//------------------------------//
// Chapter 16: And Eternity in an Hour 
// Story: I Don't Need Magic 
// by Undome Tinwe 
//------------------------------//

"Sunset? Earth to Sunset? Hello?"

A blue hand appeared in front of Sunset, waving back and forth in front of her eyes. Sunset started at the sudden intrusion, her eyes cutting over to the equally blue teenager standing in front of her looking mildly concerned.

"Wha- what happened?" She asked as she tried to recall how she got here. Her brain was currently drawing a blank as she tried to access her memories. Looking around, she saw that Rarity, Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Applejack were all also present and staring at her with the same concern.

"You sorta zoned-out there for a second," Rainbow Dash said. "Just stood there looking like you'd seen a ghost or something."

"I'm fine, I just got distracted by… something," Sunset explained lamely. Her mind still felt fuzzy, like she was missing something important. "Where are we going?"

"To see Twilight, duh. Remember, she texted us and said she had something to show us outside the statue she destroyed during the Friendship Games?" Dash's concerned look intensified. "You sure you're okay? Maybe your mind magic zapped your brain or something."

"No, I'm fine, really," Sunset said as her memories started to return to her. "I was just thinking about graduation. It didn't really hit me until now that it's tomorrow." She quickly pulled the excuse out of her thoughts, picking something that would sound plausible. It was true; they were graduating from high school tomorrow and had been at Rarity's getting one final fitting when Twilight's text had arrived, telling them to come back to the school and meet her by the statue.

And now, they were less than a block away from the building. All her memories had come back, and the fuzziness had mostly gone, though there was still this nagging sense that she had forgotten something that niggled at her.

Oh well, it would come back to her eventually. "C'mon, we shouldn't keep Twilight waiting." Dash looked like she might argue, but simply shrugged instead, and the six teenagers set off towards the school.

They found Twilight at the entrance, standing to the side of the pedestal where Canterlot High's mascot had once stood. Principal Celestia had gotten someone to repair the damage to the base, and now it was simply a plain stone slab sitting at the entrance, though you could still see cracks where Midnight Sparkle had blown chunks from the rock.

It was weird to see Twilight here; Sunset knew she didn't like the constant reminder of the time she nearly destroyed the world. Sunset had noticed her subconscious attempts to give the pedestal a wide berth when she walked, and the guilty glances she would sometimes aim at it when she thought nobody else as looking. Idly, Sunset wondered why Twilight would want to meet here of all places.

The magical detector in her hand and the other scientific equipment laying on the floor around her was a big clue. Twilight was also wearing her magical necklace and was concentrating so hard on the pedestal that she didn't seem to notice the others approaching.

Sunset waved. "What's up, Twilight?"

"Huh?" Twilight glanced up at the incoming group, looking startled. "Oh. Hi, Sunset." Twilight awkwardly waved back at Sunset. It was starting to get just a little annoying how obvious Twilight's crush on Sunset was.

Sunset had been waiting for a while now for Twilight to mare up and do something about it, but it looked like the shy budding scientist was still worried about how Sunset would react. Twilight was still pretty cute, though, and Sunset liked her, so if Twilight still didn't say anything she was planning on confronting her in a couple days and settling things. The anticipation of making Twilight her girlfriend had left her in particularly high spirits the past few days.

First things first, though. "So, why are we here? Did you find out something interesting about the statue?"

"I have," Twilight said, going into that lecturing mode that Sunset had grown to love. "You're all familiar with my theory that the Equestrian magic leaking into this world has a single geographic origin point somewhere in Canterlot, right?"

"Sure," Sunset said, recalling the mass of equations and charts Twilight had inundated them with a few days ago. "You used a regression model on the observed incidents of magic and concluded that it was generated from a single cluster."

"Yeah, what Sunset said," Rainbow added, deadpan. "You figured out where all the magic's coming from?"

"Yes," Twilight replied, pointing at the statue. "In hindsight, it should have been obvious. After all, this is the physical location of the portal and the epicenter of the Midnight Sparkle incident." Sunset caught the slight flinch in Twilight's voice as she said that last part. "My readings confirm that the magic is, in fact, leaking from the pedestal."

"Cool." Sunset walked over and slung an arm around Twilight, enjoying the feel of Twilight squirming against her as the poor girl tried to figure out whether to fight it or not. "Good job, Twilight, you did it again. Another mystery solved with your big brain. So, what's next? Should we go somewhere to celebrate? Sugarcube Corner maybe?"

