Spike perked as I entered quietly. "Party's already over?" He cocked his head, listening. "Still sounds like a party. Bathroom break?"

"I'm filled up on party." I nudged the door shut with a hind hoof before advancing. "Introvert, that battery runs down."

"Huh." Spike hiked a thumb at himself. "If it was a party for me, I'd be the last creature to leave." He rose up to his haunches, considerably looming. "But we're not all the same."

"No..." I mosied up to Spike with hesitancy. "I'm going to touch you."

Spike blinked. "Thanks for the warning, uh... go ahead?"

I reached out, running a hoof over his leg, then belly. The feel of warm dragon scales was just... Look, I like touching things, and Spike was great to touch. The pattern of his scales, how comfortably warm he was to touch, and even that he was a living creature helped make it better. "Am I bothering?"

"No." Spike curled to get his face close to me while keeping his belly and legs within reach. "It's just... Most ponies don't do that." He kicked one of the legs, massive claws scratching the ground. "It's kinda strange. Not awful, but strange."

I was making it weird... I drew my hoof back. "Anyway, hi."

"Hey." Spike snorted softly. "You were just outside, you don't have to say hi."

"Habit." I shuffled in place. "I will say hi, often. I like saying hi. If I see someone again, I say hi."

"Huh." Spike sat up, scratching at his neck. "I've heard of stranger habits. So, you ran away from the party. What're you looking for now?"

"I was thinking--"

The door opened, allowing Twilight to scurry inside and close it swiftly with a wheeze of gratitude. "Finally... Spike?" She turned around to see Spike and Me. "O-oh! David, you're... here? I thought you'd be outside, at your party?"

I chuckled wryly at Twilight likewise having extricated herself from the crowd milling about outside. "Guess we introverts think alike - parties only in small doses before the energy gets to be a bit much."

I smiled, larger internally than not, over at her. "I just got caught up chatting a bit with Spike here after stepping out for a breath. But it sounds like you had a similar idea on needing a recharge break!"

Twilight sighed but smiled back. "Too true...as wonderful as all our friends are, larger groups really drain me without some quiet time between." She gave Spike an affectionate scritch behind his ear frills. "Something Spike has always understood perfectly."

Spike leaned into the contact with a happy grumble before giving me a knowing look. "See? Us lone dragon types get it too. Not that I don't enjoy a Pinkie bash myself, but everything in moderation and all that."

He stretched with a squeaky yawn. "I was just asking your alien pal here what he's up to, ducking out the party early." He raised a scaly eyebrow my way. "You never actually answered, that come to think of it..."

"Oh, yes, please share your thoughts!" Twilight trotted over eagerly. "Did you have questions on anything? Or perhaps were interested in a particular conversation starter you'd like my perspectives on?" She was already magically shuffling through a mini library worth of books mid-sentence, ever the ready scholar.

I rubbed my neck, unsure how to present my still formless thought processes. But the patient expectation in both their eyes stirred me sharing those halting mental steps. "Well, truth be told..."

I pointed at her. "I think it's becoming a teen, but strange thoughts keep turning up. I will ignore them." I sat firmly. "That is a specialty of mine."

Twilight hiked a brow. "I'm not sure how good a habit that is... If you have questions, Spike and I are happy to help."

I considered a moment before it came to me. "I am still earning money home. I should get to typing to keep that up, since we're on that topic, uh... But I can't get that money here, right? Right? Pretty sure..."

"Right," she echoed at me. "That would be difficult. Nopony here is looking for human currency, even if we transported that currency from your old home to here, which would be hard..."

Spike shrugged expansively. "Why are you still working your old job? You're not there. Isn't that about the most official 'I Quit' situation ever?"

I blinked, realizing the purely logical conclusion to my ongoing remote work quandary even as Twilight gave me a gently chastening look. "Spike does raise an entirely reasonable objection...with your abrupt dimensional transition, any professional obligations or income streams tied to your old situation are presumably quite defunct."

She tapped her chin thoughtfully with a hoof. "While temporarily communicating with your world to provide closure explanations seems only proper, beyond that point, I cannot foresee a meaningful way to keep performing this writing work remotely."

I reached to where the keyboard lay nearby. "So long as this works, why can't I?"

I peered up, suddenly resolute. "But can you understand if it still feels important. Besides, these people paid, and besides that, if I don't earn a living until the house is paid, my mother is immediately screwed. She's already in an awkward place with me not there to take care of her. The least I can do is keep the bills paid until then."

Spike and Twilight exchanged one of those wordless glances before the latter stepped forward with a sympathetic pat to my shoulder. "Of course, that impulse does make great sense as well. My priorities simply shifted to concern over possible stress if unattainable..."

Her tone became resolute as well as she smiled. "But easing transitions and minimizing overwhelm is my purpose currently. So if writing still provides therapeutic stability, let's by all means continue pursuing options!"

Spike rubbed his cheek thoughtfully. "Also the whole family thing, which I don't entirely get. Were you the bread winner of the house?"

"One of two, my mother being the other of the two." I hugged the keyboard without really thinking about it. "I can't let her just... die."

