2485/In the Wake of an Alicorn

In the Wake of an Alicorn
Date of Scene:	21 April 2025
Location:	Dorms #1
Synopsis:	When everyone goes to rescue Hinoiri from Sora they discover... she's fine. No. Better than fine. She's wanted. Happy. Cared for. Hinoiri finally, after all this time... has a home.
Cast of Characters:	Hinoiri Kirara, Laura La Mer, Coco Kiumi, Takashi Agera, Madoka Kaname, Rashmi Terios, Sayaka Miki, Veronica Perenna, Amanda Faust, Entrapta, Usagi Tsukino

---

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
As the gathered mahou went through the portal, most of them would realize... something was off. Namely, while some had mentioned a storage room... this was NOT a storage room. At all.

All who had come through, if this was their first time? Would realize they had entirely new bodies. Dark energy didn't work here, for one. Additionally, their magic was... definitely off. Entirely off. Cuter, for one. Their bodies were definitely different (of many different species, though no alicorns amongst them). Even if the veil still protected them to an extent, they were certainly NOT using the magic they once knew.

Additionally, everyone ELSE was different too.

But, most importantly? They weren't in a storage room.

They were in a positively MASSIVE throne room. There were a few pegasi at either end, holding spears and wearing golden armor. Sitting on the throne was a positively awe inspiring alicorn, with a white coat and a mane and tail that swirled with radiant colors of a rainbow. The alicorn in question looked positively shocked, her eyes wide and staring at the gathered horde before her... positively speechless at just the... wow. Even still, she radiated an air of authority and power, shining like the sun itself, given pony form.

The guards weren't doing much better, normally rigid and controlled, now they were just staring, one of them with a hoof on the door and about to let in the next visitor to the court... fortunately, it seemed that they had arrived at just the right time to interrupt the daily court before the Sovereign...

And as speechless as she was? NOW was the time to air one's grievances before she could cut them off.

Noteably, Hinoiri was nowhere in sight.

Laura La Mer has posed:
4 days. 4 slow days since Hinoiri had sent Laura a message that included both her explanations and her resignation from being a Pretty Cure. The mermaid blinked a few times when she first read the message, trying to peer at the letters as if they had something more to tell her, that they weren't all there was to it. She felt almost betrayed that one she'd regarded as her own teammate, the only other one aside from Sharon herself, would just disappear from one second to the next.

Surely she would come back tomorrow, right? Tomorrow, Hinoiri would be there eating in the Cafeteria like she'd never gone away, and Laura would have the chance to shake her by the shoulders and tell her just what a scare her message was, and she thought she had really gone away forever. She couldn't believe she had decided to face her mentor alone. What happened to being a team? Laura had brought Hinoiri along when she chose to face the Queen. She hadn't excluded her.

It's ok, she will be back tomorrow, and Hinoiri will hear about all of that then. For now, she will just recover the key and the Tropical Pact, for safekeeping.

Tomorrow came and went.

When the night turned late, she didn't even go to bed. She left Kururun in her dorm room (the fairy should at least be spared the spectacle), told her she would come back soon (because she keeps her promises), and stomps all the way to the pony statue to KiraKiraFantastica like she just had been told Mistress 9 had dared show herself again.

For a long time she'd tried opening that dumb portal, with many accusations to the statue, to Sora, to Hinoiri, and many kicks delivered to the first of the three followed by demands that the portal be opened now, but the statue stayed silent, and after a while Laura could just hold onto the statue and plead for the portal to open. When even that went unheeded, she just took her aches and her defeat, and dragged herself back to her dorm room.

She spent a lot more time with Hotaru and Sharon during the following days, to the point she was basically never seen without one or the other and even if somebody made it their mission to catch the mermaid alone, they would fail, but besides that detail she was basically back to normal.

When the voices started circulating about the portal having opened, the pinkette didn't waste a second dropping everything that she was doing, and head right into the statue, bringing only Kururun and the Aqua Pot, prepared to find her directions from that unknown storage room to whenever Sora had chosen to hide Hinoiri away.

The blurs of the dimensional travel fade from Laura's sight, and instead of peering at some small room in disuse, she found herself in a vast throne room, at the presence of Sora.

The hurt mermaid doesn't have the time to elaborate the sight when she feels herself falling, her face hitting the floor when her legs had maid way for her mermaid tail again. What was that doing here? And where did those hooves come from?

Those concerns get quickly replaced by the realisation she is in front of a sovereign of a different nation, and the blue skin of her face blushes at the embarassing position. "My apologies for the sudden entrance. You must be Sora, the ruler of KiraKiraFantastica. I am Laura Apollodoros Hyginus La Mer, Queen candidate of the great nation of Grand Ocean, and I pay you my respects."

"A friend and teammate of mine should be here with you somewhere. I understand she is a citizen of your nation, but as she undertook official duties for Grand Ocean, I would like to ask you where she is and how she is being treated."

Coco Kiumi has posed:
"Uhm, what?", Coco had stared at the message with eyes wide open. She had been in the midst of preparing herself for her upcoming date with Rihito at Glimmer's concert when the message from Hinoiri's came.

That was sudden, wasn't it? What motivated her to give her the strength to face her mentor?, she can't help but wonder, as she places down both phone and lip tint, dwelling for a few seconds on the message she had left.

She remembers Sora from Hinoiri's description as someone complicated. The Aqua Regina of Hinoiri's homeworld, yet she also personally raised Hinoiri when she saw promise. But couldn't find the right approach and had given her a bad case of perfectionism.

Then Hinoiri had completely disappeared from her life one day. How right was Hinoiri about Sora having gotten over her like nothing? Was it anything like the silence Aqua Regina kept over Sara?

Even though the sea goddess had been mostly out of reach and even then did not talk about it much, Coco thinks she had been hurt by the way things went, though Aqua Regina was a remorseful person in general. Perhaps something similar happened with Sora.

She should stop drawing conjectures. There id nothing she can do about it with that troublesome portal in the way She can only wish Hinoiri the best and hope that everything goes her way. She has matured a lot, and Aqua Regina... Sora would be happy to see it, she thinks.

-------------------------------------------------------------

The previous days had so many concerns for Coco's life that even if she had promised herself she would keep an eye out for the portal, the glances she could spare for the statues had been few and far between, even though the worry kept growing. Had she been mistaken on her read of the situation? Sora was probably very different from Aqua Regina.

When the portal is found open and they gather through it, there is a moment during the shift across dimension when she feel her tail popping out, but then her disguise takes over again, and she comes out of the other side a yellow pony with wobbly legs. To a throne room. And someone who is probably Sora herself.

"You must be Sora, Hinoiri's old mentor, right?", she looks without reserves to the alicorn. "How is she right now?"

Takashi Agera has posed:
    For all of the anger or tenseness that anyone showed to Sora in this moment, there's a calmness from a certain strange participant that might seem out of the ordinary. Walking in after the others, the very last to arrive, calmly is a Kirin, purple hued with a light blue mane and tail and silver scales. The deep purple of the forked horn is the main indication of the darkness within the human who became this strange creature on this side of the portal. With bright green inquisitive eyes he searches the room before anything else.

    It wasn't Riventon's first time in Kirakirafantastica, and though he despised the magic-ridden equine world on this side of the portal with a heavy disataste, he was here for Hinoiri, not for sightseeing or personal enjoyment. He knew where she went and how to get there and he knew that she expected to return and she wasn't.

    Quickly he takes stock of the situation - throne room, assembled other equines, large horse with hair that moves on its own - Sora.

    He takes a breath. "Whatever your history with Hinoiri Kirara may be, she is our friend and we expected her to have returned to our world by now." Riventon states, his voice calm but firm. "The fact that she has not returned and does not appear to be present here is causing myself and others some rather grave concerns; I do hope that she's not trapped here against her will, as that would be the sort of thing that stands a likelihood of causing an... interdimensional incident that I don't think anyone wants." He says, stopping short of a threat but at the same time, making it clear that he, at least, expects One (1) Hinoiri Kirara to return back to his world.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    For Madoka, the trip through the portal was... disorienting, but not as much as it probably would be for anyone else. She was used to controlling a variety of body types, but most of them were of her Familiars and not her, and being quadrupedal was... honestly still new. Kamiko was now a tiny pony fairy, because that's apparently a thing. White with a pink mane. After Madoka realizes that there would probably be someone behind her, she scurries out of the way to make room.

