Spectacular Seven

Twilight didn’t know.

Down in the lab, phone stored away in her locker, furiously working on their latest project. How could she have known about what was taking place downtown? It wasn’t until everyone came up for lunch that Twilight was made aware. The two televisions in the lunch room had been turned up and were broadcasting the news in stereo.

“The attack appears to be at an end. The monster, best described as a floating sea dragon, has become stationary, hovering just over 3rd Street. We cannot get a visual on Adagio Dazzle, confirmed to be at least partially responsible for the destruction downtown. Meanwhile, six vigilantes, who many eyewitnesses report had superpowers, have been arrested and taken away. Their identities have not been shared at this time. As of right now, we have no idea what the amount of injuries or possible casualties are.”

Twilight stared as the camera panned about a torn-up street. Cars were overturned, shop fronts were broken, and several office buildings were completely devoid of their glass windows. The large yellow beast Twilight had seen at the Battle of the Bands floated over the block, eyes unblinking.

“Our helicopter was able to capture this footage of the fight,” the anchorwoman continued as a shaky video popped onto the screen. Familiar figures squared off against the behemoth that was Adagio’s Siren form. A jet of flames shot out from the side of a building, sending the monster into a fit of rage. Adagio herself soon appeared and caught a truck a disguised Applejack had thrown at her.

“There is still no official response from national authorities. The mayor has declared a state of emergency and urged everyone to stay indoors. Needless to say, people are in a panic, and rumors are already circulating online—”

Twilight turned and bolted out of the cafeteria, labcoat flapping behind her. She reached her locker, slammed it open, and grabbed her phone.

Adagio downtown. All hands now!

She had missed it. Sunset’s first message in days, and she had missed it. Twilight didn’t care if it was in the group chat; Sunset had asked for everyone. Magic or not, she could have helped. Maybe they could have made up. Maybe Twilight could have gotten her to understand.

Twilight had been a ghost since that night. She haunted the world with a single purpose: finish the portal. If they finished the portal, they would have magic. If they had magic, they could stop Tirek and make Sunset a new portal home. And if they stopped Tirek and made a new gate to Equestria, then maybe Sunset would forgive her.

The moment Sunset had rode off on her motorcycle, Twilight wanted to call and beg her to come back—throw away everything she had been working on. Instead, she had retreated to her room and sobbed until she fell asleep. Because she knew she was doing the wrong thing for the right reasons. Because this was one of the scenarios Twilight had wanted to avoid.

She kicked the locker, tears rolling down her face. Everything was falling apart. It wasn’t enough Sunset was furious with her, all her friends had been arrested as well. She should have been there. She should have fought with them. How was she supposed to help them from here?

“Are you all right, Twilight?”

Twilight quickly wiped her face and turned around. “Y-Yes, Dr. Glimmer. I’m fine.”

Starlight gave a sympathetic shake of her head. “It doesn’t take a physicist to see what’s going on. Those were your friends, correct? I’m guessing Sunset was among them.”

Twilight sniffed and nodded.

Starlight placed a hand on Twilight’s shoulder. “I’m sorry. People often fear what they don’t understand. But, it’s not too late. You can still help them.”

Wiping away her remaining tears, Twilight asked, “How?”

“Once we reintroduce magic to the world, they won’t seem like dangerous oddities, will they? Perhaps they’re still charged with vigilantism, but that’s better than being locked up in a secret government facility.”

Twilight supposed that was better, if only marginally. It was a faint light, but she had nothing else to hold onto. Other than her friends breaking out of prison on their own and getting into even more trouble. No, Twilight needed to rescue them, fast.

Starlight steered her back to the cafeteria. “Let’s get you some food first. I know it’s hard but you need to eat. Then, we can get back to work,” she said in a sweet, motherly voice.

Twilight wasn’t hungry, but heeded Starlight’s advice. She scarfed down her food and bolted back to the lab with hardly a word to anyone else. Sitting on the workbench she and Starlight shared was a far smaller but potentially more efficient version of Moondancer’s magic absorber. This one looked like a makeup compact, purple and circular with glowing blue lines. It sat open, with wires dangling out from its inner chamber leading back to a containment device with the shard of Sacanas inside.

Pulling her goggles over her eyes, Twilight resumed her work. She adjusted the circuit boards, reevaluated the magical formulas she and Starlight had created, and configured the inner containment system. Sparks of magic occasionally wound their way down the cable and into the amulet.

So focused was Twilight on her task that she didn’t notice another presence in the lab until someone knocked on the corner of the table. She snapped her head up and grated at the sight of Moondancer, looking at her with the pitying expression she had given all week.

“What do you want?” Twilight asked, barely keeping the coldness out of her voice.

Moondancer clutched a hand in front of her chest. “I just wanted to make sure you were okay. I saw the news and… I got worried. Especially after your friends…”

“They’ll be fine,” Twilight snapped. She looked down at the device. “Once we finish this, everything will be fine.”

“Twilight—”

“Moondancer, please don’t distract my hardest worker.”

Starlight and the rest of the lab personnel trickled through the door and returned to their stations. With her ever-calculating smile, Starlight approached the workbench and looked down at Twilight’s progress.

“I wish I had the money to give you a paid Internship. With all your hard work and dedication, I would give you a raise, too,” Starlight said.

