> Sunset's Story
>  by GeneralOs
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Prologue
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

990 A.N.M
"Announcing Sir Shadow to the court" a guard proclaimed as he entered.

Celestia looked up at the blue unicorn stallion entering the court. "Hello Fore," she said, "What have you foreseen this time?". 

"Princess" Shadow bowed as he came to a stop in front of her "I have foreseen highly sensitive bits of information that only you can be told. I request that the guards leave us alone for the time being and that we talk in private". 

The sun Princess thought for a moment before ordering the guards to leave them. "Walk with me Fore. We shall head to the gardens".




The gardens were Sunset's favourite place to practice magic as no one saw when she failed a spell which allowed her to keep her reputation as the best young spellcaster in Canterlot. A rightly deserved reputation as not just anypony became the princess's student. Right now she was working on teleportation an assignment that Sunset wanted since before she broke into the dark magic section of the library to find out more about that mirror four years ago. She continued to think about the mirror when she saw Celestia enter the gardens with a stallion she had never seen before. She quickly forgot about the mirror as she snuck up on them.

"I have foreseen the release of Nightmare Moon from her imprisonment 1000 years after her defeat and that the stars will aid in her escape".

"This is most troubling Fore. Do you know if Luna will escape the nightmare's taint?"

"No I do not; however, I do know that an event will take place within the year that will decide the bearers of harmony to defeat her. They will earn their cutie marks that day."

"What event will take place?"

"I do not know other than it will be obvious when it happens." Fore took this moment to look around and spotted a red tail moving behind a bush. "It seems we have a spy listening on us. Come out Sunset this next conversation will involve you". Sunset revealed herself as there was no point staying hidden when ponies knew she was there. Celestia meanwhile was hiding her surprise that Fore wanted to speak to Sunset. "I would like to talk about the mirror and the hidden universe behind it". Celestia couldn't hide her surprise and confusion any longer and just had a confused look on her face causing Sunset to giggle which caused Celestia to glare at her. This led to Sunset quieting down quite quickly. Fore just had an amused look on his face but announced. "It is of my opinion that Sunset should study the universe beyond the mirror by living there for a couple of months. It would end her obsession with the mirror, and it would allow Celestia to find the Element of Magic".

Celestia thought for a moment before silently agreeing with Fore Shadow. Sunset was against the idea as she felt that they could use a skilled spellcaster against Nightmare Moon and who could be more proficient in magic than her? "How could anypony be more skilled than me and wield an Element that is my speciality, I am the best magic user for my age". Suddenly a loud explosion was heard, and a rainbow spread across the sky; a secondary explosion occurred where the entrance exams for Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns were taking place; a giant dragon appeared in the building. 



Sunset and Celestia reacted immediately and teleported to the origin of the explosion. Sunset focused on taking down the dragon when she noticed that it was a baby that had a growth spell on it. While Sunset tried to dispel the spell, Celestia saw a student in the middle of a magic surge that was tearing her apart. She approached the filly, absorbing the magic and expelling it into the sun causing it to shine slightly brighter than usual. With her energy reserves spent the foal could no longer keep the surge going and saw the full majesty of Princess Celestia appear before her. Sunset realised that the filly had equivalent magical power to her and that it would only grow as she aged.

The filly looked terrified and trembled as she whispered: "I will accept all punishments for hurting you and the testers, Princess". It was then that Sunset realised that Celestia had burns and soot over her white fur. 

Celestia responded with "I could never punish you for actions outside your control, let alone a magic surge of that power". 

Sunset quickly interjected before Celestia could continue "I'm sure Celestia would make you her personal student once I leave on an assignment in a week". What Sunset said surprised Celestia at the display of understanding and the filly who started to bounce up and down in excitement. 

Celestia continued her previous statement "Now that my student has agreed to the assignment I would be happy to have you as my personal student, but I feel we are getting ahead of ourselves. What is your name my little pony?" 

The filly responded "Twilight Sparkle your majesty. Are you really going to make me your personal student?". 

"Yes, Twilight if your parents agree and you might want to look at your cutie mark". 

Twilight stopped bouncing to look at her new cutie mark a star surrounded with 5 smaller stars she then shouted "I GOT MY CUTIE MARK" and then shouted "YES YES YES YES YES YES" as she bounced around the room. Celestia and Sunset left Twilight to discuss what would happen to Sunset the following week.



Fore, Sunset and, Celestia entered the tearoom and sat down, Sunset ordered some coffee, Celestia ordered a black tea and, Fore ordered a herbal tea. Celestia spoke first "I'm surprised that you accepted Twilight as your replacement". 

Sunset responded with "That filly is even more magically talented than me, anypony who can't see that is blind, I mean she hatched a dragon egg for Celestia's sake. I also can't stop thinking about the mirror at all, and I'm curious what's though it." 

Fore interjected "All we know about the world on the other side of the mirror is that it's magicless and that going through the mirror will change your species to the only sentient one there. The mirror world also ages four times faster so one year there are four years here, and finally, the portal only opens once every four years here". 

Celestia also said "Sunset to be blunt you are the perfect candidate for this as you don't have any friends or family here other than your younger brother Sunburst. I will make sure that he's cared for but, I would like you to learn about friendship in the other world." 

Sunset frowned at the comment about her being an orphan and friendless due to her quest for power but agreed with Celestia that she needed some that wouldn't see her for the monster she was. "Finally you will need supplies since the last time I visited the other world was 900 years ago after Luna was banished, I needed someplace to vent my frustration at my failure. Anyway, The humans, as they call themselves, seem to value gold and jewels quite a lot so we will give you lots of that to buy a home and food".

1 week later Sunset was prepared to go through the mirror after she had said goodbye to her brother as she wouldn't be able to see him for a year in her case but 3 in his. She had a saddlebag full of gold and a book from Celestia that would allow her to send a report on friendship and the other world every fortnight. The portal would stay open for 3 days in both worlds as time travelled the same on both sides whenever the portal was open. She would have those 3 days of safety to return if something went wrong, after that she would be on her own. The portal opened "goodbye Celestia; I will send a report every fortnight". She entered the portal to begin her new life.
> A New World part 1: Finding Friends
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was the first day of school at Canterlot High, and freshman Rainbow Dash was late. She had never been late in her life; her athletic ability made sure of that but, she overslept this morning as she forgot to set her alarm. As she ran, she started to daydream about showing off her awesomeness to an entirely new group of people and how they would cheer her on as she single-handedly beat other sports teams. She was also looking forward to seeing her childhood friend Fluttershy again since they both moved from the city of Cloudsdale and she hadn't seen her since the end of school 2 months ago. As Rainbow approached the school, she saw a flash of light coming from the horse statue in front of the entrance. Moving closer to investigate she saw a girl with light orange skin and, red hair with yellow streaks in it making it look like bacon. The girl was lying on the ground in front of the statue and looked as if she was in pain. Next to her was a black backpack and she was wearing an orange skirt with a purple shirt and leather jacket.

Rainbow called out "Hey bacon hair. You okay?"

All she got in return was a grunt and a moan of "5 more minutes, let me sleep."

Rainbow replied "What are you doing? I'm supposed to be the lazy one, and even I wouldn't sleep on the grass outside the school."

Suddenly Sunset gasped as she realised that she was in another world. What the alien said to her made her think "I'm outside a school? That would make learning about this world a lot easier". Sunset quickly acknowledged the rainbow-haired person in front of her "What time is it? Am I late?"

Rainbow answered "School starts in a couple minutes, but you want to head in now to be assigned your homeroom class. I'm sure a teacher or principal will tell us where we need to go". Rainbow held out her hand to help Sunset up. Sunset, having never stood on 2 legs before was quite shaky and almost fell over again.

"Thank you, what's your name?"

"I am the awesome Rainbow Dash but, you can call me Rainbow. What's yours?"

"I'm Sunset Shimmer"

"Speaking of shimmers did you see a strange light come out of the statue a minute ago?"

"No, no I didn't. Let's go inside."

"Hmm, okay" Rainbow responded, she was suspicious of the girl and decided that she would keep an eye on her. 



The two of them were the last to enter the school; they were directed to the theatre where the first assembly of the year is taking place. As they went into the theatre and sat down, a tall woman was walking up to the podium; she introduced herself as Principal Celestia. Sunset was shocked that this world had a counterpart to the princess; she was worried that she might run into her counterpart but, that seemed unlikely as she didn't know any of the other students or teachers. This Celestia also had a sister which the princess did not, so maybe it was just an unlikely coincidence.

The principal continued to speak "Welcome to Canterlot High School; I wish you the best in your studies for the coming year. On the projector screen behind me are your names and the homeroom classes that you are assigned too. We will allow you to request changes to your homeroom for the first week. If your name doesn't appear then, please see me immediately after assembly. Your schedules will be given to you 1st period in your homeroom. Spend the rest of 1st period learning your homeroom and, getting lockers then, please head to the gym for the rest of the day for a welcoming party hosted by one of the students. You are dismissed once you find your name on the screen". 

Rainbow looked at the screen and saw she was in Mr Shadows homeroom; he was apparently the English teacher. She then looked for Sunset and Fluttershy's homeroom. Fluttershy was in Ms Cheerilee's homeroom; She was the librarian. Sunset's name, however, didn't appear on the screen; this raised Rainbows suspicion of her further. Rainbow had to leave for homeroom to get her schedule but she would keep an eye on this mystery student; Sunset went to see Principal Celestia, to try and get into the school as a student.

There was a small queue of people waiting to see the principal. In the front of the line was a girl with green hair and green skin who introduced herself to the principal as Wallflower Blush, she had a striped sweater which made her appearance entirely forgettable. Behind her was a girl with blond hair and grey skin who was named Derpy Hooves; she had a condition with her eyes that Sunset would've taken advantage of if she was still the mean person she used to be. Finally, there was a boy with spiked blue hair and orange skin who was called Flash Sentry. He was wearing a leather jacket similar to Sunsets.

Principal Celestia was astonished to see Sunset "I thought you were adopted yesterday by a family living in Neighway or was it Swedeer? Anyway, I wasn't expecting to see you here, Sunset."

Sunset grew tense as she realised that she had a dimensional counterpart but realised that this could be used to her advantage. She responded with "They decided against it at the last moment but, a different family adopted me and they live here."

"I understand, you will be assigned to Ms Cheerilee's homeroom it's to the left once you leave the theatre across from the library. Please head there now; I would like to continue this conversation with you later." Sunset left the theatre and headed to her homeroom class wondering what would happen to her if she was discovered to be an imposter.



When she got to her homeroom class, Sunset saw a teacher leaving the room. She had dark purple hair with lighter purple mixed into it; she had pink skin and, she was wearing a green skirt with a sunflower pattern printed onto it.

"Hello I'm Sunset Shimmer are you Cheerilee, my homeroom teacher?

"Yes I am, but, I just have to leave for a moment to get the keys to the lockers. We will assign them when I get back until then Introduce yourself to the class and learn more about them."

Cheerilee left, and Sunset entered the classroom. There were 21 orange chairs in 3 rows of 7 evenly spaced around the class, at the front of the room were a blackboard and a desk for the teacher. In the middle of the classroom were 3 people, the leader was a girl with white hair and light brown skin wearing a dark brown flight jacket, she was intimidating a girl with pink hair, yellow skin, a green skirt and white top. The other 2 were muscular guys with grey skin and diamond encrusted collars, one of them had a red jacket and white shirt while the other had a green shirt and dark grey jacket.

"You dweeb, I asked you a question! Who are you going to give your lunch money too?"

"you"

"What did you say?"

"you"

"HEY" Sunset shouted "Stop".

"Why you interrupt Gilda?" one of the cronies asked Sunset before both started to walk towards her.

Gilda turned, held out her hand to stop them and, walked up to Sunset menacingly " Fido, Rover, let me handle this. What's your name punk?"

"It's Sunset Shimmer, and you should leave her alone."

Gilda laughed "You think you can take a 3 on 1?". The sudden appearance of Cheerilee stopped the situation from escalating.

"Gilda, Fido, Rover how dare you 3 threaten students, report to Principal Celestia's office immediately for detention you can forget about attending the party today."

Passing Sunset on the way to the exit Gilda whispered: "You will be punished for this later, loser."

Sunset walked into the centre of the room to the girl that was previously cowering before the 3. "What's your name?" she asked her.

"It's Fluttershy"

"Sorry I didn't hear that"

"It's Fluttershy

"I didn't hear that"

"It's Fluttershy, thank you for stopping Gilda."

"No problem Fluttershy, I'm Sunset Shimmer nice to meet you."

The only other notable people in the class were Vinyl Scratch and Lyra Heartstrings. Vinyl had blue and cyan hair and always had her headphones on and didn't speak whereas Lyra had mint coloured hair and an odd obsession with ponies, more specifically unicorns. Once the class had got over the excitement of Gilda getting detention and Sunset standing up to her, they went into the hallway to pick lockers. This was very important for Sunset as she still had a bag filled with gold and jewellery, not to mention the magical journal that would allow her to talk to Princess Celestia. Sunset decided on the locker at the end of the row to give her more space to access it. She found it difficult to open the lock on the locker using her fingers, and after a few moments of trying to get it open she saw the flash of a camera but saw nothing behind her so assumed it was a trick of the light. When she finally got the locker open she deposited her bag and walked with Fluttershy, Vinyl and Lyra to the Gym for the party.



The gym was filled with students with baked goods, sweets and, drinks on 1 side of the room, a stage in the middle and a place to take photos on the other. The roof of the Gym had a banner saying "Welcome Canterlot Wondercolts", and the stage was decorated in a mix of pink and yellow. There were also a few balloons and streamers in multiple colours around the gym. There was a place to take group photos with a multitude of backgrounds including the beach and a beautiful view of the city from a hilly park overlooking it. The baked goods were cupcakes and other pastries that looked professionally made; they were decorated with yellow, blue and pink icing sugar.

The students were in their separate cliques as the rockers, eco students, techies, fashionistas and sports students didn't talk to each other because they had less in common outside their respective groups than they did inside. The few exceptions were Sunset, Rainbow, Fluttershy and 2 other students Sunset didn't know. Rainbow and Fluttershy were talking to each other, and a few students along with Vinyl and Principal Celestia were next to the stage holding wearable ponytails and pony ear headbands. Derpy was at the baked good stand eating lots of muffins and Lyra was with the other eco-kids mostly talking to a girl with purple and dark blue hair.

After a couple minutes of students talking a pink girl with slighter darker pink hair stood on the stage and shouted "Hi everybody. I'm Pinkie Pie, and I hope you're ready for the best party in the history of aaalllllll parties." she threw out a bunch of yellow pony ear headbands to the students. She continued to shout "Hit it Vinyl" Suddenly the lights got switched off, a disco ball appeared and, music started to play. Vinyl was in her element as she became visible in a DJ booth to the side of the stage. Students finally began to integrate as they moved to the dance floor and started to dance while Pinkie went around making introductions to students and learning everything about all of them.

When Pinkie got to Sunset, she quickly fired off a bunch of questions "What's your name? When's your birthday? What's your favourite flavour? What is your favourite movie or story? Do you like parties big or small? What homeroom are you in?"

Sunset could barely understand them all but answered them to the best of her ability "My name is Sunset Shimmer, My birthday is the 15th of October, I like Daring Do and the search for the golden key the best, I prefer my parties to be quite small, and I'm in Ms Cheerilee's homeroom."

"Daring Do and the search for the Golden key hasn't been released yet," Pinkie said suspiciously "Are you some sort of alien that came here in a portal from a world where it already exists or, do you get an advanced copy because you're super rich?"

"No neither of those" Sunset replied as she rubbed the back of her neck "I uh meant that Daring Do is my favourite series and I will probably enjoy the newest one the most."

"Okie dokie," Pinkie said happily before bouncing away to meet more students.



Sunset went over to the food table to talk to Lyra and grab something to eat. "Hey, Lyra who's your friend?"

"Hey Drops this is who I was talking to you about, she stood up to Gilda, Fido and, Rover all by herself. Sunset this is Sweetie Drops she made some of the candy that you're eating."

"These are great sweets. What should I call you?"

"Thank you and thank you for asking unlike some people" Sweetie replied

"Hey, you know you like it." Lyra blurted out

Sweetie just rolled her eyes at this and answered: "Anyway you can call me Bon-Bon."

"That's a much better name than I came up with" Lyra interjected. This bickering continued as the 3 of them made their way to the drink table. Sunset smiled at the pair's antics, but that smile soon turned into a frown as a blue-haired guy walked into her and spilt a drink on her. "Oh, I'm so sorry about that". Sunset again thought a camera went off but, yet there was nothing in the direction the flash came from. 

Suddenly out of nowhere a purple haired girl with white skin exclaimed "This is a fashion disaster, I need to fix this." before she dragged Sunset out of the gym and into a classroom in the drama wing of the school. 

The fashionista continued "It's a miracle that I had my fabrics delivered to the school a week ago so I could be prepared to make costumes for the drama club; you would be stuck in those awful wet clothes otherwise."

The classroom they were in was filled with fabrics of all description; there were blue silk, red satin and even green wool just to name a few. In the corner was a sewing machine; next to it were racks filled with previously made clothes. The fashionista proceeded to drag Sunset onto the small podium in the adjacent corner.

"Spread out your arms and stand up straight." The fashionista instructed

"What are you doing?" Sunset asked

"Oh my, I'm sorry about how rude I was. I'm Rarity, and I just couldn't let this fashion disaster plague the party. I'm trying to get your measurements so I can give you an outfit that fits correctly." Rarity answered her

"I'm Sunset Shimmer, nice to meet you and thank you for doing that; it's very generous."

Rarity laughed "Oh my dear, it's nothing, now stand still and let me measure you."

Sunset did as she was told; after a couple of minutes, rarity finished and frowned. "It seems you have a very uncommon size as you are very tall and thin. A waist size of 50cm but 180cm tall" she muttered "This is a nightmare. I only have a couple dresses for that size."

Sunset immediately objected "I don't need any dresses. Don't you have any normal clothes?"

"Yes," Rarity answered "I have some that would fit you, and they would suit you but, I think you would look absolutely fabulous in a dress. It's also a party, and you can't just wear normal clothes, that would be drab when you could show off your natural beauty in a dress that compliments it."

"Rarity it's a casual party that has already begun, could you just give me some normal clothes."

"Well you do make some excellent points, I suppose I could do that" Rarity sighed.

Rarity ended up giving Sunset a leather jacket with gold studs to replace the one with silver studs. She also gave her an orange shirt and a pink skirt to match with her hair colour. It took Sunset a while to change her clothes without the use of magic, but at least she was becoming more proficient at using her hands and fingers. Rarity asked multiple times if she needed help, but Sunset refused, so she stayed outside the changing room. Once that was finished Sunset went back with Rarity to the party.



When Sunset entered the gym for the second time that day Rainbow, Fluttershy and Pinkie went up to her. Rainbow spoke first "I want to thank you for defending Fluttershy, that was awesome. I knew Gilda back in Cloudsdale, she wasn't as bad back then, but she's gotten worse according to Fluttershy." Sunset was confused why Gilda picking on Fluttershy would matter to Rainbow.

Before she was able to ask her question Pinkie added: "You made people smile by stopping the meanies from hurting Fluttershy, thank you."

Rarity was surprised as she heard that someone stood up to the Diamond Dogs, a group of 3 bullies she knew from Ponyville junior high, but she didn't know who this Gilda was. "Wait you are the person who stood up to the Diamond Dogs. Those rascals have oppressed me since I started my education, always ruining my work. Wonderful work in standing up to them."

Sunset finally had a chance to respond; she sighed "Does everyone know that I stopped them now and Rainbow why do you care about Fluttershy?"

"Oh I know Fluttershy from Cloudsdale, she was my friend there. By the way, you look awesome Sunset, where did you get those new clothes." Rainbow questioned

"Rarity gave them to me as some punch spilt on my other ones. Rarity meet Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy, you should already know Pinkie Pie." Sunset answered

"It's a pleasure to meet you two. But back to the matter on hand, it seems as if the bullies from Cloudsdale and Ponyville are working together if what you said is true Rainbow." Rarity remarked

"Hopefully Gilda and the Diamond Dogs will be taught their lesson in detention." Sunset hypothesised

Rainbow wanted to move the conversation along so she decided to challenge Sunset to a game on her DS "Sooo Sunset do you wanna play Mareio Kart on my DS? I'm the best at it so don't cry if you're slower than me, you can play against my ghost on time trials."

