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Dark Qiviut

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  1. Dark Qiviut
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfw1gDVKBfQ
     
    Following the release of Loyalty, AcousticBrony and MandoPony set such a high bar for high-quality songs in this fandom. Loyalty had that action-packed tone, music, and lyrics that capture Rainbow Dash perfectly. It was such a fantastic song and demonstrated their talent in their singing and composing in their brony music. It would be extremely difficult to top Loyalty in the Element series.
     
    Kindness not only met those expectations. It blew those expectations apart. The music is extremely well-done with a great tone in its melody and instruments. The lyrics flowed extremely well, transitioning the song from one word to another without a hitch. The characterization and main trait of Fluttershy is captured perfectly. It isn't full of action like Loyalty, but it doesn't need to be; the change of tone fits Fluttershy's character perfectly all the while meshing well with the hard rock genre from the fantastic team of MandoPony and AcousticBrony.
     
    But what works extremely well is the overall double message, both Fluttershy's Element and the core community's development. Back when Loyalty was released, the brony fandom was still relatively new and was still growing into its own. This song implies the growth of the fandom since then, and the tone and message reflect this.
     
    Amazing music.
     
    Amazing composition.
     
    Amazing lyrics.
     
    And an overall amazing song.
  2. Dark Qiviut
    For the past two weeks, I've churned out four brony-centric blogs, all very long and rather deep. As a fellow brony who's been seeing some discriminatory brony-bashing as well as annoying dismissals as MLP:FIM being a show "for [little] girls," I feel like I have to show my love as being one in the method I do best: editorial or essay writing. Present pro-brony arguments and demonstrate why being a brony is great.
     
    These are my four pro-brony writings that I've submitted (from earliest date to latest date).
    MLP:FIM Returns the Franchise Where It Belongs: Back to Its Roots — My earliest submission, dated December 2. My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic and the franchise altogether is misconstrued as a show targeted exclusively little girls. However, this essay shows why My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, along with its roots dated back to the early-1980s, is truly an age- and gender-neutral, where it belongs.
    We Bronies Dissect the Show, and It's Grrrreat! — Posted December 10. One unique part of the brony fandom is how we dissect the show and their episodes from its overall premise to its little detail in Rarity's shopping bag. It's sometimes dismissed as over-analyzing or overly critical, but the fact that we bronies analyze these shows to a fault represents how much we care about it. This essay explains why we analyze and why it's important doing so, even if to a fault.
    A Response to "Outsider" Bronies — Posted December 12. This editorial is my most personal of all of the brony essays. It's a response to the "bronies" who feel like they don't belong to the community and why they should love the community rather than bash it and the bronies themselves.
    Bronies and the Explosion of Great Art — Posted December 14. The longest of the essays, at over 12,000 characters. The brony fandom is full of fantastically talented people. Here, I explain why the brony fandom has such an influx of great art every day and how anyone can jump right in and join the fun.

    Now I'm here to ask you which one of these four do you like most. This one will be a little difficult because of each one's specific length.
     
    If you desire, please explain why you chose. (Be advised that any comments by non-mods are still under moderation. As long as it follows the rules of the forum and doesn't devolve into bashing or negatively generalizing bronies or the community [even subtly], I'll approve them for public viewing.)
  3. Dark Qiviut
    Apple Family Reunion was a rather tame episode in comparison to the wackiness and adventure-esque episodes we've seen throughout the season, and it doesn't disappoint. Most previous Applejack episodes revolved around her being stubborn, but it was a completely different case. Instead, it was her eagerness to make this reunion the best one it can be. But sometimes, when you try too hard to make things grander, you run the risk of screwing up. This was one hard lesson Applejack learned after her ideas went horribly wrong one after another with the demolition of the barn being its climax. But she learned that lesson by having everypony teaming together to make things right again. Sometimes, it's not how you start; it's how you finish.
     
    The little things that intrigued me in this episode:
    The pairs of shooting stars in this episode as a symbolic hint to confirm that AJ's/AB's/BM's parents have passed away. While not in the script, it was a great piece of detail to hint it, particularly in a show where its minimum demographic is five to six years old. Death is a very difficult subject to treat right because of its seriousness and deepness. Some family educational shows like Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood, Sesame Street, and Arthur talked about death and handled them both really well. This was a great way to teach it without truly teaching it. Kudos to Sibsy for adding that in.
    The photo album and its memories of the reunion. Granny Smith takes those reunions very seriously and has that passion for everyone in the Apple family to get together, tell stories, or just have quality time when they don't normally have.
    Baby Applejack. Cutest moment in the entire episode. 'Nuff said!
    Babs Seed and Braeburn returning. One of my peeves in this show is characters who have so much potential, only to last one episode only to never return. Like Trixie in episode 5 and Winona and Tank in Episode 3, this is absolutely refreshing to finally see "one-shot" characters returning. Although Braeburn didn't have any lines, it was great to see the close dynamic Babs Seed and Apple Bloom have. Since One Bad Apple, it looks like the two have become rather closer, and that reminds me of my closeness with my cousins.
    Applejack's desire to have the best Apple family reunion. She wanted it to be grand, wonderful, exciting, and memorable for all the right reasons. She has a little bit of Rarity in her, for she wants to give to those and mean nothing except wanting to deliver the best to those she adores.
    Nods of previous episodes, like the gold edible glitter (ala One Bad Apple) and the lightning electrocuting Applejack (ala The Last Roundup).
    How sometimes being simple can create even bigger and better memories, and that's completely true. When you try to do something a little bit more complicated, you run the risk of having things go awry or making lives inadvertently miserable. We saw this in the obstacle course, quilt-making, apple fritters, and the fruit bats aiming at one of the characters' hats.
    Getting the chance to make amends. Applejack wasn't willing to let the reunion end on a sour note, so she and the rest of the family were able to team up and rebuild it. But rather than having everyone do so miserably, they showed their pride, heritage, passion, and love for each other as a big family. And they built it all the while having a great time. It was a bit difficult, but they got the job done just in time.
    Raise This Barn. For the first time, Applejack starred in a song, and as a result, we got to see Ashleigh Ball show what — she's — made — of— whoops, wrong song. Raise This Barn was an excellent tribute to the excellent Square Dance music and dancing itself from in the past. All the while, it's got a little distinct charm and style that makes it unique to the show, Applejack, and the dedicated roots of the Apple family.
    My most favorite moment: How Granny said getting the whole family together is getting more difficult and how many of them may not be able to attend the next one. I think this somewhat hints the age of not only herself, but some of her relatives who grew up with her. Life isn't eternal, and Granny Smith, Aunt Applesauce, and Apple Rose know this. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if those words were partially responsible for Applejack to attempt to make this reunion grander: If it was the last reunion for some of her own generation, make it the best and most memorable it can be.

    It's a completely different pace, but Apple Family Reunion did a really great job nonetheless. Great music. Fantastic animation. Nice nods to Applejack's parents. And an overall fine episode.
     
     
    Source: S03:E08 - Apple Family Reunion
  4. Dark Qiviut
    With the so-called "end of the word" approaching my doorstep soon ( ), it's time to give my thoughts of 2012 in terms of being a brony.
     
    Two springs ago, I began to notice a huge influx of material related to the family-friendly animated show, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, in the form of avatars, icons, and brief discussions. Seeing all of it bewildered me because I never saw the stuff before, and I wondered why it was becoming so popular at such a quick pace. Curious and the fact that I saw people recommend it, I began watching it that very summer — July/August 2011, beginning with the two-part premiere. Suffice it to say, I was hooked and, because I began liking the show, immediately became a brony. Then I began exploring one of the biggest results of this fandom: the creativity. It was not just good work. It was GREAT work. But the fandom didn't stop there. It got BETTER.
     
    Over two years ago, the brony fandom was confined exclusively into 4chan. Then the channers began to promote it off-site to other parts of the Internet, and more bronies became hooked. The word "brony" now became an Internet meme, and the fandom was starting to exponentially grow.
     
    However, with 2011 nearing an end, the meme was aid to come and go, right?
     
    Wrong.
     
    Bronydom became persistent. It passed through 2011 and was slowly becoming bigger than ever. Then in the spring, the brony fandom multiplied with the airing of Canterlot Wedding, inviting more and more people to the fandom.
     
    Here, we came to a big and important conclusion. Bronies wasn't a meme anymore, nor was the brony fandom isn't just a fandom anymore. It evolved into a pop culture phenomenon. It's the Trekkies of the 1970s and 1980s and a much miniature version of the Harry Potter fandom in the early-2000s. The brony fandom became bigger, more recognized throughout media, and greater than ever. We hit bumps in the road, but we always bounce right back up and continue bronying on as we should.
     
    Then, BronyCon hit, my big highlight as a brony this year. 4,000 people came into this packed convention to show off their brony pride. It was big. It was great. It was one of the best weekends of my life! But my most favorite moment here (and as a brony, truly) came at one moment that Saturday, June 30th. While waiting to get my picture taken with Doctor Whooves and Derpy, a little four-year-old girl with her mom and dad in tow saw the duo and became very happy. She wanted to say "hi!" to them. Whooves and Derpy knelt and hugged her, and we all awed at the sight.
     
    And then season three aired with high expectations and an even higher viewing. Although it might've come out as a bit weak, it gave the season and brony fandom a jump start to the excellent episodes that aired later. But even with season three and with the fandom being the highest it's ever been, I dare say that the fandom hasn't even reached its peak yet. It's a great fandom, and it's only going to grow bigger and better. As long as the show stays great, then the fandom will continue to follow it. As long as the fandom is still invested in the product, the bigger and better it'll become and longer staying power the brony fandom has. Do not merely "be" a brony. Be a proud brony! Enjoy it how long it takes, because one day, it'll end, you'll go back and regret not enjoying it sooner.
     
    It's my first full year as a brony. It's been a great year to be a brony. It's great to be a brony. And I'm certainly
    ! 
    May this fandom grow and be bigger and better tomorrow, next year, and the years after that! Brony on, everypony! /)
  5. Dark Qiviut
    This was an astounding episode. For Scootaloo's first episode as a central character, it really didn't disappoint. We saw a lot about her:
     
    1. her desire to be Rainbow Dash's protégé
     
    2. her huge fear that was built from those stories
     
    3. her eventual development as a character
     
    4. her athleticism
     
    Of the three Cutie Mark Crusaders, she's the only character to not have that much development. Whenever she was there, she shared the rest of the CMC's role, sometimes not speaking most. With her finally getting an episode, finally she can garner a bit more attention to herself so we see really serious character development.
     
    The few things that strike me.
     
    1. Luna, obviously, and how she played a role in Scootaloo's dreams. There's a reason why she's the Princess of the Night: when ponies sleep, she keeps an eye on the peace and any possible trouble. Luna noticed Scootaloo having serious nightmares, and she told her to face them. Not only her nightmares, but also her pride. Scootaloo is a proud character who doesn't want to disappoint Rainbow Dash in any way.
     
    2. Scootaloo's pride. She idolizes Rainbow Dash and wants to be her protégé. For her, if she breaks down that "proud" barrier, it equals weakness; Rainbow Dash herself is a very proud character, so RD's core personality rubs onto her. That's why she tried the best she could to hide her fright. Sometimes admitting your weakness is what also makes you even better, and we saw this here. She admitted to being terrified to the point of almost getting herself killed, and now she's a much stronger pegasus emotionally.
     
    3. Scootaloo's scooter. This could hopefully be a major turning point in her character. Since the start of the series, she's always had that scooter to help maneuver. Now she no longer has it to get around. With her scooter gone, perhaps this can give her the ability to develop her ability to fly, swim, dive, glide, run fast, or whatever. Just because she has small wings doesn't mean they're useless.
     
    4. Rainbow Dash herself. Of all the Mane Six/Mane Seven, Rainbow Dash is by far the most difficult character to write because she has so many facets that tie to Rainbow Dash being Rainbow Dash. But for the beginning of the season, her characterization was not well-written, particularly in The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well (as we know). Since then, she's been written in a much better light. Hurricane Fluttershy was, if you ask me, where she stole the show because it took all of her facets and blended them into one, especially her biggest quality: her loyalty to Fluttershy when she was down. In this episode, we saw several bits of her, particularly her playful side while she told those stories, her comforting and care for Scootaloo after she finally admitted to being scared, and helping Scootallo fly around Winsome Falls. But even when Rainbow Dash admitted to being scared of the stories when she was a filly, we still saw that nonchalant pride she expressed when she said she was going to deny "it" (being her initial fright of those stories, too). This episode and Hurricane Fluttershy are her best written episodes characterization-wise since TMMDW.
     
    5. Sweetie Belle's singing. We've seen in this series that she can really sing very well. But to quote Bob Ross, "Talent is a pursued interest." She can sing well, but this song shows that she isn't fully committed into pursuing it and improving her skills. In future episodes, we can hopefully see this pattern of her pursuing her singing capabilities.
     
    Sleepless in Ponyville doesn't eclipse Magic Duel, but this episode and Magic Duel are the best 1-2 episodes of the season so far. Season 3 has carried plenty of momentum, and besides Sombra's lack of fulfilling characterization in The Crystal Empire, it hasn't disappoint. Let's keep it going!
     
    P.S.: And welcome to the team, Corey Powell! For your debut episode, you wrote one of the best episodes in the series.
     
    ———
     
    Source: S03:E06 - Sleepless in Ponyville
  6. Dark Qiviut
    From 1982 to 1994, Bob Ross produced thirty-one television series based on alla prima, a method that allows painters to paint wet paint on top of each other, particularly thin paint over thicker oil paint. At the start of each show, the canvas will look blank or dull, mostly a white canvas (a black canvas at times). Less than thirty minutes later, Ross paints a beautiful masterpiece. But for him, there needed to be a start. This is the review for the biography of Bob Ross, called Bob Ross: The Happy Painter.
     
    A Brief Background
    This biography describes Bob Ross's early life in his homeland of Florida. He was born on October 29, 1942, his father named Jack and his mother name Ollie in Daytona Beach, a small city in Florida at the time. But he grew up mostly in the Orlando area, and he eventually had a half-brother, Jim, after Ollie and Jack divorced. Life for Ross during his younger years was very difficult, according to the PBS-sponsored biography; the family wasn't very wealthy at all, and he had a lot of trouble keeping up the schoolwork as a result.
     
     
     
     
     
    When Ross said he spent nearly half of his life in the military, he really did. At the age of eighteen, Ross joined the Air Force. During his first brief marriage, he had a son, Steve, and would eventually gain custody of him. During a day "in January" (Series 8, Episode 13), 20-year-old Ross and Steve were transfered to Alaska where he "worked as a medical base technician" in Fairbanks. While in Alaska, he met what would be his second wife, Jane, who was a civiian worker there.
     
    To make ends meet, Ross worked as a bartender. In addition, he started to paint traditionally. Utilizing the atmosphere in Alaska that would eventually become his most used subject in Joy of Painting, Ross would paint traditionally on any material he could find, such as kettles and pots, and sell them in the bar.
     
    Then while working there, the bar switched to a public television station, and an episode similar to this came up:
     
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTcBlM3ZVGQ
     
    The instructor in that clip is Bill Alexander, a former World War II veteran on the German side turned painter. Alexander hosted The Magic of Oil Painting, a television painting series that would go on and win an Emmy Award. The method Alexander taught on his show was the wet-on-wet technique. This was the method Bob Ross was looking for, because it would allow him to put up all of his ideas onto the canvas before they escape. And for several years, Bob Ross would actually be an art instructor for Alexander's Magic Art Company.
     
    People Interviewed
    During the biography, plenty of people interviewed, discussed personal experiences with Bob Ross, and shared their admiration for him. Examples include Annette Kowalski (one of the people responsible for running The Joy of Painting and more famous for painting florals), a cameraman named Richard Collins, and his former sister-in-law named Nancy Cox.
     
    Each person interviewed discussed Bob's life, and their stories were briefly yet beautifully told. There feelings were sincere, poignant, and praiseful towards the late painter.
     
    Why It's Great?
    This would not be a review without describing why it is so fantastic. And while I am a huge Bob Ross fan and painter during my free time, this biography is tremendous for several reasons.
     
    1. So many sincere stories are told. Each person interviewed described their joy for the show, especially the people behind the scenes. Annette and Walt Kowalski told stories about Ross throughout most of the biography, such as how she and Ross met and their introduction changed their lives forever. It was not just Kowalski's stories that were told, but also former WIPB station manager, Jim Needham. WIPB was the public television station in Muncie, Indiana, where Ross hosted The Joy of Painting from 1983 to 1994 (Series 2 to 31).
     
    By the way, if you ever go onto the Bob Ross website, you will notice that the series on DVD and the How-To books are only sold from Series 2 to 31. This biography tells viewers why clearly and simply, and there are two (or three, if you want to) REALLY good reasons.
     
    2. So many secrets regarding the production of the show and Bob's life are revealed here. Some secrets are short, while some are described step by step. Some examples include the method of putting the paintings from the television show into the How-To books, the all-black studio, (in the beginning) how Ross loss a digit of his left index finger, his afro, and how Ross eventually created his own product line. These pieces never became long-winded, allowing the biography to flow from one point to another without becoming jarring to the viewer.
     
     
     
     
     
    3. Stories regarding Ross were not the only ones told. Actors, hosts of other shows (Phil Donahue particularly), and other Bob Ross Instructors described their feelings on the wet-on-wet technique. One of them admitted to being absolutely frightened as he was using the signature palette knife on the canvas for the first time.
     
    These stories are also what Ross and his friends felt was the biggest purpose for The Joy of Painting: the instant success as a painter. These purposes strike me as a painter who utilizes this very same method in both acrylics and oils. Ross felt that anybody could paint, and his moral was mentioned several times in the biography and clips from the show. This moral is personal for all ages, and it was said and demonstrated simply. The narrator even mentioned the criticisms surrounding the user-friendly technique at one point.
     
     
     
    4. The music fits, too. Often, music is playing in the background, especially when the main narrator is talking. The music is soft and gentle, in character of Ross's soothing voice. When it was happy, it became upbeat. During rough or sad situations, the music slowed down. The music was a crucial addition that helped convey targeted moods in the biography.
     
    5. Lastly, the story itself was beautiful. The biography tells the long, beautiful story of Bob Ross and how he affected so many lives. Ross and his show influenced millions of people in the U.S. and around the world. His tranquil voice is so iconic that the Japanese did not translate his words. With The Joy of Painting celebrating its thirtieth anniversary this year, the biography represents the history of Ross's life along with the influence The Joy of Painting has on people. So the biography has a slight personal tone towards JoP fans like myself.
     
    Conclusion
    Bob Ross: The Happy Painter celebrates the life of the legendary painter. Born in Daytona Beach, Florida, in 1942, he underwent hardships as an adolescent. But while working in the Air Force, his twelve years in Alaska mesmerized him and allowed him to turn into a world of painting. After discovering The Magic of Oil Painting and Bill Alexander, he became an art instructor and eventually went on to become on of the most well-known television artists in the world. Ross has been a gigantic influence for millions of people since his show went on the airwaves in 1982. Although Ross passed away from lymphoma on Independence Day, 1995, he still lives on in The Joy of Painting and fans alike. On behalf of the Bob Ross fanbase, happy painting, and God Bless.
     
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-uG7ozgiRI
  7. Dark Qiviut
    I've been watching CNN since the election tallies last night, and as the votes come in, the more we're seeing the demographics come up and the more we're seeing in regards to the strengths of the Obama campaign and weaknesses of both the Romney campaign and the GOP entirely.
     
    First, the weaknesses of the Romney campaign:
    Its hard-line stance on immigration reform. There is a huge concentration of Latinos located in the southwest and Colorado. About 65 percent of the people said that the illegal immigrants should get some kind of amnesty. And there's Romney's proposition of self-deportating didn't sit well with the Latinos, especially in the cities and states where they have large populations. Of the 10% of the Latino vote (the first time we've had a vote turnaround in the double digits), Obama won 71% of the Latino vote, and that number is only going to grow.
    Romney's concentration on the rural areas. Looking at the county map only from last night, Romney won about 80 to 82 percent of the counties. Most of them are rural areas where there isn't a lot of population growth. Take a look at Florida, for example. Romney, at this point, won about 85 percent of the counties. But where he wasn't winning at all were the densely populated counties. Obama won about 75 percent of the dense counties, and that's where the majority of the votes come. In Ohio, for instance, most of the population is in the northern area, and they leaned very Democratic. This leads me to this next piece.
    The auto bailout in Ohio. No Republican has ever won the White House and not win Ohio, 2000 being the closest to end it. Northern Ohio is highly industrialized where there are a lot of automobile manufacturing, especially in places like Toledo. Romney was very against it, while Obama pushed it forward. The fact that Obama kept reminding Ohio of the auto bailout and that Obama outperformed in some of the counties there pushed him to the projected win in that state. The same with Virginia. Romney won almost every county in western Virginia, but most of the votes are in Fairfax and its suburbs, and the population is still growing. Obama won decisively there.
    The 47% comment that leaked on national television. Romney bashed one of our biggest hearts. The 47% consists of retirees, military, working-class, disabled, and/or conservative. Biden reminded the public of Romney's comment in the middle of the Vice Presidential debate, and Obama countered Romney with the same number to conclude the second Presidential debate. Romney's comment all but killed him in this election.
    Romney's performance in the third debate. Romney did great in the first debate and held his own in the second. In the third debate, he looked completely unprepared and nervous. It's not how you start. It's how you finish. Romney came out like a lion in the first debate and finished like a lamb in the third. The third debate was hosted in Florida, one of our biggest swing states, and people watched closely.
    Romney's stance on abortion. Take a look at the voting lines between men and women. More men leaned to Romney, but more women leaned to Obama, and women are mostly pro-choice or pro-life with special circumstances. Ryan is pro-life on ALL circumstances, and I wouldn't be shocked if that played some role.
    The inconsistency in the Romney campaign. Obama, whether you love him or hate him, never wavered in his stances. On the other hand, Romney jumped. Romney had no firm line on several provisions economically and socially.

    And now for Obama. He played to his strengths, which are:
    The auto bailout in Ohio. As previously written, northern Ohio is extremely industrialized, and he's overwhelmingly winning the vote in the mainly democratically counties there. When Bush won Ohio in 2004, he was able to win some of the votes there and capture the election. In 2012, Obama is winning there by a 2-1 margin.
    He captured his audiences better, namely Latinos, Black-Americans, working/middle-class, women, youth, and the LGBT. Latinos and Blacks were overwhelmingly for Obama, Latinos backing Obama 71% of the time and blacks by about 93%. Obama is also the first president to formally support same-sex marriage, which is likely why we saw Maine and Maryland legalize it and why Minnesota voters rejected the firm ban. Women also backed Obama about 53 percent in the 2012 elections. And don't forget the youth, which is the 18-29-year-old range. It crept up by one percent, and most of them voted for Obama. We're now in a new generation where younger, more liberal voters are going to get heavily involved in voting and playing a role. According to Politico, there was a HUGE turnout of Black-American voters in Ohio, even bigger than in 2008.
    Obama's stance on abortion. Compared to Romney, Obama is firmly pro-choice. Abortion is a very key issue for women, and that and family matters (and how he was able to connect them better) helped Obama.
    Consistency, consistency, consistency. Obama may have changed his strategy at times, especially after the first debate, but his strategy alteration was by being more confident and assertive. He was absolutely consistent in what he said and proposed. Like I said with Romney, Romney changed his strategy by not having a decisive proposal and/or goal. Obama, on the other hand, did. Obama had a fantastic team that made sure he kept his head out of the sand, develop himself, and always strive to do better. Obama is known as a very good orator, and he showed that.
    The fact that Obama was able to capture his audiences in exactly the right places. Romney won the rural areas, but they don't have a lot of population growth. The majority of the urban areas and suburbs sided with Obama overwhelmingly. Take a look at Ohio and Florida, for instance. Obama didn't win many of the smaller counties, but he won the areas where there was a huge growth in population. The same with Virginia — he won in the big cities, suburbs, and big towns that lean to the left. That's how you win elections: If you can really connect to those big cities, then you will win the election. If you don't, no matter how many counties you win, you may still lose the election.

    Now, how can the GOP recover?
     
    One simple answer: quit leaning far to the fight fiscally and socially.
     
    Over the past decade-plus, the Republican Party was becoming less moderate, and we saw that in 2004, 2005, and the 2006 midterm elections. The American public was generally getting extremely sick of the far-right. And although the GOP won back the House in 2010, it was still leaning far-right thanks to some of the Tea Party politicians. In the Senate elections, Akin and Murdouch each said something incredibly stupid and it cost the election for both. Wisconsin will also have a Democrat, and she will be our first openly gay Senator.
     
    Socially, the GOP can no longer rely on extremely conservative views, especially with regards for abortion, immigration, and same-sex rights. The election made it obvious that those policies are broken and no longer work. Women were turned off by Romney's and Ryan's pro-life views, The LGBT backed Obama extremely, and (if the Exit Polls are reliable), the general Americans desire to ease the pathway to citizenship for illegal and legal immigrants. The U.S. is a world leader, and the election dissections show how much the public wants some of the archaic policies to change.
     
    Fiscally, the same can be said. Republicans have a reputation of favoring the wealthy more over the lower-class and middle-class. The middle-class is likely what will decide our future, because most of our youth is in that fiscal range. The gap between the rich and middle-class is widening, and we need to shrink that in order to hopefully get our economy going. This is why Obama proposed taxes on the super wealthy and why he wants companies who outsource to be responsible, so the middle-class can have a better opportunity to prosper. Trickle-down economics from decades ago (and the 2000s) no longer work because we need to build two huge suspension bridges to close it.
     
    Following the midterm elections in 2010, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's goal, on behalf of the GOP, was to make Obama a one-term president. That opportunity is now gone. The GOP and Democrats now have to cooperate in order to put this country back on track, and it starts by putting aside the archaic far-right policies of the brazen Republicans and Tea Party and opening up to the now growing youth and minority audiences.
  8. Dark Qiviut
    In the 1950s and most of the 1960s, non-heterosexuals were shunned and persecuted, resulting in them being forced to live in the closet with only a few small communities to support them. Homosexuals and bisexuals were viewed as a cancer to American society and psychologists. If found out, there was a huge possibility that they would be sent to "reparative" therapy or camps to "cure" these individuals of their homosexuality. Then, on the morning of June 28, 1969, at a small bar called the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, police raided the bar and inappropriately touched some of the cross-dressers there. The pro-gay community responded by protesting and rioting, telling the government they had enough of the humiliation, persecution, and shun. This resulted in the first Gay Pride parade in 1970 on the first anniversary of the riot.
     
    Over the years, the Gay Pride liberation movement was slow but steady due to the ill-conceived perception of HIV and AIDS being exclusive to the LGBT. Following the passing of the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996 (prohibiting benefits for same-sex marriages and all but verifying marriage as between a man and a woman), the LGBT exploded back onto front-page news in the U.S. Since 2000, Gay Pride and the LGBT civil rights movement has spread quickly across North America and most of Europe, with civil unions and gay marriage approved and performed throughout most of the European Union, South Africa, Australia, Canada, and several U.S. states.
     
    Today, same-sex rights further entered into the forefront of Western politics, especially in the United States. President Obama has formally announced his support for same-sex marriage, putting same-sex marriage and its subsequent benefits and same-sex social rights deeper into American politics. However, there have been doubts and pointless dismissals against continuing Gay Pride lately, particularly by those outside the movement. To them, Gay Pride is viewed as unnecessary, pointless, and even stupid. Also, some people have counter-protested via tiny "Straight Pride" protests.
     
    Gay Pride and their parades have huge, purposeful importance that. The Gay Pride parade was born on the first anniversary of the Stonewall Riot in 1970 with the purpose of giving the LGBT(I) equal protection and recognition of the law and spreading others who are gay, bisexual, transsexual/gender, and eventually intersex and pansexual confidence and comfort for being who they are. That them being shunned by their families/government and sometimes thrown to therapies and camps for an innate, born orientation (even though transgender and intersex aren't orientations) is unethical, disgusting, and just plain wrong! These protests made the governments internationally notice and reply, and in several western civilizations, they've worked. The United States, in particular, have occasional parades, including New York (the movement's birthright) to continue to spread the hope and confidence of giving the LGBT(I) people equal rights. They do this to continue to remind them of the progress of providing equal civil rights to them just like heterosexuals. Discontinuing the Pride parades would mean giving up on the progress and sending a message of hopelessness to the rest of the LGBT(I) and its supporters.
     
    As for the "Straight Pride" counter-protests, in comparison to Gay Pride, these "protests" are completely unnecessary, for heterosexuals are already provided equal protection of the law throughout most of the entire western world, both as single and as a couple. Unlike the LGBT(I), they never had to live in fear of discrimination, persecution, and abuse from the law, family, and society due to a so-called "sexual abnormality." Also, unlike Gay Pride, "Straight Pride" is mostly designed to fallaciously respond to Gay Pride and push the LGBT(I) community and messages of equal rights and hope further into the background.
     
    Although the American society is progressing slowly towards providing the LGBT(I) equal protection of the law, there are LGBT(I) people, minors and adults, who are still living in the closet from fear of rejection, persecution, and discrimination. I made posts in this thread discussing California's recent ban on gay teen "reparative" therapies. Moreover, one town in Minnesota had a huge chain of events where teens committed suicide because they were bullied for being gay or possibly being gay. Earlier this year, North Carolina citizens voted to pass a state constitutional amendment banning gay marriage! And don't get me started on the disgusting discrimination of the LGBT(I) in parts of Africa and the Middle East such as Sudan, Uganda, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Iran. In the U.S., whenever the same-sex-rights movement takes one huge step forward, there are two steps back, followed by another huge step forward. Gay Pride is still needed to continually spread hope, confidence, and comfort to other people who are gay, bisexual, transsexual/gender, etc.! If you dismiss Gay Pride and their parades today, then you're diminishing Gay Pride's importance towards the LGBT(I) movement in the U.S. and around the world and also its important origins.
  9. Dark Qiviut
    Back in late July/early August, Chick-Fil-A president Dan Cathy admitted to the radio that he donated to charities and churcheswho are both against gay marriage and gay rights altogether. One of the most notorious charities was the Family Research Council, an anti-gay rights hate group who famously lobbied money to not condemn Uganda's bill to execute people just for being gay. This topic was heavily talked about here to the point where it was locked because it was becoming uncivil.
     
    Some of the protests include not allowing Chick-Fil-A restaurants to expand into campuses and cities where gay rights activities are in the forefront, one of them being Chicago. This piece of news occurred four days ago:

     
    Here's the link to the piece.
     
    And here's a much longer article courtesy of Yahoo.
     
    My reaction?
     
    This is actually supposedly a major step in the right direction. Contrary to what some people said, what Cathy said and did was very dangerous. If he were someone who was alone, unknown, and was speaking for himself, there may not be as much controversy. However, he demonstrated his anti-same sex marriage beliefs and "charity" donations as basically the entire core of the restaurant from the CEO/Owner to the employees. His words, therefore, were put into a much larger context. He and his company were justifiably criticized and blasted for not only their words, but for also donating money that customers paid to anti-gay right charities and hate groups. Therefore, the supposed harassment of CFA's employees — cooks, waiters, etc. — were one hundred percent Cathy's own fault because he put them in danger. Expressing an opinion doesn't mean guarantee freedom of financial and personal consequences.
     
    However, now that CFA supposedly won't donate any more money to anti-LGBT charities, will I eat at any of the restaurants?
     
    No.
     
    One is the fact that I want no association with someone who donated any money for the sake of "protecting traditional marriage," which is a major fallacy. There hasn't been one good reason why same sex marriage — NOT civil unions, as they're mostly recognized state-wide only; don't offer the same federal legal status protections, benefits, and recognitions as marriage in most states; and the words "civil union" psychologically translate into being part of "different, inferior" class status-wise to plenty of the LGBT and its activists — shouldn't be legalized and recognized throughout the U.S. Every argument against it has been poorly thought out or uses religion as a crutch. In the U.S., using religious as a reason to outlaw constitutional civil rights is against the law.
     
    The other reason is the fact that I have absolutely zero trust in Cathy and the higher-ups in Chick-Fil-A. Here's an article that describes this alleged new practice and an excerpt from the article:
    Basically, the funds they'll get is indirect. Not from WinShape, but to groups personally, who in turn donate to the anti-gay (marriage) groups like the Family Research Council. If they're going to donate and associate themselves that way, then that's still create a problem for simply one reason.
     
    Dan Cathy lied!
     
    According to meetings in Chicago, CFA claimed to quit donating to anti-gay marriage churches and charities. This practice, while legal, is conniving because he's donating via other means. Cathy's claim was a bold-face lie because the charities he associates with will still receive donations.
     
    It also doesn't help when Cathy denied giving these "concessions" so they can build a restaurant branch in Chicago, which is considered one of the more liberal cities in the U.S.
     
    The previous announcement earlier this week was a major step in the right direction. Unfortunately, Cathy gave the movement the other cold shoulder via attending the "charity" as well as making this statement.
     
    Not cool!
  10. Dark Qiviut
    Warning: Spoilers for The Times They Are a Changeling. Read at your own risk.
     

     
    A really big weakness in the first four-plus seasons was Spike's characterization. Examples include turning him into an unfunny victim of comedy "because Spikabuse is so funny"; derailing him into an greedy, dumb, and/or antagonistic shell of himself; shifting (all of) the blame to him; and being the star of some awful episodes when he's really good. When he's good, it's normally when he's a secondary character. Pre-S6, his best roles were Lesson Zero and EQG1. Yet, when he's the star, something happens for reasons I don't know. It's like they didn't know what to do with him and write an episode while tagging his name on the paper. Examples include:
    Owl's Well: Make Spike feel jealous even though he has very good reasons to believe he's being replaced. Dragon Quest: His best characterization as a mane character, yet it fails for unfortunate implications and usage of horrible stereotypes. Spike at Your Service: Disregarding past continuity to make him incapable of doing the simplest jobs. Equestria Games: Halfway through, he turns into an idiot. Princess Spike: The quintessential awful Spike episode. Blatant contrivances, idiot!Spike, Spike's greed blamed for the problems when it's a non sequitur, and an ending with major sexist implications. If there was an episode where I'd say the show jumped the shark, this was it.

    But ever since Princess Spike, his characterization significantly improved in a few ways:
    Characterization consistency. There's been one or two episodes where he was hit with the buttmonkey status, notably in Newbie Dash as the tertiary comic relief. Other than that, there's been way more effort into giving him the treatment he deserves. Amending Fences and The Cutie Re-Mark in season five are two obvious examples. But season six is the most obvious. I'll get to that point in a bit. He actually feels like a character. The Mane Six are all very likable, well-rounded, believable, and relatable. Unfortunately, Spike was the odd one out with the most inconsistency of the seven (now eight with Starlight). Today, his best qualities are not only brought to the forefront. Now he has flaws that make sense. It's like they take the best of Spike (A Dog & Pony Show, Lesson Zero, Dragon Quest, EQG1 & RR, Simple Ways, and Castle Sweet Castle) and develop him through there. The roles given to him feel like he belongs. He spoke not much in Amending Fences, but he has reason to be there, and his role in giving Moondancer the picture in the frame brought that hanging plot closure. In The Crystalling, he and Starlight began a really good friendship; they understand each other and want to make things right. Spike wants to fulfill Twilight's mission of Starlight understanding the Magic of Friendship, while Starlight wants to patch things up with Sunburst. In the end, they figure out their way of solving her friendship problem.
     
    But then come his two episodes, Gauntlet of Fire and The Times They Are a Changeling.
     
    GoF reopened a hanging plot from DQ, and Lewis and Songco provided some level of closure. Not all dragons are sexist bullies. He regains respect for his race and understands them more. Ember is an excellent character. By winning the gauntlet and passing the scepter to Ember, he gains an ally in the Dragon Kingdom. It's his best strengths-focused characterization.
     
    Times gives us his most balanced characterization yet: flawed and prone to making mistakes without making him OOC, very responsible, and willing to sacrifice his reputation to do what he believes is right. Him befriending a race with a notorious history is something he can relate to. Thorax wants to understand the Magic of Friendship, and Spike bridges the gap to help him. Character development from past episodes sticks, and both episodes are for the better. This is his Wonderbolts Academy. Here's my mini-review for it.

