"I think she's waking up," a female voice said in a relieved tone from her left. Wait, she knew that voice somehow, didn't she?

"About time. She has slept since the early evening yesterday until now... it's nearly noon," another familiar male voice commented dryly from the right.

Sunset Shimmer opened her eyes and blinked away her dizziness before she could finally focus again. She saw a blue sky with a few white clouds distributed across it, feeling the warm rays of the sun upon her amber skin. The girl's mind felt a little foggy, still. Then her memories returned in a rush and Sunset recognized whose voices surrounded her. She winced from a small headache.

"Shining. You know as well as I do that she used up her entire magic pool in the fight with Arachne and her brood. Cut her some slack!" Sunny Flare lectured the impatient young officer.

"OK, OK, I'm sorry. I just don't want to worry the others more than necessary. We've been gone nearly two days," Shining Armor replied apologetically and put up his arms in defense. He looked sheepishly at the glaring Shadowbolt.

Sunset supported herself with her hands and raised her upper body, peering between her two... friends? Yes. To her, they were new friends. Fighting together against bloodthirsty foes in a life-or-death situation could do something like that.

A silent groan ended the conversation of the duo, "I feel like a train hit me. Was I really asleep for such a long time?" Sunset queried worriedly.

The two mages in question nodded their heads.

"Wow. Well, that teaches me that I should be more careful in the future, huh?" she tried to joke. Her friends chuckled politely.

"You were out like a light, Sunset. You slept for nearly 20 hours straight. We were already discussing if you used too much magic and somehow fell into a coma," Sunny explained with a shaken expression.

"What?!" Sunset thought, alarmed, "20 hours?! I know I used all my magic, but I didn't think it would be that bad! Well, granted, I never came close to such a state as a Unicorn. Sometimes I channeled more of my magic into a spell than normal, but not to the last drop. I don't think that this is healthy either, I have to be careful that it doesn't happen too often," she mused analytically.

"Thanks for watching over me, guys. I hope I wasn't a burden in my time of... rest," Sunset said gratefully, slightly blushing, because she slept for such a long time.

"No problem. Now, let's go before the others die of panic or boredom just because we didn't come back and you needed your beauty sleep," Shining Armor tried to joke.

Sunny had to stop herself from slapping him on the back of his head, seeing how their friend clearly felt uncomfortable for the delay she caused.

"It wasn't even her fault. She couldn't afford to hold back," Sunny Flare commented in her mind, rolling her eyes. "Are you ready?" the ice magician kindly asked out loud.

"Yes, thanks. I feel much better now. I was just a little dizzy after I woke up. We should pack our things and return to the others," Sunset replied with a smile.

Her teammates nodded their heads in agreement. She decided to not let her worries about her long involuntary timeout bother her too much. She would simply be more careful in the future.

They finished their last preparations before they would leave the borders of White Tail Woods. Sunset stared one last time back to the place of her fight with Arachne and turned around, facing the direction where the farm was. She chuckled.

"What's so funny?" Sunny asked confused.

The Phoenix Magic user grinned in response, "Nothing important. I just thought about how we were gone now for nearly two days and what the others were probably doing all the time. People like Rainbow Dash must be terribly bored out of their mind, she hates it when she has nothing exciting to do or an opportunity to prove her 'awesomeness'. I'm sure the Apples are giving them more than enough work on Sweet Apple Acres, maybe they were in Ponyville to buy supplies, or the former principals are training their magic. Otherwise there is not much I can imagine they are doing.”

Sunset's teammates didn't feel like tempting fate themselves and kept quiet after everything they had to endure.

A light sigh escaped her lips after seeing their forced smiles, “OK, maybe they already had trouble, again, which I really hope isn't the case. Sometimes I have the feeling we're literally attracting all sorts of issues, we could sit around and it would haunt us in the least expected moments," Sunset admitted in annoyance.

On the last thought, the other two didn't have an answer, but Sunny, on her part, could connect with the girl's sentiment after everything she went through in the last time.

Shining Armor didn't like to think about such things. If something happened, he would act accordingly. As it was always his duty as a police officer. He was a simple man.

"Come on, Sunset. I think you are worrying too much. The others are surely waiting for us and the farm is a safe place," Shining replied with a reassuring grin.

He was eager to see his little sister and Cadence again. Oh, and Spike, too, of course. The paladin hoped that his parents were alright and he would somehow be able to track them down once they had more time at their disposal and a safe base of operations. He didn't lie to Sunset Shimmer. Shining was confident that the Apples' farm was a safe place, after all. But nothing was set in stone and a farm with such a big perimeter as Sweet Apple Acres was too difficult to defend without any forms of further protection like walls or strongly built fences in the case of a massive attack from beings like the fire elementals.

The young officer had to admit that ideas such as walls sounded like things people would only know from the ages of old, but they had some possibilities to prevent easy entry for invaders or wild animals, right? Well, it was just an idea, nothing more. Maybe they could create something like checkpoints which needed to be passed before it was possible to enter. He would talk with the others in their next meeting about it.

Of course, first they needed a place to live where they would have access to food, may it be provided by nature itself, shops in case of a town or village, lands where they could produce it, water and shelter. Possibilities to train would be good, too, but it wasn't the most important item on his agenda right now. Of course it was possible to live just in another town like Ponyville, but this place had no means of defense at all, which had to be provided first. Especially because of the neighbouring Everfree Forest and its new denizens. It wasn't out of the realm of possibility that some new magically created creatures lived there, which didn't have any problems with attacking a city on their own.

For example, under the cover of the night.

Canterlot didn't fall just because of the unknown nature of the enemy, but because the forces of the police and others who could provide means of defense weren't able at all to coordinate with each other fast enough to actually do anything. They were far too thinly distributed across the entire city. It didn't help that they had no ways to communicate with each other, either.

And then there was another problem. Before they left after their last group meeting, he asked Moondancer about her impression of Ponyville. Shining wanted to know how the atmosphere was there after the destruction of Canterlot City, to gauge the situation.

The poor girl reacted with embarrassment and apologized a few times before he stopped her, because the former student of Crystal Prep was only focused on her discovery of why no more devices of communication worked, so that she completely forgot about the state of the town itself.

She told him that some people acted pretty strange in her opinion, that most humans clearly showed great amounts of distrust, fear and, but mostly the refugees who managed to escape to Ponyville in great numbers, hatred. People started to talk about the things that attacked and all the other rumors about ‘magic-related events’ in the last days and weeks. And nearly all, again, very much led and convinced by the people who lost everything in the fires of Canterlot, citizens of the town seemed to agree that everything magical had to be fought and judged before Ponyville could become a second Canterlot.

At least that was what she heard from conversations of the inhabitants she walked by and read in the town's biggest newspaper, the Ponyville Times. She wanted to inform herself about the newest developments after her chat with Fleur, so she informed him.

That being said, they couldn't just enter the town without hiding that they weren't enemies of magic and even had it at their own at their disposal instead. That meant Ponyville wasn't an option to live in for now, sadly. And fighting magicless and scared citizens wouldn't be possible either, not even in self-defense. It would only provide the enemies of everything magical with more fuel.

If he counted right, Sunset Shimmer, Ms. Celestia, Ms. Luna, Sunny Flare and himself had the ability to use their own forms of magic in an active manner, well, momentarily. Five mages weren't the world against whole troops of scum like thieves, raiders or worse, the fire elementals from Canterlot.

Shining Armor didn't hold himself under any illusions. Without any government, which held up law and order, people with a more fragile morale code, secret or open anarchists and enemies of state wouldn't think twice about living after their own set of ‘rules’. In fact, this world, in its momentary state, was like an El Dorado for them.

He was sure some of these people would steal, murder and do other despicable things in the name of ‘survival’ or used other excuses for their vile acts. They didn't have to answer any longer to enforcers of the law who would bring them to justice. So, who should stop them?

The police officer just hoped they wouldn't encounter those people. Or dangerous members of other races, for that matter, now that he remembered the details Sunset reported them about after she looked into the mind of this phoenix.

