Yuno managed not to yawn as they finally made their way out of the palace, his whole body aching more from having to stand there for hours and listen to the Wizard King and Sunset go on and on about magic than anything that had happened in the life and death situation they were just in the day before.
“Ah, so you have creation magic that isn’t fixed to an element, and the fact that you can use it without a grimoire means you can make just about anything,” the man said with sparkling eyes as he looked at the chalkboard Sunset had just created out of nothing.
Sunset blinked. “Uh...no,” she said before scribbling down some gibberish that Yuno didn’t really follow. “You see, I don’t actually create anything using this method. It’s a combination of transmutation and spatial relocation, bringing in the required resources from the surrounding air particles in a ten mile radius and then using them for materials that I used to create this to help with the instruction. It’s much more costly mana-wise, but it creates a permanent object, as opposed to mana that’s just been made into an item, which eventually decays. And I can only create items that bla bla, bla bla bla, bla bla bla bla.”
Yuno reached up and rubbed his head. That...probably hadn’t been how the conversation went, but he was too tired to care.
Of course, it didn’t help that Sunset loved to show off, and finding someone that could at least half understand the nonsense she was talking about only added fuel to the fire.
“Ah, I get it!” he remembered the Wizard King saying as the man looked at the chalkboard. “While the spells themselves follow a set principle, each person is different, meaning that each constant in the equation is actually a variable determined by the opinion of the caster and further affected by their emotional state.”
“Right, but my magic works on the principle of-” the memory of Sunset said before Yuno cut it off. He had heard it all before anyway, and it still didn’t make any more sense after listening to the lecture for a second time.
At the moment, Yuno was too tired to even be angry for the two of them apparently forgetting anyone else had even been in the room. He just wanted to crawl into bed and get some sleep.
“I’m going to recommend two days off to the captain so that your injuries have a chance to heal and your minds can recover,” Klaus said as they left the palace grounds. He looked up at the sun and grimaced. “Ugh, it must be close to eight in the morning.”
Despite being the one half-responsible for the delay, Sunset looked up from the scroll she had been given, and groaned. “Yeah, never going to get used to you people being able to tell time with the position of the sun.”
The group stopped moving, then turned back to look at the redhead as one. With the exception of Sylph, she kept flying ahead until noticing that everyone had stopped. “Wha-oh,” she said before floating back to land on Yuno’s shoulder, then lean into him affectionately.
If I ignore her enough, I wonder if she’ll go away, he thought to himself. As insane as it sounded, the wind goddess...thing that had attached itself to Yuno made being in the human world sound like some kind of vacation for her. If she got bored, there was the possibility that she might just up and leave.
“How does it work where you come from?” Mimosa asked.
Sunset shrugged. “Sun goes up into the middle of the sky at the start of the day and doesn’t go down until it’s time for the moon to come up. The whole thing takes about ten seconds,” she explained before rubbing her chin. “Makes me wonder, though…”
With the lot of them standing around for an extra second, Asta, who had been looking a little dejected since they left the Wizard King’s office for some reason, looked over to Sunset. “So, where exactly is your home, anyway?”
“You know it’s in another dimension, right?” she asked. “I’m not even sure there is a way to explain it in terms of actual location.”
Sylph stopped leaning on Yuno and perked up. “Yes there is,” she said, drawing everyone’s attention.
Then, when she didn’t volunteer anything else, Asta frowned up at her. “So, you just going to leave us hanging, or…”
“What do I look like, an encyclopedia?” she asked evenly before crossing her arms and looking away. “You want to know the secrets of the universe, go read a few dozen books!”
Sunset let out a dejected moan. “Oh well.”
The distressed redhead immediately got Sylph’s attention, and the sprite sighed. “Okay fine,” she grumbled before floating up into the air. “I’ll try and make this as simple as I can. Since we already used a tree analogy, we’ll go with that. There are four core realms of reality that comprise the trunk of the tree. They are The Nether Realm, The Mortal Realm, The Spirit Realm, and The Celestial Realm. Aside from these, there other minor realms that fall outside of a single classification, such as the one Sunset comes from. It falls between The Spirit and Celestial Realms, like a branch on the tree.”
Yuno blinked. Having grown up in a church, his mind latched onto one of those names more than others. The increase in attention pushing him to stay awake longer. “Wait, are you talking about Heaven? Because, one of those sounds a lot like-”
“See, this is why I don’t like getting into this kind of stuff,” Sylph replied before he could finish. “That’s outside my purview. I’m an elemental being, not...whatever you guys think inhabits the Celestial Realm. Of course, crossing over between realms is a lot harder than you all think. The only reason I’m here is because we have a workaround, with Yuno acting as an anchor for this body. The inhabitants of the Nether Realm require a host body, and celestials have an even harder time getting in because they’re even further away in the multiversal sense, so the environment isn’t as compatible to them as it is to all the others.”
Sunset raised an eyebrow. “Uh, does that mean I’m going to get sick or something, being here?”
After blinking at the question, Sylph held up her hands and gave Sunset a disarming grin. “Oh! You don’t have to worry about that! It looks like the process you used to get here caused a slight alteration, giving you more free will than the average Equestrian,” she told the girl nervously. “I mean, you haven’t gone insane from not doing what your cutie mark tells you to, right?”
An awkward pause followed the question, after which Sunset turned and began to walk away. “I’m going home.”
With that as the signal to disperse, the group headed to where a spatial magic user in a Golden Dawn uniform was waiting for them. Yuno recognized the curly-haired man from the headquarters, but didn’t know his name off the top of his head.
Klaus gave the man their destination, and a few steps later, they were a hundred miles away.
Stifling a yawn, Yuno clenched his mouth closed to keep it from coming out as he began to head to his room, only to be stopped with a word from Klaus.
“Hold up, Yuno. With it being a new day, and you about to be out of commission for some time, we should see if any new mail has arrived for you,” the older man told him.
Mimosa glanced over to the man in confusion. “Um, mail wouldn’t have been delivered yet, would it?”
After pushing his glasses up, Klaus didn’t budge. “Nevertheless, we should check.”
“Hey Spectacles!” Sylph yelled before she flew off of the teen’s shoulder to glare at the man. “My Yuno is tired and needs his beauty sleep! You make look stupid and old, but he has an appearance to maintain!”
Klaus’s eye twitched. “Be that as it may, I strongly suggest that we check the mail.”
Since Sylph was so against it, Yuno moved to follow. “Fine.”
“Hey, I’ve noticed something,” Mimosa said as she joined the other two knights while they moved down the hallway to look over at the elemental spirit.
Sylph looked over at the girl with an annoyed stare. “Congratulations, I understand that’s quite the accomplishment for you.”
“How come you’re a lot nicer to Sunset than you are to everyone else?” she asked.
The question actually made the sprite flinch. “Uh...that’s…” Sylph went back to sitting on Yuno’s shoulder before she pulled her knees up to herself and sighed. “Me and the others, we...made a mistake a couple years ago...or, centuries, maybe? Anyway, it caused some trouble for Sunset’s little cluster of dimensions. So, I kind of owe her, even though she was born long after everything was taken care of.”
Mimosa covered her mouth as she let out a little giggle, showing off those royal behavioral classes. “So, you are a good person, just a little rough around the edges.”
“I’m not a person at all,” Sylph told her evenly.
They got to the mailroom, ending the conversation. Klaus took the lead and walked up to the long desk. Although the man behind the counter wasn’t a member of the Magic Knights, he still wore Golden Dawn colors and stood up a little straighter when an officer entered. “I’m here to check and see if there have been any correspondence for our newest member, Yuno.”
Giving Four Eyes a nervous look before glancing to Yuno for a moment, the mail clerk looked back at Klaus. “S-Sorry, sir. But without the full name-”
“That is his full name, which I believe you are well aware of,” Klaus said before the man could finish. “Now, I understand that sometimes, mail is lost in the shuffle. So I would appreciate it if you would do your job and double check to see if there is any undeliverable mail. Or, will I have to inform The Captain that one of the most vital functions of our operation needs someone who can perform their responsibilities in the correct manner?”
The clerk gave a little gulp, then quickly hurried out of sight before coming back with a large basket, which he turned upside down to dump out two letters. “Well, it does seem that there is a letter addressed to a Yuno after all. I guess it must have been put in the undeliverable section since it only had the one name,” he said before giving the envelope to Klaus, who snatched it away from him.
“Two letters? Who is the other one addressed to?” he asked evenly.
