Portal travel was starting to become... almost therapeutic. All the stretching and twisting really loosened your stiff muscles. A few seconds of bright flashes and Twilight found herself sitting on the smooth tiled floor of the lab. A few feet away from the mirror, Derpy stood patiently waiting for them to get their bearings.
"You did it!" Derpy exclaimed, smiling. "When Pinkie just jumped up all of a sudden and ran here, I didn't know what the hay was going on so I ran after her. She jumped in and for some reason the mirror wouldn't let me follow because seven ponies had already gone through. Did you stop Pinkamena? Where is she anyway?" Mirror counterpart or not, Twilight had to admit that Derpy was pretty adorable when she rambled.
"She... didn't make it." Twilight began.
Pinkie took a huge breath in. "She tried to destroy all reality by ripping spacetime apart with some crazy machine that mirror-twi invented because she thought that life had no meaning but really she was just a big meanie-pie and-"
Derpy's eyes widened. "Tried to destroy reality? Ummm maybe we ought to keep that amongst ourselves... just so the others don't, you know, panic?"
"Ah hate to not tell em, but ah see yer point." Applejack agreed. "Some things are better off kept secret." Twilight gave Pinkie a small wink.
"Speaking of the others... there's a few friends waiting to meet you in the throne room." Derpy motioned them to follow. As they trotted, Twilight noticed the guards saluted them as they passed. Their eyes were no longer green, signifying that the spell on them had been destroyed with the elements.
The grand hallway was a mess of shattered glass, as the remnants of the cutie mark windows lay strewn about. Twilight used a quick organization spell to clear the debris, much to the relief of her non-flying friends. The statues no longer lined the sides of the hall, no doubt another spell that had been broken with the destruction of the lockets.
Derpy opened the throne room doors, and Twilight saw a large formal party in progress. All the scorch marks from their previous battle had been scrubbed away, and instead the room had been turned into a fashionable soiree setting. Mares in dresses and stallions in ravishing tuxedos mingled enjoying punch and small delicacies toted around by waiters.
"The guests of honor have arrived!" an announcer called. "Announcing Derpy the Wise, Princess Twilight Sparkle and the Council of Friendship!" Everypony stopped what they were doing and looked at Twilight and her friends, mouths agape. Twilight immediately felt utterly embarrassed. She wasn't even in formal clothes! She probably looked completely ragged and dirty from her days of being on the run and fighting! Twilight's face turned red as a tomato as she inched away slowly.
The room erupted in cheers and all the guests began clapping their hooves. Utterly shocked, Twilight simply stood stock still. Derpy put a hoof on her shoulder. "Go on. This party is in your honor!" she said softly.
"Well I must say I'm not in the most fashionable of clothing for a gathering such as this, but I think I'll make an exception!" Rarity said joyously. Together they trotted in, shaking hooves as guests surged in to meet the saviours of Equestria.
Twilight heard a small pop next to her as a draconequus in a black tuxedo materialized next to her. He stuck his lion paw out to her eagerly, grabbing her hoof. "Sir Discord... it's an honor." Twilight said humbly.
"Oh pfft call me Captain Goodguy! Everyone does! Thank you for freeing us Princess Twilight, and keeping the forces of Chaos at bay." he said in a heroic voice. Twilight never thought she'd hear Discord say there was too much Chaos. He dropped his voice to a whisper. "Oh and uh, I'll see you on the other side. Tell Fluttershy I'll make up tea with her this weekend." He gave her a small wink and disappeared. Yup, Discord was definitely confusing no matter what universe he was in.
Suddenly the mob of guests cleared away, as three alicorns with regal posture strode up to them. With their eye markings and formal attitudes, Twilight could tell that she was looking at the Mirror Celestia and Luna. Their companion looked alot like the former queen of the changelings, but yet seemed much kinder. Duchess Chrysalis smiled warmly, adjusting her glasses. Twilight quickly bowed in deference, and her friends followed suit.
