"You'll be fine, Sunset. Besides, my speech is right after yours." Twilight says as she travels towards the large magic schoolhouse in Canterlot, her student Sunset following behind and shuffling through cards.

Twilight continues as she looks over her shoulder toward her student, watching the subtle signs of worry on her face. "You're the only pony qualified here to talk about things like advanced science and anything else from your world. You'll have to get used to making speeches like this eventually ANYWAYS."

Sunset flips through the cards again, going through them for the twentieth time that morning alone. Sunset then peeks from behind the cards with a huff. "You sprung this on me last minute! Besides, speeches I can do. TEACHING an entire class about stuff I'm far from an expert on is rough!"

Twilight blinks. "I gave you two and a half months! I told you about it when you and Fluttershy returned from the Smokey Mountains. Besides, I'm talking about cutie-mark magic. That's rough."

Sunset stares at her teacher with a deadpan expression. "Twilight, weren't you the one that made a spell that- MPGFHFN." Sunset's words are cut off by a hoof pushed over her mouth by her teacher. A little stare escapes her as she pulls away from it. "Alright, that was a low blow even for me, but still. The point stands."

Twilight sighs. "Yeah, well, Celestia asked if I could talk about how Cutie Marks can bring ponies together and push them apart. Pretty downer on the second part, but realistically, if ponies want to study them, they'll have to observe both the good and the bad. Are you still fine with being my second example?"

Sunset waves her hoof. "You know I'm always okay with helping out. Besides, I'd be a bitter prisoner in Canterlot's dungeons if you hadn't gotten your cutie mark... or just living life in the other world, I guess."

Twilight tilts her head a little and hums. "Perhaps. I did tell Celestia to go easy on you back in the day. Although considering how she and her sister act, sometimes I wonder if they even remember half my lessons."

Sunset laughs a little. "Yeah, no, Celestia was a stick in the mud before she taught you. Honestly, I'm pretty sure she just fell apart without Luna, no matter how prepared you made her for it, but that's in the past."

Twilight shrugs. "I did my best. Anyways, let's get in there and do our best."

"Wait. We're already here?! I'M NOT READY," Sunset says in a panic as Twilight drags her into the building.

"Cutiemarks can bind people together in a way that nothing else can. Some ponies can even achieve or gain their marks simultaneously, and typically, although there are only about three known cases of this, those ponies are irrevocably bound by fate. Cutiemarks seem to have a core connection with the world, if not the gods or whatever you believe in. Of course, this can work in the opposite direction. Ponies tend to value their marks and fall out with their friends if they do not get them simultaneously or in different fields. This is normal, but there are plenty of cases where ponies abandon one another to pursue their talent." Twilight looks over at Spike, who, to his credit, was able to stay awake this long, but has now fallen asleep. With a sigh, she uses her magic to tick the next slide, not wishing to wake him up.

Twilight takes a small sip of water before continuing, watching the students scribble down their notes. Her eyes caught the presence of Starlight Glimmer. Without missing a beat, however, Twilight continues her speech.

"Mm. Anyways, In my first example, you have me and my friends. When Rainbow Dash did the Sonic Rainboom when we were young, it brought us all together in the end! Since then, fate has bound us and saved Equestria several times. Even my student and friend Sunset here." She motions to Sunset, who waves. "Is interconnected to that story thanks to that one event."

Sunset nods and takes over, stepping up to the podium. "Without Twilight and the others, I wouldn't be here. I'd still be a bitter bully in my world or worse." She sighs. "I'll take a moment to say that Cutie marks are what you make of them, though. You CAN have hobbies and be good at things outside of your talent, like how Twilight makes the best pancakes, or I love to play music! So if you decide to study cutie mark magic, remember not to fall into the pitfalls we described today!"

Twilight gives her student a little nod as she takes the podium once again. Clearing her voice, she says, "Well, we have about five minutes, so we will be asking questions of the audience. It can be about either of our presentations today."

After ten more minutes, they leave the lecture hall, Twilight taking a deep breath as Sunset slumps against the door. "Aghhhh... That was so rough. I'm glad it's over! I'm going to go home and crash in my bed for the rest of the day." Sunset sighs out in relief.

Twilight giggles a little bit as she helps Sunset up. "Well, the day isn't over yet, Sunset." She says idly as she levitates Spike and puts him on her back. "We have a... villain to take care of by the seems of it."

Sunset groans loudly and flumps on the ground. "Fine. Should we get the others?"

