Living My Life with Ponies!?

Chapters

Homeward Bound
Homecoming, Part One
Homecoming, Part Two
What You Don't Know...
...Can Hurt You...

Homeward Bound

Seven months. Seven long months. It might as well have been an eternity for Princess Twilight Sparkle. Everything was different during those months; her entire life was turned upside down and it wasn’t even Discord’s fault… this time. The violet colored alicorn shuffled her way through the Books and Branches Library, both her place of business and her home. It was also home to her adopted brother, Spike, and her two adopted daughters, Nyx and Scootaloo. It was a loving house of five, but it has felt empty without the fifth, Twilight’s husband, DJ. The last anypony had seen of that crazy pony was when he was forced to leave for seven months, after already disappearing for six.

This time was both easier and harder for Twilight. Thanks to her husband’s ingenuity, the two were able to exchange letters every now and then, allowing her to always know if he was safe instead of relying on a badge that only told her if he was alive. DJ would send her different reports every week, almost like the friendship reports she used to send to her mentor and mother-in-law, Princess Celestia. They kept her going week after week, month after month, always assuring her that he was still alive.

Some were simple messages, always ending with ‘I love you’, but then there were… the others. The ones that showed how hard it was for him to write, where he describe the terrible things he was forced to do, some that made her aghast. DJ had been forced multiple times to do despicable things in order to save the lives of many, at least according to the letters. He was living a life of adventure and, at first, Twilight was afraid that he would stick with such a life instead of returning home, but then that letter came last week, stained with a few tears. It said how much he was looking forward to coming home soon and how when he returned, there would be no more heroing. She couldn’t believe those words, they brought tears to her own eyes, knowing that he would never be leaving again.

Twilight was brought out of her personal thoughts as she heard the sound of hooves approaching from behind her. She turned and smiled at her two daughters. “Hello girls.”

“Hey mom!” they replied.

“What are you two up to today?”

“The other girls are busy today, so we’re gonna go to Hayburger with DT and Dinky,” Nyx replied.

“You gonna be alright if we go out for a few hours mom?” Scootaloo asked with a bit of concern in her voice.

Twilight smiled sweetly. “Don’t worry, sweetie. I’ll be just fine. I’m pregnant, not helpless. You go have fun with your friends.” She waved them off with a smile. “Just be back before dinner.”

“Thanks mom!” they said as they ran off and out of the library. Twilight sighed happily as she saw them off. She then looked down at her swollen stomach, rubbing it gently thinking of the new life that was being created within. There was a slight kick and she ‘oof’ed, smiling brighter.

“You’re getting bigger, little one. Just wait until your father gets a look at you, he’s gonna be so proud.”

Yes, she remembered fondly of when she told her husband the news. She was afraid at first of his response, but when a letter came back a day later, her tears of joy just wouldn’t stop. That same letter was on a table right near her and she couldn’t resist picking it up and re-reading for what seemed like the hundredth time. It read:

Dear Twilight,

I… I just can’t believe it. We, we’re going to have a baby!? We’re going to have a baby!! Wait… you’re going to be pregnant and I’m not going to be there! This-this, ugh! Why did this have to happen now? I, oh Twilight, how I want to be there with you for this. I hate how I’m going to be stuck out here while you’re dealing with this on your own. I know, I know, you’ll have Scoots, Nyx, and Spike, as well as all of our friends and family, but… okay this is turning selfish. I want to be with you for this Twilight. I want to be by your side through every single moment of your pregnancy, weather everything with you, and make sure you are always okay. Twilight… please do not blame yourself for any of this. This was not your fault in any way, shape, or form. But when I return, I swear that I will always be there for you, no matter what. I will be there for our family, for Nyx, Scootaloo, and our baby. Tell the girls that the baby will not change my love for either of them and that I love them dearly.

I will be back, my love, and when I do, we’ll be together forever.

With all my love,

DJ

Twilight brushed away the few tears that had gathered in her eyes once again. The parchment already had enough tear stains even before she received it, there didn’t need to be any more. It felt like so long ago now, so lonely yet not so. She still had her friends, still had her family, but it just wasn’t the same without the stallion she loved.

As she trotted back over to the couch, Twilight curled up with the latest Daring Do. To this day, she couldn’t help, but be reminded of her adventure with the iconic explorer. Years prior, back when her husband was still human, Rainbow Dash had convinced her and their friends to seek out the author of the series, A.K. Yearling to help her in finishing the next Daring Do book which had recently been delayed. DJ tagged along, it wasn’t until Twilight had learned of the ‘episodes’ on his computer why he had.

Upon arriving at the secluded cottage, they found the place ransacked. Yearling had arrived a few minutes later in a sour mood that was made worse by the ponies in her house. She kicked them all out of the house, not even caring that a human was with them. The group then watched from the windows as Yearling was attacked by a group of stallions who were after a strange artifact she had retrieved from the rouble of her house. In a moment of shock for the ponies, not including the human, Yearling revealed herself to be Daring Do after all! She fought off the stallions, but they managed to take the artifact.

Rainbow and DJ offered their services in getting it back, but she declined, citing that she worked alone. When she left, DJ had commented that not even someone called ‘Batman’ worked exclusively alone. They didn’t get it at the time, but he seemed amused by it. Dash flew off ahead of them, leaving the ponies and human to catch up. When they found her, Daring had crushed her dreams of meeting her hero, but they were able to convince Rainbow that just because Daring didn’t want help, didn’t mean she didn’t need it. With renewed confidence, she flew off again.

They followed her to her a hidden temple and snuck their way in. There was no sign of the two pegasi, instead they found Ahuizotl about to complete a ritual involving the ring-like artifact. They charged in and interrupted the ceremony before it could be finished. The cat-like villain ordered his pony cultists to attack them and they struggled to get to the rings. DJ pulled out one of his swords, igniting the bright blue lightsaber making several cultists stop in their tracks at the sight of the blade. He smirked and started to strike the ponies, only to get pushed back when they used spears. The enemy overtook them, despite the human’s assistance which ended with him getting whacked with several spears. The distraction had been enough, however, for Dash and Daring to sneak in and remove the rings. When they removed the last of them, the temple began to crumble apart and Twilight teleported her and her friends out of there. When they reappeared, they saw Rainbow and Daring flying overhead and hugging. The adventurer took off, leaving a happy Dash behind.

A month later, the new book, Daring Do and the Ring of Destiny, was released, featuring Rainbow Dash on the cover as Daring’s sidekick in the story. Twilight smiled thinking back on when Rainbow had shown off her early-release edition ‘Yearling’ had sent her. She couldn’t help, but giggle on remembering how DJ had pouted for a few days after getting his “butt whooped” by the enemy. How times have changed.

Twilight couldn’t imagine her husband ever losing these days. Of course, it had been a long road for all them. When Sombra returned and killed Scootaloo’s parents, to which DJ had struck the former king down in a fit of rage. As well as when he assisted in leading a coup d'etat on Queen Chrysalis, leading to the death of his friend Scout and the succession of Queen Insectum, birth daughter of the deposed Chrysalis. All that leading up to his disappearance and his subsequent travels through ‘the worlds’ as he referred to it. How she longed for his return, to hold him close to her and never let go. She sighed, marking her place in the book and placing it on the side table near her.

Twilight’s eye caught a glimmer of something heading her way. She looked and saw a shining wisp of smoke coming near her. The wisp soon transformed into a rolled up letter that she took in her magic and read the letter. It was only a few words.

Put a pillow on the table.

No header, no sender message, just those few words. She quirked an eyebrow and then shrugged, using her magic to place one of her pillows on the dining room table, figuring it wouldn’t hurt to follow the message. Just as she released her levitation spell, a swirling vortex of magic willed itself into existence above the table. Twilight had to look away as the lights of the portal blinded her, then she heard a thud. When the lights died down, Twilight looked over and gasped, tears beginning to form in the corners of her eyes. Laying on that pillow was a deep-blue colored alicorn with a generous amount of unkempt, dark brown hair on his head and tail. Upon his flank was a light blue snowflake and he was wearing a jacket the same color as his coat. Around his neck was a white watch-like necklace with a black square on the front with a green lines on it. The stallion appeared disoriented, shaking his head slightly before using a hoof to steady himself. He looked up and immediately saw Twilight and smiled lovingly as he looked her over with hazel green eyes full of love and understanding.

“Hello Twilight. I’m finally home.” That voice, that voice that she had longed to hear for so long. It was him, her DJ had finally returned.

“DJ!!” Twilight screeched as she flew at him with incredible speed, bowling him off the table and onto the wooden floor. She nuzzled his chest, tears falling from her eyes. She felt his arms wrap around her barrel, squeezing ever so slightly. The feeling of a tear was felt of her muzzle and she looked up to see DJ was crying a tiny bit as well.

“I’ve missed you so much, Twi,” he said as he nuzzled her back. The two stared into each other’s eyes before closing them and going for a long missed kiss. When they parted, DJ looked over his wife lovingly, immediately noticing the bulge of her stomach. He smiled and rub her belly, getting a mixture of a moan and giggle from the mare. Twilight smiled back at him and nestled her head in the crook of his neck.

“I’ve missed you so much more, my love. I don’t want to ever let you go.”

“I’m not going anywhere, my shining star. Not now and not ever again. I promise, that I will never leave you like that again. Next time, I’ll give you a heads up.” Twilight’s eyes blinked open and she looked back at her husband, who was smirking mischievously. Twilight returned it and lit her horn. A second later, DJ was hit in the head with a frying pan.

“Yeowch!” he cried, using one hoof to rub the sore spot on his head. “Okay, okay, bad timing right?”

“Right. Now just shut up and hold me.”

“No argument here.” There they laid, just drinking in one another’s very presence, never wanting to let go again.

*****Elsewhere in Equestria…*****

A silhouetted figure watched outside of its window, looking out into the horizon before it. There was so much light and happiness in the world. So much friendship and peace and harmony. Yet it was all a lie. Harmony? Peace? Friendship? They were all false promises in this world. A world that would fall to the same fate as another, something that the figure could not allow to happen. Something that it would go to any cost to prevent. Any cost.

There was a knock on the door behind it and with a thought, the door opened. In walked a stallion in a flowing black robe, bowing before the figure before speaking. “My lord, a quantum disturbance has been detected. We are certain that the prince has returned at long last.”

“I want confirmation, not assumptions.” The voice was full of darkness and fear, causing the stallion to shake.

“A-apologies my lord, we will have confirmation by the end of the day. Please forgive my eagerness.”

“Fix your mistake and then we shall speak on your continued service.”

“Yes my lord. Thank you for giving me the chance to fix things. May the witching hour bring us peace.”

“As the storm starts everything anew,” the voice finished. “You are dismissed, my servant.”

“As you command, my lord.” The stallion backed out of the room, quietly closing the door for his master.

The figure resumed looking out of the window, a sly smile etching its way onto his face. “Soon, very soon, we shall meet Prince Frost. And then, then our destinies shall clash. If you think that you can stop me, after all these years, then you will be sorely disappointed and you will fall before the shadows. A storm is coming for you, DJ, and it will strike when and where you cannot see it… in the darkest of the night, it will come and you will be no more. I look forward to our meeting, Prince. Until then.” A chuckle escaped his lips that slowly grew into a full laugh, smiling as clouds descended upon the view in front of him, darkening the land.

Homecoming, Part One

“That was a delicious lunch,” Nyx said as she and her sister approached their house. “I can’t believe how different Diamond Tiara is now that we’re friends.”

“Yeah, but it’s a good change. She’s actually fun to be around when she’s not insulting us.” Scootaloo watched as Nyx began plucking weeds and crabgrass along the path as they walked. “You’re really overusing that magic of yours, sis.”

“I need to keep up my skills. If I’m gonna make into grandma’s school after this next year, then I’m gonna need every little bit of magic I got.”

“But you’re Nightmare Moon! You’ve got magic a plenty, why would you need to practice?”

Nyx rolled her eyes. “I’m not Nightmare Moon, I told you to call it Nightmare Nyx. And I need to practice because there is always room for improvement. I want to excel in the study of magic and magical theory. I need to know everything.”

“How does that relate to your cutie mark again?”

“If I can master all levels of magic, then I can use it to help ponies, gryphons, and other creatures in any way possible. My cutie mark means that I am destined to protect ponies and I feel that magic will be my best way to do it.”

“Oh yeah. What do you think is for dinner?” she asked as she opened the door for her younger sibling.

“Here’s hoping for celery soup.” The two young mares trotted in, closing the door behind them. They walked into the dining room, seeing their mother sitting at the table. “Hey mom, what’s up?”

Twilight smiled warmly at them, though Scootaloo thought she saw a glint of mischief in her mother’s eyes. “Welcome back girls, I hope you left room for some dessert after your lunch.”

“I did. Why? Did you make something?” asked Scoots.

“No, it’s being made as we speak.”

“Did Spike come home early?” asked Nyx.

“No,” Twilight shook her head, smiling brightly. “Somepony else did.”

“Who?” they asked.

“Somepony who has missed you both very much,” said a voice behind them. Nyx and Scootaloo froze at the sound, eyes going wide. Slowly, they turned around and saw the sight of a familiar face that was smiling warmly at them. “Hey girls. I’m home!”

The two stared at DJ for a moment, before they started to shake, tears growing in the corners of their eyes.

“DADDY!!” they cried as they lunged at them. DJ yelped as he was shoved to the ground and glomped for the first time in his life.

“You’re back!” Scoots cried as she nuzzled his cheek.

“We missed you sooo much!” Nyx exclaimed from his other cheek.

DJ smiled and wrapped them both in a hug. “And I missed you girls, too. I missed you so much. And I am so proud of you both for taking care of your mother. So very proud.”

“Really?” they asked.

“Absolutely,” he answered with a grin. “And I’m not going anywhere anytime soon, I promise that I’m sticking around. Ya can’t get rid of me that easily!”

“As if we would ever,” Twilight said as she walked over to them. “Now let your father up, girls. He’s making us some dessert.”

“That’s right! Who wants chocolate lava cake?”

“I do! I do!” they cried. DJ smiled and went back to the kitchen, but stopped for a moment.

“Oh and Twi?”

“Yes, dear?”

“Uhm, Malice is out and about.” There was a silence for a moment, before it registered with the mares that Malice, DJ’s inner chaotic demon turned brother, was able to walk amongst the physical world now. “Twi?”

“Where is he?” she asked simply, deadpanning.

“Upstairs. I asked him to wait until you said it was fine for him to come out.”

“And he listened?”

“He’s mellowed out, actually. Sure he’s still a major pain, but he’s tolerable nowadays.”

Twilight put a hoof to her chin in thought, frowning slightly. Then she sighed. “Alright, he can come down, but he needs to behave himself.”

“Don’t worry, dear. He’s harmless… mostly.” DJ walked over to the stairs and yelled, “Yo, Malice! Ya can come out now!”