After getting a bit more nervous, the clerk looked down and held it up. “It says...Sunset Shimmer? Do you know who that is sir, because I’m rather certain she’s in another squad,” the clerk told him before looking back at the letter. “Funny thing is, I’ve been talking to some of the other mailroom people, the squads that have them at any rate, and I think the Silver Eagles also got a pair of letters like this, as well as the Orcas.”
Yuno blinked. Who would write-wait, he thought to himself. Hadn’t Father Orisi promised to write them when he got to the village he was supposed to be moving to?
As Klaus berated the man for doing what every other member of the Dawn had been doing since Yuno joined, Yuno snatched the letter out of the man’s hand. It was definitely Father Orisi’s handwriting. “What about the Black Bulls?” he asked. “Did they get one of these?”
The clerk snorted. “HA! Like those idiots could even afford to hire the staff for a mailroom.”
He must have written to every single squad, Yuno told himself. It was strange that there wasn’t a letter for Asta, though. Maybe that one actually had been lost.
“I trust from here on out, you will perform your duties properly, or there will be problems,” Klaus told him before turning to leave.
Mimosa moved to leave with him. “This is why I use the postal portal services. Their owls and birds are much more reliable.”
As they left the mail room, Klaus looked back at Yuno, who hadn’t taken his eyes off of the thick envelope in his hands. “By the way, I would suggest heading to the capital come tomorrow to be fitted for a custom outfit made up like one of our uniforms. The one you might get in a few days will probably be a size too small.”
A minor amount of annoyance crossed Sunset’s face as she waited for the chain-smoking layabout to finish reading the letter pertaining to her ‘welcomed outsider’ status and all that it entailed while she sat in the common room. Vanessa was looking over the clothes she was still wearing for battle damage while Noelle was reading through the scroll detailing Sunset’s own rules of conduct. Annoyance both for the long time he was taking, and her dashed worries over everything. It didn’t help that she still needed to get some sleep.
Why in the hell did these stupid humans have to be so nonchalant about all the wrong things? Sunset had read in the Canterlot Times about an incident in Manehattan. A bat pony had decided to move outside of her designated enclave and half the city went nuts, citing safety concerns and imposing a curfew to ensure that she wasn’t going to be up to anything when all good ponies were asleep in bed. And that had just been a subspecies of pony!
Yami took out his cigarette and looked down at the girl. “So, you’re not really human, huh? Well, we were half-right about the Sisgoleon theory, at least,” he mumbled before glancing back at the paper. “Accommodations? What? You need a special toilet to take a crap in or something?”
A groan came from Sunset’s lips. “The dimensional translocation spell brought me here also included a reconfiguration that rebuilt my body into a more human-friendly version,” she explained, like she had to the Wizard King before him. “It’s not really transformation magic as you know it, since there isn’t any spell to undo and change me back to…” She looked over to Noelle, who went from half asleep to very interested in the conversation. “What I was before. But, I don’t actually need anything more than any other human.”
Noelle crossed her arms and pouted for a second before going back to read the boring legal document.
“So what are you anyway, some kind of magical creature? Like a kirin?” Yami asked before putting the cigarette back in his mouth.
“Well, with my temper and fire affinity, I did wonder if I had some-wait,” she said before going in a full explanation of a DNA test performed on herself when she was an older filly to look up at Yami with a frown. “How the hell do you know what a kirin is?” There was only a single village of them in all of Equestria!
Even the damn Clovers didn’t know what a kirin was, and Sunset had told the kids at the orphanage tons about the magical creatures of her homeland when Lilly needed help for bedtime stories.
Noelle looked over at the redhead again, her interest returning.
“Feh, they’re legendary creatures back in my homeland said to bring good luck,” he said before looking down at Sunset with a frown. Then, he reached forward and rubbed the girl’s head with one of his giant hands that he usually picked Asta up with before walking off to talk to their spatial mage. “Hey Finral, make a portal to the casino. I need to get there before my luck wears off.”
Sunset glared at the man as he stepped through the tear in space. “I’m not a kirin!”
A second later, Vanessa giggled and pulled Sunset back on the couch before she reached up to begin fixing the hair that Yami messed up. “From the way you sleep, I’m going to say that you’re really some kind of cat.”
The near-insult had Sunset looking back at her with a raised eyebrow. “What makes you say that?”
“Do you remember last night?” she asked with a small smile.
Sunset gave her an even stare. “No, I was drunk. I thought the whole point of getting drunk was to do stupid things and not remember them.”
After having to endure Vanessa’s worrying smile that slowly spread across her face for a few seconds, the woman responded. “Well, since it was obviously your first time, I took you to my bed to make sure you didn’t throw up and drown in your sleep. And when you fell asleep, you did this cute little thing with your hands that made them look like cat’s paws,” she said before holding up a finger as she added a point. “Plus, when you just woke up, you stretched just like a little kitten would.”
“I’m not a cat!” she said before looking around the room with a little frown. “Any other guesses before we drop this until the next forever?”
Gray pulled out his book to transform into a colorful giant bird of some kind. When Sunset told him, no, he transformed back and hung his head while blowing smoke.
Charmy went to thinking as she sat at a small table in the corner. “Yummy, or not yummy, I can’t make up my mind on a choice!” she said before she went back to eating.
“Are you like,” Magna began before raising his hands up like claws. “A giant she-demon, with red skin and spikey hair that looks like its on fire, that has these huge wings on her back?”
“No,” she said before moving over to look at Gauche.
The sister-lover snorted. “If you’re not something Marie would like to see, I don’t care.”
Sunset turned her gaze to Gordon…
“I think that you’re really a magical unicorn from an enchanted land that’s powered by friendship.”
...and went right to Finral when that turned out to be a waste of time. “Hmmm, are you one of those super exotic water nymphs, with giant breasts and impossibly smooth skin?”
The question had her throw a fireball in the man’s general direction. “If I just looked like a really hot human, why the hell would I bother saying I had a species change?” Sunset yelled as she jumped out of Vanessa’s arms.
As Finral fled, Sunset sighed and rubbed her temple. “You know what? I’m tired, and I still reek of effort, I’m going to take a bath, and go to bed,” she mumbled.
“Me too,” Noelle agreed.
After getting up from the couch, Vanessa stretched until something popped. “Think I’ll join you girls.”
Hearing the woman’s self invite, Sunset looked back at her in confusion. “Huh?”
Over in the corner of the room, Charmy looked up from the pile of food she was consuming. “She was up all night, waiting for you two to come home.”
Sunset blinked as Vanessa stood up a little straighter while a shiver ran down her back. Hearing that the woman had cared so much for her, Sunset felt...something move in her stomach. As far as she could remember, that was the first time anyone had cared anything about her wellbeing. “That’s um...thanks,” she said after a moment.
“Well...it was your first mission where we could actually expect danger,” Vanessa told her. “I had a right to be worried.”
“Okay, so what are the really big differences between the you from then and now?”
Vanessa smirked as Sunset gave her a little groan while the older woman washed her hair with some new products that promised to help bring out its shine. She was still undoing two years of damage from living in Hage, but they could start on the beautification treatments as well. “I’ll admit, I’m a bit curious myself.”
After several seconds of silence, Sunset let out a sigh. “You guys are just trying to figure out what I really am.”
Noelle shrugged. “Eh, if you’re not a mermaid, I don’t really care.”
“I still think you’d make a cute kitten,” Vanessa said before hugging her baby sister, who tightened up a little bit. As she did, something occurred to Vanessa that should have been obvious. “Oh, I get it...you’re adorable, aren’t you?”
Sunset looked back at her. “Say what?”
After letting her go to get some water running into a wash pan, Vanessa looked back to the girl. “You’re always going around like you’re all tough and everything, even though it’s mostly an act,” she pointed out. “Which means you’re overcompensating for something. So, I’m going to guess it’s because what you really look like is super adorable.”
Sunset gave the woman a frown as some of the soap ran down the side of her face. “My species finds body odor attractive and is one of the leading reasons that girls come onto guys,” she told the woman evenly. Which, despite probably being absolutely repulsive to humans, was the honest truth. Mares liked a stallion who could put in a hard day’s work.
“I’m going to take that as a yes,” Vanessa said with a victorious smile before she poured cold water all over the younger girl.
After Sunset’s screaming finished and she was fully woken up by the water, Vanessa took her two charges into the baths for a good soak to help them work out all the tension. Since she hadn’t focused on the other girl much at all, the older woman went back to hugging her baby sister and looked over to the royal. “So Noelle, how was your first dungeon?”
