Everyone in the room was silent for a very long time. Sunset looked between the faces that she had quickly grown accustomed to, each one expressing sympathy and sadness through their gazes, and wondering what on Earth she could say. Could she say anything? Would anything help?

“I… um,” she murmured. The elation she felt when she learned she could move things around via magic seemed paltry in comparison to the megaton-sized atom bomb that had been dropped on her. “Okay…”

“Sunset… don’t worry, it’s going to be fine.” Twilight sidled up beside her and wrapped a wing around her back.

Sunset snorted bitterly. “Oh, yeah? How do you figure? My soul or whatever is being leeched on by some kind of magical, interdimensional mirror of doom. Somehow I think that’s a little less than ‘okay’.”

“Well, I can’t really deny any of that is the truth. But, really, it could be worse.”

That made her bark a laugh. “Worse? Like how? I mean, it’s not like I’m immortal now and am gonna be stuck to the mirror forever, too, right?” When there was a slight pause, Sunset whirled around. “Right?!”

Twilight jumped a little. “No! No, of course not. You’re mortal as ever.” She took a slow, deliberate breath. “Look, I know you’re upset, and little scared, but do you trust me?”

Sunset hesitated, but nodded. “Yeah… of course I do.”

“Then trust me when I tell you that you’re going to be fine.”

The certainty in Twilight’s voice did make her feel a little calmer. Maybe it was the fact that she was over five thousand years old, had first hand experience with the mirror herself and have turned out fine — for the most part — and, aside from the looming threat of the mirror eventually breaking and having her soul lost, Sunset did actually feel pretty good.

“Okay…” she nodded again, more confidently this time. “Queen of coping mechanisms. I got this. So, what happens now?”

Celestia stepped forward. “Well first, like Twilight said; things aren’t quite as bad as they seem. As I’m sure she explained to you, when you used Equestrian magic to trigger your human magic and the mirror reacted, the artifact’s magic did indeed seem to balance out. Luna and myself, along with Twilight, Cadence and Flurry Heart, have spent some time examining Starswirl’s Mirror since then, and have come to the conclusion that your magic was successful in binding itself. As far as your magic is concerned, there should be no lasting side effects.”

“Ah, well,” Sunset shrugged from her spot on the floor. “That’s cool. I feel pretty normal now, at least.”

“You should also retain your ability to do magic,” Luna added, smirking slightly. “Even on your world.”

“Also good.” Sunset nodded deeply. She was already thinking about ways to totally fuck with her friends. Maybe she could use the Magic of Music to put on her own sing-a-longs? The choices were endless…

“In fact,” Celestia continued, “It seems as though your magic was exactly what the mirror needed. All this time, with Twilight’s magic acting as the primary focal point, there was little to no magic from your world to counter it. As she just told you, too much on one side, and the scale collapses. By our estimates, the mirror would not have lasted another fifty of your years before breaking completely. But with your magic to act as the counterweight, provided nothing else is added to the equation, the mirror can last indefinitely.”

“Hold up — are you saying the mirror is fixed?” Sunset felt the briefest stirrings of hope well up in her chest. “Just like that?”

“No, not exactly.”

“Oh.” Damn it. Hopes: deleted.

“But, on the upside,” Flurry Heart said, her megawatt grin fully in place. “Neither is the mirror in any danger of breaking. Looks like you got your wish, Sunset, if a little different from what you expected.”

Blinking, Sunset turned to Twilight, who was watching her with an unreadable expression. “What’s that mean?”

“Well,” the goddess replied at length. “The whole reason I — and by extension the others — were called to your world at all wasn’t only because my soul is bound to it, but because the magic of the mirror is, was, unbalanced. The overabundance of magic from this world was tipping the scale and causing the mirror to break a little more each time I was called. Somehow, magic from this world made its way to yours, and with it, disharmony. But we can use a pseudo human magic when we are there by channeling the magic of nature itself, and by doing so help a little bit to slow the eventual degradation of the mirror.”

