> A Very Dangerous Game
>  by Shimmerblade
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter I: A long-awaited discovery
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The steady Beep Beep Beep of Cocoa's alarm clock shook her from her slumber, causing her to groan.

"Ugh - sometimes I wish these annoying things didn't exist," Cocoa groaned, as she switched the clock off. She wanted nothing more than to stay in bed a little longer. But as tired as she is, a hot shower is in order. The big Friendship Games competition against their rival school, Crystal Prep Academy, is set to begin later today, and she didn't want to go smelling like she hadn't showered in weeks.

Cocoa walked to the bathroom with her clothes and underwear in hand, set them on the counter, and then moved the curtain aside to turn the shower on so it could heat up. While she let the water warm up a bit, her thoughts drifted to when her childhood friend; Sunset "Sunnie" Shimmer, disappeared nearly three years ago, not long before the other Sunset showed up. 

For as long as she could remember, Cocoa and Sunnie had hardly spent a moment apart growing up. Be it video games, watching a movie, or just simply hanging out, they did everything together. But then one day, Sunnie disappeared out of the blue, and was suddenly replaced by a girl that looks like her, sounds like her, but dressed differently, and was exceptionally rude to others. 

At last she stepped into the shower, the warm water cascading over her moderately toned and voluptuous figure. Cocoa was quite beautiful for a young woman her age. Ample curves that seemed perfectly proportioned, perky D cup breasts with dark orange nipples that contrasted with her golden brown skin, a patch of freckles around her nose and cheeks, autumn orange eyes, and a gorgeous head of light blue hair. As she was about to wash the rest of her body, Cocoa heard a knock on the bathroom door.

"Hey Cocoa," Fudge said through the door, "I hope you're ready to eat my dust later."

"Oh no, you'll be eating MY dust later, Fudge," Cocoa shouted back. 

Fudge was Cocoa's identical twin brother, and despite going to different schools, they remained quite close. Fudge attended Crystal Prep whereas Cocoa attended Canterlot High. They treated every competition as playful banter, and them competing in the Friendship Games earlier that day wouldn't be any different.

As the minutes passed, Cocoa turned the shower off as she stepped out to dry off and get dressed; today was a big day after all, and she didn't want to miss a second of it. Quickly drying off her body and hair, Cocoa swiftly put her clothes on, practically glided down the stairs, put her shoes on, and headed off to school. Since they didn't live that far from Canterlot High, only two blocks away, she could just jog there.

"Alright. 7:20. Just a few classes, the welcoming party for Crystal Prep, and then the Friendship Games will be underway," Cocoa said to herself, checking the time on her phone as she jogged on.

       ________Three hours later________

"Damn. If this is supposed to be a party, it's not a very good one," Cocoa said to herself as she sat down on one of the bleachers in the gymnasium. Before the games are to begin within the hour, any student could be in the gym for the welcoming party held for Crystal Prep Academy. Although, it didn't seem like an actual party at the moment. There was hardly any chatter, and the music was dead in the water. If it wasn't already dead silent, it grew somewhat more quiet as Principal Celestia walked out onto the stage.

"Hello students. I would like to take a moment to welcome our visitors from Crystal Prep Academy as we compete in the annual Friendship Games, and to also recognize the students CHS has chosen as its competitors. I wish you all the best of luck, and please do enjoy the party," Principal Celestia said as she walked off stage.

"Hey Cocoa," a familiar feminine voice spoke, taking her attention away from the stage as someone sat next to her. It was another of her good friends, Dazzleflash Moonlight, though she prefers to go by Dazzy. Dazzy is the daughter of Vice Principal Luna, and is Rainbow Dash's near identical half-sister. Unlike Dash, Dazzy prefers to wear blazers, isn't into that many sports, is a few inches taller, and is mildly less arrogant.

"Hey Dazzy," Cocoa responded, gently rubbing her friend's right thigh. Cocoa and Dazzy had also been friends since they were toddlers, much like with the other girls. And for the better part of several months, they have been in a ‘Friends with Benefits’ relationship, whether to relieve stress or simply just for the thrill of it. Although they were perfectly fine with not being full girlfriends, Cocoa had been thinking of settling into a full relationship for a few weeks now. 

"Honestly, this party is rather boring. Unless Pinkie has a few tricks up her sleeve to lighten the mood, we may as well walk out of here and start the Games."

"Cocoa, it's Pinkie Pie, she always has something up her sleeve," Dazzy remarked.
 
And as if right on cue, the lights went off, and a nice upbeat song began playing not long after. 

"Now that's more like it. She sure knows her stuff," Dazzy said, both of them now getting up from their seats as everyone began dancing on the gym floor. Having made their way down to join the other students, Dazzy and Cocoa joined in on the dancing when someone nudged Cocoa from behind. 

"About time you girls came down here," Fudge said, continuing to dance. Cocoa shook her head and smirked as the trio began to dance in synchronized step. Everyone was enjoying themselves and having the best time until an awful screech sounded over the speakers and caused them all to cover their ears, putting the music to a stand still as the awful Principal Cinch made her presence in the gym known by tapping on the microphone.

"I...suppose I should thank Principal Celestia for this typical, unconventional welcome. I'm not surprised that things at Canterlot High haven't changed in four years, selecting their competitors through a mere popularity contest rather than selecting the top students like Crystal Prep.  Alas, despite the misguided ideals that they follow, they remain committed to them. An admirable trait, I'll give you that. Now, despite the inevitable outcome, I do wish you all good luck," Cinch spoke, dimming the mood once more.

"Sheesh. What a buzzkill," Cocoa whispered. 

"No kidding," Fudge whispered back. And with that, the party was wrapped up, and the games would soon begin.

                                 -------

"Welcome everyone, to the first event of the Friendship Games: the Academic Decathlon," Dean Cadence announced to everyone. "In this round, our competitors will be scored on chemistry skills, home ec, and everything else in between. Only the top six competitors from both teams will progress to the next round of the games. Good luck, everyone!"

And with that, the Games finally began. First up was Chemistry, where the competitors have to concoct chemical mixtures with the precise measurements in order to proceed. Derpy's mixture exploded and covered her face in a thin layer of ash, eliminating her right off the bat. The students whose mixtures were precise were granted ten points, and cleaned up their stations as they readied for the next leg of the decathlon.

Next up was Baking in the home ec room, where they are tasked to bake a cake within an hour. Flash and Bon Bon mistakenly baked a loaf of bread and attempted to pass it off as a cake, disqualifying them from the competition.

"Crap. Sorry, Bon Bon.." Flash remarked, saddened by their elimination.

"It's alright, Flash, it's not your fault. I should've paid more attention myself," Bon Bon replied, patting him on the back. Their sorrow was short lived when they heard that their team had won this leg of the competition with Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy delivering a masterpiece of a cake that had an image of the famed Mona Lisa on the inside of it, earning them another ten points.

The Woodshop was up next, where the competitors are tasked with designing a good quality birdhouse. While some were impressive, Sandalwood and Micro Chips' birdhouse were among the few that were not sturdy enough, and thus were disqualified from the games as were a few others. 

"Hey, Cocoa. If we go up against each other when they bring out the equations to solve, I'm gonna kick your ass," Fudge chuckled, playfully fistbumping his sister on the shoulder.

"Oh I don't think so, Fudge. We'll be kicking you guys so hard you won't be able to sit down for a week," Cocoa replied, rolling her eyes with a cocky smirk.

After a seemingly fast round during the Spelling Bee, it's time for the final event of the Academic Decathlon: the Equation Race, where one selected competitor from both teams are to solve a complex equation in just three minutes. Although they were merely joking about it, Cocoa and Fudge were, to their surprise, chosen for both of their teams.

"Now. You both will have three minutes to solve the equation on the boards and not a second more. Are you ready to begin?" Cinch asked, a stopwatch in her hand.

"Yes ma'am," they replied in unison, turning to the boards with the chalk in their hands. And with the click of a button, Cocoa and Fudge lept to the task as Principal Cinch observed. The seconds felt like hours as they wrote on the boards, solving problem after problem, the only thing breaking the awkward silence is the sticks of chalk making contact with the chalk boards.

After what felt like a long time, the BEEP BEEP BEEP of the stopwatch caused Cocoa and Fudge to stop, thankfully both having just reached the bottom right corners of the boards. As they set the chalk down and stepped away from the boards to have them looked over, what Cinch discovered was something that hadn't happened during the first leg of the Games in years.

"I can't believe I'm about to say this, but…it looks like we have a tie," Cinch utterered, a hint of disappointment in her voice. This sparked some confusion as Cinch walked back down to the Judge's desk with Celestia, Luna, and Cadence to discuss what to do next. 

"Hey Fudge, you got any ideas on how we could settle the tie?" Cocoa asked as she walked over to her brother, draping an arm over his shoulder.

"I mean, I do have one idea, but I don't know if the situation is right for that sort of thing," Fudge replied, hinting at the thing they were explicitly told to keep secret unless absolutely necessary.

"What do you mean? Ooh, right, yeah, I suppose so. But there's gotta be something we could do that's simple. How about-..."

Before Cocoa could finish her own response, she froze in place as she and Fudge both heard a faint but distinct voice call out.

"....Someone.. Anyone, please!.... Get me out of here!!.."

Cocoa's eyes widened as she recognized the voice in their heads and had a firm sense she knew where the voice was coming from and turned to depart and look for it.

"Let's go find out what that was," Fudge announced, following close behind his sister. In a quick blur, they both darted out of the gym, stirring up even more confusion than the revelation of their tie. Faster and faster they ran until they reached Celestia's office, and the voice seemed only to grow louder in their heads.

"...Help me, please help me!..."

"Cocoa, are you certain it's her?" Fudge asked as they finally stopped at what seemed to be where the voice was coming from.

"I've never been more certain about anything," Cocoa responded, raising her hand to unlock the door to Celestia's office, the lock making a Click and then slowly pushing it open. The two siblings stepped into the office, the voice only growing louder in their minds.

"...GET ME OUT OF HERE!!!..."

"It's close... Very close.. But where-.." Cocoa said, but stopped as she then walked behind Celestia's desk and knelt behind it. "It's in here." Pulling the bottom desk drawer open, Cocoa had discovered what they burst out of the gym to find.

"Ok, so what called out to us is a video game. Why would it wait until now?" Fudge asked, crossing his arms.

"I don't know, Fudge. But it has to mean something. And why Celestia has this in her desk is even more questionable," Cocoa responded. But once she placed a hand on the game's case to examine it, Cocoa was then given a vision showing a certain someone's whereabouts…

         ============***============

"Gasp!" In an instant Sunnie awoke only to find she was back in the same dimly lit room she always ended up in after every failed attempt to escape the hellish game she had been stuck in for so long. "Great. I'm fucking back in here again. I just wish there was a small clue that could at least help me out with this dumb game at least a LITTLE!"

"Oh now where's the fun in that?" A deep, hollow voice answered as she stepped into the room.

"Let me go home you crazy bitch!!" Sunnie barked, struggling at the restraints bound to her wrists holding her upright.

"I don't think so, Sunnie. At least, not yet. Rest while you can. It seems as though you'll be having visitors soon," the demon answered, then turned around and walked out of the room.

"Please…JUST LET ME GO HOME!!"

          ============***============

Cocoa stumbled back into a shelf and nearly knocked over a picture of Celestia and Sunnie once the vision had ceased.

"Cocoa, are you ok? What did you see?" Fudge asked, a hint of concern in his voice.

"Sunnie… I know where she is! She's in here!" Cocoa responded, holding the game up for Fudge to look at. "She's been in the game for the past two and a half years."

"Wait, Sunnie's been in here the whole time? But, how did she even end up there in the first place?"

"I've theorized for a while that it could have something to do with the other Sunset. But come on. We need to go tell Celestia about this." As quickly as they had departed, Fudge and Cocoa returned to the gym where everyone was still located.

"Cocoa, Fudge… What on earth was that all about?" Celestia asked, walking up onto the stage.

"Celestia, just hear me out. This may sound crazy and twisted, but me and Fudge just discovered where Sunnie has been since she disappeared," Cocoa responded. And just like that, Celestia's eyes widened immensely.

"W-What? You know where my baby girl is?!" Celestia remarked, a stunned expression spread across her face.

"I know it's a lot to process, but I swear to you, I'm not lying. Sunnie is in-fact trapped in there, and we're going in there to finally bring her home." 

"I respect the fact that your daughter has been found and all, but I don't think stepping out of the Friendship Games is the best idea, unless you really Want to forfeit the competition," Cinch interrupted.

"Principal Cinch, just stop," Fudge intervened before Celestia could say another word. "This is a family matter, something you wouldn't understand. This is Celestia's daughter we're talking about, her only child, who has been missing for over two years. And now we have a chance to finally bring her home. Now, if you're done being an uptight bitch, I'm going with them to bring my friend home."

And for the first time in a long time, Cinch was speechless as Fudge walked back over to Cocoa and Celestia, as she herself walked back down to the Judge's desk.

"So. Are we doing this?" Cocoa asked them.

"Yes, let's bring my daughter home," Celestia replied, handing the game back to Cocoa.

"Alright. Let's do this." And without any further thought, Cocoa began to open the case. And with surprising effort, it opened, a glowing aura starting to emit from the inside. The case was then thrown to the stage floor as Cocoa's hands began to turn to dust being sucked into a now vacuum-esque portal. A few seconds later Fudge's hands also began to disintegrate as well as Celestia's, all of them shocked that this was actually happening.

"Ok, this is weird," Fudge exclaimed, half of his arms now gone.

"I know it is Fudge, but focus. We get in there, we get Sunnie, we get out," Cocoa responded before being completely consumed by the portal. Fudge was next to be sucked in, leaving Celestia for a few seconds.

"Sit tight, Sweetie, we're coming," Celestia thought to herself as she was finally sucked through the portal, with the portal sealing off and the game's case closing shortly after. 

And so. Cocoa, Fudge, and Celestia are now on their way to finally bring Sunnie home after being gone for so long, but the game they've just entered would prove to be a lot more perilous than they initially expected….
> Once upon a time in another universe....
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

https://youtu.be/RAtVJ1KM0jg?si=4V6yef-2tfbQwqhC
> Chapter II: Family Reunion/Starting the "game"
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Welcome, brave mortals, to the game of a lifetime. Survive if you can. Muahahaha!"

And with those treacherous words, the game began at last - though for one, it was just merely a continuation of an endless cycle. Perhaps this time things would turn out differently, with the arrival of some new players. 

"Alright, looks like it's game on," Cocoa remarked once she had spawned in. Fudge spawned a second later, followed by Celestia. 

"Goodness, it's so poorly lit in here I can barely see!" Celestia commented, rubbing her eyes.

The area they appeared to be in was the cafeteria of Canterlot High, but with an assortment of tables and chairs displaced and damaged. The lights all around appeared to be damaged and or simply shut off due to a lack of a sustainable power source. So although the room was barely lit, they all could see just where they were, and someone else in there with them could see some of the people she'd hoped would come and find her.

"Cocoa? Fudge? M-Mom? You guys came for me?" Sunnie said while practically running into her mother's arms and sinking into a deep, long awaited hug.

"Oh honey, it's so good to see you're alive," Celestia replied while hugging her beloved daughter, trying not to cry. "I'm sorry it took so long, sweetie, but we're here to take you home now." Sunnie on the other hand, began to softly cry into her mother's arms, elated to finally be with her mother again after so long.

"I m-missed you, m-mom. I r-really missed you.." More and more Sunnie cried as Celestia gently caressed her hair, trying to calm her down while continuing to hold her deeply.

"Shhhh, it's okay, honey. It's okay. We're here now. We'll all be back home soon. I promise." Celestia continued to console her precious daughter, gently rubbing Sunnie's head. But sadly, this tender, loving moment wasn't going to last very long.

"Uh, girls? We got company," Fudge exclaimed, pointing to one of the doors leading into the kitchen of the school's cafeteria. Creeping out of the kitchen doorway closest to the main lobby, were a small handful of undead corpses that appeared to be modified versions of their friends from the outside world.

"Jeez, I've seen Rarity disheveled, but not to that extent,” Cocoa boasted. Undead Rarity appeared to have been bitten multiple times in different areas, her sparkly blue Fall Formal dress almost completely drenched in her own blood. Shambling behind her was an undead Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and a few others, all of their eyes glowing a bright, moderate cyan.

"Alright, sniff, cut the chatter," Sunnie commented, wiping off her face of any tears. "I want to go home. Check your pockets, guys." As the undead shambled even closer, Sunnie pulled out an M1911 pistol from her pocket, pulled the slide back, and emptied four bullets into "Rarity's" head, sending her body to the floor.

"Wow! Nice shot, sweetie," Celestia commented, patting and then reaching into one of her own pockets and pulled out a pistol. "I hope my old lessons from the range aren't as rusty as I think they are." Backing away just slightly, Cocoa and Fudge reached into their own pockets, but didn't feel any pistols. Just the weapons they kept concealed from the outside world unless they needed them for an absolute emergency.

"Fudge-," Cocoa began to speak but was swiftly silenced by her brother.

"Yeah, I know, I know, we have to use them. Not like we have much choice in the matter anyway," Fudge interrupted, pulling out his weapon and instantly ignited it, the pink glow of his blade now adding another source of light to the poorly lit cafeteria. Cocoa followed suit and ignited her own lightsaber, hers casting off an Indigo blue glow.

"Woah… Where did you guys get those?" Sunnie asked as Fudge ran towards and sliced through "Rainbow" and "Pinkie" with swift precision, their bodies and decapitated heads slumping to the floor.

"It's a somewhat complicated story. We'll explain along the way, I promise," Cocoa replied as she had just sliced "Fluttershy" from her shoulder down to her waist. "Ok, Sunnie, you've been in here for a while. There's gotta be an easter egg of sorts that'll allow us to escape. How do we find the steps?"

"Well, I haven't been able to get very far since it was just me, but I know for sure that we need to get the power on first," Sunnie replied, as she and her mother Celestia eliminated the rest of the zombies, initiating the end of the first round. "But um, I'm curious though. How long have I been gone?" 

Cocoa, Fudge, and Celestia were at a loss for words as to how to break it to Sunnie, until finally Celestia spilled the truth.

"Sweetie, um, I don't know how to really say this, but…. you've been missing for over two and a half years," Celestia responded, placing a hand on her daughter's shoulder. Fudge and Cocoa left them for a moment to barricade the doorways and pick off any stragglers that remained.

"W-What? But… But it only feels like it's been months. Time here is fucking confusing….. Two and a half years…. Fucking hell…" Sunnie froze when hit with the revelation that she had been gone for so long, trapped in an endless cycle of dead end attempts to escape a near realistic version of a game she had enjoyed for a very long time.

"But Sunnie, you can start to relax. We're gonna get you home. We missed you," Cocoa commented as the last of the zombies were exterminated, signalling the end of the round. "Ok, first round is done. Now to get these doors open."

"Um, Sunnie… how do we check how many points we have?" Fudge inquired.

"Press your right palm on your left wrist. It displays your point counter, perks, and any weapons you have in your loadout," Sunnie answered, showing them how to pull up their Heads Up Display. One by one they followed Sunnie's instructions, pulling up their huds which appeared as a sort of hologram.

"Woah..," Fudge commented, amazed at what he was seeing. "This is.. weird. But oddly fascinating."

"What's this supposed to be?" Celestia inquired, looking at an odd looking machine.

"Oh. That's quick revive. In the games, like this one, it allows you to revive other players faster. Or if you're playing by yourself, you can basically revive yourself. But come on. We gotta find two fuse boxes to get the power back on," Sunnie explained.

Cocoa opened the main doors leading to the main lobby of the school, cutting her points down by one thousand points, leaving her with twenty. As they began heading into the lobby just as the second round was beginning, something off in the distance caught Fudge's attention. 

"Hey guys, I found the mystery box," Fudge pointed out, running towards it. The mystery box was a simple wooden crate with two big glowing question marks on the lid, sitting atop what appeared to be three small Apple crates, illuminated by a glowing pink beam of light shining through the roof and up into the sky outside to indicate where the Box is at any given time. "Aunt Celestia, keep this in mind. This thing right here can be a bit of a pain in the ass. Sometimes you'll get something good, or something that can fuck you over."

"Thanks for letting me know," Celestia replied as she began to curiously investigate their surroundings. If the cafeteria wasn't already poorly lit, the vacant hallways were just as bad. Parts of the floor and surrounding lockers were stained with dried blood, with a few of the doorways leading to classrooms also doubling as barricades for the zombies to climb through.

The sound of the wooden barricades being torn down put them back to work. Fudge turned and went to head down the corridor that leads to and past the Vice Principal's office, finding a glowing chalk outline of a weapon on the locker doors, knowing this to be a wall weapon.

"Huh. An MP-40. Not exactly the type of weapon to see in modern times, but I guess it's still a classic though," Fudge announced, as he tried to figure out how to purchase it. Hovering his hand over the outline, Fudge also found out he had twelve hundred points, more than enough to purchase it. And after doing so, an MP-40 magically appeared in his open hand. "Woah…"

"WOOO! THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!" Sunnie shouted, but with the school as quiet as it already, not counting the zombies and everything, it was amplified to a significant degree. She had just spun the Mystery Box and was lucky enough to get the favored Ray Gun Mark II. Fudge laughed to himself and rolled his eyes as he ran back to join the others.

"Sweetie, could you not shout like that again? That really hurt my ears," Celestia inquired as she finished boarding up a barricade.

"Sorry, mom. I just got so excited. It's rare to get a weapon like this on the first spin," Sunnie responded, displaying the weapon in her hand. Continuing down the blood-stained hallways, and through another pile of debris blocking their path… they all find themselves just outside the doors leading to the stage and gymnasium. "Okay. The first fuse box is up the ladder to the catwalk above the stage where the stage lights are usually operated."

"Alright. Let's get to it then," Fudge said, opening the doors leading to the stage, with the doors to the main gym on their right.

"Actually, um.. could I talk to Cocoa alone for a moment? We won't be too long," Sunnie requested.

"Of course, sweetie. Don't let your guard down though," Celestia replied as she and Fudge headed up the stairs, walking towards the ladder that leads up to the catwalk.

"What is it, Sunnie?" Cocoa inquired as to why she wanted to be spoken to, alone.

"I'm sorry, but I have to know. Why do you and Fudge have working lightsabers? Is there something you haven't told me?" 