    Of course, the person who followed after was a purple pegasus with a long black mane and raven-like wings. Homugesus was striding forward as if it were the easiest thing in the world, making it look like she'd belonged with four hooves. The very picture of grace. She looks at Madoka with cold purple eyes with a glint that hints at a furious, burning love as she says, "My darling, you have a horn."

    "Huh?" Madonicorn looks up, trying to see it. "Really? What color is it? I wanna see!"

    Homugasus walks past her and says, "Pink, like your sheen, and your mane is white. Opposite Kamiko's colors." Madoka looks down at her hooves and legs, then turns in circles trying to get a look at her body.

    "Is that my Witch's Mark?" asks the pink unicorn, with a bit of whine to her voice.

    "Don't overthink it," responds the pegasus, eyes looking up at Sora. "We are in the presence of equine royalty. Or perhaps divinity?"

    Madoka makes a surprised face, turns her attention to Sora, doesn't see Hinoiri, and thinks about what to say. "Okay, look." Uhhh... what does she start with? "We all know how Hinoiri is, and we're pretty sure that she probably deserves whatever you're doing to her, and honestly we wouldn't be surprised if she slapped someone on the way here, and she was probably nothing but trouble when she lived here, and she tried to eat the sun one time..."

    Kamiko-Breezy squeaks and flails her tiny arms at Madonicorn, "Hey, whose side are you on right now?"

    Madoka blank faces, thinks about it, then starts to turn towards the portal. "... Honestly, I forgot why I'm her friend."

    Kamiko-Breezy flaps her butterfly wings with annoyance. "Now hold on one silly second. Hinoiri might be... All of those things Doka just said, but..." The divine fairy trails off for a moment, and then just skips to the point. "She's changed! I mean she's still abrasive and mean and violent but she has good reasons for that now and she directs it at bad people. Usually. So that's actually kind of a good thing. Right?"

    Madonicorn frowns and sighs, before turning back to Sora and saying, "That's right... that's right. For whatever reason, she's our friend now, and we would like to have her back." Opening her eyes to focus upon Sora. "There's really no reason for you to keep her here. Especially since apparently you don't want her."

    Homugesus just closes her eyes before doing a maneflip. "Don't ask me. I'm just here as emotional support."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
For four days, Rashmi has been trying not to panic.

When the whole crowd went off to fight Beryl in Paris, Rashmi sent a Very Specifically Worded Email to many people, Hinoiri included, who were staying behind to look after Tokyo. An 'if I don't come back' style letter, specifically. And Rashmi read a *whole lot of the same feeling* in Hinoiri's last letter. So when the portal bwipped closed not long after the letter was read -- And Rashmi checked, she was there -- There was a deep, sinking feeling, that she might have to rescue *another friend,* or *lose another friend entirely.*

This has not been a good year for Rashmi, honestly.

So when Nicomachea not only told her the portal was open again, but that *several* known signatures were converging on it...

Look maybe when she gets back she can berate herself for skipping Civics. One no-show probably won't go amiss. Right?

Having already visited Kirakirafantastica, she simply takes the portal at full speed, and a red-maned, brown earth-pony with a shining sun on her flank skids to a halt on the other side.

...At which point the *location* finally registers, and then she looks up, and up, and up, at the alicorn staring down at all the babbling crowd with huge eyes. << Yeah, >> she thinks. << ...I can see why she'd be terrified of disappointing that. >>

Clearing her throat, she waits for a lull in the shouting, to add her own request into the mix. "...Look Your Highness I don't really want to get into the particulars but... If Hinoiri-chan wants to come home, you should really let her. Because if you don't... well we're just gonna have to rescue her. Sorry, but... that's how it is."

She *does* look apologetic as she says this, certainly... but it's a 'sorry if we're hard on your castle while we rescue our friend' kind of apology.

Sayaka Miki has posed:
Getting Hinoiri's message was largely a relief for Sayaka, happy that Hinoiri had decided to finally take that step. She was a bit concerned that she had decided to quit without any chance of contact, but at the same time she trusted Hinoiri, so if the unicorn had decided to take that decision, she was... reasonably confident that nothing bad was going to come of it.

"So, you won't be trying to find a way to Hinoiri", Ula asks, while she is looking up where to find a hiddenite. As a jeweller, she is so not going to waste the opportunity to gift someone themselves. "Hmm, not really", Sayaka mutters, not taking away her eyes from the homework she is currently poking at. "Hinoiri is bad at making decisions a lot of times, but if it's something as important as facing her mentor, I am going to trust her."

There was a part of her that wanted to tell Hinoiri how bad an idea it was to treat her text like a goodbye, and honestly, that was annoying of her, but considering how thorny her relationship with Sora had been, she would have those worries too, in her place.

And when it came time to join everyone on the other side of the portal, there was hardly any resistance to come with them. And on Ula's insistence, she had brought along a satchel, just in case there was time to get a few of the KiraKiraFantastica donuts.

When at the presence of Sora, the pegasus lowers her neck, and her head searches for pony Madoka. Yep, she is mostly how she thought she would be. And the one next to her would be... Homura, right? "Yo, Sora-sama, sorry for the intrusion in your throne room." She looked surprised at that too, but tried to ignore that detail for now. "Hinoiri came here a few days ago, right? Where has she been? Have you made up? I don't want to meddle with both of you, but she has put a lot of work into bettering herself, and I think she deserves a new chance if you haven't given one her already", she pleads for her friend's case.

Having that talk with Blue really changed her attitude towards deities.

Veronica Perenna has posed:
Veronica and Hinoiri had mostly interacted when it came to making her life worse as Sunbreaker, and after that when she confessed to the unicorn of that having been her doing. Which also probably gave her even more problems, when the demons she is keeping away had made a fake Sunbreaker, and despite that, Hinoiri had not given her trouble over it (though she actually did not know her feelings over essentially having a twin now).

She'd owed Hinoiri for her part in that mess, and to be fair, she was also concerned about this long before Hinoiri had ever sent that message, ever since they had gathered at Mamoru's house after the fight with Rubeus and Hinoiri had straight up stated she was going to stopping to be anyone's problem.

Well, if that was Hinoiri's intention, Veronica had all of the intention to make herself Hinoiri's problem in return.

When it came to the meeting on the other side, Veronica had chosen to come at her most elegant and in a more official capacity, so as the princess of Sarek, which actually had an effect over she had chosen to manifest. Rather than come through as a pony, she had instead appeared as a bipedal anthropomorphic cat with grey fur, blue eyes, and all of her henshin clothes sans boots. With her experience as a cat, this is already not that bad to get used to.

Well, that was unexpected, but with everyone else a pony, certainly convenient. Especially since she had prepared a few sleights of hands for her encounter with Sora.

"Hello, Empress Sora. Allow me to regard you with a gift first", she takes off her top hat, shows it empty and with a tap of her cane on her hat's rim, she takes out a garland of sunflowers from her top hat. "For our sudden barging in here. Now, Hinoiri has been really worried about her encounter with you, and if she has chosen to be hiding here, or if you has chosen to keep her here, I hope we can come to a different agreement, for the sake of all of us. We really want her back, actually."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Not knowing was the worst part.

    Maybe Hinoiri would come back. In days? Weeks? Months? Years? What if the portal didn't open again before they all Faded?

    ...And maybe she wouldn't. And they wouldn't know for days, weeks, months, years, before they could grieve... possibly they would never know.

    But life has to go on; and this is not yet as somber as when they grieved Molly, there's no taking a day off from everything, life must go on.

    It's been days, and they're still keeping watch. Amy is sitting by the statue, reading and chatting on her phone. The outside world being the same helps anchor her in crazy times, she hopes.

