> Hey, Wait a Second
>  by Erie_Entity
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1: Something on the Horizon
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was a rather uneventful day. Celestia’s sun was high in the air and the birds were chirping and their little bird songs... as usual, seeing as that’s what happens everyday. At least the gardens looked especially nice today, mostly because the ground’s keepers had passed through an hour ago.

Sunset’s turquoise colored magic slowly turned the page of her book as she finished reading the last few words on the other page. She had found herself reading the book again. It was chock full of information about magic theory and the like, stuff that would help a very studious unicorn.

“Phew,” Go away stupid hair.

Another page turn. Sunset leaned a little closer to her book and examined the diagrams with mild interest. The way Radiant Hex managed to model the spell matrices was impressive, especially in a time without the tools to study them properly. His work was really under appreciated.

She hummed merrily, glad she had asked (well, ordered, but no one was going to call her out on it) for total privacy in the gardens. Being the personal student for the resident absolute authority in your country can lead to a lack of quiet-

“WOO! Finally!”

The magic holding up her book vanished as she jumped to her hooves. Didn’t she ask for privacy?! What in Equestria does this idiot think they’re doing?! Why did it have to be during her scheduled-

“Hell yeah! I’m a winner!” The shouts continued. She could at least identify the voice of a colt, definitely around her age. At least she knew why they were being so obnoxious.

Her teeth grit and she made a quick gallop over to the location of the disturbance. Some choice words that would have made even Celestia blush and ground her to her room in the castle for the next few months came quietly out of her muzzle. When she got her hooves on this stupid moron she was going to-

“WHAT?!?! Nononononono. C’mon I just had it!” The voice was a lot closer now, albeit more desperate and pleading sounding. It should be just around this-

“AHA!” She yelled, jumping around the corner. The annoying colt let out a startled yelp and jumped what looked to be a solid 3 meters into the air, before landing stiffly on his hooves and staring wide eyed in her direction.

“What do you think you’re doing here?” Sunset asked in a very accusing manner.

“I-“

“You do know this place is off limits to ponies who don’t live in the castle, right?” She continued, feeling her anger rising.

“I didn’t-“

“And why in Equestria are you being so loud?! Some ponies are trying to be productive with their time unlike you!”

The colt opened his mouth to speak, but then stopped, huffed and glanced at something to his left. As he did so, Sunset got a decent look at him.

He was a unicorn, if his brown fur and horn poking through his mane was any indication. Speaking of his mane, the locks of it were thick, similar to a Zebra mane style she read about ages ago. Dreadlocks, if she recalled correctly.

The locks were a strange cacophony of color. As if someone poured several buckets of paint, mixed them together and then dumped them onto his mane. Blue was the most prominent, with swirls of other colors mixed in. Sunset was reminded of the rainbow effect that appeared on soap bubbles. She’d forgotten the word for it...

Iridescent. That’s right. 

His cutie mark appeared to be a pinkish-red rising sun surrounded by a rainbow of colors similar to his mane. Sunset wondered if it was a magic related mark similar to her own.

“Can you stop staring at me? Kinda creepy.”

She drew her gaze toward his face, noticing his slightly tilted head and amber colored eyes. He wasn’t too bad looking if she said so herself. Though the effect was ruined by the fact that he was trespassing and also making an annoyance of himself. Her gaze hardened into a glare.

“Considering that you’re trespassing on royal property and that I am the personal student of Princess Celestia, I’d say I can stare at you however I want.”

“Yeah. Right,” The colt snorted, like he was holding in a laugh. Then he paused, a flicker of nervousness on his expression. “Wait. Did you say personal student of-“

“Princess Celestia, yes.”

“Oh,” He traced a circle in the grass with his hoof, his body tensed as if he were getting ready to run. “In my defense... it was pretty easy to slip past those guards.”

Of course. When did she ever encounter a competent guard during her time here? Whatever, she’d be sure to tell the princess of their failure in due time. But first...

“Why are you here?”

“I was practicing,” The colt blushed, once again tracing circles in the grass.

“Practicing what?”

“Magic.”

Sunset blinked. What?

“What?”

“It’s pretty embarrassing. I was uh,” another flicker of hesitation, as if he didn’t understand what he was about to say. “I... I was the only unicorn in my village, so no one really taught me magic.”

Her eyes went wide. No way in Equestria would this idiot expect her to believe that. One look at his face told her everything. He totally did.

“HAHAHA!”

The colt flinched at the sudden laughter, taking a step back as he watched the orange unicorn laugh her flank off. Why were all the ponies in this city so weird? 

“Uh... Okay. Right. Well if you don’t mind, I’ll be going-“ He said, taking a few more steps back. Below him, his legs tensed up as he got ready to get as far away from here as poss-

There was a flash of turquoise magic as Sunset appeared right in front of him, still snickering to herself.

“No...,” She chuckled again before calming herself down. Her expression went to a more accusatory one, though a slight grin was still present. “No. I don’t believe you in the slightest, but let’s say I do. If you were practicing your magic, why come into the royal gardens of all places?”

“I overheard the guards talking about them being empty for the next few hours... well that’s a lie. I was totally eavesdropping.” His mind was still reeling from having watched her teleport. Is that really what magic could do? “I figured I’d sneak in for some privacy and then sneak back out when I was satisfied.”

His horn lit up with an amber light and so did a bag on the ground next to him. The aura flickered for a moment as his face scrunched in concentration. He had almost brought the bag a meter off of the ground before it fell back down into the grass with a low thump.

“I’m still kinda new at this and I don’t really want to go to anyon-... anypony because it’s embarrassing.”

Sunset’s small smirk was long gone, replaced by a look of complete and utter confusion. So... he actually wasn’t lying? What in Equestria?

“So you weren’t making that up?”

“No? Why would I?”

Sunset began to respond but cut herself off. Right then. That’s... very interesting. Maybe-

“So what’s your name?” He asked, noticing the look on her face. His mother had told him never let a girl finish a train of thought, especially when he was in trouble. She was usually going to cook up a way to make him suffer. Yes, yes. 

“Sunset Shimmer, personal student of Princess Celestia,” The reply was effortless, almost as if it was scripted.

“Cool,” He replied just as she had finished. He was obviously in a hurry to leave. His horn flickered again but the bag he had been trying to lift earlier didn’t move at all. It was honestly kind of pitiful. “Dammit.”

“Hang on a second!” Her own magic snagged the bag away and hovered it next to herself. “I still have more questions, and you never even told me your name.”

“Oh,” The colt glanced at the bag, and then at their surroundings, and then back to her. His amber eyes were shining with uncertainty. “I’m J- erm. My name is uh, Iridescent Horizon.”

Oh. That’s the word. Iridescent. Sunset’s head tilted curiously and Iridescent looked away, trying to hide his expression. He sounded really unsure of himself. She also could have sworn she heard him start to say something else.

“Iridescent Horizon.”

“That’s me,” He muttered.

“Okay then. You said you were the only unicorn in your village?”

Glancing back toward the filly, he gave a slow nod.

“Yeah. Me and my mom just moved here to Canterlot. She’s a pegasus.”

Once again with the hesitant tone and body language. Maybe he was just a shy pony. Actually, this could totally play into her hooves. Maybe she could teach him some magic stuff and show him off to Celestia for some sort of magical extra credit or something. Maybe even mold him into her minion for when she became princess.

“Tell you what,”  Iridescent had opened his mouth to try and interrupt her thoughts again but was cut off. “How about I teach you magic?”

“What?” That was sudden. Like. Really sudden. 

“Well? What do you say?”

“I- Um.”

Should he? He obviously didn’t have a reason to refuse. He also kind of did need to learn magic and she could probably teach him a lot. 

“Alright. Sure. Yeah. Just uh, don’t tell anyone I snuck in here. My mom’s stressed out enough about moving into a big city and I’d rather not have been thrown in jail within the first week.”

“Whatever.” Sunset waved a hoof dismissively. If she had been paying more attention she’d have noticed his hesitation again, almost like he didn’t believe himself.

The bag she had been holding in her magic floated over and dropped itself on Iridescent’s back. “Show up tomorrow. I’ll tell the guards to keep an eye out for you and let you in when you ask.”

Iridescent glanced at the bag on his back and gave her a small grateful smile. Little grouchy but maybe she wasn’t so bad. 

“Thanks.” He genuinely meant it, too. 

“Mhm. Now get out of here. You’ve wasted enough of my time for today.”

“Aye aye, Princess.” The colt did an about face and began walking toward the exit. Though she did hear him mutter some choice words under his breath.

Sunset watched him go for a moment, a million thoughts running through her head. Then, her mind went blank. She glanced at his cutie mark.

“Iridescent Horizon. Well at least it’s fitting.”

***

Iridescent snuck past the guards again, muttering to himself. How could they not even see him with his kaleidoscopic hair? It was almost ridiculous.

He idly wondered if that girl- filly, he corrected himself, was even Celestia’s student and had also snuck into the royal gardens. Then he shook his head and snorted. Knowing how things were in this world, with a name like Sunset Shimmer, she was totally Celestia’s student.

Celestia’s student who was going to be teaching him magic tomorrow. He couldn’t stop the genuine smirk forming on his face even if he tried. He was finally managing to get somewhere. 

Wait. The clopping of his hooves slowly halted and he stood in the middle of a busy Canterlot street. She didn’t give him a time.

“Bondye modi li.” He cursed under his breath.
> Chapter 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jessie Morrison was on the couch, curled into a ball under several blankets with his eyes softly closed. His thick dreadlocks were missing their signature scrunchie that tied them back into a ponytail and simply hung around his head. The long black hair of his could almost have been mistaken for snakes at first glance. 

Though the heater was on in the living room, the long haired boy could still feel the cold. He wondered if it were some sort of weird placebo effect or something. But when it was given some more thought, he realized it didn’t make much sense and dropped it. Overthinking about small things is lame anyway. 

“Hey,” A voice called from the kitchen, causing the boy to pop an eye open. Wait. His nose twitched and both eyes opened quickly. Did his dad actually make it for him? 

The older Morrison walked into the living room with two steaming mugs of the stuff in his hands and smiled brightly at his son. “Made your favorite. Figured I’d try a different brand this time around though.”

Eric Morrison was a tall man. Around 6’4 with a bald head and yet a scruffy beard (in Jessie’s honest opinion it looked totally ridiculous). He was also fairly muscular, the curved shapes on his arms evident on his darker skin. A tribal themed tattoo was neatly tucked under the right sleeve of his t-shirt.

Jessie reached up and gently took the cup in his hands, offering his father a grateful smile. 

“Thanks, dad,” He muttered softly in between sips. The hot chocolate was great. Maybe his dad had been onto something. “It’s not that terrible.”

“Not that terrible, huh?” Eric chuckled, taking a seat on the couch next to his son. He took a few sips of his own hot chocolate and hummed in satisfaction. The man glanced at the television, listening to a reporter ramble about excessive snow in the immediate area and schools being closed all around Maine. “Only a week of living up north and you’re already experiencing your first snow day. How about that.”

Jessie snorted, but didn’t comment. The cold made him tired. Less talkative. It was a big change from the usual Oklahoma City weather. Which was usually dry and cold instead of... well, colder and snowy-er. Or maybe it was the fact that he only got two hours of sleep and stayed up all night playing video games. But his dad didn’t need to know. 

“Hey,” Eric turned back to him and gave his son a grin. The kind of grin he usually gave when he knew the answer to the question he was going to ask. “Don’t suppose you wanna learn a bit more Creole while snowed in with your dad, eh?”

