I know this is a shorter chapter then a lot of the others in this arc but the truth is I really need to wrap this up so I can move on with this story. I have a lot to get done and things will only continue to get busier for me in the coming times and I want to keep writing this while I feel I can. Please enjoy.

Hage Village…

It was starting to get dark. All of Rebecca’s brothers and sisters had bathed, eaten, and were now in bed. The church kids had carried on the rest of their day alongside their extended family.

Rebecca, Twilight, Noelle, and Mimosa were all gathered in the kitchen at the table, drinking some freshly brewed herbal tea. It was a special blend Twilight came up with on her own for Asta, cultivated from the local plants of the forest that were meant to promote relaxation. She decided to make it for everyone after their rather ‘exciting’ day.

“He’s been gone for a while,” Noelle spoke up as she set her cup down and looked out the window. “Twilight,” she looked at the purple-haired mage, “Do you think we could make it out to the hut in the woods?”

“Hut?” Rebecca and Mimosa asked in unison as they looked at each other, then at Twilight.

“What is she talking about, Twilight?” Mimosa nervously asked.

“Yeah,” Rebecca added in a moderately unnerved tone of voice while crossing her arms, “What’s this about a hut in the woods?”

“Oops,” Noelle flinched, as a slightly annoyed Twilight gave her a mean glare. She decided to just pretend the purple girl wasn’t having her a penance stare while silently sipping from her teacup, “Mmmm… good tea…”

Mimosa and Rebecca continued to glare at Twilight.

Twilight let out a strained sigh as she held her head. “Geez,” she grumbled, “Asta really should’ve told you two by now.” She cleared her head, “If you recall, Rebecca, Mimosa, when Asta told you about where we grew up, he mentioned we lived here part of the time but spent the majority of our time in the forest, except in winter.”

“I do remember,” Mimosa looked up at the ceiling.

“Oh, so the hut Noelle mentioned is the place where you two lived then?” Rebecca bopped her palm with her fist.

“Yeah,” Twilight blushed a little.

“It’s quite quaint, really,” Noelle said, and with a glare from Twilight, she slyly looked off to the wall while she continued to speak.

“Well, if he’s there, then we should go get him,” Mimosa smiled.

“It’s not that simple Mimosa,” Noelle said, “It's pretty deep in the woods.”

“He liked his privacy, so he set it up pretty far off the beaten path and well away from any and all known trails,” Twilight nodded, “It takes a good while to get there.”

“Can’t we just use a broom?” Rebecca suggested.

“It's still not that simple,” Twilight said, “The trees are very thick, even around the hut. Asta made sure to build the hut with trees as supports to help camouflage the structure. Only if someone is outside working on something would you be able to find it, and even then, that’s pretty hard to do, even in daylight. It's pretty hard to get there, even during the day, and all but impossible without the proper skills to navigate it at night. Asta is the only one who has even made it out there at night and back.”

“Asta told me the safest way to get there is on foot,” Noelle added, “But he left out a lot of those details.”

“Well, it was our hideaway, more so for him than me due to his training,” Twilight said, “He doesn’t like people knowing how to get there. Out of everyone who knows about it, only three others know how to get there outside Asta, that being Yuno, Nash, and me.”

“So, we’re pretty much stuck here to worry and wait on him to come back when he feels like it,” Rebecca said, causing her and Mimosa to look down, a bit depressed and worried.

“Don’t worry about the idiot,” Noelle shot back, “He may be an idiot, but he’s our idiot and wouldn’t dare to leave us here to worry.”

“She has a point,” Rebecca said as she looked at Mimosa, who only gave a bit of a nervous giggle, but ultimately agreed.

“We’ll give him another hour or two to get back and then head to bed,” Twilight said, “Hopefully, he’ll come back before we do, but if not, then let’s hope he sneaks in while we’re asleep.”

“And if he doesn’t,” Noelle held her wand out to the side with a sinister grin, “He’ll wish he had tried to sneak in…hehehe….”

Mimosa and Rebecca only glanced at each other from the corners of their eyes before they gave a bit of a scared chuckle.

“I hope he makes the right choice,” Twilight sips her tea. ’I’m half hoping he does and half hoping he doesn’t… Is that bad?’ Midnight asked Twilight. She merely shrugged, both physically and mentally.

Outside…

Asta had been back for a while now. He’d decide to stay outside and do some thinking on what Ed had told him earlier.

“I guess… I never really did talk to anyone about what happened back then…” Asta said as he looked up at the night sky with the half-moon in full view.

“Asta?” he heard a familiar soft voice from his youth in this world.

Asta’s head slightly shifted to allow Sister Lily’s form to come into his line of sight.

“Oh… Sister Lily… What’re you doing out here?” he asked the nun.

