Twilight stood waving to her double in disbelief. In her time she had seen many a strange thing, fought many a strange thing; but seeing herself, standing about ten feet away from her (with glasses no less), waving, and the rest of her friends looking on was about one of the strangest. It was like looking into a mirror that was highly scratched and cloudy. You could see your reflection, but it was distorted and off. It also drove home the strangeness of the whole situation.

Here she was, with her friends. But they weren't her friends. Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash; all here but not here. The emotional attachments she had to these people, they were all based off her real friends, her true friends, back home.

But weren't they now equally her friends? Hadn't they stood together twice to defeat evil? And they were reflections (to get back to the mirror metaphor) of her Equestrians as well? Not quite the same, but still a representation? Or were here friends back home the representations and these girls were the real thing? And if that was true, what did that make her? Was she just a reflection of the girl that now waved awkwardly at her? She turned to Sunset to see if she had any answers.

Sunset looked at Twilight with a sympathetic smile. She knew how badly this must be effecting her. "How `bout we take a walk? I think we may need to talk." She said in a voice that was full of restrained laughter.

"He-heh, yeah. I think that would be good," Twilight said in a confused and flustered manner.

The two walked off not saying a word to each other. There would be time enough for talk once they got to where ever it was they were going. And that happened to be a grassy hill at the far corner of the school where no one was. They walked to the top and looked down at the campus below and sat in silence for about a minute.

"Strange; isn't it?" Sunset asked while still looking at the school; a school she had tried to destroy once and saved twice. In some way she was talking more to herself than Twilight.

"I guess it's hard to say what's strange anymore," Twilight replied with a sigh. "Things have just been weird all around lately. I don't know. After I left here the last time; it took me a while to get over everyone. In my, I mean, our, world; there's another Pinkie, Applejack, even another Flash. I've been best friends with all five other girls for, well, five years. And I come here and there they are, but it's not them. And the Flash here, I have history with him, but the Flash in my world, he's barely an acquaintance. It get's confusing. And I know there had to be another me here, but still . . . to see her." Twilight didn't know what else to say, how to finish her thoughts, or how to put her feelings into words.

"Yeah, I have an idea. I mean, I haven't this world's Sunset Shimmer yet; but I know she's out there." Sunset finally looked over at Twilight. "So how have you been? You've told me some things, but how are you really doing? I take it it's more than just Twi point two back there."

"No, it's not." From there; Twilight filled Sunset in on everything that had happened in the interim. She told her about missing Flash, the dreams, the talk Princess Celestia gave to her, the cutie map, and Starlight Glimmer. The last caught Sunset's ear.

"Starlight Glimmer? I know her. At least I know of her," Sunset said in muted surprise.

"You do? How?", Twilight asked, suddenly excited.

"Sunburst used to talk about her. He was my first boyfriend at magic school. Very talented. He said she was his best friend. He always said how he missed her and planned on going back home to see her."

"REALLY!?" Twilight said in joy. If Sunset could lead her to Sunburst, it would make Starlight's reformation even more complete. "Well, do you know where he is?"

"Dead," Sunset said flatly with a trace of sadness. "He was always pushing himself, harder and faster than he should. He tried to cast a spell he wasn't ready for; I warned him not to, I did," Sunset bowed her head while shaking it. She looked up at the sky with a tear falling from her eye. "But he wouldn't listen and, well, I was alone again."

Twilight didn't know what to say. When Sunset had told her that she had known Sunburst, she had become excited. If Sunset could have led Twilight to him, she could have helped give Starlight closure, maybe even rekindled their friendship. Now, knowing he's gone, would that jeopardize her reformation? How would she take it? And then she also thought of Sunset and what she must have gone through and how that must have affected her.

Twilight reached out her hand and touched Sunset's shoulder. "I'm so sorry Sunset."

Sunset took Twilight's hand in hers' and squeezed it. "It's ok. It was a long time ago and I've healed from it. I've healed from a lot of things. I was so angry and bitter and then I was so unsure of myself and lost. But now, now I know that I am a good person and I can make things better and help others and that as long as I have others, people who care about me, friends, in my life, I'll be ok."

Twilight gave Sunset a big hug and said, "Yes you will because you'll always have me." She then pulled away and got a very serious look on her face. "One thing I don't understand is this; in one of the alternate futures I saw, King Sombra, a unicorn, was able to battle Princess Celesteia to a stand still. I only managed to beat you when I combined my magic with the other girls, and with Starlight, I couldn't defeat her, not with power. If Princess Celestia and I couldn't defeat unicorns, even gifted, powerful unicorns, what's the point of being an alicorn? Aren't we supposed to be the most powerful ponies there are?"

