(Early Morning, Portal Base)

My day started earlier than normal, as I had been called to the Portal Base to investigate something that the portal was doing.

“I came by to do the morning cleaning around the portal and I saw one of the frame stones a little askew and the portal was flashing a blue and orange color.” The Forepony said, leading me into the portal room and I was given the privilege to see the portal in it’s chaotic state.

“Did last night’s cleaning crew see anything?” I asked, concern lacing my voice.

“One of the cleaners actually admitted that he jostled the frame while he wasn’t paying attention.” The forepony told me as I looked at the disturbed frame stone.

“Give him a different task to handle from now on. I don’t know what will happen with this, so I’m going to try to fix it.” I told him. He nodded and left to do as told while I lit my horn up with magic...

(TSR Universe, Third POV)

In the meadow behind the Castle of Friendship, two stallions were working on a little project. The larger pony was a sapphire blue alicorn with a black mane streaked with dark blue and soft sunset orange swept back aside from a few bangs overhanging his turquoise eyes, he had a scar starting from the lower left of his barrel going up his chest to right shoulder, his wings were sharp and streamlined, clearly built for speed, and he had a long leonine tail. His cutie-mark was a pale white-blue crescent moon facing upwards with a five-point star surrounded by five white twinkles.

The stallion before him was a unicorn pony with a dark orange mane with softer highlights, a coat of golden orange aside from the off-white stocking marks on his legs, as well as the blaze going down his face, he had a slightly unkempt appearance, including his beard and glasses which kept becoming askew, he wore a dark bluish-green coat covered with lighter stars and moons held together by a clasp that resembled his cutie-mark, a sparkling sun casting rays.

The alicorn was Prince Midnight Blaze and the unicorn his student, Sunburst.

“Now focus, Sunburst, I know you can do this,” Midnight assured, “Our training sessions thus far have shown you have more magical power than you’ve given yourself credit for.”

“I’m… just not entirely sure, Midnight,” Sunburst hesitated, “Teleportation is among the more difficult magical techniques to learn, and I’ve never even performed one conjuration!”

“Look, I understand you’re nervous, Sunburst,” Midnight gently patted his student on the withers, “and though I’ve taught you a fair amount of Mana Manipulation techniques, I can see why since what I’ve been teaching you differs from traditional unicorn spellcasting.

“But trust me! I’m impressed at how much you’ve learned and how quickly you’ve mastered what I’ve taught you thus far. It’s different, yes, but the foundation beneath both studies is basically the same. You have the magical power inside you that equates the potential to master teleportation, you only need the will.”

Sunburst’s downcasted look finally turned up to the eyes of his mentor, and he felt a little better to see the faith Midnight had in him.

If Midnight believes in me, then how can’t I believe in myself? He thought before taking a deep breath.

“Alright, I’m ready.”

“Good, you know the process, now all you have to do muster the power,” Midnight instructed, “Remember, patience yields focus.”

“Alright, here we go…” Sunburst concentrated and his magic began to light up his horn...

(Back with Shining, His POV)

As soon as the stone was back in place, the portal started swirling normally for a few seconds. It then started swirling more violently and changed to an orange color. I began to feel a slight pull from the portal, and without hesitation, I closed the Portal room door, pulled out one of my collapsable weapons and stabbed it into the ground, anchoring me to the ground. After a few minutes of an intensifying pull, the portal started to blow at me and I undid my anchor and moved as close to the portal as the cosmic wind would allow.

“This can only end so well.” I muttered to myself...

(TSR, Third POV)

“AAAAAUUUUUUGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!” Sunburst screamed as the magic around his horn crackled and fizzed and popped with energy resembling sparks of electricity.

“Hold on, Sunburst!!” Midnight had no idea what was going on but he knew this wasn’t Sunburst’s doing.

