Chapter Six
When Twilight stepped out of the portal on a late afternoon a few days later she was pleasantly surprised to be welcomed by all six or her friends from the human world, all of them standing or leaning around the statue. While Twilight was still regaining her balance—the transition was rocky, and she doubted she would ever get completely used to it—Sunset was the first one on her feet and gave Twilight a hug.
“Good to see you again, Twi.” Sunset’s breath tickled her ear as she whispered her greeting.
“You too,” Twilight whispered back, resting a cheek against Sunset’s, wondering if their friends’ presence meant they would not be going out together that night.
The other girls were quick to follow, and once more Twilight found herself at the center of an excited group hug. It was only after a lot of giggling and jumping and cheering that the others let Twilight go, leaving her somewhat disheveled.
“So great to see you all, girls,” she said. “What are you—“
“We’ll have time for that afterwards,” Rainbow interrupted her, barely containing her excitement. “C’mon, let’s go! We gotta rock!”
“I, um… huh?”
“It’s been forever since we got the band together, what with you hogging our new lead singer,” Rainbow said with faux accusation. “I can’t wait to pony up again!”
“We thought you’d like to join us,” Rarity explained. “So when Sunset advised us of your arrival we decided to all welcome you together and take you along.”
“That’s great! I’d love that!” She and Sunset could still go out another day. It wasn’t that they were running out of time. But, although she was happy to see her friends again, Twilight was a bit impatient about her upcoming date with Sunset Shimmer. ‘Had trouble sleeping’ might be more accurate.
“Guyyyyys!” Rainbow whined. “Can you all get mushy like when we’re on our way? So we can get started?”
“Alright, we’re comin’, just quit yer whinin’!” Applejack admonished her. “It’s not like we don’t wanna play.”
Led by an eager Rainbow Dash the group headed for the school’s main entrance, and further on through the mostly deserted corridors. The very few other students they passed greeted Twilight.
“You’re still a star around here,” Rainbow remarked. “You could easily win Prom Princess if you showed up. Or even if you don’t, actually.” Twilight chuckled dutifully, but blushed nonetheless as the other girls giggled.
Rainbow, who was impatiently taking the lead, opened the door to the familiar music room where they had practiced their songs for the Battle of the Bands so long ago. Four weeks, Twilight corrected herself. Not that long really.
While the others were following her inside Rainbow already grabbed her guitar and played a quick improvised solo. “Aw yeah, about time!” Behind Twilight, Rarity gave Applejack a nod.
“Um, I, ah, I’m gonna grab some drinks from the vending machine for y’all. Sunset, um, help me carry, please?”
“Sure thing. Twi, wanna join us?”
“Yes!” Smiling Twilight hurried after Sunset and Applejack without noticing Rarity sighing exasperatedly.
The vending machines were down the hallway. Applejack bought a few bottles of soft drinks, lamenting the lack of good cider, and pushed them into Sunset’s and Twilight’s hands without saying much. Before long they were all back in the band room where Rainbow Dash was still shredding away on her guitar.
“Finally! Pinkie, count us off!”
Sitting down on the covered grand piano in the corner of the room Twilight watched the other girls get started after Pinkie’s four-count. Twilight was happy to hear Sunset Shimmer sing once again.
Before they were finished with the first chorus the Equestrian magic began to engulf them. First Rainbow and then the other girls slowly began floating upwards, their hair grew out to long pony tails, and pony ears appeared on their heads. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash gained shimmering pegasus wings as well.
While Twilight was still trying not to laugh at Pinkie Pie’s contortions as she kept playing her drums while suspended in mid-air, suddenly Sunset Shimmer grabbed her wrist and pulled her up. “You too!” she said in between two lines and, pulling Twilight in a one-armed embrace, she held the microphone up so they could both sing. Twilight knew the words—it was Fluttershy’s song, Shine like Rainbows, which they had played at the end of the Battle of the Bands—and she joined Sunset for the third verse. Almost immediately she felt the sensation of familiar Equestrian magic pulsing through her human body, and the magic lifted her up as well.
It was a strange and powerful sensation that Twilight didn’t think she was ever going to get used to—the magical energies which back in Equestria would be confined to her horn flowed through her entire body, her still somewhat unfamiliar limbs, everything. Whether it was because the magic in this world was weaker, or because of the gentle nature of the Magic of Friendship, Twilight didn’t feel overpowered or frightened. But the sensation all over her body was remarkably different from having the power concentrated in only her horn.
Without hesitation Pinkie Pie counted off the next song as soon as they were finished, and after that the next few. Although Twilight didn’t know most of the words, it was easy enough to catch up on the choruses at least.
After a couple of songs—Twilight couldn’t have said how many exactly—they stopped, and the magic faded away, leaving only a few glowing sparks which were slowly dying away. The girls landed on the solid ground again, and Rainbow Dash cheered, “That was awesome!”
“Hoo-wee!” Applejack exclaimed, taking off her hat and fanning some air into her face. “Good call on gettin’ the old band back together, Rainbow!”
“Told ya!”
“My, what a splendid showing,” Rarity agreed. “Quite exhausting, but quite wonderful.”
“Yeah, let’s get something to drink,” Rainbow said. Applejack and Rarity exchanged another look, but Rarity just smiled and shook her head.
“How long did we play?” Twilight asked Sunset Shimmer, surprised by how exhausted she felt after only singing a few songs.
Sunset pulled out her phone and quickly looked at the time. “Almost an hour and a half. I think we played our entire repertoire.”
“Wow, it sure didn’t feel that much.”
“Time flies when you’re filled with magic and, well, flying, right?” Sunset said, and Twilight grinned right back at her.
“So how about Donut Joe’s?” Rainbow suggested. “I just texted Cloudkicker, I’ma meet her there in a bit for a run, so we might just grab something while we’re at it. Y’know, in celebration of our awesomeness.”
“A lovely idea,” Rarity agreed.
With the combined force of seven pairs of hands it didn’t take them long to pack up all the instruments and restore the room to its previous condition. Not really knowing what went where Twilight tried her best to at least not be in the way and stood by a window, idly looking out on the square in front of the main entrance with the statue and the portal.
***
Twilight Sparkle carefully cycled around the corner of the side street. After her last encounter with the bullies she was more than aware of the risks of coming to Canterlot High School in plain daylight, but she really wanted to try out her emitter. She had her hood pulled deep into her face, equally because of the cold and as a disguise of sorts.
She was lucky; the square in front of the entrance was deserted. Since she wasn’t wearing her school uniform, she was not a very obvious target either. She swallowed any remaining doubt and cycled over to the statue. Once there she leaned her bike against a garbage bin and pulled the emitter and her trusty energy meter out of her pocket.
“Let’s see,” she mumbled as she carefully put the meter on the ground about three feet from the plinth. She moved up to the plinth and weighed the emitter in her hand. Its dial was set to lowest power output. “For science,” she mumbled and switched the contraption on. Behind her the meter’s glow slightly fluctuated as it picked up the new emissions.
