Maretime Bay
Twilight's prediction turned out to be accurate. After arriving at the hospital to check on Sparky (and enduring Hitch's happy cheering once the baby dragon turned out to be okay), everyone eventually passed out. Misty had to endure a bit of verbal thrashing from IV Injection, but he calmed down and let her rest alongside the others. No one needed any serious medical attention, even after the epic battle with Opaline, so they simply slept off their fatigue.
The next day passed in a blur. As Twilight had guessed, the damage to the Crystal Brighthouse had been greater than a couple of ponies could restore by themselves. However, Celestia and Luna, upon hearing the story, had been more than accommodating, providing plenty of Royal Guards to help with the reconstruction. It helped that Twilight knew plenty of rebuilding spells to assist. Earth pony magic restored the community garden within a few minutes, as well. Twilight's group sampled some of the hybrid fruits, finding them very palatable.
However, once the Brighthouse was fully repaired, Twilight brought everyone together in the living room.
"The portal's starting to destabilize," she announced. "If we don't close it soon, it'll start to expand, and it could threaten both Equestrias. Star Swirl and Starlight have finished the counter-spell to seal it shut. We have to do it pretty soon."
"WHAT?!" exclaimed Pinkie. "Do we have to already? I haven't gotten the chance to throw a cross-temporal party yet!"
"Rainbow and I never got to actually race each other!" complained Zipp.
"I wanted to design an outfit for Pipp's next concert! Or a music video! Whichever!" whined Rarity.
More and more voices began to pipe up, issuing their complaints, until Twilight silenced them all by holding up her hoof.
"I know, I know we've all made friends here. I'm no exception to that." She gave a glance at Sunny, who smiled back. "If it was possible for us to establish a long-term passage between this time and ours, I would. But that kind of spell would take decades to develop, decades we don't have. We must close the portal, or disaster will befall all of us."
Everyone's face fell. It was clear they were thinking of the possibility of never seeing their new friends again, considering the distance that lay between them. Misty in particular looked as though she might tear up at the thought.
"How long do we have before we absolutely must close it?" asked Hitch.
Twilight levitated up a scroll, upon which were written some indecipherable equations. "I wouldn't leave it open past noon tomorrow. I guess we still have the rest of the day."
"Well, at least that's something," remarked Fluttershy.
"We can show Misty around our Equestria a little," said Applejack. "She hasn't gotten to see the past."
"That sounds kinda cool," replied the bushy-maned unicorn.
"Well, if we've only got one day, we'd better hurry," said Rainbow. She grabbed Zipp by one leg and began pulling her out of the room. "Come on, newbie! I know exactly what we're gonna be doing!"
"Hey! I know how to walk! Or fly, whichever," complained Zipp.
Rarity produced a long strip of measuring tape from her saddlebags. "Pipp, I'll need your measurements. We're burning daylight here."
Pipp's eyes lit up. "Ooh! Sounds good to me!"
One by one, ponies filed out of the room, Hitch taking Sparky and Spike with him. Sunny and Twilight were soon left alone.
"So..." Sunny began, "what do you want to do, Twilight?"
Twilight eyed the blanket depicting Sunny and her friends that hung on the wall.
"I can think of a few things," she responded.
Wonderbolt HQ
"Come on, Rainbow, you don't have to do this," Zipp protested.
"No. But I do want to," replied the prismatic pegasus. "It'll look great on you!"
The Wonderbolts' tailor was currently working away on a classic blue and yellow suit for Zipp after taking her measurements. Rainbow Dash had called in a favor to Spitfire, convincing her to let Rainbow give Zipp her own suit. Of course, it was coming out of Rainbow's salary, but that didn't bother her. The tailor came in about a minute later, carrying the suit.
"Alright," she announced, "it's finished. Wanna try it on?"
Zipp's attention was drawn to the suit. Rainbow smiled at the expression on her friend's face. Zipp had only heard of the Wonderbolts in faint legends from old stuff in Zephyr Heights, so this was quite an experience for her.
"Uh...sure. Yes, definitely!" she finally answered. Taking the suit in one of her legs, she dashed off to the locker room, leaving a grinning Rainbow in her wake. About one minute later, Zipp returned wearing the uniform, complete with goggles. She looked into the full-length mirror, sizing herself up.
"Looks pretty good on you," commented Rainbow. "You've got the muscles to pull that look off. Plus, since you know so much about flying, you'd fit right in."
Zipp's expression was one of pure contentment. "Thanks, Dash. I gotta admit, I like this. Maybe...maybe resurrecting the Wonderbolts isn't such a bad idea."
Rainbow's eyebrows shot upwards, and her smile stretched impossibly wide. "Seriously?! You're telling me that I play a part in the restoration of the Wonderbolts generations into the future?!"
