There was a sign reading, 'The Copper Feather Museum of Technology' at the beginning of a little path. It ran past his failed attempts at a garden, which somepony had quite expertly undone and then done better, up to two large doors. The building was drastically different, both in size and shape, but it was still the same color and in the same spot. Glass had already rushed down the path, excited to visit such a place. “They turned my house into a museum,” he muttered as he slowly followed after her. That had been his home. It had been where he lived for a time. A place that he had planned to return to, to live in once again, and they had turned it into a museum.

“Oh! They're still open!” Glass said excitedly, running back to him. “We can go in, right?”

He smiled down at her. “Of course. We came all this way, didn't we?”

They went in, a soft bell chiming as the door opened and a familiar pony, who was reading a book, was sitting at a nearby desk that read 'Reception.' “Good evening, welcome to the Copper Feather Museum of Technology. Please enjoy your stay, but please be aware that we are closing soon.” She didn't even look up.

Copper couldn't help but smile. Even if it had been such a long time, he would never forget the look of this pony. “Hello Scootaloo.” She looked up and immediately froze in her spot. “So they turned the place into a museum?” Copper saw that it was full of many things, a lot of them things he built. Over to his other side, there was his workstation, perfectly preserved and just as messy as he had left it.

“C-Copper Feather!” She leaped over the desk and rushed hurriedly up to him. “Oh gosh it is such an honor to meet you. I-” She cleared her throat and calmed down a bit. “I'm quite a fan.”

“Oh?” He looked at her a moment, taking note of her flustered look.

“I just...wow. You're like, barely older than me. How's that possible?” At least she was observant when she wanted to be, but despite what she had said, Copper knew that he was older than her by quite a bit.

“Time travel,” he said simply. He looked around for Glass, who had apparently wandered off.

“Ohhh. That's mentioned quite a bit in the books about you. I- uhm...” Again she shifted slightly. “They're some of my favorites.”

Copper looked past her at the book on the table. “Is this one of them?” he said as he moved past her towards the table. “I've not had a chance to actually read them and I'm quite curious-”

She was around him, over the table and had tucked the book under the desk in a sound that could only be described as woosh. Before Copper could even say another word. “N-no. It's not. I have the entire series, some of them part of the first printings.” She was incredibly fast.

“All right, all right.” He chuckled softly as he looked around the large room. “You'll have to let me look at them.”

“Oh! All my copies are upstairs.” She was once again over the table and walking beside him. “C'mon, I'll let you have a look.”

His brow furrowed a moment as he looked around. “Glass?” He called and saw her poke out from behind a display. “Ah, there you are.”

“Whoa. Princess Glass is here, too?” Scootaloo said as she moved over to Glass. “Wow. Ponies thought that you couldn't leave Canterlot.”

“I wasn't allowed to leave,” Glass said with a frustrated face. “Princess Celestia and my mother wouldn't let me.”

Scootaloo looked at her a moment and then at Copper. “How come?”

Copper shrugged. “Honestly I'm sure for political reasons or something. It was never explained to me, but I've stolen her for my trip around the world.” He smiled down at Glass. It truly felt like he had stolen her away.

“Wow...where are you going?”

He chuckled softly. “Everypony keeps asking me that. It's like everypony wants to come along.”

She fidgeted a bit. “Sorry. It's just...you're one of the coolest ponies ever.”

“More like the coolest pony ever,” Glass said with a smile.

“Well, I think there are plenty of ponies cooler than me,” he said with a chuckle. “Quite a lot of them, in fact.” He looked down at the grin on Glass's face and ruffled her mane. “Now then, I'd like to have a look at these books.”

“Oh! R-right.” Scootaloo turned and walked past the many displays.

Copper recognized many of the things as things he had made, or had a hoof in making, and many things that he had nothing to do with. Hanging on the wall he saw all his different versions of the Flyer, all recreated. There was one of the bomber's from The False God hanging over a console, all the controls just as he had left them. The sight sent a shiver down his spine. “What's this?” Glass was beside him.

