//------------------------------//
// Chapter 22 - Masterweaver 
// Story: SunLight Sliders: Infinite 
// by Amber Spark 
//------------------------------//




"I wouldn't exactly call 'opening an interdimensional portal' sneaking," Sunset pointed out flatly. "I mean, yeah, there are plenty of worlds where nobody seems to care, but it's still pretty obvious."

Serena took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Sunset..."

"Ooo! Hi Shiny!" Twilight waved with a bright smile. "You look professional!"

Commissioner Armor gave them all a flat look. "Interdimensional portal. Next you'll be telling me you're all magical unicorns."

"I am. Twilight's human. Serena..." Sunset frowned, turning to the girl. "Actually, you had a horn and wings on a human frame, what--?"

"The species of my homeworld is known as the Álfar, and I specifically am Vægherálfar. Very rare, akin to the ponies' alicorns as I understand it..."

"Ooo! Ooo! Shiny! Are you dating Cadence?" Twilight asked eagerly. "How did you become a commissioner? Do you recognize me? Tell me everything!"

Sunset twitched her fingers experimentally, noting the magic flowing through them. "Look, take us into custody if you need to. But Twilight needs help. She's... she took a head injury, and she's not completely herself."

"Hahahahaha that's hilarious! I don't know why, but that--"

"I understand your disbelief," Serena said gently. "We truly do not intend harm."

Commissioner Armor looked from her, to Sunset, to the eagerly bouncing Twilight. He pinched his brow with a sigh. "Call the precinct. Tell them we have three young ladies to put into protective custody."

Sunset sighed in relief. "Thank you. It's... I know this is weird for you, but it's good to see you again, Shining."





"Suuuuuuuuuuuuuunniiiiiiiiiiiiii...."

Sunset kept her expression stoic as Twilight bent over her, dangling the glowing Talisman in front of her face.

"Come on, Sunny... It's still filled up with magic from that thing I can't remember." Twilight giggled. "We can just break free, go wild across the multiverse!"

"Leave Serena behind?"

"We can take her with us!" Twilight beamed. "I'm booooooooooooooored! I want an adventure, Sunny! Let's have fun!"

"Twilight... what about your home?"

"What about it? It's a place and it has people." Twilight shrugged. "That's pretty much anywhere anyway."

"Emotional disconnect," Serena said softly from the other side of the room. "It keeps her stable, for the moment, but if left for too long..."

Twilight rested an arm on Sunset's head. "Serena, has anyone ever told you you're a bit of a buzzkill?"

Sunset's eyes drifted to the Talisman. Its cord was still in Twilight's grasp, but the actual object now rested atop her chest. She could, if she wanted, snatch it right now. Not even to use it, but just to keep it out of the girl's hands while she was in the state she was in...

The door swung open, and Commissioner Armor stepped through. "Passed your story to the higher-ups. One of them wants to talk to you."

"Really?" Sunset shook her head. "Which one?"

"Some woman from the government. Calls herself Amblejoy."

An amber-skinned woman stepped in, sweeping her gaze over them. A sly smirk was on her face when she looked at Sunset, but it fell away when she saw Twilight, and her violet eyes went wide when they landed on Serena.

“...Thank you, Commissioner Armor. I am afraid this is above your pay grade, I will have to ask you to leave us.”

“Agent Amblejoy—”

She narrowed her eyes. “Do not force me to make that a request.”

Commissioner Armor quirked a brow. “For the record, I would be willing to help any way I can if their story is true.”

“That is much appreciated, Commissioner. I shall debrief you after I am done here.”

The man nodded. “I’ll hold you to that, Agent.” He shut the door behind him quietly.

After a moment, Amblejoy swallowed and stepped forward. “Serena... it really is you...”

Serena blinked. “I apologize, have we met? Perhaps you know an alternate universe counterpart of mine—”

“Oh, of course, I looked rather different three years ago.”

The young woman took a sharp breath.

“...mother?”

Amblejoy nodded. “And then some...”

“I’m lost here,” Sunset admitted. “Are you her Twilight or her Sunset?”

“Both. And an unrelated Starlight Glimmer, we had to merge shortly after... oh, Serena, I am so sorry we left you behind...”

“Hold on, shouldn’t you be called Moonrise Glitter?” Twilight asked. “Like, Skyfeature Lightpattern, that's how it works, isn't it?”

“It would have been too obvious. We needed to hide from Lady Sparkle.”

Sunset rolled her eyes. "And there she is again..."

Amblejoy finally tore her gaze away from her long-lost daughter. "I... I must thank you, Sunset Shimmer. I know not how, but your journey has led me to rediscover all that which I thought lost."

"Yeah, uh... reuniting daughters with their long-lost mothers who have merged into a full-time threesome is totally a thing I do regularly."

The woman hummed in amusement. "Your acerbic humor aside, the fact remains that without you, I would never have found the world I had first left." She smiled. "Speaking of which, there is someone who I believe would be very interested in meeting you again..."





"SPIKE!" Twilight proclaimed, practically pouncing on the purple pup. "Holy Heisenberg, look at you!"

The small canine ran his metal hand through his fur. "I know, I know. I'm just a rugged example of a man."

"Rugged indeed," Serena managed with a grin. "Is this the famous lab assistant I heard so much about in my youth?"

"The very same," Amblejoy confirmed with a fond smile.

Sunset rubbed her forehead in exasperation. "This is all moving so fast... what, is every random person we met on our journey just going to start crawling out of the woodwork?"

The woman fingered a necklace with twelve twinkling shapes. "Possibly. I have been following you since Feybriar, making resonance markers of the worlds you passed through."

