//------------------------------// // 2- Monkey see, Monkey do // Story: The Trick to Growing Up // by Hakuno //------------------------------// Chapter 2: Monkey see, monkey do ”Bravo! Wonderful!” Topaz Shine cheered at the top of his lungs. The insufferable idiot. He did not have the right to be happy after failing so miserably. Sure, Sunset had just made a tiny seed grow into a gargantuan vine tree that pierced the ceiling, some windows, and even a few walls. She had been required to mix a tenfold potentiated growth spell with a much more complex transmogrification spell. Truly a feat not many unicorns could pull off, not even those senior snobs! “Thank you, thank you! It was nothing!” Sunset replied nonchalantly. She made her best to walk to the exit with a graceful gait and her head up high. A teacher exclaimed, in awe, how she needn’t hear her grade as she knew full well she had passed. And, yes, that was true. Sunset had come prepared to not only ace her mid-term, but to set a bar so high no pony could better her in at least a hundred years! It had also completely drained her magic reserves, and she was struggling not to wobble down the stairs. She at least wanted to get back to the castle before passing out. ~~~~~~~~ Sunset woke up in the dark, looking directly at the wall. How odd, her bed was in the center of her chambers, not against the wall like some peasant. Then she remembered crossing the portal and being taken in. She sat up and took a look around. Yes, the room was tiny, and all the furniture seemed cramped up against each other. The window was covered by a thick blue curtain that was pressed against the wardrobe. How could humans live like this? She lifted her hands in front of her and moved her fingers. She could move them individually, she could bend them and press them together, but she felt groggy and uncoordinated. How long would it be before she mastered these new appendages?  Her stomach grumbled. At least some things were still the same, she supposed. She got off the bed and out of the room. Everything was plunged in darkness. It wasn’t uncommon for Sunset, as she was used to waking up every day way before Celestia raised the sun, like clockwork. Before her tutelage with the princess, she had not been a morning pony by any means, but she had forced herself to take on the habit for the sake of impressing her mentor. She stopped. “Wait, if Celestia isn’t here, who raises the sun?” she whispered to herself. “Or maybe it’s the same sun? Or the sun here is connected to that in Equestria?” So many questions! Another groan from her stomach forced her to ignore them for now and get some food. The kitchen was very similar to what she was used to, so that was also a good thing, she supposed. Not that she’d ever been near the royal kitchens, but if she was to live in this world for a while, she’d eventually need to use it, right? She could see not much more, as the room was even darker than the rest of the house. There had been light last night, but where? She could see no candlesticks or lamps anywhere. Then, how…? With a groan, she decided to ask Trixie later. She spotted a bowl with what looked like a variety of fruits. Bananas, apples, pears… Well, these should be safe to eat, right? Not only for her new body, but as a guest. She was used to early snacks before breakfast, as the royal staff usually woke up about an hour after her. A yellow apple looked especially inviting, so Sunset decided to have that one. She stared at it and readied her magic… Except she could not feel her magic reserves. Oh… right… No horn meant no magic. No magic. No magic! What was she going to do without her magic? Her power? The source of her pride?! Magic was the foundation of her very society, and she was at the epitome of society! She was the most powerful unicorn since Starswirl the Bearded! Student to Princess Celestia herself! She was the rightful successor of the throne! And now, she couldn’t lift one stupid apple. She put her hands to her face and took a deep, sharp breath. “Alright, alright, alright. Calm down, Shimmer. You got this. You got this.” The portal had clearly stripped her of her magic. But why? Did it mean that humans couldn’t harness it? Or was it their entire world that lacked magic? Was the disappearance of her magic a sort of way to protect the balance of the world, or was it just the whim of whomever that had created the portal? Finally, Sunset released her breath in a huff. A world such as this one was worth studying. It was baffling that any world could survive without magic to cradle it, or at least that was the most accepted theory in ‘The Fundamentals of Magicks, by Starbright Powder’. Ah, yes. Thinking about her studies had always calmed her down. Sunset could feel a bit more relaxed. She had willingly jumped into the portal, knowing full well that it was a completely unknown field of study. But