"Well, the next step is to determine how to seal the leakage, of course," Twilight said.

Sunset immediately separated herself from Twilight. "What do you mean, seal the leakage?"

Twilight gave Sunset a look that made it clear Sunset was missing something obvious. "Well, we can't just let magic flow freely into this world. It's already dangerous enough; imagine if enough magic leaked over to cause large-scale changes."

"That would be awesome." Suddenly, the world looked brighter, an infinite horizon of possibilities flashing before Sunset's eyes. "Everyone could finally have magic."

"It would be the most dangerous threat our world has ever known," Twilight shot back. "We've seen how magic corrupts people in this world. Imagine if that corruption occurred on a global scale? The very fabric of our reality could be torn to shreds before we could do anything about it."

"Well, Equestria managed to thrive as a nation where everypony wields magic," Sunset countered, feeling her elation dampened by Twilight's attitude. "We've built marvels that you couldn't even begin to imagine."

"And what makes you think that the same will happen here? We know that magic behaves differently in this world, and from what I've seen, it does more harm than good. Allowing the leak to continue would be like giving a nuclear bomb to every person on the planet."

"Look, I know there's going to be some growing pains while people adapt to magic, but ultimately, the world will be better off with it."

"You don't know that." They were leaning so close to each other at this point that Sunset could feel Twilight's breath on her face. Still, Twilight stood resolute, staring Sunset down with a determination that Sunset shared. "You've seen first-hand what magic does to people. Trixie, Chrysalis, Sombra–"

"–and Midnight?" Sunset replied, standing her ground against her friend. "That's what this is about, isn't it? You're just scared of the unknown. Face it, Twilight, you can't deal with something that you can't control."

"And you think that you can recklessly barrel forwards and everything will work itself out in the end. You don't want to give up your power, so you're trying to rationalize selfishly holding onto it. Or do you think I'm the only here who's been corrupted my magic before?"

"I've changed," Sunset hissed, her hands balling into fists. "Don't use who I was to cover up your own cowardice." For a few moments, they simply stood there, each one trying to exert their will on the other. The tension was so thick that Sunset was surprised she wasn't choking on it.

"Girls, stop it." Fluttershy's stern voice cut through the space between, drawing both their attentions to the normally demure girl. Fluttershy stepped between them, forcing them both to focus on her. "I understand that you both feel very passionate about this, but you're both good friends. Surely you can work things out without attacking each other."

Fluttershy's calm words helped to defuse the situation. Sunset glanced at Twilight and felt a twinge of guilt gnaw at her heart. "You're right, Fluttershy – things got a bit heated there." Sunset held out a hand to Twilight. "Sorry if I said some things that were over the line."

Twilight clasped Sunset's hand with her own. "It's fine. We both got a little too into it there."

"Perhaps we should discuss this at a later date?" Rarity piped in, putting on a comforting smile. "It's clear that this is an important decision and should not be made in the heat of the moment. This leakage has been here for over a year – I doubt waiting a few more days will result in any more catastrophes than we normally encounter." Sunset appreciated Rarity's attempt at levity at the end, but she really wasn't in the mood for it.

Still, she had a point. Maybe if they waited a few days, she'd be able to convince Twilight of all the wonders of magic and why this leak was a good thing.

"Sure, Rarity, let's table it for now. We can talk about it later." Sunset smiled and faced the group. "I don't know about you, but I'm kinda enjoying not being cooped up in that fitting area. How about we grab something to eat at Sugarcube Corner before we go back to being Rarity's mannequins?"

With a chorus of agreements and a flustered Rarity, Sunset felt the mood return to normal. As they set out for the bakery, her mind filled with dreams of a better tomorrow, one where magic and technology combined to create new wonders and propel the world to its next stage of progress. All she had to do was make Twilight see her point of view.

Yes, everything was going to be fine. If only that nagging feeling at the back of her head that she was missing something and the sense of dread creeping down her spine would go away.





Sunset watched from across the street as Principal Celestia got into her car in the Canterlot High parking lot and drove off, leaving it devoid of any vehicles. From her previous observations, Sunset knew that there was no one left in the school, all the staff having finished their work for the day.

Once the principal's car was out of sight, Sunset walked across the street to the school's entrance. After glancing around to ensure that she was alone, she reached into her bag and pulled out several items while trying to quash the feeling of guilt that was growing inside her. After all, she was only doing what was necessary to prevent Twilight from making the biggest mistake of her life.

