I closed my eyes, but found myself fighting sleep. I couldn’t tell if I was excited, or nervous, or scared, or all of the above. Going home would change a lot of things, and I wasn’t sure that I was ready to face my mother.
If what Aria said was true, then I had been gone for quite a long time. It actually made sense, in a weird way. When I left Equestria, there was plenty of time before the prophesy was supposed to be fulfilled. I was young—and still am for all that matters—head full of steam, but everything I thought I knew ended up being a lie. Well, not exactly a lie; more of a misperception on my part. I had no idea what it took to become an alicorn, and judging by Twilight’s experience, I wouldn’t have made it there anyway. The prophesy wasn’t mine to fulfill, and I was a fool for making myself believe otherwise.
When Luna suddenly arrived in the middle of last school year, I had to wonder if my calculations were off. The mirror should have been open given the thirty moons that had passed since I arrived, but it wasn’t. I spent months trying to figure out a way to get home before stumbling on the opening right before the Fall Formal, exactly three years to the day since I came into this new world, at least according to the reckoning of time I could remember.
The only thought I had running through my head when I found the gateway open was stealing the Element of Harmony that should have been my claim to power and fame, in the process, ruining the life of whoever managed to fulfill the prophesy. I knew enough about it from all my study; it wasn’t a secret to me. However, I didn’t fully understand the true power the elements held. My plan, consequently, wasn’t even a good plan. Everything I did was clouded by my thirst for revenge and hate. It felt awful even thinking about it. The twisted limbs, the demon form, the corruption of so many innocent people all bent to my will—I had certainly fallen much further than I realized. Aria and I were practically the same, even if she would never admit it.
Twilight helped me see my error. She gave me the second chance that I needed. Thanks to her, and thanks to all my new friends, I could finally say that I was happy with my life. Happy and sad. Happy for being able to feel loved and appreciated; sad for knowing that I’d hurt so many people, and ponies—my mother most of all. The thought of facing her again kept me from going back with Twilight. I needed time, more time than I had. I needed to show that I had changed and made up for all the pain I had caused. Only then would I be able to beg her forgiveness.
Aria’s visit changed everything.
It fell to me to make sure that Aria didn’t make the same mistakes I did by leaving her friends behind. Even if she didn’t think of them as friends right now, they didn’t deserve to stay locked up in a cage forever. I assured myself that they would come around if given the chance. I’d seen the magic of friendship do some pretty crazy and amazing things; maybe all they needed was someone to be their friend without the siren magic forcing the issue. In any case, they all deserved a second chance, or third chance, or as many chances as they needed to see the light. I was going to make sure that they got that.
Making that promise to myself, I finally settled my thoughts enough to drift off to sleep.
I woke to the sound of my phone alarm ringing, four am on the dot. We didn’t have much time. Aria stirred in the sleeping bag next to me.
“Time to wake up and get going,” I said.
“You don’t have to tell me twice,” she replied. “I heard the alarm too.”
I got up and stretched. Flexing my fingers and toes, I took a moment to appreciate the benefits of having opposable thumbs and individual digits to control. I wouldn’t have them for much longer. Hooves felt like old-fashioned blunt objects in contrast to human hands and feet. At least I would have my magic again. Given all the changes I had adjusted to in settling in this world, the list of things I was giving up by going home practically outnumbered the reverse. The thought of hauling the microwave along with us crossed my mind for just a second before Aria started to strip naked right in front of me.
I gave out a small, “eep.”
“What? It’s not like ponies wear clothes,” she said with everything hanging out for anyone to see through the obviously-not-see-though-glass walls of my room, in the dark, at four in the morning.
I had to swallow my pride, something I had gotten used to over the past few years and who knows how many more besides. “Yeah, but… it’s a little different,” I managed to say.
She didn’t say anything else and quickly got dressed in her regular clothes. I turned my back to her and did the same. That would certainly be one thing I would have to get used to again. I wasn’t particularly looking forward to it. An image of a naked stallion, or a perfectly normal stallion not wearing clothes as was completely acceptable in pony culture, flashed into my head. Tails… yeah, I did sort of miss my tail. I couldn’t wait to sink my teeth into a nice, juicy hayburger as well. Thinking about going home and everything that entailed wasn’t helping my current situation.
One question had been bothering me before I fell asleep, and again now that the return to Equestria was rather imminent. It seemed a bit late in the game to be asking, but I did so anyway. “Aria, what’s going to happen when you step through the portal? I mean, we’re supposed to be a lot older than we are, right? When I traveled back, I wasn’t there for very long, but it still felt weird. If I had stayed, would I have become some old, gray mare as time caught up with my pony body? And you… you might just turn into a pile of dust.”
