"Is she here yet?"
"No"
"Now?"
"No"
"Now?"
"No!"
"Now?!"
"Pinkie Pie!" exclaimed Rainbow Dash, her face red with anger. "Can you for at least five minutes stay quiet?!"
"Aww!!!" moaned Pinkie Pie, her hair going flat.
"I'll still never get over the fact that she could do that," said Sci Twi, adjusting her glasses.
Applejack chuckled as she lifted her stenson hat up. "It's just Pinkie being Pinkie, Twilight. Honestly, I don't think we'll ever find out how she ticks."
The Rainbooms were sitting out on the front courtyard near the statue where the portal to Equestria was situtuated in. This was a place they hanged out at before and after school but this time was different.
This morning, the girls got a text from Sunset Shimmer, their pony turned human friend, telling them to meet her at the courtyard.
And so now only a few minutes away from classes starting, where the girls waiting for Sunset at the front of the school. Rainbow Dash was busy kicking her soccer ball around while Pinkie Pie watched a video of Countess Coloratura singing her latest song. Fluttershy was holding Angel, feeding him carrots and Rarity sketched in her fashion dairy. Sci Twi and Applejack were playing thumb wars before finally the redhead appeared herself.
"Hey girls," said Sunset, waving to her friends as she walked towards them.
"Hi Sunset!" replied the girls as they put down what they were doing. Fluttershy carefully put Angel into her backpack and Rainbow Dash kicked her ball to the nearest bush. Rarity putted away her dairy and Pinkie turned her phone off. Applejack take Sunset's arrival to her advantage and pressed her thumb down on Sci Twi's appendage. Sci Twi narrowed her eyes while Applejack just laughed at the lavender girl's expression.
"It seems like you girls were keeping yourselves busy," smiled Sunset, placing a hand on her hip.
"Yeah! Waiting for you! We got your text. What's up?" asked Rainbow Dash.
"Darling I have to say, what are you wearing?" questioned Rarity, pointing at Sunset's attire.
"Oh you mean this?" said Sunset looking down at her orange striped leather jacket, blue blouse, jeans, and healed boots. "I wanted to look good for our visitor of course."
"Visitor?" asked Fluttershy, tilting her head. "What visitor?"
"Oh the one coming out of the portal in 3, 2, 1..." counted down Sunset as a flash of light emerged from the portal and coming out was a very familiar face-
"Wow it's been a while since I've been here," stated Princess Twilight Sparkle, stretching out her legs and arms. She looked up to see the group of teenagers looking at her like a alien. "Hey girls long time no-"
"TWILIGHT!" screamed Pinkie Pie, her hair puffy again, crushing her friend in a death hug at a speed that even Rainbow Dash found impressive.
"Its- oh- good to see you again Pinkie," laughed Twilight returning the hug. The others got up and greeted their friend in hugs as well.
"Oh darling it's been so long. The last time we saw you was after the Friendship Games," said Rarity.
"I know. I'm sorry for not coming to visit often. I'm so busy with royal duties, teaching, and fighting the forces of evil that even a Princess of Friendship can't get a break," replied Twilight, smiling.
"Thank goodness I'm not a Princess," said Sci Twi. "I mean no offense."
Twilight chuckled. "None taken Twilight."
"I don't mean to ask but..." interrupted Applejack. "Sugarcube, what exactly are you doing here?"
Sunset and Twilight looked at each other and smiled.
"Do you want to..."
"No you tell them. You're the Princess of course."
"How about together?"
"That sounds like a plan."
The two Equestrians turned back to their friends. "Well you see, after the whole Memory Stone debacle, I felt guilty that I wasn't able to help as much for Sunset," explained Twilight.
"But didn't you find the scrolls or whatever ancient texts you found to help Sunset idntify the Stone in the first place?" asked Rainbow Dash.
Twilight's smiled sadly. "I did but I also wanted to go with Sunset back here to probably convinced you girls that someone stole your memories of Sunset but someone had to stay at the library and Princess Celestia was busy and..."
"Twilight you're rambling"
"Point is I felt guilty for not helping as much as I could, so to make up for it, I decided to pre plan and reschedule all my royal duties for some vacation time with my friends.
"For how long?" asked Fluttershy, brushing her pink hair out of he face.
"How does two weeks sound for you?" asked Twilight, with a smirk.
The girls screamed with joy and as one gave the royal a huge group hug.
