Sunset and the Shadowbolts were all playing together with their little duplicates. While it had originally come as a shock to the system for all of them—Sunset Shimmer especially—they had very quickly adapted to there being baby versions of themselves because of Twilight's magic. Through their smiles and silly faces, they were deep in thought on just how powerful Twilight's magic really was—or how powerful it would become in the future.
"Aww! Mini me is so cute!" Lemon Zest gushed over how her baby copy was climbing her body. She watched the baby then reach up and take Lemon's headphones off of the top of her head and try to wear them, only to have them fall down and land on the teenager's legs. "I just wanna take her home right now and cuddle her!"
"Lemon Zest, she's a magical clone created by Twilight's magic." Sugarcoat spoke in her usual deadpan accent, while at the same time, brushing her infant double's tiny hair. "I wouldn't get too attached to her."
"Yes. If Twilight's magic disappears when she goes to sleep, then she might end up causing these little baby doppelgangers to vanish as well." Sunny Flare turned towards Lemon Zest. "Enjoy the time that you have with these babies at the moment, but when Twilight falls asleep, just be prepared to say goodbye to them all."
"Yeah, I know, I know," said Lemon, watching her little version pick up the headphones again and put one of the speakers to her ears. At the same time, teenage Lemon turned the music on and made sure to turn down the speakers so that her tiny copy didn't have her ears blasted out of her head. "You know what the funny thing is? I downloaded a bunch of nursery rhymes because I wanted to treat Twilight to them. Y'know, 'cause she's a baby. But I never thought I'd be using them on myself. Literally."
Sunset couldn't help but chuckle as she brought Twilight over to the Lemon Zests. She set Twilight down with Lemon and helped her towards the other speaker on the headphones. Now, both babies were listening to the soothing songs, and they both ended up giggling with each verse.
Indigo Zap was watching baby her playing with a ball. She watched her throw the ball with her tiny arms up towards the Crystal Prep girl, laughing as she caught it with one sweep. As Indigo gently lobbed it back, baby Indigo caught it and laughed, wildly wiggling her legs as she celebrated her mediocre accomplishment.
"Y'know, Sour? She's pretty cute for a kid." Indigo gave her baby a pat on the head as she watched her crawl off towards another part of the room.
"Yeah. All of them are." Sour Sweet swooned, smiling at how her baby was sticking a building block into her mouth. "So young. So innocent. So unaware of the hellish and tedious futures that await them..."
"Geez, always gotta end it with a back-handed comment, eh, Sour?" Indigo's mood fell when Sour patted her baby self on the back and turned to face her. "You've gotta get that stuff worked out, girl."
"I know, I know! I'm sorry if my medication does jack, alright?!" She threw her arms down as the muscles in her forehead flexed. As soon as Sour watched Indigo recoil, she put a hand to her head and let out a sigh. "Sorry, sorry. I'm still a bit on edge. My medication seems to be doing less and less each day, and I'm not sure exactly what to do about it."
"Hey, hey. Take it easy, Sour." Indigo came over and gave Sour a small hug. "You'll pull through this. I know you will. You've always managed to make it through a day at Crystal Prep without punching someone, so that kinda counts towards you getting better."
"Hmm... I suppose." Sour looked up, her face beginning to melt with grief as she let out another deep sigh. "Indigo. Do you think that there's a cure for being bipolar?" she asked. "And be honest with me. Don't try and lie to make me feel better."
"Well, I don't think there's one right now, but they're surely working on one." Indigo brushed her hand over Sour's shoulders. "But moping about these things is just gonna make everything worse. Just try to think about the good stuff in your life, y'know? Forget about the bad. It's only there for a short while."
"But when the bad stuff happens, it usually stings more painfully than the good stuff makes us happy." Sour sat down and crossed her legs. "I just don't know where to turn, Indigo. Can't the students at Crystal Prep do something about this?"