“Too cold,” Was the immediate response. But both father and son knew that Jessie just didn’t want to bother today. 

As nice as learning a language that was part of his heritage is, it was rather difficult. Haitian Creole was a bitch. Especially without his grandpa not living close enough to teach him anymore. At least he knew most of the important bits, the swears. 

“Alright then,” Eric chuckled, not surprised in the slightest. He then stood, did a quick stretch and gave his son a thumbs up. “Lazy day for you then. Let me know if you want to go get some food or something, Iridescent.”

There was a flicker of... something and the whole room seemed to be bathed in red and orange light. Jessie blinked then quickly glanced at his dad. Maybe his eyes and ears were playing tricks on him after not getting much sleep last night. Wouldn’t be the first time. But his name and whatever his dad had just said didn’t sound remotely similar. 

“What did you say, dad?” Another flicker. For a moment it looked as if everything was... on fire. Jessie drew in a sharp breath.

“Iridescent, you okay?” Another flicker and Jessie swore he saw his dad’s expression change to one of pure fear and panic. 

“D-dad? Wha-“

“Iridescent?” More flickering. The fire seemed to be appearing more frequently. “Iridescent? Wake up!”

Jessie’s breathing quickened and the sound of his heartbeat in his own ears was almost deafening. Calm down. Calm down. What was happening? 

“Iridescent! IRIDESCENT! IRI-“

***

Iridescent woke up from the nightmare. He could feel his erratic breathing carry over into his waking moments like a wild animal chasing him desperately. What had happened? Where was his dad? 

His breathing became quicker. Why was he here?  Where even was he? Why couldn’t he feel his hands?! WHERE WAS HIS DAD?!

“Iridescent!” Sunset’s head popped into view, staring at him wide eyed as if he were volatile. Which honestly scared the shit out of him and didn’t exactly help take his heart rate out of overdrive. 

The orange unicorn took a few careful steps toward him, her horn glowing in preparation for a spell. He wondered if she was going to attack. “You need to calm down.”

“I-I... What? But- I- I don’t-“ The feeling of fresh tears started to well up in his eyes and his vision became blurry. Why couldn’t he calm down? Was she going to hurt him? What was he even freaking out about? Breathe, breathe. Please. 

“Relax, relax,” Sunset spoke carefully, though rather stiffly. Almost as if she didn’t know exactly what to do in this situation. Her horn glowed a little brighter and a tingling yet calming feeling spread over his mind. That’s better. 

“Are you okay?” She asked, sounding annoyed. As if putting up with this was the last thing she had on her mind today. “Speak to me.” 

“I... I think I’m fine.” Iridescent muttered. There was a throb in his head and he raised a hoof to comfort it. Owie. The colt could feel his breathing gradually became slower and slower until it reached an even pace. Calm, calm. 

“You had a panic attack,” She explained. Oh. That was it. He hadn’t had one of those, well, ever. Not exactly something he wanted to experience again if he could help it. “You dozed off after our magic lessons and then started breathing erratically. Are you sure you’re okay?”

“I’m fine,” He repeated, though he didn’t really believe it himself. She sounded really irritated. He hoped she would just drop it so they could move on. 

Amber eyes flicked around their surroundings. Right, royal gardens, magic lessons with Sunset Glimmer... Shimmer. He was also a... pony. Yeah.

That was a weird dream. So much fire and his dad’s expression would be burnt into his memory for ages. But he couldn’t quite remember all the details. Or what sort of event would even lead to it. What was that about? 

Sunset stared at him intently and his amber eyes met her turquoise ones. Why was she looking at him like that?

... Maybe he should stop asking himself so many questions. Especially when the answers weren’t so obvious and he couldn’t even hope to find them. 

Iridescent looked away first, feeling his face become warm with the blood rushing to his cheeks. Thankfully, his stomach growled before the moment could get more awkward.

“You’re hungry.” Sunset said matter of factly. Very observant. 

“Yeah,” Iridescent muttered. It’s not like he did much. Just a couple of levitation spells and a minor light spell. He clearly had a lot to learn about magic. “Guess I am.”

“Do you want to get something to eat in the castle?”

Iridescent paused, his gaze meeting hers again. Did he hear her correctly? Dammit. Another question. 

“Sorry. What did you say?” 

“You hungry. Us get food in castle,” She said, slowly. Iridescent glared at her, which only earned himself a smug smirk in response. 

“You made that clear, Shimmy. But why would you invite me into the castle. It’s... well, the castle,” He said in a way of explanation. “I’m just some pony. Am I even allowed in?”

“You’re hungry. I’m the personal student of the princess who is also kind of hungry. We can raid the kitchens or make the chefs cook us something and then be on our way. No one is going to care if I take you with me.”

Iridescent opened his mouth to speak. Then closed it. Then opened it again.

“Yeah but-“

“Just follow me, moron.”

He blinked but followed after her as she walked out of the gardens and towards the castle. How rude. 

...Maybe he deserved it after calling her Shimmy, though. It was a really bad nickname.
> Chapter 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunset walked down the corridor with her chin held high and with very confident hoofsteps echoing down the halls... with Iridescent nervously walking beside and also slightly behind her. 

The way he glanced around anxiously and even jumped when he saw the servants was really hilarious to Sunset, but she tried not to let it show. Last thing she wanted was for that moron to end up panicking over something again. Colts and their fragile minds. Speaking of that...

“You going to tell me what happened back there?” She asked.

Iridescent’s head snapped to her so quickly it almost looked like it had hurt. Sunset was almost worried that he gave himself whiplash. 

“What?” A servant passed them by, minding her own business and walking with a tray on her back. Iridescent, at the sight of her, shrunk into himself a little, as if he was trying to make himself seem as small as possible. 

“You know,” she started, giving the servant that had passed by them the side-eye. She gestured to her head with a hoof, making circular motions. “Your little episode in the gardens.”

“What are you- Ouch!” Iridescent ducked his head and winced, as if something had struck him. “That’s a killer headache... and uh. No? I just had a nightmare and got scared, that’s i- Fout tonè! That hurts.”

Sunset glanced at him for a second, raising an unamused eyebrow in his direction. The colt still had his head ducked, the pain of his headache evident on his expression. Maybe he was trying to play it off. Or it was just an attempt to get her to leave him alone. He did seem like the type who didn’t want to talk about his problems.

“You had a panic attack? Also looked just about ready to cry your eyes out?” She asked, using that tone she usually did when talking to somepony stubborn. “Remember?”

“No. I don’t,” The response came from his lips so quickly she was rather impressed that he said it without stuttering. He winced again, slowing down only slightly. “Please drop it.”

Whatever. She would totally grill him about it later. If he was going to be a good minion, he wouldn’t keep any secrets away from her. That included whatever insignificant personal problems he had himself. 

But that would come in time. They should be arriving to the kitchens soon anyway... Aha! 

“We’re here.” Sunset announced with a hint of a dramatic flair. Iridescent stumbled and bumped into her side.  But quickly righted himself and came to a stop in front of the door. Stupid, emotional and a klutz. He was a real piece of work. 

There was a bright turquoise glow at the door and it swung open slowly. Iridescent’s eyes went wide and brightened at the sight of the royal kitchens. 

There were ponies bustling around, massive stoves and ovens cooking giant portions of food for any guests that would be coming in that day. Fresh produce was laid out in a giant center table that many of the chefs were using for their dishes. The air was flooded with the scent of cooking and the sounds of chatter among the servants and chefs. It was a spectacular sight.

“Can’t believe you live in a place with a kitchen this big. I could probably fit my whole house in this one room.” He whispered in amazement. 

“Perks of being the personal student of the Princess. I am just that special after all.” She saw the corners of his mouth twitch a little at that. At least the moron wasn’t all moody anymore. The sight made her feel a small form of satisfaction. She couldn’t believe he was worried.

“Miss Shimmer,” A chef pony greeted, her white hat and chef’s apron spotless as they hung from her red coat and baby blue mane. She walked up to them and barely gave Iridescent a once over before directing her attention to Sunset. The colt glanced at the chef pony in return but quickly put his attention back onto the rest of the kitchen, taking a whiff of the air and smiling slightly to himself. “Do you require something?”

“Yes, actually,” Sunset poked Iridescent in the side with her hoof. “Just a couple of daisy sandwiches and whatever he’s getting.”

The chef pony paused, going a bit straighter and looking toward Iridescent again. Both her and Sunset were staring at him and he seemed to be none the wiser. Sunset poked him again this time, harder. 

“Huh? Oh, erm, I’ll have whatever she’s having?” 

The chef pony looked very unimpressed and opened her mouth to say something but a look from the orange unicorn in front of her was enough to make her stop. 

“Very good, sir. One moment while we prepare your... meal.” Sunset pretended to not notice her face scrunch up at the last word as the chef walked away. 

“Sure thing. Thanks, dude- Ow! What was that for?” Sunset poked him really hard in the side that time, just enough to sting a little. 

“She’s a chef. Just doing her job. No need to thank her.”

Iridescent had the nerve to look confused. Did she have to spell everything out for him?”

“But, it’s still nice to thank her. Wouldn’t want spit to wind up in our food anyway.”

“If she does that, somepony will know and she’ll lose her job. You don’t exactly have to be nice.” 

He gave her an incredulous look, one that she returned with a hard stare. It’s not like she was wrong. The chef ponies knew exactly what was expected of them. She didn’t have time to be nice and wait for them. 

“Well... yeah but,” The words came out very hesitantly. He didn’t have a proper argument. Point for Sunset. “Being nice is just... nice? Makes pe- ponies like you more.”

“Who cares what other ponies think?” She asked. Because seriously, who did? Why did it matter when she always got what she wanted? “It’s not like it makes a difference.” 

“ You’d be surprised.” He muttered quietly, not at all intended for her to hear. But she heard, alright.

An annoyed snort left her muzzle. There he goes being stubborn again. One would think he’d have learned by now to not argue with her. 


...But. She’d give it time. They’d only met yesterday, after all. It’s not like he would just blindly agree with everything she said. Even if she really, really wanted him to.

***

“You know,” Iridescent started, using his magic to float his sandwich bag around his head. Though he did almost drop it once or twice when he first tried holding it, Sunset could see his rapid improvement. “Doing stuff is way easier with magic. Can’t believe I went my whole life without this.”

“What I can’t believe is that you went your whole life not even once attempting magic,” Sunset said, her own bag floating in a fixed position by her head. Iridescent’s bag had smacked into hers but she moved it to the other side of her body. “Your cutie mark seems to be magic related. How did you get it if you’ve never attempted magic?”

Iridescent glanced at his cutie mark, tilting his head at it curiously. 

“My mom said I had a magic surge or something when I was younger that caused it. But because there weren’t any unicorns in my village, I couldn’t develop my magic further,” He explained.  “I’ve tried to do spells before but I couldn’t do anything apart from just make my horn glow.” 

“Right,” It sounded solid. Made perfect sense, really. But for some reason she just didn’t buy it. Chalk it up to a mare’s intuition. “Where did you say you were from again?”

“Uh,” Iridescent looked away from his cutie mark and looked at her nervously. “...Oklafoala?”

“Why does it sound like you’re asking me instead of answering?” She asked, suspiciously.

“I could never really pronounce the name right.” He said with a nervous chuckle. At Sunset’s unimpressed look, he just shrugged a little. “Don’t really know what else to tell you.”

Maybe he wasn’t hiding something and was genuinely just stupid. At least now she had solid evidence.

“You’re not very bright, are you?”

