I release a sigh as I finish organizing the mystery section of the library, sliding down the latter to the floor. It had been a little over a month since Nat, Sora and Twilight left, and I couldn’t help but still be worried. The day they left they told me they would hopefully be back within a few hours, but when they didn’t return by the morning I began to get worried. It only got worse when Rarity and Fluttershy popped by to see if Twi wanted to go to the spa.

After that things just went downhill with Fluttershy and Rarity being worried for Twi and Nat’s safety and wellbeing, while Rainbow and Applejack were confident they were all fine. Pinkie was oddly silent when I told the girls about it, only saying that, ‘those two are in good hands for now’. While confused, we all chalked it up to Pinkie Pie’s Pinkie Sense.

Then the next day came to pass, I remember it vividly. Sort of. I was visiting Sweetie Belle at the boutique when some kind of portal opened above me and a letter fell out. Confused, Sweetie and I read through it, and I am pretty sure I blacked out for a while because the next thing I knew I had sent a letter to the princesses telling them to come to Ponyville with Shining, Velvet and Night. After that I had run around town and gathered the girls, and then waited for the Canterlot ponies to arrive.

Once they all arrived at the library, I showed them the letter and the worry in the group skyrocketed. Rarity, Velvet, Night and Shining began to panic, Rainbow, Applejack, Pinkie, Luna and Fluttershy began to truly worry, and Celestia began to think about trying to summon one of Nat’s siblings for help, but I knew that wouldn’t work since Nat learned only those with even a speck of Void magic can even use a token. So only other displaced, or those who have abilities not from Equestria.

But then the last pony any of us expected spoke up. I still remember the faith in Fluttershy’s voice when she told us all to calm down, stating that Nat would be there for Twilight, and that they would be home safe and sound before we knew it. With only those few words, while still worried, everypony calmed down and began to think about what we would do next.

While they were worried about it, Celestia and Luna said that they themselves would be able to deal with whatever force may appear while Twi is away, and if necessary they would ‘go all out’, whatever that means. Shining agreed, and said he was going to be doing some extra training with his magic at the castle for when they get back, so he can see about having a sparring match with Nat and Sora.

Even though I told them it was unnecessary, Night and Velvet decided to stay in the library for me so they would know first when their daughter came back. So I spent then first couple of days going over what chores I do here, the two adults shocked about how much I do. In response to their shocked confusion, I just showed them the lab where Nat, Sora and Twi have been experimenting, so they understood that those three can be a little absentminded about things like cleaning sometimes.

After the fear and worry began to settle down, things returned to a sort of normal routine, just with the girls popping by more to see if Nat, Sora and Twi have made it back yet. Night and Velvet have been a huge help here in the library, so now I have a ton of free time to myself. Though, that doesn’t really help when I have read all my comic books thrice over, and if I am not reading I am sleeping or cleaning.

With another sigh, I head up to my room and try and relax on my bed, before glancing over to the nightstand and seeing the letter. With a small amount of hesitation, and a huff in annoyance, I grab the letter and read through it again, seeing if there is something I missed in the message that could tell me when the girls would be back.

Dear Spike, Luna, Celestia, Shining, and elements,

Hey, it’s Nat. I am not sure how much time has passed for you guys, but it has only been about a day since we have been summoned by Edward, the Displaced. Anyways, as much as I want to tell you some good news about our adventure in this world, that is not the case.

I am not going to beat around the bush here, Twilight got hurt. Badly. I ended up having a sparring match against Edward so he could overcome his inner demons, literally, but it wasn’t a simple fight. Anyways, Twilight’s injury was a physical one, and it isn’t a simple painkiller problem, so we are going to be spending a few more weeks, at least to us, in this world while she recovers.

I know some of you will want to do something like summon my siblings, but please, be patient. This kind of ordeal is one that is personal, so you guys really can’t do much. Just know that Twi, Sora and I will be home before you know it. And please, for the love of Harmony, don’t try and open a void portal yourselves to come here. I don’t even want to think about what kind of monsters you would inadvertently summon.

Anyways, like I said, we’ll be home before you know it, and hopefully, we’ll be stronger for it.

Sincerely yours, the Diclonius Queen,

Natali Basatin.

I must have read through this letter a thousand times now, trying to find something, anything, that could tell me when they would be home. I miss them.

With a sigh, I head out of my room and towards the door to the outside, just as the door opens and Velvet and Night come in, groceries in hand.

“Oh, sorry Spike. Almost didn’t see you.” Night says, stepping around me. I just nod to him and taker some of the groceries off of them and head to the kitchen, organizing everything almost automatically, not noticing the worried looks the two older ponies were sending my way.

“So Spike dear, how was your day so far?” Velvet questions with a warm smile. I just shrug.

“Fine I guess.” I reply half heartedly. The duo sigh, earning my attention. “What?”

