A small purple pony stood before a mirror in her library. She had a dark blue mane with streaks of violet and magenta, a horn that grew out from beneath her bangs, and a set of feathered wings that had become ruffled by her recent fidgeting. Twilight Sparkle was many things: brave, intelligent, a faithful student, a good friend, and an alicorn princess; however, she was not good at managing anxiety. Behind a fixed expression, half her mind worked desperately to keep the other half from overthinking. It had been 5 minutes since she had opened the portal. 5 minutes since Sunset was supposed to have come through. 5 minutes had passed and there was still no Sunset.
Had something happened? Did Sunset forget? Was she waiting for Twilight to let her know it was okay to come through? No, she could just touch the portal to see if it was open or not. Wait! Had Twilight gotten the date wrong!?
She turned her head to a small purple dragon with green spines. He was draped lazily across a chair, his face buried in a comic. “Spike, did Su-”
“Yes Twilight, she said today.” Spike cut her off, without even bothering to look up. “And before you ask, yes. She said 8 pm. Relax, it’s barely been 5 minutes.”
“Relax? RELAX!?” Twilight flew over to the unconcerned dragon. “Spike, how can I relax at a time like this? Something terrible could’ve happened! Sunset said she’d meet us at 8 o’clock! Not 8:15! Not 8:05! Eight! Oh! Clock!”
Spike glanced up from his comic with a vacant expression and gave a relaxed shrug. “Maybe she got confused about which magical portal to another dimension she was supposed to take. Why not go check the other ones?” With a smirk, Spike returned to his comic.
Twilight’s eyes narrowed. “Spike! Will you please take this seriously? What if something happened to Sun-!”
* SHZOOOOM! *
The two of them turned toward the mirror, just in time to see an amber Unicorn with a red and yellow mane, get shot backward out of the portal. She slid across the library floor and came to a rest, flat on her back. For some reason, her face was completely covered in snow.
“Sunset! What happened?”
The snowmare lifted a forehoof into the air. “Let’s just say, I learned it’s best not to tease Vice-Principal Luna when there is snow nearby.” Came the muffled voice of Sunset Shimmer.
After being helped off the floor —and relieved of her role as Frosty the Snowman’s understudy— Sunset was pulled into a warm hug. “Twilight, it’s so good to see you!”
“It’s great to see you too, Sunset! I’m really glad you’ll be here for the holidays.”
“Hey, Sunset!”
Sunset looked down to see a little dragon now hugging her. “Spike!? Is that you?” She threw a hoof around Spike and gave him a squeeze. “I gotta say, you look so much cooler here.”
Spike smiled proudly. “You know, I do think I made a pretty good dog, but you just can’t beat being a noble dragon. Or, as I’m known to the citizens of the Crystal Empire: Spike, the Brave and Glorious.”
Before Sunset was able to ask how Spike got such an amazing title, Twilight jumped in. “That’s a long story Spike, and Sunset just got here. I’m sure she would love to hear the tale of how you used the Crystal Heart to save the Ponies of the Crystal Empire from King Sombra, but I bet she’d like to get something to eat and rest up first.”
Spike crossed his arms, clearly annoyed at having his grand tale put on the back burner. “Yeah, because it’s impossible to have a meal and talk at the same time.”
Twilight looked to Sunset and gave a stilted laugh. “Could you excuse us for just a moment?”
She pulled Spike into a huddle and they began whispering fiercely. Sunset couldn’t hear exactly what they were saying, but it involved a lot of back and forth, the words rubies and boutique, and finally ended when Spike said deal.
Despite the quiet ferocity of the exchange, they both looked satisfied when they turned back around. “Well, it was great seeing you again Sunset,” Spike said, with an exaggerated stretch, “but I’m afraid I’ve got to head out. You know what they say, ‘A dragon’s work is never done.’ I’ll be sure to tell you the story some other time. It’s pretty great.” He waved a final goodbye and headed out of the library.
Sunset turned to Twilight with a raised eyebrow. “Ok, what was that about?”
Twilight waved the question away with an unconvincing smile. “That? Pffft! Nothing! Spike just forgot he had something to do. He’s a really busy dragon. Don’t worry, you’ll have plenty of time to catch up later, but in the meantime, I bet you’re hungry.”