Iridescent looked at her blankly for a moment before letting out a muted chuckle which raised in volume the longer it went on. It quickly turned into full blown laughter. Sunset tried to keep her smirk down but her defenses fell at Iridescent’s infectious laughter. She even let out of a laugh or two on her own, not that she’d ever admit it to anypony. 

“Ah! Sunset Shimmer!” A serene voice called out to her. Oh no. 

Both the colt and filly went quiet almost immediately, stopping dead in their tracks. Their eyes flicked quickly toward the direction of the new voice. 

“I’ve been looking for you,” Princess Celestia said with a smile. The soft clopping of her hooves echoed through the corridor before she stopped right in front of them. “The servants have told me you’re being accompanied by somepony. I wanted to see them for myself.”

Sunset huffed to herself, but didn’t express her annoyance any further. Iridescent, however-

“Wow. You’re tall,” The colt blurted. Sunset gave him a sharp poke in the side, which he responded to by sticking his tongue out at her. “What? She is!”

“I get that often.” Celestia chuckled. Her ethereal mane was glowing a bit more than usual, indicating she was in a good mood. “Forgive me, but I don’t think I’ve seen you around here. Who are you, exactly?”

“I’m uh,” Iridescent shuffled on his hooves, glancing at Sunset for a moment before looking back toward Celestia. The two mares noticed that he was now standing a bit straighter. “I’m Iridescent Horizon. New here. To Canterlot. New to Canterlot.” 

Sunset facehooved so hard she almost hurt herself. 

“I see,” Celestia’s smile got a little wider, more genuine. “Pray tell, what are you doing here then, with Sunset Shimmer?”

“I’m teaching him magic,” Sunset cut in before the idiot could make a fool of himself. “He was the only unicorn in his village before moving here so he never learned.”

Celestia’s smile wavered for a moment, being replaced with a small look of surprise. 

“Only unicorn from his village?” She asked hesitantly.

“Yes, Princess.”

“And you are... teaching him magic.” That wasn’t a question. 

“Yes.”

Celestia’s smile returned full force and she clapped her hooves excitedly. 

“Oh, Sunset! I’m so glad you’re taking my advice and starting to make friend-“

“We aren’t friends.” Sunset interrupted bluntly.

There was the sound of Iridescent’s sandwich bag hitting the floor but Sunset didn’t turn around. 

“You... are not?” Celestia hesitantly inquired. Her smile had disappeared completely this time, a look of concern and disappointment taking its place. “Why would you be teaching him magic then? Or invite him into the castle-“

“I just wanted to,” Sunset said through gritted teeth. She really wanted to leave before this turned into another friendship lecture or something. Those were really annoying. “I found him exploring the city and we talked. He mentioned that he was new to Canterlot and didn’t know magic and thing’s went from there. That’s all.”

“Oh, of course.” Celestia cleared her throat and stood a little straighter. Her smile returned, though rather forced. “Well then,... Iridescent, was it?”

“What’s up? I mean, uh. Yes, Princess?”

“Where did you say you were from, again?”

“Oklafoala?” He said, well, asked. There was that nervous hesitation again. “I doubt even you would have heard of it, it’s a rather small village.

“Oklafoala, hmm? I believe I’ve seen that name somewhere. Though it doesn’t sound too familiar to me.” Celestia’s head tilted, gazing down at Iridescent in confusion. “Must be a really small village, then.” 

“Uh, yeah- Ouch! I mean yes, Princess.” He glared at Sunset and she returned it gladly. The one pony he shouldn’t be informal with was Celestia. She was the one who decided if Sunset became a princess or not. This was something that moron should have been aware of. 

“Of course,” Celestia hummed, closing her eyes for a few seconds as if she were deep in thought. Sunset really didn’t like when she did that. It meant she was thinking of ways to test her. Being tested was a royal pain. Literally! “I see you two are on a break. But if you need any help or any spell books to study, the royal archives are open to you both.”

“Thank you, Princess.”

“Yeah. Thanks.”

Celestia’s eyes opened and she gave them both another smile and a small bow. 

“I have some royal business to attend to. But before I go, I hope you enjoy your stay in Canterlot, Iridescent Horizon. It’s been a pleasure.” Celestia walked past them, but not before giving Sunset a look. A look she couldn’t quite tell the emotion of. 

“Nice to meet you too. See you, Princess!” Iridescent waved. Sunset could have sworn she heard a quiet laugh from the alicorn. 

When Celestia was out of sight, Iridescent slumped onto his haunches and his ears flattened against his skull. His expression turned into one of complete relief. 

“That was so stressful. What a load of mèd,” The colt grumbled. “She moves the sun and the moon. Do you know how nuts that is? Wait, no. Of course you do. You, like, live here.”

“She’s just a normal pony like the both of us.” Sunset said with an eye roll, using her magic to grab the sandwich bag he had dropped. Iridescent gave her a bewildered look and shook his head aggressively. 

“What? Normal ponies aren’t that big. Nor can they move the sun and moon. She’s a goddess! Did you even see how her mane was floating all weird? She rules the country and has the power to vaporize me in seconds! That’s terrifying!” 

Sunset rolled her eyes again, this time way harder. She wondered if she hung around Iridescent enough, would her eyes roll out of her head completely?

... Probably not. But it sure felt like it.

“She’s not a goddess. Despite whatever those weird cults used to say. She’s a normal pony who just happens to be able to do that stuff... and also rule the country,” Iridescent looked up at her, his head tilted in confusion. Sunset just gave him a smirk. Him being dumb was funny, at least. “You really shouldn’t be so worried. Not like you’re worth vaporizing anyway.”

“Rude,” Though he was smiling back at her. “But true, I guess. I’m just some guy. Not like I pose a threat to the kingdom or anything.”

“Definitely not.”

Iridescent’s smile disappeared, being replaced by an indignant look. To which Sunset started laughing at. Pure and genuine.
> Chapter 4
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jessie had a bit of a problem.

Okay a lot of a problem.

He was homeless. Broke and homeless. There was that abandoned house he was staying in but even if he considered that a home, he was still broke. There was nothing to his name, nothing. 

He had woken up in an unknown and unfamiliar world with barely any memory as to how and only his new name. His dad was gone, he was ass naked in a city full of ass naked magical talking horses and was a magical talking horse himself. He was also completely and utterly alone. 

Terrific.

Given his current financial situation and his own refusal to ask for help, he had resorted to stealing. Not much, just enough to last him for each day. Luckily horses were herbivores so he didn’t have to worry too much about preparing most of his meals. Raw plants, just the way his horse stomach liked it... hehe. 

He was grateful for bumping into Sunset when he did. Making up some story so she’d teach him magic was also easier than he expected. Taking things with magic was easier than with just his hooves. Didn’t even have to skip a day between meals anymore. Now he could eat at least one small meal a day, everyday. That had to be considered an improvement. Right?

...Right? 

Jessie pulled the black cloak he found in the abandoned house over his body and draped the hood over his head. He took a deep breath, stepping calmly out of the house and beginning his trek down the street. Head down, avoid eye contact. Don’t speak unless spoken to. Most of the peo- ponies didn’t bother those who looked like they had some place to be. Though a few of them did look at him a bit longer than he would have liked.

Ponies. Gotta remember that.

Dad would know what to do here. He always did. He was the smartest man Jessie knew. Was his father in the same situation he was, stranded in another world and missing his son?

The thought wasn’t that comforting.

“Keep it together, Jess.” He whispered, barely able to hear himself over the noisy talking of the other ponies in the city. It was easier said than done. 

Maybe his dad was here. Maybe his dad was also running around trying to find him. There. That’s a good thought. Just gotta find him. But first he had to survive. 

The market was easy enough to find. Being in one of the less dangerous and less shady areas of the city, the danger level was relatively low. There were also less guards posted around the market, but still too many for his liking. Then again, he was in the capital of the country. So it’s not like that could be helped. 

Their shiny armor and spears intimidated the hell out of him. Even if he wasn’t actively trying to steal anything, he could almost feel their eyes piercing through him. Dad had told him stories about law enforcement and the things they could get away with. Mostly to scare him into not doing anything that could get him into serious trouble. But he doubted he’d have to worry about racially motivated harassment from the guards. 

Considering, well, he was in another dimension. 

The sound of ponies chatting and yelling out promotions for their own goods was deafening. The stalls were arranged in a weird maze-like pattern that would have been hell to navigate if one were visiting for the first time. Or they didn’t know what they were looking for. There were a few lost tourists looking very confused and flustered. 

“Keep it together,” He repeated. Covering the entire area was a patchwork canopy, held up by wooden support beams hidden behind certain stalls. The inklings of a plan began to form in his mind. He wanted to take a decent amount of food this time around. Maybe enough to last about a week. Going out and taking things everyday was beginning to get dangerous. “First this, then I find dad.”

A deep breath in, a deep breath out. Okay. The cloak hid his annoyingly noticeable hair well enough for his plan to work. Hopefully, anyway. 

Hopefully.

***

Jessie had hid himself in the shadows of a small alley behind the stall he was eyeing. He could hear the merchant mare flirting with a customer, trying to persuade him to buy more of her produce. The stallion’s cheeks were tinted pink and so were Jessie’s own. Why the hell was she talking about eggplants? Did that innuendo really carry over into this world?

Gross, but whatever. Step one, cause a distraction. 

His horn glowed with the amber light and so did a support beam close to the mare’s stall but far enough away for other ponies to not notice. His eyes closed in concentration. This whole magic thing was beyond difficult but he could feel it get easier each time. A faint sound of creaking wood came from the beam, but then it finally gave way. 

The beam fell and the canopy in that area fell as well, trapping dozens of poor ponies underneath. They all at once let out cries of surprise, startling other ponies who in turn knocked over stalls and food stands. The guards that he was eyeing earlier ran over to help. 

It would have been funny if he didn’t feel a little bad. There were probably better ways to do this and avoid the damage but this was quick and could cover his tracks. No one would notice a few goods go missing during something like this. In the distance he heard a stallion cry out about his cabbages and Jessie suppressed the urge to snicker. 

Maybe it was a little funny. 

The mare running the stall in front of the alley had ran away, knocking some of her own things down but leaving it mostly intact and leaving behind her produce. Seizing his chance, Jessie grabbed as many apples and vegetables as he could with his magic and hid them inside his cloak. Then he bolted. 

But he didn’t make it very far before things started to go wrong, however.

“Hey!” A voice called out.

Jessie glanced behind him and paled at the sight of the merchant mare pointing a hoof in his direction. A couple of other guards who were surveying the damage looked up and in the direction the mare was pointing. Their expressions quickly switched to ones of fury and determination.

“Stop! Thief!” One of them called out. They picked up their weapons and began running after him down the alley. “Get back here!”

No, no, no.

Jessie’s eyes widened in panic and he willed his stupid hooves to carry him faster. The faint unfamiliarity of running on four legs was present and he nearly tripped trying to pick up more speed. But he thought he was gaining enough distance for the guards to abandon the chase.

He burst out of the alley on another street, closer to one of the richer sections of the city. Ponies in fancy suits and dresses stared at him in confusion and fear. But he ignored them, running down the street and pushing past those who didn’t get out of the way fast enough.

A handful of the rich ponies had tried to halt his movement but they were relatively easy to avoid. They didn’t seem to put in much effort to stop him. 

“Stop! In the name of the Princess, you are under arrest!” The two guards who were tailing him came out of an alley a few paces ahead. Both of them leveled their spears in his direction and continued to yell at him to stop. Jessie’s blood ran cold.

He could feel his legs tense, but pressed on. 

