Sunset stared perplexed at the metal box that Celestia had just walked up to. Inside she could clearly see seats that were intended to be sat in, but the rest of it didn't look like anything she'd seen back in Equestria. The closest comparison she could make for it was a chariot, but she didn't see anyone standing around to pull it to move. What was the point of it?
“The door's open, go ahead and get in.” Celestia explained, stepping into the box and closing the door behind her. Uncertain of how to approach, she walked up to the thing on the opposite side of Celestia. Seeing a visible handle, she grabbed it and pulled it, the door opening for her. Maneuvering her legs carefully, she awkwardly sat down in the thing and closed the door behind her.
“It's like you've never sat in a car before.” Celestia shook her head.
So it's a car, Sunset thought. What did it do?
Sunset let out a scream and jumped out of her seat as a loud roar echoed through the car, scaring the living daylights out of her. The car began to rumble ever so slightly and sounded like it was letting out a low growl as she sat inside of it.
“What are you doing?” Celestia asked confused, looking at Sunset who was now sitting with her hands and legs up on the chair.
“O-Oh... Uh... Nothing... It's supposed to do that?” Sunset asked hesitantly, not wanting the car to try and eat her.
“...Yes, that's normal for every car.” It's not that Celestia hadn't been concerned before, but now she was out right confused. “Have you really never ridden in a car before?”
Sunset groaned a little as she returned to sitting normally in her seat, not wanting to actually answer Celestia's question. Celestia got the picture and just let out another sigh, one of the many she was quickly losing count of that day.
“Here, watch me.” Celestia explained, Sunset turning to look at Celestia as she grabbed a belt from the side of the car, stretched it across her body, and plugged it into her seat. “This is a seat belt. You have to wear one when in the car. You plug yours in now.”
Sunset blinked and turned to look at her door, seeing the hanging belt there just as Celestia explained. She grabbed it and pulled it over her chest before finding the plug on her side of the seat and, with some difficulty, snapping it in.
“Good, now we can go.” Celestia shifted the car into gear and began reversing out of the parking lot.
“Whoa! How does it move!?” Sunset asked suddenly astonished. “Are you controlling it? How do you determine if it's moving forward or backward? How fast can it go?” Her enthusiasm was completely lost on Celestia.
“Sunset...” Celestia began, before shaking her head, “Nevermind.” Sunset blinked at her confused before Celestia shifted the car into drive and took off away from the school.
Sunset looked around outside, watching other cars passing them by as well. She watched curiously as they stopped at certain lights but not at others, being careful to switch lanes and follow behind other cars. She was impressed with just how many there were and how different all of them looked, from shape to color to size.
There was no doubt in her mind that these things had to be controlled by magic. In Equestria you could only get movement like this from airships, and those were charged with specially designed crystal engines combined with helium tanks. But here they had moving metal boxes that could get them anywhere by ground, and they had built roads specifically for them.
Sunset couldn't help but geek out a little at the influx of information she was getting.
Celestia was unusually quiet as they drove, though it was hard for Sunset to notice between viewing the wonders this world seemed to have. There was so much for her to learn and she was going to take it all in when she could.
In no time at all though it seems they had arrived at their destination. The number of cars had dropped dramatically to the point they were the only ones on the road, before they turned into a house that was part of a neighborhood. A garage door opened to take in Celestia's car, the door closing behind them before Celestia turned the car off.
“Where are we?” Sunset asked with a bit of unease.
“This is my house. You didn't point out anywhere you wanted to eat, so I figured a home cooked meal would do you just as well. Plus, this gives us the privacy to talk as much as we want. ” Celestia explained, unbuckling her seat belt and exiting the car. Sunset followed suit, wondering now what kind of house this otherworld Celestia would live in. It certainly wasn't a mansion or any place of opulent wealth, Sunset could tell that immediately. It seemed the ruler of another world had been reduced to nothing more than a commoner in this world.
Passing by what looked like a master bedroom, Sunset entered a large living room space with two couches, a coffee table, and what looked like a desk with a long thing black box standing on top of it. The wall behind the living room had an open window showing off the kitchen, and to the other side was what looked like a dining room. She could see a hall that led further into the house, with a bathroom visible at the end before it split into more rooms.
“Go ahead and take a seat on the couch. You can watch some TV while I start making your breakfast.” Celestia explained, quickly walking into the kitchen. Sunset stared at the couch, wondering what exactly a 'Tee Vee' was, but apparently it was something she could watch?