“‘Bout damn time!” a darker, deeper version of DJ’s voice returned. The girls watched as a grey alicorn stallion with sleek black hair and wearing a black jacket came down the steps. His eyes held no emotion, just empty voids, and his sneer was enough to send chills down the hardest of warriors. He looked over to the gathered family and gave a half-hearted salute. “Yo. I’m back, too.”

“Yay,” they returned with no enthusiasm.

Malice shrugged and took a seat at the table, opposite Twilight. “So where’s the food?”

“I’m working on it!” DJ huffed before going to the kitchen. “Chaotic prick,” he mumbled.

“Harmonic douche,” Malice returned. Twilight sighed and shook her head.

“Malice, if you are going to live in this house, then there are going to need to be some rules.” DJ walked back in, carrying a large cake and setting it on the table. He cut it into slices and passed a slice to everypony present.

“Alright,” Malice groaned before digging into his cake. “Lay ‘em on me.”

“Number one: no foul language in front of any of my children.”

“I can agree to that one. I don’t like it, but it’s a simple request.”

“Number two: no threatening anypony or dragon in this household.”

“The kid doesn’t count in that. I’m his twin brother, bantering is in the job description.”

It was Twilight’s turn to feel conflicted, but she relented. “Fine, DJ’s not included, but don’t threaten anypony else.” Malice nodded. “Number three: don’t destroy my house.”

“Shouldn’t that be more of a rule for the kid?” Malice asked with a raised eyebrow, smirking at his twin. DJ returned it with deadly glare.

“No, it applies to you since you crave destruction. Keep it away from this house, understand?”

“Fine,” he groaned. “I’ll get you back for these rules.”

“I’m quaking in my boots. If I were wearing them, that is.” Twilight sighed and started eating her own cake. She smiled in bliss. “Oh my, DJ when did you learn to cook so well?”

“Traveling,” he said simply. Twilight pouted at him, giving him a sad-eyed look, begging for him to tell her more. DJ clutched his chest and fell over in a heap. “Alright! Alright! I give! Just stop with the eyes!” He got back up and noticed Twilight giggling at him, the same could be said of his daughters while Malice just gave him a knowing smile. He rolled his eyes. “I picked up a few tricks and tips here and there, mostly from Pinkie Pies. A few ponies I ran into were professional chefs, so I had a chance to learn from a few masters.”

“Wow, what else did you learn, dad?”

“Well, mostly it involved fighting and surviving which is not something I will ever tell you. Certain things need to be left alone, alright?” Scoots pouted a little, but noticed her father wasn’t going to budge on the issue, so she dropped it. “But my adventures can wait. Our cakes are getting cold.”

After devouring the cake, the ponies decided to take a walk into town. It was DJ’s idea as he wanted to see his Ponyville after so long. Twilight suggested that they start at Sweet Apple Acres, knowing that the Apples would want to see their long, lost relative. Twilight asked them to gather around, but DJ waved her off.

“We always use your method, Twi. Why not let me do it this time?”

“You can teleport now?” she asked.

“Don’t you remember?” DJ disappeared, reappearing on the stairs. “My jumping ability!”

“Oh! Right, duh,” she said putting a hoof to her head. “Sorry, dear, it’s been so long that I…” Twilight started to tear up a little, DJ jumped to her side and wrapped her in a hug.

“Hey,” he said, bring her eyes to meet his. “I’m not going anywhere. I’m here to stay, alright?”

Twilight sighed and leaned her head into his chest. “Okay, I’m better. It’s just been a little difficult without you here for me.”

DJ rubbed her belly a little. “I know, and I’m sorry for that. But, I’m here now and I’m going to do everything I can for you,” he turned towards his daughters, “all of you.”

“Thanks dad,” Nyx said with a smile.

“We know you will, dad. You always keep your promises.”

“Thanks for your support, now why don’t we go see your aunts and uncle and great-granny?”

“Sure! We didn’t get to hang out with Apple Bloom today, so it should be fun.”

“Gather around!” DJ pulled them in close and jumped. A moment later, the girls opened their eyes to see that they were on the front porch of the Apple family home.

“Wow,” Twilight said with a gleam in her eyes. She turned to her husband who was smiling a little smugly. “That was amazing, DJ. I didn’t feel any shift or anything. It was as if it were instantaneous.”

“It is. Don’t worry, I’ll let you study all of my new abilities, but I want to settle in first before we get back to routine.”

“Oh, ok.” Twilight was a little depressed that she had to wait for new knowledge, but DJ said she would get to see all of his new powers. That was enough to keep her satisfied… for now. “So, how are you going to announce yourself?” she asked with a knowing smile. “Big and boastful or are you actually going to use some tact?”

“Big and boastful, duh. Is there any other way?” He smirked and looked at the front door. “Looks like Applejack is home, at least that’s what I’m sensing.” DJ took in a big breath and then, “Applejack! Get your flank out here and give your big brother a hug!!"

From inside the house, they heard, “AAHH!!” and then a crashing sound. Somepony started stomping towards the door and threw it open. “Gosh dang it, Big Mac! Ya done nearly made mess up Granny’s…” Applejack’s rant slowed as her eyes widened at the pony on her front step, “...pie. DJ? Is that you?”

“Who else do you know that could make such an entrance?” he asked with a fancy accent. Tears welled up in the corners of the farm mare’s eyes and she lurched forward, wrapping the alicorn in a bear hug.

“Ya came home!” she cried as tears began to fall. “Ya gosh darn fool, ya finally came home.”

Unfortunately, DJ was having trouble breathing from the intense hold. “Yes…,” he choked out, “I’m back… can you stop trying to… crush me!?”

“Nope. This is mah payback for you up n’ leavin’ us like ya did.”

DJ tried to respond, but his ribs were feeling too much pressure. So, he jumped right out of her grip, causing the farm mare to fall forward, catching herself at the last moment. She looked around and noticed DJ back over by Twilight, a deadpanned look on his muzzle.

“Not cool, girl. I’m not as squishy as I used to be.”

AJ cocked her head. “What do ya mean by that? Did ya actually get some muscle out there?”

DJ looked away for a moment. “...I did what I had to to survive. I had to get stronger, faster, better. I had to put a lot of things away on my journey, sometimes even my morals.” A dark shadow fell over his face, nearly breaking Twilight’s heart and making Applejack very ashamed of herself.

“Ah, dang it. Ah didn’t mean ta make ya recall bad memories, partner. Ya did things ya ain’t proud of, but ya still came back to us. That’s all that matters ta me.” DJ smiled at his little sister and pulled her in for a hug.

“I missed you, too, sis.”

AJ chuckled a little. “Ah may have missed ya a ton, but there’s another pony on this farm who missed you even more.” She smiled wickedly at the alicorn who went rigid with fear.

“Dear mother, no.”

“Yup!” she gulped up a deep breath and then bellowed, “HEEEY BIIIG MAAAC!!! GEY YER FLANK UP HERE AND GIVE YER LONG, LOST BROTHER A BIG OL’ HUG!!!”

“Gah! AJ you suck!” Behind them, a lone dust cloud could be seen in the distance, slowly growing in size as it approached. The ground below began to shake, making several of the ponies bounce with it. “Ah shiz, well when in Rome!” DJ spun around and was suddenly in a Matador’s outfit, cape and all. He dangled the cape to his side, shaking it slightly. “Toro! Toro!”

“Wrong word, dipshit.”

DJ took a second to glare at Malice. “Then what’s Spanish for pony?”

“Potro works,” his twin responded with a shrug. AJ just then noticed him.

“Malice? What are you doin’ here?” Her glare was quite intense, if only Malice actually cared to be bothered by it.

“I’m just goin’ with the flow. I have to go wherever the kid goes. Still restricted to being within a hundred feet of him.”

“That’s not much,” Twilight noted.

“We’re working on it,” DJ said offhandedly. “Potro! Potro!” The cloud of dust was almost on them and they could see a dark shape within. It became clearer and clearer as it got closer, revealing a big, red pony running right at DJ. “Potro! Potro!” he encouraged. Big Mac was running right at DJ, but just as he was about to tackle his brother, DJ stepped aside with the cape, causing the large stallion to run right into an anvil with a ‘clang’! He smiled smugly at his apparent victory while the girls were appalled.

“DJ!? What the hay?!”

“What?” He tapped the anvil, sending out a loud ‘clang’. “It’s hollow.”

“Did anypony get the number of that carriage?” Big Macintosh muttered as he stood back up, holding his head. He shook his head and looked back over, waking up instantly at the sight of his brother. “DJ!!” he cried as he grabbed the stallion in a bear hug even worse than Applejack’s.

“Gah! Why… do you all… keep trying… to kill me?!” he wheezed out. Mac smiled and dropped him to the ground with an ‘oof’. “Thanks,” he muttered.

“No problem.”

“What’s all the racket out here?” they all turned to see Granny Smith walking out on to the porch. She looked down and her eyes widened at the sight of DJ. “Well, Ah’ll be. Ya finally came home.”

“Finland!”

The old mare snickered. “Yep, that’s our DJ. Good ta see ya, son.”

DJ returned her warm smile. “Thanks, it’s good to be back.”

“DJ!”

DJ was thrown on his back as he was tackled once again, this time by a young mare with a bow in her red hair. “Hey, Bloom.”

“Ya came back!” she cried as she nuzzled his chest. “Ah knew ya’d come back!”

“Of course I would.” He looked over at everypony gathered, even Malice though he stood off to the side, “There ain’t no place like home.”

“So that means yer stayin’?” asked Mac with a hopeful look.

“Eeyup. I’m not going anywhere. This is my home and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”

“Good ta hear it!” AJ hooted. “So, what are ya gonna do now?”

“We need to let everypony else know I’m home. You’re all that knows right now.”

“Well, get to it! Ah’m sure everypony’s waiting ta find out that yer back.”

“I’m goin’, I’m goin’! Come on, girls… and Malice. We got friends to find.”

“Glad to see I count for so much,” Malice said with a roll of his eyes.

“Just shut up and come on.” They waved goodbye to the Apples and marched off for Ponyville. Once they hit the edge of town, DJ stopped and looked out at the town, smiling sweetly. Twilight noticed and nuzzled his chin to bring him back to reality.

“You’re really home, my love. That’s your Ponyville, filled with the friends you’ve made. And they’re all waiting for you to come home.”

“Yeah, it just seems so surreal. After everything I’ve been through, it’s hard to believe that I made it back. But you’re right, I have friends who are expecting me to return. Starting with one very important mare.”

The girls looked at each other and smiled knowingly. “Pinkie Pie?”

“Who else?” he grinned back. “PINKIE!!” he called out to the town. They were still far enough away that no one would be able to hear him. “COME GIVE YER COUSIN A HUG!!” In a blur of Pink, DJ was bowled over once again, this time being dragged into the dirt by the velocity of his attacker. He laughed as the dust cleared, revealing Pinkie Pie clinging to him tightly.

“YAY!! I knew my Pinkie Sense was right when it said an old friend/family member would be coming back today! And it came true! My little Deejy has come back!”

DJ gave the mare a curious look. “Who are you calling ‘little’?”

Pinkie lifted herself off of DJ so he could pull himself out of the crater, giggling as she did so. “You know what I mean, silly.” She booped his nose, to which he responded by crinkling it. Pinkie once again wrapped her arms around the stallion who returned it after a stunned moment. “I’m happy you’re back.”

“Me too, Pinks. Me too.”

“Hey, Crazy Cousin Pinks?”

“Yeeeess, Scootaloo?”

“Does this mean dad’s gonna get a super awesome ‘welcome home’ party?”

“Nope!” Pinkie said with a cheery smile that confused everypony. “He’s gonna a a super-fantastical, ultra-amazing ‘welcome back from traveling between the worlds for thirteen months’ super party! Planned by yours truly,” she said, putting a hoof to her chest.

“And me!” said a familiar yellow stallion with brown curly hair. “Hiya DJ! Long time no see!”

DJ and Malice were both stunned at the sudden arrival of the stallion. “Okay, I’ll bite. What’s Weird Al doin’ here?”

Pinkie and Cheese Sandwich both cocked their heads. “Who’s Weird Al?”

“Don’t mind the delusions of a Being of Chaos. He does bring up a good point, what are you doing back in town, Cheese-dude?”

“Oh you know, just visiting my marefriend.” He leaned over and gave Pinkie a peck on the cheek, causing her to giggle a little. DJ’s mind stopped, trying to process what he just saw.

“Okay… what the hell did I miss?”

“We’ll catch ya up later, Deejy! We got a party to plan!” She bounced on top of Cheese and directed him towards Ponyville. “Onward my trusty stallion! We have party pony things to do!”

“As you wish my lady! Hiya!” He whinnied and took off.

“Hey Pinkie!” DJ called after her, prompting them to stop. Pinkie looked back at him with a questioning look. DJ smiled at them. “Call me Frost.” Now she seemed truly confused. “It’ll be easier to make a nickname out of ‘Frost’ than ‘DJ’.”

Pinkie smiled and shrugged. “Whatever you say, Frosty. See ya tonight!” And off they rode into the distance. Twilight, Scootaloo, and Nyx looked back at their patriarch with confusion.

“Why did you tell her to call you Frost?”

“That’s the name I’ve been going by for the past few months. Started off back with Parker. I’m known as Blue Frost; I kinda like it, actually.”

“You went by the name you used to for that nerdy persona we pranked my parents with? I’ll admit it does have a nice ring to it, especially when we consider your talent, but I don’t know if I can call you that when all I’ve ever known you as is DJ.”

“You don’t have to then. I’m not gonna force you to call me ‘Blue Frost’. But that’s a part of me now, more so than my human name. You can still call me DJ, but I’m gonna be making sure that the public knows me as Prince Blue Frost.”

“Why?” they all asked.

DJ gave them a wry smile. “I’ll tell you later; after tonight. Today is a day of celebration! So let’s go find our other friends and get this party going!”

DJ and his family silently strolled through the edges of Ponyville, trying to be seen by as few passersby as possible. It was hard going for Twilight due to her pregnancy, but DJ made sure that nothing was wrong. “Honey, if you’re not up for the sneaking, I’ll just trot out there and let everypony know I’m back. You don’t have to go along with my crazy plots if you don’t want to.”

“DJ, for the fifth time, I’m fine. I may be a little out of my element, but I can do this. I don’t want you to see me as helpless just because I’m with child, DJ. I’m still strong and capable.”

He smiled and nuzzled her cheek. “I’m sorry, Twi. I guess I got a little protective there and I’m sorry for that. I just don’t want anything to happen to you is all.”

Twilight looked him in the eyes and noticed something different in those eyes. Deep within that love and understanding she had to come to depend on, there was darkness. A deep, deep darkness that no doubt plagued his mind at all times of the day and night. Ever since DJ had told her how to read people, and ponies, through their eyes, she had been practicing it non-stop, hoping to use it to further her friendship research. Now, she was using it to see that her husband was covering up even more pain than he had ever put in his letters.