"Look, as bright as we are, we can't come up with a cure for these kind of diseases." Indigo shook her head. "If we did, then we'd be the talk of not only the town, but the rest of the planet! Plus, we'd practically get diplomas on the dot for that." She let a small smile creep onto her face as she envisioned a Crystal Prep that cured Sour's ailments. It soon dissolved once she focused on Sour again. "Look, just don't let it get to you right now. Just have fun with the little us-es and you'll soon forget about this problem."
"Speaking of playing, I'm really having fun doing it with little me." Sunny Flare was strewn about on her belly, playing pattycake with the baby double of herself. Her legs kicked the air as she rhythmically struck baby Sunny's hands. "Who knew that playing with yourself could be so therapeutic?"
As Indigo and Sour watched the whole thing, they couldn't help but smile and plucked their babies up from the ground, holding them gently. As they felt their babies begin to snuggle up to their bodies and coo softly, it felt like they had immediately forgotten about the world around them. All of the other noises that they could hear were negated, as they focused solely on listening to their tiny selves. To them, they wanted nothing else in life. This was their perfect moment.
Dean Cadence knocked on the door and said, "Sunset? Are you in there? I need to speak with you."
"Oh, I'll be right there, Aunt Cadence," said Sunset, setting Twilight down on the padded flooring to play with the others. "You be good for the Shadowbolts while I'm gone, alright, Twilight?"
Twilight simply cooed and gave Sunset an innocent smile, nodding her head as she watched her walk out of the door and meet Cadence. Once she was out of the door, she turned back to the others and lit up her horn, as a small smile grew on her face.
"So, what did you want to talk to me about, Cadence?" Sunset closed the door behind her and turned to face Cadence. "Is this about Twilight?"
"No, it's not about Twilight, Sunset." Cadence held a clipboard and pen in her arms, with some documents emblazoned with a seal from the city board. "It's about the trials."
"Trials? What trials?" Sunset tilted her head at the papers on Cadence's clipboard.
"Well, as you know, ex-principal Cinch is going to be tried on suspicion of blackmail, thanks to you, your friends, and the five Crystal Prep girls with you today." Cadence tapped the paper with the clicker end of the pen. "As you may or may not know, a courtroom battle needs both a defense attorney and a prosecutor. We've already got both sides covered, but we'd like to ask you and the rest of your friends to be witnesses." Cadence watched Spike climbing the stairs. "In fact, everyone who was at the Friendship Games is going to testify in court. I hope that it's not an issue for you."
"Oh, no, Cadence. It's not," said Sunset. "Principal Cinch had it coming. I'll be glad to speak out against her."
"Good." Cadence turned the paper toward Sunset and handed her the pen. "I just need you to sign your name here and then you'll be ready for the case."
"Already done." Without a moment to think it over, Sunset took the pen and wrote her name down, handing everything back to Cadence once she was finished. "Is that all, or is there more?"
"Well, yes there is." Cadence took the first sheet and slid it underneath the one below it. It was another court paper, with the same symbol from before. "A Mr. Filthy Rich is suing Camp Everfree's staff for physical violence against him, and according to the documents he's provided, everyone there's going to be a witness as well. You and the others were at Camp Everfree, weren't you?"
As soon as Sunset heard those words, she felt like she had been slashed all over with a blade so cold that it froze her wounds as soon as they had appeared. Her heart began to pound as she thought about Timber and Gloriosa's fate if they were to lose against Filthy Rich. Hastily, she reached for the pen again, trembling as she frisked the second summons. She tried to swallow, but she threw up in her mouth instead.
"I'm guessing you need some time alone." Cadence just had to look at Sunset's face to know that something was wrong. "I can always come back later if this isn't a good time."
"No!" Sunset swung her hands in front of her face. "I mean, yes. No, wait! I mean, I... I-I, ugh! Just let me see the papers." She took them from Cadence's hands. After giving them a more through glance-over, Sunset began to sweat as she put the ink end of the pen towards the paper. "Look, Cadence, there's more to this thing than meets the eye."
"Oh? Then what is it, Sunset?" Cadence asked, leaning in slowly. "There's no need to hide it from me. Nothing you say is going to get you or Twilight in trouble. I'll make sure of it."
