A loud buzzing sound, not unlike the sound a cellphone makes when it's put on vibrate, took me out of my slumber. I groaned and sat up in bed, rubbing the sleep from my eyes.
"What now?" I grumbled, rotating my ears to find the source of the buzzing.
To my surprise, I heard a groan come from beside me in my bed, and, of all ponies Cheerilee sat up next to me, rubbing sleep from her eyes. "I don't know, TD, but I was having the nicest dream." Cheerilee's irritated expression turned into a sultry smile, and she leaned her head against my foreleg. "It was about last night."
"Uh..." I blinked owlishly. "I don't..."
"I was having one of those, too," said a voice to my left. Twilight's voice, actually. Twilight snuggled up closer to me and wrapped her forelegs around one of mine, a happy smile on her face. "Since I didn't get to see the end of the dream, can we finish it right here?"
Cheerilee grinned and began rubbing my other foreleg. "Oh yes, I think that's a great idea. We should definitely get on that right away." She looked down to the foot of my bed, where the last pony I wanted to see in this situation lay just shy of my back hooves. "What do you think?"
The pony in question grinned at me and waggled his eyebrows.
"Eeyup."
With a piercing shriek I leaped out of bed. My hind legs had gotten tangled in my sheets, so I dragged them off of the bed with me. The surprise weight, coupled with the fact that I jumped high enough to hit the ceiling, meant that I crashed down on the floor, despite my pathetic attempts to avoid such a thing.
The second I regained my bearings, my gaze snapped over to my bed, expecting to see my three unexpected guests looking at me with some concern, or maybe lust. Instead, the bed was empty. I quickly untangled myself from my sheets and got to my hooves. Yep. I was alone in the room. So what was...?
My eyes narrowed when I saw proof of the culprit in the middle of my bed. Oh, she had done it this time. I wasn't going to let this one go unanswered. I ignited my horn and picked up the single blueberry so that I could throw the darned thing out the window.
* * * *
I burst into Canterlot Castle's dining room, where Celestia and Luna sat eating their breakfast/dinner. Celestia smiled when I came in, but Luna's expression was one of careful neutrality.
Or it would be, if I couldn't see the absolute glee in her eyes. I glared and walked up to her before materializing a one gallon bucket of blueberries and dumping the whole thing on her. Luna leaped out of her seat, trying to avoid the fruity assault. Not to be deterred, I started grabbing hooffulls of blueberries in my magic and tossing them at her with the speed of a professional baseball pitcher.
"I maintain that my prank to you on your birthday did not cross the line, Luna!" I growled as she dodged my assault, giggling all the while. "You're just a sore loser, L-U-N-A!"
Celestia giggled from behind her hoof, something that earned a slight glare from her sister. Well good.
"I had to wake you somehow, Antares," Luna said, dissolving the blueberries I threw at her. "You were needed here, and I didn't feel like flying all the way to Baltimare."
"Sore. Loser." I grumbled.
"It worked, did it not?"
"You know that this means war, don't you?" I grumbled. "You changed where the line is. The retaliation will reflect that."
"Enough," Celestia said, raising a hoof to forestall any more fighting. "That is not why you have been called here, Antares." Celestia ignited her horn and placed a thick hardcover book on the table in front of her. I frowned and walked closer. "This is," she continued. "I gave this to Sunset Shimmer as a means to contact me should she ever need me. She has the other one. All she needs to do is write in it and I will receive the message here." She put her hoof on the book and slid it over to me. "A few hours ago, she wrote to me saying that there was trouble on her end. Something about new students at Canterlot High that didn't sit well with her. She feels that they are magical in origin."
"So she wants our help in dealing with them?"
Celestia nodded. "Yes. She feels that their magic is of Equestrian origin. She contacted me to see if I had any advice." She stood up from her seat and walked over to me. "And given that Equestrian magic is potentially very dangerous in that world, I thought it best to send somepony over to see for themselves."
"And given how Luna decided to call me over here instead of just sending me an e-scroll about it, I'm assuming that you want me to go back," I guessed.
"Indeed. Despite your rather..." Celestia grimaced. "Unorthodox methods over there, you did succeed, and you have the dual advantage of understanding both our world and theirs. On top of that, you already have a base of operations there."
"Makes sense to me, but there is one problem: the portal isn't supposed to open up again for another couple of years."
Celestia merely smiled at me.
* * * *
"...And the interval between the two points is defined as the square root of the sum of the squares of the separation between the points along three spatial dimensions."
I blinked once, not really sure what Twilight had said. Whatever it was, it sounded overly complicated and possibly a little dumb, though I couldn't really be sure.
"So..." I tilted my head. "You plugged the book into the mirror."