He had not realized he'd stopped walking. “It's the control panel of The False God.”

“Ooooh.” She got as close as she could to it. “Was it hard to fly?”

“Not really.” Copper walked around it, following after Scootaloo. “Airships have a similar control scheme. It's not simple, but if you learn to fly one, you can fly any of them. The difference with The False God was it's size. The controls were slow to respond...not like God. The False God was sloppy...done quick. God was a work of art, a true masterpiece. One that I wish that I could come close to achieving.”

“You'll make something better,” Glass said with a smile and Copper ruffled her mane again.

The staircase was in front of him now. Immediately he recognized it, each step exactly the same as he remembered them. He stared at them a moment before he began to make his way up them. The grain of wood was the same and the door at the top of the stairs hadn't changed either. If it wasn't for all the stuff that did not belong to him, his room looked exactly the same as well. “So they kept this the same?” He walked slowly into the room, Scootaloo was at his bookshelf, which had been mostly empty when he had last saw it, now it was full.

“Yeah. The place started out really small, with just some random stuff you had, but when it got more popular as the books came out it had to be expanded. I bet now that you're back, it'll jump in popularity again.” She pushed a large stack of books towards him. “There, all nine books.”

Each book was fairly thick and some of them looked very old but very well taken care of. “Which one is your favorite, Scootaloo?”

She shifted a bit uncomfortably. “Uhm...the last one is my favorite, Crossed Gears.”

Copper pulled the book that was on top, looking at the cover. In large copper lettering it said 'Crossed Gears' and for the author's name there was simply a copper colored feather. “And no one put that together?” he muttered as he opened the book and began skimming through it. “I see why it's your favorite.” He saw the words 'Detective' and 'Scootaloo' quite a number of times. This is when the other world had come into play.

“Oh yeah, that's the one that has you in it,” Glass said with a grin. “I like that one a lot, too.”

“Someday I'll have to sit down and read them all.” Copper closed the book and grabbed another, skimming through it. It was odd seeing his life written down. “See what I wrote about myself...hopefully I didn't paint myself in too poorly a light.” He saw the scrunched up face of confusion. He hoped that the reporter would follow up with what he had said and spread the word so that he would not have to continually explain it. “I wrote these books, technically. Princess Celestia used some kind of magic to do it.”

“Wow...so then...that's how you sign?” She was looking at the front of one of the books.

“No. I've always signed things CoFeath.” He saw the look in her eyes and he couldn't help but smile. “Would you like to own the first ever signed copy of my series?”

She nodded enthusiastically and rushed over to his bedside desk, pulling out ink and quill. He was quite taken aback by her speed for the second time. She had returned in only moments, waiting patiently. “Are you going to write more?”

“At least one more.” He began signing each book in turn on the inside of the cover. He realized as he signed the ninth one, he would probably have to do this a lot.

“You're like a celebrity,” Glass said with a giggle.

Copper chuckled as well. “Well I suppose I am, despite what I think and feel, evidence is quite to the contrary. I have a popular book series written about me, many ponies apparently idolize me and there's a lot of ponies that hate me.” He blew softly over his final signature to help it dry quicker.

“What made you do your signature like that?” Glass said as she examined it.

Again he chuckled. “To be honest? I could never do the two p's properly so I just mashed it into the other and just decided to end it after the h. But I made it messy when Princess Celestia warned me that ponies might try and forge my signature.” Glass nodded in response.

Scootaloo seemed extremely excited, looking at the books. “Wow...everypony is gonna be jealous.”

“Don't tell anypony I signed them till I leave,” Copper moved over to one of the bookshelves. “Otherwise I'll never get out of Ponyville.”

She nodded. “Of course. I'm sure you're really busy.”

“Not really...” His books were still there, ones that he had kept. Apparently his taste in literature, what little there was of it, was not museum worthy. “Have you read all these?”

“Oh yes! So have a lot of ponies, actually... There's a book list downstairs because ponies wanted to read what you read. There are some really stalker-ish type ponies out there...”

