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// Interlude: Returning Home 
// Story: InFamous: The Unusual Conduits 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
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Adagio, Aria, and Sonata found that Pinkie's party for Sunset, which somehow evolved to include the entirety of Canterlot High School and they didn't bother to even ask how she managed that, lasted pretty much the rest of the day and they enjoyed themselves to the best of their ability. Students stared at them throughout the party, clearly not forgetting what they had done before their own disappearance, but when they heard that the three of them had assisted in saving an entire world from a disaster, the details not known to anyone outside the Rainbooms, their moods changed and the Dazzlings discovered that the students received them with open arms. It was an experience that they would never forget, because people they had wronged in the past were now accepting them for what they had become and what they had done in the other world, as if all the negative feelings that the students had towards them had disappeared, and all three of them were happy to have them feeling like that. As such it allowed them to actually enjoy the party itself and take part in the dance that eventually broke out in the middle of the stage, where all of them smiled, surprising some of them since they weren't used to genuine smiles coming from Adagio and Aria, and simply enjoyed themselves.

While all of that happened, however, they noticed that Sunset spent a good portion of her time talking to the rest of the Rainbooms, no doubt telling them that she'd be returning to Equus once the party was over and that it would be some time before she was able to come back, though that didn't stop their God of Destruction, something they were still coming to terms with, from relaxing for a few hours and having fun, which told them that she likely didn't have time to do things like this thanks to her new profession.

When the party eventually reached it's end, and both the teachers and the students went home before they came back the following day to help Pinkie clean the area, the Rainbooms said goodbye to Sunset, or now anyway, as she rejoined the Dazzlings, Celestia, and both Twilights. The Dazzlings were actually surprised that Sci Twi's, or Sparkle as she preferred to be called so she didn't get confused with Twilight, parents were more than willing to allow their daughter to explore other worlds, though from what they heard that night she was planning on building a more stable portal that wasn't like the one that Sunset and Twilight used to get to Canterlot High in the first place. That would allow her to return to this world and continue her schooling, not that she needed it, and keep up to date with her friends, who were going to miss her while she confronted her inner demon and conquered it, and whatever else Sparkle was going to do while she was visiting Equus. The Dazzlings really didn't pay that much attention to what she was planning on doing, since they were eager to set up their own lives and continue living without fear of Starswirl's banishment looming over their heads, though the first thing they would need to do was figure out what they were good at, besides singing, and get a job like everyone else in whatever town or city they decided to live in... and then, once that was said and done, find a place to live, so they didn't mooch off of Twilight and Sunset all the time.

Once all of the goodbyes were said, and the Rainbooms stood back for a moment, Celestia tapped her staff on the ground and the sphere from before formed around them once more, allowing them to ascend towards the atmosphere and head off into space once more, causing Sparkle to smile with excitement as she left her home behind and started to travel to a whole new world.

Of course, like any good researcher, Sparkle wasted little time in asking all of them, excluding Celestia since she feared that breaking her concentration would destroy the sphere and that some of the group would die to the nature of the space around them, questions about the other worlds and whatever else came into her head. One thing that came to mind was the planet that the Dazzlings had gone to when they were trying to find Sunset, where the three of them took turns answering her questions with the information that they remembered from the world that had been around them when they were helping Cole. From what they remembered the technology was around the same level as the planet they had just left, if not a level or two behind them, and all of them were sure that the plague had been taken care of, causing a whole new set of questions to be asked, since Sparkle was interested in what they were talking about, even if she didn't like what she heard when one of them answered them.

"You know, I just realized something," Sonata commented, as when she thought about what Kessler showed them she noticed that something didn't add up with the reality that had come to Cole's world after the Ray Sphere was created and used several times, "Kessler was concerned about the future repeating in the past, which was why he was tormenting Cole and testing him in the manner that he did, but one thing he never told us about, and sure didn't show us, was any information about the plague. I think his tampering with the Ray Sphere caused the plague to erupt in both Empire City and New Marais, along with the areas they spread to, meaning that it was his fault that the world might have perished in an entirely different manner than what he was anticipating."

