As the link between the two worlds faded and the voices of the ponies could no longer be heard, Inhio slumped into comfy, leather chair, grabbed its edges and exhaled loudly, as if letting out what energy he still had left inside him that day.

He sat in his chair for a good few hours, constantly reminiscing about everything he had gone through that day. Although they were only mere moments, they still felt longer than the rest of the year he had lived through up until this moment. He could recall every moment ever so clearly from today, unlike all the other days, out of which he couldn't remember so much as a minute.

As his life had turned into a routine at some point, time became meaningless to him...Days turned to weeks, weeks to months, and by the end of the year he could barely remember doing anything...He had longed for something like this for years. At long last, such a moment had finally arrived. Sadly, it had only arrived to be sent back from whence it came on the same day.

Although Inhio repeatedly cursed himself for this decision, deep down he always felt like it was the right one to make.

As Inhio got engulfed by his inner thoughts, the time flied away and eventually left him too tired to even get up from his chair. Neither hungry nor thirsty, not to mention - out of energy, Inhio simply fell asleep as soon as the darkness had settled in his room.

***

On the other side of the ball, the ponies of Equestria felt no more energized than Inhio did. More than anypony, Twilight was simply devastated by this unexpected turn of events. Much like Inhio, she just felt like sitting there for hours and pondering, mostly only with one question on her mind.

Why?

She felt sad. Tears kept hitting the ground between her forelegs for quite some time.

She felt lifeless. The flame that had been burning inside her for the whole day was put out in an instant, leaving her with neither a plan, nor any enthusiasm to fulfill it even if she had one.

But above all else, she felt betrayed...no matter how cordial was Inhio's tone when he said that this was for the best, Twilight couldn't help but hate him for depriving her of her one chance to see a different world.

Twilight's friends dared not intervene. They knew Twilight needed some time to process all of this, but after she had spent nearly ten minutes crying, and then another good fifteen minutes staring blankly at the floor with a dark shadow clouding her face, her friends simply had to do something.

"Twilight?" a friendly voice spoke up as a warm hoof found its way onto Twilight's shoulder.

"This isn't over!" Twilight suddenly threw her head sideways and shouted at her friend.

Applejack gasped and took a few steps backwards.

"You okay there, Twilight?" she asked in a slightly nervous tone.

"I won't let him get away with this!" with eyes full of crazed hatred, Twilight kept shouting in the same voice as before, "You'll see! I will find another way to reach planet Earth, and when I do..." Twilight paused for a moment and turned her head back towards the floor in front of her. In a voice not as loud, but no less troubled than before, Twilight quietly finished her sentence, "I'll make Inhio regret this decision..."

***

A new day had dawned on planet Earth, and Inhio Hellbridge was already wide awake and performing his daily routine with the same emotionless expression as always. He knew his day so well that his body no longer needed any guidance, it simply followed its usual course while Inhio's mind still dwelt in yesterday's adventure.

It felt like nothing to him, it seemed like mere minutes that he spent thinking about it, when in fact, it was several hours. By the time his day was already nearing its end, and the man himself nearing the door to his apartment, Inhio couldn't even remember leaving his door earlier that morning, and yet, here he was, gazing at the sunset which was still a sunrise just a single blink away.

This has to stop... he thought to himself as he reached for the keys in his pocket. If I keep spending my days dwelling in yesterday, then the future will no longer have a point. He shook his head to free his mind of the thoughts that simply wouldn't let him go.

He had spent more time than usual in his booth this day, and as he walked inside his room, he was just about ready to declare the day to be over...but it seems fate would have different plans in store for him.

He stopped in the middle of his room and sighed loudly.

"What I wouldn't give for-" Before Inhio could finish his sentence, something crashed into him and landed on the floor along with him. "Oomph!" he grunted loudly as he hit the ground. "What the?" Inhio spoke out, leaving his mouth agape after the last word.

"You!" The one responsible for knocking Inhio down was now pointing her purple hoof at his face while standing on his torso. "Did you really think you could get rid of us so easily?" Twilight Sparkle interrogated the man under her hooves.

Inhio didn't know what to think. The sudden shock had faded as he realized just who was it that was addressing him. Now the only thing he couldn't figure out was what was the emotion he felt inside him. Was it joy? Why wouldn't it be? The adventure that he was practically forced to deny himself of had returned to give him another chance.