Twilight didn’t take to Starlight’s praise as she once did but felt her cheeks blush all the same. “I’m putting the finishing touches on our containment unit. It won’t be able to store a lot of magic, but if our calculations are correct, and if we get a little lucky, it should be able to filter the magic from the portal.”

“And once we combine it with our portal device, the wall between our world and the world of magic will come tumbling down.” Starlight rubbed her hands together.

Moondancer fidgeted and made a noise in the back of her throat, but otherwise, said nothing.

Twilight made her final adjustments and detached the wires from the pendant. Carefully closing it shut, she turned it over and screwed in the back plate. The blue lines of the pendant lit up with a gentle luminescence, and it hummed to life.

Twilight held it aloft between her and Starlight. “It’s working,” she said with whispered awe.

Starlight smiled. “Moondancer, be a dear and escort Twilight to Canterlot High. She has magic to gather.”

She placed a hand on Twilight’s shoulder. “I hope you’re ready to change the world.”

*******

Sunset sat on the hard bench, head bowed low, mask off, face streaked with dried tears. Fresh ones still fell occasionally, but she had stopped crying in earnest an hour ago. Now, she was too exhausted to be sad. All she felt was failure.

Applejack and Fluttershy had tried repeatedly to share words of comfort and confidence, but they fell on numb ears. Eventually, the girls too fell silent. The three of them rode with two armed guards in one of the trucks that had arrived to arrest them, their friends rode in the other. She had no sense of how long they had been driving.

She and her friends were off to Celestia-knew-where, her worst fears realized. They would be contained, poked, prodded. The last shred of defiance in her told her to make a break for it. But even if they did miraculously outmaneuver all of the guards, their faces were known now. Their families were in danger.

And the Lulamoons…

Sunset squeezed her eyes shut, new tears pooling and falling down her cheeks. Tirek had no doubt confronted them by now. It wasn’t an impossibility that they had survived. If fortune favored them, perhaps they even beat him. Yet Sunset couldn’t help but assume the worst. When the Lulamoons saw whose body Tirek was using to walk about…

First Twilight, then her encounter with Starlight, then all of this. Just after they had collected five of the six keys. No, fortune had turned against them.

Sunset grunted and rolled her shoulders. With her arms bound behind her, they had grown impossibly stiff. She wanted nothing more than a hot bath, and to take a nap and wake up one week in the past.

“Either of y’all gonna tell us where you’re takin’ us?” Applejack asked.

One guard sat in between Applejack and Fluttershy. The other sat next to Sunset opposite of them. Eyes hidden by mirrored visors, mouths thin lines, they said nothing.

“Can Ah have mah hat back at least?” The confiscated stetson sat alone in the corner.

Neither guard so much as turned their head.

“Figures.”

“What’s going to happen to us?” Fluttershy asked, her voice hoarse.

“We’ll be fine, ‘Shy,” Applejack said. She said it with such confidence that Sunset almost believed her.

The trucks jerked to a stop, sliding everyone forward. Sunset crashed into one of the guards, who quickly shoved her back into place. Through the thick metal plating, Sunset could hear scuffling and shouting. The guards readied their rifles and aimed at the back door. Outside, the fighting grew quiet.

The door to the truck unlocked and creakily swung open, afternoon sunlight pouring in. Yet no one was waiting on the other side.

One guard crept forward, keeping low to the floor. When he reached the door, a jet of light hit him, and he vanished in a puff of smoke. When it cleared, a green frog sat where the guard had been.

“What the—” was all his partner got out before a beam hit him as well, and he too transformed into a small amphibian, his gun clattering to the ground next to him.

All three girls looked at the frogs, then looked at each other, each with the same mystified look. Before they could contemplate, the doors swung wide open and revealed three figures silhouetted by the sun.

Trixie hopped into the truck and ran over to Sunset, throwing her arms around Sunset’s shoulders. “You’re okay!”

“You’re okay!” Sunset exclaimed. “I… I thought… Tirek…”

Trixie pulled away and reached behind Sunset, tapping the cuffs with her wand and instantly unlocking them. Sunset winced as she moved her arms forward and rubbed her wrists.

“Thank you.”

Selena helped Sunset out of the truck while Trixie freed Applejack and Fluttershy. Rarity, Rainbow, and Pinkie were already waiting outside, along with a host of frogs, hopping and croaking about on a dusty country road.

“How’d you find us?” Applejack asked, stepping out with her stetson back on its rightful place.

“Thankfully, your magic is a lot easier to track than our enemies,” Artemis said. There was no bravado in his voice, only exhaustion.

Sunset walked up to him, eyes tearing up again. “Artemis… did… did Tirek…?”

He looked away. “He did.”

She hunched forward and cupped a hand over her eyes. “I’m sorry. It’s all my fault! If I didn’t tell him where it was, he was going to…”

Artemis pulled her into a hug. “And if I didn’t give it to him, he was going to take Moondancer’s. It seems we both have a weakness for the people we care about.”

Sunset felt him squeeze harder as he said in a weaker voice, “He took Shimmer’s.”

“What?” Sunset looked up into his face, seeing his age catch up to him. But… how?”

“She tried to help. And she paid the price.”

Sunset slumped further into Artemis’ embrace. As much of a pain Shimmer could be, she didn’t deserve that. She had opened up, she had helped them. Crass and ornery as she was, Sunset considered her a friend.

“We should go,” Selena said. “We need to regroup and come up with a plan.”

“What about them?” Rainbow pointed to the frogs.

“The spell will wear off in a few hours,” Trixie said with a dismissive wave.

