> TD vs Equestria Girls
>  by BronyWriter
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> The Other Side
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's funny how an act so simple can set off a grand adventure.

Okay, so maybe an evil ex-student of Celestia's stealing the Element of Magic for the purpose of creating a zombie army of acne ridden teenagers to take over Equestria doesn't count as a "simple" act. However, given everything that I'd gone through in the past two years as a human turned princess of Equestria, it actually turned out to be very low on the scale of "terrifying things that happened to me."

I picked the best country to mostly involuntarily rule.

Well, like many things, this particular adventure happened when I experienced something new. That is to say, visiting the Crystal Empire with the Elements of Harmony and my fellow princesses. Of course in the past two years I had visited the Crystal Empire, but only to visit Cadance and introduce myself to the ponies. I didn't technically rule them, but they would follow any orders I gave, just by virtue of the Empire being an Equestrian protectorate. But that was just small stuff. I hadn't gone to their fair, or anything like that. In this particular instance, us four princesses were meeting for a summit to discuss a bunch of various boring princess-y stuff. Foreign policy, taxes, relations between the Empire and Equestria, stuff like that. Twilight came along seeing as her brother and sister-in-law Cadance live there, so Twilight never misses an opportunity to see the two of them. Her friends tagged along because of course they did.

An interesting change in their travel plans was that the group now carried their Elements around whenever the six of them got together. Ever since Queen Chrysalis attacked Canterlot during the wedding (something that, yes, I was there for, but that's another story for another day) Celestia wanted the girls to carry them around at all times when they were out of Ponyville doing something that might be dangerous, especially when they were hanging out with multiple princesses. In this case, they were going to the Crystal Empire, which had already been attacked by Sombra, on top of the fact that all four princesses were there, which was just asking for potential trouble.

But I hoped that nothing would go wrong.

Well, relatively speaking, anyway.


*  *  *  *


"... So I can hope that once we finish up here, we'll start the master plan." Celestia closed the folder in front of her and deluminated her horn, powering down the magical power point thingie that she had been showing us. Luna, Cadance and I closed our own folders, and I leaned forward, resting my head on the table with a groan.

"We done yet?" I grumbled. "It's eleven at night, and we gotta get up and do this tomorrow, too."

Luna chuckled and condescendingly patted me on the back of the head. "Come now, Antares. As an alpha alicorn, you do not need sleep."

"Yeah, well, as a beta alicorn, I do." Cadance yawned and stood up from her chair. "Same time tomorrow, ladies?"

"I guess so," I muttered.

I stood up and followed Cadance out the door of our meeting room, where Captain Blaze and Lieutenant Rapids stood guard. The two bowed to the line of princesses filing out of the room. I stopped in front of them and watched the other three go to their respective rooms. Once they left, I sighed and began rubbing one of my temples.

"That was wretched," I groaned. "Sixteen hours of boring logistics stuff and taxes and just... blegh stuff that goes with running the most prosperous nation on the planet. I think I might have really saved Twilight's plot by ascending instead of her. I don't know if she could do those kinds of meetings."

"Yes, I suppose so, Princess Antares," Captain Blaze said. "I would imagine that being around other ponies whom you can talk to and joke around with and have your every whim catered to would be a lot worse than standing as still as a statue with only the screaming recesses of your own twisted mind as company for the five hours of crushing boredom."

"I completely agree," Lieutenant Rapids said solemnly. She looked over at her companion. "Hey Burning, do the dark voices in your head tell you to gnaw the face off of the next pony to walk by just to shake things up a bit, or is that just mine?"

Blaze shook his head. "No, no, mine tell me to do that too."

I rolled my eyes. "Yes, I know your days can be boring when you're just guarding meetings," I grumbled, "but the worst of it is over for now, so we can get some rest. I'll get Sergeant Stones and Sergeant Force to split some of your shifts tomorrow so you can have a little informal leave, okay? Go see some of the Empire for an hour or two tomorrow, or something."

Lieutenant Rapids shrugged with her wings as the two of them began following me down the hallway of the castle to the bedrooms. "Sounds like it could be relaxing. The voices did tell me that I needed to find an offering of candy and origami frogs to appease the dark goddess Seratna before the sun sets, or else death and destruction will rain down upon the world. It's probably just talk, but it doesn't hurt to be careful, right?"

"Hmm..." I looked down at her with a raised eyebrow. "Maybe you shouldn't be listening to these voices of yours, Lieutenant Rapids. They seem to not be aiming very high when it comes to sacrificial materials to stop the apocalypse."

"Now don't judge, Princess Antares," Rapids admonished. "They're just starting out."

As we turned the corner to the hallway of bedrooms, we saw a group of familiar ponies all standing outside one room and chatting it up. Specifically the Mane Six, all of whom stopped talking when they saw the three of us coming down the hallway. They all smiled at me and walked up to meet us.

"Hello, TD," Rarity said, inclining her head. "How were the meetings today?"

I made a noise of disgust and stuck out my tongue. "Horrible. Absolutely awful. You try talking about taxes and tariffs on corn imports or whatever for two thirds of a day and see how sane you are afterwards." I shrugged with my wings. "How about yourselves?" I motioned to the Elements of Harmony that each one of them were wearing. "You didn't have to blast any monsters today to make sure we weren't interrupted, did you?"

Twilight chuckled and took the tiara off of her head. "No, nothing like that. We mostly just toured the city and got a better look at everything now that we're not trying to save this place or plan a giant fair."

"Sounds pretty good," I admitted. "I'll probably do that kind of thing tomorrow evening and maybe some of the next day. I have to get more exposure with the ponies here."

And I can't do anymore meetings. I just can't do a day like today two days in a row. Even as an alicorn I don't have the mental capabilities.

But I could put off dealing with that for another ten hours or so. There was no real need to think that far ahead when I had a nice warm bed waiting for me. I bade my guards and the Mane Six goodnight, and walked into my room. I took off my torc, tiara, and shoes, and tossed them haphazardly on a chair, not really caring when one of my shoes and the torc slipped off of the chair and clattered on the floor. It's not like they'd get scratched up, or anything. I trudged over to my wonderful, comfy, inviting bed, and slid underneath the covers, letting the stress of the whole day melt away from me as I sunk deeper into the soft mattress. I fell asleep a few moments after my head hit the pillow.


*  *  *  *


KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

"Antares!"

Groan. Buzz off, Luna. Just five more freaking minutes, okay?

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

"Antares, the time has come to awaken! We have matters at hoof to discuss!"

I sighed and cracked one eye open, groaning again when I discovered that I couldn't see a single ray of sunlight. She woke me up in the middle of the night. I grabbed a second pillow in my magic and put it over my head, making an Antares head sandwich with pillows. Or something. Look, it was the middle of the night and I didn't feel like being awake, okay?

"It's still nighttime, Luna!" I shot back. "Unless Celestia is raising the sun in two minutes... okay, even then, I'm not coming out of here for anything! I don't care if I don't need sleep. I want it" I squeezed my eyes shut and flattened my ears to try to drown out her inevitable retort. "So shoo, night horse, shoo!"

I heard Luna's long-suffering sigh from the other side of the door. "Antares, We have no patience for your games. This is an important matter!"

"Luna, you know that when you say 'we' you're not just saying it for you and Celestia, but also for me?" I allowed myself a small smirk. "Given that I am part of your 'Royal We' and thus have a little say, I say that there is patience."

"Twilight Sparkle's Element of Harmony has been stolen."

My mouth creased into a slight frown. I didn't really feel that I heard that right. I slowly pushed the pillow off of my head and raised my ears again.

"Er... care to repeat that?"

"Twilight Sparkle's Element of Harmony has been stolen, Antares. We must discuss its retrieval."

Me dammit.

I slid out of bed and walked over to my door, not even bothering to put on my regalia. I opened it up to see Luna on the other side with a serious, yet vaguely annoyed, expression on her face. I sighed and rubbed one of my temples.

"Well, I guess we'd better get that back then, yeah?"


*  *  *  *


After collecting Captain Blaze and Lieutenant Rapids, who were sleeping in the two rooms on either side of me, Luna led us down the corridors of the Crystal Palace into what looked like some kind of storage room housing a giant mirror, where Celestia, Cadance, Spike, and the Elements all waited. When I walked in, Celestia looked over at me and nodded.

"Excellent. We are all present and accounted for, then."

"Willingly or otherwise," I grumbled. I know I was complaining, but seriously, I did not like being woken up in the middle of the night after a long day.

"Yes, I realize that this is a burden for some of us," Celestia said with a slight roll of her eyes. "However, I'm sure you are all aware of the grave importance of this matter." Celestia grimaced and put a hoof on Twilight's back. I noticed that her ears were flat and her legs shook. Whomever took Twilight's Element must have really done a number on her.

"If we do not get the Element of Magic back, Equestria will be without its primary form of defense. I cannot understate how harmful that would be to our nation. I suspect that if we went on without it long enough, the power of the other Elements would begin to fade out as well, and Discord might be released from his stone prison."

"And there's no way that four princesses all working together on all cylinders would be able to stop him without the Elements," I said with a sad sigh. Celestia gave me a slight glare, and I raised a hoof as if to ward it off. "I know, I know, we need to get it back. Where is it, and how do we get it back?"

"I was sleeping in my room when it was taken," Twilight said, nuzzling up to Celestia for comfort. "Somepony came in and took it off my nightstand and tried to replace it with a fake one. I guess so I wouldn't notice until it was too late. I guess she tripped, or something, so I woke up. I chased her down the hallway when she came into this room. We fought over the Element, and it went through the mirror. She followed after it."

"Wait..." I frowned and walked up to the mirror. "Through the mirror?" I raised a hoof and reached out to it. "So this thing isn't..."

The second I touched the mirror, my hoof went straight through it, causing the mirror to begin rippling like water. I felt some strange force pulling at my hoof as if wanting the rest of my body to come through the mirror as well. I pulled my hoof out and the mirror snapped back to a normal state.

"Weird," I muttered.

"That mirror is no ordinary mirror," Celestia said, walking up beside me. "It is a portal to another dimension. The pony who stole the Element is named Sunset Shimmer. She was a former student of mine, whom I took in not long before I made Twilight my student. She abandoned her studies for reasons I would rather not disclose at the moment." Celestia's face kept the same neutral quality it usually did in stressful situations, but I had gotten good at reading her. I could see great sadness in her eyes, almost like the same kind she got when talking about Luna as Nightmare Moon. "I kept this mirror in Canterlot Castle, because I suppose I hoped..."

I gently put a wing on her back as she bowed her head and slowly reached out to the portal. After a moment, though, she shook her head and straightened up, which I took as the cue to take my wing off.

"It does not seem to have worked out the way I wished. She has the Element, and nothing good can come of that. We must get it back before she completes whatever plan she has set in motion with this theft."

"Sounds like a plan to me." I turned to the Mane Six and saw that the other five had all gathered around Twilight to comfort her. "So I assume that Twilight and the Argonauts are going out after her, then? Off on another grand adventure in another world?"

To my slight surprise, Celestia shook her head. "No, I'm afraid not. Too many going across the portal may upset the balance of the world. I do not wish to cause damage in that universe trying to save our own. This needs to be done with by preserving as much normalcy as possible."

I frowned and tilted my head. "So what's on the other side, then? It's not a pony world, I take it."

Celestia nodded this time. "You are correct, Antares. The species that populates the world beyond the mirror is very little like our own. I only went over to the other side once, and the species there... there..."

I raised an eyebrow when a look of pure horror crossed Celestia's face. She actually flattened her ears and slumped her shoulders, almost as if trying to make herself look smaller.

"And what?" I poked her side. "What's over there?" I frowned and poked her again. "Celestia? What's the species over there like?"

I looked back at Luna who only shrugged. I returned the shrug and turned my gaze to Rapids and Blaze. They looked just as confused as I felt. Only for a moment, though. After a second, I saw Lieutenant Rapids' face break out into a wide, toothy grin, and when Blaze saw it, something seemed to click for him as well, and he copied it.

"No," Blaze whispered. "No. Way."

I tilted my head before looking back at Celestia, who had actually collapsed onto her haunches. "Celestia? What's the species on the other side of the--"

It hit me right then.

"Hmm..." I took a slow, deep, deliberate breath, and my stomach clenched when I saw Celestia put her hooves over her eyes. "Celestia... the species on the other side of the portal. They wouldn't happen to be... humans, would they?"

Every eye in the place was fixed on Celestia as we waited for her answer. The fact that she refrained from answering right away confirmed it for me, but I wanted to hear her say it, just to be sure.

"TD..." She took a shaky breath in. "It is not your world. I must stress that. I did not even think about the mirror portal when you came here. Not in that context. I only thought of it as the place where my student had gone. Please believe me."

"Uh-huh." I clicked my tongue and ran my hoof through my mane. "Yes, I see. That makes... makes sense."

Celestia raised her head to look up at me, her eyes wide. "Are you angry?" she asked in a small voice, which I found weird to hear.

"Uh..." I tapped my hoof on the ground in thought. "I... I might be later. But for right now, I think I know what needs to be done." I faced the portal and flared my wings out. "I'm going to go get the Element back."

Celestia gasped quietly and shot to her hooves. "TD, I do not think that would be a very wise thing to do! That portal is not open at all times! It only opens for a few days every thirty moons before closing again. If you found yourself on the other side once time ran out, Equestria would be without one of its princesses!"

"Okay, firstly, nobody says 'thirty moons' except maybe Luna. Just say two and a half years like normal ponies." I leaned my head closer to her. "Secondly, if they're anything like Earth humans, then I know their culture, how their world works, and how to act natural there. If anyone is going to blend in and not cause too many disruptions it's me." I leaned closer again. "And thirdly, three and a half years!" I jabbed a hoof into Celestia's chest and twisted my face into a snarl. "I have not seen another human in three and a half years! Heck, I haven't been a human for two and a half! Now you're telling me, just when the opportunity to do just that is upon me, that I can't! That I can't even taste the world I once had again. No, I'm going, Celestia. I'm your equal, not your subordinate. If I get stuck there, I know how to handle it. If Twilight gets stuck there?" I scoffed. "I don't even know if she'd survive."

Celestia stared at me, and I could see the sadness in her eyes. However, I could also see the gears working in there, too. She had to know I was right. A world I was likely far more familiar with would be a lot safer for me than Twilight if one of us got stuck there. Besides... humans! And heck, I might even turn back into a guy when I went through the portal. That would be pretty cool, too.

"TD..." Celestia's gaze trailed down to the floor. "Very well. I do not suppose that I can stop you at any rate."

I shrugged. "Not really. But you know, I'm glad that I have your support anyway." I turned away from Celestia and walked up to Twilight, who looked at me with wide eyes. She still seemed shaken, but I think now that it was because of Celestia and I. I gave her a warm smile and put a hoof on her shoulder. "I'll get it back, Twilight. You have my promise on that."

She returned my smile with a shaky one of her own and put her hoof on mine. "Thanks, TD. I know you can do it."

"I won't let you down."

With that, I took a deep breath and cracked my neck before turning to face Celestia. "Alright, I'm going to need to do some packing. I think all I need will be a bag with a hundred five to ten carat diamonds in it." Shouldn't be too hard of a request, given that I know Rarity has roughly that just lying around in her shop. Diamonds are worth a lot less in Equestria than on Earth.

Celestia raised an eyebrow and tilted her head. "Really? What would you need that for?"

I grinned and waggled my hoof. "Now, now, now, let me worry about that. I'll return whatever I don't use, of course." I turned back to Rapids and Blaze, both of whom were looking at me curiously. "And I know Celestia talked about upsetting balance, and all, but it still would be best if one of Equestria's alpha alicorns had her two best soldiers along for the ride with her." I walked between them and put a wing on each of their backs. "What do you say? Will you follow me to the end of the world and beyond?"

"Even farther than that, Princess Antares," Captain Blaze said, saluting me. "The two of us would follow you wherever you lead."

"I never doubted it."


*  *  *  *


Three hours later, all of us stood in the storage room in front of the mirror once more. I had a backpack with the diamonds hidden inside an unbreakable case, which only I had the key to,  slung over my back. My valuable soldiers stood on either side of me, both out of their armor, just as I wasn't wearing my regalia. I didn't think that it would do for them to come over looking like they were either geared for war, or attending some medieval fair. Not a good first impression. Besides, Celestia told us that when we came over, we'd be wearing clothes anyway... somehow.

Not sure how that worked, but I didn't question it.

But... with all of that settled, we were ready to face the alternate human world.

"Now I must warn you all to be careful," Celestia said. "Since Sunset has the Element in her possession, I don't know what she will do with it. You must be prepared for anything. Do not underestimate her. She is a very smart and crafty pony. Once she finds out why you are there, she will do everything in her power to stop you."

"Eh, I'm not too worried." I smirked at my guards. "I think we can handle her. After that nonsense with the griffins sacking those towns, she should be easier."

"Famous last words, Antares," Luna said with a smug grin. "W... I look forward to hearing about your setbacks."

"Uh-huh. Should be a short conversation." I took a deep breath and nodded to my guards. "I think we're ready to go. I'll go first, you follow after me the second I disappear, okay?" The two saluted me, and tilted my head to them before looking over at Twilight. I could see the unease in her face at the task before us, so I gave her another confident smile. "Don't worry, Twi. We'll be back before you know it."

"I hope so, TD." She stepped forward and put a hoof on my foreleg. "Stay safe, alright?"

"I'll do my best."

With that, I turned around and stepped through the portal.

Okay, so I mentioned earlier when I put my hoof through it that I felt some force pulling on it. Well, now that I had gone through entirely, I felt that times a million. In every single direction. I felt like my body had turned into a slinky that someone was gleefully pushing down some stairs over and over again. I had no concept of time. All I could see was some psychedelic trippy... something that wouldn't be out of place in the final scenes of 2001: A Space Odyssey.

So I couldn't really count it as the weirdest thing that had happened to me since ascending, but I could sure put it up there.

Somehow the trip took forever, and somehow no time at all. Before I knew it, the LSD lights faded away, and darkness overtook me completely. Not the kind of darkness that comes from being in a dark cave, but more like... when your eyes are closed. I felt my senses slowly return to me, and I realized that I was laying on what felt like concrete. I groaned and rubbed my head before opening my eyes to see the closest thing to my world that I had come to in over three years.

"Holy me."

The first thing I noticed was Captain Blaze and Lieutenant Rapids waking up next to me. Instead of looking like what I would consider normal, they kept their coloration from when they were ponies. However... yeah, they were humans. Or at least, close enough. The proportions still struck me as odd, specifically their faces. Both had just the tiniest noses, as well as eyes closer to the size of their pony forms than a normal human. Their mane colors and styles stayed the same. Guess it'd be called hair now. But on the whole, I couldn't deny it: my two most loyal soldiers were now humans.

"Dude, I haven't gone through anything that weird since grade school," Lieutenant Rapids muttered as she rubbed her forehead with her fist. I suppose that she failed to realize her fingers yet.

"You're telling me," Captain Blaze said as he sat up. "I mean, I don't know if I--"

He opened his eyes, and instantly his pupils shrank to pinpricks as he saw me sitting in front of him. His jaw dropped, and he began stuttering out nonsense words. Now, I know that he knew I used to be a human way back when, but since I had no public pictures taken of me that I knew of, I doubted that he knew exactly what a human looked like. Ergo, this must have been quite a shock to him. I looked down at my body and began examining myself. Yep. Peach colored skin, just as expected. I was wearing a plain black t-shirt with my cutie mark on it, and a pair of blue jeans. A quick check told me that my shoulder length hair was the same shade of red as always. I looked back to my soldiers, noting that Lieutenant Rapids had woken up too, and now stared at me in the same way as Blaze, and gave them a confident grin.

"Lady and gentleman, welcome to your new human bodies." I slowly got to my feet and stretched out. I could feel the backpack on my back. Good. I'd need that. "This may take some getting used to, but with me as your guide, I think you'll find this world easily navigated."

"Uh..." Captain Blaze looked down at his body, clad in a gray shirt bearing his cutie mark with tan cargo pants, and began wiggling his fingers. "This is... new."

"Blaze, dude, you don't have your horn anymore," Rapids said, her eyes growing wider.

Blaze gasped and brought his hand to his forehead so quickly that I could hear the sound of the two colliding. I could see true panic beginning to build up, so I walked over and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Captain Blaze, please relax. I don't have my horn either. Nor my wings. Lieutenant Rapids doesn't have her wings either, so it's--"

"WHAT?!" Rapids shrieked, clutching at her back as if desperately hoping that her treasured wings would pop out if only she wished hard enough. "Wh-wh-where are my wings?!"

"Lieutenant Rapids, this isn't the time to panic." I walked over to her and extended my hand. "Just calm down, and everything is going to be okay. Like I said: I don't have my wings either. It's just part of being a human. You'll have them back with no problem once we go back through the portal. Until then, I need you to calm down and focus, okay? We need to focus on getting the Element back from Sunset."

Lieutenant Rapids groaned and rubbed her back once more, but once she realized that her wings weren't coming back, she took a deep breath and grabbed my hand, allowing me to help her up. She lost her balance for a moment, not used to being on two legs, but I held onto her until she got her bearings.

As I helped Captain Blaze up, she examined her new body, starting with wiggling her fingers.

"These are so weird," she whispered. "They're like minotaur hands. Nothing like hooves at all." She looked down at her body, which was clad in a white shirt bearing her cutie mark and a jean skirt that didn't even make it down to her knees. "And these..." She poked at her... chest area, something that made me blush a little and look away. "What the Tartarus are these? I mean, they looks like udders, or something, but that can't be right." She looked to Captain Blaze who simply shrugged, then to me. "What are they?"

I was a fool to realize that there weren't going to be some awkward parts about all of this.

"Those are... um... powerful male mind control devices, only to be used in the gravest of circumstances. You are not to show them to anyone." Lieutenant Rapids raised an eyebrow in disbelief, and I gave her a nervous grin in response. "Trust me. That's all I want to say on the subject."

She continued staring at me for a moment before slowly nodding her head. "Er... okay, Princess Antares. Whatever you say, I guess."

Princess. Princess Antares?

Wait...

"Hold the phone..." I turned around and felt around a little bit. Yeah.... yeah it was there! I spun back to face my soldiers, a wide grin on my face. "I'm a dude!" I squeed. "I got turned back into a dude when we went through the portal!"

Captain Blaze smirked at me and nodded. "Nice."

"Do you have any idea what this means?!" I said, throwing my arms around both of their shoulders. "I... I can pee standing up again now!"

"Er... what?" Lieutenant Rapids said, scooting away from me.

"You can?" Captain Blaze responded, giving me a curious look. "So does that mean...?" I grinned at him and nodded, and he began tapping his chin. "Interesting. Very interesting. This world might be better than I thought."

Lieutenant Rapids sighed and rolled her eyes. "Stallions," she muttered.

"Men, "I corrected. "We're called men here. You are called a woman. Plural form is women. Singular of men is man."

"Right. Fine. Men, women, whatever." She crossed her arms frowned at us. "So what now then, Prince Antares?"

"Well firstly, I don't think that we should use that name for me. I think you two should stick with TD while we're here." The two nodded in agreement. "Secondly, if Sunset came out of the portal here, then she's probably close by, unless she had some mode of transportation which enabled her to get far away fast, which I don't see as too likely. Ergo, we should probably check to see if..."

I decided to turn around just at that moment, and my gaze landed on something that I'd recognize anywhere. Something that I never really cared for in my youth. Even in this alternate world, it was unmistakable.

Sunset had led us to a high school.

As I continued staring at the building in front of me, one of the entrance doors opened up, and two kids, who I presumed were students, walked out. Something about them gave me an uneasy feeling. Almost like...

I looked back to my guards, then back to the students. My eyes widened when I made the connection. Not only had we gone through the portal, but... now we were high school age as well.

"... No."
> Settling In
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"So I take it that this wasn't what you were expecting Princess Anta... er... TD?"

I groaned and rubbed my temples as I stared at the school in front of me. "No, Captain Blaze. No, this is not what I was expecting. At all. This is actually just..." I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. "High school was weird for me. I was glad to be done with it, honestly. It seems like forever ago, especially now that I'm one of the rulers of Equestria and haven't seen Earth in three years, so..." I tilted my head and tapped my jaw with my finger. "Of all of the strange connections to Earth I could experience in this world, high school is the one I expected the least." I clicked my tongue and shrugged. "Still, we gotta get that Element back, so if we have to infiltrate a high school to do it, then so be it."

"As students?" Lieutenant Rapids questioned as I began walking forward. Her and Captain Blaze followed me, walking a little uneasily on their two legs for a few steps, but given that their spines were built for it, they took to it rather well. "I mean, wouldn't that be kind of complicated?"

I nodded as we neared the front entrance of the school. "Yeah, I would imagine so. However that's why I brought backup." I jostled the backpack to draw their attention to it. "I knew that bits wouldn't really work here, but precious stones are something that tend to be valuable across universes, I noticed. At least, between Earth and Equestria. They're less valuable in Equestria by a lot. I'd say the contents of my backpack there are roughly, say, five to ten thousand bits maybe? Being generous." I stopped just outside of the door and looked around just in case someone was listening in on our conversation. Seeing no one, I leaned in close to my guards to whisper.

"But if the gems in my backpack are worth here what they are on Earth, then I might have tens of millions of units of local currency for us to play around with."

As expected, the eyes of my guards widened and their jaws dropped. I smirked at them and leaned against the door frame. "You may find me greedy, but I'm just trying to cover my bases here. On the off chance we get stuck here, I want us to be self-sufficient to avoid drawing too much attention to ourselves. That much cash will allow us to deal with whatever comes our way, I think. It's more than enough for us to get by for two and a half years, yeah? Also, even besides that, we need stuff to prove that we're from here. I'm not talking stuff like birth certificates or something like that, but IDs wouldn't hurt. If we can't get them through official channels fast enough, I'm sure with this much money we could figure something out. Also, if we're here for more than just today, I want us to have food money, a place to stay, and so forth. Might not hurt to buy some phones, a computer, and maybe even a car if we can."

That last bit snapped them out of their shock. They exchanged a baffled glance before looking back to me.

"Er... excuse me, Princess Antares, a what?" Captain Blaze asked.

I waved my hand and turned to the school doors. "I'll explain when it comes up. For now, let's just do some initial looking around, alright? This might not even be the place where Sunset took the Element. Once we find out one way or the other, we'll figure out our next step. Sound good?"

Blaze and Rapids both saluted me, something that they would probably have to avoid in the future, but given that no one was around, I thought nothing of it. Once we established a base of operations and I really figured out how much this world and Earth had in common, we could start going into the smaller details.

With nothing else for it, I pushed the door open and walked into the high school.

The first thing I noticed was a large banner hanging over a trophy case that read "Welcome to Canterlot High."

Uh... Canterlot High? I have to admit: that one threw me for a loop a little bit. The name of the capital of all of Equestria was the name of a high school here? Were we in the capital city of this nation, or state? Were there states here like America, or provinces like Canada, or was it just one small country with a bunch of cities and towns, and whatnot? Did they all relate to Equestria somehow, or was this just a complete coincidence?

"Princess Antares?"

Okay, so maybe this would be harder to navigate than I originally anticipated. Of course, a lot of those questions could be solved with some research. Shouldn't be too hard, especially if this place has internet. I could find out a lot of information through there. Finding a computer would probably be the best place to start if I wanted to do that.

"Princess Antares? What are you doing?"

It was a school, so I figured that it should have a library. Any modern school worth its salt would have a few computers, even if they were in lower-class areas . Given the state of the school, I doubt that to be the case. So I guess--

I found my train of thought cut off when Captain Blaze grabbed my shoulder. I flinched in surprise and turned to face him. Turns out both him and Lieutenant Rapids had been staring at me with looks of confusion.

"Er, Princess Antares, are you okay?" Captain Blaze asked. "You've been staring at that banner for, like, five minutes now."

"Oh, yeah..." I grinned sheepishly. "Yeah, I was just thinking is all. We need to do some research on this school, I think. We shouldn't stay here too long if the Element isn't even here, after all."

I could tell that Captain Blaze wanted to respond, and would certainly have done so, but right then something interesting happened.

The bell rang.

Gosh that brought back some memories for me. Memories that I thought I had repressed, since I really didn't care to experience them again. Before I even realized what was happening, hundreds of high schoolers started pouring out of every single nearby door like an unstoppable tide of awkward acne ridden hormones. I felt Blaze and Rapids both grab onto me as if these kids were some dangerous enemy that we needed to be wary of. Well, probably not, unless they had Xbox Live in this world.

Another bell rang, and the herd of teenagers began rapidly thinning as they filed into their classrooms. Seeing this made Blaze and Rapids release their hold on me, now that they had a little more room to spread out. A little more, but not a lot. Before I could get my bearings, a yellow blob was pushed into me, on accident, I imagine, knocking me to the ground. I heard Blaze and Rapids cry out, and another whimper as footsteps faded away with one more bell going off.

I pushed myself to a sitting position and saw a most unusual sight in front of me. Blaze and Rapids stood over a yellow skinned, pink haired student who looked oddly familiar. She covered her head with her arms and shook on the ground, whimpering like a little filly.

"Got her for you, Pri-- uh, TD," Captain Blaze said, looking rather pleased with himself. "This is the one who attacked you."

I rolled my eyes and got to my feet. "For goodness sakes, Burning. She didn't attack me. It was an accident. Does she look like some assassin to you?"

"Er..." Blaze bit his lip and uneasily scratched the back of his neck. "Well, okay, I guess not. Might have gotten a bit overzealous. Sorry."

I scoffed and walked over to them. "Don't apologize to me." I reached the shivering girl and squatted down in front of her, gently putting a hand on her shoulder. She squeaked and flinched like I had hit her. "Hey, it's okay. I know you didn't mean it. It was an accident, alright? My friends here are a bit... overprotective, that's all. They didn't mean it either."

The girl stopped shivering, and she moved her arms away from her head, revealing one eye looking straight at me. Yup, same color and everything. Seeing it left no doubt in my mind: this world had an equivalent of Fluttershy. I smiled warmly at her and extended my hand. Her eye flicked over to it and stared at it, uncertainty ever present in her expression. Finally, after a few moments of uncomfortable silence, she gently raised her hand and took mine, allowing me to help her up. I noticed that the books and papers she had been carrying scattered all over the floor, so I bent down to start collecting them.

"So, my name is TD," I said, grabbing a math book. "These are my friends Burning Blaze and River Rapids." I straightened up and extended my arm with the math book in it. She took it after a moment's hesitation. "What's your name?"

I should have expected that the answer I would receive would be a barely audible whisper. I mean, I already knew her name, or at least, I felt pretty sure what it was, but I needed confirmation. I picked up another book and handed it to her.

"Sorry, didn't quite catch that. There's no need to be afraid." I glanced at my guards, and both of them took a few steps back to give her some space. "What's your name?"

"Um... I'm... Fluttershy."

I tilted my head. "Fluttershy?" I think that's what I heard.

She slowly, almost imperceptibly, nodded, triggering a wide smile from me. Good. If I could become friends with her, that could really help me out here. I picked up the last of her stuff off of the floor, and noticed that the papers all seemed to be fliers of some sort. A quick read through of the top one showed me that they were fliers for an animal shelter, one that I would bet my throne she volunteered at. My grin turned into a slight smirk. Bingo.

"So," I said, handing the papers back to her. "You like animals, huh? That's cool stuff. I do too. I saw your fliers. You volunteer at an animal shelter? I think that's awesome!"

And it was like a switch had been flipped.

Fluttershy stopped hiding in her hair, and a wide grin spread across her face. She squeezed her books and papers tight like she was hugging them and gave a little squee of delight.

"You like animals?! Oh, that's so wonderful! I almost never meet anybody around here who cares enough beyond finding them cute!" Fluttershy blushed a little and kicked at the floor. "I pass out fliers by the statue outside every week, but nobody ever takes any of them." Her grin widened and she leaned in a little more to me. "What's your favorite animal?"

I chuckled and crossed my arms. "Well, my family had a really cute dog when I was growing up, but I have a certain passion for ponies."

Blaze and Rapids rolled their eyes in perfect unison.

"Oh, that's so wonderful!" Fluttershy squealed. "Dogs are cute, and I love each and every one of them, but there's something just majestic about ponies, don't you agree?"

"I completely agree," I said with a nod. "Although..." I tapped my jaw thoughtfully. "I did see two ponies once, and their cruel owner had painted one red, and the other blue. Then he branded the red one with this fire design, and the blue one with a whirlpool design. It looked absolutely horrific."

Fluttershy gasped and brought one of her hands up to her mouth. "Buh-buh-buh-but who could do something like that to a poor, innocent animal? That's so cruel!"

"I know," I said with a sad sigh, pointedly ignoring the glares from Blaze and Rapids. "They didn't look majestic at all. They looked pretty ridiculous when all was said and done. Don't worry. They're in good hands now."

"So you know why places like animal shelters are so important!" The next thing I knew one of her fliers was in my hands. I'm actually not sure how it got there. "They need help to save more poor animals from unfortunate fates like being painted red with a flame brand!" Fluttershy's eyes turned all innocent, but somehow really manipulative. "So can I count on you to help me this Saturday?"

"Uh..." I scratched the back of my neck and looked down at the flier. "I don't know about this Saturday, but if I can't, I'll certainly spread the word around."

"Wait..." Fluttershy sighed and looked down at the ground. "I forgot. The Fall Formal is this Saturday. You're probably going to that, aren't you?"

"Fall Formal?" I tilted my head. "Is that the school dance, or something?"

Fluttershy looked at me quizzically. "Um... yes. You've heard about it, right? I mean, it's all anybody has been talking about for the past month." Her frown deepened. "There's no way that you haven't heard about it." Before I could respond, she blushed and hid in her hair again. "N-not that I'm accusing you of something, or anything like that. I-it's just that..."

"Well, that would be why I haven't heard about it." I motioned to Blaze and Rapids. "The three of us are new here. We just transferred."

Fluttershy raised an eyebrow in interest. "Really? This late in the semester? Are you going to be able to keep up with all of the classes?"

I scoffed and waved my hand with a confident grin. "Oh yeah, no problem. I made sure I could fit in smoothly before coming here."

"From where?"

I froze for a moment, causing Fluttershy to once again blush and hide in her hair.

"I-if you don't want to tell me that's okay. I'm sorry for prying."

"No, no, it's fine," I said, looking over at Blaze and Rapids. I could see that I had their undivided attention now. Of course I did. I mean, I was making up our cover story here. They needed to know the deal.

"I'm from Canada."

Sure, Antares. Just say the first thing that pops into your head. No way that could go wrong.

Sure enough, Fluttershy gave me a look like I had just said "I'm from the place where apples and oranges are the same thing." She chanced a look back to my soldiers, both of whom nodded to her, thus solidifying my story for our origins.

"Okay. Canada," she said quietly. "I've never heard of that place."

"It's a small town," I elaborated. "It's a long ways from here. Not much really happens around there."

"Long ways away like in the next state, or a different country?"

"Next state over," I confirmed. If I said country she'd ask which one. "Or rather, the one right on top of this one. Canada is a small town of about five thousand people in the northernmost part."

I really, really really hoped that there was a state above this one. If not, she'd spot my lies immediately. I kept up my smile up as she stared at me. After a moment, though, she slowly nodded, relieving a bunch of tension in me. Close call.

"Okay. That sounds nice." A very "Fluttershy" smile crossed her face. "Did you like it up there?"

My smile became a touch more genuine, and I raised my fist to about head level. "True north strong and free."

Fluttershy giggled at that. "You're not that far north."

I shrugged. "Well, we're farther north than you. And besides, with a town that small, it's a pretty tightly-knit community. Ergo, we don't identify as people from our state, we identify as Canadians."

"Canadians," Fluttershy repeated as if testing the word out. "Okay, I guess that makes a little bit of sense. " Her smile returned. "Well TD the Canadian, welcome to Canterlot High."

"HEY!"

I flinched back at the loud noise, and it took me a second to realize that I had heard a human voice shouting. I turned around to the direction of the voice and saw a girl with light amber skin and red and yellow striped hair stomping towards us with the nastiest snarl on her face this side of a pitbull. Flanking here were... human versions of Snips and Snails? I stared at the two human versions of the colts I had come to know very well in my time at Ponyville, watching in a state similar to awe at the sight of them trying to look tough, but failing on "Blueblood prank war ability" levels. I almost felt embarrassed for them.

Before I could reflect on that any further, the queen bee one pushed past me and stood in front of Fluttershy, who had already fallen to the floor and curled up into a ball again.

"I thought I told you to get to the south locker hall!" the new girl screeched, pointing down the hallway she had just come from. "I wasn't finished talking to you!"

"B-but the bell rang," Fluttershy whimpered. "I was gonna come down, Sunset, but I--"

"But I, but I, but I!" the girl repeated in a mocking tone.

Wait... did Fluttershy just call her "Sunset?"

I cleared my throat and tapped Sunset on the shoulder. "Excuse me, Ms. Shimmer, but I--"

Sunset slapped my hand away without even looking back. "I'm not talking to you!" she snapped. "Get out of here if you know what's good for you."

"Huh, huh, yeah!" Snips said before joining his friend in a series of guffaws.

I sighed and rubbed my temples. "Okay, first off..." I looked back at Snips and Snails. "I couldn't be more embarrassed for you if I tried, and I really am trying. You're better than this. I know you are. Secondly..." I shifted my attention back to Sunset. "Can you not be such a jerk to her? Because seriously, there's an obscenely crass gynecological term that perfectly sums up how you're acting right now."

Somehow the atmosphere in the room tangibly changed. I began to suspect that I might have interfered in some rigid social order here. Not that I cared, honestly, but from the way that Fluttershy's eyes went almost as wide as her head, and Snips and Snails needed to pick their jaws up off the floor, I figured that Sunset wasn't someone I wanted to mess with.

The fact that Sunset stood perfectly still, barely even breathing, not even turning to look at me, solidified that in my mind. I exchanged an uneasy glance with Blaze and Rapids, causing the two of them to start inching closer to me.

Finally Sunset spoke. When she did, the venom in her voice could create an entirely new breed of scorpions.

"What. Did you say. To me?"

I sighed. "I said 'because seriously, there's an obscenely--'"

Sunset wheeled around, fire almost literally in her eyes.

"YOU DON'T GET TO TALK TO ME LIKE THAT, YOU LITTLE PUNK! DON'T YOU KNOW WHO I AM?!"

I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms. "Let's just calm down before things get out of hand, yeah? I don't want any trouble, okay? And to answer your question: your name is Sunset Shimmer. But I'd like to follow up with one of my own." I tilted my head. "Do you know who I am?"

Sunset stomped a few steps closer and poked a finger in my chest. Blaze and Rapids nearly tore her head off for that alone, but a quick shake my head made them back down.

"Obviously you're new here, so you don't know how things work." Sunset poked my chest again. "I rule the school, okay? You don't get to back talk me. Now since you didn't know I'll be nice and let you off the hook this once if you just go back to your class and keep your nose out of business that doesn't concern you."

"Fluttershy is my friend." I couldn't help but notice the relieved, almost hopeful smile that Fluttershy got when I said that. "You are being cruel to her, and will continue to be so if I leave. Ergo it concerns me."

"You're stepping into stuff you can't begin to understand," Sunset growled. "Just walk away. I'm only gonna talk to her."

"Sunset, I'm sorry I took the crown to Principal Celestia," Fluttershy whimpered. "B-but I didn't think it was yours!"

Uh...

Okay, firstly, Principal Celestia? Well, I'd have to reserve judgement on that one. Secondly... it seemed I had found the Element.

Sunset whirled around and turned her wrath on Fluttershy. "It wasn't yours, you moron!"

"W-well, it just looked like the one for the Fall Formal, and it just kind of came out of nowhere, so..."

Yeah, target acquired.

Before Sunset verbally assaulted Fluttershy anymore, I stepped between the two of them. "Okay, so, I'm going to take Fluttershy to class, and Sunset, you can just lament the loss of your perceived possession in peace, okay?"

Sunset didn't like that idea.

"I told you to stay out of this!"

"But I won't," I said, helping Fluttershy up, " and I know that you don't want to turn this into a big fuss now. Not in the middle of the entryway. Besides, you can scream at me all you want and I'm not going to care." I could see a vein beginning to bulge in Sunset's forehead, but I continued. "And furthermore, if you decided that it might be a good idea for physical violence, I would like to draw your attention to my two associates, both of whom know three forms of offense based martial arts."

Pony versions, but hey, why let her know that?

Sunset looked over at Blaze and Rapids, and I allowed myself a small smile when I saw her give the barest of flinches at the sight of them. Were they both completely ripped? No, but she could tell they had some decent muscle mass. Stuff typical of soldiers, really. So while Captain Blaze might not be able to do big crazy karate moves, Sunset did get the idea that he could break her nose with very minimal effort should I command him to do so.

A rather impressive scowl crossed Sunset's face. I had the power in the scenario here, and she knew it full well. She huffed and turned around to face me, her glare back in full force.

"This. Isn't. Over."

I shrugged and moved a bit closer to Fluttershy. "I'm counting on it."

With that, the gauntlet had been thrown down, and we both knew it. While I doubt she realized she was dealing with an Equestrian princess Celestia had sent after her, probably because she was expecting Twilight to come for it, and I don't think she knew about any "Princess Antares", I think she figured that I wasn't your run-of-the-mill high school transfer student. With one final glare, she turned around and walked away, leaving me to contemplate all that had just transpired.
> Establishing Presence
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I cannot believe you just did that," Fluttershy whispered, horror dripping from her tone. "Nobody speaks to Sunset Shimmer like that!"

I shrugged. "Eh, I've dealt with my fair share of bullies before. Believe me: Sunset is all bark and no bite." I smirked at Fluttershy. "To use a phrase you might get a kick out of."

"But how are you going to stop her from making your life miserable here?" Fluttershy questioned. "The last student who stood up to her isn't even welcome in the lunchroom anymore."

I scoffed and waved my hand. "And? You really think I base my self-worth off of what a bunch of teenagers think? Believe me, Fluttershy, in a few years, nothing Sunset has done to anyone will matter in the slightest." I tilted my head and tapped my jaw thoughtfully. "As for how I'm going to continue to hold my ground against her... Maybe I could make her eat a nice big bowl of spider webs."

Fluttershy's eyes widened again, and she vigorously shook her head. "Oh no, you can't do that! It would be so cruel to destroy the homes of those poor innocent spiders!" She blushed and looked at the ground. "And I guess it would be a little mean to Sunset, too."

Ignoring the fact that I personally don't believe that there's such a thing as a "poor innocent spider", no matter what the size (the small ones can hide and the big ones are just... wrong) I'd play my hand too early if I forced Sunset to eat a bowl of spider webs. Oh well. I'd find out something to do with her before this was all said and done. I mean, stealing an Element of Harmony wasn't something that I could ignore. Sure, the Element was my priority, but if I could get Sunset back to Equestria to stand trial or something, I'd definitely do that. But again, I'd need to get the Element first.

"So," I said, turning my attention back to Fluttershy, "you heading off to class now?"

She nodded, but I could also see a grimace on her face. "Yeah, but Sunset made me late." She lowered her head and kicked at the ground. "I don't like being late for Ms. Harshwhinny's class."

Oh crap, there was a Ms. Harshwhinny here?! Oh man, even us princesses didn't really want to get on her bad side. Just something about her made us flinch. If I had to go to a class or two to keep my cover here, I'd definitely try to avoid one of her's.

"So, what's your first class?" Fluttershy asked.

"I dunno," I said. "I haven't actually gotten my class schedule yet."

"Oh, then you'd better go talk to Principal Celestia or Vice-Principal Luna about that, then. I'd hate for you to miss any more of school than you already have."

Vice-Principal who now? So if there was a Celestia and Luna, does that mean that...?

Nah, couldn't be. I didn't live in Canterlot, and this was Canterlot High. There'd probably be a Principal Antares in Baltimare High, or something like that. Regardless, I needed to see this "Principal Celestia" if I was to get some more information about this place. Information is power, after all. I looked over to Fluttershy and smiled at her.

"Yeah, I probably should. Thanks, Fluttershy."

She returned my thanks with a happy little smile. "Oh, you're welcome. Her office is just down that hallway." She pointed to the next hallway on the right. "You can't miss it."

"Sounds good." I grimaced a bit. "Hope Ms. Harshwhinny's not too mad about you being late."

Fluttershy squeaked and her pupils shrunk to pinpricks. "SeeyoulaterTDbye!" With that, she zoomed down the opposite hallway into the classroom of terror.

The three of us watched her disappear around a corner before Captain Blaze cleared his throat and spoke up. "So, uh, what class would a mare like Ms. Harshwhinny teach anyway?"

I shrugged and began walking down the hallway towards Principal Celestia's office. About a hundred feet on my left side I could see a door that I could gather was her office. However, on the wall proceeding the door, I noticed a long line of school pictures. I tilted my head and walked up to them just to see what they were about.

The next string of words out of my mouth weren't really the most foal-friendly, sooooooo I'll just not let you know what they were.

The reason for my black speech? Well, the first picture I saw was one of the faculty of this school.

Principal Celestia.

Vice-Principal Luna

And Mr. Antares, head of the state's teacher's union.

That in of itself wasn't really my problem, though. The problem stemmed more from...

"Those things aren't human," I said, shakily pointing at the picture of the three of them.

Blaze and Rapids moved to get a better look at the picture. Blaze frowned and tilted his head before giving me a questioning look.

"Wait, I'm legitimately asking here, TD. Do you mean literally?"

"No, no," I grumbled as I waved my hand. "No, I'm just saying that Celestia and Luna don't look anything like any human I've ever seen. I think they'd even look out of place in this world. Their proportions, their faces, their expressions..." My eye twitched. "Something's just not quite right about the two of them. I can't quite put my hoof on it." I looked down at my hands and rolled my eyes. "Finger. I have fingers again. So I can't quite put my finger on it."

"I guess they look kind of freaky," Rapids said with a nod, "though this Mr. Antares dude looks almost exactly like you. I think he might be a few years older or something, but I could see how some people might get confused."

I took a closer look at Mr. Antares and bit my lip. "Yeah, you're right. Hmm. Before we start looking for the crown in this place, we'll have to deal with that. I think the only reason Sunset might not have noticed was because she was too furious with me, but that might not hold up a second time." I uneasily scratched the back of my neck. "Not sure if Fluttershy made the connection, and if she did, why she didn't bring it up? Regardless, we'll have to fix it. If two Mr. Antares' are going around, that's really going to complicate things." I turned around and began walking the way we came. "I want to spend the rest of the day getting settled here. Getting some money, a car maybe, selling some of the stuff in my backpack." I turned left towards the entrance of the school. "Plus I should probably change my appearance a little bit, style my hair differently and whatnot, if for no other reason than to not look like the Mr. Antares here."

"But TD, how are we going to do all of that?" Lieutenant Rapids asked. "I mean, wouldn't we need I.D.s, maybe birth certificates or bank accounts if we're going to get a..." She exchanged a look with Blaze. "Whatever a car is?"

I gulped as we walked out of the school, unable to deny Rapids' assessment. I stopped and turned to give them a comforting smile. "Well, Sunset started out in a worse position than we're in: she didn't have anybody who knows anything about human worlds. Somehow she made it without all of those things, right?"

"I guess," Rapids muttered, "but she didn't only have a few days before she was stuck here for over two years, abandoning her loved ones and/or subjects."

I let out a heavy sigh and began walking again. "Yes, I know. Trust me, though, I'll figure something out."


*  *  *  *


"Wait, so you're telling me that I don't need any form of I.D. to set up a bank account here?"

The teller smiled at me and shook her head. "That's right, dearie. I just need you to fill out this form here." She nudged the papers and pen closer to me. "We don't require any form of card I.D. at this time, but we will be taking your picture and fingerprinting you if you don't have any current forms of I.D. on you right now."

Ah, so if I couldn't prove my identity right then and there, I could still be caught by the cops in this world if I did anything financially illegal due to the bank having my picture and fingerprints.. I don't think that would work in Equestria, and especially not Earth, but, well, I guess society had evolved differently here. It seemed to work if this is how they decided to do things here. I shrugged and pulled the papers over to me.

"Guess this explains how Sunset's been living here for over two years," I muttered.


*  *  *  *


"My goodness, this is... this is amazing! I have rarely seen diamonds of this quality!" The jewel shop owner took the diamond out from under the microscope and grinned at me. "These are heirlooms, you say?"

I nodded, still wiping my fingers on a napkin to try to get the fingerprint ink off. "Yeah. Decided to sell them because, well, it's time to start heading out into the real world and whatnot, and I gotta pay for that somehow."

"Makes sense," the owner said with a nod. "And honestly you could not have picked a better trio of gems to sell!"

I smirked at the owner. "Yeah, I thought so too. I am aware of what they're worth and their superior quality."

"Indeed, indeed," the owner said with a nod. “So the largest stone you have here is ten carats. Then you also have a nice five carat and a great six carat gem here as well. The price per carat for diamonds these days is about twenty five grand average, but for diamonds of this quality, I'm going to say more in the range of fifty grand per carat. Given that we have to make a profit when we re-sell these, I'm going to offer you..."

The shop owner scribbled down a number on a notepad and pushed it towards me. I pulled it over and checked it before tilting the paper so that Rapids and Blaze could see it too. I chalked it up to their guard stoicism that they didn't go nuts immediately. Still, I had known them long enough to pick up on subtle changes in their demeanor. Inside they freaked out when they saw the number. Good to know we had some really good diamonds here. I nodded and pushed the notepad back.

"I think you have yourself a deal."


*  *  *  *


"I like this house. What do you think, River? Burning?"

The three of us stood in the entryway of a rather nice two story, upper-middle class type home. The immaculate hardwood floors and the nice chandelier with electric lighting hanging from the ceiling gave a sense of comfortable living without necessarily going into opulence. It had everything that a house needed, really, and since we had hit four more jewelry shops and had ten million dollars (yes the local currency was called dollars) in my new bank account, I figured that I could afford the house.

"It, uh, it looks pretty good, TD," Captain Blaze said, looking around at the house while trying to hide the fact that he couldn't wrap his head around what he was seeing. Even a house like this compared decently well to my palace in Baltimare. Hey, I was kind of a less ornate princess, ya know?

"It comes with everything that you see here," the realtor said, tapping her finger on her clipboard as if subtly hinting that I should have already started signing my soul away to exorbitant interest rates and soul stealing mortgages. "The backyard might be a fun project if you ever wanted to, say, put a swimming pool or a hot tub back there, and I think that the master bedroom could look really spectacular with some classical style furnishings, don't you think?"

I nodded, tapping my jaw in thought. "Yeah, and I think that the bathroom could use a little re-modeling, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it." I turned to the realtor and smiled. "We'll take it."

The realtor beamed at me. "Excellent!" She looked down to her clipboard and began looking through some papers. "Now, there are some papers and such that I'll need you to sign, of course. Normal stuff. And there will be some pamphlets letting you know about interest rates and the mortgage and whatnot, but that's typical homeowner stuff."

I chuckled and waved my hand. "Oh that won't be necessary. We'll be doing all of this through my bank, and I think you'll find that I have enough to cover the cost of this house up front."

"Uh..."


*  *  *  *


"What's our number?"

"Fifty one."

"And what number is it currently?"

I sighed and glared at Captain Blaze. "Thirty four. Just like it says on the board over there."

"Oh."

Lieutenant Rapids groaned and kicked at the ground while trying to find a comfortable spot on the prison chairs we had managed to snag while we waited. "I take back everything I said about guarding doors!" she moaned. "Just let it end!"

"No kidding," Captain Blaze grumbled. "What did you call this place again? Hell?"

I sighed and flipped to another page in the magazine I was currently reading. "I think I called it that, too. But its official name is a little more ominous: the DMV. And we need to endure it if I'm going to get a car."


*  *  *  *


"And those are cars?"

"Uh-huh," I said as we walked up to the dealership ten minutes before it closed. "That's how we're going to get around town."

"Er... okay," Rapids said, eying the cars as if one of them would come to life and start trying to eat her. I noticed that one of her shoulders twitch as though she expected a bladed wing to be there in case she needed it to use in a fight with one of these things.

"It's going to be fine," I assured her as a salesman walked up to us, a big grin on his face. "I know how to work these things, and I've gotten a temporary license to do so. It's not a big deal."

"Hey, folks! Can I help you?" the salesman said chipperly. "If you're looking for a good, solid car we've got an incredible sale on all 2010 Diamondbacks, made by the Filthy Rich corporation. If you're looking for something quicker then a Silver Shredder might be just the car for you as well! We've got a spectacular deal on some of those, too!"

"I think we're just looking for utility for the moment," I said, looking around the lot. "We're not planning on taking long trips, but we do need something with plenty of cargo space."

The salesman's eyes lit up and he began walking us down an aisle of cars. "Ah, yes, yes! I think I have just the car for you! We have some really nice 2013 FlimFlam trucks if you want, those sell really well. We also have some really quality Turgis brand trucks. They're foreign, but everybody I've talked to said that they're really reliable."

I nodded in approval. "Yeah, that last one sounds good. Reliability is a big plus for me."

The salesman led us to a line of decently sized trucks, most of which looked brand new. I walked up to a black one with tinted windows and tapped on the side. "I like this one. It looks sturdy, reliable, and best of all, it has the space in the back that I'm looking for."

"Excellent!" the salesman said happily, no doubt seeing dollar signs. After glancing at the fifty five thousand dollar price tag on it, I could guess why. "I assume you'd like a test drive before we draw up the paperwork?"

I smirked and nodded. "Naturally. It's not that I don't trust that this car is top-of-the-line, it's just that I need to make sure that this car and I are made for each other, that's all."

"Makes perfect sense to me," the salesman said with an approving nod. "Come with me and we'll get the keys and take her for a spin, how's that?"

"Sounds good."

I could tell that the salesman had a bit more of a spring in his step when we walked back to the main building of the dealership. If I bought the car, and I didn't see any reason why I wouldn't at present, then that would look pretty good for him, especially if he made bonuses on commission, or whatever. Eh, good for him.

As we got closer, I looked over at Blaze and Rapids, who were both looking at me uneasily. I gave them a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry. Like I said: I know my way around a car like that. I used to drive my sister's truck all of the time. It's no big deal. You'll be perfectly sa--"

And that's when I saw it.

It.

I froze in my tracks, my eyes wide and my jaw nearly on the ground. Blaze, Rapids, and the salesman all noticed that I stopped, and they looked to where I was staring. I shakily raised my hand and pointed to the car in front of me. That car. The Car of Destiny.

"That car,"  said, my voice surprisingly steady despite the fact that my heart was going a hundred miles an hour. "I... I want it."

The salesman raised an eyebrow and tilted his head. "Instead of the Turgis?"

I vigorously shook my head. "No, including the Turgis. I want them both. Just.. just get me the paperwork. I need that car, okay?"

"Er..." The salesman alternated looks between me and my guards before shrugging. "Yeah, if you want it then I will be more than happy to sell it to you. At a cheaper price, since you're buying two."

"Right, right." I began walking towards the main building of the dealership. "I just need that car."


*  *  *  *


An hour, a bunch of paperwork, a short test drive of the Turgis, and eighty five thousand dollars later, we had our cars. I had the second car hooked up to the back of the Turgis, and we drove off leaving a slightly bemused, but doubtlessly thrilled at the two sales, salesman behind. It didn't matter anymore. My whole day had changed. We made a few trips to some shops around town for some supplies, then it was back to our house, which Lieutenant Rapids had affectionately nicknamed The Castle. After taking out all of the food we'd bought, and setting up the mattresses so we'd have a place to sleep for the night, I parked the truck in the garage and had my guards move the car into the backyard while I grabbed my tools.

I slowly walked into the backyard where Blaze and Rapids were leaning against the car, looking at me with confusion. I hadn't said much of anything since seeing this car, and now the bundle I was carrying made them even more uneasy.

"Uh, Princess Antares? Are you okay?" Captain Blaze asked.

I nodded and continued moving. "Yep. I think so. I just need to do some work on this car." I sighed as I reached the car and set the bundle down next to it. "Did you have an interesting day?"

"Of course we did," Rapids snarked. "I mean, I've only seen more new things in one day than I ever have. We've just moved to this world and now we're millionaires who can buy anything, we've discovered what cars are, and they're pretty interesting, and now you're doing... whatever it is you're doing."

"Uh-huh."

Blaze and Rapids exchanged another look while I continued to stare at the car. After a moment, I took a deep breath and ran a hand through my hair.

