Sunset’s head hurt after the lengthy discussions she had almost daily now with both Observer and Keeper. It was almost ridiculous the amount of times those two had defeated her on every subject they brought along. The situation made Sunset fear for her future since it was explained to her that the impending Tea Party would not be only tea and conversation, but it would most likely have murder and mystery intertwined with since the host loved stories like that. And those were real mysteries and murders in case anyone is wondering about it.
It was truly maddening, but this is what she had signed up for. A life of adventure and mystery, all surrounded by magic and craziness that didn’t know when to end or start; yes, it was bizarre. It wasn’t so bad most of the time, just opening doors at the beginning before she got to meet a couple of her alternates and also a crazy villain that had put Equestria on peril in another dimension now ruthlessly destroying other dimensions in the loose. Besides the last one, it had been nice.
From all the people living in the huge mansion floating among the multiverse, she had a lot of fun meeting the other workers in the house. From the secretarial Rainbow Dash, to the maid and great tea maker Pinkie Pie, Sunset had found good friends. In a way, the redhead had finally understood Princess Twilight. Meeting alternate versions of your closest friends was at the same time weird and welcoming, because you felt at ease with them even if you found the differences among the two versions.
But as Sunset continued her preparation for the upcoming tea madness, this time being helped by a very sane and grateful Harleen Quinn -they were already making plans of visiting her old Gotham friend with Sunset accompanying her- this time we are not focusing on the reality bending house, although later on we will have a small tour of the location.
This time we put our eyes on a very non descriptive world among the many millions in the multiverse. In it we find our favorite scientific duo and in occasion magical girls, working on something late at night on their new home, Canterlot High.
Even though the institute was still seen as inferior to the education found at Crystal Prep by Twilight’s brother, the young girl had finally found the place where she could leave behind her doubts and the rather heavy baggage of self-doubt and loneliness. Finally meeting people who she could unwind with and truly enjoy their company -albeit in small doses in some cases- had done wonders to the once shy and nervous girl. Now, being on the laboratory alongside someone that not only understood whenever she went on a long scientific tangent, but who could write code as fast as twilight could assemble a machine and that was damn fast.
The girls found themselves under the light of fluorescent lamps installed in the ceiling while they kept on typing and checking all the different materials that they had on hand.
“Remind me again why are we doing this?” The bespectacled girl asked as she took a look at the magazine on her hands. The only word that was on the front cover was MAD and something crazy was drawn in the front.
“Well, this is something of a personal project really. Think about how different society has become in the last couple of decades and everything that had been created around that time. Equestrian culture and society are very… how can I say it? It sucks basically, since they have an immortal ruler and they have magic they use very little time to try and advance the sciences,” it was quite adorable to see Sunset so excited about something like science, it made Twilight feel giddy too. Also, it was quite revealing the way she talked about Equestrian customs or ponies as ‘them’. It was as if Sunset had become a true human beyond the physiological.
“So, are we studying pop culture?”
“Got it on first try,” the thumbs up Sunset gave her was so goofy that Twilight chuckled. She began to place all the strange magazines and posters on a pile and she was slightly surprised at the amount of female photos and pinups in the group.
“Any reason why you got all of these posters? It reminded me a little of my brother’s room.”
“Humans truly have a lot of love for the female body, not that I can’t blame them,” she said with a huge grin as Twilight took a picture and showed it at Sunset who then stopped smiling.
“Including your principal?” in the photo one could see Principal Celestia on one of those rare days in which she used a short skirt instead of her usual suit pants. Sunset simply shrugged for answer not wanting to say how or why she got the pic. Although the answer would probably be that some of the guys that helped her get all the pop culture material simply put it there.
As the girls continued their work in making a nice database to investigate the changes in pop culture through the years, another woman was already at work not too far away from them. Standing on the touch down zone on Canterlot High’s camp was a woman with shoulder length black hair twirling a dagger on her hands. The woman seemed to be really entertained by the dagger and in the way that it reflected the moonlight as it twirled in the air.
She was so entertained by it that she barely heard the way in which reality itself was cut open. The sound always signified someone opening a tunnel between dimensions and the woman turned around to watch someone she knew very well come out of it.
The person that had traveled into the football field was wearing a full set of white armor with golden filigree decorating it. Her face was hidden beneath a white hood and coat alongside a white and golden masquerade mask. The spear she was holding in one hand seemed worn down as if it had seen action recently.
“So, why do I deserve the visit of such an illustrious guest?” The woman with the dagger asked almost as if in jest making the armored woman roll her eyes.
“Oh, drop the nonsense for once, what are you doing on this universe? There is nothing happening on this world.”
“At least for now.”
“What are you planning sister?”
“So that means that the great Madeleine of Astora doesn’t know everything?”
“If I knew everything I wouldn’t have let The Master wake up on that universe, by the way, nice job saving that Sunset,” Madeleine said obviously happy with the results on that world. The dagger wielding woman just grinned at finally being praised by the oldest of the family.
“One of my finest works and come on, even you have to acknowledge that The Master will make a fine addition to the troops Keeper and Observer are gathering.”
“That is true does not mean you have permission to mess around. We made a deal with Observer and Keeper. We are supposed to help all those different Sunset become stronger, that is all, leave the hard jobs to Observer, he will be the one that will help Prime Sunset get to the point where she will beat Noche,” Madeleine said as her sister simply stuck out her tongue.
“Nah, you may be the great White Queen, the mentor and sage warrior that will guide Sunset to become the Princess of Lordran, but I… well, I am Catherine, the Red Queen and I just want to have some fun,” the woman on the red coat said with a smile as she threw a dagger up in the air, then it stopped, staying floating right on top of the school. It seemed that the dagger had some kind of ability as it soon began to glow with energy and in a blink, it send a bolt of lightning right into Canterlot High.
Inside the building everything turned into chaos as the lights went off and every single computer went bonkers. Energy began to arch as the computer in which they were compiling the database went nuts. Twilight and Sunset hugged each other in fright and both were sent through the air as a massive energy pushed them.
As the two geniuses got up slightly shaken they soon found their jaws hitting the floor figuratively as a figure began to appear, first as wireframe showing the obvious female curves but then it began to get form and in a couple of seconds they found themselves in the presence of a woman wearing one of the shortest skirts they had ever seen and a blouse that was obviously a couple of sizes too small to contain the woman’s chest.
What truly blew Twilight and Sunset’s mind was that the woman was a carbon copy of Principal Celestia, with the clear distinction being that while the principal’s hair looked like the sky at different times of the day, this one had long, wavy lilac colored hair. That and the shit eating grin that she had on her face was clear difference.
“So, what do you girls do around here for fun?”