a star will wander by. Maybe we are wrong."

I pointed to the book and simply said, "The book doesn't lie, Clanks. But...I'm hoping it does." I then walked into the Library and shut the door behind me. The vast size and dimensions of the interior never got old, but the ceiling always grew newer. There used to be hundreds of thousands of stars constantly above my head, galaxies spread across millions of light years, filling my eyes with constant wonder.

They were all gone now, dead and nothing but debris floating in the abyss. It was depressing to think the day would come where I would see a supernova for the very last time, and that day was today. But I guessed that all good things must come to an end, even if I don't like it.

It was thoughts like that where I wished I could enter the universe and spark some life into it. Could that even be possible? Is it possible to create new stars from nothing? Another Big Bang, perhaps? So many questions, and it took so long to ask them.

Would they ever be answered now?

Shaking the thoughts away from my head, I wandered down the hallway. Virtually every shelf on both sides, in all four halls, were now filled to the brim with every bit of knowledge of every event that occurred in the known universe. From the Dinosaurs to the destruction of Crypsus's ecosystem, and even to the death of the last star, it was all here. The shelf that housed all the recent stars' deaths now housed a new book, seemingly appeared from out of thin air. But I would read that later.

I started to make my way over to the 'anatomy' section, commonly the area that housed the anatomy of the three races.

Do other non-unicorns use magic? How long would it take them to learn it?

"I suppose I'll find out, maybe," I said to nopony in particular.

The brightness of the hall was significantly dimmed just a bit without all the stars to shine down, but the glow of the place certainly has not been lost. In fact, thanks to my magic, I'm definitely sure I can see much farther than I ever used to. Did I forget that?

I hated forgetting things.

...Speaking of forgetting things.

"It'll have to wait," I said to myself as I started running down the hallway, skipping the anatomy section, and immediately dashed towards the four-way intersection, or simply 'The Cross,' as I always called it. Clever, I'm aware.

Similar to the bookshelf outside, the Cross was a part of the Library where I placed all of the important trinkets and gadgets I either made or found all throughout the dome. I used to put them all in alphabetical order, but I eventually grew old of the routine and simply stuffed it all away. Now I was starting to regret, as it was tough to find-wait...

"Aha," I softly exclaimed as I picked up the small piece of equipment in my hooves. It was a helmet that consisted of metal and wooden parts. It was no doubt that I created it a while back. The only problem is that I don't remember creating it, but it was near me when I woke up the first time, I just didn't pay much attention to it until afterwards.

On the edge of the helmet are some scribbled words, written in permanent marker. "DO NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, PUT THIS HELMET ON UNLESS YOU WANT TO UNDERSTAND."

I never seemed to get the message of those words. Unless I want to understand. I've already, more or less, understood virtually everything about the universe as is - what wouldn't I understand by now?

As I held the helmet in my hooves, I grew a pinch of nervousness. I was hardly ever nervous anymore, but every time I was, I could feel my heart beat faster and harder, and my head pound just slightly. There was also this dizzy feeling too, but it was never enough to knock me to the floor, even when it felt like I was ready to.

"What could I not understand?"

Or better yet, what did I understand that I no longer do?

With a sigh, I gripped the helmet tightly. "Only one way to find out, I guess. Well...here goes."

After a few seconds of uncertainty, I made my decision, and carefully placed the helmet onto my head. It fit with ease, and it was clear just from it that I made it myself. After I put the helmet on, nothing seemed to happen, and I was wondering if it was malfunctioning or not working at all.

"Must be broken," I told myself. "Doesn't matter; I can always fix it-"

And just like that, it all flooded back to me, slamming into me at a million miles an hour, like a train crashing into a mountain. All of the memories I had forgotten, all of the ones I tried to push back, push away. One after the other.

The Grand Galloping Gala, the Royal Wedding, the Crystal Empire, the Coronation...

Twilight Sparkle. How could I have forgotten about her?

"Ready for a night to remember?"

It was the night of the Grand Galloping Gala. The first one I ever went to. It was so terrible, but I had such a great time, even if it meant just being with them.

"I have faith in you."

The first ever flight competition I raced in. I told her how nervous I was that it was all gonna go bad, and that I was bound to embarrass myself. But Twilight stepped in and lent me her confidence. I impressed everyone that day, even those who didn't believe.

"Nnngh!" I grunted as the memories continued to pour in. All of our adventures together, every moment we shared, every bad encounter we ever faced - Nightmare Moon, Discord, Queen Chrysalis, Sombra, Tirek, Starlight Glimmer-...

Starlight.

The moment I remembered that name, I found myself furious. It was the first memory of her that came first. The village, the order, the equality... the mane cut. Even she thought it was ridiculous.

Seconds later, it was overshadowed by the real Starlight. The one I knew, the one I came to know and learn with. My friend, Starlight Glimmer - not the imposter that she used to be.

Starlight Glimmer.

The day it all went wrong, so very, very wrong. I couldn't hold it back, and I didn't want to hold it back, either. I let it all come back to me, no matter how hard my body fought. I could feel the tears run down my cheeks as I started to feel the anger, the fear, the uncertainty in my body that used to be there all come back. I could remember the emotions I used to share.

I...

I grabbed the the helmet and ripped it off my head, throwing it several hooves away and screaming loud into the air, gripping my head as I fell to the floor. As soon as the air left my throat to keep me from screaming, I started breaking down into tears, sitting up against one of the shelves. My scream echoed into the depths of all four halls, but I didn't care of it.

For a good few seconds, I continued to cry, but I tried to be quick and hold it together. Who knew trying to do just that could be so hard?

I let out a sigh, but it was choked with tears. Attempting to hold myself together, I took deep breaths, my back planted firmly against the shelf.

"Okay," I said. "Keep it together. It's okay."

Was it? Was it now?

For a few minutes, I sat there and didn't try to get up or move until I was entirely relaxed. With the things I knew now, it would be much harder to do so - but I had the time to practice, at least. Eventually, I was able to breathe normally and stifle my tears, even as they wanted to break out again, prodding my emotions.

I found myself staring at the other side of the hall, at the other shelf. The books, it was like they stared back at me. I've read all of them.

Even hers. Even Twilight's.

Twilight. I was in love with her at one point. Was the feeling ever mutual? Would I ever know?

Would I want to know anymore? What about-

"Hey," I heard a voice say calmly, prompting a feared scream as I looked up, my hooves shaking just slightly. It was Clanks looking back at me with a concerned tone. "I heard you scream from outside. I wanted to make sure you were okay. Are you okay?"

It took a second for me to reply. "Yeah, Clanks. I'm okay. I just...ugh...it's a long story. Kind of." But Clanks wasn't one to simply ignore the problem at hoof; he was quick to notice the piece of equipment sitting on the floor a good distance away.

"You decided to try on the helmet, didn't you?" he asked me, to which I nodded. "What did you see?"

How could I even answer that question just right?

"I...I saw what I needed to see."

...Close enough, I guess.

"Do you need more time to heal your mind?" Clanks asked, "or are you ready for the adventure?"

Right. The adventure. I actually forgot about it for a second. All I wanted to do was find out or discover how long it would take for all the black holes to decay. And then I had to remember forgetting. Funny.

Time was funny.

...

I think I understand it now.

"Actually, Clanks," I said, "I'm ready, but...I think I have another idea."

"What is that?" Clanks asked.

* * * * *

After gathering the books necessary for my so-called 'plan,' I met with Clanks outside the Building and laid them down on the table. Opening one of the books, I pointed to the necessary page.

"All of the stars are dead," I said to Clanks, "but the energy they give off still remains, somehow, somewhere, out in the cosmos."

"But if all of the stars are dead, where is the energy?"

"Answer this question: What is so powerful in the universe, so pulling, that not even light can escape?"

"A black hole," he answered, not even hesitating to follow it up with his own question. "Are you considering-?"

"That we go for a ride in a black hole?" I finished for him. "Definitely."

"But why would you want to do that? It seems, as you call it, insane."

I sat on the opposite side of the table and held up a wing, raising three fingers. "There are three reasons: Energy, speed, and time." Opening up the other books and going into vivid detail over the three words, I readied for a speech.

"Stars give off an excessive amount of energy, even more so when they explode into supernovas, for starters. This energy is sucked up by a black hole until it reaches the event horizon. Therefore, black holes contain the most energy in the universe, presumably long after the star has been swallowed. Speed is essentially, in all purposes of the word, a boost of its own energy. We can use this to slingshot across the black hole and gain enough traction to proceed with step three: Time. The closer someone is to a black hole, the further time is distorted. Someone orbiting a black hole can find themselves several years or decades in the future and looking the same, whereas their friends have all aged or passed. If we can slingshot ourselves around a black hole, we can be able to logically travel through time."

I gave myself a moment to breathe and prepare even more words to say, but Clanks spoke up first, asking, "But why would you want to do that?"

Of course - he didn't know.

"I'm gonna use it to bring us back home."

Even as a machine, Clanks tilted his head in processed confusion. "But don't black holes only allow a user to travel forward in time?"

"Well, yes. It's physically impossible to travel backwards using a black hole. But I planned for that." Reaching into a makeshift satchel, I picked out a parchment that was only recently written by me, and I presented it to the curious robot. "Behold: Pastonius Incarnus!"

Clanks didn't immediately react, but instead repeated the name of the spell.

"The name's a work in progress," I answered, "but the spell is all here. From what I remember and what I've read, this will allow us to harness a black hole's energy and reverse it. When we do that..."

"We'll be able to travel back in time?"

"Exactly!" I exclaimed. "We can travel back in time to the moment I was zapped here and see my friends again!"

"Is it okay if I ask another question?"

"Of course," I told him with a smile. He was always welcome to-

"How will we be able to reenter the universe? Any and all attempts to breach the dome have failed so far."

...Right. I didn't think about that.

"Good point," I said, my ears beginning to deflate, already feeling defeated. He was right.

Unless...of course!

"Reason number four," I spoke up, raising another wing finger, "Gravity."

Clanks didn't answer, and so I continued without pause. "Black holes are the strongest centers of gravity in the universe. Anything and everything that falls into one is eventually crushed, broken down, and turned into the smallest bits of matter that creation can...well, create. So, I have an idea."

I grabbed a piece of paper and started to write down what I was talking about: a little version of the dome, a black hole, the gravitational pull, etc. All the stops.

"So, this is us, and this is the black hole. At first, the wrap-around is gonna be slow, yawn-inducing. But the closer we get to the singularity, the faster we're gonna go, and the more energy that's gonna be surrounding us. What I need to do is start building up my magic when we're at the outer edge, and keep building it up until we reach the event horizon."

"How will we know if we reach the event horizon?"

Glancing around, I inspected the glass window that created and completed the dome, observing it carefully, before turning back to Clanks and giving him the answer.

"If universal physics are any indication...we'll be in the event horizon when the glass starts to crack." Clanks immediately started to look at the dome himself, taking in my words. "After that, we'll have about five seconds before we hit the singularity. Those five seconds are all the time we need for this to work."

"Why?" he asked. "What will you do in those five seconds?"

"If I time it right, and I release all the energy from my magic at the exact moment the glass shatters, not only will we be zapped back into the past, but we'll also be free from the dome's dimensional plating, meaning..." I let him finish for me.

"We'll be inside the universe."

"Exactly!" I answered with a smile. Planting a hoof into the ground, I let out a burst of magic that pushed us into the direction of the coordinates Clanks gave me of a nearby black hole. I didn't want to waste any large amounts of energy teleporting us there, because I simply wouldn't have enough time to prepare, and...well.

"Now, with the coordinates you gave me, and at the speed we're going, I say we've got about," I said, pausing only for a moment to do the calculations in my head, "...two hours before we reach the black hole. If I take it easy, I should have more than enough energy to do my magic...no pun intended."

"What will you do for the next two hours?"

"Me? Well...I'm gonna go read."

"Read what?"

"There's something I need to...check."

I wasn't far from the truth. Leaving Clanks to relax out here, I went back inside the Library and started to wander down all of the halls until I found what I was looking for, the section that said 'Equis.'

To think at one point, I forgot the name of my own home world. Only now I remember why.

The shelves under the entire section were full, almost like they could be overfilled. But they all fit just right, for the planet and those living on it ran its course long ago. Would that technically mean I was the last of my kind? I pushed the thought out of my head and pulled out the book I read a long time ago and never dared to take out again.

'The Life of Starlight Glimmer.'

I fell in love with her. I didn't try to hide that thought when I realized that. Maybe a part of me thought the way I fell in love with her was wrong, but the rest of me didn't choose to care. I thought I would've loved Twilight so much more if I read her book. But it was when I read her book that I realized we could never be together the way that I hoped. For a while, it hurt, but I came to understand that and accept it. Should I have waited?

I opened Starlight's book. I didn't read some of the contents - when it was about Starlight, it was all about her - but I read only what I wanted to know that even Twilight wanted to know, her history and the life she lived...even the part after I disappeared. It was the one way I could have ever interacted with the real world.

But today, I skipped to the final page, the one page I dreaded and hated. 'Death,' it read. There was one single photo on the page, a photograph of Starlight when she was an elderly mare. I had a hard time believing it. I knew Starlight when she was just a few years younger than Twilight. To think the day would come before it did that I would see her as an old mare, wrinkles, frail muscles...

I read one of the excerpts.

"Starlight Glimmer's final hours were spent in anguish, fear, and sadness. As her body failed her mind, she experienced hallucinations and traumatic memories that came back to haunt her after years of isolation. In her final hour, her grandchildren attempted to calm her and keep her at peace, but she refused to stay silent, breaking down into tears and crying even as the pain began to take hold."

It hurt to read the next line. She mentioned me.

"Where are you...? Where did you go? What did I do?"

I looked at the picture of her and rested a hoof on it, stifling a sniffle and keeping a tear from falling again.

"I'm right here, Starlight," I said to the picture. "I've been here this whole time. I'm right here. And I swear...I'm coming home. I promise."

"Starlight Glimmer fell into a coma soon after and passed away at the age of 91, surrounded by friends and family. She never married. Her body was laid to rest in the Canterlot Honor Cemetery. The stallion in question remains missing to this day."

We'll see about that.

* * * *

I read over the books and the parchment, doing some final preparations, because I knew there were no second attempts.

Two hours came and went like they were two minutes, and before I knew it, the black hole became visible. At the speed we were going, it would be another minute or two before its gravity would start to pull us in.

I'd never been close enough to a black hole before to really see what it was like. The sight was really something. It was exactly as they called it: a black, circular hole that was truly the meaning of black. It seemed to be blacker than the abyss of former space. The only reason that I could even see it was due to the light still surrounding it.

"What is that?" Clanks asked me.

"That is the leftover energy from whatever stars used to be here," I answered. "Half of the energy is immediately sucked into the singularity, but the rest just revolves around the outer edge, like a maelstrom, just slowly falling into the darkness. Right there is the energy of entire stars and supernovas and gamma rays. It's more than enough energy."

"Why is the energy required again?"

"The dome can absorb my magic, and with my magic, it can absorb energy nearby, but it's never enough to make any noticeable impact on the outside. Because all that energy is packed up tightly together, if I time it just right, I can power up the entire dome and not only light it up like a Hearth's Warming tree...but I can turn it into its own time machine."

"Do you believe it will work?"

I didn't answer straight away. But I was confident.

"Yes," I eventually answered. "I'm not entirely sure if it will work exactly as I predict, but I believe it can."

"Are you sure you wish to try this particular method?" he then asked me. "We could find a less harmful way-"

"No, we can't," I reminded him. "We just saw the last star in the universe explode. Granted, it was pretty fun, but...the point is, Clanks, that this is our only shot. If we wait until the last black hole rots away, then we'll be stuck in the dark forever." I turned away from him and looked over to the black hole. "And then I'll never see my friends again."

It was quiet. The dome rumbled and creaked as we neared our destination. I let out a sigh.

"I'm sorry," I told him, "I just want to go home."

"It's okay."

"It's been so long."

Clanks rested a metallic hoof on my shoulder. "I know."

Suddenly, the entire dome lurched forward a bit, as it finally entered the black hole's gravitational pull. We had a minute at best. Truly no turning back.

"Okay," I said, "no distractions. Here we go. You ready?"

"I'm ready."

Closing my eyes, I started to concentrate on building up my magic. In a matter of seconds, I could feel the sensation start to flow throughout my body; it was a familiar feeling, but the feeling that wasn't all too familiar was the build up. The tension rose with every second that passed, with every bit closer to the black hole that we got. I opened my eyes again just to see how close we were.

Then, once we were close, the shape of the light around us, of reality itself, began to bend and contort. Some of the light moved one way, while the rest moved the other way. It was hard to describe it, really, but it was something the likes of which I have never seen before in my entire life. Even Clanks found himself baffled and amazed.

Thirty seconds.

As space-time continued to distort around us and the black hole grew closer, I continued to build my magic, letting it build further and further, until I could even feel my eyes begin to glow - but I could only feel it, not see it.

The dome began to creak and rumble as the force of gravity outside began to increase, and started to take its toll on the inter-dimensional 'vehicle.' The Library, even with its doors shut tight, howled in pain as its contents started to strain. Interestingly, the very structure itself seemed to hold on, to persist greatly.

And then we approached the event horizon. There was no further warning.

The glass began to crack, and the structure of the entire dome, inside and out, started to creak and rumble. The place shook as it tried to hold itself together, only to start falling apart. Gravity began to whirl sound around, only intensifying by the second. The lights of the sky enclosed us in a tube and started to come down upon us, while they fell away against the black horizon.

Finally, in a single, split moment in time, the glass of the dome shattered, coming down upon us, the Library began to force itself down, and I unleashed every torrent of energy I had across the dome. With leftover instinct, Clanks fell to the ground and flinched, only to find that he was still alive. He stared with a robotic look of surprise as he observed his surroundings.

The trees were still in place, the grass was still just as green, the Library remained intact, only cracked and damaged. The glass that once protected us from the universe now lay all around us, broken into several pieces and, if you looked at it one way, appeared invisible.

I let out a pained grunt as the magic coursed through me, and through me, filling the library with life and power that it had never seen before. I could feel every star, every nova, everything the black hole had destroyed, and with a single scream, I unleashed it upon us, and a white flash zapped through us, its beams flashing out through the darkness.

And then, as if in a single frame of time, I was elsewhere. The sheer force of my arrival knocked over several bystanders, tents and pop-up shops in the region. Windows were shattered, doors were blown in, and the sound of nearby beings screamed in surprise and shock. I didn't even have to see it - I just had to hear it.

Another grunt left my lips as I gripped my head with a single hoof, falling to the ground. It took only a second to register that I was on grass; I could feel the material touch my hooves, the pebbles of rocks and mixed gravel rubbing against them. It blew in the wind.

Wind...how much I missed it.

I opened my eyes, suddenly having a moment of clarity. I was surrounded by buildings, many of them homes. All around me were ponies, animals, collapsed shops and broken glass. Everyone looked at me like I was something different, like I was - in all sense of the word - entirely alien.

"Where am I?" I whispered to myself.

All it took was simply looking up and out, into the distance, to understand. Standing far away, visible to my eyes, the Castle of Friendship.

"Ponyville," I said.

I looked around, and all of the features of the town Ponyville became familiar and noticeable once again. Sugarcube Corner, Quills And Sofas, Ponyville Cafe, Carousel Boutique...

Pinkie Pie...Rarity...Starlight.

"I'm home."

And like that, the clarity was gone, and the darkness was back again...it just wasn't the same abyss - thankfully.

When I Saw You Again

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The darkness was all around me. There was a time where I was scared of the dark. When I was just a young colt, my mother would put a night light in my room, told me it would help "keep the monsters away." As I grew older and out of that fear, I realized just how silly it was to be afraid of not being able to see the light, and I would laugh at myself from time to time.

But now was the moment where I felt like that young colt all over again.

There was no speck of light, no blow of the wind, no sound. That was what I missed the most, the sound. I felt like I was floating in an empty void, where I couldn't even see my own hoof in front of my face. Where was I?

Where am I?

Suddenly, there were voices.

"How is he, doctor?"

"He's stable. Miraculously, his body was under severe stress, but now he just seems...fine, but just tired."

"Is he going to be okay?"

The voices...they sounded familiar. So familiar, but I couldn't guess where from. They were both feminine, and the doctor was male.

"He'll be okay, right?" The last voice asked again.

"Relax, miss. He's going to be just fine. Right now, he's in some sort of...well, somewhat like a coma, if you will-"

"He's in a coma?!"

"No. His body is reacting to certain stimuli perfectly, but his mind seems to be dormant, for the moment at least."

"Will he...be able to wake up?"

"With time and patience, yes. I can't say for certain what exactly is happening to him, but he is perhaps the strangest case I've ever experienced in all my years as a doctor. You say you were practicing a spell with him?"

"Yes...it was a test we were performing with him. Something went wrong and...."

"We hadn't seen him since."

Who? Me?

"We'd been trying to find him since. We had search parties, entire towns and cities. We even had the princesses themselves ordering to find him, but...nothing. There was just nothing we could find. You said they found him in the town square?"

"Yes, that's what they told me. They said he appeared in the middle of the square, and whatever he did left them laying on the ground and all their windows shattered. Thankfully, nopony was seriously hurt, but...it's still the strangest thing. I'm sure you must be relieved-"

"Of course I'm relieved," the second feminine voice interrupted. "It's my fault he was in that mess...wherever he ended up going. I spent day and night trying to find him, and all I could do was come up with nothing to help, and now he's just...just there..."

Wait a second...Starlight?

"Miss Starlight, I assure you-"

"Starlight!" I tried to yell her name, but all it did was come out as a faint mumble, and yet it was just loud enough for them to hear.

"He...he said my name...! I think he's trying to wake up!"

She was right. I could feel my body start to wake itself up, and the numbness that spread across my body was no longer there. Instead, I could feel myself laying in what seemed to be a bed. A warm, comfortable, soft bed, and I was covered in a blanket, with my head resting on a pillow of its own softness.

I strained myself just to open my eyes. It took several moments to force them, pry them open, and when I did, it wasn't fast, but slow and a struggle, which was a good thing in the sense of brightness - even if it still hurt just a little.

"He's waking up!" I heard Starlight yell. "Hey! Hey, can you hear me?"

At first, I tried to nod, but it made me feel just a little bit sick, so I decided against it. I tried to say yes, but even that didn't work. She said my name again, hoping to get my attention...even though she already had.

It was after a moment that I could finally move my hooves, and as soon as I could, I tried to reach up. The first few seconds were me touching nothing but the air around me, but after blindly aiming for a second, I could feel my hoof touching something soft and warm, but freshly wet. After I was able to open my eyes all the way, I found a pair of blue, tearful ones looking right back.

Starlight Glimmer...my friend.

She called my name out again, questioning it. And I just gave her such a smile.

"Hello there," I said weakly. "It's good to see you again."

The immediate hug was rather tight. Welcoming, but tight all the same.

"Quite a welcome."

The doctor - Doctor Stable, I remember him - said her name as an attempt to stop her, but I held a hoof. "It's fine," I said to him, and Stable stepped away. Meanwhile, Starlight was crying heavily, her body shaking and tears falling down her face as she was able to hug me again.

"I'm sorry...!" she cried. "I'm so, so sorry...I'm sorry, I'm so sorry..."

She repeated the phrase several times, rocking back and forth as she held me to her body; her words became stuttered and broken as her crying persisted. But I was there to calm her down.

"Shh...it's okay," I said to her, "you didn't do anything wrong..."

"Yes I did," she said in a louder-than-average tone. "I looked everywhere for you. I..." Starlight tried to say more, but was drowned out by her tears, and she buried her face in my shoulder.

"It's okay," I repeated. "I'm okay. I am."

She didn't say anything after that, only continued to cry. I raised another hoof and brought her in for a weak, but comforting hug. I missed real hugs.

I looked over at the source of the other voice. Twilight Sparkle, she was there too, and it wasn't just her. The rest of the Elements were there looking at me intently, seemingly in disbelief that I was here and alive...and here!

Spike sat at the edge of the bed. I hadn't noticed him at first until I really looked.

"Hi Spike," I said. "I missed you too."

He gave me a smile, one that seemed bittersweet, with tears falling down his face too. They all had tears falling down, but they were all dry. Only Starlight's and Spike's were fresh.

"Doctor Stable," Twilight said as she turned to the stallion, "is it okay if we have some time alone? Just for a little bit, I promise."

He furrowed his brows for a second before asking, "That depends: Is the patient okay enough-" but I interrupted him before he could finish.

"I'm okay, doc," I reminded him. "I promise. It's fine."

"Okay then. I'll leave you to it. I will be back in a half hour though to check your vitals."

"Of course." Doctor Stable then nodded to Twilight before leaving the room, shutting the door behind him. I was left alone with Spike and the girls. Starlight clung onto me for another few moments before pulling away, apologizing for "the tears" on my fur, but I only told her it was fine. It was always fine for her to cry.

"So, um..." I started, unsure of how to take the conversation. Awkward. "...What happened after I disappeared?"

Good enough, I guess. The only thing that happened afterwards was a look between each other, like they were unsure how exactly to put it into words, but eventually Twilight stepped up and explained.

"We...We...Well, the first thing we did was try and bring you back," she began. "The only problem was...we didn't know where you were or, rather, when you were. We had no way of tracking you down. We basically lost you for a while."

Starlight stepped in and added to the conversation. "We looked all over the castle to find you, and then the town. Then from here to Canterlot, then Appleoosa, and Manehattan, and wherever we could possibly look. But...we couldn't find you anywhere."

"Eventually, we went to the princesses and had to set up search parties. We searched the whole of Equestria to find you," Twilight said, a feared look on her face. I stared at her with my own look of sadness as I only added to her words.

"But you couldn't find me," I told her, and she answered with a shake.

"I thought the spell would've taken over and brought you back after the twenty seconds were up, and I was thinking, 'Maybe it worked out just fine,'" Starlight said to me with a look that mimicked her hopeful facade she supposedly once had. "But then twenty seconds became forty. Then sixty, then eighty, then suddenly, it's been hours and you...still weren't back."

I gave both Twilight and Starlight curious looks and asked the two of them, "How-How long was I gone for?"

"Three days," Starlight answered.

"...Really wasn't expecting that..." Of course, that's what I would've said in my head, but I ended up blurting the sentence out through my mouth.

"Why?" Twilight asked with a curious but feared tone. "...How long was it for you?"

At first, I was hesitant on telling them - but Starlight really wanted to know, and I feared they would ponder or dwell on it more than they should, and the last thing I wanted was to worry them. But I knew not answering them would only make things worse.

"Six months," I said. "At least, it felt like it was six months."

Starlight's expression changed. In fact, they all changed, but Starlight's...it was like her heart shattered with heavy guilt, the light from her eyes fading, and...well, it was a face I was hoping I'd never see.

"...Six months?" she repeated in a whisper, and I nodded.

"But I'm fine!" I nearly exclaimed right after. "I'm fine, it was no big deal."

"No big deal?" Starlight repeated again. "We spent three days looking for you, and yet you were gone for six months. What if we spent another three days looking for you? You could've been gone a whole year!"

Even with my explanation, it wasn't enough to quell Starlight's fears and worries; she was definitely and overtly upset, scared even.

"Did you even sleep? Or drink, or eat? Did you even have to?"

I shook my head. "No." Before she could ask any further, I continued and told them, "I wasn't hungry or thirsty or anything. Not even tired."

"That explains why you apparently collapsed," Twilight replied. "Your body was accustoming to real-time after being stuck there, and so your body mimicked three whole days of restlessness just to fit in. Are you sure that was the case?"

"It was. I didn't need to sleep at all, even if I wanted to. I mean, sure, I crafted a bed and all that, but that was just to relax and watch stars explode, nothing like-"

"Wait," Rainbow interrupted me, "did you just say, 'Watch stars explode?'"

I sank into the bed, laughing with a sheepish grin, something I hadn't done in a while. "Heh...it's complicated."

Complicated, and yet Twilight grew curious. "Just...what exactly were you doing in...wherever you were?"

How could I even begin to explain that?

"Well...I-" I stopped as soon as I saw two figures standing in the doorway. Rather, two regal figures. ... Did that make sense?

"I see somepony's finally awake," Princess Celestia said with a kind smile; the whole room turned their heads to the door at the sound of her voice. Twilight was glad to see her, albeit seemingly a big ashamed, it seemed.

But me? I smiled and had the strength to simply get out of bed. The entire group protested, but I told them I was feeling fine. Well, as fine as I could've been in the moment. I walked over to Celestia and hugged her warmly.

"I missed you so much," I said to her. "So, so much."

It might have been weird to them, but to me, I really did miss Celestia. I used to see her as a princess, and now I saw her as more of a mutual friend. And I was really glad to see my friend again. The princess of the sun gave a cute giggle before hugging back.

"I missed you too," she said to me, her voice calming me in its motherly passion.

"We hoped we would find you sooner," Princess Luna spoke up. "We searched high and low to find you. I even kept the moon from rising in hopes that it would be easier for the search parties."

As soon as she mentioned that, I looked at her with a caring, but sorrowful look. "Oh...Luna, you didn't have to do that."

"And yet I did. To find you. Even if we didn't find you, I was more than satisfied to help."

"Though some ponies didn't seem to like the day lasting until midnight," Celestia mentioned. I laughed a little to myself.

"Well...thank you for helping," I said. Luna smiled back and gave me a hug of her own, though it lasted for a much shorter time before I pulled away.

Twilight called out my name and I turned back to her. She asked me, "How did you get back?"

"Well," I began, "I kinda had to go into a black hole, and-"

"A black hole?" They all asked me simultaneously, even Luna, though Celestia stayed quiet, but looked at me with genuine curiosity.

"It's...kind of a long story," I simply told them, "I'm sure Clanks would be able to explain it better...than...me..." That was when the realization hit me, and I gasped. "Clanks!"

Before Twilight could mutter 'huh?' I went to her and started to ask her, "Did you see Clanks at all?"

"Who?" She answered back. "Who's Clanks?"

"My friend, my...my robot," I said, unsure of how exactly to explain that either. "I made him a while back, some time after I ended up...there. He kinda kept me company. I promised I was gonna take him with me, and I did! I...I hope!" I turned back to Celestia. "Please, we have to find him!"

"Calm down," Celestia kindly urged me, "I'm sure we can help. What does he look like?"

"And did y'all just say 'robot'?" Applejack added. I nodded and started to detail his looks.

"He looks kind of like me," I started, "only he's got a metallic body. Blackish-brown mane and tail, blue fur, green eyes. You'd think it was me from far away if you weren't looking close enough."

"Is there any idea where he could've gone or ended up?" Twilight asked me, but I shook my head.

"No, I can't think of any place. The only two ideas I have is that he's either somewhere in Equestria, or..." I paused, pointing out the window and up into the sky. "...up there somewhere."

I paused for a second, looking down to the ground, eyes closed. There was no way Clanks was still in space. The Library, possibly, but Clanks? He was my companion for all that time I was alone, plus he had similar intelligence as I had, so...so maybe that meant he knew what to do or where to go. Maybe?

Wait a second...maybe...right, of course...!

Then a realization came to mind, and I opened my eyes and lifted my head again. "I think I know where he might be."

"Where?" Twilight asked.

"Before we got to the black hole, I told him that if we ever got separated after we arrived, then find a large, crystalline tree-house. I told him he couldn't miss it." That was enough to make Twilight realize as well.

"The Castle!" she exclaimed. "Are you sure he's there?"

"He should be," I said to her, "I told him that's where he should go. Head to the main living room with a large table with a map in the middle, and just wait there. It's possible he could be there just sitting in one of the chairs."

Rainbow Dash exclaimed, "He better not be sitting in my chair." I eyed her with an expression that just screamed, 'Really?' Her only response was a simple, "What? I'm just saying."

"I'll head over to the castle," Twilight said, heading for the door.

"I'll come with you," I said to her, but I was quickly met with a hoof pulling me back. I was met with a concerned and caring look from Starlight.

"No," she simply said, "you need to stay here. It's bad enough I got you into this whole mess, the last thing I want is you straining yourself even more. You need to rest."

I didn't want to argue with her. If there was one thing I hated more than any thing in the universe, it was arguing with my friends. I never forgot that; one argument with with Twilight was enough to make that a sure thing.

"Okay." I then turned to Twilight and said to her, "If you find him, please bring him back here, okay? I just really need to know if he's okay."

Twilight gave me a simple nod, then excused herself, leaving the room, her hoofsteps echoing down the hallway before fading completely.

"Maybe I should lay down again," I said out loud, heading back into the bed with help from Starlight and Applejack.

"Easy, Sugarcube," Applejack said to me. "Why don't y'all, maybe, talk about what you were up to for the past 'six months?'"

"Six months?" Celestia asked, clearly confused.

"It's a long story," I remarked. I then proceeded to go into detail the adventures I had with Clanks at my side. They found themselves intrigued, fascinated, and wowed by every word I said. Every moment of wonder and joy.

The unfortunate part was that most of it wasn't even true.

If only they knew.

When Celestia Learned The Truth

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"So you're absolutely sure you're alright, Darling?" Rarity asked after a lapse of casual conversation.

I gave her a nod. "I'm a little tired, but overall, I feel fine. Nothing hurts except my brain, I guess," I said to her, giving a subtle laugh. Princess Luna left a few minutes after I started to tell my stories, volunteering to tend to Canterlot so it "wasn't completely defenseless." Celestia stayed because she wanted to be completely sure I was feeling fine, and I didn't complain.

"You must've been so alone," Fluttershy mentioned, sympathy washed over her face.

"I definitely was," I answered. "But that's why I made Clanks. If it wasn't for him, I think I would've gone insane."

It wasn't as funny as I wanted it to be, but they all laughed at their own pace. I was glad they were smiling and having a good time, relieved that I was back home. Seeing them not smiling at all was always hard when the occasion had it.

Starlight, on the other hoof...she was smiling and laughing along, but it seemed forced, like she was trying to feel happy, but just couldn't. I brushed a hoof against her shoulder gently, and she looked at me.

"Are you okay?' I asked her, concerned, but she nodded. "Are you sure? You don't seem like you're very happy."

"I am happy," Starlight insisted, "really, I am. I just..."

"What is it?"

Starlight looked at me with her face no longer holding the forced smile, but showing her true emotion, concern and worry, fear even.

"We got so lucky with what happened. What if you never figured out how to get back and you were just drifting forever in space? What if we never sent you there and you just...died? At one point, I thought you were dead. I thought I killed you and your body got zapped to a place where we'd never find it, and I'd just spend the rest of my life wondering whether or not..."

Her explanation turned into rambling as her voice started to crack, and she choked up tears. Her fears all got to her, and the girls nearly intervened, but I firmly held the mare in place.

"Starlight," I demanded with a kind voice, "look at me."

Starlight looked up at me, her blue eyes shining, freshly wet with tears.

"I'm here," I said to her. "I'm right here, in front of you, holding you. I didn't die, and I don't plan on dying anytime soon. It was not your fault I ended up where I was. Don't beat yourself up over this, please. Trust me, I'm okay."

The mare looked at me for a few seconds, her mouth hanging open before beginning to speak. "How can I trust that?"

"Because I'm your best friend," I reminded her, "and best friends don't turn their backs on each other, no matter how bad it ever gets. And I will never turn my back on you."

Starlight looked at me with another smile before pulling herself onto me just to hug me again, holding in her tears. I whispered to her that it was all okay, that it would all be fine.

"Quite the smooth talker, aren't you?" Rainbow quipped, before being elbowed by Applejack. Starlight and I both laughed at the remark.

A moment later, the door opened and in came Doctor Stable, returning as planned. "I hope I'm not intruding on anything," he said.

"Of course not," I assured. "Come in. You said you wanted to check my vitals?"

"Yes." He then turned to the others and added, "You don't have to leave, but I would appreciate it if you didn't interrupt the checkup."

"Of course, Doctor," Celestia said with an understanding tone.

"Go on," I urged to Starlight, who eventually pulled away from me and went over to sit with the rest of the group. Spike hopped off the bed and did the same.

Stable pulled out his stethoscope and started to feel my heartbeat, asking me the typical questions of 'How do you feel' and telling me to take deep breaths, and I only repeated what I said to the others, that I was feeling fine.

"Well," he began, "you don't seem to be having any heart problems. No palpitations of any sort. I overheard a bit of your conversation from earlier through the door, if you don't mind my 'eavesdropping'..." I smiled and shook my head, not minding at all. "...but you said you didn't have any desire to sleep or eat at all?"

"That's right," I answered. "It was like my need food, water, and sleep just disappeared. I spent all that time just kind of...well, reading."

"I see." Stable looked at me up and down. "Well, your vitals seem to be in check, but your brain seems to have suffered a bit of damage, seemingly from whatever you did to get back here."

"Is it bad?" I immediately asked, concerned for my own wellbeing. Stable waved the question off with a hoof.

"Not very, nor is it permanent. It seems to be nothing more than temporary amnesia."

"Amnesia?"