Or was it sadness? If These ponies were already here now, not to mention, very mad at him...Inhio knew he wouldn't have a choice other than to show them the world the he feared might ruin the way they saw the universe they lived in.

Or was it simply fear? Given Twilight's tone, no one could blame him at this point.

"Well!?" Twilight shouted again after not getting a reply from Inhio for some time.

"Twilight Sparkle, I presume?" Inhio finally spoke up.

"I asked you a question!" Twilight retorted.

"You look even more majestic than I had imagined," Inhio continued without regard for Twilight's last statement.

"Why thank you, I...Hey!" Twilight protested after realizing she was getting played.

"He he he..." A quiet laugh drew both of their looks away. "You're too easily swayed away, Twilight." Rainbow Dash slyly budged in on the conversation. "Seriously! After the stunt you pulled yesterday, I thought you were going to blast Inhio with a lightning bolt as soon as you set eyes on him."

Twilight snorted loudly.

"Aah, and you must be Rainbow Dash," Inhio addressed the other pony. "I've heard so much about you."

"He he he..." Rainbow Dash let out a somewhat modest-sounding laugh. "As expected. I am the talk of the town, after a..." She suddenly paused for a moment. "Wait a minute..."

Inhio and the other five ponies in the room joined together for a good laugh.

"Oh, ha ha, very funny!" Rainbow Dash pouted and turned her head away from her friends.

With the attention of his guests being drawn away, Inhio took his chance to free himself of Twilight's weight on his torso.

"So..." Inhio stood up and wiped the dust off his clothes. "What brings all of you here at this late hour?" Inhio asked sarcastically.

Twilight only answered him with an furious glare, to which Inhio simply stared right back at with a blank expression. The tension between the two was too much for even Rainbow Dash to be able to interrupt a second time.

"Did you really think I wanted to send you away?" Inhio said in a serious tone after a good while of silence.

"Does it really matter what you wanted?" Twilight answered in a rather cynical tone. "We trusted you up until the very end! Did that really mean nothing to you!?" Twilight pointed and yelled at the man as a few tiny tears started forming at the corners of her eyes. "How could you betray us so?"

"Betray you?" Inhio asked, stunned by Twilight's arrogance and ignorance. "I only did that to protect you!" he took a step forward and shouted at Twilight.

"Protect us from what?" Twilight asked, still unconvinced that Inhio's motives were truly ever noble.

Inhio did not answer. Instead he slowly walked over to his window and lifted up the curtains covering it.

"From this."

The six ponies walked up to the window and stared out of it in awe.

Inhio happened to be living in a building that nearly bordered with the clouds.

"Woah!"

"Do you also live in a castle?"

"Not at all," Inhio calmly replied. "If you walk a bit closer, you'll notice structures just like this one in every direction."

And so the ponies did just as Inhio suggested and walked closer to the window. The closer they got to it, the closer their jaws got to the floor...The concrete jungle that Inhio called home wouldn't faze any person he knew, but to a few creatures that could only relate this view to nothing other than the streets of Manehattan...This was quite the first experience.

They spent a good while staring at all the sights around them and wondering what purpose they served. Among other things, one of the most curious sights was the street dividing the city. It was constantly being surfed by a multitude of objects too quick to be horse-drawn carriages. Not to mention - too small to be identified from such a height.

Inhio decided to close the curtain before the ponies got spotted by someone doing the same thing as them.

"This place looks amazing!"

"Why would you ever want to prevent us from seeing this?" Twilight asked with a bewildered expression.

"Don't judge a book by its cover," Inhio quickly replied.

"Why?" Twilight couldn't help but wonder. "How bad could this place possibly be?"

"You have no idea."

"Even if this place is as bad as you say, that's not for you to decide!" Twilight scolded Inhio. "You had no right to send us back simply because you thought that whatever is so bad about this place was bad enough to make us regret coming here!"

"You're right." Inhio smiled at Twilight. "It was wrong of me to judge...I barely even knew you..." He turned away and took a few steps away from his guests. "But it's not the place itself that is bad...it's the ones that inhabit it that made me feel concerned about you," he explained in a tranquil tone.

The six ponies started looking at each other as they pondered on Inhio's words.

"I would ask how you managed to find your way here despite my...betrayal..." Inhio stopped near his table and squatted down. "But given the fact that I didn't even bother removing the ball from its pedestal, I'm guessing it wasn't all that hard to find a way around it," he spoke while gazing at the curious object on his table.