He still found it very hard to believe that Sunset could talk with it, he already had a hard time believing that the shy girl with the pink hair could talk with all kinds of animals. The young man decided to put these abilities under ‘magic’ and didn't question it further. Moreover, he gained his own branch of magic not long ago, so the former alumni guessed that it was just how it should be for them, like for him having his Paladin Magic.

"I believe her name was Fluttershy," Shining thought, if he remembered the name correctly.

"I can't wait to show the others that I can use magic now. Finally I'm able to protect and fight on my own and don't always have to rely solely on you, Ms. Celestia or Ms. Luna anymore." She blinked in realization, her excitement dying. "Eh, no offense," Sunny added with an embarrassed blush, paired with an awkward smile.

Sunset just shrugged it off with her in the past mostly used standard response to defuse such a situation, "None taken."

She didn't know if she should find it amusing or not. Even after all this time the whole ‘no offense’ game was a thing in her conversations, still. Some things never changed it seemed.

Sunset looked at Shining, "Maybe you are right. It won't make things better and will only cost me energy to constantly worry about 'if' and 'maybe' scenarios," the young magician concurred.

Equipped with a positive mindset, they started their way back.

The trio managed to reach the western borders of Sweet Apple Acres after hours of walking, it was already late afternoon.

Normally, their choosen path would have been faster to walk at, but they had a little quarrel on their way with four small, angry looking trees.

These beings were called Forest Walkers, living trees which defended their livelihood and sometimes even other places with a plant-friendly environment. Usually they were friendly or at least neutral to other beings, but something seemed to make them livid, causing the assault on the mages.

With a height of 1.7 meters at least, dark brown colored, glowing, narrowed eyes and in the possession of human-like arms made from branches of various lengths at their sides. Their movements reminded the group of octopodes on a hard surface, because the living trees moved, somehow, with their roots above the ground. The Forest Walkers had a thick, stocky body, colored in differently shades of brown or gray and looked like their crowns were trimmed, having only a few leaves on top so that the head was barely protected, or had no leaves at all.

Sunset didn't know why these creatures attacked them in the first place. She tried to talk to them, but the attackers didn't seem to understand her, or didn't want to.

One Forest Walker tried to attack in the meantime and surprised Sunny with its speed, without having real legs, so Sunset had no choice but to attack herself to defend her friend. She used her magic and incinerated the magic-fueled entity to ash. The other three retreated back where they came from, fearing Sunset for her Phoenix Magic.

It left a bad taste in her mouth that she had to do that, but she couldn't risk Sunny getting hurt or worse. Maybe these beings were similar to timberwolves, in a constant state of aggression? They were animated creatures of wood too, after all. Or so Sunset guessed. She wasn't sure what caused this confrontation.

But it made her curious why living trees existed on Earth on the first place. The former student of Princess Celestia never read about something similar in her homeworld.

"Ah. Sweet Apple Acres. Finally," Shining commented in joy and relief.

"We should go to the house and search for the others," Sunny Flare suggested, equally eager.

"You must be the last missing team. I hope your mission was a success," a thick Zebrican voice said from the side.

They saw who, or more what, spoke to them and prepared themselves for a fight, not trusting the stranger. Whatever she was.

Shining reacted the most aggressively, "Who are you?! Where are the others?! Answer me!" he demanded to know.

The shaman chuckled in amusement, "I see. Cadence already said that you would react like that when I decided to meet you alone. You must be Shining Armor. My name is Zecora, I'm what you might call a troll. A troll shaman, to be precise," Zecora explained, smiling at the confused and, in Shining's case, angry trio.

"Zecora!" another, this time familiar voice shouted, agitated.

The others saw who it was and the amber magician recognized her instantly, "Ms. Cheerilee?!" she exclaimed in shock and happiness.

It was good to see that the librarian and occasional class teacher of CHS was alive and survived Canterlot.

The woman in question switched her attention from the shaman to the source of the voice. "Oh?" She gasped, "Ms. Shimmer, you are back! And you must be Shining Armor and Sunny Flare," Cheerilee said with an inviting smile. Then she frowned sourly at the troll, "Zecora! I said I would come with you and that you shouldn't meet them alone. What were you thinking? They could have mistaken you for an enemy and attacked!" she scolded her old friend.

Zecora just smiled at the former teacher and replied calmly, "You don't give me enough credit my dear friend. I can hold my own quite well. Besides-" she looked at the Phoenix Magic user, "-I wanted to meet the infamous Sunset Shimmer myself before we start with catching up."

Zecora gave the mentioned magician a kind smile. Sunset blushed because of the sudden attention and the hidden compliment she received.

Sunny snickered behind a hand and voiced her own opinion in a proud tone, "You can say that again! We met in White Tail Woods a giant spider and her brood, but Sunset here fought and defeated her. Destroyed her eggs, too. Only a few spiders escaped and I don't think that they are like Arachne, but we want to explain everything in greater detail later, when everybody is in one place. Of course, Shining and I helped her earlier."

"You are Ms. Cheerilee? Twily once told our family about you. And... you know Zecora?" Shining asked the former teacher of CHS, who confirmed his question with a brief nod. Instead of anger and caution like before, he felt a little ashamed for his outburst and had slightly red cheeks. The paladin put his focus on Zecora, "I think I owe you an apology. I shouldn't have reacted in such a manner. I-"

"Don't worry. I know why you reacted like you did and I'm sure most would have acted the same. I respect that. I was a stranger and you didn't know if your allies, friends and family were OK, still." The troll shaman tried to put his nerves at ease.

"Well, we should return to the house to take a break. The others have been waiting for you and used the time to train their magic or to help on the farm. It is good that you are back now; they nearly stormed off to search for you. Luviel barely managed to stop them, saying that they should have trust in you." Cheerilee saw the confused expressions of the team, "Just follow me," she said dryly.

Sunset felt like she missed quite a bit. The others were training their magic? Was she talking about Ms. Celestia and Ms. Luna? Her friends? Were they training their Equestrian magic? Did something happen during their absence? And who was this ‘Luviel’? Questions. So many...

As they started making their way to the house, Sunny whispered coyly to Shining Armor, “'I'm sure nothing bad happened', eh?” and earned herself a glare.

"SHIMMY!" the arch nemesis of personal space shouted happily and in excitement.

Sunset knew what would occur and prepared for the unavoidable attack. Then it came. It was fast, merciless in its intention, a pink missile. The only person who called her ‘Shimmy’, much to the young woman’s dismay, had arrived with the force of a truck.

She watched out for the approaching danger, but it didn't work in the slightest. The next instant, she was pressed on the ground, having problems to breath because of the bone crushing hug she received.

"P-Pinkie Pie, a-air!" Sunset croaked helplessly.

"Where did she come from?" Shining wanted to know, completely dumbfounded. He didn't see her coming from the direction she should have come in order to tackle-hug her friend into such a position, "No, seriously. I didn't see anything and I didn't blink. Where did she come from?!"

"Don't despair. Some mysteries are just meant to never be understood by the mortal mind, young man," Zecora answered in a wise and cryptic tone.

Shining's eye twitched. How was his sister able to accept such impossibilities? He was sure she would normally try to discover the truth behind this girl's antics.

The party lover inhaled deeply, then it began, “Imissedyousomuch!FirstIwaslikewhereisshe?AndthenIwaslikeissheok?!Butthentheotherssaid-" Pinkie Pie couldn't continue her rapid fire of words after she released Sunset. The amber magician put a hand on her friend's mouth, who ignored it and spoke into Sunset's palm with vigor. Nobody understood her ensuing mumbling.

"Pinkie, calm down! I missed you and the others, too. Could you let me stand up now, please?" Sunset asked nicely and in great patience.

"Of course. Oh, oh! I have to introduce you to my family! Be careful around Limestone though. She is still a little sour about what happened between the two of us before the Fall Formal. That's the reason I always kept her busy and away from you whenever you visited at my house and she was there at the same time. But don't tell her that I did that, it's a secret," Pinkie whispered the last sentence in a warning tone. She noticed Sunset's nervous attitude at the mentioning of her time as the school bully, "Don't worry, Shimmy. She is a big softy and I'm sure you can become the best of friends. I hope," the party lover assured with the smile of a Cheshire cat.

