My computer and phone chimed as a message arrived. I checked it quickly, though I knew who it was from. My mother had a noise nobody else got.

"Can you warm me some tea?" it asked.

I grunted with annoyance, pushing away from my desk and grabbing for my headphones. "I'll be back."

I stormed out of the room so hard, I fell out of focus.

Large Twilight pulled the keyboard over with her magic, tapping gently. "This world... It's missing something."

"Ponies." Small Twilight nodded to herself. "It's an empty world with no ponies in it."

Large Twilight cringed. "How am I going to impress on him all the details of living ponies?"

"He already has a knack for that." She booped her larger version. "Tell him what you know and trust him, a little. Let him have a 'flight of fancy' as you called it. When he's going the right way, you'll know."

"I'll know..." She tapped her smaller self with a hoof. "Smart. Alright." She turned in place for the door. "Now we wait."

I returned to my room having delivered the freshly microwaved mug to my mother directly. Despite having completed her minor request, simmering annoyance still gnawed at my frayed patience. Every motion was a fresh little pain, and they weren't... the end of the world, but that she didn't care was quite obvious.

I nudged my door open, the creak of hinges mirroring my creaking joints. I expected to find the Twilights still immersed in cooperative editing. But oddly, I was greeted by silence instead - no furious typing or fluttering wings stirred the air.

"Anyone here?" I ventured lightly. "Back and ready to type."

I trailed off as I spotted the pair seated together beneath the glittering constellation map they were creating with their glowing horns, gazing upward with focused expressions belying the quaint peacefulness of their plush forms. Two resolute explorers finely tuning the coordinates for a journey home.

My own flare of annoyance cooled, replaced by uneasy questions churning silently. Would accompanying Twilight lead me to better horizons too or merely uproot the tenuous stability my roots still struggled to cling to?

Either way, no map could yet chart the course fate had suddenly laid before us. With mute uncertainty, the Twilights and I sat studying the stellar signs glowing above our heads - strange beacons leading to unspoken futures.

But what stability was I worried about?

If I vanished, my life insurance would kick in. Managed well, the house could be handled.

The odds of it being handled well were slender.

But did that matter? If I left the world, for much any reason, it became beyond my caring. Death, trans-world location, did it matter? I had done what I could do for my family behind me. If they figured out how to use my computer, they could get another good chunk of change out of it...

No, I wasn't leaving them with nothing. Bonus, no body to tend to.

But would any of that be handled well? Unlikely...

"David?"

I started. Both Twilights were staring at me. Large Twilight took a step forward. "Are you alright? You look... I can't tell. I just feel you're feeling something. You are difficult to get a read on at times."

I shook myself, casting one last lingering look at the glittering chart before turning my full focus back to my guests. "Yeah...sorry. Just thinking about practical considerations if this fantasy quest of ours proved one way tickets, that's all."

My blunt honesty elicited a soft "Oh" from Big Twilight while Little Twi simply flew over to offer a comforting hoof on my arm. I patted it gently, my anxieties already receding under the contact.

"Nothing worth worrying over," I assured, my easy smile returning. "Just my boring grown up responsibilities briefly feeling heavier than normal while cosmic power literally hovers overhead."

Big Twilight nodded. "I wasn't joking. I don't think you have to abandon this world, nor do I think you should."

I started at that. "You have my attention..."

"Excellent." She looked like a pleased teacher in front of a listening student. "This room. I want to check something."

She swept over me with her magic, then scanned with the same sweep of magic over the room, and things began to glow, mostly my chair and my bed and a little of other things. "Lovely. You have left your print quite firmly. We can anchor with it, so when we return to my world, we know the way back here."

I raised a doubting finger. "You want to hop back and forth?"

"No, no. That would be far too strenous." She shook her head with a huff. "But sending little things..." She pointed at the keyboard. "That feels possible."

I sat back, eyebrows rising in surprise as I processed Twilight's words. The notion that magical anchors could enable travel without forcing a one-way ticket caught me off guard.

"So just to clarify..." I began slowly, "you're saying with enough of my 'essence' imprinted here to act as a homing signal, we could still zipline messages or bits of items back and forth as needed?"

At Twilight's eager nod I felt the knot in my chest finally untwine fully, tension draining away. I wouldn't have to choose between worlds - I could enjoy both! It was almost too much to take in.

Little Twi gave voice to my stunned relief with an enthused "Hooray! We can have our cake and eat it too!" She danced a little aerial jig.

I reached out impulsively and pulled her and Big Twilight into an elated hug. "Thank you." Tears stung at my eyes, overwhelmed in the moment. I didn't cry very often, but when I did, they were hard to stop. "Thank you."

In my giddiness I didn't hear the approaching hoofbeats halt outside my door. But swiftly three sharp knocks rang out, preceding it suddenly swinging open to reveal a new pony, not made of plush at all.

"Twilight." An elderly stallion with a long beard stepped in, the bells of his robe jingling along with the bells of his hat. "I've found you."

"Starswirl, sir." Large Twilight bowed to him quickly and deeply. "How? I'm not upset... but how?!"

Little Twi pointed at the stallion. "You're not a doll."

"I am not," noted the gruff stallion. "With the proper preparations, dimensional re-alignment is avoidable. Now, I knocked out that other alien, I'll take--" With a little twinkle, I passed right out in the chair. "Hm, easier than usual. Weak bodies, these creatures."

