Jeremy, Odd, Yumi, Aelita and Ulrich had just finished up their afternoon classes as they were hanging out in the courtyard on a bench. Odd was in a purple long sleeve shirt over a magenta shirt with purple pants. Yumi was wearing all black long sleeve sweater and pants. Jeremy had on a blue long-sleeved shirt with brown pants. Ulrich was wearing a green vest with a shirt and cargo pants. Aelita had on a light pink hooded shirt under a dark pink jumper dress. Yumi noticed Sunset Shimmer as she came out of the administration building, sat down and began to write in a book.
“Who is that girl over there?” Yumi wondered aloud as she watched Sunset.
“I’m not sure. I don’t recognize her,” responded Odd.
“She appears to be slightly older than Yumi,” Ulrich commented.
“I think she is pretty,” Odd remarked.
"Cool it, Casanova," remarked Ulrich.
Jeremy checked his laptop and said, “The super scan isn’t coming up with anything, so she isn’t XANA. She is just a regular girl.”
“I’m going to say hi to her,” Aelita stated.
Shimmer noticed the pink-haired ninth grader walking up to her and closed the journal.
“Bonjour,” Aelita greeted her.
“Oh, Bonjour,” said Sunset. “My French isn’t the best.”
The younger girl giggled, “My name is Aelita. What’s yours?”
The older girl answered back, “Sunset.”
The other girl said, “Interesting name.”
She noticed the red necklace with a golden sun that Sunset was wearing.
“That is a pretty necklace,” she commented, and then asked, “Where are you from?”
Sunset responded, “Thanks.” She blushed and rubbed the back of her head, answering, “Oh… I am Canadian American.”
There was a sudden vibrating sound coming from her backpack. She knew it was Twilight getting back to her.
“Sorry about this, it's my parents,” Sunset told her.
“It’s ok. It was nice to meet you. Au revoir, replied Aelita.
She pulled out both her journal as well as her phone as a cover as the other girl walked away.
“It was nice meeting you too,” she said as she opened the journal to read Twilight's response and placed her cellphone to her ear. She was surprised that she had received a response and that the magic journal worked.
The journal entry read:
Sunset,
What?! Oh my gosh! This is amazing! I can’t believe it! What is it like? Is it different from the other human world?! Tell me everything!
Sincerely,
Twilight
Sunset giggled and sighed to herself; her friend reacted just the way she thought she would. “Oh, Twilight. Never change,” she uttered to herself.
As she headed back towards her group of friends, Aelita noticed Sunset’s cellphone in her hand.
"Well, how’d it go?” Ulrich inquired about her.
"She seems nice. Her name is Sunset and she is an exchange student from America,” she explained and went on, “Though the cellphone she has is nothing like I’ve ever seen before. It doesn’t have any keypad buttons on it.”
Jeremy fixed his glasses and said, “Hmm… that is interesting. The only time I’ve seen anything like that is in movies.”
Yumi stroked her chin, declared, “I don’t know. I feel she is still hiding something. I don’t fully trust her yet.” She then glanced at her phone and went on to say, “We should get going.” The group then left the area to attend their next classes.
It was now early evening as the sky and clouds were turning to shades of orange and pink in color. Sunset was busy drawing the sky and school buildings in her sketchbook.
Jim walked up to her, looked at her drawing and said, “Ah, so you are an artist, Sunset.”
She smiled, replying, “Yes, I am. I’m also in a band with friends back home.”
Jim chuckled responding, “I was in a band when I was young like you….” But before she could speak, he went on to say, “….and I’d rather not talk about it.”
She noticed students going to the cafeteria for dinner. She could go out into town to get something to eat since she had money, but she had a good feeling that it wouldn’t be accepted. Yumi was saying good night to her friends.
”Oh, I’m hungry,” Della Robbia said as his stomach growled.
Aelita spotted Sunset and stated, “It looks like she might not have anywhere to go. Maybe we should ask her.”
She went up to the older girl and asked her, “Hey, do you have any place to stay?”
Sunset looked at her and admitted, “Oh…. Well, no, I don’t.”
“Yumi, would it be okay if she spent the night at your place?” Aelita inquired.
“Well, I mean…. I’ll have to check with my parents to see if they are okay with it.” Yumi stated, folding her arms then continued, “Do you know how to use chopsticks?”
Sunset grinned, “Yeah, I do. I also work at the local sushi restaurant at the mall back home.”
Yumi sighed as she got on her mobile and walked away. She was on the phone call for a while before returning.
“Well, they said you can stay. But if they ask any questions, we are studying for a history test,” she said.
Sunset nodded her head, “Right, got it. Thanks.” The two of them walked toward the campus’s main entrance.