"Okay. Here's the thing," Cocoa spoke, finally ready to spill the beans on her family's past. "Mom didn't really want anyone to know about our powers, and our lightsabers, 'cause of what she had escaped from. As after the war, being a Jedi was like signing your death warrant. She was afraid of everyone on Earth casting us out, or even killing us."

"Wait, what war? The clone war? She was a part of that? Your mom was a.. a Jedi?" Sunnie asked, turning quickly to blast a zombie that had rounded a corner.

"Yes. She was. And at the time, me and Fudge were just a few weeks old. She had built two extra lightsabers so that someday, we could have them as protection if it came to that. And I especially didn't want anyone at school to know 'cause our school's reputation was slandered already with all the magic shit running around…. all because of that stupid bitch from Equestria." Cocoa responded, her tone having just a touch of anger at the end.

"Wait. The who from where?" 

"Okay. I didn't think much of it at first, but when we found the game that you've been trapped in, it all came together in my head," Cocoa spoke. "You've been stuck in here because your counterpart from another world opened a portal that connects our worlds, and basically took your place."

"What?!" After learning the truth, Sunnie was outraged. Reasonably so.

"That's how I felt too when I realized it. Her arrival in our world created an imbalance in the spacetime continuum which in turn cast you out of our world and into this game world. When we get out of here, I'm going to make sure that the other Sunset goes back to where she came from. Or else." Cocoa then ignited her lightsaber, signalling just what she meant. "I won't kill her of course. That'd be taking it a bit far. But I may have to get into some… aggressive negotiations if she doesn't agree to give you your life back."

A few seconds passed, and some of the lights came back on in full force, but the other side of the school was still without power. "Okay, that's half of the power back on. The other fuse box is in the principal's office, but it's locked. We need to find a key," Sunnie said, killing the last zombie of the second round. "So. This… other me… what's she like?"

"She's quite a handful, other than looking and sounding like you. When she first arrived after you had disappeared, she was the biggest bitch I had ever heard of or dealt with. But now she claims to be all "nice" and everything. I don't buy it. I feel sorry for the girls, having been manipulated by her obvious lies. It's her fault you've been stuck here for almost three years!" Cocoa replied, getting enraged once more.

Moments later, Celestia and Fudge walked out from the stage entrance and regrouped with Cocoa and Sunnie. 

"Hey, Sunnie?" Fudge asked, holding a small golden key in his hand. "Is this needed for anything?"

"Yes, actually. That's the key to unlock the principal's office where the second fuse box is located," Sunnie replied. "I don't know why it'd be in there of all places, but it's a game, so logic means little, but come on. Let's go."

And with that, they turned and headed back the way they came towards what is the principal's office with the third round being well underway. Cocoa, Sunnie, and Celestia temporarily acted as guards while Fudge fiddled with the key to unlock the door, killing any and all zombies that approached. 

With an audible click , the door was unlocked and Fudge pushed it open. The girls stayed outside the office as he located the second fuse box and then flipped the switch to turn it on. Seconds later, the rest of the lights in the school began to turn on, fully illuminating all rooms and hallways.

"Okay, that did it. Now what, Sunnie?" Fudge asked.

"Ok, now we need to head to the computer lab. There we have to solve a code puzzle to-...," Sunnie replied. But before they moved an inch… a door down the hallway slowly creaks open, and Sunnie peeked around the corner to find the source. "Um… that door has never opened after I've turned the power on by myself in the past. I have a bad feeling about this…"

Another mysterious thing that happened is that all the zombies just… vanished. They all stopped spawning. "Well things just got worse," Cocoa announced, recognizing that. "The zombies just disappeared. One thing that makes zombies similar to piranhas is that if there aren't any piranhas in the water… that means there's a shark nearby.."

"I don't like the sound of that," Celestia said, understandably concerned. "Let's get moving befo-.."

"WHO DARES SET FOOT ON SCHOOL GROUNDS AFTER HOURS?!"

"Oh dear…."
> Chapter III: Unforseen Events
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Everyone present froze like deer in headlights at whatever had shouted those words. Sunnie peeked around the corner once more and saw nothing, until she could faintly hear footsteps coming from down the hall.

"Okay guys… run. Go. Go!" Sunnie ordered, following them back towards the gymnasium.

"Where aaare you, you ignorant little pests? I shall peel every bit of flesh from your bones!"

The loud crunch of a locker door being punched could be heard, signaling that this mysterious beast was now in the hall, intent on locating its meal. Fudge was hardly scared about much, but in this very moment, hiding from whatever this beast was, he began to grow increasingly nervous.

"Oh man, oh man. What did we get ourselves into…?" Fudge uttered, visibly shaking.

"Hey hey, Fudge," Cocoa whispered, putting a hand on her brother's shoulder, feeling him slowly relax. She knew all too well how he could get, and it still puzzles her deeply how and why he chose to even go to Crystal Prep of all schools. The environment and most of the people there aren't exactly the most friendly, but he's her twin brother. She still respects his choice, and wants to look out for him. "It's gonna be ok, alright? We're all here together. We're gonna do this. Just remember what mom taught us."

"So what's the plan?" Celestia asked.

"I don't know, mom… but we need to think fast before-..." Sunnie began to respond, turning to come face to face with none other than the beast itself: a zombie-like variant of Sunnie's own aunt and Celestia's younger sister… Vice Principal Luna. Her blue hair was fairly disheveled, her grayish magenta shirt considerably stained with blood and holes torn throughout and her skin desaturated a little due to the loss of blood flowing through her veins.

"Well hello there. You will make fine additions to her majesty's army," she spoke in a tone so cold that it sent chills down their spines. Like all the other zombies, "Luna"'s eyes were glowing a moderate cyan, but unlike the others… she was missing the skin around her mouth, some of her ribcage on the right side of her body was visible, and on top of that, she of course had the ability to speak.

"Sorry, freak show, but we're not on the menu," Cocoa interjected, with Sunnie moving out of the way as she herself drop-kicked "Luna", sending her to the floor. "Run! Go!" Those few seconds Cocoa gave everyone for a head start to run was short lived as Luna quickly got back to her feet.

"THAT STRIKE SHALL BE YOUR LAST!!" "Luna" shouted before letting out a near deafening scream. Normally such a scream wouldn't be as loud, but the vacant hallways amplified it ten times over, causing them to cover their ears and wince from the significant pain dealt to their ear drums.

"Aagh! Keep moving!" Cocoa spoke, removing her hands from her ears, of which were still relatively ringing from that awfully loud scream. "We need to outrun her!"

Reaching the end of the hallway, they all were about to round the corner and make a beeline towards the back entrance when out of nowhere, Fudge felt something wrap around his leg and pulled him down to the floor in a swift hard motion and began to pull him, to which Cocoa and the others were caught completely by surprise and attempted to free him from this mysterious appendage.

"What the fuck?!" Fudge said, eyeing what looked to be a tongue that had just wrapped around his leg. "Luna" had propelled her tongue at incredible speed and had the intention of separating the group so that they could crack and fall as she did, just like all the others. "Girls, just keep going! I got this slithery bitch handled!"


Unbeknownst to them, everyone from the outside world could see everything that was transpiring within the game world….


"If you want to play dirty, fine," Fudge spoke while everyone still present in the gym watched in awe as he reached into his jacket and pulled out his lightsaber, igniting it to cut through the beast's tongue just mere seconds before he reached her, causing her to stumble back in pain from having her tongue cut off as he quickly got to his feet. "But I don't just wanna play dirty… I wanna dance." And with that, Fudge swiftly deactivated his lightsaber, put it back in the secret pocket on the inside of his jacket, and raised his fists in a defensive position.

"Luna" chuckled with a very smug attitude as she also raised her own fists, clenching them with full intent on enjoying a good challenge. "Very well then, human. Let's dance."

Fudge and "Luna" both charged at one another with Fudge ducking to miss her fist by a millisecond, only to send a counter swing forward and hit her hard in the stomach, to which she surprisingly flinched. She attempted another quick punch but failed as Fudge grabbed two handfuls of her moderately tattered blood-stained shirt and gave her a strong and hard head-butt, causing her to stumble back a few inches.

"Holy shit. I'd hate to piss him off," Cadance whispered to Luna as they all were witnessing Fudge's impressive skills in hand-to-hand combat against the zombie clone of one of his surrogate aunts. "I would never have guessed that a reserved guy like him could be quite the fighter."

"Well, Cadance," Luna whispered back in response. "It's always the quiet ones you have to watch out for."

Back in the game world, Fudge delivered blow after blow after blow, finally lifting the beast up onto his shoulders as he whirled around a couple times and hurled her towards one of the large windows facing the back parking lot, shattering the bottom half of it instantly.

"Well… this has been fun, albeit brief, but I've had enough games." She swiftly got up and attempted to run at Fudge only to be punched squarely in the face once more and then was thrown into the lockers closest to the gymnasium doors.

"Hm. It seems we've found common ground, freak," Fudge remarked as the beast got back to her feet. At this specific point he had had enough. Fudge had joined his sister and Celestia in coming here to finally bring Sunnie home after her being gone for almost three years, and nothing will stop him or the others from achieving that goal if he can help it. "Let's see what else you got."

But as they were about to charge at each other once more, hopefully for the last time, Fudge felt another presence in the game world, one he knew all too well. Fudge turned to look at the south entrance doors to the cafeteria to see none other than his girlfriend: Cara Ti, wearing a blue t-shirt, pink short shorts, and on her feet were simple black sneakers with a red stripe on either side of her shoes, and purple colored socks.

"I hope I'm not too late, darling," Cara spoke in an English accent so smooth it was like music to the ears. Cara is a female of the Togruta species, with two horn-like protrusions atop her head called Montral in place of ears and three head tails hanging down from her head called Lekku, two of them hanging over the front of her body just to her breasts and one hanging about halfway down her back. Cara has lived on earth for as long as she could remember. She hardly even remembers where she came from or who her own parents were, but Cara was convinced one of them had to be a Jedi or some kind of force user, given that she had a lightsaber in the little basket when she was discovered as a baby.

Cara's skin tone was a light shade of red with various white colored markings, her eyes were a brilliant yellow as were the highlights on her montral and lekku, of which also had white stripes. On a side note, Cara was three years older than Fudge, whom is eighteen as she is twenty-one, but that has little matter. From the moment the two first met, they were inseparable. Both Cara and Fudge were initially hesitant about a date, given that they were unsure about the whole concept, but they got past their own fears and gave it a shot. And ever since that day, they've been incredibly close.

"To be truthful I wasn't expecting you to be here 'cause you said you were gonna be busy with your college classes today, but never would you be late in my eyes, Cara," Fudge replied, sporting a particularly bright smile. "But we have a problem to take care of."

Oddly enough, "Luna" just stood by watching as the two lovers embraced.

"Ugh. I don't know how I could have ever been interested in this sort of lovey dovey shit," the beast uttered. "It makes me sick."

"Oh, I'm sorry that you have no purpose in this life. I'm sorry that you don't have anything worth fighting for like my girlfriend here." Fudge had turned to face "Luna" and then put his right arm around Cara's waist.

"Bahahaha! This little alien freak is your girlfriend?" "Luna" cackled, bursting into laughter. 

Both Fudge and Cara looked at her with disgust and anger, with which Cara reached into her short pocket and pulled out her own respective lightsaber. And before "Luna" could speak another word, Cara ignited her blade which gave off a brilliant Raspberry glow, and cut her in half but not across the waist. No. "Luna" was cut in half vertically, each half of her body slumping to the floor in opposing directions.

"I'm not a freak, nor am I a walking corpse. But now it looks like you're half of what you used to be," Cara spoke, deactivating her weapon and putting it back in her pocket.

Fudge chuckled a bit at that little quip, with which the others in the gym in the outside world either chuckled in unison or rolled their eyes at the bad pun.

"Just trying to be pun-ctual I see," Fudge remarked, laughing a little. "But anyway… we should get going and find Cocoa and the others. Oh, um.. so… are you ready for people to know about… us?"

"Y'know… it's been five months, and you've made me happier than I've ever been in the past. So… yes, let's tell everyone," Cara replied. With that, they both went to the staircase leading up to the second floor wanting to check there first for Cocoa, Sunnie, and Celestia.

Cara was initially nervous for others to know of her relationship with Fudge, but what she said was true. Fudge had made her more happy in the past five months than she had ever felt in years past. Upon reaching the second floor, they were treated to more vacant hallways with blood on the floors and lockers, as well as a few random decayed bodies scattered about. 

"Hmm… I'm not feeling their shared presence up here on the second floor. It's close… but where-..?" Fudge inquired, but cut himself off when he answered his own question and looked down. "They're beneath us. They must have returned to the cafeteria to see what happened. Come on."

Retreating back down the stairs, Fudge and Cara made their way back to the cafeteria when they were greeted to the sight of Cocoa, Sunnie, and Celestia.

"There you are, Fudge. Was hoping nothing had happened to you," Cocoa spoke up, relieved to see her brother still alive. "But who is that?"

"I'm Cara Ti, your brother's… girlfriend," Cara responded, gripping Fudge's left hand with her right, intertwining their fingers together. "And you're Cocoa, his twin sister. Fudge spoke incredibly high of you as well as your mother. And this must be the rest of your family. Sunset "Sunnie" Shimmer and her mother Celestia. It's an honor to finally meet you all. I wanted this meeting to happen sooner, but I was initially hesitant on the matter. My relationship with Fudge has been kept a secret for a while because I wanted to take it slow after my first relationship was a massive disaster. Couple that with my troubled childhood growing up after being picked on and ridiculed for so long just by existing… I kept my distance from most humans all together. That is… until I met Fudge."

"I was initially hesitant on the whole dating thing too," Fudge continued, holding his grip on Cara's hand. "Obviously I had never dated anyone at all before, but when we met mom's boyfriend several months ago… it helped me to realize that I should at least give it a shot, and I did. And now, five months later… I have the most amazing woman as my loving girlfriend. She's everything I could've wanted and more."

Cocoa couldn't help but smile at her brother's brief little speech. "Well I'm proud of you, Fudge. And Cara… welcome to the family. It's nice to finally meet the woman that brought this change onto my brother. Our mother is gonna love you."

Cara was about to speak once more when the earth beneath them began to violently shake out of the blue, causing them all to fall to the floor.

"What the hell?!" Sunnie questioned as the earth continued to shake. After another fifteen seconds, the shaking stopped. "The hell was that? That's something else that never happened when I was alone here. Something's going on."

"I'm not sure what it could be, Sunnie," Celestia responded. "But let's get moving. According to this clue we found in the vice principal's office, the next clue is hidden within one of the houses just outside the school grounds. Stay close, everyone."

With that, they made their way towards the front doors of the school with their weapons at the ready incase any of the other zombies made a return. But surprisingly, the halls remained vacant and quiet. That was another red flag. The fact that this was supposed to be a game and that there weren't any other enemies in play… it's unclear what is going on, but it doesn't feel good at all.

"So, Cara. If it's ok for me to ask… How did you and Fudge meet?" Sunnie inquired.

"It's perfectly fine, Sunnie. Fudge and I met on a dating app. I honestly didn't think that I would get any luck given that I'm not necessarily human, but Fudge gave me a chance. He saw that I was just as human as everyone else. But also… at times, I still wish I had gotten to meet my birth parents, but I never did. Don't get me wrong, I love the parents that did raise me… I just want to really know where I came from, and who my birth parents were," Cara replied as they walked outside the school.

As they were all about halfway between the front staircase and the wondercolt statue, something caused Cocoa, Fudge, and Cara to stop right where they stood, with Sunnie and Celestia noticing this and also stopping to find out what's going on.

"Guys? What's happening?" Sunnie asked.

Cocoa was about to answer when she was cut off by yet another earthquake, this time being a bit more intense than the first, causing them all to collapse to the ground in mere seconds. 

On and on the ground continued to shake, feeling as though it had no end. At this point some of the remaining windows around the school shattered to the point that it was just the window frame left behind.

"Can this just stop?! I wanna go home already!" Sunnie shouted amidst the loud shaking.

"We're gonna get you home, Sunnie!" Cocoa shouted back. "We're gonna do whatever it ta-..."

Cocoa was again cut off, but this time by the sound of a very loud explosion, causing them all to cover their ears once more.

"Okay, this game is gonna make me go deaf" Fudge growled. "What the hell was…. that…?"

Fudge almost instantly found the source of the explosion, and was now wishing he hadn't. A volcano had woken up within the city just under half a mile from their current position and was now in the process of erupting.

"Oh come on! Now a volcano?!" Sunnie annoyingly shouted.

"Well this certainly complicates things further," Celestia commented, pulling the cocking lever on the AK47 rifle she had acquired from the Mystery Box. "We need to find this singular house and the next clue to-..."

An audible howling sound could be heard, an indicator that the zombies were making a return, prompting Cocoa, Fudge, and Cara to ignite their lightsabers.

"We got company, ladies," Fudge commented. "Let's go!"

They decided to check in the houses closest to the soccer field first as the zombies were beginning to run out of the school and after them.

This is gonna be one hell of a fight….
> Chapter IV: A Timid Meeting
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

    ------------ Five months earlier ----------

The final bell ringing marked the end of yet another school week in the peaceful month of October. But for Fudge, it marked one more week of annoyance gone. Being a senior at Crystal Prep highschool came with its advantages and disadvantages. One of the disadvantages being most of the students being uptight and just downright rude, only caring about themselves.

Fudge has put up with it for this long, as he was now walking out of the school with his backpack in tow, so he's gonna see it through to the end. His one friend at the school, Twilight Sparkle, had already left 'cause she had her school work for the week done. He chuckled to himself at that thought as he began the walk to his family's house. Twilight was known for getting all of her school work for the week done early. But as he reached the crosswalk to wait for the signal to cross the street, someone got his attention with which he instantly knew who it was.

"Hello, Fudge," Rarity spoke, her English accent calming Fudge. He had a thing for women with such an accent, but the thought of asking one of his sister's friends out seemed a bit weird to him. The girls were basically like family, except that one Sunset girl that suddenly appeared almost right after Sunnie disappeared. And besides that, he had actually set up a profile on a dating app as he had been thinking of trying to get out there since he and Cocoa turned eighteen about two and a half months ago. Fudge had only just set up his profile last week, so he wasn't expecting any sort of response so soon. "Enjoying a lovely walk home?"

"Oh, hey Rarity. Yeah, no sense in letting this cool fall air go to waste by driving home. Cocoa has the spare car anyway, and I don't mind walking. I'm surprised to see you walking home if I can be honest," Fudge replied, as the signal changed for them to cross the street. "Any plans for the weekend?"

"Oh just the usual. Designing new dresses and hanging out with the girls. A great way for me to pass the time and to further forget about the debacle that was the Battle of the Bands. How about you, Fudge?"

"Probably just gonna hang out at home and play some video games or something," Fudge spoke as they neared his family's house which in turn was several houses down from where Rarity and her family lived. "Since Cocoa said she'd be hanging out with Dazzy tonight and Mom's out with her boyfriend, I can be as cozy and loud as I want since I'll have the house to myself."

"Well I hope you enjoy yourself, Fudge. I'll see you around, darling." Rarity and Fudge waved goodbye as he turned to walk towards the front door of his house. It was a pretty decent two story house which came with three bedrooms, a spacious basement, two full bathrooms and a two-car garage. Taking out his house key, Fudge puts it in the lock and turns it, hearing the click as he then pushes the door open and walks in. Taking off his crystal prep shoes, he sets his bag down by the shoe rack for the time being, setting his shoes on the rack as he then heads to the kitchen to fetch a can of root beer.

Walking into the kitchen though, Fudge soon feels his phone vibrate. Pulling it out of his pocket, he unlocks it to check what the notification is, and sure enough it's the dating app he's signed up on.

"Hmm. That was quick. I know I only made my profile a week and a half ago, but I still wasn't expecting a response so soon," Fudge said to himself as he tapped on the notification which took him right to the app. Sitting down on a chair at the kitchen table, Fudge looked at the profile who "liked" his. And gazing at the profile picture of this other person… Fudge saw something he never thought he'd see.

The woman in question didn't appear to be human, but rather an alien race known as the Togruta, a humanoid-esque species originating from the planet of Shili. This woman's name was Cara Ti, and she appeared to also resemble another Togruta named Ahsoka Tano, but Cara herself did have several distinct differences. For one, Cara had a light shade of red as her skin tone. Another was that instead of blue for her eye color and the secondary color on her montral and lekku, they were a brilliant Yellow. Cara also had a gold colored headpiece on her forehead of which Fudge could only guess that she had made herself, and the white facial markings she adorned were of her own distinction.

"Wow… she's beautiful. Twenty-one years old, five feet and ten inches tall, has very brief dating experience and is a bit reserved around new and unfamiliar people but is willing to open up and express herself, to the right person. Hm. Sounds a bit like me. Well, except for the dating part." 

Fudge had of course zero experience in the realm of dating, but now he wanted to change that. So, with a bit of hesitancy and a dash of self-doubt, he sent her a message.

"Um… hello," Fudge typed. What happened next was something he never, ever thought he'd see. He got a response.

"Hello. It's uh… nice to meet you, Fudge. I hope it isn't weird with me calling you by name right off the bat," Cara typed back.

"Oh, no, it's fine. Truly it is. Is it for me to ask if your profile picture is really you?" Fudge inquired.

"Yes. That's me. And I appreciate you asking. Most other people just assumed it was photoshop or some gimmick like that. I signed up here because I want to try getting past my previous relationship. I never got past the first date as I quickly realized they were just using me for entertainment."

"That sounds awful. Do you have any friends you enjoy hanging out with?" Fudge was now moving to ask peaceful questions as to learn more about this exotic woman and help her loosen up.

"I don't actually. Not anymore. The whole break up with my ex in turn pushed my few friends away and also turned them against me. It's been a year since then, and maybe now it's time for me to get back out there. Can't hide and cower in the shadows forever," Cara responded, seeming to open up more which made Fudge sport a pleasing smile.

"Yup. I was thinking the same thing myself." Fudge was happy with himself having sent the first message. Not only had he done that and walked past any self-imposed doubts about himself, but what was a simple introduction sparked the flames of an expansive, intriguing conversation between two newfound friends. "Well if you want a friend to call and maybe hang out with from time to time, I'm available."

