The halls grew unnervingly silent as they looked at the resurrected Sith after she had just slain her own sister, the crimson red glow from her lightsaber reflecting the evil of her heart.

"My mistress has allowed me a second chance to get the revenge I desire, and now it's coming to fruition," Solaria coldly remarked, pointing her saber at the group opposite her. "Now that my naive sister is no more, you're all next."

I don't think so. I won't allow it," Cara stated, stepping forward with her saber in hand.

"Neither will I," Shaak Ti continued, joining her daughter.

For the first time in a long time, a cold shiver crept down Solaria's spine, for a Jedi Master stepped forward to face her, but she held her ground with her arrogance and cocky attitude fueling her.

"The rest of you, go find whatever else is needed for us to escape this place. Me and my daughter will deal with this misguided child," Shaak Ti stated, her spanish-like accent somewhat bringing with it a calming feeling for the rest of them, the sound of it like music to the ear.

"Yes, master. Alright, Sunnie. Lead the way," Lavender spoke up, with Sunnie turning back to the way they came to lead the hunt for their next clue.

"Cara…. Please be careful," Fudge requested, giving his beloved a kiss on the lips.

"I will. You taught me well," Cara replied as Fudge smiled then turned to join the others. Turning back to face Solaria, she straightened her posture and tightened her grip on her saber. "Maybe this time when you die, you'll stay dead."

Cara then ignited the raspberry hued blade of her saber as her mother followed suit by igniting her own blue blade. Shaak Ti gave her daughter up once, she wasn't about to do it again. Standing there with her child, she was filled with an immense amount of pride that she had created this young woman that was willing to fight if it was to protect those she loves most.

"Well then. Let's see what you're made of, Jedi fools," Solaria snapped, and then charged at the Jedi opposite of her. And at once the formerly quiet halls erupted with the sound of lightsaber blades clashing against one another, with Shaak Ti and Cara holding their own with ease.

At the south entrance to the cafeteria near the staircase leading to the second floor, the group were about to head up when Fudge stopped and looked in the direction of the main lobby where a duel was taking place.

"Fudge, don't worry. Cara will be fine. I'm sure of it. With Shaak Ti here now, nothing will happen to her. If I know anything about Master Ti, I know that Solaria won't stand a chance," Lavender assured her son, putting a hand on his shoulder to ease his nerves.

Back in the main lobby, the fight against Solaria intensified as the two Togruta fended off the so-called Sith. Sparkle giving her renewed life was a gift she took with honor and devotion, but what she did not know is that she was only given a second chance, and wasn't granted extra power as she had expected. After all, that would be too easy. And Sparkle had other plans. Not that they knew of that. Yet.

"There's no way out of this, Sith," Shaak spoke as she and Cara commenced a blade lock with the fallen knight. "You can't expect to achieve whatever goal you may have. I can sense that your feelings betray you."

"I won't stop until you Jedi fools are wiped from existence!" Solaria shouted, breaking the blade lock and seized Cara with the force and threw her into the glass covering the trophy display case to the right of the cafeteria doors, shattering the glass upon impact as she fell to the ground and her saber slipped from her hand, dazed from the blow.

Seeing her child being attacked in such a fashion brought up new feelings within Shaak Ti that she wouldn't have had otherwise: Anger and motherly instincts to defend her child. Now that Cara was subdued, Shaak was left to fend off the fallen knight alone, increasing the ferocity of her own attacks.

"Aww, did I hurt your child? Oh boohoo. She got what she deserved," Solaria stated as she parried Shaak Ti's blows with exceptional precision.

As Solaria commenced yet another blade lock with the Jedi Master, she had let her guard down like most Sith do as she failed to sense one of the others coming up behind her, and before she could react, Solaria felt an immense heat protruding from her stomach as she looked down to see a pink glowing blade belonging to that of Fudge. Removing his blade, Solaria's saber shut off and fell from her hand as she slumped to the ground, her life slipping away a second time.

"Perhaps you'll stay dead this time," Fudge commented. "Forgive me for the rash choice to stab her, master, but I couldn't stand by any longer. Not after I sensed you both in trouble."

