//------------------------------// // Chapter 27 - Corejo // Story: SunLight Sliders: Infinite // by Amber Spark //------------------------------// The portal spit them out onto a cold stone floor.  Twilight sat up and rubbed her head. That was going to leave a nice goose egg. They sat in the middle of a rundown courtyard crawling with moss and debris.  Dilapidated houses huddled the distant edges of the worn flagstones, and a busted water fountain sat beside them in silent vigil. “Glad you two could make it back.” Amblejoy stood behind them.  She assumed the best, for the grin on her face. Sunset stood up, hissing as she rubbed her back. “Wish I could say the same after that slide.  You really need to work on your portals, Sparky.” Twilight looked between Sunset and Amblejoy.  Part of her leapt for joy that everything had turned out better than expected. But part of her needed to ask. “Where’s everyone else?” “On the other side of the castle.”  Amblejoy jerked her head over her shoulder toward the crystal spire.  “I needed a moment to clear my head. And besides… it’s not my family reunion going on over there.” Sunset wore a troubled frown and a downcast gaze.  It was hard to imagine what thoughts were running through her head right now. “Did Discord give you much trouble?”  Amblejoy smiled, eager to change the subject. “None, actually,” Sunset said.  She swept a hoof through her mohawk, and Twilight watched it sproing back into place.  “He didn’t go full villain and actually beat Lady Sparkle.  Or, at least enough to make her jump universes. We did get all the Midnights back to their Twilights, though.” Amblejoy nodded.  “Well then I guess everything isn’t as great as I was hoping, but it’s far from the worst.  However, Lady Sparkle escaping is bad. If we leave her alone, she’ll just build up from scratch again.” “See?  What’d I tell you?” Midnight said inside Twilight’s head. “Shush, you.” “So then how do we stop her?” Amblejoy scratched her chin.  Her eyes wandered between Twilight and Sunset.  “I have an idea…” She trotted up and lifted Twilight’s TPT in her hoof.  A quick comparison with her own, and she snapped it off Twilight’s neck. Sunset squared up with her.  “What do you think you’re do—” Amblejoy shushed her. She opened the lid of Twilight’s TPT.  What looked like pink stardust churned like sand inside a shaken glass jar. “Do you remember when I told you about resonances?” Sunset tilted her head.  “Yeah, the thing about all universes having a song or whatever, right?” “She’s looking at the chaos magic all over that thing,” Midnight said. “Shush.” Amblejoy held her TPT next to Twilight’s. Her pink stardust-y stuff didn’t churn, but rather patiently swirled like a slow-motion hurricane, little bits flaking off to drift with the wind.  “The same goes for magic. Your TPT is riddled with chaos magic.” “See?  What’d I tell you?” “Would you seriously just shush?” “How exactly did that happen?” Twilight asked. Amblejoy smirked at her.  “My guess is your little friend inside your head.” “Who, me?” Midnight asked. “Yes, you,” Twilight said.  She blushed, realizing she said that out loud.  “Err, how so?” “Midnight Discord or whatever you called him. Their magics mingled, and I doubt your Midnight will ever be quite the same as she was.” “But what’s that have to do with Lady Sparkle?” Sunset asked.  She stepped up beside Twilight, her eyes on the TPTs. “Chaos magic leaves a mark. A scent, if you will.  Just look at my TPT’s frequency.” Already that patient swirl grew jumbled, chunks of stardust clumping together and scattering.  She held it away from Sunset and Twilight, and the stardust returned to a patient swirl. “You two reek of it, and Lady Sparkle no doubt will, too, after that battle with Discord.” “So you’re gonna use our TPT to track her?  Can it really sniff her out across universes?” Amblejoy lit her horn and focused her aura over Twilight’s TPT.  She pressed down on the stardust to compress it into the device’s core.  It fought back like some kind of animal backed into a corner, little pockets of stardust shooting up through Amblejoy’s aura, but she snatched them and threw them back into the device. Twilight bit her lip.  After coming so far, the TPT felt just as much a part of her as anything.  Seeing Amblejoy tinker with it sent a nervous twinge through her. Still, Midnight didn’t seem worried, so she stayed quiet. The stardust conceded defeat, allowing itself to be compressed flat into the core.  Amblejoy let out a relieved laugh. “That, Sunset, would be a yes.”  Amblejoy clamped Twilight’s TPT shut.  “And judging by the chaos resonance, we already have a reading.” “Really?”  Sunset sidled up beside her for a closer look.  “It’s that simple?” “Well, not quite. Lady Sparkle is on the run, as I’m sure you guessed.  She’s already jumped a few times, and I don’t see her slowing down anytime soon.” “So we just have to jump through a portal or two and nab her,” Sunset asked.  “What are we waiting for? Let’s get the others.” “Hold on.  It’s not that simple, either,” Midnight said, suddenly in control. “Well, hello, Midnight,” Amblejoy said. “Yeah, whatever,” Midnight said. “Don’t ‘whatever’ her!” “I’ll ‘whatever’ whoever I want.” Midnight shook her head, throwing Twilight into the back of their mind for a moment.  “We didn’t charge the TPT ambiently like you guys always do. That was my magic you used.  A lot of it.” “Okay, so?” Sunset said. “The portal isn’t a one-off thing.  It’s per person. Or pony. Or whatever’s going through it.” Sunset sighed.  “So if we’re chasing Lady Sparkle, the less that go through the portal the faster we can catch up.” “You got it, sweet cheeks.”  Twilight shook her head, again in control.  Well, control of everything but her left hoof, which tried against her will to slap Sunset on the flank.  