A loud knock from the front door jolted you from your sleep. It shot a bit of adrenaline through you and it took you a few seconds to calm yourself before realizing what the noise actually was. Squinting your eyes to the sudden adjustment of light, you lifted yourself up quickly, threw the covers off, and got on your hooves. Nothing around you presented itself as an immediate threat and everything seemed normal, save for the absence of a certain warm fuzzy unicorn in the bed you just left. Although she was probably up making breakfast or something, it still made you worry a bit due to the fact that it wasn't like her to get up before you. Vinyl was the definition of a heavy sleeper, and you came to realize this after multiple mornings of having to meticulously work your way around her passed out body in bed in order to get out. It wasn't too terribly foreboding, but it was just enough for you to hasten your hoof steps towards the bedroom door.

The door opened with a creak of its hinges as another series of knocks hit on the front door. However, before you could yell out "Coming!", you heard the same thing come out of another pony's mouth. Hearing it calmed your nerves for a split second, but once you rounded the corner and saw who it was coming from, you expunged any feeling of relief. It was Octavia, which wasn't particularly a bad thing, but what worried you was that it wasn't Vinyl.

Octavia opened the door and looked through the tiny opening in the door that was held by the ball-and-chain lock. It took her only a second before unlocking the chain and opening the door fully. You did what you could to tidy yourself up a bit and smoothed your mane with your hoof. You tried smoothing the fur on your chest, but the scar, only visible when you pulled your fur back to expose your skin, prevented you from doing so by sending a jolt of pain through you. You gritted your teeth and cursed yourself for failing to remember it once again.

"Oh! Good morning! Can I help you?"

Two large muscular royal guards stood right outside the door with their pikes, golden armor and everything. One had snow white fur and the other had a light silver fur that was identical to Octavia's. Even though you knew you didn't do anything wrong, you still had a sinking feeling of anxiety whenever they showed up at the door.

"Yes. Her Highness, Princess Celestia wishes to convey a message to Sir Alex." The guard with the white fur spoke strongly whilst looking down and making direct eye contact with Octavia the entire time.

"I see... H-he's asleep right now, but I'll wake him up. Excuse me for one-"

"Present." You called out as you walked up behind Octavia. She had turned around to apparently go wake you up, and you could see the faint signs of fear written all over her face. The look in her eyes yelled out "Save me. Please." She stepped out of the way to let you speak to the guards directly and took a deep breath of relief once she was out of the guards' eyesight.

"Sir Alex, her Highness Princess Celestia Requests your presence at the Castle."

What the heck could she possibly want? You thought to yourself. A sudden surge of butterflies erupted in your stomach when you realized that you had completely forgotten about your weekly meeting with her a few days ago to discuss space explorations on Earth.

Shit... You cursed yourself for the second time this morning. You hadn't been up for more than two minutes. It had to be some sort of personal record.

"Okay, sure. When does she want me to come? This afternoon? Tomorrow?"

"Right now." The other guard with silver fur answered.

"Now?!"

"Yes. Now."

You looked at the rising sun coming from the east and judged that it wasn't even eight in the morning yet.

"Alright."

"You are to meet Princess Twilight Sparkle at the train station in thirty minutes. Please do not waste time."

Just as suddenly as they showed up, the guards turned their backs before one of them closed the door with his magic. You let out a sigh and turned to Octavia.

"What was that about?" She asked with her brow raised.

"No clue, but it seemed urgent so I'd better go. Where's Vinyl?"

Octavia turned around and walked towards one of the chairs in the kitchen before sitting down and taking off her bow tie.

"I don't know. Probably in the bathroom or something." You noticed how passive she was being about her not knowing where Vinyl was.

"What's wrong?"

She propped her elbow against the table and held her head in her hoof, closing her eyes. "We had a bit of an argument this morning and she stormed off. I thought it wise not to follow her."

"Oh. I'm sorry..." You wanted to ask her about what it was, but you were already pressed for time.

"Go ahead to the train station, dear. I promise she's alright. She just needs some space to simmer down a little."

"Well..." It felt wrong to leave without saying goodbye to Vinyl, but you admitted to yourself that it would be okay for just this once. "Okay."