“I should be asking you that,” she replied with worry. “Those girls have been really worried about you. When you came back, you should’ve gone to see them and let them know you came back.”

“Hmmm….” Asta looked back at the sky.

“I know that look,” Sister Lily sighed as she walked over and sat down next to him, “What’s wrong?”

“I have a lot on my mind…” he replied.

“That much I can tell just from looking at you,” Lily only sat there and carefully asked, “I’ve known you for the better part of seven or eight years now. This wouldn’t happen to be related to what happened earlier today, would it?”

“It does,” Asta looked down, “But for the most part, it doesn’t.”

She turned and fully looked at his face and saw the swollen part of his cheek, “Oh my god! What happened?”

“My older brother did his best to knock a little bit of sense back into my thick skull,” Asta chuckled slightly.

“Older brother?” Lily tilted her head, “You’ve never mentioned him to me.”

“He’s way strong,” Asta said, “Way stronger than anyone else in this world, but he doesn’t let it consume him. He’s always looking out for me and comes to my side when I need him. I could say the same for a whole lot of others, too, but he only interferes if it is absolutely necessary, or just pissed off at what’s happening.”

“He sounds dependable,” Lily leaned against the tree, “But at the same time, he sounds like a man wise enough to know when not to do something.”

“He better be,” Asta chuckled, “The dude’s got years of life experience over anyone here.” He went silent and looked at the ground again.

“Want to talk about it?” she asked, “I’m always here to listen to you?”

“What would you say if I told you I’m not really a kid?” he asked her outright. “What would you do if I told you Twi and myself aren’t really foreigners in the same sense that we say?”

Sister Lily looked at him and saw he was asking a very serious question.

“Well…” she smiled at him, “I’d say it's not totally outlandish.”

“Really?” Asta raised an eyebrow.

“I’ve spent nearly the last seven years watching you kids grow up,” Lily turned her gaze up to the sky, “My first suspicions were when we first met and on how you acted towards me. Most seven-year-olds say I’m pretty, but you were an outright little gentleman about it. Then, there was how you always helped me around here. I know a lot of kids that may have lived off the land with their parents would have the basic skills to live off the land, yes, but you showed so much more. You were also so much stronger and able to recover so much quicker than any other children your age without magic. Then, there was your ability to fight. Though sloppy, I could still make out the movements of a well-trained athlete, not to mention your dedication to practice, and getting up before the sun rises isn’t something a kid does naturally, no matter how old they get.”

“And here I THOUGHT I pulled it off,” Asta sighed.

“Oh, you would've, if not for a few crucial details,” Lily rubbed his head, “It was actually the night before the selection ceremony. I saw you sneak out.”

“So, I wasn’t hearing things,” Asta stroked his chin.

“Yes, well,” Lily cleared her throat, “I saw you sneaking out, so I followed you as best I could, and that’s when I saw your black grimoire, alongside Twilight’s in your hands. I saw them and was going to confront you about stealing those precious books, but to my shock, you were actually putting them in the tower instead of taking them out.”

“And then, the next day came around,” Asta started to piece things together.

“I’d never imagined you’d actually get a second one,” Lily giggled, “Then, there was what our little Twilight could do. She already had an awful lot of spells in the grimoire for someone who just received one who specialized in copy magic, especially seeing as how she needs to make contact with someone and/or their grimoire to get a new spell.”

“Hehehe… yeah,” Asta nervously chuckled, “Seeing as how you know all this, I guess there’s no point in hiding the truth from you.” He looked at her and stood up, “My name is Asta Ferris, and Twilight Sparkle is my third wife. We were chasing someone who’d stolen a very powerful magical artifact in the world we call home. In the process, we fell into a portal and were scattered along this world’s dimensional gateways and also de-aged into children.”

She looked him right in the eye and could tell he wasn’t lying.

“Thank you for finally telling me who you really are,” she smiled at him. “Now, sit!” she ordered.

“Yes, ma’am,” Asta did as he was told and immediately sat down.

It was a long drawn-out silence before Sister Lily reached over and pulled Asta’s head onto her lap. Asta was more than a little perplexed as she stroked his head.

“Ah…. Sister…..”

“Yes?” she said softly.

“Though Twi and me aren’t from this world,” he cautiously asked, “Will… Will you still stand beside us and keep being our big sister?”

“Do you really have to ask me such a silly question?” Lily quietly replied.

The Next Morning…

Noelle was the first of the girls to start to stir from her slumber. She and the other girls had stayed up as late as they could until they eventually all fell asleep in various places around the bottom level of the house. She and Rebecca had both fallen asleep while sitting at the table, while Twilight had fallen asleep in a chair, similar to Mimosa, who was leaning against the window sill looking towards the church.

