Chasing Shadows

by Yukito

Rating: teen
Tags: King Sombra, Adventure, Shining Armor, Human, Sunset Shimmer, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Princess Cadance, Alternate Universe
Length: 29238

FBI agents Shining Armor and Cadance recruit the help of Sunset Shimmer to chase rogue agent Sombra into Equestria.

When rogue FBI agent Sombra steals an experimental weapon and flees into a manmade portal into Equestria, the agency decides to enlist the help of somebody with knowledge and experience of the foreign world to chase after him. Or rather, somepony.

Published 2013-08-17 19:40:02 UTC
Last updated 2013-09-01 10:44:51 UTC

1 - Boring Days Just Got Interesting

Sunset Shimmer tapped her fingers against her desk as she stared out of the window beside her. Math class was so incredibly boring. She turned her head to look at the pupils around her. Applejack. Boring. Carrot Top. Boring. Fluttershy. A living snore-fest.

With a long sigh, Sunset looked at her watch and then slammed her face into her hands as she realised there was still another thirty minutes of the lesson left. Perhaps if they were learning something interesting she would be inclined to stay, but this… this was something she had learned back when she was just a little filly living in Canterlot!

‘I took Celestia’s advanced courses! I learned this stuff and so much more back in her School for Gifted Unicorns! I read myself to sleep with Mathematical theory more advanced than this!’

Sunset Shimmer’s patience finally left her body, and with as much noise as she could, she scooped up her belongings into her bag and rose out of her seat. “Miss Shimmer, class is not over yet,” the teacher said, not even bothering to turn around. “Please sit back dow-”

“I’ve already answered every question for the next ten pages. It’s on my desk. I think you’ll find I answered them with a hundred percent accuracy. If there’s nothing else left, I really don’t see why I should still be here.” Nobody said anything as Sunset Shimmer approached the classroom door and left.

Nobody said anything because it was a daily occurrence. Sunset Shimmer would make an effort to show up to class, get bored halfway through, and walk out. At first the teachers were annoyed with her, but after she proved that she knew the material during mid-term exams, they decided not to waste the time and effort trying to make her stay when it would ultimately result in failure.

The students were at first amused by her antics, but a good number of them had started to grow annoyed by the fact that she was allowed to simply walk out of the classroom whenever she wished, and many more were envious of her ability to cut class and still get perfect scores on her schoolwork.

The corridors were empty, as to be expected. It was time for classes, after all. Sunset Shimmer stopped at a water fountain and leaned down to drink from it. Only, it did not work. ‘Oh, wonderful. No ‘out of order’ sign? Luna will hear about this!’ Sunset stomped her feet against the marble floor as she made her way through the school’s corridors.

“Going somewhere?” a voice asked. Sunset noticed two girls standing to her left, leaning against some lockers. Trixie Lulamoon, the school’s ‘Great and Powerful’ magician who had won every talent show she had entered into, and Rainbow Dash, the school’s soccer Captain who had led their school’s team to victory in every game they had played since she had joined the team. It was Trixie who had called out to her.

“Classes are still on, right?” Rainbow asked with a teasing grin. “Should you really be cuttin’ class like this? You’ll fall behind.”

“Please,” Sunset scoffed. “I graduated my Middle School already when I was just a fi- a child! I was reading up on quantum theory when you were still watching cartoons explaining proper punctuation usage.”

“Right. In that other world you come from,” Trixie said. “Which reminds me-”

“Thirty moons,” Sunset said. “The portal will open in thirty moons. Then you can go through. In fact, please do.”

Trixie crossed her arms and pouted. “So another twenty-eight to go. This is taking too long. The Great and Powerful Trixie wants to experience real magic already, and also desires to meet her other self.”

“There’s a thought that’ll give me nightmares,” Rainbow said with a shudder. “But I gotta admit, two Rainbow Dashes would be pretty neat. Plus I can fly over there! How cool is that?!”

Sunset Shimmer rolled her eyes. Ever since she had told them about Equestria, magic and flying were all that they could think about, and they never failed to bring them up in conversation. “If you’ll excuse me.”

“Where you goin’?” Rainbow asked. “Off to steal a magic crown and wreak havoc in the school?”

“Not today,” Sunset replied. “I’m simply on my way to give the Vice-Principal a piece of my mind! The way she runs this school is a joke!”

The two girls behind Sunset Shimmer both broke out into cold sweat. “Er, not a good idea,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Nightmare Moon,” Trixie added. “It’s, uh… Nightmare Moon in there right now.”

Sunset’s eyes widened. ‘I-It’s that time of the month already?’ ‘That time of the month’ of course referring to Luna’s time of the month. During this period of time, the Vice-Principal would become a monster. Literally. The students in the school have taken to calling this version of the Vice-Principal Nightmare Moon, and when Nightmare Moon was out and about, you did not want to run into Vice-Principal Luna or disturb her for any reason whatsoever.

“W-Well then, I guess I’ll just go home early. Not much else to do here.”

“Mind if we tag along?” Rainbow asked. “We were planning on just cutting this one lesson, but hey, might as well go the extra mile.”

“No. You may not,” Sunset replied. “For the last time, where I reside in this world is none of your business.” ‘If they find out I’m living with the Principal, my reputation will just be damaged even further!’

“Suit yourself,” Rainbow said before turning to Trixie. “So, wanna hit the arcade?”

“Why? So you can lose to me again?” Trixie asked with a smug grin.

“No, so I can kick your butt again!” Rainbow replied with a smirk.

Sunset rolled her eyes. ‘Those two make even me seem humble and modest.’ Opening the school’s front doors, Sunset Shimmer walked outside. She could hear the sound of a ball hitting the ground repeatedly behind her, along with footsteps, which told that Rainbow Dash and Trixie were following her.

“The Great and Powerful Trixie’s next show is sure to take the school by storm.”

“Just make sure you’re not late to my match! I’m gonna be scorin’ goals so fast you’ll only be able to see a blur the whole time!”

Sunset Shimmer tried to drown out the sounds of the chatting girls behind her, even going so far as to place her hands over her ears. ‘Gah! I’d rather be back in Equestria with Celestia than be here right no-’ Sunset paused her train of thought, and shook her head. ‘No, I take that back. If I ever see that traitor again, it’ll be too soon.’

“Excuse me. Miss Sunset Shimmer?” Sunset stopped as a tall, white-skinned man intercepted her path. His hair was a deep blue with light and dark-blue highlights, and his eyes a matching aqua colour. He was dressed in a black suit with a red tie that had a shield with a six-pointed star inside. The pattern looked familiar, but Sunset Shimmer couldn’t quite put her finger on it. “Are you Miss Sunset Shimmer?”

“I am,” Sunset replied in a bored tone. “And you are?”

The man pulled something out from inside his suit. A wallet, it seemed. He opened it up and showed the contents to Sunset Shimmer. A badge with his name and face attached, and some letters that made her eyes widen. “Shining Armor, FBI.”

‘F-FBI?’ Sunset swallowed nervously as she took a cautious step back. ‘If my research is correct, they’re like this Country’s equivalent to the Royal Guard of Equestria.’

“I’m sorry, but can I ask you to come with me?”

“Why should I?” Sunset asked, only to flinch as she felt a hand grab a hold of her shoulder.

“Because if you don’t, we’ll have no choice but to arrest you,” a female voice said from behind. “After all, we have more than enough evidence, Miss Shimmer. All the evidence we need to lock you away for the rest of your life.”

Sunset Shimmer turned around slowly. Standing behind her was a tall, pink-skinned woman with long, striped hair of three colours: purple, pink, and cream. She was also wearing the same suit as Shining Armor, only with a skirt in place of trousers, and the pattern on her tie was also different. It was a blue, heart-shaped gemstone.

“Now, please come this way,” the woman said as she pushed Sunset Shimmer forward.

“H-How dare you?! Who do you think you are?!”

“Please ma’am,” the man said. “We don’t have much time, and we would prefer not to use force if at all possible.”

Glancing between the two people she was stuck between, Sunset Shimmer ultimately saw that she had no means of escape.

“Hey!” a voice called out. “What are you doing?! Leave her alone!” The three turned around to see a rainbow-haired girl charging towards the woman in the suit, carrying a soccer ball in her hand. She dropped the ball to the ground and kicked it. It flew through the air towards the woman’s face… and missed as the woman dodged to the side.

“The Great and Powerful Trixie does not take kindly to her fans being harassed!” Trixie shouted as she bent down to the ground and pointed a firework towards the woman.

“Wait! Isn’t that a little much?!” Rainbow Dash asked.

‘And since when was I your fan?’ Sunset Shimmer thought as she attempted to flee, only to be caught moments later by Shining Armor.

The firework launched, shooting past the woman and grazing over the black car parked behind the man. “Let’s go,” Shining Armor said. “Leave the two girls alone. We have to get back quickly.”

“… Fiiiiine,” the woman said as she followed Shining Armor and Sunset Shimmer into the car, the latter entering of her own will after seeing that there was no chance of escape.

“Hey, wait!” Rainbow Dash shouted as she chased after the escaping vehicle. She gave up after the car picked up speed and kicked the ground in a fit of anger. “Darn it! What was that all about?!”

“Fret not,” Trixie said, placing a hand onto Rainbow’s shoulder. Rainbow turned around to find Trixie holding up her phone. On the screen was a map of the city, and inside of the map was a flashing yellow dot moving quickly though the streets. “You owe Trixie big-time for this.”

Rainbow Dash smiled again and wrapped her arms around Trixie, an action that the showgirl was not too sure about. “Lemme guess, the firework had some sort of tracker on it?”

Trixie pushed Rainbow Dash away and flicked her hair. “Sorry, but a magician does not reveal their secrets. Now if Trixie were you, she would gather her friends and chase this signal at once.”

“What about you?” Rainbow asked. “Aren’t ya gonna help?”

“I’ve got to report this to the Principal, and then I’ll likely be asked to fill in a statement by the police.” Trixie shook her head and gave the phone to Rainbow Dash. “Besides, she’s your friend. I think it should you guys that go after her.”

With a nod, Rainbow Dash took the phone and ran past Trixie. “Thanks again! I’ll make sure she goes to your next show after this!” The bell rang just as Rainbow entered the school building, signalling the changeover to the next period classes. “I’ve gotta hurry! Everyone except for Rarity should be in Home Ec. right now.”

2 - Uncomfortable Car Ride

Shining Armor felt uncomfortable during the long drive back to headquarters. He tried to calm his nerves by just watching the peaceful scenery outside of the car window, but he could still feel the heated glare of Sunset Shimmer driving into his skull. He chanced a glance over at the girl, and her glare intensified tenfold as their eyes met.

The woman sitting beside Sunset Shimmer chuckled, and leaned over to put a hand on her co-worker’s chest. “There there, honey. You don’t have to feel nervous about being around another girl just because I’m here.”

“It’s not that,” Shining Armor said, once again looking outside the window. “And for the last time, Chrysalis, that disguise does not make you Cadance. Please take it off.”

The woman, ‘Chrysalis’, gasped and brought a finger to her hair, twirling it about as she hid her blushing face behind it. “Shiny, please. We have company here, and we’re on duty.”

“You know what I mean,” Shining said through gritted teeth. “Stop disguising yourself as my girlfriend already! It’s really creepy!”

“Oh come now. I put a lot of effort into this one, you know? Her voice took a very long time to emulate, and I had to bind my breasts to make myself as flat as her. Of course I still can’t do anything about my height. Such a shame.”

“Can’t do anything about your weight, either,” Shining mumble. A finger and a thumb grabbed his cheek and pulled at it, causing him to swing his arms about in pain.

“What was that?” Chrysalis asked in a threatening tone.

“I-I said you look great! Y-You seem to have lost a lot of weight lately!”

Chrysalis released Shining Armor and shot him an innocent smile. “Why thank you! I go to the gym everyday to work out.”

“Hey,” Sunset said, not sure how much more of this she could take. “Mind telling me what this is all about? If I were under arrest, I should be wearing handcuffs. And you two wouldn’t be playing about like a dorky couple in love.”

Shining Armor cleared his throat and straightened his tie, and then turned to face Sunset Shimmer. She was still glaring at him. He averted his eyes and tried to explain the situation to her. “W-Well, you see, it’s like this…” Shining shifted his eyes back to Sunset Shimmer once more. “… She really does look like her, huh?”

“That’s because she is her,” Chrysalis explained. “She’s Sunset Shimmer just as much as the one from this world is.”

Sunset’s eyes widened. “You two… know the other Sunset Shimmer?”

Shining Armor nodded. “Actually, she’s my sister’s friend. She visits Twilie’s place quite often and the two together are at the top of their classes.”

Sunset Shimmer huffed. “So, the me here is friends with that spoiled little Princess, huh?”

“Am I sensing deep-seated issues here?” Chrysalis asked in a teasing tone. “Sounds like somepony is jealous.”

Sunset changed her glare to Chrysalis, who didn’t so much as flinch under her gaze. “Jealous?! Hah! As if! If anything, I feel sorry for that brat! Unlike me, she still believes Celestia’s every word! Unlike me, she’s still playing lapdog to that fat-flanked whorse! Unlike me… D-Did you say ‘somepony’?”

“I sure did,” Chrysalis said, pressing a finger to Sunset’s nose. “That’s right. We know all about the world that you came from. Well, not all about it. But we know that it is there, and that you came from it.”

“Some years ago,” Shining Armor began, “An agent working for the FBI spotted you at Canterlot High, but at the time you were spotted, you were also at my parent’s house, eating dinner with Twilie. I was there too, so I could vouch for that.”

“That’s why we kept an eye on you,” Chrysalis said. “It didn’t take long to conclude that you must have come from this alternate world we had spent the last fifty years trying to reach. We watched you from afar, and we took note of every one of your actions. Everything you did, we saw.”

“E-Everything?” Sunset asked, now worried about where exactly the two were going with this. “Y-You mean like-”

“You becoming a demon and enslaving your school? Yeah, we saw,” Shining said. “You may recall, during your transformation, there was probably a tingling feeling in your head at some point. As if something had hit it a high speed?”

“Huh? Uh, now that you mention it…”

Shining sighed. “To think that a sniper’s fire would do absolutely nothing. Magic is truly a force we must learn to control, before the wrong hands figure it out first.”

Sunset’s eyes widened in horror. “Y-You tried to kill me?!”

“What choice did we have?” Chrysalis asked. “From the moment you donned the crown and began to use a power we have no knowledge of, you became too big a threat for us to allow you to live. Of course, now, you’re just an ordinary little girl.”

“An ordinary girl, but with the knowledge we need,” Shining said. “You see, a few months ago, using the magical residue left around the school area, we finally had a breakthrough in our research. And with that, we finally accomplished something that we had been trying to achieve for so long. We opened up our own portal to this other world, one that is open when we want it to be.”

Quite a breakthrough indeed,” Chrysalis said. “With this, as soon as we can guarantee its stability and safety, we can travel into this other world and begin negotiations with its inhabitants. By exchanging knowledge and technology, our two worlds may just be able to guide each other into new, golden ages of peace.”

“Just, one problem,” Shining Armor continued. “Two days ago, a rogue agent by the name of Sombra stole an experimental weapon from our research department, and jumped through the portal.”

“The reason for his sudden betrayal is unknown,” Chrysalis said, “But we cannot simply leave things like this. Our boss has requested that Shining Armor here lead a search party into your world, to find Sombra, apprehend him, and recover the stolen equipment.”

“I’ve already decided that I will be taking Cadance with me,” Shining said. “And for our third member… I felt that somebody with actual experience in this world would be our best bet.”

The three remained silent for some time as Sunset Shimmer allowed all of this information to sink in. “So, let me get this straight: you want me to follow you through this experimental portal back to my home world, the place I fled as a child, to chase after some guy who stole a weapon that does who-knows-what?”

“Essentially, yes,” Shining said. “Of course, if you do not wish to come with us, simply providing us with information about your world will be sufficient. If you refuse to help, I’m afraid I’ve been given orders to lock you away until you change your mind. However, if you do assist us, then we are willing to strike all of your previous crimes from the record. You’ll be free as a bird.”

“… Two things,” Sunset said, “First, I want the FBI to stop watching me twenty-four/seven.”

“I think that can be arranged,” Chrysalis said.

“Second…” A grin crossed Sunset Shimmer’s face as she stretched her hand out towards Shining Armor. “Count me in.”

3 - Welcome To The Agency

Sunset Shimmer whistled at the view outside of the glass elevator. The FBI headquarters was certainly an impressive sight, but the view from so high up was nearly enough to take her breath away. “I wonder if this is what Pegasi feel the first time they fly?”

“Pegasi?” Shining asked.

“Yeah. You know, ponies with wings.”

Shining put a hand to his chin. “Ponies… have wings where you come from?”

“You didn’t know that?” Sunset asked. Shining shook his head. “Then are you in for a surprise. How many people are going to cross through the portal, anyway?”

“Just us three,” Shining said. “We don’t want to send in too many people in the event that something bad happens. I volunteered for this expedition myself, and Cadance practically begged to come along when she saw I wouldn’t back down.”

“And Chrysalis?”

“I have no intention of being burned to a crisp, thank you very much,” Chrysalis answered with a glare.

“She’s afraid the portal will fry her alive,” Shining whispered to Sunset Shimmer. “She watches a lot of sci-fi.”

Sunset turned to Chrysalis with a grin. “Ooooh, so that’s it, huh? You act all cool and tough, but really, you’re just chicken, aren’t you?”

“… If you were not under our protection right now, Sunset Shimmer, I swear to god I would-”

“We’re here,” Shining announced as the elevator ‘dinged’ and the doors opened. Shining took one step outside, and was immediately pushed back inside and pinned to the floor by a pink blur that took Sunset Shimmer completely by surprise.

“Welcome back, Shining!” the pink woman on top of Shining Armor said before crushing the downed man with a tight hug. “I’m so sorry I forgot to pack your lunch! Are you okay? You didn’t pass out from hunger did you? Oh you poor thing, you must be starving! Come with me and I’ll whip you up something good!”

Sunset’s eyes widened as she saw the woman’s face clearly. Apart from her height, this woman was the spitting image of Chrysalis.

“Actually,” Chrysalis said, “We stopped at McDonalds on our way. We are quite fine.”

The woman looked up at Chrysalis with a glare. “You’re disguised as me again? Give it up! You know my Shiny would never fall for your cheap tricks!”

“Perhaps, but if you don’t get off of him soon, your ‘Shiny’ will probably die from suffocation.”

