//------------------------------//
// [101] Forever the Best Match 
// Story: The Winning Formula 
// by Bookish Delight 
//------------------------------//

Two lovers, wearing matching lab coats and safety goggles, pored over a display showing facts and figures, and physics equations.

"So, let's take stock of things," Sunset said, as Sparkleworks self-drove itself towards Canterlot's city limits. "Killer magitech monster on the loose, already demolished one city."

"Pure Equestrian magic, totally ineffective," Twilight said. "Which makes sense, as this all started by pumping a whole bunch of the stuff into a single technological conduit, and watching it backfire in our faces."

Sunset nodded. "Finally, I hate to bring this up, but we've got about two thousand words before we hit the contest limit, so we've really got to get this done ASAP." 

Twilight rolled her eyes and groaned. "Ugh. Seriously, whose idea was this action B-plot? I liked it when we were kissing. Can we just go back to kissing?"

Sunset hugged Twilight from behind, causing Twilight to moan and snuggle back. "Let's consider that a reward for when we win," Sunset said. "Though still leaves us back to figuring out how. We have any dei ex machina lying around?"

"Love the nomenclature," Twilight said, "but as a woman of science, I'd never be able to live with myself." She walked to her lab table. "Fortunately, since I've been able to think straight for the last few hours, I have the next best thing."

"Yeah?" Sunset said, following her. 

"Telling me about tapping into your memories gave me an idea. We combined science and magic to get us in this mess... and we're gonna do that to get us out." 

Twilight held up what looked a small purple compact, which Sunset recognized almost immediately. She pointed at it with a gasp. "Isn't that—?"

"Sunset Shimmer, I give you a newly-minted replica of the Magic Container, Mark 10—the last of my iterations before I invented the Friendship Converter Mark 1. It can store unlimited amounts of electromagnetic and related energies for later use. Kind of like a... big, portable magic battery."

"Something tells me we should have tried this first," Sunset said. 

Twilight sighed. "You're not wrong. Anyway," she said, handing Sunset the compact, "you've pushed yourself enough this week. I don't want you actually fighting. You're here as our supportive ace in the hole. I'll distract and weaken the spectral, you weaken it further by sapping and containing its Equestrian magic, which makes up the bulk of its form. The Phoenix Armor will provide protection and allow you concentrate on the operation."

"What about you?" Sunset asked. "How are you going to 'distract and weaken' it?"

Twilight picked up another item from the lab table. Sunset tilted her head when she looked at it, confused. It just looked a replica of the central star of Twilight's cutie mark. It took her a short while to realize what it could be, and she gasped again. "You didn't. Oh my gosh, you did."

Twilight nodded confidently. "My greatest offensive invention managed to put some holes in that thing thanks to you, and I think it's because it also employed a drop of magic, making it, effectively, my first successfully field-tested piece of hybrid tech." Twilight's eyes sparkled. "But remember, I iterate on everything. You're the ace, but I've got a queen in my hand, too." She placed the star back on the table. "Let's do this, and let's go home."

"After rebuilding it?" Sunset chuckled.

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Okay, we'll find a different home and rebuild the old one. Sheesh." Sparkleworks slowed to a stop, beeping once it did so. "Looks like we're here."

Both ladies exited the vehicle, to see the spectral in the distance, no less than five hundred feet away. Sunset raised her gauntlet. "Guess it's time. You ready, hon?"

Twilight picked up her cutie mark, and slapped it on her waist. Belt straps sprouted out from its sides, fastening around her, and the tips of the star lit up and flashed. She looked at Sunset with a smile. "With you beside me? Always."

Her heart warming, Sunset slipped on the gauntlet. Twilight took hold of her star, and spun it, as the two cried out, in unison:

"Henshin!"

A cyclone of flame surrounded Sunset as before. Meanwhile, Twilight was surrounded by numbers and mathematical formulas floating in space, which, after several moments, converged onto her and coalesced, morphing into striking, shining lavender armor. 

Crashing guitars from Sunset's suit melded with orchestral strains from Twilight's, in perfect melodic harmony.

"IGNITE THE POWER OF THE SUN! PHOENIX SHIMMER IS SECOND TO NONE!"
"SECRETS OF THE UNIVERSE, NOW ALL OURS! GENIUS SPARKLE, AIM FOR THE STARS!"

As usual, all the noise got the spectral's attention. Sunset wondered if stealth versions of these suits were possible.

"Remember," Twilight said via com-link, as the two ran towards the monster. "That compact has a one-hundred-foot range, so hang back! I want someone to marry when this is all over!"

"Same goes for you!" Sunset said, activating the compact and flying up to perch on a nearby rooftop. "Be careful, or I'll kick your ass myself."

"Knew I made the right choice of girlfriends," Twilight giggled—before her armor became a literal blur, and she took off at triple speed, afterimages trailing behind her.

Sunset blinked. "Whoa."

Twilight stopped in front of the spectral, who lumbered towards her. Twilight stood still, allowing it to get close—then raised her hand just as Sunset was about to caution Twilight to get out of the way. A white light shot out from Twilight's palm, and directly into the monster's eyes, causing it to howl and stagger back, bringing its arms up. 

More beams followed, driving the spectral further back, after which Twilight spread her arms and snapped both her fingers. Ten flying drones materialized in various places around her, each letting loose their own energy volleys. Even when the spectral regained its vision, it found itself having to swat wildly as the drones—accompanied by multiple moving holographic replicas of Twilight that Sunset could only discern using the Phoenix Armor's sensors—pressed their attack.

