I just wanted to go to Equestria!

by Ditz

Finale - Part 4

“We are here,” Cadence’s words feel almost unnecessary as we stand near the entrance of the throne room. It’s really weird, since we didn't have any resistance after leaving the passage. “Lack of security is very suspicious, so I believe she might be expecting us,” she explains, noticing it too.

“Do we just go in?” Flash asks unsure. “I don’t know if we should really go unprepared. Are we sure this is the way to go?”

“We don’t really have time to wonder now,” I answer simply, trying to keep my mind on the plan, running the steps quickly so as to not forget. “We should just go in,” I point out before I decide to chicken out.

It’s now, or never.

Before more doubts can come to mind, Cadence’s wings come to life as she pushes the doors open, the familiarity of the room behind aligning with the mental blueprint in my mind almost neatly as we head in. And just as neatly, Shining Armor and his guards are quick to surround us, their spears aimed in perfect symmetry, no doubts to be found on their faces.

“Oh?” the source of the voice is found quickly as I peer over the throne room: a ponified, nearly unrecognizable Shimmer sporting a crown (that I imagine belongs to Twilight) resting atop her fiery-looking hair, and a set of bat-wings she must have grown out of nowhere. She sits on Cadence’s throne with an air of importance, and to her sides, are what I can only describe as a pair of darkly colored ‘magical bubbles’. “Well well, I wasn’t expecting anypony to actually make it here, though I suppose I shouldn't have, you did come with that Prince-”

“Sorry dear! Now!” Cadence suddenly shouts, releasing a magic blast around us, that in turn, sends Shining and company in the surrounding area flying towards the walls, likely knocking them unconscious in the process. As this is all happening, she wastes no time jumping into action, laser focused on the evil Shimmer.

“Nice try!” before Cadance is able to reach her, Shimmer is able to stop her mid-lunge, easily catching her in magic of her own. “So, as I was saying before I was so RUDELY interrupted, I shouldn’t be too surprised that you made it here, but…” she trails on, suddenly tilting her head right, and shooting Cadence towards the nearby wall.

“Gah!” there is a loud noise as she connects with the hard surface, her face contorted in pain as she falls to the ground, and moves no more.

“… Yeah, I suppose I might have been giving her too much credit. She literally jumped at me without a plan!” Shimmer says, grinning ear to ear with a satisfied look on her face. “Now…” she turns her attention back to the group, making my skin crawl with a simple look. Those devilish looking eyes…

“Sunset!” Flash shouts, his voice booming louder than I anticipated. Almost as if making a distinction between the two Sunset. “Is there nothing we can do to convince you to stop doing this?”

“Flash?” Shimmer shoots him an intrigued glance, soon revealing a malevolent grin. “Are you seriously doing this now? After your friend made the first move? Ha!” she reels her head back, laughing loudly, and without shame.

“P-please…” Sunny is the next one to talk, trembling as she steps in front of Flash. “Please, is there anything we can do to let our friends go?”

“Bah!” Shimmer’s eyes narrow, her smile disappearing in an instant. “If I didn’t listen to Flash, what makes you think I’ll listen to you?” she answers irritated, keeping her sights on Sunny. “I’m not going to take that from a cheap, weaker version of me!” she shouts, the sound of her voice alone making the room shake.

“Leave Sunny alone! She is better than you ever were, Shimmer,” Flash shoots back, venom oozing from his intense glare.

Shimmer glares back silently, her gritted teeth sparkling like knives ready to cut. “I knew I should have gotten rid of her! I thought she could be useful, but in the long run, I see that it would have made our lives easier if she hadn’t lived.”

“Really, Shimmer?” Flash asks, looking as if he is ready to fight. “If you really think that, you would have gotten rid of us. Why bother keeping us around, then?”

I try my best to hold back a laugh as Shimmer opens her new wings for a second before simply choosing against it, and instead, gracefully jumping to Flash with a single leap. “Why indeed?” she asks back, her condescending tone not missed. “Don’t flatter yourself. I brought you here because I thought you would be good as one of my servants. Despite unpopular belief, I did believe you would provide some use to me.”