"It's not Twilight and I that's bothering me about this," Sunset started, mustering up what little courage she had left after seeing the papers. "It's mainly about Timber and Gloriosa. Something happened to them that caused Filthy Rich to take out a lawsuit against them and the camp." She looked away and felt her face droop. "And if I told you about it, it would make almost no sense, wouldn't it?"
"Sunset." Cadence put her hand on Sunset's chest. "We've seen Principal Cinch take the biggest fall from grace in the history of Crystal Prep, seen Twilight Sparkle be turned into a magical monster baby, and we've taken you into the family as one of our own because of all of this. I'm sure that we'll be able to make some sort of sense out of what you have to say."
Sunset inhaled as much air as her lungs would take in, and exhaled an equally large amount as she rubbed her forehead with her fingertips. "Basically, when Twilight went over to Camp Everfree with me, she used magic to take me to Equestria," she began. "After a while, we managed to make it back home, but let's just say that Twilight wasn't the easiest to deal with—even back home."
"I can imagine." Cadence looked back at the door and thought about Twilight. "That magic of hers is unlike anything this world's ever seen. It's like something straight out of a movie."
"Yeah. But anyway, when we got back home, let's just say that—and I'm not putting this down as it being definite—Twilight did something to Gloriosa, and when we were back at the camp, she turned into a magical baby as well; as if Twilight's condition was contagious if she had just the right spell."
"But Twilight's only a baby! How could she have known what spell to use to turn Gloriosa into one?" Cadence lifted a brow. "Ugh! I haven't even thought this through and I'm already confused. You could say that I've been replaced by an evil shapeshifting queen who wanted to ruin my life by turning into me and ruining my one chance at a stable relationship and it would make too much sense!"
"Like I said. You wouldn't understand, even if I tried to explain it to you." Sunset looked down at the papers again. "Magic here's a bit different than it is back home. We have ponies in Equestria who can channel it; keep it stable. But here in this other world, there's no unicorns, no magical artefacts, nothing like that, and yet it's still happening right before our eyes. That's as close as I'll ever get to explaining it and I've still got no proof." She face-palmed and slowly rubbed her face down. "All we can do is brace ourselves for the next outbreak and take it as it comes." She began to sign the next document, but did it slowly as she recalled the moments that she witnessed Gloriosa attack Filthy Rich. "Timber Spruce is all alone now that his sister's been youthened. He's got no way of paying Camp Everfree, no way to stand up to Filthy Rich in court, and no way that he can win without our support. I got him into this mess by bringing Twilight with me, and now I'm gonna get him back out again." She underlined her name and gave the completed documents back to Cadence.
"You look a bit frazzled, Sunset." Cadence took the signed papers away from Sunset. "Are you sure you're feeling alright?"
"Look. The reason that the Shadowbolts are here today is because my friends are trying to make me believe that I'm not at fault here, yet I was the one who brought Twilight with me to the camp." Sunset put her forehead against the wall and groaned. "I've ruined Timber's life with Gloriosa being turned young. I brought magic with me when we all wanted to get away from it, and now it's put us in this mess. I told the rest of the Rainbooms that I wasn't ready to face them again until I'd calmed down, and I'm really starting to worry that I'll never be able to face them again—especially if Timber ends up losing the camp to Filthy Rich in this courtroom battle."
"Sunset. Your friends aren't going to think of you any different if you lose." Cadence patted Sunset's back and watched as some small tears began to trickle down from her cheeks and hit the floor. "Your friends are always going to be there for you, no matter what. And even if they do leave you, they're not your only friends." She pointed towards the door again. "Indigo, Sour, Sunny, Lemon, and Sugarcoat are all in there today because they supported you. They wouldn't have come down to see you if you weren't friends with any of them. I suppose that, in a way, I'm glad that the Friendship Games happened this year. Sure, it was a bit crazy with what went down, but in the end, you ended up making friends with the enemy team. That's gotta account for something, right?"
