Seeing Yellow, The Return

Sliding the message into my pocket, I gazed in awe at the yellow mare in front of me. She looked right back at me with her large blue eyes, tears of joy sliding down her face. She galloped towards me and jumped into my arms. She wrapped her forelegs around me and buried her face into my shoulder. I wrapped my arms around her, embracing her tightly. The soft feel of her brilliant yellow coat; the racing heartbeat in her chest; the long pink tail tickling my legs; the hooves wrapped around me; it was all too much. Tears flowed from my eyes, following the tear tracks from before. The glistening shards fell onto the mare's shoulder, absorbed by the yellow fur.

She was back. Fluttershy was back. I couldn't believe it. My face lit up with the first true smile I had done in months, and it nearly hurt to maintain this expression. I tightened my embrace. I felt exactly the same way I did when I found her after she had run away. Pure happiness. The depression that had returned in her absence was now blasted away, leaving my mind clear and my heart full of love. I rubbed her back, feeling the small fibres of fur trail through my hand. Why... why... WHY had I given her up?! Fluttershy was the most beautiful and amazing thing I loved, and I had sent her back to Equestria, at the cost of my own heart and soul.

I closed my eyes, enveloping myself in the love I was feeling. Never again. Never again. I would never be parted from her again. I wouldn't allow it. I held her like I was binding her soul to mine, an unbreakable connection being forged.

I felt the weight on my shoulder recede, only to be replaced with a stronger, softer weight on my lips. I slowly moved my hands up her back, lightly touching her wings for a second before pushing both my hands against the back of the mare's head, deepening the kiss.

I knotted my fingers through her mane, pulling slightly, which elicited a small gasp from the mare. Her lips then pressed more aggressively against mine, forcing me to fight back just as aggressively. After several minutes of long, passionate kissing, we broke apart and we laid our foreheads against each other. I gazed into her large aqua eyes. God, how I missed looking into their infinite depths. I reached out and touched the necklace hanging from her neck. She still had it. Mimicking my actions, she touched my own necklace.

"I'm back." she whispered.

For several moments, I couldn't speak. Then...

"Welcome home." I replied.

She smiled back at me and sat down next to me.

"It's been too long. You've grown," she said.

"Yeah, too long." I replied. "How did you get here?"

"Twilight finally found something. We've been searching for over 2 years for a way back. She found it this morning, but she wanted to gather her strength. This spell wasn't easy."

"I didn't think it would be. Cross-world travel would be difficult. I can't believe she did it."

"Neither can I, to tell you the truth. She nearly collapsed."

"Oh sweet Celestia. I need to thank Twilight personally for that."

Then a thought stuck me.

"Fluttershy... how are you getting back to Equestria?"

"Twilight said she would open another portal in 2 weeks."

"2 weeks? That's how long you're staying?"

"Yeah. I asked Princess Celestia. She gave me permission. She really didn't want me coming back here. But in the end, she gave in."

"What did she say about you coming back?"

"She said, I can't be the one to break up love. You may see him again."

"Why didn't she want you coming back?"

"Apparently she has been to the human world before. She saw how it was then."

"She has been here before?" That was new.

"Yeah. I found that out on the day I returned."

"Come to think about it, you haven't told me anything about the 2 years before we could send letters to each other. Apart from the fact that you and Twilight were looking for a way back."

"That's true. But neither have you."

"Let's swap stories then."

My life wasn't that interesting, so I skimmed my life story. There was one interesting thing that had happened, but I was going to save that as a surprise to her so I skipped over it. I would tell her soon. Fluttershy's story was much more interesting. I couldn't help but interject at points.

"They thought you were dead?!" I said.

"Yeah." Then she seemed to have thought of something. "Interesting."

"What?"

"Nothing bad happened when I was away. You would think that something bad would have happened to Ponyville, now that the Element of Kindness was gone."

"Yeah. Strange." I agreed.

She continued. She told me about how she had told the story about the 5 years she was here to Twilight, Pinkie, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Princess Celestia.

"Princess Celestia tried to wipe your memories?!" I said in outrage.

"She was going to do more than that. She was going to erase the entire time of your world from my head, and my absence from every other ponies head. It would be like the last 5 years didn't exist in Ponyville. For anypony."

"How- how could she even think of doing that?"

"She's done it before. When she went to your world. Think about what would of happened to Equestria if she wasn't there."

I thought about this. Then it hit me.

"She couldn't raise the sun. Eternal darkness in Equestria. So when she came back, she had to erase those memories."

"Right. She was away from Equestria for 3 years. When she returned, those 3 years never existed."

"But that still doesn't answer the fact of why she wanted to do it when you came back."

"I think she was confused about her own memories of this world. I tried to reason with her. It was better than she remembered it to be. I couldn't change her mind though."