"You're guessing right," Twilight replied. "I suppose we should at least thank you for getting us this far," Twilight unwillingly admitted.

"There's no need for that, really..." Inhio politely told her. "You can decide whether to thank me or not after I've shown you more of my world."

The ponies perked up their ears.

"So...does this mean-"

Inhio nodded and happily announced, "Ready yourselves, we're going on a tour."

The ponies immediately all started cheering loudly.

Inhio let them enjoy their moment, but right afterwards he continued in a rather serious tone, "However, there is one final thing we need to settle before heading out."

"What might that be?"

Inhio paused for a moment to try and figure out how to speak his mind as subtly as possible.

"Imagine a situation - It's just an ordinary day in a Equestria, nothing odd going on anywhere in the nearest mile radius, but then, all of a sudden, six of my kind simply walk out of one of the houses and start walking through the streets as if they had lived there all their lives...How do you think your townsfolk would react?" Inhio asked with a sly smile.

"I can see your point," Twilight replied after a moment of silence and began rubbing her chin. "Hmm..."

"Something on your mind, Miss Sparkle?" Inhio asked as he picked up on her motion.

"If only there was a way we could contact Spike..."

"Spike?"

"My faithful assistant, back in Equestria. We've been trying to contact him all day, but he doesn't seem to hear us," Twilight explained.

"Perhaps I could try," Inhio suggested.

"That's it!" Twilight jumped back into her more energetic state. "It makes sense! No one but you could hear us when we tried to talk from the other side, maybe it will also work this time!"

"Worth a shot," Inhio agreed and instantly proceeded to pick up the crystal ball. "Spike? Are you there?"

"Who is this!?" an adorably angry voice answered him right away. "What have you done with Twilight!?" the voice demanded an explanation.

"It's alright, little one," Inhio calmed the young assistant. "She's right here with me, as are the rest of her friends. I assure you, she's perfectly fine."

"Then how come you're the only one talking, huh? Why haven't I heard a word from her since the moment she disappeared into this stupid contraption!?" he asked, unconvinced by Inhio's words. "Tell me! Or I swear I'll-"

"Easy, easy there, tough guy," Inhio replied in an amused tone. "Didn't Twilight already tell you anything about only a single person being able to hear them before she left the second time?"

"Umm...Now that you mention it..." Spike rubbed the back of his neck in slight shame of his overreaction. "Wait a minute...Are you the guy that hurt her feelings so badly she couldn't stop crying for half an hour!?"

Inhio stood silent for a moment and then slowly replied. "Aye...that's me."

"How dare you hurt Twilight like that!? What's your deal, anyways? She trusted you! Why'd you have to go and let her down like that, huh?"

"It's a long story, but we've already settled our differences...And I really am sorry for treating your friends that way, and I wish nothing more than to make it up to them," Inhio sincerely explained.

"Well...okay, I guess we're cool..."

Inhio decided to jump straight to the point. "Twilight seems to think that you might be able to help us out of a slight pickle."

"Sure! Whatever you need, I'm always happy to help."

"That's great! Umm...What was it exactly that you wanted him to do, Twilight?"

Spike heard Inhio's voice addressing someone other than him, but he couldn't hear a reply from Twilight.

"Spike?"

"Yeah?"

"Twilight's saying that there's a spell book that might solve all our problems, it should be located in the illusion spell sector of your library, under the letter c."

"Got it!" Spike acknowledged Inho's words and followed his instructions.

Inhio could hear several noises that indicated that Spike was doing as told. He heard several footsteps, followed by the sound of a set of wheels rolling across the room and someone climbing a ladder.

Hmm... Inhio wondered. Those footsteps...Something tells me this Spike isn't just another pony.

"Illusions...Illusions..." Spike's voice could be heard again. "C...c...c...I'm there," Spike reported. "What's it called?"

"Cloaking spells."

"Cloaking...spe...Got it!"

Inhio kept listening as he heard the tiny assistant climb down the ladder, rush over to the table and turn several pages of the book.

Twilight whispered something in Inhio's ear. Inhio nodded.

"Turn the book over to page 42."

"Page 42...hmm..." Spike fell silent for a moment. "Imitation? Is that right?"

"Yes, that's what we need."

"Huh...this almost looks like changeling magic," Spike quietly added.

...I'll ask later. Inhio thought to himself.

Spike seemed to be struggling with something. "None of this makes any sense to me! Only Twilight would be able to make something out of this gibberish!" Spike declared in a frustrated tone.

