"Twilight, apologizing to the school is not going to make everyone suddenly forgive me for being such a jerk to them in the past," said Sunset.
"I know," said Twilight, "but it would be an excellent first step. Also, trust me when I tell you that if you apologize to everyone, some of the guilt that you are feeling should go away."
"How can you be so sure?" asked Sunset skeptically, still lying on the floor. "Right now, I feel like it would be a pretty good idea to just go home and stay there forever."
"If you run away, the guilt will follow you wherever you go. If you apologize to everyone, you can confront that guilt directly. Unfortunately, you can't change your past, so only some of the guilt will go away, but you can face it and tell it to take a hike. You don't have to let it control you."
Sunset sighed. "You're right. If I run away, I will be miserable for the rest of my life. But apologizing to the entire student body could take a while. There are hundreds of students at this school."
"How did you manage to manipulate hundreds of students into fearing you in the first place?" asked Twilight. "I mean, strictly from a practical point of view, I don't see how you could have the time to deal with everyone. We already figured out that you were using emails and text messages to drive people apart."
Sunset winced. "You found out about that, did you? Well, if you are wondering how I made time to send emails and texts to everyone at school, I didn't. Your four friends here plus Pinkie Pie were sort of special. Most of them are pretty prominent social figures in this school, which made them primary targets. Rainbow Dash is the captain of the Wondercolts. Pinkie Pie is the head of the party planning committee. Rarity is an enterprising business woman that sells Wondercolt outfits sanctioned by the principals. Er, I also sort of intimidated her into making my gown for the previous fall formal. Which I really am sorry about, Rarity. For what it's worth, it really was exquisite, even though you didn't like me, for perfectly good reasons."
"Well..." says Rarity, feigning hesitation. "Since your apology is so heartfelt... you are forgiven, Sunset."
"Oh, and Spike?" continued Sunset.
"Yeah?" said Spike uncertainly. "I thought you might have forgotten that I'm here at all, actually."
"Why would I forget about Twilight's talking dog? That's not normal in this world. I also wanted to apologize to you for threatening to have you taken away."
"You said it wasn't a threat."
"You would have been a fool to believe it."
"I guess that's true. But, well, you seem nice now, so I can forgive you too."
Sunset furrowed her brows, and then put her hands to the floor and pushed herself upright into a sitting position.
"Huh. All of that just sort of came out. That was easier than I thought it would be. I still feel awful though. But, back to what I was saying. Those three were the primary targets because of their prominence. Applejack and Fluttershy were not as essential to suppress, but I targeted them anyway because of their friendships with the other three. But most of the students at CHS were not targeted specifically. In order to control most everyone else, it was mostly a matter of just being a jerk to everyone who happened to be around me. And also, I have a blog that I use- well, used to spread rumors around the school, and blackmail if I felt it necessary. People hate me, but I still have almost the entire school checking on that blog, like they can't stand not knowing what the latest drama is. I'm a monster."
There was a moment of silence.
"Umm... what's a blog?" asked Twilight awkwardly.
Sunset facepalmed.
"It's just a thing you can make on the internet that lets you talk about whatever you want to talk about and other people can find it and read it."
"Oh. I guess that's simple enough."
"So, yeah. That's what I've spent most of the last three years doing. Such a waste of time. No, worse than a waste, I would have been better off doing literally nothing."
"Well, it is probably going to take some work to make amends to everyone, but I don't believe that you should do it alone. Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy... would you be willing to help her?"
"I don't need your pity help," Sunset grumbled.
"I don't want them to help you because we pity you!" Twilight exclaimed. "I want them to help you because I think you have genuinely changed into someone worth being friends with, if they are willing to give you a chance!"
"Well, friendship is a thing that she'll have to earn," said Applejack. And then her expression softened. "But, in the meantime, ah'll at least be willing to give her that chance."
There were murmurs of agreement from the others.
"I..." Sunset stammered, and then began again. "I guess I'm grateful, but you do realize that I am probably really bad at the whole friend thing. I don't have a lot of practice, just a lot of practice at being the exact opposite of a friend. Heck, I don't even have anything in common with any of you. I have more in common with Twilight here than any of you, and that is just because we both studied high magic under Princess Celestia."
Rarity shook her head. "Such statement will never cease to be surreal."
"I think we should get out of... this place," said Sunset, standing up. "This place gives me the creeps. I only came here because I wanted to get away from everyone, but... well, it turns out that talking to you all actually kind of helps."
"Why does this place frighten you?" asked Twilight. "Admittedly, it doesn't spatially make sense, but it was created by Discord."
"I'll tell you what happened later. It's too weird for me to talk about right now. Let's just... go outside or something."
Sunset stood up and pushed the door open and lead the way into Discord's classroom.