Yumi told Sunset as they approached the Ishiyama residence, “Just because I’m doing this doesn’t mean I trust you.”
“I understand,” she said as she averted her gaze from her.
When they arrived at Yumi’s house, she announced, “I’m home!” as she opened the door.
The two girls removed their shoes at the entrance. Leaving the hallway, they entered the sunken living room where a man sat in a chair reading the newspaper and a younger boy was playing on a Game Boy.
“This is my father and younger brother, Hiroki,” she said.
“Kon'nichiwa, thank you for having me in your home,” Sunset said as she bowed slightly.
Her mother was working in the kitchen, “It is a pleasure to meet you.”
As Sunset put her stuff down in Yumi’s room, she heard her mother say, “She seems well-mannered.” Sunset then joined the family for dinner.
After eating, the two of them went upstairs to Yumi’s room. As she began to work on her homework, she mentioned, “Was it true what you said to my parents? You haven’t seen your parents in a while.”
Sunset nodded her head and said, “Yeah, it has.” Sunset commented, “I know what it’s like to not be trusted. It took some time for others at school to believe that I’d changed my ways since being the school bully.”
Yumi replied, “I’m just protective of my friends.”
“I understand,” she replied as she nodded her head.
Yumi attempted to lighten the mood by admitting, “I think my friend Odd has a bit of a crush on you.”
Sunset’s cheeks flushed as she spoke, “Oh… Ohhh…. I see.”
She looked to the side, “How old is he?”
Ishiyama replied, “Ah, Fourteen.”
“I’m sixteen going on seventeen. He’s a little young for me.” Shimmer said and then thought to herself, “In Equestria, I’m in my twenties.”
The two girls worked for the rest of the night. Sunset was glad she had packed extra clothes in her backpack. She changed into a pair of gym shorts and a top. She then went to sleep on a rolled-out mattress.
Sunset awoke quickly the next morning. She rubbed her eyes, unable to remember whether or not the previous day had been a dream. Quickly looking at her surroundings and not recognizing anything, she knew it wasn’t a dream as Yumi walked in.
As she saw the bewildered look on her face, she asked, “Are you ok?”
“Yeah, I guess I’m just feeling homesick,” she responded. Sunset changed into her clothes.
Yumi and Sunset made the short trip to Kadic from her house. Upon seeing her friends, she waved and went over to them. “Well, I think a formal introduction is needed,” Aelita stated. “This is Jeremy, Ulrich, Odd and you’ve met Yumi now.”
Sunset replied with a smile, “It’s nice to meet all of you.”
“You have very attractive green eyes,” Odd complimented her.
Her face reddened as she remarked, “That’s sweet of you to say. But… I’m not looking for a boyfriend.”
Della Robbia muttered, frowning, “Oh… I understand.”
“Wait, Odd,” Sunset said with a sigh.
She gently grabbed Odd’s arm, her eyes flashed white and she had a sudden a burst of images. Her eyes returned to normal after a few seconds.
Stern questioned, “What was that?!”
“Where are you actually from?” Belpois asked.
Sunset answered, “If I told you where I was really from, you’d probably think I’m crazy.”
Aelita responded, “Oh, trust me. It will take a lot for that to happen.”
The older teenager said, “Ok…” She sighed and explained, “I’m actually from a parallel human world and that’s how I ended up here through a magic portal, but I’m originally a yellow unicorn pony from a world of magical colorful ponies. As for what just happened, I can sometimes see others memories with a magic power I have.”
“Talking colorful ponies? So you are a horse?” Odd said, scratching his head.
Aelita giggled and spoke, “Oh, I think I might have had a few colorful ponies as toys when I was younger.”
“I find it highly unlikely,” Jeremy expressed his skepticism.
Sunset grabbed her phone, “Here’s all the proof you need.” She showed photos of her friends. They all had brightly colored hair and pastel skin.
“Why didn’t you tell us from the beginning?” Yumi asked.
“Because I thought anyone would think I was making it up or crazy,” Sunset answered.
“I also didn’t want everyone to know that there was a portal to a parallel world that anyone could enter.” Sunset blushed in embarrassment as she explained, “I kind of got into trouble with my friend Twilight the last time I went to Equestria and brought people with me.”
“But I think the pony world sounds cute,” Aelita interjected.
“I think you’d make a good pony, Aelita,” Sunset commented, which made the other girl giggle.
On the rooftop of a towering skyscraper in the city, there were sudden, vivid blue and purple electrical sparks that came from the wires near a satellite dish. A sinister black specter slowly emerged from the dish and then flew through the sky and into the clouds. The puffy, white clouds had grown larger and darkened into gray storm clouds. Off the French coast, the storm clouds began to grow and slowly spin in a clockwise rotation.