"All right, pretty sure this is enough distraction," Twilight said as she ran around the area, targeting every blind spot she could find. "Sunset, do the thing!"

"Right," Sunset said, opening the compact, pointing it towards the spectral, and pressing a button. A familiar sound she thought she would never hear again emanated from the device, and waves moved from the spectral to the compact. In under a minute, its effects showed. The spectral roared, clearly in pain, as the colors flashing across its body slowly faded in saturation.

Discerning what was going on, it then turned its sights on Sunset. It cleared the building in a single leap, and before she could react, Sunset once more stared into the infinite universe, this time as it got ready to crush her—

"Get away from my fiancée!" 

Twilight appeared above both Sunset and the spectral, via drones she had used as stepping stones, and fired energy blasts from both palms. "This armor knows your next move before you do, buddy... and it also knows when you're done!"

Sunset's heads-up display blipped, just in time for her to see Twilight's armor shining with a lavender aura. 

"OVERDRIVE! FINAL VICTORY TECHNIQUE: STARFALL KICK!"

Twilight propelled towards the monster at a forty-five degree angle, her right foot outstretched. Sunset blinked, and the sight before her changed again, to a bright lavender cone literally drilling against the spectral, slowly driving it back in midair. Still, the spectral fought back. It was like watching a tug-of-war in midair, without any anchors...

...and Twilight was losing. 

Even with the spectral being drained, it wasn't enough. On instinct, Sunset's wings flared, and she rocketed upwards, compact in hand. She flew into the top of Twilight's cone, and to her surprise, their energies didn't clash. More to her surprise, in the cone... all was refreshing silence. The eye of another storm.

Until Twilight cried out. 

"No! I've got this! You need to stay in one piece!"

Still holding the compact, Sunset wrapped her other arm around Twilight's shoulders. "Like hell! I've done the martyr thing already. Remember how you felt?" 

"But... but, Sunset," Twilight choked, barely able to come up with a coherent reply, "I... I've done so much already. To our home, to you, I—"

Holding Twilight closer, Sunset closed her eyes, willing her suit's energy to transfer to Twilight's systems. She didn't even know if such a thing was possible, but if anyone could have built in such a failsafe, she trusted in Twilight to have. 

"The first thing you did to me, Twilight Sparkle, was steal my heart. As far as I'm concerned, that overrides everything else. We walk away from this together, or not at all."

"I... yeah." Twilight took a deep breath. "Together. Always."

"Energy Transfer Accepted," Sunset's HUD read, as both she and Twilight yelled aloud, and poured on the pressure. 

Fire swirled around the violet cone, and when that fire hit the spectral, combining with Twilight's energy, it was no contest. Twilight's kick, with Sunset trailing behind, drove the monster loudly crashing down, making a deafening crater on impact.





The smoke cleared. Twilight and Sunset staggered to their feet, bereft of armor. All that was left of the spectral was a pile of metal scraps and shards. The compact lay on the ground, beeping, showing a massive level of drained and stored magical power. All was quiet.

The two fell against each other, sitting on their heels and embracing, whooping for joy with what little energy they had left.

"Yes!" Twilight squealed. "We just beat an otherworldly magical being beyond which the universe has ever seen! Science!" She pumped a fist into the air.

"And it only cost one city," Sunset said. "And probably our reputations across two worlds."

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Yeah, all of that's going to take a while to mend."

Sunset nodded. "I can probably smooth things over with Equestria's ruling class, but what about you?"

"Oh, SSRC and I are probably totally done. And I wouldn't be able to blame them, either." Twilight sighed, and stayed silent for a long while, before finally saying, "I guess it's finally time."

Sunset blinked. "Time for what?"

"Oh," Twilight shrugged, "I've had some top-secret patents I've been sitting on for the last couple of years. Guess it's time to finally leverage them and go full entrepreneur."

Sunset raised her eyebrows. "What kind of patents?"

"Oh, you know. Quality of life stuff. You remember how you kept talking about weather experiments in Equestria?"

"Yeah?"

"Decided to give them a try on this side of things. Just as a side hobby. And then I figured out how to... y'know. Make weather. On command. That kind of thing."

Sunset gaped... then relaxed. "Okay, officially proposing a Rule #2: no more secrets. Between either of us. No matter how cool the surprise factor."

Twilight giggled. "Yeah. Those are starting to become overrated. I'll show you the other inventions as soon as we're back home. Wherever that ends up being."

"Good." Sunset's eyes shimmered, and the corner of her lip curled into a smile. "So, how long until we try your experiment again?"

"What?" Twilight did a double-take. "Are you crazy?"

Sunset laughed. "Well, maybe. But, speaking as someone who's been hopping between worlds for years now, you weren't wrong about the potential. If we can combine your world's tech and our magic, and make it not be, well, the thing we just fought..." She placed her hands on her fiancée's shoulders. "What I'm trying to say is that I believe in you, Twilight. And even more, I believe in us."

Slowly, Twilight's lips matched Sunset's. "Then we'll just have to keep trying, with lessons learned, until we get it right. Maybe we'll learn a new lesson about ourselves each time, too. For now, well..." Twilight's expression turned pensive. "I've been batting around names for my company for a while now. Off the cuff: what do you think of 'Northstar Technologies?'"

"Sounds great to me," Sunset said. "Symbolic, and stuff."

"I thought so, too," Twilight replied softly, bringing her face close. "We'll guide our worlds to better days yet... as well as each other." 

The two shared a kiss among the rubble.  

And now, more than ever, Sunset was sure she'd done the right thing.