Applejack breathed a sigh of relief as the first rays of morning touched her face, where she opened her eyes and stared out the window that was in her room, giving her a chance to see Celestia, or potentially Luna, lower the moon and raise the sun, signaling that a new day had dawned. She stretched as she pulled herself from her bed and stared out at the apple trees that still needed to be harvested, as the moment she and Apple Bloom had returned to Sweet Apple Acres, after Goku, Vegeta, and Sunset finished their match, Granny Smith had been informed that she was coming back to take up her old life once more. That was, of course, after she had discovered that Granny Smith had also gone through the transformation process, as it actually allowed her to do more than she had been able to do in her pony form, but Applejack was willing to take on her old responsibilities that Granny reminded her about. As such she had trees to harvest, a number of chores to do around the house and the barn, and some other aspects that only she could take care of thanks to her innate nature as a Kaioshin in training... which included setting up a ward at the edge of the farm that actually kept the wildlife of the Everfree Forest from invading.
Applejack smiled as she gathered her farm clothing, which she brought from the house Bulma made in Universe 7, and entered the bathroom before Big Mac or Apple Bloom could beat her to it, where she washed the dirt off her body from the previous day, dried her body off, and put on her clothing... before smiling at Apple Bloom, who was going to use the bathroom after her.
From there Applejack went downstairs and entered the kitchen, where she told Granny Smith good morning as she noted that the matriarch of the Apple Family almost seemed to be like Master Roshi, only without the perverted nature that got him smacked by a good number of the group when he made a comment like that. From there the two of them started making breakfast for all four of them, where Apple Bloom joined them some time later and started setting the table. Big Mac entered the room when everything was ready, and he was also washed up like he was supposed to be, before the four of them brought the food plates to the table and sat down in the seats that they usually sat in, where they started filling their plates and enjoyed the food that Applejack and Granny Smith had made.
"Why didn't Gale come home with us?" Apple Bloom asked, as something had been on her mind since the group had gone their separate ways, though the more interesting fact, besides the gods heading to Twilight's castle for the night, was that Gale went with Rainbow.
"Well, we've already got all of our rooms filled at the moment," Applejack explained, as all of the bedrooms had been filled by all four of them, since they all needed their own room at this point in time, "while Rainbow's house, on the other hand, has two open rooms that she intended on filling at some point in time. As such we decided that Gale would benefit from the experience and that she would be more at home in an environment that Rainbow was familiar with, since she's more like a pegasus than an earth pony. Besides, Rainbow expressed an interest in training Scootaloo at some point in the future and insisted that she take the third room, though speaking of which you and I will need to do some training so you can master your affinity as well."
Apple Bloom smiled at the thought of mastering her connection to the earth, which Applejack had already mastered over the time she spent in Universe 7, though that mastery would allow her to help her sister strengthen her connection until she no longer needed her assistance. Applejack knew that her sister was lucky to have this help, since there was no one she could have talked to about her strange powers, but then again Universe 7's Earth was more than willing to speak, as Rainbow and the others had been blasting holes into it for a long time. Equus was a different matter entirely, as the powerful planet had spoken to her several times during their last couple of visits and she knew that Equus knew that there were two ponies that were of the same power... or more accurately two ponies who were Kaioshin, even though Applejack was still an apprentice and Twilight was the full fledged Kaioshin.
Eventually breakfast was over and Apple Bloom was tasked with washing the dishes, where Applejack headed outside and went to work harvesting the trees like she did back in Universe 7, which allowed her to get the apples without damaging the trees at all. That made the trees happy, as they wouldn't have to heal the markings that were left behind if she were to kick them, though after some time Apple Bloom joined her and watched her for a few moments, taking notes on how she moved as if she was one with the earth beneath her hooves, which she was. Apple Bloom was clearly trying to mimic what she was doing, in terms of her connection to the earth, though even Applejack could tell that she needed some training, based on what she was feeling at the moment... though when she finished harvesting the trees, with her sister's help, the two of them stored the apples away before they moved to an area where training wouldn't hurt anything in Sweet Apple Acres.
