//------------------------------// // 6- Trottoir // Story: The Trick to Growing Up // by Hakuno //------------------------------// Chapter 6: Trottoir Princess Celestia rose to the skies and lifted the sun to bathe the world in its light. Ponies cheered and some even set off fireworks. The Summer Sun Celebration never ceased to amaze Sunset. When she was a filly, it was just the visuals, but as the princess’ personal student, Sunset now understood it more clearly and was left in even more awe. Raising the sun after lowering the moon required such a huge amount of arcane power, it was almost illogical that one single pony, alicorn or not, could produce it. And yet, Celestia had been doing it for almost a thousand years. During this festivity, Sunset was always left humbled. No matter how talented she was and how destined she was to one day occupy the throne, she wasn’t sure she would ever be powerful enough to move either the sun or the moon, let alone both. It was a feeling Sunset only ever experienced in the two minutes it took Celestia to perform the feat. And every time, Sunset only grew more determined to do just that. She would study and train so much and so hard, she would eventually learn to do everything Celestia could, and then she would be recognized as her equal. That was Sunset’s destiny. ~~~~~~~~ Sunset moved her shoulders in circles, trying to find a middle point where the brassiere would not be the most uncomfortable contraption she had ever worn.  She was starting to think it had originally been invented as a torture device. At least she had finally been allowed outside. After their trip to the mall the day before, Dandy had deemed it appropriate for Sunset to start exploring the city. The only condition was that she’d take Trixie with her to avoid getting lost. Dandy had also told Sunset to make sure Trixie respected her curfew. Sunset didn’t like feeling like a foalsitter, but she decided to take advantage of the opportunity to study human society up-close. Her brand new clothes weren’t as uncomfortable as they had been when she tried them out at the store. Maybe it had been due to the stress, or maybe because Dandy had washed them. Either way, she was glad to have stopped being lent something. She despised being pitied. “So, uhm, where do you want to go first?” Trixie asked. Sunset looked at her. Trixie had been acting weird since coming back from the mall, more so than usual. More distant, perhaps? It was difficult to tell. Sunset had never been good at reading others. “Well, you know the neighborhood,” Sunset said. “I want to study economics firsthoof, so let’s go to several stores.” She had also been given five hundred dollars by trading another coin with Dandy. She didn’t know if it was much, but she supposed it was a good number to start with. Trixie shrugged and began walking.  Sunset raised her eyebrows.  Had Trixie always seemed so uninterested? She had known the girl for barely more than a week, but that was certainly strange behavior. Before they could even reach the first corner, Sunset spotted a car parked nearby. She immediately went over to inspect it. The encyclopedia was very thorough about how these internal combustion engines worked, and Sunset had been blown away. They were pretty much just like trains, but with a smaller motor and a different fuel. This gasoline seemed like a huge breakthrough in human technology. She poked one of the wheels with a finger. It was hard, but with a bit of pressure, she could actually feel the material giving in. What was it made from? “You shouldn’t do that,” Trixie said as she looked this way and the other. “The owner of the car might think we’re trying to steal it.” “Really?” Sunset asked. “Is the crime rate high in this world?” Trixie looked at the car. She was quite clearly avoiding looking directly at Sunset. “I guess.” Sunset frowned. “Alright…” She stood up. “What are these wheels made out of?” “Rubber.” “Really?” Sunset scratched her chin. “Why would humans use rubber for something like wheels?” Trixie shrugged and continued down the street.  What had gotten into Trixie? That aloof attitude annoyed Sunset. Nopony had ever been in her presence and not either envied her or praised her. Sure, no one knew her on this side of the mirror, but the indifference still made her angry. As they walked, Sunset quickly forgot her anger as she found more and more cars parked here and there and even more passed her by. It seemed that this world was not content with just surpassing Equestria technologically, they also wanted to rub it in Sunset’s face. She wasn’t sure whether she felt insulted or amazed. Perhaps a bit of both. After a while, they reached a building that was strikingly different from the rest. For starters, there was a really big space from the entrance to the street, and there were two cars parked there. “What is this place?” Sunset asked. “It’s a convenience store,” Trixie replied. “Convenient,” Sunset said. Trixie snorted and went inside.  