Something else was at work here, and he lit up his horn with a counter-spell to undo whatever mystic force had his student in its grasp. He reached out with his will, his mana clashing with the energy ensnaring Sunburst’s magic, and he gritted his teeth in pain as he felt ripples of agony through his whole body!

Instead of dispelling the magic, like he’d intended, something unexpected happened in a burst of power! Before the two ponies opened a rift of prismatic energy, releasing Sunburst and Midnight from its power as the two stallions dropped in exhaustion… leaving them unable to fight against the pull they felt as the rift sucked them towards it!

“AUGH! Midnight! It’s- It’s pulling us in!” Sunburst began to panic.

“Fight it, Sunburst!” Midnight yelled back, “There’s no telling what will happen to us!”

“I’m trying…!!!!” Sunburst wailed, but it was a losing battle for both of them.

Though they dug their hooves into the ground and hunched downwards, doing their best to stay rooted, the pull from the rift would not be denied. When they were only a couple yards away, they felt the pull lift them off the ground and they screamed as they were hurtled into the unknown...

(Shining’s World, Third POV)

Which just so happened to be headfirst into Shining Armor’s gut, knocking him down onto his butt and the wind out of his lungs. A few seconds after the impact, the portal shut down and Shining was left, struggling to breathe and with two anthro stallions laying on the ground in front of him.

“Ugh...Goddess above! I knew I should have cast an Armor Flesh spell before getting close,” he groaned while rubbing his sore tummy. He then looked down at the two stallions and saw that, other than the loose robe-like toga that the smaller pony wore, both were buck naked.

“Uh… you guys okay?” he asked them as he pulled off his large jacket and placed it near the larger pony.

The larger pony groaned as he sat up, and Shining was stunned to see this blue pony was an alicorn! The alicorn muttered, “Ohh… what’d we hit, a brick wall?”

“Heh-heh, I have been told I have an iron stomach.”

The alicorn’s eyes started to flitter open as his vision slowly cleared up, “Shining…? Is that you?”

“Umm...yeah? How do you know my name?” Shining asked, placing a hand on one of his hidden collapsible weapons, ready to draw it out at a moment’s notice.

“Shining, what’re you talking about? You’re my best friend and my brother-in-la…!!!” The alicorn’s turquoise eyes widened in shock as he finally saw clearly and looked up at the pony with Shining Armor’s face…

Except the Shining Armor before him was… different.

He stood up on his hind legs, wore trousers of some kind, his front limbs had what could only be hands instead of hooves.

And he was fat.

Like, real fat! Not disgustingly, unappealing slob-sort of fat. The Shining Armor before him, despite his mighty mass also boasted a powerful bod! His chest, his arms, rippling in muscle in a way that complemented the bodacious belly he sported.

“Shining?! You… you look… Wow!” the alicorn pointed without even realizing it… until he saw the fingers at the end of his limb.

“Wait… What the- What happened to my hooves?! Wha- What happened to my body?!”

“Midnight…?” The smaller stallion was waking up and sat up as he removed a pair of round-rimmed glasses and with his magic and used hsi toga to wipe the lenses.

“I’ll take the first bit you said as a compliment,” Shining spoke up, relaxing a little but staying on his guard.

“The second bit, as far as I can tell, it must be a little clash between the magic of the portal and my telekinesis spell I was using. And Midnight? I know a Midnight, but she is a bat pony, not an alicorn.”

“Prince Shining Armor?” the smaller stallion asked as he put his glasses on and went, “WHOA! Uh, Sir, you… put a little weight? Wait, what’re these things?! What happened to my hooves?!”

“Uh, I think these are hands, Sunburst,” answered Midnight somewhat tensely, “and… I have no idea what just happened either. Shining Armor just mentioned a portal and-and a telekinesis spell? A bat- Wait, Shining Armor never calls them bat ponies! They’re called lunar pegasi!”

“Maybe in your world, that’s their designated species or whatever. But here they are bat ponies,” Shining responded while folding his beefy arms.