"Hold on ah moment sugarcube." A girl with a country accent interrupted "Ah have to be honest with you and say that Ah'm the best at Mareio Kart."

"Who are you?" Rainbow questioned

Rarity answered, "That is Applejack, one of my friends from Ponyville junior high, like Pinkie, and someone else who had to deal with the Diamond Dogs".

"Those varmints kept stealing from my families farm but, back to Mareio Kart, Ah brought my DS so we can play online if yah want to be beaten."

"Beaten!?!" Rainbow exclaimed, "I'm gonna be the winner." 

Pinkie pulled 6 beanbags out of nowhere and said "If we're gonna have a tournament then we need a bracket. Rules are you have to support the person who beat you. First up is Me Vs. Fluttershy, the winner of that will face the winner of Sunset Vs. Rarity and, the winner of that will face the winner of AJ Vs. Rainbow."

Sunset wanted to question how Pinkie got the bean bag chairs, but no one else did so she assumed it was a normal thing for humans or at least her to be able to do. The tournament got underway with an upset right at the end of the first race where Pinkie got hit by a blue shell allowing Fluttershy to finish the race in front of her. In the second race Sunset held back at the start to gain a powerful item which ended up being a bullet bill, the best item in the game. She then raced back into 6th place before using it and taking 1st place but, Rarity got a red shell and used it to take back 1st place winning the race. Another camera flash went off when Sunset had trouble with the game; it distracted her for a moment before she continued racing as no one else noticed it.

In the third race, Rainbow had a lousy start and Applejack shot into the lead; Rainbow slowly started to regain positions until she was second place and had a blue shell. It was the final lap of the race Sunset and Fluttershy were cheering for Rainbow; Rarity and Pinkie were cheering for Applejack. With half a lap to go Rainbow used her blue shell, Applejack had no defence items left, only a mushroom, with the blue shell about to hit her she uses the mushroom and dodges the explosion, everyone is amazed, as the blue shell is almost unavoidable. Applejack is about to cross the finish line when the game ends in a tie due to a loss of connection. She looks over at Rainbow who shrugs "I'm out of power, so I guess it's a tie."

Applejack scoffs "That's ah lie if ah every heard one."

They are interrupted by Principal Celestia "I need to talk to Sunset about her place at this school and her involvement in a bullying incident, Fluttershy I will talk to you later about this same incident".

"Oh Okay, Principal Celestia" Fluttershy squeaked. 

Sunset is then taken by Celestia to her office to meet with her and Vice-Principal Luna the disciplinary officer at the school just as the lunch bell sounds signalling the start of lunch. The 5 girls hope that Sunset won't be punished for defending Fluttershy and go to lunch to find out more about each other.



In a detention class elsewhere in the school are 3 students plotting their revenge against the upstart that challenged their power. They leave the classroom for lunch and are joined by a fourth student named Spot who hands over a camera to Gilda, the leader of these students. "This is perfect" she announces to the group after looking over the footage. Their plan for revenge has begun.
> A New World part 2: Revelations
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Principal Celestia led Sunset to her office which was in the centre of the school on the first floor, close enough to the entrance for visitors to have easy access, but not too far out of the way so students could meet with the principals for various reasons. This position of the office allowed the pair to reach it within a couple of minutes; the office had an imposing look to ensure students knew that visiting it meant bad news. The 2 of them entered the slightly smaller and much darker office, the vice-principals office, inside was another woman whose name was on the door, vice principal Luna.

"Ah, Sunset Shimmer sit down, please. We want to talk about your side of the story." Luna said

"Okay, Vice-Principal. What would you like to know?"

"From your perspective what happened?" Luna asked while Celestia moved a chair to join Luna behind the desk.

"Well I spoke to Ms Cheerilee before entering the room, she left, and I went in. I saw Gilda and the other two. Ganging up on Fluttershy. It looked like they were about to start beating her up when I told them to stop. They turned around, Gilda was about to punch me when Cheerilee came back and sent her to detention with the other two." Sunset replied shocking the 2 administrators.

"Really?" Luna asked "you didn't antagonise them into attacking you? That doesn't fit with what you've done in the past. So I would ask you to tell the truth before we find it out from Fluttershy and the other witnesses in the classroom."

"That is the truth" Sunset responded, agitated by Luna's accusation.

Celestia could see where this was leading to a fight, so she intervened "Luna stop. I will not have you accuse my students of actions you have no proof of."

Sunset could feel she was gaining the upper hand so continued "I have also only been here in Canterlot for one day, so I don't know what past you refer too."

"WHAT?" Celestia and Luna both shrieked. "I am sorry, but you are remarkably similar to someone I know."

"That makes sense," Sunset said. Luna was about to ask how when Sunset continued "Let me tell you my story before you ask questions.." Luna and Celestia both nodded

Sunset started her story "I come from a world called Equestria. We created a portal a thousand years ago that connects your world to ours every 4 years for 3 days. I was sent on a mission to study this world when I realised that doppelgangers of everypony exist here. At first, I believed that it would make my mission easier until Celestia acted as she knew me. That was when I realised that I would have to tell you the truth and hopefully gain an ally or have you find it out at an inopportune moment, risking my existence."

Luna stopped her "I'm sorry, but that's unbelievable; doppelgangers; another world, and what's with this everypony."

Sunset responded, "I will show you proof after I finish my story and the world is full of ponies, so we use that instead of everybody. is it?" Sunset asked Celestia, she nodded.

Sunset continued "Anyway, Luna have you ever heard of Nightmare Moon?"

Luna blushed when she heard the nickname she had in high school before answering "Yes, yes I have, how did you find out about that?"

Sunset replied "I don't know what you mean I am just confirming my theory. In my world, Princess Celestia is the leader of Equestria, and she doesn't have a sister." 

Luna was visibly confused at this before Sunset proceeded: "What we do have is the legend of Nightmare Moon who is going to be released from her banishment on the moon 1000 years after her defeat. That happens in 10 years or 2.5 since in this world since time is 4 times faster. I should now mention that there are 4 types of ponies: Earth ponies who have extreme strength; Unicorns who can control magic; pegasi who can fly; alicorns, the rarest type of pony, they are immortal and embody the other three types of pony. Princess Celestia, Nightmare Moon, and Princess Cadance are the only known Alicorns in existence, and in the Equestrian constitution it's written that alicorns are automatically princesses or princes."

Luna continued to ignore Sunsets advice on keeping questions till the end of the story "you cannot expect me to believe that magic exists and that we are princesses in another world, also where did you come up with this theory?"

"I said I would show you proof later and if that isn't enough, I can show you the portal. My theory came from the fact that Celestia acts the same as she does in Equestria just with 1000 years of experience and the way you talk about me. I used to do everything I could for power" Sunset started to tear up "I was mean, harsh, stupid and I didn't realise that until Celestia stopped me 4 years ago." Celestia went over and comforted her. "I didn't even realise what I was destroying until today when I got real friends for the first time. I don't want to lose that. Now what did you mean with how did you find out about that, what is that?"

Celestia who had been quiet until now answered for Luna "That was the nickname she used when she spray painted our entire high school black. She got 1000 hours of community service for trying to make, and I quote the night last forever". Sunset and Celestia burst out laughing at the ashamed Luna who was now red in the face.

"You said you would never tell anyone about that"

"Oh be quiet Luna she just told us one of her greatest secrets it's only fair she knows one of yours."

"Two can play at that game sister; I'm sure that Sunset would love to know of your love of cake."

"Well, it appears that Celestia's love of cake is a universal constant as the same is true for the Princess" Sunset responded laughing. "Anyway, I have proof of this in my bag if you would allow me to get it."

"Yes go and get your bag. We will wait here."



In the Cafeteria
Gilda was sitting silently next to the 3 other bullies; she looked over the footage that the shortest had taken while she was in detention, stuck doing nothing and scaring nobody. None of the 4 knew how to use technology very well, Gilda was trying to learn how to hack into computers to get blackmail on students and faculty, but was only starting. They needed someone who could so that they could create a video and post it on the school's website. That would destroy Sunsets reputation and expose all the embarrassing moments she had over the past day, showing how clumsy and dense she was, not knowing how to use basic technology, something that even the dumb Diamond Dogs could do.

"Let's go to where the nerds sit" Gilda instructed to the other 3, motioning for them to follow her.

They did as told. As the 4 of them moved, Gilda noticed how quiet it became in the cafeteria as everyone looked to see where they were going. Yes, Gilda thought, this was what it was like to be powerful, and that pitiful bug called Sunset was challenging the power she had. Even now Gilda noticed how people on the edge of the cafeteria simply ignored her and carried on with their lunch. She would not stand for that, and in a couple of days, the video would restore her power with everyone knowing what happened if they held against her. They reached the table; everyone was trembling in their seats.

"Who is best at hacking and making videos," Gilda asked them "I have something for them to do". The table collectively pointed at a skinny guy in a yellow and green sweater with the symbol of an atom on it. "Who are you?"

The guy visibly gulped "I'm Micro Chips. What do you want?"

"Well since you asked so nicely, I need you to come with me" Gilda ordered. Micro nodded, his legs shaking as he walked with them. They exited the cafeteria and entered a nearby classroom.

"Now that we're away from any snitches, I need you to create a video with this footage. Once you've done that, come back to me. Remember snitches will get what they deserve" Gilda told him ominously. She left the classroom but not before giving him a camera. He was shocked to see unflattering pictures of Sunset. Some of them were with her friends, and others were of her by herself. 

Suddenly the door opened, Micro thought it was Gilda returning, but it turned out to be the 5 girls other than Sunset pictured on the camera. 

"What does Gilda want with you?"



Sunset entered the office of Vice-Principal Luna for the second time that day, but this time she had her bag with her. She walked up to the desk and pulled out a book from her bag. 

The administrators were confused at this; Luna asked: "This is what proves your story, a journal".

"Not just any journal" Sunset answered "a magic journal". To prove it, Sunset wrote a message on the journal.

Dear Princess Celestia,
I write to you today to tell you my initial findings of the world. The portal exists outside a school here, and there seems to be a doppelganger of everypony here. I have already come across another Celestia; she is the principal of the school here. She also knows another Sunset and mistook me for her, to correct her mistake I have told her and the vice-principal about Equestria. The Vice-Principal is another you might have interest in, her name is Luna and is the sister of this worlds, Celestia. I asked about Nightmare Moon, and it seems that it was a phase she went through when she was younger. This seems to have confirmed my theory that ponies and their human counterparts live similar lives with or without magic. For example, my counterpart seems to have been adopted in this world and is not living near the portal and the Nightmare Moon incident seems caused less damage, Luna is reported to have spray painted a school and gotten 1000 hours of community service. I have also made some new friends here; their names are Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Rainbow Dash and, Fluttershy. I haven't had much of a chance to speak to them as the Principals called me into a meeting and I write this in front of them to prove my story about a magical world. The technology in this world is very advanced compared to our own, but that makes sense as our best inventors are earth ponies who can't use magic like unicorns.
Your faithful student Sunset Shimmer

Sunset closed the journal. "When the book starts vibrating it will have a new message for me. It's quite possible that the princess is busy and we will have to wait for a new message." The book started to vibrate; Sunset looked at it. "Or not at all and she will reply immediately". The 2 administrators just stared at the book; it was defying all logic they knew.

Dear Sunset Shimmer
It's quite lucky that you caught me when you did. I was about to leave my room for a diplomatic meeting when the book started to vibrate, because of that I will have to keep my response short. It is very interesting to hear about the alternate versions of ourselves, especially the fact that Luna exists in that world as Luna and not Nightmare Moon (Great job on deciphering that legend, as you have no doubt correctly guessed I do not want you present when she returns). The technological difference is the major reason I sent you there, I have found that humans are much more innovative due to the lack of magic allowing them to focus on physical technology and theory rather than magical theory. Most of our physical technology, such as airships and trains, come from that world and their ideas were simply taken by me and introduced to Equestria with minor changes and upgrades over time. It is excellent to hear you making friends, I hope to hear more about them in the future, but I must leave now.
Sincerely Princess Celestia

Sunset quickly read the message and showed it to the principals; they couldn't believe what they were seeing. This book defied all common sense and acted like a phone with no technology. "Well considering your reaction," Sunset told them "I guess you believe me and have some questions?"

"What is your real purpose here Sunset?" Luna accused

"What do you mean? I told you this already. It's to learn about friendship and to study the technology of this world. I can see that most of it's advanced, but I don't know how it works." Sunset replied

"Why should I trust that you told me that ponies and humans live similar lives yet this worlds Sunset did nothing but cause harm". Luna challenged

"If I were anyone else would you believe me," Sunset asked

"Yes, but what does that have to do with anything?" Luna asked

"I told you, I am not this worlds Sunset Shimmer and have not lived her life. So you should see me as a separate person to her, even if I look the same".

"Fine I won't berate you for that, now what would you have done if the world was inhospitable?" Luna questioned

"Princess Celestia came into this world around 250 years ago, so we knew that life existed here," Sunset answered.

"What would happen if you didn't get support such as a home or money for food," Celestia asked. Luna rolled her eyes at the question, Celestia always thought of the well-being of her students over the danger they posed.

"Honestly, money isn't an issue, and if I couldn't get a house in 3 days and set up a sort of base of operations, then I would've gone back through the portal as it closes for the next year in this world," Sunset confessed.

"Why is money not an issue?" Luna asked. Sunset responded by showing them the gold and jewels in her bag. Both administrators eyes widened at viewing that much money. "You could buy a mansion with that much money" Luna suggested.

"We didn't know it was that much, but we knew it was a lot again thanks to the Princesses visit. It's however, not that much in my world. I still don't have a home and won't be able to get one for a couple days if this world is anything like mine and, as I said before not many people can see beyond my past back home. I also have real friends for the first time here, so I don't want to leave yet and have to wait 4 years to see them again." Sunset told them sadly.

Celestia thought for a couple of seconds. Not wanting to lose this second chance with Sunset, offered: "Sunset I would be willing to let you stay at my house for the next couple of days until you get set up. I also would be willing to act as your guardian when you need it such as setting up a bank account or buying the house."

"Thank you so much, Principal Celestia, I don't know the first thing about this world, and that would help a bunch" Sunset thanked relieved about the situation.

The bell rang signalling the end of lunch and Luna interjected, "Sunset you should return to the party in the gym and spend this time with your new friends". Sunset did as was suggested and left the room to return to her friends.

"Celestia she said it herself she is not the Sunset Shimmer you knew. You are letting your feelings for the other Sunset cloud your judgement" Luna criticised

"Maybe," Celestia admitted, "but the same could be said for you, I will not take back my offer, and it's only for a few days before she gets her own house."

"We both know that you wanted to adopt Sunset previously, but her disciplinary issues would have put your ability to run the school into question" Luna accused

"Fine, I will not make any rash decisions before I get to know her better" Celestia reluctantly agreed.



An hour ago in the cafeteria
"What should we do now without Sunset," Rainbow asked

"Well, um we could learn more about each other" Fluttershy suggested

"That's a wonderful idea" Rarity agreed "any objections?" After a moment of silence, Rarity continued: "Then it's decided we'll learn about each other until Sunset comes back from the Principals office. Fluttershy why don't you start us off on how you met Rainbow?"

"Um okay, well we both went to Cloudsdale Elementary, but I didn't know Rainbow that well until she stopped Hoops and Dumb-Bell from harassing me after my parents made me join the sports club at school. I wasn't able to keep up with the other kids, and so they started harassing me and calling me names, at least that was until Rainbow challenged them to a race. She bet them that if she won they would leave me alone and if Rainbow lost she would forfeit every race against them for the rest of the year.” The girls were shocked that Rainbow would risk her reputation for a stranger.

“Really? Rainbow doesn’t seem the self-sacrificing type.” Rainbow blushed at the compliment Rarity gave her.

“Honestly it was no trouble, I was totally gonna beat them, and I don’t leave my friends hanging.” Rainbow responded, “Anyway back to the story Fluttershy.”

“Well after that, I started the race; when they passed me they knocked me over, and this adorable little dog came to comfort me. That’s when my love of animals started. I wish that the school allowed animals” Fluttershy started to get incredibly excited “I was thinking of volunteering at the animal shelter, now that we’ve finished moving house, Does anyone want to join me next Saturday?” Fluttershy asked while putting on the most adorable face. 

Rainbow and Applejack could both resist the face.

“Sorry, but ah have to work on our farm.”

“I’m joining the Air Force Cadets then so I can’t.”

Rarity and Pinkie, however, couldn’t resist the cute.

“I could join you then Fluttershy. I love making everyone happy even if it’s animals” Pinkie announced

“How could I refuse an offer to join one of my friends? I will be there.” Rarity agreed while thinking: maybe it won’t be as bad it seems, dealing with dirty animals all day.

“Maybe Sunset would be willing to join ya Fluttershy” Applejack suggested

“Oh well, half of you isn’t bad. From what I know the shelter desperately needs volunteers” Fluttershy stated, happy that she got any help at all.

“Now that we know more about Fluttershy why don’t you talk about yourself Applejack, I must say I’m quite curious about this farm you mentioned.” Rarity stated keen for more gossip.

Applejack started on her story “It all started when ma parents went missing a good ten years ago. Ah was just a little child who had lost it all, but it hit mah, brother, harder. He had to run the farm all by himself. We had Granny Smith to run the finances, but nobody other than mah brother could run the day to day operations. That was when I decided to move to Manehattan with my aunt and uncle Orange. When I was there, I got a call from my brother saying how much he missed me and how he didn’t want to lose me like we lost our parents. It was the most ah’d ever heard him talk and so ah returned to the farm the next week. It made me realise how important family is.” The girls all had tears in their eyes after the story. “Anyway in 6 weeks my brother is going on vacation so ah have to learn how to run the farm which is why ah’m busy in two weeks.”

"Rainbow are you okay?" Fluttershy asked, "You look like you're crying."

"What, no it's just that something got in my eye. I'm too awesome to cry" Rainbow answered quickly "Let's just get on to my story okay."

The girls nodded their assent, but just as Rainbow began Gilda started to lead the group of bullies across the cafeteria and everyone went deathly silent. The girls were sitting on the edge of the cafeteria so they could hear the whispering of people wondering what was going on quite clearly. Most of them were whispers of what would happen to Sunset, something that was not lost on the 5 of them. Gilda went over to one of the tables and dragged someone away from it, once she left Rainbow spoke up.

"We should find out what she's planning to do to Sunset. Maybe it has something to do with that guy".

"Ah doubt it Rainbow" Applejack replied, "There is no way that she could convince someone to help her."

"Although it's barbaric she could force him to help her" Rarity suggested

"Anyway, we should talk to him once she leaves him alone," Rainbow told them.

They followed Gilda to an empty classroom and hid outside until she left, hopefully leaving the guy alone. Their hopes were substantiated when Gilda left with her cronies back to the cafeteria. They waited for a moment to see if Gilda would return before bursting into the room. In the room was a guy holding a camera who looked terrified before calming down as he realised who entered the room.

Rainbow asked him "What does Gilda want with you?"

He nervously replied, "I don't want to tell you she said snitches would get what they deserve."

This confirmed Rainbow's fears that he was working with Gilda, just not willingly as she had first thought. Rarity was also proven correct in that Gilda forced him to work with her.

Fluttershy comforted him "If you help us catch Gilda, she won't be able to hurt you. She'll either be expelled, suspended or in detention. What's your name? Sorry for not asking earlier."

"It's fine, I'm Micro Chips, and I guess I could tell you, but you have to promise to keep me safe from Gilda."

"Sure" Rainbow replied casually.

"She gave me this camera, and wants me to create a video with the footage on it." The girls looked at the footage and had an excellent idea of what Gildas plan for revenge was.

"What should we do?" Fluttershy asked them

"Well we could delete the footage," Rainbow suggested

"Hey, that would make Gilda target me." Micro objected

"He's right, and what's to stop Gilda from getting more footage. We need a plan to stop her once and for all." Rarity told them

"Ah agree, better to deal with the varmit once than twice." Applejack agreed

"Um, Micro did Gilda tell you anything else?" Fluttershy asked

"No, no she didn't. However, she did want someone who was good at hacking."

Suddenly the bell rang signalling the end of lunch; the girls gave Micro the camera back to ensure that Gilda wouldn't be suspicious of them.



They returned to the party and met back up with Sunset.

"Hey Sunset" Rainbow greeted "We found out a bit about Gildas plan for revenge".

"That's great, what did you find out?" Sunset replied

"She's going to create a video to ruin your reputation, but what did Celestia want with you?"