Who was Limestone? Wasn't that one of the other two other sisters Pinkie Pie once told her about? She'd only met Maud and that was during the sleepover at Pinkie Pie's house when Princess Twilight tried to write the counter spell against the sirens' magic. The humanized Unicorn talked to her fellow Pony that night in the kitchen, when Maud suddenly appeared out of nowhere, teleportation must be in the family, she guessed, and decided that her ‘pet rock’ Boulder was hungry. Strangely, she never saw the rest of Pinkie's family, but the hyperactive girl loved to talk about them.

On their way to their final destination, they saw how the students were all doing labor on the farm, more or less successfully, under Big McIntosh's watchful eye so that nobody did anything wrong by accident. He nodded in their direction in acknowledgment and announced with his deep country voice, "Y'can take a break for now! Ah'll call for y’all when it means to get back to work!" Some were surprised at first that the stoic farmer spoke more than one word.

"Finally! A GREAT and POWERFUL hunger has plagued Trixie for the last two hours!" the stage magician exclaimed dramatically.

Everyone ignored her lament with practiced ease.

"Hey, big guy! I knew you could say more than one word," Shining Armor commented, chuckling. He remembered how all answers he'd ever received from the farmer consisted of two words: ‘Eeyup’ and ‘Nope’.

"Eeyup," Big Mac simply replied with a mischievous grin.

The five women laughed at the paladin's following facial expression.

"You missed soooo much! Nearly everybody can use magic now." She counted with her fingers, "Dashie has Heavens Magic, Rarity has Duelist Magic, Fluttershy has Druid Magic, Applejack has Esper Magic and Twilight Arcane Magic. Then there are-"

"Woah, pause! You wanna tell me that our friends have discovered their own magic, too?! Since when could they do that? We were just gone for two days! How can all that happen in such a short time?!" Sunset was completely stunned.

"I know! Isn't it great?!" Pinkie replied in sheer excitement, oblivious of her friend's shocked state.

"That's certainly... interesting. Do you have any magic of your own?" Sunny asked with a tilted head and a raised eyebrow.

"Nope! I don't have my own magic, yet. But I wished I had something like 'Party Magic' or 'Baking Magic'. That would make it so much easier to organize parties!” She gasped loudly, “Do you think I could get something like 'Smile Magic'? 'Joke Magic'? 'Laughter Magic'?" Pinkie Pie asked happily.

The shaman chuckled, “Dear girl, you are truly something else," Zecora stated, amused by her antics.

The party lover snorted, "I can't be something else, silly! This morning I was still me in the mirror of the bathroom." She giggled. "But maaaaybe my magic has something to do with making copies of myself, like Sugarcoat can do with her Illusion Magic-"

"She has magic, too?!" Sunny Flare voiced her disbelief. Her question was ignored by the further talking pink enigma.

"-I mean that would be silly. Could you imagine a situation where lots and lots of Pinkies are running around? You would never discover the real one if you have no idea for which kind of clues you have to look out for and be forced to think of something else. Like watching paint dry, so that people may find the real Pinkie. Well, as long as you don't shoot me instead with magic or something else. That would be awkward. I mean, duh, what good friend would be this cruel to me and risking to erase the supposed to be best friend's existence or possibly banishing me to the place where the copies came from in the first place? It would end with the situation that a fake took my place and the irresponsible person for taking my life and freedom away from me would live a lie in the blind hope that he or she chose right. Only because of the striving for a fast and easier solution instead of thinking through every little detail and contingency in order to avoid potential harm to me as the original," Pinkie finished her very dark thought experiment with a sincere smile that screamed innocence.

Sunset had the sudden urge to question Princess Twilight's intelligence, badly. Why? It made no sense, so she ignored it. The rest of the group looked disturbed at her carefree description of such a dark event.

"Just... let's go..." Shining commented plainly. He had no idea what to say otherwise.

"Okey dokey lokey!" came the cheerful agreement of the second youngest of the Pie household.

When the main house came into sight, Sunset, Sunny and Shining noticed quickly that the parts of the nearby environment was artificially protected by variously sized, between 6'6" to 16'5" tall, thick walls of stone which surrounded the Apples' property completely.

Behind the walls were platforms at the top and center of the constructions, with stony stairs leading to them and windows to look through, making it possible to have a higher position in case of an attack and granting the opportunity to defend and act accordingly. The main road to the house even had a small gate with a welcoming wooden fence-like entrance, that stood behind the newly made gate, still, crafted out of big planks. In front of the walls which surrounded the house were many sharpened long palisades to prevent potential threats from climbing them.

Suffice it to say: Sweet Apple Acres was fortified.

"It's... beautiful," Shining stated, touched.

These fortifications were leagues better than anything he could come up with in such a short time. The paladin didn't care that he had no idea at the moment how all that even came into existence. Shining Armor took his time to admire everything first. Questions could be asked later.

Sunset noticed and judged every detail, turned her head to look at Zecora and Ms. Cheerilee and asked, interested, "Magic?"

"Magic," the shaman and former teacher answered in sync.

"Eeyup!" Big Mac confirmed.

"You should have seen it! Maud... rocked!" Pinkie voiced her part. A round of groans was the response.

Sunny broke the silence on their way, “So, concerning the possibility that we presumably missed everything…” She still wasn’t sure how to react about the news concerning their friends.

"All questions and uncertainties shall be answered in due time. Now that you are back, we can finally plan how to proceed and talk about everything that transpired in greater detail, Ms. Velvet and her husband were quite restless ever since being told that their son was still missing," Zecora explained with a knowing smirk, her sharp teeth on display.

"M-my parents?! Twilight Velvet and Night Light, they are alive?!" Shining Armor demanded to know, full of hope and already slightly wet eyes.

Shining was shortly before the point of exploding from anticipation. The door of the house opened and another known person stepped out.

"Shiny! You're back!" Cadence shouted joyfully.

"Cadie!" came the happy reply.

The lovers embraced each other in a tight hug and kissed passionately for a at least 20 seconds. Ms. Cheerilee cleared her throat, loudly.

"O-oh! I'm sorry about our... open display. I just couldn't contain myself," the former dean apologized with a polite bow.

Shining Armor was blushing furiously, scolding himself in his mind for doing something like that in public.

Big Mac nodded his head in an approving manner. He even gave the other man a mental thumbs up.

Zecora looked at them with a warm smile. Cheerilee made a face of exaggerated mock disgust at the couple, but was clearly unfazed by the display, if her grin was anything to go by. It worried the woman in the back of her mind a little bit. Luviel's sexual jokes and her very open nature with all kinds of such topics had rubbed off on her, it seemed.

Pinkie, Sunny and Sunset just giggled and especially Sunny had to stop herself from delivering a jab into Shining's confidence and man-pride. She saw that he was already flustered enough without further input and decided to spare him. For now.

"Yes, your parents are alive and well in health. Your sister and her friends found them," Zecora answered truthfully.

The former police officer could jump for joy, so he did. The assembled witnesses laughed at the scene.

"Velvet, Twilight and Night Light are inside the house at this moment. They are helping with the meals for everyone on the farm. Granny Smith is with them and two of Pinkie's sisters. You can greet them if you like," Cadence commented warmly.

He was already gone, leaving a cloud of dust behind.

The former dean had known Shining Armor for a long time now, but she never knew he could run that fast!

"Shining!" the voice of Twilight Velvet cried out in bliss, very happy about finding the last of her children.

"Yippee! We need a 'Family reunion' party!" Pinkie ran inside, too. She was on a mission.

"I think we should follow to make sure that our loud friend doesn't drive Mrs. Smith crazy in her own kitchen, again," Zecora said, shaking her head in amusement.

"Eeyup," Big Mac agreed and followed.

He knew what she was talking about. After the teams returned one by one, Pinkie Pie had to be stopped from organizing a big, ‘You-all-survived-your-own-adventure-and-unlocked-your-magic’ party. Combined with a welcome party for every newcomer.

