After the Zorgons have been finally dealt with, the eight ponies and baby dragon filed back inside the library where the adventure in outer space first began. They sat in the middle of the room so that they can get more space between them for Twilight and Shining to finally finish the game. As soon as they all sat down around the game with the siblings sitting adjacent to each other, Twilight began to turn the key since Shining had his turn which produced a shooting star that allows him to grant a wish.
Seconds passed and the dial stopped at the number nine, the young princess' official highest roll. But, since she rolled the exact same number as Shining did on his previous turn, her red piece again stopped one space away from her brother's blue piece. Yet another card popped out and she took it out without hesitation. After seeing the contents of the card, she stared at it with a blank stare and said, "Really, game? 'Flunk Space Academy: Go Back 1 Space'?" No sooner had Twilight said that, her piece moved back one space further away from Shining's. "You know what? I'm not even gonna complain about it. It's not even worth it anymore," she exclaimed, throwing the card away.
Shining then took the chance as he spun the game around and took his turn again, but when he did, the dial stopped at the number three, his official lowest roll ever. Three spaces later, another card came out and, like his sister, took it without hesitating and grimaced upon seeing what was written on the card. "Okay, that's new for me. 'Hit Time Warp: Go Back 3 Spaces and Repeat Last Turn'." His blue piece went back to where it started three spaces back and, to everypony's surprise, the game produced another golden card just like before. Without reading the contents but only decided to take a brief look at it, he picked it up and, sure enough, it was the same wish card he received earlier. "Guys, I got another wish," the unicorn exclaimed.
After a while, another bright light filled the room and when they all looked outside, the shooting star from before had reappeared for Shining to grant his second wish. It was also Twilight and Spike's first time seeing the passing ball of rock and gas, the former when she was still resentful of her brother and hid in her room, while the latter was still taking his shower after getting freed from his cryonic sleep. The rest of the Mane Six had seen it too when they were searching for Twilight after she ran away and hid somewhere in the castle.
Shining got up from his seat and walked towards one of the windows, but stopped to look at the astronaut, who had helped them a lot ever since the alicorn summoned him during one of her turns, and said to him, "Thanks for helping us." He then continued walking towards the window and stopped just a few yards away from it. Whispering to himself so that the others wouldn't hear, he made his wish. "I wish the astronaut had his sister and her friends back."
The star heard Shining's wish and moved ever closer towards the castle. The light has become even brighter as everypony shielded their eyes from the blinding light. Thankfully, it only lasted for about five seconds, and when they all opened their eyes, they were completely shocked at what, or rather who the star had called. Standing before them were six mares and a baby dragon, but what shocked them the most was that they looked exactly like the Mane Six and Spike, from the manestyle, their clothing, and even their appearances. They all stood at attention and from left to right are Applejack, Pinkie, Twilight, Rarity, Rainbow, Fluttershy and Spike in the exact order with the other Twilight being an alicorn.
Snapping out of her shock first, the real Twilight said, "Shining, did you wish for two of us, sans yourself?"
"What? No! I wish that the astronaut had his sister and their friends back, but I wasn't expecting this to appear," Shining explained as the others quickly did the same as Twilight did.
Meanwhile, the astronaut walked up towards the third mare and hugged her tightly with tears in his eyes. "Twily, you're back."
"I'm sorry, but who are you?" the alternate Twilight said, apparently having amnesia as they had gotten everypony else's attention.
The astronaut broke the hug and faced the princess doppelganger. "Twily, it's me, Shining. I'm your brother, remember?"
Hearing the older unicorn's claim, the real Mane Six and Spike was really shocked to know that the astronaut was actually an older version of Shining. "What?!" the mares and baby dragon shouted at once.
The real Shining was also a bit shocked to learn that his doppelganger was actually his older alternate self. "Okay, I have no idea what's going on right now! Can I please get an explanation?"
However, the other Twilight pointed at the real Shining and exclaimed that he was her actual brother, despite the real Twilight standing right nearby. "Hey, I'm right here, you know?" she said in offense.
Feeling a little curious, the real Pinkie decided to move towards her doppelganger and examine her closely. When she did, she got a closer look at the other Pinkie, from her poofy mane, to her facial features. What made the others snickered was that the two Pinkies had mimicked each other's movements, which had gotten the others, including Twilight, to follow their friend's example.
