It was so familiar and at the same time so weird for Sunset to be walking on this place, not only because everyone looked human, or at least close to human that she could be mistaken of what they were, but the way in which the whole plaza looked brought her memories of the huge hub centers of teenage action that were found everywhere in the human world. She may have been something of an anti-social rebel when she was CHS biggest bully, but even back then she knew how important those places were to everyone back home.
Inkopolis looked like the human world, but at the same it was so new and exhilarating to see all the places these squid-like kids spend their free time; it was a well-lighted zone, with tall buildings and while it wasn’t filled to the gills with teenagers it was obvious how popular the place was due to the conditions of the stores and how clean the whole place was. Stores showing their wares and shelves heavy with the fashion of the week, with stylish shirts, shows and headgear that even for someone new to this world were eye-catching and tantalizing.
Young squids, probably the same age that she currently was, probably at least, were walking around, looking at the stores or simply passing time at the tables with their cellphones; in other words, nothing was different this time around, no huge difference between worlds. Was it like this almost everywhere else? She may only have a brief experience of portal creation, but it seemed that depending on where you used the mirror it send you to dimension resembling the one you were from.
If she ever had the chance to check it, she will get in contact with Twilight and check it out, but for now, it seemed that she was in for a ride and she was getting excited alongside being nervous and scared of being trapped in another universe; never a boring day in the life of Sunset Shimmer, since apparently the whole multiverse got a kick… got an ink? She will get to have better at her pun game, but it got an ink of messing with her at every change.
At her side, Sara kept rambling about the store she loved, which was apparently a big deal among… inklings? Was that the name? So, she was apparently a big fan of what Jelfonzo, the guy she was talking about was doing with his store; apparently she liked the way he talked, with Thou and Thy everywhere in his vocabulary; he sounded like Princess Luna when she came back to Equestria according to what Twilight had told her. Also, the guy was apparently a jellyfish, which made the name be more puntastic than before.
She wanted to keep on thinking about what she could do to go back to her world or maybe get a word in the one sided conversation, when something incredibly tempting happened, something that could take everyone out their thoughts immediately and lose track of whatever the kelp they were talking about. It was the smell of something deep fried and enough grease to make Rarity gag and exclaim how unladylike it was to eat at a place filled with so many calories; in synthesis, the perfect food for Sunset.
What was in front of Sunset was something so completely mind-blowing that she had to blink a couple of times just to take it all; after all, how many times have you seen a giant prawn be in charge of a food truck before? Not only that, the guy had a hat backwards as if to say, yeah squid, I’m cool, complete with what seemed like a full body coat that resembled a bread coat as if he himself had been deep fried too, and what a smell it was emanating from the yellow truck, sending the aroma of condiments and friend food everywhere, enough to make Sunset’s stomach grumble; it was heavy on oil and you could almost hear how food popped and fizzed while still hot, so yes, it was something that made her blink and fight back the desire to drool, or ink probably.
Apparently she must have stayed standing there looking at the truck for a long time because both Sara and Matt stopped to look at her, but not quite sure what was going on, what with Crusty Sean and his truck being now a staple in the square.
“You okay there Sunset?” Sara was obviously worried about the new inkling, what with her face now having lost momentarily the smile that Sunset felt was almost a permanent resident in that face. She hasn’t known the squid girl for long, but the redheaded squid was touched by the friendliness of these two squids.
“Yeah, just… a couple of things in my mind, that’s all,” she tried to give them a smile, but mostly came up as a grimace; being around people this friendly just made her remember the reason why she jumped into the portal.
“Well, those couple of things must be heavy because they're giving you a frown,” the squid girl walked to Sunset’s side and put a hand on her shoulder “I may talk a lot, but I can shut up for long enough to listen to other inkling’s problems,” alongside the huge grin in Sara’s face, Sunset was already feeling better thanks to these stranger’s kindness.
“Thanks Sara, maybe I should, but let me tell you, you won’t believe a thing I will say.”
“We won’t know until you tell us, but take your time, there is no pressure, besides, we have the whole day free; maybe we can even have a little Turf War to help you feel better.”
“Matt, when someone is down they don’t get instantly okay just because they start inking things around them.”
“It works with me.”
“If everysquid was as laidback as you, the sea would be a better place for sure,” an inkling sitting down at a table interrupted their banter, but by the looks of the other two inklings, it was clear that this one was a friend of them. She seemed to be an inkling girl who had a hairstyle similar to Sunset, but with no back tentacle hair, just two long tentacles falling at each side of her head, but alongside her black long sleeved t-shirt she had a pair of black rimmed thick glasses.
“Nami! Why didn‘t you tell us you were going to be free today? I thought you had work today."
“Hey Sara, yeah, but the boss got a new part-timer so I only had half a turn this time; who’s the kid with you? Please don’t tell me that she followed you home and you want to keep her,” due to the way in which the girl was smirking it was clear who the jokester in the group was.
“Come on, that was only once, and it was a cute snail!”
“That snail lives better than me, it even has its own chair,” snail? Like in sea snail? What the kelp? So everything was sea-base instead of mammal or something? “But for real, who’s the kid?”
“Sure, Sunset Shimmer, meet our good friend Nami Bara,” the purple haired inkling in the table waved lazily before going back to her phone, so without any delay, the trio also took seats around Nami, probably to rest a bit and get ready to order something.
“So, where do you come from kiddo? Never seen you before around this place, and considering this Plaza is the most chic place to be, it is peculiar to see somesquid like you around looking as if they were lost,” so not only was she good with jokes, she was also perceptive and right to the point, just perfect.
“Oh, I don’t think you’ll believe what is going on with me.”
“Like I said, you won’t know that until you tell us what’s happening,” Matt and Sara were looking at her, not waiting for her to spill up, they were just there, keeping her company; maybe that was all Sunset needed to open up with them.
“I’m… from another dimension; I fell here when there was a problem back home and I don’t know if I’ll be able to find my way home,” for a couple of seconds nothing happened before a voice broke the tension.
“Wow, that story is absolutely INKcredible,” the groans and eye-rolling following that remark was all the proof Sunset needed to know those kinds of puns were not new for Sara “so you are from another universe? If it wasn’t so sad it would be amazing!”
“Wait, that’s it? You believe me just like that?”
“Sunset, I just met you, but even from where I was sitting I could see that you looked like a fish out of water, pardon the pun; you kept looking around as if everything was new, you clearly had no idea what a Turf War is even though every single Inkling participates in them and most importantly, you looked at Crusty as if it were a monster or an alien, so yeah, is obvious that you are not from here, so what happened?” and it was that easy, so Sunset told them what happened, or at least a short version, telling them about her studying in a world connected by a portal to her original home, just not the parts that they didn’t need to know, like when she was a bully or Anon-A-Miss.
“Geez, you kid have it rough, but if you need our help you have it,” both Sara and Matt nodded at the words of their friend, before the inkling boy’s eyes lighted up and a big smile appeared on his face.
“Matt, what is it?”
“You know what this means?”
“No, but I have a bad feeling about this,” Sara turned to look at Nami, but she had a hand over her face.
“We can get her first Splattershot!” why did Sunset have a bad feeling about this?