    I don't have any idea why that's the case. I have two theories:
    Complaints of his characterization in seasons three and four impacts the rest of season five and this season. As written before, his low-quality episodes have always been a very sore spot for FIM. Following Equestria Games (which was sharply criticized for many reasons, one being Spike's characterization), DHX went back to take a look at what they can do better for him. Unfortunately, Princess Spike was too far in development to make changes, but they seem like they realize they can write him better. Since PS, DHX has put more and more effort into his character, and my theory is the criticisms helped give Spike some much-needed direction. Josh Haber becomes the editor for season six: Aside from McCarthy, he gets Spike. He writes Spike better than almost anyone on the team, and him being there gives the writers a direction for the little dragon. Haber becoming the editor might be the best thing to happen to Spike.

    Regardless how you feel about season six, there's one thing it does so well: Spike is getting the treatment he rightfully deserves. I don't know if DHX'll return to their old habits, but if they continue this current treatment, it'll be easily his best season yet.
  11. Dark Qiviut
    In two parts, I wrote about Princess Celestia and Luna telling the Mane Six and Sunset Pie Shimmer about King Arion and him writing the mirror to forge trade without traveling long-distance and threatening other's lives. Here, I forged a draft of King Arion's spell, which describes how it's made and who's permitted to access the portal.
     



    Authored by Arion, Holy King of the Unnamed Land of Bridlemartis


     

    The Mirror of Transport, Preamble


     
    From the plentiful rainforests of the mainland to the permanent cloudscapes to arid countries ascending the crisp sky, Ponies of all races, and every Species known to The Land, have the ability to travel afar. Sentient and insentient Beings walk, run, eat, drink, and sleep every day. Sometimes a Being withholds survival after incapability of living in the conditions requiring them of mandatory service, either by him or via generous aid.
     
    Along the equator, our Kingdom is perched on a faraway land deep in the sky. Unicorns, Pegasi, and Earth Ponies harmonize, travel, and live together to thrive a moral and self-healthy economy. Pegasi travel thousands of meters to faraway countries, many of whom are not ruled by Ponykind, but Otherkind, to create political relationships, trade, and forge peace to The Land. No Kingdom shall attempt to exclude or abridge the relationships, civility, and rights of Allkind, Pony or Other.
     
    Under the leadership of King Arion, his arid land lives Centuries-long in harmony with Otherkind. Unfortunately, Pegasi living under King Arion travel far away, sometimes without food or water, for several days, and they return emaciated, oftentimes not surviving. His Kingdom cannot survive unless all Kingdoms come together to forge a brand-new technological policy.
     
    Dozens of Unicorns, Pegasi, and Earth Ponies that once greeted Death are spiritually revived, for King Arion excavated graves of lost civilizations. Weeks died underneath sacred and secret witchcraft magically disguised and vented without guidance of those living in his Kingdom and The Land lest permitted and never to speak unto Death and King Arion greet as brothers. Only the Rulers of their Kingdoms are expressly permitted to read his bewitched secrets.
     
    Two spells King Arion conjured for the Mirror.
    An existing spell dating back several Millennia, created by a powerful unicorn witch named Constelle. Over twenty hours, King Arion’s horn transformed the cremated glass permanent from shatters, cracks, or weather, be there accidental, intentional, or a consequence of generational use or age. This spell: the Mirror of Transport.

    With the combination of Constelle’s and King Arion’s spell and two other ingredients, his Kingdom will prosper second to second, day to day, year to year. No more will Pegasi, Unicorn, or Earth force himself or herself to flee time or danger.
     


     


    The Mirror of Transport


     

    Trade is vital for our Kingdom’s survival. No Pony is capable to live there without cooperation of every Kingdom. Growing food and crops in the Unnamed Land is impossible. Therefore, under the use of a combination of Century-old sheepskin and cowskin parchment, embalmed under a careful brew of gremlin spit and water from the Holy Sea near the western border in the continent of Khasma, King Arion concocts a spell for simple mode of transportation for:
    Delegates Kingdom Representatives Kingdom Diplomats Kingdom Rulers Free trade of supplies and goods Citizens whose intent is to export and import Guests under King Arion’s exemption Water exportation and importation

    Although twelve feet long, the Mirror is of colossal height: 20 feet high, covering the wall from the floor to the ceiling of a secret Room bewitched by King Arion himself so no Being other than the permitted would temporarily realize its existence.
     

    Under leadership of King Arion, the Mirror is capable of traveling from country to country without flight, walk, or uncertainty of death. The process is as follows:
    A permitted Being walks through the Mirror into a portal bridging either the home of the Mirror or any of the palaces in Otherkind’s Kingdom. He or She elects the portal of choice, either one of the Other Kingdoms or returning from whence he or she came.
     

    a. At no point will Anykind use the Mirror to enter a Kingdom in which He or She is prohibited from entering. Automatic curfews and locks are to be in place by the presiding rulers to lock intruders out.
     
    b. If at any point Anykind intrudes a Kingdom through the Mirror, the Mirror will arrest the Intruder in an Automatic Petrification latched onto the entrance of the portal by the Powers of the Rulers forged through Our One Council. If not the Mirror itself and heading from one Kingdom to another, a permitted Being walks through the designated entrance into a portal bridging either the home of the Mirror or any of the palaces in Otherkind’s Kingdom. He or She elects the portal of choice, either one of the Other Kingdoms — including the home of Arion’s Mirror — or returning from whence he or she came. The portal is a room of pink that is soft, warm, yet muted to comfort the visions of Everykind living in The Land. Depending on comfort of the Being, colors may change for Him or Her eyesight only. To grant permission, designate letter of permission to King Arion, who will grant it in separate sheepskin parchment. There are six designated entrances to the portal, all permitted by the Rulers and Monarchs for usage. Each is located at the following:
     

    a. Parliament of Maretonia: A thriving Parliament ruling into prosperity without Monarchy, located deep in the Continent of Khamsa. Inside the Duke and Duchess’s temple, a hidden Throne Room within a dark, enclosed basement encircled with shelves full of books, parchment on a desk, and a black wall with the thrones facing away. Entrance is the black wall, permitted for Duke Mustednos, Duchess Lysinda, and Heir Prince Ematha only.
     
    b. Federation of Muniqi & Maanagi: The primary castle of the Khamsian country is in the epicenter in the enclaved Administrative Division in northeast Muniqi. There are four towers, one for Administrative meetings, one for privacy between the King and Queen, two for studies. In the shortest tower for studying, a doorknob is bolted within the bookcase. Touching and turning the doorknob activates the entrance. Walk through the bookcase to enter the portal. Be cautioned, for the Being must empty the bookcase before entering. Permitted for King Baharat and Queen Adabaalia only.
     
    c. Kingdom of Whitetail: Deep in the continent of Cervidoe is Whitetail, a mountain-range country deep in the northwest of the Western hemisphere. One of the towns in the high range region of Denali lives Aspen, the forest Prince of Whitetail. Aspen spends time living in two houses, each with a cellar. One of them, furthest to the north, has a mirror-to-ceiling wall mirror. Walk through the mirror to enter the portal. Permitted for King Aspen only.
     
    d. Kingdom of Atropia: A faraway Kingdom of Warmth and Fire, protected by the youth and the wise. Aturpatian Dragons freely roam this beautiful land. As volcanoes erupt and bloom ash into the crystal-blue sky, ash trees eat away the excess and control weather throughout the Country. Ruling this Land, the Queen, Commander Tinder, who dwells peacefully on an island adjacent to the mainland, which used to be a volcano æons ago. The entrance: the end of the tunnel that leads to the volcano’s base; peer within the dark grounds of the extinct existence for a mural, etched in white ink, in the shape of an arch. Permitted for Queen Tinder only.
     
    e. Republic of Cloudsdale: Thousands of feet deep in the rich skies of the Divided States of Canternica, a City-State blooms flight. Thousands of Pegasi tear through Canternica’s skies and thrive to deliver a quality of Life for every Being below, come Pony or Other. Former Commander and current Ruler, King Q. Mulo Nimbus leads in a castle with Queen Incus within a makeshift cumulus cloud. Along the cold base of the castle: a hidden passageway surrounded by three walls. Walk through the South wall to enter the portal. Permitted for King Q. Mulo Nimbus and Queen Incus only.
     
    f. Kingdom of Ceresia. The most diverse and progressive Country in The Land. Every Being known to Everykind, from Ponies of all Races to Omvual Dragons to Wolves, balance the kingdom to help create a wonderland of beauty and peace. A Bihorned Sphinx, Queen Ceres, leads and guards the wondrous Paradise and splits her time in a cottage deep in the Orgro Forest and in her castle in the Festival capital of Cerealia. Beneath her Throne lies a secret passageway of glistening sapphire walls in that can only be accessed via a magic spell. Walk to the end of the passageway to meet the faraway wall; walk through that wall to enter the portal. Permitted for Queen Ceres only.



    The Mirror of Transport, Our One Council Members


     

    Under Leadership of Every Ruler is the creation of a Council, whose purpose is for trade, peace, harmony, and diplomacy. No Member of Our One Council is permanent. At the discretion of King Arion or the Other Continuants of the Council, more Countries of their respected Rulers are permitted to access the Portal and join Our One Council’s powers that be or ejected if corrupted. Once Our One Council agrees to eject a Member, access to the portal and Mirror by Arion, Holy King of the Unnamed Land of Bridlemartis
     
    Today, Our One Council is consisted of the following Members:
    Ceres, King of the Kingdom of Ceresia Q. Mulo Nimbus & Incus, King & Queen of the Republic of Cloudsdale Tinder, Queen & Commander of the Kingdom of Atropia Aspen, Prince of the Kingdom of Whitetail Baharat & Adabaalia, King & Queen of the Federation of Muniqi & Maanagi Duke Mustednos, Duchess Lysinda, and Heir Prince Ematha, Duke, Duchess, & Heir Prince of the Parliament of Maretonia. Arion, Holy King the Unnamed Land of Bridlemartis & Spell Author of the Mirror of Transport


     

    Reference Guide for the spell:
     
    Khamsa: Reference of Al Khamsa, used to classify desert-bred bloodline purity of Arabian Horses.
     
    Muniqi & Maanagi: 20th-Century writer Carl Raswan believed there were three strains of Al Khamsa horses: Kwhilan, Seglawi, and Muniqi or Maanagi.
     
    “Federation of Muniqi & Maanagi” is a play on the current European federation Bosnia & Herzegovina.
     
    Baharat: combination of spices.
     
    Adabaalia: Portmanteau of two Islamic names for females: Aadab (hope, need) and Aalia (exhalted, noble).
     
    Ematha: References Emathus, son of Makednos.
     
    Mustednos: References Makednos, mythological ancestor of ancient Macedonians.
     
    Lysinda: References Lysander, another term for “peace.”
     
    Ceres: Roman goddess of agriculture and grain. Description based off “Cerealia,” a major festival to honor Ceres.
     
    Q. Mulo Nimbus: Pun on “Cumulonimbus,” a type of cloud.
     
    Incus: Latin for “anvil,” a cumulonimbus cloud with a flat, anvil-top shape.
     
    Atropia: Based on “Atropates,” defined as “protected by fire.”
     
    Aturpatian Dragons: “Aturpat,” which covers the same definition. Dragons who are protected by fire.
     
    Bridlemartis: a play on "Britomartis," the Minoan goddess of mountains and hunting. Unnamed kingdom (later Arion Stratus) named after the idea of a desert kingdom thriving high in the sky.
     
    Holy Sea: A play on “Holy See” and the Dead Sea.
     
    Constelle: Play on “Constellation.”
     
    Style of the spell is written this way after reading the style written for the Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution, and various constitutional amendments in its early years.
     

     
    Source: Fanfic concept: an Equestria Girls rewrite
  12. Dark Qiviut
    American chess master Paul Morphy is widely considered to be the greatest chess player in the 19th Century. Many of his chess matches are used to teach others about the game, from rapid piece development to sacrifices. His most famous, and widely considered the most beautiful, game took place in a Paris opera house in 1858. Morphy — playing the white pieces — faced the partnership of the Duke of Brunswick and Count Isouard. Watch how it unfolds.
     

  14. Dark Qiviut
    Back with two planned chapters of my EQG1 rewrite!
     

     
    Chapter 12: I’m On My Way
     
    Sunset Pie Shimmer chose to return to Canterlot via the early-morning express, so she kissed each of her family on the cheek, laid down her diary and supplies on the bedroom table with a note on top, and left. Written was as follows:
     
    Mama, Papa, Solsty, here’s my diary. Write to me and Pinkie-Mommy in the other world by using the magic quill. After each message, the diary will glow and flicker. I’ll write to you the second Pinkie-Mommy arrives with hers.
     
    Love you so much. See y’all in two days!
     
    Sunset Pie Shimmer
     
    She arrived in Canterlot and entered the closed castle safely. Because it was only 7am, she toured the castle for a quick breakfast and then skipped along to her old study. Closed books lay everywhere. Nearly every shelf on the second floor was completely empty. Everypony was sound asleep on the first floor in makeshift cots, some of them snoring and making funny noises. Giggling quietly, she slowly closed the door, walked back into the castle and passed the Throne Room.
     
    A few steps after passing the doors, they opened, and Celestia walked out.
     
    “Good morning, Sunset.”
     
    “Morning, Princess. Y’heard me coming, didn’t you?”
     
    “Philomena sensed your presence.”
     
    “Oh.” She peered inside the room. Philomena perched on her stand beside the throne. As she trotted towards her, she said, “Long time, no see, Philomena.”
     
    With a kind squawk, Philomena bowed.
     
    Sunset checked her watch. 8am. “Hmm…I got some time.” With her tail, she unveiled a lime green ball, and she started shaking it high above her. “Philo, Philo,” she whispered.
     
    Philomena’s ears rang, and she immediately wiggled her tail.
     
    After a couple of quick side-peaks, she flicked it to her right and whispered, “Go!”
     
    Wings expanded, Philomena launched herself off the stand and darted after it.
     
    Just as it descended, Philomena snagged it with her beak and cawed loudly.
     
    “Great catch, Philo!” cheered Sunset and clapped her hooves in excitement.
     
    Cawing again, Philomena dropped her treasure as she glided over and by her. As she turned around to land, Sunset jiggled the ball again, and Philomena’s yellow eyes stared hard at it. Green and bright, it hugged the end of Sunset’s tail, and it swayed as Sunset wiggled her hips.
     
    “Catch!” called the unicorn and flung it to her right again.
     
    Wings flapping rapidly, the phoenix flew after it. Yellow eyes glared at the ball as it reached its apex. She descended a little at a high speed and ascended.
     
    Then, the ball began to tumble.
     
    CAW!!!
     
    Talons squeezed the ball as she zipped by. As Sunset and Celestia cheered, Philomena grinned and landed on her stand with her free right claws.
     
    Sunset galloped to the throne, jumped up, and stroked her back. “Bravo, Philo! Great girl. Please play with it while I’m away, okay?”
     
    Philomena nodded, still grinning.
     
    Giggling, they nuzzled their heads, and Philomena wrapped her wings gently around her neck. When they let go, Sunset jumped down and galloped out the door.
     
    Celestia: You miss playing with her.
     
    Sunset: Definitely. *happy sigh*
     
    Celestia: Reminds me of a little unicorn I know.
     
    Sunset: Used to know.
     
    Celestia: Filly or mare, you’re still you, Sunset.
     
    Sunset *resigned*: I…guess you’re right.
     
    Celestia: So, do you want to talk for a few minutes?
     
    Sunset: Well, since Pinkie-Mommy won’t be at the statue till nine, maybe a talk won’t hurt.
     
    Celestia: You don’t want to talk. I can tell through your voice.
     
    Sunset: *sigh* Not at all.
     
    Celestia: Sunset, I know you’re hurting. *looks down* You have every right to be.
     
    Sunset said nothing.
     
    Celestia: You don’t have to talk, Sunset. I understand. *stopped walking as Sunset continued, her muzzle looking down* Do you want me to leave you alone?
     
    Sunset stopped and sat down. “Princess…” she patted beside her, “…please come over.”
     
    Celestia walked over.
     
    “I’ve been thinking… You don’t believe you’re a monster…do you?”
     
    Celestia kept her head down.
     
    “Princess…”
     
    Celestia sighed. “I expected really hard feelings from you. If you believe you shouldn’t, don’t. You have every right to be…” Her voice faded into a whisper, but it perked again. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe I am a monster.”
     
    An amber hoof caressed her chin and slowly pulled her neck to her till their muzzles were approximately five inches from each other. “You hurt me eleven years ago. Do I know if this pain will ever go away? I don’t.”
     
    Celestia’s eyes watched the floor.
     
    “Princess, look at me.”
     
    She did.
     
    “But no matter what I say…no matter what you think…you’re not a monster.”
     
    She lunged, wrapped her front hooves loosely around Celestia’s neck, and allowed her eyelids to slowly close. Off-white fur felt as warm as the summer heat and as light as a bright, orange glow. Celestia’s heart pumped rapidly. For the first time in years, her crown felt lighter.
     
    As a small tear trickled down her left cheek, Celestia wrapped her left hoof around Sunset and closed her eyes. Green eyes never shrank. No eyelids snapped open. No gasp. Instead, she leaned forward and hugged her a little more snugly.
     
    Their embrace lasted for over a minute when Sunset opened her eyes and leaned back. “By the way, y’have a little search party to continue, don’t you?”
     
    She hummed and nodded in reply.
     
    As they let go, Sunset asked, “Princess, can I ask you a favor?”
     
    “Yes, please.”
     
    “Monday night…can we meet for dinner and tea here?”
     
    “Yes, yes, yes!”
     
    “Yay! Awesome!” She looked at her watch and gasped. “Oh, shoot! I’ll be late! Bye, Princess!” She zipped down the hall, but skidded to a halt instantly. Chuckling out of embarrassment, she looked back and asked, “Where’s the Reflection Room?”
     
    Princess Celestia chuckled. “I’ll take you there.”
     
    Her horn glowed, and in a series of fades, both ponies soon arrived inside. Unlike before, neither of them needed to light up their horns, as two bright orbs of light levitated about a foot from the ceiling. Aside from the brightness, nothing changed exception the placement of the presentation desk, which was in the center of the room and right in between of the door and mirror.
     
    But the glass case was missing.
     
    “Wait a sec!” exclaimed Sunset, walking over to the podium. Sitting on top was a book with two quills on its left and a closed bottle of ink opposite it. Her cutie mark was embroidered on the middle of the familiar brown cover. A light gray sack hung on a tack on the lower-right edge. “Is that—?”
     
    Celestia smiled. “After we adjourned from our meeting in Grazewood, I believed you needed an extra diary to help you communicate with your loved ones more easily,” she explained as Sunset grabbed them with her magic. “If you want to communicate with just one diary, I linked each with letters. The one you’re holding now is Diary A. Pinkie’s there is Diary P. The Shimmers’ is Diary S. To activate the spell, write the letter in single-quotes before writing your message.”
     
    Sunset dipped a quill in ink. “Not case-sensitive, is it?”
     
    “No.”
     
    Smiling, she wrote her note in the latest fresh piece of paper.
     
    ‘P’ & ‘S’
     
    Hey, Pinkie-Mommy and Mama and Papa Shimmer! I’m writing to all o’ you in a brand-new journal!
     
    Don’t worry about the letters on top. Princess Celestia magically linked each journal with a letter. Mine is ‘A.’ Pinkie-Mommy, yours is ‘P.’ Mama and Papa, yours is ‘S.’ Contact any journal specifically by writing the letter in single-quote (look above) above your message. I’ll explain better in a little while. Meantime, write the letter somewhere on the cover in a visible color, preferably permanent.
     
    Right now, I’m in Canterlot and will be crossing through the portal shortly.
     
    Love y’all! XOXO!
     
    Sunset Pie Shimmer
     
    She dried the quill with magic and put it in her sack, a little smirk on her face. “You linked a journal with mine, didn’t-cha?”
     
    “You know me too well. Mine’s Diary C,” replied Celestia. “Don’t worry, mine is completely empty and won’t be contacted unless you write in my diary link.”
     
    “Hmmmmmmm…” Conspicuous eyebrows furrowed forward in a slight angle as she faced her. Green eyes dulled. Mouth shifted. A cheek puffed with air. Her right front hoof lightly tapped the floor.
     
    “Hhhhmmmmmmm…” Certain eyebrows furrowed forward in a slight angle. Purple eyes shone brightly.
     
    Sunset’s cheek muscles strained, and her lips competed with her puffed-up cheek… But oxygen wasn’t containable.
     
    At last, she broke into a smile, exhaled, and laughed. “Okay, okay, I believe you.”
     
    After checking her bag to make sure she was packed, she put the diary away and then checked her watch.
     
    “8:43. Time t’go.”
     
    She put the sack around her back and began walking toward the mirror. As she stepped closer, attention to her horn increased. With each throb, she shivered, and bit her lip to not grumble outwardly.
     
    With a heavy sigh, she stared at the mirror. One foot away. Red and gold around towering shatterproof glass. A reach to cross the bridge and back in Canterlot City—
     
    She looked back.
     
    “Princess Celestia?”
     
    She never moved. Her muzzle, irises, and smile gleamed. “Yes, Sunset?”
     
    Smiling, she put her left hoof on her mouth, kissed it, and blew it towards her. “Thank you.”
     
    Celestia nodded in reply.
     
    With glistening eyes, Sunset leapt forward and vanished through King Arion’s mirror.
     

     
    Chapter 13: May I Have This Dance?
     
    At 8:46, Sunset arrived back in Canterlot City. She can feel her human extremities again: the toes within her shoes and especially her fingers. But her horn was missing. If there was some kind of spell to include some wand to replace it, then maybe the sensation on the middle of her forehead will become more tolerable. Unfortunately, nobody was here, so she informed both parties of their arrival, this time by not writing in the code letters. While she waited, she sat down at the steps where Old Iron stood on guard.
     
    “Hey, Old Iron!” she called, drawing his attention. “I’m waiting for family. Mind if I—”
     
    “—sit and wait?” he interrupted with a small smile. “No problem.”
     
    Sunset sat down and waited.
     
    Sure enough, her journal flickered, and she opened the page.
     
    Hi, Sunshine! So glad you’re safe. It’s been a few hours, but it still feels so empty without you. Keep in touch!
     
    With love, kisses, and a comb,
    Mommy Shimmer
     
    Smiling, Sunset wrote back to her:
     
    Hey, Mama. Nice, warm summer day here in Canterlot City. Currently, Pinkie-Mommy isn’t here, so I’m sitting on the steps of Canterlot High— That’s the school I go to. Usually, Pinkie-Mommy’s really early. I wonder what
     
    Suddenly, the journal glowed, and she turned the page.
     
    ‘A’
     
    Sunny-Hunny! So cute a nickname. Shall I call you that from now on?
     
    Stay at CHS! I’ll be there in five minutes!
     
    Love,
    Pinkie-Mommy
     
    Sunset chuckled and wrote back.
     
    ‘P’
     
    Sunny-Hunny…I’m gonna get used to that. I’ll be waitin’!
     
    Underneath flashed her human and pony forms with a massive grin.
     
    A hand on the page, she flipped it back, crossed out the last one-and-a-half sentences, and completed it.
     
    Hey, Mama. Nice, warm summer day here in Canterlot City. Currently, Pinkie-Mommy isn’t here, so I’m sitting on the steps of Canterlot High— That’s the school I go to. Usually, Pinkie-Mommy’s really early. I wonder what Pinkie-Mommy will be here soon. I’ll talk to you later.
     
    XOXO,
    Sunset Pie Shimmer
     
    Sunrise replied back below.
     
    Love you!
     
    Giggling under her breath, she packed it, squeaked the bag between her legs, and leaned on the door, hands behind her head.
     
    Sure enough, five minutes later, the Pie van rolled to a complete stop in front of the school. Pinkie jumped out and ran to Sunset, Sunset ran to Pinkie, and they met with the ritualistic greeting, several kisses along the face, and one tight hug, causing Sunset to choke out, “I can’t breathe.” When she let go (and blushed from embarrassment), she hugged Cloudy (who drove the van) hard, and they kissed the others’ cheeks and the nose. When Sunset asks where the others are, Pinkie tells her, “Oooh, you’ll see, Sunny-Hunny.”
     
    Sunset playfully rolls her eyes and wraps her arms around Pinkie-Mommy’s shoulder as they all return to the van and head straight for Sugarcube Corner. There, nobody was sitting outside. But inside, it was a small gathering party. All of the ReMane Five were there waiting and greeted her back with big hugs and nuzzles on the forehead. There, they had lunch and talked about what was going on while Sunset was gone. As Pinkie walked to the back, all four admitted that everything felt…quiet. CC felt a little lonely without her.
     
    “A little, Fluttershy?” scoffed Rainbow Dash. “More like a lot. Sunset, Pinkie moped while you were gone!”
     
    “We all moped, Rainbow Dash,” said Rarity. “Well, both figuratively and literally.” A groan. “Drafting a concept for a new wardrobe was way more difficult than I imagined.”
     
    “Well, think about it,” said Rainbow Dash. “How long’ve you known us, Sunny? Five…six years?”
     
    Sunset sipped. “Just about.”
     
    “And how long have y’known Pinkie and you, Fluttershy?” Dash shrugged and collapsed her hands on the table. “Since you arrived in CC.”
     
    “Give or take a full moon or two,” added Applejack.
     
    “You’re a part of our lives, Sunny,” said Fluttershy.
     
    Pinkie peaked her head from the behind the desk. “Annnnnd when Twilight and her equine Equestrians find and fix that blasted spell, she’ll remain part of our lives!”
     
    Everyone shouted in agreement.
     
    “So,” she flashed a tray with two-dozen neatly-presented square cookies on top, “lemongrass cookies, everyone?”
     
    Everyone cheered as they took a cookie and bit into them. There were two types: a plain lemongrass cookie and a lemongrass cookie with a hint of ginger to give it a little spice. The cookies felt and tasted soft, so you didn’t have to immediately spend extra cash for milk or request for water. It was like a cake, and it’d only recently come out of the oven. All six enjoyed it, and Sunset was especially pleased, especially the one with the ginger. Pinkie grinned, giggled, and messed up her head of hair in appreciation. Then she picked out a little paper bag and revealed some skinny anise cookies, one for each. A sweet cookie with nice anise flavor. But there was one left, so Pinkie halved it and gave the bigger half to Sunny-Hunny.
     
    Tap, tap, tap.
     
    Emerald green eyes looked back.
     
    Apron and latex gloves donned, Limestone’s bright green eyes daggered towards her younger sister.
     
    “Well, well, well, little Sunny’s back,” she snipped.
     
    Then her lime green eyes shone softly; brows stopped furrowing, and lips smiled.
     
    “What took you so long?”
     
    Sunset smiled, stood up, and wrapped her arms around Limestone, who hugged her right back. A light tear shed down Limestone’s cheek and landed on Sunset’s shoulder, and she pulled Sunset more tightly, not allowing her to move.
     
    Suddenly, Sunset coughed and squirmed. “Lime…can’t breathe.”
     
    Immediately, Lime loosened her grasp, but she kept her arms around her.
     
    “Sorry, Sunny.”
     
    “It’s okay. I’m already experienced in bruise-worthy hugs.” She side-glanced at the now sitting Pinkie, who blushed. “I missed you, Lime. And your tired, sweaty workaholic-yness.“
     
    Limestone chuckled and kissed Sunset’s forehead. “I missed you, too, Sunset.”
     
    Sunset pecked her cheek right back. “Sooooo…workin’ with Pinkie-Mommy, I presume?”
     
    “Yep!” reminded Pinkie as she brought over a chair. “Cookie, Lime?”
     
    Limestone hummed. “Well…I almost killed myself preparing your cookies and then almost killed you, Sunny. Why not make it three for three.”
     
    As Applejack and Sunset chuckled, Limestone sat down in between Sunset and Fluttershy. With a calloused hand (much to Rarity’s discomfort), she grabbed four cookies and bit into them. As she chewed, her taste buds and brain tingled, and her smile curled more upward.
     
    “Mmm…impressive.”
     
    Minutes later, Limestone checked the time and went back to work in the kitchen. But not without taking a couple of more because she liked them so much.
     
    They stayed for about one hour (mostly talking and eating snacks) before splitting up. While Sunset’s friends had to leave for work, Sunset, Pinkie, Cloudy and Limestone (whose shift ended) met up with Maud to head to the Indigenous Museum in Bucebeaux Terrace. While Cloudy, Limestone, and Pinkie split into one group, Maud and Sunset went by themselves together. The near-empty, yet rich, museum contained thousands of artifacts from inside bulletproof glass, from headdresses to arrows to ancient masks, among other things. Some exhibitions included beadwork, dolls, and wooden masks painted and placed on the makeshift walls. Sunset barely talked; yet when she did, she never heard herself speak. Maud’s side-gaze at her younger sister never ceded, and she cracked a smile.
     
    As they headed towards the Capital Dome within the terrace, Maud extended her hand. Sunset held it right back, and they walked through the hallway together.
     
    Two hours after arrival, they picked up Igneous from a community center and returned home to catch some R&R. During their break, Sunset and Pinkie-Mommy communicated with Dawn and Solstice via Sunset’s journal in Sunset’s room. After Dawn and Solstice left, Sunset wrote a little note to Celestia asking her to inform her if they find anything to write back to her ASAP. Celestia said, “Yes,” and Sunset put it all on her computer desk.
     
    Pinkie: *looking at her smartphone, giggles* Can’t wait for tonight.
     
    Sunset: Me, neither. What are we doing tonight, anyway?
     
    Pinkie: You nagged me about it all day.
     
    Sunset: More like once or twice, Pinkie-Mommy.
     
    Pinkie: Oh, I’m joshing you, silly! Here. *pats on the bed*
     
    Sunset sits down beside her.
     
    Pinkie: Now, remember Acorver County?
     
    Sunset: Pinkie-Mommy, everyone remembers Acorver. It’s an hour drive from here.
     
    Pinkie: Nononono. Not that. Remember, say, four years ago? New Year’s Eve?
     
    Sunset: *taps her chin* Hmmmm, I think— *gasp* Waitaminute!
     
    Pinkie: *giggle* Eeyep! *jumps off bed and starts swinging hips side-to side* A ‘Jam-All-Night-in-Fallwood-with-Our-Friends’ party!
     
    Sunset: *jumps up and off the bed* Fallwood?! The Fallwood church?!
     
    Pinkie: *slides across the bed* Remember now, Sunny-Hunny?
     
    Sunset: How couldn’t I?!
     
    Sunset & Pinkie: Basement-dancing, *swing hips side-to-side* here *hips bounce* we come! *hips bounce off each other again*
     
    Downstairs, Maud and Limestone were hand-washing dishes when they heard Pinkie and Sunny laughing upstairs.
     
    Limestone: *leans to Maud and whispers in her ear* Just as I expected.
     
    Maud: Mm-hmm.
     
    5:30. Everyone began to leave, Igneous opening the door for his kids as Cloudy went in the garage.
     
    Pinkie was one of the last to leave.
     
    Pinkie: Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooooooh, ooooooooh! So excited! *jumps down flight of stairs and lands solidly below before her sisters*
     
    Igneous: Careful, Pinkamena. Don’t hurt yourself.
     
    Pinkie: Sorry, Dad.
     
    Limestone *smiling*: We’re all excited, Pinkie. *rubs her head*
     
    Pinkie: Nononononono, Lime-y! Oh, nononononono! We’re so nervicited! *mouth trembles*
     
    Sunset *jokingly*: Now where did I hear that word before?
     
    Pinkie: The other me, perhaps? *wink*
     
    Sunset: *laugh* Pinkie-Mommy, y’know me too well.
     
    Igneous: *looks back inside* Ready, Marble?
     
    Marble: A moment, Dad. Ready! *runs out wearing sleeveless, white trench coat tied over long-sleeve silver-colored glittered shirt with soft, lightweight, light green khaki pants and soft crimson boots; a scrunchie held her hair back*
     
    As she walked down the stairs, Igneous locked the doors, and the kids approached the ramp leading to the garage, where the door was slowly opening. Once the door completely retracted, Cloudy slowly reversed the van down the driveway and stopped just before hitting the curb.
     
    One by one, everyone filed in, starting with Maud and Limestone for the back, Igneous for the front, and Pinkie and Sunset for the middle. Marble’s eyes locked at the ground, wringing her purse like a soaked rag.
     
    Cloudy: Marble, are you coming?
     
    Marble says nothing.
     
    Cloudy: Is something wrong? Are you okay?
     
    Marble: I don’t know, Mom… I don’t know if I can come.
     
    Pinkie: Why, Marb?
     
    Marble: Pinkie, you know why. You know how anxious I am ’round crowds. I can’t deal with them!
     
    Pinkie: Marble—
     
    Marble: “Marble” nothing, Pinkie! *sigh* Sorry. Go to Sunny’s party. I’ll go elsewhere. *reaches in purse to take out smartphone*
     
    Pinkie: Sunny-Hunny, everybody, can I have a minute, please?
     
    Sunset: Sure. *scoots legs to the side to let Pinkie out*
     
    Pinkie stepped out of the van and placed a hand on Marble, who stopped dialing.
     
    Pinkie: Marble, you’re right. I should’ve let’cha in on Sunset’s surprise party. I was so excited about planning it, your stage fright never crossed my mind. *holds Marble’s hand* I’m sorry for being inconsiderate.
     
    Marble: No, Pinkie. It’s my fault I have stage fright.
     
    Pinkie: Nononononono, Marble. It’s not your fault. Never your fault. *hugs her tightly around the neck* Nobody’s fault.
     
    Marble: Pinkie, you’re hurting me.
     
    Pinkie: *nervous chuckle* Sorry, Marb. *loosens grip* Better?
     
    Marble: *sighs happily, loosely wraps her arms around Pinkie’s back* Better… What time is it?
     
    Pinkie: *twists wrist to show watch and time behind Marble’s head* Five-thirty-six.
     
    Marble zipped into the car and buckled up on Sunset’s right.
     
    Marble: Well, we don’t wanna be late, do we?
     
    Silence fell.
     
    Limestone: *peaks head from the back* Will you be okay?
     
    Marble: Heck, no! I wanna throw up…! But how can I support everypony if I’m not there? *holds Sunset’s hand* And you, Sunny.
     
    Sunset: Thanks, Marble.
     
    Maud *as Pinkie slides into the van*: Marble, you said “everypony.”
     
    Marble: I did? Oops! *blushes, chuckle*
     
    Pinkie: *slides door shut* Marble, ready?
     
    Marble: *nodding* Mm-hmm.
     
    Cloudy: Ready, kids?
     
    Pie kids: READY!!!
     
    Both parents cringed, and Cloudy scrubbed her right ear with her pinkie finger.
     
    Igneous: *chuckle* A little too ready.
     
    Then they drove away and onto the outer-county freeway. Along the freeway, Pinkie watched the sun shine brightly on Canterlot City’s Midtown skyscrapers, park, and northern-CC buildings. All the while, Marble held Sunset’s right hand and rested her head on her shoulder.
     
    Igneous: Everything all right back there, Marble?
     
    Marble: *light, happy sigh * Well…stomach’s holding up.
     
    Igneous: If you feel too uncomfortable in the crowd, don’t worry. Let any of us know, and we’ll help.
     
    Marble: Thanks, Dad.
     
    Meanwhile, Pinkie checks up on her text messages and voicemails in her smartphone, and Marble starts humming a quiet tune with her eyes shut.
     
    By 6:45pm, they drove passed Encee (a play on the “North Canterlot” acronym, and The Bronx reference) and arrived inside a town in Acorver County. One more turn later, they parked in front of a two-story-tall church on a quiet corner. A circular stained-glass window glistened from the on streetlamp, and a few other cars had already parked around it. One stairway led to the main church entrance, the other the basement underneath.
     