Twilight turned the dial up a notch. Then another. Then another. The emitter softly vibrated in her hand.
Suddenly she saw what looked like a ripple on the solid surface of the plinth.
Solid stone didn’t ripple. That was a scientific fact. Molten stone, possibly. But one could easily identify molten stone by its temperature and the orange glow. The plinth was not molten. It should, as far as science was concerned, not ripple. Whatever was happening right here was empirically impossible!
She took a closer look at the offending surface. A faint blueish glow was wafting across the surface, almost too weak to see if one wasn’t looking for it specifically. The way the glow was moving it could easily be mistaken—but it was only a light emission on the surface, not a ripple.
She kept carefully turning the dial and watched with fascination how the light on the stone surface changed its intensity and its patterns.
Then suddenly she noticed how hot the emitter in her hand had become. With a pained yelp she dropped it in the grass that grew around the statue.
Not a second too early. As it landed the emitter erupted a shower of sparks, and a small flame darted up from the casing. The blue glow on the stone surface vanished.
“Nononono!” Without thinking she put off her jacket and threw it on the emitter. The small flame died.
As she picked up first her energy meter and then the emitter she could see the damage. On first glance it seemed like the fuse had burned through. She’d have to double-check the wiring and the capacitators for damage, but at least most of the wiring was still basically intact. She also needed a bigger fuse. As she packed the emitter into her backpack she was already re-examining her equations to figure out where the unexpected power surge could have come from.
That was when she heard someone running towards her. Looking up she saw four girls storming at her from the school’s entrance. Deciding that now was a great time to postpone any further analysis of the damage, she jumped on her bike and made sure she got out of there.
***
In front of the statue, looking down on some item in their hand, stood a person wearing a green hoodie and blue jeans. Whoever it was, the figure reminded Twilight of someone. “What in the—“ she murmured when suddenly a memory flashed into her consciousness, seemingly out of nowhere: her hands in Sunset’s, gently stroking each other in the soft embrace of the pocket of Sunset’s hoodie. All the while standing in the cold and watching some person sneak around the portal on the night of the milk shakes. “Is that the same person?” she wondered aloud.
“Is who what?” Rainbow asked while helping Pinkie loosen one of the cymbals from the drum set.
“There’s some person sneaking around the portal, and I wonder—“
Before she could finish, Sunset had rushed to the window and was staring outside. “She again!” she hissed. “What the hay is her deal?”
“You know her?”
“I saw her lurking around the portal that one time right before you were gonna come through,” Sunset murmured. “At least I’m pretty sure that’s her again.”
“She reminded me of that strange person we saw on my first visit over, remember?”
“Damn it, you’re right!” Sunset exclaimed. “That’s it. I wanna know why that one is messing around at our portal.” Without waiting for anybody’s response she turned and stormed out of the room.
“Whatever is going on?” Rarity asked, looking confused.
“We think somepony might be snooping around the portal,” Twilight explained, taking a tentative step towards the door. “I, um, I’d rather follow Sunset Shimmer to make sure… to see…” With an apologetic shrug she started for the door. Running as fast as she could—which wasn’t too fast, given the relative unfamiliarity of two-legged running—she headed for the main entrance, hearing the footsteps of her other friends behind her.
Rainbow and Applejack overtook before she had reached the stairwell, and Pinkie Pie bounced past her on the first landing. When she finally exited the school, Twilight was breathing heavily. Sunset was kneeling next to the portal, scanning it carefully, while Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash and Applejack were slowly returning from the street.
“She’s gone. No way we can catch her on her bike,” Rainbow Dash said matter-of-factly, only to kick against a trash bin in frustration.
“Calm down, Dash,” Applejack said. “Ain’t nothin’ we can do about it, really. Except for keepin’ our eyes open.”
“Yeah, I know, you’re right. Still annoys me.”
Sunset stood up and joined them just as Rarity and Fluttershy emerged from the main entrance. “I can’t see anything. That’s the third time! She has to be up to something!”
“We’re gonna keep our eyes open from now on,” Rainbow declared, turning around and pointing at Rarity and Fluttershy. “You too.”
“Of course, dear. I’m as upset as you are that some questionable person is sneaking around on our school proper. Just, if there is a confrontation, I might call on you and Applejack for support, if that’s alright.”
Rainbow grinned. “Sure, leave it to me and AJ. We’ll scare the living daylights out of her if she shows her face again, right AJ?”
“You betcha!” The two girls bumped their fists and grinned at each other.
“Well, since whoever the mysterious stranger is totally vanished from the face of the earth now and we’re still here we should finally go to Donut Joe’s and get some milkshakes,” Pinkie said. “C’mon, girls!”
“Yeah, let’s go!”
***
As they walked through the late afternoon streets of Canterlot, Sunset found it hard to steer her thoughts away from the strange person. Lagging behind and lost in thoughts she only noticed Rarity falling in step with her when the other girl softly cleared her throat.
“Are you quite alright?”
Sunset gave her a lopsided smile. “Yeah. Just still beating myself up that we couldn’t catch that strange girl.”
“Don’t worry too much about her. We will all keep our eyes open.”
“I know. It’s just…”
“Hmm?”
“I’m worried about Twi, you know? Whoever that person is, she is definitely not just snooping around there randomly. She must suspect something about Twilight, and the pony magic.”
“Well, our appearance at the Battle of the Bands was anything but subtle,” Rarity remarked. “A lot of people saw the magic, even though we kept the details about Princess Twilight’s origins to ourselves. And quite frankly, nobody seemed to give those rather uncommon events much notice, don’t you think?”
“I know,” Sunset reluctantly agreed. “It’s just… what if somebody out there did take notice, and now they’re after Twi? I don’t like the idea of her being in danger, y’know? This isn’t her world, there’s hardly any magic she can draw on…”
“Darling,” Rarity said with a coy smile, “is it possible that what has you so worried is not a real, objective danger for Twilight, but rather the fact that you and her have become quite close over the past few weeks? Don’t you think that maybe your feelings for Twilight make the situation appear more urgent than it really is?”
Sunset spun around to Rarity, her eyes wide open. “My feelings…?” Looking at Rarity’s gentle smile, she eased up a little, although a queasy feeling in her stomach remained. “What do you mean?” She quickly glanced ahead at the other girls; to her relief they were safely out of earshot.
“Darling, it is rather obvious that the two of you have a kind of special connection, don’t you think?”
“Yeah…” She involuntarily lowered her head, thinking back to the past weekend, the night spent on the kitchen floor, and what had been her original plan for the night, before the other girls had caught wind and had set up an impromptu band session. Not that Sunset was particularly upset about it—it had been a lot of fun, and she had to admit she had missed singing with the others. With Twilight there to sing along it had been even better.
But there was that thing they had talked about late that night. The date. Kissing. Looking back now Sunset could hardly believe she had been that bold. She looked up again, immediately finding Twilight amidst their friends. Just now, as if she had sensed Sunset’s thoughts, she turned around and gave Sunset a smile.