“Our worl- !!!” Midnight paused in dawning realization…

…

…

Before he gasped and yelled, “WE’RE IN ANOTHER UNIVERSE!!!”

“WHAT?!” Sunburst gaped in utter disbelieving shock at his mentor and at Shining Armor and back and forth multiple times before uttering, “That’s… impossible!!”

“Not if some kind of portal was involved,” Midnight corrected as he hesitantly began to stand, feeling a little wobbly as he balanced on his legs and noticed his hooves were cloven.

Thankfully, his wings and tail helped balance him out and once he was standing straight, he looked to Shining Armor and realized, He’s not my Shining Armor. Not my brother-in-law, my best friend…

The thought was a little depressing, but Midnight got himself together and cleared his throat, “Uh- Shining Armor? I… I’m not quite sure how else to say this, so I’ll be blunt. Sunburst here and I? We’re from another universe, another Equestria. But somehow, I think we got pulled into this Equestria and… now I don’t know what to do or what to say.”

Shining gave Midnight a slight glare before speaking.

“First off, I already established the fact that you are from another universe, or world. Second, the you-getting-pulled into this Equestria was an accident. A cleaner accidentally jostled this portal frame and I was making sure it wasn’t broken,” he said, pointing to the stone archway with odd runes on the main stones. “From there, the cosmos must have had the stars aligned at the wrong time, causing you to appear here while you must have done something on your end.”

“Well… Midnight was teaching me to teleport,” Sunburst raised a nervous hand.

“That could be it,” Midnight pointed to Sunburst before rubbing his chin in thought, “Teleportation involves time and space, so… when Shining Armor was trying to fix his portal frame, the cosmic whatever linked the frame to Sunburst’s attempt at teleportation, creating the rift that sucked us in and dropped us here!”

“I’m starting to think that teleportation should be more closely monitored and more carefully taught,” Shining commented, lightly facepalming. “A poor attempt at teleporting killed me at age four before I was miraculously revived by Faust and this...cosmic being known as the Merchant. Heck, memories blend together, but my soul wasn’t even part of this body, if I recall correctly.”

Sunburst sulked, feeling guilty, so Midnight stepped in, “Now, hold on, Shining, give him a break! It was his first time and none of us had any idea this would happen- Wait… you died and got resurrected by Faust?!”

Shining Armor gave Midnight a flat look for three long seconds before Midnight pinched the bridge of his muzzle and muttered, “Never mind, I don’t wanna know.”

“Good idea, don’t want to melt your brain in the first hour of you being here,” Shining picked up his oversized jacket and handed it to Midnight. “Speaking of being here, I’ll need to get you some clothing, and much more appropriate attire for Sun Spot over there.” He pointed to Sunburst as he struggled to stand up while in his toga-robe.

Midnight helped Sunburst upright before responding, “Please, you’re not the only one who’s died and been brought back to life. Only in my case, Celestia cast a spell on me to make sure I’d reincarnate. Second, what do you mean clothing? Hardly anypony wears clothes unless you’re some stuck-up Canterlot snob.”

“If you wanna walk around with your dingdongs dangling out, that’s up to you,” Shining Armor shrugged, causing Sunburst to yelp and blush as he suddenly reached down and covered his barely-concealed stallion bits.

“Well, now that you mention it…” Midnight looked down and saw his pecker starting to poke out of its sheath as he blushed while avoiding looking at Shining Armor’s… appealing body.

“That’s probably a good idea.”

(Shining’s house in Ponyville)

“Honey, we’ve got a few extra guests!” Shining called out as he led Midnight and Sunburst into his house. “Two extra plates…” He paused and looked at Midnight, who gave him a nervous smile… “And make sure one of those plates has extra protein.”

“Protein?” echoed Sunburst.

“Oh you know,” Shining Armor waved his hand as if it were obvious, “meat?”