Noelle looked back to the other woman. It took her several seconds to even begin talking as a series of emotions played out on her face. “Honestly? It was terrifying for me,” she said as she sunk down into the water to pull up her feet and curl in on herself. “The actual dungeon part was okay, we handled that without any problem. But those diamond mages...they almost killed us.”
“Trapped in that room...if Yuno hadn’t gotten that spell, we would have been in real trouble,” Sunset agreed before she took a deep breath.
With both girls showing signs of going to some pretty bad places in their heads, Vanessa sighed and put her hands underwater. “Okay you two, enough of that,” she told the girls before splashing them. “It’s good to acknowledge your limits, but if you get hung up on every close call you have, you’ll worry yourselves to death.” Which wasn’t just an empty saying. Such thoughts led to hesitation, which got people killed on the battlefield. “You had a close call and got out of it by the skin of your teeth. Best to think of how to do better next time. And get some sleep. A few hours in bed will do you both a load of good.”
A finger poked Vanessa in the side, and she looked over to the redhead who was smirking at her. “Says the woman who was up waiting for us to come home all night,” she said.
“I was worried, I’m not going to deny it,” Vanessa told her with a shrug. “But now that you’ve popped your cherries, I can rest easy next time it comes for you to do something dangerous.”
Noelle stiffened. “Do you have to put it like that?”
While the royal got all indignant, Sunset just gave her a clueless stare. “What? What’s bad about cherries? Are they poisonous to humans or something?” she asked before a light-bulb came over her head. “Actually, now that you guys know the truth, I should probably come up with a list of questions like that I need answered.”
The fact that Sunset didn’t know about human slang terms made Vanessa smirk. “Oh, I’m going to have fun with you.”
A frown crossed Sunset’s face. “I’m not your toy,” the redhead deadpanned.
Vanessa smiled back at her. “No, you’re my family. Which is kind of the same thing,” she said before leaning back to sink into the water. “So, after all of this, I’m thinking we need a distraction or three. What do you girls say to going into one of the castle towns with me tomorrow?”
Both of the younger knights shared a confused look. “Why?” Noelle asked right on top of Sunset’s question.
“We just did that the other day.”
“Because it’ll be fun,” Vanessa told them. “And that was for necessities. What about personal stuff? Don’t you two have any hobbies?”
Once again, both of the girls shared a look before turning their attention to Vanessa. “Does magic count?” Sunset asked after looking at the mark on her butt.
“Practicing magic in my free time is all I do too,” Noelle added.
Silence filled the bath for several seconds as Vanessa just stared at the two girls. “Okay...yeah. You guys need hobbies.”
It wasn’t long after dawn that Yuno found himself deposited outside of what was supposed to be the Black Bull’s base of operations. However, considering what had been going on since joining the Dawn, it was rather obvious that wherever he was, it was not the headquarters for a division of the Magic Knights.
“Wow, this place is a dump,” Sylph commented as she looked up at the building that should have collapsed in on itself five minutes after being built while she sat on Yuno’s shoulder.
His company for the day came through the portal a moment later, and Yuno looked over to Klaus while Mimosa also blanched upon seeing the hideout that wasn’t really all that hidden. “Ugh. This is where Noelle lives now?”
“Obviously, the spatial mage that sent us here wanted to make things difficult for us,” Yuno said. “The Black Bull’s base of operations is probably miles from-”
“No,” Klaus said as he adjusted his glasses, cutting Yuno off. “This is it. Since they’re the lowest ranking squad, their budget is far less than that of the Golden Dawn. Plus, with their number of members only in the teens, they don’t actually require much in the way of room. Now, let’s make our delivery and be off.”
Yuno followed the man as they headed towards the door. “I could have done this on my own, sir. Not to mention, purchased new clothes.”
The comment’s true purpose seemingly went unnoticed by the man in charge of their squad as he moved up to the door. “Nonsense. Considering your background, I doubt you would be able to spot a reputable tailor from all the shysters. And I think it would be a good idea to check up on Asta. Not to mention the fact that if Sunset’s needs are not met, it could very well mean the end of our species.”
“Yeah, that does seem a bit harsh,” Mimosa agreed. “Not to mention some of the rules she’s supposed to follow. I understand the need for her to get married, but why by the time she’s one-hundred? People don’t live that long.”
Sylph groaned and rolled her eyes. “That’s the point, dumb-dumb. Some of the rules obviously aren’t going to apply to mortals.”
Klaus knocked on the door and waited for several seconds before it finally opened to reveal a man with light purple hair that only had one eye showing, with the other being completely covered by messy locks of hair. “Whatever you're selling, we only want it if it will fit a little girl and look cute on her.”
Stunned silence was the response for several seconds before Klaus became irate. “WE’RE MAGIC KNIGHTS, NOT DOOR TO DOOR SALESMEN!”
“In that case, get lost,” the door man replied before shutting the door in their faces.
Klaus’s eye twitched before he kicked open the door. “We are magic knights, and we are here to deliver a message to one of your members!”
Yuno followed the man inside the building and looked around. The interior of the Black Bull’s base looked more like a seedy bar than anything else, complete with beer lining about half of a wall. Another mage in a Black Bulls robe that looked more like a delinquent than a respectable person looked up at them with a frown. “Complaint department is out back and on the other side of the house, buddy. Just knock and wait to be buzzed in.”
“Hey Yuno! Want to fight?” the cheery blonde from the dungeon asked before he looked over to the man with the two-toned hair. “And, isn’t that the tool shed?”
The delinquent rolled his eyes. “Yes, which is exactly where guys like them belong.”
Ignoring the roundabout insult while Klaus fumed over it, Yuno looked around. “Are Asta and Sunset here?”
Luck looked up at the ceiling for a moment. “Yeah, she should be here in three, two, one-”
“But why do you want me to go too?” Asta’s whine came through the door at the back of the room before he was dragged out by Sunset, who was dressed in some tight pants and a top that hung down to the point of covering her butt with a skirt of its own. She was followed by the girl with silver hair he met in the dungeon, along with another woman who was much older and wearing a revealing outfit that didn’t leave anything to the imagination.
“Oh hey, Asta’s with them,” Luck said.
The boy in question blinked, then looked over to the three newcomers. “Sir Spectacles? What’re you guys doing here?”
Sir Spectacles touched his glasses with an irate frown. “That’s not-ugh, Yuno received a letter for your old caretaker as well as one addressed to Sunset and wanted to make sure she received hers, or if you got one.”
As the orphans looked on in confusion, the delinquent let out a loud laugh. “HAHAHA! Dude, we’re the Black Bulls, the only thing we get is hate mail.”
“And letter bombs!” Luck added before taking a broom and poking a large white bag leaning up against the wall that had several unopened envelopes sticking out the top. There was a loud popping sound before a small blackened hole was blown into the thing, followed by another on the other side, and a third letter that actually was showing went off as well.
As the entire thing caught fire while Luck laughed, the delinquent let out a screech before grabbing a pale of water and throwing it on the collection of burnt paper. “Are you trying to burn the place down?” he yelled.
Sunset gave the boy with the gray and white hair a disbelieving look. “Really? Coming from you Magna, that’s like a fish complaining that water is wet!”
“You got a letter from Father Orsi?” Asta asked Sunset as he walked over to the taller boy. “What’s it say?”
Yuno held it out of Asta’s reach. “So, you didn’t get anything at all, huh?”
“OH, SHUT UP! MINE PROBABLY JUST GOT BURNED UP WITH THE HATE MAIL!” Asta yelled at him.
There was a loud pop in Yuno’s hand and he blinked when the letter just disappeared, to reappear in front of Sunset before it opened itself. “Dear Sunset. I hope this letter finds you well,” she read. “Because I don’t know which squad of the Magic Knights you have joined, I am sending a similar letter to each of their headquarters. We have arrived safely in Nairn and have settled within their church, with Nash living at the local orphanage that is overseen by the nunnery. I hope to hear from you soon. Also, do your best to look after Asta. Because of the rules of the local orphanage, he can not come here to live with me and has nothing to go back to in Hage. If you have become a magic knight, then perhaps you can find him a job within your organization as a…” she looked up at the boy. “Well, that didn’t last long.”
Asta frowned. “What’s it say?” he asked cautiously.
The letter in front of Sunset burst into flame. “It mysteriously ended there for some odd reason and was set to self destruct fifteen seconds after being opened, I guess.”