Sunset’s stomach rumbled in response. She gave Twilight a small smile. “Well, it has been a long time since I had some Hay-Burgers.”
Soon, they sat in a booth in Ponyville’s premier burger establishment: Burger Princess. As they waited on their meal, Sunset sipped her soda and Twilight’s mouth went a mile a minute.
“So, how have you been since the Battle of the Bands? Are you excited to be back in Equestria? How long is your break? Do you have any places you want to go? Family you want to visit? Where were you in your studies when you left? I have lots of books I can recommend depending on where you left o—”
“Twilight.”
Twilight blinked. “Yes?”
Sunset took a deep breath. “I’ve been doing pretty great. Yes, but I’m a little nervous. School resumes the day after Hearth’s Warming. Nowhere in particular. I don’t have a family. Finally, I was in my 4th year of post-grad study under Princess Celestia when I ran away.” Sunset gave a sigh of relief before continuing.
“Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad you’re happy to see me, and I’m happy to see you too. But you can relax. Counting tonight, I’m here for twelve days. You don’t have to get all the catching up done in one sitting, okay?”
Twilight gave an apologetic smile. “Sorry, I’m just excited to see you again without some horrible situation going on.” Twilight tilted her head. “Though, I am kinda curious about why you arrived today. Over there, school typically runs through the week, right? Tonight’s Thursday, don’t you have school tomorrow?”
A small shadow seemed to appear on Sunset’s face. But when Twilight blinked, it was gone. “Well, I had initially planned on asking if I could come over Saturday morning. Then, late last night, we got a weather report saying that there was a massive blizzard moving in tonight. The school even went ahead and canceled classes for tomorrow. With it looking so bad, I didn’t want to risk being snowed-in and unable to reach the portal.”
Twilight nodded with an “oh” of understanding. “I keep forgetting that they can only predict the weather, not control it. Having an orderly weather schedule just seems so natural.” Twilight shuddered. “In fact, it’s a little scary to imagine the weather just…happening on its own.”
Sunset giggled. “Tell me about it. The first few weeks I was there, I would write angry letters to the weather station whenever a forecast they gave didn’t quite pan out.”
“No! Did you really do that?” Twilight’s eyes sparkled as she grinned with anticipation.
Sunset cleared her throat and spoke with an exaggerated mean voice. “Dear Canterlot City News. This is ridiculous! If you can’t keep the weather on track for a measly 10 days, then STOP releasing 10-day schedules! People plan their lives around a reliable weather schedule, you know! Only promise what you can deliver. I don’t know about other people, but I’d prefer an accurate 5-day schedule to an inaccurate 10-day one.”
Twilight couldn’t help but laugh. “Did you actually send that in?”
“Yeah, and believe it or not, that was one of my nicer ones. I feel bad about that now, but at the time, I was too much of a jerk to apologize for my mistake.”
“Well, have you tried apologizing since?” Twilight asked helpfully.
Sunset just shook her head. “It’s not that easy. While I’m certainly willing to apologize for being so rude, I haven’t worked out how to explain that I thought they controlled the weather, in a way that doesn’t make me look crazy.”
“Hmmm. Yeah, I can see how that would be difficult.”
Sunset seemed to visibly dim. “Besides, I don’t think there’s any way to apologize enough to offset my past rudeness, not to mention the threats.”
“Threats?” Twilight’s voice hitched a bit.
Sunset nodded shamefully. “They were empty threats written in anger and most of them involved the weather: I’ll fill your office with fog, I’ll pelt your cars with hail, I’ll clear the skies with your face, …I’ll drop a tornado on your house.” As she spoke, Sunset’s head and voice fell lower and lower. By the end, she was nearly whispering to the floor. “I was so horrible to all of them. Looking back, I can see why I’m not worth forgiving.”
A painful silence enveloped the booth. Wait, what just happened!? Twilight asked herself. Somehow, the light-hearted mood had crashed into the ground harder than she did on her first day of flying. While rude, Sunset’s threats were little more than the ramblings of an angry foal. This should’ve been something Sunset could look back on and laugh at. But instead of just minor embarrassment, she appeared seriously upset. And what was with that bit about not being worth forgiving? Sunset had more than proved herself at the Battle of the Bands. Had she forgotten that?