It had been nearly a week of debate – which had completely overshadowed the graduation celebrations – and Twilight and Sunset were no closer to coming to an agreement than they'd been at the start. Twilight was being her usual stubborn self and refusing to consider the possibility that magic might do more harm than good, and Sunset had told her upfront that she wouldn't help her develop a spell to seal the hole that the magic was entering through.

Unfortunately, she hadn't been able to contact Princess Twilight to help her argue her case; the doppelgänger hadn't answered a single one of the messages she'd left in the journal since telling her about her student's visit to some festival.

As the week had progressed, Twilight had dug in deeper and deeper on her stance towards magic, demanding that Sunset help her build a seal around the portal, one that would block off all magic flowing in and prevent anyone from travelling through it except during the normal cycle of the portal when it was scheduled to open up again – essentially, restoring its original functionality.

Until then, the only magic in this world would be what was already here. And while Twilight claimed that they'd be able to bring some magical artifacts through the portal when it opened again, her increasingly-hostile attitude towards magic had Sunset seriously considering if "some" would end up being "none" by that time.

Sunset hadn't been able to talk Twilight out of this idiocy, and to make matters worse, her other friends seemed to be on Twilight's side. Rarity and Applejack were backing up Twilight, and it looked like Fluttershy and Pinkie would soon follow suit. Only Rainbow wanted them to keep their powers, but Sunset wasn't sure if the counterpart of the Element of Loyalty would hold her ground if it meant going against all her other friends.

She was sure that if she could get Twilight to agree to work with her to approach the subject from a logical and scientific angle, then the data would eventually prove her right and Twilight would accept that. But she couldn't do that if all her friends decided to seal the portal, which they could probably do without her help given Twilight's rapidly-developing knowledge of magic.

With the clock rapidly ticking towards a catastrophe of their own making, Sunset had decided to buy herself some time. She'd spent the past week secretly developing a spell that would prevent them from making that terrible mistake, and now it was time for her to use it, no matter what her guilty conscience was telling her. Having to deceive her friends like this had left her miserable and irritable, and it didn't help that she felt like she was slowly losing her mind.

The vague sense of loss and dread had transitioned to intermittent flashes of half-remembered nightmares and random bits of knowledge that seemed to just appear in her head. Somehow, when waiting for a response from Princess Twilight, she'd known that none would come in time. When arguing with Twilight, she had the distinct feeling that she had said the same words to her already, and that the argument was running to an inevitable conclusion that she had seen before.

And when she had sat down and designed a spell to prevent the leak from being sealed off, a sense of impending doom had sat in her soul, echoing phantom pains sounding in her heart. It was all really weird, and as much as Sunset wanted to dismiss it as the stress of possibly being cut off from her home, she knew she was missing something important.

Still, she could worry about that later. Right now, it was time to finish the spell. If all went according to plan, Sunset would decouple the leak's ethereal location from its physical one, essentially freeing it from the statue and letting it exist without being forced into any one place, which would make it nigh-impossible for Twilight to track down and close off unless she was skilled enough at traversing the ethereal place, which was something even the highest-level mages had trouble doing.

Grabbing the necklace that granted her most of her magical powers in this world, Sunset slipped the familiar piece of jewelry around her neck, feeling the comforting warmth of its magic embrace her. How Twilight could so easily give this up Sunset would never know, but she going to do everything she could to stop her from throwing away the greatest gift that'd been given to her after her friends.

Reaching out with her mind, she established a psychic connection between herself and the necklace, taking control of its power. She sent that power into the pedestal, and a blue light wrapped around the stone, forcing the portal open. As she stared into the swirling mass of lights and colors that stretched before her, the feeling of déjà vu that had plagued her the past week returned in full force. Something bad was going to happen – she could feel it. From the edges of her mind, a memory tugged at her, something about the spell going wrong.

She didn’t have time dwell on those feelings, however, as a torrent of magic began rushing out of the newly-created opening, originating from a buildup of Equestrian magic that had collected within the portal. Reacting quickly, she raised the second object she had taken out of her bag; a circular device a little bigger than her hand covered with glowing indicator lights.

It was the same device that Twilight had used to absorb their magic during the Friendship Games. After the incident with Midnight Sparkle, Twilight hadn't wanted to have anything to do with the thing, so Sunset had taken it for herself.

