It had been a few days, maybe a week. But Sunset found solutions to most of her problems. The first of which had been knowledge. It was easy enough to find a public library, and thankfully they had the same language.
Still, those machines scared her. They were…. Odd. She’d never seen anything like it. ‘Computers’. Apparently they were relatively new to this society because one of the not-Ponies, Humans as she would learn, had said that she was ‘glad to see a young girl like you reading a book instead of having your face glued to one of them computers!’. Sunset left when she started ranting about Hellfire.
She had tried putting off messing with them, but after realizing that a lot of the books looked out of date, her curiosity got the better of her. It seemed simple enough, as she watched the other library patrons use them. Just move the thing on the side to move the arrow on the screen, and push the buttons with letters to write. ‘Click’ the button on the screen, and it would give you information about anything you wrote in. There was a spell like that, back in Equestria, used in Libraries to find the books by title. But this seemed to have more than just books.
The first thing she looked up was her location. As this was ‘Canterlot Public Library’, it seemed like this city had the same name as her own. Some places on the surrounding map looked familiar, even if it was in name only. After that, she looked up the currency.
She’d already learned that the backpack she brought with her contained everything she had in Hammerspace before she leaped through the portal. It was mostly just her wallet, quite a sizable amount considering she never spent any of it, and two books including her Journal. Hopefully she could still use her money instead of trying to find a job for now.
‘Dollars’, made of some kind of paper, and ‘Coins’ made of various metals. No mention of Bits or Jewels. Did they not have gold or silver or gems here? Trying again just in case, she asked the ‘computer’ what the exchange rate for gold was. The numbers made her backpack feel heavier. That couldn’t be real, right? She refreshed the page, seeing the same numbers. She checked silver next, which was lower but still a fair amount.
Well. That answered a lot of her problems. She just had to find a place to sell her Bits and Jewels. She spent as much time as possible learning about everything else, about what a ‘Human’ was and what to expect from this new body. Of course, library computers seemed to have a time limit. Perhaps she should see if she could get one of her own, after getting a place to stay of course.
Another day, another adventure. The shop she’d gone to had been quite fair, and thankfully didn’t ask questions about where her Bits had come from, other than a joke about pirate treasure. She’d only had to sell a few of them to get what sounded like a decent number for a house and some furniture, and perhaps a month or so of bills.
She was looking at a few big houses. Sure, she didn’t need a large space, but hey, if she had to be in this Dimension without Magic, she might as well have her own mini-castle. She found one that was just perfect in a neighborhood right near the park and the portal. Two floors, Four bedrooms, three bath, and apparently a large kitchen. And lucky her, it seemed like the realtor was finishing up a tour.
There were two people, and Sunset was quickly getting better at guessing gender and age of ‘Humans’. The man was blue and a good bit older, hair that had once been a deep purple was now graying. The woman, on the other hoof, or hand as the case may be, looked to be around her mother’s age. She was light gray with purple and white striped hair and blue eyes.
“Hey,” Sunset called, quickly making her way up to them. “Are you the realtor?”
“That’d be me,” the man said. “Just call me Howie, alright? This your kid? Because this is a great place for kids. Local schools are pretty good and-”
“No,” the woman answered, tilting her head in confusion. “You look a little familiar though…”
“Don’t know you,” Sunset shrugged and turned to the man. “So, I’m looking to buy a house. This one seemed nice and since you’re here, I’d like to see what I can do.”
“Now wait a moment-“ the woman began before Howie cut her off.
“Come on kid,” Howie laughed. “You can’t be more than, what, twelve?”
“I’m thirteen, actually,” she said, reaching into her backpack. “Now, I had planned to make a cash offer today, and I really like this house.”
The two adults stared at the stack of cash in her hand. She stifled a smile at how dumbstruck they looked. Thankfully, Sunset had already crafted a response to his next question.
“How’s a kid like you come up with that much cash?” Howie asked.
“Internet,” Sunset said casually. “I’m young, but I’m quite the programmer. Did some jobs for some big companies, and now I have a career to use and fend for myself. Totally emancipated from my parents, by the way, so no need to worry about them coming down to sign!”
