The guards stepped forward towards Starlight, all of which were being cautious. All of them had been warned by Princess Luna, but she didn't put up a fight and was placed under arrest in no time.
"And so ends the terror of Starlight Glimmer, for real this time," sighed Rainbow Dash. She looked down to Twilight, "by the way, where did that magic come from?"
"I have no idea," she answered.
The people on the other side of the road started making their way over, but Matthew was having none of it, "there's nothing to see here folks, you can leave now!" He turned to the news crews on scene, "and you better not put this on the news."
"Sir, we have a right to know what happened here."
Thankfully, the officer that Matthew argued with ordered everyone to leave, and even took the footage from the news cameras.
"As the man said, there's nothing to see here."
But despite the officer's best efforts, some camera crews still had footage on their smart phones, but kept that to themselves, for now.
Besides the guards, Luna also brought back doctors to tend to the ponies, and once getting over the shock, they tended to the humans too.
"How?" Starlight Glimmer groaned.
"How what?" asked one of the guards curiously.
"How did this whole thing go so wrong? I was all set, I had weakened them. For goodness sakes, I even broke one, how could they get back into the fight?"
"Friendship is what drives us you brute!" snapped Rarity.
"And the desire to keep all worlds safe, including Earth!" added Applejack.
Starlight snarled before spitting out some blood from her mouth.
"Friendship, it's just as worthless as your cutie marks. In my life, they serve no purpose. You need to stomp them out and forget about them."
Matthew heard this and started walking over. He glared at the unicorn pony.
"So that would explain your lack of concern over all the people you met on your journey here." He narrowed his eyes, "and while none of us can explain what saved me from your last blast of magic, I can assure you that friendship, much like cutie marks, are valuable, and is indeed worth fighting for."
Starlight looked up at him, then spat blood in his face. Matthew raised his fist up, ready to smack her face with it, but then he lowered it and began to wipe the blood away.
"Get her out of my sight! I don't ever want to see this waste of space ever again!"
The guards did as they were asked. Starlight Glimmer struggled as she tried to break free again, but it was no use as there were too many guards. Still, she looked back at Matthew, "rest assured, I will return, and next time, I'll break more than your back! Do you hear me?! You'll pay! You all will!"
"Oh shut up!" he snapped.
Finally, the guards escorted the troublesome unicorn into the portal and with a whoosh, they were gone.
Celestia looked to Luna, "we'll be along soon."
Luna nodded and dived into the portal, leaving the group to go inside and tend to their injuries.
"I have to say one thing I don't like about your world," Rarity said to Emily, "it's how small your hair brushes are. I'll never be able to get my mane back to the way it should be."
"Sorry Rarity," Emily apologized, "but that's the biggest size I have."
She felt a nudge on her side and saw Applejack standing there.
"Don't take it personally Sugar, Rarity here has a custom made hairbrush just for her, so anything else is considered small in her opinion."
"I see," that at least did put her mind at ease.
Meanwhile, Twilight was using an X-Ray spell on Matthew to make sure no bones were broken.
"I really need to learn that spell Princess Celestia used on you," she said. "It has done wonders to your bones, and your nerves."
"I feel pretty good too, though I'm sure I'll have a difficult time getting out of bed tomorrow."
"We all will," Patrick agreed.
"I might not even be able to bounce for a while," said Pinkie Pie, which shocked everyone. "But maybe for a few hours, then I'll be okie-dokie."
"Oh good," sighed Fluttershy. "I can't imagine Pinkie Pie not bouncing for a few weeks."
Ryan was about to say something, but Emily cut him off, "it's best not to say anything about that."
"Good point."
"So, is everypon...I mean, is everyone okay?" asked Princess Celestia after exploring around the house.
"We're fine," just about everyone said in unison, except Rainbow Dash.
"Are you kidding me? I'm feeling 120 percent better." She winced though when Applejack gave her a little nudge on the side, "though some parts of me do hurt."
"We're fine Princess," said Applejack.
"Good, cause it's time to go."
"Go? You mean, you're leaving?" Emily asked.
"Well yeah," answered Ryan. "This isn't their world Emily, they need to return to Equestria. They have families waiting for them, and besides, who would save their world if another baddie showed up?"
Matthew nodded and walked over towards Twilight, "I knew this day would come, but what I didn't know was how hard it was going to be to say good-bye."
He got down on his knees and wrapped his arms around Twilight. In response, Twilight wrapped her front legs around him in a hug.
"We're all going to miss you too Matthew. You've been a great host, a little strange perhaps, but a good one."
"You talk like you won't see each other ever again," commented Princess Celestia, which caused them to look up to her. "Now that we know the spell to cross over between our world and this one, you ponies can come visit anytime you want."
"What about us visiting you?" Emily asked.
"Probably best if that didn't happen yet," said Ryan. "Who knows how the ponies of Equestria would react of us."
"Very true," nodded Spike. "When I first saw you all, I thought you were the strangest creatures ever. Then again, I still do, same with the humans of Sunset's home world."
Sunset raised an eyebrow at Spike, but before she could say anything, Spike was smacked from behind by Moondancer.
"Ow! You know, a simple 'shut up Spike' would've done'."
Moondancer merely shrugged. Sunset chuckled, until she saw Celestia walking up to her.
"I know you're not ready to face me yet Sunset, but I just want to thank you for all your help. We wouldn't have known that Twilight was here without your help."
"Just making up for past mistakes," Sunset muttered before turning away.
Princess Celestia sighed, "another day then."
She walked into the living room and using her magic, she opened up the portal.
"Come dear friends, it's time to go home."