"I'll tell you the specifics later, but Luna wanted to know my side of the story between Fluttershy and Gilda."

"Okay? Applejack said confused. What else is there to tell, she thought.

"We should come up with a plan to deal with Gilda," Rainbow said putting the conversation back on track.

"Well we know who's making the video so we could have him create one that isn't as bad" Pinkie suggested

"Is there anything else that you found out about her plan?" Sunset asked them.

"Yes, ah found out that she needed someone who was good at hacking," Applejack told her.

"But that would mean she needs to gain access to information or a website that she can't already." Rarity pondered out loud "Our school information on our family and where we live is one option. I think she is probably going to target you when you are alone without us to support you. Where do you live so we can minimise the danger to you?"

Sunset knew that she would have to reveal the truth sooner or later; however, she decided that telling them now might scare them away, so she told them the partial truth vowing to say the rest of it after Gilda was dealt with. "I'll tell you the reasons behind this once Gilda's dealt with, but I'm going to be living with Principal Celestia for the next few days."

The girls were surprised at this information. "Does that mean you're her daughter?" Rainbow asked

"Now Rainbow Dash, Sunset said she would tell us after we deal with Gilda; we should trust her to stick to that promise." Rarity scolded.

"Fine" Rainbow sighed. "Let's just continue to share stories as we did over lunch, now that we have a plan."

"What?" Sunset asked

"We learned more about each other during lunch darling. It was simply a necessity after becoming friends. Anyway Rainbow why don't you share your story?"

"Well, I met Fluttershy in Cloudsdale Elementary, as you already heard from her. I always hated sitting still and prefered action, that's why I joined the sports club. Soon after I joined, I became the fastest runner they had which is why those two boys took me up on my offer to forfeit every race if I lost to them during the bet. I didn't, and that race made me set a new record on the track for the 200m sprint. I beat the old record by a good second; it was awesome, and I gained my best friend because of it. After that I've always wanted to join the Wonderbolts, you know the elite fighter squadron. I already mentioned this, but I'm joining the Air Force Cadets soon to prove that I have what it takes to fly with the best. I'm also gonna join most of the sports teams here to stay in shape. Sunset do you want to join me in some of those teams?"

"I'll think about it Rainbow" Sunset responded. She wasn't quite sure herself if she wanted too but staying in shape and learning how to use this body more effectively would be a good use of her time. Unlike some of the others, she didn't have to spend time at work as she had all the money she would need, so that freed up some of her time during the week. Sunset was about to agree with Rainbow when she decided to wait until the Gilda thing was over, so she stayed silent.

"Well if you do want to, just come to talk to me about it," Rainbow told her. "What's your story Pinkie?"

"My parents are both miners, and I used to live in a small mining town in the country," The bubbly pink girl told her.

"That's surprisingly depressing, but I guess it makes sense as you can't make someone smile without practice and what better practice is there than being around constantly depressed people," Sunset said.

Pinkie responded "I know right. Anyway, my family which consists of my 3 sisters Marble, Limestone, Maud and my parents then moved to the city a couple of years ago so that Maud could get a university education. That's when I entered Ponyville junior high and met Rarity and Applejack. A few years before that there was a collapse in the mines, and a kid lost one of his parents. I just couldn't imagine what it was like for him and so I decided never to let people be sad and have them turn their frowns upside down. One of the best ways to do that I found out is to bake cakes and other goodies for people who are sad, that's why I want to work at a bakery or restaurant. Maaaybe a Coffe shop." During the explanation Pinkie's hair went greyer and straighter until it regained its colour and poofiness at the end of her explanation.

The girls were slightly disturbed by the story and Pinkies hair but were ultimately happy for the girl as she explained her life goal of stopping all sadness.

Pinkie said, "Well Rarity you're up next, the script says so". The girls ignored the last remark as Pinkie being Pinkie and Rarity began her story.

"Well," Rarity started "It all began in Ponyville elementary. We were going to host the yearly hearths warming festival; quite an honour may I add, but that's when we discovered that the traditional costumes were damaged. I know it's quite the tragedy, but I persevered and volunteered myself to help create new costumes. Before I gave them my expertise the costumes looked drab and unprofessional; then I stepped in and spent the following week improving the costumes they had made. The final products looked absolutely fabulous, and they stole the show, the paper even said they were some of the best props they had seen. This convinced my parents to let me work at out store the Carousel Boutique where everything is chic and magnifique, sorry force of habit,  anyway I work there, and I love it."

Suddenly the final bell rang signalling that the Students could leave for home and get prepared for the 1st actual day of school tomorrow. Before they could go, however, Principal Celestia had an announcement "We are looking for volunteers to help us clean up the party and allow us to continue this tradition for next years freshmen." The girls immediately stopped leaving and after a moment of discussion started to help them clear out the hall. Sunset worked on the banner with Rarity. Applejack and Rainbow began to move the tables back to the classrooms they came from. Pinkie and Fluttershy helped by grabbing brooms and sweeping clear the confetti on the floor.



Cleaning the gym took the girls about an hour. Sunset left last as Principal Celestia had to supervise all the kids until they left so she could lock the school doors for the night. They both left the building, and Celestia led Sunset over to a white 4 door sedan in the faculty lot. They entered the vehicle, and Celestia started to drive her somewhere, the car looked brand new with its clean seats and shiny exterior. Celestia suddenly stopped the car outside a building that Sunset could see was a bank.

"Why are we here?" Sunset asked Celestia

"To get you an account and debit card of course," Celestia replied

"What's a debit card?"

"It's a card that stores all your banking information. It allows you to pay for things online or without money as you can just use the information on the card."

"Isn't that insecure?"

"You need a special 4 digit code to access it, and you need banking information if you are going to sell those jewels and gold bars you have. Just let me do the talking."

The pair of them entered the building "hello what can I help you with?" the teller asked them.

"Hi, I would like an appointment to set up an account for Sunset here. I am her legal guardian"  Celestia told him.

"Well, we aren't too busy right now so if you have time we could do it right away. Just enter the office through there."

"Perfect, thank you."

After 20 minutes of getting personal information from Sunset and Celestia, they signed the document and the bank staff told them to expect the card and pin number in the mail a couple of days from now. They did, however, get the account number that would allow them to make deposits in the account. Next Celestia drove them to a cash4gold store where you would get ripped off, but they wouldn't ask questions as long as it was real gold. Sunset made a total of around 15 million from the gold and still had the Jewels to sell. The jewellery store they came across was amazed at the gems; they valued all of them at no less than 130 million together with the largest in the set being worth 20 million. After some negotiation, they sold the gems for 135 million meaning that Sunset now had a net worth of around 150 million and could get more from Equestria. It was just after 7 pm when Celestia drove the pair to a medium and luxurious house near the school on a hill overlooking the city.



The home was a 2 story house with 4 bedrooms, one of which Celestia turned into a storage space; the other 3 had ensuite bathrooms; it had a beautiful kitchen downstairs with a view of the city; finally, it had a dining room where Celestia and Luna would eat together. Celestia gave Sunset the guest bedroom, but she still couldn't help but feel as if she was not welcome. Celestia then made the 3 of them some dinner as she knew from experience that Luna couldn't cook. When the food was prepared, Luna came downstairs and took the meal to her room, ignoring the fact that Sunset was there.

Celestia asked her over dinner "What are you going to do with the money."

Sunset thought for a moment before answering "I need a decently sized house for experiments and I need the best technology to study, so that's what I'll spend it on."

"Have you told your friends the truth."

"No, no I haven't, but I promised them I would after we dealt with Gilda. We think she's planning revenge."

The rest of the meal was eaten in silence as the 2 of them felt awkward around each other, Celestia for acting like a mother figure to someone she knew for less than a day, and Sunset for intruding on her life. Celestia showed Sunset her room, in it was a computer, a bed, a clock, and a closet, it was quite barren with no decorations and was just functional. Sunset spent some time learning how to use a computer properly before going to sleep and, dreaming about what would become of her in this strange new world that had a feeling of familiarity.
> A New World part 3: Justice
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunset woke up the next morning to the lovely smell of scrambled eggs and toast. She drifted down the stairs to follow the heavenly fragrance when she bumped into Luna in the corridor. She was half awake and didn't even acknowledge that anyone was there. She had bags under her eyes and looked as if she didn't get more than 5 hours of sleep the previous night. Sunset thought about her actions yesterday; they made her angry, but she decided to be the bigger person as Luna could kick her out of the house.

"Good morning Luna."

"Good morning Tia," Luna mumbled, still half asleep; not realising who she was talking to causing Sunset to snicker.

They both entered the dining room where Luna sat and gulped down the cup of coffee by her seat. The caffeine took effect; Luna realised who was next to her; her mood considerably darkened; "Good morning Sunset" she said threateningly. The blatant disrespect made Sunset even angrier as she wasn't awake enough to have any form of patience. 

Luckily before Sunset could blow up at Luna, Celestia entered the room with a big plate of scrambled eggs for all of them and bacon for the two adults. "Good morning to the both of you," Celestia said purposely ignoring the tension between the two of them. "I hope you slept well". Celestia's timely intervention made Sunsets anger drain out of her as she could think about the situation; realise that Luna was acting how most people would, including her.

Celestia put down the plate; Luna gave herself a healthy portion before giving the serving spoon to her sister; Sunset was inhaling the orange juice in her glass. All 3 of them were having a pleasant breakfast not considering the unease between the youngest 2. Suddenly, Celestia got a text from Pinkie Pie "how did she know my number?" Celestia thought out loud.

"From what little I know of her, the general rule is not to question what she does or how she does it," Sunset replied. "Anyway, what does it say?"

"It says that Micro finished the video and is meeting Gilda before school. They are going to spy on the meeting to find out Gildas plans."



Rainbow was cycling as fast as she could to the school. She had, like Celestia, received notification last night which told her that Pinkie wanted to meet her and the rest of the girls before school started. They were to meet at this bakery called the Sugarcube Corner to discuss Gilda. Rainbow reached the patisserie and rushed inside to find the other 4 sitting at a table waiting for her. They had all ordered milkshakes, Fluttershy had vanilla, Applejack had chocolate, Rarity had strawberry, and Pinkie Pie had a mess of candy and cookie pieces that would likely result in diabetes for anyone else.

"Heya Rainbow, I ordered vanilla flavour for you since I never got around to asking you some very important questions." Pinkie proceeded to rapid-fire questions at Rainbow. "When's your birthday? What's your favourite flavour? What is your favourite movie or story? Do you like parties big or small? What's your favourite sport?"

Rainbow ignored her and sat down at the table. "What did you want to see us for Pinkie? Is it about Gilda?".

"Ohh no, Applejack wanted to see us, and so she instructed me to tell you."

"Well AJ we're waiting."

"Ah wanted to see yall since ah got a message from that Micro Chips fella saying he finished the video and was going to give it to Gilda soon. Ah just wanted some time to plan our next move."

"Do you know where they're meeting, we could spy on them."

"Yeah, they're meeting in 20 minutes in the library."

"Well, then what are we waiting for let's get a move on."

"Rainbow Dash, finish the milkshakes first" Rarity objected.

"Oh right."

The girls finished their milkshakes and 10 minutes late they were on their way to the Library which opens 2 hours before the school does. They burst through the door of the library surprising Ms Cheerilee who had opened it less than 5 minutes before. The library was empty other than a couple of members of the public who wanted to get books before heading off to work. The 5 girls decided to wait upstairs so they could keep an eye on the door without Gilda seeing them as soon as she entered the building.

After a couple of minutes, Micro entered the library and sat down with a book at one of the tables downstairs. A moment later Gilda came up to him and gestured for him to follow her upstairs where Cheerilee wouldn't hear what was said. The girls saw this and hid behind some bookshelves, pulling out some book so that they could see what was going on. They were able to do this and hide just before Gilda finished dragging Micro upstairs.

"Do you have the video?" Gilda said as she circled him like a wolf circling their prey, intimidating him.

Micro gulped audibly before answering "Yes, yes I do, it's on my laptop let me get it up for you." He pulled out his laptop from his bag and placed on the table before starting it up and opening a video player.

Gilda looked over the video and was slightly disappointed "Surely you could have done better with the stuff I gave you."

Micro was nervous as what Gilda said was right as he didn't want to be known as the guy who helped Gilda, so he tried to hinder her as much as possible. "Um I could have used some more of the still images, but then it would just be a compilation with music over the top. It wouldn't have the same impact." He hoped that would be good enough of an excuse to stop her questioning it.

Behind the bookcases, the girls were watching the exchange with bated breath hoping that Gilda would reveal her plans. Luckily they didn't have to wait long and while they were distracted Rarity pulled out her phone and started to record what was happening.

"Well, I suppose it's good enough. Now onto the second part of my plan, we're going to post this on the school website and Myspace. Myspace is easy enough, but I need you to hack into the school website."

"That's Illegal, not to mention insane."

"Would you prefer to deal with your life destroyed?"

"No, fine I will do this for you, but you will leave me alone." Micro finally agreed with the threat of blackmail held against him. He opened the internet and asked Gilda "Do you have any of the login details of the staff? They are the only people with the power to put this video up."

"No I don't, but that shouldn't be an issue for you right." Gilda threatened

"Wonderful, now I'm going to break another law by phishing the information from them," Micro muttered as he started to create a new email address that was identical to the school. He spoke up "This might take a day or 2 for them to respond to it. Until then I can't do anything."

"What did you do?"

"I sent them an email that will ask them for their login details, once they enter them, I will get them, and I should be able to access the website with them."

The girls decided to try and sneak away so they could tell teachers not to answer to the email they just got. That was the plan until Rainbow tripped over pinkie pie sending all of them onto the floor in a loud crash. Gilda immediately spotted them "Well what do we have here, some brats trying to save their friend maybe? The real question is how you knew I was going to be here" She looked menacingly at Micro who shrunk under Gilda's gaze "I don't suppose you had something to do with that."

"Ya really think ya can take a 5 on 1 Gilda?" Applejack questioned. Wondering why she thought she had a position of superiority.

"It's not a 5 vs 1, its 5 1 vs 1s and I've already won. Fluttershy what would happen if knowledge of your ancestry were released?"

Fluttershy's eyes went wide at this. "I would become a target for bullies, please don't do that."

"You wouldn't," Rainbow exclaimed.

"You're right, I wouldn't release that information, unless of course, someone were to stand in my way. If that's not enough to stop you, I have similar information on all of you except for Sunset of course, but I won't have to deal with her for much longer." Gilda continued to threaten as she walked past them.

"What's going on here," Cheerilee asked them as she came up the stairs.

"Oh, nothing Miss, but I should get going now. I'll see you later." Gilda told them as she walked down the stairs to get her stuff for school.

Suddenly Ms Cheerilee's phone started to ring. "Hello, Celestia how are you? Oh you want to me to look out for Gilda, she just left the library, is she in trouble? I understand, thank you for informing me."

Outside Luna was driving herself, Sunset and Celestia to the school when Celestia in a moment of brilliance realised that since the school would still be closed the meeting between Micro and Gilda might have happened in the library. She quickly called Cheerilee who confirmed her suspicions, but by that time Gilda had finished the meeting, so there was no chance of her finding out what happened. They decided to wait until school started to catch Gilda when Celestia got another text from Pinkie, this time mentioning an email sent to all staff to try and phish their account details.

"This gone too far. I'm dragging both of them into my office the second I see them." Luna stated

"From what I heard Micro is already there."

"What could possibly possess that boy to do something like this."

"I don't know, but we'll find out when we talk to him."

They both entered Luna's office to find Micro slumped down in his chair sniffling and trying not to cry. "Please explain WHAT you were thinking when you sent out that email to our members of staff."

"Gilda said she would leave me alone if I did it, I didn't want to and I'm sorry that I did" He mumbled incoherently. Just then the bell went signalling the start of the school day.

"Micro you will be in here until we figure out what happened. Luna go and see if Gilda showed up at her homeroom."

"Wait" Micro interjected, "You should also get Sunsets friends, I don't know their names, but they saw what happened."

Celestia facepalmed at this "Of course they would be involved, they sent me the message about this, to begin with. Luna could you collect all of them and Sunset as well."

"I will do that sister, try and get his side of the story while I'm gone."

Luna returned after all 7 of the girls had been excused from their morning classes. "Why am I here with the rest of these dorks?" Gilda asked irritated that her time was being wasted.

"You are accused of blackmailing Micro to create a video slandering a student and getting him to hack into the school website."

"Do you have any actual evidence that I did that." The administrators frowned at the error and Gilda smirked. "I didn't think so, so can I leave now."

"Just hold on ah minute," Applejack said, "We all witnessed what you did to him."

"That's not good enough for your accusations, dweeb." Gilda spat as she continued to get more and more irritated.

"I also took the liberty of getting this." Rarity announced as she pulled out her phone.

"That's your phone so what."

"I'm not talking about my phone, I'm talking about what's on my phone." Rarity played the video of Gilda forcing Micro to hack into the school's website.

Celestia finally had enough evidence to get Gilda suspended and possibly arrested, however, Micro would not go without punishment. "Micro since you were forced into taking actions that would normally not be allowed we will still have to inform your parents and punish you. I can, however, make sure that punishment is suitable, how does working for the IT department at the school sound?"

"Great thank you, and again I'm sorry for all the trouble I caused by helping Gilda." Micro sounded very relieved that he wasn't being sent to juvenile detention.

"That should be everything, now if Gilda and Micro would like to follow me to ISS where we will contact your parents," Luna announced. The 2 delinquents followed her out.

"Alright everybody you should head back to class now that this has been wrapped up," Celestia instructed them.

As everybody was leaving Celestia asked Sunset to talk with her for a minute. "Okay, but what do you want to talk about."

"You should tell them Sunset."

Sunsets expression saddened as she realised what Celestia was talking about "I don't want to lose them. They're my first friends, and I'm worried about how they will react to it."

"Sunset, if you don't tell them now think about how betrayed, they will be once they find out on their own, and they will if you continue to hang around them."

"Fine, I will tell them after school ends. I think we could all use a break after the events of this morning and I plan to return to Equestria for a day." Celestia nodded, and Sunset left the room.



It was the end of the day, and Sunsets conversation with Celestia earlier weighed heavily on her mind. "Girls I have something important to tell you. Follow me outside to the statue" The girls stopped what they were doing and followed her closely as if they were protecting her before listening closely to what she had to say. "I come from another world and have to return."

"WHAT!!! You're an alien; you can't just drop that on us without explaining," the girls all exclaimed

"The base of this statue is an entrance to another world, the world I come from. It opens once a year" Sunset explained not mentioning the complicated issues such as the time dilation. "That's why Rainbow found me lying in front of it and why I've had trouble using these things," Sunset told them gesturing to her hands. "I didn't tell you because I thought you'd leave me."

"It's okay Sunset. I would never do that." Fluttershy consoled.

"That doesn't explain why you would just abandon us," Rainbow said, furious that her new friend was leaving them. 

"I have to go back to my world and inform the Princess what has occurred the last 2 days. I'll be back tomorrow at the latest." Sunset told them carefully avoiding the fact that she was a copy of the principal.

"Ya can't just leave us like that; we're your friends" Applejack protested.

"I'm sorry girls, but I have to debrief the Princess, and I promised her that I would visit before the portal closed for 4 years. I will most likely stay in Equestria overnight so I will be back tomorrow at the latest." Sunset restated trying to make them understand.  "If you need to contact me then write in this book, it's enchanted to have the same words appear in a copy in Equestria."

"We understand dear. Have a nice trip but please return to us soon". Sunset nodded in agreement and was about to go through the portal when Luna ran up to the 7 of them.

"Sunset, I'm sorry for my atrocious behaviour towards you. I should have been nicer to you and known better than to judge you by your past especially as it wasn't your past it was this worlds Sunset."

"It's fine Luna I'm just happy we stopped Gilda before she was able to target another student."

"No, no it's not okay I better than anyone should know not to judge someone by their past actions, yet I have, and I have been proven wrong by your actions today."

"Luna, your job is to punish people for their actions, you should be naturally suspicious of people."

What Sunset said surprised Luna "What do you mean?"

"What I mean is that I forgive you for your actions. It's as simple as that."

"Surely you can't mean that."

"Luna, if I couldn't forgive you for what you did to me then how could I ever except that treatment to be given to me? I will forgive you because it's wrong to judge people by their past actions, by all means, punish or educate people for them, but don't judge them. People are unpredictable which means that past actions can indicate future actions, but it's by no means a guarantee that if someone bullied someone in the past, that they will do so again in the future which is why forgiveness is so important."