Celestia had showed her the mirror for a reason, right? Sunset had every right to study it, nay, it was her duty to bring back her findings! This way, Celestia would be forced to acknowledge Sunset’s worth! Confident, that was Sunset’s way. With a firm nod, she grabbed the apple and bit it. It was a very similar flavor to what she was used to, if a bit less sweet. It wasn’t bad, per se, but a little disappointing. However, that did not dampen Sunset’s mood, she would not let it! Now, where to get information at this hour, in a place like this? She scanned the place. It was difficult to see in this darkness, where were those sources of light? She looked up, and saw light bulbs on the ceiling. Ah hah! Humans had electric power! Of course, without magic, they’d need a mundane way to light up their homes. She began inspecting the walls, and quickly found a switch, now that she knew what to look for. She pressed it, and the room was immediately bathed in white light. “Ah, much better.” With that, Sunset had an easier time finding the bookshelf placed in a corner of the living room. She quickly spotted a huge 10 tome-long encyclopedia. Now this is what she was looking for! She grabbed the first book and searched the index, quickly finding the tome for Anatomy. With a satisfied grin, Sunset made her way to the dining room and sat down at the table. She opened the book and began reading. ~~~~~~~~ The book was very thorough about anatomy, to the point of disclosing information of the likes that were still being researched in Equestria, and that had caught Sunset’s attention. She had, however, managed to focus on the themes that talked about her body parts and their locations. After that, she had spent the better part of an hour memorizing them. She didn’t want anyone to mock her for saying her knees should be in her arms. The sound of a door opening distracted Sunset, and she looked up to find Dandy Lion in the hallway. Her mane- no, her hair was frazzled and it pointed in all directions, her pajamas consisted on a long gray shirt that reached her knees and light purple pants. She, however, looked pretty well rested. “Good morning, Sunset,” Dandy said, eyeing the book. “You woke up pretty early.” It was then when Sunset noticed the house was better illuminated. The sun had come out at some point. Sunset nodded. “I always wake up before sunrise,” she admitted. “I hope you don’t mind me reading your books,” she said, then looked at what little remained of her apple. “Or that I ate one of your apples.” “Nonsense, dear. Food is to be eaten,” Dandy said, then grabbed a few napkins and began wiping the table. “Just, next time, use a plate.” “Sorry.” Dandy seemed content with the apology, and finished cleaning Sunset’s mess. “I’m going to prepare breakfast. Do you like eggs?” Sunset couldn’t help but smile. Her stomach had just started demanding a proper meal. “Absolutely!” “Well then, just wait a few minutes,” and with that, Dandy entered the kitchen. Sunset decided to go back to her reading. She was fascinated by just how much knowledge there was. Apparently, humans had made up for their lack of magic with science, and that was simply fascinating. If there was one single setback of magic, Sunset would say it was that it prompted ponies to be lazy with their studies, and science in Equestria still had a long ways to go. This book explained all the different parts in the human body, from the external to the internal. Muscles, bones, organs, even types of blood! Who knew there were different types? Was it a human thing or ponies also shared that trait? How could she know? The encyclopedia only stated facts, not theories, and didn’t even refer to studies or the likes. It seemed that Sunset would have a harder time gathering knowledge than she thought. At some point, Dandy returned with two plates and offered one to Sunset. Reluctantly, Sunset set the book aside and took a look at her food. It looked… odd. Yellow, with some brown here and there, and black tiny dots everywhere. “Scrambled eggs with cheese and pepper,” Dandy explained, having noticed Sunset’s expression. Sunset grabbed her fork -even the cutlery was the same as in Equestria- and stabbed the eggs. It was a clumsy affair, as she had wrapped all her hand around the fork and had to make a wide arc with her arm in order to lead the food into her mouth. “Oh wow,” she said as she savored the food. It was delicious! But it looked like sickly vomit! This food had no right being this tasty! She took another bite and she was in The Plains. Dandy giggled. Sunset realized she was making a very undignified expression, and blushed. She noticed Dandy was holding her fork in a very different way, and it allowed for short and precise movements. Sunset tried to copy her, dropping her fork a few times, but eventually managed to steady her hand. She would need to practice a lot to get it