No one made further comments. They teleported in groups, heading not back to the Lulamoon household, but to the leygate in the forest behind Canterlot High. Sunset stepped into the tree housing the gate, feeling herself jolt forward at eye-watering speeds until she stumbled out onto the sandy beach of the Siren’s old island.

On this side of the world, night had freshly fallen, the sky transitioning from dark blue to black with stars popping to life.

Sunset took a few steps forward and saw her sitting against a tree, head lilting to one side. Sunset dropped to her knees in front of Shimmer. Her eyes were half-open and devoid of any cognition. Her breathing was slow and shallow, possibly the only thing her body could do without its host.

Cupping a hand to Shimmer’s cheek, Sunset whispered, “I’m sorry.” She then realized she was touching Shimmer with her bare skin, yet there was no accidental peeking into her memories. Probably because there was no soul with memories to see.

She heard movement behind her. The rest of her friends gathered to give condolences. Sunset didn’t hear much of their apologies or platitudes. She was fixed on the surrealness of seeing a version of herself without a soul. For how different they were, they were still the same person to a degree. Now, she was the only Sunset Shimmer walking around this dimension.

“I’m going to make this right,” she said, guilt evolving into resolve. Her sparks of rebellion ignited and forced her to stand up and face her friends. “I’m going to fix this.”

“We’re going to fix this,” Selena said. She held out Shimmer’s laptop. “She wanted you to have this. We haven’t checked it yet.”

Sunset gratefully took it and flipped it open. “We were out trying to get information on what Starlight is working on when everything went to Tartarus.”

“Who’s Starlight?” Rainbow asked.

Sunset didn’t answer, even as she felt everyone’s eyes on her. She ran her finger over the laptop’s touchpad, navigating Shimmer’s software, stalling out the conversation she knew she had to have with her friends. She didn’t want to say it aloud again. The more she revisited that night, the more real it became.

The progress bar for the decryption program read one hundred percent. Sunset clicked a button, and the screen changed to an all-black background littered with dozens of folder icons. Some had clear-cut names like, ‘Antigrav Device’, ‘Telekinetic Glove’, or ‘Teleportation’. Others were more coded, with names like, ‘Project Stardust’, ‘Deus Ex Machina’, or ‘Resurrection Project’.

“It’s gonna take forever to find anything,” Sunset muttered.

“Sunset, what are you looking for?” Rarity asked. “Why did you and Shimmer need information from this Starlight person?”

Pinkie shifted her weight from one foot to the other. “Well, see, Starlight is Twilight’s boss, and she may or may not be evil—”

“Pinkie,” Sunset said, lifting her head and giving her a pointed look.

Pinkie tapped her fingers and smiled sheepishly, but Rainbow stepped forward. “No, hold up, what the heck is going on? Twilight might be working for the bad guy?”

“Where is Twilight?” Applejack asked. “She never showed up for the fight. Is she okay?”

Rarity looked into Sunset’s eyes, despite Sunset trying her best to keep her gaze on the computer screen. In a gentler voice, Rarity asked, “Sunset… what’s wrong?”

“Everything.” Sunset closed the laptop and turned toward the dark jungle. “Everything is wrong. Starlight works for Tirek. She’s the scientist behind his planned revival. She studies magic. And Twilight… Twilight knew.”

Sunset clenched a fist as the tears started down her face. The ember of determination was already flickering. “Twilight knew and she didn’t tell me. She’s got some crazy idea about using magic and killing Tirek. And it has something to do with the portal to Equestria.” Sunset hiccuped.

“And… and we fought. And we said things. And she refused to tell me what was going on… So I… I…”

Her legs buckled and her knees hit the sand. Rarity’s arms were around her from behind as a fresh wave of sobs broke free.

“Crap,” Rainbow said breathlessly. “I didn’t think that was possible.”

Fluttershy wiped tears from her own eyes. “Wait, but where is Twilight right now?”

“Probably at that stupid laboratory!” Sunset said.

Applejack let out a slow exhale. “Well, at least she ain’t downtown right now. So, Starlight is tryin’ to revive Tirek, but Twilight thinks she’s tryin’ to kill Tirek, and somehow, your way home is involved. Ah get why you wanted that info now, but why didn’t you tell us about this sooner?”

Sunset shook her head, her red and gold curls falling in front of her face. “I couldn’t. I just couldn’t. I didn’t want it to be real.”

Artemis conjured a handkerchief and handed it down to Sunset. “While I wish we had time to help you heal, Sunset, I’m afraid we still have pressing matters to attend to. Not only does Tirek have the Rainbow of Light, Adagio is still attacking downtown.”

“Not to mention turned the police against us,” Applejack said. She paled. “Oh no! They’ve seen our faces! What if they come after our families next?”

“Since they think they still have you, and Adagio is probably too busy gloating in the city, no one will come for your families just yet. We still have some time,” Artemis said. “That being said, Adagio’s an immediate threat that needs to be handled.”

Sunset wiped her eyes. “What should we do?”

Selena picked up her scabbard leaning against a tree. “You girls should stay here and try to sift through Starlight’s notes. Rest and recover. We’ll go put an end to this Siren nonsense.”

Trixie tentatively leaned forward. “When you say ‘we’...”

Artemis nodded. “Yes, sweetheart. You’re coming, too.”

“Yes!” Trixie jumped and twirled her wand. “Adagio won’t know what hit her!”