    As several of Sunset’s friends watched from security camera installed above the main door, Sunset et al scurried out, and the kids followed Igneous and Cloudy down the stairs into the basement. Compared to the main floor, the basement wasn’t very pretty. The walls were a generic brown with a white floor and ceiling, but chairs were put to the side, and rows of tables lined up alongside with nonalcoholic drinks, water, and snacks on top. Arranging one of the tables was Starflower and Moonnight, Starflower’s mom [has the same mint green skin and lavender hair, but taller, older-sounding, and wearing casual clothes (white t-shirt, jeans, and leather sandals)]. As Moonnight greeted Igneous and Cloudy, the Pie kids looked around the dance floor. No disco ball, sure, but speakers were plugged in on the side. Lights hung in front of the stage. Vinyl Scratch, Flash, and Sandalwood tested musical equipment. Flash told Sunset they’re a little early, and they explained that they wanted to show up and not worry about traffic.
     
    Applejack quipped about them not worrying about it, either, as she, Apple Bloom, and Big Mac arrived through the door. Then Rarity, Sweetie Belle, and Magnum. Then Fluttershy. Then Rainbow Dash. Soon, the basement was flocked with people, including VP Luna and Principal Celestia. With everyone signed in, Pinkie Pie took out the party cannon that she worked on building from a box underneath a table and let it fire. With a loud, squeaky pop, confetti shot into the air, and the party began.
     
    Unlike the party in Sugarcube Corner, each person took their turns dancing to the beat of their choice, by either what was given to them or with a CD, mp3 file, or vinyl record handed over to Vinyl to play. With one big circle in the center, each took their turns dancing, either by themselves or with several partners come young or old.
     
    But not everyone wanted to join. Marble stood from beyond the circle, humming to the tune of the march-like song played for a baton-juggling female name Whirlberry*. When Whirlberry finished, it was Pinkie Pie’s turn, and as her upbeat jingle begins playing, Marble eyes her own encased CD. Then the music changes, and Marble sees swirls of colors with echoes of taunts and insults, some of which took shape into heads. Teeth chattered. The insults became more abusive. A couple of soft steps back. A bump to the wall. She shakes her head violently; in front of her, Pinkie was just singing and dancing happily. She sighed and wiped her forehead with a spare napkin. As the song continued, her purple eyes darted to her disk. She tapped Flash’s shoulder, handed the disk to him, and whispered in his ear. Followed by nods to each other, he went to the back.
     
    At last, Pinkie’s song ended, and she left the circle. Suddenly, Marble clapped from the back. Then two claps. Her hands casually slid the crowd to the side. As she clapped once, her left foot walked forward and clogged the floor. When she clapped twice, her right foot clogged the floor twice: her toe and then her whole foot. She kept up this pattern until arriving in the middle of the circle.
     
    Then her chosen song began to play — time disappeared. Loose limbs. Feet tapped. Her hands clapped. Everyone clapped back, but she couldn’t see it — only hear. Her memory kept in tune with the music. Then when Flash entered as her dance partner, their moves synced. When she clapped, he clapped. The sides of their hips bounced upon internal command. Their hands touched as they spun in a circle together, their feet sliding across the slick parquet floor.
     
    As Flash exited and Rarity entered, they found themselves locked in a tight hug for what felt like three seconds, then four, then five; their legs, heels, and toes kicked the floor as the drumsticks hit the drum. When cymbals crashed, they separated, but their hands locked, and Marble felt herself twirl as Rarity led. But as soon as Rarity led, Marble felt her own weight command Rarity, and the off-white girl twirled in Marble’s grasp. As people clapped, Rarity and Marble held onto each other’s wrists as they swayed and stomped, and the sea of brown and white from around the room glowed a bright, deep blue. During the chorus, they let go, but continued to sway, bounced their hips side-to-side, and snapped their fingers. Just before the chorus ended, Marble twirled Rarity, who danced out of the circle.
     
    Finally, the bridge. Energy flowed through her nerves. Her muscles ached. Sweat protruded from the top of her head to her temple. But people clapped and cheered. Her conscience lightened. The mental straps that held her legs down loosened, but her torso tensed, and everyone’s faces blurred. But she continued to spin and closed her eyes. The more she crouched, the faster she spun.
     
    “GO, MARBLE!” Maud yelled out.
     
    Eyelids opened.
     
    Arms slid inward.
     
    She unbuckled the belt.
     
    Knees straightened.
     
    Back upright.
     
    Energy surged.
     
    The scrunchie that tied her hair slid off.
     
    Like a disk, Marble’s trench coat spun into the air, grazed the ceiling, and landed into the crowd. A silver tail sewn to back of her shirt flapped. Red shoes polished the dot that consumed her twirl. Over her eyes, her bangs flowed, and the back of her hair stuck onto her arms and followed her.
     
    Once the cymbals rang, her feet stamped the floor with a loud slam. The blurred cheers took shape, yet she couldn’t hear them. The audio and physical noise covered her, and with each burst of energy from the music, the more her eyes went to find a partner.
     
    Then she saw Applejack and Maud dancing together and cheering her on.
     
    She zoomed to them, grabbed them by the hand, and brought them both into the circle.
     
    The bridge has been crossed, and what was on her mind, she didn’t know. But she didn’t care. Two other girls, happy in their own way, followed her lead, and all three whooped and cheered. Maud’s eyes opened wide and glistened in the spinning lights; a tiny tear trickled. As they twirled, Applejack nudged her hat off her head to Marble, who grabbed it and donned it as she slowed.
     
    Finally, the music began to quiet. Maud and Applejack ran back to the side. Young Marble slowed her tempo and closed her eyed. Sweat began to pour. Finally, with one more repeated chorus, it silenced. Gray skin glistened in sweat. Her hair shone. Her clothes glued onto her skin. Legs finally cramped. One knee on the ground. Lungs pleaded.
     
    Covered purple eyes uncovered and wandered around. Cheers roared within the basement. People clapped, yelled, and jumped. Loud pants softened; oxygen slowly refilled in her lungs. But exhaustion prepared to cramp her legs.
     
    But she smiled and laughed.
     
    With a grunt, she pushed herself to her feet and lifted the cowgirl hat off her head. Both hands over her heart, she spun slowly and bowed. When she stopped, six pairs of eyes ran over to her; their arms hugged her with as much passion and pride as a Pie would ever feel. And Marble hugged each of them back vigorously, including jumping into Pinkie’s arms.
     
    Tonight, freedom uplifted her soul.
     
    Back in Sunset’s room, her journal glowed.
     

     
    *In Friendship Games, there's an unnamed female character holding a baton during The CHS Rally Song. I decided to call her Whirlberry in reference of it and her berry-colored hair. Other names (which can be found here) include Sweeten Sour (used on Derpibooru) and Baton Switch. Here's the character's image:

     

     
    "Bucebeau Terrace" is a few NYC references:
    Buce = Bucephalus. Alexander the Great’s horse: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bucephalus Beaux = Beaux-Arts movement in NYC in the early-20th Century. Terrace = “Audabon Terrace,” the old location of the National Museum of the American Indian. Capital Dome = Inside the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House and current location of NYC’s museum branch.


     
    Source: Fanfic concept: an Equestria Girls rewrite
  15. Dark Qiviut
    https://www.takedownabuse.org/#save-fair-use
     
    See that link above? That's a petition to tell U.S. Congress to revisit the DMCA. It was passed in 1998 to cut down on piracy, but when it was passed, YouTube, Soundcloud, Twitter, or DailyMotion didn't exist, and now it's being used by people and corporations to abuse this dated act and censor others. This is your chance to speak out against it and tell Congress to revise this law. The petition takes only about one minute to fill, if not less.
     
    One catch: You have till 11:59:59, EST, tonight to sign this petition. There's a countdown at the top of the link's page.
     
    Here's Silver-Quill explaining it. Head over to the 21-second mark, that's where he starts explaining it.
     

  16. Dark Qiviut
    This is Part 13 of my rewrite concept, one chapter only.




    Chapter 11: Tomorrow

    Philomena guarded a second entrance to her study, located to the left of the fireplace. Princess Celestia silently looked in her library of documents in a corner room. Currently, only the Royal Sisters could search them unless granted permission by Celestia herself, and a permanent, transparent bubble was placed around them both collectively and individually to prevent any destruction whatsoever. She found several scrolls related to Star Swirl, but no spells. Then came a knock from Princess Luna.

    Celestia: Come in.

    Luna: *walks inside* Found anything, big sister?

    Celestia: I’m afraid not. How about you?

    Luna: *shakes head* No.

    Celestia: *takes out pearl white scroll with list of Star Swirl’s studies, crosses off Twilight’s and Luna’s* Two down, maybe several dozen to go.

    Luna: Still finding some rooms, are you not?

    Celestia: Too many to count.

    Luna: How many?

    Celestia: Hmm…maybe twenty-five. And not counting the ten or so I know of already.

    Luna: Did Star Swirl ever take a break in his life?

    Celestia: *chuckle* Oh, he took some.

    Luna: Name one.

    Celestia: Well… *pauses* He took a century off writing spells.

    Luna: What did he do in between?

    Celestia: I don’t know, Luna. He never liked talking to anypony. Always preferred to work for himself.

    Luna: So, is that why he failed to complete the ascension spell?

    Celestia: Well, like I said, he never truly understood friendship.

    Luna: Or maybe he didn’t care.

    Celestia: Perhaps. Luna…*looks down at the scrolls*…do you think Sunset will forgive me?

    Luna: Why, of course. What makes you believe she won’t?

    Celestia: Well…did you see how she reacted last night when Pinkie said we’re all friends here?

    Luna: No.

    Celestia: You felt it, though, didn’t you?

    Luna: Yes.

    Celestia: Did it…scare you?

    Luna: A little bit. What’s the matter, Celestia?

    Celestia: Pain. She’s in pain, Luna. She doesn’t show it, but doesn’t hide it, either. Do you think the others notice, too?

    Luna: If they did, they didn’t exhibit it. Is that why she sat next to me?

    Celestia: Well, Luna, she does have a fascination for you.

    Luna: Wish that happened before I became Nightmare Moon. *giggle*

    Celestia: So what do you think about it? Do you like it?

    Luna: Celestia, I don’t know what to think. I cannot explain why, but she makes me happy.

    Celestia: Apparently, Miss Pinkie Pie there raised her so well. From what Twilight told and wrote to me, I can say my guess was completely true. The two Pinkies are almost completely alike. Now she has Pinkie Pie’s biggest talent: making others happy.

    Luna: But it feels like a different kind of happy, doesn’t it? I know Pinkie is affectionate, but Sunset acts like a sister or mother…even for her age.

    Celestia: Mother… *caresses her own hoof on her muzzle* Reminds me of how close we were before she ran away. I miss that. *sighs wistfully* I wish we’re at least friends again.

    Luna: So tell her.

    Celestia: No, Luna! *disgruntled sigh* Sorry. Right now, she wants nothing to do with me.

    Luna: And she’ll continue to want nothing to do with you unless one of you approaches the other. Neither of you will say no forever.

    Celestia: After calling me a monster, I doubt it.

    Luna: But she wrote notes to you while locked in Pedestria, did she not?

    Celestia: Yes, but—

    Luna: But nothing. Celestia, if she hated you, then why did she bring the diary or write to you? She’d burn it before running away.

    Purple eyes looked down at the cool, white floor. White eyelids blinked. Her ethereal mane slowed its flow.

    Luna: *cups wing around her back* Sister, you wondered if she’ll forgive you. So talk to her. Won’t hurt to try.

    Celestia: *sighs sadly and longingly* I hope so.

    Meanwhile, Twilight Sparkle was in Sunset’s study. It was dark outside, and the lone light sources came from the half-moon outside and two chandeliers with tiny light bulbs within. Like Twilight’s study, Sunset’s was two stories high, except there was a spiral staircase from the middle and a gradual incline along the side. The bottom floor had several bookshelves, all reaching from floor to ceiling and a bed snugged against the window. Upstairs, shelves full of books stacked along with a gigantic globe of Equestria in the middle and a sundial by the window. As Spike slept in a makeshift cot, she rummaged through each book, scanning the pages quickly, but not so rapidly in order to not skip it, and she used an extra piece of magic to scan with her horn. Book by book, she found nothing, but she continued anyway, emptying out shelf by shelf. After finishing one shelf, she looked up at the high, conical ceiling, where books stacked tidily all the way up to the top.

    “It’s gonna be one long week,” she grumbled to herself and went to sleep in her own cot beside him.

    Next morning, knocking on the door woke her up. The rest of her friends and Spike (who woke up early) came over and brought food for them all to eat outside. Twilight didn’t want to, but Spike and Rarity reassured her, anyway. After all, you can’t find a spell on an empty stomach. They had their meals, chatted briefly, and then went to work in Sunset’s study.

    Later, Sunset Pie Shimmer was busy cooking outside on the beach in front of the house. Over a rock pile of fire, she was toasting some leftover banana leaves and radishes. When they were lightly charred, she yanked them away from the fire, cut the portioned leaf into strips, rolled the leaf tightly around each radish, and used a little maple syrup to glue the leaf together and calm down the spicy radish. She handed them over to her family, and they bit into it. You got that bite of the radish and that sweet of the syrup to compliment it.

    “Sister?”

    Sunset looked up. “Yes, Solsty?”

    Solstice’s grin shone brightly. “May I have more, please?”

    Sunset tossed her rolled-up radish into her mouth. “Amsholutely.”

    She stood up, speared more radishes through a wooden skewer, and planted it beside the campfire.

    Throughout the early afternoon, they continually devoured this concoction.

    As they ate, Pinkie Pie in the human world was walking down a boardwalk bridge in a bay near her house. Staring out at the bay, seagulls dipped their beaks underwater to down fish, and Pinkie watching reminiscently. She turned to her right and paid attention to a bench behind a rail; a transparent flashback of thirteen-year-old Sunset and twelve-year-old Pinkie flashed as they sat in winter wardrobes giggling and eating ice cream together. There, Sunset played a tiny trick on Pinkie by tapping her on the right shoulder to distract her and sneaking a small spoonful of Pinkie’s ice cream. Pinkie was caught by surprise and then stole a little spoonful herself while Sunset giggled cheekily. The two kids took turns alternating the ice cream while laughing. When the flashback disappeared, Pinkie returned home and opened the garage door, where Cloudy was busy carefully stuffing untangled streamers into a half-open party cannon barrel.

    “Hi, Mom! So, are they ready?”

    Cloudy Quartz snapped the cannon closed. “Ready,” she replied with a grin.

    Pinkie took out a paper cup of strawberry ice cream and scooped some into her mouth.

    At the beach, Sunrise went back to work lifeguarding. Nopony swam so far off the coast; whenever anyone did, she’d use her horn to slowly pull them ashore. Luckily, nopony was stupid enough to try. Everyone sunbathed, built sandcastles, or played sports on the sand, either through volleyball or some other family activity.

    Then, a little disk nailed her left rear leg, startling her. As she went to pick up the disk, Solstice’s aura grabbed it, and he flicked it back to Sunset and Dawn, who were running back and forth. Dawn grabbed it with his mouth and tossed it back towards Solstice, who dove and barely missed. But he retrieved it when it hit the sand and flicked it over. Sunset successfully grabbed it on the dive and was immediately tackled by a laughing Dawn and Solstice.

    Sunrise peaked at them from the corner of her eye. Her tense lips cracked a chuckle, and she sighed happily. Man, how much did she wish to join them right now.

    Unfortunately, she had at least three hours of work left.

    But by 7pm, everyone had already retired for the night, and Sunrise was cleared for the day. But the Shimmers weren’t ready to leave yet. All four were far away from the shoreline, but they kicked sand around while trying to catch that old flying disk into their mouths without using their horns or hooves to cheat.

    For possibly the second time all day, Solstice caught the disk. After he landed, he showed off his surprise.

    Solstice *muffled*: I got it! I got it!

    Sunset: Great job, Solsty!

    Dawn: Excellent catch, son. *crouched down and wiggled his legs* I’m ready.

    Sunrise and Sunset crouched down, too.

    Sunset and Sunrise: Ready!

    Solstice spat out the disk and twirled it with the bottom of his right toe.

    Solstice *slyly*: Who wants a disky? Who wants it? You, *at Dawn* you, *at Sunrise* or you? *at Sunset, then flicks it gently across the beach* Go!

    Sunrise, Dawn, and Sunset chased after it. Dawn picked up a hot start, but began to fade as Sunrise and Sunset took the lead. As the disk descended, Sunrise took the lead and jumped up to grab it. But before she could, Dawn leapt over her, grabbed it, and landed hoof-first.

    He spat out the disk and slowly twirled it around his hoof with a cocky grin. “Rule number-1: Never count out a Shimmer. Rule number-2—”

    “Last one to tickle him’s a rotten egg!” yelled Sunrise.

    Dawn’s eyes shrunk. “Oh, dear…”

    He zipped away as Sunrise hurried after him, chortling.

    Fortunately, he didn’t run for very long; Sunrise wrapped her front hooves around his abdomen and pulled him to the ground. Then, she began to lightly jab at his belly, and he guffawed uncontrollably.

    Sunset and Solstice watched several yards away and faced each other, big grins on their muzzles. She held out a hoof, and he tapped it with his own.

    But before she could do anything else, he lunged forward, wrapped his front legs around her, and caused her to fall on her back. Then, like Sunrise, he vigorously poked at her belly. This time with all four hooves. Sunset squirmed, but her legs felt paralyzed, yet her tail flailed. Louds gasps of young laughter from her and little Solsty erupted. Loud enough for Sunrise and Dawn to stop their own tickle fight and watch.

    That night, Sunset was in bed, leaning back on her headboard. Journal on her lap, she glued an image of herself blushing as her rump was covered in cherry jam from falling on the pie.

    “You were waiting for it,” she wrote underneath and drew a smile.

    Immediately, her journal glowed, and Pinkie’s writing faded in below.

    “Thanks a lot, Sunny! You owe me a new cake!”

    “My pleasure.” Sunset grinned wickedly.

    “Wait ’til everyone sees this! They’ll be laughing like crazy! Wait! Maud’s here! B.R.B.”

    Less than a minute later, the diary flashed again, and Sunset turned the page.

    “Hilarious.

    —Maud”

    “Hey, Maud! How’s everything with you and the others?”

    “I’m doing okay, Sunny, but it doesn’t feel the same without you here.

    —Maud”

    “Empty, isn’t it?”

    “Very.

    —Maud”

    “But it won’t be for long!” Pinkie wrote and scribbled an image of all three hugging.

    “Um…we never set up a reunion time, Pinkie-Mommy.”

    “Oh. How ’bout 9 AM tomorrow morning?”

    “Groovy idea! Maud, what do you think?”

    “I think it’s fantastic.

    —Maud”

    “YAY!” Sunset scribbled a pony and human raising their front legs (and arms) in excitement beside it.

    Knock-knock.

    Sunset: C’min!

    Solstice walked inside.

    Sunset: Hey, Solsty!

    Solstice: Hey, Sunny. Hey, what’s that? *climbs on the bed*

    Sunset: My diary. *scoots over* I’m writing t’my family from the other world.

    Solstice: Cool! Can I write?

    Sunset: Sure! *dips pen in ink* Solsty, tell me what y’wanna write, and I’ll write it with your name on it.

    Solstice: Cool! “Hey”…

    Sunset: “Hey”…

    Solstice: “Sunset’s”…

    Sunset: “Sunset’s”…

    Solstice: “Other family”…

    Sunset: “Other family”… *writes his name down at the end*

    “Hi, Solstice! I’m Pinkie Pie! It’s exciting to talk to ya!”

    Solstice: *eyes the floating quill* May I—

    Sunset: Oh! Of course. *exchanges the quill pen and watches*

    Solstice: “Pinkie, you sound amazing. Signed, Solstice.”

    Pinkie: “Awwwwwww, shucks! Wait, you’re Sunny-Hunny’s little bro! Oh, my gosh!”

    *Sunset laughs, Solstice giggles*

    Solstice: “Sunny says so many great things about you.”

    Pinkie: “Aww!”

    Maud: “Hi, Solstice. It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m one of her older sisters, Maud.”

    Solstice: “Hey, Maud. Name’s Solstice. Nice to meet you, too.”

    Maud: “Hopefully, we will all meet in person soon.”

    Solstice: “I hope so, too.” *turns to Sunset* In person?

    Sunset: Figure of speech, Solsty. *kisses his head*

    Maud: “I have to leave for work tonight. Sunset, Solstice, goodnight. —Maud”

    Solstice: “Goodnight, Maud! Pinkie, Sunset, be right back. Dinner.”

    Pinkie: “Okie-dokie-lokie.”

    Solstice: *laughs, leaves*

    Sunset: “Wonderful li’l bro, isn’t he?”

    Pinkie: “Absolutely! Reminds me of another baby sister I know.” *writes a wink*

    Sunset: *laugh* “I really miss you, Pinkie-Mommy.”

    Pinkie: “We all miss you, Sunny. Boy, oh, boy, we got a marvelous surprise for you tomorrow! Can’t wait!”

    Sunset: “I know you too well. You go all the way with your plans.”

    Pinkie: “Maybe a little TOO far out of my way.”

    Sunset: “What do you mean?”

    Pinkie: “If I tell you, it’s not a secret anymore.” *writes a wink*

    Before Sunset can write more down, Pinkie added, “Don’t worry, you’re gonna love it! Pinkie-Promise or your money back!”

    Sunset: “Watching too many infomercials lately?”

    Pinkie: “Understatement of the decade. Thirty-second commercials over and over and over and over again! Makes my hair flatten.”

    Sunset: “Not the hair! NEVER flatten your hair!”

    Pinkie: “Don’t throw a kenohorah, Sunny!”

    Sunset: “Oy vey.”

    Pinkie: “So, do your mom and dad there know you’re leaving tomorrow morning for two days?”

    Sunset: “Shoot, I forgot! Be right back.”

    Pinkie: “I’ll be waiting.” *scribbles a grin underneath*

    As Sunset departed to tell her family her plans for the next two days, Pinkie laid the book down on the bed, walked to Sunset’s room, and stared at the deep twilight sky outside her window. Smile small. Eyes half-tired. And a red streamer twirling around her left index finger.

    “Tomorrow, Sunny,” she murmured, smiling. “Tomorrow.”  

     
    Source: Fanfic concept: an Equestria Girls rewrite
  17. Dark Qiviut
    Time for a tiny break in the chapter summaries. In Part 7 of my concept layout, I posted some summaries of OCs at the very top. Some will be reposted with some updates, while others will be reordered and introduced. BTW, depending on how I write out the concept, this list will be updated with notice. The sections of OCs will be divided as primary and secondary, starting with the primary.
     
    Primary OCs:
     
    Dawn Shimmer: Sunset's father. Stay-at-home, helping take care of the house. Reserved into wondering if Sunset was never going to return. Doesn't let it affect his relationship with his son and wife. Very close to his son. Physical appearance is a bright gold fur with long off-white mane and tail (mane extends past his shoulders) and sky blue eyes. Magical aura's sky blue. Cutie mark is a half sun over a simple side image of a dark gray skillet; image mirrors.
     
    Sunrise Shimmer: Sunset's mother. Helps work as a lifeguard along Grazewood's coast during the summer hours. Even when she receives news that Sunset has seemed to thrive, she's apprehensive, and she's not afraid to tell Solstice the truth about the cause of his sister's decision to run away. Hit so hard by her daughter's runaway status, she couldn't look at the sunset without crying. Coat's alizarin crimson. Her short tail has two ends that curl together like a heart. The front of her mane splits into two long side bangs. The back of her mane's short and tied in a bun like a ponytail; otherwise, it flows freely down to the tops of her shoulders. Both her mane and tail have streaks of both red and yellow ochre, and her mane shines or dulls depending on her mood. Cutie mark is rays of sunshine forming into a half-sun in the center from the flank's left; image doesn't mirror.
     
    Solstice Shimmer: Sunset's little brother, nicknamed "Solsty" by Sunset. At the time of the story, he's only eight years old. Talks in simple language. Sunset didn’t know he got a little brother the entire time while in Equestria and only. Welcoming and becomes really close to his older sister later in the story. Coat color's a brighter, more saturated version of Sunset's amber, and his eyes are the same color as Sunset's. Mane and tail are short and a muted red. Like Sunset, his magical aura's the same green color, yet weaker. Cutie mark is a small sun at the top of his flank with stylized rays pointing down towards his abdomen; image mirrors.
     
    King Arion: A naturally-born alicorn who lived long before Celestia and Luna were born. He ruled an arid country called Arion Stratus, which was unnamed until long after his death for unknown reasons. Traditionally, alicorns are capable of flying and performing magic. Unfortunately, he had pennaplegia, a condition that paralyzes the wings from birth via injury of the wings inside the womb. To pin his wings in place, he uses straps to tie them up to his abdomen. He created the mirror by scavenging for bones of dead unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies, and he cremated them in secret to make sand. He used magic to make the glass shatterproof and then wrote a new spell to make the mirror act as a portal to negotiate with other countries for trades and diplomacy. Kept his mirror in secret throughout his life and well beyond his deathbed. Colors are a rusty brown coat with thick, slick streaks of white and bronze in his mane and tail. His mane is thick, while his tail was long, slender, and frayed at the end. Eyes are bright aquamarine. Magical aura's silver. Cutie mark is a white cloud in the simplified shape of a horse's side view; image mirrors with the muzzle facing the abdomen.
     

     
    Secondary OCs:
     
    Old Iron: The primary CHS security guard in the fic. He keeps watch on CHS in case of any danger. Skin color's periwinkie with very short, light blueish steel hair. Speaks in short, snappy sentences, but is fair and will help. Doesn't appear often.
     
    May Flour: Equestria-only and a unicorn. Of the two May sisters, May Flour is the oldest. At the time of the story, Flour's twenty-one years old. Talks with a bunch of sass, in childlike in personality, and with some contractions. She has a greenish-gray coat, bright lemon yellow eyes, and short off-white mane and tail with a tinge of yellow. Her tail and mane are smooth. Aura's sunshine yellow. Cutie mark is two simplified bags of flour; when overlapped, it looks like the shape of a heart; image doesn't mirror.
     
    May Z. Acres: Equestria-only and an Earth pony. First half of her name a pun on "maize," another term for "corn"; second half referencing "acre," a unit of land. Flour's younger sister. Speaks casually, yet a little more down to earth and less contractions. Coat's grassy green with lemon yellow eyes and blonde hair, the back in a ponytail (in the mill, trapped in a hairnet). Cutie mark is corn with silk popping out from the top; image doesn't mirror.
     
    Caveno (pronounced "Kah-VEE-no"): Equestria-only, female, and an Earth pony. Named after the Cavendish, a type of banana. Banana yellow coat with bright, sapphire blue eyes. Mane from the poll to the front has two long bangs and two short bangs, each curling down. Mane from the poll behind her head trails down one side of her shoulder before curling up at the tip. Tail is slender before splitting into three at the end, the top longer than the other two. Cutie mark is three unpeeled bananas attached on top and lying on the side, the bottom facing the abdomen; image mirrors.
     

     
    Tertiary OCs:
     
    Flint: Equestria-only, male, Earth pony. Named after a type of corn. Mill House's husband, May Flour and May Z. Acres's father. Coat's a saturated lavender (lavender that's more to the pink hue). Eyes are dark gray. Hair usually bunched within a hairnet. Usually, cutie mark covered with gray jacket, but it's a necklace of two flint kernels (orange, yellow); image doesn't mirror.
     
    Mill House: Equestria-only, male, Earth pony. Flint's husband, May Flour and May Z. Acres's father. Coat's light mahogany with a slight pinkish hue; his legs have very thick fur with dark tan hooves. Eyes are a muted red. Hair usually contained in hairnet. Cutie mark is a stylized waterwheel.
  18. Dark Qiviut
    Ch. 10: Time to Catch Up
     
    That night, Sunset physically carried her sleepy mother on her back back home and gently laid her down on the king-size bed in her and Dawn's room, all the while using her magic to tug the blanket down. Then, she covered Sunrise with the blanket, kissed her forehead, whispered "Goodnight, Mama," and walked out to the living room (where Dawn and Solstice were having vegetarian dinner). After an hour of chatting, eating, and another half-hour playing hide-and-seek with her little bro, Sunset called it a night. She walked upstairs to her room; that scent of lemongrass wafted as Lemon Grass the Doll rested in bed.
     
    She grabbed her quill, dipped it in ink, and wrote on the latest blank page to Pinkie-Mommy from Pedestria. She waited for a few seconds, but received no reply. But as she watched the night sky, her diary hummed, and she looked down. Pinkie-Mommy wrote back, and they chatted through notes. Unfortunately, Sunset forgot the camera, so no photographs today. Hopefully tomorrow once she plucks up courage to ask her dad.
     
    "Sunny…I miss you."
     
    "I miss you, too, Pinkie-Mommy."
     
    "No. I really, really, REALLY miss you. More than anything is this world."
     
    Sunset paused and tapped the back of her quill on her horn. Then she wrote a quick reply.
     
    "And I really, really, really, REALLY, REALLY miss you, Pinkie-Mommy! More than anything in Equestria, Pedestria, or any other universe."
     
    "Sunny, you're making me cry again."
     
    "Sorry, Pinkie."
     
    "Nah, it's nuthin'. Everyone needs a good cry."
     
    "Had way too many of those lately. Eyes still feel dry."
     
    "Does Equineria have any saline solution?"
     
    "I think so. By the by, it's spelled 'Equestria.'"
     
    "Aye-aye, Sunny!" Above the writing, an image of a young Pinkie saluting appeared.
     
    Sunset laughed and jotted down, "Should've seen that coming."
     
    Next, no worded reply, but two images of Pinkie and Sunset (about sixteen years old) goofing off with mirrors in a funhouse.
     
    Another laugh, and another note from Pinkie: "Memo to both o'us: find funhouse."
     
    "Maybe Saturday?"
     
    "Invitation sealed!"
     
    "Wanna bring the other Pies?"
     
    "Oh, ooh, groovy!"
     
    "Dance club, too?"
     
    Pinkie responded with two huge thumbs up drawings that filled the page.
     
    Sunset grew an image of her bust with a major grin (as a human).
     
    "Pony form, too, pleeeeeeeeease."
     
    She drew her pony bust with the same grin, too.
     
    "Expect a scan Saturday."
     
    "Can't WAIT!"
     
    "NEITHER CAN I!" She punctuated with a major smile that reached from top to bottom.
     
    "By the way, can we meet in SCC for lunch, too? Maybe lemongrass shortbread?"
     
    "Anything for my baby sister."
     
    Sunset chuckled. "Anyway, must sleep now. Goodnight, Pinkie-Mommy. Love ya. XOXO!"
     
    "Love you, too, Sunny-Hunny. Goodnight! XOXOXOXO!"
     
    She put down her supplies in the drawer and flicked the light switch with her magic. With that big grin on her face, nightmares dared not to infiltrate her dreamscape tonight.
     
    Sunset began her morning early to do some shopping, for they were running out of food. Thankfully, this small town was big enough to bustle a marketplace northeast of Irviger Square (a park full of small birch trees and swings around the perimeter). As she marched around, ponies (and an occasional goat) stared at her. One almost spilled black coffee, another forgot to accept the change for his strawberries.
     
    But she passed by all of them (and got a few handshakes of ponies welcoming her back) and headed for the flourmill and windmill up north. She knocked on the mill's door, and a greenish-gray unicorn with bright yellow eyes and short, off-white/yellow-tinted mane/tail (May Flour) opened it with her hoof while using magic (her aura sunshine yellow) to hold a bag of flour. But when she opened the door, her aura vanished, and the flour sharply fell onto the floor, creating a ginormous dust cloud. Sunset coughed and shooed the billowing flour away to see May Flour frozen, gasping for air, pupils shrunk to smaller than a pinhead. Before Sunset could speak, May Flour hurried away deep into the mill.
     
    "ACRES, ACRES!! SUNSET'S HOME!! SUNSET'S HOME!!"
     
    China crashed and shattered, and Sunset flinched. A few seconds later, two female ponies — May Flour being one, the other May Z. Acres (an earth pony with a bright grassy green fur coat and blonde hair) — ran to the door. Like May Flour, Acres stopped still and gasped for air. Sunset crept forward until she was in front of Acres.
     
    Acres tried to move, but the wooden floor wouldn't allow her, and May Flour held onto one of her hooves. Flour's high, excited voice continued to call for her, but it was drowned by her gasps and Sunset's waving of her front right hoof.
     
    "Acres…?" She rotated her head to the left…then to the right. "…Are you o—GAAGGH!!"
     
    But she stopped short when they pounced on her with a hard hug, their hooves tightly around her neck, eyes shut.
     
    "Girls…girls!"
     
    They opened their eyes and witnessed Sunset using her magic to lower Flour's left and Acres's right front legs, respectively. Per usual, they panicked, let go, apologized to Sunset, and exclaimed in very rapid voices. Just like the others in town, they didn't know where she was and missed her like crazy; they can't believe she looked so grown up.
     
    "…Gah! Same to you!" she croaked as she messaged her strained throat.
     
    Embarrassed, they apologized again and gestured her to the back for some tea.
     
    Meanwhile, Pinkie-Mommy was busy working in Sugar Cube Corner. Like an old test kitchen, she found several recipes for lemongrass shortbread cookies and tried them out in small portions. When they were done, she handed them off as a complimentary gift and asked how it is. So far, it's been mixed. One thought the lemongrass was a little too pungent and not sweet enough. Another thought another recipe was a bit bland. Another (a thin, middle-aged man with a comb-over) took a sample of lemongrass ginger cookies and appreciated how it had the bite of the ginger, but not overpowering to drown out the lemongrass flavor. But it was also pretty dry, so one suggestion: a little less butter, a little more oil, and serve it at room temperature. Pie thanked him, jotted edits in the better recipe to adjust the recipe accordingly, and walked downstairs to resume her work while Mr. and Mrs. Cake baked some muffins, miniature cookies, and the meringue for a pistachio and hazelnut dacquoise.
     
    West of Canterlot City, Applejack and Apple Bloom were busy carting apples out from AJ's orchard and toward the Sweet Apple Acres barn. They had a traditional sisterly banter, but they admitted that Sunset's lack of presence downed their spirits. Yes, she's not dead, but the fact that she's there in Equestria and not here doesn't change the feeling.
     
    They dump the apples into a water bath in the back of their barn to wash them and then head to Big Mac, who was pruning dead branches further into the orchard. As Apple Bloom and Big Mac talk (and AB eating a Granny Smith), Applejack takes out her cell to contact Rarity, who was busying modeling a line project with Fluttershy as the designer. Sweetie Belle picks up the phone and then hands it off to Rarity, who puts it on speaker so 'Shy can talk, too.
     
    Sunset and the May sisters agreed to have lunch at around 12:30-ish, so Sunset trotted through the marketplace again. And again, more stares, hoofshakes, and hoofbumps. Initially, she was confused. Then she liked it. Then she became cross. Does she enjoy being the center of attention? Heck, yes. Around friends or loved ones! Not complete strangers. But she kept her composure and approached a stand where a merchant (a yellow female Earth pony with green hair, named Caveno) sold bananas and banana leaves (three bananas or leaves was two bits). Like the others, she was shocked by Sunset, but cleared her throat after Sunset decided to pay for them. She accepted the payment, but before Sunset walk away, she stopped and asked if she knew why everypony reacted like that anytime she showed up.
     
    Caveno took out an old newspaper clipping and handed it to her. Eleven years ago, the headline of the Canterlot Sundial (the biggest of Equestria's kind) revealed the troubling news of her running away as well as how. She kept reading articles and reactions by the Grazewood folk, and they included nearly everypony, from the May sisters to their fathers (two male pegasi named Flint and Mill House) to Caveno herself to Mama and Papa Shimmer. Then she flipped another page from Caveno's encouragement and saw a dried-out "Missing" poster. Caveno admitted that they used to be plastered all over the town and in decent populaces. Even the sight of it ruined the happiness of the town because it reminded them of a pony they once lost. They only began taking down posters four years ago upon the Shimmers' request, but some of them exist waiting to be found. Sunset's eyes quivered and glossed again (inwardly cursing at herself in Ancient Equestrian for crying) and looked at Caveno, whose eyes shook, too. Handing back the paper, Sunset thanked her, and they hugged — along with drying their own eyes — before she departed for other merchants.
     