"Thank you for forgiving me. I would be happy to have you continue living in our house, so you don't have to get your own."

"Thank you for the offer, I will think about it as I would like to own my place, but it would be nice to have some family for once." Sunset addressed the rest of the group "I have to go now I will see you tomorrow." Sunset stepped into the base of the statue, entering Equestria once again.



Celestia was anxiously waiting for her student, suddenly the mirror started to glow, and a being fell out onto the floor in front of her. "Sunset" she called "are you okay?".

"I'm fine" was the reply she got

"I have news to share with you."

"Oh really, is it good or bad news."

"I think you will find it's excellent news". Celestia couldn't wait any longer to share it with her but needed to make sure it was an adequate surprise. "Let's go to the throne room."

They entered the throne room; there was a group of nobles waiting for them, confused about why Celestia had called them here. Sunset was confused what news Celestia had to share with her. Ponies in the crowd started to whisper rumours about why Sunset was there thinking that maybe she would be punished for something. Celestia addressed the crowd, silencing them "As you know Sunset Shimmer has been my student for the past 8 years. As of today that ends, Sunset Shimmer would you please rise." Sunset did as she was told and approached the throne that the Princess sat on bowing as she stopped in front of it. "I would like to announce the graduation of my student." The crowd gasped as Celestia continued "and it is my pleasure to announce that due to her actions she has the honour of being Equestria newest noble. Please rise, Duchess Sunset Shimmer I give you the duchy of Ponyville and the Everfree."

Sunsets surprise almost kept her frozen in a bow, but she was able to hide it and rose as Celestia had asked. Getting rewarded with land was the last thing she had expected to happen, and the nobility behind her was even more shocked as nobody had risen to high nobility since the defeat of Nightmare Moon. Celestia then ended the quick ceremony by exiting the room with Sunset.

"Why did you make me a duchess, Princess?"

"I can revoke that gift if you don't like it."

"No it's fine, I won't be here to run Ponyville so, why give me the duchy?"

"I gave you that Sunset because it's small enough that it doesn't need to be overseen and can be successful without you like it has in the past millennia. I'm proud of you; I know you will make a good leader if you ever decide to return so I figure why not allow you to make money while you're in the other world by way of a royal stipend and part of the taxes."

"I don't want to earn money for a job I'm not doing so just allow the local government to use it for a disaster fund or something like that. I heard the Everfree was very dangerous, didn't a married couple go missing in there recently?

"Yes, they were from the Apple family I think. Sunset the other reason I gave you the title is so that if the people discover the portal, you will have the diplomatic authority to negotiate with them. It's just a precaution, but with our increased presence there we might be noticed and need to explain ourselves. Other than that, I think I told you everything I wanted to."

Sunset said goodbye to Celestia before leaving her to visit her old room for one last night before leaving for 4 years even if it would only feel like 1 to her.



The following day
After Sunsets graduation and rise to nobility, she was quite popular when looking around Canterlot. The city was still as radiant as when she had left it. She had to chase away at least 7 reporters who wanted an interview with Canterlots newest noble. In the castle, Sunset was meeting with Celestia, discussing the mirror world and the friends she had made the last 3 days.

"It sounds like these girls are very nice, Sunset."

"They're great to be around; I'm going to miss you in the next 4 years."

"Sunset whenever you need to speak to me just write in the book, I will write as soon as possible."

"I guess that's true Princess. I have a couple of questions though, why did it take 3 days here as well, with the portals time dilation it should have taken 12?"

"Whenever the portal is open it seems that the time streams merge and time passes at the same rate in both worlds."

"Ah that makes sense, how is my successor, Twilight I believe it was."

"She's just as enthusiastic as you were at that age."

"That's great to hear, just make sure she doesn't make the same mistakes as I did."

"I will Sunset. Now I would like that you send me a report on technology and your friendships every 2 months or so."

"I will try Princess, but I can't guarantee that. I will send you a message though, so you don't have to worry about me. The humans seem to value jewels more than I thought they would so I have all the money I need."

"That's good to hear, but I can't help but worry for your health over the next 4 years."

"It'll only be a year for me Princess; you seem to keep forgetting that."

"It's only natural for me to worry about one of my little ponies."

"I should leave now before the portal closes. I'm going to miss you, Celestia." Sunset surprised Celestia as she had never called her that without her title.

"I will too Sunset, but you wouldn't want to keep your friends waiting now would you?"

"Goodbye, see you in a year." Sunset hugged Celestia before entering the portal for the last time in a year just as she went through the gateway to the other world closed. Celestia felt hollow happiness knowing that Sunset would be happy with her new role, but that she wouldn't be able to watch her dear ex-student grow. Suddenly the book next to the mirror started to glow, Celestia opened it and smiled at the message.

Dear Princess Celestia
I have arrived safely on the other side of the portal. My friends want me to tell you that they promised to keep me safe in this world. Pinkie is being her funny, weird self. Applejack is already trying to get me to play some video games but respects that I have to write this. Rainbow is still trying to get me to join the sports clubs here. Rarity is already planning a trip to the mall to get me some human clothes that will, and I quote "Look fabulous for a person of my status". She passed out when I told her I was a duchess. Fluttershy is still her shy, quiet, but rather kind self. Lastly, I am excited to learn about this new world, but I miss you already.
Your Ex-student, Sunset Shimmer
P.S. Focus on your new student, don't make her feel forgotten like I was.
> Animal Shelter Troubles
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It had been a week since the portal closed. She was stuck here Sunset thought, and with no magic, she felt as if a part of her was missing, it had been her special talent after all. She also regretted leaving Sunburst behind; her brother would grow up with her only as a memory. She was going to miss most of his life she realised with a tear in her eye. Sunset hated to admit it but Sunburst was very important to her, and she was going to miss him. 

She wiped away the tear and focused on her friends. Rarity, Pinkie, Fluttershy and herself were on their way to the animal shelter to sign up as volunteers. Applejack was at Sweet Apple Acres learning how to manage the farm, as her brother would soon leave for vacation during the break between the first and second terms. Rainbow was training for the air force cadets; she knew that she would have to be the best if she ever wanted to join the Wonderbolts.

"What does the flyer say, Fluttershy?" Rarity asked her

"Oh, um it just says that they need volunteers, thank you for helping me with this," Fluttershy answered.

"Oooh, I wonder if they need a party to attract adopters." Pinkie said joyfully in anticipation of preparing a party.

"I don't think they need volunteers to do that Pinkie," Sunset laughed.

"But they might never lose hope Sunset, NEVER," Pinkie responded. The rest of the group just laughed at the pink party planners antics as she bounced towards the door of the building they were heading too.

"Hello dudettes, I'm Treehugger, how can I help you?" The guy behind the reception desk asked with a stereotypical San Prancisco accent.

"Hi, we were wondering if we could sign up as volunteers to help the animals," Sunset told him.

"That's radical. You just have to sign these forms here, and I'll get you started," Treehugger instructed. After the girls signed the forms, he led them to the back room. "Alright dudettes, I'll need one of you to feed the animals, one of you to clean them and the others to play with them to exhaust them.

"Okay, so who wants to do what?" Sunset asked them.

"Um if it's okay with you I would like to feed them," Fluttershy answered.

"I cannot stand for how dirty these creatures are, I will clean them," Rarity told them.

"That leaves Sunny and me to play with them," Pinkie shouted joyfully.

Problems immediately arose as Rarity forwent cleaning the animals over making them look beautiful. Rarity spent most of her time on a single dog grooming, brushing and perfecting its coat leaving that dog in the best condition possible, but ignoring the rest of them. She also ignored that part of her job was cleaning out the cages keeping them in a horrible state.

Pinkie riled up the rest of the animals by being too hyper, energising them instead of tiring them out. This led to the creatures destroying part of the animal shelter and turning away countless people who wanted to adopt calm animals. Sunset tried to stop Pinkie but was only caught up in the carnage resulting in her hair frazzled and clothes damaged.

Finally, Fluttershy gave the animals whatever food they wanted, not just the food they needed. This led to multiple animals getting food poisoning and having the shelter call the veterinarian to heal the sickness. With the amount the animals ate, the shelter soon ran out of food leading to the more relaxed animals, who didn't bother Fluttershy going hungry. In particular, there was a small white bunny that took advantage of Fluttershy's weakness towards animals for his own benefit.

"This is a disaster," Sunset called out.

"Better luck next time dudettes, but if this continues then I'll have to ban you from volunteering," Treehugger said as they left the building.

"No, I won't be banned from seeing the animals," Fluttershy resolved.

"Well then we should hope that it goes better next time," Rarity told them.

"I think we should create a plan to organise ourselves," Sunset suggested.

"Oooh, that's a good idea, maybe we should do what we're good at not what we like doing, cause that dog looked great Rarity."

"Thank you, darling."

"But you completely forgot about the other animals and their cages," Pinkie told her.

"Are you telling me I should be less fabulous?"

"Hmm, yes." Rarity's eyes started to twitch at this, but before she could say anything, Celestia arrived in her car to pick Sunset up.

"Goodbye girls I'll see you tomorrow at the Sugarcube Corner," Sunset told them as she entered the vehicle.

"How was your day Sunset?" Celestia asked her.

"It was okay, the volunteering could have gone better, but other than that I had a great time with my friends."

"You know I still can't believe that you decided to stay with us."

"Well you're the closest thing to family I have in this world," Sunset told her.

When they got home Luna was in her room; Sunset could hear racing sound effects coming from it; she smiled knowing that Luna was playing video games something the vice principal tried to hide. To freak her out Sunset went up to her door and knocked loudly "Hey Luna what are you doing?". Immediately the noise died down, and a movie started to play instead.

"I'm just watching a movie." Luna lied "I thought you weren't coming home until later."

"Well, I'm home now. I wanted to talk to you about something."

"Sure come in, what is it you wanted to talk to me about?"

"How attached are you to this house?"

"Well we had to move from our old house a couple of years ago when Celestia and I were promoted and had to transfer schools, so I'm not very emotionally attached to it. Why do you ask?"

"I was wondering if I could convince you and Celestia to move into a bigger house now that I'll be living with you."

"Hmm, that's not a bad idea. It would allow me to get a bigger gaming cent- I mean entertainment system you know for movies and stuff."

"You know Luna I don't think being known as a movie geek is any better or worse than a video gamer."

"How didst thou know about my love for video games?" Luna switched into her role-playing dialect due to her surprise.

Sunset rolled her eyes at that proclamation "I mean it's not like you hid it very well. I could also hear the games from outside your room."

Luna sighed at this "could you not tell anyone, I would like to keep my reputation, it makes my job easier."

"Alright Luna, but I have to ask do you want to move house?"

"While I would prefer not to, I agree that it makes sense now that you're living with us and that we have the money to do so. Have you talked to Celestia about this?"

"No, I haven't yet but I will soon I just need to find the right time to do so."

"Why don't you right now?"

"She's very busy with the start of school; I haven't been able to get her alone long enough for a serious talk."

"I'm sure she could find the time to talk with you about it. Since you already know my secret, do you want to join for a game?"

"Yeah sure."



The next day after school 6 girls entered the Sugarcube Corner, a bakery that was becoming a favourite hangout spot for them. The building had a gingerbread house motif on its side and was a mere 3 minutes walk from the school entrance. The girls sat down to order drinks in the corner booth that they would regularly occupy and ordered their usual drinks.

"Hey girls," Pinkie said "Could you help me with my resume? I wanna get a job here like Bon Bon.

"Sure I could Pinkie, what do you have so far?"

"Weellllll, I wrote that I reeaaally like parties and that I can bake well."

"You should include some of your positive attributes like the fact that you're a friend to everyone," Rarity told her.

"Hmm, that's a good suggestion, any other ideas?"

"Just give them the resume already, it sounds good as it is."

"Okie Dokie"

"Rainbow how did the cadet's thing go? You haven't told us about that yet," Sunset asked.

"I got to meet Captain Spitfire of the Wonderbolts; she was awesome, too bad she was only there for the 1st day. Maybe she'll come back on Saturday, but she was still awesome. We learned some of the drills that the military does."

"Cool, how was your weekend Applejack."

"Mah weekend was fine thank you, like Ah said before Ah had to learn how to run the farm. The only interesting thing that happened was when Ah won a bet with Big Mac, and he had to wear a dress yesterday." The girls laughed loudly at this.

"Could you keep it down, some of us are trying to focus," Bon Bon shouted over the noise. She came over to them "Sorry about that I was just finishing some candy and the noise almost made me put too much citric acid in it. It would have been inedible if I had". All of them except Pinkie shuddered at the thought of such sour candy.

"We're sorry about that, do you think you could help Pinkie? She's trying to get a job here." Sunset asked her.

"Of course I could, we need another baker and Pinkie is definitely the person who I would recommend for the job."

"Thank you, Bonny." Pinkie told her happily "I'm glad that my friends were able to help me."

Sunset suddenly shouted "THAT'S IT" as she had an epiphany. Everyone stared at her as she started to blush from the attention; she smiled sheepily "Sorry, I was thinking about what happened over the weekend at the animal shelter. Pinkie you're a genius."

"I knew that silly, but what are you talking about?"

"We split up the jobs and ignored each other, that's not what we should have done. We should support each other in our tasks to make them easier," Sunset explained. At that point, Pinkie finished writing her resume on her laptop (somehow she managed to do that while paying attention to the conversation around her; as always Sunset didn't question it) and emailed it to the Cake's the family that owned the Sugarcube Corner. She almost immediately got a reply saying that they wanted to meet her for an interview on Sunday.

"I'm sorry Fluttershy, but I can't help out on Sunday, I just got a job interview."

"Oh um, that's okay." Fluttershy was visibly disappointed by the news but didn't want to ruin Pinkies dream.



Soon it was Sunday; Celestia was once again driving Sunset to the animal shelter for hopefully not the last time. The threat of being banned weighed heavily in her mind as they got closer and closer to the animal shelter. She was nervous that her plan of taking on one task at a time and supporting each other wouldn't give them enough time to finish all the jobs. Fluttershy and Rarity were outside waiting for her to arrive when she got there.

"Hello, Sunset."

"Hi Rarity, are you ready to work with the animals again?"

"As ready as I will ever be," She said as they entered the building.

"Whoa duuudes you came back" Treehugger exclaimed. "That's rad, but I wasn't expecting it after what happened last week. You'll have the same jobs as last time, try not to destroy the shelter this time."

The 3 girls started to work together. First Rarity and Sunset distracted the animals by playing with them allowing Fluttershy to clean the cages. Then they put the animals back into the now clean cages and had Rarity feed them while Sunset and Fluttershy cleaned the animals themselves. This allowed Fluttershy to be kind to the animals like she wanted to without jeopardising their health while completing the tasks that Treehugger set for them. The white rabbit from the previous week still seemed to be attached to Fluttershy who was starting to think about adopting him.

Soon all the tasks were finished with Sunsets worry about time management completely unfounded. Treehugger looked very impressed at their performance compared to last week. "I don't think I have to ban you girls. What you did today was radical, I hope you can come back next week."

"Oh, I'll definitely come back," Fluttershy exclaimed. The other 2 looked less enthusiastic as they enjoyed spending time with Fluttershy and the animals but had other commitments they need to attend to such as the Carousel Boutique.

"I'm sorry dear, but I need to work at the Carousel Boutique and design some new dresses. I couldn't possibly spend another weekend looking after the animals, enjoyable as it is."

"Sorry Fluttershy, but I want to spend time with all my friends, not just you. I also need to start looking into technology for Celestia."

Fluttershy again looked disappointed at the statements but understood the reasoning behind them. She was just happy to have more friends than just Rainbow Dash finally. These new friends would protect her from the mean bullies as they did with Gilda 2 weeks ago. Friends that would always be there to support her like they did today at the animal shelter.



Later that day Sunset was in her room watching a video on how to play the guitar. She was learning to play it for 2 reasons: the first being that she wanted to play an instrument; the second being that playing the guitar helped her to learn finger manipulation. She had not yet gotten used to the awkward movement required for some everyday tasks that she would have completed with magic in the past. She heard a knock on her door and shouted "Come in" to Celestia who entered her room.

"I heard from Luna that you wanted to speak to me."

"Yeah I did, but you were too busy with the start of school, making sure pupils had the right classes and that every teacher was teaching the right class."

"Sunset, you should know that you can come talk to me anytime you want. As my student, your wellbeing is very important to me."

"I wanted to ask about moving house, I'm taking up the only guestroom you have, and Luna wants a better gaming rig."

"Did she talk in that weird dialect when she realised you found out about that."

"Yeah she did, do you know why she does it?"

"It's a nervous tick that comes from her roleplaying games. Whenever she does it, you know she's angry or surprised."

"You're avoiding the question, Luna and I would like to move into a bigger house, but do you?"

"I don't know Sunset I'll think about it, but some change would be nice and if your friends come over, we'll need the extra space."

"Please agree to it; it would be a positive change for us all. Celestia knows we need the extra space, especially if I'm going to invite them over for a sleepover which Pinkie told me was a mandatory activity". Celestia smiled at her name being used as a curse. "What's so funny?" Sunset asked her when she saw the smirk on the adult's face.

"Nothing, you just used my name in vain."

"Oh sorry, it's a bad habit I have. That reminds me I have to write a message to her."

"You do that, I'll make some dinner for the 3 of us," Celestia told her as she left.

Sunset started to write, and after half an hour she had the final draft of the message she wanted Celestia to read.

Dear Princess Celestia
Over the last couple of weeks, I learned that friends need to support each other in their activities. Pinkie wouldn't have been able to get her job at the bakery if it weren't for our help in creating her resume and showing all her positive attributes. Of course to prove something it needs to be repeatable and volunteering at the animal shelter was the perfect problem for us to solve. Here's some context for you: Fluttershy's an animal freak, there's just no other way to put it; she asked us to volunteer at the animal shelter last week; it went terribly. So this week I put the theory that friends should support each other into practice, and what do you know it went great. The humans have a saying here: "Teamwork makes the dream work" it captures what I want to say in its entirety. Before I end this message to you, I have some questions about how it's going back in Equestria. First and foremost, how is Sunburst doing? Does he have his cutie mark yet? My other concerns focus on how the duchy is doing; I would not like my absence to affect the lives of those ponies negatively.

Sincerely your Ex-Student Sunset Shimmer



In Canterlot a little purple filly was waiting for Celestia in her room when suddenly a book started to vibrate. Hmm, she thought, her mind immediately went to the worst case scenario: the book could overload with magic and explode. "Oh no, what do I do? Maybe it's a test, yes it must be a test," the filly said out loud. "What would the Princess do? Oh, she would save as much knowledge." She shuddered as she thought about the loss of precious books; she levitated the tome onto the ground where it wouldn't be able to do much damage. Then she opened it to copy everything before it exploded hopefully.

The book stopped vibrating as she opened it, intrigued. She quickly read over the pages. It seemed to be a journal of some kind. She studied the last passage and ended up with one question: who was Sunburst, the writer seemed to care about him a lot, but she had never heard of anypony of his name. Maybe she could ask the book, so she wrote that very question on the paper in front of her.

Sunset was surprised when she got a quick response to her questions, but what she read shocked her even more. Why would the princess ask who Sunburst was; the writing was also not in her style. So she quickly scrawled the question: who is writing this? The response she got didn't surprise her, of course, the princess's personal student would be curious to a vibrating book. This gave her the idea to pull a prank on what she assumed would be a naive young filly. So she wrote: I was the previous student of the princess; I failed her, and she turned me into a book, of course punishments are unique to the individual, so it's more likely that you will be sent back to magic kindergarten than what happened to me.

Twilights eyes went wide at what she read. Would the princess really turn a pony into a book if she failed her? She answered her own question immediately: of course, she would, who was she to question the princesses actions? Oh no, she thought, I intercepted a private message to the princess that magic kindergarten punishment seemed all the more likely every passing second. She couldn't erase the evidence as she wrote in pen, that was a boneheaded mistake she wouldn't live down. 

Twilight pondered the consequences of her actions when suddenly the Princess walked in. "Hello Twilight, are you ready to start your lessons today?"

"Umm, yes Princess" She answered nervously, something that the Princess immediately picked up on.

"What's you're reading on the ground?" Celestia asked her suspiciously.

"Nothing" Twilight quickly answered, hiding the book as she answered.

The princess levitated Twilight and the book up to her face. She recognised the book as her connection to Sunset, realising what happened, Celestia read through the newest passages. She laughed the hardest she had in over a century as she understood why her student was terrified. Twilight, however, was very confused about this development. "Twilight" She chuckled after a minute "It seems my previous student decided to prank you. She wasn't turned into a book; it's a communication device like Spike's flames are for you." Twilights cheeks flushed red as she realised that she had been pranked. "Let me quickly write a response to her questions; then I will teach you. Alright?"