“Y-you are lying!” Sunny speaks up, catching the full brunt of Shimmer’s attention. “If that were the case, w-why would you bring someone as ‘weak and useless’ as me here?”

“You flatter yourself,” Shimmer laughs. "I brought you here because I thought you would make a wonderful slave. Nothing more," she stares at Sunny looking her over with a grin. “But ‘Sunny’, tell me; how does it feel to have lost precious time of your life? It must be awful.”

“I…” Sunny is visible shaken, stumbling back for a moment before unexpectedly, taking a step forward, standing next to Shimmer’s face. “No! You know what? It’s better than being an outright psychopath like you!” it feels as if the air in the room has been sucked out, and I hold my breath as I watch the Sunny I first met weeks ago face her counterpart without a single doubt in her voice.

“You know?” Shimmer talks normally, her voice calm and collected. “I find it a little strange that you two are here fearlessly talking to me like you are. As if there is still hope in your hearts… almost as if-”

It all happens in an instant.

“-you are distracting me,” I feel like I’m about to pass out as the intimidating figure of evil Shimmer stands next to me, my hoof barely touching her magic barriers, as Pinkie Pie and the others stare back through the blurry barrier with horrified expressions. “Well, well… who do we have here?”

“I-I,” I can’t even pretend to be one of her guards, the fear preventing me from any sort of acting. “S-s-so I, er, was going around, a-and…”

“Is that you? Le-mon-Li-me,” the way she enunciates gives me shivers, her hatred pouring from each syllable. “Well, well, I think I get what you are doing. Cadence teleported you over here when she released that blast of magic earlier, didn’t she?”

“H-how?” I ask astonished. How would she know?

“Never doubt a magical expert,” she answers smugly, holding her chin as she thinks. “So how did she do it? Were you invisible? No, perhaps just slightly transparent. Just enough to keep you hidden behind her opened wings when she came in, or am I wrong?”

“H-huh!” despite my horrified expression, I can’t help but be impressed at her guesswork. What the hell was Celestia teaching her? I wish she had been as good a role model as she was a magic teacher.

“I knew it!” she exclaims satisfied, while I feel the grip of her magic envelop my hoof, suddenly yanking me off the floor.

“Aaah, fuck!” despite what TV might suggest, being forcibly lifted by a single leg is REALLY painful.

“Lemon!” I can manage to hear Pinkie’s muffled voice through the magic. “Please! Don’t hurt him!”

“Lemon!” I can hear Flash and Sunny shout similarly in the distance.

“You two move, and I’ll do worse than yanking him,” Shimmer utters, never taking her eyes off of me. “Lime… I never thought I would see you here again,” she lets out a soft growl, sounding more like a wolf rather than an actual pony. “Now, you better tell me… who the hell are you!? Did Celestia send you!?”

“W-what are you talking about?” I ask a little lost.

“Don’t play dumb with me! You knew of Equestria back then, didn’t you?” she asks simply, and I feel like something it’s itching on the back of my mind, ready to pounce. What is it? “No one in the world was supposed to know, or my pendant wouldn’t have been destroyed, and you would have stayed under my control!”

“Pendant?” as if by cue, my mind works its thing, bringing back memories of that day; the night of the fire. “Right! That happened! So that was the thing hanging from those handcuffs… Is that how you were controlling me, then?”

“I believe the answer was heavily implied,” Shimmer scoffs, pulling me closer. “But if it wasn’t for you fighting back and figuring me out, I wouldn’t had to have gone into hiding!”

Hovering where I am, even I can tell the mood of this conversation has made her more talkative—it’s advantage time. “I don’t get it… why would you even go hide?”

“Not by choice, I’ll tell you,” she notes shamelessly. “That pendant was a very important part in my living conditions, I enjoy having humans not asking questions,” she points out. “To make it worse, the sparks from when it broke started a fire in the room. Magic fire isn’t easy to deal with, so I was forced to leave. It was convenient that I was able to attempt my escape and leave you and that fake for dead. I could have used this too! Imagine, Just living as someone who looks a lot like a dead girl!” she groans, shaking her head. “Unfortunately for me, I didn’t plan on you two being rescued.”

