Adagio watched in surprised at the image of her and Sunset sleeping side by side. It is always hard to tell someone's true appearance when they are sleeping; but Adagio still was able to see that both this version of her and Sunset were older than they were today. Guessing; she would say they looked in their late 20's; still young but with the first signs of age starting to show.

"What is this?" Adagio asked in a mixture of shock and anger.

"Oh Adagio, must I tell you again? Fine. What you are seeing is the future. A possible future. Had you stayed behind in the other realm. In this, you and this one; oh, and by the way, good choice, are together. Married in fact. This is your house. And if memory serves me correctly, it's Christmas time. Aww, you two look so comfy and cozy. And look, still wearing your jammies. Oh well, I guess the honeymoon is over."

"Why? Why! Why show me this?" Now Adagio was furious. She asked to be left alone to die in peace, not to be tormented by this fiend.

"So you can see, so you can judge. It's a gift really. How many decisions are made and the person who made them is left wondering if it was the right one or not? Well, here you go. Now this is only one possible outcome. I can't show you all of them. That would, quite literally, take forever. This is the best outcome. The homerun, best of all worlds, win/win outcome. Afterwards, you will have a choice; it is within my power to change time. I can send you back and possibly achieve this. Or you can continue as you were. It will be your choice."

"You still haven't said why yet." Adagio was still angry but intrigued now.

"To see if I can get that fire inside you relit. I need you to burn in order for Equestria to burn."

"And you think I'll choose that over this? It's a big gamble." Adagio was skeptical of Discord's reasons.

"It's a gamble I'm willing to take. Besides, what makes you so sure you will choose this life. A possible life."

"We'll see," Adagio said.

**************************************************************************************************************

Sunset slowly opened her eyes and gazed out the bedroom window. I t was a cold December day. Snow still blanketed the ground from the snow fall three days ago; the temperatures never getting high enough to melt it. The sky was a crystal clear blue, the sun shown high in the sky, reflecting off the snow, making it look a thousand times brighter out side. Sunset breathed deep and smiled.

She rolled over and patted her wife gently on the arm. "Dagi, Dagi, Adagio, wake up. We got Christmas shopping to do yet."

Adagio grunted and slapped Sunset's hand away.

Sunset laughed. Adagio was not a morning or even and afternoon person. "Twilight and her family and Pinkie and Sonata are flying in tomorrow. We got to have something for them; especially Twilight's daughter. Come on, we can't disappoint a child at Christmas."

Adagio slapped Sunset's hand away again. "We're atheists, we don't celebrate Christmas," Adagio groaned.

"We don't celebrate the birth of Christ, but this is Christmas; big difference," Sunset teased.

"We don't celebrate flying fat men either. Now leave me sleep."

Sunset pursed her lips more out of amusement than irritation. "Tell you what; help me pick out gifts today, and you can pick out a gift from me tonight."

Adagio opened one eye and looked at Sunset. "I'm up," she said and got up to go to the bathroom to get ready.

***********************************************************************************************************

"How come we can't feel the cold?" Adagio asked. There was snow, she could see the wind blowing street signs and traffic lights around, and people walking around, all covered up with visible breath; yet she didn't feel cold at all.

"Once again, that's because we exist right outside normal space-time right now. It's what also allows us to observe without being seen ourselves. Now watch."

********************************************************************************************************

Sunset and Adagio walked down Main street; arm in arm. Sunset was smiling, Adagio was scowling. "I hate the cold," Adagio said.

"Oh you hate everything you big sour puss," Sunset teased back.

"That's not true. I don't hate you."

"Good thing considering we've been married for seven years now."

"Eh, give me another year or so."

Sunset slapped Adagio's arm with a fake shocked look on her face. "Ah, be nice now." Sunset suddenly stopped. "Oh Dagi, look!"

They stood before the display window of an antique store (which itself was an antique, beginning it's life as a five and dime store in 1903). In it was hanging a beautiful sled from the 1930's. It had been lovingly restored to most of it's original glory with just enough of it's age left to give it character.