Sunset nodded at her friend’s explanation. It made sense, in a way, if about as much as anything else in her life these days. “Okay… and that’s different now?”

“With you there to provide human magic in tandem with my equestrian magic, the mirror is perfectly balanced; it isn’t getting any less broken but... neither will it fully break.” Twilight beamed at Sunset. “You… you saved me, Sunny.”

Sunset felt her ears prickle and her neck warm. “Um, I… you’re welcome? But how the heck do I have enough magic to counter you? Aren’t you, like, some super magical alicorn? I’d think I would be… well, a drop in the pond next to you.”

At that, Twilight stepped close to Sunset, lowering her head to look directly into her eyes. “Sunset Shimmer,” she said softly. “Like I told you at the very beginning — magic is all about intent. When you were bound to the mirror along with me, I felt your magic, your intent, and that you were ready and willing to give everything you are to help me, at any cost. I felt your determination, your will, your friendship… and your love.”

“D’awww…” Cadence cooed from a few feet away.

“Mom! Shh!”

Twilight ignored them. “I felt it all, and so did the mirror. At that moment, it didn’t matter how much magic you or I had. Your intent was all that counted, and at that moment, you had more magic that even I did.”

“Whoa…” Sunset breathed. “I… dude.”

“So, like I said...” Twilight smiled again. “You saved me, Sunny.”

“But, you’re still stuck in the mirror. Along with me.” Sunset argued weakly. “I didn’t…”

“True, but now that the mirror isn’t in danger of breaking, it’s not like we’re on a time limit anymore.” Twilight sent another lingering look down at Sunset, and then stepped away. She lifted her head to address the others. “I trust you all agree with me?”

From the accepting nods that circulated around the group, it was clear they did.

“I still say that the Elements of Harmony would be the best bet,” Flurry said. “And now that Sunset here has magic, there should be little danger in having her utilize them as well.”

Twilight was quiet for a moment. Her gaze flicked around the room, taking in everyone, before finally settling on the floor. “Actually, there might be a better solution. If we intend to use the Elements, that is.”

That got everyone’s attention. “Oh?” Celestia said. “What do you mean, Twilight?”

The goddess took a deep breath. “I mean that there may be others… who can wield the elements.” She paused, as if choosing her words. “Others, who are better suited to them.”

The others were silent for a moment, before Celestia cleared her throat. “Better suited? But, Twilight, the only ones who are more compatible to them than us are…”

“Yes,” Twilight picked up the thought when the white alicorn trailed off. “Exactly.”

“You’ve found them...” Celestia’s voice was soft, disbelieving. “Really?”

“Wait -- found who?” Sunset asked, looking back and forth between the two. “Where? On Earth?”

“Twilight,” Cadence stepped forward, her eyes wide. “Are you saying…?”

Twilight nodded, turning around and walking back towards the bed. “Yes.” Her horn glittered with light and the small pile of photos she had been looking through when Sunset awoke lifted from the bedside table. She took a moment to look through them before pulling a single one from the stack, taking it with her and letting the rest drop back down. “The only ones that were perfectly suited to using the Elements, along with me. The ones that died when we tried to use them to fix the mirror the first time, and the ones that I’ve been without all these millennia.” She returned to Sunset and lowered the picture, allowing her to see. “My friends.”

Sunset looked at the picture.

In it was Twilight as she was now, an alicorn and noticeably larger than the other ponies that surrounded her, but the others — five in total — didn’t seem the worse for the wear. They clustered around Twilight, their legs and wings entwining around her in some way, the show of solidarity towards the Goddess of Friendship clear, even in the faded photograph. They were all different colors and species; some regular ponies like the pink one and orange one — oh, yup, and there was that damn cowboy hat — and some were pegasi and one was another unicorn.

In fact… she looked closer at the ponies in question, an inkling of a suspicion forming in her mind. There was something about some of the ponies that she found familiar. Was it… someone’s hair? The shape of a face? Or was it…

It was actually the smile of the white unicorn that she recognized; the coquettish grin that Sunset recalled all too well from her younger years, but instead of on the face of a strange pony, it had been on the face of her best childhood friend.