The woman looked down at Shining Armor to find that he was having trouble breathing. “Oh! I’m so sorry!” she said as she quickly climbed to her feet and straightened out her uniform. Behind her, there were some more people dressed in suits, and some in white lab coats, laughing, which caused the woman to blush.

“Uh…” The woman turned to Sunset Shimmer. “Based on what I’ve heard and what I’m seeing, you must be Cadance.”

“That’s right,” Cadance said with a smile, stepping over Shining Armor to approach Sunset Shimmer. “Wow, this is so strange. I mean, I’ve met Sunset Shimmer before, but you’re a different Sunset Shimmer, aren’t you?”

“That’s right,” Sunset replied with a grin. “I’m the much superior one. The one in this world is nothing compared to me.”

“May I suggest we move this conversation elsewhere?” Chrysalis asked. “Somewhere with biscuits and tea?”

“Wonderful idea!” Cadance said as she knelt down, picking Shining Armor up and helping him to his feet.

“Hey,” Sunset called out, “This is just going to get confusing. Would you mind losing that disguise or whatever?”

“Yes, please do,” Cadance said with a nod.

“Oh, fine,” Chrysalis sighed. “I guess it’s three against one. I’ll make a quick stop to the restroom and meet up with you all later.”

As Chrysalis left down one corridor to the elevator’s left, Cadance carried Shining Armor down the opposite direction to Chrysalis. “This way, Sunny.”

“‘Sunny’?” Sunset Shimmer asked, the displeasure of being referred to in such a way clear in her tone.

“Oh, sorry,” Cadance said. “I’m used to calling the you here by that name. She doesn’t care much for it either, but I guess it would be rude of me to refer to you by that, given we really don’t know much about each other.”

“I would prefer you never call me by such a name at all,” Sunset said as she followed Cadance down the corridor. “So, I’m curious, how exactly did you people manage to harness the magical residue left by my brief moment of glory wielding the Element of Magic? Or for that matter, how did you even detect it?”

“You appear to be under the assumption that magic does not exist in this world, but that’s not quite so accurate,” Cadance replied. “Think about it. If magic didn’t exist here, how do you explain the portal linking our worlds? Or the power boost you gained that night?”

“I always figured it was magic from Equestria leaking into this world. If there is magic here, then why can no one use it?”

“I don’t know how it works in your world, but over here, we cannot interact with magic directly. We must use science and technology to detect and harness magical energy. In fact, it was only within the last century that magical research reached the point where we could truly confirm the existence of magic itself. Before then, it was mere speculation.”

Sunset Shimmer put a hand to her chin and nodded. She was starting to become interested in what these people had to say. “So just as our world has science to a minor degree, so does this world have magic to a minor degree.”

“It would seem the key differences between our world is that magic is more easily accessible to your kind, so that was the path your civilization took.”

“That explains why your grasp of technology was so terrible when you first arrived here,” Shining said, his strength now back after his earlier assault. “Thanks Cadance, but I can walk on my own now?”

“You sure?” Cadance teased.

Shining removed his arm from around Cadance and wobbled for a bit, before straightening himself out and continuing to walk alongside her.

“What did you mean by my grasp of technology being so terrible?” Sunset asked.

“I mean how you pounded the keyboard with your fists, how you were startled every time a phone did something new, or how you wondered how televisions worked without the ‘magical glow that all spells produce’,” Shining answered.

Sunset Shimmer growled. “Just how much were you watching me?”

“The only times we weren’t watching were when you visited the bathroom or when you were at Principal Celestia’s home.”

“Since you hadn’t yet committed any crimes that posed a threat to national security, we were limited in the extent to which we could invade your privacy,” Cadance added. “Ah, here we are. Please make yourself at home.” Cadance turned to her left and opened a door into a small, cosy room with a glass table in-between two couches.

Sunset Shimmer and Shining Armor followed her inside. The room gave off a nice atmosphere, and was very cool inside. The colour scheme was a rather bland brown, and the smooth jazz didn’t appeal much to Sunset Shimmer, but the sweet aroma of the tea on the table certainly drew her attention.

Cadance and Shining Armor sat down on one couch, and Sunset Shimmer took a seat on the opposite couch, reaching for the cup of tea closest to her and lifting it up to her lips. She stopped and glanced towards the two sitting before her. “… This isn’t poisoned, is it?”

“Would you like me to drink from it?” Cadance asked.

Sunset Shimmer looked back down at her tea and scrutinized it. ‘If they wanted to kill me or incapacitate me, they could have done it already.’ Satisfied with her own conclusion, Sunset took a sip of her tea. It tasted very good, but was perhaps a little too hot. She quickly pulled it away from her lips and blew on it gently.

“Perhaps I should introduce myself properly,” Cadance said. “That little scene in the elevator hardly qualifies as a true introduction.”

“Go ahead then,” Sunset said as she brought the tea in for another experimental sip.

“My name is Mi Amore Cadenza.”

“That’s a mouthful,” Sunset commented.

“Indeed. That’s why I just prefer ‘Cadance’ for short. I’ve worked with Shiny here for some time now, though our fields of expertise are a little different.”

“In what way?”

“Well, while Shiny and Chrysalis’ jobs involve them going out and investigating in person, my job is more of a… desk job…”

“Don’t say that,” Shining said, bringing an arm around Cadance and holding her closer. “Your job is just as important as anyone else’s here.”

“Oh please. All I do is shift paper around from one place to another.”

“You also get us the information we need to solve our cases and make sure we’re up-to-date with the latest intel.” Shining leaned forward and kissed Cadance on the cheek, making her blush. “If it wasn’t for you, I’d have sunk many cases in the past.”

“Oh, stop…”

Sunset Shimmer cleared her throat, reminding the two that she was still in the room with them. The couple quickly turned bright-red and shuffled away from each other. “S-So,” Shining began, “Why don’t you tell us a little about your world then?”

“Y-Yes. I’m most curious about it myself,” Cadance agreed.

Sunset Shimmer crossed her arms and closed her eyes. “Not much to tell really. I never left Canterlot while I was there, and although I read up on the land of Equestria a lot… there’s no telling what might have changed since I was there. Much of it should still be the same, though.”

Shining Armor and Cadance both nodded. The looks on their faces told Sunset Shimmer that that wasn’t enough. “Well, I guess I can begin with some history… Let’s start with the founding of Equestria.”

4 - You're Not Welcome At The Agency

Outside of the FBI’s office complex, a bus stopped at the station just opposite the towering building. From within the bus, five girls jumped out. Rainbow Dash was the first, her eyes glued to Trixie’s phone as she followed the yellow blip on the map.

Applejack jumped out second, her back and her legs aching as she carried the heavy load of Rarity’s bags on her back. As she slowly crept after Rainbow Dash, Rarity followed off of the bus after her. “Oh, please do be careful not to drop anything, Applejack darling.”

“No… promises,” Applejack grumbled in-between pants. Fluttershy was the next off of the bus, her eyes fixed to the pavement below her feet as she tried not to make eye contact with anybody.

Finally, Pinkie Pie hopped off of the bus, cheering loudly as she made her first step into a new land. “This is so, great! I’ve never been this far out of my village before, and I’ve certainly never cut class, much less cut class to go after our friend who was kidnapped by suspicious looking people in black suits! This calls for a party!”

“Pinkie Pie,” Rarity began, “No offence, but perhaps the party can wait until after we know that Sunset Shimmer is safe. And not up to anything while we’re not watching.”

“Y’don’ reckon this’s jus’ some sorta trick ta scheme behind our backs, do ya?” Applejack asked.

“Well we certainly cannot deny the possibility. Don’t you remember our first day out together? She vowed her revenge, if I’m not mistaken.”

“That may be the case, but Twilight trusted that she’d come around. And ah trust Twilight.”

“Hey guys!” Rainbow Dash called over to her friends. “This is it! The signal stops at this parking lot here! Which means Sunset Shimmer must be…” The five friends turned their heads skyward as they eyed the skyscraper standing before them. “… In there.”

“Well, what are we waiting for?” Pinkie asked as she skipped happily across the road. “Let’s go rescue her already!”

“Pinkie, wait!” Rainbow Dash called out, but it was no use. She and the other four girls gave chase after their friend, stopping when they saw Pinkie Pie being confronted by a tall, light-brown-skinned woman with grey hair. She was wearing a leather biker jacket, a white tank top, and a pair of ripped blue jeans.

“This place is off-limits,” the woman said, glaring at the pink schoolgirl. “Hey, shouldn’t you dweebs be in school right now?”

“School’s out today!” Pinkie said with a smile. “Hey, our friend’s in there! Mind if we go get her real quick?”

The woman lifted the cigarette in her right hand to her mouth, and breathed a cloud of smoke into Pinkie Pie’s face. Pinkie Pie quickly held her breath and backed away. “Nice try. Listen here, this place ain’t no place for dweebs like you, so either buzz off, or spend the night in a cell!”

“Oh yeah?” Rainbow Dash asked, handing Trixie’s phone over to Rarity and approaching the woman with a stern look on her face. She read the name badge on the woman’s shirt and then looked up into her eyes. “And just what’re you tryin’ ta hide in there, Gilda?”

“Nothing you need to know about! Now beat it, last warning!”

“Or else what?!”

“Y’happy now, Dash?” Applejack asked as she glared at Rainbow Dash from her seat on the not-so-comfortable bedding that was in their cell.

Rainbow Dash winced and flailed her arms as Rarity and Fluttershy tried to administer some first aid onto her wounded face. “I totally could’ve taken her if she hadn’t cheated and pulled out a weapon!”

“She was a security guard, Rainbow Dash,” Rarity said. “I don’t think friendly competition was her goal in that fight.”

“Um, Rainbow?” Rainbow turned to Fluttershy, who was holding up two different plasters for her. “Would you like the sunflower pattern, or the rabbits?”

Rainbow Dash sighed and turned to Pinkie Pie, who was sitting in the corner playing a harmonica, her hair unusually flat. Fluttershy decided to choose for her and went with the plasters that had rabbits on them.

“Alright dweebs,” Gilda said as she approached the cell. Pinkie’s playing stopped and everybody turned to see what she wanted. “We’ve contacted your school, and they’ve contacted your parents. They’ll be here to pick you all up soon. Lucky for you, the head honcho here’s decided not to press charges for attempted trespassing and provoking the Head of Security, but if you try this again, y’won’t get off so easily!”

“Look, ah’m sorry for Dash’s behaviour earlier,” Applejack said, rising to her feet and approaching the bars, “But our friend really is in there, an’ we’re mighty worried ‘bout her! Can’t ya jus’ tell us what’s goin’ on up there? Her name’s Sunset Shimmer. Please.”

Gilda stared into Applejack’s eyes for a few moments, and then scanned the rest of the group quickly. “… Sunset Shimmer, right?” she asked, receiving a nod from everybody in the cell. “Fine. I’ll make a quick call. One sec.”

Gilda left the girls alone as she wandered back to her office. The five girls waited silently until she returned a few minutes later. “Well?” Rarity asked.

“Classified,” Gilda said, her tone of voice sounding more annoyed than it did moments earlier. “I can tell you that Sunset Shimmer is indeed up there, but I can’t tell you anything more.”

“What?!” Rainbow Dash asked, flinching as she felt a stinging pain in her face.

“I can’t tell you, ‘cause they wouldn’t even tell me anything! Whatever’s goin’ on with your friend, it’s on a need-to-know basis! And you guys don’t need to know!”

“But she’s safe, right?” Applejack asked.

“She’s under our protection,” Gilda said. “And that’s all I’m able ta tell ya.”

After that, Gilda left the five girls alone together in their cell. Applejack walked back over to the uncomfortable bedding and sighed. “… Girls, ah got a bad feelin’ ‘bout all this.”

Sunset Shimmer stood in-between Shining Armor and Cadance in the middle of a large, empty, white room. “Are you ready?” a voice asked over the room’s intercom. “We’re activating the portal now. Please standby.”

A spark of energy appeared in the centre of the room, followed by another, and another. Sunset felt her hair standing on end as she watched some sort of dark-purple aura forming in the centre of the room, and slowly start to expand. “That’s the portal?” she asked.

“It is,” Cadance said with a nod. “Once it goes blue, that means it’s stable.”

A few more seconds later, and a flash of light erupted from the aura. When Sunset Shimmer could see again, the aura was light-blue instead of dark-purple. “Jump in now!” the voice over the intercom shouted.

The three all charged together in unison, jumping into the portal that would take them to another world.

To Equestria.

5 - A New World

Sunset Shimmer gazed off into the distance, admiring the beautiful scenery before her eyes. Green fields as far as they eye could see, filled with windmills and the occasional group of foals playing about. There were a few buildings nearby that she guessed where farmhouses. The sky was clear of any clouds, and the sun was at its highest point in the sky.

“I wonder where we are?” Sunset thought aloud as she inhaled the fresh country air. “The last times I came here were for enacting my revenge on Celestia. I can’t believe I’ve forgotten how peaceful this land is compared to America.”

A flash of light prompted Sunset Shimmer to turn around. She saw a white Unicorn stallion suspended in the air before her by a light-blue aura. The aura dissipated, and the stallion dropped to the ground like a rock. “Ow!”

“It seems there’s a minor gap between our arrival times,” Sunset said. “But at least it doesn’t seem to be big. Otherwise I would just be on my way.”

Shining Armor rose to his feet. Or rather, his hind hooves. He brought a forehoof to his head and rubbed it, and then gasped at what he felt. He brought his forehooves before his eyes and they widened in shock and horror. “I… I…”

“You are a pony, yes,” Sunset said. “What did you expect to happen if I became a human?”

Shining Armor turned to look at Sunset Shimmer, now in her pony form. “You… Sunset Shimmer?”

“That’s right.”

“You’re… You’re… Good lord, Shimmer! You’re naked!” Shining shouted, closing his eyes and turning around.

Sunset blushed, though she wasn’t entirely sure why. Perhaps she had just spent so long as a human that it was making her feel embarrassed at the thought of wearing no clothes, but she tried to shake it off, reminding herself that she was now a pony. “Y-You idiot! Ponies don’t need clothes!”

“What do you mean?! You just walk around with your chest exposed and-”

“Do I look like I have breasts?” Sunset asked, puffing her chest out for Shining Armor to examine.

“… B-But what about… you know…”

“Moron. Us ponies don’t tend to pay much attention to those parts. If we catch a glimpse by mistake, we shrug it off and look away. Not a big deal.”

Another flash of light appeared, followed by another aura, this one carrying a pink Pegasus mare, before dropping her next to Shining Armor. “Ow!”

“Ah, I guess that’s Cadance,” Sunset said. “So a Unicorn and a Pegasus, huh? And your Cutie Marks are…” Sunset watched as Shining Armor helped Cadance up to her hooves. Neither of them paid much attention to her as they stared at each other with absolute shock, examining each other’s new bodies to see what exactly had changed.

“S-Shining,” Cadance began, a worried tone in her voice, “A-Am I still pretty?”

Shining gasped and quickly nodded his head. “O-Of course you are, Cadance!”

“… You’re just saying that, aren’t you?”

Shining quickly shook his head. “No, of course not! Even as a horse, you’re still the most beautiful person in the worl- … T-That’s not creepy, right?” Cadance giggled, followed by Shining Armor.

“Interesting,” Sunset said, startling Shining as she touched a hoof to his flank. “A shield. That would suggest your special talent has something to do with protecting people. Perhaps a defence attorney would be a suitable job-change for you.”

“My special talent?” Shining asked. “Uh, I don’t know what you mean, but I became a policeman to protect the innocent. From there, I was recruited by the agency.”

“What are these marks, exactly?” Cadance asked. “Brands?”

“They’re called Cutie Marks,” Sunset told her. “They signify your special talent. Your destiny, essentially. Mine signifies my special talent in magic, and shows that my destiny is to one day rule Equestria in place of Princess Celestia.”

Shining Armor raised an eyebrow. “Uh… I-If you say so. So what’s Cadance’s?”

“… I have no clue. It’s a heart, so maybe she should start a dating show?”

Cadance frowned at that suggestion. “I don’t like that. Oh, I know! Maybe it shows my charm and my grace! And that my destiny is to one day become Shiny’s beautiful wife!” Cadance lay her head on Shining’s shoulder, and the stallion blushed and smiled as he wrapped a foreleg around her. When his hoof brushed against one of her outstretched wings, he couldn’t help but eye it curiously.

“So Cadance is a Pegasus, right?” he asked. Sunset Shimmer nodded. “And you have a horn, so you’re a Unicorn.”

“You have one too,” Sunset pointed out.

“I do?!” Shining asked, suddenly retracting his foreleg to feel around his forehead. His hoof made contact with his horn, a little too quickly, and he gasped as a sudden shock rushed through his body, retracting his hoof right away. “So does this mean I can do magic?”

“Potentially,” Sunset said. “But I’d imagine it would require some practice in order to get the hang of it. Though having said that, your world’s Rainbow Dash adapted to her wings mere seconds after acquiring them, so…”

“W-Well, I can’t say the same for me,” Cadance said. Shining Armor and Sunset Shimmer turned to her to find her flapping her wings about, and hovering just slightly above the ground, clearly struggling just stay afloat. With a yelp, she suddenly crashed down to the ground. “Ow…”

“It must have been the Element of Magic then,” Sunset concluded with a nod. “Now then, may I suggest we find a town before nightfall? If we’re going to find this Sombra person, we stand a good chance going somewhere with lots of ponies.”

“What about those ponies over there?” Shining asked. “If the three of us wound up here, Sombra may have landed here, too. They might have seen him.”

“Good point. Okay, we’ll go and ask these ponies if they’ve seen Sombra, and we’ll also ask for directions, too. I’m afraid that there are no distinctive landmarks for me to identify where we are.”

The three ponies began their walk towards the nearest farmhouse. Sunset Shimmer looked over her shoulder to see Shining Armor and Cadance walking on their hind legs. “You know, you look kind of silly walking like that…”

The two looked down at their hind legs. “Well, yeah,” Shining chuckled nervously, “But it’s just natural for us. Walking on four legs is kinda… embarrassing.”

The three heard laughter coming from ahead of them, and they turned to see a group of fillies and colts pointing and laughing in their direction. “… On the other hoof,” Cadance said, “When in Rome…” Cadance brought her forelegs to the ground and turned to Shining Armor, who hesitantly followed suit moments later.

“This is harder than I thought it would be,” Shining said as he took a few experimental steps forward.

“Why don’t you two stay out here and practice?” Sunset suggested. “I’ll go and interrogate the ponies here.”

“Question,” Cadance said. “We’re not here to make enemies, Sunset Shimmer.”

“I’ll come with you,” Shining said. “I want to make sure you don’t step out of line. You’re still under probation right now, after all.”