"That would make an excellent gift for Nova!" Sunset said in an amazed awe.

"You think Twilight and Flash would let her have it? They're very protective," Adagio said, skeptical of Sunset's choice.

"If not now, eventually. We have to buy it."

"I don't . . ." Adagio tried to say but Sunset cut her off.

"Oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please," Sunset begged; each time her lips got closer to Adagio's.

Adagio swooped in for a quick kiss then said, "Fine. I never could say no to you."

"And yet you were the one who asked me to marry you." Sunset gave a wicked, teasing smile and kicked her one leg up behind her before going in the store.

********************************************************************************************************

They were suddenly back at the house. It was night time. Noticeably older versions of Twilight, Flash, Pinkie, Sonata, and a little girl who looked like the perfect mixture of Flash and Twilight were sitting in the living; a fire going in the fireplace, all drinking cups of hot chocolate, exchanging gifts, and reminiscing about old times.

"How'd we get here?" Adagio asked confused.

"Uh, you really don't get this do you? Fine, I'll explain again. We are outside of space-time. Therefore we are not bound by it's natural flow. We can jump forward or backward as we please along this timeline."

Adagio looked at everyone. They all seemed happy. They laughed, they joked, they told stories. She was especially amused at how big Pinkie and Sonata had gotten. Each woman looked to be dancing around the 300 pound mark. I warned you about all that junk food, she thought to herself.

"All those years, " Discord began speaking, "that you were making people fall down and worship you; what was it you were really looking for? Power? Praise? Love?"

Adagio kept watching the scene before her. "At first, adoration. I thought I was better than everyone else; that it was my birthright to be praised above all others. Then I grew bored with that. I turned mean. Well, meaner. I would cause trouble just to amuse myself. I guess what I was really looking for was an equal. Someone to fill me. A person I could give my all to and who would give all to me. I never found that, not pony, demon, human, male or female until . . ."

"Her?"

Adagio stared at Sunset, tears forming in her eyes. "Yes," she said softly, almost to the point of being a whisper.

The scene changed again. They were now in the bedroom. It was night, all the guest had gone home, Adagio was already in bed and Sunset was crawling in.

********************************************************************************************************

"Thank you for going with me today. It meant a lot," Sunset said as she pulled the covers over her.

"Eh, what was I going to do at home by myself? I saved myself from being bored." Adagio was trying her best to sound cranky and disinterested; but the affection in her voice came through.

"Uh-huh, sure Dagi. I know you love our friends, and me."

"That I do."

Sunset then snuggled up next to Adagio and started kissing her right cheek and neck. "So, how about you open that gift I promised you this morning?" Sunset whispered seductively in Adagio's ear.

****************************************************************************************************************

"Oh my! I didn't know you could bend that way Adagio," Discord remarked.

Adagio wanted to keep watching but turned away. "Enough of this Discord."

"Aw, and just when it was getting good."

They were suddenly surrounded by a thick, pure black. They could still see each other, but there was nothing else.

"What you showed me, that was a possibility, right?" Adagio asked.

"Yes, one of many. Infinite really. If you would have stayed behind, that would have been one of your possible futures. And, as I said, I can take you back there, to the night you left, and you could start over and possibly achieve that future."

"But no guarantees right?"

"No. I can tell, there are more of those gems on that rock hill. So there's your choice. You can have your powers back, immortality, and so on, you can go back to that hill top and die like you said you wanted, or you can go back and try to have that life which I showed you. Choose Adagio."

************************************************************************************************************

Sunset was walking to her car when she heard it. A song like she never heard before. It was pounding, aggressive, yet melodic. Entranced by it she walked through the school parking lot trying to find it's source. She eventually came to an old, convertible muscle car with one of the students inside, seat leaned back, hands behind his head, nodding his head to the music.

Sunset carefully walked up to him and asked, "Excuse me, but what song . . . "

The boy jumped and said in surprise, " Oh my god, your Sunset Shimmer! Your awesome!"