The train buckled a bit as the main engine churned into gear. A sudden jolt made you jump a little as it began moving forward, which was shortly followed by a loud whistle blowing from the engine car. You had just barely made it on the train before it took off and you were finally able to catch your breath in the soft booth next to the train window.

"Goodness, Alex. How long does it take you to get ready in the morning? The train station is only a twenty minute walk away..." Twilight sat down in the seat opposite of you and pulled out a paper fan from her saddlebag with her magic. She opened the fan and began fanning your face with it.

"I woke up thirty minutes ago. Give me a break." She rolled her eyes at you a bit condescendingly, but you were too tired to take offense. It wasn't like you would've, anyway.

"Thanks for the fan, by the way... It feels nice." You closed your eyes and lounged back into the seat.

The train began to pick up speed as the two of you sat there in silence for a few moments. You looked out the window to your left to see a multitude of ponies on the docking platform who were all waving and yelling out their goodbyes to their family members and loved ones. It made you a bit jealous since you didn't get to say those goodbyes to Vinyl this morning, even though you were only going to be gone for a few hours. Still, knowing that there was somepony at home who was waiting for you to come back comforted you a little.

"So what's this 'urgent meeting' all about?" You closed your eyes again; the effects of the fan were beginning to bring you back to normal temperature.

"It's about your annual trip home!" Twilight looked at you as if you had been living under a rock for the past year. "Didn't Princess Celestia send you a letter?"

You rubbed your chin a little and tried to remember. It was usually Octavia who got the mail for the three of you, so it could've easily gotten mixed up with her bills or what not. However, you figured that she would've told you if she saw a letter addressed to you personally. You gave up with a shrug.

"If she did, I was probably asleep when it came."

"Geez, Alex. You really do sleep too much..."

You smiled a little as your DJ popped into your head again. "I'm dating Vinyl. I can't really help it."

Twilight managed to crack a grin as she rolled her eyes at you again. "How are you two doing, by the way?"

"We're great! Actually, I'm probably gonna propose to her tomorrow."

Twilight would've spit out whatever she was drinking if she was drinking anything to begin with. "What?! Tomorrow?!"

You laughed a little at her reaction. "I wasn't being serious, Twi."

She calmed down a little and took a deep breath. "Alex, you shouldn't joke around about stuff like that with a girl, ya' know..." Her cheeks puffed up and she began to pout a little in her seat from the joke.

"Sorry..."

You looked out the window and continued to smile, propping your chin up on your hoof and leaning your elbow on the window frame. The train had made it past the edges of town and pleasant meadows and trees took over the landscape. It was a beautiful day as well, with its blue cloudless sky lingering overhead.

A few images of Vinyl in a wedding dress seeped into your head, along with her staring into your eyes behind her white veil as the two of you said your vows. You would be lying if you said you weren't interested at all in the idea. Still, there were some issues that needed to be worked out first, Octavia being the main one.

"I guess I should start thinking about it, though."

Twilight looked over at you. Her pouting face lightened up a bit when she saw your peaceful smile as you stared off into the distance and daydreamed.

"I'm happy that you were able to find somepony, Alex."

She put her hoof on top of yours on the table. The sudden physical contact from her startled you a little and you looked down at the hooves with a little red glow on your cheeks. Twilight quickly judged that it wasn't the appropriate thing to do and removed her hoof quickly.

"S-sorry..." She lowered her head to try and hide her rosy cheeks as well, but she soon picked it back up and assumed her regular personality.

"Anyway, since we're both going to be late thanks to somepony, we might as well take a shortcut." She got up and gestured for you to follow her.

"Shortcut? Uh... We're on a train..."

"Just follow me."

You got up and stabilized yourself to the moving train before cautiously walking forward and following Twilight to the back of the car. Tripping over the random ponies' bags was hard enough and you gave out multiple "sorry"'s and "excuse me"'s along the way. You knew that she was just trying to cover up for her sudden affection earlier, but you let it slide for the time being. You finally made your way to the back of the car as you looked up to see Twilight waiting for you next to the exit door.