“Don’t worry about that,” Aria said in a hushed tone. “The rules say that we won’t lose any time in our true form while we’re here. It’s part of the rehabilitation process. I’m pretty sure our normal bodies are held in some sort of magical stasis so that we don’t die the second we step through. You even tested it yourself, so there shouldn’t be a problem for me.”
“I hope you’re right.” I grabbed my diary and a pen off my nightstand and shoved them in my book bag which I slung over my shoulder. Aria grabbed the door handle and slowly opened the door. The house was dark, and every sound carried throughout. I brought a finger to my lips and motioned for her to stay quiet. She just shook her head and shrugged her shoulders, rolling her eyes like I’d just said the most obvious thing I possibly could.
With the bedroom door open, we crept out into the hall and made our way toward the front room. A few steps out, my foot caught a squeaky spot in the floor. I froze. Not even the crickets were making any noise at this hour. Listening for a reaction from the back bedrooms, we both waited for what seemed like forever before we moved again. The rest of the path to the door thankfully went without incident. I laid my hand on the front door handle and lifted up as I turned so it wouldn’t brush against the ground as much when I opened it. A mild swishing sound was all that marked our passing. Keeping to our super stealthy plan, we miraculously made it out of the house without rousing the sisters.
Crossing the street and making our way toward the school, the night breeze caught me in a bit of a chill. I hadn’t thought to bring a full jacket. My skirt didn’t help matters much either. By the time we walked two blocks, my arms and legs were covered in goose bumps and my knees began to knock as I tried to fight off the cold. One thing that a pony body had over a human one was the nice, warm, built in fur coat. Up ahead, Canterlot High felt even colder in the dank pre-dawn light of a receding moon overhead. The equine statue marking the portal to Equestria out front held a regal pose reminiscent of the imposing grandeur of the golden gates of Canterlot Palace. I kept my head down and kept on walking.
My first goal was meeting up with Twilight. After that, we would have to discuss what to do about the former sirens. I wasn’t too worried about Aria, but I wasn’t going to leave the others behind, if I could help it. I also didn’t want to get my other friends involved if I didn’t have to, owing to the obvious complications that their presence would raise. ‘Oh, I’m sorry. You’re just a construct of ancient pony magic set to provide containment and rehabilitation opportunity for our less than desirable but still reformable criminals.’ Somehow, it didn’t sound true, even though I felt deep down in my heart that it was. I imagined Applejack’s head would explode if I told her the truth.
I paced along quietly until Aria broke the silence.
“Hey, Shimmer, isn’t that your princess friend?” she said, pointing up ahead toward the statue.
I looked up. At the base of the statue, right where she said she would be, I saw Twilight.
“Hey, Twilight,” I said, waving to her as we picked up the pace to close the last hundred yards. “Hang on, we’re coming!”
Twilight turned around. A pair of glasses fell to the base of her nose. She quickly tugged on a hood, turned, and ran. Instead of going through the portal, she bolted up the street.
I slowed, not really knowing what to make of her behavior.
Before she had taken a dozen steps, though, she stopped. She held out her hands, glowing with an odd shimmer, and then turned back toward us. In less than a second, she simply vanished. At the same time, another, differently dressed Twilight stumbled out of the portal.
I turned to Aria. “Did you see what I just saw?”
“Yeah, Shimmer. Didn’t we already go over this? I wasn’t joking when I asked the question of why you had never run into your own double. Now let’s go say hi, so we can all get out of here.”
We both made our way over to the statue and met the second Twilight, just getting her bearings with her newly acquired form.
“Twilight? Is that you?” I asked.
“Yep, it’s me. Who else would it be?” Twilight held her arms open wide, and I ran into her with a huge hug of my own.
“I’m so glad you came,” I said. We parted, and I waved over to Aria. “You remember Aria Blaze, right?”
Twilight took a step back. She passed her gaze quickly between the two of us. “Um, yeah… isn’t she… wasn’t there… I’m kind of confused. Is everything alright?”
“Yeah, umm… nice to meet you, Princess.” Aria held out her hand to shake. She looked a little apprehensive staring up at the horse statue on top of the portal.
Twilight reluctantly met the offer. “Nice to meet you too, I guess.” She paused and smiled back at me, speaking through gritted teeth. “Is this the friend that you wrote to me about, and isn’t she one of those sirens we fought not too long ago?”
“Yep, and it’s a long story,” I said. “Right now, we’ve got a little problem to deal with, and I was wondering if you could help with that. Before we can go home, we’ve got to find Adagio and Sonata as well. Aria doesn’t have any way to contact them, and we can’t leave them here alone.”