“Sorry Spike. We just don’t like seeing you so down. I know you miss Twilight and Natali, all of us do. But we need to be patient, and to let Twilight recover from whatever injury she sustained.” Night says, patting my shoulder. I just shrug and sigh again.

“I know, I know. But knowing that doesn’t make me any less anxious.” I reply, looking over to the Hearth’s Warming picture we have framed on the wall near the entrance.

“How about this?” I turn to Velvet as she smile to me. “What do you say to going out for dinner tonight. The walk could also help keep your mind off things.”

“Uh dear, its only 3.” Night points out. Velvet just shrugs it off.

“So? That gives us plenty of time for a walk around town.” She says optimistically. I just couldn’t help but smile at her upbeat attitude and grabbed my vest from the coat hanger.

“Alright. You wanna get going?” I ask, seeing that we put everything away already. The duo nod and grab their own things, Velvet grabbing her purse and a thin coat while Night grabbed his bit bag and coat. Walking out of the library, I breath in a small sigh as the slightly chilled air fills my lungs. We had been getting hit by a pretty bad heat wave so we had to bring in some leftover winter clouds to compensate.

Walking around the town, we pass by the market as some of the stands are closing down for the day. Not sure why, but I am brought back to when Nat and her team faced that bugbear. That was one hell of a show they put on, considering Nat could probably kill or incapacitate it in a second.

Passing by the apple stand, I see Big Mac and Applejack putting away the leftover apples from today before spotting us and waving. The three of us wave back and AJ locks eyes with me. I could all but hear the silent question like telepathy, and shake my head no. The mare sighs and nods, going back to putting things away.

After that the three of us continued on our way, just wandering aimlessly around the town. We did pass by the rest of the girls, but had to let them know there has been no changes as of yet. They were understandably disappointed, and I could tell Rarity was really worried. Makes sense. While I was hanging out with Sweetie Belle she mentioned all the plans Rarity has been making to help Nat and Twilight get together. A little late, but I didn’t want to tell anypony else without the girls permission.

Before long it had begun to get dark so we headed back to town and headed towards one of the restaurants that had opened up recently. It was nothing extravagant, just a small family run business from what I had been able to learn, but they did serve a few items fit for dragons ever since the son came back from a visit to the dragon lands. I kinda wish I could go see the dragon lands myself, see how other dragons act compared to me.

The dinner was pretty good, with some bouts of silence as the three of us ate, but otherwise not anything Equis shattering. Though, while I was looking out the window next to our seat, I could swear I saw a flash of black and purple go by one of the houses. Probably my imagination.

Before long our dinner ended and the three of us headed back to the library. We did our closing chores and Night and Velvet began reading through the second book of the Inheritance Cycle. They decided to start reading it after they arrived and immediately got hooked just like Twilight. I was thinking of having them make copies for the library itself, but not for now.

Once I finished reorganizing the lab again, I went up to my room while Velvet and Night locked up and went to bed. I stared up at the ceiling for a while my mind not letting me sleep, before I hear a familiar ‘Hoo’.

“What is it Owlowiscious?” I question the bird, who replies briefly. I sigh and respond. “Not sure. For all I know they could fall out of the portal tomorrow, or they could be gone another week. Right now, all we can do is wait.”

“Hoot.”

“Yeah, I’m worried too. But I know Nat will take care of Twi.” I yawn and sigh. “For now, I need to get some sleep. I’ll see you in the morning.”

Little did I know that night, someone stopped by without us knowing and left just as silently.

The early morning sun slowly rose into the sky across Ponyville. The quiet tranquility of morning before-

“WHAAAAATTT!”

Oh, never mind then Pinkie.

“Sorry! But this is important!”

....
......
...ahem.

A certain Pink mare raced out of her home in Sugar Cube Corner, rocketing across the town towards the library, somehow not kicking up any dust as well. Once she made it to the door of the library she wound up her fist....and processed to calmly knock on the door.

After a few seconds, a slightly tired Twilight Velvet answered the door, a cup of coffee in hand. She rose a brow at the pink mare before shaking her head and smiling.

“Good morning Pinkie dear. Did you need something?” The older mare questions. Pinkie just smiled.

“Nope! I just got a letter this morning telling me to meet everyone here!” She responds, confusing the unicorns as she didn’t send a letter out.

“Oh, well why don’t you come in. We were about to have breakfast and you can go wake up Spike.” Pinkie nods happily and bounced into the library, bouncing higher into the air to reach the second floor and made her way to Spike’s room. Velvet smiled, and was about to go back to the kitchen, when there was another knock on the door, she checked through the peep hole and found it was Rarity and Fluttershy. She suddenly had a good idea that there would be a few guests this morning.

