Six months. Twilight simply couldn’t believe that had been six months since her spell had made her husband vanish into thin air with no way of finding him. When the others found out they were distraught. Big Macintosh seemed prepared to trample the grieving princess and not even her daughters would talk to her. She was a wreck during those first few weeks, doing nothing, but eating and sleeping; she couldn’t even bring herself to leave the house, or even her room. She just laid in the bed she shared with DJ, wishing with all her heart that he was there by her side. Princess Celestia was much more understanding of the situation, but had to keep things quiet. DJ’s capture by the changelings only a little over a year ago was still fresh in the minds of the Equestrian populace. Only the Sparkle family, the princesses, the Apple family, and the town of Ponyville were allowed to know of his disappearance.

There was some backlash against Twilight afterwards, but the sight of the distraught princess quelled their anger. Thankfully, Discord had reminded them that the omnitrix badge was still linked to the main omnitrix, even if communication was impossible. Twilight watched the device like a hawk for weeks, gasping every time the badge would turn yellow, meaning he was hurt, but always relaxed when it returned to green. She thanked the maker, Faust, that the badge never turned red, indicating a life threatening injury.

Twilight tried to return to her normal life, but it was hard. Scootaloo and Nyx were talking to her again, thankfully, and Spike had been by her side the entire time, fully understanding that it wasn’t her fault. In the meantime, Twilight tried to fulfill DJ’s wishes of bringing his world’s media to Equestria and sent batch after batch of movies and video games to Celestia and Luna as they volunteered to find the perfect venues for each title to be recreated in Equestria. That was five months ago and even now, television advertisements for PonyStations, GameBoxes, and other consoles were airing along with regular broadcasts. New movies were coming out almost every month, each one completely different from the last. One month would be a new animated film for children and adults, and the next would be a violent action movie with blood, gore, and cures words that only adults were allowed into, and kids would sneak in through the back. Twilight knew DJ would be proud of how Equestrians were adapting to this media.

Unfortunately, one week ago sparked another deep depression for Twilight. Nyx, in a desperate attempt to get DJ back, recreated the transportation spell, but mixed it with a homing spell as well. She and Scootaloo were planning to go and bring back their father, but something went wrong and only Nyx was transported. That was still more than enough to cause Twilight to break down crying as she held on to Scootaloo for dear life, afraid that something would take her other daughter away from her, too. Scoots couldn’t bring herself to leave her mother like this, so she promised to be the best she could be for her. Scoot and Spike were diligent in taking care of all of their daily chores, trying to keep Twilight calm and sane as they worked closely around her. Twilight deeply appreciated the two being for her in her darkest hour, though she feared that something even greater would happen and take the rest of her family from her.

Of course, Twilight wasn’t the only one deeply affected by DJ’s disappearance. Big Macintosh was thoroughly struck by his little brother being taken from him once again. Especially when his wedding came. DJ was supposed to be his best man, but with him gone, the wedding felt like it was missing a piece. Even Fluttershy could feel the longing sense in the spot where DJ should have been standing (Big Mac couldn’t bring himself to have any other pony stand in that spot so it remained empty through the whole ceremony). Applejack was missing her other big brother too, especially when she finally got herself a coltfriend, a certain stallion named Caramel. Big Mac put the fear of Celestia into the colt, but Caramel stood firm. This made the orange mare think of what DJ would do to Caramel if he found out. No, ‘when’ he found out. She had to have faith.

Celestia was also affected, but her feelings probably would have been worse if Pixel Berry hadn’t finally returned from her travels. When Berry found out, she was hit hard, especially after a long series of events that had happened only just prior. Celestia had told Twilight that Berry had clung to her upon finding out what happened to DJ and sobbed intensely into her white coat.

Today was just another day, as far as Twilight was concerned. Scootaloo had just gotten back from playing with the crusaders so she was laying back in front of the TV and Spike was busy preparing lunch in the kitchen. She was still researching for a spell that would bring back her husband and daughter, but with very little luck.