“No. Fucking. Way.”

She looked up, expecting to see Twilight smiling in that cute little way she did when she was playing a joke on her. But she was not; her expression was resolute, and totally serious.

“No fucking way,” she repeated, hardly knowing what else to say.

“Yes,” Twilight said softly. She stepped forward and used a hoof to point out each and every one of her friends.

“Applejack.” The orange one with yellow hair and the stetson.

“Pinkie Pie.” The pink one with the fluffiest hair Sunset had ever seen. And she’d seen prize sheep at a county fair as a kid.

This time the pause was noticeable. “Fluttershy,” she said, pointing to a butter-yellow pegasus with all-too familiar pink hair.

“Rainbow Dash.” The blue pegasus with multicolored hair and a cocky grin. “And—”

“Rarity,” Sunset finished for her. Even as she said the name aloud, she didn’t quite believe it. Too many implications rushed through her mind as she stared at the photo, too many to consider. “Your friends…”

“Your friends, Sunset.” Twilight’s voice was hard. Her tone was enough to make Sunset look up at her. “They are your friends, not mine. My friends—” she gestured to the picture. “--have been gone for a long time. Their human counterparts have no connection to me aside from the Elements.” She turned her attention back to Celestia. “But when I was close to them — at least, to Rarity and Rainbow Dash — I could feel their connection to the Elements themselves.”

“What… what does that mean?” Sunset asked.

“It means that, while your human friends aren’t the same ponies as Twilight knew, they still embody the characteristics necessary to wield the Elements of Harmony.” Celestia nodded.

“So basically, they can use the Elements to fix the mirror?” Sunset was putting pieces together faster than she could parse out her words. “But--they, um, I…” she shook her head. “Is that safe?”

That had the others turn to Twilight, who pursed her lips. “I can’t say,” she said honestly. “It would be best to… break it to them slowly. Get them used to the idea of the Elements, and magic, before drawing any definite conclusions.” She looked up. “But I can say with absolute certainty that, if they can successfully wield the elements, the outcome will be assured. Both Sunset and I will be totally free, and the mirror fixed.”

Sunset snorted. “I can tell you right now that Rainbow will be all over it. Hell, she already knows about you and Flurry, so we won’t have to do all that much to convince her. Fluttershy and Rarity, well…” She grimaced, thinking of how much Rarity had changed over the past couple of years. She was still the same Rarity, more or less, but with a harder edge. And Fluttershy… “They might take some convincing. As for the other two—” She shrugged. “I don’t know them, so I can’t say yet.”

Twilight nodded. “It’s a smaller world than you might think, Sunset. Don’t worry; we’ll find them.”

Sunset smiled. “So it’s ‘we’ now? Who invited you along?”

Matching her grin, Twilight stepped close to Sunset. “Why, my little pony, I thought you wanted me to tag along. Was I perhaps mistaken?” Sunset stammered out a reply, and Twilight laughed, “Besides, who else would be your Yoda? Much to teach you I still have, my young padawan.”

Sunset blinked, finding her voice. “Okay, that sounds really weird coming from you.”

Twilight gave a little wiggle of her eyebrows, and then paused, her smile dropping slightly. A strange look passed over her face, and she looked up to Celestia. “On that note…” she said slowly, her gaze locking with the sun alicorn. “Princess Celestia, what do you think of Sunset’s cutie mark?”

Celestia very nearly flinched, only a flicker in her eyes told Sunset the question had a deeper meaning than just what Sunset’s cutie mark meant.

“Because I could have sworn I’ve seen it before,” Twilight said, continuing without waiting for her teacher to answer. “Not on any pony I knew, but in a book. Let’s see now…” Her horn flashed, and a moment later a old, leather-bound tome appeared before her. “Ah! Yes, here it is. This book has been in my castle library for… oh, I don’t know, five thousand years or so? It’s rather unremarkable — a diary of a sort, it seems, barely anything written in it — but after seeing Sunset’s cutie mark, well, you can understand why the cover interests me.”