Before Twilight could inquire further, the server brought out their food. A plate holding a dozen Hay-Burgers was placed in the center of the table, and each of them was given a large basket of Hay-Fries. Upon seeing the arrival of the bounty, Sunset perked back up. “Oh, yes.” She practically drooled as she reached out, pulled a few burgers over to her, and tore into them. Twilight watched her friend happily devour the burgers for a moment and decided to let the matter drop, for now. With her magic, she pulled over her own set of burgers and dove in.
Hay-Burgers had been something Sunset had missed since day one of being human. Before she went through the portal, Sunset was infamous among burger establishments. At least once a week, she would wander into one by herself, order half a dozen burgers, then terrify the other diners by mercilessly eating them all with absolutely no regard for decorum.
It wasn’t that Sunset had no manners. She knew proper etiquette but chose to ignore it in certain situations. After becoming Princess Celestia’s student, Sunset found that ponies —specifically, those of the upper-class— began coming up to her while she was out and about. It didn’t take long for Sunset to realize that they weren’t interested in her. They were trying to get closer to Celestia, and Sunset, as her personal student, was just a route to achieve that goal. Thankfully, upper-class ponies were easy to embarrass. The only thing it took to ensure that Sunset could enjoy a meal in peace was the application of some artistically terrible table manners.
Sunset froze in horror halfway through her second burger as she realized this was not Canterlot, and she now had a dining companion she didn’t want to drive away. Sunset just hoped Twilight wasn’t too offended by her display.
When Sunset lifted her head to apologize, she was met with an unexpected sight. Twilight’s head was buried in her basket of fries, and a quick look at the plate between them told Sunset that she had, somehow, already eaten four Hay-Burgers! Twilight looked up with a mouthful of fries, met Sunset’s eyes, and froze.
After a moment of staring at each other in silence, Twilight swallowed her fries, cleared her throat, and sat up straight, attempting to salvage some semblance of dignity. It may have worked, except for the fact that her face was covered in ketchup.
“Sorry about that. I’ve found my appetite has become a bit… forceful since I became an alicorn. I’ve got a handle on it most of the time, but sometimes it slips out when I’m not thinking.” Twilight smiled apologetically.
Sunset shook her head as she frantically tried to swallow the burger she still had in her mouth. “It’s okay, I get it. Believe it or not, I was about to apologize for the same thing. Back when I lived in Canterlot, I kinda developed this habit of being really rude whenever I ate in public in order to keep other ponies from bothering me. I actually got so good at it, that parents started leaving the restaurant when they saw me enter because they didn’t want their foals to mimic my behavior.”
Twilight giggled, “That is pretty bad. But even without the extra alicorn hunger, my brother always said I was one of the messiest eaters he’s ever seen, and, based on what I hear from Spike, it’s true.”
“Well, I wasn’t going to say anything but, since you bring it up, you’ve got a little ketchup right about…here.” Sunset indicated the entire lower half of her face.
Twilight held up a burger in her magic and wiped it across her face. Impressively, she managed to get most of the ketchup in a single pass. “Did I get it?”
Sunset chuckled. “For the most part.”
Twilight smiled and happily bit into the burger she had just used as a napkin.
“So, what’ve you been up to recently, Twilight? Any personal projects?” Sunset asked as she started on another burger.
Twilight thought as she chewed. “Oh! You remember me telling you about the night I spent reading books in the ruins of the Castle of the Two Sisters?”
“The one where the girls all showed up at different times and spent most of the night accidentally scaring each other and running from the ‘Pony of Shadows’?”
Twilight swallowed, smiling fondly at the memory. “That’s the one. Well, I decided to move the books from there, to my castle. After all, there was nopony there to care for them and the castle is falling apart. I’d hate it if something were to happen to them.”
Sunset nodded. “Yeah, it would be terrible to lose all that information.”
Twilight smiled brightly. “YES! That’s exactly what I thought! I was worried it would be too late to salvage them at first. But thankfully, it seems that there were some minor enchantments put on the tomes to make them resistant to weathering. Even with that, a thousand years of being partially exposed to the elements has left most of them in a very delicate state. So, I’m making two copies of each book before they fall apart!”
