Sunset arrived at the statue just in time to see Twilight come out from the portal, soon followed by two older looking women.
The first was little taller than her, with pink skin and long, slightly curly hair of a mixture of purple, light yellow and pink, who wore a long white dress that reached her ankles, giving her a distinct good girl aura; the other instead was exactly the kind of woman parents had in mind when thinking of bad company for their children: taller than the first, with dark gray skin and straight dark green hair, wearing a see-trough dark T-shirt over a green tank top, a black leather skirt and tore black leggins that disappeared in a pair of biker boots.

"Sunset!" Twilight call broke her train of thoughts "I'm happy you could come on such short notice!"

"Sure Twilight, I had nothing better to do anyway," she said hugging her friend "But you said you needed help..."

"Yes, but first," she said gesturing to the women "Sunset Shimmer, meet my sisters-in-law Cadence and Chrysalis, queens of the Crystal Empire."

"Nice to meet you, your majesties," said the girl bowing her head.

"Please, no need for such formalities," Cadence reassured her with a smile.

"Twi-" started saying Chrysalis only to stop quirking an eyebrow.

She put a hand on her throat and gave a couple of light coughs to clear her voice.

"Is everything all right Chryssy?" asked her fellow queen, worry in her voice.

"My voice sounded unexpectedly normal," she said reacquiring her usual double-toned, slightly buzzing voice "Anyway, Twilight says you can help us, right?"

"Probably yes, I still don't know what you need though," responded the once-unicorn, slightly puzzled by Chrysalis' little episode.

"My brother Shining Armor, who is their husband, has disappeared and is probably somewhere around here. We need to find him," explained Twilight.

"He has a lead of two days," added Chrysalis.

"This isn't good, the city is pretty big... We'll need some help. What he looks like by the way?"

"He's a white stallion with two-toned blue mane," supplied Cadence "Around my height, well built."

"And with a very big-" tried adding the other queen.

"That is irrelevant!" said Twilight cutting her short, a mad blush coloring her cheeks.

"I was going to say love for hay bacon. I'm a professional Twily," retorted the other with a knowing grin "What were you thinking about?"

"Don't tease her Chryssy!" said Cadence stifling a giggle.

It took some time to round up the girls, since not all of them attended the same classes, but once gathered and lectured on the task at hand, the search started rapidly.
The nine of them divided in groups and went to search the city for clues to pinpoint Shining's location, sadly without the desired effect: apparently, his human counterpart was a policeman, and a pretty well known one at that, so they got a lot of fake leads.
After having spent the whole afternoon uselessly, they met up at Sweet Apple Acres to share they findings and plan their next move.
They were occupying the farm girl's room, which was pretty spacious considering it was furnished only with a bed, a small nightstand and a large closet.
Caring for her guests, Applejack had given each one a cushion to sit on, since the orange rug in center of the room wasn't big enough to sport all of them.

"Where could he be? We searched the entire city..." lamented Twilight running her hands in her hairs, threatening to rip them away, her eyes scanning a map.

"What if he left the city already?" asked Fluttershy observing the map "I mean, he had a big lead."

"But why would he?" asked Cadence in a worried tone.

"Why would he come here in the first place?" asked back Sunset Shimmer "Had it been to go sightseeing, he would have just asked Twilight, right?"

"He's pretty stubborn at times, but yes, he would have asked me..."

"It's obvious he fled," declared Rainbow nonchalantly.

"He's what now?" asked Chrysalis, knowing full well what the girl was suggesting.

"I mean," explained the other "Two wives? Most guys cannot keep up with one!"

"Are you implying I don't make my husband a happy stallion?" asked Cadence in an uncharacteristically cold tone.

"Now now Cadence," said Chrysalis massaging her sister-in-law's shoulders "No need to get temperamental for a brat, right Twilight?"

"Of course darling!" said Rarity a bit too forcefully, putting a hand on Rainbow's mouth to cut any response "My friend here likes to let her mouth run wild..."

"Yeah your highness," jumped in Applejack "She's mighty sorry too, right Rainbow?"

"What's all this ruckus?" asked Big Mac peeking into the room "Applejack, ya know Granny's nappin', ya don't wanna wake her."

"It's nothing Mac, Rainbow speaks without thinkin'..."

"By the way, mister Mac," asked Chrysalis changing the course of the discussion "Could it be you've met a certain Shining Armor recently? He's a pretty bulk man with white skin and blue hair."

"Eeyup, both the local one and the Equestrian one."

"Really?" asked the nine of them in unison.

"Eeyup."

"Where's the equestrian one?" asked Applejack.

"Dunno, last time Ah saw him it was this morning, in the market. He was with Flash Sentry."

Of course, the girls next move was trying to barrel trough the door all at the same time.

The mirror in Twilight's library rippled as Shining Armor emerged from it, a heavy looking brown bag next to him. He was followed moments later by his loyal helper, Flash Sentry.

"Woah, so the whole pony thing is real!" said the latter studying his new form "It was still pretty crazy to believe..."

"Why exactly did you come over?" asked Shining crooking an eyebrow st him.

"Well, if I wanna date Twilight, I should see how does she looks here... It makes sense, no?"

"Yes, I think so, but I really doubt you would want to help me with... Whatever I needed my trans-dimensional double for."

"I wouldn't?" asked the pegasus, his acute mind suggesting him that something didn't add up properly.

"You wouldn't," confirmed the unicorn.

The bag choose that moment to remind the two stallions of its presence in the room by emitting a pained moan.

"He's waking up already... Look Flash, you're a pretty good guy and I really wanted to keep you out of this, but if you want to I'll be grateful for your help."

"Grateful like?"

"Like letting you replace the local Flash Sentry and transferring him to my sister's personal guard."

"As long as you're not going to kill or torture this guy, I'm with you sir!" said the orange stallion attempting a salute.

Incidentally, removing one of his hooves from the ground made his already precarious balance fail. With a heavy thud Flash chin met the polished crystalline floor.

Author's Note

Finally the third chapter... I'm still not completely sure I like how it turned out, but I don't really know how else to go on...

As for the next chapter... You gotta wait a little, sorry