Twilight opened it and stepped out. It took you a few seconds to build up the courage to join her outside of the car since there was a scant amount of metal flooring that connected the two cars. Finally, with a gulp, you stepped out onto the ledge and heard the door close behind you, undoubtedly due to Twilight's magic.

"Grab on, I'm going to teleport us there."

"Oh... Okay. Wait, what?! You can teleport that far?!"

"It's a bit difficult, but nothing I can't manage." She closed her eyes and put her hoof on her chest pridefully.

You looked down at the moving ground beneath your feet. The train wasn't moving too fast, but it was fast enough to be worried about falling off and dying a horrible death. Reluctantly, you put a hoof on her shoulder and closed your eyes.

You heard Twilight's magic whine loudly as a strange feeling enveloped you. You could no longer feel the steel grating beneath your hooves, which suggested that you were floating. Trying to have as much faith in Twilight as possible, you closed your eyes tight and tightened your grip on her shoulder. It wasn't long before your body began to tingle uncomfortably.

The whining of her magic was now so loud that you couldn't even hear the loud train beneath you anymore.

"Hold on tight!"

A sudden flash of light blinded your eyes even though they were already closed and the loud *pop!* sound nearly deafened you. However, you hooves soon felt the solid ground beneath you. It was a bit too soon. The feeling of weightlessness that fell over you disappeared so quickly that you nearly fell down as your legs tried to correct themselves. You barely caught yourself with your front left hoof.

"Geez, Twilight! You could at least give me a better warning next time!"

Instead of responding, Twilight nudged you in the shoulder silently as you came up to all fours. You still felt a little woozy from being teleported, and your vision blurred a little to try and correct itself. It felt like you had just been thrown off of a crazy roller coaster and jolted back to a halt in the middle of a loop.

"Ugh... How do you get used to that..." You shifted your hooves around expecting hard tile or marble flooring, but instead felt the soft cool feel of grass that was dampened with the morning's dew.

Twilight again responded with only a nudge on the shoulder.

"What?"

You looked over at her, confused and a bit annoyed. However, as you brought your head up, the image of the other princesses appeared in your peripherals. Your heart raced and you tried to regain your composure as fast as possible, shutting your mouth tight and sitting your rump down on the grass. Twilight kept standing since she was a princess, although you were sure that she was having conflicting ideas of how to respect the other princesses now that she was one as well. You played it safe and just kept still. As your vision finally focused fully, you realized that Cadence wasn't there.

"You may stand, Alex. There's no need to be so formal with us." Princess Celestia looked down at you with a little grin on her face.

"Y-yes ma'am, I mean, Your Highness..." You rose to your feet and fixed your mane a little so it didn't look so scruffy.

"Alex, please. Feel free to address us however you like."

"Oh... Okay. Sorry, it's just a habit I guess." You rubbed the back of your neck and smiled apologetically.

"Did you call us here because of Alex's trip home?" Twilight stepped forward a little.

"Indeed we did, Twilight." Luna's ever-so-proper voice echoed off of the surrounding castle buildings.

"By the way, I thought that the two of you would be coming by train..." Celestia raised an eyebrow.

"That's my fault, princess. I was running a little late so Twilight decided to take a short cut. I'm sorry..."

You took a quick look around you as Twilight and Luna picked back up on their conversation. The patterned patches of grass contrasted with smooth tile walkways, and converged together in the giant courtyard into a towering fountain that stood about fifteen feet tall by your estimation. It was actually quite peaceful. Granted, the wet dew on the grass combined with the chilly winter air made it a bit uncomfortable, but the clear blue sky and bright sun shining down on your fur gave you enough radiating heat to get over it. Twilight and Luna's conversation was going completely over your head at this point as you watched a few blue jays and some kind of finch splash and bathe in the fountain happily.

"Alex? Are you paying attention?" Celestia's smooth voice called out to you from beyond your own little bubble of peacefulness. You perked your ears up to attention and turned around.

"Alex!" Twilight face-hoofed and groaned. "This is important! Come on!"

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry..." You laughed a little at your own aloofness.

"Did you hear anything that Luna said? Honestly, you're so up in the clouds sometimes..."

