“Still no reply.” Sunset stared at the tiny scribble on the lower edge of the dedication page. It simply said, It works.
“Should we wait a little longer?” Twilight asked.
Sunset snorted and floated the enchanted book over to the modified portal device where she placed it in its socket. “Let’s go. Maybe Twilight is busy and not checking the book, or out of town… and we don’t even know where we will come out anyway!” She flicked the switch of the portal device, and with a soft hum the old mirror started glowing. “I’m tired of waiting, you know? If we come out in Canterlot we’ll find them. We got the plan and all.”
Twilight gave her a quick nuzzle. She kept her concerns about that somewhat blind charge into the unknown to herself. She knew Sunset long enough to know she wouldn’t appreciate her concerns. Sunset was impatient to meet her friends, after finally getting the portal to connect to… something, and if she was being honest with herself, so was Twilight. “Alright. Let’s go.”
***
The first thing Sunset and Twilight noticed when they stepped out of the portal was the statue. It wasn’t a horse as it used to be before the accident—it was now the statue of a girl with very familiar features, wearing shorts and a sports jersey. They looked at each other and hurried to the statue’s front to read the inscription in the plinth.
Rainbow Dash, CHS class of 21__, member of the World Cup winning national soccer team of 21__
“Her own statue,” Sunset said. “Rainbow Dash must be so full of herself over this.”
“Interesting that we end up here again,” Twilight said.
“Yeah,” Sunset agreed. Trying to push back the disappointment that her friends weren’t surprisingly waiting for them at the statue, she gently touched the stone plinth. On the surface closest to them some faint ripples spread across the concrete. “This is just a new statue after all.” She cast the inscription another critical glance. “It was only built two years ago,” she mused. “After the last time we tried.”
“Nothing in our data indicated that the portal would just regenerate,” Twilight pointed out.
“Nothing in our data indicated that it wouldn’t, because we still don’t have a lot of data,” Sunset said, smiling. “All we know is that it works, and that it didn’t work last time, and that they built a new statue in the meantime.”
“Post hoc doesn’t necessarily mean propter hoc.”
“I know that, dear Princess mine.”
“I guess it is one possible explanation,” Twilight said. “As are the adjustments we made on our end. As is the help from Princess Luna.” She reached out her hand and took Sunset’s, intertwining their fingers. “You know, I really missed holding hands.”
Sunset smiled at her. “Takes you way back, doesn’t it?” She gestured with her head. “Over there, I think.” She pulled Twilight away from the statue towards the street, past a very familiar trash bin. When she reached the spot, she turned around and pulled Twilight’s hands into the pouch of her hoodie. “Remember?”
“How could I forget,” Twilight murmured. “This is where it all started.” Sunset leaned her forehead against Twilight’s, and for a few moments they just stood.
“Shall we get going?” asked Sunset. “We’ve got some ground to cover.”
Since they hadn’t received an answer through the enchanted book, Sunset and Twilight had to resort to their plan B: try to find their friends in the human city of Canterlot. It had been five years, and of course they couldn’t be sure who of her friends was even still living in town. So they had compiled a hopefully exhaustive plan of places to check—Rarity’s and Pinkie’s homes, where they might run into parents; Twilight’s home as well. And of course Sweet Apple Acres, as some sort of a last resort—while they both agreed that Applejack was the most likely to still live in Canterlot even if she had gone through with her plans to go to university, Sweet Apple Acres was also quite a hike—and that was assuming they didn’t get lost.
“Lead the way!”
“Do you mind a short detour?” Sunset asked. “You know… down memory lane.”
“Of course not. I’d love to see the old place again.”
They remained lost in memories for a moment before turning and heading down the same old street. They came past the alley which would lead them to Donut Joe’s, but passed it by after a nostalgic look. The way back to Sunset’s old apartment was still familiar to both of them. Before long they stood outside the old apartment building and looked up to the second floor. New blinds. Someone else was living there now, of course. Seeing that old place brought a whole lot of emotions with it that Sunset didn’t quite understand in detail—not all of them were pleasant, just like her time living here. It was good to have a look, but enough was enough.
Somewhere nearby someone revved a car engine and the sudden noise tore Sunset out of her reverie. With one last look at the old building she took Twilight’s hand and led her down the street, to where Rarity hopefully still lived. It was a few blocks away, and as they walked they heard the loud car again in the distance—definitely something she never got to hear back in Equestria, Sunset thought. It wasn’t the most pleasant sound, but somehow added to her feeling of nostalgia. It was such a human sound.