Just before he ran into the tip of a spear and became a Jessie-kebab, he jumped. The boy turned colt leapt into the air with surprising agility for someone who hadn’t been running on four legs his entire life. 

“Holy shit!” Everything seemed to slow down to a crawl. Jessie could feel his senses go into overdrive. The unchanging faces of the rich ponies around them were frozen masks of surprise. The expressions of the guards were still determined and unwavering. It was like something out of a movie. 

A shout of excitement burst it’s way out of his mouth at the feeling of weightlessness. Maybe this is what it felt like to fly.

The world sped up again. His back right hoof knocked one of the guards on the side of the helmet, causing him to flail in surprise. His cloak slipped and fell off of his body, revealing his multicolored mane and brown fur. But he didn’t even care. That was awesome! 

Jessie landed behind the guards, a wild laugh erupting from his throat. Sure he stumbled a little and nearly fell but the adrenaline surging through him allowed him to push on. He had actually pulled it off! 

“See ya, you stupid freaks!” He called over his shoulder. The furious looks of the guards could have burned holes in his body if they stared at him any longer. But they were quickly replaced by smug looks that Jessie didn’t notice. “You’re never going to catch a Morri-“

His body slammed into a third guard, one who was much larger than the other two. The food he was carrying in his magic fell quickly after that, no longer being concentrated on. The produce rolled into a nearby wall, where they softly thumped against it before coming to a stop. 

Jessie landed, dazed, on his back and shakily tried to get up again. He could feel the adrenaline high quickly fading. Shit shit shit. He just needed to stan-

“Oomph!” The large guard then promptly laid on top of him, pinning Jessie down under his weight. 

The two other guards rushed over, one of them using a hoof to clamp something onto Jessie’s horn. The other raised a leg above the colt’s head and brung it down swiftly.

Jessie’s world went dark.

***

Princess Celestia sighed deeply. 

Day court, as nice as the opportunity to have her little ponies speak with her about their issues was, was unbelievably irritating at times. 

Seriously, what sort of fool did these ponies take her for? Blatantly lying in front of her was one thing but to argue with another pony to try and defend your lie, causing even more confusion? It was almost unbearable! 

But she powered through. Mostly because it was her duty (that she had assigned to herself, but still) and she would see it through. 

Also because, well, somepony had to. These issues couldn’t exactly solve themselves. 

“... and that, mares and gentlecolts, is why I should own this airship bay!” The noble declared, finishing his ridiculous story with a stomp of his hoof. 

Silence weighed in the atmosphere. A guard in the corner awkwardly coughed. The noble’s opponent, an amateur airship pilot, blinked. 

Before anypony could say anything else, Celestia cleared her throat. That was something. 

“Sir...” Fudge. What was his name again? Wait! No. She remembered. That was almost a problem. “Sir Truffle. You are aware that nopony truly believes you, are you?”

Truffle sputtered, his expression morphing into one of outrage and fury. A quiet chuckle from his opponent made his face go dark red, a stark contrast to his lime green coat. 

“Well- I- I never-!”

“Furthermore,” The Princess continued. “You have yet to provide any actual sound evidence as to how you own this airship bay and have been lying about it for ages. Do you know how much confusion you have caused? If I didn’t know any better I’d be impressed that you managed to keep it up over the years.”

“Princess- I-“

“I am not done,” She said firmly. Her gaze hardened at being interrupted and she stared down the stallion with a completely neutral expression. “I should charge you for that alone. But I know your family has provided funds to several local charities throughout the years. So you shall receive a lighter punishment. Furthermore, I do expect you to provide some sort of compensation to this pilot that you have inconvenienced. Do I make myself clear?”

Truffle opened his mouth to object, but shrunk in on himself at the look Celestia shot him. He took a few steps backward, muttering a quiet “yes, princess” before dashing away with his tail between his legs. Pity, she hadn’t even finished what she was going to say. 

The airship pilot stepped up and bowed respectfully to Celestia, causing her expression to shift to a serene and peaceful smile. His goggles rested on top of his slick black mane, which contrasted nicely with his dandelion yellow fur. He was also wearing a nice brown aviator’s jacket. At least this one was polite. Not to mention quite handsome if she did say so herself.

... and she did.

“Thank you, Princess,” He started, keeping up that nice smile of his. “I’m guessing you’re not just going to give the property to a little old pilot like me, eh?”

“It is my pleasure, Fierce Wings,” She replied, chuckling slightly. “and no, the property will go to the crown. But should you wish to purchase it in the future, I will be sure to keep your name high on the list of buyers.”

Fierce Wings’ smile widened. It really was a nice smile.

“Of course, Princess. I should take my leave. Been meaning to book a room at the local inn.” With that, he bowed again. The stallion folded a wing in front of him in a loose pegasus salute, before turning and walking out of the throne room. Celestia would later admit to staring a little at his flank while watching him go. 

But that’s not that important.

As the door behind Fierce Wings closed, she sighed again, now bored. It was a slow day today. Not many ponies had come in with their issues this time around. Perhaps she should close the court for today and take some time for herself. 

Yes, that’s a good idea. 

As she made to speak to the guards posted at the door, it slammed open again. Another guard rushed in, looking very proud of himself. She could tell this one was new to the ranks by his unpolished armor and lack of salute upon entry. He seemed quite excited about something, though. What could it be? 

“Princess!” The guard blurted, a big grin on his face.

“Yes?” She asked patiently.

“I- We caught a thief in the market!” The stallion was bouncing on his hooves, like a foal excited about an arts and crafts project. 

“Oh?” That sounded mildly interesting. Also gave her something to do. Perhaps it could even lead to something else that was entertaining. Why not? “Can you bring them in?”

The guard nodded enthusiastically and rushed out of the throne room. But quickly returned with two of his fellow guardsponies tailing behind him. 

Between those two ponies was- Wait a moment. No that can’t possibly be-

“Get your stupid hands off of me, dickhead!” Iridescent shouted, squirming in the grip of the guards. She didn’t quite recognize the language he spoke in but could tell what he had just said was something vulgar. He looked... dirty. As if he hadn’t bathed since she’d last seen him. 

“He had tried to take some poor mare’s produce when the canopy in the market fell,” The proud guard stated, his smile so wide he had to close his eyes to make room on his face. He didn’t seem to notice the Princess’ expression. “We spotted him and managed to catch him before he could get away.”

“Stop talking about me like I’m not right here!” Iridescent snapped. Celestia took note of the suppression ring on his horn and the bruising on the side of his head. It seemed the guards had been rough with him. But why? He was just a colt! “I just needed to be able to eat for the next week! What the hell’s your problem with me?!”

His eyes, which were wide with fear and unease, had deep bags under them. She could tell from his weak yet desperate squirming that he hadn’t had proper rest.

“Iridescent.” She said softly, just to get his attention.

The colt stopped squirming and looked up at her. For a moment there was a look of recognition, but suddenly his fear stricken eyes got even wider and his squirming became more aggressive. She called his name again, this time more firmly.

“Iridescent!”

As if a switch had been flipped, the squirming stopped and he slumped in the grip of the guards. He looked like he had completely and totally surrendered. The look of defeat on his face broke her heart to pieces. 

The rookie guard stood there, retelling the encounter and exaggerating his own bravery and intelligence. Much to the annoyance of his fellow guards next to him. The larger of the three grumbled under his breath that sounded like profanity. 

Celestia frowned and waved the guards away as she began walking over, ignoring the betrayed look on the rookie’s face. His mouth opened to object. A gentle push from his fellow guardsponies was enough to make him give it up, however. 

They left Iridescent in the middle of the throne room, sat on his haunches with his ears folded back onto his skull. He must have felt so small.

As they left through the doors, she slammed them shut with her magic. The rookie shot Iridescent a glare on his way out and Celestia made a mental note to punish him later. Being rough with a suspect who wasn’t complying was one thing. To do that to a colt and be rude to him afterward was another. 

This poor colt. He couldn’t have been much older than her student. Perhaps she should have looked into him more when Sunset brought him into the castle. She had been so excited about the idea of her pupil having friends that she didn’t- No. Time to right this wrong. 

“Are you alright?” Celestia whispered, sitting down in front of him. That was the most important question that needed to be answered. She reached out a hoof and gently cupped his face, turning it slightly to look at the bruise on his head. 

“I’m fine,” Her hoof had brushed against the bruise and Iridescent flinched away, leaning back a little but not moving his whole body. “I just wanted some food for the week. Didn’t want to risk getting caught every day.” 

The pieces of her heart broke even more. 

“What about your parents? Surely they could have gotten it for you.”

Iridescent flinched again. Celestia could see the swirling emotion of sadness in his eyes at the question. He’d been through a lot but didn’t quite understand it. She had seen a similar look when she looked in the mirror after Luna’s banishment. 

“I- I don’t-,” He choked out. Then, a deep breath. It was almost fascinating to see him pull himself together so quickly. Like watching a tower be built in a matter of seconds. When he started to speak again he sat a little straighter, talked more confidently. “I don’t know where my dad is. I don’t even know how I got here.”

Celestia mulled over the information, staring down at the colt with a soft yet analyzing expression. To have to resort to stealing to feed himself. Alone. Without his parents or any sort of guardian. Assuming what he had told Sunset was true, he also didn’t know much magic.

She definitely should have looked into him further. How could she have been so careless? Did Sunset know? Likely not. As analytical as that filly was, Celestia doubted she’d have cared enough to look into it herself.

A sad fact, if she was being honest. That girl was stubborn in her ways. It reminded her of her sister. 

“How would you like to stay here?” She asked, surprising the both of them. That was rather sudden of her. Her poor heart just couldn’t stand the sight of him in such a state. She had meant to ease into the idea but nonetheless was going to commit to the offer. “Just for a while. Until your father comes looking for you.”

Iridescent looked up at her. There was so much emotion in his amber eyes. Hesitance, fear, sadness, confusion. She simply gave him a soft motherly smile in return, plucking the suppression ring off of his horn with her magic and tossing it behind her. What a cruel thing to do to a pony so young. 

“You’re- ... you’re going to let me stay here?” He quietly asked, avoiding eye contact now. 

Celestia nodded. Those were the same words Sunset had uttered when she had brought her in. Funny how things could come full circle like that. 

Perhaps she could coerce the two into becoming friends. Perhaps Iridescent could be a positive influence on Sunset... before she strayed too far away from Celestia’s teachings and did something she’d regret. Perhaps he could join Sunset as a pupil. Though her plans would be much different for him. 

“I- You don’t-,” Iridescent paused and took a deep breath, collecting himself once again. He still wouldn’t look her in the eye. She couldn’t really blame him for it, though. “Thank you. You don’t have to-“

“Think nothing of it,” She interrupted, pulling him into a hug. The fur where she had put his head felt a little wet but she didn’t mention it to him. She’d do right by this one... and maybe he’d return the favor. “You have nothing to worry about here, Iridescent Horizon. I swear it.”
> Chapter 5
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“So. You were making everything up?” Sunset asked, watching as Iridescent began to levitate several large spellbooks. The two were sitting under a tree, looking outward at the rest of the area from the comfort of the shade. “Celestia told me you were living in some old house.”

They were in the gardens again, near the same spot as last time. Iridescent had all but insisted on it. After taking one look at the royal archives and complaining about the smell of old books, he turned around and tried to leave. Only for Sunset to drag him back in so they could at least pick out spell books that would help him. 