He nodded. "It's likely that you've forgotten some memories upon the return trip, or very well forgotten them after you came back. Do you remember what happened before you lost consciousness?"

I rested a hoof on my chin trying to remember, but nothing seemed to come up. "No. After I used the spell in the black hole, it just all comes up as a blank."

"Excuse me...black hole?"

I waved a hoof. "Long story. So...how long will this last? You said it isn't permanent."

"That's right," Stable reminded me. "Temporary amnesia lasts as long as between a day and a few weeks, though I've had cases where it lasts longer than that. That being said, your memories, whatever you lost, should be coming back relatively soon."

"That's good. Maybe not the whole 'longer than usual' part, but after everything I've gone through, it'd feel more like a couple days to me. Probably," I said with a sigh of relief.

"Well, if there are no other problems, then you can leave whenever you'd like," the Doctor told me, "and you don't need to worry about the bill. Princess Twilight already covered that the moment you were admitted."

"Really?" I asked, lowering my head. "Now I feel bad."

"Don't be, darling," said Rarity with a sorrowful look on her face. "You've been through so much. And Twilight felt terrible after what we all went through. It was only right."

"And I would've paid for it myself," Starlight added. "But I...don't exactly have the bits for it."

I smiled at both Rarity and Starlight, though I couldn't help but feel guilty. It wasn't necessarily their fault. But even then, I was thankful.

Stable gave a few nods of appreciation and then excused himself from the room, while Spike and the girls started for the door. Starlight went over to help me out of bed.

"Can you walk?" she asked me, but I only let out a little chuckle.

"I was doing it earlier."

"Right." The mare blushed, but still insisted on helping me a bit. I didn't protest, either.

"Actually," Celestia spoke up, "if it isn't any trouble at all, I'd like to speak to you privately before you go," she said, eyeing me with curiosity.

I shook my head and told her, "It's no problem at all."

The group all went outside the room, and Celestia gently closed the door behind them, leaving me all along with her.

"So," I asked, "what did you want to talk to me about?"

"I'd like to know more about your 'magic'," Celestia informed me. "In all my years, I've never seen a pony that wasn't a unicorn or an alicorn be able to conduct magic spells without the use of a horn. How were you able to conjure them so flawlessly?"

I told them about my magic. I mean, I had to, otherwise they would be asking how I managed to get home without it, but I knew it would lead to some wanted discussion.

I began saying, "Well, it's not just me that can do it. If they put their minds to it and really focused, anypony and even anybody could be able to conjure up some spells. Granted, it takes an extremely long time to do it, but...well, it can be done."

"And how long, exactly?" Celestia asked, curious but also hinting towards concern.

I couldn't blame her for gaining concern; should anypony who wasn't already capable of magic, and wanted to destroy the world, manage to learn how to do so, they could...

"Two months," I quickly answered, "maybe three. I forget. The books to learn it all can be found here on this world. But I won't say anything in case somepony could be hearing in. I don't want them knowing that."

Celestia smiled. "Clever. But if it's not too much trouble...do you mind if I...take a peak inside your head? Perhaps learn more about this magic? I don't plan on using it irresponsibly...but in the future, it could help us all when the time is right."

I froze, but I tried to keep it subtle. "Are you sure?"

But she laughed it off and joked, "Don't worry, I won't tell anypony what I end up seeing." I knew what she meant by that.

"That's not exactly what I meant," I told her. "I just don't want you to...take it so wrong. I don't know how to explain that any better than I did."

Celestia's expression changed, but not by very much, as if she expected me to say that.

"If you don't want me to see, you can tell me," Celestia said. "I won't be angry with you."

But that was the problem. I wanted them to know, and at the same time, I didn't. I wanted Celestia to know more because she was the oldest living creature in this hospital right now, other than Discord - or maybe he was older. Either way...she needed to know. But was this really the way to do so?

"Okay," I told her, sitting down on my haunches and giving a sigh. "But...please don't tell anyone. What you see here, at least not Starlight. Okay?"

She didn't question it any further, simply repeating the last word I said. A second later, her horn started to glow, and its magic began to surround my body, specifically my head, ready to enter my mind and read whatever there was about my own magic.

The transaction lasted for only a few seconds, but by then, she saw what she wanted to see - and more. I didn't see it, but I could hear Celestia pull away and her magic suddenly vanish, an audible gasp emitting from her throat. I looked up at her and her expression, the laid-back, optimistic look she always had, was gone.

What was left was nothing but sorrow.

Celestia held a hoof up to her mouth to silence herself, and the tears were quick to form in her eyes.

"I..." She tried to speak, but nothing could come out for a few seconds. But when she did, it was nothing more than a repeat of what the others asked, only this time, Celestia knew the truth.

"...Are you okay?" Her motherly voice hit me. Had I only been there a shorter time, I would've broken down, and I wanted to.

But with the knowledge that I had and the emotions I endured in the dome, I was able to hold back my sadness and gave Celestia a sympathetic smile.

"Yeah," I said to her. "I'm okay. I promise. I'm...I'm sorry you had to learn that way. I should've-"

"No," she stopped me from finishing. "No, it's fine. I would have learned about it eventually. I just...I wasn't prepared for that, perhaps."

Celestia closed her mouth and looked out the nearby window, to the landscape beyond that held Ponyville and Canterlot in its view.

"You must have been so alone."

"I was. For a while. But then I created Clanks, and I didn't feel so lonely anymore. Still..."

I saw the regal princess close her eyes through the window's reflection, but then I saw them open again and she turned to me, a broken but true smile looking back.

"Your secret's safe with me," Celestia said, "I promise you. ... Do you ever plan to tell them?"

I nodded. "Yes...somehow. I hadn't exactly given myself the time to prepare, but...I do plan on it. One day. But not anytime soon."

"Of course." The mare walked up to me and was gentle enough to pull me into a hug.

But this wasn't like the hug from before. This was a deeper, stronger, more motherly hug. It was like she wanted to hold me close and never let me go, as if out of fear of losing me again. No one was going to lose me.

Not if I had to say anything about it, at least.

"Thank you," I said to her. I knew she was smiling.

"Now you can go," she told me as she pulled away, "I believe your friends are waiting for you."

"You're not coming with?"

She shook her head. "Luna can't handle Canterlot on her own."

I laughed to myself and let out a sigh. "I guess I'll see you again soon."

The two of us exchanged one more goodbye, and in a flash of magical light, Celestia vanished into thin air, teleporting back to Canterlot in an instant, and leaving me on my own. Well, until I went outside.

Opening the door of the room, I walked out and saw Spike and the girls sitting a short distance down the hall, chatting with each other to keep busy. When they saw me walking down to them, they smiled and exchanged their own greetings.

"So what were you and Celestia talking about?" Starlight asked. "It didn't have anything to do with me...did it?"

I shook my head and told her, "No. She just wanted to know a bit more about magic, that's all. I thought you guys were headed home?"

"Right," Rainbow stepped in, "like we were gonna leave you here all alone after all the stuff we've been through trying to find you." Her tone was sarcastic.

"I wasn't alone, I was with..." Then I remembered that Celestia left. "Oh. Right...um...thanks."

"Ready to head home now?" Starlight asked me. I nodded, content. I was no longer exhausted or weak like before, but I was definitely ready to get at least some sleep.

But then I stopped. "Wait, what about Twilight? Did she-"

"Find Cranks?" Spike mentioned. "You bet!"

"She found him? Yes!" I shouted, pumping my hooves into the air with glee, but calmed down for a brief moment. "And it's...Clanks, by the way. Heh."

"Oh." Spike looked with a confused stare before holding the parchment that Twilight wrote to him up to me. "But she said 'Cranks,' so I just assumed..."

I waved a hoof. "No worries. Even I had the embarrassing moment of saying 'Cranks' instead of 'Clanks'. And I built him, mind you."

Clearing my throat, I stepped in front of the group and said, "Shall we?" But that calmness was quickly overshadowed by the fact that they never met Clanks yet, and thus...

"I'm so excited for you to meet him...!"

Hopefully he got along with Twilight well.

When They Finally Met Clanks

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"Twilight?" I hollered as I opened the giant crystal doors of the princess' castle home. "We're here!"

There was no immediate reply from the alicorn, but I assumed that she was in the throne room with, presumably, Clanks. If that was the case, why didn't she bring him to the hospital? I wasn't upset with her, but I was more so concerned. Did something happen? Was he not here after all?

As we approached the throne room, that was when I started to hear sounds, specifically the brief crash of something metal on the floor, and Twilight seemingly talking to herself.

"No, that's not the right spot," I heard her say. "Maybe...here? No, not there either. Ugh, how did he even manage to build you?"

He was here.

"Well, for starters, it started with him digging outside of the Building with an old wooden-" he began, but never got to continue after I opened the door to see him sitting at the table with Twilight.

"Clanks!" I exclaimed. "You're alive! And...oh."

Clanks was alive, but one of his forelegs was in pieces all over the table. Nails, nuts, and screws that held his appendage together was now splayed out in front of them.

"What's going on here?" I asked Twilight, who looked up the moment she heard my voice.

"I didn't do this to him," she insisted, "he came in like this. I mean, I took his arm apart to see the damage, but when I first found him, his arm was already off."

I was still relatively confused, but I asked Clanks to know what exactly happened beforehoof.

He explained, "I was searching for the Castle of Friendship as you detailed it to me. I was walking across several pits and fields to find the destination. I then fell down a large hill and my arm had come loose, but I simply retrieved it and soon found the Castle of Friendship. Twilight Sparkle has been helping me place it all back together."

"But I'm having a bit of trouble," Twilight added slowly, as if embarrassed to mention it. "I don't know where they all go. I wanted to bring him to the hospital sooner, but this just couldn't wait. I thought it would've taken a couple minutes, not over half an hour."

"Not like you were counting or anything," Rainbow said.

"Um..."

"...Seriously?"

"Don't worry, Twilight," I comforted her, letting out a lighthearted chuckle. "I'll take it from here."

Using my magic, I gently grabbed the screwdriver Twilight carried in her own aura and sat down right beside her. I started to levitate individual pieces in front of me and began to put each little screw, bolt, and lug nut back into their respective spots, carefully showing Twilight where each piece went. But it wasn't until I was nearly done that she wasn't entirely focusing on me, but my magic, and with a completely baffled look on her face.

"Right," I stated, "you left before I could explain. It's a bit of a long story, but to put it shortly...I kind of have magic."

"But you're not a-"

"Unicorn? I know. Pegasus," I informed her, unfurling my wings for the first time what felt like an eternity. "Like I said - long story. I'll tell you one day."

She didn't question it, and continue to watch me finish my work. After another minute of simple explanation and careful stitching, I then lifted the finished arm and started to insert it back into the empty hole in Clanks' side, until it finally clicked and locked itself in. In an instant, Clanks started to move it and was able to regain mobility in it.

"Thank you," he said to me.

"No problem," I replied back to him. "Oh, by the way..."

He barely had enough time to register that robotic look of curiosity on his face before I gave him a hug, no matter how cold and metallic he was.

"I missed you, pal."

Clanks smiled and said the same thing back to me, hugging me back with both hooves. The funny thing about Clanks smiling is that he only smiled once. He had the emotions and the ability to do so, but he never did it, and didn't really explain why. All it did while we were in the dome was leave me curious, but ultimately, I knew he would smile again one day.

I pulled away and turned the chair he sat in around to be in view of the others, who all grew intrigued at the first sight of him.

"Everypony, this is Clanks," I introduced him, "my robot and my friend when I was in the dome. Clanks, this is Spike, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle, and Starlight Glimmer."

"Wow," Rainbow silently exclaimed, "he literally looks just like you. You weren't kidding when you said that."

"Nope, I wasn't," I remarked. "I'm pretty sure I have some narcissistic genes in my DNA somewhere."

The group laughed at my witty remark and started to introduce themselves to Clanks in terms of who they were, more than just by name. It didn't take long for them all to get acquainted with the machine, who was - despite his robotic personality - more than happy to get to know them.

"Ooh!" Pinkie shouted. "We should totally have a party tonight to celebrate you guys coming home! What should it be called? How about 'Welcome-Back-To-The-Universe?' ... Actually, that sounds pretty silly. What about just 'Welcome-Home?'"

"Actually, Pinkie," I spoke up, "as much as I like to party, I think I'm gonna need at least a couple days to lay back a bit. Besides, I...kinda have something else I'd like to do tonight."

"Like what?" Starlight asked, her tone raised with curiosity.

"For starters, taking you up on that dinner date you suggested a few days ago," I answered, giving her a little smile and remembering how much I missed her stutters and nervous attempts to calm herself.

"Oh...right! That. I-I wasn't asking you out on a date or anything like that, I was just...you know, 'cause you were nervous and all that, I figured a little bit of food afterwards would, you know...clear your mind? Heehee...?"

My grin only grew as it was obvious that she was embarrassed. Of course, it was all in good fun, and even she knew that. But it didn't stop her from blushing madly, and Rainbow Dash from snickering.

"Right now," I stated, "I think a bit of dinner would work more in your favor."

"Oh, I wouldn't say that, right?"

"But I would. After everything you've gone through, all that guilt being weighed down on your shoulders? I think you're the one who deserves a dinner at this point."

The blush faded a little as she took my words into account, realizing that I had at least some truth to my words. Using a spell on somepony and them going missing from literally the universe for three days straight, and it feeling like six months instead, that would be enough to make anyone feel awful. And that was the last thing I wanted Starlight to feel.

Of course, that wasn't to say the blush went away entirely, as Starlight's face stayed at least some bit of red while she thought about my request.

"Well," she said a slight bit hesitant, "okay. If you say so."

"I do say so. You deserve it, trust me."

Starlight gave me a little smile, and for a moment, stood in thought. She then asked, "Would tonight work?"

"Only if it works for you." The mare then gave a look over to Twilight, who - like the rest - had been listening in on the conversation, as if asking if anything else was planned later tonight. Twilight instead giggled and nodded.

"I think we all need a break ourselves," she answered. "You go have fun. I mean, tonight. Have fun tonight."

"Thanks, Twilight," Starlight giggled, though giving off a gentle look of appreciation. "After all, it's just some dinner and talk, right?"

Rainbow leaned down over Starlight and I. "That's just dinner. Personally, dinners are boring and a waste of time. Now, after dinner-"

The mare didn't get to finish her conversation before being pulled away at the tail by Applejack, elbowed again in her side.

"Ow!" she exclaimed. "You know, one of these days, you're gonna break one of my ribs."

"Maybe get yer mind out of the gutter and ya won't have to worry 'bout that," Applejack retorted, but Rainbow simply rolled her eyes.

Meanwhile, Starlight was blushing heavily at the pegasus' words, her ears feeling warm, but overall feeling slightly irritated by her quips. After all, like she just said, it was only dinner and some talk. Though, that being said, I wouldn't mind if anything happened beyond that.

Wherever the night would take us.

When I Took You Out To Dinner

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After we stayed at Twilight's home for a while longer, Starlight eventually excused herself, citing tonight's date as a reason to get ready. The rest of us eventually split up, and Clanks and I started for home.

On the way back to my house, we garnered plenty of looks from the folks around us, specifically eyes aimed at Clanks. It was no surprise that he was the only mechanical living object, potentially on the entire planet, and so everyone was curious: Was he really a living machine, or simply a machine designed to obey without thought?

Thankfully, there was not much worry when it came to the paparazzi of the town, at least not large crowds; even so, that didn't stop ponies with cameras wrapped around their necks and hats with notebooks crammed inside of them from taking pictures of the two of us and wanting to know more about what happened to me and generally what I did, but I merely duped them into "asking my friend over there."

It was always funny how easily ponies could be tricked into something and fall for it.

Also thankfully, my home was not very far from Twilight's castle, and as soon as Clanks and I walked through the door, I shut and locked it, as well as closed the blinds of every window in the house. Maybe I was paranoid?

"You appear to have an audience," Clanks monotonously stated, briefly looking out the window.

"I was hoping that wouldn't be the case," I groaned. "I mean, I'm only gone for three days, and suddenly I'm the most popular pony in town? I mean, it's nice ponies want to know what happened, but I don't wanna be a celebrity or anything. I just want to, you know, go back to normal."

"Do you not enjoy popularity?"

"I mean...I kinda like it. But if I have ponies following me all over the place every second I'm awake, then that's a bit of a problem." I took a look outside the same window Clanks looked out. There were paparazzi nearby, not extremely close, but they were taking pictures of my house. I moaned in slight irritation.

"I'll have to write a letter to Twilight," I told Clanks. "The last thing I want is for them to ruin tonight, especially for Starlight."

"Didn't you tell me before we arrived that Starlight asked you out on a date in the friendly term?"

I turned to Clanks. "Yeah. That's all it is. I mean, sure, we're going to a fancy restaurant, having a fancy dinner, and chatting with one another across the table from one...another..." I put a hoof up to my face. "I can see why she would take that the wrong way now. And here I thought I was the one who was more composed."

"Is it a date, or is it not a date?"

"Well...in the sense of friendship and such - you know, as friends - then yes, it's a date. In the sense of the stuff Rainbow suggested, then no, not a date."

"So it is a date...but it is also not a date?"

"I...ugh, you can get confusing sometimes, you know that?" I told Clanks, playfully and also realistically irritated with him.

"I am only as you are."

I rolled my eyes, but then groaned. "Good point."

"What shall I do while you are gone?"

"Um..." I looked around the place, trying to figure out how to occupy him. He was his own being, but he was more than likely to stand in place the whole time.

After a few seconds, I came up with an idea. "Why don't you head back to the castle? Not right now, I mean, but tonight, when I go get Starlight. I'm sure Twilight could use an extra hoof in...whatever she's doing."

"Didn't she say that we all needed a break?"

"...Huh, that's right, she did." I scrunched my lips and continued to think. Finally, it hit me. "Maybe Rarity could use some help with her dresses! Of course, that's unless she's also taking a break. Maybe Pinkie? Uh...actually-...unngh, I can't decide. I don't want you staying here all by yourself while I go out and have dinner. I'd just feel terrible at that point."

It was silent for a few moments as I tried to think, until Clanks spoke again, "Perhaps I can speak of an idea?"

"Go ahead."

"I could visit each of their homes and ask if they require assistance with their tasks. If they do not need help, I can visit the next home and ask if they need assistance. If none of them need help, I will return here and tend to any problems here."

"You sure you'll be fine on your own here? You know, if they don't need help?"

"You have been the only companion I have known since my creation. I am more than content."

With a sigh, I smiled. "Okay. If there are any problems, let me know before dinner, okay?"

"Of course."

With the rest of the day planned ahead, I waited for the time to go by. And interestingly, for the first time in a long time, my stomach actually gurgled.

"It's gonna be really hard to remember to eat and drink again. Sleep, on the other hoof..."

* * * * *

The rest of the day passed by relatively quickly, with the sun beginning its descent behind the mountains and soon over the horizon. Starlight reminded me to pick her up at seven o'clock - "Sharp or around it, doesn't matter" - and so a few minutes before the clock in my head struck its bells, I was at the front doors of the castle, with a few simple knocks, I waited.

"The paparazzi isn't following us," Clanks noted as he looked at our surroundings, and not finding a single pony in sight.

"Thank Celestia that Twilight's a princess," I said with a relieved sigh, "Otherwise, they never would've gotten off my back."

"Is it likely that they will try again tomorrow?"

I shrugged my shoulders at the robot. "Probably. But who knows, maybe they'll get tired of it all. I mean, I only know everything about the known universe in my head, so they'll start to run out of things to ask about. You know?"

However, he didn't seem to get the joke. "But it would take a long time for them to-"

"Being sarcastic, Clanks." I laughed dryly. "Even then, they're not gonna let up until something more important happens."

"Like what?"

"...I don't know."

After another few moments of quiet, the door to my right opened, and standing inside was Twilight Sparkle. She greeted me with a smile.

"You're just in time. Starlight will be out in a second. Just 'freshening up'," she mentioned, before turning to the pony next to me and tilting her head. "I don't suppose Clank is coming with you too?"

"Hello, Twilight Sparkle."

"It's Clanks," I corrected her, "And no, he isn't. I was hoping if he could stay here for a bit, maybe help you around if you needed anything taken care of?"

"Oh!" Twilight exclaimed. "Of course! I was just reorganizing some of the shelves in the library! It won't be too much trouble for you, will it?"

Clanks gave a smile. "Of course not, Twilight. I would be glad to assist you however you like."

"Excellent."

In the background, I suddenly heard the question of, "Is he here?" Twilight looked over to the source of the voice and gave a nod, before turning back to me.

"Your date's ready," she said with a smile that was on the range of Celestia's own motherly smile.

A second later, standing at the door was Starlight Glimmer, looking truly...beautiful. There was no other word to describe her. Her body gripped no clothes and no dress, and yet her hair was all the clothing she ever needed, done up in a small bun, with her mane matching between her usual style and resembling the kind she used to own back in the village. Her ears held two small earrings done in the shape of her cutie mark.

And even with all that, she didn't choose to use makeup. I was glad that she didn't - she looked fine just the way she was.

"Hi," she smiled nervously.

"Hi. You look lovely." I didn't hide the emotion if I was being truthful.

Starlight blushed and giggled. "Thank you. Rarity helped me out with the mane. You don't think it's too much, do you?"

"No," I said, nearly exclaiming it, "No, it's fine. You look fine."

She smiled warmly. "So...should we go now?"

I nodded, turning to Clanks and tell him, "As soon as you're all done here, just head on home and...read some books, if you want?"

"I will do that then. Have a great evening."

The two of us waved Twilight and Clanks goodbye before making our way through the downtown area of Ponyville, which, no surprise, was still packed with ponies shopping and enjoying the evening. And along the way there, I happened to notice Starlight growing a look of concern on her face."

"You okay?" I asked her, "You seem a bit tense."

"Uh..." She struggled at first to answer. "Well...this is my first date. Like...ever."

"Are you having second thoughts?"

"No! No, nothing like that! I just...well, I'm scared of doing something stupid and you leaving. Plus, I wouldn't call it off right now, that'd be terrible. I wouldn't want to upset you."

"It's okay to be nervous, Starlight," I calmed her. "If it helps, I'm actually a bit nervous too."

"Really?" she stared at me with a surprised expression, "Why?"

"Because...this is my first date too."

"Really?" she repeated, earning a nod from me. As a response, she simply giggled, "So I guess you're not as bold as I thought."

I rolled my eyes. "I never said I was bold. At least, I don't think I did."

"Trust me; it shows."

"Really?"

She nodded. "I'm more surprised you haven't gone all scientific on me yet."

"What do you mean?" I asked, finding the change in topic strange, but welcoming.

"Well, you said you spent the whole time there reading and learning new things. I figured you're probably as smart as Twilight, maybe more. Just how much did you learn?"

"Are you sure you wanna know? I mean, I don't wanna bore you or anything about that."

"After everything the others have told me about, shown me, and trained me, I'm pretty sure nothing can bore me at this point."

"Well, you never know...I don't think you'd be the kind of mare to be interested in the stuff I've read, like Earth, for example."

"Earth?"

"It's a planet that used to have these creatures called Dinosaurs. Granted, they're all dead now, but-"

"There, you see? Told you I wouldn't be bored!"

With a bit more confidence bustling in me, I gave her a smile and started to talk all about...well, anything. Though, I'm pretty sure she prodded me out of her own nervous conscience.

It was definitely the latter, but I was more than content.

* * * * *

"-and the impact was so massive, so strong, that the damage was enough to wipe out every living life form on the surface and underground. The whole planet virtually went extinct! And it's been dead ever since."

We had been sitting down at our respective booth in the Allure Dé Mystique, perhaps the fanciest, but also an affordable restaurant in Ponyville, spending the past few minutes telling Starlight about the extinction of the Dinosaurs and the essential death of the planet itself. She was mesmerized, horrific, and intrigued all at the same time.

"When you say dead," she spoke for the first time in several minutes, "Do you mean 'molten-core extinct' dead or just 'surface' dead?"

"'Surface' dead. Last I checked, the planet's core functioned as well as it ever did, but anything that was on its surface was wiped out. There used to be beautiful fields of trees, big snowy mountains, and vast deep oceans just like our world."

"Last time you checked?" she grew curious. "You mean, you've actually gone there yourself?"

With a nod, I added, "The book describing the event had universal coordinates. All I did was use my magic and in a poof, I was right above its surface. Gray and lifeless. Never recovered."

"Wow," Starlight said. "Also, aww. Those poor Dinosaurs..."

"The images in the books were also seemingly real photographs. They were such beautiful creatures. Violent...but beautiful."

"So...I guess this means we're not alone in the universe?"

"Absolutely," I beamed, "Life comes in all shapes and sizes. I used to think at one point that we were all that was left until I ended up there. In fact, everything I just told you, I started learning the very first day I was there. I actually kinda skipped near the end about twenty seconds after I actually arrived. Heh."

My laughter was a tiny bit sheepish, perhaps.

"Right...twenty seconds."

I immediately recoiled, regretting my choice of words.

"Starlight, I-"

"It's fine," she assured, "I know you didn't mean it that way. I guess I still can't get over it, you know? I planned everything so right, and a little headache was enough to screw it all up."

"Were you okay?" I had to ask as soon as she mentioned that moment. "I saw you fall, but I was gone before I could do anything."

"Yeah, I was fine; Twilight said I strained myself out too much and nearly gave myself an aneurysm. Though, I think the aneurysm part was a joke to try and make me feel better."

"That's...a pretty odd joke."

"Yeah. I know. That means it probably wasn't." Starlight sighed and looked down at the table. "It's just not something I can make go away with a spell or anything like that. I honestly thought you were...you know..."

She wasn't as sad as she had been earlier today when she said those same words, but it was still getting to her. I rested a hoof on hers and told her to look at me, and just like before, her blue eyes stared back.

"It's gonna take a lot more than a headache to kill me." I wanted to make sure she was comfortable and happy on her very first date, not strung up on the past like she tended to be, and even she could admit that. "Don't let it get to you."

"You're right," she remarked. "Maybe I should try and just let it go. I mean, remembering it will help me be better prepared for the future, but letting it cling to me for the rest of my life? I can definitely try and brush that off."

"Just be sure when you brush it off, you don't lose those lovely earrings," I said in an attempt to humor her, and it apparently worked when she started to laugh.

"Why," she called me by my name, "Are you flirting with me?"

"Maybe I am."

"Well, aren't you quite the charmer?"

Eventually, our food came along and we continued our conversation as we dined. It was mainly a mix between what she had been doing as of recently - other than looking for me - and what I learned while in the dome. However, halfway through our meals, I grew curious about one particular pony.

"How's Trixie?" I asked Starlight. "I just remembered that she was away on a tour when I disappeared. Is she still gone?"

She nodded, "I wrote a letter telling her the day it happened. After I did, she didn't come home, but instead decided to postpone the rest of the tour until you were found. She was in Las Pegasus at the time and managed to gather up half the city...and I think that was literally."

"That sounds like it would've been an interesting sight to see," I mention. "Does she know I'm-"

"Back? Yeah, I wrote a letter after you left. She's planning on finishing the tour up early and coming back to Ponyville just to see you."

"She doesn't have to do that."

"I know she doesn't have to - but she wants to. She was worried sick about you until I told her the good news. It was heartbreaking to see her like that."

"Wow," I simply said, amazed at the personality Trixie seemed to show. "And she doesn't really know me all that much."

"That's how you know she's a good friend," Starlight grinned. "I mean, sure, she can be a bit impulsive and...self-centered," she hindered on the word as if it wasn't the kindest thing to say, "But she definitely cares about the ponies close to her."

"I'm close to her?" I was surprised, really. After all this time, I was still surprised by new things.

"You bet. I bet she's going to give you a big old hug the moment she sees you."

"Now let's not get too crazy," I said to her, earning a laugh from the unicorn. "But to be honest, I really can't wait to see her again. It's been far too long."

"Yeah, six months too long."

"Well, when I think back to it now, it feels a lot shorter than it did. Heck, you could say it was six days instead." I bit into the roasted potatoes and carrots on my plate. "It's like that old saying goes: 'The older you get, the faster time flies.'"

"I know it's only been six months, but...well...do you feel any older?"

I momentarily stopped chewing the food in my mouth, thinking over her words...better yet, thinking over her words. After I swallowed, I told her, "I actually don't know. I assume that since everything inside the dome stayed the exact same, and Clanks didn't start rusting anywhere, it's safe to assume that I haven't aged at all until I actually came back."

"But...why would Clanks start rusting after six months?"

"Trust me when I say that metal can definitely show some signs of rust after just a few days. Though that kind of depends on the environment."

"And what was the environment of the dome?"

"Well," I started to explain to her my surroundings on the 'other side.' "The ground was just nothing but grass and some concrete slabs placed on the sides, all connecting in this circular pattern on the edge. They all connected to this tiny building in the very center. It looked like this big stone-concrete pillar in the center, and on each side were these double doors. Now, remember when I said it was tiny?"

She nodded.

"If you went inside and walked from one side to the next, it'd take you forty minutes to get to the other side."

"Wait," she stopped me, "So you're saying this thing was literally bigger on the inside?"

"Yep. And the ceiling just showed nothing but outer space. I could see galaxies and clusters of stars and supernovas just by looking up."

"And this was the library, correct?"

"That's right. It was just shelf after never-ending shelf of books, books, and more books of literally everything that happened in the universe up to that point in time. I swear, if Twilight was there, she would've likely had an actual orgasm from that."

Immediately, I froze, realizing what I just said. "Uh..."

But to my surprise, Starlight wasn't grossed out or embarrassed. She started laughing almost loud enough to attract attention from the other ponies that were eating.

"That definitely sounds like Twilight, alright." She started wiping away the tears of laughter from her face as she took another bite of her food. That was more than enough to tell me that she was truly laughing, and so I laughed with her.

* * * * *

Eventually, the two of us finished our food and we received the bill. It was a grand total of just fifty bits. Now I understood the slogan of this restaurant: "Bring a pouch or two!" Luckily, I remembered a small stash of bits I had saved up and brought them with me. Leaving the small pouch on the table, Starlight and I got up from the table and left, heading back to the castle and seeing wherever the night would take us from there.

But on the way, Starlight suggested, "So, do you wanna come back to my bedroom?"

Her face became flushed as she realized what she just asked and tried to correct herself, "I-I don't mean like in that way, h-heheheh! I meant that there's a telescope in my room and I was wondering if we could maybe...you know? Stargaze for a bit?"

"Is that what they're calling it nowadays?" I joked, earning a glare from Starlight and further stammers, but all I did was laugh. "I'm kidding. Though, ponies usually do that after the third or fourth date."

Starlight looked at me, her blush not fading, but ultimately slightly confused.

"Oh! You were talking about actual stargazing?"

Despite her reddened face and flushed expression, she seemed a bit unamused in the confused manner. "You're...kidding, right?"

I let out a laugh after holding it in long enough. "Of course I'm kidding, you dork! I just like messing with you! Haha!" For a second, I was silent, allowing Starlight just enough time to roll her eyes with a little smile. "I missed that, you know."

"What? Me rolling my eyes, or you flirting dirty with me?"

"Both. Maybe not the second thing as much. Unless you're fine with that, of course."

"I am," the mare laughed. "I mean, we were literally just laughing at a joke about Twilight having an orgasm over that Library you mentioned. I just blush a lot. I can't exactly control it."

"Just be lucky you're not a pegasus...or a stallion," I remarked, "There's a lot more things we can't control."

She laughed again. "That's an understatement."

I shot her a playful glare. "Oh, ha ha."

In the end, I laughed with her. It was pretty true, after all.

When I Showed You The Stars

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We got back to the castle not long after dinner. We had been gone for nearly two hours, and yet it didn't feel that long. I guess it was obvious that we had a good time.

Twilight told me that Clanks went home not long before we came back here, wanting her to tell us that he was off to read at home. I told her I wouldn't be long, but she insisted that I was welcome as long as I'd like.

"Just...be sure not to wake Spike. Please?" Twilight kindly pleaded, a blush beginning to form on her face.

"Twilight, we're just gonna be stargazing," Starlight giggled at her teacher's words. "Don't pull a Rainbow on us too."

"Oh! Of course! That's what I meant, just...don't look at the stars too loud now! Heeheehee...!"

Starlight may have been a terrible liar, but to be honest, Twilight was worse.

After the brief exchange, the two of us excused ourselves to Starlight's bedroom, which looked very different from the typical design layout of the rest of the castle, but didn't at all feel like a room from a normal home. It was at this moment that I realized I had never been in Starlight's room until now, always passing by, but never enough to truly get a look inside.

But now I was here, and...

"It's very...homey."

Not exactly what I meant to say, but it worked.

"I've had doubts in the past, but every time Twilight and Spike wake me up or greet me in the morning, it feels just like that: home. It's always nice to be back here."

"Do you plan on ever getting a home for yourself in the future?"

"I'd like to more than anything," she hoped, "but the problem with that is there's no available home here in Ponyville, and even if there was, I wouldn't have nowhere near the amount of bits to buy it."

"Well," I suggested, "if it's not too much of a sudden thing, I'm sure I'd be able to fit a space for you over at my place."

"I'm flattered...but honestly, I think I'd be more of a burden for you, especially now that you've got Clanks living with you. Plus, I don't think Twilight wants me to leave the castle. She's always so afraid that I'm going to leave her in general."

"Well, you're her student and one of her best friends. I think you leaving her life would crush her."

"I know. I've always been so afraid that I'm going to do that one day."

"As long as you got me and the others," I playfully boasted, "that's never gonna happen."

Instead of casting further doubt on herself, Starlight embraced my words and smiled, deciding to change the topic. "So, are you ready to look up at the stars and end this so-far majestic evening on a high note?"

"...Have I ever seen you flirt before?"

"Not that I can remember," she said. "I think your charm's already rubbing off on me."

"Let's hope."

Starlight smiled and opened up her window, readying her telescope by tweaking its knobs and levers. As she did so, she slowly undid her mane bun and started to undo the rest of her mane, letting it flow freely down. It made her look rather...attractive.

So attractive that I didn't notice that I had been staring at her longer than I should have, and turned away before she noticed. Then again, I had done that with all of my friends when I truly believed they were beautiful, and yet I wasn't trying to go after all of them, not counting Twilight.

"We don't need the telescope to stargaze, Starlight," I reminded her kindly, not wanting her to waste her time setting the whole thing up.

"Oh, we don't?"

"Haven't you ever stargazed before?"

"Well, not exactly. I tried to do it sometimes when I was a filly, but the lights from our town would always make it impossible to see the stars, so I tried to use a telescope to see them, and since then, I always assumed we needed one for it."

"Only for the really far away ones," I reminded her, "but the majority of the stars you can see as is. Here, one sec."

I walked over to the window and opened it all the way, hoping to show her what I meant when I said that. I beckoned her over to the window sill. She leaned up against it and peered out into the darkness above the town. At first, she didn't seem to understand, but the closer she looked, the more she began to see. Hundreds of stars became visible in the night sky, more than she likely ever had seen in her entire life.

"That's the one thing I like about Ponyville," I stated. "The lights of the town are so dim that they don't even contribute to light pollution. Instead, any resident far enough outside the town can look up at night and just see the galaxy looking back at them."

"It's beautiful!" she exclaimed silently. "I've never seen so many stars!"

"I'm surprised you haven't noticed sooner."

"I never really thought about it!" Starlight looked up at the stars and felt like a filly all over again, excited and intrigued. "Wow. There has to be hundreds of them!"

"Actually, a little over two-thousand."

All that did was further blow Starlight's mind, it seemed, staring in disbelief, but also in amazement. I could tell that it was her very first time seeing what could truly be called space. As soon as she had a good look at the sky, I stood right next to her and started to tell her all about the constellations.

Starlight was smart, so she obviously knew what constellations were, but she grew up not really being able to see very many. "I only saw a constellation one time, and that was years ago."

"I don't mean to bring this up," and I meant it, "but what about the village? I assumed that because it was out in the middle of nowhere, you'd be able to see them better."

She simply shook her head. "We had different lights from the ponies here. The light pollution was a lot stronger, which was surprising, considering how small the place was, but even then, you'd have to travel a good distance to be able to see more than a couple stars in the sky."

"Never thought you'd one day be able to see more than a hundred stars, did you?"

"Well, I knew it would happen one day," she corrected me. "I just didn't prepare for it. And to be honest, I'm glad I didn't. It all looks so amazing!"

"Just wait until you start seeing the constellations."

"Wait, I think I see one!" she then said a moment later, pointing up at what seemed to be a constellation. "I think I know that one! Ursa Major, isn't it? I remember seeing it in one of Twilight's books!"

I looked up at the spot she pointed at, and sure enough, it was Ursa Major, greeting us with its presence.

"You're right. Any other ones?"

"Hmm...ooh, ooh! Right there! Orion, right?"

Another look, and sure enough, right again.

"Good eye," I complimented her, "but let's see if you can find a constellation on your own - one that you haven't learned from Twilight."

