Inside Fluttershy’s cottage, the Atlas from Midnight’s world and Rarity are patiently sitting on the couch in the living room, waiting for Fluttershy to come back after claiming she’d get some snacks. Minutes pass with no return of the yellow pony and an awkward tension builds in the quiet room. “So, a month after the battle of Empress Midnight, things have been slowly returning to normal,” Atlas proclaims to the white mare, “excluding the part of having almost two of everypony in the same place.”

“Yeah,” Rarity replies, “yet the repair crew said that it would be another month or two for my boutique to be restored.”

“I see.” The two then enter a moment of awkward silence, trying to think for something to talk about. “So, you’re a fashion designer?”

“Yeah, we’ve been through this three times. On that note however, have you seen my, well, not technically mine, but you get the idea… Have you seen my recent fashion lines? You’re from Canterlot if I remember right, so you must have seen a few heading for the balls at the castle.”

“Who’s your supplier for Canterlot?”

“Sapphire Shores.”

“Oh! Those simplistic and one-dimensional ones that came around a while ago after she announced a new distributor, yeah I’ve seen those.”

“Hey, they are not simplistic or one dimensional, they’re made to be slim and glittery.”

“Whatever makes you happy Rarity…”

“Oh please Mr. Goni, like you do any better being a critic.”

“You never even knew me.”

“Exactly,”

“Please, quit fighting,” Fluttershy gently interrupts, balancing plates of cholate cookies on her head and wings, “if you two are going to stick around at my house, you have to quit this fighting. The animals have been tenser ever since you two started to live here and argue.”

“We’re sorry,” Atlas groans, “some ponies have trouble with constructive critique.”

“Look who’s calling the kettle black.” Rarity snaps, turning her aggravated look towards Atlas’, beaming her inside anger towards him subconsciously.

“No idea what you’re talking about.”

“Well if there are ‘some ponies that have trouble with constructive critique’, why don’t you live with the Atlas from this world?”

“In my world before Midnight attacked, I was having some financial trouble keeping up with the mortgage, so I pretty know that living with my other me would be a bad idea.”

“Aw, that’s sad, if only there was a world where you could better manage your finances.”

“Oh, hardy har har, if only there was a world where we can have a nice version of a specific pony.”

I swear, Fluttershy thinks to herself as she impatiently continued to hold the plates in balance, if Harry the Bear wasn’t hibernating, I would actually use him to scare these two in their place. She then speaks, trying to break the conflict once more, “Cookies, anypony?”

“-and that’s how I saved Hearth’s Warming with a lightning crossbow.”

“What?”

“What?”

“How did the conversation turn to you saving Hearth’s Warming with a lightning crossbow?”

Nut before her question could be answered, a female voice yells from outside, “Hey everybody!”

“Twilight, she’s back!” Quickly, the three ponies stampede out of the house with Fluttershy still carrying the cookies in tow. They see Twilight Sparkle, covered from the neck down in bandage wraps and metal devices, being levitated by Princess Celestia, all while being followed by the alternate versions of Boris, Applejack, Pinkie, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Spike. “What’s going on?”

“Hey Fluttershy, hey Rarity, hey other guy, I wanted to tell you girls something that me, Celestia, and the others with us have decided to do.”

“I shall explain,” Celestia says, “Alternate Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Boris Sparkle, and Spike are volunteering to help the No-Ponies that were with you in finding others and help them join our community.”

“That’s wonderful,” Fluttershy replies, “but can we not have them move to my house, this place is already crowded enough, not that I’m complaining.”

“No, no, we are developing small villages around Equestria to give them shelter until we can repair damages still here and build more housing for them.”

“We have enjoyed our time in Ponyville,” Midnight’s Applejack adds, “but since having two of everypony nearby is goin’ to get real confusing, we decided to help others outside.”

“Can we have some of those cookies?” Lieutenant Pie quickly asks.

“Uh, sure,” Fluttershy replies, “they’re not going to be eaten here anytime soon.” The alternate Boris lifts the plates into the air off of Fluttershy and hold them over his head, out of Pinkie’s reach.

“Hey! I want a cookie!”

“We don’t want them to be gone within a minute,” the stallion jokingly replies, “and besides, maybe the No-Ponies have never had cookies, maybe not even a party.” The pink pony then gasps and grabs Boris by the chest and lifting him into the air.

“That’s terrible! No cookies? No parties? Hold those cookies, we’re off to end the War of No-Cookies-or-Parties!”

“Please put me down, I’m nearly a meter off of the ground…” Pinkie then drops the now frightened old stallion to the ground and redirects her attention towards Celestia as she finishes her declaration,

“Want to say any last goodbyes before leaving?”

“Sure,” Fluttershy replies before turning towards her alternate version and speaks, “take care of yourself and the other ponies out there.”

“I will.” The alternate exclaims.

“You too…” Rarity says towards her alternate version, trying to think of the right wording for her goodbye, “…other Rarity…”

“As for you…” Ex-Marshal Rarity responds, “…other-other Rarity…”

“Okay,” Celestia says, “this is your last stop, wait back at the train station for me to give further instructions.

“Okay.” The six alternate versions reply before walking off towards the train station.

“Hey Twilight,” Rarity asks, “any update on how much longer you’re going to be at the hospital for?”

Twilight answers, “About five to eight months. Maybe longer if those two whale biologists are still in charge of me…”

Didn’t Jack say he was a media critic? Atlas begins to think to himself, I knew something didn’t sound right when he said it at the hospital.

“Other pony, is something on your mind?”

“No, no, no, just thinking about cake, and bats, and cats…”

“Okay…”

Maybe it’s just part time or something…

“How are the two Discords doing?”

