The world overflowed with white and Sunset's other self vanished into the white. Sunset didn't know what would happen to her, but she didn't have any room in her mind to think right now. She sailed through the shining whiteness, and she didn't know what would happen next. After past and present there should be…
Future. Sunset fell onto a floor, or if you could even call it a floor. She didn't know what would happen, but suddenly she felt cold. She opened her eyes and found that what she'd fallen into was snow, although it had a bluish tint to it. She then heard something… she didn't know what it was but Sunset knew that it couldn't be good. She heard screaming and clashing of metal. It sounded like a war, and when she got the energy to stand up and figure out where she was she found out that it was a war. There was a huge amount of shouting and clashing of what she now saw were swords, and Sunset stood atop a large mountain near Canterlot and looked down at the battle, which was destroying the once-beautiful city. On another mountain, though, on the other side of the city, Sunset saw something else. Or rather, somepony else.
Sunset saw what she now was almost positive, given the circumstances, was her future self, standing on the opposite mountain. Knowing where her future self now was, she teleported. "Who are you?! Why are you not in battle?!" shouted her future self at her, causing her already windswept hair to fling back with the force of the wind. "I'm you! And I'm from the past! And I need your help!" "Oh," said her future self with much less force, "Well then. How can I help you?" "I don't know… I just know that you've got to help me! How'd you get here?" Sunset asked her future self. "I don't remember…" she said, "I think it involved a spell…" Sunset discovered all she'd needed there. "The spell!" she exclaimed, "that's it! All we've got to do is cast the spell again! Then it won't be confused, like it was earlier!"
"Okay," said Sunset's future self, "Let's cross horns. That way we can cast the same spell at the same time." Sunset nodded, "Let's do this." They crossed horns and sat down on the tiny space that was the mountain top, their tails hanging off the edge. Future Sunset didn't know what the spell was, but after Sunset herself started casting it she caught on. They closed their eyes, and the spell started. At first it was a single, small aura, barely visible. But then it grew larger and stronger, they could tell that it was no longer confused of what it was supposed to be doing. Suddenly a bright red beam of light shot up from their horns and into the sky. It erupted into a thousand tiny sparkles which then drifted, rather quickly though, down toward the ponies. It sunk into their coats and then a reddish-orange glow circled the two of them, and it faded into whiteness. Sunset wasn't sure where her future self had gone, but she couldn't think at all now, because she was thrust out of every ounce of being and down onto something hard. She couldn't tell what it was, but she felt… better. She didn't open her eyes, but she heard somepony calling her. At first the voice was distant, but Sunset then made it out more, "Sunset! Sunset? Are you okay?" asked Sun, who was standing over her. Sunset opened her eyes and saw the mare on top of her, she pulled the energy out of herself to sit up and kiss her.
"I'll… uh…" stammered Sun, blushing furiously, "take that as a yes." "Right-O!" exclaimed Sunset, slowly getting to her hooves. "Where's Moon Pool and Morning Ice?" Sunset then asked. "Oh, they're someplace around here…" said Sun, grinning.
Nightmare Moon led Sun's sister down to the place where Sun and Sunset had been executed. Once they got there, Nightmare didn't open her eyes. She'd seen it already. After a few seconds, Moon said, "This is a nice wooden contraption, Nightmare Moon, but where is my sister?" This made Nightmare open her eyes. They weren't there! There wasn't even a trace, such as the wing-binder or the horn ring. There was nothing at all. Nightmare decided it was time for some magic. Her horn glowed and she looked cross-eyed up at it. It blinked slowly and steadily, she threw her head in various directions. Then she turned around and it blinked slightly faster, she kept walking that direction and motioned for Moon to follow her.