Then it happened. Twilight could feel the disturbance before it happened. She whipped her head around to see pure magic being gathered just above her dining room table, twisting and mixing together into a large orb. The wind in the room picked up as the swirling mass grew and sent out random strike of magical lightning. Spike and Scootaloo rushed into the room and gaped at the sight of a large blue orb sitting above their table. Then, as suddenly as it appeared, the blue sphere burst, blinding all of them and revealing something inside of it that screamed out,

“I’M BACK BABY!!!!” They then heard the sound of something heavy hitting the table with a thud. “Ow! Gotta stop landing on that table,” the familiar voice groaned out. Twilight, Spike, and Scootaloo’s eyes went wide and they zoomed back to where the orb had been, noticing a blue alicorn laying on the table with a smaller black alicorn on his back.

“I don’t think you can avoid it, daddy. You’re cursed, remember?” said Nyx from her position.

“Story of my life,” DJ muttered out before he started looking around and noticed his three favorite people…er ponies… creatures. “Wassup guys! We’re back!”

“Hi guys!” Nyx added while waving happily. In an instant the two of them were crushed under three bear hugs from Spike, Twilight, and Scootaloo. They could feel fresh tears falling from each of them and the two alicorns did all they could to console them, as futile as it was.

Twilight backed away slightly and stared into DJ’s deep hazel eyes. Then she pushed forward and the two were locked in a kiss beyond passion. Their little tongue fight lasted for nearly a minute before they broke for air. Then Twilight leaned into DJ’s neck, nuzzling him and drinking in his presence. “I am so sorry, DJ,” she said as the tears started anew. “It’s all my fault.”

DJ stroked his wife’s hair, doing his best to calm her. “You didn’t do it on purpose, Twilight. I forgive you; I always will. Though, I kinda have to thank you for the adventures I’ve been on.”

Spike stepped back and looked at his brother in awe, admiring how different DJ looked. His body was firmer, stronger, and leaner. The drake could see stronger muscles than he previously had as well as a few scars and scrapes here and there. Spike whistled appreciatively. “Dang, DJ. What happened to you?”

DJ chuckled a little. “How about we go let the others know that I’m back and then I can tell you all everything? Sound like a plan?”

“Sure does to me!” Scootaloo said brightly. “I’ll go get our friends! Catch up when you can Uncle Spike!” With that Scootaloo took off running, and took flight once she was out the door. Spike rolled his eyes as he wrote to the princesses. After that he breathed out a flame and sent the letter on its way. The drake then turned back to his brother with a smile.

“This time you missed out on a lot, dude. We all got a lot of catching up to do!” Spike then headed out, but not without letting DJ catch a glimpse of his newest addition: a pair of wings! Spike wasn’t in sight long enough for DJ to ask so he turned to Twilight with wide-eyes.

“They came in a few months ago,” she explained. “He’s still working with them, but he can fly now.” DJ nodded, surprised beyond belief and now wondering what other surprises awaited him.

“Well, looks like there is gonna be a lot of sharing today, isn’t there?”

**********

Roughly an hour later, DJ and Nyx were surrounded by their closest friends and family, all crying happily that they had returned. Mac had nearly crushed DJ with his welcome hug, while Nyx was almost trampled by her fellow crusaders. Berry was the next to clutch the two in a bone crushing hug, along with Pinkie. Thankfully, Celestia simply pulled her son and granddaughter close with her wings. The others reacted similarly, leaving both alicorns wondering if they needed spine replacements, or to go to the hospital to check for broken ribs. With all the welcoming done, DJ began to tell his tale of what happened over six months ago.

When he finished his tale, Nyx adding in a few things where she came in at the end, the entire room was beyond speechless. Though, Celestia gained enough of her sanity back to speak again.

“So, let me get this straight,” she started, “When Twilight cast that spell on you, it started sending you to alternate Equestria’s throughout the multiverse—.“

“Omniverse, actually,” DJ corrected.

“Right, where in each one you met different humans who called Equestria either a home or a place with friends. There you went on different adventures, making new friends, and getting into trouble. Though in each one, you only stayed a month, even if that was longer than actually happened.”

“Yep, one night I go to sleep and the next time I wake up it’s a few days later and they had been wondering where I disappeared to.”

“So,” Twilight said, taking over, “In the first world, you met a human named Ryan who was in a relationship with that world’s Applejack and helped them fight off an evil version of Discord.”

“Right on the money.”

“The next world you visit,” began Applejack, “you found this ‘Batman’ character protecting his version of us. You convinced him to train you in martial arts and other ways of combat?”