Applejack saw her doppelganger's stetson, which looked exactly like her own. Twilight examined her other self's features, including the wings she had, confirming that the other Twilight was an alicorn as well. Rarity had the opportunity to check on her doppelganger's mane, which had the same curls as hers had. Rainbow and Fluttershy was also a bit likable on their doppelgangers, the former liked how abrasive she was, while the latter was a bit confused that hers had no emotions. Spike had always wanted a brother with the same species as him, if only the one in front of him was only his alternate self.
Then, together as one, the real Mane Six and Spike touched their hands with their doppelgangers, causing them to break apart into starry mists, which was then absorbed into the actual ponies and baby dragon, which was a sight to behold. After the last of the stars was now inside the mares and baby dragon, Twilight commented, "Okay, not going to lie, but that was actually really cool. Don't you agree, girls?" The others mumbled their levels of agreement to the alicorn's question.
After seeing his sister being absorbed into the real Twilight, the astronaut walked over to his younger self, who was still standing nearby. "Thank you for bringing my sister back," he said.
"But, I don't-" Shining began, but he was interrupted by his older self.
"You did great back there. You kept close to Twilight during the whole ordeal, and that's something you should be proud of. You hear me?" the older unicorn asked, in which the younger one replied with a nod. "Good. Now make sure you bring her back home to Equestria safely, okay?"
"Okay, I promise," Shining replied.
The astronaut said nothing as he touched his hand on Shining's shoulder, which glowed the same kind of glow the Mane Six and Spike doppelgangers did. But what shocked them was the sight before them. The astronaut seemed to have shrunken in stature and had reverted back to how he looked like fifteen years ago in his timeline, which looked exactly like the Shining the Mane Six knew. He stayed like that for a while before he too turns into a starry mist and flowed inside the stunned unicorn.
The others had seen the whole thing happen and was astounded by what they had witnessed. Snapping out of his shock, Shining said aloud, "He was actually me." The mares nodded in agreement.
"Okay, I'm really confused here. I mean-" Spike began, but he was interrupted by a blast coming from outside.
"Uh, guys? I really hate to be the bringer of bad news but, look outside right now," Rainbow said, who was pointing at the window to prompt everypony to check outside.
When they did, their faces paled and their eyes widened at the horrible sight before them. There are dozens of Zorgon ships floating outside the castle and one of them managed to get a shot underneath it, which caused the building to shook a bit. Wasting no time, the group ran back towards the game and sat down around it.
"Okay Twily, I just counted and you need a ten to win this game," Shining explained.
Nodding her head, Twilight proceeded to turn the key one last time and pushed the button. As the ships continued to fly around the castle, one of them got a lucky hit of their cannons and it hit the top floor of the castle, which caused a washing machine to fell near the scared ponies and baby dragon. Going back to the game, the young princess was disappointed that she only got a one when the dial stopped. "Really, a one? Sweet Celestia, I hate this game."
Another Zorgon ship had managed to hit the top floor again, which decimated a guest room that was thankfully nowhere near the ponies this time as Twilight's red piece moved one space forward and drawn another card. This time, Spike had gotten a hold of the card and read its contents. When he did, his eyes widened in surprise and said, "Uh, guys? I think Twilight might have won this game! Because the card said, 'Would You Like to Swing on the Stars? Move Ahead 9 Spaces'!"
"What?! I won?!" Twilight exclaimed in shock.
"She won?!" Shining and the rest of the Mane Six exclaimed as well, right as the red piece started to move towards the end of the game, which signals that Twilight had indeed won the game.
"Yeah, she won! You said she needed a ten to win, right? She rolled a one, and the card says to move nine spaces ahead, which totals up to ten, so she won!" the young dragon explained, which elicited happy squeals from the mares as they, including Shining, congratulated the young princess for actually winning a game without cheating.
Their cheer didn't last long as they can still feel the thundering of blast after blast from the still firing Zorgon cannons that threatens to tear the castle apart. Luckily, the castle managed to stay intact before the ponies saw a cool but scary spectacle before them. As soon as Twilight's piece stopped at the black sphere with the letter Z printed on top of it, the sphere began spinning rapidly and caused sparks to form from the sphere. Then, the sphere opened up to reveal what looked like a black hole that spun out of control, which scares the ponies and young drake nearby.
