"Page!"

I stopped halfway down the corridor to see Midnight galloping towards me, "Midnight? What's wrong?"

She almost slid to a half as she stopped with a grin, "Nothing's wrong! We think we got it!"

"You found a way to get back home?" I asked, looking at her in surprise.

Midnight nodded, "Yes! Twilight and I spent the last couple of weeks on the calculations and spell matrix equations, but we think we got it!"

"I would have thought you'd be halfway home already, what are you doing here?"

Midnight shifted her wings with a grin, "Packing."

D'oh. Of course.

"And, I wanted to invite everypony to come see me off," she said with a smile, "I was on my way to Princ- to Celestia when I ran into you. Do you and Luna want to come?"

"Of course we'll be there," I told her with a smile, "And Sunset too."

"Thanks," Midnight said and sighed softly, "...I'm going to miss this place."

"But home is better," I told her, "You have friends waiting for you back home."

"I know," Midnight said, "But I'll miss everypony here too. I think I found a way to send messages back and forth, but… without testing it, I can’t be sure if it will work."

I nodded, "You have been here for a while now... year and a half?"

"Almost," she agreed, "I wonder what happened at home while I was gone. Did Starlight win? What happened?" she asked and then shook her head, "I can't worry about that yet. I just have to fix it when we get back."

"Maybe asking Celestia for one of those alicorn sets of armour for you before you leave wouldn't be a bad idea," I said, "Just in case... When will you end up? I mean, you were in the middle of time travel when Discord snatched you from the timestream. Do you end up when you started, when it ended, in the middle?"

Midnight shrugged her wings, "According to the calculations, I should be dropped back at the start of the original spell, just before the scroll, me and spike was sucked into the vortex and then we'll go through it again. But... I wouldn't hurt to be prepared," she then admitted, "I'll ask when I meet Celestia."

"Doesn't hurt to be careful," I said and flicked my right ear.

Midnight nodded, "I have spent quite a bit of time talking with Starlight too," she said, "Try to find some way to talk her other self down. I have some ideas I think might work."

"That's good. But just to be sure..."

"Wear armor, I know," Midnight agreed, "And Twilight has taught me a bit more about how to defend myself if necessary."

"Always a good thing to know, just in case," I said with a smile, "So, where are you doing the spell thing?"

"At the library and the crystal map," she answered and shrugged her wings again, "only place it can be done, really. It uses the metamagical frequency of the maps-"

I held up my hoof, "You lost me at metamagical," I said, "I'm not bad at spells, but I'm nowhere near your or even Sunset’s level when it comes to theory. I can follow a spell casting diagram and that's pretty much all."

Midnight flicked her ears in question but nodded in acceptance, "...To be fair, that's about all you really need," she said, "But it's so much fun!"

I grinned, "I'll get into studying advanced magical theory the moment Sunshine extends the day to be forty eight hours instead of twenty four."

"Busy?"

"Oh yeah," I sighed, "There is the batponies, dream patrols, whatever is going on with the 'lings this second, and then to try to make peace between Sunshine and Sunny, I think Sunny is still pissed Celestia blasted me off the tower... then getting ready for Hearth's Warming, and I have a gift for you to bring back home, by the way. and a million other things. Not to mention that my publisher is riding my tail about actually getting the draft finished on the new book."

Midnight actually cringed, "...And here I am, taking up even more of your time."

"Oh no," I told her and quickly shook my head with a smile, "There is always time for friends. I'll make time if nothing else."

She smiled and flicked her ears, “I know what that’s like,” she admitted with a small sigh, “From back home… and here I suppose.”

I nodded, “Sparky is the same.”

“Speaking of busy,” she said, “...I should likely go find Celestia and then get packing.”

“And I need to go find Sunset.”

...And raid the kitchens for mangoes, but let’s not tell anypony about that. I need to find out where they get their hooves on those too, it’s the middle of the winter!

Do they have hidden magical mango farms? Or are they imported? Or kept somehow in magical stasis?

Whatever it was, I needed to find out because a steady supply of mango was critical to the running of Equestria.

Clearly.

And not just because I liked to snack on them and because they have turned into my favorite fruit lately.

Not at all.

I glanced off towards the way Midnight left in. As glad as I was that she and her Spike is going home, I’ll miss her.

We had just started to become friends.