"Oh this is the best news we could ever hear!" cried Rarity, her tears coming down, ruining her mascara.
"How long have you two been planing this?" questioned Sci Twi turning to Sunset Shimmer.
"How about a few days. Twilight wrote to me about her plan and thought it was best to surprise you all when she came." explained Sunset.
"And what a darn surprise it was!" said Applejack, agreeing.
"Hey Twilight, maybe you should tell the girls about that other thing?" called Sunset, cupping her hands together.
"Oh right! I forgot!" said Twilight, gently pushing her friends away from the group hug. "There's another thing that I should tell you girls."
"What is it?" asked Sci Twi, curiously.
"Well you see..." started Twilight. "When I was planning on coming here to relax, I thought it would be best to bring a friend of mine from home so that I wouldn't get homesick, minding Sunset here of course."
"Really?" replied Pinkie Pie. "Who'd you bring?"
"Well it's someone you all know already. She came here only a few weeks ago."
"Wait," said Sci Twi, now putting together the pieces of the puzzle. "You don't mean..."
"3, 2, 1..." counted Twilight with a smile as another flash came from the portal and arriving out of it was a teenage girl wearing a dark vest over green and purple shirt, ripped jeans, a beanie hat with stars on it.
"It's good to be back!" said Starlight Glimmer. "Did you girls missed me?" she smirked as the girls once again came in for another group hug.
Sunset put her arm around Twilight. "Well Princess," she asked. "How's your stay going so far."
Twilight smiled, a tear going her face. "I've missed this place and you girls so much," she said as she turned to give Sunset a hug.
"Glad you're back, Twi."
"Good to be back, Sun."
"... and that's how we saved Equestria from the Storm King," said Twilight, finishing her story.
The girls were walking down the hallways of Canterlot High, students walking past them getting to class or simply hanging with friends. Once in a while, a student here and there waved at Twilight, greeting her welcome.
"That was such an awesome story!" exclaimed Rainbow Dash, pumping her fist in the hair. "I can't believe the other me can do a... what is again?"
"Sonic Rainboom," answered Sunset Shimmer.
"Yeah that! I wonder if I could do that with my geode..."
"Might not be the best idea Rainbow," said Sci Twi, stopping Rainbow Dash's train of thought. "From what I've just heard, it seems that if you did perform a Sonic Rainboom here in our world, it could very well cause a lot of damage to structures and people."
"Awww!!!!"
The girls laughed at Rainbow's expression before Rarity spoke up.
"So what happened next darling? What happened to your new friends such as Fizzlepop Berrrytwist or that dashing Capper you mentioned?"
"Rarity, he's a cat," reminded Starlight Glimmer.
"I know!" blushed Rairty. "It's just the way Twilight described him made him look so charming."
Twilight chuckled. "Well to answer your question Rarity, they're doing good. Capper decided to change his ways and opened up his own clothes store in Clugtown thanks to Rairty- I mean my Rarity from home!"
"Captain Celeano and her crew are now a approved trading ship by Princess Celestia, traveling around the world and getting resources for the good of Equestria. They haven't changed their pirate ways of course."
"Queen Novo and Princess Skystar went back to Seaquestria to rebuild Mount Aires with the rest of their people. Skystar visits Pinkie Pie every day, and they're really close friends. Pinkie's actually thinking about introducing Skystar to the yaks soon."
"Grubber and the rest of the Storm King's army went back home beyond Equestria. Grubber told me that he and his people were going to go back to just farming and mining ore. The last I heard from him was that he opened up his own Bakery called "Grubber's Grubs"."
"What about Tempest Shadow?" asked Sci Twi.
"Tempest Shadow, aka Fizzlepop Berrytwist felt guilty about hurting her own kind and begged the princesses, myself included, for forgivessness. We of course did, but Tempest still wanted to prove herself somehow, so I suggested to Cadence that Tempest be trained by my brother in the Crystal Empire to be a royal guard. She writes to me everday about her progress and she's doing great, my brother saying that her horn and her personality will make her the best guard to ever exist."
"Seems like everyone is doing good then," said Fluttershy, smiling.
Twilight nodded. "Yeah. Yeah they are."
"What about you Sugarcube?" asked Applejack. "How are you doing?"
"I'm good, despite my heavy load of work. I'm just glad to be here with you girls, especially you, Twilight," replied Twilight, looking at her human counterpart.
"Wait really?! Why?" asked Sci Twi, surprised.
