"So... There's no repairing it?"
Twilight looked really upset, a sad frown on her face.
"Not with my current knowledge," she said to Sunset. "We just know so little about how the portal actually works. Most of our studies were halted by the fact that we might break it. And now, it's gone."
Sunset showed concern. They were all standing near the crystal heart, where Twilight had put the now dull mirror. She'd hope that the artifact would help, but nothing had worked. Cadance was also there, as she was the most familiar with the heart.
"Do you have an explanation for that?" Maëva asked, without much hope.
Twilight shook her head. Sunset looked at Twydra.
"You've studied the magic of Canterlot High. Do you know anything?"
"There wasn't much to study. Most of the magic came from Equestria, interacting with it to conduct scientific experiments was hard. I don't think I know more than she does."
She nodded towards Twilight, looking sorry.
"So... We're all stuck here for now," Maëva summed up. "With that appearance."
"I've searched for a spell to turn you all back to normal," Cadance said. "Hydras are very specific creatures, harsh to work with magic. I don't know what caused you to turn into one, but it's more likely than not that we'll need the same portal magic to turn you back to normal."
"I don't know what normal means to me," Maëva laughed a bit.
"Will I be an alicorn...?" Twydra wondered.
"Probably not," Twilight answered. "I wasn't born an alicorn."
"She was promoted to that rank by Celestia and Luna," a voice suddenly said, further away.
Cozy was flying in their direction but stopped in mid air, surprised, seeing the three heads turning to look at her.
"What is that?" she said, shocked. "I thought Maëva's voice sounded a bit weird."
"That's not a nice way to greet people," Sunset pointed out with a raised eyebrow.
"Things happened," Maëva briefly explained. "People came through the portal."
"Cozy," Twilight stepped in. "Why are you interrupting us?"
It took the young pegasus a great amount of effort to look away from Twydra, answering:
"Gee, princess. That's a harsh way of saying hello."
"Is she serious right now...?" Sunset muttered.
To Maëva's surprise, Twilight and her both seemed wary of Cozy, while Twydra was just intrigued.
"What do you want?" Cadance asked, with the same slightly dry tone that Twilight had used before.
"Well, I'm just here to tell you that we made progress on finding those ruins," Cozy innocently said. "They asked me to tell you they've made two discoveries."
"What!?" Twilight exclaimed. "Where!?"
"A guide is on his way. So, who are they?"
She pointed at the two new heads, as if she had guessed the middle one was the one she knew. The glasses probably helped for Twydra.
"I'm Sunset Shimmer. We never met, but I know you."
"Likewise," Cozy responded with a little nod, before looking Twydra in the eyes. "You?"
"I'm the Twilight from Canterlot High. Call me Twydra, that'll avoid some misunderstanding. Nice to meet you...?"
"Cozy Glow," the young pegasus answered in the most neutral tone she had shown up until now. "Nice to meet you, Twilight."
She was staring at her, frowning, which made Twydra look a bit uncomfortable.
Meanwhile, Twilight couldn't stay in place, walking in circles, scratching her chin with a wing nervously.
"I don't think I can wait..." she muttered. "Cozy, can you point me towards the ruins?"
"It's about this way. They've mounted a little camp."
The mare with a salmon-pink coat pointed her wing in a direction that Maëva recognized as the one she had come from the day before. Twilight got ready to take off.
"Right. I'll go first. You'll go with the messenger, girls."
"Be careful, Twilight," Sunset said, before adding. "And don't leave us out of this."
"Don't worry," the princess answered, taking off.
She quickly disappeared in the distance. Cadance saw Sunset's worried look and tried to reassure her:
"We'll do our best to get back to Canterlot High as quickly as possible."
"I know..."
"If that's any reassurance, your world won't probably vanish like that," Maëva said with a bit of concern. "Mine's been in this state for years. I don't think a day or two will be that terrible."
"Thanks..."
Twydra pushed a little sigh. Cadance looked at them, then Cozy.
