No horsing around

It took some time but they eventually got Rain safe back to the village. At least, what was left of it. Now that those uniformed men had left everypony could have a moments relief. But for many it was a time to grieve.

Once Little Creek knew that Rain was going to survive, and was left in good hands, he knew that his calling was to go after Spirit. They had formed a close bond over the last few weeks, and he felt he owed it to Spirit after the horse had saved his own hide.

The girls wanted to help but Little Creek forbade them to follow him. They were unfamiliar with this land, and territory, unlike himself. As much as the ponies wanted to help find Spirit, they knew that Little Creek was right. There were untold dangers out there within this world that they did not know, and there was no point in sacrificing themselves for a world that was not theirs to protect. Their aid was better used helping the community rebuild what had been lost instead.

Soon days turned into weeks as everypony in the village put in all the efforts to gather materials needed to rebuild many of the homes and other structures. While there was plenty of water that was provided by the river nearby, many had to go hunting or scavenging to find more food as much of it was spoilt by the fire, or trampled on in the fight.

When things had settled, for the most part, the village held a ceremony for those who had tragically lost their lives in the battle. Although the girls didn't quite understand how to do these traditions, they still tried to remain respectful to their customs and give them proper time to mourn.

All of this was enough to keep them busy while Little Creek was away, but that didn't stop them from worrying. Unfortunately in this world there wasn't any way to keep in contact within long distances.

In between doing tasks for the village Twilight had spent what little time she had back at that lake. They still had their own little dilemma of figuring how they were to get back to their own world. Twilight had searched every nook and cranny of the nearby area, but hadn't been successful in digging up anything. She was limited to her horse counter-part body, one without magic, so she was very limited in what she could do.

That was, until one day, she heard a voice coming from where the portal should've been. Twilight simply been surveying the area, once again, so this sudden noise startled her. What was even more surprising was the voice she heard was a familiar one. It was Celestia!

"Twilight, if you can hear me, please respond!" Celestia repeated.

"Yes! Yes I can hear you!" Twilight could barely contain her excitement. Her heart was nearly beating out of her chest as she raced over to the lake. "I'm so relieved to hear your voice! We've been stuck out here for so long, I thought we'd be here forever! We didn't mean to fall through the portal! I swear, it was just an accident! But when we got here, to this other world, we met a couple of horses! And there are humans here too! And then-"

"It's ok Twilight. You can tell me all about it in your report later." Celestia interrupted, knowing full well that, if she didn't, Twilight would ramble on for hours. "We have more pressing matters back here in Equestria. And I'll need you back here as soon as possible. There appears to be a rouge pony who has been using the mirror portal for their own malicious intent. For the moment we don't know what that is exactly, or even which pony is behind this. But we've only gotten control back over the mirror portal today."

"But what about my friends? I can't just abandon them here!" Even in dire situations Twilight was never one to leave anypony behind.

"I'll need you to gather up the girls and get them all safely back to their world before you come back here then. But you'll have to do so in haste! We don't know how much time we have to keep this connection open."

There was no need to tell Twilight twice as she galloped as fast as she could back to the village. It took a few minutes to round everypony up, but before she could explain everything she was quickly interrupted by Pinkie Pie.

"Doesn't that pony over there look an awful lot like Spirit?"

Everypony turned their attention to the pony that Pinkie was pointing at. Sure enough, the pony that entered the village was Spirit and with Little Creek by his side! The girls raced over, all with relief and joy that they were both back safe and sound. As happy as Spirit was to see them, he had only had eyes for one particular horse.

His eyes scoured the village, his heart dropping as he couldn't see any sign of her. Behind a veil of smoke from a nearby campfire Spirit saw movement. In that moment his hear began to flutter and swell as he finally caught sight of his beloved Rain. The two horses happily danced around each other before placing their foreheads together affectionately.

While this was a very sweet and tender moment Twilight knew that they couldn't waste much more time. Getting the attention of her friends once more Twilight quickly explained the situation. Though they were a little sad to be seeing of their new found home so abruptly they all understood the dire situation at hoof.

Without so much as a goodbye they all raced back to the lake, where it all started. It was hard to do so but they knew that, in the end, this wasn't their place and they had to go back to their home. And this might be their only chance at doing so. While this might be the end of the story for her human friends, Twilight knew there was a mystery at hand. One that needed to be solved the moment she got back to Celestia, and her own world.