Malloween: Become a streamer? That was my idea!
Malloween: For a story I mean.
JustASillyDude: You ever think that the change in someone's body would lower or raise their ability to play videogames
Malloween: I haven't seen that done before. Hand size might mess up controller/keyboard use, just until you get used to it. Same for DDR or the like, you eventually get used to it. It's not like non-e sports, where you might lack the muscle, reach, or height to do some things you could before.
JustASillyDude: I Was A Pro Gamer, Then Changing Gender Made Me #1, lmao
Malloween: ...I guess if you got *younger* there might be a slight increase in reaction t

    There are sparkles, or a sound, or it's just that the stick propped up against the statue suddenly sinks into it. Amy turns and stares for a moment, eyes wide. "It's open!" Whoever else is there is already sending texts, and Amy's quick to second.

    Should... should she just go through? No, stop and think for at least several seconds, is she really ready? She's got a bag with water and snacks and toiletries packed in case it's an extended trip; at least they don't need to pack clothes for the other side of the portal.

    Once someone else goes through, though, she rushes through with the others!

    --------------------

    ...And finds herself not in the storage room from last time, but what is clearly a throne room. There are guards with spears(??? ceremonial, right? Or maybe they're magic? Amy thinks of the technology she saw here last time, she wouldn't be surprised if they had modern guns, there's no way they're still using spears, right?) and in front of them sits

    ...What can only be Sora. She feels like the sun, and Amy has to fight not to be awestruck and to stay focused.

    Now, Amy had thought about what she'd say to Sora. About how things weren't actually that bad, probably, if Hinoiri had only been banished from the castle, not the world as Amy had initially thought. There was a mental list of what to find out and how to respond to the different possibilities and everything!

    All of that is out the window as Amy suddenly can't think of any of it, just that she has to say something before she loses the chance, before Sora or those guards move...!

    Everyone else sees a cream-colored unicorn mare with red mane, eyes, and tail and with a smiley rocketship cutie-mark, launch into a tirade as soon as PonAmy can get a word in edgewise:

    "Where is she?! What did you do with her?! Where we come from, monarchs don't run everything, and we don't just abandon our friends and students, h-how could you, all she wanted was to do a good job and you tossed her away from the only home she'd ever known!"

    "What do you think that does to a person?! She thought she didn't deserve friends! And, and if it'd been people less nice than us she mighta never gotten the chance, she thought she had to be evil and made us fight her so much before she finally stopped and let us befriend her, and..."

    Her emotions are running out of words to turn into. Amy glances around and finishes with, "...Where is she?! Why hasn't she come back?!"

Entrapta has posed:
You know, some people are refined. Some are arrogant. And then some would fit in nicely with Pinkie Pie, if she were here.

The purple pony that wanders in, seems to be mostly sightseeing. Hasn't quite picked up on the seriousness of the situation, because when she walks in and sees 'OMG PONY LEGS!!!' she turns around, and walks back through the portal.

Then re-appears. And leaves again, and then stops halfway through, tail twitching madly. The mathematical equation on her purple rump suggests that she's ...well, weird, but that's already quite the obvious point.

Turning to walk in yet again, the pony not from ponyville who is, in fact, a princess, starts to look around.

"Oh. Right. We were here for Hinoiri?" She seems to be asking, not saying. Because she's already looking at the guards, inspecting them for hoof in mouth disease or something.

Entrapta, not up on the gravitas but definitely up on the comedic timing. Which is important too.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Among the many who worried when Hinoiri left her dramatic but not dramatic enough message was one Usagi Tsukino - who on the day of Hinoiri's departure had run right to the statue, found the portal closed, and proceeded to punch and kick it very ineffectually as she yelled at Hinoiri for... a while.

"THIS DOESN'T COUNT AS A WEDDING PRESENT -"

"YOU CAN'T JUST RUN AWAY AND LEAVE A MESSAGE LIKE THAT YOU JERK -"

"WAHHH I'M GOING TO BEAT ALL YOUR HIGH SCORES SO BAD YOU'LL NEVER MAKE THE LEADER BOARD AGAIN-"

For a while.

Unfortunately, none of that expended effort, that ranting, raving, yelling - mattered. The portal was closed and it wasn't opening. Luna was asked to keep an eye out for it, for any weird signatures, any chance it would reopen, but otherwise... life continued on, with a touch of additional worry.

And then the portal re-opened.

Among the many who come out ranting, demanding, and arguing, is one who comes out flying, having already experienced KiraKiraFantastica to a certain extent. That flying pony is peach colored and short for a mare, with a blond mane done up in signature odango and twintails, her tail flowing and lightly curled. Her wingspan is a normal size, but her feathers are flared when she lightly touches down in front of Sora and much of the group. On her flank is the symbal of Sailor Moon's Crystal Star compact - a pink circle with a golden star, and five colored gems at the interconnecting lines of the star, a crescent moon at the center.

"Sora-sama," she says calls lightly, blue eyes eyes serious, "Sorry to mess up your day of court, but Hinoiri-chan didn't come home, and everyone's pretty worried."

She gestures at the group with a hoof, comfortable and casual. She's noticed of course that this is not where they came out last time, and it's not a prison either, so she's hopeful for a good outcome. If she's worried about addressing someone so much larger and grander than herself, it certainly doesn't show.

"Could you tell us where to find her?"

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
The ruler of Kirakirafantastica was, to say nothing else, dumbfounded. Then, slowly, she gathered herself to her full height. She looked down at the gathered... she couldn't even say ponies, as there were a few non-ponies amongst them. While some had been incredibly vocal since their entrance, some had also been silent. She then took a slow, deep breath, and it had the odd feeling of... the winds before the storm. Or like she was about to give the mother of all groundings...

And then, she snorted. A hoof lifted up to her mouth and she downright *giggled* into it. "Ahhhh, I see. Now... let me see if I can guess who each of you are... Oh, Captain Shainingu Yoroi?" she said. "Please go inform Hinoiri her friends are here. Now then..." Before glancing towards Laura first. "Queen candidate, young, from the Grand Ocean? Well, the pleasure is shared. I am Sovereign Sora of Kirakirafantastica."

Then to Coco. "Mmmmm. Calm, collected, there are a few you could be... Possibly Ras... no..." Blond. Blond. Which... hmmmm... "Coco or... possibly Chiyo? Or... maybe Rashmi?" She hadn't said much, so the sovereign was unsure.

She then glanced to Madoka. "Ahhhh. I've heard a lot about you. Madoka, I take it? Which must make your little friend Gretchen, or... no. Wait. Kamiko, I believe? And you must be... her... marefriend?" she asked Homura.

Then glanced to Rashmi. "Ahhhh. Mild, warning 'threats', albeit tame? I'm guessing... Catra, Amy or--" And then AMY. "No... never mind. Hmmmm... Usagi?"

Next, she looked to Amy. "And you must be Amy, you'll be happy to know she's fine. I... admittedly... have erred in my treatment of her. We are attempting to work through them. The portal was moved here so I could let her know when it opened once more."

'Yo Sora-sama', that one threw her for a bit of a loop. She looked over them and tried doing object of elimination. How many were there... perhaps... She had a little fairy as well... "Sayaka?" she tried. "And... Ula?"

Woo! She was... mostly... on a roll.

Then Veronica. "Wait, are you Catra?" she asked. "Oh dear, my student really has made quite a few more friends than I ever would have imagined... OH!" she said, before pointing at Rashmi. "YOU must be Adora, of course!"

Then Entrapta. She blinked a few times. "Ta... kashi?" she asked.

Then, Usagi. Ah, such a reasonable young lady. "Ah, Rashmi, I take it? And then..." Her eyes shifted towards Riventon. "Oh, a more direct threat, how interesting. You can only be Riventon. Fret not, I--"

And then the door to the throne room opened and Hinoiri came GALLOPING in. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I-- eeek!" And she stopped running.

But kinetic energy does not care when on tile, and she kept going, spinning a few times before crashing into one of the guards, who went down. "Ack! Sorry, sorry!" she said, scrambling free. "Please don't threaten Sora, it's my fault, I should have--" And then she tripped over the dropped spear, rolling forward a few times to before landing in a dazed heap at their feet. Well. Hooves. Some feet.

"... Hey guuuuuuys. Sooooo... ummmmm. Turns out there was a uhhhhh... liiiiiiiiittle bit of a, uhhhh... mixup... heh. And... errrrrr... guess who got un-banished?"

