Twilight Sparkle stared at the portal. It was 30 moons ago, almost two years, since she last saw her friends in the strange alternate world. She had so many questions. She wondered what had changed, how they had changed. Then she thought about Sunset Shimmer. Part of her had always doubted that Shimmer could ever change, yet at the same time, she was certain she had. Her friends would not have failed her. She touched the entrance to the portal. Her hoof felt as though it was passing through water, and the surface rippled like a raindrop in a lake.
“Ya' sure about this sugar cube?” Apple Jack looked at her obviously nervous friend.
“What if you don't make it back this time?” Fluttershy seconded.
Twilight looked through the portal, her alternate self reflected back at the ponies, showing that she was worried herself.
“I have longer this time.” She reassured her friends. “This time, the portal isn't closing for ten whole days. I just want to see how my other friends are doing; that's all.”
Celestia entered the room, finding Twilight and her five friends all huddled around the portal.
“Twilight? Are you planning on going back to that other world?” She asked her student inquisitively.
Twilight nodded. “I am Princess. It's been so long since I've seen everyone from that side, and I want to see how they're all doing.”
Celestia nodded. “You of course know the dangers that you will face when you travel to that world?”
Twilight rolled her eyes. She was grateful for the concern from her friends and her teacher, but by this point her mind was already made up, and she was getting a tiny bit tired of hearing the same thing over and over. “I will be fine princess. Just give me ten days, I'll be back before you know it.”
Princess Celestia closed her eyes for a moment, lost in thought. Then opened them again and nodded. “Very well. If you feel that you are able to go, then I wish you the best of luck on your journey.”
Twilight nodded, thanking the princess and her friends. As she stepped through the portal, she could hear her friends shouting back to her.
“Stay safe!” Yelled Rainbow Dash
“Don't forget to write!”
The last thing she saw from Equestria was everyone starring at Pinkie after her bizarre comment.
Twilight opened her eyes as she steadily regained consciousness. She looked down at her self. Jacket, skirt, boots....hands...Twilight had returned to her human self. Looking behind, her she saw the mirror underneath the giant pony statue, with Canterlot High School directly in front of it, fully repaired from the damage that she and Sunset Shimmer had left. Twilight slowly and steadily rose to her feet. Putting one foot in front of the other, she let out a sigh and slowly made her way to the school.
Learning to walk this time is much easier than it was last time, Twilight thought to herself. Having pretty much gotten used to the feeling of being on two legs from the last time she was here, it made sense that it would take little effort this time. She simply had to jog her own memory.
She opened the doors and walked inside. The halls were completely empty. Not a single pony...er...human, in sight. Twilight continued down the northern most hallway to the cafeteria. Something was wrong, there was no one here either. No students, no teachers, no humans, not a single soul to be found. Suddenly Twilight heard the sounds of footsteps coming up from behind her.
“What are you doing here?” Inquired an unknown voice. Twilight quickly turned to see who was addressing her. It was a boy about her size. He had white skin and reddish brown hair. He was wearing a dark green jacket and a black tee-shirt, black dress pants, and black loafers. On his tee-shirt were three cards; a red, blue, and gold one. Oddly enough, the boy was wearing a mask. It was a darker shade of white than his skin and cut off at his nose. There were coverings over the eyes of the mask that made his eyes appear to be red and glowing.
“I-uh...was just looking for..” Twilight struggled to get her words straight, but the boy cut her off.
“Only members of the drama club are allowed on campus during the weekend. Were you looking to join us?” The boy asked her. Twilight couldn't read his expression because of the mask, but something about his tone told her that even without the mask it would be difficult.
“Yes! That's exactly what I was looking to do!” Twilight smiled awkwardly. She wasn't sure if the boy would buy her lie or not, but at least she knew why no one was around. Maybe she could find one of her friends at the drama club...Didn't Rarity used to belong to it? Or was it Pinkie Pie? She couldn't remember.
The boy motioned out of the cafeteria and down a hallway to the right, Twilight began to walk down the hallway with the boy behind her.
“By the way, what's your name?” Twilight asked.
“ACE” The boy said coldly.
“Ace?” She repeated. The boy nodded in response.
“My full name is Acerthyst, but my friends call me A-C-E, all caps.”
“That's an...interesting name.” Twilight muttered. The boy nodded in response but said nothing. Turning another right at the end of the hallway, Twilight and ACE came to two huge blue doors. ACE opened the door and the two of them entered. Twilight saw a group of several people, all working on separate things. Some appeared to be working on props while others were working on costumes and practicing lines. She was surprised by the sheer number of people, and they all seemed to be so different. She hardly recognized anyone, but she could clearly tell the “geeks” apart from the “jocks,” “goths,” and the many other cliques that she and her friends had united together. She was relieved that the spirit of unity had not left the school.
