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// 2. Meeting Up and Discoveries 
// Story: Sunset Nikos 
// by Diokno44 
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As the incandescent sun began to peek over the horizon, bathing the early morning sky in a fierce clash of black, fiery orange, crimson, and violet, two motorcycles parked side by side in front of a cozy, three story cafe. The first floor was for customers, while the other two made up the home of the owners, Mr. and Ms. Cake, as well as their two toddlers, Pound, and Pumpkin, and was the residence of one Pinkamena Diana Pie, better known as Pinkie Pie.

After locking up their motorcycles, Sunset and Shimmer stored their helmets in password locked, stainless steel boxes on either side of the rear of their motorcycles. Sunset took a deep breath and walked into the cafe. Ms. Cake waved at the duo, as she polished the counter. Aside from a few cops and early bird old folks, the place was empty. Sunset led her double to a large booth where they could wait for the others, and they took a seat next to each other, drinking from some complimentary lattes.

Pinkie Pie, who was sleeping just one floor above the cafe, was the first to meet up. She skipped over, and spun into her seat. She was still dressed in her PJs. Both Sunset and Shimmer were glad Pinkie had remembered to get this morning, having distinct memories of the pink haired party girl forgetting to get dressed during sleepovers. ¨Morning Sunny, Shimmy!" The voluptuously haired girl said, stretching, as her joints cracked to their correct places.

¨Morning Pinkie!" Sunset and her double said in unison, which caused a quick burst of laughter to run through the trio. ¨I´ll tell you what´s going on as soon as the others get here.¨ she said, gently pushing aside her now empty coffee cup. 

-Not long after, Rainbow Dash jogged through the front door, and joined her friends at their table, panting lightly. Not long after, a large red pickup truck pulled up, with the rest of the gang either in the back or in the main seating area. Their little table was soon filled by eight teenagers, with small cups of coffee in their hands, and pastries set in front of them. 

Sunset took a deep breath, ¨Alright, you guys know I´ve been having weird dreams right? Like, weirder than regular dreams anyway.¨ she asked the group, greeted with all seven other girls nodding in-sync. ¨These dreams don´t feel like your average, everyday dreams. These are more lucid, like, I don´t know, memories.¨ she said. Twilight and Princess Twilight glanced at each other, ideas racing through their brains like fireworks, powered by sugar. ¨It all started about a month ago...¨ she took a sip of her coffee and began to recount to the girls, particularly the two Twilights, as many details of her dreams as she could recall. ¨This latest one was of sparring practice, again.¨ 

Both Twilight and Princess Twilight rubbed their chins, one using her knowledge of science, and the other using her knowledge of magic and science to decipher the meaning behind Sunset´s vivid dreams. ¨Hmm, you sure this isn´t caused by eating too much junk food before bed?¨  Twilight asked as she and her double took out notebooks. Sunset shook her head. ¨What do you think?¨ The scientist asked the Princess of Friendship.

¨Well, a little while ago I was reading a book about ¨Reality Bonding¨ in essence, two realities become temporarily bonded in some way shape or form. Perhaps your dreams were influenced by a brief bonding with some alternate reality." Twilight suggested, sipping from a mango and vanilla smoothie. 

¨Maybe, but, it felt like I was actually there. And wouldn´t it seem odd this dimension and some other dimension with humans cross over repeatedly?¨ Sunset asked, as Princess Twilight merely gave a ¨so-so¨ gesture with her hand. ¨I feel as if there´s something more to this.¨ she said, and then suddenly clutched her chest, feeling as if something was burning a hole through her, in between her breasts. She gasped, feeling her double´s hand on her shoulder, and the others looking at her with concerned, she slowly sat up, the pain subsiding.. ¨That´s also come up. Every so often, I get this, intense pain right here,¨ she pressed her thumb against a spot, close to where her neck joined her torso. ¨It feels like I´ve been stabbed, or shot or something.¨ she said, her voice hoarse. She downed a glass of water Pinkie handed her, gulping. 

