"Wait, Crystal Empire? Don't you mean the Crystal Prep Academy?" one of the students spoke up.
"Huh, I should have thought something like this would be the case." Twilight muttered to herself. "But no, what in your world is an academy, is in our world actually a small empire, ruled by my brother and sister-in-law." she explained.
"And the ponies...are literally made of crystal?" Lyra asked. "I mean, how does that work? How can they move, when they're just...shiny rocks. No offense."
Twilight's eyes brightened up. "That is a very good question! You see..."
Uh...I was good in biology, but I'm way not smart enough to come up with any kind of explanation. Plus I'm too lazy to research some smart words, so insert a very long lecture here, which was interrupted by Sunset, because it was way too long. (I need to work on my wording).
"Is there...any chance we might come over to Equestria for a visit?" Bon Bon, aka former Secret Service Agent Sweetie Drops, asked carefully. Twilight had seen this one coming a mile ago, yet she still had not really a good answer. At least a reasonable one.
"In theory...but there is a little problem. Last year, Equestria was invaded by a race called "Changelings". As the name implies, they can change their shape to anypony they want. Luckily we managed to banish every single one out of Equestria and found new spells that could identify a changeling even in disguise. Still, even if we could easily proof that you're not a changeling, the first reaction would be...unpleasant. Finally, as a princess, it is my duty to keep the general population in mind and I firstly would have to discuss with the other princesses whether it would be wise to let the general population know that we have access to a parallel universe, filled with "aliens". It's hard enough keeping the Lyra of my world away from the portal..." Twilight muttered the last part, not realizing she was speaking into the mic.
Everyone looked over to Lyra and started laughing. Everyone who knew her well enough, also knew that she had a nag for aliens, especially pony aliens ever since the first incident at CHS. The mint green girl in return blushed and hid herself behind Bon Bon, who gave her friend a sympathetic glance.
Twilight, realizing her mistake, smiled apologetically towards the girl. Clearing her throat, the princess spoke up again. "Well then, are there any other questions?" the princess asked.
"Do you have like airplanes and cars over there?" another student asked.
"On a technological standpoint, Equestria is not quite as developed as your world, since we have magic to-"
In the meantime Sunset and her friends were backstage, watching everything with the principals. Originally Twilight had prepared a fairly lengthy speech about Equestria and its inhabitants. A lengthy and very, VERY boring speech. Luckily Celestia was able to save her students, by suggesting a simple question and answer session.
It worked quite well. Almost everyone stayed behind in school in order to learn more about the other world. More than a few of the teachers also stayed behind and were sitting in the crowd of the gym hall.
"I hope none of them is getting any weird ideas." Sunset commented as she watch the students seemingly fixated on Twilight's mouth and every word that came out of it. "Look at them. They're acting like she's a pop idol or their way to salvation."
"From the way she talks about Equestria, it does sound like heaven." Luna commented. "A country lead and protected by all powerful princesses, finding a place in the world at early age, the weather being managed by pegasi, so there won't ever be a shortage on rain or too much sunlight, everyone being just friendly, it sounds like you would live a fairy tale life, if you went over to Equestria."
Sunset looked down to the ground. "I wouldn't exactly call it a fairy tail life. After all, you still have to pay taxes, find work, sometimes something that doesn't match your special talent...you still have to overcome the general problems of life over there, but...I admit it's generally easier over there. The support you get from the government is way better, but you still have to do a lot yourself."
Sunset sighed, thinking about home again. Fluttershy was there immediately, hugging the unicorn from behind. She felt a little bad that she needed that used this as an excuse for hugging the little mare. Only a little. Maybe. Sunset certainly wasn't complaining.
Rainbow Dash in the meantime wasn't even trying to stifle the upcoming yawn. It had been interesting at the beginning, but now the constant talking and talking and even more talking was straining her already thin patience.
"I should have brought a Daring Doo book with me..." she muttered.
"...the alicorn amulet and the sapphire stone is what I kind think of from the top of my head." Twilight spoke to the crowd.
"Er...isn't the sapphire skull from a Daring Doo book?" One of the students asked.
"Well, at least in my world, I know for sure that it is a real artifact and Daring Doo is actually a real pony. She just releases her books as fictions and under a different name, so no one goes bothering her."
"That's it. I'm off to Ponyland." Rainbow Dash announced, before sprinting down the hallway.
"Oh crap."
