//------------------------------// // Chapter 15 // Story: Vámonos, Equestrian Exploradora! // by Autum Breeze //------------------------------// Chapter 15 ___________________________________________________________ “Hasta luego, Rarity!” I call as I slide down the railing of the stairs, land and head for the door. “Be back in time for tea, Dora,” Rarity’s voice calls from her sewing room. I step outside and stretch my arms into the sky, closing my eyes as I smell the afternoon air. I’m wearing the same as the last day of the friendship Festival. It’s been about two weeks since said festival. Since that time, some of season 5 has played out… though it’s felt weird. I mean, being present for the events feels weird enough, but with the knowledge that the movie has been and gone, it felt really off-putting when Cadance and Shining announced she was pregnant with Flurry Heart. Still, at least that means Flurry’s developing embryo wasn’t harmed by her mother’s magic being ripped from her. Of course, it was also infuriating, since, despite that episode’s events coming after What about Discord?, that episode has not happened. With Discord’s lack of appearing during the movie’s events despite my making sure he was fully aware of the festival, the time he comes to Ponyville for a full three days during Twilight’s book-sort-cation was my best chance at getting to meet with him and have him send me home. And if you’re wondering why I’m still counting on Discord instead of Twilight, it’s because she’s taken Tempest and Starlight on as her pupils, like she does for Starlight after the finale that now won’t be happening. Well, technically, only Starlight is her pupil. She is teaching Tempest too, but not the same way. In fact, she and Starlight are teaching Tempest together and only in helping her learn how to cast spells with her broken horn. I know it would actually be pretty bloody rude of me to expect Twilight to start what could take months of research to figure out how to send me home while leaving Starlight and Tempest to wait until after I’m gone. Patience is a virtue, after all and, besides, with the Storm King dealt with and the only big problem coming up now being when Flurry shatters the Crystal Heart, which itself won’t even be for another ten months, I’m not too worried about how long I’ll have to wait. Twilight has assured me she will make sure I’m sent back the very moment I left. I can see Starlight helping her with that, especially since she has those Time Travel Capes to use as well. Starlight is certain Twilight can combine one of the capes with a few specific other spells to send me back to the point before I arrived in Equestria to begin with. I just hope leaving one of the capes with her wasn’t a bad idea. After all, unlike a Time Travel Spell, any numbnut can use those travel capes, even by accident. Plus, unless the cape goes back to Dora’s world the moment I leave Equestria and return to earth, I’ll have to be sure to keep the cape a secret for all time. I can think of a few certain people who could really screw up Earth’s timeline if they went back in time. “Hi, Dora!” a cheery voice calls as I feel something, or rather some monkey, land on my back. “Hi, Boots,” I smile back at him. Boots and his family have settled surprisingly well into life in Ponyville. I’d learned his sisters’ names that day of the festival… and I’m still not sure whether to laugh or deadpan. Keeping with the ascetic of naming their children after each child’s favourite item of clothing, for whatever reason, Mr. and Mrs Monkey had called their two daughters Pi-Bow and Ye-Bow, because one likes wearing a pink bow in her hair and the other a yellow bow. Groan at that if you want. I sure did. “So, you’re family just got back?” I ask as Boots hops off my back, saying hi to Map and Backpack. Since Boots’ father was an architect back in their world, he’d gotten a job with the Equestrian Building Society. He’d had been in Canterlot to help with the building of several restaurants on what I figure out from his word choice were on Restaurant Row, one of the restaurants being The Tasty Treat from Spice Up Your Life and his family had been there for a small holiday and to equate themselves with the area. “I bet The Tasty Treat was the only restaurant your dad had any fun designing and building,” I say as we walk through Ponyville. Boots folds his arms, nodding, frowning in confusion. “Why was it the only one that wanted something different? All the others wanted the exact same thing.” I roll my eyes. “Honestly, Boots? Pier pressure. One uptight pony who has a strong reputation but a really weird idea of what good food and dinning is like tries to make anyone who does