Applejack intended to take Apple Bloom to the training area, where they learned about the elements that the crusaders had an affinity for, though when they arrived she noticed that Sweetie and Scootaloo were already present, but they were currently sparring with each other. As the two crusaders were throwing their fists at each other, and parried each other's attacks in the process, Applejack noticed that Gale was standing nearby, ready to coach Scootaloo in using the wind, and Rainbow was sitting on a rock as she watched them fight. It was clear to her that Rainbow was having them practice channeling their ki, so she could see where they were in terms of power and strength, though when they arrived she beckoned for Apple Bloom to join her friends, which she did so as she joined Sweetie in attacking Scootaloo, who seemed pretty good in defending herself against multiple foes... and her fighting style seemed to be like Sunset's, like she was trying to imitate what she had seen yesterday.
"I don't think letting them see Sunset fight was a good idea," Applejack commented, though at the same time she came to a stop near Rainbow, who barely moved her head as she did so, but as she looked around she noticed that a certain number of individuals that seemed to be missing.
"They were bound to have seen her fight in some manner," Rainbow said, to which she waved a hand in a dismissive manner, as if she didn't believe that it was such a bad thing like Applejack thought it was, "besides, Scootaloo is actually pretty strong for someone of her age and Sweetie has been holding her own just fine... though it appears that adding Apple Bloom has shifted the tone slightly. This will help all of them find their own fighting styles and, with our help, allow them to become more in touch with their affinities, once we get around to teaching them about the elements."
"Shouldn't you be clearing the clouds right now?" Applejack asked, as that was what Rainbow was supposed to be doing at the moment, as well as the fact that it was when she had been tasked with doing before she came to Sweet Apple Acres before they walked through the mirror.
"I cleared some clouds, Scootaloo moved some others to new locations, and we let Gale move some since it was her first time doing such a thing," Rainbow replied, to which she beckoned towards Gale for a moment, who was calling out to the crusaders with suggestions on how they might improve their stances, "and no, I'm certainly not bored anymore."
Applejack chuckled at that, because she remembered accusing Rainbow of being bored when she came and got this entire adventure started, though even if she had known that walking through that mirror would reverse their age until they were four years old, stripped them of all their memories, and left them in an unknown world, she wouldn't go back and change it. They had formed some friendships with the people of Universe 7, and had helped them improve their own universe in the process, while at the same time fighting powerful opponents and gained the power necessary to defend their home world. The power the two of them now commanded were great and terrifying, the powers of Destruction and Creation, but they were destined to wield these abilities for a reason, something that had either come to pass in the past or would come to pass soon enough. They even had two fusion forms that were even stronger than they were separate, Raijack and Aekarai, though something told Applejack that she and Rainbow wouldn't need those forms for some time... not unless Equus was attacked by an incredibly powerful foe that required their presence, while Sunset and the other gods were absent.
Thinking about gods made her think about who was missing at the moment, because she would have thought that their father, their mother, and the others would have been up and about by now... but she had the feeling that they were still inside the castle, speaking with someone.
"So, where is our father?" Applejack inquired, because Rainbow might actually know that information, since she, Gale, and Scootaloo had been clearing clouds earlier and had flown over Ponyville to do so, though it was better to ask in case Rainbow might not know.
"Last I saw, he's talking with Sunset." Rainbow replied, though at the same time she smiled as Scootaloo ducked under both Sweetie's fist and Apple Bloom's kick, before she hit the two of them in the chest and knocked them backwards a tiny bit, "I think he's trying to set the groundwork for him to come and visit us from time to time, without influencing her decisions in regards to what needs to be destroyed and what can wait."
Applejack nodded as she glanced at the crystal castle that their parents, Whis, and Shin had spent the night in, since neither of their houses had enough room or everyone and the castle, according to Twilight had anyway, had a lot of unused rooms that were easily changeable into bedrooms. From what she understood there was a room that Discord slept in, so he could be close to the mirror and continue his investigations into the other worlds that the other ponies had been sent to. So far it appeared that he wasn't having any luck in finding or recovering any of them once the magic had disappeared from their being, but she was sure that Discord would be able to do something in the future, especially since he was working so hard to correct his mistakes at the moment. She was still worried about the others that had been displaced, as some of them had been sent to worlds that looked worse than Universe 7, but she had faith in the fact that all of them would overcome what was happening to them and return home when they were ready.