She navigated herself around the coffee table and sat on the cushions, finding them surprisingly more comfortable than they looked. She scrunched her face as she looked around, seeing portraits hanging on the walls of Principal Celestia and some other people she couldn't recognize. The most frequently occurring one seemed to be a girl just slightly younger than Celestia with dark blue hair and a lighter blue skin. Sunset couldn't say she recognized her, she would've thought if there was someone this important to Princess Celestia back home that she would've met her by now. If anything, it just solidified her opinion that whoever was in the kitchen now, they were just an imitation Celestia compared to the grand ruler of Equestria. They'd never have what it takes to follow in her footstep.
The sound of food being seared on a stove-top pan began to make itself heard from the kitchen as she sat there admiring the house. Shifting her attention to figuring out what a 'tee vee' was, she looked at the big black box that was precariously placed on top of the wooden chest opposite the couch. With a dark, reflective surface on it, she could see a faint outline of herself and the living room on it's surface. Was that what she was supposed to watch? A barely visible reflection of herself and the living room? Was it anything like the mirror back in Equestria? Was it supposed to show her something she didn't fully understand?
She leaned in and squinted her eyes, trying to decipher the mystery of the black screen, but all she could see was a terrible mirror. Letting out a huff of frustration her eyes wandered down to the coffee table again, before noticing a small rectangular black box sitting on it with a bunch of buttons on it. Curious, she reached over and picked it up, reading various words she'd never seen before, and others that seemed to have no place on a box.
Why would something so small need a 'mute' button? It was too small to be an amplifier of any kind, and why did several of the face buttons have just numbers or arrows on them? And that one was just a square, it was utter nonsense.
However, the one that stuck out to her was a larger red button near the top that was labeled 'power'. If she had to guess, the device was currently turned off. So with nothing to lose, she pressed the power button to see what it would do.
For a brief moment, nothing seemed to happen. Sunset stared at the remote disapprovingly as if it wasn't working. Just before she could push the button again to make sure it was working, a light began to shine from in front of her followed by the sound of someone speaking.
“-With sunny skies over the area all this week, I'm sure we're all going to have an enjoyable weekend ahead. This was your weather on the tens, back to you Jelly.” A man on the screen spoke as if speaking to her, before the image cut to the image of two others behind a desk as they began to talk about some story that Sunset wasn't paying attention to. She was beyond fascinated by the fact that Celestia had her own movie theater screen in her house.
Sunset wasn't entirely certain how it worked, or why it was controlled by this device, but she was intrigued. She looked behind her trying to find a projector for the screen, but she could only see the window into the kitchen where Celestia was still cooking away. She stood up and tried to get in the way of where the picture would logically be projecting from, but her shadow never appeared on screen.
Stepping over the coffee table she drew close to the screen and touched it. Looking behind it yielded no projector there either. Whatever magic was powering the device, the screen was being projected from inside the box. It was the only logical conclusion.
Sunset put a hand to her chin as she watched the movie playing out, finding herself a little surprised at how boring it was. It was mostly just the hairless apes either sitting or standing in front of the camera and talking about... Was it news? She could see the word news projected on one of the corners so it had to be. So it had to be prerecorded news paper articles, but spoken aloud for people to listen to. It was an interesting way to do it for sure, but Sunset didn't see a big market for that. If you could have movies in your own home without a projector, she imagined much more exciting films would be preferred.
“You shouldn't sit so close to the television, I hear it's bad for your eyesight.” Celestia spoke up, catching Sunset off guard. “Breakfast is ready.” She said, placing the plate of cooked foods onto the coffee table.
“It's just light on a screen, there's no way it'd actually damage my vision.” Sunset rolled her eyes before walking back to her place on the couch and sitting down. Celestia sat on a recliner next to the couch, watching Sunset curiously as she eye'd the plate.
There were clearly some foods she recognized, but some she didn't either. The pancakes were unmistakable, dripping with a light glazing of syrup and butter. Next to them seemed to be some scrambled eggs. They weren't her first time seeing them, but it was generally considered uncultured and barbaric to eat eggs on their own, they were an ingredient for baking goods not really a food on their own. Then there were the unidentifiable circles of solid brown next to those. She poked one with her finger, feeling the heat from the fresh stove top, but having no idea what they were. She could hardly even make a guess at their consistency, they didn't feel like any vegetable she'd eaten before.
“No need to hold back, you can dig in.” Celestia inviting Sunset to eat. Sunset hesitated again, looking the plate over. Her instincts told her to just pick the plate up and start munching at the contents, but her muzzle was far too small for that now. If she shoved her face into the plate, all she'd really succeed in doing is getting it all over her face, not in her mouth. There was a knife and fork clearly placed on the plate for her as well, she figured the intent being to cut the food into small pieces and use the fork to put it in her mouth. A straight forward concept, but she'd only ever used utensils with magic before, let alone whatever claws her hooves had become.
Sunset looked at Celestia, who just raised an eyebrow curiously at her. “Is there something wrong with my cooking?”