"You two can go get some dinner now, okay? I'll just be out here doing some work on the car, alright? Leave me be until I say otherwise."

"Er..." Blaze and Rapids straightened up. "Okay, Princess Antares," Blaze said. "Whatever you say."

"Thank you."

I waited a moment for the two of them to go back into the house, but once I heard the back door close behind me, I took a deep breath and unrolled my bundle.

"So," I began laying out all of my tools. "We meet at last. You and me. I know you're not the real one, but you're as close as I'm going to get, so I'll make due." I stared straight into the car's windshield, as if expecting to see a shadowy figure behind the wheel.

"I suppose I should thank you, really. I rule an entire nation, I have obscene amounts of power, I am beloved by all of my subjects and I love them dearly in return, and I have a wonderful marefriend that I can be with for an eternity. I couldn't have had any of those back on Earth. That said..." I picked up a baseball bat from my collection of tools that included a sledgehammer and a machete and glared at the car. The car that was the exact make, color, and model as the one that Celestia had pulled me into Equestria to save me from.

"I am gonna fuck you up."

When I returned to the house after three hours of laughing, sobbing, and turning the car into something that didn't even resemble anything that had been an automobile, I felt... a little better. Like some part of my past had been put to rest. 
> Tracking the Element
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

My guards didn't bother asking. They knew enough to know that I had a good reason to do what I did to that car. At some point with me, you stop asking questions, and they knew that. I walked back inside our house and went straight to bed. I wasn't hungry. I immediately slipped into a dreamless sleep, feeling that, somehow, I had gotten at least a little resolution on arguably the single biggest moment of my life.

We all woke up at six-thirty thanks to the cheap alarm clock I had bought. After a quick, but still rather filling breakfast, we hopped into my car to run a few errands before school started. First, we sold a few more diamonds at another shop, then donated that money to Fluttershy's animal charity. I figured that since I was ideally leaving sooner rather than later, I might as well make good on my promise to help out with that. We also picked up some hair dye for me and changed my hair color to blonde. Not sure how well the color scheme went with my skin color exactly, but I didn't look as much like the Antares of this world, that's for sure. With all of that settled, we pulled into Canterlot High's school parking lot at 7:45, just fifteen minutes before classes were set to start. I turned the car off, allowing the three of us to hop outside. Since it was new and larger than most of the other cars in the parking lot, it was already starting to turn a few heads.

"Ug, I'm not sure if I'll ever totally get used to that, Princess," Captain Blaze said, rubbing the side of his head. "It just feels... weird."

"Yeah, I guess it did at first," Lieutenant Rapids said, coming to the other side of us. "I've kinda gotten used to it, though."

Blaze glared at her. "That's because you were a pegasus."

"And hopefully will be again by tomorrow evening at the very, very latest," I said, locking the car and setting the alarm. "We have a general idea of where the Element is, so with any luck it won't take too much time to get ahold of it." I looked over to the school where the students had begin filing in and deeply exhaled. "My only worry is Sunset. I'd like to leave this place relatively undisturbed, and taking the Element back and arresting Sunset is going to be tricky."

Captain Blaze tilted his head. "We're arresting Sunset Shimmer?"

I nodded and began walking towards the school. "Of course. She came into Equestria and stole a very valuable defense weapon for some reason. Not only that, but she's a bully here. There's no way she's just taking it because she thinks it looks nice. So, we're going to take her back to Equestria to stand trial for her actions."

"Yeah, Princess Antares, because we totally have an arrest warrant for her, and it won't be seen as kidnapping at all," Rapids snarked. 

"We could always try to explain to Principal Celestia and Mr. Antares that you're his male-turned-female counterpart form another dimension, a dimension where you're a pony," Captain Blaze mused. "I'm sure if we did that, they'd just give us the Element and Sunset, and we'd be back in Equestria before lunchtime."

I rolled my eyes as we entered the school. Truthfully, I didn't really have a concrete plan for how I'd get Sunset back to Equestria. The Element wouldn't be a problem. After all, it was just a thing that I could smuggle into my backpack easily enough. However, getting Sunset back to Equestria would be far trickier. Despite their general snarkiness, my soldiers were right that I didn't exactly have a warrant to bring Sunset back. I mean, it's not like Celestia asked me to either, but I certainly wasn't going to just leave her here to her own devices so she could pull something like this again in another three years, only with more knowledge of what we would do. 

I had my work cut out for me, basically. 

Before I could think more on that, I spotted Fluttershy standing by her locker, and walked up to her. She heard me coming apparently, because she turned her head in my direction as I approached, and a relieved smile crossed her face when she saw that it was just me. She shut her locker and gave me a little wave, which I returned. 

"Hello, TD." She tilted her head. "You look different."

I smirked and ran a hand through my hair. "Yeah, I thought I'd try something new. Just felt like it, you know? Don't you ever just feel like doing something adventurous and then say 'yeah, I'll do that.'?"

Fluttershy looked down at the ground and kicked at it. "No," she mumbled. 

Oh. Right. Fluttershy. 

I cleared my throat and rubbed the back of my neck. "Right. Uh... anyway, I found out that I won't be able to volunteer at the animal shelter this weekend..." Gosh, her look of disappointment hurt more than I thought it would. I was quick to remedy that. "But, I did donate three hundred dollars to make up for that."

Fluttershy quietly gasped and smiled. "You did? Oh thank you, TD! That's going to help us so much!" She leaned in and gave me a quick hug. "I'm very grateful that you did that, and so are my animal friends. Even three hundred dollars is enough to buy food for many of them."

"Glad I could help," I said, patting her on the back. "Now, I have to go talk to Principal Celestia for a few minutes, so I'll see you at lunch maybe?"

Fluttershy nodded happily. "Lunchtime it is." 

"Cool. Well, then, good luck with--"

I would have finished the sentence, but I was backing away, and as such, I didn't see where I was going. As a result, I collided with someone walking down the hall who also hadn't been paying attention. I stumbled, but managed to keep my balance. I turned to see who I had run into and was met with... 

Pink. 

That kind of pink only comes from one pony. Or in this instance, person, I guess. 

This world's equivalent of Pinkie Pie stared at me with wide eyes, her hand over her mouth. I noticed Blaze and Rapids inching towards us in case things got nasty, but I waved them down. Pinkie Pie blinked once, leaned in, and, of all things, sniffed me. 

"You're the new kid."

I blinked. "Uh..."

Pinkie nodded and began circling me as she rubbed her chin. "Yep. You're the new one. The one who stood up to Sunset Shimmer, even. You're not from around here. Not even close. You dyed your hair to avoid something." 

"Whoa, wait a second," I said, raising my hands defensively. "What are you talking about?"

Pinkie Pie stopped in front of me, and before I could say anything else, her pensive look popped into that large grin that I associated with her. Her voice even had that little "Pinkie Squeak" in it.

"Well, I assumed you were the new one because I talk to everyone, and I mean everyone around here, and everyone knows that Sunset Shimmer has been fuming all day because someone stood up to her, and everyone said that it was a new kid who went around with two bodyguards, or whatever. Since I didn't recognize you, I assumed you were the new kid! The kids here know you're from Canada, which is a place I've never heard of, so it must be really far away from here! Also, when I got your description, your hair color was different, so I thought that since it's a new color, and you stood up to Sunset, you might be trying to avoid attention by not looking like the kid who stood up to Sunset!"

"That..." I glanced back to my soldiers, both of whom shrugged at me. "Actually makes sense." I nodded. "Yeah, I'm the new kid who stood up to Sunset. My name is TD. And yeah, I'm from Canada. Just got here yesterday."

"Well, I hope you can catch up with what we've already learned this year!" Pinkie said. "I mean, I'd hate to fall behind in Ms. Harshwhinny's class!"

"Me too," I said with complete honesty.

A piercing sound of a school bell ringing snapped the two of us out of our conversation, causing Pinkie to gasp. 

"Oh no! Speaking of Ms. Harshwhinny!"

With that, she zoomed away so quickly, I was pretty sure I saw a little cloud of pink in her outline for a few moments before it faded away, leaving me staring at an empty hallway. 

Honestly, it didn't really surprise me. I had been in Equestria long enough to get a grasp of Pinkie's behavior. I chuckled and turned to Fluttershy, expecting her to have the same amused feeling that I did. 

I did not expect her to be glaring.

I tilted my head and gave her a questioning look. "Uh, Flutters? You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, I guess." She huffed and rolled her eyes. "I just don't like being around Pinkie Pie."

"Uh..." I raised an eyebrow. "Huh? Aren't you two friends? I heard you and a few other girls were inseparable."

"We were." Fluttershy sighed and leaned against her locker. "It was me, Pinkie, and three other girls named Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack."

Okay, good to know. There didn't seem to be a Twilight in this universe.

"Did something happen?" I asked. 

"Yeah. They just got mean, for whatever reason. Rainbow didn't show up to a bake sale when she said she would, Rarity and Applejack just said that they didn't want to hang out anymore, and Pinkie said that I sent a text saying that she annoyed me, when I didn't do anything like that! She just got so angry that I haven't spoken to her since. I've heard that they're not hanging around each other either. None of us can stand the other four."

Huh. That didn't sound like any of them at all. I mean, it was an alternate universe and all, but really...

"So, uh... did you try talking to any of them about it? Have any of you tried that? I mean, take Pinkie for example. She says she got a text, but you didn't send it. Seems suspicious, don't you think? Tell her that, and I think you'd be surprised by the results. And if she got a text like that from you that you never sent, isn't it reasonable to suspect that maybe, just maybe, the texts from Applejack and Rarity were faked, too? I mean, was there any warning from them about not wanting to hang out?"

Fluttershy withdrew her head into her mane and looked at the floor. "None at all, which is why it hurt so much. One day we were all at the Cake's Sweetshop, the next I'm getting those texts from them."

"Uh-huh. So, we have texts you never sent that Pinkie got, and texts that you received that were out of place for Applejack and Rarity to have sent. So..." I spun my hand.

"Someone faked them?"

I shrugged. "Could be. Regardless, I think you five need to just talk things out. Trust me: friendships like the ones I know you five had are not something that you can just throw away. You will spend the rest of your life wishing that you had it back if you do."

"Maybe," Fluttershy muttered.

"There's no 'maybe' about it, Fluttershy," I said, putting my hand on her shoulder. "Trust me: there are friends that I'd give almost anything to hang out with one more time, but that's never going to happen. Well, you want things to go back to the way it was for you guys, right? Well, you five can make that happen. Just talk it out a little bit. And even if there is something that was wrong between the five of you and it wasn't someone trying to sabotage you, then talking about it will help you fix the problem. If nothing else, it doesn't hurt to give it a shot. For your friendship. For your friends."

Fluttershy raised her head and smiled at me. "I guess you're right. Maybe... maybe I could talk to Pinkie Pie at lunch, or something?"

"Couldn't hurt." I took a deep breath and motioned down the hall. "Until then, I have to go talk to Principal Celestia, and you need to get to class. I'll see you later, alright?"

"See you later."

With one more small hug, we went our separate ways. I felt hopeful that they'd all resolve whatever it was that had gotten between them. If they were the equivalents of the Equestrian Mane Six, then they'd be valuable allies. But even beyond that, their friendship is just too strong to break apart like that. 

And if someone was trying to break them up, I had a sneaking suspicion of who that would be.

"Well, TD, I'm impressed," Captain Blaze said. "You taught a friendship lesson. Turning into Twilight Sparkle, are we?"

I rolled my eyes as we walked down the hallway to the principal's office. "It's just what's obvious, dude. They can't let something like miscommunication break up what they had going there. Besides, they could be a big help with our mission, especially if we need to come back at some point in the future."

We reached the door to the principal's office, and I opened it up. Maybe I should have knocked, but, eh, as an Equestrian princess, I was kind of used to going anywhere I wanted. Force of habit. 

And there she was. 

This world's Celestia. 

Shudder. 

Principal Celestia looked up from some paperwork when she heard her door open, and frowned at the three of us. 

"Er... can I help you three?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact," I said, walking in and closing the door behind the three of us. "I've heard tell that one of your students turned something into you that belongs to a family member of mine. A tiara?"

Celestia grimaced, capped her pen, and steepled her fingers, staring at us in a way that made me wonder if she wasn't trying to decide if I was real.

"Ah. So you're the Canadian. TD, is it?"

I nodded. "My reputation proceeds me."

"It truly does." Celestia leaned down, and I heard the sound of a desk drawer opening up. When she straightened up again, she held my prize right in her hand. The Element. "Is this the crown you claim belongs to a family member?"

"Indeed."

"Which family member?"

"My sister. She's about ten years younger than I am."

"And her name?"

"Tulip."

Yeah, I was ready for that, Celestia. Try to trip me up, will you?

"I see." Celestia put the Element back down on her desk. "I'm having a hard time believing that this crown belongs to you. You see, during our Fall Formal, we have a queen elected, and she is given a crown to wear. Each year our student council goes out and buys one for that very purpose." She picked up the Element. "This year, they chose this one."

Ah, right. The fake Element Sunset left. I forgot. 

"So are you saying that they purchased it from your sister?"

I grimaced and crossed my arms. "I'm friends with one Miss Fluttershy who goes to this school. She informed me that she found the crown lying on the ground outside and turned it in to you, believing it to be the Fall Formal crown. I was walking around the campus with my sister, who was wearing it, and when we got home, she realized she had lost it. I think, given that Fluttershy just found that one lying around, this crown belongs to me. I can't say what happened to yours."

"An interesting story, Mr. TD," Celestia said, leaning forward a little. "However, I know that to not be the case. The crown we purchased for the Fall Formal was stolen from the student council office the night before Ms. Fluttershy turned this crown in to me. I don't know what the thieves wanted with a five dollar crown, but apparently they somehow neglected to take it with them. Or maybe they were pulling a prank and threw it outside for fun. In any case, this is the crown we purchased for the Fall Formal, and I'm beginning to question your interest in it."

Man, I'd grab it and run through the portal now if I didn't also want to get Sunset.

I huffed and sat down in a chair in front of her desk. "My interest in it derives from the fact that it belongs to me, Principal Celestia, and I wish to have it back. I can pay you for it, if you wish, though I do see it in poor taste to have to pay for something already mine, but if we must do it that way then so be it."

"Mr. TD, this game has gone on long enough, and I'd suggest you get to class." Celestia snatched the Element off of the desk and put it back in her drawer. The right side. Seemed to be the middle one. "I have difficulty believing that you, a student who has not even been here two days, needs to have this crown and that it belongs to you when I can account for where it was at all times. I was with my students when they bought it from the thrift shop two blocks down. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have an appointment right now."

The door opened at that moment, and who should walk in but...

Principal Celestia smiled and stood up from her desk. "Hello, Mr. Antares. It's lovely to see you again."

I turned around and, sure enough, a twenty something version of me dressed in a black suit with a red tie stood behind me. I could see Blaze and Rapids grinning like madponies out of the corner of my eye. Glad they found it so amusing. 

"Hello, Principal Celestia," Mr. Antares said. He looked down at me with a frown. "I wasn't aware that you were meeting with a student."

"Mr. Antares, this is TD," Celestia said, motioning to me. "Him and the two behind him are new students from Canada. They were just leaving."

"Ah, so you're the Canadian that everyone in my class has been gossiping about, huh?" He chuckled and slapped me on the back. "I hope you and Sunset are going to get along, yeah?"

"Uh..." I cleared my throat. "Yeah, yeah I hope so."

"Excellent." He shook my hand before doing the same to Blaze and Rapids. "Well, maybe I'll see you in my history class later today? I'll be teaching about the history of the country that I was born in! Very interesting stuff, if you ask me."

Oh good grief. 

I gave him a weak grin before standing up. "Yeah, sounds... interesting. I guess we'll get our class schedules and see if we get you."

"Very good." He gave us a two-fingered salute. "Nice meeting you three."

"Same with you."

I maybe left the room a little too quickly, but I had to get out of there. I had done and seen some weird things in my time as a princess, but meeting an older, alternate dimension doppelganger of myself? That definitely made the top three on the list of strangest things I'd seen. 

Blaze and Rapids, for their part, had the courtesy to wait until we were in another hallway before they burst out laughing at poor, disturbed Princess Antares. Well, I'm glad they found it so funny. 

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up," I groused. "Get it in now."

"As you command, Princess Antares," Captain Blaze giggled. "You should have seen your face!"

I groaned and facepalmed. "I'm sure it was something. But really, let's focus on how we're going to get both the Element and Sunset back into Equestria, okay? I'm just going to--"

"TD!"

Er... I've never heard that voice so loud.

I turned around to see Fluttershy zooming towards us, her expression a mix of elation, disbelief, and a hint of confusion. 

"Yes, Fluttershy?" I asked, taking a few uneasy steps backwards. 

"You... animal shelter... money!"

Ah.

I stopped backing up and smirked. "So yeah, I lied. I didn't donate three hundred dollars. I take it you just found out how many zeroes actually came after the three?"

"Three... million... dollars!" 

Since it was Fluttershy, I totally didn't expect her to give me a tackle hug, though I will say that it hurt when I hit the ground. 
> The Elements and Mr. Antares
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I'm so, so sorry! I didn't mean to knock you over and make you bump your head!"

"Fluttershy, it's fine. If anything, I'm sorry that River and Burning pulled you off of me so roughly."

"Hey, bodyguards, Pri-- uh, TD!" Captain Blaze grumbled.

I glared at Captain Blaze and vehemently pointed at Fluttershy while this world's counterpart of Nurse Redheart looked me over in the nurse's office that Fluttershy had insisted that I go to.

"Fluttershy! Couldn't! Hurt! Anyone!"

"Definitely not!" Fluttershy insisted. "I was just really excited, that's all!"

"Well I'm glad I could help, I guess," I said, rubbing the side of my head as Nurse Redheart checked me for a concussion. I wasn't quite sure about how much my alpha alicorn resilience translated in this world. Given that I couldn't do magic that I knew of, probably not much. I hit my head pretty hard going down, and it hurt, but I couldn't compare it to pain before my ascension because, well, I didn't remember what that felt like.

"In all honestly, though, I think I understand why you have bodyguards," Fluttershy continued, looking uneasily at Blaze and Rapids. "If you can do that kind of thing for the animal shelter, then there are a lot of people who might want to hurt you!"

I shrugged. "Eh."

No need to mention the griffins who had me tied up and gagged after a massive beat down when I walked into their fortress alone. I don't think she'd get it, anyway. Though there was only one person I needed to worry about here and that was Sunset. As such, my guards were here mostly for offensive purposes than protective ones. While I was pretty sure I could get her back to Equestria by myself if it came to that, it didn't hurt to have my guards around. Besides, you never know what you're gonna come across.

"Bodyguards aside," Redheart said, "you look fine. A bit of a red spot where you hit the ground, but you don't have a concussion or anything. I'd say you're good to go to class."

Fluttershy breathed a huge sigh of relief and wrapped her arms around my shoulders, something that made my guards flinch a bit. I glared at them for that. Seriously. Fluttershy. Meekness incarnate.

"I'm so glad you're okay, TD!" Fluttershy said as she released me from the hug, allowing me to hop off of the uncomfortable padded nurse's table. "You did this amazing thing for me, and I repaid you by hurting you!"

"Well, not really, and it was a complete accident," I said, rubbing the back of my head. I nodded in thanks to Nurse Redheart, who returned the nod, allowing the four of us to walk out of her office. "So don't worry about it."

Fluttershy lowered her head as we walked down the hall. I decided to follow her around for the moment.

"I know I shouldn't, but I still feel bad."

"Well, just don't think about it," I suggested. "So how about we talk about something else?"

A small smile crossed Fluttershy's face, and she gave a small nod. "Okay, I'd like that." There was a moment of silence before she spoke again. "So, how was your meeting with Principal Celestia?"

I shrugged. "Meh. It could have gone a little better. It was cut off when, what was his name, Mr. Antares came in?"

To my mild amusement, at the mention of Mr. Antares, Fluttershy blushed and covered her mouth with her hand in a poor attempt to hide a grin. I tilted my head, a smile spreading across my own face. "What?"

"Oh it's nothing," Fluttershy muttered. "It's just that..." Fluttershy giggled quietly and leaned in close to whisper in my ear. "There are some rumors going around that Principal Celestia and Mr. Antares are in a relationship."

"They are."

Fluttershy straightened up and raised an eyebrow at me, stopping in her tracks. "Huh?"

"They are," I repeated. "I'm 100% positive."

"But... how can you be sure?"

I chuckled and leaned against a nearby locker. "Let's just say that I have some insider info on it. They're totally rutting."

Fluttershy squeaked, her face becoming even more red. "Oh my," she whispered.

I heard my guards snicker, causing my grin to widen a little. "Well, they're adults and can date whomever they like. It's not really our business, I suppose."

"Yes..." Fluttershy looked down the hall in the direction of the principal's office. "I suppose you're right." She closed her eyes and shook her head. "Well, I guess I have to get to class now. Ms Cheerilee is going to wonder why I'm so late!"

Ooh, this world has a Cheerilee? Awesome.

"Well, far be it from me to keep you from your class," I said. "We have to go get our class schedules anyway, so I'll see you at lunch, alright?"

"See you then." Fluttershy gave me another quick hug before speeding down the hall, inasmuch as Fluttershy speeds. I chuckled and turned down the other hallway to the registrar's office so that the three of us could get our class schedules.


*  *  *  *


8:00-9:15 - Science - Ms. Harshwhinny
9:30-10:45 - Math - Ms. Cheerilee
11:00-12:15 - English - Ms. Harshwhinny
12:15-1:00 - Lunch
1:15-2:30 - Current Events - Mr. Trenderhand
2:45-4:00 - History - Mr. Antares

Two classes with Ms. Harshwhinny. Two of them. Ideally I wouldn't be around to go to them, but a quick glance at the clock told me that I had just enough time to make it to English. I groaned and rubbed my temples.

"Well, at least history with Mr. Antares should be interesting, right?"

"Hope so, because I already did most of this nonsense," Captain Blaze grumbled. "I graduated from school a long time ago!"

"Hey I hear you, man," I said, leading the three of us in the direction of Ms Harshwhinny's class. "I've been ruling a nation for the past two years, on top of the fact that I was in college when I came to Equestria." I shrugged. "Well, at any rate, it should be easy, right?"

"I dunno, Princess Antares," Lieutenant Rapids muttered. "I can see Ms. Harshwhinny getting annoyed with us for falling behind in stuff."

"Well, hopefully we'll be back tonight," I said. "We just have to play it cool until Principal Celestia leaves, then we can break into her office and get the Element. At worst I just send one of you through the portal with it for a few minutes to give it to Celestia or whoever, then have you come back here so we can arrest Sunset." We stopped in front of a doorway, and I checked my schedule, confirming that it was the door to our first class. "Just play it cool until then. Don't draw unnecessary attention to yourselves."

I opened the door, just as the bell rang, meaning we arrived just on time, technically.

My eyes landed on the figure standing in front of the class, who seemed to think differently.

This world's version of Ms. Harshwhinny didn't seem to be any more chipper than my world's version. She was dressed in a business suit that matched her pony coat color, and her hair was done up in a tight bun, with not a single strand out of place. Her scowl let me know beyond a shadow of a doubt that she wasn't happy with us.

"You're late, young lady and gentlemen," she said, her scowl somehow coming across in her voice.

"Uh..." I exchanged a look with Blaze and Rapids. "The bell just rang."

"And you are not in your seats," she retorted. "Now, I can guess that you three are the Canadian students, meaning you are new to this school. As such, you have a pass on it just this once, as you are likely unaware of my policies. I expect you to be in your seats by the time the bell rings."

"We don't have seats," I replied.

"I have assigned you to table five," Ms. Harshwhinny said, pointing out to the classroom. "It's the one in the far left corner."

I turned my head and saw that, sure enough, instead of the typical desk setup, the room was furnished with tables and uncomfortable plastic chairs. Nothing I hadn't seen before. I turned my head to table five to see who we would be sitting with, and saw...

"Now, I expect you to get along with Ms. Shimmer," Ms. Harshwhinny said, crossing her arms and tapping her finger on her arm. "I will not tolerate any Canadian nonsense in my classroom, is that understood?"

Sunset and I simply stared at each other, her glowering and me giving her a small smile. I tilted my head in a nod. "Yes, Ms. Harshwhinny."

"Good, now if you will take your seats, we will begin. Please see me after class so that I may inform you of what you need to catch up on."

The three of us moved to table five and sat down. I took the seat opposite Sunset, allowing us to continue staring at each other. Her scowl deepened, while my smile widened and turned smug.

"You're going to pay for your insolence, Canadian," she growled.

I quietly snorted and leaned back in my chair. "Anytime, anywhere. How about tonight in the school courtyard?"

"Tomorrow night after the Fall Formal works much better for me," Sunset whispered. "Same place."

I clicked my tongue. "Ooh, no go. I'm not going to be there. Tonight."

"No," Sunset said with a shake of her head. "Tomorro--"

"Ms. Shimmer, Mr. TD!" Ms. Harshwhinny snapped, "are you talking in my class?" Both of us turned to face our wrathful teacher, our heads low. "Maybe you'd like to share what you're discussing?"

"We were just introducing ourselves," I said meekly. "Gotta get to know each other if we're going to be table partners."

Ms. Harshwhinny snorted. "That can wait until after class. Now..." She turned back to the chalkboard. "If you'll permit me to continue my lecture on last night's reading, I'd appreciate that."

I opened up my backpack and took out three notebooks and pens, which I distributed amongst the three of us. Sunset huffed and went back to her own notes, pretending to pay attention to Ms. Harshwhinny while shooting glares at me.

I wasn't taking notes, though. I decided that my time was better spent doodling. I spent about ten minutes doing that, not really paying attention to Ms. Harshwhinny. Once I decided that my masterpiece met my standards, I rotated my notebook and subtly slid it over to Sunset. She frowned and looked down at it, but her expression immediately turned to one of rage. She squeezed her pencil in her hand so hard, it snapped in two.

To be fair, I can see how a picture of me with a meat cleaver making chicken noises while chasing around a chicken with Sunset's hair would really piss her off.

"Tonight. Eight o' clock," she snarled, pushing my notebook back to me.

Hook, line, and sinker.


*  *  *  *


Ah, lunchtime in school cafeterias. An experience similar to eating in prison, though there's less attempting to hide what they're doing in prisons. I made sure to stop by the front office to pay for a few school lunches for the three of us, so we'd have no problems with eating. We would go out, but we needed to keep an eye on the school as much as possible, especially since I'd just poked the bacon-colored hornet's nest. Sunset would be out for my blood, and I needed to keep a sharp eye on the place so that I could capitalize on any potential mistake.

The three of us entered the lunch line and grabbed fruit bowls and orange juice. Nothing else really looked appetizing enough to stomach. We'd get something... more edible after school. After getting our food, I scanned the lunch room and spotted Fluttershy sitting at a mostly empty table next to Pinkie Pie and this world's version of Applejack. I smiled when I saw that they three of them were smiling and laughing with each other. I made my way towards their table, figuring that I needed to meet this Applejack as well.

Interestingly enough, though, as we walked towards the table, I heard whispering around me. At first I thought it was just typical lunchroom babble, until I started registering what the students were saying.

"Oh my gosh, that's the Canadian!"

"He looks so buff. All three of them do. I wonder if all Canadians are like that!"

Heh, not with Tim Hortons and Poutine, no.

"I heard that he's going to fight Sunset tonight. I have a friend who says she sits in front of him in English class, and she overheard them planning it. We should totally go!"

"Well, I also heard that he's a billionaire. Did you see that car of his?"

"Did you know that he has video evidence that Mr. Antares and Principal Celestia are in a relationship? He posted a video on the internet of the two of them making out in her office, but it got taken down!"

I did, huh? Well, that's news to me. I chuckled and shook my head as we reached the table with half of the human Elements, causing the three of them to look up at us and smile.

"So, you must be the Canadian Ah've been hearin' so much about," said this world's version of Applejack. She extended her hand. "Ah'm Applejack."

"Charmed," I said, shaking her hand. "This is Burning Blaze, and this is River Rapids." I motioned to my bodyguards.

"Yeah, Ah've heard 'bout the two of 'em." Applejack tilted her head with a frown. "Kinda odd, don'tcha think? Ah mean, Ah've never heard of a regular high school student havin' bodyguards before."

I chuckled and took one of the apple slices out of my fruit bowl. "Well, it's a looonnnggg story. Suffice to say, they wouldn't leave my side even if I wanted them to." I smiled fondly at the two of them. "Which I don't. You'd be hard pressed to find more loyal people on the planet."

Blaze scoffed and waved his hand while Rapids chuckled. "Oh stop it, TD. You're making me blush."

"Good." I ate my apple slice before turning the conversation back to our tablemates. "So, I heard from Fluttershy that you three had some kind of a falling out, but it seems that you're doing better, yeah?"

Pinkie, AJ, and Fluttershy all smiled and nodded.

"Oh yes, I followed your advice and just talked to them, TD. It turns out that our problems were just a huge misunderstanding!"

"Yeah, none of those awful nasty texts that we got were sent by any of us!" Pinkie frowned and tapped her chin. "Which does raise the question of who actually sent them?"

"Yeah, one can only wonder." I grimaced and looked to a back corner of the lunchroom, where Sunset Shimmer was sitting at a table alone, with her back to the rest of the school. She ate her lunch without looking up from it, and I could see from just a quick glance around the cafeteria that no one was giving her a second glance either. Even Snips and Snails were eating with someone else. It looked kinda... lonely. I sighed and turned back to my tablemates. I'd deal with Sunset soon. I just had to figure out how to get her and the Element back at the same time. I had gotten her next to the portal for tonight, so I needed to get into Principal Celestia's office for the Element before I go as well.

We'd get to that when the time came.


*  *  *  *


Once we'd finished with lunch, we all parted ways to go to our next classes, with promises to hang out afterwards so that they could introduce me to the rest of the group. At our current events class, Mr. Trenderhand was out, so his substitute showed us a movie.

So... even this world has a version of The Dark Knight. Who knew? It was mostly the same as my version, which was nice. So cool seeing that movie again.

Then, it was time for history class with Mr. Antares.

I gotta admit, I considered skipping this one. If there was one wild card in all of this that could disrupt my plans, it was him. If Sunset realized that he was my equivalent in this world, then she'd figure out pretty quickly that I was an Equestrian princess, and things would really go downhill. We hadn't seen any equivalents of Blaze and Rapids yet, but I wouldn't count them out as not working for another school somewhere. I would just skip it, but hey, we had to blend in. We'd just sit in the back and not draw any attention to ourselves.

Because when has that ever worked for us?

We walked into Mr. Antares' class a minute before the bell rang. He saw us and gave us a friendly smile and wave, which we returned. We took three seats together near the back of the classroom and took out our notebooks just as the bell rang, signifying the start of class. I looked around and noticed this world's equivalent of Rainbow Dash leaning back in her chair, twirling a pen in her fingers with a bored look on her face.

"Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen!" Mr. Antares said, rubbing his hands together with a grin. "Welcome to your last class of the day! Today we're going to continue our lecture on my country's second civil war. I believe we were just about to get to the bloodiest battle in the whole conflict, which I'm sure will be exciting to a lot of you, but first..." Mr. Antares' smile fell, and his expression turned serious. He leaned back on the table in the front of his class and crossed his arms.

"There have been several rumors going around about my relationship with Principal Celestia." A few members of the class giggled, causing Mr. Antares to smirk and roll his eyes. "Yes, yes, it's very funny. I was in high school once too, and I know how rumors can be. But they're just that: rumors. My relationship with Principal Celestia is strictly professional." His grin returned, though now it was more mischievous. "Besides, if you're going to spread rumors around, you're going to have to do better than that. Two teachers are in a relationship? Come on, that was an old tactic when I was in high school five hundred years ago, because I'm a geezer like that." The class giggled, making Mr. Antares chuckle. "Regardless, cut down on the ridiculous rumors, 'kay? It's not cool and it's just stupid. I don't even know how this one got started."

"You and Principal Celestia were too loud."

Do you know that kind of silence? The kind that comes when everyone in the room is so shocked and on edge there might as well be a bomb in the room? That kind? You can just feel the whole atmosphere change in a microsecond.

That happened the moment Lieutenant Rapids decided that she just couldn't help herself.

I turned to my lieutenant, a look of horror on my face. We were trying to keep a low profile here! She turned her head to me and gave me a look that said "sorry, I had to."

Despite every instinct telling me not to, I looked over to Mr. Antares, who was staring at Lieutenant Rapids with his jaw nearly on the floor. It took him a full ten seconds before he managed to shakily point to the door.

"Out. Go to Principal Celestia's office. Detention for a week. You can forget about going to the fall formal."

Rapids sighed and put her notebook and pen back in our backpack before slinging it over her shoulder, standing up, and walking out of the door. Mr. Antares stared at the door for a few seconds before sighing and shaking his head.

"Look, guys, gossip and rumors about stupid stuff is one thing, and you honestly shouldn't do it because, well, it's spreading lies and that's bad. But that was just flat-out disrespect, alright? And that's never okay. That's crossing into another territory you don't want to go to, yeah?"

With that, he turned to look back to the class, lingering just a little too long on Blaze and I. For a second, I thought I might have seen a spark of something. Recognition? Confusion? I couldn't be sure. After a moment, he shook his head and turned to the chalkboard.

Oh dear.
> Harmony
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Great. Juuuussst great. Lieutenant Rapids had to go and do all of that when she knew that it would be a stupid idea. Now I'm down one bodyguard with time ticking down on me getting Sunset and the Element back. On top of that, I don't even have a plan to get the it out of Principal Celestia's office. I had no idea how long Lieutenant Rapids would be out of commission. Given that it was the end of the school day, and that she had also made a joke at Celestia's expense, she could be staying after school for a few hours. Not that terrible in the grand scheme of things since we did have an extra day if the worst came to worst, but I really didn't want to waste any more time than we needed to.

Jeez.

I walked down the crowded hallway with Captain Blaze by my side, pushing through the wave of students eager to get out of here and go home. I heard a few whispers about me and what Mr. Antares and Principal Celestia were up to, but I didn't bother to focus on any of that. What I needed to focus my attention on was finding Lieutenant Rapids again and then getting the Element before my meeting with Sunset later that night. She had been sent to Principal Celestia's office, and from there who knows where? I mean, sure, it was detention. It's not like she was arrested or anything. Still, especially with the day ending, I needed her to figure out our next move.

That's when a bit of luck finally went my way for once.

Blaze and I passed by the library, poking our heads in to check for Rapids, and that's where we saw five girls sitting at a table. Five rather familiar girls. I smiled and the two of us walked up to the table where the Mane Five sat, smiling and laughing with each other like the best friends that I knew they were. As I approached, Fluttershy noticed me drawing closer and flashed me a beaming smile before pointing me out to the group. The others turned their head to greet me.

"So, you're the Canadians I've heard so much about," said this world's Rainbow Dash. "You've got a lot of guts to stand up to Sunset on your first day like that." She smirked at me and gave me an approving nod. "I like that."

"You should be careful, though," said this world's Rarity. "I've heard that she can be nasty when provoked. She could be planning some form of revenge against you."

I snorted and took the seat that Applejack pulled out for me. "Oh, she is. I don't doubt that in the slightest. But, uh, she's going to get a little more than she bargained for with me. I appreciate that she feels the need to take control here based on her past, but, yeah, it's not gonna work."

The five friends all exchanged confused glances, something that made me grin a little. I do so enjoy being enigmatic. It makes life far more interesting. I can see why Celestia does it.

Yes, I'm dead serious. She speaks in riddles and vague clues sometimes completely on purpose for fun. When you present yourself as an immortal, all-knowing, all-wise alicorn, you can totally get away with that kind of stuff.

"So, uh..." Applejack tilted her head and raised an eyebrow. "Is Sunset... Canadian, then?"

"Yes," I said with complete honesty.

From a certain point of view. Obi Wan Kenobi would be so proud of me.

"Fascinating," Rarity whispered. "I wonder why she never brought it up. Though, I don't recall if I've ever heard her mention where she's from."

"Well, I probably know more about her past than anyone here." I shrugged. "But honestly, it's not that important right now, I think. What's important is what she's up to at the moment." I looked in the general direction of the school's exit. "And if I know Sunset, that won't be anything good."

"So, uh, how well do you know Sunset?" Rainbow Dash asked. “If you're both Canadian and Canada is a really tiny town in the north, then you grew up with each other, right? I mean, you're about the same age, so you had to have interacted at some point."

"Eh..." I shrugged and spun my hand. "Let's just say that she's a friend of a friend. It's complicated. Right now I need to figure out what she's up to."

Applejack frowned at me and leaned back in her chair. "Wait, ya think she's up ta somethin' beyond her normal Sunset nastiness?"

I grin and vigorously nod. "Oh yes. There's absolutely no doubt about that. And it's going to be absolutely awful for everyone if she pulls it off." I chuckled and nudged Rarity, who flinched back slightly. "Sounds like fun, eh?"

"Perhaps," Rarity said dryly. "However, I fail to see how a simple teenage girl could cause so much mayhem, even if she has Sunset's nasty temperament."

"You're forgetting that she's a Canadian teenage girl with Sunset's temperament." I nodded as if that settled the matter entirely. "Very different."

Rarity rolled her eyes at me. "Yes. Quite."

"So then what do you think she's up to?" Pinkie asked. "And how could it be super duper bad?"

"I'm guessing that it has something to do with the Fall Formal coming up," I said, tapping my chin thoughtfully. "There's an election for princess where she gets this crown, right? Well, my guess is that if she pulls anything off, she's going to do it there, and I think the election is key to her plans." Mainly because it involves her getting her hands on the Element. I don't know exactly what will happen once she gets ahold of it, but it can't be good. That much I know for sure.

"So what do you plan on doing about it?" Rainbow asked. "I mean, is she gonna flood the school once she wins the crown or something?"

"I really doubt it," I said. "Sunset's past is a little more complex than she's lead you to believe. We Canadians have a real knack for getting ourselves in the worst situations, and when two Canadians fight each other on foreign soil..." I grimaced. "Well, it tends to get pretty ugly."

The Mane Five all exchanged uneasy looks with each other. Truth be told, I was being pretty vague and ominous. Half of that was me not being able to help myself, but the other half was the fact that I genuinely didn't know exactly what Sunset planned to do with the Element. Would she be able to use it as a WMD? I hope not.

"Well, look at all of you getting along. It's so nice to see," said a familiar voice behind me. I grimaced and turned around to see Lieutenant Rapids walking towards us, her smile much too chipper for my liking. I huffed and stood up, giving her a completely ineffectual glare.

"Why hello there, River Rapids. How was detention?"

Rapids shrugged. "Dunno. Didn't go. I've just been hiding out while I waited for you two to get out of class."

I rolled my eyes and turned to the Mane Five. "Uh, sorry, but I have to go now. Rapids and I have a few things to talk about. I'll see you later, okay?"

The five of them all said half-hearted goodbyes while giving each other confused and uneasy looks. I wave back at them, maintaining a friendly smile that drops as soon as the five of them are out of our sight, leaving Blaze, Rapids, and I alone.

"Discreet, Rapids!" I hissed. "I told you that we had to be discreet!"

Rapids shrugged and took the backpack off so that she could hand it to me. "So sorry, Princess Antares. I couldn't help myself."

"Yes you could have, you just didn't want to," I grumbled.

"Well if you think about it, you were the one who, in your infinite princessly wisdom, bestowed upon me these wonderful snarcastic powers," Rapids said with a smug grin. "You really have nopony to blame but yourself."

"If you recall my lessons, I stated that there are certain times to use your snarcasm. It's all about timing." I groan and put the backpack on. "Now we've gotta figure out..."

I freeze in place when I feel the contents of the backpack against my back. Something's not right. There's something in there that wasn't there when Rapids took the backpack. Something solid that wasn't there before.

No...

I looked up at Lieutenant Rapids, mild shock on my face, while her smug smile only grows wider. I slowly take the backpack off, set it on the floor, unzip it, and look inside.

The Element. The Element of Magic is resting securely in my backpack.

I slowly raise my head, my eyes and mouth wide open from shock, while Rapids' grin couldn't possibly get any wider. I paused for a moment, zipped the backpack up, then slowly got to my feet, not breaking eye contact with Rapids for a moment.

"How?"

Rapids chuckled and leaned against the wall.


*  *  *  *


I admit, getting sent to detention was a new one for me. I mean, I'd never gotten in trouble during flight school, or anything like that. Sure, I had some snarky tendencies, but they were unrefined until I started working for you, and I never really got in trouble because of them.

So having to make that walk of shame to the principal's office felt odd.

Or at least, I'm sure that it would have, if I'd felt any shame at all. I mean come on, Princess. You have to admit that the look on his face was spectacular. I never thought I'd get a chance to use that line again! The only possible way it could have been any better is if I had managed to trigger a a spit-take.

I giggled to myself as I trotted down the hall, looking for any suitable targets to use as accomplices for the genius plan I had thought up while bored out of my mind during Ms. Harshwhinny's class. Ideally I'd find someone. I mean, if I remembered flight school right, there were always those students who skipped class, but didn't want to risk getting caught around town. I just needed to find them before some teacher saw me and asked where I was going.

I grinned when I finally found my targets. Two boys leaning against the lockers, probably about fifty hooves from Celestia's office. I ran a... what is it, a hand? That's what it's called, right? Yeah, a hand through my mane and straightened my clothes before walking up to the two of them with a friendly smile.

"Hello, there."

The two of them just about hit the ceiling. I could see from the expressions on their faces that an attractive girl coming up to talk to them out of the blue wasn't an everyday occurrence. The two of them kept staring at me for a few moments before the one on the right finally stuttered out a half-greeting that I didn't hear that well before blushing and looking at the floor.

"So, uh, can I ask the two of you for a huge favor?"

The two of them exchanged an uneasy glance. "What kind of favor?" the one on the left asked.

"Oh nothing too difficult," I said with a wave of my hand. "I just need you to cause some distraction that will get Principal Celestia out of her office while I'm in there. Maybe start fighting each other so she has to come break it up. No biggie, right?"

The two exchanged another look.

"Uh... I'm not so sure about that," said the one on the right. "She'll kinda get mad at us if we do that. Fighting is one of those things that gets you an automatic suspension."

"You'd get in the good graces of The Canadian," I said. "It's for a good cause."

"Good graces with The Canadian means being in bad graces with Sunset Shimmer," the one on the right said, crossing his arms and frowning. "I'm not getting suspended and being put on Sunset's blacklist."

I started to think that I might not have picked the right duo. If they wouldn't cause a distraction, then I couldn't enact my plan. But I doubted that I could find another pair of students to do what I asked.

That's when I remembered what you said about my new body, Princess Antares. You said that these new chest thingies were "male mind control devices", if I recall correctly. I looked down at them and figured, 'eh, worth a shot'. So with that, I lifted up my shirt and gave them the full brunt of their mind control powers.

The moment my shirt went up, their eyes widened, and their pupils shrank to pinpricks. I grinned, knowing full well that it was working.

"You will do as I ask and distract Prince-- uh, Principal Celestia. Do you understand?" The two boys nodded dumbly. "I'll leave the particulars of the distraction up to you, but wait two minutes once I go into her office."

I put my shirt back down, but I noticed the boys still staring at my chest. Dang. Their powers were even more potent than I realized. I waved my hand in front of their faces to snap them out of their trance.

"Remember what I told you. Two minutes. Distraction."

"Okay," the one on the right said thickly.

Content that I'd have my distraction, I turned around and made the trip into Principal Celestia's office. She was sitting at her desk working on paperwork, or something, when I opened up the door. She raised her head when she heard the door open, and she frowned a bit when she saw me.

"Oh. Hello. You're one of the Canadians, right?"

I nodded and sat down in one of the chairs in front of her desk, setting the backpack beside me. "I am. Mr. Antares sent me to see you."

"Oh?" Celestia capped her pen and set it down so she could give me her full attention. "And why would that be?"

I shrugged. "Dunno. Apparently he got upset when I informed him that perhaps the two of you should be a bit more discreet when you're together. And quiet, for that matter."

I didn’t know that someone with her skin complexion could go so pale. Her jaw just about hit the ground, and, like the boys before, her pupils shrank to pinpricks. I gave her my best innocent look and tilted my head.

"What's wrong?"

"I... you..." She blinked once, but judging by the vein in her neck, anger had started boiling up behind the shock. "How dare you... you say such things. I..."

I frowned. "What do you mean? We were talking about it in class, and I just voiced my opinion. He said that he didn't know why everyone knew about your relationship, and I told him that you and him were too loud. That's all, I swear."

Celestia made a noise that sounded like something between a gargle and a choke. She picked up her pen and uncapped it to begin writing something down. The way she gripped it, though, she was gonna shatter it if she wasn't more careful.

That's when the fight started.

Or whatever the two decided to do for the distraction. Like I said: I left the particulars up to them. Just so long as Celestia left me alone in her office for a few minutes.

To my delight, the whole thing went down without a hitch.

My snarking had gotten Celestia mad. A lot. And when you're mad you don't make the right decisions all the time, which is exactly what I was counting on. The moment she heard the fight going on, she leaped up and bolted out of the office to break it up, leaving sweet, innocent me all alone in her office. Now, normally I would need a few minutes to search for the Element, but since she had already shown it to us earlier, I knew exactly where she kept it. I hopped off of my chair, went behind the desk, and pulled out one of the drawers.

Bingo.

The Element sat in a felt from inside of a small glass case, just waiting for someone like me to return it to its rightful owner. Without a moment's hesitation, I opened the case and took the Element out. I gotta admit, maybe I have some lingering pegasus magic even in this world, but I could feel its power the moment I touched it. It made me feel... safe, I guess. Like everything was going to be okay. It made me wonder what would happen if I put it on as a pegasus, or a human, for that matter. I shook my head and quickly shut the drawer before moving back to my chair and depositing the Element safely inside the backpack.


*  *  *  *


Rapids shrugged and crossed her arms. "Celestia came back in with the two boys. She told me to go to the library for detention, where she'd talk to me about further punishment. But now that we have the Element, I didn't really see a need to humor her there."

For my part, I hadn't stopped facepalming since she got to the part about lifting up her shirt.

I stayed completely still for a solid minute, not saying anything, just trying to register where to go from there. I mean, we had the Element back. We would have to screw up royally for Sunset to get her hands on it at this point. I could not wait to get back to Equestria. I could go back to dealing with political drama instead of high school drama, which is admittedly the same thing, just with more money and armies involved.

Finally, I sighed and removed my hand from my face to look at my faithful guards, both of whom stared at me curiously. I took a deep breath and slowly nodded.

"Okay, we can work with this. We just need to get Sunset close to the portal before our planned meeting tonight. Once we arrest her, we can all go home and not have to worry about this silly world again."

"And I won't have to serve my million detentions I'm gonna get for skipping out on the one I'm supposed to be at right now," Lieutenant Rapids chirped.

I rolled my eyes and began walking in the direction of the portal.

"Whatever. First, let's get the Element back to Equestria, then we'll focus on Sunset."
> Denouement
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Insufferable. How did teenagers become this disrespectful? Spreading... admittedly true rumors about my relationship with Mr. Antares. I wasn't like that when I was their age. Although now that I thought on the matter, the whole tone of Canterlot High had shifted ever since those Canadians had enrolled. Whispers of conflicts with Sunset Shimmer, a model student by all accounts from her teachers, floated through the halls. Stories that their parents were oil barons, and they had millions of dollars to throw around. I did not put any stake in those particular rumors. Still, they worried me. Rapids' disrespect marked only the most egregious example of their odd behavior. Though the blonde one, TD, I think they said, seemed to be the ringleader. From what I'd heard from some teachers and students, the other two seemed to be bodyguards of sorts. Why he needed bodyguards at all, I didn't know.

I capped my pen, having finished the last of my paperwork for the day. The Fall Formal would be soon, and I wasn't quite sure what they'd be up to. Hopefully nothing, especially since River Rapids was barred from attending. Still, I could not deny that TD was a charismatic individual. He seemed to be making friends quickly in my school. Normally I'd be pleased, but all three of them were clearly hiding something rather important. What baffled me is that the first thing that TD asked me for was the crown for the Fall Formal. Like it had some big meaning for him. I couldn't possibly imagine what--

I gasped and widened my eyes as a thought struck me. A rather terrible thought. I had left River Rapids in here alone. With the crown. I threw open the drawer where the crown was supposed to be, hoping that I was simply imagining things and that the crown would be there.

Instead, I simply saw an empty case where it previously rested.

I slammed my desk shut and shot to my feet.

Those troublemakers were in for it now.


*  *  *  *


"Okay, so the plan is that Lieutenant Rapids is going to take the element back to Equestria, since the most heat will be on her for taking it." Rapids nodded to accept my order. "Captain Blaze and I will stay here and wait for Sunset. When you've given the element back to Twilight or Cadance or whomever, come back so we can arrest Sunset together. I'd like to have all three of us here for that."

"Understood, Princess Antares," Captain Blaze said as we approached the portal. Given the time, most of the students had left for the day, but a few still milled around talking to each other or something. We'd have to figure out a way to distract them if we wanted to get Rapids back through the portal without them seeing. I didn't want the students to know about it, after all. I guess we could just block the entrance from view, or something.

Ugh. I wanted this to be so much easier.

"Alright," I said when we were about fifteen feet from the portal, "Blaze and I are going to block the entrance from view while you slip back in, River. Get back as quickly as you can so we can get Sunset and--"

"EXCUSE ME!"

I flinched back in surprise before turning around to see the absolute last person I wanted to see stomping towards us with an angry glare on her face: Principal Celestia. The three of us began backing away towards the portal. I rued the fact that her outburst had drawn the attention of the other kids in the courtyard.

"I believe you have something that belongs to the school," Celestia said, pointing to my backpack. "If you could return the Fall Formal crown and then leave my school, I would appreciate that."

"I would, but I don't have the Fall Formal crown that belongs to the school," I said evenly. "Why? Don't you know where it is?"

"I know that it is in your backpack," Celestia said, stopping right in front of us. "If you could return it, I would appreciate that."

"And what proof do you have that it's in there?" I shot back. "I'm assuming it's gone because you've come out here to find it, but if that’s true, what proof do you have that we have it?"

That got her quiet for a moment. Unless she had hard evidence, she couldn't make us do anything. Still, I didn't like that the crowd around us seemed to be growing, especially given who was in it. People such as the Mane Five, Mr. Antares, and...

Sunset.

Wait, no, actually that one was fine. I needed her here. I guess she stuck around to keep an eye on us, or something. Try to get some dirt on us maybe? In any case, we had her right where we wanted her. I needed to deal with Celestia before moving on to Sunset. If we could get her and the element back at the same time, that would really make things easier for us.

"If you have no evidence then all of your accusations are baseless," I said, turning back to Celestia. "You have no right to search my backpack either. Not without some official order, and certainly not on a suspicion. That violates my rights and privacy. Come back with hard evidence. Of which you have none."

A vein bulged in Celestia's neck, but we both knew that I had her. The element could be in my backpack wrapped around a big drawing of me flipping her off, but she'd have no right to get to it. So that left...

"You can't take the crown!" Sunset snarled. "It's mine! You've been insolent ever since you've got here, but this is too far and you know it!"

"Sunset..." I turned to her and motioned for my two soldiers to move towards her. "You need to come with me, and I think you know why."

Sunset gulped backed away as my guards moved closer. She shakily raised her hand and pointed at me.

"You did take the crown. I remember. I saw you with it!" She turned to Celestia, still pointing at me. "I saw them with the crown earlier today. They did steal it!"

"Sunset, the game is up," I said gently. "It's time to come home. She sent me, Sunset." Sunset's glare faded away, and she went pale. "She's waiting for you. She misses you a lot. She'd welcome you back in a moment, I know it. But you have to come with me."

At the mention of our Celestia, Sunset quietly gasped and collapsed onto her knees. "No," she whimpered. "I can't."

"I'm sorry, Sunset, but you know why it has to be this way."

"Hey buddy, knock it off!" Mr. Antares growled, pushing me back. "You three need to get off of school property before I call the cops on you!"

"Mr. Antares, I know that you're just doing your job and all, but the events happening here are so far over your head and outside of your understanding that you're better off just going home." I turned to the rest of the crowd, my eyes lingering on the Mane Five for a moment. "That honestly goes for the rest of you, too." I didn't want things to get ugly, but at this point, despite her shock, Sunset was a wounded, cornered animal. They tended to be the most dangerous.

"Now you listen," Celestia said, standing tall over the three of us with Antares. "You three are to leave the school grounds immediately. You have five seconds to comply before we call the police and have you arrested for attempted kidnapping. You cannot take Sunset anywhere with you, TD!"

I groaned and made another step towards Sunset. "My name isn't TD, Celestia."

"Yeah, who would be dumb enough to name a kid that?" Blaze chimed in.

I glared at him, but otherwise ignored the comment. "It's not TD. It's something else. Something that I think Sunset knows, or has at least figured out by now." I made the final step towards Sunset and knelt down in front of her so that we were at eye level. "She misses you. She doesn't want things to be this way. It can all be fine again if you just come back." Sunset whimpered and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. "But if I came from there, then you know who I am, right?" Sunset slowly nodded. "Then say my name. If you truly know who I am, say my name."

Sunset paused for a moment before looking up at me, her eyes wide and brimming with tears. She covered her eyes with her hands and lowered her head.

"Sunset. Say my name."

"Antares," she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

I nodded. "Yes. So you understand why I'm here and why I have to take you back with me."

"Wait, hang on," Mr. Antares said, moving towards us and nudging me away from Sunset. "Did she say 'Antares'? Like as in my name?"

"Exactly your name," I confirmed. "In fact, I think that if you dig a little deeper you'll find that we're really the same person."

"I..." He frowned and turned back to Celestia who gave him a confused shrug. "What do you mean 'same person'? We don't look too much alike. I mean, you don't even have my hair color."

"Actually, he does," a voice from the crowd said. We all turned to the source and saw, of all people, Nurse Redheart stepping forward. "He came into my office for a bump on his head. When I checked his scalp for any damage, I saw that his hair is dyed. His original hair color matches yours exactly, Mr. Antares."

"And I'm going to bet that you like scorpions. Specifically ones that look like..." I unzipped the backpack a little bit, just enough that I could pull out the shirt that I had arrived in. I unfolded it and showed it to him, smirking as his face went pale. "This?"

Mr. Antares stepped back and leaned against Principal Celestia, neither of whom really seemed to have any idea of what to say to me. I chuckled and put the shirt back in the backpack before picking it up on one hand.

"Who... who are you?" Mr. Antares whispered.

I sighed and shrugged. "Someone like you, yet not at all. Someone who traveled from far away but very near. Someone very powerful. If you knew just how powerful, you'd run." I shrugged and leaned back a little. "Now, you may not believe me. You may think I'm just trying to intimidate you; that I'm lying to you. Well, that could be the case, but after all..."

I leaned back further with the hand holding the backpack containing the element. Slowly but surely, I slid the backpack and my arm up to the elbow through the portal, releasing the backpack once it was out of sight. The onlookers gasped, and one or two even ran away. I saw the Mane Five all staring at me with wide eyes, though Fluttershy was holding on to Rarity and whimpering. I smiled at her, winked, then slowly straightened back up, pulling my hand out of what seemed like solid rock. Once completely free of the portal, I made a show of moving my hand around and flexing my fingers, just to show that I remained unharmed. I looked back to Celestia and Antares, then gave a small bow of my head.

"What is reality?"

Freak out everybody and get the element back to Equestria all in one move? I'd call that a success.

"I am a god among men. I can command whole armies to sow destruction upon entire countries if I please. I can pull the very sun from the sky. I can destroy the very foundations of your school." I walked closer to Mr. Antares and Celestia to look them in the eye. "But I do not want that. I am a merciful god."

"Goddess," Rapids muttered under her breath, unheard by all but me. Oh she was so getting latrine duty when we got back.

"All I want is Sunset Shimmer; somebody who belongs with me anyway. She has committed serious offenses against me and my people, and she must answer for them."

"Against Canada?" one of the students in the crowd asked.

"Yes." I nodded solemnly. "As I said: Sunset Shimmer is herself Canadian." I turned back to Sunset. "And it's time to go back."

"I can't," Sunset whispered. "I can't face her again. Not after everything I said to her."

"Sunset..." I knelt down in front of her. "I'm not actually giving you an option to stay here. You can come willingly, or I can have my guards arrest you and you'll come back anyway. You know what you stole, and you know what you were going to do with that. Not only there, but here as well. You have to answer for that. There are consequences for your actions." I gave her a comforting smile and stood back up. "But I don't think that yours will be that severe. She'll be more happy to see you than anything else. You'll be okay."