"Yeah. I'd have to find somepony else to be captain, though." At the look on Rainbow's face, she continued, "Don't give me that. I told you how I didn't even want to be the lead instructor of a flight school. Sure, I liked it when I tried it, but I didn't want to do it long term. There's no way I could build up the Wonderbolts all by myself. It's bad enough that I'll have to be queen of Zephyr Heights someday."
Rainbow opened her mouth, presumably to issue some kind of sharp retort, but realization crossed her eyes, and she backed off. "Yeah, I guess I can understand that," she answered. "I wouldn't want a leadership position to be suddenly thrown at me without being prepared. I wonder if that's how Twilight feels about becoming ruler of Equestria."
"Maybe," replied Zipp. "Any chance we can go outside and practice some moves before our time's up?"
"Oh, heck yeah! Let me get my uniform!" Rainbow rushed off to the locker room to suit up.
Canterlot
The newly forged Unity Crystals found their place in Canterlot Castle fairly easily. After some debate between Celestia, Luna, Twilight, and Sunny, the three conjoined gems were placed above the thrones, enshrined in a place where everypony would see them.
"At least, everypony will see them until they need to be split up in the future," said Twilight. "Hopefully, I won't have to worry about putting them in the hooves of specific ponies."
"Yeah, same here," replied Sunny. "By my time, we'll be able to display them as symbols again. Of course, they'll also serve the purpose of keeping all of everypony's magic working."
The two mares were sitting in the throne room, staring at the crystals in their new home. Celestia and Luna had been there as well, but had left to give the two some privacy. After all, they wouldn't get much more time together.
"So this is where you'll be living once you take over?" asked Sunny, before whipping out her phone and taking a picture of the throne room. "It's impressive. Even more impressive than the throne room of Zephyr Heights!"
"Yeah. I grew up spending a lot of time in this castle. It came with being Princess Celestia's personal student. Now..." Twilight sighed, closing her eyes. "I'll miss Ponyville, though. Sure, Spike will be with me, but I'll never forget the others. It's not like we'll never see each other again, but we'll still be going from seeing each other every day to...I don't know how often."
Sunny frowned. "I don't blame you one bit. If I suddenly had to move to Zephyr Heights and rule over everypony else once I became an alicorn..." She shivered. "I honestly don't think I could take being separated from Hitch and the others like that. Not to mention I'd leave dad's lighthouse behind."
Twilight draped a wing over her friend's back. "I don't think you'll have to worry about that, Sunny. For the foreseeable future, you'll probably be the only alicorn in Equestria." Her face fell a little. "I...I'm sorry we couldn't reform Opaline. I didn't want your first big villain encounter to end like the way it did."
Sunny's face drooped as well. "Me neither." She played with her braid. "I know, there probably wasn't anything we could've done, but I still feel horrible about it. Sprout wasn't even a villain, he was just...misguided. Okay, misguided and stupid. But even he gave up on the whole 'being a dictator' thing once he saw that unicorns and pegasi weren't evil."
Twilight nodded. "As much as I love friendship, and as much as I truly believe it is the most powerful magic of all, we can't force other creatures to accept it. All we can do is present the opportunity. If we really did compel everyone to accept our philosophy, would we be any better than, say, Starlight was when she stole the Cutie Marks of an entire town and forced them to believe marks were evil?"
"Probably not. Don't tell Misty that it's possible to lose your Cutie Mark, even temporarily. It'd probably freak her out."
The two mares shared a small laugh, before their faces dropped once more. They thought about how their time together was coming to an end.
"Are you sure there's no way we can make the portal permanent?" Sunny pleaded. "Or just open another one?"
Twilight shook her head. "I'm sorry, Sunny. Opening portals repeatedly could permanently damage the space-time continuum. Creating a stable one could take a lifetime. Even with my alicorn longevity, I don't know if I could pull it off."
Sunny's face fell even further. "I know, I get it. It's just part of life, but..."
Twilight nuzzled her friend's head. "I wish I could fix it so we could see each other any time, but I don't know how. I promise, it'll be okay."
Sweet Apple Acres
Applejack led Misty through the fields of trees, each brimming with bright red fruits hanging from the branches. Along the way, the blue unicorn munched on an apple she held in her unicorn magic.
"It's nice I can finally use this thing," she commented, gesturing to her horn. "I guess it must come with having my Cutie Mark."
"Kinda odd," remarked Applejack. "In my time, unicorn fillies can learn to use their magic without Cutie Marks. Then again, magic works differently when you come from, and it only just came back. Plus, I'm sure that Opaline wasn't willing to really teach you how to use yours."