“No, no it's not that...” Sunset said quickly, trying to cover for herself, “Just give me a minute to get started. I'm not used to eating like this.” She shook her head, reaching her claws out to grab the utensils.
“You mean with a proper meal in a proper home?” Celestia asked curiously.
“...Yeah, sure, let's go with that.” Was all Sunset could say with a sassy retort. Gripping the fork in her entire claw, she stabbed it down into the pancakes. It felt really awkward to hold them this way, but she didn't see any other way. Gripping the knife similarly, she cut into the pancakes into an awkward square at the end of the fork before bringing it up to her mouth and biting down on it.
The familiar taste of sugary flour glazed with syrup hit her tastebuds and the realization of how hungry she'd actually been finally hit her like a wave. Her mouth began drooling and she started stabbing her fork into the pancakes with fever, breaking it into chunks and taking mouthful after mouthful.
Celestia grimaced at the incredibly strange way Sunset ate her food. It was almost like she'd never held utensils before. Sunset focused solely on the pancakes, finishing them quickly before prodding the scrambled eggs with her fork.
“Do you normally eat eggs on their own here?” Sunset asked with an eyebrow raised, getting a forkful and lifting it up to inspect.
“...Yes, they are a normal part of a balanced diet.” Celestia explained awkwardly. Sunset shrugged and stuffed them in her mouth and chewed. They were a little bland, surprisingly. She thought they'd taste more like chickens smelled, but they were completely bearable. She stabbed up the remaining pieces and swallowed them too.
“So what exactly is this?” Sunset asked next, lifting up the brown disk impaled at the end of her fork.
“That's sausage. They go well on a plate of pancakes and eggs.” Celestia explained with a smile.
Sunset eyed the 'sausage' carefully. Eating something she'd never seen before, or had little knowledge of seemed fishy to her. The pancakes and eggs were one thing, this was uncharted territory. Her first taste of otherworld food that wasn't familiar.
Taking a deep breathe and steeling her nerves, she opened her mouth and bit down on a chunk of the sausage. A splash of flavor hit her tongue, the taste of a bit of grease and chewey texture as well. It was unlike anything Sunset had tasted before. It tasted deep fried like a hay burger, but no food in Equestria even matched this flavor. She swallowed with a grin before taking another large bite out of the remaining sausage.
“Hey, this is pretty good.” Sunset smirked, surprised by how much she liked it. “What's this stuff made out of?” She asked, swallowing the last of the first sausage before biting into the next.
“It depends a little on the brand, but it's usually made from a combination of ground pork and beef.” Celestia explained with a smile.
“Pork and beef?” Sunset raised an eyebrow as she finished the second piece, “What in Tartarus are those?”
“...Tartarus?” Celestia mumbled to herself confused, before moving on. “Oh, well, pork and beef is just simply meat from pigs and cows.”
Sunset's whole body froze at that statement.
“...I'm sorry, what was that?” She asked again, praying to whatever deity this world had that she had just misheard the educator's statement. Surely it wasn't what she just said it was.
“I said it's meat from pigs and cows.” Celestia said firmly.
The kick-back to her system was immediate. Her stomach churned heavily and Sunset's face turned green. She abruptly stood up and ran into the kitchen, leaned into the kitchen sink and immediately hurled up the food she had just filled her stomach with.
“Sunset Shimmer! What's the matter!?” Celestia asked, quickly following the young girl into the kitchen in concern.
“YOU'RE A SPECIES OF CARNIVORES?!” Sunset cried, fear and panic filling her eyes. She quickly turned the faucet on, putting her mouth under the tap and rinsing the dead flesh out of her mouth, spitting out repeatedly. Celestia stood there dumbfounded, completely flabbergasted at the strange young girl's choice of words.
“Sunset, what are you talking about? You sound like you don't think you're human!” Celestia demanded, her voice beginning to gain that strict tone to it.
“Human?” Sunset muttered, staring at the running water from the tap, “Is that what you are? A human?” She turned to face the principal, anger in her eyes as she breathed heavily, putting a hand to her chest as she still recoiled from vomiting. “Humans have to eat meat to survive? Does any meat matter? You'd just straight up eat a pig!? A cow!? What about a HORSE!? Would you even eat each other if it meant surviving another day?!” Her anger was flaring and she couldn't fully understand her own actions. She wanted to lash out, to break something, but her body wouldn't respond right and she just fell to her knees, slamming a fist against the cupboard below the sink. “I have to live this way now!? Forcing myself to eat meat to survive?! How sick is this! You! All of you are sick! I can't go on eating meat! It’s wrong! It's awful! I'd RATHER DIE!”