Their supply of Apple Cider wouldn't have survived it. Rainbow Dash fought most determinedly and very heroically for saving the cider. She even erected one of her newly learned Wind Barriers, claiming that this shield would be ‘Pinkie-proof’. Her friends looked at her like the girl was insane, was it for taking such extreme measures in the first place, or for thinking naively that she could stay awake longer than Pinkie to keep up the shield.

In the end, the situation could be solved peacefully. Maud just said to her sister that she should wait for throwing a party until another time, like when Sunset and her team returned safely from their task. Pinkie agreed immediately. She rarely questioned her big sister's advice.

The sight of the heartwarming scene in front of their eyes let the two remaining girls and the former dean tear up a little. Twilight Sparkle, Twilight Velvet, Night Light and Shining Armor hugged each other, unbelievably happy to finally be reunited as a family once more. Spike jumped around them in circles, barking to his heart's content. The other three adults dismissed themselves before and went into the kitchen.

A few minutes later, Sunset said to her friend, smiling, "I'm so happy for you, Twilight."

Mentioned Arcane Magic user looked up, recognizing this voice every time of the day, "Sunset!"

For the second time in a short while, Sunset Shimmer found herself tackled to the ground from one of her best friends. She sincerely hoped that she wouldn't receive too many bruises from falling with force onto the ground so much. Particularly because she had a few good friends left, still.

Sunny Flare stifled a laugh at the young woman's plight. She was sensing a possibly hilarious pattern.

"You must be Sunset Shimmer. Twily told us all about you and how you saved her in the Friendship Games. We are eternally grateful for what you did," Velvet said. Night Light nodded.

Since the Friendship Games, Twilight always went to her friends for sleepovers or other things. When they were a few times at Twilight's home, it was a small mansion in the more wealthy neighborhoods, her parents were always out at the time and never met Sunset in person before.

What the bookworm tried to keep a secret for as long as possible, because she feared back then that the others would judge her, thinking she was a snob. Her concerns never, obviously, came true.

Twilight released her friend in light embarrassment and let her up. "I just did what had to be done and didn't really care at this time how to safe her from the corrupting magic. Besides, without the help of our friends it wouldn't have been possible. Otherwise, Midnight Sparkle would have won," Sunset replied humbly.

"Come on! Without Spike's puppy dog eyes I would have kicked your bottom all over the place! No matter what you had beforehand as support. It was like stupid plot armor in some mediocre fantasy book! I call hex!" Midnight exclaimed in Twilight's mind.

The body’s owner had to contain a fit of giggles, her twin sounded sincerely betrayed.

"Ah, yes. The, how all call her, 'dark side' of our daughter. It wouldn't have mattered to me what or who she is. She will always be my daughter and I would have grounded the young lady regardless," Velvet mentioned smugly.

"Hehe..." Twilight could have sworn she saw in her head images of how Midnight shed tears of... happiness?

"Midnight? Are you ok?" Twilight asked worriedly.

No answer.

"Sunset Shimmer! We meet at last!" a slightly raspy female voice shouted in victory.

"Huh?" Sunset turned around just to face someone she never saw before, but heard enough about to recognize the young woman who spoke. Limestone Pie.

"Pinkie Pie always tried her best to stop me from introducing you to Holder's Boulder, lucky for you, he's not here. But! You bullied my little sister for a long time in CHS and even made her cry with your actions. And now you think you are one of her best friends and everything is forgiven? Ha! Are you ready to face the overdue consequences?!" Limestone inquired dramatically. In fact, it wasn't a question.

"W-what?" Sunset didn't expect that.

"Is this girl on something?" Midnight asked dryly.

"I-I think you are overreacting a little bit, Limestone," Twilight tried to calm her down.

"Captain Grumpy, stop!" Pinkie intervened and blocked her bigger sister's path.

Limestone rolled with her eyes, “Calm down Pinks, it was a joke. I just want to talk to her," she commented, annoyed.

"Aha! I knew you-huh?" Pinkie was confused.

Something her friends rarely witnessed thus far. Normally the hyperactive girl wasn's caught off-guard in such a manner that she had nothing to say anymore in response.

Her older sibling elaborated, a slightly forced expression of guilt in her eyes, "Look, I get it and I trust your judgement in that matter for now. Don't worry. Geesh. No, with consequences I mean-"

Of course she still held amnosity

"Are you alright? We heard shouting," Zecora questioned the others as she came into the room. Followed by Big Mac and Cheerilee.

Another girl Sunset didn't know hid herself behind the door. She looked very similar to Pinkie in some regards, if Pinkie's hair was flat this girl would look very similar to her friend. That had to be her younger sister, Marble Pie.

The shy teenager watched the scene unfold from a very safe distance, not being able to say anything except uttering shy sounds.

"It seems there was just a small misunderstanding, don't worry," Sunny Flare replied reassuringly.

"If you say so. We were just talking with Granny Smith and she said that the barn in the north is currently empty. You can't mistake it, the building looks fairly new. We collect the others from their activities on Sweet Apple Acres and tell them to meet there, so we can finally make some progress concerning our situation," Cheerilee elucidated with a relieved smile.

"We'll need som' time and Ah'll look for Apple Bloom and her friends. Ya'll have one or two hours to catch up a little before the meetin' starts. Don't keep us waitin' for too lon'," Big Mac said stoically in his country accent. He left the room without a care in the world.

"Did he just spoke without using 'eeyup' or 'nope'?" the former police officer queried in bafflement.

"Shining Armor! Don't be rude! It is not polite to talk behind someone's back over him. He is just a man who can be understood and gets his point across easier without using too many words," Velvet scolded her son.

He looked at his mother confused, then remembered what he just said and blushed. "Sorry?" Shining whispered, embarrassed.

"Who are you, Sugarcoat?" Sunny asked him and shook her head in mock-exhaustion.

"Well, we should go and search for the others before this situation gets any more awkward," Cheerilee stated dryly.

She and Zecora left the scene. Marble couldn't decide what to do at first, but in the moment she noticed that all eyes were upon her, the girl ran away. The took a seat upon chairs, pillows or the couch and helped themselves with apple juice and water.

"Don't worry about Marble. She is a really sweet and pure soul, just very shy around strangers," Limestone explained patiently. Then Pinkie's bigger sister was noticing how nice and feminine she suddenly sounded, "And don't you dare judge her!" Much better, she had in the end of the day a, self-imposed, reputation to uphold.

"I guess we have to keep it short, but I really want to know the following. What in Luna's hoof happened here?! Seriously, we come back after two days and suddenly as good as everybody has magic at his disposal and the farm got fortified?!"

"What has the former vice-principal to do with your question? And why 'hoof'?" Twilight wondered.

"Sparky. You are such a dork sometimes," Midnight groaned.

Shining and Sunny had to laugh at that. On the way back, Sunset told them about more ponyisms in her language, because the Ice Magic user wanted to know if words like ‘everypony’ and ‘anypony’ were the only words that were used at the former Unicorn's home. She found such a use of vocabulary cute.

The ex-student of Princess Celestia told them a little about ponykind's sort of ‘swearing’. About words like ‘ponyfeathers’ or that they used the names of their princesses in their language as idioms like humans used the word ‘god’, like: ‘For God's sake!’. Only with the name of one of their princesses instead.

Sunset fastly assured them that she was sure that they weren't real gods like humans used this word in the sense of describing some almighty being they believed in, to calm the duo down.

They looked shocked and clearly wanted to know if an Alicorn was something like the God in things of power, so Sunset had to save them from having a stroke. In the end she said that it was just how Ponies spoke nowadays and that one of the strongest words of ‘cussing’ was the word ‘peeved’.

Shining could just laugh at that level of innocence the inhabitants of Equestria displayed in this topic.

Sunny Flare found the Ponies behaviour adorably and liked it very much that they didn't ruin their thesaurus with vulgar language and that many fellow humans should take them and their mannerisms as an example.

Sunset asked herself for a few seconds how Fluttershy would react when she saw her first Equestrian Pony, seeing Sunny's reactions to more details about her kind. Who was normally more poised and elegant in her demeanor, too. Would the shy girl faint or squee out of delight? Humans seemed to see Ponies as something ‘absolutely adorable’ for whatever reason. And she only talked about the adults, what would happen if they saw a foal?