Sunburst gulped while Midnight raised a brow, “So you figured out I’m of Lunar Pony descent.”

Shining pointed at his mouth. “When you smiled, I saw your canines, or whatever you call them. In my past life, my father was a dentist that had a challenged scalp.”

Midnight and Sunburst shared a confused look while Shining Armor sighed, “Anyway, come meet my wife.”

He led the two stallions to the door of the kitchen and Princess Mi Amore Cadenza (Cadance) was standing there, bipedal as well.

“Cadance is bipedal too?” Midnight was surprised.

“You already know her name?” Shining Armor was confused.

“Well, I do know you in our universe and in our universe you’re also married to Cadance,” Midnight answered as he looked at this new Cadance before him.

Like her husband, she was bipedal, and she sported a lovely figure. She wasn’t thin or fat, but more of a slender and shapely form. She wore a soft yellow blouse and denim jeans that barely went past her supple behind.

“And unlike your world, we eloped…I’m not sure how much sooner than your happy couple got married but I’m happy with how things turned out for Shiny and me,” Cadance said while cracking a few extra eggs into the pan on the stove.

“Oh yeah, you’re definitely Cadance,” chuckled Midnight before giving it a thought, “and… truth be told, I think you made the right decision to elope.”

“Why do you say that?” asked Shining Armor.

“Two words: Changeling invasion,” Midnight answered dryly.

Shining Armor and Cadance shared a look before Cadance cleared her throat and gave a hospitable smile, “Well then, let’s get you both fed and clothed. Lunchtime will be ready momentarily, so Shiny, why don’t you give them something to wear for the moment? I’m sure they’d appreciate it.”

“I actually would,” Sunburst nodded thankfully while still holding his… hands over his stallion bits.

“I’d normally say it’s not a big deal, but…” Midnight blushed as he avoided looking at Shining Armor (which didn’t escape Cadance’s notice), “it’d probably make things more comfortable.”

“I’ll be right back with two of your bathrobes then,” Shining said to his wife, “Mine would probably make them look like they were wearing tents.”

He walked down the hall and opened a hallway closet as Cadance called up, “My biggest one for the alicorn, and one of the regular sized ones for the unicorn, please!”

She then turned to her guests and invited, “Please have a seat.”

They did so, and as they waited, Cadance peered around to give Midnight a smirk and teased, “Any particular reason you were avoiding the image of my husband’s godly physique, stranger?”

“Huh?! Wha- I ,uh… that is…” Midnight flabbergasted, trying to untie his tongue and get out the right words.

“Ha-ha, I’m just kidding with you,” Cadance waved it off, “It’s just, well… I am the Princess of Love, and I can sense certain feelings, such as attraction and infatuation. Yours are directed at Shining Armor.”

“Whoa, hold on a moment, Cadance!” Midnight raised his hands in surrender, “I assure you, I’m happily married, it’s just… Well, I’m bisexual.”

“Huh, no wonder you spent a lot of time with our Shining Armor back when we were in training under your dad,” Sunburst commented, earning him a slight stink eye from his mentor, causing him to shrink in his seat.

A muffled explosion was heard from the hall, causing the three of them to jump in startled shock.

“Dammit, Pinkie! Stop stashing your bucking party supplies in my house!!” Shining yelled from the hall.

Midnight and Sunburst shared an amused look as they had the same thought, Pinkie’s still Pinkie!

Shining entered the room holding two folded bathrobes.

“Yellow or Pink?” he asked the two stallions

“Which one’s the bigger one?” Midnight asked woefully and to his dismay, Shining Armor held out the pink one. Sighing he accepted it, turned around so they wouldn’t see his willy, and slipped the robe on while Sunburst did the same with the yellow robe.

It was before the robes went on that Cadance noticed Midnight had a fine musculature himself. He wasn’t the big and heavy sort like her husband, but rather a healthy figure with dedicated definition. Only the scar that started from his right shoulder and went down his chest, stopping at the opposite hip marred his studly physique yet in a complementary way.

