Twilight accidentally over-shot a spell, which went straight through the portal and by pure chance hit Sunset. Well, so much for band practice. Hooves aren't exactly made to play guitar.
My first story for everyone. Need to be careful around cussing, 'cause that's why I normally rate everything T.
You know I thought why not turn Sunset Shimmer into a unicorn, while she's still at CHS? Why not adding human Twilight later on? This takes place after Rainbow Rocks and yes, Sunset will have her magic abilities. What fun in having a unicorn without magic?
08/11/2015 Okay, featured because 5 people are watching my new chapter. No wait, 4, I accidentally counted myself. I think the system is a little broken.
Twilight's royal duties were minimum at best. If one looked at the logical aspect of her power (friendship), one would realize that giving her royal duties would lessen her time with her friends, slightly endangering the end of said friendship (depending on circumstances of course) and thus resulting in taking away Equestria's greatest means of defense.
That's one way of putting it that Twilight still got a lot of time she could devote in studying magic. Today on her list was transformation magic, which at first doesn't sound like much, seeing as she already did that numerous times. This time however she plans on doing it on herself, a full body transformation. being not a changeling made this kind of matter slightly more difficult. Concentration was needed.
So Twilight was now inside the castle with tightly locked doors and a "Do not disturb" sign. The castle library also acted as the new library for Ponyville, since the old one got blown to smitherines. It was lunch time anyway, so nopony would expect it to be open anyway. Of course, a sign and locked doors never stopped Pinkie Pie from visiting her bestest of best friends.
"Watcha doing?"
"GAH!!"
Twilight accidentally released the magic she had been channeling in her horn. In a both amusing and fascinating way, the energy was reflected from corner to corner, knocking over a bookshelf, hitting a desk lamp, the ground, the ceiling, made noises from a game called pinball, while knocking books out of the various shelves and finally heading straight for the two mares in the room. Instincts taking over, Twilight shoved Pinkie to the ground, screaming: "Look out!" Twilight couldn't dodge it completely as her tail got singed.
"Pinkie..." Twilight stopped herself. There was no use giving the pink mare a lecture about why a pony shouldn't enter a room with a "Do not disturb" sign hanging on the handle of a door.
"Hi Twilight. What was that?" Pinkie asked innocently as always.
Twilight sighed. "I was trying a new transformation spell, when you barged in and stopped my concentration."
"Oooooooooooh! Sorry Twilight, I didn't want to startle you."
Twilight couldn't help but smile. Pinkie finally seemed to be growing up, at least a little. "So what did you try to change and into what?!" Pinkie asked excited.
"Well, remember about the inhabitants of the other world? I thought, since I tried to transform myself this time, I could transform into something I'm slightly familiar with. Also I had to Pinkie Promise Lyra to show her humans, but I couldn't possibly let her go through the portal."
"Awesome!" Pinkie commented cheerfully. Her excitement dropped just a little bit, when she looked over to the portal. "Hey Twilight, what happens when somepony...somehuman" Pinkie giggled "is hit with your spell?"
"Why do you ask?" Her friends weren't normally that interested in her magic that way would ask what-if scenarios.
"Because your purple ZZZZZAAAAAAAAAAAAAPPPPPP flew straight through it."
XIII
Sunset yawned, holding her hand in front of her mouth. School just started way too early today and she was about to doze off any second. No one, but her was to blame, since she overdid it with the sweets last evening and didn't get as much sleep as normal. Pinkie's treats were just the best.
She passed the statue, which also provided as the portal to her homeworld. Her friends always tried to reassure her to finally go through the portal and talk to her former mentor, but Sunset was just downright scared, to put it bluntly. She knew very well that Celestia wasn't one to hold a grudge. Even the Dazzling's got away with cleaning duty for a month.
"At least they didn't have to rebuild the front part of the school." Sunset muttered.
Trying not to further think about thinks of the past, she took out a chewing gum. As long as she got rid of it before class, no one would bother her about it.
In front of the school building, Sunset found Vinyl listening to her headphones as always. Why she wore sunglasses every day, no one really knew. "Hey Vinyl, how's it hanging?" Sunset asked as she approached the other girl. Said girl just gave a grinn and a thumbs-up.
"That's good to hear...eh...see...eh...."
The two girls laughed a little before continuing walking towards the school. "You know what's really annoying? Learning history all over again. By all the similarities of our worlds, when it comes to the past-"
She didn't get any further. Karma still seemed to have a score to settle with Sunset, so she decided to send a lavender lightning bolt towards. The girl let out a scream of surprise as she was hit in the back with it and automatically landed on her knees and hands. "What...?" she had trouble breathing. Vinyl could only stare as the girl in front of her was engulfed in the lavender aura.
Some students around them ran up, but hesitated. They didn't know what would happen in case they would touch Sunset. Others instead had taken out their cell phones and started filming and photagraphing.
"What's happening?"
"Who is that?"
"That's Sunset Shimmer."
"Sunset Shimmer?!"
"She's not going to transform into a demon again, is she?"
"Look! Something's happening!"
The student body became quiet, when Sunset's body shape started to change. Her body started shrinking, her hair still looked the same, but also became smaller. Her hands deformed and became hoof-shaped, her feet as well. And was that a tail?
Soon enough the transformation was completed and the lavender light disappeared, leaving the pony version of Sunset Shimmer behind. More than a few jaws were dropped to the ground. It was kind of common knowledge by now that Sunset Shimmer originally came from some kind of magical dimension. A lot of rumors were still around as from being banished from there towards being kept safe in their dimension, until she could claim the throne of the other world. As good as no one knew ponies were living on the other side of the mirror.
A groan escaped Sunset, as she lost balance and hit the ground. Everyone around her gasped, as they heard the pony speak with Sunset's voice: "Did anyone manage to write down the number of the plate on that truck?" she asked.
No one spoke up. The only thing they could do was stare at Sunset in shock, as she slowly got on all fours on instinct. She still hadn't realized herself what just transpired. "What? Do I have something on my face?" she asked looking up. "And why are you all so....big....?"
Sunset looked down on herself, realizing she was on all fours and wanting to know why she was on all fours. Her eyes went wide in shock at what she saw. Slowly she raised one hoof and then the other. She looked back and repeated the process with her hindlegs. Her tail gave a slight flicker. Very carefully Sunset lowered her head, raised her right foreleg and touched her horn. It was actually quite funny to watch Sunset inspecting her new/old body.
What finally got everyone out of their stupor was Sunset scream of excitement and fear. "WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!"
The scene in front of Twilight could easily be considered comically. Several students of Canterlot High were trying to pet a unicorn Sunset Shimmer, who didn't look too happy about it. She looked like a puppy who got too much attention and just wanted to get away. No one seemed to have noticed Twilight walking out of the portal, so she made herself known by helping Sunset Shimmer.
"I-I think that's enough guys."
Everyone turned around towards the source of the voice.
"Princess!"
"Twilight!"
"You rock, Twi!"
Various people greeted her, but Twilight had only eyes for Sunset.
"Are you...alright?" Twilight asked.
"I...think so, yeah. But it feels like I just lost a great deal of my mane." She shot the students an angry glare, who returned a sheepish smile, some of them predatory.
"Anyways" Sunset sighed "you don't happen to know as to why I am a unicorn now of all times?"
"Ehehehe... funny story. You see-"
XIII
"So let me get this straight." Sunset deadpanned. "You tried to transform yourself, overshot the spell after being startled and this all happened next to the open portal?!"
"Yeah....you could say it wasn't exactly my brightest idea."
Sunset facehoofed at that statement. A few students around them started whispering, some laughing behind their hands.
"So" Lyra Heartstrings walked up "is she going to stay like this? Hey, you could be our school mascot!" she exclaimed in half-seriousness. Everyone around them started to laugh really loud. Sunset's eyebrow twitched in annoyance, but else she kept her cool.
"Let's get inside before anyone outside CHS sees me. AND NO PETTING!"
Vinyl blushed, her arm stretched out and her hand almost touching Sunset's mane. Twilight giggled at the antics of her friends and followed a grumpy Sunset Shimmer inside the school. It didn't become any better from there on out as you can guess.
Students would point their fingers at her or simply stare. Or they would do what 99% of the human population would do: pull out their cell phones and start recording.
Sunset sighed and she knew it wouldn't be the last time she'd do that. They needed to stop every now and then for Twilight to greet random people she at best had seen at some point during her stays in the human world, while Sunset needed to tell every single person NOT to pet her.
"Where are we going?" Twilight asked at one point.
"Principal Celestia's office. I figured we should tell her first about the situation, since I can't exactly go outside like this."
"Why not?"
Sunset sighed again. "In case you haven't noticed, talking ponies aren't exactly a common thing around here."
"Oh. I guess it would be a little awkward." Twilight concluded. Resisting the urge to facehoof, Sunset knocked at the door to the principal's office.
"Come in." called a voice from inside.
Twilight opened the door, obviously having an advantage with hands. "Principal Celestia?"
XIII
Principal Celestia had been having a good morning so far. Despite some 'incidents' this school year, their budget was still good. Ironically that was thanks to Sunset Shimmer. Luna and Celestia really hadn't been able to report Sunset to the police for multiple reasons and they didn't want to anyway.
Still Sunset saw it as her duty to pay back the damage she had done. Luna had taken a spit-take, as she saw Sunset producing a bunch of gems out of her pockets and onto the table.
"These aren't worth much in Equestria." she had explained. "We grow them on rock farms."
Naturally the first thing the two sisters did was checking for any robberies and brought the gems to the nearest police station. After nothing came up and repeatedly insistence of Sunset Shimmer they traded the stones for money and so no school activity needed to be cancelled.
Back to the present, Celestia just enjoyed her morning tea, when someone knocked at her door. Placing the teacup down she looked up towards the door and called: "Come in."
When Princess Twilight Sparkle of all people entered the room, Celestia felt a sudden sense of dread entering her mind. It turned into confusion and surprise, when a yellow unicorn with a fiery mane entered her office.
The principal wasn't as skilled as her princess counterpart at hiding her surprise, as the two in front of her found out. "Oh dear..." she whispered softly, so only she could hear it.
"Hello principal. I wish I would be here for a simple visit or maybe even asking to attend the school to learn more about human culture, but...I think Sunset over here is self-explainable."
"Sunset Shimmer?! Is...that really you?!"
"Actually that's how I normally look like." Sunset explained.
Celestia rubbed her eyes and pinched herself under the table, just to make sure. "So, I take it there's more ancient magic to fight?"
"Actually" Twilight blushed "this is completely my fault."
"Please explain." Celestia tensed a little.
"Long story short, I was casting a spell, a friend of mine startled me and I shot it through the portal and it hit Sunset, turning her into a unicorn again."
Celestia felt the need of some of Luna's strong coffee, until she saw that this could be solved easily. "Are you two now going back to...Equestria, was it? In order to undo whatever you did?"