Sunset followed her. The place had all kinds of products. So many and so varied, and Sunset didn’t know half of them! She had never been to such a place as this one; she wasn’t even sure they existed in Equestria. After all, Sunset had been too young when she became Celestia’s student, and then became too busy to bother. For the following minutes, Sunset inspected everything she could, reading their names and their prices, having Trixie explain what they were, then comparing them. Good thing Sunset had brought her notebook, and she was clumsily annotating everything. There were so many things that didn’t exist in Equestria, and some that were still novelties. Soda, for one, was something Sunset had heard in passing conversations but dismissed as just a poor imitation of cider. Here, however, there were rows and rows of bottles of different kinds of sodas. “Is soda any good?” Sunset asked as she finished writing prices. Trixie, who had been absentmindedly replying to whatever Sunset asked, finally seemed to grow interested. “Yeah, it’s pretty good. Mom doesn’t let me have it because she says it’s too sugary, though.” Sunset cocked her head. That was quite the sudden change of attitude on Trixie. Maybe she was just in a bad mood? Normally, Sunset wouldn’t have cared, but despite Trixie being a very ordinary and clueless child, she still knew a lot more about this side of the mirror than Sunset. Maybe it would be a good idea to be on her good side for now. “Why don’t you buy one when she isn’t around?” Sunset asked. “I only get ten dollars a week,” Trixie replied. “I have to save them up to buy my games.” Sunset hummed, then opened the crystal door and grabbed two bottles. She was surprised to find that they were not glass. What was this material? She let the door shut behind her and gave one to Trixie. “Here, for your troubles.” Trixie grabbed the soda as if it were some kind of treasure. Her smile was broad and toothy. “Thanks!” ~~~~~~~~ The soda was, indeed, incredibly delicious. In Equestria, she had only tasted cider once, and she had thought it was tasty, but this beverage was incredible! Why would anyone say it was a poor imitation? The flavor was so different! Trixie seemed to be enjoying it way more than Sunset. She was practically skipping as they walked. Whatever had been bothering her had been forgotten, it seemed. “So, gold is not really that valuable,” Sunset said. “It’s still pretty common in mines, and also really easy to grow in farms. That’s why we use it for pretty much everything.” “Wait. You grow gold in farms?” “Yes,” Sunset replied. “There’s a gold farm right next to the castle. That’s where most of the gold for coins is grown.” Trixie whistled. “That’s neat. I wish we could grow gold, too. Ten bucks a week isn’t enough for anything, you know?” “I guess not.” “And your pony money? What you brought is a lot?” “Not really. It’s just what I could carry at the moment,” Sunset said. It wasn’t technically a lie. It’s just what little she could fit in her saddlebags after Celestia had expelled her from her tutelage. Well, seemingly expelled. “I actually have about twenty times as much.” Trixie gasped. “Whoa, you’re rich.” Sunset shrugged. “Being the princess’ personal student came with a lot of perks. Everything was provided for free, and then I also had a generous stipend. I had no reason to buy much, so I got my hooves on a small fortune after three years of letting it pile up.” “Can’t you go and bring it all back?” Trixie asked. “You could buy your own castle with all that money!” That gave Sunset pause. She suddenly felt colder, so she hugged her clothes closer to her. “You ok?” Sunset breathed in.  “Yeah…” She replied. “And no, I can’t go back for now. The portal is closed.” “Closed?” Trixie asked. “And when will it open again?” “In thirty moons.” Trixie blinked. “So in a month.” Sunset facehoofed… Facepalmed. “Each moon is equivalent to a month, more or less.” “A moon is a month? Then, that’s… uhh…” Why could no one do such a simple math problem quickly? Sunset suppressed a defeated sigh. “That’s two and a half years.” “Whoa, that long?” Trixie asked. “And won’t you miss your family?” “Not really,” Sunset replied with a shrug. “I don’t know about this world, but it’s pretty common in Equestria to move out as soon as you get your Cutie Mark. I got mine almost four years ago and immediately moved to the royal castle to be Princess Celestia’s prized pupil.” Ah, how she loved boasting about it. “What’s a Cutie Mark?” Then again, it was pretty much useless in this world.  