Sunset got to her feet. She wasn’t going to argue. She wasn’t even going to ask to come with. She just gave each of them a hug in turn and said, “Please, stay safe.”

Artemis kissed her on the forehead. “Don’t worry about us. A Siren is no match for three Lulamoons. We’ll see you soon.”

Trixie gave Sunset an extra hug, then hurried after her parents. One by one, the three of them stepped up to the tree and vanished into the leygate.

Sunset sat down again, legs crossed, laptop in her lap. Her friends gathered around her, Fluttershy sitting on the outskirts with her knees pulled up to her chest as she watched the black water.

“What’s going to happen to us?”

“I don’t know,” Sunset said, staring down at the computer. Even if they stopped Adagio and Tirek, their identities would no doubt soon be known to the rest of the world. At the very least, to government officials who could make their lives very, very difficult.

“We’ll figure out something,” Rainbow said, putting an arm around Fluttershy and giving a confident smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “We always do.”

“Yeah!” Pinkie cheered. “We’re the good guys! We always win in the end!”

Sunset almost smiled at the naive optimism. She flipped the laptop open again and resumed her search. She didn’t know how they would get out of this, but she knew what the next step was.

Rarity gave a discerning eye over Sunset’s shoulder. “Do you know what you’re looking for, dear?”

“Not entirely. I just know whatever they’re planning has something to do with the portal.” The files had no rhyme or reason to their organization. Sunset randomly clicked on one and found subfolders for journal entries and schematics. She clicked deeper and found a blueprint for a machine she couldn’t make heads or tails of. She backed out to the main page and looked around again.

“Hmm…” Rarity pointed to a folder with a manicured nail. “Try that one.”

“‘Deus Ex Machina’?”

“Well, they seem to think magic is going to solve all their problems. Fitting, is it not?”

Sunset shrugged in agreement. She clicked it open and found similar subfolders. She clicked the schematics first and blinked at what she saw.

“Woah!” Rainbow shoved her head next to Rarity’s. “Is that a mech suit?”

From what Sunset could make out, it was indeed some kind of suit of armor made to run on magic. Hand cannons to fire, rockets to fly. Sunset wasn’t sure if this was ambitious or ridiculous.

She clicked back to the subfolder and opened up the journal.

‘Progress is going well according to Moondancer. The biggest unknown is just how much magic will be needed to make it operational. Basic functions seem to be at optimal levels. Combat and flight? It’s impossible to say how effective it will be without any real way to test it. She’s been pouring magic into it for months but I feel like it’s a rather huge gamble. Hopefully, upon completing the Arcane Access Project, we can find a way to properly test its capabilities before putting it in action.’

“Arcane Access?” Sunset whispered.

She clicked out and scanned the folders until she found her target at the top left of the screen. This one had no subfolders, just a long list of documents. ‘Hypothesis 1’, Hypothesis 2’, ‘Practicality Report’, ‘January Experiment', ‘March Experiment’. Sunset scrolled up and down until her eyes caught one named, ‘Breakthrough’.

‘Twilight has told me about what really happened to the magic of this world! Sealed away! In some sort of pocket dimension! Fascinating! But also incredibly frustrating! How can one person decide what happens to all of the magic? More importantly, we now know where the lost magic is. If we can find a way to access that pocket dimension, we can bring magic back to the world!’

Sunset’s heartbeat quickened. She closed the document and opened one titled, ‘August Experiment’.

‘Our first portal test failed, but we’re closer than ever! I thought using the Sacanas shard to pull magic from the portal to Sunset’s homeworld would be enough to open our own. But, it seems there are limitations in place on that magic that interfere with it properly mingling with human magic. Instead, brilliant Twilight came up with a possible solution! If we can break the foreign magic down to a simpler state before integrating it with our own, we just might be able to pry a gate open!

The rest of the group now hovered just behind Sunset, each of them breathing down the back of her neck. She scrolled past some scientific jargon to the last paragraph.

‘Update: Our compact storage device is almost complete! I suspect it could be done as soon as tomorrow! As soon as it is, we’ll field-test it and begin our second attempt. I can taste how close we are to making history! Once the magic is unleashed, I’ll be able to finally finish regenerating Tirek’s body. This world will have magic, and I’ll be one step closer to having Sunburst again!”

Sunset’s eyes dropped to the bottom of the page. It had been dated from yesterday.

“They’re going to drain my portal,” she said in a hoarse whisper. “They’re going to try and open a portal to let the magic back into this world and finish reviving Tirek!”

“It could be as soon as today,” Rarity said, hand over her mouth.

“But wait,” Rainbow said, leaning back, “if the whole world has magic again, won’t that make us stronger?”

“It’ll make Tirek stronger, too,” Applejack pointed out. “You saw what he could do. And that’s before he even gets his real body back.”

“Plus, he has the Rainbow of Light now,” Fluttershy said, shaking.

“If they do this, the deck is stacked in his favor.” Sunset snapped the laptop shut, cutting off their main source of light and casting them all in shadows. “And they’re using my only way home to make it work!”

“That’s assuming it does work,” Rarity said. “They’re trying to rip a hole in space. What happens if that fails?”

Sunset stood up, eyes adjusting to the darkness. “I don’t want to think about it. We have to stop them.”

“What about the Lulamoons?” Fluttershy asked.

“We might not have time to wait for them! Starlight could be opening the portal any minute now!” Sunset took a deep breath. “It’s now or never.”