And without further ado, Twilight used her magic to toss the book to a nearby table. It spun once, and landed with a heavy ‘thunk’. Sunset inched forward, craning her head a little higher so she could see around Flurry Heart.

Somehow, with everything else going on in her life, she wasn’t all that surprised to see the now familiar-looking orange, red and yellow sun embossed across the cover of that book. If anything, it was perhaps the most normal part of her day.

“Who is the unicorn Sunset Shimmer?” Twilight asked simply.

“Twilight… I--”

“Who is she?” Twilight repeated, her tone darkening in a way that made the back of Sunset's neck crawl.

Celestia was quiet for a long time. She stared down at the floor, her face impassive. The others simple watched on, either unwilling or unable to contribute to the discussion. Sunset sat as close as she dared to Twilight, if only for a show of support to her friend.

When the Goddess of the Sun finally did speak, it was quietly. “Sunset Shimmer… was my personal student.”

Twilight stiffened, her eyes widening.

“I took her on as my protégé long before you ascended. You must had been only a filly at the time, even before I brought Cadence to the castle. She was an orphan, quite alone… but she was so powerful, held so much potential as a unicorn, I couldn’t just sit back and see such talent wasted. So I opened the castle to her and took her as my personal student.” She paused to take a shuddering breath. “But she became… greedy. She wanted more. More power, more… everything. She became cruel and dishonest. She started delving too deeply into dark magic, and I became worried for her sake. In an attempt to stifle her curiosity, and hopefully put her on a better path, I… I showed her the Crystal Mirror.”

This time it was Cadence to sucked in a breath. “You what?” she gasped. “But that’s…”

“Yes,” Celestia nodded. “I had hoped to use the magics of the Crystal Mirror to allow her to see that the path she was on was a self-destructive one, and that she could use that knowledge to better herself.”

“Wait, what’s the Crystal Mirror?” Sunset asked. “Is that like Starswirl’s Mirror?”

“Starswirl’s Mirror was a prototype that would eventually become the Crystal Mirror,” Cadence explained. “Aside from being more powerful, Starswirl’s Mirror allowed one to see across multiple worlds at any given time. The Crystal Mirror, on the other hoof, only opens a doorway into a singular world, and only under particular circumstances can that be opened. However, the Crystal Mirror also has another attribute that Starswirl’s Mirror does not: the ability to see into your own heart.”

“Uh huh,” Sunset said, already seeing where this was going. “And I take it pony-me didn’t really like what she saw?”

“On the contrary,” Celestia shook her head sadly. “She liked it a little too much. I do not know what she saw, but it consumed her. It drove her to study the darker magics all the more; her every waking hour was spent studying, and sneaking into the more dangerous areas of the library in search of more power. I do not know what she was looking for… nor do I know why she chose to enter Starswirl’s Mirror instead of the Crystal Mirror, but…”

The sudden, sharp intake of break from Twilight jolted Sunset out of her shocked stupor.

“She… went through the mirror!” Twilight hissed, her pupils pinpricks against the whites of her eyes. “My mirror! She—”

“She disappeared one day—” interrupted Celestia calmly. “Into Starswirl’s Mirror, and was never heard from again.”

“When was this?” Cadence asked after a long, tense moment.

“Shortly after you joined me at the castle,” Celestia admitted. “Do you, perhaps, remember her?”

Cadence pursed her lips in thought. “I… remember somepony… a unicorn. She might have been a visitor, or a guest in the royal suites. But it’s pretty vague.” She shook her head. “I’m sorry — it was so long ago.”

“Don’t worry. As you said, it was so long ago.”

Something about the way Celestia said those words made Sunset turn her attention fully back on her. “Is… Sunset still alive?”

Celestia’s smile was brittle. “No. It was thousands of years ago, after all. Not even the eldest dragons can live that long.