“Why, you…” shooting back an insult feels like the least I could do for this monster. How long was poor Sunny held captive? Was she just left comatose in a closet all this time? Probably left hidden from sight for years… still, I feel that saying something now will only detract from what we are doing here.

And I need to give Trixie more time…

“I suppose that’s something not worth remembering,” she says in a calm tone, her anger pretty much nonexistent. “But tell me, what did you think you would accomplish without magic, hmm?” crap, what do I answer her wi- “Oh, trick question: it doesn’t really matter.”

“Ack!” I yelp, dropping to a heap of pain. Once again stating that it’s very painful. “Ow, w-what the hell?”

“I know what you are thinking,” Shimmer says as the others run to my aid. “You are all probably thinking that you have a good idea. Some ‘master’ plan that will defeat me thoroughly. But guess what!?” she shouts, stomping the floor and cracking it as easily as a dry leaf. “You have literally zero chance of beating me! You can’t defeat the magic power I now possess! In fact…” she whispers, turning her attention back to me. “I believe I’ll just get rid of you all now, and be done with this.”

“Huh!?” ohnoohnoohnoohno. “T-time out!”

“Do you seriously believe I’ll fall for that?” Shimmer shouts, charging her horn with very visibly dangerous magic. I-I can’t even try to run away! She is going to kill us! Crap! Not yet! Think! THINK!

“Wait!” Flash shouts suddenly. “You haven’t even told us, um, how were you even able to beat everyone so easily?” oh god it’s not gonna work! All I can do is close my eyes and wait for the sweet release of death!

Release…

Hmm…

Hmm…

…

HMM…

…

Huh?

Slowly, I open my eyes, almost expecting a cruel end the moment I do. “H-hello- Ah!” I shriek in horror, tripping back at the sight of the most disgustingly evil grin I’ve ever seen on Shimmer’s face.

“You know what, Sentry? I know you are just prolonging the inevitable, but I can’t help but savor this victory!” with a still wide grin, she jumps back on the throne, getting herself comfortable on the hard surface. “And how much better would it be if I were to make a game out of it?”

Collective sighs of relief are had as the magic blast is reduced into nothingness.

“Tell me, Lime,” she refers her focus to me. “Don’t you think this prison of mine is a little ‘light’?” she points out, moving one of the magical bubbles close enough to look, but far enough to be mocking. “Now, now, I’m sure you can see the issue~!” playing her game, I look inside the barrier, but all I see are the same two sets of the mane six minus one Twilight I caught earlier… including my very own Pinkie Pie watches me with a terrified expression.

“Pinkie…” I call out, trying to reach out to her.

“Ah, ah, ah! No touching!” Shimmer stops me, yanking it away. “I suggest you continue playing the game, unless you want to end it all now.”

“Nononono… fine!” I agree to her weird game, thinking over what I saw, trying to figure out what’s missing. What the hell does she want me to see in there?

“The other students!” Sunny shouts suddenly. “They aren’t there!”

“Ding! Ding! Ding! Correct!” Shimmer rings mockingly. “And now, tell me… where could those idiots be? Where would those poor kids have gone, hmm?”

“Hold on!” Flash joins in with a raised hoof. “I thought the question to answer was how you were able to beat everyone? What does this have to do with the missing students?”

Like clockwork, Shimmer’s amused grin pops in again. She jumps off her seat and begins walking around us, almost stalking us. “That’s the correct question, Flash! What indeed?”

“You can’t be serious,” an idea pops into mind, but it feels ridiculous… could it be? “Y-you actually had a plan for them?”

“Of course I did!” she answers indignantly, standing up, and somehow pushing us back in the process. “All those years, looking for a way to return and finally give Celestia what she deserved! And if you think my plan was using teenagers as an army to invade this kingdom, you are sorely mistaken!”

“Wait…” dark thoughts fill my head, my imagination running wild with the possibilities of what she did to the others. “Did you… e-eat them?”

“As if!” Shimmer scoffs, jumping out of her seat and towards Flash and Sunny. “You know, when I first arrived in that world, I didn’t think much of it. It was different for sure, but it was full of useless weaklings… or so I thought,” she turns to face me, as if she expects me to ask her to explain what that entails, but yeah, no. Not giving her the satisfaction. Looking annoyed, she continues: “Just a week living there, and I felt it—the raw magic!”