“Yeah. Well, making up everything except the part about not knowing magic. I actually had no clue what I was doing,” The books settled onto the grass in front of him, stacked in such a way that resembled a house of cards. Iridescent was sitting on his haunches and guiding the movements with his hooves like those limbs were doing the magic. “Getting better at this, though. Maybe my cutie mark is magic related.”

Sunset just stared at him, trying to process the information. How could he not know what his cutie mark was? 

“Even the part about your mom? The magic surge? Surely your cutie mark didn’t come out of nowhere.” She pressed. 

Iridescent paused, his hooves stopping their motions and settling into the grass. He took a glance at Sunset as the books were once again coated in an amber aura and neatly stacked themselves on top of one another. 

“I, uh. My cutie mark just appeared one day, like I told you and uh...,” He was being hesitant again yet seemed to be telling the truth. She got the feeling that he wasn’t telling the full story, though. “I haven’t seen my mom since I was eight. It’s just been me and my dad for a while.”

“Oh.” 

“Yeah.” 

That... sounded like a problem. 

“What happened?” She asked, head tilted curiously. Her own book had long been closed in favor of paying attention to the colt in front of her. 

“Ouch! Rude,” Iridescent put a hoof over his chest in a mock display of shock. Even completed it with an aghast expression, though there was a twinkle of humor in his eyes that didn’t go unnoticed. “What if it’s like super tragic and you just offended me or something? Be more careful of what you say!”

“... Is it something tragic?” 

“Nah,” Iridescent snickered, a cheeky smirk on his face. “Not in the slightest.”

Sunset snorted, barely containing a giggle and giving him a light shove with her hoof. 

“Okay. For real, moron. What happened?” 

“Well, Shimmy,” He began, opening the top most spellbook and examining the contents within. Sunset rolled her eyes inwardly at the nickname. “She was sleeping next to my dad when she just-“ He made a poof sound with his mouth. “-vanished. Dad woke up with an empty spot on the bed and was sad about it for ages... Oooh. How to turn apples into oranges. That sounds fun. Can we try that?”

Sunset rolled her eyes openly this time. At least he was telling the truth. She didn’t have that weird feeling in the back of her mind that he was lying anymore. So she assumed that meant it was fine. 

“And your dad?”

Iridescent froze. His movements stopped almost completely. It even looked like he stopped breathing. If it weren’t for the light swaying his body did, she would have thought he had turned into a statue. 

“Iridescent?” She asked, waving a hoof in front of his face. His eyes looked clouded and distant, fixed to a point in the distance with a thousand yard stare. 

The colt suddenly jumped and dropped the book he had been holding in his magic. It hit the grass softly, the yellowing pages turning rapidly in the breeze. 

“Huh? What? Dad? I-,” A wince crossed his face for a moment but it left just as quickly as it had come. “Headache. Dammit. Anyway, I don’t really know what happened to dad. But he was there for me after mom disappeared.” 

“You... don’t remember?” He was being honest here too. “Do you even know how you got here?”

“Nope,” Iridescent shook his head to clear away the headache. A few of his dreadlocks wiggled at the motion. “Went from my house to Canterlot overnight. Whenever I try to remember how or why, I get these headaches.” 

“Right. Why didn’t you ask for help?” The whole situation was weird. Could something magic related have happened to his parents at separate times? Maybe he had his memories suppressed somehow and the headaches prevented him from accessing them. Neuromancy spells weren’t common but they definitely existed. But that would imply somepony did this to him. 

“Can we just not talk about it?” Iridescent’s face twisted into a slightly annoyed look as he noticed her analytical expression. He always seemed eager to cut off her train of thought. “Celestia’s already looking into it. I don’t want to make it worse by thinking about it.” 

“Of course,” Sunset grumbled, standing up and brushing some dirt off of her fur. The mention of her mentor had put a bad taste in her mouth. Ever since Iridescent moved in, Celestia had been spending more time with him. For some reason it was more irritating than it should have been. “Whatever. What’s this about apples and oranges?”


***

“For the last time, you’re not the ‘Master of the Arcane’!” Sunset snapped. 

Iridescent, like a mature teenage colt, stuck his tongue out and blew a raspberry in defiance.

“I turned a bunch of apples into oranges! I’m like, a master wizard or something!” He declared, taking a bite out of one of the aforementioned oranges and chewing obnoxiously. “It’s delicious! A proper meal befitting the Master of the Arcane!”

Sunset could feel her eye twitch. She thought about squeezing orange juice into his eyes and making him cry for mercy. That would teach him. 

But she didn’t. Instead she decided that not ruining his vision was in her best interest and that next time she’d swear at him or something. Minions do need to see after all. 

“Close your mouth, meathead,” She let out a sigh, facehoofing and counting to five in her head. “You’re getting orange juice on my fur.”

“Oh. Eskizé mwen. Padon,” There he goes in that weird language again. Maybe she should ask about it. He raised a foreleg up to his muzzle and wiped it, before downing the rest of the orange with a single bite. “Still the Master of the Arcane, though.” 

“What’s that language you keep speaking?” Sunset asked, floating an orange over and beginning to peel it. For her own sanity and Iridescent’s physical well being, she chose to ignore his last statement. “You’ve said some words in it before but it doesn’t sound like any language I’ve ever heard.”

“Oh that?” His head tilted. Sunset just nodded, taking a bite out of her freshly peeled orange. Hey, it was rather delicious. Guess he did do the spell properly. “It’s Haitian Creole. I don’t think anypony in this- anypony speaks it much anymore.” 

It was a bit hard to discern if he had simply stuttered or had almost slipped up and said something else. Then again, he was a bit of a moron.

“Haitian Creole?”

“Yeah. My great grandparents taught it to my grandad and my grandad taught my dad. Dad was teaching it to me before he uh,” A quiet hiss of pain came from Iridescent’s lips. Sunset’s head snapped in his direction but by the time she did so, his headache had already passed. “Yeah. You get the idea.”

“So it’s a family thing? How come you don’t speak it more often?” 

“My great grandparents are from the country that spoke it the most,” Iridescent shrugged. He grabbed another orange, peeling it crudely with his magic. “Me and dad moved before grandad could help teach me more. Dad tried to keep the lessons going but he’s not exactly the best teacher.” 

“That’s cool.” She said almost without thinking as she took another bite. 

“Thanks,” Iridescent smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck and looking away a little. “Look at you managing to say something positive. Didn’t know you had it in you, Shim Sham.”

“Don’t call me that,” She snapped, feeling her face get warmer. Those stupid nicknames he gave her were beyond irritating but also slightly nice? To put it in simple terms, at least. Half of her felt like screaming and the other half... also felt like screaming but in a more directed way toward Iridescent. “While you’re at it you can drop the other nickname. It’s stupid.”

“C’mon!” He whined, even pouted about it, too. It reminded her of those spoiled fillies she went to school with. “I like it. Sounds funny and it rolls of the tongue. I know you like it too, Shi-“

“Don’t.”

Iridescent’s mouth snapped closed and Sunset fixed him a pointed glare, daring him to speak. A cheeky grin spread across his face. If this idiot so much as-

“Shimmy.”

“...”

She didn’t put the orange juice in his eyes. Even if she really wanted to. But it was going to take one mean scrubbing to remove it from his coat and mane. Maybe next time he’d think twice. 

That meathead.
> Chapter 6
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

School was boring as hell. 

Jessie would have slammed his head into the desk if he wasn’t worried about breaking his horn or something. He had already spent the first half of his day ready to jump out of a damn window. 

The large classroom was quiet in that weird way that school usually was when everyone was bored. It was likely the vomit green walls that sucked the life out of everyone there. Bad enough that he was stuck at the front of the room as a brown and technicolored distraction. There were a lot of eyes that he could feel on him. 

Ever since Celestia had come to the conclusion that his cutie mark was magic related, he had been forced to attend magic school with Sunset. Not that the boy was particularly complaining because magic was awesome. But having to spend six hours a day sitting around listening to some old timers talk on and on just didn’t sit right with him. 

Like seriously. Which cruel deity decided that school had to be boring on EVERY world? 

It didn’t help that he was also in a lower grade than he should have been, meaning he knew some of the normal material already. Somehow his age regressed a couple years when he came into this world. That or pony years were different from human years. But he didn’t like math enough to try and figure out how that could have made sense. 

According to the medical examiner Celestia forced him to see when he first moved into the castle, he had the “healthy body of a fourteen year old colt”. It could have been worse. At least he wasn’t going through puberty a second time. 

Do ponies even go through puberty?

A small voice in his head told him that maybe he didn’t need to answer that question. Bondye knows that pony puberty was not something he wanted to experience. Much less learn about. 

“Okay, class!” The old professor called out, pulling the now super short piece of chalk away.  Written on the massive chalkboard behind the blue and grey stallion was the most complicated piece of whatever-the-fuck nonsense Jessie had ever seen. It looked like an algebraic equation on steroids. “Who here can tell me what this equation represents?”

Jessie could feel his eye twitch. Once, twice, then a third time for good measure. Maybe this was his divine punishment for not paying attention in math classes on his world. There was absolutely no way this wasn’t some kind of sick joke. 

“I can!” A pink hoof raised and Jessie looked at the pink unicorn sitting on the other side of the front row in bewilderment. She was smiling brightly as if they weren’t in the most depressing place on the planet. “It’s the telekinesis equation! Are we going to use it? Are we, are we?”

“Very good, Candy Puff,” Candy’s enthusiastic smile got even wider. The professor raised the chalk again, writing the word telekinesis under the equation. “But no. We won’t be using this in class. You’ll be required to identify which spell belongs to which equation on your paper exam. We haven’t needed to do any actual math in the magic courses since I was a colt.”

A small chuckle came from the professor, as if he had just said some brilliant joke that the rest of them weren’t in on. When no one else laughed, he awkwardly coughed and began writing another equation. Jessie could faintly make out the stallion muttering to himself.

Luckily, before the professor could finish the equation, the bell rang. Jessie, along with several other colts bored out of their minds, quickly dashed to the exit and into the hallway. If he saw another magical equation he was pretty sure his horn would fall off. 

“Hey! Idiot!” Sunset called behind him. Jessie skid to a halt, did a quick one-eighty and turned to face her. She looked tired. Her saddlebags seemed to be stuffed full of books. Instinctively, he tried to look for his own bags. But remembered that he didn’t even have any. “Slow down. We’re supposed to stick together you know.” 

“I’d rather leave that place as fast as possible, thanks.” Jessie snorted. 

Sunset facepalmed. Facehooved? 

“Whatever. We’ve got an hour for lunch and I need to talk to you about something.” Jessie could feel her magic tug at a few of his dreadlocks in urgency. He tried not to wince. She at least could have been nicer about it. “We’re going to the library-“ 

“Actually!” A chipper voice cut in. Candy Puff stepped out of the classroom behind them, followed by a few of her friends. The wide and enthusiastic smile was still present on her face. In constrast, Sunset scowled as if Candy had just spat in her ice cream. “I was hoping to ask Iridescent some questions! If it’s not too much trouble, of course.”

Sunset’s scowl deepened but before she could say anything, Jessie spoke up. Candy had at least asked instead of bothering him. Least he could do was save her from Sunset’s barrage of mean comments. 

“Uh, sure? It’s not going take too long, right?” Sunset elbowed him in his side, giving him a glare. Jessie rolled his eyes and stuck his tongue out at her. He wasn’t about to let this girl mess with him. Well not all the time. He actually found her attitude kind of funny. “I kinda need to talk with Sunset during lunch.”

