All Tomorrow's Birthdays: After School Special

Sometime later, the group of sixteen highschool girls, otherworldly visitors, and sirens exited the front doors of Canterlot High. Most of them were exhausted, with clothes in various states of disarray. Several of them were carrying janitorial supplies.

Twilight gestured to the dark, evening sky with her broom. “So they don’t move the sun or moon, they barely manage the school, and they don’t make any laws or run the government. Just what do the adults do in this world?”

Sunset shrugged. “Beats me, when I first hopped over I just showed up in school one day and no one really checked my background or asked any questions.”

“Humans like to tell lies to themselves and pretend anything strange is their imagination,” Adagio offered. When that earned her six frowning glares from the resident humans, she floated a little higher and coiled her tail around herself defensively. “Hey, it’s true!”

Twilight spun the broom idly as she looked from the group to the statue pedestal. “Well, regardless, we should think about getting back. Before questions of any kind, presumably.”

Flutters shook her wing self consciously. “Umm, Twilight. We… aren’t stuck like this, are we?”

AJ’s ponified ears perked. “I can wear a hat most of the time, but amma not sure if I want to all the time now.”

“No, it’ll go back to the same way it’s always been once me and the girls return. I’m pretty sure it’s a reinforcement loop between the magic inherent in the transform—” Twilight paused in mid-explanation when she saw only Sunset and Sparkle interested in the magical minutiae.

“You’ll be fine.” Twilight simplified.

“Aww… even us?” Sonata said, disappointed.

Aria scowled. “Hey! I didn’t go through all of that, just to end up back at square one!”

Nervously, the Equestrians and the humans began to glance between the princess and the sirens as a bit of tension reentered the air.

Twilight looked at the trio before her eyes settled on Adagio.

“Is there… another option?” Adagio asked carefully.

“Depends,” Twilight said, planting the broom and crossing her hands over the top of it. With her wings spread it gave her the look of a guard at a pass. “If you promise to behave, I can bring you three back to Equestria.”

Adagio looked back at Sonata and Aria. For once, both of them appeared to be quite serious. “Could you even trust such a promise?” asked Adagio finally.

“Equestria’s different nowadays. Much more than it was in Starswirl’s era. You wouldn’t even be the first thousand-year-old problem I’ve solved,” Twilight said smoothly.

Aria snorted. “She talks big, doesn’t she?”

“Probably because she’s got pretty big ba—” Sonata started.

“Quiet,” Adagio said sharply before looking back to Twilight. “You think you can… handle us?”

Twilight clicked her tongue. Adagio’s tone sounded like she thought that she was getting away with something. To the siren’s surprise, she looked over Adagio’s shoulder instead. “Pinkie, what’s the list at? For me and friends.”

Pinkie straightened. “Oh… oh! Umm… you want all of them?”

“Yes, please.”

“So there’s Nightmare Moon, Discord, Sunset, Trixie, Starlight.” Pinkie counted on one hand before lifting the other. “And Chrysalis, Tirek, and Sombra. But we blew up Chryssi and Tirek while Sombra got vaporized. Do they still count?”

Sonata boggled. “Isn’t Chrysalis that bug pony queen thing that rules over the badlands?”

“Vaporized Sombra? And what did she say about Discord?” Aria asked, incredulous.

“Starswirl had trouble with Tirek… where is Tirek now?” Adagio asked, her voice level though her tail betrayed a twisting fidget.

“Rotting in the deepest hole I could find in Tartarus,” Twilight answered, the coldness in her voice surprising the sirens.

“Do you want to tell them about how you had to fight them all over again with the timeline map thing?” Pinkie helpfully asked.

“Oh, don’t get me started on that. Then I’d have to tell them about all the other ones like Daybreaker, Nightmarity, Flim Flam, and Queen Aurum,” Twilight remarked.

“Wait, who did you just say now?” Both sets of Applejacks and Rarities exclaimed nearly at the same time, though for different names on the list.

“I swear, nopony ever listens to my lectures or read the scrolls I write about this stuff,” Twilight groused. “But we are getting sidetracked.”

“It’s okay. I ran out of fingers,” Pinkie said holding up her spread palms. Cream Pinkie reached over and provided two to Pinkie’s ten.”