"If they need anything, come seek me, alright?"
"Urrr... Can't Flurry do it?"
"I'll go look for her. But for now, they're your responsibility, understand?"
Cozy rolled her eyes, crossed her hooves and mumbled:
"Yes, princess."
Cadance looked at the three heads, saying with a kinder tone:
"Tell me if she says or does anything wrong."
Sunset nodded while Maëva frowned a bit. Why would she? She had talked to Cozy the day before, she seemed like a perfectly nice girl. Mare.
The princess of love walked away, leaving them in front of the castle. Maëva turned to the pegasus.
"Why do people here seem to resent you?"
"Oh, that's a long story."
"The real question is, why wouldn't they?" Sunset mumbled.
Cozy rolled her eyes again, while Maëva looked at the second head with question in her gaze. Sunset explained:
"She tried to end the world. Twice."
"As if it wasn't something we all have in common here," the pegasus sighed with irony.
"I only did it once!"
"Yeah, after betraying Celestia a few years prior."
"Wait, hold on," Maëva cut, a bit lost. "I knew about you, Sunset, but like, Cozy and Twydra too?"
An awkward silence suddenly fell as they realized they were, indeed, all pretty bad, once upon a time. And it was something they had to explain to her, now. Sunset winced.
"We all got corrupted by our lust for power, at some point. I tried to steal Twilight's crown and its power. Twydra got corrupted studying the magical anomalies left by the crown in our world. And Cozy, well I wasn't there so I can't really tell, but-"
"I tried to siphon all the magic in the world to become an empress, then used borrowed powers to try and destroy Equestria."
The pegasus was almost bored stating this. Like it didn't really affect her.
"So," Maëva tried to understand. "Why are people mad at you, and not at them?"
"Because I refused Twilight's hoof the first time she offered me help to become a better pony."
"And she wasn't freed because she felt sorry," Sunset added. "But on a whim, because of someone else pleading for her. And she hasn't really tried to make amends."
"Not towards you, at least," Cozy pointed with a snarky smile. "Because I haven't done anything to you."
"Sure, but still. You gotta admit, we don't know for sure if you truly regret it and if you changed."
"I think being free for ten years without doing any harm, while being close to the princess, should be enough, shouldn't it?"
"Or maybe you're just waiting for the right time," Twydra pointed out. "You're just toying with her and making a fool of her."
Something changed in Cozy's eyes. The bored annoyance in them switched to a very well contained but clearly visible anger.
"Don't say that."
"Yeah, she's right," Sunset said, a bit surprised by Twydra's probably unintentional provocation. "I think that was a bit too far."
"I'm just saying," the third head continued. "If-"
Cozy suddenly flew up to her face, staring at her angrily as she hammered each word distinctly:
"Don't. Insult. Her intelligence."
Silence fell. Twydra was a bit scared by Cozy's eyes. They had lost her uncaring and mocking sparkle. They were wide open, empty of any emotions, aside from a threatening yet calm furor.
"S-Sorry..."
"I won't say it twice," the pegasus slowly warned.
Hearing her icy tone, Maëva suddenly believed a bit more the fact that this mare had, in the past, tried to destroy the world. Then, another realization came to her mind.
"Wait, you were freed ten years ago?"
Cozy Glow's expression immediately returned to its normal state, as if nothing had happened, while she looked at Maëva.
"Yes, why?" she said with a sincere smile.
"But you're eighteen...?" she assumed, since it was Flurry's age.
"Physically, yes. I was frozen in stone for about seven years, as a punishment. So I kept my age for all this time."
"... You were eight when...?"
"Yes, I was a very precocious filly."
Cozy giggled, to Sunset and Twydra's shock. Her change in emotions had just happened so fast. She followed:
"But yeah, that's why people kinda hate me around here. It doesn't really matter to me. Still, I'm glad there's now someone that doesn't hold that kind of prejudice against me."
She looked at Maëva in the eyes with what appeared to be kindness. Which was just throwing her off even more with what had happened before.
