The sun had long since risen upon the town of Canterlot, and all throughout the place, there were signs that people were just starting their days, from shops turning their signs from "closed" to "open", to students leaving their homes to get ready for another day at CHS, to people going out and walking their dogs. And yet, through it all, there was one person for whom this new day brought about nothing but anticipation and concern. Twilight, who, at this very moment, was pacing up and down outside of the famed horse statue of Canterlot High. She had a somewhat nervous look on her face, occasionally turning to look out to the clock tower in the middle of town. Minute by minute passed, and the deadline she'd set was fast approaching. In this moment of solitude, she glanced at the nearby school, wondering to herself if it might be a good idea to go and check on Sunset and the other girls, if only to give another goodbye to them before returning to her own world. But instead, she elected to refrain. After all, she told herself, she'd already said what she needed to for the time being. And besides, Sunset is probably hard at work trying to rebuild her relationships in there. As such, Twilight remained where she was, waiting, as she had done all night, and hoping in her heart that the ones she'd met that night would accept the offer she'd given them.

Eventually, after a good long wait, Twilight looked up at the clock tower yet again, and saw, to her dismay, that the clock had at last reached the designated hour. The time had come, and still no sign of them. Letting out a sigh, the look on Twilight’s face was one of clear disappointment, as she began to turn in the direction of the horse statue, no doubt ready to return to Equestria after her long stay away. However, as she was turning, she noticed something in the corner of her eye. Looking up, her face broke out into a smile as she saw, there in the distance, walking down the main street of the town, were the three girls. Adagio Dazzle, Aria Blaze and Sonata Dusk were all walking with purpose towards her, and so Twilight readied herself, brushing down her skirt and making herself seem as presentable as possible for their arrival. A few minutes afterwards, the girls arrived, with Adagio placing one hand on her hip as she looked to the changed alicorn before her. She regarded Twilight carefully, while Aria seemed nonchalant about all this and Sonata had occupied herself with a passing butterfly. After about a minute of silence between them, the siren leader spoke up.

"Alright...we've decided to accept your offer, Sparkle."

Twilight smiled at that, and watched as Adagio turned towards the nearby horse statue, now knowing it to be the portal. Reluctantly, she raised both hands and began to reach for the clasp at the back of her enchanted necklace, grumbling all the way. But Twilight raised a hand and stopped her.

"That won't be necessary. The portal will do the work. You just need to pass through it."

Adagio paused after hearing that, before then giving a single nod. After that, she turned to her two cohorts and gave them each a nod, before starting to step towards the portal's surface. However, yet again, she found herself stopped by Twilight, who stood between her and the statue, her face bearing a look of grim determination.

"Adagio...there's one last thing I need to make you aware of before you cross this line."

The siren leader looked to her with curiosity plastered all over her face, as did Sonata and Aria. They said nothing, prompting Twilight to explain herself.

"I said before that passing through will make it so that you no longer need negative energy to survive. But...to make that happen, the portal will...change you."

That caught their attention immediately, as both Aria and Sonata looked to each other with slight concern, while Adagio, by contrast, narrowed her eyes at Twilight.

"Change us...how exactly?"

The ex-alicorn said nothing, and instead, she looked to her three former rivals with a look of utter confidence. Without saying a word, and before the three girls could stop her, she turned around and stepped through the portal. The effect was immediate, as once more, she found herself hurled through the space in-between dimensions, travelling faster than any living being was capable of travelling. And it was during this time that she once more felt the transformation of the portal, feeling her hands become hooves, her skin becoming covered in fur, and her horn and wings sprouting from her forehead and back respectively. In this moment, she thanked her lucky stars that there was no pain attached with such a change, for it would have undoubtedly been great. But, mere moments later, she emerged on the other side, now an alicorn once more. After taking a moment to re-acquaint herself with walking on all fours, she was then taken aback and a young purple dragon immediately tacked and embraced her. Although shocked by this greeting, she smiled warmly as Spike continued to hug her, with her returning the embrace soon afterwards. If nothing else, at least she had this moment to show for everything. When they parted from one another, Spike looked up to her with utter joy, almost to the point of tears, which his adopted mother gently wiped from his face.