Sunset Shimmer rolled her eyes. ‘Yeah, like I would just run off blindly without a plan. Once I know where we are, then I’ll consider trying to ditch you.’ “Fine then. I guess we can play some ‘good cop bad cop’,” she laughed as she led the way towards the farmhouse, Shining Armor stumbling after her and Cadance staying behind to practice her walking.

Working on a wooden cart outside of the house was a grey-coated stallion with a green mane and tail, his Cutie Mark a cartwheel which Shining guess meant he was good at building carts and such.

“Hey!” Sunset Shimmer called out, startling the stallion and causing him to smack his hoof with his hammer by mistake. Sunset didn’t seem to care though as she continued to approach the stallion, stopping just in front of him and stomping her hoof on the ground to ensure his attention would be on her. “We have some questions for you, if you don’t mind.”

“Geez, lady. Don’tcha know it’s rude ta startle ponies like dat?” the stallion asked as he rubbed his sore hoof. “Darn city kids. Always comin’ outta nowhere an’ makin’ such a racket, jus’ like that one guy what wrecked me shed couplea days ago.”

Sunset and Shining’s eyes widened. “Somebody wrecked your shed?” Shining asked. The stallion nodded. “Can you describe him?”

“Eh? Well, didn’t really get a good look at ‘im. But if ah recall correctly he used this weird metally thing ta blow a hole in me shed, then tried ta steal mah tractor! The nerve o’ him. Luckily that thing was busted on that particular day, but he managed ta get away by hoofing it in the direction of Manehatten.”

“A strange metally thing… Did it have a mark on it that looked like a snake eating its own tail?”

“Eeyup! That’s it alright! Say, you two wouldn’t happen ta be friends with that pony, wouldcha?”

Shining shook his head. “No, sir. We’re not. Actaully, we’re F-” A hoof from Sunset Shimmer pressed against his lips silenced Shining Armor.

“We’re undercover Royal Guard, sir,” she said, earning a gasp from the stallion. “We’re pursuing the stallion that you just mentioned. The device that he used was a magical artefact stolen from Princess Celestia’s Royal Court Magi. For the sake of peace, we must ask that you forget what you saw two days ago. We don’t want panic to spread throughout Equestria.”

The stallion tipped his hat to Sunset Shimmer. “Ah reckon ah can do that, but what ‘bout me shed?!”

“We’ll send some reparation money just as soon as we return to Canterlot. A large figure that should easily cover the damages and more.”

The stallion grinned and nodded his head. “Well, now, that’s what ah like ta hear!”

“You said this pony was heading in the direction of Manehatten,” Shining said as soon as Sunset’s hoof left his mouth. “Could you tell us which way that is?”

The stallion raised his eyebrow and gave the two an odd look. “What kinda Royal Guard don’t know the land they’re supposed ta protect? Honestly, what’s become of Equestria today?” The stallion turned to his left and pointed down the vast amount of fields in the distance. “If’n ya keep goin’ in that direction, ya’ll eventually reach a dirt road. When ya do, there should be signs pointin’ ya in the right direction.”

“Thank you, sir,” Shining Armor said with a salute. Sunset Shimmer simply turned and left, and Shining Armor joined her seconds later. “Hey,” he said once they were out of earshot of the stallion, “What was that about reparations? You know we can’t-”

“Just something to make things easier on us,” Sunset Shimmer said, cutting Shining off. “Same with the whole Royal Guard lie. If it means we achieve our results with the least amount of hassle, then just roll with it.”

When the two arrived back to the spot where they had left Cadance, they found her lying on the ground, her mane and tail both completely messed up and a large frown on her face.

“Any luck getting those wings to work?” Sunset asked with a knowing grin. Cadance simply shook her head as she rose to her hooves. “Too bad. Hopefully you can at least walk, because it looks like we’ve got quite a journey ahead of us.”

6 - Welcome To Manehatten

Sunset Shimmer sighed. This was the fifth time in ten minutes that she had heard the hoofsteps behind her suddenly stop, and that she had to turn around to find the two FBI agents staring at something with the biggest, goofiest smiles on their faces and the most annoying laughter coming out of them she had ever heard.

“For the love of… Are you two children or something?”

“We can’t help it,” Shining said. “This world… everything in it is so beautiful.”

“Maybe in comparison to your world,” Sunset said. “Though I wouldn’t let your guard down if I were you. Celestia does her best to make her country look nice, but it holds dark secrets under the surface.”

“Hello little guy,” Cadance said to an approaching bunny rabbit, apparently ignoring Sunset Shimmer’s words. “Oh, I wish I had a carrot for you, but we didn’t bring any provisions.”

“Which is more reason to pick up the pace,” Sunset said as she approached the two. She stopped as she heard her stomach growling and her face turned red. “Great, now I’m feeling hungry. I hope that town’s nearby. Why didn’t we bring any provisions, anyway?”

“It wasn’t really necessary,” Shining said. “Sombra was never particularly skilled at hand-to-hand combat. Logically, being a pony should make him even easier to bring in. His only real advantage is that he got a two-day head start because the portal needed to… charge, or something.”

“But he also has that experimental weapon, right?” Sunset asked.

“According to our boss, it’s easily evaded,” Cadance said. “It takes time to charge the shot, and with your magic capability and knowledge of Equestria terrain, we figured it wouldn’t take long at all to locate and subdue the target.”

“What do you know about my magic?”

“Only what we’ve seen in your diary,” Shining said. Sunset shot the stallion a glare that sent a chill down his spine. “W-We only read through it once! The first week you were in our world, we searched your room to get a better idea of who exactly you were and read your diary then.”

“How dare you?! If it wasn’t for the fact that your boss is offering to pardon my crimes, you would both be a pile of ash right now!” Sunset Shimmer felt her stomach rumbling once more and turned around with a huff. “Let’s just get to that town already! My magic is weaker when I’m hungry…”

“How are we going to get any food?” Shining asked. “We don’t have any money.”

“I stole a crown from a Princess,” Sunset said. “I’m sure I can grab a few bits from some passerbys.”

“I don’t exactly approve of pickpocketing,” Shining told her.

“Would you rather we let the target escape because we’re too weak to fight him?” Sunset asked, receiving silence as her response. “That’s what I thought.”

“Well, I guess Equestria’s not really in our jurisdiction anyway,” Cadance said. “And I have to admit I could really go for fries right about now…”

With a sigh, Shining Armor reluctantly agreed and followed after the two. “Fine, but just this once! I guess the ends justify the means, and Sombra needs to be taken down…”

“I see some weather ponies up ahead,” Sunset Shimmer said. “And some tall buildings! That’s Manehatten alright!”

“What’s a ‘weather pony’?” Cadance asked. “Are they… moving the clouds?”

“That’s right. Weather moves on its own where you’re from,” Sunset muttered, confusing the two behind her even more. “Basically, they’re in charge of making the weather around these parts.”

“‘Making the weather’?” Shining asked.

“In Equestria, the flora and fauna are incapable of tending to themselves save for us ponies, and the weather cannot move on its own. Essentially, everything in the land is controlled by us.”

“Oh come on, that’s ridiculous,” Shining said with a chuckle. “So what, if you don’t move the clouds into position yourselves then there’s no rain?”

“Precisely,” Sunset confirmed. “The only place known to ponykind that this doesn’t happen, is the Everfree Forest. There, the plants and animals survive on their own, and the weather moves of its own accord.” Sunset Shimmer smiled, remembering a time when she was a filly that such stories used to frighten her so much. ‘To think I would later grow up in a world where such things are the norm.’

“I can see the city,” Cadance said as she narrowed her eyes, focussing on the city of Manehatten in the distance. “Wow, it’s big. Sombra could hide in there for days.”

“Which is perfect,” Shining said. “In a place that big, he could spend a while hiding out there. There’s a very real chance he’s still in there.”

“First thing’s first,” Sunset reminded the two agents. “Let’s gather up a few bits and find somewhere where we can eat.”

Shining Armor and Cadance both nodded, and the three continued on their way towards the huge metropolis before them.

“Thank you ma’am, have a nice day,” the cashier at MareDonald’s said as her customer left with her food. “Can I take your order ma’am?” she asked as Sunset Shimmer approached the counter.

“I’ll have a daisy and daffodil sandwich,” she said as she levitated some bits onto the counter. “What about you two?” she asked Shining Armor and Cadance.

“I’ll just have a hamburger,” Shining said. “No ketchup.”

“Hamburger?” the mare at the counter asked. “I’m sorry, I don’t believe we sell that here.”

“Ponies, Shining,” Cadance whispered to him. “No meat, remember?”

“Oh. Dang it, guess I’m eating healthy today.” Shining looked over the menu, his eyebrows creased as he tried to comprehend what each of the individual meals were.

“He meant a hayburger,” Sunset said to the mare at the counter.

“I’ll just have a salad,” Cadance said, sure that that would be something ponies would have. As luck would have it, she was right.

The mare took the bits for their meals and after two minutes of waiting, their food was ready. “Thank you ma’am, have a nice day,” the mare said as the three moved over towards a window seat to enjoy their meals.

“So,” Shining said as he opened his own bag up and took out the burger from inside, “This ‘hayburger’, I assume it contains…”

“Hay, correct,” Sunset said as she took a sip of her juice. “Don’t worry. Biologically speaking, you should be able to eat it just fine.”

“But what about taste?” Shining asked. “I got pushed into some hay as a kid and let me tell you, it did not taste good.”

“Well, as a human, I found the scent of meat to be quite attractive, and the flavour to be quite good,” Sunset said as she pulled her sandwich out of her paper bag. “This is just a theory, but perhaps your taste buds changed along with your body.”

“Why don’t you give it a try?” Cadance suggested as she fumbled with the plastic fork she had been given. “While I try to figure out how in the world you pick things up with these hooves.”

Shining Armor stared at the burger balanced on top of his hoof, cringing at the thought of actually eating hay. His rumbling stomach compelled him to give it a try, though, and he slowly took a small bite out of his food.

“Well?” Sunset asked before taking a bite out of her own sandwich. ‘Oh my goodness have I missed this taste.’

“It’s…” Shining swallowed and his eyes widened as he stared at his burger. “It’s good.” He took another, bigger bite and chewed it much more quickly that time. “Man, this is great!”

“Glad to hear it,” Cadance said as she sandwiched her fork between both of her hooves. “I’m having a little trouble myself. Sunset, a little help please?”

“Practice makes perfect,” Sunset said. “I have to conserve my energy for our encounter with-”

“Sombra!” Cadance shouted as she dropped her fork, pointing a hoof past Shining Armor’s head. Shining turned around and saw a grey-coated, black-maned Unicorn stallion pass by them outside. “That’s Sombra, isn’t it?”

“It certainly looks like him,” Shining said as he cautiously watched the pony passing by the store. “But we can’t be sure just yet. Let’s follow him and see where he goes.”

“I’m not done eating yet,” Sunset told him.

“Then you’ll just have to bring our meals along with us,” Shining said as he put his half-eaten burger back into his bag. Cadance put her salad away and the two rose out of their seats, giving Sunset Shimmer expectant looks.

With a sigh, Sunset put hr sandwich back into her paper bag and used her magic to carry the three bags behind her as she followed the two agents out of the store.

7 - Sombra Located!

Shining Armor watched closely from the window of a clothing store as the stallion they were pursuing, on the other side of the street, stood in line at a stand stocked full of oranges. Behind him, Cadance and Sunset Shimmer were browsing the store’s stock and discussing what would look good on each other.

“I don’t know,” Cadance said as she held up the skirt she had been looking at. “Doesn’t it make my flanks look fat?”

“When I left Equestria, big flanks were all the rage,” Sunset said as she levitated a saddle in front of herself and gagged. “You’d never catch me dead in a thing like this. Though I guess living as a human for some time might have something to do with that.”

“I think it’s rather cute,” Cadance said with a giggle. “It’s a shame we can’t buy any of this stuff, but as long as we’re here we might as well try some of it on.”

“No time,” Shining said. “He’s on the move again. Let’s go.”

“Awww, come on. Just one more minute?” Cadance asked with a pout.

“This isn’t a vacation, Cadance,” he said, turning to see his girlfriend pouting as she stared down at the clothes in her hooves. “… Fine, we’ll come back after we’ve finished tailing this guy. Happy?”

Cadance’s face lit up and she nodded. “Yep!”

Sunset Shimmer took all of the clothes they had picked out into her magic and dumped them onto the nearby store clerk. “Be a dear and put these back for us, will you?”

Before the clerk could respond, the trio had already galloped out of the store and down the street, knocking over a few ponies on the way. “Some ponies…”

The stallion they were chasing made a sudden turn into a park, and the group stopped for a moment to observe before going in after him. The park was mostly empty and relatively quiet. Cadance wanted to stop for a moment to smell the beautiful flowerbeds that they had passed by, but Sunset Shimmer used her magic to drag her along.

“There’s something up ahead,” Shining Armor whispered as he held a foreleg out to motion the group to stop. “He’s stopping at that wooden structure.”

“Excuse me,” the stallion said as he knocked on the door. “Anypony home?”

“Who dares disturb the Great and Powerful Trixie?” a voice asked from the other side. The trailer’s door opened, and out popped a blue Unicorn mare with a silver mane.

Sunset Shimmer sighed at the site. “‘Trixie’, huh? Well, at least this one won’t be playing ‘twenty questions’ with me about Equestrian magic.”

“Forgive my intrusion, miss, but I heard from a passerby that you would soon be heading off towards Ponyville. Is this correct?”

“It is. Tomorrow, in fact. Which means that if you haven’t seen Trixie’s show yet, tonight is your last chance.”

“Might I trouble you for a ride to Ponyville? I’ll pay you handsomely, of course.” The stallion reached into his saddlebag and pulled out a pouch. He handed it to Trixie, whose eyes widened and jaw dropped as she opened it up to look inside. “Well?”

Trixie closed the pouch up and grinned at the stallion. “Very well then. Come back here tonight, Mr…”

“Sombra,” the stallion said. “Thank you for your assistance.”

“D-Did you hear that?!” Shining whispered to the other two in his group. They both nodded. “That’s Sombra!”

“Well, what are we waiting for then?” Sunset asked. “Let’s go arrest him!”

Shining Armor nodded. “After that pony goes back inside. Best not to cause a scene…” The three waited for the two ponies before them to finish their conversation. It didn’t take long, with Trixie heading back inside of her trailer moments later and closing the door behind her. Sombra turned around and began to walk towards where the three were watching. “Now!”

The trio jumped out in front of Sombra, surprising him and causing him to stop in his tracks. “What the? Who are you?!”

“Sombra, you are under arrest for treason and theft!” Shining Armor declared with a threatening glare.

Sombra gasped. “Shining Armor?” Shining nodded, and Sombra turned his eyes to the two mares. “… Well then, I guess that makes you Cadance, and… I’m sorry, I don’t believe we’ve met.”

“She’s Sunset Shimmer,” Cadance said with a smirk on her face. “She’ll be the one to take you down.”

“Best to just turn yourself in right now, Sombra,” Shining said, motioning with his head for Sunset to move in. “Unlike you, she knows how to fight to in this form.”

Sunset Shimmer took a few steps forward, and her horn lit up. “Forget the warnings. Whether he surrenders or not, he’s coming with us.”

Sombra laughed under his breath, and then set his gaze on Sunset Shimmer as a dark grin spread across his face. “No… that won’t happen.”

Sunset Shimmer noticed something around Sombra’s neck. It was something red, and pointy, hanging around his neck via a piece of string. It glowed a sickly colour, one that Sunset Shimmer had only seen once before: when Princess Celestia demonstrated dark magic to her as a filly.

Sombra’s horn began to glow a dark-blue colour, and Sunset Shimmer quickly fired off a spell before he had a chance to. The beam of magic hit Sombra directly… or so it seemed. However, as the magic died down, Sunset was shocked to see Sombra still standing as if nothing had happened.

A blast of blue energy fired out of Sombra’s horn and hit the ground. The spot that the spell had hit turned blue, and a crystal shot out of the ground. The blue started to spread towards the trio, crystals shooting up wherever the magic had reached.

Sunset Shimmer quickly charged up a cancellation spell and fired it off, destroying the crystals and nullifying Sombra’s spell. ‘How is he so adept at magic after only being here for two days?!’ Sunset asked herself as she watched Sombra charging up another spell.

Before she could have any time to guess as to what the spell was, a loud noise behind her caught Sunset Shimmer’s attention. She turned around to see a large crystal poking out of the ground, and a second later, the crystal shattered, pieces of it spraying everywhere.

Whilst Shining Armor took most of the attack’s damage by placing his body in front of Cadance, he still managed to remain standing after the attack was finished. Sunset Shimmer managed to erect a small barrier, but the crystals seemed to have a magic-draining property to them, leaving her quite exhausted as she turned back to find Sombra walking away.

“I have no time to waste with FBI and rejected Princesses,” he said, causing a sting somewhere deep inside of Sunset’s body. “Farewell.”

“Wait-” Shining started, but stopped as he felt the stinging of the crystals piercing his skin take effect.

“Over here!” a voice shouted from the distance. “Looks like one of them’s injured!”

Sunset Shimmer looked up a nearby hill to find a few ponies approaching, two of them dressed in the armour worn by the Royal Guard. ‘I can’t let them see my face! I have to get out of here!’ Charging up her magic, Sunset Shimmer prepared an emergency teleportation spell. “Hold on tight, you guys! I’m about to teleport us!”

“What? Wait, what about-” Shining’s question was interrupted by a flash of light whisking them away.

8 - Fleeing The Scene

A flash of light filled an otherwise dark alleyway in downtown Manehatten, startling the nearby mule attempting to take a nap under the cover of some old newspapers. Sunset Shimmer emerged from the flash of light with a look of absolute rage directed towards the mule. “What the hay was that?!” she demanded. “You said that Sombra was just some weakling! How did he know how to perform magic to such an extent?!”

“I, I dunno, ma’am,” the mule said, inching as far back from the enraged mare before the wall stopped him.

Sunset Shimmer blushed as she realised that this was not Shining Armor she was yelling at, and looked around for him. “Oh great. I must have teleported them someplace else,” she concluded upon not seeing any sign of either FBI agent.

“Um,” the mule started, “I don’t suppose you could spare a few bits for somepony down on their luck, could ya?”

With a sigh, Sunset levitated all of the remaining bits she had pocketed earlier and dropped them at the mule’s hooves. “You never saw me,” she said as she turned to leave. Behind her she could hear the mule thanking her and praising Celestia for her kindness. ‘Celestia had nothing to do with it, you idiot.’