"I'm certain that the specific stories will be told later. But we could tell you guys what happened after we came back from our little ‘adventure’ before we have to meet the others," Twilight suggested thoughtfully.

The recently arrived trio nodded their heads in agreement.

"Oh! Oh! Take me! Pleeeease, I want to explain!" Pinkie pleaded with big eyes.

"Sure. I don't mind. Go on, Pinkie," Cadence replied, amused at the girl's behaviour.

"Are you sure Pinks? I just remind you of the times when you told our family about the magical incidents at CHS and how you tended to fill your stories with, I'm pretty sure, exaggerated details," Limestone gave to consider with a raised eyebrow.

"Wait, she did what?" Sunset asked with open mouth, staring at the pink girl in question, astonished.

The redhead was sure that they had agreed at some point to keep magic a secret or at least to not show it openly when it wasn't necessary to keep themselves, the school and especially the portal to Equestria, safe.

"Oh Shimmy, of course I told my family about everything we went through. I would never keep secrets from them. That would be just silly.” She giggled shortly, “And don't worry, Limey. Just let your Auntie Pinkie Pie recap everything! I'm good at such things, I love exorcism!" Pinkie exclaimed cheerfully. Limestone stared at her, unamused.

"Aren't they sisters?" Velvet asked her husband quietly in an unsure tone. He just shrugged.

"Don't you mean 'exposition'?" Sunset corrected in some amusement. Ignoring her friend's antics.

"Yes! I like that, too!" came the happy answer. Nobody knew what to make of that bit of information.

"Alrighty tidy. I feel like it was only two days ago that we returned to the farm..." Pinkie Pie started in a nostalgic-like voice.

"But Pinkie, it were-" Twilight was ignored masterfully from the smiling storyteller.

War. War never changed.

"Pinkie Pie. What are you talking about?" Night Light inquired, completely lost.

"And where is the dramatic and sad music coming from?" Spike followed irritatedly.

"Upsy-daisy! That was not how it started. Give me a second," Pinkie replied assuringly.

In the moment they arrived, Pinkie knew that the fight against the mean plant tentacle monster demanded sacrifices, but she was all out of gum.

"What?" Sunny commented dryly.

The group just arrived at the farm, knowing that the cake was a lie all along.

"Pinkie..." Sunset warned emotionlessly.

After they left the portal, Twilight and Pinkie stayed a while and listened.

"We did what?" the scholar felt a headache incoming.

Their enemy had met with a terrible fate, hadn't it?

"Pinks! Focus!" Limestone demanded from her little sister.

"Party poopers. I just wanted to ease the situation with a nice intro," Pinkie pouted.

A blue white door-shaped portal opened in front of the Apple's doorstep. Twilight, her parents, Spike, Pinkie and Rarity stepped out of it, before it closed.

It was already late in the evening. Twilight's namesake graced the sky.

"So, this is the place you are staying since Canterlot happened?" Velvet asked the friends. She liked it here, it had a rustic charme.

"Yes, mom. We had already our fair share of... experiences, hehe," Twilight tried to reply in a sincere tone.

There was just one problem. She was on her worst days easily as bad in lying as Applejack and otherwise as convincing as the girl could be, what didn't mean much either.

And she was certain that her parents pretty much saw everything with their own eyes. The plant monster, their display of magic. There wasn't much she could do.

"Just surrender, Sparky. Mom and dad pretty much know about our abilities by now. There is no more denying possible," Midnight concluded helpfully for her twin.

Twilight Velvet and Night Light had similar thoughts.

Of course her parents picked up on their daughter's strange behaviour since the beginning. Mostly before the upcoming of the Friendship Games two months ago. It was time to have a little ‘talk’ with Twilight and she wouldn't be able to escape them or talk herself out of it this time, especially with the great amount of eye-opening events which transpired. Many strange sightings were already reported in the newspapers, what they assumed were just rumors. And why should they have believed that mythological beings like timberwolves existed or that inexplainable new forms of flora, which the married couple just saw now with their own eyes, were suddenly discovered out of the blue?

Then the invasion took place. The truth couldn't knock harder on the door, even if it tried.

Besides, she and her friends displayed their own abilities. There was no more proof needed anyway.

Rarity noticed the tension between parents and child and excused herself. The fashionista didn't need more drama, even though she was an undying fan of it herself. Though after such an event, nothing could beat a nice hot shower. Who knew? Maybe she could ask Applejack if a bath was possible. "That was certainly a tiring day. I must confess, I never would have expected to end up using my fencing skills in actual combat and come out of such an encounter without breaking a fingernail, or bones for that matter. I have to look after Sweetie Belle anyway. Have a good night everyone, tata!" Twilight looked after her leaving friend and felt betrayed in her darkest hour.

"Seriously? It's just a talk!" Midnight voiced her honest opinion as her twin's ‘conscious’.

"Pinkie?" Twilight asked in hope.

"Yes, Twi-Twi?" she returned the question, blind to her friend's plight, or the girl knew all along and just pretended. The magician wasn't sure.

"Do you-"

"PINKS!" a young woman shouted in a slightly raspy voice. Tears of happiness were streaming down her cheeks like a downpour.

She had light apple green eyes, opalish gray hair which fell to one side of her face and bluish gray skin color. The girl wore black shorts, dark grey flat boots, reaching slightly above her ankles. She wore furthermore slate blue wristbands and a purple, short-sleeved shirt with a symbol upon it. A lime with two rocks beneath it.

She ran fast in the direction of the mentioned girl to embrace her. "I missed you, b-baka!"

"I never said something ridiculous like 'baka'! Seriously, you watch too many animes in your free time," Limestone complained with red cheeks.

"Oh. So the part that you, Ms. Tough as Nails, were crying was true?" Sunset teased mercilessly. The girl in question grumbled embarrassed.

"Really?" Sunny asked, interested. Limestone didn't make the impression that she got sentimental this easily. She seemed to be similar to Indigo Zap, who always tried to look like someone who stood above crying. Of course she had her moments, still.

"Well give me a break! Even the strongest woman can slip if she finally found her little sister after searching for her the whole time. Don't interpret too much into it," the older sibling answered pertly at the end in an attempt to save her image.

"Careful, Limey. Your inner tsundere is showing," Pinkie joked before she continued. She received a glare

For the first time in the duration of their friendship, Twilight witnessed how the pink girl was the one who was crushed to death herself and wasn't the... crusher? Anyway, the point was that strong hugs and affection in abundance seemed to lay in the family. Maybe it was something genetic? She recognized the older girl from the descriptions Pinkie Pie gave her when she told them about her family in great details. This had to be Limestone Pie, her bigger sister.

"Or everyone in this family is just plain crazy," Midnight guessed, convinced.

"Says the disembodied voice in my head," Twilight replied smugly.

"Who is more insane? The voice in somebody's head or the person who talks with mentioned voice?" Midnight inquired, openly amused.

Touché! Twilight had nothing.

From the distance one more person, another girl, similar in age to Pinkie, came running and added herself crying to the pile. Followed closely behind by two adults and a young woman, who watched the touching scene in front of them from close distance with teary eyes and a happy smile. Pinkie's oldest sister and her parents, the scholar realized.

The youngest looking girl of the three, who hugged Pinkie like her life depended on it, could only be Marble Pie. Her hair was very smooth and hid one of her grayish violet eyes, it reminded Twilight of Fluttershy a little bit. The colors were a dark cyanish gray with spring-greenish gray streaks and she had turquoisish gray skin. Marble wore maroon knee-long boots with three purple marbles imprinted upon each of them on the feet. Long maroon shorts, an ocean blue shirt and an indigo colored vest completed her outfit.

The young woman approached and hugged the now standing and crying Pinkie Pie, too, in a gentle but meaningful manner. She was someone Twilight already met once during one of her activities at the Pie's household. Maud Pie, in all her emotion controlled state.

Pinkie knew that her big sister cried mostly only on the inside, like Applejack, but her eyes were wet and she smiled in pure happiness at her younger sibling. She was super-duper-amazingly glad to have her sister back, the pink teenager knew that.