right, but she would master it! Before Sunset could finish her food, Dandy was already taking her empty plate to the kitchen. “Please take yours into the sink when you finish,” she said, then went to the bathroom. Almost immediately after, Sunset heard the sound of a shower. By the time Sunset finished eating and taking her plate to the sink, Dandy was already out the shower. That was quick, Sunset thought as she sat back down at the dining table and opened the tome. Some twenty minutes later, Dandy returned, this time with blue pants, a green blouse, and black shoes. Her hair was also combed, and it shone beautifully with the light. She produced the coin she had taken from Sunset the night before and held it high. “I’m going to see my friend now, see how much this is worth,” she told Sunset. “When I return, you and me are going to talk.” And with that, she left the house. Sunset couldn’t help but feel angry at being talked like that. Who did she think she was?! Sure, this was Dandy’s house, but Sunset was Princess Celestia’s pupil! She was to become Equestria’s next ruler! But… of course, Dandy didn’t know any of that, and Sunset had to admit that none of that mattered this side of the mirror. With a defeated sigh, she returned to her reading. There was something she had seen in those pictures of the human body that had been bothering Sunset, and she decided she wanted to occupy her mind in knowledge right now. Now, where was it? “Ah, here,” she said as she read the title of the section. ‘Body development’. Sunset had already learned that human females were called woman, or women, in plural. She already knew they grew breasts - not udders or teats, she’d have to remember that-, and since she was going to spend the next thirty moons in this world, she wanted to know what to expect. “‘Despite sexual differences, both boys and girls start developing body hair’,” she read. Body hair? Like fur? But Dandy certainly didn’t have any fur Sunset could see. “Ah, here’s why,” she said as she noted the picture. Now this was odd. Hair in just some specific places? Why? Did she have any of it? Sunset stood up and undressed. Immediately after, she noticed the cold air, but ignored it. She didn’t have a mirror, but according to the encyclopedia’s information, she should be able to spot it without the need of one. Her arms were completely bare. She wondered, when it started growing, how that would look like. Next she checked her legs. Nope, no hair here either. In her armpits? Yeah, there were just a couple of very tiny hairs starting to grow there. They made for a rough surface, but they were almost unnoticeable. She couldn’t quite see them though. Finally, Sunset looked at her crotch. This was the part that, for some reason, had been most difficult for her to accept had changed. It was smaller, less prominent, and resembled a slit dividing two small dunes. Were it not for the book, she’d have absolutely no clue from where would she urinate. And, right above it, there was a small patch of barely visible bright red hairs just starting to grow. She passed two fingers through, and noticed a rougher tact than that in her armpits. She scratched her head. Why would humans grow hair in just some parts of their bodies? Why not either be completely hairy or completely hairless? She returned to the book, but it unfortunately offered no answers to those questions. In that moment, another door opened, and out came Trixie, groggily making her way through the hall. She was wearing a slightly oversized set of blue pajamas, and her hair, much like her mother’s, was an absolute mess. Trixie halted and her eyes widened when she saw Sunset. “What are you doing?” Trixie hissed, her face heating up. “If mom sees you she’ll scold you!” Sunset frowned. “I’m reading. Why would she scold me for that?” “Not that! You’re naked, again!” Trixie said, then noticed the clothes on the floor. “Look, you’re not supposed to get naked, like ever, unless you’re going to take a shower. Now hurry and get dressed before mom wakes up!” “Oh, don’t worry, Trixie,” Sunset said dismissively. “Dandy already left. Besides, In Equestria we never wear clothes except for formal events. I’m comfortable like this.” Trixie opened her mouth, but then forced it shut. She leaned from side to side for a while, then, defeatedly, walked up to the kitchen. Sunset raised an eyebrow. Trixie was clearly uncomfortable, and she clearly wanted to argue more, but she had decided to back off. Quite quickly, at that. “Pushover,” Sunset muttered to herself. She leaned over to the book, and shivered as a breeze met her. She eyed her clothes on the floor. She was getting rather cold. With a huff and a roll of her eyes, Sunset decided to get dressed once more. “Stupid furless body.” Once done dressing, Sunset sat back down and began reading again. Trixie appeared from the kitchen with a plate of scrambled eggs. Dandy