"It's okay, Fudge. I know you meant well. And I appreciate your help regardless," Shaak replied, putting a hand on his shoulder. "I'll deal with her in her final moments. You go see that Cara is alright."

Fudge ran over to Cara as she was trying to get up, as being thrown into a glass window wouldn't exactly be painless.

"Cara, take it easy," Fudge said as he helped her up. "You ok?"

"Well… other than being thrown into a trophy case, never better. Sure as hell doesn't tickle," Cara replied, rubbing the back of her head and rear lekku. "You just fatally wounded a human life, Fudge. I know she wanted to kill us, but I can't imagine that must feel good."

"No. It doesn't feel good. It's a Jedi's goal to not take life and to defend it instead, but under the still current circumstances, rules have to be bent a little for the greater good. Solaria would have stopped at nothing to kill us all under the command of her new mistress, even if it meant having the dark side corrupt her to the point she is driven mad," Fudge commented, noticing Solaria on the verge of death, hopefully for the last time.

Shaak Ti knelt over as the fallen knight's eyes faded back to their original purple, and in her final moments, knowing she would have been killed regardless, she decided to reveal Sparkle's intentions.

"I… cough don't, expect you to believe me. But there's.. something.. you should know.." Solaria uttered, inching closer and closer to death, hopefully for the last time.

"What is it, young one?" Shaak Ti questioned.

"The others… they're.. in danger. Sparkle… wanted you all to split up.. to lure you all… into a trap…" And with a final breath, Solaria passed on.

"Fudge, where did they go?" Cara asked as panic began to settle in.

"Up to the teacher's lounge. Come on!" Fudge exclaimed, running up one of the staircases to the second floor while simultaneously summoning Lulu's saber with the force. Without a shred of hesitation, Cara and her mother bolted after him as they too realized that the duel they partook in was merely a distraction.

Meanwhile in the outside world, the Friendship Games had progressed far enough that the Tricross relay had come to an end, with CHS scoring their first victory against Crystal Prep. Typically, she would have accused them of cheating, but after the revelation from earlier and Fudge snapping at her a little, Cinch decided to try and turn over a new leaf by letting CHS have this win. Letting them enjoy this victory actually put a little smile on her face for once.

Back in the game, Fudge had reached one of the two staircases that lead up to the top floor of the school and jumped up with haste. What he found was nothing like he was expecting to find: everyone being completely fine.

"Fudge? What is it? Are Cara and Master Ti alright?" Lavender asked, seeing the worry in her son's face.

"Yeah, they're fine. They're right behind me, but I got news. Sparkle wanted us all to split up because she wanted to lure you all into a trap," Fudge responded.

"A trap? What do you mean by that?" Cocoa chimed in.

"That duel with Solaria was only meant as a distraction. Whatever you guys came up here to find… she wanted you to find it. Sparkle is probably planning to-.."

Before Fudge could continue his sentence, he began to feel as though he had been sucked into space and fell to the ground, gasping for air as quickly as it was leaving him. As Lavender went to Fudge's aid to try and help him, Cocoa and Sunnie also fell to the ground gasping for air. Although admirable, their efforts were futile as Fudge, Cocoa, and Sunnie all vanished into thin air just as Cara and Shaak Ti caught up with them.

"No no no no no! Fuuudge!" Lavender shouted, panic overtaking her.

"Cocoa and Sunnie are gone too!" Celestia also shouted.

All at once Lavender began to pace around, thinking her children just died as well as Sunnie. Though they were unaware, their children were merely… relocated.

"We need to find them. Now! We came too far just to stand here and do nothing! I'm not leaving here without my daughter," Celestia barked.

"Then let's get moving," Jedi Sunset chimed in. "But there's something we need to do first. It'll be quick. Trust me. Given what's about to happen, we'll need all the help we can get."

-------***-------

Sunnie gasped as she regained consciousness. And upon regaining consciousness, she immediately noticed her arms were bound up at the wrists much like before the game started all over again several hours ago.

"Oh come on! Not this again," Sunnie commented, pointlessly struggling against the metal chains wrapped around her hands. Taking in the surrounding area, it appeared to be the front of the school and she was chained to the wondercolt statue. "Cocoa? Fudge? Hello?"