"It's not that easy." Sunset told her. "It sounds good on paper, but magic is way more complicated than quantum physics at times.
I have a lot of free time.
Anyway, I'll simplify it like this: best case scenario, I turn into a pony-human hybrid, possibly a centaur. Forever. Worst case scenario I become a very disturbing looking being."
Celestia probably didn't want to know what the last sentence meant. She took a deep calming breath and thought about the situation, putting a hand under her chin. She leaned forward at her table, her expression becoming serious. "Is there any way to remove the spell? There's no telling as to how the public would react to a fairy tail creature becoming real. No offense."
"None taken." the two replied. "As for the spell, it should wear off after some time, but I have yet to do the math. The mirror however most likely had some kind of influence on the spell. Whether it lengthened or shortened the spell, I have yet to determine."
Twilight felt really guilty about what she did. Celestia leaned back and focused on Sunset Shimmer. "You seem awfully calm about this."
Sunset shrugged. "A part of me actually feels relieved being in my own body again. If only everyone else wouldn't try to pet me."
"You look rather adorable." Celestia smiled, causing Sunset to blush and Twilight to giggle. "Can one of your friends take you to your home or to theirs?" she asked further.
"I...don't know. I think Applejack can take me in."
Celestia resisted the urge to make a really bad joke and nodded. "If you cannot find anything, you can always come to my home."
"That's..." Sunset was a little taken aback by the offer. "Thanks." she muttered.
"It's not a problem. While we're at the issue, do you want to go home until your little predicament is over?"
To her and Twilight's surprise, she shook her head. "A lot of students have already seen me. I don't want to make any accusations, but when some of them start coming to my place or the places of my friends just to see me other people would notice."
"I see." Celestia nodded. "I think I should still should make an announcement, so no one will misinterpreted as to what happened to you."
"I could help." Offered Twilight. "I think they would believe it easier, if I would support it."
"I don't think it's necessary. Knowing the rumor mill first hand...eh hoofed....whatever...probably all of CHS already knows about me. It wouldn't surprise me, if SOMEONE would already be SPYING on us."
Celestia and Sunset were walking down the empty hallway. Class was already in session for a couple of minutes. Twilight was already on her way back to Equestria, in order to get her math done and possibly come up with a faster solution.
"Sunset Shimmer!"
At least she was supposed to go back. Twilight came running towards the two others, a bag pack hanging on her arm. She stopped in front of the two, panting a little bit. "This is yours, right? I found it, lying outside."
"Oh yeah, completely forgot about that thing. Thanks Twilight." Sunset said and levitated the thing off her friends arm. She turned around and continued walking for like three steps, when she stopped dead in her tracks, realizing a little late as to what she did.
Looking back, Twilight and Celestia had the same shocked expressions on their faces, as Sunset had.
"I just..." This time Sunset tried using her magic on purpose, focusing on the bag again. Her horn glowed up in her green magical aura and the same aura appeared around the bag. It flew up for five seconds, before Sunset released her magic and the bag landed with a small thud on the ground.
... ... "Well...I guess I won't miss hands as much as I thought." she chuckled.
"That is rather interesting." Twilight mused, rubbing her chin. "We always assumed this world doesn't have any magic on itself. Or is it the magic of the elements? Or...great Celestia, I can think of at least ten more theories."
"E-excuse me?" The principal spoke up. "What did you just...say?"
"Uh, I can think of at least ten more theories? You see-"
"Twilight" Sunset interrupted "you said 'great Celestia'."
"Ooh." Twilight smiled sheepishly. "That's...how should I put this..."
"I think I take it from here, Twi." The mare stated.
"Alright." she nodded. "I better be back on my way to Equestria. My friends are already waiting for me and I'd rather not think of the chaos that might ensure if they would go through the portal. I'll see you later today."
"Yeah, laters."
The principal waved her hand weakly, still a little bit surprised. "Great Celestia?" she asked, looking down at the little pony. Sunset giggled a little in response.
"You see...the Celestia on the other side is not only one of our princesses, she's also...not really actually according to her, but...most ponies think of her as a goddess. Like your religious god, only she's real."
The human version of Celestia was a little taken aback by that statement. "Okay. Out of curiosity, how strong is she?"
Sunset scratched herself behind her ears. She already forgot how annoying that task was as a pony. "Huh? Oh sorry. No one is really sure, except herself maybe. She raises the sun every day and is about as old as my home-world."
The woman rubbed her temples, still not sure what to think of this. She settled with it was best to ignore it. "In any event, I suggest we head to class." Being able to raise the sun? I admit I'm tempted to go to Equestria now.
"Last chance to back off, Sunset Shimmer. I won't hold it against you and I assume you'll have...let's call it some interesting times."
"So, I'm not allowed to turn everyone into a potted plant, when he/she tries to pet me?"
Celestia's only answer was a stern look.
"Yeah, I thought so."
Inwardly Celestia smiled at the thought though. Of course she couldn't just let Sunset zap the other students at will. Luckily she wasn't that kind of girl or rather mare anymore. With these thoughts, the principal knocked at the door to the classroom.
Sunset was glad Fluttershy was in a different class right now, because she swear she heard at least a few d'awws from the students in class. The students excitedly whispered among another or stared in wonder.
"Principal, we seriously need to talk about my salary. If this keeps up, you need to give me a promotion if you want me to stay."
A few of the students chuckled and even Celestia allowed herself to smile. "Well then, I'm sure most of you have already heard about Sunset's...condition." A few more chuckles. "I don't pretend to understand most of the situation myself, but I can give you a brief version of what happened. Apparently one of princess Twilight's experiments went a little haywire, resulting in Sunset becoming a unicorn. I already talked to her and she stated that this is not a permanent condition."
"Awww." Was the reply of the class.
"Seriously, guys?" Sunset asked in a deadpan voice.
"SHE CAN TALK?!" The class exclaimed.
"You saw a talking dog, me transforming into a demon and you're surprised about a magically talking pony?" the mare asked. "Anyway, looks like you guys finally get to see the real me."
"The real you?" Sweetie Drops, aka Bon Bon asked.
"I never really introduce myself properly, huh? Sunset Shimmer, I'm a unicorn from the magical land of Equestria which is filled with magical talking ponies and everything else you can find in most fantasy books. Nice to meet you humans."
That did it. Everyone in class immediately wanted to ask questions to Sunset. She left a lot of things unclear and what she had told them confused them to a good deal. Celestia had seen this coming. Actually everyone involved saw this coming, even Sunset Shimmer and the mare had thought of something for that scenario. She levitated a piece of chalk and made the worst screeching noise on the blackboard possible.
"Tell you guys what, you don't pet me or treat me like an animal otherwise and I will answer all of your questions after school. By the way, Twilight might come here later, so she might answer some too."
Reluctantly the class agreed to Sunset's terms. There was one comment though. "You're not going to escape Fluttershy." There was general laugh. "Don't remind me."
Levitating her bag with her, Sunset walked to her spot in class and climbed up the chair. Everyone was still staring at her. No, not at her she noticed. It was at the back she was holding with her magical grip. "Hey, I don't have hands. I have to help myself somehow."
"Right. I'll give you back your class. I'm sorry for the interruption. As for the rest of you, I hope you treat Sunset Shimmer with the same respect as you always do." The principal left a rather distraught teacher and a completely distracted class behind.
The unicorn noticed that she could barely look over the table and needed to sit on some books in order to be able to properly look at the teacher. Said teacher was still collecting himself.
"Okay class. I know this is all very exciting and to be honest I myself would love to just give you a free period and take the rest of the day off." Cheers erupted from the entire class. "Instead Sunset Shimmer has just provided me with an opportunity to otherwise slack off."
"H-huh?!"
"Given the circumstances and the fact that most likely no one is going to listen to me, why don't you tell us a little bit about the history of your world? I have to admit, ever since we learned about the other world, I have been intrigued to learn the history of a complete other world."
"Horse-apples." Sunset muttered. Of course it would be that way.
"W-w-wait a sec. You actually GROW gems and gold?!" One of the students exclaimed.
"How do you think I managed to make myself a living? If my math is correct you could get the cheapest gems for 20 to 50$, if we would accept paper money over there. Our coins after all are made of pure gold, no other metals are inside it. Now before any of you say that is impossible, remember that I'm from a land where magic is as common as electricity."
Sunset could practically see the dollar notes where the pupils were supposed to be.
"As you can probably guess, the Diamond Dogs weren't too happy about our discovery. It led to quite a few kidnappings or as we say foalnappings. Hey, we're ponies, deal with our choice of words. Other nations followed Equestria into making their own gems, so eventually the Diamond Dogs gave up. They needed to give a huge amount of their jewelry to us ponies for what they had done.
The little irony is, with rock farming you can't get high valuable gems, unless you spend years and even more years growing them. Works better underground from what I've read. Or something else, I wasn't really interested in that subject."
The school-bell rang, indicating it was the end of the period. Sunset let out a sigh of relief, while the rest of the class was a little disappointed, knowing the rest of the day would be the normal curriculum.
Sunset put her stuff into her bag and mentally prepared herself for what was about to come. In an attempt to delay the inevitable Sunset stayed behind until everyone else was out of the classroom.
"Sunset Shimmer" her teacher spoke to her "that was a rather good job. Have you ever thought of becoming a teacher?"
"Uhh...no? I can't really see myself as a teacher." she replied. "Besides, half of them were asleep the whole time anyway."
"Well, now you know why I grow so frustrated so fast." he chuckled. "By the way, I think your audience is waiting." he pointed towards the classroom door.
"Thanks for the reminder. Not."
Time Turner only laughed harder. The mare guessed it was some sort of a late payback for how she used to be.
The unicorn took her bag with her magic grip and trotted outside, where she was immediately surrounded by a group of students, all looking expectantly down at her. Sunset looked back at them, but they weren't moving even an inch. She sighed.
"Okay, we've all seen the unicorn. Mind if you step away? I need to go to class."
"How does she talk? Ponies are supposed to have different vocals."
"Still here, you know." she waved with her hoof. How can one be ignored and overwhelmed with attention at the same time? Well, here we have one way.
"OW!" The unicorn hadn't been paying attention, as one female student from the side had decided on testing out whether her horn was real or just glued on.
"Wow."
"Hey, watch it!" Sunset snapped, jerking her head away from the hand. "Look, I know this is exciting and all, but you're all seriously getting on my nerves already!" she exclaimed.
To their credit, her fellow students had guilty expressions on their faces. "Sorry Sun, we just wanted to see for ourselves-"
"We want to see some magic. Pleeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaase?" Roseluck gave the unicorn the best puppy dog eyes she could muster.
"Seriously?" Sunset asked with a deadpan, levitating her bag in front of their faces. "There. Happy?"
"Come on, just a little trick besides making things fly." pleaded Daisy.