Sunset held up a hoof. “Wait, you’re going to copy an entire library of thousand-year-old texts, on your own? I don’t doubt your conviction, but that’s a pretty demanding task.”
Twilight’s eyelids lowered a bit, as she raised her head with a knowing expression. “Is it?” She asked teasingly.
Sunset raised an eyebrow at Twilight’s question. “Well…I’m guessing most of the books are too brittle to survive any copying charm, otherwise, you would’ve finished by now. So, the only option left is to manually transcribe them. Which takes a long time.”
Twilight’s expression had become downright gleeful. “Does it?”
Sunset rolled her eyes and grinned. “Okay, I’ll bite. How are you doing it?”
Twilight excitedly leaned forward. “Are you familiar with the work of Primary Source?”
Sunset blinked. “The Unicorn responsible for some of the most reliable study techniques?”
Twilight gave a very satisfied “mmm-hmm” but said nothing more. The look on her face urged Sunset to continue.
Sunset reached into her memories. Primary Source was a Unicorn scholar who came up with many methods of maximizing study efficiency. Aside from his writings on good study habits —which Sunset had been making use of even before she became Celestia’s student— his most well-known contribution to the field was the Speed-Read spell. Speed-Read allowed the caster to move rapidly through a text. It couldn’t replace actual reading, as what it gave the caster was more an in-depth overview than real comprehension, but it was still incredibly useful in the scholarly world, particularly when it came to sifting through resources quickly. His other spells tended to be either; nothing special, like a smudge-less ink spell, or overly specific, like a spell that allowed a student to unconsciously write what they were hearing so that they could read other material in class without missing the contents of a lectu-!
Sunset’s eyes snapped up to Twilight, who was on the edge of her seat. “Did you… modify Primary Source’s Audio-Transcribe spell?” Sunset asked.
Twilight’s face nearly split as her wings fluffed out with pride. “I DID! At first, I planned to use it as it was, reading aloud to get the effect. But I worried that I might stop reading aloud without realizing it. So, I changed where the spell drew its information from! Instead of pulling from what I was hearing, I made it pull from what I was seeing.”
Sunset’s mouth hung open a bit. “That’s incredible, Twilight! So basically, all you have to do is read through the books while keeping plenty of ink and paper nearby, and the spell transcribes as you read.”
Twilight nodded proudly. “Exactly! It’s not flawless though. It doesn’t number the pages, for example. Also, while the spell’s matrix filters out the background information easily enough, if I reread a line of text, it rewrites it.”
“Seriously, Twilight, that is still amazing! Even if the spell has some issues, it sounds like there’s nothing wrong with it that can’t be fixed with some minor editing after-the-fact.” Sunset’s praise left Twilight positively aglow. “So, what are you going to do with the copies?”
“I’ll keep one for my castle’s library and donate the others to the Canterlot City Library. That way, they’ll be available for everypony.” Twilight took a sip of her drink. “Oh! Speaking of everypony, would you like to meet the girls’ Equestrian counterparts?”
Sunset began coughing violently as she choked on some fries. After a short moment of fry-fueled coughing, Sunset managed to clear her airways. “Sorry, those went down the wrong way. As for the girls, maybe later in the break. I’m still trying to work out how I’d feel about meeting them. I mean, I’ve never met them before but, at the same time, I still kinda know them. It’s… weird, you know?”
Twilight laughed. “Oh, trust me I get it. At least you got some heads up that the girls are here. When I arrived at Canterlot High, with fingers, feet, no magic, and saw bipedal copies of everypony walking around, I thought I was going crazy. I probably would have if it wasn’t for Spike. Somehow, he took being a dog in stride.”
“Well dogs are a thing here in Equestria, humans aren’t. At least he was able to recognize what he turned into.” Sunset brought a hoof to her mouth. “Still, Spike seems particularly good at remaining calm, even when things are falling apart around him. He really came through when we were trapped during the Battle of the Bands. I wonder what’s made him so good at rolling with the punches.”
Twilight’s chewing speed went from ‘Ludicrous’ to ‘Glacial’.
