That night was the one memory of all his experiences in Equestria that would never dim in his mind. Something about the emotional overload combined with the special effort of a few ponies he had only known for a few days had combined to forge every note of Vinyl and Octavia's song into his mind.
Which was why he woke up the next morning humming it. He was laying on a bed in the far east wing of of Rosewood Cottage, one of at least a dozen. After the tear jolting finale of the melody, they had all of them, the musicians included, ended up walking through the luminescent night, first to Sugarcube Corner, where Pinkie had stopped off with a cheery farewell.
Then they had slowly strolled to just under Rainbow's cloud-house. Palace more like, but it was easy to renovate and expand, being cloud, she had explained with a hint of pride. Marc said goodbye and somehow found himself attempting what had ended up being called a 'wing five' with the mare, which resulted in some hilarity.
Then Marc and Ditzy walked Vinyl and Octavia back to their cottage. Vinyl had looked abashed after all the praise she'd received for her work, but Octavia had taken enough for both of them and some to spare. Marc had, to their surprise, hugged them both before thanking them again and beginning the leg back to Rosewood.
Not much had been said the entire night, and nothing at all once they reached the cottage. Ditzy stumbled over a bed, landing face first while looking for the light switch, which had been installed in a very awkward place in the wall. She gave up in her tiredness and let Marc guide her down the east hall to a bed. Marc had fallen on the bed next to her, and had immediately passed out.
With these memories running through his mind, Marc lay still for a moment, wondering how such serenity could have been born from such a stressful day. He was saved from his ruminations, however, by an excited call from the kitchen, "C'mon everypony! Muffins for breakfast!"
Marc then noticed the smoke pouring from the door a few metres from where he lay. He leapt up, worried, and scuttled over to the door. He joined a group of five ponies waiting there. As he tried to make sense of why these ponies he'd never seen before (aside from the fillies from yesterday) were there, the group was bombarded with a stream of flying muffins from the kitchen. Marc saw a bedraggled unicorn take a direct hit in the face and fall over, eating the obviously delicious treat.
When Marc got to look into the room, he wouldn't have been surprised to see Pinkie Pie standing there, but instead (thankfully) was a confused looking Ditzy sipping around and around, looking for something. "Ditzy, stop, you're gonna hurt yourself!" Marc jumped in and stopped her inches before she whacked her head on the counter, not for the first time by the looks of it. "Oh...Hey Marc...I was just making muffins, but...I cant find your one, i know it's here somewhere..."
Marc sighed and picked the muffin up off of Ditzy's back. "Here it is. Hey, you've lost your stutter!" He eclaimed.
"Oh, I-I h-have?" Ditzy said, looking self conscious.
Marc smiled at her. "Nope, there it is again."
She went a shade a smidge pinker than usual and giggled into her hoof. "Um...yeah, I st-stutter when I'm n-nervous."
Marc didn't comment further, but instead led the endearing pegasus out into the east wing where the others were busy eating their breakfast.
"You know, Ditzy, when I woke up and saw nearly the entire hall filled with smoke and new ponies, I couldn't help feeling a little concerned."
Ditzy sniffed at that. "Yeah, everypony worries about me. 'Oh, that Derpy, shes going to blow the whole place up one day!' Well, I wont, because I love this place, and everypony who stays here. These are some wayponies here for the night by the way. I...did burn the muffins, though." She looked up at Marc, who inspected his absolutely pristine meal. "Well, there's nothing wrong with mine, see?"
Ditzy, bit a hoof and said sidelong. "I meant the first batch...yeah, I put those in the fireplace over there."
Marc looked over at fireplace. He thought it had been loaded with charcoal. he ignored this with some difficulty and continued with breakfast.
Afterwards, the three travelers left for the town with a cheery thanks and some coins for Ditzy's trouble. (And medical bills)
"Yay! Bits!" Ditzy shouted. "Now we can go buy some muffins!"
Marc couldn't believe her. He was literally dragged out by the hem of his by now ragged shirt by the very excited pegasus. Marc walked along in the shade of the flittering Ditzy as she tumbled along towards the town. They met Fluttershy by the stream that ran along the path, trying to coax out a nervous bankvole with soft cooing noises. Ditzy called out, "Hi Flutteshy!"
The pale pegasus let out a subdued cry and shot up a tree, where she clung, trembling, before remembering she had wings. She released her hold and landed just in front of Marc. "Oh...hi."
thus insued a rather awkward silence, all parties waiting for the next to speak. eventually, Marc said to the embarrassed Fluttershy. "You know you can talk to me whenever you want, I'm always in town or at Rosewood, and I'd love to talk to you, you must have the most amazing stories about your animals. Come by Sugarcube corner later and have a muffin with us. That vole is out of her den, by the way: Ditzy scared her out. See you in a bit, Fluttershy!" Marc waved goodbye, chuckling at the quiet mare
Marc and Ditzy were chatting about the various types of treats available in their respective worlds as they walked past the large tree in the town. Suddenly, a door at it's base burst open and Twilight rushed up to them. "Marc! Good, come quickly, the Princess is here! She has something to tell us, hurry!" She spun around and re-entered the tree.
Marc followed without hesitation, Ditzy in his wake. In the middle of the room stood Princess Luna, surrounded by five ponies; Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Pinkie Pie, all looking grave and concerned. The Princess nodded as Marc entered, then continued, "My little ponies, there has been a complication with experiments in Canterlot, involving Princess Celestia," The ponies gasped. "She has been attempting to find the best way to help our guest," Nodding to Marc, "Return to his home. I warned her against taking Discord's offer of help. I regret to that I have been proved right."
More gasps of shock. Marc couldn't believe this was happening. Ditzy was trying to get his attention. "M-Marc...? What's h-happening?"
Twilight stepped forward into the confusion and pronounced, "Calm down everypony! Come on, Equestria and the Princess need us! We need to get the Elements of Harmony! to Canterlot!"
Marc shot an arm into the air and joined the rousing shout!
No one noticed Fluttershy open the door and poke her head inside.
"Um, hi...did I miss something...?"
Conflict inbound: Please review