“When you first saw me, you thought I was her,” Sunset accused.

“I admit, I held onto hope for the longest time that Sunset would come back to Equestria. That she would renounce her dark path and return to her friends… and me.” The sun alicorn sighed quietly. “She never did. So, when I saw you, who bore such a striking resemblance to Sunset Shimmer in my mind, I admit I… lost my head for a moment.”

“I’m sorry,” Sunset said, because she was.

“It was not of your doing. Simply… a poor circumstance.” Celestia smiled again, and this time meant it. “I have long since accepted what happened, and moved on. And on that, we should—”

“She caused the Catastrophe!” Twilight declared suddenly. Everyone turned to her, and Sunset had to fight from flinching away from the expression on her friend’s face. She was livid. “The unicorn Sunset Shimmer caused the Catastrophe.”

“Twilight, surely one unicorn couldn't have—” Luna tried to say, but was cut off by Twilight stomping a hoof on the floor.

“It was her!” the goddess said insistently. “All these years, I suspected but never…” She shook her head, as if to rid herself of a thought. “At the time I had no idea why, but during the Catastrophe there was an overabundance of human magic, that much was true. But such an occurrence wouldn’t have made the mirror break. Equestrian magic would have balanced anything out from the other side, and nothing would have happened. No, the problem was a strange presence of other magic there, mixed in with the human magic. At the time, I didn’t know what it was; I simply assumed it was another form of human magic and would deal with it later. But after I became immortal and the mirror was essentially stabilized, but still unbalanced, that strange magic never surfaced again. It simply disappeared along with human magic. Poof. Gone, just like that.”

She took a deep breath, her eye wide and flitting around from face to face. “But now it makes sense. A unicorn of immense power crossed through the mirror some years before that, bided her time to attain more power, likely siphoning magic from humans all the while, and when she became powerful enough, a schism was created, and the mirror began to break.” She snorted angrily. “It all makes sense now… why didn’t I see it before?”

“Twilight, surely that isn’t the case…” Celestia started to say, but the purple alicorn wouldn’t have it.

“And you!” she growled. “You never told me! You never thought to tell me about Sunset Shimmer?”

Celestia’s voice was soft, but there was the slightest edge in her tone. “You have also had many pupils in your past, my faithful student,” she said, the endearment sounding like a malediction. “Some you have even kept from my knowledge.”

Twilight slammed her front hooves on the floor. Sunset flinched at the loud ‘cracks’ that emanated from the splintering stone. “That’s not the same!” she snarled. “I can understand wanting to keep something secret from me, or even Luna! But this —” she gestured with a wing between herself and Sunset. “This is completely different. You didn’t think I should have been made aware of Sunset Shimmer the moment I became one with the Mirror?” She stalked towards the white alicorn, her mane whipping angrily behind her, until she was inches away from her. “You don’t think that I, the Element of Magic, should have been told about what Sunset did? Where she went? When my friends all died and I alone lived? Did you not think about me at all?!”

Twilight finally fell silent, though her words echoed around the room for another few seconds from the volume she had shouted at. Every pair of eyes was trained on the two goddesses; Twilight panting, her entire body heaving and her wings trembling with fury, and Celestia, her gaze set firmly on the ground, her entire posture meek, but still proud.

“You’re right, Twilight,” she finally said. “I’m so… so sorry I’ve kept this from you. I considered, at the time, that this might have been the case — that Sunset’s disappearance might have had something to do with everything — but…” she looked away, out towards the window. “Twilight, I could not bear to think that Sunset Shimmer would have done anything like that, no matter how far she would have fallen. To this day, I still hold onto the hope that Sunset simply fell into misfortune, and died a long time ago.”

“Wait, you wanted her to be dead?” Sunset asked, askance.

Celestia fixed her with a brittle smile. “It’s better than the alternative. But… as Twilight said, the pieces are all there, and I can’t deny the truth any longer. I’m just sorry I didn’t see it sooner.” She nodded her head gravely to the goddess before her. “Twilight Sparkle, I am truly sorry. Can you forgive me?”