There was a pause before Fluttershy asked in a softer voice, “What about Shimmer?”

They all turned to the woman sitting underneath a carob tree. Sunset’s heart tightened at the sight of Shimmer’s catatonic state. The hospital jumped to mind first, but it was far too close to Adagio’s line of sight.

“We’ll take her home for now,” Sunset said. “She’ll be safe there, hopefully.”

Applejack scooped Shimmer up and gently set her over her shoulder. Tucking the laptop under her arm, Sunset turned for the leygate, but this time, Pinkie’s soft voice stopped her.

“And what about Twilight?”

Sunset froze. Their entire fight played back in her head in an instant. Sunset was just supposed to trust Twilight after she had lied? Trust Starlight after she had split her soul in half? Trust Moondancer? No. Especially when Tirek was this close to winning. But what exactly could she do or say if they ran into each other again? Twilight wasn’t going to just give up.

“I don’t know,” was all Sunset could say as she stepped into the leygate.

*******

Twilight and Moondancer shakily touched down on the lawn of Canterlot High. Moondancer put Twilight down and immediately doubled over, her wings of light evaporating into a white mist.

The flight over had not been nearly as fun or as elegant as any time Sunset had carried Twilight. Twilight couldn’t bury her face in Moondancer’s chest whenever she got too scared to look down, and Moondancer only stared straight ahead, dead set on not meeting Twilight’s eyes.

The experience made Twilight pine for Sunset even more. But the hurt and anger on Sunset’s face, the invasion of privacy she had inflicted, the lack of trust… it brought Twilight back to the present reality. Sunset didn’t appreciate what she was doing, but soon, she would.

“Are you okay?” Twilight finally asked Moondancer, still breathing deep with her hands on her knees.

“Yes, I just… just need a minute. Using that level of magic without the Archon Amulet is strenuous.”

Twilight didn’t press further. She just hoped Moondancer could fly them back to the lab safely. She took a moment to look at her old school. She had made more memories in the eight months she had spent at Canterlot High than in the three years at Crystal Prep. She wondered what kind of irony it was that the only friend she had made at that place was now the only one standing beside her here.

Crystal Prep hadn’t been bad. Back when Twilight thought Moondancer was just the richest girl at school and not a witch colluding with a magic scientist to overthrow a warlock. They studied in the library, and practiced music after school. Twilight even attended the plays Moondancer would perform in.

But Canterlot High? Yes, everyone mistook Twilight for her princess counterpart at first. But once that cleared up, Twilight got six new friends she came to treasure like her family. Watching Flash’s band play, group activities after school, Halloween, the Winter Ball where she and Sunset first kissed. The Battle of the Bands, Spring Break, Prom, Graduation. And everything in between.

Twilight hadn’t known you could get so much out of life in such a short span of time. Her own life had become a story she would have read as a kid. Even with things how they were now, part of her wanted to do it all again.

“Are you okay?” Moondancer asked, finally recovering.

Twilight turned from the main building and faced the rearing marble horse standing proud on its plinth. “I’m fine. Just reminiscing a little.”

“Twilight…” Moondancer tentatively reached a hand out but quickly retracted it. “Listen… you don’t… maybe this isn’t such a good idea.”

A synapse short-circuited in Twilight’s brain. She snapped her head toward Moondancer and arched an eyebrow. “Which part?”

Moondancer flinched back at her clipped tone. “I… I don’t know. I know you’re scared and you want to help your friends—I know how much they mean to you. But, this portal idea is starting to feel… risky.”

“Excuse me? Now you want to tell me this is risky? I know how risky it is! Do you know what I’ve already had to lose to get this far?”

“You were never supposed to be a part of this in the first place!” Moondancer yelled, fighting back tears. “I told you, I didn’t want you pulled into any of this! I knew how dangerous it was. And now that you’re here, I’m scared something bad is going to happen to you! I don’t… I don’t want you to end up like me!”

Twilight focused on Moondancer’s mask. “Don’t worry. Unlike you, my plan is going to actually work.”

Moondancer flinched again like she had been hit. “Twilight, listen, please—”

“No, you listen! I’ve already had to lie to my friends and family about what I’ve been doing. And guess what? Sunset found out and broke up with me!” Twilight dug her palm into her aching heart and fought down the urge to cry.

“So I guess you got what you wanted in the end!” She said between her teeth. She unclenched her jaw and continued, “She’s probably already told the rest of our friends what happened, so I can only imagine what they think of me! And now, they’ve been captured by the police and are probably being handed over to Homeland Security or the FBI! Right now, there’s only one way this ends: we open a portal, restore magic to the world, and you kill Tirek!”

Twilight turned back to the marble base, her reflection glaring back at her. She pulled the magic storage device from her pocket and held it up.

“I’m not going to end up like you. I’m not going to fail. Not this time.”

She flipped the compact open. Its front lid lit up, the blue lines first, then the purple ring at the center. It hummed, a purpled ball of energy coalescing at its center. The slumbering portal faintly glowed in response, and visible tendrils of magic arched out from the base and into the device.

The compact grew hot in Twilight’s hands. It shook and jerked like it was trying to free itself from her grasp. Twilight kept a tight hold on it, pulling it back from the portal when she thought enough magic had been gathered. It pulled back, attracted to the source of magic like a magnet. She pressed a hand to the top to force it closed, but it held with surprising resistance.