“Well, I begged and pleaded, but he still said no. So, I just tried to imitate what he was teaching Scootaloo. He never stopped me, so I just kept up with what I spied upon, though he did lend me a couple of Batarangs so I could make my own. Since Batman was the one to suggest I needed some long distance weapons, who am I to not agree?”

Rainbow was next to begin. “Okay, so from there, you ended up meeting a human-turned-pony named Sora who went around fighting evil, heartless monsters and you helped him save his Ponyville and the Crystal Empire?”

“Eeyup! Even got this thanks to him!” DJ put out his hoof and bright flash of light appeared and then revealed a long key-shaped blade in his hoof. The center was a long sword and was covered in gold and blue filigree that extended out of the top in a shape reminiscent of a heart for the teeth of the key. Above the hilt, was a heart shape hole that served to connect the sword to the hilt. The hilt was stylized around the handle with the filigree that led down to a long chain that ended in keychain that looked like a crown with a heart attached on top. “Behold my keyblade, the Ultima Weapon!” DJ said proudly.

“Oh that is so not fair!” Berry whined. “I want one!”

“Too bad, this one is mine!” DJ said quickly pulling the key to his chest and caressing. “My sword, not yours!”

“Are you alright, DJ?” Twilight asked, sounding concerned.

“Yeah, just that I think I went a little more insane traveling around between these different worlds,” DJ said while tapping his noggin. “Think it broke some more screws loose.”

“Oh,” Twilight said, not knowing what more else she could say.

“After that,” Pinkie said, picking up afterwards, “you found yourself in a world that was about to be overrun by Discord and had to help a girl named Jennifer beat him in a race to save Equestria. Along the way, Discord switched you and Malice with each other and kept you from reverting as well as forcing the omnitrix to lock you in human form. From there you beat Discord, but Malice was forced to try and find a way to revert you two back since Discord disappeared before he could undo it. Then you went on to protect Equestria again by killing the evil queen, Gal—Oof!” Pinkie found her muzzle being clamped shut by DJ.

“Don’t say her name! I don’t know how you found out what it was, but don’t say that name! Just call her Queeny! She has these weird powers and I ain’t tempting fate! But, yes you are right. Malice went on to kill the queen after she ripped out the throat of a friend he had made. He even learned to use the Elements of Harmony.”

“Malice knows Harmonic Convergence now?!” Celestia asked, sounding concerned.

“Actually, we call it Chaos Control. The Elements seems a little more chaotic when Malice was in control of them,” DJ corrected. “It was also after that our relationship changed.”

“How so?” asked Twilight.

Before DJ could answer, another voiced called out from the kitchen. “Hey, kid! Where do we keep the mustard?”

“Top left cabinet!” DJ called back.

“Why is it in a cabinet? Mustard needs to be kept cold!” the voice said again.

“Not my decision!”

“Whipped bastard!”

“Hey! There’s fillies in here!”

“Whatever!” Some clattering was heard and then a grey stallion made his appearance from the kitchen door, carrying a plate full of sandwiches. “Want a sandwich kid?” he asked as he sat down in between Rainbow and Applejack, much to their displeasure.

“I would love one,” DJ responded as the unknown stallion levitated one over to him. The two then began to eat, leaving the others to wonder what was going on. Twilight took this chance to observe the new pony. He had a light grey coat, but a dark black mane, with a few grey streaks. His eyes were also grey in color, but what surprised her the most was that the stallion was indeed an alicorn! One with a black and white snowflake cutie mark.

“So, uh, honey, who is your friend?” Twilight asked.

“Guess, because you have already met.” The others looked back to the new stallion. He stopped chewing and spoke.

“I’ll give you a hint. As far as I’m concerned you’re all a bunch of stupid farm animals,” he said in his deep voice with a deadpanned expression. Everypony suddenly realized what, or rather who, they were speaking to.

“MALICE?!”

“Ding, ding, ding! We have some winners,” he said while waving his hoof unenthusiastically.

“Wh-what, but how is he?” Twilight stammered out.

“Duplication spell,” DJ explained as he finished eating. Then he took another look at Malice’s impressive stack of a dozen sandwiches. “Dude, you are worse than a freaking pothead.”

“So I get the munchies,” he shrugged. “Sue me.”

