--Canterlot Park--

**Two Hours Earlier**

Arby and Twilight completely lost track of time after about thirty minutes or so waiting for any signs of Chief, or  anyone of her humanized friends. So far none of them have showed up at all.

At first, Twilight and Arby were high on alert scanning every inch of the park to the best of their ability, but as time went on; energy was slowly slipping from their bodies. It got so bad that they eventually slumped down near a tree and took a nap in it's comforting shade. Arby had one dream in particular, or it could've been a flashback.

In the dream, Arby was sitting on the windowsill of Jon's apartment gazing at the glorious sights of the city surrounding the building. He was deep in a thought about something when out of the corner of his eye, some creature dropped in from above startling him.

"Aah!"

When Arby saw that it was only Greg, he relaxed even through he was still a bit shaken.

Greg was a spider that lived in some unknown area of Jon's apartment. His appearance may have been a bit revolting, but he was very friendly. Arby was once an arachnophobic, but Greg somehow made him overcome it. A funny fact that is when Arby was still afraid of spiders, we was too nervous to battle virtual ones in his Legend of Zelda games. Greg also had the tendency to drop in on his friends always scaring them, but it was nothing bad. They just wished that Greg to find ways to let him know he was coming before he appeared out of nowhere.

"Greg, you scared me!"

Greg grabbed a sticky note from his back and used one of his legs to quickly scribble something down on the paper. It was his way of communicating because he couldn't talk out of the mouth.

Sorry :(

"It's perfectly alright. What's up?"

I just came 2 c if u were ok.

"Yeah I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?"

U have been sitting up here 4 3 days now.

"I know. But's it's nothing horrible really."

Greg just hesitated for a brief moment, then scribbled, It has something 2 do with Chief doesn't it?

"You could say that, yeah."

What did he do this time?

"Man; he's done so many things, I completely lost count. But that's not what this is about."

Then what is? :/

"I just feel like sometimes he doesn't appreciate the friendship we have. Actually I hardly think Chief doesn't understand the true meanings of friendship at all."

Have u tried teaching him?

"I would, but I don't think he'll ever listen to me. He hardly listens to anyone."

Greg thought.

U have a point there. Sorry 4 the bad advice.

"No. It was very thoughtful of you. Thanks for trying too help anyway."

Don't mention it ;)

"I'm sure one of these days Chief might change his ways. But that may take many years."

Or eternity, lol

"Perhaps Greg. Perhaps,"

Oh. Almost out of notes. I'll c u soon ok?

"Okay."

Arby watched as Greg took off and disappeared.

Arby knew that Chief would never change his ways no matter how hard he tried. Chief was way too much of an ignoramus to follow any sort of instruction whatsoever. Surely something might change Chief; but what?

Arby then woke up from his sleep. He deliriously looked around at his surroundings trying to get his crystal clear vision back.

When his vision finally did clear, he noticed that activity has started picking up in the park. He saw a few people bringing in venue equipment as if they were setting up for a concert or a special occasion. It then hit Arby that these people must be here to set up for Septemberfest.

He turned his attention too Twilight who was still sleeping.

"Twilight, get up," he said gently shaking her.

She grumbled a bit and yawned as she slowly opened her eyes. When Arby's face came in clear view, her eyes shot wide open and let out a startled yelp while bumping the back of her head against the tree.

"Ow!" she cried rubbing the irritated spot.

"Oh my Celestia! Are you okay?"

"Yeah...I'm fine. You just startled me that's all," Twilight replied sheepishly.

"I guess your still not use to my real appearance huh?"

"I guess not." She then looked around. "What's going on?"

"My guess is that their starting to set up for Septemberfest."

"We need to find someone who has the time. Who knows how long we've been out."

Arby turned his gaze toward the area where he knew the sun would set. He knew they wouldn't have time to ask anyone for a watch.

"Judging by the little celestial light on the horizon, it has to be somewhere in 1800 hours."

"What?"

"What I meant to say is that it's somewhere in the six-o-clock zone of the evening."

"Oh," Twilight said blushing with embarrassment. She wasn't big on military time conversion.

