Sunset had just finished dinner when she felt a ping. It was the first time she had received one without prior warning and the sensation was still rather weird to her. It only took her a split second to find out whom it was from.
<Hey Twilight, you sure are taking this whole Hivemind deal in stride.>
<Well, I've always been a fan of Science Fiction. And Hiveminds are a concept that genre likes to explore. How're you doing?>
<Fairly well I'd say. Still getting used to the whole psychic powers idea but other than that I can't complain. I'm having dinner right now.>
<Well you have to admit, being able to talk like this without having to hold onto a phone is pretty cool.>
<I guess it is. Anyway what's up?>
There was a short moment of silence as Twilight hesitated with her answer.
<Well, I'm still trying to get over the whole 'I nearly destroyed two realities' thing. Queen Twilight – man that sounds weird – Anyways she suggested you could help.>
Sunset took a moment to realize what she meant. When she did, she sent a message to the Queen immediately. <I think I just found out what you meant when you said my perspective would come in handy.>
<Told you, you would.> Sunset could almost see the queen's smug grin.
Rolling her eyes Sunset went back to her prior conversation.
<Maybe this is better discussed in private. I'm almost done doing the dishes, do you want to craft a linkscape or should I?>
<I'll take care of it. I'll tell you when it's ready.>
<Alright.> Sunset finished drying her dishes and put them away, before heading to her bedroom and lying down on her bed.
After only a few more seconds she once more heard Twilight's voice in her mind. <Ready.>
Nodding to herself, Sunset focused her mind and closed her eyes looking upon the little hivemind she was part of. It only took her a second to find the linkscape Twilight had created and dive into it.
She materialized in what was clearly another bedroom, the general purple theme gave her a good idea whose bedroom it was. Twilight was standing next to the large bed in the center of the room, looking through the circular window behind it into the late evening sky.
Looking around, Sunset saw a desk with a rather impressive computer setup, an aquarium that didn't seem to have any fish in it for some reason and a trophy shelf above it that held first prize trophies from various academic contests as well as one of the winners medals from the previous day’s Friendship Games.
Opposite the desk stood a closet next to an ornate mirror while a few other furnishings were spread around the room, most of them bookshelves.
At her entrance Twilight turned around and smiled softly. "Thanks for coming."
Sunset smiled back. "Sure thing, Twi. I know this time was pretty hard for me, I'll gladly do what I can to make it easier on you."
"I'm still trying to get over what I nearly did, what I would have done if you hadn't stopped me." She sat down on the bed, idly tracing her hand trough the air before her like a painter would a brush. A slightly smaller than life version of her demonic form appeared in midair before her and she looked upon it closely."
Sunset looked upon it. "Wow, that's pretty accurate, didn't think you got that close a look at yourself while you were transformed."
Twilight looked over to her. "I didn't, I just recreated what I remembered, the link filled in the rest, I think it draws upon the memories of all those in it. You probably got a much better look at me. Thinking about it, that's probably how you could take your empowered form while we were in the queen's linkscape."
"Huh, I guess so. I hadn't even thought about that. But anyway, I get how you're feeling. When the same thing happened to me I tried to kill the others. Not my proudest moment." She gave the girl beside her a crooked smile. "At least you didn't try to do that on purpose."
"Well, that's only part of it. Yesterday evening, before I went to bed, I found something." With a wave of her hand the demonic image before her vanished and she got up. She walked halfway to the dek before stopping, her back turned towards the desk. "This was what I found."
With a snap of her fingers, her shirt vanished and Sunset had unrestricted view upon her back. There, sitting on her shoulder blades, were two obvious, slightly red scars.
Looking upon them, Sunset fell very quiet for a moment. When finally she did speak, her voice was quiet and monotone. "Your wings. I should have expected that."
Twilight was about to turn around and ask why that was, when a furious blush erupted on her cheeks. Snapping her fingers again she put her shirt back in place, before turning around, still blushing.
Sunset barely managed to suppress her laughter. Once she had calmed down. And once Twilight had stopped pouting she put her serious expression back in place, though the serious atmosphere was thoroughly gone. "'Why?' you ask? Simple, Sunset stood up and took few steps away. With a sad smile she snapped her fingers and, like Twilight's before, her shirt vanished. "Because I have them too. Guess we're even more similar than we thought, huh?"
With another snap of her fingers she put her shirt back in place before phasing back to the bed and placing a hand on Twilight's back. Twilight flinched, still unused to others being able to simply teleport in the metaphysical realm, but visibly relaxed in Sunset's calming presence.
"Twilight, we may have once been demons, we may have once been lonely. But that's behind us. We've moved past that. There may have been some dark times in our pasts, but in the end, we'll be stronger for it."
A wave of fire golden fire washed over Sunset, and when it passed, she had once more assumed her angelic shape from the Friendship Games. The warmth and calmth that radiated off her was infectious and Twilight found herself relaxing.
For a while the two of them lay on their respective beds, half a city apart, yet immersed in the linkscape. And the morning after, remembering the evening, neither one of them could tell for sure where the linkscape ended and their dreams began.