"You know," said Rainbow Dash, rubbing the back of her head. "I do know that you get ridiculously good grades on pretty much everything. So between all of the social media and the tons studying that you must have done to get grades that good, did you even have time for anything else?"
"I barely had to study anything, ever," said Sunset in deadpan.
"What?!" cried Rainbow. "How?"
"Because I was already knew almost everything. I was learning calculus back in Equestria when I finally left and came here. In the body of a child. All I had to do was study the subtle differences between Equestrian and human teachings. Oh, and history. I had to study all of human history because I obviously knew none of it at first. And some of the science stuff too. Stuff in this universe actually works very different from Equestria if you look closely."
"Well," said Rainbow thoughtfully, "then if you didn't have to study that much, what do you even do with your spare time, aside from... you know, manipulating relationships?"
"In case I haven't made it clear by now, that is stopping immediately. But, other than that... I sometimes spend my time studying the differences in the laws of nature here from Equestria."
"Well, that sounds boring," said Rainbow.
"Rainbow," said Rarity in frustration. "I know that you restrain yourself from making such comments concerning my career. Please extend Sunset the same courtesy. We are trying to be friends now."
"Well, one simple difference is that in Equestria, gravity drops in strength in a linear fashion until it becomes non-existant. But in this world, it drops in strength in an inverse square curve, which means that everything in this world is gravitationally attracted to every other thing, even if only barely. Even things across the universe from one another."
"Yer saying that gravity has a limited range in your world?" said Applejack. "That's awfully strange."
"Well anyway," Sunset continued, "as a consequence, planetary bodies don't actually move through space in our world without someone forcing it to with magic. In this world, planets move through space autonomously in orbits. I can't believe that a bunch of titan balls hurling through space without any sentient driving force doesn't result in everything being sucked into the sun, but against my expectations, the math actually works out. By some miracle, everything is balanced in exactly the right way that the planets do not plummet into the sun or fly off into deep space, they stay at approximately the same distance from the sun for billions of years."
"You're right," said Twilight skeptically. "That does sound very far fetched."
"I swear to you, that's how things work here."
"Yeah," said Rainbow Dash. "But you do realize that entire planets being controlled by magic is even more ridiculous?"
"No it isn't!" insisted Spike. "It makes way more sense!"
"All three of you think that that is normal?" asked Rainbow in disbelief. "Whatever... It's not like I actually care."
"Actually," said Sunset, stopping in the hallway and turning around and looking Rainbow in the eye , "I think I know of at least one little fact that should interest even you. It's about Rainbows."
"Rainbows?" asked Rainbow Dash suspiciously, but slightly intrigued just the same.
"Yep," Sunset continued, turning back around and walking forward again. "In Equestria, rainbows are corporeal."
"Say what now?" asked Rainbow in confusion.
Sunset shook her head in frustration. "What I mean is that in Equestria, rainbows are made out of a liquid that you can touch and feel."
"What?" said Rainbow in confusion. "How the heck does that even work? Is she for real?" This final question was directed toward Twilight.
"Um, yes, she is telling the truth," said Twilight. "But your specifying that rainbows are corporeal in Equestria implies that they are incorporeal here. Is that true?"
Sunset actually smiled a bit. "Yep. Rainbows here are made out of light."
Twilight stared at Sunset for a moment in surprise.
"What? Made of light, or they just emit light? Because there is magic in Equestria that does emit rainbow colors, but it comes from magic, which is mostly non-existent here."
"There is no magic, they are essentially made out of light, if you say that they are 'made of' anything at all. Colors here work somehow differently than in Equestria," Sunset explained, her smile increasing a little. "In this world, white light is actually a combination of every color in the visible spectrum. When you shine light through something transparent, different colors get bent at slightly different angles, separating the colors that make up the white light into a rainbow literally made of light. There are glass structures that are designed specifically to split light into rainbows. I have one in my locker, actually. I guess if you want, I can show you."
"Yes, please!" cried Twilight excitedly. "As far as I know, the light splitting thing doesn't happen even with magic, the magic just emits the colors of the rainbow to begin with, and this is something new entirely!"
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. "I can't believe you're getting so worked up over this."
"It's interesting!" Sunset insisted. "Besides, I bet you don't even know what you what you will find in the exact center of a rainbow. An arching rainbow that is, not a straight one from a prism."
"What's that?" asked Twilight immediately.
"Prisms are transparent structures that separate light into it's component colors."
"And did you say that there are two kinds of rainbows?"
"Yes, I'll tell you in a second. So, do you have any clue, Rainbow?"
"Um..." Rainbow Dash scrunched her forehead in thought. "Well, I don't think you're talking about pots of gold. Those are supposed to be found where rainbows hit the ground."
"Really?" asked Twilight, her intrigue growing.
