Adagio moaned as she finally started to emerge from the spell that Discord had cast on her and her sisters, though it was a slow process that took some time for her to get her body moving and actually open her eyes, which would make sense considering that the Spirit of Disharmony and Chaos wasn't the best spell user in all of Equus. The first thing that she noticed in her new surroundings was the sun that was coming through the nearby window, which honestly didn't tell her much since all three of the worlds that she and her sisters had been to had windows, at least according to what they overheard when Sunset told her human friends about Equus. The second thing that she became aware of was the fact that there were birds chirping in the background, again a common item between all three worlds, and she remained laying wherever she was resting for a few moments, trying to determine if she could pinpoint which of the three worlds the birds belonged to, but in the end she couldn't figure it out. As such she yawned for a moment, pulled off the blankets that she had been sleeping under, and climbed out of the bed that she had been laying on, though as she took a few steps forward she stopped in mid-step as her brain caught up with what she had just done... to which she turned back around and looked at the large bed that she hadn't known she was sleeping in, the nice bed sheets and pillows that accompanied it, and the extremely nice room that she had woken up in.
In that moment she could have guessed which world she was in, as the version of Earth that they had gone to, where they met Cole and the others, didn't have walls that seemed to be made out of pure crystals, and yet, seeing how the world that Sunset had been in reflected their home world, she refrained from saying anything as she moved towards the door and opened it, finding a hallway that was unfamiliar to her.
Before she went anywhere she looked down at herself and found that she was still wearing the same clothes that she had been wearing when Discord abducted them, though instead of ransacking the nearby closest for something new to wear she walked out into the hallway and started exploring. The first thing she found out was that there were a fair number of doors on both sides of the hallway, making her wonder where she was since she had no idea what sort of place needed all these doors, but at the same time she kept her eyes open for anything that was open, so she could figure out what was going on. What surprised her was that she actually found a door that was open, as she hadn't attempted any of the other ones in case this was a trap that Discord had set up, because he was known for pranks and everything like them, but when she pushed open the door she found a room not unlike the one that she had been in earlier, only this one was a little larger than hers. In fact the room really just seemed like a slightly enlarged version of her own room, with the bed made meaning that whoever slept in the room was long gone already, but she found two things that she didn't expect to find at all; two doors leading out to a balcony of some sort, and a mannequin of some kind, shaped like a female human, that had been the resting place for some sort of clothing, which was vacant at the moment.
When she walked through the balcony doors, however, her eyes widened as she looked out at the pristine landscape that was in front of her, which included a town that had a number of people that looked like her and her sisters, a cross between ponies and humans, walking about and enjoying their day... before she decided to back up and close the doors to the balcony, so she could go find her sisters before she attempted to figure out the truth behind where they were.
"Good, your awake." a voice said, one that Adagio had heard before, as she and her sisters had talked to the girl that it belonged to when they invaded the school and attempted to rule the world, only for them to be defeated by that very same girl and the friends that she had made.
Adagio turned around slowly and came face to face with the last person, or pony as it were, that she ever expected to see, especially since she and her sisters had been so sure that the girl in question had been lost among the number of planets that the broken portal could have sent her to; Sunset Shimmer. Sunset's body was the same as hers and her sisters, a cross between human and pony, though she still possessed her unicorn horn and seemed to be at home in the anthro body that she was stuck in, making her wonder just how long she had been stuck in this form. What was odd was the clothing she was wearing, as she seemed to be wearing some cyan blue colored baggy pants that covered a good portion of the lower part of her body, and came complete with a a blue colored belt around the top of it with a black colored sash that had golden colored trim and three lavender colored diamonds in a vertical pattern. A few moments later she noticed that Sunset was wearing a golden bracelet on both of her arms, starting near her wrists and going halfway up her arms, and that she happened to be wearing a black collar that had a white trim on both ends of it, amber colored strips in equal intervals, and a lavender diamond in the direct center, complete with a cloth binding around her breasts.
Adagio stared at the girl that she and her sisters had gone out in search for when they entered the portal under the ruined statue, though she had to sweat for a few seconds as she felt the immense magical power that was emitting from her, a power that didn't seem like it was everything that she could use if she had to battle someone, and felt both powerful and terrifying at the same time.
"I see that you are at a loss for words," Sunset continued, clearly giving Adagio a few moments to stare at her body, because that was what everyone that had seen her in this form had done when she made contact with them again, before she walked over to the balcony door and walked outside after opening the doors, "It feels good to be home, doesn't it?"
"Wait... you mean..." Adagio started to say, though the thought that she and her sisters had actually made it back to their home world, after so many years of banishment for what they did before Starswirl punished them, seemed so impossible that she couldn't even accept it at the moment.
