"Obviously, I am crushing Starlight Glimmer in a game of Canterlot Crusades."
"Crushing?" Starlight scoffed. "You're hanging on by a thread."
"Oh I assure you, everything has gone according to my designs." The yellowish unicorn slapped down a card, moving a few pieces across the board. "Every pawn I lost was a distraction, a sacrifice for my ultimate goal. BEHOLD!" She swiped up the dice in her hoof and rolled. "With my Mist of Dark spell, my soldiers have no trouble liberating the upper district from the tyranny of Celestial forces! And now that I have control of all the gem-stores in the city--"
"I don't get any new jewels, which makes it hard to pay for enchantment cards." Starlight nodded in acknowledgement. "Well played, you Lunar fiend. Still, your forces are spread thin."
"Perhaps." Sunset slid a card onto the board with a smirk. "But numbers are not my only strength."
Twilight Sparkle watched as Starlight grumpily removed a large number of her own troops. "No, I can see that you're playing a game now, but... why did you come here in the first place? If I had known you were coming--"
"It was a spur of the moment kind of thing. Just wanted to check how Sunburst was doing, you know?"
The alicorn's eyes darted from one unicorn to the other. "Oh, right! That makes sense. Sister initiative, huh?"
Starlight looked up from her cards with a frown. "Sister?"
"Yeah, turns out I'm Sunburst's long lost big sister," Sunset explained. "We were really surprised when we found out."
"But..." Starlight's face contorted. "You said you dated him!"
"Really surprised," Sunset stressed. "Apparently our dad had a fling with my mom once, and mom never told him she got pregnant, so..." She shrugged. "When I said we dated once, I was not exaggerating."
"Why didn't you say something, though? I mean, the way you were grilling me, you could have said 'I'm Sunburst's sister' and that would have made a lot more sense!"
Sunset hemmed a bit. "Well... it's just... we're not close, you know? I mean, sure, biosibs, and I feel for the guy, but there's not really that much... relationship between us. We met in college, then the whole weirdness with us being long-lost siblings, and... I dunno. I'm good with checking on his love life, not so much on doing his laundry, you know?"
Starlight looked at Sunset as though she had grown an extra head. "...why would you do his laundry?"
"Ape expression. Been living with them for a while, trying to correct my mistakes."
Twilight cleared her throat. "So, if you're here to check on Sunburst... how long do you plan on staying?"
"Oh, I was thinking I'd get going after we had our chat, so I'll probably be leaving later today."
"You do know Sunburst lives in the Crystal Empire, right?"
Sunset blinked. She looked around at the high, crystalline walls of the study room. "...Yeah? Aren't we in the palace right now?"
"Actually," Twilight explained, "I had the mirror moved to my castle after I moved in. Technically we're on the outskirts of Ponyville, which is just south of Canterlot."
"...You told me you lived in a tree-library!"
"Yeah, that... got blown up by a power-hungry centaur." The alicorn coughed. "Did I never mention that? I swear I brought it up at some point..."
"Well, that's just great," Sunset grumbled, putting her cards down. "Here I thought I'd be in and out in time for tomorrow's soaps. Now I'm going to have to buy a train ticket, which means I'm going to have to go back and get money, and--actually, the money there isn't bits, so I'm going to have to work with you to set up an exchange rate--"
"Or you could just ask me to pay for a ticket," Twilight suggested.
"Nah, I'm going to have to head back anyway to explain things, adjust my schedule, all that."
Starlight tilted her head. "Where are you going exactly?"
"It involves a magic mirror--"
"Um," Twilight interjected, "I don't know if we should talk about the mirror."
"Why, is it a state secret?"
The alicorn flicked her wings. "Weeeeeeeell, kiiiiind of... I mean it's not officially classified, but everypony who knows about it is technically classified as a high-priority asset by the Equestria military, so you know, secrecy by association..."
"Does that include Sunburst?"
"...oh, actually, no. I'm going to have to look into that, now that you mention it..."
Starlight Glimmer blinked. "Wait, is this the same mirror you said you got here by?"
Twilight blinked. "Sunset, how much did you tell her?"
"I said I got here via magic mirror. And now, I'll have to head back home and tell everyone that I'll be longer than expected."
"Does this have anything to do with the horde of teenage apes you tried to make an army out of?" Starlight asked.
"Yeah, they live on the other side of the mirror--" Sunset facehooved. "Oh. That's why Twilight wants to keep the mirror secret."
"Are these apes xenophobic or something?"
Twilight coughed. "More like they're the only known sapient species on their planet and have no natural magic but incredible technology, so we're... not exactly sure what to do with them."
"Huh. And you live with these creatures?"
"Live with them?" Sunset scoffed. "Starlight Glimmer, I'm one of them!"
"WHAT?!"