Twilight took the bus to school the next day, having spent the rest of Sunday thinking about the revelation Sunset had shown her. She was still having a hard time believing it, but after using an enchanted book herself, she couldn’t just dismiss it as a lie or trick.
She had spend a couple of hours re-checking some her data at home on the mysterious energy project, and had re-confirmed that nothing made sense about it. So magic really did seem to be as good an answer as anything.
When she approached the front entrance of Crystal Prep, she heard a voice call out to her.
“Hey, Twilight!”
Twilight looked up to see Sunset approach from beside the entrance door. Sunset pulled Twilight into a hug when she got close. Twilight noticed this had become a regular greeting from her fiery haired friend recently.
“How’re you holding up?” Sunset asked when she broke the hug.
“Well enough, I guess. I’m still processing all of it, I think.”
Sunset nodded sympathetically. “Yeah, I know it’s a lot to take in. Especially since I just kinda dropped it all on you like I did.” She rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly.
“So, uhm…” Twilight started, glancing over to where Sunset had been standing. “Were you waiting for me out here?”
“Well, yeah. I said I was gonna walk you to your classes, right?” Sunset replied.
Twilight thought back to last Friday. “Yeah, you did, didn’t you?” She smiled as Sunset led her inside.
“What’s your first class today?” Sunset asked.
“Math”
“Hmm. Mine’s Physics. They’re pretty close to each other, right?” Sunset was still learning the school layout it seemed. Not to surprising since she hadn’t even been here a week.
“Yes they are! They’re even in the same hallway.” Twilight replied encouragingly.
Classes went by smoothly. There was nothing like a good classroom lecture to take Twilight’s mind off of anything. Even the existence of magic and parallel dimensions, though she did briefly wonder whether maths, physics and the like was the same over there. She could ask Sunset later.
Twilight wished she had more classes with Sunset. As it was, they only shared biology and P.E. Maybe she could ask Cadance to get them more classes together for next semester. Heck, maybe Cadance would do that even without her asking, she had been the one to introduce them after all. She didn’t make a habit of taking advantage of her position as Dean, but this seemed like the kind of thing she’d make an exception for.
A couple of hours later, Twilight’s second class finished, the rest of the students filed out, and she ended up sitting in an empty classroom, waiting for Sunset to come pick her up. They had a shared biology class together next, followed by lunch.
She looked up when she heard someone running into the classroom.
“Sorry I’m late. Teacher decided to keep us a couple of minutes extra to because someone was being a dick in class.” Sunset said, annoyance clear in her voice.
Twilight gasped. “Sunset!” She chided.
“Oh, sorry.” Sunset had the good grace to look ashamed. “I forgot you didn’t like curse words.”
Twilight blushed. “I-It’s fine. I know I’m a little over sensitive to them, it’s just how my parents raised me, I guess.”
“Right. Well, come on. We don’t want to be late for bio.” Sunset indicated for Twilight to follow her out into the hall.
They got to their biology class just in time before the class started, and took their seats next to each other, near the front of the class.
Once the teacher got into his lecture, Twilight couldn’t resist asking Sunset a few questions.
“Hey, Sunset,” she whispered. “Are the laws of physics the same in Equestria?”
Sunset looked up, frowning in thought. “I think so. Except we have some magic that can kinda mess with them a bit.”
“Mess with them how?” Twilight asked, her curiosity peaked.
“Well, you know how the earth revolves around the sun? And the sun and moon just sorta do their own thing here?” Sunset asked, prompting a tentative nod from Twilight. “Yeah… they don’t do that in Equestria. We actually have demigod-like beings there that control the heavens with their magic.”
Twilight stared.
She’s making a joke. She has to be. I should just wait patiently for the punchline that is definitely coming. Any second now.
Sunset stared back. “Uhm, Twilight. Are you okay?”
“Uh, yeah,” Twilight nodded dumbly, slowly realizing that Sunset apparently hadn’t been joking.
Sunset gave her a reassuring smile, then went back to taking down notes from the lesson.
Meanwhile, Twilight decided to file that feat of impossibility away to examine — and probably ask many, many more questions about — later, and set her focus back on the class as well.
After biology, Sunset and Twilight went to the cafeteria for lunch. Twilight preferred to eat in her lab, but Sunset wanted to meet up with Neon. Which, Twilight conceded, was fair. Neon hadn’t arrived in the cafeteria yet, so they took their seats at an empty table.
They took out their respective lunch boxes and started eating, all the while casting occasional smug looks at the fairly lengthy line for the cafeteria food.