"Yes, hello? Police? I'm at Canterlot High and we--"

I dove right at Celestia and snatched her cell phone right away from her. I really couldn't afford to have the cops show up. Not now. Sure, the element was back in Equestria, but if I got arrested, that would suck.

"Celestia, please don't do this!" I pleaded. "You don't know what you're dealing with!"

"Get away from her!" Mr. Antares snarled, charging towards me. Not good.

It was at that moment that time seemed to slow down. Playing tug-of-war with Celestia for her phone so she wouldn't get the cops over here, Mr. Antares charging at me to get me away from her, and Sunset shivering on the ground while my soldiers began moving towards me to join the fray. An idea popped into my mind about just what I could do to diffuse this situation. I didn't quite like it. I'm more than just one thing, right? I'm a princess of Equestria. A goddess in pony form, some say. I have developed a lot since that first day in Equestria. I mean, I just...

I...

Oh...

Oh fuck it.

Celestia flew backwards as I punched her in the face. Given that this Celestia wasn't an immortal alicorn, my punch did a lot more damage. She collapsed on the ground, not knocked out but clearly stunned. Many of the students around us began running away from the rampaging Canadian, leaving the Mane Five staring at me in horror along with a few other students.

"You are so going down!" Mr. Antares screeched. "You aren't ever getting out of jail if I can help it you--"

Aaaaannnddd just like Celestia, I punched him right in the face.

I punched me in the face. I...

Oy.

I didn't miss the gigantic grins on the faces of my guards, and I gave them my best glare.

"You are not to tell anyone about what just happened, do you understand?!" I snarled. "This does not leave this dimension, and that's a direct order!"

"Yes, Antares," Captain Blaze said, bowing to me. "However, I cannot promise that it will not get out somehow. I mean, Sunset saw it. Let's say that she spills the beans?" He gave me a grin I really didn't care for. "Things happen like that. Information gets out."

"I will end you," I growled. I pointed down to Sunset, then jerked my thumb back to the portal. "Get her out of here."

My guards saluted and picked up the comatose Sunset. She gasped when she realized that she was being forced back to Equestria but, well we had to get her back. My guards were far stronger than a 5'2, scrawny female, and despite her best efforts, they disappeared through the portal with Sunset in tow. I noticed that I was alone with the Mane Five; the only people left after I punched myself. I gave them a weak grin and shrugged.

"Yeah, this isn't really what I wanted to happen. I wanted to get the crown and head back home pretty quickly."

"Who... who are you?" Rarity whispered.

"I'm Antares from another dimension," I said, pointing to Mr. Antares. "Though in that dimension... well, we're all ponies. Everybody has an equivalent in my world. Even you. Especially you. You five are five of the most important ponies in my world; a world that I rule as a goddess princess."

"Wait..." Applejack frowned. "Princess?"

I sighed and rubbed my temples. "Yeah, princess. It's a long story. I was born a human male, but some magical artifacts turned me into a pony princess. That's the short version."

"So your real name would be Princess Antares?" Pinkie Pie asked.

I nodded. "Sure is. And speaking of..." I inclined my head in a slight bow and motioned to the portal. "My subjects need me. I have been gone long enough. I bid you five adieu. I suspect that even in this world, you five are important."

"Will we ever see you again?" Fluttershy said.

I shrugged. "Who knows? Life is mysterious. You never know what fate will throw at you."

With that, I turned around and walked towards the portal. I was ready to go home; to get back into my body, and return to my subjects. Just before I entered the portal, a thought struck me, and I turned around.

"Oh, uh..." I pointed to Celestia and Mr. Antares, both of whom were still on the ground. "Sorry about that. You might want to get them some medical attention. I didn't mean to hit them that hard. I'm used to punching things... well, much more resilient."

Okay, after that I went through the portal.

I endured the LSD trip again. Oh yeah. I'd forgotten about that. It was worth it, though. I was going home.

After a few seconds, I felt myself on the cold floor of the Crystal Palace. I grinned and fluttered my wings behind me. I did so miss having wings. I sat up and made sure my horn was back in its proper place. Good there, too. I stood up, intending to find my fellow monarchs, but I discovered that they were all waiting for me.

With gigantic grins on their faces.

Me dammit.

"It seems old habits die hard with you, Antares," Luna said, her grin widening somehow. "But punching yourself? You are a naughty pony."

I groaned and covered my face with my wings as the other three princesses had a laugh at my expense.
> The Sentencing of Sunset
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I suppose that I shouldn't have been surprised that Celestia didn't want me to have anything to do with Sunset's punishment. In fact, I found out a few minutes after my return that Blaze and Rapids had attempted to secure Sunset with hoofcuffs and a horn blocker, but Celestia vetoed that with, and I quote, "such gusto we didn't really feel like following the rule to only take orders from you."

Charming. 

As a matter of fact, I hadn't even seen Sunset since my return. I guess Celestia didn't trust me to not upset her plans, which hurt a little. Granted, I had just gotten through a couple of face punching sessions with our human counterparts, and caused a significant ruckus before that, so I guessed that I could see why. Still, we were in a relationship, so I felt like she should trust me more. 

Not that I had too much time to think about it. 

"So, how was punching yourself? How did it compare to punching my sister and her human counterpart? Did you go down easily? I always imagined that would be the case."

Sometimes I hate Luna, especially when she grins at me like she's doing now. I was so going to have her pelted with blueberries sometime very soon.

I suppose we didn't have much to do since Celestia had begun her private talk with Sunset. I mean, she even put a sound spell around the hall that both Luna and I combined would have trouble breaking. I could see it in Blaze and Rapids' eyes: they'd totally be making lewd jokes about what was happening on the other side of the door if not for the fact that I was their princess. 

Still...

"They've been in there for hours. What are they talking about?" I grumbled. 

"I frequently ask myself the same thing when I'm guarding doors for you, Princess Antares," Captain Blaze said. 

I didn't bother to dignify that with a response. Well, not a verbal response, anyway. I did have one, though, and it involved a lot of door guarding duty for both of my officers. Then maybe they'd not spread around stories of my punching. 

"Tia will inform us of what was said when she feels it is necessary," Luna said, ignoring Blaze as well. "These are old scars, Antares, for both of them. They need time to sort things out."

"I know, I know, but that doesn't make things less boring out here."

"You could use an old guard trick for boredom, Princess Antares," Rapids said much too chipperly for my liking. "I got the idea from some of Princess Celestia's guards: just count the bolts in the ceiling tiles until your shift is up!"

"That could be a good idea if it wasn't absolutely ridiculous," I snarked back.

"Yeah, it's better to count the threads in the carpet," Captain Blaze replied. 

"That's not what I mean either," I grumbled. "Just... forget it."

I sighed and leaned against the wall, not fully aware that my gaze had begun moving towards the ceiling. Not until it was too late, anyway. 

One. Two. Three. F-... no, that one's broken. Three-and-a-half. Four-and-a-half...

Wait. 

Dang it, Rapids!

I groaned and covered my head with my wings. As an alicorn, I'd gotten very good at stoicism, but I still needed to work on patience sometimes. Rapids must have figured out the reason for my frustration, as she began giggling behind her hoof. 

Before I could plan just how often she'd get latrine duty, the door to the throne room opened up, and Celestia and Sunset walked out. Sunset's eyes looked all red and puffy from crying, and even though Celestia had no such problem, I knew my marefriend well enough to see the mix of joy and pain in her eyes. It's just a slight glint in her eyes that gives away everything. Odd. She's not usually so expressive with her real emotions.

Sunset notices me and, with a whimper, leans up against Celestia, who wraps a wing around her. Gotta admit, I know that my arrest of her wasn't really... pleasant, but that hurt a little bit. I tried to be as gentle as possible with her at the end of the day. 

"Sunset and I have talked, and I have come to a decision," Celestia said as we all stood up. "Sunset will return through the portal to make amends for her actions there. In return, I have pardoned her for all of her actions taken here."

She didn't call them crimes. Very deliberate there, Celestia. 

None of us thought that we could change Celestia's mind about it, so us other princesses nodded in agreement. I could see Sunset visibly relax as a result. I guess she needed conformation from me that I wouldn't veto Celestia on it, or try to add anything. Not that I could if I wanted to. 

Celestia leaned her head down and whispered something to Sunset, who slowly nodded. A small, hopeful smile even crossed her face. In a way, I felt glad that Celestia picked this for Sunset. We didn't need more ponies in our prisons, so a rehabilitative punishment worked better for me than just tossing her in a cell for... the rest of her life, probably. 

Like I said: any other pony...

With a nudge from her wing, Celestia had Sunset walk towards the mirror. I guess she didn't want to waste any time with that. Celestia looked over to Luna and tilted her head in a nod, something that Luna returned. She followed Sunset towards the portal, leaving just Celestia, me and my dopey guards left.

"So..." I began when I was sure we were alone. "That seemed to go well enough, right?"

"Yes. Sunset told me everything that happened since she left." Celestia leaned up against me and nuzzled my shoulder. "A prison cell would be the worst thing possible for her, Antares. She has made her mistakes, but she is willing to correct them. I feel it shall take time, though. She'll need some support to make it through."

"You know, I think there was a certain group of girls over there that could help her out with that."

"Yes, she told me about the human counterparts of Twilight's friends."

I snorted and shook my head. "Not who I was talking about. Canterlot High also has human counterparts of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Sunset needs another shot at childhood."

Celestia raised an eyebrow at me, but rolled her eyes when she noticed my grin. "Indeed," she replied stiffly.

"But, I think she'll be okay," I said. "Like you said, though, it'll probably take a lot of time."

"Yes. Though there is one more matter that we need to resolve."

I tilted my head. "Oh? What's that?"

A hint of a smile crossed Celestia's lips. Somehow it made me feel uneasy. "Somepony else needs to make amends for mistakes they made on the other side of that portal."

No.

"Really? Who could that be?"

"Come now, you're smart, Antares," Celestia said, widening her smile ever so slightly. "You surely remember all of the events that took place? There are unresolved issues there."

"Hey, I paid for that house and car through legitimate means," I said, rising a hoof defensively. "I did it through the proper channels there. We can have a nice summer home."

"Guess again, Antares."

I shot Captain Blaze a glare. "Captain Blaze, what did you do?"

Celestia let out a quiet laugh and shook her head. "Warmer, but not quite."

No. 

"Ah, so this is about the 'male mind control device' stunt that Lieutenant Rapids pulled, then?"

"N--" Celestia's smile faltered for a moment, and she shot Rapids a bewildered look. Rapids returned it with a shrug.

"Hey, it worked, didn't it?"

"I shall have to hear that story," Celestia muttered. "But at the same time, that's not the issue here." Her smile returned in full force, and she began nudging me in the direction of the portal. "You left on bad terms with our counterparts. We cannot afford that."

No, I don't want to do that, I thought to myself.

"No, I don't want to do that," I said to Celestia. 

"Come now, Antares, you are a princess of Equestria." I dug my hooves into the floor, refusing to be pushed any further. Celestia responded by abandoning all pretense and merely picking me up with her magic. "When princesses make mistakes, they atone for them."

"Celestia, I swear," I growled, doing my best to cancel her magic. No luck there. "If I step foot on that campus I'm going to be arrested. It's not going to work."

"Oh, I'm sure we can think of something, Antares. After all, Equestria can't afford to lose you to something as silly as being arrested for assault." 

"So we are above the law, then?"

"No, no, we're just smart enough to find ways to dodge it and twist it when it suits our needs," Celestia responded chipperly. I couldn't help but notice that Blaze and Rapids weren't even trying to hide their smiles as they followed us to the portal. 

"I'm going to say no the next time you ask me to join you in your room unless you stop," I said through gritted teeth. 

"Oh good, then maybe I can finally get some sleep," Lieutenant Rapids said, making a show of wiping her brow in relief. 

"I will end you," I growled. 

"You're acting like a little filly, Antares," Celestia said as we entered the room with the portal. The room that still had Luna in it. Her face twisted into a Cheshire Cat grin very quickly at the sight of Celestia carrying me around. 

"Come now, Antares, this will only take a short time, then we can come back to Equestria and Luna and I will console you after the trauma of apologizing to the people you punched."

"We'll help if you want, Princess Antares," Captain Blaze said with the tone and expression befitting of a royal guard. "It would be our honor to listen while you talk about your feelings."

"You're playing with fire, Blaze!" I roared. 

"How do you think I got my cutie mark, Princess Antares?"

Before I could respond to that, my surroundings went all LSD on me, signifying that Celestia had shoved me through the portal. Guess I couldn't do anything about it now. 

I landed on the ground underneath the statue on the campus of Canterlot High, and opened my eyes to see Celestia, now a human herself, standing next to me. I groaned and got to my feet. 

"I could still run back through the portal," I muttered. "I don't want to do this."

"You're a better pony than that, Antares," Celestia said. "Besides..." She grinned and wrapped an arm around my shoulder. "I can do this all day."

I sighed, but realized that Celestia really had no intention of letting me get out of this. I shook her arm off of me and began walking towards the school. Frankly I have no idea if this world's Celestia and Antares are still at the school. We were gone for a few hours. I'm surprised no cops had been called to campus, honestly. If they had, I couldn't see any cop cars. 

I entered the school with Celestia in tow and went straight for the principal's office. Even as I drew near, I could hear the other Celestia's voice, with the voice of my counterpart cutting in every now and again. They didn't sound happy. 

Nothing else for it, really.

I opened the door to the office the moment I reached it, and saw Principal Celestia pacing around the room, with Sunset and Mr. Antares sitting on the chairs in front of her desk. Both Celestia and Antares held ice packs to their heads. 

"A talking pony world," the other Celestia said. "You say you were born and raised in a land of magical talking ponies."

Sunset nodded meekly. "Yes, Principal Celestia. I... I made some mistakes there, and I hid here. But I just make new mistakes during my time at your school, so I'm here to atone for them."

"And your kidnappers just let you go?" Antares asked, adjusting his ice pack on his face. 

"I prefer the term 'arresting princess'," I said, cutting into their talk, "but yes, we decided that Sunset's time would be better served here than in an Equestrian prison."

Ah, the looks on their face when they saw me. Priceless. Shock, horror, and rage do go together so well. Of course, shock, horror, and bewilderment go together even better. The latter aptly describes the expressions of our counterparts when the Equestrian Celestia walked in, smiling that serene smile of hers. I knew her well enough to guess that she knew darn well what kind of reaction she'd get from just walking in. 

"Good afternoon to you two," she said. "I must apologize if I startled you, but Antares didn't feel that you would listen to him if he came alone."

"Uh..." Mr. Antares blinked. "When did I say that?"

"Not you, me," I said, pointing to myself. "My name is Antares. We talked about this, remember?"

"So..." the other Celestia brought a hand up to her temple. "Everything Sunset has been saying..."

"Is true," Celestia said with a nod. "For reasons unknown to me, your school statue hosts a portal to an alternate dimension that opens for a few days every few years. On the other side is a land called Equestria, inhabited by, as you put it, magical talking ponies."

"I see..." Antares looked over to me. "And... so you're my double over there? You're from Equestria too?"

I chuckled and shook my head. "No, no, I wasn't born there. It's an adopted country for me. You've probably been teaching at this school for longer than I've been ruling Equestria." I inclined my head to Celestia. "Well, co-ruling with her and our world's Luna. I'm from an entirely different dimension, one where all of you are fictional."

"Okay, okay, stop, stop!" Antares said, putting his hand out and adjusting his ice pack. "My head hurts a little too much for all of that."

"Yes, and that is why we are here. Princess Antares has something to say to you." 

I didn't want to have anything to say, but Celestia nudged me until I stepped forward. 

"Principal Celestia, Mr. Antares..." I lowered my head and kicked at the ground like a colt caught with his hoof in the cookie jar. Grumpy expression and all. "I'm sorry for punching you in the face. I should have thought of a better way to handle the situation."

"I can't help but agree," the other Celestia said, a glare of her own on her face. 

"In my dimension, I'm an immortal, nearly all-powerful god who can move the sun and moon. I'm used to punching things a touch more resilient."

Mr. Antares raised an eyebrow and glanced knowingly at my Celestia, something neither of us missed. 

"All that to say, Princess Antares wishes to make amends for his behavior while at your school," Celestia said. "I assure you that he meant no harm. The crown was a magical artifact vital do the defense of our nation, something that Ms. Shimmer will confirm."

"If you didn't look exactly like me, I'd call you a lunatic," Principal Celestia said. "However, after everything that I've seen lately..." Principal Celestia sighed and put her ice pack down. "I feel I must take your word for most of this. It's far better than trying to sort it out on my own." She waved a hand. "Very well, I won't have you arrested for assault." Her glare returned. "But I'd still rather you leave the school premises."

"Fair enough," I said. 

"Still, though, if that statue wasn't a portal to an alternate dimension, I might take a sledgehammer to it," Mr. Antares said.

I shrugged. "Probably best you don't. Who knows? You might need someone on my end to hop on over here at some point."

Mr. Antares looked up at me, his expression blank, before looking at Principal Celestia. 

"Where's my sledgehammer?"

END OF PART ONE
> Cell Phone Book
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

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.
> The Sirens
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well the talk with Sunset could have gone a little better, but so long as her extreme dislike of me didn't cause any huge problems then I guess there wasn't anything for it. I was here to stop the Sirens, not make up with Sunset. She didn't have to like me, but I had every right to do what I did.

Which, now that I thought about it, boiled down to going into a foreign land and arresting a wanted fugitive without a warrant. Just like Batman!

I amused myself with an image of me as Batman as I reached my guards and the Mane five. They all gave me an uncomfortable look, but I smiled at them. 

"All good," I lied. "Sunset and I just had a few things to work out."

"I see, Your Majesty," Rarity said stiffly, causing me to frown.

"Just 'TD', Rarity," I said. "I'm not the kind of guy--"

"Girl," Blaze interrupted.

"--who likes all those stuffy titles." With the grace, dignity and poise befitting an Equestrian princess, I extended my middle finger in Blaze's direction. He knew what it meant. "That aside, let's talk about the Sirens. Anything in particular you think I need to know?"

"Well, we haven't really seen them all that much," Rainbow Dash admitted. "They kinda just came into the lunch room and sang this weird song about us having a battle of the bands instead of just a musical showcase like we were gonna do."

"Yeah, 'bout that..." Applejack uneasily rubbed the back of her neck. "Ah didn't wanna say nothin' 'cause Ah wasn't too sure if it was just me, but did any of y'all actually, you know, hear the music them, what didja call 'em, Sirens were singin' to? When the rest of the school joined in Ah thought for sure they were playin' some music that the rest of us were singin' to, but it sounds like they were just singin' without any music at all."

"Yeah, I thought that was weird, too," Rainbow Dash said. "It didn't sound like a capella music, either. It sounded like they were singing a pop song without any musical accompaniment."

"Odd," I replied, tapping my chin. "But the rest of the school seemed to hear some imaginary tune that they sung along with?" The Mane Five all nodded. "Well, that shows me that the song was probably magical in origin. The people who actually heard the tune were the ones who were under their control at the moment, which does fit with what I know about their abilities."

"So are they from Equestria?" Fluttershy asked. 

"Yeah. I'm not sure what your mythology is like here, but the name 'Sirens' pretty much sums things up. They feed off of disharmony. It powers them up. I'm not sure if that means they also sit on rocks near the ocean and tempt sailors to smash into said rocks, so I'm forced to assume that they fit that in somewhere."

"One tiny thing to note is that they call themselves 'The Dazzlings'," Rarity said. "I don't think I've ever heard them saying anything about sirens."

"Dazzlings, Sirens, it makes no difference to me," I said with a shrug. "I'm here to stop them. Whatever their reason for being here, it can't be good." I beckoned the group and my guards to follow me. "We should probably start with this whole Battle of the Bands thing. If they're performing in it, whatever they're planning will probably happen there."

"Or you could just ask them what they're up to," Pinkie said, pointing ahead of us. "They seem in a chatty mood."

We all stopped and looked where Pinkie was pointing. Sure enough, three girls were standing near the lockers, huddled up and whispering to each other. 

They all had the most ridiculous hair I'd ever seen in my life. I mean holy jeez. What are they, Dothraki? They can only cut their hair when they lose to somebody? 

Pushing aside the notion of explaining to them what a proper haircut was, I motioned for my entourage to stay behind while I moved towards the Sirens. Blaze and Rapids both moved forward to follow me, but I waved them down, too. I could handle them well enough, and if something did go wrong, they were close enough to help me. I doubted that the Sirens would try anything in the middle of the hall, especially not with Principal Celestia's office a few doors down. Plus their guard would be down a little more if one guy approached them instead of eight. 

I made it within about five feet of them before one of the Sirens, the one with the purple pigtails, noticed me and made the other two aware that somebody was daring to approach them. The other two turned to face me, and the one with the gigantic orange mass on her head scowled at me.

"What do you want?" she growled. "Can't you see we're busy?"

Now that I got closer and they weren't huddled up like they were deciding if they were going to run or pass, I could see that each of them had necklaces on with a bright red gem in the middle. If those things weren't important, I'd eat my wings.

And if they weren't important, I didn't have wings right then, so I couldn't eat them.

"I just wanted to say how much I loved your performance in the lunch room today," I said, putting a goofy grin on my face. "I think that a battle of the bands is a much better idea than a musical showcase."

The one with the orange hair let out a sigh, and her expression seemed to indicate that she'd like to shove me in a locker. "Thanks, now will you leave us alone?"

"Oh sure, sure!" I said, drawing closer. "Maybe we'll fight against each other in the battle! I think I could absolutely whoop you three."

Now, to their credit, they did manage to surprise me with their response. Normally when I throw down the gauntlet like that--usually with Luna--my opponent glares at me and loudly denies my assertions. It gets both sides pumped up. Instead, all three of the Sirens gave me... seductive smiles and began circling me like sharks. 

"Oh really now?" the orange haired one said, slowly running a finger over my shoulder. "And what makes you think that?"

I shrugged. "I dunno, I just think that the pop songs you three sing are the musical equivalent of brain tumors. Like I said: your one in the cafeteria today was okay, but even a bloodstain can have an interesting shape every now and again."

"Interesting that you think that," Purple Pigtails said. "Well then, we'll be sure to see you on the stage in a few days, won't we?"

"Not that it will actually be a contest," Orange Poof said. "You saw us today. The entire school is eating out of our hands."

"Are you guys getting dizzy just circling me like this?"

"In fact," Orange Poof continued like I hadn't spoken. "I'll bet that maybe we can get you to come to our way of thinking."

I grimaced and shifted uncomfortably. "This has taken a turn I wasn't prepared for. I just wanted to throw down the gauntlet for the battle."

Orange Poof chuckled and slid her arm around my shoulders. She ran a finger down my chest and leaned in close to my ear. "You seem uncomfortable. I suppose we can work with that." 

The two remaining Sirens began vocalizing, and as they did, I noticed the gems on their necklaces beginning to glow a little bit. Seems I wouldn't have to eat my wings after all. I could feel the magic beginning to swirl around me. 

"Just give in," Orange Poof crooned. "Embrace us. Allow us to take control."

"That ssssoundssss..." I slowly closed my eyes as though they were getting heavy. "K-kinky."

The Sirens all paused for a brief moment, then began vocalizing again as though I hadn't said anything. I wrapped my arm around Orange Poof's back and began moving my hand higher. 

"Don't resist and soon you will be..." Orange Poof licked her lips with the tip of her tongue. "Under our-- HEY!"

Orange Poof pushed me into the lockers and backed away, grasping at her necklace. "You do not ever touch our necklaces!" she growled. "I will not have your imbecilic paws grabbing at them!"

"Oh come on, you're not going to take your clothes off?" I said with a pouty expression that barely hid my amused grin. Seems I'd found the big red glowing spot I needed to defeat these three. 

"I will end you," Orange Poof snarled while the other two glared at me.

"No, no, please don't end me!" I cried dramatically. "Look, I'm brainwashed, see?" I began walking around like Frankenstein's Monster. "Uuugh. All hail the Dazzlings!"

Blue Whip frowned and tilted her head at me. "Really? You don't look like people normally do when we brainwash them."

Orange Poof facepalmed so hard I was fairly certain that I'd have been able to hear the noise from Equestria. "Sonata, I swear..."

Before I could comment on that, Purple Ponytail grabbed Orange Poof by the shoulder. "Come on, Adagio. We'll deal with him soon enough."

'Fine." Adagio's confident smile returned. "We'll see you on the stage, won't we?"

I crossed my arms and leaned against a locker, a confident smile of my own on my face. "Bring it on."

Adagio turned and stomped away, with the other two quickly following. Once they were far enough away, my observers made their way over to me. I flashed them my grin, which made a few of them roll their eyes.

"So, you mind explainin' exactly what that was all about?" Applejack said.

"Yeah, because it looked like you were about to be the centerpiece of a foursome," Rapids commented.

"Crude statements aside..." Rarity shot Rapids a glare. "The one with the orange hair did rather seem to... drape herself over you."

"And you let it happen, too," Blaze observed. "You not getting enough action from Princess Celestia anymore?"

"That can't be it, because I still haven't had a good night's rest since they started dating," Rapids replied. 

"Anyway!" I began, trying to ignore the blushing from Fluttershy and Rarity and the giggles from the other three. "I had a very good reason for all of that."

"Ah to be--"

"Rapids, I have one word for you: latrine." That shut her up pretty quick. She closed her mouth with an audible clack of her teeth and had the sense to look embarrassed. I maintained my glare for a few moments before continuing. "Anyway, by letting her 'drape herself over me', I let her get close enough to make a go for her necklace. You saw how the three of them responded when I did. I think I would have gotten a lesser reaction if I actually copped a feel."

Blaze and Rapids exchanged a confused glace. "But they don't have horns or wings," Blaze said. 

"Tits," Rainbow Dash said. "He's talking about tits."

That did nothing to help their confusion, so I simply pointed to Rapids' "male mind control devices" which got the point across well enough. "That showed me that those things are likely the source of their power. If we can get those things off, they'll likely have no more power than an average teenaged girl. By letting them try to brainwash me, I found out that those necklaces are definitely where they either draw their strength from or store it. Maybe both. The power levels I felt around me showed me that, while they are obviously powerful enough to hypnotize a room full of teenagers, they aren't strong enough to fight anything magical yet, or at least, something with magical strength. I suspect that if they tried to take their band on tour in Equestria, they'd get shut down real quick. I'm not sure if they didn't affect me because I'm an alicorn, but I think that they're not strong enough to even try to take control of even the average pony."

"So..." Fluttershy shared a confused look with the others. "How do you want to stop them?"

I turned and faced a Battle of the Bands poster that I had noticed a few minutes earlier. "Well, they're going to start trying to draw more power pretty quickly, and I don't think they'll show up for geometry class. I think the best bet for the moment is the Battle of the Bands." I turned to face the group. "Let's see what they can do."
> Sign Up
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

No sense wasting the day about it.

I knocked on the door to Principal Celestia's office, hoping that she was still in so that we could talk. She'd find out that the three of us had returned to her school eventually, so I might as well have her find out on my terms. Granted, she could already know, given that rumors travel through schools faster than coked up roadrunners, but I might as well talk to her anyway.

"Come in," Celestia said after I'd knocked. 

I put on my best grin and opened the door. Celestia was sitting behind her desk working on some paperwork, or something. I herded Blaze and Rapids into the room before shutting the door behind us.

"Celestia, how are you?" I said happily. "It really has been too long since we-- WHOA!"

I ducked the snow globe flying at my head just in time to avoid a rather nasty bruise on my face. The snow globe bounced off of the door and rolled on the floor, coming to a stop at my feet. I grimaced at Celestia and picked it up.

"Better be more careful. A guy could get the wrong idea about your opinion of him if you do stuff like that."

"I think my opinion of you is rather clear, TD or Antares, or whatever your name is," Celestia growled, sitting back down. "If you three could please leave my school, I would appreciate that."

"Hey, I come in peace," I said, raising my hands to head level. "I wouldn't be here if it wasn't vitally important to the safety of your school and students."

"And I assume that will entail assaulting me again?" Celestia growled. 

"Oh please, curb your hyperbole," I said with a roll of my eyes. "I mean, maybe I put a little more force into my punch than usual, but again, I'm used to punching gods."

"And in case you were wondering, every word of that was, in fact, a double entendre, including the hyperbole part," Captain Blaze chimed in.

"The point is," I continued like Blaze hadn't said anything, "Something from our end is here messing things up for you on your end, and I'm here to fix Starswirl's mistakes."

Celestia frowned and tilted her head. "What does our first president have to do with any of this?"

"Well..." I paused, tried to register that, failed, then continued. "No, there's a Starswirl on our end, too. He's the one who sent the Sirens here."

"Indeed?" Celestia said, raising an eyebrow. "So your Starswirl the Just sees my school as a dumping grounds for evil things he doesn't want to deal with himself?"

"Well firstly he's Starswirl the Bearded to us..."

"He did have rather impressive facial hair," Celestia admitted. 

"Secondly..." I shrugged. "I guess he kind of did. The fact remains, though, that Starswirl the Bearded has been dead for close to a thousand years. He sent the Sirens here, and now they're causing havoc. I'm here to fix that."

"I see." Celestia narrowed her eyes and leaned forward. "You want to know what I think?"

"I can't wait."

"I think that you're just here to cause trouble again. The last time you were here, you assaulted me and kidnapped one of my students. Yes, she did turn out to be a pony in the end as you said, but I don't think that you can pull that this time. 'The Sirens' as you call them have been model students by all accounts. They've made friends faster than any students I've seen at this school, and I won't have you disrupting their education with baseless accusations."

Wait, what?

"They're thriving here," Celestia said, leaning back in her chair with a smile. "In fact, the battle of the bands was their idea, and I'm in full support of it." At that moment, Celestia's eyes began glowing green, and I knew I was in trouble. "So, with all of that said, you three are to remove yourselves from my office and my school before I call the police."

"Because that went well for you last time," I snarked. Dang it, I didn't expect her to be brainwashed. I needed another plan and fast. 

"Out," Celestia growled, pointing at the door. 

"Okay, okay, I'm going." I smirked at her and tilted my head in a nod. "See you in a little bit."

"I doubt that," Celestia said. "You are to not come back to my school."

I stood up from the chair and left Principal Celestia's office, Blaze and Rapids following closely behind me. We were a half dozen steps away from her office before Blaze spoke up. 

"So she's brainwashed. What do we do about that?"

I sighed and sadly shook my head. "There's only one way I know to break a spell like that, and it's not going to be pretty. We're going to need some duct tape, a music player and some headphones."


*  *  *  *


"I am so, so sorry about all of this. I want you to realize that before we continue. I wouldn't have done it if I thought I'd had any other options, and I know that you'll thank... you'll come to appreciate why I had to do it." I took the tape off of Principal Celestia's mouth and flinched back, awaiting the inevitable barrage of profanity that would inevitably arise from being forced to listen to this world's version of K-pop music for two hours to cure brainwashing. Instead, Celestia took a deep breath and looked me in the eye without blinking at all.

"I hate you."

"I know."

"No, I truly do not think that you understand the sheer hell fire that burns in me whenever I think about you."

"Can you at least understand why I might have done this particular thing and can you understand that I wouldn't have done it if I had any other choice?"

Celesta took another deep breath and slowly blinked. "Perhaps. I understand that you are here to help my students. I appreciate not being brainwashed anymore, I suppose. Being brainwashed makes me realize that my school has been infested with something that I can't quite deal with on my own. It's magical, you are magical, thus you are the best option for protecting my students. However..." She wiggled in her chair to move herself forward, something only necessary because she was still taped to it. "A day of reckoning is at hand for you. Something is going to happen soon, something that will make you re-think who you are and how you act around others. Very soon, TD. Very soon."

"I said I was sorry!" I retorted. "Would you rather I just left you brainwashed?"

"I suppose not," Celestia said quietly. "I would, however, like for you to cut me loose."

I looked over at Blaze and gave him a nod of approval. He nodded back and began cutting the tape off of Celestia. The second she was free, I didn't even have time to speak to her again before she socked me right in the gut. As an alicorn that blow wouldn't have hurt me at all, but as a fleshy human, her blow packed a little more punch, so to speak.

Seeing me attacked got Blaze and Rapids going, but I waved them down before they attacked Celestia. 

"It's fine," I wheezed. "I probably deserved that."

"Yes, yes you did," Celestia said through gritted teeth. "I did need to repay you for that punch to the face, and even as a brainwashing cure, there is no justification for making me endure that kind of music."

"Noted." I took a few deep breaths to get the wind back in me and straightened up. "Okay. Okay. So, are we even now? Can we get to saving your school from evil sirens?" I held out my hand for her to shake. "Truce? I promise to try to be better behaved. I know I haven't been doing a good job, and I apologize. You may not like me, but please trust that, despite my behavior, I really am doing my best to help you guys out here." I extended my hand a little more. "So whaddya say? We good?"

Celestia stared at my hand suspiciously as if she expected it to curl into a fist and, well, you know. After a few moments of it not doing that, she gingerly took my hand and shook it. 

"We're good. If you can free my students from magical brainwashing, I'll consider us completely even."

"Excellent," I said, a smile crossing my face. "So I did have a plan on how to beat them. Basically their power keeps growing the more they feed off of your students. What we need to do is break the spell they have on them."

"And how do you suggest we do that?"

"Well, we want to capture them, not have them retreat for a few years or so until they can come back stronger and with a better plan," I said, sitting down on one of the chairs opposite Celestia's desk. "To do that we'll have to break their power completely. I don't know if you remember that they're all wearing necklaces with gems on them?" Celestia nodded. "Right. That's the source of their power. I'll bet the Fall Formal crown that if we get those away from them, or maybe even break them, we won't have any more trouble from those three."

"And how do you suggest we go about that?" Celestia asked, sitting back down on her chair. 

"If we let them know that we're on to them, and that we've freed you from their brainwashing, then they'll start getting dangerous, as any cornered animal or siren does. So we've got to make it seem like the show is still going on. We have to do the Battle of the Bands."

"And I can't just cancel it because...?"

"Because if you do that then they'll know something is up. They have the whole school wrapped around their fingers. They'll just tell the school to protest and then things will get way more complicated than they have to be." I leaned back in my chair and tapped my chin. "We have to break their hold on your students. Then we can do whatever we want to them after that."

"Which will involve taking them back to Equestria." Celestia crossed her arms and gave me a slight glare. "I know you had nothing to do with it, but I cannot help but be a little annoyed that your version of Starswirl looked at my world and saw it as his own personal dumping grounds for monsters he didn't want to deal with personally. If the Sirens are powerless after the removal or destruction of their gems, then it will be no great chore for you to take them back through the portal with you, would it?"

I shrugged. "I don't see any reason why not."

"Good, then we are agreed. Now, how are you going to break the spell over my students?"

"Well, the big part is that I have to be in the Battle of the Bands," I began. "I can counter their music with my own." I raised a hand to forestall any objections from Celestia. "I won't do to your students what I did to you."

"If you do, all truce talks are off."

"Understood. Your part in this is making sure that I'm in the same bracket with the Sirens. They can go first, and I'll follow up with the counter-spell. With any luck our music will break the spell they have over them and we can pick up the sirens after that. It'll be much easier to take them back to Equestria if they don't have the ability to send brainwashed teenagers after us."

"I suppose you're right." Celestia took a pen off of her desk and began jotting a few things down on a notepad. "Very well, I'll get you in the battle. But this had better work."

"Oh I agree." I stood up and smiled. "That's why I'll be coming up with a few contingency plans. That, and I'm going to do my best to make sure that the Sirens aren't quite at full strength when we compete in the battle."

"Oh?" Celestia said, raising an eyebrow. "And what might those be? Nothing illegal, I hope?"

My smile turned into a full-blown grin. "Oh, I do hope not. No promises, though."
> Let's Have a Battle
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I stepped back through the portal, rather glad to be on four hooves again. A much as I loved being a human once more, I guess I'd gotten to a point where I didn't think about myself as one anymore, which was odd for me, whenever I thought about it. I vaguely wondered again about my destiny, and if I was merely TD or always Princess Antares. 

Or whatever. Honestly I'd had a rather long day, what with picking just the right music with which to un-brainwash Principal Celestia. I had to listen to everything that I put her through. Belgh. 

I walked into the main room of the library and, interestingly enough, Twilight and Celestia were sharing tea. A few books were open around them and spread over the table, so they must have been studying something. They looked up when I came back in with Blaze and Rapids with a smile. 

"Ah, TD, how are you?" Celestia asked, getting to her hooves. "Have the Sirens been dealt with? That was quick."

"Unfortunately no," I said with a shake of my head. "They've drawn a lot of power from feeding off of the students at Canterlot High, so I need something more than my fists if I want to deal with this. Plus two of them strike me as smarter than I'm used to, so it would take a lot of maneuvering to beat them with brains, something I don't think I have time to do." I walked over to Celestia and nuzzled her. "Things going well with the minotaurs and griffins?"

"Everything has been quiet since you left," Celestia said. "The Blade Wings haven't given me any new reports on their actions."

"So I should have a little time, good," I said with a nod. "My plan is pretty simple, but I'll need your help to do it. They're using some kind of musical spell to brainwash and feed off of their victims. I need you to whip me up some gems that will hold the counter-spell while I pop on by the Restricted Section of the Canterlot Library."

"The Restricted Section?" Celestia said, raising her eyebrow. "And what, pray tell, do you need to do there?"

"Now now, that would be telling," I said with a waggle of my hoof. "Just trust me on this. I'm not going to blow up either world."

"Ponies tend not to think that they will until they do," Celestia pointed out.

"Well, that's not even the kind of spell I'll be using," I said. "I have a bit more of a deft touch in mind."

"Do you indeed?" Celestia said. She stared at me for a few moments before sighing. "Very well, I trust you. How many gems will you need?"

"About three, I think," I said, doing the calculations in my head. "I don't think it matters where I put them, just so long as my drumming will trigger them well enough."

"Drumming?" Twilight frowned and tilted her head. "I didn't know you played the drums."

I chuckled and wrapped a wing around Twilight. "I don't. Why else do you think I need to go to the Restricted Section of the library?"


*  *  *  *


"So, what did you say this spell did, Princess Antares?" Rapids asked, staring uneasily at the bass she held in her arms like it would bite her. "Make us play instruments good?"

"Well, that's an oversimplification, of course, but essentially yes." I poked my tongue through my teeth while I finished installing the last gem on the drum set I'd just bought for the battle. "Basically I 'downloaded' a song into your brain. You'll be able to play it perfectly on your instruments for the entire duration of the spell. We should have more than enough time to play the counter-spell before the one that allows us to play wears off."

"Well that's good, I guess," Blaze said, staring at his guitar. He plucked a few strings and succeeded in getting a decent melody out of it. "And your drums have the counter-spell in them?"

"Yeah, pretty much," I said, standing up. "It's going to take a little bit for them to work, so we'll have to open their minds with the first part of our act before I hit them with the full brunt of my wicked drum skills." I grinned as I took the sticks in my hand. "And of course, I have the plan for their act. I think they won't even be able to hypnotize a rat by the time we're done with them."

"If you're certain," a voice said beside me. I turned and gave a confident grin to Principal Celestia and somebody who looked like Princess Luna, who were approaching us with uneasy looks. "I am especially not sure I like what you're going to install behind the curtain."

I scoffed and walked up to the curtain on the stage in the auditorium of the school. "Oh, trust me. It's going to really ruin their rhythm, which will be key in ensuring that they won't be able to brainwash or feed off of anyone else. I just need to you make sure they don't try to cry foul once I put it into action." 

"It's not appropriate to have in a school," Vice-Principal Luna grumbled.

"Neither are a trio of sirens who are going to hurt your students if they get any more powerful," I pointed out. "Once we've dealt with them, we'll take them back to Equestria and you won't have to bother with them anymore."

"And you?" Luna asked hopefully.

I shrugged. "I don't know what else Starswirl dumped here. This could be the last time we see each other, or this could merely be the beginning of a beautiful friendship. I just hope you know that I'm trying to keep your school intact here. I'm not going to burn it down trying to get rid of some infestation. That's something a government-appointed official would do, and I'm not part of your world's government."

Luna let out a long-suffering sigh and turned her attention to the curtain on the stage. "And you're certain that it's necessary?"

"Very. It'll break the hold the Sirens have on your students, or, at the very least, it'll prevent them from tightening their grip." I paused, then added, "at the very very least, it'll be funny."

"We don't want 'funny', we want the Sirens out of here," Celestia said sternly.

"And if I can be funny while doing that, all the better," I said with a nod. "At any rate..." I stood up and dusted myself off. "The drum set is ready to go. All that's left is the actual battle tonight. You two just need to make sure that my antics don't stop the battle, and that once I get on stage, nothing stops my act. After that, we should be good."

"If you say so," Luna muttered. "If you say so."

"I do!" I said with a grin. "If everything goes according to plan, you can have a real Battle of the Bands that doesn't involve a crazy trio of emotion eaters fighting a pony god from another dimension. You can go back to students fighting in the hallways or senior pranks as the biggest issues you have to deal with."

"I cannot wait," Celestia admitted. "Are you sure you won't have any trouble bringing them back to your world?"

"Shouldn't," I said. "Once they're powerless, they're just three scrawny teenage girls." I tapped my jaw in thought. "If they are a big problem, I can always send Blaze or Rapids back through the portal to get more soldiers."

"No!" Celestia and Luna shouted at the same time. 

"I mean..." Celestia took a deep breath. "I'm sure you three will be fine."

"Eh, me too." I twirled the drum sticks in my hand before tapping out a simple tune on the drums. "If I had to guess, they won't know what hit them."

"The Sirens or our students?"

I chuckled and sped up my playing. "Both."


*  *  *  *


"Okay, so are you two ready?" I said, looking through one of the side curtains to see the stage. Currently the Rainbooms were setting up their instruments for their act of the battle. I considered asking them for help, but, heh, after the reception I'd received from Sunset, I figured that wasn't the best idea. Besides, I didn't even think I needed their help. I'm certain that if I needed it that they'd all jump in at once, and I kept that in mind just in case something went wrong, but for now, Blaze, Rapids and I had things pretty well in hand. I exchanged a quick glance with Celestia and Luna, both of whom were sitting at a table in front of the stage. Presumably as judges, or something.

I watched the group begin tuning their instruments for their act with mild interest. Pinkie Pie seemed to be on the drums, so maybe the two of us could have a drum-off before my spell wore off. I'd be interested to see what she'd be able to do. For the most part I...

Wait.

Hold the phone.

I narrowed my eyes and looked to the catwalks above the Rainbooms. It seemed that some other students weren't quite so interested in making this a fair fight. Sigh. And we already had to deal with emotion eating sirens. I nudged Blaze with my elbow and pointed to the catwalks. 

"Whaddya think: special effects crew or saboteurs?"

Blaze shrugged. "Could be both."

"Uh-huh." I looked through the curtain again and grimaced. "Well, they're going to be starting any minute now, so we don't have too much time. You two wait here: I'll deal with the cheaters."

"Roger that, Princess Antares," Rapids said, looking up at the students as well. "You need anything?"

"I shouldn't." I grinned and began walking away. "This won't take too long."

Now, it looked like there were two groups up there: Photo Finish and her groupies, and Snips and Snails. An easy fix. I went into a storage room I noticed earlier which seemed to be used to store props and costumes for the school's theater productions. It would suit my purposes nicely. I went over to a corkboard, on which several masks hung. I picked up a silver one with a grinning face that wouldn't look out of place in The Purge. Perfect. Content that I was sufficiently disguised, I went over to the ladder leading up to the catwalks and went up. 

I ran into Photo Finish first. Apparently Rarity was wearing a costume with a lot of metal on it, so Photo Finish had brought magnets to trip her up that way. She was whispering to her flunkies about their plan, I guess, when I came up behind them and grabbed one of them, covering her mouth with my hand. Photo Finish and the other one popped up, their eyes wide. 

"Make a single sound and we'll see what happens when you cross me," I said in my best demonic voice. "You're encroaching on my territory. This is my turf." I let the girl go and stepped aside. "Leave this place. Tell the others that The Phantom of Canterlot High will not tolerate saboteurs."

I could tell they desperately wanted to scream, but my warning seemed to work. They bolted past me as fast as their legs could carry them, terror evident on their faces. I grinned behind my mask and moved on over to Snips and Snails, who looked like they were messing with a spotlight over Fluttershy. I reached them just as the Rainbooms began performing. I grabbed Snips and held him by the collar, pushing him near the edge of the catwalk to the point where he felt like he might fall off. 

"I have a stake in this performance. The Phantom of Canterlot High will not be denied." I waggled my finger at him. "I will send you the way of Joseph Buquet should you interfere." I released him and stepped aside so that Snips and Snails could run away. "Remember to keep your hand at the level of your eyes!"

The two ran from me, their hands at head level, before scurrying down the ladder so quickly it was a wonder they didn't leave a trail of fire behind them. I giggled and looked down on the Rainbooms from my position. Things seemed to be going well enough for them. Good. Content that my job was done, I went to re-join my guards. 

I approached them while holding the mask I'd been wearing. The each raised an eyebrow at me. "You have fun, Princess Antares?"

"Oh lots," I said gleefully. "I foresee some interesting rumors circulating around the school for a long time." I looked down fondly at the mask I had. "I think I'll buy this from Celestia. Or ask where she got it so that I can get one for myself. I like it."

"Not bad," Blaze agreed. "Looks creepy enough."

I stored the mask in my backpack for the moment before looking back to the stage. The Rainbooms had finished which meant that it was go time. 

"Okay, you two know what to do. Just stay frosty and we'll be okay. Do just what we practiced." The two saluted me and we ran back behind the curtain, just as the Sirens stepped onstage. We grabbed our trump card from its storage spot and quickly installed it behind the curtain. We'd gotten pretty good at that after a day or two of practice. The whole thing went down without a hitch. Once we finished that, Blaze and Rapids took their positions on either side of the stage, leaving me to listen for the cue. 

"Remember, girls, we want to save the good stuff for when our full power has been restored," I heard Adagio say. I grinned and grabbed the curtain rope, ready to pull it open as soon as we were ready. 

The Sirens did not disappoint. Their song was just as seductive as I hoped it would be. A quick peek through the curtain let me know they were even swaying their hips in a seductive manner. Perfect. Just perfect.

I pulled the curtain open revealing my trump card: a stripper pole. The Sirens didn't stop singing until I began bouncing around the stage, whooping and wolf whistling like a lunatic. 

"Oh take it off!" I cried. "Take it off!" I did a few twirls around the pole before running up to the Sirens, who were looking at me like I'd absolutely lost my mind. "No, no, keep swaying your hips! You're so seductive!" I pulled out a wad of dollar bills and began "making it rain" all over the Sirens. By this point Adagio seemed to figure out what was going on and, well, if looks could kill, she'd have struck me dead on the spot, alicorn powers or no. She stomped up to me and pushed me back. 

"What do you think you are doing?!" she screeched. 

"Just adding to your act," I said with as much innocence as I could muster. "Why? Don't you appreciate that? You brainwashed me, remember?"

"Get off the bucking stage!" she snarled. 

"Ahem," Principal Celestia said into the microphone she held. "Are you three finished with your act?"

"No we are not!" Adagio snarled. "This buffoon has interfered with our performance!"

"I find that hard to believe, seeing as how you stated you'd have four members in your group." Celestia said, looking down at a sheet in front of her. "Did something go wrong?"

"I said three, not four!" Adagio cried while Sonata and Aria shrugged at each other. 

"Oh, did you?" Celestia tapped her jaw and continued studying the paper. "Well, it says here that you have four members of your group. Why don't you let the next act go on while we get this all figured out?"

I could hear Adagio's teeth grinding from where I stood. She was planning all sorts of torturous things for Celestia and I, that much was certain, but there wasn't too much she could do at the moment. I'm certain she suspected that something was up, but she couldn't stop it now. As for the students in the audience, they all looked really confused, like they weren't sure if they should be brainwashed or not. Good. It seemed my little stunt had already loosened the hold the Sirens had on them. 

Blaze and Rapids closed the curtains while Adagio stomped up to me. She poked me in the chest with her finger and got up close to my face. "You are going to die."

"Not for a long while yet," I said, my grin not wavering. 

"I know you're up to something, and I'm just letting you know now that it won't work!" She began backing away menacingly. "I'll get you for this."

"And my little dog, too?"

Adagio made a noise of disgust and stomped off of the stage, Sonata and Aria in tow. I chuckled to myself before going to help Blaze and Rapids set up for our act, which started with uninstalling the stripper pole. Maybe I could find out where the Sirens were staying and mail it to them.

Once we'd gotten the pole off of the stage, we began setting up our instruments. I double checked the gems in all of them, and they seemed to be good to go. Nothing else for it at this point but to go for it and hope for the best. We each took our positions and the curtain opened. 

"Are you three ready?" Celestia asked, a slightly worried look on her face. I gave her a confident grin and nod, and she returned it with a sigh. "Very well." She picked up the microphone and turned to her students. "Up next we have the Canadians and their group... Milli and the Vanillis." She turned back to me and nodded. "Whenever you are ready."

I nodded back. "Alrighty, lady and gentleman, let's do this." I tapped my sticks together to get the rhythm going, and on the third tap, Blaze began playing the opening notes to Smells Like Teen Spirit.

I did so love the fact that I still had my music from Earth in Equestria. 

I could feel the magic pulsing from the gems on our instruments as I began singing. I tried not to think so much about what I was playing, but rather let the magic of the spell guide my movements. The crowd of students began drawing closer as our counter-spell began working its magic. I glanced to the side of the stage and saw the Sirens arguing with Vice-Principal Luna. They probably wanted me disqualified, or something. Good luck with that. 

The counter-spell brought the brainwashing magic inside of each student to the forefront, which caused all of their eyes to begin glowing green. That meant that it was working well enough so far. I began playing with more passion, and the green color began fading in and out, but not disappearing completely. I needed to up my game a little bit if I was going to break the spell completely, but the song had almost ended, and I doubted that Celestia would be able to let me just start up another one. Not that I really had another one to go with. 

Not a concrete one, anyway, but the spell did mean that I was good at the drums. Really good. I could use that. The song ended with the eyes of the students still glowing green, but I had one trick left up my sleeve. Blaze and Rapids stopped, but I continued playing, increasing the speed and my beats. 

To this day I'm still not entirely sure what I did, but I felt the magic flowing from the gems becoming more powerful the faster I played. I looked out into the audience and saw that some of the students' eyes were returning to normal. Celestial and Luna were looking at me with dropped jaws, and even the Sirens had stopped arguing and were just staring at me in shock. I began sweating as the strain of drumming like I was began to take its toll on my weaker human body. Before the toll started slowing my drumming down, however, I saw that the last of the green eyes had gone out. I grinned and did a few more movements before slamming my sticks down on the cymbals, bringing my epic solo to an end. 

The auditorium instantly burst into uproarious applause. They began cheering my name and bouncing up and down like a mosh pit. I gave them a few bows before walking off of the stage past the Sirens. 

"Top that," I said with a grin.

"Oh, I think I might be able to," Adagio replied. She had a grin of her own on her face, which surprised me a little bit. I thought she'd be livid. "It seems I found out where that Equestrian magic came from." 
> The Next Move
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Okay, so... maybe I wasn't quite as discreet as I could have been. But on the whole, I'd call it a success. The whole school wasn't hypnotized by sirens anymore, so that made things a lot easier. Now the only challenge I had left was getting their necklaces away from them so that I could transport them back to Canterlot to stand trial. Or something. Honestly I might need to rope some of the human Mane Six into tying the Sirens up and throwing them back through the portal. Rainbow Dash and Applejack would be up for that, right? Maybe Pinkie, too? Even with Blaze and Rapids, it might be difficult to bring the Sirens back if they really didn't want to. Celestia and Luna would look the other way, of course, anything to make sure all of us left their school alone, but that grace would probably not last forever. 

Well, I planned on getting out of their hair pretty quickly anyway. 

I took my drum set apart and put everything away to let the next act go on. If I guessed right, I think we won this round. Blaze and Rapids stood beside me, having already put their instruments away. 

"Well, now what, Princess Antares?" Blaze asked. "I don't know about you, but I don't like that she said that she knows about us being from Equestria."

"Well..." I zipped up one of the bags holding a drum. "If I had to guess, they're going to be lying pretty low for a little while. Yeah, it would be better if we could have broken their hold on the school without drawing attention to ourselves that would be great, and maybe there was a way to do that, but I'm not sure what that would be."

"We could have just asked the Sirens to meet us by the statue, then arrest them from there," Rapids suggested. 

I shook my head. "I don't think they'd fall for that. Well, actually, maybe the one with the blue hair would have. We need all three, though. Even if we could get all three of them, we need to break their power before we can arrest them. I'm not bringing them back to Equestria just so they can wreak havoc. If we can reduce them to just normal girls, that would be for the best."

I stood up and slung one of the drum bags over my shoulder while picking up two more. Blaze and Rapids collected the rest of them. 

"So that doesn't answer my big question, Princess Antares. What now?"

"I think our next move is talking to Celestia and Luna. I'm not sure if it's best if we get them away from the school, or if we should keep them here so we know where they are. If the former, we'll need to find some reason to get them expelled."

"Well, you're a princess," Blaze pointed out. "Just go into any Manehattan police station and ask to get into their evidence lockers. Grab a bag of heroin and plant it in the backpack or locker of one of the sirens and get them expelled."

Dubious legality aside, it sounded like a tempting idea. 

"Or if you wanted to use meth you could go to a Vanhoover police station," Rapids added.

"Or Canterlot if you wanted cocaine. High class drug and all that."

"Okay, you two, I think I get it." 

"Decent barbiturates market from the Cloudsdale criminal element," Rapids mused. 

"Guys..."

And if you wanted to go local for Baltimare, you could--"

"Enough!" I groaned and rubbed would have rubbed my temples if I wasn't holding drums. "I think it would overly complicate things. It would probably bring police attention if cocaine was found in a school, and we don't really want that. We need to be sneakier about this. Heck, if we don't end up arresting them, but we get their gem necklaces away I'd count that as a win. I'll take them being harmless if it means that they're not going to be a problem anymore."

We continued discussing our options against the Sirens while we dropped off the instruments in our car. Most of the school was still in the gym for the battle of the bands, so we weren't concerned about being bothered. At least not at the moment. I was pretty sure that once the battle ended, we'd get floods of students around us just gushing about our performance. Some of them would probably worry that they would have to face us in the next round. Ideally not. I'd prefer to be out of here before that happened. Let one of these groups have their victory without it being spoiled by magical princess ponies and her bodyguards. 

Although, to be fair, I wasn't totally sure what the winner of the Battle of the Bands got. A coffee shop gift card, maybe?

We made our way back to Principal Celestia's office. We hadn't actually set up a place for us to meet once the show was over, so it seemed like the best option. Luckily we only had to wait an hour or so before both Celestia and Luna made their way into the office. 

"Ah, you're here," Celestia said, taking a seat behind her desk while Luna stood behind her. "I take it everything was successful?"

I nodded. "Should have been. I don't think your students are brainwashed by evil sirens anymore, so that's a positive. That would make them much weaker, this easier to capture."

"If you say so," Luna said. "They were most displeased by your antics at the battle." Luna's eyes narrowed a fraction. "And I cannot say I completely blame them. It was inappropriate for a school setting."

I shrugged. "I would have been all ears if you'd had a better idea. As it stands, it worked. Now I just need to figure out where they are. It's best if I get them somewhere alone. That way I can get their necklaces off, which should depower them for good."

"And you'll take them back to Equestria after that, I assume," Celestia said. 

"Yes, yes, we made a deal. I don't want them here any more than you do," I said with a wave of my hand. "There is one problem, though."

"Oh joy," Celestia deadpanned. 

"After our performance we came up to them for a little smack talk. They, ah..." I hesitated for a moment. "They know we're from Equestria. Their plans are probably going to reflect that. On the plus side, though, it likely means that they'll focus on us instead of your students again."

"Ah yes, Equestria," Luna muttered. "The magical land of talking ponies which the man in front of me rules as a pretty pony princess."

I snorted. "Yeah, well, no one ever said the universe is without a cruel sense of humor. Besides, in my world you're a pretty magical pony princess who rules the land just like me. Both of you are." I grinned and sat down on the seat opposite them. "Actually, we all prank each other on our birthdays. You should have seen what I did for yours, Luna. My palace guards call you Princess Glue-na now."