"We never really talked or hanged out remember? I really want to conect with you. I mean we're almost practically sisters if you think about it," said Twilight.
"Sister! I've always wanted a sister! Not saying that Shining or Cadence are bad of course!" exclaimed Sci Twi, blushing.
"Oh great. As if one egghead was bad enough- hey ow!" said Rainbow Dash, her foot stepped on by Applejack.
"We should have a party after school! I'm calling it "Welcome back to Earth" party!" said Pinkie Pie, bouncing up and down.
"That sounds great Pinkie," said Sunset Shimmer, smiling. "I can't wait after school where we'll all-"
"What's that?" asked Starlight Glimmer pointing ahead to a poster on the wall.
The girls gathered around the poster. It displayed their school's symbol, Crystal Prep's symbol, and two other symbols at a stadium. The title read as such
The Tournament of Champions
"What's a Tournament of Champions?"
asked Starlight.
"Sounds like the Friendship Games," said Fluttershy, suddenly remembering Sci Twi's presence. "I mean, no offense?"
Sci Twi rolled her eyes as Twilight read the fine print below the title. "It says here that the tournament is a friendly competition between the four schools of the Canterlot City school district."
"There are other schools then CHS and Crystal Prep?" said Rainbow Dash, dumbfounded.
"There are," answered Sci Twi, who was now checking on her phone. "There's us, CHS, in the western part, Crystal Prep in the east, Hollow Shades High in the south, and finally Storm Academy in the north."
"How come we never here from them?" asked Applejack.
"Well from Shining and Cadence told me, they keep themselves mostly because they're private schools. Only a select few can go those schools," explained Sci Twi.
"Isn't Crystal Prep a private school?" asked Rainbow Dash.
"It was when Abacus Cinch was in charge. But thanks to Cadence now, anyone is welcome to enroll in CP."
"There's more," said Twilight, bringing back everyone's attention. "It says here that the Tournament requires forty students from the school district. If anyone wants to sign up, they have to ask their school principal to register."
"That sounds dumb"
Everyone turned to Sunset, who was leaning on the lockers, her arms crossed and looked annoyed.
"Why does I sound dumb Sunset?" asked Starlight. "It sounds like it could be fun."
"If it's anything like the Friendship Games, it would just be a huge rivalary between schools. Sure CHS and CP are on good terms now, but it doesnt mean the competition has. And what's more, you have thousands of people watching you and your teammates, either cheering you on or booing you down," explained Sunset.
"Thousands?" whispered Fluttershy, her legs shaking.
"I'm sorry girls, but its the truth. The Friendship Games was the exception becuase I wanted to help you out, but this time no. I'm done with school competitions, games, and silly old rivalaries."
"I agree," said Sci Twi. "The last thing we need is another person studying magic and turning into a crazed altar ego of themselves and tearing up the fabric of reality itself."
Twilight walked over to Sunset and placed her hand on Sunset's shoulder. "It's more then just that is there?"
Sunset looked down. "Everything we faced from the Sirens, Midnight Sparkle, and Gaea Everfree, we've taken them down."
"But..." continued Twilight
"The Memory Stone. Just one small rock nearly tore everything apart. I lost my memories of everyone to save them so that they could still have their friendship. And after it all, I'm just tired of seeing ourselves fighting magic on a weekly basis, not knowing if one of us gets hurt or worse."
"So what you're saying is that the you're scared of something like that happening again?" asked Starlight.
"Basically yeah, but its more then just that. I brought magic into this world, which caused everything, from the Stone to the Fall Formal. I did this because I was an arrogant, selfish unicorn who valued power and status more then people's lives."
"Sunset, it doesn't matter anymore. You've made up your mistakes and have become a better person. You're aren't the same like when we first met," said Twilight.
" It sometimes makes me wonder what could have happened if I didn't changed," said Sunset.
"You have to stop blaming yourself for this. Regardless of everything, me, Starlight, and the girls still call you out friend. You're better then the old you," said Twilight
Sunset sighed. "You always know what to say to cheer me up, huh Twi?"
"It's my thing," said Twilight, mock punching Sunset. "Now stop being so hard on yourself alright?"
"If her highness demands it, then I must," said Sunset, bowing to Twilight.
"Sunset!" shouted Twilight, her cheeks red with embrassment. "Not here!"
The girls laughed and Sunset and Twilight joined in, not a care in the world for them.