“SPIKE! COME QUICK!”
“WHAT IS IT TWILIGHT? WHAT’S WRONG?”
“LOOK!”
“…Uh, Twilight. That’s a bottle of milk.”
“It’s not the bottle that’s the problem, Spike! Look at the DATE! It expires tomorrow!”
“So, we’ll just use it tomorrow. Big deal.”
“Spike didn’t you hear me!? I said it EXPIRES tomorrow, we have to use it tonight!”
“Twilight, it’s 11:30.”
“Exactly, Spike. We have half an hour to figure out how to use the remaining milk before it goes bad. Get a quill and parchment ready so that we can make a list of the options.”
“Ugh! Just give it here! I’ll bake it into a cake.”
-----
“Twilight? It’s 5:30 in the morning, what’s wrong? Why are you crying?”
“Oh, Spike. I really messed up this time.”
“Hey, it’s okay. No matter what it is, we’ll get through it.”
* Sniff * “I don’t think there is a way through this Spike. You remember a few weeks ago when I was in Canterlot to meet with Princess Celestia?”
“Yeah.”
“On the way back, I stopped by the Canterlot City Library to borrow a few books for some light reading.”
“…and?”
“Well, I read through and returned them…but I apparently forgot this book. Last night was its due date and if it’s not in the book return slot by the time they open, it’s going to be late.”
“So, just go return it.”
“I considered that Spike. But I calculated that there’s no way I can get it from here to the dropbox in Canterlot before they open in half an hour.”
“Alright. Give it here.”
* Sniff * “What?”
“The book, Twilight, come on! I know how to get it there before they open.”
“…Ok, here.”
“Be right back.”
“Spike? Where are you going?”
“Spike?”
“Spiiike?”
“I’m back. You can relax Twilight, it’s on the way.”
“What? REALLY!? Spike, that’s AMAZING! How’d you do it!?”
“Well I- burp- Oh! A letter from the Princess, perfect timing.”
“A letter from the Princess? This early?”
* Ahem * “My dearest Twilight, I would be happy to return your book for you. I have canceled the royal agenda for this morning and am now heading off to the library with all haste. Rest assured, your book will be in the dropbox before it is marked late. See Twilight? Princess Celestia’s got this. No big deal.”
“…”
“Twilight?”
“…”
“Hello, Twilight? Anypony home?”
* THUD! *
* Sigh * “Okay, Twilight let’s get you up to bed. Hup! You know, I think you put on more weight since you got the wings.”
-----
“Twilight?”
“Yes, Spike?”
“I have two questions.”
“Of course. Ask away.”
“First question, why is the dining room on fire?”
“Oh, Spike. I’m afraid that, despite our best efforts, a ladybug broke perimeter and made it inside. Don’t worry though, I made all the furniture flame-retardant before sealing the room and starting the purging process.”
“Second question, how did you set fire to a room in a castle made out of crystal?”
“Spike, in emergencies, you’d be surprised what you can set fire to.”
* Sigh * “Okay, I guess I’ll go ask Starlight to haul some water up, to put out the blaze while I get dinner ready.”
“Thanks, Spike, I knew I could count on you.”
Twilight swallowed the last of her burger.
“What can I say? He’s a tough little dragon. After all we’ve been through together, turning into a dog, fighting demons, and having a magical musical battle against three Sirens was just another day at the office.”
Sunset stared at Twilight for a moment. “Do you ever worry that all that is having an unhealthy effect on his devel-”
“No”
“But I di-”
“NOPE!”
“Twi-”
“He’s a Noble Dragon Sunset!” Twilight desperately declared. “All this is just another day in the life of Spike, the Brave and Glorious! Don’t you know how fast dragons mature!?” Twilight leaned over the table, staring wide-eyed at Sunset.
Sunset placed a hoof on Twilight’s shoulders and calmly pushed her back down. “I don’t. When I left there hadn’t been much research done on dragons because everypony was too scared to go near them.”
Twilight gave a single nod. “That’s right! I am the leading expert on dragons in Equestria. I have spent the most time with a dragon, observed the dragon migration, infiltrated them for a while to observe their adolescents, and I even had front row seats to the Gauntlet of Fire, which decided who would become the new dragon lord. So, as Equestria’s dragon expert, I can tell you, they grow up very fast. Spike is incredibly strong for his size. Did you know he can carry the same amount of luggage normally handled by 10 porter ponies?”