Rarity and her family had lived in a nice family home which was easy enough to find. Before she rang the bell, Sunset checked the name sign—and couldn’t contain a sigh when she realized that it was a different name. Rarity’s family didn’t live here anymore.
She rang anyway—maybe whoever lived there knew something about where Rarity and her family had moved—but nobody answered. Twilight, possibly sensing her disappointment, hugged her, and Sunset fought back her morose fears of not being able to find her friends, now that they were this close.
“Let’s try the next place,” Twilight said. “And there’s always Sweet Apple Acres.”
“Yeah,” sunset agreed. “Y’know, maybe we should just head straight there.” Spare us more failures.
In this moment the car they’d been hearing, a bulky cyan muscle car with enormous spoilers, pulled around a corner, tires screeching, and came to a halt right in front of them. “Care for a lift, ladies?” the very familiar driver shouted through the open window.
“Rainbow Dash?!” Twilight and Sunset asked in unison. “Rarity?” Sunset added when she noticed the girl in the passenger seat.
Rarity didn’t wait to jump out of the car and rush over to them, joyful tears streaking her cheeks. “Welcome back!” she cried as she pulled them both into a hug. “Welcome back, you two!”
Sunset hugged her back, also crying from joy. She had found her friends again, after five long years, after that terribly rushed good-bye. She buried her face on Rarity’s shoulder, too overwhelmed to say anything.
“Good call going to your folks’ old home,” Rainbow Dash said before joining the hug. “Great to see you two again.” She sounded hoarse.
They stood for a while before Rainbow Dash broke the hug. “Shall we?” she asked nonchalantly, the impression only slightly ruined when she wiped a tear from her eye.
Sunset took a moment to fully take in the sight of her two friends, and how they had changed over the years. It wasn’t too much, she realized to her great joy. Rarity looked impeccable as ever, maybe even more grown-up in her sun dress and with only a few pieces of jewelry that were bordering understatement. Rainbow Dash had short hair now, and below the sleeve of her soccer jersey Sunset saw the edge of a tattoo. Noticing Sunset’s look she gave her a wink before she slid into the car’s driver seat.
“So you got our message?” she finally asked.
“What message?” Rarity asked.
“The book!”
“Nope,” Rainbow said. “Let’s get going! We’ll explain on the way.”
“Go where?” Twilight asked.
“Why, Sweet Apple Acres, of course,” Rarity said, smirking.
“You’re telling us you just happened to be on your way to Applejack and ran into us?” Sunset asked as she and Twilight climbed into the back of the car. Rarity again took the passenger seat, and Rainbow started the car.
“Nope,” Rainbow replied. Before Sunset could ask more questions, Rainbow continued speaking. “Text. Twilight. It worked. We’re on our way. See you there. Send.” The engine roared once, and the car sped down the street.
“Twilight?” Sunset asked as the acceleration pushed her into her seat. “What?”
“Just texted her,” Rainbow explained from the front. “Speech recognition.”
“Maybe you want to tell Applejack too, dear?” Rarity suggested.
“Right. Call. Applejack.”
And suddenly Applejack’s voice filled the interior of the car. “Dash? Did you find them?”
“The ponies are in the stable. I repeat, the ponies are in the stable,” Rainbow said.
Applejack snorted. “You’re being silly, Dash.”
“I’m being awesome, duh,” Rainbow retorted. “We’re on our way. See ya in seven.”
“Can’t wait,” Applejack said. There was an audible click when the phone call ended.
“Could somepony please just explain what’s going on?” Sunset asked, but unable to contain a smile. It felt so surreal, being abducted by the very friends they had been looking for. And not a lot of it made sense.
“State of the art car phone,” Rainbow said with pride in her voice. “This baby got it all.”
“That’s not what I meant. Why… what… how?” Sunset stammered. “How could you be looking for us if you didn’t get our message that we were coming?”
Rarity turned around and gave her a sympathetic smile. “I’d rather leave the detailed explanation to Twilight because she’s the one who put everything together. The short version is that Twilight set up an alarm. You know, she could detect you crossing over through the portal. And she set up some computer device that would notify all of us so we could meet you, and where you came through.”
“Yeah,” Rainbow chimed in, “so when that text came a half hour ago Rares was just arriving at my place, and so we went driving around CHS and the statue and tried to find you. Then Rarity suggested checking out some places you might head for, and there you were.”
“Twilight was adamant that you would find a way back, eventually,” Rarity said. “I’m so glad she was right.”
