"Funnily enough, I remember the conversations they'd have behind my back in the middle of class," Twilight Sparkle said in a quiet, unemotional tone.
"Oh?" Sunset Shimmer leaned into the tabletop, gazing over their empty plates and loose utensils. "What conversations?"
"Oh... silly, pointless little bits of dialogue," Twilight said, neatly folding and unfolding the discarded paper cover of her straw. "The boys would ask each other things like 'Who would you rather go on a date with? Twilight Sparkle? Or Helga the Lunch Lady?' Naturally, ten times out of ten, 'Helga' would be the answer."
"Yeesh..." Sunset Shimmer brushed her bangs aside. "This 'Helga' must be a smoking hot goddess who squirts Steam Gift Cards out her armpits." A smirk. "Even then, she'd be a far-distant hundredth place in my book."
Twilight briefly smiled at that, but her expression went back to neutral as she rambled forward: "But the girls were worse. Unlike the guys in my class, they didn't care that I was overhearing them. In fact, I think they knew it. They'd share pictures on their phones of Google Image searches for 'ugliest dog in the world' and then say 'Oh look! The new Twilight Sparkle fashion is in! Better put your head in a blender!' Which... I always thought was ridiculous, because if you put your head in a blender—it wouldn't just rip your hair out by the roots but it would cause irrecoverable tissue damage to your face and scalp as well."
"Ah jeez..." Sunset Shimmer winced hard. "Twilight, that's awful."
"Well, I kinda deserved it in a way..."
Sunset nearly teetered from how heavily she blinked at that. "Why in the Hell would you say that?!"
Twilight shrugged, avoiding her date's gaze. "I used to be a real snob. An intellectual snob. I'd nitpick my classmates on the most ridiculous and trifle of factoids. I'd play teacher's pet like it was a professional sport, and when I started getting amazing grades I'd rub it in all their faces."
"Twilight, I seriously doubt you've ever had the faculty to rub anything in anyone's faces."
"Regardless, back at Crystal Prep, I was never really... 'I wanna make friends with this person' material. It's... uh... it's been different with you and the girls." She gulped, looking up finally. "But that's only because I found an equilibrium, y'know? I came to a point where I wasn't obnoxious... and... uhm... the other students weren't punishing me for it."
"I... don't understand."
"They stopped bothering me, and I just... sorta... learned to hang out by myself. All on my lonesome. And... it wasn't so bad! I liked spending my days at home and school alone!" A blink, and she giggled. "I mean, I had Spike of course... but for the last few years, I talked to almost nobody but Dean Cadance. And... I was fine with that. At least... I thought I was fine with that. But then recently I learned just how great friendship is again anddddddddd... ta-daaaaa... h-here I am!" She smiled nervously, toying with a loose strand of violet hair. "Heheheh..."
Sunset's mouth was contorted in an iron-wrought grimace. "Twilight..." She exhaled breathily. "That's... that's horrible."
"N-no it isn't!" Twilight shook her head. "I ended up with you, didn't I? Er... I mean..." She blushed, gesturing out the window. "You and the girls. Although... hmmmm..." A toasty smile. "Sitting here with you is a real good bonus... t-too... eheh..."
"All those years... spent alone?" Sunset shook her head vigorously. "Nopony deserves that!"
"Don't you mean 'nobody'—?"
"I know what I said!" Sunset palmed one fist, causing the knuckles to crack. "Man, if those stupid snotty-nosed Shadowbolts were here right now, I'd—"
"No no no no no no no!!!" Twilight waved her hands dramatically. Wincing, she pushed her glasses back up her nose and stammered: "That's not why I told you about all of that!" A hard blink. "Actually..." She drifted back in her seat, like she was melting. "Why did I tell you all of that...?"
"Well..." Sunset glanced at the table between them. "...you told me about that one stint you had in Crystal Prep's chess club, and I asked you if you were in any other clubs—"
"Aaaaaaaaaand then I proceeded to ramble on and on and on about all the ways that I was bullied, shunned, and made fun of by students back at my old school." Twilight sighed, hugging herself and staring aside. "Thusly sinking the mirth of this lovely evening down into the chilly, depressing, arctic depths."
"It... it's fine, Twilight," Sunset stammered. "I'm proud that you're willing to share these sorts of things with me."