must have prepared enough. Sunset eyed Trixie, and noticed she was looking her over with a faint smile. When Trixie realized Sunset was looking at her, she immediately turned to her food. Sunset rolled her eyes. “So,” Trixie said, lazily moving her food with the fork. “How did you, uhm, sleep last night?” “Just fine,” Sunset replied without looking up. “Mom was pretty livid last night. Good thing you bribed her, right?” Trixie giggled, then got a bite of her breakfast. “Where did you get that money from, anyway?” Sunset stiffened her jaw. “It’s my savings.” Trixie muttered something with a tone that sounded like awe. If only she didn’t have her mouth full. She swallowed and licked her lips. “You have quite a lot! Well, I think. Mom gives me ten bucks a week, but that’s barely anything! How many things can you buy with one of those coins?” Taking a deep, sharp breath, Sunset finally looked at Trixie. “Many things. Now, Trixie, I’m really trying to learn about this new body of mine. You may not remember, but I used to be a pony. I lost appendages and gained new ones, and everything is in different places. I would really appreciate if you let me read in peace. I will ask you when there’s something the book doesn’t explain well, or when I need assistance.” She didn’t wait for a reply, and turned back to her book. Sunset was pleased that Trixie didn’t say anything further, and the only sound that came from her was that of the fork touching the plate. A few minutes later, Sunset felt the very familiar need to go to the bathroom. She supposed it was as good as any moment to study how it worked. She looked up to Trixie, who had very clearly lost her good mood. Huh. “Hey, Trixie. Where’s the bathroom?” Trixie jumped up and sharply looked at Sunset. Her smile returned. “Oh! First door to the right. Right in front of your room!” Sunset nodded appreciatively and walked there. She was getting better at walking, she noticed. She entered the bathroom and stopped. It was even smaller than her room! She turned on the light and closed the door behind her. The sink was right in front of her. Immediately to her right was… a cup? She studied it. It was white with a pink fluffy lid covering it. This was the toilet? She opened the lid. It certainly looked like one, but why did it have the shape of a cup? How on Equestria was she supposed to squat on it? “Wait…” It was too tall and too small for squatting. Was she supposed to sit on it? Like a chair? She supposed it wouldn’t hurt to try. Carefully, she sat, looking toward the wall. This was incredibly uncomfortable. She cocked her head and stood up again. “Wait a- ohh,” she hit her fists together as she realized it. The toilets she was used to were rectangular in shape, so she was used to looking towards the protruding piece of porcelain. This one, however, had a shape resembling a droplet. Maybe she was supposed to sit facing away. She put her theory to a test and sat down the other way. Yes, this was how it was supposed to be! It still wasn’t the most comfortable thing in the world, but it was good enough. She looked down. “Oh, right.” She facepalmed, feeling completely stupid, then pulled her pants and panties down to her knees. As she started letting it out, she took a good look at the rest of the room. Right in front of her, there was what she supposed would be the shower. It was incredibly narrow. Too narrow. It looked like it would only fit one human comfortably, let alone a whole group! She decided to look around some more. There was a box upon the sink with a mirror on its door. Again, very similar to what she was used to. The rest of the bathroom was all tiles, blue at the walls and light gray on the floor. Pretty monochromatic, this house. Finally, Sunset finished, and looked back at the tank. There was only one lever. “Huh.” She pulled the lever, and the toilet began flushing. Sunset yelped. Where was the cleaning lever? She looked one way, then the other, and found nothing of the sort. To her right, on the wall, there she saw a roll of toilet paper. “Seriously? The peasant way?” She groaned and pulled some off the roll. She fumbled a bit, but managed to cut a good chunk. What happened next could only be described as a gross mess in which too much toilet paper was wasted. Sunset did not feel proud that day, and she spent the next ten minutes clumsily washing her hands. When she finally got out of the bathroom, she heard voices coming from the living room. Is Dandy back already? she thought, but these voices sounded odd. Curious, Sunset walked there to investigate, and found Trixie lounging on one of the couches, staring at the box Sunset had spotted earlier. The voices were coming from the box. Sunset got in a better position to see. The box was displaying images and sound! “What is this?!” She said as she got close to the screen and placed her hand on it. “How is it working? Where’s