Why, just why, had she written her invitation so noncommittally? While it could be read as a subtle hint at the date, it could also be read as a completely innocuous invitation to just hang out, as they always did. And Twilight’s reply had been in a similar way; it could mean everything or nothing at all.
Maybe Twilight had forgotten about it all? Or was she anxious too? Or didn’t she want to go anymore? There was no way Sunset could know—except for bringing it up once more, without room for ambiguity.
Gulp.
Luckily it doesn’t matter right now, since the girls have basically hijacked tonight.
But as soon as we’re alone!
Gulp!
Rarity gently bumped into her and, as Sunset looked up, looked at her with the same friendly smile. “I’ll just remind you once again that if there’s anything else that is worrying you, I’ll be glad to lend an ear and a comforting cup of tea.”
“Thanks,” Sunset said, “again. It’s just… something I need to talk to Twilight about.”
“My, I didn’t mean to keep you,” Rarity said, faking offense but smiling. “Go right ahead.”
“It, um… it might be better in private.”
“I see.” After a long inquisitive look, Rarity added, “There’s nothing amiss between the two of you, is there?”
Sunset grimaced. “I don’t think so, no.” Fingers crossed.
“Hmm,” Rarity made. “Looking at you I can’t help but think that the sooner you and Twilight get to talk about whatever it is, the better.”
“I… guess.”
“Hmm. Let’s catch up, why don’t we?”
They quickened their pace to catch up with the others. Whatever was going to happen tonight, Sunset was sure that she’d rather be next to Twilight than five steps behind her.
***
At the same time Twilight was walking between Pinkie Pie and Applejack while Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were leading ahead. Just as she turned around to see where Sunset and Rarity were at, Sunset looked over to her, and Twilight gave her a smile. Then she heard Applejack to her right whisper, “I think now’s a good time, Pinkie.”
“Okie-dokie-lokie!” Pinkie Pie also turned around for a brief glance and was obviously satisfied with what she saw. Without missing a beat she moved her head towards Twilight, almost resting it on her shoulder, and whispered conspiratorially, “Twilight! We need to talk to you about a super-secret thing! Blink twice if you understood!”
Twilight suppressed a giggle, but blinked twice. “Pinkie, you can’t see me blinking,” she whispered back. “But I understood. What is all of this about?”
“It’s just that it’s awful hard to catch you alone,” Applejack said.
“I don’t understand…”
“Shhh!” Pinkie made. “Before we can be certain that we can trust you, you must pass three trials,” she whispered. “The first trial—“
Applejack put her hand on Pinkie’s mouth, shaking her head. “What this is all about… the day after tomorrow is Sunset’s birthday,” she explained while Pinkie freed herself and cast an alarmed look over her shoulder. “We’re plannin’ to have a little shindig at the Acres tomorrow night. You’re comin’ too, right?”
“Not just a shindig!” Pinkie Pie hissed. “A super-duper surprise birthday party!” Twilight felt how a small object was slid into the pocket of her hoodie. “You’ll find your own invitation in a secret location later!”
“Of course!” Twilight chuckled, turning around as well, infected by Pinkie Pie’s exaggerated paranoia. “Is there anything I can help with?”
“Hmm. You could make sure the two of you are home tomorrow when we come pick you up. I’m guessin’ you’ll be stayin’ with Sunset for the weekend?”
“Yes, of course. We had plans to… um,” Twilight trailed off as she felt the heat rise in her cheeks. “But if it’s her birthday Saturday wouldn’t have been good either way. Maybe next week…” Realizing that she was babbling she interrupted herself. “Yes. I’ll be here.”
“Great,” Applejack smiled.
“Wait, is that why you were taking Sunset along to get drinks, and Rarity gave you that strange look?” she asked.
“Aw, shucks, you got us,” Applejack said with a chuckle. “I guess we’re no good as secret agents and whatnot. We just wanted to invite you without Sunset catchin’ wind, is all.”
“Thank goodness. You were acting kinda weird, and I was worrying—never mind. Thank you for reminding me it’s her birthday. I didn’t even know when it was.” How could I not know when her birthday was? And immediately after that: What am I going to get her?
She cast another glance over her shoulder and saw that Sunset and Rarity had almost caught up. Making an effort to push all birthday-related worries back she let herself fall back until she was next to Sunset, who acknowledged her presence with a friendly shoulder bump. Twilight leaned against her for a short moment.
***
Cloudkicker was already waiting for them, and so Rainbow excused herself from the milkshakes in favor of an early start. It only took one remark about a lazy night on the sofa to get Applejack to join them, and right after that Fluttershy timidly mentioned that it was almost Angel bunny’s dinner time, and if it was alright if she left too. Rarity, after giving Sunset an encouraging nod, hugged her and Twilight goodbye and pulled Pinkie Pie with her, leaving Twilight and Sunset in front of the diner by themselves.
“So,” Sunset said.
“So,” Twilight said.
They simultaneously started laughing. Even though she had been waiting all evening to finally be alone with Twilight, Sunset couldn’t help but notice that she was feeling tense now that they were alone. Because now, there was no more reason not to bring up the date.
Then again, with band practice, and the hassle with the strange girl sneaking around the portal again, and after their leisurely walk to the diner, it was already getting late. For something as important as a date with Twilight she would have rather had an entire evening.
Only that it wasn’t even half past seven, and as such a perfect time to go out.
“How about dinner?” she finally asked. “We could get a few cupcakes to go?” It was lame and she knew it, but for some reason looking at Twilight as her laughter slowly died drained her of the courage she needed to bring up the date again.
“Yes, let’s do that,” Twilight agreed.
They bought an appetizing selection of cupcakes and a few cookies for dessert and slowly got on their way back to Sunset’s apartment. Walking next to Twilight Sunset couldn’t help but glance at her furtively every few steps. Why did she have to bring up that silly date in the first place? Why would she, right after realizing just how important Twilight was for her, jeopardize everything again?
Because, she told herself, because Twilight was that important to her. Because that was how she wanted their relationship to be. And… She bit her lip when she recalled the end of that abysmal night when she and Twilight had lain in bed. And Twilight wanted to go on that date, too. She said she was excited.
Excited.
“Sunset?” Twilight asked. She realized that she was standing on the sidewalk a few steps behind Twilight. Had she just been so lost in her own thoughts that she had forgotten to walk? “What’s wrong?”
Stop being an ass! Sunset told herself. Speak up now!
Sunset hurried to catch up. When she reached Twilight she gulped down that lump in her throat and took one of her hands. Now or never…
“So…”, she said, her eyes firmly locked on their hands, “remember, I promised you a, a date.” Her voice was a little shaky, and here she was trying so hard to be cool. “And I… I was thinking…” Now her self-confidence was evaporating at an alarming rate. She needed to close the deal. “How about tomorrow?”
Her worst fears seemed to come true when Twilight’s face fell at her question and she withdrew her hand. “Um, tomorrow is actually no good…”
Oh no.