Sunset groaned in frustration. "That is a myth designed to make fools of the ignorant. Rainbows in this world are not only incorporeal, they don't have an actual location either. They are optical illusions that appear to be at a set distance away from the viewer no matter where they stand, which means that if you try to chase a rainbow, it will never get any closer. It will just appear to move with you."
"That is so fascinating!" Twilight exclaimed with glee.
"Alright, so you said its not a pot of gold," said Rainbow. "So what is it then? Because I have no idea."
"In the very center of a rainbow, you will find the shadow of your own head," answered Sunset.
Rainbow raised an eyebrow in surprise.
"What, really?"
"Yep. Every single arching rainbow that you see, ever."
"So there are arching rainbows and there are straight rainbows and they are not the same thing?" asked Twilight eagerly.
"Er, sort of," said Sunset. "It's all rather complicated. An arching rainbow is an illusion that only the viewer can see, but a prism actually projects a series of colors onto a target that anybody can see, because it's not actually an illusion, it actually has a real location. But you can't see the color streaking through the air, you can only see the colors on the surface of the object that it hits.
"In contrast, arch rainbows are usually caused by tiny water droplets that are suspended in the air, which is common immediately after it rains. The water droplets act as prisms."
"But wait," interupted Twilight. "If water droplets act as prisms, then shouldn't there be thousands of rainbows being projected at once?"
"Yes," answered Sunset. "But you can only see the ones that just so happen to be aligned in exactly the right way so that they are projecting into your eyes. If you imagine invisible cones sticking out of both of your eyes, then only the water droplets that intersect with those cones actually matter."
"Which must be the reason that the rainbows in those instances are circular in shape!" cried Twilight.
"Right."
"Okay," said Rainbow Dash, holding her hands out. "I've just learned more about my namesake than I even thought existed, and I only understood about half of what you two just said. It actually is kind of cool, but its also making my head hurt. So, unless you can say all of this in a way that I can understand, can we cut nerd time short here?"
Sunset looked at Twilight for a moment, then at Rainbow Dash.
"The short of it is that Rainbows are weird, but also awesome."
"Sweet!" answered Rainbow.
"Here's my locker," said Sunset, stopping. She turned the lock for a few seconds until it fell open and allowed her access.
She pulled out a triangular glass object.
"This is a prism."
She held it out in the light, projecting a rainbow onto the floor.
"This. Is. Incredible!" cried Twilight.
"I do own more trinkets that exhibit behavior different than in Equestria, but the rest of them are at my house."
"It certainly is quite an interesting little toy," said Discord.
Everyone turned to look at him in shock.
"Where'd you come from?" cried Sunset.
"I just came here to check on you all. It seems to me that everything went... erm, good?"
"I think we are all doing okay, Mister Discord," said Rainbow Dash. "Even Sunset."
Discord raised an eyebrow and said nothing.
Sunset gave an awkward smile.
Twilight turned her attention away from the man and back to Sunset.
"So, is there any way that we can experience this world's arching rainbow at this time?" she asked eagerly. "It sounds particularly interesting, but I did do enough research on this world to realize that weather control isn't actually possible, so I would understand if-"
"Nothing is impossible with me here," Discord interrupted. "What do you need?"
Sunset hesitated.
"Um... I don't know how easy it would be to do this, but, could you... say, make it rain here in the hallway a short ways away but get rid of any of the water that pools on the ground so that the only water left is in the air?"
The man gave Sunset a look.
"Of course I can do that."
And then he did.
Is it working?" asked Twilight in anticipation. "I can't see anything yet."
"We have to find a good angle here..." muttered Sunset, walking around the miniature rainstorm and tilting her head up and down."Ah, here we go, come look at it from this spot."
Twilight quickly did as she was told. She pointed her head the same way as Sunset, down away from the light and towards the shadow of her own head, which, considering what she had been told, made sense.
"Wow!"
"Here, let me see," said Rainbow Dash walking to a spot next to Twilight. "You've got me all curious about it now." She looked up. "Huh."
The other girls wordlessly began crowding around them as well, taking in the sight.
"Hey girls!" cried Pinkie Pie's voice.
They turned to see a Flamingo dash down the hallway, looking quite ridiculous taking such long strides with such skinny, tall legs.
"Pinkie Pie?" said Fluttershy uncertainly.
"That's me!" answered the flamingo, stopping in front of them and gazing at them with familiar gleaming blue eyes.
"Why are you a flamingo, darling?" asked Rarity.
"Because I wanted to see what it was like to do this!"
Pinkie lifted a leg and tucked it under her body. She was now standing on one foot.
She suddenly crouched down and then leaped up into the air, jumping with only the one foot.
"Boingy! Boingy! Boingy!" she cried, jumping high into the air for each 'boingy'.
"Umm... good for you?" said Sunset.
"And that's not all! Look at this!"