Sunset pointed the device at the portal and cracked it open a couple inches. From what she'd seen before, it would absorb magic from the strongest nearby source until it reached an equilibrium, and she hoped that behaviour would remain consistent today.

Fortunately, it looked like she was right, and she felt the magic from the portal begin to wane, allowing her to see beyond the raw magic and into the connection between worlds with her magical senses. And next to that connection was a tear in the fabric between worlds. That was the source of the leak, and what Sunset was looking for.

Very carefully, Sunset wrapped her magic around that tear and began weaving her spell. This was definitely the most complex magical task she'd had to perform since she'd arrived in this world, and she hoped her skills hadn't dulled in her time here. Back in Equestria, she likely wouldn't have had much of a problem, but for the last few years, she'd only cast simple and moderately difficult spells, and now she was regretting not practicing some advanced spellcasting in her spare time.

Sunset was so focused on casting her decoupling spell that she didn't realize she wasn't alone until a familiar voice called out to her. "Sunset? What are you doing here?"

Panic seized Sunset's heart, and she nearly collapsed the spellform as her concentration broke. Hastily, she barely managed to hold onto her magic and set the spell into a stasis position so that she could talk to Twilight. She decided to counter her accusation with her own. "What are you doing here?" Not the most inspired comeback, but she needed to focus on maintaining the spell in its current state.

"I came here to update my readings on the leak," Twilight replied. Her eyes narrowed. "What are you doing to the portal?"

Sunset considered lying, but Twilight was going to figure it out eventually. "I'm doing the right thing," she said instead.

"Is that why you snuck onto school grounds without telling any of us?" Twilight asked, her tone dripping with sarcasm.

"You wouldn't understand," Sunset replied through clenched teeth. "I'm preventing you from making the biggest mistake of your life."

"What spell are you casting on the portal?" Twilight shot Sunset a penetrating glare, suspicion and anger dancing in her eyes.

"I'm decoupling the leak from its physical location," Sunset stated plainly, her own glare a challenge to Twilight's. "That should prevent it from ever being sealed."

Twilight's eyes widened. "Do you know how dangerous that is? You're going to create a source that spews magic randomly all over the world. It would be a complete catastrophe."

"No, the catastrophe would be letting you close the leak off forever." Sunset reversed the stasis spell and went back to weaving the decoupling. She was nearly finished forming the final part of the decoupling spell, a severing subspell that would separate the leak from the portal, allowing her to perform the decoupling on one but not the other. After all, she needed the portal to stay here so that they could still travel to Equestria.

"Stop!" Twilight shouted at her. From the corner of her eye, Sunset saw her purple necklace begin to glow. "Reverse the spell before I have to stop you."

"It's too late," Sunset said as she set the final piece into place. "The decoupling's finished." She released the spell and watched as the leak began to fade away, destined to float about in the aether for all eternity.

"No!" Twilight's hands stretched out, and a blast of magic struck the portal, a purple glow surrounding the pedestal.

Sunset recognized the linking spell that Twilight was trying to cast in order to bind the tear back into the portal. Reacting quickly, she sent her own magic into the pedestal, trying to block Twilight's spell. Cyan and purple light clashed within the statue, each trying to overwhelm the other.

"This needs to be done," Sunset argued as she pushed against Twilight's magic. Not for the first time, she wished she was back in Equestria and still had her natural unicorn reserves. As it was, she was depending on the necklace and what little magic she had absorbed in the past year, which was about the same amount as what Twilight had available to her. "Magic is too precious to throw away."

"You betrayed us," Twilight replied with a hiss. "We agreed that we wouldn't take action until we reached a consensus, and you went behind all our backs and tried to undermine everything we've discussed for the past week. Some friend you are." Cyan slowly lost ground to purple as Twilight intensified her attack.

"You'll thank me for this one day." Sunset poured more energy into her spell, and her magic regained its lost ground and then some. A sense of wrongness suddenly washed over her, a dire warning from nowhere that something very bad was about to happen.

"No, I won't." Without warning, Twilight's necklace flashed even brighter, and Sunset found her own magic being overwhelmed without warning, the cyan glow around winking out and being replaced by an onslaught of purple as a bright shockwave of magic pulsed out from Twilight.

The energy from the shockwave sent Sunset sprawling onto the ground, her back landing painfully against the pavement. As she fell, she heard a loud boom, like someone had struck a very solid object with a very large hammer. Scrambling to her feet, she saw a cloud of dust where the pedestal used to be. Next to it, Twilight was staring in shock, the glow of her magic having completely disappeared.