"That… actually sounds nice. Thank you, Fudge. It's not every day I've met someone with the sort of kindness you're displaying. By chance… Um... Are you available to hang out now? I was thinking that maybe it'd help to meet each other in person and in turn help us feel at ease," Cara typed, adding an insightful proposition. 

"Really?.. Yes actually. It's just me right now. Both my sister and mother are out so I have the house to myself. Um… did you maybe want to come by? We could play video games or maybe watch movies. Whatever you'd wanna do. I could even make us some homemade pizza if you want," Fudge typed back, his confidence now beginning to soar.

"Really? I'd actually like that. The mere thought is making me feel like a kid in a candy store. Heheh. I have nothing going on tonight. So, yes. I'd like to come by and hang out if it wouldn't be an imposition."

"Awesome! I'll see you in a bit," Fudge typed, almost jumping in place with excitement once he provided her with his address.

"See you in a bit ;)," Cara typed back with a winking smiley face.

Fudge was mildly thrown off at seeing that little wink, but he went back to his original goal of fetching a can of root beer from the fridge and went back out into the living room to wait for the arrival of his guest. Something about inviting someone new over made Fudge feel uneasy, but also felt somewhat thrilling at the same time. And he had his trusty lightsaber stashed away in a secret pocket on the inside of his school uniform's jacket in case something went wrong, which he was confident that it wouldn't turn out that way.

Fudge and his sister Cocoa both had lightsabers gifted to them by their mother who was an enchanting woman in her own way. Though some figured Lavender Blossom and her twin children had been here all their lives, that actually wasn't the case. They came from a different universe entirely, one vastly populated by varied species of aliens and having incredibly advanced technology, such as spaceships and hyperdrives to travel at the speed of light across the galaxy. 

She may have kept it a secret, but Lavender was once a Padawan of the Jedi Order, and believed that the order's involvement in the clone wars was idiotic. And with wishing not wanting to partake in the conflict, Lavender was primarily kept at the Jedi temple and only allowed to partake in peacemaking missions close to home on the planet of Coruscant, home planet of the Galactic Republic as well as the residing place of the Jedi Order and their temple. It was on one of her various missions to make peace with feuding groups that Lavender met the charming human male that she'd inevitably become close with, who would later father her children. But due to her still being part of the Jedi Order, they wouldn't be able to see each other a whole lot, if at all.

And once Cocoa and Fudge were born, they'd never get to meet their birth father, as just two weeks after their birth, the unthinkable happens: the temple is invaded by the blue colored clones of the 501st legion. Without a dash of hesitation, Lavender scooped up her children as well as all of their belongings and dashed for the hangar as the sounds of blaster fire emanated throughout the halls. Running into a Jedi shuttle, she made sure that Cocoa and Fudge were secured as she hopped into a seat and began to fire up the engines for take off.

After all the systems checked out, Lavender flew the shuttle out of the hangar and up towards the atmosphere to gain as much distance away from the chaos as possible, given that she had her children to protect.

Though a sudden knock at the front door snapped Fudge out of his deep thought, thinking of his family's troubled past. Getting up from the couch, he walked over to the door and opened it, being greeted by the sight of the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

"Woah… uh, h-hey. Cara… right?" Fudge stuttered, at a loss for a way to properly speak to the beautiful woman standing in front of him.

"Yes. And you must be Fudge. I must say. I was hesitant to even knock, but now I'm glad I did. You're much more handsome in person," Cara responded, in an English accent so smooth it was heaven to the ears. "May I come in?"

"Y-Yeah, of course. Come on in and make yourself comfortable. You're much more beautiful in person yourself." Fudge moves out of the way enough for Cara to walk inside. 

"Fuck, she has the accent… she's already pleasant to be around… She's perfect," Fudge thought to himself as Cara walked past him. Either he was imagining it, or Cara was beginning to tease him as she gave her hips somewhat of an added sway with each step, showcasing her well-toned, voluptuous booty mostly but not entirely covered by pink short shorts commonly used for jogging.

"You're quite the flatterer, Fudge," Cara spoke, setting her own bag down by the TV stand. "You and your family have a nice home. Quite cozy."

"Yeah, it's home. So… what would you like to do? You decide," Fudge said, leaving the choice of entertainment to his guest.

"Hmmm… given the choices, I think movies could be an excellent option," Cara replied. "Is that homemade pizza you mentioned still up in the air?"

"Yeah, absolutely! It'll take a little to make the dough, but yeah. I'll get right on it. You can come into the kitchen with me and chat if you'd like." Fudge began to make his way back to the kitchen with his beautiful guest in tow after she took off her own shoes and put them on the rack by the front door.

"If it's ok for me to ask… Is this your first date, Fudge?" Cara asked.

Fudge's cheeks turned red at Cara's question while he was gathering the stuff needed to make pizza after he had taken off his jacket and draped it over one of the chairs at the table, including dough, flour, marinara sauce, and shredded cheese. "Yeah, actually. Part of me didn't want to go through with it, but seeing how happy my mom is with her boyfriend, I decided that I should give it a shot. I'm glad I did." 

Cara took a seat at the kitchen table as Fudge began to prepare the dough on a pizza pan by first covering the dough in some flour before fluffing it up. "I'm also glad you did. I was initially scared to come here as well, given that my last relationship went up in smoke, but I really like you specifically. Something about you feels…. Different."

"I was about to say the same thing," Fudge replied, continuing to prep the dough before spreading it out over the round pizza pan and kneading it some more. "Do you.. want to see something but promise to keep it a secret?"

"Sure. You have my word that I'll keep my mouth shut," Cara responded, though she had a feeling what Fudge was about to do.

Wiping the dough covered flour off his hands with a rag, Fudge extended a hand in the direction of his jacket and pulled his lightsaber from the secret pocket to his hand with the force, leaving Cara wide-eyed and her mouth agape.

"Y-You have that too? And a lightsaber?"

"Yeah. My mother was a Jedi. Well, she still kind of is a Jedi, but with no council to report to, we're basically on our own. That and we're in a different dimension entirely now because when she was flying away from Coruscant and had jumped into hyperspace she encountered some sort of interdimensional rift which in turn brought us here to Earth. But the rift had caused the engines to malfunction and she had to make a somewhat rough landing." Fudge put his lightsaber into his pants pocket and opened the jar of marinara sauce and spread it around evenly with a ladle spoon. "Mom doesn't want anyone here to know of our past, so I hope you can understand what this means by me opening up to you about it."

"Of course. I understand," Cara replied. "I can keep my mouth shut. You have my word."

And with that, Fudge relaxed and resumed making them pizza. After spreading the sauce evenly over the dough, he sprinkled finely shredded cheese all over it. Afterwards, Fudge got out a bag of pre-cooked bacon bits, ground beef, and a small can of pineapple chunks. Fudge knew of the intolerance of putting pineapple on pizza, but he loved the sweet flare that pineapple adds to pizza. After all, everyone has their own preferences, and he respects that.

"You like pineapple on pizza too? Mmm. It's so good. You have excellent taste, Fudge," Cara commented as Fudge sprinkled on some of the pineapple chunks, ground beef, and bacon bits.

"Thanks, Cara. It's nice to be around another "pineapple on pizza" lover," Fudge replied. After he finished spreading around the various toppings, Fudge began to preheat the oven to 425°, which in turn would take a good ten minutes to heat up. "Okay. While the oven is preheating…. What else would you like to know about me?"

"Hmm, let's see…. What do you like to do in general?" Cara asked.

"Well… I mainly just like to watch movies or play some video games once I'm home from school. I'm pretty picky with most things. Sometimes I wish I had transferred to my sister's school, but it'd be sorta stupid for be to do that now. I'm a senior, and one of my school's top twelve students, but even disregarding the top twelve shit, I'm gonna see my time at Crystal Prep through to the end."

"That's a good mindset. Once you go for something, just keep going at it no matter how hard the process may be," Cara replied. "Let's see… About me…"

"It was, to put it plainly… hell growing up. I was always the odd one out given that I'm a literal alien in a world where the dominant populace is humans. I was kicked, punched, called horrid names, basically almost any form of abuse you could think of. Going into my teen years, it only got worse. At one point, I was beaten so bad I suffered a concussion, a few cracked ribs, and a broken nose. But it put icing on the cake so to speak once I became an adult…. I was almost murdered on a few occasions."

"What?! I… can't imagine how awful that must feel to almost be murdered, multiple times. But I will say this though. All the others who have been rude to you over the years, they're just jealous that you stand out due to your exotic beauty. For what it's worth… I would never want to do something like that to you. That just isn't who I am. Hell, most of the time I don't even wanna be around others." Fudge then heard the oven beep which meant it was preheated, so he put the pizza in the oven for twenty minutes.

"And you chose to meet up with me. You chose… me."

"I did. And now that we've spent some time together, I'm all the more glad that I chose to meet you. This date is going to be more fun and relaxing than I was anticipating," Fudge said with a peaceful smile on his face as he led the way back to the living room for them to watch a movie while the pizza was baking.

"Yes it will be," Cara replied, getting up from the chair to follow her gracious host.

_______________*****_______________

The next two and a half weeks passed by in the blink of an eye for Cara and Fudge. After their first date they just grew closer and closer, practically texting each other on a consistent basis and once they had their second date, which was held at Cara's small studio apartment roughly a couple blocks from Canterlot Mall, hardly anything could keep them from each other.

Cara was no doubt willing to have their third date at her apartment, but it's not just because she was happy and willing to. With her hellish childhood growing up in mind, she'd like for her general presence around other humans to be severely limited, which Fudge respected. So if she needed food, clothes or any sort of necessity, she'd have it delivered with the money she was given by her adopted parents. 

Now that the day of his third date with Cara had arrived, Fudge was quite nervous, not completely sure what to expect and if everything would go alright. He didn't think he'd get to a third date, as he had never dated before, but nonetheless, the time has come. The night prior, Fudge had prepared an extra bag of stuff he'd take with when he made his way to Cara's apartment after school on a blissful friday, including his pajamas, deodorant, his toothbrush and toothpaste, and a few other necessities. He had informed Cocoa and their mother that he'd stay over with a friend into Saturday night, which in part was relatively true in the mind of his sister and mother.

Arriving at her apartment door, Fudge grew a little more nervous.

"Okay, this is it. You can do this, Fudge. You can do this. Don't be a coward," Fudge thought to himself as he knocked on the door. What he saw once the door opened is something he only imagined in his head.

There in the doorway, leaning with her right arm up against the door, was Cara in nothing but a lime green bra and matching panties.

"Well hello, handsome," Cara spoke, her English accent a weakness of his at this point. "Come on in, stud."

"Stud? Oh man," Fudge thought to himself as he walked into Cara's apartment. Given that it's a studio apartment, it wasn't entirely spacious, but it was cozy enough for the two of them, with the only other room behind a closed door was the bathroom which of course came with a shower. The kitchen and her bed were sort of out in the open so to speak, given that you could be in her "room" one second and in the kitchen the next.

"H-Hey, Cara. Wow…. I must say. You look beautiful as always," Fudge commented, setting his bags down on the floor next to Cara's kitchen island while also taking off his shoes and leaving them by his bags.

Walking behind Cara, he was treated to a nice view of her voluptuous butt, plump but not overly thick, and each curve shined with the rest of her body. Cara's gorgeous booty was also adorned with stretch marks, which was a sign that her body grew at an accelerated rate when she entered adolescence, but that wasn't a bad thing. Cara's stretch marks only add to her natural beauty, as the same can be said for any other woman who has stretch marks.

"And you're as handsome as always. Although, you seem to be overly dressed for our third date, Fudge," Cara said as she sat down on the edge of her Queen sized bed while facing him. "Take some of that uniform off and make yourself at home."

Fudge inhaled and then exhaled as he began to strip out of his school uniform, first discarding his tie, then his jacket, dress shirt, and lastly his dress pants, leaving only his boxer briefs and his lilac colored socks.

Cara whistled in approval, admiring his surprisingly toned physique. Despite being a relatively reserved young man, Fudge's build was well sculpted. His biceps were firm, as were the rest of his arms, his legs, his pecks. Fudge also had relatively broad shoulders and a toned six pack of abs. Blushing slightly, as he just undressed in front of someone else, Fudge went over to his extra bag to retrieve his pajamas.

"Do you mind if I get dressed into my pajamas out here?" Fudge asked.

"Of course not, stud. Personally I'd prefer it if you just stayed in only your boxers and socks, but you're still a handsome stud either way," Cara replied, licking her lips as Fudge slipped his casual blue t-shirt on and then stepped into his midnight purple pajama pants. "I was thinking of ordering us a pizza and watching a movie. And, um… maybe something else if you're up for it."

"Oh… Yeah, of course. I was gonna mention that myself, but I didn't want to push the topic if you didn't feel ready. So…. Are you ready to.. go all the way tonight?" Fudge said, walking over to sit on the bed next to Cara, understandably nervous at what she just hinted at.

"I'm ready if you are, stud," Cara spoke, gently running her left hand up and down his right thigh. "I've been thinking about this for a week… and… I'm ready to give myself to you."

"Wow…. Heh, I never thought this would ever happen, let alone with someone as beautiful as you, Cara. But um… What I'm trying to say is that I'm ready too. If I'm going to give away my virginity, it should be to you." 

Cara herself began to blush at Fudge's admission that he was a virgin, and was saving himself for her. "Y-You're a virgin too.. Heh…"

"But know that I want you to be comfortable, and if at some point you want to take a break, I'll understand and we can stop. Let's just enjoy some dinner and a movie, and then we can gradually work into making love," Fudge said, wrapping an arm around Cara and pulling her into a loving side hug.

Backing away just slightly, Cara turned her head enough so that they were looking at each other, and leaned in close until her soft lips made contact with his, marking their first official kiss. 

"Sounds perfect," Cara spoke, pulling away from the kiss. "How's hawaiian pizza sound?"

"I say that sounds amazing," Fudge replied as Cara got up to walk over to her computer to order the pizza. While she was taking care of that, Fudge couldn't get the lovestruck smile off of his face. Shaking himself out of his daze, he walked over to Cara's fifty inch tv perched atop a well furnished tv stand, complete with an assortment of movies as well as a dvd player. "What movie were you thinking of watching?"

"How about Grown Ups?"

"Ooh! I haven't watched that one in a while. It's funny as hell." Fudge and Cara both laughed a little as he opened the drawers and began searching for the desired movie. After locating the movie, Fudge opened up the dvd player, the case for the movie, and placed the disk on the tray before closing it. Using the force to pull the dvd and tv remotes to his hands, Fudge turned the tv on as he reacquainted himself with Cara's soft bed. "Mmh. And I thought my bed was soft. This is like laying down on a cloud."

After a few more minutes, Cara finished ordering and walked back over to her bed to join Fudge and get in some peaceful cuddle time. "Pizza should be here in about thirty to thirty-five minutes. Enough time for us to cuddle a bit." Cara joined Fudge in laying down on the bed as she rested her right hand as well as her head on his chest while he wrapped his arm around her and pulled her closer. Thinking back to their kiss, Fudge smiled even brighter as he felt his cock begin to stir within the confines of his boxers and cause just the slightest bulge in his pajamas. 

"Mmmh, seems like someone is excited," Cara said, eyeing that Fudge was no doubt aroused. "I know I'm excited to get your clothes completely off, but that can wait until after we have pizza."

And before either of them knew it, almost forty minutes went by as they both heard knocking at the door.

"I'll go get it, love," Cara said, getting up while also reaching for her wallet atop her nightstand. Opening the door, Cara gave the delivery person a ten dollar tip on top of the fourteen dollars it cost for the pizza itself. After being given the box carrying their delicious meal, Cara bid the delivery girl farewell before closing the door. Tossing her wallet to Fudge, he set it back down on her nightstand as he got up to join her in the kitchen.

"Fuck that pizza smells so good," Fudge commented, breathing in the unmistakeably delicious aroma eminating from the pizza inside. Walking to the other side of the kitchen island, Fudge went to get them some plates as well as cups for water. While Cara put a slice on their plates, Fudge filled their cups with water as they both walked back over to Cara's bed. Setting the cups down on the nightstand, Fudge joined Cara in sitting back down as he was handed his plate. Wasting no time, he picked up his slice of hawaiian pizza and sank his teeth into it, overwhelmed by a metaphorical eruption of flavor from the cheese, marinara sauce, as well as the pineapple chunks and canadian bacon. 

Moaning from the delicious taste, Cara also had the same reaction as she too dived into her own slice.

"Shoo good," Fudge and Cara both said in unison with their mouths full of pizza. Swallowing their mouthfuls, they shared a chuckle together as they continued to feast while the movie progressed. After munching down their first slices, they both had a second, washed them down with their cups of water, and then put their empty cups and plates in the sink before returning to Cara's bed.

"That was delicious," Cara spoke, climbing up onto her bed and sitting with her legs crossed. As Fudge joined her atop the bed, they shared a brief moment of silence before Cara spoke once more. "So, um… Are you ready to... go all the way? Or…"

Fudge then gently placed a hand on her thigh and caressed her soft skin a little before replying. "I'm ready if you are. Nothing could make me happier right now than to be with you, and you alone."

Without any further thought, Cara leaned in close and again placed her soft lips upon Fudge's, the kiss fueled with even more intense passion than before. Acting on reflex, Fudge moved his right hand to her face and gently caressed her cheek with his thumb, adding more heat to the flames of passion. 

More and more they kissed, as Cara moved her left hand to Fudge's face, repeating the same process to him. Cara then began to fall back down onto her mattress, taking her stud of a lover down with her, moving him to he on top as she began to poke at his lips with her fleshy pink tongue, requesting entry. Fudge parted his lips just slightly as they began to intensely french kiss as Fudge moved his hands along her body, intent on giving her more pleasure. It was when his hand caressed one of her lekku that Cara moaned in surprise and parted her lips from his, leaving only a thin strand of their mixed saliva connecting them which she soon licked up.

"That… that felt weird. But.. also good at the same time. Could you… take your shirt off?" Cara requested.

"Of course," Fudge obliged, sitting up enough that he began to slip his shirt up over his head, revealing his toned physique to her eyes once again. 

Wanting to return the favor, Cara also sat up enough so that she could reach behind herself and unclasp her bra. With a faint but audible click, her bra loosened and fell down to her legs, letting her soft and plump F cup breasts fall to their natural resting position. Her nipples and areolas were a slightly darker shade in perfect contrast to her light red skin tone, as well having small white body markings on the inside and outside of both of her breasts, and also an assortment of more natural stretch marks.

"May I worship one of your breasts, Cara?" Fudge requested. With Cara nodding in approval, he moved a hand to grab hold of one of her soft fleshy breasts, caressing and gently squeezing it in his hand as her nipple began to harden against his palm.

"Mmm. That feels good... Yes, my love… right there…" Cara moaned as Fudge continued to worship her breast. Not wanting the other to be neglected, he latched his left hand onto her right breast and began to fondle that one as well.

Cara's moans steadily increased in pitch with Fudge moving to take her left nipple in between his lips and began to suckle on the fleshy teat. Cara at this point was putty in his hands as he was now taking turns suckling on her nipples while also alternating on squeezing and fondling the other. "Oh fuuuck… Don't.. don't stop…"

Laying back on the mattress, Cara was now squirming a little from this avalanche of pleasure as her panties were now positively soaked through with her juices, the scent of her arousal steadily becoming undeniable as Fudge moved away from her now erect nipples.

"Hmhm, looks like someone's excited," Fudge commented at the sight of his lover's soaked panties. "May I take off your panties?"

Without a shred of hesitation, Cara scooched further onto the mattress so as to make enough room and swiftly began to move her panties down her smooth, curvaceous legs. Once she succeeded in removing the undergarment, it was revealed just how turned on Cara truly was. Not only was her pussy drenched with her juices, but her fleshy pink colored labia was blushing and winking out, and showed yet another white body marking above her pussy. Blushing herself, Cara spread her legs wider just slightly for Fudge to make himself at home.

"Your dessert is ready, big boy," Cara spoke, her boldness now at the highest it's ever been. "Eat up."

Fudge licked his lips as he laid down on his stomach and inched closer to her sopping wet folds. The closer he got, the more her arousal flooded his senses. His own arousal was heightened at this point as his cock had begun to harden and was extending down the inside of his right thigh, having nowhere else to go, and was intent on giving Cara pleasure first before he received pleasure himself.

Moving his face against her folds, Fudge's lips made contact as he began to run his tongue up and down her pussy, drawing in a deep taste of her juices. Surprisingly enough, Fudge found the taste of her juices to be relatively sweet and vaguely tangy, the sweet taste being that of the finest strawberries in the world. This drove Fudge to drive his tongue up and down her folds more intensely.

Cara moaned even louder than before as he began to really give her oral. Wanting to increase her pleasure all the more, Cara grabbed her breasts and pulled at her nipples. As the minutes flowed by in the river of pleasure, Fudge slid his tongue as deep into her canal as possible while reaching a hand up to tweak her clit. This caught his lover completely off guard as she felt her orgasm quickly approaching.

"Oh shit! Yes, yes! Right… right there…. Oh s-shit… I'm… I'm gonna…"

Cara gave a sharp cry as the dam burst, marking her first intense orgasm of the evening. With her legs twitching, Fudge's mouth began to fill with her ladycum, swallowing it in gulps to keep himself from choking. After a few pleasurable seconds, her orgasm subsided, Cara relaxed as Fudge sat up on his knees, savoring the immense taste of her cum.

"W.. Wow…," Cara sputtered, catching her breath. "That.. was incredible. You.. certainly know how to pleasure a woman."

"Heheh, what can I say? I'm a fast learner," Fudge commented before laying down on the bed next to her on her right. Although he wanted to get right to the main course, Fudge held onto his patience. "You taste amazing by the way."

Cara blushed at the comment, turned her head and pushed her lips onto Fudge's once more, curious as to how she tasted and hoping that some still remained. As luck would have it, she discovered that the taste of her juices partially remained on Fudge's lips and tongue as they shared another intense kiss. Breaking off the kiss, Cara licked her lips.

"Hmm, you're right. I do taste good," Cara said, her curiosity having been satisfied. But her next goal was more satisfying than finding out what her pussy tasted like. With intent on reciprocating the fantastic oral experience she was given, Cara began to caress the strained erection within the confines of Fudge's pajama pants. "But I should return the favor and give you some oral before you slide this cock inside of me."