Sunset rolled her eyes, but then she got a light-bulb moment. "Fine, pay attention, because I'm only going to do this once." I give every reader one chance to find out what she's going to do. Everyone who doesn't knows it by the time she/he is reading those lines, get your brains checked. I hope I didn't offend anyone. Sorry, I did, didn't I?
Back to the story, Sunset charged up her horn, while her fellow students looked expectantly for something cool to happen. The glow around Sunset's horn intensified and out of nowhere became a blinding flash of light. By the time the eyes of the humans readjusted, Sunset was gone.
XIII
"Good old teleportation. Works every time." Sunset smiled a little smugly, turning around only to run into a pair of legs and landing on her rump.
"Ow. Sorry about-"
"Oh my goodness!"
Oh please no.
With the speed of Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy had knelt down and picked Sunset up in her arms, completely ignoring that she just appeared out of nowhere by the way.
"Aw, aren't you just the most adorable little thing I've ever seen?" she asked, scratching Sunset behind her ears. Wow, that really IS comfortable...FOCUS SUNSET!
"Shy-"
"Oh, I didn't hurt you too much, did I?" The girl continued asking, while pressing Sunset harder against her chest.
"Fluttershy-"
"Oh my gosh, you can speak!" Sunset was now desperately grasping for air. "Are you alright little one? Are you hungry perhaps? What is this?"
"Arrgghh..." Sunset charged up her horn and quickly teleported in front of Fluttershy, who let out a shriek and jumped backwards. The girl was shocked long enough for Sunset to recover her breath.
"Oh...I-I...knew that. It's all over the school network."
The unicorn titled her head. "Then why did you just...you know..."
Fluttershy blushed and did her trademark thing, hiding behind her overly large hair. It somehow also made it impossible to hear her already very timid voice.
"What was that?"
Because you look cute.
"Seriously Fluttershy, just say it. I won't be mad." Sunset tried to reassure the girl, by coming closer and smiling up at her. She got her answer, just not from Fluttershy.
"Oh, she looks so CUUUUUUUUUUTE~!!" A shriek emitted from the other side of the hallway. Sunset turned around and immediately she wished she didn't. With a huge smile that made Sunset's eyes shrink in fear, Pinkie Pie was running over to her. Before she could react, Sunset was helplessly wiggling her legs, while Pinkie was pressing the air out of the unicorn.
"Pin....kie...." The unicorn dramatically held out one of her front-legs, her vision getting blurry.
"Pinkie Pie...ah think ya should let her go." Applejack approached from behind. "Whoa, nelly." she whispered more to herself. "Now that's something ya don't see every day."
In the meantime Sunset was dropped to the ground, the poor mare having a hard time catching her breath.
"Oh my, I never imagined ponies could loos so FABULOUS!" Yup Rarity was there too, with Rainbow Dash arriving as the last person.
"Holy...! Wow Sun, never thought you were one for tattoos." the sports girl commented, smirking.
"Girls...what are you doing?" Her friends were now crouching around her, all smiling at her. "I swear if one of you...Shy, would you be so kind and take your hand off my mane?"
"Oh...I'm sorry." the girl took her hand back, looking guilty, despite Sunset trying to be gentle.
"Aw, don't be such a grumpy pants." Pinkie pulled on the tail of the pony.
"Gaah!!" the mare jumped accidentally directly into Fluttershy's arms. Having already experience with other animals, tried to calm her down by slowly stroking her back.
"Awww." came immediately from the others, causing Sunset to blush. How does a blush shine through fur anyway?
"Urrgh..." Sunset pushed herself away from Fluttershy, trying to safe some dignity. The other girl wasn't too happy about it. "Can we please get to homeroom already? We're already late as it is."
"You're no fun, Sun." Rainbow complained, also pulling on her tail.
"What? You have never seen a unicorn in your life?" Kinda overdue to do this little joke. Sunset thought, as she and her friends walked into class. The surprise stares were getting less by this time of the day already, but their homeroom teacher looked ready to quit her job.
AJ and RD held back their snickers, seeing their teacher's face of uneasiness. The late comers took their seats silently, glad to not getting into trouble for being late. Unfortunately for Sunset, she was placed next to Fluttershy, who stole glances every so often to the unicorn. But then again, everybody did.
"Soooooo...." the teacher lamely started homeroom "I'm pretty sure...you all have heard about Miss Shimmer's...condition. (Though I didn't want to belief it myself.) Principal Celestia and all of the stuff (myself not included and I'm not sure about the rest) ask you to treat her as you would always treat her."
There was an awkward pause between everyone, before the teacher cleared her throat again. "In any event, the annual school festival is this Friday. We still need to determine who keeps an eye on our stand and determine the time they'll be standing there. Also two groups one for building and dismantling our stand."
No one was really paying attention. For the Rainbooms, they could zone out, since they had their own stand or rather stage. Of course they could hardly play now with Sunset being a unicorn, but she already had an idea how to handle that problem.
"Fluttershy..." Sunset growled silently, as the hand of her friend touched her fur.
"Ooooh...."
Rainbow and AJ snickered behind their hands, while Rarity smiled. Their teacher didn't notice the small exchange between the two. This went on the entire session. Fluttershy wasn't the only one distracted today. Even after everything for the festival was settled, the unicorn just needed to lift a pen with her magic and everyone's eyes were fixated on her. After 5 minutes their homeroom gave up and just proceeded with class. Granted, she was pretty fascinated with Sunset's magic herself. The mare wouldn't answer any questions however, promising to answer any after school with princess Twilight. The only thing she said was that she might transform back any minute.
Class was over and now it was lunchtime. They actually managed to get through the hallway rather quickly, probably because everyone froze up, upon seeing Sunset or made her way.
At least now they try to be discrete with their phones. she thought dryly.
The cafeteria wasn't full as of yet, but the line was already there. Sunset and her friends got in line with Sunset very carefully watching her tail. Rainbow and Pinkie had that look on their faces. The one they always got, when they planned one of their elaborate pranks.
"I'm watching you guys."
Sunset placed herself between her friends, while they were standing in the line to get their lunch. She somehow tried to hide between them, so she would at least be able to get her lunch without any interruptions. Guess what, it actually somehow worked. The only thing worth mentioning, yes staring students, when Sunset was levitating things around doesn't count anymore, was Granny Smith's reaction to seeing Sunset Shimmer and her magic. "Applejack, did Applebloom let her friends feed the ponies again?"
Do I want to know?
"Uh, no Granny. That's...er...Sunset Shimmer. Ya know...magic and all that hooey...."
"Ah'm getting too old for this." she stated simply.
The pony and her friends had no problem finding a table. It was rather the rest of the students who tried to get a seat on the table the unicorn was sitting on. There were many disappointed faces, when the table was overfilled. Some students had taken seats from other tables and were sitting at the corners.
"Really guys?" Sunset asked, after looking around with a deadpan expression. She recognized some of the people who had surrounded her earlier. From the rest she only recognized Vinyl and Trixie.
"Come on Sun. What's wrong with getting some attention?"
Roseluck found her hand stuck in mid-air, unable to move it. A green glow surrounded it. The girl looked up from her hand and found Sunset's horn glowing, while at the same time she was eating her salad, using her fork with her magic. Against Roseluck's will, her hand was pushed back to her lap.
"No. Touching." Sunset emphasized each word. Of course that was only gave Pinkie a reason to poke her from behind. Multiple times. Just when Sunset had her in her magic grip, Rainbow decided to creep up from the other side.
"Guys, seriously? I just want to eat in peace." she sighed. "And I'm not going to show of any of my magic, at least not without the principal's permission. And if you have any questions, spread the word that Twilight is coming here after school. And if you're all nice to me...I might show some things. There HAPPY?!?!" she asked visibly irritated.
Everyone around the tables cheered. Sunset let out another irritated sigh, before she continued eating.
"Hey Sun, if you don't mind me asking, why do you got a tattoo on your butt?" Rainbow asked.
.... "Say what?" Applejack asked calmly. She kept her cool for three seconds, before she, Rainbow and a few others at the table started to laugh. Sunset rolled her eyes and simply continued eating. By the time she was finished the laughter had died down.
"It's...a mark..." Sunset tried to explain "which shows a pony's special talent. It also says something about a pony's personality. For example, mine shows my special talent for magic, as well as my love for watching the sunset and the sunrise."
"So every one of you knows from birth what they're good at?" Trixie asked.
"Wow, I'm jealous." Pinkie stated.
"Not from birth, no." Sunset shook her head. "As long as we didn't figure our special talents out ourselves, we don't get our cutie (there were a few snickers) marks.
Girls, can we meet in the band room? I need to go to the little girls room."
XIII
In order to avoid anymore awkward situation, Sunset teleported into the practice room. A little dizziness told her that she shouldn't overdo it after being out of practice for such a long time. Luckily she had just eaten, so she would recover rather quickly.
It didn't take long for the rest to arrive. Even Vinyl was with them, but that was actually in Sunset's favor.
"So what's this all about, sugercube?" Applejack asked.
"Well, considering my current situation" she held up one leg and checked her hoof "I won't be able to play my guitar for a while and with the upcoming school festival, that is a little counterproductive."
The others understood immediately. Pinkie and Fluttershy let out an 'oh'.
"But darling, I thought it was only temporarily. Which is a shame, since I have thought of so many designs..." Rarity mumbled.
Sunset placed herself on a seat, sitting on all four haunches. "That's right, but we're talking about a spell that came from Twilight Sparkle, the element of magic and an alicorn to put the icing on the cake."
"I love cake!" Pinkie exclaimed.
Ignoring her statement, the unicorn continued. "I've been thinking about my situation. Given the fact that the portal might have done something to the spell, there's a pretty good chance I'm going to be stuck like this for a very long time."
"So...we won't be able to play with you...on Friday." Fluttershy concluded. "Or at least...there is a chance."
"Aww, what a bummer." Pinkie mumbled.
"Yeah, that's not so awesome." Rainbow agreed.
Sunset's face lit up all of the sudden. She picked up the guitar with her magic and tentatively played a few notes. The faces of the other girls lit up at this.
"Oh yeah! A unicorn in our band! Now THAT would be awesome!" Rainbow exclaimed, pumping her fist into the air. "Now I hope the spell will last that long!"
"Well, I'll see if I can get the hang of it with my magic. And AJ? Can I hit at your place as long as I'm like this? I'd also need a way to get discretely to your place, if you got a free bed that is."
"Sure sugar. Ah'm sure ah got a free stable for ya." The farm girl grinned.
"Hey!"
While the girls laughed, a certain lavender skinned girl got ready for a walk with her dog.
By pure chance Sunset got a free period, along with Fluttershy. The two were on the roof, which is always accessible to students like in Japanese schools, where Fluttershy was sitting on the ground, petting Angel Bunny, who was sitting on her lap, while Sunset had borrowed a normal guitar from the music room and tried her best to optimize her magic play. She only managed one note at a time so far. When she tried more she risked ripping a string.