Sunset looked confused. “Why did you have Spike carry 10 porter ponies-worth of luggage?”
Twilight rolled her eyes and gave an annoyed snort. “It wasn’t me who had him do that! It was Rarity! Spike likes her, so he’s always doing things like that for her.”
“So, you, as Spike’s guardian, allow an older mare to take advantage of his affections in exchange for manual labor?”
Twilight groaned and slammed her head down on the table with such force that her horn became stuck in it. After a few feeble attempts to pry herself out, she gave up with a sad whimper. The Princess of Friendship, bested by the mighty oak table of Burger Princess, teleported a foot above her previous position, fluttered back down into the booth and set her head, gently, on its side.
“What do you want me to do Sunset?” Twilight asked, in a resigned monotone. “I can’t control who Spike does or doesn’t crush on. Does it make it better that there’s no ill intent on either side? Spike enjoys doing little things for Rarity, and Rarity enjoys giving him small amounts of affection in return. It never escalates beyond that; they both seem to just enjoy their dumb dance.”
“Well, you’ve told me that Spike is a baby dragon. Isn’t the age discrepancy a concern for you?”
Without lifting her head from the table, Twilight gave a half-shrug. “Well, I was there when he hatched. In terms of pure years, he’s actually a teenager. Though, that’s certainly a baby if you just look at how long dragons live. But as you said, there’s almost no material on dragons. Certainly, nothing that gives clues to how fast they mature.” Twilight lifted her head to look directly at Sunset. “Believe me, I’ve LOOKED.”
She allowed her head to fall back onto the table before continuing. “So, when it comes to determining what stage of development Spike is in, all I have to go on is whatever observations I can make regarding his behavior. Unfortunately, in the past few years, Spike has become very mature in a lot of ways. While I’m glad he’s growing up, the discrepancy between his age and apparent maturity makes it hard to know when it’s appropriate for me to step in. On one hoof, I want to watch out for him to ensure he doesn’t get in over his head. But, on the other, I don’t want to smother him by intervening in an aspect of his life he’s mature enough to handle. So, I just kind of hang back and make sure things don’t get too out of control. I can’t tell you how many nights this existential quandary has kept me up.”
Sunset reached out and pat the top of Twilight’s head. “There, there. If it makes you feel better, I never would’ve guessed Spike was that young. He seems really grown up.”
“Thank you Sunset. That does make me feel a little better.” While Twilight did sound a bit brighter, her head remained stubbornly on the table.
Sunset thought for a moment, then began rooting around in her saddlebag. “So, not just to change the topic away from the surprisingly complicated nature of Spike’s love life, but I brought something for you.” Sunset lifted a large glass jar out of her bag and set it on the table, in front of Twilight. Twilight raised her head to look at the jar. As soon as she saw it, her eyes became focused. It looked capable of holding about a gallon of liquid, but, at the moment, it was filled with a few dozen red crystals of varying shapes and sizes. “Sunset…what are these?”
“The remains of the Dazzlings gems,” Sunset explained. “They dropped them after the crowd started throwing food. I collected them from the stage and have held onto them since. I didn’t know if they would have any residual magic or not and I didn’t want to risk leaving them lying around. I actually meant to give them to you to take back to Equestria when you left, but I kinda forgot.” Sunset gave a sheepish grin. “Anyway, they never acted up, so I just decided to hold onto them till the next time you came by.”
Twilight picked up the jar in her magic and rotated it around, examining the contents carefully. A smile slowly formed on her face. “Sunset! This is perfect. Let’s go! I have something to show you!” Sunset was suddenly picked up by Twilight’s magic and dragged from the booth.
Before she was pulled away completely, Sunset scrambled to shove the last of her burger and fries into her mouth and frantically started to shout through the mouthful of food. “MWA- Twilight! *Chew* Wain! I can -alk on mah own.” Her pleas fell on deaf ears, as Twilight was too absorbed in examining the jar to notice as she trotted happily back to the castle with Sunset in tow.