//------------------------------//
// Chapter 4 
// Story: The New Girl 
// by Nineveh Orion 
//------------------------------//

Sunset rolled her eyes. "Oh don't be such a drama filly. You'll be fine."

Luster gagged, drinking all most all of her soda to try and get the taste out of her mouth. "I'm eating meat. How am I supposed to be fine?! Dragons eat meat. Griffons eat meat. Ponies don't!"

Sunset nodded. "Except you're not a pony at the moment. You're human. Through and through."

Luster blinked, her curiosity momentarily overcoming her disgust. "What do you mean?"

Sunset put on her best teaching smile. "When you cross through the portal, everything about you becomes human. Or whatever you might come out as. Physically and mentally. That means your body needs everything a human does. That includes meat. When you return to Equestria, you will feel fine."

Luster tapped her chin. She hadn't thought of that. "What about Princess Twilight? She's never said anything about this."

Sunset smirked. "You didn't even know this world existed until a few days ago. I'm not surprised she didn't tell you. She had the same reaction you did, the first time she realized she was eating meat." She giggled at the memory. "But eventually, she came around to rather enjoy it."

Luster found that hard to believe as she stood with a sigh and headed for the door, the weight of the world seemingly on her shoulders. "This is all just too much. I need fresh air."

Sunset's smile fell away. "Do you need someone? I've got time to spare."

Luster shook her head as she opened the door, before disappearing down the hall, earning an annoyed sigh from the older woman as she pulled out a battered old journal with a sun cutie mark on the front, and began to write.

'Hey Twi. You there?

Several moments passed before a response came back. 'Sunset! Hi! I'm assuming from the less than urgent message that Luster has made it and everything is fine?'

'Not quite. Oh, she made it here with no problem. Thankfully. But I don't think she is taking all of this well.

'What's wrong? Is she not adjusting well to being human? Are the students not treating her well?'

'Worse than those two actually. Most don't know she's here or cares who she is if they have met her.'

'... She just had meat for the first time, didn't she?'

'Eeyup. Same exact reaction as you did in fact.'

'Excuse me! I was not that bad, I will have you know!'

'Says the girl who spent most of that night at Pinkie's house running to the bathroom, trying to throw up. You almost did the Dazzlings' work for them.'

'Hah hah, Sunset. Very funny.

Sunset smirked evilly. It was pretty funny actually. 'But that's beside the point. I'm worried about Luster. There's only so much I can do here.'

'... I know. I wish I could do something. But my hands are tied. This damn trade treaty with Mount Aris won't write itself. No matter how well I've streamlined Equestria's government, wasting time seems as inevitable as death and taxes. What about our friends?'

Sunset winced. And there it was. ' I don't know. I called them all last night, once I knew for sure this was happening today, but only Pinkie and Applejack picked up. Everyone else's families said their fine, but wouldn't say why they couldn't answer themselves.'

'That's not like them. Even when we were all busy with something, we always found a way to talk to each other. I know other me is running for president, and that keeps her busy. And I swear that if she loses, your government is more broken than I thought. She is more qualified than most of the so-called candidates.'

Sunset rolled her eyes. 'She'll be glad of the endorsement I'm sure. I trust the teachers and staff to keep an eye on Luster. If something goes wrong, they know to come to me with it. She just needs time and space to figure it all out.

'Then Luster is in the best place right now. I know that for a fact. We both do, Sunset.'

Sunset smiled. She knew that better than most.

After a moment, however, Sunset frowned as she looked over at her calendar. 'Now that I think of it. The Fall Formal is coming up in a few days. Is it a coincidence that your prized student only recently learned about this world?'

'Sunset Shimmer. Are you accusing me of setting all of this up for Luster?'

Sunset's eyes twitched. Are you denying the thought didn't cross your mind?'

'... Maybe?'

Sunset growled, slamming her head on the desk in frustration. 'Damm it, Twilight! You're becoming more and more like Princess Celestia. Only purple!'

'Thank you. I try. Be glad you've never had to deal with being an alicorn Sunset. It's not as fun and cool as ponies say it is.'

Sunset rolled her eyes. Her days of wanting to be a princess of any kind were long behind her. 'Putting all of that aside for the moment, what about Luster?'

She could practically hear the sigh of her friend. 'The thought did cross my mind, Sunset. I would be lying if I said it did not. But I will not force her into this. It has to be Luster's choice. Though I feel she would make a great Fall Formal princess.'

Sunset managed a smile. 'She does seem to have that look. If I didn't know any better, I would say she is being set up to succeed you.'

'Don't even joke about that, Sunset. I get enough of that as it is. If I ever do pass the crown to a successor, it will not be for a long time. The neigh sayers will not win. Not with this.

Sunset rolled her eyes with a smirk as the magic faded from the Journal, showing Twilight had closed it on her end. She still had it. Getting a rise out of the princess.





Luster wasn't sure what had possessed her to wander the halls of Canterlot High now that she thought about it. But she needed to be alone for a while. This was all still too much for her. Her stomach at least had stopped doing flip-flops from eating meat. She would never get used to that feeling it seemed.

As she passed the theatre, Luster almost looked inside, for she could hear the sounds of laughter and what sounded like something big going on, but she couldn't. While she recognized many of the students she had passed, none of them had done more than give her a passing glance or smile.

Even her friends didn't react any more than the other students did, and it hurt. Hurt far more than Luster thought it would. It didn't matter that this was not Equestria, nor the School of Friendship.

"Maybe this was not such a wise idea after all," she sighed as she passed the trophy case. Needing any kind of distraction at the moment, she stopped and looked inside. It seemed the school had won in every sport this world seemed to have.

Luster couldn't help but smile as she saw that who could only be Professor Rainbow Dash's counterpart had been the captain of most of these teams, though it had been over a decade since then if her understanding of the local calendar was correct.

Next to the trophy case was a flyer of some kind. Looking it over out of curiosity, Luster saw that it was for something called the Fall Formal princess. She vaguely recalled Princess Twilight's School for Gifted Unicorns had something similar, though she had never paid it any mind. The dance was set for Friday.

Luster tapped her chin. Today was Wednesday, and the portal would stay open for however long Princess Twilight wanted it to be if she understood the mechanics correctly. She could stay around for this if she wanted.

But would Principal Sunset even let her? She was not a student at the school after all. There was only one way to find out.