“Raw magic?” I ask, the terms ‘raw magic’ and ‘equestria girls world’ almost feeling like an oxymoron. “What are you on about? That’s a world without magic! I was there for a year! There wa-” no, wait, that's not true… there WERE strange things.

Applejack's surprising strength... and Fluttershy's ability to talk to animals.

An unconvinced look is all I get from Shimmer. “If I cared more, I would ask you what you meant by ‘being there a year’, but suffice to say, I’m far more intrigued at your lack of knowledge. I suppose a demonstration will have to do,” Shimmer’s horn flares to life, shining with a dangerous looking red glow. I watch as the magic targets Sunny and Flash, who can do nothing but struggle as they are engulfed in it and lifted to the air.

“What are you doing!? Let them down!” I panic, not knowing what the hell to do.

“I’m just doing what I said earlier,” she says calmly, her eyes glowing red. “Just giving you a demonstration,” before I can say anything more, Sunset and Flash disappear without a trace, leaving behind nothing but residues of the magic itself.

“NO!” I shriek in horror at the now empty space. They didn’t even have time to do that themselves! To even realize what was happening to them… and they are gone… they are gone! “YOU FUCKING BITCH!” I don’t care what happens to me, I’m going to kill her! I’m going t-

“Stop!”

“W-what?” that voice! It's someone new, but it sounds familiar… could it be?

“Lemon!” comes an out of nowhere call and tackle, as Trixie pushes me to the ground in a tight hug. “It’s okay, Trixie is here!”

I look at her confused. “T-Trixie? W-were you the one that called me!?”

“What?” she gives me a similarly confused look, breathing heavily. “W-What are you talking about? I did it! The thing! I undid the magic just like Princess Cadence taught me!”

“Y-you did?” I ask still confused, but looking behind her, I see what she is referring to: Luna and Celestia are free, standing tall, horns blaring to life in a clear intent to do battle. I’m momentarily mystified as I finally get to see the princesses that have lived thousands of years right in front of me… being real.

“Ha! Really?” Shimmer scoffs unimpressed. “I was able to beat them without any issue! What makes you think this is going to be any different?” she shouts with a notable edge in her voice. “Still… I didn’t know you managed to escape as well, Trixie. I guess you aren’t totally useless at magic after all!”

“Lemon!” Trixie turns to me, ignoring Shimmer’s clear insult. “Snap out of it! You have to remember the plan!” she whispers.

“Plan…?” I whisper, everything slowly coming back to me. “Plan! No? No! Wait! No! Flash and Sunset! They are…”

“Sunset Shimmer, you must stop this at once!” Luna’s voice sounds in the distance, the booming echo of the royal canterlot voice making it easy to understand. Though talking doesn’t seem to be an option, as I can see three horns glowing, ready to strike at any moment.

“Snap out of it! I can’t do this without you!” Trixie shouts just as her hoof punches my face in a sudden swoop. “Please! You are the one who can come up with bullshit to say! Say something! Don’t let Sunset and Flash’s sacrifice be for nothing!”

“Trixie… r-right. Right!” the added pain on my face helps clear my head a bit. “You are right! I have no time to be moping! I-I gotta…” even as I manage to stand up, I can’t help but feel dwarfed by the sight of three massively powerful horses ready to kill each other.

And yet, here I fucking go.

“Hey! W-will you three cool it!” I shout, catching them by surprise, as evidenced by their confused looks.

“What are you doing? Get away from here, little ones!” Celestia quickly replies. “Sunset Shimmer is not to be trifled with!”

“Quiet, you!” I continue anyway, letting my mouth do the thinking as I turn to Shimmer. “Come on, now! How did this even come to be? Weren’t you her student? Weren’t you close friends? What stupid thing did Celestia do to make you hate her so much?”

“How dare you talk of my sister that way!” Luna shouts, clearly against what I have to say.

“Ha!” Shimmer snorts. “Finally, you have a good question!” she turns her attention towards Celestia, breathing heavily as she continues: “This all started because she was holding me back! She knew I would become too powerful for her to handle!”

