//------------------------------// // Aftermath // Story: A Queen's Perspective - Equestria Girls // by gerandakis //------------------------------// At Spike's incredulous reaction, what remained of the tension there once was, was finally shattered and everyone broke down into various levels of laughter, chuckles and giggles. Even the recently devastated Sunset and the ever stoic Vice-Principal cracked small smiles. After catching herself, Principal Celestia walked over to the side of the crater and picked up the Element of Magic that had come to rest there. Cautious, after seeing how it had reacted to Sunset, she walked over to Twilight and gave her the crown for the second time this evening. "I believe this belongs to you. A true princess in any world leads not by forcing others to bow before her, but by inspiring others to stand with her. We have all seen that you are capable of just that. I hope you see it too, Princess Twilight." Twilight gave a soft smile. "I do." And the same goes for a queen, I'd say. The gathered crowd cheered, her friends most of all, before retreating back to the gym to leave Sunset, Snips and Snails, under Luna's ever watchful gaze, to clean up the mess they had made. Some time later, the party in the gym was once more in full swing, with many students dancing, enjoying food and drink, simply chatting with friends or getting their picture taken, now that Photo Finish and Pixel Pizzaz had returned to their setup. A few students were looking at the six girls who saved them and their strange transformations. Rarity was reveling in the attention while Pinkie didn't even seem to notice. Applejack seemed mostly indifferent towards it, happily answering questions when asked and generally being as approachable as ever. Rainbow and Fluttershy meanwhile, were flying a short distance under the tall ceiling of the gym, still somewhat unsteady on their new wings, although at least Rainbow seemed to quickly be getting the hang of it. Both of them turned around, more or less completely, as they heard a deep humming sound. They saw Twilight casually flying up to them, a sandwich floating beside her. She gave them a friendly smile before, to their surprise, turning upside-down in mid air and attaching her feet to the ceiling. After she was sure they were properly secured, she looked to her friends, seeing their dumbstruck expressions. "Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that. At home I can walk on walls and ceilings, the magic here must have replicated that somehow." I really wish I had the time to figure out how. At her friend's continued staring she gave an amused giggle before continuing. "Don't worry about it, it's a changeling thing." "Okay, that's awesome. But you said you were a shapeshifter. If you can do ..." Rainbow gestured at Twilight's feet that were still attached to the ceiling while she took a bite out of her sandwich, "that, does that mean you can shapeshift now too?" At her inquisitive glance, Twilight grew thoughtful. "I didn't even think to check, hold on." A moment later a wave of magenta fire with a few small motes of orange washed over her and once it had passed, what Rainbow saw hanging from the ceiling above seemed to be an exact copy of herself. She was only further stunned when the copy perfectly mimicked her own voice. "Huh, seems like I can." While Rainbow was dumbstruck at that, the short shock at seeing the magical fire was enough to pull Fluttershy from her stunned silence. "Wow, that's amazing, Twilight." She let out a short eep, as another wave of fire washed across the counterfeit Rainbow Dash to reveal Twilight once more. Now that she looked at her newest friend more closely she took note of the holes in her hands and legs. While she looked at Twilight’s legs she also noticed the rippling of air around the hem of Twilight's skirt and suddenly understood why it refused to follow the call of gravity. She smiled at solving that mystery but chose not to comment on it. "Say Twilight, why do you have holes?" Twilight gave an exasperated smile, "I have no idea, and that bothers me to no end. It's just something changelings have, I guess. As for why, I honestly don't know." Having eaten her food and seeing Fluttershy's confused glance, she detached herself from the ceiling and flew over to embrace her shy friend in a mid-air hug. Though surprised by this, Fluttershy only took a moment to reciprocate. Twilight relished the freely given love for a short moment before releasing the girl, not wanting to seem clingy. She gave a final smile before turning around and calmly flying back to the floor. Rainbow finally broke her stunned silence. "So she can fly, she can shapeshift, she can walk on walls, and she feeds on love. Did I forget anything?" "She lays eggs?" Fluttershy carefully piped in. "Right, that too." Rainbow shuddered momentarliy at the implications. "She's a strange girl. But she's a good friend." With a smile she turned back to Fluttershy to continue practicing. Back on the floor, Twilight had landed right next to Rarity who looked up to her as she approached, nearby students respectfully stepping aside to give their princess room to land. "Ah there you are darling, I was wondering where you were. I suppose I forgot to watch the skies as it were." "I guess you wouldn't be used to having people with wings around." "Certainly not, darling. That being said, I must say your wings a simply stunning. The way they catch the light is just magnificent. I might even make a dress or two in that visual style." Twilight calmly listened to her gushing, a soft smile on her lips as she was once more reminded of how closely this Rarity mimicked her counterpart. Some time later Twilight walked back towards the entry hall, seeing Sunset, Snips and Snails still working away at cleaning up. She approached the Vice Principal who turned towards her the moment she heard her approach. "Twilight Sparkle, how is the party going?" "Quite well, everyone is having fun as far as I can tell." Luna gave a pleased nod before Twilight continued. "Say, could I borrow Sunset Shimmer for a