the projector?” She turned and saw no projector. Back to the screen, she noticed that she wasn’t covering the image with her body. “Is it inside the box? But it’s too small for that. And I don’t hear the sound of the projector!” “Sunset, move!” Trixie said. “I’m trying to watch the T.V.!” Sunset looked back at Trixie, dumbfounded. Not only science, but technology too? In how many more things were these humans more advanced than ponies? Was magic the only thing in which they were inferior? Sunset wouldn’t have any of that! She stood up and put her hands on her hips. “I want to know how this thing works.” Trixie frowned, annoyed. Why was she annoyed? She could simply rewind the thing! “Well, read those encyclopedias or ask mom. I don’t know. I just want to watch my cartoons!” Sunset huffed, deciding to do just that. Trixie wasn’t being the big help Sunset originally thought! She had completely wasted that ruby, hadn’t she? Out of all the humans that potentially lived in this world, Sunset just had to hire an uninterested kid that knew nothing of- One of the animated cartoon humans on the T.V. shot lightning from his hand. “What was that?!” Sunset exclaimed. “How did he do that?!” She heard Trixie click her tongue. “He was born in the Raifu family, duh” “The what now?” Trixie straightened up, and began explaining the show’s plot and all the characters’ abilities with a lot less annoyance, Sunset noticed. Unfortunately, the show had been interrupted by some weird short videos that Trixie told her to ignore, but fortunately so, they also gave time for Trixie to go into detail. It was clear to Sunset that this ‘Elementians’ show was pure fiction, but what was it based on? Had humans once harnessed magic and they were inventing stories out of those experiences, or were they completely made up? So many questions! During the following hour, Sunset forgot about the encyclopedias, and instead watched these ‘cartoons’, as Trixie had called them. ~~~~~~~~ They heard the front door open, and Sunset turned just in time to see Dandy close the door behind her. She had a troubled expression on her face. Dandy eyed the T.V., then looked at Trixie. “What do you think you’re doing, Trixie?” Trixie frowned in confusion and cocked her head. “I’m… watching ‘Elementians’ with Sunset?” Dandy walked up to them and snatched the remote. “You are grounded, missy!” She said as she turned off the T.V. “What?! Why?!” “Do you really not know?” Dandy asked, putting her hands on her hips and looking down on Trixie. “You know you shouldn’t be out so late at night! I told you there would be consequences if you did it again!” Trixie gaped. “But mooooom!” “But nothing! To your room, now!” Trixie heated up, but said nothing as she rushed towards her room. Sunset could only stare at the whole exchange. She had never been grounded before, and in that moment, she was glad she hadn’t. Dandy sighed as she massaged the bridge of her nose with two fingers. “Sunset, I need to talk with you.” “Oh, uh… Sure.” Sunset shifted in her seat. She had completely forgotten about that. Dandy sat down on the couch right in front of Sunset and looked at her in a way that reminded her a lot of her own mom. “Tell me, Sunset, why did you come to this world?” Sunset felt a chill run down her spine. “So you believe me?” “I suppose,” Dandy admitted. “Your money is certainly real, or at least, as real as it can get. You see, my friend is a numismatist. She studies all forms of money in the world, and I know she is pretty thorough in her studies. Your coin, Sunset, is obviously not from this world, but the metal that conforms it is very real. Now, if it were only that single coin, I would still have my doubts, but you have a whole bag of them.” She shook her head. “Then there’s the whole thing of you appearing out of nowhere with nothing but that bag. Another friend of mine, you see, is a police officer, so I asked her to look in as many places as possible if she could find a girl with your characteristics. And so far, there is nothing about you.” She looked directly at Sunset. “So, either you are lying about your name and everything, but somehow got your hands on a small fortune…” “Or I’m telling the truth,” Sunset finished the idea, nodding. “I suppose it is hard to believe. I wouldn’t have if I hadn’t read it myself in the royal archives.” Dandy blinked at that. “So, how much is my money worth this side of the portal?” Sunset asked. “I guess you deserve to know,” Dandy replied. She then reached for her brown purse and pulled out a stack of green rectangular papers. “She bought your coin for fifteen hundred dollars,” she said as she placed the stack on the small coffee table in between them. “You may not understand as of yet, but that is quite a large amount of money.” Sunset pressed her lips together. Dollars? So that was the name of human money. And each of her Bits was worth