"Thank you all, but this day it is we who should bow to you." M-Celestia said. She waved them up with a hoof, and the three royals bowed respectfully, followed by everypony else in the room. "You have our sincere gratitude for freeing us and our kingdom from the oppression of the mane six. Your courage and determination shall forever be immortalized in the grand hall. In all our hearts, you hold the greatest honor."
With a curt nod, the royals rose from their bow, and waved everypony back to the party. M-Luna whispered, "The VIP section is just through that door, down the hall. There's a few more guests who'd like to see you." Twilight nodded and thanked her.
Princess Trixie, M-Gilda and M-Sunset approached them next and said their thanks.
"Princess Trixie. Ha, I never thought I'd say that." Rainbow remarked.
M-Trixie chuckled. "I guess my counterpart isn't that pleasant to be around?"
"Oh she's gotten better." Twilight replied with a smile.
"What's my opposite like?" M-Sunset asked.
"Would you believe me if I told you she's a creature that walks on two legs, has hands and goes to high school in an alternate dimension?" Twilight said. M-Sunset looked utterly bewildered.
"Actually in my studies of parallel universes, I found that there are multiple human worlds... including two that are opposite to each other." Derpy said casually. An opposite Canterlot High School... Twilight shuddered at the thought.
"As usual Derpy, I have no idea what you're saying..." M-Gilda joked. After a few more bizarre exchanges, Twilight and her friends took their leave, with Derpy deciding to stay behind with her newly freed fellow virtues.
They made their way through the crowd toward the door Luna had directed them to and two guards parted to allow them VIP access. As it turned out, the VIP room was the royal suite. The room was lavishly furnished, with inviting velvet couches, expensive glass tables and a plush rose colored carpeting. Rarity squealed with delight, rambling on and on about how the decor was classic yet neo-modern... or something like that.
"Come in!" a familiar voice called. As they trotted further into the lounge, they saw two ponies waiting for them. Mirror Sombra grinned from ear to ear, and beside him was none other than Princess Celestia herself, smiling patiently.
"Princess!" Twilight breathed in awe.
"Princess." Celestia greeted jokingly.
After a quick embrace, Sombra gave them a quick bow of thanks. "It appears today both of us owe you all a debt of gratitude."
Celestia nodded. "In our darkest hour, you six once again stepped up to the call of duty, and saved both this world and ours. You faced adversity greater than you ever have before, yet your fortitude and friendship saw you through. We are both very proud of you all."
Twilight and her friends looked at each other, smiling with pride. "What happened to the rest of our opposites?" Rarity asked
"They have been imprisoned once again. It seems the elements have drained them of their magical abilities, and those abilities will not be restored for quite some time." Celestia replied.
Applejack raised a hoof. "There's one thing still botherin me. All that magic energy from the elements... it kinda just turned into smoke and vanished."
Sombra sighed. "I was a fool for thinking the energy could be contained in one place. It first manifested in the Princesses in order to counteract the harmony and order I tried to bring to Equestria. All attempts to contain it failed: me, the Tree of Disharmony and the Elements. The truth is that evil was never meant to be contained."
"What do you mean?" Twilight asked.
"We don't know for certain, but Celestia and I believe that everypony now has a little of the disharmonic energy inside themselves. You see, good and evil are both meant to be a part of life. That is why we could never destroy the energy in the first place. Thus I believe this is the natural way of things. Evil is not a burden one is meant to carry alone. Rather it is something that we all share and help each other fight every day." Sombra explained. "Despair, deceit, greed, betrayal, cruelty and lust for power are all seeds within us, waiting to grow. However if we use laughter, honesty, generosity, loyalty, kindness and friendship to counter them... then Disharmony will never rule again."
"But in case another threat does arise," Celestia continued, "we are closing the connection between our worlds, so that the equalization magic won't cause harm to more innocents."
Rarity gasped. "But that means... you'll never get to see King Sombra again!"