“Don’t tempt me,” DJ joked. “Anyways, after that thing with Jen, the two of us worked on giving each other some space, and thanks to help from Parker in the next world, we were able to come up with a spell that can give Malice his own body, though it’s only temporary.”

Malice nodded. “Yeah, I’m still tied to this dipshit brother of mine, but this does come in handy for when we need to tag team.”

“Did Malice just say brother?” Pixel pointed out.

“Yep, we consider each other twin brothers. Not far from the truth when you think about it.”

“Well, I don’t think there should be any problem with Malice getting some freedom every now and then,” said Celestia with an unreadable face. Then she glared hard at Malice. “That is, only if he behaves himself. Do I make myself clear… son?”

Malice visibly shivered under her gaze, surprising the others. “Stay away you feminine destroyer!” Malice yelled at her. “Leave me be!”

It was at that moment that DJ burst into laughter. Twilight looked at him with confusion and a raised eyebrow. “What’s so funny?”

“Sorry,” DJ said, trying to calm down from his laughter. “It’s just that I crack up every time I’m reminded of all that Malice took from me. Turns out, when Malice was created he took a few portions of my emotions and made them his. He is the reason I can be so calm around you girls and speak my mind, when I couldn’t do the same to the girls on Earth. Malice took my fear of women! AHAHAHA!”

“Shut up ya stupid prick! Women are the scourge of the world!” The women at the table, which accounted for pretty much everypony turned to glare harshly at him, which made him shrink back and start spouting death threats.

DJ smirked. “Unfortunately, Malice’s fear manifests in him wanting to kill what scares him, so be careful. Anyways, who was going next?”

“I think I was, if that’s okay,” Fluttershy spoke up. “Your next adventure led you to meet a stallion named Peter Parker where you tried to help become use to his new life as a pony in Equestria and eventually got pulled to Earth with him, but were forced to leave before you could help fight the main battle.”

“That is also where I developed a deep fear for symbiotic parasites,” DJ said nonchalantly. The others looked at him confused and then to Malice.

He just shrugged. “You’d have to have been there to understand. Oh, kid! Tell them about the thing!"

Twilight was confused again. "Thing? What thing?"

"This thing!" Instantly, DJ disappeared, reappearing on the top level of the library. "I learned how to teleport! I have a super power after all!"

"It's not magic?" Twilight asked in stunned surprise.

"Nope!" DJ disappeared again, returning to his spot. "I call it 'jumping'. Kinda like the movie."

"Meh, the book was better," Malice added.

"True, but they didn't have Samuel Jackson in them!"

"Good point," Malice conceded.

“I believe that it is my turn,” said Rarity. “Your final world led you to the world of Owen and his lover, Princess Luna. It was there where you were finally able to understand the spell, with some help, that sent you to the different worlds and finally work on a counter spell. You, of course, spent some fun time with the young man, but then Nyx showed up which frightened some of the ponies for some reason and--.”

“Do you want to know why they were scared of Nyx?” DJ interrupted. He took the silence as a yes and spoke to his daughter. “Nyx, do the thing!”

Nyx nodded and began to swirl her teal colored magic around her body. As the spell continued, it kept getting stronger and stronger, morphing around Nyx until it began to take the shape of a larger being. When the magical finally ended, everypony, save DJ and Malice, gasped in fear. A slow laughter began to spill out from the imposing figure, her coat as black as night, draconic eyes glaring out at the world, and her blue-starry mane blowing in a nonexistent wind. “Behold! For I, Nightmare Moon, have returned! AHAHA!” Celestia powered up her horn as Nightmare began laughing, but soon became confused as the evil laughter soon turned to a giggle fit and Nightmare shifted back into Nyx.

“I… I’m sorry, haha!” she said between breaths. “B-but you should have seen your faces! You actually thought I turned back into Nightmare Moon. No, but I do have all of her magic back! I’m all powerful once again! And I can turn into my Nightmare form, but it’s still just me. Just more magic packed!”

DJ smiled. “The nightmare magic was so high on Owen’s world that some of it actually got absorbed into Nyx when she arrived, reverting her back into Nightmare Moon. Thankfully, I got to her before they could go through with sentencing and we were able to find a way for her to control the resurgence of her magic and she could still stay in her normal form. All in all, a lot has happened over the past six month, but I am glad to be home. Being around all those alternates of you guys is disconcerting. Especially when a few of them were a little more than friendly with Twilight. Made me all kinds of uncomfortable.”