    Near 12:20pm, Sunset rendezvoused with May Z. Acres and May Flour and found shade under a maple tree near the beach as their picnic spot. The spread was the usual for the May sisters (and their dads, too): sandwiches of all jam and butter varieties (plum jam, grape jam, pistachio butter, peanut butter, etc.), warm corn, and squash soup. Sunset, however, brought an assortment: bananas, banana leaves, sprouts, and blackberries. They started telling stories about their little picnic adventures together, including a little evening picnic the day Flint proposed to Mill House. Even though she was five years old, she still remembered it.
     
    It was a warm fall evening, and everypony was out having dinner in their respective picnic blankets along the beach and inside Irviger Square. The May sisters and Shimmers were underneath the same maple canopy, albeit a bit bearer and further into the beach to clear away from the leaves in case of fire. Even then, Flint's and Mill House's relationship wasn't a big secret; everypony knew. But they held off because they weren't sure if their parents would accept, so they invited Flint's mom and sister and Mill House's dad, too, to the picnic. While MH's dad was there, Flint was still on the way back with the others. At 7:30pm, as a unicorn cast a charm to illuminate the candles and transfigure them into one ball of transparent light, Flint and family arrived, and Flint and MH kissed. To the couple's surprise, not one of them was the least bit surprised and knew from the start. They just want their sons to be them. Then, Flint popped the question to the crowd's delight, and he accepted. They got married a year later, and they've been together ever since. Of course, they argue here and there, but you're not family without dealing with the positives and negatives. Now that they're older, the May's have to help out, and they've helped since they were teens. (Today Flour's twenty-one, Acres is eighteen.)
     
    When asked about some of her adventures in the human world, Sunset explains that they weren't adventures much, but it was a learning experience. Then she tells her early adventures in Canterlot City. After the Pies in Pedestria adopted her, Pinkie Pie helped her learn how to eat with utensils, write, draw, and dress formally. Rather than send her off to school, Igneous and Rocky Quartz homeschooled her during the daytime while Pinkie Pie helped tutor her during the evening, weekends, and non-national holidays. It was difficult to learn, including adjusting to a whole new school system once she was ready, but she was prepared. May Flour and May Z. Acres were wowed by the adventure, but Sunset continued by explaining more of her adventures in Pedestria.
     
    Acres: So what made you decide to come back?
     
    Sunset: Both of you heard 'bout the coronation earlier this spring?
     
    Acres: Well, it was in the paper.
     
    Flour: But we chose not t'go.
     
    Both: Too big a workload.
     
    Sunset: I see. Well, Princess Twilight and Princess Celestia noticed the portal to Pedestria opened, and they asked me to return.
     
    Flour: So you accepted?
     
    Sunset: *scoff* No… Not right away.
     
    Acres: Why?
     
    Sunset: *low growl* I hated Celestia and feared Mama and Papa here hated me, too.
    *both stare at each other and back*
     
    Flour: Hate Celestia? How come?
     
    Sunset: *sigh* On my last day at The School in Canterlot, bullies — fillies and adults — physically abused me, and I let my magic go out of control… Mama and Papa gave her permission… *her voice faded to a whisper*
     
    Acres: Permission for what?
     
    Sunset *still a whisper, but a little louder*: To lock my horn.
     
    Both gasp.
     
    Flour: You're kiddin'!
     
    Sunset *shaking head*: Mm-mm.
     
    Acres: How can anypony do such a thing?!
     
    Sunset: I don't know… I still don't! *eats sandwich whole and swallows it, leaving behind a residue of peanut butter in her mouth; she speaks with a muffled tongue* Milk, please.
     
    Acres passed a full jar to her, and Sunset drank half of it.
     
    Sunset *breathlessly*: Thanks, Acres.
     
    Acres: No problem.
     
    Flour: I assume you still want nothing to do with Celestia, don’cha?
     
    Sunset: No. Not now.
     
    Flour: You hate her still?
     
    Sunset: *halts briefly* Oddly, no. Dislike? Yeah.
     
    Acres: So, wait a rotation. You hated Celestia…but you don't hate your parents even though your parents let her lock it. *points at her own horn* Quickie Q: Why don't you hate your parents, too?
     
    Sunset: *looks down, blinks slowly, sips* I don't know. Wouldn't you, Acres?
     
    Acres: Hmmmmm…
     
    Sunset: Not sure, are ya?
     
    Acres: *shakes head* Nopony's ever asked me that before. Sis…would you?
     
    Flour: *sips milk* Me, neither. I can't never think of hating Daddies. I love 'em too much.
     
    Acres: You still love them, too, Sunny?
     
    Sunset: Uh, of course I do… *she bites a piece of leaf* But…I don't know if they ever forgave themselves.
     
    Flour: I unda'stand. They believe they're why ya ran away.
     
    Sunset: Mama Shimmer didn't admit it, but I can tell. She couldn't look at the sunset without crying.
     
    Acres: How about Dawn?
     
    Sunset: What about 'im?
     
    Acres: Did he forgive himself, too?
     
    Sunset: Don't know. I don't believe he did.
     
    Flour: So have you talked to him 'bout it?
     
    Sunset: Not yet, May Flour. Don't wanna push it.
     
    Acres: So, Sunny, when does the portal close?
     
    Sunset: Midnight, two Sundays from now.
     
    Flour: In other words, Saturday's the last full day it opens.
     
    Sunset nods.
     
    Flour: Tough choice.
     
    Acres: But family shouldn't be a choice. Not ones you love equally.
     
    Flour: Good point, sis. Why on Celestia's green earth— Oopsie. Sorry, Sunny.
     
    Sunset: That's all right.
     
    Flour: *clears throat* Why should you have to choose?
     
    Sunset: Apparently, that's the standard.
     
    Flour: Says who?
     
    Sunset: The portal, May Flour. That's who. Why does it close? Because Equestrian magic says so? Ridiculous!
     
    Flour: *scoff* Standards stink! If I knew how to write spells, Sunny, I'd change it.
     
    Sunset: 'Change it'?
     
    Flour: *drinks water* Sunny dear, magic's flexible here. Add some carpus grease, y'got new magic. Y'don't wanna be separate from a family, do you?
     
    Sunset: Heck, no!
     
    Flour: Luvin' that reaction, Sunny. *chuckle* Seriously, who says it needs t'close in ten days?
     
    Acres: *clears throat* 'Scuse me, but, sister, it won't open or close outta thin air. It's been cast a spell.
     
    Sunset: An ancient spell, Acres. Twilight told me a bit 'bout the mirror yesterday morning. *grunt* God knows where it is now.
     
    Acres & Flour: Huh?
     
    Acres: 'God knows'?
     
    Sunset: *scratches head, blushing* Sorry. Figure of speech I learned from the other world.
     
    They continue to chat and eat, but Sunset ponders in the front of her head about what May Flour said to her.
     
    A little later that day, Princess Luna paced in her study; her possum Tiberius dangled upside-down on her horn and scribbled notes in his miniature pad. Feeling cross with herself, they left and headed for the Throne Room. Luna attempted to barge in, but Tibbles dove in her mouth, and she stopped to spit out the fur. Before she attempted to interrogate him, she self-realized as Tiberius politely knocked on the door while hanging on her horn with his tail. When Celestia granted permission, Luna walked inside. For once, everything was bored in Equestria. For once, Celestia was glad. Unfortunately, Philomena wasn't. As the two sisters conversed, the two pets scowled at each other, and the two sisters used their magic to shield and nudge them apart. Luna wondered whe—
     
    Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock.
     
    Celestia: Come in.
     
    A door swings open, and a gray mailmare stumbles tiredly into the Throne Room. Luna quickly gives her some water, and Tiberius fans her to dry her coat and blonde mane and cool her down.
     
    Derpy: Thanks…Princess. *sees Tiberius* Ooh, is that your new possum?! *pushes her inward like a door and crouches down, eyes half-shut* He's so cute!
     
    Luna: Well, um…yeah, Tibbles is cute. *looks back*
     
    Philomena spread her wings akimbo and tapped her right claw up and down crossly.
     
    Derpy: Oh, almost forgot! *opens mail bag with her wing and hands envelope to Celestia* Urgent news.
     
    Princess Celestia: *grabs it with magic* Thank you, Derpy.
     
    Derpy salutes and trots out the door, but not before stopping and winking at Tiberius on the way by.
     
    Without saying a word, Celestia opened the letter and read aloud.
     
    Dear Princess Celestia and Princess Luna,
     
    Yesterday, Twilight explained to me a little about the mirror, but I want to know about its origins and why Star Swirl used it. Don't explain through letters. Please bring Twilight, Spike, and their other five friends along with you to Grazewood. Join me at Irviger Square at 7 o'clock local time tonight. I mailed a map along just in case.
     
    Two friends of mine assume it's been cast a spell and it's possible to change it. Is that true? Can we change the spell to permanently open the portal?
     
    Write back to inform me that you're coming.
     
    …Both families mean so much to me; it'll kill me if I let the portal close. It can't happen again!
     
    Thank You,
     
    Sunset Pie Shimmer
     
    Immediately, Celestia unveiled a roll of parchment, transformed the outside to red, and wrote a note:
     
    Dearest Sunset Pie Shimmer,
     
    We will see you tonight.
     
    Signed, Princess Celestia
     
    After it floated away, she wrote in another scarlet letter, this time to the others.
     
    Dearest _______________,
     
    Very important. Please rendezvous inside the Golden Oak Library. I will meet you there.
     
    Signed, Princess Celestia
     
    She carbon-copied it, replaced the underline with a name each, and let them float away. After they disappeared, she stood up, stretched her wings, and began to walk.
     
    Celestia: Little sister, come. Philomena, Tibbles, behave while we're gone.
     
    The phoenix and possum saluted, and Celestia and Luna teleported with map in tow.
     
    Less that a minute later, Sunset was talking to her mom (who was lifeguarding at the beach) when she let her return to work. As she walked away, the letter appeared literally out of thin air and opened in front of her. As she read the one-lined note, she stepped on a smooth, sleek seashell with her back hoof, slipped under her, and landed rump-first in a top-free cherry pie. Her cheeks rushed into a blush. Green eyes shrunk by about ninety-seven percent.
     
    As everyone laughed, she stood up and gawked at her rump. Baked cherries, sticky sugar syrup, and graham cracker crust stuck in between her hairs, coating her flank, some tail fur, and the edges of her cutie mark. Whatever didn’t stick dripped onto the sand.
     
    Click!
     
    Sunset looked up as his father took an image, a gigantic grin on his face. Solstice was laughing beside him.
     
    Sunrise whistled from afar, and Sunset looked back. "Thanks for finding my missing pie, Sunshine!" she called out, laughing.
     
    Immediately, Sunrise yanked the cherry pie away and put it on a rail where Sunset could see. Then, she scooped some with her magic and put it in her mouth as Sunset’s pinhead-sized eyes shrunk into needlepoints.
     
    The others?
     
    Applejack: She bucked trees in her orchard. The last apple to land had a note sticking out from within. Applejack scowled and planted her muzzle hard on the tree; more apples fell.
     
    Spike: He put a gem into his mouth, but he was unable to swallow the inside, as if chewing gum. He spat it out and read Celestia’s quick note as saliva and shattered amethyst dripped down the parchment and onto the floor.
     
    Rarity: She was relaxing in the shower, and shampoo dripped down her mane and onto her eyelids. To prevent the soap from stinging, she kept her eyes shut and used magic to pump shampoo onto her hoof. Celestia’s letter spouted out from the pump.
     
    Fluttershy: She went to get the mail and found the note inside her mailbox.
     
    Rainbow Dash: She was at Wonderbolts Academy participating more intermediate training techniques. Spitfire took out a scroll to read the instructions, only to find out she was reading Celestia’s urgent letter out loud. As everyone laughed hard, Spitfire's eyes shrunk and fought a blush.
     
    Twilight Sparkle: She batted against Shining Armor while playing gallopball. (Cadance was the catcher.) Cadance flashed the sign with her wing, and SA made the pitch, but the letter replaced the ball as it flopped in front of the mound. Cadance and TS stared at it and him with surprised eyes.
     
    “I was trying to throw a curveball,” he quipped as Twilight read the note silently.
     
    "Well, big bro, you threw one, all right," Twilight quipped back. "Gotta go," and she teleported.
     
    Pinkie Pie: While in Sugar Cube Corner, the oven rang at zero. Pinkie Pie raced to the back to get it, put on her potholders, opened the oven door, took out the scroll as if she saw it coming, and read it silently.
     
    That evening, Sunset was in the living room with the May sisters and their dads drinking some tea. She had just finished when she looked at the clock on the near-side wall: 6:30pm. Unfortunately, she had to go home (and Acres and Flour teased her about how her accident earlier reddened her rump, which she had to use a special shampoo to dissolve the sugar; Sunset blushed, looked back at her backside, and shook it). After hugs goodbye, Sunset retreated to the Shimmers to say hello and unpack before leaving fifteen minutes later to Irviger Square with a watch on her lower left front leg. With the sun about to set, everypony had retired for the night. The beach was closed. Every vendor was empty or towed away. Most of the lights dimmed. That familiar whirring from the mill had silenced, including the blades.
     
    She sat down on all fours and looked at her watch. Five-till, they should be here any minute.
     
    Right on cue, Princess Celestia, Luna, and the Mane Six appeared, all of them with backpacks.
     
    Celestia: Good evening, Sunset. *bows*
     
    Sunset *bowing*: Good evening, Princess Celestia.
     
    Twilight: Hi, Sunset!
     
    Applejack: *tips hat* Howdy, Sunny!
     
    Rarity: Hello, darling! *she and Sunset share a hug; her eye wanders* So…this is your hometown.
     
    Sunset: Eeyup! Beautiful, isn't it?
     
    Fluttershy: Why, it is nice.
     
    Rarity: But it could use some…how should I say it? Sprucing?
     
    Sunset: *nervous chuckle* Well, Grazewood's packed during the day, Rarity. Traditionally, we retire early for the night.
     
    Fluttershy: So, nopony here has a picnic, watch the beautiful sunsets, or stargazes?
     
    Sunset: If I recall correctly, not often.
     
    Pinkie: Aw, what a shame. Tonight's perfect for a campfire! *sniffs loudly, sighs* What an ocean! Hey, Sunny, what happened to your coat?!
     
    Sunset: Oh…this? *points at her rear* Blame myself for this.
     
    Pinkie: Why?
     
    Sunset: *blush* Well, she over there *points at Celestia* plastered a scarlet letter to my face. As I read it, I stepped on a shell and sat on Mama Shimmer's cherry pie.
     
    Pinkie Pie, Twilight, and Applejack cringed.
     
    Rarity couldn't help but giggle.
     
    Applejack: Must've been one big hullabaloo.
     
    Sunset: You — don't — have — an idea, AJ. Everypony broke into laughter, and Dawn told me to stay still and took a picture for posteriorty— *chuckle* No, wrong word. Prosperity.
     
    Rarity *fighting back giggles*: So, when will the film be produced?
     
    Sunset: For him? Tomorrow morning, perhaps.
     
    Fluttershy: So, um, was Sunrise upset at you for ruining the pie?
     
    Sunset: *giggle* Not at all. She thanked me and ate the rest.
     
    Everypony's eyes shrunk.
     
    Spike *gagging*: *pulls on Luna's frizzled tail twice, calls out from the back* Be right back! Gotta barf!
     
    Luna follows him to the beach.
     
    Applejack: Gross.
     
    Rarity: I can't believe it! What kind of pony would pollute themselves into unsanitary indignity?
     
    Rainbow Dash: *laugh* Why, you, of course.
     
    Rarity: Pffft! Oh, Dashie, please! Pinkie's lemon cream pie from last month was delicious. You know I would never let such a perfect delicacy go to waste.
     
    Sunset: Soooo…what didja do with it?
     
    Rarity: *takes out a short, shaded midnight blue spray bottle of edible food perfume*
     
    Sunset *playfully sarcastic*: *laughs* I should’ve known.
     
    Rarity: *giggles, re-hides bottle*
     
    Rainbow Dash: So, Sunny…you didn't eat the pie that you sat on…did you?
     
    Sunset: And sacrifice more of my own dignity?! No way, José! *sees Dash's confused face* Uh, Pedestrian figure of speech.
     
    Rainbow Dash: Aha.
     
    Spike and Luna return to the beach.
     
    Spike: So, is it all over?
     
    Celestia: Yes, Spike.
     
    Luna and Spike sigh in relief.
     
    Luna: *shakes head* I feel my future self spinning in my grave. Anypony have fresh water?
     
    Twilight: *takes out water bottle* Here.
     
    Luna: *drinks it all without touching her lips on the mouth, sighs* Thanks, Twilight.
     
    Twilight: You're welcome. Sunset, any water fountains around here?
     
    Sunset: *points at a vertical gate guarding some birch trees opposite her home* Back there, immediate left.
     
    Twilight: Gotcha. *pops away to the fountain, pops back seconds later* Done!
     
    Dash *annoyed*: Guys, can we start discussing why we came all the way out here before any one of us goes off-topic again?
     
    Spike *muttering*: Jeez, Rainbow Dash, you're feeling irritable today.
     
    Twilight *whispers to Spike*: Spike, not now.
     
    Spike *whispers back guiltily*: Sorry.
     
    Celestia whistled using two long tail feathers, and conversation ceased.
     
    “Thank you, everypony. Tonight, we have a lot to talk about. Will you all kindly sit in a circle, please, and split into two of five?”
     
    Everyone took off their bags, formed an imperfect circle in the middle of the square, and sat on all fours. Starting clockwise, Celestia crouched on the far side of the square (furthest from the Shimmer House) next to Luna, followed by Sunset, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Spike, and Twilight. Large gaps between both Spike and Pinkie Pie and both Sunset and Fluttershy halved the park and group.
     
    Celestia: Firstly, thank you all for coming. Before I begin, I’m sorry if my scarlet letters were a bother to any of you.
     
    Fluttershy: Oh, that’s okay, Celestia. As long as I received the letter, I’m fine.
     
    Rarity: Me, too. Next time, though, not in a place where it’s so invasive?
     
    Celestia: I promise, Rarity. Secondly…Twilight, do you remember what I told you about the mirror’s magic?
     
    Twilight: Yup! That night when the portal opened, you told me that an alicorn named King Arion created it several millennia go.
     
    Dash: Whoa, whoa, whoa! Time out! Twilight, Princess Celestia, you’re saying other alicorns beside you four existed?
     
    Luna extended a hoof outwards and shushed her. “Patience, pegasus. Alicorns have had a long history. Perhaps as long as unicorn, Earth pony, and pegasi.”
     
    “How alicorns evolve have always remained a mystery. Even the best scientists have limited knowledge of them,” said Celestia. “Luna, Cadance, and I are naturally-born, as well as hundreds of others. King Arion was also naturally born. Some of them earned their status over time, like Twilight for solving Star Swirl's broken spell.
     
    “I bet wherever there’s one, it’s national news,” said Spike.
     
    “Even the sight of one surprises Equestrian citizenry,” said Twilight and pointed her eyes across. “I learned that experience firsthand yesterday.”
     
    Sunset chuckled. “Took me a bit t’calm down when I found out you’re a princess, Twilight… Was anybody here shocked, too?”
     
    “Apparently, not as shocked as you. Well…maybe me!” Pinkie Pie giggled.
     
    “So, Princesses, what does the hooha have anything to do with this King Arion anyhow?” asked Applejack.
     
    Luna’s horn flickered on and opened the flap of a slate-colored sack. Immediately, light yellow replaced hers; a dirty-yellow parchment scroll floated out from within and hovered from about three feet above the dirt.
     
    A sharp click of her tongue; magical whirs silenced. Only salt water crashing ashore, rustling leaves, and a little buzz of one tiny electric light conquered Grazewood’s landscape. Slowly, she opened it to reveal a wide, square texture. Measured at about thirteen feet wide and eleven feet high, it was big enough to write perhaps five short stories and still gather enough space to write more.
     
    Then, Luna reactivated her magical aura and clicked her tongue to silence the noise, not shying away from the floating scroll. A thin vertical line of white appeared and expanded outwards till it reached the borders. In it was a flat, black-outlined drawing of a rusty brown alicorn. Slick streaks of white and bronze flowed in his thick mane and long, slender tail, which raveled and frayed at the end like the tip of an old bristle paintbrush. An aquamarine dot represented his eye. Two vertical strips partially covered his wings and abdomen.
     
    “Long ago, King Arion ruled an ancient city in the eastern hemisphere of our Earth. He was a little temperamental and impatient, but he always had a liking for citizens.” Luna flipped to a virtual image of Arion bowing and handing baskets of food around. “Not once did he believe others were worse than him. He had a tremendous amount of respect for others, and they had tremendous respect for him in return. Unfortunately, despite being an alicorn, successful flight he could not.” Another image appeared in its place, this time Arion looking back at his tied-up wings. “See those straps? Legend has it that he was born with a condition called pennaplegia. He was never able to fly.”
     
    Rarity gasped and covered her mouth with a hoof. “My gosh, how awful!”
     
    “What’s pennaplegia?” asked Spike, scratching his head.
     
    “Paralysis in the wings. Only occurs during pregnancy. Caused my an injury within the womb,” Rainbow Dash explained.
     
    “Does it happen often, Rainbow Dash?” asked Sunset.
     
    “Usually, Sunny, when a doctor suspects pennaplegia, the pregnant pony’ll abort. Was abortion legal there thousands of years ago…? I don’t know.”
     
    Celestia and Luna visually contacted one another, and Luna flipped the virtual slideshow.
     
    As it showed a drawing of arid hills, Celestia continued, “Arion’s kingdom and the lives for himself and everypony depended on trade for survival, because the desert climate had no land to cultivate and was about two-and-a-half miles high in altitude… Unfortunately, nopony made it through long distance. Not even pegasi were capable of surviving hours of nonstop flight.” The slideshow turned again; Arion was walking on grass, carrying a stuffed, parchment-like sack on his back. “In order to help make life for his ponies easier, he scavenged dead cities where civilizations came and went. He was able to find thousands of old bones of the three popular pony races.” Another image appeared, this time a bulky, sand-colored castle with two large towers. “He collected them into his castle and used magic to cremate them.”
     
    “Cremation… Sounds pretty icky,” said Pinkie Pie.
     
    “’Twas worse back then, Ms. Pie,” said Luna. “In his country, cremation was taboo. A crime serious enough for abdication…and exile.”
     
    “Golly…” Pinkie’s high voice faded.
     
    “So, he kept the project a secret, Luna?” asked Twilight.
     
    “More. He had to cremate all the bones underground; disguise the nasty burning smell; and lie to his most trusted diplomats, friends, and even family so nopony outed him. Even by accident.”
     
    “Wow…” mouthed Twilight.
     
    “After several years of processing the bones and completing a spell to create shatterproof glass, he spent long days drafting the perfect spell to travel long distances without risking lives,” said Celestia, and Luna flashed a three-quarter image of the mirror within a very dark room with Arion facing it. “At last, he came up with the right one to create a portal from one country to another. It was a secret only he and rulers from other kingdoms knew, and they kept them all the way until their deaths. After King Arion died, the citizens named the country Arion Straus in his honor.”
     
    “They must’ve really loved him to name their country after him posthumously,” said Fluttershy softly.
     
    Spike taped a claw on his snout. “…But what does all a’this have t’do with Star Swirl?”
     
    Celestia nodded to Luna, who flashed flat carving-like drawings of three dragon-like creatures, each with bright green eyes, and all sitting on what looked like moss-covered rocks. One was aquamarine with more of a greenish tint. The middle was burnt orange. Another was violet. Wavy fins began at their poll and gradually decreased while the fins looped from one to the other, ending halfway down the body. Smaller fins protruded out from their cheeks and the backs of their two front legs. Scales on their chests and underbellies surrounded and protected a large, ruby-like hexagon on their jugular. Rather than two rear legs, each of them had a tail with a large fin expanding outward.
     
    Spike’s eyes opened wide. “A-A-Are those—”
     
    “Sirens!” gasped Twilight and Rarity.
     
    “After King Arion died, the kingdom slowly descended into complete disarray. The Sirens lived on an island not far from Arion Straus,” said Celestia. “They didn’t attempt to invade when King Arion was alive because he allied with several different kingdoms, including griffons and dragons. When he passed, diplomatic relations dwindled and fell apart.” A slide featuring ponies arguing and fighting as the Sirens watched gleefully replaced it. “Seeing it as an opportunity, the Sirens invaded Arion Stratus and seduced them with powerful music. As they sang, hate burned into everypony who lived there. Those who tried to fight it died, either killed by the Sirens themselves or through suicide.”
     
    Luna flashed a new slide; Star Swirl sat next to a cloaked stallion. The bottom was as blue as the sky and sloped downward. “According to legend, one pony was able to escape from their hate curse and searched far away. While drinking from a waterhole, he noticed Star Swirl from the corner of his eye and asked for help. Star Swirl listened as he described King Arion and the Sirens’ evil. He tried to defeat them by stripping them of their powers, but they were too powerful, even for them.”
     
    Immediately, Luna projected a drawing of Star Swirl standing on a hill facing the Sirens, King Arion’s crumbling castle behind him.
     
    It was Celestia’s turn to talk. “One night, he caught a break. He snuck into Arion’s castle and discovered his mirror along with the accompanying spell in his catacomb underground. He rewrote the spell to make the portal become a point of no return instead of a tunnel for trade. What happened, nopony knows, but he was somehow able to lure the Sirens into the portal, restoring order in Arion Stratus.” She glanced down glumly. “Whatever order that existed.”
     
    “What do you mean, Princess Celestia?” wondered Rarity.
     
    “After the Sirens were defeated, very little of Arion Stratus survived. Those who lived during the Sirens’ reign either left to find cultivated countries or stayed vainly to revive the kingdom. Star Swirl stayed behind to try to help, but no kingdom trusted Arion Stratus. That left him no choice but to abandon any attempt to revive it.”
     
    Everyone looked down at the ground in silence. Wind blew from the ocean and past Irviger Square, rustling the leaves. In the meantime, Luna dwindled her magical projection spell, and Celestia retracted the scroll.
     
    As Celestia packed it, Sunset interrupted. “Hold it. The story doesn’t end here, does it?”
     
    “Well, our adventures have always been topsy-turvy,” giggled Pinkie Pie. “So it makes sense if his were the same.”
     
    Princess Celestia chuckled from their astuteness, and everyone paid attention. “Unfortunately, Star Swirl’s spell backfired. Rather than rewriting the spell to permanently seal the mirror, it was always able to open and close. Several times, he attempted to rewrite the spell to close the loophole in the mirror…but was never able to. So, he sealed in a hidden room in Canterlot Castle where only a few ponies knew existed and instructed me to look after it in his will.”
     
    “But, Celestia…if it was a secret room as Star Swirl claims…” Twilight paused, trying to find the right words, “why do we feel the portal through our horns or Spike’s spines?”
     
    Celestia closed her eyes. “I don’t know, Twilight. I believe Star Swirl didn’t, either.”
     
    Princess Luna gazed at her horseshoes, which glistened in the moonlight above.
     
    “Sometimes stuff like this makes me glad I was sealed in the moon.”
     
    Everyone in the square gasped.
     
    “Your majesty!” Rarity shrieked. “Why in the world would you say that?!”
     
    Luna sighed, focus still down. “Being a princess isn't always easy, and I wasn't mature. If I learned something like this as a young foal, I might've been overzealous enough to try to find the mirror and seal it myself.”
     
    Celestia wrapped her wing around her back and nuzzled her face on Luna, who nuzzled back.
     
    Fluttershy stood up, crossed the imaginary barrier dividing the circle, and sat down about three feet in front of Luna. “Um, Princess Luna—”
     
    “Please, Fluttershy. Call me Luna.”
     
    “Luna. Okay… Um…” Yellow fur bristled. Her left hind leg buckled. “…Ooooooh, how should I say it?”
     
    Luna shook her head. “Worry not.”
     
    “Really? Okay, well…” Eyebrows furrowed. Lips frowned. “…That’s one of the craziest things I've ever heard! Nopony deserves to be sealed anywhere! Not in the moon. Not in stone. Nothing!” Her face and voice relaxed, and she patted her shoe with a hoof. “Please, Luna, never wish you were glad to be sealed.”
     
    Luna glanced at Celestia (whose wing still wrapped around Luna’s back) and returned attention to the yellow pegasus. “I wish these thoughts would disappear through banter, but I can’t. Fluttershy…I cannot help myself feeling this way.”
     
    “I’m sure we all felt somethin’ sim’lar at one point or ’nother, your majesty,” said Applejack as Fluttershy retreated to her place in the circle.
     
    “I sure did.” Pinkie Pie danced a front hoof back and forth on the dirt and looked across her half of the circle. “Remember the mess I was in when I believed nopony liked me anymore?”
     
    The ReMane Five and Spike nodded.
     
    She pointed at Rainbow Dash. “Well, Dashie here does.”
     
    “Ya really want me to tell ’em?”
     
    “Of course!” Pinkie grinned, eyes closed. “After all, we’re all friends here, aren’t we?”
     
    Sunset glared at Celestia. Not all of us.
     
    Rainbow Dash exhaled. “Well, you don’t know this, but she became bananas and dedicated a party with a bag of flour, rocks… Y’all know about the turnips.”
     
    Some ponies covered their mouths with a hoof — Fluttershy with both — and expanded their eyes.
     
    “I know you took it badly, Pinkie,” said Rarity, a mild flex of a hovering hoof. “But THIS badly?!”
     
    Spike lowered his spines, frowned, and turned away.
     
    Twilight wrapped her wing around him and hugged him.
     
    Rainbow Dash lowered her ears. Once, Pinkie requested her not to tell them. Why did she have to now…? “Well, now you know.”
     
    “Aw, why so melancholy?” Pinkie chirped. “Why aren-cha happy ya spilled the flour?”
     
    “’Cuz you didn’t want me to tell them. You knew they’d be heartbroken.”
     
    “I know. Dumbest — Pinkie — Promise — ever!” Reaching from behind, she unveiled a wastepaper basket; dumped a piece of paper that said “Pinkie Promise” in bold, magenta capitals; and put it away.
     
    Twilight, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Celestia chuckled.
     
    Luna’s teeth crushed through fur and onto flesh. Stars in her ethereal mane twinkled a little brighter. Tiny drips of sweat inched onto her eye shadow, increasing the weight of her lids…
     
    Suddenly, a little laugh escaped. Soft, sweet, and angelic. Leaves stopped dancing, and Pinkie internally swore she heard the voices of some gossiping to each other.
     
    Everyone smiled; Rarity awed.
     
    Celestia nuzzled her face on Luna’s right cheek again. “I love it when you laugh, little sister.”
     
    “I haven’t heard you laugh since Nightmare Night.” Twilight Sparkle’s eyes twinkled under Luna’s moonlight. “It’s so beautiful. Please, laugh more.”
     
    “Luna, look around you!”
     
    Upon hearing Pinkie’s typical brightness, she observed the square. Nine pairs of warm eyes and nine matching smiles watched her.
     
    “You have so many friends,” Pinkie Pie resumed. “Me, Twilight, Celestia, Spike, and everypony else. You have more friends you don’t know you have. And guess what? We're all your friends for life!” Teeth brighter than the brightest star in the sky shone in a six-inch-tall grin.
     
    Sunset Pie Shimmer caressed her front left hoof on Luna’s jaw and gently gestured her head down.
     
    “And, Luna…never forget. You have a new friend-for-life.”
     
    She lunged up and kissed her cheek.
     
    Princess Luna’s pupils opened. Sunset’s warm lips rapidly charged her heart; she could feel blood pump and circulate throughout her body. Nerves within her jaw buzzed. Warm traces of humidity evaporated, allowing the tips of her rich, midnight coat to float, flop, and kiss upon every touch.
     
    There was a soft clang. A soft, naked, blue front hoof patted on her left cheek just beside the muzzle’s edge. Seeing it she didn’t— A warm orange glowed invisibly on her toe.
     
    Smile widening, Luna’s eyes twinkled and quivered before Celestia, Sunset, and the others. Nopony expressed even a tinge of shock or contempt. They were innocent, caring, and comforting. No focus devolved into a gawk or pinpoints. Like the night sky in Sunset’s town, the irises trusted her. No one color dominated the other. The purples, greens, and blues didn’t peak away or force themselves onto Luna’s soft green. Multiple colors rendezvoused at the radius, and they all blinked in adoration.
     
    But some of their smiles…
     
    Of course, Pinkie Pie loved to exaggerate hers…but was it an exaggeration at all? She always loved Pinkie’s smile, even though they didn’t see each other often. But she peaked at her again and again; every time, hers radiated.
     
    Fluttershy’s was small, yet cute, matching her eyes.
     
    Like her eye shadow and eyelashes, Rarity’s smile glowed. The more the ends curled, the brighter it became.
     
    Sunset’s physically touched, but she didn’t bother not resisting another peak. Brilliance emitted from her grin.
     
    Applejack’s was small and firm, but caring. From the middle out, hers curled gradually. As iconic as her hat was, she looked much better without it, especially tonight. Otherwise, her smile would be the first thing she saw, not her hat.
     
    Spike’s grin popped out, pushing itself forward as his green and purple scales tiptoed an inch or two away.
     
    Rainbow Dash’s smile was more innocent. Blunt she may be sometimes, she wasn’t afraid to try to be sappy even though she claimed to be against it. How can cocking of the head help make a smile look cute? She may never know.
     
    Like stars and the sun, Twilight’s and Celestia’s shone. Luna’s moon reflected off Twilight as she smiled with her eyes closed. But with Celestia offering a warm wing, hers was the brightest of them all. Even brighter than Pinkie’s.
     
    At last, she spoke.
     
    “Thank you, everypony. All of you. Your kindness means so much to me.”
     
    “We’re all very welcome, darling,” said Rarity with a small bow. She turned to Celestia, who retracted her wing. “Now, if I recall correctly, you can't replace curses or spells on a whim… Can you?”
     
    “I’m afraid not Rarity,” she replied, shaking her head solemnly. “The only forms of innate magic known to horned ponykind are lifting, relaxing, pulling, pushing, transferring, and levitating. Not everyone has mastered them. You can create new magic like Star Swirl’s spell that Twilight closed, but you can’t change it without finding the actual source.”
     
    Twilight cupped a sole on her lips and hummed. “So, if we find the actual source of the spell…then we can revise…and we can keep the portal open… Sunset, you’ll be able to visit both families whenever you like!”
     
    “YES!” Sunset jumped up.
     
    “But,” interrupted Luna; Sunset froze in midair, “there is a flaw in the plan.”
     
    “If you rewrite the spell incorrectly, then the portal may go haywire,” said Celestia as Sunset landed. “The principal version of myself couldn’t enter the portal.”
     
    “Pinkie-Mommy couldn’t, either.”
     
    Celestia paused. “Apparently, the mirror has a spell preventing anyone who possesses no Equestrian magic from voluntarily entering the portal.”
     
    “Do y’all know if Star Swirl or Arion wrote it?” asked Applejack.
     
    Celestia and Luna shook their heads.
     
    “I hate t’ask this,” Dash cut in, “but what if we try and fail?”
     
    “Several implications, I’m afraid,” said Celestia, “including uninvited guests infiltrating both dimensions, opening gates to other worlds…” she sighed with audible pain, “or closing it forever.”
     
    Sunset gasped. Her gaze froze. Fur and bones trembled. Cold sweat dripped. Eyes shrank — pupils enlarged and nearly covered her irises.
     
    Luna activated her horn and pointed it at the unicorn. A blue aura encased her, and she was lifted off the ground. Not once did she flail, speak, or fight back, yet her fur froze while the ends continued to shake. When she hovered above the Royal Sisters, Luna scooted a couple of feet away, opening up land between them. Slowly, she lowered her horn, pulling Sunset gently to the ground.
     
    The second her hooves touched dirt, Luna deactivated her horn, and both sisters wrapped a wing around her. Tips of their feathers penetrated her coat, tickling her, but Sunset didn’t laugh. Instead, her sweat gradually slowed and came to a full stop. As her eyes increased to normal size, her dilated pupils shrank. Warmth of their undersides relaxed her fur.
     