And then, something unexpected happened. The sphere closed up suddenly and stopped spinning at the same time, which brought confusion to everypony's faces. Then, the game emitted one final card for them, which Shining took it and said, "'Game Over: Thank You for Playing'?"
"Wait, that's the whole game?" Twilight asked.
"Now what?" Fluttershy said nervously.
It was then they realized that the scenery outside was deathly quiet and it was completely dark outside. Feeling a bit sceptical, Shining stood up and approached one of the windows to see that it was indeed dark and the Zorgons have stopped firing their cannons. Turning back to face the mares, he simply said with a shrug, "I think we're home."
The claim ended all too soon as the same hooked chain from the Zorgon ships have punctured through the wall behind the older sibling, shocking them. What came next horrified them when the entire wall of the library was torn apart, revealing a giant black hole that seemed to have sucked the Zorgon ship trying to cling onto the castle, but failed to do so as the black hole's gravitational pull was far stronger.
Seeing that Shining was still standing up, Rainbow flew towards him so that he can get to safety. However, her plan backfired as after Shining was down on all fours, she was unable to get a grip on Shining's shirt and was unfortunately pulled towards the black hole, screaming for help much to the others' horror. "Rainbow!" Twilight yelled, but it was too late to save her as she disappeared from the confines of the destructive nature of space.
As the pieces reversed back towards the starting point of the game, the other ponies and baby dragon immediately started gripping onto other stuff for dear life. Twilight and Shining dropped to their stomachs and grabbed on to the game, which surprisingly had a really strong friction that renders it immobile. The others tried clinging on to the empty bookshelves or some of the still standing crystal pillars with mixed results.
Applejack and Pinkie were able to hold on longer thanks to their earth pony strengths. Fluttershy, having lost her first friend since they first met in Cloudsdale, focused more on flapping her wings and tried to stay away from the black hole, which seemed to work for a while. Rarity, being the weakest as a unicorn, had some trouble hanging on but she managed as well. Spike had opted on clinging onto Rarity's tail, which the fashionista didn't mind as long as he was okay.
"Twilight, what in the world is that thing that had sucked Rainbow inside?!" Rarity shouted to the alicorn.
"I don't know! I think that was Zathura, the black sphere in the game! Only, it's not a planet, but a black hole!" Twilight explained.
Everypony within earshot gasped upon hearing the princess' claims. "What?!" they shouted back.
Meanwhile, they can see the Zorgon ships that attacked them earlier tried escaping the black hole as well, but it was futile as they either have not enough fuel to outrun the gravitational pull or kept slamming into each other, causing them to explode and killing all of the lizards inside.
Fluttershy is straining to keep aloft as she didn't have the same amount of stamina as Rainbow did. "Twilight, I'm getting tired..." she panted, and seconds later, she passed out, causing her wings to lock up behind her and was then pulled towards the black hole as well, to Twilight's horror.
Rarity tried hanging on for much longer, but unfortunately, due to her unicorn heritage, her tribe was the weakest based on strength and in the end, after a few more minutes, she and Spike lost their grips and screamed as they were also pulled towards the black hole.
The earth pony mares are faring a lot better hanging on. But after seeing their friends having lost their lives, time can only tell if they will suffer the same fate as well. It only lasted for a few seconds as the farm mare can hear telltale signs of crumbling on the bookshelf they were clinging onto. Sure enough, to both her and the party pony's horror, the bookshelf was about to give out from their combined weight. "Pinkie, hang on!" Applejack yelled to Pinkie as the shelf finally gave out, causing the mares to lose their grips and screamed in fear as they too were unfortunately became victims of the black hole as well.
Twilight can only watch in shocked horror as the black hole keeps consuming her friends and she was unable to do nothing at this state. One of the Zorgon ships was now rolling on its side and caused it to collide onto the castle and decimated the entire top floor of the castle, leaving only the bottom floor as the building was getting closer to being swallowed up whole.
The pieces of the game was now getting closer towards the starting point. However, just like Rarity, Shining had also lost his grip after managing to hold on to the game longer than his fellow unicorn did. "Twily!" he yelled as he has now fallen victim of the black hole.
"Shining!" Twilight shouted, closing her eyes, hoping whatever that was happening did not happen as she wished that her friends and brother were okay and...