Making her way to the dragons room, Pinkie, somehow, silently slammed the door open, not a squeak coming from the hinges nor a shatter from the door hitting the wall. She spotted the green spines of her little dragon buddy and bounced towards him. She was about to wake him, before noticing a note taped to his chest. Confused she was going to check it, before seeing Spike shift, his eyes slowly fluttering open.

With a yawn, the young drake opened his eyes, only to be met with seas of blue.

“AhhhHH!” He freaked out, falling out of his bed and onto the floor with a groan, Pinkie looking over the bed with a grin.

“Morning Spike!” He groans as she greets him, rubbing his head.

“Hey Pinkie. What are you doing here?” He questions. She just smiles before pointing to the note taped to his chest. He tilted his head and took it off, seeing it was a letter addressed to the element bearers, the royal sisters and Twilights family. He was confused and looked to Pinkie but she took out a sticky note that said to come to the library ASAP.

Pushing his confusion to the side for a minute, Spike grabbed a shirt and pair of shorts for the day and made his way downstairs with Pinkie, hearing several voices coming from the kitchen. The duo arrived to the scene of the remaining Element Bearers and Twilights parents all spread out with their own breakfasts in the process of being eaten.

“Morning Sugarcube, bout time Pinkie gotcha.” Applejack greets, walking out of the kitchen with a bowl of cereal.

“Morning girls. Um, not to be rude, but what are you all doing here?” Spike questions, nodding thanks to Velvet as he got his bowl of cereal and gems. In response, everyone produced identical sticky notes to the one Pinkie had, but with their names on it.

“Wait, you three weren’t the ones to send these?” Rainbow questions the residents, who all shake their heads negative. That earned several confused head tilts as everypony assumed the notes were from Spike, Night or Velvet.

“Nope. Though, I did have this taped to my chest. Maybe it has some answers?” Spike points out, holding up the letter. The girls all look to one another and shrug before going back to their food. Once they were all done Spike sent a letter to the princesses, telling them about the letter and notes and to see if they have some time to come over.

The response was fast, two blinks of magic appearing the library as both princesses and Shining Armor teleported. A quick bow from the ponies and everyone was in the living room.

“So, none of you know where the notes and the letter came from?” Luna questions after everything was properly explained.

“None whatsoever. I just woke up with the note attached to my sleeping mask. At first I thought it was Sweetie Belle, but this isn’t her handwriting.” Rarity points out. They all looked a little closer, but none of them recognized the writing style.

“Well whoever it is better not mess with us!” Rainbow announced, hovering over the others. The others all just shake their heads and turn to Spike as he opens the letter.

“Well, here goes nothing.”

Hello Element Bearers, Royal sisters, and Sparkle Family.

If you are reading this then it means you decided to actually wake up. Now then, there is little we wish to say in a letter, so simply come by the pond on the edge of the Everfree forest. All with be revealed there.

NB, DS, SE

There was silence in the library after Spike finished reading, but it was an awkward silence as the ponies expected more.

“What, that’s it? Man what a cop out.” Shining comments, taking the letter and reading over. He was just as confused as everyone else.

“So whoever left these notes wants to meet us at the lake by the forest? Why there?” Velvet questions. The others all think for a moment before Spike took back the letter and looked at the bottom, more accurately the initials.

“NB, DS, and SE?” Questions mentally before something clicks in his head. “NB? Natali Basatin!”

That announcement made everyone jump as they saw Spike rush over to the closet and grabbed his vest.

“Woah hold on there partner.” Applejack says while grabbing the back of Spike’s vest, holding him off the ground. “What was that y’all were goin on about Spike?”

“NB! That’s Nat’s initials! That must mean the notes and letter are from Nat and Twilight!”

That got everyone’s attention, and less than a second later everypony had their gear on and were rushing out the door. The morning goers of Ponyville were surprised when some of them saw the small crowd of ponies and a dragon racing through town towards the forest. But most just shrugged and chalked it up to Ponyville being Ponyville.

The first to arrive at the lake was, of course, Rainbow Dash, who began to almost frantically look around the area for her friends. Applejack arrived a second later, followed by everyone else as they all began to look around.

“NATALI! TWILIGHT! SORANO!” Spike called out, looking for his surrogate sister, her girlfriend and said girlfriends sister. The others were all spread out, Rainbow and Luna above the lake while everyone was around it.

“Twily! Are you here?!” Shining calls out, receiving no response.

The others all begin to group up, when a new voice entered the picture.

“Jeez you guys are loud. I couldn’t even hear myself think!” Everyone turned on a dime to a nearby tree, and froze. They...had no idea who this was.

