Even after all this time, Spike couldn’t bring himself to set one paw inside her bedroom.

Yet, he couldn’t stay away either. So, he sat just outside the threshold. From there, he could see the two enormous bookcases, each packed to the brim with books on every subject. He could see the scale model of the solar system Moon Dancer had gotten her five years ago. He could see the family portrait—the nice one that had him snuggled in her arms— hanging over her work desk.

And he could see the enormous charred ring of scorched carpet that signified the last moments Twilight Sparkle had spent in this world.

He could even see scorch marks on the ceiling.

“He’s still taking it hard,” Rarity’s voice floated up from the living room below.

Spike’s ears twitched, but he didn’t move from his vigil. He should have been there. He could have helped her. Saved her.

“He’s got a right, ya know.” Applejack sounded defensive. She liked to stand up for Spike, even if he didn’t deserve it. “He got back just in time to see our Twi and that other Sunset get eaten up by a portal? Anyone’s gonna take seeing a thing like that hard.”

Cadance had come over in the last few weeks, becoming the impromptu counselor for the whole family. She’d just gotten Shining Armor to return to work three days ago. Before that, Shining would keep vigil with Spike.

Spike had liked that. Shining’s lap reminded him of Twilight’s. More or less.

As for Twilight’s parents, well, Spike had taken to spending the night with them. At least one of them cried themselves to sleep most nights. Usually, more than one.

“I can’t believe it’s taking them so long!” Rainbow shouted. Spike could hear her stomping around the living room. “Princess Twilight and Sunset should have figured something out by now! It’s been weeks! If they don’t come up with something soon, I say we snatch the TPT-thingy and find them ourselves!”

“Isn’t that… really dangerous?” Fluttershy asked. She’d sometimes sat with him, too. “They told us all about what they went through. Some of those worlds sounded… horrible.”

“We’ve got magic, too!” Rainbow shot back. “We can handle it!”

“The way I see it,” Applejack replied. “Princess Twilight’s a magical powerhouse. Them alicorn’s the most powerful type of pony over in Equestria. And Sunset? She ain’t no slouch. Those two barely survived, R.D. They’re used to magic. What chance you think we got?”

“It galls me to say it, but I must agree with Rainbow, at least in part.” Rarity sighed. “I find it horrid to do nothing while our Twilight is out there, lost and alone! But Sunset said without some way to track her… the chances of finding them are…”

Rarity trailed off. Princess Twilight and Sunset refused to give actual numbers on their odds. Spike didn’t blame them.

Spike stared at the floor and swallowed hard. He might have magic of his own, but there were some instincts he couldn’t avoid. Like the ones that told him the truth.

He slowly pushed himself up, turned tail and headed for the stairs.

“As much fun as it would be to bounce around all the different worlds, I dunno.” Pinkie had been oddly quiet since she’d found out about what happened to Twilight. That unnerved everyone. “If you think about it, there could be like… an infinite number of worlds out there. Rarity’s right. How are we supposed to find our Twilight in all that?”

It had been weeks. Maybe it was time for Spike to just… deal with it.

Spike poked his head out over the stairs and looked down at his friends. The rest of the family had tried to return to their normal lives, more or less. The girls hadn’t. Not yet.

AJ and Rarity sat on the couch. Fluttershy had the love seat and Pinkie had the recliner. Rainbow paced back and forth, looking like she wanted to beat something up.

“We don’t,” Spike said as he padded down the stairs as all eyes turned toward him. “We can’t find her in all that.”

“Spike? Whatever do you mean?” Rarity asked as stared at him. “You can’t be willing to give up on her! Not you of all… well, dogs.”

“I heard Sunset and Princess Twilight talk about it. I’ve heard everyone talk about it,” Spike growled as he padded past them all and hopped up on the ledge overlooking the front yard. “Over and over again. I just… it’s not gonna happen. Too many things could go wrong. Princess Twilight and Sunset said without some way to lock in on them. Our chances are slim… at best.”

He sighed and slumped down, his ears and tail drooping.