Luna's eyes narrow even more and she frowns at me. "Why? What did you do?"

"Ah, it's not important. The sirens are our main concern," I said with a wave of my hand. I grabbed a scrap of spare paper off of Celestia's desk and jotted down a few numbers. "This is my phone number. I think they'll probably be around the school for a little bit. If you see them, text me and I'll do my best to deal with it quietly."

"Somehow I don't think you deal with anything quietly, TD," Celestia said, taking the paper from me. "Having said that, I will let you know what I find."

"Good. I doubt they'll be showing up to classes, but you never know." I stood up and nodded to each of them. "I think that should be it for right now. Let me know if you see them, and I'll try to stay out of your hair in the meantime."

"I really do appreciate that," Celestia said, standing up herself. 

"Yeah, yeah, the less you have to deal with me the better." I began herding Blaze and Rapids out of the room. "It's also best if I get back to my country as soon as I can. I think a world war is about to start up, and it's best that I'm there for that."

The eyes of Celestia and Luna both widened, and they exchanged a shocked look. I gave them both a small smile before following Blaze and Rapids out of the room, shutting the door behind us. We walked a ways away from the office before Rapids spoke again. 

"So did you just say that to freak them out or... what?"

I shrugged. "Well, it's true. We need to get back to Equestria as soon as we can because there's major problems on our end. I never wanted to be here for more than a few days at most."

"Makes sense, I guess," Blaze replied. "So now what, then?"

"Now I think we find Sunset and her buddies. They're the only other people here who know who we really are, so they can help us keep an eye out for the Sirens." I grimaced as I replayed the memory of my last talk with Adagio. "They're doubtlessly planning something that I don't really want to be on the receiving end of. The more people we can get in on it, the better. While still keeping it relatively contained, of course. We don't want to start a school-wide panic by letting everybody know that the school has been infested by emotion eating monsters."

"Fair point," Rapids said. 

We didn't say anything else while making our way to the band room. If my hunch was correct, and I knew Rainbow Dash, they'd be in there practicing for the next round already. Sure enough, I heard the tell-tale sounds of their instruments playing as we approached. I opened the door and saw them all playing something or other, with Sunset once again sitting on the piano and bobbing her head to the beat. Rainbow noticed the three of us coming in, so she stopped playing and motioned for the others to do the same. She set her guitar down and smirked at us. 

"You know it's probably against school rules to use magic in competitions."

"It's probably not because why would it be?" I retorted. "At any rate, the school isn't under the control of those sirens anymore, so that's an obvious plus. The ends and the means, and all that."

"Ah guess," Applejack said, putting her bass back in its case. "So now what?"

"That's simple. Now we just keep an eye out for them. I'm not completely sure if they'll keep close to the school, or if they'll be around town, but either way, they're not going to just sit around and lament the fact that they've lost. They'll have additional plans." 

"We were thinking about getting them arrested by planting drugs in our locker, but that didn't seem to work," Blaze said wistfully. "We hadn't decided on where to get them anyway."

Rainbow Dash shrugged. "It's a high school. It's really not that hard to get weed here."

"Yes, but we scrapped that idea anyway!" I insisted. "We're have a better plan in mind.

"Alright, so what do you need us to do?" Pinkie asked. 

"Simple." I walked over to the nearby whiteboard and jotted my number down on it. "Just text me if you see them. I'll do my best to get over as soon as I can." 

All of the girls, sans Sunset, pulled out their phones and entered my number into it. Almost immediately I felt my phone buzzing in my pocket. I took it out and punched in the code to unlock it. One text. I tapped the text notifier to see what I got. 

Hi, Princess Antares!!!! :) :) :) ;) 

I raised an eyebrow and looked up at Pinkie, who merely continued to grin at me. "Just making sure it works," she clarified. 

"Eh, fair enough." I slipped my phone back into my pocket. "I'll let you get back to your practice. Don't worry: I'm done with the battle, so you won't have to face me."

"Heh, you're just saying that because you know we'd beat you even if you used magic against us," Rainbow said, a confident grin on her face. I rolled my eyes at her.

"Yeah, that's it for sure."

I turned around and began walking out of the room. Before I fully left, I spared one glance at Sunset. She hadn't stopped glaring at me since I walked in. When she saw me looking at her, she huffed and turned around, crossing her arms. Part of me wanted to say something, but I also knew it wouldn't do any good. It would probably just lead to a shouting match, which, if the Sirens were still in the school, would lead to some bad things beyond hurt feelings. I shook my head and left the music room.

"So what now, Princess Antares?" Rapids asked, following me when I passed her. 

"Well, I guess we kind of just see what happens next. We have a bunch of people on the lookout for the Sirens, so if one of them even looks at the school, we'll know about it." We reached the entrance hall and exited out of the main doors to make our way to our car. "It's probably not the worst idea to take a look around town to see if we can run into them somewhere. If by some stroke of luck we manage to track them back to wherever they're hiding, that'll be the best. Anything to keep them off-balance and to disrupt what they might be planning. Once we do that, they'll start throwing anything at the wall to see what sticks, and once that happens we'll be able to capitalize on any mistake they make."

"Like just hanging around the school alone to scout it out while doing their best to look like they're being discreet but they're really not?" Rapids offered. 

I nodded. "Exactly. If they divide in any way that'll be the best." I turned my head to Rapids and frowned. "Bizarrely specific guesses aside."

"So specific one might even think that I took it from life," Rapids said, pointing to a spot away from us. I followed her gaze to where she pointed and sighed when I saw it. One of the Sirens, not sure which one, sat against the Canterlot High statue with a hood over her head. She had a few books around her and seemed to be writing something down in a notebook. I will give her credit that if I wasn't on the lookout for her I might have passed her off. Hood aside, she looked like just another student studying for their next test. The only thing that gave her away was the fact that her hood did an absolutely terrible job of hiding her mass of hair. A casual observer might have mistaken the bulge in the back of her hood for a headcrab, or something.

"Ah. I see."

"So what do you want to do, Princess Antares?" Blaze asked. 

I tapped my jaw thoughtfully for a few moments while I weighed my options. She seemed to be alone, unless she was bait, which I found relatively unlikely. If she wasn't bait, I couldn't let this opportunity pass by. If she was, then I highly doubted that a group of weakened sirens could effectively spring a trap that could stop me for very long. Worst case scenario I just keep punching them in the face until they weren't a problem anymore. 

"So, we're either going to take one of the prisoner or we're going to spring a trap." I rolled my shoulders and cricked my neck. Let's do this. "Let's get the car. The duct tape should still be in there. All we have to do is lure her to an open spot, drive by, grab her, then take her back to the house and figure out what to do from there. Simple enough?"

"And if it is a trap?" Blaze asked.

"Spring the trap, punch our way out of it. Sirens or no, I'm willing to bet that they still have the physical state of a group of teenage girls. A punch to the face will send them flying." I tilted my head in thought. "Or we could use the instruments from the car as weapons. That could hurt them. Before we get to that, let's try the kidnapping plan first."

"You're an inspiration and wonderful role model to fillies and colts all over Equestria, Princess Antares," Blaze said proudly. "I'm honored to serve you."

"Just..." I groaned and we began walking over to the car. "Rapids, get her over to that sidewalk there. I don't care how just as long as you don't draw any attention to us. Blaze, be ready with the tape. We need to be fast about this."

"Got it, Princess Antares," Rapids said, saluting me. 

"Good. Alright, Blaze, let's go."

We got to our car and I hopped into the driver's seat. Blaze went into the back and prepared a long strip of duct tape. We only had one real shot at this, so Rapids needed to be good. I turned on the car and drove to the designated spot just in time to see Rapids happily skipping over to us, the seemingly unconscious Siren slung over her shoulder. 

Oh for goodness...

Blaze opened the door for her and moved back to allow Rapids to put the siren down on the floor before hopping in herself. She shut the door behind her and grinned at me. 

"Okay, all good. Let's go."

"Rapids, what did you do?"

"I got the siren for you, just like you asked."

I sighed and rubbed my temples. "Yes, but why is she unconscious?"

"Because I walked up to her and instantly slammed her head against the statue. Knocked her right out. I made sure no one saw us, of course." Rapids pulled down the siren's hood. It wasn't Sonata or Adagio, but we definitely had a siren. That's one positive. I don't think I ever got this one's name.

"I more meant that you should find some way to lure her over."

Rapids frowned. "Like what? Just walk up to her and ask that she come with me, I promise I'm not going to kidnap you or anything like that?"

"Oy." No sense getting too mad at her. We've got our siren and didn't seem to spring any trap. "Just tape her up and let's get back to the house."

"Got it," Rapids said, grabbing a small rag we'd planned on using to clean the car and stuffing it into the siren's mouth before taking a piece of tape from Blaze and wrapping it around the siren's head and mouth. Best not leave someone who controls minds by singing with any vocal capabilities at the moment. 

We made it back to the house without any problems. I stayed at the exact speed limit so that no police officers would have any reason to pull us over. That would get bad pretty quickly. Being in a truck, we didn't have any ways to hide the tied up and gagged mythical creature who looks like a teenage girl from any kind of scrutiny. Anyone who gave the back an even casual glance would see her on the floor. 

We pulled into our garage after a quick ten minute drive. I spent every moment flinching at any noise that seemed out of the ordinary. Thankfully we didn't run into any problems, and within a few minutes of arriving back home, we had her taped to a chair in the basement. 

"This seems moral," Blaze pointed out as we sat around, waiting for her to wake up. 

"You have any better ideas?" I asked. "I was all ears."

"No, I guess not," Blaze muttered, lying back on the couch we'd bought the day before. "Still, though, I'll be glad to get back to Equestria."

"Where there's an impending world war waiting for us?" I grumbled. "I mean, I know we need to get back pretty soon, but let's just focus on there here and now, alright?" I stood up and made my way behind the siren. "Starting with this." I tapped her necklace. "We need to find a way to get this off. If we do she won't be a problem anymore."

"That would be an obvious plus," Rapids agreed. 

"Yup." I leaned in closer and examined the back. "There doesn't appear to be any kind of clasp, and there's no way we're just pulling it off of her head." I pointed at Rapids. "Hey, can you get me a pair of scissors or a knife? In fact, let's try both."

"Got it." Rapids hopped up and ran upstairs, returning a few minutes later with a bread knife and the scissors.

"Cool." I took the scissors and slid one of the blades behind the necklace, putting the strap between the blades. I snapped the scissors shut, but they stopped on the strap. I frowned and began squeezing the handles harder. The strap didn't give an inch. I took the scissors off and growled when I saw that my efforts didn't even leave a tiny tear. Darn. 

"Did you accidentally get safety scissors, Princess Antares?" Blaze asked. 

"Oh shove it," I grumbled, picking up the knife and trying that. I pulled the strap of the necklace tight so that I had a portion as far away from her neck as I could. I took the knife and began sawing away at the strap. Same thing as before. Not even a little tear. "Okay, so this thing is on magically. Good to know. 

"Ur noh una ge i off ike ah," the siren said. Ah our guest awakes! I tore off the tape, took our the rag and moved so that I stood in front of her. 

Care to repeat?"

"I said, you're not going to get it off like that," she replied smiling smugly at me. "I don't think you're going to get it off at all."

"Doesn't look that way for the moment," I admitted, taking a nearby chair and sitting across from her. "So, you're one of the big bad sirens I've been hearing so much about."

"And you're one of the Equestrians that we sensed coming into this world." She tilted her head. "And leaving, I guess. We were close enough that we sensed whenever you came and went, but we didn't know where you were until you left the first time. Then we tracked you to the school."

Ah, so that explains what they were doing there in the first place. 

"You must be really powerful if you interacting with some magical artifact on the school ground attracted our attention." She got a hungry look in her eyes. "You would not believe how delicious your magical signature was. Just a taste of the magic you sent out was... intoxicating."

"Yeah, well, that's what I get for being an alicorn then, I guess." The siren's eyes went wide, and I smirked at her. "I'm Princess Antares. I rule Equestria alongside Celestia and Luna. And you are?"

"Aria Blaze."

"Ooh, good name," Blaze said. 

Aria rolled her eyes before turning her attention back to me. "So I take it you came back to this world looking for us? I guess emotional magic eaters like us would have attracted some attention." Her expression turned thoughtful and she tilted her head. "So where's the portal? There wasn't exactly a high school there when we got shoved into the world the first time." 

"Now that would be telling," I said, waggling a finger at her. 

She shrugged as best she could while taped to the chair. "Had to try, I guess." She huffed and grimaced. "So what, then? You just going to keep me here forever until you can figure out how to get my gem off? Or maybe you're going to take me back to Equestria and figure things out from there?"

"That would also be telling."

Not to mention I hadn't completely figured out the next step just yet. Maybe I could get Sunset's copy of the telephone book and ask for Celestia's advice. It wouldn't be the worst first step, at any rate. 

"And before you get any bright ideas about me telling you our plans, I think that would be equally dumb of me." Aria grimaced. "I'm not Sonata."

"She's not the brightest bulb, I'll agree with that." I smiled at her. "As for what happens now, we have as long as we need to get the plans out of you."

"You into torture and kidnapping?"

"No, no, nothing so gauche. I'd never." 

Before I could say anything else, my cellphone buzzed in my pocket. I stood up and took it out, taking a brief moment to gag Aria again. "Hold that thought."

I unlocked the phone and saw another text notification. One from Pinkie Pie again. If this was just another "hi, how are you" texts I'd need to explain to Pinkie what this number was really for. 

We think we found one of the Sirens lurking around the school. One just passed by the music room.

Ooh, that's good. I pulled up the keypad and typed out a response. 

Keep an eye on her. We're on our way.

"Alrighty, then, Ms. Blaze, we're going to head on out for a little bit. We might have a friend for you when we get back. Maybe it's Sonata. Maybe if we get her over here, we can keep her with you. As long as she doesn't start singing, we might not even need to tape her mouth. I'll just let her talk to you as long as she wants."

Aria's eye twitched, which caused me to chuckle. "We'll see you soon. Rapids? You're on guard duty until we get back. You seem to have a way with her, or something."

"I do. I really do."

"Alright, Blaze..." I checked my pocket to make sure I still had my keys. "Let's go get another one."
> Conflict
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I tested my luck with the speed limit a little more now that I didn't have a tied up girl on the floor of my car. I didn't want to risk any of the Sirens getting out of Canterlot High, if they were still there at all. The sooner I could capture them, the better. As nice as this vacation was, Celestia did need me back in Equestria to deal with the whole, you know, world war thing. 

Just ducky. 

I pulled into the parking lot of Canterlot High and hopped out, Blaze following quickly behind me. A quick text exchange with Pinkie let me know that her group was still hanging out in the music room. Given that the school had largely been locked down, Pinkie had Rarity meet me at the school entrance to let me in. 

"Hello, Princess Antares," Rarity said, inclining her head in a little bow as she stepped aside so I could enter. 

"Really don't need all of the decorum there, Ms. Rarity." I motioned to my t-shirt and jeans. "Do I look like a Princess Antares to you?"

Rarity made a little noise of distaste. "Honestly, Princess, I'm quite certain that your original form is something that befits your royal status."

"Not really. I was a human before I became a pony princess. So, skin color aside, you're looking at my original form, roughly speaking."

"Indeed." Rarity sighed. "Well, if you say so. Personally I can't see why you wouldn't want to go by your title in private, even if you're here for more small-scale pursuits."

"I shrugged. "Well, asking everybody in a high school to call someone clearly male 'Princess Antares' isn't really all that wise, now is it? Just going by my original name helps me blend in a lot more."

"Yes, you've done a marvelous job of simply 'blending in' while you've been here," Rarity deadpanned. 

"Point taken. I still fit in better than if I demanded everybody call me by my royalty name." I shot Rarity an amused look. "And is that any way to talk to royalty?"

"Canadian royalty, perhaps," Rarity shot back. 

"Nice." 

"So about the sirens you spotted..." Blaze chimed in. 

Ah, yes, right.

"Well, the rest of the girls can probably explain it better than I can, seeing as how I was away when Rainbow Dash spotted one of them, but I'm not completely sure that they're still in the school."

"Was it both of them, or just one?"

"I think it was both of them," Rarity said. "Though, again, I was not privy to the whole situation. Rainbow just wanted me to wait for you by the school entrance so I could let you in."

"Alright. Let's figure this all out, then."

We reached the band room and Rarity knocked three times. Fluttershy opened up the door and smiled at Rarity. "Oh, good. You're here."

"Yes, and I've brought Princess Antares as well." She shot Blaze a look. "And one of his bodyguards."

"Cool," Rainbow Dash said, standing up and putting the guitar she'd been busy tuning back into its case. "So Pinkie and AJ are giving the school another look to make sure that The Dazzlings aren't still hanging around. Once they get back we can figure it all out." 

I shot Sunset a brief look. She had her back turned to me. Seemed like she didn't really care to acknowledge me. Maybe then I'd go away. 

Teenagers. I wasn't like that when I was her age, was I?

Maybe once or twice. 

"Alright, then we don't have much time. It won't take them long to scout out the school. If they're not back soon then we have to prepare for the possibility that they got mind controlled, which is something that I know how to cure, but I'd really rather not do to them because I like them and it's a cure that requires duct tape and K-pop music."

Rarity and Rainbow Dash both flinched back at that. 

"Y-yeah, I'm sure they're fine," Rainbow said.

"Me, too. They'd better be." I took a seat on one of the chairs. "So, what happened? You said you saw one of them?"

"Yeah, she just walked by the music room. I wasn't even sure it was one of them until I noticed the giant poof she had on her head that she probably calls hair." Rainbow stuck out her tongue in distaste. "Seriously, what's with that 'do?"

"No idea, but if it's that big of a deal we can give them a haircut before we all go back to Equestria." I motioned in the vague direction of my car. "I already have one of them secure in my house. If we can get the one you saw then it's not going to be terribly hard to get the last one, too." 

The door opened and Pinkie and Applejack walked in, grim looks on their faces. Not good. 

"Hey there, Princess Antares," Applejack said, tipping her hat to me. "We checked the whole school. No sirens, or nothin'." 

"Hmm. That's too bad." I looked back at Rainbow Dash. "So which one did you actually see? Blue hair or explosion hair?"

"Explosion hair," Rainbow replied. 

"What was she doing? Just walking?"

"Yeah, I guess," Rainbow said with a shrug. "She looked into the room for like half a second or something, but left pretty quick when she saw us."

"Hmm." I tapped my jaw thoughtfully. "So she's probably not on school grounds anymore. If I had to bet, she's with the other one. Sonata, or something like that."

"Yeah, they weren't in any of my usual hiding spots, and all of the classroom doors were locked," Pinkie said. 

"So what are we going to do now?"

"Now..." I stood up and grim look crossed my face. "Now we all go talk to the one I have tied up in my basement." Applejack and Pinkie gave me a curious look, and even Sunset had decided to not ignore me for a few minutes. "I grabbed her not long after my big musical performance," I clarified. "Rapids is watching her right now. For the moment I'm not completely sure of what to do with her, especially since there are two others running amok, but it's a start, and I'd bet that their little group isn't quite as powerful without the set." A grim expression crossed my face. "Right now we need to figure out a way to get the gem around her neck off. It's the source of their power."

"How are we going to do that?" Fluttershy asked. 

"I'm not completely sure yet, being, admittedly, fairly new to magic. However..." I shot Sunset a pointed look and began walking over to her. "There is someone here who does know more than I do."

Sunset hopped off of the piano and began backing away. "No chance, buddy," she snarled. "I'm not helping you out! Just bring the one you have back to Equestria with you and deal with it from there!"

Okay, not the worst idea, but it still left a lot of things to chance. 

"I'd rather know for sure that would work. I need to figure out how to get her gem off before I start thinking about that kind of thing. You're the only one here who has a chance of figuring that stuff out. You used to be Celestia's student!"

Sunset flinched back slightly at Celestia's name, but she didn't stop glaring at me. "Yeah, and Princess Celestia would be better at this than me! Just take the damn siren back to Equestria and leave me alone!"

"Okay, for..." I groaned and facepalmed. "You really need to get over your hang-ups with me, Sunset! I totally understand: what I did was traumatic for you. You have every right to feel that way, but at the same time, you need to understand why I did what I did! You stole one of the most powerful magical artifacts that Equestria has so that you could invade and take over! What was I supposed to do? What was Celestia supposed to do?"

"Don't you dare use her against me, Antares!" Sunset roared. "You don't understand what you're talking about!"

"Fine, I don't understand what happened between the two of you, but do you know what I do understand? I understand that this world is facing a very real threat by some very bad monsters who will cause serious problems if we don't stop them! Their goal is to subject every man, woman and child on this planet to feed off of forever! Now I am here to put a stop to that threat once and for all! Are you going to let your hatred of me get in the way of doing what is right?" I took a cautious step towards Sunset. "Hate me as much as you want. But you have a chance to stop these creeps. Don't let your hatred of me stop you from doing the right thing, okay?" 

Sunset kept glaring at me, but she didn't give some smartass teenager retort. I could see the gears turning in her head as she figured out which she hated more: me, or the idea of these creatures feeding off of her friends. I guess pragmatism won out in the end, because she huffed and began walking out of the room. 

"I'm not riding with you. We're taking Rarity's car."

"Oh. Um... very well, then," Rarity said, following after Sunset. "My car only takes five, so somebody will need to ride with Princess Antares."

"Ah'll do it," Applejack said, following after Rarity. 

"Shotgun!" Rainbow called, running after the rest of them. 

"Um... I guess I'm okay with the middle, if that's fine with everybody else," Fluttershy muttered. 

"Yay! Carpool!" Pinkie said happily bouncing out after the rest of them. 

Blaze and I exchanged a vaguely amused look, amusement that was dulled a bit by Sunset's behavior. 

"We'd best go after them," I said after a moment. "I don't think they know where the house is."

"Pinkie might," Blaze pointed out as we walked out of the music room.

"True."


*  *  *  *


"So, you said ya got, whadja call her, Aria?" Applejack asked as we drove toward the house.

"Yeah. Nabbed her right as we were about to leave school. She was just by herself near the statue. We think she was acting as a lookout."

"Alrighty, if ya say so," Applejack muttered. "Ah can't pretend Ah know what's goin' on in their minds."

"Well, let's hope we find out pretty soon," I said as we turned onto our street. "Those necklaces they wear are definitely magical in origin and, despite having the power to raise and lower the sun and moon, I don't have the magical training yet to figure out what's behind them. I'm hoping Sunset picked something up that will allow us to figure out how to get them off and break them. Once we do that, they're no more than simple teenage girls. Easy to arrest and take back to Canterlot." I noted Applejack's look of confusion. "Er... the capital city of the country I rule. It's called Canterlot. You know how all of you have doubles in my world? For some reason the capital city of my country shares the same name as your high school."

"Well, the city we're in is also called 'Canterlot'," Applejack pointed out. "Just thought you meant turnin' them over to the cops, or somethin', which didn't make a lotta sense fer you."

"I suppose I can see your point. Regardless..." I pulled into the driveway of the house. "Let's take this one step at a time, alright?" 

"Guess so."

The three of us exited the truck just as Rarity pulled up in her silver Honda Civic type car. Pinkie Pie let out an impresses whistle.

"Is this seriously your house?" she said in awe.

I nodded. "Sure is. Bit big for three people, but, hey, I figured that I might as well splurge a bit once I became a multi-millionaire. Immodest? Maybe, but it looks nice, and I wanted somewhere comfortable to stay."

I pushed the door open and stepped aside for the others to go in first. When Rarity passed by, I gave her a little bow of my head, which triggered an eye roll and a vaguely amused expression from her.

"Okay, so where's this siren you have?" Sunset growled as I shut and locked the door behind us before tossing my keys onto the counter.

"She's in the basement. Lieutenant Rapids is guarding her."

"Fine. Let's get this over with."

Sunset just about stomped over to a nearby door and threw it open, growling and slamming it when she saw that it was, in fact, not the door to the basement. I desperately wanted to make a comment about her opening our shoe closet, but it wouldn't really help her mood, and I didn't want to provoke her. She needed to be as calm as she could. I led the group to the actual basement door and went down ahead of all of them. Just on the off chance that something had gone wrong.

When I reached the bottom of the stairs, I spotted a girl sitting on the chair, tied up and gagged. The wrong girl. 

"Rapids... what the heck happened?!"

Rapids turned her head and probably would have smiled sheepishly at me if not for the gag. I rushed over to her and quickly tore off the tape, allowing her to spit out the rag in her mouth. 

"Glad you could make it, Princess Antares," Rapids croaked. "I've kind of had a long day."

"Rapids, what's going on?" I asked as I began trying to tear the tape off. "Where's Aria?"

"It's nice to see you too, Princess." Rapids groaned and leaned her head back. "My head hurts."

"Oh my goodness, your face!" Fluttershy said once she reached the bottom of the steps. "Are you okay?"

"Peachy." 

I gave Rapids's face another look and grimaced when I saw the impressive bruises and small cut there. Given her injuries, I wouldn't be surprised if she had a concussion on top of everything."

"Heh. Yeah, I'd usually say that it's a funny story, but it's really not..."


*  *  *  *


Guard duty. How I love it. Being a lieutenant in Princess Antares's royal guard means that I'm usually not the one stuck with guarding doors, and when I do have guard duty, it means that I'm protecting something really important. I guess I could say the same thing here. In front of me sat an evil, emotion-eating siren, and the only thing that stopped her from singing me into submission and feeding time was some duct tape and cloth. 

Eh, after being in a big battle, it doesn't seem as unnerving as it sounds. 

Now, in the movies, one of us would probably start giving the other some snarky remarks about the possibility of escape, or something like that. Maybe under different circumstances, but she was gagged, and I fancy myself a professional. So instead, I started flipping through some of the music on my new phone. Maybe  that part was a bit unprofessional, but I guess I felt that guarding a teenage girl, evil siren or no, had some perks, especially on my home turf, so to speak. It's not like I thought you two were going to be gone for very long anyway.

I wasn't looking through my music for more than a few minutes before the door opened. I heard the sound of two people walking through the house, and assumed for a second that you guys were back. After thinking about it for a second, I realized that the footsteps weren't as heavy as they should have been, and you guys weren't gone for nearly as long as you should have been. If my math was right, you weren't even at the school yet. I quickly picked up the knife and got ready to use it. I might be on two legs instead of four, but I figured that my training could transfer over pretty well. Well enough that I could take on two teenagers with sticks for arms and legs. 

Sure enough, instead of you two like I'd hoped, the other two sirens came down the stairs, both armed with baseball bats. Not good. My knife didn't have the reach of the bats, and I was used to throwing knives with my wings. I didn't have the next clue about how to effectively throw them as a human, and even if I did, that still left one siren to deal with. 

In short, I wasn't in a very good position.

"Well, it's lovely to see you again," the one with the orange explosion for a mane said. "I take it you know why we're here?"

"Yeah, I'm not as dumb as that one," I said, pointing at the blue-haired one with my knife. 

"Indeed?" The orange one laughed at my little joke. "How amusing."

"How did you even find this place?" I asked. "Pretty smart of you."

Yeah, stroke their egos. If she started monologueing then I had a little time to figure something out. On top of, you know, figuring out how they found us so we could block it in the future.

"Oh, it wasn't really all that hard once you took the bait." Orangey tapped her gem. "You see, we have an innate connection to each other through these gems. I've knew where you took her the second you brought her here. After that, it was just a matter of interrogating a few of the students to find out that you three hung out with one of the bands. The Rainwhatevers. I took a gamble that you'd told them about us, and appeared before them to draw you out, leaving us to get Aria here."

Aria managed a little chuckle behind her gag. 

Ass. 

"So, now that we've found her, we're just going to take her and be on our way."

"And you're going to sing a few lame songs to take over the world, is that it? Lemmie tell you something, Orangey. If your songs didn't have magic in them, you'd be noponies. Heck, I'd say that's what you are now."

That didn't make her happy. She snarled at me and slammed her bat against the wall, hard enough to let me know that if I found myself on the business end of it, I would be in a world of hurt.

Seriously not good.

"What, no snarky remarks?" Orangey said smugly. "Have you learned that you're not going to stop us now? Typical mortals. You can't ever beat your superiors." Orangey jerked her head to Aria. "Sonata, get her loose, would you?"

Sonata bent down to pick up the scissors we'd left by Aria, but I took a step closer to Aria. "Can't let you do that."

Orangey let out another cartoonish evil laugh. "Oh, and what are you going to do to stop us? It's just you down here and--"

Did you know that a villain will stop monologueing if you cut their cheek open with a bread knife? I was pretty sure of that before, but now I know beyond a shadow of a doubt.

Of course, I got a baseball bat to the side of my head for my troubles.

"You imbecile!" Orangey roared as I writhed on the ground, clutching my now ringing head. "Look what you did!"

"Oh, cool, the knife is going to work a lot better," Sonata said happily, picking up the knife I had dropped. With that it wasn't more than a few seconds before she got Aria free. While she did that, Adagio vocalized a little bit while holding her hand up to her cut. When she finished, she brought her hand down to reveal a wound that looked several days old. Dang.

"We'll help you completely fix it after we eat, Adagio," Aria grumbled. "Let's just get out of here."

"Soon." Adagio grinned evilly at me like a spider who had just caught a plump fly. "We have a great opportunity here, girls. An actual Equestrian at our complete mercy."

"Ugh, bite me," I groaned. 

Adagio laughed once again. "Oh, we don't need do do anything as uncouth as that. You're mad at me for hitting you with the bat, aren't you? Good. I can work with that."

She slammed the bat down on my leg. I screamed in pain and grabbed my leg where she hit it. 

"That makes you angry, doesn't it?" she whispered smugly. "Well I suppose that's good for us. We haven't tasted Equestrian emotions in a very long time. 

They all began vocalizing in harmony. I reached up to put my hands over my ears, but that just got me a baseball bat to the ribs. If they weren't as physically strong as scrawny teenage girls, they could have done some  real damage. Either way, I'd be sore in the morning. Or now. 

I didn't think about the injuries, though. I could only think about the feeling of my emotions being sucked out as they fed off of me. I couldn't feel anything happy. All I could feel was rage and hatred, which is what they freaking fed on in the first place! Every time I tried to crawl away or put my fingers in my ears, I got a taste of baseball bat for my troubles. Every time I opened my eyes, I saw what looked like a green mist coming out of me which funneled into their gems. I guess that must have been my emotions, or something. I dunno. Didn't really care about that at the moment.

"Enough!" Adagio said after what felt like an eternity. "We don't have much time to prepare."

"But that was so good!" Sonata whined. "Maybe we can just take her with us?"

"Oh, we'll feed on her again really soon, Sonata. We have bigger meals to prepare."

"I guess," Sonata muttered. 

"So what do we do with this one?" Aria asked, kicking my foot.

"Oh, just tie her up, or something," Adagio said. "Although..." Adagio grabbed the knife and flicked the blade across my cheek, drawing a little blood. Compared to everything else, it barely even tickled. "Now you may tie her up."

"With pleasure." Aria knelt down next to me with a predatory grin on her face. "By the way, I think I owe you something, too."

With that, she grabbed my head and slammed it down on the floor, knocking me out cold.


*  *  *  *


"I, uh, woke up a few seconds before you got home," Rapids said, adjusting the ice pack on her forehead.

"I think you have a concussion," Fluttershy said as she continued checking Rapids's injuries. "It doesn't look like you have any broken bones, but you're going to be bruised pretty bad for the next couple of days. The cut doesn't look bad enough to need stitches." Fluttershy straightened up and put her hand on Rapids's forehead. "It's really best if we get her to a doctor. I might have missed something, and I don't have medical equipment here."

"We'll get her to a medic in Equestria," I grumbled, my head in my hands. 

"That's just great," Sunset snapped. "You had a Siren here and you let it get away!"

I snapped my head up and glared at Sunset. "Oh, so I was just supposed to know offhand that they could track each other with their magical gems? If that's such common knowledge, why didn't you tell me that?"

"You could have just taken her back to Equestria from the start!" 

"And what? Risked her doing some real damage in a world with a ton of magic? I wanted to depower her before taking her back!"

"Face it, Antares, you have done nothing but mess this up since you got here!" Sunset said, poking me in the chest. "You are an arrogant imbecile who thinks that just because she got her wings that she's somehow smarter than the rest of us!"

"Oh, the gender card. That's really mature, Sunset," I growled, shooting to my feet. "You know, I still can't figure out what your deal is! I don't know how many ways I can apologize for just doing my job and protecting my subjects from someone who was trying to take them over!"

"You don't know what you're talking about!" Sunset shouted. She would have gotten in my face if not for the fact that she stood a good head shorter than me. "You don't know what happened between Princess Celestia and I!"

"You're right! I don't know! And I don't care! I already told you that Celestia has kept it to herself!" I slammed my hand against the wall, eliciting shocked cries from Fluttershy and Rarity. "I am not here to arrest you and take you back to Equestria! I am not here to completely uproot your life again! I am not here to take you away from your friends! All of the things you have are things that Celestia and I both want for you!"

"Don't pretend that you have any idea of what she thinks about me!" Sunset shrieked. "You and I are done talking!" She pointed to the basement door. "Get out! Get out of my world! Get out of my life! Just leave me alone!"

"Uh, Princess Antares?" Blaze said. 

"Not now, Captain," I growled. "Seems like Sunset and I have some things to work out."

"No, seriously, Princess Antares, you might--"

"Shut up!" I snarled before wheeling around back to Sunset. "Now you listen to me! You are not going to kick me out of my own house! If I want to stay here for the rest of my life then sucks to be you! You are not in control here, Sunset! The only reason she managed to get away is because I went to go get you based on some bullshit tip!" I scoffed. "I don't even think you could have done anything even if I we came down here and Aria was where we'd left her."

"Well at least I would have tried something other than whatever crossed my mind at the moment!" Sunset made a noise of disgust. "If you took this the least bit seriously then you'd have it solved by now! If they win it's your fault!"

"Oh that is IT," I roared. "You are--"

"TD, Sunset, shut the fuck up!"

Sunset and I both looked over at Blaze in shock. My shock lasted for only a second or so before I figured out why Blaze wanted me to stop beyond it freaking everyone out. Green mist surrounded both Sunset and I, which was wafting up the stairs. If I concentrated, I could even hear faint singing. 

Oh.

"They're upstairs!" I cried. I took a second to scoop up the scissors before running up the stairs after the Sirens, Blaze, Rainbow Dash, Sunset, Rarity and Applejack quick behind me. As I reached the top step, I heard the front door slam. I knew I could outrun them, but those hopes were dashed when I saw my keys missing from where I'd put them on the counter earlier. Not good. I rushed out of the front door just in time to see the Sirens backing out of my driveway in my car. All three were laughing their plots off. When they saw me come out of the door, Adagio mouthed the word "delicious" while Aria flipped me the bird. That's all I got before they sped off in my car, leaving me standing on my driveway in a state of total shock. I was broken out of my shock after a brief moment by Rarity's screams. 

"My tires! They slashed my tires!"

"Oh." I took a deep breath and slowly walked back into my house. I could only stare at the ground in utter defeat. I had no doubts that the Sirens were far more powerful than before, now that they'd been feeding off of me and Sunset. My earlier trick that I used to free the school wouldn't work twice. They'd make sure of that. 

"Princess Antares? What now?" Blaze asked. 

"I just..." I collapsed onto my living room couch without another word. The rest of the group all gathered, taking seats around me. I glanced over at Sunset, who was rubbing her arm in embarrassment. 

"I'm... I'm sorry for what I said," Sunset muttered. 

"No, it's okay. We both said stupid stuff. And... you know, you were kind of right, I guess." I laid down on the couch and draped an arm over my eyes. "I... I haven't been thinking this through as well as I could have been. I started out alright, I guess, but I haven't been treating this as seriously as I should have been. Maybe if I had nothing would have changed and we'd still be here, but I kind of doubt it." I removed my arm and looked at everyone in the room. "Look, and don't think too little of me here, but... here's the thing. This, for me, is kind of a vacation. For you it's an uncertain time where a magical, emotion-eating group of monsters is trying to take over the world. To me they're teenage girls with some neat powers. As an alicorn, they're not stronger than I am. I thought that, no matter how much effort I put into this, it wouldn't be that difficult to solve things."

I moved my arm and looked at everybody else in the room. "At home, I have a world war brewing. I don't know if this world ever had one, but where I come from originally, we had two. They killed tens of millions of people." Everyone let out a quiet gasp, but I ignored it. "When this is over, I have to go back and stop that. I have to stop one from happening in Equestria or face the horrors that come with it. I've... I've never been in a war before. So to take a break from playing impossible games of peace politics, I get to come over here and stop three magical beings in stakes far lower than the ones I'm facing back home. Just for a day or two, I get to get a rest from the constant stress of 'what happens when I fail?'" 

"Antares..." Sunset scooted over a footrest and sat down in front of me. "You're going to make it through, alright? Princess Celestia is smart. She'll know what to do. She'll stop it. That aside... I haven't been fair to you. Yeah, I didn't like it when you brought me back to Princess Celestia, but that's not your fault. You just... did what you had to."

"Yeah, I know." I sighed. "I guess we both messed up, but I feel I messed up a bit more by being so... casual about a situation that is actually very dangerous. It just felt nice to not be dealing with the stress back home. It's not fair to any of you either. You called me for help, and I need to start taking this a bit more seriously. I didn't think everything through all the way and now look where we are. Rapids got really hurt and now they have a bunch of power and my car."

"Aw shucks, Princess Antares, we don't blame ya," Applejack said. 

"Yeah, well, you and I both will if the Sirens actually win." I sat up and looked Sunset in the eye. "Look, Sunset. You may not like me, and that's fine. Can we put aside our petty problems to actually beat these guys?"

Sunset smirked at me and extended her hand. "Yeah, I guess. I didn't realize how much those feelings were affecting me negatively until they got taken to that extreme. Truce."

"Truce." I took her hand and shook it before standing up. "Okay, ladies and gentlestallion. Let's go get my car back. And save the world too, I guess."

Everyone in the room cheered and stood up too. 

"Let's do it!" Rainbow said, pumping her fist into the air. "How's it gonna work?"

My mind flashed back to our various instruments. If the Sirens used magic in their music to fight, I had a pretty good guess of where they'd be very soon. 

"I think I have an idea."
> Abandon All Subtlety, Ye Who Enter Here
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A few days later, the nine of us were back in my house preparing to fight the Sirens one last time. I had wanted to take Rapids back to Equestria to get some medical attention, but she had refused. Maybe loyalty is just a pegasus thing. We had gotten her a quick checkup with Nurse Redheart, though. True to our guesses, she had a decent concussion. We talked and if we hadn't solved the siren issue by that evening, she'd be heading back to Equestria to get complete medical treatment. At least her bruises were healing up nicely, though. Her face was already looking a lot better. 

"Okay, I really want to stop the sirens, but don't you think this is going a bit too far?" Rainbow Dash said uneasily as we prepared. 

I shook my head. "Nopedy nopedy nope. They attacked one of my most valuable soldiers. It's like I told Sunset: I haven't been taking them seriously, but that stops now."

Rainbow and Applejack exchanged an uneasy look as I pulled a black hoodie over my head. "Well, uh, Ah can get that, Princess Antares, but Ah don't think this is gonna end very well."

"Oh trust me, it would be way worse if I was doing this in the world I originally come from." I picked up Blaze's guitar case and slung it over my shoulder. "But they've fed off of an alicorn and one of the most powerful unicorns in Equestria. It's going to take a lot to stop them, and I honestly can't see any other way to do it quickly." I nodded to Blaze, who had just walked up with Rapids's guitar case in his hands. "Besides, I don't think they're going to split up any time soon. We only have a little bit before they activate their ultimate plan, if I had to guess."

"I suppose you're right," Rarity said, leaning against her car and crossing her arms. "Though I question why you need to use such methods to stop them. You, ah, might not be allowed back on campus once you have sprung your trap."

I shrugged while Blaze stopped beside me and put on the black hoodie I'd gotten for him. "Yeah, possibly. But if I know the Sirens, they've put the rest of the school and all of the teachers under their spell again. The ends might justify the means here."

"Maybe," Applejack muttered. "It sounds like a dark road to me."

"Yeah, well, they pissed me off," I grumbled, checking the contents of the guitar case Blaze brought one more time. "If I'd just started with this then we'd all be home right now instead of fighting off a trio of frankly dangerous beings. Heck, if I'd started like this, they wouldn't have been this dangerous to begin with! It's my fault, thus I have to end it quickly."

The Mane Five exchanged an uneasy glance. I huffed and grabbed a pair of black gloves out of a plastic bag, tossing them to Blaze. "You don't need to help me out. Plausible deniability and all that, but we can all agree that this needs to end sooner rather than later."

"Yeah, I guess," Pinkie said. "Just don't do anything too bad, okay? I want to throw an awesome 'yay we beat the Sirens' party, but if this goes too far, I'm not gonna want to!"

"Fair enough." I turned my attention to Sunset, who was holding a black hoodie of her own. I pulled another pair of black gloves out of the bag and offered it to her. "Sunset? You in?"

Sunset stared at the mask for a few seconds. Naturally she wanted to beat the sirens as much as I did, but I did have to admit that I was asking a lot of them. I don't think Celestia ever trained her to do this kind of stuff. I guess the knowledge that if we lost here they'd be going after Equestria next won her over in the end, though, because she slowly nodded and took the gloves from me. 

"Yeah, I'm in."

"Good, then let's not waste any time here. The sooner we solve this, the sooner we can all go home."

And right back to figuring out a war, but hey, why think about that right now? 


*  *  *  *


True to our guesses, the sirens had used the magic they'd gained from Sunset and I to re-brainwash the entirety of Canterlot High. They had the foresight to make it so that the students acted normally when not in school, but once they arrived at eight in the morning, it was feeding time. My initial guess that they were going to just gain complete control of the student body at the final performance of the Battle of the Bands turned out to only be partially true. If the fliers I'd seen around town were any indication, they wanted to pack as many people in that amphitheater that they could. From there it would be simple to start expanding their influence. I honestly expected them to put a performance on the internet. 

Maybe they needed to perform live for their magic to have any effect. Either way, it was a race against the clock. The one thing on our side was that they didn't seem to know where the portal between this world and Equestria was yet, but if they got powerful enough, I didn't expect to hold that card for too long. 

So that's why I'd gathered up a good means of defeating them. I don't know why I didn't just do it this way in the first place! If this didn't work, I'd be in real trouble. They'd doubtlessly grown a lot more powerful from feeding off of an alicorn. If they managed to take over this world, Equestria would be next, and I wasn't totally sure how to stop them. 

Maybe... maybe a Nightma--

No. No, I'd never resort to that. Just... never mind. 

We pulled up to the school at around ten in the morning. Reconnaissance by Pinkie Pie revealed that the sirens tended to stay around the gym, where they could pack the most students into for feeding time. As far as we knew, that's where they'd be. 

I got out of Applejack's truck with Blaze and Rapids while Sunset, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Rainbow got out of Rarity's newly repaired car. I nodded to each of them as they gathered around me. 

"Ladies and Blaze, we're probably about to cross a line here, and not like the kind I crossed when I put a stripper pole in a school. This is... something different. If any of you want to back out now, there's no shame in that. Sunset, Blaze, Rapids and I will be doing most of the heavy lifting here, but if you don't want to be involved at all, that's okay." I waited for any one of them to respond, but none of them did. I nodded and slung the guitar case over my shoulder. "Very well. You all have your Walkie-Talkies?" The group nodded at me. "Good. Pinkie and Fluttershy, start circling the perimeter of the school. Let us know if you see anyone coming in or out."

"Roger, Princess Antares!" Pinkie said, snapping off a crisp salute. 

"Applejack and Rainbow, you have the duct tape and the music?"

"Sure do," Rainbow said, twirling the roll of tape on a finger. 

"Good. If my guess is correct, Principal Celestia will be in her office. Tie her up and de-brainwash her. If you can get Luna too, even better. If we don't succeed, we need someone who knows what's happening on our side. Rarity, you stay here and get ready to run into the portal if this doesn't work. Go as fast as you can to Princess Celestia. Tell her Princess Antares sent you. Code word 'face punch.'"

"Face punch," Rarity repeated. "Very well. Of course, this will all be moot, correct? You're going to stop them."

I shot her a confident smile. "Oh yeah, totally." I'd better. "Okay, let's do one last radio check, then do this thing."


*  *  *  *


Thankfully the front doors to the school weren't locked. If they were, I could have gotten us in, but that might have revealed our plan a little too early. I held the door open for Blaze, Rapids, Applejack, Rainbow and Sunset, following them in once they were inside. Surprisingly enough, the entrance room was completely empty. I made eye contact with each of my cohorts, pointed down the right hallway, then nodded. They each nodded back and allowed me to take point. If I remember correctly, the right hall was the closest way to the gym, where the sirens should be. Applejack and Rainbow Dash took the first right that we came across to finish their mission to get Celestia. The rest of us took a left, and I grimaced when I saw the first of the students. They shuffled around with angry expressions on their face like pissed-off zombies. I tightened my grip on the guitar case strap and pulled it closer to me. I didn't want to see what would happen if I accidentally bumped into one. I wanted to keep the Sirens' attention off of us as long as we could. They'd find us in a few minutes anyway, but those minutes could be the key between success and failure. 

As we walked closer to the gym, the population of students became denser, making them harder to maneuver around. It didn't help that they kept moving around. An opening between them could disappear before I could go through it. I swore and turned back to my group.

"I'd rather not run into any of them. I can sense the magic in the air. If we bump into one of them, we could cause a riot, and they'd know we were here before we could get to them," I said quietly. "I'd rather not have a hundred pissed-off high schoolers in my way, you know? For one thing, they could stop us, allowing the Sirens to either attack or get away. If they decide to attack, then they can feed off the anger and fight us that way. I'd rather not do that."

"So what do we do?" Blaze whispered.

"We could use one of the backstage entrances," Sunset suggested. Even if there are students there, I don't think there are going to be as many."

"Good plan," I replied. "You lead the way."

Sunset nodded and took point. She led us down one of the side hallways and to a metal door behind the stage. I twisted the handle and grimaced when it didn't turn all the way.

"Locked," I grumbled. "Shoot. Now what?"

"Here, let me." Sunset pulled a hairpin out of her hair and knelt down in front of the lock. I frowned and tilted my head 

"You know how to pick locks?"

Sunset shrugged. "You gotta learn some stuff if you're going to spend some time living in the school. Everything gets locked up at night."

"Where did you actually sleep?" Rapids asked. 

"Usually one of the storage rooms." The door clicked open, triggering a grin from Sunset. "This is one of the easier ones. You would not believe how long it took me to figure out Principal Celestia's office."

Guess the school doesn't have security cameras, which would make sense, since the security footage of what's going on right now would ruin everything for the sirens.

At any rate, we had our way in. Sunset stepped aside to let me take point again. I partially unzipped the guitar case and checked the contents. Everything looked good. Now or never. 

"Okay, Blaze, Rapids, you're with me. Sunset, you stay behind the curtain." Sunset gave me a hurt look, but I raised a hand to forestall her comments. "Once this goes down, they're going to want to run. If they run behind the curtain, you need to be there to stop them. We're not going to let a single one get away."

Sunset slowly nodded and took her place behind the curtain. She opened up her case and pulled out a thick metal pipe. Yeah, she'd do some significant damage with that. Even if she couldn't completely knock them out, she'd stop them long enough for me to finish them off. I took a deep breath and beckoned Blaze and Rapids onward. Now or never. 

I moved onstage where, as expected, the Sirens sat on plush chairs. They were vocalizing and feeding off of the wall-to-wall students and faculty in the gym. A massive green cloud flowed from the crowd and into each of their gems. I really didn't want to think about how powerful they were getting. If we lost here...

Blaze, Rapids and I stopped about ten feet away from the Dazzlings. I reached into my bag and cleared my throat. They didn't respond. Guess they didn't hear me. I sighed and more loudly cleared my throat, throwing in some stomping on the stage for good measure. Adagio noticed and looked in my direction. When she saw it was me, she grinned and motioned for her underlings to stop singing. 

"Well, well, well," she purred, rising from her seat to stand opposite me. "What have we here? Have you come to give yourself up to me completely? Or perhaps you have some plan to stop us?"

"The latter." I motioned to the guitar cases each of us had. "We've come to challenge you to one last musical showcase. Winner takes all. Loser gives up all claim to this world."

The Sirens all burst out into laughter, and even I cracked a bit of a smirk at that one. 

"Oh that is just too rich!" Adagio crowed. "A musical showcase for the fate of this world? Now I've seen everything!"

"I really doubt it."

"Perhaps." Adagio grinned at me like a spider sizing up a particularly juicy fly struggling in its web. "But I'll humor you. As we're the one with the advantage, we'll set the rules here." Adagio motioned out to the crowd of brainwashed students. "You have one chance to remove our influence. If you can't remove it, we win, and you'll join them. If you remove our influence, but we take them over again, we win, and you'll join them. If you can only remove our influence from half of them--"

"You win, I get it," I said with a roll of my eyes. 

"You're not quite as dumb as you look," Adagio chuckled. "So do you wish some time to prepare, or do you want to start now?"

"Oh, no time like the present," I said, kneeling down and completely unzipping my guitar case. "I'll only need to play three notes on my guitar to beat you three forever."

The Sirens burst out laughing one more time. "Three notes?" Aria cackled. 

"No way!" Sonata said. 

"Three notes from your guitar? That's all you have the guts to do?" Adagio said. 

"Yeah, my guitar." I frowned and looked up at them. "Oh, wait, did I say guitar?" I pulled out my "instrument" and stood up straight, pointing it right at them. "I actually meant twelve gauge shotgun."

That shut them up. 

Maybe it's because they'd never seen a shotgun up close, but they didn't immediately start running. Either that or they just froze. Didn't matter to me. I merely pointed it at Adagio's gem and fired. 

So the gems are powerful enough that mere scissors didn't break them. They're powerful enough that not even a knife could do it. A direct, point-blank hit from a twelve gauge shotgun is a different matter entirely. A deafening blast echoed throughout the gym as Adagio's gem completely shattered, sending her flying back. I guess there was enough magic left in her to prevent me from blowing her head clean off, but that did nothing to help with the gem. I ignored the ringing in my ears as I turned the gun on Sonata. 

"One."

I pulled the trigger, and another blast rang out. In hindsight, I really should have packed earplugs. I think the only reason I wasn't in worse shape was because of some lingering alicorn magic. It didn't matter to me at the moment. What did matter was Sonata's gem blowing up, which sent her flying back with Adagio.

"Two."

Seeing her fellow sirens taken out must have re-booted Aria's brain, because she instantly turned tail and ran as fast as she could. 

"Sunset, to the left!" I cried out.

"What? What did you say?" Sunset yelled back. "Hold on, I just... Celestia that was loud!"

"SUNSET, TO THE LEFT!"

"OH!"

Just as Aria reached the curtain, Sunset popped out and swung her pipe as hard as she could right at Aria's head. The three of us flinched back when we heard the sound of the pipe smacking into Aria's skull. Immortal siren or no, that had to hurt. She instantly dropped to the floor. I rushed over to her and rolled her on her back. She wasn't unconscious, just dazed.

"Blaze, Rapids, secure the other two."

"Got it, Princess Antares." Blaze unzipped his guitar case and took out a roll of duct tape. He paused as he took it out and wiggled a finger in his ear. "Mawp. Maawp." He shook his head. "I'm never going to hear right again, am I?"

"You'll be fine," I said, pointing the shotgun directly at Aria's gem. I slowly curved my finger around the trigger and prepared to fire, but stopped when Aria cried out. 

"STOP!" She raised her hands. "I give up! I surrender!"

"Oh really now?" I said, not moving the gun an inch. "And why should I believe that?"

"What can I really do?" she pointed out. "Just tie me up again and take me back to Equestria for a trial!"

"A trial? Hmm." I slid my finger off of the trigger. "And do you know what the end result of that trial would be?" Aria fearfully shook her head, glancing over at Adagio and Sonata as Blaze and Rapids taped them up. "As an Equestrian princess I feel fairly confident in saying this. I think the end result will be Tartarus. Tartarus, banishment to some forsaken rock, turned to stone, something like that. None of them are really appealing options. You see, even though you're not as dangerous without the other two, you could still do some damage. We can't risk that. Starswirl should have known that banishing you here wasn't a long-term solution. Wouldn't be the first time I had to fix something he didn't understand completely."

"I don't wanna go to Tartarus!" Aria moaned. She looked back at Adagio and Sonata. "What about them?"

"What about them? We'll be taking them back to Equestria to stand trial as well."

"But... Tartarus?" Aria whispered. "They're mortal now. Without our gems... we're just regular people."

I raised an eyebrow at that, but, in hindsight, I shouldn't have been totally surprised. Heck, I didn't know for sure if breaking their gems would kill them or not. I guess it did, just not right away.

"We'll take that into account," I replied. "You're right: Tartarus is no place for mortals. We'll go much easier on them, then. Losing one's immortality is a big punishment already." My gaze trailed down to Aria's gem. "Which leaves the question of what to do with you. You can't keep the gem, Aria. I'm sorry, but that's the way it has to be."

"But... I don't wanna die!" Aria grasped her gem as if to shield it from me. 

"We've all gotta."

Aria glared at me and scooted back. "Oh don't give me that! You're a freaking alicorn! You still have your immortality!"

"Yeah, I do." I set the shotgun down out of Aria's reach and knelt down in front of her. "But I'm still gonna die someday. Maybe tomorrow, maybe a billion years from now. I'm still gonna die." I pulled my shirt down just enough to reveal the large scar on my chest where Sinosis had hit me with a Nightmare Weapon. Aria's eyes widened, and even Sunset's jaw dropped. "Maybe I should already be dead."

Aria's jaw wobbled, and she wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. "I can't. I can't do this."

"Yeah, you can, and you're going to have to. There's no way to stop it now. You lost. I know that hurts. Believe me. But now you can live a life on your own terms. Not one dictated by a gem that gave you nothing but constant hunger in return for immortality. I'm getting that gem off of you one way or the other. If you're truly repentant, if you truly want a second shot, then Celestia will take that into account. She loves her second chances."

"Yeah, she really does," Sunset said quietly. She sat down next to Aria and wrapped her arm around her shoulders. Aria whimpered, then completely burst into tears. She threw her arms around Sunset's waist and sobbed into her chest, allowing Sunset to pull her into a hug. Sunset gently stroked Aria's hair and looked up at me. "I'll take care of them. Celestia knows I've been where they are now."

"Indeed?" I raised an eyebrow and turned to Blaze and Rapids, who had finished taping up the other two and now watched us in interest. Blaze tapped his jaw in thought for a few seconds, then slowly nodded to me. Rapids grimaced and glared at Aria, but a nudge from Blaze seemed to change her mind. She huffed, but nodded in approval as well. 

Well, who am I to argue with that?

"Alright," I said. "I'll have to confirm it with Celestia first, but if I know her, she won't say no. We can hash out the details later. Right now..." I nudged Aria's shoulder. "I need the gem. Don't worry, I'm not going to break it in front of you."

Aria shuddered and tightened her grip on Sunset. Sunset leaned down and whispered something in Aria's ear. Aria sniffled and wiped her eyes, but slowly nodded after a few more moments. She reached behind her neck and removed the necklace. She extended her arm and offered it to me without making eye contact. I reached out and grabbed it, but Aria held tight. Sunset whispered "it's okay" in her ear, and Aria uncurled her fingers allowing me to take the gem. Once I had it in my possession, I stood up and shoved it in one of the pockets of my guitar case. A glance out into the crowd of students revealed that their green eyes had reverted back, and now they were all looking at each other in confusion. Guess they truly were free. 

"Should we tie her up, Princess Antares?" Rapids asked. 

I shook my head. "No need. Keep an eye on her, though. They should still have our car. Get them in there so we can get them back to our house."

"Roger," Blaze said. "What will you be doing?"

"I think I have to go apologize for something."


*  *  *  *


After radioing the rest of the group that we'd done it, I made my way to Principal Celestia's office. I reached for the door handle, but hesitated. She wasn't happy when I did it once. Twice? I was really in for it. Gah, even as a princess, I still dreaded the idea of going to the principal's office. Some things never change, I guess. 

Nothing else for it. I've been in combat! One measly high school principal who looks and sounds and acts almost exactly like my marefriend should be nothing. 

Right?