Sunset thought for a moment. "Maybe, but maybe there's something else going on." She paused for a second, not sure how to explain what she was trying to say, especially with telling her she and Flash had crossed over into Equestria. "You said that in some cases, you were able to, and only could win through force of magic, like when you got those two feuding clans to stop fighting. Other times you had to talk your way out and use diplomacy. Well, maybe's that the point.

"Not all situations will call for the same solution. Sometimes, unfortunately, sheer, brute force is needed. In most cases though, talking and diplomacy are the way to go. The greatest of wisdom is to know which is which."

"I already know that, at least I thought I did." Twilight got quiet and thought for a second. "But that still doesn't explain how the unicorns were able to match us alicorns."

"Maybe it does. Twilight, . . . I, I crossed back over into Equestria a few months ago."

"WHA . . ." Twilight started but was cut off by Sunset.

"The portal had been left opened. I was worried that someone or thing might get fall through. I just wanted to let you know so you could close it. But once I was there, I decided to visit my parents grave. It had been so long Twilight; I just had to. While I was there, Princess Luna came to me. She said something big was coming, a great challenge, and that I had to stay behind in this realm to face it before I could come back. Similar to what you said she and Princess Celestia told you.

"Now while taking on a demonic version of you was no small task, I still don't think that's what she was talking about. I think there's something bigger, something far worse coming and that all the trials and fights we've been through have been preparing us for this thing, whatever it is. I also think, more so now than ever, that we're meant to face it together. Our destinies are intertwined in a way we can't imagine right now and that something bigger than us is calling the shots, setting these things up for us as a way of challenging and training us. It doesn't make sense, but that's what I feel." Sunset looked at Twilight who looked confused, shocked, and deep in thought. She sat down and looked over the school again.

"I think you're right," Twilight said quietly. "But more than just us. The one thing I learned throughout all those different timelines is that without all my friends and I together, none of us alone were able to fight off the evil. Even here, when I first met you; I still needed Pinkie, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash. And what were the odds of all them being here, in one place, even if they are just versions of themselves; did that make sense?" Twilight shook her head trying to think of the proper words to describe what she was thinking.

" Anyway, my double wasn't here, at first. And yours is still not here - yet. But whatever it is behind this, whatever this is, it involves all seven of us."

"More than seven now Twilight." Sunset said nodding. "Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rainbow all have boyfriends now."

Twilight was going to shout "what" again but caught herself. "Rainbow has a boyfriend? I thought . . ."

"I know, I know, we all did." Sunset said with a laugh.

"Well what about the rest of you?"

"Well, Rarity wants a boyfriend. I've talked to her several times about it, and, well, despite her uptight persona, that girl is filthy. I mean a real one hundred percent freak. But she wants to hold off until she get's her fashion career going. Pinkie, I don't know. She hasn't shown much interest in that area at all. Me, well, I'm a thirty year old women in a sixteen year olds body. Any guy I'd want to date, legally couldn't date me. And any guy I could legally date, I don't want to. Ohh, sorry." She forgot that Twilight was only about 2-3 threes younger than her and she was in love with Flash.

"No problem." Twilight looked down at the ground with a sad expression on her face. "He has the other me now."

Sunset put her arm around Twilight. "No, he doesn't. She's not interested in him. Besides, she's not you."

Twilight looked up and smiled. "Thank you," she said.

Sunset reached into her jacket pocket and pulled a folded up piece of newspaper out. "Here. I saw this the day after the Friendship Games. As soon as I read it, I knew you'd be back. I think this is the start of whatever it is we're supposed to face."

Twilight took it and started to read. It was about how a local butcher had been found, eaten. Apparently whoever the attackers were, devoured the man, Ramone Salazar, completely before breaking into his safe and stealing the contents. Twilight's jaw dropped open and she looked at Sunset in horror.

"Yeah, that was my expression too." She took the news print back and put it in her pocket. "I don't know what it is we're dealing with, but it's not human. Whether or not something snuck through one of the holes Earth Twilight opened up . . ."

"Huh? She has the power to open up portals?" Twilight asked confused. It was then she remembered something that Sunset had said earlier. "Oh, well that explains what you meant by 'demonic version' of myself. Huh, and I thought the glasses were bad." Twilight tried to laugh but it came out sounding false. She still had all the emotions she had before, but now there was a new one -FEAR.

"So, what do you think? Fancy staying a while, rallying the troops, and fighting the forces of evil yet again?"

Twilight turned to Sunset and smiled a great big grin. "Absolutely!" she said.

The two got up and started to walk back to the others. On the way Sunset said, "Oh and don't touch the other Twilight. I don't know why, but something tells me that wouldn't be a good idea."

Twilight nodded. "Will do."

Author's Notes:

This is the un-proof read version. Once I get that back, I will change to that version. I'm just posting this now so I can maintain my schedule. Hope you like.