Pinkie turned her elongated neck completely around several times until her neck looked like a spring.
Everyone gave Pinkie a look.
"Pinkie, never change," said Rainbow Dash. "Um, except you do have to change back soon. I'm pretty sure that we don't want the other students to know about the magic, and a magical talking flamingo will tip them off."
Pinkie uncoiled her head in such a way that her head was frozen in place but her body was a momentary tornado as it unwound itself. "But nobody else is going to even be here for hours and hours!" Pinkie pointed out.
"Oh, wow, you're right!" said Sunset, suddenly realizing that she felt rather tired. She turned to Twilight.
"Um, Twilight... I want you to know that I am extremely grateful to you. I will be forever. If you hadn't shown up, there is no telling what would have happened to me in the end. But... You don't have to stay here for my sake. I can take care of myself. You have your crown now, so... I guess there's not really a need for you to stay in this world any longer."
"Well, I do have some time," Twilight said. "I don't have to leave just yet."
"Pinkie Pie!" said Discord. Or, everyone thought that he had said it, but his mouth didn't move. "I was wondering, do you think it would be too much to have fireworks launch when we announce the Fall Formal Princess?"
Discord's face took on a worried expression.
And then another Discord rounded the corner.
Everyone looked between the two Discords in confusion.
"Wait," said Spike. "Discord, is that you? Er, I mean, not the one from here?"
Twilight suddenly adopted an expression of annoyance.
"Discord! You weren't supposed to follow me! I still have over an entire day left!"
"Er," said the Discord standing amongst them. "I got impatient?"
Twilight sighed. "Of course you did..."
Everyone else was still looking at the two Discords.
The Discord close to the group turned to look at the other. "I say, sir, you have an uncanny resemblance to someone I used to know," declared Discord calmly. "Sound just like him too, actually."
The other Discord froze, and stared at his doppelganger for moment before speaking.
"You found the mates to my boots? Where the heck were they?"
The Equestrian Discord looked down at himself.
"I didn't find these things, they just kind of showed up when I transformed into a human. I found them to be suitably mismatched and felt no need to change them."
Mister Discord snapped his fingers in realization.
"Ah, now I understand! You're the me from that other world! Sunset told me all about you. Wait, so if you're not even human, what are you?"
Discord snapped his fingered and there was a flash of light, and then he was transformed into his draconequus self, and without the analogous apparel.
There were cries of surprise and alarm from Twilight's friends.
"What on Earth!" cried Rarity.
"What are you?" asked Rainbow Dash in confusion.
"I am Discord," said Discord with some pride. "The ponies were the ones that decided that my 'species', so to say, needed a name, but since I am basically a chimera of a whole bunch of different kinds of creatures, they couldn't figure out what to call me, so they just named me after the two creatures that were most apparent to them. Dragons and equines."
Mister Discord looked him up and down.
"So, are you my spirit animal or something?"
Discord crossed his mismatched arms. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Mister Discord stroked his beard.
"Well, I guess maybe I'm your spirit animal, but that would be kind of boring, wouldn't it?"
"You have a point. But, I have one pressing question. I recently searched this world for any sings of magic and found basically nothing. But now that you're here in front of me, other me, you're practically radiating chaos magic. If you weren't me, I would feel a bit offended by that. Now, were you hiding from me, or did something happen in the last couple of days?"
"Mister Discord confiscated the Fall Formal crown from me because it was his job to," explained Twilight. "When he came into contact with it, it apparently awoke magical powers within him."
"Oh. How odd. Wait, you're employed?!" Discord finished in surprise.
"I work at this school as an art teacher," Mister Discord explained.
"As an... well, it could be worse..."
"Principal Celestia is his boss," Twilight added.
"Oh chaos," said Discord, putting his paw on his forehead. "Please tell me you don't let her run your life."
"On the contrary, I'm something of a rule breaker around here, and I'm still a teacher anyway. She finds me very irritating," remarked Mister Discord with a nasty grin.
"Hmm. Maybe we have a little more in common than I thought," said Discord, grinning back.
"Um, excuse me," said Sunset, earning the attention of both Discords.
"Ah, and the apparently reformed Sunset Shimmer," said Discord. "You know, after I learned of your existence a couple of days ago, Princess Celestia told me a lot about you."
Sunset gulped.
"Did she..."
"You know, if you like, you, me, and Princess Lulu could form a reformed villains club and meet on Thursday afternoons. Or whenever, really."
"Um, no thank you. Look, I'm feeling quite overwhelmed right now, and I was actually wanting to go home and try to get some sleep. And also, I need to work out how the heck I'm going to apologize to the entire school, and I think I will be able to think more clearly at home. Only, I kind of left my motorcycle outside your house, Mister Discord. So, I was wondering if you could just teleport it to me so I can go home?"