“I'm sure there are. Is my notebook downstairs?” He ran his hoof over a few of his books. Admittedly he had not read them all, but they had been gifts.

“Oh, uhm...no. Princess Celestia has that in a vault in Canterlot. Somepony tried to steal it a while ago, not like they could have read it.” Scootaloo was keeping her distance from Copper, admiring her new collection of very rare books.

“There are ways. My code wasn't indecipherable. Gears was much tougher than mine ever was.” He moved from the shelf over to the window, it still overlooked the same part of the town, and off in the distance he could see the clock tower. He did never manage to convert that into his workshop like he had planned. But he had thought he had plenty of time to do it. Years, not months. “Would you mind if we stayed here?”

Scootaloo sat up straight. “I-I...of course! It-it is your home, after all.”

He chuckled softly and placed his forehead against the glass. “Yours too apparently. But that's fine. It's not to my tastes anymore.”

Glass was sitting beside him, looking up at him. “Would you continue your story?”

Copper smiled at her. “Of course. Looks like you'll get a sneak peak at my next book, Scootaloo.”

~

There was a faint light ahead, brighter than that of the algae on the walls. It was pouring down through a grate in the ceiling. As he approached it the voices became clear enough to understand. “-don't care why it's making it. I'm just saying that I've never heard it make a noise like that.”

“Well, it's moving a lot...must be hunting something.”

“Something that doesn't agree with it.”

There were two figures above the grate, talking. Copper could barely make them out through the bright light that was behind them. It wasn't daylight, some kind of lamp, but it was enough to obscure his vision. “You think that something actually attacked the thing? What would be stupid enough to do that?”

Copper frowned up through the grate at the two as he let his eyes adjust. “I know a scream of pain when I hear one and that was one,” the left one said.

“And what makes you so sure that was it screaming in pain?” the one on the right said.

“I've never heard an animal make that kind of noise, not on either side of the chasm.” Copper made a mental note that there was a chasm somewhere near the city.

“So that immediately makes you the expert?” He saw as they both flexed their tattered wings defensively. That must be how they sentence their own kind...shred their wings and drop them down.

“Well what do you think it was, if you're such an expert?” They were in some sort of underground room and he could hear many more of them move about.

The right one hesitated a moment as he thought. “Well, whatever it was is dead. Had to be a really stupid thing to try and go up against the Blood Horror.”

Blood Horror? Copper thought to himself, watching the two of them. “Oh I'm in agreement with you there. Out of it's mind, I'm sure.” He was starting to get fed up with being insulted.

“Just a plain idiot.”

Copper cleared his throat. “If you two gentlecolts don't mind, the idiot would like to not be neck deep in blood.” Both of them leaped several hooves and he heard the clatter of them scattering. He frowned slightly and put his hooves on the grate, planting his legs on either side of his little tunnel as he pushed up. The grate was heavy, but he could lift it. “Honestly,” Copper said as he climbed out of the hole and shook, splattering the floor around him with blood. “What in Equestria does a pony have to do around here to get a little help?” He looked at where they had gone as he pushed the grate back over the hole. The room was dry and full of bat ponies. Dozens of them.

There was a lot of whispers as they watched him. “Who are you?” one of them said harshly.

Copper didn't like that tone. “My name is Copper Feather.” Shink. “And I am not in a good mood. So I'm just going to sit here a moment, and all of you,” he pointed with the blade and they all recoiled, “Are all going to stay over there.” Shnikt. He sat heavily against the wall, taking deep breaths. The air only had the faintest hints of blood here. He held his leg up, letting blood pour from it. His leg had not been built to be water tight and it was an oversight that he regretted at this point.

Now he took in his surroundings, there were three passageways, two of them he could see lead back into the sewer, dipping downward back into the blood. The third lead into a similar room to this. All of the bat ponies had quickly gone down that tunnel when he had sat down. “Who are you?” A very large bat pony walked slowly into the room. He was twice the size of a regular bat pony, at least. The way that he held himself reminded Copper of Celestia.