    “Think not about the consequences, Sunset,” soothed Luna, her voice gentler than quiet wind, and nuzzled the back of her head. “Spend quality time here and in the other world with the Pies there. Promise?”
     
    Sunset peaked at both sisters, each of whom smiling with confidence.
     
    Finally, a brave smile cracked through, and she nodded at Luna. “Promise.” She whipped her head at Celestia and nodded at her, as well. “Promise.”
     
    “Luna’s right, Sunny-Hunny. Don’t worry about worrying,” said Pinkie. “Leave the worrying to us!”
     
    Rarity chuckled. “Clever approach, Pinkie. I like it!”
     
    Spike stood up and said, “So, first thing tomorrow, everypony?”
     
    “Good idea,” replied Pinkie Pie and hummed in thought. “Why don’t we start searching in Star Swirl’s study, wherever it is?”
     
    “Canterlot Castle has several,” said Twilight. “I remember two the most: one just downstairs from Celestia’s study, another not far from mine.”
     
    “Sunset, did yours belonged to Star Swirl, too?” wondered Fluttershy.
     
    Sunset crossed her front hooves, tapped one of them underneath an ear, and hmm’d long and hard. “I…think so. Y’all wanna check?”
     
    “If you don’t mind,” replied Fluttershy, cocking her head with a smile.
     
    Sunset chuckled. “Not at all. Perhaps a split into a few groups to find it better?”
     
    “Sounds like a good plan,” said Spike.
     
    Luna stood up and dusted herself off. “I’ll help, too.”
     
    “Looks like it’s a unanimous vote,” Twilight said, but quickly corrected herself. “Almost. Celestia, will you help, too?”
     
    Celestia nodded and said, “Yes.”
     
    “Excellent.” Sunset stood up and started trotting toward her house. As soon as she passed Pinkie Pie, she stopped and looked back. “Princess Celestia, do you still have the keys for it?”
     
    Celestia shook her head. “After you ran away, I gave them to your father.”
     
    “Hmm, not surprised. Nopony move a muscle! I’ll be right back.”
     
    “Take as long as you need it. We’ll wait,” replied Fluttershy.
     
    Sunset giggled quietly and jogged away.
     
    It wouldn’t take long. A few minutes later, Dawn and Sunset teleported to Irviger Square, golden study keys in hoof. When he gave them to Celestia, the group of nine departed.
     

     
    More to come.
  19. Dark Qiviut
    As always, if you want to read the rest of the concept, click here or the "EGQ Fanfic Rewrite Concept" category link above.
     

     
    Ch. 8: Reunited
     
    An annoying alarm clock rang at 6 o'clock next morning, and Pinkie immediately turned off the buzzer. She went to check on Sunset, but there was a note on the door instead.
     
    Making breakfast, Pinkie-Mommy.
     
    Love, Sunny
     
    Her feet plopped down the staircase and into the kitchen. All the Pies were at the table eating hearty breakfasts, while Sunset Pie Shimmer and Igneous Pie cooked. For the first time in a few days, Sunset and Pinkie performed their ritualistic greeting, only Pinkie twirled; and they sat together (Sunset next to Marble) while they ate and semi-inhaled their meals giddily. The rest of the Pies didn't care; they were just glad Sunset was back to her old self again and that Sunset and Pinkie were still extremely close.
     
    After everyone cleaned up and changed into their clothes, they were about to go on their way, but before Pinkie climbed in the van, Sunset held her back for a second and needed to talk to Pinkie-Mommy for a minute. While in front of the house, Sunset realized that while she was out, neither of them would be able to see each other or talk to each other. So she handed over her diary, magic pen, and quill. To use the pen, dip it in a bowl of ink and write a message. The other diary (in Equestria) will alert of her, and she'll write back, causing her journal to glow, too. She'll write to her as soon as she arrives in Canterlot and grabs the diary.
     
    "Promise me: never lose that pen! If it's gone, you can't write back to me. No other writing tool will work on it. Promise?" She flashed her pinkie finger.
     
    Pinkie connected with her own pinkie.
     
    Afterwards, they drove off to Canterlot High, where Twilight, Principal Celestia, Flash, the ReMane Four, and VP Luna awaited. Sunset was very pleased to see all of them, and Rarity admitted it's tough saying goodbye.
     
    "Whoa there! It's not goodbye, guys. Remember what I said, I'll be back in Canterlot City Saturday morning."
     
    "Sorry, Sunset." Fluttershy clutched her own right hand onto her left wrist. One of her toes scraped the asphalt and scratched onto her other flip-flop. "It's just that…it'll be so… Oh, what's that word?"
     
    "Don't know. Awkward?" asked Rainbow Dash.
     
    "Maybe," replied Fluttershy. "Canterlot City will feel awkward with you there and not here."
     
    "I'm sure Princess Celestia and you, Twilight, felt awkward when first coming here. By the way, did you two sign out of Grump Tower?"
     
    "Mm-hmm. Last night."
     
    Sunny shared a group hug with the ReMane Five (including pecks on the cheek) before doing the same with the Pies (and, yes, Pinkie was involved, too). Then Sunset and Pinkie embraced tightly, and Pinkie smooched her nose.
     
    "Remember, write to me when you have Princess Celestia's diary."
     
    "I promise." Sunset kissed her nose in return.
     
    When they loosened, Twilight tapped Sunset shoulder and said, "Sunset, everypony's waiting."
     
    Sunset said goodbye and walked into the portal with Twilight. Pinkie tried to hold on, but her grip loosened as the barrier kept her locked out of the portal.
     
    When Sunset stepped foot in Canterlot Castle, her whole form changed, and she fell on her rump when she couldn't stand on two legs anymore. Big green eyes focused on her hooves, and she turned them to see all the golden fur covering them (and also feeling a sensation of where her fingers and toes used to be). She turned around and stood on her hindquarters, witnessing her pony-styled mane. Looking down, she noticed her tail and gently wagged her flanks to see it move. Then she looked back to see Princess Twilight, yelped in excitement, and fell back again.
     
    "Y-Y-Yo-Yo—"
     
    Twilight walked to her and placed a hoof on her shoulder. "It's all right, Sunset. You do—"
     
    "You never told me you’re an alicorn princess!"
     
    Eagerly, she hurried around Twilight and held a hoof onto her wings. Opening them. Closing them. Flicking them to feel the feathers. Babbling statements. Asking questions. Making Twilight feel uneasy.
     
    Finally, Twilight shoved her hoof into Sunset’s mouth, skidding her excitement into annoyance.
     
    "Party pooper," Sunset grumbled, her muffled voice escaping from the left corner of her mouth.
     
    "Sorry, Sunset." Twilight pulled her hoof out and shook it to dry it. "I'm still not used to being a princess yet."
     
    "I'm pretty sure you're not. After all, you've been in Pedestria for a few days."
     
    "No! It's… Gah, never mind. It's a long story."
     
    But Sunset's mind diverged when she decided to try on magic again to turn on some light. When her horn glowed green, the room illuminated. The Reflection Room — initially painted white — was covered in crimson and gold. Her sun cutie mark was painted above the mirror. The doors were etched in her silhouette, and Celestia's copy of Sunset's journal (along with ink and a magic pen) rested inside the glass covering.
     
    "Um, Twilight, can I have those, please?" she asked, pointing at the sacred collection.
     
    Magic unbounded, Twilight lifted the glass covering off, put it gently down, and floated the three items to Sunset, who attempted to hold onto the quill with her hoof with no success.
     
    "I wish I had hands," she grumbled. "Buuuuuut…"
     
    A green aura lifted her pen, which slowly descended into a pool of navy blue ink. After two ginger taps, she lifted it and started writing. When she finished, she wrote the following:
     
    I'm inside Canterlot Castle. Will write to you back when I return to Grazewood.
     
    Love, Sunny
     
    P.S.: Sorry about my sloppy writing. Not used to writing without hands and with a magical horn.
     
    She rested her quill, and Twilight used magic to carefully pack them. Meanwhile, Sunset gazed the room with her lit horn.
     
    "Can't believe it. So much has changed since I ran away."
     
    Twilight chuckled and cupped a hoof on her shoulder. "This is nothing."
     
    Sunset blinked. "What—"
     
    POP!
     
    Out of the Reflection Room.
     
    POP!
     
    Into the Throne Room.
     
    "—d'ya…"
     
    Suddenly, a deep gasp.
     
    Spike the dragon and five ponies that looked like her friends back in Pedestria stood before her. Sunset commented on all of it, and told Pinkie that she looked like Pinkie-Mommy. Pinkie was confused, but still giddy about being called a mom, or any kind of mom in fact. Before Twilight and Spike were about to explain the situation, Princess Celestia, Luna, Cadance, and Shining Armor arrived, leading to more shock. Not only was there another alicorn, but the fact that Luna was standing there in the flesh and greeting her.
     
    "Oh, my God…! Princess Luna…the legend… It can't be true!" Sunset whipped her head around, her voice falling into a whisper.
     
    Princess Luna bowed. "Ah, but that legend of the Mare in the Moon really is true."
     
    Sunset, though, could not believe it. Front hooves held high, she touched Luna's muzzle, silky hair, horn, and crown.
     
    Luna smiled and giggled as Sunset's warm touch tickled her chin. "Princess Celestia told me so much and so fondly about you. 'Tis a magnificent pleasure to meet you."
     
    Princess Celestia walked over and bowed. "Welcome home, Sunset Pie Shimmer."
     
    Sunset's eyes darted at the pink-tinted alicorn. Like fingers creasing skin inward, black eyebrows furrowed tightly. Her horn throbbed; a light green aura popped from the tip of her horn. But matching eyes gazed at the rest; Twilight, Spike, and the others behind her started to sweat. Cadance and Shining Armor watched, barely blinking at Sunset. Yet, Sunset's right hoof was still on Luna's muzzle, who watched over her firmly, yet without any curl in her eyebrows and with relaxed blinking.
     
    Green met her near opposite again. Neither of them budged, Celestia still bowing before the ex-protégé. Sunset's eyebrow muscles, the tip of her horn, and her brain began to cramp.
     
    At last, her aura subsided with tired eyebrows.
     
    Instead, she bowed her head.
     
    Everyone sighed in relief.
     
    When Spike lightly elbowed Twilight's front left leg, she lowered her neck and ear to reach him.
     
    "Is she smiling?" he whispered.
     
    Twilight eyed Sunset's lips; each end of her lips curled upwards a few degrees.
     
    "Mm-hmm," she replied with a nod.
     
    A few seconds later, both Sunset and Celestia unbowed, and Sunset scratched her front right hoof with the other.
     
    "It does feel good t'be back."
     
    "Come, everyone." Celestia turned around and walked down the hall; the others followed.
     
    As they walked to Sunset's family's quarters, everyone explained what happened during all that time, from the Elements of Harmony being freed to Luna's redemption to Twilight's ascension and subsequent coronation. It was Twilight's first assignment as Princess of Equestria since then, and Twilight felt the portal open through her horn.
     
    "So, you, too? What kind of sensation was it?"
     
    "I…how do I say it? Feels like somepony's tickling your belly, 'cept it's tickling the horn. But colder…and weirder."
     
    "Hey, same for me! Rarity, you, too?"
     
    Rarity grumbled and rubbed her temple. "Never have I felt such an odious tingling of magic. Hate it!"
     
    "I think all of us harbor the same feelings, ma'am," replied Luna.
     
    "But why does it happen?" asked Sunset. "Is it the alicorn material underneath our horns?"
     
    "I don't know, Sunset Pie Shimmer," replied Celestia. "It's a mystery I've wondered for a long time now."
     
    "Well, I don't have horns. But my spines tingled." Spike shivered and wiggled his back, swaying his spines with each snappy rotation. "Colder than the coldest day at The Crystal Empire."
     
    The trek continued through the hall and up a spiral staircase to the second floor. Pearl white walls glistened in the candlelight, hooves muffled each time it pressed on the ruby-red carpet. Yet, the red reminded Sunset of the hummingbird; soft, buzzing of his wings cooed subconsciously. Within each navy blue pattern, why did they act like they were ready to flap?
     
    So why did the colors suddenly look more saturated when they plodded through the door into another hall anyway? No candlelight exploded. Celestia's sun was too lazy to penetrate through the glass. But the glass was a pane; each oblong was etched. But there were no patterns. Indoor light flickered and glared, but the glare quieted. Sunset's gleaming eyes shut, but they opened without interruption, except for a giddy Pinkie Pie hopping on one side and Applejack walking along the other.
     
    "Seein' a lot of orange just now?"
     
    Sunset's scalp started itching, but resisted to scratch it. "'Scuse me?"
     
    Applejack giggled. "I mean are ya feelin' happy?"
     
    "I…yeah, I am."
     
    "Feeling nervicited?" chirped Pinkie.
     
    "Perhaps. Wish somepony hugs me right now."
     
    "Aww! Why didn't ya tell us sooner!" The Bearer of Laughter launched her front up and hugged Sunset across her shoulders while they continued to walk.
     
    But when Sunset tried to do the same, they fell over and plopped on the rug.
     
    "Still not used t'this…" The thick carpet muffled her grumble, and her tongue pressed against it. Pony or human, fabric remained an unkind flavor. When the two Earth ponies helped her up, some fabric stuck on the side of her tongue, but the flavors of the saturated colors competed against her persistent taste buds. "If only I can walk on two legs…"
     
    Pinkie Pie cupped a hoof around the back of her neck. "Don't worry, Sunny." Her voice soothed Sunset's tension like fingers caressing woven silk, and her prompt wink forced a smile out of the gold unicorn. "Mail me anytime, I'll help ya in a jiffy."
     
    Princess Celestia whistled down the hall, and they ran over. The front had "Shimmer" stenciled in bright white on bright gold doors. Princess Celestia attempted to knock, but Sunset lightly tugged her tail and gestured her wish to knock, which Celestia granted. Sunset reached up with her hoof, cupped the right side of the loop, and banged it hard thrice.
     
    "Come in!" called Dawn's voice.
     
    Using her magic, Celestia pushed the door toward the room. Once Sunset was in full view, Dawn immediately launched himself at her, hugged her hard, and both fell on the warm floor. Tears immediately flooded the area; Sunset's fur felt heavy and smelled salty. But Sunset didn't care. She met him for the first time in eleven years, and she returned the tight hug. When Dawn contained himself just enough to stand, he marveled at how much her daughter grew…and he missed her. So he hugged her again, sobbed again, and smooched her cheeks. This time, Sunset's eyes began to water, and she allowed a tear to land on his amber-covered shoulder. Before they let go, she kissed his cheek in return.
     
    Just as he let go, Sunrise raced over and embraced her alizarin crimson hooves around Sunset and kissed her all over the cheek as tears rained down. No sounds escaped other than loud, happy crying and blubbering about her daughter home. For a minute, Sunset blushed from embarrassment, but a mother's tender love was nothing to blush about. Before Sunrise was about to let go, Sunset tightened her grip around her biological mom, yet expressed no words.
     
    "Shhhhhhhhhhh…" Sunrise's warm voice softened into a comforting whisper, her muzzle inches from her ear. "It's okay, Sunshine… It's okay."
     
    Seconds later, she released her grip and ran around the room frantically to find her young brother. Suddenly, she felt a tiny tug on the end of her tail, and she looked back. A little colt, about half her size but with brighter gold fur and the same green color in his eyes, shyly greeted her. Upon sight, Sunset's eyes broke into tears, and she gently hugged her little brother. Little Solstice hugged her back and greeted her with a kiss on her horn.
     
    "Sunset…you feel so warm."
     
    "I missed you, Solsty… Oh…" She loudly kissed his cheek. "God, you're so beautiful. Please…don't let go."
     
    "I won't…"
     
    As they cried in their embrace, Sunrise and Dawn hugged and kissed each other, tears continuing to drip. By the door, no one laid dry eyes. Luna rested her head on Celestia's shoulder, while Celestia wrapped a wing around Twilight and Spike. Twilight and Spike hugged each other (the former kissing his head). Cadance and Shining Armor embraced, with Shining resting his head on Cadance's. The others held hooves in solidarity (with Applejack taking off her hat in respect).
     

     
    Ch. 9: First Day Back
     
    After a half-hour of wet eyes and necessary magic to dry the floor, the Shimmers said goodbye to the others and arrived home in Grazewood via a Special Express (a train skipping nearly every stop in between Canterlot and Grazewood). On the train, Sunset and Pinkie wrote to each other back about the experience. Pinkie and the others felt very uncomfortable in the Pie house, and the others felt down knowing she wasn't there. Pinkie admitted straightforwardly that Pedestria doesn't feel the same and she missed her. Sunset told Pinkie-Mommy the same and couldn't wait to return on Saturday. A few minutes before their stop, Sunset promised to write back tonight and, hopefully, take photos so she can magically transfer them over.
     
    Not even fifteen minutes after arrival at the train station, the Shimmers walked past some Grazewoods (all of which towered high in the sky and full of blue pine leaves in the canopy), up a hill, and at the house. It was like a cabin, but bigger and with an extra floor. A shed faced away towards the Grazewoods, while a big living room window watched the town circle and flourmill. The Shimmers' kitchen was on the same floor, but more to the back next to the main bathroom.
     
    Instead, Sunset and Solstice were directed upstairs to the second floor. On one side was Solstice's room, which was covered in gold, pink, and yellow with a sea that matched their eyes. His toys lay on the carpet in the middle of the room from phoenixes to little dolls.
     
    The other room, however, was padlocked, but Sunrise severing the metal with her magic, unlocking it, and Dawn nudged it open. Crimson paint on the door-side wall pierced through the blinds and glistened in the sunshine. (The ceiling, which was in the same color, lay within the cloud of shadows.) On the sides and far main wall, purple blended into crimson into amber and into green/moderate cyan. Her corner-to-corner rug was a swirl of amber, gold, and green with toys lying unkempt near her personal bathroom. Finally, her queen-size bed contained a deep brown headboard, a mint green blanket, no wrinkles, and a little mermaid doll. In other words, the Shimmers kept her room just the way they left it in hopes she would return. Sunset gazed around and remembered all the wonderful times she had with her toys; quickly, she became reminded of her life as a six-year-old unicorn. But she immediately found herself staring at the mermaid doll: No more than seven inches in length, the earthy green yarn structure had dulled and frizzled over the years. A scent of soil dried up, forming an invisible crust as anyone walked closer. But Sunset walked over, sniffed it deeply, and sighed happily.
     
    "Hi, Lemon Grass."
     
    She snuggled her forehead on the doll and gingerly hugged it, as if Lemon Grass was living, breathing, and capable of understanding her. Solstice watched while tugging Dawn's tail, bewilderment spreading across his muzzle and into his eyes.
     
    Meanwhile, the Mane Six went home, and Twilight Sparkle and Spike completed rearranging the bookshelf after the 42nd time. After days in Pedestria and in Canterlot, it felt very relieving to return to the Golden Oak Library. As they decided to shop (with Spike on Twilight's back so he didn't have to walk and fall behind), Twilight kept watching the afternoon sky, especially the sun as it descended from its zenith. Like an adult, mature dragon, he recognized her thoughts on Sunset. He wasn't sure how he understood it. Perhaps he took up some lessons of facial and mental recognition from Pinkie Pie or Rarity or impulse. But he knew she thought about it. Twilight isn't sure what to think and whom Sunset's current status will affect the most — Pinkie Pie in the human world or the Shimmers here. Spike isn't sure, either. Perhaps a talk with Rarity, Applejack, Cheerilee, or Derpy will help clear things out.
     
    Elsewhere, Pinkie from Pedesria opened the door to Sunset Pie Shimmer's room to rediscover her room being empty. Clutching in her left hand, Sunset's diary stamped on her chest. Limestone's voice grew irritated, yet remained soft as she reminded Pinkie of how many times she visited her room. But Pinkie can't help it, and to be reminded of her not being there doesn't help it. Limestone grew more uncomfortable and wondered if she was becoming obsessed with Sunset, resulting in a tight glare. Pinkie admitted obsession, because she still believed she was the cause of all this. Limestone's edge relaxed, yet remained firm. With a gently hand on Pinkie's book, she brought it in and laid it on the desk (in front of the quill and ink) next to the computer. Then she walked out and closed the door; "Think about Sunny. Love Sunny. Miss Sunny," she told her younger sister. "But don't let it eat you. Do you think she would?"
     
    "Lime, she's not dead."
     
    "Doesn't change the point," she snapped. "Listen to me, Pinkie. Have fun. Enjoy your parties. Be happy. If you're happy, she's happy." Her voice faded into a gentle whisper. "Please…" she cupped Pinkie's left cheek, a tiny upwards curl in her lips, "…do it for her. For Pinkie-Mommy."
     
    She kissed Pinkie's forehead and walked downstairs. A few seconds later, Pinkie followed.
     
    Back in Grazewood, Sunrise and Sunset walked along the beach near their home. The sun set halfway on the ocean coast. Very little was said, except Sunrise admiring Sunset, how much she grew, and how mature she is. Sunset blushed from the compliments, but the compliments reminded her of parents back in the human world: always wanting to watch and be there as they grew up. Instantly, she felt a twinge of regret, and she looked down on the sand, using bits of weak magic to skip it. Sunrise wondered what was wrong, but Sunset shrugged it off. Yet, Sunrise knew something, but unsure what; Sunny, though, wanted to drop it. Sunrise granted her wish, sat down at a little mound in the middle of the beach, and patted on the sand next to her. Sunset sat beside her. The sky had begun to color from the blues of hours gone by to yellows, oranges, and purples. Each second Celestia's sun approached the horizon, the bigger and more apparent the hard sheen in the water. Ripples, waves, and the wind forced the reflection to not sway as one block, only as bits within the water.
     
    "Haven't seen a sunset this beautiful in a while," said Sunset airlessly.
     
    Sunrise sighed and stroked her daughter's right front leg. "Sunshine, I see these everyday. Throughout our lives, Dawn and I wanted to raise a foal as beautiful as one. Filly, colt, whoever… Sunset was our first foal's name." She turned to Sunset. "Gosh, you're so beautiful. Beautiful as a filly. Beautiful now."
     
    Sunset peaked at the sand, eyes half-open. A tint of pink heated her cheeks.
     
    "But…"
     
    Sunset looked up. "What's th'matter, Mama?"
     
    Sunrise continued to stare at the sunset, but her sky blue eyes lightly quivered like ripples far away. "But then you ran away…I didn't wanna watch 'em anymore." Facing towards her, her eyes glossed. "How can I keep looking at these sunsets when they remind me of you?! We thought you were dead, Sunshine! We thought we killed you!"
     
    Blue eyes hid behind tightly shut crimson eyelids. She jerked her head away. Angry sobs ruptured the beach's calm. Tears dripped off her lashes and landed on the cool sand. Her long, wavy red and yellow ochre hair straightened, and its shine dimmed each second. The sunset's colors progressively changed as it set deeper and deeper into the sky, increasing its yellows and adding richer reds. But Sunrise never looked up; the warm colors chilled her, even with Sunset beside her.
     
    Tap, tap, tap went Sunset's hooves as she walked in front. Lips frowned. Backs of her eyebrows drooped. As she revolved around her, she peaked at the sand; little spots landed erratically, her shadow not rich enough to camouflage the differences in moisture.
     
    More tapping of her hooves. A turn of her body. A rotation. Finally, she sat, her body facing the sun. But her attention to her mother never quit. Green and blue were beautiful colors side-by-side, but blue was in anguish, and the sheen in Sunrise's hair was missing.
     
    Then, she stroked her right side bangs with her left hoof. Warm. Fuzzy. Little hairs pierced it like teeth on a comb. But they never quite penetrated. Instead, they touched and tugged…all the way down to the end…and then back up with the same hoof. Sunrise's tears slowed, and her eyes began to open, revealing those sparkling sky blue irises that anyone could identify. But they, along with the rest of her head, still faced the ground.
     
    Silently humming to herself, Sunset patted her right hoof on her nose, her attention still fixated on Sunrise Shimmer.
     
    Now, what did she d— Aha!
     
    She looked up at her horn.
     
    A green aura shot from the tip and engulfed the rest of the unicorn's horn. A light sound enveloped the empty beach and drowned the crashing waves.
     
    Then, she clicked her tongue.
     
    The aura continued to glow, but the sound ceased.
     
    "Hope this works," she thought aloud.
     
    Oblong eyes focused hard on her hair, but they never stayed in one spot. A little green orb pointed at one spot and then moved left, down, up, and continued to create a pattern. Wherever she shifted her eyes, the orb of magic followed. Centimeter by millimeter, each movement crawled. Eyelids strained, muscles around tired. But fight that blink. Fight that yawn!
     
    At last, the orb connected with the handle, and she gently held onto it with her right hoof like a horseshoe with a magnet. As her left hoof continued to caress Sunrise's hair from underneath, Sunset used her magical comb to stroke it from above. Long stroking underneath, short stroking from above.
     
    Upon first contact, Sunrise paused. The comb tingled and tickled. A little shiver crawled down to the back of her neck. Graduating tears began to dry, and her blue eyes made contact with the bright sun.
     
    Finally, she looked up and smiled.
     
    "Thank you, Sunshine," she whispered.
     
    "You're welcome," smiled Sunset, still combing her mother's hair. "No offense, Mama, but when you weep, you look like a mess."
     
    Sunrise shook her head. "None taken. May I comb you, please?"
     
    "In a minute. Don't wanna un-comb the other side." She switched to the other bang of hair that dangled on her left. Like her other pile of hair, she brushed the top with her magical comb and the bottom with her fuzzy hoof.
     
    A minute later, she stopped and held it in front of Sunrise. "Here."
     
    Gently, Sunrise grabbed it with her magical aura and hovered it above the younger amber unicorn's crest. Then, she started brushing one side of her back mane with her right hoof and the other with the magical comb. Unlike Sunset, Sunrise used long strokes on both sides, starting from the poll all the way down to the tip.
     
    Sunset sighed contently, her smile a stain on her muzzle. "This brings back memories… How you used to comb my mane when I was a filly."
     
    "Always one of my best. Remember how we used to comb each other's mane back in the day?" She transitioned to the Sunset's side bang, which hung furthest away.
     
    "Like it was yesterday. Every — single — day." Although she did not have fingers in her pony form, she still felt their sensation being bound by her hooves. "After waking up, before going to sleep," she giggled, "after our baths together." She began to laugh. "The perfect bonding moment, as you used to say."
     
    Sunrise laughed, too. "I could've done a regular comb, but you always hated it. You asked me 'Mama, can't y'make somethin' more personal?' And bam! The magical comb was born!" She exhaled quietly and started brushing the little bang wrapped around the left side of her glowing horn. "You have no idea how much I looked forward to this. I miss it sooooo much!"
     
    "Yeah, I miss it, too…" She rotated her head to Sunrise, whose warm smile brightened the sunset and her own coat. "Mama?"
     
    "Yes, dear?"
     
    Sunset leaned forward and briefly laid her lips on the bridge of her nose. The warmth of her breath crept into Sunrise's brain and across her nervous system. But blue eyes never shrank or quivered in shock. Instead, she smiled, and her eyes gleamed in the setting sunlight.
     
    Sunset pulled away and, with twinkling eyes, said, "I love you, Mama."
     
    "I love you, too, Sunshine."
     
    The elder Shimmer caressed her side bang slowly, starting from the poll and heading down to the tip. When she finished, she wrapped her right front leg around her daughter, kissed her daughter's cheek, and nuzzled her head on the front of her shoulder. The light wind slowed. Celestia's bright sun set closer to the horizon. Billowy clouds covered some of her star, but it was transparent enough to penetrate and reflect in the ocean.
     
    Meanwhile, Sunrise's smile behaved like a stain. A small segment of her conscious nagged her to dim it like candlelight, but the greater portion shoved her doubts further and further back till they were all but forgotten. All that bonding in combing — it could've been silly. But it wasn't. One little activity. It could last for hours. Maybe throughout the night if they wanted to.
     
    Unfortunately, Sunset deactivated her magic, vanishing her magical comb. On the other hand, did she need the comb right now? Probably not. But she always wondered how one little activity could unite a family so closely.
     
    I don't know. Her smile widened, exposing her teeth. But I don't care.
     
    When Sunset scooted closer, she lowered her head a little more. Then a ba-bump… Ba-bump… Ba-bump… Ba-bump… Slow. Tranquil. Colors silently cracking. Princess Celestia's sun disappeared behind the horizon. Sunset kept a watch on the sky, but she lowered her muzzle on her biological mother's head. Her left front hoof wrapped behind Sunrise's back and gently rubbed her pastern and back of her hoof up and down her chest. Slow lungs breathed in and out long breaths.
     
    Sunrise gazed up at Sunset. Sunset gazed down at Sunrise. Sunrise yawned silently and closed her eyes. As her relaxed breath hummed a merry tune, Sunset brushed her left side bang with her right hoof.
     
    Sunrise chuckled. After feeling Sunset's lips kiss her forehead, she sighed contently.
     
    …For the first time in years, her sunsets were home.
     

     
    More to come.
  20. Dark Qiviut
    To read the other eight parts, click here or the "EQG Fanfic Rewrite Concept" category link on top.
     

     
    Ch. 6: Confronting the Past
     
    At an unidentified locale, Sunset Pie Shimmer slept on a separate bed in Rarity's room (which was painted in purple, white, and baby blue), while Rarity slept in the other. But at around 6 o'clock, Sunny's phone rang. Instinctively, she stops the volume. But it rings again, so she picks it up and is surprised to hear Twilight Sparkle on the other line. They make some plans, and Twilight invites her for some breakfast in Midtown's Grump Tower followed by lunch at Pristine Café in the Haymill neighborhood east of the city and across the Midtown Bridge. Sunny accepts, so she quickly dresses, packs, and leaves to meet up with Twilight there, where they have a sit-down breakfast. Sunny had sunny-side up eggs, Liege waffles, bacon, and Greek yogurt. Twilight Sparkle had a cheese-with-mushroom omelette, cinnamon pancakes, and some ham. It was a pleasant conversation, although Sunset admitted into having an argument; she won't say what because it's too personal, but she reiterated the insult that resulted in Sunset leaving home last night. Twilight cringed and felt really sorry, but she believed they'll patch things up. Sunset isn't sure and she's still too angry at her right now, so she doesn't want to call anybody right now.
     
    Meanwhile, Pinkie told the ReMane Four about the fight and how it ended (without spilling the Equestrian details). None of them were happy. One of them, Rarity, scolded Pinkie for insulting Sunset. Her sisters and parents are very disappointed in her, too. Siblings may fight, but she's never heard of Pinkie of all people say something that terrible. Pinkie shouts, "I know! I know! Stop telling me! You're making it worse!" But Rainbow Dash was harsh, and Pinkie wanted to charge, only to be held back by Applejack. After a few seconds of calm, AJ suggested that they all spend a little time together, and then invite Sunny over that afternoon.
     
    Meanwhile, Sunset and Twilight went ahead to an upscale neighborhood in southeast Canterlot City (known as Alpha Village). Along Beta Boulevard, they passed several trendy places, from supermarkets to music festivals to wineries. When Twilight wondered why Sunset asked her to come over, Sunset explained that a while back, she was able to buy a small building. Like the rest of the neighborhood at the time, it was a little rundown. But the people here helped clean up the neighborhood and renovate the buildings, including hers. Right now, she's working on an independent project. Then, between Horsewick Street and Oak Street is a little one-story shop gated. She turned to see nobody looking and unlocked a statue. Then she swung its outstretched arm down and then up to raise the gate. Behind it were several bicycles (some with training wheels), helmets, pads, goggles, and lines of clothes with fabric to protect the human skin. They change into their outfits and then put on their pads and helmets.
     
    When Twilight reveals she never rode a bike before, Sunset gives her a tip and lets her ride one with training wheels. They leave the premises (with Sunset locking the shop) and then bike their way up the avenue. Then they turn and approach a bike-only road; no cars, buses, or motorcycles are allowed. They pedal their way up the bike-only road and soon find themselves in the middle of a park. Trees of multiple colored leaves (including whites, yellows, and green) surround them, the antennas of skyscrapers only peaking through. They cross a bridge to another bike-only lane in between sidewalks. After a quick snack of ices, they continue and then start to speed up a little. Twilight was getting used to the bikes; after getting ahead briefly, she stopped, pressed a button to retract the training wheels, and then moved forward when Sunset caught up.
     
    They traded places until Twilight decided to pedal faster ahead, losing sight of Sunset as the road curved. Suddenly, sunlight gave way to darkness within a dimly lit tunnel under an arch bridge. When she pops out from the other side, a three-level bridge (one for cars, bikes for the middle, walking people below) appears. When Twilight arrives at the bridge's foot, she looks down and feels nervous. Instinctively, she looks back — no Sunny, no wings. The face that the "walls" are wired gates made her feel very uncomfortable to the point of goosbumps. Suddenly, Sunset races by with a loud, free, childlike laugh, leaving a trail of wind behind her. Eyes furrowed with determination, she puffs and pedals after her all the way to the other side, where Sunset waits. The purple princess admitted feeling nervous, and Sunset understands; she was nervous when she first biked across the bridge, too. They continued and saw a big surprise: the ReMane Five walking along the side heading to the bridge. Sunset glared at Pinkie and raced away; Twilight smiled nervously and followed. Pinkie sulked.
     
    They pedaled until the sixth light past the Midtown Bridge. Then they make a left into a very quiet area of the city. Rows of schools, one-family houses, and trees filled the street, except an occasional car, bus, and one outdoor café down the line. Sitting at one of the tables, Principal Celestia, and Spike.
    When they slowed to a stop in front of the café, Principal Celestia lay her menu down and said, "Good afternoon, Miss Pie Shimmer."
     
    "Um…afternoon, Principal Celestia," said Sunset, and she leaned to Twilight's left ear. "Twilight, I'm gettin' confused. Why are we having lunch with Principal Celestia?"
     
    Twilight Sparkle sighed and blinked slowly. Eyebrows drooped a little. A hand held onto the bicycle handle.
     
    "Sunset…I must tell ya something."
     
    "I don't understand."
     
    Twilight gazed at the cafeteria's entrance. The door was open, but it was dark inside. "Princess Celestia?"
     
    A gold-colored shoe peaked from the shadows and onto the floor mat in front, followed by another. Then her hands, arms, head, and upper body appeared in the sunlight. Cupped on top of her head was her trademark crown.
     
    Sunset gasped. Her irises shrunk to half the size of an American dime. "Princess Celestia…"
     
    Princess Celestia stopped before them. "In the flesh, Sunset Shimmer," she said with a small bow. "It's been so long since we last met."
     
    Sunset stepped one step back, her voice barely a whisper as Twilight held her hand for comfort. "What are you doing here in Pedestria? What's going on?"
     
    Princess Celestia sat down next to the principal. "Do you remember what happened eleven years ago?"
     
    Sunset looked down and morbidly replied, "Yeah…yeah, I do." Muscles tensed. Orange fingers twitched into a fist. Her eyes furrowed. "I ran away to get away from you!"
     
    "Shh! Calm down, Sunset!" said Twilight.
     
    "Calm down?! Princess Celestia locked my magic!" A gasp. "Don't tell me you know this MONSTER!"
     
    "Monster?!"
     
    Sunset whipped her head to Spike's direction. Whitened, tinted eyes glared at her.
     
    "Princess Celestia wrote to you every week because she cared about you!" he thundered. "If she didn't, she, Twilight, and I wouldn't spend the effort searching for you."
     
    "Spike, if you and the others cared, then you'll just leave me here in peace… And I let you sleep with me on my bed!"
     
    "You had a nightmare, Sunset," said Spike as his greenish hue returned to his irises. "Twilight and this fire-breathing dragon weren't gonna let you suffer."
     
    Sunset's tense muscles gave way to relaxation. "Spike, Twilight, do y'know why I suffer from 'em?"
     
    They shook their heads.
     
    "'Cause I still remember the day the teachers and student bullied me," said Sunset. "It's beyond the name-calling. They tripped me, slapped books on me, and used their magic to pin me as everypony tried to play 'glue the nose on the loser.' Do you know how it feels to be lonely in a school that wants to do everything but get rid of you?" She laughed sarcastically. "You can't.
     