She didn't complain, instead began to search the sky in all directions, trying to find a constellation she hadn't heard of before. It took a good minute of looking, but once she found herself hooked on a particular shape, it didn't take long for her to make it out and tell me of her discovery.

"I think I found one," she said, pointing at the shape. I took a second to register its design before I ultimately remembered what it was.

"That's Ophiuchus. They say that what it is, in terms of context, is a pony named Ophiuchus holding a snake in his left arm, and earning the title 'Snake-Charmer.' Very good eye. I'm impressed."

"Thank you." The mare had a glance at the stars for another moment before looking back to me. "Why don't you show me what you can see?"

"Are you sure?" I gave a subtle smirk. "I don't wanna make you jealous."

"Oh, hardy har," she replied back with a smile. "I promise I won't let it show."

"Well, if you insist."

Standing up next to her, I took a look up at the sky again, and what Starlight saw and found, I saw and found them all.

"That constellation right there, the one that looks like a bird? That one is Aquila," I explained to her, "It's said that Aquila carried the thunderbolts of the god Hoofiter to the Canter Mountain."

Starlight understood Equestrian mythology pretty well, at least enough to keep up with the story I told her. She didn't seem to protest or want to change the subject. All she did was smile and listen intently, nodding and humming in response, but not in the bored way. It was in the way where she wanted to keep listening.

"And that one right there is Draco..."

* * * * *

Thirty minutes later, Starlight was asleep against my body. I had to hold onto her to make sure she didn't fall onto the floor. I then carried her to her bed, covering her up in her blankets, and closed the window to be sure she wasn't cold.

"Good night, Starlight," I whispered, hoping she would hear it in her sleep, before making my way to her door.

I opened it with ease and shut it behind me quietly, making sure not to make a fuss. Just as I did, I heard the sound of hoofsteps nearby and looked to the source. Twilight was standing there, a slightly tired look on her face, but nonetheless awake.

"Hey," she greeted me, "Do you wanna have something to drink before you head home?"

I tilted my head in surprise. "I didn't know you drank."

"Oh, nothing like that!" she whisper-yelled. "Just tea, that's all."

"Oh. Yeah, that'd be fine."

I walked with her into the kitchen, where she already had a kettle of warm tea ready to drink. She poured two cups and then hoofed one to me, before heading into the dining area. The dining area was such a big room that it felt weird only having two ponies sitting in it, with nopony else but our company.

"Did Starlight fall asleep?" she started the conversation off with a sip of her tea.

"Yeah," I nodded. "I think it was a mixture of the food and the stargazing that finally tuckered her out."

"Actual stargazing, right?" the alicorn asked me, the blush from before making a return.

I only deadpanned. "Yes, Twilight. I'm pretty sure that kind of thing doesn't happen until at least the third date." I closed my eyes and laughed to myself, the fatigue of the night finally beginning to get to me just a little.

Twilight only blushed, but decided to change the topic.

"She missed you a lot," she told me.

"I know. She talked about that a lot tonight. I can see why, but...the last thing I want is her beating herself up over that from now on. She doesn't need that."

"We were both beating ourselves up," Twilight stated. "We'd been practicing this for weeks, trying to get it all right, and-"

"And it all goes wrong anyway," I finished for her. "I know. But it wasn't your fault, neither of you. It was an accident."

Twilight took another sip from her teacup, giving a sigh. "Maybe you're right. But even so, I should keep doing some readjustments on the spell, maybe try to make it work on something that isn't living...like I should've just kept doing."

"I mean, at least you know it worked."

"All it ended up doing was create a new universe, plop you in it, and keep you trapped there for six months," she remarked with a grimace. "I was just trying to make you go forward in time an hour for twenty seconds. Not...that."

The mare sighed again and looked at the reflection in her tea. Her face was sad, but frustrated too.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I just can't stop thinking about it. I want to just be glad that you're back and put it all behind me, but I can't. I just can't. I feel guilty about it."

She said nothing for a few seconds, giving me a moment to come up with something to cheer her up. Here went absolutely nothing.

"Would it make you feel better if I told you to go back a few words and realize that you and Starlight created another universe that literally contained the knowledge of our universe itself?"

"Maybe...if only it wasn't lost."

"...That's true," I almost whispered as I took another sip from my cup. Even I was disappointed that the Library was gone, or seemed to be gone. Either it was drifting in space without its shell or the shell miraculously repaired itself and was now its own universe again.

Either way, to be honest - I sure as Tartarus don't want to try and go back there. Besides...who needed the physical Library when I had the dream world?

"It'll be fine," I said Twilight hoping to make her smile. "Just take comfort knowing that I'm back home and alive, okay?"

And it worked. Her frown curved into a small smile, and her eyes beamed faintly. Though, it must have been because she was tired, otherwise she might've smiled further. Twilight then put down her tea and gave me a warm hug.

"I'm glad you're okay," she said to me. "I promise I won't do anything like that to you again."

"Oh, you can do that to me again," I corrected her, "but just make you had your sleep beforehoof."

That got her laughing. It was always nice to make someone laugh when they needed it the most.

A short time passed by the time I finished my tea. I said my goodbyes, and Twilight did the same. Pushing in my chair, I left the dining hall and started for the exit. But before I got there, I saw Starlight's door open up, and the unicorn herself peeked her head out, before eventually noticing me walking towards her.

With a yawn, she greeted me sluggishly, "Hey. I was hoping you hadn't gone home yet."

"Why?"

"So I could give you this."

She then held a hoof under my chin and gave me a warm kiss on my left cheek, letting her lips sit there for a second longer than usual, before pulling away. Though, that may have been because she was still half-asleep.

"I had a good time tonight," she smiled. "I hope we can do this again soon."

"Whenever and wherever you want," I smiled back.

After a couple seconds of silence, she blinked a couple of times before speaking again:

"Well...goodnight."

"Night, Starlight."

Her door closed and I eventually left the castle. It took another few minutes for me to make it back to my house, with nothing but a stupid smile on my face, and an awkward laugh emitting from my throat.

That was the first time I had ever been kissed, even if it was just the cheek. It was ridiculous: I had the knowledge of all of space-time, and yet I still felt giddy like a little colt over a peck on the cheek.

Then again, whoever said that was a bad thing?

When Luna Learned The Truth

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I was back in the Library.

Not actually, of course. For all I know, the Library was long gone - destroyed, most likely. No, this Library, despite looking just like the real one, was nothing more than a dream.

Tonight was the first time in a long time that I chose to sleep, not just because I had to. And to think that the first sleep since the very first day was a dream about the place I was trapped in all that time. I had no problem going back to the Library - it was the one way I could retain all the information I learned the proper way - but I simply wanted to just dream about something normal for a start.

"Maybe that can wait tomorrow?" I suggested to nopony in particular.

I started walking down the endless hallway, looking through all the books that I read, archived, and memorized over the time that I was there. I could feel the fabric of the covers, the texture of the pages against my hooves. It felt just as it did when it was real.

Would they be mad? That I'm dreaming of this place again and wanting to reread its books again?

Maybe not.

Maybe so.

I had arguments in my head a long time back. Eventually, I learned to control them, but it didn't stop one from happening every now and again. But like I said, I could control them and stop them before they ever became arguments.

Pulling out one of the books from the shelves, I read the cover aloud. The Adventures Of Huckle And Finn.

I laughed to myself. One of the first novels I chose to read here. There. It's all confusing.

Flipping the book open, even the pages were accurate, not a single word or letter out of place.

"Finn woke up with a smile, a new day lurching over the horizon-"

Suddenly, that was when I heard hoofsteps approaching. I looked up, ahead of me, not seeing the source, but simply hearing it with a flick of my ear. I turned my head to where the sound originated from. Nopony could've been here. Unless...

"Princess Luna?"

Indeed, it was the princess of the night herself. The one who dwelt across the dreams of her sleeping subjects, learning of them through the adventures they have in the night, and ensuring that those adventures are left with good intentions.

And now I sound like Twilight.

"So, this is your Library?" Luna stared down the halls and up at the ceiling, looking out into the endless expanse of the cosmos.

"Well, it's not entirely accurate," I explained. "The stars are all wrong. But other than that...yes, this is my Library."

"It's quite vast. You say that it holds the words to all of the known realm of existence, is that correct?"

"I'm assuming Celestia told you about it?"

But she shook her head. "Twilight Sparkle, actually, in her own dream. But Celestia told me of what she saw from you."

"She did?" I asked her, though it sounded more like an answer.

"You've been gone longer than six months. Much longer. And you're afraid of Starlight Glimmer finding out the truth, simply out of fear of how she might respond."

She was right, but I still shook my head. "It's not just her, Luna. It's Twilight, AJ, Rarity - everyone in Ponyville, even. Could you imagine how everypony would react if they found out?"

"Hmm...no doubt, there would be some...trauma," she pondered, ignoring my brief look of slight disbelief, "but I believe that Twilight Sparkle would be understanding. She would come to terms relatively quickly."

"And you're sure of that?" She nodded. "And what about Starlight? I mean, she thinks she was the sole cause of me ending up here. If she found out how long I was really gone for...I feel like it would break her, cause her to do something...I don't know...I really don't know what she'd do. That's why I'm afraid of her finding out."

"And so you created the lie that you were gone for six months primarily to console her, is that correct?"

"That's the only reason. I mean, it still hurt her when I told her that, but it's better than telling her...well, you know."

"I see."

Luna walked in a circle around me, observing the books encased in their respective shelves, and peering out into space again as she thought of what to say, or what to do.

"Do you plan on telling her one day?" she asked me.

"No. I mean, yes. I mean...I don't know. I don't want to lie to her - I hate lying to anyone. But if I tell her the truth...she won't hate me, but she'll be hating herself until her dying breath."

I sighed, setting the book back in its spot and, and sat down on my haunches, looking up at Luna as if to say, "What do I do?" and she could tell just from the look alone that it was a cry for help.

But there was no proper advice that she could give me, none that could stop what I feared, it seemed. However, she then rested a hoof on my shoulder and looked at me intently.

"My little pony...the day will come when she will know the truth. And when that day comes, there will be nothing you can do to prevent it. Sooner or later, she will understand."

"And I'm supposed to let it happen?"

"'tis the way of life, unfortunately," she apologized, "but I know Starlight Glimmer and the heart that she holds. When she learns the truth, it will definitely hurt her, or crush her, as you said. She will spend her days wondering what she could have done differently. But in the end, I know for certain that Starlight will be content, knowing that you still remain at her side."

"You think so?"

"I am confident. Starlight is strong, and she has proven it. It will all come together to make sense, but only in due time."

"Due time...right." I let out a nervous sigh, but I gave Luna a kind smile. "Thank you, Luna."

The princess smiled back at me and gave me a weak half-hug. "The night will be ending soon. Are you sure you wish to stay here and read for its remainder?"

"A little," I answered somewhat sheepishly. "Maybe it's because I kinda miss it. For the books, I mean. Not the...loneliness."

Luna found herself humored, letting out a giggle. Was it strange to see Luna laugh? I hardly ever saw her laugh.

"I understand," she said. "Take care of yourself, my little pony. I'm sure my sister will be seeing you again very soon."

It was a moment of silence for just a second, but I had to ask her something. "Speaking of Celestia...how has she been? I know it hasn't been very long since I last saw her, but..."

"She's been just fine. Quiet, but fine. It is hard for her to comprehend how a single pony endured such a long time alone and seemingly stayed so sane through it."

I laughed, but it was heavily forced, even Luna could tell, though she didn't say anything of it.

"It's a long story."

Luna nodded. "Sleep well, then. I too will be seeing you soon enough."

"It won't be every night, will it?"

"Perhaps."

I rolled my eyes playfully and waved her goodbye. In a flash of light, Luna vanished, either returning to the waking world or visiting the dreams of other ponies. Then again, she did say that the night was almost over. Odd, considering I haven't exactly been here very long.

But that's how dreams work, I supp-

My eyes flung open as a rooster outside screamed its lungs out to anticipate the new day. With a yawn and a groan, I tried to do the same. Looking over to the clock on my nightstand, I saw that it was only seven o'clock in the morning.

"Mnngh..." I moaned to myself. "How in the hay am I gonna get used to this again?"

There were just some things I didn't miss.

When Trixie Came Home

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A couple of days had passed since the talk with Luna. I took her words to heart, but honestly, that was what scared me.

Maybe I was overreacting and Starlight would come to terms with what happened, as Luna said. Or maybe she wouldn't. Either way, I hope that day is a long way away.

I spent the few days since then reciting pieces of information from the Library, and putting it down on paper, with the intention of sharing them with Twilight once they were compiled. I wanted to share everything with her, but if it ever got into the wrong hooves...or claws...

Then again, how could a book about Huckle and Finn help an enemy defeat us? Hey, I never said I was going to give her the formula for Relative Trajectory!

Not yet, at least.

But after four days, I decided to take a break. I spent a good majority of bits on notebooks and sketchbooks just to make sure whatever I wanted to share with Twilight was written down. I really wanted to write all of Huckle And Finn and give it to Cheerilee to read to the kids, but the book was only a few years away from being published. If I remember correctly, it's actually being written right now in Fillydelphia.

Time is funny.

But I only chose today to take a break at around two o'clock because - unless I got the date wrong - today was the day Trixie was coming back to Ponyville from her trip across Equestria. Like Starlight told me during our dinner date a few days back, Trixie ended her tour early just to see me. I wrote to her, having Twilight send it for me, telling her to keep the tour going on my behalf. But she insisted that she would come home early, no arguments.

I felt bad, but Trixie wanted to come back home; after all, she did manage to gather half of Las Pegasus just to find me. It only showed how much she cared for me, even if she didn't know me that much.

And even if we did have a lot of less-than-friendly encounters...

Closing the latest entry in the newest notebook I had, I went downstairs and readied a brief meal for myself. Clanks had gone out hours earlier to help some of the townsfolk with anything they needed done. Thanks to Twilight's knowledge, effort, and more resources now that I wasn't cooped up in a limited-supply library, the robot was starting to gain more of a pony-like personality. He still had some of the robot-quirky voice, but he was beginning to sound and act more like the average pony.

Honestly, I never thought I would see that day ever come.

As I finished my snack and washed the dishes, I heard a knock at the door.

"It's open!" I yelled, scrubbing the crumbs from the dish under the water, before setting it aside with the rest of the dishes, while the door opened. I peaked over the counter-top to see Starlight standing there.

"Hey!" she greeted with her smile. "So, Trixie's gonna be here soon. You ready to head down to the train station and give her a surprise welcome?"

"Train station?" I raised an eyebrow. "I thought she always traveled with that wagon of hers."

"Not this time. She thought it would take too long to travel by walking from city to city, so she figured a train would work much better. I've been keeping the wagon under protection for her."

Now I remembered. Not so much the reason for it, but I remember Trixie mentioning not bringing her wagon with her on the trip. I guess that explained why Starlight would disappear sometimes.

"When's she supposed to get here?" I asked her.

"She should be here in about twenty minutes or so," she answered. "If we get going now, we can be there five minutes early."

I laughed a little to myself. I knew Trixie was one of Starlight's good friends, and the first one she really, truly made that wasn't the Elements, Spike, or me.

"Okay," I chuckled, "let's go."

With nothing but a smile on my face, Starlight and I left my house and made our way for the Ponyville train station at a decent pace. The first minute or so was silent and casual, with the occasional greeting from passing folks. Thankfully, the paparazzi were no longer a problem for me or Clanks; Twilight made sure of that.

"So how was your morning?" Starlight began.

I shrugged, "It was okay. I've been up since seven this morning writing down whatever I can think of."

"What for?"

"I plan on giving it to Twilight after I got it all written down. Maybe it can help her on a research mission or project."

"Such as?"

"Well, I've got a few documents on gravitational force affecting magic fields. I'm not sure if that will necessarily help her very much, but it was one of the few things she wanted to know about."

Starlight nodded, taking a slight interest in the subject. I then asked her how her morning was.

"Not...so good," she hesitated. "I had a nightmare again last night."

"Really?"

"Yeah," Starlight nodded. "It was about that day again. The day we tested the spell, I mean. I know I should try and ignore it, but it's always so hard to do that when I keep dreaming the same thing over and over again."

"Has Princess Luna visited you at any point to help with it?"

"Of course. But soon after she leaves, the dream just comes into play again, like her being there didn't even matter or happen at all."

I felt bad for Starlight. I wish there was something I could do to help further, but there was only so much to do when it came to hugging her and telling her it would be fine.

Well, except one potential solution.

"I don't know if this is the right thing to say, but do you think another dinner date would help clear your mind, even just a little?"

It made Starlight laugh to herself. She looked up at me with a smile.

"I'd like that. It helped last time," she said.

I exchanged a kind glance and gave her a comforting pat on the shoulder. There was never a moment in my life that I could remember where I experienced guilt, at least not to this point, so I have no idea the kind of guilt she must be feeling, no matter how many times she tells me.

I only hoped to quell that guilt over time. She doesn't deserve that.

"Are the others coming?"

"No," she frowned, "they've been pretty busy this morning. I was hoping Twilight would've come along, but she's busy too. I think Clanks paid her a visit too."

"That makes sense," I shrugged. "He's been learning to become more pony-like ever since he got back."

"Really?"

"Yep. It's weird, I got so used to Clanks sounding like...well, Clanks. To see him talking more like the average stallion weirds me out. In the good way, of course."

Starlight laughed, keeping her cheery mood all the way to the station. When we arrived a short time later, the station wasn't packed at all. What would be dozens of ponies in a place like Canterlot was only one or two ponies here. On another day we might've gone, it may have been just Starlight and I.

We waited a few minutes, talking about the early morning commutes. A short time later, a faint dot appeared in the distance, growing in size with every second, until the shape of the train came into view. Its horn gave a strong roar, and its wheels squeaked as the convertible slowly came to a stop right in front of the platform.

Its doors opened, and visitors and residents alike began to pour out, starting for the town. Starlight and I stood near one doorway, waiting to see for the show mare and hoping to surprise her. And if not surprise her, then welcome her warmly.

A few moments passed, and still no sign of her.

Maybe she isn't on this train? We might be an hour late or...wait, is that...there she is!

Stepping through the doorway in front of us, Trixie held a look that was a flurry of emotions, ranging from happiness to sadness to merely exhaustion. ... Exhaustion isn't necessarily an emotion, but it still showed.

Looking up from whatever she had been thinking of, she was greeted by the two of us. Immediately, her face beamed with glee.

"Starlight!" she exclaimed, the first thing she said to either of us in a while.

The two mares hugged one another. "I missed you so much," Trixie said in a calmer tone.

"Not speaking in mannerisms again, Trix?" Starlight then giggled. "I missed you too."

Trixie pulled away, laughing quietly, "Trixie has been...less than herself for the past few days."

"I can tell. You look pretty tired."

"Trixie is. Tr...I've been excited to come home, exhausted from the shows, and stressed after...well, you know."

Trixie gave a brief yawn to further prove that, then looked around for a moment. "Is he here?"

"Right behind you, Trix," I spoke, leading her to turn around. "I'm not sure if you were playing with me just now."

"Hey, I said I was tired." The mare laughed again, quieter this time, and her expression changed to a much more caring one, before walking over and pulling me into a hug. "I'm so glad you're okay."

This was the part of Trixie I wish she'd show more.

"I looked everywhere for you," she added. "I put up posters, got the radio stations to talk about you. I even got half the city-"

"Oh, Starlight filled me in on that last part."

"She did?"

I gave a nod. "Oh. Well, you can definitely see how much Trixie cares."

Pulling away and giving her a smile, I chuckled. "I missed you. How was the tour?"

"Extraordinary!" she exclaimed in her show voice. "Trixie captivated every audience around her as she showed them her daring escapes and death-defying stunts! They were all coming back for more by the end of it all! But alas, Trixie had to part from them. Friends come first, after all."

"I still wish you kept the tour going," I said guiltily.

"Nonsense," the show mare proclaimed. "Trixie may love the crowds, but she will always make sure her friends' wellbeing are preserved."

"So, in short, you missed us?"

"...Maybe?"

I hugged her again. "It's good to have you back. Though, I'd really like to see you perform some of the tricks from the tour sometime, if it's alright with you."

"But of course," Trixie said, "The Great and Powerful T-T-T-Trixie would be more than glad to perform for a good friend."

"Alright, you two," Starlight interjected before looking over to me. "Would it be fine if we went over to the castle? There's something I want to show you."

"What is it?"

"It's about the time travel spell," she explained, "I found a way to test it out safely, and...well, I think you're gonna wanna see for yourself."

"A time travel spell, you say?" Trixie leaned in, already intrigued, but I playfully pushed her away.

"Don't go all cynical on us now."

Trixie rolled her eyes, and the two of us followed Starlight back to the castle.

* * * * *

"So six months, huh?"

I had just finished telling Trixie what happened after Starlight cast the spell.

I nodded. "It felt like a lot longer than that. I don't know how to explain it any better than that, but what was six months for me was three days for everypony else."

Trixie exchanged a sorrowful look, something she didn't do all too often.

"You must have felt so alone," she said, but I merely chuckled it off in a lighthearted fashion.

"I get that a lot. And it's true. I felt really alone. I wasn't sure if I was ever gonna get out of there. But if it wasn't for that library and all of its books, I probably wouldn't have."

"You never know," she suggested, "perhaps Starlight would've been able to find a way to bring you back."

"I don't doubt it." I shot a smile at Starlight, who smiled grinned back, but I could tell it was at least partially forced.

After several minutes of walking and talking, the three of us eventually reached the castle. I would never tire of seeing it. We walked up to the front door, Starlight opening it for both Trixie and I.

"Gentlecolts first," she sang.

I raised an eyebrow, but laughed it off. "Finding out how to perform the spell safely really made you happy today, didn't it?"

"You bet."

With a playful boop of her snout, I played along and walked inside, Trixie and Starlight following behind me.

"I tested it a bit in the main room this morning. I couldn't really stay down in that basement very much," Starlight added as we walked into the main hall.

"I don't blame you. It must've been tiring being down there so-"

"SURPRISE!"

I reeled back in just that as I was suddenly bombarded by stares from dozens of ponies, all holding smiles on their faces as they tooted party horns at me and shot confetti at me. At first, I was a bit confused as to what the occasion was.

"WELCOME HOME!" they all screamed at the same time, calling me by my first name. I was still in a daze of surprise and shock, but even that ultimately turned into a laugh as I realized what the occasion was.

"W-Wow!" I exclaimed, "I...honestly wasn't expecting this."

"I told you I was gonna do a party for you~!" Pinkie shouted in the back.

"Y...Yeah, you did." I continued to stare as the ponies around me started to laugh with smiles persisting on their faces.

Quite a way to kick off the afternoon, I guess.

When They Threw A Party

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The party kicked off in an instant.

Ponies of all ages chatted with one another, danced with one another, and even drank with one another. Of course, the drinks were all fruit punch and clean apple cider, but even so, ponies that hardly ever knew each other were talking like they were old pals.

Some ponies were trying to chat me up, hugging me and telling me everything would be okay now. All of them spent the three days looking for me and hoping I would be okay—many of them I never knew before. To think hardly anypony knew me very well almost a week ago.

After several minutes of casual discussion with random and familiar faces, I retreated to the punch bowl and stood off from the crowd, only to relax and take it all in. I had plenty of time to get used to things again—more than enough time—and yet it was still all so...strange. Perhaps it was because I had to sleep and eat and drink again for the first time in-

"Hey," I heard a voice say nearby to me. I turned to see Starlight and Trixie walking up to me, cups of punch in their hooves.

I greeted them back. "How's the party so far?"

"I should be asking you that question," Starlight told me.

"I like it. A lot. A lot, I love it." I sighed. "I think I'm just still in work mode, at least a little."

"Don't be. Relax, half some fun, talk with some ponies."

"Oh, I've been doing that," I reminded her, "but even a stallion like me needs a break from ponies once in a while."

She rolled her eyes. "Right, like six months wasn't enough?"

"Don't forget Clanks now."

Starlight laughed. That was when Trixie decided to join in on the conversation. "Speaking of...Clanks...he seems very...um...pony-like."

"He's been doing that in recent days," I reminded her. "You should've seen him when I first built him. Nothing like he is now. Back then, he was just a simple robot learning simple things...and then quantum mathematics."

Trixie smiled and giggled to herself, then looked around the hall, taking it all in. It seemed like she was a tiny bit sad.

"I guess you were hoping it was a surprise party for you?" I asked almost apologetically.

But the show mare only giggled louder. "Oh, please. Trixie wasn't the one who disappeared for half a year and stirred an entire nation overnight."

"Well, three days, technically."

"Anyway, as much as Trixie loves the spotlight, she's more than happy that it's not pointed at her right now. The food is more than sufficient."

"You mean the peanut butter crackers are more than sufficient," Starlight interjected, "I'm sure I've seen you scarf those things down like they're going out of style."

"Ha! What? What are you talking about? I wasn't...eating peanut butter crackers! Those are gross and filthy and...so good."

Starlight and I laughed together, even as Trixie's face turned red.

"Don't worry about it, Trix," I calmed her. "Peanut butter crackers are great."

Starlight tried to stifle another giggle. Trixie cleared her throat and tried to compose herself.

"Well," she began, "I'm going to mingle with the other ponies, thank you very much."

"Awh, you don't want to stay with us?" Starlight fake-cried.

"It is as they say, dear Starlight: Three's a crowd. But don't worry, Trixie will return soon enough."

"Don't forget to show me those stunts, okay?" I asked.

She smiled. "I never forget a performance."

Trixie then disappeared into the crowd, seemingly to talk with the other ponies.

"...Twenty bits says she's going back to the food stand," I started.

"Deal."

We watched the food stand intently, watching for any familiar shades of blue fur and white mane. And the magic hat, can't forget that.

Starlight and I stared at the table, each of us anticipating who was right and who was-...wait...ha!

And there she was, grabbing another peanut butter cracker and digging in with delight. As she turned away, she noticed us looking right back, my face looking gleeful, but Starlight's looking like she just lost a bet.

Either way, Trixie vanished into the crowd, her face once again red.

"Remind me not to do bets with you anymore."

"Maybe I will...maybe I won't."

"Jerk."

She wasn't mad. I could tell she was holding back a smile.

* * * * *

The party went on for hours, even after the food tray went dry, and as soon as the punch bowls ran dry, whatever filly, colt, and baby dragon that was still here went on home. Spike was sent to Rarity's to watch over Sweetie Belle and the other two crusaders. Rarity then too went home after a while, citing that, "A lady knows when she's had enough to drink."

Even with the hard cider out and going down the throats of the adults, the party—even in the evening—stayed relatively tame. And if anypony wanted to get freaky, they went home.

What was half the town at three o'clock died down to a small group of just twenty by nine o'clock. Those who stayed sipped their glasses and reminisced about either the past, the present, the future, or even the newest types of furniture available at Davenport's shop.

Who knew that alcoholic beverages made ponies want a new couch?

But eventually, they too all left, until it was just the Elements, Starlight, and I. Trixie tried to stay, but was merely too exhausted—not to mention full—to do so, and so she went on home, with the ever-so-loving assistance from Rainbow Dash. Though, I will say that the two had improved on their friendship in recent months, so it was a start.

With a cup of the hard stuff in my own hooves, I stood outside, on the balcony overlooking Ponyville. I had talked with so many ponies today that right now, I really just wanted to be alone.

"Right, like six months wasn't enough?"

I laughed at the memory, even if it was only so recent. She was right, though. To think I spent all that time away in some distant, interdimensional bubble, all alone with nopony else but a talking robot, and yet I liked being alone.

Then again, I wasn't gone for six months.

I took a sip of my cider. I drank a good portion of it tonight, and I was definitely feeling its effects. Perhaps that's why I stopped talking to the other ponies, because I was inebriated. The cold air seemed to keep my mind steady just for a bit, but I knew that the more I drank, the less the air would keep me grounded.

With a sigh, I took a swig and finished the rest of my drink in just a few gulps. I was already drunk, how much worse could it be?

Perking my ears, I could hear hoofsteps approaching, but it didn't take me very much to know who was coming towards me. Starlight walked out to the balcony and stood up right next to me. She too was feeling the heavier effects of the cider, but tried not to show it, and so attempted to ignore it some other way.

"So much for our dinner date, huh?" she asked me, looking out to the town.

My eyes went wide briefly as I stared at her. "Oh shoot, Starlight, I-"

The mare laughed. "It's fine. I forgot too. Actually, I think this helped just as much as a dinner date, maybe even more."

"Do you wanna reschedule?"

"If it's okay with you."

"Of course it is," I told her, taking another sip, "though, I think we should pick a date after the hangover."

"Planning ahead, I see."

"It'll take more than cider to make sure I don't," I chuckled. Starlight giggled along, agreeing with my words.

But then the unicorn's smile started to fade as she seemed to find herself thinking about something, or her face indicated it. I had plenty of time to read facial expressions, but Starlight's were always more complex.

"Is everything okay?" I asked her with concern in my tone.

"Yeah, everything's fine, just...thinking. Well, trying to."

I wasn't sure what to ask her, so I kept looking out at Ponyville, but my eyes found themselves wandering up to Canterlot.

What were the princesses doing right now? Was Celestia signing parchment and scrolls, while her sister was watching over the night and those who honored it?

"The day will come when she will know the truth."

I found myself playing Luna's words in my head like a record on a loop. I spent days hoping and trying to make sure that day was far, far away.

But what would that do? Where would that get us? All I would be doing is both delaying the inevitable and possibly making it hurt more after all that time. I didn't want her to hurt, but I didn't want to lie.

"Sooner or later, she will understand."

She would. I know that. But how long would it take for her to understand?

I sighed. Maybe it was the cider influencing me, but I knew there was no way I would be able to keep it hidden forever. It would only hurt us both.

I had to tell her.

"Starlight, I-"

I couldn't get the words out before her lips were pressing against mine, one of her hooves gently caressing my right cheek. Her kiss was sloppy, but firm at the same time. I found myself slightly taken aback, unsure of how to process it.

And then, in a sudden burst, I remembered what I missed.

I fell in love with her.

Those were the words I told myself not too long ago, and emotion I felt so, so long ago—but I still feel now.

Letting my feelings take hold, I leaned into her kiss, pressing my lips back against hers, taking in the sensation of them: how soft they were, how they tasted. They smelled of roses and cider, but I couldn't help but love it. She moaned, and I smiled.

Then, in a flash of light, we were in her bedroom, on her bed—and I was on top of her.

"Please," she whispered, brushing her a hoof against my chest and the other against my cheek as she looked up at me with those pearly blue eyes of hers.

How could I ever have said no to a beautiful face like that?

When I Even Made You Quiver

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The bedroom door was locked, the window was blinded, and a soundproof spell was cast around the entire room, all just to make sure nopony could ruin this one, single moment.

The bed was creaking with the sound of us adjusting our bodies as I lay on top of Starlight, her legs wrapped around my body, as I kissed her tenderly on the lips, before giving attention to her neck and dealing blow after never-ending, ticklish kiss against it, feeling it vibrate with every moan she made, every gasp she let out.

I gently caressed the sides of her body, making Starlight shiver from the contact. The tips of my hooves traced themselves up and down her sides, running along her hips, and then back up again. I let one hoof continue to do so while my other ran through her mane. Its silky, soft feeling was welcoming and addictive.

Eventually, my hoof met with her horn. For a while, I was curious to know just how sensitive unicorn horns were. I wonder if...

With a single, quick trace from the base to the tip of her horn with my hoof, Starlight let out a pleasured gasp, pulling away from my lips and looking at me in surprise; even she hadn't expected to feel that.

"Did you just...?"

"Mm-hmm," I mumbled. "How did that feel?"

"Good," she hesitated to say, blushing profusely.

"Do you want me to do it again?"

"...Yes please."

Starlight huddled against me again, sensually nibbling my neck, while I went back to her horn with my hoof closest to it; my other hoof continued to tease her at her side. After a moment, I started to touch her horn again, and instantly Starlight clenched her eyes shut just a bit, stifling a moan. I let out my own moan once the mare started giving attention to a certain part of my neck, and she knew what her target was now.

A few short minutes passed between the both of us, keeping a steady pace as we kept this pattern. But eventually, I wanted to do much more than this. I flattened my hoof against her horn, making sure that the bottom was flat against it, and started gently rubbing her horn. I felt Starlight tense up, her legs tightening around my waist as her brain became wracked with pleasure.

Starlight's horn started to glow for just a second, sending off a harmless burst of magic into the air. She grunted and moaned as I continued to rub her delicate horn.

And in my drunken stupor, I grew even more curious, enough to try out something else. I knew some ponies could find pleasure in it, but what about her?

"Hold on," I whispered to her as I carefully pushed her off my neck, "don't move."

"Why? Is everything alri-gahh!" Her words were caught up in her throat as I moved up and gave her horn a firm lick, from bottom to top.

The frail unicorn's left leg released its grip on me and twitched, repeatedly patting the bed beneath it. Starlight pushed herself against me and let out a deep moan into my chest. Her forehooves pushed against my chest as if trying to push me away, only she wasn't actively trying to, while trying to keep her head level just enough for me to lick it again. It was such an awkward pose, anyone watching would have found it funny, perhaps.

But after just a few licks, I put her horn into my mouth, sucking on it like it was candy, and the mare trembled with every sensation, her eyes clenched tightly shut, and her breaths became short and erratic.

"Don't...Don't stop..." she begged quietly, and I insisted on following through.

I kept her horn in my mouth, letting my tongue run all over its curves and edges, brush the tip, and run up and down. It was torture for Starlight—sweet, blissful, sexual torture, and I continued to torture her this way for just a couple of minutes. She moaned every now and again, quietly, while laughing as if the feeling tickled too, and it probably did, to a point.

The pressure mounted in Starlight's brain and her body—I could tell just from the way her body began to tense up, and the way her legs, once again around me, began to tighten their grip.

"I...something's...it feels like I..." Starlight tried to get the words out, but her mind was far too occupied to even form a proper sentence.

I wanted to ask her what it felt like, but I didn't want to ruin this for her, so I kept my mouth shut and locked onto her horn. It wasn't until a few moments later that I began to feel her horn heat up just a bit, not enough to pull me away, but enough for me to notice, and I knew she was getting close. I also knew that some unicorns were stimulated from contact with their horns.

Who knew that Starlight was one of those unicorns?

She moaned and panted faster, her legs getting tired and falling beside me, though one started to kick the bed softly. Starlight's body shook, her voice begging and begging and...

Suddenly, with a shaky cry, Starlight's horn shot a flare-like burst of energy into the air; I barely got free from her horn before it did so, and I watched the brief light show going on above me, all while Starlight had what seemed to be an orgasm of the mind.

A horngasm—or did that term already exist?

The unicorn cried with pleasure for several moments, before eventually falling back to the bed, exhausted.

"You okay?" I asked her, not expecting to get a straight answer, which was why I asked her with a humored grin.

Starlight's face was red, her legs still only slightly twitchy, but I could see it in her eyes that she wanted more. She pushed herself back up just enough to kiss me again, brushing my cheek again.

"Please, please, please, please, please," she whispered softly into my ear. "Inside, just..."

I knew exactly what she was asking. "Are you sure?"

"Yessss..." she lingered, laying on her back once again, put placing her hooves back on my chest.

I did the same thing with my hooves, rubbing her chest gently and slowly. Starlight shivered again, her mouth hanging open as it to let out another moan, but nothing but an erotic sigh came out. She held my arms and guided them along.

After the short moment of foreplay, I pulled a single hoof away and held my shaft, aiming it at her wet entrance and rubbing against it. The two of us moaned from the sensation, while Starlight whined from me teasing her once again. Her eyes looked at me, pleading to get what she begged for.

I laid back down on top of her, not moving my hoof from myself, and began to run my other free hoof through her mane again, now ruffled and undone, before touching her face again.

I stared into her eyes, as if in disbelief at how striking they were, and she stared back like she thought the same. The air was filled with silent tension.

Then slowly, I started to push myself into her, the both of us shuddering from the sensation, even laughing through the shudders, until I was all the way in. Starlight let out a little gasp, almost like she choked on the air.

"You okay?" I mouthed. She nodded with a somewhat nervous smile, hidden behind a deep blush. Her breathing was deep, but still erratic.

I kissed her again just to calm her. Her breaths quickly became more relaxed, but not by so much. After a few seconds, she gave me the cue with a nod of her head and one of her hooves motioning against my body. With that, I started to move my body, my shaft pulling out and then pushing back in.

Starlight stifled a few moans when I softly slammed myself back into her the first time—then the second time, and the third. When I slammed into her harder, her throat emitted a cute squeak that echoed throughout the room.

Music to my ears.

I started moving faster, pushing harder, and the mare was starting to lose her focus, mumbling gibberish and moaning without holding back. She groaned, struggling to keep her voice down.

Eventually, I was moving faster than I was pushing hard. Using my hooves, I pushed myself up until I was sitting on my hind knees, and lifted Starlight's legs until they were behind my arms, and then I placed my hooves on her sides and continued to move.