Outside of the alleyway was a street unfamiliar to Sunset Shimmer. “Just how far did I travel? Whatever, Shining Armor and Cadance should be close by. I’d better find them and get some answers.” As she walked through the streets, keeping her eyes peeled for any sign of her two partners, Sunset Shimmer allowed her thoughts to wander. “But how did Sombra manage to use such powerful magic? It shouldn’t have been possible if he’s only been here for two days.”

“Excuse me, ma’am?”

‘Oh what now?!’ Turning around, Sunset gasped as she saw a pony dressed in armour approach her.

“We’re currently looking for a grey stallion who we believe is residing in this area. Have you seen anypony with a grey coat and black hair, by any chance?”

‘Good, he doesn’t seem to recognise me,’ Sunset thought to herself as she smiled. “Sorry, sir, but I can’t say that I have. May I ask what this stallion has done?”

“… We have received reports claiming he resembles the supposedly-late King Sombra.”

‘King Sombra?’ Sunset put a hoof to her chin. ‘Well well, he was Royalty in this world.’ Putting her hoof back down on the ground, Sunset Shimmer gave the guard a concerned look. “It is safe to walk around here, right?”

The guard nodded. “Do not worry, ma’am. The Royal Guard has a close watch over every street. Though if you still feel uneasy, you may wish to return to your home now. But as it is still bright outside, you should be quite safe.”

“Thank you.” Sunset Shimmer watched the guard leave. “‘King Sombra’… Interesting, but his Equestrian counterpart should have nothing to do with his American one. Especially not if he’s dead…”

“Come on, let’s search this place next,” a voice behind Sunset Shimmer said. She turned around to see a familiar white stallion standing just outside of an ice-cream shop, a curly pink tail wisping inside. “Fine, one cone, and then we continue our search.”

“Well I’ll be,” Sunset muttered as she approached Shining Armor, her furious glare returning to her face the closer she got. “There you are!” she shouted, alerting Shining Armor to her presence. “You have a lot of nerve!”

“I-I’m sorry?” Shining asked as he backed away slowly from the approaching mare.

“So you should be! What was all this about Sombra not being dangerous, huh?!”

“Wait, you encountered King Sombra?!” Shining asked, suddenly placing a hoof forward towards Sunset Shimmer and placing himself directly in front of her.

Sunset was surprised by the sudden action the raise in Shining’s volume, but she was mostly focused on what he had just said. “What do you-”

“Shining? Is everything alright?” The two turned to see Cadance leaving the ice-cream store and walking towards them. Only, this Cadance was different from the one that Sunset Shimmer had seen earlier. She was wearing golden horseshoes. And a golden necklace. And a small crown on top of her head. And most noticeably… “A friend of yours? Hm? You look familiar…”

Sunset Shimmer slowly started to back away, her eyes wide and her jaw agape as she stared at the Alicorn staring at her with a curious look on her face. “Uh… I-I’m nopony, really…” ‘Damnit! Of all the ponies from Equestria to run into…’

“Ah!” Cadance gasped. “I know who you are! You’re Sunset Shimmer!”

“What?!” Shining suddenly jumped in front of Cadance and charged his magic. “The same Sunset Shimmer who stole Twilie’s crown?!”

“Well, I seem to be all done here, so I’ll just be on my way,” Sunset said with an innocent smile, her horn lighting up mere moments before she vanished before their eyes in a flash of light.

“New orders, stallions, so listen up!” Shining shouted as he finished rounding up squad. “There are two in this city whom we must capture! Our new target is an orange-coloured Unicorn mare. This is an artist’s rendering of her.”

Sunset Shimmer watched the scene quietly from behind a parked caravan. “This is bad. Now they’ll be searching all over Manehatten for me! I still haven’t found Shining Armor and Cadance yet, but…”

“Alright Apples,” the stallion on the front of the caravan shouted in a cheerful tone, “Let’s mosey on outta here! Next stop, Fillydelphia!”

Sunset Shimmer took that as her cue, and as soon as the rest of the ponies hanging around the caravan hopped inside, she climbed into the back quietly and hid herself behind the tarp. “Hope you won’t mind me hitching a ride,” she whispered to nopony in particular.

“You don’t think the two of them are working together, do you?” Cadance asked from outside the caravan.

“Come on, get moving already!” Sunset hissed as she heard hoofsteps drawing closer.

“It’s possible, but for now we just have to focus on apprehending them. They’re both proficient at magic… Maybe I should have brought Twilie along after all…”

A thought crossed Sunset Shimmer’s mind. ‘Sombra was a practitioner of magic? Wait, maybe… Could this world’s Sombra be conspiring with the other world’s?’

“In any case, I want all trailers and caravans leading and out of this city to be checked before they leave!” Sunset Shimmer felt the caravan begin to move, and breathed a relieved sigh. “Hey, wait!” She jumped and peeked outside. She saw Shining Armor chasing after the caravan, but to no avail. He eventually had to give up as his breath drew short, and within minutes Sunset Shimmer could see the city of Manehatten growing smaller and smaller in the distance.

“… I guess I’m free then,” Sunset said to herself as she lay back against some of the nearby crates, opening one with her magic and taking a few apples from inside. “Free… to do what, exactly?” Memories of her earlier encounter with Sombra flooded her brain. “… That stallion beat me so easily… Despite my obvious superiority, how did he…” Sunset Shimmer shook her head. “Darn it, I can’t just let this go! Wherever this caravan stops, I’m going to find a library and find out who this ‘King Sombra’ is.”

9 - Seeing Double

Shining Armor rubbed his head as he lay on the ground, waiting for the pain to subside. “Ow… What they hay were you thinking?” he asked Sunset Shimmer, only to receive no response. “Hey,” he called out, opening his eyes and looking around the empty lot he was in. Neither Sunset nor Cadance were anywhere to be seen. “Where are they?”

“Captain!” Shining Amor rose slowly to his hooves and took another look around, trying to determine if he had been here earlier. “Captain!”

“Huh?” Shining looked down at the short pony standing before him, dressed in armour and wielding a spear as he saluted. “Uh… Hi?”

The guard raised an eyebrow. “Captain sir, are you feeling well?”

‘‘Captain’?’ Shining gasped as he realised what this must mean. ‘I get it! The Shining Armor of this world is a Captain of sorts! Wow! Way to go me!’ “Er, yes, I’m quite fine, thanks… How are you?”

The pony tilted his head to the side. “A-Anyway, I have a report. A stallion matching the target’s description was seen passing through 57th Street just ten minutes ago.”

Shining Armor nodded. ‘It’d take too long to explain what I really am, and the Director asked us to perform this mission without alerting the inhabitants of this world to our presence, if possible.’ Shining looked past the guard, to what seemed to be the only way out of this fenced-in lot. “W-Well then, I guess I’ll go and pursue the target then. Thank you for this report, Private.”

“Lieutenant,” the pony corrected. “Uh, Lieutenant, sir.”

“… Er, yes. T-Thanks, Lieutenant.” Shining ran past the guard quickly, not looking back as he made straight for the exit into the streets of Manehatten. “I have to find Cady and Shimmer,” he muttered to himself.

As he walked through the crowded streets, Shining Armor couldn’t help but smile at how easy walking on four hooves as opposed to two feet was starting to feel. He was really getting the hang of this, and was wondering if he could even start using magic soon.

Not that he wanted to stay in Equestria longer than was necessary, of course. As soon as he found his comrades and apprehended Sombra, he would be out of there without a second thought… “Sombra, he knew how to use magic… If we’re going to capture him, I might have to start studying up on this world’s way of fighting…”

“CHANGELING!” Shining jumped as he heard an ear-piercing scream directly to his right. He then gasped as he recognised the owner of such a scream. “SHINING! HELP!”

“CADANCE!” Shining Armor rushed into the alleyway to his right with all haste. As he rounded a corner her found Cadance, still a Pegasus pony, on her back on the ground, with a white stallion pinning her down from above. “GET OFF OF HER!”

“What-” The stallion didn’t have enough time to respond properly as he was pushed off forcefully by Shining’s forehooves. Cadance wasted no time scrambling to her hooves and taking cover behind Shining Armor’s back. “Another one?!”

“Cadance, get out of here!” Shining shouted.

“But-” Cadance began.

“Shining, the spell!” the pink pony standing behind the white stallion shouted. Shining Armor was startled by what her saw. Minus the accessories and the horn on her head, the pink mare was a dead ringer for his Cadance. “Use the spell our researchers developed!”

“That’s right,” the stallion muttered as his horn lit up. “You two are finished! This spell was designed to attack a changeling’s unique biological structure, rendering any and all changelings within a one hundred yard radium immobile for some time!”

“Wait, please!” Cadance pleaded, moments before a blue barrier stretched out from the stallion’s horn.

“… W-Why didn’t they change back?” the stallion asked himself in a whisper.

“Cadance, get out of here,” Shining Armor repeated. “I’ll protect you, no matter what.”

“I said wait!” Cadance screamed into Shining’s ear, making his ears ring for a few seconds before he brought a hoof up to rub it. “Honestly, would it kill you to listen once in a while before you act?!”

“Tell me about it,” the other Cadance said with a roll of her eyes, before giving the stallion a deadpan stare.

“Now, if we’re done screaming and kicking here,” Cadance started as she approached her two assailants, “Perhaps you’d give us the courtesy of explaining who we are and why we’re here. Is that alright with you, Shining Armor?”

Shining’s eyes widened as he stared at the stallion before him in complete disbelief. “W-What?!” Shining looked the stallion up-and-down very closely. “You mean, this is what I look like as a pony?” A few more seconds of close examination, almost a little too close for the other Shining’s comfort. “… Nice.”

10 - A Friend In Need

Sunset Shimmer tried as hard as she could to hold back her tears. She grinded her teeth together and shot a heated glare up at her tormentor, but it was all an act to make herself look intimidating. And it wasn’t fooling anypony.

“You see now?” a voice asked Sunset Shimmer as it reached out for the golden tiara sitting on her head with two dark, silhouetted hooves. “Friendship was powerless against me, as was your raw power. Nothing in this world or yours can defeat me.”

“I’m not done yet,” Sunset said, though her tone expressed nothing more than utter defeat. “I can still win. I was Princess Celestia’s number one pupil. That alone shows that I am the strongest…”

“You are nothing,” the voice said as it removed the tiara from her head. “You are just a lone wolf that has strayed from its pack. Such a pathetic creature can never posses the power needed to overthrow the darkness.”

Rainbow Dash stretched her arms and yawned loudly as she approached the school’s front entrance. Beside her, Applejack put a hand on her shoulder and grinned her way. “Not sleep well last night?”

Rainbow Dash shook her head as she rubbed her eyes. “Just a dumb dream, that’s all.”

“I had a bad dream too,” Pinkie Pie said as she hopped up to Rainbow Dash’s other side. “I just woke up and sang myself back to sleep, and then I had a sweet dream that I was in a land made of sugar and candy and chocolate and ice-cream and-”

“We all have bad dreams,” Applejack said as Pinkie Pie continued describing her ‘delicious dream’. “Why, ah had one last night mahself, but y’have ta remember it’s jus’ a dream.”

“What are you implying?” Rainbow Dash asked. “That I’m scared? ‘Cause I’m not! I just couldn’t sleep well after seeing Sunset Shimmer being ripped apart by creepy shadows, that’s all.” Rainbow Dash continued walking, whilst Applejack and Pinkie Pie both suddenly stopped. Eventually Rainbow Dash realised this, and turned back to see what was wrong. “What?”

“That dream,” Applejack said, “It didn’t happen ta be of Sunset Shimmer as a pony, now would it?”

Rainbow Dash slowly nodded. “Oh my gosh! I had that same dream, too!” Pinkie Pie shouted. She turned around to Rarity and Fluttershy, who had both been walking close enough behind the three to hear their conversation.

“Why, that’s the same dream that I had,” Rarity said. Fluttershy simply nodded, and all five friends looked at each other with concerned looks on their faces. “W-What does this mean?”

“It means we just happened to have similar nightmares last night, that’s all!” Rainbow Dash said, hoping to dismiss it as merely that.

“Ah don’ think so,” Applejack said. “Two of us havin’ that same dream? Sure. But all five of us?”

“It’s just ‘cause we were worried about her, that’s all!” Rainbow Dash offered.

“Or maybe it’s a sign,” Rarity said. “And don’t you try dismissing that theory, Rainbow Dash! Before we met Twilight, none of us would have ever believed in a magical world filled with ponies instead of humans.”

“I would!” Pinkie Pie shouted with a raised hand.

Rarity cleared her throat. “As I was saying, the vast majority of us would have dismissed that without a second thought.”

“Okay, so maybe the dreams do mean something!” Rainbow Dash shouted. “So what?! It’s not like we can do anything!” In a fit of frustration, Rainbow Dash grabbed the soccer ball attached to her backpack and kicked it as hard as she could. It landed in some nearby bushes, and a cry of pain sounded through a moment later. “Oh shoot!”

A young, scrawny-looking boy popped out of the bushes, rubbing a lump on his head with one hand and holding a camera with the other, and quickly took off in the direction opposite of the group.

A gasp from Rarity drew everyone’s attention. “Idea!” she sang. “That boy Featherweight is an expert of getting into places he shouldn’t be able to get into! We could ask him to help us infiltrate that building where Sunset Shimmer is being kept!”

Applejack rubbed the back of her head with a hand. “I don’t know… Gettin’ into the Principal’s office without bein’ noticed or into an R-rated movie is one thing, but that buildin’ didn’t exactly look easy ta infiltrate.”

“Do you have any better ideas?” Rarity asked. “Or are you saying we forsake our friend who could at this very moment be in great peril?”

The other four looked uneasy for a second, before Pinkie Pie stretched a hand out. “I’m in! I still have to make Sunset smile! I mean, by making her laugh with us instead of at us.”

Fluttershy also stretched her hand out. “I still haven’t found the perfect pet for her yet. She didn’t show it, but I’m sure she was excited about it…”

Applejack was next. “Well, ah guess ah can’t jus’ leave one of our classmates alone in a dangerous situation like that. Even if it is Sunset Shimmer.”

Rainbow Dash eyed the rest of her friends for a second, before smiling and joining in. “Aw, what the heck. ‘Least it gives me a reason to miss the algebra test today!”

“Then if we are all in agreement, I say we round up Featherweight and convince him to cooperate with us so that we can rescue Sunset Shimmer,” Rarity said as she placed her hand with her friends’.

In unison, the five cheered: “YEAH!”

The five girls began to follow after Featherweight, but Rainbow Dash stopped for a moment to address the girl who was just passing by. “Hey Trixie, tell the teachers we’ve miss school for a bit ‘cause of family emergency!”

“What?” Trixie asked with a raised eyebrow.

“‘Kay thanks!” Rainbow Dash shouted as she raced after her friends.

Trixie was left standing in the middle of the pathway leading to the school’s front entrance with a confused look on her face. “Yeah right,” she scoffed as she continued walking, a devilish grin forming on her face. “Oh, I’ll tell the teacher’s you’ll be absent alright. But I think I’ll come up with a more fun excuse than that.”

11 - Making Pleasentries

Shining Armor, Shining Armor, Cadance, and Cadance all sat together in the back of a chariot as it sailed through the air, being pulled by two Pegasus stallions who had decided for their own sakes not to ask any questions.

Captain Shining Armor and Princess Mi Amore Cadenza watched with stunned looks as their counterparts peered over the side of the chariot, both with huge smiles on their faces and laughing cheerfully at how high-up they were.

“This is incredible!” Cadance shouted as she felt the wind blowing through her mane. “This is so much better than riding a plane!”

“You said it! Though I just hope the two pulling this thing don’t get tired,” Shining said with a slightly worried look. “By the way, Cadance?”

“Yes?” both Cadances replied in unison.

An awkward silence descended on the group for a moment. “Um, sorry. The pony one,” Shining amended. “Man, this is gonna get confusing… I know! For now, I’ll just refer to you two by your ranks! Captain and Princess, right?”

“T-That’s right,” the other Shining Armor said. “But that doesn’t really help us. What should we call the two of you?”

The FBI agents Shining Armor and Cadance thought about that for a second. “How about Shield and Heart? Those are the aliases we sometimes use on our undercover assignments.” Shining Armor suggested.

Captain Shining Armor nodded. “Very well then. For everypony’s convenience, we’ll be known as ‘Captain’ and ‘Princess’ to you, and you’ll be ‘Shield’ and ‘Heart’.”

And so it was decided. ‘Shield’ would have shaken ‘Captain’s’ hoof, had the hoofcuffs binding him hooves together not prevented him from doing so. “Soooo… any idea when we’ll be getting to this ‘Camelot’?”

“Canterlot,” Captain corrected, “And about half-an-hour. Just sit tight and don’t even think about scheming anything.”

“Honestly, Shiny,” Princess said. “They seem nice enough to me. By the way,” she added, turning to Heart, “I’m sorry for freaking out earlier. I just kind of thought you were a changeling.”

“Oh, that’s quite alright,” Heart said, although she couldn’t deny that she was absolutely terrified by her earlier encounter. “I’m surprised you believe in such things though. I stopped believing in supernatural things like that when I became a teenager.”

“‘Supernatural’?” Princess shook her head. “Maybe where you’re from, but in this world, they’re very real.”

“The changelings are a race of shapeshifters,” Captain explained. “They take on the form of somepony dear to you and then feed off of your love. Their Queen, Chrysalis, came very close to overthrowing us not too long ago, so we’ve stepped up our security against changelings greatly in recent times.”

“‘Chrysalis’?!” both Shield and Heart shouted in unison.

They both shared an uneasy look before laughing nervously together. “Y-You don’t think…” Shield began.

“Could be,” Heart said.

“In any case,” Princess interrupted, “I believe you were about to ask me something, Shield?”

Shield turned to the Princess and jumped when he realised he was about to ask something very important. “Oh, yes! That’s right! I was wondering why you have a horn, yet Cadance – my Cadance – doesn’t?”

Princess smiled and brought a hoof up to her horn. “Well, it’s sort of a long story, but I suppose we have the time. You see, in Equestria, there are two Royal sisters who rule our land. Both of them are what we call ‘Alicorns’, which means they have both a Unicorn’s horn and a Pegasus’ wings.

“Those two were born that way, and as far as we know are the only pureblood Alicorns to date. However, back when I was still growing up as a Pegasus filly in my quiet little village, I did something that nopony else had ever done before: I developed a new type of magic, by introducing love into somepony who’s heart was seemingly lost forever. For that, I was granted this horn, and the title of ‘Princess’.