"Oh mare." Sunset muttered. "You know I learned to play guitar in order to get a better grasp of my hands." Sunset told Fluttershy out of the blue. [A/N: This idea was stolen. I forgot which story.] "Never thought doing it the other way around is harder."
"Oh, I'm sure you will get the hang of it." Fluttershy assured.
"In less than a week? This is just the first step. I'll need to press the chords at the right time too and at the moment, I'm trying not to rip those things apart." She sighed. "Maybe it'll work better if I use picks." She mused. "Oh poop. I didn't take any with me. Be right back."
Sunset left, trotting towards the door, which led to the staircase. Seeing her use her magic didn't startle Fluttershy anymore. The girl could only imagine how it was to have magic at your disposal the entire time. Every time her own magic awakened during the band sessions, it felt incredible.
"Oh my." Distracted by her own thoughts, a strong gust managed to send some important papers of hers flying of the roof. Luckily they didn't fly across the street or anything, instead just landed on the grassy grounds in front of the school building.
"Oh." Fluttershy groaned. Not wanting to push her luck more than necessary, she quickly ran to the staircase herself. It took her around five minutes to reach the entrance. Luckily it wasn't particular as windy as it was on the roof, so her papers were still there.
Relieved, she quickly walked outside and started picking up her homework, notes and a few other things. She was about to pick up the last sheet, but a purple dog bested her to it and ran away.
"Oh my." Fluttershy "exclaimed" surprised, as she watched the dog running away. It looked perticulary familiar.
"Spike!" Twilight yelled. "Come here!"
The pink haired girl was pleasantly surprised to see Twilight being here earlier than Sunset told everyone she would arrive. Though for some reason she wasn't wearing her regular clothes, but some black formal clothes. Rarity would have a fit over the lack of personality her clothes expressed.
Twilight picked up the paper from her dog and handed it over to Fluttershy. "I'm sorry about this. He can be very playful at times."
"Oh that's alright. Hmm?"
"What's wrong?"
"Oh nothing. I was just afraid the paper would be wet. I'm surprised that there aren't even any bite marks." the butter yellow skinned girl said, inspecting the paper from all angles. The other girl giggled at that and looked a little proud.
"Yes, about that, I trained him to be careful with papers. He's become my number one assistant, so to speak."
Fluttershy giggled. "I see. You're early Twilight. Sunset said you would come after school."
Twilight didn't respond. She stood there, surprised that the high school student knew her name. Spike just sat beside her, his tongue hanging out of his mouth.
"Twilight?"
"E-excuse me." Twilight noticed herself that she had been quiet for some time. "How do you know my name?"
"Huh? What do you mean Twilight? It's me, Fluttershy. Oh, I didn't upset you, did I? I'm really sorry if I did. I'm sorry for not noticing. Please forgive me."
Twilight was taken aback, by the girl's sudden change in behavior. Fluttershy was pleading her for forgiveness, although there was nothing to be forgiven. Luckily she was a quick thinker and could easily come up with a logical explanation after a few seconds.
"Perhaps you're mistaking me for someone else?" Twilight provided her theory to the girl, who was at the verge of tears. "Because I'm sure I never met you. I also don't attend..." she looked over to the sign "...Canterlot High."
Fluttershy took in this information and considered it, mainly as a small hope that she didn't really upset her friend. Then came to mind one of the first conversations Sunset had with her friends, back before the incident with the Dazzlings.
XIII
"Say what again?" Rainbow asked for confirmation. "There's another me over there at Twilight's place who claims to be as awesome as I am?"
"If you put it that way..." Sunset cleared her throat. "Anyways, I'm pretty sure you've at least seen one sci-fi movie about parallel dimensions or heard about the multiverse theory."
"So that's what it's called? Not as fancy as ah remembered it." Applejack stated.
"Yeah. Equestria is completely different from this place. But the people here are ponies on the other side of the mirror. Not only ponies, I think I recognized someone who has a gryphon counterpart. But you get the gist of things."
"Oh, so THAT'S why I thought Twilight has a twin sister with a dog that looked exactly like the one she had with her, who lived in the city!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed.
"Seriously? Ya didn't even thought it maght be the Twilight from the city?"
Pinkie in return only shook her head.
"If everyone here has a counterpart, what about your counterpart darling?" Rarity addressed the issue.
Sunset frowned in return. "Dunno. As soon as I figured out how things worked here, I looked for her in town, city, internet. Surprisingly she's one of the rare people who don't have a facebook account. Maybe I'll meet her someday, but so far."
XIII
"Oh my goodness! I'm really, really sorry."
"It's...alright." Twilight tried to reassure. "Umm, you attend Canterlot High, right?"
"Mhm." the other girl replied meekly.
"Tell me, did anything strange happened lately?"
"Eh..."
Before Fluttershy could muster up some kind of answer, Twilight pressed on.
"Like the supposed gas explosion, which took out the front of this school a couple of months ago. I checked and according to the plans from the town hall, no gas pipes were ever running underground. At least from this side of the school." [As far as I understand American law, everyone has access to those kind of things, if he/she waits long enough. Please tell me if I'm wrong, if not, it's my story, deal with it :)]
Fluttershy only let out another meek-sound in response, hiding behind her long hair.
"Or a couple of weeks ago, there were rumors going around about some "weird lights" and "UFOs"." Twilight shook her head "I don't belief in aliens or anything, but I have seen those lights myself. It was almost like it had some kind of form, but I was more focused on another part of the night-sky. You see, there was a meteor supposed to be seen that night and I wanted to test my new telescope- right. I'm getting off topic again. Anyways, what I wanted to ask you, was there anything...unusual? There was some kind of school event, wasn't there?"
"Y-yes." Twilight could guess the answer by the nod the other girl gave her.
"And back to my actual question, did you notice anything unusual?" Twilight pressed, as in getting all serious, taking a step forward, as well as leaning forward. Poor Fluttershy shrunk, in matter of speaking, under the gaze.
"..."
"Excuse me, could you speak up please? I have a hard time understanding you."
"T-there was nothing.
"What was that?"
"Nothing was strange."
Twilight was getting a little frustrated with the girl. "How about you either nod or shake your head."
Fluttershy shook her head vigorously, her hair almost hitting Twilight. Still, Twilight may had not many social skills, but even she could tell on small habits, like Fluttershy playing with her hair, that the girl was lying. She read up on the subject on social behaviors, since her brother wouldn't stop pestering her.
"Is that so?"
"I-I need to go!" Fluttershy said and left in a haste.
Twilight stood there for a few more seconds, before taking out a pencil and notepad.
"She was nervous about the subject. Possible personal experience? Bad experience in general? Hmm..."
Unnamed (auto named on getting an idea for a chapter name)
"You met the Twilight from our world?" Rarity asked, as they all met up in the music room. The rest of the school day hadn't gone for Sunset any better and she was sitting in a corner, levitating a brush and getting her mane, as well as her tail straight again.
"Really? How was she?" the unicorn asked from her corner.
"Uh...well..." Fluttershy played nervously with her hair. "She asked a lot of questions."
"Questions?" Rainbow repeated a little frowny, but then her eyes lit up. "I bet it was about our awesome band."
"Seriously, Dash? I bet she hasn't even heard 'bout our band." AJ interjected. "We're just a school band."
"Well, Vinyl did put us on the internet." Sunset told the others, putting the brush back into Rarity's bag. "But we don't have a lot of views. But we got complimented for the "special effects"." she smiled and everybody else did as well.
"You know, we could hit the big times if we keep it up." Rainbow said, pumping her fist into the air.
"Yeah, well, we can try to do that after I get back to normal." Sunset muttered. "So what was she asking about? Is she going to attend the school?"
"No. She asked about...uhh....you know..."
"What?"
"You know...that?"
"OH MY GOSH! THAT!!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed in an over-dramatic matter, grabbing her hair with both of her hands. She quickly "sneaked up" to Rarity, getting close to her ear. "I don't actually know what she is talking about."
The hobby fashionista gave her friend a look.
"Well outta it Shy. What did she asked you about?" Applejack got a little impatient.
"Oh, well...she asked about...the "incident"."
"Incident?" Rarity and Sunset asked at the same time. "I'm afraid you have to be a little more specific dear."
"She asked about, you know...when the school front had been-"
"Urgh." Sunset facehoofed. "About when I blew up the front of the school, right?" Fluttershy nodded timidly in response. Rarity bend down to Sunset's level and put a reassuring hand on the pony's shoulder.
"But why would she ask about that?" Rainbow asked.
Fluttershy then proceeded into telling how exactly her encounter with Twilight went and what exactly the girl found out. The five girls weren't so sure what to make of it, while the mare in the group grew quite nervous at this revelation.
"This might end bad."
"Huh? Why'd you say that?" Rainbow Dash asked. "If it's Twilight, she's gotta be awesome. We should totally become friends with her."
"I agree with Rainbow Dash, darling." Rarity stated. "It would be better if we explain things to her, before she finds out on her own that everyone in school already knows her. Imagine what would happen, if she bumps into Flash Sentry."
"On second thought..."
AJ didn't let the blue girl finish the sentence, already knowing what she had in mind. "Yeah, we should talk to her. But...ah don't think she'll just belief the whole magic doohicky. Unless we show her Sunset. If you're okay with that, sugercube."
"That's just it. I do want to meet her, but...I'm kinda scared that she'll overreact and tell someone."
"Eh, sugar? Who'd belief her in the first place?" the cowgirl pointed out.
"Yeah and besides, you'll HAVE to tell her eventually." Pinkie threw in her two cents, spinning around on her chair.
"That's just it. I know I have to tell her eventually, but only after the two of us have got to known each other. I don't want her to look at me like I'm some sort of freak."
"Aw, you're not a freak sunny. You're cute!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed. If the others wouldn't know better, they would say she meant it in a romantic way.
"Yeah...thanks. I think." the unicorn shook her head. "Anyways, I think we should speak to Twilight, our Twilight, first. She should be here any moment anyway, so I guess we should get to the mirror."
Everyone agreed and was about to exit the room, when the door was opened by one of the school kids. Unfortunately for Sunset, Canterlot High was not only a High School, but it included also a middle and a grade school. And right now an army of grade school girls was stationed in front of the door, equipped with brushes, make-up and everything else a girl could use for styling.
"There she is!" the one in the front exclaimed, pointing at the unicorn.
"At this point, I call animal abuse." Sunset said resigned and prepared yet another teleport. Only this time her horn stopped glowing and she fell on her knees. "Uff, I have used too much magic today."
"She can't run anymore!"
"I wanna make her hair!"
"Hey, I want to make her hair."
"Has anyone seen my scissors?"
"Quick, help me!" Sunset pleaded. "I do your homework for a week!"
"Deal!" Rainbow Dash quickly opened the window and placed a chair in front of it, so Sunset could jump out. Which she did and just in the nick of time, as the room was flooded with girls.