"Grunt. I'm here!" Cocoa shouted.

"So am I!" Fudge shouted as well.

Each of them were bound on different sides of the statue, with the vacant side being where the portal is in the outside world that connects them to the parallel world called Equestria. At this point the ground was covered with a thin layer of ash from the still erupting volcano even with it being hours later.

"I hope they have something planned, 'cause I can't fucking TAKE THIS SHIT ANYMORE!" Sunnie barked with intense frustration. It didn't help her mood that she didn't have any of her weapons, and Cocoa and Fudge didn't have their lightsabers either. They only had the force, but with the metal chains around their hands, that proved to be a bit of a hassle. Out of nowhere though, a lightsaber ignited and cut through the metal chains binding Sunnie’s hands, setting her free. Rubbing her hands, she looks to see that Lavender had cut her free and is now cutting loose her children.

“Thanks, Mom,” Fudge commented, rubbing his wrists. After she cut Cocoa free, she handed Cocoa and Fudge their lightsabers. “Where are the others?”

“They should be reaching the main lobby as we speak. After we went and did what Shimmer suggested, I took off ahead. Sunnie, your mother has whatever weapon you had,” Lavender replied.

“What was this suggestion?” Cocoa asked.

Before Lavender could answer Cocoa’s question, someone clearing their throat acquired their attention, and upon turning their heads they are greeted by Shimmer being flanked by Principal Celestia, Cara, Shaak Ti, and… more Jedi. These new Jedi appeared to be more versions of the girls back home, consisting of Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Twilight, and surprisingly another Celestia.

"Holy shit," Sunnie commented, seeing yet another variant of her mother. "I guess this fully proves the Multiverse theory."

"Something serious is about to go down," Fudge spoke, igniting his pink blade. "Wait. Where's Sunrise?"

Instead of a verbal answer, Sunrise appeared to be walking towards them from the right side of the school opposite the sports field with a large group of zombies flanking her, but these zombies' were glowing a moderate cyan once more instead of purple as Sunrise managed to turn some zombies over to their side.

"For an intelligent woman, mom is really a dumbass," Sunrise commented, stopping just shy of the group of Jedi, Sunnie, and Celestia, with her army behind her. "She didn't take away all of the power she "gave" me. And now we have an army of our own."

And not a moment too soon as a loud noise could be heard, taking their attention towards the sports field where an army of purple glowing eyed zombies tore through the fence surrounding the field. Cocoa, Lavender, and all of the other Jedi ignited their lightsabers as they prepared for the fight that was about to ensue.

"Are you two ready for this? If it hasn't been ugly already, it's about to get even more so," Lavender spoke to both her children.

"I am. I wouldn't have come here if it didn't mean something," Fudge replied. "I knew what I was getting myself into."

"I'm ready too, mom," Cocoa responded. "We came this far to get Sunnie home. And I'm not gonna give up right at the finish line."

"Neither will I," Principal Celestia chimed in, with Sunnie on her left. "It's time to end this. Once and for all."

"Well then. Fudge, would you do the honor?" Lavender spoke, gesturing to her son.

"For Canterlot!" Fudge shouted, as he and all of their allies charged at Sparkle's minions while they charged in unison.

This was truly to be a fight for the ages as the Jedi charged forward and cut through the first few lines of Sparkle's undead army with ease. Sunnie and her mother opened fire where they could and the army of undead converted to their side lunged at their own and proceeded to bite at each other, with it doing nothing but ripping each other apart.

The Jedi began to disperse so as to try and spread out the undead with Fudge having grouped up with Cara and Shaak Ti and Cocoa stuck by her and Fudge's mother. With each group of purple eyed zombies slain, another took its place. It had only just begun, but it was becoming quickly evident that this was going to be a lengthy fight as Sunnie and her mother were already beginning to run out of ammo, which was going to be a very big problem.

“I’m on my last mag!” Sunnie shouted in frustration.

“Me too!” Principal Celestia spoke, soon hearing a click from her AK rifle. Before they could switch out for their other weapons though, they were thrown spare lightsabers by Jedi Rarity and Jedi Rainbow Dash as they overheard the mother and daughter running out of ammo. Celestia and Sunnie didn’t dare question being given these lightsabers as it would be far better than having to run out of ammo.

