Twilight tried to listen as the others went on about what had been happening since she left, but it was proving to be difficult. She kept thinking about the others. Her friends in the other universe. She felt bad for just leaving them, and she wondered if they were waiting on her.
After what seemed like eons for the purple unicorn, the regal Princess of the Day returned, a familiar purple stone held in her grip. Remembering hold Solaris had instructed her to levitate the stone, she took it from her mentor's telekinetic grip. "Ah!" she said, "Here it is."
"Oh, it's beautiful!" Rarity exclaimed. Twilight found herself thinking of how Elusive had reacted in a similar manner. A slight blush crept into her cheeks.
"I'm going to use a modified version of the mind link spell so I can speak to Dusk Shine, my gender bent double, while still being able to move and perform other spells."
"That's most impressive, my student," Celestia said. Twilight beamed with pride.
"Dusk and I have been working on it since I got stuck in their universe, so that we could talk if we wanted to." Twilight lit her horn. "Dusk?"
"Twilight! We've been waiting for hours. We thought something had happened." Twilight smiled and her horn's glow became fainter. She used only the very minimum amount of magic to conserve the rest for the spells.
"Sorry, we had a little catching up to do while the princess got our piece of Merencrith."
"I see. Well, shall we get started?" Twilight smiled at his proposal, though she knew he couldn't see it.
"Right away."
"Are you sure her spell works? It sounds like she's talking to herself." Twilight shot a glare at Rainbow Dash, who immediately stopped talking.
"Now, Dusk. You need to extend from my aura and lock into the very faint magical signature of the Merencrith. Being a magical material, it should have a sort of signature, and you should be able to recognize it. After you've done that, use another bit of magic to lock onto your own Merencrith, and the cast the linking spell. I'm going to do the same from this side, so our spells should merge and make the bond stronger."
"That won't affect how many spells we can cast, will it? Since it's actually two and all?"
"I looked up on that, and it shouldn't. Not if we cast at precisely the same moment."
"On three then?"
"On three," Twilight confirmed, nodding slightly, "One...Two...Three!" The light glow around Twilight's horn intensified, and she searched for the surge of magic that would be Dusk Shine's spell. Locking onto it, she poured magic in, hoping to make the bond between their universes as strong as possible. "That should do it," she gasped, and she and Dusk stopped their spell. "I sure hope that worked."
"I'm pretty sure that it did," Dusk said encouragingly, "Now, lets cast the other spell. Since this one doesn't connect the stones, it doesn't have to be cast at the same time, correct?"
"Correct," Twilight affirmed, "Now, to conserve magical stamina, I'm going to release the mind linking spell. In an hour, I'll reconnect it. Alright?"
"Alright, see you soon, Twilight."
"See you soon, Dusk." The faint glow of Twilight's horn disappeared. "Okay," she turned to the other ponies in the room, "I need you all to leave the room. I don't know exactly how the stone will react to the spell, and I don't want to accidentally send anypony to another universe." They nodded, and Celestia led them out. Twilight turned back to the stone, checking her magic levels as she did so. They seemed so full after all that time unable to use her magic. She felt invincible, like she could do anything. Lowering her head to face the stone, she pulled as much magic as she could into her horn. Her horn lit up brightly, and she closed her eyes. Reaching out to the stone wit her mind, she released her spell. She opened her eyes as the familiar purple sphere surrounded the stone. The stone didn't disappear, however, but rather, the sphere exploded outward in all directions. As the concussive blast hit her, she felt her ears ring, and consciousness slipped away from her.
When Twilight awoke, her friends surrounded her. "Did it work?" They all smiled at her.
"We're not sure yet, my student," Celestia said, "Would you like to test it out?" Twilight jumped to her feet.
"Shouldn't you tell that other you first?" Rainbow asked, "I mean, what if he hasn't cast his spell yet?"
"It shouldn't make any difference for me going that way," Twilight replied, "but I won't be able to come back right away if he hasn't." She approached the purple stone. Turning back to her friends, she smiled. "I'll be back as soon as I can." And with that, she touched a hoof to the stone. The familiar purple sphere she had grown accustomed to had changed. It was now a pure white. As she admired it, she felt herself pop out if existence in her universe, and appear in the other universe. As the sphere disappeared, she saw her new friends huddled around Dusk Shine.
"Did it work?" Twilight smiled at how very similarly she had acted. She approached the crowd of ponies. Dusk spotted her first. "Twilight!" They all turned to her. Elusive smiled very broadly, but he was blocked from her view by Dusk. "Did my spell bring you here, or did you come here on your own?"
"I came here in my own, Dusk," Twilight smiled, "It's good to see you all again."
"So does this mean the portal works? Well? Does it? Does it? Does it?" Bubble burst out. Twilight smiled at him.
"Well, it works one way, at least," she stated, "Now, we just need to see if it works going back. Dusk? Would you care to join me going back? I'm sure that Princess Celestia would like to talk to you." Dusk nodded eagerly and they walked to the stone. "On three, then?"
"Of course. One..."
Twilight smiled. "Two..."
As their hooves came in contact with the smooth white stone, they both yelled, "Three!" The white sphere encompassed them both and the popped out of universe #63.