"Yes, princess."

Dear Sunset
Twilight, my student, was terrified when I walked in, I believe you can answer why that is. In other news, Sunburst was recently admitted into my school for gifted unicorns. He still doesn't have his cutie mark but I believe that it will appear soon, most likely in researching or studying, he's very gifted at that. The Duchy of Ponyville is under the leadership of Count Rich the highest ranked noble after you in the duchy. He usually has control over the Barony of Ponyville, the capital of the duchy. I will keep a close eye on him in the coming years to make sure he doesn't abuse his position.

Sincerely Princess Celestia
> Daring Dash
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rainbow Dash was running on a treadmill in her 4th week of Cadets training. She still remembered what Spitfire had told them when they started: "Friends will always be there for you, that's something I had to learn the hard way. If you need help with anything you can go to your teammates because they are your friends and friends, don't abandon each other". Rainbow had wanted to ask her what she meant by that, but Spitfire hadn't shown up to the Cadets Training since the 1st week.

This minor lapse of concentration meant she didn't notice a fellow Cadet coming up to her. "You only have it on the 3rd highest speed? I can do better than that, slowpoke". This insult dragged Rainbow out of her thoughts, and her temper started to rise.

"Why do you care, Lightning Dust? It's practice, not a race."

"Well then let's make it a race," she said getting onto the treadmill next to her. She started to run and soon she had it on the 2nd highest speed. This was when Rainbow's competitiveness got the better of her; she hated to lose, so she didn't think and shifted the treadmill speed to the highest. The sudden increase in speed made Rainbow fall off it, slamming into the wall behind her, and twisting her leg in the process.

The last thing Rainbow noticed before she blacked out, was Lightning running over and getting an instructor to help her bring Rainbow to the hospital.



When Rainbow came to, she saw her parents sitting; she was lying in a hospital bed. Her mother, Firefly was the first to react by saying "She's awake, let me get her friends." Rainbow's first thought was wondering what happened, but then she remembered the race and her foolishness.

"Rainbow that was a very senseless thing to do. They have rules for the treadmills for a reason."

"I know, what's going to happen to me?"

"You have to stay in bed for the next couple days as you twisted your leg. Your friends have volunteered to bring you your homework. Before you ask you were only out for about an hour."

At that point Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack, Pinkie, and Sunset entered the room.

"Rainbow you're okay" Pinkie exclaimed

"We were so worried about you," Fluttershy said

"Yeah, you should have seen her. I've never seen Fluttershy get as angry as once she found out someone hurt you," Sunset said, making Fluttershy blush.

"Well, I don't like people hurting my friends," Fluttershy said defensively.

"It's okay Fluttershy we were just teasing."

"What are you all doing here? Don't you have other stuff to do?" Rainbow asked

"Yes, but we wanted to see our friend." Pinkie said

"To tell ya the truth, we weren't doing much anyway since the new Daring Do book came out." Applejack said, "So we had the time ta see ya."

Rarity squealed at that: "Daring Doo and the Golden Key, so far it's amazing. I can't believe that such fashionable people could be criminals."

"What's Daring Do?"

"Rainbow Dash, how could you not know what Daring Do is?" Rarity exclaimed.

"It's a book series," Sunset explained more helpfully.

"Well that explains it, I don't read books, doing that's for eggheads, I prefer watching movies that's cooler than reading books," Rainbow explained.

"Everbody should read Rainbow" Sunset Chastised "Most movies are based on written stories, and the original can be better than the sequel."

"Then I can wait for the movie to come out. If it's any good, they'll make one."

"I have the first book in the series here," Pinkie told her "You can read it now."

"Pinkie, why do you have the Equestrian version of the book?" Sunset asked her.

"No I don't, silly," Pinkie said as she quickly swapped the book for the human version. "You should read this Dashie since you can't move, and your parents banned you from using the internet or watching movies."

"Wait, what? I can't do anything interesting while I'm injured, why?"

"They said it was to make you learn to follow the rules since you ignoring the treadmill rules was why you got injured in the first place."

"Can't you guys stay here?"

"We can for the rest of the day, but we have to go to school on Monday, the doctor said he's coming back on Tuesday to check if you can leave."

"That sucks, you're telling me I can't do anything for 3 days?"

"Yes we are, we'll give you your homework after school on Monday so that we can do something with you then," Sunset explained.



The next day was Monday, so Rainbow didn't have any company, her parents needed to work so they could afford their expensive lifestyle. This meant that Rainbow didn't have anything to do other than revise for school or do what her friends suggested and read. 

Instead of doing either of these suggestions, Rainbow remembered that she had a Neighntendo DS in her bedside drawer. She decided to play Pokecolt, a game that focused on capturing creatures and battling with them to eventually become the best Pokecolt Trainer in the game.

Rainbow was so engrossed in the game that she didn't notice her mother coming home to make her lunch. "Rainbow I have your lunch here," she said as she went into the room. Rainbow quickly tried to hide the DS, but her mother caught her before she could. "I told you that you were to rest and not to use those infernal devices. I'm not angry with you; I'm just disappointed because I thought you would want to be healthy sooner."

"I do, it's just so boooring. Do you have anything I can do to pass the time?"

"Well, Rainbow," her mother smiled, "I think right now would be the perfect time to get into reading. You never know, you might enjoy it, I remember when I was your age everyone was talking about the most recent books."

Rainbow ate her peanut butter sandwich and gave the plate back to her mom, who then left the house to go back to work. This left Rainbow extremely annoyed as she had nothing to do; it seemed to her as if the book on her desk was just staring into her soul. Eventually, after what felt to Rainbow like 5 hours, but was actually only 1, she picked up the book and started to read it.

As Daring Do trekked through the tropical jungle, the wet heat sapped her energy and slowed her every step. If only she could escape this oppressive atmosphere by cooling down and swimming in the river. Unfortunately, she had broken her arm when her plane crashed in the jungle; luckily she still had a way out using her radio to call for a helicopter. She had to find the temple first though, and that was not something you could do from the air as the dense jungle canopy hid it.

The mosquitoes buzzed loudly. The macaws cried from the high trees. Yet all of these distracting noises were not enough to cover the sound of the predators following her every step. She came across a large ravine that she had to cross by swinging on the vines hanging from the treetops. She waited for a light breeze to push the vines slightly closer to her, and then pounced on it like a jaguar attacking its prey. Carefully making sure not to lose her grip with the one hand that still worked. 

Safely landing on the other side, Daring finally allowed herself a moment to breathe. She turned around to find herself face to face with the long-lost temple that she had sought tirelessly for over sixty days and nights. The temple was magnificent and had a grand entrance at the top of some stairs. The stairs on the outside of the structure made it look more like a pyramid than a temple, and it was all in the shade of the beautiful broad-leaved, hardwood evergreens.

The smell of decay and danger hit Daring Do as she peered into the dimly-lit entrance of the ancient temple. She knew that she would come across multiple traps that would try to end her expedition; she would only survive with her fiery will to live. The first trap she came across was a swinging axe that required her to roll out of the way; she did so at the last second almost being beheaded. After that she stepped on a pressure plate, even an experienced archaeologist makes mistakes every now and again. 

Rainbow Dash's reading experience was soon interrupted by her friends coming to visit. She hid the book under her covers just as they entered the room. "Hey Rainbow, I brought you your school work for the day. The teachers want it in by Wednesday, that should be doable as you have nothing else to do." Sunset told her as she put the work on the desk next to the bed.

Pinkie asked her "Where's my book? I could have sworn I put it on the desk". As she did this, she got closer and closer to Rainbow while wearing on a more suspicious expression on her face.

"It might have fallen off while I was sleeping, but don't look for it, you might hurt me, I'll give it back to you on Wednesday."

"Do you want to do anything while we're here? I brought a game we could play." Sunset explained as she pulled a Connect 4 game set out of her bag.

"Nah, I'm tired I might just go to sleep. Thank you for coming over."

Sunset and Pinkie looked disappointed at this "well it's a good thing the others couldn't come right now and agreed to see you later. Rarity, Fluttershy and, Applejack will visit you tomorrow, and AJ is sorry that she couldn't come today as she planned, but she is needed on the farm. They seem to have a worker or two, sick, so she is needed to cover for them."

Rainbow's mother came up with her dinner; after she was finished with it took the tray with what had been her dinner downstairs. She turned off the light as she left, allowing Rainbow Dash to get some needed rest in her mind. Of course, Rainbow, who was now addicted to the fantastic story of Daring Do turned on her bedside light and continued to read the book. In her mind, she was becoming the famous explorer; then she realised that she was an egghead, someone who enjoyed reading. No one, absolutely no one could find out this about her, not even her closest friends. After this critical realisation, she started to read once more.

Daring Do stood at the entrance to the central temple chamber. "At last, she was face-to-face with the legendary sapphire statue! To reach it she would have to cross a floor of pressure plates; there would be no escape for her if she took a misstep. "Hmm, there must be a pattern here. What do all these animals have in common? Ah-ha! These animals are all predators except rats," she thought. Carefully navigating the chamber and making sure not to step on any of the stones with predators on them, she made her way to the sapphire statue.

She replaced it with a bag of equal weight. However, a pressure sensitive plate under the statue slowly lowered making a grinding sound as it fell. Suddenly the floor started to fall away revealing lava underneath it! Daring had to make a very narrow escape using her broken arm at the last moment to push against the wall and propel her the final few meters to safety. The pain she went through by doing that was excruciating. However, she had the statue for all her effort.

"Rainbow Dash" Her father called opening her door. Rainbow quickly hid the book from his sight. However, she was not fast enough. "Ah my little Dashie is becoming a reader now, is she?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"I can see the book you're hiding, and the fact that your light is still on even though you should be sleeping tells me otherwise."

"Fine, I'm an egghead laugh at me for it."

"Why would I do that to my favourite child?"

"Because I said reading books was uncool."

"Then you were wrong, but it's okay to be wrong. I think even those super smart friends of yours are wrong sometimes. Now go to bed, you have homework to do tomorrow." Rainbow Dash did what her father suggested and soon fell into a deep sleep, having a wonderful dream about Daring Do.



The next day Rainbow continued to fantasise about Daring Do. She had finished the book by this point and, the talk with her father convinced her to tell her friends that she enjoyed it. The homework she had was trivial as all the classes were coming up to the first tests of the year and so it was just studying for them. She had finished everything she needed to do before it was lunchtime and her father who made her lunch this time allowed her to watch TV. Soon after the meal, the doctor came by and allowed her to move around again, under the condition that she didn't do any sports.

This gave her plenty to do until her 5 friends arrived. Pinkie was overjoyed that Rainbow had her book, it was a first edition copy after all. "I have something to tell you guys."

"Yes? What is it Rainbow?" Rarity asked her.

"I'm sorry for insulting you for reading books, I really enjoyed the Daring Do story, I can't believe how naive I was to put down something I never tried. Especially something that you, my friends who had my interests in mind, suggested I try."

"What's with the sudden change of heart?" Sunset questioned.

"Well, the story was terrific and, my father beat some sense into my stubborn head." They all laughed at Rainbows reluctance to reveal that.

"Sounds like you learned an excellent lesson Rainbow, do you mind if I speak to Celestia about it?

"Why do you want to speak to the principal about our friendship?"

"Not the principal, but the princess."

"Oh, that magical pony princess, yeah sure, do you think that Daring Do will ever visit an alternate reality, like yours?"

"Thank you; I have no idea if the author would ever be able to come up with something like that. That reminds me why do all of the names here have pony puns in them? In Equestria, I understood it as a social norm, but here it makes no sense."

"Ah can answer that. Horses were very important in this region of the country, so it became ah social norm to remember them by including puns in the names of places or things. Soon it spread by entrepreneurs like the founder of Neighntendo who continued the tradition as they came from Canterlot," Applejack explained.

"Why do you know that?" Sunset asked.

"It's very important to learn the history of mah family as a farmer continuing traditions. Ah was ah curious child and was taught the reasons behind the tradition."

"Anyway, I have a letter to write."

Dear Princess Celestia
This week I learned from Rainbow's experience that you shouldn't hate something before you've tried it. Rainbow Dash learned this the hard way because she didn't like reading, that was until she learned of Daring Do. She got into an accident and had nothing to do other than read the book, so she gave it a shot. She really liked it and was soon addicted to the series. Isn't it strange how similar these two worlds are? Daring Do exists in both, what's even weirder is that Daring Do and the Golden Key was released at the same time in both worlds, I remember reading it earlier as you got a pre-release copy. Thanks to this I learned that we only regret the chances we didn't take. I wonder how Rainbow would be different if she hadn't read the book. Talking about Daring Do reminds me of the pony who introduced me to it, Spitfire. Last I heard she was dealing well with the trauma of what happened to her and that she entered NCO training to become a sergeant in the Pegasi Corps. How is that going for her? She's a Wonderbolt in this world. Please tell her I'm sorry for not keeping in touch as I promised and that I'm still grateful for everything she did for me.

Your Ex-Student Sunset Shimmer



A couple of hours later Sunset got a response from Princess Celestia; it was clear that the delay was so Celestia could talk to Spitfire.

Dear Sunset Shimmer
It was exciting to hear from you again. I hope you continue to enjoy your time in that strange world, learning about all the secrets that technology holds. Spitfire tells me that she is doing well and became a Sergeant as she wanted but in the Wonderbolts. She was also disappointed by you for taking the position of Duchess, due to her past I'm sure you know why. Her achievement of getting into the Wonderbolts is hardly unexpected, as she has shown valuable traits such as bravery when saving that Mare from those Timberwolves. She still feels like she should have been able to protect the stallion. Unfortunately, that Mare seems to have passed away during the childbirth of a little filly whose father died in the forest. In other news, Filthy Rich is engaged to Spoiled Milk, and their wedding is going to be held within the next couple of months. I had no idea he was in a relationship, and it seems to be relatively new, Spoiled, however, is showing signs of pregnancy leading me to believe that they must have been together quite a while in a secret relationship. I know you didn't ask, but Twilight is even more engrossed in her studies than you were at that stage and seems to have forgotten about you. I do hope she will learn to value friends as you did, Sunset. She appreciates knowledge, and unfortunately, there is only one other filly her age that knows as much as her, so she spends her time in the library.

Sincerely, your friend, Princess Celestia
> Farm Stubborness
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was the end of the first term for the school; the school finished the unit tests. The 6 girls did well on the tests with Sunset gaining top marks in all her classes apart from history and computer science courses. They were currently planning when they would meet during the weeklong holiday from school at the Sugarcube Corner.

"Hey Applejack, could you help me set up my new storefront?"

"Of course Rarity, Why does it need to be changed?"

"So that it fits the current fashion, of course, a fresh store for a fresh season."

"Ah can help you on Tuesday after ah finish mah job at the farm."

"AJ, you said we'd compete in the video gaming tournament on Tuesday," Rainbow protested.

"So Ah did, make that Wednesday Rarity."

"All right, we're going to destroy the competition with Fluttershy cheering us on."

"My new store is going to be beautiful."

"Hey, Sunny, since the others are going to be doing stuff do you wanna come over to my place to bake on Tuesday and Wednesday?"

"Wednesday sounds good for me, but on Tuesday Celestia and Luna want me to do something. Before you ask, I don't know what they want."

"Guess I'll hang out with Rarity on Tuesday then."

"See you later," Sunset said as she left the Sugarcube Corner to go home.



Sunset got home to see Celestia with an orange teenager 3 years younger than her. Celestia turned to see Sunset and smiled at her. "This is Scootaloo, a distant relative to mine. I promised her mother that I would look after her while she is on an expedition."

"I don't see why I have to be here. All the other times I was left alone, and I was fine," Scootaloo objected while scowling at Sunset.

"First of all Scootaloo, those expeditions were shorter, and you had your father with you. This time both of your parents are going, and it's going to take a couple of months, if not a year."

"Fine, but why is she here?" asked Scootaloo while pointing at Sunset.

"She happens to be living with me, Scootaloo, you should be nicer to her," Celestia scolded her.

"Fine, I'm sorry, I'm just so annoyed that my parents went off again without telling me."

"It's fine, so how long are you staying with us?"

"I don't know, but it should be a couple of months," Scootaloo said as she left to grab a snack.

"That reminds me Sunset; we are moving into the new house on Tuesday. So you should start to pack up your things."

"Thank you for telling me, Celestia. We're moving into the large mansion next to the lake right?"

"Yes, that's the one. Scootaloo will also be attending Ponyville Elementary next to CHS for the foreseeable future, so please try to get along with her."

"I will try Celestia, but I make no promises."

"That's all I ask for; I haven't told Scootaloo where we're moving and, it would be a nice surprise for her."

"I can just imagine her face when she sees the mansion."



Applejack/Rainbow Dash/Fluttershy
Applejack woke up that morning stressed out. On Friday many of the farm's workers decided that they would take the next week off and notified her brother. Big Mac only told AJ this the previous day as he read the businesses email, this meant that Applejack had to harvest most of the apple orchard by herself as any temporary workers wouldn't be able to come in that quickly.

Applejack worked as hard as she could for the entire day and was soon exhausted when she heard an alarm on her phone go off. She looked at it through her blurry eyes and read the notification as something to do with Rainbow. She tried to remember what she was going to do with Rainbow and realised that she needed to get to Rainbow's house to start the tournament. 5 minutes later she was on her way to compete in the competition.

Half an hour later AJ arrived at Rainbows house to compete in the online tournament. Rainbow noticed how tired she looked and asked: "Are you okay Applejack?."

"Ah'm fine, just a bit tired from harvesting all mornin, let's just get started."

"Okay let's get started, did you bring your laptop?"

"No Ah forgot."

"That's fine, just use mine."

"What're we playin again? Is it Hooves of Iron 4 Equestria at War?"

"No, seriously, how did you forget? It's the new game called Trotnite; we were practising all last week."

"Right, sorry just a bit tired."

"I can see that anyway the tournament starts in half an hour, that should be enough time to get in a practice game."

They played for as long as they could before entering into the private lobby to start the tournament game. Fluttershy arrived during this time. 

"AJ you need to step up your game, we can't keep doing as badly as we were in practice."

"Rainbow Dash," Fluttershy scolded "You should be nicer to our friends."

"Fine, I'm sorry Applejack, try to do better in the official game please."

"Ah'm sure the adrenaline will keep me focused," Applejack said confidently before muttering under her breath "Dang exhaustion."

AJ and Rainbow proceeded to come in the bottom 25% of teams because AJ didn't react fast enough when Rainbow was ambushed allowing their opponents to wipe them.  Applejack returned to the farm after being berated by Rainbow for her failure and soon fell asleep.



Sunset

Sunset had all the stuff that Celestia and Luna had bought for her packed into suitcases ready to be moved into the new house. The house was 3 stories tall with a private pool and private access to the lakeside beach. It cost around 40 million dollars of Sunset's money but allowed her to get a private and, secret laboratory where she could test the laws of magic and physics to find any differences between the two worlds. Outfitting the laboratory with what she needed would cost another 10 million by her calculation meaning that the house would require a cool 50 million in total.

Scootaloo knew that they were moving house that day and so kept her stuff packed up from when she moved in with Celestia so she wouldn't have to repack for that day.

"Where are we going, auntie?"

"It's a surprise where we are going to live."

"Come on just tell me."

"Fine, we'll be living on Jezeragrad Street in the Lake City neighbourhood, but you have to wait five more minutes before you can see it."

Scootaloo's jaw dropped when she heard where they were living, as the Lake City neighbourhood was the most expensive in the city. This made her even more excited to see the house they were going to live in.

Sunset was smirking waiting for Scootaloo's reaction that they would be living in a mansion, she knew it was going to be good. 5 minutes later she was proven right, Scootaloo's mouth was wide open at seeing the massive estate in front of her. She could see the private pool next to the house located opposite the garage which could store 5 vehicles, not that they needed it to.

The main entrance to the house opened up to a grand staircase leading to the basement, second and third floors. In the basement was Luna's soon to be gaming room that still had to be outfitted, but would be finished by the end of the week. Next to it was the room where Sunset's laboratory would exist with top of the line equipment, making it the best in the city. There were more empty rooms down there, but they hadn't decided what to do with them yet.

