Sunset thought for a moment. "Anywhere's good, so long there isn't any food. Starlight and I stuffed our faces back in Canterlot."
Twilight gave a look of frustration. "That's what you two were doing?"
Starlight smiled sheepishly. "What? We were hungry."
Twilight put her hoof to her head and sighed. "Okay, so that rules out Sweet Apple Acres and Sugarcube Corner..."
"What are our other options?" said Sunset.
"Well, there's the Carousel Boutique which is where Rarity lives and works. There's Sweet Feathers Sanctuary, where Fluttershy is. Then there's Rainbow Dash's house. We can't go to Wonderbolts HQ, because according to Rainbow it'd be 'against protocol'."
"Okay." said Sunset. "Why not Carousel Boutique? I'm curious to see what pony fashion looks like. Maybe I can draw pictures of them for the Rarity of my world." she smiled.
"Yes!" said Spike. "I mean...okay, cool."
Twilight rolled her eyes and teleported all to the front door of Carousel Boutique. Twilight opened the door. "Hi, Rarity!" called out Twilight.
Rarity trotted out of the changing room section of her shop. "Hello, Twilight! Hello, Starlight. Hello, Spike! and Hello..." Rarity blanched a little. "Twilight...is that who I think it is?"
Before Sunset could say anything, Twilight spoke up. "Yes, Rarity. This is Sunset Shimmer."
Sunset waved at Rarity, feeling awkward. "Hi."
"Now before you say anything, Rarity, you should know that she's more than proven herself in my book. I know the initial impression she left on all of us was...less than stellar."
Rarity trotted over to Sunset with a blank expression on her face. She leaned in closely, as if she was scrutinizing her. "So." she said. "What brings you back here after all this time?"
"What do you mean, 'all this time'?" Sunset said, confused. "I've been back a couple of times already and even brought Starlight to the mirror world with me."
Rarity stepped back and looked at Starlight. "Is this true?" she asked.
Starlight smiled. "It is."
"Rarity." said Twilight. "You should also know that I saw Sunset Shimmer reconcile with Princess Celestia. First-hoof."
Rarity's expression softened considerably. "Well why didn't you say so in the first place?" she looked at Sunset with a sincere smile. "Please forgive me if I came off as rude, Sunset Shimmer."
Sunset smiled back. "It's okay, I totally get where you were coming from. As for the reason I'm here..."
----------------------------------------------
"...and then we all got off the train and Twilight teleported us here." finished Sunset.
Rarity stood still, processing all she had heard. "Goodness, darling. That's quite a tale! If I had known it would have been that long, I would have made us all tea." she said. "So...what does it all mean?"
Sunset shrugged. "As far as we can all tell, this book from Clover the Clever was meant for me for some reason. It might be related to my dream." Her eyes widened. "Oh, wait." she took out her drawing from her saddlebag. "What do you think of this?"
Rarity floated her red sewing glasses over her nose and took a good look at the drawing. Slowly, she put her hoof up to her mouth, eyes watering. "You...you drew this?"
"Yeah." said Sunset.
"I...I'm at a loss for words. This is unlike anything I've ever seen." said Rarity.
"I can make copies for everyone when I get back home. I made some for my friends in the mirror world." said Sunset.
"And that's what our mirror counterparts look like?" asked Rarity.
"Not exactly." said Twilight. "The mirror Twilight in this drawing is the Twilight from Sunset's world. My mirror form looks different."
"I must say, the resemblance to us is rather uncanny!" said Rarity.
"That's how I felt when I first visited." said Twilight.
Rarity returned the drawing to Sunset. "Well, that certainly was an inspiring piece of art."
Sunset smiled. "Thank you. Speaking of inspiration...what kind of dresses do you make? Your mirror counterpart and I bounce ideas off of each other, so I was wondering if I could do the same with you."
Rarity's eyes lit up. "Oh, that sounds positively fabulous! Let me show you my designs and tell me what you think!" she said excitedly.
Rarity and Sunset spent what seemed like hours going back and forth about creative arts and the differences and similarities of such between the two worlds.
Twilight beamed. "I can't remember the last time I saw Rarity so excited and happy!"
"Well, at least it's not a stallion she's having fun with." Spike said under his breath.
"What was that, Spike?" asked Twilight.
"Nothing!" said Spike, too quickly to avoid suspicion.
Starlight rolled her eyes. "Hey, Sunset. Anything new with the book yet?"
Sunset took the book out of her saddlebags and thoroughly examined it. "Nope. Nothing yet."
"Well, we do still have to meet the others. Maybe connecting with all of them will cause the book to react." said Spike.
Sunset laughed. "That is the whole point of this journey."
"Besides," said Twilight. "When has friendship ever failed us?"
"Indeed." said Rarity. "I just hope you didn't tempt fate by saying that."
"I find your lack of faith disturbing." said Sunset.
Everyone shot a dirty look at her.
"Sorry. I didn't really mean it, I just felt like referencing a bit of my world's popular culture." she put her hoof to her head. "I hope I'm not getting homesick, I haven't been here that long!" she blushed.
Everyone laughed.
"Well, I think it's time we moved on to our next location." said Twilight.
"Okay." said Sunset. She ran over to Rarity and gave her a hug. "Thank you." she said sincerely.
"Not a problem, darling. Best of luck on your quest!" she said as she returned the hug.
"Goodbye!" said Sunset as she broke the hug and left with Twilight, Spike and Starlight.
Wait. thought Rarity. What was she thanking me for?
Now outside, the four began discussing where to go to next.
"How about Rainbow Dash's place? I'd love to see a house in the clouds." said Sunset.
"Sounds like a plan to me!" said Twilight, and teleported them right in front of Rainbow Dash's house while simultaneously casting a spell to have Spike and Sunset walk on clouds.