"There’s no time, Spike! Go!”
That was the last thing that Spike the former dog remembered as he hurtled himself towards the statue that housed the portal between Equestria and this other world. The distraught cry of his surrogate family member echoing through his mind as he felt the magics surrounding him gyrate in their chaotic ways.
“Oof!” Spike was thankful Dragon scales were tough as he bounced and skidded along the floor of Cadance’s castle in the Crystal Empire, the mirror disgorging him in an undignified manner.
“Spike? What are you- Wait, where’s Twilight!?” the raspy voice swapped from confusion to concern when it realized the little drake was by himself.
“I’m sure she’s following right-” started a more cultured voice only to pause when an audible pop filled the air. “...b-behind…?”
“The portal! It-” an impossibly loud, royal sounding voice cried out, deafening the dragon as he slowly started to sit up.
“Spike, tell me, what happened?” a muzzle of impossibly white fur shoved itself into Spike’s vision as his whole body suddenly started to levitate above the ground. “Why are you alone?”
“Pr-Princess Celestia? I-I-I’m back? Wait! Twilight- She!” the purple dragon suddenly started to scramble uselessly against empty air, his body contorting as its owner tried to look back at the mirror-portal.
“Spike, please calm down. You need to tell us what happened in the other world.” Princess Celestia’s calm washed over the seven panicking mares and lone panicking dragon, stilling each of them.
“Are you calm enough to explain now?” the purple and green head nodded quickly, a slow nod coming from the solar diarch.
“Twilight’s fine.” the entire room seemed to start to hover with just how uplifted all present became upon hearing those two simple words. “And we got her crown back from Sunset Shimmer, but…”
“What of Sunset Shimmer?” the white alicorn’s voice grew thin as her eyes narrowed slightly.
“I-I-I don’t know what happened!? Sh-Sh-She got the crown and put it on, see! A-A-And then she turned into this great big monster with wings!” The two royal sisters shared deep glances as Spike started to flail his little arms. “But Twilight and the others teamed up and-”
“Others?” Luna’s head tilted slightly as she addressed their only source of information.
“Y-Yeah! Me’n Twilight found other versions of all of you over there! E-Er, other than Cadance, I mean… You two run Canterlot High School, and those five are students there!” Spike’s stubby, outstretched digit moved between Celestia and Luna, and the five Elements of Harmony. “You five helped her reunite the school!”
“Reunite the school? Is it some kind of Royal Guard academy?” Rainbow’s face was a mixture of excitement about the possibilities and worry about her friend.
“No, it’s just a normal school as far as we could tell, but Sunset made everyone hate one another! And she ruled it with an iron hoof!” it took all of her milenia of practice to not let her facade show any hints of emotion as Celestia listened intently.
“What happened with her?” she asked firmly, hoping to discover the reason of the dragon’s solitary return.
“Her? Oh, Sunset! Right, so, Twilight and the other version of those five teamed up and used magic somehow! They made a giant rainbow laser beam thingee and blasted the monster- Er, Sunset, with it.” Spike stumbled over himself as he returned to describing what had happened before he crossed the portal. “We don’t know why, but she wouldn’t wake up…”
Shocked gasps filled the air as Celestia suddenly staggered, collapsing partially against her sister. Her eyes were wide and devoid of anything other than small, tiny pinpricks as the ruler of Equestria slowly shook her head back and forth.
“Th-They called an ambulance, but… But they don’t have magic in that world… They were going to have to wait for it to arrive and Twilight refused to leave Sunset’s side.” Spike’s voice had gone from quiet to making Fluttershy sound like Pinkie Pie as he continued to describe what had happened on the other side of the portal. “She sent me back to let you all know she will be back when the portal opens again…”
“What are we going to do!?” Pinkie started hopping around, hyperventilating as she tried to panic. “Our friend is trapped in another world and we can’t get to her! How are we going to use the Elements if-”
“You should all head to bed for the night.” all eyes turned towards Celestia as she shakily stood up and tepidly stumbled towards the mirror. “We should all take a moment to rest before we come to any decisions regarding the situation.”
The non alicorn ponies looked around at one another, their combined concern spreading from one to the other like an infectious virus. None of them wanted to abandon their friend, especially not when she went alone to another world to retrieve her Element of Harmony. But…
“Alrighty then. Let’s git ta bed, y’all.” Applejack nodded, her exasperation flowing away as she closed her eyes. “We’ll see ya in tha mornin’, Princess.”
The five younger mares slowly departed from the room, each of them pausing to look back at the snow white figure facing the mirror.
“Auntie…?” the Princess of Love slowly came to stand beside her adoptive family member.
“I continue to fail her… First Lulu, now-”
“Sister.” Luna came in close and nuzzled up against her larger sister. “You should go and rest as well. We shall keep watch over the mirror in addition to Our other duties.”
“I couldn’t ask you to-”
“We know, but We intend to so regardless. Sleep.” Celestia collapsed as Luna’s horn glowed with a light blue aura in time with her interrupting of the Solar diarch. “Cadance? Can you get her to her chambers?”
“Of course… Would you like anything?” Cadance paused and looked towards the still form of Luna as Celestia slowly started to levitate off of the ground.
“Yes. A sandwich.”