Twilight found herself once again standing in the courtyard of CHS with the eyes of all the students upon her. She was left feeling adrift in the sea of people until she was swept into a warm hug. Cadance’s voice was worried but also tinged with sadness for the girl she held in her arms.
“Oh Ladybug, I’m so sorry. You never should have been put through all this. Are you alright?”
The magically drained teen melted into the embrace and let slip the tears that had been fighting to escape followed by the first words to come to mind. “I am so sorry. I didn’t mean for any of this to happen.”
“It’s alright, sugarcube,” said Applejack, approaching the teary girl and putting a gentle hand on her shoulder.
“It wasn’t your fault, darling,” Rarity consoled, “Magic, we’ve learned, can be driven by your emotions, and with all you have been through-“
Rainbow cut her off, “Yeah, your principal is a total bi-“
“Rainbow Dash!” Fluttershy chastised.
“What?! We all got Sunset’s message showing what Cinch was doing to everyone at Crystal Prep. Almost makes me feel sorry for ‘em,” the athlete said eyeing the Shadowbolt students huddled together, seemingly unsure what to make of their first encounter with magic.
“Sunset! Where’s Sunset?” Twilight shouted forgetting her guilt. “Have any of you seen Sunset? She was supposed to be here.” The courtyard was still a buzz in the aftermath of the magical showdown.
“Has anybody seen Sunshim?” called Pinkie though no one appeared to respond despite the shrillness of the question guaranteeing they had heard it.
“Oh dear, you don’t think she’s hurt, do you?” asked Fluttershy, casting a worried look at her friends.
“I don’t think so. She was basically magically supercharged. I don’t think she could really be hurt,” Rainbow ran a hand through her already messy prismatic mane and sighed. “But, that was Equestria we were seeing on the other side of those holes, right?”
“Considering the presence of technicolor ponies, I would tend to think that was obvious, darling.” Rarity huffed at Rainbow’s apparent digression. Applejack, however, saw where the athlete’s thoughts were leading.
“You don’t reckon Sunset might’ve just taken her chance ta duck out and head back...home.” The last word caught in the farm girl’s throat like a bite from a rotten apple.
“You think she left before our big ‘Thank you for forgiving us and Congratulations on standing up to a big meanie principal and saving us all maybe we can talk and try to get to know each other again party’?” Pinkie asked, her hair visibly deflating as her smile faded. In a voice that could have been a credible impression of Fluttershy she added, “Do you think she really would have left without even saying goodbye?” Twilight watched as the girl sank to the ground, her skin seeming dull and grey with her saddening mood.
“After all that talk of forgiveness, I don’t want to think so, but I mean after everything that happened and magic being weird now...maybe,” Rainbow Dash replied with a sort of sad acceptance in her voice.
The thought left Twilight in shock. She knew that Sunset had always planned on heading back to her world. Logically it only made sense, she had enough power during their confrontation to close the portals, surely she could have opened one as well. She had had means, opportunity, and motive to head back to Equestria. Afterall, she was a unicorn and as Cinch and the Friendship Games had proven, this world was no place for the pony.
That had been the whole purpose of their partnership in the first place. Sunset would help Twilight collect energy for her project by leading her to the known sources in this world as well as assisting the teen scientist in deciphering her readings and teaching her how the energy worked in the pony world. In exchange, Twilight would help Sunset harness the energy they collected and reopen the portal to provide a means for the unicorn to return home.
But was that all it was? Was all of their time together only about gaining scientific understanding; a team-up that had now run its course as both parties had gotten their intended results? Twilight couldn’t help but notice the sharp pang of sadness at the thought that her time with the amber unicorn was over and without even a farewell or good luck on your research. She thought back to the time they had shared together from their first painful encounters with each other leaving the two to take care of each other in turn, to Sunset stepping in to protect her and Spike from potential disaster to the three of them hanging out and participating in Twilight’s first-ever slumber party, and Twilight bombarding the poor pony with all manner of questions on her world, its inhabitants, magic, and how her world compared to Twilight’s.
Looking back on their time together, Twilight realized that she had confided in the little pony more than she had in anyone outside of Spike. She had shared things with Sunset that she couldn’t bring to even mention to her BBBFF, and it had been nice to have someone who wasn’t part of her family to rely on. Sunset Shimmer, in the short time that she had been a part of the nerdy girl’s life had become the best frie…
“No!” She thought tamping down on the sentiment and ache that was forming in her heart before she could give voice to it. "That can’t have been the case, it was a temporary partnership or necessity and now it's over." Clearly, the sentimentality of the other girls was starting to cloud her own feelings. “We were colleagues, nothing more, and now that collaboration is over. I can return to my lab and compile all this data that we-no, I collected and determine what my next course of action should be.”
Twilight straightened up and squared her shoulders before stiffly addressing the Rainbooms, “Iam truly sorry for what happened here, and I thank you for all of your assistance today. If you’ll excuse me, I just have to find my dog and I'll be out of your way.” Glancing around for the little purple puppy, the teen scientist’s cool demeanor gave way to worried concern as she remembered, “Wait, has anyone seen Spike?”
It surprised everyone when Sunny Flare was the one to step forward. “He was in the back of the spectator bus,” she said, still a little skittish around the depowered Twilight Sparkle. “Principal Cinch assigned a few of the other students to stay on the bus during the Games to keep an eye on him.”
That drew Cadance's attention from fussing over her former charge to take stock of the scene, “Wait, where is Cinch?”
“I’m not sure,” piped up Lemon Zest, actually showing interest in the conversation enough to remove her headphones. “I haven’t seen her since Twilight turned into that dark angel thing and tried to…uh, no off-” Her words were cut off by a swift cyan hand to her mouth.