something she doesn’t like feel like they won’t be successful otherwise.” Boots looks shocked. “What? That’s not fair. That’s mean! Not everyone likes the same thing! Just because she likes food one way doesn’t mean everyone else should too!” I nod. “Boots you are less than half her age, but show you are far wiser.” We get to Twilight’s castle and I knock several times. True, Twilight hasn’t been able to help me with figuring out how to get home and I’ve decided to wait til she can, but that doesn’t mean I don’t still have business in her castle. After all, since Twilight has to divide her time between Tempest and Starlight, I’ve been helping out one when the other is with the purple princess. Though, when it comes to Starlight, I’m mainly just trying to make her work up the courage to go to the Crystal Empire and confront Sunburst. Sure, I could wait til Flurry is actually born for that, but that’s at least ten months away and I’ll be damned if only going to just let Starlight procrastinate her reuniting with Sunburst for that long. Though I’m kinda on my own there. The Wishing Crystal will not grant any wish, no matter if Boots or I make it, which relates to Starlight meeting up with Sunburst. Is it trying to tell me the way they meet has to be like in The Crystalling? Whatever the case, I haven’t given up. I haven’t actually told her Sunburst is in the Empire itself, so I just need to find a way to convince her to come to the Empire with me and lead her to his house and let things play out as they will. I didn’t get a chance to come yesterday though. Rarity had insisted on making me a new dress (despite my many protests) and it took the whole freaking day! How does it take you a whole damn day to make one God damn dress?! How?! The door opens to reveal Spike. “Hola, Spike,” I smile as he steps back to let us in. “Where’s Twilight?” For some reason, he doesn’t answer. He just leads me to the room with the map of Equestria… and the room if full of books, charts and others things. “She’s off solving a Friendship Problem with Fluttershy,” he shrugs, closing the door and leading us towards the library. “They left yesterday afternoon. There’s no telling when she’ll be back.” We enter the library to find both Starlight and Tempest there, the latter with a book open in front of her, her horn closing as she levitates a flower. “Good, Tempest,” Starlight says. “You’re levitation control is getting much better.” She then notices us as we walk in and waves. “Hi, Dora. Hi, Boots.” “Hola, Starlight. Hola, Tempest,” I smile back. Starlight returns to looking to Tempest, it being too obvious she’s well aware I intend to again try and get her to speak with Sunburst. Rolling my eyes and shaking my head, I look around the library… before pausing as my eyes fall on the mirror to the Equestria Girls world. Or, more specifically, one component of the portal. The journal is glowing and vibrating. “Dora?” Spike seems to have noticed my change in demeanour. “What’s up?” His question draws the two unicorns’ attention to me as I quickly make my way over to the shelf and, after climbing up on a chair, pull down the journal, which Spike seems to only just now notice is glowing, opening it and reading aloud. “Hey, Twilight. Haven’t heard back from you yet. I guess you must be pretty busy with your role as princess. But I could really use your advice right now. You see, I’ve been given the job of keeping magic under control here at CHS, even though I still haven’t quite wrapped my head around it. And now after seeing Rainbow Dash pony up the way she did, it makes me think her magic might be... changing. Everyone is looking to me to figure things out and I really don’t wanna let them down. But I’m not sure I have enough experience with friendship magic to solve this.” Starlight and Tempest are looking at me in confusion, the former asking, “Uh, what do you mean? How exactly would Rainbow Dash Pony Up? Um… Dora?” Her change to a worried tone is likely because my eyes have widened. The events of Friendship Games are happening, but how much, I literally cannot tell. The journal will always vibrate and glow until it is answered and there’s no telling how long ago that was. “When did this start glowing and vibrating?” I ask the two unicorns, indicating to the now closed book in one hand. They shrug. “I dunno,” Tempest says. “Since a little before Twilight and Fluttershy left yesterday. I stare at them, my right eye twitching. “Sunset Shimmer needs our help!” I look to Spike, before blinking. Wait, if Spike went into the EQG world right now, there’d be two Spikes. As if that wouldn’t be confusing. Spike looks worried. “Why? What’s going on?” I open my mouth to answer, before