A Visit By Sunset Shimmer

Chapters

The trip home...
Equestrian Coture
Harmonics, Cider, and Bowling
Light in the Dark
Shine Like Rainbows...
Epilogue

The trip home...

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Twilight Sparkle asked the flame-haired girl packing her backpack.

“Yeah. Listen, Twilight, thanks for coming here and helping me pack. You know, you really didn’t need to come here until I was ready.” Sunset Shimmer cautiously put a few more items in the backpack, though it was almost full already. She stared for a moment at the cell phone, then tossed it in, too. The camera would still work, at least.

Twilight smiled encouragingly. “Hey, what are friends for?” she said cheerfully.

Sunset smiled back furtively. “Helping nervous buddies keep it together.” She looked around. “I guess that’s everything,” she said, as she lifted the bag free of the bed, the bag dangling from her right hand by the straps.

“Speaking of, they’re all excited to meet you. Just don’t expect them to be exactly the same as your friends here,” Twilight said candidly.

“Really? I thought you said they’re just like…”

“In most ways, sure. I noticed that here they’re a little more competitive with each other, and they have a tendency to tease each other more. There, they’re a little more tight knit and closer. And, of course, the wings and horns...and the pony thing,” Twilight said smoothly.

“I hope I remember how…” Sunset said, eyes downcast.

“It’ll be fine. I’ll be right there with you,” Twilight reassured her. The encouraging smile brightened a bit further.

“Even when I need help with the bathroom door?” Sunset chuckled teasingly at Twilight.

“Even then. Especially then.” Twilight said firmly.

Sunset Shimmer looked at her. Twilight was staring at her in a very no-nonsense way. She had meant her comment as a little joke, trying to break up the palpable tension she felt over this, but suddenly, she had a very deep impression the Princess of Friendship meant every word, and more, should Sunset have need of it.

“You didn’t tell her, did you?’ she asked in a trepidation edged voice.

“Absolutely not. You asked me not to,” Twilight said.

Sunset tried to relax a bit, make herself a touch less tense. “I’m sorry, Twilight, I’m just not sure if I’m ready to talk with Celestia the moment I get there…”

“It’s okay. Forget about it. When you’re ready, I’ll be right there with you,” Twilight said calmly, as she put an arm gently around Sunset's shoulders. Sunset Shimmer managed to relax some after hearing that reassurance.

“Okay. Okay, let’s go, before I change my mind and hide under the bed. At least until next semester starts,” Sunset Shimmer said, as she shouldered the backpack and stuck her arms through the straps. The worry was still around her eyes, but the rest of her face settled into quiet determination to see this through.

Twilight grinned. “Let’s go,” she said, as they turned and walked to the door.

Sunset Shimmer closed and locked the door behind them, and then the two friends stepped off the stoop and onto the sidewalk toward Canterlot High School.

“How are things nowadays at school, Sunset?” asked Twilight, trying to distract her.

“Well, for one thing, I’m off the radar as far as the Fall Formal is concerned, which is a major miracle in itself. Though it took three Sirens to do that.” Sunset Shimmer said quietly. Twilight chuckled.

“So, everypony…excuse me, everyone feels better about you since you saved them?” Twilight asked.

“Knocked that raving she-demon right out of their head. Oh, a couple still think I might go completely crazy at any minute,” she said, as she windmilled her arms around in exaggeration, “…but most everyone else is happy about it. Especially since I don’t have to say, ‘no offense’ anymore, like I used to whenever it would come up. And my girls,” Sunset said proudly, smiling; referring to her friends, the alter-ego Main Five, “…have been talking to people, helping them to understand; as well as dealing with how weird things can get at Canterlot High. Even Principal Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna got involved. Not like most didn’t have front row seats to it. It’s like I’m in a real-life version of ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’.”

“What’s that?” asked Twilight Sparkle, confused.

“Oh, yeah, you never heard about that show. Next visit you’re here, I’ll get a few episodes off the internet or wherever. It’s freaky how much it resembles my school!” Sunset laughed.

“And the Dazzlings?” asked Twilight.

Sunset hung her head slightly at the mention. “That’s another subject, Twi,” she said quietly. “Sonata Dusk sorta adapted quickly, though she still says mean things on occasion. She hangs out with us, again, sorta. On the periphery. Fluttershy kind of adopted her, helps her, and has been working with her on getting her singing back. Kindness, you know?” she asked rhetorically. “That was a hard thing to wrap my mind around; the shyest one of us, taking on voice coaching? Without the pendants and the other two, it’s been rough for her. They can’t sing in clubs or events anymore to make any money. Thanks for sending some bits to help, by the way.”

“I have a rather large discretionary budget to manage, thanks to Canterlot. Nice exchange rate, too. Thanks for setting that up. Gold really is pretty valuable over here,” Twilight chuckled.

“Uh-huh. We’ve been getting some gigs after school and weekends as well, since the Dazzlings broke up. Everybody pitches in where they can. Sonata got a job at the Taco Hut, thinking how cool that would be. Making a few hundred of them every Tuesday took the cravings away really quick.”

Sunset Shimmer herself called that one. The Sirens used to eat a lot of fish back in Equestria. Now, Sonata would pale and excuse herself to the bathroom if anyone even mentioned fish tacos.

“Aria Blaze…went someplace strange. She mostly hangs with the Goths, wears a lot of black clothes and piercings, writes some really dark poetry, and thinks Poe is the be all and end all. I would think we had lost her totally, except for one indefatigable force of nature.”

Twilight suddenly turned her head to look directly at Sunset, her eyes wide in surprise. “Oh, no. Pinkie Pie??”

Sunset nodded with a grin. “Sometimes, I think all that black stuff is simple rebellion against our Party Girl. She anchors herself alongside Maud against the tempest,” she chuckled warmly. “She’s been coming out more recently, took the metal out of her nose, lips and cheeks, though she left the earrings and eyebrow ones in, hangs with us every once in awhile. She’s a pretty good songsmith, puts lyrics to almost everything. If we could just get her out of the gloom and doom mode all the time, she’d shine.”

“Not everyone wants to be a rainbow.” Twilight observed dryly, chuckling.

“Not everyone needs to live in the dark, either. It’ll take time and hard work, but Pinkie just loves a challenge,” Sunset said with a smile.

Twilight steeled herself. “And Adagio Dazzling?” she asked.

“Yeah.” Very sensitive subject. “Adagio rooms with me, Twi. That spare room in the back of my place? I cleaned it out, put a bed in there. She wasn’t home today; Applejack came and dragged her out to the farm. Said something about airing Adagio out, too much shut-in and dark; that she needed fresh air and exercise.”

Sunset sighed despondently. “Twi, I don’t know if I can pull this off. She’s…she’s so lost…I thought we’d have something in common…”

“You do…or did,” Twilight said calmly, just like Princess Celestia would when Twilight had the problem. She had a feeling back on Equestria that this subject would be a complicated one. It wasn’t that long ago when Sunset Shimmer was the one lost.

“Besides the ‘World Domination’ thing. I don’t…”

Twilight turned slightly again and looked at Sunset. If Twilight Sparkle could have at that very moment, somehow left her body and watched her and Sunset talking, it would have taken her breath away how familiar, how much it would remind her of walks she and Celestia used to take.

Once Upon A Time, In the Magical Land of Equestria…

She decided to go for broke. In for a bit, in for the whole saddlebag. She took a deep breath...and interrupted Sunset.

“My Faithful Student…” Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship, began quietly…

With a quiet gasp, Sunset’s eyes went wide at the familiar words, and her voice faltered. Her eyes began to swim.

Up until that point, Sunset Shimmer had managed to hold her failures at Canterlot at forelegs, or arms, length. She had chased the chimeras of Power and Ambition herself, and in doing so, completely lost her own way. Twilight had followed after her when Sunset took the Crown of Magic and escaped through the Magic Mirror back here to this world. Twilight soon discovered the human counterparts of the Mane Five here in this place, separated by actions Sunset Shimmer had taken in her climb to power. Twilight re-forged their friendship bonds: and while doing so, found new allies in the alternate Main Five. After Sunset was changed into a demon by that same exact negative energy she desired after she put on the Crown; Twi used the friendship of the Main Five and their Magic to bring Sunset back to herself.

Then Twi brought Sunset and the Main Five together. For her. In that moment and those that followed, a profound change was worked in Sunset. She couldn’t put a finger on exactly any one thing and say, “Yes, right here, this is where it started.”

It was more like she started to float on warm light. Slowly at first, like a creeping sunrise; a tiny bit here, an almost insignificant part there. Stares and grumbles from her other fellow students sometimes filtered a little of the brightness out. Then Fluttershy would smile, or Applejack or Rarity would put a hand on her shoulder, Pinkie would hand her a cupcake she had been carrying somewhere, or Dashie said something outrageous that made her crack up. And the light would come back, brighter and stronger than ever.

It unnerved her, that light. It confused her. She had lived in the dusk and night of emotion for so long; she didn’t quite know what to do with it.

Until Princess Twilight Sparkle turned to her during that battle with the Sirens, and said, “Sunset Shimmer! We need you!!!”

Sunset picked up the microphone as she tossed her jacket aside. She and Twilight started to sing; their hands touched, and an arc of powerful rainbow colored light swept out from them, washing the spell of the Sirens free of the crowd, tearing their power apart…

As Sunset Shimmer, a look of disbelief on her face, rose above her friends, as pony ears like she once had poked up through her hair, and a ponytail very much like her Equestrian one lengthened behind her. A ponytail from her head, which kinda freaked her out, until she realized from her head was a whole lot better, infinitely better, than where her pony tail was usually rooted…at least on this world.

Besides, the feeling she was experiencing was…amazing!

Light began to rise from Twilight and the others into the clouds above them, with all of them rising alongside her, floating upward as a flare of fire red from her joined with the others…

The huge blue-white Alicorn Spirit thing-y that shattered the Sirens was sort of anticlimactic to her after that.

Sunset had seen so much of herself in Adagio afterwards; the loss of confidence, trepidation, even fear. She was completely different from that evil, arrogant, haughty girl she confronted in the dimly lit school hallway that day. And she wanted to help Adagio, like Twilight had helped her. Helped her to a much better place now, just like she told Adagio back then in that hallway. The very same hallway she once confronted Twilight Sparkle in.

It wasn’t as easy as it first appeared, she discovered.

There were so many pitfalls. Adagio may have looked like a teenager, but there was a much older spirit behind the bright raspberry eyes. A spirit used to having its own way after singing a few notes along with her friends. A bar or two later, the Dazzlings could get anyone to do what they desired.

Now, the Dazzlings had to find consensus, compromise, shared interests, even harmony, and not the singing kind, either. Sonata was trying to get her voice back because she enjoyed the singing by itself. Adagio gave it up completely, because she felt betrayed by it.

Sunset frequently found Adagio alone in her small room, curled up on the bed, profoundly saddened by loss. A loss that definitely needed to be lost, but without anything yet to replace it. It hurt Sunset that she hadn’t found anything to help Adagio replace it with, when Twilight interrupted her again.

“My Faithful Student,” she reiterated, looking at her kindly, “...you are doing tremendous good just being there for her. Friendship doesn’t always happen in the blink of an eye. Sometimes it takes very hard work.”

Twilight turned and gazed back out to the front, her eyes looking at something far away, eerily similar to what The Benevolent Princess of the Light would do on occasion herself. It was disconcerting to the person that knew the both of them.

Twilight was reflecting Celestia; and Sunset Shimmer was even more upset that her pride had broken her personal connection with the Sun Princess. It could have helped so much…

She shook it off. Well, that was one reason why she was going. To see if the bond could be re-forged.

She took a deep breath, squared her shoulders. “And we are working at it, my Princess of Friendship. All of us. Though I wouldn’t mind some guidance on occasion from a good friend.”

Twilight smiled brightly. “That’s what friends are for!”

Twilight decided to change the subject. “Things otherwise doing well?” Twilight asked

“Not bad. The girls keep asking me when they can come and see Equestria firsthand, though,” Sunset replied. That was going to be a very interesting day, she thought. She had almost lost her mind when she first came through the Mirror. Beginning with going from being a quadruped to a biped immediately; then it got even stranger.

“My girls want to come here to visit, too. Maybe we can see it all together,” Twilight said in sunlit tones. She really could channel Celestia if she wanted to.

“Like I said…’Buffy the Vampire Slayer’. But with ponies.” Sunset Shimmer said, laughing.

“We’ll have to plan it during another school break like this summer, plus, be a little secretive about it. Having a sleepover with five sets of twins is sure to attract attention.” Twilight scrunched her face up, concentrating. “The chances of that occurring naturally without some sort of intervention…”

“…isn’t worth the time to figure it out, Twi.” Sunset Shimmer said quickly. Girl gets way too serious about her science and maths, she thought.

“Sunset…Equestria being Equestria, ponies might not be so shocked to see your friends around Ponyville. It might work better if your friends made the first trip, Magic being what it is here. Or there, sorry,” Twilight said thoughtfully.

“Probably. But whatever we end up deciding, we have time yet. I have to get this current visit out of the way first.”

They stood for a moment next to the pedestal of the statue outside of the school. Sunset looked around warily for a moment. “Are you okay?” Twilight asked anxiously. Sunset Shimmer looked even more worried, if that was even possible.

“I just want to avoid being seen doing something that’s going to lead to a few hundred new questions I don’t want to answer. Such as being seen walking through a statue plinth of solid stone.” Sunset hadn’t had to answer a lot of questions at first. The raving she-demon was a natural conversation stopper, though it didn’t quell the stares and whispers of disapproval. Those had stung a lot.

Now something of the opposite was true. As one of the heroines that saved everybody, she had a bit of minor celebrity going on now. Because of that, sometimes she had to answer the same questions over and over again. She wasn’t quite sure which problem was worse.

“Oh. Now that you mention it…” Twilight looked around as well, though not as furtively as Sunset had. “I don’t see anyone around. I think it’ll be fine.” Twilight touched the surface of the Wondercolt statue’s base. There was a flare and a ripple, like water, as her hand went through. Twilight smiled a secretive smile at the diaphanous image of her right forehoof wavering gently underneath the surface of the plinth. She then held out her other normal looking hand to Sunset.

Sunset took it, just as Twilight’s body passed through the plane of the support. A gentle tug, and Sunset followed…

And after a flaring tunnel of light, into a large room, as Twilight let go…dropping to all four hooves.

Sunset teetered for a moment on her…rear hooves, before tipping forward and unceremoniously planting her face against the floor with a small yelp of pain, front hooves splayed out in front of her.

“Darling! All you all right?” a white Unicorn with an intricately styled purple mane asked, alarmed, as she ran up to check on Sunset.

Was that…Rarity? Sunset thought, as she picked up her head and tenderly rubbed the sore spot on her cheek…with a hoof.

Sunset glanced into the Unicorn’s eyes for a moment…and saw the very same, well, soul she was familiar with looking back into hers. This one wasn’t wearing a half-sleeved blouse and a purple skirt, though.

And she had a horn.

Sunset glanced upward slightly…and saw she had one now as well…

Apparently the introspective meanderings of her woolgathering consciousness had an effect on at least one of the other ponies in the room as well…since she hadn't bothered to get up yet.

“Ah got ‘er. Now, jest hold on there, sugarcube.”