They were human in appearance, but the two horns on their head showed otherwise. They were a teenager around Rainbow’s height, with sunset pink hair reaching down near the small of their back with a couple blue stripes. They were wearing a pair of knee high black combat boots with black socks, black short shorts with a silver belt slightly slanted, and a black tank top under an white off-the-shoulder shirt with what looked like a blood splatter on the chest with a couple crescent moons accenting her small breasts. She lastly had a black, fur-rimmed jacket with the hood down. (Futaba Sakura’s outfit from Persona 5)

They looked over everyone, showing off their heterochromatic silver and pink eyes. Immediately everyone got into defensive position, Shining summoning a sword to his side while Luna and Celestia summoned their magic as the three royals noted the odd white and red gauntlets around the strangers forearms.

“Oh, I see now, your the one who called us all here.” Rainbow states, shadow boxing in place.

“Uh, duh? I mean, I guess we could have just walked through the front door, but everypony was already asleep when we arrived. I figured this could be a little more dramatic and fun.” The woman states, calmly leaning against the tree. The group look to one another in confusion before Fluttershy speak up.

“W-what do y-you m-mean, we?”

“She means herself and us.”

Everyone turned around, ready to fight, only to freeze as they see who is it. A familiar unicorn and Diclonius were standing side by side, shit-eating grins adorning their faces as they saw everyponies reaction. Before long, it became too much and the trio burst out laughing.

“Oh, oh my gods your faces!” Twilight yells, struggling to stay on her hooves as she laughs. She was wearing a long sleeve jacket over a black tank top and a pair of ripped blue jeans along with an odd medallion around her neck that looked familiar to Luna. To end it all, she had a single black leather glove on her left hand.

“Ok, I admit it Sorano, this was perfect!” Natali laughs, her younger sister laughing along with her as she walks over, shocking the group at the reveal of who she is. Nat was wearing a deep purple sweatshirt and pale blue skirt and had a similar medallion on her neck as well.

“Told ya it would be hilarious. And you two doubted me.” Sora states with a grin, throwing her arm around her sisters shoulder.

“Hold on one second!” Pinkie yells. Everyone was silent as Pinkie pulled out a cup of water from her hammer space and took a sip, just to do a spit take that barely missed the Diclonius duo. “Sorano!?!?”

“Hey everypony. Good to see you lot again. I mean we have been interacting with alternate versions of you guys, but you know, its just not the same.” Sora says with a grin, hands in her pockets. Everyone was stunned for a second, before the trio was tackled into a pile from the Element bearers.

“Welcome home!” Was called out as they were all being hugged. The girls all laughed as they reunited with one another, everypony else just standing back and watching with smiles as the group had fun. Eventually the group untangled themselves and stood up, the last of the group coming over.

“Welcome back sweetie. Did you have a nice adventure?” Velvet questions her daughter as she was hugged by her father and brother.

“Hey guys, yeah I had a blast. Though it was kinda touch and go there for a bit.” Twilight admits sheepishly. The others look to her with worry, though Shining was confused why his sister only had one glove on.

“Yeah, Nat mentioned you and Sora got hurt? But you two look almost perfectly fine.” Rainbow questions, hovering around their heads as usual. The returning trio awkwardly scratch their heads in embarrassment.

“We can talk about that later. Right now I wanna know why you three didn’t come by the library yet?” Spike questions, the trio shrugging to one another after a second.

“Do you want the long answer or the short answer?” Twi questions, taking a seat below the tree nearby. The others all follow suit, making a circle.

“We’ll take the easy answer for right now.” Luna says, a small smile on her muzzle. The trio nod to her and look to their friends.

“Well...”

Walking out of the portal, the three of us take a deep breath and each sigh in happiness. This is it. We’re home. I look over to my marefriend, who is stretching her arms with a grin, before my eyes wander over to my sister, who is just looking to the sky. I follow her gaze, and see it is actually pretty late in the night right now. My guess is it would be around ten or so at night.

“Wow, its later than I thought. We better hurry up and see if the others are still awake.” I mutter, earning nods from the others. I saw we were on the edge of town near Fluttershy’s place. The three of us look over to the cottage of the pegasus, and see as the last of the lights go out.

“Looks like Flutter’s is heading to bed.” Sora mutters. The three of us head towards the town, and we can see as more and more of the lights are going out, showing that everypony was heading to bed for the night.

“Hmm, do you think we should come back tomorrow? It would be rude to just barge into the library, even if we have been gone for a while.” Twilight questions. Sora and I just shrug and continue to make our way to the library. We arrive soon after and see all the lights are out. Twilight tries the door and see that it is locked.

“Hold on, I got a key.” Twi said as she dug through her bags. As she was going through her stuff, Sora suddenly grabbed us and began leading us away.

“Sora? What are you doing?” I question as we leave. She turns to us with a mischievous smirk before she led us into an alley.

“Everypony is asleep. It would be rude if we just woke everyone up in the middle of the night. So, how about this? How about we get everypony together in the morning, and reveal ourselves then?” She says with a grin. Twi and I look to one another, both with concerned expressions on our faces. Considering Sora’s pranking nature, I wasn’t a hundred percent on board with this.