“No! We’re not doing that again.” Turning to Twilight, she added, “We’re sorry,” to which Lemon Zest nodded readily.
“After she got knocked to the ground by that unicorn, she slunk off that way toward where the busses are parked,” Sour Sweet stated, “But that was a while ago, she’s probably long gone by now.”
“Not helping Sour,” Sunny Flare hissed.
“No, no, no, no, no!” Twilight managed to get out between ragged breaths. “I can’t lose him. I can’t lose both of them on the same day. I don’t want to be all alone again.” Her chest burned, and her vision swum but try as she might Twilight couldn't seem to get enough air. Unable to register much outside the pounding of her heart in her ears, it took a moment for the panicking girl to register the light pressure on her back as a hand rubbed her back consolingly.
"You need to breath. It'll be alright,” a soft voice said into her ear. Despite its volume, the tone carried a surprising degree of force, yet remained comforting and reassuring at the same time. Looking up she met the teal eyes of the girl she had first seen at the vet’s office a week ago. She too had a worried look in her eyes, but her smile was reassuring. “We’ll help you get Spike back, Twilight.”
“Of course we will!” Pinkie chirped, but then added in a surprisingly serious voice, “You took care of our friend better than we ever did, and for that, you deserve to smile again. And I Pinkie Promise that we won’t let another friend down when they need us.”
“That’s right, sugarcube,” Applejack said, removing her trademark Stetson and casting her eyes down. “Ah know ya may not have the best opinion of us all after what we did to Sunset, but we learned our lesson and that’s the honest truth.”
“She’s right, darling. What we did to Sunset was unconscionable. She was left alone, without a friend to turn to and for that, we had hoped to make amends…” Rarity trailed off, her eyes beginning to water and the words catching in her throat.
“Look, we screwed up big time with the whole Anon-a-Miss thing, but no matter how much we wish we could, we can’t undo what we did to Sunset. What we can do is make sure that it doesn’t happen again. You need a friend right now just as much as Sunset did then, which is why we promise we’ll be there for you, Twi. If you’ll let us.”
The five girls looked hopefully at the teary-eyed scientist. It was something that she had given up hope of ever happening to her. Here she was with not one, but five people reaching out to her, asking her to be her friend. But while the first reaction was for her heart to soar at the prospect, the logical part of her brain rebelled. It reminded her of her past experiences with would-be friends as well as her knowledge of the history these five girls had in particular.
“Look, you’re right, I do know what happened between you and Sunset, and frankly it only serves to solidify my original belief of the frivolity of friendship. While I would appreciate assistance in locating my dog, the need for continued association once that is achieved seems…” Twilight’s voice trailed off a bit at that. Her mind once again returned to the little pony that had shown her what a wonder frien-No! She shook the idea once again from her mind. “Well, needless to say, such silliness does not seem worth the effort,” Twilight finished tersely.
The other girls shared a sad, knowing look amongst themselves. Pinkie’s hair even went so far as to audibly deflate. If this was noticed by the moody scientist, she gave no indication.
“Twilight,” Fluttershy began, but whatever she was going to say would forever remain a mystery as she was interrupted by the thunderous approach of three sets of sneaker-clad feet.
"Wait!” shouted a spiky purple-haired tween who was outpacing her two compatriots though she was breathing hard for her efforts and practically heaved out her shouts. “Twilight, please wait!”
"Look, Scoots,” Rainbow interrupted casting a wary glance at the sullen Crystal Prep student, who had already leveled a death glare at the three new arrivals, “Now’s not the best time. We’ve gotta find Spike, and all things considered, I think it’s best if you girls just head back inside.”
“That’s what we’ve gotta tell you,” squeaked Sweetie Bell panting hard. Her mulberry and rose tresses were in a visible state of disarray much to the dismay of her elder sister. “We have Spike,” she wheezed out, pointing a tired finger behind her as the final member of their group finally arrived cradling her fluffy cargo gently in her arms.”
“Spike!” Twilight shouted, lunging for her furry companion and firing off questions at him in rapid succession all while hugging him tightly. “What happened, Spike? Are you okay? Oh, of course you’re not okay. Who did this to you?” In response, Spike could only offer a pained whine followed by a whimper and a sad tongue lick to her nose.
“May I?” Fluttershy asked as she delicately eased the puppy from his owner’s arms. After a quick exam of the gloomy pup, the animal lover handed her patient back to Twilight, who once again treated her faithful companion to a fierce hug. “He seems okay. His leg's a bit tender, but I don't feel any breaks.”
“Please tell me, Spike,” Twilight pleaded with her pet. “What happened? Where were you?”
“That’s what we’ve been tryin’ to tell ya’ll,” Apple Bloom interrupted. Trying to run while carrying the extra weight had tired her out and left her temper a bit shorter than usual. “He can’t tell ya anything ‘cause that mean ol’ principal from Crystal Prep used the magic stealer on him.”
“Poor, Spikey-wikey,” Rarity cooed, sad for the adorable puppy to be in such a state. The pup, however, seemed to perk up considerably at the sound of her worry.
“It’s okay, Spike,” Twilight consoled the dog in her arms as she scratched his favorite spot behind his ear. “You couldn’t talk before and you were still a big help. Speech or not, you’ll always be my number one assistant.”
“That’s not the worst part though, Sweetie squeaked, Principal Cinch didn’t just steal Spike’s magic…” But she was cut off by Scootaloo who was tired of the interruptions and who was not willing to risk further delays in delivering the message she had sprinted halfway across the school campus to deliver.
"She took Sunset!”