Twilight glowered at me, her ears flat. "I suppose if you want to put it that way, you can, but that's a gross oversimplification of a very complex process!"
"I like your explanation better, Princess Antares," Lieutenant Rapids said.
"I'll bet you do."
She'd been agreeing with me a lot more frequently ever since everything that had happened with the human world the first time. Months of latrine duty will do that to a pony.
"Well whatever the case may be, the portal should be open now," Celestia said, running her hoof down the side of the mirror. "If the magic flowing from it is any indication, I think that my student has been successful once again."
Twilight preened at the praise from her mentor, much to my amusement. I couldn't really blame her, though. I certainly had ponies who reacted the same way to my praise.
"If the portal is open, and we can open it at any time, I'd say that the three of us should get going." I laid my wings on the back of Blaze and Rapids. "The sooner we get going, the sooner we can get this solved."
"Agreed, but..." Celestia walked up to me to give me a loving nuzzle. "Do be careful. The Sirens are not Sunset Shimmer trying to get power in a scheme that couldn't have worked under the best of circumstances. They are far more dangerous. You and your guards must be united at all times. Avoid any sort of strife or argument between the three of you. That's what they feed on."
"Gotcha." I returned Celestia's nuzzle with a quick peck on the neck, something that made my guards grin and Twilight glare at me again. She never really approved of our relationship. "Keep the minotaurs and griffins busy until I get back. If this goes anything like last time, I shouldn't be gone for more than a few days."
"The way Sunset made it sound, they're going to try to reach maximum power during some battle of the bands that Canterlot High is hosting," Twilight said. "I'd start there, if I was you."
"We'll see," I replied. "But for now..." I motioned over to the mirror. "We go."
* * * *
"I don't think that I'll ever get used to going through the mirror, Princess Antares," Blaze said his face a little green. "Did whoever created the mirror need to make the travel process work like that?"
I shrugged. "Dunno. Couldn't even tell you who made it."
I turned away from my guards and took a deep breath, experiencing the sights of the human world. Like last time, I'd come out the other side as a human male, dressed in the same scorpion shirt/jeans combo as before. Blaze and Rapids' outfits hadn't changed either.
"If you two are ready, I think school should still be in session," I said, glancing at a nearby clock tower. "We have to find Sunset and the human Elements if we're going to get the whole story."
We entered the school and were greeted with the sight of empty hallways. I figured that classes were still going on, so we'd have a little time before we could actually talk to Sunset. Though if I had to guess, she wouldn't be completely thrilled to see me. After all, I'd arrested her and forced her to confront some very touchy issues the last time I was here. I'd need to be extra nice to her this time around. I had arrived to help, after all.
"We'll see if we can't figure out where they all are," I said. "If memory serves, this is the last class of the day. We'll want to catch them before they all go home for the day."
"Makes sense," Rapids said, following me down the mail hallway. "Do you want to avoid Principal Celestia this time around, or is that not going to be a problem?"
"I don't think there's any way we can avoid her if we're going to be hanging around the school for a few days," I said, walking up to a hand-crafted poster hanging in the hallway. "But hey, she knows that I'm an immortal pony god from another dimension, so hopefully she won't ban me from school grounds."
"Speaking of that, did we ever officially get expelled from the school?" Blaze asked. "We might still be enrolled if she forgot to do that."
"Dunno. Guess we'll see." I reached the poster and began examining it. As I suspected, it advertised the upcoming school battle of the bands that Sunset had told Celestia about. Seemed like it was taking place a couple of days from now. "Until we cross that bridge, I'd rather avoid her for now, just for simplicity's sake. Same goes for Luna and Antares."
Suddenly, the bell rang and students instantly began pouring out of the nearby classrooms like they'd been shot from a cannon. The three of us backed up against the wall until the worst of it had passed, then began our search for Sunset and the human Elements.
As we walked down the hall, we started getting stares from the students. I wasn't surprised that they all recognized the mysterious Canadians who had come to their school out of nowhere, then disappeared just as quickly. A few of them worked up the nerve to wave to me, and I returned it with a smile and wave of my own. Being an Equestrian princess meant that I dealt with ponies who felt nervous around me all the time.
As luck would have it, for once in my life, I didn't really need to find the six of them. They made their position quite clear once we went down the right hallway. We passed by a music room and heard what sounded like a band playing inside. Nothing unusual in of itself, but the sound of Rainbow Dash singing tipped me off about the identities of the occupants. I smiled and led my guards inside.
As I suspected, all of the human Elements and Sunset were inside, playing various instruments for what I presumed was their band. Sunset, for her part, was perched on the piano, nodding her head to the beat. I planned on letting them finish their song, but that didn't work out once Rainbow Dash looked in our direction and stopped playing. The rest of them stopped once Rainbow did, and smiled at the sight of the three of us.