Her thoughts were interrupted as she heard a light explosive noise, where she found that Scootaloo had upped her inner power and had surrounded herself in a light aura, like Krillin and Yamcha did when they were flying around or when Goku was using his base form in a battle... and both Sweetie and Apple Bloom were responding in kind, meaning that she and Rainbow would have to intervene soon before someone was seriously hurt.
Beerus remained silent as he, Chronoa, Shin, Whis, Goku, and Vegeta sat at the same table that Sunset, Celestia, and Twilight were sitting at, where they were simply sharing a light morning meal before they did anything serious, allowing some of them to relax after their fight yesterday. He knew that both of the Saiyans were getting stronger, as Whis' training and their constant fights against powerful foes was allowing them to reach new heights all the time, but at the same time they continued to find obstacles that they needed to overcome. Rainbow and Applejack had inspired the duo to improve themselves even more, since they knew that there had to be a level of power beyond Super Saiyan Blue, but at the same time their new technique, the Super Saiyan Blue Kaio-ken, was still under development. That was especially true when either of them were forced to go right to the twentieth power, as it rapidly drained their energy when they used it, but Goku already promised him that he would find a way around that flaw... and that Vegeta was interested in assisting him in that venture, once they returned to Universe 7 and took up their training once more.
The other thing that he was thinking about was Sunset's power and what Frieza had thought about her, because Sunset had grown since the two of them had fought and he knew that she was stronger than she had been earlier, but that was likely due to Celestia's training... though that didn't stop him from worrying that Frieza might have been right about something.
"So, Beerus, how long are you planning on staying?" Sunset asked, breaking the silence that had been hanging around the area around them, while causing everyone to look at her for a moment, as some of them were interesting in the question and Beerus' answer.
"Not too long," Beerus admitted, as while he would have enjoyed spending a week or more with his girls, while they settled into their old lives, he knew that leaving his universe without both it's God of Destruction and it's Kaioshin wasn't the best move around, "I thought that I'd spend a day with them, maybe two at the max, before we headed back home and returned to our lives as well, after setting some days where we can meet them again. The reason is because it's unwise to leave a universe without the Hakaishin and the Kaioshin for a large amount of time, so two days would be the absolute max for us. Besides, if I stayed for more than two days there's the chance that I might start influencing how you run your universe and Zeno-sama was originally against other gods coming here before you were chosen to become a God of Destruction, as he didn't want us to influence your universe at all."
"I see." Sunset replied, though at the same time she set her utensils down and raised her napkin to her face, which was followed by her staring at Beerus for a few moments, "I'm sure that Rainbow, Applejack, and Gale will appreciate some time with you and the others before you have to return to Universe 7, and I'm positive that we can come up with a schedule of sorts that will allow you some additional time in the future to visit them."
Beerus was pleased to hear that, as he had been hoping that Sunset would be able to come up with a schedule that would work for both her side and his side, even if he was sure that Twilight and Celestia would be creating the actual schedule while Sunset was busy... which actually made him think about something else that he was sure that the others were curious about.
"How goes the search for the other ponies that were displaced?" Shin asked, as he was sure that Beerus would like a change of pace before they got to determining the schedule that Sunset had mentioned, while also bringing them to a topic that he and the others had been interested in since they first learned that there were other ponies that were sent to other worlds in this universe.
"It's actually going pretty well at the moment," Twilight said, causing the group to turn towards her, though instead of being flustered or anything she was actually smiling and felt good about what she knew, "Discord told me that he's actually found where some of them were sent and has made contact with three of them; Lyra Heartstrings, Trixie Lulamoon, and Chrysalis. From what we've been told Lyra and Trixie were sent to a planet called Azeroth and he made contact with him, though when he tried to bring them home the two of them declared that they were in the middle of a war with some force called the Burning Legion... that's apparently been destroying worlds since they were founded."