Twilight cringed, driven silent a moment. "I... See..." She cleared her throat softly. "I see..." She looked to the keyboard with renewed focus. "How long until this is done?"

I threw my mind back. "Um... 20sh years?"

Twilight jumped. "That long?! I would never want to pay for the house I lived in for so long..."

Spike poked me with a long claw. "Your world sucks."

I laughed at that. "Ain't that the truth? I don't miss it."

Twilight mirrored my unease, likely realizing similar shackles stretched across my old life. "I...apologize for not fully understanding sooner how big the fear of loss still haunts despite distance..."

She floated the keyboard over, face hardening with fresh conviction. "Your dedication speaks volumes to cares and hurts left unresolved." Light bloomed across her horn and the device. "I cannot stand idly by a friend tormented so."

Spike punched a flaming fist into his palm with a steely grunt. "Darn right! It'll take some real magic mojo but we'll figure something out." He thumped my back heartily. "No way you escaped one bad scene just to stress over another long-distance."

"You two are great." I reached for the floating keyboard. "But I don't mind writing, or running games. I like both... I'm looking forward to when I can do both without money floating over my head."

Twilight bit her lip and said nothing as I left, leaving the perspective with her. She turned to Spike. "I am sorry he's going through this, but this is his choice."

Spike inclined his considerable head. "Wouldn't be the first time you dragged somecreature out of a bad problem they weren't quite ready on their own to leave."

Twilight laughed at that. "True... true..." She took a breath, standing straight. "I should talk to the others. They're probably wondering where the party stallion ran off to."

She left out the front, leaving me to set down the keyboard and press my hooves into it. My senses were gone from my pony body. I was sitting at my computer, basically. I checked email, replied to the few that needed replying.

I checked Fimfic for updates, yay comments! Comments were half the fun.

I checked my schedule and the date. Ah, time to write that update. I got to typing. It was a curious thing. It felt like I was moving my fingers, but I had no fingers. Thinking about it harder, I realized there probably wasn't a keyboard, or a computer. It was all magic, translating what I wanted into the keyboard motions which became words to be entered into Fimfic.

What did Twilight see when she gave it a try?

I finished my 2000 words and alt-tabbed over to Discord.That reminded me, I had a game to run in not too long.

I pulled my hooves out. "Spike?" I stood up and opened the door. "Spike?"

"Still here." He hadn't moved, quite comfy where he had started. "What's up?"

"I'm going to be busy for a few hours." I threw my head towards my room. "Gotta run a game."

"Gotcha." He let me head inside.

Turning for my room, I noticed Twilight had returned as well, though she lingered uncertainly nearby as if not wanting to intrude.

I paused, suddenly conscious again of the strangeness this endeavor must seem trying to cling to routines from a life left behind. But her eyes held no judgment, only empathy tinged with pensiveness.

"You gonna be alright if I dive into my game stuff for a bit?" I asked gently. "Sorry if it seems silly keeping up old habits. But it means a lot to folks I've run games for weekly back home."

Home. That word had become fuzzier than it already was. I was working to pay for 'home', and I didn't live there.

But Twilight simply stepped forward to give my shoulder a bracing squeeze. "No apologies needed for finding comfort where you can amidst transitions. I, of all, ponies understand obligations outside immediate presence." She smiled. "While I ponder possibilities, please enjoy time with faraway friends."

I smiled gratefully back with a mirroring hoof squeeze before moving to activate the keyboard connection once more. Hopefully game voices could help anchor me until more permanent solutions manifested...one hoof forward through the uncertainties.

As magical currents carried me back to familiar digital meadows, some tension unknitted from my brow. Twilight was right - for the time, I just had to wait, to work, and to be patient. I couldn't let my family down.

Twilight slipped back outside, closing the door behind herself with a worried sigh.

Rarity cocked a brow. "I've heard that sigh before." She trotted to Twilight's side. "Is this something I can assist with, dear?"

Pinkie popped up next to Rarity without any hint of her coming. "Yeah! And where's David? What's a party without the party pony?!"

Twilight tensed, but then laughed. "Well, it's about that. He's run down from the party, which he seems to have enjoyed quite a great deal."

Pinkie puffed up proudly at that. "Good! I don't run bad parties, or I try not to... So is he taking a nap? I'll--" She paused, grabbed in Twilight's magic. "Or not?"

"He's stuck." Twilight frowned faintly. "He was stuck before I found him, and it's just even more obvious to me now. He's working for a life he isn't even living, feeling duty-bound to..."

Rarity raised a brow. "Families are precious things, dear. Is it so unusual that a pony feels attached to them, even a world away? Surely you were still thinking of us at David's side, were you not?"

Twilight threw one arm around Rarity, hugging her. "Of course I was... But you all bring a smile to my face. I don't think he had, or has, the same relationship. It's different."

Pinkie hummed softly. "Tricky..."

"That's putting it mildly." Twilight released Rarity. "Anyway, I wanted to let you all know, tell the other girls, so we can keep an eye on this."

Author's Note

The past is not always easily dropped.

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