“That’s funny, his letter to me said to try and find Asta a job at the Golden Dawn HQ as a janitor or something,” Yuno said before looking over to his brother with an even expression. “I think we may have an opening in the mail room soon...although, you may have a problem reaching the higher postal boxes.”
“THAT’S NOT FUNNY AT ALL!” Asta yelled at the other boy. “Okay then! I’m going to go write a letter to Father Orsi and my next day off, I’m going to go to that village and rub my magic knight robe in his face!”
Sunset giggled. “Hey, that’s not a bad idea. All three of us should go see what the old man is up to. And check on Nash. I know how hard it is to be uprooted and sent to a completely different place.”
The scantily clad woman in the witch's hat smiled at Yuno and practically sauntered over, making the boy blink as Sylph fumed at her presence. She leaned in a little, showing off her breasts and smiled a bit. “Thanks for bringing the letter, I know that Asta and Sunset have been worried about their old caretaker.”
Sylph blinked before crossing her arms. “Oh...uh...well...my Yuno is noble like that.”
“Oh!” the woman said, seemingly noticing Sylph for the first time. “Hello there, and you are?”
Sucking up the attention, Sylph stood up profoundly. “I’m Sylph, the Wind Spirit!”
“And Yuno’s wife!” Asta mocked from across the room.
Something Sylph didn’t take too kindly to. “CAN IT SHORTY!”
Klaus cleared his throat. “Yes, well...now that we’ve taken care of that, we should be on our way. We need to head to the capital and buy some necessities for Yuno.”
I can do my own shopping, Yuno mentally told the man in the glasses.
“Hey!” the barely clothed woman said. “We’re needing to go to the capital too! We can have Finral send the lot of us there.”
Klaus nodded. “Thank you,” he said with a nod. “We were hoping to make use of your spatial mage.”
“Great!” Sunset said as she suddenly latched onto Yuno’s arm. “Then we can all go together! You know, like how we should have done in the dungeon.” She gave the man a frown.
After pushing his glasses up, Klaus nodded. “Yes. That would be for the best. I would hate for you to cause some kind of trouble because of your cultural ignorance,” he said before clearing his throat. “By the way, Sunset, since you enjoy horses, I know of a fine stallion that you can ride all around my family estate.”
Asta looked over to Sunset as gave him an incredulous look, then back to Klaus while the man smiled at her with his offer. “Well, looks like you guys have a few too many people already so...I’M GOING TRAINING!”
Lucky bastard, the wind mage told himself as Asta slipped out the back before anyone could stop him.
Full of disappointment, Sunset made her way through the streets of Autumn Leaf Field, one of the many towns that had joined into the collective mass that was the capital as she, Noelle, and Mimosa followed the older mage Vanessa while she looked around the entire town that seemed dedicated to selling junk. Not actual junk, but the shops showing model kits and other hawking stands displaying a dozen or so costumes might as well have been trash, as far as Sunset was concerned.
Yuno wasn’t with them, unfortunately. Klaus had taken him somewhere else, saying that what they needed was a properly professional tailor willing to take a little extra to move the boy up in his work schedule. He wasn’t getting off the rack clothes like Sunset did. Which meant the girls were on their own.
“So, you’re trying to find them a hobby?” Mimosa asked as she walked alongside the equally busty woman. The girl began to think a bit. “You know...I don’t think Noelle ever showed much interest in anything before.”
The girl with the silver hair groaned. “That’s because I spent all my free time working on my magic!”
Vanessa looked back at the girl with an even expression. “And how well has that worked out for you?”
As Noelle recoiled at the question, Sunset stepped in. “Below the belt, Vanessa.”
“Mimosa, be a dear and distract Noelle for me, would you?” she asked before walking over to grab Sunset by the ear and pull her along across the street.
The odd and slightly painful experience had Sunset quite confused. “What the-ow! Hey, why’re you-ow! Stop it! I-ow!” she protested before raising her hand to begin to blast the woman but...stopped before she could even gather the mana to go through with it. Despite the situation they were in, stopping Vanessa by force like Luck and Magna did all the time just seemed about as wrong as Sunset could get.
So, the substantially less powerful woman ended up manhandling Sunset across the street, leaving the teenager staging there, rubbing her poor little human ear that was far weaker than anything a pony had. “Okay, what’s your deal?”
“Remember what we said about giving Noelle some easy victories?” Vanessa said as she shook her finger at Sunset. “Well, this is part of that. It’s not going to matter how much she practices her magic if all she can do is mess up at it.”
Sunset glared back at the woman. “She’s had victories, two of them. I was there for both.”
The perfectly valid point got a sigh from Vanessa. “Yes, and what did she do all that time? Two area shield spells, from what I understand. She’d do nothing but cast that spell during magic practice if we let her. So, while she’s still feeling upbeat, let’s get her something else to be interested in as an outlet for when her magic starts to go south again.”
Sunset had to admit, Vanessa’s reasoning made sense. “Okay, I can see how that makes sense,” she admitted right before something else occurred to her. “Sorry, I just...well, I never really had problems with magic for very long before. This is all kind of new to me.”
“Well, you are pretty much a genius,” Vanessa replied. “The struggles of us normal types probably don’t even register with you.”
Although she probably meant it as a complement, or at least some kind of explanation, Sunset found herself getting angry. “Hey! I struggled plenty back home,” she grumbled before poking the taller woman in her chest. “Do you have any idea what it’s like to keep up with the workload it takes to actually learn magic? No! You just get everything handed to you in a nice little instruction book that writes itself and does all the other work for you.
“Me? I had to stay up half the night every day for weeks on end to make sure I wouldn’t fall behind a schedule that just got more and more demanding each and every day! And with the line of other po-p-people, that were just waiting for me to stumble, trailing at my heels like salivating jackals! I didn’t have time for hobbies or friends, or any of that other crap, because the second I told my old teacher I needed a break, she would have replaced me!”
As Sunset glared at her, Vanessa’s indignant look increased and she looked about ready to say something, but let out a long sigh instead. “Sounds like somebody’s got some real resentment she’s been needing to get off her chest.”
After letting out a little groan, Sunset found a nearby bench to sit down on. “I don’t know,” she replied. “It’s just...this is just about the same thing that happened last time. I don’t need anything else.”
Vanessa sat down next to the girl and pulled her in close. The invitation had Sunset scoot in even closer and wrap her arms around the larger woman. The physical contact made the problems seem to melt away as she just held onto the witch. “It’s not about what you need Sunset, it’s about what you want,” she said. “What did you want to do back home when you were done training?”
“I…” Sunset paused and blinked. What had she wanted to do with her old life?
She had studied magic, but that wasn’t really an end goal, just the means of learning how to achieve it. Back when she had been Celestia’s student, all she had wanted to do was please the Princess, make her proud. But as Celestia’s praise sounded more and more like a record she just played of ‘Good Job Sunset’ whenever the unicorn had passed a test, that desire had declined until it was as hollow as the congratulations themselves.
Then there was what happened after she saw the mirror. Sunset saw herself as a princess, as the ruler of Equestria. A pony with power, a pony who knew what she wanted to do with her life. And after learning that it was possible to become an alicorn...was that the real reason she had wanted it?
For two years, Sunset had listened to how Asta wanted to be the Wizard King, but he actually had a reason behind that. Getting the title wasn’t the end goal, it was the means of achieving what he really wanted. Even his delusion of marrying a nun was supposed to have been brought about by gaining that prestige.
Sunset had wanted to become an alicorn...to become an alicorn. She had wanted Celestia’s love and acceptance as well, but that too would have been brought about by becoming an alicorn. Learning magic was fun and made her feel good, but gaining knowledge for knowledge's sake was just empty doublespeak when there was no good reason to use that knowledge.
As hard as she tried, Sunset couldn’t think of anything that she had wanted to do.
Did I really just go about my life for over a decade, following an old nag for an empty pat on the head? Sunset asked herself.
That was just...pathetic.
Sunset sighed and looked up at the sun. It was nearly midday, so the sun almost looked like where it was supposed to be. Then, she had to look away because the damn thing was so bright. That was another difference between this sun and Celestia’s, hers was dim enough you could look at it longer with the naked eye...or maybe pony eyes were different. I wonder what the difference is?
The thought made her blink. “Hey Vanessa, I think I know what I want to try as a hobby.”
Noelle raised an eyebrow as she looked around the little store that was selling numerous lenses, star charts and telescopes of varying sizes, along with various books with titles ranging from the academic to the more cringy things like ‘Your Guide to the Stars’.