“Though my powers remained the same, and my lifespan is not any longer than your average pony, with this horn I can now use magic just like Unicorns can, and with my title, I have been given the Crystal Empire to rule over.”

Shield gave an appreciative whistle at Princess’ story. “Wow. But wait, you became a Princess for doing what hadn’t been done before?”

Princess nodded. “Something like that, yes.”

“But, isn’t that basically what everypony who invents something, or discovers some new concept, or proves some new theory, or develops a new fashion trend or art style does? Are you saying there are Princes and Princesses walking all over Equestria?”

“I-It doesn’t quite work like that…” Princess said.

“Oh? Like what then?” Shield asked. “In our world, there are a lot of people who graduated from University by developing an original thesis the likes of which has never been done before. Would Equestria’s equivalent to them be Royalty?”

Princess sighed. “No. Like I said, it doesn’t work that way. To date, only two ponies have become Alicorns in this way. I don’t know why, it’s just how it works.”

Shield gave her a curious look, but decided not to pursue the topic further, since it seemed she really didn’t have the answers to give him. “Even so, becoming a Princess and being asked to rule a land just because you ‘developed some new magic’ or whatever… How can they know you’ll be a good ruler based on just that?”

“She’s a great ruler!” Captain shouted, glaring at Shield.

“No, I have to agree with Shiny,” Heart said. “Not to sound egotistical or anything, but I understand what Princess meant with her story. My charisma and my charms have gotten me out of many tight binds, and helped me uncover some useful information in my world. I’ve even managed to convince a few of the criminals we were after to turn themselves in and turn over a new leaf. Even so, I cannot imagine myself leading an entire kingdom from just that.”

“I of course underwent extensive tutoring by Princess Celestia beforehoof,” Princess said. “I never knew my parents. I was an orphan when my village took me in, so the Princess took me in as her niece upon my coronation and personally saw to my education.”

“And you were okay with that?” Shield asked. “You were okay with leaving everyone you knew behind and accepting the responsibilities of a leader, just like that?”

“I was nervous at first,” Princess admitted, “But after awhile, I sort of… Are you okay?” Princess asked, noticing Heart staring at her with a shocked look on her face.

“… Y-You never knew mum or dad?” Heart asked, causing a silence to fall immediately between the four ponies.

“… I never met them… Not once…”

Heart looked down at the chariot’s floor with a solemn look on her face. “I-I’m sorry…”

Princess shook her head. “It’s fine. I’ve made my peace with it… I take it, you knew them?”

Heart nodded. “I still do.”

“… What are they like?”

Heart smiled. “They’re great. No matter what decisions I made in my life, they were always there to support me. Even when I told them I would be joining the FBI…” Heart looked up to see small streams falling down Princess’ cheeks.

“I see… I’m glad. They sound like wonderful parents.”

Neither Captain nor Shield could react before Heart moved forward and wrapped her forelegs around Princess, offering her a shoulder to cry on and a warm embrace to calm her down.

Both Captain and Shield silently agreed to stay put and not say anything until Princess had calmed down, at which point Heart moved away to allow Captain room to hold her in his forelegs. The rest of the trip was quiet. Even when Shield saw the wonderful city in the mountains ahead of them, he kept his excitement locked inside.

12 - Find A Library

Sunset Shimmer woke up with a start as she felt her head bang against the hardwood floor of the caravan she was riding in. “Darn it. How’s a girl supposed to get some shuteye in a place like this?” The caravan continued to rock for a while longer, until coming to a sudden stop. Voices outside told Sunset that they had likely reached a town of some kind and she hurried to look outside the back of the caravan to confirm this.

“Alright folks! Let’s start unloadin’ them apples!”

Sunset Shimmer grinned as she saw buildings in the distance, and she worked her magic to perform a teleportation spell over to a tree that she could see in the distance. “Sorry guys, I think I may have eaten some of your profit,” she said quietly before a flash of light enveloped her.

She appeared beside the tree, startling a few nearby ponies before they continued about their days. “Now to find a library,” Sunset muttered to herself as she moved towards the town. “This might take some time. Perhaps I should stop and ask for directions.”

“You there!” Sunset jumped and looked around cautiously. “Yes, you with the fiery look in her eyes!” Sunset Shimmer turned around and gasped as she saw a tall, muscular beast walking towards her. She recognised this being only by one picture she had seen in a textbook as a filly. He was a minotaur. “That’s a good look you have! I bet you never let ponies push you around!”

Something about him seemed familiar to Sunset Shimmer. “W-What do you want? I’m terribly busy right now, so if you don’t mind… Actually, perhaps you could show me where this town’s library is? If it even has one, which I doubt based on how small and simple-looking it is.”

The minotaur put a hand to his chin and grinned. “Oh, yes! Very nice! I can tell just from looking, you don’t need any of Iron Will’s assertiveness lessons!”

Sunset’s eyes widened. “C-Coach Iron Will?!” She took a step back, but then calmed down and mentally facehooved as she realised this was this world’s version of her Gym coach. He certainly wasn’t here to give her extra classes for the ones she had been skipping.

“‘Coach’?” Iron Will asked, smiling soon after. “I like the sound of that! But anyway, I was wondering if you would like to make a few bits? Iron Will is holding an assertiveness workshop this afternoon, but his two assistants have fallen ill!” Iron Will pointed to two goats lying on their back, hooves either stretched towards the sky or clutched against stomachs as they ‘baa’d’ weakly. “How about it? You seem like just the type of girl Iron Will needs for his-”

“Pass,” Sunset said, not even allowing the minotaur to finish.

“Now hold on here!” Iron Will shouted. “At least let’s talk numbers! I’m willing to offer you fifty percent of today’s earnings if you-”

“Look, I’m really busy right now,” Sunset said with a bored look on her face. “Either tell me where I can find a library, or kindly stop bothering me.” ‘Man, it feels good to talk back to this oaf for once. If he tries anything, this time I can just use my magic to show him what for.’

Iron Will sighed and pointed down one of the nearby roads. “Library’s down that way, pass two turns then go right and it’s the third building to the left,” he said in a flat tone. “But are you certain that you-”

“Yes,” Sunset said, narrowing her eyes at Iron Will.

“Oh well…” Iron Will said, scratching the back of his head as Sunset Shimmer began to walk away. “Guess I’ll have to cancel my workshop then… Hey, ma’am, wait!”

“My name’s Suns-” Sunset stopped herself, deciding that using her real name was probably a bad idea. “… Sunburst. And what do you want now?”

Iron Will caught up to Sunset and walked alongside her into the town of Fillydelphia. “Well, since Iron Will’s afternoon is now free, Iron Will thought that he could help you with whatever it is you’re so busy with.”

Sunset Shimmer raised an eyebrow. “Oh? And why’s that?”

Iron Will curled his hand into a fist and beat it against his chest. “Iron Will is a true gentleman among minotaurs! When Iron Will sees somepony in trouble, Iron Will helps that pony out!”

Sunset rolled her eyes. ‘Yeah, should’ve figured. Chivalrous dork who can’t keep his nose out of other people’s problems, and always finds the time to bother me. Just like our coach.’ “And what makes you think I’m in trouble?”

“If you weren’t, you wouldn’t have stowed away on the back of that caravan.” Sunset Shimmer stopped, soon followed by Iron Will. “At first Iron Will was going to question you about it, but then Iron Will saw that something was wrong when Iron Will looked into your eyes. You’re in some kind of trouble, so you’re trying to remain hidden. I don’t know the details, and I won’t pry, but at least let Iron Will help you before you move on.”

“… Whatever,” Sunset said as she continued walking, Iron Will following after her. “Fine, do what you want. Just don’t get in my way.” A grin spread across Sunset’s face. ‘He might actually be useful. At the very least, I can use him as a distraction so that I can flee if the Royal Guard finds me.’

13 - Who Is King Sombra?

Sunset Shimmer used her magic to grab yet another book off of a high shelf that she would otherwise be unable to reach. This was perhaps one of the few things she missed about Equestria. In America, she would have to find some fool to reach a high shelf for her, or find a ladder and climb up there herself.

“Don’t you have enough books already?” Iron Will asked as the book was added to the ever-growing stack in his hands. “What exactly are you even looking for?”

“You don’t need to know. Just carry my books and for the love of god, try to keep you voice down.”

“The love of what now?” Iron Will asked, raising an eyebrow at the unfamiliar saying. “And I am keeping my voice down.”

“By your standard,” Sunset said. “This is a library. A place of study, not a place to show off your impressive vocal chords.” Sunset grabbed one more book and added it to the pile. “Okay, this should do for a start.”

“A start?!” Iron Will asked, earning shushes from all around him. “Iron Will is starting to regret his decision to help you now.”

“Well if you’re going to leave, at least bring those books along to a quiet, empty spot where I can read them.” Sunset Shimmer led Iron Will through the library, eventually finding a suitable location near the back to sit down and begin her research. Iron Will dumped to books onto the table into five piles and sat down opposite the mare.

“These chairs are so uncomfortable,” Iron Will said as he shifted his backside, trying to get comfortable on the small chair provided by the library. “Equestria needs to make more accommodations for minotaurs. Iron Will can’t even enter his rooms at various inns without banging my head on the doorframe.”

“Mhm,” Sunset replied as she focussed on her first book, skimming through it quickly for certain keywords that would tell her the book was useful. Eventually, she set it down to one side, and picked up her second book.

Three more books were placed aside before Sunset finally found something. “Okay, so King Sombra was a Unicorn who once overthrew the Crystal Empire… and that’s all I’m getting from this book apparently.”

“King Sombra?” Iron Will asked. “Isn’t he that guy that returned with the Empire a few months back?”

Sunset raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean by that?”

“Uh, y’know… The Empire returned after a thousand years of being sealed away?”

Sunset placed the book down and regarded Iron Will with a look of curiosity. “It was sealed away for a thousand years?”

Iron Will nodded. “Where have you been? This was all big news back when the Empire came back.”

“I was out of the Country,” Sunset said simply. “So you’re saying that this ‘King Sombra’ stallion was actually the King of the Crystal Empire one thousand years ago?”

“From what Iron Will has heard,” Iron Will answered. “He came back to rule the Empire again, but was stopped by the Crystal Heart. Or something like that.”

“‘Crystal Heart’… I think I saw that referenced in this book,” Sunset said, picking up the third book she had read and skimming through it once more. “Here it is. It says to refer to Equestrian Ancient History III for more details.”

“Y’mean this one?” Iron Will asked as he pulled a book from the middle of one of the piles, causing the books above it to crash down onto the table. “Uh, sorry ‘bout that.”

Sunset Shimmer grabbed the book with an annoyed glared and opened it up. As Iron Will tidied the mess he had made, Sunset continued to skim through the book until a certain image hit her. “That’s him!” she said. “Well, some features have changed, like the clothes and the smoke-like hair, but this is definitely Sombra!”

“Guy looks like a lot of trouble if you ask Iron Will,” Iron Will said as she leaned over the table to look at the picture.

Sunset’s eyes were drawn to Sombra’s horn in the picture, which was also different from what she recalled seeing, yet still somehow seemed familiar. It was glowing bright-red… “Where have I seen this before? … Aha! Of course! How could I forget? Sombra had something around his neck when we encountered him. Could it really have been this horn?”

“What was that?” Iron Will asked, but received no answer.

“If Sombra is using King Sombra’s horn to enhance his own magic… Is that even possible?” Sunset began mumbling to herself. “Maybe King Sombra is aiding him? Or possessing him? Maybe that was King Sombra? There are so many possibilities.” Sunset shook her head and closed the book before her with a sigh. “Well, in any case, I think I’ve at least figured out how he was able to beat me so easily. Somehow, he must have been able to channel King Sombra’s magic and use it against me.

“It doesn’t really matter to me if he’s captured or not at this point. I got my answer, so I’d best be on my way.”

“You’re leaving?” Iron Will asked as he watched Sunset Shimmer rise out of her seat. “After all the work we did gathering these books?”

“That’s right,” Sunset told Iron Will as she turned to leave. “Though where to go from here, I’m not too sure. I really could care less what Sombra has planned for this world, and I certainly don’t want to risk exposing myself and being captured.”

“You realise you’re not making much sense, right?” Iron Will asked as he stood up and followed Sunset Shimmer.

“You can stop following me now, by the way,” Sunset replied. “I’m no longer in need of any assistance.”

“Um, excuse me,” a voice called out to Sunset Shimmer. The voice belonged to a yellow Earth Pony mare with a pink mane and tail, carrying two books on her back. “Um, are you finished with your reading over there?” she asked, pointing to the spot that Sunset Shimmer had just vacated.

“What’s it to you?” Sunset asked.

“Oh, uh, I-I was just wondering if the spot was free, that’s all…”

Sunset eyed the pony closely. The more she stared at this pony, the more she began to see images of a certain human in her mind.

“Um, excuse me. Miss Sunset Shimmer?”

“What do you want?” Sunset asked as she placed another brick down into the broken wall.

“Well, it’s just that you’ve been working so hard, I thought you might like a snack.” Sunset turned around and saw Fluttershy place a tray containing a carton of orange juice and a freshly-baked apple-pie onto the ground. “I talked with Vice-Principal Luna. She said you don’t have to work during the weekend, which means you’re free tomorrow and Sunday.”

“I know what that means,” Sunset said in a bitter tone. “So what’s going on here? Let me guess: the juice is spiked.”

“The carton hasn’t even been opened,” Fluttershy pointed out.

“Then the pie-”

Fluttershy grabbed her skirt and shook her head. “I… I just thought you could use a break. Working too hard all the time will tire you out, and…”

Sunset Shimmer gave the shy girl a hard glare. “If this has something to do with what Twilight said, then forget it. You don’t have to force yourself to be kind to me.”

“I’m not forcing myself,” Fluttershy insisted. “I just feel bad whenever I see somebody down, and you haven’t been yourself all week… Um, I have to feed my animals. I-If you’re interested, Rarity and I are visiting the spa downtown tomorrow. You’re welcome to come along, if you want.”

“I think I’ll pass,” Sunset said. Fluttershy left with one final farewell.

“Oh! S-Sunset Shimmer… What a, erm, pleasant surprise.”

“Oh, you came along after all.”

“Let’s get one thing straight,” Sunset said to both Rarity and Fluttershy, “I’m only here because my body’s aching from all the work repairing that stupid school wall, that’s all! Meeting you two here was just a coincidence. Nothing more.”

“Well, coincidence or not, we’re all here,” Fluttershy said, “So let’s make the most of it, okay?

Sunset Shimmer pushed past the pony with bared teeth and glaring eyes. ‘Darn it. Why does she remind me so much of that stupid girl? And now I can’t stop thinking of the others.’

“Hey! Where are you going?” Iron Will asked as he picked up his pace to catch up with Sunset Shimmer.

“… And their pony counterparts are here in Equestria,” Sunset mumbled to herself.

“What did you say?” Iron Will asked.

Sunset Shimmer cursed herself for what she was about to say next. “Iron Will… I’ll take that job,” she said, much to the minotaur’s surprise. “I’ll need some bits if I’m going to catch a train to Ponyville.”

15 - Sombra Makes His Move

Three more bangs at Trixie’s door, these ones even louder than before. Trixie, who was in the middle of frying some eggs for dinner, groaned and turned towards her door. She set her stove to low-heat and stomped towards her trailer door. “For the last time,” Trixie said as she pulled the door open with her magic, “The Great and Powerful Trixie is unavailable right now!”

“My apologies,” the grey stallion wearing a dark-blue trenchcoat on the other side said with a toothy grin, “But you see, I really need to talk to you now.”

“You’re the one who’s riding with Trixie tomorrow,” Trixie observed. “What is it now? Trixie told you to come here tonight.”

“Yes. You see, something has come up,” Sombra said, “And I need to go to Ponyville right now.”

“Well too bad,” Trixie said with a huff. “Trixie is leaving tomorrow. You are welcome to leave with her then, but no sooner than that.”

Sombra let out a quiet chuckle as his horn lit up, pulling something out of his trenchcoat. Trixie titled her head at the unfamiliar object floating in the air. A metallic object of some kind in a sort of L-shape. “That’s right. Your people only have a primitive version of this, don’t you? Allow me to demonstrate, then.”

The object shifted about in the air and pointed itself towards a nearby squirrel, happily chewing away at a nut on the warm grass. Trixie raised her eyebrow, wondering what was about to happen…

It all happened in an instant. The sound of something clicking, followed by an explosion of red from the squirrel’s skull. Trixie’s mouth hung open and her stomach churned as she watched the squirrel’s body fall to the ground, blood pouring from its head as it lay perfectly still on the grass.

“Now then,” Sombra said, using his magic to point the weapon at Trixie, “You’ll take me to Ponyville right now, or the next hole will be in your head.”

Trixie stammered for a bit, still staring at the squirrel’s lifeless body as her brain tried to make sense of what she was seeing. She was snapped out of her stupor by the same sound she had heard moments ago, and she turned her head slowly to see a small black hole in the side of her trailer. “O-Okay!” Trixie said quickly, turning back to Sombra and backing up slowly. “I’ll take you to Ponyville already! J-Just don’t do anything rash.”

“That’s my line,” Sombra said, firing his weapon once more, aiming it just slightly above Trixie’s head. The shot made Trixie’s hat fall off, exposing her lit-up horn. Sombra’s own horn lit up, and black tendrils of smoke emerged from all around him, reaching out to the left of Trixie’s trailer. They returned carrying something large and metallic. “This device was created in the world where I come from. It’s technology is far more advanced than anything you could comprehend. Go ahead and use your magic against me.”

Trixie’s brow furrowed. She was not one to back down from a challenge, so she complied and fired everything she had at the smug Unicorn… only for it to hit the strange device that he was carrying and seemingly be absorbed into it.

“What?!” Trixie shouted as she took another step back.

“Wonderful, isn’t it?” Sombra asked. “This was created as a means of self-defence against your kind. After all, we’ve been studying magic for centuries and still have only just breached the surface. There’s no way we’d risk entering negotiations with you without some way of defeating your magic. That’s where this comes in. A weapon that can store magical energy, and then release it at will.”

“What are you even talking about?” Trixie asked through gritted teeth, looking around her trailer for something that she could use.

“Anyway, now that you know what you’re up against,” Sombra said, climbing into Trixie’s trailer, “I suggest you get moving. Ponyville, now.”

Trixie nodded hesitantly, and made her way slowly to the front of the trailer, her eyes not leaving the menacing weapon that was pointed at her head the entire time. ‘It’s fine,’ Trixie thought to herself. ‘It’s fine. Trixie heard somepony say they had checkpoints set up at the city’s exits. They’ll search Trixie’s trailer and find this stallion, then Trixie will just duck for cover while they arrest him!’