"I don't think it is a good idea for you to be driving that thing in your current state," said Mister Discord. "I'll drive you to your house myself."
"Oh... Okay?"
"Ah dare say that we should all be gettin' some shut eye," said Applejack.
"Um, Twilight?"
"Yes, Sunset?"
"If you really meant what you said before, about being here for me for this one last day... Er, no, I mean... Look, you wanted to know more about how this world is different from Equestria, right?"
"Right," Twlight acknowledged hesitantly.
"Well, er, how would you like to sleep over at my place? I mean, you don't exactly have a place to sleep anyway..."
"That would be wonder- er, ahem. I accept your invitation. Assuming of course that Spike is welcome too."
"Sure. Um, are you going to be... er, staying like that?"
Twilight looked down at herself.
"I'm small enough that I should be able to stay hidden in a car," she answered. "Plus, I really want to test how your gadgets work with my magic!"
"So you're really staying for another night?" said Discord. "Not that I mind. Gives me an excuse to take a look around myself."
"Well, yes..." answered Twilight, slightly worried. "I do intend to help Sunset as much as possible before I am forced to return home because of the portal. I do have an entire day left."
"Well, if he is going to take you to Sunset's house, I'm coming with."
"Hold on!" cried Mister Discord. "I've only got room for two people in my car, including the driver! I can't take four people!"
"I'll forgive you for thinking like a normal person," said Discord, turning to his doppelganger. "But just this once, considering that you aren't used to our power yet. Everyone who's coming, follow me!"
Sunset turned toward Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and the still Flamingo Pinkie Pie.
"I think you're forgetting about something, Mist D."
"What?"
Sunset pointed at Pinkie.
"Oh. Yeah, sorry."
Mister Discord clapped and Pinkie suddenly poofed out into her human form.
"Awww..."
Discord looked at his counterpart in surprise.
"You know, snapping is much easier, in my opinion."
"It hardly matters to me. I'll do it however I want."
"Alright, but I'm just saying."
"I guess this is goodbye then," said Sunset. "With Twilight's help, I will try to think of something for an apology tonight, and when I come back tomorrow... we'll see what happens."
"I am a little sad to see you go so soon after you became reasonable," said Rarity. "But we shall see one another soon enough. Goodbye Sunset."
"Um, yeah, what Rarity said," said Rainbow Dash.
Rarity rolled her eyes.
"You really do seem nicer now," said Fluttershy.
"She does," agreed Applejack.
"We should totally have a 'Sunset's not an evil she-demon anymore' party!"
Sunset facepalmed. "Pinkie, can we please not call it that?"
"Oops, you're right. How about a 'Hurray for our new friend' party instead?"
Sunset sighed. "I can tolerate that. I suppose. I'll see you all tomorrow."
"You just turned my smart car into a smart van," remarked Mister Discord as he looked at his now elongated vehicle. "I didn't even know we could do that. Or can I? Is it just you"
"Well of course we both can!" said Discord, now back in human form. "You just need some practice."
"I can't help but notice that the horns I put on my car look kind of exactly like yours did," said Mister Discord. "I feel that this is evidence that you are indeed my spirit animal."
"Cosmic coincidence is far more common than you might think. I recommend you just don't think about it. Or laugh at it. Either option works."
"I'll take your word for it. Everyone into the vehicle, if you please."
The two Discords separated and went to either side of the vehicle and climbed into the front seats.
Twilight and Sunset shared an uncertain look.
"Is this safe?" Sunset asked.
"It should be," Twilight answered. "Discord would never do anything to actually hurt us."
Sunset pulled one of the new back doors open and slid over to the opposite side, allowing Twilight and a magically carried Spike to enter through the same door and also sit down. Once in the car, Twilight used magic to shut the door.
"Um, Discord, there are no seatbelts back here," Sunset remarked.
"No what?" asked the Discord in the driver's seats.
"She means these things," said the other Discord, tugging on his own seatbelt. "They keep you from flying out of the car if you crash."
"Oh, I see," answered Discord. "Yeah, we don't need those. I can manipulate space and momentum and stuff, so we actually can't crash."
"Wait a second!" cried Sunset in alarm. "Which one of you two is driving?"
Discord snapped his fingers and the vehicle roared to life. It then started driving itself out of the school parking lot.
"Where do you live, Miss Shimmer?" asked Discord.
"Wait a minute!" cried Sunset. "I'm not so sure about this now! Can't you just teleport me home?"
"I could," Discord began, "if I had ever been to your house in the first place. But I have had very little time to explore this world, so I can't. Have you ever been to Sunset's house, good sir?" he said to Mister Discord.
"Not a once."
"Well, then there you go. We can't teleport you, we'll have to actually travel through the space between point A and point B. So, where do you live?"
Sunset gave her address.
