//------------------------------//
// Getting Caution Back from the Winds 
// Story: Magical Curiosity 
// by Comma Typer 
//------------------------------//

The classroom was pretty normal. The polished tiles gave off a nice sheen as Sunset Shimmer and Princess Twilight closed the door behind them and locked it. They drew the curtain over the door’s window, and went past the bare chairs and desks to close the windows to the outside.
With all of that done, they stood around, facing each other, footsteps the only sounds they made.
“So, what made you come over here?” Sunset asked, curious. “Though I already have some good guesses.”
Twilight nodded. “I’m sure you got them right.”
Sunset smiled. “What to do with the portal?”
“Yeah.”
A bit of silence between them as Twilight twirled her hair around in anxiety.
“Let’s cut straight to the chase,” she began: “We’re not keeping the portal on like this forever. At this rate, I’d have a ton of ponies asking me the same questions about Equestria being a dream.”
Sunset chuckled at that.
Twilight sighed, fidgeting with her hair. “I can’t just have guards in the library. That’d ruin the purpose of being quietly concentrated while you’re reading and it would also drain precious pony resources when they should be doing actual guard duty. I don’t know if I and Spike can handle brewing them coffee during their patrols!”
Sunset chuckled even more.
“Why are you laughing?!”
Sunset crossed her arms and made another smug smile. “That you’re freaking out a little too much?”
Twilight then caught herself and scratched her arm in embarrassment, blushing a bit.
“So, what’re we gonna do about it?”
“I’m glad you asked,” Twilight said, pointing at her as she ran over to the chalkboard and grabbed some chalk, Sunset following her. “My first thought was taking my journal off the portal and only put it on when you ask, but then I realized I wouldn’t always be there.”
“Then, what’s your next thought?”
Twilight nervously drew a few lines on the chalkboard, letting her anxiety loose. “A guard at the portal who’d be given permission to read the journal for requests to open the portal...but, that’s too risky. What if our guard’s snoopy?”
Sunset nodded. “Yeah, you’re right. What else?”
Twilight put the chalk back to its place, looking down on the table as if something important lay there. “I could perform a forwarding spell which would send a signal to my brain that someone wants to go through the portal, and I’ll send a signal back telling you to wait because I’m going over there!”
Sunset was now bewildered by the idea. “Uh, is that safe?”
Twilight nodded. “We turned ourselves into breezies one time, so a simple signal spell—to be renewed per week—couldn’t be that hard!”
Sunset looked at her weird. “O...K….As long as you don’t hurt yourself, then I’m fine with it.”
“Which means,” Twilight continued on past Sunset’s words, raising a finger and looking at her straight in the eye, “that we’ll be putting my journal down after staying there for...years?”
Sunset laughed a bit at that. “I just found out it’s been quite a while since we first met!”
Twilight chuckled, too, remembering those first few days with each other. Then, in a not-so-serious manner coupled with a manufactured grin: “Sorry for getting off on the wrong hoof so long ago!”
“You mean, ‘on the wrong foot’,” Sunset corrected, putting back a familiar evil smirk. “Better be careful; don’t want them to know you don’t belong here!”
The two of them laughed at that, bringing to mind those less-than-cordial memories of the Fall Formal.
And they were silent for a while again, basking in the awkwardness settling in.
“...anything else, Twilight?” Sunset asked, taking her phone out and checking the time.
Twilight’s nice smile disappeared as she slouched her shoulders. “There is one more thing we got to talk about, and I think we should talk about it as soon as possible unless we have situations like this happen again.”
Sunset’s eyes went wide at that. “I thought we just talked about it.”
Twilight tried to put on a genial smile, becoming jumpy. “That’s to make sure no one accidentally falls into Equestria while they go do their texting and phoning,” imitating the swipes and slides one would do with a phone. “This one is about...”
Sunset’s eye twitched a bit, now impatience settling in for her. “About what?”
Twilight made a small snicker, putting both her hands behind her back. “About my other self and our friends here.”
Sunset took a step back, staring at her. “A-Are you—“
Twilight smiled. “I was able to reschedule lots of things and I was able to land an early meeting with Dragon Lord Ember just this morning so we won’t have to do it tomorrow, which means that the stuff I was supposed to do the day after that I can do tomorrow.”
Sunset pointed at her, trying to form the answer with her tied tongue. “You’re gonna...I’m gonna...we’re gonna—“
“Sleepover!” Twilight yelled.