"That was a close call." Sunset breathed out. Her relief was short lived, as something came to mind. She was outside of the school, only a few feet away from the open street. If anyone would see her, she'd be in deep trouble. Looking for a place to hide, which was not the school building, she quickly jumped inside the bushes.
Slowly moving through the plants, she made her way to the main entrance, expecting her friends to come out from there. A good amount of students were already outside and Sunset was not in the mood to deal with them.
While she was still thinking about what to do, she noticed a flash of light from the corner of her eye. Sure enough, looking over she found Twilight who was seemingly mentally switching from a 4 leg to a 2 leg body. Hopefully excessive amount of using the mirror wouldn't have any side effects on her.
The girl out of the mirror stunt got the attention of the surrounding students. The unicorn couldn't understand a thing, but it was obvious that they were pestering her about the mirror. At least some of them were nice enough to help her organize her papers.
Wait, paperwork? No, not papers. Parchments. Hmm, I could make some money out of- getting off topic Sunset. Hmm, looks like she managed to get them off her back. I hoped she warned them not to go through it. Although it would be pretty funny- oh, here she is.
"Psst! Twilight!"
"Huh?" The girl looked around for a few seconds. "Over here!" Sunset's head popped her head out of the bush.
"Sunset Shimmer? What are you doing in there?" Twilight asked completely perplexed.
"Hiding, what else? I used up almost all of my energy reserves and now I can't teleport anymore."
"Why would you-"
"Pshh! Someone's coming!"
Sunset hid again inside the bushes, leaving a stunned Twilight. She was about to speak up, when she was approached by five familiar girls. "Oh, heya Twilight!" Pinkie Pie cheered and gave the lavender skinned girl a tight hug, which almost caused her to drop her papers.
"H-hi." the princess replied meekly.
The rest of the girls approached and Sunset came out of the bushes. "Phew, it's just you girls."
The girls giggled at her expense, only adding to Twilight's confusion. "Anypony mind telling me what is going on?"
"Oh, Sunset here's gotten a lot of attention, to put it mildly." Applejack explained.
"Don't worry, Sunny. The kid's have all gone out through the side entrance."
"Good to hear."
"Kids? What about children?"
"I...don't want to talk about it."
They walked back to Principal Celestia's office, in order to get the headmasters of the school into the situation. The unicorn noticed Luna's hand twitching, at the sight of the cute little pony unicorn. She made a mental note to keep her distance.
"I did all the necessary calculations, I made some copies for everyone." Twilight motioned at the papers she brought in, which were now lying on the tables.
"Twilight, I doubt anyone besides us is going understand. And I really need a refresher. For that matter, I have a simple question. JUST HOW STRONG ARE YOU?!" she shouted, levitating the paper in front of the princess of friendship. "And, what the tartarus?! What's this about a friendship multiplier? I know friendship is magic, but...I never took it that literally."
Twilight smiled knowingly. "Belief me, it surprised me too. But there's a real difference and to be honest, I wouldn't take the numbers on that one too seriously. Friendship isn't really something you can or should put into numbers."
"And you still did..." Sunset mumbled.
"No offense or anything, but that sounds like total cliche, like out of a cartoon." Rainbow Dash commented.
"Cliche? After spending a week on this world, I noticed Equestria is filled with them. Just look at me."
Celestia actually giggled. "I think I know where I spent my next summer vacation, if that is okay of course."
"Oooh, oooh! I wanna come too!" Pinkie raised her arm.
"Let's get back to the matters at hand, shall we?" Luna spoke as the voice of reason. "Miss Sparkle, how long will this condition last? Our teachers had problems keeping their classes in check, while word spread out. Especially in the ones Miss Shimmer attended."
"Luckily she managed to keep the student body calm, by promising you would answer every question they have. I'm sorry to put this onto you, but it would help us a great deal out if you could satisfy their curiosity." Celestia added.
"Oh, it's no problem. I just would have to go back real quick and tell my friends I'd be out for a little longer. Or...Sunset, could I borrow...?"
"Sure thing. So, the result?"
"Oh yes." Twilight nodded. "Now, keep in mind, I'm not sure how much this world in itself might have affected the spell, so the final result might vary a little bit. But all thinks considered and thankfully the magic mirror weakening my overcharged spell, my prediction is you're stuck in this body for about week. Plus, minus a few hours."
"A week?" Everyone repeated.
"Well great." Sunset head-desked. "I'll have to stay hidden for a week."
"Don't worry Sunset." Fluttershy came closer. "We'll help you go through it. Though, we probably better give you a few shots against rabies for example. Just in case." she spoke softly with her motherly voice.
"You know what I hate? I don't have a good argument against that."
"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....-"
"What do you mean I have to copy that?!" Rainbow exclaimed, as Sunset gave her a deadpan look. It had been a very long day for the unicorn and she really wasn't in the mood for any more shenanigans.
"Rainbow, you think the teachers won't get suspicious if they see my horn writing and not your hand writing?" she asked the girl.
"Oh...right, I...wait, horn writing?"
"Expression from Equestria. Horn, magic."
"Oh." Rainbow Dash picked up "her homework" and put it away. Since they were all present at Sweet Apple Acres already, they decided to do their homework together. Granny Smith provided them with little treats during the time and didn't even comment on the unicorn being in the kitchen anymore.
At one point Applebloom joint in, but she was very distracted by the sentient pony being in the same room, as she was. More often than not she would try to give Sunset a little streak on the back, which caused Sunset's mood to drop rather rapidly. Applebloom could consider herself lucky that Sunset wasn't able to use more magic, than simple levitation. At the one point she started her own homework, she had to give magic up completely and resume into using her mouth.
By the time she was done, the pony felt completely exhausted. She spit out the ballpoint pen, causing Rarity to cringe slightly and let out a huge yawn. "Sorry everyone. I think I'm gonna take a nap."
"Are you alright, Sunset?" Applebloom asked.
"Urrgh, not used to using magic anymore, I guess." the unicorn replied.
"Ah can prepare the bed in the guest room, if ya want." Applejack offered.
"Thanks, but I think the couch will be enough. It's not like I'm planning on sleeping until tomorrow morning." she replied, getting down from her chair and walking towards the living room, where Granny was sleeping in her rocking chair.
Sunset placed herself on the couch and put her head on one of the cushions. Despite it only being a couch, it was very comfortable and in a matter of minutes she was asleep.
The rest of the Rainbooms didn't have the brains Sunset have, as a result it took them longer to complete their homework for the next day.
"That was really mean of the teachers." Pinkie Pie complained. "I mean Sunny got turned into a unicorn! We should have thrown a party!"
"Pinkie, if things would go after you, the parties would never end." Rainbow Dash commented, looking up from her portable gaming console. The only thing she would have been helpful was sports and human anatomy, but none of the others had homework centered around that. As a result, no one started complaining, when Rainbow Dash didn't start helping the others. Normally it was she who needed help anyways.
"Hmm, since we're all finished, why don't we go and check on Sunset? I'm a little worried about the poor dear." Rarity aired her concerns. Silently agreeing, everyone got up from the table and walked into the living room of the Apples. What they found was an adorable little pony, lying on the side and her front legs slowly moving in a gallop motion. The other's d'awwed at the sight in front of them.
"She must be dreaming." Fluttershy stated, as she walked over to the couch and sat down on it. As gently as possible she put Sunset's head on her lap, who then instinctively leaned closer towards the warm body of her friend. A gentle smile appeared on Fluttershy's lips and gently she scratched behind Sunset's ear. What followed was an adorable whinny and her hind legs kicking something invisible.
"Oh my..." Rarity placed herself on the other side and soon started stroking Sunset's back. Pinkie Pie not wanting to be left out, giddily jumped over (in very small jumps) and knelt down in front of the couch, gently scratching Sunset's neck.
"If ah wouldn't know better, ah'd say she did some kinda magic voodoo on us." Applejack talked to Rainbow Dash.
"I don't get why everyone is acting that way. Sure, she is a unicorn, which is pretty awesome, but look at them. They're acting like four year old girls."
"Oh please, Rainbow Dash." Rarity waved off with her free hand. "You're simply not all over her, because it would be "uncool" to act in such a way."
"Resistance is futile, Dashie!" Pinkie Pie all of the sudden stood in front of Rainbow Dash, her eyes swirling like crazy. "Join the herd Dashie."
"Uh...Pinks? Could you stop?" Rainbow asked, a little crept out by her friend's newest antics.
"Your head is full of ponies, now." Pinkie took a step forward. Instinctively Dash took a step backwards.
"Pinkie..."
Said girl was all of the sudden behind Rainbow Dash, grabbed the sports captain on both arms and forced her to look at Sunset. "Resistance is futile! You know you want it." The pink girl hissed into Rainbow's ear, who looked at her friend with wide eyes.
"Will you stop if I say she's cute?" Dash tried.
"You will be assimilated into the herd." Pinkie continued unfazed. "Oooh! A muffin!"
Rainbow turned around, to see that Pinkie had her mouth around AJ's hand. As the girl pulled back, there was only the paper left, which had been wrapped around the presumably muffin.
The farm girl wiped her hand dry on her skirt. "Just what actually happened?" RD asked.
The first thing Sunset noticed after waking up, was that she was held by someone. Looking upwards she soon found the sleeping face of her friend Fluttershy, who subconsciously was stroking the little pony in her sleep. Applebloom was sitting next to Fluttershy on the couch, watching TV, when she noticed Sunset being awake.
"Oh, y'are awake." Applebloom said, placing herself on her knees, so she could directly look into at the pony. "The other's needed to leave, because it got a little late." the small girl pointed at a clock hanging on the opposite wall. Looking up, Sunset found out that it was past 8 PM already.
"And Fluttershy?" Sunset asked.
"Ta be honest, no one had the heart to wake her up." Applebloom grinned. "Say, would ya mind...?" she tentatively raised her hand. Sunset let out a sigh, before dropping her head back on Fluttershy's lap. "You know what? I don't care anymore. Go ahead."
"Yay!" Overjoyed, Applebloom started stroking through Sunset's mane and occasionally scratched the back of her ear. And if the unicorn was completely honest with herself, it did feel good and Fluttershy's lap was very comfortable. Both Sunset and AB watched some kid's cartoon, Fluttershy somehow not waking up from the noise of the TV.
"Hey, where are the other Apples by the way?" Sunset Shimmer asked at one point.
"AJ is helpin' Big Mac with the tractor. The thin' was actin' up again and we need it to get the harvest into the barn. Granny Smith is sleeping upstairs already. She needs ta get out early ta prepare school lunch. You'd think she'd need ta get up last." Applebloom summarized everything.
"I once worked part time in a pizzeria. They open up at 11 AM, but the cooks need to be there way around 7 or 8 in order to get everything ready. Shouldn't your granny be in pension already?"
Applebloom looked down on her hands. "Nah, we can't afford it. The last two years have been bad for harvesting and with Mac, AJ and me still goin' ta school, we need every penny."