Avoiding her gaze, Sunset hastily said, “You know what, never mind, it was a dumb idea anyway, and I—“
“No!” Twilight interrupted her with wide eyes. “That’s not what I meant! I really want to go on that date with you! I‘m looking forward to it! It’s just that tomorrow…”
“Tomorrow was gonna be you and me,” Sunset said, trying to keep the whining out of her voice.
“Yes, but… I promised I wouldn’t tell you!”
“Tell me what?”
Twilight sighed. The pained look in Sunset’s eyes made the decision to spill beans about the secret party trivial. “The others are planning a surprise birthday party for you. Tomorrow night. I promised to make sure we’re at home when they come pick us up.”
"My birthday... but that's only..." Sunset counted. "The day after tomorrow." She facepalmed.
"You forgot your own birthday?" Twilight asked incredulously.
"Well... I never really made a big deal out of it after I got here... so whenever it comes up, I just realize that I'm another year older, and get on with life." She felt the heat rise in her cheeks—she was embarrassed both because of forgetting her own birthday, and for being silly. Again. “So... a party... oh wow. And here I thought…”
“Thought what?”
That you’d come to your senses and wouldn’t want to go anymore because I’m an idiot.
“It’s not important. So we’re doing this, only some other time? I can’t believe my birthday is actually getting in the way …”
Twilight smiled at her and took her hand in turn. “You know, I’m actually looking forward to celebrating your birthday with you. And the date won’t run away. How about we reschedule to next Saturday?”
“Sounds great,” Sunset said, her voice slightly shaky. “So next Saturday. Wow.”
“How about we both think of something to do? And then do both things? So it’s, you know, a team effort?” Twilight said.
“Yeah, I like that. Let’s do that! This is going to be really… great.”
“Yeah,” Twilight agreed. “Exciting, right?” She turned to face Sunset, and when she saw the spark in Twilight’s eyes she had no doubts what exactly Twilight was referring to. Sunset nodded.
“You know what else I can’t wait for?” Twilight asked. Sunset gulped, unable to believe that Twilight was actually going to spell it out. But before she could nod Twilight added, “The cupcakes. I’m famished!”
They hurried back home. Sunset felt like she was floating along next to Twilight, being pulled along by her. More than once she almost bumped into people because she could barely take her eyes off Twilight—who, as she noticed, took every chance she could to sneak glances at her.
Next Saturday!
Wow.
***
It felt almost like returning home, Twilight thought when she followed Sunset Shimmer inside the apartment. It looked the same—which wasn’t that surprising considering that she had been here only a few days ago. But as comfortable and luxurious her castle in Ponyville was, Twilight had missed this apartment. Or maybe, she thought, the girl who lived there.
Sunset went ahead making her way to the kitchen, mumbling something about tea. Twilight went ahead into the bedroom where, quickly taking off her shoes before she pushed some of the stacks of books aside that were covering the desk so that they had some space to eat—she had learned during her previous stays that Sunset almost never used the kitchen table, but instead preferred to eat in bed or at the desk. When that was done she took to lighting some of the new candles as Sunset was still busy with the kettle.
Just as she was about to read a quick page in the book she had left here last time—Physical and Philosophical Foundations of Portals and Planar Gateways, by Aurora Glow—Sunset came in with two mugs of tea and a plate of muffins which she all put down on the desk before sitting down on the second chair. She looked a bit breathless, maybe from rushing upstairs and hurrying to prepare the tea. The two girls exchanged smiles and each took a muffin. For a few minutes the muffins took up all their attention.
“So, whatcha wanna do tonight?” Sunset asked her when they were finished. “How about the sequel to that movie we watched last time?”
Twilight chuckled. “That movie was so silly!”
“I remember you squealing with laughter, my dear princess,” Sunset retorted with a grin.
“I never said it wasn’t fun. Alright. Let’s do this!”
“Alright!” Sunset jumped up and rushed over to the bed to prepare the pillows. In the meantime Twilight picked up the plate and put it back in the kitchen.
“So, you have a plan for our date already?” Sunset called from the bedroom.
“Maybe,” Twilight answered with a smirk. She had thought of a few things, but nothing that would even qualify as a proper plan.
“What is your plan, then?” Sunset called from the bedroom.
“I’m not saying!” Twilight replied as she returned to the bedroom. “It’s a surprise!”
Sunset looked up to her from the bed and pouted. “Not fair!”
“Is too!” Twilight chortled as she sat down next to Sunset. “By the way, I have to run a quick errand tomorrow, back to Equestria.”
“What? But I thought you were staying—“
Twilight put her hand on Sunset’s mouth. “I am staying. It’ll be really quick, no more than an hour.”
“Well, fine, I guess I can deal with that,” Sunset mumbled against Twilight’s hand.
***
“Mhmm?”
Twilight’s voice right next to her ear. “I’m heading out, I’ll be back in an hour at most.” A stray strand of Twilight’s hair tickled her cheek.
“Mhmm.”
“Will you pick me up? We could grab breakfast on our way back.”
“Will try,” Sunset murmured.
A giggle. “I’ll write when I’m ready to come back. I believe in you, sleepyhead!”
“Mmm.” Sunset turned around with a smile and descended into dreams of Twilight’s laughter.
***
Twilight hurried through the streets, eager to get through the portal and finish her mission, even though it had been hard to get up this early. The bed had been so warm and comfy. But she really needed to fetch that present, and make sure she wouldn’t be back too late for the surprise party. There was a buffer of several hours, but still…
She had an idea of what she wanted to give Sunset for her birthday—an item she wouldn’t be able to find in the human world. In principle all she needed to do was to find it in her castle; it was probably in an older section, one that hadn’t been re-shelved and sorted for some time.
When she arrived in front of Canterlot High the square with the statue was deserted. After just a short look around to make sure nopony untoward was looking, she stepped through the portal.
***
Twilight Sparkle was no stranger to spending weekend days in school; sometimes her special projects required daily attendance. Dean Cadence, who often gave Twilight extra projects to keep her insatiable mind busy, had eventually agreed to give her a key so she could also work on weekends—but not without making Twilight promise that she wouldn’t disregard her need for leisure.
And Twilight’s latest project most certainly qualified for requiring steady attendance!
The encounter with the aggressive-looking girls the day before had been a setback, but she had still confirmed that her emitter worked just fine, and that whatever energy source was hidden inside the plinth was responding to the wavelengths she produced. Of course, her emitter had been incinerated in the process, but if she needed it, she could still build another one.
There were still many unknowns though. Despite constantly monitoring the energy readings, at least from a distance, she still hadn’t made any leeway in determining the origin of the strange radiation. If there was a pattern in the timing of her readings she hadn’t been able to figure it out yet.
And for more precise readings, including, say, strange light emissions on the surface of something that looked like regular stone, she would have to get more and closer looks at the statue. But unless she could continuously keep it under surveillance it would require extreme levels of luck to actually witness the energy excursions that infuriatingly always seemed to happen when she was turning the other way.