“As I said...Copper Feather, your majesty.” Copper knew a king when he saw one.

It seemed to catch the other pony off guard. “I have not heard that name, nor seen something like you in my lands before.”

“That is because I come from another world. I tore a rift between our worlds in order to save my own. My plan had been to pull my problem from my world into yours, because it could not be killed in my world.” Copper was feeling very tired, running through the blood had been exhausting.

“And did you?” The king approached Copper without fear, sitting down in front of him.

“Kill it? Yes. But apparently you have outlawed the use of magic in this world and so I was sentenced to death by what you call the Blood Horror.”

“I did not outlaw it, that was the Priest.” Copper saw how his wings were tattered as well. “Our God the Other declared that I was going to betray him and needed to die.”

“The Other is no god. It is a being of death and slaughter that seeks to destroy every single living thing.” That seemed to catch the king off guard as well. “It is what I saved my world from.”

“I...I had thought that the Priest had just...” He rubbed his forehead. “This explains so much... Is it possible to kill the Other?”

“I'm not sure... I know you can drive it from a world but-” Copper stopped, looking at the king sitting across from him. “It's too late for your world.”

There was an obvious look of confusion on his face. “Too late? What do you mean too late?”

Copper had to think how to best explain it. “It is something the Other said to me before it left. It said it had already won, that this world was over. Your Priest has no power anymore, the Other has left this world because it's already...doomed.”

“But...” Copper could see the pony trying to figure it out, trying to find the angle. “You managed it.”

“The Other had not won in my world. There was still a fight going on.” Copper was watching the king carefully. It was never good to be the pony delivering the bad news. “It's already won here. There's no magic here, and the world is dying if not already dead. I can feel it and you can, too. You're just blinding yourself, as the Priest is doing.”

He watched as the king deflated, shoulders sagged and his head drooped. A bat pony walked cautiously towards them, with the look of somepony who'd drawn the short straw. “My king? Is it true?” Copper did not take his eyes from the pony in front of him. “Is he the Prophet?

Copper's brow wrinkled. He had a vague notion of hearing that during his sentencing. It was something that had been whispered. The look the king gave him caused Copper to lean more against the wall. “If he is not the Prophet, then there is not going to be a Prophet.”

“And what is that title mean?” Copper did not want another title.

“The Prophet is somepony the Other spoke of. He is the one who will come at the End Times and lead us to better times. But it was only something spoken of briefly, something the Other changed not long after...but once the end times began, talk of the Prophet began again.” The king looked back at the one who had come. “Gather up food and water, and make up a place for Copper to sleep. I'm sure he is quite tired.”

The pony practically ran. “Perhaps it was a last ditch effort by the one with no name...” Copper muttered and the king turned to him. “The thing that fights the Other...it has shown that it has a lot of power...maybe it brought me here on purpose...” Copper couldn't imagine having that much forethought. To think in terms of worlds and all those that lived there. “Bastard...” Now he had to figure out a lot more. “But a long rest sounds good. That...Blood Horror is something straight out of a nightmare.” Nightmare...

“It is something the Other brought forth. It was born from the blood of those that did not believe in the Other. They hunt down those who do not believe and let the Blood Horror have them. It drains them and leaves nothing but a corpse.” Copper saw as a hesitant bat pony moved into the room, using it's wing to carry a tray. It could hardly be called a tray, but it's what it was being used for. On it Copper saw an odd assortment of mushrooms and...a slab of meat.

Copper stared at the slab of meat as a basin of water was laid beside him. Surprisingly it was clean. He leaned in to drink, but as soon as his muzzle touched it he saw it turn red with blood. He sighed and dunked his face, washing off the blood. Again his attention turned to the meat. The awful look of it, the violent looking red and the leaking red juices. “This is...” He cleared his throat, recognizing what the meat was from. “I do not eat meat.”

The king's brow furrowed slightly. “It is all we have to eat aside from mushrooms.”

