The next morning began with breakfast and a crash course on basic human hygiene.
Starlight Glimmer had spent an entire five minutes fiddling with the toothpaste in a feeble attempt to open it with her fingers. She eventually gave up and threw the toothpaste across the bathroom, finally breaking the lid open. Then Sunset Shimmer rushed in to teach her how to properly hold a toothbrush - another long lesson. Starlight exited the bathroom about thirty minutes after she got in.
Breakfast wasn’t that different from Equestria: just a simple plate of buttered toast and fruit. The two girls ate with pleasant conversation and then left the house for the bus station. Sunset had insisted they take the bus to travel the same distance they had walked yesterday. She wanted to show Starlight the wonders of mechanical transportation, which the former appreciated. Sunset even paid for her bus fare!
Which led to an introduction on human currency.
“But it’s paper. How does it have any value?” Starlight asked.
“We do have coins, made of metals like copper and zinc. But it’s an inconvenience to carry around hundreds of coins, so we compile them in bank notes.” Sunset reached inside her jacket and pulled out a crisp green piece of paper with a the number 1 on it. A bank note. “This is one dollar, the rough equivalent of one bit.” She held it to Starlight.
Starlight took the note and examined it. “It doesn’t feel like paper,” she said.
Sunset laughed. “It’s plastic.” Starlight gave her a confused look. “Human-exclusive material. Very versatile.” She turned to look at her friend. “Keep the dollar. As a souvenir from here.”
Starlight put the dollar in the small bag Sunset had given to her earlier this morning. “I still don’t see how a piece of paper, or plastic, has the same value as a pure gold coin.”
“To be honest, neither do I.”
The girls laughed at that. In the silence that followed, Starlight leaned her head back and stared out the window.
Canterlot City was interesting, to say the least. It reminded Starlight of Princess Twilight’s descriptions of Manehattan: busy, tall buildings, lots of apartments, skyscrapers, taxis everywhere. Starlight herself had never been to Manehattan, but she could now imagine what it looked like.
Sunset and Starlight were headed towards The Food Hotspot, a local restaurant where the Rainbooms were booked to play for a few hours. Starlight was really exited to witness their music band in action. She had asked Sunset about it in their game of 21 Questions the night before. In response, Sunset had shown Starlight her guitar, which looked like no instrument the former had seen before.
“Why does it have so many strings? And so many pegs? And what is that tiny hole on the side?” Starlight asked as she examined the V-shaped orange guitar.
Sunset laughed. “Took me the longest time to understand all that,” she said.
Starlight handed the guitar back. “Play.”
Sunset gave it some thought. “Tomorrow. It’s better in front an audience.”
And so, this trip was planned.
Starlight and Sunset arrived at The Food Hotspot after a 15-minute bus ride. They were the last ones there, of course. The pair entered the building and and saw the rest of the Rainbooms setting up on the stage. Sunset walked up to the stage, guitar case in hand. She turned to look at Starlight.
“You can join us on stage if you’d like,” she said.
Starlight shook her head. “Nah. I’d rather experience it from the crowd. Like a real human.” She made her way to one of the front tables and took a seat. Sunset got on the stage and joined her friends, right before the curtains closed.
Two minutes later, an announcer came up on stage with a mic and the curtains opened.
“Ladies and gentlemen, the Rainbooms!”
Pinkie Pie tapped her drumsticks repeatedly. “One, two, three, four...”
“Once upon a time
You came into my world and made the stars align
Now I can see the signs
You pick me up when I get down so I can shine
Shine like rainbows
Shine like rainbows...”
Starlight Glimmer was captivated. She’d heard friendship songs before, but never had she felt this peaceful and content when listening to one. She was grinning like an idiot, clapping her hands along to the beat. Sunset was right. It is better in front of an audience. The Rainbooms finished their song in perfect harmony with each other. They played two more songs - at the end of which Rainbow threw her guitar pick to the crowd - before concluding their performance.
“We are the Rainbooms! Have a good day!” Pinkie yelled in her mic.
A short while later, the girls had reconvened at Starlight’s table to enjoy their lunch. After last night’s failed attempt at using the chopsticks, Starlight opted for a lettuce and cheese sandwich, no utensils required. She looked around the table and noticed that most of the girls, sans Sunset and Fluttershy, had a strange red substance on them. She leaned close to Sunset.
“What is that mushy red stuff on everyone’s plates?” she whispered.
“Meat,” Sunset whispered back.
Starlight dropped her sandwich on her plate. “Meat? What sort of meat?” she all but screamed.