Unless she could come up with a different approach. And for the first time since her first day at Crystal Prep Academy Twilight was really glad she was a student of an upper-class school with upper-class resources. Resources that included half a dozen quadcopter drones that students could use, originally intended for the photography club and the school paper, but perfectly suited for certain scientific projects as well.
And they had finally arrived!
Twilight had already mostly completed the blueprint for installing her energy reader in one of the drones, but today her goal was to familiarize herself with the controls and maybe take a drone out for a little spin across town to Canterlot High.
Once she had the drone upgraded she would be able to greatly increase her surveillance time. And her chance to finally figure out what was going on would rise to—
Ah, but why waste time on woolgathering? she thought to herself as she carried the drone through the deserted corridors to the recess area. Today was designated to take the new equipment for a spin and gain an impression on its in-flight properties.
***
Twilight heard the voices and laughter echo through her castle as soon as she stepped through the portal. She quickly picked up the magic book from the portal device and floated it along as she happily cantered downstairs to meet the other girls.
She found them in the map room sitting in their respective chairs. As she entered, Spike hurried to get up from her throne and rushed to her for a welcome hug.
“Twilight! I thought you were only coming back tomorrow!”
Twilight gave him a nuzzle on the cheek. “I have to take care of something,” she explained. “I didn’t even plan to stay long.” She beamed at her friends. It was good to see them again. “What are you all doing here?”
“Rares thought it’d be a good idea to do this thing where we talk about what happened on a friendship mission, like when you make us, y’know?” Rainbow Dash explained.
“What? There was a mission?”
“Yes!” Pinkie Pie squealed. “Rarity and I went to Canterlot and we got hungry and had the bestest dinner ever, and then we had to help Saffron Masala and Coriander Cumin to get more clients so they’d stop arguing all the time, and they became super successful, but then Zesty Gourmand didn’t like their food because it was soooo much better than all the three hoof-rated places down the street, and the customers super-liked the food too, and everyone got seconds!” She took a deep breath before settling back in her chair, looking very pleased with herself.
“What Pinkie Pie means is, we were able to resolve the crisis, improve the relationship of father and daughter as well as their commercial outlook,” Rarity added. “We thought it would be good to go over the mission and share what we learned from it, as we usually do. We didn’t think you’d be back, dear, and we wanted to discuss it while the impressions were still fresh.”
Twilight’s joy of seeing her friends again evaporated within an instant. She hung her head. “I’m so sorry. I know I’ve been spending way too much time in the human world, and I—“ She broke off.
What was she going to tell them? That she was going to change her ways and spend less time visiting Sunset Shimmer in the human world? Was she going to make that claim while she was preparing to cross right back to the human world for another night? Knowing full well it wasn’t true?
It didn’t change the fact that she felt bad about leaving her Equestrian friends hanging this much. It didn’t take away the pang she’d felt in her chest when she’d heard that there had been a new friendship mission, and she hadn’t even been there.
And yet, she didn’t want to reduce the time she spent with Sunset. She couldn’t leave her hanging either, could she?
A gentle hoof on her shoulder interrupted her thoughts. Applejack stood right in front of her and looked at her, concerned. The other girls stood around her in a half circle.
“Twilight? Are you alright?”
Twilight sighed. “It’s just… I feel like I’m letting you down, and yet I don’t know how to fix it because I don’t want to let down Sunset Shimmer, either.”
“You ain’t lettin’ us down,” Applejack said. “It’s not like we all have to cling together every wakin’ moment. ‘sides, it’s not that different from when you first came here and would go on studyin’ sprees for days to end.” She smiled. “You ain’t lettin’ us down just ‘cuz you made a new friend.”
“Yes, don’t ever think that,” Rarity agreed.
“We know you won’t leave us behind!” Pinkie Pie said.
“And we’re certainly not jealous,” Fluttershy added.
Twilight looked at her friends one by one and saw nothing but honest smiles on their faces. “Was I really that bad when I first came here?”
“Worse,” Rainbow Dash reassured her.
Could it really be that simple? She still felt like she wasn’t doing right by her friends. Why her conscience insisted on feeling bad for her constant visits in the human world was probably a topic for some quiet time, but she could at least try to make up for it.
“Then at least let’s make sure I better myself,” she said. “How about we all meet up for tea tomorrow when I’m back?” Her suggestion was met with enthusiastic cheers. She bit her lips and added, “Now, um, I need to take care of something…”
“Anythin’ we can do to give ya a hoof?” Applejack asked.
“Well, um… I’m looking for a book. It should be somewhere in the library.”
“Seven pairs of eyes see more’n one,” Applejack said. “Let’s go! What are we looking for?”
“Um, Gusty the Great,” Twilight said, leading the group out of the map room.
“The foals’ book?” Rarity asked. “Pray tell, what would you need that for?”
Twilight felt the heat rise in her cheeks. “It’s a birthday present. It’s Sunset Shimmer’s birthday tomorrow, and I was thinking…”
“That’s an… uncommon present,” Rarity said.
“She mentioned how much it meant to her when she was young, and how she wished she had brought it with her. I was thinking of giving her my copy.”
“Why not just get a new one? Like, from a bookstore?” Spike deadpanned.
Twilight blushed and was very grateful that she was walking in front of the others and they couldn’t see it. “I, um, kinda want her to have something from me,” she explained in a small voice. “It’s silly, isn’t it?”
“You do realize none of us even knows Sunset Shimmer, right?” Rainbow asked.
“A very personal gift, I daresay,” Rarity said. “The two of you have become rather close over the last few weeks, haven’t you?”
“Um, yeah, you could say that…” Twilight murmured. The date. That night in Sunset’s kitchen. Or how I won’t even consider the possibility of reducing my visits. And of course the date.
She hadn’t really had time to think about the upcoming date, now that they had confirmed it and settled on a day. It seemed like a natural thing to do—as Rarity said, they had gotten very close. And after the night of Sunset’s breakdown Twilight had already suspected that Sunset had feelings for her that went beyond just friendship.
As for her own feelings for Sunset—her frequent visits and the birthday present she was about to pick up were probably a strong indication to what those feelings were. And after all, she was looking forward to their date. After her experience with Flash Sentry she was confident that a date with Sunset Shimmer would be much easier. And nicer. There would be no awkward silences, no forced small talk… it would just be like when they met up. Only…
“Twilight, darling? Are you still with us?”
Snapping out of her thoughts Twilight realized that she was standing still in the middle of the stairs leading up to the library. Her friends were standing behind her with concerned looks.
Twilight smiled. “Yes, I am. I was just thinking… I’m actually going on a date next week!”
“Again?” Rarity raised an eyebrow. “But from what you told us of your date with Flash Sentry it didn’t go too well.”
“It’s not… it’s with Sunset,” Twilight stammered, her cheeks turning a dark crimson.
“Way to go!” Rainbow said and extended her hoof. “Bump it!”