After making her way down the cramped aisle that was full of junk she didn’t think was worth a royal’s interest, she poked her head over Sunny’s shoulder as she made a purchase. The price tag on the telescope looked pretty low, making Noelle glance over to the most expensive one the man had with a frown. If her best friend was really interested in this stuff, she really should have the best equipment.
But if it was just a passing fancy, Noelle didn’t want to make Sunny keep something in her cramped room that she was never going to use, either.
“So why pick astronomy as a hobby?” she asked the redhead as the four women left the store.
Sunset tensed up for a bit. “It’s not a hobby, it’s just a...passing interest in something I’m curious about,” she said stubbornly.
Before Noelle could argue that the whole reason they were in the shopping town was to get stuff for hobbies, Mimosa came up from behind the two girls and put her arms around them with a little laugh. “Oh my Noelle, I can see why the two of you are friends, you’re almost exactly alike.”
The observation had Noelle sputtering. “Wha-? No we’re not!”
A little bell sounded in Noelle’s ears, making her turn to see Vanessa walk out before turning her attention to the royal. “Okay, that takes care of Sunset. Now Noelle, did you think of anything that you wanted to get?”
Unfortunately, she had. After talking with Mimosa while the other two Black Bulls were having their conversations, Noelle realized that there was something she wanted to do. It wasn’t a hobby, but it would be something to fill her time and repay Sunny for all of her help with magic. “Yeah but...it’s something we need to build more than buy.”
“You will still need a new bathing suit,” Mimosa pointed out before tapping her chin in thought. “And come to think of it, so do I. When I went to the Golden Dawn’s recreation pool the other day, mine was a bit tight in the chest.”
Noelle’s eye twitched as she looked down at her cousin’s massive jugs. It so wasn’t fair that Mimosa had both the superior magic abilities and killer body. Compared to her, Noelle might as well have been twelve. And she’s still getting bigger too.
A second later, Sunset let out a grunt and patted the girl on the back. “I feel for you,” she said. “I suppose there’s something to be said for them not being as sensitive as smaller ones, but they probably get in the way all the time. Not to mention how much they must throw off your balance. But um...you people actually wear clothes when they’re in the bath?”
“And I was already pretty clumsy,” Mimosa admitted dejectedly.
Noelle stared at Sunset for a second. “Uh, Sunset, you’ve taken baths before. Bathing suits are more for…” the teen stopped before she could finish. If they let on what was going on, Sunset might not agree to it. “...recreational, public bathing.”
After a few seconds of silence, Sunset frowned. “You guys are up to something.”
With the tension building from the redhead’s stare, Mimosa let out a little giggle. “Well, of course we are. But, it’ll be more fun if it’s a surprise, right?”
Sunset’s face didn’t change for several seconds, and then, she finally let out a long sigh. “Well, I guess this hasn’t been an elaborate setup for you all to stab me in the back for being different than you, so...I’ll go along with it.”
“You’re seriously bringing that up again?” Noelle deadpanned before reaching up to rub her nose. “What kind of world do you come from that makes you think anyone besides yourself is a monster out to get you?”
Although she had been hanging back until now, Vanessa closed in on the group. “I’m actually curious about that as well.”
The question got a reluctant moan from Sunset as they started walking down the street, towards a shop Noelle had seen earlier. But, she decided to give them an answer to prove that she wasn’t just projecting. “Because where I come from, everything else is out to get us. There’s dragons, griffons, the mixed races of the south beyond the badlands desert, even the creatures that remotely look like me and my kind are mysterious and spooky. Plus, you guys eat meat.”
With Noelle so interested in Sunset finally divulging something about her origins, and mentioning two legendary creatures in the process that weren’t fictional in her realm, the hypocrisy of the last statement nearly caused her to tumble over. “Bwa? You eat meat!” she pointed out rather strongly.
Sunset crossed her arms and sniffed. “Only in the last few months. And even then, I only eat fish, chicken, and very minor parts of pigs or boar, depending on where the bacon comes from. You guys eat cows and sheep!” To finish, she even pointed a finger at them in an accusing manner.
The other three women shared a confused look before turning their attention back to Sunset. “So?” Vanessa replied.
“Where I come from, they talk,” Sunset told them before cringing a bit. Then, she took a deep breath and let it all out.
Mimosa blinked. “Do you mean like Secre or…”
The nonsense question from the dimwitt got a blink out of Sunset. “Wait. You mean she’s finally opened her damn mouth to other people?” Sunset asked, making everyone else confused. “But yeah, it’s like that. Full, intelligent conversations. Do you know how freaky it is to see people eating something I used to be able to hold a conversation with? Not that I did, we didn’t have any of them in Canterlot, but still…” Sunset shivered a little.
Although the girls reached the beachwear shop, they stood outside the door for a moment as the natural humans digested the information. Then, Mimosa came forward. “Wait...you mean that cute little birdie that sleeps in Yuno’s robe can hold full conversations and understands everything I say?”
“Uh…” Sunset cringed and gave them a nervous laugh. “You...meant something completely different when this conversation started, didn’t you?”
Noelle gave her a half-lidded stare. “Sunset.”
To which the redhead replied with an opening of the door, followed by a retreat into the store. “Excuse me! We’re needing some new bathing suits!”
Before Noelle could give chase, Vanessa leaned in and kept her from going inside after the redhead. “Don’t worry girls, we’ll have her cornered soon enough.”
Sunset stood in one of the many shop’s changing rooms, arms crossed under her bare breasts as she found herself boxed in by her three shopping companions, with Vanessa holding onto her dress and underwear while the redhead stood completely naked. “I should have guessed you girls wouldn’t let me ‘nope’ my way out of this conversation,” Sunset grumbled while standing in the buff.
“Sorry,” Mimosa apologized before giving her a big smile and bowed her head slightly. For someone who was supposed to be at the same level of society as Noelle, she sure did apologize a lot.
The enormous grin on Vanessa’s face said she was enjoying this all a bit too much. “Now, now. You’re the one that messed up. It’s only right for us to dig for information when you give us a juicy little tidbit like that. Just tell us what you know,” she said before holding up a little piece of clothing that looked as if it would just barely cover Sunset’s sex and nipples. “Then try this on, I think it will look good on you.”
Although, it made sense that such a small thing would be worn in the bath. Sunset could easily clean every inch of her skin without exposing the parts humans considered to be the most risque.
A scandalized look covered Noelle’s face as she saw the suit. “That’s barely more than strings!”
“Uh, you all are aware I’m perfectly fine with walking out of here completely naked, right?” Sunset asked. “And that’s even if I couldn’t just teleport my clothes back into my hand first.”
Vanessa nodded. “True. But let’s be honest, Kitten. This is more a statement of our willingness to go to any lengths to make you talk about that little thing you let slip,” she said before snapping her fingers. “Now grab her and force her to sit down. It’s time we showed Sunset how ticklish humans are.”
Secre looked out the window as she noticed the two approaching brooms that had the three missing Black Bulls on them. Although she would have preferred to stick with Yuno, as his squad was much less prone to blowing things up, the Black Bulls had the only magic stone in her team’s possession at the moment. They needed someone to look after it when only Asta was around.
Especially since he had gone off to play with his new sword after Secre had given him a rundown of its abilities. If it even still worked in such a way, that is. Being corrupted by a devil had changed the demon-slayer substantially, so it made sense that the demon-dweller might have also been affected.
And why had the sword appeared in a dungeon, of all places?
Secre knew that the magic of such places tended to pull objects of value to them thanks to the trap magic sucking up bait and other things from the earth, but the chances that Asta would have been sent on an assignment were astronomical.
Had this generation’s Wizard King known what was going to happen, somehow? Time mages were said to have an ability that allowed them to see into the future, but that only went a few seconds at most. Useful in battle, but not in planning things out long-term.
Was someone else directing events, then?
“Hey Luck, Magna, get out here, I want to ask you two something!” Noelle shouted.
The human voice drew Secre out of her thoughts and she moved over to the window, where she could look down and see the Silva girl was standing next to Sunset and the witch. As a descendant of the First Wizard King’s brother, the girl was...well, she was better than the current king, but wasn’t saying much.
“What the hell are you making a racket about now, snob?” the young man with the two-toned hair demanded as he walked out onto the grass from the hideout’s back entrance.
Luck came out a minute later. “Hey Noelle, how’s it going?” he said with a laugh before grabbing onto Magna from behind. “You want some help beating something up? I’ve been wanting to team up with Magna for something.”