Twilight stared at Celestia for a long time, unable to speak, until she finally turned away. “I… forgive you,” she murmured. “I understand. While I don’t agree with it, I accept why you kept it to yourself.”

“Thank you, Twilight,” Celestia replied. “I can’t tell you how it feels to tell you this after this long.”

“Yes, well… what’s done is done. The fact of the matter is it was long ago, and circumstances are different now. The mirror is stabilized, we have a lead on the Elements on Harmony, and I am no longer forced to travel between worlds for the sake of Harmony itself.”

“Yes.” Luna nodded happily, clearly glad that the subject had turned to lighter things. “We can, of course, alter the mirror easily enough to cancel out any further summonings.”

“Gonna have a lotta upset chicks on their periods,” Sunset remarked dryly.

“Pssh, don’t worry,” Flurry chortled. “They can always summon demons instead of us. They’re always on the lookout for young, impressionable girls willing to sell their souls for power.”

“Wait, you mean that’s actually a thing?!”

Chuckling softly, Twilight bumped her hip against Sunset’s. “Pretty much. The spell itself is a little different because demons come from another world from us, but the concept is generally the same. I met a few over the years, and like I said--”

She nudged Sunset towards the door, and the entire group turned to leave. “Those guys are total jerks.”

It should have been harder for Twilight to tie up her loose ends in Equestria for a lengthy stay on Earth. You’d think that, being a princess, she would have to do a lot more when going on vacation; tell her ponies that she was leaving, hold court for a while or something, or at least go through a few dozen meetings beforehand.

But no, barely an hour later Twilight ready to go, a small bag slung over her back and a nervous smile creeping across her face. “Some books, for reference,” she explained.

“Are… you really sure about this?” Sunset asked, mainly to keep her own anxiousness from being too obvious. They had all gathered in the room Sunset had found herself in when Flurry Heart had first brought her to Equestria. The Mirror had been put back to where she had first seen it, as broken as ever. Sunset eyed it warily; being this close to it made her feel… weird. There was no other way to say it. It was as if she were looking into the mirror and it drew her eye to every single imperfection she ever had, every blemish, every cut and scrape, every wrinkle. She found herself thinking of a book she read a number of years ago, about a man who had a cursed portrait that aged instead of himself, and if he were to ever gaze upon it, he would die. It creeped her out now more than ever, and even now refused to look directly into its shattered surface.

“Absolutely,” Twilight said. She hefted her bag for emphasis. “The plan to get all the Elements of Harmony together in one place aside, now that I’m not going to be shuffled around between worlds like a hockey puck, I kinda wanna see what your world has to offer.” She grinned mischievously. “Besides, we got a lotta movies to catch up on.”

Sunset laughed, doing her best to keep her eyes off of the other alicorns that had somehow all crammed into the room, and instead focus on Twilight. “Who said you could stay with me?”

The Goddess of Friendship blinked, her grin widening. “Who said anything about staying with you? I can get my own place easily enough. We could still watch movies and not room together, can’t we?”

Sunset felt her neck prickle with heat. “Um, yeah… I just…” she shuffled nervously. “I don’t know what I was—”

“Sunset,” Twilight said, one of her wings stretched forward and brushed along Sunset’s back. She shivered at the touch. “I’m teasing you. If you don’t want me to stay with you, I—”

“No!” Sunset said suddenly. “No, I, uh… want you to. I mean, I wouldn’t mind it if… um,” she floundered, looking around for help.

“Nuh uh,” Flurry chortled. “You got yourself into this. See if you can’t get yourself out.” Frowning, she looked to Cadence.

“Sorry. As much as I adore the love you two have, I am really enjoying the teasing, too.” Okay. What a bitch. Luna?

“Sorry, my little pony,” the moon alicorn said, smiling. “I wouldn’t be of any help to you now.” Grr… Celestia???