Through it all, she blushed furiously and tried hiding behind her mane. Sunset and Amblejoy shared a look, then a smile, then a nod. “We won’t let you down,” Sunset said to Amblejoy. “I don’t doubt it.”  Amblejoy gave Twilight’s TPT to Sunset.  She put her own around her neck, but paused.  “Actually…” She snapped open her TPT and twisted its core until it popped out.  Carefully, she levitated it to the one around Sunset’s neck, opened it, and clicked it in place. “There. That should at least make each slide easier.” “Wait.”  Twilight stepped forward.  “But that was your TPT’s core.  You can’t give that to us. What about you guys?  You’ll be stranded here.” Amblejoy shrugged.  “I’m sure Twily, Skylark, and I could scrap together another one if we had to.  But I have faith we won’t have to worry about that. “And besides...”  She looked over her shoulder toward the crystal palace.  “I have a feeling they still need some time.” “Well, alright then!” Sunset said, stamping her hoof.  She turned a grin toward Twilight. “You ready to hunt down a maniac pseudo demi-goddess and save the multiverse?” Twilight looked her in the eye.  No. No, she didn’t. She didn’t want anything to do with any of this.  She just wanted to go home. She wanted to go home and reread her book for the millionth time.  Something normal. Something safe. “But that isn’t quite true, is it?” Midnight asked. Twilight looked down.  No, it wasn’t. Twilight did want to go home, but what was home to her?  A place, a collection of things. Just a bunch of stuff. This Sunset she found—or rather, that found her—she was just as much a home as any one place in any one universe.  This Sunset that she followed across half the multiverse, that she would gladly follow across the other. Twilight smiled.  “Yeah.” They slid through the portal, and Twilight fell.  The wind grew to a roar in her ears. She felt the heat before she saw it. Her body tumbled in freefall, and when the sky turned to earth, she saw a tropical island and an active volcano directly below, brewing with the anger of a mythological deity. Sunset gripped her around the shoulders.  “Twilight! Twilight! Portal! Portal!” “I’m working on it!” Twilight grabbed Sunset with one hoof and the TPT with the other.  She pushed hers and Midnight’s magic into it, and the meter flared pink.  They ripped open a portal beneath them and tumbled onto a soft patch of grass. Sunset coughed.  “Well that was a great way to start us off.” Twilight rolled her eyes.  Grassy hills rolled into all four horizons, dotted by a few trees.  It was kind of peaceful. “Where are we?” she asked. “I think ‘how far behind’ is the better question here,” Sunset said.  She adjusted her jacket with one hand, and grabbed the TPT with the other. Twilight stood up and threw her arm around Sunset while staring at the TPT. “Well then how far behind are we?” “You see the concentric circles?” She pointed at a red dot and a blinking ring.  “We’re the middle dot. She’s the flashing ring.” “Just two jumps away?” “Yeah.  Well, three now,” Sunset said as the flashing ring jumped outward one circle. “Then what are we waiting for?” Twilight put her hands on the TPT. “Me.  Jeez. Can’t a girl catch a break around here?”  Midnight sounded winded, like she had just sprinted a lap around the school track. “Sorry, but we need to catch her.  Can you make another jump?” “I’ll live. Just fire it up whenever.” Twilight nodded.  She closed her eyes to focus her magic. “Wait,” Sunset said.  “She stopped moving.” “Okay?  So? Let's get her before she does move again,” Twilight said. “Twilight, wait.” Sunset looked at her, concerned. “No.  I don't think that's a good idea. There's something fishy about this.  Somepony running for their life doesn’t just stop running.” “She’s right, Twilight.  This screams trouble.” Twilight shook her head.  This was their chance. They could end this now.  The more jumps, the more it hurt Midnight, and they needed all the strength they could manage. Sunset took a step back, clutching the TPT to her breast.  “Twilight…” Twilight put her hands on Sunset’s cheeks.  She planted a long kiss on her forehead, and they stayed there a while. “Trust me,” Twilight whispered.  Without taking her eyes from Sunset’s, she placed her hands on the TPT.  It glowed, and Twilight closed her eyes. She poured even more of herself into it. Before she knew what was happening, she felt them shift through space, the universes passing by and around and through them.  Gravity reversed, and reality snapped to. She hit the ground face first.  What little of the world she could make out spun sickeningly on its head.  Her lungs felt like they had been vacuum packed and refused to draw breath. “Twilight!  Twilight, get up!” Twilight groaned.  She tried pushing herself up onto her hands and knees, but a shooting pain rocketed up her right arm and she collapsed, screaming. “Twilight, please!  You have to get up! This is bad.  This is really bad.” She sucked in a tiny breath through clenched teeth.  Breathing hurt. Everything hurt. She curled into a fetal position, face down against the cold stone. “There’s no magic here, Twilight.  This universe… I-I can’t feel my magic.” “Oh…” cooed a venomously honeyed voice. “Don’t give up so easily, Twilight.” Twilight wheezed in a gasp and shot her eyes open.  That voice. That was her voice.  She managed to crane her neck up. Lady Sparkle grinned down at her.  She held Sunset in front of her by the arm, her long fingernails digging through her leather jacket.  Sunset’s long, wavy hair covered one of her eyes, but it couldn’t hide the terror in them. “After all…” Lady Sparkle said.  “That isn’t something I would do.” And then Twilight saw the knife at Sunset’s throat.