//------------------------------//
// Chapter 11 
// Story: Wondercolts Forever 
// by Epsilon-Delta 
//------------------------------//

Sunset’s initial estimate of Twilight was exceptionally low. The purple haired girl had her head all but literally lost in the clouds, staring up at them in a near trance.

She was oblivious to Celestia’s introduction until Celestia mentioned her name, after which she panicked and fell over.

“Um. Hello and... hello.” Twilight stood up then, unsure what to do next, then sat back down. “My name is Twilight Sparkle.”

“Yeah, I heard,” said Sunset.

“Oh, geeze! I’m sorry!” Twilight was immediately cowed, bowed her head, and stared at the floor with a heavy blush. “I don’t talk to other people in person very often! Please forgive me!”

“Yeah. Sure.” Sunset didn’t say it in a way that would give any real confidence that she’d been forgiven.

Sunset sighed. This idiot was brought here to slow Sunset down, wasn’t she? This was why Sunset always hated the other ponies her age so much. They were all so stupid and the world had to slow down to cater to their idiocy. Like everyone else, they were all holding her back.

It was hard to tell what Principal Celestia’s real goals were. Was she trying to keep Sunset here as long as possible?

“Okay, great!” Twilight’s mood rebounded quickly. “Then we’re friends? I finally get to have friends, right?”

“Look, I don’t do ‘friends’, okay,” said Sunset.

“Celestia!” Twilight looked at Celestia, suddenly exasperated. “Um! Sorry, but you said I wouldn’t be alone if I came here, right?” 

“Yes, but I also wanted you to help me with something, and there is one thing I neglected to tell you about Sunset Shimmer,” said Celestia. “She isn’t a transfer student or from planet Earth. She’s an invasive entity from another dimension who accidentally opened a portal to my realm.”

“You’re a parasite.” Twilight pointed her finger at Sunset but said it with no real malice. She was just stating a fact.

“Yeah, I guess.”

“Sunset is taking this course to try and escape,” Celestia explained further. “I would like you to assist her in that goal. My servants and I cannot do this ourselves.”

Twilight clutched her staff harder, frowning silently at Sunset. Sunset gave a similar look to Celestia.

“Okay, this person’s clearly an idiot.” Sunset jabbed her thumb in Twilight’s direction. “How is she going to help me make an interdimensional portal? I’d be faster without her. If you really need to shove someone down my throat in the name of friendship or whatever, can I get Pinkie Pie instead? At least she seems like she knows things. Even if I can’t comprehend most of them.”

“I know things!” Twilight objected. “And stuff, and um - and... things. Other things.”

Sunset looked at Celestia with a raised eyebrow.

“I think you might be underestimating my new student,” Celestia said gently, then held her hand out to Twilight. “Twilight, could you create a spatial portal to the beach we were at before?”

“Right!” Twilight suddenly stood at attention. Now she had the composure of someone in the military.

With deft seriousness, Twilight held her staff out horizontally, then let go, flicking it with her index finger as she did. The staff remained floating in the air and began spinning rapidly in place. Twilight tapped her fingers along the rotating shaft, unleashing an amount of magic Sunset had only seen in this world from the fae thus far.

This new technique worked excellently. The staff drilled the portal into existence, the beach becoming visible just through the other end.

The beach was ten miles from here but creating a portal inside a pocket dimension was significantly more difficult than creating one outside. This was the equivalent of making one that bridged a hundred mile gap.

Even as a unicorn, with a staff essentially attached to her body, with her magic at full power and with equipment she was used to, that was close to the limit Sunset was capable of. And Twilight did it all quickly, too.

Once the portal was up, Twilight stood at attention, the staff behind her back.

The display certainly made its point. Sunset looked at Twilight with new eyes now. This girl was clearly a prodigy when it came to magic, maybe the first her age that was a potential equal. But this didn’t make Sunset any less mistrustful. The question now was why Celestia would give Sunset someone this good.

“You see?” Celestia put her hand on Twilight’s head. “Twilight was one of the most promising of young mages. She really did have an immense amount of potential. She's cut from the same cloth as you, in my opinion. I just absolutely wanted her before she could accomplish anything with her immense talents, and she was eager to come here.”

“She’s an expert mage?” Sunset gave her a doubtful look. “If that’s the case, you’re being a little too nice here.”

“You remember the lesson I taught you with the falcon before?” Celestia asked. “When you primarily feed off of geniuses and prodigies, surrounding yourself with a whole farm of them, you need to be careful. I learned when I was younger that people like you will always escape or harm in the end, if that’s what they want, no matter how hard I try to hold on to them. I don’t try to hold on to humans anymore. If I can’t make this a place you want to stay, then... you won’t stay.”

Sunset stewed in her frown. She really did want to object to something, but Celestia was being too reasonable at the moment. She’d be on the lookout, though.

“Is that reasoning selfish enough for you to believe?” Celestia put a hand on Sunset’s shoulder.

“You think you have me all figured out, huh?” Sunset crossed her arms. “Then what about you? If you’re the best mage of your generation, why the heck would you come here?”

“Why-?” Twilight glanced at Celestia confused, then back at Sunset. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, the other three I know came here because they were losers, slaves, or went insane,” said Sunset. “Surely you could actually accomplish something in life and wouldn’t need to come here.”