“Well, what do you have in mind then sis?” I question, trying to keep myself neutral.

“Well, we can just write some notes asking everyone to meet us by the lake in the morning. Knowing Pinkie, she would grab everyone herself anyways, so it isn’t like we’d be asking everyone to wait for us in Tartarus.” She says with a shrug. I spare a glance at Twi, and see she is actually nodding.

“Sure, why not? It could be fun to see how the others react to us. Especially how they react to me and you Sora.” Twi says before walking back to the library. The three of us walk back, and once we reach the door, Twi is about to use the key again, before I grab her hand and she rose a brow. I motioned her to follow my lead.

With a deep breath and a focus on my magic, I turn into dark mist and seep through the bottom of the door. I waited a couple seconds as mist on the inside of the library, before Twi appeared as well as mist. I nod to her before after reforming and as silently as possible I made my way down to the lab while Twi let Sora in.

Twi and I were surprised when we saw just how clean the lab was despite our absence. I guess we shouldn’t underestimate Spike when it comes to cleaning. Sora went ahead of us and grabbed some sticky notes and a piece of our notebook to use as a letter and began to write out the messages.

Once she was done, I looked to Twi and grabbed the letter and the notes for Fluttershy and Pinkie, while she grabbed the ones for Rarity, Rainbow and AJ. The three of us nod to one another and mentally agree to meet up at the edge of the forest.

With that done, Twi and Sora leave through the front door and I lock it behind them and I silently make my way up to Spike’s room. Quickly and quietly phasing through the door, I see the young drake asleep on his bed and make my way over. I take a small piece of scotch tape and tape the note to his chest, before smiling a little and pulling the covers over him a little bit.

With that done, I made my way out the window, before beginning to head towards Sugarcube Corner. I knew I had to be extra carful about this because....well, Pinkie Pie.

As silently as I could possibly manages, I made my way up and through the second story window that led to Pinkie’s room. This was the moment of truth.

Quietly, like a silent predator, I made my way around the candy wrappers, the stuffed animals and cooking tools, giving Gummy a small scratch on the tummy as he turned in his sleep, I made it to the pink mares bedside. Well, more like above her since Pinkie was half sprawled on the bed, her upper half laying on the floor while the rest of her was on the bottom of the bed.

Barely withholding a giggle at Pinkie’s ridiculous sleeping expression, I took the sticky note, and stuck it to the end of her muzzle, before leaving the room out the window, closing it silently behind me. It wasn’t till I was nearly at Fluttershy’s cottage did I allow myself to calm down a bit.

I made my way down the path to Fluttershy’s, silently greeting a couple of bats that had taken up residence nearby, before smiling as I made it to the bridge separating the cottage from the surrounding area. With a breath, I began to silently levitate over the area towards Fluttershy’s bedroom window. Looking through, I see the canary yellow mare asleep in her bed, clutching a familiar devil in her arms. I remembered I had to be quiet here too because of the juxtapositional named rabbit.

Like a panther in the dark jungle, I made my way through the window and into the room. I glanced around a moment, finding all the nearby animals, mice, ferrets and the like, were all similarly asleep in their own beds. Taking the note from the bottom of my shirt, I gently place it on the edge for Flutter’s sleeping gown.

(Though, I did pause for a small moment to frown in jealousy as I saw Flutter’s boob size again. Seriously how can someone so shy and timid have a rack that big?!?)

With that, I made my way out, luckily not waking anyone up, and made my way over to the entrance to the forest were Sora was waiting. I was silently flying over the area with my Wind magic, when I saw a now familiar gold glow heading to the entrance from the nearby cloud neighborhood. I smirk and boost my wind, spotting a head of pink hair before making my way down at the same time as Twilight.

“Well that was easy. But now what? Where do we sleep?” Twilight questions as I lift Sora onto my shoulders for a piggy back as she yawns.

“What about the old castle? With our alchemy we can repair some of the old beds in an instant.” Sora sleepily mutters. I glance to Twi, who thinks for a moment, before nodding. I nod back with a smile.

Twi grabs her singular suitcase while I grab mine and Sora’s before the two of us use our respective magic to fly above the tree line and make our way to the old castle grounds. It didn’t take too long for us to make it to the old castle, but by the time we got there it was nearing midnight and a certain homunculus was already asleep.

With a glance to Twilight, the two of us made our way through the castle towards where the bedrooms were. Luckily Twi and girls came by some time before as a ‘mission’ for Celestia.

Before long we arrived and I saw the dilapidated bed in the room. I smirked. An easy fix.

Carefully handing off my sister to my marefriend, I made my way to the bed and clapped my hands before placing them on the bed, the sparks of alchemy flashing by as the bed went from barely recognizable, to fairly modest in a few seconds. Even the pillows were salvaged.