Rainbow steered the car through a long curve, and Sunset realized that they were driving through the outskirts of Sweet Apple Acres already. When the car pulled into the courtyard, they saw Applejack standing there and waving them with her trademark hat. Her dog Winona sat next to her and was wagging her tail. Behind them, Sunset saw, still stood the barn where she and Twilight had first kissed. So many memories…
They got out of the car, and Applejack pulled them all into a hug, laughing and crying at the same time. “I can’t believe it!” she cried. “You made it back! That’s amazing!” She let go of them and took a step back to have a good look at them. “Good golly, it’s so good to see you again.”
Applejack motioned them inside and sat them all down at the big kitchen table while she busied herself with preparing what she called a little snack. “Just something small; we’ll have proper dinner later when everyone’s here.”
Rainbow put down her phone. “Twi is on her way, shouldn’t be too long.” She turned to Sunset. “She writes she got your message too, just now.”
“I can’t believe you’re all still here,” Sunset said. “After all this time… I was really afraid you’d all moved away.”
“Well, you’re kinda lucky that you’re coming over today, since everyone is back in town for this weekend. Twilight and Rainbow Dash don’t live in Canterlot anymore.”
“Yeah,” Rainbow said, “I mean, I gotta be in Manehattan for training and matches and all, but I kinda keep coming back whenever I have the time. I got an apartment in town.”
“You’re some sort of soccer superstar now, aren’t you? What with the statue?” Sunset asked.
“Only the youngest player on the World Cup-winning national team, and top scorer too,” Rainbow said with faux modesty. “Not to mention three national championships with the Manehattan Cosmopolitans.” She leaned back in her chair. “They didn’t really have a choice but to put up that statue.”
“It was finally something everyone could agree on,” Applejack said. “Horse wasn’t good enough, some old general was too controversial…”
“Let’s face it, they were waiting for me.”
“Sure, Dash.”
“What about you, Rarity?”
“Oh, Rares is the up-and-coming young fashion designer,” Rainbow exclaimed. “Last year my manager came up to me and said she had heard of this designer who was sure to take off bigtime in the next years, and wearing one of her dresses for this or that award show would give me a buncha publicity.”
“The dress I made for you was gorgeous,” Rarity chimed in. “If I say so myself.” She turned to Sunset. “Yes, that is what I’m doing, and recently with some success. I have boutiques in Canterlot, Manehattan and Fillydelphia selling my pieces, and I’m planning to expand further. It’s really exciting.”
In that moment a car was heard pulling into the courtyard—followed by a dull thud and a metallic clatter.
“Twilight?” Sunset asked. She reached for her Twilight’s hand under the table and was happy when she squeezed it.
“That would be the rain barrel again,” Applejack remarked. “I should really set that up behind the barn.” The others laughed; only Sunset found that she was suddenly tense. Outside a car door was closed, and then Twilight Sparkle stepped through the front door. Twilight—Sunset’s Twilight—drew in her breath and squeezed Sunset’s hand.
Without thinking Sunset jumped up and hurried to Twilight, almost crashing into her as she hugged her. “Twilight!”
“I knew you’d come back,” Twilight sobbed into her shoulder. “I knew it! I missed you so freaking much.”
“Of course we would, silly,” Sunset said, gently letting go of her and looking her over. She had probably changed the most; where as a student Twilight had always looked like she didn’t care about her appearance, she was now wearing matching pants and blouse, and had her hair in an orderly bun. Without a pencil sticking out.
Somebody took her hand, and she realized that her Twilight was standing next to her. Twilight and Twilight looked at each other. “Nice to meet you,” Twilight from Equestria said. “I’m Twilight Sparkle.”
“Likewise,” this world’s Twilight said with a grin. “On both accounts.” They both burst into laughter while Sunset rolled her eyes, smiling.
“So, did you get our message? In the book?” Sunset asked.
“I did, but not until fifteen minutes ago when I was already on my way here,” Twilight—the other Twilight, Sunset thought—said. “I left the book at my parents’ place and I was busy when the text came. The statue,” she mused. “I should have seen that coming, I guess.”
“But then how did you know?” Sunset asked. “The girls told us of some device you set up to get notified when we return, and—what’s the story there?”
The other Twilight gave her a sheepish smile. “Well, I couldn’t just stop working on the portal when you were gone, could I?” She pulled up a chair and sat down. “At least thanks to your message I knew that it had worked and that you were okay.”
“It’s good you sent it too,” Applejack chimed in. “She probably woulda worked herself to death if she hadn’t known you were safe.”