my eyes widen and I return the journal to the top of the mirror, climb back down and reach out to the portal… but my hand touches the cold surface. “What in Equestria?” Spike hurries over, running his claws over the surface of the mirror. “But, the journal’s there,” he glance up at the book. “How come the portal isn’t opening?!” “Portal?” the unicorns ask, sounding in more confused. “Oh no,” I whisper. Sci-Twi’s already drained the portal’s magic. If that’s the case, there’s no way we can get in through the mirror. “If Sunset needs help, how’re we supposed to get to her when the portal’s closed?” Spike looks to me. I frown, rubbing my chin. “Well, there is technically another portal and it’s always open, since it’s a natural forming one… but it’s somewhere in either the edges of the Everfree Forest or Whitetail Woods and I have no idea which and it comes out in that world on a deserted island, miles from CHS.” “Um, could somepony please explain what you’re both babbling on about?” Tempest asks, seeming annoyed, I’m guessing since she and Starlight were kind of shut out of the conversation. “What in Equestria in CHS?” “Even if you’re right about another portal, this one comes out closest to Sunset,” Spike says to me, pointing to the mirror. “Twilight might know how to reopen the portal,” he puts his hands on his head, “but there’s no telling how long it’ll be before she comes back!” “What’re we gonna do?! What’re we gonna do?!” Boots cries out, hands on his head… though I think he’s only worried because I’m worried. I haven’t told him a thing about the Equestria Girls world, so he wouldn’t know about it or be worried for those there. Spike growls, kicking the base of the mirror. “I wish the portal would just open for a moment so we can go through!” I blink, before my gut drops. Please tell me Spike didn’t just say what I think he just said. Sadly, the glowing of my crystal means he did. Before any of us can react, a beam of rainbow energy shoots from the crystal, slamming into the surface of the mirror. At once, our reflections are replaced by a swirling two-toned purple vortex. We’re barely even given enough time to register this, however, before a wind starts pulling from within the vortex, sucking us towards it. I grab the edge of the nearest table, holding onto Spike’s claw as the wind continues to try pulling us in. Starlight and Tempest are clinging to their own table for dear life, no clue what’s going on. A scream from Boots causes me to look behind me to see him being lift into the air and yanked towards the portal. “Boots!” I yell, reaching out my free hand, before blinking as I realize my mistake, followed by Spike and I screaming as we’re pulled into the portal as well. ___________________________________________________________ The three of us scream as we’re hurled out from the portal, the world of EQG coming into focus within seconds, before we tumble along the ground, rolling, before finally stopping. “Owie,” Boots’ voice groans. With my face down on the concrete ground, I can’t see him. “What happened?” Spike grunts, sounding like he’s shaking his head, before he gasps. “What? Neither of you changed?” Pushing myself up, I glance around, my vision a little bit blury, before the green and purple dog comes into focus. Glancing down at myself and then over to a whitish-blue blob with a hint of red that is clearly Boots, I confirm that, while Spike changed, Boots and I remained exactly the same. Boots pushes himself up on his hands and knees, before blinking in confusion at Spike. “Spike? Since when did you turn into a dog?” I sigh, shaking my head. “It’s a long story, Boots. Right now—” “If both teams are ready?” a loud, very familiar voice says. My eyes widen and I quickly look around, only to realize where and when we are. We’re outside the front of CHS, everyone is gathered for the final round of the Friendship Games… and Sci-Twi is walking towards the centre of the area, holding her device, singing her part of Unleash the Magic along with the rest of Crystal Prep singing their chorus of those very words. Fear racing through me as I realize what’s about to happen, I raise my hands to my face and yell at the top of my lungs, my voice filled with panic, “Twilight, ESPERA!” At once, the glasses-wearing girl halts in place, her finger inches from the button of her device and glances around quickly in confusion. Her sudden change in demeanour is enough to grab everyone’s attention, especially her school’s, who’ve abruptly stopped singing and are looking around in confusion too, likely wondering just what could’ve stopped Sci-Twi from doing what they think they needed her to in order to win the games. Sci-Twi keeps looking around, before