Sunset was taken aback by his reaction. No one, even after the Battle, had ever greeted her like that. "Uh, thanks?"

"Sorry, that came off as a bit strong. Let me introduce myself; I'm Valhallen." He stuck out his hand. Sunset looked at it tentatively, then shook it. "Listen, I know some people harsh on you because of the whole 'demon' thing, but that made my life! It was like an album cover come to life."

Sunset didn't know weather she should feel complimented, insulted, or to just runaway from this guy. But she decided to take as a compliment and ask, "So what song is that? I never heard it before. It's really good."

"Oh, that's 'Electric Crown' by Testament. They're one of the legends of thrash metal." Val said enthusiastically.

"Thrash metal?" Sunset asked.

It was then Val went into the entire history of metal for her. As he spoke, he'd flip through one song after the next, giving her an example each style metal there was. Sunset was taken by the music and how diverse it was. It went from melodic to literally, just noise; from light speed fast to geologically slow. Every example he played for her brought her new joy. Soon she was also noticing how cute he was with his longish, ginger hair and bangs over the eyes.

After he was done, he asked, "So, what do you think?"

"It's amazing. Can you burn me off some of this? You chose the songs."

"Absolutely!"

"And, what are you doing Friday?"

***********************************************************************************************************************

"Where have you been?" Twilight asked Sunset as she walked through the door.

"I got a date!" she said nearly busting with joy.

"What?! Ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmygod!" Twilight said as she ran over and gave Sunset a hug. Both women started jumping up and down. "What's his name? How'd you meet?"

"His name is Valhallen, I met him in the school parking lot, and he is amazing!"

Twilight hugged Sunset again. "Oh, I'm so happy for you!"

*****************************************************************************************************************

"Big Mac, we need to talk." Applejack said.

Big Mac was loading apple creates on the back of a truck. He had his shirt off and was covered in sweat. "Can't this wait Apple; I'm kinda busy right at the moment," he said.

"No, no it can't. I've waited to say my peace long enough and it's time for me to speak up."

Big Mac knew by the tone of her voice that she meant business. So he turned around to the other guys and said he was taking five. He then followed Apple to where she thought they were out of ear shot.

"Alright Big Mac, I gotta know; why are you cutting me out of the farm?"

Big Mac was confused and stunned. "Come again now. I know I aint heard you right."

"You heard me fine Macintosh. Why are you cutting me out of the farm? You're so gung ho to get me off to college, and with this baby on the way, well I can see how things are going. You're the oldest child and the male child and you think this farm belongs to you and yours alone. Well I'm part of this family too and this farm belongs to me as much as you. You hear me!"

Big Macs face turned red. "Listen hear little sis; I aint tryin' to cut you outta nothing ok. I know this farm is all of ours. It's already in Granny's will that we all get a share. So don't be puttin' blame on me for sumthin' I aint doing!"

"Then why are you trying' to get off to school fer?"

"So you don't have to do this!" Big Mac was on the verge of shouting now.

"Oh, so you are . . . "

"No!" Big Mac took a breath, collected himself, and then continued. "Remember when Pa died?"

"Like I'm gonna to ferget sumthin' like that?" Apple's accent got thicker the angrier she got.

"Alright then. At the viewing, the funeral, everyone kept coming up t' me saying I had to be good 'cause I was the man of the house now. I was boy Applejack! Heck, I'm still a boy. But I took that responsibility. I grown up before my time. Heck, I knew I was playing with fire by not using a condom; but kinda like Maud said, I just wanted to be irresponsible for once in my life. I'm eighteen, Apple; but I think and act like a full grown man.

"But Ma and Pa didn't ask to die neither. So I did what I had to do. I love our family and will always do that. But I don't want you to have the same fate. I don't want you to be trapped or feel trapped by this place. I want you, and Apple Bloom, to be free to live your life as you choose, not as you feel you got to."