With a smile, I took my sister back and layed her in the bed, tucking her in with a kiss on the head as she smiled in her sleep. I motion for Twi to follow and, after leaving Sora’s suitcase, we made our way to the next room.

A quick transmutation and change, and Twi and I were cuddling in the extremely comfy bed.

“See you in the morning Twilight.” I said with a quick peck. She smiled back to me.

“Night Nat.”

With a wide yawn, I slid my shirt over me as I was getting dressed, Twi right behind me as she put her jacket on. She said she wanted to surprise the others with her arm. It was a little before dawn, so we had to make our way to the lake before the girls show up. Don’t want them to wait for too long.

“Got everything?” Twi questions. I nod as I grab our suitcase and made our way over to where Sora was sleeping.

“Sora! You up yet?” I question, knocking on the door. There was no response for a moment, and I look to Twi, who shrugs. I knock again. “Sorano, wake up! It’s time to go!”

There was again silence, and I am about to open the door myself, when I the knob turning and the door slowly slides open. I looked down reflexively, and was met not by eyes, but by an A-cup. Confused, I raised my head a bit, and found the eyes I was looking for. It took a couple of seconds for my mind to catch up with me, and I let our a near Pinkie worthy gasp as I booped my sister on the nose.

“You’re a teenager!” I announce in surprise, Sora just looking cross eyed at my finger before huffing and pushing my hand away. I then got a better look at Sora’s new form. She looked like I did a few years back, a couple inches shorter than myself, but her straight hair reached near the small of her back with two long bangs framing her face and she was wearing the same outfit as Envy; What looked like a black sports bra and shorts with a odd wrappings around her feet.

“Woah. When-what-how?” Twilight stutters before I gently close her mouth and Sora motions us in.

“So, I woke up stronger.” Was her only response before receiving a dual dose of the ‘explain-further-dunce’ look. “I don’t know how else to explain it. I just woke up and my body felt like I chugged half a dozen Red Bulls but without the actual rush. Just the sensation. So I figured I’d try out my shapeshifting while I still had the energy.” She looked over her form. “So far, no complaints for my first attempt.”

“Yeah, but even I can say this look doesn’t work for you.” Twilight states, an intrigued look on her face. I nod with her in agreement. Sora just rolls her eyes and begins to think of something else to wear. She suddenly perks up as she thought of something.

“Well, how about Futaba Sakura’s outfit Nat?” That got my attention and I nodded rapidly, excited to see if she could actually pull it off. She smiled and took a breath before clenching her eyes shut in concentration. Slowly, red and pink sparks began to appear at the bottom of her feet, before moving up, creating boots, a belt, some new shirts, before ending with a large fur trimmed jacket. She opened her eyes and looked at herself in the nearby mirror, nodding to herself in satisfaction. I just laugh a little before walking over and grabbing her shoulder, snapping her out of her self musing about her appearance.

“Sorry to cut this short sis, but we should probably head back to town. No doubt everypony is awake and looking for us.” I tell her, earning an nod as she grabs her suitcase and we made our way out the building. Once we were in the main courtyard, and Sora put on her weapon presents from Adam, Sora and I grab Twilights shoulders, and nod to her. Twi nods back and focuses her magic.

“Direct Line!”

“...After that Twi teleported us nearby and we saw you guys running and flying around like headless chickens. Sora got ahead of us by the time we got ready.” I finished explaining with a smile, the girls looking to one another in surprise before their eyes landed on Sora, who looking back and forth between them all in confusion.

“What?”

“So that’s not your true form?” Rainbow questions from her perch in the tree above us. Sora rolled her eyes again and just focused her energy, sparks appearing at her feet causing everyone to jump back as she shrunk down to her eight year old form.

“Nope.” She simply replied in her now slightly squeaky voice, causing the girls and even Night Light to coo at the sound. Sora’s face immediately turned bright red as she shifted back into a teen. “I swear to the mare to my left,” she pointed at Luna, “If you try and force me into that form I will freeze you into ice blocks.” She finished her threat with a raised right hand, showing off a misty affect as her Ice magic was used.

“Whoa! What is that!” Pinkie questions with a smile, Sora realizing what she just did and looked to her misty hand as well.

“Well, this is Ice magic. Lex gave it to me along with some Rainbow Fire magic and Arc of Time magic. Pretty simple stuff in retrospect.” She says, extinguishing her frosty hand. She leaned back against the tree with a sigh of complacency as she rested. I rolled my eyes and smiled before seeing the others look to Twi.

“So, how were you hurt Twily? I mean, you look pretty much them same, if the slightest bit stronger.” Shining says. Twilight looked to me and Sora nervously, a look we returned as we weren’t too sure how the others would react. Twilight scratched the back of her head in worry.

However before she can try to explain, we froze as several wild birds suddenly burst from the tree line above the forest. While the girls were questioning what that was, Sora, Twi and I were already standing, listening for what it was. The others saw how quiet we were being and followed suit, clamping their muzzles shut.