On the first floor was the kitchen, dining room, living room and, bar. The kitchen was next to the pool and had a door so that in the summer you could eat outside. The dining room was on the opposite side of the kitchen giving easy access for people to eat in it. On the other side of the stairs was the bar, a perfect place for parties to be held, Sunset knew that Pinkie would love it. Next to the bar was the entrance to the garage meaning that in winter they wouldn't have to go outside in the cold to get to it. Behind the stairs and between the living room and dining room was the exit to the beachside that came with the house.

On the second floor were the master bedroom and another one of similar size, for Celestia and Luna to sleep in. Both of the bedrooms opened up to a shared balcony which had a magnificent view of the lake. There was also a couple of guest bedrooms on this floor. Finally on the third floor were the bedrooms for the children each getting a great view and large amounts of space to do whatever they wanted.

The unconventional family moved into their respective rooms to unpack and relax after a long day of moving clothes and other essentials to stay in the already furnished house.



Applejack/Rarity
On Wednesday it was even worse for Applejack, she spent almost the entire day working on the farm and only stopped when Rarity came by to pick her up. 

"Hey Rarity what are you doing here?"

"You told me that you could help me with my store, but now that I see the state you're in.... let's just say you look like you need some help."

"AH'M FINE," Applejack shouted at the accusation, "Ah said Ah would help ya so Ah will."

"Okay then, no need to shout."

"Ah'm sorry."

"It's fine, let's go."

Rarity drove Applejack to her store - the Carousel Boutique - where Applejacks eyes widened at what she saw. 5 truckloads of furniture were parked in the street waiting to be unloaded.

"Don't ya think this is a bit much?"

"Oh, that's not all for me, turns out the store next door is also redecorating and they needed somewhere to park their vehicles. My things are only in the first 2 trucks." Applejack sighed happily at not having to do that much work.

"I wrote some instructions for what work needs to be completed on the table over there," Rarity told her.

Applejack started to move the pristine, white furniture into the shop while Rarity went to grab a drink from the local Starbucks. Applejack noticed that they would run out of space soon for the new furniture and decided to move the older, black furniture out of the shop.

After half an hour, Rarity came back with a couple of drinks for the two of them and asked Applejack what she had done with the furniture that was in the store.

"Ah put it in the truck so that it could be moved easily."

"Why did you do that? The theme was a clash between light and dark, old and new; you just undid all my previous work on the store."

"Ah'm sorry Rarity Ah didn't realize." At this point, Rarity was fuming so much that her look could kill. Applejack was worried that if Rarity got any angrier, she would spontaneously combust into flames.

"I TOLD YOU THERE WERE CLEAR INSTRUCTIONS THAT I WROTE DOWN ON ONE OF THE TABLES," Rarity shouted before taking a deep breath. "I'm sorry for shouting at you, but you just destroyed the work I did in the last week."

"Ah understand, Ah'm sorry, but Ah think Ah threw out the instructions as Ah thought they were scrap paper."

"You didn't think to read them?"

"To be honest, Ah couldn't read what was on it, Ah'm too exhausted to read right now."

"Just get out, I time to calm down." Applejack did as she was told, leaving very quickly.

After the mistake Applejack made she went back to the farm. Meanwhile, Rarity texted Sunset, Rainbow, Fluttershy and, Pinkie. She told them to meet up at the Sugarcube Corner tomorrow.



The next day, the 5 girls were sitting at the Sugarcube Corner; they had come up with a plan to stop the destruction that Applejack was inadvertently causing. They would have an intervention, AJ's obsession with her work was carelessly destroying the world around her and needed to be stopped. To do this the 5 girls decided that while tieing her down would be the fastest method, it wouldn't convince her to change. The best way to stop her, they decided, would be to help her with the massive amount of labour she had to do on the farm.

They quickly rushed into Rarities car to head to Sweet Apple Acres to stop the menace that was an overworked Applejack. They all saw her working in the orchard when they arrived; she looked as if she hadn't slept in 20 years let alone a week and they realised that the situation was worse than they thought it was.

"Applejack," Sunset called to her. It was no use; Applejack was so tired she didn't even realise that her salvation had come.

The 5 girls went up to their insomniac friend and tapped her on the shoulder. The sudden touch of another person made AJ jump up in fright causing Rainbow to fall on the ground laughing. Once Applejack got over the fright she glared at Rainbow and asked: "Why are ya here?"

"Applejack can we talk?"

"Can bee's squawk? Ah don't think so."

"CAN WE TALK?"

"Why didn't ya say so? Of course we can, what do you want to talk about?"

"It's about what you did yesterday."

"Oh yes, I wasn't quite feeling myself."

"Because you're working too hard, you need a break."

"No Ah don't, Ah promised that Ah would run the farm while mah brother was away and that's what Ah'm gonna do." At this point Applejack collapsed from exhaustion; Rainbow and Fluttershy rushed forward to catch her before she hit the ground.

"Put her to sleep in her bed you two. The rest of us will work on the farm," Sunset ordered them.



When Applejack came to, she found herself in her bed. Thinking back to what happened she gasped when she realized that her work for the day wasn't done. Her frantic self, failed to notice a giggling Sunset in the corner of the room until she spoke up. "What are you worried about?"

"Ah haven't finished mah work."

"Just come with me to look outside." The pair of them went and looked out of the window to see the legendary Sweet Apple Acres orchard wholly cleared of all apples.

"What did ya do?"

"It wasn't just me AJ; all our friends saw that you needed help but, you should have just asked rather than work yourself half to death."

"Ah'm sorry about that."

"It's not me you have to apologize to, now the rest of them are waiting downstairs. Tell them I'll be just a moment, I have something to write down."

"Okay, Sunset thank you for all your help."

"No problem, just ask next time."

"Ah sure will," Applejack laughed as she headed downstairs.

Sunset opened the journal that she always kept on her and started to write.

Dear Princess Celestia
This week was the end of term break for the first term of school, and lots of things happened. Firstly I got a sister who seems to hate me; her name is Scootaloo; Applejack taught us all the downside of being as stubborn as a mule (no offence); we moved into a new house, it's the largest in Canterlot. I learned more about video games which are a technology used for entertainment in this world. We have something quite similar in Equestria, but it's not at the level that it is here as they only exist in arcades.

Scootaloo is living with this worlds Celestia because her mother and father are off on some expedition leaving her without parental guidance. I don't know why she seems to hate me, but I think it might be because of the stress of being away from her parents as she is still quite young. I hope that I can help her through this, but it might be beyond my control, any advice would be helpful. 

Applejack took on too many responsibilities ranging from competing with Rainbow as a team in a video game competition to managing the farm. She was quite tired after each day, leading to her being more of a hindrance than any help. This led to us having to help her, but not we forced her to accept it (She's quite stubborn!). 

Like I said previously, we moved into the largest house in Canterlot. Celestia bought it using the money we got from selling the jewels and gold. The house is right next to this beautiful lake and is also quite close to the school (It's challenging to describe). 

Finally, video games are a prevalent entertainment medium in this world. Many different types are ranging from strategy and 4X (Explore, Expand, Exploit, Exterminate) to fighting games and FPS (First Person Shooters) to RPG's and MOBA's (Role Playing Games and Multiplayer Online Battle Arena). I will provide an extensive list later. The humans seem to use them to vent after an argument or fight, possibly resulting in a large amount of violence in the games. RPG's and Strategy appears to be the most popular types as they allow the player to escape their reality and live out their fantasies. I will continue to do more research on this, but I have found out that some people suffer from addiction to these games. Recently a new medical classification list was released called ICD-11 which said that about 0.5-2% of gamers suffer from it. That is something to consider if you want to introduce this technology to Equestria (At least in the form that it currently is in).

Sincerely Sunset Shimmer (Richest Canterlot Resident)



Dear Sunset
That is very interesting to hear; I will make sure to keep an eye on this emerging industry so that it doesn't hurt my little ponies. From what you described Scootaloo seems Jealous of your relationship with Principal Celestia, I believe a young filly you know very well was also quite Jealous of a certain pink princess. My advice is simply to talk to her; try to make Scootaloo understand that her behaviour is wrong like I did with you before it escalates to a situation neither of you wants. It is good to hear that you learned the dangers of stubbornness, that was what cost me, my sister. Finally, I hope to see some pictures of your house when the portal opens in 3 and a half years.
Sincerely Princess Celestia (Richest Equestrian - I can brag too)
> Talent Show
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was Tuesday the start of school after the weeklong break; Celestia was sitting in her office waiting for a new student who had just moved to Canterlot the previous week. She had already met the parents to ensure that this "Trixie" would be allowed to attend as soon as possible. From what Celestia understood, Trixie's father was a famous magician but gave up that life to focus on something else. What that was Celestia didn't know but looking at Trixie's school records it involved lot's of moving around.

The door to her office opened and a blue girl in what appeared to be a magicians hat entered; she said: "the Great and Powerful Trixie was told to come here to receive her schedule."

Celestia blinked when she heard the girl talk in the third person. Shaking her head out of the daze that it was in Celestia told her: "of course, let me just grab it for you. You will be in Cheerilee's homeroom; you can get Sunset Shimmer to show you around she should be in the library around now."

"The Great and Powerful Trixie thanks you for your kindness. Trixie will go to the Library to find this student of yours."

That was weird, Celestia thought, I hope she doesn't cause any trouble. Celestia shook those thoughts from her head and focused on starting her work for the week.



Sunset and the rest of her friends were spending time in the library before school starts, talking about the events that took place during the holidays much to the dismay of Applejack.

"Ah told ya, we all make mistakes like Ah did last week."

"True, but that doesn't mean I can't use those mistakes against you," Rainbow quipped making Applejack laugh good-naturedly.

"So I can tell the girls what happened at yer soccer practice the other day?"

Rainbow flinched, "You wouldn't dare!"

"So Thunderlane was telling me how Rainbow..."

"Fine AJ you made your point please don't tell them that," Rainbow interrupted.

Rarity, always one to love gossip, exclaimed: "No darling you simply must continue."

"How Rainbow got stuck..."

"Stop, please!"

"Fine, Ah won't say another word."

"Hey, who is that new girl over there?" Sunset asked stopping the argument between her friends.

"Ah don't know, Ah've never seen her before."

"Maybe she's new let's go say hello."

The girls moved over to the commotion that was surrounding the new girl who appeared to be performing magic tricks.

"The great and powerful Trixie would ask you Plebians to move out of her way while she performs her amazing magic." The bell went soon after she said this. "Who dares interrupt the Great and Powerful Trixie? What school is this to not recognise the almighty Trixie?"

"Come on guys lets get to homeroom," a kid in the crowd said encouraging the majority of the viewers to leave. Only Sunset and her friends stayed behind with Trixie.

"Who are you to stay and bask in the magnificent presence of Trixie."

"Hi I'm Sunset Shimmer, and these are my friends, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rarity and Fluttershy. I was wondering if you were new here Trixie?"

"How did you know Trixie's name are you stalking her?"

"Seriously," Rainbow deadpanned "You talk in the third person, OF course, we know your name."

"Oh," Trixie smiled sheepishly, "Anyway Principal Celestia ordered Trixie to find the one called Sunset Shimmer so she could show Trixie around the school."

"I can do that. What homeroom class do you have?"

"Trixie is in Cheerilee's Homeroom."

"Awesome that is where I am headed now, Gotta beat the second bell if you don't wanna be late. Bye girls I'll see you at lunch."

While Fluttershy, Trixie and Sunset headed to their homeroom class the other 4 decided to spend a little longer talking about the strange girl they just met.

"Do ya think she's from the weird world Sunset's also from."

"Nah, Sunset would tell us something like that, I think she's just a showboat who thinks she's got something to prove. I don't need her magic shmagic to be better than her," The others just glared at her, "I mean we don't need magic to be awesome."

"I think it's great fun, I might get her to do some party tricks at my next party," Pinkie suggested.

"Well, her magic is pretty good, but I think she could do something about that attitude of hers," Rarity told the others.

"Yeah jeez, what's with the weird talking anyway? It's like she views herself as the best," Rainbow questioned.

"I think she's just trying to make people laugh," Pinkie suggested

"If she is then it's ah terrible joke," Applejack stated bluntly.

The second bell rang. "Well we better run, or we'll be marked down as late to homeroom," Rainbow shouted at the others as she ran down the hall towards her class.





After Trixie was introduced to her new homeroom class, Cheerilee took the register and gave out some announcements. "The animal shelter is looking for more volunteers if you are interested please come by on Friday afternoon to help out." The class all looked at Fluttershy when Cheerilee said the words "Animal Shelter" since it was a well-known fact that she was the premier animal caretaker in the city. 

Nonetheless, Cheerilee continued her announcements "The Fashion Club is looking for more members; please come by on Wednesday afternoon if you're interested in looking fabulous." Sunset rolled her eyes and chuckled at that knowing Rarity's generosity had something to do with the last part of the announcement. "Finally, the school talent show is coming up soon; all participants must sign up at lunch today or tomorrow with Lyra, the organiser. There is a hundred dollar prize for the best talent in the school." 

Trixie looked visibly excited at that and announced to the class "Trixie is sure to win the talent show, don't waste your time in signing up. The great and powerful Trixie cannot lose to peasants like you," she said gesturing to the entire class.

Cheerilee looked shocked that a student would just casually insult the rest of the students and have a superiority complex like that. Trixie noticed this and before she could get herself in hotter water with the authority figure in the room she decided to create a distraction. "Does anyone have any questions for the Great and Power," Trixie saw Cheerilee's glare and changed her tune "Um I meant the Gracious and Humble Trixie."

"Yeah I have one," Sunset piped up "Why did you move to Canterlot."

"Well Trixie's family is descended from the great Starswirl who founded Canterlot, and Trixie's parents wanted to move back to the city that appears in her families legends."

"What legends are those," Sunset asked now interested because the legendary Starswirl the Bearded was involved.

"That is Trixie's secret, if you want to find, then you have to beat Trixie in the talent show, and that is never going to happen."

Sunset thought about this for a moment before deciding that she could do it if she had her friends help. "Do you mind if I get some of my friends to help?"

"Trixie does not care, get whatever help you need you won't be able to defeat her anyway."

"Okay then, I'll see you when my friends and I win the talent show. You better be prepared to tell me that family legend of yours."





It was Taco Tuesday at the school and Pinkie had stuffed her tray full of taco's when Sunset met up with them. "Hey, girls did you hear about the talent show happening next week?"

"Yepperoni it sounds like a great time."

"How do you feel about joining it."

"Oh, I couldn't," Fluttershy said softly, "I don't like the attention."

"That's okay Fluttershy, but I sort of bet Trixie that we could beat her magic act."

"Why would you do that?"

"I'm sorry Rainbow, but I let my enthusiasm get away from me. I sort of figured most of you would be okay with it."

"Well, Trixie could lose some of that attitude and humbling her like this would achieve that," Rarity mused.

"Ah think we can beat her, but what should we do?" Applejack asked them, "We can't win if we don't participate

"I KNOW," Rainbow blurted out drawing stares from the surrounding tables. Rainbow smiled sheepishly before continuing: "We could create a band, I can see it now, the Rainbooms, you all know how to place instruments right?"

"Ah can play the Bass guitar, but mah granny sold it at the beginning of the year accidentally."

"My Guitar is also pretty old, and I need a new one," Rainbow lamented.

"I can play the piano," Rarity added, "So it's still a good Idea we just need a bit of money to make this work." The 5 girls looked at Sunset when Rarity said that.

"Fine, I can buy you two new instruments."

During this entire time, Pinkie was tapping her fingers to a bear something that did not escape Rainbow's notice. She finally said, "I don't know how to play any instruments, so I can't join the band." Her hair started to go flat at the recognition of this fact. Rainbow quickly upped her spirits by saying "I'm sure we can find something for you to play."

"Fluttershy? Are you sure don't want to take part in the talent show?" Sunset asked bringing the focus of the conversation to Fluttershy's engagement.

"Well, it sounds like fun but, oh I couldn't. All of the attention on me, it's just horrible."

"Fluttershy we'll be with you on the stage. You don't have to if you don't want to, but we could give you a supporting part. Most people don't even notice those people, but they are still crucial to the performance," Sunset told her.

"It would be awesome if you joined us," Rainbow added.

Fluttershy finally gave in to the peer pressure and agreed. "Yes, I'll do it, what instrument were you thinking?"

"Well, most rock bands I know have a tambourinist as a support to keep the beat," Rainbow told her. "Sunset do you play any instruments?"

"No, I don't, and I think it would take too long to learn how with these things," She said gesturing to her hands. "So I guess I'll sing for the band."

"This is perfect we have a guitarist, a bass guitarist, a tambourinist and a singer. Now, all we need is a drummer, and I think Pinkie would be perfect for the role."

"Why do ya say that Rainbow?" Applejack asked.

"I saw her tapping a beat with the spoon she used to eat her ice-cream. We just need to convert that natural Pinkie energy into drumming."

The girls agreed and went to Lyra to sign up for it. She created the talent show as she thought it would be a great fundraiser for the school. That was the official reason, the personal reason Bon-Bon spouted was that Lyra was bored and wanted to watch teenagers fail at being talented. Sunset personally thought Bon-Bon was just getting back at Lyra for calling her by her proper name "Sweetie Drops" and not her nickname.

Lyra was holding the register sheet on a clipboard in front of a giant queue. It looked as if the entire school was trying to get into the talent show. Suddenly, Trixie appeared in a flash of smoke. "You will all fail to defeat the Great and Powerful Trixie in the art of performance for she is the most talented student here."

"Oh great," Rainbow moaned "The boaster has returned to brag about her ability." Trixie's sudden appearance was enough to make most of the competition leave the area. They were smart enough to know that they would have a better time watching the talent show rather than competing against the magician.

"Well, that worked out in our favour," Sunset told them noting they would have fewer people to compete against them.

Trixie approached the group who was now at the front of the line. "Well, you decided to show up, after all, I thought you might have gotten scared knowing you can't stop the inevitable."

"Stop your rivalry for a second and answer my questions," Lyra interjected. "What act are you doing?"

"The Great and Powerful Trixie is a magician."

"We're a band," the 6 girls chorused.

"Okay, so we got a music act and a magic act. That's all I need, pay attention to any announcements made in homeroom. We might need you for a practice run-through," Lyra instructed.

"Thank you."

"No problem Sunset I hope to see your band perform well." The bell rang, and the students had to go to classes.





After school Sunset and her friends met up in the library since it was a public building and thus open after school ended. Applejack and Rarity apologised for not being able to stay long, as they had agreed to do things with their sisters. Before they could leave, however, Celestia walked in ready to take Sunset and Scootaloo home.

"Hey, Sunset ready to go home?"

"Yes, but, I was hoping you could drive us to the shopping centre and that we could use the music room and the drumset later in the week to practice for the talent show."

"I could drive you to the shopping centre; however, someone would have to look after Scootaloo as Luna is in a meeting with some parents. You can, however, use the music room and the drumset for the talent show. I trust you not to break anything in there."

"Great if we get Pinkie and Fluttershy to look after Scootaloo, Apple Bloom and, Sweetie Belle the rest of us can go to the shopping centre to buy some instruments."

"Ah don't know Sunset, Ah promised Apple Bloom we would watch some movies together."

"It'll be fine, it's only a single promise you broke," Sunset assured them, "besides Pinkie will be watching them and having fun with them."

"Hmm okay then."

"Fluttershy here is some money to buy them drinks at the Sugarcube Corner."

"Thank you."

While the girls were at the mall, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were sitting disappointed in the Sugarcube Corner. They had discovered they were in the same boat with their sisters abandoning them to hang out with each other. While Pinkie Pie left to get them some drinks, they discovered they also had each other's insane love of movies. Scootaloo liked the Daring Do movie the best; Sweetie Belle liked Beauty and the Beast from Disneigh Studios; Apple Bloom liked the amazing Mare do Well. They got into a heated debate over which movie was the best and realised they were all excellent in there own way. What they spoke about soon shifted towards their sisters.

"Mah Sister promised she would spend time with me watching movies."

"I was hoping to hang out with Rainbow Dash, but like always I was ditched so she could hang out with Sunset ugh."

"The last time I spoke to Rarity was so that she could use me as a model; it's like she's not even my sister anymore."

"Agh wish we could do something to make them notice us."

"Maybe we should enter in the Talent Show; then they would have to notice us if we beat them."

"That's a great idea Sweetie, but what could we do."

"Ah know we could act out our favourite movie scenes."

"And we could create the Canterlot Movie Club as we all love movies."

Scootaloo looked at Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom with a grin on her face: "3... 2... 1..." she started to say.