“Boy,” he let out a whistle. “Well, I think we can work something out then.”
“Hold on,” the woman said. “You can’t just waltz in here and snatch up a house. There are other buyers that-“
“Miss, with all due respect,” Sunset began. “It sounded like he was still trying to convince you, which means you haven’t solidly picked this house. I, however, have picked it and have the money on hand to do so. Again, all due respect, but please butt out.”
“Well, sorry Mrs. Velvet,” Howie laughed. “She’s got a point there. But don’t worry, I have a few more places I can show you. Can’t promise they’ll all be like this one, but they’ll be pretty good.”
Sunset stepped back and let them talk for a while. After a few moments, Velvet left still frustrated and Howie took Sunset aside to talk over the deal.
Of course, Sunset had prepared for this as well. After all, she had no paperwork to prove she existed, and while she’d be considered about a year and a half shy of adulthood in Equestria, here she’d have to wait until she was eighteen. Thankfully, Howie was the kind of guy who got picked on as a kid.
She gave him a story about how she was moving because all the kids at her old school were really mean. They kept trying to be her friend just to get to her hard earned money while spreading rumors behind her back. Some rumors even got the cops involved! Of course she didn’t want anyone from back then to know where she was, since that’s why she was moving in the first place.
It wasn’t a lie, technically. So many of the Nobles back at CSFGU had been like that, and she definitely never wanted to see them again. Thankfully, after hearing the story and being given a bit extra cash for himself, he agreed to help her out and use a fake name on the contracts. As long as she paid her bills on time, there wouldn’t be a problem.
All too soon, Sunset had a home. She gleefully looked around everywhere. It was mostly empty, except for kitchen and bathroom appliances. Still, it was hers. And the best part? It had a pool!
This world was not completely without Magic. Or at least, Sunset wasn’t without Magic.
Sunset could still feel it, a soft tingling in her fingertips. Yet the problem was trying to grasp said Magic. As a Unicorn, she had channeled it through her horn, which her Human body did not have.
But without her horn, it was like trying to eat soup with a fork. She tried channeling Magic through other body parts, like her hands, but it wasn’t working either. Magic or Human, her body didn’t have a ‘Magical Pathway’.
It wasn’t a literal pathway, as she’d learned. But each type of Pony used magic, and their bodies were naturally built for that. It’s why a Unicorn or Earth Pony couldn’t just buy a set of prosthetic wings and fly around. The mechanism hooks into a Pony’s magic to move, but Unicorns and Earth Ponies didn’t have any flight-related Magic, so the wings would just sit there.
Humans did not seem to have any magic they could access, no natural ways to channel it through the body. At least, not in the same way she could channel Magic through her horn. Sunset was starting to get fed up with trying.
As a last attempt, she picked up one of the jewels from her stash. It was a pink diamond, and fit comfortably in her hand. Despite the fact that it would have gotten her a lot of money if she sold it, she kept this one. She’d probably sell this one last.
Gems were also Magic Conduits, like her horn. A Unicorn could channel Magic through them to add power to their spell, or they could be Enchanted to do certain tasks. She hoped maybe she could get something to happen.
Sunset attempted to channel her Magic through the Diamond, frowning as nothing happened. She pushed it, tried any way possible to manipulate her Magic through it, yet it seemed like without her horn she couldn’t. Within a minute she was ready to chuck the Diamond at a wall.
It was then that she felt the stone become warm in her hand. It wasn’t too hot to hold, but it was definitely warmer than her hand. Feeling the Magic, she found a fire spell. That was strange. She hadn’t tried to use a fire spell, she hadn’t been that specific.
The stranger thing was as she stared longer, the spell changed. Now, the Diamond held a wind spell. Cautiously, she tried to cast it. She was blasted by a gust of warm air, and smiled all the same.
Anger and Curiosity. She seemed to get a reaction out of Emotional Magic. Odd, but it was something she could work with. She still had a little bit of Equestria, a little bit of home.