Sunset whiped a tear away. "That's so sad. What happened next?"

Celestia shrugged. "I had caused the portal to become locked on Earth. Star Swirl couldn't change that. He did cause it to change where on Earth it opened up at and he put the timer - seven days, every thirty moons. I never knew what happened to Justinius; my love." Celestia breathed in deep and let out a long sigh.

"He was right though. After that came Tirek, the Sirens, King Sombra, and then my sister turned. Had I not been here . . ." Celestia trailed off at the thought. She then shook her head and continued, "Power to the dumb, greedy, evil, is a thing to persue. To the ones that are noble and just, power is a boulder that slowly crushes you.

"I know what Twilight is feeling; what you are feeling, because I felt that way as well. I have had the time to see what happened and think about what could have happened. I wish I could be more up beat and positive but I must be honest. The road you and Twilight are on is a lonely one. All you will have is each other. It is not right and it is not fair but it is what is."

"I understand," Sunset said sadly. Then something caugh in her mind. "Princess Celestia, you were with him for three months, as his lover, three months . . ."

"I know what you are asking, and yes, I was pregnant with his child. Unfortunately it did not survive when I was brought back across the dimensional divide. As I said, this is a lonely, lonely job."

"I," Sunset stammered a bit as the tragedy of what Celestia went through and the implications of what it meant for her and Twilight sunk into her head. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry you had to go through all that. I'm sorry for your loss. I'm just sorry."

Celestia smiled as she knew that what Sunset said came from a pure place of love and concern. "It is ok Sunset. While I carry a piece of the pain with me everyday; it was a pain I brought on to myself because I put my own needs above my duties. Besides, saving Equestria on multiple occassions has more than made up for it."

Celestia walked over and nuzzled Sunset. "Come; it's time to go back. The others are waiting." Sunset nodded and they started walking back. As they walked; Celestia started to speak again.

"Adagio, do you really trust her?"

"With my life," Sunset added without hesitation. "She's earned it. As I said earlier; she turned against Celestia who was torturing her to, how'd she put it, corrupt me."

Celestia stopped and got a grave look on her face. "She said those words? - Corrupt?"

"Yes, why? Do you know what that means?" Sunset was confused but curious as to how Celestia seemed to know what that meant.

"I do. And if Chrysalis knows what it means as well, we are in greater danger than I thought. When you go back, take Sparkle with you. You are going to need her. Her and Shimmer."

"Um, that might be a problem but I defer to your judgement. I do wish you could just tell what's going on."

"Get your court together and ask your mystic to tell you. She has the power; she needs to learn how to access it."

Sunset was now really annoyed by all the crptic talk but knew there was nothing she could do to compel Celestia to tell her outright. So she simply nodded and said, "I will". She started to walk on again but stopped as she suddenly remembered what she wanted to ask her. "Princess Celestia, have you ever heard of an earth pony turning into a unicorn?"

Celestia looked surprised. More than suprised; shocked. Shocked at not just the question but that the question was even asked. "No, never. I don't even think such a thing is possible."

"It is. It happened to Adagio. Before she became a siren, she was an earth pony. When we came back; she was a unicorn."

Celestia was dumbstruck. How could such a thing happen? "Hmm. I can only guess that part of the magical energy she absorbed as a Siren had caused her to change. I will have to look into this further. This is tuly a sign though."

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

When the two got back to where they had left the others it was obvious that tensions were really high. Sunset and Celestia didn't know what caused it but it was clear as everypony was just standing around looking at each other and not talking.

"It was nice to meet you Shimmer and Adagio, although I guess this makes the second we've met technically," Celestia said with a smile. "I think it is time for you to go back though. I wish you all a safe journey back. Sparkle, you are to accompian then back. You have learned much and I am proud of you; but the time has come for to go back to your family.

"Won't that cause confusion?" Sparkle asked, surprised but not unglad.

"No. Twilight will move in with Sunset and you will resume your rightful place in your family and school. All of Twilight's energy and attention must now go in to finding and defeating Chrysalis."

Starlight felt a sense of panic. If Sparkle left now, she would never be able to corrupt her like the voice asked her to. What would she do? How would the voice react? Then the voice spoke to her and gave her a new mission. Starlight smiled at her new assignment.

"Ok Princess Celestia," Sparkle responded, still confused but happy to be going home.

"Sparkle, you can stay with me tonight," Sunset said. "Then, tomorrow, you and Twilight can do the switch."

Sparkle nodded.

"Aww," Shimmer said in disappointment. "I was hoping to check this place out some more."

"We can come back another time," Sunset told her with a good humor in her voice.

Shimmer nodded as well but was still disappointed.

The four walked off. Sunset and Adagio upfront, Shimmer and Sparkle in the rear. Once Adagio felt it was safe, she whispered in Sunset's ear. "I don't trust Starlight."

Sunset whispered back, "I fought her a month ago. She definently has issues. I'll talk to Sparkle to see what she has to say about Starlight. Celestia should be able to handle her though."

"Hmm," Adagio muttered in a disapproving voice. "I hope so. She's more powerful and cunning than you think; even if you did fight her before."

"Noted. And thank you Dag. I trust your opinion. There's just not much we can do now. If she is up to something, if she see's me suddenly come back to speak to Princess Celestia alone, she might get suspicious. Besides, Chrysalis is our main concern."

Adagio nodded but remained unconvinced.

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

"I forgot what it was like to walk on two legs," Sparkle said as she slowly got up.

"Ugh! I hate that thing." Shimmer said after she was finally sure she wouldn't vomit.

"You get used to it," Sunset said in a cheery but sympathetic voice.

"Really?" Shimmer responded skeptically.

"No. I was only trying to make you feel better," replied Sunset.

"So now what?" asked Sparkle.

In a blink all four were teleported to the mall parking lot; in front of Sunset's car. "Well," Sunset said, "we can go back to my place and hang out for a bit, then I can take Shimmer home. I don't think her parents would notice from, uh, you have on street parking or a driveway?"

"On street," Shimmer said. "And if I were you, I'd wear a hat and sunglasses to be on the safe side."

"Alright then," Sunset said as she opened her door, "party at my house."

Author's Notes:

This and the previous 3 or 4 chapters (I forget which) are all one really long chapter as I said. Hopefully my breaking it up for ease of reading didn't sacrifice the flow of the story.