A bit curious to see what was going on, Secre flew out of the open window and down below to land on the tool shed next to where Charmy grew a rather impressive amount of fruits and vegetables with such a limited plot of land.
Secre hated to admit it, but with the boys and girl branching out, she was getting a little lonely. Even though she was less than thirty feet away, Sunset might as well have been on the other side of the country for all of the good it did them when it came to communicating. And with Yuno now connected to that Sylph creature, her conversations were going to be even more few and far between.
Giving Luck a worried look for several seconds, the other man turned to Noelle. “Hey, did Luck hit his head or something in that dungeon? Because he’s been acting weird since he came back. For him at least, I mean.”
“Only you guys would worry about someone acting more normal,” Noelle told them before putting on what Secre could tell was an obviously fake smile. “By the way, I was wondering...which one of you is stronger?”
“Me,” both Luck and Magna said at the exact same time.
Sunset gave Noelle a disbelieving look. “Seriously?”
Then, as any idiot who had seen these boys together for five minutes could tell, things began to devolve into an argument rather quickly.
“I’m way stronger than you!” Magna told the blonde before a fireball formed in his hand.
“Nuh-uh!” Luck replied as lightning crackled around him. “I can easily take you any day of the week.”
Before the budding disaster could erupt, Noelle held up her hands and stepped between the boys. “Whoa, hold on there,” she said. “I asked which one of you was stronger, not who could beat the other in a fight. There’s a difference.”
A second later, Magna pulled back his sleeves. “Then check out these muscles!” he said before flexing. “Asta’s got nothing on me!”
“Magical strength,” Noelle corrected them.
Luck laughed before he held up a hand that lightning coalesced around. “Then that would be me. I’ve got way more than Magna.”
“Oh yeah? I’d like to see you prove that,” he demanded.
Noelle’s face brightened with an expression that was so fake, Secre had to wonder how the boys hadn’t figured out something was going on. Even if they were more stupid than a box of rocks, any moron could tell she was up to something. “Great idea!” she said before pointing to a large patch of grass. “How about we have a contest? Each one of you will take turns blowing a crater into the ground. The winner is the one who can make it the biggest.”
Despite the extremely asinine level of manipulation that Noelle was using, the boys immediately agreed before picking a spot much further away from the garden Charmy had been growing. Then, Magna pulled out his grimoire and jumped a good ten feet into the air once he had pushed a bit of mana into his legs to let loose with a fireball spell. It blew a rather large hole in the ground, more than deep enough for someone to crouch into.
“That’s nothing,” Luck added before his hands were surrounded in lightning gauntlets and he leapt into the center of Magna’s crater to strike the ground. The resulting crater ended up being a good ten feet deep and more than twice as long across.
Magna fumed at the boy’s action. “Hey, that was my spot! Go blow your own hole!”
Luck grinned at the other man. “Doesn’t mean I didn’t win!”
“Yes it does!” Magna told him vehemently. “You blasted through soft dirt that I loosened up for you!”
As the boys continued their argument, Noelle led Sunset up to the edge of the crater and had her use earth magic to make a few changes, instructing her every step of the way. Although the redhead’s spells related to the ground were all related to farming and basic home repair, she could still use basic mana manipulation to compact the dirt and change it into hardened stone. Or maybe it was a use of her more exotic magic talents. Secre had spent a few days learning how the girl’s magic worked and it was definitely more varied than what a grimoire provided access to.
By the time both of the boys noticed that something was going on besides measuring the depths of the hole, Sunset had completed her alterations to make it look like a much larger version of the hot tubs she had created on her way to the capital for the exam a couple of months ago. “Okay, I’m done, but...I still don’t see what you’re trying to do here, Noelle.”
“Hey! What do you two think you’re doing?” Magna demanded.
Noelle rolled her eyes and held out a hand before releasing her mana in a large torrent that made it rather apparent what she had everyone else build half a minute later, when she had filled the empty circular pool with water. “Well, how else am I supposed to teach Sunny to swim?” she asked before wrapping her arms around the other girl.
“Eh?” Sunset managed to say before Noelle pulled them both into the water with a loud splash. The sudden change in surroundings made the redhead panic, but that was short-lived, as the area they were standing in was barely four feet deep.
Then, once they were waist deep, Noelle began stripping to reveal a rather expensive swimsuit, with golden decor sewn into the two-piece, while Sunset had a much more modest-looking getup that had a white and gold sun that almost matched the marks showing on her butt. “Okay, now just hold my hand and start kicking,” the royal instructed.
Unseen by Noelle, Asta came running out of the woods a moment later with his sword. “HEY, WHAT’S GOING ON WITH ALL OF THE EXPLOS-” the boy said as he looked around, obviously expecting an attack, but getting something completely different. He looked down at the people in the pool and blinked. “Uh, hey Noelle.”
Like several times when she was suddenly embarrassed, the girl’s pigtails began to rise as her face reddened by the second. Then, she pointed her hands at the boy while turning her head in the opposite direction. “W-Who said you could look at me when I’m dressed like this?” she yelled before releasing a surge of magic that struck Asta in the chest to knock him on his butt.
“W-What did I do?” he asked in a daze.
The clank of glass, followed by a refined giggle came from below her, and Secre glanced down to see that Vanessa had come back out of the hideout with a bottle of wine and a towel around her shoulders. “I think those three kids have breathed some much needed fresh air into this old house,” she said before glancing up towards the bird. “Sunset let it slip that you can talk and are basically a person, by the way.”
Secre tensed a bit and looked down at the soon-to-be drunken woman. If Vanessa was true to form, she would probably be so plastered in an hour, whatever conversation they were about to have would have been completely forgotten. “Maybe I’m just an alcohol induced delusion.”
“That’s funny, considering I’ve been drinking about half as much as I used to, these past few days,” Vanessa told her before bringing her wine bottle up to read the label. “You wouldn’t believe what it took for us to make that kid give even the tiniest bit of you up.”
A nervousness settled in Secre’s gut. “And what tiny bit is that?”
Vanessa looked right up at the bird, confusion on her face. “I already said. That you could talk and were as smart as a person,” she said before her eyes narrowed in a frown. “Why? You’re not hiding some big, dark secret that could get my new little sister in trouble, are you? Because that would make me tell Charmy you look absolutely delicious.”
The threat had Secre rolling her eyes.
“HEY! CHECK THIS OUT!” Asta yelled back at the pool before he ran and jumped into the middle of the miniature lake. Then, he broke the surface in a panic as it became obvious that he had no idea how to swim.
Noelle let out a scream before she swam over to grab the boy. “Don’t jump into the deepest part if you don’t know how to swim, idiot!” she scolded Asta while they were Only to notice that his head had been resting on her breasts for the short trip, which further increased her irritation before she attempted to drown the boy at the edge of the pool.
“I keep my secrets for good reasons,” Secre told the woman. Laws that were just barely younger than the Clover Kingdom had been made after the incident that nearly destroyed the world, clearly stating what was to be done with anyone that had contact with a devil. Even if it had only been secondhand, most people would take one look at Secre’s horns and order her killed. “Wait...you’re from the Forest of Witches, correct?”
Vanessa groaned and opened her wine to take a swig. “Ugh. Don’t remind me,” she said before looking back to the bird with a frown. “Are you going to do your duty as a Clover citizen and try to get me burned at the stake?”
The accusation sealed the decision that Secre was mulling over. The Forest of Witches was a small independent area between three great powers that had managed to stay that way since Clover was created. Secre didn’t know much about the place aside from rumors, and some of those were so outrageous they couldn’t possibly be true. Like how a single woman, the queen of the witches, was actually responsible for birthing all the children, and the entire population was composed entirely of women.
What she did know about the place was that it produced several interesting magical items that were sold through intermediaries and produced mages known more for their exotic magic than the basic elemental kind.
After thinking it over for a moment, Secre fluttered over to land on Vanessa’s shoulder. “If I did, they’d be frying me right alongside you,” she told the witch. “To be honest, you would probably be executed just for talking to me.”
“Last I heard, talking wasn’t a crime,” Vanessa replied. “No matter how much some people want it to be.”
Secre snorted. “It is when you’re me,” she said before looking back at the pool.
In the short time that the two of them had been chatting, the rest of the Black Bulls had discovered the little side project and had decided to avail themselves of what was quickly proving to be too small of a pool. The extremely pale Gordon had decided to take up sunbathing. Finral had declared himself a bathing suit inspector and was examining Sunset’s outfit rather easily since the girl had absolutely no shame. Magna and Luck managed to rope Asta and Gray, who was disguised as another Asta, to act as shoulder-mounts for some kind of wrestling game. All while Charmy was trying to convince Noelle into making a fish farm on the other side of the hideout, so they could raise fresh fish to eat at will. Gauche was...probably still in the building.