Sunburst on the other hand, while thin and slender and had evidently worked on his chest and arms, he had just a slight bit of flab on his tummy, not to mention he was a whole head shorter than Midnight.

Once both stallions had secured the bathrobes, they sat back down as Shining Armor joined them (his chair creaking in mercy underneath him) and for a long awkward moment no one said anything while Cadance continued to cook.

Finally, Shining Armor broke the ice.

“So how do you guys know me in your world? What’s your version of me like?”

“Well… me and you? Or rather our world’s version of you,” Midnight started off, “we’ve been the best of friends since we were babies. You always looked out for me, like the big brother I never had. Then I became an alicorn and you were there for me in ways my own parents weren’t.

“My father put together a group of colts my age for me to lead, in order to learn about responsibility and leadership. Sunburst was a part of that group.”

“How’d that turn out?” asked Cadance as she levitated some of the food she’d prepared, along with a bottle of light apple cider.

Midnight and Sunburst shared a sad look before midnight admitted, “Not very well. Don’t get me wrong, we trained together in that group, we worked hard, we thought we were all gonna grow up to be a band of heroes to watch over Equestria like nopony’d ever seen!

“But then… a member of our group, a friend I loved like a brother,he and I were captured by perhaps the most despicable creature you’d ever met. She tortured me for information she thought I had even though I had no idea what she was talking about. Then she brought in our friend she’d captured along with me and said…”

Midnight clenched his hands, and Sunburst reached over to place a comforting hand on Midnight’s shoulder. He gave Sunburst an appreciative look before continuing, “She told me to talk or our friend would die. I begged her, pleaded with her, swore that I didn’t have the information she wanted. She didn’t believe me…”

Cadance and Shining Armor got the idea of what happened as Cadance went over and gave Midnight a comforting hug, which helped make him feel better.

“So then what happened?” asked Shining Armor in a solemn voice.

“I was so shocked and stunned with horror and grief, I couldn’t stop looking at his body, even when she was reaching for my throat with her claws,” Midnight recounted. “If you and my father hadn’t arrived, I… I wouldn’t be here.”

“Damn,” Shining sighed while holding his head. “I have no words for what I just heard.”

“Trauma aside, lunch is-” Cadance began, but was interrupted by the front door being slammed open by a familiar orange pegasus with a two-toned sapphire blue mane and tail.

“Captain Armor! We have a situation!” the pegasus shouted, getting Shining to stand up quickly.

“Flash, what is it?”

“The incident you told us to keep an ear out for is happening!” Flash yelled in a panic. “A more-than-likely fake message from Princess Luna instructed your sister to take her friends to deal with a sleeping dragon. I tried to stop her, but she almost literally acted like I wasn’t there to try!”

“...Flash?!”

All eyes turned to Midnight and Sunburst, the both of them gaping in utter shock at the guard who’d just burst in yelling. Their jaws hung, their pupils had shrunk to pinpricks… before they both keeled over.

“Uh… did I come at a bad time?” asked Flash.

“No time for that now.” Shining said, while heading towards the master bedroom. “Flash, get the squad ready to move out! Cadance, since Rarity isn’t available, I’m gonna need you to resize some of my clothing for these two to wear. I don’t personally like it, but you and these yahoos are gonna come with us to keep Twily from getting herself killed!”

(En Route to the Mountain of “Dragonshy”)

“Wake up, and stand at attention, you sorry pair of podunks!” Shining yelled at the two dressed, yet still unconscious stallions.

“Augh… five more minutes,” groaned Midnight irritably as he realized he was lying on a dirt road, and wearing some clothes. Looking down, he saw it was a purple sleeveless vest, rather similar to the one Shining Armor wore, along with a pair of baggy trousers.

“Ugh, did we just…?” Midnight turned to see Sunburst sitting up while rubbing his temple and saw he wore a somewhat worn shirt of cotton and brown shorts that only went down to his knees.