For a moment, Sunset couldn't fully process what had happened in her mind. When the dust cleared to reveal a pile of rubble, she simply stared blankly, refusing to accept that the pedestal had been destroyed.

When the shock finally faded, she rushed up to the remains of the portal, desperately reaching for the connection between worlds with her magic. She found nothing but air, and the analytical part of her mind ran the calculations and told the rest of her brain that destroying the pedestal had closed off both the portal and the leak, not giving either a place to connect to in this world.

For a moment, her mind went numb, unable to comprehend the magnitude of what happened. Eventually, the numbness faded, replaced by a hole in her heart. The portal was gone, forever, and she was trapped in this world. She would never return to Equestria, and one day all the magic in this world would fade away, leaving her without a home and without a destiny.

Sunset felt tears welling in her eyes, but whether those were tears of sadness or rage she couldn't tell. She'd just lost everything that gave her life meaning in that single moment, and she wanted to cry out at the injustice of it all, to rage against the heavens as she once had so many years ago.

She turned to face Twilight, who was staring back at her with a guilty expression on her face.

"I'm sorry," Twilight said solemnly. "I didn't realize how much power I put into the spell."

Anger won out over sorrow as Sunset lashed out. "You ruined everything!" she shouted, allowing her temper to take over. "I was trying to do the right things, to stop you from making a stupid decision, and you ruined it!" There was still something missing, something that was tugging at her memories, but right now, she didn't give a damn.

"Don't try to defend your actions," Twilight replied coldly. "You deliberately went behind our backs and tried to undermine our agreement to decide what to do together. You betrayed us, and I had to stop you from risking our world."

"And you took everything that mattered to me away in the process." Sunset pointed an accusing finger at Twilight. "That's what you wanted, isn't it? To destroy the portal and get rid of magic forever. You were so scared of magic that you let it cloud your judgement. Admit it, it wasn't just an accident that the portal was destroyed."

"My judgement is clouded? You're so obsessed with the power magic gives you that you're blinding yourself to its risks." Twilight shook her head. "It doesn't matter, anyways. What's done is done. The leak is closed, and without the portal, it won't be possible to open another out."

Sunset barely heard Twilight's words, as her magical senses had detected something in the wreckage she was standing in. Sending out a careful probe, she identified its familiar magical properties. "It's still here," she whispered, hope blooming in her heart. "Twilight, the connection between worlds is still here. It's fading fast without an anchor, but it can be repaired. I don't have enough power to do it myself, but together, we can do it. I just need your magic."

"And what do you intend to do with the magic?" Twilight asked. "Because right now, the connection isn't tethered to any location. If you reopen the portal, the leak also opens, and we won't ever be able to close it again."

"And if you allow the connection to fade, we'll be cut off from Equestria forever." Sunset knew, somehow, exactly what Twilight was going to say, but she still had to try. "Please, don't take away my home from me."

Twilight quashed those hopes quite soundly. "I'm sorry, Sunset, but I can't help you. There's much more at stake here than just you and me. I have to think about the greater good here."

"Coward," Sunset hissed. "You're letting your fear of what happened before control you. You just can't move on from the past, can you?"

"And you've moved on too well, I think. Or did you already forget the time you turned into a demon and tried to take over the world?"

"I didn't forget, but that was a long time ago. I've changed since then, become a better person and started thinking about others instead of just myself." Unlike you, Sunset refrained from adding, knowing that there was no need to say it out loud.

"Have you really changed?" There was nothing but contempt in Twilight's tone. "It was lust for power that caused your original transformation, and it's that same lust driving you now. Or do you really only care about giving magic to the world?"

"I do care about giving magic to the world," Sunset replied hotly, "I want to give everyone the power to make their lives better."

"Admit it, you only care about keeping magic for yourself. The only reason you want me to open the portal is so that you can regain your power. I won't help you become a monster again."

"I'll show you a monster." From the corner to Sunset's eye, she spotted a familiar purple object on the ground lying between two small slabs of stone. Despite the voice in her head screaming at her to turn away from her current course of action, she reached down and picked it up, determination, desperation, and anger driving her forwards. She stepped towards Twilight, her hands clasping the magic detector.

Twilight eyed her warily. "What are you doing?" she asked as she took a step back.