"How are you able to tell that she was happy? She looked for me, well... like always, hehe," Twilight asked her friend awkwardly.

"What is it with you people and always claiming that our big sister would have problems to express herself?! She is like EVERY - OTHER - HUMAN!" Limestone shouted angrily. It annoyed her to no end that others dared to talk about Maud like she was some kind of freak.

"Calm down, you are scaring them, sis. They just don't know Maud like we do and have no idea that she's the bestest biggest sister for us in the entire history of sisterness!" Pinkie said and managed to calm down Limestone.

"Sorry. I meant no offense," Twilight whispered uncomfortably.

Shining scowled at Limestone for shouting at his sister. Sunset mumbled something about ‘overused catchphrase’ and the rest was just watching unsurely how it played out.

"Come on girls. I think there is no need to be in a conflict with each other," Night Light voiced his opinion. His wife supported his statement with a firm nod of her head.

"Yeah, there is no reason for a bitch-fight," Spike stated dryly.

The reigning silence which followed was catholic. Except in Twilight's head, Midnight was laughing like a maniac. She already knew what the young dog meant, but was the one and only for now.

"Spike! Language!" Velvet scolded him, disturbed by the fact that their family dog would use such foul words. The others didn't know how to feel about that either.

"What? Why are you looking at me like that? I just said-oh!" Spike sighed and facepawed, "You humans and your annoying linguistics," he muttered to himself.

Sunset finally realized what he meant and groaned, "Of course. Female dogs are called 'bitches', it's the usually used scientific term for them. He didn't mean... you know." The Phoenix Magic user blushed a little around her ears.

Equestria never had places where Ponies would provide such... ‘entertainment’. Or maybe these services existed and she never found out about it. It never mattered to her if brothels or similar businesses existed in Equestria before she came to this world.

She couldn't believe it at first when the internet provided her with more information about human society. It was this day, Sunset Shimmer found out that the internet could be a dangerous abyss. Indeed, when she thought it couldn't get any worse the internet, or more accurate human society, proved her wrong. With a vengeance.

Well, that situation just got awkward very fast, for the humans at least. Spike couldn't care less.

"Please continue, Pinkie," Cadence said kindly, trying to change the topic.

Maud Pie wore something that reminded at mountaineering equipment. Her grayish blue violet hair was protected by a yellow helmet miners would wear. On knees and elbows sat lavender colored protecting gear, black safety boots and a thick vest above a white shirt rounded it up. On the right side of the vest was a small picture of a roughly diamond-shaped rock. Steelblue longer shorts with many pockets and a broad black belt completed her outer appearance in the clothes department. At last, the young woman had light turquoise eyes with a grayish blue violet eyeshadow, persian bluish gray skin and a warm smile to boot.

And on her back rested a giant gray backpack, gray like a rock. She didn't even put it aside like her siblings and parents already did with theirs.

"I'm glad you are fine, Pinkie Pie," Maud commented in relief and happiness.

"M-Maud? L-Limey? Marble, mom, d-dad. I missed you so mu-hu-huch!" the normally always smiling girl shouted in a mix of despair and everlasting joy.

Twilight, Velvet, Night and Spike smiled at the reunion, knowing how they felt.

Now it was the turn of Igneous Rock and Cloudy Quartz to hug their long lost child, showering her with love and affection only loving parents could give.

"Pinkamena, it brings us true joy and utter bliss to weet that thou are fine and of good health," Igneous said quietly.

"Indeed. The Stone of Protection woke above thee," Cloudy agreed in tears.

Igneous Rock Pie had brilliant amber eyes, medium and light grey short hair with sideburns and moderate amber skin color. His attire consisted out of a black amish fedora with a light gray loop, a black old fashioned business suit from bottom to top, beneath it a white-grayish shirt with a light gray collar, a black tie and black shoes. A pickaxe decorated the right sleeve of his suit.

Cloudy Quartz was amish and old fashioned like her husband. The woman had light arctic blue eyes, old golden glasses on her nose, grayish opal hair made in a bun and light cobalt bluish gray skin. She had a golden locket with a sapphire in its center around her neck and wore otherwise a white western frock with a white and black checkered collar and a black apron above it. Her shoes were black and on the left side of the frock was the picture of three rocks.

Pinkie's family surely knew how to make an appearance in Twilight's opinion.

Midnight supported her sentiment and said surprisedly, "Her parents look like they just escaped an old black-white movie."

"We return victorious!" Luna announced proudly, still wearing her armor.

A gallant looking Celestia and a, from her time in Crystal Prep, skirt and uniform wearing Cadence shook their heads in sync at the woman's antics.

The three magicians approached the gathering and were happy for Pinkie Pie. The girl in question cried in happiness, still.

"Principal Celestia? Do you brought the Pies to the farm?" Night Light asked in confusion and interest. He admired the masterfully crafted armors and weapons the sisters wore.

"Oh yes. We found them in Ghastly Gorge at the border of the Everfree Forest," Celestia replied, smiling.

Velvet nodded in understanding, "I'm glad everything turned out alright for our families, but it seems our daughter wasn't entirely honest with us," she stated sweetly. The former student of CHS gulped at the gaze her mother gave her.

Night Light supported his wife with folded arms and doubled the tension for Twilight.

"I wished I had popcorn in here. This will be hilarious!" Midnight laughed.

The Arcane Magic user sighed heavily and looked at her parents in guilt, "Mom. Dad. I know I should have told you from the very beginning, but I just wanted to protect you and didn't want to give you more things to worry about. I-I thought we could handle these matters on our own," Twilight started her apology in a gloomy tone.

"Twily," Velvet began somberly, "I have a few good guesses why you decided to keep everything for yourself, but that doesn't change the fact that you never should have had the feeling that you couldn't trust us in the first place."

"No! I-I always trusted you! It's just so complicated, I never wanted to keep you in the dark for so long, but-" Twilight Velvet interrupted her daughter before she started to hyperventilate from the sheer amount of guilt she felt.

"You don't have to apologize, my Little Star, but know this. It doesn't matter if something like magic is out of the norm. We are your parents and it is our holy duty and chosen wish to protect you. Not the other way around. No father or mother would ever want to outlive their own children. If it came down to it I would gladly wrestle even the strongest monster every time of the day, as long as you are safe," Velvet explained lovingly and hugged her daughter.

"So much mushy stuff," Spike complained with rolling eyes.

Night Light chuckled and petted the purple dog before he shared his own words of wisdom, "Your mother is right, Twilight. You can always come and talk to us. No matter how much you think you shouldn't, just because you are concerned for our safety. It doesn't matter what plagues your conscience-"

"I never felt plagued. But thanks, dad," Midnight, the self-proclaimed and accepted conscience of Twilight Sparkle, ‘cut in’ smugly.

"-we will always be there for you. Our own lives and I know that sounds dark, but it's the truth for every parent with self-respect, aren't important to us if you and Shining Armor had to be, in any shape or form, endangered in exchange. Oh, by the way young lady, you are grounded," Night Light finished.

The teenager's eyes widened, "What?! But dad! You saw what I'm capable of-"

"With my help," Midnight supplemented. It had to be said.

"-on my own. I can't just stay at the side-lines and let my friends fight for me!" Twilight tried to defend herself.

"We know Twily, but that doesn't mean we have to like it. What happens if you aren't able to survive the next fight? We would be devastated. I don't want to see the day I have to mourn for my children only because you didn't want to be 'at the side-lines'. The same goes for Shining," Velvet countered worriedly.

"Thou are right, Mrs. Sparkle. I and my wife feel the same, but we have to let our children walk their own path. Two of my daughters, Maudalina Pie and Limestone Pie, are able to use magic of their own and I can't do anything to support them in combat against dangerous foes, because I myself lack such abilities," Igneous Rock confessed in bitter acceptance.

Pinkie Pie ended her hug-session with a very clingy Marble and screamed in an even brighter radiance than normal, "My sisters can use magic?! That screams for a party! And don't worry Mr. and Mrs. Sparkle, I Pinkie Promise that we, as Twilight's friends, will always do our best to help and support your daughter. Cross my heart and hope to fly. Stick a cupcake in my eye!" the party-lover swore, deadly serious.