The other Twilight chuckled. “Yeah, well… thank goodness I didn’t overwork myself at all, three times during my final term or something…”
“We had to stage three interventions,” Rarity said. “In the end we needed to point out that our dear Twilight would put her final exams in jeopardy.”
“It was so hard to even just reduce my workload,” the other Twilight said. “All I wanted was to get that portal to open up again.
“We tried so many times. I think I even managed to get Rainbow Dash sick of playing with the band, what with my constant nagging that we should try once more.”
“Not even,” Rainbow Dash said. “’sides, we got really good thanks to the constant practice.”
“True,” Twilight said. “But we never managed to get the portal to stabilize again. It would sometimes be like the first time we tried it—the portal opening up and then collapsing within seconds. And sometimes we wouldn’t even get that much. It just wouldn’t work without you, Sunset.
“We imagined that the energy levels would be a problem,” Twilight said. “We didn’t have trouble getting the required magic energy in Equestria, but there was just nothing there on the other end. And with those low magic levels in this world we could guess that you would run into problems here.”
The other Twilight nodded. “Yes. It was so frustrating. But I couldn’t ignore what the others were saying. In the end Rarity pointed out that Sunset wouldn’t want me to throw away my future working on a doomed project, and that did it for me. And I still felt like I was letting her down again by not trying harder.”
“And we kept telling you that you needed to think about your future, and there was nothing wrong with that,” Rarity said.
The other Twilight nodded again. “Yes, you were entirely right. And I did, didn’t I?” She grinned.
“Well, not that you had much of a choice there,” Applejack said. Before Sunset could wonder what she was referring to, Applejack added, “Your parents taking care of the wee one today?”
“No, I just dropped her off at Flash’s. She was excited to spend the weekend with her dad. I’m never sure if that’s some sort of criticism of my parenting,” Twilight said with a smirk.
Sunset took a moment to piece it all together. When she did, her face fell. “You… you have a kid?” she asked. “With Flash Sentry?”
“Yep,” Twilight said.
“And are you and Flash…?”
Twilight chuckled and shook her head. “Oh no, Flash and I aren’t a couple. We hooked up once, after our graduation ball, and I got pregnant, and that’s all.”
She took another piece of fruit. “Flash tried to do what he thought was the right thing, but I never actually wanted to date him, and we were heading for different colleges anyway. So I made do, with a lot of support from my parents, and I haven’t once regretted it. She’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me. And so whenever I’m back in town she gets to spend a weekend with her dad, and he comes over for Labor Day and Thanksgiving. So, that’s how it’s working out.”
“Did you still go to college?” Twilight asked.
“Yes,” Twilight replied, “it just took a bit longer than I had originally planned. I’m only finishing grad school next summer, that’s why I’m still living in Trottston.”
Sunset quickly counted years. “That’s still… not too bad. Especially considering that you probably still had a certain project on your mind.”
“Guilty as charged,” Twilight grinned.
“You should bring little Amber Sunset next time we all meet,” Rarity said. “We haven’t seen her in a while, and she’s such a little angel.”
“You… her name is Amber Sunset?” Sunset asked. “You named her…?” After me, she tried to add, but somehow couldn’t.
Twilight blushed slightly. “Yes, I… you could say you left quite the lasting impression, and so I decided to name her after one of the fiercest and most impressive people I’d ever met.”
“How old is she?”
“She’ll be four in a few weeks.”
“Wow.” Sunset leaned back, overwhelmed by these news, and was more than happy that Twilight was still holding on to her hand. “Congratulations, then!”
Applejack got up to prepare tea for everyone. “Are there any news from Pinkie Pie?” Rarity asked. “Where is she now? Yakyakistan, wasn’t it? Didn’t she say that was her next goal, in her last video?”
“Yeah, she’s in Yakyakistan right now,” Applejack said. “She sent me a video a week ago or so, tellin’ me about some sort of yak butter tea with maple syrup that she was gonna make a thing over there.”
“What is Pinkie Pie doing in Yakakistan?” Sunset asked.
“When we graduated,” Applejack said, “so, a year after Twilight here, Pinkie took off. I dunno if you know, but she’d kinda planned it. And she’s kinda still goin’. She comes home every year for Christmas or Thanksgiving, and in between she sends us videos of wherever she’s at.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah.”
A comfortable silence settled between the six girls. Sunset looked at each of her human friends, trying to find the girls she used to know in their faces. To her great relief they were all still there, despite of how much had happened. Her gaze lingered on Twilight the longest. A kid, she thought. Incredible.
