Twilight Sparkle had to admit, she was pretty lucky that when taking a trip through a portal to another dimension she wasn't greeted by an evil empire of darkness, a desolate wasteland, or a world of evil bug monsters. Those required time travel. When using the magic portal, Twilight was greeted by one of her best friends in two worlds catching her and saying, "Hey, princess. Nice trip?"
Being caught very quickly turned into a hug between the two girls. "The best," chuckled Twilight. "It's good to see you again, Sunset. I'm looking forward to catching up."
As the two separated, Sunset gave a chuckle of her own. "I was before I did the catching, I swear you've gotten taller since the spring. Been eating your oats every morning, I see."
"Oh, stop. I'm not that much taller, am I?"
Sunset's head moved up in down in quick appraisal, "The Twilight from this side is the same height as me. You're a few inches taller than me right now, and I'm the one in heels. You're growing like a weed.”
Sunset's grin said she was teasing, but Twilight couldn't help but worry. She started to twirl her hair and asked "but that's not a problem, right?”
Sunset grabbed Twilight's hand and pulled it back down, "Of course not. You look great, princess."
Twilight's cheeks warmed because, um, she wasn't used to receiving compliments on her human body. That was definitely why. It certainly only seemed to happen in this world, when Sunset gave her compliments. Not that the rest of her friends never gave her compliments! It was just, um... She could pretend it was their pony counterparts saying it, so it wasn't the same? That worked. Sure.
Actually, that reminds her, "Um, anyway, where are the rest of the girls? I don't see them here at the statue."
"Oh, Pinkie won a competition to tour the top theme parks in the country, but it only came with six tickets. The rest of the girls are with her as a sort of graduation ceclebration. We figured I should be the one to stay close to the portal, since, well... you know." Did Sunset blush there? Of course not, Sunset's too cool to be flustered that easily.
"Pony things, I know," smirked Twilight. "Wait, but her family is six people, why didn't she go with them?"
"Ah, well, Limestone's already banned from a bunch of the parks."
"Ooh, yeah, that makes sense."
"Anyway, if we're going to catch up, we should get milkshakes at Sugarcube Corner, not stand here all day. C'mon, I'll buy. Tell me about pony land on the way."
"Wow, I can't believe Celestia and Luna are retired already."
"I know. I just hope I do a good job."
Sunset looked around the diner once more to be sure no one was eavesdropping before saying "Twilight, Celestia's been preparing you for this ever since she gave you something of Star Swirl's.” She shrugged and leaned back in her booth before continuing, "I'm just surprised you're such a great pupil that it's only took a few years for her to think you were ready."
"My friends have been reminding me that, too, but- wait, Sunset, what do you mean 'ever since she gave you something of Star Swirl's'? I don't think I ever told you how I ascended.”
"Twilight, do you think it's a coincidence that I was studying Star Swirl's mirror and I wanted to become a princess? In fact, don't you think it's strange that I called your crown an element of harmony, and had another crown with a star burst ready to go?
"Celestia told me all about her plans for her students, including you. I'm sure she didn't plan everything to happen the way it did, she's made mistakes here and there, but whatever artifact she gave you, it wasn't her first try at helping a student ascend. Counting showing me the mirror, it was her third."
"Wait, third? Do you know who was first?"
Sunset looked away and absentmindedly fiddled with the straw in her empty glass. "I do, but... Twi I don't know if I should tell you this."
Twilight's brows furrowed, "Obviously she was alright telling you, why wouldn't you be able to tell me?"
"Twilight, if she never told you the full story, there was probably a reason for that. Look, next time you get to visit Celestia, tell her I thought you should hear the story of Hesperus Haze. Ugh, look, how about we call the rest of the girls and see if they can video chat. They'd love to catch up, and you've got to see these things humans built called 'roller coasters'."