"Still, though, not the sort of way I wanted to harpoon an evening I looked forward to so much. Way to go, Twilight." She gulped dryly, then chanted under her breath while twirling a loose thread of hair:
"TheEarthisaverysmallstageinavastcosmicarenaThinkoftheendlesscrueltiesvisitedbytheinhabitantsofonecornerofthispixel..."
Sunset Shimmer perked up. "Carl Sagan."
Twilight Sparkle gasped. She sat straight like a rod. "You know Carl Sagan?!"
"Why..." Sunset giggled lightly. "Of course! He's one of the most provocative, outspoken speakers in modern human astronomy."
"Yes! And he's so quotable t-too!" Twilight beamed and beamed. Nearly bounced.
"Is that from his speech at Cornell University in 1994—?"
"Mmmhmmm!" Twilight's teeth were positively bursting. "Based on the photograph of Earth taken in 1990 by the Voyager 1 space probe! Eee-hee-hee... uhm..." She clasped her hands together, sitting bird-thigh'd in her seat... if that was even possible. "...I-I may or may not have had a poster with that entire quote plastered against my bedroom wall."
"I see." Sunset nodded. "No doubt you had plenty of time to read it... spending all those years alone without a fellow set of ears to share it with."
"Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm... yeahhhhhhhhhhhh..." Twilight sighed, her smile fading into a bittersweet shadow. "Still... you have no idea how... happy it makes me feel to know you've heard of it."
"Heh... I may have read Carl Sagan's stuff before," Sunset said, folding her arms. "But I've never memorized any of it. That's pretty impressive, Twilight."
"No it isn't."
"Twilight..." Sunset smiled slyly. "Will you please accept a compliment?"
"How long did it take you to brush up on human astronomy?" Twilight swiftly asked.
"Heh... you kidding?" Sunset leaned back, chuckling. "The first thing I ever did was study all I could find on the constellations!"
"Wow... really?"
"Uhm... I've got the word 'Sun' in my name."
"Heehee! Yes, you do! Yes, you do!" Twilight hugged herself tighter, grinning again. "Oh gosh... I love all the sciences, but astronomy has always... always thrilled me like nothing else."
"No friggin' kidding." Sunset pointed. "Don't you volunteer at the planetarium over at the Learning Center?"
"Uh huh! Going on three years now—" Twilight Sparkle froze in place. "Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh gosh! I should totally take you there for a private screening!"
"Really? You can do that?"
"Yes! Yes I can!" Twilight's teeth glinted. "I'm fully trained to operate the projector! Ohhhh, I just bet there are some star formations you still haven't heard about yet!"
"Heh... if anyone can teach me new stuff, it's you, Twilight."
"Wow... I'm already drumming up notecards in my head—"
"That could make for a great second date—" Sunset blurted before her wide-eyed self could stop.
"Duaaaaah!" Twilight gasped, clutching her own cheeks. "IT TOTALLY COULD! Heeheehee!"
"Hah... heheheh..." Sunset Shimmer exhaled long and hard, relaxing against the seat cushions behind her. "Yeah... totally..."
"Heehee! A date among the starsssss! WoooOooOoooOoo..." Twilight giggled, pausing to fan herself. "Oh goodness! I'm starting to sound like Pinkie Pie!"
"Heheh... yeah..." Sunset rubbed the back of her head—a gesture meant to hide an undeniable set of tremors rushing up her body. She wasn't certain if it was joy or trepidation, but it felt throttlingly stronger than both. In a desperate attempt to reclaim her nerves, she rambled on: "I dunno about you, but I really really miss my old solar system."
"Heehee... awwwwwwwwwww... me too." Twilight sighed through a childish pout. "I mean, I understand the scientific basis for the reclassification, but I really wish they'd induct Pluto back into the fold. It's just... just too nostalgic to let go. And ever since New Horizons took those photographs of—"
"No, I meant my old solar system." Sunset gestured. "Y'know... back through the mirror."
"... ... ... ... ... ..." Twilight Sparkle stared at her.
"... ... ...?" Sunset raised a genuinely inquisitive eyebrow. "What?"
"You mean..." Twilight's lips moved, but not her body. "...it's not the same?"
"Huh? Oh—you mean Equestria's solar system? No. Not even remotely."
"You don't have eight planets?"
"No. We've got fourteen."
SLAP! Twilight gripped the table like it was the safety bar of a roller coaster. "FOURTEEN?!?"