All just to see the sight before me: Starlight's body moving back and forth across a creaking bed, her legs up in the air, and me holding her firmly as I pounder into her—her face a deep red. Her hooves tried to touch my chest again, but it was out of reach. She whined again, but not because of that.

Starlight moaned my name. "I'm getting close..."

"Me too," I mouthed through gasps, the sensation starting to build up in me as well. But I was focused on Starlight's pleasure first.

Without stopping my thrusts, I licked one of my hooves and guided it down to her clit, rubbing it carefully, but fast. Immediately, Starlight's moaned increase in volume and strength, and her own hooves were left gripping the sheets, the pillows, even trying to claw at the bed frame behind her. Her eyes were once again shut tight as she tried to hold it in, like she was thinking, "Not yet, not yet, not yet...!"

But in a matter of moments, her body fails her thoughts, and her cries become shaky and tearful with pleasure as her orgasm hits her like a freight train, her legs twitching and her horn once again bursting with harmless magic, turning the room into a fireworks display. Her moans become gasps as she tries to catch her breath, only to turn into further moans. She essentially becomes putty on the bed as her legs stop twitching, falling limp against my sides, and her eyes become crossed for a moment.

I slowed down just a bit, but as I felt my own orgasm approaching, I didn't stop thrusting, pounding into Starlight with all the strength I had, biting my lips and anticipating it.

"S-Starlight...!" I softly cried, my voice so shaky it sounded like laughter.

With the mention of her name, my dam burst, and I felt myself releasing myself into her body, over and over again, coating her insides with white, hot essence. Taking me by surprise, Starlight grabbed me and pulled me down, just to look into my eyes.

I would never get tired of seeing those eyes.

After I felt the last spurt from me, I collapsed onto Starlight's body, but just enough for me to kiss her all over again, letting our tongues run wild against one another. The unicorn moaned with gratitude,

"I love you," she whispered.

"I love you too."

It wasn't a lie. I loved her. It took me a long time to realize that, but I loved her with all of my heart. Nothing would ever change that.

I pulled away to ask her, "Should we clean up?"

"No, no, no..." she said softly. "Not yet. I don't wanna move. I just wanna lay here with you."

I laughed quietly. "Okay."

Pulling out of the unicorn—who moaned again at the sudden feeling—I laid down next to her, calmly brushing her mane again and looking between her hair and her eyes. All I could do was just...smile. The only sounds left in the air were the sounds of our breaths—calm, collective, slow, and relaxed.

I just had to kiss her again, just one more time. She didn't object to it.

Soon, Starlight was asleep. I had her locked in my arms, and me locked in hers. The night was calm and quiet.

Perhaps a bit too quiet.

Oh. Right.

With a dim flash of my eyes, the soundproof spell came down, and nature could be heard chirping the night away. The sound put me to sleep soon after, nuzzled against Starlight's face.

Quite a way to end a night.

When The Morning Was Awkward

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The morning shone through the windows, lighting the bedroom with sunshine to start the day off. I didn't open my eyes just yet, but allowed myself to stretch, letting out a moan of satisfaction. I let out a relaxed sigh and open my eyes, trying to adjust to the light change.

"Oh... What did I do last ni-"

It was at that moment, seeing the familiar surroundings of Starlight's room, that I remembered exactly what I did last night.

"Oh." There was simply no other word to describe it, other than just... "OH."

Alcohol + Starlight + sudden realization of love for said mare = ... Yeah.

How could I have explained that any other way?

I looked around the room, trying to let my eyes adjust a bit more, until I heard the sound of snoring—very familiar snoring. Turning around, Starlight still slept on the mattress, a faint smile on her face. One of her ears occasionally flickered as she had what seemed to be a good dream. I couldn't help but smile back.

But I also couldn't help but frown too. Last night—while it was great—was something that shouldn't have happened. We were drunk, intoxicated with cider. It made us do something we likely wouldn't have done otherwise. It was a mistake.

Wasn't it?

I fell in love with her.

Those words came back to me the first time she kissed me. It was one thing I missed, like they told me back at the hospital. But now it was back, and the feeling was still true, but... was last night a bad thing? Did I force her? Did she force me?

Or...

With the sound of a little yawn, I heard Starlight wake up from her slumber, stretching and gasping in her own bit of satisfaction. She rubbed her ear and looked around the room, similar to what I had done. But the moment her eyes fell on me, and the air was silent again.

"Oh. ... Hey."

"Hi there."

Awkward. That was a feeling I haven't felt in forever. It was awkward silence for several seconds.

"I'm, um... I'm gonna go take a shower... now," she said, pausing as her mind raced between a mixture of embarrassment, awkwardness, and perhaps another emotion that I couldn't read quite right.

"Okay," I merely said.

Lifting the blanket off her body, she walked over to the door, opened it, and then stood there for a second. After a moment, she looked back to me and asked, "Um... do you wanna shower with me? I mean, there aren't that many showers in this place, so..."

"Uh... yeah, that's fine," I answered. Even though I was feeling awkward, I was also feeling a tad bit nervous. What for, I wasn't sure. Maybe a part of me would take it the wrong way? Maybe she would take it the wrong way?

But all the way to the shower nearby, that didn't happen. Perhaps it was more of an overreaction than simple nervousness.

Sometimes I hated emotions.

* * * * *

Scratch that—I always hated emotions.

The shower was awkward, drying off was awkward, cleaning the bed sheets was awkward, and now the average breakfast felt awkward. The two of us were trying to casually make small talk, but we were finding it hard to keep the conversation going between either of us. Yesterday, we were talking about this and that, talking to Trixie, and just acting like the usual friends.

But now, there was just a moment of dialogue and then quiet for a few seconds.

Then again, that's usually what happens after you have sex with one of your best friends.

Finally, Starlight delivered the icebreaker:

"Do you think last night was a mistake?"

"Yes. I mean No. I mean... uhm... I don't-"

"I-It's fine," she assured me, "I'm still having trouble deciding that too."

"Well... look at it this way: We were both drunk, and we had our own ideas," I suggested, as somewhat of an attempt to console her.

"But I mean, did I force you or anything or do something you didn't like?"

"No," I shook my head. "Did I... do-"

"No, no, no, no, of course not," she exclaimed. "I liked it, loved it even... Trust me, I would've let you know. And plus, even drunk, I couldn't see you harming a fly, especially after..."

Starlight blushed as she tried to subtly recite what happened last night as an example of how kind I seemed to be, but it only became obvious. And she wasn't wrong, either. I wasn't the kind of pony to be violent or do violent things. I liked the lean and collective way, or in... this case, the slow and gentle route.

"I liked it too," I said to her after a moment of silence, but from there, the air felt stiff.

"So..." Starlight paused as she circled her spoon through her cereal. "... where do we go from here?"

"I don't know. I thought I was gonna be the one asking that question."

We stared back at each other, embarrassed and unsure of how to answer that question back and forth. There was—at this point—one awkward compromise.

"We could... maybe just start fresh? I mean, like... we could try and move on, pretend like it didn't happen, and maybe keep being friends? And if we ever wanted to—you know—be something more, we can take things slowly next time."

I understood what she said, but... "Are you sure?"

I love you.

I love you too.

Those words whispered in my head, and I could tell they were doing the same in Starlight's head too. Her expression became more disappointed, in a sense, but she tried not to show it too much.

"I'm sure. I mean, I wouldn't mind going further if you were okay with it, but... the last thing I want is to push us in a relationship that started with some drunken stupor."

I had to agree with her on that. I loved Starlight dearly... but our minds weren't right last night, and that wouldn't be a healthy way to kick off a relationship—ever.

As much as I was sad, I was also happy that it turned out this way. I was more than willing to wait for the right moment. After all, I waited a long time just to see her again. How much can a little bit longer hurt?

That being said, the morning was still awkward, or at least carried the wind of awkwardness, but overall, Starlight and I were starting to push the night before behind us and get back to being as it was.

After our breakfast was done and over, we continued to talk for just a bit longer, hoping it would help, and it did. Starlight felt much more comfortable talking to me, and I felt the same. Eventually, that 'just a bit longer' turned into a couple of hours. By noon, Starlight suggested a bit of a stroll on the town, and I thought it was a good idea.

We started for the front door. Perhaps some fresh air would help clear our minds a bit mo-

"Starlight!" we heard a shout as we opened the door and saw Trixie standing there, "there you are! Trixie was looking all over for you last night! Where did you go?"

"Oh! Trixie," Starlight began, albeit a bit startled, "I, uh... went to bed last night. Early! I was a little tired."

"And Trixie could ask the same of you," the show mare pointed to me, calling me by name, "where did you go?"

"Same," I answered with a faint shrug. "Cider kinda tuckers me out, you know! Heh."

Though I was calm, Starlight did carry some nervous laughter, and it made Trixie a bit suspicious, if not a tiny bit concerned.

"You two sound more like you had a rough night than a peaceful one," Trixie joked, none the wiser.

"HOW DID YOU KNOW WE HAD SEX?" Starlight blurted out, before covering her mouth immediately after.

Trixie's eyes grew wide, her head recoiling just slightly as she looked at Starlight, but her face then changed into that of disbelief as she realized what Starlight just said.

"Uh..." the mare was speechless.

Then suddenly, Starlight burst out into completely nervous laughter.

"HA HA HA HAHAHAHA—Igottago."

The unicorn then ran back into the castle and shut the door behind her, leaving me outside with Trixie, who still remained speechless, though still a bit surprised from Starlight's spontaneous laughing fit.

"You...? And Star-"

"It's a long story, Trix." That, it was. "Why don't we go out around town for a bit? I think Starlight needs some... time alone."

"I... um... okay," she reluctantly agreed.

Trixie and I then made our way down the steps of the castle's front and started for Ponyville. As we found ourselves walking down the streets of town, Trixie finally gained enough composure to start talking.

"Do you mind explaining?"

"Do you wanna know?"

"A little."

I had the intention of following through—of course, leaving out all the... um... details.

But first, I think I needed some lunch.

When I Took Trixie Out To Lunch

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"Well, that's... um... interesting."

I had just finished telling Trixie about the events that led to last night... well, happening. It wasn't an extremely long story—it was only a minute or two's talk—but it was enough to fill the mare in on what happened and what caused Starlight's outburst earlier.

We were sitting at the Ponyville Cafe, munching on small foods like sandwiches and potato bits with a side of daffodil. Nothing fancy, just a friendly thing.

"Yeah, the morning was a bit awkward," I replied. "I've never woken up next to my best friend after I had sex with them. ... Come to think of it... I haven't exactly had... well, you know, before."

Trixie's eyes grew. "Wait... you mean you were a... virgin?"

The unicorn let out a quiet spurt of laughter. Whether it was at me or just finding it funny, I wasn't entirely sure. It was embarrassing, but slightly—how should I put it—annoying.

"I'm sorry," she smiled as she wiped away a few tears, "that was funnier than Trixie expected."

"Sure it was," I answered dryly, "and I'm assuming you've had sex before?"

"Oh, countless times!" she exclaimed. But I simply stared at her, not buying it one bit. "... Okay, maybe a couple times. But Trixie's definitely done it before. Just the feeling of those stallions on top of me, giving me their long, thick-"

"No," I interrupted her, "I don't need to know that. I know where you were going with it, but that's a bit too much."

"Sorry," she said immediately after, coughing as a way of changing the subject. "Anyway, back to Starlight: Why is she so uptight about what you two did? I mean, everypony does it."

"Yeah, but that's not exactly the point, Trix. Both of us were drunk. We weren't thinking straight, we weren't functioning like normal ponies—I mean, neither of us knew where we were until we saw each other this morning. It was like we were blackout drunk, only... not."

Trixie seemed to understand what I was getting at, but she was still curious about the whole subject.

"Do either of you plan to... tie the knot? Go further with it?"

"Not like this," I told her somewhat sternly. "I love Starlight. I really do, and I think she feels the same way. But neither of us want to start a relationship over something that was completely out of our control."

"So you do plan to go further at some point in the future?"

I shrugged a bit. "I mean, if she's okay with it. If that day comes, I want both of us to be sober and aware of what the hay we're doing. Until then, we're just gonna... wait."

I took a final bite of my sandwich, trying to avoid eye contact, simply because I didn't know what else to say at this point. With a sigh, I scrunched my lips and turned back to the mare.

"You know, I don't even think she knows that I truly love her," I began. "I mean, yeah, I said it last night afterwards, but we were both drunk. Maybe she either didn't remember or didn't think I was being so serious. But the problem with that is that I am serious when I say that I love Starlight. I'd do anything to make her happy. But now I'm just afraid of... well... bucking it all up."

Another sigh left my lips as I finished spilling my brief burst of emotion out to Trixie, who looked at me with concern.

"Why don't you just tell her?" she asked. "I mean, both of you aren't drunk right now. Maybe she'll feel the same way sober?"

"I guess I'm just afraid of what'll happen right after I tell her."

"What do you think will happen?"

"I... I don't know. Maybe that's why I'm afraid."

My head fell to the table, and I let out a quiet groan. It was bad enough that my head still hurt a bit from the cider, but now I had this on my mind. That was the one thing I hated about my memories all coming back to me: I had to worry about the emotion I used to have. I missed being just disappointed or happy. Now I was sad, angry, love-struck, lustful, on and on and-

My thoughts were interrupted when I felt a hoof touch my own. When I looked up, I saw Trixie sitting there, looking at me with a concerned but caring expression, her hoof sitting peacefully over mine.

"You and I both know Starlight in and out. I might not know her as much as you do, but I know that whatever happens, she will be happy—no matter what."

I smiled, but at the same time, I groaned. "You sound like Princess Luna."

Interestingly, Trixie wasn't annoyed at my reaction, but curious. "Why? What did Princess Luna do?"

"It's a long story. Trust me, I plan on telling it to everyone, but not for a little while."

"Hmm... you've become a very mysterious pony ever since you came back."

"Really? I haven't noticed," I told her sarcastically, earning a brief laugh from her, as well as a roll of her eyes.

Eventually, the bill for our meal came along, and Trixie paid it out of her own pockets. Satchel. Wherever those bits came from. As soon as it was paid, the two of us left the cafe and started back to the castle.

"Thank you for the lunch, by the way," I thanked her. "It really helped, to be honest."

"Not a problem," Trixie smirked. "Even Trixie knows how much a big, buff stallion needs his protein after such an exhausting night."

"Don't even go there."

"Why, go where?" she asked with an innocent tone, the smirk never fading from her face.

"Not gonna say it."

"Say what?"

"The thing you're trying to make me say! I'm not falling for it, Lulamoon."

"Trixie has no idea what you're talking about~!"

I couldn't help but laugh at our own exchange. "Sometimes, I can't help but hate you."

"That's what they all say," she said in a sultry tone, "and yet they're always coming back for more."

"Are you trying to seduce me?"

"You tell me, Mr. I-See-All."

I hummed, pretending to think for a few seconds. "Yes."

"... A little bit."

"Pfft, ha!" I couldn't help but laugh. I put an arm around Trixie as we walked. "Trixie, please never change."

"Wouldn't change for the world."

When It Wasn't You

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The hallways of the great Library became so familiar to me now.

By now, I knew where every section stood in all four corners of the massive room—and it was still collecting books, many of them appearing by the second, all of them of different events from different parts of the universe. Each time a book appeared, someone's or something's story was finally finished and published here. There were books I never heard of before, and likely never existed anywhere in Equestria or beyond.

I've still yet to read all of them. There were millions.

But even then, I had no intentions of reading any books other than ones that had to do with either time travel or teleportation. Every book on the subject I read, analyzed, and read again. I tried to find books that would allow me to cast spells without the use of a horn. At this point in time, there was only one book—but it existed in a language or dialect that only unicorns could properly understand.

In a brief fit of frustration, I slammed my hooves on a nearby shelf, making the books tremble just a bit. I sighed to myself.

"This is hopeless," I said to nopony in particular. "How am I gonna get home?"

But it wasn't just that one question I kept asking myself. What are they doing? Are they still looking for me? Have they given up?

Do they still care?

The last question was something I rarely asked myself. "Of course they care. Those smiles, those laughs, the emotion... that wasn't fake. That was all real. They have to care. They have to still be looking for me."

With another sigh, I started walking again, down the halls, hoping that another book would pop out of thin air and that one would be the one to get me home. Of course, there's still the problem with the whole 'not-a-unicorn' thing. Would I ever be able to tackle that? Was that even possible?

It had to be. There is no way I would be here forever.

I kept walking down the halls, occasionally glancing at the books on both sides. Many of them were books about cooking or anatomies or the extinction of great species of animals on other worlds. At first, I was fascinated by it all, but it would get boring after some time—even if it was the only way to keep me sane.

But as I continued down further, a single section caught my eye. 'Equis', written in big, bold words at the top. It was already familiar to me. It contained the history of every pony who ever lived up to this moment on the planet and every event that ever happened up to this moment. I've read a few of the books: Hoofertiti, the Great Flood of Stallion's Point. History always seemed to help.

However, the further down I went, the events and the ponies became more and more modern. Soon enough, it wasn't famous historical figures from hundreds of years ago. It was Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Discord, Starswirl The Bearded... Twilight.

I read her book a long time ago. I didn't think any of this was real, but I grew curious. I wanted to know. And yet, anything I read, and the dome would send me to the exact moment it happened. When it mentioned Twilight getting her cutie mark, all I had to do was focus on the words, and the dome would take me to that exact moment. The way she described it to me all those years ago, I watched it happen in motion.

The day of the Royal Wedding, when Queen Chrysalis tried to hurt Celestia. It even showed the moment I nearly got myself killed by deflecting the first shot—and went flying across the room as a result. It hurt, even just from watching it.

Lord Tirek... that was such a long time ago, like the rest, and yet so far. I watched it play back in front of me, when Twilight tried to fight Tirek the first time and failed, and when she and the rest defeated him the second time. And when the Castle of Friendship rose from the ground for the very first time—I couldn't believe it.

She died at the age of 4,083, long after I disappeared. Time moved so much faster outside the dome than inside. Several years passed every hour, and every day could be centuries. Her book appeared not long after I first arrived. All of their books did.

Even Starlight's.

I read her book after Twilight's. It was awful to say it like that, because it makes it sound like I didn't read the others at all, like I only cared about her. But that wasn't the case at all. Twilight's and Starlight's books were the main priorities for me, because I hoped that if I read them, I would find out that at one point, they got me out of here, and I could see them again.

But it wasn't long before I came to the realization of the books in general. Like I said, every time a book appeared, a story came to an end somewhere in the universe.

That meant Twilight and Starlight both passed on—and I was still here.

They never found me.

I spent hours reading Starlight's book once, just like I did with Twilight's. The pages were crisp, like they had just been printed or pressed out, and they still were after all this time.

"Starlight Aurora Glimmer was born in the village of Arroyo's Plight, which—despite its unfortunate name—was one of the more prosperous and kind-spirited towns in all of Equestria."

Arroyo's Plight. I had never been there, but I read of it. It got its name from... well, anyway...

I skipped several pages, just like I had done before, looking to see if there was a moment that mentioned me finally being free.

So familiar.

But there was no page that mentioned it. No matter how many times I checked, there was nothing that ever told me I was freed one day. However, there was one page that caught my eye, one that didn't catch it before. 'Isolation.'

"What does that mean?" I asked the book, but the only answer was simply to just... read it.

It mentioned me at one point—mentioned the incident in the basement. The day I disappeared, only it wasn't the day I disappeared.

"After the stallion in question vanished and the search parties were eventually called off, Starlight Glimmer spent ten days locked in her room, reading seventeen different books and attempting twenty three different variants of her time travel spell 'Futurus Incarnis,' in hopes that she would be successful in returning him to Equestria. However, all attempts failed and time began to pass, with no step closer to success.

"At one point, Starlight Glimmer fell into a heated argument against her teacher, Twilight Sparkle. Despite Twilight Sparkle's attempts to help or console her, Starlight Glimmer eventually broke all ties between her teacher, and soon after, suffered a mental breakdown."

...Mental breakdown? No. How could I have missed this? What were they arguing about? What did she do?

Suddenly, the entirety of the dome shifted and lurched about. I looked up to the ceiling and saw stars and galaxies become lines and dashes spanning the entire ceiling. We were moving at light speed!

"It's showing me," I said to myself in realization. Dropping the book, I unfurled my wings and flew as fast as I could to any one of the doors. What would be twenty minutes of walking and ten minutes of running was a mere minute of flying at my fastest speed.

As soon as I reached the double doors, I opened them wide and flew through the doorway, trying to observe my surroundings.

I was in Ponyville, downtown. The dome was slowly making its way through the streets, going through several buildings and allowing me to see the insides—even as far as seeing the material the houses were made of.

None of it was real. It was all just a magically simulated representation of every face, every building, every speck of dirt on the ground, just enough to show me what I read.

The dome's size seemed to shrink as it closed in on a particular building—my house. I expected it to be abandoned or boarded up or even demolished, and yet it was pristine and clean, like someone was living in it.

I knew who was.

The dome phased into the house, on the first floor. The interior looked vastly different from what I remembered it to be. Book shelves were moved around, the furniture was in a different spot, even the lighting was different. The celestial vehicle lurched again as it focused to another part of the house, the one part that stayed the same: the library.

Starlight sat at a desk, staring at a parchment of paper that was written seemingly halfway. Her face was tired, and her mane, flat without a single resemblance of a curve, seemed to have a single or couple gray strands. She was stressed. So, so stressed.

"Starlight..." I whispered, hoping she would hear it. But she didn't even turn in my direction, but instead, turned to the door as she heard it open. I looked over to see who it was.

"Twilight...?" I asked.

"What?" Starlight sighed, as if annoyed by Twilight's presence. I found myself looking at Starlight, as if a bit shocked by her expression. Even Twilight herself looked hurt, but ultimately... not surprised.

Twilight sighed. "Starlight... you can't keep doing this."

"Yes I can," Starlight said firmly, "and I will. I know I'm close, I have to be. I just have to keep looking."

"You've been saying that for three years."

Three years? It's been that long...?

"At least it shows how much I care," Starlight retorted. "At least I'm not the one who called off the search after a month."

"Everyone was looking for him. We all were."

"Well, you obviously didn't care enough to keep looking. So much for the Princess of Friendship."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Starlight had gotten past the feeling of bitterness; she was so kind after she was reformed. She always had a smile on her face and did whatever she could to please Twilight, just to make her smile back.

Did... Did I cause this?

"Listen to yourself," Twilight stated sternly, "This isn't you, Starlight. This whole 'shuttering-yourself-at-home' thing isn't you. We're your friends. We want to help you. I can't help but feel like you're... destroying yourself."

Starlight stared at the wall, her left eye giving off a very, very faint twitch.

"Friends?" she scoffed in disbelief. "You still think after everything you have done all this time, that I'm still your friend? That you deserve to be called my friend?"

The unicorn got up from the chair she sat in and advanced towards Twilight. I could see the anger beginning to build in Starlight, her eyes looking like they were ready to glow a burning red.

"No," she whispered, "friends don't give up on looking for their missing friends after a single month. Friends don't decide to give up looking for their friends altogether. Friends don't decide to stop trying to bring them back from whatever it is they got them stuck in. And FRIENDS don't have to be an Element of Harmony to be important!"

"What are you saying?" Twilight nearly barked back, as if growing irritated. "Do you think I don't care about-"

"Him? That's exactly what I'm saying! He goes missing because of our buck-up, and you don't bother putting more time into finding him?! Finding your best friend that you've known since Nightmare Moon?! I've been spending three bucking years trying to get him back! Oh, but the other Elements of Harmony, the moment they go missing, you don't stop until they're safe and sound, but you give up on your other non-Element friend after four weeks. If I went missing, would you ever give two bucks about me?! Huh?!"

"Stop it!" Twilight yelled. "Just stop it!"

"Oh, did I hit a nerve there, Princess? Did I shatter your perfect little bubble of reality?"

"Please," I pleaded. "... Just stop." I hoped they would hear me. But they couldn't.

And then Twilight broke. Her eyes were angry, her horn glowed a redder shade of purple, and yet, when she spoke, she didn't scream—at least, not straight away.

"And what makes you so perfect?! Last I remembered, you were the one who enslaved an entire village by stealing everypony's cutie mark and making them feel useless, and then you went back in time to stop any of us from being friends, so much that you reduced Equestria to a wasteland! You killed everyone because you were selfish! Because you couldn't just bother to move the buck on and get a grip over a damn cutie mark! You don't care about anypony but yourself! So how DARE you think I could be any worse than you-"

The smack echoed around the room—echoed throughout the dome, and probably even echoed through the halls of the Library itself.

Twilight's right cheek was red and almost immediately showing signs of bruising. Her eyes were almost pinpricks, staring endlessly in shock, before her face became blank. She raised a hoof to gently touch the spot where Starlight hit her.

"Get. Out." Starlight said coldly. "And don't come back."

The alicorn said nothing—didn't bother to even give her student a single glance. Instead, she did exactly as Starlight commanded and walked to the door. Before she left, however, she said one more thing.

"He's gone, Starlight. He's gone and he's never coming back. We all accepted it. The sooner you do, the better."

Twilight left the room, her hoofsteps echoing as she went down the stairs.

I could hear myself swallow the saliva in my throat. That was how quiet it was. My eyes darted to Starlight, who simply looked at the now-empty doorway, as if she saw a ghost, but was unfazed by it. She just stared and stared at nothing but the wall, and I listened to the sounds of Twilight's hoofsteps.

"Twilight, wait..." I said, but I cursed myself. She couldn't hear me.

The door slammed shut downstairs.

And with that, Starlight screeched the loudest I had ever heard her screech in her life. It was a loud, painful scream that lasted for seconds. When she was done, she merely just... broke.

She started to take parchments of paper and rip them into pieces. She grabbed the papers and the books on the desk and shoved them as hard as she could—the papers flying and the books slamming into the wall; she grabbed books from the shelves and threw them at the wall, before taking the bookshelves and shoving them to the floor, causing a loud bang that echoed through the now empty house.

With every second that ticked by, her screams turned into cries: heartbroken, angry cries that only she could hear—that only I could hear—as she trashed the library, throwing books at the walls and ripping up parchments that she had written over the last three years.

Then she screamed my name... rather... she cried my name.

"WHERE DID YOU GO?" she shouted. "WHAT DID I DO?"

Starlight fell to her knees and continued to bawl, gasping for air to cry more. Her hooves covered her eyes as the tears fell freely down her face. Her body was shaking.

Mine shook too.

"I'm right here," I whispered.

"WHERE ARE YOU?"

"I'm right here," I said, louder.

"WHERE ARE YOU?" Starlight screamed my name again.

"I'm right here, Starlight," I answered her pleas, with tears forming in my eyes. "I'm right next to you. Just look at me." My voice was shaky and devoid of clarity.

The unicorn screamed again and proceed to slam her fist into the desk, screaming the same questions over and over again, letting the tears fall down with no holding back.

"Please stop," I begged her.

She screamed again, slamming the desk harder.

"Just stop." My voice was more composed, but still shaky.

All Starlight did was keep hitting the furniture—keep harming herself, begging me to just 'come home'... 'come back.'

She punched the wall again and again, screaming, "WHY?" over and over again.

Then her hoof went through the wall.

"STOP IT!"

My voice echoed throughout the dome, playing over and over again as it faded.

And Starlight froze, staring at the hole that she made in the wall. Her body was shaking, her breath short, but not labored. She turned her head and stared in my direction.

It was like she was looking right at me.

"Star-"

I felt something touch my shoulder, and I turned around, startled, but a hoof gently touched my bottom lip before I could even open my mouth.

"Shh. Just wake up."

"Lu..."

"...na?"

Suddenly, I was awake, lying in my bed, staring at the ceiling. It was still the middle of the night, and I was up.

Was that...?

"You're troubled, aren't you?" I heard a voice say to me, and I turned to the voice with a fearful gasp, but after I saw who the figure was, I was a bit more relaxed—though, it wasn't to say that I was relaxed entirely.

Princess Luna walked over from my open bedroom window, shutting it behind her, and carrying a comforting and warm smile on her face, though even that smile was plagued with concern.

I nodded to her hesitantly, answering her question. "What time is it?"

"One o'clock. I'd say more on the dot."

"Oh."

Luna looked at me again, never removing her smile, and simply walked to the door, opening it and inviting me downstairs.

"Why don't we have some tea?"

I laughed—quietly. But even she could tell I was trying to hold the tears back.

When Luna Counselled Me

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"How long have these dreams been haunting you?"

"A couple of days now. I didn't say anything because... I hoped they would go away on their own."

"And?"

"It's like they're getting worse."

For the past thirty minutes, Luna and I had been sitting down at the kitchen table, casually sipping from our cups of freshly brewed tea. While the princess of the night was more interested in helping me talk about my recent night terrors, she couldn't help but find herself addicted to the taste of her drink. It made the talks just a bit more comforting.

"Are they different every night?" she asked me. "Or is it the same dream?"

"It varies, but it's usually the same dream. Twilight and Starlight screaming at each other, getting in each other's face like that... Starlight hitting her... To think it all happened because I just disappeared."

"But now it no longer happened," she stated, "because you're home now. You coming back prevented that moment from ever having happened."

"I know that," I said softly, "but it's all I can ever think about. Their friendship just... collapsed after I was gone, all of them. Maybe that's why I'm having them? Because I caused it? Or maybe because I'm just afraid something else will cause it, like me being back triggered something else and it's gonna get them to..."

I closed my eyes, and all I could see was the same scene again. I sighed with slight frustration, apologizing to Luna in the process, but she insisted that me talking about my emotions was a good thing. And it was, I believed her.

"You care so much about your friends that you are not willing to see their relationships come apart due to a simple mishap."

I laughed to myself, joking, "A 'simple mishap' that led to probably the biggest missing pony's search in Equestria's history."

Luna grimaced. "Right." However, she agreed entirely. "But even then, the feeling you share for them is mutual. They were not willing to simply let you perish. And Starlight Glimmer, as you said, spent three years trying to find the adequate spell necessary to ensure your return."

"But... even that wasn't enough. Apparently, Twilight called off the search a month later, Starlight distanced herself from everyone, and worked alone. And, well—you know the rest."

"Twilight is an influential figure, as well as one of the most powerful beings in Equestria besides Princess Cadance, my sister and I. But even she knows when efforts reveal nothing but failure."

I nodded in agreement. I was happy that Twilight searched for me, and for so long... but in the end, it was the right decision to call it off. But Starlight...

"Her efforts merely presented her passion for your well being."

I smiled faintly, sipping my tea. "And she cared about me so much, she spent the rest of her life wondering where I went—even to her last breath."

The thought killed any remnant of the smile I had, and I started to feel depressed. I sighed again, a mixture of slight midnight fatigue and emotional trauma setting in.

"It may not happen now... but it still happened, at least in some form."

"And so you're afraid of watching their relationship crumble, whether or not you were saved?"

"Yeah. Seeing them right now... that's how I wanna remember them... not like that."

I looked at Luna, hoping for a genuine answer to this problem, because right now—even with all of the knowledge in the universe—I didn't have one.

And with patience and a few moments of time, the princess heeded my unspoken request, holding a hoof out to rest on mine.

"Tell them. Tell them how you feel, tell them what you saw. Don't hold your emotions back. Let them know, but do not speak it all at once. As I have said for Starlight Glimmer—they will both understand... sooner or later."

"But how long will it take for them to understand?"

"Those are the questions that only you can answer for yourself, or rather, shape."

It made sense. She was merely the princess of the night, not of time—though that made what I had to do a bit more unnerving.

Luna levitated her now-empty cup and rinsed it out in the sink.

"You should return to bed now," she said, "for the roosters will be calling you soon."

I looked at the clock. "It's only past one-thirty."

"Time moves faster than you think."

"It used to be like that. Ever since I got back, it feels slower and slower."

"Welcome back to the real world, my little pony."

Admittedly, I laughed, sipping the rest of my tea and gulping it down as soon as it was warm enough. With a quenched sigh, I looked at the kettle of tea, still mostly full on the counter.

"Do you wanna bring the rest of this back? I probably won't finish it on my own, and Clanks doesn't exactly drink... or eat... or sleep."

But Luna shook her head. "I would advise that you keep it for your talks with Starlight Glimmer and Twilight Sparkle."

"Should I talk to them as soon as possible?"

"I recommend it."

Glancing at the steel kettle, I started to think about the conversation that I was going to have. I thought about the times, whether or not I should talk to them simultaneously or one then the other, and just how they're going to react. I think that's what made me just a bit nervous.

But like Luna said, they would understand.

And now Starlight had two things she needed to understand at least at some point. Mmmngh.

I grabbed the kettle and put it in the fridge, letting it cool down and stay fresh enough for later today. As soon as I closed the fridge door, I went back over to the table and brought Luna in for a well needed hug.

"Thank you," I told her. "I know I don't say that much... but thank you, Luna."

"'tis my pleasure."

Saying our goodbyes, Luna left in a flash of light, and I was left to push the table chairs in and return to bed. For the rest of the night, if I saw the scene approaching, I would whisk it away by remembering another moment: 'Redemption.'

To think it only took twenty years.

When You Saw What I Saw

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The morning came peacefully, with the roosters greeting the townsfolk and Ponyville coming to life again.

I sat at the kitchen table again, having made myself another small breakfast meal. How could anyone ever get tired of toast?

Clanks was standing near, listening to the radio and whatever music that was playing. But after a few minutes of generic tunes, the robot turned off the radio and went over to the table, sitting opposite of me.

"I heard you were up last night," he looked at me with concern. "Was everything okay?"

After swallowing a piece, I answered, "Yeah. Everything... well, not exactly. I've been having nightmares for the past few days."

"What kind of nightmares?"

Downing my glass of orange juice, I hesitated to tell him, wondering if he should know. But Clanks was my friend: He had every right to know as the rest.

"A while back, when I was still freshly trapped in the Library... I found Starlight's book. There was this one section that I hadn't read before, or better yet, I haven't even noticed it. 'Isolation.' Basically, for the first three years after I vanished, Starlight was trying to find some way to bring me back."

"I assume with no success?"

I nodded. "It got so bad that she decided to cut herself off from everyone. Twilight tried to intervene and... well, they had a fight, and Twilight just kinda gave up on her. Starlight had a breakdown. This was one of the few things that led to me wanting to wipe my memory. It was just that bad."

"I'm sorry that you had to experience that."

"Yeah... But I guess the bright side of it all is that it'll no longer happen. It all happened because I disappeared, but now that I came back three years early..."

"They'll never fight."

"Oh... they'll fight, at least at one point from now. But I'm hoping that it'll never get to the point that I saw."

"And the figure you were talking to last night... Princess Luna?"

"She's been watching me ever since Celestia told her. We talked for a half hour, had some tea, and then she left. She told me I should tell both of them what I saw."

"Do you plan on doing that?"

"Yeah," I answered, "in about ten minutes."

"Should I leave?"

I shook my head. "No, no, you don't have to leave. You can read something in the library, if you want. This is just something I need to talk them about on my own."

Clanks nodded, but then recoiled slightly. "If I remember correctly, I am supposed to visit Rarity today and help her with twenty dress designs."

"Twenty? Wow. When does she need you?"

"Not for another two hours. But I am more than glad to leave early for you and Rarity."

"If it's okay with you," I smiled.

"It is more than fine."

Grinning, I grew curious. "Has Twilight been helping you become more intelligent?"

"Indeed. Quite a lot, actually. Both her and Starlight have been helping my processing power increase tenfold, intelligence capacity increase twentyfold, and my language comprehension increase by nearly one-hundredfold."

"So you're basically turning into Twilight if she was a robot?"

"In a sense... yes."

I laughed at his answer, sighing with a happy shake of my head. "All that time, and all those books, and I could never make you any better than I wanted to."

"You made me who I was with what you had," he remarked. "That's what matters. You made me exist with the words you've read and the knowledge you've learned. To me, you are the most important being to exist in my life. Never forget that."

I grinned again. "Thanks, Clanks."

"You're welcome. Well, they should be arriving here soon, so I should head to Rarity's and assist her with her dresses."

"Have fun."

"Perhaps it might be fun."

With another subtle laugh from me, Clanks and I parted, and he shut the door behind me. I sighed, feeling the nervousness grow in the pit of my stomach, but I was ultimately able to control it.

The clock read twelve-eighteen. Only a couple of minutes had passed, but for all I knew, they would be here sooner than I expected. I decided to clean off the table, wash my dirty dish, and heat up the tea from last night.

As I did so, the thoughts of what Luna said both last night and several nights ago rang in my head. 'They will both understand.' Again, like I did before, I agreed with her words, but I couldn't help but keep being nervous. I hated that word: nervous. I used it so much, I started to question if there were moments where it was never even needed. Was it even needed now?

Turning off the oven as soon as the tea was boiling hot again, I walked over to one of the front windows and peeked out, wondering if they were nearby, and sure enough, I was right. A few houses away, Starlight and Twilight were walking side-by-side, chatting away about something that was more than out of earshot.