Then promptly covered her mouth, then laughed to herself at how loud she was.
Sunset crossed her arms again. “Good news, huh?”
Twilight sat on the table, leaving Sunset to stand on the floor. “It’ll only last until Monday, but I’m surprised you’re starting your Floral Week with half a day off.”
“Guess it’s perfect timing?”
“Good thing I won’t be there!” replied Twilight, brandishing a thumbs-up. “I might eat all the flowers!”
And they laughed at that little absurdity.
Twilight hopped out of the table and headed for the door, leading Sunset along. “Oh, and it won’t just be my other self. If you can, bring everyone else—and, maybe next weekend, we’ll all sleepover here.”
“But your classes with your friendship school!” Sunset reminded, unease in her voice.
Twilight giggled. “I have my ways. You’ll find out how good I can re-arrange things on the fly—and if not, there’s always another week.”
“Their education, Twilight,” Sunset said in a condescending accent, “their education….”
Twilight creaked the door open. “I’m their principal! I know what to do with their education!”



“...so, the same rules?” Starlight asked as she and Fluttershy sat on the pavement with Luna, all of them holding cards and hiding their values and suits from each other, resting under the night sky. They were all sitting around a bag of candy which substituted for money.
Fluttershy scratched her head as she racked her thoughts. “Uh...maybe? I mean, how do you even hold cards with hooves?”
“With magic!” Starlight said, pointing to the horn on her head.
Except there was none.
“Whoops! Almost forgot that I’m here.”
Luna made a small smile at that, remembering where Starlight was really from.
Starlight inhaled much of the cold fresh air which was helped by the flowers present by the path. “It’s just...I didn’t know you like gambling, Fluttershy. Yeah, I kinda’ guess Luna does that because, you know, nightlife kind of pony—“
“Do you presume that the night is of a less upright standing than the day?” Luna cut in, feeling insulted.
“Uh, n-no!” Starlight said, backing away a bit. “I was, just...um, the night is very beautiful, Princess—ah, Vice Principal Luna, and I’m just saying that poker fits your, uh, personality very well!”
Luna raised a brow, not amused.
In an attempt to deflect the attention away from her, Starlight turned to Fluttershy. “But, Fluttershy, you’re the kindest person I’ve ever met here because...well, Element of Kindness and all, and yet you play poker?”
“It’s not for big money,” Fluttershy answered, checking her own cards again. “Only penny ante, and some of my winnings go to the animal shelter.”
“You even know the lingo!” Starlight remarked. “Our Fluttershy knows nothing about gambling!”
“Or does she?” Luna asked, looking intently at Starlight and then at the statue. “Since both Fluttershies are quite similar with their hobbies and in how they act, it is not a far cry to assume that your Fluttershy also plays poker but in secret.”
Starlight’s eye twitched at that. “Uh….”
“I and Luna are regular players,” Fluttershy spoke up, “though we only use chips, never our real money...and we never cash in the chips. That’s one of our rules in The Canterlot Society of Poker.”
“The Canterlot Society of Poker?!” Starlight repeated in more shock. “But, you’re a student, Luna’s a principal—“
“Vice Principal,” Luna corrected.
Starlight smacked herself on the head. “Who else is in the club?”
Fluttershy smiled, enumerating the following with her fingers: “There’s Cut Card, Post Oak, Snowsnap...Juniper Montage as well plus Sugarcoat and Sunny Flare from Crystal Prep—Big Mac, too. He’s the most successful out of us all because he currently has ten thousand in chips.”
Starlight, unable to deal with this new information, dropped her cards and let them fall to the floor, some of them face-up. “That’s...nice to know…?”
The doors opened. Sunset and Twilight walked down the steps to the pavement, the former holding up her journal in the air.
“Hey, everyone!” Twilight said, almost shouting. “We found a way to prevent all these accidents!”
Then, those three swept their cards and candies back into Fluttershy’s bag and stood up.
Luna nodded, wearing her reserved composure. “That is good to hear. How will it be done?”
“We’re going to turn off the portal and only turn it on when absolutely necessary,” was Twilight’s response, looking up to Luna.
Sunset nudged Twilight on the shoulder, giving her a knowing smirk.
Twilight chuckled, having caught the signal. “Or, when there are, um, planned activities that span both worlds.”