“DJ, what happened to you out there?” She put a hoof on his shoulder, a pleading look in her eyes. DJ blinked and slightly paled. Even Malice turned his head, shrouding his face in shadow. DJ seemed conflicted, his breathing starting to hasten. Then, in a blink, he calmed himself, his eyes steeling themselves.

“A lot of things. A lot of terrible things. I’ll tell you someday Twilight, but for now… now I just want to leave the past in the past. Ok? Just until I settle back in to life here?”

Twilight desperately wanted to refuse his request, to make him tell her right then and there what was troubling him. That look in his eyes, however, took away that desperation. His eyes looked so full of sorrow and regret, of a pony who had done terrible things yet still had a good heart. She sighed and gave him a loving stare. “Alright. For now, but I want you to tell me everything soon. Ok? I’m here for you, honey, just like you’ve always been there for me.” She put a hoof to his chest. “That’s what we’re meant for, DJ. To take on the world, or in this case worlds, together.”

DJ looked at her for a moment in shock, before pulling her in for a sudden kiss. Twilight let out a surprised breath, but quickly melted into the kiss. Scootaloo and Nyx just looked away, looking uncomfortable, while Malice found a rock that was very interesting. When they pulled apart, DJ nuzzled his wife lovingly. “What did I ever do to deserve such a perfect mare like you?” Twilight blushed and returned the nuzzle. DJ leaned down to gently poke her belly. “Ya hear that little one? Your mother is perfect. Remember that.”

Twilight giggled and pushed him away playfully. “Oh stop you. He, or she, will find that out soon enough.”

“Come on, dad, you and mom have had your lovey-dovey time. We just gonna let Ponyville go with your craziness for even longer?”

DJ chuckled at his daughter’s impatience. “Okay, okay. We’ll continue tonight,” he said with a wink in Twilight’s direction, causing her face to burn. She bumped him, causing him to laugh. “Alright, come on. Bon-Bon’s shop is just up ahead.”

Just as he said, the five-some found themselves right outside Bon-Bon’s BonBons and Sweets Shop. DJ used his Pinkie Spy skills to take a look in the shop window. “Well that’s convenient.”

“What is?”

“I see Bon-Bon and Lyra, of course, but Vinyl and Octavia are there, too. Oh and Ditzy and Doc are just finishing up with their purchase. Better get in there so I can catch all of them.” DJ gave Twilight a quick peck on the cheek before moving to the door. “Be right back, hon.” He backed up slightly and kicked open the door, but only enough to open, not break down. “Attention Mares and Stallion!” he shouted, getting all eyes on him that weren’t already. “Look who’s back!”

The entire shop froze in place, all eyes widening at the sight of the stallion grinning madly at them. Then, as one, they shouted, “DJ??!!”

“That’s me! What’s crackalackin’ party ponies?”

Lyra was the first to move, flinging herself at him and sending them both to the ground. “You’re back!”

“Precisely! This is the third, no fourth, time I’ve been on my achy breaky back today. Come, Lyra, I missed you too, girl, but I would like to be standing.”

“Sorry,” she said getting off of him. Time Turner helped the stallion to his hooves and clapping him on the back.

“Good to see ya, lad. How are the worlds?”

“Wibbly and wobbly. Now I understand why you’re so quirky. My mind is fried after all that world jumping.”

“I would wager so. Still, it’s good to see you back in one piece, my boy. You’ll be sharing all you learned about the different worlds with me later on, yes?”

“Count on it, Doc. We’ll make a project out of it, so long as you’re okay with Twilight joining in.”

“Well, alright. I suppose we can trust her about the you-know-what.”

“Thanks.” DJ turned to the other mares in the shop and smiled. Ditzy waved hello at him, to which he waved back. Octavia gave him a courteous bow, a friendly smile gracing her muzzle. Vinyl walked right up to him and they hoof bumped.

“Dude! It’s been over a year, where have you been?”

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you, Scratch. But let’s just say that I’ve been traveling for a while.” Vinyl nodded at that, getting the need for discretion. DJ admired that, but his look turned to confusion at the record sticking out of her saddle bag. “Vinyl? Why does that record in your bag have Sweetie Belle on it?”

She glanced back at her bag and took out the record. “Oh right. I needed to get this mailed out to my producer back in Canterlot. Sweetie’s Ponyville’s rising star right now; she’s on top of the charts in pop. It’s not really my style, but your sister kind a got me into it. Does Pix know yer back yet?”

“Not yet, I was gonna go to Canterlot after finding the others and letting them know I’m okay. So, Sweetie’s singing has really taken off, huh? Well, maybe the two of us will have to a duet sometime. Anyways, it was great seeing you all again, and I hope you’ll all be at my party tonight.”

“Pinkie?” they all asked with knowing grins.

DJ nodded. “Pinkie. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have three other mares and a dragon to find before heading off to Canterlot.”

“See ya, dude!”

“Good to see you again, your highness.”

“Bye DJ!”

DJ waved them all goodbye as they each gave their farewells. He smiled as he trotted out of the shop, only to walk right into a cyan muzzle. His eyes opened wide at the set of magenta eyes right in his face. He smiled once he saw a lock of rainbow hair just on the edge of his field of vision. “Oh hey, Dash. What’s up?”

Rainbow Dash pulled back and gave him her world class smirk. “DJ Sparkle. So… you really did come back. When Twilight and Squirt told me you were here, I wasn’t quite sure. But now, well…” She dropped the attitude and put out a hoof. “Welcome back, DJ.” He smiled and hoof bumped her.

“Glad to be back, Dash. It’s good to see you again.”

“What about me?” DJ perked a little, looking over Rainbow’s shoulder to see his sister-in-law, Fluttershy. He smiled warmly at the butter-yellow pegasus and used his magic to pull her in for a soft hug. “Hey Flutters, I missed you too.”

She sighed and returned the hug. “Oh good, I was worried you didn’t miss me.”

“I’ll always miss family. Have you and Big Mac been working out alright?”

“Yes, oh heavens yes. Big Mac and I have been getting along quite lovely. It’s nice waking up with him in my bed.” She blushed bright red at that. “Oh, did I say that out loud?”

DJ chuckled playfully. “Yes you did. I’m happy for you two and, again, I’m sorry I missed the wedding. I hope I can make it up to you guys someday.”

“Oh it was no big deal. Well, actually it kind of was, not having a best man threw us off a little, but it worked out in the end. You couldn’t help it.”

“I don’t care, Fluttershy. Somehow, I’m gonna make up for everything I missed out on.” He sighed and started to walk back to where his family was waiting. “I’m happy to see you both again and hope to see you at Pinkie’s party tonight. Check ya later!”

“See ya dude!”

“Good-bye.”

DJ walked over to Twilight with a happy smile, though Malice decided to butt in. “Are we done yet?”

“Shut up, ya chaotic prick. Walking’s good for you anyway.”

“I don’t care, I’m getting hungry. Let’s wrap this up.”

DJ rolled his eyes, while Twilight glared at him. “Stop whining, Malice. Or I’ll make sure Pinkie keeps you away from the snack table tonight.”

Malice’s eyes flashed with concern, then turned harsh. “You wouldn’t dare.”

“Try me,” she challenged with a smirk. They stared off against each other for a moment, neither giving in to the other. Then Malice backed off.

“Fine. I’ll ‘behave’. But this isn’t over, Sparkle-butt. I will get you back for this indignity.”

Twilight rolled her eyes and looked to her husband. “This is what you had to put up with for all these years?” He nodded. “Oh, DJ, I am so sorry. I didn’t know you had to put up with such a… such a…”

“Dick?”

“Hey!”

“Well, that’s not a word I would use, but yes. Now then, why don’t we go find Spike and Rarity? They should still be at Carousel Boutique.”

“Lead the way, my shining star.” Twilight giggled with a blush at his little nickname and led them onwards. As they walked, Nyx and Scootaloo asked their father about his journeys, usually about the opposite ponies he met. He explained that someday he would tell them some of his adventures, but right now he didn’t want to think about them. They were disappointed, but they understood. Soon enough, they found themselves outside the Boutique, only there was a sign on the front door, saying ‘Closed’.

“Well, that’s not right. Carousel Boutique shouldn’t close for another couple hours.”

“Somepony is inside,” DJ said as he narrowed his eyes at the building. “Two someponies, both on the second floor.”

“Should we knock?” Nyx suggested.

“Nah, I’ll check it out,” Malice offered. “Spike’s one of the few inhabitants of this world I put up with. Be right back.” Malice turned into some kind of mist and floated in under the door. Twilight turned to DJ with a questioning look.

“He’s the Being of Chaos, remember? He embodies it, which means he can pretty much do anything. He picked up the mist thing from Luna, he’s a big fan of hers.”

“Really?”

“Eeyup.”

Malices suddenly appeared next to DJ, a look of horror and… embarrassment. His cheeks were even lightly tinted pink. “Um… let’s catch up with them later. They’re kind of busy.”

“Doing what?” Scootaloo asked innocently.

“Kid, some things are better left unsaid. Let’s just go to Canterlot and let our other family know we’re back.” The girls shrugged and started heading for the train station. DJ, however, moved in close to his twin and whispered,

“Alright, what’s going on in there? What did you see?”

“Take a look.” He lit his horn and passed on the memory:

Malice reappeared from his wisp state just inside the door, taking a quick look around to see that no one was there. He shrugged and started up the stairs. He started looking from room to room, only finding Rarity’s typical fashion designs and tools. He came to the bedroom door a the end of the hall and heard noises coming from the otherside. It sounded like something was being hit and there were moans coming from within.

Curious, he slowly peaked through a crack in the door and his face lit red. He saw Rarity on the bed in the room, along with Spike, both of whom were… well take a listen:

“Oh, Spikey. Oh, Spikey! OH, SPIKEY-WIKEY!!”

Malice backed away from the door, taking a moment to cool his jets. “Whew.” He took one last look at the bedroom door and shook his head. “As hot as that is, I’m not getting involved. Time to jet.” He jumped back to his spot outside.

DJ’s face was burning, thinking of his brother-in-law and his friend doing something like that. “Well… that happened.”

“Yes, yes it did. Another thing to add to the ‘Things that Can’t be Unseen’ List.”

“Uh huh.”

“Hey!” The two stallions looked over to see Twilight waiting impatiently. “If you’re done, can we get to jumping to Canterlot? Your party is in two hours!”

“Oh crap! Coming, Twi!” DJ rushed over to her, leaving Malice to shake his head before turning to mist and following.

* * * * * * * * *

Princess Celestia was having a very peaceful day, today. It was just simple complaints today, no major disasters, no world-ending crises, just a nice day with her sister and daughter. Yes, to her left sat her dear sister, Princess Luna, and on her right was her only daughter, Pixel Berry. This past year had been another hard one on her, what with her adoptive son forced into a Cultural Journey for thirteen months, but at least she had Pixel back at her side.

She had just sent away the Day Court’s last petitioner, a farmer who was asking for additional sunlight towards his fields as they were beginning to get over watered as of late. A simple request, yet very important to a farmer’s family who depended on the crop for sustenance. She had agreed to allowing an additional amount of sunlight on his fields for the next week, which should counterbalance the watering problem. She sighed happily as he left with a smile on his face.

“You seem tired, sister,” Luna noted.

“No, just pleased. I feel as if there is nothing that could make this day better.”

“Well that just took the wind out of my sails.”

Celestia, Luna, and Berry all jumped and turned around to see the source of that comment. They all gasped as they spotted the Sparkle family, featuring DJ! … and to a lesser extent, Malice.

“Hi mom,” DJ waved.

Immediately, he was tackled by Pixel Berry, glomping him tightly. “You’re back!!” DJ chuckled, commenting about his back, but Celestia didn’t care. She could feel tears beginning to sting her eyes, happiness overwhelming her at seeing her son returned. Luna was overcome with happiness as well, approaching DJ and enveloping him in a hug with her wings.

“It is good to see you safe from harm, nephew.”

“Thanks, Luna.” He looked right at Celetia and smiled warmly and sweetly. “I missed you, mom.”

Tears were now running down the solar princess’ cheeks. She had so wished to hear those words from him again. “And I missed you,” she enveloped him in a massive wing hug, bringing him close to her chest. “I missed you so very much, mine child. Welcome home.”

“It’s very good to be home. But, there’s something we need to discuss.” The sudden seriousness in his voice highly worried Celestia, causing her to back up and look him in the eye. “Both of us,” he said as Malice walked up and joined his side.

“Yes? What is it, my sons?”

DJ sighed, looking to Malice who nodded sagely. He looked right at Celestia and said, “I have been thinking this for a long time now and after everything I’ve been through… everything we’ve been through, it’s about time we cleared the air.” Together they spoke.

“Princess Celestia, Princess Luna. We quit!”

Homecoming, Part Two

“What… what do you mean you ‘quit’?”

Everypony present was completely caught off guard by Malice and DJ’s proclamation. None of them could completely process what had just been said, none could be more true for Celestia.

“I, too, am confused nephews. What you say needs more context, please.”

“Then let us elaborate. Over these past seven months, Malice and I have traveled to many, many different worlds and done many, many things. Some things, I hate to say, we aren’t proud of. We have been heroes, villains, criminals, saviors, and more.”

“And after going through all that,” Malice continued, “we’ve come to the decision that it isn’t the kind of life we want. Not even someone as chaotic as me wants this life anymore. We’re tired of it; tired of the fighting, the life saving, constantly fearing for our lives. It’s not worth it anymore.”

DJ walked up to his mother, his expression one of a hardened warrior that repents the actions that he had to do. “I’m sorry, mother, but we’ve had enough. We are not heroes that you can call on at a moment’s notice for every small problem that crops up. We’re not the military, we are civilians who only did their civic duty. Now, should any major crisis come up, I assure you that you can count on us, but anything less than that and you can count us out.”

They all stood in stunned silence at the pair of alicorns, both having looks of defiance. Neither looked willing to back down from this stance. Or so Celestia could feel. Her son was adamant on this, she was certain, but she could also feel the pain behind these words.

“My sons, why? Why do you take this stance? Precisely, how many worlds did you visit?”

DJ sighed, looking to the ground and then back to Celestia. “Including my first six months? A little over fifty.”

“FIFTY?!” his family shouted at him, shocked and aghast at his statement.

“Yes, over fifty freakin’, fucked up worlds.”

“While Malice’s words are a little crude, yes, many of those worlds were less than pleasant. More than once we were targeted and nearly killed. In many, we had to… take lives to be able to survive and help save that world. In other cases… we weren’t able to save them.”

“DJ…” Twilight said sadly, moving to nuzzle him as lovingly as she could.

“Thank you, Twilight. I’m sorry for being so dark here, but I’ve seen and done things that no one should have to. And I’m done with it. So, yes mother, I quit. No more world saving, no more heroics, just living the life I have in Ponyville with my wife and children. That’s all that matters to me now. I hope you can respect that.”