But they were happy: smiling, giggling, laughing—not like student and teacher, but like best friends. Starlight still carried that awkward look whenever she was around the townsfolk, the guilt of who she used to be still haunting her, but she was getting better—feeling better. Maybe it was because Twilight was right there with her. Even so, she was still herself and starting to show it more often.

I hoped she would stay that way.

Before they got near the door, I went back to the kitchen and placed the now-cool kettle on the table, and setting down three different cups. Whether they wanted to take this to the living room or keep the conversation here, it was up to-

*knock knock knock*

-them.

"Okay," I whispered to myself, "No going back... It's open!"

A second later, the door clicked open and the two mares became visible. I could hear Twilight call my name. I walked in with a smile on my face.

"You came," I said with a gleeful tone as I hugged Twilight. "I didn't think you'd be able to make it."

"I had a couple things on my schedule, but I was able to squeeze this in."

"And I've been... busy," Starlight hesitated, "doing tests on the spell again."

"The time travel spell, right?"

"Mm-hmm. I had a couple of troubles here and there, but I think I'm close to performing it without live hosts."

"I thought you already did that a few days ago?" I asked with a smirk, referencing what she said to lead me to the party. Twilight turned to her, a bit confused.

"I couldn't think of anything else to say," Starlight countered sheepishly at the alicorn, before turning back to me. "So... you wanted to talk?"

"Oh, right," I nearly forgot, "Come in, make yourself at home. I just heated up some tea."

"Ooo," Twilight faintly beamed at the hearing of the word 'tea'. "What kind?"

"Peppermint. I thought it would taste a bit rank, but it actually turned out pretty well. It was Luna's choice."

"Wait... Luna? As in Princess Luna?" Starlight was immediately curious. "When did you see her?"

"Uh... last night," I answered her slowly. "That's... kind of why I invited you over here. There's... something I have to tell you. I figured some tea would help with that."

"Why? Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, everything's fine. It's just... hmm... I don't know how to say it."

"We can wait," Twilight told me kindly. "We did just get here, after all."

"Right..."

So we spent a few minutes having our tea and talking about anything that we could talk about, waiting until I was content with speaking my words. But no matter how many sips, no matter how many times I talked, I never seemed to feel any more ready than I wanted to. I could feel my heart beating in my chest, like it wanted to rip itself out of my body, it was beating so fast.

Eventually, the tea in our cups ran dry, but we weren't wanting to get another fill.

"Do you think you're ready to talk about it now?" Twilight spoke up. She was concerned, but curious.

I closed my eyes for just a moment, and let out a sigh. Even though I couldn't see them, I knew that they were looking at me with worry in their eyes. When I opened my eyes again, I was right.

"I was thinking of all the ways I could tell you what I've been wanting to tell you. But the truth is... I don't think there is any way I could tell you. So I think I'm better off just showing you instead."

With a glow of my eyes, the familiar setting that was my home suddenly warped and contorted into something even more familiar than my house. The endless corridors and bookshelves formed into reality, and the two mares found themselves no longer sitting on a warm wool couch, but instead standing on a cold crystalline floor that seemed to span forever.

"Where... Where are we?" Starlight asked me, baffled.

"A visual recreation of the place I was trapped in. I call it the Library. I'm aware it's not a... creative name, but it was what I called it."

"Wow," Twilight softly exclaimed, "are these all books?"

With a nod, I answered, "Rather, it's an archive—an archive of every event, every figure, and every thing that ever existed in all of creation. From the birth of the universe, to its lonely and cold end. From Nightmare Moon's banishment to her return and reformation. From Discord's petrification to... well, you get the idea."

Both the unicorn and the alicorn found themselves mesmerized by the sheer amount of books that filled the shelves. But what caught their eyes even more was the ceiling: this was the ceiling as I saw it the very moment I became trapped here: big, bright, full of stars and galaxies, clusters, planets... The magic that was the universe.

I teleported us—or rather, reshaped the scene—to the outside of the Library.

"This is just outside. This is the dome, at least how it looked when I first got here."

A moment later, the dome rumbled. Even as a recreation, it caused Twilight and Starlight to stumble, just for a second. Suddenly, a massive comet appeared as if out of thin air, being created layer upon layer.

"Is that a..."

"Comet? It is," I answered for Starlight.

"Starlight... where did I go?"

The familiar sound of my voice caught their attention, only it wasn't me talking. It was me talking. They both looked to the side and saw me standing there. I looked practically the same in every way, only my mane was a bit messier.

"Is that you?"

I nodded. "This was me about two minutes after I woke up. I was confused... a bit afraid... kind of scared. I didn't know where I was or what happened. All I remember is you screaming in pain and then suddenly waking up here."

"Pain...?" And then suddenly, Starlight remembered. "My headache... my migraine... I caused this."

"I don't think that," I responded quickly. "The way I've studied it, I would have ended up here regardless, whether or not you had the migraine in the first place."

But not even my explanation was enough to satisfy her guilt.

"However... that's not why I brought you here."

My eyes glowed again, and the universe stretched as the vision became all the more familiar. The dome settled over Ponyville, and the memories came back fresh in my head.

"This is."

The recreation of myself barged through the doors to watch as the dome closed in on my house once again, like it had all that time ago. Through the front door, down the hallway, and then to the library upstairs. Sitting at the desk...

"That's... me," Starlight paused as she recognized her own self. "When did I end up here? In your house?"

"... About three years after I disappeared."

Her eyes dilated slightly as she stared at me.

"... Three years-?"

The familiar form of what would've been Twilight's future self opened the door. The Twilight I knew watched in surprise as she saw herself. She looked relatively the same, but... not happy.

"Twilight...?" My self said. The two mares were switching back and forth, looking at the me of the past and their selves of a future that no longer existed.

They watched their selves talk, and they recoiled as they saw just how... bitter one was to the other, and vice versa. It was like I could hear them saying in their minds, "This isn't me. I would never talk to Twilight/Starlight like this!" And they were right... now, they were.

The conversation grew heated, and all the two of them could do was just watch as it... happened.

"Friends don't give up on looking for their missing friends after a single month. Friends don't decide to give up looking for their friends altogether. Friends don't decide to stop trying to bring them back from whatever it is they got them stuck in. And FRIENDS don't have to be an Element of Harmony to be important!"

Starlight's eyes were wide with guilt, looking at Twilight. The princess wasn't angry at her, but she saw her... differently.

"Twilight...I-"

"What are you saying?" barked the defunct future Twilight, growing irritated. "Do you think I don't care about-"

"Stop it! Just stop it!"

"Oh, did I hit a nerve there, Princess? Did I shatter your perfect little bubble of reality?"

"Please," My self pleaded. "... Just stop."

It broke their hearts to see me like that, to see me feel so helpless and unable to stop something that was happening right in front of me, and yet so far away. But the scream made Twilight flinch—her own scream.

Even after all these years, hearing that smack still shook me to the core.

But I think Starlight was the one who found herself more shaken than even Twilight. She subconsciously touched her own hoof, the same one she would've slapped Twilight with, even looking at it as if she did it herself.

"Get. Out. And don't come back."

With hesitation, the defunct future Twilight walked to the door and said what she had to say.

"He's gone, Starlight. He's gone and he's never coming back. We all accepted it. The sooner you do, the better."

"Twilight, wait..." my self pleaded, only to get nothing in response. The defunct Twilight left the room, and moments later, the door slammed shut. Twilight only stared, shocked at the words that left her mouth, even if she never truly spoke them. I saw her look at me—the real me. Her face...

Starlight's scream still startled me. I remembered everything she did before she did it. The swipe of the books off the desk, the knocking down of the book shelves... her screaming my name and begging me to come back.

"WHERE DID YOU GO? WHAT DID I DO?"

"I'm right here." My self whispered it the first time, as always.

"WHERE ARE YOU?"

"I'm right here." I didn't remember myself crying when it happened. It might have been the moment, and it escaped me.

"WHERE ARE YOU?"

"I'm right here, Starlight. I'm rightnextto you. Just look at me."

The tears were flowing down my self's face. Starlight was having trouble keeping herself composed as she just watched. She couldn't believe that she would ever see herself doing something like this, but I think what hurt her the most was seeing me cry and beg her to just "look at me."

She watched her hurt herself, slamming her hoof against the desk, screaming "why" over and over again.

"Please stop."

"WHY?"

"Just stop."

"WHY?"

Her hoof went through the wall.

"STOP IT!"

My Starlight flinched. She never heard me yell before, it was clear on her face. The unicorn was shaking, staring at my self as he looked at her through tearful eyes, begging her to stop hurting herself. And when she turned to see her own defunct future self, she stopped and stared at her.

She was looking right at us. At least, that's what it looked like.

Her self said my name, and my self started to talk, as if trying to get her attention. But the vision was cut off on my account. That wasn't why I brought them here.

With another flash of light, the vision of Starlight's defunct future self and my past self dissolved into dust and mist, and the rest of the vision collapsed and contorted once again, reshaping our reality and placing us back into the living room, though we were all no longer on the couch.

All three of us were silent, unsure of what to say to one another. I was breathing quietly.

"You can take a breather, if you want," I said to them, "let it sink in."

Twilight and Starlight looked at each other. The unicorn—all she could do was look at Twilight's face, specifically the cheek that she sl... would have slapped, and held it gently, as if trying to nurse it back to health.

"I... I didn't mean to..."

"You didn't do anything," Twilight assured her. "It wasn't real."

"But it was. For a while, it was, and it would've happened. I would've yelled at you. I would've... smacked you..."

"But you didn't. And you won't, not anymore."

It didn't ease Starlight entirely, but it helped, it seemed. The questionable Twilight turned to me, her face hurt not because of me showing them, but because of her own actions—even if they would never happen.

"Why did you show us this?"

I sighed. "Because I've been dreaming this exact same moment for the past four days."

Taking a seat on the couch, I began to explain.

"At first, I thought it wasn't such a big deal, that it was just its own bad nightmare that would go away on its own. But with each passing day, it got worse and worse. It got to the point where Luna decided to intervene. That led to us having a talk last night about the whole thing and her suggesting I tell you about what I dreamed of... Now I'm starting to wonder if just telling you instead of showing you were better than the other way around."

"No," Twilight insisted. "No, it was a good thing to do, showing us. I... I guess I just wasn't expecting that."

"Me neither," Starlight added, getting her senses together just enough to contribute to the conversation. "But why do you keep having them?"

"Because I... Because I'm scared it'll still happen."

"What do you mean?" Twilight asked.

"Think about it: After I vanished, Starlight isolated herself from everyone and spent three years working on variants of the spell to try and bring me back. It got so bad that... well... you know."

I adjusted myself on the couch, swallowing the saliva in my throat.

"I guess I'm just scared that that will still happen someway—somehow. After everything you two have been through, after everything we've all been through... I just don't want us to lose that spark all because I disappeared for a couple of days."

It was the truth. There was no beating around it. Starlight and Twilight were my best friends, they all were. If their friendships fell apart because of me... where would I even begin?

"Hmm... To think—I have the knowledge of the universe at my disposal, and yet I can't even solve a friendship problem after all that time." I cupped my face in my hooves, groaning silently. "Sorry. It's just been one big cluster after the other."

But Twilight simply took my hoof and held it in her own. "It doesn't have to be."

I looked at her, but said nothing.

"We're your friends. No matter what you've been through, and no matter what you're facing, don't ever feel that you can't come to us for help."

"I don't doubt that you can help me. I never have. I guess I was just more afraid of what would happen if I spoke out, said something."

Starlight gave me a smile. "You never know until you try."

I smiled with a faint chuckle. "That's true. That's very true. I used to tell myself that, but then I stopped."

"So keep telling yourself that," she said confidently, "and don't let those bad thoughts seep into your head."

They were right. I had to keep telling myself that. I had to convince myself and believe that. I spent all those years telling Clanks every feeling I ever felt, even if he couldn't help me, because it just meant I still had someone who could listen to those problems or those emotions. I couldn't stop that now.

A part of me didn't want to listen to them—but I loved them. How could I not listen?

For a moment, I smiled at the two of them, but as soon as it came, the smile faded, and what was left was a curious, but concerned frown. "But what about you two? Did either of you doubt each other when you started looking for me?

Neither of them wanted to answer, as if they were too nervous to give an answer. I laughed to myself—it was like they were contradicting their own words. But it was my little secret.

Starlight sighed. "I will admit... I did doubt Twilight, but just a little bit."

Twilight wasn't hurt, or even angered, just perplexed, giving a face that merely said, "Wait, what?" I'll admit, I laughed at that too.

"I thought you would've called off the search soon after. Maybe it was because I was paranoid about the day that would eventually happen and just had nightmares about it, but it's true. I know it would've been for a good reason, but I... I guess I just hoped you would keep looking after the first month."

Twilight looked towards the couch, but not specifically at me, more so to look away from Starlight.

"It was for a good reason... wasn't it?" she asked me.

"It was. The search, with all those ponies, started to hurt the economy just a smidgen. You called it off to prevent a possible depression. That's what caused the whole... thing."

"Right."

"Twilight, I... I know it never happened and... now never will—but if I knew that was the case, I would have-"

"I know. It's okay. You're my student, Starlight, and my best friend. I could never be mad at you for something you couldn't have known."

"But still..."

"It'll be okay. And it'll especially be okay now."

"You promise?" she asked, before looking to me. "Both of you?"

"Of course," Twilight and I said simultaneously. We both laughed quietly at our reaction. Twilight hugged Starlight to further reassure her that things would be okay, just as she promised.

"Get in here, you," the princess said to me, prompting me to get up out of my seat and join the hug.

It was very warm, to say the least. Comforting, warm, and overall, welcoming.

Starlight had to laugh and ask me, "Did this go from you talking about your nightmares to comforting me?"

"Basically."

We all couldn't help but laugh at the sudden realization. Hey—it was funny.

When Celestia Visited Again

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A few days had passed since the whole 'intervention'-esque meeting between Twilight, Starlight and I, and since then, things seemed to be improving. The two of them have been working harder on their friendship lessons, Starlight included. No doubt, it was to show and prove to me that what I showed them would never happen in my lifetime.

I couldn't help but still worry, but I was confident it would work out.

The paparazzi started making a comeback after days of apparent silence. The first time they came, I was at the Ponyville market. They cornered and bombarded me with photographs—several a second, it seemed—and countless questions asking about where I was during the days I disappeared. I realized it was all questions from the first time they cornered me after I first got back.

I also realized that they were less so paparazzi, and more so journalists with a paparazzi craving—if that makes sense, of course.

"Do you plan to stay here in Ponyville?" one mare journalist asked me, and I recoiled, confused.

"Of course I plan on staying here. Ponyville's my home, where I grew up. I have every intention on staying here."

Another reporter, a stallion, asked me, "So you have no plans to return to where you disappeared?"

"Uh... no, I don't?"

Further flashes of the cameras and writings on their notebooks. That was the thing about journalists—they were looking for anything that could hit the front page of the papers, even if it was just a simple sentence from a... rather weird question.

"Is it true that you can conduct magic without a horn?" one mare asked me.

Hesitantly, I answered her, "Yes, I can. It's a long complicated process that-"

But they didn't bother to heed my brief explanation or hear why it's so complex to truly harness magic. They nearly dog-piled me, trying to scoop more information out of me, screaming my name and calling me 'Mister.'

Is it weird that I don't remember being called 'Mister' by anyone before? That was a fascinating thing to realize... just now.

"Okay, okay," I tried to calm them down, "One at a time-"

A burst of light suddenly surrounded all of us. That wasn't me, I would know if I was doing that.

Then the light vanished, and behind it, a figure made her royal appearance. Princess Celestia stood tall, towering over the other ponies, carrying her signature motherly smile. The journalists all stopped what they were doing and began to bow with respect to their leader.

Celestia just laughed it off, something she only recently started to do. "It's fine. You may all stand."

The ponies all stood up, asking what the occasion was, and holding their cameras as if at the ready. I'm starting to think they're more paparazzi instead, now.

"If it's not too much trouble, I'd like to borrow your celebrity for some time alone."

"Of course!" they all said, though that could be heard in the mishmash of other responses. I even noticed one of the mares begin to blush.

I said nothing, but tried to hold it in.

Celestia's horn started to glow again, and with another burst of magic, I was suddenly standing in the halls of the Canterlot Castle, with the thrones of both Celestia and Luna just a few hooves away. Of course, it was a familiar sight, but it was all the more amazing to see.

"Are we clear?"

"Yes, we're clear-"

"Pffthahahahaha!!" I immediately burst into laughter after having held it in. "Did-Did you see the look on that mare's face when you said 'time alone'? Heh heh... I shouldn't laugh, but I just... sorry."

I was only a bit sorry, but luckily for me, Celestia found it amusing too. Then again, she likely found most things amusing at her age. She held back a faint giggle, and I asked her what she wanted to see me for before things got off track.

"Well, I've been meaning to talk to you about your night terrors," she began, "as well as your actual experience."

"Did Luna tell you or did Twilight?" I asked after a brief lapse of silence, though I was fairly certain that...

"Actually, both." Knew it. "Luna informed me in the morning after she visited you, and then Twilight did the same later in the day in a letter."

"Twilight still writes letters?" I then recoiled briefly. "I mean, obviously she still writes letters, but... I always thought she stopped after she became a princess."

"Friendship reports are what you mean," she corrected me, "but I still get a fair share of letters from her from time to time."

"Well, you're basically a second mother to her. It'd be sad if she didn't."

Celestia smiled warmly, though not without letting a blush slip, but she cleared her throat and went back to the topic at hoof. "Follow me, won't you?"

Before I could move, we were teleported once again, this time into what seemed to be her living quarters. I assumed the initial teleport was just to get away from the paparazzi. She walked over to a couch and invited me to sit down next to her. As soon as I got comfortable, she started to ask me how I was doing so far.

"In general or sleep-wise?"

"Both are fine."

"Well... in general, I'm feeling okay. I'm nervous sometimes, but other times, I feel... normal. Business as usual. Sleep-wise, I've... gotten better. Ever since the whole thing with Starlight and Twilight, I feel like I've been having the nightmares a bit less."

"That's good," she assured. "I can see that just telling them has had a direct influence on your dreaming."

"It seems that way."

"And I also see that the two of them have been working to solidify their friendship ever since that day too. Twilight didn't leave out any details."

The way Celestia said the last sentence, it made her seem—not disappointed, but upset. I wanted to ask her if she was okay, but the look in her eyes, only now starting to become visible, was enough too tell me that she wasn't... not entirely.

"That was what you wanted to talk to me about too, wasn't it?"

"Actually... I've been wanting to ask you a lot of things ever since the day you returned. However, I've been taking time to... compose myself after finding out the hard way."

"I understand. It's a lot to take in." I adjusted my pose on the couch. "Well—if there's anything you want to ask me, I'd be glad to answer it right now. Don't be afraid to ask."

It was weird to think I would be telling that to the one responsible for keeping the world alive. But Celestia simply nodded. No chuckles or saying that it was ridiculous of me to say that—not that she would've said that anyway—and took a deep breath through her nose and let it out.

"I have just one question... how did you manage to wait that long?"

It was a question I had been anticipating since the day I told them all the first lie, but I was never asked until now. I adjusted my seating once again.

"I had to erase my memory. The whole thing took a couple of years, but as soon as I had the chance, I took it without looking back. Of course, I did fear that I would've been brought back not long after I did it, but if I had to be genuine... I was already suffering enough."

"So you erased the memories of your past—"

"—to ensure I had a sane future. That was the only solution for me at the time. I actually had to write a warning sign on the helmet to make sure I didn't put it on right away." Celestia laughed, but they were dry and seemed fake, like she wanted to laugh, but simply couldn't.

"I put the helmet away for a while and didn't take a look at it until long after I made it."

That "long after," Celestia already knew, Luna included.

"So time stood still for you there?"

"It seemed so," I answered. "I was there for a long time, and I didn't grow any strands of gray, my hips and muscles didn't become frail over time, and I didn't die of old age. I was exactly as I was the day I disappeared. If I had to guess, the only time I aged was after I came back, and that was only three days' worth of age."

I realized I was starting to get off topic, so I quickly changed the subject back.

"There was never a moment in my entire life where I was alone, all by myself, with nopony and nobody but just me to talk to, completely isolated from everything that ever lived... except for the moment I got trapped in that dome. Wiping the slate clean was the only way out of the torture... even if it meant never remembering who I used to love."

For a second, I paused, letting the memories come back to me, before I continued to talk.

"But in the end, I endured the loneliness. It led to me creating Clanks, and eventually, it led to me putting that helmet back on—which then led to me getting home. Though I wonder: If I had done that trick with the black hole sooner, would I have been able to come home earlier?"

Of course, I asked Celestia that question as if expecting her to answer, but she had no clue what I was talking about except for the mention of 'black hole.'

"Perhaps one day, unless you wish to now, you could tell me more about this 'black hole' trick."

"One day. But I will say this: Watching the universe close in on me from inside the black hole was definitely one of the best things I have seen in my entire life."

Celestia giggled quietly to herself. "I have seen it. However, I can't say the same. It is quite... disorienting."

"Not to mention terrifying, with the whole 'event horizon' part. If I was just a second late or a second early... well, it would've been a different story."

"I would imagine it was stressful."

"Stressful can't even begin to describe that moment," I laughed, prompting Celestia to laugh along. I will admit, it was extremely frightening knowing I could've killed both Clanks and myself if I screwed it up, but knowing that we were both still alive and breathing—well, one of us breath-wise, anyhow—it was a joke we could look back to and laugh at.

As I was in the middle of laughing, I felt Celestia suddenly hold onto me, pulling me into a hug.

"I'm glad you're okay," she told me. "We all missed you."

"Always with the hugs and the 'I miss yous'," I commented, but a moment later, I laughed with a grin, embracing the hug. "I missed you too."

There was just something about hugging Princess Celestia that made all of this feel liberating: Liberating to say, liberating to do, liberating to be. I know it was such a strange thing to say, but to spend all of that time floating in eternity and then being comforted by the princess herself was a luxury not many could afford.

But I enjoyed every lasting moment of it.

"Sometimes, I wish you were my mother." It was a sentence that I didn't mean to blurt out, but the feeling was true. Celestia held me tighter, and the two of us sat there for a minute longer than we anticipated.

But the moment would be something to remember for the rest of my life.

When It Worked

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The day after my visit to Canterlot, I decided to visit Twilight and Starlight to see how things were going since our talk, and it seemed to be relatively... better.

Despite this, however, Twilight was no longer working with Starlight on the spell. There was no negative reason for it, other than what happened. It turned out that the guilt still ate at her, no matter what, and she simply didn't want to accidentally contribute to another potential accident.

Starlight wasn't angry in the slightest—even she had some doubts. But the unicorn continued her research and efforts. Twilight only contributed by providing the mare with the books she might need, but nothing beyond that.

When I first arrived over at the castle, Starlight was downstairs, and Twilight and Spike were in the library restocking shelves with Clanks, who... and I thought I was seeing things differently... was looking very... chippy?

"Uh, Clanks?" I wasn't worried, but genuinely curious. Had he gotten a-

My train of thought derailed when Clanks practically screamed my name and ran over to give me a near-deathly grip. "How are you today? I'm so glad you came over to see us! Did you miss me? I bet you did~!"

For a robot, he sure runs pretty fast. And hugs really... REALLY tightly.

"Uh...?" I just stared at Twilight, wanting to know.

"It's a bit of a work in progress," she explained, "but I was trying to add more emotional inputs to his brain. Basically, make him feel more pony-like."

That definitely makes more se-hnngh!

"Clanks, buddy, can you let go? I'm starting to go numb everywhere."

"Oh!" the robot said in realization, and immediately let go of me. "Sorry, pal! I didn't mean to hurt you! Are you okay?"

"Uh... I... yes?"

"One second," said Twilight as she illuminated Clanks with her magic. A moment later, the robot seemed to power down, before turning back on slowly.

Clanks rubbed his head as if he felt a migraine—and he probably did feel it.

"I believe the personality enhancer spell needs more work on it, Twilight," he said in his typical not-monotone voice.

"I know, Clanks," Twilight giggled. "How are you feeling now?"

"I feel fine now. Thank you."

"Good," I spoke up, "because I don't think I could last with you all hopped up on happiness and laughter all the time. Pinkie being happy is one thing. You being happy is a deathtrap for anyone in your clutches. No offense."

Surprisingly, Clanks actually laughed, even if it did seem... artificial. "I find no offense taken."

Letting out a subtle sigh of relief, I turned back to Twilight. "So, uh—is Starlight-"

"Basement," Spike said, a grin plastered on his face, like he knew I was going to ask that from the start. I mean, it was true, but...

Thanking the young drake, I excused myself from the trio and made my way down to the basement. It'd been over a week since I last came down here, at least to them. But to me, it's been well over—

"Twilight? Is that you?" I heard Starlight call from the bottom.

"It's me!" I called back as I reached the basement. "They told me you were down here, and I figured I pop and see how you're doing."

"In general 'how I'm doing' or the spell 'how I'm doing?'" she asked me, not turning away from the platform.

"Eh, both."

"Good!" she exclaimed. "Reeeeal good."

"That's not sarcasm, is it?" Honestly, I couldn't tell.

"Nope! I'm actually doing really good."

"How so?"

Turning herself around, she was wearing a pair of white goggles and an excited grin. She fumbled with the goggles, eventually lifting them over her horn.

"I think I finally found a way to prove that the spell works properly!"

"How so?"

"With this." As if pausing for dramatic effect, she unveiled a stopwatch—an electronic stopwatch. I looked at her, and then back to the watch, and then to the platform that contained an apple, a bone, and a pineapple.

"I'm assuming that you're planning to strap this watch to those three objects, perform the spell on all three at the same time, and see if the time's changed on any of them?"

"Well... um... well, yeah, basically." Starlight paused for a second, then cleared her throat to break the silence. "Now, I've done some modifications to the spell. They're tiny little changes that can really help when it comes to testing. Instead of twenty seconds, they'll come back after they hit the ten second mark. BUT, in the case of us as we stand now, I've modified it so that they reappear exactly five seconds after I cast the spell. So, if I did it just right, and they reappear after five seconds, it won't say five seconds. It'll say TEN."

A little confusing, but it still made sense.

"Have you tested it like this before?"

"Not exactly. Originally, I had them reappear after five seconds, but it wasn't enough—for all I knew, I probably teleported them to another place instead of another time. This tweak should tell us for sure if it worked. You can take a look for yourself."

I inspected the writings and scribbles on the parchment that made up her spell. Before the test, I hadn't the faintest idea what any of it said or meant, but now I could understand practically every line and curve that made it up. I did notice that some parts were erased or changed to accommodate her tweaks.

"How far ahead will they be going?" I asked her.

"I changed that too. An hour would honestly take too long, so I decided to set it for twenty seconds. So, twenty seconds to wait for them to reappear, and then they disappear ten seconds after they arrive. All in all, it should be a total of about thirty seconds."

"Hmm... is this what you've been working on the past several days?"

"Not several," she corrected. "I only started working on the spell again the day after the whole... intervention. I've been dying to get back to it, but I was busy with... other things."

I didn't ask what other things meant, but I took one more quick look at the spell and then stepped back.

"Think you can perform it on your own?"

"Actually, I tested it out a couple of times before you got here, and it all seemed to work flawlessly. Perhaps you can watch this time and see if anything needs tweaking."

"Sure," I smiled. "Whenever you're ready."

"Always. ... Well, not always, but... ahem, anyway—here we go."

As soon as I was out of her way, Starlight lit her horn and focused on the three objects, attaching to them their own sets of stopwatches similar to the one she showed me. The objects floated over the platform, allowing Starlight to focus much clearer on them. Then, with a click of the start buttons, and a zap of her magic, the objects were gone, and Starlight immediately began to count.

"One, two, three, four... five."

As if on cue, the objects immediately returned, beaming in front of us and then falling back to the platform. Starlight and I walked over and read the times on the watches.

"Ten seconds," I said aloud. "It works."

I looked over at Starlight, expecting her to be hopping all over the place in joy at the knowledge that her spell seemed to be a success—but she wasn't doing that at all. She was smiling, but she was very hesitant. I just had to ask her what was wrong.

"I still need to test it on somepony." She looked at me with nervousness. "I mean, sure, a pineapple and an apple are organic things, but they're not ponies. They can't exactly tell us what they saw or experienced, and just slapping a stopwatch on it tells us it works, but at the same time, it doesn't."

Her lips scrunched up as she leaned against a nearby table. "I don't know how to explain that any-gah!"

She screamed in surprise as three duplicates of the objects appeared out of thin air, fifteen seconds after the originals returned.

"-better."

Using the short time we had, I inspected the variants of the objects before they disappeared. Their structure, their texture, and their overall form. They looked identical to the ones that returned.

"They seem to be just fine," I assured her. Seconds later, the duplicates vanished in a zap of light, returning to land as they did seconds before. "I mean, a few seconds later to arrive, but it works, Starlight."

"Ohhmm...I don't know," the mare nervously rubbed her left forearm with a hoof. "I just need to make sure everything's working exactly as intended before I even think about giving this to Celestia or Luna or even Twilight. Pardon my language, but... I really don't wanna buck this up again."

I could understand her frustration and concern. This was an important project to her, and even a bit to Twilight still. It's not that their work would go to waste, per say—but I knew she wanted this to work as she hoped, and she couldn't without one more thing.

"Well... you can test it on me again."

Immediately, she recoiled. "Absolutely not! Are you crazy? Did you not realize that you got stuck in a time-space bubble for the past three years?"

"I-"

"Not to mention gathering the whole of Equestria just to find you while you were falling into black holes and watching stars explode?"

"Wait-"

"What if all goes wrong again? What if I buck it up all over again and you don't come back next time?! What if-"

"Starlight!"

The sound of my voice raised at her was enough to make Starlight stop her worrisome rambling and look at me with nervous eyes, both from the shouting and from my suggestion. I walked up to her and place my forehooves firmly on her shoulders and looked her in the eyes.

"Listen to me very carefully. Nothing is going to happen this time. You are doing everything right, and everything is working just fine. All it'll take is five seconds, and I'll be standing right in front of you again."

"But-" I placed a single hoof on her lips.

"No 'buts', understand? Everything is going to be fine. And even if it doesn't, and by some miraculous chance the same thing happens twice and I end up right back in that dome—I know exactly how I'm going to get home this time around."

"That's what I'm afraid of," she spoke, "the spell doing that again."

"Well, luckily, you changed the layout of the spell so much, it'd be hard to do the same thing twice."

"Says you."

"Yeah," I looked at her with a smirk. "Says me. Trust me when I say that."

Starlight looked at me, then to the parchment and the objects. I could tell her mind was racing a million miles a second, with the thought of 'should I' or 'should I not.'

"Hey," I whispered gently to her. Those blue eyes of hers looked back. "Do you trust me?"

I remember when she and Twilight asked me that same exact question a week ago, and I told the both of them that I trusted them one-hundred percent. Even after all that happened, I still did. Now I could only hope that she returned the favor.

"Yes. I trust you." And she did.

With a smile, I gently plonked her horn. "Then get that spell of yours ready."

She didn't respond with words, but with a gasp and a blush on her cheeks, and I realized what I just did.

"Oh! Right, horn—very sensitive." I laughed sheepishly. "Sorry."

I walked on over to the platform, carefully pushing the objects out of the way and standing in the center. Of course, it likely wasn't required to stand on the platform, but it was here for a reason.

Turning back around, I saw Starlight's face. She didn't seem as afraid as she was earlier, but she was definitely still concerned, worried even, about going through with this. But there was also the look of determination making its way through. She audibly gulped as her horn started to glow.

"Are you sure about this...?"

I nodded. "No time like the present."

"Well... okay. H... Here I go then."

Her magic began to swirl about and flash as the spell began to take effect. Her aura covered my body, and I could already tell that I missed that feeling. So comforting.

I could hear Starlight breathing a bit faster than usual, but overall, she was focused and staring at me.

Then, as expected, the flash of her horn whisked me away. The light surrounded my body and then vanished a split second later; it felt like I haven't move at all—because I hadn't. I was still in the exact same spot, but it was immediately obvious that I was twenty seconds in the future.

How could I have known that? Because the duplicate of me and Starlight kissing against the nearby wall was enough to let me know just fine.

Their moment was quickly interrupted as soon as they noticed me—well, rather, heard me arrive.

"Well," I started, "that didn't take very long."

Starlight looked away, her face painted a heavy red. Future me laughed quietly. Speaking of future me...

"Do I really look like that?"

"You do."

"Huh... I'm gonna have to say that, aren't I?"

"Yep. But at least it-"

Before I could answer, the spell once again took hold, and I was sent back to my original timeline... of about twenty seconds ago. It was strange feeling myself actually get younger by a few seconds. But by Celestia, it was so rejuvenating.

"You're... you're back." Starlight said, prompting me to look at her. She seemed genuinely scared. "Did... Did it...?"

"Worked like a charm."

"EEEEEEEE!"

Wasn't expecting tha-whoa!

Starlight grabbed me by the forehooves and started dancing and spinning around, laughing and screaming with glee. As soon as I was out of the sudden daze, I began to do the same, flinging her up with my wings. However, I was pretty sure half of her was excited I came back as planned.

Eventually, we ran out of space to dance, and I ended up hitting my back against the wall. There was the initial 'oomf', but it wasn't all too bad.

That was when Starlight wrapped her arms around me and pulled me into a kiss. It didn't feel like the typical 'heat-of-the-moment' style kiss—this felt genuine, romantic, and caring. She was really kissing me.

Who knew it could ever feel like this?

Suddenly, the familiar 'vwarp' noise was heard, and the two of us pulled away just in time to see me arrive. It was weird to see me looking right back at... myself.

"Well," he started, "that didn't take very long."

My Starlight looked away from the past me and buried her face into my chest, a red blush plastered on it. I think she was even giggling. I didn't notice that. Past me looked at me for a brief instant.

"Do I really look like that?"

"You do," I told him, realizing I was saying the exact same thing I heard myself answer.

"Huh... I'm gonna have to say that, aren't I?"

"Yep. But at least it-"

Suddenly, he was gone, sent back to fifteen seconds ago, where he would be doing the exact same thing as I just did.

"-won't take long," I finished. "Can't believe I just forgot about that."

Starlight lifted her head up from my chest just to let out a cute, hearty laugh, resting a hoof on my body to hoist herself up.

"Y-You knew about this, didn't you?" she asked me through her laughter.

"... Maybe a little."

She laughed again, leaning against me as she tried to contain it. Ultimately, I started to laugh along with her, giggling and snickering. Tears leaked through her eyelids, both of laughter and of relief. Even as she kissed me again, even as she held me close and never wanted to let me go, she laughed.

Time is funny—and it wasn't weird anymore.

When We Worked

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We did it. The spell was finally complete and working as we had hoped!

After the test—and surely after she stopped trying to eat my face—Starlight didn't tamper with the spell any further. She made sure the parchment was preserved and the two of us went upstairs to tell Twilight the good news.

Starlight and Twilight hugged it out, with the princess congratulating her student on her work. The spell was then delivered via Spike to Princess Celestia, where it would no doubt be archived and studied for future use. Of course, that was the plan all along: In the wrong hooves, it would be used for all kinds of evil, so who better to keep it safe than Celestia herself?

And Luna, of course!

As soon as the deed was done, I decided to invite Starlight for another dinner date. It had been a while since our last—not to mention first—one, and I had been eager to follow through on my original promise the day of the party.

She accepted, but we decided this time not to part from each other until sundown, but instead, we went around town, picking and sniffing flowers, and talking about whatever was on our minds.

I had to be honest: Starlight was my first mare-... well, actually, I wouldn't call us a... thing just yet, and she seemed to agree. Despite having had the romantic, celebratory kiss earlier in the day, she wanted to give the whole 'friendship' part of us a final goodbye before starting that brand new chapter in her life, and presumably our lives.

And I intended on making it a great finale.

* * * * *

After a day of excitement and overall glee, the sun began to set on Ponyville, and Starlight and I started our way for Allure Dé Mystique, the place I took her to on her first date. The Mystique was Starlight's favorite place to visit the first time, so it was only right that I brought her back to where it all began.

Ha... I say it like it's been ages. Time can do that, I suppose.

The head waiter of the restaurant recognized me and greeted me by name. "And Miss Glimmer! Such an honor to see the two of you again. Your table is ready. If you will follow me..."

He guided the two of us over to our table, with our window giving a fantastic view of Ponyville's downtown area.

"Your waiter will be with you in a moment to order drinks," he said to me.

"Thank you, Sheffield," I grinned, and Sheffield went back to the front of the restaurant, leaving me and Starlight alone to chat.

"I didn't know you knew him," she said to me, propping her head up with her hooves.

I chuckled in another sheepish manner. "Well, sort of. I haven't met him, only read about him during my time in the Library."

"Read about him?"

I tilted my head, and then realized a moment later. "Oh, right—I never told you." I then looked around to make sure nopony was listening in on their conversation, or very well had no clue what I was talking about.