“Well,” Fluttershy mumbles, “they’ve been, preoccupied with each other to this day.” A large explosion is then heard from behind the cottage and deep within the woods, followed by a cheer and a male voice echoing,

“My, that was certainly impressive, but I bet I can make this ant create a bigger popcorn explosion than that feather you used!”

“Yet I have managed to keep the two from doing too much destruction.” Another explosion, much louder than before, is heard, causing the pegasus to wince in surprise. “Most of the time at least,”

“Well, it’s good catching up with you two.” Twilight cheerfully replies, “I’m going to check on Dash now, see if she found Borris yet.”

“Okay, take care.” With a flick of Celestia’s horn, the two princesses blink out of existence, leaving Rarity and the alternate Atlas to continue their bickering and Fluttershy to try and pry the two apart.

Later, outside a restaurant in Cloudsdale Center, Celestia and Twilight appear and begin to look around for Rainbow Dash.

“Any idea where she would be?” Twilight asks, only for Celestia to respond with a downhearted answer,

“Sorry, I’ve been a little busy… taking care of a few things.”

“Like what?”

“The usual, repairs, teaching myself and the other princesses, organizing what to do with the alternate ponies, psychological therapy, inflation, nothing new,”

“Wait, you’ve had-” But before Twilight could complete her question, a familiar pegasus’ voice calls out from inside the nearby restaurant,

“Hey Twilight!”

“Rainbow Dash?” The two alicorns enter the café, only to be mobbed by the patrons inside, all screaming,

“It’s Princess Celestia!”

“It’s Princess Twilight!”

“We love you!”

“I love you more!”

“Can I have your autograph?”

“Sign my sweater!”

“Sign my cutie mark!” The two ponies maneuver through the crowd and to the booth in the back corner of the main room. Celestia then seats Twilight at the booth and then turns to the fanatic mob to deal with them. Twilight, now relived from being held in a levitation spell, gives a sigh of relief and takes in her tight surroundings, only to see that she’s sitting across from a mare with cyan fur and a rainbow mane not looking at her.

“Rainbow Dash!” She squees, catching the mare’s attention and causing her to snap her gaze towards Twilight.

“Twilight, you got here fast, I thought that you were still in the bob right behind us.”

“Celestia’s taking care of it, and what do you mean by us?”

“Oh, that’s right, you don’t know. Well, guess who I found working at the Abnormal Weather Equestrians last week?” Twilight turns her gaze to the pony sitting next to Rainbow Dash that she did not notice due to the open menu obscuring her view. “Meet Borris from this world!” Slowly, the menu is placed down on the table, revealing a grey stallion with a black ruffled mane and deep blue eyes.

“Hi!”

“Greetings,” the uncannily familiar pony sputters, trying to sound proper, “it’s an hour for me to be in the presence of a princess.”

“You can cut the act Borris; I know you’re a gentlepony at heart.”

“You do? Oh yeah, the whole Empress Midnight thing, am I right?”

“Yeah, did you see Midnight?”

“Nope, apparently her forces never got to Cloudsdale, only to Ponyville with a few scouts searching the major cities.”

“Has Rainbow Dash told you about what happened in the other world? More specifically, has she talks about the other version of you.”

“Yeah, she did, especially the bit where I, ahem, died and did all those, specific actions. Not really all that prideful now after hearing that.”

“But remember all the good things I said about you,” Rainbow Dash replies, “you were the best pony out there despite all of your mistakes.”

“Really? The best?”

“Yeah,”

“Hey,” Twilight adds, “how have you two been getting along.”

“Well, we’re still getting to know each other, but we’ve become really good friends. Right 2R-Borris?”

“Yep,” the stallion promptly replies, letting out a small snicker following his answer. As the two pegasi begin to engage in playful banter, Twilight subconsciously tunes them out as she focuses on Borris’ appearance. She notices how clean and healthy the stallion’s skin and fur is, how it appears more saturated and alive the coat looks compared to the other’s burnt and weathered fur. She sees only two scars on Borris’ body instead of the fifteen or so she was used to looking at Midnight’s Borris. She then stares into the eye facing towards her line of sight, studying how much more cheery and hopeful it looks then what she previously saw.

“Uh Twilight?” In an instant, the alicorn snaps out of her stare and answers to Dash,

“Yeah?”

“Are you okay? You were spacing out, just glaring at Borris.”

“Sorry, it’s just… he’s so…”

“What?” The grey pony turns to Twilight and prepares for whatever insult might come from her mouth.

“He looks so, alive,”

Reasonably, the stallion gives off a questioned look before asking, “Alive? Is this because the last time you saw ‘me’, I was dead?”

“Not exactly, it’s just, you seem so much happier than what you were in Midnight’s world in the RAEM. Are you always this chipper?”

“Not entirely, actually, I was going through a bit of a depression stage. I guess it was the pressure of the job and not really having too many close friends to keep my mind off of it. Then Rainbow Dash came along, we met, got to know each other, and I guess I have this ‘chipper’ mood all of a sudden.”

“Well, it’s good to see you’re doing great and I hope the best for you and Dash.”

“Aye-aye your majesty, I shall obey your orders.” Borris then begins to perform an over-the-top army salute in his seat, causing the three ponies to break down in laughter.

”I-I never thought you’d be so silly…” Celestia then pokes her head into the booth at Twilight’s side and announces,

“Okay, I’ve managed to sort out the crowd. They should be calm for a while before another customer comes in and starts another riot.”

“Okay Celestia. I’m ready to go back to the hospital. Bye Rainbow Dash! Goodbye Major-I mean just-Borris.”

“Hope you get better soon.” The two pegasi cheer as Celestia picks up Twilight with her magic. The two princesses swiftly exit the restaurant and onto the open street. With a flick of the horn, Princess Celestia and Twilight disappear in a flash a light in the middle of the road, back to the hospital.