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Uh... Actually no Your Highness *I'm* Rashmi, sorry, just... ... ...huh. That... makes so much sense now." Mental processes brought to a complete halt by being mistaken for Adora, of all people, Rashmi can't help but take a moment to fit that into her evolving internal stories about people. Then, shaking her mane out, she clears her throat. "Well since you're not actually *angry* at all this yelling, how about we start aga--"

At which point Hinoiri makes her rather ballistic entrance, and Rashmi pauses to appreciate the sheer *comedy* of the carnage she creates. Long enough for their target to summarize the last four days, which have Rashmi nearly collapsing from relief. "Next time, Hinoiri-chan? Try not to make it sound like you're about to go away forever...? It isn't... actually any better with advance notice? Please...?"

While she wants more than anything to just bowl Hinoiri over in a bone-crushing hug... Jumping the line like that would be rude, so for now she just shifts over next to Entrapta and focuses on keeping her legs from shaking.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    "Correct on our counts," says Madoka. "My... marefriend as you called her is Homura. Gretchen and Kamiko are both correct for my fairy friend, though the latter is slightly more so."

    The rest of the guesses are a little more... um... Well, Madoka supposes that those people who were gotten wrong can speak for themselves.

    When Hinoiri comes stumbling into the room, Madonicorn gives her a nonplussed, slightly tired look and a frown. "Un-banished?" She glances to Sora, and then back to Hinoiri. She shrugs and says, "Well, look. As long as you're happy. Did you wanna go back to Tokyo or are you good here?"

    Homu-pegasus turns to Sora and says, "I apologize on behalf of our more aggressive friends. Our attempts to entreat with royalty or divinity often has... mixed results."

    Madoka leans over to Homura and asks, "So um... like... since I think it's gonna come up. How do you hug here? Is there a custom?"

    Homu-pegasus shrugs and says, "I actually don't know this one. Maybe it's like when the cat leans against us or something?"

    Madoka frowns thoughtfully, now perplexed by the unknown equine hugging customs.

    Kamiko-Breezy says, "Glad you have you back, Hino-chan!"

Laura La Mer has posed:
Laura does a slight bow to the Sovereign of KiraKiraFantastica, confused and a bit miffed when her message gets completely ignored. Not only hers, actually, but everyone's as well. Is she keeping Hinoiri hidden away forever? Is that her intention? She is about to open her mouth again when into the room barges-

"Hinoiri!", she shouts, and directing the Aqua Pot to the red-haired pony. "What was the big deal with that message!? I thought you really were gone forever, unable to come back and trapped somewhere I would have never seen you again! And I find you here, looking completely ok!?"

At some point, she had half-emerged from the Aqua Pot and grabbed the pony by the shoulders for a good shake. "What if the portal had never opened again, or it had only opened when we didn't know? You are my teammate, Hinoiri! You can't just up and leave like that! I was really afraid, you know?"

Entrapta has posed:
Literally no response to being called Takashi. Or Ta...kashi? As the lady of the house called her. Anyway. That on its own is a response, of sorts. But there are words approaching. Nearly here, you can feel them in the air.

Deep breath.

"Roughly forty percentile of the individuals to which I have been introduced since arrival on Eartheri...a...Earth? Earthy place, are either royalty or some version of divinity, with that number trending upward based on further information gathered and collated."

She isn't looking at anyone in particular, but the incoming slider is trying to bowl over a guard. Which she's inspecting. She lifts one forefoot to avoid incoming pony, and pauses to inspect her ..hoof? "I have hooves." Huh.

Which she immediately trips over, falling to the side of a guard or two. She's clearly a threat here, you gotta stop those types before they take over.

"I'm all right!"

Pause.

"Is that her? The person?"

Another moment. Then.

"Can anyone give me a walkthrough on how to legs?"

Coco Kiumi has posed:
"Hi, Sovereign Sora", Coco smiles brightly. "I am the mermaid princess of the South Pacific Ocean, Coco", she explains at her confusion. Does she know what the South Pacific is?, Coco stops to think. But she knew her name, so at least of something about their world she must know. Since the portal on this side is a mirror, maybe she has her own Cross Mirror Room?

The crashing sound of a pony barging into the room interrupted her considerations, and she looks towards Hinoiri, who is safe and sound and apparently unbanished?

"You really should have been more careful with that message, Hinoiri", she agrees with Rashmi, staring at the crashed pony. "We care about you, and that was a bit unsettling from you. I am glad you settled your differences. What are going to do now? Are you staying here?"

Takashi Agera has posed:
    One of the things about juggling now three identities was being careful on which identity you were allowed to be annoyed on behalf of at any given time. And for someone like Takashi-Riventon-Hiddenite, it came up a lot. So his eyes roamed over to Definitely Not Takashi, but he manages, somehow, to keep his mouth shut.

    It also helps that Hinoiri bursts into the room, scrambles, and flops in front of them. Riventon, at least, knows he's easy to pick out. What he doesn't notice fully is the way his bushy tail flips side to side, giving away the calmness he's trying to exude; that it shows a mixture of annoyance to excitement at Hinoiri's arrival and back to annoyance in the way it moves.

    "You absolutely should have. I'm walking around on four legs again because of you." he says, making it clear that this is not his ideal form or locomotion. "Now you're telling me you could have avoided that by sticking a hand - or hoof, I suppose - out of the portal and sending us a text?" Riventon-Kirin asks. There's a moment where his skin and mane start to change color before he pushes it down. "You could have started an actual war across the portals, you know."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Sora... snorts?

    She could be putting on an affable front. This isn't Radiant Heart; Amy mustn't let her guard down. She has to show no weakness, or... or someone stronger and cleverer than her will pounce on the opening.

    She watches Sora guess at the identities of some of them. She has clearly talked to Hinoiri -- but as a friend, or as a jailer?

    Amy clings desperately to that thought. It's not safe to let her guard down until she knows.

    And then she's hit with the one-two punch of 'you must be Amy' which she feels bad about because she just made an fool of herself and that means whatever Sora was told made her expect Amy to make a fool of herself, and then, while still working out the implications of that,

    she's fine.

    I... have erred in my treatment of her.

    Amy finally relaxes, legs wobbling a little; If she didn't have four legs to support herself on, she might've just fallen. (And in the back of her brain, a part of her screams 'it could be a trick, you haven't seen Hinoiri yet--)

    Did she just mistake Entrapta for Takashi?! Wait, why would Takashi be making threats?

    And then Hinoiri. "Hinoiri!" Amy runs up to her and looks kind of confused as she tries to figure out how to go for a hug.

    Un-banished? "Oh! Congratulations! ...What was the mixup?" She looks between Sora and Hinoiri.

    Above it all, Amy hears someone ask for a walkthrough on how to legs. that is a solvable problem. "Just try not to think about how you move your legs, focus on instinct and the place you want to move to." Amy calls out to Entrapta. "Then you can try to notice how you moved. If you can't do that, you might be able to manage a trot or a pace by thinking about it."

    That out of the way, people are also talking about... PonAmy looks back to Hinoiri. Others have said their pieces about how messed up running off was, and at this point Amy's just relieved to see Hinoiri alright. "You didn't have to do it alone, you know. We would've come to support you..."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Nothing in the world can prepare Usagi for being mistaken for Rashmi, of all people - no wait, there was that time that Obsidian person called her the calm and rational sort. Still more shocking.

"Ah, no, I'm -" and she glances around at the not-pony she doesn't recognize and says, "I'm Sailor Moon, I don't know if she'd have mentioned that one. Rashmi's over there."

With a helpful, nonspecific gesture at the group, so she wasn't giving away anyone's actual identity. Still! If there's laughter in the air, there's no way things are all that bad, and that means they can all relax, and -

"HI. NOI. RI. CHAN!!!!!!"

Oh yeah Hinoiri is getting dive tackled rom the air. Pegasus to the rescue. No wait, other thing. Attack hug.

"Hinoiri-chan! We were so worried about you! And you're FINE?! This is not a good friendship strategy, getting everyone who loves you to have a heart attack!!"

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Homu-pegasus sees Entrapa's struggling and says, "It's like walking around on all fours. Your arms are legs now. Well, also your knees go in the opposite way so you wanna be careful about that. Just practice. You'll get it!"