“Oh, not at all! We just want to get to know you better!” Candy nodded in satisfaction, her curly blue mane bouncing as she did so. It reminded him a little of cotton candy. Hehe... Candy. “You’re new and interesting so I hope it’s not too much trouble, Sunset?”

Sunset just sighed, letting go of his hair. Instead of talking to Candy or even making eye contact, she walked away. Ouch. Candy’s smile wavered and turned into a small frown but she recovered quickly enough. Though there was an emotion in her eyes that Jessie didn’t recognize. Hurt? 

“She’s quite grumpy, isn’t she? Hope I didn’t upset her.”

“Yeah,” Jessie muttered, watching as Sunset turned the corner and left. He knew where the library was at least. Hopefully Candy and her friends would be quick. “She’s just kinda like that. I don’t think she holds anything against you. Anyway, what sort of stuff did you want to know?”

“Just some things about yourself,” The pink unicorn said with a disarming smile. She stepped closer, their muzzles almost touching together. Jessie could feel his cheeks become as pink as her coat. Did personal space not matter to the ponies in this city?! “I hope that’s okay.”

“Y-yeah. It’s fine,” He backed up a little and shook the blush away. That was weird. This was weird. Everything was weird. “Just hurry. Sunset’s thing might be important.”

“If you say so, Iri!” Candy and her friends collectively giggled at the new nickname. Irides- Jessie tried to hide his grimace. Even if it was ingrained into his head, he still found it difficult to accept his new name. “Do you really live in the castle with the Princess?”

“Sure do.” Short and simple. Hopefully this would actually be quick. 

Candy’s head tilted curiously in an adorable way. He had a feeling she already knew the answer to that question, though. 

“Oh, that’s interesting! Did you really not know any magic before you met Sunset?” 

“Yea- Wait. How did you know about that?” Jessie’s eyes narrowed suspiciously and he gave Candy an accusing sideways look. “It’s not like we’ve told anypony about it.”

“Oh, one of my friends overheard you two talking in the hall,” Candy explained. As if it were the simplest thing ever. “You should really be more careful, you know.” 

Oh. Yeah that would do it. Jessie just sighed. Keeping secrets was annoying. Bad enough he had to use those weird pony words. 

“Right. Well, yeah. I didn’t know any magic. Nopony ever taught me,” He shrugged, making his horny glow faintly. “Sunset taught me some basic stuff and that’s about it. I was sent here to learn more advanced magic. To keep up with the ponies my age.”

“Oh that’s cool!” Candy said excitedly. Jessie raised an eyebrow. It actually was quite the opposite considering all the weird looks it got him. But to each their own. “It’s good that you’re learning now, though. It would be kind of sad if you never learned any magic.” 

“I guess-“

“Okay, next question,” She interrupted. Candy got closer again, invading his personal space like they weren’t already pretty close. They were looking at each other down their muzzles. Jessie’s ears folded back onto his head. His vision was filled with the pink of her fur and the rich red color of her eyes. This was definitely weird. “Are you friends with Sunset Shimmer?”

“Uh,” The question gave him pause. Mostly because the answer wasn’t as simple as one would expect. He also didn’t really expect the girl to care. “Not really? At least I don’t think so. She’s not the most friendly of ponies. She’s also kind of adamant about not making friends. No clue why, though.”

Candy blinked, tilted her head again and looked at her friends for their input. Her friends just shrugged simultaneously. Jessie chuckled nervously and tried to back away. More awkwardness and he’d likely cringe into himself. 

Break the space-time “cringuum”, if you will. 

Okay, that was rather lame. 

“Uh... Can I go now?”

***

Turns out, no. He couldn’t leave when he wanted to. Candy and her friends grilled him for answers about his personal life and how things were in the castle. Even asking about his hair and why he chose to style it like that. The ordeal lasted for about twenty minutes that had seemed to drag on for an eternity.

They let him go eventually. Now he was walking through the halls, with multiple ponies waving and welcoming him to the school. He still couldn’t really keep his mind off of Candy Puff and her... closeness.

The pink filly was rather energetic but she knew when to back down from questions that made him uncomfortable or that he couldn’t answer. Such as things relating to his cutie mark. But she was also relentless when asking about his personal interests and his hair. All things considered she was pretty nice, cute too-

Oh no. No, no, no, no. He definitely was not doing that.

She may have been sentient and a cute girl, filly, thing. But she was still a pony and he was still a human in his mind. A human with very strict ideals concerning interspecies relationships. 

The small voice in his head from earlier quietly asked if it was really considered interspecies when he was a pony as well. The colt damn near punched himself in the head. Gross. Stupid brain. Learn to shut up every once in a while.

Fighting down more stupid thoughts, Jessie stepped into the large library. Sunset’s talk should set his mind straight. She’d probably even give him some sort of reasonable solution. But then again, that would require for her to know about the whole human and other world thing. 

Last thing he wanted was to open that can of worms. Especially in front of Sunset.

Speaking of the sun themed unicorn, he spotted her plucking books from a shelf by a table in a corner of the library. The spot was hidden behind a collection of shelves, isolated enough for other ponies walking into the area to be considered a rarity but easy enough to stumble upon for the first time. He made his way over.

Sunset, ever the observant one, noticed him before he could let himself be known. She fixed him with a raised eyebrow and an amused look. 

“What took you so long?”

“Candy,” Jessie muttered, sitting at the table. There were books laid out all over, either open and by themselves or stacked up for later reading. “She asked a lot of questions about me. Invaded my personal space like I owed her money, too.”

“Ponies here are rather annoying,” Sunset shrugged. She pulled down a book from the shelf and examined the cover. “Mostly just ponies in our age group. They’re too... touchy feely. Candy Puff especially.”

“Yeah. Tell me about it,” Jessie rested his head on top of the nearest stack of books, then sneezed. There were some dusty books on the table. A heap of them, actually. “What’s all this?”

“That’s actually what I wanted to talk to you about.”

The colt sat up and confusedly looked at the books he had just put his head on. 

“‘Neuromancy’? What’s that?”

“Brain magic, you moron. Straight from the restricted section of the archives. Spent all night collecting them.”

“Oh,” An amber aura covered one of the cleaner books and opened it carefully. Inside were contents detailing the basics of neuromancy and how it was a taboo practice due to the fragility of the mind. Jessie read some of the words on the pages, trying not to look too stupid. “‘Though not illegal like necromancy, neuromancy spells can be equally as dangerous in the wrong hooves.’ Why are you showing me this?”

“Because,” Sunset sat down across from him and snatched the book out of his magic. A few of the other dusty books floated closer towards her. Jessie could see that they were all spellbooks that came from the royal archives. “I think somepony may have suppressed your memories of how you got here. You said you couldn’t even find your hometown on a map, right?”

“Right.” That was a complete lie. Oklahoma City was in another dimension so he couldn’t have found it on one of their maps even if he wanted to. He pretended that the headaches came back whenever he tried to spot it. Celestia had believed it, thankfully. 

“I can learn a few of these spells to help you out. Neuromancy is difficult to perform on oneself and you’re a massive idiot. But if I do it, maybe we can find out what happened to your parents, what happened to you,” All of the books opened and Jessie could see things like pony brain diagrams and spell matrices printed on the pages. Then they snapped closed and settled back onto the table, stacked in a perfect column. “I want to... help you. But I need something in return.”

Jessie’s attention had been grabbed ages ago. He had caught on to what she was implying halfway through the explanation. He nodded eagerly. 

“Anything.”

“I need you to pretend to be friends with me.”

Wait.

“What?”

“You heard me,” Sunset snapped. Jessie almost flinched at how quickly she became irritated. “I... I need you to pretend to be friends with me. Celestia is starting to get pushy and really wants me to make nice with other ponies.”

“And you want me to pretend to be friends with you?” His head tilted. It wasn’t an unreasonable request but the reasons behind it were rather confusing. “I thought you didn’t care what other ponies think.” 

“Princess Celestia isn’t just some other pony. She’s my mentor. My shot at being a princess myself,” Sunset put a hoof on top of the book stack and stared Jessie down. In her turquoise eyes was nothing but resolve and determination. “If we do this for each other, we can send you home and I can get what I want. Sound good?” 

“I- Yeah, sure but-“

“It’s a deal then,” Sunset then smiled, something that threw Jessie off completely. It wasn’t malicious, wasn’t fake. It was tired but in a way that resembled someone happy about the effort they put in. The sight was nice. Made her look like a completely different pony. “I’ll read up some more about neuromancy and see if I can remove that mental blockade you have. In the meantime, you and I just have to act... friendly.” 

“Hang on!” He blurted. Sunset sighed in exasperation. “How do we know if this is even going to work? What if you end up scrambling my brain like eggs?”

“Relax,” She held up her hooves and gestured for him to calm down. “I’m a very talented pony. Do you not trust me?”

“Not in the slightest.” Jessie said with a blank expression. Then he shrugged, thinking it over. “Well, not enough for you to destroy my brain. I don’t wanna become braindead. I like being able to think.”

“For the last time, you’ll be fine. I’ll make sure of it,” Sunset picked up the books and put them into her saddlebags. She sneezed when one of the books she grabbed brushed past her face. “I’d never hurt a pony helping me get what I wan- CHOO! Ugh. Though scrambling your brain like eggs does sound like a good plan B.”

“Hey!” He objected. Though Jessie couldn’t even hear himself over Sunset’s cackling.
> Chapter 7
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jessie climbed onto the roof, thankful for the gloves and layers of clothing that protected his skin from the cold snow.  In his hand was a bottle of pineapple soda he had stuck in a mound of snow to keep cold. As he took a swig, he noted the half frozen slushy liquid didn’t seem too bad. It was refreshing, all things considered. 

Jessie sighed, watching his breath blow away in the cold air. In front of him, the sun was rising. It’s orange light becoming brighter as it approached his side of the planet. To his right, one could hear his neighbors getting ready for the day. They were yelling at each other like old couples frequently do. 

Not too loud, not too quiet. A nice medium of silence and noise that someone usually never experienced. At least in their day to day life. 

He took another swig of his soda.

As the sun began to rise he could feel himself relax until suddenly, a faint shimmer of rainbow light caught his attention. Starting at the tip of the sun that had just managed to poke over the edge of the horizon, it flared, as if showing off. The boy’s eyes squinted at the brightness. 

As the sun crawled its way upward, the shining light revealed itself more. Rainbow colors surrounded the sun in a halo. The sun itself also seemed to be colored strangely, fiery orange replaced with a soft pinkish red. The old couple went quiet. 

The sun hovered it’s way up into the sky. Blinding rainbow light threatened to erase his retinas but Jessie couldn’t find the strength to look away. One of his hands gingerly slipped into his pocket to grab his phone. He felt as if he blinked, the whole thing would disappear.

However, as he pulled his phone out to record the event, it all stopped. The sun’s colors reverted back to the usual oranges and yellows. No sign of the strange light or the spectacular sight he had just witnessed, just a normal sunrise.

Jessie looked at the bottle of soda that he had dropped into the grass below, then back toward the sun. The old neighbors went back to yelling as if nothing had happened. Below him, his dad was calling his name. More directly below him, the cold from the snow on the roof was creeping onto his butt despite the layers of clothing he had on.

Jessie said the only thing that came to his mind at the time. 

“What the fuck.”

***

Celestia’s sunlight streamed through the windows of Jessie’s room in the castle. The bright light pried at the occupant’s eyes in an effort to wake him but he rolled over, away from the window. Unfortunately, the mirror in his room instead reflected the light directly into his eyes again. 

The boy turned colt tossed and turned for a moment before getting fed up.