Applejack’s phone rang, and with a mumbled excuse she took the call. “Hey, sweetheart. Oh. So, when are you…? Alright. Take care. I’ll leave ya some dinner in the fridge. Yeah, love you too.”
She turned to Sunset and Twilight. “Fluttershy says hi, but she ain’t gonna make it tonight. Some piglets need to be delivered in the countryside, and she said there’s complications, so she doesn’t know when she’ll be back.”
“What is she doing?” Twilight asked.
“She’s a vet, even has her own practice,” Applejack said. “Funniest thing, really. She started working for ol’ Doc Pillbug while she was still in college, and as soon as she graduates he says he’s retiring, and Fluttershy should take over his practice because he ain’t never seen a more skillful young vet than her.”
“She kicks ass at vetting though,” Rainbow Dash said.
“Course she does,” Applejack agreed. “I just think the old geezer set her up like that.”
“And she and you—?” Sunset ventured.
“Oh, yes, we’ve been together for a while now,” Applejack said. “We’re high school sweethearts.” She chuckled. “She’s excited that you’re here though.”
“Oh, right,” Sunset said. “She knew because of the device Twilight set up, right?” Applejack nodded, and Sunset turned to the other Twilight. “How’d you do it?”
“Well, as I told you, we couldn’t get the portal to run. And between taking care of Amber Sunset and college I was severely limited in what I could do. We couldn’t play together anymore after I moved away. I kept working on the data I had collected; after all I got some really exciting new reads when we were trying to get the portal to open again. I never really stopped working on it, but I had to slow down considerably.
“And then a year later, when the others graduated, I was worried what would happen if you ever would find a way back, since the girls were moving away to college. So I came up with the idea of setting up some basic monitoring equipment in my parents’ house, and rigged it to send us all text messages if it would ever pick up something that looked like visitors from Equestria.”
“And it totally worked,” Rainbow Dash said. “Awesome as ever.”
“Psh, that was nothing,” the other Twilight dismissed the praise. “But you two did it! I wanna know everything! I brought my laptop, we can compare notes!”
“Actually,” Princess Twilight said, “we’re not entirely certain. It is really frustrating.” She turned to Sunset, as if seeking confirmation. “Our working theory is that the lunar cycle that was powering the portal originally is indeed a factor, and potentially the statue being reinstated.” She suddenly sat up straight when a sudden realization hit her. “We only have five days to work it out!”
“What lunar cycle?” the other Twilight asked. She sounded alarmed, and her gaze darted to Sunset. “And why only five days?”
Princess Twilight quickly explained the thirty months cycle, which Sunset had never explained to the other Twilight, and how before she had come up with her portal contraption in Equestria the portal could only be used for five days in every thirty months.
The other Twilight jumped up. “Then we have no time to waste!” she cried. “We can set up camp at my parents’ place while Flash has Amber. We can pick up energy drinks on the way. Among the three of us we’ll crack that nut if we get started right away—“
“How about we all have dinner first?” Applejack interrupted her. “Remember? Y’all need a good meal before going on a research spree. And us others want to spend some time with them too, before y’all disappear in some lab.”
The others laughed, and while Sunset silently agreed with Twilight that they needed to come up with a better solution than a thirty month lunar cycle, she also really wanted to just enjoy a nice evening surrounded by her friends.
She turned to Twilight and put her hand on her arm. “I’m sure we’re going to find a way again. But there’s something at least as important—can we meet her? Your kid?”
Twilight smiled. “Of course!”
***
The contraption that would hopefully stabilize the portal on the Canterlot High side was the result of three days and two nights of almost incessant work, and also a few impromptu returns to Equestria. Twilight happily accepted the invitation to come along and almost broke her neck trying out her wings the first time.
The device they came up with had to be attached to the statue outside CHS. It required a crystal that could hold a certain amount of Equestrian magic for a limited amount of time which had to be brought over from Equestria. The devices on both ends would have to be enabled at the same time. There was no proper way to communicate, so the only way to make the connection work was to set a time in advance. And of course as long as the moon was still powering the portal there was no real way to test it.
It was the best they could do on such short notice.
So when Sunset turned around one last time as she was about to follow Twilight through the portal, she tried to push down her doubts. It would work. It had to. They would put their contraption to a first test in four weeks when Twilight would be in Canterlot again, and it would just have to work.
Just to be sure she took a good look at her friends, engraving each one’s picture in her memory, in case it would be longer before she saw them again. Even Amber Sunset was waving with her stubby little arm, looking at her with wide eyes from her safe spot on Twilight’s arm.
“See you all soon,” she whispered to herself and, after a final wave, stepped through the portal.