"What has to be done." Sunset gave in to her darker urges and opened up the device in her hands. Instinctually, she reached out to the magic inside of it and forged a psychic connection with the device, allowing her to aim its absorption capabilities at a specific target.

A thin stream of purple light flowed out of Twilight's necklace, snaking towards Sunset. Power flooded Sunset's senses, and for a moment, she lost herself in a haze of euphoria despite Twilight's magic fighting Sunset's control.

Twilight gasped, her hand moving to cover her chest. "Sunset, stop," she said, panic in her voice.

"Don't worry, I'm only taking enough to open the portal." Sunset focused a little harder, and the stream thickened, building up power within her body. The haze clouding her mind grew as time passed, and soon, all Sunset could think of was the power inside of her.

"No, no, no, please, not this, not again," Sunset vaguely noted that Twilight was muttering under her breath as the magic drained from her.

Sunset ignored her and focused on mixing Twilight's magic with her own. She wrapped the fading connection in the combined magicks and began the process of strengthening it.

"Please, Sunset, d-don't do this." Sunset blocked out Twilight's pleas, weaving layer upon layer of magic into the connection. "N-Not again. P-P-Please..."

A thud coupled with a sudden decrease in the magic flow broke through Sunset's concentration, and she glanced up to see Twilight lying unconscious on the ground. Panic seized her as she let go of the connection and rushed over towards her, shouting her name and leaning over to check her pulse.

As a shallow, fluttering heartbeat thrummed against her fingers, Sunset's memories finally returned to her. She broke down and wept, her tears splashing against the ruins of everything she held precious in her life.





Twilight was going to wake up any second now. Sunset knew this because it had already happened once before, fifteen years ago.

As she'd sat there next to Twilight's nearly-lifeless body, Sunset had finally remembered the truth of where she was, and she'd recalled the events of the past fifteen years in an endless torrent that'd battered her shocked brain.

She remembered how she had lost her friends because of her actions. The depths of despair and desperation she had reached seeking out another source of magic. The slow climb back up from rock-bottom with Starlight. Reconnecting with her friends and founding Equinox. Finding Twilight and working alongside her the past week.

Walking into Adagio's trap like an idiot and being trapped in her worst memory.

Even knowing where she was, Sunset had played along, calling an ambulance and then her friends. She'd followed her script, because she didn't know what else to do. She was trapped, and until Twilight and the others figured out a way to save her, this was her reality.

It wasn't like she could say she didn't deserve it. This world might be fake, but the memories were real – Sunset actually had betrayed her friend and nearly killed Twilight, and now, as she waited outside her hospital room for the second time in her life, all the justifications in the world rang hollow even to herself.

She'd broken everyone's trust, plain and simple, and they deserved to hate her right now. One day, she knew she'd somehow gain their forgiveness, but that day wasn't today, and as she found herself sitting across from her friends – none of whom would look her in the eye – Sunset felt true regret for what she had done for the first time.

Without the immediate panic and anguish over the loss of her home, Sunset was able to see how much pain she'd brought to everyone through her actions, and how her friends' hearts had broken at her betrayal. No matter what her justifications had been, she shouldn't have done what she'd done.

She'd have to apologize to the real Twilight once she saved her.

But for now, she was being punished in the most poetic way possible, and she would have to endure it until she could kick Adagio's ass for making her go through this.

A nurse stepped out into the hallway. "Sunset Shimmer?" Sunset stood up as she heard her name called. "Miss Sparkle is awake and would like to speak with you."

This was different. Last time, Twilight had asked for all her friends except Sunset. Was the spell screwing with her and giving memory-Twilight an extra chance to chew her out? Or had her actions since getting her memories back changed things somehow?

Well, only one way to find out. Sunset ignored the glares and protestations she was getting from her friends as the nurse stopped them from following Sunset. She was lead towards one of the rooms, where Twilight's brother was standing outside. He fixed Sunset with a suspicious look.

Sunset and her friends had hidden most of the details of what had happened out of fear of looking like they were crazy. Shining Armor knew that magic was involved somehow, but nobody had clued him in on the details yet. That would happen later.

Sunset pushed open the door and prepared to face the music. Even with this little snag, the end result was going to be the same, and Sunset braced herself to feel the full force of Twilight's anger.

Except, when she stepped inside, she found her friend sitting upright in a hospital gown with a troubled expression on her face, like she was trying to think something through. A series of emotions flashed across Twilight's face when she looked up at Sunset before settling on a determined gaze that Sunset had seen many times when she was trying to avoid thinking about something painful.