“So our options are: high school, hell forever, being vaporized or… being your friend, “ Adagio asked, crossing her arms with a small frown.

“Hopefully this isn’t a tough choice. I’d like for you three to find a place to fit in Equestria, especially if you miss being what you really are,” Twilight replied, countering with a smile.

Sunset chuckled. “It’s not such a bad thing, being Twilight’s friend, that is. I mean, look at all of us.”

Adagio did just that, her eyes falling to where Sunset held Sparkle’s hand. “Yeah, you would think that—” She began in a sarcastic tone, but stopped when her eyes traveled over the other eleven girls then down at herself, her tail flexing contemplatively.

Aria opened her own mouth but stopped when Sonata’s nudged her.

“Fine,” Adagio finally said, slumping on her mer-tail, the last of her resistance sagging out of her shoulder-fins. “We’ll go… princess.”

“You’re making the right choice. To be honest, I wasn’t sure if I liked the idea of leaving you three behind again, anyway. Loose ends have a way of biting a pony on the flank,” Twilight said, her regal aura crumbling with an adorkable giggle that had nearly everyone groaning.

Afterwards, the girls began saying their goodbyes to their mirror selves, most of them trading a few last words with each other along with promises to keep in contact. Twilight kept by the pedestal with her broom, feeling somewhat like a conductor as she watched her friends depart one by one through the portal.

Applejack chuckled at Twilight. “Hope this taught you somethin’ about trying to have all the fun by yourself, Twi.”

“Yeah, you never told us how awesome it would be to meet our other selves, “ Rainbow put in.

“But… but I did!” Twilight protested. “When I came back the first time I sat all of you down! I even wrote a huge section about it in my friendship diary.”

Rainbow gave a snort. “You said they were like wobbly, naked ape things! Not that they were cute. Plus you didn’t say anything about bucking them. You left out the best parts!”

Twilight swung her broom at Rainbow who nimbly dodged with a laugh as she fluttered through the pedestal.

Fluttershy approached next and murmured. “Twilight, do you think you could move the mirror to someplace easier?”

Rarity chimed in with a nod at that. “Oh yes, why not put in the foyer, that way we can come and go as we please? There are untold riches left in the salon that I could bring over.”

Twilight rubbed at the back of her neck as she thought. “I… guess I could do that. I’ll have to come up with some kind of security spell or key for us to use. As much as I love our reflections here, I’m not sure Equestria or Earth is ready for the floodgates to be wholly open. Just imagine what it’ll be like if we couldn’t tell…”

Twilight trailed off when she saw Pinkie approaching the pedestal, swinging arms and skipping in her usual lackadaisical way.

Raising the broom, Twilight barred Pinkie’s way with it. “Oh no you don’t.”

Pinkie looked at her innocently. “What’s the matter?”

Twilight narrowed her eyes.

Pinkie, or rather the other Pinkie, peeked from her hiding place by the school’s entrance. Neither of them had any marking cream anymore. “Wow, she can tell the difference now?”

“I still can’t. But I knew you two would try something like this,” Twilight said with a resigned sigh. “Which one is my Pinkie?”

“Usually we flip for it on Wednesdays, ” Pinkie admitted with a giggle while the other Pinkie nodded.

Sunset approached with Sparkle and stared at the Pinkies. “Actually, that makes a lot of sense in hindsight.”

Twilight massaged her temples. “That it makes sense is why I think I’m having an aneurysm.”

Sparkle placed a sympathetic hand on Twilight’s shoulder. “I’ll bring you some aspirin the next time we visit. Not quite magical, but it makes the day with Pinkie tolerable.”

Sunset smiled some before looking over at Twilight. “Speaking of which, we can visit whenever, right? We on the V.I.P list?”

Twilight gave her a weak smile. “My castle isn’t an interdimensional train station you know... but of course you two are always welcome. I think I’m going to need the extra help.”

“Well, you’re going to have to go back in two weeks, anyway,” said one of the Pinkies matter-of-fact.

Sparkle blinked. “Why is that?” She then startled, eyes going wide behind her glasses as she realized.

Twilight had nearly the same reaction as her twin a moment later. “Oh no… oh, Celestia, no.”

Sunset was confused at seeing the stricken Twilights before suddenly groaning herself. “That’s right. Your birthday… birthdays are two weeks after mine.”

The Pinkies beamed.