"Oh...I'm sorry." Sunset looked away.
"Is alright...hey, wait a minute! Ya're a unicorn, aren't ya? That means ya can fulfill wishes! Ya can help Granny with her hip!" Appleblooms eyes began to sparkle.
"That's a new one on the myth category. But sorry Applebloom. Magic doesn't work that way. My special talent isn't even medicine." she looked down her flank before looking up again, only to find the crestfallen face of Applebloom. Sunset quickly thought of something to cheer her up again and luckily got an idea.
"Hey, hey! No need to be sad. I may be no doctor, but I'm sure I can help you with your harvest tomorrow."
"Huh? Ya can?"
"Sure." Sunset grinned. "Just get up early tomorrow, so around 5. You'll see then. Urggh!"
"Thank ya, Sunset!" Applebloom hugged the unicorn.
"Urgh, thanks, but I haven't even done anything yet. Urgh, Applebloom! I need air!"
"Sorry." the girl smiled sheepishly.
AJ and Big Mac returned around 9 PM, finding Sunset still in the grasp of Fluttershy. Chuckling to himself, Big Mac tapped the girl on the shoulder, who finally woke up. "Uaahh. Oh, hello Big Macintosh. Hello Sunset, had a nice nap? Oh umm, if you don't mind me asking, where is everyone else?" the shy girl asked.
Applejack chuckled. "They already left, sugarcube. It's nine PM."
"Oh no!" Fluttershy jumped upwards, causing Sunset Shimmer to meet the floor. "Hey-! Ow..."
"Oh, I'm so really, really sorry Sunset Shimmer." Fluttershy carefully picked the unicorn up and placed her on her lap, inspecting Sunset for any injuries. "You aren't hurt are you? Oh you poor dear..."
"Fluttershy, I'm fine." Sunset groaned. "You better head home though. I'm sure your parents are worried. AH!"
"Oh my you're right!" Fluttershy jumped up again and headed towards the door. "Oh, um, I'll see you tomorrow. Goodbye."
The humans waved their goodbyes. Sunset could only groan and curse karma.
Sunset got a rather late dinner for Apple family standards. The others had already eaten and Applebloom was already preparing for bed, reading one of her comics before hitting the hay for the day. Sunset's dinner consisted of a few slices of bread, an apple and peanut butter. Since she forgot to bring her own toothbrush, she needed to borrow one from the family. After getting ready for bed, her friend Applejack showed the unicorn the guest bedroom. "It ain't anything fancy, but it'll do, right?"
"It's good. Bigger than my own room actually." Sunset looked around. The guest room consisted of a bed, a night desk, a desk with drawers for clothes, a small cabinet and hey, there was even an old radio sitting on the windowsill.
"Welp, good night sugar. See ya tomorrow."
"'Night AJ."
AJ left the room, closing the door. Now all by herself, Sunset walked towards the bed AJ prepared earlier today. And since she had nothing better to do and needed to get up early the next day, she climbed up the bed and levitated the blanket over her body with what magic she recovered over the course of the day.
The next morning, Sunset woke up with the first rays of the sun hitting her face. Groaning she forced herself out of the bed, walking towards the bathroom in order to get refreshed. According to a clock in the room it was just 10 minutes after five. Applebloom seems to have forgotten to set her alarm clock, so Sunset proceeded to wake up the girl. Finding her room wasn't all that hard, since a picture featuring a flower and a girl with the name Applebloom above both was hanging on the door.
Sunset knocked at the door with her hoof and waited.
She knocked again.
A groan came out of the room, followed by someone jumping off a bed and footsteps approaching the door. A few seconds later the youngest Apple opened the door, rubbing one of her eyes. "Sunset? *yawn* Do you know what time it is?"
"Have you forgotten that I wanted to help your family today?"
Applebloom needed to think for a few seconds, before she could say something. "Oh yeah, now ah remember. But, how ya goin' ta do that?"
"Simple, really. But first I need a good breakfast. Oh and be careful to not wake up the others. I want it to be a surprise." Sunset smiled a little.
"If ya say so." AB shrugged and stepped out of her room, not bothering to get out of her pajamas. As quietly as possible, the two sneaked down the stairs and walked towards the kitchen. Applebloom showed the unicorn where she could get everything she wanted for a good breakfast. The girl watched with wonder as Sunset used her magic to let everything fly around, open and closing drawers and cupboards and making herself three different kind of breads. The girl stuck with some simple cereal for kids. Still, the unicorn urged Applebloom to hurry up, since the Apple family in general tend to get up early.
Done with their quick breakfast, Sunset wanted to know where the family usually stored their harvest. 'Bloom put on some shoes, before walking outside and leading the pony towards one of the many barns.
"Okay Bloom. Would you mind opening the doors as well as the cellar door? I'm gonna need to focus on this one."
"What are ya gonna do?" The girl asked, while pulling the switch and opening the first barn door. Sunset only smirked.
"You'll see."
It's been a while since I have done something on a massive scale like this. But it's just levitation. I should have no problem with that. And hopefully have enough magic left for some emergency teleportations. Sunset took a good look around all the apple trees. Taking in a deep breath, she started to focus. Only moments later her horn began glowing in the familiar magic aura, only stronger than usual. Applebloom watched with interest as the glow intensified, not noticing that from an entire orchard, apples started to fly her way. It wasn't until she was accidentally hit by one that she noticed the strange phenomenon happening on her family's farm.
Her jaw hit the floor as she watched Sunset putting all the apples into the cellar. After the deed was done, Sunset stopped the magic flow and checked the cellar if everything was alright. Illuminating her horn, she saw that no apple had been damaged and no space wasted.
"THAT WAS AWESOME!!" Applebloom shouted, having found her voice back. Sunset scratched the back of her head sheepishly.
"It's the least I could do for you guys letting me stay here. And hey, since I am a unicorn now, I might as well make some use of my magic, while I still have it."
Maybe she should have remembered that dog owners also need to get up pretty early.
"Well, here we go Big Mac. 'Nother year, 'nother applebucking season." Applejack stretched her arms in the morning sunlight.
"Eeyup."
"Just hope, the old rusty tractor won't give up on us again."
"Eeyup."
"Ya have a huge vocabulary, did ah ever tell ya that?"
"Eeyup."
Applejack laughed and playfully smacked her brother's arm. It was their usual morning ritual, she would say things that just so came into her head and Mac would reply with either "eeyup" or "eenope". He rarely said more than one of those two words.
"Alright. Ya get the traktor and ah...ah..." Both AJ's and Mac's jaw figuratively hit the floor, when they found a whole lotta bunch of their apples flying from from one of the far away orchards into one of their barns. The faint sound of them hitting the floor could be heard, until Applebloom closed the door.
"That was the last one Sunset." the little girl called out. Just then her older siblings noticed the unicorn slowly trotting up towards them, obviously having trouble keeping her head up from the ground. An idea of what might have happened, no scratch might, it totally happened. AJ and Big Mac ran up to Sunset, who upon hearing the footsteps, raised her head and greeted them.
"Morning guys." she lamely waved with her leg, loosing balance in the process and would have hit the floor, if not for Big Macintosh catching her.
"Sunset?! Are ya alright?" Applebloom shouted, running up to everyone and -pony.
"What have ya done?!" Applejack asked her equine friend.
"Magic...exhausted...water?" Sunset was clearly having trouble speaking.
"Let's get her inside." Mac suggested, already standing up and quickly heading towards their house. His younger siblings quickly followed him, not being able to catch up. Applejack used the opportunity to ask Applebloom what exactly happened.
"Well, ah told Sunset Shimmer 'bout applebuckin' season an' she told me she had a "surprise" ready for the whole family. Ah didn't know what she meant, 'till she woke me up and brought me outside. It was amazin' Applejack. She just send all of the apples of an entire orchard flyin' and sent them into the barns. We needed ta walk ta each orchard, but ya should have seen her!"
"Now wait a darn minute. Ya telling me Sunset picked up all the apples all by herself?"
Applebloom nodded.
"And how many orchards did she harvest?"
"Ah'm not sure, but ah think...all of them."
Sunset gulped down her fifth glass of water, Big Mac watching her a little worried. Around that time the other two Apples walked into the kitchen. Seeing Sunset like that, made Applejack worry.
"Are you alright, sugercube?" the farm girl asked.
Sunset nodded, putting the glass with her hooves away. "Exhausted, but fine."
"What were ya doin' out there anyway?"
"Well, Applebloom told me you were having a bit of a rough time and really needed this harvest to be done. So, I decided to help out."
"H-help out? Sugar, ya done the whole harvesting fer us! Ah...ah don't really know what ta say."
"Ah guess, thank you would be a start." Big Macintosh shrugged. "But are ya really alright? Ya look like ya just came from a three hour rodeo and ya were the one carrying the rider."
Sunset couldn't help but laugh at the mental image. "I'm fine really, well I should be after I got something in my stomach. Still, I'm kinda disappointed. I shouldn't be out of it like that."
"Yeah whatever. Big Mac's right though, thanks a ton hun. Come on, ya deserve a real mighty breakfast."
"Eeyup."
"Urgh, I ate too much." Sunset groaned. She was lying on Fluttershy's lap, who they picked up on their way to school. Big Mac was driving the truck again and AJ was sitting between Fluttershy and her brother.
"How can you eat that much every day?" Sunset asked from her position, as Fluttershy gently stroke over Sunset's belly.
"Ah reckon comes from living on the farm. Ya need the energy, ya know. Right, Big Mac?"
"Eeyup."
"Ow, it's still unnatural."
"Coming from the unicorn." Mac mentioned, causing everyone to laugh.
The mare in question just rolled her eyes and continued to ignore her dignity and enjoyed the belly rub she was getting from Fluttershy. The girl enjoyed the session as well, her other hand wandering towards Sunset's head and started gently stroking through the mane. It felt more like human hair, than the mane of a pony and the fur was almost as soft as that of a bunny.
Fluttershy was a little disappointed, when Sunset rolled around and took her "diary-phone" out.
"Are you writing to Twilight?" Fluttershy asked, while stroking through the mane of the pony.
"Yes. There's something I want to ask her."
"Oh, what is it?"
"Just if she could bring some books over from Equestria."
Dear Princess Twilight,
I know it's a little early to write something, but I figured I needed this one sorted out before school starts. You see, yesterday I learned that Applejack's family had a bit of a bad harvest last year and another one would have come with a lot of problems. Naturally, I decided to help her out with that and with my magic abilities (and a few snack apples) I was able to significantly help her out. However, I noticed that my magical capabilities are really lacking. I already figured my stamina wasn't up to par with what it used to be, but it turned out it was worse than I thought. Also I remembered I have been out of touch with magic for quite some time and certainly could need a refresher and maybe an insight on what is new.
Long story short, I'm asking you if you could provide me with some books of magic theory, spells and so on. Even if I turn back into a human in less than a week, the least I could do is continuing my studies on various theories and learn new ones.