Princess Twilight glanced at the clock. It was almost closing time. ¨How about this, it´s a school day tomorrow right?¨ she asked, and while not being an official student in Canterlot High School, she did enjoy learning about this world, even if it was through a sometimes sub-par educational system. All the other girls nodded their heads. ¨We can all bunk with Pinkie if Mr. and Mrs. Cake are fine with it,¨ she got nods of approval from the two shopkeepers. ¨Alright, sleepover it is.¨ she said, as the girls grabbed their stuff from the truck, and headed on upstairs, Pinkie leading the way.

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Sunset´s sleep went, for the first time in weeks, unmolested by any dreams, which she was thankful for. She could at least get a good night´s sleep for once without something crazy in her head happening. Sunset awoke, refreshed, and went into the bathroom to take care of her hygienic and toiletry needs.

After a quick group breakfast of buttered and sugar coated toast and bacon, the band of girls were herded back into Big Mac´s truck, as the nineteen-year-old drove his sister and her friends to Canterlot High School. Sunset and the others thanked the muscular farm boy, as they separated and headed to their different classes, excited for the new day.

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Sunset was bored beyond bored. Scratch that, bored beyond bored would be too soft an adjective for how much boredom she, and a vast majority of her class, had either fallen asleep or started doodling in their notebooks or gaming on their phones. Even Twilight looked rather fatigued as Dr. Waddles continued his history lesson on, what had once been the history of Ancient Fegypt, had somehow divulged into the oh so thrilling¨history¨ of sand. 

Thankfully, before the entire class died of boredom, and grow an intense hatred of sand that equaled the white-hot fury of a thousand suns, or a certain whiny space warrior-monk, the bell rang. Sunset quickly packed her bag, and headed out to to the central courtyard, thanking her lucky stars classes had ended for the day.

Making her way to Canterlot High´s parking lot, the ketchup-and-mustard haired girl licked her parched lips. ¨Hmm.¨ Sunset smiled slightly as she noticed a vending machine to her right, and walked over. Reaching into her jeans, after a big of tugging, she pulled out her Grussian Blue wallet and rummaged around for fifty cents. 

¨Aha!¨ Sunset grinned in triumph, retrieving the coins from the depths of her wallet. Gazing at the various beverages on display, and briefly shuddering in disgust at the Pero Peter´s soda, often silently praying for the inventor of the vile brand to be eaten alive by killer bunnies, whether or not they were from Caerbannog or not, but she digressed. Quickly thumbing the button for some Sunset Sasparilla, (Rainbow Dash had teased her the first time she had gotten the drink for ¨drinking her own sasparilla¨, Sunset responding via switching her shampoo out with pink hair dye), and popped one of the coins in, enjoying the sound if it rattling down deeper into the vending machine.

Sunset was about to pop the second coin into the machine, when her first slipped, and it slammed into the side of the machine, tumbled from her fingertips, and rolled under the machine. She grumbled, ¨Damnit.¨ she got on her hands and knees, and peeked beneath the vending machine, smirking as she saw it glint not too far from her. ¨Come to mama.¨ she reached in.

Sunset grunted, as her fingertips brushed against the grooves of the quarter, but she couldn´t reel it in. ¨Come on.¨ she muttered, wiggling her arm about. She furrowed her brow, as she reached out to try and grab the coin. Suddenly, the coin flew into her grasp. ¨Huh?¨ she withdrew her hand, and stood up, staring at the coin. While she had regained some of her magical ability, this didn´t feel or even look like her usual telekinectic spells. There had been no golden aura or a tugging sensation. It was like she had just called the coin to her hand, or like her skin was magnetic. Mulling it over in her mind, Sunset inserted the last quarter into the machine, and grabbed her soda from the dispensary slot, chugging it as she headed to her handmade motorcycle, Bellerophon. 

She rode back home, her double returning shortly after. They parked their bikes in the garage, and locked up. ¨Night.¨ the duo said to another, as they dressed for bed, fell under the covers, and drifted off to slumber.