"What was that?" Midnight wondered. These motions looked ridiculous. Still, she had a feeling that this ‘Pinkie Promise’ was something very special, somehow.

"My sister and I are no longer principals, but we will continue to aid and protect our former students to the best of our abilities," Luna promised in vigor. Celestia nodded.

"I can help now, too. So you can count on me," Cadence added her own two cents.

"I guess you are all right and thanks for the support. Still, I think it is time that you tell us everything you went through from the beginning. And this time, don't spare any details," Velvet demanded from her daughter. "Do you have anything to say before we start, Twily?"

The book lover lowered her head, “There is something important you should know then. I hoped that I could keep it a secret, but it can't be helped now. Mom... dad... I'm pregnant!" Twilight shouted the long avoided truth into the world.

"And that was the important stuff, I think. See!? I said I'm an amazingly great recap teller! And everything was true. Take that, Limey!" Pinkie concluded her story.

"Pinkie Pie! Are you crazy?!" came the livid first response from the 'pregnant' girl herself.

Twilight wasn't amused, just unbelievably embarrassed and shocked from what her dear friend just proclaimed as a fact like the sky was blue. In front of her entire family no less.

"Oh god! That girl is a riot! She deserves a medal!" Midnight couldn't help herself and rolled around in the space of Twilight's mind, clutching her stomach from laugher.

Limestone chuckled like mad at the sincerely confused and innocent facial expression of her sister at the lavender teenager's outburst.

Cadence, Spike, Night Light and Velvet were just extremely confused. They were certain that Twilight didn't say anything like that at all.

Sunny wasn't sure how to respond. Should she congratulate or ask first who the father was?

Sunset massaged her temples. There were just two possibilities now. Number one, Pinkie was pulling their legs. Number two, Twilight couldn't contain herself before knowing him better.

"W-what?! Who?!" Shining demanded to know.

He was shortly before the point of fainting or getting a seizure... and eventually murdering the one responsible for taking his sister's innocence without asking for his blessing beforehand. Twilight never even told him anything about a boyfriend and every potential man who thought he was worthy of his sister would have to pass the tests! That meant being introduced to him, having the potential verified through questions, and gaining his respect.

Alone the thought that some random guy invaded Twily’s sacred place was revolting.

Sunset just had to ask her friend, a coy smile on her lips, "Twilight. Did you and Timber? You know..."

"NO! No! No! And No! We never did something like that! I had a crush on him, yes, but I'm not irresponsible and wouldn't risk to ruin my future with badly thought out decisions! Pinkie, where did you get that idea?!" Twilight demanded to know in fury and irritation.

"Besides, I would have known if you did something like that. We share literally the same body," Midnight added with a deadpan and was disgusted from the thought of having their body be touched, kissed and deflowered by the co-director of Camp Everfree.

Twilight was maybe liking the man in such a manner, but she didn't in the slightest. Some of his ‘puns’, in very poor attempts to be funny, were some of the worst pickup lines she ever heard. Or kind of humor for that matter.

Pinkie responded in her typical perky manner, "Well, duh! You and Timber always had your little 'timeouts' together in the last days of our trip and sometimes you came back and looked all flustered. It's nothing to be ashamed of, Twi. Oh, wait! I can even tell you how I came into existence! Yes, that will make you feel better for sure. Fair is fair!”

“Pinks, please don’t-” Limestone was ignored.

The party planner interrupted her sibling and cleared her throat loudly, “It was a dark, cold winter night, snow covered the streets like a blanket. The blood moon just graced the barren black sky, not a single star was seen upon the firmament. It happened in this fateful night, when our parents decided with heavy hearts to visit the ancient Stone Circle of Fertility. It was built by our ancestors a long, long time ago. Mom screamed when dad-"

"Just stop! I don't want to be mentally scarred for life!" Limestone screamed in fear, holding her ears closed.

"Okie Dokie Lokie!" came the happy response.

"Pinkie. You are unbelievable sometimes," Sunset spoke her honest opinion.

It made her chuckle that their pink friend had no issue with telling the story of how her parents, well, ‘made’ her. Though the magician wasn't sure if she should believe her interrupted tale or not anyway. It sounded more like some kind of dark ritual than mere sex.

"Sometimes?" Shining mumbled under his breath.

Twilight facepalmed, "We met with each other to have privacy, you are right. But we never did something inappropriate. We only kissed us each other on the cheeks and that was all. Timber said that we shouldn't be too fast and first get to know each other better before going further in our relationship," she defended herself with a red head.

Shining couldn’t approve more.

"Really? It looked to me like you were shortly before a closer kind of kiss before Gloriosa interrupted you during the Crystal Gala fundraiser," Sunset commented smugly.

The purple magician chuckled nervously, "Oh, you mean that situation. Yeah, that was more the fault of the served alcohol. Timber had his good share and felt more daring.”

“Twilight…” Velvet started in a very displeased manner.

The Arcane Magic user groaned, “No mom, I didn't touch anything alcoholic. Don't worry," she assured firmly.

“My aunts didn’t check the drinks before the after party?” Cadance commented in her mind.

The only one of the seven friends who took one or two drinks, out of sight obviously, was Sunset. And she technically never broke a law to this time, in her opinion, because her body was maybe the one of a young woman of maybe 16-18, but she was in fact 23 years old and saw herself as exactly that.

Nobody knew, much to her and Princess Twilight's frustration, why the portal decided to make Ponies, who stepped through portal, much younger than they normally were. Maybe the age, in years, was counted differently from the mirror for Ponies and humans? Well, that was her theory at least.

It certainly annoyed the former Unicorn to no end that she had to go through a second puberty with her human body.

"Hehe... sorry Twilight," Pinkie apologized with red cheeks.

She knew when she really messed up and caused unnecessary trouble, even when most thought of her as oblivious to everything important. That wasn't true! She could always concentrate when the situation demanded it and- "Uhh, I smell a yummy apple pie," Pinkie said hungrily to herself. What was the last topic she thought about? Well, didn't matter, it surely wasn't important anyway.

"No problem, Pinkie. There is nothing to forgive. Still, for the future, please inform yourself before you spread false rumors about others," Twilight pleaded her hyperactive friend.

The enigma nodded.

"So... did something else of importance happen or should we make our way to the barn?" Sunny inquired unsurely.

"Well, Twilight and Pinkie Pie told us the general details about everything that transpired since the Fall Formal.” Night Light furrowed his eyebrows. “Surprisingly though Pinkie Pie’s family already knew most of it. With additional remarks from Ms. Amore, Ms. Celestia and Ms. Luna. The others shared a few bits of information of their magic and how it worked, but nothing of major importance.”

Cadence grinned in amusement. “I can tell you that we were certainly surprised after hearing about all of your magical adventures and of course your own story, little Ms. Unicorn." Sunset glared slightly at her two friends, "Obviously we weren't happy that you all kept so many secrets from us. You may be mages in your own right and we know that, but that doesn't mean that you have to take the world on your shoulders alone. Besides, you are still very young and not some adapted war veterans. We will always try to support you girls in any way possible, should the need arise," she expounded with a sad smile in the end.

The former dean, like the other adults, didn't like it in the slightest that these young souls had to face and witness such odds and gruesome sights.

After they told them about the cave of this mysterious chimera, Twilight Velvet and Cloudy Quartz nearly exploded in Celestia's face, because the woman had allowed them to venture into their potential death. And in progress into the with mutilated corpses filled cave. Night Light and Igneous Rock had to hold back their wives, sometimes with Cadence's help. Luna found the whole scene hilarious.

Velvet continued, looking like she got a headache alone by trying to translate her thoughts into words, "It was certainly great material for every writer of fantasy books, I can promise you that." she shook her head, "It all sounds so far-fetched."

Limestone snorted and counted other things on her fingers, “Havoc causing magic that changes Terra after its every whim, most of mankind's technologies were made useless, the reason that our cellphones died on us. Then there was the whole Camp Everfree incident because of one of the co-directors, the talking killer chimera and finally these fire elementals and their Commander Raga.”