her head turns in my direction and her eyes going wide… much to my confusion. “Dora the Explorer?! Boots?! And… is that another Spike?!” That gets everyone’s attention and all heads turn in our direction, met with confusion, shock and probably a bunch of other emotions. I’m not paying full attention though, as I’ve slumped down, relief flooding my body. We were literally seconds away from the magical flash in Sci-Twi’s eyes that would’ve indicated the birth of Midnight Sparkle as a separate consciousness within her. I am wondering how in the world she knows me by title though. I’d probably be worried if I wasn’t so relieved. Suddenly, my ears prick up at a scratching sound and my eyes widen. I turn my head this way and that, before they land on the Princess of Friendship’s double as she takes a step towards me. Behind her. That bush! It has orange fox ears! “Swiper!” I yell, standing up quickly, Boots’ eyes widening as he realizes what has me worried. My cry, however, just causes confusion as Sci-Twi paused. “Swipe her? What’re you talking about?” Said fox pops out from the bush, nobody noticing him as all eyes are on the three of us. “Swiper, no—” Boots and I yell quickly, holding out a hand, but not quick enough as he leaps forward, grabbing the locket, much to Sci-Twi’s surprise and lands in front of her. He holds it above his head. “You’re too late!” he laughs and pull back his arm and throws it towards a bush. “You’ll never find it—” He’s cut off by the magical explosion that comes from the bush, the shockwave sending us all flying back, Boots, Equestria’s Spike and myself slamming into the now closed portal. When I look up, my eyes widen in horror. Instead of Midnight Sparkle being a problem, a massive Venus flytrap-like plant has sprung up from the bush, long tendrils extending out from its lower region. “Oh… man,” Swiper says, his voice sounding lower as he coughs and I glance to him to see him rubbing his throat. I’ll be having words with that stupid fox later. “Everybody, run!” Vice Principal Luna yells into the microphone. “Would someone please tell me what in the world just happened?!” I get up as Rainbow Dash and the rest hurry over, though not paying attention to me. “That’s not important now,” Sunset says, glancing back at us. “I don’t know who you are, little girl, but do you know something?” I nod. “Explicaré más tarde. I’ll explain later!” I repeat in a yell to the confused looks from all but Dash, Sunset and Sci-Twi, the latter of whom apparently got thrown not too far from the portal. “Right now, we need to stop that… thing!” “How do we do that?” Dash asks, glancing from it back to me. “We don’t have our magic anymore!” I frown, standing up. “But I do!” To their confused looks, I run, rushing past them, ignoring their sudden cries. I’m expecting the crystal to glow and turn me into a True Princess again… only I realize too late that it’s not and get slapped hard in the face by a tendril. I feel myself slam into something that makes a grunting sound. Looking up to see behind me, I see Sci-Twi, her face pulled back in a pained grimace. “I’m sorry!” she whispers, wrapping her arms around me. “This is my fault!” “Juega el juego de la culpa más tarde!” I say firmly, squirming out of her grip and turning to look at them all, bitting my bottom lip. Okay. This is a problem. I can’t turn into a True Princess again for some reason and, since we don’t have the locket, we can’t restore the others’ magic. “Twilight, we don’t blame you,” Sunset says, putting a hand on the other girl’s shoulder. Wait, when’d she come over to us? “Right now, we need your help.” “Why?” the purple girl sniffles, wiping tears from her eyes as her dog comes over… Equestria’s Spike staying by Boots, giving his doppelganger a very perplex expression. “What could I do? I don’t have any talent. Look what I’ve caused,” she indicates to the plant… which is wilding thrashing its tendrils around, breaking holes to Equestria just like Midnight Sparkle did in the movie. “I took your magic and caused all this!” Sunset shakes her head and holds out a hand. “Come on, Twilight. We need your help.” Sci-Twi just stares at her in confusion. “But… I stole your magic. You should hate me. Why would you want my help or to help me?” Sunset smiles. “Because that’s what friends do, Twilight.” She just looks at Sunset with more confusion. “Friends? But… I’ve never had any friends before. Why would you want me for a friend?” “Well, you do now,” Dash smirks, pointing a thumb at herself. “And why wouldn’t we wanna be friends with you?” “Because I stole your magic!” Sci-Twi repeats firmly. Hmm, seems that’s gonna be the guilt on her now, instead of Midnight. “Why would you want to