"Aw heck Big Mac, why didn't you ever say so? You know I got your back." Apple never stopped to think what Big Mac was actually feeling. She always just assumed he was fine. Now she regretted never talking to him earlier.

"Sis, I've had this farm on my back for so long, I can't feel nothing else."

"Mac, I love this farm. It's all I want to do. I aint trapped by it! Why don't you go to college? You've had this responsibility too long. Let me take it off your back so you can feel again."

"That's mighty nice of you, but how can I go to school with a young un on the way?"

"Big Brother, if you found a way to run this place, you can find a way to go to school if you want. I know you can."

Big Mac went over and hugged Apple. "Little sister, thank you."

"Aw shucks, you're welcome. Now get your sweaty mitts off me, you stink."

With that, they both laughed.

*****************************************************************************************************************

The bus from Crystal Prep pulled up to Cantorlot High. It was CHS that was hosting the games this year and it was tradition for the hosting school to have a party for the visiting one. And on this bus, this year, sat Sunset Shimmer and Twilight Sparkle. They made sure they were on the team this time. There would be no better way to check out the campus than to go there as an "honored guest".

"Ok, you know what to do?" Twilight asked Sunset.

"As soon as we get off the bus, we slip away as soon as possible and start looking around."

"Correct."

The bus came to a stop and everyone got off. Twilight and Sunset were the last to get off. As soon as they did, they began to just visually scan the place to see if anything caught their eye; and something did, THEM!

"Twilight, look! Do you see them?"

"Yes; it's US!"

******************************************************************************************************************

"Here's the bus," said Rainbow. She looked at the Crystal Preppers as they got off the bus.

"They don't look like much," said Scootaloo who was waiting with Rainbow.

"They've always beatin' us before," retorted Applejack.

"So how did your date go last night?" Twilight asked Sunset.

"Well. It went really well. In fa . . . Twilight; look!"

Sunset didn't need to tell her, Twilight already had seen them. Standing in front of the Crystal Prep bus, in Crystal Prep uniforms was them.

*********************************************************************************************************************

"I don't think she's coming," Trixie said to Aria.

"Hmm. If she does she does, if she doesn't, she doesn't," Aria replied.

"Don't you care? As long as you two have been together?"

"All I care about is finding these gems and getting this over with."

Trixie looked over her shoulder to take another look and that's when she saw Adagio coming. She walked with a pride and purpose they hadn't seen for a long time. Trixie stopped Aria and they waited until Adagio caught up.

"Welcome back," Aria said flatly. "What took you so long?"

"I had choice to make; certain power for uncertain love." Adagio spoke in that clear, cool voice of hers'. Her pride, her swagger was back in full force.

"Oh?" Trixie said confused. "So which did you choose?"

"Power of course," Adagio said with a devilish smile. "Now come on."

The three climbed the hill and began to look around. Hours passed and still nothing. They were beginning to lose hope when Aria called out, "Found one!" The others ran over to where she was and started digging. Soon Adagio found one for her.

"Now all we have to do is find one for me now," Trixie said.

"Yes," Adagio said slyly and gave a nod to Aria. Aria bent down like she was about to start digging again when she bucked and caught Trixie in the side of the head. Adagio turned around and bucked Trixie in the side. Soon the were both on her. She was too dazed and confused to fight back. They pounded her mercilessly.

Finally they stopped. Trixie looked up at them, bloodied and broken. "You said you couldn't have made it without me," she gasped.

"We couldn't have. But, we did make it, so we don't need you anymore. Aria."

Aria took one last good kick and knocked Trixie down the hill.

*************************************************************************************************************

Trixie was sitting by her cart; cursing her luck. She thought after her last encounter with Twilight, she'd have gotten some of her reputation back. Instead all she got was laughed at harder. If nothing changed, she'd have to go back to the rock farm.