Twilight hums, "Mmm. Nah, you and I haven't had a duo adventure together yet! I think the first one was the only one we went on together. The map is pretty good at sending you with the others, though."

Spike chimes in. "Meanwhile, you haven't gotten a single friendship quest since we went to Starlight's town."

Sunset dryly laughs. "Because sending Twilight to fix something is effectively a nuclear option. It's like sending Celestia and Luna to fix something, but like-"

"20% more awesome?" Twilight interjects as she smirks back at Sunset, teleporting herself and her student to Ponyville's town square.

"Yeah, something like that. It'd be interesting to see how you would have fixed the issue at the Smokey Mountains." Sunset says, the air between the two light, even though they figure they're walking right into a trap.

Twilight stops and taps her chin. "Mmm... I probably woulda made it way worse at the start, leaving it to Fluttershy to fix in the end since she's better at helping ponies come together. Although when it comes to figuring out the reason for their feud, I think I could have done that too." She shrugs. "Hard to say. I haven't had to do stuff like that in a very long time. Honestly, I'm not too confident in solving things peacefully anymore, Sunset."

Sunset gives Twilight a nudge to the side. "Hey, don't make me tell Moondancer that you're being defeatest now. You're fine, Twilight. A little rough around the edges, but fine nonetheless."

Twilight smiles. "I appreciate that Sunset." The pair look up towards the castle, Twilight's gaze distant as she looks up towards her home. "Let's get this over with."

The trio enters the throne room of Twilight's castle. Starlight is seated on Twilight's throne, grinning towards the trio as they enter the room. "Hello, girls. I hope you don't mind if I make myself comfortable. These seats are nice, and don't get me started on this map. Make it yourself, Twilight?"

Sunset tilts her head. "Wait, you? I was expecting someone... more interesting."

Twilight shrugs. "B-list villains have to make an impression, Sunset." Twilight idly says, a slight smirk appearing as she watches Starlight's rising anger as the villain's face becomes red.

Twilight looks towards Sunset, shrugging and saying after a moment. "I'll invite Tirek next time. You could do with the magic practice."

Starlight glares as she stomps her hooves on the table. "B-List?! I'm more dangerous than any villain you may have encountered!"

Twilight deadpans at Starlight. "You haven't exactly proven that now, have you-. Oh." She says, cutting herself off as she notices two objects on the table: a wound-up scroll, and a strange, yet familiar, gauntlet. Twilight feels the rising feeling of dread coming up from deep inside herself as the object settles on the table.

"Where did you get that?" Twilight says with a glare as she interposes herself between Starlight and her student, waving Spike to the side as to push him behind her. "You're messing with something you could NEVER hope to understand, Starlight Glimmer!"

"What's going on, Twilight?" Spike says as he tries to look past Twilight towards Starlight, who smirks as she stomps her hoof into the metallic object. Magical energy is coursing through her body, causing both her body and the gauntlet to glow a bright teal blue.

"A little gift from my cousin. She said with this, even you'd be helpless against what happens next!" Starlight then focuses all that built-up magic into the scroll, energy surging through the map as the castle flickers and shakes violently. All the energy that created it is focused towards one goal as a violent swirl of magic distorts through the area, swallowing the room and objects within. Starlight laughs as she travels through the swirling portal. "I'll make sure you never have a good ending again!"

The magic vortex swirls violently as the trio holds onto the ground, table, and even chairs to avoid getting pulled in. The gusts of wind are deafening and blinding. Even Twilight struggles to hold on, grunting out, "D-Dang it! It's her magic! Hold on! I don't know what spell she cast, but it can't be good!"

Spike grunts and yells out as he begins to lose his grip. "Twilight. I can't. Hold. AHHH!" With a loud scrape, the dragon loses his grip on the table, pulled into the vortex after Starlight in a spinning tumble.

Sunset is next to get pulled in, unable to hold onto Applejack's chair, grunting against the vortex's pull. "Too... Much. What in Tartarus is this?!" She yells out as she tries to keep her grip, a hoof falling loose before, with a little slip, she gets tossed into the vortex next. Horn sparking and failing to cast anything as the ambient magic in the room is drained into the spell itself.

Twilight finally manages to open her eyes, and the winds force her to squint, but she's barely able to make out the sight of her student losing her grip and the missing presence of Spike. "NO! I WON'T LOSE ANYONE ELSE!" She says as she dives in after Spike and her student.