"Oh yeah. When magic came back, I asked her how to use it, and she just changed the subject. She probably didn't want me getting any independent ideas or anything." Misty frowned a little. "I just wish...she hadn't blown herself up like that. As cruel as she was to me...I..." Her eyes started to water again.
Applejack placed a hoof against her friend's barrel. "It's alright, Misty. She was pretty much your mom by fate. Like I said back at the Brighthouse, it's natural to feel the way you do. And those feelings will fade away with time. Especially since you've got so many new friends to spend time with."
Misty wiped her eyes with one leg, but the ghost of a smile came across her face. "Thank you, Applejack. I just wish I'd realized how important my friends were before I gave Sparky to Opaline. Then the entire mess could've been avoided."
"I wish the same thing, sugar cube. But we can't change the past. If anything, this little adventure proved that."
"Yeah." Misty looked up, discovering that they'd reached their destination: the barn of Sweet Apple Acres. "So this is where you and your family live?"
Applejack nodded. "Since you're so new to having a Cutie Mark and everything, I figured you could use some help figuring out what to do next. And luckily, I happen to know three fillies who specialize in that kinda thing."
Misty's eyes brightened. "Really?!" she asked. Applejack whistled, and the front door of the barn opened. Out came three small ponies. One was a bright yellow earth pony with a red mane, complete with a bow, one a white unicorn with a two-toned pink and purple mane, and one an orange pegasus with a magenta-colored mane, and small wings.
"Howdy, Applejack!" cheered Apple Bloom as the Cutie Mark Crusaders bounded up to them. "You said you had a mare in need of some Cutie Mark Counseling?"
"I guess that would be me," Misty admitted, awkwardly waving her forehoof. The fillies noticed her for the first time.
"Hello there!" said Scootaloo, grabbing Misty's hoof and shaking it. "Glad to meet you! We're the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and we're here to help!"
"Thank you. My name's Misty Brightdawn."
"Well, you've come to the right ponies!" replied Sweetie Belle. "Come on, girls! Let's take her to our clubhouse!"
As the three excited foals dragged Misty off, Applejack stood and watched, a large smile adorning her features.*
Maretime Bay
It was the end of everpony's last day together. The twelve ponies and two dragons had gathered at the portal, still smack in the middle of Maretime Bay's most popular street. On the other side, Starlight and Star Swirl had prepared the counter-spell to seal the vortex closed forever.
"So...that's it, then?" asked Applejack.
"I guess," admitted Sunny. "I...I'm still not used to it. It's not every day you have to say good-bye to your heroes forever." A single tear dropped out of her eye.
Hitch trotted up to his foalhood friend and placed a hoof on her back. "I know it's painful, Sunny. At least we got to meet them at all, right?"
"Fair enough," she replied, smiling a little.
However, even Sunny's heartbreak had nothing on Pinkie and Izzy. The two mares were bawling their eyes out, hugging each other so hard, it looked like they might hurt each other.
"I'll never forget you, Izzy!" Pinkie choked out in between sobs.
Rarity rolled her eyes. "And ponies say I'm a drama queen," she whispered.
Misty stepped forward, drawing everypony's attention. "I know we don't know each other that well," she said to Twilight's group, "but I want you to know that our time together gave me some of the best memories of my short life. Thank you so much."
Twilight beamed at the sight. "You're welcome Misty." She addressed all of Sunny's group. "Take care of this future for us, will you? Keep up the good fight. For friendship's sake."
"Of course we will," replied Sunny. The only one present with dry eyes was Sparky.
"Dang it!" complained Rainbow, wiping her eyes. "Now you've got me acting all sappy! Again!"
Zipp chuckled to herself. "Don't worry, Dash. We won't tell." She pulled out her Wonderbolt uniform. "Thanks again for the suit. I can't wait to see what kind of stunts I can pull off wearing it."
"No problem, Zipp. Good luck with the whole 'Ruling Zephyr Heights' thing."
"There's also something I wanted to give you," Zipp continued. She reached into her saddlebags, producing a rolled-up Wonderbolts poster, taken from her secret place in the Zephyr Heights palace. "When we visited your house, I saw you didn't have this one. Maybe it doesn't exist yet in your time. It'll look good next to the others."
"Awesome! Thanks, Zipp!" exclaimed Rainbow, hugging the poster, but also being careful not to wrinkle it.
Rarity advanced forward next. "I, too, have a gift to give." She produced a box, and opened it with her magic. Inside which was a beautiful pink and purple gown, covered with gems of various colors. "I hope you find a use for this, Pipp. I'm sure it'll make you look fabulous!"
Pipp beamed as she took the dress. "Thank you, Rarity. Don't worry, I've got something in mind for it." She pulled out a box which contained several Mane Melody beauty products. "I want you to have these. It's as close as I could get to giving you free visits to Mane Melody for life."