"In the end, the plague didn't even matter," Adagio said, to which she glanced out at the planets that they were passing by and knew that one of them had to be the world that they had been sent to, "Cole made the decision to activate the RFI and sacrifice all the Conduits in the world to stop the Beast from his rampage, though something tells me that a few of them might have survived the activation of the device... and that both Zeke and Trish will tell the world about what he did, to make sure that people understood what he did for everyone."

"He sounds like a true hero." Sparkle said, as she had been making notes about everything that they were saying in response to her questions, because she found everything fascinating, before another question about the world the three of them had gone to came to mind and she couldn't resist asking it.

The Dazzlings were more than happy to answer her questions, since it allowed them to remember why they had enjoyed their time with Cole and his friends, though at the same time they focused on what they were going to do when they returned to Equus.





When they neared Equus a few hours later, however, the first thing that the Dazzlings noticed was the large spaceship, one that seemed to be oval shaped if someone were to look at it from above it, and they were worried that someone had found the planet and was coming to attack it. Sunset, on the other hand, revealed that the ship in question was the Starship Hyperion, the ship that she had helped her brother, the Lombax called Ratchet, and her sister, Starlight, build after their second adventure in the Bogon Galaxy, one that held the technology to help someone with their inner demons, since a room had been built to deal with her own inner evil. Sparkle had to ask about that, if she was referring to the She-Demon that she had heard about from the Rainbooms, and Sunset told her that she had renamed the demon, calling her Searing for some time, and that a shattering of her body and mind had resulted in the two of them forming two separate ponies that had been sisters, before she became who she was at the moment. Sparkle stared at her for a few seconds, clearly shocked by the information like the Dazzlings were, before she stated that she would like to hear the full story behind all of that one day, which Sunset agreed to... once they set up an entire day to tell her exactly what happened during that adventure, since it was a long tale that would require a whole day to tell her everything.

It didn't take them long to reach the palace that they had been in earlier that morning, which they found was now nighttime, though when they entered the building the Dazzlings found a portal nearby with two ascended ponies standing nearby, one that Sunset had revealed was Starlight, as she was wearing some interesting metallic armor, and Chrysalis, the former Queen of the Changelings, who looked like she didn't want to be here at all, even though she was wearing the same armor that Starlight was wearing.

"Sunset, it's good to see you again." Starlight said, to which she stepped forward and embraced Sunset for a moment, as she was one of the few people in the entire universe that could do such a thing without upsetting their God of Destruction, before stepping backwards, "Ratchet told me that you found someone that was like you, with an inner demon that needs to be taken care of?"

"More like they'll come to an understanding in some manner." Sunset replied, though her tone revealed that Starlight was correct, before she glanced back at Sparkle for a moment, who stepped forward and rubbed the back of her head as they focused on her, "Allow me to introduce Sci Twi, Twilight's human counterpart, who prefers to go by 'Sparkle' when she's near our Twilight so we don't get the two of them confused. One thing she wanted from us is some help with her inner demon, Midnight, along with the vastness of the information that we have regarding everything about the universe and the planets that we have discovered so far."

"That sounds like her." Starlight commented, with a smile on her face, though not a few seconds later she beckoned to Sparkle and lead her into the portal, to which Sparkle took a deep breath and followed after her, where Chrysalis sighed and headed into the portal as well, leaving the group to their own devices.

"So, what are the three of you going to do?" Twilight asked, turning away from the portal so she could glance at the Dazzlings, as while she was more than willing to let them stay in the castle she was curious as to what their plans were for the future, since they were free to do whatever they wanted now.

"We're planning on finding a place to live and somewhere to work." Adagio replied, because she figured that there was no reason to lie to the Kaioshin of their universe, but at the same time she sighed as she considered what she and her sisters were actually planning on doing, "It'll take some time and effort on our part, but we should be able to find a place to live in and someplace that's willing to hire ascended ponies, even if they're former villains that one threatened the safety of this world."