Twilight tilted her head. "Resonance markers?"

"Every universe has a particular song, one shared by the souls born within." Serena nodded toward the necklace. "With that, and a properly crafted Talisman, you could easily return to any world you visited."

"Well, any world prior to your encounter with a draconequus," Amblejoy amended. "My magic would not mark there, and I had thought you quite lost. What good fortune it was to stumble upon you again, and with my daughter no less!"

Serena smiled. "The spheres work in a mysterious manner, though I find I cannot complain."

"Wait wait wait." Twilight put Spike down. "If every universe has a resonance, and every soul from that universe has the same resonance--"

"The version of the TPT I had when I appeared in your room wasn't equipped with a resonance tracker," Sunset explained. "By the time we got a version that was, you'd gone all Midnight, then we got caught up in Discord's thing, and... well, I don't know what he did to you, but it might be that we can't get a resonance of your homeworld now."

"Of course, I had to take your individual resonances to follow you," Amblejoy noted. "Still, Sunset is correct. Your resonance is... damaged. What occurred with the draconequus?"

"Oh, see, he..." Twilight frowned. "Sunset, what did happen?"

Sunset pursed her lips. "Well... you awakened your Midnight Sparkle, and that's what got the attention of Daybreaker, who was working for Discord. Or..." She frowned. "At least... she said she was the Sunset of Lady Sparkle's, but it turned out she was one of the Twive Mind in disguise... and apparently whatever Discord had wanted to do when we kidnapped Lady Sparkle for her wasn't going to work, so Discord took Midnight out of your head and ate her. We slid off during the battle and ended up being found by Serena."

"That would explain her ailment," Serena said warily. "Touched by a draconequus... the effects can be unpredictable at the best of times."

"You're acting like I'm falling apart," Twilight accused.

"That is an accurate description. Slowed it might be, but..."

Amblejoy held up a finger. "Hold. You say this Daybreaker... she claimed to be the Sunset of Lady Sparkle?"

"Yeah." Sunset scoffed. "Obviously she wasn't, Lady Sparkle killed her Sunset."

"...so the Archmage's deception yet works..."

Twilight's gaze snapped to her. "What?"

"In my travels after you, I encountered the mare who wore an illusion of blue coat and teal-green braids."

"Skylark--Oh, duh!" The girl facepalmed. "Lady Sparkle's thing about nightingales and skylarks, how could I have missed that?"

"Well, she didn't tell you she was a Sunset," Sunset pointed out. "Wait, hold on, if Skylark is Lady Sparkle's Sunset, then who did Lady Sparkle kill?"

"...the Sunset of High Equus." Amblejoy sighed. "Skylark revealed the truth to me--that another had taken her place, in hopes of protecting her from the growing power of that dark goddess. She also claimed that this Sunset had managed to steal something precious, and send it to the Archmage. I am versed in the ways of the soul, and my brief tarry to the world of Lady Sparkle revealed that all the members of her captive horde have lost something. The very thing that this Twilight has also lost."

I’m just the… passionate side of her, let’s say.

Twilight noticed all the eyes on her and waved. "Hey, is anybody else in the mood for coffee? I'd like coffee. So much coffee. Drown me in coffee."

"...Twilight, does the world feel..." Sunset gestured vaguely. "Gray, I guess?"

"Oh yeah! I mean, I guess I should be worried about not having Midnight, but... meh."

Amblejoy nodded. "Yes... take the passion of a Twilight, and replace it with a link to the greater mind. That is how Lady Sparkle formed her power, I believe... and why she stomps out all knowledge of the Container of Midnight."

"The container of...." Sunset blinked. "Wait, is this thing... do you know what it looks like?"

"Skylark did describe it," Amblejoy admitted. "A dodecahedron the size of a pony, emblazoned--"

"--with the images of a dark star..."

The woman tilted her head. "You have seen it, then."

"Yeah, I... stole it from the Archmage a while ago." Sunset rubbed the back of her head. "It's... sort of why I was banished from my home."

"Oh, right! Your Shining Armor put himself in a shield ball in the sky with a big monster thing." Twilight blinked. "Which, hold on, is apparently some sort of MetaMidnight?"

"High above sits the crown untold," Serena murmured.

"If a draconequus is battling Lady Sparkle with the power of a Midnight," Amblejoy mused, "then it is only a matter of time before he wins. And with the passion of a Midnight... Lady Sparkle was at least predictable in her advances. This Midnight Discord might well become a danger to all spheres."

"Hold on!" Spike hopped forward, holding up his glowing hand. "I've got a scan of Sunset's resonance. If we get the Midnights back into the Twive Mind, they'll be freed, right?"

"It is conceivable," Amblejoy mused. "And while one passion fueling a thousand souls might not be able to defeat Discord, a thousand souls with one conviction should be able to do so."

"And should he be defeated," Serena finished, "we can take that which he took from Twilight and return it to her!"

Twilight beamed. "It's perfect!"

"It's dangerous," Sunset objected. "I mean--we're talking about just us five taking the combined darkness of I don't know how many Twilights!"

"Come oooooon!" Twilight leaned forward, dangling the talisman in front of her. "What's the worst that could happen?"

Sunset took the talisman in her hand, considering its glow.

"...Sparky... you deserve better."

In a flurry of motion she reached out, her magic snapping the necklace from Amblejoy's neck as she kicked Twilight away. Before anyone could react, she had opened a portal and was gone.

Twilight blinked.

"Oh."

She fell to her knees.

"She left..."

Her hands clutched at the ground as tears clouded her vision.

"She left me... Heh... ha.... haha.... hahahahahAhahAHAHaHAHAHAha!"