"I'll admit that this Sargeras was doing a good job of being a Destroyer before I came along," Sunset commented, knowing that the creature could have easily filled the position she had been destined for, but at the same time she frowned as she thought about him again, "but he's just destroying worlds and erasing lives without even attempting to let anything form in the void he's creating. Maybe I should go to Azeroth in the future and see if I can't find, and destroy, this Sargeras and his Legion, because I'm tired of them trying to erase the universe."
"Yeah, I'd deal with him soon," Beerus said, as while Frieza had been the same as this Sargeras, at least in the sense of blowing planets apart, the emperor had also kept worlds around and didn't destroy them until something ruined his mood, though now that was in the past, "What about Chrysalis?"
"He found her sitting in a cell, as a prisoner of some kind," Twilight replied, though her tone told the group that she wasn't sure what to think of this, meaning that something had happened to Chrysalis since the time she stepped into the mirror, "From what he was able to gather she's actually started to embrace friendship, claiming that she had it a long time ago and was only rediscovering it, and that she's already made a friend... one that she refused to leave behind, causing Discord to leave her where he found her. Chrysalis is also in a part of our universe that might need to have some planets destroyed and remade, at least according to the readings that we've been getting from Orvus."
Beerus wondered, for a moment anyway, just how many planets had been destroyed before Sunset became the God of Destruction and how many planets Twilight was trying to create to make up for the fact that there hadn't been a Kaioshin before her. As he thought about it, however, he knew that it was a good thing that Applejack had training in being a God of Creation, as that meant that she might be able to lend Twilight her powers and help her create a few planets, if what they saw on Planet Meka was any indication. He was still surprised that all that power had gone into Applejack and she, in turn, awoke a planet that both he and Shin had given up on, one that Chronoa said would be full of life soon enough, once they gave it time to grow anyway. Beerus also didn't like the sound of this Sargeras, because the look on Sunset's face told him that if they ever crossed paths she was going to made good on her decision to destroy him... unless something else happened to be happening to him at that point in time.
"That's good to hear," Whis commented, causing the group to turn towards him, though at the same time Beerus knew what was coming, as they were all thinking about the other person that Sunset was hunting for, "but what about the one you call Tirek? Have you had any luck in finding him?"
"Unfortunately we haven't seen hide or hair of that centaur since his escape," Sunset said, though the anger in her voice was evident, indicating that she seriously hated Tirek and wanted him dead the moment she found him, "but Discord is scanning the universe as he hunts for the worlds that the other displaced ponies were sent to, just in case he happens to have found his way to one of them."
Before she could actually say anything else there was a flash of light and Discord teleported into the room that they were all sitting in, though at the same time the group noticed that the Spirit of Disharmony looked upset over something, which Celestia thought was unusual since he was normally happy all the time. That single change in his expression and mood meant that something terrible must have happened, which either meant that this was going to be some urgent news for them to act on immediately, or it was news that they needed to know for the future.
"Discord, what's wrong?" Twilight asked, though the last time she recalled seeing this side of Discord was back when he had his powers drained and looked defeated after the whole Tirek affair.
"It's... it's Nirn!" Discord said, referring to the planet that Sunset had first been sent to when she stepped through the mirror outside Canterlot High School, in the parallel dimension that she had saved, where she had ascended to being an alicorn so she could combat Tirek, "It's been destroyed!"
"What?!" Sunset exclaimed, as she remembered saving the planet and restoring all of the powers that Tirek had stolen, so unless this was a seriously delayed reaction she had no idea what was going on, "What do you mean that Nirn has been destroyed?"