    "That's what happened to me that day. That's why I let my magic go out of control. Nopony came to help me! Nopony cared! And you." As tears puddled under her eyes, she pointed at Princess Celestia, who looked at her with a slight blue tint in her sclera. "I looked up to you. You helped me get through the first year when nopony would. You became another mother to me. So what did you do when I needed you?! You said, 'I'm going to regret this,' and locked my horn! Mama and Papa in Equestria gave you permission to VIOLATE me! VIOLATE!! HOW COULD YOU…YOU — MONSTER?!!"
     
    Her legs numbed. Bones wobbled. Her upper body slumped onto Twilight. Both arms interlocked around her ribs, clutching at the back. Twilight's legs burned from the extra weight pulling her down, and they landed hard on the pavement. Fresh knees rubbed against the asphalt like wet wood splintering reddening hands. But Twilight Sparkle clutched one arm around Sunset while the other stroked her back and hair. Quiet tears flowed down her cheeks and mixed into Sunset's stream underneath.
     
    Principal Celestia tiptoed her way to the crying duo, kneeled, and placed a hand on Sunset's shoulder.
     
    Suddenly, Sunset jolted her shoulder, still leaning on Twilight. "Don't touch me!"
     
    Princess Celestia walked over and knelt beside the crying duo. "Sunset Shimmer, I can't make up how I hurt you… You have every right to not forgive me…" Her voice trailed into a whisper; tears welled up. "I'm so sorry."
     
    Sunset continued to cry on Twilight's chest.
     
    "Sunset Shimmer, the portal to Equestria's open and won't close for twelve days." Spike's voice cracked mid-sentence. "Your parents back in Equestria are waiting. They miss you and want to see you again."
     
    "And do what, Sp-pike?" asked Sunset, her blubbering voice clogged by Twilight's shirt. Mid-sentence, snot dislodged from her nose and accidentally swallowed it. "Pretend like it never happened?"
     
    After continually stroking Sunset's back, Twilight spoke: "Sunset, please look up."
     
    Sunset moved her head up, leaving a soaked puddle of tears.
     
    "While you were here, Dawn and Sunrise parented a brother, Solstice. He knows about you. He wants to see you. Please…come to Equestria for him…"
     
    Dry green eyes peered at Spike, who patted her leg softly for comfort. Then, she looked at the two Celestias. Neither of them moved aside from an occasional blink and car speeding by. A small tear dripped down Princess Celestia's right cheek and onto the ground.
     
    The gold-skinned girl's eyes began to burn once again. This time, not of pain, but pure anger. "Princess Celestia, what will they say when I return? 'You failed me, Sunset. Good riddance to a failure!'? 'At least your little brother won't disgrace your family!'? Will they be like Pinkie-Mommy last night? 'Crestwood is better without you'? Will I get that, too?!"
     
    Princess Celestia attempted to respond, but Sunset interrupted, "Answer me! Tell me the truth!"
     
    "Sunset, calm down!" Twilight yelled; Sunset looked up at her. "Listen to me! You're not thinking straight. They really love you. They really, really miss you. They haven't seen you in over eleven years. Why would they hate you? They thought you were brainwashed…! For Celestia's sake, they thought you were dead!"
     
    Afterwards, not one limb moved. Sunset's eyes remained in contact with Twilight's as Twilight retained a firm gaze at the vulnerable transplant. Both girls blinked. Red veins crept along the edges of Sunset's eyes. Old tears dried up on her cheeks and Twilight's bicycle outfit. Tightness from Sunset's fingers onto Twilight's shirt loosened. Cramping knuckles seared through her hands, and her shoulders flinched.
     
    Grunting, Sunset crept her left leg forward and planted her foot down.
     
    "Can't get up. Help me."
     
    Twilight swung her right leg forward, and she pushed herself up, dragging Sunset's stiff weight up.
     
    "Miss Pie Shimmer, let me help," said Principal Celestia and held out her right arm for support.
     
    Sunset grabbed it, and all three were soon on their feet.
     
    "Thanks, Principal," Sunset said.
     
    Principal Celestia hummed in reply.
     
    "I have to head back to East Ridge. I need time to think about it. Twilight, can you come back to the workshop with me, please?"
     
    "Of course."
     
    They skipped lunch, biked their way across the bridge, and back to the private workshop in the Alpha Village workshop. They changed into their proper clothes, locked the door, and went along their separate ways. Twilight retreated to Grump Tower, Sunset to the front of the Pie residence. But not before Sunset reopened her workshop door and took out her bike again.
     

     
    Ch. 7: Runaway
     
    Once she arrived at her residence, she saw Pinkie Pie sulking on the front steps.
     
    "Pouting to make me feel guilty, eh, Pinkie-Mommy?"
     
    "Lay off the snark, Sunny! I'm still feeling guilty over our fight!"
     
    Sunset scoffed. "'Our' fight? You spied into my diary last night. You wouldn't feel guilty if you didn't snoop into it."
     
    "Sunse— Sunny. Please. Listen. You're my sister. You can trust me."
     
    "How in God's name can I since you found out who I really am?"
     
    "Because I love you! And I know you love me!"
     
    "If you did, you wouldn't look into things that didn't— Ah, darn it. Never mind. Dragon's out of her lair. You know it, Principal Celestia knows it. Everypony else will, too."
     
    "Will what?"
     
    "I'm not a real human. I'm a pony. They'll think I'm a freak!"
     
    "Nonsense!"
     
    "I don't believe you! N— Pinkie, stay off me!" Sigh. "Twilight's right. Princess Celestia's right. Maybe it'd be best for all of us that I return to my real home, after all."
     
    "But, Sunny, this is home!"
     
    "I wish it was."
     
    Sunset turned the corner and biked quickly away.
     
    Pinkie Pie raced back into her empty home, swiped her phone, and panically dialed numbers to her friends and family. She told them that Sunset had run away. News surrounding it quickly spread to the rest of her friends, and Rocky Quartz called the police to report. News got to Principal Celestia and VP Luna, who called Grump Tower to alert Twilight Sparkle and Celestia. As VP Luna alerted Old Iron at CHS, the clerk transferred her call to Princess Celestia's and Twilight's room. As they conversed another plan, their phone rang. Princess Celestia picked up.
     
    "Hello? What's wr…" She gasped. "Oh, no! Thank you." She hung up and immediately began to dial Pinkie's number.
     
    "What's wrong?" asked Spike.
     
    "Sunset Shimmer has run away," she replied frantically, causing the duo to gasp. "I think I know where she went. Twilight, Spike, run down to the clerk. Hail a cab for Canterlot High immediately! Don't wait for me!"
     
    They raced out as Celestia dialed Pinkie Pie's number from her journal. Pinkie Pie blubbered a response, but Princess Celestia instructed her to take a deep breath and explain what happened. Pinkie did and told her she may be going to her real home in Equestria.
     
    "That's what I thought. Pinkie Pie, tell some of your friends to head to Canterlot High. Wait in front of the statue. Email your most recent picture of her to your friends so they can print out flyers, and then head over to CHS. Twilight, Spike, Principal Celestia, and I will be there. Okay?"
     
    They hung up. Celestia packed up and ran off to CHS.
     
    Meanwhile, Twilight and Spike were in a cab racing down Outer Canterlot's streets. Every single light was green with no traffic in sight. At last, they spotted CHS. Twilight paid the fare, told him to keep the change, and they dove into the statue's base. Rainbow Dash guarded the door.
     
    "Hey, Twil— What's wrong?"
     
    "Dash…important! Have you seen Sunset?!"
     
    "No."
     
    "How long…have you guar…ded the door?"
     
    "Since lunchtime. Now, breathe in, breathe out. What's wrong?"
     
    "Sunset's run away!" replied Spike.
     
    "WHAT?!"
     
    "We don't know where she went! She may still be in Pedestr—"
     
    "And she might be coming here!" yelled Twilight. "Rainbow Dash, don't move! Watch the mirror. If a guard passes by, alert him and make him tell the others. Look out for a golden-yellow unicorn with gold and red hair and that…" she pointed at the sun mark above the mirror, "…on her flank. If she comes here, keep her at bay. Don't write to me unless you or the others found her. Understand?"
     
    "Aye-aye, ma'am!"
     
    "No time for games! This is serious!"
     
    "I am serious, Twilight."
     
    "G'aaaaaghhhhhhhhh! Never mind. Rainbow, just do as I say. C'mon, Spike!"
     
    They ran through the mirror and nearly collided with Pinkie Pie's knee. At least a dozen of Sunset's friends, including the ReMane Five, VP Luna, and the two Celestias, were there. In the background, CHS's front door was unlocked.
     
    "Snips and Snails are preparing the flyers," said Flash.
     
    A minute later, both teens wheeled two carts full of four-color-printed flyers with a high-res image of Sunset Shimmer. Starflower and Rarity examined a sample and okay'd them. Afterwards, they fanned out and began taping them on the poles. Each flyer contained her height, weight, skin color, hair length and colors, the clothes she wore, the prominent color and stripe pattern of her bike, spot of her last whereabouts, and phone number. As some flyers were taped up, others passed them and asked if they saw her (each of them admitting to not seeing them). They kept calling her, but they kept heading to voicemail. Soon, the mailbox was full, but they kept calling, texting, and searching for her.
     
    In an unknown locale, Sunset Shimmer sat on a fuzzy step in a dimly lit room. Nobody was there except for a same-sex couple and a dad with his son, each of whom focusing on the glass as penguins swam to and fro. But Sunset's eyes never looked up. Her eyes concentrated on her cellphone as phone calls and text messages piled while on silent. Once she heard excited kids outside, she put her cell in her jacket pocket and walked out, towing her folded bike with her. She passed through several paths and animal lairs and cages, including seals, bats, and sloths, before reaching the rear exit. She walked through the turnstile, opens her bike, and pedaled forward deeper into the park. Little to no people jogged or walked along it. This area was quiet and full of secrets that only she felt could discover.
     
    Meanwhile, the HuMane Six, Spike, Flash, Starflower, and Princess Celestia ran through the lower passage into a large terrace before a lake. They handed missing flyers and asked if they saw her (none with any luck).
     
    Then, Twilight felt a hard nudge on her shoulder.
     
    "Twilight, look!" Rainbow Dash pointed at a ledge left of the terrace.
     
    In between the trees, they spotted Sunset biking by.
     
    "SUNSET!"
     
    Immediately, she ran over to the edge; the others followed.
     
    Sunset heard Twilight's voice and peaked down with her right eye.
     
    "Leave me alone," she mouthed and pedaled faster up the hill.
     
    The crew ran up the stairs, but halfway through, Sunset whizzed by. Puffing harder than ever before, they ran faster. Soon, they made their way up and tried to run after her, but she was too far ahead. But Rarity called some friends at the northern end of the park and told them they spotted Sunset biking toward them. They ran through the pathway, out of the park and took public transport a mile-and-a-half north.
     
    About two miles north of their near-confrontation is a lawn. Green grass curved along the hills from the hard, millions-years-old rock. Hundreds of tall trees surrounded it. Park benches alternated where people who sat faced, either the road or the lawn.
     
    Her retractable bike, pads, and helmet lay along one side of the trunk. Leaves danced in the waft. Shadows danced off her scalp as she sat on a root. But she merely stared ahead. Kids played with each other. Either parents played with them or stood nearby; one mom flew a kite with her daughter.
     
    Green eyes crept down. As her black sneakers sat to her right, grass blades lightly crumbled under the weight of her yellow socks. Toes wiggled within; little blades of grass beneath inhaled carbon dioxide. Little pores along her thighs squeezed as another breeze tucked under her knees.
     
    Then, a buzz; she peaked right. A little ruby-throated hummingbird buzzed around a grove of marigolds and lilies. Little, loud buzzing from its rapid flapping rumbled into her ears, yet the little harmony refused to purge. Quietly, she rotated her body and watched it feed on the pollen.
     
    For the first time in several hours, a little smile appeared on her face. A ping of energy raced through her limbs, up her back, and into her brain. But she didn't want to move, either. The little hummingbird's wing-enchanted song mesmerized her eyes too long. But for some reason, he had no interest in leaving. He jolted back, then forward to grab some more pollen, and then back again.
     
    Suddenly, a descent and landed on a broken branch near Sunset's legs.
     
    She looked at the bird. The bird looked at her. Sunset giggled and slowly extended a finger. The bird peered down at it, then back up into her eyes.
     
    He hopped. His small feet touched her finger.
     
    her arm gingerly bent inward and up to her shoulder.
     
    "You're beautiful, hummingbird."
     
    The hummingbird chirped.
     
    "Thank you," Sunset whispered and extended her finger back to the twig.
     
    Instead, he buzzed away.
     
    Afterwards, Sunset stood up, grabbed her equipment, and walked up some stairs to a bridge nearby the main lower path. But halfway across, she dropped her bike equipment and gazed at the opening in between the line of trees. Sunlight reflected off the grass and canopy before escaping into the paths and into the tunnel below. But everything was so relaxing, she felt pain to move any further.
     
    A group of footsteps approached the lawn, and she looked down at the road. The Mane Six, Princess C., Flash, Spike, and Starflower arrived. With nobody else around, they couldn't ask anybody where Sunset was, so they taped one flyer to a lamppost. Pinkie went to sit on a bench facing the lawn, and the others sat on the ground. Pinkie texted to Sunset, but Sunset didn't pick up.
     
    Sunset prepared to leave, but the hummingbird landed on her coat pocket and pointed his beak to her closed zipper. She took it out to see her phone completely filled with text messages, emails, and phone calls. All were worried sick about her, and there was also a silent alert of her missing. She heard some voicemails, all of them expressing despair and hope she'd come home. These voices came from everyone: principals, teachers, kids from rival schools, friends from CHS and beyond, and her family. One of them being Pinkie-Mommy.
     
    As she listened to each message, a tear dripped down her right cheek and onto the stones. A world she began to believe was becoming what Equestria — a world she believed would rather not have her exist… Frantic calls. Scared texts. A complete fear that she might do something she will forever regret. Was she really that loved? Did everyone truly love her so much that they would call her and text her, some of whom croaked through obvious weeps?
     
    But crying from afar paused her thoughts. Pinkie leaned forward and wailed. A converging group of friends tried to console her, but their attempts only made her cry harder.
     
    "Why did I have to tell her to go back to Equinia? I hurt her, Rarity. She ran away 'cause I told her we didn't need her anymore! I—kkhh—"
     
    She continued sobbing hard while kneeling on the grass.
     
    "Pinkie…she'll for—"
     
    "D—! No hugs. No parties. No she'll-forgive-yous. Nothing! Leave me alone!"
     
    Everyone hung their heads.
     
    Twilight sat on the bench and bent forward; Princess Celestia gently held onto her shoulder and sat down beside her.
     
    Toes approached the group and broke through the crowd. But nobody yelled or gasped. Sunset's quiet, bold walk was like a physical ghost, but her steps clapped the ground and crumbled the grass. One knee on the grass followed by the other. Sunset bent her head down and kissed her lightly on the forehead.
     
    Pinkie's red eyes gazed at a smiling Sunset kneeling in front of her.
     
    "Hi, Pinkie-Mommy."
     
    Immediately, Sunset bent over and wrapped her arms tightly around Pinkie. Once more, tears flowed down her face.
     
    "I'm so sorry, Pinkie. I'm so sorry for scaring you."
     
    Pinkie wrapped her arms around her big sister. "You're my sister, Sunny. A pony, human, don't care. You're a Pie." She moved her head off Sunset's shoulder. "Sunny, look at me."
     
    She did.
     
    "Always remember, I love you."
     
    Sunset cupped her left hand around Pinkie's cheek. "I love you, too."
     
    She kissed Sunset on the nose and slumped on her chest.
     
    As they hugged and cried, Snails silently took a photo of their embrace and sent it every searcher and the police under the subject, "Sunset Found."
     
    All the while, the ruby-throated hummingbird perched itself on a loose elbow pad on the bridge ledge. Mission accomplished — he flew home.
     
    With the search complete, the alert was silenced, and every flyer they could find was destroyed. A boy named Sandalwood offered to bring Sunset's bike and supplies back to her home, but she instead directed him personally to her Alpha Village workshop. As dusk colored the sky, they put away her bike, helmet, and pads; locked it, and then split up. When she and Pinkie walked away and down the avenue, the other Pies were there, and she hugged them all really hard. When they let go, they road in the van home, and she had her biggest meal ever: steak on top of a bed of papaya salad, bagels with cream cheese, spinach-and-cheese tortellini in marinara sauce, and strawberry ice cream.
     
    After showering, changing into her pajamas, and brushing her teeth, she went into her room and found her diary lying on her bed with several cards sticking out. One by one, she read them, and each of them was support and love for her. As she read them, her journal glowed, and she turned to the page. Twilight Sparkle and Princess Celestia expressed their warmth, kindness, and appreciation for her. Sunset took out her magical quill, dipped it in ink, and wrote a thank-you message back along with her decision to see the Shimmers tomorrow morning at 9 AM and stay for three days.
     
    Turning on her computer, she connected her phone to the screen, dialed numbers, and activated her computer's camera (named MuzzleVision). One by one, people started answering: the ReMane Four, Flash, Snips and Snails, Starflower, and Crystal Prep's Sugarcoat. They asked how she was doing, what she ate, how the Pie's have treated her since she returned, and trailed off the conversation into homework, summer school, and (when Pinkie Pie came in to join) even a party cannon that's still in testing. The last time they tried it, the walls of the garage fell over like cards, and Sunset, Pinkie, and Igneous got covered in soot.
     
    Following some light-hearted bickering, Flash asked a serious question: Will she be leaving for the world she once called home?
     
    "I don't know, Flash. I mean— Guys, listen. I'll be returning to Canterlot tomorrow morning."
     
    "What?! No!" gasped Snails.
     
    "But we just reunited!" Pinkie whined.
     
    "Shh! Quiet. She's not done."
     
    "Thanks, Sugarcoat. I'll only be gone for three. Then here for two, then there for two, and alternate cities every day till the portal closes."
     
    "Buuuut…by then, you'll have t'choose where to…call home…" Rarity's words faded.
     
    "Unfortunately."
     
    "But…where?
     
    Sigh. "I dunno. I mean, all of you here, Maud, Limestone, Pinkie-Mommy—"
     
    "'Pinkie-Mommy'?"
     
    "'Cause she's a mother figure, Snails," said Sugarcoat.
     
    "Oh. Forgot." Snails wrapped his left arm around the back of his head and scratched his hair. "Really cute."
     
    "Well, habits die hard, Snails."
     
    "Guarantee this one won't, Sunny!"
     
    "We'll make sure of that, gorgeous," added Rarity.
     
    Sunset twirled some of her hair and looked away, blushing.
     
    Pinkie giggled beside her.
     
    "Mmmm… Kinda reminds me of what Apple Bloom called me when I was a young-un."
     
    Rarity adjusted her camera. "Don't cocoon yourself, Applejack."
     
    "Yeah, we're all friends here!" added Rainbow Dash.
     
    "So don't blush," said Starflower. "Spill it!"
     
    "Mmmm…Piggly-wiggly."
     
    "What's so bad about that?" asked Fluttershy.
     
    "Reminds me of my godawful hairdo as a kid."
     
    "You mean…that pigtail 'do that Apple Bloom loved to pull on?" said Rainbow Dash.
     
    "While at Mayberry Elementary Academy?" finished Sunset.
     
    "Eeyup."
     
    "Pickin' up your big bro's catchphrases, too, eh, A.J.?" said Pinkie Pie.
     
    "Eeyup."
     
    "Gonna keep saying that till Mooriella comes home, will you?" Sugarcoat deadpanned.
     
    "Eeyup."
     
    "Saw that one comin' a mile away," quipped Big Mac from the background.
     
    "Hey!"
     
    Everyone chuckled, and Applejack hid her face within her hat.
     
    "Aw, such a shame you got rid of it, A.J. I loved that 'do!" whined Starflower, clasping her hands with sad eyes.
     
    "And risk having her pull mah roots out?" The cowgirl tugged some hair on her bangs. "Uh-uh!"
     
    "But it'll be so nostalgic!"
     
    "Yeah, and Apple Bloom's thirteen years old now," said Rainbow Dash. "Will be way better than wearing neon yellow. Right, Rarity?"
     
    Rarity scoffed and flicked her hair. "Well, obviously."
     
    "But you kill it in neon, Dash!" Snips said.
     
    "You're kidding me, Snips? I look ugly in it!"
     
    "More like 'uglawesome.'"
     
    "Not a real word, Snips," said Sugarcoat.
     
    "Soooo? Hasn't stopped me!" squeaked Pinkie Pie giddily.
     
    Sunset chuckled. "No, it hasn't."
     
    "Obviously." Sugarcoat cracked a smile.
     
    "So…" Sunset Pie Shimmer cleared her throat, "anypony h— I mean…anybody—"
     
    "Don't worry if you say 'anypony,' Sunny," interrupted Flash. "We don't mind."
     
    "Anypony, anybody, tomato, tomahto. Nobody gives a hoot. I sure as heck don't. You're still one of us," added Applejack.
     
    "Thanks, guys. So, anypony else—" she winked at the camera; everyone chuckled, "—had a little nickname back when you were kids?"
     
    "Not me," said Snips and Snails.
     
    "Mine was a before-and-after, 'cause I read comics as a kid: Reading — Rainbow — Dash."
     
    "Cool!" said Sunset and Pinkie together.
     
    "Back in the day, Mommy and Daddy used to call me "Rarara." As she said her nickname, she shook her shoulders side-to-side.
     
    "Reminds me of an ol' friend I used to know so well." Applejack flicked the crease of her hat. "Haven't talked to her in years, though."
     
    "Have you checked MyStable lately?" asked Fluttershy.
     
    "Not a social media gal. Too much abuse out there for me to tolerate."
     
    "Ditto," Flash replied.
     
    "I don't blame either of you. Nuh-uh!" said Pinkie.
     
    Fluttershy raised her hand. "Sunset, can I ask a question…please?"
     
    "Please."
     
    "Ummmm…what's it like in Equestria?"
     
    "Perhaps unlike any world you ever dreamed of. Cliché, I know, but apropos. Where I came from was a town called Grazewood. Think of the Redwoods, but with charcoal gray bark with blue pine leaves — and a flourmill at the northern edge. The Shimmers — Dawn, Sunrise, myself — lived on a hill in the south beside the ocean."
     
    "Sounds beautiful," replied Fluttershy.
     
    "Most beautiful place in the world." She glanced at her diary behind her. "Twilight and Princess Celestia told me Mama and Papa in Equestria have a brother there, too."
     
    "…You never told us you have a brother," said Starflower.
     
    "Found out this afternoon, Starflower, during my meltdown. Name's Solstice, apparently."
     
    "So, like the winter and summer solstice." Rarity leaned forward. "Really beautiful name."
     
    "Your family has some amazing names, Sunny," said Snips.
     
    Sunset blushed.
     
    Pinkie held her left hand. "The Shimmers must be amazing, too."
     
    "They were. Was very close to them as a foal." She sighed contently and looked up at the ceiling. "Brings back memories. Wish I brought photos along."
     
    "You have any from Equestria?" asked Flash.
     
    "Besides my diary? Not sure." She turned to her bedside tables and back. "Lemme look."
     
    As Pinkie talked with them, Sunset looked inside her bedside drawer. Finding nothing, she opened the door underneath. Inside was her traveling bag she took to Equestria. Dozens of photos lay in a neat stack.
     
    "Here! Got some!"
     
    She put them on the table and checked her desk drawers. More photos lay staked in one of them.
     
    "Here's more!"
     
    Sitting down beside Pinkie, Sunset looked through the photos and began showing them to her friends. Her pile of photos were an assortment, including photos of Dawn and Sunrise back when they were spring sweethearts, their marriage, construction of their Grazewood home, and the birth of Sunset.
     
    As they looked, Sunset became more and more surprised. Some of these pictures she had never seen before, and to both see them and show them to her closest friends reminded her of the joy she had with them. Pinkie-Mommy's nurturing, the guidance she gave her and used them as they grew up together. The friendships with Flash, Fluttershy, off and on with Sugarcoat, Starflower, AJ, Dash, Snips, Rarity, and Snails. Her other friends that weren't on MuzzleVision. These weren't just friends. They were brothers and sisters, too. They were just as much family as Pinkie, Mama and Papa Pie, and the Shimmers.
     
    But more importantly, she saw warmth in the Shimmers. Warmth in their smiles. Warmth in their kisses. Warmth in their shots with her. Warmth in Sunset's shots with Princess Celestia. Warmth with her longtime imaginary friend, a mermaid doll named Lemon Grass. Despite being one dimension away, their hoofprints — with some, her hoofprints, too — were over it. As if the Shimmers' glows from their horns or hoofprints stamped them without any ink. With each image she held, her fingers tingled and eyes trembled…
     
    Halfway through the second pile, Sunset wrapped her free left arm around Pinkie's shoulders.
     
    "Sunset? Pinkie?" Starflower paused herself to sip some water from a glass located beyond the edges of her screen. "Your relationship's too precious. When I heard you had a fallout, my heart broke!"
     
    "Oh, indubitably, Starflower," added Rarity. "Please, pleeeease…never let this happen again."
     
    Fluttershy raised her pinkie finger. "Pinkie promise?"
     
    Sunset raised her head, lifted her right arm off her desk, and flashed her pinkie while she gazed into her eyes.
     
    Brilliant blue eyes peaked at Sunset's finger and then back to green. Computer light reflected off shiny, open eyes; faint shapes and blotches of color of her other eight friends attempted to blend together.
     
    Without as much as looking down, her right shoulder tensed, followed by her triceps, elbow, and forearm. A pinkie finger straightened and stiffened, but the rest of her arm ascended.
     
    As she lifted her arm, nerves jolted into Pinkie's conscience as the tip of her pinkie caressed against Sunset's. Relaxation replaced tension, but neither Pinkie nor Sunset felt any emotional tension. No anger from either of them. Merely adoration.
     
    Their pinkie fingers wrapped themselves against the other.
     
    Immediately, Pinkie lunged forward and wrapped her arms around Sunset. A light tear escaped and landed on her sister's left shoulder.
     
    "I'm sorry, Sunny… I'm so sorry…"
     
    "Shhhhhhhhhhhh…" The amber girl's voice descended into quietude; one hand stroked her hair, the other up and down her back.
     
    Sugarcoat cleared her throat. "Sunset, Pinkie, face me, please."
     
    They looked up at the computer.
     
    "I've had fights with friends and family before. Am I the most approachable? Of course not. Talk to the rest of Crystal Prep; they'll say the same thing." Following a sigh, she reached up and pulled her glasses off her face. "But everyone there knows about your love for each other. If that isn't proof…then what is?"
     
    Everyone spoke and nodded in agreement.
     
    The two sisters turned back to each other; Sunset used her thumb to wipe away Pinkie's tears.
     
    "Don't need t'say it, Pinkie-Mommy," she said with glistening eyes. "I forgave you a long time ago."
     
    She kissed her nose and rested her head on Pinkie's shoulder. This time, her left arm wrapped itself around Pinkie's torso.
     
    In response, Pinkie caressed her older sister's hair, kissed her forehead, and rested her head on Sunset's.
     
    They remained in that position as Sunset finished reviewing the rest of the makeshift album and told stories through the night.
     

     
    More to come.
  21. Dark Qiviut
    One change in the linking process. Rather than editing past journals to post a link to every single blog post about this EQG fanfic rewrite, I put them all under its own category: EQG Fanfic Rewrite Concept. Every single blog post related to it will be linked through it, along with the four following tags: "mlp:fim," "equestria girls," "fanfiction," "fixfic."
     

     
    Ch. 4: Acquaintance
     
    Apparently, the bus Celestia was on was stuck apparently due to a broken-down car that got stuck in the middle of a construction zone. While she waited, the party lasted through the night. Principal Celestia and Twilight occasionally chatted, though it was short. Meanwhile, Sunset was telling stories to groups of friends. Limestone joined the party after returning from work. Away from the action, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy helped Pinkie and Vinyl Scratch in cleaning up the recycle.
     
    At ten o'clock, people started filing out; Twilight was one of the last to try to leave, but the express bus heading back to Canterlot City ended at dusk; she doesn't have a phone to alert a cab; and her hotel is about an hour-and-a-half away. So Rarity gives her the ability to ride home, but Pinkie elects to have her sleep over at their house just a half-mile away east of CC. Twilight agreed to Pinkie's, but suggested maybe another time to Rarity. Of course, Rarity didn't mind, and she plugged in several pajamas that fit her size.
     
    She helped clean up the rest of the recyclable bags, plastic, and paper, and placed them outside where the garbage trucks will be busy picking them up and sending them to recycling plants. Once they were done, Sunset contacted "Mama" and "Papa" through her cell, and they arrived a few minutes later. Sunset, Pinkie, Limestone, and Twilight hopped in the van, and they traveled to the eastern coast of Outer Canterlot about a half-mile away. The front of the two-story house had an open lawn that surrounded the left side and back. Beside it is a garage under construction. To the left is the beach leading to the ocean. Inside, she met with Maud and Marble Pie, who decided not to come (Maud for scholarly reasons, Marble due to her dislike of crowds).
     
    She accepted the invitation to sleep inside Sunset's room; the two exchanged stories as Spike slept on a pillow next to Twi's sleeping bag. But before Twilight was about to ask Sunset about her being one of the Pie family, Sunset had drifted off to sleep. So Twilight secretly wrote in her journal, communicating with Celestia — who finally returned to Grump Tower — and the ReMane Five back in Canterlot. She promised to return to Equestria tomorrow morning to talk to them. Then she went to sleep.
     
    Two hours later, she and Spike woke up when Sunset made noise on the bed. She tossed in turned in cold sweat. Whispers for help. Her eyes twitched and closed harder at the bottom of her eyes. Twilight and Spike immediately climbed on. She caressed Sunset's hand and continued as Sunset started to calm down. Meanwhile, Spike nuzzled his muzzle on her cheek and snuggled beside her. Twilight lightly kissed Sunset's hand and then bent down and kissed both of them on their heads. Sunset smiled and wrapped her free right arm around Spike; Spike grinned. Then she said "goodnight" and went to sleep in her bag.
     
    6 AM next morning, Twilight woke up and examined her whole room more. The walls and ceiling are predominantly crimson with gold sunrays streaking from the light above. Images of Sunny with the Pies hung everywhere. But in nearly every one of them, she was next to Pinkie, and they were both extremely happy. Then she and Spike went down for breakfast where Marble and Pinkie were preparing eggs on toast. As the three shared their breakfast, Twilight said she noticed how close she was with Pinkie. She explained how Starflower told her about how Pinkie and Sunset's sisterly relationship was like a mom with a daughter. She'd like to know a little more about how Sunset came into their relationship.
     
    Marble and Pinkie explain how Pinkie and Fluttershy met her at an orphanage and was heartbroken at seeing a little girl all alone with no one to take care of. She couldn't use any utensils, carry a tray, dress without help, and legitimately couldn't open her hands. Later on, Pinkie elected to visit Sunset every day and help tutor her into many activities, including reading and writing. The learning process was strangely quick, and she was able to form a very close friendship with Pinkie very quickly. Then Cloudy Quartz showed up and (as she ate her own portion of eggs and toast) continued by stating Pinkie's desire to adopt a child. They objected at first, but then met Sunset personally, and she was as bright and wonderful a child as they knew. They met the head of the orphanage, performed a background check, and chose to adopt Sunset Shimmer into the family. Through her own choice, Sunny changed her legal name to "Sunset Pie Shimmer."
     
    Afterwards, Sunset showed up and gave good morning hugs and kisses to Marble, Pinkie (under a pet name called "Pinkie-Mommy"), and Mama before grabbing bagels and cream cheese. Marble told her about how she became a Pie, and Sunset chuckled about those memories. The old orphanage and how her relationship with Pinkie began. 'Twas a hassle there and then an honor to become a part of a family. As they chatted, Twilight showered and changed. Saying goodbye, she and Spike left the premises. Before arriving at the corner, Sunset came by.
     
    "Um…Twilight. I almost forgot. Thanks."
     
    "You're welcome. But for what?"
     
    "For comforting me last night."
     
    "How'd you kn—"
     
    "Me being asleep doesn't make me unaware of my surroundings. Your comforting hands. That kiss to the head and hand. You watching me sleep. I can tell. It means a whole lot to me."
     
    Twilight's eyes twinkled, and they each shared a tight hug.
     
    "Anything to help a good friend, Sunset."
     
    Then she bent down and hugged Spike. "Your fur felt so warm, Spike. It made me feel like I'm in home within a home. You're one heck of a dog. Thank you."
     
    She kissed his forehead, and then she and Twilight exchanged plutonic kisses on the cheek before they split. Sunset headed inside. Twilight hailed a public bus for Canterlot High.
     

     
    Ch. 5: Snoop
     
    About a half-hour later, Twilight returned to Equestria, where the princesses and Mane Six awaited. While her friends had breakfast in the throne room, they chatted about Twilight's and Celestia's adventures, the changes while there, technology, Spike becoming a dog, and the learning experience (including realizing answering the front door while you're naked there is a terrible idea). But Twilight was feeling really doubtful about the quest. In a few short hours, she was getting to know Sunset Shimmer Pie, understood how she became part of the Pies there, and is actually happy. It's not a forced kind, either. She's being herself. It's like she wants to live there. Celestia reminds her about the Shimmer family, but Twilight interrupts by telling her she knows, but it just feels wrong to be forced to send her back against her will.
     
    A knock from the door, and Dash went to open it. It was Dawn and Sunrise, Sunset's dad and mom. They were in Canterlot since yesterday, and Solstice is being babysat in the playroom for the time being. They kept updates about what was going on, and Sunrise had been hearing some of Miss Twilight's doubts. Spike adds that by affirming a sense of trust between them forming in front of the Pie house, and Twilight adds by not wanting to break it. Even though she looked happy in the diary photos, talking to her and easing her from her nightmare only confuses her more. She doesn't know how she'll react to her and Celestia having to force her to come home. She isn't sure if she can.
     
    Then Sunrise took out a photo album. She showed them their memories together, including playing with four old friends in their Grazewood home, playing with balloons in the shower, and practicing her first magical spell (took place at around 8 PM when she was only four: coin-arranging). Then pictures of her first day in Canterlot with the three together. The excitement on her face was so distinct. But then Twilight turned more she saw one final image of them standing together in front of their home, which was taken about two months before she ran away.
     
    Slowly, Twilight started to get angry. She wanted to know how they got involved when Sunset started struggling. Dawn explained that they were involved.
     
    "In what way?"
     
    "Writing letters. Visiting her. Spending days at a time comforting her, helping her complete her homework," explained Dawn.
     
    "Taking days off work to help her and talk with the school board in possibly relaxing her curriculum," added Sunrise.
     
    "And their answer?" Spike queried.
     
    "They refused. Sunrise and I told her about it," said Dawn, pointing at Celestia. "She was livid."
     
    The Princess of the Sun walked over. "I told them if they weren't going to change her curriculum, I was for them. But Sunset pleaded to keep her in it."
     
    "We didn't want to, but she felt she could succeed," said Dawn. "I respect her wishes and told her if there are any problems, mail us."
     
    "And…what about the bullying?"
     
    "They were right there with her," said Celestia. "She reported them to me, and I reported to the Shimmers about it."
     
    "How much were you there?"
     
    "Every day," said Dawn as he flipped the pages of the album, his eyes glossy. "If anyone hurt our daughter, they hurt us."
     
    "But y'all sound like lovable parents," replied Applejack. "Why in a groundhog's den would she think she failed you and choose to run awa—?"
     
    "The magic lock," finished Spike, his eyes furrowed.
     
    Rarity gasped and covered her own hoof.
     
    Dawn and Sunrise looked down in shame and plucked up courage to say that they feared the bullying will go so far that she'll lose control of her magic. So they gave Celestia the permission to bind the magic in her horn.
     
    Rarity's bluish colors drained.
     
    "HOW DARE YOU LOCK HER MAGIC!"
     
    The ReMane Five, especially Twilight, was confused. (No one had ever performed it on her.) The magic lock is traditionally a spell meant to suppress unicorns. Magic is an essence of all ponies, especially with unicorn's horns. By locking their magic, they feel maimed. Second-class citizens. You take away who they are by disabling their magic. In some parts of the world, locking their magic carries a prison sentence. She knows a great friend whose parents used the spell to punish him for lying seven years ago. They're still in jail. He hasn't forgiven them. He won't even use his horn because it triggered that memory of them locking it.
     