Twilights finger began to glow, Sora’s right hand began emitting frost as her left produced smoke, and a small, invisible cyclone began to circle around my hand.

The others began to tense up as we heard hurried steps, snapping branches, and crushed ground rapidly approaching our location, some birds that were resting in the trees taking to the air as whatever was coming disrupted them. Before too long, whatever was coming towards us neared the border to the forest.

Everyone got ready for a fight...before a familiar zebra burst out in a hurry, almost falling to the ground as she raced out the forest.

“Zecora!” Twi and I rush past the others to our herbalist friend. Zecora noticed us and a relieved expression appeared on her face. She ran over to us, all but falling into my arms as her legs suddenly gave out, likely from exhaustion.

“Z! Are you ok?” Rainbow questions as I supported the tired zebra. Zecora took several deep, but panicked breaths as she kept trying to say something, before closing her eyes and shaking her head.

“Chimera....this way comes....need to get everypony....to safety.” She managed to say between breaths, completely forgoing her usual rhyming. But she got the point across as everyone tensed up.

“A chimera!? But, why would it come to Ponyville?!” Rarity questions in fear.

“I am pretty sure you just answered your own question there Rares. This is Ponyville, the ultimate nexus of weirdness in all of Equis.” Sora remarks, her answer causing most to nod. Twi looked to me with a questioning look and I knew what she was asking.

‘No, a chimera had never appeared in Ponyville in the show back on earth. Applebloom met one though, but that wasn’t for a long time yet, well after you ascended into Alicornhood.’ I tell her telepathically as I helped the now unconscious Zecora on AJ’s back.

“AJ, get Zecora to the hospital just incase. Fluttershy and Rarity, go with her.” Twi orders, the three mares nodding and taking off before Twi turned to the others. “Rainbow, gather all the Pegasi and warn the town, get them to town hall, Pinkie and Luna you help her out.”

“You got it Twi!” Rainbow says before zipping away, a pink blur following behind as Pinkie ran off. Luna looked to Twilight in surprise for a moment before listening and flying off as well. We nod to one another before turning to the rest.

“Everyone else, grab hold. I’ll teleport us to town hall.” Twi said as I lay my hand over her left hand. The others all grab hold together with Shining holding her right shoulder. Twi nods to everyone before a quick Direct Line had us standing outside the town hall building.

“Celestia, go warn Mayor Mare about the Chimera. Shiny, I need you to set up a barrier around the building for when it gets here. Mom, Dad and Spike, I want you three inside and out of harms way.” The others were slightly stunned by Twilight’s tone, shocked she called the princess by her name without any decorum, but nodded anyways.

“Wait, what are you three going to do?” Spike asks as the others walk in. In response, we just smirk and Sora even cracks her knuckles.

“Take a wild guess Spike.”

*****

Before too long pretty much the entire town was making its way inside the town hall, being calmed by the presence of both Royal sisters, as well as my Pokemon once I let them out. Of course Artemis and Pandora were being swarmed by curious fillies and colts about what they were, but as long as they keep them distracted, then that’s fine.

Not a moment too soon as the last of the residents were led into the building, a loud roar echoed across the town alongside the sound of snapping wood and falling trees.

“Here it comes.” I heard Shining mutter as the trees from the border suddenly burst outwards and a large quadrupedal form walked out, menacingly.

It had three heads, two on the front and one on the end of the tail. The ones up front were those of a large tiger and a mountain goat, while the tail was scaled like a recipe before ending in a cobra’s hood and fangs, its orange eyes looking towards the town as it made its way over.

Twi, Sora, Shining and I walked past the now very scared crowd, making our way to the front along with the princesses as the beast past the town barrier.

“Pandora, Topaz, Artemis, Chance and Selene! Stay here and form a perimeter, make sure nopony leaves!” I yell, my pokemon nodding and doing so.

Twi walked to Shining and the princesses while keeping an eye on the advancing chimera.

“Shiny, Luna and Celestia. Can you three make a magic shield over the town hall?” She questions. The trio nod with some confusion.

“Of course we can young Sparkle, but we wouldn’t be able to aid in fighting this beast if we do so.” Luna says.

“Don’t worry.” The trio turn to Sora as she walks up with a smirk. “Twi, Nat and I can take care of it. You three just focus on keeping the townsponies safe.”

That caught everyone who heard it off guard. Not the Sora and I part, but the Twilight fighting too part.

“Whoa whoa whoa, what? Since when can Twi fight?” Rainbow questions brashly. Her questions just got her caught in a magenta magic aura before being slammed face first into the ground. Twilight looked down to her with an annoyed expression.

“Next time? Think before you talk Dash.” Was her only response before walking past everyone and up to me. I couldn’t look away for a couple seconds before shaking my head.