The ponies took this time to say their good-byes, but promised to come back. One by one, they went in, except Rarity as Spike flew right above her.
"What?!" he asked as Twilight and Sunset looked to him. "I'm not going to let anything hurt my dear...I mean, our dear Rarity."
The two mares rolled their eyes and watched as they left through the portal.
"I'll see you at the castle Twilight," said Sunset. She turned back to Matthew and the others, "if you ever get the chance, be sure to visit my home world, I'm sure you'll enjoy it there."
She jumped into the portal, leaving Twilight and Princess Celestia as the last to leave. Twilight looked back to her new friends and smiled.
"Something tells me that this is only the beginning," she said. "Remember to be honest with each other, look out for one another and-"
"Friendship is Magic," they all said in unison.
"You got it," beamed Twilight before she jumped into the portal, followed by Celestia. It closed behind them, and the house went silent.
Bridget the Cat walked into the room and rubbed herself up against Emily's legs.
"So, what do we do now?" Ryan asked.
"Obviously," Matthew answered. "We do what we originally wanted to do, hang out and catch up on lost time. Unless you guys are still planning on leaving."
"Not a chance bud," smiled Patrick. "We're still mad at you yes, but we can overlook that and spend time with you, as long as you remain honest with us."
"I'll try my best," Matthew responded with a smile. "Now, who's up for some video games?"
"We are!" the other shouted happily, which startled Bridget.
Matthew merely rolled his eyes and picked up his little cat to calm her nerves down.
At Sweet Apple Acres, the CMCs were sitting in the clubhouse. At first, they had tried to do things to pass the time, but soon, the worrying got to them and they stopped to sit and wait.
"Do you think they're okay?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"For the hundredth time, I don't know!" shouted Scootaloo. She relented instantly, "I'm sorry, I'm just a little worried for them."
"We all are," sighed Apple Bloom. "But they should be back soon. I mean, if they wanted Spike to join them, then they must be on the way."
"And we're already here," said a familiar voice.
The three young fillies looked to the door of the clubhouse and saw Applejack standing there. Seeing her sister, Apple Bloom got up and embraced her in a hug.
"You're home! You're really home!"
"Sure am Sis," smiled Applejack as she hugged her back.
"Oh come now Applejack, you're not the only one to come home," said another voice, which brought a tearful smile to Sweetie Belle's face. Rarity walked into the clubhouse next, followed by Rainbow Dash.
Happy to see her older sister, Sweetie Belle ran up and embraced Rarity in a hug.
"I can't tell you how happy I am to see you Rarity!" beamed Sweetie Belle.
"You probably feel the same way as I do Little sister," said Rarity as she hugged Sweetie back. "It's good to see you again."
Being the cool ponies they were, Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash only hugged briefly before trying to act cool. It failed, and they went back into hugging.
"What happened to you guys?" Scootaloo asked. "You look awful."
Rainbow Dash chuckled, "let's go inside the farmhouse, and get something to eat. We'll tell you all about it there."
"Alright!" cheered the Crusaders and ran out, knocking the three ponies down.
"Oh to be young again," smiled Rarity.
They picked themselves up, and headed off after the Crusaders.
Pinkie Pie was welcomed back with open hooves by the Cakes, including the Babies.
"Aww, I missed you guys too," she beamed, "wait till you hear about my adventure."
"Later Pinkie dear, first, we got some treats for you to try."
Pinkie Pie's eyes lit up, "okie-dokie!" she cheered and dived into the food, quite literally. The Cakes, being prepared, wore aprons, goggles and the biggest smiles they've ever shown.
As for Fluttershy, she was tackled by all the animals before receiving her own welcome home hugs. Even Angel Bunny was nice to her, but only briefly as he started stomping his foot and pointing to his belly. Fluttershy merely rolled her eyes and lead the animals into the cottage.
In Twilight's castle, the portal had been opened and Sunset Shimmer was ready to go home.
"It's a good thing I had the journal with me, otherwise who knows how long we would've been stuck on Earth. Thanks again Sunset."
"Oh well, I'm just trying to make up for my mistakes."
"Speaking of which, when do you-"
"I'm going to stop you right there Princess. I know I'll have to face Princess Celestia one day, but right now isn't the best time. But I'm sure one day, we'll both know when that time comes."
Twilight nodded. Moondancer came forward, "you and I had our differences in the past, and exchanged some not so friendly words, but given what we went through, I can overlook it and call you a friend Sunset."
She held out her hoof and Sunset gave her a happy hoof-bump.
"And I'm happy to call you my friend Moondancer."
She said her final goodbye and jumped through the portal, where all her friends were waiting for her. They were eager to hear about her adventure.
"Was the other human world like ours?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Was Princess Twilight in serious danger?" Rarity asked. "You look a little rough there Darling."
"You're not hurt are you?" Fluttershy asked with a worried tone.
"No I'm not, a little tired perhaps. Why don't go over to the Sweet Shoppe and I'll tell you all about it?"
With that agreement made, the girls set off as the portal closed up again.
Starlight Glimmer sat in her cell, grumbling angerly. The ring on her horn glowed as she tried to force it off.
"Give it up Glimmer!" snapped one of the guards. "You're going to be in there for a long time."
"Trying to remove a pony's cutie mark, how stupid can you be?"
Starlight Glimmer smirked, "not as stupid as you."
Her magic was focused hard onto the ring, and within one second, it was off. The guards tried to stop her, but with new found energy, she blasted them out of her way, along with blasting away the cell door.
"This is only the beginning," she thought to herself. "I'll deal with Sparkle first, and once she's out of my way, that human is next."
And she ran out into the city of Canterlot to begin her next plan.
The End?