The girls heard her and stopped their conversations. They all turned to look at Starlight. “Something the matter, darling?” Rarity asked.
Starlight smiled sheepishly. “Um, I was just wondering about the... the meat you are eating.”
“Of course. Ya come from Equestria, too,” Applejack said. “Don’t ya fret. Sunset was freaked out too when she first ate lunch with us.”
“Oh.” Starlight blinked. “I see.”
“You have no idea how off-putting it was when I was building my reputation as CHS’s Queen Bee,” Sunset said. “The toughest girl in school, unafraid to use people as stepping stones, yet afraid to eat animals.”
Starlight laughed. After a few seconds, her eyes widened and she said, “But we ate fish last night!”
Sunset swallowed her pasta before answering. “No, we didn’t. I did say sushi usually contained fish, but I ordered vegetarian sushi. For both our sakes.”
Starlight relaxed. Even if there’s dead animal flesh around me. She dove back into her sandwich, eating quietly.
Pinkie broke the quiet. “So, Starlight! Tell us about yourself. You’re our new friend, yet we barely know you.”
“I agree. We don’t know that much about you,” Fluttershy said.
“Aside from you being Princess Twilight’s student, of course,” Rarity added.
“Uh, what do you want to know?” Starlight asked.
“Well, for starters, how did you become the Princess’s student?” Applejack asked.
“Rememeber how I told Juniper that I had stripped an entire village of their talents so they wouldn’t think they were special?”
Nods and murmurs of agreement.
“It kinda had something to do with that...”
Eight girls spent the next half hour chatting about everything and anything. Starlight Glimmer had opened up about herself, though not to the extent she had with Sunset Shimmer the previous night. She had also struck a bond with Twilight Sparkle, who was at once similar and very distinct from her mentor. All in all, Starlight had made six more new friends.
I think Twilight will be proud.
After lunch, the girls parted ways. Sunset led Starlight to the mall, for a surprise, apparently.
“Where are we going?” Starlight asked, impatient.
“You’ll see.”
The pair arrived at the mall and the first thing Starlight noticed was how... empty it was, compared to yesterday. She decided to voice those thoughts.
“Hey, Sunset. Why is it so empty?”
“Today’s Sunday. Malls are busiest on Saturday's, ‘speciallly night, but more calm on Sundays,” Sunset answered. “Aha! There it is!”
They stopped by a store with a sign labeled ‘VG Arcade’. This ‘arcade’ must be an invention of this world, then. They entered and Starlight was greeted by an odd sight.
Inside the store were machines. Large, strange and box-like machines with lots of controls and panels. They were also machines designed to mimic this world’s vehicles, compete with eats and steering wheels. Dozens of people were strewn about the store and all of them appeared to be playing.
Sunset’s voice snapped Starlight out of her thoughts. “When I was arrived in this dimension, I had to figure out the mechanics of hands-” she wiggled her fingers ”-and a great way to do that was through video games. I quickly developed a fondness for them, particularly the hardcore, violent ones.”
Starlight put the pieces together. “And those... video games. This is what we’re looking at, right?”
“Yup. Arcades used to be more popular, but then video games become so accessible people can just play them in their homes.” Sunset walked over to one of the video games machines. “You are going to love this one.”
Starlight followed her and stood in front of the small black box. And in front of the black square as a single lever and a large button. On top of it were the words ‘Pick It Up’. “This doesn’t sound very fun.”
“Trust me. You’re going to like it.” Sunset pulled out a small coin and inserted it into the machine. To Starlight’s surprise, the black square lit up and the words ‘Pick It Up’ appeared, along with several images of food items and utensils. “Now the gameplay here is really simple. All you have to do is move the controller, pick up the items and put it in the basket,” Sunset explained.
“That’s it?”
“Yeah, pretty much. It’s a child’s game. Made to learn how to use hands better,” Sunset said. “Why don’t you give it a try?”
Starlight did. And then grunted in frustration when she was unable to manipulate both the lever and the button. “Why won’t this thing work?” she screamed.
“Probably because you’re smashing the controls instead of actually playing.” Sunset approached the game and directed Starlight’s hands to the correct positions. “Curl your right hand around the lever and your left index on the button. Yes, like that. Now turn the lever in the direction you wish to go...”
Starlight Glimmer decided it’s official: she hated video games. She couldn’t, for the life of her, understand why Sunset liked them so much.