“Heh. Never thought I’d actually use one of these,” Celestia spoke as she ignited the blue blade with Sunnie igniting hers, also being a blue blade.

“Me neither,” Sunnie responded as they joined in cutting down Sparkle’s minions.

At one point one of Sparkle's minions jumped on Fudge's back and began to ride him like a jockey would a horse in a derby, to which Fudge wasn't taking amusement from.

"I am not some horse!" Fudge shouted as he ripped the zombie off his shoulders, threw it onto the ground and drove his pink blade through its skull. "There. Now stay dead, please."

Moving over to near the Wondercolt statue, Cocoa and Lavender had their backs to each other as zombie after zombie charged at them only to be cut down with extreme precision. Although the purple eyed zombie assault was proving to be endless, they all were willing to put up one hell of a fight to the very end.

Meanwhile, Sparkle had re-entered the physical realm and was watching the battle unfold from on top of the school. Everything was going according to plan for Sparkle, watching them all fight to the death. Although she had fun for a while watching Sunnie squirm for so long after she first arrived in this world, seeing such a big battle unfold was all the more entertaining. That fallen Jedi variant of Celestia was an interesting discovery for the scientist turned mad she-demon, seeing another powerful pawn in her ultimate goal of seizing the magic from alternate universes, and now the key to acquiring such power was right in front of her. Who needs family when you can have endless power across universes? Looking back at the fight though with her immense vision, she noticed something was amiss. She couldn’t see her estranged daughter, Sunrise. And a split second before she could react, she was caught by surprise by her magical powers being drained from her and turned her head to see Sunrise holding a spectrometer device she had intended years ago, and now her own daughter was using it against her.

“Fuck, mom, you really are a dumbass,” Sunrise commented as her mother’s powers were quickly diminishing, causing her pain. “You should have thought about destroying this thing. Now it’s the instrument of your ultimate failure.”

"You.. little… bitch!" Sparkle winced as the last of her magic was sucked out of her, and she was returned to her human form, where previously she adorned black framed glasses with her hair up in a bun on the back of her head, and a typical science getup, complete with a white lab coat, gloves, tan colored khakis, dress shoes, and even a blue turtleneck sweater.

Once all of the magic was drained from her estranged mother, Sunrise closed the spectrometer, placed it in her left pocket and then ignited the amethyst blade of Lulu's lightsaber that she was given and pointed it right at Sparkle.

"Y'know. I would love to kill you right now after what you've put all of us through, but I think I'll let mom decide what happens to you," Sunrise announced. Using what bit of her own magic she still had, Sunrise seized her mother and held her up with magic while escorting her down to the others. All while this was happening, every zombie dead or still active was beginning to slump to their knees as they began to return to being living humans once again. And not only that, but the world around them was beginning to return to what it had been before Sparkle went mad with power. The erupting volcano was wiped clean from existence, the caved in road was put back together, and everything that had been part of the "game" was fading as well.

All of the Jedi including Cara, Shaak Ti, Cocoa, Fudge, their mother, and even Sunnie and her own mother raised their weapons as they began to celebrate this victory. At last, the "game" was over.

"It's over. It's finally over," Sunnie spoke, her sentence dripping with happiness and relief. "This means I finally get to go home."

"What on earth happened?" The other Rarity spoke as she got to her feet, dusting off her blue fall formal dress, it now being void of any blood stains. "That was rather odd. We were partying inside the gymnasium, and now we're outside the school. Aaaand there are doubles of us, in weird outfits."

"No way. Our doubles are Jedi! Awesome!" the other Rainbow Dash shouted.

"Well that's somethin' I never thought I'd see," the other Applejack commented, seeing her own Jedi double.

"You can say that again," Shimmer spoke. "At least now things can hopefully go back to the way they were. I'm gonna have a nice long talk with my soon to be ex-wife as soon as I find her."

"Well here she is, mom," Sunrise interrupted, throwing Sparkle at Shimmer's feet. Seeing her estranged wife, Shimmer forcefully pulled the woman to her feet and violently drove her right knee into Sparkle's stomach, sending her back to the ground from the pain of the blow.