“No.” Twilight shook her head. “It doesn’t matter what anyone does! Everyone is powerless, and everything you accomplish is worthless in the end. People will just ruin everything no matter how hard you try. We’re all just worthless specks of dust congratulating ourselves on floating around better than the other specks. So.... why even bother? Success is an illusion, and this is just a better illusion. Right?”

“Holy crap!” Sunset put two fingers on her forehead and shook her head. “What is it with you people being so doomed all the time? Is everyone on Earth this cynical, or is it just the people who come here?”

Then, after another second of thought, she realized an important implication of this.

“Actually, you just got here, right?” Sunset stepped forward. “That means you still remember Earth clearly, don’t you?”

“Celestia!” Twilight ran up to Celestia and grabbed her. “You said I wouldn’t have to talk about real-life stuff anymore!”

“This is real life, Twilight.” Celestia gave her a soft laugh, embracing her student. “You’re not in a video game. But that is correct. You don’t have to tell Sunset anything you don’t want to. Of course, you could always ask me to-“

“I’m not ready for that.” Twilight clutched Celestia tight.

“It’s alright. I can eat your potential either way. It’s not something I make anyone do.”

“You still love me, right?” Twilight’s grasp became a bit more desperate. “You said you loved me!”

“Of course. I love you very much, Twilight.”

“I love you too, Celestia!” Twilight relaxed ever so slightly.

Sunset gripped her staff tighter and looked off towards the horizon. Suddenly she liked this Twilight person a lot less.

Stupid spy. Or whatever she was.







After 45 minutes, Sunset was close to creating that dimensional rift she kept failing at back in the desert. This would only ever be the very first step towards the incredibly difficult task of forcing that portal back open. If opening a dimensional rift was like being able to balance on a skateboard, then opening the portal would be like pulling off a 900-degree spin.

Twilight, having already practiced this long before, could already make a dimensional rift. Not only was she ahead, but she was progressing at an impressive rate as well. Sunset had to remind her several times that she had nearly zero experience with a staff just to save face, but grumbled when Twilight assured her that her efforts were still ‘pretty good considering’.

Twilight took this all very seriously, talking little during the course. This was a stark contrast to the much more laid-back vibe all the other students here gave off. This was the only other student who took studying very seriously - as if learning had nothing to do with personal happiness.

“Well that’s it for today,” said Celestia. “But I’ll see you both in multiverse theory in two periods. You both did very impressive work today.”

Celestia left, but Sunset and Twilight remained a moment longer.

Sunset honestly wasn’t sure how she felt about another student who was able to keep up with her, especially when it came to magic. Her whole life she’d always been the best, the only ponies better than her at magic were ancient archmagi or immortal beings.

The whole reason Princess Celestia took her off the street was because she was already the best. Sunset worked so hard on top of that, even with Celestia working her to the point she had the occasional panic attack. Yet Sunset never truly broke. She kept going all the way until the end.

That was what made her useful, wasn’t it? It was the only thing she ever truly had, the only thing that stayed even after she found the truth.

“Did I do something wrong?” Twilight noticed her staring and took a step back.

“No, it’s fine.” Sunset waved her off and started walking away.

“Are you sure?” Twilight ran after her. “Are you still angry at me for the way I introduced myself?”

“What?” Sunset hardly even remembered how that went. “No.”

Twilight started following Sunset awkwardly back into the building and through the hall. It looked like she wanted to say something but was too nervous.

“Something wrong?” Sunset glanced at her.

“No!” Twilight stepped back and shook her head, suddenly afraid.

Sunset blew some hair out of her face. It was hard to believe this idiot was a genius. Back when Sunset was actually a teenager, she would have taken Twilight’s lunch money or something.

Yet Twilight didn’t look satisfied. She still had something to say and eventually worked up the courage for it.

“Well... hey! I know you’re from another dimension, but you have to admit this place is amazing, right? There’s so much room!” Twilight spread her arms apart, smiling wide like it was a joy to do so. “I can do this!”

Sunset couldn’t help but stare at the absurdity of that statement.

“You’re not happy that you get to go outside whenever you want?” Twilight asked, pulling her arms back.

“Go outside?” Sunset asked. “I was able to go outside my whole life. Do you people live underground or something?”

Twilight looked at the ground and muttered something. Now Sunset felt like she was underestimating the situation outside.

“I don’t know what insanity goes on in your world and I know you won’t tell me,” said Sunset. “But where I come from… it’s not too different from this. Everything is fine.”

“Fine?” Twilight said the word like it was strange to her.

“Sure.”

Though now that Sunset thought about it, maybe there was a way she could turn Twilight into a more legitimate ally.

“You know, I could tell you about the other dimension,” said Sunset. “About Equestria. It’s really not such a horrible place. And when I open the portal, I can show it to you. Aren’t you curious?”

“No,” Twilight’s response was quick.

“What? Why not? I mean, if it’s even better than this place-”

“I know what you’re trying to do!” Twilight put her hands over her ear. “You’re trying to get me to hope, but it’s not going to work. Don’t you dare give me hope! I don’t ever want to have hope again!”

Twilight ran off down the hall.

But she wouldn’t get that far. They had another class together in 45 minutes…