Suddenly she heard a commotion. She looked up and saw two ponies attacking a third. The beat down was brutal. Then she saw one of the attacker ponies kick the victim down the hill. There was somethin familiar about the one who was tumbling down the hill. So much so it scared her. As the battered pony came to a rest, she slowly walked over to it. Soon she saw why this pony looked so familiar; it was her!

"Help me," the injured pony croaked.

Trixie was frightened. But she was curious also. She slowly extended a hoof to the other pony. As the two touched, a blinding white light shot out from their spot. And where there had been two Trixies, no only one stood; the perfect hybrid of pony and human, with godlike powers.

****************************************************************************************************************

"What was that?" Aria asked.

"Who cares? We got our power back!" Adagio said with glee.

"You should care Adagio."

Adagio and Aria turned around and saw Trixie standing behind them. But it wasn't a Trixie they had ever seen before. This was a new and frightening Trixie. Half human, half horse.

"How?" Adagio asked in shock and horror.

"We are Trixie. We are not bound by this or any other dimension. You have your trinkets but they are nothing to me." Trixie waved her hand and both Adagio and Aria were torn apart at the atomic level. Not great final battle, just them blowing away in the wind like pillars of sand.

"Well, that was interesting," Discord said.

Trixie turned around to him floating behind her.

"First, bravo. Second, I had an agreement with you former compatriots there . . .," Discord couldn't finish, his throat seized shut.

"We do not care. Any agreements you had with them has no bearing on us. You and your dimension are a dust." From Trixie came a giant fire ball that spread instantaneously over all of Equestria, reducing it to ash. "Now, it is time we went to our other home."

*******************************************************************************************************************

They should have run. Runaway as far and as fast as they could go. But they didn't. Slowly the Crystal Prep Twilight and Sunset walked over to them. Their eyes locked on each other. Soon the other students around them noticed the two sets of girls and started talking. Were they twins? Why didn't they say anything? And didn't Sunset just move here? Everyone was confused; and soon that confusion turned to fear.

The horse statue that sat in the middle of campus exploded and in it's place stood a twenty foot tall horse monster. Everyone shrieked and started running away; everyone but the two Twilights and Sunsets who kept walking towards each other.

"Do not leave on our account," the horse creature said. It started shooting fireballs from it's hands, incinerating all they touched. "Behold, we are your new Goddess," it said. The whole campus was now going up in flames, charred bodies littered the ground. "This is only a taste of what we can do. We have already destroyed one world. We hope to save some of this one. A Goddess must have her worshippers."

Out of no where came a second blinding light. Trixie looked over and saw not one, but two figures. One was a golden skin woman with hair and wings of flame, golden armor, a long horn protruding from her head, and a sword of flame. The other was a lavender skinned woman with hair and wings the color of night with stars dancing in them. She had also had a horn, dark, almost blackish purple armor, and a sword of glowing purple. Together they spoke as one.

"Foolish child, you dare claim godhood for yourself? Do you not know who we are? We are the beginning and the end, the Alpha and Omega, light and darkness, day and night, fire and ice. We are the rulers of the realms, the keepers of balance." They walked around Trixie, taking a position on either side of her.

"No. We will not be stopped. we have come too far, suffered to much. We will prevail!" Trixie tried to shoot her fire balls but Goddess Sunset and Goddess Twilight raised their arms and the fire balls dissipated into thin air.

"You are nothing. You are a pretender to the throne. And now you are no more," The goddesses spoke. They raised their arms at their sides and energy poured from their hands; connecting together to make a circle around Trixie. Then it became a sphere and started closing in around her. She tried to fight back but the goddesses were too strong. Soon she was crushed down to nothing. A pulse of energy burst forth from where Trixie once stood knocking the Goddesses back and blowing out all the fires.

*****************************************************************************************************

Twilight awoke first. Her head pounded, her vision cloudy. Soon she was able to see. She saw two Sunset Shimmers lying next to her. One human, one "Sunset, you're and alicorn!"