‘Damn that was hot.’

Twi, Sora and I ran off before the others could protest farther, seeing the chimera nearing closer to the hall. I could see Sora smirking in my peripherals, and I knew she would be fine. Twi might have some trouble since she can’t use her dark magic with Celestia nearby. But I just shook my head and focused on the here and now.

“Hey freakazoid!” I yell, the chimera turning to us and roaring in anger. Huh, I guess this one isn’t all that smart compared to the one AB met later. It bounded towards us and pounced, each of us avoiding it in our own ways. The three of us regrouped as Twilight lit up her finger.

“Solid Script Hole!” As the chimera pounced towards us, Twi made the word appear where we were standing, so while we jumped away, the chimera fell into a ten feet deep hole. I nod to her with a smirk before turning to Sora and motioning to the hole. She smirked as lit up her left arm with rainbow fire.

“Rainbow Flamethrower!”

The beast roared in pain as Sora lit it up, an evil smirk on her face, but it was wiped away as she leapt back from the snake tail trying to bite her and the chimera managed to jump and drag its way out. It was now covered in several burns, some patches of fur missing here and there, yet the snake head looked totally fine. Must be its scales.

“Well that worked out like a charm.” Sora quipped, but I just shook my head and elevated myself away with my Vectors as the hybrid tried to get me. I guess it was annoyed at how I was ‘flying’ because it roared and tried jumping at me. With no success.

“Solid Script Bullet!”

The bullet bolts of magic stuck the chimera on the back, causing it to stagger, and turn to Twilight in anger. That was all the opening I needed. As it turned its back to me, I wound up a quartet of Vectors, and swung them down, slamming the monster to the ground hard enough for the vibrations to be felt from the town hall and for a small cloud of dirt and dust to be kicked up.

The others at the build watched in awe at all this happened, completely stunned by our teamwork. The princesses and Twilights family and friends were most shocked by Twilight’s confidence in ‘battle’.

Though in my opinion it was more of a slaughter.

Checking the chimera closely, it is not getting up again anytime soon, so I look to the others and wave with a smile, signalling the all clear. The royals all released the shield and everyone began to leave, and I had to stop from laughing as I saw Chance and Pandora giving a bunch of fillies and colts a lift.

“Well....that was easy.” Rainbow said. I nod with a grin, stretching my arms out a bit and sighing as I feel them pop.

Twi was looking over the unconscious form of the chimera with a researchers look in her eyes. I guess it was from there is little actually known about chimeras since....well....chimera. As I was talking to the ponies and Twi was looking over the creature, none of us noticed as it was not like we thought. Until...

“TWILIGHT MOVE!”

We all turned at Shining’s shout and saw the tiger head was still awake and moved towards Twilight, likely to try and either bite her head off, or rip a limb off. Twilight’s reaction was just to raise her arm to defend herself. The others moved as the tiger head bit down on her arm hard.

But Twilight didn’t scream, and the chimera didn’t get a taste of blood and bone. Rather, it felt like it tried to bite stone and Twilight clenched her fist as she managed to pushed back, shocking the others in the process.

“What’s the matter? Don’t like the taste?” She mockingly questions as she managed to push the chimera back a bit. “Well too BAD!” She preformed a perfect high kick under the chimera’s chin, causing it to reel back in pain just for Twilight to smash her left hand on its exposed stomach, making it cough up some blood and pushing it onto its back, fully unconscious.

Time slowed down for the ponies as Twilight pulled back. The sleeve of her jacket had been torn off and now everyone had a clear view of Twilights left arm. Twilight’s AMETHYST arm. The mare herself looked to her arm and sighed.

“Damn, that was one of my favourite jackets.” She said as she took her jacket completely off, all but two pairs of eye locked on her left arm. Though her friends did take some moments to go over the rest of her, more specifically her now rather athletic looking and lean back and right arm. I walked over and looked at the damage to the jacket with a small grin.

“Relax Twi, it’s an easy fix with alchemy.” She perked up and blinked a couple times.

“Oh yeah, I forgot you and Sora can do that now.”

I just laughed at her lack of a memory, not noticing as everyone else was frozen as they saw what the nerdy element of magic had become. Sora did, and she just sighed and rubbed her head.

‘This is going to be a long conversation.’

Author's Notes:

It’s back baby! So yes, after some time I am back to updating this story when I can as well as my other ones when I can. We just finished training some new chefs at work as well, so I should be getting some more time after New Years to write more. (Thank Divide Music and Fabvl for musical inspiration when writing. Seriously check them out on YouTube.)

For those who noticed, yes Sora is emulating Todoroki Shoto with her ice and fire magic, and who could blame her. Half-and-Half is sick.

Anyways, I wish you all a belated Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Kwanzaa Ect. And have a great new year.

Looking forwards to 2020