“I noticed you were keeping up pretty well in bio.” Twilight said. “Do you think you’re all caught up in it then?”
Sunset nodded while she swallowed her bite. “Yep! I did a bit of extra studying over the weekend. Even got Mom to help me with some of it.” She chuckled slightly. “I probably should have gotten her help much sooner to be honest.”
Twilight gave a half hearted laugh as well, it wasn’t quite genuine. “Uhm… does that mean we’re not gonna h-hang out after school?” She asked, trying to hide the worry in her voice.
Sunset gave her an odd look. “Well, your lab is pretty cool. Plus I’m kinda curious to see some of those projects you’ve told me about. And I could probably help you out with one of them in particular.” She smirked and nudged Twilight’s shoulder.
Twilight smiled, feeling thoroughly reassured, then went back to her food.
Just as Twilight was about to finish, she was startled by someone slamming their hands on the table. She looked up to see Indigo glaring at them.
Twilight cowered, her hand seeking out Sunset’s arm under the table for safety.
“What do you think you’re doing, Bacon Hair?” Indigo spat, directing her venomous words at Sunset.
Sunset, didn’t even flinch. She took one more bite of her salad, then spoke, “I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about, Goggles.” she said in a calm voice, though her eyes seemed to be challenging Indigo.
“Neon is off limits!” Indigo hissed, keeping her voice low. “If I see you talking to him again, I’ll beat you to a pulp!”
Sunset raised herself out of her seat, bringing her eyes level with Indigo’s.
“You’re certainly welcome to try,” she grinned at the bully, inviting her to make a move.
Twilight, no longer able to hold onto her proverbial life line, sunk further into her seat. The tension rose to a fever pitch.
Sunset and Indigo kept staring at each other, neither of them blinking, neither of them backing down or making any move.
After a few tense moments, a new voice joined in.
“Hey, Sunset.” Twilight looked up to see Neon walking towards them. “You, uh… you okay?”
Indigo broke first and snapped her head to look at Neon. “Neon! Ah… yeah, we’re just… talking.”
Sunset smirked at Indigo, then turned her attention to her boyfriend. “It’s sweet of you to worry, Neon. But I’ve got this.”
Indigo shuffled her feet, glancing back and forth between Neon and Sunset. “I have to go.” She suddenly turned and went back to her own table.
Sunset chuckled darkly and sat back down. “That was easier than I expected.”
Neon sat down opposite Sunset. “Was she giving Twilight trouble again?” he asked.
Sunset shrugged, poking her salad with her fork. “Something like that.”
The three of them chatted away the rest of the lunch break. Twilight did her best to ignore the bouts of jealousy in favor of simply having a good time with friends. Not to say that it was a complete success, but she did her best anyway.
Before long, the bell rang and Twilight and Sunset went off to P.E. together, saying goodbye to Neon.
“So, I’ll pick you up tonight, Sunset? Maybe eight o’clock?” Neon said. Twilight had to fight a frown trying to overtake her face. Apparently the two lovebirds had a date.
Sunset hesitated for a brief moment. “Oh. Yeah, eight sounds good.” She waved at Neon, then left the cafeteria with Twilight.
Twilight had noticed that P.E. wasn’t nearly as bad when she had Sunset with her. Today was running again. Just running. For, like, almost an entire hour. Twilight was, unsurprisingly, not all that pleased.
“Why… does… the coach… hate me?” Twilight said between her panting. There were only a few minutes left on the clock, or so Twilight hoped. Sunset had, despite being in better shape, stayed with Twilight the whole time.
“I’m sure the coach doesn’t hate you Twi. At least not you personally, though I do wonder if all coaches secretly hate the nerdy kids.” Sunset frowned in thought. Twilight honestly couldn’t tell if she was joking or not.
“Honestly though,” Sunset continued. Twilight noticed she didn’t have any trouble talking despite the fact she had been running next to her the whole time. “You do kinda need the exercise.”
Twilight glared at her. “I don’t… need stamina… to run… experiments.” She hadn’t noticed the pun until it was already out there. She decided to just go with it and added a playful wink.
Sunset laughed. “True, I guess I can’t argue with that.”
In the changing rooms after class, Twilight took her glasses off first and adamantly avoided looking anywhere below head height. She was starting to, maybe, get a little used to being around a naked Sunset. Maybe. Though it did still feel massively awkward for her, and she wondered if that was obvious to anyone. But, when that thought only made her feel even more awkward, she decided to just not think about it anymore.
Sunset walked Twilight to her last two classes of the day, then they made their way to Twilight’s lab to hang out after their classes.