Fluttershy shuddered in place. “I-I’m not coming along, am I?”
“That depends,” Sunset answered, walking to Fluttershy. “If we’re having a sleepover in Equestria, then that can be arranged.”
“Oh, I d-don’t know about that.” Fluttershy stretched her hair gently as she let the thought sink in. “Mom and Dad—and Zephyr, hopefully—can handle the animals since they’re so well-behaved, but I don’t know about actually being a pony.”
“I’ll teach if you’re going,” Sunset said, encouraging her with some pats on the shoulder. “You already know how to use your wings; what’s left is...everything else!”
She nodded, not wanting to think about “everything else” just yet.
Starlight went to Fluttershy, too, and added her hand to the shoulder. “Yeah! That sounds like a good idea! You should totally come over soon!”
Twilight adjusted her thick bow tie. “You mean the sleepover?”
“Pfft!” Starlight threw her hand about in disdain. “The sleepover’s fine, but I was thinking about how we are going to be hosts, teaching them how life in Equestria goes.”
The princess groaned.
Luna looked upon all of them, sporting a firm expression like before. “Will you assure us that you will not miss your classes in the event of such inter-dimensional visits?”
“Don’t worry about us!” Sunset said, pointing at herself. “We know how to take care of yourselves!”
Luna pursed her lips. “Taking care of yourselves in a world filled with strange magic does not bode well to my ears.”
Twilight smiled and stepped in for Sunset. “We’ll all take care of them!” Then, turning to Starlight: “Come with me; I think you’ve had more than a welcoming stay here.”
Starlight smiled at that, then looked at everyone else. “So, this is farewell!”
And so everyone said their goodbyes as Twilight and Starlight walked through the portal in a white flash and disappeared.



Sunset opened her journal as she walked, trying to see if Twilight wrote anything to her since she went back.
Nothing new.
She put the journal in her bag as she walked down the busy streets of Friday night. Several cars lie stuck in heavy traffic as young pedestrians walked or ran around to the next relevant place to celebrate the fresh weekend in. Sunset then passed by the newly-built karaoke bar from which she heard the horrible off-key attempts at singing. She covered her ears, though that did not prevail. She considered putting her headphones on, but with her house quite near, she decided to block the sounds with her hands until she entered her home.
With that done, she opened the door and closed it. The lock gave a weird jangle, but she shrugged her shoulders, dismissing it. Not bothering to turn on the lights and only relying on the moonlight from the open windows, she walked through her living room, up the stairs without falling to a painful injury, and reached her bed. She sat down on it and checked her phone.
First, she checked her normal messages. There, she read Pinkie’s request for teaching lessons on how to make green tea cake. Sunset, it’ll be a treat to teach you how to be teariffic!
Sunset chuckled at that. Let’s see. Aren’t we going to the observatory tomorrow?
She set that thread aside and went on to the next person to address which was, surprisingly enough, Sugarcoat who, according to her picture, wore a pair of glasses and a cynical scowl. I’ve heard Fluttershy spilled the beans on our secret society to some pony folk.
Sunset gulped. You mean Starlight?
A few seconds, waiting a bit. Then: Yes, whatever beanie-girl’s name is.
Sunset rolled her eyes. What about it?
A few more seconds. That’s good. If she is decent enough to compete with us, she can come over. You know the time and place.
Sunset smiled. Good. Thanks!
Finally, she smiled even more at who was next to talk to: Lyra. Sunset, I can’t thank you enough with how you and Twilight saved us from Equestria! I thought we were doomed to stay there forever!
Sunset tapped her response: It’s no big deal. You weren’t targeted by a manticore, so there’s that. :)
With that, she checked the rest of her apps. Her SnapGap feed was overloaded with Pinkie’s overwhelming number of photos of her making green tea cake while having Twilight Sparkle assisting in a baseball uniform. In one of those pictures, Rainbow Dash was pouring iced coffee over Pinkie’s head as she was mixing the batter.
“Wish I could go, too,” she whispered to herself, wondering what kind of mischief they’ve gotten themselves into.
Then, she glanced at her cabinet. “Oh. Gotta make sure my camera’s charged up for Sunday.”
Sunset got up from her bed and went there, opened the cabinet and took out the camera’s plastic bag.
The empty plastic bag.
Sunset’s expression was that of dread taking over her, sweat on her forehead and blood pressure rising. “Where’s my camera?!”