    "You three were the ones who protected her. During a time where she really needed you, you locked her horn! NO WONDER WHY SHE RAN AWAY! SHE BELIEVED YOU THREE PUNISHED HER!"
     
    "Now I see why she's so happy with the Pies there. She feels like nobody can use their magic to hurt her," said Twilight. She glared at the Shimmers and Celestia. "If I knew about how bad magic-locking was then and realized this had happened, then the minute I passed the entrance exam, I would've walked out." She looked down. "C'mon, Spike."
     
    As they walked away from the throne room, Rainbow Dash asked, "Twilight, where are ya going?"
     
    "To the other world. I need some time to calm down," Twilight replied curtly and then glared at Celestia. "Don't follow me."
     
    She and Spike teleported.
     
    Sometime that afternoon, Twilight was in front of a playground with Spike. In one hand, the magic quill to jot down notes and her location. In the other, a tuna, tomato, and cabbage sandwich. She didn't care if eating meat made her uncomfortable. After what had happened in the Throne Room, she just wanted to eat something to calm down. Although her friends wrote back, she ignored messages from Celestia. Simultaneously, the more she ignored Celestia, the more the twinge of guilt she felt. Of the angry ponies there, Rarity was the maddest, not her. But she couldn't live down the feeling of anger now that she knew locking a unicorn's horn had serious implications.
     
    Not long after she finished, Celestia showed up. Principal Celestia, to be exact. So, Twilight stopped being in a bad mood, and they chatted. Twilight admitted that she had an argument with a good friend, and she spent time here relaxing. It was a little personal, but Twilight gave her subtleties. Principal Celestia kept asking questions and then used a little fictional scenario to help ease things. As they walked further into the attached park and down an open path, Princess Celestia appeared before them, and everyone were close to rolling their eyes on the soft ground.
     
    Both Princess Celestia and (begrudgingly) Twilight decided to explain everything while Principal Celestia drove them both to Canterlot High for a quick visit. The principal was feeling a little surprised that there was another of her from another world, and that Twilight isn't from here. She suspected Twilight of something, but to be from a land full of talking ponies and other mythological creatures was crazy. Spike also talked, telling her he's a fire-breathing dragon. Of course, his dragon breath doesn't work here.
     
    They arrive in CHS, and both princesses dive their hand inside the statue to show them the portal. Principal Celestia gave it a try, only to not work. Apparently, only those who are from Equestria can access the portal. Then they walk by CHS and on the basketball court sidelines. They converse about the princess' current rift as well as their current goal here: reunite Sunset with her parents back in Equestria. But Twilight interrupts that what happened to her during her final days there might make her believe she isn't welcomed back and explains the taboo of horn suppression. Principal Celestia is starting to make sense to the ordeal, and then she asks Princess Celestia why she decided to find Sunset Shimmer.
     
    Princess C. explains about the night that Sunset ran away. She felt her presence and searched for her. Couldn't find her. She even spotted her, but she snuck on the back of a bus to get away, and Celestia couldn't follow her because she had no money. Two weeks trying to find her, two weeks of no luck. It took a long time for Sunrise and Dawn to forgive her and trust her again. But Principal asks her why she wants to bring Sunset home? Is it because she feels it's the right thing for Sunset, or is it because it's the right thing to do for herself? Suddenly, uncertainty. Princess Celestia knows Dawn, Sunrise, and Solstice love her and want her home. But Twilight wonders if Sunset believes it, and Sunset doesn't know she has a younger brother now. Principal C. informs them that if you're going to convince Sunset to come home, they can't do by force or through bribes. Sunset should want to come home and choose to spend time with them. Ask her to come to Equestria and give her family another chance.
     
    "Do Miss Pinkie Pie and her friends from this world know about it?" asked Principal Celestia.
     
    Twilight and Princess Celestia shook their heads.
     
    "Tell them the truth. The more you hide it, the more suspicious they'll be of you both. Miss Pinkie Pie may not like it. I guarantee you she will feel hurt. But not telling them and forcing Sunset to split from them might hurt them more."
     
    After thanking her, they return to the car and back to the Grand Ol' Stake Park a half-mile northeast, where all three inexplicably met. Principal Celestia hands them her phone number and tells them to call her when needed. Once she left, they pack up and begin walking through the park. Princess Celestia puts a hand on her own cheek and wonders if Sunset doesn't need to return. Twilight agrees that Sunset doesn't need to, but that doesn't mean it's possible that Sunset doesn't miss them. They can ask Sunset to come to Equestria to spend time with them. If she doesn't want to, that's her choice. Spike reminds them of the notes Sunset wrote to her. There's a chance she still misses them. Celly apologized to Twilight for hiding things from her, especially the taboos of magic binding. She has every right to be upset at her for going forward with it and the Shimmers for suggesting it. Twilight believes they weren't trying to do any harm, but that doesn't make it okay. Celestia must promise to never do it again, and she does. They share a hug (and Twilight platonically kisses her cheek), exit the park, and walk to the direction of Sugarcube Corner.
     
    On the way, they (figuratively) bump into Flash Sentry (who said hi to Celestia as Principal Celestia) and ask him if he's seen Pinkie Pie. He said she's at Sugarcube Corner a few blocks from here. Thanking him, they walked up to it. Twilight went inside while Celestia sat outside and took out her journal to write a message to the others back in Equestria.
     
    A minute later, Pinkie Pie and Twilight exited and sat down in front of Celestia (like Flash, she exclaimed "Principal Celestia!"). But Twilight gently held Pinkie's hand and said that's not Principal Celestia. But Pinkie doesn't understand. How could she not be when she sounds, looks, and talks like her? But she isn't, and they sit down to talk. They ask about if they know anything about Sunset's background. She doesn't; Sunset always skipped it. If she had any nightmares — Sunset does rarely, but feels better when she wakes up after a talk. Pinkie doesn't care about the details. She just cares for the fact that she's okay. Remembering looking up about the human anatomy in the Public Library, she asked about Sunset's blood type. Pinkie starts getting offended.
     
    Twilight sputters, "Never mind," but then Spike peaks out and talks to Pinkie, nearly causing her to scream in surprise. Celestia demonstrates the Equestrian magic by writing in her journal using her magic quill. She writes specifically to Pinkie Pie from Equestria, who writes back. Suddenly, Pinkie gets confused: How in the world can there be a Pinkie Pie and she doesn't know it — the same personality in her writing, everything? Celestia reveals the truth: There are magical beings there: unicorns, pegasi, Earth ponies, and alicorns. Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Fluttershy exist there, too. Twilight is a close friend with them. And Princess Celestia is a teacher and ruler in Equestria's Canterlot.
     
    "Okay, okay. So what's the point?"
     
    Princess Celestia looked at her into her eyes.
     
    "Sunset Pie Shimmer isn't from here."
     
    Pinkie nearly tripped on a chair leg.
     
    Celestia continued, stating that Sunset Pie Shimmer's a magical unicorn who ran away from Equestria eleven years ago. The portal opened yesterday, and they'd like to talk to Sunset about this and ask if she can come visit her family back in Equestria.
     
    Pinkie knows where she is; she's not in the city now…but has no intention of telling them where. She doesn't know much about this Equestria, and she doesn't know anything about their "equine-ness," but what she does know is Sunset is her sister, and she has no intention of losing her. She requests them to leave, but Spike tells Pinkie to calm down and listen and says Sunset has kept contact with them. Pinkie calms for a second to see Celestia take out a journal with a half-gold, half-crimson cutie mark. She flips the pages and finds two letters that she wrote to her, one from last year, another from last month. So there are memories of her there. Whether she wants to return is unknown. Pinkie turns around and walks inside without saying anything, leaving Twilight, Spike, and Celestia at the table.
     
    After her shift ended at 4 PM, Pinkie spent a little time having fun with the ReMane Five (sans Sunset) at Flash's house. Then she went shopping in the health food market at 6:30. But throughout, her conversation with Twilight, Spike, and Celestia ring deep in her subconscious. She knows Sunset isn't biologically a Pie, but not actually from here in this world? How come she never told her this? Why does she act like her past from when she was seven and back is a blur? Shouldn't these memories be there? Are the memories so personal she fears she'll be thrown out of the house or choose to run away again? Does she feel Pinkie's not trustworthy enough to tell her?
     
    The last question made her even more upset. She couldn't see Pinkie, one of the trustworthiest people in Pedestria, as untrustworthy! They knew each other for years! But is Sunset's sisterly love with her and the others a lie? Is her friendship with the others from Canterlot High a lie, too?
     
    That can't be true…!
     
    6:00. Both Twilight and Princess Celestia are having dinner in the hotel: minestrone soup for Celestia and corn chowder for Twilight. During the meal, Celestia checks the page where she stashed Principal Celestia's number. They know Sunset will return, but it won't happen tonight. They must talk to her soon. Spike has a plan.
     
    7:30. Pinkie returns home to an empty house. After storing all the groceries in their rightful places, she walks up the stairs to wash and changes to her pajamas. No sound. She relaxes in her bed clutching a stuffed Gummy doll. Gazing out the window. Sunset peaked through the trees. Puts her gator doll down. Walks to Sunset's room: wide open and tidy. Sits on her bed gently and rubs it with her fingertips. Soft like Sunset's dual-colored hair. She looks up to see her bedside drawer ajar with a peak of a book cover. She opens it and finds a quill, ink, and a journal with the dual-colored sun on it.
     
    Fingers on the journal and a loud gulp. She takes it out and lightly touches it. Then she opens it and sees Sunset's childhood photos. Continuous flipping of the pages continues to show her letters to Celestia, including painful notes to her.
     
    Pinkie's heart sank.
     
    Then came trouble.
     
    Sunset arrived home early and catches Pinkie reading her diary. Suddenly, Sunset starts getting furious and tells her to keep her hands off. Then they get into a really nasty verbal spat with Sunset and Pinkie accusing each other. Pinkie accusing Sunset of keeping a secret. Sunset accusing Pinkie of being a snoop and liar.
     
    At the end, Pinkie tells her, “You know what? Fine! Go back to this Equestria and all the ponies you used to call home. I’m sure the Pie family will move on without you.”
     
    Sunset angrily runs out the door and starts sobbing on a bench. She decided to call Rarity and ask to sleep over there for the night.
     
    Meanwhile, a seething Pinkie turns to the images on her dresser. So many of her and Sunset were together. She decided to hide them one by one. But the more she hid it, the more the anger at her went away. Instead, she was angry at herself.
     
    Immediately, she tried to call Sunset’s phone. No answer.
     
    But she gets a text: “Staying at Rarity’s house. Don’t call back.”
     
    Absentmindedly, she drops her phone, landing softly on the desk.
     
    She sits down and puts her arms under her face.
     
    “What have I done?”
     
    She cries herself to sleep that night.
     
    Meanwhile at home in an unknown locale, Principal Celestia answers her cellphone. Princess Celestia was on the other line.
     

     
    More to come in later entries.
  22. Dark Qiviut
    Part 1
    Part 2
    Part 3
    Part 4
    Part 5
    Part 6
     
    All six links above are the concept ideas for the EQG1 fixfic. If you haven't seen it, then what I write may confuse you.
     
    Now it's time to lay out the ideas into chapter summaries, outlines, fanfic title (Equestria Girls, of course), and plot summary.
     
    Fanfic title: Equestria Girls
     
    Summary: A mirror tucked away in Canterlot Castle. A former student turned runaway by traveling through the mirror. Her Equestrian family wants her home, but what home will she choose: the alternate world or Equestria?
     
    How I imagine the cover art: A front view of the mirror, with you looking up, creating some perspective. Wavy gold and crimson stripes paint the thick frame, and the walls surrounding it are dark to focus the eye. Over the mirror is a faded image of Sunset's yin-yang sun cutie mark, the image fading into the mirror's edges like a vignette.
     
    Main characters: Sunset Shimmer, Pinkie Pie (human), Twilight Sparkle, Princess Celestia
     
    Secondary characters: The Mane Six (excl. Twilight), Spike, the HuMane Five (excl. Pinkie), King Arion (OC, deceased), Shimmer family (OCs),
     
    Tertiary characters: Princess Luna, Principal Celestia, VP Luna, Flash Sentry, the Pie family (human, excl. Pinkie), Old Iron (CHS security guard, OC)
     
    Fanfic rating: E (FIMFiction), K/K+ (Fanfiction.net)
     
    Story genres:
    FIMFiction: Slice of Life, Drama, Equestria Girls, Alternate Universe Fanfiction.net: Friendship/Family

    Primary original characters:
    Shimmer family:
     

    Dawn Shimmer: Sunset's father. Stay-at-home, helping take care of the house. Reserved into wondering if Sunset was never going to return. Doesn't let it affect his relationship with his son and wife. Physical appearance is a bright gold fur with long off-white mane and tail (mane extends past his shoulders). Cutie mark is a half sun over a simple side image of a dark gray skillet; image mirrors.
     
    Sunrise Shimmer: Sunset's mother. Helps work as a lifeguard along the calm waters of Grazewood's coast during the summer hours. Even when she receives news that Sunset has seemed to thrive, she's apprehensive, and she's not afraid to tell Solstice the truth about the cause of his sister's decision to run away. Coat's bright gold, yet with a little less red in it. Mane/coat are alizarin crimson — a short tail with two ends that curl together — with ochre streaks (the back of her mane's short and tied in a bun). Cutie mark is rays of sunshine forming into a sun in the center from the flank's left; image doesn't mirror.
     
    Solstice Shimmer: Sunset's little brother. At the time of the story, only eight years old. Talks in simple language. Sunset didn’t know he got a little brother the entire time while in Equestria. Welcoming and becomes really close to his older sister later in the story. Coat color's a brighter, more saturated version of Sunset's amber. Mane and tail are short and a muted red. Cutie mark is a small sun with stylized rays pointing down towards his abdomen; image mirrors. Old Iron: The primary security guard in the fic. He keeps watch on CHS in case of any danger. Skin color's periwinkie with very short, light blueish steel hair. Speaks in short, snappy sentences, but is fair and will help. King Arion: An alicorn who lived long before Celestia and Luna were born. In the story, he's recognized as the first naturally-born alicorn. He ruled an arid country called Arion Stratus, which was unnamed until long after his death for unknown reasons. Traditionally, alicorns are capable of flying and performing magic. Unfortunately, he had pennaplegia, a condition that paralyzes the wings from birth, either by premature birth or injury of the wings inside the womb. He created the mirror by scavenging for bones of dead unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies, and he cremated them in secret to make sand. He used magic to make the glass unbreakable and then wrote a new spell to make the mirror act as a portal to negotiate with other countries for trades and diplomacy. Kept his mirror in secret throughout his life and well beyond his deathbed. Colors are a rustic brown coat with thick, slick streaks of white and bronze in his mane and tail. Magical aura's silver. Cutie mark is a white cloud in the simplified shape of a horse's side view; image mirrors with the muzzle facing the abdomen.

    Now, the chapter concepts, starting with the prologue and first three.
     


     
    Prologue: Dream
     
    Twilight and Spike finish their meeting with diplomats for the night. Twilight feels very cross about having to slog through so much bickering amongst the leaders and translators from other countries. She wants to be a princess, not an interrogator, but Spike warns him that being a princess means she must take in pitfalls, too. She tries to go to sleep, but her wings kept erecting, making her crosser. To solve the problem, she uses a magic spell to temporarily bind her wings to her side. When she goes to sleep, a tingle descends into her brain through her horn. Nerves activated, and she felt the moon vibrate when it touched the zenith. Awoken, she tiptoes down Canterlot Castle's halls to a very enclosed area just outside of the tower leading to Celestia's study. She feels the long, high draped walls, but finds nothing. She silently walks up the stairs, but the tingling slowly dissipates, so she walks back. She goes back to feeling the walls and notices a small scratch. Using a silence spell, she slowly lifts the curtain to detect a sun symbol. Magic caresses it and fills it, and the wall becomes a door. She opens it.
     

     
    Ch. 1: The Mirror
     
    Inside is an enormous room mostly confined in shadows. Using magic to illuminate it, the entire room feels like a memorial. Crimson and gold waves paint the walls. The door behind her has a sketched image of a female unicorn's silhouette. To her right, a closed journal with the sun symbol rests on top of an antique presentation desk, a glass cover protecting it like a bell jar for the enchanted rose. But the biggest thing in the room is a mirror bolted on the far wall. About twenty feet feet high by ten feet wide, waves of red and gold paint cover the frame. Above it is the same sun mark. The mirror doesn't so anything, but Twilight feels herself wanting to walk closer. Reaching out, she slowly approaches it and finally touches the mirror. The tip of her hoof goes through. She yanks it back. No mirror has ever done this before. But there's some kind of magic there. Magic throbs in her conscience, and that energy flows to the same hoof that penetrated the mirror. In respects, magic is contacting her. With a gulp, she moves her hoof, and it slides into the mirror. Then she takes another hoof, and she climbs in. Soon, she dives in, the mirror taking her.
     
    When she arrives, it 's a cool, brisk summer night. Everything's asleep. Nobody's there. But then she sees a car, confusing her. There are no cars in Equestria. She reaches to scratch her head, but she doesn't feel fur anymore. She feels something dry. She tries to find a mirror, but can't. Luckily, a puddle is nearby. She walks, but then she falls. She isn't feeling hooves anymore. These are whatchamacallits, and her feet are covered and constricted by them. Twilight calls for help! Suddenly, a gentle voice calling her by her name. A woman stands in front of a statue, part of her right arm within a colt statue's base. Twilight asks, "Princess Celestia?" Human Celestia says yes, calms her down, and they travel back to Equestria through the portal, where Luna and Spike wait.
     
    Rather than head back out, the quartet converse in the Reflection Room. Twilight frantically asks Celly several questions, but Spike calms her down. Magic unbound, Celestia brings the book to show them all. Prior to Twilight was a unicorn named Sunset Shimmer. Her father Dawn and mother Sunrise noticed extreme potential in her magical powers. It was capable of unleashing different types of magic depending on the time of day. Unfortunately, she was still green during dawn and the day, so they sent her off to Canterlot so she can be trained to be a great unicorn throughout the day. As she flips the pages, she shows Twilight images of a filly Sunset doing wonders with her magic, including shearing off the top of Celestia's mane.
     
    Right from the beginning, Sunset's teachings had problems. With all the weight on her, her magic spluttered, and she spent days without sleep just to complete her homework. Celestia fought with a decision to transfer her studies and study something else with better ease so she doesn't have to struggle, but Sunset pleaded to remain in the program. Eventually, Sunset (or Sunny, as she likes to be called) completes through her first year of magical training.
     
    But in year two, it worsened. She struggled with the weight more, and then other students and teachers started bullying her for being Celestia's failed pupil. The students were punished, but their hurtful words didn't go away. It reached the climax during the summer of her second year. After constant verbal and then physical abuse by a teacher, she let her magic erupt without any control, and students had to flee because Sunset's magic was out of control. Celestia had to intervene, calm her down, and suppress her magic. Celestia elected that evening to take her out of the program and travel with her to psychology visits. Sunset was, however, able to get away from Celestia's magic-cuffing spell. Believing she was a failure to Celestia and her family, she decided to run away.
     
    That night, she packed up her bags, a journal — the same as Celestia's, but Sunset's own copy — and the magical quill to write it, and wandered around Canterlot's halls. She couldn't find anywhere to go because all of the windows and doors were blocked. She thought about finding a way to actually find peace, when a cold feeling suddenly tingled her horn, and she went over to find it. Nearby Celestia's tower entrance, she noticed a door. She walked right through and found herself into a room where a mirror hung on the wall. She caressed her hoof on the mirror and sucked herself in. Celestia felt her presence go away along with the same cerebral tingling. A gasp. She realized what had happened and teleported to her tower entrance. The door had been opened. She told the nearest guard that Sunset has run away and contact her parents immediately and went in to find her. She searched for several days in the alternate world, but couldn't find her. Over three dozen times, she wrote in the journal, hoping Sunset would respond. Nothing. She still searched. Before the portal was about to close, Celestia had to bail. Sunset was lost in a whole new world with no way to contact her. Needless to say, Dawn and Sunrise were devastated.
     
    Every week, Celestia would walk back to the Reflection Room and write in the journal to hope she was okay. No answers until eight years later when images of Sunset began to appear inside of her journal. She looked like a human, and she apparently looked really happy being around other people, especially human versions of the Pies. But she also shared images of herself having fun with people that looked like Applejack, Dash, Rarity, and Fluttershy. Sunset's friends embodied the same qualities as the pony versions from Ponyville. The same qualities that embody the Elements of Harmony. That's why on the 1,000th anniversary of Luna's sealing in the moon, she assigned the Summer Sun Celebration in Ponyville and requested Twilight to be there. They communicated, and Sunset sounded happy to be there. But her parents (and baby brother Solstice, who she doesn't know at the Shimmers' request) didn't believe her.
     
    When Spike asked about how all of this has anything to do with the mirror, Celestia explained that Star Swirl used to own this mirror. It used to belong to King Arion, an alicorn dating back to before the Royal Sisters were born. Star Swirl found it when facing an evil, but couldn't seal it. In his will, he assigned her to protect it in case anybody wound up going in. He used this same mirror himself and found himself to be in very vile, violent worlds, even though the world Sunset went in wasn't violent at all. But even eleven years, the portal would open up every two weeks. Sunset ran away eleven years ago, and tonight is the first time since then that it opened.
     
    As a result, Celestia asks Twilight a favor: to stay in the castle with Luna while she tries to find Sunset and bring her back home before the fortnight-long portal closes. Celestia teleports to her room, but Twilight follows. She won't let Celestia do this mission alone and wants to help. It'll make finding and rescuing her much easier. She knows she feels guilty over this, but she can't let that force her to not offer help. Reluctantly, Celestia agrees. Then asks Spike to write urgent letters to the ReMane Five and carbon-copy them. Spike agrees and takes out parchment and a quill, and then Celestia uses magic to change one side and a little of the inner trim to a bright red. After writing the letter, Celestia uses magic to copy the message into five scrolls. With one breath, they vanished. Afterwards, it was time for Twilight, Celestia, and Spike to pack.
     

     
    Ch. 2: Into Pedestria
     
    Celestia, Spike, and Twilight spent about two hours packing, and Celestia created three diaries, each of them with Twilight's and Celestia's cutie marks on both covers. One for Twilight and Celestia apiece in case they separate. One for Luna and the remaining five. Before the clock struck three AM, the trio say goodbye to Luna, and they depart.
     
    In Pedestria, now it's Spike's turn to scream. He ain't no dragon no more. He's a dog now. He jumps around in fright and accidentally claws Twilight's wrist, drawing blood. Luckily, they pack some bandages, so Celly used iodine and gauze to keep the cut clean. Spike feels guilty for hurting Twilight, but the Bearer of Magic understood. They look around; everywhere is quiet. No cars anywhere. They have to find a spot to rest. Twilight tries to walk, but her legs wobble, and she falls. So she gets Spike to climb on her back, and Twilight gallops on all fours. Meanwhile, Celestia watches and follows with a chuckle, but says nothing. She tells Celestia to come over, but stops when she realizes Celestia's standing, while Twilight isn't. Twilight blushes and tries to get up, but uses her arms and elbows to pull her up. Twilight acts like she's about to use magic, but stops when Celestia tells her she has no horn. Twilight almost screams, but Celly calms her down. They try pulling and pushing, but the door to the school is locked. So they have to find another place to go.
     
    They look around and find a skyline with skyscrapers to the left of the school. With the street heading the opposite direction, maybe they'll find some transportation. So they walk. A half-mile. Nothing. A mile. Nothing. About a mile-and-a-half later, they see some light in a bar, and they walk in. The bartender asks what he can get for her on a fine evening. Celestia (who doesn't say her name) says she and her friend are trying to find a hotel to stay for the night. Immediately, he flips open a cellphone and uses whatchamacallits to call for a cab. Spike peaks out from the sack and gets excited. A waitress screamed and spilled a glass of wine onto the floor, shattering it. Everything shuts up. Everyone stares at them.
     
    Twilight whispers, "Why is everypony staring at us?"
     
    "Everypony?" a young female adult exclaims. "We're not ponies! We're humans!"
     
    "And who's that kid in the dog costume?" a young man questions.
     
    "Dog costume?" Spike growls. "Dog costume?!" He jumps down. "Where I live, I'm a fire-breathing dragon!"
     
    "Spike, NO!"
     
    Before he could exhale, Twilight grabs onto his muzzle and brings him up. "Spike, calm down. They're trying to egg you."
     
    Spike exhales. "Sorry, Twilight." He notices everyone glaring. "I screwed up, didn't I?"
     
    Suddenly, a car blares a horn. Immediately, they slide backwards out of the bar, in the cab, and depart. Twilight says if there's a hotel. The driver questions if they're tourists. Celly and Twilight looked at each other quizzically before Celly splutters they are. He knows a few hotels, but he'll drive them to the best one at the heart of the neighborhood of Midtown. Twenty minutes later, they arrive at the place. He tells them the charge: $31.85. Celestia takes out a piece of gold, hoping it'll suffice. He bites into it.
     
    "Tastes like gold."
     
    Twi, Celly, and Spike (from the bag) look at each other nervously.
     
    "This means a lot to me. Thank you so much."
     
    Twi: "You're welcome. Please, keep the change."
     
    After an exchange of gratitude, they enter the motel, which is a twenty-story-high tower called Grump Tower. A young, moody female desk clerk asks what they want. Celestia explains they're hoping no rooms are booked. The grump swayed their complaints aside and tells her, "You worry too much, ma'am. We have several." She looks at options. "What room would you like?"
     
    Celestia: "Uh, maybe one near the ground."
     
    Clerk: "Two-bedroom? Yes, that lo—" She looks up. "What's with the tiara?"
     
    Celestia looks up. Her Canterlot Princess crown was still donned on her forehead. Immediately, she takes it off and puts it behind her back.
     
    "You're majesty, I presume?"
     
    Celestia tries to stumble a reply, but the clerk stops her. "Don't be so modest. If you want to say it, that's fine. If not, that's fine, too. So, where did you all come from, anyway?"
     
    Twilight interrupted by saying they came from an area very far away. How far, the clerk asked. Well, an area where it's difficult to reach. The clerk looked on suspiciously, but played on and saw Spike the dog peaking out. "Relax, young puppy. Grump Tower likes pets." Spike growled, but Twilight quietly shushed him.
     
    "So, he doesn't like to be called one. Don't blame him. Most animals I know hate being called pets. Ah, here we go! Room 405! You can pay tomorrow afternoon."
     
    "Maybe now." Twilight hands her a couple of pieces of gold.
     
    The clerk's suspicions return, but she puts them away and has the trio escorted upstairs. Then she makes another call.
     
    They arrive, and the hotel room is very clean. Two clean beds are nicely presented with the traditional chocolate on the pillow. Two unisex, unisize bathrobes hang in the bathroom wardrobe. Packaged toothbrushes sit in front of the sink next to washcloths, shampoo, and soap. As they changed into their robes, they wonder about this world, the standards of living in it, and especially where Sunset Shimmer is. Meanwhile, Spike sets up the wake-up call for 7 AM. One thing's for sure, the magic from Equestria won't work. In order to find Sunset, they must look for her their way.
     
    They set off next morning (after an embarrassing accident by Twilight in front of a serviceman), and they split up with journals, quills, ink, and fresh clothes (courtesy of the clerk from last night) in tow. Celestia went into the quieter areas north (including Norachre at the tip of town and then the bustling shopping district to the east). She couldn't find any whereabouts for Sunset Shimmer. Meanwhile, Twilight went into the Public Library (and had to be shh'd for talking too loud).
     
    "Memo: keep mouth shut in library," she reminded herself. She asked a librarian if there was any address book to find, and he gave her a big phone book with thin white pages. She looked for Sunset's name. No luck. So she searched for any of the other five. With luck, she found the Pie's number (including Pinkie's cell), Dash's, and the others. Then she decided to return to the Pie category a little more carefully.
     
    A gasp.
     
    Pie Shimmer, Sunset
     
    Twilight's mind swims. What do the Pies have anything to do with Sunset? Did they brainwash her into believing she was from here? Did Sunset block off some of her memories from outside influences so she doesn't want to return? Is Sunset actually a part of the Pie family here in this world?
     
    As her thoughts continued, she spotted her number. With a free hand, she jots them all down in the journal along with their names and a strange thing called emails. Now to find a phone. Fortunately, a pay phone was in a booth across the hall. Unfortunately, wrong currency: She had gold, not dimes, nickels, quarters, half-dollars, or dollars. (Each call is a dime.) She tried using gold, anyway, but the machine rejected it. She asked someone in the library if she has some change; she must make an urgent call. He gave her nine dimes for courtesy. She decided to call Sunset's, but her voicemail was full. One more time, but no answer. So she called Pinkie. Then AJ, Fluttershy, Dash, and Rarity. Not one answer. And Twilight was too flustered to use the voicemail and didn't want to sound like a stalker. Spike whispered in her ear to be more convincing and act like she knows what she's doing. So she decides to call Pinkie again. She gets an answer.
     
    "Hey-lo! Pinkie Pie here!"
     
    "Hi, Pinkie Pie! I'm Tw—."
     
    Pinkie spits into the receptor, and Twilight had to pull away.
     
    "Ow…" Twi rubs water off her ear.
     
    "How'd you know my name? Wait! Don't tell me! You're went into the Canterlot City Public Library to try to find some names. You got mine, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Sunny. Wrote it down on scrap paper. Then decided to call us, but you figured we weren't gonna answer the call because we don't have any idea what your number is!, so y'tried again, wondering if there was some party!"
     
    Twilight tried to stammer an answer.
     
    "Well, missy, you come to the right party planner! Meet up with me and the others at 6:30 this evening!"
     
    "Wait!"
     
    "You don't want to come to our party? Aw, so sad."
     
    "No, Pinkie, it's…I don't know where you'll be, and you don't have my name!"
     
    "No worries, my little stranger. Everything's completely under control. Now, what's your name?"
     
    "Twilight Sparkle."
     
    "Twii-liiight Sparr-kllle. Got it!"
     
    "And where's the party?
     
    "Well, at Sugarcube Corner, silly! Outer Canterlot, Avenue A and 15th Avenue. You'll see a bright pink sign on the light pole! Now, once you arrive, walk to the back of the store and then head down the stairs. There, sign in to Fluttershy. In the meantime, Rainbow Dash should be playing some basketball with Applejack a block from Canterlot High. Meet with 'em there so you can all join the party together!"
     
    Twilight chuckled. "Okie-dokie-lokie!"
     
    "That's my catchphrase!" laughed Pinkie with a playful whine. "See ya 'night, Twilight!"
     
    They hang up, and Twilight wrote down everything Pinkie said in the journal. Princess Celestia replied that she'll meet up with them there tonight.
     
    But before they took off, Twilight looked for a place for currency exchange. One towards the river east of the Library's main entrance. Twilight walked forward and exchanged two quarter-ounce gold coins with CC change (about $662 dollars in total; she needed to break two twenties into dollar coins for transport). Then she got a transportation map to head back to CHS. And she found it: the OC3 Express, and it makes a stop right there. But she has to take the first one: It only runs one per half-hour, and travel can take an hour. So she went to the stop, picked it up, and wrote in the diary informing Celestia about the currency exchange. Apparently, these whatchamacallits have some form of magic that can show the map of the city.
     
    As she's on the bus, she gets messages from the ReMane Five. All are in the Throne Room and will be greeting her once she returns. But Twilight requests a favor: during the day, they keep an eye on the Reflection Room. Each of the five take turns every six hours. Then she explained that a pony named Sunset Shimmer is living in this world (in the country called Pedestria), and it's their job to reunite her with the rest of her family before the portal closes in two weeks. It's possible she may come back on her own, so look out for a gold unicorn with gold and red hair. They promise.
     

     
    Ch. 3: Old, Yet New, Friends
     
    Canterlot High. Back where the quest began. She heads to the school and sees the base. Nothing to disturb it. She reaches inside and feels her hand transforming into a hoof. Then she looks back; there's a security guard (Old Iron). She asks him where this thing called a basketball court is. He points to the entrance's right: "One block." She heads over and piers through wired mesh from above. Below, AJ and Dash were playing a game on the basketball court.
     
    Twilight smiled evilly.
     
    Rainbow Dash was attempting a free-throw—
     
    "Hi, Rainbow Dash!"
     
    Rainbow flinches and shoots an air ball.
     
    "Rainbow Dash, that attempt's as bad as your wardrobe."
     
    "Don't blame me, AJ. I haven't found anything comfy to wear and play sports. This is the best I can find." (Dash is wearing a neon yellow tank top, thigh-length neon green shorts, and white sneakers.)
     
    "Only 'cause y'haven't washed yer best clothes in a fortnight and three days."
     
    Twilight grimaced.
     
    "Says an awesome cowgirl who likes to take mudbaths in her free time."
     
    Twilight chuckled, walking down the stairs. "Rainbow Dash, Applejack, you two fight like an old married couple."
     
    Both of them look up, wondering how the hay she knew their names. She explained about the phone book and Pinkie told her to meet you. Then they introduced to each other properly, and Spike acted like a dog. Twilight lied that he's an ultra-rare breed. Meanwhile, Dash said they were playing a game of basketball until she was rudely interrupted.
     
    "What kind of game?"
     
    "HORSE."
     
    Twi stared at them, her expression blank.
     
    "Don't tell me you never heard of it!" exclaimed Dash.
     
    "I don't know what basketball is."
     
    Applejack and Dash's eyes nearly left their sockets, and they turned to each other. Then they looked at Twilight.
     
    "You missed out a ton," said Dash.
     
    They explained the rules to her and invited Twilight to come and play, which she accepted. Twilight was instructed on how to shoot the ball and gave her the first crack. She did (6" from the hoop) and made it. The others did, too. Then the game played on. Twilight began to get the hang of it (even though she double-dribbled) and began to jump as she shot. She missed on some, and she was the first to be eliminated. Applejack got the win. Then Twi asked about the line Dash shot from. It's the free-throw line, Dash replied. During the game, some players will shoot from the line, ranging from one to three free-throw attempts. Each basket's one point.
     
    "And her free-throw percentage is worst on the team," quipped Dash, pointing at Applejack.
     
    AJ rolled her eyes. "Dash, I can make them during practice."
     
    "You're focusing so much on your aim, you're not focused here." Dash pointed at her own head.
     
    "Easier said than done."
     
    "Mind if I see?" interrupted Twilight.
     
    AJ did. Good form, but clanked iron each time except once (a make on her seventh try). Twilight decided to give it a try. But rather than push overhand, she threw underhand. A basket. She tried again. Same form. Another basket. Ten free-throws, ten made. Twi suggested AJ to try it; reluctantly, she did and threw it. Made it. Tried again. Made it again. Third time. Another make. Fourth. A miss. Twi suggested to keep trying.
     
    "Why didn't nobody ever teach me that bfore?"
     
    Rainbow Dash shrugged.
     
    Afterwards, they went for some lunch (one of them a steak for Dash, which Twilight declined; she felt very uncomfortable seeing Dash eat meat, but kept it to herself). But she went about lunch with some vegetarian huevos rancheros. Then it was back to playing some sports, this time a little racquetball with Flash Sentry in New Redfort Park. They had a nice chat, of course. Twi had never heard of racquetball before, but they explained it was pretty easy. Just go hitting the ball with the racquet. When it hits the ball, chase it and hit it back. All four went about it, and Twi once hit the ball so hard, it bounced back and AJ had to dive away to not get beaned.
     
    From the other side of the mesh, Rarity clapped at Twilight's aggression. Then she screeched when she saw Dash's wardrobe and dragged a clothesline from outta nowhere, requesting her to change. Dash attempted to push it away, but it wouldn't budge.
     
    "Didja put brakes on this thing?!"
     
    "MMMMaybe."
     
    "Nuh-uh. I ain't wastin' my time changing."
     
    "Don't care." Eyes closed, she eloquently pointed away from the court and to the locker room.
     