“Umm… So, let me get this straight. You want to take all three sirens back to Equestria with us?” Twilight said, wringing her hands and looking like she was ready to run to the bathroom. “I wasn’t really prepared for that. There’s sort of a… surprise waiting…” She briefly glanced over at Aria. “No offense, but… could you give us a few moments to talk about this in private?”
“Sure, no problem.” Aria held up her hands and took a few steps back. “I’ll behave. Just don’t leave without me.” She moved cautiously away from the statue, letting us have a little space to talk.
Twilight grabbed me by the arm and yanked me around to the other side of the statue. I made sure we still had a line on Aria, just in case she thought about making a break for it.
“What in Celestia’s name are you doing?” Twilight said, whispering, but making it clear that she wasn’t at all happy. “She’s a siren! She’s here for a reason, and we can’t just bring her home without taking the proper precautions.”
“I know, Twilight, but it’s not what it looks like. There’s a lot more to this place than I ever knew, and we can work out the details later. I know it may sound hard to believe, but Aria isn’t a siren anymore. She’s lost her magic, and she just wants to go home. I recently discovered she’s actually a pony, just like us. The whole siren thing was part of a curse that’s been broken, and now she really wants to go home. It’s not a problem, honest. I’ll need your help to find the others, and then we can work out the rest once we’re all back home. Just trust me on this, please.”
“I don’t know, Sunset. It doesn’t sound right to me. As a princess, I shouldn’t be taking unnecessary risks when it comes to the safety and security of Equestria. Are you sure she’s lost all of her magic? And how do you know she’s really a pony?”
“I just do, Twilight. It’s complicated.” I turned back to give a little wave to Aria who was waiting ever so impatiently about twenty yards off. Right in that moment, out of the corner of my eye, I happened to catch another person streaking toward us.
A bright orange ball of hair rushed out from the bushes near the school, crossed the courtyard, and made a beeline straight for us.
“Adagio, stop!” Aria yelled.
“Out of my way, Aria!” Adagio Dazzle yelled back and pushed right past her. Streams of magic energy floated off her back. Simple siren wings beat with a vengeance driving her forward faster than any human could run. “Nothing can stop me now!”
Before we could even act, she dove into the portal.
“I thought you said they didn’t have their magic anymore,” Twilight said as I stood there with my jaw hanging wide open.
“I-I thought they didn’t. Aria must have lied.” The shock of that realization reignited my ire.
We both swung around to the south side of the statue, blocking Aria who had come up chasing after Adagio.
“We have to catch her. She’s dangerous!” Aria tried to push through, but between the two of us, we held her back. In our little struggle, I managed to catch my finger on the necklace hanging from Aria’s neck. With a bit of a twist, the clasp came loose and the remnant of her siren jewel clasp fell to the ground.
“Wait for me!” As if in answer to the unasked question of where Sonata Dusk was, she rushed forward at a significantly slower pace, also lacking the aforementioned wings that Adagio bore.
“Hold it!” I yelled, before testing to see if I could hold back both a second and third former siren from invading my homeland.
Sonata stopped just short of the patio. “But, Adagio… Aria, what are we going…” The young woman sank to her knees and started to cry.
“Stop that, Sonata! Quit with the tears!” Aria gave up on trying to push her way past, and instead, turned her attention on Sonata. “We’ll find her. Don’t worry.” Something clicked. Aria’s normally tough exterior showed some cracks. There was something in her look that seemed like she was on the verge of a breakdown of her own. “She won’t make it very far on what little magic she had salvaged there.”
“But… the portal? She made it through?” Sonata pointed up at the statue above the portal.
“Yeah, the Guardian system must be broken.” Aria walked over and reached down, taking Sonata in a hug. “It’ll be okay. We’ll get home. Trust me.” Sonata reached out and completed the hug. Her tears only partially abated within the embrace of a friend. The early morning sun kept sending additional rays of light over the horizon, brightening an otherwise dull and cold scene.
I looked over at Twilight. She looked back at me. We were both at a loss for words.
The awkward moment lasted only long enough for Aria to give Sonata some basic comfort before she rose up and turned back on us. “Look, you two, I’ve tried being nice. I’ve tried being patient. So, I’m going to say this one more time, I’ve paid for what I’ve done, and I’m going home now, and no one is going to stop me. Step aside, and let the Guardian choose to allow me through or not; same with Sonata.” She hauled Sonata to her feet and began marching forward.
I nodded to Twilight. “We’ll all go, together.”
Twilight took a moment to weigh the thought, but quietly agreed, nodding in return. She stepped up to the portal. “I’ll go first, you two follow, and then Sunset. Count to three before following so we don’t end up piled on top of one another on the other side.”