"How did you escape?"

"I didn't. Twilight helped me."

"Twilight?"

"Princess Celestia had to touch my head with her horn to erase the memories of everypony. It was how the spell worked. But Twilight moved in front of her. She stood up to the princess. She kept on saying things about love and friendship. Princess Celestia used the Royal Canterlot voice on her, but Twilight stood her ground. She was so brave. In the end, Celestia changed her mind. She is probably still angry about it."

"Now I really have to thank Twilight. Plus, I think I need to talk to the princess as well. That will be interesting."

"She won't be happy to see you."

I laughed. "She can yell at me all she wants. I don't scare easy."

"I doubt it."

We laughed together, and I remembered back to all the times we had laughed together, so long ago.

I was thinking about this spell Twilight used to make a portal through the worlds.. Then, a thought came to me.

"Wait here for a sec. I want to try something."

I got up, and headed over to my bookcase and slid out a thick book. The spell book I had found years ago. I was flipping through it, looking for one particular spell. I found it. "Tracer". The spell allowed you to sense magical energies and learn spells if any had been casted. It was a useful spell but I couldn't use it. I didn't know of any other magic users in the world. So the spell was useless. Until now, that is. I spoke the incantation. The flow of energy leaving me was huge. I dropped to one knee, the book landing on the floor. I heard someone, somepony rather, approaching me.

"Are you all right?" Fluttershy asked me.

I looked at her and smiled. I knew the spell wasn't done yet. I closed my eyes, and I slipped into a new world. Not really. I was still on Earth, but it was different. I could see things differently. I could see magic. Everywhere. Small wisps of light passed around. The portal spell's energy was still there. It seemed to me that I have slipped into this world's magical realm. I focused on the portal's energy. My mind was assaulted with the information of the spell. Then I was hurled back to my body. I noticed that I was on the ground and I sat up. Fluttershy was still watching me with concern. I smiled at her.

"I'm back." I said.

"Welcome home." she replied.

We both laughed.

"Well, I know the spell Twilight used. I think I can use it now." I said. "Could you pass me the spellbook?"

She obliged. She slid the book back over to me. I pulled out a pen and wrote down the new spell on a new page in the book. I closed the book, and tried to stand up. I fell back over. The spell had really taken a toll on me. I wouldn't be trying that spell again in a hurry. Fluttershy looked down at me.

"What's wrong?"

"The spell. Too much energy. I need your help."

Placing a hand on her back, I managed to stand back up, this time keeping my balance. I placed the spellbook back on the bookcase and turned off the TV. By then, I could stand without her help. I looked down at her, and examined her more closely. At 23 years old, she had grown slightly since I had last seen her. She was over half my height. I was 186cm tall, so she was around 115cm tall. Give or take a few centimetres. Her wings have definitely grown a fair bit, and her mane and tail had lengthened slightly. But she was still the shy mare she had always been, brimming with untapped courage and strength. She was still the same mare I had fallen in love with.

"Come on Fluttershy. I need to get some sleep."

We walked together to my room. When we entered, she saw all the letters on the walls and gasped.

"Are these all the letters I have sent you?"
"Yes. All of them."

She galloped around, reading the letters and laughing at a few of them. Every time, she would read one she liked, she would say something like, "Do you remember this letter? Do you?" I always did, thanks to my amazing memory. After a while, she got tired and got into my bed. She looked at me and started to curl her hair around her hoof.

"Coming to bed, Michael?"

I almost died of repressed laughter. I never thought Fluttershy would say something like that. I fought to keep a straight face.

"Yeah. In a minute."

I turned around, grinning, and pulled the letter from my pocket. I pinned it up next the other letter I had pinned up early this morning. Then I grabbed a pen. I had never done this before. But I think it was necessary. I wrote on the letter. After I had finished, I had a quick read. The letter now read:

SURPRISE!

'This was the day life got brighter. The day Fluttershy returned to me.'

I smiled, then turned around and looked at the yellow mare. She had brushed some of her mane in front of one of her eyes and was smiling at me deviously. I was wrong. Fluttershy wasn't the shy mare I had fallen in love with. She was now a strong, confident mare, capable of doing whatever she wants. But she still has that caring nature I loved about her. I got into bed and looked at the mare next to me. She was still smiling deviously at me. What have I done to her? She was so shy when she entered my world all those years ago, but now she was ready to take on anything. She has changed just as much as I have. I smiled at her and we embraced. Tomorrow, I had nothing on at university and work didn't need me. Guess it's just me and Fluttershy again, like old times. We both started to fall asleep. Just before everything went black, my last thought was of the next 2 weeks and how awesome they were going to be.

We would never spend those 2 weeks together.