“Follow me.” ACE said bluntly to Twilight, who nodded in response
ACE lead Twilight through the groups of people to the back of the massive room. There she saw 3 people sitting at a table. The three appeared to be tossing different ideas around to one another. Each had on the same dark green jacket that ACE had on. There were two girls and one guy. One of the girls had white skin like ACE, but hers was more lively and bright where as ACE's skin was ghostly pale. She had long half black and half red hair, and wrapped around her waist was a rugged sash that ran down the back of her bluejeans. The sash was black with red streaks just like her hair. The girl standing next to her had blue skin with long blond hair that covered one of her eyes. On top of the dark green jacket she also had a bright lime green vest. She had on cargo shorts and long bright green boots. Black music notes were visible on her vest, shorts, and her boots.
Lastly was the guy who turned and waved at ACE and Twilight as they entered.
“Welcome back ACE! Who's that you got with ya? Made yourself yet another girlfriend?”
ACE glared at the other boy. “One time Ravewind, one time!”
'Ravewind' was wearing a similar outfit to the white skinned girl. A zipped up green jacket with jean pants and boots. On either shoulder of Ravewind's jacket, he had patches shaped like gears that were sewn into the sleeves. One patch was blue, the other green, and the final red.
As Twilight approached the three of them, the girl with white skin was the first to address her.
“Hi, my name's Chroma Sketch, and this is Lilly.” She pointed to the girl with blue skin and blond hair. “I see you've already met our friend ACE, and Prince Shining Armor over there is my boyfriend Ravewind.”
Twilight looked at the three of them confused. What does my brother have to do with any of them? She thought to herself.
“You okay dear?” Asked Lilly.
“It was just a figure of speech hun.” Added Chroma Sketch.
Twilight shook her head returning back to reality. “Sorry I was just thinking about my brother.”
Ravewind rose to his feet and walked over to Twilight. “Well as leader of the drama club and elected king of the school, allow me to grant you a full invitation to the drama club.” He held out his hand for Twilight to take.
“King of the school?” Twilight looked at him puzzled. She remembered that the school elected princesses at the end of every year at the Fall Formal. She was picked the last time she was here, in place of Sunset Shimmer.
“Don't pay Ravewind any mind.” Chroma said with a chuckle. “He's called himself that ever since we won the titles of prince and princess last year.”
“Uncontested.” Ravewind added. “No one ran against us, and the whole school voted for us, clearly we were meant to rule the school!”
Ravewind clenched his fist and held it against his chest as though he was saluting. “And as such I've sworn to lead humbly and benevolently, uniting the entire school under the banner of light that is the Drama Club!”
Chroma and Lilly looked at each other and laughed. ACE, who at this point had removed his mask, rolled his eyes and shook his head. Twilight noted that ACE had very odd eyes. They were almost completely solid gray, devoid of any color.
“That aside, would you still like to join us?” Asked Chroma.
Ravewind held out his hand again and all four of them looked at Twilight, awaiting her response. Twilight gave it some thought then nodded. She took Ravewind's hand at shook it.
“Wonderful! Welcome aboard! I'll have Chroma Sketch make a jacket for you.” Ravewind shook her hand excitedly as he spoke.
“It may take a bit for your jacket.” Chroma confessed. “As we were just discussing, another batch of jocks decided to join us for our upcoming play A Thousand and One Knights.”
“Wonderful!” Ravewind shouted with joy. I was thinking we could borrow some of the football padding and use it as armor, then the jocks wouldn't have to hold back on each other and we could get some real fight scenes going!”
Chroma Sketch shook her head at the idea. “The old art club will have to make the props out of stronger material if we do that.”
Ravewind and Chroma walked off, completely lost in their conversation. Lilly shook her head and turned to Twilight.
“Back to business as usual it seems, I'm really sorry about that. Once they start brain-storming they tend to zone everything else out.”
“It's fine, I've done that myself a few times.” Twilight admitted.
“Anyway, welcome to the club, I'm sure we'll be great friends!” Lilly gave Twilight a warm smile, then ran off after the others.
Twilight turned to face ACE. He said nothing to her, simply nodding and walking off after the rest of the group.
“Friends...” Twilight looked down to the floor. She had made some new friends, but where were her old ones?