I nod in understanding. “So, was this your fault, Princess?”

“I…” Luna falters, at a loss for words. “That’s it! We will not take kindly to such behavi-”

“Luna!” Celestia suddenly interrupts, though her gaze seems to be focused on me. “It’s alright. I will respond,” Luna seems astonished at the response, but quickly moves aside, allowing her sister to continue. “Young pony, tell me; what is your name?”

“Um,” the somewhat kept tone in her voice makes me doubt, but I recover quick enough to answer. “M-my name is, um, Lemon Lime! And um… hi!”

She turns toward Shimmer one more time before simply nodding. “Very well, Lemon,” she speaks again, now in a more stern tone. “What if I answered by saying that I was not holding her back, but simply keeping her away from things she wouldn’t understand for her own good?”

“What!?” Shimmer’s response is immediate, quick to take insult in Celestia’s words. “How dare you!? All I was trying to do was learn more about the mirror! And I was ready! How did it enter your thick skull that I wouldn’t understand what was going on, huh!?”

“Ooookay, learning more than I thought I would,” I note, turning my attention to Celestia. “Now, Celestia, what do you have to sa-”

“You know full well that I told you that because you were immature and lacked patience. You ignored my orders and still searched information regarding that mirror!” Celestia interrupts me, quick to raise her voice in a way I wasn’t expecting her to do. “This little outburst of yours only proves that I was right to think that.”

“Excuse me!?” Shimmer speaks again, her horn glowing brightly as she advances towards Celestia, her face contorted into the most extreme anger I’ve seen come from her. “The only reason I ever did that was because you kept treating me like a child, and now look at me!” she points to herself, expanding her devilish looking wings. “You knew I could become an alicorn and rule alongside you, and yet, you kept that away from me! My destiny that you gave away to somepony else!”

The pressure in the room feels almost as if it has increased, as sweat pours down my face and it gets difficult to breath. “W-what’s going on?”

“Stay by my side,” Luna says, having flown to us without my noticing. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen her that mad before.”

“Sunset Shimmer?” Trixie asks.

“I’ve never met Sunset Shimmer in my life,” Luna replies. “No. When I said that, I meant my sister.”

“Oh…” I mumble, looking at Celestia… is it just me, or is her body glowing orange?

“What I DID know was that you were selfish, and simply fueled by ambition! A pony who simply wasn’t willing to admit friendship into her heart!” Celestia continues her wordy barrage, approaching Shimmer without hesitation. “And from that I can say that… that…” without warning, the orange glow disappears, and instead of anger, her face suggests an immense sadness. “I can say that I was also to blame.”

“Ha! Of course you’d say th- wait, what?” Shimmer says surprised. “Wait a minute, are you admitting that I was right?”

“There doesn’t always have to be a right or a wrong, Sunset... but yes,” Celestia answers, slowly extending a hoof towards Shimmer. “I’ve felt guilty ever since, constantly wondering what I could have done to change the chain of events. All I can say now is that if I had been more understanding of your feelings much earlier, I could have realized that I was pressuring you into being somepony you weren’t: Into me.”

“W-what are you saying?” Shimmer shouts, quickly shaking her head. “Shut up! You aren’t going to make me feel bad when you are admitting to your wrongdoings!”

“I understand,” Celestia says calmly. “Which is why I’m now going to ask you this: will you forgive your foolish old teacher?” for the first time since I met this Sunset Shimmer, I see only conflicted thoughts reflected on her face.

“N-no! Don’t do that! It’s just, if I did this, I thought you would see me as an equ-...” she seems to catch what she is saying, quickly covering her mouth in realization. “Wait, I mean… what’s going on!? I-I feel weird! What’s this feeling!?”

“That would be guilt, which probably doesn’t pain you quite as much as my own injuries,” in a very dramatic turn, Shimmer turns to find a roughened up Cadence staring at her. “I’ll be totally honest, I wasn’t expecting this to work at ALL.”

