Mane-iac couldn’t tell what was worse, the pain of being outwitted once again or the pain upon impact of falling into a dumpster. She could still move her limbs around so nothing appeared to be broken but she’d probably have some nasty bruises for a couple of days.
It was only when there was a flash of green light as a portal suddenly appeared in the alleyway and a figure stepped that Mane-iac figured out there was something worse than her two other options. “You seem worse for ware,” Matterhorn says as she approached the villain.
A small chuckle escaped Mane-iac’s lips. “Come to gloat before you take me away?”
“No, though I am glad to see you haven’t caused too much trouble here,” Matterhorn replied as she glanced around the alleyway. “Of course, you were never meant to be here in the first place.”
“Oh I noticed…” Mane-iac said as she managed to roll off the top of the dumpster and fell onto the ground, coughing slightly. “Still…before I go…there’s just one last thing…”
“Mane-iac, don’t bother,” Matterhorn warned her. “It’s over.”
“Oh really? We’ll see about that!” Mane-iac had grabbed the flask in her pocket and tried to throw into Matterhorn’s face…only to miss her by about three inches. “…Goddamnit!” she snapped in frustration as she sat on the ground and crossed her arms. “Well go ahead and beat me up like you always do.” Matterhorn didn’t move. “Well what are you waiting for, get on with it!”
“No.”
Mane-iac raised an eyebrow in confusion. Matterhorn sighed. “We’ve been doing this for a long time Mane-iac, and there’s going to come a point whether I end up killing you or you end up killing me. I realize now that you take pleasure in chaos because you’re alone and you need a friend. I value friendship more than anything not just because it’s the right thing but because it made me a better person. I don’t know what happened that day to cause you to turn your life around the way you did but…I want to help you and perhaps we can help one another.” She then kneeled down next to her foe and extended her hand. “What do you say?”
Mane-iac looked at her and then down to her hand, the look of surprise never leaving her face. She then gently swatted her hand away. “No.” She then got up slowly as she coughed again slightly from the pain. “No. I’m sorry but…it’s too late for me now.” She then turned around and looked towards the sky. “But you know…even though I haven’t been here that long, I think I’ve had enough of this place…”
Matterhorn smiled slightly. “Nothing compares to Maretropolis does it?”
Mane-iac smiled in return. “I suppose you’re right…” She turned around to face her foe. “Very well Matterhorn…let’s go home…”
The two of them walked back towards the open portal. “By the way, are you curious to know what my diabolical plan was this time?”
“Not really but I suppose I’ll humor you just this one time…”
“Well, I can honestly say that was quite the night,” Principal Celestia said as she and the others were standing outside the concert hall.
“You’re telling me,” Luna said. “I didn’t realize waving a baton around was so complicated.”
Both their counterparts started laughing. “Here we thought we knew each other so well,” Princess Celestia said. “But it seems we were mistaken.”
“Yes, you couldn’t have gotten us up on that stage so easily,” Princess Luna commented.
“How did you even get backstage?” Sunset asked.
“When I gave Vinyl a call to borrow her and her equipment, she said she had a friend who had a key to the back entrance of the building,” Rarity said. “That made getting the equipment inside much easier.”
“And let me guess, you hooked up the equipment to the speakers?” Twilight asked.
“Indeed and it’s a good thing too,” Celestia said. “If we were even a second too late it might’ve been the end.”
“We…and I mean Twilight of course almost had a heart attack,” Princess Luna grinned.
Twilight glared up at her. “It’s not funny.”
“Well, I’m just glad that’s over,” Applejack said. “I wonder where that Mane-iac went.”
Suddenly Rainbow Dash zoomed up right next to her. “She wasn’t back there.”
“There’s no way she could walk off a fall that easily,” Sunset stated.
“Well, when I got over there, I just saw a flash of green light before it disappeared,” Rainbow said. “Maybe she went back to where she belonged.”
“I’m willing to accept that,” Rarity said.
“So now what?” Sunset asked.
Princess Twilight looked to both Celestia and Luna. “Well…we probably need to get home,” she said. “Now that Mane-iac is gone maybe the portal started working again.”
“Aw, but we were gonna celebrate,” Pinkie whined.
“Well…the night is still young,” Princess Celestia said. “What do you think Luna? Do you think you can wait another hour before raising the moon?”
“I think I can handle it,” Luna smiled.
“Well in that case, I say this calls for pizza,” Principal Celestia said. “You’re all welcome to come by our place!”
“Hell yeah!” Rainbow said.
The Princess of Friendship smiled. “Alright, alright, I suppose one hour couldn’t hurt…”
Celestia and Luna decided to go all out, getting two pizzas, a box of chicken wings, two sodas and two of those lava cakes that everyone likes. Pinkie chipped in with some desserts of her own as well as providing her playlists that played throughout the entire house. Okay, maybe the whole event lasted over an hour but who was counting.
“So, I never asked but…how did you take the news?” Princess Twilight asked Sunset as the two of them were hanging out in the kitchen.