Sunset slowly got up and shook her head. Someone said something, but what was it? She opened her eyes and looked down. She had her pony body back. She went to look at Twilight and saw she had wings as well. She had become an alicorn. She looked to Twilight who was in Pony form herself.

"What's going on?" She asked feeling a mixture of pride, shock, and worry.

"You transcended."

Twilight and Sunset looked over to where the statue had been and saw Princess Celestia.

"Sunset, Twilight; no one lives forever. Not even my sister and I. You two were always meant to take our places. But you got distracted. I worried about you two so much. But now, you have become more than you were and saved this world."

"But the only reason this world was in danger was because of the bad decisions we made," Twilight said.

"And I heard Trixie say she destroyed Equestria," Sunset added.

"As soon as we knew the Sirens had crossed back over; Luna knew what was coming so we prepared ourselves."

"Wait, you knew this was going to happen?" asked Sunset.

"Not this exactly, but the Great Trial. When you crossed over here out of spite and Twilight decided to come back here to forge a relationship with the boy, she put into motion events that would require a major personal sacrifice to set right."

"Battling Trixie," Twilight said.

"No, that was not the Great Trial. This is."

"What is?" asked Sunset.

"The choice I'm about to give you now. You can stay here, in this realm, with your friends. You'll have good, successful lives. Good careers, wonderful families. But Equestria will fall. Luna and I have enough magic to restore it, but that will end up killing us and Equestria will remain unguarded from all the dark forces and it will fall.

"If you come back, Equestria will stand, but you'll never marry or have children of your own. And all your days will be spent fighting back the forces of evil. It is a major sacrifice. So, what do you choose?"

Twilight looked around and saw Flash unconscious on the ground. He would be her husband, the father of her children, she would have children. How could she give that up? Because she must. For the greater good, some must sacrifice all. "I will go Princess Celestia."

"Sunset? What of you?"

Sunset thought about how she just had gotten her life together. She had friends and a boyfriend (kind of). And she knew if she stayed, she'd have a great life. Who wouldn't want that. But it was putting her wants first that started this whole chain of events in the first place. "I will come too Princess."

"You have both made me proud. Now it is time to set things right."

"And how do we do that?" asked Sunset

"And will you die?" Twilight asked.

Celestia transformed from a horse to a beautiful human with wings and a horn. Sunset and Twilight also found themselves transformed as well. "Come my children, join hands with me. Together we will have enough magic to undo what has been done. We will reset the timeline back to the night you defeated the Sirens. You Twilight will come home, you Sunset will stay behind, for now. There are still test each of must face alone before you can rule together. But soon your time will come. Just as the sun rises, so does the moon. Now, what was set wrong, we shall set right.

*****************************************************************************************************************

Fear. Fear gripped at their hearts. A fear greater than any they had ever known before. More than when they were first banished to this god-forsaken dimension. At least then they still had their gems, their magic stones; the ones that gave them the power to control, to dominate, and immortality. They were gone now, broken like their dreams of conquest, taking this world and enslaving it. Now they were mortal, alone, and defenseless.

They ran back to the apartment they shared. One of the many they had had over the thousand or so years they've been here in this universe. It wasn't much; comfortable, but not over the top. All part of keeping a low profile. They had seen the creatures that dominated this world (humans they called themselves), burn others of their kind at a stake for being accused of what the sirens actually were. Immortal? - yes. Indestructible? -no. Even if they had been, being set on fire while others watched was no one's idea of a good time.

The reached the front door of the house in which they lived. It had been converted into apartments by the current owner about 15 years ago. They lived in what used to be the second floor. Adagio almost ripped the door off it's frame and the three frantically ran up the stairs.

The three burst inside with Adagio yelling, "GO, GO, GO! C'mon we gotta get out here. Pack up and split asap!" Even though she was terrified (or maybe because of it), she would not let the others see her as weak. She was the leader. She was in control. She would always be so.