"So we still have another six hours before the spell wears off. I just hope your right about them coming here," she said still looking worried.

"It's going to be okay Twilight. Knowing Chief or Pinkie, they would always want to go to an area for a good time. Of course Chief only goes to see if he can pick up girls, but we both know Pinkie couldn't resist as well. Hell I wouldn't be surprised if she was helping to plan out this event."

Twilight smiled.

"You're right Arby. Forgive me for my doubtfulness. I guess it was something I was born with."

She then looked at the ground guiltily.

"Don't sweat it Twilight. Sometimes I even doubt myself; but I will never doubt royalty."

She brightened up a bit. Before she could say anything else, a familiar male voice asked, "Twilight, is that you?"

Twilight turned to face a handsome young man with blue eyes and blue hair that he wore in spikes that were slicked back slightly. Twilight knew it was the human counterpart of Flash Sentry. It didn't matter if he was a pony or a human, she blushed either way. Accompanying him were his band mates.

"Yeah," she replied with a shy smile.

"What are you doing here? I thought the portal wouldn't open for another two-in-a-half years from now?" he asked with a surprised and excited look and tone.

"Oh. You see we're here to recover someone very important. We have only until midnight to bring him back to Equestria," Twilight explained.

Flash raised an eyebrow. "We?"

"Yeah. Me and Arby here," Twilight replied acknowledging him.

When Flash and his friends finally noticed Arby, they gasped and jumped back a step. Typical reaction when you see a real life alien in person.

"Yes I know how strange he looks, but believe me he's good,"

"And I also can speak English too."

The guys stood dumbfounded for a moment, but then decided to go along with it. They just assumed since Arby was with Twilight, he was a being from her world; although he somehow didn't turn into a human himself.

"So? who is this guy that your looking for?" Flash asked.

"His name is Master Chief; but everyone just calls him Chief for short. You can't miss him. He's a guy dressed in a heavy armored suit. He also wears a helmet with a yellow visor masking his face," Twilight described.

Flash and his friends thought for a moment.

"I'm sorry Twilight, but I'm afraid neither one of us saw this guy," Flash said shrugging.

"It's alright, we're expecting him to show up here. We believe he is currently with Pinkie and the others."

"Well your in luck. Pinkie has been helping out to plan and prepare this party, but she has been missing most of the afternoon, along with her friends. I'm sure it's nothing bad. We just have to assume their getting the last minute preparations; but it's strange through that it's taken them nearly the entire evening," Flash explained. "Say, would you and your friend here be willing to help out? I mean were a little short of hands right now. You can even come to the festival as well. But if your too busy, I understand."

Twilight was hesitant. she despirately wanted to take part in the town celebration, but she knew she had a job to do. But then she remembered to relax because she trusted the fact that Chief would show up to the party. She just needed a way to check the time.

"We'll be happy to give you guys a hand and join in on Semptemberfest, we just need someway to keep track of time. You see at midnight tonight, the spell that's allowing me to cross into this dimension and back too Equestria will dissipate. Sorry if my time here is short again, but I promise I'll find a way to come here more frequently. Perhaps I can discuss it with Princess Celestia when I get back."

"Princess Celestia?" he asked. Apparently he was never informed about Equestria's citizens or political leaders.

"Yeah. In my world, the principal and vice principal are alicorn princesses," Twilight explained with a small embarrassed blush.

"Oh. Well that's pretty awesome," Flash said with an amused smile.

Twilight blushed even deeper.

Flash then remembered what had to be done.

"We better get to work. The festival is starting in two hours and we're not even close to being done," he said.

Twilight and Arby looked at one another and nodded.

"Okay. Just tell us what we have to do."

After two hours of hard work and effort, the park venue for Septemberfest was finally completed and well decorated. It was still a shame through that Pinkie wasn't there to help out with the activity because it was her thing. Flash and his band decided to warm up the mood by playing a few songs onstage. They figured that Pinkie will follow the sound and come to them. Everybody knew it wasn't a real party without Pinkie.

By good fortune, Pinkie was well on her way with her friends; and the wanted Chief. Who knows how this reunion is going to turn out?