“Fine, fine,” Jessie muttered as he sat up. His hooves slipped from under the blankets and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. “Why haven’t I moved you yet? You did this yesterday too.”

The mirror didn’t say anything in response. 

“Tèt zozo.” He grumbled, hopping off of the bed. Almost tripped and fell on his face but the landing was okay enough to be dictated a sucess. 

A yawn, a stretch and another yawn after the stretch started him off for the day. Amber light covered the curtains and they yanked open, letting more sunlight stream in but also giving him a nice view of the city below. How anypony could live like this all the time was beyond him. On his world a room and view like this would cost a fortune. 

It was a suite basically. Marble floors, large windows with even larger curtains, queen sized bed and even a small fire place in the corner. The bed even had curtains on it. Fancy, indeed. 

To top it all off, the impressive room was in a tower connected to the castle. High above the rest of the city yet close enough to the castle for it to still be higher than the tower. Sure he had to climb up a hell of a lot of stairs but it was isolated. Left him to his thoughts. 

Also made him feel like a ninja whenever he snuck out. But nopony needed to know about that. 

Sunset already laughed at him when she caught him practicing punches.

A faint and hesitant knock came from his door and Jessie stared at it, blank faced. It was too early in the morning for any strong emotions so he kind of just stood there and contemplated what to do or say. Eventually, he just decided to tell them to come in. 

A servant’s head poked in the barely opened door. She looked nervous and glanced around the room before her dark brown eyes finally landed on him. Something in his head told him that she was new. Though he didn’t particularly know what to do with that information. 

“M- Mr. Horizon?” 

“Uh. Yo?” Jessie blinked, then raised an eyebrow in confusion. She had called him mister. Weird. “Why are you here? It’s Saturday, I’m not going to school today.” 

The servant stepped into the room fully, dressed in the cute little French maid outfit that the other female servants wore. Her white fur and orange-red mane looked freshly washed. His pony nose picked up a faint smell of cinnamon. 

“Princess Celestia wanted to speak with you,” She explained quietly, shyly. The wings at her side fluttered, drawing his attention to them. “I was instructed to escort you to the throne room.” 

“Why did she send somepony so early? More importantly,” Jessie glanced out the window and down at the guards patrolling the outer sections of the castle. A small scowl made its way onto his face when he spotted the guard that knocked him out. “Why didn’t she send a guard this time?”

“Um, well. I was told not to tell you about this,” The servant closed the door behind her and glanced around as if she were about to spill some big secret. “But the Princess noticed how tense you seemed to be around the guards. She’s making plans to have you see them less but she wants to know why.”

That was good information. At least, he considered it to be. That was probably the reason why Celestia wanted to talk to him. Even though she should have known that the answer to that question was obvious. 

Then again, it was hard to know with her. The local solar deity had the habit of being unpredictable and strange. She could have instead called him for some deep psychological pep talk to hype him up in his magic studies. Or she wanted to know how he and Sunset were getting along.

But so early in the morning? On a Saturday? Didn’t they behead monarchs in France for stuff like that? 

“Mr. Horizon?” The servant asked, pulling him out of his thoughts. The mare shuffled on her hooves and kept looking at the floor to avoid eye contact. If he weren’t a pony himself and shorter than her, he’d say it was rather cute. “I believe I should be escorting you now.” 

“Yeah, yeah. Sure.” Oh well. He was up now. Might as well see what this was about. 

Breakfast had better be waiting for him. 

***

“Ah, Iridescent Horizon!” The Princess called from atop her throne, looking down at him with a warm and inviting smile. There were papers, scrolls and quills floating around her in a massive golden magic swirl that seemed to slow when he walked in. 

“Kijan ou ye,” Jessie greeted, stepping into the middle of the massive room and giving a half hearted salute. Last time he had been in the throne room, he had been dragged in and cried his eyes out. The place did look pretty nice when he was able to focus on some of the finer details. Bar the storm of paper and writing utensils. “You were expecting me? Well not expecting since you sent somepony to get me but- Yeah. You get the idea.”

Celestia giggled, a hoof reaching up to cover her mouth. 

“Yes, of course,” Three quills wrote some things on a scroll and it rolled in on itself. A stamp then came out of nowhere, pressed into the wax seal and the scroll vanished in a flash of green flame. “I’ve been meaning to speak with you about some things. I hope you don’t mind.”

“No, I don’t mind at all.” He did. A lot, actually. It’s a Saturday for Bondye’s sake!

“That’s good to hear,” She fixed him with another motherly smile that seemed to ease all the tension in his body. Damn she was good. Jessie wondered what her secret was. “How have things been with your studies? Do you like your school?”

“Good and... yes? Sort of? I mean, it’s school. Does it have to be enjoyable?”

“Hmm,” Another scroll in the swirl vanished in a flash of green flame as Celestia pondered his question. “Not necessarily, no. But it does make learning a lot easier when you enjoy the place of learning and the subject at hoof.”

“I guess.” 

“Is something the matter?” The Princess asked.

“No, nothing. It’s just kind of early for a Saturday,” Jessie rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. It wasn’t like he wasn’t grateful she was letting him stay here at all. “I thought you were gonna let me sleep in.”

“Apologies. I’d just rather ‘knock this out’, as you young ponies say,” Celestia let out a chuckle, which Jessie joined in on. She reminded him of his mom before she had disappeared. They both had an infectious laugh. “I noticed you’ve been... on edge around the guards. May I inquire as to why?”

“You know why.” He replied easily, eyeing the guard posted at the door. The Princess’ smile wavered. But she nodded and didn’t say anything further. 

“Understood,” The swirl of papers, quills and scrolls paused its movement with the exception of one paper and quill. The quill wrote something on the paper which then also vanished into green flame. “Moving on, then. How do you feel about Sunset Shimmer? Are you two getting along?”

Jessie looked back at the Princess, though his mood had soured enough already. If anything, he was grateful for the subject change. He didn’t trust the bastards after they knocked him out and put that stupid suppression ring on his horn. Maybe it was just those stories his dad had fed him. 

“She’s alright. Still hates calling me her friend but she’s warming up to the idea,” He paused, putting a hoof to his chin. “I think so, anyway. She likes to hang out with me and stuff but she’s pretty stubborn.”

“She is rather headstrong.” The Princess agreed. 

“Yeah, like, I dunno. Half the time she’s irritated at something and the other half she’s kind of nice in her own way, albeit really determined and narrow minded.” Jessie shrugged. “Is what it is, I guess.”

Celestia nodded. As he noticed the thoughtful look in her eye he decided not to speak on it. No one would probably have been able to make sense of it anyway. 

“She does seem to be warming up to you. I’d suggest continuing what you’re doing.” Celestia gave him a motherly smile once more, though it didn’t quite reach her eyes. Discussing Sunset’s less than friendly habits wasn’t fun for all parties involved. “She clearly likes you and your company. Just give her time.”

“Time,” He repeated, looking down at the floor. The tip of his hoof traced circles into the marble. It felt like he was running out of time. The two of them could pretend to be friends as long as they wanted but Sunset needed to learn those spells. He was counting on it. “I can do that.”

“Excellent. Now, one last question for you before you leave,” Jessie looked up at the Princess, his ears flicking. Her face shifted from the peaceful smile to a more careful and concerned look, one that indicated that this wouldn’t be a pleasant subject. “I noticed some... spellbooks missing from the restricted section of the archives. Spellbooks containing information about neuromancy. Now I understand you want to unlock your memo-“

“I don’t know what neuromancy is,” Jessie said, in a flat yet defensive tone. He had to lie to protect Sunset but something about the way she sounded so accusing didn’t sit right with him. A bitter feeling in his chest began to bubble to the surface. “I didn’t even know magic until I met Sunset and I still struggle with more advanced spells. Do you not trust me?”

“I- Well, of course I do. It’s just, well, you may not like what you see. They could be suppressed for a reason-“

“My dad was there for me when my mom disappeared. Taught me everything he could just so I could feel normal,” The bitter feeling drowned out his other emotions and the coming anger threatened to make his head explode. “Without him I have nothing. Without him, I. Am. Nothing. And you want me to just GIVE UP?!”

Jessie could feel his face turning red and the concern on Celestia’s face was evident. Behind him the guard at the door stood straighter, armor pieces clinking together. Tension seemed to replace the air in the room. 

“Iridescent,” The Princess tried to say carefully. “I didn’t mean-“

“I can’t stay here forever. My dad’s probably worried that his son disappeared just like his wife. I could be dead for all he knows,” A memory of his dad sitting on his bed, holding a picture frame and crying came to the forefront of his mind. Jessie closed his eyes for a moment to push it out of his head. “I’ll be damned if I ever let that happen to him again.”

“Iridescent, please-“ 

“I’m going get breakfast. I’ll talk to you later, Princess.” He snapped, last word spitting out like it left a bad taste in his mouth. 

The quick about-face and brisk trot he had managed would have made a veteran member of the Royal Guard proud. As he effortlessly used his magic to close the massive doors behind him, curses in Haitian Creole came bitterly under his breath. Who did she think she was? 

***

“Mr. Horizon!” A voice called out to him over the sounds of bustling chef ponies and cooking food. 

Jessie’s ear twitched as he closed the kitchen door behind him. That voice sounded familiar but he wished ponies would stop calling him mister. It was getting old quick. 

“What’s up?” He asked, eyes scanning the collection of chefs. None of them were looking in direction except for one. The chef pony he had met his first time in the castle. As she walked over, Jessie’s face lit up in recognition. “Oh! It’s you!”

The chef smiled brightly at him, giving him a wave with her hoof. 

“Mr. Horizon! It’s nice to see you again. Especially without the company of that girl. Do you need anything?”

Ah. He had almost forgot how rude Sunset had been before. She acted so chill around him. “Just something for breakfast. I’m not picky.”

“Yes, yes. We have some left overs from a noble’s breakfast order this morning. I’ll get that to you right away.” 

“Thank you.”

“It’s no trouble.” The chef pony looked away to hide her blush and ran off to grab his breakfast.

Jessie shuffled on his hooves, trying to make sense of the last bit of that encounter.  

“IRIDESCENT!” Somepony shouted behind him. 

“WAHH!” Jessie jumped, feeling his body go rigid with fright. The bustle in the kitchens muffled his less than manly scream but a couple of chefs were snickering to themselves. Jessie had to take a few seconds to calm down. 

Sunset, who had yelled his name, was glaring at him in annoyance from the doorway. 

“You weren’t in your room! I’ve been looking for you, egg brain!” 

“Bondye almighty,” Jessie panted. Sunset’s insult didn’t even register in his mind. The deafening sound of his beating heart was much, much louder. “What’s wrong with you?! You almost gave me a heart attack!”

“You’re fine, you big foal,” She said with an eye roll. Her horn lit up and he could feel her tugging at one of his forelegs. The look in her eye indicated she was excited about something. A look that either meant something really good or really bad was coming. No in-between. “This is big, I think I may have actually had a breakthrough.”

“Not even a ‘How are you’,” The colt grumbled, trying to squirm. “Your thing can wait until after my- HEY!”

Sunset then began dragging him away. She was kidnapping him! More importantly, she was taking him away from the kitchens. Jessie’s eyes widened and he struggled in her magical grip. 

“Wait! My breakfaaaaaast!”
> Chapter 8: Revelation
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Celestia stared at the now closed throne room doors, trying to assess the situation and plan for what to do next.

She had clearly said the wrong things to Iridescent. She should have taken his feelings into account, something that seems rather stupid to not have done in hindsight. At the time she was focused on maintaining the relationship between him and Sunset Shimmer. 