"We were discussing the details of your trip home." Luna chimed in to remind you.

"Right! Yeah. So when am I going?"

"In one hour."

Shock and sudden realization made your eyes widen and your heart stop.

"One hour?"

"Yes."

"Oh... Okay." You looked down at the grass beneath your hooves.

"Is something wrong?" Twilight bent her neck down to get a view of your face through your mane that was hanging down in front of it.

"It's fine, I just didn't get to say goodbye to Vinyl this morning..."

Twilight glanced at Luna and Celestia, unsure about what to say. You scuffed the tip of your hoof against the soft soil and thought about how upset Vinyl would be if she found out you simply left for another dimension without so much as a goodbye.

"I apologize, Alex, but we cannot postpone this. The portal that connects our two worlds will only last so much longer."

"I see... It's alright I guess."

Luna closed her eyes and let out a short breath. She walked forward towards you and put on a sudden smile before tilting your sulking head up by the chin. It surprised you a little, but seeing her gentle smile calmed you.

"I will send her a letter for you. We can transport it quickly to our friend, Spike, and he can deliver it to her as soon as he gets it." She certainly had the ability to take off her formal royal attitude and appear sweet and motherly when she wanted to.

"Thank you, Luna. That would help a lot." The sides of your lips lifted into a half-smile.

Luna's horn glowed with its magnificent dark blue hue and a few writing supplies soon popped into existence right in front of her. You took the quill with your mouth and set the piece of parchment onto a nearby tile walkway to write on. However...

"Uh..." You looked down at the paper and your mind went blank when you realized that you hadn't learned to write since you became a pony. You tried writing with your mouth, but the result looked worse than a first graders alphabet practice. Celestia looked over at you and giggled a little as Twilight and Luna struck up further conversation.

Celestia's shadow loomed over you from behind and you turned around, smiling shyly like and poorly hiding the shame of your not being able to write.

"I see Twilight's lessons haven't covered writing yet."

"I'm just now getting the hang of basic levitation..." You laughed, feeling like an idiot.

Princess Celestia took a seat next to you in the grass and picked up the quill with her brilliant golden magic.

"You can tell me what you'd like to write, and I'll write it for you."

"Thanks, princess." Her tall stature and overall personality made her pull off the motherly role quite well.

You cleared your throat and thought up what you wanted to say to Vinyl.

"Vinyl, I know this is short notice and I'm sorry for not being able to say goodbye before I left this morning, but you weren't around when I woke up."

Princess Celestia scritted and scratched the quill across the parchment as you continued.

"I'm going to be taking a short trip to my home world for a while. I'm not sure how long it'll be, but I don't think it'll be more than a day. I promise I'll be careful and I won't get into any danger or trouble. Please take care of yourself while I'm gone. My bag of royal bits is under the coffee table if you need to use them, but don't go crazy. Um..."

You looked up at the fountain and tried to think of what else to say.

"Oh! And I'll bring something back for you as a souvenir. I love you and I'll be back soon. With love, Alex."

Celestia scratched the last few words onto the paper and then closed it with a royal seal before using her magic to turn it into whatever that green dust stuff was.

"Spike will have it delivered to Vinyl Scratch's house within the hour." She stood back up and stretched her huge beautiful white wings. The sun shone through them and it put you in a deep state of awe. It was as if you were in the presence of a god. However, you quickly regained your thoughts and got back on all fours, shaking your hind legs a little to get the dew off of them.

"Thanks!"

It felt a little childish to think of her as your extended mother, but it felt warm and comforting knowing that she had all the qualities of one. The reason why she was the center of so much adoration and love was beginning to become apparent to you.

"Come, Alex. Let's get you ready for your trip."

"Vinyl... Come out already! You've been in there for an hour!"

Octavia put her ear to the bathroom door, but all she could hear was the water in the sink running accompanied by the small sobs of her roommate. She took a deep breath and brought up the topic that caused her to be in such a mood in the first place.

"Look, I'm sorry, alright? I didn't mean that I was trying to steal him from you or anything... I would never do that."

"B-but why would he..." Her faint voice was muffled from the bathroom walls. Several sniffs of her nose interjected between her sentences.

