Sunset tried to salvage as much of this mess as she could as she put on her best smile. "Um. This is all a dream we're sharing, and none of you saw what you think you just saw?"

By the girls' expressions, they weren't buying it. "Nice try, darling. But we all pinched ourselves the moment you went through that thing and became a unicorn," Rarity said dryly.

To prove the point, Pinkie pinched Twilight. who shot her a dirty look as she rubbed her arms. "See!"

Sunset's eyes twitched. Damn it. That would have been too easy. "Okay, fine. This is real. I'm not actually human. I come from a place called Equestria, and I am actually a unicorn."

Applejack still wasn't happy about the deception. "So why not tell us, sugarcube? Ya had five years to do it."

Sunset laughed with little humor in it. "How dumb do you think I am, AJ? What do you think you would have done if I had told you right after we met? You had no reason to trust me. I was going to dump you the first chance I got and... Well. You know the rest."

Fluttershy looked at where the portal once stood. "It looked nice, I guess. For a hallway that is."

Sunset smiled. "Yeah. It is. It isn't perfect, but it's home. Or at least it used to be. No matter what Princess Celestia said otherwise."

Rainbow threw her hands up in exasperation. "Can we please start from the beginning?! My brain hurts!"

Sunset giggled as she led the group back the way they came. "Get comfy, Rainbow. This is a long story."

"... And you girls know the rest of the story once we all met up," Sunset finished, rubbing her nose irritably at the memories.

Her friends were stunned, to say the least. Twilight, though, seemed fixated on something in particular. "I'm a unicorn, and a student to the ruler of a whole country?!"

Sunset giggled. "Looks like it. And if not for her mane being done differently and not having glasses, you two are twins."

Twilight's mind seemed to have fried at the very idea, as she fell back with a plop on her bed, while the others were still curious. "Do you think we all have twins over there?" Pinkie asked happily.

Sunset shrugged. "Possibly. I know I saw someponies I used to know five years ago as humans. So it stands to reason you all have a counterpart in Equestria. I would love to know, though, what happened to my counterpart. No one's seen her in either world it seems."

That was a good question, actually, now that the girls thought of it. None of them ever remembered seeing someone that looked like Sunset before they all first met. Not even Pinkie Pie, and she remembered a lot of people. Strange. "So when can we visit?" Fluttershy asked hopefully.

Sunset sighed. And there it was. She had been afraid of that question. "I don't know. If that portal works like the first one I used, it won't open for another thirty moons. And there's no guarantee that it will ever open again."

"What about that first one?" Rarity asked.

Sunset shrugged. "If I can find it again, and it's even open at the time, I don't see why not." She smirked. "Just let me do all the talking, okay? From what I saw, I think Princess Celestia does know your counterparts. I'm not sure how, but she does. I just know it."

"So why come back? Sounds like a nice place to live if ya ask me," Applejack asked. She was still annoyed but was beginning to calm down now.

Sunset snorted. "And leave my friends behind? As if. I'm going to see this through to the end or die trying. Preferably not dying, if it's all the same to you girls."

Her friends giggled. They couldn't argue with that.

This late at night, Watch Station Zeta was quiet. Very few were needed to watch the scopes or man the defense batteries in this sector this late, so few technicians sat manning the consoles.

One such was bored out of his mind as he watched the Inner Space Telescope aimed towards the Inner Sphere. There had been nothing for months now. Not even a faint blip, let alone something to worry about. He briefly wondered again why he had signed up for this job. The G-Project needed more now.

He had closed his eyes only for a moment before an alert on his monitor woke him with a loud beep. Suddenly drenched in a cold sweat, he looked at the data coming in. But this didn't make any sense. It wasn't coming this way. It was... "Sir," he called, gaining the attention of the Watch Commander.

Thunder sighed irritably as he walked over. "What is it, private? This had better be important."

The tech nodded. "I am reading a massive spike in activity in Sector Zero. Ahab Waves are rising in the Debris Belt."

Thunder frowned. "Earth? Are they coming this way?"

The tech shook his head. "That's just it. They are not. They are all aimed-"

Before he could say more, another alert flashed on a separate screen, and then another, then another. Soon, every screen was showing the same thing. Every telescope and scanner. Bringing it all up to the central monitor on the Deep Space Telescope as it turned towards the Inner Sphere.

Thunder felt his blood run cold as he watched what was happening. "My god. Get Commander Agneika in here now!"

Author's Note

Timeframe-wise, this is set during Season 2, or late Season 1 of Friendship is Magic. Hence why Twilight is still a unicorn in Equestria. And to answer something Magic Kitsune Brony said. That was the reaction I was going for.

As for something AstralFlare42 said, I'm not really looking for anybody's OCs. I'm trying to keep the number of characters I use small. And with 65 Gundam Frames needing a pilot, I can use my own if I need to.