Sunset tried to help her get better, but her lessons were inefficient. Eventually, Starlight just gave up and told Sunset she wanted to do something else. The girls then left the mall and headed for a different destination. A destination that Starlight did not expect at all.
“Why are we back at the school?”
Instead of answering, Sunset went straight for the door, Starlight hesitantly following behind. What are we doing here? School’s close; it’s a Sunday afternoon! Sunset crouched down, opened her backpack and dug out a black rolled-up piece of fabric. Inside was all manner of metal hooks and similar instruments. Starlight didn’t recognize any of them.
But then Sunset took one of the hooks, inserted it in the door’s lock and fiddled with it. And that’s when it hit Starlight.
“Are we breaking into the school?! Sunset!” she all but shouted.
“Relax. I’ve done this plenty of times; it’s going to be fine,” Sunset calmly replied. Five seconds later, the door opened. Starlight was impressed.
“Wow. You’re good.”
“Thanks.”
The two girls made their way into the unlit halls of the school. They moved to the first floor, passing by several classes. Sunset stopped at a pair of large double doors, which the sign said was the library. Again, Sunset took out her tools, picked the lock and went inside.
Straight was more than puzzled at this point. “Picking locks and breaking into school, huh? You haven’t really left your bad girl days behind, have you?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.
Sunset shrugged. “Not fully.” She abruptly stopped walking and turned to look at Starlight in the eye. “I’m about to tell you something that no one else knows. Sometimes, I go out at night, find a wall in an alley or public building and spray paint on it,” she said very quietly.
Starlight gasped. “You’re a vandal?”
“Oh, please. People love my pieces. I go by a different name. Flanksy.”
“But why?”
“I enjoy art. Always have. And I want others to enjoy it, too. But it has be anonymous.” Sunset continued walking. She went to the library’s floor and stopped in front of a small door on the far side. “So to answer your question, Starlight, yes. I still have a bad girl streak.”
Huh. I suppose I can live with that.
After unlocking two more doors, the pair arrived at the rooftop of the school. It was vast and Starlight found herself lost in the empty space. But what truly caught her attention was the view the roof gave.
At 5 o’clock on a warm summer afternoon, the sun was already setting. Shades of red, orange and yellow painted the sky, the bright colors creating a silhouette of the city skyline. In the distance, Starlight could even see the moon and a few stars coming out. The entire view was majestic and breathtaking.
“Stunning, isn’t it?”
Sunset walked over to the edge of the roof and sat down cross-legged. Starlight followed suit, but let her less dangle in the air. The two sat in silence for a while, taking in the view and the soft breeze.
Sunset broke the silence. “Whenever life gets too overwhelming and I need a moment, this is where I come,” she said softly.
“So CHS’s roof is a place of self-reflection?” Starlight asked.
“Kinda, yeah.”
They lapsed back into comfortable silence. Starlight now opted to lay on her back, with one leg freely kicking the air. She reflected on her stay here.
The human world was certainly something else. What humans lacked in magic, they made up for in technology. Who needs magic when you have automobiles that get you to places in minutes, instant communication across any distance and all the world’s knowledge in a small pocket device? But as much as Starlight loved exploring this world, she missed her four hooves and her horn. Barely two days had passed and she already missed her telekinesis and teleportation.
Eventually, Starlight spoke. “Your world is great. Maybe on my next visit, you can take me outside the city.”
Sunset turned to her, surprised. “‘Next visit’? Are you leaving already?”
“Yeah. I mean, don’t get me wrong. It’s been great. But I want to go home now,” Starlight as she sat up.
Sunset looked disappointed. “I suppose I can’t stop you.” She then smiled. “You were a good guest.”
Starlight sat up and scooted closer to Sunset. “And you were a good host!”
The two girls hugged, their bodies silhouetted against the beautiful dusk.
Starlight Glimmer and Sunset Shimmer walked to the portal together the next morning.
“Thanks a lot for this visit. I loved every minute of it,” Starlight said.
Sunset smiled. “No problem. Hopefully, you can drop by for another visit here.”
“Or maybe I’ll see you in Equestria again.”
Sunset smirked. “Maybe.”
The girls hugged each other before parting. Sunset waved to Starlight as the former stepped through the portal back to her home.
Dear Twilight,
Starlight’s a really great friend. And a really great teacher, too! Your student just taught me an important lesson: trust that things will work themselves out in the end. Because if you spend too much time worrying about the bad things that might happen, you'll miss out on all the good things that are happening.
I’m glad you let her stay for a few more days. It was loads of fun.
Yours, Sunset