“And I will eat those,” he said as he sniffed at them carefully before tasting one. They smelled like mushrooms he'd eaten in the past and he'd not enjoyed that experience, but as he ate them they were the best thing he'd ever tasted.

“You should not be picky. You need your strength to-”

“I will not be criticized by cannibals!” Copper snapped. It had been something Copper had stuck with even through the worst of times. “I would rather starve than eat that.” He poured the water from the basin over him, focusing the water down into his leg. Crystal metal didn't rust, but he wanted to flush out as much of the blood as possible.

“Food is not something to be picky over,” was the kings response, slightly taken aback by Copper's outburst.

“There are consequences to eating each other, even in desperate times.” It was something Copper refused to budge on. “The meat of your fellow ponies, and those that you see on an equal level to your own, whether they be your family or neighbor should be put to rest, not devoured.”

The other pony rushed off when Copper was done speaking, Copper hoped to get more water. “How are we to survive? It's all we have down here...”

“You find a way, or starve. These mushrooms are more than enough to survive off,” he said as he ate another.

The king had no response. From the other room, Copper heard the pony cry out, “The Prophet says we are to not eat meat!” Which was followed by a large commotion and several ponies looking down the hall at him.

“Could I get more water?” Copper called out and there was a clambering of movement. “Thank you in advance.” He ate a few more mushrooms. Several basin's of water were rushed into the room and laid around him. Copper used one to finish washing and then drank from another; not the bath he had wanted, but it was close enough. “Judging from the smell and taste of it, you collect the rain water?”

Again the king looked taken aback. “Yes. You can tell that by the taste?”

“I have lived off of rain water before; it has a sort of earthy taste to it. A bit like eating dirt.” He drank deeply. The taste of mushrooms and dirt was much better than that of the blood he had been forced to taste.

~

Glass yawned and then quickly shook her head, trying to get rid of her tiredness. Copper chuckled and ruffled her mane. “Yes, I think it's gotten quite late. Let's call it a night, what do you say Scoo-”

Scootaloo was staring at him wide eyed. Her expression of complete rapture. “Late?” she said, blinking several times.

“Yes...as in sleep would be nice?” He shifted away from her slightly. Apparently Glass and Chrysalis were not very good examples of an audience.

“Sorry.” Scootaloo got up and moved to the bed, quickly adjusting things. “I'll...uhm...go and sleep downstairs.”

“Don't bother,” Copper said as he got up with a stretch. “I think I need a walk.” He lifted Glass up and gave her a slight toss onto the bed.

She let out a small, “Eep!” Her wings flapping a few times before she landed.

“I'm not going to be getting any sleep with how I feel right now.” He made his way towards the stairs. “Goodnight to the both of you. Sleep well, my little Glass.” He headed down the stairs and slowly through the museum. There was so much that he wanted to do in such a short time, but right now he wanted to be outside.

The air was cold and crisp, it was late fall. It wouldn't be long till winter came and blanketed Ponyville in snow. He wasn't sure where he was heading, but he just wanted some time to himself. Some time to think and actually plan his trip. There were so many ponies he wanted to see. He looked up at the Carousel Boutique in the distance, which was a beacon of light.

Copper supposed it was a good a place as any to start. Apparently Rarity was still awake and busy working. He wanted his bowtie back. It was odd, looking at the buildings as he walked. He felt like he knew them all so well, but it was distant in his mind, as though he'd merely dreamt all of them. There was a moment where he hesitated at the door, thinking of times long ago. He knocked before he tried the door, finding it open. The inside had become much busier, crowded with gowns and dresses as well as a few suits. What threw him off the most was the pony who was coming to open the door. His brow wrinkled slightly at the off white pony who was most certainly not Rarity. “Oh, I'm sorry.” He looked around again. “Is Miss Rarity in?”

“I'm afraid she is occupied,” there was a certain tone to her voice that was supposed to bluntly state he was not about to see Rarity.