Shimmer shakes her head, utterly lost. “W-work!? What do you mea-” it is here that she realizes what’s going on, as a trail of pink magic leaves Cadence’s horn. Almost like a rope, it lays on the ground, following a trail that then connects with Shimmer’s leg. “Wait, when did you do this!?”

“Around the same time she did it to me,” Celestia speaks, raising a hoof showing the same magic trail leading back to Shimmer and Cadence in a strange three-way connection. “And from what I’m experiencing, I have the feeling that it’s working wonders on you, my dear student.”

“W-what do you mean? What are you doing to me!?”

“Something I got from a very stupid idea, and some nebulous as shit type of magic,” I answer, recalling the events from earlier today.

“Pardon my language, but that idea sounds stupid,” wow, didn’t think Cadence had it in her.

“Come on!” I yelp as loudly as a hushed tone can. “You used your love magic earlier on us, right? Why wouldn’t it work on evil Shimmer!?”

“Outside the questions that arise from the fact that you know about my magic’s terminology, it isn’t so simple,” Cadence groans. “This magic delves into not just the emotions, but the psyches of the ponies I use it in, and yes, that was plural; it requires two or more ponies to work. Not to mention it has to be ponies that are having a misunderstanding because of some kind of conflict. I honestly don’t see how you want me to use this on Shimmer.”

“That’s the thing! You told me that Celestia said she used to be good, right? And Twilight told me that she was her old student before. That must mean they must have had some sort of fight to cause this, right?” I explain, though the more I think about it, it’ starting to sound very unlikely.

“I… suppose,” Cadence notes thoughtful. Wait, is she thinking about it? “No, it wouldn’t work. Even if I were to ignore the morality of the issue, it would require me to have some time to prepare. A conflict of that magnitude would require more magic than what I used on you all.”

“What if we gave you time,” Flash speaks up. “Maybe we could distract her. Having known her for as long as I did, I can tell you Shimmer loves to gloat.”

“I-I don’t know… we have Celestia to set free. If we can’t undo that magic, they can’t communicate! And I can’t do both,” Cadence continues doubtful.

“What about the Great, and Powerful Triiiixie!” Trixie speaks up, sharing with us her wide, smug grin. “Believe it or not, Trixie has managed to tap into her immense magical prowess! She could learn something from you that can be used to help them out in little time!”

“Really?" Cadence asks surprised. "If what you say is correct, I-I think there is a spell that can cause magic to dissipate… no, wait! I don’t think she’ll you pass that easily, and the spell takes time too,” she notes, though her expression seems more determined. Almost believing.

“Can you teleport her like you did earlier?” Sunny now joins in. “Maybe set her somewhere behind evil me where she can’t just be seen!”

“O-on my own!?” Trixie gulps, looking nervous. “I-if Trixie is to do this, she is going to need… some cover! A-and maybe her assistant!” without a warning, she grabs my leg, pulling me into a very possessive hug. Come on! I thought we were past this!

“Okay, okay!” Cadence looks at us, showing a big smile. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I believe it could work! That is, unless the rest of you have any better ideas to give in fifteen minutes… anypony?”

No one says anything, instead giving me a determined glance.

Cadence nods. “Very well. I already have a few of my own ideas to share, but if you all are okay with this, we can proceed to make this work. Here is what I have…”

“It was the dumbest, most hastily thrown together idea I had that came into fruition by sharing with the others and changing it accordingly,” I continue, feeling my heart sink as I think of Sunny and Flash. “A-an idea that came from friends that y-you mercilessly killed!” I can’t hold it anymore, letting the tears fall without restraint. They are gone. They are truly gone! They are-

“They are okay.”

“What,” slowly, I look up. “A-Are you serious?”

“I never finished explaining, but I can tell you for sure they aren’t dead,” she continues, making my aching heart slowly gain some hope. “As I tried to explain earlier, the reason why I captured those students wasn’t because I was planning to use them as an army,” her horn suddenly shines in that previous red glow, before suddenly, shooting multiple magic blasts that instead of hitting anyone, simply fall on the floor and slowly grow in size. “No. Instead, I used them as a power source.”

