As soon as the ponies had returned to their homeworld, the first thing they did was run out on the balcony to check on the town. The sight they witnessed then made them all sigh with relief.

Life had been restored to the town. The shops had their shopkeepers, the gardens had their gardeners, and every other pony was just walking around the town with a smile on their face and acting as if nothing bad had happened over the last two weeks.

"Glad that's over with," said Rainbow Dash.

"Yeah..." Twilight agreed, but sadness still lingered in her expression. "If only--"

"Twilight?" a voice called out from behind them, making them all look backwards.

"What?..." Twilight whispered in a bewildered state. "But... it can't be..." She started walking towards the table with the crystal ball on it. "Can it?"

"Anyone?" the same voice called out again.

Twilight slowly approached the object and spoke in a quiet and trembling voice, "I-Inhio?"

After a short pause, the voice answered, "Well, I'll be damned."

"Inhio!" Twilight and her friends cheered.

"Does this mean..."

"Indeed, it does," Inhio answered without waiting for Twilight to finish asking the question.

"But how?"

"Someone came to visit me right after you left... You're not going to believe who it was."

***

"I wonder who could that be..." Inhio said to himself as he approached the door. He peeked through the looking glass and saw no one. He opened the door, just to be sure. "Hmm... just kids pulling pranks, I guess." He convinced himself and began closing the door, but right before he could finish doing so, he gazed downwards and locked his sights on something. "What?..." He squatted down and picked up the small object left near his door. He recognized the object without even flipping it around -- it was the same coin he had just parted with, less than an hour ago.

This day just keeps getting weirder and weirder... He thought to himself as he went back inside. He inspected the coin meticulously, making sure there wasn't anything different about it. "Eh, what the heck," he said in a casual tone and attempted to focus his mind on it. Just as he did so, he got swept away into another plane, one without so much as a solid floor to stand on. He found himself standing on thin air in a room that resembled open space. He looked around, at first, but then he stared straight forward and noticed another presence within the plane.

It was a unicorn. One that looked exactly like your stereotypical wizard. Long, white beard, pointy wizard hat, blue cloak, complete with some some ornaments and constellation drawings.

Given his recent experience with the coin, Inhio could only make one conclusion about the pony's identity.

"Star Swirl the Bearded, I assume."

"You assume correctly, Sir Hellbridge," the unicorn answered in a stern manner.

Not knowing what else to say, Inhio simply awaited the wizard to explain everything by himself.

"I can see in your face that you have questions," Star Swirl deduced. "By all means, Sir Hellbridge, feel free to ask any one of them and I shall answer them as best I can."

"Very well, then," Inhio replied. "Lets start from the beginning, shall we? How did you find our world and end up the way you were?"

"As a coin on a pedestal?" Star Swirl took over the sentence. "While young Twilight's idea of using the crystal sphere as a means of transportation proved to be an ingenious idea, there was never really a need for so much effort in order to travel through dimensions. All it required, really, was the right spell to be cast at the right time and the right place..." The wizard paused while dwelling in his thoughts. "A place that most likely no longer exists, and a time than comes around about once every century... Mmm, yes, perhaps Twilight's plan would be a more stable way of traversing worlds... but that's beside the point!" he exclaimed.

Inhio could only grin at the the sight of such a wise wizard acting so childishly.

"As I was saying -- I was always quite the explorer. There are simply so many things that a pony can learn if he would only not spend his entire life in one place. Oh, but there is only so much that Equestria could offer. I simply had to find out more about the universe we all inhabit! And the planets happened to be aligned perfectly, I simply couldn't let such an opportunity pass by!"

Star Swirl had gotten a bit too excited while explaining his motives. After a short moment, he calmed his tone and continued, "But this planet, this Earth, these humans that inhabit it... Their ways were simply too much for me to comprehend. How have you all even survived this long after having spent centuries waging war over trivial matters is simply beyond me... I couldn't risk getting caught by these creatures that seemed like neanderthals to me, at the time, so I chose to disguise myself and instead see the world through their eyes."

"Quite the tale..." Inhio quietly added.

"And it doesn't even end here! Ho ho ho, no!" the wizard laughed. "I've seen so many things through all of their eyes... Many of which I wish I could forget, but a whole lot more that were simply mind-bending! I've seen people wiser than kings being treated like dirt, just because they were born on a farm! I've seen kids die of starvation before even getting a chance to find out who they were meant to be! I've seen parents burying their children, and I've seen the evilest of tyrants living among common people without anyone even lifting a finger to try and stop them!" As the magician spoke on, his tone only got more fierce. "Justice is dead in your world!" After those words, Star Swirl finally calmed his voice and hung his head in sorrow. "After everything I've seen... I just want to go home."

Nothing of what the pony had just said seemed to faze the man in front of him, since Inhio was already used to the cruelty of his planet... Still, after having heard so much about Equestria, he couldn't help but feel sorry for Star Swirl for being exposed to such harsh events. After a brief moment of silence, Inhio started walking closer to his conversation partner. "You know... there's a good reason why I've always feared immortality," he admitted and squatted down to match the wizard's eye level. "But it's not because I'd have to see countless gruesome acts forever change the world I live in... No... It's because I don't know how would I be able to live with myself knowing that I'd have to bury every friend I ever make."

Star Swirl lifted his head and stared into Inhio's eyes. "You are a good man, Inhio Hellbridge... I may not be able to undo the injustice that your people have inflicted upon this world, but I can certainly undo the injustice I've shown you." He presented his coin to Inhio. "It is no wonder you could not remember where you got it from, all those years ago... and I apologize if I scared you, back then."

"There's no need to apologize," Inhio happily answered. "After all, I don't even remember it."

Both of them let out a cheerful laugh after that statement.

"Take care, Inhio Hellbridge." Star Swirl placed the coin in Inhio's hand.

"I will," the man replied and gripped the coin tightly. "And I promise you, you will have a chance to see your home again as long as this coin stays with me."

The wizard smiled at Inhio and wiped a tear of joy from his eye. "Nothing would make me happier."

***

"And here I stand," Inhio finished retelling his story.

"Wow..." Twilight uttered. "I... I just don't even know what to say to that."

"Why say anything?" Inhio asked. "Just smile."

Twilight giggled. "I'm glad you're back the way you were, Inhio."

"Likewise." Inhio smiled.

The enjoyable silence eventually got interrupted by a loud yawn from Rainbow Dash. "It's getting kinda late, Twilight."

"All right, I get the picture." Twilight rolled her eyes. "See you all tomorrow, girls!"

"Bye Twilight! Bye Inhio!" The ponies started leaving the room.

"See ya, girls!" Inhio said his goodbyes for the day, but for some reason he still held onto the ball for a while longer. A series of humming let him know that Twilight was still nearby. "Hey, Twilight?"

"Hmm?"

"How do you live with it?" Inhio asked, his voice suddenly losing its liveliness.

"Live with what?" Twilight asked, confused by the question.

"...Nevermind," Inhio replied after a short pause. "Forget I said anything."

Twilight stared at the sphere with a raised eyebrow for a moment longer. "Oookaaay..." she uttered and went about her business.

After releasing his hold on the ball, Inhio dived back into his sofa and let out a loud sigh. He placed his hands under his head and waited for the long day to finally end, but before he went to sleep, he shoved his hand into his pocket and pulled out his beloved coin and took one last glance at it before putting it back.

"One day you will have to find a new owner," he whispered to the coin. "I think I've got the perfect one in mind for you."