"Go where Adagio? Huh? Where can we go we go?" Aria asked in what was probably her most confrontational manner yet. And why shouldn't she be? Sure, under Adagio's leadership they had a few good years in Equestria, but for the most part she had been an abysmal failure. They got banished, barely eked out an existence here, and now they were left completely without any sort of magic. Aria always knew she would have been a better leader; now was the time to prove it.

"I don't know and I don't care. We just need to go, to get away as soon as possible. Don't you understand that? Huh? All muscle, no brain?"

"Don't even start with me! We wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you! Keep talking and I'll show you what these muscles are capable of!"

"We're gonna die." It was a hushed, almost whispered sentence but the other two heard it and looked around. There sitting by the door, hugging her knees, gently rocking forward and backward, eyes staring into nothingness was Sonata. "We're all gonna die," she repeated.

"Sonata! Snap out of it!" Adagio ordered.

Sonata slowly moved her head and met Adagio's gaze. "We're not immortal anymore. We're gonna grow old, whither, and die."

A cold chill ran through both Adagio and Aria. The full impact of what had happened finally hit them. They were alone, without money or resources, trapped in the bodies of pubescent girls, and, as Sonata so plainly put it; they were all gonna die.

"Sonata . . ." Adagio started to speak softly, soothingly to her frightened friend; but she was interrupted by Aria.

"She's right. You know that don't you? And not just about the whole getting old thing, which is like a total bummer in it's own right, but deeper than that. What are we going to do about food? Shelter? Clothing? How are we just going to survive?"

"We'll find a way. We're trans dimensional beings. We pre-date electricity, the industrial revolution, many of the countries that now occupy the face of this planet. We'll find away." She was angry at being questioned, angry at being defeated, and angry with her own fear which threatened to consume her heart and soul (if she had a soul that is).

"Good luck putting that on a job application." Aria snarked back.

"Let's go back" Sonata whispered again.

"WHAT!" Adagio and Aria shouted at the same time.

Sonata shook her head. "You're right, that's dumb. Let's go!"

With that they packed up and left.

***********************************************************************************************************

They had walked around campus for hours. Sometimes talking, sometimes just holding hands. The night was wearing thin now; morning would soon come up and she still needed to get back to Pinkie Pie's to change. Yet neither one wanted to stop and say what they most dreaded goodbye.

The emotions each was feeling were both the same but distinct. Both didn't want to separate, to say that dreaded word; but knew they must. Both found the thought of not seeing the other to be almost unbearable. But there were differences as well.

For Flash, he knew Twilight was from another dimension, had magical powers, and sometimes sprouted wings. All a bit strange, but none of which was a deal breaker. He had only ever seen as a girl, a human girl (well except for the wings thing). To him she was a sixteen year old high school girl. A very attractive, sweet, lovely, smart, and talented high school girl. He had never seen or even knew about her other form. He just assumed that her body in this dimension was the same as in hers'.

For Twilight; it was a different story. She felt on top of all the other emotions a grand confusion. She looked nothing like the human in her natural state. She was a pony - muzzle, mane, tail, quadrupedal, fur, the whole nine. Heck; more than that, she was an alicorn! So add a horn and wings to that mix. She had been attracted to stallions all her "aware" life. She was, or at least had been, attracted to all the features of her kind, her species. This creature, this human, all humans would have been repugnant to her. The flat face, upright stance, HANDS, it was too different, too strange for her to find anything attractive about it.

But here, in this world, she found his appearance to be quite handsome. He was polished enough to come across as a nice guy but had just the right amount of rough edges to keep him interesting. His face was sweet and confident and he had a smile that made her weak in the knees. When she had crossed back over to her realm the first time she found that she had gone back to finding all the human physical characteristics unattractive and found herself attracted to her world's version of Flash. But as soon as had come back, she was attracted to him all over again. It was as if her mind was transformed as well as her body. An idea she found disturbing.

And that raised an issue in her mind - what would he think if he saw her natural form? Would he be repulsed? This world had equine animals. She was sure he wasn't attracted to any of those (neither was she for that matter). How would he react if he ever crossed over? Would he find that his idea of what was attractive change as well? And how would he feel when he came back here? Would he be too disturbed to go on? Would it cause permanent psychological damage to him? She couldn't bare that thought.