"You manipulated me, AND our own daughter, for what? Some fucking obsession with magic?!" Shimmer growled.

"Magic.. is easier to understand than your stupid Jedi "teachings". Made more sense, too. And so what I manipulated you and Sunrise? You two were stupid enough to trust me in the first place. Having family meant I had viable, gullible test subjects," Sparkle coldly stated, the lust for power having turned her completely bitter, a complete opposite from one of the women Sunrise looked up to growing up as a little girl. And hearing those words brought tears to Sunrise's eyes. Shimmer though… was beginning to fume with anger.

"I would grab you by the throat and snap your neck like a twig right now, but I won't. Because I want to be the mother for Sunrise that you never were," Shimmer spoke, grabbing Sparkle by her turtleneck sweater and lifting her up. "Consider this our divorce. Twilight Sparkle, you are under arrest. I'll see to it that you spend the rest of your life rotting in a cell. Sunrise, go get a phone and the police here at once."

"Of course, mom. But there's something we need to do first," Sunrise responded, pointing to Sunnie, Cocoa, and the rest of their family. "We need to help them get home."

"Right. See what you can do to get that portal open so they can go home," Shimmer replied, dragging her ex-wife back to the school to keep her locked up until she can be taken to a cell by the police for her crimes.

Sunrise motioned for them to follow her as she led them to the Wondercolt statue, stopping as they now stood in front of it.

"I can use my magic to reopen the portal for you guys, but I can't hold it open for long so you'll have to be quick," Sunrise said as Fudge stood to face her.

"So I take it you don't want to come with us?" Fudge asked.

"I think it's best that I stay here with mom so I can help her see to it that things return to semi-normal. And we already have enough doubles in this world as it is. Having more would make things go chaotic all over again," Sunrise continued.

"Fair point. Well, I hope you guys can fix things here. I suppose we should be off then. May the force be with you," Fudge replied as Sunrise concentrated her magic on the base of the Wondercolt statue, and the portal came to life.

Keeping in mind that Sunrise said she wouldn't be able to hold the portal open for long, Sunnie ran into the portal first, followed by Celestia, Cocoa, Fudge, and then Cara and her mother Shaak Ti.

"May the force be with you too," Sunrise spoke as she closed the portal, their dimensions being cut off from each other.

----***----

Once they stepped through the portal to go home, the projection of the game world immediately dissipated. While also waiting until the final event of the Friendship Games began, everyone gathered back in the gymnasium and were free to do as they wished, so they had another party of sorts. And at the height of it all, the game's case reopened and it began to glow as trails began to form and manifest on the stage, as Sunnie took form first followed by the rest of her family.

Shaking her head, Sunnie was coming to terms that she was finally home after being gone for nearly three years, and the joy of it was overwhelming as she instantly began to cry, the tears running down her cheeks like a river.

"Oh sweetie," Celestia spoke, pulling her daughter into a hug as Sunnie immediately latched onto her mother. Celestia didn't even try to hold back the tears as she too began to cry, extremely overjoyed that her baby girl was finally back home. Dazzy immediately bolted for the stage and ran up to join in the hug, wrapping her arms around her cousin and aunt as Luna also came to join in, their family becoming whole once again.

"I'd say this is mission accomplished," Fudge spoke, propping an arm on the shoulders of his sister and their mother.

"Without a doubt," Cocoa responded.

"I'm so proud of you both," Lavender said, kissing her children on the tops of their heads. "You went and risked your lives to bring Sunnie home. Sure we may have joined in to help, but it was you both that discovered where she had been all this time and led the mission to rescue her without a shred of hesitation. And now she's home where she belongs."

The gym erupted with cheers and clapping as everyone celebrated the return of Sunnie. The Sunset from Equestria hadn't returned to Equestria yet due to her own magic having been taken from her, but she was working with Twilight to try and safely release the magic so the portal to Equestria could get reopened. If she hadn't already felt guilty for the things she's done, knowing she was inadvertently responsible for this world's Sunset being displaced into yet another dimension covered her in several thick layers of guilt. Just as she was about to open one of the sets of doors leading out into the hallway, she felt someone grab her arm to keep her from walking away in shame.