"Yes, this is Equus," Sunset replied, to which she smiled for a moment as she looked out over the town that rested out in front of her at the moment, along with the familiar city that was resting on the side of the nearby mountain, before she turned back towards Adagio, "or, more specifically, the continent of Equestria, in the town of Ponyville."
"Are... are you really Sunset Shimmer?" Adagio asked, because she and her sisters had gone out in search of this very person, leading them to the world that Cole and his friends lived in, but to find out that Sunset Shimmer was here, in the world that she and her sisters had been born in, instead of another world, almost made her think that their adventure had been for nothing, other than to teach them how to be heroes, "You can't be Sunset Shimmer, not with the intense power that I feel coming from you, and that's counting the terrifying feeling that's accompanying your power."
"What you are feeling is the power that I acquired during my own adventures," Sunset said, knowing that Adagio could feel her power and had limited the amount of destruction energy that was in what others could feel, before she sighed and further restricted her power, so she didn't crush Adagio or do something like that with her power, "I'd prefer to wait for Aria and Sonata to wake up... but with Spike making breakfast, and there's more than enough for everyone, I have the feeling that you'll find them downstairs. Allow me to take you to them."
Adagio stared at Sunset as she walked towards the door that connected this room to the hallway and followed her outside, where she watched as the door was closed and sealed with a locking spell, before they headed down the rest of the hallway and walked towards the dining area of the palace that they were in. As they walked down the hallway Adagio noticed some runes on the walls and realized that they were directions to the various areas of the palace, something that only those well versed in magic could understand, and at the bottom of the stairs they had come to was some labels in the more common language that did the same thing. At the same time Adagio noticed that Sunset had been correct, someone was making breakfast and it actually smelled really good, though she wasn't sure if that was because she and her sisters didn't eat anything before fighting the Beast or if it was because they were back in Equus. She was surprised that they were actually home, the place that they were banished from all those years ago, and yet, instead of feeling annoyed by such a thing, she felt happy to be in the one place that she and her sisters had tried to return to, even though they couldn't have done so if Starswirl's spell was still in place... meaning that someone must have revoked the old unicorn's spell and allowed them to return, something that she would have to ask about later.
It didn't take the two of them long to reach the dining area that Sunset was taking them to, though when the door opened Adagio smiled as she found both Aria, who was drinking a cup of coffee by what she was smelling, and Sonata, who was actually reading a book, sitting at the table, waiting for her to return, only for them to look up and smile at her as they walked into the room.
"Adagio!" Sonata said, her happy tone having returned in full force, even though it was clear that she had looked around the area that they were in and was trying to figure out what had happened to them, "I'm glad that you're up. I was wondering if you were going to spend the entire morning sleeping."
"I might have, if I hadn't noticed that the room I was in wasn't like the ones we had in Cole's world," Adagio replied, to which all three of them sighed for a moment, as they all knew that they weren't in their friend's world anymore, before she took a seat near her sisters as she glanced at Sunset, who took the seat at the head of the table, "Besides, I went exploring for a few minutes and found the person that we went searching for when we entered the portal."
"Yeah, we know." Aria stated, showing Adagio that both she and Sonata had been visited by Sunset at some point, but the looks on their faces also told her that neither of them were sure about the situation that they were in, especially since all of them had been in a middle of a fight before Discord showed up and abducted them, "That still raises the question; are you really Sunset Shimmer?"
"Yes, I am the person that you went searching for when you stepped into the portal beneath the broken statue," Sunset replied, though at the same time she picked up a cup of tea that happened to be sitting in front of her and took a sip from it, allowing the three of them to stare at her for a few seconds, before she set the cup down and gave them her full attention, "The power that you are feeling at the moment is the power that I gained from the adventures I went on after stepping through the portal, because I went from being an ordinary unicorn and ascended to being an alicorn, and then I ascended even further and became a god... a God of Destruction. The terrifying aspect of my power, that Adagio felt earlier and both of you are likely feeling right now, is the power that I unlocked by ascending to this position, a power that allows me to erase those that challenge or annoy me, purge massive objects from existence, and destroy planets whenever I desire, and that includes an entire galaxy. However, that doesn't mean there aren't rules that I have to follow, as both Twilight Sparkle, my counterpart god, and I have to keep the entire universe in balance and make sure that life prospers, though while Twilight encourages new life to start I actually take care of things that threaten that balance."
"Princess Twilight's a god now?" Sonata asked, though at the same time that exact thought was going through both Adagio and Aria's minds as well, because it seemed like something had happened since Sunset stepped through the portal, especially since she had ascended to a level that was far above what they were capable of.