be friends with me after I stole your magic?!” Applejack just chuckles. “Aw, Sugarcube, we know ya didn’t do that on purpose. Besides, you may have taken our Equestrian Magic, Twilight…” “But there’s a magic far more powerful than that,” Rarity tosses her hair back with a flourish. Sci-Twi glances around at the girls, then looks back to Sunset’s outstretched hand and, hesitantly, takes it, asking, “What kind of magic?” I can’t help rolling my eyes as I realize what is coming. I’m glad for it, don’t get me wrong, but… GOD even the show was never that cheesy. “The magic… of friendship!” the group say in unison, putting their hands out atop on Sunset and Sci-Twi’s. At once, there’s a flash from the point of contact that spreads out around the group, them each taking on their coloured hew of their element, even Sci-Twi with her lavender one, much to her shock and confusion. The magic swirls around the group as they rise into their, before it flashes brightly. When it fades, it reveals them all Ponied Up, even Sci-Twi, who has her Alicorn wings. Sunset looks around at the girls and the nod, turning to face the giant plant, each with a hand outstretched, though Sci-Twi looks like she’s just following the example. At once, the rainbow energy of the Elements surges around them all in a spiral, before flying in an arch towards the plant. It slams into it and the plant screams, before shrinking quickly until it falls into a small gap in the world near it that leads into the Everfree. The moment it passes through, there’s a shockwave of rainbow light from the girls that passes over everything, closing the cracks and stopping the world from shattering. The girls all slowly float down, the glow of the Elements fading, though they remain Ponied Up. Now that the danger has passed, Sci-Twi’s eyes widen in confused horror as she raises her hands to her pony ears and glances at her back. “My ears! What happened to them?! And why do I have wings?!” “Don’t worry,” Sunset puts a hand on the once again panicking girl’s shoulder. “They’ll go back to normal soon.” Seemingly relieved to learn she hadn’t been permanently altered from a human into some kind of pony-human hybrid, Sci-Twi looks around, before her eyes fall back on me and she points frantically. “Okay, magic or not, how is Dora the Explorer here?!” And… suddenly, I remember how she seemed to recognize me and called me by title before all the craziness started. “Um, I’m more curious how you know that’s who I am,” I say, folding my arms. I quickly glance at Boots and notice he’s playing with this world’s Spike, so might not be paying attention. Considering whatever I’m about to hear, that might be for the best. “Well… you are a fictional character from a children’s educational show from a few years back,” Rainbow Dash answers instead. I just stand there, blinking. “Um… can you please explain to me how you know that?!” Yeah, I told Rarity, Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow and Shining Armour in Equestria that, but how do they know about it? Sunset cocks an eyebrow at me, before looking uncomfortable. “Um… did you know you were a fictional character?” The irony in that statement is not lost on me, trust me. I shake my head. “Of course I do. But how do you know that?” Rainbow Dash takes out her phone and fiddles with it for a bit, before turning it so I can see the screen… and my jaw drops. It’s a YouTube (or whatever the EQG name for it is, I’m more focused on the video playing than the name of the site) video… of a clip from Dora Save The Crystal Kingdom. “Wait. You guys have the show in your world?” I ask, looking around at the all. I am so confused. Sci-Twi nods uncertainly. “Si. Así aprendí Equespañol cuando era más joven, antes de ingresar a Crystal Prep.” “We’re from a TV show?” At once, my blood goes cold and I slowly turn to see Boots standing next to me, Sci-Twi’s Spike held in his arms. There’s a long pause, where the others seem to pick up how worried I am Boots heard us. “Well, here, I guess,” Sunset says quickly. “I mean, maybe you come from a world where that cartoon is real. Hay, maybe it being fictional here is its way of leaking into our world. Parallel dimensions, and all that.” She laughs nervously, the others joining in. Boots clearly is not buying it though. I sigh, leaning a little down to his eyes level and putting a hand on his shoulder. “I’m so sorry, Boots. I know not telling you wasn’t right, but…” “Oh, I already know that,” Boots shrugs casually, letting Spike drop so he can run to his master. There’s another long pause. “You… you KNOW?!” I stare at him, my mouth agape. WHAT?! Boots just gives me an odd look. “Dora, we’ve been to lots of worlds inside video