“Neeeeeeeee…!” Noelle stretched then rubbed her neck, “Must’ve fallen asleep…” She rubbed her eyes, “That bastard didn’t come back last night!”

“Wha-?” Rebecca shot up, groggily looking around, “Ow, my neck… What are you yelling about so early in the morning?”

Mimosa shakily came to, “Did any of you see Asta come in?”

“Nope,” Rebecca answered.

“That bastard,” Noelle gritted her teeth, “I’ll make him pay for making us stay up and worry!”

“Have any of you noticed we have blankets on?” Twilight yawned while stretching, “Cause I did, and I definitely don’t remember getting one.”

“Yeah,” Mimosa looked at the blanket. “Rebecca?”

Rebecca shakes her head ‘no’.

“Don’t even ask, 'cause I’m pretty sure I was out before anyone else,” Noelle said. “Wait…”

“I'm pretty sure he came in while we were asleep and covered us up,” Twilight stood up and folded the blanket up.

“Let’s get some food, and then, we can confront him,” Twilight suggested.

“No need,” Asta said as he came down the stairs, “You’re all coming with me today for a bit of a trip.”

“Why so sudden?” Rebecca asked.

“And what kept you out last night?!” Noelle growled.

“Yea, Asta,” Mimosa was the next to make herself heard, “You had us all really worried.”

“Look,” he looked at all of them, “I needed to do some hard thinking yesterday, and I couldn’t do that here. Once I cleared my head enough of my anger, it was already dark, and I still couldn’t… I just couldn’t make heads or tails of what to do…”

Asta scratched the back of his head as he looked to the side, out the window, “Then, I had a talk with sister Lily, and she help me figure out what I should do, no matter how much I wish I didn’t have to,” he sighed and looked back to the girls, “So, we’re going out to where I can tell you girls what I should’ve told you when we started these relationships.”

“I can take us most of the way with a portal, as long as you let me use a mental spell,” Twilight suggested, as she now knew for sure what he was planning.

Asta nodded and then started to walk over to the entrance of the house. “Be sure and grab brooms,” he said and then walked out.

The countryside…

Twilight, Mimosa, Noelle, and Rebecca all followed Asta through the skies into the far-off countryside of the Clover Kingdom. They left the kids in the care of Father Orfai and Sister Lily, mostly Sister Lily though.

Rebecca was riding with Noelle, while Mimosa and Twilight rode their own brooms, while following Asta as he surfed on his sword.

“So…” Rebecca started to ask.

“Don’t bother,” Noelle cut her off. “I’m just as in the dark as you and Mimosa. Twilight looked like she has an idea of what he was up to though… Hang on,” she pushed forward next to Twilight.

“Took you long enough,” Twilight said, not even looking back.

“Where’s he taking us?” Noelle asked.

“You know something,” Rebecca added.

“I have an idea of where we’re going, but honestly, this my first time coming out here at all,” Twilight sighed, “As for what he’s planning… I think I’ve figured it out, but if it’s what I think it is, then it’d be better if I kept it a secret for now. Sorry.”

“It must be something heavy if he’s doing all this for it…” Mimosa pointed out.

“You have no idea…” Twilight said to herself as they all pushed on.

It was about noon by the time they all arrived at a small clearing far out on the border of the kingdom, surrounded by a forest. Not far away was a small but quaint cottage, with a steady stream of smoke coming from the chimney.

“Alright,” Asta said as they all walked toward the dwelling, “This is the house of someone very important to me. In a sense… look, you’ll just have to let me explain all of this. It's extremely complicated, and I hope you’ll all at least hear what I have to say. Whatever you all decide after that…. I’ll just have to live with…” he sighed.

He looked at them, more worried than concerned.

‘It looks like you were right on the money,Twi,’ Midnight remarked from inside the lavender goddess’s head. ‘Which means this could either put them all at odds with him, or they might just dump him outright. Honestly… I was a bit on edge about them, but I kinda like them now, so I hope they stay…’

“Stay with Twilight while I go and…. Let them know we’re here…” Asta begrudgingly walked over to the house and knocked on the door.

It opened only slightly, and he began to talk with whoever was behind it while making a few motions in the direction of the girls.

“Um… “ Rebecca looked at Asta and then at the girls, specifically Twilight, who only shrugged and shook her head.

Asta moved out of the way and out came a woman. The girls were all thrown for a loop as the two walked over. They looked up and down. This woman was a dead ringer for a female version of Asta.

“Girls, please meet Richita,” Asta introduced them, “My…. mother…”

“WHAT!?!” Rebecca, Noelle, and Mimosa all scream at the top of their lungs.

This night would truly be the night that would test the strength of not only Asta’s resolve, to be honest with the girls he’d come to care for in this world but also cause them to think about just how much he really meant to all of them.