Sunset groans as she wakes up, falling rapidly from the sky. Hooves flail quickly as she sees a cloud approaching, horn sparking wildly. "Come on. Come on!" She grunts as a bright flash appears over her body, causing her to land and bounce on the cloud like a trampoline. "WAHKUF." She groans as she flies back up, seeing Spike falling from above. Thinking quickly, Sunset casts a bright area teleportation spell, flashing herself and Spike to the nearest cloud and depositing the pair onto it with a groan.

Sunset narrowly catches Spike before he falls through the clouds. "Ugh... What. Was that?"

Spike groans as he wakes up, looking down before yelling, "AHH!" He quickly clings to Sunset's neck, staring at the clouds and the ground far below. "Phew... That's a long way down." He says after a moment.

Sunset grunts a little as she gently pulls him off her neck. "Scratched my neck there a bit, bud." She says as she casts the cloudwalking spell on him, setting him down. "Is this... Cloudsdale? No, this looks way older than when Rainbow showed me around."

Spike rubs his chin, quickly thinking through as many possibilities as he can. He snaps his claws as he comes up with an idea, "Time magic then. We should be careful not to mess with anything if we can avoid it. If Starlight's spell is strong enough to alter the past, then we'd be doing a lot of damage just by being here."

Sunset stares at Spike with a tilt of her head. "How did you?"

Spike chuckles a little. "Twilight has the Spirit of Time in her!.. whatever that means. She obsesses over this type of stuff. I wonder where she is, though. She should be here with us."

"Oh, Twilight won't be joining us, Spike. At least, I hope not. I sent her somewhere where she'll be a bit more occupied. I'm not crazy enough to fight her one-on-one." Starlight says with a shudder, floating towards the pair in her own patented brand of self-levitation magic.

"But you, the pony who RUINED everything for me. Now, you're going to watch as everything falls apart. Thanks to your little lesson, I can ruin your life, AND Twilight's life in one fell swoop here!" Starlight says with a little smirk.

Spike flatly stares. "Or you'll destroy Equestria because Twilight and her friends have saved it so many times. You really should probably think this through."

Sunset briefly giggles. The situation is absurd to her, knowing what she knows. Not to mention, Starlight saw the presentation. After gathering herself, she looks at Starlight seriously, her eyes trailing toward the budding race behind Starlight. It's almost begun. So it was THAT day. "You saw the presentation, Starlight. Are you trying to destroy Equestria? I thought you just wanted your 'utopia'."

Starlight glares. "This is more than just that. I want to prove that Equestria is better off without cutiemarks. Yeah, sure, Twilight and her friends solved tons of problems." She says as she steps around on the clouds, interposing between the race and Sunset. "Heck, they might have even saved Equestria a few times, but somepony will step up instead of them. Even if it has to be me!" She says as she quickly sparks her horn, sending a surge of wind right at Rainbow Dash shortly after the race begins, knocking the filly mid-flight down into a cloud, heind hooves sticking out of the fluffy object as she flails and fails to free herself. Sunset tries to stop the spell from making contact with her own. However, her hornwork is still rusty, her spell veering off slightly to the right of Starlight's. However, when the spell's impact on the ground, it causes a swell of energy that surprises the villainous unicorn, a large explosion disrupting the ground on impact.

"WOAH," Starlight says as she quickly ducks a follow-up spell from Sunset. "What was that spel-?! EEP!" Starlight says, cut off as she sees Spike flying straight at her, having been fastballed by Sunset. The baby dragon quickly latches onto her face, the vortex of time beginning to pull Sunset and Spike back into their new present. All she has to do is hold on for a moment longer.

"SPIKE THE BAG!" Sunset shouts as she flashes her horn with a powerful, blinding light. Spike uses the opportunity to move, exposing Starlight's eyes to the sun's radiance. It is only for a moment, but long enough for Spike to be able to tear her bag and steal the scroll right from it.

"NO!" Starlight yells as she tries to reach out with her magic, but she's far too late. Sunset and Spike were sent back to the present.

And she was stuck in the past grimacing. "Shoot. This is gonna be harder than I thought." Starlight says with a mumble.

Sunset and Spike groan as they fall out of the magical vortex with a thud, slamming down onto the table map with a groan. "Okay. Maybe we should have gotten the others for this. You think we still can?" Spike says with a grunt as he stands himself up.

Sunset stumbles a bit as she hoists herself up on the map, looking down on it, grunting as she holds her side. "Doubt it, if Twilight never met them, then I don't even exist in this world." Sunset yelps as she stumbles forward a little, her body cracking slightly as she begins to pulse a shining, red light from said cracks.