Celestia looked down at the young, blue alicorn, her face passive and free of any emotion. Her eyes scanned over his being, scrutinizing him over every last detail. After several intense moments, her figure relaxed and she grew a comforting smile.

“My sons, DJ and Malice,... of course I respect your decision. You are correct, you’re not military. Even if you are royalty, you’re still civilians and as such should not be expected to constantly be saving Equestria. All I could ever ask of you is to live your lives the way that make you happy.” She used her wings to pull them both into a hug. “I will love, you no matter what you choose.”

“Thanks mom.” DJ said, nuzzling her chest.

“Whatever,” Malice groaned, but didn’t resist the hug.

“So Malice is a big softie,” Berry quipped with a wry smile, giggling at her “brother” being embraced lovingly.

“Shut the fuck up, Berry.”

“Malice,” Celestia said with a warning tone, glaring at him. “Do not curse at your sister.”

“You ain’t the boss of me! I’m my own pony; I do what I want!”

“One more outburst like that, young man, and I will have to punish you.”

“Bring it, ya old bat!”

“That’s enough of you!” Luna yelled at him as she approached and got in his face. “You will listen to your mother and you will like it! Or so help me, I will banish you to the moon without dinner! Do you understand me?!”

Surprisingly, Malice backed off with a look of fear. “Ma’am, yes ma’am! I will do whatever Celest--” Luna’s glare hardened, “er, whatever mom tells me to do!”

Twilight, Scootaloo, Nyx, and Celestia all gaped at how quickly Malice caved in to Luna’s demands. Their attention was soon diverted, however, by DJ chuckling to himself.

“What’s so funny?” Twilight asked him.

“Malice is, of course! Him and his little crush on Luna~.” Malice’s cheeks turned red as he glared at his twin, while everypony else stared wide-eyed at the chaotic pony.

“I. Do not. Have a crush. On. Luna!” Malice seethed through his clenched teeth.

“Oh yeah, sure.”

“I don’t!”

“Uh huh.”

“Is this true nephew? Do you truly have a crush on me?”

“No! That’s sick! You’re my aunt! I like the other Lunas… oops.”

“AHA! Admittance!”

“Shut up!”

“Tell me, Malice,” Celestia said with a warm smile. Though if one looked hard enough, they would see the slight twitch at the edge of her lip. “Why do you have a crush on my sister?”

“Well… it’s because… um....Luna is best pony,” he mumbled.

“What was that?” she prodded sweetly.

“Luna is best pony?”

“Dude, just say it!”

“Luna is best pony! There? Ya happy now?!”

Luna and Celestia were silent after that outburst, unsure of how to process exactly what they had been told. DJ, who continued to smirk, couldn’t help, but comment on the situation.

“He totally tried to kiss Jen’s Luna.”

That was enough to turn Luna’s already pink cheeks completely red, just thinking of kissing Malice. “Ehem, well that’s… something. I am not sure what it is, but it is certainly something.”

“We did more than kiss,” Malice boasted with a smirk. “I just made the kid hide out in the deeper parts of our mind while Luna activated an anthro spell. She knew more than I thought she did.”

“Dude! There’s children present!”

“Yeah! This fic is only rated ‘Teen’! Keep this up and we won’t be able to keep it that way.”

“...Pix, did you just break the fourth wall?”

“Heh, heh, heh… oops.”

“Oh, great, now the author’s gonna bark at us… again!”

There was completely silence as the three alicorns looked around them, expecting something. Not sure what, but they were. The others, however, were completely confused as to what was occurring, just deciding in the end to pass it of as the randoms being random.

“Well, this is a new development. Usually he’s yelling at us for breaking the wall.”

“He even did it when we were in the other worlds. This is odd.”

“Should we, like, ring a bell or something? Get his attention?”

GAH! Enough already! That’s it, I’m done!

“Oh no! What have we done?! He’s gonna end the story!”

I’m not ending the story, I’m just done with this. Fine, break my wall for all I care, I don’t give a shit anymore. Just try to keep it to a minimum, okay? Now, back to the story with you lot!

“Did, did he just give us permission to break the fourth wall?”

“Heck yeah he did! This is awesome!”

“Calm down, Pix. We have to keep it small, little bits here and there to keep things interesting.”

“Right, right. What were we talking about? Oh yeah! Malice slept with an alternate Luna! ...Ew!!”

“What? I’m not related to every Luna, just the one here. Any other is completely fair game.”

“...Now who’s got issues?”

“Fuck you, bro. Fuck you.”

“Malice!” Twilight screeched. “What did I say about that foul mouth of yours?”

“We’re not at home. It’s fair game outside.”

“Maybe, but you are now in my home, my son. And I do not appreciate such language.”

“Oh yeah?! Well you can take your rules and shove them…” Malice trailed off as he noticed Luna’s harsh glare burning through him. “....right in my face and I will follow each one to the letter. Yep, that’s what I was gonna say.”

“Nice save,” DJ quipped. “Well, mom, it’s been great catching up with you and aunt Luna, but we need to get going back to Ponyville. Pinkie’s putting together a big shindig for me and I don’t want to miss it. You up for a Pinkie party, Pix?”

“Duh! That alright, mom?”

“Of course, Berry. You go have fun with your brother. You both have much catching up to do.” She nuzzled Berry and pushed her over to the Sparkle family. “Just let me know if you stay the night.”

“Sure thing! Let’s go, bro! Heh, that rhymed.”

DJ rolled his eyes. “Clever, Pix, really clever. Let’s go.”

"Bye grandma! Bye great aunt Luna!”

“See ya!”

“Farewell, my children, have fun!” Luna was simply happy with just waving. DJ gathered them close and jumped right back to the treebrary.

“It’s good to be home,” DJ remarked as he settled down on the couch. Twilight jumped up to join him, snuggling into him with her head underneath his chest.

“It’s only home now that you’re back, DJ. I wouldn’t dream of having this be a home without you.”

“Thanks, Twi. That means a lot.”

“Ick! Too much lovey dovey mush!” Malice nearly screamed. “Don’t we have a party to get to? I’m hungry!”

“For once, I agree with Malice. Let’s go! I don’t want to miss out on any of Sensei Pinkie’s cooking!”

“Yeah, come on dad! You can’t miss your own party!”

“Let’s get a move on daddy, they’re probably waiting for you already!”

“They sure are!” Pinkie said as she appeared from out of the chimney.

“Pinkie, why were you in our chimney?” Twilight asked sincerely.

“Well, I was preparing to do a classic musical number, but then you all appeared so I figured it was probably time to get Frosty over to the party!”

“Frosty?”

“I tell you later.”

“Fine. Lead the way, grand master,” Pix said with an exaggerated bow. DJ just rolled his eyes as Pinkie giggled and put on a regal façade

“Why yes, my faithful students, I shall lead the way. I shall lead you down the path of enlightenment, where light is always shining and ponies are givers instead of takers. It will be a long and difficult road, but--”

“Just shut up and take us to the party,” Malice interrupted. Everypony froze, almost literally as a sudden chill went through the air. Pinkie, still smiling widely, slowly turned her head to look at Malice. She slowly moved from her spot, not making a single sound nor letting her face change, getting right in Malice’s face.

“You’re new here, so let me explain something to you,” she said in a sickly sweet whisper that sent shivers down his spine. “When I’m being my amazing Pinkielicious self, you are not to interrupt me.” She leaned her face right into his, making him lean away in slight fear. “Understand me?” Malice couldn’t nod his head fast enough. “I wanna hear it.”

“I will never interrupt you again, Pinkie Promise!”

“Great!” Pinkie said as she pulled back, the air in the room suddenly returning to its normal temperature. “Then come on! You two are needed on stage now!” She reached out her legs to impossibly long lengths, grabbed the two alicorn brothers and dragged them away. The next thing they knew, they were on a large wooden platform with two ponies and a dragon looking at them.

“What just happened?” asked a groggy Malice.

“I think we just got screen pulled.”

“Yepperoni!”

“BRO!!” DJ suddenly found himself being squeezed by an overexcited dragon. “You are back! I didn’t believe them at first, but you really came back!”

“Yes, yes I did!” DJ managed to choke out from the back breaking embrace. “Now, could you let me go before you completely break my spine!?”

“Ack!” Spike immediately dropped him, turning him into a nice heap on the floor. Malice snickered as Spike apologized profusely.

“Yer fine, Spike,” DJ waved off as he got back on his hooves. “Woo, you’ve gotten stronger, little dude. I’m impressed.”

Spike blushed, rubbing the back of his head. “Well, yeeaah. But, I am in my teenage form, so I’m a fair bit stronger like this.”

DJ looked again, confirming that it was indeed a drake that stood easily over six foot looking back at him. He couldn’t help the little knowing smirk that came to his muzzle, nor the words that he spoke next. “You just came from Rarity’s, didn’t you?”

That question, coupled with that smirk, sent Spike into a sputter fit, unable to form anything coherent. “I, I, I don’t, I-don’t-know-what-you’re-talking-about!!!”

Malice broke into a snicker fit, unable to hold back. “Oh please, I saw you both, little drake. We already know.”

Spike paled slightly. “Please don’t tell Twilight! There’s no way she would approve of… well, you know.”

DJ, again, waved off his concern. “Don’t worry, man. Your secret’s safe with us.”

“Eeyup.”

“Gah!” Malice jumped slightly. “Oh, didn’t even see you there. You are way too quiet, Red.”

“Red?”

“Malice doesn’t like to use names. He prefers vague insults that can be used like names.”

“Like the kid said.”

“See?”

Spike looked at Malice for a moment. “What’s he doing out anyways?”

“Hey!”

“Malice is free to do as he pleases, Spike. He’s my twin and, as such, I expect you to be able to at least tolerate him. He’s not evil after all.”

“Could have fooled me,” Spike mumbled under his breath. This received a slight glare from Malice.

“Enough with this!” Pinkie interrupted. “We’ve got a party to do!”

“Then what are we doing back here?”

“Silly Frosty~!” Spike and Mac both silently mouthed ‘Frosty’ in confusion, then shook their heads, deciding to focus on it later. “You’re going to sing! You need your band after all!”

“I’m going to sing? Wow, how long has it been since we did that?”

“Since world thirty-four,” Malice immediately answered.

“Oh… yeah. That one was… interesting, to say the least.” He shook his head, clearing it of old memories. “Anyways, I’m a little underprepared Pinks. I don’t even have…” DJ trailed off as he looked at his brothers in confusion. “Why is Mac behind the drums?”

Mac shrugged. “Ah gave up the bass. The drums are more mah thing. Malice can take the bass if he wants ta.”

The mentioned pony rolled his eyes. “Gee, thanks.” Still he moved over to it and picked up the bass, giving it a few experimental strums. “This’ll work.”

DJ sighed and shook his head. “Whatever. Still, I don’t have anything prepared for this. What am I supposed to sing?”

Pinkie looked out from behind the curtain. “Well, you’d better think of something Frost, because those ponies are starting to get restless. They need something to start this party off right.”

DJ stopped, looking right at Pinkie with a blank expression. “...Say that again.”

“That again!” Pinkie said with a dopey smile.

“No! Repeat what you said.”

“What? ‘Start this party’? That’s what you need to do, start the party.”

DJ smiled and grabbed his trust acoustic. “And that’s what we’re gonna do. I got just the song. Hey boys, you ready for a homecoming Equestria will never forget?”

From his chest pocket, a little draconequus peeked out, smiling at him. “Whenever you are, Boss! Just start it up and we’ll follow, like always.”

“Thanks Uno! Alrighty, brothers of mine, it’s time to welcome myself back home. Ready?”

“As I’ll ever be,” Malice said oh-so-helpfully.

“Eeyup,” Mac said with a twirl of his drumsticks.

Spike played a quick cord on his electric, smiling at DJ. “It’s been over a year since we’ve last heard you singing around town. It’s time for Ponyville to be complete once more.”

“Eeyup.”

DJ smiled at them. “Thanks guys. Alright Pinks, we need a hype mare. Are you up for it?”

“Leave it to me! Just get ready to do that music that you do!” Pinkie fled behind the curtain and began to speak to the crowd. “HEEEEE EVERYPOOOOONYYYYY!!! Who here is ready to party!?” The ponies all stomped and cheered in response, making Pinkie beam even more. “GREAT! Because I got a special treat for you~!” The crowd began to mumble amongst itself, all wondering what their resident party pony meant. “Ya know, for the past year Ponyville hasn’t felt the same. Almost as if something were missing. Am I right?” There were nods in the crowd. “Well, I think we can finally fix that! So without further ado, please welcome back a pony very special to me, to our princesses, and to every Ponyvillian: Prince Blue Frost!” Now, they were all confused. “Also known as DJ Sparkle!!” Nopony was even given a chance to process that surprise as the curtain rose and the music pumped immediately with that familiar blue pony leading the charge.

Yeah

First off hit the groove, let the music play

Next stop everybody, its time to celebrate

Bady go so lets go show, make the genes you got become real

Let's do this, let me hear you, now show me how you feel

Start, start, start the party

Come on, come on everyone

Let's start, start, start the party

What you waiting for now?

Start, start, start the party

Come on, come on, live it up

Let's start, start, start the party

I know you never gonna wanna stop

Despite the strangeness of everypony’s favorite missing prince being no longer, well, missing, they got into the beat right off the bat. They were dancing and grooving, just all around having a great time. This kept DJ smiling as he danced around with Malice and Spike as they played. He spotted Twilight in the back with Fluttershy, both of whom waved when he caught their eye. Nyx and Scootaloo were out dancing with the other members of the CMC. Pixel had found her way over to the other Elements and was dancing her heart out with them. It was going to be a fun night.

Stand up and do the dance, the way you do

I-I- can see all the crowd on the dance floor when its through

Baby go so lets go show, like you never ever did before

Let's do this, let me hear you say more, more, more

Start, start, start the party

Come on, come on everyone

Let's start, start, start the party

What you waiting for now?

Start, start, start the party

Come on, come on, live it up

Let's start, start, start the party

I know you never gonna wanna stop

Let the music take us

Everytime, just close our eyes

Feel the grove, wanna shake us

Everywhere, and everybody, turn it up and start the party

We got it rolling, never slowing down

Lights, camera, action, start the party now

I know your ready there's no need to wait

Now's the time for us to celebrate

Start, start the party (Let's do it)

Start, start the party (Everybody now)

Start, start the party (Let's get to it)

Start, start the party

Start, start, start the party

Come on, come on everyone

Let's start, start, start the party

What you waiting for now?

Start, start, start the party

Come on, come on, live it up

Let's start, start, start the party

I know you never gonna wanna stop

Start, start, start the party

Come on, come on everyone

Let's start, start, start the party

What you waiting for now?