Twilight led the way, stepping confidently into the portal. Sonata approached, prodded on by Aria. She balled her fists and clenched her eyes shut. After a silent three count, she raised her leg up high and stepped through the portal.
Aria looked up at the statue and then over at me. “Thanks, Shimmer, but don’t think this means that I owe you anything. I’ve done my time.” She swished her tongue around her mouth and spat on the ground at the base of the portal before defiantly stepping through.
I glanced over my shoulder at the morning sun cresting over the hills in the distance and then back toward the school. The windows of Canterlot High sparkled, especially the ones I had worked to rebuild recently. I still wasn’t sure if I was prepared to return home, but ready or not, the moment had arrived. With a heavy sigh, I closed my eyes, folded my arms, and stepped through the portal myself.
If I had to describe the feeling of sailing through the indeterminate vortex of chaos and color that connected the two worlds bound by Starswirl’s portal, I would have to hold that thought because I would make myself sick. I could feel my body changing. Hands and feet became hooves, face became muzzle, my tail returned in all of its wonderful glory. Best of all, I felt my magic blossom within as my horn sprouted from my head. The full impact of becoming a pony again didn’t even have a chance to hit me before I stumbled out the other side and into the pure chaos that awaited me there.
“Spike! Send a message to Princess Luna!” Twilight shouted. “Then go find the others as fast as you can, and a doctor as well. We need reinforcements, now!” Her horn was alight, sending a containment field to encompass the cowering pair of ponies that rightly resembled Aria and Sonata. Even in her evident rage, she looked utterly lost and afraid. Spike took off at a run, headed out of the room before I could ask what was going on.
The portal closed behind me. My book bag slid off my furry shoulder and crashed onto the floor. I gathered my hooves under me and took a step forward, nearly tripping over myself as I went.
“Sunset!” Twilight yelled out to me. “I need your help!”
I steadied myself before realizing the full extent of what was going on. Ten yards away, under the protective watch of my own best friend, lay the one pony I didn’t expect to see so soon after arriving. My mother, unconscious and bleeding from the flank, lay still, prone on the castle floor. Adagio was nowhere in sight.
I rushed forward, my emotions quickly taking a hold of me. “What happened?”
“I’m not sure, but I could use some help with the Princess, or holding those sirens until we can settle all of this.” Twilight had a fire in her eyes that she was quickly trying to dose with her tears.
I took one look over at Aria and Sonata. Aria raised her hooves in surrender. Sonata buried her muzzle in hers. “Forget about them for now. I don’t think they’re the problem. Let’s focus on the Princess.” I hopped up and placed a hoof over the gash in my mother’s flank. “We need bandages. Can you get some?”
Twilight turned to take another look at her captives, and then came back around to Celestia and I. She dropped her spell and opened up her wings. “I’ll be right back.” With an instant charge of her horn, she teleported away.
I sat and stared into my mother’s closed eyes, holding her side and gently caressing her barely floating mane. Nuzzling in close, I could feel her breathing, shallow and somewhat broken. The warmth of her coat was surely not diminished by my cold tears in holding her tight for the first time in however long it had been. In the past few hours, months, and even years or decades that I had had waited for this moment, I never imagined we would meet again like this.
A crack of thunder shook the room. A dark form burst into existence. I tried to remain close to my mother’s side, but fell away a little in shock.
“Who dares attack my sister? They shall face my wrath, unfettered!”
I would have to assume that Spike’s letter had already made it to Luna, and that she hadn’t taken the news well. My aunt, who I had never met in pony form, hovered above me, her gaze piercing into my soul, her horn poised to strike with minimal provocation. I cowered below.
“Aunt Luna?” I said before being cut off.
Twilight reappeared in a flash at Luna’s side, bandages in tow. “I’m back, and I brought what I could find.” She sailed over to me and deposited her light load. I got to work as fast as I could. She then turned back to Luna. “Thank the stars you’re here, Princess. We need to call out the royal guard. There’s an escaped siren on the loose, and two more that need to be handled over there.” She raised a hoof and pointed over at the two ponies who hadn’t moved from the spot where they sat from before I got there.
Luna paused to consider the pair. “I see no sirens, only ponies. In what direction has my sister’s assailant fled?”
“I’m not sure. We weren’t able to follow her.” Twilight looked torn between assisting me with Celestia, dealing with Aria and Sonata, or chasing off after Adagio with Luna.
“I’ll take care of the Princess. You go take care of the sirens.” I laid out a strip of bandage against the slice in mother’s already blood soaked and matted, dark pink fur. As I pressed into her side, a soft moan escaped her mouth. “Mother? Can you hear me?” The words nearly caught in my throat as the world around me fell away. I focused everything I could on listening for her reply.
“D-Daughter…” she mumbled. “W-Welcome home.”