At the trailer neared the south exit to the town, Trixie braced herself for the incoming search. Two Pegasi dressed in armour stepped in front of her trailer, and she was forced to stop. “Sorry ma’am,” an Earth Pony guard said as he approached Trixie, “But we’ve been ordered to search every vehicle entering and exiting the city.

“Of course,” Trixie said with a grin. “Search away.” She jumped off to allow the guard to climb onto her trailer and search inside through the open door.

“… Nopony in here,” he announced, much to Trixie’s shock.

“Alright, you can go then,” one of the Pegasus guards said as he and his partner stepped aside. “… Something wrong?” he asked the motionless Trixie.

“W-Well…” Trixie felt something brush against her leg, and look down to see a smoky tendril poking out from beneath her trailer. “N-No. Nothing.” Trixie quickly climbed back onto her trailer and worked her magic to start moving it again.

After a minute of moving, Trixie heard movement from inside her trailer behind her, but dared not to turn around. “That was good,” Sombra said from behind Trixie. “Now keep going. And remember, I’m watching your every move from the shadows. One wrong move… and you know what will happen to you.”

Trixie gritted her teeth together and clenched her eyes shut, holding back the urge to turn around and blast the stallion with every last offensive spell she had in her arsenal. ‘Patience, Trixie! Ponyville is where Twilight is! Regardless of whether this stallion knows that or not, once I get there, I’ll have all the backup I need to take him down!’

16 - Encounter In The Skies

Princess Celestia sat within her chariot with a focussed look into the distance, with her four companions sitting behind her. Princess and Heart were asked to wear special clothing that would protect them from Sombra’s dark magic, whilst Captain and Shield were readying their weapons for the coming battle. Whilst there were no guns in Equestria for Shield to use, he was still a skilled marksman and so had requested to borrow a crossbow from the Royal Guard’s armoury. Captain was showing him how to use it with his hooves, which was going about as well as Heart’s attempts at flying earlier that day.

“Your Shining Armor,” Princess began to Heart, “He said he would need a weapon to ‘take down Sombra if necessary’. By that, he meant he was prepared to kill him… didn’t he?”

Heart paused for a second before nodding. “Even if he was once a colleague, he has become a serious threat to not only our own Country, but to Equestria, too. If necessary, he will have to shoot to kill. Our boss will understand.”

“But I won’t,” Princess said, shaking her head. “I don’t understand how you can talk about killing so easily. When our world’s King Sombra was destroyed by the Crystal Heart’s magic, I had nightmares and felt that the blood was on my hooves. I couldn’t stand it… Even Shiny, despite being a Captain of the Royal Guard, could never kill somepony in good conscience.”

Heart wasn’t sure what to say to that. She knew that this world was bound to be different from her own, she just never considered what exactly those differences were. Fortunately for her, Shield spoke up first. “The US has a population of three hundred and fourteen million,” he said. “I have sworn to protect all of the innocent citizens of our Country. To do that, I will erase whatever foes dare to threaten them.”

“It must be hard to sleep at night,” Captain said. “Do you… hold Twilie with those hooves?”

“… Whenever possible, I try not to kill,” Shield admitted, “But sometimes, it cannot be avoided. I take one life, and I save countless innocents. That thought alone is what keeps me sane. Twilie’s a smart girl. She probably knows on some level what my job entails, but so long as I don’t bring it up, it won’t cross her mind. And there’s no reason for her to know.”

“The population of Equestria,” Celestia said, “Is just over one-and-a-half million. We haven’t had a serious war for five hundred years, minus the recent changeling invasion.” Celestia turned to face Shield with a face that he wasn’t sure of how to read. Stern? Calm? “I won’t question the workings of your world, because it is very clear that your people are in a very different situation to ours. However, I would ask that you save killing as a last resort only… and after Twilight and her friends have been moved out of the picture.”

Shield stared into Celestia’s deep, focussed eyes for a few seconds. “… I will try,” Shield said, “But if Twilie seems to be in even the slightest danger, I will not hold anything back.”

“… I understand,” Celestia said as she turned back towards the direction of Ponyville. She rose to her hooves suddenly. “CEASE MOVEMENT!” she shouted, to which her guards responded immediately by slowing to a sudden stop.

“Princess, what’s wrong?!” Captain asked as he jumped to his hooves, his horn alight with magic.

“You two, get down!” Shield shouted to Princess and Heart, who both obeyed by lowering to the chariot’s floor. Shield picked up the crossbow he had borrowed and followed Celestia’s eyes, only to find nothing waiting for them. “Your Highness?”

“Sombra! I know that you’re there!” Celestia shouted. “I recognise that magic anywhere, King Sombra.”

A soft chuckle filled the air, causing Captain and Shield to look around themselves for the source. “So this is the ruler of this land, Princess Celestia?” The air in front of the chariot began to distort, and Celestia narrowed her eyes and stood on her guard as she watched, waiting for Sombra to make his appearance. “I would ask that you watch where you point that thing,” the voice said.

Shield, who had pointed his crossbow up to the distorting air, scoffed. “Or else what?”

“Or else you might anger the good Princess here.” A dark figure began to manifest itself in the air, and soon the group could see the grey stallion that they had been searching for… along with a blue mare that only Celestia recognised. She was being suspended by rings of black smoke around her four limbs, in a perfect position to shield Sombra from any and all attacks. “Or are you okay with killing an innocent citizen of Equestria, sir?”

Celestia immediately extended her foreleg in front of Shield. “Lower your weapon!” she demanded. “I will have none of my subjects’ blood be spilled!”

Shield grunted, but obeyed. “That’s good,” Sombra said. “Princess, I must say that I am impressed. Stealth was the one thing I was known for back in my own world.”

“… Who are you?” Celestia asked. “You’re clearly not from this world, yet you reek of King Sombra’s magic.”

“That’s because I am both,” Sombra said. “I am the FBI agent Sombra, and I am the King of the Crystal Empire Sombra. Or rather, I am his power.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Heart asked.

“Simply put,” Cadance said, “He’s the Sombra you knew, but with access to King Sombra’s magic.”

Sombra nodded. “That is correct.” He rose a hoof and pointed to the red object around his neck. “I believe it was two months ago? This horn was discovered by a housewife in Russia, who sold it to a wealthy Chinese businessman. You may recall a certain case where a famous toy manufacturer was found to be secretly smuggling weapons?”

“… Wait, the case that earned you that big promotion?” Shield asked. Sombra nodded. “Of course I remember. You were the talk of the office for weeks!”

“It was through that case that I found this horn. The horn of the deceased King Sombra. Somehow, it had made its way into our world. I guess it must be because I’m compatible with it, but when I touched it, I suddenly knew everything that King Sombra knew… Well, more-or-less. I knew of Equestria, I knew of magic, I knew of the Crystal Heart… Everything I needed to know.”

“And then what?” Shield asked. “You decided to turn traitor and invade this Country with our new weapon?”

“You mean this?” Sombra asked, using his magic to expose the large metallic device hidden behind Trixie’s back. “At first, I had no intention of invading Equestria. Even with King Sombra’s magic, it would be a foolish effort. After all, he was defeated twice, so why should I be any safer.”

“And that weapon somehow protects you?” Heart asked.

Trixie gasped as the gears in her head clicked. “I see!” Everypony turned to Trixie, surprised to find the hostage joining in the conversation. “So that’s it! All of Equestria’s defences rely on magic! The Elements, the Crystal Heart, even when the Princesses banished you the first time, it was by a spell!

“But if that magic in ineffective against you…”

“‘Ineffective’?” Captain asked.

“She has me figured out,” Sombra said with a shrug. “Yes. The moment I learned what this device did, I knew that I had nothing left to fear. Stealing the device was child’s play for a stealth specialist like me, and with it, invading Equestria would be like a walk in the park.”

“I won’t let you,” Celestia said with a stern look on her face.

Sombra simply laughed. “I don’t see how you have much choice,” he said as he pointed the device at the group. “I have been letting this device absorb background magic for the past two days now, and with the boost provided by my lovely assistant here…” The tip of the device began to glow a very bright purple, and Celestia’s eyes widened.

“GET DOWN!” she shouted as she used her magic to form a shield. To her shock and horror, however, the shield wavered and was drawn towards the device.

“STOP!” Trixie shouted, struggling against her bonds. “IT ABSORBS MAGIC AND FIRES IT BACK! YOU’RE ONLY MAKING IT STRONGER!”

With a gasp, Celestia quickly released her shield and attempted to instead unleash a quick teleportation spell.

“Too late.”

17 - Incoming!

“Apples! Get yer fresh apples, picked only this mornin’ right here!”

“Best asparagus in all of Ponyville!”

“Today only, grab a bouquet of flowers for your special somepony for only three bits!”

Twilight Sparkle frowned as she walked through the ever-noisy Ponyville marketplace, checking her grocery list to see what she needed next. It was hard to focus with all the shouting and the chatter around her, but there was nothing that she could do about it. That’s just how life in Ponyville was, and being with her friends everyday more than made up for it.

“Twilight!” Twilight turned around to face Spike, who was rushing towards her holding a scroll in his hand. “Twilight! Message… from Celestia… Read…”

Twilight raised an eyebrow as she used her magic to take the scroll from the panting baby dragon. She unrolled it and was about to give it a read, but the shadow covering her made the task difficult. “Wait,” she said to herself, “Shadow?”

“What’s that?” a nearby voice asked.

“It’s not night yet,” another voice said. “Why is it getting dark?”

Twilight turned her head skyward to see what was going on. She gasped as she saw the black clouds covering the sky, accompanied by a menacing laughter in the air that sent chills down Twilight’s spine. Because she knew exactly who it belonged to. “B-But how? …” Remembering the scroll in her magic, Twilight quickly turned her attention back to it and read over the few lines that were scrawled on it.

“W-What’s it say?” Spike asked, though the only answer he received was Twilight hastily levitating him onto her back.

“I’ll explain later,” she said as she began to gallop through the streets of Ponyville. “First, we need to find the other girls! I’m going to round them up at the park. Can you bring the Elements of Harmony from the library?”

“The Elements?” Spike asked with a worried tone in his voice. When Twilight nodded, he saluted and said: “You can count on me!” With that, he jumped off of Twilight’s back as they reached a junction, and the two ran their separate ways through Ponyville.

Spike tapped his feet against the ground and looked around the park nervously as he waited for Twilight to show up. Every time he thought he saw something, he would let his excitement grow and ready himself to hand over the Elements. But each time, it would always turn out to be a different pony, or a squirrel, or maybe even just a lead blowing in the wind.

“The sky’s gotten darker,” Spike noted to himself as he turned his attention to a nearby lamppost, which, despite the time of day, was lit up. “Twilight… where are you? …”

“Spike!” Spike jumped and quickly scanned across the park. “Over here!”

“Twilight!” Spike ran forward to meet up with Twilight as she raced towards him, her five best friends following closely behind her. “You’re here! Thank Celestia!” Spike noticed the grim look on Twilight’s face at the mention of Celestia’s name, and gave her an odd look. “Twilight?”

“Spike… the Princess is…” Twilight closed her eyes, took in a deep breath, and exhaled. “… Everyone, Princess Celestia has alerted me to a threat moving towards Ponyville.” Her friends all stopped and leaned in closer, remaining silent as they waited for Twilight to elaborate. “You all remember King Sombra, right?”

Rarity shuddered at the memories of the dark King. “Unfortunately. But what about him?”

“You’re not saying…” Rainbow Dash began. Twilight simply nodded. “No way! We saw him bite the dust! How can he be-”

“I don’t know,” Twilight said. “But Princess Celestia was injured on her way here, so she’s counting on us to deal with him.”

Everyone around Twilight gasped. “She was injured?!” Applejack asked.

“Is she okay?!” Pinkie Pie asked.

Rainbow Dash, her teeth baring as she felt her blood boil, grabbed the scroll from Twilight and quickly read over it. “… What’s this last part say? About the Elements?”

Twilight shrugged. “She must have written it in a hurry. That last section is completely illegible, but I can only assume she’s telling us to wield the Elements to stop King Sombra.”

“Like I would let you.” A bolt of lightning struck in the distance and the group froze in place as they heard the familiar, chilling voice of King Sombra enter their ears. Turning slowly, they all saw the menacing stallion floating before them on a dark cloud of smoke… a blue mare struggling against smoky restraints, her mouth covered by a black aura. “Twilight Sparkle… You look different than in King Sombra’s memories. You have wings…”

“King Sombra!” Twilight crouched down and gave the stallion a menacing glare. As she did, Spike quickly made a start handing out the Elements to their respective owners.

“The Elements of Harmony,” Sombra noted. “Tell me, Twilight Sparkle… Are you willing to use them, if it means hurting this innocent mare?” Sombra used his magic to move Trixie in front of his own body. “She’s only a mere mortal. Do you think she would survive a direct hit from such a powerful force?”

Twilight gritted her teeth together as a cold sweat ran down her body. “Trixie…”

“You coward!” Rainbow Dash shouted, shooting up into the air and charging towards Sombra. However, a black blast of magic to her wing forced it to close, and she was soon sent sailing back down to the ground.

“Rainbow Dash!” Fluttershy screamed as she rushed to catch her friend. To her and everyone else’s relief, she managed to catch Rainbow Dash before she hit the hard floor.

“Now then,” Sombra began, “If you don’t want me to harm this pony, I expect you’ll behave yourselves?” He received no answer save for the solid glares of the ponies and the baby dragon beneath him. “Good. Next, I want you to hand over the Elements of Harmony.”

“What?!” Twilight shouted. “I-I can’t-”

“No?” Sombra asked. “Oh well then. I guess this mare’s life is forfeit then.”

Trixie’s eyes widened, and her struggling increased as she felt the strange weapon that Sombra carried press against the back of her head.

“Okay!” Twilight shouted. “Okay! I get it…”

“Twilight!” Applejack shouted. “Ya can’t be serious!”

“But we have to!” Pinkie Pie said. “If we don’t, Trixie will…”

Rarity looked between her friends, her face more pale than usual and a sick feeling in her stomach. “W-What do we do?” she asked, turning her attention to Twilight. “Twilight?”

“Don’t give him anything!” a voice called out overhead, gaining everyone’s attention in the area. Including Sombra’s, which left an opening for a shadowy figure to appear beside Trixie in a flash of light. Before Sombra could turn back to see who it was, another flash of light whisked both the new arrival and Trixie away. “Now! Hit him with the Elements!”

Twilight knew this voice from somewhere, and gasped when she saw who it belonged to. “S-Sunset Shimmer!”

Sunset turned to Twilight with a sharp glare. “Why are you hesitating?! He’s lost his hostage! Hit him now!”

It took a moment, but after Twilight regained her composure, she turned her attention back towards Sombra. “Okay girls, let’s do it, while his guard is down!”

Sombra watched the bodies of the six mares light up, and felt the vibrations of powerful magic filling the air. A grin formed on his face as his horn lit up. ‘Guess I’m using my ace in the hole then…’

“Darn it,” Sunset said as she watched the six ponies channelling the power of the Elements of Harmony together. “… I guess this time, I’ll let her have the glory.”

“Don’t!” Trixie shouted suddenly, startling Sunset Shimmer.

“W-What-”

“Twilie, no!” Sunset Shimmer turned around to see two identical stallions running towards her, both of which she recognised as Shining Armor. As they drew closer, she could see streaks of red and small pieces of wood and rock sticking out of their coats. “Don’t do it! He’s going to-”

Twilight opened her eyes, and everyone around had to shield their eyes as a rainbow shot forth from the six, and made its way closer and closer to the cackling Sombra.

18 - The Final Battle

Sunset Shimmer felt her body trembling as she witnessed the rainbow light of the Elements of Harmony unleash itself with full fury towards Sombra. She knew from personal experience what a terrifying force this was, and that’s why she felt that there was no way that Sombra could survive it. So then, why were the two Shining Armors and Trixie so worried? Why was Sombra still grinning as his inevitable doom came rushing towards him.

“Get out of there!” one of the Shining Armors shouted.

“Fools!” Sombra used his magic to pull out his stolen weapon. Sunset Shimmer watched with extreme caution, having completely forgotten about the weapon and curious as to what he intended to do with it.

As the light from the Elements of Harmony reached him, everybody held their breath. The light hit the device… and concentrated on just that single point. “He’s absorbing the attack?” Sunset asked, amazed that such a thing was possible.

Sombra grunted and raised his forehooves to hold the device steady, using magic to prevent himself from being blown away. “I-Incredible! Stronger than I imagined!”

“This is bad,” one of the Shining Armors said. “If he absorbs that much magic, the girls won’t survive the counter-attack!”

“What do you mean?!” Sunset asked, turning to the two identical stallions. “He’s going to return their attack?!”

“It looks like he’s having trouble, though,” the other Shining Armor pointed out. “Maybe it’s too much for the device to hold? It was in the experimental phase, after all.”

Sunset Shimmer turned back to Sombra, her brow furrowed and her teeth gritted together as she watched the struggle unfold in the air. She gasped as she noticed the light from the Elements fading, and soon enough, it disappeared completely. “They lost!”

“Impossible!” Trixie shouted.

“Captain, do something!” one of the Shining Armors said to the other. “He’s going to unleash that on them!”

“On it!” Captain shouted as he charged towards where the six girl were slowly descending back towards the ground. “Shield, get those two far away from here! Take them to where the Princess is!”

“Right!” Shield turned around and knelt down. “Get her on my back. It’s not safe for her here.”

“Wait,” Sunset said. “What about-” A flash of light interrupted her. Captain had used his magic to form a shield around himself and the six bearers of the Elements of Harmony… mere moments before Sombra’s attack was launched.

“TWILIE!” Shield shouted as he watched. The attack hit the shield, and drove into it for a few seconds, before exploding into a blinding flash of light.

When she could see again, Sunset Shimmer found eight bodies laying on the grass. Six mares, one stallion, and one baby dragon. Floating above them in the air, completely in hysterics, was Sombra. “And now you see that no force in this world can match up to me!” he shouted as he took a deep breath. “First the Princess, and now the Elements of Harmony. Your world is so easy to topple, now that I have this.” He held up the device that he had used to counter the Elements with and smiled.

Sunset Shimmer, on the other hoof, was livid. ‘The Elements of Harmony, the greatest magical artefact in Equestrian history, defeated by some human?!’ Ignoring Shield’s pleas for her to flee, she charged recklessly towards where the downed mares were. “No! I won’t accept this!”

“Hm? Aah, if it isn’t the little pony who abandoned her Country. Now you’re willing to fight for it?” Sombra asked, looking down at Sunset Shimmer.