fifteen hundred of them. Dandy was right, Sunset wasn’t sure whether that was a lot or not. Every kingdom allied to Equestria used Bits as currency, so she had no experience in exchange rates! “So, as I was coming home,” Dandy continued. “I was thinking on an arrangement you and I can make.” Sunset perked up at that. “I cannot simply kick you out, it would be irresponsible, knowing you have no one else in the world, quite literally. So, if you are to stay here, you will give me one coin every month. That should cover the rent of your room, the use of energy power, hot water, food, clothes, and other things you might need.” “Every… month?” Sunset asked. “Like, every moon cycle?” Dandy cocked her head. “Uh… similar, but not quite the same… Months here are equivalent to 30 days… more or less. Half the months have a different amount of days. But a moon cycle here is… I think it’s 27 days.” “Huh,” Sunset pondered. Moon cycles in Equestria were completely different! More like these ‘months’ Dandy was speaking of. This was going to be a nightmare to remember. She leaned back and looked at the stack of paper money. One Bit per moon? That was a ridiculous offer! If that was all it took, then Sunset could potentially buy the whole building and still have enough to spare! Then again, if Sunset did something as stupid as spend all her money so fast, she’d end up broke, and she’d have to find a, ugh, job. “However,” Dandy added. “I’d like for you to give me two more coins now, then we start with the one coin per month deal. This is because we need to buy you clothes, and have you examined at the doctor, and also in case of emergencies.” Sunset blinked. “I… I suppose that’s fair,” she said. Three Bits now, then one Bit every moon for everything Dandy offered? She would have feared some kind of bad business was going on, were it not for the fact that she wasn’t in Equestria any longer. “But that is not all,” Dandy said. “You may be paying rent and services, but this is still my house, and you are still a minor. I will try to give you as much freedom as possible, but I am the authority here. You will have a curfew, just like Trixie, and I will have the right to ground you should you deserve it.” Sunset groaned internally. The last time she was treated like this was three years ago, right before she moved to the palace with Celestia! For three years she had been able to do as she pleased so long as she didn’t neglect her studies, but then again, why would she do that? And now she was back to being treated like a child! “Oh, ponyfeathers,” Sunset muttered defeatedly. “Fine, it’s a deal.” She couldn’t do much anyway. Something inside Sunset was telling her that this was the best course of action, and her gut was always right! Dandy nodded to herself. “Now, I’ve been wondering. Your money is called… Bits?” “Yeah,” Sunset replied with a half-pout. “That’s because money is a part of Equestria’s economy. And every coin is a smaller part; they are bits of a bigger power. So, they were called Bits.” “That is pretty interesting,” Dandy noted. “What are all the face values you have?” Sunset raised an eyebrow. “Why do you want to know?” “My friend asked. She was really interested.” “Eh, I suppose that’s fair enough,” Sunset replied. “We have four different coins. 1, 2, 5, and 10 Bits. That’s enough for most things, although it can be tiring when buying really expensive things. The Royal Equestrian Bank, as far as I know, is trying to figure out a way to make this easier.” Dandy nodded. “Well, that’s what our paper money is,” she said. “I don’t know nearly as much as my friend, but we used to deal with gold coins, like you. It got a bit out of hand, so now we have these dollars.” Sunset supposed she could look into it and bring that knowledge back to Equestria. “So, what was the carved picture behind the coin?” Dandy asked. “Uh… it was the one Bit coin, right?” She asked, and when Dandy nodded, she hummed and looked up. “It was… the royal sisters. Supposedly, they were rulers before Celestia. Some say one of them is Celestia, but the only books on them are foal tales. I don’t even know why Celestia insists on having that symbol everywhere.” Dandy hummed. “And the quills? Do they mean anything?” “Yeah. They mean knowledge. It’s important to study and better oneself.” “And the other coins?” Sunset had studied about them, but the information escaped her. She decided to go to her room to snatch the remaining three coins and show them to Dandy. “The two Bits coin, as you can see,” Sunset said, letting Dandy inspect the coin. “replaces the quills with horns. They represent us unicorns. We are kind of a minority in terms of numbers, so we are in a less valuable coin. Behind you can see three faces.” Dandy turned the coin, and sure enough, there was a picture of three weird looking pony faces, all wearing different sorts of hats. “The founders of Equestria,” Sunset