“Why would you take art class, though?” Twilight asked. Sunset had just come from said class, and was happy chatting about a painting she had just finished. “I mean, there are so many other classes you could have picked.”
Sunset folded her arms and gave Twilight a smirk. “Why did you take violin lessons when you could have spent that time on something else?”
They both stopped in front of Twilight’s lab. Twilight pulled out her key, then said, “well, you got me there I guess… But still, it’s different in school. School is for learning sciences!” She argued.
Sunset chuckled. “Actually, that’s only one part of school. In fact, one of the biggest parts of going to school is to make friends, and learn about social interactions.”
Twilight unlocked the door, stepping aside to let Sunset in first. “But there aren’t any classes on friendship, that would be ridiculous!”
Sunset booped the agitated girl’s nose with her finger on the way into the lab. “You’re not supposed to learn those things from the teachers, Twi.” Collapsing in the desk chair and putting her hands behind her head, Sunset continued. “The students are meant to learn that from each other.”
Twilight blushed. That seemed pretty obvious once it was spelled out like that. “Oh… right.”
“Anyway,” Sunset pulled them back on-topic,” I took art class because I like drawing. I wanted to show you a picture I took of my painting.” She took out her phone and started tapping on it.
Twilight just watched, feeling a little sheepish for insulting something that, she now realized, clearly meant something to Sunset. She wondered if she should apologize, but before she could, Sunset handed her the phone.
The painting in the picture depicted a beautiful landscape. It was a sunset over a large meadow. On the right there was a mountain, tall and thin — by mountain standards — and on the side of the mountain was a city with tall white spires, decorated with purple and gold. Waterfalls cascaded from the city and down the length of the mountain. On the left, in the foreground, there was a pony on a small hill, looking out over the vast expanse of the meadow before them.
“Woah,” Twilight said, after a few moments. “I can see why you took art class now.”
Sunset smiled at her. “That’s where I grew up,” she said in a soft voice.
Twilight looked up at her. “You mean… this is Equestria?”
Sunset nodded. “The city on the mountain, that’s Equestria’s version of Canterlot. That’s where I lived.”
Twilight could hardly believe it, the whole painting looked like an illustration straight from a fantasy book. To think that it was real, even in some parallel dimension? It was insane.
“It looks like a fairy tale.” Twilight whispered, her eyes drawn back to the picture.
Sunset chuckled. “It kinda does, doesn’t it?” She scooted herself a little closer. “Thanks for letting me share all this with you, and not, you know… freaking out about it.”
Twilight looked up. “Can I ask you something?” Sunset nodded, smiling wide. “I figure you haven’t told Neon any of this. Are you going to?”
Sunset sighed and looked away. “I don’t think so. I’m having fun with him, sure. But I don’t really feel that deep connection, the kind you get with a best friend or a close family member, you know?” Twilight thought she saw a faint blush on Sunset. “The kind I feel with Mom and… with you.”
Twilight felt a blush of her own. “I… I’m really glad you feel that way.”
Sunset scooted closer still, then grabbed Twilight in a quick hug.
“Could I ever go there?” Twilight asked tentatively.
“You want to… come with me to Equestria?” Sunset asked.
Twilight nodded. “Not right now, but someday, once I’ve had a chance to wrap my head around all this.” She half-giggled. “Assuming it would be safe to do,” she added.
Sunset coughed into her hand. “In theory, it would be safe. But the portal between the worlds is ancient, so we don’t know everything about how it works or why it does certain things.”
“That’s not very reassuring.” Twilight said.
“Don’t worry! The main thing we haven’t figured out yet is why stuff like, ‘why does it give us clothes when we cross,’ or ‘why am I eight years younger here than in Equestria’.” Sunset waved her hand in a vague motion.
“Uhm,” Twilight started. “What do you mean ‘eight years younger here’?”
Sunset froze. “Oh, uhm… that’s something I was gonna tell you in a much smoother way, actually.” She rubbed the back of her neck abashedly. “I’m actually twenty five years old in Equestria, even though I’m seventeen here. Or somewhere around seventeen anyway, I kinda just had to guess on that one. Princess Twilight was also noticeably younger when she came here. And we haven’t actually brought anyone who was originally from earth over to Equestria to see if it’s the same that way around.”
“You’re twenty five years old!?” Twilight exclaimed. “And you have no idea why the portal does that?”
“Well, Princess Twilight is trying to figure it out, and we do have an idea as to why… but we aren’t a hundred percent sure.”
“Okay. Uhm, in that case, I’m going to have to change my request to ‘Can you take me to Equestria someday, if it’s safe’.”