Moondancer jumped in, one hand on Twilight’s arm to keep the jerking storage unit stable, and another on top of Twilight’s hand, throwing her weight down to snap the lid closed.

With a tremendous tug, Twilight and Moondancer ripped the device out of range from the portal and shut the lid. The humming stopped, but the lights continued to flash. Twilight panted, heart racing from the effort and the exhilaration. She glanced at the portal, and her heart slowed to a crawl.

Near the center, a glowing crack had appeared. It was only as long as her pinky finger, but still obvious to anyone passing by.

Twilight scrambled forward and put a hand on the marble. It felt cold. Was that normal? She had never gotten a chance to study it properly. Had she drained all of the magic from it?

“We should probably head back,” Moondancer said, oblivious to Twilight’s plight.

Twilight ran a finger over the crack, watching a tiny piece of marble flake off. She swallowed the dread building in her stomach. She had told Sunset they could just make a new portal to Equestria later. But what if they couldn’t? Had she just stranded her girlfriend in this world forever?

She took a deep breath and caught herself before she spiraled. No, she could fix this! If they could open a portal to a pocket dimension, they could easily open a portal to Equestria. Or at least replicate this one so that it would open in two years.

Shoving that anxiety into a corner of her mind with the rest, she faced Moondancer and nodded. Moondancer closed her eyes, and after a few seconds of concentration, her white wings appeared behind her. She scooped Twilight up, bridal style, and took to the sky.

Neither said anything as they flew back to the lab. From the air, Twilight could see a plume of gray smoke rising from downtown. Her knuckles turned white as she imagined Adagio running free, doing whatever she wanted now that her friends were indisposed.

If no one’s taken care of you, I know the first thing I’ll do when I can use magic.

She tried to breathe out her resentment and look up to Moondancer. Like on the way here, she kept her focus straight ahead. Twilight could appreciate that. Maybe Moondancer had truly given up on pursuing her.

Twilight frowned. She again wondered if her words had gone too far. Moondancer was just trying to look out for her. In her own, hypocritical way. Twilight pushed the worry aside. She could apologize later.

*******

Sunset tucked Shimmer into her bed and laid her laptop on the nightstand. Jörmungandr slithered from under the bed and curled up on Shimmer’s stomach.

“I’m sorry,” Sunset whispered. “Because of me just being here, you got caught up in all of this. I don’t know if you can find your own way out of the Soul Lock, but I’m here if you need an anchor. And I’ll do everything I can on this side to set you free.”

She turned and walked out of the perpetually dim room, leaving the door open. Spot padded by her side, looking up at her and whining in concern.

“She’ll be okay. And I’ll be okay once all this is over.”

Sunset walked downstairs and met her friends standing around the living room. Tension, uncertainty, and mourning mixed in the air and made Sunset’s neck hair stand on end.

“You sure this is the best place to leave her?” Applejack asked.

Pinching the bridge of her nose, Sunset sighed. There was pressure building at the front of her skull. “I don’t know. Once the Lulamoons clear out Adagio, maybe we can move her to the hospital. Right now, it’s the best idea I have.”

“We can worry about Shimmer later,” Rainbow said. “If Tirek has all the magic he wants, it’s not gonna matter where she is.”

“Right.” Sunset shook out her shoulders, trying to reset her nerves. “Shimmer said when Starlight had her, she was in an underground laboratory. I bet Equilibrium Labs has a sub-level or two.”

“Aww,” Pinkie whined. “A secret laboratory would be totally cool if we weren’t breaking in there to stop our best friend from opening a possible doomsday portal.”

“I know, right?” Rainbow said.

“We’re really going to break in?” Fluttershy asked.

Sunset gave a tired shrug. “You want us to call the police? We break in, beg Twilight not to do this, and break the machine if we have to.”

“While I agree with the end goal, this feels like vigilantism,” Rarity said. She caught Sunset’s withering glare and sighed reluctantly. “I know, I know. We don’t exactly have a plethora of options. But even if we do stop Starlight, what are we going to do about the police? And Tirek?”

“I don’t know!” Sunset yelled, making her friends jump and Spot retreat behind Fluttershy. Sunset dug her palms into the sides of her head. She was more frustrated than angry, and right now, she couldn’t point to where her frustration was located. Everything, everything was a knotted mess.

“I don’t know,” she repeated in a more defeated voice. She took a short breath and said evenly, “Look, I know what I’m going to do. Starlight can’t be trusted to open a portal to let the magic back in, especially now of all times. I don’t know what’s going to happen in there. I don’t know if it’s the best choice. Maybe it all ends poorly. But right now, this is the only plan I’ve got. You girls don’t have to come with me.”

“Screw that,” Rainbow said immediately. “We’re not letting you walk into enemy territory by yourself.”

Rarity nodded. “Just because I have trepidations doesn’t mean I’m not behind you.”

“Yeah, time to start the vigilante arc of our superhero story!” Pinkie cheered.

“Let’s do what we have to to save the world,” Applejack said.

Fluttershy gave a hesitant nod. “I just don’t want anyone else to get hurt.”

Sunset’s heart swelled at her friends’ devotion. The feeling was dampened by the voice in her head telling her she was steering them wrong. She ignored it and simply said, “Thank you.”

Rainbow waved a hand to the door. “C’mon, we’ve got a mad scientist to stop.”

The girls filed out of the Lulamoon house. Sunset knelt and gave Spot one last pet and a kiss goodbye. He licked her cheek for good luck.