"I'm sorry?" Octavia listened as hard as she could, but the sound of the running sink drowned out Vinyl's low volume.

"Why would he pick you over me?!"

"Vinyl! He never said that! When we talked in the alley the other night, he said that he loved you and that he could never do anything with me behind your back because you meant so much to him!"

Another sniff echoed against the door.

"R-really? He said that?"

"Yes! If you wouldn't have run off like a filly, I could have told you that..."

The sink turned off suddenly. Octavia's ears perked back up and she stood back from the doorway. After several seconds, the doorknob slowly turned and opened.

"Okay..." Vinyl's face emerged from the crack in the door. Octavia could clearly see on her cheeks that she had been crying.

The two embraced in a warm apologetic hug.

"Remember why Alex decided to stay in Equestria instead of going home? Do you really think he would've stayed if it weren't for how he felt about you?"

"M-maybe... I dunno..." Vinyl buried her face into Octavia's fur. Octavia pulled back and looked her square in the eyes.

"Vinyl, if you don't see how much that stallion loves you, you're blind. He doesn't treat any other mare the same way he treats you." It hurt Octavia to admit that she didn't get as much affection from Alex as Vinyl did, but she had to tell her.

"I'm your best friend, remember? I would never take him from under your nose like that..."

Vinyl look up at her eyes and tried to hide an embarrassed smile.

"I know..."

"I love you, Vinyl. Maybe not in the same way as it used to be... But as your lifelong friend. I promise I won't hurt you. And if Alex loves you half as much as I love you, he won't either."

Vinyl's eyes drifted towards the floor, but Octavia childishly *booped* her nose to try and lighten the mood. Vinyl giggled a little and then sniffed.

"Okay?"

"Okay, you win... Sorry for storming off earlier..." Vinyl embraced Octavia in another hug which lasted several seconds.

However, it was interrupted by several tiny knocks on the front door.

"Geez, this place has been pretty popular ever since Alex showed up." Vinyl rubbed the damp tears from her cheeks as she lightened up and headed for the door.

Her horn glowed as she approached it; it turned the knob and opened the door wide.

"Hello?" Vinyl looked outside the door and drifted her eyes left and right, looking for somepony but finding nothing.

"Down here." Spike's voice made her jump a little. He sounded a little frustrated.

"Oh... Sorry, Spike." Vinyl giggled a little as she rubbed her eye a little with her right hoof and sniffed. The two of them never interacted much, but since he was a regular to her parties, the name seemed to stick in her head somehow.

"Anyways, Princess Celestia sent a letter for ya." Vinyl took the letter from his claw and examined the royal seal on the back. "Must've been pretty important since she sent it straight to me first instead of just putting it in the mail. Anyways, I gotta get going."

"Oh, alright. Thanks!" Spike walked back onto the main street and Vinyl used her magic to close the door, making sure it was locked.

"Who was that?" Octavia came back through the hallway.

"Spike. He gave me a letter from the princess..."

"Oh, my. Must be important."

Vinyl broke the seal with her teeth and worked the letter out from inside the envelope before unfolding it several times. She looked it over and read it aloud.

"Vinyl, I know this is short notice and I'm sorry for not being able to say goodbye before I left this morning, but you weren't around when I woke up. I'm going to be taking a short trip to my home world for a while. I'm not sure how long it'll be, but I don't think it'll be more than a day. I promise I'll be careful and I won't get into any danger or trouble. Please take care of yourself while I'm gone. My bag of royal bits is under the coffee table if you need to use them, but don't go crazy. P.S. And I'll bring something back for you as a souvenir. I love you and I'll be back soon. With love, Alex. So that's where he went..." She flipped it over to the back to check if there was anything, but the only thing there was a strange scribble of ink on the top left corner of the parchment. "Huh? That's weird..."

"So... He won't be coming back until tomorrow?" Octavia took the paper from Vinyl and scanned over it. "And when did Alex learn to write this elegantly?"

"Apparently... And who knows." Vinyl groaned and mock- hit herself with her hoof lightly. "Ugh! Damnit, Vinyl! Why did you have to be such a child..."