"Uhhhhhh..." Sunset Shimmer scooted back into her seat cushion, sweating. "...yeah?"
Twilight was practically hyperventilating at this point. "Why. Didn't. You. Tell. Me. This. Before?!"
"Becaussssssse..." Sunset shrugged with a helpless smile. "...it never came up in conversation?"
"Omigosh! Omigosh! Omigosh!" Twilight slumped back upright, struggling for breath. "You have... you h-have... you have t-to tell me all about it!"
"Okay okay okay!" Sunset waved. "But you have to promise me to breathe!"
"Eeee-heeeee-Eeee-heeeee—" Twilight grinned and nodded and grinned and nodded.
"So... uhm..." Sunset cleared her throat, searching the ceiling with her eyes. "Equus, Equestria's home world, is the fifth in rotation..."
"Oh wow!" Twilight's eyes beamed as she propped her chin on two sets of knuckles. "Fifth from the host star—!"
"Actually, modern pony astronomers theorize that the gravitational eddy our planets orbit is a black hole."
Twilight's chin almost hit the table-top. "Buh?!"
"Yes. Possibly a collapsed star. You see..." Sunset gestured with her knuckles, as if briefly forgetting she didn't have hooves. "...some cataclysmic event several eons ago—most likely magic-based—sucked all the photonic energy from it, but the star still contains a great deal of mass... slightly greater than your sun. That's why Equestrians had to come up with a way to light up Equus. Eventually, the alicorns discovered a method, which is what resulted with the sun and moon that we have today. Although... most theoretical physicists believe that the 'sun' and 'moon' in Celestia's and Luna's spells aren't literal cosmic bodies, but rather photonic projections that are manifested through the gravitational waves that encase Equus and the other planets."
"Like... like..." Twilight gasped yet again. She pointed. "Hooft, Thorn and Susskind!"
"Uhhhhhhh..." Sunset blinked. "Hoof-who?"
"Earth theorists!" Twilight exclaimed. "There's a proposed idea in string theory that reality as we know it is simply a projection of information against a gravitational horizon! We've yet to prove such an idea to be remotely true, but—from the sound of it—everybody in the Equestrian dimension is actually living it!"
"Ehhhhhhhh... maybe?" Sunset cleared her throat. "Look, there's a lot of magic at play in my... uh... 'home dimension.' Sooooo it's kinda sketchy to compare it equally to all of the natural laws in this one."
"Has any of your kind ever been to outer space?"
"What, you mean like a cosmonaut?"
"Or an astronaut! Mmmhmm!"
"Well... maybe... maybe not..." Sunset shrugged. "Most scientists think that our entire civilization probably came from Eoh or the the fifth moon of Ashva..."
"Huh?"
"Eoh. Ashva," Sunset repeated. "They're the closest planets to us. Eoh's a barren rock with a thin atmosphere that's in closer orbit to the gravitational eddy. And Ashva—a large gas giant beyond the Green Gallop Belt—has several moons, the fifth of which is almost the size of Equus. Both that moon and Eoh contain visual evidence of massive artificial constructs, suggesting that sprawling civilizations once populated their surfaces, and—perhaps—still do."
"Mmmmmmmmmm...!" Twilight covered her mouth as her eyes teared up. "Your neighboring planets... c-contain life?"
"Well, quite frankly, yeah." Sunset chuckled slightly. "In fact, I was kinda depressed when I came here and raided the libraries... only to learn that this planet and this planet alone has been scientifically proven to harbor living things. Back home, at least five planets in our solar system are known to have once been populated... at least as far as our magically-imbued telescopes are able to tell."
"Oh wow wow wow wow wow—!" Twilight practically bounced in her seat before pounding the table like a drum. "Tell me more tell me more tell me more—!"
"Okay okay! Settle down! Hahaha!" Sunset chuckled breathily. "I mean... there's only so little I can tell! Like... too bad we never developed an advanced form of long-distance communication back home. There are hundreds of thousands of ponies absolutely dying to make contact with our celestial neighbors, only we can't because we haven't the means—"
"Still!" Twilight squirmed and smiled and squirmed some more, eyes locked on Sunset's. "Tell me anyway!"
"Heh... I'll do my best!" Sunset cleared her throat. "So... the furthest planet in our solar system is called Sedneigh."
"Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee..." Twilight almost melted. "'Sedneighhhhh...'"