Sunset felt herself lifted by a pair of very strong forelegs, and planted straight on all four of hers, though her forelegs wobbled a bit before firming up to the new, or old, depending, sensations. While she planted her feet under her, literally, the strong pony untwisted the saddlebag that had somehow gotten misaligned on her body. “Y’all better now?” the voice asked frankly.

Applejack.

“Uh…Rarity…Applejack…yeah, I think I’ve got it. Thanks.” Sunset spent a minute or two trying to get her bearings…

“Oh, wow, Twilight! She’s really pretty! Especially without the scary she-demon thing! Do you like parties?” something like a huge piece of bubblegum said, as she hopped up and down nearby…on her hooves?

Pinkie Pie.

“No doubt about that one. Pinkie.” Sunset said dryly, watching the hopping pink pony with bemusement.

The bubblegum squeed. “Can we keep her?”

Twilight facehooved.

“Um…she really isn’t going to turn into a she-demon, is she?” said a soft, familiar voice somewhere behind Rarity. She knew that one, too.

Fluttershy.

Sunset Shimmer chuckled wryly. They were like those in her other world. “No, Flutts, I don’t do that anymore. Friends are so much better than unbridled power, anyway. Your…” she started to say, and then faltered.

How do I say this? she wondered to herself. Your other selves? Blech. Your alter-egoes? Blagh. Your twins? Ecchh.

Suddenly, she had it, as Inspiration kissed her square on the end of her muzzle. She smiled shyly.

“Your sisters taught me that.”

Twilight Sparkle positively beamed upon hearing that. So did the rest of the Six.

Equestrian Coture

Sunset Shimmer spent a little time walking around the strange room of crystal and normal wall, as she once more picked up the novel experience of being on four legs again, though she stumbled here and there on occasion. And she was more than a little freaked out that her clothes seemed to have parted company with her and gotten lost somewhere between there and here. The cloak she had brought with her last time and left behind wasn’t something she wanted to mention again. The bad impression she left behind along with it wasn’t something she wanted Twilight to associate with her once more, anyway. Sunset was managing to keep the anxiety filled impulse to hide herself with her legs under tight control, but there weren’t any stallions in the room, either.

“Twilight?” she asked sotto voce, when the others were quietly busy comparing notes on her. She was watching Twilight as she tended an intricate machine enveloping the Magic Mirror.

So that’s how she got the thing to work outside the usual thirty-moon cycle, Sunset thought admiringly. She was powering it with Princess Celestia’s book. Clever.

“Yes?” Twilight asked cheerfully.

“Um…have you seen my clothes?” Sunset asked, unusually anxious. For some reason, she was worried about them. When she was here last time, stealing Twilight’s Magic Crown, it hadn’t bothered her that they were someplace else. Here, now, suddenly; though it didn’t make sense at all, she was extremely self-conscious about it.

“Nope. Something happens when you go through the Mirror. I don’t have anything like I wear there when I’m here, either. Just me,” she said, shutting down the machine powering the Mirror carefully. What was the big deal about clothes, anyway?

“Sorry, Twilight. I’m just having a little…anxiety about it. You sorta get used to the thing after years. Then when you don’t have them...”

“Oh. OH! I’m sorry, Sunset, I didn’t realize…” Twilight said, embarrassed herself now. How could you be a moral support for someone, er, somepony, when you miss something so obvious as that?

“Hey, neither did I. Just…is there something you can do? I’m not losing it yet, but there aren’t any boys in the room, either…” Sunset continued…

The timing couldn’t have been worse. The door opened, and Spike walked in.

“Twilight, are we going to lunch…?” he started to say, just as Sunset Shimmer screamed. So did Spike.

The rest of the Six looked up from their group discussion with a general “Huh?” their eyes wide.

Sunset snatched a tarp that Twilight covered the machine with off of one of the nearby tables by using her magic aura, a lovely turquoise, as she then wrapped it around herself quickly. She hadn’t even had to concentrate on it. Sunset did it purely on instinct.

“Twilight!! Get him out!” Sunset yelled, panicked.

“Okay! Everypony, Spike, calm down! I think…” Twilight started to say…

“TWILIGHT!!!” Sunset Shimmer shrieked again.

Twilight looked at Spike. “Sunset is having pony modesty problems, Spike. Could you give us a bit?” she smiled kindly.

“What? It’s not like I’m a dog or something. That was just weird,” Spike said, confused. Twilight’s aura reached out, faced him gently away from Sunset and toward the door. She held him steady there until she reached him.

“Spike…she got used to wearing clothes over the years. Standing here, wellll, um, naked, is giving her fits. And you’re the first…boy…she’s been around here. Plus, all of the stress she’s having by coming back to Equestria. Help me out here, my Number One Assistant. Could you knock first before coming in while she’s here? We’ll try to fix the other thing, and see if that helps. Please?” Twilight asked awkwardly.

Spike blushed.

“Sure, Twilight. I understand.” He walked to the door and left, shutting it behind him. Not once did he try to peek, either.

She turned to the rest of the Six. “I have to apologize, girls. Sunset is having….”

“Modesty issues, Twilight. Of course. Clothes for years, then here…” Rarity said matter-of-factly, looking at the shaking Sunset Shimmer. It would be the fashionista to figure it out. “You poor dear! I’m sorry we shocked you so! I’m certain we can address your discomfort easily. Only one thing…my shop is almost all the way across Ponyville. How can we get there?” she asked thoughtfully.

Twilight smiled. “Oh, I think I can handle that one. Gather together, everyone, er, everypony!”

She walked up to the group, smiled brighter, and then turned around.

“Off we go,” Twilight said simply.

With a flash, Twilight teleported the entire group straight to Rarity’s Carousel Boutique.

The flash lifted, and the whole group was in the store, even Rainbow Dash, who had been uncharacteristically quiet for some reason the entire time. Twilight was wondering if Dash had somehow been broken or something while Twilight was in the other world with Sunset. Then she spoke up.

“Hey Twi…do you want me to tell Spike where we are?” Rainbow asked, though she was looking critically at Sunset.

“Not a bad idea, RD. Come right back after, we still have…”

“Yeah, all right, I know. Girly pony and egghead stuff to do, yadda, yadda, yadda. Fine, I’ll be right back,” she said indifferently, racing out of the door.

“What’s with her?” Twilight asked nopony in particular. Rarity waved a hoof.

“It’s just Dashie being Dashie, Twilight. She’ll calm down soon enough, after a bit of exercise. In the meantime…Sunset, would you like to look around a bit, or do you have something particular in mind?” Rarity asked the tangerine-colored pony.

Sunset gave the store a quick glance, but wasn’t all that excited by the dresses on the mannequins…um…ponequins? No...dress forms; that were visible. Most had far too much frill and fluff for her more streamlined tastes.

“Um…do you have any jackets?” Shimmer asked.

“Oh, are you cold, my dear?” Rarity asked, suddenly concerned.

“Ah, no, I’m looking for…hey, wait a minute!” she said, her horn energizing once more. A small, flat object slid out from under the tarp she was wearing. “I knew this cell phone would come in handy…”

“Cell phone?” Rarity asked, confused.

“Yeah! It has a camera, too…and I saved a bunch of pictures. Let’s see,” she said, turning it on. With a tiny sigh that it worked, she then scrolled to the appropriate folders…

“There! Like this, Rarity,” Sunset said, floating the phone to her where she could see it.

“OH! I see now; something quite fashionable! Oh, my…you’re stunning as a human, my dear,” Rarity gushed.

“If you say so, I guess. Do you have clothes like that here? I think I’d be more comfortable dressed as usual. Like my leather jacket…” Sunset continued.

“What’s leather, my dear? I don’t think…”

Suddenly, Sunset Shimmer’s eyes grew wide, and she gently bit her lower lip.

Oh, no, she thought. Leather. Cows were sentient here. It’d be pure barbarism, killing, then cutting up a cow here for food like was done there. And to skin it, tan its hide, and make clothing from it? EEeeewwwww…!!

Sunset had never participated in eating meat, though the temptation was constantly present, and near overwhelming at times. Sunset had carefully learned to read nutrition labels, and avoided anything using meat protein in it. She had stayed a vegetarian, sticking to the usual fruits and vegetables, or vegetable analogs, like soyburgers. It did get in the way sometimes with the Alt Five, who loved their pepperoni and sausage pizzas, hamburgers, sub sandwiches, and hot dogs, which didn’t come from dogs, thank goodness, or were all that hot, really. Her more delicate anatomy there as a human had demanded certain concessions, such as peeling oranges and other fruits, as well as certain vegetables. Sometimes things she ate raw or unfinished as a pony were torment to her human body, and it took time to figure out what she had to do about it. Grains were the worst, until she learned of the milled and/or finished products. Then, those products themselves took weird turns. Oats; rolled oats, quick oats, microwaveable oats…

And timothy hay. She had always liked timothy hay and alfalfa, which wasn’t in any grocery store at all. She didn’t want to upset AJ by asking for a handful, because Applejack was far too smart to not figure out it wasn’t going to the animal shelter where Fluttershy worked. More than a few of her friends would have cringed at that.

Don’t get me started on timothy hay, she thought glumly. Maybe somepony here had some she could wheedle out of them later…

Her eyes darted about, looking for an out, as the others watched, perplexed. Suddenly, she saw one.

She quietly walked over to one of the broad windows. Beyond the dresses and the glass, over the houses and some small hills, there was a castle…not overtly large, like Canterlot was, but what looked like a huge crystal tree, the trunk and branches making up the walls and spires. It was imposing here in Ponyville, towering over the small shops and homes.

“What’s that?” she asked quietly, pointing with a hoof.

“Oh. My house. We were just there; it’s where I keep the Mirror, before I teleported us here,” Twilight Sparkle said, walking over.

“House?” Sunset said ironically, her eyes wide…“That’s not a house, Twilight,” she finished.

“It’s not a home, either,” Twilight Sparkle said quietly, turning away sadly.

There’s a story in there, Sunset thought, as she watched the quiet purple pony. But it seemed a painful one for Twilight.

A short time later, Rarity had put some things together, and Sunset was feeling a lot less exposed. Rarity didn’t have leather, but she did have a similar, acceptable substitute Shimmer intentionally misidentified as leather to be on the safe side. She hated to lie, but like hay, it would be worse all around if she told the truth about it. People generally weren’t bad or evil, really. They just weren’t ponies from Equestria, which had very different rules because sentience was so widespread.

Rarity also had a halter top almost exactly like the one she usually wore, and other odds and ends she then reassembled into garments Sunset was familiar with. The skirt was longer than normal, but it did cover the proper areas, so she was fine with it. Her wristbands were made up whole, as well as her cool boots she loved, now on her rear legs. Rarity had proven she was amazingly adept at clothes making here as well as there; incredibly ironic, in a society where everypony usually walked around in the nude, as it were. That made for a fascinating line of questions Sunset really wanted to ask the gleaming white mare. How in Equestria do you make bucks…oops; bits; with that as your business model?

During the process, Rainbow Dash came back. Twilight noted that her mood hadn’t improved very much, just as Rarity entered with a clothes rack she had put together in the back. She floated the cell phone back to Sunset Shimmer.

“Oh, and as for the rest of you…here,” she said, smiling.

Sunset Shimmer retracted the statement. Rarity, with almost no time to do it, had assembled similar and appropriate clothing very close to what Sunset’s friends usually wore, but fitted for the ponies around her.

A few minutes later, everypony was wearing the Equestrian analogues of the clothing her Canterlot High School Wondercolts friends usually wore.

That wasn’t adept… that was almost miraculous. She said so, too.

Rarity smiled. “Don’t be so dramatic, Sunset dear. Almost everything was already here, just not brought together at the time for each of us. I did add touches here and there, especially the appliqué Cutie Marks, which I already had, by the way, after a certain few revisions on other couture. Just a matter of stitching them on. And I LOVE mine, by the way. I wish I had thought of it. So chic, I could die!”

Twilight Sparkle glanced behind her. And gasped in surprise, eyes widening.

Rarity had worked a miracle, Twilight thought. The Six…or was it Seven, with Sunset Shimmer there? Seven…were wearing perfect pony analogs of what the girls wore in their human world.

Dash had a short-sleeved jacket over a tee shirt with her Cutie Mark on the front, the collar popped up, and a magenta and white short skirt over athletic shorts. High-topped athletic shoes adorned her rear legs, and blue, yellow, and red sweatbands were on her front legs, matching the rings on the socks under the semi-boot shoes.

Fluttershy had a white sleeveless blouse over a light green skirt with embroidered butterflies reminiscent of her Cutie Mark, and green boots with pink accents at the top. A Cutie Mark butterfly was clipped to her mane.

Rarity was in a very light blue half-sleeve blouse with a light purple belted skirt, her Cutie Mark embroidered on it. The boots were purple, with light purple accents at the top, surmounted in the front with a single gem from her Cutie Mark. A pair of gold bracelets, one for each foreleg, shined brightly.

And so it went with the others. Pinkie Pie’s big heart on her undershirt, another Cutie Mark skirt, and bows on her boots. Applejack’s simple, but strong country work ethic clothing; rolled up sleeves and all, with apples on the brown boots, and whose trim matched her hat exactly.

Then the Unicorn, (Equus Sapiens, subsp. Magicae Cornu Unum), expectantly held out an outfit in her aura on a hanger to Twilight.

Rarity regarded the young Alicorn enthusiastically. Twilight’s puffed sleeved blouse, with the dark pink bow, dark purple skirt and embroidered Cutie Mark, and her own tall boot shoes with white laces…and which matched with the others neatly, after a certain new Princess finished getting dressed.

Sunset looked at them. The looks…were perfect.

There was a secondary benefit, she thought suddenly. If her girls ever came to Equestria…they’d already have clothes ready for them here. The ponies would be comfortable without them, and the girls would then be easy to tell from the ponies. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t work the other way around. The ponies would show up over there already wearing clothes like these. And her girls certainly wouldn’t strip naked!

Then she had an idea. Her friends there could wear their Wondercolt Canterlot High School rally clothes, the blue and yellow ones, while the ponies wore whatever appeared when they arrived through the Mirror. Although the problem of what to say about five sets of twins still remained.

Even so, it still looked more and more like her friends over there would be better off coming here to Equestria first, rather than the other way around. The logistics were easier, as well as the ready acceptance. Like Twilight said; Equestria being Equestria, a place of Magic; and where the unusual frequently took a stroll straight down Main Street to say hello.

Sunset’s anxiety was shedding away in tiny increments as she looked over the lovely sea of colors draped on the ponies in front of her. Then she did something she usually did to relax when her nervousness gripped her…

She started to sing softly.

One of the remarkable things about the Magical world of Equestria was its atmosphere. Doctor Whooves was the first to try to quantify the unusual properties it had. Most everypony else just enjoyed it. The air itself somehow managed to buoy up (Equus Sapiens, subsp. Alis Pegasi), who developed the ability to fly with it. But there was another property it had.

Somehow, when one pony started to sing, everypony within earshot could also sing along with them. The words and tune just seemed to pop into everypony’s head. This time was no different.

But the effect was…

Sunset Shimmer had become a main figure in the Sonic Rainbooms after the fight with the Sirens, the name Rainbow Dash (human) gave their band. One of the fun things they frequently did was set up in the music room of the school or AJ’s garage and just noodle around with their songs. Now, the latent Equestrian Magic left behind when Twilight Sparkle returned home with her crown still affected them while singing. Like Applejack said, “…ears, tails, (and wings for the Pegasi), the whole shebang…” still continued to happen. Sunset was now affected, just like the others during the Sirens incident; she grew the ears and tail as well, though no unicorn horn appeared on the Unicorn types there.