Sunset nodded. “That’s totally fair, and I promise I’ll tell you everything you need to know before we go. If you decide to come, I mean.”
After a brief silence, Twilight started giggling.
“What?” Sunset asked.
“Cadance always said I got along better with people who were older than me. I guess that’s still the case now, huh?”
Sunset joined in the laughter.
After the laughter died down, Sunset asked, “So, did you want me to help you with the Magic Project?”
Twilight huffed. “It’s not called the ‘Magic Project.’ That’s a terrible name… even if it is accurate.”
Twilight showed Sunset a little of what she had been struggling with for months now, but they ended up spending most of the time chatting and having fun, until Cadance knocked on the door to give Twilight a ride home.
Late that night, Twilight was lying in bed and sending off text after text to her apparently magical friend. The night before, she had been trying to wrap her head around the mere existence of another world. Now that she had more or less accepted it, her mind was buzzing with questions about what it was like. Questions which she was sending Sunset as fast as they came to her mind.
How advanced is the technology in Equestria?
How did magic influence the development of technology, society and the economy?
Are there spells to create food? Is there world hunger there?
Does everyone there have magic or is it exclusive somehow?
Is there a class system based on who has magic, or how powerful their magic is?
Sunset would occasionally answer a few of the questions in between bursts of new ones. Until she sent what basically amounted to a plea for mercy.
Twilight, please. I need to sleep. Can you just write these questions on a piece of paper or something and ask me tomorrow?
Twilight, feeling a little sheepish for letting herself get overexcited again, promptly apologized.
Sorry. I’ll just go and do that. Good night, Sunset.
Once she had filled out a few pages in her notebook, Twilight was starting to have trouble keeping her eyes open, and eventually fell asleep.
The next morning, Twilight made good use of that list. During her first class of the day — biology — which she shared with Sunset, she snuck in as many questions to her as she could while still keeping one eye on the teacher. Sunset in turn, had to ask Twilight a few questions about the lesson itself because of the constant distractions.
The next class, which she did not share with Sunset, passed much too slow for Twilight’s liking and, again, she found herself wishing she had more classes with her friend. At the end of the class, Sunset showed up to walk Twilight to their next class, P.E.
Twilight was fairly sure she didn’t need the protection from Indigo. The bully hadn’t actually bothered her since Sunset first stood up to her. Not that Twilight would complain about spending more time with Sunset.
“Ready to go?” Sunset asked.
“Of course. I even prepared which questions to ask first on the way to the gym building,” Twilight responded cheerfully.
Sunset rolled her eyes. “Of course you did. Well, ask away then my curious little bookworm.”
They walked through the halls, and despite Sunset’s teasing encouragement, Twilight decided to hold off on the questions while they were surrounded by other students. Sunset had never actually asked her to keep all this a secret, but she just assumed it went without saying.
Once they had gotten their gym clothes and were outside, making their way to the gym building, Twilight continued with the barrage of questions.
“You said there were demigods who controlled the sun and moon, right?” Sunset nodded. “Ok, just gimme a second to let that sink in again… So, what’s the calendar like? If they can control it, surely it isn’t the same mess we have here right?”
Sunset laughed. “Yeah, that was one of the things that confused me when I first got here. The Equestrian calendar is a lot simpler then Earth’s calendar. We have four seasons in a year, ten weeks in a season and ten days in a week. The days are twenty-four hours long exactly, so we don’t have leap years.”
Twilight quickly ran the math through her head. “So that’s four hundred days in a year? And each season is exactly a hundred days, too?” A new thought hit her and she stopped in her tracks. “Hang on, do you have demigods to control the seasons, too?”
Sunset turned to her friend and giggling at her incredulity. “No, we use more mundane magic to control the weather and seasons. It’s usually a big community effort with its own festivals and holidays like Winter Wrap Up and such.”
Twilight gaped at her. ‘More mundane magic,’ was a very strange phrase to hear. She shook her head, “okay, that’s really weird. Let’s move on to something else for now.”
Sunset shrugged and continued walking. “Alright, what else do you want to know?”
“Does Equestria have the same kind of animals as earth? I remember there was a pony in that painting you made.”
Sunset chuckled sheepishly. “Well, that’s actually something I wanted to tell you about.”
Before she could expand on that topic, a figure walked out from behind a tree in front of them.
Twilight quickly recognized her as Indigo. And she looked very unhappy. Before she even realized what she was doing, Twilight had hid herself partially behind Sunset, peeking over the much braver girl’s shoulder.