"Hello there, Princess Antares!" Applejack said, putting her bass back in its case. "Gotta admit, Ah didn't expect ta see you 'round here again." She smirked at me. "'Specially not after what ya did ta Mr. Antares and Principal Celestia."
I shrugged and grinned at the group. "Eh, what can I say? You guys called about some magical problem, so I decided to show up. Nothing you wouldn't have done in my place, I'm sure."
"True, darling, but even after your explanation of the events of a few months ago, Principal Celestia remained quite cross at the three of you," Rarity said.
"I've been beaten with hammers before as part of my princessly duties," I said with a wave of my hand. "After that, Principal Celestia doesn't scare me."
"If you say so," Applejack said. "But it'd be bad if y'all came here to fix the problem, only so that Principal Celestia kicked you off of campus."
"As if that would stop me," I said with a chuckle. "Trust me, girls, I'm going to do everything that I can to make sure that the new girls don't cause any real trouble around here."
I turned my smile to Sunset, but that quickly evaporated when I noticed her. Her head was down, she had her arms wrapped around herself, and she was shaking. Honest-to-goodness shaking.
Two guesses why, and the second one didn't count.
Given that I'd noticed it, everybody else in the room had, too. I looked back to my guards and motioned for them to leave. Sunset and I needed to have a chat, it seemed. They both saluted me and walked out, with the human Elements quickly following. Once the room emptied, not that Sunset seemed to notice, I moved closer to her and cleared my throat. Sunset's head snapped up, and her eyes went wide when she saw that she'd been left alone in the room with me. She squeaked and hopped off of the piano, making for the door until she realized that I stood between her and it.
"You stay away from me!" Sunset cried, putting her hands out as a sort of shield. "Get out of here and tell Princess Celestia to send someone else to deal with this! Not you!"
My stomach twisted into knots at hearing her say that. I backed up and leaned against the door, both keeping my distance from her and letting her know that I wouldn't let her out that easy.
"Look, Sunset--"
"I said get out of here!" she screeched. "You can't be here again, not after what you did!"
"Look, I'm sorry, Sunset. I'm not here to hurt you or force you to go back to Equestria! I'm here to help with the Sirens!"
"As if," Sunset snarled. "What, are you here to make sure that I'm not going to go crazy? Maybe you think that I'm going to go back to the way I was and try to take power with the Sirens! You're not my freaking parole officer!"
"Sunset, that's enough!" I snapped. "I swear that I'm not here to do anything to you, is that clear? If your friends here at school say that you're a good guy now, then I'm behind them one hundred percent!" I sighed and rubbed my temples. "I'm sorry, okay? I'm really sorry that I had to do that to you. I know that it couldn't have been easy to go back to Celestia."
"What do you know about it?" Sunset growled.
"Sunset, I haven't seen the universe I come from for over three years now, and I won't ever see it again." I scoffed. "What, you think being forced into an alternate dimension was easy for me either? My friends, my parents, my sister, I'm never going to see them again. So if you want to talk to somebody about how much it hurt being sent to another dimension because of Celestia, then I'm the only one here who could relate to that." I chanced a step forward, and felt a little relief when she didn't step back.
"I know it had to hurt, being forced to see her like that again before you felt ready. And if you want to be angry at me for tearing the scabs off of old wounds, then that is more than fair. If it helps, though, Celestia hasn't told me what happened between the two of you. As of right now, the only two ponies who know are you and her."
Sunset let out a small gasp, and her eyes began brimming with tears. "She didn't tell anypony?"
"Not a soul, as far as I know. I agree with the choice, personally. Both of you got hurt during whatever happened, I'll wager. Ergo, it's up to the two of you to fix that." I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. "And I'm sorry if I forced your hand on that."
Sunset sniffled and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. "What I said to her... you can't even imagine. I wanted to take all of it back the moment we got into that fight. But I just... she has this way of looking at you when you've disappointed her, you know? She doesn't get mad, but you wish she did start yelling at you. Then you could yell back and say what you really feel. You can't respond to that disappointment."
"Believe me, I know," I said. "It's just about the worst feeling ever. But you know what I think? I think that if things got that bad between the two of you that you felt you needed to say whatever you said to her, then, yeah, it probably needed to be said at some point. Maybe not through a shouting match, but if you'd held it in longer, the consequences might have been more severe. I don't know because I wasn't there, and I won't ask for any details, from either of you." I took another step forward, and Sunset's foot twitched like she wanted to step back, but she didn't. "I'm not here to hurt you or take you back to Equestria. I'm just here to get the Sirens so that they don't hurt anybody here. That's all."
"Fine," Sunset muttered. "If you say so. Just... stay away from me right now, okay?"
With that, Sunset pushed past me and ran out of the room.