Rarity took the box in her magic. "Oh, how wonderful! I appreciate you, darling." The two mares shared a hug.
Izzy and Pinkie, meanwhile, had finished crying their eyes out. Stepping back from each other, they wiped their eyes, and put smiles back on their faces.
"No frowny faces, okay?" said Pinkie. "We'll always have the time we spent together." From seemingly nowhere, she produced one of her many party cannons. "Take this with you, Izzy. Just don't forget me, okay?"
"Just as long as you do the same," replied Izzy. She levitated the head of Señor Butterscotch, still charred from Opaline's magical blast, but intact. "I would've given you all of him, but you know what happened. I don't need him anymore. I've got a real unicorn friend." She gestured towards Misty. Pinkie took the head with a sad smile.
Fluttershy and Hitch watched the two with amused grins. "I can't really blame them, but they are kinda over-blowing it," said the sheriff, smiling.
"Yeah. I will miss you guys, but we've taught each other all we could, and those things will stay with us for life," replied Fluttershy.
Hitch passed her a small box depicting many animals eating small brown pellets. "Here. Some all-purpose critter treats. The animals at your sanctuary will love them."
"Thank you. I actually got you something as well." Fluttershy reached into her wing, and pulled out what looked like a small, silver cylinder. Upon closer inspection, it was revealed to be a whistle. "The sound of this can only be heard by animals. I thought it might come in handy if you're dealing with critters."
"Thanks," replied Hitch. He put the whistle around his neck. "Say good-bye, Sparky." Sparky gurgled with a smile.
Applejack came up to Misty, presenting her with a bottle. "Here's some Sweet Apple Acres specialty cider. I wasn't sure what else to give you, so I hope you enjoy this batch." She looked around, and lowered her voice. "Don't tell Rainbow about this. She'll lose it if she finds out I gave some of this season's cider away."
"Thank you," replied Misty. "I wish I had something to give you." Her eyes widened a little, as she thought of something. "I do have one thing." She reached into her saddlebags, pulling out a small, unicorn-like toy made of a tennis ball and other assorted items. "This is Madame Taffytail. I used her to vent my uncertainty and stuff when I worked for Opaline. But since she's gone, I guess I don't really need this anymore." She passed Madame Taffytail to Applejack. "Please take care of her."
"I will. I promise," replied the farmer. "I know it'll be hard, but you'll make it through with the help of your friends. You'll be fine, sugar cube."
Misty smiled, her eyes beginning to water, but she held firm. Whatever it was the Cutie Mark Crusaders had said to her, it had clearly had an impact.
Finally, Sunny and Twilight stepped up to each other. Spike stood behind Twilight, hugging his sister's back leg. Sunny looked down, seemingly unable to meet the eyes of her hero. Twilight frowned a little.
"It's hard, isn't it, Sunny?" she asked. "I know it hurts. I'm feeling it, too."
"It just isn't fair," Sunny admitted. "I got to meet all of you, which is more than I ever dreamed would actually happen, but now I have to say good-bye forever..." A few tears dripped out of her eyes.
Twilight put a hoof on her friend's shoulder. "I won't lie to you and tell you it's fair. I will say, however, that friendship carries on. Even if we never meet again, we'll always be friends." Her horn lit up, and she opened her saddlebags. "I thought you might get some mileage out of this." She levitated out a book, with the six-pointed star from her Cutie Mark inside a horseshoe on the cover. Sunny's eyes lit up.
"Your friendship journal!" she exclaimed, grabbing the book in her forehooves. "Dad spent decades searching for a copy of this! Thank you so much!"
"You're welcome. Don't worry if you didn't get me anything, I don't mind—"
"Oh, don't be ridiculous! Of course I got you something!" Sunny reached into her bag, pulling out a printed photo, which depicted all twelve ponies together, plus the two dragons. "I figured, since you don't have electronics in your time, this would be the best way for you to remember us."
Twilight accepted the picture with a smile. "Thank you, Sunny." Stepping forward, she nuzzled her nose against Sunny's neck, an act which Sunny copied. Spike actually started to tear up at the sight. Once the two finished, Sunny bent down to look Spike in the eyes.
"Take care of her, would you?" she asked the dragon. "Especially when you become Royal Advisor."
"Of course I will," replied Spike. "You don't even have to ask."
Their business concluded, the six ponies from another era all said one last good-bye to their newest friends. With Twilight leading the way, they walked into the swirling portal, stopping only to return the waves Sunny's group was giving them. Once they'd vanished, a few seconds passed without incident, only for the vortex to suddenly collapse on itself, sealing shut and disappearing as though it had never existed.
Sunny sniffed, wiping the last of her tears away. Hitch trotted up to his longtime friend.
"You gonna be okay?" he asked.
"Yeah," she replied, "eventually."