“...And with that, I, Princess Celestia of Equestria, hereby dub Allen an honorary member of the Equestrian Royal Guard,” Celestia said proudly as I stood before her in the royal throne room of Castle Canterlot. I kneeled before the majestic white alicorn respectfully, looking down at my now-armored body. My friends and I had arrived in Canterlot a few days ago, and Celestia decided I should receive some sort of reward for saving the world. She stood a few feet away from me now, with Princess Cadence and the beautiful Princess Luna at her sides. I’m not usually one to accept huge honors like this, but I have to admit it was pretty cool. Along with the armor, which was a whitish platinum color with gold and blue trim, they also gave me a sword that looked a lot like the one she had given me during my previous visit; because of that, when I saw for it the first time, I requested having my friends’ cutie marks etched into the blade, just as the Elements of Harmony had embedded themselves into the old sword when I needed them most. The symbol of my position now sat on my back in a white sheath.

“Allen, on behalf of all Equestria, I thank you for your noble service and sacrifice to save a world that was not your own,” she said gratefully, and the entire room let out a cheer. I nodded thankfully, grinning a little when I saw my friends standing off to the side, smiling proudly. I stepped forward.

“Thank you, Celestia,” I started nervously, but quickly gathered myself into a proper speech-giving tone, “but the honor is not mine alone,” I said, turning to my six friends who had so warmly welcomed me into their society. “These six ponies, who have already done so much for Equestria before I arrived, helped me find the courage and resolve to keep fighting for what’s right, and they deserve as much thanks as I do.” As the words left my mouth, the crowd burst into another wild cheer, and Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy all stepped forward from the crowd and stood next to me.
“You really mean it, Allen?” Twilight asked, smiling as the crowd continued cheering. I grinned back.
“Of course,” I said certainly, “I wouldn’t have been able to fight that guy in a million years if I didn’t have you girls by my side.” I looked up at Celestia, who nodded approvingly.

Just then, a guard burst in the room, panting heavily, and ran to Celestia and whispered something in her ear. The princess nodded slowly, and turned to me.
“Allen,” she began, “are you ready for your first assignment?”
I nodded quickly, glad that I was already being given a mission after having been a royal guard for about thirty seconds.
“I want you to accompany Princess Cadence on her trip back to the Crystal Empire. There is some sort of disturbance there, and I want you to make sure it isn’t dangerous,” she said as Princess Cadence stepped forward, and I nodded respectfully to the pink alicorn.
“It would be an honor,” I said proudly, and Princess Luna ran over to my side and smiled at me.
“I’m coming with too!” she said excitedly. I smiled, remembering our reunion the day after I had returned.

I slowly ascended the steps towards the throne room of Castle Canterlot, glancing back as my friends encouragingly shooed me away. I quickly ran up towards the massive double doors, climbing two steps at a time, and slowly entered the room. As I did, I reached into my pocket and felt a small, golden ring I had bought back in Ponyville. I didn’t think I would need it that particular day, but I just got the feeling it would be a good idea to have it.
I slowly walked down the red carpet, looking around in awe at the beauty the room held. It seemed like only yesterday this room had been practically demolished by the events of the previous year, but now it looked just like it did in the show and when I first arrived in Equestria.

I looked up at the golden throne to see a white alicorn with a gently flowing rainbow mane smiling at me.
“Hello, Allen. I trust you had little trouble returning to Equestria?” she asked softly.
I nodded. “It took me a bit to figure out the words I had to say, but I got it,” I said proudly. “How have things been around here?” I asked casually.
The solar princess sighed. “I must admit, it does not seem as if anything has changed, but it is quite different without you around. Which reminds me,” she said, looking behind me at a door that led to the princesses’ bedrooms, “I believe there is somepony who will be extremely happy to see you.”
I looked back and saw the door, immediately realizing where it led.

“You mean…?” I trailed off, and Celestia nodded.
“It’s the first door on the right,” she said gently. “She’s probably taking a nap, but I don’t think she’ll mind an interruption from you.”
I nodded respectfully and turned back to the room, when Celestia stopped me.
“Oh, Allen, I was wondering if you and the others would be willing to stay in Canterlot for a few days? I must arrange a ceremony marking your return,” she asked hopefully.
I shook my head and held up my hands apologetically. “It’s really touching that you want to do something like that, but it’s not necessary,” I said humbly, but the princess pressed on.
“Oh, I insist! Not only is it for your return, but I must also properly thank you for what you did to help us. I would like to make you an honorary member of the Canterlot Royal Guard!” she proclaimed, and my eyes widened with surprise.
“Me? A member of the guard? Well, I guess I can’t refuse now, can I?” I asked rhetorically.

Celestia nodded, happy she had finally convinced me. “Now that that’s settled, go on; my sister may be hard to read when she wants to, but her subconscious reveals her true feelings; I have occasionally heard her calling your name in her sleep,” she said, smiling as she looked at the door that lay behind me. I nodded and ran off without another word.

“Luna?” I whispered as I entered the dim bedroom. I saw a large bed pressed against the opposite wall, and lying behind a see-through, silk curtain lay a sleeping, midnight blue alicorn. The blankets rose and fell with her soft breathing, and I smiled as I quietly walked over to the side of the bed.
“Luna?” I asked again, a little louder this time, and the lunar princess shifted a little and yawned.

“Oh, Celestia, I told you to not bother me; I’m still worn out from last… huh?” she moaned tiredly, her expression suddenly changing from tired and grouchy to completely surprised when she saw it was not her older sister waking her up, but me.
“Hey,” I said gently as I sat down on the edge of the bed. Luna got up and crawled over by me, studying my face in disbelief.
“Allen?” she asked finally, recovering from the initial shock. I smiled.
“Were you expecting someone else?” I asked jokingly, and she suddenly leaped on top of me, knocking me down and hugging me excitedly.