However, as she looked up from him, her expression became more serious. For she saw that, just as she'd requested, there were a number of royal guards present, all from the unicorn platoons. While many had been pointing their horns at the mirror in readiness for what was to emerge, they soon resumed their normal stances and saluted as soon as they knew it had been Twilight that came back. But the young alicorn was not upset at this, and instead broke out into another smile as she saw, there, on the other side of the dozen-or-so guards, was her brother, Shining, her sister-in-law, Princess Cadence, and beside them, Princess Celestia and Luna. Letting out a contented sigh at the sight of them, Twilight took a few steps away from the mirror, with Spike close behind her, and made her way past the assembled guards. Eventually, she found herself before the four royals, and, much like with Spike, found herself on the receiving end of a sudden and unexpected, hug, this time started by her brother. She smiled at the feeling of her BBBFF hugging her, and when the two of them parted from one another, he looked down to her with great affection.

"I'm glad you're back, Twily. We missed you."

The young alicorn smiled at that.

"I missed you too, brother."

After Shining nodded at that, he stood to one side, allowing Celestia to take his place as she looked down to her former student.

"I'm assuming Sunset is alright?"

Twilight saw the look of concern upon Celestia's face, and soon alleviated those worries with a single smile and a nod. Celestia, seeing this, let out a sigh of relief, which then became a smile on her own part as she placed a hoof upon Twilight’s shoulder, silently thanking her for looking after her one-time apprentice. Although Twilight was proud of what she'd done, her smile faded as Celestia then looked upon the mirror with a more serious look.

"When we heard from Spike what you wanted us to do, we were a little concerned. Tell us, Twilight...what's coming back with you?"

Twilight sighed at that before looking to the mirror once more.

"Let's...let's just see if anything comes back at all."

Gaining a look of confusion at that, both Celestia and the other three royals, as well as Spike, turned to meet Twilight's gaze, now looking upon the still-shimmering mirror. Silently, Shining Armour gestured to his guards, who then assumed a defensive stance as before, with their horns pointed at the mirror. Twilight remained silent, and soon found herself counting the minutes before something happened. One minute. Then two. Then three. Then five. Then Ten. And then, at long last, something happened, as the surface of the mirror began to glow somewhat brighter than before. Steeling herself, Twilight and the others looked on as, finally, three figures began to emerge. But, to the shock of the three that had just arrived, they were not sirens, but rather, ponies. The magic of the portal, as changed by Twilight, had altered the three so that their return had yielded not their original siren forms, but this new shape. Sonata had become an earth pony, bearing a cutie mark of a pink heart covered by a musical note, not unlike Sweetie Belle's. Aria had been changed to a pegasus, with her mark one of a silver star. And as for Adagio, her new form was that of a unicorn, with her mark that of an orange gem of some sort. Also, as promised, their necklaces were long gone now, removed by way of the portal's power.

Needless to say, the three former sirens found themselves quite unnerved by all of this, with Sonata especially finding it difficult to stand on all four hooves. Aria had trouble trying to keep her wings from flapping uncontrollably, or even just keeping them furled up. As for Adagio, she suddenly found herself with a horn on her forehead that occasionally sent magical sparks everywhere. Fortunately for her, she just licked her hoof and put that magic out like a candle-flame. However, as the three former sirens recovered from the initial shock of finding out what they now were, they soon noted, just as Twilight had promised, that their necklaces were gone. Sonata began to hyperventilate at this, but Adagio placed a calming hoof upon her shoulder. The newly-made unicorn then looked to Aria and nodded, which the latter returned, and together, the three of them cleared their throats. The surrounding guards continued to lower their horns, but Twilight stopped them from doing anything when she raised a hoof in silence. Instead, she watched on as the three mares before her started to sing. Though their siren magic had now been taken from them, they still seemed to have beautiful singing voices, as evidenced by the formerly-hypnotic tune they now let out. However, it was clear that, while pleasant to listen to, it had no effect whatsoever on the surrounding ponies.