"Sounds perfect." Fudge moved so that his head was laying on the pillows at the headboard and spread his legs just a little, the outline of his strained cock visible on the inside of his right thigh. "And I suppose it'd be good to get my pants and boxers off. It has gotten a bit uncomfortable."

With a confident smirk adorned on her face, Cara began to pull his pants and boxers down his legs slowly as to draw out the anticipation. Getting down to his thighs, she could see the base of his cock, and she could tell it was girthy by human standards, and just a bit above average at that. Her mouth felt dry as she continued to undress Fudge from the waist down, seeing more and more of his cock being uncovered and it only served to arouse her more than she already was. At last she pulled his pants and boxers down to just past his knees and his cock began to stand up at attention.

"Oh my…" Cara uttered, mouth agape at the sight of the cock she was now looking at. Not only was his girth slightly above average for human standards, but the mere length alone could put most other males to shame. Fudge was sporting a twelve inch long cock, complete with a sizeable set of balls hanging underneath as well as a trimmed but not completely shaven bush of light blue pubic hair at the base. "It's so… big. Mmmh… and it smells so good."

Pushing her face down to where his shaft met his ripe testes, Cara inhaled deeply, breathing in his natural musk which was damn near intoxicating to the togruta. Slipping her tongue out, she got her first taste of his member, and it was about as intoxicating as his musk. Cara then began to give Fudge's cock kisses going up to the tip, eliciting pleasurable moans from the young man.

"Mmm, that's good," Fudge sputtered as Cara reached the tip of his girthy member. He was caught unaware as she began to slowly take his cock into her mouth, gradually coating his shaft in her saliva. Cara only took a few inches into her mouth so as to not overdo it, but even those few inches were quite filling with her slowly bobbing her head up and down while also massaging the bottom of his shaft with her left hand. "Looks like I'm not the only one that's good at oral for the first time. Mmm, fuck."

As another few minutes crept by, Cara's nethers were even more wet with arousal as she took his cock out of her mouth and gave the tip one last kiss. 

"Hmhm, if it felt that good inside my mouth, it'll feel even better once this cock is inside my pussy," Cara commented, stroking his member coated in her saliva while also rubbing her wet folds.

"But wait. I… I don't have a condom," Fudge spoke, regretting that he didn't acquire any the day prior.

"It's fine, big boy. You won't need one," Cara replied as she crawled up enough to where she could reach back and rub the tip of his shaft against her folds. "I have a birth control implant in my arm. I want you to fill me with your seed, if.. if you're up for that."

"It would be an honor," Fudge said, caressing her waist as Cara held his shaft in place with the tip aligned with her nethers and glacially began her descent, feeling him spreading her open.

Cara grunted as she felt the tip push into her love canal, wincing slightly as she could really feel the girth of his member. Once she got another inch inside of her though, she gave a sharp gasp of pain, signalling that her hymen had been broken.

"Ok, Cara. Nice and slow," Fudge spoke. His new goal was to make sure Cara was comfortable as she sank lower and lower onto his cock, not wanting to cause her any more pain than she had already experienced from having her hymen broken. Fudge hadn't commented on the little trickle of blood dripping from her pussy yet as her well being was his primary concern. "Guess we're not virgins anymore, given that I just popped your cherry."

"You've earned the right to claim my virginity, Fudge. And you've given me yours in return. I'm gonna… start moving now." After feeling the tip of his cock make contact with the entrance to her womb, the pain had subsided enough that she began to gradually ascend and descend back down his shaft with each plunge stoking the flames of pleasure within. "Fuck… It's starting to feel a lot better already. I love your cock inside me, Fudge. Take me, stud."

Fudge and Cara lost track of the time as she was now riding atop him like a beast possessed, her voluptuous breasts and generous backside jiggling and bouncing with each thrust and plunge from the two lovers. The scent of their lovemaking was undeniable as the bed beneath was creaking with what was occurring atop it. At this point they were both dripping with sweat with Fudge thrusting up to meet Cara with every plunge, synchronizing their movements as he surprised her by giving her booty a swift slap.

"Fuck! Yes, you naughty boy! Spank me! Give me your best!" Cara howled with excitement. 

Fudge smirked and gave her other ass cheek a good slap while he humped up into his mate, deeply enjoying the feeling of her tight wet passage gripping his shaft. Feeling her inner walls constrict around his member, Fudge knew what was about to happen and began to thrust with even more reckless abandon.

"Fuck fuck fuck, Fudge! Right there… right there-... I... I'm cumming!!" 

Cara once more howled with pleasure as her pussy convulsed and drenched Fudge's cock in her ladycum, dribbling down to his balls. Riding out her second intense orgasm, she could feel his shaft growing harder, preparing herself for the impending rush.

"C… Cara, I'm about to cum..," Fudge sputtered.

"Inside. Cum inside me!" Cara howled.

With the admission, Fudge thrusted all the more until finally he couldn't hold it back anymore and the dam burst, cum erupting from his cock like a volcano and filling her womb to the brim with his baby batter. More and more Cara's cunt was filled, even to the point that it trickled down his shaft and to his balls. Her birth control implant would be doing its job, as none of her eggs would be fertilized. Cara howled yet again as the feeling of the cum inside of her pushed her to yet another orgasm, milking Fudge's member for even more of his baby batter.

"W… Wow…," Fudge sputtered, having stopped pumping her cunt full of his spunk. Even with it trickling down his shaft in thin streams, most remained inside Cara and bloated her belly out just a bit, appearing as though she was already pregnant. "That… was amazing.."

"Yes… yes it.. was," Cara responded, catching her breath while she collapsed forward onto her stud. "Mmm, it's so warm inside me. Once we've.. caught our breath… how's about we.. take a shower?"

"Sounds perfect, beautiful." Fudge reached a hand up and caressed her cheek.

"I… I love you, Fudge."

Fudge blushed at the sudden admission, but smiled nonetheless. "I love you too, Cara."

"But, um.. Do you think we could maybe keep our relationship a secret for a little while? At least until I feel ready to tell others. Would you be ok with that?" Cara inquired.

"If that's what you want, then you have my full support," Fudge responded.

Fudge and Cara shared another passionate kiss as she moved up enough for him to pull out his softening manhood, releasing more of his cream from her nethers. Neither cared they had just made a bigger mess. All they cared about was each other, washing the blanket and bed sheets and then themselves would be a walk in the park.

Although neither of them realized it completely yet, their lives had begun to drastically change, for the better….
> Chapter V: A Joyful Surprise
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fudge, Sunnie, Cocoa, Celestia, and Cara made a run for the houses near the soccer fields with the horde of zombies looming behind them. Fudge, Sunnie, and Celestia turned and shot when they could while running, only managing to take out a few of the zombies in the front, sending them to the ground.

But as they were reaching the sidewalk, there was another earthquake and most of the street caved in to reveal a flowing river of lava, making them halt in frustration.

"Oh come on!" Cocoa shouted as the zombies kept getting closer. Quickly thinking of how they would get across, Cocoa got an idea. "Okay guys, I got an idea. Fudge, Cara… we'll lift Sunnie and Celestia across and then we'll jump over, okay? Let's go!"

Agreeing without hesitation, Fudge and Cara helped Cocoa lift and toss their companions across the caved-in road. With the zombies now just being mere feet away, Sunnie and Celestia were across as Cara, Fudge, and Cocoa quickly jumped over before the zombies reached them. It was a relatively easy jump, but were hit with the unrivaled and intense heat of the lava as they jumped over and landed in the grass on the other side.

"Ow, fuck! Damn that burned!" Fudge exclaimed.

It did indeed burn even with them being several feet above the lava. Volcanic lava can have a heat level of up to two thousand degrees fahrenheit. So even with them having jumped several feet above the lava, the heat would still brush over them, luckily without causing any burns.

"Yeah, no shit," Sunnie responded, getting to her feet. "Let's check this house quick before they figure out a way across."

Sunnie spoke too soon, as one of the zombies leaped over the lava, with which Cocoa saw this force pushed it into the lava river, disposing of it in a gruesome and painful manner by burning it back to death. Bursting through the doorway of the house they chose first, they swiftly closed it and moved a large buffet in front of the door hoping that it would hold back the oncoming horde for as long as possible.

"Okay. Who wants to guard the door and who wants to search the rest of the house?" Cocoa inquired.

"I'll keep watch," Fudge responded.

"As will I," Cara replied.

"I'll search the rooms," Celestia spoke.

"I'll search them too," Sunnie answered.

"Alright then, looks like it's settled," Cocoa noted. "You two give us a signal if one of them gets in." 

And with that, Cocoa, Sunnie, and Celestia moved deeper into the house to search the other rooms as Fudge and Cara watched over the front door as well as the window facing the yard in case they were to pull a fast one. Fudge walked into the living room to peek out the curtain, observing that a small handful of the zombies had made the jump across and were charging towards the front door and hurried to move the various furniture around so that it somewhat barricaded the window.

"More of those undead freaks made it across," Fudge commented, after moving a long coffee table onto the top of the sofa and moving a clock tower against said table as a sort of makeshift anchor. "Hopefully the others won't be too long."

"I hope so as well," Cara replied. The buffet blocking the front door did its job for the most part and kept the zombies at bay, though for how long it'll last is uncertain. "So. Did you tell your family about… y'know…."

"Oh, that? No, not yet," Fudge spoke, walking up to his girlfriend and placed his hands on her waist. "I wanted to keep it as a surprise until you wanted people to know."

"Well they now know that we're a couple. I think we shouldn't keep this a secret much longer." Cara looked down, gesturing to her stomach, with which everyone in the outside world was genuinely confused and surprised at what was being said.

"Sounds perfect. But, when we all get out of here and get back home…. Do you wanna?" Fudge asked.

"I would love to. I can't get any more pregnant, right?" Cara responded with a smirk on her face, wrapping her arms over Fudge's shoulders and around the back of his neck.

"That remains to be seen, my love," Fudge boasted, locking lips with his beautiful girlfriend who was now going to be the mother of his child. When Cara first came to him about the subject of a child and wanting to remove her birth control implant a month prior, Fudge was initially hesitant, also because he was still in high school. But seeing how she was about the idea of having a child with him commenting about how kind and gentle he's always been, Fudge agreed without any further hesitation. And even though he's still in high school, Fudge is a legal adult as far as the law is concerned.

Cutting their embrace short, Fudge and Cara turned back to face the front door and the window in the living room, making sure the barricades held, to which they remained in place even with the zombies outside aggressively pounding at the door.

"It's good that the buffet weighs so much. They'd surely have gotten in by now," Cara commented. "But it's just a matter of time before that door breaks apart though."

"I suppose you're right," Fudge responded, holding his lightsaber tight in his hand. "The girls better hurry up before-..."

Before Fudge could finish his sentence, another presence could be felt in there with them, indicated by the sound of what could be described as sparkling magic. Turning towards the living room in hopes of figuring out what that sound was, they did just that. There, in the middle of the living room, was Fudge and Cocoa's mother. Lavender Blossom.

"Mom!" Fudge exclaimed, running into his mother's arms, to which she wrapped hers around her son in a warm embrace. 

Fudge and Cocoa were spitting images of their mother, as she too had light blue hair and golden brown skin. But Lavender had even lighter blue highlights in her hair, partially due to her being forty-four years old, and she also had rich blue eyes. Not only that, but she was dressed in the common attire of a Jedi, something she hadn't worn in eighteen years.

"Hi, sweetie," Lavender spoke, breaking off the hug. "I see you and Cocoa have found where Sunnie has been all this time."

"Yeah. I came here with them, and now we're all gonna make sure she finally gets home. Sunnie is family, and it's time for our family to become whole again," Fudge asserted. "I must say you look good in your Jedi attire, mom. Kind of surprised to see you wearing it after so long, if I can be honest."

"I'm surprised that it still fits like a glove after so many years. But... we've hid who we are for too long. It's time we embrace what the Jedi Order should have been from the very beginning, to help people, accept love and never show fear. I had you and your sister because love isn't something that should be suppressed, and starting a family is a huge honor." Lavender, for the first time in almost two decades, felt proud of who she was. And that she raised her twin children into the charming, confident young adults they were to this day. Without a shred of hesitation, they entered a game where death was a definitive possibility all so that they could finally bring a dear friend home after she'd been missing for so long.

"And who might this fine young woman be?" Lavender asked, turning her attention to Cara standing in the hallway.

"Oh, this is Cara. My girlfriend," Fudge replied, walking over to her. "We've been together for five months, almost six. I wanted to tell you about us, but Cara wanted it to be kept secret for a little while, and I wanted to be respectful about it."

"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, Cara. Never would I have thought my little Fudge would get a girlfriend, but I'm none the less glad you did. I'm proud of you sweetie."

Fudge and Cara both smiled at Lavender's words, then looked at each other before agreeing to spill the beans.

"Um, mom, there's something we want to tell you," Fudge uttered, inhaling and then exhaling. "Cara expressed interest in it a month ago, and I was initially hesitant at first, but seeing how happy she was about it, I didn't dare to try and destroy that happiness. So, what I'm trying to say is that…. You're going to be a grandmother."

Lavender's eyes went wide as Fudge stepped behind Cara, wrapping his arms around her as he rubbed his right hand in a clockwise circle on Cara's stomach.

"Y-You're… S-She's… Oh my goodness…. I'm gonna be a Grandmother!!" Lavender exclaimed, jumping in place with joy like a kid in a candy store. She wasn't mad that her son who was still in high school was becoming a father, as he was old enough to make decisions for himself. Sure she wasn't expecting to be a grandmother so soon, but Lavender was more than excited over the news, to which Fudge and Cara shared a chuckle. Never had Fudge seen his mother so happy, but alas, the feeling was mutual, as their family would be getting bigger, in several months that is.

"Hey guys, we found the next clue to-..." Cocoa spoke as she walked down the hallway and towards the living room with Sunnie and Celestia in tow when she cut her own sentence off when she saw who was standing in the middle of the room. "Mom?"

"Hi sweetie," Lavender exclaimed, acknowledging her daughter. 

"Well. It's been a long time since I've seen you wear that, Lavender," Celestia chimed in.

"No fucking way…." Sunnie spoke in awe.

"But anyway, back to what you were saying Cocoa," Fudge said. "You guys found the next clue to get us home?"

"Oh, right, yeah. It was this little code thing and that we have to go back and search the school for a safe," Cocoa replied. "But we need to take care of the welcoming party trying to get through that door first."

"I have an idea," Fudge declared, gesturing to Cocoa, their mother, and Cara. "We swing the door open, send the zombies flying back with a combined force push, and then we mop up the stragglers."

Celestia gripped her rifle all the more harder at the notion. "You got balls, Fudge. I'll give you that. I hope you know what you're doing though."

Taking a breath to relax, Fudge began to move the buffet away from the door as it began to shake more rapidly from the zombies pounding on it from the other side. Pushing against the door with his left hand on the door knob, Fudge turned to the others before speaking up. "Cocoa, Mom… you two will send the first force push to stun them and push them back, and then we'll jump out and take care of the rest. On three. One… two… three!"

Fudge whipped the door open in a flash as Cocoa and their mother sent a powerful force push at the horde of zombies, sending them all flying back, some even going so far as to fall into the river of lava. With the undead now far enough away and stunned, albeit briefly, Fudge, Cocoa, Lavender, and Cara all jumped out into the yard whilst igniting their lightsabers, emitting glows of indigo, pink, raspberry, and lime green.

Almost instantly the zombies swarmed on them, only to be cut into multiple pieces by the quartet of lightsaber wielders. More and more of the zombies were cut down as Fudge, Cara, Cocoa, and Lavender held their ground, all while Sunnie and Celestia watched from the doorway as spectators.

"Never would I have thought I'd see Cocoa and them like this," Sunnie commented.

"You and me both, sweetie," Celestia responded as they had picked off the last of the zombies.

After deactivating their sabers, the quartet signalled that it was clear as Sunnie and Celestia moved to join the rest of their group. Walking over, they were treated to an up-close and personal sight of quite a bit of lifeless bodies and countless severed body parts all clustered together.

"This may be strange, but this carnage is making me hungry," Cara commented, rubbing her stomach. "I could go for some really spicy wings and french fries once we get home."

"Heh. I see your girlfriend likes it hot, Fudge," Cocoa spoke up.

"For the past week, yeah. She has," Fudge replied.

"What do you mean for the past week? What. Is she pregnant or something?" Cocoa said with a shred of confusion.

"I am, yes. I'm pregnant," Cara replied, to which Lavender jumped up and down with joy once more.

"Fudge, I hope you've thought this through," Cocoa inquired, crossing her arms.

"I have," Fudge replied, standing beside his girlfriend. "I love Cara, and I'd do anything for her. If what she wants is to have a baby, then I'm gonna stand with her as the baby's father."

"Well then, I guess I'll just have to be the cool aunt that tells 'em what a weirdo their father is," Cocoa chuckled, elbowing her brother.

"No no. If anyone's gonna tell our child how weird I am, that's gonna be me," Fudge chuckled in response.

But before another word could be spoken between them, something or someone else caught their attention.

"Oh well isn't this sweet? A cute little family working together! Bahahaha!"

"Who said that?" Lavender inquired, reigniting her lightsaber as her children and Cara followed suit.

"The demon freak that's kept me here for almost three years," Sunnie responded, knowing the voice all too well.

"Granted, I'm truly impressed that lowly humans such as yourselves, including the humanoid, have gotten this far so quickly, but enough. It's time to-... wait what?"

Before the demon could finish its sentence, another mysterious entity made its presence known.

"Well well well, what do we have here?"

"I don't need a narrator. Step aside, whomever you are," the demon uttered. 

"Oh... I think not. You've made this little game of yours a tad bit easy. If you fancy these humans so much, then you can join them." 

"What do you-...? No, unhand me! This world is mine!" The demon barked at whatever this new entity was before a rift opened up and through it came what appeared to be another version of Sunnie, but this Sunset looked a little different. For starters, her hair colors were a mix of red, yellow, and a dark blue, albeit a bit de-saturated as well as her skin.

Secondly, apart from her desaturated skin and hair, there were various patches of her skin that appeared to be open wounds or just corroded off, displaying a zombie appearance at first glance, but given that she was showing regular human-like cognitive functions, she was anything but an ordinary zombie. Lastly, her outfit appeared to be reminiscent of the other Sunset's old outfit, as she also sported a magenta shirt and a simple orange skirt with a pale yellow stripe accompanied by a magenta stripe on the left side. But what else was different about this newcomer, was that instead of almost knee high boots, she wore simple sneakers with pale grayish orange socks.

"Great. Just great. I'm back to my normal self, ish, but I'm not even human anymore," the girl spoke, examining her body. Gazing at the group opposite of her, they were able to see her eyes, and got further proof that she was definitely not human, at least, not anymore. Her pupils and irises appeared to be a grayish blue color with darker shaded outline, her eyeballs were mostly bloodshot red with only being a milky white close to her pupils and irises. "If you people want to kill me, just do it. Don't drag it out. You'll be better off."

"And why would we do that?" Fudge inquired, puzzled by this girl's plea for a quick death. "We've only just met. And even though you look like a zombie, you clearly aren't acting like one, your eyes aren't glowing, and you can talk quite clearly. Your aura may not feel human, but you're very much alive."

"Uh huh, great. Well I just figured that you'd wanna kill the demon that lured you all here. And y'know…. It'd probably feel good."

Everyone's eyes widened at the confession. This Sunnie look-alike admitted that she was the demon responsible for keeping Sunnie trapped in the game world for almost three years, to which Sunnie herself began to fume with immense anger.

"You? It was YOU?! YOU BITCH!" Sunnie barked, pointing her ray gun mark two at the demon girl. But before she could pull the trigger, Fudge moved his pink blade in a defensive position and moved between the demon girl and Sunnie.

"Sunnie, don't. I know how you feel about this, but acting out so rashly isn't going to solve anything. Let me talk through to her. I'll take responsibility for watching her. And in the event that she does try something, should that even happen at all, I'll take care of her myself. Granted of course I'd rather not, but I will if I absolutely have no other choice," Fudge clarified. Sunnie was intent on killing her, but reluctantly agreed to spare her.

"Fine. But she better not get in my way," Sunnie growled, walking towards the caved-in street, with her mother Celestia following suit.

"Why would you elect to spare me instead of just killing me when I'm responsible for you all being here right now?" The girl questioned.

"Because it is not the Jedi way to take a life out of anger, but under the current circumstances, sometimes you have to do what you have to in order to survive, even if it may not seem right. I can sense the guilt within you. You regret what's transpired in this world, but you don't have to live like this. And as the saying goes… everyone deserves a second chance," Fudge spoke. 

"I…. I don't know. I was like that for so long, and I've basically driven this world and dimension past the point of no return. I don't know if I'd want to start over in a new world full of humans. I'd much rather go to an alternate dimension wherein there aren't any humans at all. But I appreciate the offer. Truly I do. Oh, um.. I'm Sunrise by the way. Sunrise Ametha."

"Hi, Sunrise. I'm Fudge. But if by the time this game is over and you feel any different, you're more than welcome to come with us. I happen to know a group of girls that can make you feel like family, just like the family here with me now, and I also know a talented, incredibly smart girl that could help get you re-educated into society," Fudge spoke with a genuine tone of kindness.

Something snapped them out of their daze as what could be described as the end of round music began to play throughout, reminding them that it was still in fact a game.

"Alright, let's go," Cocoa commented.

Fudge looked to Sunrise before reaching behind his back for the MP40 that he had bought off the wall that somehow remained invisible until now as he held it in Sunrise's direction, giving it to her.

"Here. You'll need this," Fudge said as Sunrise took the weapon from his hand whilst he re-ignited his lightsaber.

"Thanks," Sunrise replied. She was questioning why he was entrusting her with a weapon, but given the circumstances and that she was now among them, Sunrise wasn't about to question it.

As they all grouped together by the street and prepared to jump across though, another distressing event was now underway.

"Oh boy. We got fog rolling in," Cocoa commented, holding her lightsaber at the ready. "That's not good. Definitely not good."

"Bring me their souls!"

"Yeah, that's definitely not good at all. We got hellponies," Sunnie responded. "We need to get back across, now!"

Sunnie, Celestia, and Sunrise were lifted across the lava as the others soon jumped across, with the distinct sound of lightning crackling being heard above them in the clouds. Once they were all across, a bolt of lightning came down and struck the ground and caused a loud boom, and in the ashes appeared what seemed to be an quadrupedal equine, but with a good portion of its muzzle corroded off, revealing it's jagged, blood-stained teeth. Apart from its fur-covered coat which in turn didn't actually have any fur left and instead was just the skin underneath, its eyes were also glowing a light purple instead of a moderate cyan like before. Turning its head, it saw the group and let out a horrifying shriek before charging at them but was quickly gunned down by Celestia.