    Granted, Homura's trick to avoid falling over is to barely move at all, so she may not be the best source for advice. Then again, she can kinda play off of what Amy said.

    "Don't rely too much on figuring it out. Your muscles know how to move. Just trust them."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Yes that is the person," Rashmi answers Entrapta in a vaguely shaky voice, then nods along with Homupony's explanation. "Y'know how you have your hands down when you're crawling through the vents? It's like that. Also, *definitely* try not to think about what's happening when you pick things up, I was stuck on that for *hours* last time."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy hears Homurasus being technically incorrect and automatically corrects, "Our knees don't go the opposite way, our knees and elbows are higher up." She holds out one foreleg, "These lower joints are our wrists and ankles--oof!" while speaking, she lifted her other forehoof to point at the joint in question and fell down.

    She stands up again, "We're walking around on our fingers, which are fused together."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara was quickly dusting herself off. "Huh? Oh, right. Yeah, sorry. I mean, at the time I was... technically breaking the law by even coming here? I had been banished from the castle, and well... I wasn't sure how it'd fair. Or if I'd need to uhhh... break in to get to the mirror, but well, turns out? She thought I was dead. It was a thing. A whole thing. I wasn't sure how long until--" And then she was hugged. And blinked. And then, she smiled, hugging her back. "Sorry. I won't do it again. I didn't think the portal would close for a whole month, though, it-- Wait. Four days? Oh... heh. Right. Time differential. Sorry, everyone."

At least hat gave Madoka a clear demonstration of how 'hugs' were done, now.



AND THEN THERE WAS LAURA! She squeaked as she was shaked, wobbling a bit, before chuckling. She smiled and reached up, patting her on the head. "Right. Sorry. Won't happen again, pony's honor. Promise... I missed you, too." She gave her a small nuzzle.

Then she glanced to Entrapta, paused. Blinked. "I... have no idea who that is. Mizuno-san?" she asked.

She did nod to Coco. "Sorry. Yeah. I was a bit emotional when I typed it and... just... I wasn't sure... what was going to happen."

Then... she sighed and looked to Riventon. "Sorry. I kind of... well... I knew the portal would close soon, but I finally worked up the nerve to actually talk with her. I knew if I stopped, I'd chicken out. So I had to. By the time I got back? The portal had closed. Also... no offense. Dark energy doesn't *work* here, what would you do, send kindabads?" she asked in a playful, teasing tone.

AND THEN UNICORN DOWN! She squeaked, tackled in the hug, before giving her a hug back. "Sorry, sorry! I'm fine, totally fine! Maybe a cracked rib from hat, but fine," she joked, before looking up to Sora. "See? Just like I said."

"... No matter what I do, they always come back for me," she said before, hopefully, managing to disentangle herself. "Err, right... about that... Err, your highness, Sovereign... Sora. I--"

"Say no more, Hinoiri Kirara," Sora said, giving her a gentle smile. "I know you must long to return with your friends, after being apart for so long. While... we still have much to talk about, I imagine, please remember... you are always welcome here. However... if you would like to stay for this evening, I do believe a celebration is in order... assuming none of you would object to the finest of Kirakirafantastica cuisine?"

"Hinoiri blinked, before nodding rapidly. "Yes! That, that sounds perfect! Ohhhh, I have so much to tell ALL of you!" she said, prancing in place giddily. "OH! Can I show them the garden? I... oh. We... interrupted court, didn't we?"

"It's fine," Sora said with a nod. "Go ahead, take your friends," Sora said, before motioning towards one of the doors on the wall near the throne. Ohhhh. They got to use the ROYAL exit.

Hinoiri would quickly motion for the others to follow her. And then, well...

"Okay, right, so, um, first thing. I mentioned why I was gone... sorry for that, by the way. But since I imagine you want to know... uhhhhh... turns out... I've been gone for years. A bit over a decade, actually. The time differential, right? When I left, she thought I was dead. Your world and all, well... she thought it was a LOT more dangerous than it was. The fact I survived at all? She was very impressed and uhhhhh... a lot... horrified over everything," Hinoiri said sheepishly. "She... uhhhh... kind of... said she might have been a bit too hard on me... and she'd actually intended to come talk to me the next morning. Only... I was gone. When the portal closed... well... she thought I was gone forever. And she'd almost written in the book a few times, too. But it was too painful..."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
"... She ended up taking on another student a bit later, a young filly who, thanks to the time differential, is almost my age. Wild, right? She's actually really sweet, her brother was the one who fetched me. She told me about these elements things, and like, apparently Sora DOES have a sister, Runa! She's actually pretty cool, but a night owl. Cause, you know, she does dreams and stuff. Oh, I need to have her meet Emi. Apparently she has opinions about the Salarymen that tried to intrude in this world."

She guided them through the halls, out of sight and the way and into a... rather vast garden. Absolutely massive, with shaped plants and great statues... The kind of place that, usually, would require a tour guide. Heck, they even had a great hedge maze!

"... But... yeah. We talked. A lot. A whole lot. Sovereign Sora actually... apologized. She hadn't realized how much I'd been going through. How... I'd felt... as her student. Alone. And... all. Like I was.... you know?"

"... And so... we're uhhhh... Working thins out. I think. I'm still coming back, though! To Radiant Heart Academy!" she'd say quickly. "But... I'm welcome back here whenever I want. And we're going to write again and... it's..."

She finally stopped, a few tears in her eyes a sshe tried to stop herself from actually crying. It wasn't easy, honestly.

"... She... wants me... you know? She... she told me I'll always h-have a home here. No matter what. She'll never... never banish me again... And... my friends can come through whenever you like, because of the portal and... and all..." she whispered, a few more tears in her eyes, dripping down. "She told me... she told me she was proud of me. For finding... people... like you... and... I'm... finally... home."

Entrapta has posed:
"I'm familiar with the discernation between digitigrade and plantigrade," Entrapta says, still not really having had a moment of dignity since her arrival. Using the advice offered she manages to get to her hooves. There may have been some help from a guard in there someplace.

Then? She semi-walks, slidey-stumbles toward the front.

And lowers her head. To the one in charge here, Sora.

"Your most noble Majesty. Please forgive our intrusion upon your realm. I am Princess Entrapta of Dryl, of Etheria. Our quest was one of rescue, and not meant as an act of war."

From the goofball? The weirdo? The girl who was raised a princess, from birth? Oh, right. I guess that would include some diplomatic training.

Even if her hooves are trying to slip on the floor tiles. She's struggling to not fall over. "Thank you for your welcome. I may have scuffed your tile slightly."

Takashi Agera has posed:
    "You told me it didn't work here last time and I still managed to do the whole fire and fury thing." Riventon replies, casually, to Hinoiri. "I'm just more worried to do it I'd have to break out into some sort of Rocky Horror Picture Show or Little Shop of Horrors villain singalong and I think it's all for everyone's benefit we don't see how that goes." Riventon says, and it's entirely unclear if he's serious or not. "And it's not like I was the only one here - though in some cases we may not look like much of a threat..." Riventon says with the decency to not mention anyone's specific difficulties at least.

    "Besides, since you're safe none of the rest of that matters. Come back soon so I don't have to lean into four-legs-land again." he says, turning suddenly and walking back through the portal. It's a place of bright sunshine and magical friendship and there's gardens and fancy parties and mushy quasi-family reunions and all of that adds up to Not A Place For Riventon. After all, there's so much research yet to be done in the world he likes more.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Homu-pegasus raises an eyebrow at Amy and considers her answer. "Huh... I... never thought of it that way."

    From now on Homura will be thinking of her legs as being 'reverse jointed at different proportions' and will likely carry this knowledge into future timeloops, make a reference to it, and then get confused stares from everyone because nobody remembers in jokes that happened in alternate dimensions.

    "So then this isn't my calf, it's a foot. What I thought was my thigh is actually the calf, and then the thigh is... behind the cutie mark, apparently?"

    Great now she's overthinking it.

    Madoka, meanwhile, was watching Hinoiri and Usagi. Her eyes light up as she says, "Pony hug!"

    She walks up to Homura and tries it on her. "Pony hug!"

    Then she walks up to Sayaka and does likewise. "Pony hug!"

    This goes on for a bit. If someone tries to hug Doka then they're probably getting the same treatment.