games, story books and TV shows and nobody in them had a problem with it. Why are you so worried? You never were before.” I just stand there, my eye twitching again, far more eratically. All this time? All this time Boots knew he was from a fictional TV show?! I’ve been worrying myself crazy about how he and his family would react for fucking nothing?! ARE YOU SHITTING ME?! “Principal Celestia,” an angry voice pulls me from my mental implosion and causes us to look towards the entrance, where Cinch is stomping up to the addressed woman, “on behalf of Crystal Prep, I demand that you forfeit the Friendship Games! Clearly, CHS has had unfair advantage for quite some time! And it’s certainly obvious that your students have been using magic for their own benefit! “Is she serious?” Dash asks, looking around at us, to which I deadpan. “Pathetically, yes,” I answer. Principal Celestia just gives Cinch a very smug look. “I’d like to think that saving the world benefits us all.” “Also, how is some giant plant that sprang out of nowhere and attacked our students as much as your own in any way an unfair advantage for us?” Vice Principal Luna points out. “At least they didn’t manipulate Twilight into releasing all the stolen magic, causing a giant man-eating plant monster to appear that tried to rip the world apart as it attempted to get home just to win a game,” Sugarcoat says bluntly, glaring at her principal. There’s a paiuse. “Wow!” Pinkie Pie says, looking stunned. “That’s a lot to take in when you say it all at once.” Principal Cinch just glares at the both of them. “That’s ridiculous!” This world’s Spike, now being held in his owners arms, saying, “Nope, that’s pretty much what happened.” Cinch only now seems to have noticed how there are two Spikes and I think it’s startling her more than just this world’s Spike talking did in the movie. “Actually,” Sour Sweet says, well, sweetly, “we’re all to blame.” Her expression and tone sour. “Mostly it was her.” Principal Cinch looks from us to the other adults. “Obviously my students have been infected with your magic, but I plan on taking all of this up with the school board!” Principal Celestia smirks. “Good. I’m sure they would be very interested in hearing all about the magical students with wings.” Vice Principal Luna snickers. “Oh, and the portals to different dimensions opened by a giant man-eating plant.” “And don’t forget to tell them about the two talking dogs fox and monkey,” Dean Cadance giggles. “Because that would never ruin your reputation,” Sci-Twi’s Spike says. Cinch looks angrily around at all of us, seeming to relax no one is going to back her up on this. Just when she looks like she’s about to burst into a fit of rage, she stops, adjusts her top and walks away. Principal Celestia steps forward. “Well, I know these Friendship Games haven’t been what any of us expected, but given what we’ve all just been through, I think it’s fair to declare us all winners.” Unlike in the movie, however, no one cheers. I glance around, a bit surprised confused as the girls all look amongst themselves, before nodding to myself and stepping forward. “Disculpe, director,” I say and she looks to me, only now seeming to realize I’m here. “But, I don’t think that’s a good idea.” She blinks, bending down, her hands on her knees… and for the life of me, with legs as long as those, I don’t know how she’s doing that. “What do you mean, little one?” “Well, no offense, Principal Celestia,” Sunny Flare says, stepping forward, “but, win or lose, we at Crystal Prep wanna finish this for real.” The rest of the Cystal Prep students voice their agreements. “Same here,” Sunset says firmly, the rest of CHS joining her. “We want to see who will win this, fair and square.” The three adults looks to each other, surprised, before smiling and nodding. “Then, tomorrow morning, we’ll have the final match to see which school wins,” Celestia says. “Though, if I could make a suggestion regarding these games?” I ask, holding up a hand… before blushing and taking it down again. Good grief, I looked like a 3rd grader trying to get their teachers attention. They look to me and indicate for me to continue. I fold my arms. Time to see if something I wrote in a fanfic I’d started before all this insanity in my life can be applied to real life. “Well, regardless of how well things go here, there’s a slim chance this could happen again, the rivalry, I mean. These are meant to be the Friendship Games, yet it took a giant carnivous plant brought to this world by stolen magic to truly pull the schools together. So, after this year, might I recommend the games be cancelled and re-purposed into a Festival de la amistad? A Friendship Festival,” I