"Stupid undead creature. Let's get to the school before more spawn in and surround us!" Celestia shouted as more bolts of lightning began to hit the ground, causing more undead ponies to appear.

Running back to the school, more and more hellponies charged at them only to be gunned down or sliced into pieces. Reaching the stairs, Sunnie turned around and sniped a small group of the undead equines by the wondercolt statue with her ray gun, unaware that one had spawned on the sunroof above her and was about to pounce, but Cocoa sensed this and threw her lightsaber, cutting the equine in half before it reached Sunnie.

"What the-... Thanks, Cocoa," Sunnie commented, turning her head to look at Cocoa who pulled her lightsaber back to her with the force. Hearing something magic from behind her, Sunnie turned her head back towards the hellpony that Cocoa had sliced in half to see an ammo box with a glowing green aura as she reached out to grab it.

"Max Ammo!"

"Heh. That'll help," Sunnie announced, pulling up her little hud to see that the ammo in her ray gun mark two had been fully replenished thanks to that max ammo powerup. With the end round music playing once more, Cocoa kept her lightsaber ignited as she held it tight within her grip with Sunnie turning to walk up the stairs. "Hey, um, Cocoa… There's… something I've wanted to ask you since before I disappeared, and, well…"

Cocoa knew what words were about to be spoked and wrapped her left arm around Sunnie, pulling her into an embrace and pushing their lips into an intense and passionate kiss, to which Sunnie's eyes widened as her cheeks grew a rosy red. Melting into the kiss she had been dreaming of for so long, Sunnie closed her own eyes and wrapped her arms over Cocoa's shoulders and around the back of her neck. Cutting the embrace short, Cocoa wore a genuinely happy expression on her face, as did Sunnie.

"I'd love to be your girlfriend, Sunnie," Cocoa said, stroking Sunnie's cheek with her left hand. "Nothing would make me happier."

"R-really? Heheh…." Sunnie sputtered, no doubt flustered from their kiss. "I've been waiting for this for almost three years. But I suppose the wait makes it all the more sweeter."

"That it does," Fudge interrupted, standing in the doorway closest to them as they were on the left side of the staircase. "I do apologize for eavesdropping, as I was originally coming to tell you guys that they went ahead and located the safe. But with what I just heard, I got even better news. Cara is the love of my life, there's no changing that, but you two… you two were truly made for each other. Sunnie, you always did bring out the cheerful side in Cocoa, even when she had her bad days. And yeah, when you vanished out of the blue, even I was heartbroken, because I had lost one of my sisters."

"And I lost my brother," Sunnie added on. 

"But what still matters the most is that we're together again," Cocoa continued. "We should probably go find mom and them and see what-..."

Cocoa was about to finish her sentence but cut it off when she felt a presence, but not like any she had felt before. This one… felt cold and dark.

"Cocoa... I've never felt something like that before. I feel… cold…" Fudge uttered, having felt this new presence also. "We need to go."

As they were about to walk back into the school though, the sound of a lightsaber igniting behind them caught their attention, causing them to freeze in place.

Turning to locate the source, they see right by the wondercolt statue… the glowing red blade of a Sith's lightsaber, and could just barely make out the wielder; the trio steadily began to tremble as to who it was.

"Well hello there…"
> Chapter VI: Darkness from the Past
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The air was silent, save for the erupting volcano in the distance, and the low but audible hum of the red glowing blade of the sith's lightsaber just mere feet away from the trio on the stairs. Having never encountered the likes of a Sith before, Cocoa, Fudge, and Sunnie were at a loss for what to do, and how to go about acting on it, also considering that this Sith appeared to be a warped version of Sunnie's own mother.

"Now tell me, peasants," this evil Celestia spoke in a cold tone, stepping towards the trio opposite her with the red blade of her lightsaber held downward. "Which of you can tell me the whereabouts of Jedi knight Lavender Blossom? I can feel her presence, and I want you to bring me to her at once. We have… much to discuss."

"And what sort of business do you have with our mother?" Cocoa barked.

"Mother?" Evil Celestia questioned. "Ooh, you must be her children. Hmm, this will work out better than I had hoped. Although, another puzzle is how her children could already be grown adults given that she only had been missing for eighteen months. But I suppose that can be answered by the revelation of alternate universes wherein there can be a paradox that time can be perceived differently, like one month in a single universe could be a year in another."

"It seems that you are familiar with the Multiverse theory," Fudge commented crossing his arms. "But you must understand that we can't allow you anywhere near our mother, considering what your intentions are. You reek of the dark side. If what you want is to kill her, then you're wasting your time. Get lost."

"How bold of you to speak in that tone, boy," Evil Celestia remarked. "Now stand aside, or I may just kill you three first."

"I think not, sister," A mystery voice chimed in, earning the evil Celestia's attention as she turned to face the "intruder", to which she rolled her eyes, the irises being a solid yellow with a red outline, an indicator that the dark side has corrupted her mind.

"Must you always be a buzzkill, Luna? Honestly. This is one reason I left you behind. You always stuck your nose where it doesn't belong."

"The dark side has clouded your mind, Celestia. And with what those two just said, I also cannot allow you to harm Lavender Blossom. You were supposed to be my big sister, my family, and you just threw it all away! And for what: a pitiful life as a Sith?" This other Luna barked, tears building up in her eyes.

"Spare me your pity, Luna. And it's Solaria now," Evil Celestia spoke up, revealing her Sith name. "Darth Solaria."

"She really is a Sith," Fudge whispered to Cocoa and Sunnie, a dash of unease in his voice. "We should go find mom now."

"No need for that, sweetie," Lavender spoke up, appearing behind them, having harnessed force speed. "Well well well, look what the moof-milker dragged in."

"The what?" Sunnie questioned, with which Cocoa held a finger up for her to stay quiet as they moved back a little further. 

"Cocoa, Fudge… get Sunnie away from here. Go with her to find whatever else we need to get out of here. Me and Luna will deal with our uninvited guest. Now, go," Lavender ordered.

Doing as instructed, Cocoa, Fudge, and Sunnie ran back into the school to regroup with Sunrise, Cara, and their Celestia who were waiting down by the administration block.

"What was all that about?" Cara inquired.

"We've got yet another uninvited guest," Fudge replied. "But this one is a bit worse. Mom is dealing with a Sith."

"A Sith? Like, a full on Sith?" Cara questioned once more.

"Yeah," Fudge continued. "But mom isn't exactly alone though, thankfully."

"What do you mean?" Celestia asked, raising an eyebrow.

"There's another Jedi in here with us now," Cocoa responded. "But they've got it under control. We need to take advantage of this open opportunity and keep finding the other easter egg steps so that we can get out of here."

"Would I be able to take a spin at the Box first?" Sunrise inquired, hoping to acquire another weapon.

"Yeah. But let's make it quick," Celestia replied, the audible sounds of boards getting torn down being quite prominent. "This game is getting on my every last nerve."

Sunrise glanced down after what Celestia just said. After all, she did have a big part in why they're here, and it weighed on her. Walking over to the mystery box, she decided to come clean.

"You guys... um, I just wanna say something. I'm really sorry for you all being here. I never wanted any of this to happen at all. I just wanted to have a normal life with my family and friends, y'know? But next thing I know, I'm kidnapped and turned into a demon freak. If I find out who's truly responsible, I'm gonna have a nice long "talk" with them," Sunrise spoke as she opened up the box. Doing its thing cycling through various weapons, it came to a stop on the fabled M16 assault rifle. "Three round burst fire. Sure, I'll take it."

Celestia walked up to the box next once Sunrise pulled the cocking mechanism on her new rifle, but as she opened the box and it spun through the various weapons once more, it stopped on the biggest annoyance to come from the mystery box: the Teddy Bear.

"Oh great," Celestia grunted in disappointment. In response, the teddy bear seemingly laughed in a mocking tone while it disappeared. 

"Hahahahahahaha, Bye Bye!"

"If I see you again, bear, I'll pull you from that box and rip you to pieces," Celestia continued as the Box spun for a few seconds, then went up at the speed of light and disappeared with a brief flash of lightning, being replaced by three small boxes with a stationary teddy bear perched atop the middle box.

"Now I know how Sunnie felt for so long," Sunrise spoke, rubbing the back of her neck.

"Ok. So what's the next step?" Cocoa asked.

"Oh, right. It said we have to survive until…" Celestia responded, pulling up her in-game hud by touching her left wrist. "Round twelve, and we're currently on round six. And once we get to round twelve, a secret door will open, although it didn't say where."

"Well then, time to kick some more undead ass," Sunnie commented, wearing a prominent smirk on her face.

Meanwhile, the other Luna and Lavender were locked in a heated duel with Solaria. Luna took the offensive and Lavender swung blows when she could. Oddly enough no zombies were alerted to them, but they were too busy to notice or even care. Lavender's goal was to help Luna in keeping Solaria busy while the others continued the journey to find their way home. The duel led them back over towards the soccer field and the caved in street. From a distance, it was a rapid clashing of green, purple, and red blurs, almost like a small display of fireworks.

"I see the dark side has weakened you, sister," Luna commented. "You've slowed down, and your technique is that of a child."

"Says you, Jedi," Solaria barked, picking Lavender up with the force and aggressively throwing her against a tree, rendering her dizzy from the blow. "There. Now the old woman is out of the way."

Lavender stumbled as she tried getting to her feet with Luna continuing to keep her fallen sister occupied.

 "Lavender, go help your family. I'll deal with my sister. We don't have time to argue, so go!" Luna shouted, leading Solaria away as Lavender stood back up after retrieving her weapon. Acknowledging what her companion had shouted, Lavender agreed it wasn't best to try and argue about staying to fight the fallen Sith and once she regained her composure completely, she made her way back to the school to rejoin her family. 

Harnessing force speed, Lavender reached the front staircase where they first encountered Solaria, and after leaping up the stairs, she was now back in the main lobby of the school, more zombie corpses lying on the floor either relatively intact or in multiple pieces. Sensing where her children were, the force indicated they were to her left, so Lavender made her way towards the gymnasium, cutting down a few zombies along the way. Sure enough, Cocoa and Fudge were present in the gym along with their Celestia, Sunnie, Cara, and of course Sunrise.

"Mom, you're ok!" Cocoa excitedly shouted, running into her mother's arms. "But where's Luna? Oh, wait. She must still be fighting Solaria."

"Wait, wha-.... Ooh, right. You knew of another Luna where you come from, as well as another Celestia. Am I correct in guessing this other Celestia is the uninvited guest?" Celestia commented.

"You knew about that?" Fudge asked.

"I have. Your mother told me everything when you all first arrived on Earth. Granted I was surprised at what she said to me, but I would have been reacting the same way if I was in her shoes. She was just a scared mother wanting to protect her children."

"And after she told me about where you three came from, your mother asked if it could be kept a secret. Once she explained why, I agreed without hesitation," Celestia continued.

Sunnie, Sunrise, and Cara were keeping watch at the doors into the gym, gunning down any zombie that attempted to enter.

Meanwhile, Luna and Solaria were locked in a ferocious duel, appearing to be a fast-moving blur of purple and red to anyone that might be witnessing the confrontation. The volcano in the distance continued to roar as it spewed searing hot lava, the surrounding grass and trees having caught fire. Engaging in a blade lock, Luna's eyes displayed fear, love, and persistence while Solaria's displayed anger, hatred, and impatience.

"Sister, please! Listen to me! Come back from this darkness! Come back to me…" Luna spoke, tears again building in her eyes. "Please… I want my big sister back. Please, Tia, come back. This isn't what mother and father would have wanted for you. Throw away this life as Solaria and once more be the big sister I always looked up to."

Luna was using a few heartstrings she could think of to pull on to get Solaria to come to her senses. The one about their parents seemed to have gotten through, as Solaria broke the blade lock and almost went completely rigid.

"...Mother? Father?" Solaria spoke, her voice audibly trembling. Her own eyes began to fill up with tears as they faded from yellow and red to their original moderate heliotrope purple. Deactivating her lightsaber, she let it slip from her hand, dropped to her knees, and began to softly cry.

Luna pulling on the heartstring involving their parents seemed to have done the trick. The Celestia she once was began to re-emerge as Luna dropped to her knees, deactivated her own lightsaber, and pulled her big sister into a deep hug, tears beginning to steadily flow down her own cheeks.

"I'm s-so sorry L-Luna… I.. I don't know who I am anymore…" Cel muttered, sobbing into Luna's shoulder.

"Shhh…. It's okay, Tia. Your Lulu is here with you. I'll never leave your side again," Luna replied, assuring her sister that everything would be okay. For a moment the two sisters sat there, embracing each other after having finally reunited as a family. "I'm sure that Lavender is going to be pretty surprised to see you've come to your senses, sister."

"I'd imagine so," Cel replied, both of them getting up to their feet while wiping away their tears. "Although I'm positively certain she'd never forgive me for openly threatening her children. I'm never gonna live something like that down."

"I would think not. But let's just hope that she'll be willing to give you a second chance. Come on." After collecting their lightsabers, Cel and Luna went into the school in the hopes of finding Lavender, with which the former was now seeking amends from.

Back in the gymnasium, the zombies continued their assault only to be cut or gunned down by Cocoa, Sunnie, and the rest of the crew. In the midst of the carnage, one of the zombies dropped a mysterious powerup after death, in the form of what can only be described as a giant price tag. Seeing a clearing, Sunnie reached out for it.

"Fire Sale! "

A faint but audible musical tune could be heard as a Mystery Box was beginning to spawn in the back corner behind them, finally coming to rest atop the three apple crates as the pink glowing light illuminated it as well as various places around the school and the surrounding grounds.

"If you guys want a different weapon you better do it now before the box disappears. It's only ten points during a fire sale so get to it," Sunnie commented, turning back to the advancing zombies.

Sunrise made a dash for the box first, with Sunnie's mother following suit. Opening the mystery box, Sunrise was given a light machine gun. The RPD to be exact. Celestia opened the box next, and struck gold as she was given the first Ray Gun.

"Well this certainly seems interesting," Celestia inquired, holding the powerful wonder weapon in her grip. Turning to her side, she noticed a faint red glow in the crack beneath a door on the opposite end of the gym and went to investigate while Sunrise took a final spin at the box. Opening the door, taking away twelve hundred of her points, Celestia had opened the sports closet, where the perk called Juggernog resided.

"Hmm. I wonder if this could help," Celestia thought to herself while checking what points she had. Seeing she still had twenty-five hundred and eighty points, she had just enough to purchase the perk which itself cost twenty-five hundred points. Doing just that, she was magically gifted a bottle of Juggernog, the perk itself giving the player that consumed it increased health. Nervously gulping, Celestia unscrewed the cap and moved the tip of the bottle to her lips. But once the mysterious liquid poured into her mouth and down her gullet, she spit the rest of it out and dropped the bottle to the floor, shattering upon impact. "Blegh. Ok, that was a mistake. Definitely the worst thing I've ever tasted. Whoever thought that soda and egg-nog should go together obviously doesn't have a brain."

Wiping her mouth, while also feeling the sudden surge of strength from drinking Juggernog, Celestia turned to regroup with the others as the zombies' numbers for the round began to dwindle into the teen digits, though even then they were still plummeting.

The last of the zombies for the round appeared into view but were swiftly pulled out of view and cut down by what seemed like another pair of lightsabers, as more than one could be heard. And just like that, the round was over. The figures that were out of view soon walked into the view of the group that had held their ground in the gym, and Celestia was given a sight she had never expected to see. Herself.

"Oh… um… hello…," Cel uttered, coming face to face with her interdimensional counterpart.

"So. You're the other Celestia that Lavender told me about," Celestia spoke, crossing her arms. "And I was also informed that you threatened to kill her children."

"Oh. Yeah…," Cel responded, rubbing her neck in embarrassment. "I do apologize about that. Truly I do. I'll never be able to forgive myself for that. I wasn't myself. But my sister helped me realize the seriousness of my mistakes and I plan to make a fresh start for myself, if you all would help me."

"Well you have a long way to go before you earn our trust," Cocoa interjected, gesturing to herself, Fudge, their mother, and Sunnie. "But unlike with Sunnie's impostor back home, I'd be willing to give you another chance. It'd be weird at first to have another Celestia and another Luna, but I think it won't be so bad, so long as there aren't any other doubles. This is already getting weird as is. Wouldn't want to really tip the space time continuum past the point of no return."

"That's an excellent point," Luna spoke, standing at her sister's side. "And I'm not sure what exactly is going on here, but with as many of us as there are, we have a very big chance of surviving and securing an escape."

"Well then…" Sunrise spoke up, finishing reloading her RPD machine gun. "Let's tear these zombies a new one." 

Once the seventh round began, everyone moved towards the gym doors leading into the hallway, but then Sunrise stopped in her tracks when she began to realize something.

"Guys, wait. I just realized something. That voice, before we fought those hellponies and then just now when we got that fire sale… that voice sounded.. awfully familiar," Sunrise said, putting the pieces together. "And the zombies' eyes…. They're purple now."

"Wait… yeah. I recognized that voice too," Fudge added on. "That sounded like… Twilight."

"You have a Twilight in your universe?" Sunrise inquired.

"Yeah. I actually go to school with her," Fudge continued as the others guarded the entrance. "She's one of my best friends. Although at this point, she's more like one of my sisters. Twilight is mostly why I stayed at Crystal Prep this long. She's one of the smartest and sweetest girls I've ever met."

Twilight in the outside world blushed intensely at what Fudge had just said.

"Heh. I wish I had friends like you guys. But, I got turned into a demon and remained that way for almost three years. Kind of a buzzkill if you ask me," Sunrise uttered. "Before this all happened, one of my mothers was deep into her studies about magic in our world when she then asked me what playing my game was like, 'cause I played Zombies all the time at home. And then-... and then…"

"And then what?" Fudge asked.

"No… No, it can't be… My mother did this. She was the reason I got abducted and infused with magic to the point of my demonic transformation! My mother is the reason that we're all here right now! She did this!" Sunrise began to shout, having put together the pieces of the puzzle.

"Wait. You said you had two mothers. And if the zombies' eyes are purple, then it has to be…" Fudge said before Sunrise finished his sentence.

"....Twilight Sparkle."
> Chapter VII: Emergence of Conflict
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunrise fell to her knees as the weight of the big realization hit her: She was manipulated and turned into a demon by her own mother, one of the women she looked up to as a little girl growing up. But now all of the good memories she had held onto by that point were now twisted by the ultimate truth that her mother was anything but a good, loving person.

"Twilight Sparkle, your own mother, did this to you. Wow. What a sick bitch," Fudge spoke, rubbing his chin and then thought of something. "Hmm. When she turned you into a demon that laid control over an undead army… was she rather fascinated by other-worldly magic, particularly from a world called Equestria?"

"Uh.. yeah? How do you know that?" Sunrise inquired, looking up at Fudge.

"I figured that out because our Twilight had become fascinated with magic in the past several months, starting back at the Fall Formal at CHS, and then the Battle of the Bands not long after that," Fudge continued. "So if your mother began to collect magic while studying it, only to become a demon as a result while also turning you into one, and if our Twilight is also collecting magic… then that means…. Oh no…"

Realizing that their Twilight was in imminent danger from the magic contained within her spectrometer, Fudge reached for his phone which was stashed in the right pocket of his dress pants and attempted to call Twilight. To his disappointment, there was no signal.

"Fuck! Dammit, I should've figured there'd be no signal since we're in a damn game! I just wish I could warn Twilight! That spectrometer is a magical bomb that could go off at any moment, and I can't tell her that it needs to be disposed of," Fudge said in a panic.

Unbeknownst to Fudge, he inadvertently did warn Twilight just what kind of danger she was in collecting other-worldly magic, as everyone still present in the gym at that moment could see everything that was transpiring, considering that the game's case was projecting what was currently going on like it was a movie.

Meanwhile, as the seventh round was now in full swing, the others cut down any advancing zombies while holding their ground. Fudge regained his composure as he held a hand to Sunrise, offering to help her to her feet.

"Come on. We got a battle to finish. Your mother may have betrayed you, but we won't. Should you choose to join us in our world, you won't have to worry about family turning their backs on you ever again," Fudge offered as Sunrise took his hand and allowed him to pull her to her feet. But as she got up to her feet and released Fudge's hand, her own began to faintly glow.

"Um… this is new," Sunrise commented as the glowing aura began to extend down her arm, and then her entire body after that. The weird sensation caused Sunrise to go rigid. 

Sunrise's zombie-like appearance began to fade in exchange for one more akin to a natural human. Her once frizzled hair was starting to straighten and look more vibrant in color, being a brilliant red with yellow and blue highlights, and her skin was also healing as blood was beginning to flow through her veins once more. Each passing second sent more and more blood throughout her body as Sunrise's heart had been restored, all while Fudge stood in shock at this somewhat alarming transformation.

Not only was Sunrise transforming back into a human, but her figure and clothes also began to change, going from a somewhat voluptuous and athletic physique to a more plump and curvaceous figure with a set of luscious breasts and a butt that could put most any adult film star to shame.

"Fudge, what did you do?" Cara asked, moving next to him.

"I honestly don't know. I was just helping Sunrise to her feet, and then that happened," Fudge replied.

Once the glowing aura faded, Sunrise looked remarkably different than when she first met them all. She looked… alive. Human. Fudge had just healed Sunrise and made her human again. Her outfit had also changed except for her sneakers, as Sunrise was now wearing a vibrant green t-shirt and sky blue leggings.

"Did… Did I do that?" Fudge questioned, looking at his hands while in awe from seeing Sunrise reform back into a human. Cara was also in shock from the sudden transformation.

"I've never seen anything like that before," Cara commented. "You completely healed her, Fudge."

"I guess so. I mean, I did have it in my mind that I was hoping Sunrise would become human again and not have to spend her life cursed to look like a zombie. But if I can be honest, I didn't think that it'd actually work," Fudge spoke, rubbing the back of his neck.