It was by pure luck and Rainbow's stupidity that they were able to stop the sport-girl. Even after that she was putting up a fight, struggling against the tight grips of her friends.
"L-let me go! Screw that life, I'm going there and have Daring Doo adventures and if it is the last thing I do!" she screamed. "Come on, Fluttershy! You want to go over there too! You know, being among sapient animals, it's what you always dreamed off!"
For a second it seemed like Fluttershy's will was wavering. Rarity wasn't taking any chances and immediately threw her arm over the other girl, pressing her down against Rainbow Dash.
"Now, be reasonable darling." Rarity said, struggling against Rainbow Dash trying to get up. "You can't just go over there and cause a havoc!"
"Oh yeah?! Watch me!"
"Forget it, suger!" Applejack pulled out her rope. "Hold her still, girls!"
"Gah! Let. Me GO!!"
"Aren't they....overdoing it? A little?" Celestia asked.
Sunset and Twilight gave her a straight look. "Definitely not." both answered at the same time.
"I'm going to get you back for this." Rainbow Dash threatened her friends, as she was sitting outside on the truck with Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Rarity. Fluttershy and Sunset were inside with Big Mac, who was driving the vehicle towards Sweet Apple Acres. Twilight had once again left the human world and closed the portal until further notice.
"Oh, do lighten up darling. I'm sure someday Twilight can make arrangements for all of us to visit."
"Yeah Dashie, we're her friends! Besides, it would be really unfair if she wouldn't let us come over there for a bit." Pinkie Pie added, as she was blowing up a balloon and forming a dog out of it.
"*sigh* Whatever. At least I'm gonna see Sunset getting some needles stuck into herself. Hey Sun! You nervous already?"
"Very funny, Rainbow Dash." Sunset replied from the open window. "You know, unlike a certain someone I know, I'm not afraid of needles!"
"Wah-?! I'm not afraid of needles!" Rainbow huffed.
"Yeah, sure you're not." Sunset replied smugly, although inwardly she was a little nervous about the whole situation. She was never a fan of getting a shot in general, but now there was no knowing how her pony body would react to it. One time she had an allergic reaction, back in Equestria. Luckily it were only minor stomach aches and under normal circumstances they almost never happened. Well the circumstances were anything but normal at the moment.
As it turned out, Fluttershy's mother was the local veterinarian in town and more often than not the girl would ease up her mothers workload a little by giving house-visits to some of her mother's patients in order to simply give them their shots. It wasn't completely legal of course, so she only did it to those who were close friends with her mother, which were still enough. From what Sunset had heard, Fluttershy's mother was quite the opposite of Fluttershy in terms of personality. One peculiar story involved her mother trying to teach some animals to ride a skateboard, back when she was younger.
Long story short, Fluttershy easily got what they needed, telling her mother her friend Applejack needed to give a pony its shots. It came from her cousin and he accidentally forgot to see to it. Case in point. It worked pretty well.
She was out of the house ten minutes later and into the truck. However, today seemed like a day, where a certain lavender skinned girl would seemingly coincidentally run into the butter skin colored girl. For today marked the day her purple dog needed his own check-up and she just so was able to get a good look at the girl, before she and her friends drove down the road.
"Do you think this patient will survive doctor?"
"Very funny Dash. Very funny." Sunset rolled her eyes, annoyed by her friend's antics at this point.
Fluttershy was carefully preparing the first injection out of three, making sure not to use too much. Since they weren't really sure about Sunset's biology, she simply used about what a pony normally would get shot into its system.
"Are you ready?"
"Let's just get this over with. I still need to make Rainbow's homework after my own after all."
Fluttershy smiled mirthfully. Before she lowered the needle, she did almost automatically what she did to every animal she gave a shot. She started "calming" Sunset down, by slowly stroking her back and her sides, plus softly cooing into her ears. "Don't worry, my little pony. It won't hurt a bit."
Her friends had a really hard time to hold back their laughter, especially after the unicorn made a very adorable grumpy face. Inwardly Sunset tried to recall her lessons about spells that were very useful for pranking. Her thoughts didn't get very far as the needle came down her neck and Fluttershy injected the liquid into the pony's body. Said unicorn's eyes started to shrink to pineapple size and she did her best not to scream. She wasn't a little filly anymore. She could easily endure the pain of a single needle. She endured the elements of harmony, she fought the sirens, she....-"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!"