Spike's eyes widen as he quickly goes to Sunset's side, helping her stand as well as he can. "Sunset? What's wrong?!"

Sunset grunts a little, putting two and two together after a moment of looking at herself on the shiny, reflective surface of the map. "I don't exist here, remember? Without Twilight getting the elements, I'd have zero reason to come back here. Meaning, me being here is an anomaly."

Spike stares at Sunset, grinning a little. "You WERE listening to Twilight's lectures on time magic!"

Sunset giggles a little and huffs lightly. "I'd send that back at you, Spike, but this seriously hurts. Give me the scroll, " she says, waving her hoof in a 'give it here' fashion. Once Spike passes it to her, she begins levitating it over the map as she unfurls it and reads through it, the pulsing pain visible on her face as her eyes scan the paper.

"Normally, I'd take my time with this, but I'm not an alicorn. There's no way I have a chance to test this out in the limited time I got." She says as she grabs a stick and some mud, running it over some of the writing on the scroll before firing a blast of magic at it. The scroll glows brightly with Sunset's red magic, swirling before it sends a surge of energy into the map, a small red bubble appearing around the area.

"There... That should buy me an hour. Gngh. Two tops." Sunset says through gritted teeth. "Can't rely on Twilight either. Although, maybe we can find her." She says as she waves a hoof up and down in thought before putting both of her forehooves on the map and looking down at it.

"The Crystal Empire is massive... Yeesh. What villain was that?" Sunset says as she takes a deep breath, feeling much better in the bubble now as the cracks in her body begin to seal up gradually.

"Sombra, I defeated him myself by delivering the crystal heart! But if we weren't there to stop him..." Spike trails off as he realizes the gravity of the situation.

"Sombra is an old name. It's probably an all-out war." Sunset says as she stares at the borders worried about her friends, her family... She doesn't even know how to return to the past to fix this. She had to modify the time-traveling spell to keep herself stabilized in the timeline, so that was off the table.

As Sunset thinks, a voice rings out. "That is correct. After the Crystal Empire returned, there was an attempt at solving the issue similarly to how it should have been. Unfortunately, the pony that attempted it failed to resist Sombra's influence."

Walking forward is an off-teal pony, gently glowing as she enters the bubble, seemingly unaffected by the time distortion. She then looks over the map. "Fascinating. So you're planning on fixing this, I hope? Although, you're falling apart at the seams there a little." She says idly to Sunset, looking at the final crack seal up from the magic.

Sunset steps back a little bit, feeling... unsettled by the pony. "Where did you come from? There was nothing nearby."

The pony tilts her head, holding out her hoof, with what could only be described as a grin. "Oh, sorry, I was being rude. Nice to meet you, Sunset. My name is Unity, but you can call me-"

Sunset quickly steps backward from the hoof. "Oh, HELL NO!" She says with a stumble backward, grabbing Spike away from the pony as well. She nearly stumbles out of the bubble in the process.

The Spirit sighs quietly. "It's Tartarus here, dear. But yes, because Twilight never became Celestia's student, I was never sealed into the tree, so I'm here. Although your fear is expected, don't worry. I'm here to help." She looks up towards the spell, watching it as Sunset sidles and moves towards the opposite side of the table, making a little bit of distance.

Spike mumbles after a moment, still keeping an eye on Unity. "So that's why Wallflower was okay with this. She doesn't care if Equestria falls apart, she just wanted-"

Unity cuts him off and waves her hoof. "Me revived yes. Can we move past this already? You two couldn't hurt me if you wanted to, so you have no choice but to trust me anyway."

Sunset grimaces a little, looking at Spike for a moment. He nods towards Sunset, affirming the Spirit's statement.

"Or I could leave, and you two can flounder until your little spell runs out. I heard being shunted from time and space is quite... painful." Unity says with a glare. "I may be 'reformed,' but I still was a villain."

"So was I," Sunset says with a sigh. "Fine. I don't have time for other options right now anyways."

"Sunset. No!" Spike says, "We can figure something out! Find Celestia or Luna!"

"We don't have a choice." She says to Spike with a grimace. "Celestia and Luna are probably fighting a war, and I doubt we'll find anything else that can help us right now. Not to mention, I don't know how Celestia without Twilight's influence would react to me. As much as I hate to say it, Unity is our best bet."

"Good! In that case. This is long overdue, Sunset." She says as she steps forward. "I have a quest for you. I will return you to Starlight, but only moments after she appears in the past. You must defeat and stop her by any means without Twilight's help. Unfortunately, she will be busy for now."