Sombra chuckled. "A price we have both agreed to pay. However even though magic has rules, in a few millennia we both have learned ways to get around them. Both our Lunas have agreed to arrange shared dreams between us every so often. It isn't ideal... but we'll manage."
"For now my little ponies, it is time to go home." Celestia said. They walked to the mirror room, taking a side route so as to avoid the soiree. After saying their goodbyes to Sombra, they jumped into the swirling portal.
"SURPRISE!" Twilight opened her eyes to see she was in the Castle of Friendship, and Starlight, Zecora, Trixie, Luna, Gilda, Shining Armor, Flurry Heart, Cadence and Discord were smiling at her, wearing party hats.
Celestia laughed. "Since we thought you'd find that soiree boring, we thought we'd throw you a real party!" Sure enough, the place was decorated with colorful streamers and banners, and heaps of desserts were stacked on the cutie map table.
"Now this is more like it!" Pinkie yelled, diving into the pile of desserts.
The party continued all night, with Twilight hugging her brother until he turned purple, Discord suspiciously packing away a black tuxedo, Cadence confessing that she would rather go to the moon than have to move the sun and moon for another day and Trixie telling anyone who would listen that she could've freed herself at any time, but wanted to let Twilight "have her moment".
A few hours and many explanations later (including a message from the human world that Sunset Shimmer had 'miraculously unfrozen'), Twilight found herself leaning against the wall, utterly party pooped. She saw a very jittery looking Pinkie Pie bounce over to her.
"Our friends really know how to paaarrtyyy huh Twilight?" Pinkie grinned.
"Yeah..." Twilight yawned. "Hey Pinkie I've been wondering... since there are so many other worlds out there, how do we keep some other crazy lunatic from trying to destroy everything?"
"We have top men working on it right now." Pinkie said.
"Who-"
"Top. Men." Pinkie donned a black hat and dark glasses.
Twilight decided not to push the issue. "You know, speaking of which, where DO you think Pinkamena went?"
Pinkie thought for a minute. "I actually dunno Twi. But if I know anything about the author... it's that he has a sense of comedic irony."
When Pinkamena regained consciousness, she found herself staring at an endless black gravel expanse. Giant metal machines towered above her, supported by big black rubber wheels. Cars. She was in a parking lot then. It seemed she was alot smaller than ponies normally were in this world.
But she had done it. She had finally done it. She, Pinkamena, had finally transcended the fourth wall into the real world, and was in control of her own destiny. No more writers or animators to tell her what to do! Those other ponies were fools for stopping her plan. They could have been free too. But no matter, at least she was free, free to do anything she pleased!
Pinkamena tried to move her hoof forward, but found that she couldn't. Odd. Her hoof, in fact her whole body felt completely solid. And she felt... lighter and emptier... almost as if she was made of... plastic? Suddenly the ground rumbled, and two giant beings approached. One of them looked like an adult female human and the other a human girl. Good, the first humans Pinkamena would wreak her vengeance upon.
She tried to muster her powers, calling forth from hammerspace lightning, wind, rocks, hammers, dynamite... anything that could crush these humans! Nothing happened. The girl leaned down and picked her up. Pinkamena started to panic, as the giant lifted her far off the ground.
"Mommy look! I found a Pinkie Pie toy! I think it's special edition too! The mane isn't poofy like the other ones!" the girl yelled. "Can I keep it please please please please?" A sense of dread started to build up in Pinkamena.
"Alright just wash it when we get home sweetie." the woman replied.
"Oh this is so neat! I'm gonna braid your mane, then we're gonna have tea parties, then we're gonna watch all your friends in My Little Pony together!" the girl smiled. "Oh and just wait till you meet my dog, Spike!"
Pinkamena tried to yell at the girl to put her down, but found all she could say was, "Let's party together!" or "Let's bake a cupcake!". Brilliant. Just brilliant. Could things get any worse?
"And guess what?! I even have a Pinkie Pie shirt!" The girl angled Pinkamena so she could see the shirt.
Just for a fraction of a second... Pinkamena saw the picture of Pinkie wink at her.