“Ah, that's unfortunate.” The pony had not come any closer since he'd opened the door, but the look on her face was expectant. Copper felt like it was necessary to explain why he was there. “You see, my name is Copper Feather and she has my bowtie and cloak.” Her eyes widened slightly. “I was hoping to discuss the return of both. Has she been able to recreate the cloak's material?”

“I-I...uhm... You're the Copper Feather?” the pony asked, obviously it was a lot to take in.

Copper was starting to get frustrated that not everypony knew who he was again. It was odd how he went from being content at that fact, to being annoyed that everypony knew who he was and now annoyed that everypony didn't. “Yes, that Copper Feather. If Miss Rarity is too busy, I'll just come by tomorrow.”

“No, wait. I'll go...see if she's available.” He watched as the pony quickly rushed through a door.

There was a slight chill down his spine and he moved into the room without thinking and closed the door without looking back. It was an oddly intense feeling somewhere off behind him. He walked slowly around the room, examining the sort of fashion that was current. Apparently it was spring colors in fall? Not much lace, but a lot of ribbons. He was never good at fashion. All he knew is that he was personally fond of lace... “Copper!” He turned to see Rarity coming through where the other pony had gone. “I was not expecting to see you around here.”

“Well, I used to live here. Er...around here. And...well it would seem I don't anymore.” He continued to look around the room. How she could ever keep all this fashion stuff in his head amazed him.

“Ah, so you have seen the museum. Please, come this way. Coco is preparing tea as we speak,” Rarity said as she quickly moved off into the other room.

Copper followed her. “So you have a partner in fashion, it would seem?”

“Oh of course. I couldn't possibly keep up with it all on my own. Not with everypony from Trotland, to Equestria, to Eagland wanting my designs.” Copper had never been in this room before, it was a sort of back room with work tables and such.

“Ah so you must have your hooves full-”

“Oh my yes,” she said with a slight clapping of her hooves. “It's marvelous. I'm constantly going to places I had only dreamed of visiting, viewing new designs and talking with other fashionistas and other designers, some of whom had met you oddly enough.” Copper's mind flashed to some of the many more...colorful griffons and ponies head had met. “And they were-”

“Tea's ready, Rarity.” The pony who was Coco carried in a tray. A tray that Copper had seen a long time ago.

“Still the same tea set,” Copper said as he looked it over. “Some things never change...” He could see Coco shift uncomfortably under his gaze. “Anyways. I was coming by to ask for my bowtie back.”

“Oh!” Rarity set down her teacup, not having taken a sip yet as far as Copper could tell. “Of course. I'm afraid I was unable to get another bubblestone, they're quite rare this far outside of Aquis, as you know...but I made a special little holder that'll fit one perfectly when you get another.”

Copper smiled as he saw his bowtie float over to him. “Thank you. The bubblestone it had was useless anyways. Even with it being cracked, it had no magic left.”

Rarity returned to her cup of tea. “I was not aware that their magic ever ran out.”

“Oh, it doesn't. It's...well it's a long story, one you'll have to read about in the next book I write.” Copper began to put on the bowtie and immediately felt it tie itself. “Thank you, Miss Rarity.”

“There's going to be another book?” Coco said as she placed a teacup in front of Copper.

“Oh yes. The last one, hopefully. I'm quite hoping that my life turns boring after this last adventure of mine...” He drank the tea rather carefully. It had been a while since he had had a hot drink and it was very good tea. An Eagland brand if Copper was any guess. “Who knows if that'll ever happen...”

“I've always wondered who the author was...” Rarity said as she sipped her tea. “Of course, I've had my suspicions...”

“Well, then I'd read tomorrow's paper,” Copper said before taking another drink. Many ponies sipped tea, but Copper didn't if he could help it. “And yes, it is true.”

There were confused looks from the two ponies in the room. “All right...that's fairly cryptic...”

“Well I got quite bothered telling everypony, so I told a journalist pony yesterday. Biggest scoop of his life, I'd imagine.” He finished his tea and then stood up with a smile. “Now, if you will excuse me, ladies...there's one more pony I need to speak with before the night is over.” He turned and then stopped. “Ah, and about the cloak. How goes recreating the material?”