Start, start, start the party

Come on, come on, live it up

Let's start, start, start the party

I know you never gonna wanna, come now let me hear you holler, put your hands up your never gonna stop

With the sudden stop of the music, everypony applauded and cheered. DJ, smiling widely, picked up the mic again and addressed them all. “Hey Ponyville! Look who’s back! Did anypony miss me?” The cheering was almost deafening, causing him to flinch. He looked back at the crowd with a blink… then two. “Wow. That’s… that’s just awesome guys! I’m touched, honestly, that all of you missed me. For that, I feel I should be honest with you.” The ponies went silent. “Not a word of this leaves Ponyville, capiche?” They all went through the motions of the Pinkie Pie Promise, reciting the famou lines. “I didn’t go on a Cultural Journey. Due to an accidental spell, I was sent to Canterlot… in a parallel universe.” The murmuring was a little disconcerting. “I spent those next six months, hoping between universes to get back home. However, due to reasons, I was not able to stay here when I returned seven months ago. So, I went back to traveling these parallel worlds, learning and experiencing new things as I did so. I’ve seen some things, man, and some stuff… I wouldn’t recommend it.”

The laughter he received from that old reference was enough to keep the smile back on his face. “Thanks for laughing at that. Now, I’m glad to say that I’m back after going through that Tart… no, no Tartarus doesn’t begin to describe what I went through. To put it plainly everypony, I’ve been through hell! I’ve been to hell and back, time and time again. And you know what I say to that kind of life? (You may want to cover any foal’s ears for this next part). I say: Buck that shit! No more! No-bucking-more! I’m done with it and never going back. ‘Cause the only thing I want to do with my life now is to be here, with all of you. You took a chance on me all those years ago, so in return I give you all the rest of my life. Though, Twilight has first dibs so don’t go doin’ anything drastic.” The sudden shift caused everypony to break out in hearty, mirth-filled laughter. DJ smiled wider than he had in a long time, a long time. “Now let’s get back to the party! Start themusic!”

I ain't got no car

And I've got one pair of jeans

They've been stretched too far

And now they're weak at the seams

I can't say what's next

And I got nothing up my sleeve

But I don't lose my head

'Cause it ain't really up to me

And I'm doing just fine, I'm always landing on my feet

In the nick of time, and by the skin of my teeth

I ain't gonna stress 'cause the worst ain't happened yet

Something's watching over me like sweet serendipity

whoa whoa oh oh oh

sweet serendipity

I don't ask for a lot

No, nothing more than I need

'Cause I love what I got

Don't need to play the lottery

I just want to be strong

At the end of the road

I don't want to hold on

I want the strength to let go

And I'm doing just fine, I'm always landing on my feet

In the nick of time, and by the skin of my teeth

I ain't gonna stress 'cause the worst ain't happened yet

Something's watching over me like sweet serendipity

And what will be will be

In the nick of time and by the skin of my teeth

I ain't gonna stress 'cause the worst ain't happened yet

Something's watching over me like sweet serendipity, sweet serendipity

Like sweet serendipity

Don't look, fate can only find you

Can't choose for something to surprise you

Set sail without a destination

See where the wind takes you

You never know where you're going to fall

But I'm not worried, I'm not worried at all

And I'm doing just fine, I'm always landing on my feet

In the nick of time, and by the skin of my teeth

I ain't gonna stress 'cause the worst ain't happened yet

Something's watching over me

And I'm doing just fine, I'm always landing on my feet

In the nick of time, and by the skin of my teeth

I ain't gonna stress 'cause the worst ain't happened yet

Something's watching over me like sweet serendipity, sweet serendipity

Sweet serendipity

Don't look, fate can only find you

Can't choose for something to surprise you

Set sail without a destination

See where the wind takes you

Sweet, sweet, sweet sweet

Sweet serendipity

Sweet, sweet, sweet sweet

Sweet serendipity

Sweet, sweet, sweet serendipity

“Alright!That was rocking! I think I got one more in me before I get off my soapbox up here. Are you all up for that?”

“YES!!” was yelled right back him.

“Ack! Ok, ok! You don’t have to yell! Sheesh, some ponies.” They all chuckled at his antics on stage. “So...Twi? What are you doing up here?”

“I came to make a request,” Twilight said as she walked on stage. She walked right up to him and whispered in his ear. He smiled at her, but then he looked worried.

“Are you sure you can handle it?”

Twilight recognized that it was just a small worry in his eyes, instead of simply overprotectiveness. “Yes, I can handle one song. Please?” she pouted.

“Hrk!” DJ clutched at his heart and had to struggle to stay standing. “Stop with the cuteness! I surrender!” A roar of laughter bombarded DJ for his “performance” and he glared at them all. “Oh hush up!” More laughter sprang up as he harrumphed. He smiled and shook his head, letting out a little chuckle of his own. “Alright, hon, let’s sing ‘em a song.”

“Yes,” she nodded, “Let’s.”

Gonna kickoff my shoes and run in bare feet

Where the grass and the dirt and the gravel all meet

Goin' back to the well gonna visit old friends

And feed my soul where the blacktop ends

I'm lookin' down the barrel of Friday night

And ridin' on a river of freeway lights

A goodbye city I'm country bound

'Til Monday rolls around

Gonna kick off my shoes and run in bare feet

Where the grass and the dirt and the gravel all meet

Goin' back to the well gonna visit old friends

And feed my soul where the blacktop ends

The workin' in the grind is an uphill road

I'm punchin' that clock and carryin' that load

I bust it all week and then I'm free

The weekend belongs to me

Gonna kick off my shoes and run in bare feet

Where the grass and the dirt and the gravel all meet

Goin' back to the well gonna visit old friends

And feed my soul where the blacktop ends

So come on

Giveme some fresh air give me that farm

Give me some time with you in my arms

Far away from the hustle and the pressure and the noise

Gonna kick off my shoes and run in bare feet

Where the grass and the dirt and the gravel all meet

Goin' back to the well gonna visit old friends

And feed my soul, you betcha

Gonna kick off my shoes and run in bare feet

Where the grass and the dirt and the gravel all meet

Goin' back to the well gonna visit old friends

And feed my soul where the blacktop ends

Where the blacktop ends

Ooh! Where the blacktop ends!

With the final song coming to close, he bid the audience adeu and trotted off into the party with his wife and brothers. The Discords (Uno, Dos, Tres, Quatro, and Cinco) took their place on stage and played out some tunes to keep the party moving. Several ponies came to welcome DJ back, while the ones who knew kept trying to get DJ over to the bar Pinkie had set up. He had politely refused, but Ditzy and Lyra’s dual pouting, coupled with Twilight’s agreement, he shuffled off to the bar for a drink. As they downed their drinks, Doc was able to convince him to tell them a tale from his travels.

“Come now, Frost, you must have at least one tale you can tell us all. Don’t leave us in the dark, here.”

Strangely, Malice grumbled about a ‘stupid old perv’, leaving them even more confused. This gave DJ an idea for a story. “Well, Malice’s grumbling has sparked an interesting adventure. I suppose I could tell you all about Ryan and Darkness Shade.”

“Who are they?” asked Pixel Berry. “Those are some weird names, so it must be a good tale.”

“Indeed it is. Ya see, Ryan and Dark were a part of the first world we traveled to.”

“Oh, yes, now I remember,” Twilight interjected. “He was the one in a relationship with his world’s Applejack, right?”

“Uh, right,” DJ said with some slight discomfort. No pony was quite sure why, but left it be for now. “Well, for starters, Ryan and I are actually quite a like. Just replace some of the more negative qualities with more randomness and age me a few more years and you got him. They were really nice there and even offered to help me get home. We had a ton of misadventures during the first week, but it all culminated when an evil cult decided to restore chaos into the world. See, on Ryan’s Equestria, Discord was much worse back in the old days, causing mass chaotic destruction--”

“The greatest kind of chaos there is,” Malice quipped. Several ponies glared and deadpanned at him, but he just looked proud.

“R-right,” DJ continued. “Anyways, that Discord was brought to the future by the cult. Ryan and I tried to fight him, but he was too strong, sending us back to the past to get rid of us. There we met Starswirl the Bearded--”

“You did?!” Twilight beamed, getting right in her husband’s face.”Ooh! What was he like? Was he nice? Did he look like he did in the pictures? Tell. Me. Everything!!”

“Twilight, honey, calm down. For one, he was dick.”

“WHAT?! B-but he’s...and the spells… and the journal!”

“Calm down!” DJ said putting his hooves on her shoulder to steady the mare. “Look, Twi, that wasn’t the Starswirl from here. Our Starswirl is probably very different from the douche we met in Ryan’s world. However, I did get you something.” DJ magicked up a little photo and handed it to Twilight. “I managed to get you an autographed photo of the old coot.”

Twilight took the picture in an instant and squealed as she looked at it. She lunged forward and hugged her husband tight, peppering him with kisses. “Thankyouthankyouthankyou Thank You!! Best Husband Ever!!”

“Aw,” DJ said with tinted cheeks as he pecked her cheek back. “Anything for you, Twilight. Anyways, back to the story. With that bearded weirdo’s help, we went back to the future (yep, I really just said that) and teamed up against the evil Discord. It took us using our strongest powers, but we sent him packing! After that was mostly monotonous as Twilight and I tried to figure out a way for me to get home. We figured it out after three weeks, but something went wrong and I got sent to another parallel, only this time with that cooky time warping thingamajig. I’m even loopier than before because of it.”

“I’d be surprised if you weren’t as wibbly wobbly as the worlds after that.”

“Not helping, Doc. Maybe I’ll tell you the other stories sometime, but for now, let’s just enjoy the party.”

“I’ll drink to that!” Spike and Malice shouted as they toasted each other’s beer mugs, downing the liquid in an instant.

“Does Malice have a drinking problem?” asked Lyra, who seemed concerned.

“Nah, I pretty much got it figured out.”

“Heh, good one,” DJ snorted giving his twin a hoof bump.

The night progressed easily after that. There was much partying, plenty of fun and drinks, and was an all around amazing party. As it wound down and ponies started to leave, DJ and his family also decided to call it a night, retiring to the Books and Branches Library around two in the morning.With Nyn and Scootaloo tucked in, the two alicorns found themselves in bed, kissing passionately.

“I missed you so much, Twi,” DJ said in between gulps of air.

“I missed you even more, my love!” said Twilight as she drank in her lover. They held each other tightly, though kept aware of the baby growing in Twilight’s stomach. There they laid, simply basking in each other’s embrace, never letting go, nor ever wanting to. Things were as they should be, and would hopefully stay as such for a long, long time.

...Yeah that’s not gonna happen.

What You Don't Know...

As Twilight awoke the next morning, she felt a distinct lack of a familiar warmth around her. At first, she believed that her blanket had simply fallen off. This proved false as her eyes began to slowly open and she saw said blanket still laying over her. She slowly moved her head, taking in her surroundings from such a wonderful rest next to the stallion she loved. Then it clicked in her mind. Upon looking next to her, Twilight only saw the other side of her bed; no blue alicorn in sight.

Inwardly, she began to panic. Her husband was gone. What if he hadn’t been there in the first place? Had yesterday been just a dream? Was he really still gone? Her breathing started to become erratic; fears starting to overtake her.

*Crash*

Twilight’s ears perked up as she heard that sound. Another soon followed and then another. The crashing sounds became a steady flow, coming from outside her window. Curiosity taking control, she rolled out of bed, carefully due to her pregnancy, and opened the blinders to look out. The sight she saw brought her both happiness and wonder.

Outside, in the backyard, was her husband in his human form, clashing with another human that was grey-skinned and had jet-black hair. She instantly recognized the other human as Malice. Her heart was aflutter at seeing them, knowing that the previous day was no dream, but true life.

Her wonder came from what the two were doing: fighting. DJ and Malice were striking at each other with strangely shaped weapons. She recognized the sword-like one in DJ’s hand as the keyblade he had shown her and their friends upon his first return. What had he called it? The Ultima Weapon? Yes, that sounded about right. Malice’s weapon was much different, resembling a large tumbler key. There appeared to be a few bandages around the base of the blade and had a dragon-head medallion dangling from the keychain. Twilight watched in awe as the two clashed with the two weapons, seeing sparks fly as they collided.

DJ pushed away, twirling his blade in his left hand to readjust his grip. Malice simply sneered as he tightened his own grip on the reverse-held keyblade. The two charged each other, DJ swinging in from above as Malice came from below. The two swords clashed, whipping them back and the their owners were at it again. Blow for blow the two were matched, swinging, slashing, and bashing as the went.

As Twilight watched, it appeared to her as if the two were dancing. There was a grace to their movements, the clashing of metal sounding almost like music. Their speed was almost impossible for her to track without magic. Their movements were practically reverse, as if they were fighting true mirrors of each other. Then Twilight remembered that that was exactly what they were: perfect opposites.

That’s what Malice was, DJ’s opposite created via an accident with Discord. In an attempt to feel the effects of discording, as had happened to Twilight and the others so many years prior, DJ’s physiology and lack of magic had ended up giving sentience to his darkest aspects, creating Malice. When he was first revealed to the girls and their families, Malice came off as a deep hidden evil, one that wasn’t afraid to take lives needlessly. DJ later told them that Malice was more of an annoyance than an evil, basically thinking him to be a very crude Discord.

To this day, Twilight knew very little about “The Demon Within” as they had taken to referring him as. Malice had only been released a few times, most notably in the conflicts with the now-deceased King Sombra and the now-deposed Queen Chrysalis. DJ rarely spoke of Malice, only of the irritation that came from the chaotic being’s comments. However, during their first travels, the two had somehow grown close enough to call each other brothers, twins to an extent.

And now, Twilight was seeing the result of that relationship. The two clashing swords, both with smiles as they sparred. They knew the other’s moves, always countering, always counter-countering. One would come in from the left, while the other would defend perfectly. Neither seemed capable of beating the other, but that didn’t stop them from trying. Twilight realized with that thought why they were fighting: they were trying to better themselves by fighting the only one who could match them move for move. Perfect training for them.

After what seemed like hours, DJ and Malice finally relaxed, their weapons disappearing in twin flashes of light. The humans then transformed back into the alicorns they were, still panting from the intense workout. As they started to head into the house, Twilight finally shook herself from her awe-inspired stupor. She looked to the clock, seeing that she had only been watching for fifteen minutes. Still amazed from what she saw, Twilight made her way down to the kitchen, seeing Spike already making breakfast.

“Morning, Twilight!” the little, winged drake greeted from the stove.

“Morning, Spike. Have you seen DJ and Malice?”

Spike wrinkled his nose at the mention of his other brother-in-law. “Why? I thought they were upstairs.”

“They were just coming in from outside. I thought they would be coming in through the kitchen.”

Spike shook his head. “No, I didn’t even know they were outside. Was that the banging from earlier?”

Twilight nodded. “They were out back sparring. I swear I saw them--” Twilight’s train of thought stopped when she heard the sound of the shower starting up. “Oh, that must be them. That jumping power of theirs must be handy.”

“It’s practically silent,” Spike added as he refocused back to cooking. “Who knows what other powers they gained? I have to say, I’m pretty curious.”