Discord turned to his counterpart.
"Er, yeah, I have no idea what that means. Do you know where that is?"
"Not off the top of my head, but I do have something here that will help."
Mister Discord held up his phone and glued it to the dashboard with magic. On the screen was a roadmap with a particular path highlighted.
"This is a GPS. Humans use these things all the time. We just have to follow the path shown on that screen and we'll wind up where we want to go."
"How odd."
The vehicle sped up considerably, leaving the school and turning onto the public road. Sunset and Twilight both experienced the strange sensation of knowing that they were moving but experiencing no momentum whatsoever.
"Whoa!" murmured Sunset. "That is weird! By the way, you really should turn the headlights on!"
"Well, I don't need them," Discord answered. "But I guess if you want them, I can oblige."
He snapped and the headlights powered on.
"Why is everyone else going so slow?" Discord complained.
Without waiting for an answer, the car drove itself halfway out of the lane and between two cars ahead and began to accelerate.
"Discord!" cried Twilight and Sunset in shock.
Space seemed to warp around them, because suddenly there was much more space between the two cars ahead than there was before.
The car easily passed between them.
"Discord, don't scare us like that!" cried Twilight. "We thought we were going to be hurt!"
"We can't crash, actually," said Discord. "Even if I somehow fail to notice something in time to deal with it, we'll just phase through whatever hits us."
"That actually sounds kind of cool," Spike admitted. "Can we try that?"
"No!" cried Twilight and Sunset together.
"Oh, come on, you heard Discord, it won't hurt us."
"It would still be terrifying!" Sunset cried.
"Hey, road ahead is closed," Mister Discord said, pointing at a sign.
"But that's the way that your device wants us to go," Discord complained.
"It doesn't know that the road is closed."
"Not for us!" cried Discord.
He drove the car through the blockade in the road, which rotated out of the way like a turnstile as they passed.
"Discord, this is against the law!" cried Sunset.
"Those laws are made for people who can't bend the fabric of the universe to their will," Discord answered.
Twilight groaned.
"I shouldn't have let him drive."
"Come on," said Spike. "This is kind of great! Just relax!"
"Don't worry about other people seeing us," said Discord. "I worked a bit of magic to make it so that anybody who does see us won't actually find us interesting and will forget that we were ever here."
"You're not even staying between the stripes!" cried Sunset.
"There's not even anybody else on this road," Discord pointed out. "Anyway, this driving business is far too orderly for me to do it 'properly'. Hey, me, why is this road going away from Sunset's house?"
"Well, there's no road that goes straight there from where we are now, so we kind of have to zig-zag a bit."
"We don't 'have to' do anything. In fact, I just decided that we're taking a more direct path."
The car suddenly swerved hard enough to plaster the occupants to the wall, if not for Discord canceling out the momentum. The car drove into the trees.
Sunset screamed.
The trees in the way of the car jumped out of the way.
And they continued to jump out of the way, because the car was now driving through the woods.
Sunset stared out the window in fearful wonder.
"This is crazy!" she remarked.
"GPS says there's a pond in our way here," said Mister Discord.
"Oh good, I can't wait to see how this isn't a problem either," said Sunset sarcastically.
She was expecting the car to drive over the pond.
Instead, it disappeared under the water, without making so much as a splash.
If anybody had been watching from above the water, they would have seen a comically oversized periscope pop out of the water where the car had been. A yellow eyeball with a red iris was visible on the end.
The car emerged from the opposite side of the pond a moment later, dry as it was before.
"You know," said Sunset, who was somewhat calmer at this point, "this is actually quite impressive. The sheer number of spells that must be in effect to make all of this happen... A single unicorn wouldn't be able to manage it."
Twilight gave Discord a look. "Discord is certainly... something special alright."
Sunset raised an eyebrow at her. "I can't tell if you are being sincere or mocking."
"Both."
Suddenly the car emerged from the tree line again, revealing a large clearing.
There was an enormous pit in front of them.
"Uh oh, I just remembered, there's the quarry!" Sunset blurted quickly.
As the car drove off the edge of the cliff, space warped again as the car apparently stretched over the sheer drop and then continued straight down, wheels still hugging the cliff face.
"This isn't going to damage my car, right?" asked Mister Discord. "This is some awfully rough terrain."
"Of course not."
The car then scrunched together as it passed from the cliff face and onto the bottom of the quarry, and then returned to normal. After a short ways, it then drove onto the opposite cliff and up, and then out once again.
Twilight and Sunset watched as more trees began leaping out of the way.
"Are we leaving a trail of uprooted trees in our wake?" she asked nervously.
"Nah," said Discord. "They go back where they were supposed to be afterwards."
"We're almost there," remarked Mister Discord.
"Oh thank goodness," said Sunset.
And then they emerged from the trees again and found that they were rapidly approaching the back of her house.