Leaning forward against the table, I started to explain:

"Remember when I told you about the Library, and how all of the books in it archived every event in the universe from start to finish?"

It took her for a second for her to understand what I was asking. When it dawned on her, she took a look at Sheffield in the distance, and then let out a somewhat drawn out:

"Oooooh." She leaned in as well. "So you're telling me that you...?"

I nodded. "I basically know everyone without having met half of them. Well, more than half. I do have a good reason for it, though."

"And that is...?"

I slunk my shoulders a bit. "I... may have wiped my memory at one point."

At first, Starlight looked at me like she thought I just told a joke. But it became clear to her as she realized that I was, in fact, telling the truth. Immediately, her eyes looked like she was disappointed, but upset, and yet not.

"Why would you do that?" she asked in disbelief.

Rubbing my head awkwardly with a hoof, I answered, "Because honestly—I didn't think I was ever gonna come back. I mean, after the first few weeks, I started to feel alone and generally... uncomfortable. Then the weeks turned into months, and I'm just reading and trying to pass the time. And then that whole thing with you and Twilight..."

I paused, hoping I'd never have to bring it up anymore, and here I was letting it spill. Again.

"... I guess I just lost hope and thought, 'If I was going to be here a while, I'd rather not torture myself.' So I built a helmet, put it on, and in an instant, I had no clue who I was or even where I was."

"Oh." That was all Starlight said as a response, sitting in silence for a few seconds, before adding, "So... I'm assuming, judging from the past week, you got your memory back?"

"Oh, yeah, yeah, I did!" I exclaimed softly, not wanting to attract attention. "I ended up finding the helmet after a while and put it back on, and like that, my memories were back like they never left. Granted, it was a bit... painful remembering everything again, but it was worth it knowing I'd get back home a few hours later."

"So, the time between you putting the helmet back on and going through a black hole was just a couple of hours?"

"Pretty much."

Starlight's eyebrows were raised as she found that bit of information a bit funny in terms of context. After a few seconds, she stared at me again.

"So... does you knowing about ponies also mean that you... know their future?"

Hesitantly, I nodded, and rather than seem worrisome, Starlight actually grew curious once again.

"Tell me about some of the ponies here," she requested. "Anypony here that I might know that you've read about, and tell me what they'll do in the future."

"I'm not sure, Star-"

"Oh, come on," she egged me on, "It's just between you and me. It's not like I'm gonna tell anyone."

"Right," I smirked, "like when you didn't tell Trixie that we had s-"

"Ah ah ah ah," she silenced me. "That... that doesn't count."

"Sure it does," I chuckled, then rolled my eyes. "Okay, fine, I'll tell you. But no more than three ponies, alright?"

Starlight gave a cute nod as she watched, eager to know. It made me smile. I then started to look around the restaurant to see who was here that Starlight might've known. After a few seconds, I happened to notice a particular figure: Lyra Heartstrings.

"Do you know Lyra?"

"Lyra Heartstrings? Of course," she answered. "I was actually hanging out with her a couple days ago."

I pointed to the magic mint mare several tables away from me, but not enough to draw her attention. Starlight looked in the direction I pointed and saw Lyra sitting and chatting with some of her friends, including some from Canterlot that I recognized.

"What about her?"

"In about two years, she will begin a passionate music career and in ten years, she will become one of the most popular musicians in Equestria, and gain a star on Applewood's Walk of Fame in twenty years."

The unicorn stared at Lyra, wowing at the knowledge that one of her friends would become a legend in a few years. Lyra eventually noticed her staring back and waved her with a smile, to which Starlight waved back. I pointed to another figure: a stallion just a couple of tables away.

"Iron Canter," I whispered to Starlight. "Right now, he owns one of the shops at the market, selling carrots and making a petty living—and even he calls it that: a 'petty' living. But five years from now, he will take up art and paint 'The Moment In Time': A painting of all of Equus so rich in detail and effort, that if you used a magnifying glass or even a microscope to zoom in, you could actually see ponies, griffons, or even dragons all doing something, like they were all photographed in a single moment."

"A moment in time... Oh, I get it," Starlight giggled.

"Who else do you know?"

"Hmm... ooh, I know, how about-"

She was unable to finish her sentence before our waiter—or rather, waitress—came out to order our drinks. We both chose a variant of red wine mixed with cider. The waitress then left for another good minute, giving Starlight time to finish her question, only it was a different suggestion.

"Applejack. What about her?"

No doubt, she only mentioned Applejack because of the cider, but I was more than content to tell her.

"Well," I began, "she and Big Mac both take control of Sweet Apple Acres and expand their business across Equestria. Twenty years from now, Sweet Apple Industries prospers across the land."

I even mentioned the factory that Applejack named after me... well, would have, and Starlight acknowledged that.

"But now that you're back..."

"Yeah... some things aren't happening." I furrowed my brows as I glanced out the window and looking up at the moon. "That's what I wonder sometimes. How much did everyone I know do that was because of me disappearing? Stuff that they now won't do?"

"Well, that depends: Did Applejack take charge of Sweet Apple Acres because of you?"

"Not exactly, no."

"Then that's one thing that's for sure to happen," she grinned. It helped realizing that, even though I mentally frowned at the reason why she would take charge. But I wouldn't tell Starlight that.

After a minute, the waitress came back with our drinks and and took our orders. Despite all of the delicacies that would make anypony drool in excitement, Starlight and I were feeling a tad bit... lazy today. It was nothing but burgers and fries for us.

"I didn't even know they had burgers here," I added.

"Me neither. But I guess they do."

Our order, being relatively small, was prepared and sent to us in just a few minutes, so we spent that time talking about other things to pass the time: like the one time Rainbow got stuck in a tree during a Running Of The Leaves and needed to be helped out. It made the two of us laugh even after she tried to swat us with her wings.

Eventually, our meals came, and we began to dig in. It was refreshing to have a burger for the first time in such a long time. I hadn't even realized that until now.

Halfway through our meal, however, I grew curious about one thing.

"Can I ask you something?" I said to Starlight, who nodded with bits of burger in her mouth. "Who were you originally going to say?"

I waited for Starlight to swallow before answering her question. "Well... I was originally gonna say... me."

It was no surprise that she wanted to know what she would do or who she would become, but I was also curious to know why specifically she asked of her.

"I figured that since you were back, I wasn't gonna go off and pull some isolationist move, push away every friend I ever made, spend three years trying to redo a spell... and then slap Twilight across the face."

The last sentence made her sink in her seat, definitely ashamed to have known that. But I comforted her by telling her:

"Well, no doubt you're right. But there's just one problem with that."

"I know," she answered, "there's no way you can know. The only reality you can tell me is the one that no longer exists. That's kind of why I didn't say me in the first place."

"Sorry," I apologized, knowing I had disappointed her, but she simply waved it off.

"It's fine. I'm pretty sure telling me how my future goes probably isn't the best thing, now that I think about it. But... if it's alright with you... do you think you can tell me more about the future that was?"

It was my turn to wave it off. "Maybe one day. It's all still a bit too soon... even though it's technically not. But for tonight, I'd just like to hang out and have a bite with the mare I love."

I had originally meant to leave it as just that, but I shared a brief smirk with Starlight, just to see what she would say.

"Well, I... uh... I... Iloveyoutoo," she said quickly.

I gave her a small laugh and held her hoof in mine. "Did you ever know that you're cute when you do that?"

Starlight hid her reddening face under the table, though I knew she was trying to hold back a smile and even her own bit of laughter. I kissed her hoof gently.

"Eep...!" A little squeak left her lips.

* * * * *

After our meal, the rest of the date went smoothly. We eventually paid the bill and left the restaurant, thanking Sheffield on the way out, telling him to thank the others as well. I felt genuinely happy tonight.

We walked through the town for a little while longer, chatting away at anything our minds could think of. And all the while, I had my wing wrapped around her just to keep her warm. Well, that and more.

A little after nine o'clock, we headed back to the castle and stood outside the front entrance.

"Well, this is my place," she said in a joking tone. "Are you sure you don't wanna come inside?"

"As much as I'd love to, I'd much rather wait until the third date. It's usually not like a stallion to—...oh, you mean come inside the castle."

Starlight's eyes went wide and her face was red once again as she realized what I was talking about.

"You little—!"

But I only continued to laugh, despite her glare, though she eventually joined in as well, not denying that it was at least a tad bit funny. After a moment or two, the laughter died down, and I answered her question.

"Sure. I'd like that. I hope Clanks'll be fine on his own. Then again, all he does is read. Heehee."

"How much trouble could he get into on his own?"

I shrugged. "With how much he's learning, I honestly have no clue."

Starlight laughed quietly to herself, walking up the steps, but then turned back to me.

"If it's alright with you—I'd like this night to be... clean. Safe."

Walking up to her and wrapping a wing around, I kissed the mare gently on the lips, though it lasted longer than I hoped on her own accord.

"Whatever you want."

"Good," she piped, "because I really want to know more about the stars."

"Your wish is my command." With a smile, Starlight invited me into the castle, to which I followed behind her, shutting the door behind me.

For the rest of the night, the stars were the only show we chose to see, and the only story we chose to read. Nopony else, and nothing else. Just me, Starlight, and the universe.

What more could a stallion ask for?

When They Invited You

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A couple of weeks had passed since then. It's a wonder how much things change in just a couple of weeks. Then again, that tends to happen a lot.

With time, things began to simmer down in Ponyville. Other than the occasional visit by Celestia or Luna, I didn't really get very many eyes for any of the townsfolk—not that I mind, anyhow.

On a particular day those couple of weeks later, I paid Twilight another visit, helping her move some books to the reference area of the library. She had recently gotten a shipment of new novels from Manehattan and wanted to get straight to organizing.

Oh, and guess what was in there? The Adventures of Huckle and Finn.

I was surprised to see it, considering how it was initially a while before it was to be completed. But then I remembered that the book was part of a series, and the first one was just recently published. I already read it, so I knew every moment of it—but I was more than excited to see them read it too!

Several boxes and a near-accident on the steps down later, we finally managed to get everything down to where Twilight wanted it to be.

"Thanks so much for helping me out," she said to Spike, Starlight, and I with a smile.

"Anything for you, Twi," I grinned back.

Starlight piped up, "Are you kidding? After all you've done for me, this is the least I can do."

"Oh, please," the alicorn waved it off. "I haven't done that much."

"Nah—you just taught me the value of friendship. Not much at all!" Starlight exclaimed sarcastically. It was enough to make the mare giggle.

"I may have offered some guidance, but you are responsible for the pony you've become. I'm proud to call you my student and my friend."

Twilight rested a hoof on Starlight's shoulder, and the two exchanged caring glances. Not wanting to interrupt their moment, I stood aside and went over to Spike.

"So," I started, "how was last night's Ogres & Oubliettes game? Did anything interesting happen?"

I'll admit, I never played that game, but seeing them all play it out as they did when Discord first started playing made me really want to give it a try, but I never had the proper time for it. Until then, Spike was always able to fill me in on the details.

"Actually, it was a bit boring. Neither of us could come up with a good idea for new bad guys. It kinda stagnated from there."

Spike seemed to be a bit disappointed, whereas I was more surprised.

"You'd think Discord would be able to think of enemies off the top of his head without even trying," I murmured to the young drake. "Either way, I wouldn't worry about it. It's like they say: If at first you don't succeed, try—... do you see that?"

I stopped mid-quote to look out the window, pointing in the distance. I heard Twilight call out to Spike, but even she and Starlight were quick to notice the small dot in the distance.

"Is it a bird?"

"Is it a parasprite?"

I looked closer. "Is that... Muffins?"

"It's... It's... incoming!"

As the growing object closed in, we all flung ourselves out of the way and took cover as it came in through the open window and crash landed into the pile of boxes and books behind us. Immediately, we got up to inspect what the mysterious object or figure was, but we were all relieved when we saw who it was.

"I was right!" I exclaimed! "It is Muffins! ... Wow, it really has been long time, no see."

Hanging in the mailmare's mouth was a letter, and initially Twilight assumed it was for her. It turned out, it wasn't for her—but for Starlight.

"For me?" she questioned, taking the letter from Muffins, who then flew off through the same window she came in. I waved her goodbye, but she was turned away.

I turned back to Starlight as she started reading the letter. "Who's it from?"

"The... ponies from my old village."

Twilight and Spike leaned in, definitely curious.

"Are they in danger?"

"Are they upset with you?"

She shook her head at both of those questions. "No... It's worse! They've invited me to the annual Sunset Festival!"

Initially, I was a bit worried at the mention of 'worse', but after the rest of her sentence, I felt—honestly—confused.

"Why is that necessarily a bad thing?" I asked her as she found herself staring at the paper longer than usual.

"Do I have to spell it out?" Starlight's voice was hinted with worry and even a bit of paranoia.

Of course, I knew all about the village. I knew that she once enslaved everyone, took their cutie marks away, and then tried to do the same with the others. But I also knew that she had gone to the village, apologized, and moved on. It shouldn't be a problem anymore...

Right?

Wrong. I was actually wrong.

The next morning, Twilight wrote a letter to me, telling me to come over as soon as I could. The moment she mentioned Starlight, I was there as soon as possible, worrying that something was wrong—and there definitely was.

"She's been up since six o'clock this morning," Twilight explained as she invited me into the castle. "I think she's actually in the kitchen right now."

"Doing...?"

"Just baking. She said it keeps her mind off things."

"This has to do with the festival, doesn't it?"

"I'm afraid it does."

The lavender mare walked me over to the kitchen door. I took a quick peak inside, and sure enough, Starlight was in there like Twilight said, baking what seemed to be a set of pancakes, all while humming some incessant tunes. I happened to notice a little bit of bags under her eyes. How much sleep did she get last night?

"I'll talk to her," I relieved Twilight. "Maybe I can get her to... uh... calm down a bit."

"I mean, she doesn't seem to be freaking out very much—but that would be great. Thank you."

I smiled at Twilight before walking into the kitchen. The smell of fresh pancake batter and also whipped cream violated my nose in a peaceful way. The stove was on and with it, a pan of sizzling pancake batter filled the air with the sound of breakfast wonder.

All being cooked by a unicorn nervous about a festival. If only I was like that.

"Starlight?" The sound of my voice was enough to stop the mare mid-mix, perking her ears up and spotting me.

She greeted me by name with a forced smile.

"Good morning! I was just whipping up a batch of pancakes! I figured we could have a cute little breakfast together! Just you and me... and Twilight and Spike... or maybe just you and me, heehee."

Her voice reeked of nervousness.

"That's great, hon, but—did you get any sleep last night?"

"Oh, I got plenty of sleep last night! A little dozing off here, a little nap there, and then a little nightmare there, and boom! Perfect sleep!"

Starlight went right back to humming, but I wasn't buying it—like I said once: She's a terrible liar.

"Starlight...?" I said with the tone of voice that always caught her attention no matter what, the one where she knew that I knew. "Put the mixing spoon down, slow down, and tell me what's really going on."

Then there was that face, the kind she made when she really wanted to say something, but wasn't sure if she should, or was simply too nervous. But she knew that it was me she was talking to; she knew she could trust me.

With a sigh, Starlight set down the mixing spoon and closed her eyes, but then opened them again as she turned to me.

"I don't deserve to go back there."

"Don't say that," I told her. "You absolutely deserve to go back there. They're your friends."

"Right. What kind of friend am I for taking away their special talents and forcing them to stay there for all those years just because of some dumb kid thing?"

"For starters, a friend who acknowledged her mistakes," I proposed, hoping it would cheer her up.

It didn't do much. Starlight walked up to me and grabbed my hooves carefully.

"I had a nightmare last night. I dreamt that I was there, at the village, and they all just... laughed at me, tore my invitation up and everything, like they didn't even want me there."

"If they didn't want you there, then they wouldn't have sent you the invitation in the first place."

I rubbed the top of her hooves as a way of comforting her. She smiled just faintly, recognizing the feeling.

"Princess Luna was there and basically told me to tell the others how I was feeling about this whole thing, but I don't know. Would it be right to tell them?"

"You're their friend," I informed her. "You shouldn't have to be afraid to tell your friends that something's wrong, no matter how big or small."

"I know, I know. But it's hard, maybe even a bit embarrassing. I want to tell them."

"Then do so. And if you feel that you can't, I'll be right there next to you."

"... Promise?"

A single kiss on her lips was more than enough to give her a proper answer. Starlight smiled, wanting more, but didn't want to get distracted any further.

"I should probably throw these away," the mare said as she stared at the plethora of pancakes and pancake batter that was yet to be cooked.

"Well, since we're inviting everyone over to tell them, why don't we just have one big breakfast?"

"That sounds... a lot less wasteful, actually."

"I've also got another idea—why don't you go get some more sleep and I'll handle the rest of these? That way, you can get some shuteye, and wake up to a big breakfast like last week."

"Add some sprinkles to that and I'll get right back to bed~"

"Alright, fine," I rolled my eyes with a smile, "I'll add sprinkles."

"Eeee," she squealed, leaning over to kiss my cheek, and then headed for the door. "Love you~!"

Starlight left the kitchen, humming another tune with a little bit of sway in her hips. Tired sway, but sway nonetheless. Meanwhile, I was left in charge of cooking up the rest of the batch. As I went along, I found myself humming the same tunes that Starlight was singing just a minute ago.

"Aw, darn it."

I couldn't help that they were catchy.

When We Left For Our Town

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A few hours, a refreshing nap, and a filling "friendship breakfast" later, Starlight told the same story to the others, and they all had a similar answer to mine: They forgave her and there was no longer bad blood between them.

However, she wasn't convinced that was entirely the case.

"They don't really know how much I've changed. Or even worse, maybe I haven't changed as much as I think I have!" Starlight feared.

"Trust me. You are a totally different pony now," Rainbow Dash stated. "I mean, you were pretty awful."

Applejack retorted, "Rainbow Dash!"

"What? She was! It's a compliment!"

"I don't think they would've sent the invitation if they didn't want you to come. I'm sure they'd be happy to see you," Fluttershy reassured her. I nudged Starlight gently in her chair.

"See? Fluttershy agrees," I smiled.

Even Pinkie, in a sense.

"And getting an invitation to a party and not going?! That's like... I-It's like...! Well, I don't know what it's like, but it is definitely bad."

"Just be honest with them," added Applejack, "I'm sure they'll understand where you're comin' from."

Starlight wanted to agree with the others and be convinced, but it only seemed to make it a tad more nerve wracking.

"After everything I've seen in the past few years, I know it won't be a question of, 'Will they trust me', but rather, 'How well do they trust me,'" I told her, hoping it would ease the-

"Not at all?"

"Uh... okay, maybe not that question."

"I understand how hard this is for you," Twilight shot an apologetic look. "Maybe if you took a friend along, it might make things easier. Somepony you trust who would look out for you?"

Twilight batted her eyes at Starlight, giving off a heavy indication of who exactly she was talking about. All of us knew it. I knew.

"Hmm..."

Trixie was fine too.

Near the outskirts of town, our things were ready to go and being loaded up. As Trixie helped Starlight put all over her belongings that she was bringing in her wagon, I was busy making sure Starlight was comfortable. Even though she decided to go through it, I don't want her feeling forced into it.

"Don't be afraid to tell me that you're nervous." As I rubbed one of her shoulders, she slowly started to lean into my hoof, letting it nuzzle her cheek.

"I've been nervous ever since I got that letter. But I need to do this. If I don't, I'll probably regret it for the next year."

"Never know until you try, right?"

I could see her wanting to roll her eyes, but decided against it at the last second. While I wasn't meaning to call back to the same thing she asked me a couple weeks back, it was still more or less true.

As the others caught up with us, we had just finished putting the rest of the packages in the wagon. I only had one suitcase, and that contained a toothbrush, toothpaste, three-in-one body wash, and a few books... whereas Starlight had suitcases upon suitcases of that, makeup, hair conditioner, and everything else to spiffy her up.

Mares.

"Thanks so much for doing this, Trixie," said Starlight. "When Twilight said I should bring a friend, you were the first pony I thought of."

The show pony smirked in the alicorn's direction. "Great idea, Princess Twilight. Asking me—Starlight's best friend—to help her on this difficult journey really shows how wise a princess you have become."

"Thanks, Trixie."

I could tell that Twilight was trying not to show her jealousy through her gritted teeth. To be fair, we were all honestly expecting Twilight to be the choice, but in the end, it was honestly a better choice to pick Trixie in the case of princess duties.

But regardless, who said she couldn't be jealous?

"The festival lasts a whole week, but I'm sure we won't stay that long," Starlight said to the group of girls.

"Oh, I don't know, Starlight. Time really flies when you're spending it with your best friend! ... and coltfriend, of course!" Trixie wrapped an arm around the unicorn and gave her a grin, while secretly shooting Twilight another smirk.

"Alright," I intervened, "you had your fun, Trix. The last thing I need is either of you killing each other before we even leave."

At first, Starlight was confused as to who I was talking about, but a quick glance between Trixie and Twilight was enough to let her understand. Starlight rolled her eyes at Trixie's subtle antics and pushed the mare over to the wagon's harness. I mouthed Twilight a quick 'sorry' before double checking if everything was ready, and then we were off, Spike and the girls waving and shouting goodbye to us in the process.

If I remember right, it was a day's walk to the village on hoof, so it was nopony but us three for the rest of the day, talking and chatting like old friends who hadn't seen each other in years.

I mean, that is technically the case...

When the sun went down several hours later, we were more or less halfway there, but were blind as bats in the dark, so we settled down on a nearby ridge looking over the small desert we traversed the hour before.

Trixie was asleep within the first minute of plopping on the floor of the wagon, taking her own blanket while Starlight and I shared our own.

I was on the verge of falling asleep to the sounds of the little nature that surrounded us and the overall calmness, but I couldn't help but notice that Starlight was still wide awake.

"You okay?" I whispered, prompting her to turn over to me.

"I can't sleep."

"You want me to...?"

She nodded, opening her legs just a bit, but closed them a moment later as she realized something.

"But Trixie's right there. She could hear us!"

"Hasn't stopped you before, has it?"

Despite her blush, Starlight couldn't help but laugh a bit louder than she wanted, seemingly in agreement. Even though we were holding off on sex 'until the time was right,' there was no shortage of foreplay whenever the occasion helped.

Starlight lifted her legs beneath the blanket, allowing me to rest my hoof perfectly in between. When I started rubbing her right where she liked it, she tensed up, feeling the stress slowly eating itself away and quickly becoming lost in the pleasure.

I played with her like a fiddle. Every time she moaned, I went faster, but she was quick to catch on—not that she minded, anyway.

Her eyes stared at me, fixated on my face. She couldn't stop moaning, even though she was doing well to keep quiet. Whenever she wasn't moaning, she was sighing, her breaths shaky and falling into shudders. One of her hooves rested against my chest, but wasn't trying to push me away.

She shivered my name, and I knew she was close, her eyes begging me to make her quiver again, just how she liked it.

A few moments later, she got her wish, and the mare felt herself release, and all of the stress of today quickly vanishing. The sensation made her gasp, but the sudden intake of air turned the gasp into coughing fits that were hard to keep quiet. Luckily, Trixie was a heavy sleeper.

My hoof became wet with her liquid essence, and she squirted for several more seconds before she stopped, her body now spent. I pulled my hoof out from her legs and from beneath the blanket, and lifted it to my mouth, giving it a seductive lick and never breaking eye contact from Starlight.

She snickered, trying to keep it quiet, but then found herself wide eyed and curious when I put my hoof against her tongue, essentially tasting herself.

Needless to say, she liked it.

"Thank you," she whispered, exchanging a romantic kiss, and I could taste the faint flavor of her orgasm on her tongue.

It didn't take long for her to fall asleep. I followed soon after, holding her close against me.

These were the nights I loved.

In the morning, I woke up to find that Trixie was gone, Starlight too. I assumed they couldn't have gone far...

If the smell of fried eggs was any indication.

I popped my head out to see the two sitting beside a quick campfire, frying some eggs in a pan and serving them on paper plates. No doubt, Trixie was always prepared.

"Morning," I greeted Starlight with a peck on the cheek, "how'd you sleep?"

"Great," she answered back, giving me a subtle wink as Trixie was looking down on her eggs.

"What about you, Trix? You kind of fell asleep pretty quick last night."

"Not as fast as you think."

She eyed the two of us with a suspicious smirk, and I had to ask her what she meant by that. Trixie simply laughed and chose to demonstrate—and by demonstrate, I mean moan my name, shiver, and beg to go 'faster.'

Both Starlight and I were left looking at our eggs and blushing heavily.

"So... um... how much did you hear?" Starlight asked.

"All of it. But I have to say, you did an excellent job if her... finish was any indication." She leaned back against a nearby rock, looking up into the sky and shooting Starlight a faint wink.

"If only I had a stallion like that."

My coughs only made Trixie laugh harder.

When They Returned

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"Ugh!" Starlight yelled, "I was horrible when I led that town! I was ready for them to not trust me, but... I wasn't ready for them to put me in charge again! With my past, I should never be in charge of anything!"

We had just returned from our trip to Our Town, a trip that seemingly lasted for a good, solid minute. No matter how much confidence I placed in her, that the others placed in her, even what Trixie placed in her, it still didn't seem to be enough—but how could I blame her?

"So you messed up. Big deal," remarked Trixie as she gave Starlight an apologetic look. But mid-walk, she stopped us and brought us in, hushed tones and all.

"Don't you ever tell another pony I said this, but even Trixie's made mistakes."

I merely rolled my eyes. "Mistake isn't exactly the word I'd use."

There were plenty of words that could easily replace 'mistake,' but for the sake of the overall lesson, I didn't say it, and Trixie—despite her deathly glare—eyed me a 'thank you' in return.

"The trick is to just move on and pretend they never happened."

Starlight gave a weak smile at her friend and continued forward.

"I feel like that's almost good advice."

The atmosphere for the remainder of the trip home was more vibrant, even after Trixie snuck a smack on my arm.

When we finally made it back home a few hours later, we were all more or less relieved to see the familiar sight of Ponyville once again. There was just one problem.

Something was incredibly off: We saw Pinkie first, and the way she talked to us seemed... strange, like she wasn't her usual cheery happy self, at least in the tone of her voice. At first, we all shrugged it off as it being "just Pinkie."

But the big suspicion was Rarity and Applejack. The way they laughed at Starlight's troubles after trying to convince her to go just a couple days back, along with Rainbow's sudden sense of secrecy, was more than enough to convince me that something was going on.

"I need to talk to Twilight."

"You want me to come with?" I asked, but she shook her head.

"It'll be fine. It's probably nothing." She gave me a gentle kiss on the snout. "Go on home, okay? Maybe after this is all figured out, I'll come and visit."

I wanted to blush, but gave her a friendly smile instead. Starlight left for Twilight's home, and I was standing beside Trixie, confused and concerned.

"I'm starting to get the feeling that this isn't nothing," I said more so to myself, but also to Trixie. "AJ and Rarity wouldn't laugh at her like that."

"Well, you know what they say: Ponies tend to show their true emotions sooner or later."

"After everything we've all been through?"

She said nothing, unable to agree or disagree—merely because of the fact that she didn't share the same experience. I gave her a sigh.

"I'll pay her a visit in a bit. Right now, I'm gonna head home like she asked, maybe talk to Clanks, and see if I can't just piece some future events in my head."

Trixie snorted with amusement. "Right, future events. Like you can see the future, ha ha... you... you're not joking, are you?"

An eyebrow raised, I shook my head.

"Oh."

"Starlight asked me the same thing once," I patted Trixie on the hat. "One day, I'll tell you about the things you'll do. Or rather, the things you would've done."

"I'd rather you not."

I gave her a soft, but hearty laugh as I waved her goodbye. It was just a minute's walk from here, but I finally made it back home after a few days. Expecting to see things collecting dust or a bug(s) somehow getting into the cereal, everything was still surprisingly clean. I couldn't remember if I programmed that into Clanks or not.

Speaking of Clanks, I checked the house for the robot, but couldn't find him anywhere on the first floor. When I checked the second floor, I found him sitting at the library desk, reading a passage from one of the many entries I had written down during our time in the dome.

"Clanks?" I called out. "Is that you?"

The machine slowly turned around and noticed me, giving a somewhat vibrant smile.

"You're back," he greeted. "I thought you were meant to be gone for a week?"

"There were some... complications," I hinted. "How have things been so far?"

"Things are relatively well. Twilight Sparkle has been helping me improve my ability to think and feel better, so I no longer have to sound like such a fool."

I reeled my head back subtly, registering Clanks' body language and his overall body. He moved like Clanks, he sounded like Clanks, and even talked like Clanks. Only there was one visible difference.

Right now, he had a tail. I never gave him a tail, only because it would get in the way.

This was not Clanks.

"Are you okay?" the seeming imposter asked me. I firmly put my hoof down.

"Where's Clanks?"

"What do you mean?"

"Don't play dumb with me, whoever you are. I know my robot when I see him. I'm the one who built him, after all. I know every piece, every bolt, every little bit of metal that I used to make him, and I know when something's out of place... or when somepony is impersonating him. So I'm only gonna ask one more time: Where is Clanks?"

"I... I..."

The imposter didn't bother coming up with a coherent answer. Instead, he gave a nasty snarl and became engulfed in a sickly green glow of magic, revealing his true form.

"A changeling...!"

"You're more arrogant than that Twilight b-"

Before he could finish his statement, the changeling was suddenly sent flying into the wall a few steps away, seemingly knocked out cold. I turned to see who kicked him.

"Clanks!" I shouted with glee, but recoiled. "The... real Clanks, right?"

"Of course." He took a look at the unconscious changeling and then back to me. "We need to go. There are more coming."

"Wha-what, wait, more who? More changelings?"

"Yes. They've returned."

... WHAT?

"Are you sure?"

"They've kidnapped the elements of harmony, and are currently in the process of kidnapping the princesses."

"Then we have to go get them!"

Clanks gave me a firm, fluid nod, moving in front of me and heading down the stairs. The intention was to warn Starlight and get her out before they could harm her. But before we ever managed to reach the door, something pulled us back and disabled Clanks. Before I could say his name, the world went dark.

Hours passed before I came to, shaking my head and adjusting my vision. I found myself sitting against the wall, my hooves tied behind my back, and my legs bound together with strong, tight rope.

I looked around and noticed that I was back in my library, and the door open, but heavily guarded by... mares? It took a moment for me to question, but a quick glance at their greenly lit eyes brought me to the realization that they're not mares, but changelings in disguise.

But why mares? What purpose?

"I'd like to chat, Starly, but I'm a bit... tied up at the moment," I heard a voice say downstairs, a voice that sounded awfully like... mine.

And did he just say... Starly?

Wait... Starlight!

After the imposter made his awful pun, as if on command, the two mares standing outside made their way over to the stairs in a seductive manner.

"Honey," one of them called out, "are you coming back to bed? Oh, who's this lovely lady? A friend of yours?"

"Not as much as she thinks."

"I... I don't understand..." Starlight's familiar voice said in a tearful tone.

"Starlight!" I shouted, trying to inch my way to the door, but was immediately stopped by a barrier.

I knew what kind of shield it was... a soundproof barrier: Sound comes in, but not out. I could hear everything that was going on, but nopony would ever be able to hear my screams.

"It's simple, Starlight," the imposter me said, "I'm just bored of you. Always complaining, always whining, always asking and never returning, and I just have to put up with it. You're just not worth that, and frankly, I'd rather spend my time on mares who give as well as take."

"Starlight!" I screamed again, even if my attempts were futile at this point.

Meanwhile, I tried to break my binds, hoping I could find some way to burst through. My magic wasn't working, so it was definitely magic proof too. But I was hardly focusing on that anymore.

I was focusing on the sounds that Starlight made, the cries that she let out, almost like she wanted to beg for another chance, but just couldn't.

"So... none of it mattered to you? All of the things we went through?" her voice could barely choke out.

"Honestly, no."

I could hear Starlight hold back sobs. "Fine. Then I guess we're done."

The tears came pouring down, and she started to cry as she ran away. I screamed her name again, trying to call her back... but again, she couldn't hear me. I could feel tears forming in my eyes—meanwhile, the fake me downstairs shut the door, gave a sinister laugh, and then the sound of transformations filled my ears.

A moment later, three changelings came in through the doorway and saw me sitting there, teary-eyed and struggling to free myself.

"Why?" I told them.

"You should probably undo the sound blocker," one of them said to the other. "Not like anypony will be bothering us now."

With a nod, a changeling, female by her appearance, emanated light from her crooked horn, and the shield around my body glowed, but only for a moment. But I repeated the same question:

"Why would you do this?"

This time, they could hear me, if their laughs were any indication. "Because it's fun to crush a relationship. At the same time, that little pony could've ruined our plans."

"But now that's out of the way..."

"And with you in binds..."

"All we need to do is take Canterlot... one princess at a time! And then after that, the Crystal Empire!"

The trio of changelings laughed again at their apparent and inevitable success, while I was helpless and trapped. One of them leaned up close to me, smelling my body and tingling with joy.

"Oh, your love for that unicorn... it's strong. Very strong. I can feel it."

"Y-You won't get away with this," I choked, but they simply enveloped me in their light. Instantly, I found myself falling tired.

"Shh... it'll be over soon."

In an instant, I was unconscious once again.

When I came to, it was clear that I was still asleep, standing in a collapsing replica of the library. The hallways were broken apart, cascading downward into a black hole. Every star in the visible distance was exploding and collapsing. Pieces of the dome were scattered around me, roaring in pain as they were sucked into the black abyss.

"You seem to be in pain," a feminine voice said near me. "Your dreams continue to change, I see."

I turned quickly and saw Luna standing there, a smile on her face, but a look of concern.

"Luna?" I called. "The real Luna?"

"Of course."

"You... you got somewhere safe, didn't you? You were warned? You're okay?" I asked Luna several questions, hopeful questions, and was optimistic.

But the mare seemed to be confused. "What do you mean?"

"You... you don't know?"

"Know what?"

She doesn't know. They're still in Canterlot.

Immediately, I got up close to Luna, practically grabbing her by the scruff of her neck and told her firmly:

"Luna, listen to me, you have to get back to the waking world, right now. They're heading for Canterlot, and they're planning to replace you and Celestia with copies."

"Who is this they you speak of?"

"Changelings, Luna! The changelings are back! You and Celestia have to get out now!"

"What?!"

The ground then suddenly rumbled beneath us, collapsing beneath me and flinging me down into the black hole.

"Luna!"

No more than a moment later, I was suddenly sitting upright against the wall, still in the library as I was before. My head was pounding with an unbearable pain, like something had just smacked me in the face with a freight train. At least, that was a measurable equivalent.

I took a look outside the window and saw that it was now nighttime; before, it was still the middle of the day. I had been out for hours. Did Luna and Celestia make it out? Was Starlight okay?

Starlight... she thinks I...

I'll find her. Right now, I need to find Clanks and get out of here.

Moving forward, I noticed that the spell they placed on me was still in effect, if the green distorting shape was enough to tell. The thing about spells like this is if you push enough of a force against it, you can counteract and break it.

Gaining enough backing space, I lurched myself forward against the barrier, and as expected, it didn't shatter. I backed up again, readied myself, and then slammed forward again. It moved just a little, straining itself.

With a third and final bash against it, the shield finally broke, and I was free from my restraint, though not from the ropes. I remembered having a knife in my desk, but never had the reason to use it until now. How convenient and kind of the changelings.

I dragged myself over to the desk and opened up the drawers, eventually finding a small silver knife. Picking it up with my mouth, I very carefully started to cut the binds on my hooves. After a few seconds, they were free, and I picked up the knife with one hoof and undid my legs. As soon as I had free motion, I found the knife's holster and attached it. I likely wouldn't need it, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

Armed and ready, I left the library, occasionally checking the corners and the rooms to see where the other changelings could've possibly been. One of them was sitting in the bathroom, observing itself in the mirror in different forms and shapes. I was able to sneak past her easily.

I extended my wings and flew slowly down the stairs. The other two changelings were sitting at my kitchen table, one reading today's newspaper, and the other talking to the changeling leader herself, Queen Chrysalis, through a hologram.

"I've received word that the princess of Canterlot are now replaced appropriately," Chrysalis boasted. "What is your progress on their friend... I can't bother to remember the name—the one I blasted against the wall at that so-called wedding!"

I grimaced at the memory— ...wait, Luna and Celestia were... captured?

"From what we've found, his name is ... huh." one of the changelings told their queen. "Such an odd name, considering how he's made melodies rather than streaks of-"

"I don't care about his talents!" she screeched, "I care if you've captured him or not!"

"We captured him..." The changeling then turned into an exact copy of me, "... replaced him, dismembered his stupid robot, and took care of his girlfriend."

The thought of what they did made me growl in silence, but being violent or exposing myself wouldn't solve anything.

"Excellent. Bring the real one to me. I want him sitting with the rest of them."

"Of course, my queen," the two said simultaneously.