“Well, well. What do we have here,” Indigo said in a mocking tone. “A frightened little nerd and an overconfident slut who doesn’t know when to quit.”
Sunset folded her arms in front of her. “What do you want now, Indigo?” she asked, sounding almost bored. “We were kind of in the middle of something.”
Indigo stomped her way towards them, causing Twilight to cower even more.
“Don’t worry, Twilight, “Sunset whispered to her. “We’ll be fine, okay?”
Turning back to the enraged Indigo, Sunset switched on her ‘bully’ voice she had used on Indigo before. “One more step and I’ll-”
Wham
Sunset hunched over, clutching her stomach.
Twilight backed up a few steps, tripping and falling into the snow. “Sunset!”
Before Sunset could recover, Indigo grabbed Sunset’s head and slammed it into her knee, then let the redhead fall to her side, into the snow. Twilight flinched at the unpleasant sound Sunset’s nose had made.
Panicking, Twilight fumbled her phone out of her pocket. Luckily, Indigo didn’t seem to be paying her any attention yet. Twilight was briefly grateful that her contacts list was so short, allowing her to quickly find and tap Cadance’s icon.
Indigo, meanwhile was kicking Sunset while she was down. The vulnerable teenager used her arms to block as much as she could, but even then Twilight could hear her grunting in pain with each blow.
“You just couldn’t quit while you were ahead, could you?” The bully asked rhetorically. “You may have been some bigshot in your old school, but here you’re just a pathetic slut who’s way in over her head!”
Twilight was in tears when she finally heard Cadance’s voice. “Hello?”
“Cadance! We need help. Sunset’s being attacked in the yard behind the school!” She nearly screamed the words. This had the side effect of grabbing Indigo’s attention and the intimidating athlete started stalking over to Twilight.
“What? Is she okay?” Cadance asked, frantic. Twilight could hear that she was already moving.
“She’s really hurt. Please hurry!” Twilight pleaded. She tried to crawl away from Indigo, but there was no way she could escape. She dropped the phone, staring at the bully who was now crouching over her.
“You sneaky little rat. This was supposed to be easy, but you just had to complicate things.” Indigo snarled before getting up and legging it away. Twilight could hear footsteps coming from Crystal Prep’s main building, and Cadance’s voice . Luckily, the Dean’s office was very close to the staff entrance at the back of the school.
Twilight stood up and ran over to Sunset. “Sunset! Are you okay? Do you need an ambulance?”
Sunset’s only answer was a groan as Twilight gently rolled her onto her back. She had a bloody nose, and a bruise forming on her cheek.
Cadance sat down in the snow next to her. “Who did this?” she asked.
“Indigo,” Twilight answered simply. “We need to get Sunset to the nurse. Can you help us?”
Cadance and Twilight helped Sunset to her feet.
Sunset leaned on Twilight as they slowly followed Cadance to the school’s staff entrance.
It took a few minutes to get Sunset to the nurse’s office. Twilight and Cadance stood off to the side while the nurse examined Sunset.
“Your nose isn’t broken, thankfully. It’s just swelling a bit. Put some ice on it when you get home.” She said with a cold efficiency.
“Apart from that, you just need bed rest, and you should be fine in a day or two. I’ll let your teachers know you’re taking the rest of the day off,” she added.
“Okay. Thanks,” Sunset said.
Twilight helped her down from the examination bed, and two of them followed Cadance out to the hall.
“Can you give us a ride to her place?” Twilight asked the older woman.
Cadance nodded. “Of course.”
Twilight reached into her pocket, only to realize she had forgotten something. “Oh, I left my phone outside. Can you take her to your car while I go get it?”
Cadance nodded, and put and arm around Sunset. “We’ll meet you in the parking lot.”
Twilight ran outside to retrieved her phone from the snow, then ran back to the parking lot where Cadance had just finished helping Sunset into the backseat.
Twilight sat down next to her friend in the backseat while Cadance took the driver’s seat.
“Cadance, can you get me excused from the rest of my classes today, too?” Twilight asked.
Sunset looked at her. “You’re going to miss your classes?” she asked in a gruff voice.
Twilight nodded. “I want to make sure you’re okay. Your Mom’s still at work, right?”
Sunset nodded. “She could probably take the afternoon off. But I think I’d feel better with you there just in case.” She smiled weakly. It didn’t really look the same with her face bruised and covered in bandages like that.
Twilight smiled in return. “How are you doing? Does it hurt much?”
Sunset nodded weakly. “A little, yeah.”
“Don’t worry,” Cadance called from the driver’s seat. “We’ll be at your place in a couple of minutes.”