“Oh, with Celestia?” Sunset chuckled slightly. “It was…interesting. Without my new powers I probably wouldn’t have known but…we talked about stuff and…I think we’re good now.”
“I’m glad to hear it,” Twilight said. “She’s really wanted to see you.”
“Yeah…” Sunset took a sip of soda. Suddenly Applejack, Pinkie, and Rarity came into the room and they were all snickering. “What…what’s going on?”
“Well…” Applejack began.
“Vice-Principal Luna just invited Rainbow Dash back to her room,” Rarity giggled slightly.
“And it’s funny because I think Rainbow Dash totally has the hots for Luna!” Pinkie finished.
Twilight suddenly spit out the soda she was about to swallow and started coughing. “W-What!?”
“Oh no…” Sunset snickered. “You don’t think…?”
“Mmmmhhmmm,” Rarity responded.
“Like what you see?” Luna grinned.
Oh Rainbow didn’t like, she loved what she was seeing. “Ohmygosh ohmygosh!” She stared at the entire entertainment system. “This is awesome!”
“Thank you,” Luna said. “Considering it’s summertime I won’t be as busy with schoolwork so…if you’re ever interested in coming over…”
“I’ll be here in a heartbeat!”
“I thought you’d say that,” Luna grinned. “So…what should we play first?”
After two hours, Twilight was starting to get anxious, even though she didn’t want the party to end right away. “Don’t worry Twilight, I’m sure Equestria will still be in one piece once we get home,” Princess Celestia assured her.
Saying goodbye was never fun but Twilight knew they’d all see each other again. “Well, that was definitely one of the more…stranger adventures I’ve ever been on,” she said. “I wish we could stay but…”
“We know, duty calls,” Rarity said.
“It truly was a pleasure to meet you two,” Principal Celestia said. “I just hope we didn’t end up causing any trouble in the castle.”
“Oh don’t worry, it’s nothing they haven’t dealt with before,” Princess Celestia laughed.
“I hope you can come by sometime Princess,” Luna grinned. “I think you and I have a score to settle.”
“Very well, I’ll make sure to check my calendar,” Princess Luna smiled. “Just be ready to meet thy doom.”
The girls all shared one last hug. “You know, it’s still kind of weird hugging yourself, you know?” Twilight asked.
“Oh trust me, I feel the same way,” Princess Twilight said with a slight smile.
“We can drive you back to the school,” Celestia offered as she took out her keys.
The five of them made their way towards the car before Princess Celestia stopped and turned around. “Sunset? Have you made your decision?”
Sunset suddenly looked uncomfortable as six pairs of eyes stared at her. “Well…”
“I understand if you still need some time of course,” Celestia said.
“Oh come on Sunset,” Rainbow grinned. “Go ahead. It’s home after all right?”
“Wait…you’re all okay with this?” Sunset asked.
“Of course we are,” Fluttershy said. “We want you to be happy.”
“Yes darling, its your real home after all,” Rarity said.
“Yeah, plus its not like you won’t be able to come back!” Pinkie assured her.
“Just make sure you do before another crisis comes around,” Applejack said with a wink.
“Well…in that case…” Sunset then grabbed her bag and took out her notebook before handing it to Twilight. “Here. If you write in this you can contact either me or Twilight and we’ll be here in a flash.”
“Oh…thank you,” Twilight said as she took the book. “But why me?”
“You’re pretty much the leader now,” Sunset grinned. She glanced over at Princess Twilight. “That’s how it is in our world anyway.”
Twilight smiled and nodded. “Well in that case…hopefully I won’t have to use it.”
There was again another hug before Sunset went to join the others. “So…this is really happening?” Princess Twilight asked.
“Yep, it’s happening,” Sunset smiled.
Twilight suddenly laughed gleefully as she gave her friend a hug, one that was almost choking the poor girl. “This is great! I can show you all of Ponyville, my friends there, my former student and then maybe a magic duel!”
“A magic duel? Seriously?” Sunset asked.
“Actually I’d like to see that for myself,” Princess Celestia said. “But let’s head home before we get carried away.”
The six of them got into the car and soon they drove off. “You know sister, I was just thinking of something,” Princess Luna said. “We may not see these two for awhile, you know, since life at the castle can be quite a hassle at times. I figured we could give these two one last thing to remember us with?”
“What did you have in mind?” Princess Celestia asked.
“Well, I think we both have the hang of using magic here now and…well since Luna’s driving I’m sure she’d enjoy this…could we spare a few minutes?”
“Hmm…very well.”
“Wait a moment, what are you two-? Twilight started to say but Sunset laughed.
“Just go with it Twilight.”
Both princesses snapped their fingers at the exact same time and suddenly the car started to float into the air. As it lifted up, it suddenly changed shape from a car to a spaceship from one of Luna’s video games.
“Oh hell yes!” Luna yelled as the ship suddenly zoomed off into the horizon.