I had to find Clanks, and I had to find him now. They said they dismembered him? As in... took him apart? How badly did they...

Searching all of the downstairs rooms, I eventually entered the closet and got my answer. They took his legs off and smashed them to bits, then removed his head, placing it aside, but left it untouched. He was thrown, according to the dents in his body. They just tossed him in here like he was trash.

I walked over and picked up his head, placing it firmly on his neck and twisting it into place. With a brief glow of magic, I worked his body just enough to get him to start working again. Slowly, his eyes opened as his body whirred to life.

Clanks looked up at me. "Light-"

I shushed him. "We need to find Starlight."

Suddenly I heard a shout from upstairs. "He's gone!"

"Damn," I said to myself as I picked up Clanks with my magic. "Come on!"

But as I turned around, I suddenly found myself face to face with one of the changelings, snarling and seething with anger.

"Trying to walk out so soon, are you?" he quipped. "He's in here!"

A moment or two later, the other two changelings came in, further holding their grip on me. I tried to plot any way of getting past them, but there was no way to do so.

"We were gonna go easy on you," the feminine changeling remarked, "but now I think we're gonna have to do something else. I'm sure the queen will let this one slide."

Their smiles and their laughs were sinister and dark, and I found myself completely helpless. I could barely move, and I had no other options. As the three got closer to me and I became more and more cornered, I did the only last resort option I could think of.

With a single burst of magic, I shot a beam straight at the changelings. The sheer force of the blast created an explosion that, more or less, destroyed the backside of the house. While the explosion itself wasn't large enough to devastate the entire structure, it would easily be visible to everyone in Ponyville.

I placed a force field around me and Clanks just before. As soon as the smoke cleared and the area was visible once again, I briefly checked for the trio of changelings. They all survived, but were unconscious. I would never understand the durability of such a creature.

"We should move, before they wake up," Clanks told me, and I agreed.

With a nod, I ran out the open hole of the house and into the woods. If the girls and even Spike were all compromised, I had to find Starlight before they got to her. The castle wasn't safe, and if it already became clear to her, then she was likely with the only other pony she could trust.

It was a few minutes of a run to reach Trixie's wagon, perched near the top of a small distant hill. As I approached her mobile home, I could see the familiar figures of Starlight, Trixie, Thorax, and... Discord?

"Starlight!" I shouted to the mare, trying to get her attention.

She turned in my direction and eyed me. Whatever emotion she carried just a second ago—fear, concern, hope, or happiness—was all replaced with just one emotion: anger.

Before I could get any further, I found myself pinned against a tree by purple magic. Starlight stomped towards me, her face flushed with a building fury.

"You've got a lot of nerve coming here after what you-"

"Changelings, Star!" I yelled through her restraints. "They were changelings! I was literally on the second floor! I've been spending all day tied up in ropes and soundproof spells, and I just blew out the backside of my house! Please! It's me!"

I had to be perfectly honest: Seeing Starlight angry was a scary sight, and I don't use 'scary' a lot. Seeing her magic glowing with a mixture of red was something I wished I'd never see—even if she was tricked.

Once I said what I could blurt out, Starlight seemed to calm down just a bit, as if realizing it straight away. However, she didn't seem entirely convinced.

"How do I know you're the real one and not just another changeling who saw the whole thing?"

"Uh... where do I start?"

"Here's one: What's the one nickname that I absolutely hate being called?"

An easy one. "Starly. You told me it was a nickname your parents gave you when you were a filly and kids used to make fun of you for it."

"What's the one nickname I love being-"

"Star—just Star. You told me to start calling you that after our second date, when we were stargazing, because it made you feel like I could look up at the night sky and see you there."

The memory of that night, still visible in her head, was enough to make her laugh quietly, though blush in slight awkwardness.

"Okay... one more, just a simple one: What is my full name?"

"Starlight Aurora Glimmer. You told me your full name a week ago because you knew you were comfortable enough being with me to tell me."

With a sigh, Starlight released me, only to embrace me with a comforting kiss. I held her shoulders and kissed her back. She pulled away after a moment.

"I'm sorry, I just-"

"It's okay. I'm not mad at you."

"Uh, hello?" a voice said to us. Starlight and I turned to see Trixie staring at us with an impatient tap of her hoof. "I'd hate to interrupt this romantic moment between the two of you, but can you please keep in mind that there are CHANGELINGS REPLACING EVERYPONY?"

"As much as I enjoy the romance as well, I would have to agree—" Discord immediately recoiled. "Wait... changelings? Again? Well, what a coincidence, if I should say!"

"Nice to see that you're taking this so lightly," Starlight retorted, "considering how they took everyone that we know! We need to—"

Starlight was unable to finish as Discord sank down, staring at her with concerned, but growingly furious eyes.

"They took Fluttershy?"

"Yes!"

"Where?"

"The Changeling Kingdom. With you on our side, I can—"

Before Starlight could finish her next sentence, Discord snapped his claws together and sent all of us to another spot. It seemed to be the middle of the day, and the landscape looked desert-y and... dead all at the same time. I caught Clanks before he could fall to the ground.

"Odd," Discord recoiled. "I was trying to take us right to Fluttershy, but there is no Fluttershy."

As I was recovering from the brief lapse of energy, Trixie pointed to a distant structure.

"I think I have a pretty good idea where she might be," she whimpered.

In the distance, the structure, the Changeling Kingdom, stood tall and menacingly against a toxic sky, with storm clouds surrounding its top and lightning striking its tip. Thunder roared from afar. Thorax shivered in slight terror.

"I'd hoped never to see that place again.... now what?"

I stood back up on all fours. "Well... do we really have any other choice other than to go in... there?"

Thorax shook his head. "That's where all of your friends are stored. There's no way to get them any other way."

"Why's that?"

Discord, on the other hoof, was still complaining about his magic not working.

"Oh, this is so strange. We're here and that's there, and I clearly meant for us to be there and not here."

"Oh, I-I can probably explain—"

But the draconequus was very persistent in not paying attention. The situation quickly became a heated argument between Starlight, Discord, and Trixie, with Thorax attempting to explain whatever it was he was trying to explain.

"We have me. And what else could we possibly need?" Discord asked slyly.

"A draconequus with magic and half a brain might help," Trixie retorted.

"Trixie..." I said, trying to calm everyone down. However, Discord continued to provoke the mare.

"Why are you here again? I mean, it's not like you're going to stop the changelings by pulling a rabbit out of a hat. At least my magic can do something."

"Neither of you will be doing any magic if you—"

"Like this!" With a snap of his claws once again, Discord spawned a flying pig, and sitting on top of it was...

"Wait, Clanks?" I turned around in the direction that Clanks was just a moment ago, but he wasn't there. Instead, he was sitting on top of the pig that was now starting its way for the castle.

"For Fluttershy, you strange machine!" Discord shouted.

"Discord!" I glared at the anti-god, "bring him back here right—"

Suddenly, the pig vanished into thin air, and Clanks began to fall, banging on the tip of the cliff.

"Clanks!" Using my magic, I levitated Clanks before he vanished from view, and brought him back over to us.

But as I set the robot down, I noticed that he wasn't working. A glimpse at the cliff ahead, plus the pig vanishing, made me realize something—something I'm assuming that Thorax was trying to tell us to begin with.

"Nothing other than changeling magic works here," the changeling stated. "Chrysalis' throne is carved from an ancient dark stone that soaks up outside magic the same way changelings soak up love. It's how she keeps the hive safe."

Starlight went over to the cliff to put his words to the test, just to be safe. As expected, the magic came out as nothing more than a fizzle. I looked back over at Clanks' half-complete body. He was shut down again, having operated solely on magic. I had been planning for a long time to refit him with actual technology, and I had done that already, but I could never get it all to work.

Right now, I wish it did.

I focused my energy on Clanks' body, giving him the energy he needed to live again. After a few seconds, his body hummed to life, and his eyes opened, greeted with typical mechanical confusion.

The pain in my head, first noticed at the house, came back in a stronger force, and I found myself trying to support my weight with a hoof. Starlight noticed this and came to my side.

"Are you okay?" she asked me, holding me up with her arms.

I nodded. "I'm okay. I-I just need a break."

"Take your time. Don't strain yourself."

My hoof nuzzled her cheek. It helped the pain just a little, or rather, helped me ignore it just a little. Trixie looked to Starlight for answers, plans, methods—anything that could help the others. But Starlight wanted their ideas first before she gave hers.

As I sat beside Clanks, who was now fully conscious, I spoke up. "What about the throne?"

"What about it?" Thorax asked, curious.

Starlight was thinking the same thing as I had, her eyes glowing with an idea.

"If we get into the hive and destroy it, can we get our magic back?"

Thorax nodded, "Uh huh!"

"Well, that's a terrible plan!" Discord claimed, less than convinced. "How are we even supposed to get to the hive?"

Trixie hopped down the cliff. "Uh... we walk?"

Discord droned on about the thought of walking. "I haven't walked that far in a millennium!"

"Wait!" I stopped them in their tracks. "What about Clanks? He can't walk without his legs, and I can't carry him in this state!"

"So why not just leave him here?" Discord suggested.

"No! I can't just leave him like this! I—"

I heard Clanks say my name. I turned to him, and as concerned as he did, he was peaceful.

"I'll be okay. I won't be able to provide much help like this, not without my legs. Without them, I am nothing more than a stub on the ground. Besides, they won't figure to find me here. You go and stop Queen Chrysalis. Free our friends."

I looked at Clanks, contemplating whether to listen to him or to ignore him and carry him, but he had a point: Without his legs, he didn't have any advantage or chance against the changelings.

With a sigh, I picked him up and placed him near some bushes in order for him to hide in case any changelings were to snoop around here.

"I'll be back soon," I told him, "hopefully."

We were going into the most dangerous place in Equestria, as far as I knew. That 'hopefully' was more than just truth.

Stepping away from Clanks, I rejoined the others, and we all continued onward to the Changeling Kingdom. Time to save the world, I guess.

When We Infiltrated

View Online

After walking for several minutes, we eventually reached the kingdom. From here, it was clear to anyone looking up that the structure pierced through the circling clouds, truly earning the title of an evil lair—only this one was real, and inside were our friends.

There were guards stationed in front of the main entrance, wearing what appeared to be body armor. It wasn't worth fighting them and potentially losing. Luckily, Thorax found us a way in from the side, through an open hole. How convenient?

Once we were inside, we were all taken aback by the sheer design and layout of this place. Green lantern-like lights were fitted across the place to illuminate the otherwise dark interior. Pieces of the walls and columns opened and closed, split and connected everywhere we looked. That was when we heard the hole behind us seeping itself shut.

"Um," Trixie hummed, "where's the way out?"

"It's a changeling hive. It shifts and changes like we do, and we're the only ones who can navigate it. It's total chaos to non-changelings," Thorax answered, walking through a freshly opened hole. The rest of us quickly caught up to him before it closed up again.

We spent a few minutes wandering the halls, perching on cliffs, and bickering about nonsense back and forth—well, really, it was just Discord and Trixie—but we were all, more or less, handling it like a team. Hopefully that would last and we saved the others before those two decided to duke it out in here.

I walked beside Starlight, and I could see just from her face alone that she was nervous and unsure of what to do next. She sighed silently to herself, but her choked gulps were audible to me.

"Hey," I whispered to her, "it'll be okay."

"You're sure about that?"

I nodded. "I know you're nervous. Trust me, I'm nervous too. But at the same time, I know that you're strong and capable of handling this and saving them."

Starlight looked forward and sighed again, trying to take my words into account, but a lone thought crept into her mind and piqued her interest.

Turning back to me, she asked, "You've seen every event for the next three years, right? So... maybe you know what happens next? Where we go, what to do?"

She would've been right. Some of the events of the past few weeks that weren't related to us I saw early on. But her words didn't carry the same amount of hopeful weight that she wanted it to, and I shook my head.

"I read Chrysalis' book soon after it showed up," I told her, "and I would've seen it mention this particular event, this group, what could happen next... but it doesn't. From what I remember, the changelings died out soon after I disappeared. Starved from a lack of love."

"Why...?"

It was my turn to sigh. "They died because of me."

Starlight didn't stop moving, but looked at me, confused and wondering what I meant by that.

"After I disappeared and the whole search was called off, ponies across Equestria stopped being so kind to each other. Everypony started blaming everypony else, and there were fights, and... well, basically, love wasn't exactly in long supply for a few weeks. I guess that's led to... you know."

It sounded so ridiculous to explain that. A single pony vanishing and being untraceable leading to a country fighting against itself, and the death of an entire race of shape-shifting creatures? It didn't seem realistic.

And yet it happened, at least in one timeline. But now, I was back, and...

"Don't let that get to you," Starlight said, holding a hoof on my shoulder. "Even if it turned out to be your fault, there was nothing you could've done to know."

She stopped moving and embraced me in a warming hug. I inhaled a deep breath and was able to get a whiff of her mane scent: strawberries. It helped me just a little. Starlight pulled away a few moments later.

"No matter what happens, we'll get through this... just like you told me. And we have Thorax to help us with that. Right, Thorax?"

"Um, guys? ... I think we're lost," the changeling said, immediately contradicting Starlight's claim.

It was enough to make Trixie slam her bags to the ground and sit, already in defeat. "Oh, great. We might as well just sit here and wait for the changelings to soak up all of our love or whatever gross thing it is that they do."

"Nopony ever solved a problem by giving up, Trixie," I told her. "At least, that's what I kept telling myself."

She didn't look at me, but instead took a look at Thorax. "How often do you all get hungry?"

Thorax shrugged. "Actually, I haven't been since I met Spike. And changelings are always hungry. We can never get enough love."

"Well, that's just super—"

Starlight interrupted Trixie mid sentence. "But you aren't hungry at all now...?"

Thorax put a hoof up to his mouth, thinking and realizing what Starlight was asking him.

"Huh. Once I made a few friends, I guess I just sort of forgot about the whole feeding thing," he laughed.

"Is that about the same time your wings changed?"

"I guess so." The changeling inspected his green, sparkly, and luscious wings, as opposed to their once-dull color.

Discord yawned, bored with our chat. "While I would love to sit around chitchatting about feeding and not feeding, I have a Fluttershy to save!"

The draconequus' voice rang out and echoed across the entire area, reverberating off the walls. No more than a couple of seconds later, we heard the familiar sound of changelings hissing away in the distance, no doubt disturbed by the noise.

"Can you please lower your voice?! You're gonna get us all captured!" Trixie hushed with an irritated tone.

Discord waved a paw. "Oh, you keep saying that, but I haven't seen an actual changeling since we got into this hive."

"How about we keep it that... way... then..."

My voice slowly became drowned out by the sound of distant humming. The ground beneath our hooves and paws rumbled just slightly.

"W-What's that?" Trixie shook.

Thorax's face turned slightly white as he realized. "A changeling patrol!"

The changeling started to take shallow breaths, hyperventilating as he went into a panic. Starlight tried to comfort him, while Trixie and Discord began to bicker once again. But when Trixie mentioned her magic, I had an idea.

"What about your—"

"—smoke bombs!" Starlight said simultaneously. We both shared a quick smile, and Trixie saw the idea.

A few moments later, the small patrol of changelings arrived to the scene, but only Trixie was there.

"Looking for somepony?"

As expected, the changelings hissed and readied to tackle her, but with a puff of smoke, she was gone, now resting on another platform. The scenario quickly became a game of Cat and Mouse, with Trixie constantly disappearing and reappearing at various sections, before starting a chase down a nearby hall, with the changelings in hot pursuit—all while we watched above... Trixie included.

Did I mention that was Thorax down there?

We waited another few moments, and eventually, Thorax returned, still in the form of Trixie. While Starlight and Discord were hesitant—even me, just a bit—Trixie and Thorax said the correct code word together, and Thorax was once again his regular Changeling form. Discord couldn't help but suggest changing the code word.

"That was a pretty good plan!" Thorax exclaimed, proud of both himself and the others.

"But we still don't know where we're going." Trixie's face contorted into a worrisome look.

"Actually, we might," Starlight smirked. "Two of the changelings didn't go with the rest."

Thorax facehoofed himself as it came back to him. "Oh! With an intruder in the hive, they went to protect the queen! Good thinking, Starlight!"

While Starlight was more than happy to give off the helpful information, she couldn't help but laugh awkwardly, the attention pinned on her. I gave her a pat on the back and a congratulatory kiss. The awkwardness seemed to fade, but the blush was there.

As the group started to discuss where we should go next, I noticed something in the corner of my eye, in the distant shadows down the near hall. Two green dots. Two green eyes.

"Guys...?" I said to them. I only got Thorax's and Starlight's attention, and they both found themselves staring at the same thing.

The eyes were piercing back at us, and a faint growl could be heard, earning the attention of both Trixie and Discord in the process.

Suddenly, the eyes changed direction, just slightly. They weren't looking at me anymore. They were looking right at Starlight.

She barely had time to gasp before I pushed her out of the way. Instantly, I felt myself being tackled by a black figure, another changeling. The two of us fell off the platform and were plunging to the bottom.

I heard Starlight scream my name, her voice growing distant as I neared the bottom floor. The changeling hissed at me, trying to constrict me, but I was quick to push him away and unfurl my wings, just enough to slow down the fall. However, I couldn't stop myself from hitting something, as I slammed into a smaller platform, breaking one of my wings and rolling to the floor.

I remember shouting as the pain coursed through my body, the many bones of my left wing shattered. The changeling, while not dead or broken, was unconscious nearby.

I heard Starlight's voice echo my name down to me. "Are you okay?!"

"I'm fiiiinne!" I shouted back, screaming mid-word as I could feel my bone fragments rubbing against each other. Starlight could hear the pain in my voice.

"Don't move!" she whimpered. "We'll come down and get you—"

"No!" I yelled. "It'll take too long! Go on without me! I'll find my way to you somehow!"

"But—"

"No 'buts', Star! It'll be o—" I paused as I looked down to see green eyes glowing from behind the shadows. "—kay..."

It was at this very moment, seeing all of those eyes staring me down, that I realized I was surrounded by changelings. Dozens of them. I swallowed the lump in my throat.

"... Starlight?" I hollered.

"What? What is it?"

"Run! Now!"

As I said that, the changelings all came out of their hiding spots and tried to tackle me to the ground, but I was quick enough to jump out of the way. Their hisses echoed across the entire colony. I heard Starlight shout my name again, but I was too focused on one thing: getting away.

In a dash, I started for a nearby hall and just started running as fast as I could, with countless changelings in hot pursuit behind me. The only light down the hall was the light of the glowing lamp-like objects. The structure howled as I ran down, as pores opened and closed.

I opened my unbroken wing, hoping to gain some momentum against the changeling horde, but after nearly losing my balance a few times, I realized it was not worth the risk, though it did help me get a small distance away from them. Using it to my advantage, I turned a corner and proceed to hide myself within several different pored parts of the wall. Many of them were closing behind me and opening in front of me.

The changelings were quick to lose sight of me, spending a few minutes scoping the area out, trying to find me. I tried to catch my breath quietly, not risking to yawn or cough uncontrollably. I glanced out occasionally to see where they were. Many of them had wandered off into other parts of the halls, as if to find me, while few stayed behind to search for me.

Gulping, I tried to find anything around me that I could use as a distraction. I found a decent sized rock and picked it up with my wing. Peaking out of an open hole, I quickly looked in both directions and saw that the changelings were looking the other way. With that in mind, I swung the rock as far away from me as I could, down the hall, and I hid behind cover again.

The sound of it hitting the ground caused the changelings to hiss in anticipation and follow it.

"Phew," I hushed.

Suddenly, the hole around me started to close up, and I immediately recoiled out before it could crush me.

"Okay," I sighed, "I need to not do that again."

Leaving from behind the walls, I continued down the hall from the shadows, doing my best to avoid any further detection or attraction to myself. So far, I was doing a good job.

I spent several minutes walking around the place, trying to find my way back up to the top to meet up with the group again, but the pain in my broken wing was the only thing that was distracting me. It had gotten worse, and the entire thing was now starting to look bruised, more blue than it already was.

"If I knew this was gonna happen, I would've brought painkillers," I said to nopony in particular.

After one wrong step, a sharp pain shot through my wing, and I had no choice but to sit down and take a breather. I leaned my head against the walls, hoping it wouldn't suddenly open behind me. Other than the pain, the safety of the others was racing through my mind. Did they escape? Did they find the others?

Was Starlight okay?

My thoughts were derailed by the sound of approaching hooves, just one set of them. I turned to the source in a somewhat defensive stance. But I stood down just for a second when I saw who it was.

"... Starlight?"

The mare looked slightly battered and bruised, limping against one hoof, and seemingly shuddering. She saw me looking at her and smiled weakly.

"H-Hey."

"Are you o—" I stopped. I just had to be sure. "Klutzy...?"

Starlight looked at me with a confused manner. "I don't..."

But a second later, she sighed, her face turning into an irritated glare at the floor.

"Ugh... a codeword."

Those words were enough to prove that this wasn't the real Starlight, but a changeling in disguise. I tried springing up on my hooves, but the changeling was quicker, holding me down with its familiar green aura.

"Just stop running already," she said. "It's already bad enough that I'm stuck like this after that little fireworks display of yours back in that podunk town of yours."

Fireworks display? Wait...

"You're one of the changelings from Ponyville."

"Bingo~"

"How did you get here so fast? How did you know I was here?"

"Magic, of course. And I didn't know you were here. I only knew you'd be coming to ruin everything."

The fake Starlight cleared her throat and adjusted her magic to levitate me in front of her. She grinned menacingly, something I hadn't seen in a long time.

"But enough about that. It's time to finish what I start—gah!"

The changeling's horn flickered, and her magic released me. I caught myself before I hit the ground, and the changeling was still recuperating. That was when her horn stopped flickering, or worse, stopped working altogether.

"No..." she whispered. "NO!"

Slamming her hoof against the wall, the changeling Starlight fell to the ground, shutting her eyes tight and sighing, already with defeat fresh in her mind. She eyed me, but never turned to look at me.

"If you're gonna finish the job, you might as well do it now." Her voice was solemn, but broken. She never took her eyes off the wall, expecting me to do whatever she wanted me to do to her.

But I didn't do anything except bend down and hold out a hoof to help her up. She eyed my hoof, then my face, her expression unchanged.

"What are you doing?"

"Helping you," I told her.

She laughed to herself. "I doubt someone like you would be able to help me."

"I've been told that a lot."

I kept my hoof held out, hoping she would take it. The changeling continued to look, her eyes fixated on my hoof.

After a few seconds of tense silence, she took it, holding it carefully in her own, and she started to stand up on all fours. She looked at me.

"Why are you doing this?"

"Because it's the right thing to do. I know you don't believe it, but it's true."

"I was ready to kill you a few seconds ago. And yet you decide to help me." She was confused. "Why?"

I sighed. "Because I've seen what would've been."

She eyed me like I was crazy, perhaps. But she said nothing and chose to hear me out.

"I was trapped in a place that allowed me to see every moment in time and space. In one particular book—it talked about how the changelings all died out because the world lacked enough love."

"Why did it lack enough love?"

"Because I disappeared."

Her eyes opened slightly as she recognized me... to a point, I mean.

"You're that pony that went missing? The one that got this country all riled up?"

I nodded. "To them, I was gone for three days. In those three days, an entire nation grouped up to find and rescue me, wherever I could've been. In another timeline, they never find me, and Equestria turns into a bitter place for some time. With little love to feed on, the changelings... they just... perished."

The changeling stared at me in horrified amazement, all without changing her expression too much, as she realized that at one point, in one time, she too died.

"And you being here means...?"

"That the changelings won't die now. They will try to take over Equestria to feed on the love of others."

She laughed to herself, realizing that that was the inevitable outcome. But I wanted to convince her otherwise.

"But they don't have to take it."

"Of course we do!" she exclaimed. "We thrive on the love that ponies share with each other! It drives us to live and to survive! Without it, we are nothing! We will not give up on love."

"Then don't," I said simply. "But don't just take it. Give it."

She tilted her head. "What do you mean?"

"Like you said yourself—ponies share love with one another. It's how they can truly be happy. You don't have to take someone's love away. Giving it is more than enough."

"... How can I trust you when you say that?"

"Because I know a friend who's already done it."

She tried to think about who could have done it themselves, but it didn't take long to remember.

"... Thorax..."

I nodded. "He made friends a long time ago. Since then, he hasn't needed to feed on any love to live. He just has to return the feeling to those who kept him safe."

The changeling was conflicted, and I knew why: For years, she was raised on the notion that changelings could only feed and take love, rather than give it, as it was the only way to truly live. But now I was telling her that it wasn't the only option, the only way.

With a sigh, she closed her eyes and swallowed the lump in her throat, before opening them back up again.

"I... I don't know."

"You never know until you try." I smiled, holding out my arm.

Her mind raced, thinking between taking the love and giving and sharing it. To befriend or not to befriend?

But it didn't take long for her to make up her mind. Hesitantly, she moved close to me, and carefully, I brought the changeling in for a hug. And it wasn't a forced or dubious one. It was a real, true hug.

She even smiled. I could feel it.

Suddenly, her horn started to glow again, covered in a brighter shade of green than the typical sickly green. It illuminated greatly, prompting me to pull away and see the scene entirely. Her body slowly became entrapped in a cocoon-like pod.

I gave it a gentle tap, and it burst open, revealing the changeling no longer in the form of Starlight, but the form of a purplish-green changeling, no more the dark and starved form it used to have. Even the changeling herself was surprised at her new appearance.

"I feel... different."

"It's what happens when you share love," I grinned. "It feels good, doesn't it?"

"I... yes. It's strange, but I... I like it." The changeling looked at me and smiled truly. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. I don't suppose I caught your name before?"

"Starling," she answered. "Just Starling."

I laughed, but explained before she took it out of context. "My fillyfriend's name is Starlight. Starlight plus changeling equals..."

"... Starling?"

"Exact—look out!"

Starling was unable to react quick enough before she was sent flying by the familiar sickly green magic and knocked unconscious. I turned to her attackers, a herd of changelings who likely weren't so generous.

"Wait a second!" I yelled to them. "I can help you! I can—"

But they didn't listen to me. For the third time today, I was knocked out. My fate was up to the queen now.

When You Learned The Truth

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I must've started to subconsciously get used to being knocked out, because I was coming to much quicker than last time—that didn't mean it didn't hurt.

"Nnnggh," I groaned, "again with the knockout...?"

My head was pounding, but I felt more or less okay. I tried opening my eyes and adjusting to the surroundings... wherever I was; but it was after a few seconds that I felt the floor beneath me... moving, swerving about.

Stumbling to my hooves, I fell against the wall and ended with my hooves falling through them. I wasn't just in a box—I was in a cage, hanging high above the ground.

Was it strange to be a pegasus and have some slight fear of heights?

"Hello?" I called out, expecting someone to answer back, but there was no such answer. "Starlight?"

Was she okay? How long have I been out for? Were any of them okay?

I closed my eyes. There was no point in getting so worked up so fast. I had to focus on getting out of here first, and then I could go and look for them. I glanced around the cage, seeing if there was anything that could aid me, but it was bare and cold.

There was no door, either. This had to have been a magically crafted cage. My head was skinny enough to fit through the bars and look around the place, trying to find anyone and anything.

And I definitely found someone. All of them.

The elements, Discord, Trixie, they were all up, clinging to the ceiling, captured and imprisoned in pods of goo. But no Thorax or Starlight. At least someone was still out there.

I turned my head to look upward, just above the cage. I was hanging from a single metal chain. The more I moved, the more the cage would swing. That was when I had an idea: If I swung fast enough and hard enough, I could potentially break the chains connecting me.

I started for the other side of the cage, just enough to start building up momentum. When the cage went as far as it could go, I moved to the other side. In a matter of moments, I was slowly building up enough speed to start swinging from side to side. The floor became slippery, but I held my ground.

Then suddenly, just as I was far enough, the cage struck an invisible wall, forcing me to crash into the bars on the other side, and I quickly lost momentum. I was trapped in another bubble.

"Great," I said sarcastically. "Now what?"

A gasp came from down below. I peered out through the bars again and saw Starlight staring up at the others in the pods. Her face was horrified and honestly afraid.

"Starlight!" I whispered to her. Thankfully, the bubble wasn't soundproof and she could hear me.

She called out my name in relief. "Are you okay?"

"Yea-aagh...!" The pain in my broken wing started to resurface. "Sort of. One of my wings are broken."

"Just stay there. I'll get you out of there—"

"No," I quickly said. "Don't worry about me, just get the others out before—"

A laugh filled the entirety of the room, and I felt my heart race just a beat faster when I could recognize the voice.

"One little pony all by herself..."

Suddenly, the form of Queen Chrysalis herself appeared from behind the pods, her body cracking and bending itself together.

"Oh, how will I ever prevent this daring rescue?" She grinned evily.

Before Starlight could react, she found herself surrounded by changelings and forced to the ground, while I could do nothing but just watch. Chrysalis flew down to the bottom and inspected Starlight's form.

"Well, well, well. The Princess of Friendship's sole pupil," she stated as she walked over to the unicorn. "Honestly, I didn't think you were worth replacing with one of my drones."

"You won't get away with this!" Starlight yelled back.

"I already have. Nopony is coming to save you. Your little squad was it. And now, there's just you."

"I'm still breathing!" I yelled back to the changeling queen. "And as soon as I get out of this cage, I'm gonna kick your little bug-eyed—whaaah!"

I lost my voice as the cage started to plummet to the floor, Chrysalis having severed the chain. It slammed into the floor with a loud boom, and I landed on my broken wing once again. The pain burned into my brain and I tried to hold back a scream.

"Leave him alone!" Starlight yelled.

"And what will he do?" the queen teased. "He's in there, and you're out here."

"Thorax is still out there! He'll—"

"Don't mention that traitor's name in my kingdom!" Chrysalis roared, ready to strike Starlight, but stopping at the last second. "He was a fool to leave and even more a fool to return! When I find him, he'll learn just what happens to those who betray the hive!"

Starlight tried to back away and whimpered at the looming figure. Chrysalis then saw something in Starlight's eyes, a gleam. I saw it too at the last second.

She chuckled menacingly. "And it seems I don't have far to look... do I?"

Her horn lit up and blasted Starlight. Before I could shout, I held my breath.

"... Thorax?"

"THORAX?!" Chrysalis yelled, and her children hissed at their own sibling, as if ready to kill him at a moment's notice.

But a clinging noise stopped Chrysalis and prompted her, and me, to inspect the noise. Starlight, the real Starlight, was bashing a rock against the structure of the throne, struggling to make even a dent in it. She looked up and saw Chrysalis readying her horn and fired off a shot, but Starlight dodged the attack and dove into the throne. The queen attempted to seek her out.

I did nothing but watch. Without the materials to break through, I was left to just sit and hope Starlight would figure something out, and Chrysalis knew what I was feeling. She craved it.

"Very clever," she began," and clearly Thorax revealed to you the secret of my throne. I can't have powerful ponies using their abilities against me. Even with your rather embarrassing little rescue attempt, everything has gone according to my plan."

"What plan?" I could hear Starlight's muffled voice scream back. "Why did you do all this?!"

"So I could feed, of course! By replacing the most beloved figures in Equestria, my drones will be able to store all the love meant for them and return it here to me. Everypony will do as I command, and my subjects and I will feed on their love for generations!"

Starlight escaped the throne and hid behind cover, looking at both me and Thorax. A single glance at his pearly wings gave her an idea.

"... What if you didn't have to?"

"Ridiculous!" Chrysalis screeched as she dragged Starlight by the tail and threw her a short distance, subduing her under two changelings. "The hunger of changelings can never be satisfied!"

"Exactly! Thorax left the hive and made a friend. He shared love, and now he doesn't need to feed. You don't have to live your lives starving all the time!"

"Listen to her!" I yelled. "She's telling the truth! We've seen it our—"

But Chrysalis refused to listen. She picked Starlight up and slammed her against the wall.

"Star!" I shouted. The unicorn tried to get up, but found herself falling back down. One of her hooves seemed sprained, or worse, broken.

I was then suddenly lifted by a magic field and pulled out of the cage, until I was face to face with the evil queen herself.

"You know nothing." But then her grimace turned into a smirk. "Or should I say... you know everything? Everything that I need."

"I'd rather burn in Tartarus than share any of this with you," I growled.

Chrysalis threw me to the ground. "I'm not giving you a choice."

Her magic formed into a beam that shot directly into my head. My eyes glowed a heavy white. Instantly, I could feel her trying to poke through my mind, reading through every entry I've written, every book I've read, every theory I've studied—everything she needed to rule—but I was quick to shut it off.

But she simply giggled. "Fool! Not even the strongest or smartest pony will be able to keep me back! Soon, I will unlock every bit of your mind and simply take what I want. Millions upon millions of years of knowledge and memories will soon be mine!"

I tried to stop her from saying that, but it was too late.

"... What do you mean?" It was the first thing Starlight asked.

I had enough willpower to turn my head to her, to look her in her... confused eyes. But I didn't have the willpower to say anything. Chrysalis laughed maniacally again.

"Oh, this is wonderful. He never told you? Never told you all those years he spent locked away in solitude and misery? Ha ha ha! Wonderful indeed. Perhaps he's better off staying quiet, and better off showing you instead."

"No, please, don't—"

But it was too late for that. With a flash of her magic, a screen appeared above us, allowing Thorax, Chrysalis, Starlight, and every other changeling in the room to see exactly what I saw all those years ago. All the millions of years ago. All the—

"If this ends up working properly, then I should begin. My name is... Well, I don't remember. But about five years ago, I woke up here in this strange... dome, as it appears to be. Inside contains books archiving—if I'm correct—every event that has currently happened in the universe. There are even books archiving popularized spells capable of the use without a unicorn horn. I chose to use it to my advantage and create this video... camera thing. I will be recording logs both here and on paper as I—"

"Boring," Chrysalis sang as she flipped further forward.

"Today marks twenty four years since my arrival here in this dome. I've been writing down everything I can learn, everything I can memorize. I am still, as some say, wonky when it comes to the magic, but I'm greatly improving. Another factor that I wanted to point out is that, in the twenty four years here, I haven't seemed to age. At all. Nor have I needed to eat or sleep or even drink. It's funny. Interesting... but funny."

Another flicker, another time.

"It is officially five-thousand, eight-hundred and ninety-two years since my arrival, and I... I'm starting to get a little lonely. So..." The past me shrugged his eyes, and then moved the magic camera into view of... "... I built a robot. I'm thinking of a name. So far, I have three ideas: Bolts, Cranks, and Clanks. Original, I'm aware. He's a work-in-progress, but if I am successful, I will have officially created life. Hopefully, it doesn't try and kill me."

I laughed to myself subconsciously, but cringed as Chrysalis continued to force her way into my brain to cling onto more memories—but she was getting the results she was looking for. Starlight stared at me and nothing else, her eyes frozen and her breathing slow. It was like time had almost stopped for her.

I didn't want her to—

"One-million years... That's something you don't hear or think about every day."

The sound of the number one-million caused Starlight to gasp. Nopony could hear it but me.

"Hmm..." Zap.

"Fourteen-million, seven-hundred and two thousand, and twelve years. I've come up with a new hypothesis, it's been millennia since I've done this. I call it," old me wrote on a makeshift chalkboard, "the Cortex Paradox. The idea of the paradox is that—"

But there was no more that Chrysalis wanted to show. She undid her magic and eyed me intently, then turned to Starlight.

"There's more. Much more. But I think it would be best to hear him say it." She giggled.

But Starlight wasn't laughing. She was on the verge of tears and staring at me, trying to pierce my eyes with her own. I turned away from her.

"... How long were you really gone for...?" She tried to raise her voice, but it cracked.

I shut my eyes and kept them tightly shut. "Starlight, please..."

"How LONG?" she yelled.

"Nineteen-billion, eight-hundred and ninety-five million, two-hundred and eighty-eight thousand, one-hundred and thirty-two years," I said without fault. My voice fell into a tearful whisper as I added, "... Last time I checked."

The answer froze Starlight in her tracks. She couldn't move her body or her eyes, and she almost lost her balance. I didn't hear her breathe for a moment. It broke her, shattered her image of normality, her sense of hope. Whatever part of said hope that was left vanished from her face, and all that was left was a mare who simply didn't know.

I opened my eyes and turned to her. Tears were running down her face, but she didn't falter.

"Star—"

Chrysalis enveloped me with her magic and launched me several hooves away, knocking me to the cold ground surrounded by changelings, changelings who were unsure of what to do to me. Starlight screamed my name, only to be pressed against the wall by the queen.

"You see? You couldn't even save your precious friend from an eternity of misery," she said to Starlight. "What makes you think you could ever be more than me? A leader? You know nothing of the changelings or what it takes to be their queen. I decide what is best for my subjects, not some mewling grub like you."

Starlight stared at Chrysalis. Before, she would have tried to free herself, try and fight back. But now, she decided not to fight, not to stoop low. She spoke true to her message, to the task at hoof.

