Chapter 11: Finale

I woke up before the sun even started to rise.

I was restless, not wanting to miss my sleep, but not wanting to miss any time on my last day in Equestria. Of course, none of the other ponies were up, but that made no difference to me. I wanted to soak it all in while I had the chance.

Smiling to myself, I leaned back against the wall and rubbed Twilight's back. "If only we had met sooner…I wanted to get to know you better."

The scene in front of me was picturesque. The air was calm, silent, still, and thin rays of soft sunlight started peeking through the window, and I watched small particles of dust flow and spin around in the air. The mares, although they were dead to the world as they slept, had an essence of peace around them. They smiled slightly in their sleep, as if they had nothing to worry about, or as if nothing in the universe was moving against them.

"You guys truly do live in the best place in the universe." I thought to myself.

Twilight made a noise next to me, and she rolled over onto her side in a rather comical fashion.

I'm not sure if it was just a random, spur of the moment thing, or if I truly found it humorous, but I had to suppress a good laugh. Twilight must have heard something, because she looked up at me with half open eyes and frazzled hair.

It took her a moment to register who I was, but after she sorted out her thoughts, she said "Oh, I must have gotten up late. Let me start breakfast or-"

Before she could finish, I started smoothing her mane out, and she dropped back onto her pillow with a sleepy smile.

"No need for that, nopony else is awake." I whispered.

"Oh good…" she replied with a content sigh. "I might sleep for just a few more minutes…"

After a couple minutes, Twilight was back asleep, so decided to get up and figure out what we were going to do for some early morning food. Surprisingly, Spike had the same idea, and he was already up fixing some form of muffins on his own.

I poked my head in the door. "Do you need some help?"

"If you can breathe fire, then sure. If not, then I'm not sure if you can cook these." He said jovially.

"You know, there is an oven…" I motioned with my hand.

He made a funny face. "That's cheating. Anypony can make muffins in an oven. A dragon making your muffins-now there's something you don't see every day."

I scratched my head. "Actually, that's something that I haven't seen on any day back at home."

"That's right!" He exclaimed. "Today's your big day, isn't it?"

"It is, and I have no real idea as to how it's even going to work." I frowned. "I guess I should get that figured out…"

After Spike and I chatted idly for a while, one well rested Applejack walked into the kitchen, all the while following her nose.

"What are y'all makin' in here? It smells great!" She asked wishfully.

I picked up one of the muffins and examined it. "You'll have to thank Spike for this one; I had nothing to do with it."

Applejack gave us a hopeful grin. "Spike, I've got hand it to ya'…those smell fantastic. You reckon we should get the others up for breakfast?"

"I don't see why not."

Applejack got the rest of the Mane Six up, and I went into the bathroom to clean myself up. I hastily brushed my hair off to the side, splashed myself in the face with some water, and hurried back out to see the others.

"Hey, your back!" Pinkie Pie smiled. "Now we can eat!"

"You guys didn't have to wait, besides, the muffins are best warm!"

As the ponies dug in and started raving over the Spike's food, the little dragon stood off to the side of the room, arms crossed and a confident smile on his face.

"Nice work." I whispered to him. "You've got a good thing going here."

"Hehe, thanks." He replied sheepishly.

"No, I mean it. Look at those smiles! You're obviously doing something right!"

Twilight waved a hoof to get my attention. "Princess Celestia should be here by eleven, so make sure you're ready."

"Eleven! That's only a couple hours away!"

"My point exactly. I don't want to keep Celestia waiting so get everything in order while you have some time."

I dashed up the stairs and started collecting whatever belongings I had. Notes, clothes, any odds and ends all went into a bag. I was a little dubious that they would actually stay intact during the duration of my jump back to Earth, but I had to try at the very least.

"Oh where is it…" I mumbled to myself.

Something floated by my face, and I turned to see Twilight at the top of the stairs. "Is this what you're looking for?"

"Yes, yes it is. Thank you." I stammered.

I sat down on the floor and looked at the piece of paper in my hands, reminiscing about all that had occurred in the prior weeks. "I know, it was silly of me, but I always overlooked this day. I just ignored the fact that I would have to go home, but here I am on the day of my return, kicking myself for not doing more while I had the time."

Twilight walked over to my side and read my notes over my shoulder. She blushed a little, then regained her composure.

"You really think that highly of us?" she asked in an innocent tone.

