The girls and Yukari were at the Sugarcube Corner, where the youkai leisurely sat in the air and sipped some tea provided by Mr. and Mrs. Cake while the girls spoke with Sunset.
"That's a very intriguing dress you're wearing, darling," Rarity said as she took a closer look at Sunset's priestess outfit. "Did you get it from your visit to Yukari's world?"
"Yeah, and I have so much to tell you about it," Sunset rested her chin on her palm. "The world is called Gensokyo, there are a bunch of different species besides humans, there's magic different from ours, and also..."
Sunset reached for her pocket and took out the blank card, now showing a picture of the rainbow pillar of friendship that defeated Sunset a long time ago on the front of it.
"I got my spell card!"
The girls immediately cheered up, but especially Princess Twilight, who looked closer at the card with a bewildered look. "This is fantastic, Sunset! But what does it do?"
"I don't know, I simply created a small ball of magic, shoved it at the card, which absorbed," Sunset pointed at the card. "And boom, got a spellcard. Although I don't know why the spell is based on the one you used to defeat me."
"You used magic without ponifying up?" Pinkie Pie asked.
It was then that Sunset realized that, yes, she indeed used magic while in Gensokyo, but without ponifying up, like she would normally need to do in the human world.
"No... I-I didn't ponify to cast the magic," Sunset blinked twice. "I just did it without thinking."
"In Gensokyo, everybody can use magic as long as they have some connection to it, no transformation is necessary," Yukari explained, taking another sip of her tea before she continued. "Of course, it could just be that since you're naturally an unicorn, your magical abilities were transferred when you traveled to Gensokyo."
"So wait, now that I think about it, are the spellcards spelled separately, spell card, or together, spellcard?" Pinkie Pie inquired, scratching her head. "I'm getting kinda confused here."
"Does it really matter how you spell them?" Yukari shrugged and shook her head. "They're still spellcards, they're still charged with your magic, and they're still the key in order to setup the brand new system that will surely help our worlds connect."
"So Reimu was right about the possibility of you wanting to merge the worlds together?" Sunset asked, only to turn back to her bewildered friends. "Oh, by the way, I met this priestess called Reimu Hakurei, and she got me the blank card in exchange for prompting her Hakurei Shrine."
Yukari glanced at the group and raised an eyebrow, which they failed to notice.
"Oh really, you met a native of Yukari's homeworld?" Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. "Did she try to attack you as soon as she saw you?"
"She almost did, but once I mentioned Yukari's name, she lowered her card and led me into her shrine," Sunset reached for her hair and took out a little pamphlet about Hakurei Shrine. "Then, once she gave me the card, she gave me these pamphlets to hand out to people so her shrine would get a bit more exposure."
"Pamphlets? Ha! Classic Reimu, not thinking things through," Yukari remarked with a little smile. "Even if you hand out the pamphlets, there's no way for people to reach Gensokyo in order to see the shrine. But don't worry, once the new system is implemented, everybody will be able to visit the shrine, easy as pie."
"Oh really?" Sunset raised an eyebrow. "Well, how and when are we going to implement the new system?"
Yukari's smile widened. "You'll see... soon enough. First, you have to follow me."
Sunset and Twilight followed Yukari down the forest behind Canterlot High School, where the trio encountered a... peculiar building, located right in the center of it.
The building was a shrine that looked suspiciously similar to the Hakurei Shrine, but visibly in ruins and with flowers and moss covering it.
"It's a shrine," Sunset said, taking a look at the moss covering the place. "But what's a shrine doing in Canterlot High School?"
"And most importantly," Twilight added as she walked towards the building. "What deity is the shrine based on?"
"Whatever the reason, it's clear that this place has to have some sort of supernatural origin to it," Sunset added as she walked to the door. "I mean, considering the other stuff magic's done, I wouldn't be surprised if it could also create a shrine out of nowhere."
"Yeah, I guess that makes sense..." Twilight scratched her chin and slowly turned around. "Yukari, what do you-"
But once Twilight turned around, Yukari was nowhere to be seen. "-Think?"
Sunset knocked the door three times to see if anybody budged, but then turned around to see why Twilight had hesitated. "Wasn't Yukari here with us a moment ago?"
"I'm pretty sure she was," Twilight replied, putting a hand on her head. "And unless my mind's playing with me, Yukari-"
"What about me?"
The girls turned around again and saw Yukari standing at the doorframe, the door now visibly open. "And what brings you two adorable young girls into my home?"
Sunset and Twilight exchanged flabbergasted looks. Didn't Yukari go along with them? In fact, didn't she guide them to the shrine? Why was she suddenly inside? Why didn't she recognize them? Why didn't the rest of Sunset's friends come with her?! Why was everything starting to make no sense!?
"Um, hello, Yukari?" Sunset greeted. "You know who we are, right?"
"I've never seen you before in my life, darling," Yukari leaned closer and caressed Sunset's chin. "I would most likely remember meeting such adorable young women."
"Okay, Yukari, that's not funny," Twilight sternly stated. "You know who we are: you came with us to this shrine because it would help us implement a system that'll help this world deal better with magic!"
"You must have quite the imagination sweetie, because I've never seen you in my life," Yukari scratched her chin. "However, this idea of a new system sounds very promising. I was actually doing some research on how this could possible. Perhaps, we share a common goal?"
"Yeah, no kidding we share a common goal," Sunset folded her arms. "You were the one who gave us the goal in the first place!"
"And again, you're confusing for somebody else: I can't blame you, I bet Yukari must be a very popular name around here," ukari moved aside and gestured the girls to come in. "But why are we talking outside? Have the leisure to enter my humble home, and we can discuss some more about this new system you're talking about."
Sunset and Twilight exchangeds looks once more before they walked inside, and kept walking as Yukari closed the door and followed them.
"We're not going crazy, right?" Sunset whispered.
"I think Yukari's the one who's gone crazy," Twilight whispered back. "We should better keep our guard up, just in case something happens."
And as the girls kept whispering to themselves, Yukari watched them with partially open eyes, and a rather... peculiar smile...