"What are you doing?" asked Moon in her shy, high-pitched tone. "Location spell," said Nightmare, "I'm trying to find your twin sister." Her horn led her across a long hallway and into the large, spacious throne room. Nightmare stopped her spell and looked around. She only heard a soft flapping noise. The next thing she heard was Moon Pool. "I'm so glad I found you!" she exclaimed. Then Nightmare Moon looked up, and saw another pony hovering there along with Moon. "S… Sun… Sun Rider?" stuttered Nightmare, asking the other pony. The pony simply flew down to the ground. She showed Nightmare her flank, her cutie mark was the racket with two pegasus wings attached to it that it'd always been… and Nightmare knew. "It must be you, Sun. It's nice to have you back. Where's Sunset?" "Oh, she's around," said Sun casually, "SUNSET!" "What is it, Sun?" asked Sunset, who then promptly realized who was here, "Oh! Uh… Hi, Night. It's… Uh… Well…" she stammered, trying to think of something to say and failing. Sunset simply ran up and hugged Nightmare, saying, "It's nice to see you're okay." Nightmare hugged her back and said, "I was really worried about you two."
"Your highness, I…" Nightmare heard a voice, and before she could do anything the guard sat there wide-eyed and asked, "What's going ON?!" Nightmare Moon tried to stammer out a few words, but it didn't work and she was speechless, like a filly caught stealing from the cookie jar. "I'll tell you what's going on," said a familiar voice.
Morning Ice stepped out from behind the throne, walking up to the guard and completely trashing her usual shy, doormat-like demeanor. "We're all best friends," she said to the guard, trotting quickly over to stare him right in the eyes, "And I don't appreciate you being mean to them. Got it?!" The guard shrank below this pony, who stood on her forehooves just to look down on him. The guard stood there wide-eyed and nodded sheepishly. "Good," said Morning definitively, "Now. What do you have to say for yourself?" "I… I…" the guard stammered. He stood there and looked up into Morning's eyes, she had the same perfect deep cyan eyes that Sunset had… "I'm sorry, Sunset!" he exclaimed, cracking, "I shouldn't have left you!" He whipped off the dark purple helmet to reveal a bright red, shaggy mane that perfectly matched Sunset's. "Dad?" asked Sunset, "But I thought…"
Everypony else was perfectly speechless. They just stood there, looking. "Yes, I was gone," said the stallion, slowly walking up to Sunset, "Because I couldn't drag in enough bits to support us." "Well," said Sunset, "I've got my own family now. Adios, random stranger." She whipped her tail in his face as she turned around and left. "Understood," said the stallion after her, then he left, muttering, "Time to find another line of work."
"What was that for?" asked Morning shyly to the rest of the crew, who shrugged. "I'm not sure, Morning," said Sun, "But I know that we shouldn't be bothering her. Or at least you shouldn't. I'm… closer to her. I'll go talk to her." Then Sun walked, alone, out onto the balcony Sunset had walked out to.
"Hey, Sunset," said Sun shyly, walking up to the unicorn, "What's up?" "Oh, it's just that my father left me when I was 3 and… I never thought I'd see him again. Good riddance, too. He was a jerk…" started Sunset with a sigh, "And I figured out that he dumped me and my mum, who had a bad disease at the time, on the streets because he couldn't find enough work that was easy enough for him. I'd have liked to kick his sorry flank goodbye but, he shows up AGAIN! Ugh…" "It must be hard for you," said Sun, wrapping a hoof around Sunset. She simply nodded. "There's gonna be a war soon, you know," said Sunset nonchalantly, "We better get prepared for it…" "Is that a big of magic?" asked a now confused Sun, "Can unicorns read the future?" "No, not exactly. I know because… well…" started Sunset, not remembering anything from earlier because her head hurt when she tried, "I don't remember. The point is it's not magic. It's… something else. Oh, and I met Celestia. In my head." That was the only piece of information she'd been able to retrieve.
"Whoa…" said Sun, "Cool. Anyways, you need some help." "I've got all the help I need, right here," said Sunset, poking a hoof at Sun's chest. Sun's wings popped off her back, she couldn't help it. "Well," said Sun sleepily, "Then let me help you." "Happily," said Sunset.
Back in the throne room, the rest of the gang had seen their shadows. But at that moment, they saw the two of them kiss, and Morning said, "Well. I know what she meant by 'I'm… closer'." Everypony nodded. "By the way…" said Moon, her shyness getting the best of her, "I was wondering if you'd like to… mmf!" She couldn't talk any more, for Morning clamped a hoof over her mouth and tapped on her back, "I know." Moon's eyes got wide when she realized that Morning knew sign language. "You…" Moon signed to her, tapping on her back as well. "Yep!" said Morning, who then tapped out to Moon, "I love you, too. And I mean it this time."