I hope you can help me with that and I'm sorry for the inconvenience.
Your friend,
Sunset Shimmer
Sunset spit out the pen closed the book. Her magic reserves were still recovering and it was probably for the best to safe everything up, until she and the girls would start on their rehearsal. Fluttershy helped Sunset packing her bag and volunteered to carry it.
"You need to take it easy." she said, stepping out of the truck. The others soon followed her, Sunset carefully trying to hide herself between her friend's legs. It didn't work. As soon as one student laid her eyes on Sunset, everyone suddenly gathered around the group.
"Now, simmer down y'all!" Applejack tried to push the crowd away. "Ya all gawked at the poor gal yesterday, now give her some space mind you. Sunset Shimmer ain't a zoo attraction!"
Some of the students looked guilty and slowly walked away, others just muttered in annoyance and most likely would try again, when the unicorn was alone.
"Thanks Applejack, though you don't need to do that, really. Let them have their fun. This'll be over soon enough anyway."
"Forget it, sugercube. I ain't gonna let them gawk at ya on mah watch. It ain't right, you know." Applejack retorted.
"Applejack is right Sunset. That was a little rude of them." Fluttershy supported her farm friend.
"Look, I really appreciate what you do for me, but compared to what I have done to them, a little gawking, petting, occasional tail pulling is nothing." the unicorn said, looking at her poor, poor tail.
"Oh Sunset" Fluttershy wrapped her arms around the unicorn "you already made amends to all of those actions. We have all already forgiven you."
"Shy's right, Sun. 'Sides, it ain't really healthy blaming yerself for stuff everybody saw past."
The unicorn sighed, but nodded. "Alright, I'll try.
...
Um, Fluttershy? You can let go now, you know?"
"Oh, I'm sorry." the girl blushed, but Sunset could hear a hint of the disappointment in the animal caretaker's voice.
The unicorn chuckled and was about to make her way into the school building, when suddenly a lash of light came from the statue and a trolley filled with seemingly tons of books came out of it. It was followed by a second flash of light with Twilight getting out of the portal, an exciting grin on her face. She saw Sunset and quickly walked over to the fellow Equestrian, taking the cart with her.
"Uh...hey Twilight. What's-?"
"You said you wanted to pick up on your magic studies and I definitely approve of your decision. Together we might be able to find out how the portal actually works and what hidden magic this world might have. I knew you would be busy in school most of the day, so I picked up some light reading material for you."
Fluttershy nervously tapped her with her fingers on the table, glancing at the clock every two seconds. Only five more minutes. Only five more minutes!!! she mentally screamed. It was unfortunate, she and Sunset were in different rooms the entire day and only would be able to see each other during the breaks, lunch and after school. The animal caretaker would never admit it, but she was kind of on addicted to petting and generally caring for her unicorn friend. Who could blame her, Sunset was a unicorn! The one thing every girl wanted to have as a pet.
Nervously she glanced up again. Five more minutes. She hadn't been able to focus on the problem their teacher had given them anyway. Miss Harshwhinny walked in front of the class towards the clock, frowning. She glanced up at it and checked her watch. Grumbling something incomprehensible, she moved up her chair and stepped onto it, to get the clock down. She fidgeted a bit on it, until she was satisfied and hung it back. It now was 20 minutes until class ended. Fluttershy buried her face in her papers.
If Sunset's new form was good for anything, it was running. Being a quadruplet gave her a great advantage over the young girls, who tried to use her like those plastic pony toys. Or should she say abuse? In any event, she recovered some magic, all of which she would use in a few minutes for practice, if she survived the brushy army, that is. These girls were pretty clever. They didn't chase her all at once, rather some of them were positioned at almost every corner of the school with mad grins on their faces.
Sunset needed to change directions, dodge hugs, run between legs, but in the end, she managed to get into the music room, slam the door shut and put a piano in front of the door. Her friends all watched her with a raised eyebrow, as the unicorn caught her breath.
"Aww, are you okay?" Fluttershy asked, slowly stroking with her fingers through the unicorn's mane. Unconsciously, Sunset leaned into the touch, making the girl smile.
"Yeah, anyways, you ready Sunset?" Rainbow Dash asked, shredding a tune.
Sunset levitated her instrument over and prepared the little chip, carefully shredding a few tunes. "Don't expect a perfect run from the get go. This is totally different from using hands."
"Don't worry, hun. If it ain't work, then it ain't work." Applejack tried to assure. "No one is expecting you ta be perfect from the get go, right Rainbow?" the farm girl glared at her friend, who got the message.
"Yeah, sure. Let's start already!"
It went as well, as one might expect. Sunset while not without talent, barely hit the notes. She just couldn't keep up with the rest of the girls. As a result, a rather dejected Sunset put her guitar away into its case. Even the tough Rainbow Dash couldn't help but feel bad upon seeing the dejected pony, because she was a cute pony.
"Aw, don't worry Sunset." Fluttershy put a hand on the unicorns back. "You'll manage it eventually. You didn't miss all the notes."
"Yeah, manage it eventually." Sunset echoed. "In like, what? A month? I barely have a week. No, you girls should probably play on your own. Maybe you can ask Twilight to join? She has a good singing voice after all."
"Oh no, don't you go that way with me." Rainbow Dash bent down in front of her unicorn friend and pulled the animal face to face with herself.
"Now you listen to me, you...little pony! First off, we're NOT going to replace you. And second off: you're not going to give up! So what if today went lousy? You still have the rest of the day! And tomorrow! And the day after tomorrow! And I know if anyone can manage to re-learn playing guitar in a couple of days, it's you!" Rainbow lightly punched Sunset's nose with her fist.
"We still got a couple of minutes left. Now get that thing out and show us how you shred!"
Sunset wasn't sure whether to be inspired by the speech or touched.
"Alright." Shaking her head clear, Sunset summoned her magic again, but instead of her horn glowing in a light green light, green sparks came out of it.
In the meantime, at Crystal Prep, Twilight Sparkle was sitting in the room, which was provided by the principal to her for simply being the best student. Right now she was watching for what seemed to be the hundredth time, the video she took with her Smart Phone. It actually were just a few seconds of apples flying through the sky, while being surrounded by a green light.
"If I wouldn't have seen this with my own eyes..." she sighed and slammed her head on her desk. "This is getting out of hand. People will laugh over me and call me crazy." More than usual. She mentally added.
"Woof!"
Twilight looked down and found her trusty number one assistant, Spike the purple dog, looking up at her, sitting on his haunches. She picked him up and placed him on her lap. The dog then proceeded into licking his mistress' face, causing her to giggle.
"Stop it, you silly dog." She pushed his head down. "But you're right. I can't just give up like that." She readjusted her glasses and spun around in her chair and rolled towards the large clipboard.
"Many were called crazy at the beginning before they turned out to be a genius. I just have to show them that I'm right and that we're about to enter a completely new area in the world of science."
She rolled back to her desk and opened a browser. Next she opened two taps, one for Google, searching for Sweet Apple Acres and the other being the homepage of Canterlot High.
"I still have a free period. Let's see what we can find."
For the rest of the day, there was always at least one of Sunset's friends "escorting" the unicorn to each period of class. Though to be honest, she wasn't really paying attention. She felt down after realizing that she had exhausted her whole magic for the day, meaning an entire day missed re-learning to play the guitar. In order to distract herself from disappointing her friends (in her opinion), she grabbed herself one of Twilight's books and read it during the periods. She had to be careful though. Because of her transformation, the teachers almost always had their eyes set on her.
During lunch, the rest of the girls tried themselves on the Princes' books, but each of them gave up rather quickly.
"This is so eggheadish." Rainbow Dash complained. "And here I thought magic is cool."
"Magic is cool." Sunset replied, flipping pages. "But it's not safe without proper studying. Just look at Twilight. If she wouldn't have learned to control her power, she would be a living, walking, nuclear magic bomb with wings."
That silenced the girls for a couple of seconds, until Rainbow Dash started to laugh at the mental image in her head. Rolling her eyes, Sunset doubled her focus in studying the tome.
At the end of the day AJ, Mac, Rainbow and Sun drove back to Sweet Apple Acres. Upon arrival, Sunset immediately got to her homework, since she had to do twice the amount of work, thanks to her promise. Wanting to stock up her magic reserves, Sunset resumed to using her mouth to write everything down.
An hour later, she trotted into the living room, where she found Rainbow Dash and Applejack arm wrestling on the family table.
"Your homework is on the kitchen table, Rainbow."
"Thanks...ngh....Sun." the athlete said through gritted teeth.
"Hey Applejack. Is there any place around your farm, where I can take a walk without being seen?" the unicorn asked.
If the pony wouldn't know better, she'd have thought she landed in an apple forest. The only thing preventing her from completely succumbing into the fantasy was the fact that the trees were all lined up in a certain pattern.
Sunset usually wasn't the time to causally go on a walk, but right now she definitely needed some fresh air. She didn't feel so down anymore, about having disappointed her friends, but it still stung. Plus, if she was stuck in this body, she might as well make the most of it, while she had the chance to actually use it. Plus, it kinda felt nice being petted.
Sunset shook her head, getting rid of the thought. If this kept up, she would end up snuggling Fluttershy all day, AFTER she turned back into a human.
She found a stray apple, which escaped her magic grasp earlier today on the ground. After cleaning the dirt of on her coat, she sat down on a nearby tree stump and calmly ate the fruit. Surely Applejack wouldn't mind. Plus, apples tasted way better, when you're a pony.
A sudden noise in one of the nearby bushes caught her attention. Expecting to find some kind of animal on the other side, the unicorn sneaked up on the bush and slowly lowered the branches with her leg.
"Woof!"
"Ahh!"
A purple dog jumped out of the bushes, directly at Sunset's face. Taken by surprise, the unicorn stood up on her hindlegs, lost balance and fell onto her back. The dog seemingly being a playful one, jumped on top of her and started licking her face.
"Urrgh...ahaha...AHH! Get...haha...down!"
The unicorn pony shoved the dog from her body to the ground and rolled over. Unfortunately this ended up with her tail landing on the dog's face, who thought it was a really nice toy.
"AIIIEEEEEEEE!" Sunset Shimmer screamed like a little girl, when the dog decided to pull her tail.
"Let go!" she shouted, before giving the thing a powerful kick with her hind leg. She could hear the dog yelp in surprise and then whimper, when he hit the ground.
Sunset turned around to take a better look at her "opponent".
"Spike?!" the unicorn exclaimed, realizing who she just kicked. She ran up to his side and took his head into her foreleg.
"Are you alright? What was that all about?" she asked.
The dog opened his eyes and pushed his legs against her face, while his tongue adorably hung out of his mouth.
"Spike...?"
"Woof!"
"Oh no." Sunset suddenly realized who she had in front of her. Not Spike, but Spike. And that could only one thing...
"Spike? Spike!" an all too familiar voice called.