"Oh crud!" Sunset shouted.
The car came to an instant stop.
Sunset let out a sigh of relief.
"Please tell me it's safe to get out of this car."
"It's safe to get out of this car," said Discord.
"Remind me to never ride in a vehicle with him ever again," said Sunset to Twilight before opening her door and stepping out.
"Discord," said Twilight. "You really could have found a way to get here without scaring Sunset so badly."
"I wanted to make a strong first impression!" Discord argued.
"Well, you went a little overboard. Again."
Discord sighed. "Alright. HEY, SUNSET!" he suddenly screamed, loud enough that Sunset was able to hear. "SORRY!"
Sunset simply stared back.
"WELL, IT SEEMS TO ME THAT YOU DON'T REALLY WANT ME TO STICK AROUND," Discord continued. "ONCE TWILIGHT JOINS YOU, YOUR TEACHER AND I WILL BE ON OUR MERRY WAY."
"Could you show me how you did all of that stuff back there?" Mister Discord asked. "I haven't figured out how to do half of what you did."
"Hmm, a night out causing chaos, just you and me?" Discord pondered. "I think I can clear up some room in my schedule..."
"Discord," said Twilight sternly. "We absolutely must not draw attention to our magic while we are in this world."
"Well, that spoils some of the fun, but I promise you that nobody else will even notice our presence!"
Twilight raised an eyebrow at him.
"And collateral damage?"
"Everything shall be returned to it's original, uninteresting state, I assure you."
Twilight sighed.
"Fine. You can go, but don't make me regret this."
"YES!" cried Discord, pumping a fist.
"Hey, Twi, can I go with them?" asked Spike.
Twilight gave him a look.
"You should be getting to bed right about now, Spike."
"I know, but hanging out with Discord and another Discord sounds like it will be tons of fun! It would be like a guys night out! Plus-" Spike let out a cough, "er, I can keep an eye on them for you. Make sure they don't get into trouble and all that."
Twilight considered only briefly.
"Okay Spike, if they are willing, you can stay up with Discord and Mister Discord."
"Please bring me with you!" cried Spike at the two Discords.
"Alright, sure," said Discord lazily. "We'll show you what a night of fun is really all about!"
"Awesome!" cried Spike.
"If Spike falls asleep, I want you to bring him here straight away," said Twilight. "Without making a bunch of noise, please."
"Alright, alright, I get it!" said Discord. "Seriously though, we're going to be having too much fun for him to fall asleep."
"That's what worries me..." said Twilight. "Look, if Spike wants you to stop doing whatever it is you're doing, you listen to him, okay?"
"Nag nag nag! Alright, we will!"
Discord turned to his counterpart and started loudly whispering.
"It's funny because the word 'nag' also is a way of referring to an old mare!"
"If you think that laughing at falsehoods is funny, then laugh it up," said Twilight. "Just stay out of trouble."
Twilight finally popped her door open and stepped out.
She stepped over to Sunset.
"SEE YOU GIRLS LATER!" cried Discord.
Sunset looked at Twilight questioningly.
"Spike wanted to stay with them," Twilight said. "I told him yes."
"Are you sure that's wise?"
"No. But I'm not sure that leaving Discord alone with himself is wise either, and Spike said that he would keep them under control."
Twilight saw that the remaining occupants of the car were waving at her, so she waved back.
The car then fell backwards so that it was sticking up into the air, and then fire shot out of the bottom, propelling it into the air like a rocket. It quickly straightened out and disappeared behind the trees.
Twilight turned back to Sunset.
"This place is rather big for just you. How did you afford it?"
Sunset gave Twilight an uncertain look.
"Follow me inside and I'll show you."
Sunset led Twilight to the front of the house and produced a key, which she used to unlock the door. She opened it and they both stepped inside.
"It's... homey," Twlight remarked, standing in a foyer.
"This way," said Sunset.
She led Twilight through a hallway and into her bedroom.
Twilight's eyes lit up when she noticed that Sunset had two entire bookshelves full of books.
"Oh, what sort of books are these?" she asked eagerly.
"It's mostly textbooks and instruction manuals," said Sunset. "I don't have a lot of time for fiction. Or, well... I didn't. I don't know, maybe I'll try it now."
She reached under her bed and pulled out a chest with a lock on it. Twilight watched her with interest. After inputting the combination, the lock popped open.
Inside was a pile of equestrian bits.
"You brought all of that with you when you ran away?" said Twilight.
"Yep."
"Please tell me that it's not... stolen?"
"It's not. It's all legitimately mine. Anyway, the exchange rate here for solid gold is absolutely obscene. If I'm careful to not overindulge myself, this can probably keep me going for a lifetime.
"Well, that's... convenient," said Twilight.
"Yeah..."