They gazed up at Shining Armor, who still looked like a mighty mountain to them, as he leered down at them somewhat impatiently.

“Uh… where’d these clothes come from and how did they get on us?” asked Midnight with a flat tone.

“Stand at attention and listen up first!” Shining responded in a bellow, causing the two stallions to scramble to their hooves in intimidation. “Now, my little sister Twilight Sparkle and her friends are roughly an hour ahead of us! She had received a false message from Princess Luna concerning the smoke in the sky above Ponyville and had been fooled to take care of a dragon that is causing it. Our task is to intercept her and her friends before they arrive at the mountain and then investigate the smoke and maybe fire once she is detained.”

“Wait, hold up- Detained?!” Midnight echoed in confusion.

“No questions until after!” Shining bellowed. “Until I’m done talking, you are to shut up and listen!”

“Okay, sorry!” Midnight rolled his eyes.

“No sass either!” He added with a rude poke to Midnight’s snoot. “To accomplish our mission, Gregory, Midnight Nebula, Flash Sentry, and Cadance! I need you four to fly ahead and catch up to them. Stop and detain them, no questions asked. If they resist, non-lethal force is authorized. As for Titan, myself and our two temporary squad mates, we will follow behind until we catch up. You All Understand My Orders!”

“Sir, Yes Sir!” Everyone but Cadance and the two other ponies shouted back.

“Then get your tails in gear! Go!” The assigned fliers took off towards the smoking mountain.

“You may now ask your question or questions, Midnight,” Shining said in a calmer tone.

“Okay… I’ll repeat: How’d we get these clothes on?” Midnight asked while fingering the vest.

“Also…” Sunburst raised a hesitant hand as he gazed after the fliers in the distance, “Was that really…?”

“...I take it Flash Sentry was the friend of yours who got killed,” Shining Armor gathered. When the two stallions nodded morosely, he sighed. “Probably better not to tell him that, much less that you know him in another world. As for your clothes, they’re mine, just magically resized to fit your smaller frames.”

Midnight and Sunburst shared a flat look before Sunburst asked, “These didn’t come out of your dirty clothes hamper, did they?”

“Just because I’m fat, it doesn’t mean I’m a slob,” Shining shot at him in a friendly way. “They’re freshly cleaned.”

“He asked not because of your weight, but because you’re a stallion,” Midnight clarified as he shrugged, “Lots of stallions forget to do laundry until they actually need clean clothes.”

“My apologies on jumping to conclusions. Anyway, I hope you either have some hidden weapons or, at least, weapons training,” Shining said, as he pulled out a small cylinder and it extended into a spear.

Midnight and Sunburst shared a curious look as the latter asked, “Do you think they’ll work in this world?”

“Won’t be sure till we try,” Midnight responded, and the two held out their hands and focused.

Appearing in each stallion’s hand was a sword. Sunburst’s sword had a soft-yellow blade, similar to the light of a sunset, while the crossguard and handle were colored the same as his toga-robe. Midnight’s sword had a blade as black as obsidian yet gave off a silvery glow like the full moon and the handle and guard were dark blue.

“Well, at least they appeared,” Midnight said in casual relief.

“Nice weapons,” Titan complimented to them. “Ancient Crystal Magic construction. Nearly unbreakable and can ‘form change’ into a weapon or weapon set that matches the owner’s personality.”

“Their base forms were originally crystal, but now they seem to be a literal part of us,” explained Midnight. “When we don’t need them, we absorb them into our bodies and conjure them at will. The magic involved isn’t Crystal Magic actually, but some kind of Harmonic energy we don’t fully understand. I don’t even know the full powers of my sword yet and Sunburst has yet to tap into his though he hasn’t had it for very long, to be fair.”

“I believe when Titan said that, he must have been saying that it had a resemblance to that,” Shining said, “He wouldn’t have known that it was based from Harmony Magic.”