“Slim doesn’t mean zero!” Rainbow shot back.

Spike turned and stared at the girl, looking at her balefully. “Really?”

“I don’t like what this has done to you, Spike,” Fluttershy said from her perch on the love seat. “You’re not the same.”

Spike chuckled, his ears drooping even further. “That’s what happens when you see your best friend being swallowed by a ball of purple and orange magic fire.”

No one had a reply to that.

The silence there stretched for a while. Long enough for the first hints of dusk to come out with a darkening sky. The clouds above started to turn pink, but none of the girls left. They needed each other just as much as they knew he needed them. No one left him alone anymore.

He didn’t mind.

Rainbow, of course, eventually broke the silence. She’d plopped herself down between AJ and Rarity.

“So, we want to order pizza again or—”

A loud snap sounded from outside, followed by a pulse that made every hair on his body stand on end.

“Oh goodness, what was that?” Fluttershy asked.

AJ, Rainbow and Pinkie had jumped to their feet, while Rarity was looking around wildly.

“Is it…” Rainbow began.

“No, it felt nothing like that,” Spike answered. “But… it was sorta simil—”

There was someone waving on the sidewalk, though sadly, she wasn’t Twilight. Wrong colors, for one. Looked like an evening jogger, teal and maroon hair in a long ponytail and a pair of glasses.

“What?” Spike said as the rest of the girls crowded around him. “What is…?”

The girl was pointing at someone on the front yard. A smoldering circle of flames that had burned away the grass down to the dirt.

And there was something inside the circle.

Rainbow may have opened the door first, but Spike shot through her legs like a bolt of purple lightning.

“Everything okay?” the girl called.

“Sorry for the bother, but what did you see, miss?” Applejack asked.

“Oh, just a brief little flash and when I came down the sidewalk, that was sitting there, smoldering and smoking! Someone forget a firework?”

“Thank you, my dear… you…” Rarity hesitated. “Sorry, we’ll take care of it.”

Spike leapt through the little curtain of smoke to find a rolled up scorched piece of paper tied with an old shoelace.

“Okay then!” the girl replied. “Good luck!”

And then she continued jogging out of sight.

“I could have sworn I’ve seen her before,” Rarity muttered. “But I can’t fathom where…”

“Come on!” Rainbow snapped. “What is it, Spike?”

Spike had finally gotten the shoestring yanked off the impromptu scroll. It unrolled easily.

The bottom half had been scorched as if put through a fire, but the cramped handwriting he would know anywhere.

“Spike? What is it?” Fluttershy called.

“Come on Spike, don’t… leave…” Applejack trailed off.

Spike ignored them as his heart hammered in his chest.

He read her words, written in that shaky hand she used whenever she was nervous, scared or excited. Or all three.

Spike,

I’m sorry for what happened in my bedroom. I hope you don’t blame yourself. It was an accident. Ended up going on a trip I never expected. If my calculations on time are right, then… you’ll probably know what happened to me by now. Me and… that other Sunset.

I’m okay. More or less. So’s that other Sunset. We’ve… worked some stuff out.

I hope I can make it home. I decided it was worth the power getting you a message saying that we’re okay. I’m okay. Really.

But we’re stuck. At least for now. We’ve got some ideas on how we can get home, but it’ll take a while.

Now, this is important. Sunset says you’ll come charging after us. I’m hoping you’ll listen to reason.

Do not come after us. I know you want to. But you can’t. The things I’ve seen… the things I’ve had to do… it’s too dangerous out here.

Don’t come after us. Don’t come after me.

But please, tell everyone… I’m okay.

Thank you for always being my friend, even before you could talk. Give my family, the girls and everyone else my love.

Oh, and Sunset says she’s sorry, too.

When I get back, I’ll tell you all the wonders I’ve seen.

Hopefully soon.

-Twilight

A few tears fell upon the scroll. Only then did Spike realize all the girls were around him. They’d all read what he’d read.

Silence stretched across the group, interrupted only by the occasional car driving down the street.

“We’re not going to just leave her out there, are we?” Rainbow demanded.