Night Light chuckled dryly, “Oh, and there are of course Ms. Luviel, who is an Emerald Elf, Ms. Zecora, who is a troll shaman and this giant plant monster that tried to eat us recently."

They could talk about all that and felt peachy in mind regardless. Yep, they were completely insane when counting everything like that. Even in this very moment it all felt surreal for them. But all these bits of informations were part of their new reality, of their new world and they had to accept them in order to be successful in the future.

"I'm sure we can overcome everything as long as we have each other to rely on," Twilight spoke in an encouraging tone.

"Well said," Sunset supported with a grin of her own.

"Please, spare me more of your cheesy 'friendship speeches'! I don't have ears and I could swear I still feel how they are bleeding from so much insufferable sweet talk!" Midnight exclaimed with a groan.

Twilight pouted mentally at her twin for ruining her moment.

"I think it's time. We should go, the others will most likely be waiting for us by now," Limestone intervened. The two hours were nearly up.

Everyone present agreed and set out for the northern barn.

Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were sitting in their clubhouse, resting from the farm work. They had the task to pull out weed since the morning, a lot of it.

It was a nice treehouse, formerly owned by Applejack from her own childhood. With the help of Big Mac and the right materials, they rebuilt it to its former glory. Everything was paid through many hours of selling lemonade at CHS, with the permission of Prin-Ms. Celestia. It was worthwhile.

“Even when I don't have to see anymore weed in my life, it would still be too soon," Scootaloo commented, bored out of her mind.

"I'm just lucky that Rarity doesn't see me in the moment. She would have a fit, my clothes are a mess," Sweetie Belle said worriedly.

"Ya gals can be lucky that we just have to do something borin' as that. Applejack and the others are tryin' to build fortifications around the eastern orchards, because Ms. Luna and Ms. Celestia said that a lot of them timberwolves and manticores are sneakin' around these parts, just waitin' for an opportunity to attack. Well, that's what ma' sis said. Ah don't plan to be eaten soon and Ah saw once how they had to repel a small attack of them timberwolves this mornin'. Luckily, no-one was hurt," Apple Bloom explained in her typical country accent.

"Wouldn't it be faster to get rid of them?" Scootaloo asked, confused.

"You are not the first who had that idea, but Fluttershy and the adults heavily disagreed. They said that we have to learn to live with every creature from the Everfree Forest as long as they don't try to attack us directly. And that we can't just kill or hurt everything that isn't to our liking, that wouldn't be how it works. After a very short discussion the others all agreed that we have to cope with them somehow. That's the reason why they are building fences there now," Sweetie Belle lectured her friend.

"Why can't Maud and Zecora just use their magic to build the same kind of walls of stone like around the house? Wouldn't that be easier?" Scootaloo inquired furhter.

"Two reason Scoots. First, Maud and Zecora said both that our land isn't made to handle such magical constructions in high numbers. Somethin' about that it would lose its support in cases of nutrition and the ground would sink and split apart, Ah didn't understand it really. Apparently that counts for the earth in general, so said Maud. Secondly, Zecora tried to explain that the 'spirits of earth' would refuse to help anymore when they tempered too much with 'their domain'. Maybe it's a troll thing," Apple Bloom replied, unsure herself.

Sweetie frowned, "Oh, come on! It's so annoying that only our siblings, their friends and the grown-ups can use magic and we can't." She pouted cutely.

"Yeah! I get it that magic is inside of someone and has to awake in order to become a mage, but maybe we could discover our magic somehow, you know, faster?!" Scootaloo exclaimed, motivated.

"Ya're right. Maybe magic's like a special talent and we just have to discover it! Find our own magic!" Apple Bloom agreed with an excited grin of her own.

"Oh! Oh! We need a name for our group if we want to find our special talents. How about 'Seeker of Magic'? Sweetie Belle suggested hopefully.

"Hm. How about 'Magical Musketeers'?" Scootaloo voiced her own idea.

"No gals. We need a name that suits us! We are like the first ones who came up with a secret society committed to finding someone's magical talent," Apple Bloom expounded thoughtfully.

"Well, we know that magic can only be used when it wakes up inside of you. So it's like a really special talent and rare to get by," Scootaloo replied quietly.

"Scootaloo is right and no talent seems to exist twice. Every awoken form of magic is unique to its owner. So you would have to be extremely lucky to be able to use magic anyway," Sweetie added her own thoughts.

"Applejack told me that she found her own magic during the fight with these strange crocodiles-

"'Basilisks'," Sweetie corrected in a teacher-like voice.

"Dictionary..." Scootaloo muttered silently.

Apple Bloom gave her pale friend a roll of her eyes in response, "Basilisks. The thing is that her magic awoke in a dangerous situation and we heard from the others that they had similar situations. Only Sunset Shimmer found her magic, well, during her sleep, from what Ah know. Don't know about our former principals though. So it seems yer magic can awake in important moments? It's a hint, Ah guess."

"I have an idea! We can call ourselves 'Destiny Crusaders'. Think about it girls! It's our goal to find our special talents in magic and only, well, fateful situations can awake them, right?" Sweetie Belle concluded the trio's informations in a high-pitched tone with little squeaks in between.

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo nodded their heads in support for Sweetie's idea and found their friend's explanation solid.

"So it's decided! We shall hereby be known as the Destiny Crusaders!" Apple Bloom proclaimed faithfully.

"Gals! Sunset and her team are back! Come down here and follow us to the north barn! Now!" Applejack shouted urgingly.

They looked outside. Applejack and Big Mac stood beneath the treehouse and stared back, waiting.

"We're comin', sis!" Apple Bloom answered happily.

She switched knowing smirks with her two best friends and together they shouted, ensouled by the wish to find their special talents in the arts of magic, "DESTINY CRUSADERS! YAY!"

"I'm so sorry, Sunset! Don't be to mad at me anymore! Please, I can't take it!" Pinkie cried, annoying the others as they made their way to the barn.

Sunset could only groan, "Pinkie Pie! I already told you that I'm not mad at you or anything. I just said that I would appreciate it if you could talk to me first in the future before you decide to tell others about my heritage from Equestria. That was all, it wasn't like you betrayed my trust or anything when you and Twilight spoke with your parents about me, it was fine. They are your family and they need to know about the truth like everybody else in our group for a better understanding of the greater picture. I just asked you to be more careful with my secrets and to not talk about them without my permission with strangers who could ask difficult questions."

Pinkie was never tired of apologizing, "No!" the pink teenager declared faithfully, "I told my family about you without a care in the world and never even considered your feelings! When did I ever talk without thinking it through?" Before anyone could answer the rhetorical question, Pinkie continued already. "I feel bad, that means I need to make it up to you!" she explained, sincerely remorseful.

Pinkie Pie glomped Sunset with all her might, the girl was lucky that her friend didn't have strength-related magic like Applejack.

"P-Pin-kie," Sunset attempted to say.

"Do you feel how sorry I am?!" Pinkie tried to transfer her apology per telepathy and an iron grip.

"A-air!" She started to turn a shade bluer

"I know, Shimmy! Let it all out, I'm here for you!" She was close to achieving a breakthrough, the party lover knew it!

"Pinkie Pie, dear. Your wish to show how sorry you are is touching, but I think you should-" Velvet tried to start, but no avail.

"Our friendship will pull through. I can feel it! You are even speechless, that's how strong our bond is!" Pinkie shouted, deeply touched that her friend had no words to offer, it just proved her point. Sunset was surely positively stunned from her will to make amends!

The unmistakable sound of cracking bones echoed through the wind. Friendship was painful.

"Pinkie Pie!" everyone exclaimed at once.

The second youngest Pie Sister finally opened her eyes in time to see that Sunset had turned a very unhealthy shade of violet. Strange, wasn't her skin normally amber?

Midnight sighed tiredly, "Your friends are all insane."

Twilight had no ground to effectively argue there.

Author's Notes:

Greetings my avid readers!

I hope you enjoyed the chapter.

Since Chapter 6, all its followers were more adventure and action based. Now, nine chapters later, the ship is reaching calmer waters. A nice change of pace, I guess.

Seriously, it was time for a fluffy break.

Thank you very much for reading and stay tuned!