Before she could say anything, Sunset spoke first, the words pouring out of her in a torrent at the sight of her injured friend. "I'm so sorry, Twilight. I shouldn't have gone behind your back, behind all our friends' backs, and I'm sorry I betrayed your trust. And I'm sorry for lashing out at you afterwards too. I know you hate me right now, but I need you to know how much I wish I could take it all back."

Twilight's eyes widened, and her lips parted as if she was about to say something. Instead, she tried to climb out of the bed, but only managed to roll out of it and collapse onto the floor with a pained grunt.

Sunset instantly rushed over to her. She bent down and cradled her into an upright position. "Twilight! What are you doing?"

"Saving us," Twilight replied with a serene smile. "I forgive you, Sunset." Without warning, she leaned forward and pressed her lips against Sunset's.

The shock of that touch was so jarring that Sunset simply froze for a few seconds, her brain short-circuiting under as she was suddenly very aware of how she was holding Twilight's body close to her, and how wonderful her lips felt against Sunset's.

When she realized that Twilight hadn't pulled away yet, Sunset returned the kiss, pushing back against Twilight and pressing themselves closer together. A faint glow began to surround them, and Sunset saw the color return to Twilight's previously-pale complexion.

Sunset's tongue reached out and teased open Twilight's lips, allowing her to deepen the kiss. Fifteen years of pent-up desire coursed through her as Twilight's tongue met her own and their eyes locked together, the fires of passion dancing within them. The glowing light changed from cyan and purple to a blinding white, and Sunset was forced to close her eyes despite wanting to see Twilight's face as she kissed her.

Still, the light burned her eyes behind her eyelids, a searing brightness that, oddly, didn't hurt. Instead, Sunset felt a sense of warmth and comfort, another kind of magic building inside of her. She focused on the feel of Twilight's body pressed against hers and the dance of passion that their tongues were engaged in.

Finally, the light dimmed and Sunset was able to open her eyes again. She found a much older Twilight standing in front of her, and behind her, a cloud of shadows looming menacingly around them. Regretfully, she pulled away from the warm embrace that she'd waited for so long to experience, and took a moment to take in Twilight's appearance.

The scientist looked much the same as she had before they had been trapped in the spell, but there was a cyan light surrounding her, one that matched the color of Sunset's magical aura. Instantly, she recognized it for what it was. "The magic of love," she breathed, awestruck. "I never thought I'd ever get to see it."

"Neither did I," Twilight said, reaching out to take Sunset's hand. Looking down, Sunset saw that she herself was emitting a purple glow, one that of course matched Twilight's aura. She felt a thrill of pleasure as they held hands, savoring the touch of Twilight's smooth skin against her own. "Now then, shall we teach Adagio a lesson in magic?" Twilight flashed her a brilliant smile, and Sunset couldn't help but return it with her own.

"Ready when you are." Sunset felt Twilight's magic flow into her once more, but this time, it was different. Instead of fighting her, it chose to embrace her, and Sunset found it as easy to wield as her own power. She combined the two sources, and sent out a destabilizing pulse of magic outwards, clearing the dark clouds around her and breaking the spell circle they were trapped in.

As light returned to the room, Sunset saw Adagio standing at the edge of the circle, shock and anger clouding her face. "What? How did you escape? I'm the only one who can end the memory spell!"

"You've got a lot to learn about love and friendship." With the raw power flowing through Sunset, Adagio was just an inconvenience, and she wasn't afraid to tease her a little.

Snarling, the Siren raised her right hand, a cloud of magic enveloping it. "I should've known you'd find a way to weasel out of my trap. It doesn't matter. I'll just take the direct approach to getting rid of you."

A bolt of pure magic flew out from Adagio's fingertips, and Sunset barely managed to conjure up a shield to block it before returning fire with her own magic. Adagio's shield shattered like glass as she was sent sprawling across the room, the detector flying from her hand to land on the floor once again.

"You can't win, Adagio!" Sunset said, still riding the high of being able to freely cast spells. "Just give us back the journal and we can talk things out."

Adagio smiled. "Oh, but that's where you're wrong, Sunset." Arcane energy coalesced around her hand, and Sunset reflexively threw up another shield. "I've already won. Enjoy your little victory; it'll be the last one you ever have."

With a blinding flash of light, Adagio vanished, leaving Sunset and Twilight alone in the warehouse.