After a while, they stopped, and for the time being just seemed happy that they could still sing. Unfortunately for Twilight, this relief soon morphed into obvious anger, as all three of them looked to her and began to step forward. But, they soon found their path barred by the guards, who still continued to point their horns at them in a menacing manner. It was clear to them that trying something here was going to be a bad idea, and so Adagio simply looked past the guards and straight to Twilight, giving her an intense look. After some moments of silence, Twilight gestured to the guards, silently commanding them to step aside. They hesitated, looking to their commander for clarification, but, reluctantly, Shining Armour nodded, choosing to go along with what his sister wanted. So, ever so slowly, the guards began to step aside, allowing the ex-sirens passage. Although they still had trouble walking on hooves like this, the three of them eventually managed to make their way to the lavender alicorn, and here, they stopped. Silence fell over the entire room, as the three of them simply stared at her. Sonata and Aria looked like they may well just attack her outright for changing them like this. But Adagio, while still looking furious, nevertheless seemed willing to talk, and spoke her words in a stern fashion.

"We are grateful...for our freedom."

And that was all she said to her. No "thank you", no sign of warmth or appreciation. The only thing Adagio was willing to give to Twilight was acknowledgement that she had got them out of the human world they hated so much. And that was all the former siren was willing to say to her that even remotely resembled appreciation. But Twilight, rather than showing disappointment at her old rival’s brief words, simply nodded in response to it. She turned, looking upon Celestia, after which, the latter gave her a nod before gesturing to some nearby guards. After saluting her, they walked up to the three mares, standing on either side of them, and raising their hooves to gesture to the door that led out into the hallway. No words came from them, but the message was nevertheless clear; that they were to be escorted to a more secure location, at least for the time being. So, after giving Twilight one final venomous glance, Adagio sighed before walking as instructed, with her two companions close behind her. Twilight watched as the guards led the three of them out of the room, surrounding them at all times, until, at last, she could no longer see them. In this moment, she breathed a sigh of relief, before then feeling the comforting feel of her teacher's hoof upon her shoulder.

"Twilight...if I may ask...who are they?"

Looking to her, Twilight's expression was one of seriousness.

"The sirens."

Immediately, Celestia gained a look of realisation, now fully grasping why Twilight had asked for the guards. Turning, she looked in the direction the three of them had walked off to.

"So many legends becoming truth these days."

After speaking those words, Celestia then looked upon the mirror, narrowing her eyes slightly.

"That world did indeed possess some dangerous foes. Are you certain it was wise to keep it open like that?"

Twilight nodded in response.

"I do. Not only does it mean we won't be cut off from Sunset Shimmer again...but I think it might be good for both words to have this connection."

Looking up at Celestia, Twilight's expression softened considerably before speaking up again.

"You once told me that ponies can be friends with all peoples, be they griffons, yaks, donkeys, or any other creature. The human world may be strange...but I think we can forge a relationship with them...given enough time."

Celestia thought long and hard on that, considering the huge impact such a connection between worlds might yield, before breaking out into a small smile.

"You're certainly starting to talk like an alicorn at least."

In spite of the tension of what had occurred mere moments ago, Twilight let out a brief giggle. But, that moment passed soon afterwards, as she looked to the open door of their current chamber.

"I just...I hope the three of them can have some kind of life here."

In that moment, Cadence walked up to her sister-in-law and smiled down at her.

"Don't worry about that, Twilight. Shining and I will keep an eye on them. We can give them something to do around the Empire, I'm sure of it."

Hearing that, Twilight's smile returned, albeit smaller than it had been before.

"Thank you Cadence. I'm just glad my negotiations with the enemy have actually succeeded for once...

And then, as before, that smile faded again.

“…even if they hate me for it."