Inhio explained the situation to the ponies, but none of them seemed to have any ideas.

"Wait a minute....Aha!" Spike shouted. A sound of paper being ripped was heard immediately after, also followed by a burp and something that sounded like something catching fire.

What in the blazes is going on over there? Inhio wondered. "You alright there, buddy?"

"Perfectly fine!" Spike quickly replied. "So...did it work?"

"Did what work?" Inhio asked in confusion. "Never mind, it worked," he added after taking a closer look at the object in his hands.

"Does this make any sense to you?" Inhio asked as he showed the ball to Twilight.

Twilight gazed at the sphere and saw a sight that she was quite familiar with. "Yes! This is exactly what we needed!"

"Thank you, Spike. You've been a great help," Inhio politely thanked Twilight's little assistant.

"Don't mention it," Spike smugly replied.

Twilight touched the ball in Inhio's hands and drove her hoof downwards as she followed the instructions provided.

"Alright...I think I got it." Twilight was about to start preparing the spell, but she suddenly turned mad after noticing torn edges on the page inside the ball. "Did he just...Spiiiike!!!" Twilight furiously shouted.

"Spike?"

"Yeah?"

"Did you tear a page out of one of Twilight's spell books?" Inhio asked in a slightly reproachful tone.

"...Maybe..." Spike shyly replied.

"I don't think she liked that very much."

"He he he..." Spike laughed nervously. "Catch ya later, Inhio!" Spike said his goodbyes and darted away, dropping the ball on the ground.

I get the feeling Twilight's still going to remember this after she gets back home. Inhio thought to himself.

"What did he say?"

"He said he's sorry," Inhio lied.

"Tell him he's in a lot of trouble when I get back home!" Twilight instructed.

"He's not there right now."

"Why am I not surprised..." Twilight didn't seem amused. "At any rate, lets just get this over with," she said as she walked closer to her friends and readied herself.

"Hold on, this might feel...strange," Twilight explained and started casting the spell.

Her horn started emitting a bright, purple light which eventually engulfed her friends and even Inhio, who was standing a few steps away from them. The light got brighter as the spell continued. After a short moment, Inhio could no longer see the ponies. A quick flash of light followed. Inhio covered his eyes with his palm, and by the time he removed it, the six ponies could no longer be seen, for there were now six lovely ladies standing there in their stead.

Inhio's mouth fell wide open from the sight. "That ought to do the trick," he said in a tone full of astonishment.

The six girls immediately started inspecting themselves, and they seemed no less surprised than Inhio was.

Inhio suddenly snickered. "You might want to learn how to stand on just two legs before we head out," he said with a wide smile on his face after seeing all six girls standing on all fours.

As if hearing an order, the girls stood up right away and gave their new bodies a test run.

Naturally, the first few steps were clumsy and shaky, and they would end up in as much laughs as bottom pain from falling over.

"That's it, now you're getting the hang of it," Inhio encouraged them as their steps got more and more solid.

"This ain't so bad." Rainbow Dash tried to show off as she turned her tiny steps in to wider and quicker ones.

"Try not to break something, Rainbow dearest," Rarity replied.

"Hey! I got this. Just watch m-" Her sentence got interrupted as she bumped into a lamp.

"Does a nose count?" Applejack laughed. Her friends also joined in.

"You seem to be very adept at entertaining your friends, Rainbow Dash." Inhio joined in on the laughing.

Rainbow Dash only crossed her arms and pouted as a response.

"So what do you think?" Twilight asked after the laughing had settled down. "Could we pass for common humans?"

"Well..." Inhio timidly answered. "Your hair might attract slightly more attention than most people, but other than that, you should be good."

"Our hair?" Rarity asked in slight shock. "Why, what ever do you mean, darling?"

"There's nothing wrong with it, on the contrary, I actually love the way it looks. It's just that..." Inhio rubbed the back of his head. "Well, it's easier to show than to say, you'll see what I mean once you get a look at all the other women around here," he avoided the question and walked towards the door.

The girls looked at each other and shrugged after hearing that reply.

"Are you ready?" Inhio asked as he placed his hand on the door handle. With confident smiles on their faces, the six of them nodded. "In that case..." Inhio opened the door. "After you." He stood aside and let them through.

All six of them slowly walked passed him. The one timidly walking at the very end of the pack caught his attention.

May the gods have mercy on me...and them. Inhio thought to himself as his eyes sadly followed Fluttershy.