Outside, the girls passed Pinkie’s car, sitting in the middle of the lawn with a dent in its bumper. Sunset assumed it was a leftover from whatever confrontation had happened between Tirek and the Lulamoons.

Pinkie hugged the side of her car and whispered, “Don’t worry, Bubblegum, I’ll come back for you.” She ponied up and launched herself skyward with a firework.

The others powered up and took to the sky in pursuit, Rarity lifting herself and Applejack on a crystal disk.

Sunset’s stomach squirmed as they crossed the Canterlot suburbs and inched closer to the northern outskirts. She couldn’t believe she was heading back to the lab hours after she had tried to sneak in. Starlight’s words rattled around in her head. She had controlled that conversation and threatened there would be consequences if Sunset interfered.

But Sunset refused to sit idly by. And while Starlight’s threat filled her with apprehension, what made Sunset really shudder was knowing she would have to confront Twilight again.

*******

The lab door hissed open, and Twilight strolled through, making a left to the offshoot room housing the Arcane Access Project. Starlight was waiting inside, looking like a proud parent when Twilight entered, tailed by Moondancer.

“Right on time!” Starlight said. “The modifications to the portal gun are just about done! All we need is our new battery!”

Twilight held the storage device out, and Starlight took it with reverent giddiness. She turned it over, admiring the blue and purple glow.

“This time, it’ll work. I can feel it. Are you girls ready?”

“Yes,” Twilight said, clinging to her determination and using it to smother her fear.

Moondancer said nothing, only giving the smallest of nods.

Starlight allowed Double Diamond to finish tweaking a panel on the machine before she stepped up and slotted the storage device into the back slot on the top. Twilight knew something was different from their first attempt, because the entire machine thrummed with new power, and the tesla rings around the front nozzle sparked with purple energy.

“Initiating final checks,” Night Glider said, attaching the cable leading to the central magic harvester to the first slot of the portal gun. Double Diamond closed the door and shut the five of them inside.

Twilight’s entire body trembled with anticipation. This was only the second test, yet something inside her told her this was the one.

Hang on, Sunset. I’ll find a way to get you out. And then, you’ll see I was right.

“We’re ready, Doctor,” Diamond said, already taking notes on his tablet.

Starlight stepped up to the panel. “Fail or succeed, this is the closest we’ve ever gotten to realizing our dreams. But I’ve got a pretty good feeling today. Arcane Access portal test number two, initializing!”

Everyone slid their goggles down. Moondancer merely took a step back. Starlight turned the dial and hit the start button. Like before, the lights dimmed as the machine came to life with an electrical yawn. Light gathered at the opening of the nozzle, circling it as the machine hummed louder. It rattled a lot less than before, raising Twilight’s confidence.

The light danced for a few more seconds before the nozzle fired a steady stream to the back wall. A white blot grew at the impact site, stretching and reshaping itself as the portal tried to stabilize.

“Twenty percent,” Starlight said, the light of the miasma reflecting off her goggles.

The glass partition separating them from the test zone wobbled. Strands of Twilight’s hair floated forward. The energy beam held steady, but the portal refused to take shape.

“Thirty percent!” Starlight turned the knob.

A thrum separate from the machine filled the air. The miasma stretched to fill more of the wall. It looked like it was trying to hold a circular shape but couldn’t figure out how.

“Forty percent!”

Twilight swore she could feel the ground trembling. The lights overhead blinked on and off. The glass wall shook more forcefully. But unlike last time, the beam still held, a solid line leading to a ovular white mass fading in and out. Still, if there was anything beyond the veil, Twilight couldn’t see it.

“Fifty!” Starlight shouted with desperation.

The ground was definitely shaking now. Twilight’s hair tugged toward the portal, and a crack appeared in the glass. One fluorescent light popped out of existence, then another, and another.

“Starlight!” Moondancer yelled.

“It’s almost there! Fifty-five percent!” Starlight gave the dial one more turn.

The machine shook. Twilight’s goggle band pressed against the back of her head. More cracks spread across the glass. But the portal was now a complete circle, and glowing brighter with each passing second. Arcs of white light struck out of it.

“It’s working!” Starlight yelled! “I think it’s working!”

The machine made a loud pop, and a panel snapped off it before flying forward and attaching itself to the glass. Smoke hissed from the exposed wiring.

“Shut it off!” Moondancer demanded.

Starlight snapped the dial back to zero and hit the red button. The beam died instantly, but the open gate to another dimension remained.

The shaking came to a stop, and the force of gravity eased up, though Twilight’s hair still fluttered forward. She lifted her goggles and stepped up to the glass.

“Are we sure it worked? I don’t see anything in there.”

Starlight raised her goggles as well. “We opened it to somewhere! We opened a portal! Humanity has broken the dimensional boundary!”

Moondancer took a half-step forward. “She’s right. I… I can feel the magic.” She frowned. “Something’s wrong.”

Twilight looked back. “What…”

The air vibrated again, a soft thrum that rapidly grew in intensity until Twilight could see the ripples in the air. The sound of a hundred sheets of paper being torn at once scratched against Twilight’s ears. Gravity lurched and shoved Twilight’s back against the glass wall.

“Twilight!” Moondancer screamed, hair whipping in front of her face.

“What’s happening?” Twilight cried.

Starlight held onto the control panel as gravity tried to pull her forward too. “Something’s wrong with the portal!”

*******

Sunset and the girls landed in front of Equilibrium Labs, masks on. Pushing the doors open, they found it empty, an ‘out to lunch sign’ on the receptionist's desk.

“Rainbow, check the building,” Sunset ordered.

“On it.” Rainbow sped away, and nine seconds later, she skidded to a halt next to Sunset. “There’s a few people about, most of them are in the classrooms. I saw some elevators down the hall that only go down.”

“Sounds like a secret lab to me!” Pinkie chirped.

Rainbow led the way to a small offshoot with two elevator doors. She jabbed the down arrow, and one elevator immediately opened. The girls filed in, and down they went.

The lights flickered as they descended, dimming and jumping to full brightness at uneven intervals. It shuddered to a stop, and the doors opened to reveal a short corridor with a steel sliding door at the end.

“It looks like we need a key,” Fluttershy said as they approached, eyeing the key card panel.

“Nah, we’re good,” Rainbow said. “A.J.?”

Applejack popped her knuckles and wedged her fingers in the tiny gap between the doors. Muscles flexing, aura shining, Applejack forced the doors open, the metal screeching as it was forced back.

Eight or so scientists in a square laboratory were on the other side, each of them recovering from the sudden assault on their ears. They stared in surprise at the sudden appearance of six masked girls.

“Woah, how’d you get in here?” one with poofy blue hair asked.

“The door, silly!” Pinkie said.

“The same way you’re going out,” Rainbow said. She zipped forward, grabbed the young man, and brought him out to the far end of the corridor. She ran back in and repeated this with every other scientist until the room was empty.

Before any of them could fully grasp what had happened, Applejack grabbed the doors again and pulled them shut, crimping the two halves together so they couldn’t be opened again.

“We’re sorry!” Fluttershy called through the door.

Sunset took her mask off and looked around the room. Desks and workstations were scattered around at odd positions and littered with notes, diagrams, and odd-looking machines. Oddest of all was the cylindrical device suspended from the ceiling. Within the thick glass, motes of light danced and flitted about.

“Magic,” Sunset whispered. She brought her gaze down. There were several doors leading deeper into the lab. Twilight and Starlight had to be inside one of them.

The ground trembled, knocking machines and mugs off of desks and sending electrical currents down the wires spilling out from the device overhead. The tremor only lasted a few seconds.

Applejack twisted about. “Was that an earthquake, or…”

Goosebumps coated Sunset’s skin. She couldn’t say what, but something was wrong. It felt like she was slowly having her blood drawn.

“Does anyone else feel that?” Rarity said, rubbing her arms.

Pinkie shuddered. “It kinda feels like—”

The glass container over their heads exploded. Sunset raised her arms to block the falling glass but caught sight of the motes of light zipping off to the left. When the glass stopped raining, she made to run toward the door they had disappeared behind, but quickly stopped and put a hand to her chest, feeling briefly winded. Her fire flickered and dimmed.

Rainbow gripped the side of her head, her pony features fading in and out of existence. “What’s happening?”

Sunset didn’t answer. She steeled herself and ran for the door, but like the entrance, this one needed a card key. “Applejack!”

Pony ears popping back to life, Applejack stormed over and gripped both sides of the door, throwing them open with a yell.

Sunset had two seconds to take everything in. Starlight clinging to a golden ray gun device. Moondancer grinding her heels into the ground to stop sliding forward. Two scientists running in place to escape the pull of gravity emanating from a white hole on the other side of a glass screen… that Twilight was pressed against.

Sunset jumped forward as the glass shattered and Twilight was yanked backward toward the portal. She grabbed Twilight’s right hand with both of hers. Between the strands of her whipping hair, she saw Moondancer grab Twilight’s left, wings of light beating back against the pull of gravity.

Twilight’s legs were already engulfed by the white light, now steadily shrinking. Sunset beat her own wings faster, her phoenix form suddenly harder to maintain. She could feel her strength, no, her magic quickly depleting.

“Sunset…” Twilight looked at her with wide, fearful eyes.

“I got you, Twilight! I got you!” Sunset shouted over the sucking roar of the wind.

Moondancer pulled Twilight’s arm, tears falling forward into the vortex. “Don’t let go! Don’t let go!” she chanted, more to herself. Like Sunset, her wings were struggling to stay manifested.

There were shouts and thuds and scrapes behind Sunset. Pieces of metal and wire occasionally shot by into the portal. She ignored all of it. She kept her eyes on Twilight and pulled with all her might. It was a losing battle. Twilight inched deeper and deeper into the shrinking gate.

“Sunset, please!” Twilight gripped Sunset’s hand as tight as she could.

“I’ve got you, Twilight, I promise!” Sunset pulled with all her strength, but it was like fighting a hurricane.

Sweat poured down Moondancer’s face. She screamed as she pulled on Twilight, then screamed again as her grip slipped and her wings threw her across the room.

Twilight surged backward, shoulder-deep in the portal now. Every muscle in Sunset’s body strained as she made one last desperate bid to keep Twilight from sinking further. Like Moondancer, she let out a defiant roar and heaved, but the portal heaved back.

“Sunset,” Twilight said, the portal up to her neck, “I—”

Sunset’s flames went out. Her grip and strength failed. Twilight’s hand shot out of her own, and she disappeared into the portal as it swirled closed. Sunset hit the floor, Twilight’s glasses dropping next to her. The wind died, the pressure stopped, and everything was quiet.