moment?" Luna gave the matter a moment’s thought. "Certainly, you know where to find me." Sunset looked up and Twilight indicated for her to follow as she stepped out of the hole in the facade and took flight for a moment to get over the crater. Sunset hurried to follow, jumping over the debris and sidestepping the crater. When she caught up, Twilight was casually walking towards the statue that held the portal. They walked in silence for a short moment, Sunset still too caught up with her internal struggle to get herself to speak and Twilight content to give her all the time she needed. "Why are you doing this?" Sunset finally asked. "Why are you being so nice to me after everything I did?" Twilight took to the air and sat down on the edge of the statue's socket, which they had reached by now. "You are responsible for the lives you save." she finally said, quietly. "Who did you get that wisdom from?" Twilight raised an eyebrow at her. "Do you really need to ask?" "Princess Celestia, right." Sunset deadpanned. "Nevermind." The two former pupils of the Princess shared a goodhearted laugh. After a moment Twilight spoke up quietly. "You feel it too, don't you?" Sunset sighed and nodded. "Yes, there is magic in this world now." "Yes, I don't have my horn so I can't sense too much, but even without it I can tell that the leylines nearby are activating." "I know. I feel the same thing. I wasn't even sure if this world had leylines before." "It seems like it does. Maybe it had magic at some point or maybe the leyline network here always was dormant. But whatever the case, one fact remains." "Yes, there is magic in this world now." "Exactly. And I will have to go back, so they will need you. You're the only one here with an understanding of how magic works. They will need you to help them." "I will do what I can. It's the least I can do, especially after today." "They will forgive you, with time." "That's not what I'm worried about. I don't know if I can forgive myself." "I can't tell you about that. But it will get easier." Sunset took a moment to contemplate. "What if your magic hadn't stopped me?" "I still could have taken control of your mind and stopped you that way." Sunset nearly fell off of the statue at that news. She only managed to catch herself because Twilight quickly used a bit of telekinesis to arrest her momentum. "You can do that?!" she sputtered. "Yes, all changeling queens can do that. I just normally choose not to." "Wow. You are so much better suited to have that kind of power than I am." "That may have been true a few hours ago. Now ..." She jumped down from the statue and landed softly in the grass below, before turning around and giving her former rival a soft smile. "I'm not so sure." "Thanks Twilight." Sunset dropped down beside her and they both started walking back towards the school. They continued talking about the two worlds the entire way, both learning numerous interesting things about how the worlds were different and about what had happened in Equestria since Sunset had left. When they reached the inside, after completing a full lap around the school building, they found to their surprise that Luna, Snips and Snails were gone. It only took a moment however before Luna returned. As she saw the vacant hall she raised an eyebrow. "I see the two of them have left without my authorisation. Detention then. Too bad ... " She grew a sly smirk. "I was just about to release the three of you." At Sunset's disbelieving stare she chuckled slightly. "What? Did you think we would let you fix this on your own? Aside from that being entirely against school policy I'm also fairly certain that would violate child labour laws. Go ahead, Miss Shimmer." Sunset kept staring at her for a few moments longer but then shrugged and turned to leave. While Twilight and Luna watched her go, they heard a voice from behind them. "Do you think she'll be okay?" They both recognized the voice and turned to see Principal Celestia approaching them. Twilight gained a soft smile. "I think she will be, given time." "That's good." Celestia let out a soft sigh "Though I am kinda worried how we're gonna explain that to the insurance companies." Twilight's eyes lit up at those words. A few quick exchanges over the hive mind later she spoke up. "I may have a solution for that." The principals turned towards her, confusion clear on their faces. "Come, I'll explain." She walked off towards the statue once more and the two women soon followed her. "As I assume you know by now, I come from another world." The principals had suspected as much after hearing talk about 'Portals' and 'Equestria', so they simply gave noises of vague agreement, prompting her to continue. "Sunset informed me of a certain, shall we say, discrepancy between our worlds." The two older women exchanged confused glances once more as the trio arrived at the portal. "Stand back." Twilight warned. A moment later the portal glowed for a short second before a single, quite sizeable ingot of metal landed on the lawn. Twilight picked up the heavy object. Before turning around to face them once more. As she did the two women gasped in shock. After a moment of stunned silence Celestia spoke up. "Is that ... gold?" "It is. Sunset informed me that the value of precious metals is quite significantly higher this side of the portal. Since the damage to your school was caused by an Equestrian citizen with an artifact belonging to the Equestrian people. It seems only fair that the Equestrian government should compensate you for it." "We cannot accept that." Came the principal's stunned reply. "You can. Just keep it safe. We wouldn't want it to be stolen like the Fall Formal Crown, right?" She grew contemplative for a moment. "That reminds me" She telekinetically opened her backpack and pulled out the actual Fall Formal Crown. "I believe this is yours." She hovered it over to Luna who took it, still shocked, leaving her equally shocked Sister to hold the heavy gold ingot. "Now if you don't mind I only have about half an hour before I have to leave. And the party is still going strong."