“Didn’t the princess say she just needed something to help find Twilight?” Pinkie asked, a grin forming on her face.

Fluttershy nodded. “Yes, and maybe this is just that something might do it.”

“I can’t think of anything better!” Rarity said with a grin.

“So y’all good with just outright ignoring her request?” Applejack asked.

As one, they looked down to Spike, who placed a paw on the scroll, right below Twilight’s name.

“Yup,” he said. Nothing else was needed.

A resounding cheer went up among the girls. Within five minutes, they were split between Rarity’s SUV and Applejack’s truck, with Spike riding on Fluttershy’s lap. They’d check Sunset’s apartment first and if there was no one home… they’d charge right through the portal itself.

He looked up at Twilight’s window as Applejack peeled away. From here, he could just see the other scorch mark on the ceiling. He swallowed hard, then smiled grimly.

“Don’t worry, Twilight,” he whispered. “We’re coming.”

Rarity hit the gas and they were off. Spike found himself grinning.

“You going to be okay, Spike?” Fluttershy asked as she held him in Rarity’s passenger seat.

“Yup. Now, we can save Twi and find out who that other Sunset was. That letter’s something special, Fluttershy.”

“What’s that?” she asked.

Spike looked up just as the first few stars were starting to peek out. “It's hope. Real hope.”

It's been over a year and a half since I kicked off SunLight Sliders II. Why did it take me so long? Well, a lot of reasons. Many things happened during SLS2. I met folks who would become part of the Nook family. I got to see four amazing comic artists lend their talents to this project. I got to see authors I really admire do incredible things (like Crystal Wishes playing with deerpones!).

However, many not-so-great things happened behind the scenes of SLS2. A vast majority of you don't know what those things are, and I intend to keep it that way. I don't say this to tease you, I say this because a ton of people have come to me and asked "When's SLS3 gonna start?" The simple answer is that it's not, at least not by my hand.

Wrangling 32 (originally 35) authors over the course of four months is no easy feat. Trying to keep those people happy (as well as the various readers), is also no easy feat. To say it's like herding cats would be a disservice to cats everywhere. It was a massive amount of work and something I simply don't have the capacity to do again.

If SLS3 ever happens, it'll be a small, closed group of people that I (and a few others) hand-select. But with life going the way it has been lately, I doubt that day will come.

That being said, no matter what, SLS2 is a massive accomplishment for myself and every single person who contributed. While not all decisions were popular (collaboration projects like this never get 100% buy-in), nearly everyone rolled with the punches to create a story unlike any other.

It's been a wild and crazy trip for the newly reborn SLS: Infinite and for those who've reached this far, congratulations. I hope the ride was, at the very least, entertaining.

Regarding the Epilogue: I came up with the concept of the Epilogue as Posh and I nailed down some details for the ending of SLS2. Sunny and Twi are stranded on a world that's all but dead and have little hope of escaping and next to no hope of rescue. I didn't want to resolve Posh's hanging plot thread, but I did want to make the girl's fate it a little brighter.

When Rose Quill pre-read the new Epilogue, she said it felt very much like an MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) mid-credits scene after the end of the movie. You know what? I'm totally okay with that. That sums things up perfectly.

It also brings things full circle with the ending of SLS1 and the potential for a far greater adventure with Princess Twilight, EqG Spike and the EqG 7 on a quest to bring SciTwi and the "Lost" Sunset Shimmer home. While it's a story I won't be telling, it's a story that's fun to think about.

After all, as Brandon Sanderson said, "There's always another secret."

Thank you for reading SunLight Sliders: Infinite. Please remember, I am not the author of most of this story! 92% of this story was written entirely by other authors. I did a very quick editing pass (using Grammarly and Google Docs), and nothing else. If you enjoyed one of their chapters, please make sure to check out their work! You can find links to all of their FimFic pages (or art pages, as applicable) in the Author's Note of each chapter.

Until next time folks, have fun and stay safe out there in the multiverse. I hear it can be a really crazy place.

-Novel Idea