repeat to the confused looks from all around. “Like, a gathering where both schools will come together to prepare food, games and entertainment?” Sunset asks. I nod. “Si. It would certainly help keep the bonds of friendship between the schools more so than a sports competition.” Celestia rubs her chin in thought. “An interesting idea... um, what is your name?” “She’s Dora and I’m Boots,” the moneky cheers, before indicating to the purple dog who came with us. “And this is Spike.” “But… this is Spike,” Sci-Twi says, indicating down to the dog in her arms. “How can there be two of him?” That just causes all of CHS to giggle. “We’ll explain later,” Sunset says, putting a hand on the girl’s shoulder. “So, what do we do now?” Our Spike asks, glancing around. “Since we stopped that plant monster, do we just go home?” “Um…” I say, glancing to the base of the Wondercolts statue… that got destroyed. Geez, in the movie or a world based on the movie, that statue just cannot catch a break, can it? “I’m… not so sure if the portal is open right now.” “Huh?” the girls all say, sounding confused. “But, everyone’s got their magic back, don’t they?” Sci-Twi looks worried... showing early warning signs of an incoming Twilighting. “Wh-why wouldn’t the portal have reopened?!” “I’d guess because Starlight Glimmer and Tempest Shadow are freaking out so much they knocked the journal off the portal,” Our Spike sighs, seeming to catch onto my thought process. “They’re right,” Boots voice calls casually and we all glance around to see he’s by the portal, his hand on the smooth rock surface, but not phasing into it. “The portal’s still closed.” “But, how’re you going to get back to Equestria if the portal’s closed?” Sunset looks down at me, concerned. I shrug. “Well, I’m pretty sure, if not by tomorrow, in a few days, our favourite nerdy princess will come rushing through. We can wait til then.” “Worse comes to worse, we’ll just try and find that other natural portal you were talking about before we got here, Dora,” the dragon turned puppy says, shrugging. There’s a moment of silence. “There’s another and natural portal to Equestria from here?!” Sunset’s eyes are wide and she grabs me by the shoulders. “Where is it?! How come we’ve never known about it til now?!” “Chill, Shimmer,” I hold up my hands. “It’s on a deserted island in the middle of the ocean. I highly doubt it would’ve been of any use to you during recent events.” She blinks, slowly letting go and pulling away. “Oh. Um… okay then?” Well, this is certainly going to be an interesting couple days… either that or an interesting couple of hours. No telling when Twilight will come back and hurry through the portal in a panic. “I just wish we had some kind of evidence to use against Principal Cinch for her blackmailing you with your future education into joining the games, Twilight,” Sci-Twi’s Spike says. I blink, finding myself smirking a little as my Wishing Crystal glows. Everyone glances towards it. “Um, what just happened?” Dash asks, glancing from the crystal to everyone else. “You needn’t worry about evidence against Cinch… Spike,” we all turn as Dean Cadance steps towards us, seeming only a little off put by the fact she’s addressing her sister-in-law’s dog… and I’m only just now realizing the bump in her belly. Crap, she’s already preggers with Flurry too. “Why wouldn’t he need to worry?” Indigo Zap looks very confused. Dean Cadance giggles. “I’ve had my concerns with the way Cinch runs our school and how she acts like her reputation is all that matters. So, a few days ago, I used the excuse that I had to take some files to her office while she was out to place some hidden microphones in the room, in places she’d never think to look. I’ve the recordings on my computer back home.” “Wait. So, you’ve proof she wanted to ruin CHS’ reputation?” Sci-Twi asks. This causes shock to everyone else, especially the Crystal Prep students. “She what?!” Sunset looks like she’s about to go find Cinch and beat the living shit out of her… and, if not for Applejack standing so close, I think she very well might. Dean Cadance sighs sadly. “Yes. My husband and I were there, though I don’t think he realized just how bad it was.” “So, you’ve proof Principal Cinch not only blackmailed Twilgiht with making sure whether or not Twilight would have a future… but also her desire to ruin another school just because she didn’t want them to have a good reputation?” Dash asks, before shaking her head. “That lady is messed up.” I nod, though I’m doing my best to hide a slightly vindictive smirk. Serves you right, Cinch, you bitch. Now I can spend the next couple days here in the assurance Cinch will be fired, just like Dance Magic suggested.