Twilight gave him a quick, reassuring peck on the cheek. “Did you figure out the spell?”

“Yep! I can now travel freely between them if I wished. Could come in handy someday, though at the moment for it to work, it needs the Elements of Harmony. Which is easy for me and Malice, since I am the Being of Harmony.”

“And I am the Being of Chaos. Or so we have heard from different legends in these worlds. We fit the description and the name works for me,” added Malice.

“Eeyup, but we don’t have to worry about that now. We can just be home!”

“Um, not exactly, my son,” Celestia said, now looking upset.

“Oh what now?” DJ asked, thinking the worst.

“I am sorry my child, but in order to keep the nobles and the public from worrying about your disappearance, I had to convince them that you left on a Cultural Journey.”

“What the hell is that?” asked Malice.

“A Cultural Journey is a thirteen month travel that can be undertaken by a noble for the purpose of learning and understanding other cultures on this planet. It is an old tradition as well as backed by a few laws. One such is that anypony who undertakes such a journey must leave Equestria for at least thirteen months. Otherwise, there are… consequences. You really don’t want to know.”

“Le gulp,” DJ responded. “So if I hear what I think I’m hearing, then I need to leave again? For another seven months?!”

“I know you’re upset, DJ, but it was the only way to keep Equestria from panicking over you vanishing again.”

“Calm down, mom,” DJ said with a calming hoof. “It’s alright, I understand. May not like it, but I do understand. Can I make a request, though?”

“Anything,” Celestia responded, wiping a tear from her eye.

“May I at least stay the night? So I can say my goodbyes this time.”

“Of course, and allow me to be the first.” Celestia stepped forward and hugged him tight. “I am so sorry about this,” she whispered into her ear.

“Don’t worry about it, mom. Everything will be alright.”

**********

After several hours of catching up with the others, many of which surprised DJ with the new lives they led, DJ and Twilight found themselves in bed together. The simply sat there, drinking in each other’s presences. Neither wanted this moment to end; just to be together like this for all eternity.

“I don’t want you to go DJ,” Twilight pleaded through her tear soaked eyes.

“I don’t want to go, either, Twi, but I can’t put you guys through political hell because I’m being selfish. I will be back, Twilight, and then, I’m retiring from all of this for good. No more heroics, no more adventure; just you, me, Spike, and the girls. One big happy family.”

Twilight looked at him with passion and love. “I love you so much DJ,” she said with a deep longing.

“I love you so much more, my dear shining Twilight.” Their lips met, igniting a great fire deep within them. DJ laid Twilight back on the bed and began to kiss her softly, moving slowly down from her lips, to her neck, to her barrel, and even further. The rest of the night was spent in glorious passion, reigniting each other’s love for the other as they made sweet beautiful love.

**********

The next morning, DJ was packed and ready to go for his seven month trip. All of his friends and family had met up outside of the Books and Branches Library to wish him well. They all said their goodbyes to each other, with DJ giving Twilight, Nyx, Scootaloo, and Spike a big family hug at the end. DJ stepped away from them and summoned his Element powers. He glowed golden for a moment as the symbol of the Elements appeared underneath his hooves. DJ stuck out a hoof and caused another symbol to appear, which grew until it was twice his size and the inner circle grew into a massive swirling portal.

DJ turned back to his friends and family with apologetic eyes. “This isn’t goodbye,” he insisted. “I don’t believe in saying goodbye to those I care for because that would mean we would never meet again. I don’t want that, especially not from all of you. So instead, I say to you all, ‘see you later’! I’ll be back in seven months and this time, Twilight, I left you a spell we can use to keep in contact with each other. I hope to hear from you soon. I love you all!” With that DJ turned fast and jumped into the portal, causing said portal to close and the light disappeared.

Twilight wouldn’t cry this time. She knew he would be back and that there was nothing to worry about. Though, what she did know is that once DJ returned for the last time, nothing would ever separate them again. Not rain, sleet, or snow would break them apart. No matter the storm, they would weather it together, even if the darkest of nights came at them at the same time.