I took one last deep breath, then opened up the door to the office and walked inside. As I hoped, Rainbow Dash and Applejack had Princess Celestia taped up on her chair. They'd already taken the earbuds out, so that could only help my case. When she saw me come in, Celestia's eyes narrowed, but the tape over her mouth stopped her from saying anything. 

"So, we did it," Rainbow Dash said. 

"Yep. They won't be a problem anymore." I gulped and walked over to Celestia. "You hear that? We've beaten the Sirens. We've won. They won't brainwash you anymore." I reached up and took the tape off of Celestia's mouth. She didn't begin instantly screaming at me for subjecting her to that music again, so that was a plus. She merely took a deep breath and stared at me, unblinking. 

"I hate you."

"I know."
> Closing the Chapter
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"So yeah, that's pretty much what happened."

Celestia nodded and took a sip of her tea. "I see. And you have not punched our counterparts in the face this time?"

I shook my head. "Nope. She, ah, wanted to punch me again after I made her listen to that music, but she understood that it was for the greater good." I hope. "She'd rather listen to that than be brainwashed."

"As would we all." Celestia put her teacup back on her saucer and poured herself another cup. I quickly reheated my own tea with a spell. Never really being much of a tea drinker myself, I hadn't gone through five cups during the story like my marefriend. 

"So..." Celestia put the teapot back down on the serving tray and gracefully lifted her cup for another sip of hot tea. "There is the matter of what is to be done now."

"Yeah, I guess so." I tried for another sip of the tea, but gave up on finishing the half empty cup. I set it down back on the table. "So it turned out that Sunset was working at a call center. That way she didn't have to risk running into someone from her school. She couldn't stand working at a fast food joint in case someone came up to the fearsome Sunset Shimmer flipping burgers and frying fries. She has a little apartment about ten minutes away from the school. She walks to school every day so no one has to see the junker car she has."

"I... see." 

I grimaced when I didn't miss the pain in Celestia's eyes. I know she still cared for Sunset, and knowing that she went from a private tower in the castle to a run-down apartment where she probably lived paycheck-to-paycheck would hurt for sure. At least she wasn't starving to death or anything. 

"I've set her and the Sirens up in my house there for the time being. Sonata told me that they would just mind control the staff of a hotel or something whenever they needed a place to stay, but that obviously isn't an option now. My house is pretty well stocked, so they shouldn't have any problems. That and, ah, I transferred a million dollars to Sunset's account. That should be more than enough to stay on her feet rather comfortably. She's not the type to just spend it all on caviar and diamonds either. She knows what it's for."

"Good. And what of the Sirens themselves?"

I shrugged. "Well, that's a big unknown for the time being. Obviously it's going to be a rough transition between powerful, immortal emotion eater to a simple mortal teenage girl with no powers." I give Celestia a wry grin. "It's going to be odd for them to start aging after two thousand years, but they'll get used to it. They have to."

"Indeed." Celestia drained her cup and stood up, prompting me to do the same. "So, you are leaving to finalize preparations for the Sirens' stay on that planet?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I still have one or two things left to do before I feel confident letting Sunset handle them. We kind of need to set some ground rules for the Sirens." Since I wasn't sure what to do with them, they were still enrolled at Canterlot High, which that world's Celestia didn't appreciate until I made a rather large donation to the school that smoothed things over a bit. 

"It'll be alright, though. Sunset has that book. She can let us know if anything goes wrong over there, and we do have unlimited access to the portal now."

"Excellent. When will you leave?"

I smirked at the question. "No time like the present, right? I'm only going to be gone for a day at most. I should be back by dinner time."

"See that you are. I'd like to have dinner with you, if that is alright with you." Celestia gave me a sultry smile and ran her wing down my back, stopping in a rather interesting place. "Afterward we could... celebrate your success in the other world."

I grinned and gave Celestia a little plot tap. "I will be rather hungry later."

"Excellent. I shall see you then."


*  *  *  *


I pulled up to my house about an hour later and parked on my driveway next to Sunset's car. Seriously, I got the feeling that if I sneezed next to it I'd total the thing. She'd have to spend some of her new funds on a better car. I'd make sure of that. 

I unlocked the door and stepped inside to see Sunset, Aria and Sonata sitting at the kitchen countertop. Sonata and Aria had empty plates in front of them, while Sunset was working on a sandwich. They all stopped whatever conversation they were having and looked up at me. 

"Hey, Antares," Sunset said, setting her sandwich down on her plate. "How is everything?"

"I should be asking you that. No problems on your end?"

"Not really!" Sonata said happily. "I'm full! Like, I'm actually full! I don't want to eat any more food right now." Sonata stared down at her plate with wide eyes, as though doing so would reveal some great mystery. "I had three apples, two sandwiches, two sodas, six fruit rollups and a giant slice of cake and then the hunger pain went away!" She frowned and looked back at Sunset. "Is it going to come back?"

Sunset chuckled and picked her sandwich back up. "Yeah, but that's why you keep eating real food."

"Weird," Sonata whispered. "Even after we fed off of you two, there was still that hunger. I mean, it was better than normal, but still kind of uncomfortable. I haven't felt full like this in..." Sonata began counting on her fingers and mouthing numbers. "Ever!"

"It is kind of weird," Aria admitted, pushing her plate away. "Though I guess we can still feed off of other things, though." Aria smiled contentedly and leaned back in her chair. "This will not be the last time I have fried chicken, I promise you that."

Sonata shrugged. "Eh, maybe next time. Eating the flesh of other animals seems a bit weird."

"Blasphemy," I said in amusement, pulling a chair up and sitting opposite the three of them. "You should try it. Even if you don't like it at first, you could get used to it."

"I did," Sunset chimed in. "Once I had a bacon cheeseburger for the first time I knew I could never be a vegetarian again."

"See, there you go." My smile faded, and I leaned against the counter. "But let's put that aside for now. I'm here on business, unfortunately. If you could call Adagio over, that'd be great."

Instantly the smiles Aria and Sonata had evaporated. They exchanged a sad look. That wasn't good. 

"Where is she?"

"Dunno," Aria mumbled. "Not like we can track her anymore, you know? We just kind of woke up this morning and she was gone. We wanted to go out after her, but, ah..." She shot an uneasy glance Sunset's way. Sunset glowered and crossed her arms. 

"My Celestia damned car won't start."

"This is my surprised face," I deadpanned. I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. "Okay, I'll look around town once we're done here. I'd rather have her back here, if for no other reason than I'm not sure how well she'd do out there alone."

"Maybe she just went for a walk," Sonata suggested. 

"For five hours?" Aria said disbelievingly. 

"Okay, so it's a long walk."

"Whatever the case, we'll find her. Until then..." I opened up my saddlebag and pulled out a few sheets of paper. "These are the basic rules you have to follow while you're on parole. It's pretty standard stuff. You have to attend school, you have to stay in town, you can't come back to Equestria, stuff like that. Sunset will be keeping in contact with us about your progress. In return you get room and board, plus whatever else you may need to make your transition smoother." I pulled out a pair of pens and slid them and the papers over to Aria and Sonata. "So if you could just read and sign--"

Sonata happily pulled the papers over to her and signed the last page without reading a single word before giving them back to me. "Okay! There you go!"

"Um..." I flipped to the last page to get a look at her signature. "Don't you want to read these first?"

"Eh."

"Um... okay." I put the papers back in my bag, while Aria rolled her eyes as she read the pages. After a few minutes she signed them too. "Alright, ladies, that's it on our end. If you need anything, anything at all, just let us know."

"A hot tub?" Sonata said hopefully. 

"I..." I sighed and rolled my eyes. "Have you seen the bathtub upstairs?"

"Yeah, of course, but it just looks like a hot tub. It isn't actually a hot tub."

"I'm leaving Sunset in charge of the finances." I gave Sunset a pointed look. "Just don't go crazy. It's gotta last you a little while."

"Don't worry. Since I'm not paying six times the rent of my old apartment on one month's mortgage for this place, I can't see us spending a lot."

"Except for maybe--"

"We'll see, Sonata."

"At any rate, I have to get back to my world. You have your way to contact us. Don't lose it. I'll go around town to see if I can't find Adagio. Maybe file a missing person report. You guys are legally only, what, sixteen? Seventeen? Not quite adults yet. The cops will pick her up and send her back. Let me know when they do."

"I'm eighteen in this world," Sunset pointed out. She grimaced and crossed her arms. "Which is so much better than being twenty five like I actually am."

"You'll get back there."

"Yeah, when I'm in my thirties."

"Anyway..." I gave the three of them a little two-fingered salute. "I'm sure I'll be seeing you again sometime."

"I'm sure Principal Celestia will be thrilled."


*  *  *  *


I brushed a strand of hair out of my face before pinning another picture to the large corkboard in front of me. I tied a red string around the thumbtack, then stepped back to look at the larger picture.

The larger picture. 

If only I could figure that out. 

I huffed and picked up a stack of notes from the table beside me for another look at them. Maybe I could see the pattern if I just... 

Just what? Re-read them for the millionth time? The only thing I knew for certain was that something odd was going on at that school. Something I couldn't quite explain. Several energy pulses had come from there, but I couldn't figure out what kind of energy it was. If I could discover what it was, I could write up a report and get into Everton for sure! Whatever it was, it seemed to have something to do with those three Canadians, if my interviews with students there were any indication. They'd just show up out of nowhere. 

Yeah, literally nowhere. There's no such place as Canada. 

A story that didn't hold up to any scrutiny, appearing out of nowhere, and unknown energies showing up whenever they did made me rather suspicious. I put my notes down and picked up Spike, scratching him behind the ears the way he likes. 

"I tell you, Spike, something's going on with them, and I'm going to find out what!"

Spike responded by yawning.


*  *  *  *


Boy, if what Celestia and I did last night was a football game, we'd have both been flagged for excessive celebration. 

Or something. Look, I know that's a stupid analogy, but I was tired and stressed. I got the feeling that it was one of the last truly stress-free nights we'd have together in a long time. 

I landed on the balcony of my room and opened the large double doors so I could walk in. The sun had just risen and I already wanted nothing more than to just crawl back into bed and hide under the covers for a week. 

But nope, I'm a princess of Equestria. I can't do that. Blegh. 

I was just about to go into my bathroom for a shower when I heard a knock on my door. Sigh. Guess that shower would have to wait. I slipped on my regalia and put on my best "alicorn-y" smile before opening the door. 

"Ah, good morning, Tulip. How are you?"

"Very good, Your Majesty," Tulip replied, bowing low. "I have your schedule for the day, and a few items for you to look over."

"Good, good," I said, lighting up my horn and taking the thick manila folder she had floating next to her. "I will be down for breakfast in half an hour."

"Very good, Princess Antares. Is there anything special you'd like them to make?"

"Bacon. Lots of bacon." 

Did I mention how awesome it was that my chefs had figured out how to make imitation meat? Because that was really awesome.

"Extra bacon it is."

"Excellent. Now if you'll excuse me..."

"Of course, Princess Antares," Tulip said, bowing again. "I will see you at court."

I closed the door to my room and made my way back to my bathroom. I idly flipped the folder open and took a quick glance at the mountain of paperwork inside. I stopped in my tracks when I saw the top paper. It was a report from one of my armor dealers. It said it was done. I just needed to come in for one last fitting to make sure. I slid the photo attached to the paper out of the paperclip and stared at it. Somehow looking at my armor made everything seem a bit more real. 

We were going to war.
> All the Waaaay, all the Waaaaay to the Friendship Games!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The war had ended with an Equestrian victory. Nearly half a million dead on both sides, making it the deadliest war in our country's history. Either way, we came out on top, and now we were helping rebuild Schunie. We wanted to keep the newly formed minotaur nation relatively intact so that they didn't take several steps back in unification. We would still keep a close eye on them, but the newly elected King Grorim didn't seem like the type to start up another war six months after we finished the last one.

But I wasn't thinking of that. I was more basking in the glow of some rather fun things my wife and I had done the previous night. Thankfully our newborn daughter had slept through the night and didn't interrupt us. Still, I needed to take a shower if I didn't want to smell like sex for my day court. 

That would be awkward, especially given what a lot of ponies were coming in for. Always stuff about the war. There were ponies asking for veteran benefits, especially for families of ponies who had died during the war. Ponies were asking me about their loved ones that were MIA. Some even came in to yell at me for sending their loved ones off to die. I hated those the most. When those ponies came in, I wanted nothing more than to just take a few days off so I could recharge and be fresher to deal with the tragedy of post-war Equestria. The royalty had been discussing it. You know, alternating days off so that we could recharge a bit. Pretend that we were off on business or talking with the newly formed nations. You know, a "we need to talk to Empress Kathyrine to improve relations between our countries" sort of thing. 

I quietly slid out of Celestia's bed and went to her bathroom for the shower. I took a quick five minute shower and dried myself off with a spell afterward. I snuck out of Celestia's room and gently opened the door to our daughter's room. Little Nymeria was still sleeping when I glanced into her crib. She was twitching in a way I'd come to associate with dreaming. Wonder what she was dreaming about. Maybe I could get "Aunt Luna" to find out sometime. 

The door opened behind me, and Celestia walked over to look down at our daughter. She smiled lovingly and draped a wing over my back. 

"I never thought I would see the day when I would give birth to a beautiful daughter," Celestia whispered.

"Yeah, I thought I could never have foals once I became an alicorn. Back when I was human I always planned to have a family, but I always figured my ascension ruined those plans."

"It is good that I could not get you pregnant when you were female," Celestia joked. "I think that would have been slightly awkward."

I snorted. "You're telling me. I'm still not sure if I would technically be classified as a lesbian when we started dating because I was a mare still attracted to another mare."

Celestia tilted her head and hmmed. "It's something to think about, yes. Regardless, you are a stallion now. I do not think that you will have to endure that again."

"Better not," I grumbled. "But you never know with the Elements of Harmony."

Before Celestia could respond, Nymeria began shifting, and her eyes fluttered open. Her jaw wobbled and I heard a few quiet sobs from her. Dang. Not good. We already found out the hard way that when baby alicorns cry it wasn't pretty. Hence the myriad spells we had over the crib. Even baby alicorns magically surge from time to time. Suffice to say, this wasn't her first room. 

"Oh, are you awake?" Celestia said lovingly.  "Are you hungry little one?" She lit her horn and gently levitated Nymeria out of her crib. She laid down on her side and levitated Nymeria over to her. 

"And that might be my cue to leave," I said, backing away from my wife. "Nursing is something for you two."

"Oh do not be so dramatic, Antares. Remember: if you were still a mare, we would alternate this for her."

"Aaaand that would be horrible for me and traumatic for Nymeria once she got older. Good thing I'm not still a mare."

"Yes, that is unfortunate." Celestia flinched when Nymeria latched on. "Her fangs do not lend themselves to comfortable nursing."

"I'll bet. At any rate, I need to head on back to Baltimare. My court should be starting in about an hour, and I need to have breakfast before I do that, otherwise we might have a grumpy Prince Antares." I stuck my tongue out at the idea. "And I need all of the energy that I can so I can deal with the ponies asking about the war."

That and if I stayed much longer, I'd be asked to burp Nymeria, which really meant getting vomited on. My wife was so brave to deal with that more than me. I loved her.

Celestia's eyes narrowed. "You just want to avoid burping her."

And she could see right through me.

"Yep. Good luck with that. I love you and I will see you later."

"You cannot avoid it forever," Celestia said as I backed away to the door. 

"Nope, but I can avoid it today. K thanks love you bye."

"Antares--"

I rushed out of the room and flew through the first open window that was large enough for me. I teleported a few times to cut down on the travel time back to Baltimare. As such, it only took me an hour or so to make it back to my palace. More than enough time to get some breakfast before my court. I flew through one of the open windows and was instantly greeted by Tulip and two of my guards. I guess one of the guards manning the perimeter of my palace noticed me fly in and contacted a few others with his comm gem. Gotta say, those things are a big help. Too bad we had to invent them during wartime. 

But hey, nothing advances technology quite like a war, right?

"Prince Antares. How was your meeting with Princess Celestia?" Tulip asked with a bow. 

Heh. Meeting. 

"Very good, I think. It seems we are recovering as well as we can from the war. But, you know, time for court to deal with more of that."

"Of course, Prince Antares. And how is your daughter?"

I managed a smile at that question. "Oh, she's very good. A touch colicky at times, but that's what all of the magical wards around her are for. Her last cranky surge didn't destroy nearly as much of Canterlot Castle as the last few."

"Well, that's very good, I guess."

"And how are your foals, Tulip?" 

Tulip shrugged. "Pretty good. They've moved on to solid food completely now." She grimaced. "Thank goodness." 

"Yes, Princess Celestia is having similar problems that you had." I began making my way to my dining room so that I could actually get some breakfast before I started court. "That aside, is there anything to know before I start court?"

"Nothing beside the usual, Prince Antares," Tulip said as her and my guards followed me to my dining room. "The one thing to really report is that your magic book that lets you contact the other dimension buzzed." 

I paused at that. Sunset wasn't someone who would contact me just to see how I was doing. Even once I let her know that Celestia and I had married and Celestia had foaled, she sent me a few token notes about that. I'm not even sure if she knew the war had ended. Long story short: if she was calling me, something was up. 

"Okay, if you could get me that, I would appreciate it. I'd rather find out sooner than later what the problem is."

Tulip gave me a quick bow. "Of course, Prince Antares. I will get that for you at once."

"Excellent."

I entered my dining room where Blaze and Rapids were waiting for me. Guess they'd drawn court duty for the day. I smiled and nodded at both of them as I sat down on my chair. 

"Captain Blaze, Lieutenant Rapids, how are you today?"

"Doing alright, I guess," Blaze said. "How was your sex with Princess Celestia?"

"Must have been pretty good since I heard it from here," Rapids said. 

Oy. They'd been making that joke since Celestia and I had started dating. 

"War heroes or not, I can still give you latrine duty," I grumbled. 

Rapids's smile faded and she self-consciously brushed the side of her helmet that covered up her missing ear. "Yeah. Right. Sorry, Prince Antares."

"Don't worry about it." I speared a bit of scrambled eggs on my fork. "At any rate, we might be going back to the human universe."

Blaze and Rapids exchanged a look and a frown at that. "Why?" Blaze asked. 

"It's not for sure. I just know that Sunset contacted me. I doubt she'd do that unless there was a problem on her end that she needed our help with."

"Hopefully nothing as bad as the sirens," Rapids said. "That was kind of painful."

I shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe it's just her giving us an update on them."

"They never did find Adagio, right?" Blaze said. 

I grimaced and shook my head. "No. They didn't. I'm not sure what's going on with her. She could be dead for all I know. I'd rather that not be the case, but I can't say for sure. We'll find out what she wants when Tulip delivers the book."

As if on cue, the door opened and Tulip walked in with the book floating beside her. I grabbed it and flipped open to the page she had bookmarked. 

Prince Antares,

Things are going fairly well over here. Aria and Sonata have adjusted to human life fairly well. Still haven't found Adagio. There's no trace of her around town, so I can only assume she's somewhere out of town. Maybe even out of state. That aside, I think we may have a problem. Yesterday Pinkie and Rarity saw someone sneaking around the school. She was scanning the portal with some unknown device. I'm not sure what she was up to, but I think she might suspect that the statue isn't what it seems. If she destroys or disables the statue, the portal between our worlds would disappear. I don't need to tell you why that would be a problem. My friends and I haven't seen her since, but I doubt she is finished studying the statue. I wanted your input on the situation. 

Sunset.

Damn. That's just... damn. Sunset was right: damage or destruction of the portal would be a huge problem. Given the other world's odd frequency of having Equestrian problems show up, and yes, I count two as odd for a non-magical world, it would be best if we didn't lose contact with them forever. That meant me going over to at least have a look at who was investigating the portal. 

Ducky. Just ducky. 

"Alrighty, then." I turned back to Blaze and Rapids. "Looks like we're going back to the human world."

Rapids tilted her head questioningly. "Really? What's going on there?"

"Someone is messing with the portal between our worlds. I don't need to explain why that would be a negative thing for both sides. Given how much Equestrian magic has shown up there, I'd rather not leave them on their own."

"Yeah, because we always deal with things quietly without disturbing the locals," Blaze pointed out. "Just like the last few times, it'll be like we were never there."

"Uh-huh," I muttered. "Right. I'd rather we pull that off this time. Hopefully we just go, talk to whoever is snooping around and convince him or her to not snoop around anymore. I dunno, we have millions of dollars there. Maybe we can try bribery."

"Thereby letting him or her know that we are, in fact, hiding something and they were right to be suspicious of the statue," Rapids said. "They could take the money, then start investigating again once we leave."

"True. We'll get more details from Sunset once we get over there."

"Sounds like a plan, Prince Antares," Blaze said. "So when are we leaving?"

I shrugged. "Don't see any reason why we can't leave right after court is over."


*  *  *  *


Court was hell, just like it's always been since the war started. Every time ponies come to ask about the war or the aftermath, I feel like they leave without me having really helped them in any meaningful way. Sure I point a few of them towards counselors or the office we've set up for veteran's benefits, but on the whole I feel like they leave feeling disillusioned. Like this whole war, and by extension the death or severe injury of their loved ones, was completely pointless and a senseless waste of equine life. 

Well, I felt like that sometimes, too. 

Eventually it ended, leaving Blaze, Rapids and me to go back through the portal. Seeing as how I was the only one to use it, I'd had it moved to my weapons bunker so nopony else could actually get to it. And if anything untoward came through the other side, it couldn't actually get out of the room. Not to mention the fact that a dozen alarms would go off, letting me handle it quickly. Thankfully nothing like that had happened. After the end of the war, that was the last thing we needed. 

After giving the guards the new passwords based on quotes from The Night of the Hunter, the three of us entered the room, where the mirror portal to the other dimension rested. I quickly got to work plugging the book into the mirror so that we could actually go to the other world. 

"Alrighty, loyal soldiers. You ready to travel back to the world where we're not under all of this pressure and we're millionaires?"

"More than ready, Prince Antares," Rapids said, patting her mane to make sure it still covered up her missing ear. "I hope it's nothing too serious this time."

"Hopefully nothing as serious as last time, that's for sure. If it's just what Sunset said, and somebody is messing around with the portal who probably shouldn't be, then all we have to do is find some way to dissuade this person from continuing to do that, without letting them know that we are hiding something."

"Hey, remember when you told us about that Star Trek show?" Blaze asked as I finished plugging the book in. "That prime directive thing? Don't interfere with other cultures or something like that?"

"Yeah, something like that," I muttered as the portal fired up. "What's your point?"

"My point is that I think Captain Spock or Captain Piccolo would be very disappointed with you."

I turned my head and glowered at him. "Firstly, it's Picard, not Piccolo. Secondly..." I grunted and turned back to the portal. "Secondly, I'm not totally sure that it applies in this situation. We're not adding new technology to their culture to speed up their advancement."

"Except maybe Equestrian magic, right?" Rapids mused. 

"We've let a few locals know that there's a portal between our world and theirs. I hardly count that as introducing Equestrian magic. It's not like I can cast any spells over there. Besides, Sunset got there first."

"True, I guess," Rapids said. "One of these times, though..."

"Hopefully this is the last time." I cracked my neck and rolled my wings a little bit. "Alright, you two. Let's get back to it."


*  *  *  *


Psychedelic, man. I don't think I'll ever get used to moving back and forth between our worlds.

"Alrighty, then," I said, standing up and brushing off my jeans. "Let's get to it." I look around and try to gauge the time of day as Blaze and Rapids get up. "From the looks of things, school should still be going." I spot a bus with the words "Crystal Preparatory" on the side and frown. "Crystal Preparatory? Is that some other school?"

Blaze shrugs as he comes up beside me. "Who knows? I'm sure a local will let us know."

I'm about to respond, but I hear Rapids cursing behind me and I turn around to see what's up. When Rapids went through the portal, it appears the magic of the portal changed her hairdo to a ponytail. A hairstyle that completely revealed her missing ear. Darn. I'd hoped that coming over here would heal that and her facial scars for at least a little while. Seems like that didn't happen.

"You okay, Rapids?" Blaze asked. 

"I'm fine!" Rapids snapped, tearing the scrunchie out of her hair and adjusting it to cover her ear. "Just a little startled is all. Don't worry about me."

You say that, but I worry about you all the time. It's not healthy, how you're just shoving all of your hurt and fear down. 

"Anyway," I continue. "I suppose we'd better get inside, then. No sense wasting the whole day standing outside."

"Roger, Prince Antares," Rapids said, snapping off a weak salute with an equally weak smile. 

Without further ado, we make our way into the school. When we get in, we spot one or two students who let us know that the rest of the school is in an assembly in the gym. As we walk, I see posters all over the school welcoming Crystal Prep and something about the Friendship Games. Huh. Odd. Looks like we caught them in the middle of something. 

We enter the gym and position ourselves in the very back, out of the way of everybody. Principal Celestia is standing up on stage with a rather nasty looking woman whom I can already tell doesn't have the sunniest disposition. Unfortunately, Celestia notices the three of us come in, and she slowly facepalms. 

Yeah, yeah, I know. 

The other woman doesn't seem to notice, though. She merely steps up to the microphone situated on the stage. 

"Good afternoon, students of Canterlot High. As your principal said, I am Principal Abacus Cinch. I thank you for your warm, if unconventional welcome." 

The students politely applaud her, I allow myself a grin when I notice that there are balloons and confetti all around the gym. Pinkie Pie's doing, no doubt.

"Now, then, I do like to think that this year you will actually attempt to give my school some form of challenge." Holy geez, I think I saw her stick her nose in the air a little. "However, given the obscenely abysmal showing your school has turned in the past few Games, I highly doubt that will be the case. It's been four years since the last Friendship Games, but it feels as though nothing has changed. Canterlot High continues to pick its competitors in a popularity contest and Crystal Prep continues to field its top twelve students. It is a comfort to know that even after so many years of losses, your school remains committed to its ideals, however misguided they may be. I wish you all the best of luck, regardless of the inevitable outcome."

Yeah, no polite applause for that little remark. In fact, the students are all standing around in a state of quiet shock. The only noise I hear is a little quiet snickering from a few people I don't recognize, so I can only assume they're from Crystal Prep. 

Oh dear, this is one of those schools, isn't it? 

The school remains in stunned silence for a few more seconds, completely unsure of what to think of such a blatantly dickish comment. Finally, one student can't resist putting her opinion out there. 

"Holy shit, lady, you're kind of a cock, aren't you?"

The half of the school immediately starts laughing, while a few of the others back away from the perpetrator. She has greyish blue skin and dark purple hair. It looks like she's wearing contact lenses that make her eyes look like cat's eyes. She's dressed in all black and looks like a goth. 

Cool. 

"Comet Screech!" says this world's Cheerilee, who strides up to the girl and grabs her by the ear. "What have I told you about this?"

"Oh come on, Mom!" Comet says, following Cheerilee out of the gym with a completely unrepentant grin on her face. "It was just a joke!" 

Hmm. I didn't know Cheerilee had a daughter. 

When the laughter dies down, Cinch doesn't look any happier than she was during her rude little speech. Seriously, though, what was she expecting to happen? I might have said the same thing if I'd had a mind to. I'd imagine that Blaze and Rapids thought the same thing. 

"I see that things at Canterlot High are far worse than I thought," Cinch said, glaring at the students before turning that nasty look to Celestia. "I cannot imagine how you can allow your students to be so disrespectful."

"I must apologize for Ms. Screech. Our Ms. Cheerilee brought her daughter in for work. She can be a little... blunt at times."

"I see. Regardless, I expect better behavior from your students during the games themselves. You can at least accept defeat gracefully."

I saw Rapids open her mouth, but I put my hand on her shoulder. As much as I'd love to do the same to Ms. Cinch, it would be best to keep a low profile for as long as possible. 

Which, if my past experiences were any indication, would probably be about five whole minutes once I actually ran into Sunset and her friends. Hopefully this would be a quick little affair, and we'd be back in Equestria within a day or two. Back to dealing with war fallout. 

Could be worse I guess.

I begin scanning the gym for Sunset and her buddies. I spot Sonata and Aria standing next to Pinkie and Fluttershy, which triggers a little smile from me. Good to know that they're seeing a little success here. I spot Rainbow and Applejack talking to each other, but before I can see Sunset, my eyes land on somebody quite unexpected. 

Twilight. 

I raise an eyebrow and tilt my head. It definitely looks like Twilight, but there are some small differences. She's wearing glasses, and she looks far too nervous to be our world's Twilight. Add in the fact that Twilight would have to do some impossible things and we have this world's Twilight here. Considering she was in what appeared to be a Crystal Prep uniform and things just got a lot more interesting. She was looking around the gym like something would pop out at her at any moment. Can't imagine what she's worried about. Unless she knows something we might want to find out. After a few moments, her eyes landed on me. Her jaw dropped and her eyes went as wide as dinner plates. We stared at each other for a few moments, then averted her gaze to the ground. 

Yeah, she's who we're after. I smirked and leaned in close to Blaze and Rapids. 

"Target acquired."
> That's Not Good
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"So, what's the plan?"

I smirk at Blaze as the three of us walk in the direction of Sunset and her buddies which, interestingly enough, included Sonata and Aria. "Well, firstly I think we should check in with Sunset. She'd know more about these Crystal Prep students than we do. Maybe Pinkie Pie even knows this version of Twilight. Once we figure that out, I'm sure we can find some way to isolate Twilight and--"

"Throw her in the back of the truck bound and gagged so we can interrogate her at the house?" Rapids guessed. 

I snort and shake my head. "Tempting as it would be, I think we should leave that for last. She's more than likely not some emotion eater that's trying to take over the world."

"Probably not, but if she's messing around with the portal, that can't be good," Blaze pointed out. "Besides, if you show up and force her away from the statue, she'll know whatever suspicions she has are right."

"True," I agreed. "So I think we'll have to do this with subtlety. We can do that, right?"

Cue the awkward silence between the three of us. Yeah, yeah, I know, but one can hope, right?

Pinkie Pie noticed us before we reach the group, causing her to enthusiastically wave at us. I smile back and give her a little nod. 

"Hey, guys!" Pinkie said chipperly, nearly bouncing over to us. "Are you here for the Friendship Games?"

"Kind of, I guess," I replied. "Sunset shot me a little note about how somebody might be messing around with the statue."

"Oh, yeah, the one who looks like Twilight." Sunset's mouth creased into a frown. "She actually got here before the rest of her school did. I saw her moving around the statue with some weird device. I'm not sure what she's up to, but even if it isn't anything bad, she could damage it accidentally."

"Which would suck big time, especially considering that I'm still on this side." I frowned and tapped my jaw. "Alright, so we have to figure out what she's doing with the statue and why. Given that she seems kind of mousy, I'm going to gather that she's not a social butterfly. It shouldn't be too hard to lure her away from her group and find out what she knows. Maybe get one of you to talk to her a bit?"

Rainbow Dash shrugged. "Not the worst idea I've ever heard. Maybe Fluttershy could do it? Pinkie might be a bit... overbearing."

"Hey, I can talk to her in a normal inside voice!" Pinkie insisted. 

I put a hand on Pinkie's shoulder. "No, Pinkie, no you can't. I'm sorry, but I don't think you're physically capable." I give Pinkie a little smirk to let her know I'm kidding before turning back to Sunset. "So, tell me about these 'Friendship Games' of yours. What's the deal there?"

"Every four years Canterlot High and Crystal Prep get together for what is supposedly a friendly competition meant to foster positive relations and create friendships between our two schools." Sunset scowled and crossed her arms. "Crystal Prep has won the last several games in a row, and they tend to not be very... gracious about it. Their goal is less about having fun and making friends and more about crushing us."

"Which they do," Rainbow Dash grumbled. "Repeatedly. I think I was in kindergarten the last time Canterlot High won the games." 

"Alright, so a stuffy prep school which takes itself way too seriously fights you guys every four years with behavior that comically misses the point of what the games are all about anyway." I leaned against the wall and looked in the direction of where I last saw the other Twilight. "Well, either way, I doubt that her actions are specifically sanctioned by her school, so if she's still investigating then she'll be doing it alone. Whatever the case, we need to keep her away from the portal. If she disables or breaks it then we're stuck her forever." I shrugged at that. "I mean, yeah, we're millionaires who are set for good, but I'd rather be ruling Equestria with my wife and daughter."

Fluttershy's eyes lit up and she let out a happy little squee. "A daughter? You have a daughter now? Ooh, is she cute? What's her name? How old is she? What's she like?"

"Who, whoa, whoa, slow down, Fluttershy," I said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Yes, I have a daughter. Her name is Nymeria, she's six months old, she's a very happy, if sometimes colicky foal, and she's absolutely as cute as a button."

"That's positively wonderful!" Rarity said while Fluttershy squeed again. "And I take it that your Celestia is the mother?"

I nodded. "Yep. We got married a few months before she was born." I looked back to the stage where Principal Celestia was still talking with Principal Nasty Grinch Face. "I take it that Mr. Antares and Celestia are still a thing?"

"Yeah, they're getting pretty serious," Rainbow Dash confirmed. "They're not even trying to hide the fact that they're together now." Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and stuck out her tongue. "At least they're not making 'kissy faces' at each other."

"Well, not at school anyway." I turn my attention back to the main group. "But yeah, things are going well on my end. The war is over, I have a loving wife and daughter, I'm back to being a male, so I'm Prince Antares now, and I have a second foal on the way."

Fluttershy squeed even louder this time, which, for her, was still pretty quiet. "Princess Celestia is pregnant again?!"

I could feel the grins Blaze and Rapids were sending my way, but I didn't dignify them with a look. I couldn't keep the blush off of my face as I cleared my throat. "Y-yeah. Totally. We only found out a few weeks ago."

"Oh come on, Prince Antares," Blaze said, elbowing my ribs gently. "I'm sure they'll understand. No need to lie to them."

"Blaze I swear..."

"Lie?" Applejack said, frowning at me. "Prince Antares, it ain't good ta lie."

"Yeah, it's... whatever."

"You didn't have an affair, did you?" Rarity said, glaring at me. 

"No, no, I didn't!"

"Sperm donor, then?" Sonata guessed. 

"Yeah," I grumbled.

"Well, that's not so bad," Pinkie chimed in. "As long as your wife was okay with it, you gave some mare a really awesome gift." Pinkie grinned at me and elbowed my ribs from the other side. "Unless it was your world's Vice-principal Luna, or something."

You'd think I'd be able to hide my blush better, but no. I'm an alicorn! We have to control our emotions and stuff! Not this time. They picked up on it immediately. 

"Dude, no way," Aria said with a grin. "So, like your kids are going to be cousins and siblings?"

"She's my cousin!" Pinkie said dramatically before slapping herself lightly on the face. "She's my sister!" Slap. "She's my cousin!" Slap. "She's my sister!"

"How do you even know what that movie is?!" I said, glaring at her. I groaned and waved my hand. "Whatever. It's not a big deal. War's over, I have two kids, things are better, now I'm going to help you stop this Twilight. End of discussion."

"Very well, very well," Rarity said, a slight grin on her face. "Although..." She turns to look at Blaze. "Did that scar on your face come from the war? I don't recall you having it the last time you were here."

Blaze puffed out his chest and grinned. "Yep. Got in a tussle with a minotaur while we were successfully sacking a city that had never seen an invader step hoof inside the walls. He got a hit in, but I got him in the end."

"I... see." Rarity turned to Rapids, her mouth open to doubtlessly ask about the fact that Rapids was hiding half of her face with her hair, but a glare and a quick head shake from Rapids put a stop to that. Rarity flinched back, but steadied herself and cleared her throat as she brushed her dress to get out any wrinkles. "Right. Twilight. I suppose you want to hear everything we know."

"I definitely do. What have you seen?"

"I was the one who saw it," Sunset chimed in. "I came out of band practice with the girls one evening and was walking to my car when I saw somebody examining the portal. She was scanning it with something I didn't recognize. I went up to her to ask what she was doing, but she must have heard me coming, because she ran off instantly. Her hood blew back while she was running, and I saw her hairstyle. Same as the girl you've been looking at."

"Alright. I guess the big questions now are how she found out about the portal, and how much she knows about both it and us," I mused. "She saw us when we came in, and she just about had a heart attack from the looks of things. She knows we're not quite normal, but I want to figure out more details."

"And you're certain we can't just tie her up and throw her in the back of the car like last time?" Blaze said, earning a glare from Aria.

"No, because she's a scrawny girl who looks like she's ninety pounds wet. If I'm guessing right, she's no real threat unless she does something to the portal. Besides, if we kidnap her then her school is going to get involved and we can't have that." I shook my head. "I think our best bet is getting Fluttershy to talk to her."

"Or me," Pinkie chimed in. 

"Just... whoever."

"Got it!" Before I can say anything else, Pinkie zooms off, leaving a pink dust outline where she used to be. I groan and facepalm. Just great. No way I'm catching up to her now. Oh well. 

"Alright, so while we wait to hear the damage, we'll just--"

"Get away from my school?" A familiar voice from behind me says. 

Ah. Right. 

I turn around to see Principal Celestia standing behind me, her arms crossed and the most spectacular glare on her face. She's tapping her foot impatiently as if hoping that I'll hastily retreat.

"Sorry, Celestia, no can do. We have another problem with Equestrian magic here. If you would like to deal with it all by yourself, have at it." I smirk at her and tilt my head. "If you think you can handle some force out here bent on taking over the world or something. I'm sure calling in the army would be a wonderful way to keep this quiet." I hear Sunset, Aria and Sonata groan quietly behind me. "So, I can leave if you want, but your best bet is to just let me--"

"You have three days," Celestia snarls, poking my chest. "I will not have you ruining the Friendship Games, is that clear?"

"Hey, I have no intention of ruining a fun competition between your school and a school that crosses out the 'friendship' part of the title when preparing for the games." I take a step back from her. "I'll be as discreet as I can, but..." I uneasily chuckle and rub the back of my neck. "The problem person is... kind of one of the Crystal Prep student."

"Oh, that's wonderful. Absolutely marvelous," Celestia says through gritted teeth. "I suppose that the games are going to end with Crystal Prep's bus burning down, you running around with a shotgun, half of the students covered in woad and fighting each other with makeshift weapons from the cafeteria while the other half riot on school grounds, you bringing your whole army in from Equestria to quell the riots, starting a war between our countries..." Rapids flinched back at that one. "While in the middle of it all, I'm tied up in my office with a bruise on my cheek listening to that music you forced upon me last time. That is your idea of 'quietly handling it' right?"

"Well, I mean if you want I can--"

"Three days, and if you cause a scene I will have you removed. You are putting the well-being of my students at risk by running around and fighting magic here."

"And you'd have preferred that I just left your students, and yourself, brainwashed by emotion eaters who wanted to take over the world?"

"Yes," Aria grumbled to herself. 

"Regardless, you are at the very least not to bring guns on school grounds again." 

"Extenuating circumstances. Trust me, I liked it about as much as you did. That aside..." I nodded to Celestia. "I'm going to try to be in and out of your hair as soon as I can."

"See that you do." With that, Celestia attempted to storm away, but Rapids stopped her in her tracks.

"Hey, Principal Celestia, one more thing?" Celestia wheeled around and turned her glare to Rapids. 

"What?" she said through gritted teeth. 

"I think you're pregnant."

Celestia's eyes widened for a moment, but her glare quickly returned. She made a noise of disgust before turning around and walking away. Once she was out of earshot, I turned on Rapids. 

"Seriously? What was that? She's mad enough at us as it is."

Rapids shrugged. "Well, I think she might be."

"Rapids, in case you didn't notice, she hates me. After everything I've done not only to the school but her as well, I can kind of see why. I don't like that, but hey, it happened."

Rapids shook her head. "Yeah, no. Take it from a mare with four sisters and nine nieces and nephews with a tenth on the way. I know what a pregnant mare acts like. She totally hates you, yeah, but I think hormones might be a bit of a factor here."

"Just... it's not our concern." I turned to the rest of the group and took a deep breath. "Okay, if I know Pinkie then she's already hunted Twilight down and overwhelmed her with her Pinkie-ness. I'm going to see what I can find out. You all have my number if you need it, so let me know if there are any developments."

"Except that our phones and stuff are at the house, Prince Antares," Rapids pointed out. 

"Dang. Right." I sighed and ran a hand though my hair. "Right. So we'll get our stuff from the house and meet you back here at some point. Just let me know."

"Will do, Prince Antares," Applejack said. 

"Good. Let's do this thing, then."

After parting ways with the rest of the group, Blaze, Rapids and I made our way to the school exit. We saw a few students who recognizes us, and we exchanged waves, but nobody really bothered us beyond that. I knew that interacting with the student body a bit would be inevitable, but, despite Celestia's misgivings, I really did want to handle this as quietly as I could. If Twilight had been scanning the portal with some magical device, it might be best to destroy that and... I don't know, pay her off? A million bucks might go a long way towards her not bothering us again. Although, she could just take the money, wait for us to leave, then start up again. Nothing would stop her. On top of that, if I paid her off then she'd know she was on the right track.

Ugh. I hated it when things got this complicated.

We exited the school and walked in the direction of the portal, just so I could check on it to make sure Twilight hadn't damaged it in any way. The portal itself still worked fine, but if she'd managed to crack some of the statue itself then that could be an issue. On our way to the portal I saw Principal Celestia walking over to her car, and odd look on her face. Huh. Wonder what that was all about.

We reached the portal and the three of us began searching around the statue, trying to find any cracks or sense any magic around. I couldn't feel anything, and I doubted that she'd really damaged the portal, but it wouldn't hurt to at least check. 

"Any problems? Blaze? Rapids?"

Both of them shook their heads. "Nope, nothing on my end," Blaze said. "Seems like it's in the same condition as always."

"Good." I moved to the front of the statue where the actual portal was, reaching out my hand to touch it. "I'd like to keep it that way if--"

My eyes widened when I touched the portal. Or rather, when I touched the stone where the portal should have been. "Uh..." I pressed on the stone with both hands, hoping beyond hope that I hadn't... touched the portal right or something. "Uuuuhhhh."

"What's wrong, Prince Antares?" Rapids asked. 

"The portal's gone." I backed away from the statue, my eyes still wide. "The portal's gone."

"What?!" Blaze and Rapids both rushed to my side, each of them pressing on the statue where the portal should be. "Where is it?" Blaze cried. 

"I don't know how she did it, but somehow Twilight broke the portal." 

"Are you sure somepony on the other end didn't tamper with it?" Rapids asked.

"No, it would be easier to sack Iselin with just twine, duct tape and gumption than to get into my safe room. Whatever happened happened on this end, which means that Twilight did something."

"So what are we going to do now?" Blaze asked. 

"We don't hesitate. We're going to get things settled today if possible. I'm not leaving my subjects and family because some twerpy high schooler stuck her nose where it didn't belong." I clenched my hand into a fist and glared at the Crystal Prep bus. "But first we have to get our stuff."


*  *  *  *


We made it back to Canterlot High after an hour or so. We had to walk back to the house, but we were able to drive back. I quickly texted Sunset and the rest of them, letting them know what had happened and telling them to meet me outside of Principal Celestia's office in an hour. 

"So, why do we have to go talk to Principal Celestia again?" Rapids asked. "I mean, I know she was just so happy to see us last time, but we're pushing our luck here, aren't we?"

"We might need her cooperation if we're going to handle this quietly," I said, opening up the door to the school. "We also have to let her know that we're stuck here until we solve the problem with Twilight. That should help her see things our way."

"I guess. She won't be happy about it," Blaze pointed out. 

"Because I'm just thrilled about it myself." I groaned as we reached her office. "Just... let me do the talking and hopefully we're out of there in a few minutes. We're just updating her." I took a deep breath and grabbed the door handle. "Right. So here we go." I pushed the door open and walked in, seeing Principal Celestia sitting at her desk, gently nursing a glass of water. She looked up when she saw me come in and scowled. 

"Out. Now is not the best time."

"Just give me a second here." She didn't respond, so I continued. "Uh... Twilight messed with the portal and somehow disabled it. We're stuck here until we solve the problem." Celestia didn't respond. She merely tightened her grip on the glass in her hand. "But we're not going to do anything but try to fix this. If for whatever reason we're stuck here permanently, we'll do our best to avoid the school, alright?"

"This is not the best time, TD," Celestia growled. "We can talk about this later. Now leave, please."

"Right. I'll leave. I just wanted to update you."

"You have. Now out."

I was about to leave, but Rapids couldn't resist one last little parting remark. 

"You just checked, didn't you? That's why you left the school. You're pregnant, aren't you?"

Celestia squeezed the glass in her hand so hard it shattered.
> The First Events
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

So these Friendship Games things are starting up, and what a treat it's gonna be. Preppy douche bags vs. the scrappy underdogs. They've been training for months, I guess, and they've finely honed their special skills and now they've finally come to the first event which is...

Building a birdhouse?

Okay, there's a little more than that, like... baking a cake and turning blue chemistry stuff into a different color. 

Kind of like starting the Equestria Games with a thrilling round of checkers, isn't it? I kind of expected more from the buildup that this has been getting. I know Prince Antares said that these are high schools, not professional athletes, but come on... 

A birdhouse? Prince Antares was telling me about this thing back on Earth called American Ninja Warriors. That sounded like a way better direction for the games to go in.

I sighed as they announced the winners of the first round of the Friendship Games. As I expected, it was six of the douchiest kids from Crystal Prep and the Elements. I really wanted to pay more attention to snoopy Twilight here, but the plastic chairs they'd set out for us were freaking uncomfortable, and Twilight seemed to kind of be blending into the background.

"So..." Blaze frowned and rubbed his chin. "What were they even trying to do on the chalkboards there?"

Prince Antares sighed and rubbed his temples. "I don't know. I flunked physics hard in middle school. For all I know, they were just guessing a number that the judges had agreed upon."

I shrugged. "Doesn't really matter, does it? I think the point is that Crystal Prep took the round, or whatever. I... don't think the rest of us are even allowed to know what kind of formula that is. I think getting Twilight to fix the portal is a little more important, though." I made a quiet noise of disgust and narrowed my eyes. "I don't really care for being stuck here."

"Probably not for the best, no." Blaze snorted and leaned back in his chair. "Wouldn't it be funny if it were the formula for napalm, though?"

I flinched back so subtly that Blaze and Prince Antares didn't even notice. The tiny little ball of pressure I'd been carrying in my chest since the war ended flaring up a little bit. Prince Antares was smiling at the little joke. Yeah, I should be too. I forced an amused smirk on my face. Just push it down. It's fine. "Y-yeah. Pretty sure that's not it, though."

"It would have been a lot easier to make if the answer was 'twenty'," Prince Antares admitted. "It's probably something about..." He stared at the chalkboard for a few moments, then shrugged. "I don't know. I can't even begin to make a guess."

"Gibberish, then," Blaze replied as we all stood up. 

"Like Rapids said, though, doesn't matter," Prince Antares said. "What I'm a little more interested in is that glowing necklace Twilight has around her neck. Judging by the way it's lighting up, I'm going to guess it's some kind of scanner." 

"So not something we can just blow up with a twelve gauge, then?" I guessed. 

Prince Antares smiled wistfully and shook his head. "I really doubt it'll come to that. The sirens were trying to take over the world. This one is just playing with fire."

"And we have to show her that fire is bad without her wanting to play with it more." I rolled my eyes. "Which would require a little subtlety from us, wouldn't it?"

"Possibly," Prince Antares said as we began following Twilight out of the room. "I think the big thing is we just get that tracker thing from her, or whatever it is."

I grinned confidently and put on a little more speed. "Sounds like my time to shine."

"Rapids, hold on!" I heard Prince Antares say behind me. "Maybe we should--"

Yeah, I'm probably going to get into a bit of trouble for this, but hey, better solve this quickly, right? She stole the portal home. I am not going to live here for the rest of my life because some imbecile little twerp got big ideas. Thankfully this new Twilight isn't the biggest social butterfly. Either that or girls in this world don't go to the bathroom in little groups. Whatever the case, Twilight popped into the local filly's room, her head down like she really didn't want to be seen by anyone. Too late.

I waited a few seconds, then walked in after her. She'd already made it into a stall by the time I walked in, but I can wait. I'm a trained soldier. She could hide for an hour and I'd still be there, waiting patiently. Of course, I'm just going to break down the fucking door if she doesn't come out in a relatively normal time frame. Let's see how willing she is to trap me here away from my home when I'm beating the Tartarus outta...

I blinked and straightened up a little. Jeez, where did that come from? We'll figure it out without that crap. Prince Antares was right: the Sirens were trying to brainwash all of us. This girl is just... a teenage girl. 

Still, though, she trapped me here because she's messing with stuff she can't understand. Granted, I don't get half of it either, but I'm not forcing anypony to live somewhere they don't want to. I spent months away from my home fighting and killing and watching my friends die around me. I wanted nothing more than to just go home where it was safer. Now she's forcing me to stay in another place I don't want to be in because she likes a few science experiments? Yeah, that's not happening. 

It's not more than a minute or so before Twilight comes out of the stall farthest from me. She began walking toward the door, but stopped dead in her tracks, her eyes widening when she saw me. I shot her a small grin, making sure to show off a few of my new, pointier teeth. 

"You didn't wash your hands."

Twilight gulped and backed away. "I didn't..." She looked back to the stall, her hand instinctively reaching for her necklace device thingie. "I mean, I wasn't in there..." She nodded, then turned to one of the sinks and flipped it on. She ran her hands under it for a few seconds, not even bothering to use any soap, then turned it off and reached for a few paper towels. Unfortunately for her, the bathroom has run out of those. She looked to me as if I'm going to materialize some, but ultimately just wiped her hands on her shirt. 

"Ms. Sparkle, I presume?"

"Y-yeah," Twilight replied almost inaudibly. "You're one of the Canadians."

"Sure am." I stopped leaning against the wall and took a step toward her. She instantly takes a few steps back, almost touching the wall behind her. "You have something that doesn't belong to you."

"I haven't stolen anything," she whispered. 

"Oh, but you have. You really, really have." I took another step toward her, and she finally backed into the wall. She whimpered and curled up a little, her arms crossed over her necklace. "I think you know what it is."

"It's just a little energy from the statue outside!" Twilight insisted. "It's not like--"

"But you know that's not true, don't you? I know I know it's not true. You strike me as a little smarter than that." I crossed my arms and smirked at her. "For example, you already know who I am. You wouldn't happen to have been watching us, would you? Studying us? Listening to stories about us?"

The look of fear in her eyes tells me that I've hit the mark on that one. Yeah, she's not Little Miss Innocent here. She knows what she's doing. Well, I'm not going to let her get away with it. 

"So here's the deal, Twilight." I pointed at the necklace and narrowed my eyes. "Give it to me. Give it to me right now or I'm going to take it from you, and that's not going to look pretty. You do that and we just go our separate ways and never speak to each other again."

"You can't," Twilight whimpered. "I-it's my life's work! I'll try to stop doing whatever it is you don't like me doing, but I need this for my studies!"

"You seem to be under the impression that I'm merely asking you for it, and that you are in a position to decline. Both are incorrect." I took another step forward, and, with nowhere else to go, Twilight slid to the floor and huddled in the corner. "I'm not going to let you do it, got me?"

"Do wh--"

"You're not trapping me here. Okay?!" The tiny ball of pressure in my chest started building. I rubbed the back of my neck a little and turned to the bathroom mirror. "Just give me the device. Build another one if you want, but you're going to give me the one you have and you're going to stay so fucking far away from this school that you'll forget its name, got it?"

Of course, the best answer to that demand would have been "yes." Maybe even "yes ma'am" if she felt like it. Instead she responded with the dumbest fucking thing imaginable. She whispered it so quietly I barely heard it, but yeah, I still heard it.

"What happened to your face?"

I wheeled around, my eyes wide as the ball of pressure spread. "Excuse me?" I growled. 

Twilight tried backing further into the corner, and I saw her eyes flick over to the bathroom door like she could run past me and I wouldn't stop her. "I'm sorry, I just--"

I grabbed her by the shirt and lifted her up, slamming her against the back wall. "There is nothing wrong with my face, got it?!" I roared. "It's fine! Perfectly..." I growled and let Twilight go. She flailed back as she lost her balance, but leaned against the wall so she didn't completely fall to the ground. I took a deep breath and tried to massage the ever growing pressure in my chest away. "I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm fine. There's nothing wrong with my face, got it?"

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't know--"

"Yeah, fine. Whatever. It's--" I grabbed the side of my head where my ear used to be and squeezed. I could feel the changeling's teeth sinking into my ear. When he pulled away and I heard the tearing sound, I felt like he took part of my scalp with it. "Everything's fine! I'm totally..." I backed into a stall door and continued rubbing the side of my head. I barely registered the sound of Twilight standing up and running out of the room. I turned to the door to run after her, but my mind just... gave up. The ball of pressure receded until it was just in the middle of my chest again. 

I'm so stupid. Anything else would have been fine. I could have just stolen it from her, or something. Figured out a plan with Blaze and Prince Antares. It wouldn't all be on me to lead and get everypony through okay. I wouldn't need to worry about messing up and getting us hurt. She's just a scrawny eighteen year old. Nothing like...

I took a deep, shaky breath and walked up to one of the bathroom mirrors. I guess she saw my face when I was moving around. My hair moved, or something. I wished I could grow my mane a little longer. Just hide it all forever. 

I gingerly brought a hand up to my hair, never breaking eye contact with my double in the mirror. It would have been easier to lift a boulder than move my hair away from my face, but I slowly pulled back my hair. I almost ran out of the bathroom right then when I saw the first scar. One right under my eye running to where my ear used to be. Another one on my jaw. A little chunk out of my cheek. I shuddered and covered it all up with my hair again. I'm fine. Nothing is wrong with my face. It's just a little... banged up. I'm not some deformed freak now. 

I took another deep breath and walked out of the bathroom where, predictably, Prince Antares and Blaze waited for me. Prince Antares... didn't look happy, if his glare was any indication.

"Mind explaining what just happened?" he growled. "Twilight just ran out of the bathroom sobbing. She even still had the necklace."

"I'm sorry, Prince Antares," I muttered. "I wasn't thinking. I asked for the necklace and got kind of... pissed."

"Lieutenant Rapids, we can't be like that here, okay? Especially not with Celestia already mad at us. What's more is that this Principal Cinch character doesn't really seem to be someone overly forgiving. If word gets to her what just happened, it's going to make things even more difficult for us. What's going to happen if we get kicked out of school, or if she gets a restraining order against you, huh?"

"I know. It was dumb." I couldn't even make eye contact with him. I'm a soldier. I'm better than this. I led an army in a world war and I can't handle an eighteen year old girl? 

"Yeah, it was. We'll have to see what happens next. You'd better hope that you didn't really mess things up." He sighed and shook his head. "Whatever. We'll just take it as it comes now, I suppose." He beckoned us to follow him. "Come on, let's just go back to the house for right now."

"Yes, Prince Antares." 

I walked behind Blaze and Prince Antares, my head low and the ball of pressure in my chest reminding me that I was the current frontrunner for the worst person who had ever lived.


*  *  *  *


"Welcome everyone to the Equestria Games Tri-Cross relay event!"

Both sides cheered as the contestants got prepared on a playing field that probably explained why the cafeteria food would be awful for the next year or two. Seriously, was this in the budget, or did Prince Antares fund it to make up for the last two times we were here?

I leaned in next to Prince Antares. "A little decadent, don't you think? Especially considering that the last event was birdhouses and cakes."

Prince Antares snorted and crossed his arms. "I certainly never went to a school with this kind of budget. Maybe both sides went halfway on this thing? Although who thought it was a good idea to give a bunch of high-schoolers motocross bikes so they could race around a track that should be reserved for professionals I do not know."

"I guess they all have those driver's license thingies that you got the first time you were here," I pointed out. 

Prince Antares snorted and nodded. "Yeah, probably. Though I'm not sure it would really relate. On the other hand, they had to have spent some time practicing, right?"

"I doubt it," I said, tilting my head. "I talked to a few of the girls last night. They didn't even know this track was here until yesterday."

"They didn't..." Prince Antares groaned and facepalmed. "How could you miss something like this?! It would have taken weeks to build at least, right?"

"Maybe they were just being subtle about it?" Blaze said, walking up to us with sodas and popcorn. "There have got to be people around here subtler than us."

"Yeah, but this kind of thing would take some construction equipment, right?" Prince Antares pointed out as he took a soda from Blaze. He took a little sip and gave an approving nod. "Didn't know they had their own Coke in this world. 

I frowned and tilted my head. "They're giving cocaine to high-schoolers in drink form?" 