“My, my,” Rarity said. “Now all those visits and birthday presents make a lot more sense. If you don’t mind fulfilling my need for juicy gossip, how did it come to pass?”
Twilight rubbed her temple. “Well, it… I kinda realized when I was on that failed date with Flash Sentry that I’d rather spend my time with Sunset. So, um, we decided to just, well, try.”
“If you want some advice, just go for it and smooch her. Don’t overthink it like you always do,” Rainbow said.
“Sound advice, albeit rather crassly worded,” Rarity said. “Don’t overthink it. Let your heart guide you, and if it feels right, you’ll know.”
“Or when your tail goes twitch-a-twitch and you feel woozy in your left leg. That’s how I know,” Pinkie chimed in. “Although, I guess as a human you don’t have a tail.”
“I’ll, um, keep it in mind,” Twilight said, her cheeks still burning.
“She’ll love the present, too,” Rarity purred. “Ooh, you should write her a lovely dedication! Something poetic, how she’s the first thing you think of in the morning…”
“If you think she’s into mushy stuff,” Rainbow said, making a gagging noise.
“I think she’d like a dedication,” Twilight said. “But first we have to find the book.”
“Then what’re we waitin’ for, let’s go!”
***
The school drone was a blast to fly. It was noticeably more stable than Twilight’s own little ‘copter, and the vertical speed was breathtaking. But what impressed her most was the battery display in the corner of the tiny screen on the bulky remote control. After a few spins around the recess area and the football field, all in all about twenty minutes, the battery was still ninety-nine percent charged.
By now, her ‘copter would be unable to lift off higher than maybe a foot.
It took Twilight only a few instants to decide what to do next. Not that she expected to see anything interesting at this time, but it couldn’t hurt to get a feel for the flight over to Canterlot High School, where she would observe that statue until she found out what in the world was going on.
As always seeing the city from above fascinated her. Even with the quadcopter’s considerable power it was still a ten-minute flight over to the other high school. Twilight didn’t dare fly at top speed due the host of antennas, chimneys, and power lines she had to evade. At least until she dared rise high enough to fly above all ground obstacles. She was almost a bit disappointed when she saw the oversized horse statue in front of Canterlot High.
The square in front of the school was deserted, just as she had expected. She let the quadcopter circle the statue a few times and played with the camera’s zoom. At maximum magnification she could distinguish individual blades of grass.
She considered keeping the drone in place until someone passed by to get an estimate at how likely people would be to spot the drone. But of course she couldn’t know when the next pedestrian would come by.
If nothing happens in the next ten minutes I’ll just try some other time and—wait, who do we have there?
Somebody turned around the corner and headed for the plinth—only that it wasn’t just anybody. It was the yellow-and-red-haired girl that she had picked up energy readings from earlier. Only know she realized that she had also been one of the girls charging at her the day before when she had tried out her emitter.
Coincidence? Or rather—lightning??
It wasn’t lightning; lightning wouldn’t originate from the statue. And the person wearing a hoodie that had not been on the square a second earlier—had they come out of the plinth? How was that possible? And what was that light?
There was no other explanation. The stranger had come out of the statue plinth. Of from whatever lay behind the plinth’s surface and it’s weird light effects.
The hooded person waved the other girl, they quickly hugged, and Twilight hurried to let the quadcopter follow them. They turned into an intersecting street and then into the alley where Donut Joe’s was located.
“Purple hoodie, face unintelligible, height about five-four,” Twilight Sparkle murmured to herself as she jotted down a few quick notes. “Other girl—yellow complexion, red and yellow hair, cyan eyes, leather jacket. So she is involved! Gotta cross-reference the school’s records, maybe she’s a Canterlot High student.” She adjusted her glasses and turned to Spike with a sudden grin. “I finally found out what’s going on!”
She set the drone on a course to follow the two as they were taking off together. Luckily they weren’t hard to follow so that Twilight could spare some of her mental capacity to outline an algorithm for having the drone follow targets automatically.
“And screenshots. Why the heck can’t I make screenshots of them? Crud!”
Her last curse was owed to her two targets turning into Donut Joe’s. She wasn’t interested in where they went to have breakfast, but instead she needed to know where they hid when the visitor came over! Maybe, if she just waited it out, she would be able to follow them further…
Twilight checked the drone’s energy level. It was still at above eighty per cent, and if she didn’t keep flying the entire time the drone might easily be good for another couple of hours. She let the drone rotate and found a promising spot at the edge of a roof on the opposite side of the street where she could set the drone down in relative safety and conserve energy. The position even gave her a limited view through the diner’s front window.
She had brought some breakfast, so she didn’t have to leave the drone’s monitor, and that turned out to be a good call when, a few minutes after her two targets, four more girls arrived—and were enthusiastically greeted by her targets inside the diner.
Again she hurried to scribble down some notes on them, at least their hair and skin color. She recognized one of them—the one with the distinctive rainbow-colored hair—as another one of the bullies from the day before, but none of the others—but then again, she had never paid a lot of attention to supposed Canterlot High Students. She would see if she could find out more about those girls later, hopefully after she had found out some more interesting details about her main targets.
Screenshots would have been so nice. She would have to upgrade the drone’s control software to add that feature. And maybe some sort of autopilot she could feed basic patrol patterns in, in case she needed to keep an eye on these additional girls as well. Whatever their involvement with the strange visitor was.
Since nothing immediate seemed to be happening in the diner, she quickly pulled up the logs of her antenna readings and compared them to the latest occurrence. As she compared the data, a heatwave rushed through her body. This was it. The wavelength and amplitude of the latest reading, the one that had just occurred when the visitor had come through, was exactly the same as the somewhat smaller occurrences earlier. They had been here before! Several times!
With a belated shock she realized that that meant that she had only missed the visitor by a minute that one night when she had first visited the statue outside Canterlot High. Close….
***
When Twilight exited the portal she was happy—and a bit surprised—to find Sunset Shimmer hurrying towards her. The way she had reacted to the idea of meeting her at the portal, Twilight had not expected her to actually come out. Luckily she had the book safely tucked away in her bag.
Sunset gave her a quick hug to welcome her back. “I’m famished. Donut Joe’s?”
Twilight nodded enthusiastically.
“I’ll just text the others, maybe they wanna come too!”
“That’d be great!”
***
It took a bit more than half an hour until the group of girls left the diner again. In that time Twilight Sparkle had already found out most of what she needed about the group of girls associating with the visitor.
Canterlot High’s servers were no challenge for Twilight—the database instance was accessible from the internet and badly configured. The biggest issue was scrolling though students’ pictures until she had identified the other girls that had been present when the visitor arrived. After that she only needed some inner joins to retrieve all the relevant data—names, addresses, school files including grades, test results, and disciplinary records, and the parking permit for Rainbow Dash’s motorcycle including make and license plate. The red-and-yellow-haired girl was named Sunset Shimmer, and Twilight now had an address not far from the diner.
While waiting for anything to happen on the drone’s screen she cross-referenced the girls’ data with some other public databases to check for discrepancies or other peculiarities. She was only mildly surprised to find no data of that Sunset Shimmer that was older than two years. Maybe she had only recently moved to Canterlot.