I was about to hide the document, but I realized that she had already seen enough of it to know where it was going. "Yes, I do."

"But we're just acting like…ourselves. It's nothing special! We're not acting or anything."

"And that's precisely what makes it so special. Where I come from, these sorts of character traits seem to be few and far between."

She laid her head against my shoulder and looked up at me. "I know Princess Celestia is going to fix this accidental mix up, but I'm going to try and find a legitimate way to meet you again. Having you here has been kind of fun."

Those hours went by so fast! One moment I'm having breakfast, and the next moment, Rainbow Dash yells "She's here guys!"

We all walked out to the town center, where the Princess' escorts were waiting.

Twilight ran up and gave Princess Celestia a quick hug. "It seems like I've been seeing more of you lately!"

"It certainly feels that way." Princess Celestia said with a smile.

A dark streak crossed the sky, and Luna's ride touched down next to Celestia's.

"Alright, now that we're all here, let's start." Celestia said. "Are you ready?"

I couldn't answer that. I had priorities back on Earth, but it killed me to leave the Mane Six behind.

I simply nodded my head.

"Good, then this is how it will work: We're going to have our designated unicorns start teleporting you to the other side of Ponyville, and when they do, I am going to apply an entirely separate spell to your body, and you should return home."

"That's it?"

"I know, it's a poor explanation. It sounds simple in theory, but it's going to be harder to perform than it sounds."

We all walked to one end of Ponyville, with a group of unicorns in royal attire following us.

"Have fun back at home!" Rainbow Dash said.

"Yeah, don't forget about us though!" Pinkie Pie smiled.

"Ha, I don't think I could ever forget this!" I replied.

Applejack gave me a whack on the back. "You've done good here partner! Thanks for all your help."

"Agreed." Rarity nodded. "You've been quite the gentleman."

"Bye…It was nice meeting you." Fluttershy whispered.

Twilight looked like she was going to cry. "I'll find some way to talk to you again." She said soberly. "But until then…"

She gave me a quick hug, and the others joined in. It was one of the best feelings a person could experience. "So THIS is what euphoria is!" I laughed to myself. "And I believe if anypony can figure out a way to do it, it will be you Twilight."

The ponies stepped back behind the princesses, and the unicorns took up their positions around the sides.

Everything seemed to slow down at this point. The air was sweet and drifted lazily around the trees, the birds were singing, and the almost noon sun bathed Equestria in a brilliant light. I couldn't have asked for a better final scene to remember Equestria by.

It's in moments like these that all of the questions that you should have asked come flooding back to you. There were what felt like a million things I still didn't know, and it was killing me that I hadn't asked the questions earlier.

With a wave of her hoof, the Princess's guards focused on me, and I started to disappear from view.

We exchanged quick goodbyes, and I waved a quick goodbye to the group. Luna even said a quick goodbye, which I was grateful for.

In a brilliant, almost blinding flash of light, I turned into a small blip in the universe, and started flying at a blazing speed through Ponyville. I was freaked out about colliding with a building, but I was phasing through them as if the walls didn't exist.

I reached a point where all color drained from my vision, and I was surrounded by an infinite plain of white. No shapes, no color, just white.

I started to hyperventilate. "What if I'm stuck here? Nobody will find me here! Please tell me that Celestia didn't-"

A single point appeared on the horizon, and I was suddenly engulfed in a world of color again. I my feet gently touched down right in front of my doorway, and I jiggled the doorknob.

"Gah, it's locked. Where are my…keys." I gave myself a mental facepalm. "Of course, I left them back in Equestria."

Just then, a little sphere of light floated by, and my keys popped into existence and clattered on the sidewalk.

I picked them up, and there was a note attached to them.

"Dear Josh:

I had no idea what these were, but they appeared the moment you left. I figured they must be yours, since nopony here knows what they are.

And I wanted to let you know that I've already began studying so that maybe, just maybe, we can meet again someday. Until then, don't forget about us.

Your friend,

Twilight Sparkle"

I stared up at the sky, and watched the clouds drift by.

"Twilight, I'm rooting for you. I have this feeling that we'll be seeing each other sometime in the future."

I stepped inside, breathed in the familiar scent of my own home, and headed directly upstairs. I had no idea if my idea would ever be completed, but if…no, when Twilight succeeded in bringing me back, I wanted to have something ready. Grabbing a pen and paper, and started writing.

"Dear Twilight Sparkle…"