Prince Antares waved his hand and set the drink down. "No, there isn't any cocaine in this kind of drink... anymore. Long story. Medicine used to be weird. In fact..." Prince Antares raised an eyebrow at Blaze, who was about to dig into some kind of... I don't know what it was. Some red tube thing between bread. "Is that a hot dog?"

"I think that's what they called it," Blaze said, moving the hot dog to his mouth. "I'm here, why not try some new things?"

"I'm not sure if--" 

Too late. Blaze took a bite of the hot dog. He chewed for a few seconds, swallowed, then nodded approvingly. "Not bad. Not bad at all." He looked at me and motioned to the hot dog. "You want some?"

"I don't know. What were you going to say about it, Prince Antares?"

"It's... well on top of nobody really knowing what hot dogs are completely made out of, the main ingredient is, theoretically, meat."

Blaze's eyes went wide and he dropped the hot dog into the paper container like it was some poisonous animal. "What the heck?! What kind of meat?!"

Prince Antares shrugged. "Pork, I think? Maybe beef? Depends on the hot dog."

"But no actual dogs, right?" I asked. 

"No, I don't think so."

"Oh, that makes it better," Blaze groaned. "So I just ate a cow or a pig, then."

"Right." 

Blaze rubbed his face and looked down at the partially eaten hot dog. He sighed and picked it back up. "What the hell." 

I turned away as he took another bite. None for me, thanks. As a pegasus, I was slightly more omnivorous than the average pony, meaning that we occasionally ate fish, but pigs and cows are a little much. I've had conversations with cows before. I'm not going to eat one. I took a sip of the soda that Blaze had gotten for me and turned back to the playing field just in time to hear a really annoying airhorn blast. 

So archery was first, I guess. They had the competitors hurdle over bales of hay, then swing on a rope before actually getting to the archery because why not? They've built this thing. Might as well get some use out of it. Fluttershy got there just after the Crystal Prep student, who immediately grabbed three arrows and fired them at the target like a show-off, hitting one dead center. 

I could hear the thud of the arrows from where I sat. It sounded like... it sounded like the arrow hit flesh. No, that's ridiculous. It's just a wooden target. It's not hitting anypony. That's stupid. It's wood. Nobody's getting hurt. I cleared my throat and massaged the pressure in my chest away. It's all fine. It's a game. Just a stupid little game. 

Fluttershy reached the archery stand not too long after, and began ineffectually firing at the target. The first shot didn't even make it two hooves. I took another sip of my soda as Twilight bumbled her way to the archery stand, first tripping over one of the hay bales, then barely swinging over the whole ten hooves of mud. Sheesh, I've seen more athletic newborns. Twilight barely managed to inch her way onto the stand while Fluttershy closed her eyes, raised the bow, and fired blindly in the direction of the target. It hit the target with a loud thud. 

The instant it did, I heard a gurgling sound beside me. I turned my head and my eyes widened when I saw one of the soldiers I served with laying next to me. He had his hooves on his neck right at the crossbow bolt protruding from it. He was bleeding out all over the clouds. Before I could reach for him, his eyes glazed over, and he fell through the clouds into the mass of minotaurs below. 

Nothing to do for him now. I had to keep fighting. Somebody was firing arrows at us. I looked down at my hooves and saw my... soda? Wait, where was my crossbow? I had...

No, no, I'm at some silly sporting event. Some dumb kids are trying to win a pissing contest between schools. Nothing is going on. I tighten my grip on my drink and take a little sip. Just gotta keep calm. 

"Man, Twilight can't aim to save her life, can she?" Blaze joked before finishing off his hot dog.

"I'm going to gather that she hasn't done this before," Prince Antares said. "Should be pretty simple for Canterlot High to win this one."

"Y-yeah." I forced myself to look at the event. I'm being weak. It's a sporting event. Nothing more. Applejack was up now. She seemed like she knew what she was doing. She grabbed an arrow, took a deep breath, then fired. 

The arrow whizzed past my head, and I couldn't do anything except fire off a few shots myself and pray to whatever gods were listening that they wouldn't hit me. Half a dozen more ponies fell through the clouds while a dozen more around me screamed in pain from the arrow wounds. I can't help them. How can I help them?! We have to win. That's how we help them. Otherwise--

"Aaand there's another one," I heard Prince Antares say. "I kinda hope she hits one soon, if for no other reason than because it means she won't be beaten afterwards by her fellow schoolmates."

I looked over at the girl next to Twilight and could almost swear that I saw smoke coming out of her head. I forced a weak smile on my face. "She doesn't look happy, no. Although I think she's more worried about her principal. That one has some serious issues."

"No question. Maybe her mother didn't hug her enough," Prince Antares said. 

I heard another thud as Twilight fired off another arrow. I flinched back and tightened my grip on my soda. The top popped off a little bit and the drink began spilling over the side, which my shaking hand did nothing to help. 

Keep it together. It's nothing like that. 

I heard the twang and thud of the arrow being fired and flinched back so hard I spilled some soda on myself. I looked down to clean it up and saw my hoof curled around my crossbow. They'd missed again, but next time I might not be so lucky. I know dozens of good ponies around me weren't. 

No, I'm at some stupid sporting event! I'm being stupid! The war is over and we won! I'm not gonna have to do anything like that again. The war's over, I'm fine, Equestria is safe, Prince Antares has recovered, everything is okay! 

I heard another arrow hit the wooden wall around the target. 

No, no, screw it. I can't do this anymore. I stood up and shakily put my soda down. "Uh, I'm gonna just go over and..." I jerked my thumb behind my shoulder in the direction of the school. "Little filly's room. Be back."

"That's fine," Prince Antares said. "We'll catch you up when you get back."

"Yeah, yeah, right. Whatever."

I walked as quickly as I could in the direction of the school. A big part of me wanted to just go back to the house, but Prince Antares had the keys and license, and I couldn't drive at all. I wanted my wings back! I burst into the school and ran down the hallways looking for an open room. Thankfully the whole school was out watching the games, but that meant a lot of doors had been locked. I growled as I tried another door and found it locked too. 

Just give me a fucking break already!

I ran up to the next door which looked like it led to the music room, and pulled on the handle. It swung open and I ran inside. I found a little corner and curled up against it. My jaw wobbled and I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand. This is so stupid. I'm a soldier! I led an army. My troops can't see me like this! If they do, then...

No, the war is over. It's back to guarding doors and escorting Prince Antares to his next meeting, or something. I took a deep breath to steady myself then just... stared. Not at anything in particular, although I guess I was technically looking at a drum set. The ball of pressure in my chest was almost throbbing like a heartbeat at this point. I didn't even bother trying to massage it away. 

I wanted to go home. I couldn't be trapped here anymore. I wanted to sleep in my own bed. I wanted to walk on my hooves again and fly through the air. 

I wanted my mom. I wanted her to come in and wrap her wings around me like a warm, feathery blanket like she did when I was a filly. Back then neither of us thought I'd be a soldier, much less a commander. It was safe. She'd make everything better. I could have my dad there, too. He'd tell me that everything would be okay and that I made him proud every day. My face would be...

My face was fine! 

It's not fine. It's not fine. It's a wreck. Even if they managed to make the scars go away, my ear wouldn't be growing back. I touched my ear and flinched back when I felt the teeth again. 

I didn't know things could hurt that much. 

Maybe that changeling should have killed me. At least it would have been simple. It would have made a little sense, too. We lost hundreds of ponies in the clouds that day. Why did I have to be one of the survivors? I definitely had enough arrows come pretty close. Just a few inches away for a few of them and I'm the one falling through the clouds. Not that I'd know. If I'm falling through the clouds then I'm already gone. 

I kept staring at nothing. I don't know how long. I felt like I wanted to cry. I hadn't been able to yet. The closest I came was when they were trying to fix me up. I grunt in pain and slam my fist against the wall as my ear twinges with the pain of the medic cauterizing what was left of it. I hadn't actually seen what my missing ear looked like in my human form, but I hazarded a guess that i had about as much left of it as I do when I'm a pony. 

My breathing becomes deeper as the pain in my ear isn't going away. The ball of pressure in my chest is hurting almost as much as the ear. I slowly get to my feet and begin lightly tapping the wall with my fist. As the pain continues, the tapping becomes harder until I'm fully punching the wall. 

Keep it together. 

It hurts less than the ear. 

My hand began screaming in pain as I hit the wall again and again. Every hit meant that the ball of pressure faded, if only for the second my hand impacted. I'd take it. I'd take even just the half second of relief. 

I vaguely heard the door opening behind me, but I didn't care. I just kept hitting the wall. Let them watch. They don't understand. They couldn't understand. 

"What in the world are you doing?!"

I wheeled around that that voice and glared when I saw Principal Celestia behind me, a look of angry disbelief on her face. "Don't worry about it. It's none of your business."

"You are punching a wall in my school. I am not under the impression that you will damage it, but I must ask you to stop." Celestia's gaze flickered down to my hand, and she frowned. "Why are you even punching the wall in the first place? Your hand is bleeding."

"Who cares? Aren't you supposed to be at your Friendship Games or something like that?"

"The round ended half an hour ago. Your bleeding is a little more important right now."

I looked down at my hand and sure enough, I'd cut it open a little bit. I looked over to the wall and saw some of my blood on it. Guess I'd have to clean that up. 

"It's nothing," I said, a small sob marring my voice. "Don't worry about it. I'll clean up the blood and bandage up my hand. Whatever. You don't need to care."

Celestia must have heard the sob, because her glare softened. She took a tentative step toward me. "I'm not foolish enough to ask if you are alright. You clearly are not. Do you need to talk to somebody or--"

"I'm fine!" I snarled, taking a step back. "I don't need to talk to anypony, Prince Antares, I'm perfectly okay!"

Celestia gave me a flat look and crossed her arms. "You've had this conversation before, then. You just called me Prince Antares."

"No I..." Actually, yeah, I might have. Oops. I growled and wiped my eyes again. "It doesn't matter. I'm fine."

"No, you're not."

"Yes I am, Celestia! This doesn't concern you."

Celestia's eyes narrowed. "Maybe not. The point stands that you are not okay right now."

The tears began falling faster than I could wipe them away. I opened my mouth to speak again, but all that came out was a sob. I took another step back. I can't do this in front of Celestia. She hates me enough without having me bother her with this. 

"Ms. Rapids, what is wrong?"

"Noth--" Oh forget it. She's not stupid, and I'm not okay. The ball of pressure slowly faded, and all my energy went with it. I just went blank and sat down against the wall, staring at the floor. 

"It's... it's my fault," I whispered. 

"What is?"

I took a few shaky breaths and made a futile effort to dry my tears. "Th-the last big thing that happened to us between now and the last time we were here was a world war." Celestia quietly gasped at that. Yeah, bet she didn't see that coming. "Prince Antares was hurt. Got his shoulder sliced open in the first battle. He couldn't keep leading after that, so it fell to me to take control of the army. I had to coordinate the defenses of my home against the largest army in history. We had a few advantages. Prince Antares created this stuff called napalm. We still had some after the first battle. 

"My troops were in the clouds where we could snipe at them. We know they'd brought troops that could fly too, but we didn't know it was thousands of them. Tens of thousands. More than I could ever imagine. During the first battle we put the clouds up high where we thought they would be out of range of their arrows. We weren't. Not even close. For the second battle, I was the one who decided where the clouds would go. I had them moved up higher, but not so high that we'd start getting affected by the atmosphere. I thought I'd hit a sweet spot. 

"Then the battle actually started. Their flying troops flew up at us before we could even react. I should have figured that they might do that and prepare accordingly. We tried to shoot as many as we could, but there were just so many of them. They burst through the clouds and for a few moments it was just complete slaughter. A few of them even managed to get ahold of some napalm and make themselves into suicide bombers with it. The lucky ones were just evaporated. The rest had to try to put out the sticky fire that engulfed them." I groaned and rubbed my ears. "The screams. You can't even imagine."

"I tried shouting out a few orders. Something that would get us organized, but that's when one of them came after me. I didn't know it until he tackled me. He had a knife." I brushed my hair aside, revealing the scars. Celestia's eyes widened at the sight of my mangled face. "Cut me up. Took a little chunk out with his teeth, too. Not a lot, but enough to be painful. I managed to fight him back a little and I got the knife away from him. I lost my helmet in the scuffle. He took advantage of that and sunk his teeth right into my ear. He pulled and..." I whimpered and began rubbing the back of my neck. "I heard the tearing sound. I didn't realize what happened at first. It felt like he'd torn off half my scalp. I was already bleeding from the knife wounds. I managed to recover in time to make sure he didn't get the drop on me again. 

"He... he ate the part of my ear he took. That's probably the only reason I'm still alive. He paused for a second too long to eat my ear. I cut his head right off for that. Got splattered with his blood, but I was already covered in it. What's a little more added to the mix?" 

I moved my hair fully away from my mangled ear and showed her what was left. Probably not a lot. I heard her gasp again. I know she probably didn't mean to. No need to make me feel like more of a freak, right? Well, she'd already heard this much. Might as well keep going. 

"I just kind of laid there after that. At first I was in so much pain I didn't even know my own name. After a few minutes I guess I kind of overloaded. I just went numb. I laid there and let the battle happen around me. I heard the fighting and the screaming and the dying all around me, but I couldn't get up. I needed to get up! I was their commander and I just laid there like a little foal with a scraped knee!" My breathing became heavier and marred with sobs. I had to take a few more deep breaths to calm myself down. 

"I should have been better than that! I was their commander! I should have just pushed the pain away and led my soldiers. More of them would be alive now if I'd just stopped whimpering like a baby and done my fucking job! There are ponies who are dead because I couldn't stand up and fight! Then there's the question of why none of the changelings just finished me off! It would have been so easy. I was weak; I wasn't going to put up a fight! So why did none of them bother? They fight my soldiers but don't kill the easy target? Why? I didn't want to die lying on my side bleeding all over the place, but it would have at least made sense! Right now I just can't... figure it out! Dozens of better ponies than me died fighting and I--"

I was cut off when Celestia put a hand on my shoulder. I looked up and saw her kneeling in front of me. For a moment I felt like I was in front of Princess Celestia herself. I felt kind of small and insignificant. 

"Ms. Rapids. I don't know all of the details of this battle. I can't begin to imagine what you're going through. I do know this: you are not to blame for any of it. It was battle. Battles are chaos. I know it hurts, but I can't begin to fathom how much it hurts. You have visible scars, but you also have invisible ones that I do not know if you have addressed, if the fact that you called me Prince Antares is any indication. But I can say this: you call yourself weak, but I do not see that. You've made it this far, and that takes immense strength. Pain is not a sign of weakness. Needing to take time to cry is not weakness. It's acknowledgement that what you went through was horrific. You are not to blame for what happened that day."

My jaw wobbled. No. She doesn't know what she's talking about. She wasn't there! She didn't see it. So how... how...?

I tried to stop it. I really did, but I couldn't. I completely broke down. I don't know why, but I pulled Celestia into a hug and held on like we were the only two people left in the world. After a few moments she returned it and just held me while I cried.
> Unleash the Magic
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Blaze and I finally found Rapids after another hour. I mean, I know that females take a long time in the bathroom, but something told me that she wasn't completely honest about where she was going. What's more is that we found her coming out of the music room with Celestia of all people. Her eyes were red and puffy, so I guess she'd finally broke down about everything that had happened during the war. I'd have to talk to her about that once this was all over. 

As she's coming out of the room, she made eye contact with me and just as quickly lowered her gaze to the floor. Celestia grimaced and put her hand on Rapids's shoulder before whispering something that I can't quite make out. Rapids nodded, and both of them made their way over to us. Rapids stood beside Blaze, still not looking up, as Celestia stopped in front of me. We stared at each other for a few moments before she quietly sighed and shook her head.

"It seems you have been through much."

I nodded back. "Yeah. Yeah, we have been. I know we look like random high school kids, but we're not. I know it's kind of easy to lose sight of that, even for us. I can't fault you for it. Still, I don't know what the wars here were like, but I can't imagine they were better than ours. I've done things you can't even imagine." I sighed and averted my eyes from Celestia. "I've killed more people than you'll ever meet. I've dropped fire from the sky to incinerate my enemies. I've introduced weapons into the world that will change it forever. I am an immortal, god-like being leading a nation who has to think about how his actions will affect people thousands of years from now. Right now, though? I'm just a guy who wants to go home."

"I understand, of course." Celestia crossed her arms and looked to Blaze and Rapids. "So you are having an issue with someone at Crystal Prep?"

"Yeah, one of their students took the magic out of the portal and now there's no more portal. It's the one with the seashell looking thing around her neck."

"Ah, yes, Ms. Sparkle. She's Principal Cinch's prized student."

"Yeah, given what I know about the Twilight on our end, that doesn't surprise me." I looked back up at Celestia, not even blinking. "All we need to do is get the necklace back from her and reopen the portal, then we can be out of your hair."

"Perhaps. She will be difficult to convince, from what I understand. Even putting her aside, Cinch will not allow us to interfere with anything regarding her students for fear of us sabotaging her efforts to win the Friendship games." Celestia grimaced and rolled her eyes. "She has always taken them a little too seriously."

"So I've heard." For the first time, a small smirk crossed my face. "So how long has it been since you actually won even just an event?"

Celestia groaned under her breath and scowled. "It has been twelve years. Since we won an event. We did end up winning the Games that year." She frowned thoughtfully and tapped her jaw. "I believe since she has taken over we have only won once in the entire twenty four years she has been principal of Crystal Prep. She has not let up since then."

"So it sounds like she's not the only person who doesn't understand the concept of the 'friendship' part of the games. Not surprised her students picked up on that." I shook my head and waved my hand. "Whatever, it doesn't really matter. No offense, but I'm way more concerned with getting home and preventing Twilight from doing things she shouldn't than helping you win the Games."

"None taken. You do have more important issues on your mind." Celestia nodded and beckoned us to follow her. "As I said: the biggest problem will be Principal Cinch. Whatever we do she will not take lightly."

"She does seem the type to complain when she feels things aren't going her way," I agreed. "Probably hasn't been laid in fifty years either."

"I..." Celestia stopped in her tracks for a few seconds before continuing on with a mutter of "no, probably not."

"First things first, we have to find Twilight, and I think I know the best way to do that." I pulled out my phone and went into my contacts until I found the one I was looking for. "Pinkie Pie."

"Ah, yes, she does seem like a good option." Celestia grimaced as we reached her office and pulled out the key to unlock it. "As potentially inappropriate as it may be, I would not be surprised if she insists upon throwing me a baby shower in the gym filled with guests who are unsure of how they got there."

"Sounds like Pinkie, yes," I agreed as I wrote out my text message.

"Yeah," Rapids said. "Also, you're having a girl."

Celestia glowered at Rapids and pushed the door to her office open. "Oh? And what will I be naming her?"

"Foswell, of course," Blaze said. "Foswell Brickby Jane... whatever your last name is."

Celestia wheeled around and stared at me with a look of complete horror on her face. I glared at Blaze and Rapids before speaking up. "No, no that won't be the case. I didn't name my child that, Celestia, don't worry. Her name is Nymeria."

"Oh, I see." Celestia sat down at her desk with a thoughtful look. "Nymeria. That's a nice name."

And now I'm wondering about timelines and stuff and interference. Great. Good going, Blaze. I am about to respond again when my phone buzzes. I unlock it and check to see that it's a text from Pinkie. I hit the text app to see what she said. 

Yep, I saw her about two minutes ago in the hallway next to the cafeteria. She looked really sad, probably because that meanie Principal Cinch was yelling at her and stuff!

Well, that wasn't optimal. I sighed and put the phone back in my pocket. 

"Alright, she's in the hallway next to the cafeteria. Sounds like she's not having the best time of it either. Cinch is giving her the riot act, I guess." I walked over to the door and opened it up. "I'm going to go do a little recon. You two stay here, and Celestia..." I shrugged. "I dunno. I can't give you any orders or anything, so do what you want. If you get security camera feed in here, I'd say check that. I'll be right back."

With that, I walked out the door, closing it behind me. I admit, I didn't really relish the idea of seeing what was going on between Cinch and Twilight. She didn't seem like the best person at the best of times, so the idea of her being mad at Twilight for whatever didn't sound the most pleasant. Maybe I could do something about her. It might be the best thing for everyone if she wasn't the principal of anything anymore. As the prince of education, I could spot a bad egg when I saw one. Very few things screwed up a child more than a teacher or principal mistreating them. 

Unfortunately, I heard the chewing out before I saw it. It was about as bad as I thought it would be. I couldn't make out everything that Cinch was saying, but that tone has never been used to raise someone's self-esteem. I reached the hallway and poked my head around the corner. Twilight was huddled against one of the lockers while Cinch was standing over her with an expression on her face that implied that she'd start beating Twilight if she was allowed to. 

"--have brought shame upon the good name of Crystal Preparatory School! Archery is a requirement, and your ineptitude has possibly cost us the Games!" 

"B-but I..."

"But nothing! If you do not perform well in your next event, if you trip over your shoelaces, if a meteor hits by you and the Games are ruined then you can forget about your application to Everton! You can forget about that private lab you have in our school! You can forget about any special status! You are my prized student, Ms. Sparkle, but you will have no privileges if you interfere in a way that causes our defeat. You are on thin ice, and--"

That was enough of that. I walked down the hallway toward them, whistling the loudest, most obnoxious tune I could think of as poorly as I could. Both of them turned to look at me, Twilight with a look of horror and Cinch with one of confusion and annoyance. I stopped by one of the lockers and attempted to start opening it. I turned to them with a smile and a nod. 

"Lovely day, isn't it? The Games are really exciting! Hope that we win, amirite?"

Cinch's eyes narrowed and she turned to me with her arms crossed. "Excuse me, boy, we are having a private conversation. You can get whatever you want out of your locker later!"

"Poppycock, I have to get my medication out of my locker." I weakly coughed and gave her a pathetic look. "If I don't get into my locker I'll die! Besides, this is my school, not yours. You may outrank her..." I pointed to Twilight, who looked like she didn't have the slightest clue of what was going on, but there was a little hope in her expression. "But I assure, you there is no universe where you can tell me what to do."

"You are insolent!" Cinch screeched. 

"And you're kind of a prick, don't you think? I think I heard you threatening her from my house."

"It is none of your concern," Cinch said, though now I could hear a little unease in her voice. She shouldn't been doing that and she knew it. 

"Eh, probably not. In any case..." I turned back to the locker. "It might take me a while to get into my locker because I can never remember this confounded combination, but hey, like you said, it's not my business, so don't mind me." I twisted the lock into another random combination. "Darn. Wrong again." I waved my hand at her. "Please continue."

Cinch growled at me, but didn't say anything. She turned to Twilight and huffed. "We shall discuss this later." With that, she turned and stomped down the hallway, leaving Twilight and I staring after her. Once she'd turned the corner, I allowed myself a little chuckle and leaned against the lockers. 

"She's not the nicest person, is she?"

"Um..." Twilight blinked and slowly straightened up. "I mean... she can be a little..."

"You don't have to say it. I know you're thinking it." I fully turned to her and grimaced. "You've kind of had a hard day, haven't you?" Twilight shrank back and nodded in a way that reminded me of Fluttershy more than Twilight Sparkle. I gave her a sad smile and put my hand on her shoulder. "Yeah, and I'm sorry about that. Rapids is, too. We've kind of had a rough go of it lately, especially her, so she didn't handle things the way she should have."

"Okay," Twilight whispered. "'S alright, I guess."

"Not really, but I appreciate it. In response, I'm willing to throw you a bone. You're curious about me and my compatriots. You want to know who we are and what we're doing here." I shrugged. "So ask. I'll do my best to answer any of your questions."

Twilight slowly tuned to me, her eyes wide and her mouth hanging slightly open. She stuttered out a few words before turning to me completely. "R-really?"

"Yeah, you've earned it. Although, I don't think I have to say that what we discuss here is to be kept confidential, of course." 

"Y-yeah, right, right." For the first time since I'd first seen her, I saw the excitement and curiosity of the Twilight Sparkle of my world. "Right, yeah, so... who are you?"

"My name is Antares, and the energy you took from the statue was the portal to my world where I rule a nation as an immortal god capable of feats of magic you can't even begin to comprehend. Blaze and Rapids are my compatriots, and they are my two most valuable soldiers."

"Oh... um... I see." Twilight blushed and kicked at the ground. "Um... so you're powerful. Can you do some of that magic here?"

I shook my head. "Afraid not. Believe me, if I could, things would have gone a lot easier lately. That aside, I rule alongside my wife, who is an alternate version of Principal Celestia, and we have a cute, wonderful daughter named Nymeria."

"Are you... um... human in your universe?"

"Nope. Ponies."

Twilight frowned and tilted her head. "What? Are you serious?"

I nodded. "Yep. Totally serious. Having said that, before I became a pony god, I was a human, so there's that. I, ah... I've had some crazy stuff happen to me, too. Life hasn't gone the way I thought it would, that's for sure. In any case, now you know. The big mystery you've been trying to solve is that the Canadians of Canterlot High are ponies from an alternate dimension that is a mirror version of this world and one of them is an immortal ruler with the power to move the sun and moon."

Twilight's eye twitched. "M-move the sun and moon?"

"Yep. I've only done it a few times, but it's totally something that I can do. Equestria doesn't really do things the same way that this world does." My amused smile fell, and I stood up straight with my arms crossed. "Having said that, I'm sure that you can understand the position I'm in. With your magic draining necklace, you closed the portal between our world, and I'd rather like it to be there so that I can go back to my wife and child, if that's not too much trouble."

"Oh... um..." Twilight bit her lip and looked down at the ground again. "Yeah, that's... hmm..."

"Twilight." I took a step toward her. "I really need that magic back. I may have a comfortable lifestyle here, but I'd rather like to go back to my family and subjects, so..." I held out my hand. "I kind of need that."

"Yeah, yeah, I get it." Twilight took a deep breath and began kicking at the ground. "I don't have it."

My eyes narrowed and I took another step toward her. "What? Why not? Where is it?"

"After I was cornered by, what was her name, Rapids? Yeah, her. After she cornered me I gave it to Principal Cinch for safekeeping. I, uh, wasn't sure if she'd try to take it from me again, so I asked Principal Cinch to take care of it. She... wasn't really happy about what Rapids did, so I'm going to guess she's going to chew Principal Celestia out about that or something."

Ah.

Ah. 

That wasn't good. 

"I see. Well..." I shrugged. "She'll give it back at some point, so when she does you can return the portal and we can go our separate ways. Heck, one of the students here is also from my world and she's here permanently, so I'm sure she'd be willing to talk to you about whatever you want to know." 

"Yeah, that all sounds good in theory, but in practice Principal Cinch isn't going to give me my scanner back unless Crystal Prep wins the Friendship Games, so I have to do that before anything else."

I scowled and crossed my arms. "That's wonderful of her. Really a class act that one. On one hand, it really doesn't matter all that much who wins the Friendship Games, unless it determines school funding, or something. On the other, she really needs to be taken down one or two or a thousand pegs."

"I mean she's not always that--"

"Yes she is. In any case, we need a plan if we're going to get your scanner back and take her down." I took my phone out of my pocket and was about to text Blaze when a thought struck me. I gave a nasty grin and rubbed my hands together. "And I think I know just how."


*  *  *  *


I didn't like this plan very much. 

It's not like I was a great actress, but Prince Antares told me that I didn't have to be. I just had to get her mad or something. I took a deep breath and made my way over to where my Crystal Prep teammates were getting ready for the last round of the Friendship Games, the one that would determine if we won again. Principal Cinch saw me coming and she didn't look much happier than she was the last time we saw each other. I bit the bullet and joined my classmates. They all gave me looks of hostility, and a few of them even turned their backs to me. 

"Oh great," Indigo Zap muttered. "You're here. Come to lose us this event, too?"

"I'm sorry," I whimpered. "It's just that when I tripped over the hay I panicked a little bit and my whole game was thrown off and--"

"Oh yeah, I'm sure that's the reason," Sunny Flare grumbled.

"You are late, Ms. Sparkle," Principal Cinch growled. "I do hope you aren't giving up."

"No," I squeaked. "I was just... studying good ways to win the last event. You know, looking up past Games and researching good hiding places for the flag and some visual stuff to help me spot it in potentially dark places and... yeah."

"Hm. If you say so." Principal Cinch turned to the direction of the playing field and glared at the Canterlot High students who were warming up on the other side. "Canterlot High has come too close to usurping our perfect record. It was unacceptable that they defeated us at the event this afternoon." She glanced at me from the corner of her eye and I flinched back. "Regardless, they shall not defeat us this year." She turned to me and reached into her pocket to pull out my magic scanner. She held it in front of her and I reached out to take it, but she pulled it away. "I believe I made my position on this clear, Ms. Sparkle. You may have it back when we win."

"But I--"

"In fact, you may have provided us an opportunity to win regardless of your performance this afternoon." She held up the scanner to eye level and studied it with interest. "You believe that you have magic stored in this?"

"Y-yeah, I think so." 

My teammates snickered at the idea that I had captured magic in my scanner, but Principal Cinch quieted them with a look. "Do you think you could harness this magic and use it, Ms. Sparkle? If you have taken magic from their campus, who is to say that they are not using their own to their advantage? I find it rather likely, especially if what you suspect about those Canadians is true."

"What the heck is a Canadian anyway?" Indigo Zap muttered. 

"I think Canada is a made up place," Sour Sweet agreed.

"Regardless of whether or not Canadians are a real thing, I find it hard to believe that they are not providing Canterlot High with some form of advantage. If so, it would be beneficial of us to level the playing field, as it were." 

"B-but that's cheating!" I pointed out. "And I've talked to some of the students here, and they don't think that the Canadians are helping them cheat! They've said that they're all really nice and that they help people here and just want to do good for the school and stuff."

"As if they would tell you if they were helping their school cheat us out of our glory!" Principal Cinch snapped. "I'm certain that they are misleading you! They would do anything to win after so many defeats!" Her eyes narrowed even further and she took another step toward me, my classmates following behind her with their own glares. Gulp. "And I'm certain you remember how one of them nearly assaulted you and attempted to steal your scanner."

"But I talked to one of them and he was really nice. I know that one of them yelled at me, but she didn't really mean to get that mad, and she's been through a lot of really bad stuff."

"Oh, Twilight. For all of your brains you are rather naive at times." Cinch put the scanner back in her pocket and began pacing around like a drill sergeant. "Our school has a reputation as being the best in the district, nay, one of the best in the entire state. We churn out top students and cultivate their intelligence so that they can be productive members of society. The Friendship Games are our way of reminding this school of that." Cinch motioned to Canterlot High. "They, on the other hand, do not hold themselves to a higher standard. They engage in popularity contests that provide them with very few advantages. For our school to be defeated by them would be the ultimate dishonor."

"They all seemed really nice, though," I pointed out. "Even though I'm from Crystal Prep they wanted to get to know me. Isn't that the entire point of the Friendship Games? Us creating friendships?"

"Are you serious?" Indigo Zap grumbled with a roll of her eyes. "This whole thing is about winning. It's about proving how much better we are than them!"

"But it's called the Friendship Ga--"

"And that's a stupid name," Sugarcoat said with a smirk. "If Canterlot High wants to use that as a reason to not try as hard then I say let them have it."

"I do not feel I need to remind you of what is at stake for you, Ms. Sparkle. Either you tell us how to wield this magic and help us win the Friendship Games or I shall ensure that you never even step foot on Everton's campus! All of the hard work you have done shall be undone! Alternatively, you could use what you have harnessed and achieve all of your dreams. So which is it, Ms. Sparkle?"

"Cut aaaand print!"


*  *  *  *


"Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant filmmaking!" I saved the video I had been taking of Principal Cinch on my phone and pulled up a text. "Pass the cocaine, Captain Blaze, we're going to win an Oscar for this for sure!"

"I'm not sure what an Oscar is, Prince Antares, but I have a feeling you're right."

"Also, I think I used all of the cocaine, Prince Antares," Rapids said. 

"I..." Principal Cinch's mouth flopped up and down like a fish and it took a few seconds for her to regain her bearings. "What... what are you three doing?"

"Easy, we're recording you threatening 'Ms. Sparkle' and blackmailing her while also withholding objects that are her private property. Now I'm sending the video to a girl who has the phone numbers of everyone in the entire school."

"I... You can't..." Cinch shakily raised a finger to me and gave me her best glare, but I could tell she knew she was in for it now. I could see traces of fear in her eyes. "Now... now you listen to me. If you send that video--"

"Done." I sighed happily and patted Rapids on the back. "Now all we have to do is wait."

We didn't have to wait long. Before Cinch could say anything else, the noise of cellphones buzzing began echoing through the night. The bleachers were filled with students who were looking down at their phones and watching the video that was the final nail in the coffin of Principal Cinch's career. There was no coming back from this. I even saw the Shadowbolts pull out their phones as they received the text. The best part, though, was seeing Cinch's front pocket light up as her phone received the video. 

Keen. 

I walked up to Principal Cinch and patted her on the shoulder. "Don't worry. I'm sure that this won't have horrible repercussions that will probably end with you losing your job or anything. On that matter, though, are you aware that this is a one party consent recording state? Because it totally is." 

I pulled up another app on my phone and pressed play. 

"But nothing! If you do not perform well in your next event, if you trip over your shoelaces, if a meteor hits by you and the Games are ruined then you can forget about your application to Everton! You can forget about that private lab you have in our school! You can forget about any special status! You are my prized student, Ms. Sparkle, but you will have no privileges if you interfere in a way that causes our defeat. You are on thin ice, and--"

"Yeah, I got that, too. I'm sure someone would be interested in hearing it. I think I heard about some superintendent of this school district? I mean there has to be one, right? You have a boss, I'm sure."

Cinch only stared at nothing in particular, her mouth open and her eye twitching. The Crystal Prep students were looking at her as if she'd say something to make it all go away, but that wasn't happening. All around us the students were talking among themselves about the video that Pinkie had just sent them. Yeah, I imagined that they wouldn't be talking about anything else for the rest of the school year. Finally, one student's voice cut through the din. 

"See, Mom? I told you she was a cock!"


*  *  *  *


And that was pretty much the end of that. 

Crystal Prep was forced to forfeit the games, and from what I heard, the district's superintendent was thinking about whether or not they would even continue. I was pretty sure that they would, though. Now that the corrupt imbecile was out of the picture, the "friendship" part of the title would probably get a little more relevant. 

And yeah, it didn't look like Cinch would be getting a job in education anytime soon. From what Celestia had tole me, she had been fired the next day. Twilight had managed to convince the superintendent that she hadn't really had magic in her scanner, so hopefully that stuck.

The most positive development, however, was probably the fact that the next Games would focus more in the "Friendship" part, and both schools would use it as a time for relationship building and friendly competition, not an excuse to wail on another school. I did actually feel a little bad for the Shadowbolts. I didn't think they were all bad people, just that they'd been fed lies by Cinch. Hopefully the next Games would prove to be more within the spirit of the event.

Overall, it seemed like everything had been a resounding success. 

The next day saw the Mane Five, Sunset, Twilight, Sonata, Aria, Blaze, Rapids and I all sitting on the stairs of Canterlot High. Sunset was sitting next to Twilight, who was staring glumly at the ground, the magic scanner in her hands. 

"So, it's been a wild few days, then," Sunset began, scooting closer to Twilight. 

"Yeah, I guess," Twilight muttered. 

"What are you going to do now?" Rainbow Dash asked. "You're probably not the most popular person in Crystal Prep right now."

"I wasn't really anyway, but yeah, it's not gotten any better. I'm probably just going to transfer here. My parents have been talking to Principal Celestia about it."

"We'd love to have you!" Pinkie said, sliding down the railing to sit on Twilight's other side. "We'll throw you a welcome party!"

"Let's maybe wait on that, Pinkie," Sunset said. "But yeah, you're totally welcome here, Twilight. You're joining an interesting group."

"So I've heard." She raised her head and for the first time in a while I saw the faint hint of a smile on her face. "So you three are from Equestria just like him, and you two used to be emotion-eating sirens?"

"Yep, sure were," Sonata said happily. "But we're much nicer now!"

"Yeah, I guess so," Aria grumbled. 

"And we'd be happy to talk to you about that for any research you wanted to do," Sunset continued. "I'd avoid taking any more magic, but we've got some good stories if nothing else." 

"I'm looking forward to it," Twilight replied, her smile widening slightly. "Thanks. I can't tell you how much this means to me." 

"Any time, darling," Rarity said. "We're happy to have you."

The group sat in silence for a few more minutes while Twilight stared down at her scanner. I get that it would be hard to give up, but at the same time... I wanted to go home, and I know Blaze and Rapids did, too.

"Well, this has been a blast," I said, standing up and stretching. "But it really is time for us to head on out. Glad we could get you out from under the thumb of Principal Nasty there."

"I guess it will probably be better," Twilight admitted. "She always got me everything I needed, but it never came without some catch or condition that wasn't really for my benefit."

"Guess she was inflating her own ego through your own accomplishments." I shrugged as the group made its way over to the statue. "Either way, I look forward to hearing how things are going soon." 

We reached the statue and I stepped aside to let Twilight get closer to it. She stared down at the scanner in her hand and took a shaky breath in. Sunset put a hand on her shoulder in a comforting gesture, which gave Twilight the strength to go through with it. She unclasped the scanner and opened it up. A blue ball of light flew out of it and straight into the statue. The portal flashed for a moment before fading away, leaving a normal statue there. 

"Well, that's our cue, then," I said, moving closer to the statue. "See you all later, but hopefully under better circumstances."

With that, the three of us went back to Equestria.


*  *  *  *


Gah it was great having wings and a horn again. Never thought I'd miss being a pony instead of a human, but that's how my life had gone lately. I landed outside of Canterlot Castle and made my way to Celestia's office, where, if I was right in my guess, she'd be there doing paperwork or something. A few of the guards and staff I passed by bowed to me and I nodded to them in return. I reached Celestia's office and peeked through the window, smiling when I saw her at her desk, her brow furrowed in that bizarrely cute manner when she's really focusing. I grabbed the door handle in my magic and pushed it open. 

"Nobles being frustrating again?" I said as I opened the door.

Celestia turned to me with a smile and put her quill down on her desk. She stood up and walked over to me for a greeting nuzzle. "Always. How did things go in the human world? Is all well?"

"Probably better than when I showed up, if you can believe that. I found their world's version of Twilight, actually."

"Oh?" Celestia said with a raise of her eyebrow. "How was she?"

"Well, I found out how Twilight would have turned out if she had a controlling nag as a teacher instead of you. Not very well, as it turns out. She's just as smart, but the principal there..." I took a deep breath and shook my head. 

"She was a cock."
> Camp Everfree
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Some days things actually go pretty well. 

Usually my day is jam packed with all of the stuff that goes into ruling a nation, but for whatever reason, things had lined up so that I didn't actually have anything to do until the next afternoon. Weird. Celestia and Nymeria were all in the Crystal Empire for some function or another, so that left me more or less to my own devices. I technically could go hang out with Luna and see Maia some more, but just hanging out with Luna was kind of odd. It wasn't like we disliked each other, despite our differences in the past, but just the two of us hanging out would be weird. 

I got up off of my throne and stretched out as the door closed behind the last pony coming to court. Thankfully stuff about the war had slowed down considerably, so it wasn't as stressful as it normally was. I never thought I'd be happy to have Day Court be boring, but dealing with taxes is far preferable to dealing with grieving widows. 

"Alright, Blaze, Rapids, how about we get some lunch, whaddya say?"

"Sounds pretty good to me," Blaze said, adjusting his armor. "I've actually gotten a bit of a hankering for some of your imitation meat."

"Easy to do when you know it's not a real animal you're eating," Rapids agreed, following behind me with Blaze. "You're definitely right about bacon, Prince Antares."

"Sure am," I agreed as we reached my private dining room. "One of the best periods of my reign here, and I'm pretty sure that the chefs who got raises for discovering the formula were pretty happy about it, too."

"Ah, raises," Blaze said wistfully. "I don't remember the last time I got one, can you, Rapids?"

"No, I can't," Rapids said with a sad shake of her head. "It had to have been before the war, right?"

I rolled my eyes. "You guys got a raise six months ago. You're going to have to wait until the year mark like everypony else."

"And after everything we've done for him," Blaze muttered.

Sheesh. 

I opened the door to my dining room to see that Kristen is already there with a plate of food already in front of her. If I had to guess, she'd made it herself, as she doesn't really need to have the palace chefs make her anything. When she can make anything appear out of thin air, she doesn't really need chefs.

Especially since some of the stuff she makes for herself to eat aren't exactly food, per se. 

She looked up when she heard us come in and smiled at me. "Hey, TD. How's it going?"

"It's going well," I replied, taking my usual seat at the table while Blaze and Rapids each took a spot of their own. Ever since the war and everything else they'd gone through with me, they had special privileges. Some of those extended to being able to eat in my personal dining room. 

We had just started up with lunch when I got a knock on my dining room door. I lit my horn and opened the door where Tulip walked in, holding a book in her magic. She bowed to me and put the book in front of me. "Prince Antares, Sunset Shimmer just sent you a message through the book."

I made a noise of interest and brought the book closer to me. I flipped it open to the correct page and saw that, yes, Sunset had indeed contacted me. Hopefully it wasn't something world-threatening this time around. I was hoping for a lazy weekend, not something where I had to save the alternate world. 

"Oh yeah, is that the book to the human world you were telling me about?" Kristen asked, pushing her plate of eggs and tin foil aside. 

I nodded. "Yeah, that'd be this. From what I can see, there's nothing too bad going on. The two sirens are doing fine, and they're going to a summer camp that..." I groaned and facehooved. "Feels like it has some magic there."

"Ah." Blaze grimaced and steepled his hooves. "We're going to have to go back there, aren't we?"

"Looks like it," I replied. "Hopefully it's nothing as bad as the sirens, but I can see why she'd want my help at least checking things out. It's just a bit of a hum more than anything right now, but both her and the sirens felt it."

"Our time to shine then," Rapids replied, getting up from her seat. "I assume we're leaving ASAP?"

"Pretty much," I said, standing up myself. "I'd rather get all of this settled now instead of putting it off, then having to work a lot harder to fix the issue."

"Ooh, so I get to come along this time, right?" Kristen replied with a large grin. "I haven't been a human in months!" She frowned and tapped her jaw. "Come to think of it, I haven't been a normal pony in months either."

Yeeaahhh. I suppose that I couldn't stop Kristen from coming along even if I wanted to. Although, my level of security around the mirror was high enough that I could probably stop her if I wanted to, but that would cause a pretty big rift. She would not be happy about that. At all. A highly irritated chaos lord sister who created the One Ring just to prank me would be somepony I would rather not piss off. Still, I didn't know if her chaos powers would transfer over to that world. If they did...

"Uh... yeah, I guess so," I said. 

"Yes!" Kristen flew up and punched the air. "This is gonna be so much fun!" She landed and shoved her entire meal, and plate, in her mouth. She didn't even chew it as it went down. "So, you said that you punched your counterpart last time you saw him. I wonder if he'll be there."

"Yeah, that's a good point," Rapids replied, grinning at me. "If he is there, do you think he'll still be mad?"

I groaned as they continued making jokes at my expense. Yeah, yeah, laugh it up.


*  *  *  *


After making the usual arrangements, the four of us made our way to my weapons room, where the usual four stoic guards waited for me. Lately I'd actually cast a background pony spell on them, just so if someone was walking past, they wouldn't notice the four guards guarding a random stretch of wall. When we reached them, they nodded at us in unison. 

"Prince Antares," the one on the back right said, "what are the five worst films to win Best Picture?"

"I turned and looked at the pony right next to him. "The Greatest Show on Earth, The Broadway Melody, Out of Africa, Cimarron and Shakespeare in Love."

"There was one that just came out called Moonlight that was pretty bad," Kristen muttered to herself as the guards nodded, and the door opened before us. We walked in, and I went up to the mirror to plug the book in while Kristen took a look around. "So this is the mythical weapons room of yours."

"Sure is," I said, smiling when I heard the telltale hum of magic when I plugged the book in. "And while a lot of ponies know it exists, I'd like to keep it as much of a myth as I can. Nopony can get in, but I'd rather not have ponies or other creatures killing themselves trying."

"Wow." She frowned and picked up a prototype gun I had lying on one of the workbenches. "So if I, for example, disguised myself as you, then came down here and used that password, and I didn't manage to get in, what would happen?"

I glared at her and used my magic to take the gun out of her grasp. "Well, the whole palace would lock down, I'd teleport here almost immediately, and enough freezing spells would be shot at you that it'd take you weeks to thaw out." My eyes narrowed further when she tilted her head in thought. "So don't even think about it. Discord at the height of his powers wouldn't be able to get in here."

Kristen huffed and rolled her eyes. "Fine, fine. I won't try to sneak into your weapons Fort Knox."

"See that you don't," I grumbled.

"Ah, siblings," Rapids said with a sigh. "This brings back memories with me and my four sisters."

"I just have the one older brother, so I think I lucked out with the sibling draw," Blaze said. 

"In any case," I began before they could get going, "I think it's time to head back to the human world once again. I lit my horn and opened up one of the drawers on the workbench, taking out a small backpack containing our phones and keys. "Let's do it."

I stepped through the portal and once again felt like I'd taken too many drugs for just a brief second. When the portal spat me back out, I quickly got to my feet and stepped aside just as Blaze, Rapids and Kristen came through themselves. Blaze and Rapids, being used to this by this point, didn't make any fuss at all. Kristen on the other hand...

"Holy cow, that was trippy!" she said before looking down at herself. "This is pretty trippy, too! I gotta admit that I didn't see this coming. When you said human, I thought I'd look the same as I did back on Earth, but wow was I wrong about that." She examined her blue arm and shook her head. "I look like some kind of Star Trek alien."

"Eh, you get used to it," I replied with a shrug. "It was pretty crazy for me the first time around. For now, though, I say we get to the house and check things out. From what Sunset was saying, the bus already left for Camp Everfree, so if the car is still there, we should be able to just drive on over. Given everything that's happened, I don't think that Principal Celestia would mind if we tagged along, especially if we say that there's magic involved."

"And that you haven't punched her in the face for a little while," Blaze pointed out as we began walking to the house. "That would improve her mood."

"Yes, it definitely would," I agreed. 

Kristen scoffed and shook her head. "Yeah, what is it with you and the punching in the face? You were never like that back on Earth. I would know. We got into a lot of fights, but never any fisticuffs."

"Extenuating circumstances," I admitted. "I'd never been dragged into another world and told I could never go home."

Kristen grimaced a bit and took a deep breath. "Yeah," she muttered. "Life is funny, isn't it? We come here and you're a pony prince and I'm the god of chaos in that world. Weird."

"Definitely. That aside..." I motioned in the direction of the house. "Let's get to our home away from home."


*  *  *  *


We made it to the house after about a forty-five minute walk. Kristen mostly just looked around at everything, marveling at the similarities and differences from Earth. Truth be told, I was kind of like that the first time around, too. After several years as a pony, things that remind you of your old home do tend to be fascinating. 

When we arrived, I pulled the keys out of the backpack and walked in. The lights were all off, so I reached a switch and flipped them on. Right away I could see that, yeah, people actually lived here now. The new big screen TV had a couple of game systems hooked up to it, and I could see a cabinet full of movies in the entertainment center. The coffee table in front of the TV had a couple of magazines on them, as well as a book with a bookmark about halfway through. The garbage had thankfully been taken out, but a check of the fridge showed it stocked with food. Overall, it had the general clutter of three people living there. 

Well, this isn't how we left it," Blaze said as he flopped down on the couch. 

"Yeah, but I think that's good," I replied.

"I wonder who won the fight of who would get the master bedroom," Rapids said thoughtfully. "Do you think it was Sunset, since the sirens don't have powers to use anymore?"

"Either way, you kinda went overboard with this one," Kristen said, sitting at one of the stools at the kitchen counter and taking an apple out of the fruit bowl. "I can see why you'd do this if you were a millionaire here, but I guess you wanted to be comfortable in case you got stuck here." Kristen frowned and looked down at her apple. "Although, now that I think about it..." She waved her hand over the apple, and it instantly turned into a bright pink orange.

Oh dear.

"Yes!" she said, pumping her fist. "I still have my chaos powers!" She took a bite out of the orange, peel and all. "This is gonna be great!"

That could either be really good, or really bad. If something evil popped up at the camp, her powers would likely be invaluable when it came to dealing with it. On the other hand, since becoming the chaos lord, the slight mischievous streak she'd had back on Earth had multiplied times a hundred, and pranks at camp are just part of tradition. 

Long story short, after a rocky start, she'd taken to her new powers quite nicely. 

I forced a smile on my face and took an orange, peeling it first like a normal person. "Yeah. Good to know, if nothing else."

"Oh, don't be such a grump," Kristen said as she waved her hand and turned my fully peeled orange into a plum while making the orange peels bounce into the trash by themselves. "Camp plus chaos powers equals lots of fun."

"I'm with her on this," Rapids chimed in as she walked down the stairs into the kitchen. "Although..." She jerked her thumb in the direction of the master bathroom. "Did Sunset tell you that she installed a hot tub in the bathroom?"

I rolled my eyes and opened up my backpack to take my cellphone and charger out. Guess Sonata had fully worn her down on that one. I plugged my phone into the outlet on the kitchen island and turned it on. To my surprise, I actually had one text message. I shouldn't have had one. Everyone here knows I take my cellphone with me when I go back to Equestria. I opened up the text, and shouldn't have been surprised when I saw it was from Pinkie, but I was anyway for some reason. 

Hey, Prince Antares! Just texting to see if this actually works. Miss you guys lots!

Well, at least she didn't bombard my phone with dozens of texts. I pulled up Sunset's text thread to start messaging her.

Hey, we just made it. We're at the house now. How are things on your end? Any updates about the magic you were talking about?

I didn't have to wait more than a minute for a response. 

Yeah, there's nothing new in regards to the magic, but both Sonata, Aria and myself all felt it. Speaking of the Sirens, though, when we got here, we actually found Adagio. She's one of the camp councilors here. Has been for about six months now. She's not saying what she was doing between the last time we saw her and when she started here, but the other two were obviously happy to see her, and it looks like she's mellowed out a lot. Got a haircut, at least. I haven't personally talked to her, so I haven't been able to ask her anything about the magic.

"Wow," I muttered to myself. "That's unexpected."

"What?" Blaze asked, sitting up from the couch. "What's unexpected?"

"They found Adagio. She's working at Camp Everfree, if you can believe it."

"Huh, it'll be strange to see her again," Rapids said. "The last time we saw each other, you nearly blew her head off with a shotgun, and the two of us cut the other with a knife. The two of us and Adagio might be the only relationship here more awkward than you and Principal Celestia."

"Well, you slammed Aria's head into a statue and knocked her out, and she doesn't seem to resent it completely. Besides, Sunset said that Adagio has mellowed out, so maybe she's moved past it."

"Hope so," Rapids said. "Otherwise me might have an awkward weekend."

"If we stay that long," I said. "I'd rather head out as soon as we find out where the magic is coming from and fix whatever issues come with it." I took a bite out of my plum and grimaced for a brief moment when it tasted like a cucumber. Of course she would. The worst part about her pranks like this is I couldn't get her back. What was I going to do to her food when she could eat literally anything?

"How's the plum, TD?" Kristen asked as she finished her blue orange.

"Delightful, thanks for asking," I replied. I wouldn't give her the satisfaction. Instead, I turned my attention back to my phone.

Huh, interesting. I'll have to see what she's like when I get up there. Keep me posted on any new developments, and we can talk when I arrive.

Sounds good. It's not a bad trip. Takes about four hours. I'll send you the directions. Credit card is in the drawer next to the kitchen. Your car should have a full tank.

Sounds good. See you in a few hours.

"Alright you guys, I think it's about time to head up," I said, clicking my phone off and putting it in my pocket. "Sunset says it's about a four hour drive to Camp Everfree, so if you need to hit the bathroom before we go, now would be the time. Sunset says that the car has a full tank of gas, but we should hit the gas station anyway for some snacks before we really hit the road."

Kristen shot me a confused look. "Snacks? Why would we buy snacks when I can just make whatever we want?"

The cucumber plum told me why that was a bad idea. "I don't know if--"

"I mean, I can just make anything. Peanut butter crackers?" She waved her hand, and a stack of them appeared on the counter. "How about some Doritos? Cheetos? Mountain Dew Code Red? Twinkies? More fruit? Vegetables? Fruit vegetables? Vegetable fruits? Edible tin foil? Filet Mignon? Seriously, people, we don't need to buy anything."

I groaned at the pile of snack food on the kitchen counter and pinched the bridge of my nose. "Let's just get going, okay?"


*  *  *  *


As Sunset stated, the drive up to Camp Everfree wasn't too bad. Kristen, Blaze and Rapids all had fun eating the feast of snacks Kristen had conjured, as well as playing poker on an invisible surface using M&Ms, Starbursts and Skittles for poker chips. When it came time to fill up about two-thirds of the way through our journey, I drew the line at Kristen offering to fill the car up with her magic. I'd rather not risk her doing something wrong an blowing the entire car up. That would have been bad. Very bad. At the very least we got to listen to my music on the way up since I was the one driving. 

We pulled into the camp at a little past six and parked next to the bus I assumed that the rest of the students had arrived in. The four of us hopped out, and everyone except Kristen stretched to loosen up a bit after the car ride. Sometimes I was a bit jealous of her powers, I have to admit. 

"So this is Camp Everfree, huh?" Kristen said, walking up to the sign that stated that yes, we were indeed at Camp Everfree.

"Looks like it," I said, clicking the fob to lock the car. "I guess the first thing to do is find Sunset and the rest of them. She didn't text me anything on the way up, so I don't think that there are any updates on what's going on around here." The four of us stepped underneath the arch that led to the camp, and I instantly flinched back as though I'd been electrocuted. Okay, yeah, something was definitely going on here.

"Anyone else feel like we just stepped into a power station?" Kirsten asked. "I can see why Sunset called you."

"Yeah, that's pretty impossible to miss," Blaze agreed. 

"It doesn't feel like anything evil right off the bad," Rapids pointed out. "It just feels kind of... there, more than anything."

"Definitely. I think we're going to have to find its source pretty quickly," I said. "The sooner we find that, the sooner we can solve the issue. I guess we should start with--"

I turned around and saw that Kristen had disappeared. A quick glance around showed me that she wasn't in sight. Great. Just great. Who knew what kind of trouble she could get into by herself? I doubted she'd do anything too bad, but... chaos lord. One never knew.

"She'll be fine," I said with a wave of my hand.

"Yeah, but... will we?" Blaze asked. 

"I..." I was never taking her through the portal again. "Yeah, yeah, sure."


*  *  *  *


Aright, Camp Everfree. Let's do some exploring while TD and his soldiers figure out what to do next. Yeah, I felt the magic the second I'd gone through the arch. I didn't know a lot about regular magic, but it didn't feel chaotic. 

I think I would know. Maybe. I wasn't even close to figuring out or developing all of my powers. From what TD and Celestia told me about Discord, he could do stuff I couldn't even imagine yet. 

Pushing those thoughts aside, I continued my exploring. It looked like a regular summer camp so far. It was pretty much exactly what I remember the summer camps TD and I went to growing up were. So far I hadn't seen anyone, but when I passed the rec hall, I heard a ton of people inside. I peeked through the window and saw that, yep, we'd caught the camp at free time. At least TD wouldn't have a hard time figuring out where Sunset and the rest of them were. 

That's when I turned around and saw one of the craziest things I've ever seen in my life. High bar, I know, but this was top three easily. I saw... me. Same hair and skin color, same clothes, same baffled expression on her face... yeah, if she was here, I'd guess that TD's double was here, too. 

"Whoa," we both said at the same time.

"Well, now I've seen everything," the other me said.

"Trust me, you haven't," I replied. "Still, bet you never thought you'd see another you. I know I didn't."

"Yeah," she said. "Definitely not. I guess you're the double from the pony land my brother and Celestia keep talking about."

"That'd be me." I walked up to her with a grin and extended my hand. "I'm Kristen."

"Eris," she said, taking my hand and shaking it. "Huh. Thought that would be your name, too."

I scoffed and rolled my eyes. "As if. They tried giving me a pony name, but I wasn't having it. Guess they would have called me Eris if I'd gone with it."

Eris shrugged. "Guess so. So I take it you're a pony over there, too?"

I nodded. "Yep, and..." My grin turned mischievous. "I also happen to be the chaos god over there, too."

A matching grin instantly crossed her face. "Oh really now? So I take it you like pranks?"