“But where from, huh?” she murmured. Spike, fast asleep, stirred in his slumber but didn’t wake up. She added “possibly a visitor as well” to her file on that Sunset Shimmer before she double-checked the data on the other girls. But it was all there—families, elementary school report cards, sports events, photos in newspaper articles. So those four were most likely regular people.
“Then what are they doing with those two, that’s what I want to know.”
When the group of girls split up, Twilight didn’t hesitate to have the drone follow her two original targets. Before long she was certain that they were heading towards the address of that Sunset Shimmer she had on file.
The address turned out to be a somewhat run-down brownstone building in a less than shiny part of town. Twilight let the drone land again on a roof across the street, not daring to fly by the windows and have a look. She couldn’t risk the visitor noticing her!
***
“So what exactly was your errand about?” Sunset asked casually when they had settled down back in her apartment.
“It’s… kind of a surprise.”
“Ooh, for our date? I demand that you tell me this instant!” Sunset declared with a faux threatening voice.
“I’m not telling. It’s a surprise after all!”
“Not fair!”
“Is too!”
“Is not, and I’m not telling you my plan for the date either!” Sunset retorted and poked Twilight in the stomach. Twilight jumped and yelped in surprise at how sensitive her human skin was. Sunset sat up, a mischievous grin on her lips. “Oh-oh, looks like somepony is ticklish!”
“Sunset, don’t you—“
But Sunset didn’t care about Twilight’s protest. Before Twilight could react Sunset was on top of her and attacking her sides and stomach with quick-moving fingers. Twilight began to squeal frantically to get away from Sunset’s relentless hands, but she was completely helpless in the face of this onslaught. Sunset seized the opportunity and sat on Twilight’s upper legs, pinning her on the mattress.
“Plee-hee-hease!” Twilight whined. “Stop!”
Sunset ceased her attacks, resting her hands on Twilight’s stomach and quizzically looking into her eyes. “And here I thought you wanted to study everything about what being a human is like,” she said, her disapproving tone betrayed by the mocking glimmer in her eyes. “I feel that this is a very important lesson.”
“No! Please! I think I’ve had enough!”
The impish grin on Sunset’s face made it very clear that she didn’t think Twilight had had enough. That she was not done with Twilight yet. Clenching her eyes shut Twilight prepared for the next attack.
But Sunset changed her strategy. Instead of an overwhelming attack she now let one of her hands slowly wander around Twilight’s waist, making tiny steps with her fingertips. Each tiny poke sent a jolt through Twilight’s body and made her twitch a little. With some relief she realized that her human form seemed to be less ticklish on the sides. If she put in some effort she could even suppress the twitching.
Sunset, of course, noticed all that. She cocked her head and without a warning moved her hands further up Twilight’s ribs while at the same time applying a bit more pressure and Twilight found herself squirming and wriggling in delightful agony, trying to make it stop, but Sunset’s relentless fingers made it impossible to put up a fight.
Almost impossible.
It took all her strength but she managed to bring her hands to Sunset’s sides and began to tickle her in return. The result was more than she had hoped for, as Sunset gave a high-pitched squeal and immediately withdrew her attacking hands to try and fend off Twilight. Twilight seized the opportunity and bucked like an unruly foal, and Sunset slid off her legs and fell onto the mattress.
“Your turn!” Twilight grinned and threw herself onto Sunset, pinning her underneath her and relentlessly attacking her sides. The added dexterity of human hands really came in useful for her goal of making Sunset squirm and squeal.
But Sunset didn’t give in that easily. Just like Twilight did before she counter-attacked. Lucky for Twilight her pokes were uncoordinated as Sunset was still shaking with laughter. Realizing that she wasn’t getting anywhere with her counter-tickling she changed her strategy and instead tried to force Twilight’s hands away. Twilight had to evade Sunset’s interfering hands, and that was unfortunately enough to give Sunset a little respite. Her squirming became weaker, and she smirked at Twilight.
“You know, I’m actually not ticklish at all,” she said with surprising calm.
“You want me to believe that your reaction was feigned? Not a chance!” Twilight redoubled her efforts to find Sunset’s more sensitive spots, but even right on the lowest rib all she got was little jolt. No squeals and no real squirming.
“I can make myself not ticklish,” Sunset claimed.
“No way,” Twilight said. The memory of how helpless she felt when Sunset had been tickling her was fresh enough.
“Sure do,” Sunset said softly. “Try your worst. I won’t squeal.” She let go of Twilight’s hands and rested hers on Twilight’s thighs.
Twilight quickly assessed the situation. Sunset’s smile was remarkably confident. She had to up the game. Before she could have second thoughts she quickly slid one hand under Sunset’s jumper and went for her bare skin. Sunset inhaled sharply and jolted once, but the expected squeal didn’t come. Only now Twilight realized how smooth and warm the skin of Sunset’s stomach was.
“How do you do it?” she asked.
“Just focus. You try it,” Sunset said, smiling. Twilight nodded, and Sunset gently placed her hands on her sides again. Sunset started to tickle, and Twilight jolted and almost fell off her. She had to pull her hands out from under Sunset’s jumper to steady herself.
Once she had reestablished her balance Sunset continued to tickle. Twilight fought the urge to jump again and instead focused on the sensation of Sunset’s fingertips on her body. It’s just a pleasant touch, she told herself. Just Sunset Shimmer.
It worked. The tickling ceased. Sunset immediately noticed and stopped. “See? Not that hard.” She bit her lip. “Now let’s try hard mode.” She slid her hands under Twilight’s shirt, and Twilight jumped again. Without the layers of clothing the sensation was so much more intense!
“Focus,” Sunset whispered. Her motions were extra slow, and her hand remained firmly on the lower part of Twilight’s stomach, blissfully far away from the ribs where she was extra sensitive.
Twilight focused. On how nice Sunset’s gentle touch felt, and how warm and soft her fingertips were. There was no reason to jump. All it would do was to make Sunset stop, and she somehow didn’t want that.
Sunset gave her a lopsided smile and slowly moved her hand higher. Twilight bit her teeth, but there was no reason. The tickling was reduced to a pleasant tingling where Sunset touched her.
At least until Sunset, in one swift motion, seized Twilight’s sides, the super sensitive area below her ribs. No amount of focusing could have prepared her for that, and she almost instantly rolled off Sunset to one side, just trying to get away from the onslaught of Sunset’s fingers. “Mercy!” she gasped.
After a few more excruciating seconds Sunset obliged her and pulled back, giving Twilight a lopsided grin. Twilight noticed that her cheeks were slightly flushed. “Okay,” Sunset said softly. “I’d rather you remain in one piece.”
Twilight felt the heat rise in her cheeks as well. “I’d appreciate that. So how about a cease fire?” She extended her hand.
Sunset looked at her with a mischievous grin, but eventually shook Twilight’s hand. “Alright. No more tickles for tonight. How about we watch that movie instead?”