“So am I, Spike. I’m hoping that they would be more willing to--”

Once again, Twilight was interrupted, this time by another alicorn walking in. “Good morning, everypony!” Berry greeted happily. She always had been a morning pony. “What are we talking about?”

“Your brothers,” Spike said offhandedly.

Berry nodded as she sat at the dining room table, Twilight joining her. “What about him? Sure, he’s a little darker than before, but he’s not all that different.”

“We were more talking about any new powers he acquired. The jump ability, those ‘keyblades’ of theirs, and whatever else they may have.”

Pixel nodded in understanding. “That would be interesting to know. Has he said anything about other abilities?”

Twilight shook her head. “No, not yet. He did promise to tell me everything when he had a moment.”

“Well,” Pixel started, looking a little uncomfortable, “that could be a while.”

Twilight’s head tilted to the side. “Why is that?”

“Mom sent me a message late last night. She’s set up a press conference for late this morning to announce DJ’s return. Representatives from the Griffin Empire, the Minotaur lands, the Crystal Empire, and the UHA will be there.”

Twilight’s left eye started to twitch a little, but before she could explode wrongfully on her sister-in-law, DJ walked in, hair still damp from the shower. “Little short on notice there, Pix.”

Berry blushed a little from embarrassment. “Yeah, sorry bro. I was gonna tell you, but I figured you and Twilight wanted some alone time last night.”

“Well, thanks for that. It was a nice night,” he said as he gave Twilight a good morning peck on the cheek. “Morning Love.”

“Good morning,” Twilight said as she returned the peck with a kiss on lips. “We were just talking about you.”

“So I heard. This is gonna go either really good or be really bad.” DJ sighed as he sat down next to Twilight. Spike came in at that moment, a plate of pancakes stacked tall in his claw. He passed the food to himself and the others, sitting across from DJ and Twilight. “Thanks, Spike. Anyways,” he said between bites, “I can see why mom wants to get this done now. The faster it’s out that I’m back, the less political pressure there’s gonna be. Sorry if this cuts into our time today, Twi, but this shouldn’t take too long.”

Twilight sighed, but still nodded. “I understand, politics will always be a pain. I’m just worried because you’ve never met the other dignitaries before.”

DJ waved off her concerns. “Don’t worry about it, love. I’ve handled other species on the other worlds before. Plus, it’s highly likely we could see Insectum or Sting. That alone is enough for me to go along with this.”

“You can also get your new name out to the public,” Berry added. “Though, I still find it strange. Why did you change your name?”

“I’ve been quite curious myself,” Twilight mused. “The kids are still asleep, so do you think you could tell us what happened to calling yourself ‘DJ’?”

DJ was silent for the next few moments. He was quite torn, not sure as to whether or not he could tell them all the truth. That decision, however, was made for him.

“Tell them, kid,” Malice said as he appeared next to Spike, who wasn’t quite happy with the arrangement. “Tell them, or I will.”

DJ sighed, slumping his shoulders slightly. “Alright. But, it’s gonna be a little hard to hear. Just please,” he looked at them, sadness and pain radiating from his eyes, “please, don’t hate me for what I’m about to tell you.”

Berry and Spike nodded warily, not exactly sure about where this conversation was going to go. Twilight leaned in and nuzzled him affectionately, placing a kiss on a lips. She looked at him, displaying her own love filled eyes. “DJ, no matter what, I love you. Anything you did wrong, I know that you had your reasons. I could never, ever, ever hate you. Do you understand me?”

DJ smiled a sad smile at her, returning her affection with a kiss. “Thank you, Twi, that means more to me than you realize.” He sighed and looked off into his memories. “After I left here the second time, I tried to be a hero for the worlds that I traveled to. It worked...on the first few. Then, I started running into worlds where being the hero wasn’t enough. I wanted to save those worlds; as the Being of Harmony, it was my duty to do what I could to bring them balance. I did...many things, things that I’m not proud of. I committed acts that no one being should.”

The others were not sure what to make of this, it was turning into something that they weren’t sure they wanted to hear. “L-like what?” Spike asked, truly afraid of what the answer would be.

DJ was very thankful that it was Malice who answered that question. Though, it was quite the list. “Homicide, genocide, specicide, attempted murder, intentional manslaughter, the list goes on.” Twilight, Berry, and Spike were all aghast and pale.

“Yeah, those. After three months, and nearly fifteen worlds, I realized that living with what I’ve done was too much. I couldn’t commit suicide, not while knowing that there were those waiting for me to come back. Instead, I committed a symbolic suicide, discarding my original name in favor of one I could use to protect others, to be the hero the worlds needed me to be.

Blue Frost was the name I chose. It’s simplistic enough to be easily remembered and still be relatively cool.” Spike chuckled a little from the unintentional pun. DJ rolled his eyes. “Yes, ha ha, ‘cool’. Anyways, my new name caught on to others who Travel and now I’m known to them as Blue Frost. This is why I need the public to refer to me as such. I have marked this planet as under my protection; as my home planet. This means that it is off limits to other Travelers. We all respect each other’s homes and will not intrude unless invited.”

“There are others?” asked Twilight, unable to hold off of her knowledge taking habits. Underneath the table, a quill was painstakingly scratching down her husband’s very word, hoping to use the for a project in the future.

“Oh yes. Hundreds, possibly even thousands of others travel between the worlds. Some are heroes like me, while others just make a living via their travels. There are those who do commit terrible acts throughout the many worlds, but they are the minority. Each one of them are quite powerful and I’m glad I only ever ran into the friendly ones.”

“So, did you become a hero or a criminal?” Berry asked, trying to fully understand what he was saying.

DJ sighed, hanging his head slightly. “I’d like to think I was a hero, but on some Equestrias I had to be the villain. My heroics branded me as such because I went against those who ruled. I had to do terrible things to protect the innocent amongst the worlds. While I may regret my actions, the results were often worth the pain in the end. The means may not justify the end, but it did lessen the pain a bit.”

“DJ,” Twilight said as she put her hoof on his shoulder. “Even though you did those terrible things, I still love you. You did what you thought was right, even if it was through questionable means. Now, let’s have enough of this dark talk, the girls are going to be waking up any minute now then we need to get read to address the populace.”

Her loving smile was all DJ needed to pull him back out of the darkness. He leaned in and kissed her, holding it for a good few seconds. “Thank you, Twilight,” he said as he leaned his head on hers. “Your light has been what has kept me going all this time. Thank you for keeping me out of the dark.”

“No matter what, I’m not leaving, DJ. I’ll always be there for you and all I ask is that you also be there for me. I need you just as you need me, please remember that.”

“Yeah,” he chuckled tapping his noggin. “I got it memorized.”

They all had a good laugh over that, clearing the dark air. They went back to finishing their breakfast, Nyx and Scootaloo coming down after another few minutes. They informed the girls that they would be going to Canterlot for most of the day, but promising to be back by dinner. The girls understood completely, saying that they would be fine until then. DJ and Twilight wished them a good day at school and proceeded to jump to Canterlot, Pixel and Spike in tow.

“That’s still awesome,” Spike commented as they started their walk towards the throne room. “But why didn’t we just jump to the throne room?”

“Didn’t want to freak anypony out. Teleporting in would have been different, since the light would give warning, but since jumping is silent and instantaneous probably could turn into an international incident or some shiz like that.”

“That’s another thing I’ve noticed, bro. You’re using a lot more human-esque terms lately. You’re saying things like ‘hell’, ‘shit’, and other things. I get Malice using it, since he’s such a human-supremacist--”

“Damn straight.”

“But you had embraced most of this stuff early on. Why the change?”

“A lot about me and my ways of thinking have changed, sis. I’m not completely the same pony I was when I left. I still love my fun and my craziness is even worse, but I’m serious a lot more now.”

“If you need proof of that, he hasn’t really bothered crackin’ a joke. Even rolled his eye at his unintentional pun a couple paragraphs back.”

“What?” Twilight and Spike asked.

“Don’t worry about it,” Malice, Berry, and DJ all replied. Twilight and Spike looked at each other and shrugged.

Soon enough, they were outside the throne room, the guards there bowing to the family. Berry stepped forward, “I’ll meet you all inside, I should probably be up there with mom and aunt Luna.” DJ nodded and Berry teleported in a burst of pixelated magic.

“Is Berry any different?” DJ asked once the four were alone… well, guards don’t count. “I mean after being gone for so long too.”

“Well, only Celestia knows the full story. Pixel usually keeps to herself these days, mostly sticking around Canterlot. She has come by to visit every now and then to check on me.” DJ made a mental note to thank Pixel for doing that. “I have noticed that, like you, she has mellowed a bit compared to when she first arrived. It seems that Equestria has a way of calming you random humans over the years.” She smiled and nudged him slightly with that crack.

DJ snickered a bit. “Heh heh, good one, love. Yeah, it seems that humans just can’t stay wacky here, must be something in the water.”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Yeah, that’s it.” She shook her head, still smiling. “It’s really great to have both of you back now. She was pretty broken up when she came back to find you were gone. Tia told me that she lost somepony important to her while she was on her journey, so your disappearance was just icing on that cake.”

DJ cringed slightly. “Aw man, that makes it even worse. I’m gonna have to set aside a day for the two of us or something. Have some brother-sister time.”

“I think she’d like that,” Spike said as he leaned against the nearby wall lazily. “She mentioned that she had something to show you when you got back, so could be interesting.” DJ nodded and a silence came over the group. Malice was spending the time waving his hoof in front of the guards, trying to get reactions out of them. Twilight tried to stop him, but DJ stopped her and just shook his head. He said to let Malice just have his fun, that he needs something to stay occupied. Twilight still couldn’t understand that pony, but she made a mental reminder to speak with Malice a little more to get to know him.

After a while, Spike spoke again. “So, while we’re waiting, got any other stories bro?”

“Plenty, but we don’t have enough time to get into them.”

“Aw! But last night’s was so cool! It sounded like you and Ryan made a pretty good team.”

“Yeah, we did. Though I’m still gonna strangle his neck next time we meet. It was because of his ponies that I got sent from world to world uncontrollably. “

“That’s not a healthy way to get rid of anger, dear.”

“Don’t care. He’s gonna suffer just like Bart Simpson when I get my hooves on him.”

“And I’m gonna sock that two-bit excuse for a spirit he’s got right in his fucking face.”

Spike let out a whistle. “Dang, you guys are really harboring some hatred for those two.”

DJ just waved it off. “I highly doubt we’ll run into them again anyways, so it’s not important. Some of the others we met would be nice to see again, but like I said I don’t plan on Traveling for a long time.”

Twilight nodded and nuzzled him lovingly. “That’s just fine with me. But just because you have these new powers doesn’t mean you can treat the rest of us like invalids. Even like this,” she gestured to her distended belly, “I can still take care of myself if need be. I hope you got that ‘memorized’,” she said playfully. DJ smiled and tapped his head without a word, just kissing her lightly afterwards.

Not even a moment later, Celestia trotted into sight from the hallway. She looked at the group lovingly, even to Malice who simply waved with a face that said, “I don’t really care right now.”

“Hello my sons, Spike, and faithful student. Are you ready?”

“Yeah, let’s get this done. I’ve got stuff to do,” DJ replied with a dopey grin. Twilight smiled at the sight, missing it slightly.

Celestia did too, it seemed as she giggled at him. “Of course, Frost,” she said with a wink. “Now come along. It’s time to meet the public.”

DJ nodded and followed, his family in tow. They reached another pair of double doors and DJ sucked in a big breath, and let it out. “Ok, let’s do this.” Celestia nodded and opened the door. Instantly, DJ was attacked by flashing camera’s, reporters with microphones, and (to his later surprise), tv camera ponies. Each one were bombarding him with questions, none of which he could fully hear or be able to answer them.

At first he was thinking of just jumping away, but he feared that could cause even more problems since nopony else knew of the ability. They would probably freak, thinking he’d been kidnapped again. Instead, he did the second best thing: yell as loud as he could.

“SHUT THE HELL UP!!”

In that moment, everything just stopped. All of the reporter ponies were staring in shock at DJ for using the Royal Canterlot Voice on them and were unsure how to proceed. DJ took the initiative and moved forward, up to the conference table and took a seat, still looking very much unamused by the ponies. Twilight, Spike and Celestia all joined him with Pixel Berry and Luna already at the table. Those two were also trying not to burst out laughing at the scene they had just witnessed. Malice turned to mist and returned to DJ’s head.

Less things to explain, the faster we can get the hell out of dodge, he explained when DJ asked what he was doing. He nodded, thankful for having one less thing to explain. It was already bad enough he was about to lie to the entire world, best not to make things even more complicated.

“That little incident aside,” Celestia began, “I would like to thank you all for coming. I am quite happy to announce the return of my son, Prince Blue Frost, formerly known as Prince DJ Sparkle. Would you be willing to say a few words and take some questions, my son?”

“I will not be saying a few words,” DJ said getting a quick murmur out of the crowd. DJ refused to carry on this lie if he didn’t have to. “I will, however, be open to taking questions. Would anypony care to begin?”

Several reporters scrambled to get the big scoop, nearly climbing over each other. However, another burst of the RCV from Celestia settled that matter and they took their seats. This time, they simple resorted to the old elementary tactics of reaching their hooves high and chanting, “Ooh! Ooh! Me! Me!” DJ waved his hoof over the crowd and picked out one of the calmer reporters, this one a light blue pegasus stallion.

“Cloud Dasher, Equestria Daily,” he stated. “Your highness, why the change of your name?”

DJ chuckled a little. “Out of everything my name is what’s got you confused?” He received a good chuckle out of the crowd for his efforts. “I just felt that a change in identity was required after all the things I experienced. Next question.”

This time was a queen unicorn mare. “Harmony Shimmer, Canterlot Times. Where did you travel to exactly, your highness?”

“That is, unfortunately for you, a secret. Some of the things I experienced should not be repeated. I will say this, I have done good, done bad, and done some in between. As the old saying goes, ‘shit happens’.” Some ponies shuffled uncomfortably, but some of the more experienced reporters cracked up. DJ smiled as the laughter filled the air, almost becoming infectious. “Next question.”

And so this went on for a little over an hour. DJ was happy to answer some of the questions. Especially the ones focusing on his plans for the present and future. He was glad to tell them that he would be settling down in Ponyville to live out his days with his family. He did state that should Equestria ever need help, he and the former Bearers would always be there to defend their home.

With the questions over with, DJ and his family were escorted to the foreign dignitaries. He was first introduced to the griffin emperor, Michelangelo. DJ kept wanting to call him Mikey and see if he wanted to go get some pizza, but Berry kept him back. She later whispered to him that she already tried that but didn’t get any results. The minotaur chief was a little harder for DJ to make fun of, being that his name was Bone Crusher and he didn’t want to press his luck. He still doesn’t believe Pixel that he’s actually a big softy. Upon seeing Insectum, the two hugged like old friends. Sting, DJ’s old comrade from the Changeling Revolution, was also present, having been promoted to the captain of the changeling royal guard. The two promised to meet up next time Sting was in Ponyville.