    Madoka, Homura and Kamiko then follow after Hinoiri and listens as they travel to the garden, the pinkette occasionally glancing at the sights but mostly listening to her tale. With a smile she says, "I'm glad you were able to talk things through. I know that was really hard on you. Do you feel better now?"

    When she sees Hinoiri starting to tear up, she frowns sympathetically, then walks up to Hinoiri to give her a hug. "Pony hug!"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "We're ungiligrade!" Amy calls out to Entrapta. Also, as Homura is working things out, "I'm sure they have models! There's probably a basic pony biology textbook around here somewhere they can bring."

    Anyway! Hugs are demonstrated and Amy joins in! Including hugging Madoka! "Pony hug!" she agrees, cheerfully!

    As things are explained, Amy looks surprised to learn a decade had passed here. On the world being dangerous... "Radiant Heart is an anomaly." She notes flatly, although she's no idea what ponies were expecting on the other side.

    "The Salarymen came here?! ...Oh right, I think Emi mentioned that."

    She nods along as Hinoiri catches them up. And smiles when Hinoiri says she's coming back and is welcome to visit home whenever she wants!

    And then...

    Hinoiri struggles to get words out, and Amy can read this emotional situation loud and clear, and she goes for a hug and squeezes tight. "I'm glad." Amy says, earnestly. "And you have a home at Radiant Heart too..." she starts to say, and then realizes she has to add a qualifier: "at least, for a few more years."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Those who watched the Sovereign's as they left... might notice that Sora was looking at the Garland of Sunflower's she'd been given inquisitively... before getting a mischievous look, and sliding it over over Runa's shoulders. Knocking some of the popcorn from her hooves and getting her younger sister to roll her eyes... and chortle. Just a bit.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
Taking a moment to pick her jaw up off the floor at Entrapta's introduction, Rashmi shakes her head again, and guides Entrapta along as Hinoiri takes the whole group out to the gardens. "That sounds *wonderful,* Your... Majesty? Sora-sama. Thank you *very much.*"

And she did keep an eye on the sovereigns as they went out... And could not help but smile at the obvious loving sibling japery, in public. If *this* is what became of the impossible-to-please -- according to Hinoiri's Dark Energy-fueled rants, at least -- Sovereign, then Hinoiri would be *just fine* if she chose to stay.

Turning her attention back ahead of them, she listens closely to Hinoiri's story, and the things she's learned about the intervening time, and her lower lip begins to wibble. *So much* could have been avoided if everyone involved hadn't decided to make the worst choices, and while Hinoiri might personally be a better person for the experience... Who could have known how much of this growth could have been achieved more gently?

And finally, after Madoka and Amy hoof out their pony hugs, Rashmi slips up beside Hinoiri, looping a hoof over Hinoiri's neck and giving her a brief hug, as well. "...I'm *so.* *Glad.* it worked out like this, Hino-chan. Definitely worth a few days of absolute panic. You *deserve* this, and after everything you've been through, I'm *so glad* you get to feel like you have your home back."

Veronica Perenna has posed:
A smirk appears on the feline face when Sora mistakes her for Catra, with a good part of her intrigued that she apparently knows the names of everyone here. Most of everyone, at least. "Catra would have orange fur, your sovereignty", Veronica smiles at Sora. "I am just the princess of Sarek. Now, we were talking about our friend here...", she goes back to the reason they are here.

"Oh, well, I understand now", she looks at the crashed pony. "Were you in that big a rush, Hinoiri? Getting hurt when we found you again helps nobody", she smirks towards the red-maned pony. "A lot clearly happened, but I am glad you are ok and unbanished. This is for you, though", Veronica gives the pony a human-style hug, then chuckling slightly at the exchange between the two alicorn sisters as they get out of the throne room, thinking them adorable. They really look close with each other.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Usagi has apparently helped teach Madoka how to do a pony hug, which honestly she'll jot down as one of her greatest achievements. She's one of those who follows Hinoiri into the garden without hesitation, one of her wings casually touching Hinoiri's back as she walks them to the garden.

"I'm glad things are like this," she says, even if she's wincing at the thought of so much time passing. "Welcome to the 'wow a lot of time sure passed since the last time I was home' club? Right now it's mostly me and the other reincarnations, but we're happy to have a new member!"

She has declared this, and she's saying it lightly but - an entire decade and change has passed since Hinoiri was home. Her world must have surely changed, especially if her mother-mentor-figure has a sister now, and a new student almost Hinoiri's age, and all of this...

"And now you can come back whenever you want," she claps her hooves together, excitedly. "Which means we can come back more often! ...Maybe the mirror shouldn't be in the court though, it wouldn't be a great surprise if we come stampeding in for a weekend at Hinoiri's and interrupt something big."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Sora, at least, would give a small nod to the princess. "Of course. I understand that protecting ones friends is something to be taken quite seriously and I do not blame you for your actions taken to ensure that," the ruler said with a gentle, delicate smile. And I am sure the tile will buff out.

Hinoiri would give Riventon a small nod and a smile. Oh, she'd text him later... but it was sweet that he still came. Even if he hated it here so much.

... Also, Madoka 'Pony hug!' Kaname was oddly adorable...

And she couldn't help but giggle when she got one from her.

"I... I know I have a home back in Radiant Heart. Just... I'd never had... a home, I guess. That wasn't... school and... It's... different. It's a lot different now. Sora and I... have been... I... I guess she never realized how I saw her. According to Runa she... can do that. And... well. Sora said that... she and I have a lot in common, good and bad, and it's... why she often lost her temper. Like, she makes JOKES now. JOKES! I saw her PRANK somepony! She NEVER did that before!"

She nodded to Usagi. "As long as the portal is open, we can come back whenever. And we're going to write more often, too. And don't worry, the mirror is going to be moved soon, it was only there because I knew you all might be panicking and, well... Sora insisted it was placed there so multiple people could watch it, because otherwise I'd be watching it like... twenty four seven, and yeeeeeeeah... She's starting to think I may be a bit of an... over worker... But she says I and my friends are welcome here whenever we want."

Apparently Sora had missed a LOT.

As they were talking, ponies started coming out with... tables... and donuts... and cakes... and salads... punch...

Oh, it was going to be an absolutely WILD garden party. With LOTS of food, and enjoyment, and a whole garden to explore and new bodies to test out... And a hedge maze if they liked that kind of thing.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "Yeah, the marks would be like... on our hips if we were humans." Amy briefly imagines that. It would be a little bit embarassing, but only because she grew up in a culture with a nudity taboo which makes showing such a mark troublesome. It could be worse: An image briefly forms in Amy's head, of the what-if world where it turns out Hinoiri was not a pony, but a care bear, and so everybody ends up with a big design on their belly...

    PonAmy nods in agreement at Rashmi's words of encouragement for Hinoiri, and looks briefly thoughtful as it's mentioned that Sora tends to do that to people. "...I suppose she might not know how she's seen... she is her, after all..." Her eyes widen at Hinoiri's excitement about Sora making jokes and pranks. "She was more of a hardass before? Yikes."

    And now things are finally calm enough to... take in, how people look here. Like Veronica. "Is that shapeshifting, or is that your natural form here? If it's the latter, that truly is curious..." Amy rubs her chin with a forehoof. "I wonder if it would have been the same before you were turned into a cat."

    She looks around at the assembled temporarily-not-humans. "Everyone looks... uhh, kind of adorable actually. Oh! That reminds me!"

    Her clothing magic can summon saddlebags, and she does so and opens one with telekinesis -- her aura is red, not the oh-so-faintly orange red of her hair or the slightly pinkish red of her eyes, but the pure deep red of her soul gem, which isn't here -- and levitates out something that... honestly no one here may have ever seen. It's recognizably some kind of handheld camera, apparently a very cheap-looking one.

    She steps away from the others and levitates it up to her eye, "Say cheese, everypony!" Click!

    Amy lowers the camera and looks down at it, raising her hoof to the right side, "...Oh wait, I think I have to wind it before the first shot." She holds the camera in place with telekinesis and awkwardly winds the film with her hoof, with the distinct noise of plastic gears cranking inside until she can't wind it further. "O-kay!" She smiles. "Say cheese again, everypony!" She levitates in front of her eye and click!