"I absolutely adore them," I confirmed. "And since I have chaos powers..." I waved my hand, and a tennis ball appeared out of nowhere. "I can pretty much do whatever I want."

"Ooh! I like it," Eris replied. She looked around for a moment before turning back to me. "So, since no one has seen us together, are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Oh, I just might be," I said. 

"Parent trap?" Eris guessed. 

I nodded. "Parent trap."
> Camp Games
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well, as much as a part of me wanted to tear the camp apart looking for Kristen so that I could keep an eye on her and make all of this go as smoothly as possible, I knew that wasn't going to happen. It would literally be impossible for me to keep her under control unless I wanted to use the Elements, and those were back in the Tree of Harmony. 

Sigh. 

Pushing all of that aside, the best place to start would definitely be finding Sunset. As the only other pony in the group, she'd have a better idea of what we were up against here. As usual, the three of us got a bunch of looks as we walked through the camp. I mean, I'm sure that it's pretty common knowledge that we're not just Canadians. We're magical and all that. But hey, now that Kristen is here, there are now four Canadians here! Or is it two because Blaze and Rapids aren't actually Canadians? Or is it only one because Kristen and I are both only half-Canadian? This is too complicated. 

Well, given that the camp isn't the size of Montana, finding a group of nine girls who are more or less attached at the hip isn't all that difficult. The Mane Six (now completing the set with Twilight), Sunset and the two reformed sirens are all standing around outside of what appears to be a rec hall of some kind. Sunset notices us first. She smiles and waves the three of us over. 

"Hey, Prince Antares. How are things?" she asked. 

"I should be asking you that question," I replied as I made it over to the group. "Seriously, I can feel the magic in this place. It's insane."

"Yeah, nothing's happened yet, but it's definitely noticeable," Sunset said with a nod.

"It's probably a good thing that we don't have our gems anymore," Aria chimed in. "I think the three of us would just go completely insane tearing the camp apart looking for it."

"Yeah, sounds right," I replied. "So have you managed to do any exploring? Have you gathered any more intel on what this could be?"

Sunset shook her head. "No, I haven't really had the chance to yet. We are here for summer camp, after all, and we don't have enough free time for me to just start wandering out in woods that I'm unfamiliar with on the off chance that I stumble into something."

"And she wouldn't let us help her," Pinkie pouted. "I mean, what could go wrong with the nine of us just randomly walking around in the woods with no idea of what we're looking for?"

"I dunno. That sounds like a game of capture the flag to me, or something like that," Rainbow pointed out.

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, a simple flag is the same thing as a possibly dangerous power source."

"In this world, you never really know," Sonata pointed out.

"Granted." I took a deep breath and looked around. "So you think it's coming from the woods?"

"Must be," Sunset replied. "We've all looked around the camp and can't find anything. The forest is our last option. Plus it's where it's felt the strongest."

"Interesting." I shrugged. "Well, the four of us aren't quite as tied to the activities here, so we can spend a lot more time trying to figure out what's wrong here. Hopefully it's just some artifact that we can safely dispose of or take back to Equestria for safekeeping."

"Right, because it's always been that simple," Applejack muttered.

"I think Applejack might be right," Fluttershy said before frowning. "But hold on. You said four of you?" Her eyes lit up, and a huge smile crossed her face. "Did you bring your daughter?"

I raised my eyebrow at her. "Why on Earth would I do that? A potentially dangerous situation like this? That's asking for trouble. No, I brought my sister."

"Sister?!" Twilight and Rarity said at the same time.

"Yeah, she's..." I motioned around the camp. "Around here somewhere. She disappeared pretty much as soon as we got here." 

"Is she an alicorn in your world, too?" Twilight asked. 

I shook my head. "No. She's just a pegasus. Although..." I sighed and rubbed my temples. "She's kind of... the chaos lord over there. There used to be a chaos spirit called Discord, but him and I got in a battle which I won, and there always has to be one, so... yeah, his powers transferred over to Kristen."

The eyes of Sunset and the sirens widened. Yeah, there was no way that Sunset hadn't studied Discord, and the sirens might have even run into him at some point. Either way, at least somebody appreciated the gravity of the situation. She was the total wild card here. If she went nuts, this whole camp could be destroyed. She wouldn't do anything malicious, of course, but she didn't always have complete control of her powers. The business with the One Ring showed me that.

"In any case," I began, pushing that aside. "How are things here overall? Is it just being a normal summer camp for the time being?" 

Sunset nodded. "Yeah. We've only been here a little bit, but everything here is just like normal summer camp. You know: archery, canoeing, rock climbing, all that fun stuff."

"Cool," I replied with a nod. "Hopefully things won't go too nuts here and we can solve things in a way that won't totally upend everything here. Heck, if I solve this quickly enough, then maybe I don't even need to see Principa--"

I turned around right as I saw that to see, of course, Principal Celestia and Mr. Antares both walking up to us. Mr. Antares was naturally glaring at me, while Principal Celestia just looked glum. Yeah, I know. Every time I show up in her life something goes wrong. 

"Uh, hey, guys," I said with a weak smile. "Fancy seeing you here."

"Yes, fancy that," Mr. Antares said, his glare hardening. "What the heck are you doing here anyway? You aren't students. Celestia made sure of that."

Huh, so I guess we did officially get kicked out of Canterlot High. Good to know. Not surprising. 

"We're here as..." I spun my hand around trying to think of the best way to put it. "Private detectives, if you will. Equestrian magic is hanging out around here, and we're here to make sure that everything is safe and handle any problems if they come up."

"I understand that, but please don't blow the camp up," Celestia said. 

"Hey, I have no intention of it. We just wanna figure it out, fix it, then skulk off back from whence we came," I insisted. 

Before we could continue our conversation, a voice cut through the air.

"Alright campers! Everybody meet outside the mess hall! We're going to play tug-of-war, then head out for a hike before dinner!"

I turned to the source of the voice, and my eyes widened when I saw that it was, of all people, Adagio. I mean, Sunset told me that she was working here, so I shouldn't have been as surprised, but still, seeing her dressed as a camp counselor with a shoulder-length ponytail was definitely not what I thought I'd ever see. However, I couldn't miss the fact that she just seemed... less tense. I couldn't sense that aura of aggression and dominance that I felt from her whenever we interacted the first time. The smile on her face seemed genuine, and she just overall looked happy.

"Bet it was weird to see Adagio here when you arrived," I said to Sonata and Aria.

"Oh yeah, it was the coolest thing ever!" Sonata squeed, jumping up and down. "We hadn't seen her in forever and now here she is as a comp counselor!"

"She was actually happy to see us too," Aria said. "Not quite as happy about the ten minute crushing hug that Sonata gave her, but it was actually a nice reunion."

"Nice." I let out an amused scoff. "Probably best she doesn't interact with me. The last time we saw each other, I blasted her necklace with a shotgun."

Since it's me, that obviously means that she turned to face our group right as I said that. She smiled at all of us, but that smile completely evaporated the second she noticed me. Her jaw dropped slightly, and she shook her head. I half expected her to start running or yelling at me, but instead she started walking up to us, putting her clipboard under her arm.

"What are you doing here?" she asked in an even tone. Wow, tine really had mellowed her out a bit.

I motioned to Sunset. "There's a problem here that Sunset's called me to deal with. Not sure what it is, but I doubt it's benign."

"Hm." Adagio shrugged and grabbed her clipboard. "Guess we'll find out. For now, it's time for tug-of-war. Join if you want."

Blaze, Rapids and I exchanged a look as she walked away. For somebody who had been on the wrong end of a shotgun shell that turned her mortal, she was remarkably chill about seeing us. I beckoned Blaze and Rapids close to me as we all walked to the tug-of-war field. 

"I don't like it," I muttered, glancing over to Adagio. "You know how nasty she was back in Canterlot High. Now we've come here to find magic and she's here."

"You think she's planning something?" Rapids asked. 

"I get that feeling," I replied. "I think she's so calm because she's planning something. She doesn't think we can stop her, so she's not going to draw too much attention to herself until she can enact her plan. Wolf in sheep's clothing, and all that."

"So we should definitely keep our eyes on her, then," Blaze said. 

I nodded. "Definitely. I don't trust her as far as I can throw her. I can buy that the other two sirens mellowed out because they've been taking friendship lessons and whatnot from Sunset and her group, but who's helped Adagio? I wouldn't be surprised if she took the job here because she felt the magic here, too."

"How could she?" Blaze pointed out. "Aria and Sonata don't seem to be feeling it, so why would Adagio be able to?"

Hm. That wasn't actually a bad point. However, that didn't totally remove her as a suspect. If she'd been here for a while, she might have started to feel it. Either that, or she might have some lingering siren magic in her. She'd always struck me as the strongest of the three, so maybe she had some left after I defeated her. 

In any case, I needed to keep an eye on her. 

We reached the tug-of-war field, and I saw Adagio talking with a guy and a girl who were also dressed as camp counselors. The fact that both of their polos said "Head Counselor" on the back while Adagio's only said "Counselor" gave me some idea of what their role was in this camp. It might be a good idea to ask them if they'd seen anything weird, but on the other hand, how would I even broach that subject, and what would they look for anyway? I'd have to be subtle about it either way. 

I was just about to start listening to the instructions the three of them were giving when of all people Kristen walked up to me. I gave her a flat look and crossed my arms. 

"You have fun doing whatever it was you got up to?"

"Oh, a blast!" Kristen said with a huge grin and a wave of her hand. "I've been up to all kinds of shenanigans."

I groaned and rubbed my temples. "We're not here for shenanigans. We're here to figure out where the Equestrian magic is coming from and how to beat it."

Kristen shrugged. "Why not both? I haven't been a human in forever, and now I'm in a summer camp? Pranks are practically required!"

"Behave," I growled. "The last thing we want is for us to get kicked out because you blew up a toilet, or something like that."

Kristen gasped and put her hands up to her mouth. "B-blowing up a toilet? I would never!"

I grunted. "Good. Tha--"

"I would never do something so cliche!" she continued. "If I'm going to cause chaos in a summer camp like this, it's gotta be memorable; something the campers and counselors talk about forever! It'll become part of the camp lore, ingrained in the legends of this place."

"Why did I bring you along?" I groaned. "Why?"

Kristen shrugged. "Not like you could have stopped me from getting horrific revenge if you didn't."

"Oh for pete's sakes," I muttered while Blaze and Rapids had a little giggle at my expense. Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. We'll see if they're laughing when Kristen, I dunno, turns their sleeping bags into giant slugs, or something. Between Adagio, the camp in general, and now Kristen, I had to keep an eye on a lot while I was here. 

And here I thought this might be a little less stressful. Silly me. 

Maybe it still could be. Adagio was explaining the rules of tug-of-war, as it anyone really needed a refresher on it. It's tug-of-war. Simple. 

"--and we can have teams of five, ten, or even one-on-one," Adagio said. "So, who wants to go first?"

"I do," Mr. Antares said. "And I want to challenge him."

It took me a few seconds to realize that he was pointing at me. I blinked in confusion as I looked around, hoping that he was pointing to somebody behind me. No such luck. I uneasily chuckled and rubbed the back of my neck. "Oh, come on. No need for that, is there?"

"I owe you several, Canadian," he growled. "You gonna fight me here, or are you gonna prove that you're all talk?"

"I think I've already proven that I've got a good right hook," I pointed out. "But, uh..." I sighed and rubbed my temple. "Fine. Fine. I'll pay tug-of-war."

A triumphant smile crossed his face as I took my place opposite him. I grabbed the rope and wiggled it around a little bit. It was pretty sturdy. I doubted that it'd break. If I still had my alicorn strength, I could take on the entire camp at once, but once I came through the portal, I was as strong as a normal person my age. Probably for the best. Otherwise I'd have punched their heads straight off a la Jason Voorhees. 

"Alright, let's do this thing," Antares said, taking his end of the rope and cracking his neck. "You're going down."

"You wish," I shot back.

"Alright, enough smack talk," Adagio said. 

Never.

"On the count of three, go." She raised her hand in the air. "One... two... three... go!"

Both of us instantly started pulling. He had a good fifteen years on me, but I wasn't going to give up that easily. He admittedly had the upper hand to start, and I almost stumbled forward right away. I wasn't going to lose to this guy two seconds into the match. I dug my heels in and leaned back, trying to use my weight to pull him forward. 

"You gonna punch me in the face if you lose?" he mocked, copying my strategy. 

I rolled my eyes. "Oh, yeah, that's my one character trait. Don't pretend like you've never punched anyone in the face."

He paused for a brief moment before growling and redoubling his efforts. Yeah, thought so. As much as I would have like to keep going with the smack talk, all of the campers had crowded around us and were cheering us on. I couldn't tell exactly who they were rooting for as their voices just blended together. My instincts were telling anyone who said the name "Antares" was rooting for me, but I was TD in this universe. The problem was that we were pretty much evenly matched. Made a bit of sense. We were, at the end of the day, largely the same person. Getting in an evenly-matched tug-of-war game with an alternate version of myself was... different. Somehow not the craziest thing that had ever happened to me, but it definitely ranked in the top thirty.

I was just about to start thinking about the best way to get a real upper-hand when the rope snapped, sending both of us flying back. I splashed into, of all things, a large mud puddle that I hadn't noticed behind me. It took a moment before I could even begin to realize what had happened, but I eventually sat up. Mr. Antares had somehow also flown back into a mud puddle behind him. 

"Uh... the lead counselor blinked in confusion as she held up the somehow whole rope. "What happened? I didn't think there were mud puddles there!"

Oh. No. She. Did. Not.

I slowly got up and turned to Kristen, ruing that I didn't have my imaginary "alicorn death glare" powers. She hid behind Blaze and Rapids like a little wuss. Oh, she was in for it now. As I got to my feet, I noticed the mud smelled vaguely of candy corn. 

Jerk. 

I stomped up to her with my teeth bared. "Are you serious?!" I growled. 

Kristen looked to me, then to Mr. Antares, then shrugged. "Wasn't me."

I scoffed and crossed my arms. "Oh, I'm sure. A rope that thick snapping, shooting both of us into mud that smells like candy corn, then repairing itself isn't the fault of the chaos lord we have running around. 

Kristen shrugged again. "I dunno. We're here looking for magic, right? Maybe that was it. If it's somebody who's wielding it and doesn't want you to get close, they could have done it."

My eyes narrowed. "Then explain the candy corn," I said in a threatening whisper. 

"Dunno. Magic is weird, isn't it?" 

"I will end you." I glanced over to Blaze and Rapids. "And stop laughing! I'm going to hit the showers."


*  *  *  *


"Wow, what happened to you, Antares?"

"I don't want to talk about it, Eris," I growled, stomping in the direction of the showers with Celestia following closely behind me. "

Eris tilted her head and got in step beside me. "It can't be something you and Celestia did. She'd be just as dirty."

"Eris, I swear..." Celestia grumbled from behind us. 

"Okay, okay, fine," she replied. "But seriously, bro. Was it those Canadians you're always complaining about?"

"Something like that," I grunted. I reached the showers and stomped inside to begin taking my clothes off. "Get me a towel, would you, Celestia? I want to-- WHAT THE HECK?!"

I shot out in shock, and the sight of my, uh, recent discovery caused Eris and Celestia to both gasp. 

"Bro... when did you get prison tats?!" Eris cried. 

"I... I don't..."

"Th-these are temporary, right?" Celestia said. "Right?"

Eris frowned and turned to Celestia. "You mean he didn't have these last night? Huh, I guess you of all people would notice."

Celestia growled and facepalmed. "Have you been hanging out with those Canadians, then?"

Eris shook her head. "No. Don't think so. Anyhoo..." She turned to me. "Any idea what happened?"

I'd already run into the showers to try to wipe the hopefully fake tattoos off. 

I didn't know how the Canadians were involved in this, but I was going to destroy them for it.
> Forest Exploration
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

After a shower and a change of clothes, I regrouped with Blaze, Rapids and Sunset. Sunset had a little bit of free time before dinner after the hike, so that gave us a chance to do a bit of exploring. We followed her to the edge of the forest, and yeah, I definitely felt more magic coming from there. It was at least some comfort knowing that whatever was causing this wasn't in the camp itself, since that lessened the chance that one of the campers would randomly run into it considerably. 

Or, you know, that Kristen would run into it when I wasn't around. That could be disastrous on so many levels. In any case, back to Sunset. 

"How far into the forest have you gone?" I asked. 

"Not terribly far," Sunset replied, taking another step toward the treeline. "With how much magic I feel coming out of it, I felt like it was a bad idea to do a ton of exploring without actual backup. Twilight and the rest of them are good friends in a bind, but they are a little bit out of their league when it comes to concentrated magic that I can only guess is Equestrian."

"Smart move," I said. I frowned and tapped my jaw in thought. "Though I have to admit that I haven't felt magic like this before. It has a vague hint of familiarity, but nothing that I can pinpoint."

"Whatever it is, it's giving me the creeps," Blaze chimed in. "The vibration is getting louder, like... in my bones, if that makes sense."

"It wouldn't if I wasn't feeling it too," Rapids replied. "Not gonna lie, I've got a bad feeling about this, Prince Antares, especially since you can't use magic."

"Well I can!" a voice from behind me said. "Do you know what we're fighting yet?"

I turned around and slightly grimaced when I saw Kristen walking up to us. She'd gotten a lot better at controlling her powers, but if she was possessed by magic of unknown origin, we might need some serious firepower from the other side of the portal to take her down. She'd never do anything like that on purpose, but chaos magic could be... you know, chaotic. 

"Y-yeah," I said, looking back to the trees. "Sure. I guess you can tag along." I took a deep breath to steady myself. "I guess we're going in."

"Guess so," Blaze said with a grin. "Once more into the fray, into the last good fight I’ll ever know. Live and die on this day, live and die on this day! Isn't that how you said it goes?"

"I'd rather this not be our last fight, but I get your point," I replied before turning to Sunset. "Are you coming? I don't know how long we'll be gone, and they actually care about where you are. I'm not a student, and I think at this point Celestia knows that if I'm sniffing about, I should probably be left up to my own devices unless I have to punch her in the face or blast evil emotion-eating sirens with a shotgun."

"Which has happened more than she'd probably guess," Rapids said thoughtfully. 

Sunset nodded. "Yeah, you seem to be in tune enough that you have a general idea of where to go. I think we only have another twenty minutes of free time before dinner, so I should probably get back before they notice that I'm gone."

"Sounds good," I said. "I'll catch you up on anything that I find."

With a last little nod, the four of us went into the forest. I wasn't terribly different from the other forests I'd been in, especially the ones from when I was this age and went to camp. The trees weren't too close together, so we didn't have any issues with the branches blocking out any sunlight we'd use to see. All the while, I felt the magic growing stronger and stronger. Yeah, there was definitely something here that shouldn't be. I just needed to find out what as quickly as possible.

"Okay, yeah, I know I haven't been the chaos lord for very long, but this is starting to weird me out," Kristen said, examining a tree. "I don't like the idea that we don't know what we're going to do if we see something bad."

"Depends on what it is," I replied. "If it's some kind of artifact, I might want to contact our Celestia and/or Luna. Us not being able to use magic in this world will be a problem for them too, though."

"Though it would also be hilarious to have two Celestias Lunas, and Antareses running around," Kristen pointed out to the approving nods of Blaze and Rapids. 

"For pete's sake," I grumbled to myself. Good to know they were all taking this seriously. 

...

Okay, it might be a little funny. 

Either way, I did my best to follow the vibration while Blaze and Rapids marked the trees we passed so that we could find out way back to camp. It wouldn't do to just wander around long enough to get lost in this forest with nopony that could fly and no magic to help us find our way. If we got lost badly enough Kristen would be able to provide some food to take the edge off of things, but nothing that would actually sustain us for a long period of time. Chaos magic. Isn't it fun?

After an hour or so of walking, we hit a bit of a clearing where I could feel everything around me vibrating. I was sure that if I was still an alicorn, my internal magic would be going absolutely crazy. 

"Do you guys think this is relaxing, or do you feel like you're going to throw up," Rapids groaned, leaning against a tree.

"Both," Blaze muttered. "I don't like this, Prince Antares. "I'd feel a bit better if we could use our magic, but since that's not an option, I feel like we're kind of like sitting ducks out here if it was a magical entity instead of just some magical artifact."

"True," I said. "We should probably be heading back anyway. It's late, and I'd rather not be out here with some unknown magic when it's dark out. I'll borrow Sunset's journal and send a message to Celestia to get some advice on what to do. I don't think she'll want to send an army of scientists and mages out here to try and deal with it, but it's worth at least asking."

The others grunt in agreement, and we begin making our way back to the main campsite. As we make our way back, I can feel the magic growing weaker and weaker. Tomorrow morning, we'll have all day to explore the forest and get advice from Celestia about everything. For now, though, we should get some rest and maybe something to eat. I want to be at full strength tomorrow when we really get going.

The sun has pretty much set by the time we make it back to camp, and I don't see anybody around. It's not terribly late in the evening, so I don't think that they all went to bed. After doing some exploring, we see that the camp has gone a little out of the way into the woods and are all gathered around several campfires roasting marshmallows for smores. Fun. I saw the fire that Sunset's group was hanging around, and walked up to sit next to them with Blaze and Rapids taking positions behind me in case something attacked, or something. Kristen had disappeared again. 

Fun.

"Hey, guys," I said, nabbing a stick and a marshmallow for myself. "How have things been today?"

"Nothing to really report," Sunset said. "We didn't have anything weird happen while you were gone."

"Unless you count running out of chocolate pudding in the dining hall during lunch," Sonata grumbled, glaring at Pinkie Pie and crossing her arms.

Pinkie blushed and rubbed the back of her neck with an uneasy smile. "Sorry about that, Sonata. It's just that the pudding here is so good and I--"

"Nothing to report on my end either," I responded, putting my hand over Pinkie's mouth before she could really get going. "There's definitely powerful magic out in the woods, but I wasn't able to find it before we had to come back so we weren't out there after dark."

"Makes sense," Twilight said with a nod. "If what you guys are telling me about this feeling is true, it's a real concern that you'd rather get out of the way as soon as possible."

"Definitely," I said. "If I can figure it out in a way that doesn't disrupt the week you guys are having here, that would obviously be ideal. I can do that, right?"

The girls around me all exchanged uneasy looks, with a few of them even giving mutters of "yeah, sure. Of course." I'd be lying if I said I could blame them. Every time I came into this world, I tended to... shake things up a little bit. Always for the better, of course. None of them could deny that things were better off now than if emotion-eating sirens were ruling the world, but I hadn't managed much subtlety. 

Eh. You do what you gotta do to win. Simple as that. 

The group moves to talk about random things for a few minutes before one of the head councilors stands up. The male one. The female one and Adagio are looking around the group in a way that makes me nervous. Both of them look like they're up to something, and if they are, I need to prove what. Until then, the male looks like he wants to switch things up a bit. 

"Alright you guys, listen up!" he begins. "Now that you've all enjoyed your smores, I think it's time for another camp tradition." He grins evilly and begins rubbing his hands together. "A scary campfire story!"

The campers break out into excited chatter and all turn to face him. I smirk and put another marshmallow on a stick. I too like a good scary campfire story. Given that I've lived in Equestria for the past six or seven years, I haven't heard any really good ones. Ponies tend not to tell particularly gruesome horror stories. I haven't even seen a good horror film since coming here. While some of them aren't bad, I'm pretty sure that The Exorcist would traumatize the nation. In any case, I hoped that this one was actually good.

"You're not going to tell the stupid Gaia Everfree story again, are you, Timber?" the female lead counselor groaned. 

Timber scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Come on, Gloriosa, it's tradition!" He cleared his throat and grabbed a flashlight, turning it on so that the beam flashed directly under him, illuminating his face in a spooky manner. Adagio and Gloriosa both rolled their eyes, but neither of them said anything further. 

"Anyway, as I was saying, this is the legend of Gaia Everfree, a forest spirit that haunts these woods, looking for campers to snatch away if they wander too far off!" 

"Oh, one of those stories, is it? I can't help but roll my eyes a little bit. 

"She used to be a benevolent spirit," Timber continued, "but construction in her woods caused her to go mad and turn evil!" A few of the campers gasped. I for one thought that this guy needed some notes from Carpenter about building atmosphere. "She was angered by the destruction of her beloved trees that they used to build this very camp. She was so angry that she threatened to unleash a plague of disasters on this camp the likes of which no summer camp has ever seen before!"

Right. Do we need to put lamb's blood on our tent flaps? If so, I might actually admit that this situation is creepy. 

"Now she walks the woods bemoaning her lost trees. They say that unknown magic follows her wherever she goes, and on certain nights, you can even feel it in the air."

Wait... huh? Sunset and I exchange a frown. All myths are based a little bit on truth, even if it's only one percent, so the talk of magic in the air is more unsettling than anything else he's said. Hmm. That might be worth looking into a little bit. Obviously I couldn't just walk up to Timber and ask "hey, tell me more about that magic in the campfire story you told tonight." That would make me look like a loon. 

I mean, I am a bit of a loon, but not in that way. Most of the time. 

"So on a dark night, if you find yourself alone in the forest, watch out for glittering gem dust, for if you see it, she is near!"

Gem dust? What is she, Tinkerbell? 

"And if she is near, you'd better hope and pray that she doesn't see you, for if she does..." Timber turns the flashlight off, bathing him in darkness. Or at least, as close as he can get with the campfires going on. Before anybody can say anything else, Timber lunged forward and grabbed one of the campers. "SHE GETS YOU!!!

A few of the campers screamed in fright, while most of the other ones laughed. Eh, as far as scary campfire stories go, it's not the worst one I've ever heard. That would be the one about the leaves, Twizzlers and the evil tent. Funniest and dumbest scary story I've ever heard. In any case, I lean in close to Sunset.

"You seen any of that pixie dust flying around?"

Sunset shook her head. "Not that I know of. I'll keep an eye out for it, but it could all just be part of the story."

"We'll make sure to tell you if we spot any," Twilight said, eliciting nods from the others in the group. 

"And I promise that if you do see any, it won't be me," Kristen added. 

I nodded back. "Yeah, be sure to..." I did a double take. "Kristen? When did you show back up?"

Kristen frowned and tilted her head. "I was only gone for like fifteen seconds. I heard that whole stupid story. Magical gem dust? What is she, Tinkerbell?"

"That would be a surprise," I said. Guess as siblings we still think alike in some ways. Regardless, the campers all seemed like they were getting ready to turn in the night, as they were standing up while Adagio, Gloriosa and Timber grabbed buckets of water to start putting the fires out. A few campers had flashlights, which others were using to light their way back to camp. Our group followed one of them until we got to the main campgrounds where we said goodnight to everyone before heading back to our truck. 

"Okay, so who's sleeping where?" Rapids asked. 

"I"ll grab the truck bed," Kristen said. "I can sleep anywhere, and if it starts raining, it won't bother me."

"Sure," I replied. "I'll take the front seats."

"Guess I'll be on the floor while Rapids gets the back seats," Blaze said. 

Good enough. Somehow there were some blankets and pillows in the truck when we got there. Kristen's doing, no doubt. If she decided to use them as a prank in the middle of the night, I was going to have Blaze and Rapids hold her down during the entire drive home and toss her back through the portal to get Celestia and Luna to babysit her while we figured out what was going on here. 

It was only when I actually laid down that I realized how exhausted I was from the day. It wasn't more than a few moments before I was fast asleep. 


*  *  *  *


I awoke to the sound of people walking around and chatting with each other. I sat up to see the campers all heading in the direction of the mess hall. I stretched as best as I could before sliding out of the car to stretch for real. Blaze, Rapids and Kristen were all still asleep, and I decided that I wasn't going to bother them. They'd get up soon enough. I opened up the back door and gingerly slid my backpack out from beside Blaze. I didn't pack a ton of clothes, but I erred on the side of caution and packed a few outfits just in case we couldn't get all of this settled in one day. Looks like it was a wise move on my part. 

I slung the backpack over my shoulder and headed in the direction of the showers. Hopefully if the campers were at breakfast, I wouldn't need to worry about waiting in line for one. However, as I passed by the front office, I heard what sounded like two people talking to each other in a not so friendly tone. As I listened closer, one of them sounded like... Filthy Rich? Huh, I've seen Diamond Tiara in this world, so it makes sense that he'd be here, too. 

Now, it would probably have been a good idea not to snoop, but I was here to find out if there was anything going on in the camp. If I gleaned nothing from it, well, there you go. If they were talking about something that could help my investigation, though...

I quietly moved to beside the window and listened in as best as I could. Sure enough, my initial guess was right, and they didn't sound happy with each other.

"--Rich, I know that you think you're owed money, but be reasonable!" I heard Gloriosa say. "We just need to have another good summer or two and we'll get right back on track with our payments."

"You said that last summer," Filthy Rich said. "In fact, I've heard that a lot from your family. Your grandfather may have built this camp, but it seems like you're no better at running it than that old fool."

Wow, jerk much? 

"My grandfather wanted to build something great that would let children from all over the state come here and have the time of their lives! It's not our fault that we had a bad summer and had to borrow from you!" Gloriosa snapped. "And for the record, we're making enough to keep this camp going, and we'd be making enough to pay you back if you didn't have a thirty percent interest rate on that loan!"

"Business is business," Filthy Rich said snootily. "If you didn't read the contract well enough, that's your fault."

"I read it fine. You just cheated," Gloriosa growled. "If we had lawyers like yours--"

"But you don't," Filthy Rich said with a light laugh. "I'm tired of having this argument with you, so I'll spell it out: you have two weeks to get me my money or I'll own this property and do what I wish with it."

"But--"

"End of story." I heard a chair squeak, which meant that Filthy Rich had probably stood up from the chair he was sitting at. "Good day to you, Miss Daisy."

I heard him walk over to the door, and I just managed to turn the corner of the building when he walked out. I peeked around the corner and watched him get into his car with a frown. The Filthy Rich in Equestria was an aggressive businessman to be sure, but he was never cruel. He focused on growing his business, but would never say stuff like that to a pony, partially because he wasn't like that, and it would be bad for business, especially in a town like Ponyville. 

Now Spoiled Rich on the other hand...

I watched Filthy drive away as Gloriosa slowly walked out of the main office, her head low and tears brimming in her eyes. I grimaced as I watched her walk away. As a prince, I'd seen this kind of thing before. It wouldn't be fitting for me to use Equestria's money to save every small business, but maybe here...

I was about to follow her when somebody tapped me on the shoulder. 

"Antares? What are you doing?"

I turned around and saw Sunset standing behind me. I grunted and jerked my head in the direction Gloriosa had gone. "Just overheard her talking with Filthy Rich. Seems like the camp has some money troubles and he's not being very nice about it."

Sunset grimaced and nodded. "Yeah, I've been hearing about stuff like that. I haven't heard the whole story, but from what I have heard, it sounds like Filthy screwed them over on a bad loan. Nobody I've talked to about it has more information than that as far as I can tell. It's not like Timber or Gloriosa put something in a bulletin or anything like that."

"Right. Sounds like it's a big problem with them, though."

"Definitely," Sunset said, following me in the direction of the main camp. "I wonder what's going to happen with that. From what Principal Celestia has told me, this camp has been around long enough that even she went here when she was our age."

A wry smile crossed my face. "Which if she was my Celestia, that would mean the camp has been around for several thousand years."

Sunset snorted and rolled her eyes. "I don't think that Principal Celestia is that old."

"You never know," I pointed out."

"I have a pretty good guess," Sunset responded. 

When we reached the main area of the camp, the main group was already changed and out of their tents. They all nodded to me when I reached them, and I gave them a two-finger salute back. "Hey, guys. You all sleep well?" I asked.

"Pretty good," Twilight said.

"Yeah, after a full day of camp yesterday, I kind of crashed," Rainbow said. 

Applejack smirked at her. "You Rainbow Crashed?"

Rainbow narrowed her eyes at Applejack while Pinkie began laughing. "Careful. We have a lot of competitive activities today, and you wouldn't want me to go too hard on you."

Applejack snorted. "As if."

"While I'm certain that it would be fascinating to hear the two of them bicker like this, I think we should finish getting ready," Rarity said, motioning to Twilight. "Some of your hair is sticking up a bit."

Twilight patted her hair and groaned when she felt a few hairs out of place. "You're right. Let me get my brush."

Instantly a hairbrush shot out of Twilight's tent, and she only barely managed to catch it before it hit her right in the face. Everybody around us instantly froze, staring at Twilight like she'd just grown another head. I flashed back to when I was on Earth and I did the same thing with the salt shaker in front of my family. In lieu of another explanation... Twilight had just done magic.

"Uh..." I blinked and shook my head. "That's not good."
> Powers
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Great. Just great. Now the locals were getting powers. I didn't even have levitation here, and now suddenly Twilight had smacked herself in the face with a hairbrush. This could only mean bad things, at least for the moment. I pulled Twilight and Sunset aside to the empty cafeteria, while Blaze and Rapids followed me. 

"Okay, so that happened," I said, looking around to see if there wasn't somebody around. "If I remember right, you didn't have those powers when I was there last, so why now?"

Sunset shrugged while Twilight looked down at the floor in shock. Rapids occasionally poked her shoulder to see if she could get any reaction, but no dice. At least she didn't knock herself out with her brush. 

"It makes about as much sense as anything else that's going on around here," Sunset said. "With this much latent magic in the air, it was bound to manifest itself in weird ways at some point."

"Yeah, but why me?" Twilight groaned. "You three and Sunset are from Equestria originally, so it would make sense if something like that happened to you, but I suddenly get the power to levitate things? Why would that even happen?"

"I have no idea, but I'm going to find out." I glanced out of the cafeteria window where everybody else was just milling around and doing their various camp activities. If Twilight randomly gained powers, what on earth would happen to the rest of them? Would we have a bunch of other campers randomly getting powers, some of whom had no idea about Equestria and what it meant to wield Equestrian magic? There was no way that Twilight hadn't absorbed some, so if everybody else was exposed... no, that wouldn't be good.

"So, the first thing is to  try to find out exactly where the magic is coming from again. Maybe there are some artifacts or a... I dunno, magic egg or something like that that I can get back to Equestria for safe disposal."

Or, depending on what it was, my weapons room. Whatever it was had enough power to give random high schoolers magic powers. Studying and refining that would be interesting. 

One thing at a time, though.

The five of us walked out of the cafeteria. I spotted Kristen walking around seemingly searching for something. Given that she perked up and made a beeline for us when she saw us, I could guess what that was. She grinned when she got closer and poked my shoulder. 

"There you are. I was beginning to wonder where you'd gotten off to."

"I could say the same about you," I replied with a raised eyebrow. "What are you getting up to?"

She shrugged. "This and that. Nothing destructive. Probably."

"We're here to investigate Equestrian magic," I growled. "This isn't the time for pranks."

She gave me an uneasy chuckle and rubbed the back of her neck. "Well then, I think I have some bad news for you."

I really didn't have time for any of this. 

"Whatever, just don't cause too much trouble. I want to find the problem and get out with as little fuss as possible, which is getting harder because..." I squeezed my eyes shut and rubbed my temples. "Twilight got herself some levitation powers."

Kristen's grin widened to a near impossible length, and she began bouncing up and down. "Yay! Oh, this is just the best thing ever!"

"Kristen, I swear--"

"I won't tell anybody," she said, raising her left hand and putting her right over her heart. "We just need to find something fun to do with this. Nothing too destructive, of course, but a bit of a fun nudge."

"Why would you even want to?!" I growled. 

She shrugged. "Chaos god."

"Whatever," I said with a wave of my hand. "For right now, we need to poke around camp some more; watch some of the other students and see if they're getting any powers, and if so, where they might have gotten them." I motioned right. "Blaze, you take the rec hall." Left. "Rapids, look around the docks. Sunset, Twilight, see if you can find the rest of your group. Trouble follows them the most, so if there was anybody that I could see getting powers, its them. Kristen and I will search the campgrounds."

Everybody nodded, and we split up. 

"So, how bad do you think this is going to get?" Kristen asked as we walked toward the tents. "Given the track record of, well, the last several years of your life, there's no way that this is going to just end quietly."

"You're telling me," I grumbled. "Although the last time ended pretty easily. We just had to record Principal Nastyface threatening Twilight and that pretty much solved everything."

"With how much magic is here, I doubt it will be that simple again." Kristen frowned and tilted her head as we got closer to the tents. "Wonder what happened to her anyway."

"Lunch lady at some small school, from what Sunset was telling me. Now..." We reached Twilight's tent, and I started looking around for... something. Anything." Maybe whatever Twilight was exposed to is around here. Long shot, but I want to cross everything off of the list. Maybe there's something we've missed."

Kristen pointed at the tent. "Like the pixie dust?"

Pixie dust? I frowned and looked to where Kristen was pointing. Sure enough, there was a thin layer of something radiating magic on the side of the tent. I reached a hand out to swipe some of it, and sure enough, the second I touched it, I got a small jolt of magic. Seems we found a lead, Watson.

"We have to figure out where this stuff is coming from," I said as Kristen swabbed some of it off herself. "I know that they tied it to that legend of Gaia Everfree stuff, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say that there's a different explanation."

"Probably. Interested to see what it is."

Then she snorted the pixie dust. 

For goodness sakes. 

The second she did, her eyes widened, and she flew back like she'd been hit with a cannon. Two green beams of magic shot out of her hands and would have obliterated an entire row of tents if she'd fallen just a little slower. Kristen bounced a few times after hitting the ground, then just laid there when she came to a stop, groaning a bit. I rolled my eyes and walked over to her. She coughed a bit, then sat up. 

"Wow. Strawberry." 

I sighed and rubbed my temples. "And you thought that was a good idea why?"

"Chaos god." She stood up and looked down at her hands, which were still smoldering a bit. "Huh. Never done that before."

"As stupid as that was, it does confirm that this dust is probably what's causing Twilight's magic to manifest, especially give we found it on Twilight's tent. It's probably a good idea to examine the other tents and see if any of them have the dust on them, and if so, get rid of it somehow."

"I didn't think to bring a hose, did you?"

I scoffed. "What, that a bit outside of your chaos powers a the moment?" 

All that got me was an eye roll.


*  *  *  *


I'd never been to a camp as a filly that didn't involve flying, so to see everybody just walking around felt a little off. Well, that and the magic I could feel in the air, but that had become sort of a background buzz at this point. Added to the ambiance of the camp. So far none of the campers looked like they'd gained magical spike powers, or something like that, so that was good. Hopefully the others would find something that would crack all of this wide open. 

I looked out at the lake where some of the campers were paddling around on boats and talking to each other. Everything was pretty tranquil. Nothing to speak of. Right now this is about as exciting as working security for a foals' event. Nice. 

I was about to turn around and try to find Prince Antares again to give my report when I saw Adagio walking toward the treeline like she was very much up to something. She kept glancing around at the other campers as if one of them would start following her. Even when one or two of them noticed her and said hi, she didn't make eye contact and mumbled a quiet greeting back at them. Very shifty. Prince Antares would probably want to know what she was doing. Looking around the area my self to make sure that nobody was coming up to me, or noticing me at all, I moseyed over in her direction to begin following her. 

It would be so nice if I caught her at something and was able to make an arrest of some sort. I owed her after what happened the last time we saw each other. I didn't appreciate waking up tied and gagged with a cut on my cheek and a smashing headache. Stupid emotion-eating siren. 

Heh, not anymore, though. 

I rued the fact that I didn't have wings as I followed her. It would be far easier to remain undetected, and the clouds could provide cover that trees couldn't. No chance of stepping on branches either. 

Adagio went into the trees after one more glance around to make sure nobody was there. I hid behind a tree as she stopped, and peeked my head around right as she began moving again. I waited a few seconds, the began following her again. Pegasi are naturally stealthy, so I did a good job of avoiding the rocks and branches that could give away my position if I'd stepped on or kicked one of them. Maybe we used to be hunters a long, long time ago. We still ate fish, so maybe that was it. 

In any case, she didn't see me as I followed her into the woods. Maybe she was headed to some cave where she'd hidden whatever was leaking the magic and she'd found something that she thought could get her her powers back. I wondered if she'd offer the same power to her sisters again, or if she'd go it alone. 

Probably alone, if I'd gotten a good reading of her personality last time. 

She stopped right in a clearing and looked around once again, but I hid behind a tree again, holding my breath so that my breathing wouldn't give me away. Although, if it came to a fight, I was still a toned, strong soldier, and she was ninety pounds soaking wet, but a big fight wasn't what I was after this time around. I peeked my head around the tree to see that she'd gone further into the clearing. Another person came through the trees on the other side, and I slinked closer to see who it was.

Gloriosa?

I frowned as I stopped behind a closer tree. The two looked like they were arguing with each other, if their tone and Gloriosa's expression was any indication. I chanced getting to a closer tree to get a better idea of what they were talking about.

--"horrible idea!" Adagio growled. "You don't know what you're messing with, and with several Equestrians here to investigate, we're getting in way too deep! You need to--"

Gloriosa scoffed. "I know what I'm doing. Just keep doing your job, and everything will come together."

"You don't understand! One of them is literally seen as the god of war in his dimension, if what I overheard from Sunset and Twilight is correct. You have to rethink this."

"You sound just like my brother," Gloriosa said with a roll of her eyes. "This is all going to be over soon, then I'll get rid of them and everything will go back to the way it was."

"That isn't how magic like that works!' Adagio snapped. "It's a drug. Yes, the camp is under threat from Filthy, and I can see why you might want to use them, but what happens when you beat this, then the next thing comes along that isn't as important and suddenly you're pulling them out again? It'll hit the point where they'll just be a constant. They're powerful now, but they will consume you, and Timber and I won't be able to stop you! Just give them to me. I know how to handle Equestrian magic."

Ooh, so Miss Reformed was trying to get ahold of some powerful magic, was she? Knew it. She found somebody over her head with some powerful stuff and she was taking advantage of her ignorance to get back to full strength. Typical villain. 

"You have no idea what you're talking about!" Gloriosa snarled. "You'll see when I make everything better. Trust me, I got this."

Well, won't this be an interesting little story to tell Prince Antares? Gloriosa has the magical stuff, and Adagio is trying to manipulate it from her so that she can take over. Well, this was a nice little trip into the woods. Very informative. Gloriosa stomped away, leaving Adagio alone in the clearing. My time to exit, too.

"You can come out now." Adagio turned around and pursed her lips, putting her hands on her hips. "Did you get enough for your report?"

Sigh. Maybe I didn't bring enough of that pegasus stealth through the portal. I stepped out from behind the tree and glared at her. 

"So, it seems like you've been up to a lot here," I growled, glaring at her. "Interesting conversation."

She shrugged. "You didn't hear anything that mattered. If I were you, I'd just stay out of it. You and your prince are just going to make her more unstable if she thinks you're actually going to do something."

"So that means that you can take whatever she's gotten and use it for yourself, huh?" I shook my head. "You work here because you sensed it too and couldn't help trying to find something to get your powers back."

Adagio bared her teeth at me and balled her fists. "I've changed, bitch. I just want what's best for Camp Everfree and the people in it." She relaxed a bit and smirked at me. "Though it looks like you've gone through a bit of a change yourself. Nice face. You buy a particularly nasty cat?"

Welp, she shouldn't have said that.

I charged right at her and swung at her head once she got in range. Instead of the satisfying connection, she stepped back, and my swing missed by a mile.

"This is a bad idea! Don't do this!" she snarled. "You think I want to fight you? I'm trying to help these people!"

"By making them your slaves again?" I rolled my eyes and snapped a punch out to test her defenses. She batted the punch away. "Yeah, I saw what you did to them the last time you were in charge of these students."

"It's called 'being hungry'," Adagio growled through gritted teeth. "But now that I'm not longer an immortal emotion-eating siren, I had to take stock of my life, and now I've made the best of what I have! I'm not trying to hurt any of these students! If you stop me, you are!"

Alright, no more Miss Nice Rapids. 

I threw another punch, and when she jumped back, I jumped forward and tackled her to the ground. The thud she made when I landed on top of her didn't sound so nice, but I was stopping a bad guy here. Now that she couldn't just dodge, I threw a punch that glanced off of her face when she moved her head. Dang it, just stay still so I can beat you up! 

"I still owe you for that cut on my cheek and the baseball bat," I snarled as she pushed her palm into my face, shoving me back so that I couldn't get a good swing in.

"I seem to recall you attacking me first! Just stop this and we can have a conversation like adults! You are an adult, right?"

I was just trying to stop you from using your stupid powers to drain everybody in that school." I grabbed her wrist and pushed it on the ground, then gave her a nasty grin. "Kind of like now, actually." 

She didn't manage to dodge my next punch that hit her face with a meaty thud. She cried out in pain, and blood instantly began spurting from her nose. Then another punch. Then another. She went limp, and I used that opportunity to pin her other hand down. 

"What are you planning? What are you trying to take from her? What do they do? What are you going to do with them?!"

Adagio groaned and squeezed her eyes shut. "For goodness sakes, we could have talked about that like adults, but noooo, you had to be the hero and beat the nasty old siren who just wants to control everybody, didn't you?"

"I don't need any of your sass. Give up now and Prince Antares might let you live with Sunset and your sisters."

Adagio half opened her eyes in a glare, but after a few seconds, it slowly faded, and she looked... tired. She completely relaxed and just stared up at the sky. 

"Maybe I should have just done that originally. I suppose I was just too proud and too stubborn to actually accept help and live a better life. It would have been less... lonely."

I shouldn't have, but... I relaxed a little bit. The rage that made me want to beat down on her to get her plan out faded away a bit. Dang it. 

"Maybe they'd still take me back, but for the moment..." She looks around the forest. "This camp is my home. I've had some good times here. Who'd have thought it? I'm doing water balloon fights and long hikes that get me all sweaty and paddle boats and working with my hands to build things." She looked back up at me and shrugged as well as she could with my pinning her down. "But I suppose you're going to turn me in to your god of war who will send me to Tartarus forever. So go on, then. Beat me half to death and drag what's left to your prince before I can tell you what's really going on."

A slight frown creased my face. Maybe this was stupid. "And what exactly is going on?"


*  *  *  *


Alright, so we just had to figure out where the magic pixie dust is coming from and stop that ASAP. Whatever was leaking the dust was also most likely what was causing all of the magic in the air. Once we nullified that, we could all get home and hopefully not have to deal with Equestrian magic in this world again. With my luck, it would be something that I'd need to call the other alicorns in for. 

No, no, if I didn't need them for the Sirens, I wouldn't need them for this. 

We met up with Blaze at the rock climbing wall where the rest of the Rainbooms were hanging out. Hopefully alone so that we could talk with each other about everything going on. Rarity was climbing up the wall with Applejack as her spotter. 

"So, you find anything interesting?" Sunset asked. "We couldn't."

"Yeah, actually." I motioned for Blaze to shut the doors so that we could hopefully have some privacy. "You guys noticed the dust in the air around here? I think whatever is causing the magic around here is leaking the dust, and that's what's..." I grimaced and motioned to Twilight. "Giving Twilight magic powers."

The jaws of the rest of the Rainbooms dropped open, and Twilight blushed. "It's true. For some reason, I can levitate things now."

"Land sakes," Applejack whispered. "Ah know that things have been crazy with Equestria magic around here, but Ah never thought Ah'd see that!"

"That's why it's important to find out what's causing the dust," I said. I found some on Twilight's tent, so it's probably the cause of it. I'm not sure if it's permanent or anything, but if other students get exposed to it, we could have a real big problem on our hands."

Rainbow Dash scoffed. "Uh, yeah, no, it would be just fine if all of our classmates suddenly gained various magic powers. Would it all be levitation, or could we see a range?"

I shrugged. "No idea. I'd rather not find out. I've felt a bunch of it in the forest, but it's risky to just go exploring and getting lost without finding something. If I could still use magic or fly, this would be really simple."

"Well, why not try to find a bunch of this dust and get your powers back?" Pinkie asked, idly playing with a can of sprinkles. "That might solve things."

"Or make it worse, since I have no idea what it would do. It could give me my usual magic back, or it could cause a complete overload that levels the camp. Alicorn magic is kind of tricky like that."

"I didn't level the camp, and I'm gonna get a ton more powerful than you," Kristen said with a shrug.

Fluttershy raised an eyebrow and tilted her head. "Really? Are you an alicorn over there, too?"

Kristen grinned and shook her head. "Nope, I'm the chaos god, and I still have my magic here! Let me show you..."

She snapped her fingers, and all Tartarus broke loose. A gigantic stuffed squid appeared in the middle of the room right in front of Pinkie, who dropped the can of sprinkles which, for whatever reason, completely exploded, denting the floor. Applejack flinched back so hard that the rope she was using to anchor Rarity completely snapped, causing Rarity to fall to the floor. She reached her hands out and a diamond shield appeared that broke her fall. Rainbow Dash stepped backward to fast that she hit the wall on the opposite end of the room. 

Nobody spoke for a few moments as we all tried to register what had just happened. Great, just great, they had powers now, too. Kristen at least had the decency to look embarrassed. It was Rarity the broke the silence. 

"Ow."

Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her head, grimacing a bit in pain. "Ech. You okay, Rares?"

"I think so," Rarity said with a groan, slowly pushing herself up off of the shield that she'd conjured. "I'm still not quite sure what happened."

"Me neither," Applejack said. "Sorry Rarity, Ah..." She looked down at the snapped rope in her hand. "Ah don't know how that happened. The rope just came apart in mah hand like it was paper."

"That still makes more sense than..." Pinkie pointed to the crater. "That."

"Fantastic, just fantastic!" I cried. "We got super strength, speed, shields and a bomb, which goes along nicely with the telekenisis. What next? Do--"

That's when I heard an owl hoot, and looked at Fluttershy, whose arms and head were completely covered with birds. She looked as confused as I felt, but I didn't even feel the need to ask. Based on what I know about Equestria's Fluttershy, she could probably talk to them, or something like that. 

"Um..." Fluttershy looked up at the gigantic owl perched on her head. "Owletta asked what the... heck just happened?"

"So done!" I snapped. "So, so done! I just want to figure this all out and go home! To my wife! And my daughter! And just--"

"Antares, calm down," Sunset said. "I know this is kind of stressful, but--"

That's when she touched my shoulder. Her eyes instantly went completely white, and she froze in spot. It was almost like my body was electrocuting her, or something like that. I gently pushed her hand off of me, and she actually collapsed onto the ground, her eyes going back to normal.

"Uh... you okay, Sunset?" I asked tilting my head. "What happened?"

Sunset's mouth flopped up and down for a few seconds before she shakily stood up and actually wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. What the heck?

"I-it's nothing," she whispered. "I know that... I mean, I didn't..." She gave me an odd look, then took a deep breath. "It's not important. I just... wow."

Okayyy, so she obviously had some kind of power, too. Don't know what that would have to do with me, but she clearly had something. 

Before I could even ask, the door burst open, and Rapids walked in followed by, of all people, Adagio, who had a good black eye and bloody nose.

"What happened to her?" I asked. 

"Not important," Rapids said with a wave of her hand. "We've got a bit of a problem."
> Less Than Ideal
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I sighed and rubbed my temples as I heard Adagio's explanation of everything. Because of course the head councilor had evil artifacts that she was probably going to use to take over the world, or something like that. Might as well. This is, of course, on top of all of the magical powers Sunset and her buddies had suddenly gained. 

"So where did she find these, again?" I asked, looking back over to Adagio as she held an ice pack to one of the bigger shiners that Rapids had given her. Adagio sighed and glared over at Sonata, who was still glomped onto her. 

"Some cave in the forest. I don't know how she figured out that they were magic, but that's what she'd been using to create all of the problems in the camp. It's like falling dominoes. The more she tries to fix things, the more of them fall down. At first it was harmless. She just used the magic to fix something here or give something a nudge there. As things have gone on, though, she's been using it more. The problems with Filthy Rich and the money she owes him have added a lot more stress, so she's been using magic more and more to create, and I'm quoting, 'a summer experience so good that everybody will want to come here, and the camp will be fine'."

I scoffed. "Yeah, because that's how it works, especially when your head councilor is basically on drugs at this point."

"How much does she owe anyway?" Sunset asked. 

Adagio shrugged. "Not like she shared financial records with me, or anything like that. I know the loan was big. As in, bigger than she could possibly hope to pay off. If I've heard right, he pulled a fast one on her with the interest of the loan and instead of fifteen percent, it's like, forty-five, or something like that. He stuffed enough legal-ese in there that she made a mistake."

I grimaced at that. The Filthy Rich back in Ponyville wasn't always opposed to stepping on a few toes if the deal was good, but he'd never pull something like that. He'd be run out of town if ponies knew he did that kind of thing, to say nothing of the deal he'd lose with the Apple Family. Being on the right end of a bad loan wouldn't be worth losing that much of his reputation. That might need to factor into my plans here. 

"Well, do we know if she's keeping the geodes anywhere?" Twilight asked. "If we can get those away from her, maybe that will depower her enough that I can calm her down and fix as much as I can here. Depending on the loan, we can look into something there, but obviously the most important thing is stopping the magic that has control over her. Once we get that settled, it should be pretty easy to solve everything. As much as she thinks they're the solution to her problems, she doesn't know what she's playing with, and it's going to get a lot worse from here."

Sunset nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I've studied enough magic to know where this leads. We have to stop her sooner rather than later, or she might get powerful enough that we're in real trouble."

"And it's not like I can get the other alicorns over here to fight her, since we lose our magic once we enter the portal," I said. "You guys seem to have gained powers, so we might need to utilize that, but the main benefit here is Kristen, who..."

Right as I said that, I turned around to see that she'd disappeared. Of course. I loved my sister, obviously, but the chaos god thing could be a bit... inconvenient. If she just stuck around, I could make a plan with her that could solve this thing sooner, but I guess that's not fun enough for her. 

"So... we should probably find Kristen," I grumbled turning to the rest of them. "If we can get her help taking the geodes from Gloriosa, we can fix this... not quietly, but quickly. I'll take quickly over quietly." That left the question of what to do with the geodes once I had them, but that was a secondary concern. Right now, I needed to find Kristen as soon as possible, both because she can help fix this, or do something crazy that sets Gloriosa off, possibly on purpose just to see what happened. Not that I think she'd want destruction, but she is the chaos god, and acts accordingly.

"So, we want to find Kristen and get her to help, then at the same time find Gloriosa to keep an eye on her," Rainbow Dash said. 

I nodded. "Right. Adagio, any idea where she's keeping them, or if her brother might know?"

Adagio thankfully nodded. "Yeah, she's keeping them around her neck."

Ah, I wondered what those were. At first glance I just thought there were some necklace that she liked, not magical artifacts that she was using to control the camp. Of course. Well, given everything we've done here so far, breaking into her room while she was asleep to steal it wasn't the worst thing. Better than shooting the necklace with a shotgun, not that I'd brought it anyway. It was magical, but I didn't think it was magical enough to withstand that kind of attack. 

Heck, I wasn't sure if the shotgun wouldn't have killed the Sirens, but I was on my last option there. 

In any case, we needed to find Kristen and Gloriosa. If we were lucky, maybe we could have this all settled in a few hours. We just needed to get the geodes. 

"Alright, Blaze, Rapids and I will try to find Gloriosa. Obviously if she does get set off we can't do as much to stop her, but I'd rather risk us than any of you guys."

Rainbow Dash scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Yeah right. As if. I think you're forgetting that we all have magical powers now, dude. If she attacks, who's gonna be better at taking her down? The girls with super strength, shields, explosive sprinkles and super speed, or..." She motioned to me. "You know, I get that you guys were in a war and all, but if it comes down to a fight, who's gonna have an easier time of things?"

Eugh. I guess... she was technically correct. Not gonna lie, the locals using their powers to defend the camp was the easier option. All I could really do to fight her was... not all that much. Again, didn't bring the shotgun. 

Man, why couldn't I have kept my powers on the other side of the portal? I could have solved all four issues I've come over here for in minutes. I was used to having the ability to vaporize any enemy in seconds if I wanted to, so being a weak non-magical human again never got any easier since ascending. However, it just wasn't an option now. I had to work with what I had, and right now that was seven super-powered teenagers. 

"Alright, just..." I sighed and shook my head. "Just be careful. I don't know exactly how she's going to react when we actually confront her, so I don't want you all to get hurt. I'm not even sure how powerful she's is."

Pinkie flopped onto me and fake sniffled. "And you just couldn't bear to see any of us hurt! You'd never forgive yourself!" she said in a voice that sounded more like an exaggerated Rarity than Pinkie. I scoffed and pushed her aside. 