The meetings went relatively quick, though DJ was required to return at a later date to properly converse with the dignitaries, being that this was too quickly planned. He agreed and, after saying goodbye to his changeling friends, Celestia, Luna, and Pixel, the family were back home just as Nyx and Scootaloo were returning home.

“Hey girls!” Twilight greeted as she, Spike, DJ, and Malice spread out from the jump spot. “How was school?”

“Was okay,” Scootaloo shrugged.

Nyx rolled her eyes. “I found it very fascinating. Ms. Cheerilee decided to do a lecture on Canterlot Royalty to celebrate dad’s return. How is Blue Blood related to Celestia, though? That wasn’t covered.”

“If I remember right,” Twilight said as she put a hoof to her chin in thought, “He is a descendant of Luna’s family line. She, unlike Celestia, did have children, but they grew old where she did not.”

Even Malice winced at that. “That’s gotta hurt. No wonder she’s the dark one.”

“Amen to that,” DJ said. “Well, let’s get some snacks and then you and I can talk, Twi.”

“Yay!” Twilight squealed as she clapped her hooves in glee. Then she remembered where she was and noticed her two daughters beginning to crack up. Her face burned with embarrassment. “I-it was a mood swing,” she tried to pass off.

DJ rolled his eyes. “Whatever you say, dear.”

After a quick snack of hay fries, DJ and his wife went to the study so she could grill him on all of his new abilities. As they walked in, Twilight continued into the room, but DJ had stopped at the entrance to stare. The study was a complete wreck! Books, scrolls, and note papers were scattered everywhere!

“Damn, hon! Looks like a tornado ran through here. What on Equis have you been doing in here?”

“Well, during your absence, I decided to dive back into my studies. I’ve been working more with rune magic, a few other projects too, but most recently I decided to finish up my genealogical studies.”

“Finish up?” DJ parroted before realization came. “Oh yeah! I remember that one. That was the project that got interrupted by Pixel coming to Equestria. ...wow, that feels like so long ago now.”

Twilight nodded in agreement. “Yeah, that was way back when you were still human. Those were some interesting times. I’ve just about finished up that research, too.”

“Really? Mind if I see?”

Twilight gave him a suspicious glance. “You’re not trying to get out of telling me your stories, are you?”

DJ shook his head. “No, I’m just a little curious as to the results of that project. History has always been a big interest of mine, remember?”

“Yes, I remember. Well… I suppose a little show shouldn’t hurt.” She ruffled through a few pieces of parchment and pulled out a specific sheet. She hoofed it over to DJ. “This is the final spell I created. Casting this should show a pony’s full family line, starting with them and working both forward and back through time.”

“Huh, interesting,” DJ said as he looked over the spell. “It’s not all that complicated from the looks of it. Can I see it work?”

“Sure! I’ve been waiting to test this out.” Her smile turned a little scary and DJ backed up a little, right into the wall.

“Now-now, now Twilight! Y-you remember what happened the l-last time you tested a spell on me! I got teleported to an alternate Equestria, you can’t seriously be wanting to test on me again!?”

“Oh, that’s where you are wrong, honey,” Twilight said as she approached, her voice sickly sweet. “You’ve been around at least fifty different Twilights and well, this will be enough proof for me that you weren’t messing around out there.” Her horn lit up with her raspberry-colored magic and pointed it right at DJ. She cast the spell with a flash, blinding both ponies. “D-did it work?” she asked groggily, rubbing her head.

DJ, looking at something right above her, nodded, but was trying very hard to hold back his laughter. “Yep, it worked. Look!” He pointed up and she looked, her eyes widening at the sight of a bubble with a picture of her within. Her blank stare was enough to push him over the edge and started to roll on the ground, laughing his flank off. “Oh, oh, oh, it hurts! It hurts! Hahaha!!”

Twilight pouted angrily at him “It’s not that funny,” she said in whiny whisper.

DJ calmed down after a few moments, getting back to his hooves as he wrapped Twilight in a comforting hug, though he was still slightly chuckling. “It’s alright, dear. It still worked. And just so you know, I swear to the highest beings that I did not cheat on you out there. I will admit, there were times where I was tempted, but I held out because I had the most perfect, most beautiful, and smartest mare waiting for me at home.” He kissed her cheek softly and rub it with his. “You’re the only mare I need, Twilight.”

Tears in her eyes, Twilight returned the nuzzle. “I’m sorry, DJ. It’s just that I was so afraid that… and with the baby coming--”

DJ silenced her with a kiss to the lips. She gasped in surprise, but quickly melted into the kiss. The passion behind it made it feel like hours instead of the thirty seconds that it was. DJ looked right into her eyes, “You are the love of my life. I don’t blame you for your fear, but I will never betray you like that. I will forever be yours and that will never change, my shining star.”

Twilight wiped her eyes and nuzzled under his chin. “Thank you,” she whispered. They stayed like that for several seconds before…

“Ew!”

“Ah gross! Not this again!”

DJ and Twilight turned to see Nyx and Scootaloo in the doorway, Spike and Malice flanking them. Spike was just smiling warmly while Malice still looked like he didn’t care.

“Was there something you needed girls?” asked Twilight, trying to get her emotions under control.

“We just wanted to know what that flash was,” Nyx said while her gaze drifted up to the bubble. “What’s with the picture bubble?”

“It’s the result of the Family Tree Spell I’ve been working on. But I had aimed it at your father, yet it seemed to have been cast on me. Why?”

DJ looked over her notes again and smiled. “Found the problem.” He showed the parchment to Twilight and pointed to a part of the spell. “See this part here? You carried over the wrong coefficient. As such, this spell affects the caster, not something else.”

Twilight snatched the spell and looked it over quickly, running through the equations in her head. She slowly set it down, staring at DJ. “You’re right, but how could you tell? Has your magical knowledge increased?”

“Greatly!” DJ boasted. “But what’s with bubble? Isn’t it suppose to be doing something?”

“Try touching it,” Twilight suggested.

DJ shrugged and tapped the bubble with his hoof. There was a small ‘ding’ and the bubble started to glow softly. Everypony and dragon present watched as glowing lines started to extend from the picture of Twilight. One line went to the left and formed a bubble picture of DJ as another went down, branching into two that formed pictures of Nyx and Scootaloo. The final line went upwards, and branched into a much longer line that extended into bubbles featuring Spike and Shining armor at the downward ends. Shining’s continued left, forming Cadance, and down between that line to form Guard Armor. The lines continued upward again for Night Light and Twilight Velvet, extending past them as well.

Twilight was giddy that it worked, clapping her hooves in success. “Oh, yes! It worked!”

“Wow,” Nyx commented as she saw the lines continued upwards. “Are those our great grandparents?” she asked as more pictures formed above Night Light and his wife.

“Oh my, I haven’t seen pictures of them in ages. Yes, that one is your great grandfather, famous for his discovery of the ninth planet in our solar system…”

As Twilight explained to Spike and the girls their ancestors, DJ’s attention was on Night Light’s picture. Another line had branched off to the left of him and was continuing on, forming a picture of a robin’s-egg colored, unicorn mare with a dark blue mane. In between the two, another line formed, going down and forming another bubble. DJ started to panic.

“Twi...please tell me that you have an aunt on your father’s side that you never told me about.”

“No, not that I know of,” Twilight asked while still following the lines up. “Why do you ask?”

“Uh...you may want to see this.”

Twilight turned her gaze to where DJ was looking and her eye widened in fear and panic at what she was seeing. “No, no this can’t be right! My father he...he…”

Everyone watched with rapt attention as the line started to form a bubble. They were all flabbergasted at the picture that appeared. In the bubble was a pale blue unicorn mare with a silver mane… a very familiar looking pony.

“How...how...can this be?” Spike asked as he tried to grasp the concept.

“If, if this spell is correct then...my father….he had an affair!!” Twilight nearly screamed.

“And not only that,” Malice said as he too stared at the picture. “He had a kid. You got a half-sister out of the deal.”

“And it’s a pony we all know,” DJ said.

“I can’t believe this!” Twilight screeched. “Trixie Lulamoon, is my half-sister?!”

...Can Hurt You...

“I-I just can’t believe it,” Twilight stammered out as she stared at the bubble picture of Trixie. Everyone’s gazed was locked on to the picture of that familiar azure pony with her dark violet eyes and silver mane. “Why?” Twilight asked after a moment of silence. “Why is she on my family tree? Why is this spell showing this?”

DJ looked over at Twilight, seeing she was on the edge of either bursting into tears or flames. No doubt both, with my kind of luck, he thought to himself. He put his left arm around her neck and pulled her close to him. “Now Twilight, honey, please just calm down. We’ll figure this out.”

“Calm down? Calm down?” she asked in disbelief, turning to meet him in the eyes. “Calm. Down?! How can I be calm when a spell of my own creation is telling me that my father, my own father, had an affair?! Not only that, but it lead to the birth of a child that nearly got Ponyville destroyed twice!! How can you tell me to calm down?!”

Unbeknownst to Twilight at the time, she had subconsciously activated the Royal Canterlot Voice. In her screaming, she ended up blasting her entire family into one of the far bookcases, all of them a little delirious from the experience.

“I’m sorry?” DJ called out from underneath a pile of books. Malice, however, wasn’t so fortunate, getting his whole body, back first, stuck in the actual bookcase.

“Kid, you gotta put a muzzle on that girl more often,” he groaned from his prone position.

“T.M.I., dude!” Spike said, rubbing his sore head and try to shake off the swirling stars in his eyes. DJ grumbled slightly, pulling himself out of the book pile with a frown on his face as he glared at his brother.

“One time. That was one time. And we both agreed to never speak of it again. That goes for you too, ya chaotic prick.”

“I agreed to nothin’, harmonic douche.”

“I’m starting to need brain bleach!” cried Scootaloo, who was covering her ears. Nyx had moved to standing near the trash can, looking a tad bit green.

“Oh, please no more talk about mom and dad’s sex life,” she groaned. “I think I’m gonna ralph.”

After hearing her daughter’s calls of “distress”, she was finally able to snap back into reality and see what she had done in her quick burst of anger. She blushed fairly hard in embarrassment and let out a sheepish laugh. “Sorry everypony. I guess I let my anger get the best of me.”

DJ walked over and hug her comfortingly. “It’s alright, Twi. This would be shocking for anyone.”

“It’s just so hard to believe. I want to think it’s just a mistake in the spell matrix, but I went over it several times and, besides the self-casting mix-up, it should be working perfectly.” A few tears started to leak from her eyes. “I, I just...why? Why would my father do this?” Twilight was just on the verge of completely breaking down into sobs.

DJ leaned in and nuzzled her cheek, try to soothe her. “Shh, shh, it’s alright Twi. We’re gonna figure this out.”

“R-really?” she asked, looking him in the eyes. DJ gave her a smile, one full of compassion and understanding, just like his eyes. There were no words, there was no need for them. That smile was all she needed to know that everything would work out in the end.

“Well,” Spike began, “the only way we’ll know for sure is to go confront dad. He’s the only one who would know.”

“Spike has a point,” Nyx added. “Grandpa would be the only way we’ll ever know.”

DJ nodded. “Then it’s settled. We’ll go to Canterlot to find out the truth, straight from the source.”

“You mean, straight from the horse’s mouth?” Malice asked with a smirk. Everyone else just deadpanned at him, but his expression didn’t change. That is, not until an anvil materialized above him and crushed his head into the floor. “Oomf!”

Spike, Nyx, and Scootaloo were more than a little shocked. They looked over and saw DJ’s horn starting to power down, looking as innocent as ever. “I didn’t do that.”

Twilight giggled at her husband’s shenanigans. “That was mean, dear.”

“But funny~!”

Twilight took another look at Malice, who was struggling to pull his head out from under the anvil. She had to stifle another burst of laughter, but couldn’t rid herself of the smile. “Ok, it was a bit funny.”

“So, we got that settled, now let’s go interrogate grandpa!” Scoots said with enthusiasm.

“Oh no,” Twilight reprimanded her. “This is not something you both will be a part of. This is grown up business and you’re still too young.”

“Aw!!” the siblings whined.

“She’s right girls,” DJ added. “You’re both barely teenagers.”

“Oh come on! I get Nyx, since she’s twelve, but I’m thirteen! Two more years and I’m a legal adult!”

“Hey! Thanks for throwing me under the bus, Scoots.”

Scootaloo gave her an apologetic smile, but stood strong against her parents. “Come on! Let me come to.”

DJ only shook his head. “Sorry Scootaloo, but the answer is no. You both have school in the morning. I know you want to come and are probably very curious, but this is a delicate situation we’ve found ourselves in. It needs a discreet approach.”

Twilight blinked, looking at DJ. “Wow, that’s certainly something coming from you, dear.”

DJ gave her a proud smirk. “I have many secrets, love. You’ll know them all some day.”

“B-b-b-but!” Scoots stammered, before Twilight put a hoof to her mouth.

“That’s enough, young lady. That’s our decision and that’s final. I’m sorry, but that’s how this must be.”

Scoots let out a whine as she hung her head in defeat, sniffling a little. “Okay.”

DJ picked up there that something else was wrong. “Scoots? Scootaloo, look at me.” She did as told and looked her father in the eyes, tears building up in hers. “Scootaloo, what’s this really about?”

She sniffled a little, trying to wipe away her continuously building tears. “It’s just...I’m jealous of Nyx, okay!”

DJ blinked at the young pegasus mare. Twilight, Spike, and even Malice were a little surprised as well. But it was Nyx who was able to speak through her confusion. “Jealous of me? Why? Why would you be jealous of me?”

“Because…you got to go on an amazing adventure with dad and came back better than ever. But when he left again, he had to go alone and couldn’t take me with.” She looked back at her father, unable to stop the stream of tears. “And now you’re back, but... but... but you don’t want to spend any time with me! I know I’m adopted and you could never love me like you love Nyx, but--.”

Scootaloo was interrupted right there when DJ lunged forward and picked his daughter up in a tight embrace. “Scootaloo, never think that I don’t love you. I love you both equally; nopony is better than the other.” He pulled back to look her in the eyes, those little, tear-filled, eyes. “I am so sorry that you felt like this, Scoots. I never meant to make you feel like you weren’t loved. And after everything that happened on my travels, I’m glad you didn’t come with me. I did many things I’m not proud of and that I would never wish on a young mare like yourself. I do love you, Scoots. I always will, never ever forget that. Okay?”

Scootaloo sniffed wiping away her tears as a small smile appeared on her face. “Okay. Thanks dad.” She leaned back in, nuzzling his chest.

DJ returned the smile, still hugging her tight. After a few moments, he ended the hug and smiled down at the young mare. “Now, while we can’t take you with on this little ‘adventure’, I promise that you and I will set a day aside soon. A day for just you and me.”

Scoots immediately perked up. “You really mean it?!”