Sunrise on the other hand, felt tears building up in her eyes. She had been a demon for so long that becoming human again became nothing more than a distant memory in the darkest corners of her own mind. Feeling up and down her body, taking in the smooth and soft feeling of her normal skin which was now a slightly dark fleshy orange. Her eyes were also restored, with her right eye being a moderate cyan with an amber yellow birthmark around it, and her left eye being a vibrant purple. Sunrise also had one final birthmark in the middle of her forehead, a small patch with a lavender purple hue.

"I… I'm.. human again.." Sunrise uttered, a tear now cascading down her cheek. "Thank you, Fudge.."

"You're welcome, Sunrise. Again, I didn't even know I could do that," Fudge replied.

With her happiness beginning to boil over, Sunrise latched onto Fudge and gave him a big, air-depriving hug.

"S...Sunrise… can't.. breathe.." Fudge croaked.

"Oh. Sorry.." Sunrise spoke, releasing Fudge so that he could have room to breathe. Regaining their composure, neither had expected what was coming next.

"If you really want to say you're sorry to Fudge, you could always give him a kiss," Cara interjected, now sporting a smug smirk on her face. "On the lips."

"Wait, what? You really want me to kiss your boyfriend? In front of you?" Sunrise questioned.

"Yeah. You know, like this," Cara spoke before grabbing Sunrise at the waist and pulling her into a passionate kiss, revealing that she has an interest in women as well as men. Sunrise was caught completely off guard as Cara's soft lips made contact with her own, her cheeks turning a rosy red.

"Heh. Never thought I'd actually see my girlfriend kissing another woman," Fudge interjected as Cara broke off the kiss.

"Wha-..? I uh..," Sunrise murmured, trying to process what just happened.

"If you didn't catch on, I'll just tell you. I'm Bisexual, darling," Cara confidently spoke. "Granted, I never thought I would be able to tell anyone that. But ever since I met this handsome stud, I knew that I could trust him with anything. He helped me crack out of my shell, and I love him for that. If you choose to become part of our relationship, I'd be more than happy to share Fudge."

"R-Really? You'd.. let him take me out, on a date, and make love to me? W-When it gets to that of course," Sunrise said, albeit with nervous energy.

"She'd be more than okay with that. After all, it was her idea," Fudge responded, draping his left arm around Cara's waist and pulled her towards him in a side hug. "So whaddya say? You don't have to make a decision to join us now if you don't want to of course, Sunrise. It's not an obligation."

"Wow…. This is actually happening," Sunrise muttered.

"But like I said, you don't have to have a decision right this minute," Fudge continued. "You still have time to think about it. We're probably gonna be here for a little while longer anyway until we beat this forsaken game."

"Agreed," Cara added on. "But let's get moving. Even though we still have a few more rounds until we can locate the next big clue to this mysterious easter egg or whatever it is, I'm sure that we can still find other things that may prove to be useful."

Nodding in agreement, Sunrise and Fudge walked with Cara as they moved to exit the gymnasium and regroup with the others, Fudge covering the rear. But as Cara and Sunrise stepped out into the hallway with the others, all doors to the gym suddenly shut out of nowhere, trapping Fudge inside and separating him from his family.

"What the-..? Oh you've gotta be kidding me!" Fudge yelled, understandably frustrated. 

"Fudge? Fudge!" Cara shouted from the other side of the doors while simultaneously banging on them. Taking out her lightsaber, she ignited the raspberry glowing blade and attempted to cut through the doors, but was met with a great deal of resistance. "Fuck! My lightsaber won't cut through the doors!"

"Fudge? Sweetie! Don't worry! We're gonna get you out of there!" Lavender shouted to her son. She would pry the doors open with her bare hands if she had to if her children's lives were threatened, but the continuously advancing zombies disrupted that.

"Just go on ahead, guys!" Fudge shouted back. "I'll catch up-.."

Fudge was interrupted mid sentence when he felt the presence of a new and unfamiliar arrival, taking his focus away from the door. Turning to face the intruder, who it turned out to be, brought a surprised expression onto Fudge's face.

"Oh boy.."

 "Well hello there," the woman spoke, appearing to be yet another version of Sunnie. This Sunset was wearing Jedi attire like his mother, but hers was mostly various shades of dark gray, and her eyes were glowing a vibrant purple, indicating she was being mind controlled by the other Twilight Sparkle. "You seem like a handsome young man. It'll be fun killing you."

"I'd like to see you try, Sunset Shimmer," Fudge said, walking in a simultaneous circle with his opponent. "You know… Sunrise would be rather heartbroken if she were to see you right now. You're supposed to be the mother she's looked up to the most as a little girl, and now you've let this Twilight Sparkle, your wife, take control of your mind. You should be ashamed of yourself."

"Well, I'm not," Shimmer barked. "But enough talk. It's time for your demise."

"So be it, then," Fudge barked in response. "I never wanted to actually fight anyone, but I will if I have to. And… I will make this an honest and fair fight without using my force abilities. It's part of a gentleman's duty to give a lady a fair fight. And as the wise saying goes… Manners maketh man."

"Such a gentleman," Shimmer spoke, pulling her lightsaber from her belt and ignited it, the white of her blade casting off an amethyst glow. "Now draw your weapon. Let's see how good of a swordsman you are."

Fudge was unaware, but he was put into a legitimate boss battle. Inhaling and exhaling to calm and focus himself, Fudge retrieved his own lightsaber and ignited the pink hued glow of his blade and moved into a defensive stance, ready for battle.

At once they both charged at one another, with Shimmer being the first to deliver a swing only for it to be parried by Fudge with ease. Fudge has plenty of experience with his lightsaber, having trained with Cocoa and their mom day after day for the past six years when he and Cocoa were first given their lightsabers.

Each quick and near fatal blow from Shimmer was swiftly deflected by Fudge as their duel led them through the doors to the right of the stage and towards the small staircase leading up to the stage. Fighting up the small staircase, the duel had escalated to a fast-paced one, with Fudge holding his own without so much as breaking a sweat. 

"I must say. He is quite the skilled swordsman," Cinch commented.

Several minutes had passed and Fudge was still as energized as when the duel began with Shimmer starting to show signs of fatigue. Hoping to prolong the duel as much as possible to try to gain the upper hand, she commenced in a blade lock with the young man.

"You're much.. more skilled than I expected. Maybe once I'm done with you, I'll pay my regards to that little girlfriend of yours," Shimmer snarked.

That last comment was a mistake on Shimmer's part. 

"You'll do no such THING!" Fudge snarled, whipping Shimmer's saber from her grasp, flung it to the opposite side of the gym, and proceeded to lift her up with the force while deactivating his own saber and put it back in the pocket on the inside of his jacket. 

Fudge then aggressively threw her against the wall of bleachers closest to the doors that had previously shut in his face and pulled her back to him only to drop her to the floor with a hard punch right in the face.

"Threatening my girlfriend is something I don't take too kindly to, nor if you threatened the rest of my family," Fudge coldly commented.

Pulling Shimmer straight up on her knees, he delivered a hard punch to the right side of her face and repeated the process only to punch the left side of her face. One after the other he continuously punched the mind-controlled woman that had just threatened his girlfriend who was also the mother of their impending child. Although he couldn't see it himself, everyone who was still present in the gym in the outside world could see that Fudge's eyes were beginning to show signs of the dark side as he lost control, with them beginning to turn a menacing Yellow. Fudge was losing control.

Fudge was about to retrieve his lightsaber and put the woman out of her misery when out of nowhere his surroundings changed to something completely different to a gymnasium, albeit a bit blurry, although he could make out a bench, trees and grass, most likely a park on a sunny day. And before him stood what appeared to be a smaller version of Cara but with orange skin instead of red and with the same yellow stripes on her montral and lekku.

"....Daddy? Come on, Daddy! Run with me!" The little girl chirped, her voice echoing as it was a vision. A vision of a life he'd give up if he continued to act out of selfish anger.

Coming to his senses, Fudge's surroundings morphed back to the gymnasium inside the game world, and still before him was Shimmer as she looked up, the blood that dripped from her nose having stopped as it began to dry on her face. Her eyes were also not glowing anymore, returning to a moderate cyan. Shimmer had been freed from her mind control induced by Twilight Sparkle.

"I… I'm sorry," Shimmer spoke, wiping the blood from her face. "I shouldn't have said those things."

"No, I should be the one saying sorry," Fudge replied, helping Shimmer to her feet. "I shouldn't have lashed out in anger like that when you had no control of yourself or what you said. You were being influenced by Twilight Sparkle. Your wife. I overreacted. I'm sorry for doing this to you. Truly I am."

"Not bad, Jedi. Not bad at all," a voice boomed, which Shimmer immediately recognized as the voice of her wife: Twilight Sparkle.

"Twilight, come out! Come out and face me you cowardly bitch!" Shimmer shouted.

"In due time, my love. In due time," Sparkle replied. "But first… that was quite an impressive display from the offspring of a Jedi. Able to tap into his anger and quickly recover from said anger like it was nothing… an admirable feat. But… I suppose since you won this little boss battle, I suppose you should be given a reward. But don't get used to such kindness. This'll be a one time offering."

Out of nowhere, the doors to the gym flung back open and Fudge soon found himself within a glowing aura as his clothes began to change. 

"Wait, what? What's going on?" Fudge rhetorically questioned as the glowing aura intensified. In the blink of an eye, Fudge's outfit had changed from a standard male uniform for Crystal Prep Academy… to that of a Jedi. Like his mother, Lulu, Tia, and Shimmer. But once he gazed upon his cream yellow and brown colored tunic, Fudge began to feel conflicted. Unworthy. After all, he did just tap into the dark side. Something he's never done before.

As Fudge sank to his knees with regret for his actions, the rest of his family began walking in along with Sunrise, who once she saw the person opposite Fudge, she froze.

"M-Mom?" Sunrise murmured.

"Sunrise? Oh sweetie," Shimmer spoke, running into her daughter's arms and embracing in a loving hug.

Yet another family reunion was in full swing, as Shimmer had just reunited with her daughter after almost three years of being apart. Fudge was still feeling incredibly guilty for what he had just done as Cara, Cocoa, and Lavender walked over to console him.

"Hey. Hey Fudge, it's okay," Cocoa assured as she kneeled next to her brother as she rubbed his shoulder. "It's okay. You still have us."

"No. It's not okay. I lost control," Fudge remarked, avoiding eye contact with his sister. "....I used the dark side."

"Sweetheart, it's not your fault," Lavender chimed in, kneeling in front of her son. "And hey… you realized you made a mistake. You acknowledged it, something the other Jedi of the order could not by allowing that forsaken war to occur and for being blinded for so many years. You may not be perfect, and that's okay. What we need to do is get up, learn from our mistakes, and move on."

Fudge looked up after hearing his mother's speech, he realized that he shouldn't let his mistake define him. Getting up to his feet, Fudge was now filled with renewed confidence.

"You're right mom," Fudge continued. "Let's kick more undead ass back to the grave."

"Atta boy," Lavender chimed, smirking alongside her son.

And with that, their family was solid once more, and this Twilight Sparkle now had a viable threat to her power….
> Chapter VIII: Beginning of the End
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Time flew by in the blink of an eye, as they were now reaching round twelve, when the next clue for the easter egg would be revealed.

"Okay. Let's see if it'll tell us what to look for," Sunnie spoke, pressing her right hand to her left wrist to pull up her Heads-Up Display. They were currently holding down the fort within the cafeteria which was also the spawn room, and after a few seconds, Sunnie found the answer they were looking for, although it wasn't entirely what she had expected. "Okay, um, it's not like a physical clue's location or anything, but it appears to be a riddle: Peace is a lie, lying is peaceful. One of your group is not as they seem."

"That's it? Really? Seems kinda vague," Cocoa interjected. 

"Well if one of our group is not as they seem, then it obviously has to-..." Fudge commented before stopping himself mid sentence when he felt a tremor he hadn't felt in a bit, when they had encountered the other Celestia. Calming himself, Fudge reached for his lightsaber and instantly ignited it while turning around only to be met by Tia's crimson red blade.

"Hmhm, smart boy," Solaria commented. "Lavender trained you well."

Tia was gone, and Solaria had re-emerged once more. It was then revealed that she had never intended to side with them regardless of what Lulu had said about their birth parents as it was clearly not enough to get through to the fallen knight. Everything she had said up to this point was all but a lie, with her specifically having been contacted by the mysterious and twisted Twilight Sparkle tempting her back to the darkness.

"Betraying the other Jedi, yourself, and your own sister, and for what?" Fudge remarked while he held the blade lock with Solaria while the others had to deal with the oncoming zombies.

"Power the likes of which you've never seen. And once I've killed you and your family, I'll-.." Solaria uttered but was cut short when a mysterious blade came out of nowhere and sliced through the Sith's neck, sending her severed head, body, and deactivating saber to the floor. Shaking his head to regain his focus, he looked to see the amethyst blade of Lulu having made the hard choice of taking her sister's life.

"I'm sorry, Tia, but you left me no choice," Lulu commented, looking down at her sister's now lifeless body. "Enjoy the sore throat though."

Fudge chuckled a little at the pun and then re-collected himself. "Nice pun. But now that the next step for the easter egg quest is out of the way, we of course must hunt for the next."

Several minutes and countless slain zombies later, the next clue has been revealed.

"Someone has to go into the library and locate a vibrating book, and only one other can go along," Sunnie spoke up as they gathered in the main atrium. "But with that library being a bit of a labyrinth, that book could be damn near impossible to find."

"I'll go. I know the library like the back of my hand," Cocoa spoke, confidently volunteering herself.

"As will I," Cara interjected.

"I guess that's settled. But Cocoa…. Please be careful," Sunnie said, with a bit of concern at the end of her sentence.

"No need to worry, Sunnie. We'll be fine. We'll be back in no time," Cocoa replied, then pulled Sunnie in for yet another kiss charged with more passion than their first. After breaking the kiss while gently caressing Sunnie's cheek, Cocoa turned to Cara as they looked at each other and then unanimously jumped up to the second floor of the school and walked towards the doors to the library, pushing them open with the force.

Walking into the library, Cocoa and Cara were treated to a sight that was already in the rest of the school. A few scattered items in disarray, destroyed, as well as a few splotches of blood here and there. Knowing not to walk in defenseless, they both had their sabers in hand, ready to ignite them if necessary.

"I'd say we split up to cover more ground, but that'd be a bad idea. I was primarily homeschooled my whole life, so I'm going to stay with you since you know this place far better," Cara said, breaking the silence.

"That'd be best. And since you're pregnant with yours and my brother's child, I'm not letting you out of my sight anyway, regardless of the situation," Cocoa replied as they began ascending one of the two staircases leading up to the second level of the library, where it really became somewhat of a labyrinth.

"Heh. You're as bold and defensive as Fudge was always telling me about. He's always spoken highly of you and your mother, as I would probably expect. You two are his family after all," Cara continued as they made their way down one of the corridors of books.

"Family looks after each other through thick and thin. You're his family now too. But let's get moving. I'm sure we don't have much time before those freaks move in on us," Cocoa added as they picked up the pace and ran down another corridor while using the force in an attempt to locate the vibrating book all the more quicker. On and on they went but felt that they were getting closer as the faint vibrations could be heard as they echoed throughout the library.

Meanwhile in another part of the school, the fight against the zombie horde rages on, with them getting gunned and cut down one after the other, with three more taking the place of one killed.

A seemingly intelligent zombie that resembled Miss Cheerilee attempted to pounce on Fudge only to be sliced into pieces by the lime green blade of Lavender's saber.

"Thanks for the cover, mom," Fudge commented, noticing the dismembered librarian of Canterlot High, but upon recognizing her, a thought came to his mind. "Wait a minute… This may be a long shot, but something feels off about seeing Miss Cheerilee out in the open with the others.."

"What do you mean, Fudge?" Lavender questioned.

"Just hear me out on this. The Luna of this world was the first unique enemy we encountered, so I'm thinking the faculty of the school are to be various boss types considering this is all supposed to be a game. So if Miss Cheerilee is a librarian, then she should have been waiting up in the library and not been out here with the rest of the zombies. I have a bad feeling about this…"

"I agree with Fudge. Something's off," Sunnie added to Fudge's statement. "Cocoa and Cara better hurry up. I think they walked right into a trap."

Back in the library, Cocoa and Cara were closing in on the book they were looking for when they felt an unusual calm in the room, causing an alarm.

"I shoulda known this was too easy. We're not alone here. There! That one! Seventh book to the left on the top shelf!" Cocoa said, then discovering the book in question. After pulling it down with the force, Cara grabbed it and Cocoa turned to lead the way back down to the others and began to run back the way they came when something reached for Cocoa's right arm out of nowhere and proceeded to bite her, immediately piercing the skin on her wrist. Screaming in pain, Cocoa ignited the indigo blue blade of her lightsaber and cut her arm off just above the elbow to keep the infection from spreading to her brain.

Moving out of the way in pain, the zombie that now began to feast on the severed arm it held onto… was none other than the game world's Principal Celestia. Dropping the arm and what flesh she was in the process of devouring, the zombified principal moved to attack Cocoa once more when Cara ignited the raspberry hue of her lightsaber and cut down the zombie, slicing her into quite a few pieces.

"That's what you get for attacking my sister," Cara remarked, moving to help Cocoa by placing the woman's arm up over her own shoulder. "Come on, Cocoa. We have what we came for. It better be important if you lost an arm. Let's get you back to the others."

"Nnh. I thought getting bit by a zombie hurt. But no. Cutting my arm off with my lightsaber… that hurt even more. Fuck it stings…" Cocoa murmured, still wincing from her wound. Thankfully due to the searing heat of a lightsaber blade, her wound was cauterized so that it wouldn't bleed.

Helping Cocoa out of the library, Cara held onto her sister's arm while also holding onto the book that drew them in there. Walking around the rails that overlooked the main floor below, they made their way to the west staircase and were about to descend down when they were met by Fudge who had come to find them.

"Did you guys manage to-... Cocoa? Oh fuck, what happened?!" Fudge spoke but broke into a panic once he saw Cocoa's missing arm and moved to hug his distressed sister.

"It was a trap, one we should have figured out right from the start. This world's Principal Celestia came out of nowhere and bit Cocoa," Cara said, moving so as to let Fudge guide Cocoa down to the others while she was an escort. "Luckily she cut her arm off quick enough right as she was bit so the infection won't spread any further than it would have otherwise."

"Well that's good at least. I really don't want my sister to turn into one of those freaks," Fudge replied as they got down the stairs and into the main atrium. 

"Fudge, wait. Stop," Cocoa spoke, nudging her brother to release her. "I may be a bit.. banged up, and may need a hand, but I still got one fighting arm left."

"Alright, but I'm staying by you from now on. I'm not letting anything else happen to you," Fudge exclaimed.

As the twin siblings smirked at one another, the rest of their group doubled back around the corner on the west end of the hall. Cocoa's unfortunate injury was spotted immediately by their mother Lavender. Running to her daughter, she immediately pulled her into an embrace while the others were right behind her and formed a defensive perimeter.

"What happened, sweetie? Did you get bit?" Lavender asked.

"Yeah. But it's fine though. Cut my arm off before the infection could spread. Nnh. Still hurts though," Cocoa replied.

"What's so important about that book you guys found that Cocoa had to lose an arm?" Sunnie inquired.

"Hmm. Let's see," Cara responded, opening up the book as the others fended off the advancing zombies. Opening up the book that didn't have a name or cover, what she saw was surprising to say the least. "A spell book? Alright then."

Scanning through the various spells, there was one that caught Cara's eyes. "Cocoa, here's one you may find interesting. It can manifest new limbs, but doesn't appear to manifest flesh and blood limbs though," Cara continued.

"If it's artificial, that's fine. I'll accept whatever I'm given," Cocoa replied, holding out what was left of her right arm. 

Holding the book open with her left hand and holding out her right, Cara attempted to cast the spell to give her sister a new arm.

"Regenerado… Limbada! "

Cocoa watched in awe as did everyone else as her charred wound began to glow, and in the blink of an eye, a new arm began to manifest itself, being composed of various metallic alloys, mostly being silver in coloration. As the seconds passed by, Cocoa found that there was surprisingly no pain as the arm took shape in place of her old one. After another few final seconds, the arm was complete, and Cocoa relaxed herself.

"It worked…," Cocoa said in awe, examining her new arm. She found out right away she could already move and bend the fingers, bend her arm as if she's lifting dumbbells… the works. Noticing a lone zombie running at them, appearing to be a version of Flash Sentry, Cocoa used the force to lift the zombie up and clenched her fist into a ball, crushing the zombie's skeleton into dust while also turning what was left of its brain to mush, killing it instantly as she let the lifeless body slump to the ground in a pile.

"Damn, Cocoa," Fudge commented. "That was aggressive. Even for you."

"Well under the current circumstances, you have to be willing to get your hands dirty. It may not be proper to seek revenge, but those freaks took my arm. They owed me," Cocoa remarked. "But I digress. We have a fight to finish."

---***---

Another few hours passed, and now they are all so much closer to their desired escape. All that remained was three final steps to the easter egg, but with that in mind, it's gonna be that much harder. They were in the twenty rounds and of course the zombies grew in numbers. With each zombie killed, three more took its place. Their next part of the hunt led them to the teacher's lounge as they were apparently tasked with freeing an unknown prisoner, and as they arrived at their destination which was near Vice Principal Luna's office, the door that led into the lounge was of course locked. But as they approached to unlock the door, something was amiss.

"Whoever is behind this door, has a connection to the force," Cara commented. "They feel…. familiar."

"Open it, Cara. We're right behind you," Fudge responded as they held their position while Cara moved to open the door. Using the force to undo the lock on the door, it audibly clicked, and out of nowhere, the door flung open and a woman fell out onto the hall floor, seeming to be in a mild daze. Propped on her elbows, it became clear just who this woman was as Lavender Blossom recognized her immediately.

"I… I feel like I know you," Cara continued, noticing the woman to be a Togruta just like her. Although this woman's montral and lekku were longer, the colors were white and blue, and her skin was a darker and more vibrant shade of Red not unlike her own. Looking up with her dark blue eyes, Cara was also recognized immediately.

"Cara? Is it really you?" The woman spoke as she got to her feet, her outfit appearing to be a dress of sorts, extending down to her feet with a hooded cloak atop it. "I honestly thought that I would never see you again."

"What do you mean by th-..?" Cara questioned, but was interrupted when visions came to her that have been a recurrence over the years but she never paid too much attention to it 'cause she had thought they were mere dreams. Far from it in fact. These dreams are actually memories she held in her mind ever since she was just a baby, as one of the visions became so clear it was like it was actually happening. The vision was of Cara in the arms of the very woman opposite her.