"Woof! Wo-!"
"No." Sunset leaped herself on Spike's back and clasped his mouth shut with her hooves. Uncomfortable in this position, Spike struggled to get away from the pony.
"Shh, shh." Sunset readjusted herself in a way, where Spike was a little more comfortable, but she still had her grip on the dog.
"Everything is fine. There's no need to get loud." the unicorn tried to sooth the struggling dog.
"Spiiike! Where are you?"
The dog increased his struggle, making it harder and harder for Sunset to keep him down.
"Spike!!"
"Arf!" The purple not lizard, but dog managed to break free with his head and let out a series of barks. "Arf, arf, arf!"
"No!" Sunset whisper/shouted. "Horsefeathers!"
"Spike? Are you alright?"
The voice was coming closer. In fact it was already pretty close.
"Spike?"
Very close.
"Arf!"
Seeing as she couldn't keep her current position concealed anymore, Sunset Shimmer let go of Spike, turned around and ran as if her life depended on it.
Sunset stopped, after running a full sprint for two minutes. She leaned against the tree, trying to catch her breath.
"I need to work out more. Need to be fit for the games after all."
"Woof!"
No.
Eeyup. Spike had been following her the entire time.
Sunset stood there frozen in front of Spike, the dog. She had two choices, either to run or to stay. Of course running only would mean for the dog to catch up on her and since magic was out of the question-
"There you...are..."
GAH!! Oh no, oh no, oh no! She's seen me! The human Twilight has seen me! Is that a bun she's wearing? It looks kinda- GAH! Focus Sunset! Think, think, think!
Twilight in the meantime had been staring at the unicorn the entire time. She took off her glasses, cleaned them with the clothes she was wearing and put them back on. To her surprise, she still saw her dog sitting in front of the...unicorn?
"N-No. It can't be." Twilight laughed nervously, to which the pony blinked seemingly in confusion.
"You're not a unicorn. No way." the girl smiled.
"Someone probably just stuck a horn on your head. And the oversize eyes are probably just a mutation. I mean, a lot of animals are born with two heads." Twilight cleared her throat, kneeling on the ground.
"Oh dear, Spike. Look at her. Someone dyed the coat and mane of the poor pony. They must have thought it would make a nice video on the internet." she said in disgust. Spike let out a bark in response.
"Come here." the crystal prep student stretched her arm out. "I won't do anything to you."
Sunset blinked at Twilight's behavior. She definitely didn't expect the human to react in denial and thought someone had done something to the Equestrian. Questioning her own sanity, the unicorn decided to play along.
Slowly she walked towards the human, carefully keeping an eye on the dog, who had just been sitting there this entire time. Letting out an intentional snort, the unicorn finally closed the gap between herself and the human. Said human smile widened a little, when her hand came into contact with the mane of the pony. It felt very smooth, similar to human hair actually.
"What's this? Oh wow, they even painted a pictures on your flanks? They must have used a something similar to a stamp." Twilight commented, while shifting over to stroke down Sunset's neck.
It send light shivers down the unicorn's spine, which caused her to unconsciously step closer to the crystal prep student. Twilight in return used the opportunity to pet Sunset with both of her hands, which relaxed the mare even more, to the point where she rubbed her head against the human.
"You're a really trustworthy pony, huh? I hope you don't mind if I check the thing they put on your head."
Twilight of course wasn't expecting the pony to understand her. She just hoped her calm voice would keep the supposed animal calm. What it did was to warn Sunset. She could mentally prepare for her horn being touched, which most unicorns didn't really like, as it just felt annoying having your horn touched by somepony, even if it is the doctor. Or rather especially if it was the doctor.
The Equestrian managed to resist the urge to shake her head, when Twilight retracted her right hand and carefully began her examination. She carefully put to fingers on the spiraled horn, trying to figure out what exactly was glued on the poor pony.
"Huh! It feels hard. I expected cardboard." Twilight commented, slowly rubbing the horn, not noticing the pony's ears laying back on her head.
"The spirals feels real. Someone actually craved them out. But why go through all that trouble?" Twilight asked aloud.
Luckily for Sunset, the high school girl in front of her stopped touching her horn and instead readjusted the glasses. Twilight took a closer look at Sunset, slowly going through the fur of the pony with her left hand.
"It looks so real. But it just can't be. Ponies have brown, black, white, maybe even grey. But yellow?" The lavender skinned girl shook her head. "There has to be a logical explanation for this. But I can't just take you home or to crystal prep. I barely managed to teach Spike to not jump out of my back." she smiled mirthfully, petting her dog. In return, her loyal companion leaned into her hand, his tiny tail happily wagging left and right.
Please Twilight, please keep denying that I'm an actual unicorn. I hope AJ or Applebloom or even Big Mac are ready to take the fall for that. But I can't really ask my friends to lie and tell Twilight that they basically did something close to animal abuse.
Suddenly there was the sound of a phone vibrating. Twilight fished around in her pockets, until she took out hers and looked at the screen.
"He forgot it again? And of course I'm the only person he can rely on bringing it to him. Urrgh. I swear my brother is so scatterbrained at times." Twilight got up and wiped her clothes free from the dirt. Sunset looked up to her, playing all the curious, cute animal.
"I hope I can see you again. You're better company than my classmates that's for sure. Come on, Spike." the girl put a leash on her dog's color. She gave Sunset one final pet on the head, before reluctantly walking away.
At this moment, Sunset wanted to start dancing. This had gone better than she ever could have imagined. Twilight was none the wiser about her being an actual unicorn! Next time the girl came around, she just needed to put a spell on herself, to appear as a normal pony with oversize eyes.
Smiling to herself, Sunset turned around and trotted away, not noticing the tree branch sticking out of the earth. And as if fate STILL had it out for her...well, you can guess it.
"AH! Ow!" The unicorn landed with her chin on the dry ground.
Getting herself up, she rubbed the place she landed with her hoof.
"Oh man, gotta watch my step- oh no."
Dreading the inevitable, Sunset turned around and found a wide eyed Twilight Sparkle staring down at her.
"Oh yeah, I have an appointment with my hairdresser. Gotta jet!"
And thus, Sunset ran as fast as her already tired hooves could take her.
If Sunset learned anything on that particular day, then it was that Spike was a quick runner for such a little dog. The animal probably saw Sunset's running as an invitation to a game of tag and thus was running after her. It didn't particular help the Equestrian that she wasn't in top form at the moment. Knowing this, Sunset brainstormed the possible places where she could lose the dog. Unfortunately, the trees were so far apart from each other, else she might have used them by cutting close to the edges.
"Oh, crap." Sunset breathed out when she dared to look behind her. Spike was almost in reach of her tail. To make things worse, the dog seemed to have taken quite an interest in it. She needed to get away, now. But the only thing that caught her vision was one of the many barns the Apple family owned.
Wait, this might be it! The unicorn thought.
I'll need to pull off the remaining bit of strength I have, but if I get out of Spike's vision and inside, my own smell should mix up with those of the animals inside.
Despite her lungs protesting, Sunset increased her speed, galloping as fast as a racehorse, at least she imagined it that way. With what little bit of breath she had left, the small unicorn managed to get into the staple and slammed the door shut as soon as she could. Once inside, the pony fell onto her belly, sweat pouring down her fur and her breath being completely ragged. However, she had no real time to rest as of yet. This world's Spike's barking could be heard all the way inside the building Sunset was currently hiding and if this world's Twilight Sparkle was at least a little bit curious about what in the name of sun a unicorn was doing here, then a small case of Breaking and Entering wouldn't stop this girl. So as much as she didn't want to, Sunset pressed herself off the ground, grinding her teeth as she did so.
While all of this was going on, Applejack's horse had certainly taken an interest as to what was going on in it's home. It had heard the commotion from the outside (Sunset just then noticed that the other side of the barn was completely open) and decided to investigate the noise. Finding a small and very colorful foal inside the building was certainly a surprise. However, that surprise was quickly replaced with parental worry, as it saw the poor thing struggling to even get up.
Quickly it trotted over to the supposed foal and tried to help it up. Sunset was completely taken off guard, when the horse suddenly pushed it's head against her body, trying to help her get up. The unicorn almost lost her footing because of them, but luckily managed to catch herself before she hit the ground with her side.
"Uh....uh...he-hey there...?" Sunset looked up to the horse, which in return eyed the little unicorn critically. The pony in return wasn't sure what to make of this situation, but a little voice in the back of her mind reminded her that there was a certain someone after her and that she needed to hide quickly. The bad news was, unlike what she had assumed earlier there were in fact not a lot of animals here covering her scent, but just one. Still, it should work, right? Well, it certainly would not work if she kept standing where she could be seen from the other entrance. As such, Sunset decided it was time to hide, preferably in the open stable, which probably belonged to Applejack's horse. The mare wouldn't mind if the pony borrowed the space for a couple of minutes, right?
Keeping her gaze on the big animal, which in return stared back at the pony, Sunset carefully trotted between the legs of her distant cousin and quickly made her way to the stable. The horse was actually careful not to accidentally step on the small thing it assumed to be a foal. The horse followed the pony to her own stable. The entire time, Sunset kept her ears sharp listening for any dog barks or the voice of a certain girl. For the time being, she heard nothing.
Reaching the stable, Sunset immediately slumped down in a corner with lots of hay, her exhaustion now fully kicking in. Her tongue hung loosely out of her mouth, like a dog that's just slumped down in his dog bed, after playing for hours with a five-year-old child. From this point out, Sunset could only hope that either Spike would lose her scent or Twilight would write their previous encounter off as a mild case of hallucination caused by heat stroke and go away.
Something Sunset didn't account for was her friend's horse. Oh, the mare wasn't mad at Sunset for intruding her home, quite the contrary actually. However, the mare was naturally worried about Sunset, giving the state the unicorn was in. Said unicorn could only watch as the horse made her way to the stable and bent down to Sunset's level, nuzzling the smaller mare in an affectionate matter.
"Wh-what?! Hey, what are you doing? Hahaha, stop it. Hahaha! That tickles! Stop it, you'll give me away!"
Unfortunately, the brown mare did the exact opposite. Sure it was strange hearing human noises out of the nuzzle of the foal, but that was not important for the horse. What was important was that the sounds were similar to when one of the humans was happy and healthy, meaning in context that the little foal was okay. From that point on the horse started to lick Sunset's entire body. The unicorn couldn't think of a single reason as to why the other mare was doing this, but it certainly didn't help her laughing fit, which in return didn't help her to stay hidden from her pursuer. In fact, Twilight did finally manage to catch up to her ever loyal, yet really playful dog. She now gently carried the little purple guy in her arms, while he himself was panting heavily, trying to cool down his own body. Although he'd also really love it if Twilight would let him go and allow him to play with that small human smelling horse and the big like hay smelling horse because it looked like they were having fun.
As for Twilight,
she turned the dog in her arms around, looked him straight in the eyes and asked: