Twilight closed the door to her chambers and meandered to the bed before flopping down on her back, carefully moving her wings as not to land on them painfully, again.

Sighing, she ran her hand over her face.

'Three months since the Ligers surrendered officially and we are still having issues with pockets of die hards not wanting to surrender. At least we had minimal civilian casualties and the populous is friendly enough to work with us and not the loyalists. Thankfully we were able to get to the camps before too many civilians had to suffer through them.' She thought as she stared at the canopy of her bed.

Suddenly a buzzing sound interrupted her thoughts. Looking around, she located the source of the noise as a drawer in her bedside table. Opening the drawer, she pulled out the glowing journal with Celestia's cutie mark. Smiling she sat up against her headboard and opened to the newest entry.

'Dear Princess Twilight,

I'm mostly doing this as a therapeutic outlet since Spike told me you were missing. Spike if you are reading this, I hope you are doing well. The girls and I have graduated from Canterlot High school. As happy as I am to be done with the experience of high school in the human world, I am finding myself adrift. Principal Celestia was kind enough to arrange for me to get the proper paperwork to get a job and go to college, but I am at a loss of what to do. Most of my friends are going off to college for one thing or another, but here I am, unable to decide what I should do with my life. While I know that I can come home, I can't leave the girls in case more Equestrian magic appears here on this side, and despite how cowardly it makes me sound, I am not ready to face Celestia. There were so many heated and hurtful words said by both of us that I am not sure if we can ever reconcile from it. I'm hoping to figure something out soon.

Yours,

Sunset Shimmer'

Twilight set the book down on her lap and looked off in the distance. She could understand where the displaced unicorn was coming from. Once she was medically retired from the Army, she had been drifting much the same way that Sunset was, though Sunset had different challenges that prevented her from finding her course. Celestia though, the thought of the Solar Diarch made Twilight grimace. Lately meetings and correspondence between the two had become very stiff and cold. Twilight had tried to bridge the gap, but Celestia couldn't get past whatever disappointment that she felt at Twilight's fall from the pedestal that she had propped her up on. Twilight had gotten to the point where she felt she had done all she could to repair their relationship, but had left the ball in Celestia's court the last time they had spoken on the subject.

Summoning a pen from across the room, Twilight began to write.

'Sunset,

I'm sorry that I haven't written you to let you know that I was able to make it back home. As far as where I have been and the events that have occurred that prevented me from writing before now, well that is a story that is better told in person because of how much has happened. Though the circumstances are different, I do understand what it feels like to be drifting without a course. It took a very special person to help get me back onto an even keel mentally and emotionally, but I was able to get there. In regards to Celestia, I am in a similar place as you. Though words were not as heated, at least on my end, I find myself at odds with our former teacher. She means well, but she is so stuck in her mindset of playing the long game that she cannot react quickly to changes and even worse, notice when her planning adversely affects those that she is close to. I myself think that I am due for some R&R, so I will begin making arrangements to be able to come for an extended visit. Also, DO NOT COME THROUGH THE PORTAL. I have made some security changes in my castle and depending upon how someone comes through, the response has the ability to become quite lethal depending upon circumstances. I wish that I didn't have to enact such measures, but with Starswirl and Celestia basically using the portal as a garbage disposal for their problems I couldn't take chances with security. I hope to see you soon and give the girls my best.

Yours,

Twilight

P.S. You don't have to call me Princess all the time.'

Twilight smiled before closing the book and setting on her table. Feeling more relaxed than she did when she entered her chambers, Twilight smiled as she headed to a well deserved bath.

Sunset Shimmer was sitting on the couch at the human Twilight Sparkle's apartment, staring at the TV screen but not actually taking anything in when the sound of her journal going off startled her. Picking up the book and opening it to the newest entry, Sunset let out a startled gasp. She had been expecting Spike to have replied, the young drake trying his best to alleviate her concerns and easing her worries, but instead it was her friend and savior Twilight Sparkle. Reading through the message, she was able to read between the lines that whatever had happened to the young alicorn was life altering to the extreme. She wrote back a quick message to let the Princess know she would be eagerly anticipating her arrival and that she would let her know if she wanted to come back to Equestria for a visit.

"I wonder what happened." She mused out loud.

"Did you say something Sunset?" Her roommate called out.

"Sorry I was talking to myself Twilight. I got a response from Equestria and Princess Twilight is back. She is going to be coming on an extended trip soon. Sounds like she needs to get away after everything that has been going on." Sunset replied with a smile.

Twilight looked up from her homework. "What's been going on?"

"She didn't say. Apparently it is big enough that she is going to be coming to tell us about it." Sunset said, the smile turning into a thoughtful frown..

"Interesting. Well, we will see when she gets here." Twilight replied with a smile that Sunset returned before turning back to her homework.

Sunset turned to the clock and noticed the time. "Crap, need to head to work. See you later Twilight." She said as she picked up her journal and headed to her room to change.

Twilight was packing her bags a week after sending Sunset the message that she was going to try and visit soon. After informing her Chiefs of Staff and her fellow Princesses that she was going to be taking some leave and would be out of touch the majority of the time, she was able to get ready. She packed some clothes, a maintenance kit for her arm, a spare arm just in case something happened, her toiletries, her rifle, disassembled, ammunition and magazines for the rifle, her ballistic vest with first aid kit, and extra ammunition for her sidearm. She then put a holster for her sidearm on her belt in the small of her back and loaded her weapon, chambered a round, and holstered the weapon before throwing on a long sleeve button up shirt that would cover the weapon and her arm. Picking up her bag and the journal she headed down to the portal room.

After meeting up with Jazz, her own bags packed, the pair entered the portal room that was now two levels below ground, Twilight returned the salute from the Captain that was in charge of the current watch.

"Ready to go ma'am?" She asked.

"Yes I am. Once I go through, remove the journal from the holder and keep it in this room. When I am ready to come back, I will send a message through the other journal that I had made. Once you get it, place the journal back in the holder and I will come through." Twilight said as she wrote a quick message in the journal. "You have the code words for an abnormal situation correct?"

"Yes ma'am. Hopefully you won't need them." The officer replied.

"One can hope Captain, but it is better to be safe than sorry." Twilight replied before turning to Spike and Starlight.

"Okay you two, I'm counting on you to hold down the fort. If anything comes across your desks that you feel needs my immediate attention, come down and let me know in the journal. I will make my recommendations if it is something that is time sensitive or tell you to table it until I get back. Other than that, you know what to do." Twilight finished.

"We've got this Twilight. We were able take care of things while you were gone for all that time. I think we can handle two weeks." Spike replied, giving her a thumbs up.

Twilight chuckled. "Damn straight." She replied as she opened the now glowing journal. A smile appeared on her lips before she closed the book and placed it on the stand causing the portal to activate. "Okay kids, you take care and don't do anything I wouldn't do."

"That's not much of a list Twilight!" Starlight called out as Twilight and Jazz stepped through the portal, causing her to stagger from laughing.

"What tickled your funny bone?"

"Oh, just my adjunct being a little shit." Twilight replied as she composed herself. "How have you been Principal Celestia?"

"Good, and yourself?" The administrator asked.

"Decent. Had a lot of crap to deal with, but I'm working through it." Twilight replied. "So I am guessing you are my ride?"

"Indeed. And who is this?" Celestia replied as she motioned for the younger woman (physically at least) to follow her. "Sunset called me and told me you would be coming, but not that you would be bringing someone with you. She invited my sister and I to hear your tale. I hope you don't mind."

"Not at all. I'm sure you would like to hear about what your favorite disruption to normalcy has been up to." Twilight said with a smirk as they approached Celestia's car. "And this is Jazz." She added, motioning to the other woman who was looking around with interest. "She is a good friend of mine, and she is someone I trust to have my back." Jazz smiled as she waved at Celestia.

"That is a bit of an understatement." Vice-Principal Luna said as she approached the car.

"Ah, and the sassy sister arrives. Been doing okay Luna?" Twilight asked the darker sister.

Luna smirked. "I've been doing well. So is this a social visit?"

"Mostly. I need some R&R after dealing with things on the other side of the portal. Though if you two happen to know someone high up in the government, I would like to speak with them about setting up an embassy." Twilight replied.

The sisters shared a look as Celestia started the car.

"We might know someone. Why are you wanting to set up an embassy?" Celestia replied in a guarded tone.

"To secure the portal primarily. Princess Celestia and Starswirl used the portal as a garbage chute for problems that they couldn't solve permanently, or ones that were a serious danger. Plus there is the fact that the portal opens on its own every so often and since I have increased the security on our end I would hate for someone to come through accidentally. As far as the statue goes, we will have a replica made to replace it." Twilight explained.

"That, is actually a good idea, especially with the girls off to college and their careers, we can't call them at a moment's notice to deal with issues that are related to magic." Luna replied after a few moments of silence.

"How did you know that we had contacts in the government?" Celestia asked.

Twilight smirked. "The front entrance to the school was destroyed and there was a hell of a crater after Sunset was hit by the Orbital Friendship Cannon. Explaining how it happened to the school board would have taken some creative maneuvering and a mastery of spin to keep people from digging to deeply. Plus, having been a soldier that did Black Ops, I know that there are secrets within secrets in the government, as well as contingency plans for all those situations that they do not publicly acknowledge. Like aliens for instance. Every possible scenario has been planned for I am sure. I am just wanting to try and keep things discreet, because I do not want to imagine the crazies that would be trying to get through. If that happened there would be a significant body count. Also, are there nuclear weapons in this world?" She asked.

That got a reaction. Celestia swerved violently and Luna swore in a foreign language.

Once she was in the proper lane of travel, Celestia asked, "How do you know about those damnable things?"

Twilight smiled sadly. "The nearly two years that I was missing from Equestria was actually over thirty years for me. I grew up as a human in a world where nuclear weapons were used twice in anger and have effectively held the world hostage as more powerful warheads are built. Since you do have them, that means that there is most likely a team that deals with incidents relating to them and probably have sensors in every major city that will detect the emissions from nuclear material that could possibly be used in an attack. Magic as we have discovered can cause a geiger counter to go nuts. It's not harmful, at least to those from Equestria. Long term exposure could cause problems here, but it would take years for something to manifest in those exposed. But, back to what I was saying, those sensors probably go nuts every time there is a massive expenditure of magic in the area. So the government knows that something is happening, even if they don't know what exactly, and even if they did, they wouldn't say anything to prevent a panic and possible persecution of those involved." Twilight explained as they pulled up to a nice apartment building.

"You make an excellent point. One that is correct on all counts. We will see about arranging you a meeting with our cousin. She will be the best one to talk to about this." Luna said as the four got out of the car.

Twilight nodded. "Thank you. Now let's get ready for Pinkie to be Pinke." She said as they approached the door.

Twilight smirked at Jazz before motioning for Celestia and Luna to move off to the side of the door. The pair crouched low on either side of the door and Twilight tested the knob. Finding it unlocked, she pushed the door open and moved back as a pink blur shot out the door and tumbled to a stop in the grass.

Celestia and Luna looked on with wide eyes as Twilight and Jazz cackled.

"Not getting enough roughage Pinks?" Twilight asked through her laughter.

Pinkie sat up and spit grass out of her mouth.

"Nope, just wondered what ponies like to eat." Pinkie said with a giggle.

Twilight laughed. "Never change Pinkie, never change." She said as the group entered the apartment.

"Hi girls! How's tricks?" Twilight asked, left hand resting on her hip.