“I’ve missed you so much! How did you get back?” she cried happily, and I laughed at the alicorn’s sudden happiness.
“Celestia visited me through the crystal a few days and told me of a way back. I’ve been here for a couple of days and figured you would want to see me," I explained. "Guess I was right,” I added with a chuckle as the alicorn continued hugging me.
I reached into my pocket, my fingertips just barely touching the golden ring, but they suddenly darted back out as I removed my hand.

No, I thought with determination, it’s too soon. Maybe another time.

I inspected my sword as we sat on the train, heading for the Crystal Empire so I could complete my first mission as a guard. It wasn’t blessed with the incredible strength like my original crystal sword had been, but since the threat of the Sentinels had been destroyed along with Drayke, I figure it didn’t matter too much.
Suddenly, I saw something out the window of the train car: a massive blue beam shooting straight up into the sky, creating a shockwave of energy that knocked out the power and stopped the train dead. I looked at my friends and the two princesses worriedly.

“I’d better go check that out!” I said, rushing for the door, but Applejack stopped me.
“Allen, don’t! You don’t know what’s out there!” she said worriedly, but I grinned.
“I don’t think it’ll be much of a problem. Besides, what kind of royal guard would I be if I just let something like that go unexamined?” I asked, and the orange mare nodded. I exited the train car as Twilight, Pinkie, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, Cadence, and Luna all followed close behind. I reached a hill, convinced that the source of the disturbance lay just beyond, and quickly jumped up and held my sword out defensively.

The sight that awaited me wasn’t the most shocking thing it could have been, but it was still pretty unexpected.

Sitting just on the other side of that hill was a small camp, with several large tents lined up in rows. The strange thing about it was the creatures that bustled in and out of the tents busily.
“Humans?” Cadence asked, confused, and I nodded.
“You guys stay here,” I said, sheathing my sword as I walked towards the camp, “I think it’d be best if I was the only one they saw.”

The first one of the people to notice me was a young soldier, who aimed a dangerous-looking rifle at me.
“Stop right there! Who are you? How’d you get here?” he demanded, not giving any hint that he would lower his weapon. I held up my hands.

“I could ask you the same thing,” I said coolly, and suddenly another, older man appeared behind the soldier and cleared his throat.
“Sergeant, would you like to explain why you are aiming a weapon at this boy?” he asked in a gruff tone, and the soldier lowered his weapon, suddenly sounding nervous.
“He just walked up to the camp, sir. I wasn’t sure how to react,” he said, his voice no longer sounding as confident as it did when I approached.

The man, who I assumed was the commanding officer, shooed the sergeant way. “I’ll handle this,” he said, and approached me. “Now, tell me, kid, how did you get here?” he asked.
I glared at him. “I’ll give you the same response I gave the other guy: I could ask you the same thing,” I said angrily.
The man shrugged and motioned for me to follow him into the camp as he introduced himself.

“I am General Warrens. I am the Head of Defense of Project G.E.M. This program was started because about a year ago, unidentified creatures attacked Earth, and suddenly disappeared shortly afterwards. The government wanted to know why they came, how they got to Earth, where they came from, who sent them, and what made them vanish,” he explained.

I stopped and gave him a serious look. “The where is pretty obvious right now, the who and why is a man named Drayke, who wanted to conquer both this world and Earth, the how is a portal between the two worlds that was subsequently destroyed, and the what is me,” I said bluntly. “Now that you have that information, how about you tell me a little more about what’s going on here? And on top of that, how did you get here?”
The General looked at me, surprised. “You’ve got a lot of spirit, kid,” he complemented me.
I nodded thankfully. “So, how did you guys get here?”

General Warrens brought me to a portal in the center of camp, which they had built some sort of containment unit around. He explained Project G.E.M.’s research, which eventually led to creating a portal to this “strange, new world”, and mankind taking its first steps into an alternate universe.

“Not its first,” I corrected, “I came here about a year ago, spent a week, went back to Earth, and returned a few days ago,” I said simply. “And even before that, ancient humans found natural portals that led here, but that led to a huge war, and ended with all but one of the portals being destroyed. I destroyed the last remaining one so that wouldn’t happen again.”
The General looked surprised. “This world has intelligent inhabitants? Where? What are they?” he asked excitedly.
I smiled. “You’re probably not going to believe me, but here goes…”

I explained to the General that this “new world” was in fact Equestria, the setting of the popular cartoon "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic", and its inhabitants were the characters of a children’s television show. He took it pretty well; after all, I was the only person who had seen them, so he had no choice but to take my word for it. After hearing my explanation, his face suddenly lit up.
“Oh, I should bring you to Doctor Greathouse! He’ll want to hear this all as well!” he said, and led me to a tent a few yards away from the portal.
Doctor Greathouse? I thought, thinking it was funny that someone else who had entered this world had the same last name as me. My amusement was cut short, however, when I saw just who this was.

I entered the tent slowly, and sitting in a metal folding chair was a middle-aged man with shoulder-length brown hair, a short stubble on his face, and wire-framed glasses. He looked up at me from his book with wide brown eyes, filled with the emotion of seeing someone they thought was lost forever.

It had been twelve years since we had last seen each other, but I recognized him instantly.

“Allen,” the man said disbelievingly, his voice so quiet I could just barely hear him.

“Hello, dad,” I said flatly.