"You're not going anywhere," Rainbow Dash said. "You got some major ass-kissing to do."

Seeing Rainbow keep the other Sunset in the gym caught the attention of Cocoa and Fudge as they jumped off the stage and walked over to confront the Equestrian unicorn turned human. Cocoa would have commented on her own new Jedi attire, but she was more focused on Sunnie finally being home after so long.

"Sunset Shimmer of Equestria. What do you have to say for yourself?" Cocoa remarked as she crossed her arms, Fudge remaining by her side.

"I know you never really liked me, and this probably won't mean much, but I am truly sorry for all that I've done to you, your family, and everyone else here. I never thought the Sunset of this world would be pushed into another dimension entirely. I just…. I wanted to go somewhere I could get away from my Celestia as we didn't part on good terms," Sunset spoke, never having made eye contact with Cocoa.

"Well that's your mistake. And you better start working on your apology for this Celestia of yours," Cocoa snapped back. "Because you're no longer welcome here. The sooner you can go back to where you came from, the better. Rainbow, see to it that she gets her stuff packed and let us know when she's ready to leave."

"Will do," Rainbow responded, escorting Sunset out of the gymnasium and back to her apartment so she could pack what she wanted to take back to Equestria.

"Fudge? Cocoa? Could you come here?" Lavender shouted from the stage. As they made their way back onto the stage, Fudge stood to the right of Cara, and Cocoa stood to her left. She remained in her outfit of a blue t-shirt, pink jogger shorts, and socks and sneakers, which she had no objections to. She wouldn't want to wear Jedi robes for too long anyway, considering she was pregnant.

"Fudge, Cara, Cocoa… you three have proven to be capable and worthy of the title you are about to be given. When the odds were against you, you never gave up and you released Sunnie from her nearly three year imprisonment and brought her home to her family, where she belongs. With permission from Master Ti, I now ask you to kneel," Lavender stated, igniting the lime green blade of her lightsaber. Moving the blade over each of their shoulders and then just over the tops of their heads, she began the Knighting ceremony.

"By the right of the council, by the will of the force. Fudge Amethyst, Cara Ti, Cocoa Lavender. I now dub thee…. Jedi Knights."

The young trio looked up in mild surprise, but accepted the honor of being made Jedi Knights without question as they got to their feet. Bowing to Lavender in thanks, she bowed in unison.

Not long after this was the party back in full swing. Sunnie was finally home, the other Sunset was on her way back to Equestria, and everything was perfect. Most of the students from both CHS as well as CPA gathered around Fudge and Cara as they told them all about their experiences inside the game world first hand. Sure they saw it happen, but that doesn't hold a candle to actually experiencing it. Principal Cinch, Dean Cadence, Celestia, Luna, Lavender, and Shaak Ti all had some punch and were catching up and having a chat of their own while Cocoa and Sunnie were having a dance as their relationship as girlfriends truly began.

"You know. Now that we can be together, we should figure out something great for our first date," Cocoa chimed as they slowly danced, with her normal and metallic hands on Sunnie's waist, with Sunnie's arms draped over her shoulders and around the back of her neck.

"I was thinking of splitting it between two things," Sunnie said.

"Mmh? And what would those be?" Cocoa asked.

"Right now, and maybe bowling after as well as pizza," Sunnie responded with a smirk.

"Sounds perfect. Let's do it," Cocoa said as she moved in for a kiss, relishing in the feeling of Sunnie's soft lips making contact with her own.

What Cocoa didn't expect was Sunnie's tongue poking at her lips, demanding entry into her mouth. Cocoa normally would have objected to the notion of making out in such a public setting, but after what they just went through, she decided to go with the flow and allowed Sunnie's tongue entry as their tongues danced while they continued to kiss. After all, she and Sunnie were meant for each other.

And nothing would separate them. Ever again….

Author's Note

I apologize for the wait. But none the less, here is Chapter IX at last, and the completion of the overall story. I plan to add two more chapters, but those are planned to be bonus content.

I appreciate you all for reading this far, and I hope you enjoyed it :). I already have a sequel story planned of which I will do my very best to make sure it's a very nice read for you guys.

That should be it for now. Stay safe everyone, and may the force be with you