"I know what it's like to lead by fear and intimidation," she said calmly. "and I know what it's like to want everypony to do what you say. But I was wrong. A real leader doesn't force her subjects to deny who they are. She celebrates what makes them unique and listens when one of them finds a better way."

Through the lump of changeling hooves holding me down, I smiled. But Chrysalis refused to be convinced.

"The only thing Thorax has found is what happens to those who turn their back on the hive!" Chrysalis growled.

She slammed Starlight against the wall in an attempt to knock her unconscious, but failed. Rather than do anything any further, she went over to Thorax, who had been struggling for most of the time, and immediately enveloped him in her magic.

"No! Stop!" Starlight yelled, but was immediately held back by two other changelings.

Chrysalis laughed. "Just as soon as I drain every last ounce of love from him and show my subjects what a real leader is!"

Thorax tried to push her away, resist her evil influence, but it was slowly seeping into his brain and draining him of love.

"I can feel the love inside me slipping away...! I can't hold onto it much longer!"

Suddenly, Starlight had an idea with a gasp. "Then don't! Sharing love is what made you different to begin with! You should share yours with Chrysalis! Give her all of it!

"Do it, Thorax!" I screamed behind the group of changelings.

Heeding our words, Thorax did as he commanded and immediately began to unleash all of the love he could ever hold at Chrysalis. The force pushed her back and away, slamming her into the throne and prompting her to watch the scene unfold from afar. Everyone's eyes then quickly became fixated as Thorax was suddenly encased in a shiny cocoon.

Starlight went up to touch the cocoon, but just as she did, it opened up and nearly blinded everyone. What came out was Thorax, only his body was no longer the starved, sickly changeling that used to be, but a burly, green, luminescent form. No longer was his body carved with holes.

He was healthy.

"This is what happens when you give love freely instead of taking it!" Starlight shouted to the group of changelings, encouraging them to follow Thorax's methods.

That was when we all became fixated on another figure, one that appeared from above and landed beside Thorax. I instantly recognized the figure.

"Starling!" I shouted as I gently pushed aside the nearby changelings to see the female changeling in full view. "You're okay!"

She recognized me too and gave a smile, before turning to the rest of the changeling army and presenting her own fresh form.

"Heed Starlight Glimmer's words, my siblings! Give your love, share it, and let it embrace you!"

Listening one by one, the changelings began to share their own portion of love. The sheer force of every changeling began to break apart the throne, and then in a sudden flurry of chaos, the kingdom exploded, raining debris across the region.

Thankfully, Starlight had shielded the four of us from being wiped out by the blast. When the environment came into view again, we were greeted with a brand new race of changelings, all sharing different colors and gleams in their eyes. It was hopeful.

The others—the girls, Trixie, Discord, the Princesses, and Shining Armor, along with his family—quickly came to, wiping the goo off their bodies and reconciling with glee.

"Starlight?" Twilight spoke up. "What happened?"

"Oh, not much," Starlight casually said. "We defeated the changelings with no magic at all, they found a new leader, and... they're all kinda... good now."

Twilight found herself dumbfounded, amazed, but most of all, recoiling in disbelief. But the sight was enough to convince her.

"Well done, Starlight Glimmer," Princess Luna spoke. "It seems as though you've learned a great deal since we last spoke."

"Not even the half of it."

Starlight and I couldn't help but laugh at the experience. But as soon as our eyes met, the laughter was quick to cease, and the mood became immediately somber. I knew her mind was already racing with questions that needed answers, emotions that—

"Ungh..." a voice moaned in the distance. Everyone turned to see Queen Chrysalis emerging from the ruins of her kingdom. She hissed, but immediately recoiled when she found herself highly outnumbered a thousand to one.

Starlight walked to her. "When Twilight and her friends defeated me, I chose to run away and seek revenge! You don't have to! You can be the leader your subjects deserve."

The unicorn held out a hoof to Chrysalis, hoping she would take it. At first, it seemed to be the case; her face seemed ready to light up. But the former queen swatted it away and growled.

"There is no revenge you could ever conceive of that will come close to what I will exact upon you one day, Starlight Glimmer!"

Chrysalis then suddenly dove off the cliff, and we all ran to see what became of her. She didn't plummet to her death, but flew off, towards the horizon. Twilight gave Starlight a sympathetic hoof on the shoulder. I knew we would see Chrysalis again one day—and hopefully that day wouldn't be for a long time.

As the groups all mingled together and took to Thorax as the new changeling leader, I looked to the cliff. Starlight was still sitting there, even after everyone had grouped together. She looked over and down into the valley below. Her breathing was slow and calm, but at the same time, it wasn't.

Deep in thought.

I walked over to her and sat beside her.

"... Starlight?"

Her mouth was hung open by a centimeter, and the light in her eyes, the one that I loved to see, was gone. She looked up and stared forward, not to the horizon, but just... forward. She then turned to me and stared into my eyes.

She was hurt, broken, undone. She didn't want to be.

"Nineteen billion..."

Suddenly, Starlight lurched over and lost consciousness. I quickly caught her and prevented her from going over the cliff. Everyone noticed and quickly came to her aid, asking me what happened.

"I don't know, she just passed out!" I answered. "Hey, Starlight! Can you hear me? Wake up!"

I gently shook her. Her face was pale.

"Starlight? Starlight!"

When You Questioned The Truth

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"Starlight? ... Starlight~?"

"Mmmnn..."

Starlight stirred in her sleep, eventually enough to slowly force herself awake, and found herself surrounded by me and the girls.

"... Wha? W-Where am I?"

"Back home, darling, " Rarity answered. "You passed out."

"We were going to bring you to the hospital, but they told us you just needed some rest," Twilight added.

Starlight sighed with relief. "Good. I don't think I'd be able to pay it off, hehe."

Twilight waved it off. "I would've paid it if that was the case."

"You don't have to do that... but thanks anyway."

The two exchanged smiles. Starlight adjusted her position in bed and was awake enough to see she really was home.

"How long have I been out for?"

"Twelve hours," I told her.

She was shocked. "Twelve hours?"

"Mm-hmm. Not gonna lie, I started to get a little bit nervous after the first ten hours. I guess the one thing keeping me from going into panic mode was the fact that you were mumbling and moving in your sleep. Coma patients don't exactly do that."

Starlight took light of that and giggled heartily.

"I never thought I'd ever be called a coma patient in my life."

"Hopefully you never have to." I nuzzled her cheek, and she was more than content in nuzzling back.

As she got up from her bed with a yawn, there was a poof near the door, and Discord and Trixie was standing in view.

"Starlight!" Trixie embraced her friend in a joyful hug and wrapped her tightly in her arms.

"You're okay!"

"Nnngh, yep!" Starlight struggled. "Um, Trixie? You're crushing me."

Immediately, the show mare pulled away, exchanging a sheepish grin before stepping away and composing herself, adjusting her hat.

"Well, isn't this nice?" Discord gleamed. "The gang's finally altogether! One big happy family! ... Well, minus one."

"Thorax?" Starlight realized. They all nodded.

"Clanks too," I added. "It's gonna take a while to rebuild his legs."

"And the changelings have a lot of rebuilding to do," Twilight added. "Meanwhile, we'll just focus on getting things back to normal."

"Right... normal."

Starlight's face turned into a frown as her eyes met mine. Her mouth hung open, and then she turned to Twilight.

"Twilight... about..."

"We know," Twilight said. "He already told us."

She glanced at the others. "Oh."

Twilight understood, just as Luna once told me. She couldn't believe it, at least not at first, but once the initial and overall shock was gone, there was that interest of wanting to know more. She never changed.

The others had a harder time keeping their own grip on it, the realization of it... but they too understood, even if there was that ping of guilt.

But did she?

I went to her bedside and held one of her hooves. "I was gonna tell you one day. I just didn't know how."

"I know," she said as she nuzzled my hoof. "I know."

The air grew quiet. Even Discord said nothing as Starlight and I held each other close for a moment, savoring the feel. Firmly, I looked her in the eye, pretending just for a moment that she was the only one in the room.

"I promise you: From now on, I will always tell you the truth. No more lies. Anything you want to know, I'll tell it."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

I gave her hoof a kiss, and then Starlight exchanged with me a warming grin, one that easily could've melted my troubles away.

But this grin wasn't real. I didn't tell the others, though, but I made sure she knew that I knew.

"Maybe later."

She pulled away before any emotion took over. "So! Discord, since you can take us anywhere with a snap of your paws, do you think you could... take us somewhere?"

"Anything for my dear friend," Discord stooped down with a grin. "Anywhere you'd like."

"Just one place in particular..."

Once we were all ready, we all chose to return to Our Town. Starlight was quick to explain to the townsfolk the reason she left the day before. It all boiled down to the fear of leadership. Nopony who made mistakes in the past would want to do it again, even if willingly.

But now Starlight was ready, especially now that she has all of us to accompany her. She was no longer afraid.

The festival kicked off, albeit already having kicked off, with a mishmash of activities, music, dancing, and cider to wash the day away afterwards.

Everypony mingled with one another, even if they never met before. Music filled the air as the hours ticked by and the sun slowly soared to the horizon. I stood near the food stand, looking at the linear layout of the town itself, but something caught my eye that hadn't the other day.

"Hey, Night Glider," I called to the nearby pegasus. Taking a quick swig of her drink, she eyed me.

"Yeah? What's up?"

I pointed in the direction that interested me. "That tree, right over there. Didn't there used to be a house there before?"

"Yeah, it used to be Starlight's house. We tore it down after she left because, well, it wouldn't really make sense to have a vacant house taking up space, you know?"

"I guess. I figured you would've kept it until someone came along and wanted to buy it."

"Not many ponies come to visit very often anymore, at least not after Starlight left."

"Why is that?"

"Dunno," she shrugged, "but it's not like ponies stopped coming period. Obviously, the festival brings in visitors every year."

"That's good." I took another glance at the tree. The base around it was a different color from the rest, implying it was just recently planted there. That didn't mean it wasn't cool regardless.

Night Glider didn't leave just yet. Instead, she asked me something, something she overheard but wasn't entirely sure of.

"So, I hear you're dating Starlight? Is that true?"

"Yeah," I answered. "I didn't tell you guys when we came here the first time?"

"Not that I can remember," Glider shrugged. "Well, anyway, I just wanted to say congratulations to you two. I know we've all had our ups and downs with Starlight... but she's definitely worth it. Trust me."

"She's more than worth it," I said, giving Starlight a subtle glance from afar. She exchanged a smile with me before finishing her talk with some other ponies and started walking over to me.

Glider noticed this and grinned. "Speaking of which, I better let you two get back to it. Catch you later?"

I smiled back and nodded. Night Glider wandered off to mingle with other folks as Starlight came up to me.

"What were you two talking about?" she asked.

"Oh, the usual: how lucky I am to have you."

"Is that so?"

"Yiss," I answered in a playful tone, nuzzling her snout. But the mare wasn't very responsive back, giving me a faint returning nuzzle, but not much else. Her fake smile still showed.

"Hey," I whispered, holding her chin up with a hoof. "You okay?"

She nodded. "I'm fine. I think I'm just... stressed from everything we've been through for the past two days."

"Do you need anything? Anything to help with that?" It was a genuine question. There were plenty of ways to solve it.

Starlight shook her head. "I think I can last another hour."

"Why? What happens in an hour?"

"That's when the kids all go inside, and us adults get to spike the cider."

I chuckled, but then my face went blank with curiosity. "I didn't even know there were kids here."

"Well... there used to be a lot more when I was here, needing a place to stay. I guess they were put in better hooves after I left."

"At least you were able to give them hope... even if it wasn't the best kind of hope," I answered honestly.

She laughed at that. "They're doing okay, though—the other kids. They have families now."

"That's good." I pulled her in for a hug. "That's real good."

I could feel her smile against my body.

An hour later, the fillies and colts of the town were all whisked inside for the rest of the evening, and the cider was given that extra kick to really spice up the nights. That's what made the festival so lively, it seemed, at least according to them.

But tonight, I chose not to have a sip. I was already having enough fun with Starlight. Despite her waiting for the cider, she decided not to drink in the end either, instead wanting to play some of the activities with me, like Pin The Tail On The Griffon, or bobbing for apples. In no time at all, she was smiling and giggling like a filly on sugar.

As the sun went down and night fell on the town, the girls all decided to head home, citing either business matters or merely tiredness. Eventually, the only ones of the group that chose to stay was Trixie, simply out of care for Starlight, and she was having just as much fun entertaining the masses with her trickery.

She was really cute with the kids too before they went to bed.

However, as the party began to die down by midnight and the residents all slowly went off to bed—or other affairs—Starlight and I chose to do the same, but we wanted something more than an old sleeping bag and some blankets. Sugar Belle was more than content.

"Sorry, Trix," Starlight apologized to her friend, but Trixie only laughed.

"No worries, Starlight. It's not like we're going very far, anyway."

We all exchanged our goodbyes before heading into Sugar's home. Oddly enough, the bedroom we were staying in wasn't on the second floor, but the basement.

"Sorry there's no great view, but hopefully this makes up for it?"

The room was surprisingly really clean and proper, almost looking like any other bedroom. There was a bathroom nearby that held a toilet, sink, and shower—no bathtub.

"If there's anything you two need, don't be afraid to let me know," Sugar added with a grin. The two of us grinned back, and the mare excused herself to her own bedroom.

Looking up towards the front wall, I could see a window. My first instinct was to check what was outside. I hopped up on a nearby nightstand and looked outside.

"Well, she wasn't necessarily wrong about the 'great view,' but even here it looks nice."

Some ponies were still outside chatting and drinking, while everyone else had gone off to bed. I looked over to Starlight, only to see that she was sitting on the side of the bed, sighing and staring at the wall with a nervous expression.

"You alright?" I asked her, sitting down beside her.

She nodded, but I wasn't entirely convinced. It wasn't until she spoke up again that I realized what she was somewhat anxious about.

"You said earlier today that you weren't going to lie anymore, right? That you were going to tell me the truth from now on, no matter what?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"Well... I wanted to wait until night to say anything, until we were alone... well, I want to ask you some things, things that I need to know just to, you know, close the gap."

"Sure, okay."

"Of course, I'll be asking you a bunch of these questions a lot from now on, but..."

I laughed quietly. "I know."

But the tone became serious as quick as it became light. Starlight exhaled a quick breath and shot.

"Why did you lie? About how long you were gone, I mean...?"

I hesitated for a second, but was insistent on giving her the answer.

"I was scared. There's really no other way to say it. I was scared of how everyone was gonna take it, respond to it—hell, how the paparazzi were gonna take advantage of me from that. But I think most of all... I was scared of how you were gonna take it."

She seemed to understand, but her eyes told me she wanted to know more.

"I mean, just looking at your face when I said I was gone for six months... I couldn't even comprehend what could've happened when you would find out I was gone for almost twenty billion years."

The number alone made Starlight shiver faintly. It was such an uncomfortable thing to hear, and I couldn't blame her.

"I was afraid you were going to shutter yourself away and try to work to prevent it from happening, or... beat yourself up because of it... or take your—"

I didn't finish that sentence. She knew what I meant, and I could see Starlight's face change quickly upon realizing it. She held a hoof up to my cheek. I closed my eyes and embraced it.

"I never wanted to lie to you about that. I wanted to tell you so much, one day, in a way that you would be okay with it. But I knew I was making it worse by not telling you first."

She looked at me with curiosity through her sorrow. "Did someone else know?"

"Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. Celestia, it was an accident—she wanted to know how I managed to use magic. Luna, she found out from Celestia. Hmm... I'm surprised Clanks never mentioned it to you."

"I don't think you two were ever around me long enough for him to spill the beans."

I laughed again, and Starlight laughed with me. The emotion dimmed again.

"Another question..."

"Of course."

"... What would've been my future?"

I gently put her hoof down, but continued to rub it with my own.

"After I disappeared, you spend the first three years trying to find me. During that time, you pushed everyone away, including Twilight. After the two of you fought, and after your... breakdown, you left town and tried to disappear. You didn't see Twilight or any of the others for fifteen years. Fifteen years after that, so about... eighteen years after I disappeared, you and Twilight made up. ... You accepted that I was gone."

I could see Starlight doubting that in her head. No way, I would never give up on him, never in a million years! But she did.

"It never stopped you from wanting to try." I closed my eyes. "You spent fifty years trying and failing, but never giving up... but never pushing anyone away this time."

"Did I ever...?"

I shook my head. "You died without ever finding me. You were ninety-one. Surrounded by friends and family, your grandchildren. Never married. Spent your dying breaths begging for me to come back."

The answer shook her again, but then there was the confusion. "But... who did I have children with...?"

I knew the answer. I swore I would never tell her, at least not verbally. That alone was to make her know how. She covered her mouth with a hoof and, with a sigh, was quick to stop the questions, her hoof never leaving her mouth.

"I-I..."

Gently, I rubbed her back and helped her relax. Knowing that would've been hard on anyone if it happened to them. Eventually, after a while, she was calm, but was done with questions—all except for one.

"Do you love me?"

It was my turn to be confused. "What do you mean?"

"Well... you know everyone. You know everyone who ever was, is, or will be. Every mare, stallion, filly, and colt who either is alive now or will be born soon. You know them all, inside and out... sometimes literally."

That last part made her blush, knowing that even she was part of that group. She accepted that a while back.

"What about that, though?"

"What I mean is... there are so many mares out there that would be perfect for you... and yet you chose me instead. Why?"

I smiled faintly. "Because they're not you."

"What does that mean?"

I grabbed her hooves in mine and spoke the truth.

"I may know who and what someone is, but until I've met them, I truly don't know them. Not like you. You were the only one in the world who never gave up on me, never stopped trying to save me. You spent years of your life to find this one stallion, to bring him back from wherever he was. Not many ponies do that anymore... and they certainly wouldn't for me."

One of my hooves touched the bottom of her chin and raised it, just so she can look me in the eyes.

"I love you, Starlight Glimmer. I love you with all of my heart, and I don't care what the universe can throw at me anymore—nothing's ever gonna change that. Do you understand?"

Her eyes began to tear up as she nodded her head, understanding everything. Starlight was quick to hug me tightly against her, letting out her cries in my chest, and I hugged her right back. Tears were flowing down my face now, but I let them fall. The two of us sat there for a minute, not moving away.

"How... how's that for sappy, huh?"

Starlight and I both laughed through our tears.

"I love you too," she said. I rubbed her back again, and I could feel her push against it to take in the feeling.

When we finally pulled away, Starlight looked at me again, in the eyes. They were shiny and wet with tears. Genuine, real tears.

Our lips met without hesitation, slowly and gently brushing against each other and savoring the taste, whether it was lipstick or the cider.

As the time went on, the kiss grew with further lust, our mouths opened more and our tongues played. She moaned aloud, but not loud enough to be noticed by the others. I bit her lip carefully, and her hoof rested on my chest, but didn't push me away. When I pulled away, she was staring into my eyes again.

"No foreplay, just... just fuck me."

Never would I expect to ever hear her say it. But gods, was it rewarding.

But Now I Am Ready

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I always loved the moments like these—the kind where it was just me and Starlight, alone, with nopony else and not a care in the world. The last time we had sex like this, we were both drunk and out of it. But tonight, there was no cider involved. Our feelings were tried and true.

We kissed our way onto the bed, me laying on my back and her laying on top of me. A position she rarely ever took, now it was the one she took charge in. I rested my hooves on her sides as she began to straddle me, rubbing against my shaft to harden it. Her moans were soft, more so shudders, but she kept on.

She bit my lip. At first, it hurt a little, but after a moment, I realized why she loved it. Starlight could sense my excitement and gave a lusty giggle before kissing me again, letting her tongue enter freely.

I cupped Starlight's rump in my hooves, letting it bounce just a bit. I smacked one cheek, and the feeling made her squeak with anticipation, but she refused to break the kiss. I could feel her glare at me, but it only made me smile more. I spanked her again, and rather than do anything to stop it, she began to grind faster. My shaft was fully hard now and sitting beneath her, rubbing against her folds.

We both pulled away just to let out a gentle moan before going back into the kiss. But a few moments later, I could feel that familiar sensation building up in me, and I quickly stopped Starlight.

"Why'd you stop?"

"I was getting close," I told her. "I didn't want to finish yet."

"Oh." She blushed. "Sorry. Just got so into it, I—"

With another kiss, I told her it was fine. The kiss lingered on as Starlight began to aim myself against her entrance. Her hoof was so firm, and yet so soft all the same. It was such an abnormal feeling—a feeling that I loved regardless.

After a few misses, she eventually is able to line it up just right, but decides to lay down with the hope that going in will be easier. I brushed my hoof through her mane.

"You just lay back and I'll do the work, okay?" I smiled.

"Alright." Starlight laid down on my chest, and had her hooves resting against the bed rest, keeping herself propped up just enough to look me in the eyes as I pu... pushed i-in.

Slowly, my length eased its way in, and the two of us found each other moaning inconsistent gibberish, sometimes emitting an 'I love you' in the mix. Before Starlight knew it, I bottomed out inside of her, pushing against her cervix and leaving her to force a cough, the feeling was so strong.

She sat up on top of me, letting herself accustom to the familiar object resting in her.

"I missed this feeling," she moaned.

Starlight wasted no time at all to start moving, though she didn't move incredibly fast, but it was enough to make her twitch just a bit, gasping from the pleasure. She rested her hooves on my chest to support herself as she began to pick up the pace; but the sensitive mare was unable to keep herself up and fell onto my body again.

"Hey, it's okay. I got this." Planting my hind hooves firmly on the bed, I started to move my body back and forth—up and down in this case—while Starlight simply sat on top of me and took it.

She loved it. The feeling kept her eyes shut tightly as she tried to hold back her moans, but ultimately failing again. She resorted to covering her mouth with a free hoof, and while it did hold back a good portion of her sound, anypony nearby would still hear.

I covered the both of us with the blanket, putting it over our bodies without breaking my beat. Only our heads and upper bodies were visible.

"I-I don't thi... hngh... t-think that's gonna keep us hidden very w-well," she said, her voice shaky from the thrusting.

"Nah, I answered her sarcastically, "I-I thought you were cold."

Starlight laughed, but the laugh sharply became a moan as she felt me slam myself teasingly into her. I let out a grunt as I slammed into her a second time, then a third and a fourth, until it was a rough but gentle rhythm. She shuddered, forcing herself not to drool.

I could see Starlight biting her lip; she wanted to moan louder, to scream, but she knew anyone would be able to hear it.

"Why don't you use this?" I asked her, pointing at her horn. She giggled with embarrassment before emitting a soundproof spell around the bed.

"A-Aah~!"

She screamed as she moved the blanket away and forced herself up, grinding against my body as my shaft pushed against her cervix again and again. Her moans were shaky again, her hooves pressed against my chest, and the mare's eyes were shut tight as the pleasure overtook her.

I grabbed her flanks in my hooves again and went faster; Starlight was practically bouncing up and down. Suddenly, she gasped again, her eyes growing wide as I hit what must've been a pleasure spot—because she was starting to drool. Starlight lifted a hoof and supported herself against the wall as I pounded her. Her moans became cries and laughs of ecstasy and lust.

I never knew how much of a screamer she truly was when nopony could hear her.

Her face was a mix of conflicted emotion: She wanted to scream knowing I would only hear it, but instincts wanted her to stay quiet, fearing someone would hear after all. Her body and her voice reacted in both ways—and honestly, that only made it that more entertaining... not to mention hot.

Suddenly, the familiar feeling came back to me again as I could feel my orgasm approaching.

"Star..." I moaned. "I'm close again."

"Me too, m-me too," she stuttered back. Starlight's hooves rested on my shoulders and I found her staring into my eyes again.

Her mouth hung open, but no words came out, only ragged breaths and squeaked moans, increasing in pitch as her own orgasm started to build up inside of her. I went faster and harder, surprising but satisfying her all at the same time. Starlight's eyes begged me again, and I wouldn't say no.

I continuously pushed into her again and again, rocking my hips up and down. The sound of our hips slapping together echoed across the bubble.

Suddenly, in a single burst of sensation, Starlight's pupils dilated, and she let out a throaty scream as she came, her body shaking and twitching slightly as her orgasm rippled through her body. Never once did she stop looking into my eyes, and never once did I stop moving, yearning to reach my own orgasm.

My muscles burned and ached as I kept going, pounding Starlight's wetness without retreat. Even after her orgasm ceased, she still found herself enjoying it.

"Please, please, please... you can do it inside me... it's okay... just cum... please~..."

Her begging, that lust drunk look in her eyes, her moans—it was more than enough.

"I love you."

With a final thrust into her, I came with a moan that literally took my breath away. I kissed Starlight with a deep passion as I could feel myself releasing inside of her, spurt after never ending spurt. The unicorn hissed with pleasure, nearly crying from the sensation.

In a matter of moments, the feeling was over, and all that was left was the afterglow. I pulled myself out of Starlight and rested my shaft against the crack of her flanks, rubbing it gently in between. She laughed through her nose, finding the feeling ticklish, even as it made her blush.

Starlight rested herself against my body as the two of us laid on the bed, trying to catch our breath. Teasingly, I licked her horn, but she was still eager to get just one more release, just for tonight. I gave her what she wanted and didn't stop until she was satisfied.

After her horn gave off sparks, Starlight was finally and truly spent. But since she was sober tonight...

"Shower," she whispered. "I don't wanna be smelling like dried cum in the morning."

The mention of the word 'cum' didn't making me laugh—her saying it did. I had a hard time getting used to all the emotions that I used to have, but now that they were back, I don't miss a single one of them.

"Okay," I said after my laughs stopped. "How about I race you?"

"Hmm..." She pondered on the thought for a moment, or seemed to. "Sure, why not?"

"On three... ready?"

She nodded, smirking.

"One... two... three—!"

Her horn flashed, and in an instant, the mare was standing in the bathroom, giving me a cheeky grin.

"You cheated!" I exclaimed with a laugh as I walked over to her.

"Nah, you just dozed off for a second. I was wondering when you were gonna start running."

"I'm pretty sure I saw that horn or yours shining," I jokingly grimaced as I tapped her horn.

"Nope. You were just seeing things. You should probably get some more sleep."

I narrowed my eyes at her, smiling intently before looking over to the shower's lever.

"Winner gets to test the waters."

"Wait, wha—eek!"

I flipped on the lever, dousing Starlight in freezing water. The mare quickly hopped out and started to shake herself off.

"You jerk!" she playfully pushed me.

"Well, you know what they say: Those who cheat get cold hooves."

"I told you, you dozed off and didn't see me run!"

"Suuure."

Starlight tried to hold back a giggle, but ultimately failed and let it out with a smile. As I stepped in once the water was warm enough, she joined me, letting it run down and flatten her mane against her body. She hummed and sighed with satisfaction. Starlight looked me in the eyes once again, and I couldn't help but grin.

"I love you," she said.

"I love you too."

We let the water run over us as our lips touched again. I grabbed the nearby shampoo and immediately started scrubbing her hair, even as we continued to kiss, when we pulled away, she looked at me with a realized expression.

"You know we're gonna have to clean up that bed soon, right?"

"You sure love killing the mood, you know that?" I joked.

She stuck her tongue out at me and laughed. It was worth waiting an eternity to hear it.

Epilogue: The Last Supper

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All these years later, and we grew closer. Both of us were constantly afraid of just drifting apart one day and never coming back. Sure, there were plenty of instances like that, ones that we couldn't really argue about—but once we got married, things just finally fell into place.

Billions of years alone, and I never expected anything to go the way it had gone. Would I change it one bit? Not really, no.

Starlight and I strolled through Ponyville, chatting on about the day, the ponies, whatever came to mind. Even though my magic had completely vanished over the years, even if I still had it, I'd still go for walks instead of teleporting from place to place. The town had grown in recent years, and even though I knew it, it was still amazing to see in real time. Ponies that were fillies and colts once were now young, but bright adults ready to shape the world. That meant running their own business.

That also meant Allure Dé Mystique was out of business, or rather, soon to be. So with money in our bags, we were off for one last dinner date on memory lane.

We paused in front of the building, gazing at the Mystique's peculiar structure. In just a week, it would be reduced to rubble to be swept away.

"So many memories," Starlight began. "So many dinners, so many laughs and hugs and kisses..."

She took the closing rough. It may be silly to some, that somepony would get so emotional over a restaurant. But when that something becomes a big part of your life, or helps shape it in its own filling way... sometimes, it's hard to let go.

"I probably look like an idiot right now."

I shook my head with a smile. "I don't think so. It's never easy to lose something."

"Yeah, but a restaurant?"

"I've gotten sad over smaller things."

"Like?"

"Well, candy, for starters."

Starlight let out a giggle, looking at me with that signature look of hers, and let out a sigh.

"Well... let's go eat, shall we?"

"Ladies first."

She briefly stuck her tongue out, but then let out a genuine smile and proceeded inside. Unlike the rest of the town, the Mystique hadn't changed very much. Sure, a few tables here and there were moved about, but the restaurant itself had always looked the same, and the staff with it, dedicated to serving everyone with the highest quality they could cook. Even those that left years ago came back to serve just one last meal.

"Ah, the wonderful Glimmer family," said the familiar waiter with his familiar accent.

"Sheffield," I greeted with a smile. "I didn't think you were here in town."

"This place is my child, dear friend. It would be best to give her one more departure. Miss Glimmer."

"It's nice to see you again, Sheffield."

After the brief reconciliation, he walked us over to our table. On the way, I asked him what he would be doing once this place is closed.

"While I don't mind waiting for others, I love cooking more so. And they plan to open a Mystique right in Canterlot come this winter."

"Really?" I asked. Starlight's ears perked up at the sound of that.

"Indeed. We may have been a local establishment for many years, but we have definitely made our mark on the world. We are even hearing of openings in Las Pegasus and Hoofington."

"That's great!"

"Indeed it is. The Mystique legacy will go on."

"If only it could've stayed here."

Sheffield shot me a reassuring smile. He knew how much we enjoyed this place. He even knew our exact favorite foods and our favorite seats: by the window looking out to the town.

It was the same seat on our first date, it was the same seat on our wedding day, and it would be the same seat for the last time.

Sheffield seated us and proceeded back to the front of the restaurant. I opened the food pamphlet and looked at all of the different foods that were here. Even if I had a favorite, that didn't mean I didn't like trying new foods.

For a moment, I eyed up to Starlight, and I noticed she wasn't looking through her pamphlet at all, but instead, looking around her, at the place and its layout.

"Star?" I gently called out to her. "You okay?"

Solemly, she nodded, but it was clear that it was a lie. She looked at me and I could see through her the sadness she carried. Just a few weeks ago, she was happy and bumbly, just like a filly, and now she could hardly crack a smile.

"Hey... if you want, we can head up to the Canterlot one when that opens."

"It won't be the same," she stated, "you know that."

"I know." I rested a hoof on her shoulder in an attempt to console her. Sure enough, it was working just a little.

She opened her pamphlet with her free hoof and browsed for a few moments, before ultimately settling on the usual. I decided the same. A minute later, our server came, took our orders, and left, giving me more alone time with Starlight. I grabbed her other hoof.

"I know it's never easy to give things up," I began, "especially if you don't have any control over it. But... in a way, this can be a good thing, you know?"

"'One door closes, a new one opens.' I've heard it from everyone at this point. And you always say it."

"And have I ever been wrong?"

She grimaced, recalling a particular moment early on in our relationship.

"No."

I was quick to change the subject, hoping to make her feel better.

"This door was bound to close one day, and it's been closing for a while. A whole new chapter of our lives, coming to an end. It's... it's depressing, I know... but trust me when I say that we've still got more than enough chapters to cover."

She looked up at me, an eyebrow raised. "Life's just one big book to you, isn't it?"

"It makes it more fun that way."

Starlight smiled and rubbed my hoof. With a sigh, she looked at me with slow realization.

"You're right. I hate to see this place go. At the same time, I'm looking forward to what's coming."

Starlight realized a lot of things, but it always took a bit of effort to really make her see it. When she did, things got just a little bit brighter.

Eventually, our food and drinks arrived, and the two of us chowed down on the last supper this place would serve. Everyone else had gone, so by the time the two of us started to eat, we were the last ones left.

Occasionally, we would peer out to the city, watching street goers pass by the window, or the lights begin to shine in all of the houses, offices, and stores as night began to fall. Ponyville had grown so much in twenty years, very few residents tried to stay the same.

Noticing that the only sound in the entire restaurant was gentle music playing overhead, Starlight started to ask me what came to mind.

"What's one thing you're gonna miss about this place?"

It didn't take long for me to answer. "Honestly... the burgers. They make them in a way that you can't find anywhere else. Certain spice, certain flavor... it's original. You?"

"The decor. Everything else is so samey. Here, it's like stepping into another world... in a "fancy" way, I mean."

"You know, I still remember the recipes of the food around here. Maybe I can cook up a meal like this sometime?"

"... Sounds romantic."

I stuck my tongue out at her playfully, but she beat me to it.

"But I do mean it, too. You don't have to do that, and yet you want to anyway."

I struck her a smile. "I'd do pretty much anything for you now, as long as it's doable."

"Good point."

The two of us were quiet for a moment, letting the music overhead fill the gap. Then gradually, we looked at each other and apologized, almost at the same time. The apology was for more than one reason; at first, we apologized from the awkward tension. But we opened up and apologized for things that weren't on our minds moments ago.

Starlight for getting angry with me over me wanting to take the early point of our relationship slow. Her for breaking the relationship off.

Me for... me and Trixie...

It was an awkward and frustrating point in our lives in the moment, but looking back on it, even if we still kicked ourselves over it, we could still look back and not regret doing a single thing... well, depending on what that "thing" was, of course.

But after all these years, I still had to ask something; something that had been bothering me for a while.

"Why me? Why did you stay with me?"

She wasn't hurt by the question, but Starlight was confused as to why I asked it.

"I mean... After everything we went through—all the heartbreak and the yelling and the screaming and everything with Chrysalis and... After all that, you decided to stay. Why?"

She pondered on the question, choosing her words carefully—but they were already set for her.

"I was never gonna get another chance if I didn't take it. I spent my entire childhood alone with my thoughts. I never went looking for Starburst, and that just led to me hating the idea of friends and cutie marks in general, which led to... well... you know."

Starlight grimaced at the thought, as she always had, but she pushed on.

"The moment we broke up... I realized I made the dumbest choice of my life... well, one of the dumbest choices. But I knew that the moment I did that, I just made you open to every mare willing to scoop you from under me. Not to mention, you were still super famous back then.

"But... if someone took you away, that would've just meant that I'd be all alone, all over again, and... that'd be it.. It would've been my fault, and it would've been my life. After you and Trixie... sigh ... I thought I lost you forever."

She grabbed my hoof, squeezing it gently in her own, and looking up at me with her glistening eyes. They never failed to capture me.

"I came back because I love you. And that wasn't some stupid romantic spur of the moment. I love you so much, more than I could even begin to say or think or do. I wanted to be by your side for the rest of my life, because I knew... deep down, I knew you wanted it, too. And I knew that one day... one day, I'd be right."

I leaned down to kiss one of her hooves, and for a moment, I let my lips linger there, taking in her comforting texture. I let out a smile, and I could hear her laugh as she felt it.

"Well... you never have to worry about that anymore," I told her. "I'm not going anywhere."

Starlight grinned at me, and it was clear that the mare was trying not to shed a tear. She was always prone to crying when it came to anything romantic. Our first night at the movies showed me that. It also showed me why I would marry her the following year, and that our lives would be destined to stay connected.

And all because I waited just a little bit longer.

The following week, the Mystique was torn down, and hundreds of residents gathered to watch it crumble. It was a tradition to many around here to watch a historic establishment be demolished. Everyone was sad and upset, even those who rarely ever visited, but everyone was there with good intentions and good spirits.

Starlight and I watched as the structure fell in a heap of rubble, and stayed there for several minutes, leaving when everyone else started to disband.

"And so ends one chapter..." Starlight said hesitantly.

"And a new one begins," I finish. "So, how does this new one go?"

"Hmm... How about: Chapter Fifty—Hubby takes me out for ice cream."

"Ooo, I'm liking this direction already."

"Maybe with some peanut butter sprinkles and a dash of whipped cream on top too—"

"Pls, stop."

"And some little fudge nuggets nestled inside the ice cream itself..."

The End

I Waited

by I Am The Night

When It All Went Wrong

When I Finally Came Home

When I Saw You Again

When Celestia Learned The Truth

When They Finally Met Clanks

When I Took You Out To Dinner

When I Showed You The Stars

When Luna Learned The Truth

When Trixie Came Home

When They Threw A Party

When I Even Made You Quiver

When The Morning Was Awkward

When I Took Trixie Out To Lunch

When It Wasn't You

When Luna Counselled Me

When You Saw What I Saw

When Celestia Visited Again

When It Worked

When We Worked

When They Invited You

When We Left For Our Town

When They Returned

When We Infiltrated

When You Learned The Truth

When You Questioned The Truth

But Now I Am Ready

Epilogue: The Last Supper