Sunset did sigh this time. “A Cutie Mark is a symbol everypony gets when they discover their talent or destiny,” she explained. “Did you see the red and yellow sun in my bag? That’s mine. It represents my natural talent in magic and my destiny as the next ruler of Equestria.” Trixie hummed. “Actually, can you show me your keychain?” Sunset asked. Trixie gave her an odd look but complied. “As I thought. This looks like a Cutie Mark indeed,” Sunset said as she inspected the drawing of a blue moon and a wand with a star. Trixie blinked. “That’s just a drawing I did last year,” she said. “Mom said it looked good so she had it made into a keychain.” Sunset considered this. Humans had no magic, or at least Trixie claimed they didn’t. Why, then, would she have drawn a Cutie Mark? Why would Dandy have deemed it necessary to preserve it? Maybe there was more to this world and Sunset was barely touching the surface. “Maybe I’m just overthinking it,” she said, then gave the keychain back to Trixie. “I’m kind of tired. Where can we sit to rest for a while?” Trixie tucked the keychain into a pocket. “We’re pretty near the High School where I found you last week.” Sunset nodded and followed Trixie. What if humans did have Cutie Marks, but weren’t aware of it? Could this world have a kind of  magic so different than that of Equestria that humans weren’t even aware of it? That shattered everything Sunset knew about magic! Then again, this was a different world. There was no reason to think that the same logic she was accustomed to would apply. They reached the place where the portal was located. It had been too dark and Sunset had been too disoriented to notice the building that rose about three stories high. Trixie had called it a High School, one of the educational levels Equestria didn’t have. The portal sat in front of the building, almost to the sidewalk. She walked there to see it up close. Why was the portal to Equestria in such a place? Anyone could stumble into it and end up in the royal castle. One would think it’d be at least guarded. “I can’t believe this is a portal to another world,” Trixie said as they approached the statue. She hesitantly placed her hand on the surface. Her hand did not go through this time. “I guess it really is closed.” Sunset sat down on the grass, facing the portal. She crossed her legs below her, just like she’d seen Trixie do when they played games in her room. In Equestria, the portal was in a mirror kept hidden in the royal palace, but in the human world, it was in a statue, sitting in the open at a place where anyone could accidentally cross it. It made no sense. And why was there a horse? A few days back, Sunset had begun reading the encyclopedia tome that talked about flora and fauna. Turned out humans were the only fully sentient species in this world, and all others were considered simple mindless animals. That included horses and, by extension, ponies. Was that why the portal had transformed her body? Had she gotten to this world in her original form, would she have retained her intelligence and be seen as a freak, or would she have become a regular pony and forever lost her sentience? Either thought terrified her. “So, when are you gonna start school?” Trixie asked as she sat next to Sunset. She had long since finished her soda, so she had been playing with the bottle, hitting it with every surface she found. Sunset leaned over and rested her head on her hand. “Dandy says she’ll get everything ready in a week.” “But how are you gonna get documents?” “I don’t know. Dandy’s been secretive about it. The only thing she’ll tell me is that they’ll be ready within a week and I’ll be able to start school at Garden Grove.” Trixie’s breath caught in her throat, and she coughed for a bit. “Garden Grove?! That’s where I go!” Sunset raised an eyebrow. “I suppose Dandy wants to prevent the hassle of having us go to different schools. She must already know the teachers and administrative staff, so I believe it might be easier to enroll me than in a place she does not know.” “S-so, we’ll go to the same school…” Trixie said, but her voice was so low Sunset almost missed it. “I see…” “You’ll have to take me around the building so I know the general layout,” Sunset said. “I’d also like a report on the teachers’ personalities.” “Their personalities? Why?” Sunset huffed. “How else am I to know how to act in front of them?” Trixie scratched her head. “I mean, just be you. All teachers care about is your grades.” “Your gra- Ha!” Sunset laughed. “What’s so funny?!” Trixie asked with a frown. “You mean to tell me you’re serious? Oh, Celestia, you’re hilarious, Trixie!” Sunset took a deep breath, then began to explain. “It’s not about grades, it’s about attitude. If a teacher likes you, it’ll be more likely that they’ll turn a blind eye every now and then, regardless of your grades.” Sunset noticed Trixie was still giving her a look. “Look, if it’s all the same to you, then just give me the report and that’s it.” Trixie looked away and sighed. “Sure…” Sunset leaned back and lied down on the grass. She wondered how much different a human school would be from an Equestrian one. What sort of knowledge would they teach if they needed so many different levels and years? She almost couldn’t wait.