"Look. I'm glad that you're helping me out with this, aunt Cadence, but I really think that I need some time with Twilight." Sunset turned away from the door and started to walk back towards the nursery. "I just need to de-stress and think about this with a clearer mind. Otherwise, I might end up doing something really bad."
"Alright. Well, I'll let you get back to it." Cadence began to walk down the stairs. "Dinner's gonna be a little late tonight. Shining Armor's gotta do some patrol work for the city after the recent crime increase."
"Thanks for letting me know." Sunset waved Cadence off before she put her hand back on the handle. She opened the door and saw a rather peculiar sight.
Twilight had severed gravity in the room. Furniture, toys, and even the other Shadowbolts were suspended in the air, just floating about with their little ones held tightly in hand. While she was trying to catch some of the floating toys, the others were trying to get back onto the ground, but with little success.
"Twilight? What did I just say about being good?" Sunset muttered, jumping into the room to try and catch her little monster. With a single dive, she caught her and landed face-first on the ground, placing her on the ground like a football player would plant a touchdown.
"Mama!" Twilight squealed, and lit up her horn in ecstasy. With a single wave of black and blue energy, gravity was restored, and a resounding noise of crashing nursery equipment burst throughout the room.
"Thank goddess you're back, Sunset." Sunny Flare stood up and rubbed her rear end, trying to eliminate the pain that flared through her butt cheeks. "We thought that we were gonna be like that forever."
"Not that I would've minded." Lemon lifted a finger. "Mini-me liked flying like that." She held the giggling baby Lemon up as proof.
"Are you alright, Sunset?" Sugarcoat just had to look at Sunset's face to know that she had been shot in the metaphorical heart. "You seem a bit downtrodden about something."
"No. No. I'm fine," lied Sunset. "I just need to take some time off and play with Twilight more. The courtroom cases are coming up soon, and I don't want to go into them feeling like a complete wreck."
"You mean Cinch's trial?" asked Indigo. "Well, I get that you wanna get to the point like that, but I don't see how you're worried about that. Seems like a pretty open and shut case to me."
"Indy, she obviously doesn't mean Cinch's trial." Sour Sweet scoffed. "That witch is gonna get burned at the stake in court. Just sit back and enjoy the chaos..."
"She's talking about Timber Spruce vs Filthy Rich." Sugarcoat crossed her arms, almost suffocating her baby duplicate in the process. "I overheard the whole thing."
"You heard?!" Sunset almost sprung into the air. "But why would you do that?!"
"The Rainbooms told us all about what happened," Sugarcoat pushed her glasses to her face. "They said that you were a nervous wreck and that you needed cheering up. That's why we're all here today, Sunset. We're acting as your friends, seeing as how you shut the door on them when you needed them the most."
"They also said that, in the case you turn into a crying mess, that we could all come together and help you feel happier," Lemon squeaked, smiling eagerly. "And since all of these babies are here, I think I've got the perfect idea..."
"Oh dear..." Sunny Flare grimaced, watching the other Shadowbolts do the same.
"What? What is it now?" Sunset asked.
"Whenever Lemon Zest gets an idea, you can tell that things are gonna get out of hand pretty quickly." Indigo Zap broke the silence and walked over to Lemon. "She once had the crazy idea to have some kind of prep rally when the Friendship Games came round, and if it weren't for Cinch, the whole of Crystal Prep might've had a second Mardi Gras."
"Hey! It's not my fault that Cinch was three steps ahead of me that day!" Lemon pouted, stomping and leaning forward like a spoilt princess. She soon composed herself and stood upright again, looking at all of the Shadowbolts and their babies with a wide smile on her face. "And besides, this is a good idea. This is gonna get Sunset over here a big goofy grin on her face."
"You kinda sound like Pinkie Pie, Lemon." Despite her mental state, Sunset couldn't help but smile at Lemon's enthusiasm. "Alright, Lemon Zest. Let's see what you've got for an idea."
"Alright. Now listen up. This is a great plan." Lemon Zest brought the other Shadowbolts and Sunset close into a huddle together.