"Where is Twilight?" Spike says, still not trusting Unity as he stares daggers at her.

"Oh, she was sent back to the height of her power. Back when she was the Queen of Equestria. Back when she trusted nopony." Unity says. "To the era of herself that she hates the most."

After a moment of blank stares and confusion, Unity drops all pretense, annoyed that the implication was lost. "She's fighting herself because she has bucking issues. I mean, has she HEARD of therapy?"

"Actually, she is going through therapy now," Spike responds. "Although she just started."

"Sides, you caused well over 99% of those issues," Sunset says with a little bite behind her words.

"Oh, my dear. 99% is underselling it a little, don't you think?" Unity says with a snide voice, grinning. Just egging Sunset on. "But." She holds out her hoof towards Sunset, staring at her with unblinking, soulless eyes. "I'm not about to let Equestria fall because of my family's mania again. I don't even WANT to return, much less in this manner. So, I'm going to help you. So. Do we have a deal?"

Sunset looks at the hoof before groaning. "Ohh, Twilight is going to kill me for this!" She says as she takes the hoof, shaking on it.

"Oh, absolutely!" Unity laughs before her horn glows brightly, a sizeable magical sigil appearing as she rips a hole into time and space above them, pulling Sunset into it. "Good luck~! Oh, and don't worry about failing. You've got infinite tries. Although, the spell does have a few minutes of cooldown and, of course, the entire, being shunted out of space and time probably puts a damper on things. Eh, it gives you a chance to explore the failed worlds, I suppose."

"WAIT, what about Spike!?" Sunset says as she manages to hold onto the table before being pulled in.

"I never said you get help! Good luck, Sunset. Don't worry, I'll keep him safe!" Unity says with a grin.

"SPIKE!" Sunset yells out as she's pulled into the vortex. "I should never... Have trusted you, Unity!"

"Ah, no. You really shouldn't have." The Spirit says back to Sunset as the pony falls into the vortex.

After a moment, the portal closes, Spike hiding behind the table rather quickly as he finds himself alone with the root of all evil. In his eyes.

"So Spike." Unity says after a moment of silence before pulling out a deck of cards. "Go fish?"

Spike stares at Unity incredulously. "What?"

"Oh, that was all for show. But ya know, becoming an alicorn through a test means somepony needs to fix something with minimal help. Twilight got away with your help because, well, Princess of Friendship. She gets friends to help her with her quest, then shablammo! When she's successful, she becomes an alicorn!" She waves her hoof as she sits down, dealing out some cards.

Spike tilts his head as he carefully reaches for the cards. Sitting down across the table for the time being. "And Sunset doesn't?"

"Course not, she's not gonna be a Princess of Friendship. That'd be way too confusing. The first card, threes?" Unity responds.

"So what's she gonna be Princess of then?" Spike responds... taking the cards and looking quietly. This isn't the first time he's played a game with a crazy spirit creature, after all. "Go fish. Got a Prince?"

"Hmmm. I guess you'll have to find out, hm~?" Unity smiles as she picks out two cards with her magic, sliding them to Spike, who immediately places them face down with two others. "Two Princes."

"Great..." Spike responds quietly, the pair continuing to play the game. "So if you're not evil anymore, what are you?"

"I dunno? Bored? Tired? I would say fluffy to be sarcastic. Just consider me like Discord. Except nicer because I don't play pranks on my pals." She says idly. "Except when they're fun. Oh, and I was reformed by Twilight instead of Fluttershy. For better or worse."

"Didn't you just- You know what. I forgot you're Discord's sister. Let's just play." Spike says as he stops himself from falling down another rabbit hole.

"Let's." Unity responds with a smile.

"AHHHH!" Sunset yells out, expecting to be free-falling again. Which she is. With a quick flash of her horn, she manages to pull off a teleportation spell, slamming herself into the clouds with a groan yet again.

"GET OFF!" Starlight says as she tosses Sunset off her with a flash of magic. Sunset squeaks out as she's thrown to the side, catching herself with some quick self-levitation, a trick she stole from her opponent.

"What?! It took me months to figure out how to levitate to fly!" Starlight yells out with a glare. Intensely annoyed by the ease with which Sunset figured out her personal spell.

"Yeah, well, you aren't the only one with a knack for magic!" Sunset says as she quickly flashes her horn, ready to cast a spell!

Only to be caught by a blast from Starlight's, the proceeding spell entrapping Sunset inside of a crystal, frozen in place. "Your spells might be strong," Starlight says to Sunset, tapping the crystal. "But your casting speed could use some work. A lot of work. Spent too long without a horn, I guess." She rolls her eyes as she bucks the crystal off of the cloud. "Have a nice FALL!"