"She's a Kaioshin, or a God of Creation," Sunset explained, though as she spoke Spike walked out of the kitchen area and showed that he was ready to dish out the morning meal, as he started placing a few plates on the table in front of them, while at the same time the Dazzlings stared at him, as they had no idea that he was actually a dragon, "Hey Spike, when are Twilight and Celestia coming downstairs?"
"Last I checked they said it would be in a couple of minutes," Spike replied, once more confirming to the Dazzlings that the dog they had known about, back in the world that they and Sunset had been in some time ago, was actually a dragon that was currently maturing, as he had wings on his back despite his small size, before he walked into the kitchen to collect more of the plates he had been gathering.
Adagio, Aria, and Sonata were expecting something light, since it was breakfast, and soon they were assaulted by a sea of flavors that only came from the food that was made in Equus, something that they hadn't eaten when they were first here, since they were used to feeding on emotions and what not, but now they were eager to dig in and Sunset simply let them do that. As the three of them dug into the food that was in front of them, however, Sunset explained that she wasn't the only pony that had gone through what they were referring to as the 'Awakening Process', as pretty much every pony in Equestria, save for some that still clung to their pony lives, had taken a leap of faith and acquired a form just like what they and Sunset had. Sunset further explained that those who went through the process ended up awakening their own powers, which hadn't caused a panic because those that would clearly misuse them somehow ended up with either nothing or a power that was worthless in their eyes, all while a school had been built between Ponyville and Canterlot to train those that developed powers, or Elemental Affinities as they became known as. When Sonata asked about that Sunset told them that they weren't the only ponies to go through the crystal mirror, or the statue portal, and end up in an entirely new world, as the ones that did that ended up going through an adventure that gave them powers that they could only dream of achieving if they never went through the gateway they walked through... and, as an example, she revealed that Rainbow had gained the power to control lightning, making her a force to be reckoned with.
As the minutes ticked by the sisters, Sunset, and Spike were eventually joined by Princesses Twilight Sparkle and Celestia, who they discovered were wearing clothing that they weren't expecting them to be wearing, despite the fact that they were now apparently gods as well. Celestia, not going by her title of Princess anymore when she told them that as she sat down, wore a golden colored robe that had an amber colored sash above her waist, in addition to a black cuirass with golden trim that had the same diamond design that was on Sunset's sash. Twilight, on the other hand, was wearing a fiery orange colored jacket of some sort, one that rested over her chest area like a shirt, purple colored pants, an amber colored sash, and a pair of earrings, both ending in a small lavender colored sphere, that hung from her ears. From what the Dazzlings could tell the three gods were impressive, even if they weren't oozing out all of their power in an instant, and they also determine that unicorns must have the potential to keep their horns after going through the Awakening Process, since all three of them still had their horns, while the pegasi must have lost their wings, but from the sounds of things it appeared that the loss was well worth it since they had better control over the weather... or at least that was what Twilight said when she spoke about the process, though her tone suggested that she was one of the ponies that had helped move the others through the change.
Adagio, Aria, and Sonata also learned a little about what happened to Sunset, as Celestia explained that she had been called to a part of a world that was at war with each other, two factions fighting to dominate a place called Skyrim, but they were shocked to hear that it wasn't that very war she had been called to stop, rather it was to stop the end of the world as they knew it. Celestia then revealed that the real reason Sunset had been called to Nirn, the planet they were talking about, was because Tirek, the magic stealing centaur, was there and his plan was to absorb the power of Nirn so he could return to Equus and conquer it. None of them wanted to bore the Dazzlings with the exact details of the adventure, but it did include Sunset finally overcoming her demons, gathering together an army to defend the world, and, when all hope seemed lost, she gained the power necessary to battle Tirek and defeat him, allowing her to ascend to the level of an alicorn, which they then discovered was only the tip of the iceberg that was Sunset's power. Then were then told that Discord, in his wisdom, shattered the anchor between Equus and the parallel world that they had been sent to, a real world that just so happened to mimic Equus in some ways, all because he found out that Sunset was predestined to become a God of Destruction, where the act of ascending to that level involved the destruction of the planet that it happened on... so, without wasting time, he caused Twilight's student, Starlight Glimmer, to enter the mirror after he gave Sunset a very special golden bracelet, and she followed Starlight to another part of the universe.
Celestia then told them that, at some point during her second adventure, Sunset reached the level that Discord had been dreading and finally ascended to the level that he had foreseen her reaching, blowing the planet the ascension happened on to pieces, before she eventually returned home a few years later... which caused them, and that included forcing Discord, to find all the ponies that had been displaced while the mirror and portal were open, which were currently shutdown without a hope of coming back on.