But this was no ordinary woman. This was Jedi master Shaak Ti, member of the Jedi High Council and the Jedi Order as a whole.

Coming out of the vision, Cara finally realized who this woman was. This was Cara's mother. Her real mother.

"....Mommy?...," Cara croaked, tears forming in her eyes. All this time she put it off, but now it was clear. Cara was just reunited with her mother. Without warning, she lunged at her mother and Shaak reciprocated by wrapping her arms around her precious daughter who she hadn't seen since she was a little baby.

All at once Cara broke, the tears flowing down her cheeks like a river as she was held by her mother. As the others fended off the zombies while this mother and daughter could have this moment together, Shaak Ti stroked the lekku that went partially down Cara's back as she felt her daughter relax. 

As this was occuring, most everyone in the group were in complete shock at who they had just freed, but quickly snapped out of the surprise and went back to the task at hand.

"I'm so sorry for not being there for you as you were growing up, Cara," Shaak Ti spoke, reassuring her daughter that everything was gonna be alright. "Sending you away was the hardest choice I ever made. I just wanted you to have a future that wouldn't have been affected by that dreadful war. Now I feel ashamed for the part I played in allowing it to occur. But it's in the past now. We're together at last, and that's what matters."

Cara said nothing as she continued to cry in her mother's arms, but it was decreasing in intensity with the calming touch of her mother's hand. While this was happening, the self-induced hex Cara had put on her eyes was beginning to fade, revealing yet another of her secrets.

As a young girl, Cara was relentlessly picked on, mainly because she was a literal alien on a world full of a mostly human population, but also that she was born with different colored eyes. Growing tired of it, Cara had figured out how to change her eye colors without using eye contacts, as being vastly different from the other kids in terms of species was bad enough.

Breaking the hug, Cara looked into her mother's eyes and actually smiled.

"I thought I would never get to meet you, mom, after you sent me away," Cara spoke, the sounds of gunfire being heard alongside the swinging of lightsabers as the zombies continued their relentless attack. "And I'll admit… I thought you had abandoned me…"

"In a way, I did. But I only did so because I wanted what was best for you. For your future. And now you've grown into the beautiful young woman I had hoped you would. And your different colored eyes only add to your beauty," Shaak Ti responded.

"My wha-... oh. That. I uh…. I managed to change my eye colors to have them both be yellow because I didn't want to be made fun of even further growing up. It was hard enough being a literal alien in a world of humans. Having different colored eyes would have made it worse. But…. Now I feel bad because I kept this secret from one of the few humans I can say that I can trust," Cara continued, now rubbing her neck with guilt.

"Well I'm sure that this person wouldn't think any differently of you," Shaak Ti added, placing a hand on her daughter's shoulder.

"I wouldn't dream of it," Fudge chimed in, moving to stand next to Cara while placing his left arm around her waist. "She means the world to me."

"I suppose a proper introduction is in order. My name is Shaak Ti. Master on the high council and member of the Jedi Order. Who might you be, young man?"

"I'm Fudge Amethyst, Master Ti. Son of Lavender Blossom, and Cara's boyfriend," Fudge spoke, bowing to the Jedi Master in front of him. "It's a tremendous honor to be in a relationship with your daughter. She's a beautiful and incredibly kind woman. I have no doubt that our unborn will be just as kind and beautiful when they come into the world."

"Wait. Child?" Shaak Ti questioned.

"Mhm. I'm pregnant, mother. And Fudge is the father," Cara replied, latching onto her boyfriend in a tight hug.

"Well I couldn't be more happy to hear this news. And you certainly chose a charming, handsome young man to be your lover who is now the father of your child. I have no doubt you both will be amazing parents when the baby is born," Shaak Ti added with a big smile on her face knowing that she is to be a grandmother.

"Thank you, Master Ti. And if I may say, it's an honor to be in the presence of a beautiful and wise lady such as yourself. I can see where Cara gets it from," Fudge commented as round twenty three came to a close while they made their way back to the main lobby of the school.

"Hmhm. You're quite the charmer," Shaak Ti replied.

Lulu took the lead as they reached the main lobby, but an eerie calm set over them, causing them to halt. Out of nowhere, a random lightsaber could be faintly heard, and before anyone could react, something came down from above and cut Lulu in half, vertically, as she was reaching for her lightsaber. Standing in shock at seeing their ally be killed so swiftly, the Jedi of the group simultaneously ignited their lightsabers upon seeing the crimson red glowing blade of the sith they had presumed to be dead not long ago…. Darth Solaria. Turning to face the ones that she desired to exact her revenge upon, she gave a cold smirk as she looked at them with her sinister Yellow eyes.

"Did you really think it was over, just like that?" Solaria announced. "Oh no. We're not done yet. Lulu may be dead, but she was but one target. You're all next."

This is going to be a tiresome experience. As if it hasn't been already….
> Chapter IX: End Of Conflict
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The halls grew unnervingly silent as they looked at the resurrected Sith after she had just slain her own sister, the crimson red glow from her lightsaber reflecting the evil of her heart.

"My mistress has allowed me a second chance to get the revenge I desire, and now it's coming to fruition," Solaria coldly remarked, pointing her saber at the group opposite her. "Now that my naive sister is no more, you're all next."

I don't think so. I won't allow it," Cara stated, stepping forward with her saber in hand.

"Neither will I," Shaak Ti continued, joining her daughter.

For the first time in a long time, a cold shiver crept down Solaria's spine, for a Jedi Master stepped forward to face her, but she held her ground with her arrogance and cocky attitude fueling her.

"The rest of you, go find whatever else is needed for us to escape this place. Me and my daughter will deal with this misguided child," Shaak Ti stated, her spanish-like accent somewhat bringing with it a calming feeling for the rest of them, the sound of it like music to the ear.

"Yes, master. Alright, Sunnie. Lead the way," Lavender spoke up, with Sunnie turning back to the way they came to lead the hunt for their next clue.

"Cara…. Please be careful," Fudge requested, giving his beloved a kiss on the lips.

"I will. You taught me well," Cara replied as Fudge smiled then turned to join the others. Turning back to face Solaria, she straightened her posture and tightened her grip on her saber. "Maybe this time when you die, you'll stay dead."

Cara then ignited the raspberry hued blade of her saber as her mother followed suit by igniting her own blue blade. Shaak Ti gave her daughter up once, she wasn't about to do it again. Standing there with her child, she was filled with an immense amount of pride that she had created this young woman that was willing to fight if it was to protect those she loves most.

"Well then. Let's see what you're made of, Jedi fools," Solaria snapped, and then charged at the Jedi opposite of her. And at once the formerly quiet halls erupted with the sound of lightsaber blades clashing against one another, with Shaak Ti and Cara holding their own with ease.

At the south entrance to the cafeteria near the staircase leading to the second floor, the group were about to head up when Fudge stopped and looked in the direction of the main lobby where a duel was taking place.

"Fudge, don't worry. Cara will be fine. I'm sure of it. With Shaak Ti here now, nothing will happen to her. If I know anything about Master Ti, I know that Solaria won't stand a chance," Lavender assured her son, putting a hand on his shoulder to ease his nerves.

Back in the main lobby, the fight against Solaria intensified as the two Togruta fended off the so-called Sith. Sparkle giving her renewed life was a gift she took with honor and devotion, but what she did not know is that she was only given a second chance, and wasn't granted extra power as she had expected. After all, that would be too easy. And Sparkle had other plans. Not that they knew of that. Yet.

"There's no way out of this, Sith," Shaak spoke as she and Cara commenced a blade lock with the fallen knight. "You can't expect to achieve whatever goal you may have. I can sense that your feelings betray you."

"I won't stop until you Jedi fools are wiped from existence!" Solaria shouted, breaking the blade lock and seized Cara with the force and threw her into the glass covering the trophy display case to the right of the cafeteria doors, shattering the glass upon impact as she fell to the ground and her saber slipped from her hand, dazed from the blow.

Seeing her child being attacked in such a fashion brought up new feelings within Shaak Ti that she wouldn't have had otherwise: Anger and motherly instincts to defend her child. Now that Cara was subdued, Shaak was left to fend off the fallen knight alone, increasing the ferocity of her own attacks.

"Aww, did I hurt your child? Oh boohoo. She got what she deserved," Solaria stated as she parried Shaak Ti's blows with exceptional precision.

As Solaria commenced yet another blade lock with the Jedi Master, she had let her guard down like most Sith do as she failed to sense one of the others coming up behind her, and before she could react, Solaria felt an immense heat protruding from her stomach as she looked down to see a pink glowing blade belonging to that of Fudge. Removing his blade, Solaria's saber shut off and fell from her hand as she slumped to the ground, her life slipping away a second time.

"Perhaps you'll stay dead this time," Fudge commented.  "Forgive me for the rash choice to stab her, master, but I couldn't stand by any longer. Not after I sensed you both in trouble."

"It's okay, Fudge. I know you meant well. And I appreciate your help regardless," Shaak replied, putting a hand on his shoulder. "I'll deal with her in her final moments. You go see that Cara is alright."

Fudge ran over to Cara as she was trying to get up, as being thrown into a glass window wouldn't exactly be painless.

"Cara, take it easy," Fudge said as he helped her up. "You ok?"

"Well… other than being thrown into a trophy case, never better. Sure as hell doesn't tickle," Cara replied, rubbing the back of her head and rear lekku. "You just fatally wounded a human life, Fudge. I know she wanted to kill us, but I can't imagine that must feel good."

"No. It doesn't feel good. It's a Jedi's goal to not take life and to defend it instead, but under the still current circumstances, rules have to be bent a little for the greater good. Solaria would have stopped at nothing to kill us all under the command of her new mistress, even if it meant having the dark side corrupt her to the point she is driven mad," Fudge commented, noticing Solaria on the verge of death, hopefully for the last time. 

Shaak Ti knelt over as the fallen knight's eyes faded back to their original purple, and in her final moments, knowing she would have been killed regardless, she decided to reveal Sparkle's intentions.

"I… cough don't, expect you to believe me. But there's.. something.. you should know.." Solaria uttered, inching closer and closer to death, hopefully for the last time.

"What is it, young one?" Shaak Ti questioned.

"The others… they're.. in danger. Sparkle… wanted you all to split up.. to lure you all… into a trap…" And with a final breath, Solaria passed on.

"Fudge, where did they go?" Cara asked as panic began to settle in.

"Up to the teacher's lounge. Come on!" Fudge exclaimed, running up one of the staircases to the second floor while simultaneously summoning Lulu's saber with the force. Without a shred of hesitation, Cara and her mother bolted after him as they too realized that the duel they partook in was merely a distraction.

Meanwhile in the outside world, the Friendship Games had progressed far enough that the Tricross relay had come to an end, with CHS scoring their first victory against Crystal Prep. Typically, she would have accused them of cheating, but after the revelation from earlier and Fudge snapping at her a little, Cinch decided to try and turn over a new leaf by letting CHS have this win. Letting them enjoy this victory actually put a little smile on her face for once.

Back in the game, Fudge had reached one of the two staircases that lead up to the top floor of the school and jumped up with haste. What he found was nothing like he was expecting to find: everyone being completely fine.

"Fudge? What is it? Are Cara and Master Ti alright?" Lavender asked, seeing the worry in her son's face.

"Yeah, they're fine. They're right behind me, but I got news. Sparkle wanted us all to split up because she wanted to lure you all into a trap," Fudge responded.

"A trap? What do you mean by that?" Cocoa chimed in.

"That duel with Solaria was only meant as a distraction. Whatever you guys came up here to find… she wanted you to find it. Sparkle is probably planning to-.."

Before Fudge could continue his sentence, he began to feel as though he had been sucked into space and fell to the ground, gasping for air as quickly as it was leaving him. As Lavender went to Fudge's aid to try and help him, Cocoa and Sunnie also fell to the ground gasping for air. Although admirable, their efforts were futile as Fudge, Cocoa, and Sunnie all vanished into thin air just as Cara and Shaak Ti caught up with them.

"No no no no no! Fuuudge!" Lavender shouted, panic overtaking her.

"Cocoa and Sunnie are gone too!" Celestia also shouted. 

All at once Lavender began to pace around, thinking her children just died as well as Sunnie. Though they were unaware, their children were merely… relocated.

"We need to find them. Now! We came too far just to stand here and do nothing! I'm not leaving here without my daughter," Celestia barked.

"Then let's get moving," Jedi Sunset chimed in. "But there's something we need to do first. It'll be quick. Trust me. Given what's about to happen, we'll need all the help we can get."

-------***-------

Sunnie gasped as she regained consciousness. And upon regaining consciousness, she immediately noticed her arms were bound up at the wrists much like before the game started all over again several hours ago.

"Oh come on! Not this again," Sunnie commented, pointlessly struggling against the metal chains wrapped around her hands. Taking in the surrounding area, it appeared to be the front of the school and she was chained to the wondercolt statue. "Cocoa? Fudge? Hello?"

"Grunt. I'm here!" Cocoa shouted.

"So am I!" Fudge shouted as well.

Each of them were bound on different sides of the statue, with the vacant side being where the portal is in the outside world that connects them to the parallel world called Equestria. At this point the ground was covered with a thin layer of ash from the still erupting volcano even with it being hours later.

"I hope they have something planned, 'cause I can't fucking TAKE THIS SHIT ANYMORE!" Sunnie barked with intense frustration. It didn't help her mood that she didn't have any of her weapons, and Cocoa and Fudge didn't have their lightsabers either. They only had the force, but with the metal chains around their hands, that proved to be a bit of a hassle. Out of nowhere though, a lightsaber ignited and cut through the metal chains binding Sunnie’s hands, setting her free. Rubbing her hands, she looks to see that Lavender had cut her free and is now cutting loose her children.

“Thanks, Mom,” Fudge commented, rubbing his wrists. After she cut Cocoa free, she handed Cocoa and Fudge their lightsabers. “Where are the others?”

“They should be reaching the main lobby as we speak. After we went and did what Shimmer suggested, I took off ahead. Sunnie, your mother has whatever weapon you had,” Lavender replied.

“What was this suggestion?” Cocoa asked.

Before Lavender could answer Cocoa’s question, someone clearing their throat acquired their attention, and upon turning their heads they are greeted by Shimmer being flanked by Principal Celestia, Cara, Shaak Ti, and… more Jedi. These new Jedi appeared to be more versions of the girls back home, consisting of Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Twilight, and surprisingly another Celestia.

"Holy shit," Sunnie commented, seeing yet another variant of her mother. "I guess this fully proves the Multiverse theory."

"Something serious is about to go down," Fudge spoke, igniting his pink blade. "Wait. Where's Sunrise?"

Instead of a verbal answer, Sunrise appeared to be walking towards them from the right side of the school opposite the sports field with a large group of zombies flanking her, but these zombies' were glowing a moderate cyan once more instead of purple as Sunrise managed to turn some zombies over to their side.

"For an intelligent woman, mom is really a dumbass," Sunrise commented, stopping just shy of the group of Jedi, Sunnie, and Celestia, with her army behind her. "She didn't take away all of the power she "gave" me. And now we have an army of our own."

And not a moment too soon as a loud noise could be heard, taking their attention towards the sports field where an army of purple glowing eyed zombies tore through the fence surrounding the field. Cocoa, Lavender, and all of the other Jedi ignited their lightsabers as they prepared for the fight that was about to ensue.

"Are you two ready for this? If it hasn't been ugly already, it's about to get even more so," Lavender spoke to both her children.

"I am. I wouldn't have come here if it didn't mean something," Fudge replied. "I knew what I was getting myself into."

"I'm ready too, mom," Cocoa responded. "We came this far to get Sunnie home. And I'm not gonna give up right at the finish line."

"Neither will I," Principal Celestia chimed in, with Sunnie on her left. "It's time to end this. Once and for all."

"Well then. Fudge, would you do the honor?" Lavender spoke, gesturing to her son.

"For Canterlot!" Fudge shouted, as he and all of their allies charged at Sparkle's minions while they charged in unison. 

This was truly to be a fight for the ages as the Jedi charged forward and cut through the first few lines of Sparkle's undead army with ease. Sunnie and her mother opened fire where they could and the army of undead converted to their side lunged at their own and proceeded to bite at each other, with it doing nothing but ripping each other apart.

The Jedi began to disperse so as to try and spread out the undead with Fudge having grouped up with Cara and Shaak Ti and Cocoa stuck by her and Fudge's mother. With each group of purple eyed zombies slain, another took its place. It had only just begun, but it was becoming quickly evident that this was going to be a lengthy fight as Sunnie and her mother were already beginning to run out of ammo, which was going to be a very big problem.

“I’m on my last mag!” Sunnie shouted in frustration.

“Me too!” Principal Celestia spoke, soon hearing a click from her AK rifle. Before they could switch out for their other weapons though, they were thrown spare lightsabers by Jedi Rarity and Jedi Rainbow Dash as they overheard the mother and daughter running out of ammo. Celestia and Sunnie didn’t dare question being given these lightsabers as it would be far better than having to run out of ammo.

 “Heh. Never thought I’d actually use one of these,” Celestia spoke as she ignited the blue blade with Sunnie igniting hers, also being a blue blade.

“Me neither,” Sunnie responded as they joined in cutting down Sparkle’s minions. 

At one point one of Sparkle's minions jumped on Fudge's back and began to ride him like a jockey would a horse in a derby, to which Fudge wasn't taking amusement from. 

"I am not some horse!" Fudge shouted as he ripped the zombie off his shoulders, threw it onto the ground and drove his pink blade through its skull. "There. Now stay dead, please."

Moving over to near the Wondercolt statue, Cocoa and Lavender had their backs to each other as zombie after zombie charged at them only to be cut down with extreme precision. Although the purple eyed zombie assault was proving to be endless, they all were willing to put up one hell of a fight to the very end.

Meanwhile, Sparkle had re-entered the physical realm and was watching the battle unfold from on top of the school. Everything was going according to plan for Sparkle, watching them all fight to the death. Although she had fun for a while watching Sunnie squirm for so long after she first arrived in this world, seeing such a big battle unfold was all the more entertaining. That fallen Jedi variant of Celestia was an interesting discovery for the scientist turned mad she-demon, seeing another powerful pawn in her ultimate goal of seizing the magic from alternate universes, and now the key to acquiring such power was right in front of her. Who needs family when you can have endless power across universes? Looking back at the fight though with her immense vision, she noticed something was amiss. She couldn’t see her estranged daughter, Sunrise. And a split second before she could react, she was caught by surprise by her magical powers being drained from her and turned her head to see Sunrise holding a spectrometer device she had intended years ago, and now her own daughter was using it against her.

“Fuck, mom, you really are a dumbass,” Sunrise commented as her mother’s powers were quickly diminishing, causing her pain. “You should have thought about destroying this thing. Now it’s the instrument of your ultimate failure.”

"You.. little… bitch!" Sparkle winced as the last of her magic was sucked out of her, and she was returned to her human form, where previously she adorned black framed glasses with her hair up in a bun on the back of her head, and a typical science getup, complete with a white lab coat, gloves, tan colored khakis, dress shoes, and even a blue turtleneck sweater.

Once all of the magic was drained from her estranged mother, Sunrise closed the spectrometer, placed it in her left pocket and then ignited the amethyst blade of Lulu's lightsaber that she was given and pointed it right at Sparkle.

"Y'know. I would love to kill you right now after what you've put all of us through, but I think I'll let mom decide what happens to you," Sunrise announced. Using what bit of her own magic she still had, Sunrise seized her mother and held her up with magic while escorting her down to the others. All while this was happening, every zombie dead or still active was beginning to slump to their knees as they began to return to being living humans once again. And not only that, but the world around them was beginning to return to what it had been before Sparkle went mad with power. The erupting volcano was wiped clean from existence, the caved in road was put back together, and everything that had been part of the "game" was fading as well.

All of the Jedi including Cara, Shaak Ti, Cocoa, Fudge, their mother, and even Sunnie and her own mother raised their weapons as they began to celebrate this victory. At last, the "game" was over.

"It's over. It's finally over," Sunnie spoke, her sentence dripping with happiness and relief. "This means I finally get to go home."

"What on earth happened?" The other Rarity spoke as she got to her feet, dusting off her blue fall formal dress, it now being void of any blood stains. "That was rather odd. We were partying inside the gymnasium, and now we're outside the school. Aaaand there are doubles of us, in weird outfits."

"No way. Our doubles are Jedi! Awesome!" the other Rainbow Dash shouted.

"Well that's somethin' I never thought I'd see," the other Applejack commented, seeing her own Jedi double.

"You can say that again," Shimmer spoke. "At least now things can hopefully go back to the way they were. I'm gonna have a nice long talk with my soon to be ex-wife as soon as I find her."

"Well here she is, mom," Sunrise interrupted, throwing Sparkle at Shimmer's feet. Seeing her estranged wife, Shimmer forcefully pulled the woman to her feet and violently drove her right knee into Sparkle's stomach, sending her back to the ground from the pain of the blow.

"You manipulated me, AND our own daughter, for what? Some fucking obsession with magic?!" Shimmer growled.

"Magic.. is easier to understand than your stupid Jedi "teachings". Made more sense, too. And so what I manipulated you and Sunrise? You two were stupid enough to trust me in the first place. Having family meant I had viable, gullible test subjects," Sparkle coldly stated, the lust for power having turned her completely bitter, a complete opposite from one of the women Sunrise looked up to growing up as a little girl. And hearing those words brought tears to Sunrise's eyes. Shimmer though… was beginning to fume with anger.

"I would grab you by the throat and snap your neck like a twig right now, but I won't. Because I want to be the mother for Sunrise that you never were," Shimmer spoke, grabbing Sparkle by her turtleneck sweater and lifting her up. "Consider this our divorce. Twilight Sparkle, you are under arrest. I'll see to it that you spend the rest of your life rotting in a cell. Sunrise, go get a phone and the police here at once."

"Of course, mom. But there's something we need to do first," Sunrise responded, pointing to Sunnie, Cocoa, and the rest of their family. "We need to help them get home."

"Right. See what you can do to get that portal open so they can go home," Shimmer replied, dragging her ex-wife back to the school to keep her locked up until she can be taken to a cell by the police for her crimes.