Sunset rolls her eyes at the cliche line as she begins to fall, closing her eyes as she focuses her magic into her horn to burst out of the crystal, yet again catching herself with levitation magic once she's freed, albeit much closer to the ground. "Now... come on..." She grunts as she charges forward, flying back up, her magic pushing her at a semi-manable speed.

Unfortunately, Sunset narrowly makes it back, watching Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and the bullies leave, Starlight having defused the situation entirely. "Oh, fillies and foals, they always fight over silly things," Starlight giggles.

Sunset grimaces as she watches the group of fillies and foals leave. "I didn't know you could be so nice, Starlight. Maybe you should stop being so mean and become a teacher."

"Eugh. Please, teaching? I'll pass." Starlight waves her hand. "I'll stick with helping ponies escape the trappings of cutie marks instead."

Sunset stares and deadpans, about to ask a question before the time vortex opens up again. "I'll be back!" She says with a glare as she's pulled into the vortex.

When Sunset's vision clears, she feels the wracking pain yet again. "AGH." She groans out loudly, holding onto her side, looking around quickly, noticing the bubble in the distance.

"Unity made me pop out away from the map?! What's the point of infinite tries if I can't even get to the second one?!" She groans as she stumbles to the side, struggling to move towards the bubble in the distance.

"Sunset...?" A voice rings out from nearby as a familiar face walks forward from the bushes, adorned in carefully crafted, magical tribal wear.

"Celestia-?!" Sunset grunts as a spear is pointed at her neck from behind. "This is a cheap trap, you know," Sunset winces. "I can't exactly fight back in my condition."

Celestia stares down at her ex-student, a glare in her eyes. "Forgive the waryness, but we didn't leave on good terms, and considering the state of Equestria as is, we can't take any chances." With a glow of her horn, Celestia casts a spell on her ex-student, sighing a breath of relief after a moment. "She's not a changeling. We're fine... probably." Celestia sighs out a breath of relief.

Sunset blinks. "Changelings? So they took over in this version of the present... Interes- Ugh." Sunset grunts as she stumbles to her knees. "Buck. That hurts."

Celestia's glare vanishes once she sees Sunset in pain. "What's wrong?! Sunset?!" She says with worry in her voice, looking her over quickly.

Sunset grunts as she looks up at her old teacher. She needs help, and she knows it. "Time was messed with, and I don't belong in the new timeline. I'm... Trying to fix it, but I need to get to that over there. Please... I know you don't know it in this time, but I'm really trying to be better Celestia. I need your help. Just to get over there. That's it."

Celestia looks towards the dome, the glowing beacon that she left the grove to find. It was through changeling territory, a dangerous place to be for anypony, especially herself. Even as the ponies around her tell her about the risks, Celestia finds herself already giving Sunset a shoulder.

"I know the risks," Celestia says to the protesting Fluttershy. "But if what my student is saying is the truth, then we will have a better life for us soon. Return to the camp. Sunset, I hope you can run."

Celestia then puts her hoof onto Sunset's shoulder. "There's so much I want to say, but I suppose it's not my place. I just want to know... Are we family again in your timeline?"

Sunset's ears droop a little. "I... uh... I don't know. We still haven't talked too much. We did makeup, but. Anything beyond that? I really don't know. I hope so, though."

Celestia nods. "Well. If it's any consolation. I hope so, too." She says it with a soft smile before helping Sunset to get to the map.

Celestia doesn't make it through the trip, being captured by changelings to allow Sunset to escape. Sunset panted as she breathed a sigh of relief upon entering the stasis bubble, where she found Spike and Unity playing cards.

"I'm going to —" Sunset says as she stomps towards Unity, who simply flashes her horn, the large time warping sigil appearing again. Changelings that attempt to approach get zapped like bugs to an electric swatter as Unity's magic radiates out.

"Good luck on your next try!" Unity says with a wave as Sunset is again drawn into the portal, the pony giving the equivalent of the bird to the Spirit.

"She's going to punch you at this rate, Unity," Spike says as he places his next card down.

"And she'll earn that punch. Now draw three." Unity responds with her coy, playful voice.

Author's Note

Part 1 complete! And yes, this is a Sunset Episode! As I said, she's a main character too.

This and the next part are all considered one chapter. I just wanted to split it because... uh

Source material? Idk. I'm tired. It's 5 am.