"It's fine. I'm sure he can handle himself. He's lived in his world for..." Octavia looked up to the ceiling to try and remember how old Alex was. "A long time. He can manage one more day."

Vinyl sighed. "I guess..." She floated the letter with her magic over to the coffee table and set it down before plopping down on the couch.

"Plus, he's going to bring you something from his world! Isn't that exciting?" Octavia was still trying to cheer her up.

"I guess..."

Octavia stared at her for a few moments before giving up on her.

"I'm going to take a quick shower before I head off to rehearsal." She left Vinyl on the couch and disappeared back into the hallway.

"Kay."

Vinyl picked up the note again, focusing on the last few words of the letter: "I love you". She held the note to her chest and closed her eyes. Feelings of regret filled her heart as she cursed herself again for not getting to say goodbye before he left. She knew that the next several hours would be very difficult for her, despite Octavia's attempts at reassuring her.

Her lips puckered a little as she tried her best to remember the last kiss he gave her. She held onto the memory as hard as she could and rolled over to her side. It took every ounce of restraint to keep her from leaving and dashing straight to the castle for him, but she knew that would be even more childish than her mood swing that morning.

She hated waiting. She especially hated waiting when such a large consequence was looming around the corner. What if he got trapped in his world forever? What if he can't come back? What if he gets hurt? She groaned and gritted her teeth in frustration as questions flooded her conscience.

"Please be okay..." She whispered into the couch cushion and shivered a little from the cold that still lingered in the room from opening the door for Spike earlier. The absence of her warm coltfriend to snuggle with and warm her made the air feel that much colder.

"Please..."

You took the last of your series of deep breaths as you took off your saddlebag and stood next to the platform. It was the same platform that you were on before when you were contemplating staying inside your world forever. Just being in the same place brought back feelings of unease. You watched as Luna slowly turned the doorknob and listened to its whirring magic that filled the room.

"Are the two of you ready?"

"Yes ma'am, I- Wait... Two of us? I thought it was just me going."

"No." Luna turned to you after setting the doorknob in its rightful place in mid air where it held still. "We have decided to send Twilight with you since she already has knowledge of your world to a certain extent."

"Also, we would feel better knowing that you have a little protection with you at all times while you are there." Celestia stood beside Luna, backing her up. She paused for a second and read your uneasy expression on your face. "Is that all-right with you, Alex?"

"It's fine... I just don't want something to happen to one of Equestria's princesses if something happens!"

"We all understand the risks involved with this decision, Alex, but if something does happen, wouldn't you feel better knowing that there's somepony with you who's an expert with magic?" Twilight smiled.

"I guess. Wait, if we're going back to the human world, won't we be unable to use magic? I mean, we won't have our horns anymore..."

"Honestly. You never listen. Princess Luna said that we would have enough residual magic from this world to cast one or two spells at most even without our horns." Twilight stepped up onto the platform as Princess Luna turned the knob, making the dark blue door self-construct around it. "But... You should let me worry about the magic. Unless you feel like you need to make another one of your black holes." You stuck your tongue out at her teasingly and she returned it with a giggle.

"Now... Are the two of you ready?"

"Yes ma'am." You stepped up and joined Twilight next to the door.

"Yes, Princess Luna. We're ready."

"You have twenty four hours. Use your time wisely, Alex." Celestia stepped back. "And have fun!"

Luna opened the door slowly, emitting a bright light that was coupled with a light feeling of being sucked in. Your heart sank and you gulped.

"Come on, Alex. Let's go." Twilight stepped inside casually and the light engulfed her quickly.

It took you a few moments to build up the courage to step in. You looked to your side at Luna who was smiling in support and nodding her head for you to go. After taking one last breath of equestrian air, you held your breath and cautiously stepped inside.

Author's Notes:

There might be one or two grammatical mistakes since only one of my three editors was able to look over it before I needed to put it up. Don't worry, if there are any kinks, they will be straightened out tomorrow when the other two editors look at them. Thanks for your patience!

If there are any grammatical or spelling errors, please send me a PRIVATE MESSAGE and let me know so that I can fix them asap. Thanks for reading! <3
~Canadianbrony91