"You know, you could always try out for some of the position in Twilight's new school." Celestia commented, causing the three of them to turn towards her for a moment, while at the same time something dawned in Twilight's mind, as she was smiling as well, "Ever since the Ascension Process took place, and ponies have changed forms and gained their own powers, we've set aside some land and built a school between here, Canterlot, and the Crystal Empire for ponies and other creatures to come and learn about their new powers. Some of the other displaced ponies have taken up a position as an instructor from time to time, teaching others about their own powers and showing them how to control the new abilities that they have unlocked, but, last I checked, we didn't have someone who could teach fire, water, and wind based control, much less sound based since it appears that your singing abilities have returned to you as well."

"Are you... asking us to become... teachers?" Aria asked, as when she and her sisters considered finding jobs, or something to occupy their time now that they've returned to their home world, none of them had even considered what Celestia was suggesting, though at the same time these were ascended ponies that they were being asked to teach, as they had control over their powers while the newly ascended didn't have such a thing.

"There are many out there that still haven't discovered what type of affinity they have, and there are many that have figured it out, but don't have much control over their powers," Celestia replied, though at the same time she walked over to the window and stared off into the distance, where she focused on the area that the school in question had been built in, before smiling as she continued speaking, "Despite Rainbow, Applejack, and Rarity having jobs, for example, they come by every now and then and hold a special class to demonstrate the powers they gained, as well as to teach the others control over their own powers... even Trixie, whose currently in the Dragon Lands speaking with the Dragon Lord, makes an occasional stop to help out those that are following in her footsteps. Most of the displaced ponies either give an hour or two of their time to helping others master their skills, though with the three of you I think the arrangement would be a little different, maybe half a day of teaching, thus allowing you to spend time getting to know the new Equus and make some new friends along the way."

"Okay, that would solve where we could work," Sonata said, though there was something else that was missing from the arrangement, and she knew that her sisters knew about it as well, since they weren't saying anything else while she spoke her mind, "but we still need to find someplace where we could live and not be a burden on Twilight."

"That's easy to take care of as well." Twilight spoke up, as she thought of something that had happened recently and knew that she might have the perfect fit for the three sisters, before waving a hand and the image of the two story house materialized in front of them, "There's actually a two story house, with at least four beds and two baths, that recently went on the market, because the owners decided that they're moving to Canterlot to see what the city has to offer, so it should be easy to acquire the deed and then get you guys settled in. Besides, if you did choose to work as teachers at the new school, you'd be able to get enough Bits to pay the bills and have enough left over to do whatever you wanted, unless you have something else in mind for your futures."

Adagio glanced at her sisters for a moment, as this was all interesting for them and it actually made things much easier for them, since they had no leads on other jobs and places to live, so they would be fools to turn down the offer that the gods were offering them. She never considered the fact that they might be teachers to the other ascended ponies, just like her sisters had never taken a moment to consider the option either, but she had to admit that showing others her skills and helping them actually sounded like fun. Besides, with the other displaced ponies being there for a few hours every day it was only a matter of time until they figured out what sort of powers the others had, especially since Rainbow had wanted to fight them at some point in time, just to see how strong they were. She could see that Aria and Sonata were thinking the same thing that she was thinking at the moment, that this would be fun and enlightening for all of them, both them and those they taught, and she knew the answer that they were going to give Celestia and Twilight before either of them said anything else in an attempt to persuade them into taking up the positions.

A few seconds later Adagio and her sisters turned towards the gods that were in front of them, as Sunset was sitting in a chair off on their left while Celestia and Twilight stood near the window, and they could tell that the two of them were eager to hear their decision.

"Sure. I guess being teachers for a while might be the best course of action for us at the moment." Adagio said, though at the same time she was sure that there was a specific set of rules and regulations that they would have to follow, since it was Twilight's school that they were talking about, but as she said that she noticed that the gods seemed happy to have someone for their three elements at long last.

Adagio was sure that over the next week or two the three of them would have finally settled into their new lives as if they hadn't been doing anything else, though at the same time Sunset had brought her guitars with her and maybe they could get some of their own to have a session with her, or at the very least assist her if she needed help with something, and maybe check in with Sparkle when she was done with whatever she and the others were doing... but for now she focused on what she, Aria, and Sonata were doing next with a smile on her face, as their future was brighter than ever before, and she wouldn't trade it for anything else.