“Sounds good!”
***
“You’re still not telling me what you did in Equestria?” Sunset asked, her hand hovering threateningly in the general vicinity of Twilight’s waist.
“It’s a surprise,” Twilight said. She reached out with one hand and feigned a poke into Sunset’s side. Sunset quickly withdrew her hand to defend herself.
“Cease fire!” she cried.
“Then stop asking.”
“Mmmmmh okay. I’ll let you surprise me.” Sunset put the laptop on the floor and slowly got up. “I could use a shower after all our exercise.”
“Yes, me too,” Twilight said. Sunset didn’t notice her anxiously checking the time before she added, “I’ll go after you.”
***
“I wonder what they are up to now,” Twilight Sparkle murmured to herself. Over the last few hours she had continuously kept an eye on the battery levels of the drone, but since it was only in stand-by it hardly went down. Surveillance, she had come to realize that morning and afternoon, was a boring business. So when, after almost an hour, nothing had happened around Sunset Shimmer’s apartment, she had started to implement her autopilot.
A red pickup truck pulled over in front of Sunset Shimmer’s building, and out of the five girls climbing out of the car she recognized four from eariler. Twilight was pretty sure she could find the fifth one quickly. A quick search through the irresponsibly cooperative Canterlot High database—while she was still keeping an eye on the drone monitor—revealed that the fifth girl was probably Applejack, resident of Sweet Apple Acres, a farm at the edge of town. To double-check this, Twilight decided to take the risk and quickly launch the drone to have a peek at the license plate, and it matched.
***
“Surprise!” Sunset almost bounced back from the five cheerfully crying girls at her doorstep.
“Girls!” She remembered that she should play surprised and quickly added, “What are you all doing here?”
“We’re having a surprise party because it is your birthday!” Pinkie Pie screamed. “Well, not today, but we’ll just party into your birthday, and we will have punch and cake and the entire barn as a dancefloor and it will be so much fun!”
“Um, wow, that’s…” Even though she had known of their plans, Sunset realized that she was touched. “Thank you!"
“So, are y’all ready to get goin’?”
“One second,” Twilight called and ran back into the bedroom, fumbling around in her bag. She came back with a box-shaped wrapped present. “Ready,” she beamed.
“Your visit in Equestria?” Sunset asked.
Twilight smiled. “Maybe. I’m not telling. And you don’t have the time to tickle it out of me, so we might as well just go.”
“Smartass.”
***
It didn’t take more than a few minutes before all seven girls re-emerged from the building and squeezed into the pickup truck. The truck started and drove off along the street, Twilight Sparkle, who stood ready with the remote control in her hands, started the drone’s engines and took off.
“Please not too far,” she mumbled. After an entire day of surveillance there was only enough energy for roughly an hour left.
Twilight let the drone follow the pickup for a few minutes. Even though it became pretty obvious, she still confirmed on a map that the pickup was really heading out of town and probably to that girl Applejack’s farm.
“Drat!” There was just no way she would be able to follow them with the drone—it was way too far. The energy would be a problem, and the remote control’s range was probably not long enough either. The car would easily shake the drone once they left the city and could drive faster. She might be able to follow them until—
She shook her head. There was no time for these kinds of calculations. It was impossible to follow them with the drone, and that was that. If she wanted to get to that farm tonight, she needed a car. And she needed it now.
“Spike, we’re going home!” Twilight cried, quickly grabbing her things from the workbench and stuffing them into her backpack. She picked up a sleepy Spike, ran out of her laboratory and didn’t even bother locking the door.
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I got a bad feeling about Sci Twi right now....
The moments between Sunset and Twilight in this chapter are so sweet!
But I'm very concerned about Sci-Twi now that she's on to them.
Sci-Twi was cute up to this point. Now her actions border on invasive and out right illegal. If this story goes where I think it’s going then I hope non of the girls get hurt and Sci-Twi doesn’t land in jail for unlawful surveillance, hacking into the school, I’m sure one of her exploding devices will lead to property damage and in possession of explosive matter.
Great story but now I’m worried.
you really can’t keep a secret can you Twi
and dangit Sci Twi goin all out and why does she seem so op
*triggered* Now not only Sci is being a research-ass, but a stalking-ass too. The risks of our lovely ship ruined by her, and hatred falling on.
How come Sci-Twi hasn’t noticed one of her targets is her doppelgänger?!
But yeah, I’m really hating Sci-Twi right now.
Sci-Twi is really going all out on her research to the point, where she's pretty much gone stalker on Sunset & the gang!
9100712
To quote one of the Brony Reactors:
”Sci-Twi too OP. Please nerf.”
9099534
np
Finished the whole thing, you have me hooked!
9100136 9100344 9100419 9101142 9100712
yeah, she's kinda overdoing it, isn't she? We should all be very concerned.
Dun dun duuuun!
9101019
That (in-)convenient hoodie of Twilight's. Plus confirmation bias - her doppelganger is pretty much the last thing she'd ever expect.
9105950
glad you're enjoying the show 
Excellent
9107933
Overdoing it is an understatement
9107933
The hoodie?! I really hate that cliché where you literally just have to put on a hoodie and NO ONE can tell it’s you.
9108017
yeah well, but mind you, SciTwi is also viewing them from some unclear angle from above and most of the time behind Twilight, because the drone is flying behind them. And most likely SciTwi will just catch a glimpse of purple skin.
I won't deny that it's a bit of a stretch here
I hope you can look past it
9108458
I try. It's hard... but I try. I mean, it's feasible, it's just anger inducing.
So sci twi just leaves a probably $2000 drone to run out of battery and crash somewhere in the city or on the side of the road where someone can steal it
also sci twi
vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/r2da/images/e/eb/Stop_it%2C_get_some_help.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20170118031625
Sci-twi, showing Twilight's early stalker tendencies in all their worrisome glory
Princess Twilight is a stupidly skilled prodigy at magic (even if Starlight is a little bit better) so of course Sci-Twi is completely OP at engineering, electronics, and hacking.
Speaking of, darnit CHS you should be hardened against sql injection if you're keeping confidential records!
And P-Twi and Sunset are, of course, adorable and have tension you could cut with a knife. If they think regular touch as humans is nice...
This chapter is a lot more sloppily written than the previous chapters.
She's really stalking them. 😭
Subtle.
Wait, so we ARE in Season 6? Then why haven't the Friendship Games happened yet? We know that they happen at the same time as the Season 5 Finale, because Twilight mentions getting stuck in a time-loop being the cause of her delayed arrival.
And this time, it can't be things happening early; Pinkie and Rarity getting called happens completely independently of Twilight and Sunset (heck, Starlight was involved in repairing the Map so that they could start fixing Friendship Problems again).
This won't stop me from reading, but I'm going to be keeping a close eye out for any explanation you come up with.
10168765
For all human Twilight knows at this point, they could be secretly plotting world domination. Not justifying her behavior; just stating that she thinks she's justified.