explained, pointing at each face. “Chancellor Puddinghead, Princess Platinum, and Commander Hurricane.” She then grabbed the five Bits coin and gave it to Dandy. “The horns are wings now, representing Pegasi. On the back there are six faces. Those are The Pillars of Old Equestria. Heroes that protected Equestria well over a thousand years ago.” In order to fit them all into the coin, the faces were really small, and Dandy could barely notice the ‘pony’ form in them. “Then, we have the ten Bits coin,” Sunset said as she gave that last coin to Dandy. “Wings are replaced with horseshoes, representing Earth Ponies. On the back, there’s the symbol of Unified Equestria.” Upon turning the coin, Dandy could see a picture that looked like four circles within each other, parted in the middle by a rising triangle that ended in a star. Behind the circles were two spread wings and two more that wrapped them from below. Dandy gave the last coin back to Sunset. “I suppose that’s enough for now. I will be taking these two,” she said, taking the other two coins into her purse, “as the payment we agreed on. If I can only sell them for their worth in metal, I’m pretty they will have the same value.” She leaned back and observed Sunset for a moment. “You know, I think I should just ask… Why did you come to this world? Such a young girl like you shouldn’t go anywhere alone.” “Well, I…” Sunset stopped herself before she blurted the same lie she had told Trixie. But, could she really tell Dandy that she had attacked the ruler of her world, then jumped into the mirror just to know what was the secret that was being kept from her? Then again… That had been bothering Sunset for a while. Princess Celestia was the wisest pony in the world, and she knew all the ponies close to her. She knew Sunset, sometimes even more than Sunset herself. She had to have known how Sunset would react to being kept from important information, hadn’t she? Would this really be some kind of test? Of course! That made all the sense in the world! Celestia wanted Sunset to prove her worth on her own, without any guidance! She had been tricked into jumping head first to the unknown and solve whatever mysteries that lurked beyond! Oh, that wicked alicorn. Sunset smiled. “I was tasked to study this world and bring back my findings. And from what I’ve seen so far, there’s technology and science here of the likes that are beyond imagination in Equestria!” Oddly, instead of simply agreeing, Dandy frowned. “You were tasked? By whom? And why alone?” “Oh, right. You don’t know.” Sunset giggled. “Princess Celestia is the ruler of Equestria. She’s immortal, powerful, and wise. And I am her personal pupil! If there was anypony that could unravel this world’s mysteries, it’s me!” “But… alone?” Sunset nodded. “If I’m to become Equestria’s next ruler, I have to learn how to adapt and survive anywhere. This experience will put all my skills to the test!” She felt a sense of pride she thought she had lost; she was motivated! “I have to learn as much as I can, and I only have 30 moons to do so!” For the longest time, Dandy only stared back at Sunset. Finally, she sighed heavily. “Well, I suppose I can’t blame your princess for not knowing that this is a dangerous world for a thirteen year old to be on her own. Good thing Trixie found you and not…” She pressed her lips together. “Anyway, if you want to learn, why don’t you go to school?” “School?” For some reason, Sunset felt insulted. “Well, I was about to graduate from Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. Hmmm. I suppose it can be a good way for me to know how humans interact with each other.” Dandy nodded, then her smile vanished. “The only problem is that you have no documents whatsoever…” Sunset cocked her head. “Documents?” “You know, birth certificate, school grades… Anything that proves you are a normal girl and won’t raise suspicions?” “Oh,” Well, that was going to be inconvenient. Dandy placed a hand to her mouth. “I’ll see what I can do about that. Meanwhile, do try to learn as much as you can -you can ask Trixie for help- so you’re not lost when you are enrolled.” Sunset nodded. “I can definitely do that.” “I just hope it’s not too late, or you’ll have to wait a whole year,” Dandy said, then stood up. “I have to go to work now. Please don’t go out; it’s dangerous for someone your age alone. You can read the rest of the books I have, although some are pretty old.” “Alright!” Dandy smiled. “I’ll be back at ten. If you’re hungry, you can have the leftovers of yesterday’s food. Ask Trixie for help in heating it up.” She hesitated. “Trixie has my number. If something happens, call me.” “Sure,” Sunset replied. She wondered what was this number she referred to, but decided to ask Trixie later. After some more hesitating and instructions, Dandy left. Sunset grabbed the same tome she had been reading and opened it.