He turned to Twilight. "Ready to return home?"

Twilight could only stare slack-jawed as her teacher fluttered about David's darkened room gathering up assorted items for transport home. That he had successfully tracked and reached her himself after all this time was astonishment enough without his abrupt neutralization of her first real human friend.

"Wait wait, let's slow down!" Twilight insisted, trotting over to hover protectively near David's gently snoring form. "David has been my faithful guide and gracious host here during this predicament - we can't just abandon him unconscious!"

Starswirl paused to glance back, bushy eyebrows raised in surprise at Twilight's evident protective attachment. Little Twilight just watched anxiously from the sidelines.

"My dear, I simply ensured his rest to avoid thrashing interference with delicate casting," Starswirl explained not unkindly. "But if you insist, I suppose we can accommodate this creature and establish communications once we're home."

Twilight nodded firmly. "I do insist - on both accounts! Safe travel for all and answers for my questions." She pointed demanding hoof his direction. "You owe me long overdue explanations first and foremost!"

Starswirl inclined his head appraisingly. "And explain I shall! But for now, take hold..." His horn flashed, only to be snuffed out as a small doll crashed into him.

"Stop!" cried the smaller Twilight. "I'm his!"

Large Twilight colored swiftly. "We went over this. You're not his. You can think. You are sapient. You belong only to yourself."

"I'm sapient." Twilight curled a plush hoof at herself. "Which means I can choose to be his. I know he won't abuse me, and if he does, then I can leave. I have magic, and he doesn't."

Starswirl's horn glowed, grabbing Little Twilight and hovering her in front of his face. "What is this, and should I tear it in two or three pieces?"

Twilight stared in dismay as her mentor grasp Little Twilight threateningly. How had a joyous reunion gone astray so swiftly?

"Starswirl, stand down!" she commanded, adopting her most authoritative princess timbre. "There shall be no destroying my companions against their will!"

Starswirl hesitated, bushy eyebrows lifting in surprise at Twilight's defiance. "You would lecture your own teacher on comporting with strange entities?"

Twilight stood firm, unwilling to relent. "And I think after abandoning a student for this long, you owe said student patience instead of attacking her newfound friends."

She fluttered protectively nearer to David and Little Twilight. "Please allow civil discourse Master Starswirl...too long have mysteries stood between us."

The elderly unicorn gazed back uncertainly before finally nodding acquiescence. "You make a reasonable case, Student. Come - while your pet rests, let us talk."

Sparing one last concerned glance David's way, Twilight soon found herself seated across from her long lost mentor at last. "Wait, pet?"

Starswirl shrugged. "That one?" He pointed at David. "This one?" He pointed at little Twilight. "I care not which, only that we leave while we can. This world itches, at best."

With a bright flash, he ended the conversation, leaving the room empty of all living things in it.

As the glare of teleportation faded, Twilight's eyes rapidly adjusted to reassure herself that David and Little Twilight had also made it through Starswirl's wormhole unharmed. To her relief, both figures laid nearby atop a grassy hillside, stirring slightly at the jostling journey. But things were different. One was a stallion, curled and sleeping. The other was a little filly Twilight, looking quite confused.

Taking quick stock of broader surroundings, however, unsettled Twilight's momentary and already fading relief. The landscape surrounding them was a distinctly alien patchwork clashing violently with her memories - no Ponyville or Canterlot familiarity here, but eerie distorted dimensions.

Jagged spires pierced angry scarlet skies while the stars wheeled too rapidly overhead. Cubic flora sprouted to illogical symmetry as crystalline creatures scurried by without greeting. It was a psychedelically unsettling fever dream facade mocking Equestria's beauty - her heart sank realization dawning.

"Some world, eh?" chuckled Starswirl, evidently pleased at her speechlessness. "Come my long lost pupil, and behold the jeweled flower I cultured in isolation!"

As he eagerly led a shaken Twilight towards a massive structure throbbing with eldritch light, apprehension gripped her - just what had twisted creation had her mentor unleashed? And could this fractured realm ever feel like home?

Starswirl snorted softly. "You look stricken. This is my home away from home. From here, I can access most places I care about far more easily, and from anywhere, I can come here trivially."

Twilight blinked. "Oh... So this isn't Equestria after some nightmare scenario?"

Starswirl grabbed Twilight with his magic, pulling her to her hooves. "Student, I expected better insight from you. Now... Shall we proceed home? To the proper Equestria, I mean. I will only visit briefly. I have my own studies to perform."

Twilight waved at her two friends, transformed as they were. "What happened to them?"

Starwirl narrowed his eyes. "Considering you were just a doll, you know what dimensional alignment is. This world is a pony world. Those that come here, get to join us as us." He thrust a hoof at David. "Pony." Then at little Twilight. "Pony. Just as well. They'd have a hard time fitting into Equestria as too many other things." He snorted. "Would you have preferred a donkey? Really..."

Without asking or waiting for Twilight, he brought them all to a grassy hilltop, with Ponyville down below. It wasn't the Ponyville from the show, but close enough, and Twilight's brilliant smile was hint that it was the right one for her.

Author's Note

Starswirl messed it all up. Man, that guy... I want to ruffle his mane and pinch his cheeks in revenge.

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