“Oh Midnight didn’t mean to demean him or anything,” Sunburst assured a tad nervously, “he only meant to clarify the nature of our swords.”

“It just so happens, Shining, that our world’s version of you has one of these swords too,” added Midnight. “So, in a way, that makes you a Knight of Harmony!”

“Huh...I’ll ask about the technicalities of my honorary status later,” Shining said. “For now let’s get going.” He started walking down the road, leading the group.

“Now, I noticed something when Shining mentioned detaining his sister,” Titan commented, looking at Midnight with a slightly raised eyebrow. “Care to fill us in on your reaction?”

“Reaction?” echoed Midnight.

“You were confused about me detaining wanting to detain Twily,” Shining interjected, not looking at the rest of the group. “You looked like I was planning on arresting your wife.”

Midnight froze mid-step and uttered a very dumb, “Uh….”

“The Twilight where you are from is your wife, isn’t she?” Titan asked, not beating around the bush.

Shining Armor stopped as well, and ever so slowly turned his head to glare daggers at Midnight, who stood there, uncertain of what to do… until the sapphire alicorn forced a nervous smile and stupidly said, “Nice to meet you, big bro!”

Shining looked at him critically.

“Three questions. Do you love her?” Shining asked sternly.

“...More than anything,” Midnight answered solemnly, “I’ve time-traveled a thousand years, died and was reborn, lived a second childhood, underwent years of training, suffered loss and heartache, gave up much, protected Equestria from all manner of threats, all while holding onto the hope that I would tell her how much she means to me.”

He held up his wrist and a simple band appeared on it, made of silver, “She answered yes. We wed, and one day soon, we hope to have our own foals. Though, after seeing how you and Cadance were with your own, we decided to wait a little longer.”

“Question 2: Do you treat her like the Queen she should be treated like?”

“I treat her as the pony she is. A beautiful, intelligent, funny, loving, and amazing soul who deserves happiness but occasionally needs a little tough love to stay grounded when she allows her anxieties, her obsessive behaviors, and other flaws to get the better of her. I remind her of the kind of pony she is and help her remember what’s important, just as she does for me. I thank my lucky stars for the way she has faith in me and I endeavor every single day to be worthy of that faith.”

“Final Question: Was that ‘Big Bro’ pun intentional or not?” Shining asked with a smirk on his face.

“In more ways than one,” Midnight shrugged with a teasing look, “though I can honestly tell you, Shining Armor - I wouldn’t be the pony I am without you being the big brother I never had. I try to do the same for my own little brother, Twinken. You’d like him, he certainly likes you.”

Shining smiled and gave Midnight a hard pat on the back, accidentally knocking him onto the ground. “Good. I have nothing to worry about my interdimensional little sister then.”

“Oof… glad to hear,” Midnight groaned as he stood back up, still feeling that pat on the back. “Though you’re not the only one who calls her Twily, now.”

“I am both disturbed and intrigued…” muttered Sunburst as he observed this interaction.

“I just have only one rule for you to follow concerning my sister in this world: you don’t call her Twily,” Shining said. “If you bring your Twilight, then you may do so...only to her.”

“Fair enough,” Midnight responded… before holding his arms out.

“Wha- What’re you doing?” Shining Armor asked with a raised brow.

“C’mon, bring it in!” Midnight invited with a silly smile.

“...Okay,” Shining relented, moving forward and picked up Midnight up in a gentle, yet firm hug, popping Midnight’s back a bit as he hugged him.

Then he unceremoniously dropped Midnight and said, “Alright, enough dillydallying, we got a job to do. Move out!”

Dusting himself off, Midnight smiled as he looked on at his interdimensional brother-in-law.

So very different but at the same time exactly the same, he thought with a proud smile.

Author's Note

This chapter is done in collaboration with Wolven5 and his story MLP: The Story Retold.