"All joking aside, yes. I came here to help everybody, and if I ruin things enough that she goes on a rampage and you get injured or god forbid killed..." I grimaced. "Yeah. Pinkie's right. I'd never forgive myself. Other than Adagio, her crew and Sunset, you all have doubles on the other side of the portal. Every time I saw one of your doubles, I'd remember how I'd messed up."

"Aww shucks, you don't gotta worry about that," Applejack said. "With the power of friendship, we're unstoppable!"

"Yeah, we're totally gonna stop Gloriosa and save the camp and be the most popular girls in school!" Rainbow said, snapping out a few boxing punches. 

"We'll be alright, Your Highness," Rarity said with a nod. 

Ugh. Well, until we found Kristen, we didn't have any better options. I nodded and turned to the door. "Alright, let's get going, then. Blaze, Rapids, Applejack, Rainbow, Adagio and Sunset with me. The rest go try to find Kristen and get any intel you can about any of the magic going on. If we can find where exactly she got the geodes, we might be able to stop her."

"Got it!" Pinkie said before bouncing out of the room, tossing a can of sprinkles up and down in the air in a way that I didn't particularly like. One drop...

Pinkie being Pinkie, I guess.

As we all walked out of the room, Sunset started walking beside me with a grimace on her face. Okay, odd. I turned to her and raised an eyebrow. 

"You okay?"

Sunset sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "I guess..." she muttered. "Just... you aren't. I don't know how you can be."

I stopped in my tracks and gave her a confused frown. The rest of the group stopped when I did, but I motioned for them to keep going. Once it was just Sunset and I in the room, I fully turned to face her. 

"Look, I know I don't have my magic right now and I have to risk you guys, but my ego isn't so fragile that I'm gonna mope and be emotionally destroyed because of it."

Sunset shook her head and rubbed her arm. "It's... it's not that."

"Then what is it about?"

"It's..." She took a deep breath. "I got powers, too. When I touched your shoulder, I felt... you, I guess? Your emotions. Your feelings. I think I got empathy powers."

My look of confusion turned into a grimace, and I slowly nodded, clicking my tongue. "Ah. Yeah, I guess I can see why that would have been a bit of a shock for you."

Sunset nodded and leaned against the wall, looking to the floor. "Yeah. It just... hurt. All I could feel was pain and pressure, like a huge weight was dropped onto my shoulders. I wanted to scream and cry, but it only lasted a few seconds." She looked up at me. "How do you live with it? We all have burdens to bear, but some of the stuff I felt was more than I ever thought was possible. I felt what it was like to lose everything, to have ponies die for you, to feel the pain of the weapons you were wounded by, to..." She took another deep, shaky breath. "K-kill someone, then force that pain down as you do it over and over again until you're a shell."

"Well, I hope you also felt the joy and happiness I feel when I'm around my wife and daughters," I replied with a small smile. "The fun of pulling pranks with my sister, the friendship I feel when Blaze, Rapids and I are around each other, the feeling of accomplishment when you know you've done something that improves the lives of the ponies you've been tasked to take care of, and things like that. Yes, I've gone through things that nobody should ever have to, but at the same time, I've experienced some of life's greatest joys. Yeah, you have to force yourself to become numb to killing thousands of people with the moral justification of 'us versus them,' but the alternative is much, much worse. You just adapt and look a the positives."

"I guess," Sunset muttered. "I still can't imagine, and I don't like how close I came to it."

I shrugged. "You didn't know, and neither did I. Now that you know you have those powers, you can probably control them, otherwise you'd have to go through your entire life never having any physical contact with anybody ever, and that just sounds like a miserable thought."

"It definitely does," Sunset said. "Anyway, we should probably catch up with the others and..." A slight frown crossed her face. "Hopefully not need to save the world, but at least camp. Gloriosa going nuts would probably do more than hurt us if she was set off."

"Probably," I agreed. "Let's go save camp.

The two of us walked outside where the rest of the group that was going to look for Gloriosa was waiting for us.

"You guys okay?" Blaze asked.

"Oh, yeah, we're good. Just needed to... talk about some stuff," I said. "Nothing too important."

The rest of the group exchanged uncertain looks, but they seemed to decide to drop it. I'd probably have one or more of them ask me about it later, but they didn't need to know. Right now the important thing was finding Gloriosa and stopping her. We could deal with more later.

"Alright, so the last time we were in the forest, that's where we felt the most magic, so my guess is that wherever she's getting these geodes from is in there. We should have plenty of daylight left to search for the source. There might be more, or there could be a way of depowering them completely. If I had to guess, without the geodes, she's just a normal human who's not a real threat."

Adagio shot me a glare so quickly that I thought I might have imagined it. Weird. Sunset, Blaze, Rapids, Twilight Adagio and I decided to explore the forest, while the rest who weren't looking for Kristen went to find Gloriosa. Hopefully this wouldn't turn into a fight, but I wanted to be ready in case it did. And hey, if we found more geodes, I might actually be able to fight her myself without the rest needing to be in harm's way. I had much more experience dealing with magic, so if it came to a straight fight, I could probably beat her with no problems.

Probably. My life never went as easily as I hoped it would, except for this one time about six months after I ascended. I ordered an audit of a business that I thought might be up to some shady stuff, and it turned out I was right, and we got it all settled in a couple of days. As far as I can remember, that... that was it. I think it was a Tuesday.

Sigh.

We passed by the rest of the campers who were all up to their various activities, completely unaware that their lives may all very well be in danger. Stopping Gloriosa might not be completely worth it if we leveled the camp and got a bunch of people hurt in the process. We weren't trying to reenact the end battles of the average superhero movies. 

It wasn't more than a few steps into the forest before we started feeling a bigger concentration of the magic in the air again. That probably meant we'd find something. If Gloriosa had all of the geodes and whatever held them was depowered, we probably wouldn't be feeling anything.

"This all gives me the creeps," Rapids muttered, looking around as if expecting something to jump out at us. "Is this how a tuning fork feels when I flick it?"

"Whatever it is, it's getting worse the farther we go into the forest," I said before turning to Twilight and Sunset. "Do you two feel anything? You have powers now."

Sunset nodded, and Twilight shook her head. "Nothing," Twilight said. "Just a little bit of wind."

"Same," Adagio said. "Which..." She grimaced and shook her head. "Nothing."

"I feel it," Sunset said, rubbing her arms. "I'm with Rapids: I don't like this."

"I almost feel like we should have brought some weapons or something," Blaze said, picking up a stick lying next to the path.  He gave it a few small swings before shaking his head and tossing it on the ground. "But if we showed up armed, that would definitely make things so, so much worse."

"Without a doubt," I agreed. "Right now we have to find everything, then we'll go from there."

The group was silent as we trekked further into the forest. Every now and again we'd find a split in the road, but the feeling of the magic would be stronger down one of the paths, so we took that trail. Every step closer made me wish that I still had my magic. Then I might be able to add a second thing in my life that went exactly as planned. 

It wasn't more than a twenty minute walk before we reached what I was certain was our destination. The path ended in a large cave, and the magic inside was so strong, I almost felt like it would knock me over. Each step closer to the cave seemed more an more difficult, but this was to save the camp here. I'd been in worse situations. 

"You okay, Antares?" Twilight asked. "You look like you're about to pass out."

"Ne.." I cleared my throat. "Never better. I think we're here." I turned to Sunset and my soldiers. "You guys having an easier time than me?"

Clearly, but it's getting harder to go on," Sunset said, looking back to the cave.

Rapids shrugged. "I feel it, but it's not like flying through a blizzard, or anything like that."

"We must be getting affected based on our inherent magic," I guessed. "As an alicorn... yeah, no fun. Flying through a blizzard doesn't feel like the worst analogy for me."

"If you need to lean on me or something, let me know," Blaze said. 

"Thanks, but I'll be okay." I'd definitely need a nap after all of this, though. It briefly made me wonder how Kristen would be doing right now. If a little of the pixie dust caused her chaos magic to go haywire, the magic in this cave could cause her to level the entire forest. Given that thought, maybe it was a good thing that she wasn't here. 

Or it could be fine. Chaos is, you know, chaotic.

Somehow I made it to the cave and managed to walk inside with the rest of the group to see Gloriosa standing in front of some kind of rock formation with two geodes sticking out of it. That explained why the cave was still active. She must have heard us come in, not that we'd be good at hiding it, and turned to face us, a nasty glare on her face. This wouldn't be fun.

"I wondered when you'd come to stop me," she snarled through gritted teeth. "Adagio has told me all about you. You're the 'god of war' from some alternate dimension who can't keep his nose away from where it doesn't belong!"

"Hey, I'm not here to hurt you," I said, raising my hands to chest level in in a likely futile attempt to calm her down. "We're just here to help the camp and you. Adagio was right: you don't have any idea what you're dealing with."

"I got this!" Gloriosa snapped. "If you really wanted to help me and the camp, you'd stay out of my way!"

"I can't do that," I replied with a shake of my head. "I've seen what your magic through the geodes is doing to the camp. You know as well as I do that it's not working. You're falling victim to the sunk cost fallacy. You think you're in too deep, so the only way to fix it is dig the hole deeper." I took another tentative step forward. "It doesn't have to be that way. Let me help you. Me, your brother, Adagio, we all just want to make sure you're okay."

"He's right," Adagio said, stepping beside me. "I know what this camp is like. I love it here just as much as you do. There's a better way to do this."

Gloriosa chuckled and turned around to, unfortunately, take the last two geodes out of the formation. Well, so much for that. "You're right, Adagio. I've been holding back. That ends now." She whirled around and brought the last two geodes up to her neck, where they flew over to her necklace and fused themselves to the strap. "But you all don't have to worry about that. I GOT THIS!"

With that, her eyes went black with a single white dot, and her raspberry hair shifted to an earthy green. Her outfit, previously fit for camp activities, began encasing her in a green dress with leaves and stupid things like that on it. Flowers and stuff. Fitting. Also fitting was her throwing her head back and laughing like a maniac to let us know beyond a shadow of a doubt that she'd lost it.

I knew this wasn't going to go well. Boy do I hate being right all the time.

Thinking fast, Twilight started lifting rocks to fight her, but Gloriosa or whatever evil name she wanted to call herself now, shot vines out of the ground that wrapped themselves around the six of us, which did a pretty good job of making sure that we couldn't move very well. That got us another evil laugh.

"You can't stop me now! Soon I'll make Camp Everfree the best camp in the world! It'll be so good, that nobody will ever even want to leave!"

"But we can check out anytime we like, right?" I asked. 

Gloriosa let out an evil chuckle and used the vines to lift me into the air until I was face-to-face with her. She clicked her tongue and lightly slapped my cheek. "God of war indeed. You're not so impressive."

I did my best to shrug. "To be fair, that's a title my subjects gave me after I slaughtered untold amounts of our enemies. I didn't ask for it. Maybe I'll put it on a t-shirt though, or something. I can send you one if I do. What size evil outfit do you wear?

"ENOUGH!" she screeched, slapping me a bit harder this time. "I'm going to rip you to pieces!"

"I'd tell you to start with my appendix, but I already had that out," I said. 

"As fun as that might be for you, you might want to get back to camp," Sunset said. The two of us looked down to her, and Gloriosa's eyes widened when she saw that Sunset had her phone out. "I've sent some really interesting pictures out to my friends, and there's no way that Pinkie isn't spreading them."

Gloriosa gasped and threw me down to the ground. She began flying out of the cave, but stopped and turned to us just before she reached the mouth and glared at me. "I'll fix it. I'll fix everything. Once I do, I'm coming back and I'll make you squeal first."

I scoffed and gave her an indignant look. "But I'm already married!"

That got me a rock that barely missed my head before she flew out. Before I could say anything, I heard a rumbling noise, followed by a dozen rocks falling in front of the cave, trapping us inside. Thankfully there were a few cracks in the barricade, so we still had a little light. I managed to slowly get to a sitting position and tested the vines. They weren't going anywhere for the moment. Great. 

"So, that went well," Adagio groaned.

"Not as bad as I thought it could," I admitted. "At least she left before she really hurt somebody." I turned my attention to Sunset. "I didn't know you got service in here."

Sunset scoffed. "You kidding? That was a total bluff. If she wasn't so mad at you and mentally messed up by the magic she can't even really control, you might have been in real trouble."

"Well, either way, we have to find a way out of this cave, which means Twilight using her levitation powers. So really we're just trying to get free." I paused as a thought crossed my mind." Huh. Weird. Now that there aren't any geodes here, I'm not feeling magic."

"That probably means that it'll be insane back at camp," Sunset pointed out. She scooted over to a rock and began trying to cut the vines off. "We need to get there first."

The cave was silent for a few minutes as each of us tried cutting away the vines. I was making decent progress on mine when Rapids spoke up.

"You know, if the stakes weren't so high, this would be kind of fun." I could almost hear the giant grin on her face.

Sigh.
> Detox
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well all things considered, it wasn't too difficult to get out of the cave. We managed to cut the vines away fairly quickly, and from there it was a quick bit of levitation from Twilight to fully free us. Whole thing probably took ten minutes. 

"Well then, we should probably get back to the camp," I said, stretching out a bit. "Looking like that, I don't think she went back to start a marshmallow roast and sing-a-long."

"We have to stop her before she hurts any of the campers," Adagio said, instantly rushing in the direction of the camp so fast that we needed to run for a second to catch up to her. She glanced back at us, but clearly didn't care whether or not she was going too fast for us. I put on a bit more speed to get beside her.

"Good to know you're taking this seriously, but any plans for the moment? You know her best out of any of us."

"I'm working on it," she said through gritted teeth. "It's not like I had powers that could straight stop her over on this side of the portal even before you blasted my gem to pieces. I have to think that there's something left of Gloriosa in there, because she didn't straight kill us like she very easily could have."

"Hopefully us trying to stop her doesn't set her off to that point," I said. "Even beyond her hurting us, she could hurt the campers if she really went off."

"I know, so we have to be very careful about this." She shot me a glare. "So you may not want to be involved. If anybody is going to really set her off, it's you."

I frowned at that. Sure, I tend not to be too subtle, but I was smart enough to know the difference between a time when you have to shock and awe, and when diplomacy or subtlety is called for. I threw fire tornadoes around during battle because I was magically surging and trying to defeat an enemy army. I shot the Sirens with a shotgun because I had no powers and kind of ran out of options at that point. Gloriosa was definitely in a... delicate emotional state, and me being over-the-top in trying to stop her when she had powers and I didn't definitely wouldn't like the results. I didn't know if my alicorn immortality and hardiness translated to this side of the portal, and even if it did, it's not like Blaze, Rapids or any of the locals could hold up if Gloriosa got a hold of them and actually wanted to hurt them.

Ech. All things considered, the fist time I was over and had to stop Sunset went pretty smoothly. Not like she was a huge threat anyway. Why couldn't everything be like that?

We heard the screams of terror before we saw them, and the second we heard the first one, Adagio started straight booking it. I doubted that she even had a plan of what to do, but if she did, the first step was probably "get there and find out what was happening, then figure out step two." I'd had dozens of plans like that over the years I'd been in Equestria. 

It didn't take long to figure out what was going on the second we burst out of the treeline. Gloriosa must have felt that the whole vines trick she did with us worked rather nicely, because pretty much every building had a large vine wrapped around it as if Poison Ivy had stumbled drunk into camp and decided to have some fun. The campers were all running around to avoid the leafy assault, while some had already been trapped in the buildings. So far it didn't look like anybody had been hurt, but that probably wouldn't last very long if this kept going. 

Thankfully, it didn't take too long to find Gloriosa. She was floating in the air at the middle of the camp, spinning around and laughing like a maniac. Hoo boy. She'd gone completely off her rocker. 

"Gloriosa, stop this!" Timber cried, running up to his lunatic sister. "You're going to destroy the camp! People are going to get hurt unless you calm down!"

That just made Gloriosa laugh harder. "No, Timber. This is how I'm going to save the camp! We can all stay here and have fun forever! Nobody could take it from us; not Filthy Rich, not any banks..." Unfortunately, that's when she spotted us. Her eyes narrowed, and she bared her teeth. "And especially not you!"

"Hey, I'm not here to take your camp. I want to see you succeed as much as you do!" I insisted.

"Liar!" she screeched. "You just want to take this place for yourself, or maybe burn it down like the god of war they say you are."

She didn't have to be that mockingly sarcastic about the god of war part of it. "Look, I didn't give myself that name," I said. "My subjects did. Just because I've had to defend my country during a brutal war doesn't mean that I'm here to burn everything to the ground!"

"I know you won't," she said, giving me a nasty grin that I didn't quite like. She raised her hand, which began crackling with black energy, causing a thick vine to rise up beside her. "You'll never stop me!"

Before I could move, she shot the vine at me that would have probably hurt quite a bit if it had managed to connect. However, half a second before it could grab me and probably throw me all the way back to Canterlot High, the vine burst into a pile of... skittles? Gloriosa must have been as shocked as me, because she didn't try to wipe me off of the face of the earth with another attack. 

"What. The heck. Is going on here?"

Yeah, couldn't mistake that voice. Maybe this wouldn't be as bad as I'd hoped as long as she focused. The moment I saw her, My eyes went as wide as humanly possible as I saw my sister. 

But... Uh...

Now there were two of them. Both of them were dressed identically with the exact same hairstyle, and, to top it off, each were holding a green lightsaber of all things. 

"Oh great. What's going on?" I groaned. "Which one of you is my sister?"

"I am," they both said at the same time. They frowned and pointed to the other. "No, wait. She is. Or am I?"

I know that I wanted to find her to help fight Gloriosa, but that didn't mean that I wanted two of them running around. Kristen hadn't gotten strong enough to make an illusion of herself yet. 

"Enough of this!" Gloriosa screeched, recovering from the shock much faster than me. "None of you will stop me!" With that, her eyes went white, and a giant dome of vines started covering the camp, which was less than ideal. Kristen One and Two both raised their hands, and the vines started turning into cheddar cheese. It became a fight between the two sides, one trying to stop the vines, and the other trying to close the dome. They seemed pretty evenly matched at the moment, but I began to worry that one of them would go farther, and we'd be in real trouble. 

"Gloriosa, stop this!" Adagio cried, running up to her, but stopping before she got too close. Gloriosa turned to look at Adagio and bared her teeth. 

"Keep out of this!" Gloriosa growled. "You'll see how much better things are when I beat all of our enemies and make it so that we can be here and happy forever!"

"How can you feel that? You think these campers don't have families; parents who would miss them?"

The vine dome shuddered, and she began pouring more power from her geodes into the air. I cried out in pain and grabbed my head, falling to the ground as the magical wave overloaded all of my senses. Blaze and Rapids were both sitting down, discomfort clearly on their face, but neither felt horrible enough that they'd started writhing on the ground clutching their heads like me. There were times when having several orders of magnitude more magic than everybody else was more of a curse than a blessing. Even if I'd had access to my magic, I doubted that I'd be able to utilize it and fight her. The same must have been true of Kristen, as both of them were barely standing up. It was all they could do to keep the vines away from the campers. 

Long story short, things weren't going too well. If we lost here, there wasn't really anything we could do, short of Celestia and Luna bringing an army through the portal to take Gloriosa down, which they very well might do. They'd put my safety before the safety of this world, and they might be willing to burn the camp to the ground. Gloriosa almost certainly wouldn't survive that. 

"We'll be happy here forever! Nobody will stop me!" Gloriosa screeched. 

"You're wrong," Adagio growled through gritted teeth. She cracked her neck, balled her hands into fists and took another step forward. "I will."

Gloriosa's eyes widened for a second, but she scoffed and shot out a vine that wrapped around Adagio, bringing her face-to-face with her. "You really think you can? I thought you loved this place."

"I do love this place!" Adagio insisted. "Please just give me the geodes and we can help you!"

"Help me?" Gloriosa clicked her tongue and poked Adagio's forehead. "You can help me by letting this happen. Do that, and it won't take long before you realize how much better I've made things. We can have fun forever!"

"I'll never stop." Adagio turned to see a vine shoot straight at a group of campers. Principal Celestia threw herself into its path, which would have probably gone right through her if Kristen hadn't turned it into a stream of bubbles at the last second. Celestia acknowledged her with a small nod, then herded the students into a cabin that she then blocked with her body. Adagio growled and turned her attention back to Gloriosa. "You almost killed her!"

"Then she shouldn't have gotten in the way. I was just trying to put the students into the cabin anyway. If everybody just complies, nobody gets hurt!" Gloriosa bared her teeth, and Adagio cried out in pain as the vine around her tightened. "And that includes you. You've been my most valuable councilor, but don't think I value you enough that I'll just let you stop me!"

"Then you're going to have to either kill me or mutilate me to the point where I'm a vegetable," Adagio said through gritted teeth as she tried to wiggle out of the vines. "I'll never stop until the campers are safe from you! I'll fight you day in and day out until every single innocent student is back home safe with their parents. Think of all of the blood you'll have to shed to keep a hold of your camp."

"If you just let this happen, nobody will get hurt!" Gloriosa screeched. "Why can't any of you understand that?! Filthy Rich won't get a single grubby finger on this place!" 

"If you hurt them, or even kill me, you'll have more..." Adagio flopped down for a second, then took in a deep, shaky breath and straightened back up. If this didn't end soon, Gloriosa was going to suffocate her, or at the very least crush her to death. Somehow Adagio managed to straighten up enough to look Gloriosa in the eye. "Y-you'll have more problems than Filthy Rich." She jerked her head toward me. "Everybody from his side of things will come here to destroy you. Every soldier and cop w-will assault this place." Adagio took another deep, shaky breath in, and some of the defiance in her eyes faded. Gloriosa was killing her, and probably didn't even know it. "The camp will be a crater."

For the first time, the deranged smile flickered into unease for just a moment. Her gaze flicked over to Timber, who was also wrapped up in a vine. He gave her a pleading look and reached a hand out to her. 

"Gloriosa. Please. Don't do this."

"I... you..." Her eyes narrowed. "Just... just let this happen! I can fix this! I... okay, maybe things have gotten out of control, but I can fix it. I can fix all of this, then you'll be happy here! You'll all be happy here!"

"I'll never stop." Adagio's words were slurred, and she could barely keep her head up. Her breathing was labored enough that she'd probably broken a few ribs already. "I-if I have to bite and claw through every vine to stop you and free the campers, I'll spend every breath I have left fighting you."

I had to help somehow, but every time I moved I felt like my head was being split open with an axe. I needed to help. Adagio would die if I didn't. I pushed myself onto my hands and knees, and the world started spinning badly enough that I started dry heaving. We needed to get the geodes away from her, or I might actually suffer permanent damage. I looked up enough to see both Kristens, Twilight and her friends rushing around trying to protect any of the campers in danger, but the pure magic bringing me down had started slowing them. One of the Kristens was actually leaning against the other one, though the second was barely standing as it was, the pure magic completely overloading them. I started regretting not actually bringing a gun. A bullet to the side of Gloriosa's head would probably solve all of this really quickly, and better that we lose her than everyone else. 

"Maybe you and Timber will need to be put away somewhere until you understand how much better I've made things." Gloriosa turned her attention to Timber with a nasty grin. "Don't you agree?"

Timber's eyes widened, and he slowly started stepping back, his hand held out as if he could block her magic with the Force. "Gloriosa, you don't need--" But that was all he got out before he was covered in a dome of vines. Even more shot out of the ground and began wrapping themselves around Twilight and her friends. The vines that tried restraining the Kristens burst into Skittles the second they made contact, but whatever magic was in the air still prevented them from doing more than that. 

"Well well well," Gloriosa said with a nasty grin. "Looks like nobody can stop me. Not the god of war, not the teens with the random powers, and not even the chaos god. Looks like you'll all have to stay here, Adagio!"

Adagio didn't move. She just laid there, flopped down in Gloriosa's vines. I couldn't tell from where I was, but I hazarded a guess that she wasn't breathing. Gloriosa's grin slowly faded into a frown, and she tilted her head, bringing Adagio closer to her. 

"Hey, Dagi. Earth to Adagio." She tapped Adagio's forehead. "Come on, not the time for this. Hey, come on. Come on, wake up. Not nap time."

"You're..." I dry heaved one more time before using the last of my strength to look up at her again. "You're crushing her. With your vines."

Gloriosa's eyes widened, and she let out a little squeak of terror before gently placing Adagio on the ground and unwrapping the vine around her. Gloriosa landed next to her and began shaking her shoulders. "Adagio! Come on! Wake up!"

The second Gloriosa landed, the magic overloading the air vanished, and I managed a deep breath of clean, pure air. The vibrations piercing my skull ceased, allowing me to think clearly for the first time since Gloriosa's attack. I instantly stood up and rushed over to Gloriosa and Adagio.

"Dagi, come on!" Gloriosa screeched, pulling Adagio into a tight hug as tears began streaming down her face. "I can fix this! I didn't mean to! Y-you and Timber... I... I need you! I didn't mean for it to h-happen this way!"

I reached the two of them and knelt down next to Adagio. A quick check of her pulse didn't find anything. If I had access to my magic, I might have been able to do something, but here I was just a normal person. 

"I just th-thought I was holding her in place," Gloriosa sobbed as she gently stroked Adagio's hair. "I didn't know that I was hurting her!"

"You really couldn't tell that she was losing strength and barely able to talk to you or even hold her head up," I growled, glaring at Gloriosa out of the corner of my eyes. 

"I didn't know!" Gloriosa sobbed, then looked over to me with pleading eyes. "Y-you're some kind of god, right? You can fix her?"

I grimaced and shook my head. "I don't have that kind of power on this side of things."

"Then bring her over to your side of things and fix her! You can do that!"

"Might be worth a shot if the portal were in one of these cabins, but not a four hour drive away." If Kristen was strong enough in her powers, we might have been able to teleport over there, but if we tried, the odds of failure were incredibly high. 

Still, given that she had the widest range of magic, she was our best chance. I didn't care which one. Thankfully they must have noticed the issue, because they both came hobbling over to us. The one on the left collapsed onto the ground and curled up into a ball while the other leaned against me. 

"Ugh. I think I'll need a vacation after this vacation. I didn't even know that I was capable of feeling pain anymore."

"Happens sometimes." I motioned to Adagio. "Anything you can do?"

"Oh, who knows?" she groaned before sliding over to the two of them and poking Adagio's shoulder. When she didn't respond, Kristen put her hand on her head. Her hand flashed green for a second, after which she pulled it back and shook it. "Well, the good news is that your friend is only mostly dead. I managed to find the smallest little pulse." She put her hand back on Adagio's head, both now flashing green. "I think this might... work... if I..."

Adagio's eyes snapped open, and she let in a big breath, then instantly flinched back with a hiss of pain, grabbing at her side. Kristen chuckled and rubbed the back of her neck.

"Yeah, uh... so that worked. Haven't tried much healing magic before, so I'm not comfortable trying more than getting you up again." She motioned to Adagio's side. "Not quite comfortable trying to fix the six ribs you cracked and broke. Should have dulled the pain a lot."

Gloriosa burst into tears and tried to pull Adagio into a hug, but stopped short once she remembered the broken ribs. She wailed and curled up next to Adagio. 

"I'm s-sorry!" she cried. "I d-didn't me-mean t-to, a-and I just thought that..."

"Gloriosa." Her gaze snapped up to Adagio who was giving her a blank stare. "Give me the geodes."

Gloriosa gave her a look of confusion for a second before slowly nodding and unclasping the necklace and handing them over. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Rapids take a half step towards us before Blaze put his hand on her shoulder and shook his head. Adagio stood up and walked away without another word to Gloriosa. She stopped for a second next to Sunset and tossed the geode necklace to her. 

"Here. Do something with those. Don't care what. Grind them up and mix them with glitter glue for all I care."

Sunset slowly nodded and looked down to the necklace in her hands. She pinched one of them, and it instantly glowed yellow. The vines began receding, and it wasn't more than a few seconds before they were gone, leaving only the destruction they'd caused in their wake. 

"Adagio, I'm sorry!" Gloriosa wailed as her brother ran up to her. He knelt down and pulled her into a hug, holding her as she cried so hard she couldn't even speak. I took a deep breath and ran a hand through my hair. At least the camp was safe. The undercurrent of magic that I'd felt since the moment I stepped foot into Camp Everfree had vanished. Blaze and Rapids ran over to me as Kristen helped her twin up. 

"Prince Antares, are you okay?" Blaze asked. 

I nodded. "Yeah, all things considered I'm fine. Think I need a nap, though."

"Ugh, me too," Rapids groaned, rubbing her temples. "Not my best camp experience. Not my worst, but not my best."

Blaze scoffed and gave Rapids a disbelieving look. "And what exactly was worse than a magical overload like that?"

"Had a game of Truth or Dare at Flight Camp that went really off the rails." She waved her had at Blaze before he could respond. "Don't ask. None of it was illegal back then."

I sighed and looked around to survey the damage. Campers were starting to come out of the buildings, which was probably for the best given that some of them looked like they were going to collapse. The teachers were starting to herd them somewhere or other, while Twilight and her friends went around helping however they could. I noticed that each one of them had one of the geodes. Well, probably best with them anyway. The smarter move might be taking them back to Equestria with me, but given that they all seemed to be color coded to her and her friends, I got the feeling that they were meant to have them. We'd figure all of that out later. I turned to Blaze and Rapids and motioned to the camp. 

"Make sure that everyone is okay and help however you can."

"Roger, Prince Antares," Blaze said. "What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to find Adagio," I said, looking at the direction she'd gone. "I get the feeling that she needs somebody to talk to."

"And who better than the guy who made her mortal by blasting her in the neck with a shotgun?" Rapids agreed with a nod. 

I rolled my eyes. Yeah, we didn't have the best history, to put it lightly, but I got the feeling that I was the best person to talk to her. Content that everything would run smoothly without me, I followed Adagio through the treeline.

It didn't take terribly long to find her. She was standing at the edge of the water on the opposite side of the lake from the camp. It was a few minutes before I managed to reach her, but when I got close enough, I saw she was skipping stones.

"You know, I can do all kinds of cool stuff since becoming an alicorn, but skipping stones was one of those skills that I never really figured out."

Adagio glanced over at me and rolled her eyes. "What an icebreaker."

I shrugged and stopped next to her. "Yeah, I guess, but it's also true."

She grunted and knelt down to pick up a flat, smooth stone, then motioned for me to do the same. Mine didn't look quite as good as hers, but I wasn't practicing for a world championship here. "Yeah, that'll do, I guess," she said, a hint of irritation in her voice. "Then you go like this... hold the rock like this... no, I said hold the rock like this. There, that looks competent enough. Then you wind back and..." She flicked her wrist, and the stone hopped five times before sinking into the lake. I tried copying her motion, and actually managed to get it to bounce twice.

"Well, that's better than normal for me," I said with a wry smile. "You're a good teacher."

"Yeah, yeah," she grumbled with a wave of her hand. "I have to teach at least two dozen campers every summer, so I've gotten pretty good at it." She picked up another stone and skipped it four times. "Sometimes it's what I do to relax around here whenever we get free periods."

"Hm." We stood there in silence for a few moments, her skipping stones and me lightly tossing the one I'd grabbed up and down in my hand. "So... you wanna talk about it?"

Her eyes narrowed, and she squeezed the stone she was holding hard enough that I wondered for a moment if water would start coming out. "There's nothing to talk about."

"If I want lies, I'll wait a few years then ask my daughters who took the cookies out of the cookie jar," I replied. "Come on, it's not healthy to keep it bottled up. That wasn't a small thing that just happened."

She squeezed the rock harder, and I began to wonder if she'd actually throw it at me. Instead, she just threw it into the lake, not even bothering to try skipping it. 

"And why would I talk to the person who took everything from me?" she snarled. "You shot me in the neck with a shotgun and shattered my gem!"

I lightly scoffed. "Based on everything that just happened and what you just said to Gloriosa, I'd imagine you'd know better than anybody why I'd do that." Her glare flickered for a second before turning back to the lake. I took the rock I was holding and flicked it into the lake, actually managing to bounce it three times. "Huh. I'm getting better."

Adagio let out a small, quiet breath as she lightly kicked a pebble into the lake. "Life... was hard after you defeated us. Sonata and Aria might have been content to just roll over and take it, but I wasn't going to debase myself by being some kind of trained lap dog for you."

I frowned at that. "Ouch. That's not--"

"I couldn't stay. I couldn't spend every day around the Rainbooms and my sisters trying to move past what might have been and accepting that I was a weak nobody." She took a deep breath, and I thought I saw her wipe her eyes for a moment, but if she did, the motion was quick enough that I couldn't be sure. "It wasn't long before I was hungry. Actually hungry in a way I hadn't felt before. The hunger mortals feel and the hunger I felt as a siren feel completely different. It's... difficult to explain, but for a short time I didn't even recognize it as hunger.

"I didn't have money. Before, whatever we wanted or needed we just took. One little siren song and it was ours. Cars, clothes, places to stay, we never paid a dime for it."

"Sounds nice at first glance," I said.

"It was. It was the way we'd done things for thousands of years, so to have to earn money felt alien. I needed food, and for food I needed money, and for money, I needed work. I went to a few homeless soup kitchens for meals and..." She squeezed her eyes shut. "I couldn't do it. To have to debase yourself by begging for charity was almost as bad as losing my gem. I found odd jobs here and there. All under the table, of course. I didn't have an ID, a place of residence, a birth certificate, anything. I scraped by with just barely enough to keep myself fed and sheltered in a place with a shower and bed. Some of them just needed an extra pair of hands. Some of them needed some menial job done that them or their normal employees didn't feel like doing. One of them..." Her eyes narrowed, and her jaw tightened. "Only wanted me for my body. He saw a helpless young woman and told me he could help. He took me to dinners and bought me clothes and said that he'd take me away to a better life."

Oh... uh... hm. We cracked down on that kind of thing pretty hard in Equestria, but it was impossible to completely stomp out. Tragic to know it was a problem on the other side, too. I uneasily rubbed the back of my neck. "So... did--"

"No," she growled. "I realized what was happening before it was too late. It almost was. He got a knife wound to his leg for his troubles, and I got out of town as quickly as possible. Managed to stumble across a job fair and rolled the dice. Timber and Gloriosa were there. We got to talking, and they invited me to the camp. After what had just happened, all of my instincts were screaming at me that it wasn't safe, but for some reason, I accepted their offer."

"Sorry that happened to you," I muttered before giving her a weak smile. "So... hopefully you really ruined that leg, right?"

She grunted noncommittally before continuing. "I barely said anything on the ride up. I kept waiting for something to go wrong; for some kind of catch or some other side of them to come out, and I'd be actually stuck that time. But no, they treated me more nicely than anybody in my life. It was like they were just happy to know me, and excited to share the experiences of the camp that they loved so much."

"Well, I'm glad that you ran into them, then."

"Hm. Yeah." Adagio slowly sat down, holding her side in pain. "We had our first group of campers about a week after I gotten here. Gloriosa suggested the haircut so that I wouldn't get it caught in branches and such. Turned out to be a good idea. During orientation, Timber introduced me and said that I'd be helping out." She managed a small smile. "I've had entire stadiums locked on me, desperate to hear my voice, but I'd never been so uncomfortable being looked at by a crowd than when those thirty middle-schoolers looked at me. I almost wanted to run and cry, but I didn't. 

"The first activity was a hike. On the way there, one of the campers fell and scraped her knee. Timber walked me through cleaning and bandaging the wound, and when I'd finished, the camper popped up with a big smile, hugged me and said 'thank you, Miss Adagio.'"

"Nothing quite like the affection of a child, is there?" I said with a smile. "It's often so... unconditional. No hidden agenda behind it. They're just happy to see you and be around you."

Adagio actually managed the first traces of a genuine smile at that. "Yeah. I think... I think that's the moment I started to feel like I belonged here. When we finished the hike, it was one of the best achievements of my life. I was hot and tired and sweaty and I had leaves in my hair and and twigs in my boots, but I was happy. As the summer went on, Camp Everfree felt more and more like home, and Timber and Gloriosa family in a way that even my sisters weren't."

Her smile faded into a glare, and she grabbed a handful of gravel that she began squeezing. "And then that bastard Filthy Rich. What I wouldn't have done to him if I still had my powers! He would have begged for mercy that I wouldn't have considered giving him! Then Gloriosa found those geodes and everything went wrong! She used their magic in small ways here and there; repairing some broken arrows, cleaning up some spill, removing splinters from the dock, but then there was more. There were always more things she needed the magic for!"

Adagio slowly got to her feet and began pacing. "By the time Timber and I really understood the scope of what she'd gotten herself in to, it was too late! We deluded ourselves into thinking that we'd be able to talk her out of using them, but they became her go-to solution for everything!" She stopped in her tracks and whirled around to glare at me. "And then you showed up. You and your soldiers. Whatever stability we'd managed to keep came crashing down!" She stomped a few steps toward me and bared her teeth. "Why is it that whenever you come along my life is ruined?!"

I returned her glare. "Hey, you know that's not true."

"It's--"

"You know that's not true." I scoffed and crossed my arms. "How much farther was it going to go even if I hadn't shown up? Did you or Timber see an end point? Filthy's going to take the camp at the end of the month. You really think she wouldn't have done what she just did then?"

"Of course she would have!" Adagio roared before resuming her pacing. "She went nuts and then she made me choose! Her or the campers! My sister in all but blood or the children we'd been tasked to take care of! I chose to fight her, and she almost killed me for it! If you or your sister hadn't been there, she would have killed me, and who knows how many other she would have hurt? Would she have accidentally killed Timber, too?" Adagio picked up a giant rock and, with a roar that would freak out a lion, threw it into the lake. The resulting splash sent out a small wave that washed over us.

Well, good thing I didn't have my phone, but did have a spare change of clothes in the truck. I wiped some of the water off of my face and took a step toward Adagio. This time I couldn't miss her quiet sobbing, and she was clutching at her side, both because she was cold and throwing a rock that big couldn't have been good for her ribs.

"Why, Gloriosa?" she whimpered. "Why did you do that to me? I loved you like my sister."

"'Loved' past tense?" I said, putting a hand on her shoulder. She flinched, but didn't push it away.

"I... I don't know. I don't think so. I know she wasn't quite herself and desperate to save our home, but... she almost killed me. I used to be immortal. Death wasn't supposed to be something that ever crossed my mind, much less my path. Then she had me wrapped up in that stupid vine, and I was having a hard time breathing, and everything was fading to black. All I had was the knowledge that I was dying as the vine got tighter, and that my own family was doing it to me, and I couldn't protect the campers from my family no matter how much I wanted to..." She took in a shaky breath. "It was worse than when that pig said that 'because he'd done so much for me, was it alright if I did something for a friend of his?'"

"Yeah," I muttered. "Can't imagine. Won't try to. Won't say you're overreacting. I will say that she's probably never going to truly forgive herself for what happened, and she didn't mean to do it. Cold comfort right now, I know, but it's something to keep in mind. She doesn't have the geodes anymore."

"And in a few weeks, she won't have the camp anymore, and then where will I be? Where will we be?"

"Let's not worry about that for right this hot second," I replied. "You all have a lot to work through. The campers are alright. Buildings can be repaired. Take today to figure some things out. Worry about tomorrow later."

"I guess," Adagio muttered. 

"I'm gonna head back to camp to check in on everything. I'll see if I can't find somebody to help you with your ribs."

"Sure. Thanks."

When she didn't say anything else, I slowly nodded and walked away, leaving her to her thoughts.
> A Financial Meeting.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well, that was a happy conversation. Adagio could definitely use the alone time. Hopefully she could sort some things out and get actual help. The problem was that one of the two people she trusted most in the world almost killed her, so who knows what that would do there. I guess Timber could help, but probably only so much. 

In any case, that still left what to do with the camp. 

I made it back to the main campground where everybody was sort of milling around, probably trying to wrap their minds around what had just happened. I know that they'd had stuff like the sirens controlling their minds, but this time they were a bit more aware of everything. Kind of made me wish I wasn't. When Gloriosa was pumping that much magic into the air, it felt like somebody twisting screws into my head, and I can't imagine that the others felt much better. How much it hurt was clearly dependent on how much magic you had, so Kristen and I got it the worst by far, but that didn't mean that the rest didn't go through it, too. Sunset and her buddies hadn't prepared for something like what had just happened. In any case, they had the geodes now. Probably for the best.

I found Blaze, Rapids and the rest of the group gathered around an unlit fire pit. Each of them looked like they'd run ten miles nonstop. Rarity and Fluttershy leaned against each other, Applejack and Rainbow Dash were just lying on the grass staring up at the sky, Twilight and Sunset were having a hushed conversation, probably about what had just happened, and even Pinkie just sat there and stared into the fire pit. I'd never seen her sitting so still in this world or mine. Both Kristens had fallen asleep back-to-back with each other, and Blaze and Rapids just kind of stood there. 

Ugh. Two Kristens. Both of whom looked exactly like the other one. Knowing my sister like I did, especially the past few years, it would take a heck of a lot to distinguish the two, and they'd do their best to make that as hard as possible for me. 

Sigh.

Sunset was the first one to notice me, and she stood up just as I reached the pit, which caused the others to look in my direction. I sat down on one of the logs and groaned as my muscles and joints protested the action. I'd probably wake up really sore the next day. Now I know what it's like being eighty. 

"How is she?" Sunset asked. 

"It's... going to be hard. She's been through a lot."

Aria quietly scoffed. "Yeah, she was always the most stubborn of the three of us. Surprised she ended up here."

"You'll have to get the whole story. It's quite something," I said. "Regardless, she needs some time. How are all of the campers?"

"Well, there's a huge line for the phones. Everybody is calling their parents, and I'm guessing that the week is over. We'll probably be seeing a fleet of cars here in the next few hours of campers getting picked up."

"Though last I heard, the phones were down, so nothing's gotten out as far as I know," Applejack said. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw one of the Kristens raise her fist and give a thumbs up. Hm. Interesting.

"I know I wouldn't want my daughters still here after this," I admitted. "If Gloriosa hadn't realized what she was doing..." I shook my head. Not a fun idea. There was so much pure magic in the air, it would have taken the army to take her down, and there's no way she'd survive that, to say nothing of the other casualties. If she went nuts because Filthy Rich was trying to take the camp over, I could only imagine what she'd do to people coming to destroy it. We'd gotten lucky. 

"Where is Gloriosa?" I asked, nudging a slightly charred piece of wood back into the fire pit. "She's probably a wreck, but we still need to talk."

"I think her and Timber went into the main office building," Twilight said. "Gloriosa didn't... look well."

"Yeah, I'll bet. She's probably going to need as much therapy as Adagio."

"I'm sure there are some great therapists who specialize in this exact situation on this side," Rapids said with a nod. "Ask around and you'll probably find two or three who know how to handle 'almost killed my family thanks to being possessed by magical rocks.'"

"Not sure if possession is the right word. Seemed closer to a drug addiction. In any case..." I stood up and motioned in the direction of the office. "I need to talk to her and Timber. Gotta figure out what to do next." 

The others mumbled in agreement, and I made my way to the office. I passed by dozens of campers, all of whom looked at me with slight awe. Yeah, I guess in the past few times I'd been here, I'd become more than "the mysterious Canadian" to them. Wouldn't be surprised if half of them knew at least something about where I'd come from. Celestia, Luna and Antares were at the entrance of the camp, conversing with each other about what had happened, if I had to guess. I'd need to talk to them, too. If Kristen had been a little slower, Principal Celestia would have been killed by one of the vines. I'd be surprised if they ever wanted to come back.

This wouldn't be an easy fix. 

The door to the main office was cracked open a bit, which gave me a pretty good idea that Timber and Gloriosa were in there. I pulled the door open and walked in, finding Gloriosa and Timber in the back office. Timber stood leaning against a wall, while Gloriosa laid in a fetal position on the floor, sobs shaking her entire body. Yeah, she'd probably do well to get some of that therapy we were talking about, even if she'd need to be a bit mum on the nitty gritty. Maybe we could hire a therapist from Equestria. 

Gloriosa looked up when I entered the room, and her eyes widened in fear. She shot to her feet and ran to the farthest corner of the room, holding her hand out as if to stop me if I was going to charge, or something. 

"No! Don't! I'm s-sorry! I d-didn't mean for it to go like that! D-don't hurt me!"

I lightly scoffed and shook my head as Timber took a few steps between Gloriosa and I. "I'm not going to hurt you."

"You're a liar!" she snarled. "You're the god of war, right? You've come in here to eliminate the threat or something, right?"

I rolled my eyes. "Look, god of war is a title I didn't ask for, and it's completely irrelevant to our situation here. I'm not here to hurt you or arrest you, or anything like that. We have a lot to talk about, but I'm here to help. What would I possibly gain from doing anything to you?"

Gloriosa exchange a glance with Timber, but slowly put her hand down and relaxed ever so slightly. Well, that was a good start, at least. I noticed a chair in front of the desk and motioned to it. 

"May I?" When neither of them said anything, I sat down and leaned back a bit. "Okay, so you'll definitely need to talk to Adagio about everything. She's fine, for the most part. Few cracked ribs it sounds like, but nothing life threatening. She's hurt in far more ways than physical, but she's not going to die."

A pair of thick tears streaked down Gloriosa's face, and her body twitched in a few more sobs as she slid down to the floor and buried her face in her hands. 

"I didn't mean to," she whispered. "I just... it... I... I don't know."

"Where is she?" Timber asked. 

I jerked my head in the direction of the lake. "Skipping rocks on the shore last time I saw her. Needed to be alone for a bit. Can't say I blame her all that much." I grunted and leaned forward. "You got lucky. Really lucky. Another minute and we might be having a different conversation about her. None of the campers or teachers are hurt either, so there's that. Repairs might take a while, but buildings are a lot more replaceable than people."

"As if we even have the money for that in the first place," Timber groaned taking a seat behind the desk.

"Yeah, I heard that you owe a lot to Filthy Rich."

"You heard right," Timber muttered. "And after everything that just happened, there's no way that we'll be able to pay him back now."

"Heard he gave you a loan with some tiny fine print," I said. "How much?"

"Seventy-five thousand to be paid back in six months," Timber groaned. "Might have been able to do that if he hadn't pulled a fast one on us with the interest rate. He offered ten percent, then we were stupid enough to not read the contract carefully enough, and that ten percent turned into forty-five."

"Compounding weekly," Gloriosa muttered. "Which we also failed to notice."

"Still might have been able to pull it off by skimping a bit, but we had a bad month and couldn't make the whole payment. That's when we noticed a ten percent charge for being late. Because of that, we were late the next month. Then the month after that."

"And so on and so on." I sighed and ran my hand through my hair. "Sounds like he was just doing everything he could to get the property. Surprised he didn't just pull a gun." And also why I tend to have a team of lawyers look over anything I sign.

"He gave me until the end of the month to come up with the money," Gloriosa said, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. "I didn't think that we'd be able to get all of it, but maybe just enough to buy us more time."

"Uh-huh," I said flatly. Yeah, I don't think she believed it would work either, but she probably thought she didn't have a choice.

"So we're homeless if we don't find a way to come up with the money in a couple of days," Timber said, thunking his head on the desk. "I just... I don't know."

"Hm. How much do you still owe him?"

"Thanks to all of those late fees and interest rates, not too much less than what we originally borrowed," Gloriosa whispered. 

So there was basically no chance that they'd be able to get the money to pay him back, which I'm sure was the point. He'd be able to make much more money off of the property than he'd ever make with them repaying the loan. I'm sure that this wasn't the first time he'd done something like this. He probably liked choosing borrowers who didn't have the means to pay him back, and wouldn't be able to sue if he screwed them over. It might be worth it to take a look at that. 

"Well..." I took a pen off of the desk and began idly spinning it in my hand. "There's a lot that you guys need to do, especially you, Gloriosa. We'll have to see how we can spin your little... event. Could try to blame it on Gaia Everfree, or something like that. It's not like these students haven't been on the wrong end of a little magic."

"That's going to take a lot," Timber said. 

"Yes, yes it is. I'll get my people on that. Talk to them. See the best ways that they can help out. In the meantime..." A small smirk crossed my face, and I tapped the pen on the desk. "Leave Filthy Rich to me."


*  *  *  *


The door to the office opened up, and a man dressed in a sharp business suit and perfectly slicked back hair walked in. The smirk he had on his face fell when he saw me sitting behind the desk. Guess I didn't look enough like Timber or Gloriosa to fool him. Oh well. He scoffed and took a few steps into the office. 

"Well. You're not who I expected. I believe when I called I requested to talk to Gloriosa or Timber. You are neither."

"Good to see we don't need to get your eyes checked," I said, idly tapping my finger on a knickknack on the desk. "They're both busy right now, so I've been given the task of dealing with you."

"Oh, is that so?" he said, raising his eyebrow. "Good to see that they aren't taking this seriously, or are they so scared of the consequences of their late payments that they send you in their place?"

"Zero for two on those guesses," I said. "We are here to discuss the nasty little deal you have with them, though. I gave the contract a once-over. Very nasty. They should have looked over it, but it's a mistake I'm sure they won't make again."

"They won't have the chance to make it again, unless they want to beg for more money from some other sucker. Either way, they learned a valuable lesson about business."

"They did, they did," I agreed. "However, sometimes things just don't work out the way people think they will, for good or bad. This is one of those times it works out for good. For some people, at least."

Filthy scoffed and shook his head. "Is there a point to this, boy? I have better things to do with my time."

"So do I, but I'm here talking to you." Before he could respond, I held my finger up and took a piece of paper out of my pocket. "Unless I've been hilariously misinformed, Timber and Gloriosa owe you a little money."

"More than a little, boy, but that doesn't concern you. I'm here to speak to the owners, so--"

"This much, if the paperwork checks out."

With that, I handed him the paper; a check for the amount that the camp owed him. He took the check, his brow furrowing as he examined it. After a moment, he let out an amused scoff. "Cute. You might as well have handed me play money you made with construction paper and crayons." He tossed the check back onto the desk. "You might not know how this works, so here's a free lesson: you can write all kinds of numbers on checks. You could have written one for a billion dollars, but unless there's actual, you know, money behind it, it's just paper."

"Oh, gee, I didn't know that, Mr. Filthy, sir," I said, putting my hand to my forehead and swooning back. "I thought for sure it would work. I wanted to write you a check for a million bajillion dollars, but then silly ol' me found out that there's no such number as a million bajillion!" I straightened up and gave him a flat look to counter his glare before motioning to the check. "It's good. I'm pretty sure you refusing to accept repayment would void the contract. By the way, thanks for not putting an early payment fee in there as well. Guess you figured that it'd never be applicable, so you decided to save a little ink."

Filthy's eyes slowly trailed down to the check, and a hint of doubt flickered across his face. He took the check off of the desk, then pulled the desk's phone towards him. He picked up the receiver and began dialing his accountant, if I had to guess.

"Hello? It's me," he said when whoever he dialed picked up. "I've just been given a check that I think will bounce, and I want to verify. If it does, I'll call Legal." I heard the buzz of the other person on the line for a few moments before Filthy began reading the numbers off of the check for his accountant. "Yes, that's right. Three-five-five. Yes. Did it bounce?" His eyes narrowed, and he gritted his teeth. "What do you mean it went through? There's no way..." He glanced up at me, and I gave him a cheeky little nod. He took a deep breath and went back to his conversation. "Yes. I understand. It's for the Camp Everfree contract. Is it paid in full now? It is?" He grunted. "Very well. I'll speak to you later. What? Granny Smith called? Eugh. Tell her I'll call her back."

"Good talk?" I asked. 

He slammed the receiver down with a little more force than was probably necessary, then pushed it away. Before he could start yelling, a look of recognition crossed his face, and he gave me a little smirk. "Oh, wait. I see. I know who you are now. I've heard about you from my daughter. You're one of those infamous Canadians I've been hearing about."

I shrugged. "Guilty as charged."

"Hm. Most interesting. Even more interesting..." He leaned in closer to me. "I did a little research. Just out of curiosity. Did you know that I looked far and wide, and there's no such place as Canada?"

My mother might have something to say about that. 

"Well, I don't suppose you can believe everything you read on the internet. Canada is a real place. Where do you think poutine is imported from?"

"Yes, quite. From what what I've heard, you're quite wealthy." He motioned to the pocket where he'd put the check. "At least wealthy enough to settle Camp Everfree's debts."

"I've saved up a lot of birthday money," I admitted. "Enough that I can spend it on what I want, which brings us to our next topic of conversation. You said you came to talk to the owners. Well..." I motioned to myself. "Here I am. I looked through your contract very carefully, and it only says stuff about you gaining ownership of the land if the loan wasn't paid off. It didn't mention anything about transferring ownership before that. I paid Timber and Gloriosa a more than fair price for this place, and now that I've settled things with you, all this is mine."

Filthy made a few grunts that sounded like the beginning of speech, but paused. His mouth twitched into an unbelieving smile as he tried to come up with the words to respond. "I... see," he said after a few moments.

"Now, then, since I'm the owner, I'm making a few changes," I continued. "This camp is nice, but a bit... archaic. I think there's a lot that can be done with this beautiful land. I was thinking a nice spa and luxury resort could get me a nice return on my investment, wouldn't you say?"

Filthy shot to his feet so fast he knocked the chair he was on over. If this were a cartoon, his eyes would have probably caught fire based on the look of pure fury that he was giving me. "I... you can't... I was going to--"

"Oh relax, relax, I'm not going to do that," I said with a wave of my hand. "This place will continue to operate as a summer camp as it should." I paused for a moment. "Hm. I wondered which one would piss you off more. Maybe you're still mad about my little joke. In either case, I'm sure I'll look into some upgrades for the place, but Camp Everfree will continue to operate otherwise."

Especially now that Sunset, her buddies, and my side were doing damage control. Between what had happened with the Sirens a few years back and seeing that Sunset and her friends now had magical powers, it wasn't too hard to convince them that it was the spirit of Gaia Everfree that had done everything, and Gloriosa was just a poor victim, and that we'd used the magic to banish the spirit of Gaia forever. After everything that happened whenever we showed up, the students were just kind of rolling with it. 

"Yes, very amusing," Filthy growled, adjusting his tie and slicking a few loose hairs back. "It seems you've covered your bases, then."

"Almost. There's one more little thing we have to discuss. Just a little thing to get out of the way; nothing serious."

Filthy grimaced. "Oh, and what's that?"

"You said you did some research into me, which is nice. I did some into you as well. Specifically public records about your company and some of the other contracts it has and companies it works with."

"Oh? Did you find anything interesting?"

"I did, actually. Most of them were fairly uninteresting, random suppliers for cleaning products for your stores and the like, but one stuck out to me." I could barely stop myself from smirking. "Sweet Apple Acres."

Filthy frowned and raised an eyebrow. "Yes, they supply some produce to our stores. What of it?"

"Well, a little digging and questioning one of the current residents told me that your grandfather struck a deal with the founders of the farm for exclusive rights to their apples and apple accessories. It's been very profitable for the both of you, from what I understand. Profitable enough that they've gotten offers from other companies to get in on that sweet, juicy, Red Delicious action, but they're loyal to you, so that never happens."

"I've been here long enough, boy. Are you going somewhere with this?"

"Most definitely. See, if there's one value that the Apple family places higher than all others, it's honesty." The first flicker of unease flashed across Filthy's face. I picked up the contract he'd given Timber and Gloriosa and dangled it in front of him for a moment. "Somebody wasn't exactly honest with the loan they offered. The Apples don't exactly concern themselves with every little contract of yours, and it's not like Timber and Gloriosa posted the contract online, so it makes sense that the Apples wouldn't have gotten wind of this, but some little birdie accidentally let some of the details slip."

A look of dawning horror crossed Filthy's face as he slowly started to understand what I was getting at. 

"Your accountant, or who I assume was your accountant, told you that Granny Smith was calling, right? Well, I may not be omniscient, but I have a fairly good idea of what she's calling about. It's either setting up a fantasy football league for the upcoming season, or she has some questions about your business practices. Now, I can't say for sure, but I get the sneaking suspicion that she might not like working with somebody who deliberately lied and manipulated somebody who came to him for a loan just to get their ancestral property. As a family with ancestral property of their own, I can see how that would be a cause for concern.

Filthy just looked like a deer in headlights at that point. 

"And if the Apples leave, some of your other business partners might ask the question 'why would a business that's had ties with Barnyard Bargains for generations just up and leave?' From there..." I clicked my tongue and stood up. "Well, like I said: I'm not omniscient. In any case, we've taken up too much of each others' time. If you'll excuse me."

With that, I walked out the door, leaving Filthy frozen like a statue.