"Well, I was following your command, searching for Tirek when not actively searching for the other ponies, when an idea hit me like a ton of bricks," Discord explained, where he was flattened by some magically summoned bricks, though a few seconds later he recovered and returned to his normal self before he continued his explanation, "We were looking for where, in the vastness of our universe, he could have gone after escaping from Tartarus again, but never once did we consider that he might have found his way back to Nirn again. When I came up with that idea I shifted my gaze back to the planet you were sent to, before I sent you and Starlight to Veldin, and discovered that Nirn was no longer where it should have been. Instead of bugging you at the time, as you were either busy training Pinkie or fighting against someone else, I decided to pay Orvus a visit and asked about Nirn, where we quickly discovered that Tirek had, in fact, chosen that planet to hide on for some time."
"But for Nirn to have been destroyed, then that means..." Sunset started to say, though she stopped herself, as she, Twilight, and Celestia knew exactly what had happened the last time they spoke about Nirn, which only made her worry about how they didn't catch him blowing the planet to pieces.
"Tirek absorbed the power of those beings, what you called the Daedric Princes," Whis said, as he understood what Discord and Sunset were saying, though at the same time Beerus and Chronoa nodded as well, indicating that they were following along as well, "and, with their power coursing through his veins once more, he set off a chain reaction that destroyed Nirn, leaving a message for Sunset whenever she, or someone else, found the planet's remains. He's trying to say that no matter what you do, and no matter who your friends are, he'll destroy the planets that you all worked so hard to save... meaning that he might visit the three galaxies you and Starlight saved."
"Orvus hasn't seen a trace of him since we started searching, but I'll tell him what we know," Discord said, though as he raised one of his claws, so he could snap himself out of the room and head to the Great Clock, he looked at Sunset for a few seconds, "Don't worry, we'll get him for this... you weren't the only one that lost a friend when Nirn was destroyed."
With that said Discord disappeared with a snap of his claws, heading to the Great Clock so he could see if he and Orvus could find Tirek, now that they knew that he was responsible for the destruction of an entire planet and wasn't likely going to stop before someone caught him. Sunset waited for a few moments before excusing herself, though Celestia and Twilight let her go, knowing that the friends she had made on that planet were long gone at this point in time and needed some time to mourn them before she started hunting Tirek down once more.
"What did Discord mean when he said that Sunset wasn't the only one that lost a friend?" Shin asked, because as far as he and the others knew Discord had never visited Nirn, or if he did he had never said anything about his travels while they were present.
"Discord knows all of the other gods and creatures that represent chaos and madness," Celestia replied, though she couldn't fault the gods of Universe 7 for not knowing this, as it wasn't something that they usually talked about, "among those names was a Daedric Lord by the name of Sheogorath, Daedric Prince of Madness. From what I understand the two of them had been close friends, up until the time that my sister and I were forced to use the Elements of Harmony on him and encased him in stone. Unfortunately it seems like Tirek must have weakened all the Princes to the point where the planetary explosion of Nirn, which they were likely standing on when it occurred, likely killed all of them... meaning that Discord lost Sheogorath in the process."
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that," Beerus said, though at the same time he pulled himself from the table, as he knew that the time to make the schedule for him and the others to visit the girls wasn't right now, not with Sunset the way she was over Nirn's destruction, "If you'll excuse us, I think it's best if we spend some time with the girls and let Sunset do what she needs to do, before we set up a timeline for visits."
Celestia nodded her head, pleased to see that Rainbow and Applejack had shown Beerus when it was time to do something and when it was time to back off, though at the same time the God of Destruction for Universe 7 and his friends headed outside, so they could find the girls. As she watched them walk away she knew that Beerus was going to make the most of the time he had with them before he and his group went back to Universe 7, without Rainbow, Applejack, or even Gale accompanying them. She knew that it was going to be hard for them to adjust to living without the girls, since they were a big part of their lives, but she also knew that, in time, they would adjust to the changes and continue with their new lifestyles. Still, they had adjusted to their lives with the girls and she knew that they would forever cherish those memories, and any other ones that they created while they spent their time with the girls.
The only thing that she was hoping for was that Discord and Orvus could find Tirek quickly, so that way Sunset could deal with the centaur before he destroyed more than just one planet, as she could already imagine the destruction Tirek would cause before someone caught up with him.