“Don’t get the wrong idea!” she shouted as she stopped at the fallen Twilight Sparkle. She noticed that the fallen victims were merely drained, but not in critical condition. They were still conscious, although they were only capable of slight movements and groans by this point. “I could care less what happens to Equestria, but I won’t have you tarnishing the name of the strongest magical artefacts ever to exist in our world!

“And the same goes to you!” she added, looking down at Twilight, who was looking back up at Sunset with a weak look on her face. “I knew it had to be a fluke when you defeated me last time. There’s no way that somepony like you, who can’t even use the Elements correctly, could have defeated me! ‘Uniting through friendship’? What a load of horseapples!”

“It certainly didn’t do the trick this time,” Sombra said, watching with intrigue as Sunset Shimmer knelt down and lifted the tiara off of Twilight’s head.

“Suppose one of your so-called ‘friends’ is away when an enemy attacks, huh? What then?” Sunset Shimmer stood back up and placed the tiara onto her own head. “I, on the other hoof, propose a different. Uniting with others is too impractical, and just completely worthless! Instead, the Elements should be used…” Sunset closed her eyes for a brief second, and when they opened again, they jet black with green irises. “… To unlock the power within one’s self!”

Sombra chuckled as he watched the mare beneath him transform. Her orange coat changed into a fiery red, her teeth began to grow fangs, her ears became more pointed and jagged, and her mane and tail became even more flame-like in appearance. Perhaps most noticeable of all, though, were the two bat-like wings growing from the mare’s sides.

“Sombra!” Sunset shouted, her voiced echoing as she took flight. “This is how the Elements are meant to be used! Maybe this time, you’ll learn to respect them a little more!”

Sombra hummed with interest. “The six of them worked together but failed. What makes you think you alone can stand a better chance?”

“Because I am not being hindered by others,” Sunset said as he horn sparked to life, a bright green flame surrounding it as she readied her spell. “A magical spell is only as strong as its weakest contributor. I have such hindrances, as you’ll now see!”

The magic stored in Sunset Shimmer’s horn fired. Sombra immediately moved to block it with the stolen weapon, cackling madly as the attack was absorbed…

“What?!” Sombra asked as he saw a spark from the device, followed by a crack. “What’s going on?!”

“Is it working?” Trixie asked, watching the scene with awe and wonder from atop Shield’s back.

Shield had since stopped fleeing the scene to also watch. “It seems the device is still temperamental. There’s only so much it can take before it starts to break down.”

“That mare’s attack,” Trixie started, “It’s not quite as powerful as the combined attack from earlier, but it’s definitely more magically dense… It seems that weapon can’t take it.”

“If she can keep it up, we might have a fighting chance!” Shield said, a smile returning to his face.

“… No,” Trixie said after a moment, her head falling as she frowned. “Like I said, her attack isn’t quite as strong as the combined attack from before. Even if she can break that device, I don’t think she has the power to defeat King Sombra.”

“How can you be sure?” Shield asked.

“Because Trixie has done her research. King Sombra was a foe of such power, that not even the combined forces of the two Princesses could stop him. The best they could do was seal him away, and even that wasn’t indefinite. The Elements of Harmony are meant to be used in unison, as the name implies. One on its own can only do so much…”

“T-This can’t be happening!” Sombra shouted as he watched more sparks emitting from his device. “T-This magic! It’s too much!”

“And here’s some more!” Sunset shouted as she paused her attack briefly, only to fire a second, much larger attack towards the stallion.

With one final spark, Sombra had to quickly throw his weapon aside before it could explode in his hooves. An intense light filled the air beneath the two Unicorns as the device shattered, but Sombra’s attention was on the attack still moving towards him. “Fool! There’s no way I’m stopping now! The Elements are already defeated. Once I take them, I’ll no longer need that device!”

“That’s too bad,” Sunset said, “Because I’m going to beat you right now!”

“Don’t push your luck!” Sombra shouted as his horn lit up. A black beam of light fired from his horn, colliding with Sunset’s in the air. “Fall!”

Sunset grunted as she felt her own magic being pushed back by Sombra’s. “I… I can’t hold on…” No matter how much effort she put in, it was not enough. Within just a few seconds, the black light of Sombra’s magic filled Sunset Shimmer’s vision, and the next she knew, she was falling towards the ground. “I… lost…”

Sombra descended slowly towards the ground, watching with an amused grin on his face as Sunset Shimmer’s transformation faded, her body changing back to what it once was.

Sunset Shimmer tried as hard as she could to hold back her tears. She grinded her teeth together and shot a heated glare up at her tormentor, but it was all an act to make herself look intimidating. And it wasn’t fooling anypony.

“You see now?” Sombra asked Sunset Shimmer as he reached out for the tiara sitting on her head with his hooves. “Friendship was powerless against me, as was your raw power. Nothing in this world or yours can defeat me.”

“I’m not done yet,” Sunset said, though her tone expressed nothing more than utter defeat. “I can still win. I was Princess Celestia’s number one pupil. That alone shows that I am the strongest…”

“You are nothing,” Sombra said as he removed the tiara from her head. “You are just a lone wolf that has strayed from its pack. Such a pathetic creature can never posses the power needed to overthrow the darkness.”

“She’s our friend!” a voice shouted, causing Sombra to turn suddenly to see who it was. A blue hoof greeted his face, knocking him some distance away and forcing him to drop the crown onto the grass. “That’s what she is!”

Sunset Shimmer looked up in bewilderment, and disbelief. The blue mare with the rainbow mane standing before her was none other than Rainbow Dash, but not the same Rainbow Dash that was lying beside Twilight Sparkle in the distance. It was her Rainbow Dash, from the other world.

“She’s also a student at Canterlot High,” another voice said. Sunset turned to see the rest of the group approaching, Applejack leading them. It was her who spoke. “An’ when someone at Canterlot High gets picked on, we all look out fer ‘em. That’s how we roll.”

“Um,” Fluttershy said, her face red as she spat a bag strap out of her mouth. “I brought you some first aid, but I… I can’t use it with these hooves, so…”

“You guys…” Sunset’s expression of shock turned to one of annoyance. “Why are you all here?”

“What, you think we’d let you keep all the fun to yourself?” Rainbow Dash asked.

Pinkie Pie hopped up to Sunset Shimmer and helped her up, being surprisingly good at using her hooves despite being so new to them. “We all had a dream that you were in trouble, so we all decided to sneak into that place you were in and make sure you were okay! Then we met this nice lady who decided to help us out and she showed us the portal-thingy and we all came through here together to-”

BANG!

Everypony stopped and jumped as the sound of a gunshot rang through the air. They all turned to Sombra instinctively, assuming it was him who had fired… However, Sombra seemed just as shocked as they did, and his gun was lying on the ground, beside his hooves.

“I suggest you all take cover.” The six mares turned the other way to see a tall black mare walking towards them, holes covering her body and her insect-like wings as she pointed her gun forward in one of her hooves. She stopped as took aim… only to fumble with the gun and drop it onto the ground. “Darn it! These hooves are such an inconvenience!”

“Who’s that?” Sunset asked, not quite sure what exactly she was looking at. She had never seen such a creature before in any textbooks.

“Oh, that’s Chryssy!” Pinkie Pie said with a smile. “She’s the nice lady who helped us get here.”

“‘Chryssy’… Chrysalis?” Sunset asked. The tall mare nodded.

“Damn it!” Sombra shouted, his horn lighting up as he sent a heated glare towards the group of mares. “You should have aimed more carefully, Chrysalis! You’ll regret not shooting my head when you had the chance!”

“This is bad,” Chrysalis said. “Run!”

“No way!” Sunset Shimmer said, using her magic to grab the Element of Harmony lying on the ground beside her and placing it onto her head once more. “I will not lose! This time, I’ll-”

“You can’t defeat me! It is useless to try!” Sombra shouted as he fired his attack.

“She can,” Applejack said as she placed a hoof onto Sunset’s Shoulder. “Because this time, we’re here.”

Sunset look up at Applejack with a surprised look on her face. “That’s right,” Rarity said, walking up closer to Sunset Shimmer. “You called her a ‘lone wolf who had strayed from her pack’. Well, that’s not quite right, because where we come from, nobody is allowed to feel alone.”

“We all look out for each other,” Rainbow Dash said. “And nobody has to fight alone!”

“You hurt my friend, you meet your end!” Fluttershy shouted with a glare. The others were taken aback by this, not used to seeing such aggression from the usually timid girl.

“Hey! This reminds me of when Twilight beat Sunset at the prom!” Pinkie Pie shouted, appearing behind Sunset Shimmer and pulling all of her friends into a big group hug. A bright light shone from the tiara onto of Sunset’s head, and a second later a bright-green barrier shielded the group from Sombra’s attack. “The next thing that happened was we all did some super-cool transformation thingy and then combined our powers to beat the bad guy!”

“You guys,” Sunset said, gathering the group’s attention. She looked into each of their eyes individually, and then sighed. “… Just this once, since you came all this way.”

“We’re ready!” Applejack said.

“Let’s beat this sucker and go home!” Rainbow Dash shouted.

“We’re with you, darling,” Rarity said, and Fluttershy nodded.

“Woohoo! Super cool anthro transformation GO!” Pinkie Pie cheered.

“DIE!” Sombra shouted as he put more power into his attack, driving it into the barrier.

Sunset Shimmer closed her eyes and focussed her magic. The bodies of the six mares began to light up, and Sunset felt an unfamiliar warmth rushing through her body. “This power,” she muttered to herself. “This is… the power that beat me…”

“NO!” Sombra shouted as he witnessed the barrier pushing attack back.

Sunset’s eyes opened, and a bright rainbow-coloured light exploded from the tiara on her head and made its way towards Sombra.

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

Sombra’s eyes fluttered open slowly. “Twilie, you’re awake!” Sombra looked to his right slowly to see one of the Shining Armors hugging Twilight Sparkle tightly. “Thank Celestia!”

“B-Big brother?” Twilight asked as she struggled in his hold. “W-What’s going on?” She gasped suddenly. “Where’s King Sombra?!”

“He’s here,” a voice beside Sombra asked, causing him to gasp and look up in horror at the white stallion standing before him, towering over him with a stern look on his face. “Finally awake, huh?”

“S-Shining Armor!” Sombra attempted to summon his magic… but nothing happened.

“King Sombra’s horn was destroyed,” a female voice behind him said. He recognised it vaguely as Princess Celestia’s. “And, although it is unlikely necessary, you horn has been fitted with a magical repressor.”

“Your hooves have also been bound,” Shining Armor said as he knelt down to look into Sombra’s eyes. “Sombra, for charges of treason, theft, conspiracy, and resisting arrest, I am placing you under arrest.”

“Add attempted murder to those charges,” Chrysalis said from behind Shining Armor. “We found a two of the scientists who had been working on the device locked inside the lab’s freezer room. If we were just a little late, they would have died from hypothermia.”

“So does that mean we’re done here?” Sunset asked as she approached Shining Armor. “We can go back now?”

Shining Armor nodded. “Yes. Let’s all go back immediately and…”

“… What’s wrong?” Sunset asked.

“… How do we get back?”

Author's Note

Last two chapters are coming up tomorrow. They are done, but they feel more like epilogue chapters than anything else, so I'm gonna draw out the suspense a bit and upload them tomorrow instead :P

19 - Parting Ways

“What do you mean we can’t go back?!” Sunset shouted as she tried to push past Rainbow and Applejack, who were using all of their strength to hold her back. “You brought me back to this Country without any guarantee of returning to the US?!”

“I-It was a slight slipup,” Shield said as he took refuge behind Chrysalis. Chrysalis herself found the situation amusing and was barely containing her laughter. “I thought the lab guys would have it all worked out, and didn’t really put much thought into it…”

“You idiot!” Sunset shouted as she fired a blast of magic at Shield’s horn, causing him to yelp and jump back.

“Now now,” Chrysalis said as she approached Sunset Shimmer. “Take it easy. After you all left, I asked our boss how you would be returning. He realised our blunder, and immediately set a team to work on a way to bring you all back.”

“And?” Rarity asked. “Is there a way?”

“There is,” Chrysalis said, drawing a sigh of relief from everyone. “But it will take a few days to put it together. Once they’re ready, they will send an agent to pick us up.”

“A few days?” Sunset asked, looking over at Princess Celestia with a grim look on her face.

“That ain’t so bad,” Applejack said. “It’ll be like a vacation.”

“One where I can fly!” Rainbow Dash shouted, jumping in the air and attempting to flap her wings… only to crash to the ground. “What the hay? I could do it before…”

“And you could show us where you grew up!” Pinkie Pie suggested.

“I’d rather not,” Sunset said quietly, turning her head away and frowning. “But… I guess I could show you around Canterlot, since there’s nothing better to do.”

It had been three days since the day that Sombra was defeated and detained. Until the agent from the human world arrived, Sombra was placed under heavy security in Canterlot’s castle, monitored closely by two Generals at all times to ensure he did not escape.

When Twilight’s friends encountered themselves from another world, it took a long time, and one burst of magic from Princess Celestia, to settle them down and explain everything that had happened.

The group from the other world had been spending the past two days in Canterlot, and on the third day decided to visit Ponyville and enjoy some company with… well, themselves.

“This is so cool!” Twilight said as she ran around her two identical brothers. “Not just one, but two B.B.B.F.F.s! I have to run so many tests to see just how identical you are! I wonder if your hoofprints are the same? It will be the first time ever in history of two ponies sharing identical hoofprints!”

“Twilight-” Princess started.

“And two Cadances, too!” Twilight ran over to the two Cadances and before either one could say anything, began dancing. “Sunshine, sunshine!”

The Cadances sighed together, and then both joined in. “Ladybugs awake! Claps your hooves/hands-” The two looked at each other and giggled. “Hooves, and do a little shake!”

The five ponies all laughed together. Twilight had never been happier in her entire life. “Heart-warming,” their guest said from her spot on Twilight’s couch, her breathing heavy and a foreleg over her forehead. “Any chance you could get back to our original question, though?” Chrysalis asked.

Twilight took a cautious step back. Even though she had been made aware that this was not the same changeling Queen who had tried to overthrow Equestria twice already, she still didn’t feel comfortable being around someone who resembled her so much. “R-Right. You, er, said you were feeling feverish?”

“And sluggish,” Chrysalis responded. “Can barely stay awake sometimes…”

“What’s wrong with her?” Heart asked in a worried voice.

“I’m sure she’s just faking it,” Shield said. “She’s just trying to get some time off work when we get back by pretending she caught some kinda new flu from this place.”

“That’s not it,” Twilight said. “She’s a changeling, not a pony.”

“That’s right,” Heart muttered. “Captain and Princess told us about the changelings. They feed off of love…”

“They don’t just do it for pleasure though,” Twilight told them. “I mean, they do, but it’s also a necessity for their survival. What Chrysalis is experiencing is a form of changeling malnutrition, from not feeding off of any love for three full days.”

“So, she needs to feed off our love, or she’ll die?” Shield asked, his face turning pale at the thought.

“So be it,” Chrysalis said, rolling onto her side to face Shield and spreading her forelegs open. “C’mon, Shiny. Looks like we have no choice.”

A blush formed across both Shield and Captain’s faces. “W-What are you saying?!” Shield shouted.

“Let’s be professional about this,” Chrysalis said. “It’s necessary, remember?”

Twilight cleared her throat and stepped in front of her two big brothers. “When I say ‘feeding off of love’, I mean you simply absorb love as if it were energy. That’s all.”

Chrysalis rolled back onto her back. “Oh. How boring.” Shield sighed. “So? How do I do that?”

Twilight put a hoof to her chin in thought. “From what I’ve read about changelings since their attack on Canterlot, little ones who can’t feed themselves consciously are fed by being exposed to so much love, it simply seeps into their systems.”

Princess nodded. “There isn’t much information on it, but one of our spies who has been watching the changelings has reported that they usually place a who group of youngling into a room and soak the room in collected love. Another method they used to do was to sneak a youngling into a honeymoon suite. Passionate lovemaking between a young couple offers the purest and richest of love, apparently.”

All eyes fell on Princess, who looked around at everypony with a confused look on her face. “What?”

“Passionate lovemaking by a young couple…” Shield muttered to himself.

Princess’ eyes widened and her face turned red. “N-Now hold on, I wasn’t suggesting anything by that.”

“But we have no choice, right?” Captain asked Shield, the slightest hint of a smirk on his face. “Your friend will die if we do nothing.”

“You’re right,” Shield said with a nod. “A true friend helps a friend in need!”

“Since when were you and her so close?” Heart asked in a deadpan tone. “Anyway, what you’re suggesting is a little…”

“Hey guys,” Spike said as he entered the room, catching everypony by surprise and causing them to jump. “Um… am I interrupting something.”

“Not at all!” Twilight said quickly, rushing over to the baby dragon. “What is it?”

“I just got this letter from the Princess,” he said. “She said that the agent from the other world has arrived, and you’re all good to go back.”

An excited look formed on everyone’s faces, save for Chrysalis, who was groaning in pain and agony, and Twilight, whose face fell at the news. “I see,” she said quietly, turning to face her two brothers and two former-foalsitters.

“Twilie?” Shield asked. “Hey, c’mon now. It’s only one of me that’s going. You’ll still have your real bro.”

“I know, but… I wrote a whole list of things the five of us could together, but now we won’t get the chance.” The four ponies shared a laugh together, each of them knowing just how seriously Twilight took checklists and how upset she got when something broke her schedule.

Twilight furrowed her brow and turned around, her face red. “Oh, forget it! I’m going to find the others and let them know!”

“I’ll go with you!” Spike said, hopping onto Twilight’s back as she walked towards the door.

“… Behave yourselves while I’m gone,” she said to the four in a flat tone. “Try to control yourselves, okay?”

The four ponies blushed, and Twilight left the library to find her friends’ counterparts and tell them the good news.

Rarity and Rarity both sank into the bathtub at the spa and gave long, relaxed sighs together. “This is simple marvellous,” Rarity said.

“It is indeed,” Rarity said. “Back in my world, the spa around the corner was torn down recently, so now I must relax in my own bathtub at home.”

“How simply dreadful,” Rarity said with a gasp. “Why, if anything happened to the spa here in Ponyville, it would be the WORST. POSSIBLE. THING!”

“No no, the worst possible thing would be if all baths were replaced by-“ A gasp escaped Rarity’s lips, “SHOWERS!”

The two Raritys fainted at the thought, until a familiar voice snapped them out of it. “Uh, Rarity?” The two looked up to see Twilight approaching.