SMACK
Sunset's eyes widened in shock as a sharp sting ran across her face. She heard a ringing in her ears as the anger suddenly began to drain from her body. Celestia's hands planted themselves gently, but firmly, on her shoulders as Sunset turned to look her in the eyes.
“Sunset, you have to calm down.” Celestia spoke calmly, a soothing edge to her voice. “I can't understand you if you don't make yourself clear to me. I'm trying to help you, and if you keep assuming I know what's going on with you, then there's nothing I can do to help you.”
Her voice no longer sounded like the overbearing lecture's she was accustomed to, nor did she seem angry or stern, or even like she was trying to scold her. Her voice sounded almost... Motherly.
“Let me help you Sunset. And in order for me to help you, I need you to tell me the truth.” Celestia's grip tightened on her shoulder's, but Sunset could tell there was no intent to harm in the grip's strength. “Tell me what I need to do for you.”
Sunset stared into Celestia's eyes, letting the soothing voice calm her nerves. She looked away from Celestia and down at the tiled kitchen floor, feeling weary again. “A... Glass of water would help...” Sunset spoke, her voice a little hoarse. The food had not been as pleasant going up as it had been going down.
“Of course.” Celestia said, standing up and offering Sunset her hand. Sunset hesitantly took it and pulled on the educator's hand, standing up with her. “Go back to the couch, I'll get your water.” Sunset only nodded and slowly walked back out into the living room. As she sat down she could hear Celestia grabbing some ice cubes and putting them in a glass before filling it up. She opened the fridge and grabbed something else before heading back into the living room.
“Here.” Celestia said, handing her the chilled glass of water and a large carrot.
“Huh?” Sunset looking at the carrot weirdly, “I thought you were carnivores...”
“Humans are omnivores Sunset. Meat is an optional part of our diet, not required.” Celestia sat down on the couch next to Sunset this time, drawing closer for comfort.
“...O-Oh...” Sunset expressed, realizing how she must have looked just moments ago. She sipped the cooling water before taking a bite out of the carrot, the familiar taste doing wonders to sooth her nerves at the moment.
“Why don't you start at the beginning then Sunset.” Celestia spoke in that warm tone again, “I won't be able to understand unless you explain from the beginning.”
Sunset munched on the carrot quietly, sipping away at the drink at intervals before she'd finally finished half of it. Once there, she looked away, grumbling in a quiet voice, “I doubt you'd even believe me if I told you...”
“You could always try.” Celestia explained as calmly as she could. Sunset grimaced, unsure of if it was the right decision.
“...Would you believe me if I told you I'm not from this world?” Sunset asked almost sheepishly. She felt foolish trying to bring up the subject this way, doing her best to hide her embarrassment by taking another bite of the carrot.
“It... Would explain why you seem to have such a strong grasp on certain knowledge and maths, but so few understandings of the basic culture and objects in this world.” Celestia said, scratching her cheek as she tried to wrap her head around how such an answer was possible, “But if you're not from this world, what world are you from?”
“That's hard for me to explain.” Sunset said, turning to look Celestia in the eye, “You said earlier this world had horses didn't you? That 'Hay is what horses eat' or something like that, so you must have them.”
“...Yes, we do have horses in this world.” Celestia answered, trying her best to wrap her head around what they had to do with the current conversation. “They are primarily used for racing these days, but a long time ago they were the main means of transportation between great distances.”
“So you're saying horses are just domesticated animals here? They aren't the dominant species?”
“No, the dominant species would be humans.”
“Then that explains why I didn't arrive in this world as one.” Sunset shook her head, popping the last bit of carrot into her mouth and chewing. She found the final part of the stalk to be harder to chew than usual though.
“Wait.” Celestia furrowed her brow as she tried to wrap her head around Sunset's statement. “Are you telling me that in the world you come from... You're a horse?”
“Unicorn, to be exact.” Sunset said, drinking down the last bit of water at the bottom of her glass. “You have those here don't you?”
“No, unicorns are just myths and fairy tales.” Celestia explained, before lightly shaking her head and going back to what she just said, “So in your world you're a horse with a horn sticking out of your head.”
“I don't think it gets much clearer than that.” Sunset shrugged her shoulders. “Though technically we're just a type of horse. You'd get a nasty look if you called us that. We are ponies, not horses.”
“Ponies.” Celestia said in a deadpan tone. “You're not a horse, you're a pony. A pony unicorn.”
“It's an echo chamber in here.” Sunset grumbled, holding up the glass to Celestia, “Can I get some more water please?”
“...Of course.” She stood up walking back into the kitchen. Sunset let out a long sigh and sunk back into the couch, watching the people on the 'tee vee' continue their movie. She could already feel it, she was going to be explaining this for a while.