He nodded at her happiness. “Yep. You and me. We’ll do whatever you want to do.”

Happiness pouring into her, Scootaloo jumped into the air, fluttering her wings. “Yes! It’s gonna be the best day ever!! Thanks dad!”

DJ couldn’t help but chuckle at her enthusiasm. “It’s no problem, Scoots. Back on topic, though…”

“Yes,” Twilight agreed with a nod and a scowl. “Let’s get going to see my father. He has some explaining to do.” Twilight started towards the door, but DJ stopped her with a hoof. When she turned to look at him, he was shaking his head.

“Tomorrow, Twi. It’s late and we all could use some sleep after everything today. We’ll have plenty of time tomorrow to find out the truth.”

“B-but,” Twilight started, trying to protest. DJ just shook his head, saying that it was for the best. “Oh, alright. We’ll go tomorrow. But I won’t like it.”

He smiled a little bit, chuckling under his breath. Of course, dear. Now come on, let’s get some dinner.”

The next morning came all too soon for the Sparkles. It was obvious that none of them slept easily, this new information looming over all of them. Twilight was especially affected. All through the night, she tossed and turned in bed, nearly throwing DJ off more than once. After an incredible little fit, DJ finally ended up rolling off the bed. The loud thud had awoken the pregnant mare, making her look over the side of the bed and down at her husband who was tapping the floor with his hoof, looking highly unamused. She tried to apologize, but he waved off her concerns, taking a pillow and a spare blanket to the floor where he slept for the remainder of the night.

At breakfast, the family was uncharacteristically sullen. There was polite small talk every now and then, but it was a mostly quiet breakfast. Eventually, the time came for Scootaloo and Nyx to head off to school, leaving Twilight, Malice, DJ, and Spike to prepare to confront Night Light.

“Should we pack for a long stay?” asked Spike, looking through one of the closets for bags.

Twilight shook her head. “No, I just want to get the truth and then…”

DJ wrapped his arms around Twilight, bringing her in for a hug, sensing her close to breaking down again. “Hey, everything will be okay. Let’s just stay calm until then.”

She sighed and nuzzled his cheek. “Right. Just pack an overnight bag, Spike. Just in case.”

“Sure thing, Twi.”

In less than ten minutes, they were all set to leave and finally find out the truth.

“Alright, DJ,” Twilight said as she placed on her saddlebags. “Jump us to my parent’s house.”

“Huh?” he replied. “I thought we were taking the train.”

“Why would we take the train when you can get us there instantaneously?”

“But I can’t jump us there.”

There were a few seconds of pause between them all before Spike and Twilight said, “What?”

“I can only jump to places I’ve been with my powers. I need to have a jump point set and I don’t have one anywhere near your parents. I could get us to the castle again, but that’s a pretty fair distance from there. Even with wings.”

Twilight groaned out loud and started walking to the basement. “I guess we take the teleport pad then.”

Malice and DJ looked at each other then back at Twilight as they all followed her.

“The what?”

“After you two disappeared again, Twilight decided to perform some more experiments with that rune teleportation and created a much more stable form of it,” answered Spike.

Now the twins were looking at the drake with the same look of dumbfoundment.

“Twilight needed a new guinea pig and practically pounded it into me what she was doing.”

DJ and Malice both made an “O” with their mouths and nodded in understanding.

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Anyway, I finally cracked the runes thanks to an expert in Canterlot. And with that knowledge, I created this!” She waved her hoof over to a large machine in the back corner of the basement laboratory. It was large and cylindrical, with a large circular pad at the base with many different circles of lights in it.

“Holy shit,” commented Malice, causing Twilight to glare at him. “Dude, your wife just stole from Star Trek.”

“I love that show!” Spike said cheerily.

“I did not!” Twilight fired back. “I created this months before that show even aired for the first time!”

DJ tilted his head in confusion, then remembered that he had been gone for over a year. It was quite possible for Ponywood to have gotten to a bunch of other shows and movies that Twilight and he had shipped off to them. The majority of them would be remade with ponies instead of the original humans, but the executives over there had also chosen to keep a few of them as they were and rebrand them as sci-fi shows. DJ momentarily pondered whether or not Star Trek would have been one of them.

“This is still just a prototype,” Twilight continued, “but it should connect us to any place in Canterlot….if my calculations are correct.”

“‘If’?”

“Let the girl do her thing, Malice,” DJ chided. “We’ll go on later about this teleporter, but we have more important things to attend to.”

They all nodded in agreement as Twilight ushered them onto the main pad. She went over and typed in some numbers into the command module before joining them.

“This should place us not too far from my parents house. Hooves crossed.”

“How do you even do that?”

“Shut up, Malice.”

The lights intensified around them as the machine whirred to life. All around them, a column of blue light started to appear and swirl around them. And in a flash, they were gone.

Outside of Joe’s Donut Shop, a large flash of light appeared, revealing the three alicorns and one drake. DJ had to blink a few times to get his eyes to refocus, even shaking his head.

“Woo!” he exclaimed. “Twi, you gotta work on those lights. It may work, but you’re gonna make a pony go blind doin’ that too many times.”

She giggled at him a little. “I’ll keep that in mind. Now come on,” she started walking to the west, “my parents’ house should be this way.”

“Hop on Spike,” DJ offered, to which the drake got on excitedly.

Malice just rolled his eyes at his brother. “You really are a pack mule. No offense.” DJ was about to question that last bit before he heard from behind them,

“None taken.”

“Gah!” DJ and Spike jumped to see a lanky mule behind them, walking off with his cart. They turned to look at Malice who was grinning like a madman….which was usually normal for him. “How did you…?”

“This place is predictable,” he answered before trotting after Twilight. “I’m just playing along.”

DJ and Spike looked at him incredulously before looking at each other and shrugging.

“Wait for us,” he shouted as they ran after them.

Not long after, the four of them were standing on the doorstep to Night Light and Twilight Velvet’s home. Twilight took in a deep breath and let it out, somewhat shaking. DJ put his hoof on her shoulder and gave a small smile. She smiled back as thanks and knocked on the door.

“Just a moment!” a female voice sounded from within. A few seconds later, the door opened, revealing the light grey mare that was Twilight Velvet. “Oh my goodness! Twilight!!” She and Twilight hugged, breaking after a moment. “Oh this a wonderful surprise!” The elder mare looked behind Twilight and gasped, seeing DJ, Malice, and Spike. “Oh my, DJ!” She hugged him too. “Welcome back! Did you enjoy your trip?”

“Let’s just say it was one I won’t soon forget,” he replied cryptically.

Velvet giggled and ruffled Spike’s spines. “And how’s my little stallion?”

“Ugh!” Spike brushed away the hoof with annoyance. “Come on! I’m nineteen for Luna’s sake!” Velvet just giggled a little more and pulled him in for a hug. He relented with a sigh and hugged back. “Hi mom.”

“That’s better.” Then her eyes fell on Malice. “And who would you be, sir?”

“A murderous jackass bent on chaotic destruction.” Malice smirked wickedly as Velvet gaped like a fish.

“Not cool, dude,” Spike and DJ said in tandem. Malice snickered wickedly, faintly reminding his brother of Muttley from Wacky Races.

“Velvet,” DJ put a hoof on her back. “This is my brother, Malice. He’s…--”

“I remember him,” she interrupted him, glaring at the grey alicorn. “Night and I were there when you ‘introduced’ him to us all.” Velvet looked at DJ with a raised eyebrow. “How is free and why did you call him brother?”

“A lot happened on my journey. One of them was getting a little closer to my darker half.”

Velvet gave a suspicious glance at Malice before entering her home. “As long as he doesn’t cause any trouble, he can come in the house.”

“No promises,” Malice muttered smugly as he followed everypony into the house.

It was your typical family home. A small entryway, decorated with a few plants and a table, with stairs leading up to the second level just off to the right. They followed Velvet down through the entryway and into the living room. Sitting on the couch was the stallion of the hour: Night Light. He was reading the morning paper, flipping through with a twitch of magic. The blue coated stallion looked up from his reading and smiled widely at everypony.

“This is certainly a surprise,” he said happily as he greeted them all. As Velvet moved to the kitchen, DJ, Twilight, and Spike took seats on the couch opposite the one Night Light sat on. Malice was content with just standing off to the side. Twilight’s mother returned a moment later with a few light snacks and some drinks. “So what brings you kids here?” Night asked as he took a sip of cider.

Twilight looked to DJ, who nodded solemnly to her. She breathed in and out deeply before looking at her father. “Dad, I know.”

Night Light looked confused. “‘Know’? You know what, sweetheart?”

“I know you had an affair,” Twilight said, finally getting it off her chest. Night Light froze, his glass dropping out of his magic and shattering on the floor. Velvet paled, looking at her husband fearfully.

Night gaped like a fish for a few moments before shakily asking, “H-how did y-you find out?”

“A family tree spell I created. It looked back through our family genetics and created a tree accordingly. Yours branched off from mom on to another mare,” Twilight explained, not meeting her father’s eyes.

“I see,” he said simply. There was dead silence in the home for a few moments before Night broke it with a deep sigh. “I suppose you would have found out one day.” He looked at his daughter with the eyes of a remorseful sinner. “Yes, I did commit an affair. Many years ago, before you were born.”

“Why?” was all Twilight could ask.

“Please understand, sweetheart, we were different ponies back then. A lot of things piled on top of each other: raising your brother, Velvet’s books weren’t selling, and my own job was at risk; this was back when I was just a pencil pusher at the observatory. Your mother and I used to fight a lot in those days. After a particularly heated argument, I left. I just couldn’t be around her anymore.” He gave Velvet a sad glance, her looking away in regret just as much.

“What happened after that?” Spike asked.

“I went to live with my personal secretary for a while. We had always been close and she offered me a room in her house. She was a sweet mare, very lively around the office. I told her everything about what happened, and…”

“Lemme guess,” Malice interceded. “Tequila was involved?”

Night Light sighed and nodded. “A few shots later and, well you know the rest.”

There was quiet again as they drank in the news.

“We both felt horrible afterwards, and of course I told Velvet everything. I felt so ashamed. Thankfully, Fantasia (that was her name) was very understanding. It was a mistake on both our parts and we tried to put it behind us. Velvet and I patched everything soon enough as things began to improve, especially after a little trip to the doctor’s told us a certain little filly was in the making.”

Twilight blushed a little out of embarrassment. “But it wasn’t the end of it, was it?” Her father blinked, knowing he had been caught. “We know you two sired a foal, dad. Why have you never spoken about her?”

A small tear grew in her father’s eyes that he wiped away. “A little while before you were born, Fantasia came to me, only a few months behind Velvet. The three of discussed what we would do. We all had reputations to uphold, so we came up with a compromise and alibis. Fantasia would pass it off as a lover who ran off after the pregnancy like a coward, which I would support in the workplace, despite the picture it painted for me. Velvet and I would continue as always, but we would do whatever we could to help our friend. Fantasia named us as the godparents, so we were present at the birth. You were too, though you were too young to remember. She gave birth to an adorable little filly.”

That was what Twilight was waiting to hear. Silently choking back her fear, she asked the all encompassing question: “W-what was her name?”

“Fantasia named her a wonderful name. Trixie, Trixie Lulamoon,” Night Light said with a small smile. Twilight felt her voice catch in her throat, the same went for Spike. DJ and Malice looked at each other with a hint of actual surprise.

“Why?” Twilight asked, her voice finally returning. “Why did you never tell me about this? Does Shining even know?”

Velvet nodded. “He does. Your brother found out about it going back through some of our files in preparation for his wedding. He confronted us just as you all have and we told him everything. And before you ask, Shining made us promise not to tell you. He didn’t think you would be able to take the news.”

Twilight felt her heart break a little bit as tears welled up in her eyes. “Wouldn’t be able to… Shiny didn’t think I could take it?”

“You have to understand he was just looking out for you, honey. With how hectic your life had been up to that point, he probably didn’t want you to have more to worry about.” Twilight couldn’t argue with that, considering it must have been after Discord’s initial breakout. “But as for the reason we didn’t tell you… because something awful happened.” The foursome leaned in, a little more interested now. “One night, a couple years later, there was an accident. The investigators said one of her stove’s fuel lines must have burst. Her entire house went up in flames. Fantasia and her child were consumed in the flames. I’m sorry Twilight. We just couldn’t bring ourselves to say anything when such tragedy happened.”

DJ. Twilight, and Spike looked at each other then back to the elder ponies. DJ was the one to speak up. “Um, if you don’t mind me asking, Night Light, what did Trixie look like?”

“She was cute little thing,” he said, remembering the memory fondly. “Light blue coat, cute little smile, and that shining silver mane of hers. I can still remember that big grin she had when we gave her her second birthday gift. Your mother and I made her a big ol’ cape and wizard’s hat. Fantasia told us little Trixie was enthralled by magic, so we thought she should look the part of a magician.”

DJ looked at Twilight, who nodded. He sighed. “Night Light, Twilight Velvet… Trixie isn’t dead.” Both of their heads shot up as their eyes widened. “I don’t know where she is, but I certainly know she is alive.”

“He’s speaking the truth,” Twilight added before her parents could attest. “A blue mare with silver hair came to Ponyville years ago as a traveling magician. She called herself The Great and Powerful Trixie. I got to speak with her later and she told me her name was Trixie Lulamoon. She’s alive.”

Night Light and Twilight Velvet stared at the children in front of them for several long moments. Tears grew in Velvet’s eyes before she began to sob openly.

“Velvet…” Night said as he embraced his wife, tears falling from his own eyes.

“...she’s alive…” Velvet choked out. “I can’t believe she’s still alive… oh, if only we had known!” Her sobs increased, leaving Night to just rock his wife, trying to keep his own emotions in check.

“We’re going to find her!” Twilight declared, standing up. “After everything that’s happened, I’m not going to give up on her.”

“What all has happened?” Night asked. “What aren’t you telling us, Twilight?”

“A fair amount of things,” she replied honestly. “But I’ll leave it up to Trixie to tell you when I find her.” Twilight got up, slowly so she didn’t cause any ill harm to her still growing child. “Come on, everypony. We need to find Trixie.”

“Uh, Twilight?” Spike said as he got up with DJ and Malice as they headed towards the door. “Not to put a damper on your plan, but how?! We don’t exactly know what happened to her.”

“Leave that to us,” Malice said. “The kid and I should be able to track her down with the Force.”

“You sure, Malice?” DJ asked, sounding uncertain.

“Sure. We met a few Trixies on our journey. We should be able to find this world’s simple as that!” Malice’s horn made snapping noise with his magic.

DJ rolled his eyes, knowing his brother had a point, but wasn’t willing to say it aloud.

Twilight turned towards her parents as they all left the house. “Don’t worry mom and dad. We’ll find her! Wish us luck!” She magically closed the door, leaving Night Light and Velvet on their own.

The husband and wife held each other close, tears escaping their eyes, silently wishing all of them the best of luck in their search.