"You mean to tell me that we weren't the only ones that had to go through something like that?" Adagio asked, though she wasn't sure if she was happy that they weren't the only ones displaced by Discord's actions or annoyed, but by the looks on the faces of those around them she could tell that Sunset, at the very least, was annoyed.
"There are eight other ponies, besides you three, Rainbow, Applejack, Starlight, and myself that went on their own adventures," Sunset replied, noticing that the Dazzlings were a little surprised by the fact that they weren't the only ones that had been displaced, though she was happy that they were safe and sound, despite the fact that they had been fighting a powerful enemy in the world they went to, "and, for the most part, the majority of them have returned, save for Gilda, Derpy, and King Sombra."
"So, what are you going to do with so many powerful fighters?" Aria inquired, because something told her that there was a reason behind that many ponies gaining the various powers that they hadn't been told about, and she was sure that one of the gods would have an answer.
"Nothing." Sunset answered, as she wasn't planning on conquering the rest of the planet or anything, not when some of the other ponies were building relationships with the other nations, "I'm going to do my job and keep watch over the numerous planets that rest throughout the entire universe, kill those that threaten the stability of said universe, and maybe help the ponies that are still out there, if they need help."
"What about the friends you left behind?" Sonata asked, bringing them to the subject that she and her sisters had been planning on asking Sunset about the next time they saw her, if they ever saw her, though that was before Sunset raised an eyebrow for a moment, "You know, the Rainbooms? The band that you helped to defeat us when we tried to take over the town, only to join after that event and then leave behind when you stepped through the portal?"
"Canterlot High School." Sunset said, remembering what Sonata was talking about, as she had spent a number of years and months in that very town and knew all the ins and outs, allowing her to do hide herself and get into the school that she had tormented, only to later rebuild and help prosper after her own defeat, before she sighed, "How long has it been since I left?"
"A month had passed for us, before we entered the portal and appeared in the world Discord took us from," Adagio replied, though at the same time she scratched the back of her head, because she had no idea if there had been any time displacement because they walked into Discord's portal, and she was calling it that since the Spirit of Chaos controlled the passage between the two worlds, "but I honestly don't know how much more time has gone by since we left. Summer break might be over by now and the new school year might have started."
Sunset stared at the Dazzlings for a moment, her memories of the time she spent in Canterlot High School coming back to her, before she got out of her seat and walked over to the window that allowed her to stare at the mountain that Canterlot, the city that Celestia and Lune ruled from, or just Luna these days. Twilight and Celestia glanced at each other for a moment, as they knew that something was going through her mind at the moment, but neither of them said anything as they waited to see what she eventually decided, while at the same time the Dazzlings wondered if they had done wrong by mentioning the girls that had been worried about Sunset's disappearance. The sisters knew that the Rainbooms had been devastated by Sunset's disappearance and the fact that the book that was supposed to connect to one in this world had stopped working, so they could only imagine what was going through Sunset's mind at the moment, especially given the connections she had made with them. A few moments later Sunset sighed once more and turned back towards the table, but this time around she seemed ready for a whole new adventure, one that was shorter than the one she had gone on before becoming a god, and this time the Dazzlings were curious as to what she had to tell them.
"Celestia, can you locate the world that the mirror used to connect to?" Sunset asked, though at the same time she stepped away from the window and started moving towards the door that connected to the hallway, indicating that she had to be setting something in motion.
"It should take me only a few minutes to find it." Celestia replied, to which she waved her hand and a scepter, with an orb at the top that had a ring around it, phased into existence and she peered into the crystal orb, which seemed to have an image appear in it that showed the planets that she was staring at, only to move when she flicked one of her fingers or waved her other hand.
"Um, what's going on?" Aria asked, because she wanted to know what was going on and knew that Sunset would have an answer for them, as Sonata had done something to her and she felt that they needed to be aware of what the god had in mind for all of them.
"We're going to head out for the planet that Canterlot High School is located on." Sunset replied, to which Twilight smiled and got up immediately, indicating that she needed to get a few things in order before they departed, before she gave the Dazzlings her full attention, "Once I've wrapped up some unfinished business that I left behind, and figured out what I'm going to do with what I left behind, we'll come back home and discuss what the three of you want to do with your new lives, now that the banishment that Starswirl put on you has been broken."
Adagio, Aria, and Sonata stared at Sunset as she moved out of the dining room and went off to get what she needed for the coming adventure, something that they clearly weren't expecting when they woke up in the palace that they had found themselves in... and yet the thought of helping Sunset settle the past fueled them to move once more, because the next few hours promised to be interesting, and they intended to be there every step of the way.