Sunrise motioned for them to follow her as she led them to the Wondercolt statue, stopping as they now stood in front of it.

"I can use my magic to reopen the portal for you guys, but I can't hold it open for long so you'll have to be quick," Sunrise said as Fudge stood to face her. 

"So I take it you don't want to come with us?" Fudge asked.

"I think it's best that I stay here with mom so I can help her see to it that things return to semi-normal. And we already have enough doubles in this world as it is. Having more would make things go chaotic all over again," Sunrise continued.

"Fair point. Well, I hope you guys can fix things here. I suppose we should be off then. May the force be with you," Fudge replied as Sunrise concentrated her magic on the base of the Wondercolt statue, and the portal came to life.

Keeping in mind that Sunrise said she wouldn't be able to hold the portal open for long, Sunnie ran into the portal first, followed by Celestia, Cocoa, Fudge, and then Cara and her mother Shaak Ti.

"May the force be with you too," Sunrise spoke as she closed the portal, their dimensions being cut off from each other.

----***----

Once they stepped through the portal to go home, the projection of the game world immediately dissipated. While also waiting until the final event of the Friendship Games began, everyone gathered back in the gymnasium and were free to do as they wished, so they had another party of sorts. And at the height of it all, the game's case reopened and it began to glow as trails began to form and manifest on the stage, as Sunnie took form first followed by the rest of her family. 

Shaking her head, Sunnie was coming to terms that she was finally home after being gone for nearly three years, and the joy of it was overwhelming as she instantly began to cry, the tears running down her cheeks like a river.

"Oh sweetie," Celestia spoke, pulling her daughter into a hug as Sunnie immediately latched onto her mother. Celestia didn't even try to hold back the tears as she too began to cry, extremely overjoyed that her baby girl was finally back home. Dazzy immediately bolted for the stage and ran up to join in the hug, wrapping her arms around her cousin and aunt as Luna also came to join in, their family becoming whole once again.

"I'd say this is mission accomplished," Fudge spoke, propping an arm on the shoulders of his sister and their mother.

"Without a doubt," Cocoa responded.

"I'm so proud of you both," Lavender said, kissing her children on the tops of their heads. "You went and risked your lives to bring Sunnie home. Sure we may have joined in to help, but it was you both that discovered where she had been all this time and led the mission to rescue her without a shred of hesitation. And now she's home where she belongs."

The gym erupted with cheers and clapping as everyone celebrated the return of Sunnie. The Sunset from Equestria hadn't returned to Equestria yet due to her own magic having been taken from her, but she was working with Twilight to try and safely release the magic so the portal to Equestria could get reopened. If she hadn't already felt guilty for the things she's done, knowing she was inadvertently responsible for this world's Sunset being displaced into yet another dimension covered her in several thick layers of guilt. Just as she was about to open one of the sets of doors leading out into the hallway, she felt someone grab her arm to keep her from walking away in shame.

"You're not going anywhere," Rainbow Dash said. "You got some major ass-kissing to do."

Seeing Rainbow keep the other Sunset in the gym caught the attention of Cocoa and Fudge as they jumped off the stage and walked over to confront the Equestrian unicorn turned human. Cocoa would have commented on her own new Jedi attire, but she was more focused on Sunnie finally being home after so long.

"Sunset Shimmer of Equestria. What do you have to say for yourself?" Cocoa remarked as she crossed her arms, Fudge remaining by her side.

"I know you never really liked me, and this probably won't mean much, but I am truly sorry for all that I've done to you, your family, and everyone else here. I never thought the Sunset of this world would be pushed into another dimension entirely. I just…. I wanted to go somewhere I could get away from my Celestia as we didn't part on good terms," Sunset spoke, never having made eye contact with Cocoa.

"Well that's your mistake. And you better start working on your apology for this Celestia of yours," Cocoa snapped back. "Because you're no longer welcome here. The sooner you can go back to where you came from, the better. Rainbow, see to it that she gets her stuff packed and let us know when she's ready to leave."

"Will do," Rainbow responded, escorting Sunset out of the gymnasium and back to her apartment so she could pack what she wanted to take back to Equestria.

"Fudge? Cocoa? Could you come here?" Lavender shouted from the stage. As they made their way back onto the stage, Fudge stood to the right of Cara, and Cocoa stood to her left. She remained in her outfit of a blue t-shirt, pink jogger shorts, and socks and sneakers, which she had no objections to. She wouldn't want to wear Jedi robes for too long anyway, considering she was pregnant.

"Fudge, Cara, Cocoa… you three have proven to be capable and worthy of the title you are about to be given. When the odds were against you, you never gave up and you released Sunnie from her nearly three year imprisonment and brought her home to her family, where she belongs. With permission from Master Ti, I now ask you to kneel," Lavender stated, igniting the lime green blade of her lightsaber. Moving the blade over each of their shoulders and then just over the tops of their heads, she began the Knighting ceremony.

"By the right of the council, by the will of the force. Fudge Amethyst, Cara Ti, Cocoa Lavender. I now dub thee…. Jedi Knights."

The young trio looked up in mild surprise, but accepted the honor of being made Jedi Knights without question as they got to their feet. Bowing to Lavender in thanks, she bowed in unison.

Not long after this was the party back in full swing. Sunnie was finally home, the other Sunset was on her way back to Equestria, and everything was perfect. Most of the students from both CHS as well as CPA gathered around Fudge and Cara as they told them all about their experiences inside the game world first hand. Sure they saw it happen, but that doesn't hold a candle to actually experiencing it. Principal Cinch, Dean Cadence, Celestia, Luna, Lavender, and Shaak Ti all had some punch and were catching up and having a chat of their own while Cocoa and Sunnie were having a dance as their relationship as girlfriends truly began.

"You know. Now that we can be together, we should figure out something great for our first date," Cocoa chimed as they slowly danced, with her normal and metallic hands on Sunnie's waist, with Sunnie's arms draped over her shoulders and around the back of her neck.

"I was thinking of splitting it between two things," Sunnie said.

"Mmh? And what would those be?" Cocoa asked.

"Right now, and maybe bowling after as well as pizza," Sunnie responded with a smirk.

"Sounds perfect. Let's do it," Cocoa said as she moved in for a kiss, relishing in the feeling of Sunnie's soft lips making contact with her own. 

What Cocoa didn't expect was Sunnie's tongue poking at her lips, demanding entry into her mouth. Cocoa normally would have objected to the notion of making out in such a public setting, but after what they just went through, she decided to go with the flow and allowed Sunnie's tongue entry as their tongues danced while they continued to kiss. After all, she and Sunnie were meant for each other.

And nothing would separate them. Ever again….
> Chapter X: The New Addition
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

========= Nearly 8 months later =========

Life in Canterlot City had settled down quite a bit since Sunnie had finally returned home and her equine doppelganger went back to her own universe. Her relationship with Cocoa was strong to the point that they were practically inseparable. Fudge and Cara were on the cusp of awaiting the arrival of their child, of which the due date was in just five days. They had everything prepared for the impending arrival and Cara was taking it easy by staying with Fudge at his family's home as much as possible.

It was a pleasant spring afternoon on an equally pleasant Friday, and Cara was laying on Fudge's bed reading a book while Fudge went to get her a fresh cup of water. Over the past several months she had chosen to switch to leggings so that it'd be more comfortable with her baby bump. Her breasts remained a solid F cup, which aren't as big as one may think, but they did feel heavier now that she was producing breast milk.

Even when she wasn't pregnant Cara had always liked reading a book, one of several things she used to distract herself from the fact she was the only alien amongst a world primarily populated by humans. But now that she was reunited with her birth mother, Shaak Ti, Cara wasn't alone anymore. The first day she met Fudge would always be a treasured memory for Cara. He was so cute and timid when they first met, just like herself. They were made for each other, bound to have crossed paths one way or another. They both brought out the best in each other, and now over a year after they had their first date, they were expecting a child which would be arriving any day now.

Cara's thoughts were temporarily disrupted when Fudge returned with a glass of water. Fudge mainly wore his Jedi robes more than any other clothes nowadays. After all, he was a Jedi and had no reason to hide it anymore now that everyone knows of his family's past.

"Thanks, honey," Cara said, accepting the glass of water and began to drink from it before setting it on the nightstand next to his bed. "Could you help me out of bed? I'd like to walk around the house if that isn't too much trouble."

"Of course," Fudge responded. "But remember to take it nice and slow. The baby could be here any day now."

Helping Cara out of bed, she held onto his arms as she gently moved her feet to the carpeted floor of his room. Standing up, Cara was about to take a step when she felt a mildly sharp pain in her lower back that she never had before, and began to grow concerned.

“Um, Fudge, I’m getting a sharp pain in my lower back, and I’ve never..” Cara spoke, but was cut off when out of nowhere she winced in pain and placed her hands on her stomach followed by her water breaking. Cara was beginning to go into labor and in a swift motion, Fudge picked her up bridal style and bolted for the front door, using the force as best as he could to open it and then shut and lock it once they were out. 

Knowing that Cara had gone into labor sent Fudge into a major panic as he ran to the hospital faster than he had ever run before, practically moving like a blur while Cara held onto him as tight as she could. On and on he ran and in no time at all they reached the hospital where he knew his mother would be working as he slowed down while they entered through the main doors. Surely enough, he spotted his mom talking to one of the nurses behind the check-in desk.

“Mom, we need a room now! Cara went into labor!” Fudge shouted, getting his mother’s attention as she turned in mild shock which then quickly escalated when she saw a distressed and very pregnant Cara in her son’s arms.

“Quickly. This way,” Lavender spoke, leading them to the closest available room which was a bit down the hall, seventh door on the left. As they got to the room though, Lavender began to take Cara into her own arms. “I know you wanna be with her, sweetie, but I need to take her in alone so I can help her deliver the baby. I promise you she’s in good hands.”

“I love you, Cara,” Fudge said as his mother carried her into the room so she could set Cara down on the bed so as to help her give birth. As much as he wanted to go in against his mother’s orders and against hospital rules, Fudge didn’t think about disobeying his mother. Waiting outside the room, Fudge began to frantically pace back and forth, worried that something could go wrong. On and on he paced until he felt his phone vibrate as he retrieved it from one of the cases on his belt near his lightsaber.

“Hello?” Fudge said as he answered, seeing that the person calling was his sister, Cocoa.

“Hey, Fudge. What’s wrong? Is Cara ok?” Cocoa spoke, intending to have brought up something else but changed course when she heard the vast concern in her brother’s voice.

“Cara went into labor, and her due date isn’t for another five days. I’m really freaking out right now. Get the girls and get to the hospital as fast as you can,” Fudge replied.

“On it. We’ll be there as soon as possible. And Fudge, don’t worry. If she’s with mom, she’s going to be fine. The baby will be born in no time,” Cocoa responded before she hung up. Putting his phone away, Fudge rubbed his hands over his face in an attempt to relax himself, which did nothing. 

After a few minutes which felt like an eternity to Fudge, he could hear the faint cries of a baby, but didn’t push the door open yet as he didn’t want to get ahead himself more than he already had. As far as he knew, it could be another baby in another room. Gripping his chin with a worrisome look still on his face, Fudge’s thoughts were soon disrupted when the door to Cara’s room was pushed open, and his mother stepped out with a newborn baby in her arms wrapped in a light pink towel.

“Cara insisted that you hold her first,” Lavender spoke, trying her hardest not to cry. “Congratulations, sweetie. You have a daughter.”

Fudge didn’t even try to hold back the tears as he was handed his newborn daughter. Taking her into his arms, he cradled the infant as his mother put a hand on his right shoulder.

“I’m so proud of you, sweetie,” Lavender said. “Cara did excellent. You can go in and see her whenever you’re ready. I’ll go back up to the front desk and wait for the girls to get here so I can bring them back here.”

“Thanks, mom,” Fudge spoke as he looked down at his and Cara’s daughter. She looked just like Cara, having the same light red skin tone with the exception of the highlights on her tiny montral and lekku which were far from being developed yet, being the same light blue shade as Fudge’s hair. Their little girl looked up at Fudge, instantly knowing this was her daddy as she raised her tiny little hand. Seeing this, Fudge held out one of his fingers and she immediately latched onto it. Tears continued to stream down his face as he now held his daughter’s hand with his finger. Continuing to hold his daughter’s little hand, he walked into Cara’s room.

Pushing out a baby was incredibly tiring work, and Cara was still exhausted as Fudge walked into the room holding their newborn daughter in his arms as she also began to smile.

“Isn’t… Isn’t she… beautiful?” Cara croaked.

“She’s perfect,” Fudge responded as he sat down in the chair on the right side of the bed. Handing their daughter to Cara, he also gave her a kiss on the cheek. “She looks just like you. Since you wanted me to hold her first, I think you should name our little girl.”

“I think we should name her… Sunset. Sunset Lavender,” Cara spoke.

“It’s perfect for her. Our own little Sunset,” Fudge replied, gingerly gliding his hand across their daughter’s cheek, eliciting a giggle from the infant.

Moments later, all of the girls had arrived including Cara’s mother who had rushed to the bed to see her new granddaughter. Cocoa and Sunnie were at the back of the group because Sunnie was now taking it slow. She and Cocoa were now expecting parents as well, although it took a few tries as Cocoa having both genitalia is sure to come with some issues. But what really surprised those two is that they’ll be having twins.

“May I hold her?” Shaak Ti requested. Handing over her daughter, Cara smiled as Shaak Ti cradled her new granddaughter. Ever since she had first arrived on Earth, she had switched to more earth-like clothing, consisting of a simple white t-shirt, jeans, and some sneakers. “She’s as cute as a button, and as beautiful as her mother.” The girls all gathered around Shaak Ti as she held her granddaughter as Lavender went back to work since she was still on the clock.

“What’d ya name ‘er?” Applejack asked.

“Sunset Lavender,” Fudge replied.

“A beautiful name for a beautiful little girl if I do say so myself,” Rarity spoke

"In a few months, she'll have two cousins to play with," Sunnie spoke up, rubbing her own baby bump.

"Sunnie.. I'd like you to be our daughter's godmother," Cara said.

"Really? Me? I'd be honored," Sunnie replied.

"Fudge. I don't know about you, but I'm okay with us just having one child," Cara spoke.

"That's fine with me, Cara. I'll be there with you regardless of what you choose. I love you," Fudge replied, giving Cara a kiss on her cheek.

"I love you too, Fudge," Cara replied, gently squeezing his hand.


Their family just got a downright cute addition, and in a few more months, it would get even bigger….
> Chapter XI: A New Beginning
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Before everyone knew it, two whole years flew by. Fudge and Cara were as happy as could be raising their daughter and now Cocoa and Sunnie were raising their own daughters, Stardusk Lavender and Solara Shimmer. But today on a lovely fall Friday evening was a very special occasion: Cocoa and Sunnie's wedding.

Sunnie requested that the wedding be held at CHS which did take a little negotiating as it was a school after all, not typically a choice for a wedding to be held, but Celestia made the arrangements as this would be her daughter's special day. 

Classes of course had concluded for the day and the wedding was about to begin and the final preparations were being put together. Streamers, flowers, chairs in the gymnasium for the guests, and Pinkie Pie was busy scattering balloons, as if there weren't enough already. Students were of course invited to the wedding but could decline if they wished as it was optional. Cocoa and Sunnie also had requested prior for the choice of wedding attire be optional as what clothes you are wearing shouldn't be what matters. It's each other. 

So Cocoa, Fudge, Cara, Lavender, and Shaak Ti wore their Jedi robes and Sunnie did sort of wear a wedding dress. A simple short sleeved white dress Rarity made for her that fades to a blood red as it goes to the bottom which stops just before Sunnie's knees. 

Celestia had also asked her good friend, Mayor Linda Justice to be the officiant for the wedding. And just before the ceremony with most everyone having taken their seats, Cocoa was up on the stage with Mayor Linda, Fudge, and their bridesmaids.

"Oh man. I didn't think I'd be this nervous," Cocoa said.

"Relax, Cocoa, it's gonna be ok," Fudge spoke, reassuring his sister. "This is your big day. You and Sunnie are getting married. We're all here for you."

"Alright, if everyone's ready, let us begin," Linda spoke up as wedding music began to play, and Sunnie was escorted into the gym by her mother. Cocoa wanted to faint seeing her soon to be wife walking in with that dress on, but she composed herself and took a deep breath. Walking up the little side stairs, Celestia stops with Sunnie to the right of Cocoa. Giving her daughter a kiss on the forehead, Celestia gave Sunnie a smile and hugged Cocoa before walking off the stage to go take her seat.

"Dearly beloved. We are gathered here today to celebrate the wondrous union of Cocoa Lavender and Sunset Sunnie Shimmer in loving matrimony," Mayor Linda spoke. "Should anyone object to this marriage, speak now or forever hold your peace."

Not a word was spoken.

"Excellent, let's continue," Linda said, continuing with the ceremony. "Marriage is a wonderful thing. It brings together two people who love and respect each other so much that they are giving themselves to one another, forever. Not every marriage is perfect, there will be the ups and downs, but what matters is that we work through our problems and keep moving forward as one. If the brides would like to exchange vows, they are more than welcome to do so."

Turning to face each other, Cocoa looked right into Sunnie's cyan eyes.

"For as long as I can remember, I couldn't imagine doing anything without you, Sunnie. To this day, I still regret not having told you about my family's past sooner. You were always the sole person outside my family that I trusted the most, but that's in the past now, it's time to move on. And standing here today, I'll always be glad that I proposed when I did, because now one of the most beautiful women in the world is about to become my wife. And I'll be eternally grateful to have you as my wife even after we're gone," Cocoa spoke.

Fudge then gave Cocoa one of the rings as she placed it around Sunnie's left ring finger.

"Cocoa… I don't blame you for not having told me sooner about your past. When you did tell me, I understood. Ever since we were kids, I was always into Star Wars and everything science fiction. I mean, I still am of course, but I digress. When you revealed that you guys were Jedi, it took every bit of willpower I had to not start screaming," Sunnie spoke, chuckling a little. "Jedi or not, I knew I could trust you with anything. One thing I regret is not having confessed I had a crush on you before I disappeared for so long. I was on my own for nearly three years, held in a limbo-esque game that seemed to have no end, that is until you guys found me and brought me home. Jedi or not… I love you. I'd be honored to be your wife."

"That was beautiful," Rarity whispered, trying not to cry while she handed Sunnie the other ring and then placed it on Cocoa's left ring finger.

"Now. Cocoa…. Do you take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife, to love and to hold, through the good times and the bad, in sickness and in health, for as long as you both shall live?" Linda asked.

"I do," Cocoa replied.

"Sunnie. Do you take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife, to love and to hold, through the good times and the bad, in sickness and in health, for as long as you both shall live?" Linda asked once more.

"I do," Sunnie responded, maintaining eye contact with Cocoa.

"Then by the power vested in me by the city of Canterlot, I now pronounce you wife and wife," Linda said, stepping back while Cocoa and Sunnie made their marriage official with a very passionate kiss. The gym erupted with the sounds of cheering and clapping as the two new wives embraced.

"Let's go destroy that cake, honey," Cocoa spoke, picking up her wife, bridal style.

"I'm so gonna throw it in your face," Sunnie retorted.

“Only if I get to do the same to you,” Cocoa retorted back.

Some time had passed, and the reception was well underway. Cocoa and Sunnie both had thrown a piece of cake in each others’ faces, and everyone was having a wonderful time. Fudge at point actually sang a song for the newlyweds, which everyone was surprised at his voice, never having heard him sing until then.

“Goodness, Fudge. Your voice is so beautiful,” Cara said before taking a drink from her punch.

“I um.. I would always practice when I was by myself, ‘cause I was afraid to sing in front of other people, but I’m glad I got past that fear. And also I wanted to save it for a special occasion, like my sister’s wedding for example,” Fudge responded.

“That’s beautiful, Fudge,” Cara replied. “I’m a little curious about where they may wanna go for their honeymoon.” 

Before Fudge could answer that as Cocoa spilled the beans on that with her brother, someone had tugged on his pants. Their daughter, Sunset Lavender.

“Daddy? Can I have cake?” Little Sunset asked, looking up at Fudge.

“Sure, sweetie, but only one piece. Can’t have too much before dinner,” Fudge responded, holding Sunset’s hand as he walked with her over to the cake resting on one of the long tables. “Better yet…. I say we split a piece.”

“Yay!” Sunset squealed, the little Togruta excited to be sharing a piece of cake with her daddy as Cara smiled. She was hesitant at first about having a child with Fudge early into their relationship, but she was glad they went through with it. They now have an energetic and happy little girl, and Fudge was a different man now after having become a father. Cocoa and Sunnie had their daughters as well who were no doubt happy with their mothers. The little bundles of joy were hanging out with their grandmothers Lavender and Celestia as the newlyweds lounged at one of the other tables in the cafeteria drinking some punch.

“Are you ready for our honeymoon in a few days?” Cocoa asked.

“Of course I am,” Sunnie asked. “I’ve been wanting to go to this amusement park for a while. Probably not the most ideal choice for a honeymoon destination, but I don’t care. It’s our honeymoon. We get to choose where we wanna go.”

“Exactly,” Cocoa agreed. “First thing I’d like to try when we get there is go on that new roller coaster they put in that takes you straight up at ninety degrees and then crests the top, taking you down past ninety degrees and then around all sorts of loops.”

“Heh. You always were and still are an adrenaline junkie. And I wouldn’t change that for the world,” Sunnie spoke before leaning in to kiss her wife. “I know the girls are gonna have fun being spoiled by our moms.”

“Heh. As if they haven’t been getting spoiled already,” Cocoa retorted, giving a chuckle at watching their mothers make silly faces with little Stardusk and Solara. “Those little girls have their grandmothers wrapped around their little fingers. Of course, it’s in the Grandma terms and conditions to spoil their grandchildren as much as possible. It’s comforting to know our daughters are gonna be well taken care of.”

“Of course they will be. They did so well raising us. Taking care of their granddaughters will be a walk in the park,” Sunnie spoke.

As Sunnie and Cocoa embraced once more, ready to go on their honeymoon, they thought about their lives up to this point, seeing it as one hell of a rollercoaster. Seems fitting that they’re gonna go on even more at an amusement park, to which they’re excited of course.

They were done with looking at the past, and were more than ready for whatever the future may have in store for them as they began their lives together as wives, and also mothers.

All was well in Canterlot once again, and tomorrow is another new dawn. Another beginning….