“Sunset Shimmer, just say what you feel is best.”

Well, that’s probably the most useful help she would get. So, clearing her throat, she muttered, “Um… whatever makes you comfortable. I’m happy as long as your close to me.”

Smiling softly, Twilight leaned forward and nuzzled her cheek against Sunset’s. “Of course. In fact, with a little bit of magic, we might have some help.

“Help?” Sunset repeated.

“You’ll see. But yes, I’ll stay close to you; for as long as you’ll have me.”

“Might be a while, then,” Sunset giggled, returning the embrace. All at once, the entirety of their time together flashed before her eyes; first summoning Twilight into her bathroom and freaking out, yelling and screaming at her, learning who and what she was, and enlisting her help in exacting her petty revenge on her would-be pursuers, learning from the girl’s mouth what had happened each time she returned from her task, from Blueblood’s traumatizing encounter, Noteworthy’s surprising education on honesty and accountability, Snips and Snails’ equally horrifying confrontations... bringing Twilight to dinner with her family and their heart-to-heart afterward, alone in her old room. Everything leading up the surprising, and startling realization that Sunset truly cared about Twilight.

Did she love her? Sunset was fairly certain she did, and was pretty sure Twilight felt the same way about her. At least, enough to give up everything to be with the other, to give herself up unconditionally. And, really, if that wasn’t love, Sunset didn’t know what else it could be.

The sudden sound of sniffling brought Sunset’s attention away from the feeling of soft fur against her cheek, and she pulled away to see tears leaking from the corners of Twilight’s eyes, her bottom lip trembling, as she mouthed soundlessly.

“Whoa, Twilight, are you okay? I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…”

But the alicorn already lunged forward, wrapping her wings around Sunset in a tight embrace, clinging to her so tightly that she felt the air go out of her lungs in a loud gust. The two of them turned around on the spot as Twilight sobbed against Sunset’s neck, completely overcome with emotion.

“I… it’s just that — you… did so much for me!” she eventually said. “I don’t have to be summoned anymore! I c-can be free, all thanks to you! You… I can’t thank you e-enough!

Shushing her as best she could, Sunset found herself kissing the spot behind Twilight’s perfect little ear, reaching up to smooth back her long, glittering mane with a hoof, whispering the best summary she of her feelings she could come up with.

“Best use of a tampon, ever.”

That got a laugh out of the crying goddess, and then her sobs slowly ceased. The two broke apart, and Twilight turned to address her family. “You sure you all will be alright without me for a while?”

“Honestly, Twili, it’s not like you won’t be able to visit from time to time,” Cadence chided. “Now that the mirror is stable, you and Sunset can freely travel between worlds whenever you want.”

“Yes,” Luna agreed. “Come back when your ready. Go have fun a while — you’ve earned it.” She turned a twinkling gaze on Sunset. “But not too much fun.”

Sunset blushed heavily, and Flurry Heart giggled. “Speaking of fun,” she said. “Don’t forget my offer; if Aunty Twi gets tired of you, I’m always up for a sing-a-long…”

The way the goddess said ‘sing-a-long’ make Sunset think that Flurry had other activities than singing in mind.

She opened her mouth to brush off the appreciated offer — but seriously, no — when Twilight beat her to it.

“We’ll let you know, Flurry,” she said, her tone implying that they likely wouldn’t.

“Of course, you’re always welcome to join us, Twilight!”

Ignoring the salacious chuckle coming from the Goddess of Music, Sunset turned with Twilight towards the mirror. As they stepped towards it, she leaned in close. “Is… she serious? About that?”

Snorting, Twilight answered in an equally quiet whisper, “Well, it wouldn’t be the first time.”

“Yeah,” Sunset laughed. And then Twilight's meaning caught up with her. “Wait, wouldn’t be the first time for what?”

“Both her and Cadence, actually.”

As Sunset’s eyes widened impossibly large, she yelped, “Wait, what?!”

With a laugh, Twilight pushed her through the mirror.