“Holy fuck,” I whisper, watching as the magic takes the form of multiple unconscious ponies, including our two friends whom I had originally thought dead. “O-okay! Is this it? Are they o-”

“They are okay?” Trixie shouts before me, dropping all theatrics as she reaches the pair. “Please, please, please!” she wastes no time checking them out, and a weight leaves my soul as I get a hoof up from the teary-eyed Trixie with a wide smile. “T-they really are okay!”

“Y-you could have said something earlier! Damn it!” I shout not crying! Aaaah! “B-but wait, you just let them go. Why?”

Shimmer sighs. “Because you already won,” she says as she drops Twilight’s tiara on the ground. As soon as this happens, her body is enveloped in a bright light that forces us all to look away. When we face her again, all I see is a cute unicorn mare, giving her most convincing sad face. “I-I’m sorry! I didn’t know you felt that way, Princess!” she suddenly cries out, dropping to the floor, covering her eyes with her hooves. “I-I was so angry! And all I did was hurt others, a-a-and *sniff*”

“Is that seriously the first thing you are doing?” Trixie groans, suddenly running at Shimmer, and without a warning, smacking her across the face. “Damn, that felt good!”

“Trixie! What the hell?” I shout in disbelief. “She already surrendered!”

Trixie turns to me with a glare, shaking her head. “Yes, well, how about she starts by freeing our friends!” she points towards the last remaining bubble, still floating behind the throne.

“It’s alright, I deserved at least that,” Shimmer simply says, turning to the bubble. “I’m sorry about that. Here,” the bubble suddenly bursts open, and multiple pained cries (and two whee's) are heard throughout the room. “Oh… I’m sorry!”

“Very well! I’m done with this madness. I believe I’ll leave you to deal with her, Celestia,” Luna sighs, looking down at the ponies on the floor. “I'll take a look around the castle for anypony left under her trance, and I feel it’ll be faster taking these ponies to the infirmary myself… as well as you, Cadence.”

“I’m fine, I think I’ll help you instead,” Cadence replies. “I really want to check on my husb- I mean, help out the hurt soldiers as well!” Luna just chuckles, levitating all of the unconscious ponified students (including Sunny and Flash, but I take it they are in good hands) with Cadence shortly following behind with the guards before disappearing in a flash.

“And I suppose I’ll need to have a short talk with Sunset Shimmer here,” Celestia continues, looking down at the now powerless pony. “I get the feeling you all are in need of a talk yourselves, so I will leave you in the throne room to catch up. We can all speak more later.”

“Right…” I look over to the mane six, who are in the process of giving out celebratory hugs. But my focus isn’t on them, but instead, one pink pony who actually looks back in my direction, a full smile plastered on her face. And I have to say, I’m about ready to join that face. “Hey, Pin- Arck!” I yelp as Trixie suddenly pulls on my tail. “Geez! What are you doing!?”

“What are YOU doing!? I thought we were on a time limit!? Shouldn’t you be talking with that giant horse, or something?” she reminds me.

“Crap, you are right!” without further discussion, I run to try to stop Celestia before she decides to teleport with Shimmer, catching her just as her horn begins to glow. “Princess, hold on! There is something I really need to ask you about!”

“Something important?” Celestia’s clear doubt isn’t giving me any confidence. “While I understand your curiosity, what is it that it can’t wait until later?”

“We are in a bit of a time limit here,” I explain quickly. “We need to return before the portal closes! But I need to ask you some questions regarding Principal Celestia.”

“So you came from the other side,” she hums intrigued. “If you are indeed on a time limit, I understand. I hope you don't mind waiting a little longer, Sunset.”

“It’s okay, Princess, not at all,” Shimmer thankfully follows. “It’s honestly the least I can do.”

Celestia nods, looking me over carefully for a second. “Very well. If that’s what you wish, you may come with us. I feel you’ll help me understand more regarding the entire situation.”

“Wait!” as Celestia’s horn flares to life, Pinkie appears, grabbing hold of my leg. “Don’t you think you can go do this on your own, mister! I was there when she told you all those things!”

“Well then,” Celestia chuckles. “Let us go, then.”

Before anyone else has jumped to interrupt, Celestia’s horn comes to life, and then... darkness.

Comments

[Powerfull3000]

Wow.