    Rainbow Dash sighed disgruntledly and took prepared clothes off the line. "Stay here, guys. I'll be back in a flash."
     
    She hurried off, and Flash chuckled.
     
    "Flash, Applejack, Rarity, Does everyp— uh, everybody quarrel like this?"
     
    "Don't worry, ma'am. It's all in good fun. Hey, how do you know my name?"
     
    "Found you in a phonebook in the Library."
     
    "So you're the one who called my cell this morning," said Rarity.
     
    "And mine," said AJ.
     
    "Not me," finished Flash, who showed an empty phone history.
     
    "Back, guys!" Dash called as she ran back to the court. "What's the commotion now?"
     
    "Rainbow, did you get a phone call from this number at around ten o'clock this morning?" Rarity asked, showing her the number.
     
    "Yeah, I did. Thought it was a telemarketer."
     
    "This lady here—" said Rarity, pointing at Twilight, "—called us. What's your name?"
     
    "I'm Twilight Sparkle," she said nervously.
     
    "So why did you call us?" asked AJ.
     
    "Well, I… I'm just feeling a little nervous. I'm new here."
     
    Flash: Where did you come from?
     
    Twilight Sparkle: I'd rather not say.
     
    Dash: A little too personal? Ya don't have t'tell us.
     
    Applejack: And we're sorry for acting tense 'round ya. *flashes racquet, flips ball like a coin* So, play 'nother round?
     
    Twilight looks at Spike and back. "Don't mind if I do."
     
    Flash: Wanna play, Rarity?
     
    Rarity: Oh, ka-pft. Flash, please. A lady playing in a sport that can ruin her mascara, break into a gallon of sweat, and cause this beautiful pearl white outfit to feel heavy and drenched! Really?! *hits racquetball hard to her left, ball bounces off the wall and lands sharply into her empty hand* Why not?
     
    They played for about ninety minutes and received attention from others in the neighborhood. Then, they all went via public bus transport to the Carousel Boutique (a three-story shop/home) in Hammingdon Square, where they all washed and changed into cleaner clothes (all free of charge). At about 5 PM, Rarity called to prepare in style for the 5:15 arrival. Then she called Fluttershy to remind her, but she didn't have to worry: She's preparing the party and meals and will welcome the guests. Twilight hoped Celestia was on the invitation.
     
    Upon arrival in the old neighborhood, everywhere was either a brownstone or standalone house. But Sugarcube Corner was a bit of a larger place with the cafe covering half of a short street and a third of the longer. They enter the back, walk past the kitchen, and into a hallway with a fifteen-foot-high ceiling. All five walk through to an entrance, down a wide staircase (which included an incline to help the elderly and disabled), and to a wide entrance where they sign in. Sure enough, "Celestia" was there. Inside, Fluttershy was pumping helium into the balloon. Twilight Sparkle greets and introduces herself to her, and then 'Shy said Pinkie and Rarity told her a lot about you and wanted you to feel acquainted. Traditionally, she's too shy to come, but too often she wants to come and have fun.
     
    "Anybody say 'fun'?!"
     
    Pinkie appears outta nowhere and gets extra excited seeing Twilight Sparkle and gets extra-extra-excited seeing Spike the dog, picking him up and giving him a kiss on the forehead. Then goes back to introducing herself to Twilight and feeling happy to see new friends. Then the oven rings, and she hurries back to take out then-prebaked desserts and meals that the Apples made for this party. Twilight asks for help, and Pinkie's glad. Twi tries to get the hang of the potholders, but using memories of Spike using them to bake cookies and other scrumptious desserts, she figured it out and is able to help Pinkie swimmingly.
     
    Suddenly, noise from the background, and Twilight peaks out. A tan-skinned girl with gold and red hair was saying hello to all of the guests and giving each other hugs and a nuzzle on the head. Twilight Sparkle says hello to Sunset and introduces her by extending her hand. Sunset introduces herself and shakes her hand back. Then she says hi to Pinkie and they exchange their own unique handshake: clapping alternate hands, playing peekaboo with their eyes, leaning forward with a slide and grabbing hands as they trade places, and finally having Sunset turn in a twirl before greeting with a really tight hug and kisses on the nose.
     
    The song during their handshake sounds like this:
     
    1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
    Eyes open wide.
    Down a slide.
    Then twirl a Pie!
     
    From the side behind the drink table, Twilight aws from their affection and starts to feel a little jealous. Where she comes from, nobody is this affectionate to one another. Maybe I should practice that same lesson with Celestia. Oh, shoot!
     
    But before she could think of a good hiding spot to write her message to Celestia, a purple-haired, mint-green-skinned girl named Starflower Wisteria* joins her and pops open a bottle of apple cider. Twilight tries to stop her by stuffing a finger in the bottle, but Starflower tells her to relax: There's no alcohol in them. Twilight apologizes and tells her where she comes from, all apple cider is alcoholic. A brief convo later, they were drinking cider together and sharing stories, and then people started dancing, including Pinkie and Sunset exchanging fast rotations together.
     
    A jealous Twilight confides to Starflower that she saw her greet everyone affectionately, but not this affectionate to one specific person. She explains that Pinkie and Sunset grew up together and have been inseparable since the Pies adopted her eleven years ago. Pinkie may be a couple of months younger than Sunset, but to Sunset, Pinkie is like a mom to her. Then she caught Spike the dog, nuzzled his forehead, and says they can't just sit here. Twilight admits she can't dance well. Starflower decided to show one style: a beginner version of salsa, but it goes off track a little when Twilight forgot to hold onto Starflower as Star leaned back, and she landed on her back. Thankfully, she wasn't hurt, but she commended Twi for trying. They tried again, and they started to get the hang of it, including that lean back (with Starflower instructing her) without problems.
     
    Then they split up, and Flash and Twilight start to dance. Then they split, and Flash shows off some excellent ballet skills, including fast spinning. Twilight tries it, but loses her balance and nearly falls, but is caught by Sunset. Then they start dancing, but in a calmer, smoother style so she can be more comfortable again. Sunset and Twilight greet better, and Sunset even calls Twilight cute, making her blush.
     
    As they chat, Fluttershy tells everyone that she's here. Immediately, they split into rows and bow. A pink-skinned woman with rainbow hair enters the roman wearing a cape with a black helmet to her side. She chuckles at the sight and tells them they don't have to bow to the Canterlot High principal.
     
    Twilight's eyes nearly pop out.
     
    "Principal Celestia?" she mouths.
     
    Celestia sees it. "It's a pleasure to meet you, ma'am. What is your name?"
     
    She stands up and introduces herself, but stops short when Celestia asks her if how come she sounds like she knows her. Twilight excuses herself and temporarily leaves to SCC's front. Immediately, she finds a bench and starts writing in her journal to Princess Celestia, questioning why she didn't know her. But Princess Celestia says she's not here. Twilight gasps. If that truly is Principal Celestia, then where is Princess Celestia?
     
    East of Canterlot City, an express bus is blocked by miles of slow traffic. Princess Celestia sits crossly in the back as she watches traffic from the opposite direction fly by.
     

     
    More to come in later entries.
     
    *The MLP Wiki and Reddit associated with it gave her the name of "Starlight." But now it's taken by Starlight Glimmer, so I gave her a new name.
     
    Here's EQG!Starlight:
     

  23. Dark Qiviut
    Part 1
    Part 2
    Part 3
    Part 4
    Part 5
     
    Quick change in the concept. Little Pony Flash has been changed from Pony Flash Sentry to Solstice Shimmer. His cutie mark is a little sun at the top of his flank (like the sun reaching its apex in the sky) with beams shooting down to his abdomen.
     

     
    Journey 4: Bowling inside the Canterlot Transit Authority Terminal. Everyone decides to play bowling for a couple of rounds before moving onto three games of pool. Dash won the first game of bowling, and Rarity won the second. In pool, it was split into groups of two to make it fair. Afterwards, it was off to the Grand Park for a late-afternoon picnic and watching the sunset on top of the lawn's hill. As the sun set, Pinkie and Sunset cuddled as they flipped through the pages of SS's journal. Rarity saw it, and the others did, too. They looked through for a few minutes before deciding to head to Pinkie's house for dinner and wait anxiously till the 11:57 cutoff.
     

     
    Saying goodbye
     
    After a couple of hours, Sunset explores the Pie family kitchen. Images of her whole family hang around, including next to the door jam. Images of Sunset and Maud playing a game of checkers with black and white rocks as the chips. Pinkie and Sunset baking a big birthday cake when they were twelve. Meeting Applejack for the first time in the old Mayberry Middle Academy in Midtown, and then a group photo of the six when they graduated and left for CHS. When she took down the group photo to take a closer look, Cloudy Quartz and Igneous Rock show up to give her some guidance.
     
    I still can't believe it. Eleven years…and it can end tonight? *turns around and sees the clock; 9:34 PM* It can't. Mama, Papa, it can't.
     
    I wish does it not, Miss Sunset. And will it not.
     
    Sunset-dearest, do you remember what I told you when we first adopted thou eleven years ago?
     
    I'm trying, Mama. Can you repeat it, please?
     
    "Goodbye is another way to say hello." Whatever will happen once midnight tolls, thou will always be here. *brings Sunset's hand to touch her heart* Igne and myself will always talk to thou and see thou.
     
    Miss Pinkamena can sense the good in you and entrusted us to nourish you. Talk to any of us, and we will answer. Mirror or no.
     
    *wipes tears off with her hand* I wish it's another way to say hello. *hugs them tightly; Quartz and Igneous hug her back* I love you.
     
    Igneous and Quartz (tear streaming down their eyes): I love you, too.
     
    No matter what happens tonight, a Pie you always will be…
     
    And we'll always be proud of you.
     
    After exchanging a kiss to her cheek, Sunset excused herself to the bathroom where she washed her face and applied saline to her eyes. Afterwards, she walked upstairs to Limestone's room. Everything was very orderly, including her computer desk. But to the left of her desktop is a family photo; Sunset was sitting right in front getting an enormous hug from Marble and Limestone. Too people with enormously opposite personalities treating her like one. She picked it up and placed it on her heart. Then she put it down and wrote a note.
     
    Lime, can you please scan this photo and give it to Pinkie Pie so she can place it in my diary?
     
    XOXO
     
    -Sunset Shimmer
     
    She leaves and heads to Pinkie's room. A stuffed baby alligator doll sat on the middle of her bed, and several sleeping bags were rolled up alongside. Then she looks around to see so many family memories. She finds one of them with her kissing Pinkie's cheek as Pinkie celebrated her birthday. A chuckle. Taking her index finger, she kisses it and places it on the image of Pinkie's head before walking out. Then she takes a tour to Marble's and Maud's rooms. Marble's green-walled room was empty except for a computer, desk, bed, a marble maze, and the family photo. Maud's has a rock collection, Boulder sitting idly, and the family photo.
     
    Lastly, she went to her room, turned on the light, and observed it more closely. Crimson with gold-painted sunbeams shoot from her chandelier to the doors. Clouds glisten in the reflected light. Crystal lights from the chandelier danced multiple colors. So many memories around the room, including images of her with her friends and all of the Pie family.
     
    And after midnight, possibly gone.
     
    She looked out the window and down at the roof of her neighbor's house. A garden full of summer flowers and plants bloomed, and lights from restaurants nearby had dimmed.
     
    When you never pay attention to and appreciate the little things till it's too late.
     
    Mom and Dad tell me this a lot.
     
    Sunset turns around. Sometimes you scare me.
     
    *chuckles with a shrug, sits down on Sunset's bed and pats it; Sunset follows and sits beside her* Do you remember our conversation the day before we graduated from Mayberry Middle three years ago?
     
    I…think so.
     
    As we prepared our graduation uniforms, we played a little game of cards. What was it again?
     
    Go fish.
     
    Egg-zactly! We played for so many hours, it was almost midnight before we stopped! *laugh, lays back* So much fun!
     
    Indeed. *lays back* Graduation this and graduation that made me so nervous! The game and humor made me feel so much better.
     
    But do you remember what you said to me before we went to sleep?
     
    *nod* I told you I didn't know anything about my career or future.
     
    Annnnd what did I say to you back?
     
    "Sunny, change the Pie, but it's still a Pie." Quirky, but very philosophical.
     
    That's who I am! Don't doubt about it! Sunny, it doesn't matter your future. You're always my sister.
     
    Pinkie, you're always one of mine. *rolls over to hug Pinkie*
     
    Halt! *pats bed again*
     
    *Sunset lies back down*
     
    Sunny, do me a favor. A ginormous Pinkie favor! Something that even the world's biggest party cannon can't create!
     
    Anything.
     
    *reaches her hand out, extending her pinkie finger* The portal remains open forever. See me and everybody else tomorrow morning at eleven-hundred hours in the Canterlot High gym. Promise?
     
    *takes her own pinkie and wraps it around Pinkie's* Pinky Promise.
     
    Don't forget the Pinkie swear!
     
    *chuckle* Cross my heart and hope to fly. Stick a cupcake in my eye.
     
    Awesome! Now, what are you waiting for? Give your sis a hug!
     
    *Sunset launches for a tackle, and they hug, cuddle, and laugh*
     
    *Rarity knocks on door jam a few minutes later* Eleven o'clock. Time to go!
     
    Sunset & Pinkie: Coming! *Sunset checks her stuff to see if she needs to pack anything, and then they head down with an arm wrapped around the other*
     

     
    Departure & Test
     
    By van, everyone arrives to CHS at 11:35 PM. When Cloudy Quartz pulls up, everyone sees the Mane Six's classmates, Principal Celestia, and VP Luna waiting by the statue. Pinkie explains that she contacted them and asked them to come support Sunset. Sunset looks at the clock on top of the school to track the time. Students shook her hand, and she gave them all hugs thanking them for coming. Giving an impromptu speech, she isn't sure if it'll work, but she said if it doesn't and she'll be either away for eleven more years or forever, she wants to thank those who supported her over the years. Starting with Pinkie Pie, her family, the rest of the ReMane Five, Principal Celestia and Luna, and especially all of you. Their support helped her grow. If the spell fails, she'll always have her memories, and hopefully she'll see them all again when she turns 28. Everyone replied that they will see her soon, and Pinkie flashed her pinkie to remind her of her Pinkie Promise from earlier tonight.
     
    Just before 11:57, Sunset hands Pinkie the journal and quilt pen.
     
    Let me know if you have the crown. Promise?
     
    Promise.
     
    They exchange a hug and kisses on the cheeks. Sunset says goodbye and departs for Canterlot, where the others await at the other side. Sunset tells them she's ready. Twilight recites the spell, casts it upon the scroll, and transfers its magic to the mirror. It lasted thirty seconds, but soon the spell dissipates. Celestia looks out the window and sees the moon descending from its peak.
     
    12:01 AM. It's time.
     
    Princess Celestia, can I do the honors, please?
     
    Of course.
     
    *gulps, uses her green aura to lift her Fall Formal crown* Ready.
     
    On my count of three, Sunset. One…two…three.
     
    Feebly, Sunset tosses her crown to the mirror.
     
    On contact, the crown slowly disappeared into the mirror.
     
    Everyone prepared to cheer, but Celestia cleared her throat and shook her head. Wait a little longer. Several seconds passed. Sweat dripped down Twilight's and Sunset's faces. Celestia anxiously gazes at the moon as it slowly descends from tonight's apex. Luna watches next and pats her back with her wing. The others and Spike held hooves and hands and silently prayed.
     
    Sunset looked back at the journal. Nothing. Was it the right pen? Was there any leftover ink? Did somebody back in Canterlot City decide to steal it and possibly destroy it? Drip, drip, drip. Tap, tap, tap. A sharp glance at Twilight. Hooves chattered. Back at her Equestrian mother, father, and little brother. Eyes closed, magic linked together.
     
    Suddenly, a sound.
     
    'Twas only a thump in the background.
     
    A low hum.
     
    Everyone opened their eyes.
     
    The journal glowed.
     
    Immediately, Celestia brought it over and flipped the book to the page. The parchment throbbed, and the sun princess's horn itched.
     
    Sunset gasped.
     
    A very quick scribble of handwriting.
     
    WE HAVE THE CROWN!! WE HAVE THE CROWN!! IT'S OPEN!!
     
    She collapsed onto the crimson floor.
     
    It worked. The spell worked.
     
    Twilight reached a comforting hoof out. But Sunset lunged, wrapped her hooves around the Princess, and they fell down in the form of a hug. Tears flowed and dampened Twilight's fur.
     
    THE PORTAL'S OPEN!! THE PORTAL'S OPEN!!
     
    Twilight lay there and allowed Sunset to cry onto her chest.
     
    Back in Canterlot High, cheers, tears, and hugs woke up a slumbering city.
     
    But given the circumstances, sleep can wait.
     

     
    Epilogue
     
    A nice, hearty breakfast with the Mane Six, Spike, and the Shimmer family (Dawn, Sunrise, Sunset, and little Solstice). Exhausted eyes reddened and dried from all the tears last night. Gallons of saline won't be enough to moisten them.
     
    But for the first time in several days, a strong sense of relief engulfed the table. Their hooves ached. Breakfast was slow. No conversations at all. Celestia silently drank her honeydew tea from inside an "I Hate Stress" cup. Luna ate some yogurt, while little Tiberius ate a muffin and stole some yogurt when he tricked Luna to look away. Pinkie snored loudly. Dash ignored her and ate some a Zap-Apple jam sandwich. Applejack snacked on some bananas and tea. Twilight drank some tea as Spike napped in a huddle beside her. But Sunset Shimmer hungrily ate on some PB&J's, drank some iced milk, and ate some apples while chatting happily with her mom, dad, and bro.
     
    Once 11 AM neared, Sunset packed and caressed the mirror. There was a tug waiting for her to be pulled through. Telling them she'll be back in a few hours, she left for Canterlot City again. Transformed as a human, everywhere was quiet. But on the ground were strips of gold and crimson tape, leading her to the school, which was unlocked while the security guard watched and gave her the thumbs up to enter. Steps down the hall and eventually arriving at the gym. Doors were shut. Gingerly, she pushed the bars and opened them.
     
    Too dark.
     
    She flicked the switch.
     
    "SURPRISE!"
     
    A gasp.
     
    Hundreds of people stood in the middle of the gym. The majority were from Canterlot High. But others were here, too, including some from Crystal Prep. As everyone greeted her with hugs, a party hat, and some cake, she looked around. A disco ball and pink, crimson, and gold ribbons hung from the rafters. Along the walls, printed wallpaper with Sunset's cutie mark and a gold-colored trim dangled and swayed as wafts curled under the partially open windows.
     
    Yet, one question remained.
     
    Where are Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and the rest?
     
    Right here, Sunny!
     
    The crowd split. Pinkie, Fluttershy, Dash, AJ, Rarity, and the Pie family waited beside the stage. Sunset immediately charged to them and gave them all tight hugs and kisses on the cheek. Pinkie was the last one, and their hug was tight and long. Tears streamed down their cheeks, as they refused to let go. Sunset started crying on Pinkie's shoulder.
     
    (voice muffled) I thought…we won't see each other again… Did you?
     
    (stroking Sunset's hair) Me, too. Everyone did.
     
    Sunset tried to mouth words, but was held back by strong wailing.
     
    (stroking Sunset's hair) It's okay, Sunset. It's okay. (kisses her head) Cry away.
     
    A minute later, she slowly moves her head up.
     
    I don't know what I'd do without seeing you.
     
    Always remember, I love you.
     
    I love you, too.
     
    Is this the gym?
     
    Pinkie and Sunset stopped crying. Everybody knew that sound.
     
    But to everyone's astonishment, Twilight wasn't alone. Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Spike, the rest of Twilight's friends, and the Shimmer family were there, too. Aside from Spike, they were in human form.
     
    Human AJ: I may be seein' extra haystacks, but does Applejack look like me?
     
    Human Dash: (runs over to pony!Dash) Whoa! Another Rainbow Dash! That's so COOL!
     
    Pony Dash: So you're one of Sunset's awesome friends that she raves about!
     
    Human Big Mac (from the background): Eeyup.
     
    Pony Dash: Amazing. *whoas from her legs wobbling, but Princess Celestia and Human Dash got her* Thanks.
     
    Sunset: (gets up, wipes tears off, and whistles) Everyone! Attention, please! I'd like you to meet my friends and family back in Equestria. This is Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Spike, Princess Celestia, and Princess Luna.
     
    As she introduced them all, they said hi.
     
    Sunset: And this is my Equestrian family, the Shimmers. My mom, Sunrise! *kisses her cheek* My dad, Dawn! *kisses his cheek* And my little bro, Solstice! *kisses his cheek; they butt heads with a shake and giggle* It's a long story, but please give them your warmest welcomes!
     
    Human Pinkie: Oh, no!
     
    Pony AJ: What's the matter, uh, Pinkie?
     
    Human Pinkie: I forgot my party cannon!
     
    Pony Pinkie: Did somepony say "party cannon"? *whips out two party cannons and pulls the strings*
     
    Confetti shoots out from the cylinders, and everyone cheers.
     
    The party has officially begun!
     
    During the party is a montage of happiness. Twilight with some of her new human friends. The two Lunas exchanging joyful glasses of punch and playing some video games. Spike and Human Sweetie Belle playing fetch. Sunset teaching her pony friends and all of CHS her dance with the HuMane Five back in the Canterlot Botanical Garden. Little Solstice dancing with Flash Sentry. Young kids (and adults) playing a homemade Ring Around the Rosie. Everybody participating in a square dance, including the two Dash's, the two Celestia's, and Sunset and Human Pinkie. The celebration lasted all afternoon.
     
    As the Mane Six, Spike, and the two princesses said goodbye, Sunset said it the best party ever and thanked everybody. But before everyone started to depart, the security guard knocked on the door and told them that a news photographer named Photo Finish showed up and asked for a group picture for The Canterlot Sundial (the city's top newspaper). Everyone agreed, but Sunset asked him to distract her for a bit as they took their spots. (Everyone sat from the third rows and higher depending on their height. The Mane Six, Spike and HuMane Four sat in row #2. Human Pinkie sat in front of them with the rest of the pies. The Shimmers sat beside them. Sunset sat next to Human Pinkie on her right and the Shimmers on her left.) Sunset gave him the cue and invited him to take a part of the shot, which he agreed. Photo Finish showed up, set up her camera, and took four shots of the happy group.
     
    Next morning, the celebration, Sunset's journey, and the group photo made headline news in The Sundial.
     
    The End
  24. Dark Qiviut
    Part 1
    Part 2
    Part 3
    Part 4
    Part 6
     

     
    MMC
     
    In the aired version of Magical Mystery Cure, Twilight gained her status by completing a spell that Star Swirl the Bearded wasn't able to do. (In the locked version, SS and his spellbook weren't even in the script; it was Pandora's Box, but that's beside the point.) The Marks were swapped because Twilight read the incomplete spell out loud, but she finished it in rhyme.
     
    Now, let's think about rhyme for a minute. One of poetry's most known general tools is the ability to display rhyme or rhythm. Sometimes that's not the case, like haikus. Sylvia Plath, a well-known poet who committed suicide after battling from youth-based depression, wrote several in her lifetime, including her infamous Daddy (describing her anguish of her father's death from diabetes and using Holocaust analogies to accentuate her pain to the audience). Rhyming allows imagery to flow from text to imagination and sets up the conflict without feeling stilted.
     
    According to MMC, Star Swirl used rhyme to write and complete the "alicorn ascension" spell.
     

    Now, it's possible that not every spell Star Swirl wrote will rhyme, and you can break it here and there if you want to drive home a point. And I'll admit, I suck at poetry rhyming, but it doesn't mean I can't try.
     
    What I'm thinking here is creating a structure of the spell that shows that the spell can open periodically, but can't be sealed. How King Arion originally wrote his spell and then have Star Swirl revise the spell by writing it over and over. But lest they not forget, reading it aloud can cause it to go haywire. Unlike MMC, Arion's original spell isn't found in Star Swirl's book that Celly gave to Twi, but perhaps somewhere else in the castle. Maybe an old studio. Perhaps in Sunset's in a corner of the room where she normally didn't go. It's the dustiest, and inside one of the books is the old scroll. The parchment is old, but still pliable and capable to write on.
     
    Now, what to put in? Well, for one, referencing the cremated bones that created the glass and ability to travel from one dimension to another. But also an earlier reference to travel from one portal to another, which was crossed out. Then a reference to travel to a new world over it, but the way it's written makes it sound like it opens periodically (every eleven years) and not. Change that in favor of it opening forever. Give the location of the other side of the portal (the Canterlot statue's base and backup locations in case the statue is damaged, misplaced, replaced, or destroyed). Clean up the writing and grammar. Before the clock strikes midnight into the fifteenth day, Twilight and Sunset recite it.
     
    I'll get back to this is a bit.
     

     
    The day of the test
     
    The last day the portal opens will be in Pedestria, and Sunset had her stuff packed, including her journal, pen, and a whole lot of memories. But that doesn't mean she can't try to distract herself with the help of her friends and especially Pinkie Pie. Think about activities all of her friends would like to do, including maybe an event each of them can enjoy together.
     
    Journey 1: Time cleaning up Rarity's wardrobe workshop and helping set up a fresh variety of fashion, including the possibility of moving away from strict stereotypes in favor of taking the clothing concepts she's normally have for girls (i.e., bright, zany designs; dresses) and making them unisex. Why? Every single catalog she reads just goes for the same old, same old. Drabby, cool-colored shirts and pants for the males and the females with the brighter colors and varieties. She just needs to plan the ideas. Sunset and Rarity review Rare's scrapbook to see patterns of yellow, white, and a light sienna for a tall male, but it can be adjusted with some changes in the design to make it something that men and women of other sizes can wear. Another included a bright green dress with subtle peach leggings with a crimson lightning gradient starting at the ankles and fading completely once it passes the knees. After an hour of fun conceptualizing, it's off to meet with Fluttershy and the others at the Botanical Gardens in the neighborhood of North Canterlot.
     
    Journey 2: I've been to Botanical Gardens before, both in Brooklyn and The Bronx. My personal favorite is B'klyn Botanical Gardens. For this, gorgeous green trees, a little lake with a torii (a tribute to the Brooklyn Gardens), a lot of magnificent flowers, and a little dance. Outside of Spike, one of the best parts of EQG1 was the "We Will Rock You" tribute with the clapping and banging of the floor to begin Win the Crown. Rather than the full song, it's that banging, but become one with a dance. With their arms crossed to the other side and all six creating a circle, Sunset helps lead by banging her left foot twice to the left (thump…thump), banging her right toe twice to the left quicker (thump-thump), and finally one more bang with her left straight down (thump). Process continues. It starts slowly, and it gets painful by tripping over feet and sometimes stepping on them. (AJ: My leeeeeg!) But they get the hang of it and feel a little sore. But they feel better and continue walking along the path to the other side of the garden where Twilight and the two Celestias waited.
     
    Journey 3: Lunch at a vegetarian cafe with an Italian vibe/aura. I'll admit, Italian food is some of my favorite, but let's twist up some of the clichés, and there are examples available in sites like this one. Maybe we'll get an omnivore joke where a character (perhaps Sunset) has grown to like eating meat, something she can't do in Equestria for obvious reasons.
     
    Now, get back to the end of the prior section:
     
    Dash: But how do we test it to see if the revised spell will work? I mean, there's gotta be something we can use.
     
    Fluttershy: But what?
     
    Principal Celestia: What about tossing the crown through the portal?
     
    *Twilight's eyes widened, nearly chokes on her beet ravioli*
     
    Rarity: *pats Twilight's back hard* My goodness, Twilight! Are you okay?!
     
    Twilight: I'm fine. Principal Celestia, that's crazy!
     
    Princess Celestia: I have to agree. Twilight needs her crown to help defend against evil there.
     
    *shakes head* No, I mean Sunset's crown.
     
    Everyone: Huh?
     
    Spike: But Sunset doesn't hold the Element of Magic here… Does she?
     
    Sunset: *shakes head* No, Spike. She means this. *she takes out a dull, Plexiglas crown that bore Twilight's cutie mark*
     
    That crown looks like mine!
     
    Princess Celestia: *taps it* Except Twilight's is gold and amethyst, not something low-end.
     
    Unfortunately, CHS's budget stinks.
     
    *Principal Celestia whistles innocently*
     
    Twilight and Princess Celestia look at her.
     
    *chuckle* Never mind. Now, Princess Celestia, Twilight, every year around the time of the Autumn Equinox, CHS prepares a Fall Formal. It's like a popularity contest. The one with the most votes wins this crown, becomes Queen of the Fall Formal, and holds onto it until either the next Fall Formal when they try to defend it or elect not to defend the crown.
     
    Pinkie Pie: For the past two, she's won by a bigger landslide than the best juggler in a clowning-in-training contest.
     
    *sheepish smile* After you convinced me to try the first time and then voted for me even though you were my competitor.
     
    Anything to help make you happy. *wraps arm around Sunset* So, your plan?
     
    Oh, of course. Anyway, I won this crown for the past two years. It's pretty cheap, and it won't damage the mirror or anypony— I mean, anybody else. If the trial works, then I can see all of you again. If it doesn't, well, you'll still be able to make another one. *looks down sadly*
     
    Poor thing. *reaches out and holds Sunset's hand* Sunset, don't worry about the spell. It's ready, and you'll be seeing us tomorrow.
     
    You're convincing yourself it'll be ready, Rarity. I know you. I know you're worried.
     
    Applejack: We all are, darling. You're a part of our lives as all of us here. In many respects, you're like family.
     
    You've come a long way since living in Canterlot City. Kind, bold, comforting, forgiving, and not afraid to crack a joke or two. You're all of us into one.
     
    Including me! Sunset, you're one of us.
     
    I still can't believe you're all so welcoming, even after I lied to you about where I come from. None of you knew where I came from, and it doesn't matter to you.
     
    Why should it? Human, equine from a fantastical land, some fire-breathing baby dragon, or demigod from a thousand moons into the future. Don't care! You're awesome because you're you, Sunset.
     
    And by the way, Dash, in Equestria, I am a fire-breathing dragon.
     
    And you're still amazing, Spike. *rubs his head* Sunset, if you want to talk to any of us, we're always available. Remember, you're never alone.
     
    *The waiter walks by*
     
    Waiter: Good afternoon again. How was your meal?
     
    Wonderful. Thank you, sir.
     
    Excellent. Rainbow Dash, what time is it?
     
    *looks at her watch* It's almost two. We got so much to do!
     
    Twilight, Spike, and I better head back home.
     
    Four of you actually live in another dimension, don't you?
     
    Eeyup! In my world of Equestria, I'm a child dragon that can breathe fire! *laugh* I mean, you don't see talking dogs around here?
     
    How did you know anyhoo?
     
    Well, you talked a little loud, and the diner heard you, so we all listened. Your friendship here is one of the strongest I've ever seen. I can tell you all care for each other.
     
    *The kids blush*
     
    Oh, I almost forgot. *takes out check presenter and hands it to Principal Celestia, who opens it; it showed that the meal has been paid* Someone here decided to pay for your meal so you can enjoy the rest of your important day.
     
    *A tear rolled down Sunset's face*
     
    Principal Celestia: If you see that person again, please tell him, her, or her we appreciate it.
     
    I will, ma'am.
     
    A minute later, Sunset and the HuMane Five split up from Twilight, Spike, and the two Celestias. From across the street, a principal from a rival school placed her credit card and check back into her wallet.
     

     
    More to come in later entries.
  25. Dark Qiviut
    Cooperstown will only have two former players enshrined, but it's nonetheless a hell of a class.
     
    Back in the 1990s, Ken Griffey Jr. was the Michael Jordan in baseball. He had not just the strong core to help form the amazing swing of all-time. He epitomized coolness in fashion. Why do so many people wear that baseball cap backwards? Because of him, and he kicked so much ass with it. There was a swagger to him that you couldn't help but not watch. I've seen him play baseball when I was a kid, including in 2007 when the Reds faced the Yanks in the old Stadium. One of the most likable guys in all of sports.
     
    Ten Gold Gloves, 1997 AL MVP, 13x All-Star. 630 home runs. All for the most part playing in a position that's been criminally underrepresented. Since Duke Snider was elected in 1980, only three besides Jr. were elected: Kirby Puckett, Andre Dawson, and Larry Doby (Veterans Committee).
     
    Great to see another CF in the Hall. The first #1 overall pick to be elected. When Chipper Jones gets his chance in 2018, he'll be the second. No Mariner will ever wear #24 again. The question is will his plaque have him wear his cap backwards? I personally don't care that three people of the 440 didn't put him on the ballot. The fact that he got the highest vote total is more than enough to satisfy me.
     
    Mike Piazza should've been elected to Cooperstown on the first ballot. Only suspicions of steroids locked him out. But he was one of only two people to climb the ballot in 2014 (Craig Biggio the other). When he was at 69.9 percent last year, he was very likely getting in.
     
    He was fantastic with the Dodgers. Mark my words, if the Dodgers didn't lose out on the West in 1997, he might've won the NL MVP. By the way, Mike Piazza was a major NL Triple Crown threat in '97 (.362, 40 HR, 124 RBI).
     
    When he went to the Mets after a pit stop in Florida, he re-energized the Mets fanbase and turned what might've been a decent Met team into a great Met team for the first three seasons. 396 home runs as a catcher is the most all-time (427 overall). A .308 career average. A much better defender behind the plate than the stats present. At the 1,390th pick in the 62nd round, he's the lowest draft pick elected to the Hall.
     
    We don't know right now what cap he'll wear for his plaque, but he's said he'd love to wear a Mets cap. Regardless, no Met (and hopefully no Dodger) will wear #31 again.
     
    It's a shame that Bagwell and Raines didn't get in this time. The good news for both of them is their astronomical climb (Bagwell fifteen shy, Raines twenty-three). Next year is Raines's last on the ballot, so he's going to get a significant jump so he gets elected in the Hall. With Piazza out of the way, it paves way for Bagwell to getting in in the next year or two. The only other possible player to get elected next year is Hoffman, who entered in his first ballot at 67.3%.
     
    For those curious about the overall totals, click here.
     
    With Griffey and Piazza off the ballot, we'll be seeing brand-new people into the ballot. The premiere former players include:
    Manny Ramirez
     
    555 home runs in nineteen seasons. A very amazing swing. Very casual and lovable attitude. Two-time suspender for PED's, the latter the result of him retiring in 2011. He's not getting in and won't be on my unofficial ballot for next year.
    Jorge Posada
     
    5x All-Star, World Champion, Silver Slugger. A member of the Core Four. From 2000-'11, more RBIs than any other catcher. Third in the 2003 AL MVP race. #20 jersey retired. He'll get some consideration.
    Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez
     
    One of the best hitting, fielding, and throwing catchers in all of baseball. 311 home runs, .296 average, 2,844 hits. 2003 Champion. 1999 AL MVP. 14x All-Star, 13x Gold Glover. At 45.68%, the highest caught stealing percentage of all-time. If it weren't for PED suspicions, he'd be a lock.
    Vladimir Guerrero
     
    I've followed his career since he played for the Expos. One of the freest free-swingers I've ever seen, but he was also one hell of a hitter. A .318/.379/.555 slash line, 449 home runs, 2004 AL MVP. Of all the players in my era, the best outfield arm I've ever seen.

    As you see here, if I had a ballot (which I don't, not a BBWAA member), I'd vote for ten guys: Griffey, Piazza, Bonds, Clemens, Edgar Martinez, Raines, Bagwell, Mussina, and Schilling. Griffey and Piazza are off the ballot, and the remaining eight players will be on my 2017 unofficial ballot. That leaves two slots open.
     
    One of those two slots goes to Wagner. He had a shorter career, but he was as dominant a closer as I've ever seen. A 100-mph fastball, a filthy slider, and all the stats that I compiled in the earlier blog.
     
    That leaves one guy left. For obvious reasons, I won't vote for Ramirez. Posada had a great career, but I don't know if it's enough. Jose Canseco claiming Pudge took steroids won't convince me to not vote for him. If it wasn't illegal to take it at the time, Canseco's whining won't convince me to say no. Vladimir Guerrero also had a fantastic career. If he makes it to the Hall, he'll be the first Dominican positioned player to make it.
     
    Right now, I'm juggling between either Pudge or Vlad.
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