Sunset closed the box and locked it again before putting it back under the bed.
"I didn't always live here, of course. When I first came to this world, I had some papers forged to give me an identity."
"How did you make that work with no guardians?"
"That's the thing. My papers claimed that I was living in an orphanage."
"Claimed?"
"In reality, I was renting an apartment. Can you imagine? A little girl living in an apartment, all by herself? The neighbors didn't know that I was alone of course, they didn't have much desire to get to know me either. But the landlords knew."
Twilight narrowed her eyes.
"Who in the world would rent out an appartment to a little girl? I mean, I get that you could take care of yourself, but they couldn't have known that. You didn't tell them about... everything, did you?"
Sunset snorted.
"No way. I trust those two even less than I can throw them."
Twilight blinked.
"Wait a second. By chance, were your landlords named Flim and Flam?"
Sunset gave Twilight a look of surprise.
"How the heck did you- You've met them before, haven't you?"
"Their equestrian counterparts, yes. So, Flim and Flam were your landlords. That explains a lot actually."
"That's not all. When I started... acting up in school, the teachers wanted to meet with my guardians. I paid Flim to pose as my caretaker from the orphanage. He put a disguise together so that nobody would recognize him and he made some fake credentials. He told the teachers that he was sympathetic toward them, which was a total lie, but that he had his hands tied by orphanage regulations and all sorts of bureaucratic crap. He was very good at it. The teachers quickly figured out that trying to sic my supposed caretakers on me was a waste of time."
"That is..." Twilight began. "Incredibly clever. Devious, but clever."
"Needless to say though, dealing with them was a pain in the butt for me as well, so the moment my forged papers said I was eighteen, I bought this place."
"So, do you just spend all of your time cooped up in here?" asked Twilight.
"I dunno. I guess I hang out at my house a lot. Watch TV, stay up super late, eat whatever I want whenever I want. Living alone is actually pretty cool."
"You said that you have more trinkets that exhibit behavior that doesn't occur in Equestria. Could you..."
"You want to see one?" asked Sunset. "Okay, um..."
Sunset took a look around the room.
"Ah, here's something."
She walked up to a shelf and grabbed a spherical object from it, and then brought it to Twilight.
"This is something called a tipee top. It's... a top. As in, the toy. But, as you can see, unlike other tops, it doesn't have a pointy end, it's an oblate spheroid with a chunk taken out of the top for the handle."
"And this does not behave like a top should?"
"Nope. We need a smooth surface for this, the carpet in here won't do. Let's go to my living room."
Sunset led the way through the house and into the living room, where she had a flat screen TV with an entertainment center in front of it. Between the TV and the sofa which was set in front of it was a coffee table, currently littered with papers, remotes, and candy wrappers."
"Ugh, gotta clear off some space."
Sunset put the top down and started stacking papers and shoving the remotes and trash to the side. She quickly made a suitably clear area.
"Okay, watch closely."
She spun the top on the table.
At first all seemed normal. But Twilight quickly realized that the top was falling over even as it spun, thanks to its round bottom.
And then something very strange happened. The handle of the top touched the table, and then it almost immediately flipped upside-down and continued spinning on the handle.
It continued spinning for a few seconds until it ran out of momentum and fell over and came to a rest.
"Wait, wait, wait," said Twilight in wonder. "This is not a machine, right? It doesn't have moving parts?"
"No moving parts," Sunset confirmed.
"But... it raised its own center of mass to a higher position... well after you stopped applying any force to it!"
"I know."
"That is strange."
"That's not the only strange thing though."
Twilight gave Sunset a confused look.
"What do you mean?"
"Here, watch again, and pay attention to the direction of rotation."
Sunset spun the top again, clockwise, Twilight noted.
They watched as the top turned upside-down once again.
And then Twilight realized that it was still spinning clockwise.
Twilight waited for the top to sputter out again before speaking.
"It was spinning in the same direction even after flipping upside-down! That just defies logic! If you flip a clock upside-down, the hands would start moving counter-clockwise from an overhead perspective, but this top didn't do that!"
"I know!"
"But that would mean that it completely reversed the direction it was spinning in autonomously, and apparently without even slowing down first?"
"Yep. This is actually one of the weirdest gadgets I own. I've at least reconciled everything else with the physics in this world, but this one just blows my top. Pun intended."
"Are we sure that this doesn't happen in Equestria?"
Sunset took on an uncertain expression. "Well, I'll admit, I don't actually know if such a device would work over there, but I do know that I never came across such a thing in all of my time there. It is possible that it does work and nopony ever actually invented it. I suppose you could test it when you go back, but... well, I won't be there to see what the answer is."
"I really want to study this... but at the same time... do you have more toys like this?" Twilight asked with barely restrained glee.
Sunset laughed. "Let me go find my Euler disk."