“And it is when you talk to me as well,” Secre went on. “Sunset is actually protected by those agreements Clover got involved with some four-hundred-and-fifty years ago, but the rest of you could get in big trouble for associating with me.” Hopefully, the woman would air on the side of caution and back off. “Do you think any of them could keep that kind of secret?”
Vanessa raised an eyebrow. “Okay, one, the people you already trusted couldn’t keep your secret.”
“You’re not making a good case for me to spread it around, you know.”
The observation didn’t deter Vanessa in the slightest. “My point is, keeping quiet didn’t work. All it did was isolate you, like a bird in a cage.”
Not appreciating the joke, Secre looked over to the woman. “Keep up those kinds of puns, and you may wake up blind.”
“That’s how I spent nearly ten years of my life, you know?” Vanessa said before she took a rather large swig of wine and leaned up against the shed. “The Queen of Witches found out that my magic was special, so she locked me away in a giant cage and told me if I ever wanted to be free, then all I had to do was develop my magic. I was in that thing for years, looking out of a window that I could just barely see the outside through as other witches flew on their brooms, sometimes laughing and talking amongst themselves.” She took another long drink. “Then, when someone did come along and blew open the wall to open a hole to the outside and cut a hole in my cage, I still just stood there, like some kind of idiot.” Another drink finished off the bottle. “By then, the Queen didn’t even need a cage. She could have set me down in the middle of the village, or on the edge of the forest, and I would have been just as trapped as I was in that cage because of my own stupidity.
“So, you can stay quiet if you want, I won’t go telling anyone and neither will Noelle. Sunset begged us not to go spreading rumors about your gift of gab around everywhere we went and we’ll respect that. But, it’s a lot more fun when you can share your life with other people, no matter what you look like.”
Vanessa bent over to pick up the pack of wine that she had brought out with her before standing back up. “And two, who in the hell is going to think a bird can talk, unless you actually talk in front of them?” she asked. “I don’t know why you can talk, and I honestly don’t care. But you helped out my new little sister, so...just putting the offer out there. I won’t tell, Noelle’s not going to say anything to anyone except maybe Asta, and I think that you don’t have to worry about Mimosa-”
“Wait, that dunderhead knows about me?” Secre asked in trepidation.
After rolling her eyes, Vanessa gave the bird a glare. “She’s not that dumb, and one of the nicer royals I’ve met, so lay off.”
As the witch left her in peace, Secre went back to watching the antics around the pool. The three boys and Gray had given up on that game and were mostly a few improvements that needed to be done, like adding a stone walkway around the man-made lake. Gray had left the thing and was sitting by the water, since Vanessa had commandeered his large flotation chair and was currently getting drunk on top of it.
“Hey!” Noelle shouted at the wino. “Don’t expect me to save your sorry ass if you get drunk and fall in!”
Gordon was…
“Hanging out with friends in the middle of Summer. Truly, the ultimate experience of our camaraderie.”
...being his usual self.
And Charmy looked to be drawing up plans for a miniature fishery on the other side of the house as drool ran down her chin.
Which only left Finral and Sunset, who were still engaged in conversation. Although, they had veered away from how Sunset felt in her swimsuit and to other topics that the male member of the conversation had obviously chosen. “All we do is go to a nice restaurant and have something to eat, talk about ourselves, have a good time-”
“I know what a date is,” Sunset deadpanned. “Our worlds are almost pound for pound the same when it comes to social norms. Just because I haven’t been on one, doesn’t mean I don’t know what they are.”
Finral let out a gasp and took a step back. “That’s even more of a reason for us to go on a date! A girl of your age should have been taken out at least once in her life. Have some fun, learn a bit about this whole new world, maybe even...get her first kiss.”
Looking like she was actually considering it, Sunset reached up and rubbed her chin. “Finral, you’re supposed to be like...six years older than me. And my species doesn’t kiss.”
“Really? Well, you can now. And, age differences like that are common among couples,” he pointed out. “The guy is almost always older than the girl by at least three years.”
Sunset looked back to the royal, who seemed both miffed and depressed that Asta wasn’t looking her way more often, but shot him a death glare when he did and covered her breasts. “Sort of,” Noelle told her. “But that’s arranged marriages between royals and other high-ranking nobles. Don’t ask me how commoners do it.”
A little put off, Finral gave the girl with the silver hair a frown. “You know I’m a noble, right?”
Every single person around the pool turned to look at the spatial magic user in surprise. “Really?” they all said at the same time.
Finral’s mouth dropped. “Oh come on!” he said before looking at various Black Bulls as he continued to talk. “I can understand the newbies not being aware, but you guys have at least heard my last name!”
“Eh,” Magna replied with a shrug before he and Luck went to marking the area around the pool where they thought a stone walkway needed to be put in.
As the rest of the Bulls had a similar reaction, Finral went into a hopeless slump. “I hate you all.”
Sunset gave the young man a nervous laugh before patting him on the back. “Finral, I’m not even human. For all you know, I could really be some hideous monster that eats people.”
“She’s not,” Asta called out.
After turning around, Sunset glared at the boy that was drawing a line in the dirt around the pool with his sword. “How the hell would you know?”
Asta looked up and blinked. “Uh, because you nearly threw up the first time you saw us eating meat.”
“Anyway...okay, how about this,” Sunset said as she turned to Finral. “If you can guess what I really am, we can spend the day together on my next day off. Doing what I want. But you only get one guess a day.”
Finral considered the offer for a moment. “Two guesses,” he countered. “And you have to answer some questions.”
Sunset crossed her arms and frowned. “One guess, and I’ll let you guess again today. Take it or leave it.”
“Okay,” Finral agreed very slowly as he gave the girl a cautious look. He studied her up and down, taking a moment to walk all the way around the girl, studying every inch of her, as if that would give the young man a clue.
Or he was just being a perv and checking her out while thinking of all the twisted and raunchy things he wanted to do to Sunset’s body, but aside from Finral’s odd need to date as many women as possible, he didn’t seem to be that type of guy.
Like every other time someone guessed Sunset’s natural species, everything seemed to stop and she became the center of attention.
It was at that point that a rather odd idea entered Secre’s head. All forms of logic generated by the rational center of her brain told Secre that it was stupid and she should just forget it. But...Vanessa already knew something about her, as did Noelle. Sunset might not have told them the whole story, but Asta…
Oh crap, Secre suddenly realized. If she didn’t get out in front of this, Noelle might ask Asta what was going on with her! While the boy had a good combat sense and heart to go with it, his common sense was in the toilet.
Plus, she didn’t know what a royal would think about attempting to bring back the Wizard King when he would be in line to take over the kingdom. While House Silva didn’t currently hold the crown, that hadn’t always been the case. Each one of the three royal houses had been in charge at one point throughout Clover’s history.
So, since nearly half the people gathered at the pool already knew at least some of what she was, Secre flew down to land on Finral’s head. “She’s a magical talking unicorn.”
Finral tensed. “Uh...what just landed on my head?”
“Did Sunset’s pet just...talk?” Magna asked.
“I’m not a pet!” Secre yelled at the delinquent.
“You’re a what?” Noelle shouted.
“I knew it, and the fact that I did shows that we will become the best of friends.”
Charmy looked up from her diagram. “Huh, now I’m really glad I didn’t eat her.”
Sunset stared up at the talking bird. “Now you decide to be all open about stuff?” she demanded.
“WHAT IS ON MY HEAD AND WHY IS IT TALKING?” Finral yelled in a panic.
Asta scratched his head. “Wait, you guys named your country after yourselves? How does that make sense?”
“QUIET, PLAYING CARD BOY, I’M BUSY!” Sunset yelled at the shorter man.
Vanessa took a swing of her wine and blinked. “You know, it does seem strange that all the countries around here are named after suits of cards.”
“Hey! The cards are named after the countries, get your timetables straight,” Noelle yelled at Vanessa before she practically leapt out of the pool and ran up to Sunset. “Okay, so, you’re not a mermaid but...wait, you’re an entire society of horses? How does that work?”
It was then Finral decided to chance shooing Secre away. The bird responded by flying around to glare at him. “Hey, cut that out!”
“HOLY CRAP, IT’S A TALKING BIRD!”