    Wind wind wind. "I have no idea if this will work, but Hinoiri said phones won't, so I went as low-tech as I could."

Sayaka Miki has posed:
Sayaka grins and nods at KiraKiraFantastica's ruler, letting her wings down so she can see Ula in breezy form on her back. 'That's certainly us, thank you for the hospitality", she nods towards Sora, trotting normally towards the group of Madoka, her Chara and Homura.

Before she gets to them though, her attention is diverted by Hinoiri crashing into the room. "Hey, Hinoiri, that's where you were. Good to see you again", she approaches her friend for a wing-hug.

Which gets all the tighter once the unicorn announces her unbanishment. "That's awesome! I glad you got to set your differences aside and end your relationship. You should be proud, Hinoiri", she tells her, and then turns to the royal sisters. "Thank you for having accepted her back. Hinoiri is a great friend."

She mulls on something for a second then adds. "Good on you for having relaxed too", she tells Sora. That solves the mystery of why Hinoiri's drive for competition could grow so unchecked, she thinks to herself.

With that said, she finally goes to the Madoka-Chara-Homura group and wing-hugs Madoka too. "So, how have have you been holding up as a pony?"

Entrapta has posed:
"I like gardens. There are often many different kinds of experiments you can do in them," Entrapta says as she's led out. She doesn't mind, after all Rashmi is one of the people that she knows to trust.

Also it's a lovely day. And she needs to figure out the effects of time dilation on a living being, and how exactly the time distortion works. That sounds fascinating.

Waving to Amy, she asks, "Does the portal affect time dilation? Being open, it should equalize so long as there is a linkage.." as she's led outside. And then, at the end, is tacked on, "So who's this Hinoiri anyway?"

Sigh. Priorities.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
When the food starts to come out, Rashmi... takes a separate plate and starts busying herself making little salad bundles. *Specifically* bite-sized bits of veggies with a bit of dressing, wrapped in lettuce and tied together with cucumber peel, as she listens to Hinoiri, nodding her head. After she has a fair pile on the plate, she starts to prepare a second one, of bite-sized bits of whatever cake isn't already explicitly tiny. "Hey, uh," she says after a moment, "anyone have a pen and some paper?"

Once both are provided, she scribbles a quick note, weighed down by the tiny-food plates; ENTRAPTA GETS FIRST DIBS, ASK IF YOU WANT SOME.

Because there just hasn't been *time* to convey her kohai's dietary needs to the kitchen! So she makes up for that herself.

"I mean I *get it,*" she says to Amy at Sora's attitude before. "Running a country and being *responsible for daylight being a thing* is probably a lot of pressure, but it sounds like she realized it doesn't *have* to be serious business all day all night."

As Entrapta speaks up, Rashmi chuckles. "Hino-chan, I'd like you to meet Entrapta, my kohai," she says, wiggling a hoof from one to the other. "I know I've told you *about* her, but I guess this is the first time you're actually meeting. Etheria, meet Kirakirafantastica, and vice versa."

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka notices the donuts coming out and says, "Huuuh. Wasn't there someone at Radiant Heart who really wants one of those?"

    Homura glances up and tries to remember. "It was the vampire girl. Touchy vampire girl. Right?"

    Kamiko dives right towards one of them and declares. "Well she's not getting this one!" and promptly starts munching.

    Madoka ehehs at her Chara-in-tiny-pony-form and looks to the help and says, "Thank you so much. It all looks delicious." Then she looks at the donuts and says, "Y'know... I'm kinda curious."

    Homura nudges the pink pony and says, "You should! Knock yourself out." Madoka giggles and then the two of them each grab a donut and start munching.

    To Sayaka, Madoka smiles and says, "Well it's a little strange. Definitely not what I'm used to. I kinda feel like my magic works a bit different too, but I'm not sure I can explain how."

    Homura trots a little closer to Sayaka and Madoka, saying, "Probably because your link with Kamiko changed somehow." Then she turns to Sayaka with a slightly forced smile. "How about you? I bet you're happy to know Hinoiri's doing alright now. I know she's been pretty close to you."

    To Rashmi, Homura trots over to her and opens one of her wings. She shakes a bit as various things fall out. Flare guns. Fireworks. A Handkerchief. "Um. Hold on..." Eventually a notepad and pens fall out and she catches them, before handing them to Rashmi. "These, right?" After, Kamiko zips in after finishing her third donut and tries to help Homura clean up.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Time dilation? "I do not know, I've only been through it once before." Amy answers Rashmi. "From what I can gather so far, the rate of time dilation -- and which side is going faster -- changes. Actually, wait, if four days on this side -- I mean on our side was a month on this side, and like... a year and change, less than two years, was a decade on this side... okay wait I guess time always goes faster on this side? But it sounds like the ratio changes."

    Who is Hinoiri? Amy's response is just to look at Hinoiri; Entrapta can presumably follow her gaze.

    Amy does produce a pen and paper from her saddlebags, levitating them over to Rashmi in her magic and then dropping them as she stares at the stuff falling out of Homura's wing. And then she watches in amazement as Rashmi writes by hoof. "How are you... you can do that without telekinesis?!"

    She nods to Madoka, "Magic is... hmm. How do I put it? Lemme think..."

    She levitates a (non-tiny) piece of cake and a cup of punch over to herself to taste. "Mmmh... how is everything so good here?"

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Like I said, I do my very best not to think about it," Rashmi answers quickly. "Because if I did I'd be here all day, and there's more important things to be thinking about."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Why are you so surprised, Amy-chan? It's just using a pen, see -" and she scoops up one of the ones Homura dropped from her wing and promptly doodles a little bunny on a napkin, with her hoof. Casual as anything, before tucking the pen behind her ear for lack of anything else to do with it. "Wow, Sora must really want to make it up to you, with all these treats!"

She is making herself a plate too, after shoving an entire donut into her mouth and humming with delight. Yeah, this is that magic, wondrous donut she had before...

"Now that it's safe to come here, we should totally come back! Often, even, if time's going to move fast on this side sometimes."

It might be kind of nice for Sora, to have repeat visitors through the years who don't really change.

Sayaka Miki has posed:
"Oh, yes, I believe Norie has gotten some already", Sayaka tells Madoka while looking to Hinoiri for how much they are allowed to share now she is not banished. "They really are great though, I recommend them", Sayaka smiles to Madoka, helping herself to one.

"The sad thing is that no matter how much the patissier PreCard gets close, there is always something important missing to the taste. Maybe it's with the ingredients", she muses before getting to eat.

"I have already had practice with being a pony, but yup, I am happy that Hinoiri is doing fine and she and Sora get along again."

Entrapta has posed:
PonyTrapta looks at Hinoiri as directed. Not just by one, but by more than one other ...pony? Yes, pony. Or ponies, in plural. But not in context. Words are weird. "Hello!"

And...that's it. She bends down to try to eat one of Rashmi's prepared Entrapta Treats, and kindasorta fails. Hm. Hands, hands hands handshandshandshands.

So she just eats one with her mouth, and noms some food in proper horselike fashion. Which makes it well that they're one bite each.

"These are super cute, you should make food for a living Rashmi!"

Yes, Rashmi. You should do that. . .

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka nods repeatedly as Sayaka says that Norie's already been thought of. Naturally if it was such a big deal that even Madoka knew about it, others who were closer to the people in question would have first.

    After swallowing a bit of donut, Madoka asks, "Huh. So. If you used your magic on this side of the portal, would you be able to make one that came out right? Or does that not help much?"

    Madoka smiles with a somewhat curious look in her eyes as Sayaka reveals that she's already been a pony before. "Ah, so you've been here. Well I guess that's only natural. Been sneaking off to other worlds, have you?"

    Homura meanwhile has managed to get her fireworks back under her wings with Kamiko's help, and is now seemingly teleporting around the garden.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara gave a small nod. Then did finally do a double take when she realized... That was not Catra. Veronica? Huh. Wow. Wild. She hadn't seen one of them in ages. They didn't really come to KKF very much.

Then... a picture was taken. It made Hinoiri smile. "That, at least, should be fine. We have cameras here."

And the hug from her best friend was definitely appreciated, and returned tightly.