A bunch of apples fell from the tree’s branches after a good buck from Applejack and collected into the basket below. “Now you try!”

Applejack nodded and positioned herself before the next tree. Carefully, making sure she had her balance, she raised her hind legs, and bucked. A few apples fell, but not as many as before.

“Not bad for a first-timer,” Applejack commented.

“Ah’m used ta usin’ ladders and pluckin’ the apples,” Applejack admitted, “But this is a much more fun way ta go ‘bout it.”

“Applejack!”

“Well hey Twilight,” the two Applejacks said in unison as they turned to their friend approaching them.

“Applejack, good news!”

“That’s it!” Rainbow Dash shouted down to her partner as she soared through the air. “Key thing to remember if you’re a beginner: don’t look down!”

“Pfft! Yeah right!” Rainbow Dash shouted as she flapped her wings harder to gain some lift. “I ain’t afraid of nothin’!”

“So how is it?” Rainbow Dash asked with a grin. “Flying’s pretty sweet, huh?”

“You bet!”

“Rainbow Dash!”

“Huh? Is that Twilight?” Rainbow Dash asked as she and the other Rainbow Dash both looked down towards the ground.”

“Look out for that-” THUD! THUD! “… Tree…”

Fluttershy smiled as she watched the group of hedgehogs eating the food from her hoof. “Oh my, they’re so cute. You’re so lucky to have so many animals.”

“Don’t you take care of animals, too?” Fluttershy asked.

“Oh, I do, but they’re at an animal shelter. Not my home. But I do have a few pets that I adopted, like my sweet little Angel Bunny, and Mr. Mumbles.”

“It sounds wonderful,” Fluttershy said. “What about… d-dragons?” she asked, her ears drooping at the thought of the titanous beasts.

“Oh. Um, no. Dragons don’t live in our world.” Fluttershy put a hoof to her chin. “At least, I don’t think they do. But there are still so many different types of animals. Literally millions. When I grow up, I want to travel the world and see them all.”

“That sounds nice,” Fluttershy said with a dreamy smile.

“Fluttershy!” Twilight shouted as she descended down towards her friends. The hedgehogs that Fluttershy was feeding jumped with a start and ran away. “Oh, I’m so sorry! But I’ve got great news!”

Pinkie Pie narrowed her eyes as she scanned the area around her. She could see a market stall selling bananas, Lyra, Bon Bon, a fountain with a statue of Celestia on it, Time Turner…

“Ah-hah!” Pinkie Pie hopped forward and pounced Time Turner, grabbing the zipper on his back and removing his skin. “I gotcha!”

“Wow! That was great!” Pinkie Pie shouted as she jumped out of Time Turner’s skin. “Okay, your turn to hide now!”

“Turn around,” Pinkie Pie said. The other Pinkie Pie turned around, and she zipped off down the street, leaving only a cloud of dust in her wake.

“Ready or not, here I come!” Pinkie Pie shouted as she turned around, coming face-to-face with Twilight. “Oh hey Twilight! What’s up?”

“Hi Pinkie,” Twilight said, looking around with a worried look on her face. “Uh, where’s the other Pinkie?”

“Hi Twilight!” Pinkie Pie shouted as she popped up out of the bush next to two. Twilight jumped and put a hoof to her chest, feeling like she was about to have a heart attack. “What’s up?”

Twilight regained her composure, and took a deep, calming breath. “Well…”

“I’M GONNA MISS YOOOOOOU!” Pinkie Pie shouted as she held onto her counterpart, streams of tears flying out of her eyes.

“I’M GONNA MISS YOU TOOOOOO!” the other Pinkie Pie cried as she too cried rivers.

“Take care now,” Applejack said. “Say hi to yer folks for me.”

“You too,” the other Applejack said. The two shared a gentle embrace, before one of them grabbed the correct Pinkie Pie by the tail and started dragging her away.

“Man, this suck!” Rainbow Dash complained. “Just when I finally got a chance to fly!”

“I must say, I am going to miss this wonderful world of yours,” Rarity said, before looking down at her hooves. “Although I can’t say I’ll miss walking around barefoot. Blech!”

“Take care Spike,” Fluttershy said, pulling Spike into a big hug whilst nuzzling the top of his head. “I wish I could have asked you more questions about dragons.”

“Okay, is everybody ready?” Blueblood asked as he approached the assembled group. “And most importantly, is everybody here the correct version?”

Everybody nodded together. Shield noticed Princess Celestia staring at Sunset Shimmer, who was in turn staring to the side. “Hey,” he whispered to her, “Don’t you think you should say something before you leave?”

“Sunset Shimmer,” Celestia called out, though that only prompted Sunset to turn her back to the Princess.

“I have nothing to say to you,” Sunset said in the most bitter tone anybody there had ever heard from her.

Celestia simply nodded, and turned her attention towards Shield. “… Take care, Captain Armor.”

“Hey, I’m not a Captain,” Shield laughed nervously. “… You all take care too.”

“Well then, I’ll activate the portal now,” Blueblood said as he pulled the tarp off of a large, strange-looking device. “It’s designed to crumble after use,” he told Celestia. “The higher-ups didn’t feel comfortable leaving this portal here whilst we no longer have any way to defend against your kind, and would only permit this rescue if the portal was a one-time use only. I hope you-”

“I understand,” Celestia said with a nod. Truthfully, she was hurt that the humans seemed to hold so little trust for their kind, but she had heard enough stories from Shield about the human world that she could see where their lack of trust for an alien race came from.

“Everybody, this will sting a bit,” Blueblood warned as he reached a hoof towards a button on the machine. He pressed it, and after a flash of light enveloped the area, they were all gone. Gone back to their own world.

20 - Home Sweet Home?

“Hey.” Sunset Shimmer opened her eyes and glanced over at Shining Armor, sitting opposite to her. “We’re here. This is where you live, right?”

Sunset looked outside the car’s window. Without a word, she opened the door and stepped a foot outside.

“I had Cadance take the others home so that they wouldn’t find out you’re living with your Principal,” he said as he followed Sunset outside of the car.

“… Remember, no more spying on me,” Sunset said without turning to face Shining Armor.

“Yeah yeah. I’ve had a word with my boss, and he’s called off the agents that were stalking you.” Shining reached a hand behind his neck and scratched it nervously. “Um… I guess this is good then.”

“Yeah.” Sunset turned around and made eye-contact with Shining Armor. The two stared at each other for a moment. “Next time you need something, try not to resort to kidnapping, okay?”

Shining laughed nervously. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Big brother?”

Sunset gasped, and quickly began moving towards her house. “Twilie?” Shining asked as he saw his sister and her friend walking towards him. “What are you two doing here?”

“We just came from the science expo downtown,” Twilight explained to her brother. She held up a golden trophy with a blue ribbon on it, the number one inside of the ribbon. “We won first place!”

“Naturally,” Sunset Shimmer said as she threw an arm around Twilight Sparkle. Spike, who was walking by Twilight’s feet, barked happily at Shining Armor. “We were on our way to the bus station, but I guess now you could just give us a lift.”

“He has work to do,” Twilight told Sunset.

“Actually,” Shining said. “I just got off. And I’ve been given some time off. This case really took it out of me.”

“Really?!” Twilight asked, her eyes wide and sparkling with excitement.

“Yep. Hey, I know. How about we all go to the water park tomorrow? Cadance can come along, too.”

“Woohoo!” Twilight cheered as she threw her arms around her brother.

“Cool!” Sunset said, turning when she heard the sound of a door slam from the house beside her. “By the way, who was that? She seemed familiar, but it’s dark and I couldn’t see her properly.”

“Just a co-worker,” Shining said. “I was giving her a lift home. Come on, let’s go. I’ll give you both a lift to your homes.”

The three of them entered the black car and drove away down the street.

Sunset slammed the door to Celestia’s house shut as she entered. She walked a few steps through the entry hallway and passed by the living room. “I’m home,” she said as she saw Celestia inside, going through some papers.

Principal Celestia looked up from her papers at Sunset Shimmer. “Welcome home.”

Sunset stared at Celestia with a look of disbelief on her face. “… Is that all you have to say?” she asked. “I’ve been gone for three days, and all you have to say is ‘welcome home’?”

Celestia tilted her head to the side. “I’m sorry?”

“You weren’t even worried that something might have happened to me?”

“… Did you want me to worry?”

Sunset Shimmer gritted her teeth together and turned her head to the side. “… Forget it,” she said. She heard the sound of a chair scraping across the floor, followed by footsteps moving closer towards her.

“Sunset Shimmer, I had faith that you would come back,” Celestia said, earning a gasp from her student.

‘She… had faith that I’d come back?’ An image of Princess Celestia entered Sunset’s mind. ‘Did she…’ sunset quickly shook her head to clear the image.

“That’s why I wasn’t worried. But of course, if you had been longer, then naturally I would have been.” Celestia wrapped her arms around Sunset Shimmer. Sunset made no attempts to push her away, but she didn’t move into the embrace either. “I’m sorry if you misunderstood. I care for every last one of my pupils dearly, and you are no exception.”

Sunset turned around so that she was looking up into Celestia’s eyes. ‘Did… Did Princess Celestia… care for me too?’ Sunset lowered her head and stared down at the floor beneath her feet. “… But… you never came after she,” she muttered.

“I’m sorry?” Celestia asked, not quite able to make out whatever Sunset had just said.

Sunset realised what she had just said and gasped as she pushed Celestia away. “Nothing,” she said, turning towards the stairs. “I’m going to have a bath and then I’m going to bed.”

Celestia was about to ask if she would like to have a snack before going to bed, but as she watched Sunset Shimmer storm up the stairs, she decided to remain quiet and leave her be. “… I’m not cut out to be a mother after all,” she said softly to herself. “I know how to run a school just fine, but looking after one student as an individual…”

With a sigh, Celestia walked back into her living room and stared at the papers still stacked on her desk. Suddenly, she didn’t feel like going through the same test paper and marking it five hundred times, so she instead turned off the lights and made her way up the stairs, towards her bedroom.

The next morning, six girls found themselves swarmed by a crowd as they walked towards the front entrance to the school.

“Hey Rainbow Dash, you still okay to play today?!”

“Applejack, you should have called! I’d have been happy to help out at the farm!”

“Are you all okay?! We were so worried about you!”

Out of the six of them, only five were actually being swarmed by the other students. Sunset Shimmer was able to stand off to the side and keep away from the one hundred students asking them if they were okay.

“What’s going on?” Sunset asked no one in particular.

“You didn’t know?” Twist asked, to which Sunset shook her head. “Right, you were absent.”

“The teachers said the five of them got bad food poisoning,” Thunderlane told her. “Which gave them all bad cases of diarrhea.”

“WHAT?!” Rainbow Dash shouted, her face turning beet-red from both embarrassment and anger. “Where did the teachers hear that from?!”

Rarity scanned the crowd, ignoring all the questions targeted towards her, and her eyes fell upon a certain hooded girl who was snickering to herself on the side. “YOU!”

Rainbow Dash followed Rarity’s gaze and glared at the girl in the purple hoodie. “TRIXIE!”

Trixie raised an arm into the air. “Everyone, be sure not to miss Trixie’s show this Saturday!” she said, before a cloud of smoke appeared at her feet. When it dissipated, she was gone… though could still be seen running towards the school’s front doors.

“Darn it!” Rainbow Dash shouted. After a few moments of thinking, a grin spread across her face. “Heh, joke’s on her. I’ve still got her Math notes.”

The five friends heard a giggle to their right, and turned their heads in unison to see Sunset Shimmer holding a hand over her mouth, a streak of read across her face. “W-What? D-Don’t get the wrong idea! I was laughing at you, not with you!”

The girls all turned to look at each other and exchanged knowing grins. They then turned back to Sunset Shimmer and, without any warning, charged towards her. “H-Hey!” Sunset shouted as they surrounded her, Rarity and Pinkie Pie to her right, Rainbow Dash and Applejack to her left, and Fluttershy kneeling down in front of her. “What are you all-” Her words were cut off when she felt Rainbow Dash running her fingers across her sides, catching her off-guard and forcing her to laugh.

A flash of light later, and Rainbow Dash stopped. Sunset Shimmer looked forward with a confused look on her face to see a scrawny little boy holding a camera and pointing it towards them. “Make sure to send us all a copy of that once it gets developed!” Rainbow Dash said, to which Featherweight gave her a thumbs-up. He jumped as he saw the glare from Sunset Shimmer, though, and quickly took off as she charged towards him.

“Snips, Snails!” The two young boys in question jumped out from the gathered crowd and joined Sunset Shimmer in chasing Featherweight towards the school. “Grab that camera and destroy that film!”

“Yes, ma’am!” the two boys shouted as they picked up their speed.

Behind them, the five friends, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy, all laughed together as they watched their final friend, Sunset Shimmer, and wished her luck.

14 - Audiance With A Princess

The throne room was in a state of deadly silence as Princess Celestia stirred her tea, her four guests not making any sound as they waited for her to say something. Instead, she just stirred, a smile on her face as her magic brought over a small packet of milk. She added the milk to her tea and continued stirring, before bringing the drink to her muzzle and taking a sip.

She gave a pleasant sigh and lowered the cup onto the able beside her throne. “Are you quite sure you would not like some?” Celestia asked, turning to her guests. “It would be no trouble for our chef, I assure you.”

“With respect, Your Highness,” Shield began, his voice cracking as he spoke, “As you have already been made aware, we are on an important mission, and would really like to get things moving as quickly as possible.”

Celestia hummed. “Is that so? Ponies these days are always in a hurry. Last century, even if there was a fire outside ponies would still find the time for a cup of tea.”

“She’s… certainly different from the Principal we’ve been observing,” Heart whispered to Shield, who nodded in agreement. “I guess being over a thousand years old has something to do with it. Still hard to imagine they’re the same people, though.”

“Only in appearance,” Shield said. “Just like you and Princess, only your appearances and basic personalities are the same. But you lead different lives, so you both turned out differently.”

“Your counterpart doesn’t seem that different, though,” Heart pointed out. “If you hadn’t joined the FBI when the offer arose, weren’t you in line for a promotion to Chief of Police?”

“He seems more on the militaristic side,” Shield said. “I’m all for doing what I can to protect my Country, but you’re not gonna catch me on a battlefield or fighting a war.”

“Excuse me,” Celestia said, interrupting their conversation, “‘Heart’, correct?”

“Y-Yes, ma’am,” Heart replied, standing at attention and sweating heavily as she turned her attention back to Celestia.

“You needn’t be so nervous,” Celestia told her in a gentle tone, though it didn’t seem to help. “I have been told that a former acquaintance of mine, Sunset Shimmer, was sighted in Manehatten, not long before the two of you were discovered. I don’t suppose there’s any relation?”

Heart bit her lower lip. “W-Well, you see, we kind of… brought Miss Shimmer along to be our guide…”

“I see,” Celestia said, closing her eyes and concentrating. “… And now, you have no idea where she is.”

“Your Highness,” Shield started, “With the greatest respect, we would insist that you leave the matter of Sunset Shimmer to us.”

Celestia raised an eyebrow at the bowing stallion, whilst Captain stepped forward to chide him. “Watch it! You have no right to request such a-”

Celestia raised a hoof to silence the Captain. “Please,” she said, “Explain yourself.”

“Your Highness, Sunset Shimmer has been living in our world for a long time now, and has practically abandoned this one. During her stay, she has even opened a bank account in her name, secured a passport, signed adoption papers with the one currently looking after her, and has generally been admitted as a citizen of the US. Regardless of her crimes committed here, we feel that, as a fellow citizen, it is our place to take her in and decide what, if any, punishments are necessary.”

“And if I were to say no?” Celestia asked. Captain and Princess both backed away slowly as they saw the menacing look on Celestia’s face.

“… We intended to start diplomatic relationships with you as soon as this incident was resolved,” Shield informed her. “Most likely, our government will ask us to sell Miss Shimmer if it were to secure good relations with your people. However…” Shield shook his head and looked into Celestia’s eyes. “… I promised her her freedom. I told her that we would overlook her past crimes, and stop monitoring her, if she were to comply. I brought her to this world with the assurance that she would be safe, and there is no way I could forgive myself if I don’t live up to my word.”

Captain gulped and readied himself, keeping an eye on Shield in the event that he suddenly attacked Celestia. He heard laughter coming from the throne, and the four guests turned to watch Celestia in surprise as she held a hoof over her mouth and giggled.

“Well, that is certainly a load off of my mind,” Celestia said, lowering her hoof and smiling at Shield. “So she is safe in your world? Thank goodness. Now, that’s one less thing I have to worry about.”

Shield stood up straight slowly and cautiously. “You mean…”

“To tell you the truth, Sunset Shimmer has committed but one crime in Equestria. A crime which has already been dealt with by Princess Twilight Sparkle. Therefore, there’s no reason for me to-”

“PRINCESS?!” Shield and Heart shouted in unison.

“Holy cow!” Shield shouted. “I knew she must have had some big role in this world, but a Princess?!”

“The same Twilie who makes book forts in the corners of libraries so that she can read without anybody talking to her?” Heart asked. “I suppose if there’s a castle made of books somewhere, she’d be the perfect candidate to rule over it,” she said, half-joking and half-serious. After what she’d seen of this world so far, the idea of a castle made out of books really wouldn’t surprise her.

“Ah!” Shield shouted as he noticed the sun setting through a window behind Celestia. “S-Sorry, Your Highness, but I really must insist that we speed things along!”

Celestia nodded. “I understand. You are after the Sombra of your world, correct?” Shield and Heart both nodded. “In that case, I suppose I shall leave his arrest to the two of you. However, I must insist that my Royal Guard assist you. This is my Country, after all.”

After a moment of thinking it over, Shield nodded. “That’s fine. We didn’t want to complicate things, so we decided to chase after Sombra in secret. But after his display of power in Manehatten…” Shield trailed off as he remember his encounter with Sombra in Manehatten, and he gasped as he remembered something. “That’s it! I know where he’s going!”

“You do?” Celestia asked, eyebrow raised.

Shield nodded. “A place called Ponyville!” he said. Celestia’s eyes widened, and both Captain and Princess gasped. “That’s what he said! He’s travelling in some kind of wooden trailer on land, so we should be able to cut him off with a flying chariot, right?”

“We can,” Celestia said, “And you had better go immediately,” she added.

“We don’t have any time to lose,” Captain said. “If he’s going to Ponyville, I can only think of one reason why.”

“I agree,” Princess said.

Shield and Heart looked between the three ponies with confused looks. “Um… What’s so important about this ‘Ponyville’ place, anyway?” Shield asked.

“Ponyville,” Captain started, “Is where Twilie and her friends live.”