"There you are!"
All four turned to see Flurry coming in, flying. She stopped at Cozy's height.
"You're back from your research?" the alicorn asked to her friend.
"Not for long. Now that you're here, I can actually leave. I only came back because I need my lenses."
"You're not wearing them?"
"I told you already," Cozy over-exaggeratedly sighed. "It's a pain when you don't have magic."
"Ask me, then," Flurry proposed, almost offended.
"No," she categorically replied. "Anyway, see you! I have knowledge on collapsing worlds to find!"
"Wait! You-"
But Cozy had already left, flying away quickly, into the castle. Flurry grumbled.
"That pegasus..."
Maëva cleared her throat and the princess remembered their presence.
"Right, sorry. Is there anything I can do?"
"Actually, yes," Twydra suddenly said. "Can you bring the history books you have on the Crystal Empire and the mirror?"
"Sure. I'll bring you the ones auntie came with."
She went into the castle by the main entrance. Sunset looked at the head on the other end.
"You think you'll find something useful?"
"I don't know. But the me here has probably read them. If they contain important information, we might as well be more than one to know about them. Two brains are better than one."
"I feel like there's a joke to be made with that sentence in our current situation, but I can't find one," Maëva said with a distant voice.
"Found anything yet?"
Flurry yawned, sitting against one of the castle's pillars, looking at the three headed monstrosity. They were still in front of the castle. Twydra was leaning forward, looking at a book through an oversized magnifying glass put here by the young princess to allow her to read the small words written on the book.
"Not much, really. Can you turn the page?"
Maëva obliged and used the tip of her tail to go to the next page. Twydra followed:
"As far as I can tell, it's supposed that there was once more than one portal. It's not known if they lead to other worlds or just some place other than Canterlot High. But the ponies who wrote that book could only find portals that had been switched off. So they weren't even sure those were portals. They just looked like it."
"Maybe the one I took was one-way only?" Maëva supposed. "So from your end, it looked turned off?"
"Is it still intact?" Sunset asked.
"No, I stepped on it by accident."
"The simple fact you were able to step on it instead of going through shows that it was already not working in the opposite direction," Twydra pointed out, still reading. "I don't get it, they don't mention anywhere in the book where they put the alleged portals. They have to at least say where they found them."
"That book is from a time when Sombra was ruling," Flurry clarified. "Either he wanted that knowledge removed, or they didn't want him to have it."
"It's that old!?" Sunset shouted, astonished since the book looked pristine.
"Yeah well, getting banished for a thousand years with the rest of the empire does help. Magical restoration did the rest. I'm sure my aunt knows a hundred spells to get a book looking perfect again."
"... Make sense," Sunset admitted.
"So..." Maëva deduced. "Even back then, the portals were considered ancient?"
"If your world is anything to go by," Flurry answered, "that book was written at least a thousand years after the ancient mages came to your world."
"That... sounds old."
"Can you turn the page?" Twydra asked.
Maëva used her tail again, before her attention was taken away by a stallion running towards them. Flurry stood up. The colt in armor bowed politely, before announcing:
"Your highness, I've come to report that we found two archaeologically noticeable sites probably linked to the portals and the other worlds. We mounted a camp and I am here to gather more resources and our experts."
"Cozy already told us. The princess of friendship is on her way as we speak. Thank you for your message."
The guard bowed again, taking the time to catch his breath. Flurry looked at the hydra. All three heads nodded.
"Very well," the princess said, turning back to the guard. "You will escort our guest to the site with the rest of your expedition."
"Yes, princess."
"Wait here," Flurry followed, ready to take off, talking to the guard but also to the hydra. "I'm going to look for the other ponies dispatched to study the sites. I'll be quick"
And with those words, she was off in the city, leaving them alone.
The guard glanced at the hydra with a bit of fear in his eyes.
"We don't bite, don't worry," Sunset sighed, realizing how much she hated not being able to cross her arms and lean against something.