"CANTERLOT MOVIE CLUB YEA," all 3 of the kids cheered.





The next day Sunset and her friends had the instruments in the music room and were ready to practice.

"Hey Sunset, did you have any trouble finding the instruments?" Pinkie asked her.

"We did have a bit of trouble getting AJ's bass guitar and Rainbow's Electric one."

"What happened?"

"Well turns out Flash had the same idea we did and started a rock group for the talent show as well, and he needed a new guitar. Rainbow and Flash both went for the same one, and they ended up doing a guitar solo for the one they wanted. Rainbow and Flash ended up having an impromptu guitar solo battle. Rainbow won but, liked the guitar she used in the solo so much that she ended buying it instead. This left Flash with a very expensive guitar, and he ended up not having the money to buy it. I felt bad for him, so I bought it for him because you know I don't really have to worry about money."

"That explains what happened with Dashie, but what trouble did you end up in trying to get AJ a bass guitar," Pinkie questioned.

"Well, Applejack used to own a bass guitar but, she sold it last summer because she needed the money to buy the new Neightendo console. We spent a while trying to track it down, and eventually, we found that it was in possession of 2 shady businessmen. Flim and Flam as they were called overcharged Applejack for the bass guitar and while I could pay the amount Applejack didn't let me because of the dishonesty they displayed."

"Oh wow, what happened next?" Pinkie asked, enthralled by the story.

"Well Flim and Flam also needed someone to construct a shelf for them, and they said they would let AJ get her guitar back in exchange for building it. So AJ had the shelf up in about 10 minutes surprising the 2 businessmen who thought they could sell the guitar before AJ came to collect. After some encouragement and proof that the guitar was her's, they eventually gave it up as agreed."

"Jeez, that must have been exhausting to go through."

"Yes it was, now after that ordeal, I'm excited to start creating some music."

While Pinkie and Sunset were talking the rest of the girls started to arrive. Finally, Rainbow Dash came running through the door. "Sorry I'm late I was just thinking of some songs we could play, Look I even created one," Rainbow Dash exclaimed, gesturing to her open notebook. The book was passed around to Applejack and Rarity.

"Rainbow, this song is very... how would you put it?"

"Self-centered, narcissistic, egotistical?"

"Yes, that."

"Oh, um I had an idea for a song," Fluttershy said giving Sunset her notebook.

"Fluttershy, this is really good," Sunset said as Rainbow grabbed the book.

"I guess we could do this instead of my song."

The rest of the girls also agreed and soon they were practising Fluttershy's song. Making music made everyone feel better after a tough day at school and the difficulty that was yesterday.

Meanwhile, the Canterlot Movie Club had managed to become an official CHS afterschool club with its own room to use for activities. Right now Apple Bloom was trying to convince Sweetie Belle to sing rather than make the props as she knew it would end badly. Suddenly, Scootaloo burst into the room and overhearing the argument announced: "That's perfect as I wanted to sing in the Talent Show."

Apple Bloom, hearing that 2 of her friends were against her, decided to go with the flow. "Ah, guess Ah can do the stunts, but Ah thought you would want to do that?" She said looking at Scootaloo.

"Normally I would, but, maybe I could get more attention from Rainbow if I'm better than her in something and I can't beat her in sports."

"Ah guess that makes sense, but, Sweetie why do you want to make props?"

"I want to be more like my sister Rarity who designs clothes. If I design these props well maybe she'll pay more attention to me."

"Ah guess if Ah do the stunts well Ah'll prove to Applejack that Ah am strong enough to help out on the farm."

"See," Scootaloo Charmed in, "it makes more sense to do it this way."

"Ah understand."

Over the next 2 weeks Trixie, the Rainbooms and the CMC practised for the talent show. Applejack, Rarity and Rainbow missed more time they promised to spend with the CMC to practice on Sunday. This was fine for the CMC as they liked spending time with each other and also needed to practice, but, it only proved to them that their sisters didn't want to spend time with them. This hit Scootaloo especially hard as Rainbow wasn't her real sister and so could abandon whereas the others could always see them at home. Scootaloo's hatred of Sunset only increased because of this, making her spend more time with the CMC who could sympathise with her.





Soon it was Friday, 2 weeks since the talent show was announced and it was time for it to start. There were at least 20 competitors with performances ranging from Magic Shows and Musical performances to Baking. Sunset thought Baking was a weird choice for a talent show but didn't comment on it. The judges were Principal Celestia, Vice-Principal Luna and Lyra the competition organiser. 

The order of the performances was in the order they signed up for the talent show. This meant that Trixie who hounded Lyra until she put her name on the registration sheet was going first. Sunset noted that she looked very confident in her abilities.

Soon Trixie's name was called forward, and the Talent show was underway. Trixie's performance was terrific even to Sunset who thought she could catch some of the switches. The beginning was excellent as Trixie flawlessly performed classic card tricks like 3 card monte and the 4 burglars. Then Trixie switched up her performance with some smoke bomb tricks. In just a flash she was able to travel through a wall she brought onstage. Sunset figured the wall had a hidden door that Trixie opened when the smoke bomb went off. 

Finally, Trixie started to tell a story about the legend of the Everfree using lights and a projector to make images appear behind her. "Deep in the Everfree forest is an old castle. It was owned by 2 brothers, the Dukes of the Everfree. The younger brother was a brilliant strategist and was heralded as a prodigy of his time. The older brother grew tired of hearing praise for his younger sibling every day, even though he was the one to run the duchy. 

As the elder grew more and more resentful and jealous of his sibling, he discovered forbidden arts and combining them with his hate of all life turned himself into a Centaur cursed in having to steal life energy. The younger was sent out to defeat him, but just as he delivered the final blow, he saw his brother underneath all the corruption and knew he could have been saved. To this day the castle is haunted by the ghost of the younger crying over the guilt of his actions. The green-eyed monster that is jealousy caused one of the brightest families of their generation and slaughtered it leaving nothing but ruins in its place.

The audience cheered as Trixie finished her act. They knew performance they had just seen was more than just a magic show it was an experience. The competitors knew they would be hard-pressed to beat what Trixie had just done as she combined the excitement of a magic show with the mystery of a great story. Derpy's baking was the next talent to be presented.

Derpy started by wheeling out an oven, stove and countertop with ingredients on them. Principal Celestia looked hungrily at the equipment like she wanted to consume it all. Derpy then announced she would be baking her 5-minute muffins that were famous at the school for their deliciousness. She went over the recipe as she was cooking and soon the smell coming from the oven entranced the entire audience. Finally Derpy gave the muffins to the judges so they could have a taste test.

After a couple more contestants had performed, it was time for the Rainbooms performance. After all the practice they had done over the past couple weeks they amazed the crowd with their opening performance of "I'm awesome as I wanna be". Rainbow knew that it was the right song to get the crowd warmed up.  Sunset was in the front along with Rainbow singing the lyrics while Pinkie was behind and to the right of them providing the beat along with Fluttershy who was supporting her with the tambourine. Rarity and AJ were on the other side using a keytar and bass guitar respectively.

After a couple more songs the crowd was starting to get bored, and so the Rainbooms started to play Fluttershy's song, music in my heart, as their finale. The audience cheered, and the Sunset knew that they had made the right choice in choosing Fluttershy's song for the big finish. As the song came to a close, the audience cheered hard for them to win the entire talent show. As they left the stage, Trixie looked a bit upset that they managed to upstage her, but she was confident that they wouldn't be able to beat her.

The final act came, to Sunset and her friends surprise, from Scootaloo, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. They opened up their routine by introducing themselves as the Canterlot Movie Club. Applejack said "Well Ah guess Ah don't have to spend as much time with mah sister. Ah'm happy that she managed to make some friends her age."

"I agree, I guess Sweetie Belle doesn't want to spend as much time with me. She is becoming quite a mature child."

"Now that Scoots is part of her own club, she won't have time to spend training with me and the other sports clubs. It's hard to see the squirt growing up."

The rest of the girls nodded, agreeing with the sentiment. Meanwhile, the CMC started their routine. The props they used looked terrible, Apple Bloom began to perform some stunts vaguely resembling the ones done in the Daring Do movie. Then Scootaloo began to sing; suddenly the entire crowd had their hands over their ears. Apple Bloom was so distracted by the singing she ended up tripping during one of the stunts and landing on Scootaloo. This made Scootaloo stop singing, and the entire crowd started to laugh. Sweetie Belle suddenly got an idea and announced: "Thank you for watching our comedic parody of the action scene in Daring Do."

"Why'd ya do say that?" Apple Bloom asked Sweetie Belle.

"Because it was terrible, my props were the worst part, but you two weren't great either. I thought it would be better to play it off as a parody pointing out all the issues with that scene than a serious reenactment."

"Ah told you that would happen, but you wanted to make the props anyway."

"I hope we still win something even though we messed it up," Scootaloo said, "Otherwise our efforts to make our sisters notice us would fail."

The judges left to decide who would win each prize. The waiting heightened the excitement that the competitors felt. A couple of minutes later they returned to unveil their verdict.

"Oh they're about to announce the winner look," Rarity squealed.

"Come on we have it in the bag, no reason to get so excited. Trixie's lost this," Rainbow bragged.

Celestia went "We have looked at all the talents that the school has to offer and we have come to a decision on the winner. In third place, we have the magic act from Trixie Lulamoon." Everyone looked shocked at this expecting her to come at least second if not first. Trixie gave an angry glare at the principals and stormed off muttering something about how they don't appreciate good talent.

Celestia continued "In second place, we have the music act from the band the Rainbooms." The Rainbooms also looked confused as to who beat them if Trixie didn't. They weren't paying much attention to the other acts focussing on how they could beat Trixie's act. Celestia finally announced: "In first place... we would like to congratulate Derpy Hooves on her amazing 5-minute muffins recipe. They were delicious. Please come up to collect your prize." Sunset grinned when she heard who won, as she had completely forgotten about the Principal's love of any baked goods, particularly cake. "We would also like to congratulate the Canterlot Movie Club on their comedy act winning the bonus prize of 50 dollars."

Trixie, Derpy, the Rainbooms and, the CMC all went up to receive their prizes and have their pictures taken for the school yearbook. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo went to talk to their sisters but were ignored so that the girls could look for Trixie who had left in shame after receiving her 3rd place prize.

"Well, we beat Trixie so now she has to tell us about her families legend specifically about Starswirl," Sunset said as she looked around. "Where did Trixie go anyway?"

"Ah think Ah saw her go outside towards the statue."

"Oh um I saw that too Applejack," Fluttershy confirmed.

"Wait a moment sis," Apple Bloom said.

"Not now Bloom, Ah'm busy," Applejack replied shrugging off Apple Bloom like she would a pest.

"Aren't you proud of us for winning a prize?"

"Sure Ah am, good job," Applejack told her without paying attention to her. Apple Bloom realised that AJ was ignoring her and left to find the rest of the CMC.

"Applejack was still ignoring me. Our plan didn't work," Apple Bloom told the others.

"They have only been like this since they met Sunset," Sweetie Belle noted.

"Maybe if we break up their relationship to my so-called "sister" they would go back to hanging out with us," Scootaloo told them.

"Wait, Sunset is yer SISTER," Apple Bloom asked surprised.

"Yes, adopted cousin, but my parents are away, so I'm staying with her adopted parents."

"Oh, that makes more sense. Ah, agree that Sunset is the problem, but what could we do about her?"





While the CMC were speaking, Sunset and her friends left the building to find Trixie on the ground leaning against the horse statue in front of CHS. When Trixie saw the girls, she gave them a harsh glare.

"What do you want? Come to laugh at me like the rest of the world?"

"No, why would we do that?"

"Nevermind that why are you here."

Sunset didn't want to drop the subject, but before she could, Pinkie said: "We want to get the plot moving so tell us about your families history!"

The 6 girls all looked at each other before Sunset said: "It's Pinkie Pie don't question it." The girls all nodded and agreed silently. "But Pinkie is correct we would like to know about the legend that made your parents move back here."

"Fine, just don't laugh at Trixie, she does not deserve it. It all started a couple of hundred years ago; Humans could actually perform real magic. My ancestor, Starswirl, was the most magically capable human ever in existence and he created hundreds of new spells."

"If that's the case then why can't we use magic nowadays?"

"Trixie was just getting to that Sunset," she sneered, "Don't interrupt Trixie's story. Anyway, a monster, unlike anything this world has ever seen before decided to steal all the magic we had. Before you ask, Trixie doesn't know why it did that so don't ask. Starswirl defeated the monster and was able to seal it away. The amount of magic the monster had stolen was so great, however, that Starswirl was forced to convert the magic into Crystals to stop the irreversible consequences of releasing that much energy. So he kept the crystals using them to power a few of his projects until a few years later when he and the gems disappeared. After that most humans slowly forgot about magic until all that was left were myths about it and tales passed down through families. The last bit of the legend is a riddle that goes like this."

"He who wants to find the Crystal Elements must travel to the entrance of the pony world. Near it is everlasting and unfettered land, in it you will find the basin of water. In the basin of water are 3 of the crystals you seek. The other 7 are located in a cavity in the ground. To unlock the true power of the 7, you must find what costs nothing but, is worth everything. What weighs nothing and that one person cannot own. Only then will the connection be reestablished and may the world be in harmony. The true power of the 3 is a mystery even to me."



"Trixie's parents figured out that the first part of the riddle means the Everfree Forest, but, they have no idea where the Crystals are located or how to unlock this true power."

"That's a mighty interestin story ya got there partner, but as far as Ah can tell that's all that it is, a story. Now Ah know ya ain't lying about it, but, that don't mean the story ain't false."

"Oh come on AJ you don't believe this, but you believe Sunset's Story?"

"Sunset had proof of her story, Ah don't see no proof of what Trixie's spewing."

"What was this about Sunset's story?" Trixie asked the girls.

"That's for me to know and for you to find out," Sunset told her, not wanting everyone to know she was an alien from another world.

"Fine," Trixie glared, "It's not as if Trixie just told you her story."

"That was because we won it from a bet. Which you lost," Sunset reminded her.





After the confrontation with Trixie, Sunset, Scootaloo and Trixie went to the library to wait for their respective parents. Sunset decided to write in her journal about the information she received from Trixie.

 Dear Princess Celestia,

The last couple of weeks were very hectic. First of all, there was a new student at the school, a skilful magician (or their equivalent since they don't have magic) named Trixie Lulamoon. She arrived just in time to sign up for the Talent Show which happened earlier today. I also entered the Talent show along with my friends, we created a band called the Rainbooms, and we came in second place after a girl named Derpy who made muffins. Trixie the girl I mentioned earlier did a very impressive sleight of hand magic show and came in third. 

She then told me about her family history which involves this worlds Starswirl! Apparently, humans used to be able to use magic but, a monster (her words) stole it from them. After the beast was defeated, he had taken so much magic that it had to be converted into crystals to stop irreversible consequences (again her words). The 10 gems were then hidden away. What's strange about this is that Starswirl references Equestria in his riddle to find where the Crystal Elements are located. It says: "must travel to the entrance of the pony world". Anyway, that is a mystery I will work on solving, do you know anything about this? If you do, please tell me. 

In other news, Scootaloo has found some friends her age and is spending lots of time with them. They created a movie (moving picture) club that spends its time reviewing and watching movies. Her behaviour towards me has not really gotten that much better. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. I just want to be like a sister towards her as she seems to be neglected by everyone including her birth parents who regularly disappear and leave her with her aunt, Principal Celestia. Again some advice for this would be helpful.

Sincerely Sunset Shimmer

After writing out the passage Sunset put the book on the table in front of her, something she usually wouldn't do, as she wanted to read the response Princess Celestia gave her immediately. Sunset then grabbed a Daring Do book she hadn't read yet to pass the time while she waited for Principal Celestia to finish her work and take her home. Soon Sunset was so engrossed by her book that she didn't notice Principal Celestia enter the library right behind her.

"Sunset, Scootaloo," Celestia called, "it's time for us to go home."

"Okay, just let me sign out this book," Sunset responded. Sunset went over to the Librarian and gave her, her library card. The Librarian signed out the Daring Do book for Sunset and Sunset left oblivious that she had left her journal on the table.

Trixie noticed this and grabbed the journal hoping to return it to her in exchange for knowing why Sunset's story was so unbelievable. Trixie had taken it as a personal insult when Sunset refused to tell her earlier in the day, and she hoped returning the book would prove her trustworthiness.

Just after she picked the book up, it started to vibrate.
> Family Interference
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Trixie was visibly startled by the book vibrating as she picked it up. At first, she thought that it was an anti-theft device so that nobody would steal it once it started to vibrate and so she put it back down. It, however, continued to reverberate. She found this to be very strange and opened the book not really reading the passages, but recognising some of the names in them like Celestia and Sunset along with her friends. When she reached the latest section, the book stopped vibrating like it was a phone recognising the most recent message had been read. Trixie, realising that this was indeed the newest message, read it thoroughly.

Dear Sunset Shimmer.
It seems you had quite a busy last few weeks! I hope this message finds you in good health. Sorry, it took me so long to respond as my student Twilight has just had her first run-in with the phoenix you hatched at your entrance exam, Philomena. After dousing a couple of fires that were caused by the battle between the two of them, I got Spike to explain what happened. It turns out Twilight thought Philomena was invading the castle and she thought she was the only one to stop her since the guards were ignoring her.

Anyway enough about my problems, I can tell you what I know about the Crystal Elements and their history. Long ago the human world and Equestria were connected not just through a portal, but you could simply walk across a border from one place to the other. Suddenly and inexplicably, Tirek stole the human's magical energy nothing like him had ever existed before or again. The pressure that the magical field of Equestria put on the human one forced the human world to split apart from Equestria. The lack of a magical field that the human world had also made it start to travel slower through time in the universe until it would eventually freeze in time (This is why the time dilation between the 2 realms exist). This was when Starswirl teamed up with Scorpan to defeat Tirek, and he won sending Tirek to Tarturus. However, the magical energy Tirek released when he was beaten, was so immense it would have destroyed the human realm if Starswirl had not intervened.

I know the riddle you mentioned in your previous message. Starswirl to stop the human realm from being destroyed, stored the magical energy in some Crystals now know as the Crystal Elements as they have power comparable to the Elements of Harmony. Starswirl created 10 Elements, 7 of them act as batteries and were made from the positive magical energy. They could either be controlled by a particular type of magic I sent you to discover or if the other 3 Elements were in tune with each other and had the same goal. The other 3 were created as a combination of Tireks essence and negative magical energy because of this they had the power to control magical energy. Those 3 were "programmed" by Starswirl to release more of the human's magical energy until it was all back. Starswirl then left through the portal to his homeland, Equestria and discovered many new spells. He left them in an isolated location as the emotional energy of the surrounding area would affect the release of magical power.

Unfortunately, due to losing the magical field, the humans became more and more greedy as they could no longer use magic to create or change materials (they used to be experts in the field of alchemy and emotional magic like zebras and crystal ponies). This meant that before the majority of the magical field could return 3 humans discovered what Starswirl was doing and stole the 3 controlling Crystal Elements. They fused with the Crystals and were sent to Equestria as Sirens. Those 3 crystals now known as the Sirens Hearts were used by them to feed on the negative magical energy whereas Tirek could only feed on both positive and negative emotional magic. The riddle was written before this happened and so it is not up to date with this information.

Anyway, Starswirls greatest failure is being unable to separate the Sirens from their Hearts when he banished them back to the human world. This meant that the previous system of letting the magic slowly return to the world didn't work and at this point, Starswirl was getting old, so he just left the world as it was and no Equestrian returned until you did Sunset. I must stress this point Sunset so read carefully, the system Starswirl set up was done, so the more negative emotional energy was present, the higher the amount of magical power the Crystal Elements released. Fortunately, the Sirens couldn't use the energy and realised that if it were released, it would become more difficult to feed on humans negative energy as they would be filled with positive energy.

That is all I know about the Crystal Elements, but, I can offer you some advice to help with Scootaloo. You're just looking at this from your perspective and not from hers. What if instead of seeing you as someone who wants to help her, she sees you as someone who is taking away her support? She might have a substantial emotional connection to Principal Celestia and sees you taking her away from her. Talk to her about this and show her you aren't taking this person away.
Sincerely Princess Celestia

Trixie was confused about finding this information, as she had no idea who Princess Celestia was. She was clearly named after the Principal of the school, but, seemed to be a separate entity from her. How did this "Princess" know about the Crystal Elements and what was this Equestria? Finally and most confusingly what did Scootaloo have to do with this all? 