... She, luckily, didn't hear Entrapta ask who she was. She was the girl who gave Entrapta that like... magic thing, that one time!

"Oh, we met before, though it was a while ago. Remember, the little magic things and uhhhhh... all of that?" she said sheepishly. "I'd had a whole talk with Sora about THAT particular chapter in my life... oof."

She grabbed herself a small cupcake, licking a bit of the frosting, before shaking her head. "Trust me, Amy-chan, don't try to figure it out. The time dilation gets faster and slower at different times. The portal only opens when they're in alignment. As for why the food is so good here? I... don't know. It might have to do with the ruler having a notorious sweet tooth and so we just have advanced the art of sweet foods to an unhealthy degree. Also, dental hygeine. But... actually... yeah. Sora... has been... working really hard to make it up to me. I uhhhh... I never thought she... I kind of feel silly, now. I caused all of you so much pain and grief over... nothing. Me just... over reacting..."

"... And yeah. Norie has donuts. I make sure to get them for her when I can. Oh, and uhhhh... be careful when using magic here. It can be.... weird. The two types of magic don't really... mesh... entirely. And so it might be... awkward, if you're not careful. Or cause you a lot of trouble. Either or, it's hard to say," she said sheepishly.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy can't help but laugh good-naturedly at Usagi also showing off writing by hoof. Last time she was here everyone was unicorns, so they didn't do as much with their hooves!

    And then Madoka suggests-- "Oooh, an experiment!" She smiles to Sayaka, "I'm curious, too!"

    Watching Ponmura teleport is interesting; Amy vaguely recalls her doing that in paris, she thinks, but she hasn't fought alongside Homura enough to really get a feel for her powerset. Teleporting and conjuring all manner of modern weaponry? It makes as much sense as what Amy can do, honestly.

    Over nothing? Amy shakes her head and gives Hinoiri a Pony Hug. "Your feeling and experience and suffering isn't nothing." She insists, sympathetically. "It's not... silly. Sora may not have meant to harm you, but..." She struggles for words, not quite pulling together a magical girl speech. "...it happened. Your feelings happened. And they were real."

    "Oh, uh." Amy turns back towards Rashmi and Usagi, "Could one of you get one of me?" She levitates the disposable camera over to them, and will smile for it!

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"I will absolutely take that camera," Usagi says cheerfully, and she's got the camera between her hooves before Amy has a chance to reconsider for even a moment, rising up on her hind legs to snap a photo of Amy, and then a photo of the group of them that are still together, before grabbing the camera with a wing and trotting off with it to take more candids of everyone.

"Be back soon~"

Snapshots of Entrapta and Rashmi sharing snacks! Snapshot of Sayaka and Madoka chatting! Snapshot of Hinoiri being all sappy!

When she makes her way back by Hinoiri, she supports Amy's not-quite speech, smiling gently, "It wasn't silly, and it wasn't an overreaction or anything. You had some really, really bad times here, and a fight with your momtor, and everything went to shit. It only feels like it's silly now because you know it's all good."

And she pats her on the head before pulling Hinoiri in for a selfie.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka glances over at Hinoiri when she warns them to be careful. She laughs a little awkwardly and says, "Um, if she of all people is warning us..."

    Homura appears right next to Madoka and asks, "Well that was enlightening."

    Madoka turns her attention to Hinoiri and says, "I'm glad to find out that your mentor wasn't some horrible monster, and that she seems to really care about you actually. Maybe the lesson here is to realize that maybe you already have the love you sought?"

    Kamiko crosses her tiny pony arms and says, "Yeah. You're already well liked. No reason to be insecure about it."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
Entrapta's utterly genuine suggesting actually makes Rashmi giggle, for just a bit. "I mean... I *could* carry on the family business if I wanted to, but I might not. I still have a little time to really think about it though. Even if I don't, plating skills come in handy way more often than you'd think, so! I'm glad you like it!"

As talk turns to Sayaka and baking, and especially how the PreCard magic might interact with the world beneath theor hooves, Rashmi tilts her head. "...Honestly? It feels like 'awesome baked treats' is just more at *home* with this world's magic. Because, correct me if I'm wrong Hino-chan, but like... The kind of world where people bust out in song, the donuts are *supernaturally delicious* and the cupcakes have--" she checks for a second "--one perfect cherry in the middle, each? ...Yeah all of that sounds delightfully whimsical. If Sora-sama's the one who set up the rules of magic way way ago, then she was probably at a really low point herself she's just coming out of."

"...Actually better idea," Rashmi says, watching Amy levitate the camera over Usagi's way. "Amy-chan can you hold it, like, in place, and I can make sure it's centered, and we can do a giant group photo? Because I mean... Hino-chan *has her home back,* and all of her friends and most of her acquaintances here and we're all *celebrating that.* Doesn't that sound like absolute group photo material?"

Entrapta has posed:
She's received so much interaction today, and Entrapta has started mumbling. Non-interactive, to herself, as she avoids eye contact with other ponies. It's not meant to offend, she's just not sure how to do party.

"New type of magic," makes up part of her mini-rant. "Could study this, see how it functions. Don't ..think? That it's bakery-oriented? But with this quality, it very well could be...transformation into ponies suggests a worldwide magical field of some sort, possibly an alteration in basic rules of existence. Fascinating..."

She's studying the world that she's found herself in. Kind of in her own little world, a bit. She's probably not aware of the possibility of it being a defense, to keep her from panicking over socializing.

"I wonder if there's a library...I'd love to study here, just for a little while..."

pause.

"Maybe a decade or two..."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
If Hinoiri overhears Entrapta muttering about the library, she'd also find Rashmi silently catching her eyes, and shaking her head like 'You would never find her again.'

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara blushed when her 'nothing' was denied. "O-okay... I... yeah. But.... yeah. Thanks for being there for me when... when I really needed people like you," she said, grinning in the picture, even if her eyes were very moist.

She gave a light snicker and nodded to Madoka. "Yeah. And... maybe there's a lesson here about actually talking things out. Though, I guess... there's also probably a lesson about banishing people when you're angry. Or going into the forbidden section of the library... frankly, a whole lot of lessons."

She grinned to Rashmi and nodded. "Yeah, the food here is definitely amazing... but uhhhh... no. Sovereign Sora didn't make the magic, she's just the strongest at it. Magic just works this way here."

She eyed Entrapta for a moment. "I'll get you some of our books." Before mouthing to Rashmi, 'I'll make sure they're safe'.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy grins at how ready Usagi is for camera use, she's clearly a better photographer for this expedition than Amy!

    She wonders about Rashmi's theory about local magic being Sora's choice, and nods solemnly.

    And then at the suggestion of a group photo she smiles, "Oh, good idea! Sorry it doesn't have a timer function... although I dunno if I could hold it steady while running into the shot, anyway!"

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka and Homura hear that there's a group photo and start gathering around for it. Kamiko follows along and settles down on top of Madoka's mane. Both Madoka and Kamiko smile while Homura gives the camera a sideways glance.

    "Perhaps we could ask one of the help to take the picture?" suggests Homura.

Entrapta has posed:
"I can fix that for you," the purple one says. Which for some reason sounds like both a threat and a fervent wish. She has, from somewhere, a flare gun, fireworks, a handkerchief, and a few other things.

That she picked up from Homura.

Earlier.

And seems to believe that she can do it. And, if allowed, will have that camera set up to take a picture on its own in literal seconds. Which means staff can join in, if they want.

Though really, it would make the most sense to just ask a guard to snap the pic. But I mean, who wants sense at this point?

"I love a challenge."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara snickered and would move to get in the group shot and... "I mean... I have more experience with telekinesis, I could take the shot? Or we could do what Madoka said, and ask for one of them to do it."

Of course, as Entrapta worked, Hinoiri couldn't help watching and being... a little impressed. Wild... That girl was definitely a wild one. Wow.

She, at least, was pretty happy. With her friends... and her home. Which she had now.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
It takes a while to corral everyone, but Rashmi makes sure everyone has at least a head in frame; ponies that can fly do a *lot* to help keep people from being too crowded! And, of course, Hinoiri is featured front and center, as this is *her* day.

And a day well deserved it is, too.