It only took a few more minutes of walking for Sunset and Starlight to reach the school parking lot. Sunset strode forward to her vehicle, but realized she was alone a few steps in.
She looked back to see Starlight, darting from one parked automobile to another, with awestruck gapes and stares. The latter repeatedly placed her hands on glass windows as she looked through them, while poking and prodding at paint jobs.
"What are these things again?" Starlight finally asked. "The last time I was here, they were always moving, and we were always running away from them."
Sunset walked over. "That's because they're death machines in motion for anyone not inside them. We call them 'cars'. They're a lot like the magi-trains in Equestria, but they only fit a few people—or, ooh!" She snapped her fingers. "Think of the carriages in Manehattan, only ponies don't need to pull them, because they're powered by—"
"Oh, I know this one, Twilight taught me! This is technical logging!" Starlight darted towards a car's chassis, peering at it with wide eyes. "I never knew lumber held this much power," she whispered, her tone as mystified as her expression.
Sunset giggled. "'Technology', actually. It's humans' way of getting by without magic. Which involved them using the earth's resources to create a sort of magic of their own, honestly. And since Twilight isn't around, I can actually say that out loud and she can't can stop me." She folded her arms, nodding in triumph.
Starlight gasped. "You mean... this is what earth pony magic looks like?"
Sunset's triumphant expression unfurled, and she blinked. "Actually, that's... not a bad theory at all. We should totally look into it later."
"This is so cool though!" Starlight squealed, bouncing on her toes. "Okay, are we going to use one of these to go somewhere? How do we use them?" She tugged at a minivan's door latch. The second she did, an ear-splitting noise blared across campus. Starlight cried in surprise, and ran to Sunset, hiding behind and gripping her friend's shoulders. "What did I do? How do I make it stop? If I had my horn that thing would be dust already!"
"Just wait a minute," Sunset said over the noise of the alarm. "It'll be fine."
The two did so. Starlight held her ears shut with her palms. Sunset stood with her hands in her pockets while tapping her foot. True to Sunset's word, the noise died down after exactly one minute, with three punctuating chirps.
"Oh. There it goes." Starlight said. "Whatever that terrible thing was."
"You triggered the alarm," Sunset said. "It's meant to prevent anyone from trying to steal a car." She winked at Starlight. "Or, you know, turning it into dust."
Starlight looked around, noting several nonplussed students and teachers. "But no one paid attention to it the whole time it was going off!" Starlight tilted her head, lifted her beanie, and scratched her scalp. "Huh. I guess it worked."
Sunset laughed. "I am so glad you're here."
Starlight's grin was lopsided. "So am I—though I'm starting to wonder if I should be scared of as to why."