Also there was the age thing. In this realm she was a sixteen year old girl. In her realm she was twenty-seven. She was eleven years older than what her body implied. Eleven years older than he was. This Flash was a boy; she was a woman. But, she guessed, the age difference was the least of their problems. In fact the age difference was almost pedestrian compared to all the rest.

She had no idea what to do. So she walked. Walked with this strange creature called a human that she was, in spite of everything, falling in love with. And now even that had to end. She needed to get at least some sleep then leave for her world. So they stopped by the statue which was also the portal and just looked each other.

"So now what?" Flash asked, scratching the back of his head. It was a gesture he did whenever he was nervous. It was also many of the things he did she found absolutely adorable. His voice kind of cracked a little; belying a mixture of fear, sadness, and hope - hope that she would say something that would make everything ok.

"I don't know." It was all she could say. Twilight looked down at the ground in sadness. Flash took her hands in his and she looked up into his eyes. "I just know I'm going to miss you."

"Do you really have to go back?" Of course she does idiot , he thought to himself. God he was hopeless. Why couldn't he express himself better? I suck.

"Yes. I'm a princess there, in my world. I have duties and responsibilities. Not to mention friends and family and a castle and, well, everything. I can't turn my back on all that." A knot formed in her throat and one tear ran down her left cheek. Why was this so hard? She barely knew this person! Why was she feeling like her heart was being ripped from her chest?

"Oh! A princess. I never met royalty before." He did an old fashioned bow. "Your majesty."

Twilight laughed. "You goon! Get up." It was good to laugh.

Flash looked at her and smiled. Then his smile faded and his face became serious. "What if I came with you?"

Twilight was shocked silent for a moment. Did he really just say that? "Flash, no. I mean think about your parents. How would they feel? And your studies? Trust me, schooling is everything. You need to finish your education."

Now Flash laughed a bit. "What? You sound like my mom or teacher."

Twilight looked down again. "Flash, how old do you think I am?"

"I dunno. Fifteen, sixteen maybe?"

"Twenty-seven."

"What! No way!" Flashed laughed even harder. He couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"It's true. For whatever reason, coming into this world, I don't know, de-ages, re-ages me to a sixteen year old. But I am twenty-seven."

"Oh." Flash fell silent and Twilight waited for him to say goodbye (or maybe just run away screaming). "I'm in love with an older woman, awesome!", he said.

Twilight was shocked into silence again for a moment. "What, huh? Are you really ok with that?" She paused for a second as the word love finally sunk fully into her brain. "And . . . you . . . love . . . me?"

Hearing her say the "L" word made him step back a bit. Holy crap, he had just said that didn't he? "Um, well, yeah. On both things."

They just looked at each other for a while and then embraced and kissed; a long, slow, passionate kiss. Twilight pulled away first and looked Flash in the eyes. "I love you too," she said and kissed him again.

The two pulled away at the same time and now Flash said, "So back to the original question - now what?"

"I can't stay and you can't leave; not now at least." Twilight started to cry again.

"So this is goodbye then?" Flash asked, on the verge of tears himself.

"Let's just say goodbye for now please. It's all my heart can take."

With that they kissed goodbye.

*********************************************************************************************************

"It's a great morning you have made dear sister," Luna said to Celestia.

"I'm just glad it is morning sister," Celestia replied.

"Will they remember any or the other timeline?" Luna asked.

"Only as faint whispers in dreams. I do feel sorry for them, but now, everyone lives."

"Including the human Fluttershy?"

"Yes. She will eventually come forward and be adopted by a loving family."

"That is good to hear. And what of the challanges that lie ahead yet? Are they prepared?"

"After what they've faced; I'd say they're prepared for anything."

THE END

Author's Notes:

Blog tomorrow, now bed. Night.