Secre rolled her eyes at the man’s reaction as he jumped away from her. “Oh please, that’s already old news.”
“Do you unicorns make good opponents?” a confused Luck asked the man in the glasses.
“How the hell should I know?” Magna replied.
Luck looked back at the newcomers for a fraction of a second. “Do you think the bird is tough?”
“You know what?” Magna asked. “Screw this, I need booze. Vanessa gimme two of those.” Then, he promptly jumped into the water and went after the woman’s alcohol.
Sunset grabbed Noelle’s top and pulled her close. “Unless you want all of your clothes to mysteriously disappear, and you to be teleported into the common room every five minutes, you will never call me that again, got it?” she asked while glaring at the silver-haired girl. “I’m a unicorn. U-ni-corn.”
The threat didn’t seem to have much effect, as Noelle continued to stare at her in confusion. “You say that, but I’m still too confused as to how you had an entire society based around creatures that don’t even have hands.”
“That’s actually a good question,” Asta pointed out as he closed in on the growing mob of confusion.
Back in the pool, Magna had reached the flotation device that Vanessa was using, who gave up her wine with surprisingly little fight before she made her way over to the group to rest on the edge of the pool. “So, did you use to...eat grass?”
Sunset looked taken aback by the question. “What? No! Ewww!” she replied with a cringe. “I’m not a damn animal! And I didn’t look anything like a horse...mostly. I...Gray, can I borrow your grimoire?”
“Eh?” Gray replied before the object in question floated over to Sunset.
“Okay, so…” Sunset mumbled as she opened the magical book to the first page. “I’ve seen this done twice before and got to study the Wizard King’s item the other day...yeah, thought it was like that.”
The grimoire was tossed back to the giant, who only starred in confusion before Sunset took a deep breath and disappeared in a large puff of smoke. When it cleared, a four foot little creature that somewhat resembled a horse, with a slightly larger than normal head and overly expressive eyes stood in the woman’s place. The hair was freakishly similar, and the amber coat made sense, considering what little body hair Sunset had was that color. “This!” Sunset said as her tail swished around wildly. “This is what I look like, this is what I really am, okay? Anybody got SOMETHING THEY WANNA SAY ABOUT IT?”
Finral raised a hand. “Uh...did you just use another person’s grimoire?”
Oh, sure!” Sunset spat. “You get a talking bird showing up and a legendary magical animal that’s taken up residence at your house, but the first thing out of your mouth is asking if I can read a book!”
Another hand went up and Sunset sighed before looking to where Noelle and Vanessa were now standing stride by side. “Yes?”
Becoming the center of attention made Noelle look very nervous before she took a step back. “Uh...n-never mind,” she mumbled.
At which point, the slightly drunk witch Vanessa just went down on her knees and hugged the little pony. “You are just so adorable!”
Sunset let out a very human groan as she carried Vanessa up the stairs while the larger woman giggled, happily inebriated as she wrapped her arms around Sunset’s neck, while the shorter girl’s arms held up her legs. How the woman could down that stuff, she had no idea. A diagnostic spell performed on the wine the day before, after Sunset had awoken well past midday from being up all night the day before, said that there might be a chance for brain damage if consumed too regularly. After hearing that, Sunset didn’t want to touch the stuff and was a little worried that Vanessa did so much.
Then again, it was possible she had built up a tolerance to it.
“Did you really have to down so many of those bottles?” she asked evenly.
Vanessa just laughed. “Awww, but if I could walk straight, I wouldn’t be getting a pony ride.”
“Ugh,” Sunset groaned. She had heard enough horse jokes in the past two hours to last her a lifetime. "You are aware that one of the big reasons I didn't want to show you how I really looked like was because I knew you would all laugh at me, right?"
Then there came the explanations about grimiroes again, followed by more questions involving Equestria, another name that Asta questioned since it also had to do with horses. By the time she was done, Yami was back with a scowl on his face for having lost all his money, declared Sunset was a fake kirin after taking one look at her resting on the couch and headed off to bed, or maybe the bathroom. She hadn’t really cared.
By the end of the whole thing, Vanessa had been drunk off her ass to the point that she was scratching Sunset’s ears while Noelle looked on in envy, Secre had been all but forgotten by the majority of the squad, and that little girl Gauche had in his mirror had become very interested in the cute creature she saw out of the corner of the transmission. Thankfully, most of the guys had gotten interested in something other than the girly creature that had become the center of attention and found their own thing to do, while Charmy came in with various grains for Sunset to try.
The thing that stuck with Sunset more than anything else was the same it had been the first time. None of them had actually cared about her species. They had questions and a few jokes, but that was the only way they treated her any differently than another human.
They reached Vanessa’s room and Sunset opened the door with her magic to walk inside. After avoiding half a dozen empty bottles that were just laying on the ground, Sunset turned around and set Vanessa on her bed. Then, she let out a groan before raising her hand to cast a light spell and use her magic to gather up all of the trash that was just laying around.
“H-Hey!” Vanessa complained. “Bright. Too bright!”
Sunset rolled her eyes. Once she had all the garbage collected in the glow of her magic, she looked back at the witch. “Well, maybe you shouldn’t be plastered to the point where you can barely walk,” the not-unicorn deadpanned. “I swear, one of these days, you’re going to try stumbling up the stairs, fall, and break your neck.”
The scolding got a little laugh from Vanessa as she rubbed the back of her head. “Well, I may not be that drunk,” she admitted before standing up to pluck one of the empty bottles in Sunset’s magic out of the air. “And, could you fill this up for me? I need to get some water in me to help with the hangover, come morning.”
After letting out a groan, Sunset put her finger up to the bottle and released a steady stream of imitation water mana. “You going to be okay by yourself, tonight?” she asked. “I could...stay over again, if you want.”
Of course, it would be the opposite of the first time, with Sunset making sure Vanessa didn’t drown in her own puke.
Vanessa waved the younger woman off. “I’m not a rookie drunk like you. I’ll be fine,” she said with slightly slurred speech before putting on a slightly guilty, but mostly happy look. “And I might have been playing up my inability to walk.”
“...what?” Sunset deadpanned before teleporting Vanessa’s bottle collection to the refuse pile outside of the hideout.
An instant later, Vanessa jumped back on her feet with a laugh before wrapping her arms around Sunset to pull the girl down into her lap. Caught completely off guard, Sunset couldn’t even struggle as Vanessa wrapped her legs around the girl. “Well, how else was I supposed to get a ride from my little pony?” she asked before leaning in to kiss Sunset on the forehead.
As the woman gave her a light chuckle, Sunset froze.
The light laugher quickly stopped, and Vanessa looked down at the girl in her arms. “Sunset? What’s wrong?”
“That’s what…”
“There you are, my little pony,” Celestia said...Sunset couldn’t even begin to count how many times.
Just being a little foal, she had thought it meant that Celestia saw her as someone special. She had thought that for months on end. Years, even.
Until one day…
“Oh, I call all my little ponies that, Sunset,” Celestia told her with a laugh after she said goodbye to a mare much older than Sunset. “It doesn’t really mean anything.”
The memory of Celestia laughing and turning away as the little filly that thought she had proof Celestia cared for her more than anypony else looked up in astonishment as the big mare walked away, laughing at the little filly’s foolish delusion played out in Sunset’s mind, making her curl up into Vanessa’s lap. The laugher coming from Celestia sounded...crueler than it used to.
But then, she had tried to turn Sunset to stone just for reading a book.
“Vanessa?” Sunset spoke up softly as she grabbed onto the larger magic knight for support that had nothing to do with the physical world. “...do you love me?”
The older woman blinked. “Where did-” Vanessa paid, then pulled Sunset deeper into an embrace as the girl curled up on her lap before she kissed the girl on the top of her head. “I love you, Sunset.”
As Sunset laid her head against the woman’s shoulder, Vanessa took a drink of water, gulping it down until there was next to none left before she looked back down at the redhead. “You know I mean like family, right?”
A tiny laugh managed to make its way out of Sunset’s mouth. “Heh, yeah.”
“Just making sure,” she said before pressing her lips against the side of Sunset’s temple. “And...on second thought. I think I better have someone watching over me tonight. You know...just in case.”
Sunset practically melted into Vanessa’s embrace. “I love you too,” she said before Vanessa rolled them both onto the bed. After loosening the swimsuits they were still in, Vanessa pulled the girl up close until Sunset could feel the older woman’s breasts pushing up against her back while her legs wrapped around the redhead’s.