Trixie was still thinking about this all when her mother arrived looking very excited. Trixie decided that the questions could wait until Monday, she was prepared to have a great weekend with her parents. This would be the first weekend she could spend with them since they started their obsession with the Crystal Elements. The book was still in the back of Trixie's mind, but she didn't want to distract her parents from their weekend of fun.



Meanwhile, Scootaloo and Sunset were with Celestia driving to their home. "Can I hang out with Sweetie Belle and Applebloom over the weekend?" Scootaloo asked.

"Of course you can, I'm very proud of you both for participating and winning a prize in the talent show, especially you Sunset coming second is no easy feat." Scootaloo scowled at this, hearing praise she believed Sunset didn't deserve. Celestia was oblivious to Scootaloo's expression with her attention on the road, but Sunset noticed it and frowned, wondering what she did to earn the younger girls ire.

Their friendly conversation came to an abrupt halt when Sunset noticed she was missing her Journal. "Can we go back to the school? I'm missing my journal."

"I'm sorry Sunset, but the Library will close before we can get there. The Librarian will find it and keep it safe until tomorrow."

"Good I don't want to waste my time because of a mistake you made," Scootaloo sneered quietly.

"Fine," Sunset sighed. "I just hope I don't have to explain why my book is vibrating," She muttered under her breath.

Celestia noticed the awkward silence so asked Scootaloo, "What do you want to do with your friends this weekend?"

"Oh," Scootaloo said happier. "I want to see a Marevel movie with them. I hope that Captain Canterlot Windego Soldier is going to be as good as Iron Mare was. I don't know if Marevel being bought by Disneigh is going to affect the quality of the movie."



Trixie was waking up after a long rest; she didn't realise how much the magic show had taken out of her. She noticed a significant lack of parents and when she walked downstairs to her kitchen to make herself some breakfast when she saw a note on the countertop. It read:

Trixie, We've gone out to do some grocery shopping. We'll be back for lunch.
-Show Case, Jack Pot


Trixie sighed reading this as her parents were always doing something, if it wasn't on clues for their magnum opus of an expedition it was shopping, or they were out finding new legends to investigate. Since moving to Canterlot a month ago, they had almost no time for Trixie. She had finally been able to convince them to take the weekend off, and they decide to go shopping for food.

She had always tried to get their attention through magic shows, but they never seemed interested in them, investigating "real magic" as they called it. Not the fake sleight of hand stuff. They didn't realise how much work she put into her tricks and they just blew her off. This frustrated Trixie as all she wanted was to be recognised by her parents. Although she didn't want to give them Sunset's journal as it would distract them, maybe just maybe it would make them finally recognise Trixie and her hard work. This idea slowly made itself more prevalent in Trixie's head, and before she knew it, she decided enough was enough.

Trixie chose to spend her time alone practising magic; she felt uncomfortable reading more of the journal as she would be intruding on Sunset's private thoughts. After a while, her parents returned with the groceries. Soon she was distracted remembering her earlier life when she was happy.

She was learning her first magic trick. Her father, Jack Pot, was a famous magician and he was teaching her how to do basic card tricks, they both smiled as she pulled it off for the first time on her mother. That was before he became obsessed with her mothers family legend and legacy. Her mother, Show Case, for her part didn't care much about the myth, but she wanted to make Jack happy and so supported his obsession.

She remembered that fateful day so long ago when her mother told Trixie of the family legend as a bedtime story. It began as quite a typical night for the family; her mother was thinking of a story to tell Trixie when she remembered her families legend. She realised that Trixie was now old enough to know and so she decided to continue her families tradition and tell her of Starswirl and his magical prowess. As Show told her child a tale of monsters, magic and her ancestor, Jack Pot came into the room and listened.

"Where did you get that story? It's more interesting than anything I've ever heard."

"Oh, it's a family legend. Supposedly it's true, but I was never too interested in it."

"My shows could become 100 times better if I used real magic, maybe we could unravel the legend and discover if humans can actually use magic?"

"Jack, if you want to research the legend be my guest, I'll support you any way I can."

Suddenly Trixie was pulled out of her memory by the door slamming downstairs signifying that her parents were home. She rushed downstairs to speak to them. "This is the first weekend since we got here that you've agreed to spend any time with Trixie, and you go shopping?"

"Well sweetie, you were sleeping, and we thought you could use the extra rest after your big show yesterday. You were so tired after it that you refused to speak about it. "

"Trixie refused to speak about it because it didn't go as well as Trixie thought it would as Trixie came third not first."

"That's still very good Trixie," Her mother said.

"But it's not good enough, how is Trixie supposed to impress you when she can't even get 1st place in a school talent show?"

"Well, were you beaten by any other magic acts?"

"No..."

"Then why are you upset? You are still the best magician at your school; maybe the judges just prefer music acts over magic."

"You are right; Trixie is still great and powerful like dad used to be."



Sunset, that same morning, got Celestia to drive her back to the library. Celestia agreed to do so after Scootaloo's friends came over. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle were amazed at the house Scootaloo lived in, Applejack and Rarity were not as impressed as they had seen Sunset's home already, but they were still in awe at it.

Scootaloo and her friends went into the living room to watch the Captain Canterlot movie. Luna had agreed to supervise them to make sure they didn't burn the house down while Celestia drove Sunset to the library. Applejack and Rarity had work to do that morning and drove back to their jobs.

"I really need to learn how to drive," Sunset told Celestia, "it would stop me having to bother you every time I needed to get somewhere.

"Don't worry Sunset; I love spending time with you."

"You only say because you use it as an excuse to stop working."

"I mean what else am I supposed to do on the weekend? Cook? You know how that will end."

Sunset visibly shuddered at the memory of Celestia trying to bake a cake with her a couple of weeks ago. "Yes, that was when I learned that Luna wasn't exaggerating about your ability to burn things."

"Well, that's what happens when the ingredients think they can mess with the god of fire. Anyway, it's not like your much better."

The duo soon reached the Library and entered the building. "Hello Celestia, I wasn't expecting to see you here today."

"Hello Cheerilee, we were wondering if you had seen a journal. Sunset thinks she left it here yesterday."

"Let me check the lost and found; I'll be back in a moment." After a couple of minutes, the Librarian had returned with an apologetic look on her face."I'm sorry it's not here. However, I think Trixie took a book similar to the one you're describing; maybe she thought she would be able to return it before you looked here?"

"I wonder if Trixie looked in it, I hope she didn't. Maybe I could give her a call to see if I could get it back, Pinkie should know her number."

"That's a good idea. I hope Luna had more luck with the CMC than we did finding your Journal," Celestia said.

Meanwhile, Luna was chasing the 3 girls shouting: "Have at thee, fiends. Thou hast stolen my priceless Neightendo Switch. Return it at once!" Her cooking was on fire in the background, proving that Celestia was not the only one in the family to have mishaps with cooking.

"We're only pretending to be the Marevengers; I am Iron Mare in a fight with Captain Canterlot for the snacks. The Neightendo Switch as you call it is my hi-tech visor, I need it to see through walls and to track my target."

Luna rolled her eyes at this, "Fine, as long as you don't break it you can use it to roleplay." Suddenly Luna regretted saying that as Sweetie Belle and Applebloom threw a pillow at Scootaloo causing her to drop it.

"MY PRECIOUS SWITCH," Luna called out as it fell. Luckily when it hit the ground, it was only scratched and did not break. "I'm never letting you out of my sight again," Luna comforted her switch as she held it like a baby.

After this mishap, the girls returned to watching the movie, promising Luna that they would stop annoying her once they got some snacks. Luna reluctantly bribed them with some popcorn, and the Girls calmed down, watching the movie rather than performing it.



Trixie was with her parents on a Harry Trotter walking tour around Canterlot. They were still relatively new to the city they figured that being on tour of the town where the famous book series came from would be an excellent family activity. The book series was always Trixie's favourite when she was younger, and she was delighted when it was turned into a movie. The guide was coming up to the train station where the Hogwarts Express departed from platform 9 and 3 quarters.

The guide was entertaining the tour with some fun facts like the fact that the steam train was known as the Lunite after the rebel group. Trixie was so interested in the guide that she almost didn't notice her father get left behind as he took a phone call. She did, however, notice and sighed at her father working on the day he promised not to.

"Dad..."

"Not now sweetie, I'm in an essential call."

"You promised you wouldn't work."

"Sweetie, be quiet for a second please, I'm about to make a breakthrough with this new information."

"You said that last time."

"Why don't you join your mother? I'll be just a moment."

"Fine," Trixie sighed knowing he would never give up on his obsession.

Suddenly, Trixie got a call from a number she didn't recognise. She picked up the phone and said: "The Great and Powerful Trixie would like to know who is calling her."

"Trixie, it's Sunset."

"Hello, Sunset Shimmer what can Trixie do for you," Trixie sneered taking her anger out on her.

"Look, Trixie, I lost my journal on Friday," Sunset started.

"What does Trixie have to do with that?" Trixie interrupted.

"I lost the journal in the library, and the Librarian thinks you took it," Sunset told her.

"Why do you think I would help you after you humiliated me Friday," Trixie asked, breaking her speech pattern.

Sunset noticed the break and figured she must have really upset Trixie. "I'm sorry, I didn't realise how much it meant to you, but I really want my journal back."

"Thank you for apologising to Trixie. Can this wait until Monday?" Trixie asked. Trixie thought back to earlier in the day, and she realised that the journal could be the only thing that might her father notice her.

"I can't really wait until Monday, can we meet up tomorrow? I'll pay you for the inconvenience," Sunset said. She was anxious to see if Celestia responded to her questions.

"Fine, Trixie will return it tomorrow, Trixie will text you her address so you can pick it up, Trixie expects a big reward." She ended the call before Sunset could ask any more questions such as if she read any of the entries and texted Sunset her address.

Trixie was desperate, and she knew it. She knew that showing her father the journal might encourage his obsession. However, it might also finally give her the attention she wants... no, the attention she needs. Trixie had had enough of the neglect her parent's had shown. It was finally time for her to take the initiative and act upon her feelings.

When she returned home, Trixie immediately went to her room to find where she hid the journal. As expected her father was again on the phone, thoroughly concentrating on his work. As soon as she interrupted him the effect on his mood was profound, Trixie could taste the annoyance in the air.

"Trixie, I told you to stop distracting me when I work."

"Just read the book dad, it might help your search."

"I doubt it," he scowled, "nothing about magic was written down; it was all passed down through families."

"Just read the book." Trixie sighed at her father's behaviour. 

Jack skimmed the book, utterly uninterested in what was written there. Once he read the last entry, he said, "Seriously Trixie? You disobey me by telling a girl in your class about OUR families legend, and then you steal her journal as "proof" that you can be useful? You are grounded, young lady. I expect you to return this book to whomever this Sunset Shimmer is and apologise for vandalising her diary. I mean who would believe that another world exists? That's just ridiculous."

"I should have known that you wouldn't believe me; you never do." Trixie snatched the book back and stormed off leaving her father confused at her words. He had assumed that this was merely another ploy so he would take an interest in her but, it seemed to be more than that. Oh well, he could simply ask this Sunset Shimmer when she came to pick up her diary.

Trixie stormed upstairs and sulked in her room. She berated herself for believing that her Father would finally love her. He wouldn't; he didn't like anything other than that damned legend. She spent the rest of the day locked in her room and didn't even come out when dinner was ready. She fell asleep wondering what action she could possibly take.



It was late at night on Saturday; 3 young girls were having their first ever sleepover at Sunset's Mansion, they should have gone to sleep a long time ago. However, they were awake talking. They shared stories about their past leading to each one of them wishing that they could spend more time with their beloved sisters, or in Scootaloos case her idol.

"Ever since they spent time with each other they ain't got time to spend with us," Applebloom stated.

"I know right; I want to be able to train with Rainbow Dash again. She's so awesome." Scootaloo gushed over her favourite memories about her idol.

"We know Scootaloo, you can't stop talking about her," the other two said at the same time.

"I'm sorry" Scootaloo winced at the backlash over her comment.

"It doesn't matter; I wish we had more time to spend with our sisters," Sweetie Belle sighed.

"Well maybe we can," Scootaloo said with a grin on her face.

"What did ya have in mind?" Applebloom asked

"If we split them up then they'll stop talking to each other."

"Are you sure that's a good idea? I mean they did introduce us to each other."

"Of course it is, we'll be able to spend more time with them. Sunset will finally understand how it feels to have everyone who cares about you, taken from you."

"Okay then, I guess we'll do it," Sweetie reluctantly agreed "but how are we going to split them up?"

"Well, I had an idea from the movie we watched today," Scootaloo started. "In Captain Canterlot, Windego Soldier, the bad guys pretend to be other people. We could pretend to be Sunset online and spread rumours and other information people don't want to be shared."

"Ah don't think this is a good idea, where would we get the information?"

"We could ask people to give us other peoples secrets."

"Why would they do that?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"People overhear private conversations but have never had a way to share it before, so they haven't, or they had old friends they stopped hanging out with. They have lots of ways to get secrets but don't have a way to share them."

"Ah guess they would have secrets and we would be able to blame it on Sunset. The most important thing here is to get our sisters back and Ah guess we will."

"So it's agreed? We frame Sunset for spreading secrets and rumours?"

"Yes Ah agree."

"I agree as well."

"One final question, what should the account be named?"

"What about Anon-a-miss," Sweetie Belle suggested.

"That's perfect. Let's start finding embarrassing secrets about our sisters and post them tomorrow."



Sunset woke up Sunday morning excited for the day to start. She quickly rushed downstairs to find the CMC sitting at a table having breakfast.

"Hey girls, that looks delicious, is there any more?"

"I don't know Sunset why don't you find out," Scootaloo said sarcastically.

"Jeez, what got into you this morning? Wake up on the wrong side of the bed?"

Scootaloo smiled sweetly at this. "Sunset I have no idea what you are talking about."

"Scootaloo, stop antagonising your sister," Sweetie Belle admonished. Sunset raised an eyebrow at this.

"Fine, I'll stop."

As soon as  Sunset left the room to go to the kitchen, Applebloom whispered: "what was that about?"

"We don't want Sunset to get suspicious of us; you almost blew the plan before it started."

Scootaloo realised what Sweetie Belle was saying and started to look guilty. "Sorry Girls, I just want to get back at her for everything she's done."

"We understand but, revenge will be sweeter if you wait."

Scootaloo sighed. "I know, I just can't help myself sometimes."

Sunset found Luna making some pancakes in the kitchen.

"Good morning Sunset. How did you sleep?"

"Very well thank you, can I have some pancakes?"

"Of course you can, Sunset, I was just finishing up here. Are you doing anything today?"

Sunset took a plate of pancakes and walked with Luna back into the living room. "I have to see Trixie today. She took my book, and I need it back. Hopefully, Celestia will drive me again."

"Of course I will Sunset," Celestia said walking in. "I have nothing else to do today, and I can spend some time with you. Although I do feel a little bad ignoring Scootaloo in favour of you."

"She'll be fine; she's hanging out with her friends today."

"I suppose that means I have to supervise again," Luna sighed, "I was hoping to spend some time gaming instead of looking after them."

"I think they'll be fine for a few hours without supervision. Going to Trixie's house shouldn't take long, and after that, we can ask them if they want to go swimming in the pool."

"That's a great idea! I can text the girls to see if they want to come over as well."

"You do that Sunset, but, now I think we should head off. Trixie's place isn't far, but I think I'm right in saying that you want to spend as much time as possible with your friends."

The 3 women finished eating their breakfasts; Sunset grabbed her phone and some money; Celestia said goodbye to Luna and Scootaloo; they both left the house ready for the day ahead of them. A moment later they were on their way to Trixie's house. Sunset texted Trixie to let her know they were coming.



Soon they arrived at Trixie's home; Sunset rung the doorbell. Trixie did not open the door as Sunset hoped she would; instead, a woman who looked like her mother did.

"Hello is Trixie there?"

"Yes, she is let me just get her for you. Are you one of her friends?"

"No, I'm not; she just found something of mine. I would like to get to know her better though," Sunset said remembering how Trixie had almost broken down on the phone yesterday.

Show Case was disappointed at this; she hoped her daughter had made some friends at School. "Well please come in, Oh Celestia I didn't see you there."

"Well, Sunset is my daughter."

"That's nice, let me just get Trixie for you," Show Case said leading them into a living room for them to sit down before heading off further into the house.

"Trixie you have some guests. Can I come into your room?" There was no answer to her question.

"Sweetie please answer me. You don't have to see them right now if you don't want to." There was still no reply from Trixie. Show Case sighed believing her daughter to be still asleep. She hadn't seen her all morning after all. She entered the room and gasped in shock.

Her daughter was not sleeping as she believed. She was gone. Show Case ran to the kitchen where Jack Pot was sitting and started crying. "What's wrong?" Jack asked her.

"Trixie's gone! She must have left during the night."

Jack sighed, "Again with the attention seeking. She needs to be taught a lesson in humility."

"How could you say that? She's our precious daughter," Show Case said through tears, appalled at her husband's behaviour.

Sunset and Celestia heard the commotion in the kitchen and went to see what was happening. They saw Show Case sobbing uncontrollably and asked what happened.

"Nothing of too much importance," Jack Scoffed. "I don't know what she see's in that girl anyway."

Celestia was horrified to hear a parent speak about their child that way and was too stunned to speak. Sunset, however, now understood why Trixie acted the way she did. Before either of them could say anything, Show Case wailed: "She's gone! My little girl is gone!" Celestia gasped hearing this.

"She'll be back soon enough; I don't understand why you care so much."

"SHE IS OUR CHILD," Show Case shouted.

"Should we be discussing this in front of our guests?"

Show Case was about to continue berating her husband when she realised that Sunset and Celestia were in the room. "I'm sorry about this. What did you say you were looking for?"

"Oh, um, Trixie has a journal of mine." Show Case left the room to see if she could find the journal.

Jack Pot spoke up once again, "So you are Sunset Shimmer... interesting. Trixie showed me the journal yesterday to seek attention and waste my time. I have to apologise for her vandalism of it; I have no idea how she comes up with some of that stuff. I mean really? A magical land called Equestria that once was a part of this world? She's wasting her time being a magician; she's a much better storyteller."

"Right, stories," Sunset mutters.

"What was that?"

"Oh, nothing."

Show Case returned after spending a minute searching Trixie's room. "I'm sorry, but I couldn't find it, She must have taken it with her." Sunset's face paled at this knowing that she might not be able to communicate with Princess Celestia until the portal opened.

"Now Jack, if you don't mind," Show Case steeled, "I will be taking the car to go and search for Trixie."

Jack gulped knowing his wife was upset with him. "Yes, dear. The car

"You lost your right to call me that when you neglected Trixie. You know how much she looks up to you."

Jack simply remained silent as Show Case led Sunset and Celestia outside. That was when Show noticed the families car was missing. She rushed back inside leaving Sunset and Celestia looking on in confusion. After a couple of seconds, Jack comes outside looking infuriated.

"That brat of a child has gone too far. I'm calling the police about a stolen vehicle."

"How did she even steal it?" Celestia asks Show Case.

"Oh, we have a second pair of keys for it because Jack kept locking them in the car."

Sunset and Celestia decided to leave before the situation gets even more complicated. Sunset is annoyed she has to wait another day before getting her journal back. She hopes Trixie can sort out her dysfunctional family and is looking forward to spending the rest of the day with her friends.



Across town, Police Officer Shining Armour is off-duty driving his sister to the book store. Suddenly the radio comes on reporting a stolen white SUV with license plate WRTN1AM. Twilight Sparkle is looking out the window of the police car, and she sees the car that the radio just described.

"Hey Shiny, I think that's the stolen car."

"You're right; it is. Let me tell dispatch so they can send some officers to stop the driver." Shining talks over the radio while Twilight keeps an eye on the stolen vehicle, it turns left at the intersection.

"Shiny turn left."

"Why?"

"Because the stolen car went that way."

"Oh, I'm not chasing it. It's much too dangerous for you."

"But Shiny," Twilight pouted, "You can't just let the bad guy get away."

"The other officer will catch them Twilight," Shining told his sister. Twilight started to look at him with puppy dog eyes. Shining Armour tried to look away from the pleading eyes that tore into his soul but couldn't. "Fine," he begrudgingly said, "We'll follow the stolen car. BUT, we won't get involved with the chase."

"Thank you Shiny; now I can research how criminals react in a stressful situation for my school project." Shining Armour rolled his eyes at this. Twilight would take any excuse to learn something new. He hoped she would make some friends now that she transferred over to crystal prep.