In her nervousness, Sunset had started singing what she called, “Got the Music in Our Hearts”, the song that came into her head during the pitched battle with the Sirens. This one, and a couple others, were her own personal bulwark and strength when she was anxious or unsure nowadays. She had started singing it softly just to lift her spirits up a bit…

On Equestria…

As usual, the other ponies in the room picked up on it, started to join in…when Rarity cried out, startled…

The other ponies looked at each other…

The change had been almost instantaneous. ALL of the Six had taken on the “Rainbow Magic” appearance they had when they fought against Tirek…and were now floating six feet off the floor…!

Rainbow Dash zoomed around, humming the song just like the others…also in her Rainbow Magic appearance. She bellowed “SWEET!!” as she flipped vertically and screamed to a halt alongside Fluttershy, whose eyes were wide open in fright.

Twilight watched Sunset Shimmer, aglow in reds, tangerine, and sun yellow, frozen in place…hovering alongside her. Somehow, Sunset had some sort of “Rainbow Magic” in her as well; Tirek fight or no Tirek fight…and being from an inter-dimensional world away.

Twilight, the resident Alicorn, (Equus Sapiens, subsp. Ala Monoceros Regina), recovered the fastest, held the chorus smoothly as she calmly and slowly lowered them all to the floor while bringing her voice to a gradual dénouement. When they all touched down lightly, she came to a stop.

“Wow,” Princess Twilight said calmly. “That was…”

“AWESOME!” burst out of the cyan Pegasus, wings high in excitement as she trotted around in a small circle looking at herself. Then she looked around at the wide-eyed ponies around her.

“Aw, C’MON!! That. Was. Totally. AWESOME!!! I was wondering what would make that happen again! Some sort of dangerous magic-y maxed out fight or something? And now all we have to do is SING??” she yelled, almost as hyped up as Pinkie Pie was.

They stared back at her, except for the bouncing, giggling pink bubblegum, who was still admiring the streaked mane and brightly patterned and colored fetlocks she had in one of Rarity's dressing mirrors.

“Seriously??” Rainbow Dash said as she rose upward and hovered, folding her forelegs in front of her, staring at the others.

“Rainbow Dash, we’ve sung together before now, remember? Something new…something different…” Twilight started to say. Her eyes went straight to Sunset Shimmer.

“Synergy…” she said softly as the colors shimmered and abruptly faded from her and her friends.

“Cinna-whut?” asked Applejack, (Equus Sapiens, subsp. Terra Potens), now much calmer that she had solid floor underneath all four hooves.

“She did that?” Rainbow Dash asked, pointing a hoof at Sunset Shimmer. The grin grew wider. “Okay, now you’re cool. We can hang. Anypony that can make that happen is fine in my book.”

Sunset Shimmer clonked herself in the face lightly as she brought her right front hoof up to it. Tenderly, she rubbed the spot, as Dashie laughed.

Hooves, Sunset. Remember. Not hands. Hooves. Hooves can hurt, she thought, rubbing the new tender spot.

Harmonics, Cider, and Bowling

Meanwhile…

In Canterlot, a white Alicorn with a Sun Cutie Mark abruptly sat bolt upright on her throne, her head picked up from its accustomed slump on a forehoof while the Secretariat of State droned on about what some visitors from Britannia across the sea were going to see and events they would attend during their visit in Canterlot. Her ears also pointed up, swiveling around to catch any sound.

The magical ley line node underneath Canterlot; in fact, under Canterlot Castle proper, had just sang a pitch perfect note of incredible power. It had resonated within her very bones, and then, just as quickly, vanished.

The Throne Room doors then banged open as Princess Luna burst in at the run, cantering to a stop in front of Princess Celestia.

“Did you feel that?” Princess Celestia asked her younger sister earnestly.

“I had, My Sister. Didst thou…er, did you also? What could it have been?” Luna asked, puzzlement evident in her voice.

Celestia smiled in spite of herself as Luna lapsed into Old Equestrian, then caught and changed it.

“It was sort of hard to miss, Luna, especially since my very bones seemed to resonate with it.” Her head and ears swiveled around. Then she pointed in a particular direction with her right hoof. “If I’m not mistaken, and I never am, that came from Ponyville,” she said, gesturing emphatically with her right foreleg.

Luna’s face took on an exasperated look. “What, again?” she said intensely, glaring at Celestia. “What is it about the Six that causes every magical superpower in Equestria to go seek them out?” she said heatedly, as her hoof found the bridge of her nose in frustration.

“Are you jealous, My Sister?” Celestia asked, concerned. The emotionally charged accusation made her uneasy. Things like that in her younger sister had in the past sometimes caused unintended consequences. One of which was Nightmare Moon; well behind them, but still indolently raised and nervously fretted about on occasion. Luny wasn’t one to seek out destructive power because of envy’s own sake anymore, but yet…

“I was right in the middle of the Big Boss fight when that happened!” Luna said irately, as Celestia relaxed imperceptibly. “I froze for a second when I felt that, and it took advantage of my pause and wiped me out! I’m going to have to start again from my last autosave, now.” She turned around, headed to her apartment dejectedly. “Two and a half hours, wasted. If Princess Twilight Sparkle only played videogames, I would give her a good trouncing for my troubles! Every time, I swear…” she said, as the Throne Room doors closed quietly behind her at a flick of her aura and cut her off.

Princess Celestia sighed in relief, and then stared chuckling. Soon, she was laughing in unrestrained joy, as the Court looked on in confusion.

Celestia finally managed some control, as she wiped her eyes. The Court had managed to excuse itself as she had rolled around on the floor of the Throne dais, laughing helplessly.

Well, it was worth it just for that, Celestia considered, as she composed herself before calling back the Court. Still, I need to go to Ponyville and see what Twilight is up to. Besides, I so want to get a real good look at that castle of hers…

“Synergy. The interaction of forces, elements, or energies that exceed the contributions of the individual items alone.” Twilight explained. She continued to stare at Sunset Shimmer.

“Me?” Sunset asked with trepidation, as she slowly shifted her weight from side to side in a slight but remarkable fidget while she leaned against a wall. A white cat on a set of shelves looked at the nervous pony contemptuously. Not that Opal didn’t do that with most everypony.

“Uh-huh. You’re the catalyst. Remember when your Rainbow Dash showed me that video of them transforming during the music they were playing? Then the battle with the Sirens, and how the Power accepted you, brought us all together to defeat them?” Twilight asked rhetorically for the benefit of the other ponies.

Sunset nodded.

“You were the Final Element we needed to stop them, right? Once it was over, you found out you transformed like they did when you all played together afterward, right?” she said, her face lively.

Sunset nodded again. Everyone at home had just accepted it as the way it should be with her. There were more animated discussions between her and Dash about which of them was best lead guitarist, (and on which songs), than what made them change. It had been strange how her friends didn’t focus on it.

“Just now…you became our catalyst!” Twilight declared, pointing at her with a front hoof. “If things stay consistent, like I think they have, we can transform now as we need to.” The pony Five smiled in assent, accepting Twilight’s pronouncement in full.

Sunset now stared at her, her unease building quickly. Normalcy seemed to be out of her reach no matter what planet she stood on. All these strange changes…

“No. Really.” Twilight said earnestly.

“So what am I Twilight?” Sunset said fearfully. She had given up ambition and power, once she had discovered how much better friendship filled the emptiness inside of her. But having given them up, it was upsetting that now all sorts of unusual powers were suddenly leaping toward and into her in a mad rush.

Twilight sensed the conflict inside the tangerine pony. She didn’t have any fuzzy words of comfort to offer, but she did have a possible explanation she thought might help.

“Unique. Your experiences, your past, your salvation, everything has combined in you to make you a pony that changes and enhances Magic in an inconceivable way. That terrible time when we fought each other had to have been the point where it all started. You wore the Crown, but you couldn’t wield it, even after your, er…transformation. It came back to me, even while it sat upon your head. Then it empowered me and your Five to defeat you, but not to destroy you, thank Celestia!”

Sunset smiled slightly at that. Twilight’s compassion had been, (and still was) so comforting, it was hard to remember that up until that moment, Sunset had been working very hard to harm the purple Alicorn. Very, very hard, with all the considerable harm she could muster.

“You were changed back, all of you, but not completely. And then your girls helped you learn about the Power of Friendship that they had, right?” Twilight continued.

“While Snips, Snails, and I re-set all those bricks back in the front of the school…” Sunset said grumpily. They had a journeyman bricklayer volunteer to come to show them how to re-lay the first course after three tries to get it perfect; all the other courses depended on a masterful job being done with the first ones. After that, it was just hard, not outright impossible. And it did keep them from being arrested.

“And then we faced off against the Sirens. All Six of us couldn’t break their spell on everyone, remember? Then you took the microphone; and Vinyl spun a record for you with that crazy car of hers. You sang that very song you were just singing. You led us where we needed to go, and then the Magic transformed you again. Not into an insane she-demon. You became one of us; some blend of pony and human and Magic that somehow allowed you to tap into that Rainbow Power that is in all of us, too. ALL of us! Both sides of the Mirror! With it, you helped us defeat the Sirens, Sunset...”

Wide eyed, Sunset Shimmer considered it. “I’m some kind of…”

“No, not some kind of anything, Sunset. Someone. Somepony. A being of two worlds. I can almost put my hoof on it. Not quite yet, I have to think about it more, maybe do some studying about it later. But the answer is close; I can feel it.” The intense emotion Twilight was radiating was almost physical.

“Princesses have to do some real heavy lifting sometimes, don’t they, Twi?” Sunset Shimmer said wryly. Twilight and the others started to laugh.

“It’s not a Sun or a Moon, but sometimes it’s harder, figuring out ponies. Or people,” Twilight said frankly.

Rarity walked up right then. She flipped her mane, just to show off the barrette with the three gems aligned in it. The conversation was becoming maudlin and far too serious. Time to get it back on her favorite kind of track.

“Well, Twilight, since everypony is now properly cotured, we can go back,” she smiled ostentatiously. “I really should entertain a fashion show of this new look soon, though. There’s a wonderful, endearing, youthful hipness to this design ponies would enjoy having themselves.”

Sunset Shimmer rolled her eyes at that. Yesterday, she saw a commercial on the television that proclaimed exactly the same thing at a certain chain clothing store. Human Rarity almost passed out in apoplectic indignity on hearing it. And now her pony self was about to pitch it herself on her own line.

Not exactly the same was right.

A few minutes of discussion later, they decided to walk on back to Twilight’s castle, rather than have her teleport all of them back, so that they could show off Ponyville to her. Sunset Shimmer agreed readily, grateful for some exercise and time to think.

Sunset was surprised at all the features of the town. The human world almost put the entirety of the planet within arm’s reach. Even so, as teens, they had societal limits there. The Carousel Boutique of Rarity’s, for example, was extremely interesting. But there was a real big difference between just working at some place, as opposed to owning the store, and it showed in every detail pony Rarity put into her business.

AJ’s family still owned an apple farm in the human world, though human Granny Smith also worked at the school cafeteria, not exclusively on the farm alone. Here, the Apples owned the whole shebang, lock, stock, and barrel after barrel of delicious apples.

Fluttershy didn’t understand why animals had to live at a shelter. With uncharacteristic vehemence, she said so too, grousing about “… stupid meanie…” county laws and ordinances Sunset had tried to explain regarding animals that had nothing to do with her situation on Equestria.

Pinkie Pie still worked in a small bakery with a Mr. and Mrs. Cake, both there and here, and did everything from unloading the delivery truck, or cart, to baking, sales, and babysitting a set of twins. She was the one pony that could easily interchange with her doppelganger.

The big shocker was Rainbow Dash. In Equestria, she was part of Cloudsdale’s local Weather Team tasked to Ponyville. In the other world, she worked at a television station handling the national weather reports. Rainbow Dash, (pony), really felt very sorry for her counterpart when Sunset told her. Making weather was infinitely preferable than writing copy about it, no matter how well it paid.

Sunset was the odd one out. She made sure she had paperwork declaring herself emancipated after she crossed over the final time, and was an office assistant part-time at a brokerage firm. That was to cover her small but well-valued investment trust she had invested there, and lived off of. She had slagged the gold bits she brought with her into obscurity, and found an exchange to take the nuggets and exchange them for cash. She had also been the one to take Twilight’s original coinage funding and put it to work for the Dazzlings as they hit hard times. Currently, she was now helping her own girls develop their portfolios. A few people there at the office wondered about the girl with the “magic touch” in investing, as she answered phones, handled mail, and occasionally wrestled with toner cartridges and a replacement drum unit for the copier.

Then they came to a large, low building, with a ball and pins outside. Sunset stared in frank incredulity.

“A bowling alley?”

“Yep. It’s pretty fun, too, though Rarity won’t set a hoof inside,” Twilight laughed, glancing at the fashionista.

Rarity made a scoffing sound, (although it sounded remarkably like she was carefully pronoucing every letter), as she flipped her mane contemptuously and looked away.

Sunset continued to stare. “Why such a big place for a game only Unicorns can play?”

Twilight waved a hoof pointedly towards Applejack. “AJ is our anchor in our foursome. She’s a consistent 250 score kegler. We wouldn’t know what to do without her.”

Applejack smiled, crossed her front feet smugly. Pinkie Pie hugged her with a big mugging grin.

Sunset Shimmer turned to look at Twilight. “Seriously?” she asked, astonishment in her voice and on her face.

“She has a real wicked hook to the left just before the pins. AJ has to throw straight down the last right hand arrow marker on the lane, almost right on the edge of the gutter to accommodate it. They won’t let me test the lane with my aura for how much oil they applied on it first; something about ‘unfair’ and ‘cheating’…though the rules say nothing about checking that by testing my ball for it after I bowl.” Twilight said with a slight smirk.

“But,” Sunset said, as she lifted her right forehoof, flat up, and wiggled it.

“Oh, that. Exchange force manipulation,” Twilight said in a matter-of-fact, almost bored tone.

“Could you try that on me again?” Sunset said helplessly. She watched as a cream colored Unicorn pony wearing a black bowling shirt in purple trim and starlight mint candies as a Cutie Mark walk up the steps, then pull open the levers on the doors with her aura to go inside. Sunset felt her eyebrows try to crawl up into her maneline.

Twilight had been looking where Sunset had, smiled when Sunset looked back at her.

“Pinny Lane is on another league team, scores even better than Applejack…and has never once used her horn to roll a bowling ball.”

“You’re kidding. You have to be kidding,” Sunset declared as she shook her head.

“Rarity, do you mind waiting outside?” Twilight challenged, a slight smile on her face.

Rarity again flipped her mane with a hoof. “Darling, as much as I despise ‘bowling’, I am not going to hang about outside like some…trollop…while the rest of you are in there. I am going along, and that’s final,” she sniffed haughtily, as they walked up the steps and Pinkie tugged a door open.

“Well, at least y’all be inside for once. Who knows, maybe y’all sign up with us for Wednesday,” Applejack chuckled.

“I am not about to chip a hoof playing this barbaric game…” Rarity said self-importantly, just before the doors sighed closed behind them.

The pony behind the counter jumped up and set the copy of TheFoalFreePress he was reading down as they walked in.

“Hey, wouldya look at that! ‘Princess Sparkles Sparklers’! You want I should set up a lane for youse guys? Ya didn’t bring yer bags wid’cha…” the large pony behind the counter said heartily, despite the heavy Bronxian accent.

“No thanks, Mr. Kingpin. We’re showing a friend around Ponyville. We’ll grab a cider at the restaurant and watch from the gallery for a bit,” Twilight said to the big, cheerful Earther.

“Youse guys suit yerselves, then. Princess, I’ll be over here if ya need sump’tin.” He turned back, sat down, and opened his newspaper again.

As they walked the galley, Rainbow Dash pointed out three ponies at a lane; one with a long toffee-colored mustache, beard and mane, his rather large friend with a short brush cut mane and graying mustache wearing tinted glasses, and a third with tired eyes and a long face even for a pony.

‘Don’t those guys ever go home?” Rainbow asked. Applejack shrugged non-commitedly.

“In my world, some guy called a girl ‘Princess’, he wouldn’t hear the end of it for months,” Sunset Shimmer said ironically, chuckling, looking back at the Earther behind the counter. There were racks and racks of multi-toned hoof shoes behind him, and a board with locker keys hanging from it.

“But she is a Princess,” Rarity said quizzically. She had thought the place would be a dark, moldering, dust encrusted hive of scum and villainy. Instead, it was almost scrupulously clean, decorated cheerfully, very well lit, and the polished wood floors of the lanes and approaches gleamed invitingly. A herd of fillies and colts shouted for joy as they rolled balls between cushions inflated and placed in the gutters of one lane. Even the counters and tables were immaculate as they sat down at two four-place tables; Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy going to the order window to place the order for seven mugs of ‘Applejack's Best’.

One thing was certain…it wasn’t a library. The thunderous explosions of pins being struck resounded throughout the place.

“This looks almost exactly like that place near the car dealership,” Sunset though out loud.

“Cars?” said Rainbow Dash, setting down four mugs, one each in front of Sunset, Twilight, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie. Fluttershy’s three went to her, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack, who looked at hers with a practiced eye. “You said something earlier about Vinyl and that car thing. What are cars?” she asked, confused.

“Never mind, it’s not important, and kinda hard to explain,” said Sunset. Rainbow nodded gratefully. Saved her the time to try and figure it out, then.

The Apples had changed their routine slightly when it came to cider pressing time. Flim and Flam had almost ran them out of business with their machine during the contest for the most cider made. When that fell apart, the two confidence ponies beat a very hasty retreat with the contraption, only to lose a wheel a quarter-mile down the road. The two of them abandoned the machine up against the fenceline they knocked down while they beat a hasty retreat before the local law enforcement took them in. And Applejack, helping out as usual, strained and pulled with Big Mac's help to put the huge contraption in the barn, storing it for the sheriff lawpony who had no place for it.

Three months later, the brothers showed up in Ponyville and started asking discreet questions about the thing. Yes, it was still here, and yes, it still worked. Unfortunately, it was now liened for three months of storage fees and a summary judgement for orchard damage sustained in the fracas. They could always pay the lien off later, after a short time in the Ponyville stir for criminal damage to property...

They gratefully signed the thing over in the plea deal, and quickly put their heels away from Ponyville...for a time...

The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000 currently handled the heavy lifting at cider time now. Hooked up to the power grid, ponies took their own shots bucking apples for their own cider under the watchful eye of Granny Smith, who still set the standards for the apples going into the feed hopper of the machine. A huge amount of the burden picking the apples came off the family, with not one eyelash thickness in loss of quality. Not to mention the nice little spell Twilight had found one day that put a plugged keg of cider into stasis until it was re-opened, fresh as the day they drove the plug home into the barrel.

The old machine was still ponypowered by Big Mac, but now was set to producing a premium orchard cider with Applejack's own name on it. A pony could now get the very best cider made on the planet for a premium price. And that product took off like a homesick Pegasi. When the trees that once held the vampire fruit bats recovered and their new fruit added in, the premium cider would be ridiculously good, for a ridiculously low retail price, which on the wholesale level was ridiculously higher than the usual profit they got for it.

Applejack took her mug up, sniffed it, and then sipped it, making a silly fluttering noise with it as she inhaled air alongside the cider. Swallowing, she held the mug up to the light, like she was x-raying the liquid inside through the wooden mug.

“Not bad. Last year’s stock, about a third of the way in during the pressin’. Sure kept well. Mostly Dixon champagne, red delicious blended for sweetness, and a few of Granny Smith’s best for the tart. Touch of honey that Apple Bloom accidentally knocked in it while tryin’ to get her Cutie Mark in cider pressin’.”

Rainbow Dash had followed her tasting example. “Some macintosh?” she asked, frowning.

“Not in this cider, far as Ah kin tell, sugarcube. But Ah don’t watch Big Mac all the time. He’s ornery enough to toss one in each pressin’ jest for braggin’ rights,” she said with a chuckle.

Fluttershy spoke up. “He’d never do something like that. He’s too nice.”

Pinkie Pie was oblivious to everyone, drinking hers happily. 'Applejack's Best' was a treat she wasn't about to squander, even being a good friend of the owners...or a relative, depending on how you looked at it.

“Y’all didn’t grow up with him, sugarcube. He’s a nice enough feller, but sumtimes…” she drawled out, as she took a drink.

“I sing with him in the Ponytones; and he’s always very polite and nice to everypony.” Fluttershy pressed. From Flutts, that was almost an angrily shouted declaration…

Sunset tuned the next table out, as she watched Pinny Lane step up on the lane apron.

Pinny put her right forehoof on a ball in the return…and watched, incredulously, as it stuck to her hoof. She lifted it up neck high, sighted down the lane…and with a slight push she imparted to it with her left front leg, swung the ball behind her, accelerating down the approach at a canter. Sliding to a stop, her right foreleg now moving forward low and hard along her side, she set the ball down on the approach just beyond the foul line with an almost imperceptible thump, as her body slid to a stop just behind the line; her follow-through had her lifting her right foreleg along the plane the ball was on now down the lane, slightly crouched, her left rear leg stretched behind her for balance.

The ball rumbled quickly down the lane, hooked slightly, and slammed hard into the slight gap between the number one and number three pins. The formation exploded with a deep sound of maple wood pins clonking against each other, bouncing everywhere, as the ball continued to slice through the pin set. One pin bounced up and hit the side wall, then spun lazily on its side in the middle of the cleared space. A large red “X” appeared on the scoring display above the pins.

Pinny broke down her follow through, then rump-bumped her fellow bowlers near the scoring table, a huge grin on her face.

Sunset Shimmer stared, her eyes wide. That was impossible!! Not once during that controlled precision display did Pinny Lane use her horn.

Her head swung towards Twilight, eyes bright.

Twilight stared at the lane Pinny used morosely, eyes moist. “I’d be happy if I could just not leave open frames. Never mind almost always rolling strikes. Just no open frames…”

“How?” Sunset started to ask...

“Oh, yeah…exchange bonding. A scientist guy we know, ’John Smith’, figured it out. Ponies can hold objects with the flat of a hoof. You have to put some work at it at first, learning the mental focus and concentration for it, but similar to how the air helps a Pegasi fly, you can mentally get objects to stick on your hoof. Very fine muscle coordination, not so easily or so much, but if you’re persistent enough, a bowling ball is easily manageable.”

Twilight sadly watched the blue-maned Unicorn sit down as a teammate took over. That one used her aura on her ball. Twi sighed.

“I thought being so good at Magic would make this easy. I ended up with a nickname for a couple of months.” She sighed again heavily, took a large swallow from her mug.

“‘Princess Gutterball,’” she said quietly; almost a morose whisper.

Pinkie almost choked on a mouthful of cider, but managed it down without spraying the precious cargo. Pinkie had only said it once, but it spread better than a weaponized infectious disease. She apologized later after it stuck so easily.

Twilight snorted in disgust, then sighed again ponderously. “With a lot of practice, I got the ball to go down the alley pretty consistently. Shortly thereafter, I picked up a new one,” she said pensively.

She took a big pull on her mug. “They call me the ‘Kindly Princess of the Seven-Ten Split’ now...”

Sunset Shimmer almost bit a hole in her cheek trying not to laugh out loud. Flutts had both hooves clamped over her mouth, eyes wide with compassion. Applejack was trying to look distracted watching other bowlers, not wanting to put her honesty to the test right at that moment. Pinkie had a foreleg on Twi’s shoulder in understanding. Rarity was in utter shock at the outrage. And RD, also listening in, started laughing loudly. She hadn’t come up with it, but once Twilight had said it, she slipped it in wherever she thought she could get away with it.

Twilight shot her a poisonous look. Then painfully smiled at Sunset.

“However, when my friends tease, they really tease,” she said calmly.

Luna picked up the controller, restarted her game.

In a few minutes she set the controller back down, the “Game Over” screen on the flat screen monitor glaring at her in triumph.

I’m far too unfocused now, she thought, as she shut it down. Sighing grumpily, she rubbed her eyes with a hoof, as she considered the gaming equipment.

Some of the best gear bits could buy, she thought. And such a clodhoof now trying to use it.

She sat back down on the floor against her bed, tried to relax. The pleasant but odd hum she felt along her skeleton was distracting. The hum that started the moment the Canterlot node was charged. It had been slowly dissipating since then, but that it happened at all…

Luna stood up, stretched, as a pair of noticeable pops sounded from her spine. For some reason, hers always did that…

She fell onto her bed, rolled over, and snatched a book off of her bookshelf with her aura. Maybe a little reading would help. It was getting to mid-morning, and though it was late spring, she would really like to get some sleep in before Her Night began…

And this one usually did it. Starswirl could be so utterly pedantic, verbose, and dull at the best of times in his writing; though he had been the exact opposite in person. Two minutes of his Magic:anAnalysis, regarded by her as his most tiresome work, and her eyelids would start to drag. Three minutes more, and she would be out.

Tibbey was already fast asleep, hanging from his perch. She envied his ability to nod off at a drop of a hat.

She flopped the book onto the bed. It fell open easily. It didn’t matter what chapter and paragraph it opened to, they all had…

Intriguing. The book had fell open at the part about ley lines.

Ley lines…the magic resonance lines that crisscrossed Equestria under the surface of the planet. The odd pony, ‘John Smith’, also known as “The Doctor”, had done some research into them as well trying to figure out Magic. Whether far apart, or concentrated like they were around Ponyville, Canterlot Castle, or the Castle of the Two Sisters in Everfree, ley lines could be found for the most part everywhere. Most were simply lines. On occasion, when a line terminated or crossed with another, they formed a resonant node. Some were small, barely bigger than the lines themselves. Under Canterlot Castle, the four line node was simply massive. And it was surrounded by equally as impressive crystal of all kinds, though only some was of the same gem quality as that found in Splendid Valley. Starswirl himself pointed it out, taking four paragraphs to get to that point, as usual.

Crystal of all kinds…especially those expressed as gems and gemstones.

She thought back. Crystal had been part of Magic since the beginning, she recalled. King Sombra had become obsessed with crystals and their magical properties, enslaving Crystal Ponies to feed it. Right up to the point Celestia and Luna had to deal with him…permanently.

The pendants of the Sirens, the rubies they wore, for example. They resonated with the voices of the Sirens, allowing the creatures to manipulate ponies with the music, and feed off the energy they created through negative emotions.

The Alicorn Amulet boosted Magic tremendously, though at the cost of the Unicorn or Alicorn using it becoming emotionally unstable, as it established resonance with its wearer.

The Elements of Harmony, now once more returned to the Tree of Harmony, were the most powerful example of all. In the possession of just the right ponies, in their resonance, the Magic they produced…

Luna shuddered involuntarily.

In the possession of just the right pony or ponies, they could stop almost anything, she thought. Or anypony.

She sighed again heavily, a lingering pain behind her eyes. Nightmare Moon was gone. And for the most part, forgiven and forgotten. She herself, through the tantibus, had been the one most merciless to herself about it, and so, by association, the Nightmare. Everypony else had given it up, mostly…though the caricature of the Nightmare still danced in front of ponies eyes on Nightmare Night. That was so far from the terror of the reality, even Luna herself now joined in the festivities. She had started to make inroads on the candy offerings, asking for bits instead, which she then donated to foals hospitals and orphanages, old ponies homes, and other such works. The gift cards were growing, which delighted her, and were far less wasteful, though a small sample of sweets continued to be offered along with them, as tradition demanded.

Her thoughts turned back to the resonance. Unicorns and Alicorns tapped the lines for their energy when using Magic. Most did so without knowledge of it; the power used to float a toffee or gumdrop to their mouth was negligible, say, compared to invoking diaphanous wings, firing magic bolts, or moving through time itself. Some of the most powerful of spells barely made large nodes tremble with the energy being drawn through them. The excess energy filtered into the air itself, giving Pegasus wings an edge to bite.

Magical devices operated the same way. Twilight’s revision of the Magic Mirror rumbled the node between two to three, and that was while fully powering a magical portal. In ‘normal’ mode without Celestia’s Book and the Machine energizing it, the Mirror could only manage a connection for a sparse three days every thirty moons, and barely trembled a node at one to one and a half; slowly storing energy for the next activation, it couldn’t be felt at all.

But the one today. The node hadn’t trembled. It had vibrated with resonance, a drawing so deep, it had literally hummed from the power transfer. Nor was the shift clumsy. The node had been entirely in harmony with the tap, almost, well, ‘happy’ that it was being used that way!

Something that could make a node ‘happy’ while shunting power at the fifth level? Extrordinary!

Luna didn’t understand it. Both she and Celestia had lived upon this planet a long time. And from her own experience, as well as Celestia’s reaction, neither of them had felt anything like this before. The strange feeling persisted in their skeletal structures. A strange, pleasant feeling…

She got up, turned toward the window of her apartment, pulled the heavy dark curtain aside for a moment with a hoof, and gazed out in the direction of Ponyville. Tibbey barely moved as the room brightened for a moment. The bright, broad lawn obstructed her direct sight line from her room to the town, but she knew where Twilight’s Castle was.

What was the Princess of Friendship involved in now? She wondered quietly. She hadn’t been joking about how every esoteric type of Magic seemed to seek out the Mane Six for whatever reason. This felt like another example of more of the same.

Princess Luna, the Princess of Kind Dreams, wasn’t exactly disconcerted by the prospects of Twilight Sparkle and the Elements of Friendship being involved in powerful Magic. Being chosen by the Elements gave a very good indication as to their true hearts. She owed her own salvation to them; not just once, but twice. But she was a Defender of Equestria herself, now, and as part of that oath between all of them; Celestia, Discord, the Elements of Friendship, Princess Cadance, Doctor Whooves and Derpy…she had a duty to at least make an inquiry. If Twilight and the others were too close to the situation, and things seemed to be a bit awry, she could then involve Cadance as the group’s Auror and discover the truth through her.

She nodded as she decided, letting the curtain slide back into position. Sleep, and the boss battle could wait.

Her horn’s aura glowed blue as she brought her saddlebag from her bedroom. She smiled as it alighted gently on the couch.

Now, for a few more items...

Light in the Dark

Twilight and the others arrived back at Twilight’s Castle after the tour. Sunset Shimmer found the outside of the Castle was a bit smaller than she thought, though from Carousel Boutique it had looked much larger. The homey abodes of ponies around it had added to the imposing look of the structure. Just inside the front doors, they were met by Spike.

“Hey everypony!” he called cheerfully.

There were several cheerful responses back from everypony. Even Sunset managed a quiet “Hello,” herself. Spike brightened even more at that.

As they wended up the stair, Sunset noticed that there were very few Royal Guards on duty here. For being an Alicorn Princess, Sunset found that unsettling.

She closed up on Twilight’s left side. “Hey, Twilight?”

Twilight looked at her. “Yeah?”

“Um…don’t you think you need some more Guards here? That Mirror is pretty important, isn't it?”

“I’ve never needed them before…”

“You’ve got a Library too, right?” she pressed.

“A pretty big one, actually. Just a bit bigger than the one I used to live in; the Golden Oak Library in Ponyville,” Twilight said unwillingly.

“Oh.” Sunset immediately understood why Twilight was upset, and now why the Castle wasn’t ‘home’…

“The ruined tree in Ponyville,” she said quietly. She seen it herself, wanted to ask about it, but everypony became very subdued as they went past.

Tears swam in Twilight’s eyes, stunning Sunset as she looked at her.

“Twilight…please…tell me about it. You’ve never talked about it to me. Let me help,” Sunset said, concerned.

Twilight drew in a shaky, sobbing breath. “Tirek,” she managed to croak out.

“THE Tirek? The beyond evil, thrice-damned to Tartarus Tirek? That one?” Sunset Shimmer exclaimed, aghast. The others nodded in sympathy.

“Yes…” Twilight said quietly. She drew in another, less shaky breath, steeled herself.

Then, she told the entire story to Sunset. Tirek escaping Tartarus, and then consuming all the Magic he could find. The transfer of all the Alicorn Magic to her, to hide it from him; and then what happened with Discord.

Sunset stopped her for a minute. “THE Discord? The Embodiment of Chaos?” she asked, stunned.

“Yeah. We fought him, too, using the Elements of Harmony. We believed we helped him understand Friendship as well. He was an ally, well, sorta, before Tirek compromised him too. Fed his ego, got him to play along, used him against us, and then turned on him himself.”

“Incredible,” Sunset said, wide-eyed. “My apologies for interrupting. Please, continue…” she said.

Twilight, smiling wanly, told the rest of the story. How they had returned the Elements to the Tree of Harmony, and didn’t have them to use against Tirek. The destruction of Golden Oak. The Battle she had against Tirek. How Tirek and Twilight fought each other to a standstill, until he threatened her friends. ALL of them. How Tirek took all of the Magic from her, too. The Keys and The Box. The final Key. How the activation of the Box Invoked the ‘Rainbow Power’ in them, and how the Six used it to stop him. And finally, how the Box became the ‘seed’ to evoke her Castle.

Sunset quietly absorbed all the rest of it. There was no use in thinking that it was all completely inconceivable, like her human perceptions wanted to believe. She was walking in that very same Castle at this moment.

“So…you miss your old place.” Well, she had a little of that herself, now that she was here.

“Golden Oak was my home from almost the minute I came to Ponyville. All the memories…”

“I wish I could help.”

“I know.” She sighed, put on a brave smile. “Thanks for listening, at least.”

They came to a large room. Seven chairs, almost, well, not almost, they were thrones, sat around a large, circular table. Sunset had glanced around on the way up; there wasn’t any other apparent ‘Throne Room’ she had seen. This (these) was (were) the seat(s) of power. Six equal seats; and a smaller one near Twilight’s.

Sunset walked around, looking at them. The Six all stood politely near their own seat, not willing to sit while a guest had to stand. Even a place for the dragon; right there at Twilight Sparkle’s right hand, er, hoof.

I underestimated these ponies, she thought. They were heroines on an almost unimagined scale. Her girls were strong, determined young women. But these ponies…

Were just like their counterparts. She had seen the truth in Rarity’s eyes earlier today. They all had the same strengths, the same hearts. And she was a part of them there in the other world. As she considered that, Spike started to walk toward his seat.

Sunset turned to Twilight. “Twi, could Spike take me on a short tour? I’d like to see some more,” she asked quietly.

Twilight started to say they’d all be happy to docent her around the Castle, when she stopped, looking at Sunset. Sunset had a self-conscious, embarrassed look, like she was having to get something out…and wanted to do it privately with the little dragon.

Twilight smiled. “Sure. Can you take Sunset Shimmer around, Spike?”

He bowed regally. “It would be my pleasure! What would you like to see first, Sunset?”

“Hey, Spike…you go ahead and choose. This is your home, too.” she said, with a grateful look toward Twilight.

She watched them go, Spike chatting animatedly about the Crystal Tree Castle…

Once out of earshot, she turned to the others.

“She’s staying here, right?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Yep.” Then she thought about it for a minute.

Her eyes widened. “I have an idea…”

Twilight suddenly grinned from ear to ear. “Okay, girls. Let’s start something of a tradition with her. Everypony stays here tonight. Rarity, Applejack, you’re my assistants on this one. You’ve done one before. And I got to do one there, and have a better idea how it works. There’s some add-ons we have to append to the ‘Slumber101,AllYouEverWantedtoKnowAboutSlumberPartiesButWereAfraidtoAsk’ book we’ll have to make. Can anyone here put together a pizza?”

Pinkie Pie’s hoof shot upward. “It needs whipped cream, right?” she interjected.

Spike was in the middle of the Library, pointing out certain books when Sunset gently stopped him, laying a hoof on a shoulder.

“Huh?” he asked, confused.

“Spike…I’m sorry I screamed at you earlier. I know you’re not like that. I’m…well, I was just a little freaked out about being here. I thought it would be easy. Turns out…it’s not.”

She sat down at a table heavily, putting her front hooves on it, and then burying her head between them. “I’m not even facing the worst of it, and I feel so…different. Like I made a mistake.”

Spike walked up to her, looked at the flame-colored mane with concern. “How?” he asked.

“It’s been almost three years…thirty moons, Spike, since I left here the first time. Things were way different then. I thought I knew it all. I came back to steal Twilight’s Crown, and then I was going to come back here after I enslaved enough people, prove to everypony I was right. I didn’t care how I did it. If I had to crush and enslave everyone along the way, than that was just fine with me.”

“But you didn’t,” Spike said, watching her as he sat down in a nearby chair.

“But I wanted to, Spike…”

“But you didn’t, Sunset. I was there, remember? Yeah, okay, the first time, it was weird, sure; they had to stop you, but you didn’t know anything better, right? But this last time with the Sirens?”

He put a claw gently on her back. “You did something totally brave! I’m a ferocious, fire-breathing dragon,” he said, then gave her a pained look, “…mostly, and they scared me! But you weren’t scared a bit.”

“No…I was terrified, Spike. The lucky thing was I wasn’t going to let that happen again. I hadn’t considered one second past that point. I jumped in here, arrogantly thinking I might make everything all right again. Then I find out who Twilight really is around here, her and her friends. Stopping me? Ending the threat of three Sirens? It’s like going to the store and buying peanut butter to her. ‘I suppose smooth rather than the crunchy today. Tirek is acting up,’” she said dismissively, almost sounding bored.

Spike looked at her critically.” Hey, it isn’t easy for me, either. I make mistakes all the time, around mares that hardly make any mistakes at all. The important thing is, they’re always around to help. I did a big thing awhile back. I helped save the Crystal Empire…”

“Where the Mirror used to be. The one that Sombra had...” Sunset interrupted.

“Yep. That one. They treat me like a hero up there, Sunset. Little me. Then I let it get to me. I thought I was way more important than everypony else. I started to mess up. I blew it on lighting the torch for the Equestria Games, then made it worse by insisting on singing the Cloudsdale Anthem without knowing the words.”

Sunset smiled slightly. “That was awkward, I’ll bet.”

“It was terrible! There must have been thirty thousand ponies watching me screw up. I wanted to dig a hole and bury myself. I spent most of the Games in Twilight’s room, I was so embarrassed. She finally made me come out on the last event.”

“Did you feel better?”

“Not until afterward. There was an accident. I ended up saving a lot of ponies from getting hurt.”

“You, too?” she chuckled ruefully, shaking her head.

“Like I said…sometimes. It’s not about how big the things are…it’s about how big your heart is, even when it’s the small things. Right?”

Sunset nodded, leaned back in the chair, stretched. “Spike, maybe nopony has told you this…but you’re a pretty smart guy.”

“Yeah. It’s hanging around Twilight. You have to work hard to keep up with her.” He hopped off the chair. "Now, about your problem.”

“I think you helped me understand it better. I’m still scared. But not scared enough to give up; not anymore.”

“You ready to see the rest of it? The castle, I mean?”

“Lead on, Number One Assistant.” She said, smiling.

They were all busy on the planning, when a quiet flapping of wings sounded from the balcony. Twilight looked up.

“Princess Luna! Am I ever so glad to see you! Come in!” Twilight called, as Princess Luna landed on the broad balcony underneath the huge flag.

The Princess of Benevolent Night walked in, as the others bowed. She curled a lip in mock aversion. “Twilight Sparkle, haven’t I told you to pass on to the rest of the Six not to do that when we are in private? They’ve saved all of Equestria, what, several times at least, not to mention Canterlot at least an equal number of occurrences? Equals being what they are, they shouldn’t have need of such deference…”

Twilight hugged her. “Oh, I have, Luny. But they won’t listen, at least for when you arrive, and when you leave. They feel such is a rightful honor that should be given you and Princess Celestia. I tend to agree,” Twilight shot back delightedly. The two of them had developed a deep friendship over the last few years after Luna’s return and Luna’s first Nightmare Night, and had been gently teasing each other for some time now.

Luna sighed deeply. “It figures you’d be the ringleader in such a plot. Very well, then, I accept this in the spirit in which it is given. But only because the paperwork for disobeying one of the Diarchy is both tedious, and glacially slow to adjudicate, especially with Celestia handling the prosecution. And then I’d have to explain to Cadance why you’re all sitting in Our dungeons, followed by the incarceration of one Shining Armor after he charged in for a rescue. Since Cadance has absolutely no humor about such things, we’d be at war by the end of the week,” she finished, tacking on an ironic smile.

“Nice to know where we stand, Luny. Thanks loads,” Twilight said smarmily with a chuckle.

“You are quite welcome, ‘Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Instigation,’” Luna shot back snarkily with a smile.

“Ouch. How’s Princess Celestia?” Twilight bantered back.

“A little miffed that you haven’t had her over to your Castle for tea yet, Twi. You know how Cely gets when she’s intensely curious about things. She wants a tour of here really bad,” Luna said delightedly.

“She could just come over, Luny. We’ve known each other long enough. Just have her send a scroll to me when she gets time.”

“Time is a luxury she hasn’t had much of, Twi, but I’ll pass on the message. Even though I’ve been back for some time, her workload has seemed to increase. Mustangia, Britannia, Maretania, Saddle Arabia, Crystal Empire, Trade Judge, Raising Ceremonies, Wonderbolt demonstrations, the Gala…busy, busy, busy. Even more now, especially after you got the Canterlot node all fired up earlier.”

Twilight turned serious instantly. “The Canterlot node? When did that happen?”

“Seriously, Twi? One of your little experiments got a little frisky out in the pasture, didn’t it? The node picked up the ley line harmonics, sang right up my and Cely’s spine. I blew a Boss Battle and two and a half hours of gaming time because of it, by the way,” Luna commented grumpily.

“Anypony else affected?” Twilight asked, concerned.

"It’s a fourth or fifth level harmonic, Twi, way down deep there where the Old Magic is. It probably sent shivers up every Unicorn’s back. Few Unicorns barely scrape two for the most difficult studies, and all of the rest do just fine on the top level. Cadance has worked down past three in her Auror studies, and Cely and I can feel subtle changes down past five. You’re a precocious thing, Twi, but even with your abilities, I hardly notice your dips down to four. This one sang the node deep. I still feel the resonance along my bones; I’d call it an easy five, or more. What have you been playing around with now? It may be dangerous,” Luna said candidly.

“I have a guest. Sunset Shimmer is here from the other world, and she did something unexpected. She was singing a song, and it somehow awakened the Rainbow Power we used to defeat Tirek. There’s another side effect. I think we can summon it up at will now.”

“Princess Twilight Sparkle, you will not summon this power up again until you and the rest of the Six are in the Specialized Incantation Isolation Room at Canterlot, where the effect can be assessed,” Princess Luna said, scowling, fully into her Diarchal role. “You and the others are tapping into tremendous power here, and I do not want Equestria descending into an inadvertent terror filled nightmare because Rainbow Dash thinks it’s ‘cool’, ‘aight’, or whatever her current catchphrase is this week.”

Luna hadn’t even raised her voice, but Twilight caught the full meaning of her words. Wide-eyed and wordlessly, she quickly nodded assent.

“Now, about the aforementioned Rainbow Dash…is she going to listen to you, or should I have a little talk with her as well?” she asked, head slightly canted, staring deeply into Twilight’s eyes. Despite their friendship, Twilight found herself chanting in her mind that Luna’s pupils in her eyes stay round, rather than that horrifying vertical that came out when the Nightmare took control.

Twilight opened her mouth, and a tiny, terrified “*eep*” snuck out. Luna backed off a bit, turned the glacial stare upon Rainbow Dash, as Fluttershy dived behind her usual cover, Applejack. Even Rarity and Pinkie Pie took a slight step back.

Dash scowled mightily, but kept her mouth shut tight. She had challenged Princess Celestia directly herself once, the first time Twilight went through the Mirror, but she knew Luna was far less lenient if she felt she was required to be. And Luna’s face said leniency wasn’t even a fleeting thought at this point.

“I shall take that as assent, then.” She softened slightly, nodded to Rainbow Dash, and put a gentle hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “Twi, I am sure that this is only a positive thing. Your defeat of Tirek with the Six employing such a power supports that. A power supplied by the Tree of Harmony, whose roots go deep enough to summon it. But I will not risk one hair on your or the Six’s manes on a guess, nor all of Equestria. We shall first learn what it is we are dealing with, and then train to use it wisely. We have spoken.”

Twilight snuck in an admiring glance as the Princess of Night turned away for the moment. She has been back only what, four years?

That mare learns fast…

“In the meantime,” Luna said, as she turned back, a rolled map from her saddlebag in her dark blue aura, “…I need a sufficiently large table to open and spread this out. Celestia is unavoidably diverted by those Affairs of State at the moment, and I wish to begin at least a preliminary investigation into this phenomenon.”

“Well, the map isn’t on the table right now. Would that work?” she asked.

“Eminently so, Twilight. Let’s be about it, then.”

Twilight started snatching up a few books, placing them on one side of the table, as Luna’s aura unrolled it. Twilight set the books on the corners to keep it flat.

Twilight stared at it. “This is a ley line diagram map of the Equestrian continent, Luna.”

Luna nodded, as the others closed in. “I find it easier to refer to a representation when considering such things, rather than mentally trying to track everything, Twilight. Also,” she continued, spilling a small bag of dark blue sparkly pebbles to one side with her aura, “…adding markers and such helps even more. And yes, Pinky, you can have one after we finish, so don’t play with them for now,” she said, capturing a pink hoof in her aura.

“Awww,” Pinky Pie said, disappointed. “They’re really pretty.”

Ignoring Pinky for now, Twilight gestured at the diagram. “Canterlot sits on a four ley line node; in fact, I think it’s the only four-line node in existence. Plus, there are vast crystal caves underneath, which potentiate the effects. One of the reasons the School of Magic is located in Canterlot. My castle sits on three, as does the Castle of the Two Sisters in the Everfree Forest. The Tree of the Elements feeds energy into, and takes energy from, that nearby node. Crystal Citadel in the Crystal Empire is on two, but it also had some artificial crystal enhancements Sombra was trying to accomplish when he was overthrown,” she stated authoritatively.

Luna studied the diagram under lowered eyebrows, and then pointed a hoof. “Also, note the ley lines are closer together here than anywhere else in Equestria. Unicorns, Pegasi, and Earth ponies throughout the world can manipulate Magic no matter where they are, but the most powerful intensities of natural energy Magic are within these boundaries. Splendid Valley lies within them, for example; the most concentrated spot for gemstones on Equestria. Canterlot’s unique construction over the four-line node, though the table plateau on the other side of Twin Peaks would much more easily site a large castle. Two Sisters in Everfree, over the Tree of Harmony and that node. Your Castle here in Ponyville, chosen by the Box. The next best is Crystal Citadel in the Crystal Empire, with its Crystal Gates at the cardinal points not just marking the start of the Empire, but tapping and feeding it energy.”

Luna then gestured, placing markers on the various nodes mentioned. “It may be a two-line node, but Sombra enhanced it well. If Cadance and Shining add a few retransmission crystals at the resonance limits, one pony could theoretically cast protection throughout the Empire with little difficulty if they sat at the intersect.” She pointed with her hoof again. “The Citadel, right there where the Heart spins. That was what Sombra was trying to create with the Dark Crystals when Celestia and I stopped him.” Luna stared at the map pensively. “Yet nothing here indicates exactly how or in what way Sunset set the node alight. Twi, is there a collection of…”

Spike returned with Sunset Shimmer right at that moment.

Sunset Shimmer froze in place from fright, as her eyes widened in recognition. She started to tremble violently.

“What’s wrong?” Twilight asked, as Sunset Shimmer threw herself prone on the floor.

“It’s her! It’s The Mare in the Moon!” Sunset said as the trembling increased. “N-n-nightmare Moon!!”

Princess Luna’s eyes turned down at the mention of the Nightmare once more…it still wounds, she thought sadly, even when I know it’s coming and I brace myself for it...

Twilight walked over to Sunset Shimmer. “Sunset,” Twi said gently, pulling her hooves away from her eyes, then lifting the mare’s chin up. “This is Princess Luna. There is no Nightmare Moon anymore. This is Princess Celestia’s Sister, The Benevolent Guide of Kind Dreams. Please, come say hello…”

“B-b-but…” Sunset Shimmer babbled, badly frightened.

Princess Twilight Sparkle looked kindly, but intensely into Sunset’s turquoise eyes. “Hey…I’m your friend. Saving is what I do, Sunset. Her, and then, you.” She smiled gently, bravely. “Trust me.”

Sunset swallowed, worked to calm the shaking. The trembling decreased markedly, but was still noticeable at times. She lifted her head up, took a tentative step, then a firmer, more certain one.

Princess Luna smiled. That Twilight Sparkle. Amazing how she could get ponies to walk right in to face ruin, despair, perhaps even death itself, despite everything inside them telling them to run away, she thought. She sat down, took a deep breath, centering herself, and making sure to modulate her voice carefully. No Royal Canterlot Voice here…

Sunset Shimmer reached an appropriate distance, and then bowed deeply, though a ghost of the trembling earlier manifested itself briefly. “Y-your Majesty,” she managed to choke out, before her voice failed totally.

“Student Sunset Shimmer. We are pleased to meet you at this boon favor opportunity. Princess Twilight Sparkle has spoken with great favor of your brave, resolute heart while facing The Sirens. I am glad to meet with such a pony.” She offered Sunset her hoof.

Stunned, Sunset Shimmer took it. Princess Luna beamed.

“Okay…can we drop a little of the formality now? Friends don’t have to be so stiff, don’t you agree?” Luna said to the flame-tinted pony.

“Um…”

Fluttershy nodded. “I feel exactly the same way.”

Luna spared Fluttershy a slight reproachful glance, and then continued. “Sunset Shimmer, I have a mystery to solve…would you and your friends return with me to Canterlot? We wish to ascertain how this powerful Magic was done. Are you up to such a visit?”

Sunset took a deep breath. “Majesty, although my purposes here were to vacation, and to eventually meet with Princess Celestia over my abrupt leave taking from the Magic School, I am unsure how your sister might feel about such an immediate visit. But, I am always willing to help friends.”

“Then for the time being, I shall respect such a generous offer to assist without adding to your discomfiture. The next train to Canterlot Castle is within the hour. Shall we take it?”

Sunset nodded, not trusting her voice.

“Excellent! To the train station!” Luna cried, snatching up her map and rolling it easily with her aura; then putting the markers away except for eight, which she gave one at a time to each pony, then Spike. Pinkie beamed at hers, rolling it around in her hoof like Maud did with Boulder.

Luna then trotted off, heading for the stairs.

Twilight nudged her slightly. “I know this is rather abrupt, Sunset, but we’ll all be there for you." she said as the Six turned to follow.

Sunset started down with the others, but all she thought was, It’s too soon. It’s too soon.

Twilight got a glimpse of the Diarchy’s influence when they got to the train station. Luna received tickets for all of them from the ticket agent, and hadn’t appeared to pay for them. When she mentioned it, Luna chuckled.

“Twi, Canterlot has supported the train for years. We have negotiated on the railway’s behalf for right of way, goods cartage, passenger service, all sorts of assistance. Rail has proven to be very good for the economy. Appleoosa couldn’t be what it is without the train. Crystal Empire as well. It’s not the most pleasant thing for dignitaries to take a chariot from Manehattan to Canterlot. So, we get a little leeway, and settle up at the end of the moon cycle.”

”Hmm. Okay.”

They all picked a car together to sit in. Pinkie picked a seat by Applejack, who was without her Fluttershy shadow currently. Flutts was sitting by Rarity.

Pinkie looked at the object on her hoof, fascinated by the pebble Luna gave her.

Applejack nudged her. “What’s the deal about the rock, sugarcube?”

Pinkie held it up into the light, eyed it critically. “I’m not sure. I wish Maudie was here. I think this is lazurite; a feldspathoid silicate mineral. I'm pretty sure this is…"

“Lapis Lazuli,” Luna said, smiling gently. “I know it is customary to associate me with Moonstone, a sodium potassium aluminum silicate, with the two feldspar species, orthoclase and albite, separated into stacked, alternating layers. As light falls between the thin, flat layers, it scatters in many directions, producing the phenomenon called adularescence. I like it, but Lapis is my favorite, because it shimmers very much like my mane does...”

Never too big on geology, Sunset excused herself from the next bench over from Fluttershy, went to the lavatory at the front of the car.

Twilight settled back, watching Sunset go. “In the meantime…”

“Oh, I know that face well, Twilight Sparkle, not to mention hearing the wheels inside your head turning. What are you thinking about?” Luna aked slyly.

“Trips by train get boring. Want to play a game?”

Luna looked at her disdainfully. “Hmmm…well, if you’re giving it away, I’ll take the action on it. I am not so naïve to fail to recognize I’m being maneuvered, Princess Twilight. But it is a decent trip, and I’m not one to be a stick in the mud. What is your proposal?”

She leaned over, whispered into Luna’s ear.

“Oho! So sure, are you?”

Twilight nodded, smiling. “And I’ll cover the bet if I’m wrong. Within five minutes, I’d say.”

“Huzzah! I have always admired your Starswirl the Bearded costume for my Nightmare Night! Rarity, would you be available for alterations?”

“But of course, Princess! Bring it by, and I’ll see what magic I can work for you,” the fashionista mare said with certainty, though her puzzlement was at least as profound as the others.

“Don’t count your bells before they’re sewn on, Luny,” Twilight said confidently. “You still have to win, first.”

As Sunset came back, Twilight beckoned her with a hoof. Sunset reluctantly took the nearby bench.

Luna turned to the tangerine pony. “Twilight tells me you play music in a band?”

“Um…yes. The Rainbow Dash of my world started one. We call ourselves the Rainbooms.”

“Ah. I have read over Celestia’s shoulder the scrolls Twilight sent my Sister. But I am confused. What is an ‘Electric Guitar’?”

“Oh. Well, it’s sort of this…instrument. It has six strings, a long neck with frets so you can use your fingers…”

Luna held up a hoof. “I would like to ask about those, as well. Twilight tells me that…” she began, as she described the appendages. Sunset nodded at places in agreement.

“And so, you use the ‘hands’ on this instrument you sling about your body. Which is plugged into an electrical thing called an ‘amplifier’. And push on various strings on the frets of the neck to make this music with it as you stroke your hoof, er, hand over them with a piece of plastic, using controls and a ‘whammy bar?’ to influence the sounds?”

Sunset nodded again, realizing how preposterous the whole thing was sounding. But Luna was watching the clock carefully on the front of the car. She ran out four minutes easily over guitar playing.

Twilight hadn’t moved; the small smile on her face remained as she calmly watched Luna maneuver the conversation. Luna may be good, and she certainly had the upper hoof here, but…

“…and that’s how it all works, Princess Luna.” Sunset Shimmer finished at last.

Luna gave the clock a final glance. Thirty seconds. HA! “I thank you, Sunset. That helped tremendously.”

Sunset smiled shyly, grateful that Princess Luna’s interest was satisfied. It took a LOT to explain…

“See? I told you Luna was very nice,” Twilight said, as she slammed the ball into the basket. Rainbow Dash ain’t the only one that can play on this field, she thought smugly.

Sunset’s eyes went wide as she smiled. “She really isn’t a terrifying, evil pony bent on dominating the world, is she, Twilight? No offense, Princess,” she said perfunctorily, before she caught herself, eyes widening even more, clopping a hoof over her mouth.

I can’t BELIEVE I just said that, she thought to herself awkwardly.

“None taken, Sunset Shimmer,” Princess Luna replied, bright merriment in her eyes. “Twilight, I believe I owe you some Mountain Moonlight soda, three of the case size, if I recall correctly. She said exactly what you thought she would say. Bravo, well done!”

“And I get to keep my costume, don’t forget,” Twilight added firmly.

Luna sighed. “Very well. You have taken the field today.” She made an exaggerated pouty face as she looked out the window, before starting to giggle. Twilight joined in.

Sunset looked at the both of them, nonplussed. “Was I the subject of a BET just now?’ she said, indignity rising.

“A sure thing, Sunset,” Twilight said smugly. “Friendship makes it easy. And I’m splitting the soda among us. Slumber party, right? Need something to go with pizza, if I can figure out how to make it.”

Sunset decided to go with it. “Okay, fine. No more jokes, and I’ll show you how to do pizza with baguettes.”

The three of them huddled together to start an ingredient list…

“Normally, I would give Princess Cadance a call for Magic work such as this, given her training now as an Auror,” Luna said as they walked toward the Canterlot Castle from the train station in Canterlot. “But I received a scroll from Shining Armor last week that Cadance was limiting her travel as of late. Do you know the reason, Twilight?”

“I have no idea. I knew Cadance has been busy recently, but not what she was involved in. I thought that the Empire had finally found and purged all the dark crystal in their lands earlier this year, except for limited samples being tested and experimented on. Maybe she’s busy with that.”

“Perhaps. In any case, she is unavailable to help. But your own abilities are formidable, Twilight; and mine are not insignificant, either. Between the two of us, and with Sunset Shimmer assisting, we should be able to muddle through effectively. Should we find a dead end, we can consult with My Sister…”

Sunset Shimmer managed to suppress a flinch at the mention of Celestia. Luna saw it, covered quickly. “…or one of the teachers from either the Magic School or our own local Aurors,” she finished rapidly. Luna was sympathetic to the young mare’s discomfort over Celestia. She herself had felt like that, especially that first year after her return. “Canterlot has many such resources we can use,” she added.

They walked a short distance, and then turned down a new path on the left just after the drawbridge. Twilight was the only pony that knew of it, having been a consultant along with Princesses Celestia, Luna, and Cadance during its design, and then the groundbreaking. The Five were curious, not remembering seeing this before during their Gala visit, but followed curiously.

“So, it’s finished?” Twilight asked, excitement creeping into her voice.

“Two months ago. We had a Unicorn builder specializing in such things help accelerate the concrete curing process. He brought in a friend, an Earther that had a talent in laying tile.” Luna said candidly. “The old one wasn’t a third the size of this one.”

They came to a very large grass-covered mound, with a pair of heavy metal doors. “It looks larger than I remember,” Twilight said calmly.

“We did tweak the plans a bit. Cadance ciphered out we could make it a bit larger without compromising the purpose, and Celestia pushed her ‘emergency release’ fail-safe, though that will probably never be used. But your ideas on the construction and composition of the liner were perfect.”

Luna’s horn lit up, and the heavy doors opened inward, then split in the center as they slid apart. “The ‘pressure door’ construction was fiendishly difficult, but I was amazed as to just how effective it is to keep them closed and unable to be opened with just a slight increase of air pressure inside the vault,” she said as the doors silently came to a stop.

They all walked into the murky space, their hooves clip-clopping in the darkness. Although the room left an impression of great space, the sounds of their feet were muted, as if the place was reluctant to give up its secrets. Even Rarity's and Twilight's lit horns seemed subdued.

Luna flicked a button on with her magic. Though there were few illumination sources in the roof, the room suddenly shone brightly. Glossy white tile, each embossed deeply with sigils, bounced and reflected the light throughout the room. But the tiles weren’t really entirely white. Prismatic colors glittered just under the surface, like fine opal. Colors that shifted as the light did. At certain angles, striped hints of rainbows gleamed.

Twilight blinked. Her friends, including Sunset Shimmer, squinted and grimaced in the gleaming light. Luna had shaded her eyes with a foreleg just before activating the lights, having eyes extremely sensitive to fast changes in brightness, and being well aware of the dazzling effect of the lighting in the room. She removed it as her eyes adapted.

Twilight grinned a wide grin. “Oh, wow!” She looked down, her face quite close to the tiling next to the narrow paths that crossed the floor. “Are those the new ones? They’re prettier than I thought they would be!” She lifted her head and looked at Luna. “Are they all to specification?”

“Yes, though the first two test batches had high failure rates; upwards of thirty percent.” She rubbed a hoof across the tile line nearest to her. “The hardest thing done for this room, and the most expensive, was creating the process to properly infuse the glazing with microscopic crystal. The mining hardly even removed any amount of note of the free crystal beneath Canterlot.”

“Do they work?”

“Even better than you projected, Twilight. We were amazed as to how reflective they are to Magic,” Luna said. There was also new investigations and testing of the process for other things where the refraction to Magical influence would be useful.

She then pointed at the narrow walkways. “The external ley line node taps are incorporated into waveguides built into the walkways. Grids are placed over the openings to protect ponies from stepping into them. There’s only a five percent decrease of available energy between normal environment levels and here.”

She smiled. “I had thought Celestia’s old Specialized Incantation Isolation Room was sophisticated, Twilight, but this new one...the size alone is astonishing. Protective sigils enhanced with Magic Crystal stratified into the ceramic glaze? Sheer brilliance, Princess Twilight.” She bowed slightly. “The waveguides; they allow energy to be channeled into the room normally, but can be shut off and isolated like the walls. Your door idea; to just add a few pounds of air pressure in here results in tons of additional resistance to opening the doors, and a Unicorn can augment that by shielding the outer door surface. A mere trifle in energy to do that, but many multiples of resistance to something…bad…trying to get out.”

She turned to the others. “Friends, this is the Specialized Incantation Isolation Room ; a place where Magic can be tested while protecting others from negative events. We are here to learn what we can from your new ability.”

“What should we do first?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“The best is to start at the beginning, Rainbow Dash,” Princess Luna said kindly. She slid the doors closed, but didn't activate the security seals. She was very mindful as to where the lever was, though...her aura was latched to it.

“I have an idea. Fluttershy, dear…” said Rarity.

The expression filled eyes widened even more. “B-but...I can't use magic...”

“Nothing terrifying, my dear…just five notes. Those lovely five notes you hum all the time, nothing more.” Rarity’s pitch pipe appeared from somewhere, as Rarity blew the note. A clear F sounded in the room.

Fluttershy decided. She answered with the F, then a higher A, another F, an E, and again the F…

The walls rippled with light, glowing briefly as the last note died…

Fluttershy paced out a D, an E, another D, a lower C, and then a lower A…and the walls rippled and glowed again…

“Again, Fluttershy,” Rarity exhorted gently.

Fluttershy ran the first five notes again, as the ripple came back…

Then the Five came in on the second five notes…and the walls blazed in light!

The notes died as the Mane Six stared at each other in awe. Twilight reacted first.

“Do it again, Fluttershy,” she said warmly.

Fluttershy led them again, her first five, then the rest joining in again as before…as Sunset Shimmer, unable to resist, fell in with them; singing Fluttershy’s little ditty, something about Ponies and Friendship. Flutts didn't stop this time. She continued the lovely little song...

“Astounding,” Luna said in awe, as the Six and Sunset Shimmer changed in front of her. The transformation was certainly colorful, reflecting grandly off the glossy white glazing and embossed sigils applied to the wall tiles in the hemispherical dome, but the more fascinating thing was the power concentrated in the Specialized Incantation Isolation Room.

Each of the ponies was enclosed within a bubble of energy, as streams orbited around them. There was no obvious feed of power into the bubbles, but Luna was extremely aware of the ley lines nearby resonating with the energy contained within the room…and resonating within her. Luna couldn’t help herself. The energy...no, that wasn't quite it...the love in the room was…overwhelming.

She joined the others…felt herself rising from the floor, as the energy wrapped her in pure joy.

She also changed. Fetlocks of the darkest night, lit by glowing stars. A silvery streak appeared in her mane and tail, as the colors deepened. The unrestrained resonation in her very body…

Resonation Celestia would also be feeling dancing along her skeleton as well, she suddenly realized…

“Starswirl’s Beard,” she breathed. Celestia would be…

The doors glowed sun-yellow for a moment before they burst open; and The Light of the Sun entered at a gallop. And ‘Benevolent’ was definitely to be omitted from the referent title. The song died almost immediately.

All Luna saw was concern, distress…and anger. A lot of anger.

Luna hung her head. I will end up swimming in guilt forever if we all are banished into the Moon, she thought sadly, sinking to the floor first.

Princess Celestia stood in front of Luna, as the other ponies slowly lowered to the floor and the bubbles dissipated behind Luna. She glared at her younger Sister heatedly.

“WELL?” she said loudly, the piercing stare flaying Luna’s soul bare. It wasn’t quite The Royal Canterlot Voice…but it was close enough.

“Umm…Cely. I have been investigating that…thing. And it seems…”

Princess Celestia turned to the other ponies. “Dash, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie, Fluttershy…wait outside. Now.”

A bare flicker of rebellion crossed Rainbow Dash’s face, as well as concern on Rarity’s, but Celestia’s face told it all. Not even the slightest resistance or argument would be indulged.

They walked out, heads low. Their hearts told them to save the explanations for the right time.

“Luna…” Celestia began, after the five left, and Celestia shut the door. “What are you involved in?”

Then she saw the tangerine pony.

Her eyes widened in recognition. “Sunset Shimmer...”

Sunset suddenly wished she stayed home and waited twenty years or so in her world before attempting coming here.

Twilight stepped in. “Princess Celestia…”

Celestia swung narrowed eyes to her. Twilight’s voice died out with a squeak.

“Sister…” Luna started to say.

“Luna… the Specialized Incantation Isolation Room is for isolating dangerous Magic. And as such, the operative word is ‘dangerous’, correct? Care to explain to me how the Six and Princess Twilight ended up here? And why Sunset Shimmer suddenly also appeared here?” she rumbled.

“Celestia,” Luna started weakly, and then her voice firmed up. “Sister…we took adequate precautions. Using this room…”

“Did nothing to buffer the power of this Invocation. Every Unicorn in the Canterlot Canton felt this energy, and more than likely far beyond. Most were upset, and more than a few scared half to death. I ran down here expecting to find some terrible event occurring, and instead, I find my Sister, the Mane Six, and her…”, pointing a hoof at Sunset.

“We took precautions! Why do we even have this structure, except to investigate…?” Luna said, her own anger rising, stamping her right forehoof.

“Princess Celestia…” Twilight interrupted, raising her right foreleg…

Sunset watched glumly as Twilight, Luna, and Celestia continued their heated discussion; Celestia, continuing to jab one front hoof of hers towards Sunset, while Luna made a defiant stamp with hers, and Twilight had one lifted in supplication.

Sunset Shimmer was losing it. They were arguing about her, for hay’s sake! Didn’t she have some say in this, too?

Quietly, once more trying to calm down, she started to softly sing to herself, forgetting for the moment that on Equestria, every pony around her could hear the song.

“Power…was all I desired…but all that grew inside of me, was the darkness I acquired…”

Celestia’s head snapped around…

“When I began to fall…and I lost the path ahead, that’s when your friendship found me, and lifted me instead…”
“Like a phoenix burning bright, in the sky…I’ll show there’s another side of me you can’t deny…”
“I may not know what the future holds, but hear me when I say…that my past does not define me, ‘cause my past is not today…”

Celestia’s eyes widened. Sunset Shimmer was glowing, glowing brightly. And the Alicorns all felt the powerful, vibrant hum of the Canterlot Node, invoked into song.

But the song wasn’t joyous this time. The node felt wistful, bereft…sad…

The Princess of Light in the World had discussed crystal enhancement of Magic with Sombra himself, before having to turn against him with Luna’s help as he enslaved more and more ponies to feed that obsession. She argued Chaos Theory with Discord as well, before his own proclivities led him to remake Equestria as he saw fit, and the Elements of Harmony were used against him.

Then Luna became the Nightmare; the terrifying Beauty of the Night that Sombra had awakened, and led to his defeat. And Celestia had been forced to choose against her own Sister, banishing her into the Moon. Other enemies of remarkable power.

But in all that lifetime, Celestia had never seen this before, as the tangerine pony flared into flame. There was a sudden burst of blinding light as Sunset Shimmer rose upward, her horn wrapped in a long turquoise glow…on wings. Wings of fire. The wings were beautiful, but startling. The beauty was self-evident, but how did a Unicorn create wings like an Alicorn had?

Twilight herself stared at them intently. She could do something like that, with her Rapidash ponysona while she was angry, but she had to be incredibly furious to begin with. However, Sunset wasn’t angry…she was sad, and trying to lift her spirits up with song.

Celestia watched, dumbfounded, as the Unicorn continued to sing. Hints of Sunset’s Rainbow Power coloration started to appear, red tints to her fetlocks and feet, yellow above that, as Sunset’s legs started to have patterns of flame appear in the new coloring. Luna watched the complex patterns in amazement, hypnotized by them. A single streak of turquoise appeared in her mane and tail. As they watched, a lighter streak of yellow joined it.

Sunset was singing of surmounting her pain, transcending it…like a Phoenix from the ashes. Like Philomena did.

In that brief moment, Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship, completely understood Sunset Shimmer. And that she would champion her

“Sunset Shimmer,” Celestia said calmly.

Sunset caught herself with a quiet gasp, then lowered herself to the floor. Once all four feet were firmly on the floor, the colors and wings winked out.

“We will continue this in the Throne Room. Come with me,” Celestia said, softly opening the doors so she didn’t accidentally injure the five ponies listening at the doors intently.

Shine Like Rainbows...

Celestia stared at the group. In her mind she saw the recent past, one involving the tangerine colored Unicorn. How she came to Canterlot Castle to tutor with Princess Celestia, just like Twilight Sparkle had.

Things had started out well enough. Sunset learned quickly; understanding complicated and unusual spells almost as fast as Twilight had. But as time went on, Sunset started to chafe under the pace Celestia was holding her to. She wanted everything, and she wanted it all now. Besides the breathers to let Sunset gain some maturity before she reached toward more and more power, Celestia wanted her to actually get out and enjoy living at times. Balance was important; in Magic, and in Life.

Sunset Shimmer resisted that, passively at first, just sulking in her rooms when Celestia asked her to go out and spend time in the Gardens, for example. Later, she’d disappear into the Libraries, sneak into the exclusive sections…and the books she would find and read. Celestia would have been appalled by them, had she known at the time.

Then, the day Sunset Shimmer was working on teleportation…and struck Princess Celestia firmly on the jaw with a larger than usual field during the spell. Teleport bubbles had a shielding field for protection of the caster, just in case something went amiss, such as the example Celestia used in tutoring. Fillies and colts always paid close attention when she spoke about active lava flows. And teachers usually left enough space between them and the student to avoid such mishaps.

But the one Sunset created was much larger than the usual bungles, which usually tended to be both weaker and smaller than needed, as it clipped her precisely on the chin. Celestia called it a day, after reassuring the Unicorn it was just an accident while Nurse Kindness attended to the bruise. But Celestia saw the sly smile Sunset didn’t fully conceal as she left for her rooms.

Then that terrible day…the day when Sunset Shimmer stood before her and told Celestia she had failed her. Failed her in every way possible. Celestia’s restrictions and constraints were inhibiting her, not protecting her. That she was leaving Canterlot to find her own way in the world. Watched as Sunset Shimmer turned away and cantered off, never once looking back…

Celestia hung her head. She had tried so hard…

That night, she opened the door to watch over Twilight Sparkle as she slept. Sad, but resolute, she promised herself that she wouldn’t make those same mistakes with Twilight.

Then a few months later, while she walked the halls on her usual weekly inspections, a familiar tangerine coat turned a corner in the storage wing. Intrigued, she turned down the hallway herself, walked toward the alcove at the end.

The left hand door was ajar. She pushed it open.

Sunset Shimmer stood before the Magic Mirror. Looking back, she smiled horrifyingly at Celestia.

“Don’t worry, Princess,” Sunset Shimmer said smugly. “I’ll be back one day. But you won’t like it.”

She stepped through…as Celestia’s eyes teared up.

“No…” Celestia said softly, as she watched her go.

No, she thought…

Celestia thought about the things Twilight has written to her about Sunset in the other world. How she started. How she changed. All those things. And the other thoughts. Her worry over Sunset, alone in that strange place, herself, but not herself. How Celestia felt about her. How she wished she could help.

Celestia felt the rawness in her throat as it closed down over the emotions. Just as one beckoned for attention…

There. That one. That one must be said…

“No,” Celestia said, as she looked at the ponies in the room.

“Sunset Shimmer…you may not return to Equestria. You must go back to the other world and live there,” Princess Celestia said, a little more harshly than she probably should have through the thickness of her own set aside feelings. She swallowed against a dry throat.

Sunset Shimmer’s eyes teared up. “Princess…please…”

“No,” said Princess Celestia more firmly.

“B-but Princess Celestia! She’s changed! She’s not that…she’s nothing like the demon…” Twilight started to say, a look of shock on her face.

“I said no,” Celestia again stated flatly, slightly hoarse, her eyes narrowed. What was this?

Sunset stared, tears in her eyes.

“It’s not right! She’s a better person…pony…” Twilight said, her voice faltering.

And for a moment, as she looked at her teacher and mentor, Twilight felt her own anger building, her face twisting with the emotion. Celestia, being so judgmental, so final? She wanted to scream her disappointment at the Princess of Warmth, her defiance against her cold dismissal of the flame colored Unicorn.

Celestia saw the disappointment in Twilight’s eyes, the pain in Sunset’s.

They don’t understand suddenly flashed through her mind. They don’t understand at all what I mean.

Her eyes closed, Celestia gently raised a hoof as she centered herself. Twilight quickly managed to bite down on the unkind retort she was about to say. Only the quiet sobbing of Sunset Shimmer remained.

Celestia walked over, and then sat down in front of the despondent Unicorn. Gently, she lifted her chin, staring into the tear-filled turquoise eyes. She took a deep breath, tried to shed her own whipsawing emotions in regard to her.

Kindness. Friendship. Love.

Magic. The Magic Celestia herself has seen. The Magic that accepted the Unicorn before her. The Magic that Celestia trusted.

“I’m so sorry, my little pony. I’m afraid I didn’t explain myself properly at all,” she smiled gently.

“Student Sunset Shimmer…you are always welcome to visit this land of your birth; to spend time with your new…” she gestured to the Elements of Harmony, “…friends, as well as spend time with your old ones…” as she took in herself and Twilight Sparkle.

“I have learned banishment is not a proper means of solving problems.”

Luna walked forward, gently laid a wing along Celestia’s back. Celestia smiled for a moment, and then took a breath. She turned back toward Sunset. “The Equestrian Magic that Twilight Invoked on that world during her first visit…that Magic that both defeated and saved you…is very important, and has influenced my decision in regard to you. The Magic that also allowed you, Princess Twilight Sparkle, and The Five to defeat the Sirens. The Magic that you catalyzed and Invoked…that beautiful Magic I just watched.”

Sunset Shimmer stared at Celestia, astounded.

“My little pony…no, that’s not right. Sunset. The Magic knew of the change inside of you. And it helped you. You protected that world the night you defeated the Sirens. It saw in you the same potential I did. You, and your friends; the Five.”

Celestia gently helped her up from the ground, as she held the head steady, staring into her eyes. She then tenderly hugged the gently weeping mare.

Twilight and her friends were crying now.

Celestia held the mare gently in her forehooves. “There may be more dangers to those humans on that world than just the Sirens. Starswirl was not noted for his patience. He may have brought other creatures there.”

Sunset pulled back, her eyes wide with concern. “My friends…!”

“Will have need of you, my student. Pardon. Our student,” she chuckled, as she pulled a confused Twilight into the mass. “I didn’t mean to brusquely enforce your banishment. Rather, I wanted you to understand you are needed greatly there. We already have our Six,” she laughed openly now. “But I think they need their Six, too.”

“You mean, I’m…”

“Ohmygosh. You’re the final Element!” Princess Twilight Sparkle said, amazed. “You’re not just a catalyst! You’re the center, the Element of Magic! All of you…you’re us!”

Sunset smiled wryly through watery eyes. “Even more than we already are?”

“Only through association,” Celestia said firmly. “Every being is unique in their own way, Sunset. But the beats of true hearts are within you all. The Magic knows. The one best lesson I tried then to teach you. Leave it to her, my once Faithful Student, to instruct you, to have the lesson take as it has now,” she said with sunlight tones…and a tiny bit of envy, as she tossed he head at Twilight Sparkle, who beamed like a searchlight.

The rest of the time in Equestria was a blur for Sunset. A ridiculous, joyful whirlwind of faces, parties, gatherings, and conversations. Moments of happiness with a group of new old friends. And all too soon, it ended, after a small visit with her cousin Sunburst.
She gave the clothes to Rarity, said her goodbyes to the sad ponies there, as she walked through the Mirror to her other life…

The return had been well timed. There were plenty of cars on the street during rush hour, but all the drivers were preoccupied with the traffic, not the girl that suddenly stood at the base of a statue.

She wobbled slightly on her legs, and then stood firmly. Well, she thought, I can tell Twilight the more you commute, the easier the transition gets.

With a start, her biggest problem now came to the front.

“I can do this, “she said to herself as she started walking. “I just have to trust the Magic. It’s there; I can feel it. I just have to try to reach for it, deep inside there…”

Sunset Shimmer walked into the small room. Adagio was there. Once more, curled up on the bed.

Sunset suddenly saw her with new eyes. Eyes of wisdom. She didn’t see the calculating, avaricious, evil Siren she fought. She also didn’t see the cocksure, arrogant girl from that dim hallway…

She saw a girl that felt she was without a friend in the world. The usually extremely precisely kept hair was unkempt in spots, as if the owner finally just gave up at that point. The minute but evident flaws in the makeup as depression exerted its influence. The frequently cried over pillow covers in need of washing. The wrinkled bedspread underneath, where the exhausted teen would throw herself on it to sleep in whatever she was wearing at the time.

She pulled her cell phone from her pocket, dialed a number.

“Fluttershy? It’s me, Sunset. Listen, I need a HUGE favor. Could you get everyone together and come here to my place? I need some help. Yeah. And listen…I need Sonata and Aria too. Aw, c’mon, Flutts, don’t *eep* out on me. It’s important. Really. Yeah, everyone. I have a friend that needs help, and I need help with her. Okay, see you all when you get here. Bye.”

“Go away,” Adagio said from the bed, as she turned her back to Sunset.

“Not this time, Adagio. It’s friendship time. Even if we all have to shoehorn ourselves in here together and sit with you.”

“There’s already one too many in here as it is,” sighed laboriously from the bed.

“Exactly. You’re coming with us. ALL of us. Aria and Sonata too.”

“To do what? I’ve been at a farm for two days. I’m tired. I want a nap.”

“You’re coming to band practice. We need help. Some background vocals should be just the thing for you.”

A derisive snort. “We can’t sing, remember? And I’m in no mood to pose as one, especially with the Rainbooms.” A flash of rising anger. “I said, go away!”

“No. You’re going. You can at least shout ‘Hey!’ with the rest of us when Rainbow Dash starts up with ‘Awesome as I Want to Be,” Sunset Shimmer said with happy tones. She readied herself. That should…

Adagio rolled and leapt up from the bed, the anger now at full boil. “I SAID N…”

Right into Sunset Shimmers open arms, as she gathered her close, held her tightly.

Adagio was trembling, almost violently, as Sunset Shimmer held her in a tight hug. Rage and anger, disappointment…fear. Self-loathing. Almost overwhelming sadness.

Sunset pulled her even tighter.

She smelled the sunshine. Apples of every kind. A pint or so of Applejack’s very best cider. She smelled a few blades of sweet timothy hay, caught up in Adagio’s hair, from Big Mac’s hay rake and bailer.

Celestia’s wings…I so miss timothy hay. I wish I could go back…but… Sunset thought sadly. Her tears finally burst through again. A moment later, Adagio’s broke through her own wall. Her arms rose up, and wrapped around Sunset as well…

A few minutes later, Fluttershy, with Sonata, cautiously opened the door on the sounds of crying, then stood quietly, tears running down their faces, as Sonata’s grief flowed away. Aria held out the longest, but in the end, she succumbed to it as well, burying her face in Pinkie’s shoulder, as all of the Five, including the unusually resistant Rainbow Dash, wept along with them.

Adagio recovered first. She rubbed her eyes angrily with the heel of one hand, stared accusingly at Sunset Shimmer.

“Why?”

Sunset smiled kindly. Adagio hadn’t taken her other arm from around Sunset’s neck.

Breakthrough.

“Because friends…”

Sunset helped her away from the bed, led her to the other Sirens, and then puddle hugged everyone she could get arms around, as all the girls all started up again. It felt a little ridiculous, and definitely crowded, but she didn’t care one bit. She had plucked one stalk off of Adagio’s huge mane, and chewed the end delightedly with a sigh of contentment.

Timothy hay…and friends.

Her world was now exactly where she wanted it to be.

The Dazzlings hung out together for the first time since that night of The Battle, as the Rainbooms worked through their set. There were several moments of inadvertent toe-tapping despite efforts to keep it from happening. Their newly placed mikes sat unused, however.

Sunset whammy bar’ed through the last guitar chords, then watched as RD set herself up for her big moment on stage. The ears, wings and tails popped back out of sight for the moment.

“Okay, you three. No more watching. Get in with the band!” Sunset called out cheerfully.

Adagio took the lead, as a resigned Aria and an unsure Sonata stepped up to the mikes. “We still can’t sing, Sunset.”

“Don’t need to. Dashie’s all frontgirl for this one. ‘Awesome as I Want to Be’, remember? Just yell ‘Hey!’ on the beat. And try to tolerate it like we do. It ends…eventually,” Sunset pointed out in a cheerfully snarky tone.

Rainbow Dash shot her a withering glance. “C’mon guys, give me a break here!”

“Cain’t. Y’all need yer hands for the other songs, Dash,” Applejack said crossly. Then smiled with a wink.

“Oh, brother. Pinkie, count us in,” RD said, posing, getting ready to shred.

“Do I have to?” Pinkie Pie wailed plaintively.

Dash ignored it. “Ready?”

Adagio snickered. “How did you manage to beat us?”

“Question for Eternity, darling,” Rarity scoffed imperiously, smiling. Fluttershy nodded, eyes large.

“Nevermind!” Dash yelled. “One, and a two, and a three…”

The band launched into the song.

Adagio and the Dazzlings joined in the shouting, Sonata giving it a good go, Aria a passable job. Adagio threw in, just because, like Sunset Shimmer said.

Despite all the protestations to the contrary, the Rainbooms were actually into it, noodling around and through Dash’s riffs, making it sound pretty good, actually. Rainbow Dash herself was helping them, giving the band places to jump in and push it up.

Adagio smiled a bit. The Rainbooms were actually not bad, though ‘Awesome’ was really simple to sing to. She was starting to enjoy herself, despite her reservations. Yelling ‘Hey!’ really wasn’t all that much of a musical challenge to start with…

The Rainbooms started to change again, their normal ears disappearing, the ‘adorable pony ears’ as Rarity called them poking up through their hair, as it lengthened, bound up in ponytails, new color streaks appearing. Two sets of wings, one on Fluttershy, the other on Rainbow Dash showed up as well, RD coasting across the floor on her knees, guided and assisted in the motion by hers.

Adagio started to let go, getting absorbed into the moment, the fun of it, as she floated up…

FLOATED???!!

Adagio stopped singing in mid shout. Her eyes shot toward Aria first, floating alongside her, the same old Siren…

No. Not the same. The pony ears were there, like on the others. But her wings…

The wings were different. Still diaphanous, membranous, true; not the feathery things the Pegasi had. But less harsh and, well, wicked looking.

Sail-like. Like batten-supported sails. Streamlined. Beautiful.

Adagio pulled herself back into the song, but mistakenly jumped back in on the melody. As she followed it, her voice became stronger, more precise. Like hers, but not hers.

Uplifting.

Dashie caught it, stopped playing. So did everyone else.

Adagio ran the measure herself, then petered out when she realized she was the only one singing. She looked around

Everyone was looking at her. In awe.

“Adagio…” Aria said, staring dumbfounded. Sonata was staring too, but with a smile on her face.

Adagio looked back, watched two golden sweeps of airfoils fold neatly along her back as she touched down softly. They then popped out of existence along with her pony ears.

She suddenly, desperately wanted to see them again.

She took a deep breath…

A precise, mid C sounded like a trumpet call. She swept it up, a higher D, then the G.

Perfect.

She dropped to the A, the note thunderous in the suddenly very quiet room. She went back up the scale to the E. The guitar tuning meter sitting forgotten on a table flickered to life, glowing a brilliant green, even brighter than usual. Then she came back to the C…

Followed by the major triad, as Aria and Sonata matched Adagio’s C with an E from Aria, and the G from Sonata. All perfectly pitched. The meter let go with a loud 'pop' as it burned out...

The Dazzlings stopped and looked at each other.

“Rainbow,” Adagio said quietly. “Play that song.”

Rainbow smiled impossibly wide, started strumming as Sunset backed her. The others fell right into their places.

“Shine like Rainbows” filled the air…

Wings, tails, and ears flicked into existence…

And three Dazzlings filled the background to overflowing…

Epilogue

A Moon later…

Luna quietly walked down a path in Canterlot, thinking.

How beautiful Her Night was tonight; the stars sparkled like colored diamonds on deep purple and black velvet, even darker than the usual incredibly deep dark blue she usually painted upon the sky. It had taken a bit of doing, keeping Celestia’s Sun from bleeding through to the sky, as well as focusing Her Moon, but the effect was breathtaking…

She loved Applejack’s apples, and her cider was astounding. Nightmare Night was definitely losing its sting; she was getting the entire Filly and Foal Hospital refurbished and modernized, with no impact on taxation. Pinkie had taken her Lapis pebble, and had a necklace made from it. She had tried to give it back to Luna, but Luna asked shyly for Pinkie to keep it, as a symbol of peace between them over Nightmare Night. The Six had been guessing when the two of them would stop blushing about the new friendship. The new gown Rarity made her for The Grand Galloping Gala. Fluttershy coming by to check on Tibbey, including baths and grooming. Tibbey’s claws could be painful.

Twilight has written to Celestia, and to her as well, how the Dazzlings were starting to rejoin life, according to Sunset Shimmer. The music. Amazing. Amazing how music tied it all together.

Even an incongruous thought about how Celestia missed Twilight’s salutation at the start of her scrolls.

Celestia. Her rock. Twilight, her best friend. Even those crazy moments when Discord just couldn’t take it anymore, and had to come see her.

Tonight was the night. It was time…

Luna quietly walked into the Specialized Incantation Isolation Room, shut the doors as silently as she could. It was around two in the morning, and Canterlot was slumbering peacefully. She left the lights off…it suited her mood of the dramatic tonight.

A slight pause, as she tugged the lever to the ‘on’ position. It was wise to take this last precaution, as her ears suddenly fogged up. She popped them against the increased pressure. Ah, that’s better…

Her eyes adjusted quickly to the light of her horn. She walked to the center…

What to use? she thought. Almost anything would do. It wasn’t the…

She smiled quietly. But of course. That one. The best place to start is always the beginning…

The Princess of Kind Dreams was a tremendous singer, though she didn’t do very much of it in public. Like so many things about her, she was actually quite shy and introverted about it. Too many eyes, too much judgment; in far too many ways, she felt like Fluttershy
.
She shook her head. Enough introspective navel-gazing, Luna. Bravery. Like Twilight. Be like Twilight…until you can once more be wholly you…

First, the F, then the higher A, another F, an E, and again the F…then a D, an E, another D, a lower C, and then a lower A…

She kept singing, as the room flashed into brilliance…

As she sang, she floated upward, unnoticed. Her gaze was turned inward, as the Rainbow Magic worked its beautiful patterns on the outside.
There was much more occurring here than vanity…

A small dark part within Luna froze in the incredible light inside of her. It ran first this way, then that, looking for a place to hide from the love within her. Suddenly it stopped, waiting, in fear.

“Do not be afraid,” she said to the dark. “I am here.”

“You cannot be! This is my place! My domain! I rule the Night here, within you!"

“No longer, I think,” she said sadly to the dark. “Your time is now past. Jealousy and anger are no longer enough for Us. We desire…we need more than that. Don’t We?”

“No! Our Dark…it is what We are! The others will come for you again, separate Us from them when the Fear becomes too much! Remember?”

“I do. But look around you. The light…this light…is love. Love for them, and for Us. All of Us. This light…is for you as well.”

She alighted very softly in front of the dark. “It is time for you to be loved as well, Nightmare Moon.”

The purple smoke twisted into the Mare in the Moon. “What are you saying?” she said, panicked.

“There is no recrimination here, Nightmare. We both surrendered to the dark. When I was freed, I selfishly shut you away, hated you for what you made of me. I put you in a tiny box, and called myself clever for doing it. I hated you. And it was not right. You are a part of me. No pony can survive long hating themselves.”

She sighed. “We are one pony, Nightmare. As much a part of me as I am to you. I tell the others you disappeared in the light of The Elements; I lie to them, as I think of you in that box."

The Nightmare lowered her head, her armor barding gleamed and her horn sharp. “I have no need of you!”

“You stumble in the dark, lost. I stumble in the light, blinded. I want Us to walk without blinders anymore, Nightmare. I want us both to be free…

The hateful visage of Nightmare Moon…cracked. Not a thing changed in Luna’s vision, but she knew…she felt, the sudden uncertainty in the black mare.

“There is nothing for me in the Light! Our Sister…”

“Is not the provider of this light, Nightmare. No spell or incantation, no bright Sun washing away shadow. This is me…for you…”

“Impossible.” The cracks grew as indecision took hold.

“Take my hoof, Nightmare. Let me show you there’s another way…”

“I…”

Luna held out a foreleg…

She woke up on the floor.

For a moment, she was disoriented…the dark…

Am I dead..?

“I feel…different,” she whispered. Her aura reached out to the lights…

“OW!” she cried as the light hit her eyes full force. Her hooves flew to her face.

“Damn it, Luna! You know how bright it can be in here! Watch it!”

She started to get up. “Unhhh...figures I’d fall on a tile floor,” she groaned. She held her left shoulder with a right hoof and rubbed the sore spot. She also carefully tested her left wing, extending it and giving a gentle flap.

“Fantastic…no broken bones. Just a painful shoulder…and becoming cold as hell from laying on bare tile…”

She stood. “Well, all that works, at least,” she groused as she walked around. “Just a tiny limp in the left rear. That should go away with a little activity and gentle stretching.”

She reached out with her aura again, flipped the lever open. Luna stretched her neck and yawned to get her ears to pop. She shook her head a bit afterwards.

“Okay…everything seems to be working. I can always ice this shoulder and my rump, get any swelling down early. Then a nice warm bath tomorrow; some moist heat to promote blood flow and get the bruising out,” she said as she walked to the doors.

“Now…the list. First, I want to go to one of those new mane and tail salons. I’m dying to try some of those shaved coat patterns. Some nice scrollwork on my legs. Even RD doesn’t have the nerve to try that! And then some Wonderbolt flight training. Get fancy, get fast. Garam Masala Pilaf. Phall with potatoes. I wanna try that, no matter the heartburn. And Sis…I’m NOT gonna play nursemaid to Equestria during The Gala this time. I got a new gown. A Rarity Original, and I’m gonna find a cute guy and dance my hooves off this year!”

“I wanna flirt, and get a little tipsy, and tell Celestia she needs to loosen up and get a boyfriend. Or girlfriend. Or both; scandalous! That hasn’t happened for fifteen hundred years!”

She frowned slightly. “At least that I know about…”

The doors sighed open, interrupting her. She flipped off the lights as the open door filled with warm, inviting Night.

I feel…different, she thought to herself, as she walked outside. Dawn was still a little time away, though the sky was beginning to lighten to the east, just as she designed.

I feel…better. Not just existing. She smiled, a big, cheek stretching grin like one of Pinkies. One that warmed her chilled body.

I feel…whole again.

I feel…alive!!