Rarity blinked and then smiled. “Oh quite well, but it's going to take a bit more time. The material is...oddly made. Some kind of tree bark.”

“Interesting. I was quite curious how it had been made myself...” He walked slowly, Rarity followed him.

“You're going to be all right, right?”

Copper looked at her and gave her a smile. There was an odd feeling he got from the look of concern on her face. “Of course. I always am in the end.”

~

The lights were all out on the lower levels, but that was no concern for Copper. He had climbed buildings before and this one had quite a lot of hoof holds that made it quite easy. Of course the question of why he had to climb, and couldn't just knock, had crossed his mind, but he didn't want to wake anypony. Besides, what if she had moved? Then he would have looked foolish for waking everypony. Then again, he felt foolish for climbing a building for no real reason.

But when he glanced in the window and saw the familiar cotton candy floof painting something on a large banner, he knew he'd came to the right place. He knocked on the very large window and she turned with a confused but excited look. She bounded over to the window and opened it. “Hey Pinkie,” Copper said with a smile and it was returned with a large grin. “Wanna throw a party?”

“Ohmygoshgollygoodnessit'sCopper! Whendidyougethere?” Copper braced himself as she nearly tackled him off the building. “It'sbeensuchalongtime! We'veallmissedyousomuch!”

“It's good to see you too, Pinkie...it really is.” He chuckled softly as he struggled to get inside the room, so as to not be dangling off the roof. He felt it had been worth the climb in order to see Pinkie Pie's face first hoof.

She suddenly held him back and looked him up and down. “You don't look any different!”

Copper chuckled softly. “Yes I do, Pinkie. It's just been...not as long.”

“But you're so yooooung!” she said, still grinning.

“And you're so ooooold,” he retorted, sticking his tongue out at her. There was something about Pinkie that always brought out his foal side.

But they laughed all the same. “I'm sosuperduperhappy to see you!” She gasped loudly. “Who knows you're back?!”

“Well...” He had to think about it a moment. “Twilight and Rarity...Scootaloo, and Coco...some ponies at the train station probably saw-”

“Then nopony knows your back?!” She bounced excitedly back and forth, running to a cupboard, which exploded in confetti when she opened it. “Then it's time for a super welcome back party!”

“That's what I was hoping for, actually. I'd really like a party right now, and Glass is here, too, and I know she'd enjoy one of your parties.” He watched as she bounced back and forth and piled things into bags and onto the floor. “And since I missed your 'Not at the Gala' party, I figure I'd have to go and make sure that I get one.” He was glad that she didn't seem to find it weird that he'd climbed the building.

“Of course! There's so many reasons to have parties and you coming back is the a reallyreallyreallyreally good reason to have a super splendiferous party!” Pinkie was pushing bags and filling balloons faster than Copper could keep track of. She may have gotten older, but it seemed nopony could slow her down.

“Good.” He took a deep breath, looking out over Ponyville. “I need a good party.” He took a slow, deep breath. He'd been through far too much in the past few years and coming back was like flying high speed and then slamming into the ground. There was no slow down, just a sudden stop excitement.

She was suddenly in front of him, staring at him. It was the kind of look that gave Copper an uneasy feeling. He had only gotten it from Pinkie a few times, the look that she wasn't just the fluffy goofball everypony thought. “How long were you gone?” she said with her head tilted to the side.

He chuckled softly. “It was only two years for me. Two very, very long years...but nothing compared to the ten that passed here.” She gave a knowing nod as she moved back to gathering supplies. “I'm sure a lot has changed and I missed a lot. But you haven't changed at all...” It was very comforting. “Still the lovable bouncy fluff I came to know.”

“Ya-huh! And I throw the bestest parties ever!” She picked up several bags. “Now, let's get to work!” Next Chapter: 7: A Missed Life Estimated time remaining: 30 Minutes