If he got what he wanted too quickly then he’d be gone. The two of them were obviously growing very close even if they didn’t want to show it. Once he left Sunset Shimmer would have a negative reaction and go back to her isolated ways. 

They’d be back to square one. 

Not only was their relationship important for Sunset Shimmer’s development, it was important for his own too. The two of them clearly needed some sort of guidance. Sunset Shimmer needing more positive influences and Iridescent Horizon needing somepony to be close with. Just as he was close with his father. 

But, even if he did get his memories back, he could be horrified of what he would see. It was possible he could have used a memory suppression spell on himself as a way to cope without realizing it. That wouldn’t be the first time it had happened, though it was quite rare. 

But the question was, should she base how she treated him on a “what if”? 

“Princess?” The pegasus guard at the door spoke up. “Should I go after him?”

“No, Forecaster. There is no need.”

Next time she’d be more careful. 

***

“Why are we here?” The meathead asked, scratching his chin with his hoof. 

Sunset sat across from Iridescent on her bed, looking down at the spellbook and finishing her mental checklist. 

“We need privacy,” She explained. The filly also needed some time to escape if the guards heard him screaming in pain. But the spell likely wouldn’t result in that. “Also if the spell gets interrupted there may be bad consequences.”

Likely.

Not like Iridescent had any clue that she had never attempted to actually do the spell before. The spellbooks were hard to understand and the spells even harder. As a magical prodigy she had cracked them, of course. It wasn’t going to go wrong. 

All the spells required live subjects anyway. It wasn’t like she could just do it on the fly to see if it worked. 

Nonetheless the idea was still something to be excited about. If the spell worked they’d have a chance to view the memories of what happened to him. Maybe send him home, maybe get that boost of magical extra credit for her to become a princess. Could even throw in a claim or two that they had been good friends. 

Foolproof. 

“Right,” Her ears picked up the sound of his magic locking the door not too long after she said that. Guess he was rather paranoid. “The Princess might come looking for me. I pretty much blew up at her in the throne room.”

“I doubt it,” Page two-seventy, section six, memory spell applications. Live subject, check. Isolated area, check. Counter spell ready, check. Normally Sunset wasn’t meticulous with these things but this spell actually ran the risk of hurting somepony. “The guards were talking about it, though. Something to do with your dad?”

“Yeah. It’s just, why does she care about my memories? If I live in the dark forever I won’t be able to see my dad again. I won’t even be able to go home. Staying here is nice and all but I can’t live here forever.”

Sunset nodded, though she didn’t quite understand. That specific problem was foreign to her. She had accepted the castle as her new home but she didn’t have a home to go back to in the first place. 

Or parents, for that matter. 

“Then,” Iridescent continued as his brow furrowed in frustration. “She keeps asking me about how you and I are getting along. We’re doing the whole ‘friendship’ thing right, right?”

“Think so.” She shrugged. Watching other ponies interact gave her a decent grasp of the concept. Nicknames were involved. Lots of weird nicknames. They already had that covered. 

“She’s so worried about you having friends but she doesn’t have any herself. Isn’t that hypocritical?”

“Yeah... It is.” 

The Princess spent most of her days isolated. Doing her royal duties, raising the sun and moon and sending letters to who-knows-where. She didn’t have any friends apart from the ponies she asked to run errands for her. Celestia was capable of living a life without friends, why wouldn’t she let Sunset do the same? 

“What if she’s right and I don’t like what I see,” Iridescent sighed. He glanced out the window and toward the main body of the castle, looking directly at the windows of the throne room. “But don’t I deserve to know what happened? What does keeping my memories away from me do for her?”

Sunset didn’t know. The two of them likely never would. Celestia worked in mysterious ways. Always watching, never giving straight answers and never being there when you truly needed her. A scowl morphed onto her face but vanished just as quick as it came. Now’s not the time. 

“The book says we need to maintain eye contact during the spell,” Changing the subject, she used a hoof to nudge the book in his direction and hover over the spell so Iridescent could read it himself. “It’ll let us ‘connect’ more easily.”

“Eye contact,” He repeated, already looking away from the book. “Got it.”

“We cross horns, I activate the spell and we bring forward a memory for viewing. Sounds easy, doesn’t it?”

“Super easy.” 

“Great.” She looked up from the spellbook and into Iridescent’s eyes. In them she saw hesitation. The same feeling that had been practically written across his entire body when they first met. He didn’t look like was too certain of, well, anything.

Sunset, after a moment of her own hesitation, put a hoof on his in an attempt to be comforting. The two of them awkwardly stared at each other. Inside her head, she urged her body to say something, anything. He seemed like he really needed it. 

Before she could, Iridescent beat her to the punch. 

“You look constipated.” 

“...”

Her hoof retreated and her expression faded into a neutral glare. Iridescent snorted in amusement. Sunset fought the urge to grin. At least he was relaxed now. That would make her job a lot easier.

“Alright. Now we touch horns.”

“Sounds intimate.” The moron said jokingly. 

“Just do it.” 

The two of them awkwardly stared at each other again. Getting close together like that seemed weird. It wasn’t something she had thought about until he mentioned it. If somepony walked in they’d both probably die from embarrassment. 

Sunset, deciding to just get it over with and taking the initiative, leaned forward. Iridescent waited a moment longer before also leaning in so that their horns crossed over one another. 

This was rather weird. They were really, really close together. So close that their foreheads were touching. All kinds of gross. 

Sunset activated the spell with a deep exhale. A spark of magic flared from the tip of her horn as she did so. Both of their magical appendages began to glow their respective colors before Iridescent’s switched to turquoise. 

“This feels weird.”

“Tell me about it,” She grunted. The spell was using him as a conduit to prevent her from being drained of her magic entirely. It would feel unpleasant for him but all of the strain would be on her. “Lucky for you this doesn’t require much effort on your part.”

Their combined magic was combing through his memories. It created a strange sensation that felt like somepony was tickling her brain. 

“Okay,” Sunset muttered as spell latched onto a memory of his. The two of them shuddered at the strange feeling. “We’re both going to see this. You better hope it’s not something embarrassing.”

In an instant, his attitude seemed to shift drastically. Iridescent’s eyes widened in fear, whole body going tense like a coiled spring. With her magic probing around in his mind she could literally feel his distress. 

“No. We can’t do this. We need to stop-“ Before he could continue their mouths both opened in silent screams. Sunset saw Iridescent’s eyes begin to glow white before her world faded to black. 

***

Jessie’s eighth birthday was going great.

He sat on the counter, copying the whisking motions his mother was doing. They were making brownies, a special recipe his mother had wanted to share with him. Though he was young, the boy could tell that the recipe was very important to her. He wanted to take in every detail.

The dark skinned woman was humming an unrecognizable tune, naturally wavy hair tied back in a pony tail. Scraping noises from the whisk echoed from the bottom of the bowl as she glanced back and forth between her recipe book and the now mushy brownie ingredients. 

She still had on her suit dress from work, having rushed home to celebrate her son’s birthday. Jessie couldn’t help but feel bad that he made her hurry. 

His father was also present, cooking the rest of the dinner because his wife had ordered him to. Though he did it without question, he didn’t look too happy about being stuck with everything else. 

“Wipe that look off ya face, Eric. The boy wanted to make brownies.” 

His father, Eric, just sighed and pulled the uncooked chicken from the fridge. Jessie really wanted to laugh at the white chef’s apron hanging off his neck and hairnet on his beard. It looked so funny! 

“Yeah, yeah, Steph. Maybe when I’m teaching him how to fight, you can be the punching bag.”

His mother just laughed. 

“As if you ever could lay a finger on me.”

Eric rolled his eyes, but Jessie made out a faint half smile underneath his dad’s annoyed look. 

“You two are gross,” The young boy giggled, the copied aggressive whisking his mother had been doing long forgotten. Now he was swinging his legs off the edge of the countertop. “You look at each other funn-“

“Oh but, Jessie,” Stephanie interrupted. A mischievous grin spread across her face. “Your dad and I saw that you were talking to that girl at the bus stop. ‘Looking at her funny’. What’s her name again?”

The boy went wide eyed. Eric barked out a laugh. 

“That girl from down the street he’s been trying to go see? Isn’t her name-“

“LA LA LA!” Jessie yelled, putting his hands over his ears. “I’m not listening to you!”

Stephanie ruffled his hair and cheekily smiled. 

“She’ll think you’re soooo handsome when you get those dreadlocks, won’t she?”

“Stop it!” He whined, drowned out by the sounds of his parents’ laughter.

“You know, Jessie,” His dad said between bouts of laughter. “We can always set up a-“

***

The memory ended abruptly, a slash of pain ripping through Sunset’s head like a dagger. 

She woke up back in her bed, back in Equestria. Albeit with a massive headache, confused, disoriented and sick to her stomach. The spell had been interrupted but the limited viewing of somepony else’s memory like that felt different from any kind of magic she practiced before. It felt wrong. 

It made her want to vomit.

“Sunset? You okay?”

Sunset’s gaze snapped upward, blearily laying eyes on Iridescent. He had backed away after the spell at been interrupted and was now sitting open the opposite side of the bed. 

“What-,” She hissed as her head throbbed. “What was that?”

“Memory spell,” He said, wincing from his own headache. “I think I broke us out of it. You weren’t supposed to...”

He trailed off, eyes casting downward. 

A million questions struck through her at once. So quickly that it made her headache throb again. But she mustered enough strength to glare at the colt in front of her.

“You know that’s not what I meant,” She said with mounting frustration. Her head was pounding and that only served to anger her more. “I want to know what we just saw.”

There was no skirting around the subject this time. She expected answers in one form or another. It wasn’t something that was up for debate. 

“Sunset, I don’t want-“

“ANSWER ME, YOU MORON!”

Iridescent flinched and shrunk back, ears folding onto his skull. Sunset almost apologized but she instead hardened her glare. 

“I...” He didn’t say anything else for a long moment. She could almost see the gears turning in his head as he figured out what to say. Then, the colt whispered something she didn’t quite hear. 

“Speak up,” Sunset snapped at him. “I want to know.”

“I’m from another world.” He repeated louder.

The words sent an unnatural chill down her spine. Another world? It felt like she wasn’t supposed to hear that sentence ever. She never even expected to.

“Explain.”

Iridescent took a deep, shaky breath. His mouth opened to speak but then closed as he tried to make a decision. Finally, he seemed to make up his mind and launched into his explanation.

Rushed, forced and words that didn’t make much sense to her were hurled in her direction and she couldn’t do anything but take them in.

He started with the fact that not only was he from another world, he was a different species. One with its own culture and history and advanced technology that made Sunset’s head throb more.

But she listened.

He talked about his parents and where he grew up. Their first names and their family name, Morrison. How his dad was named Eric and his mom was named Stephanie. How they had named him Jessie after a friend of theirs who had passed away. 

He talked about the night his mom had vanished. How his dad had cried and wouldn’t leave his room for days after the police (his world’s version of the guards) had officially declared her dead. The way his father took care of him as best he could. Even moving away from their home to try and get away from the bad memories.

The more he nervously rambled on the more she noticed that he was almost crying. Either from stress or how much he missed his parents. 

Finally he talked about how he woke up in an alleyway in Canterlot with nothing but his new name and a new body. The few weeks he spent cold, hungry, confused and alone. Gathering information from eavesdropping on conversations and how he learned more about the world he was in. All those events leading up to meeting her in the gardens. 

“So... yeah,” Iridescent finished awkwardly. He didn’t even make an attempt to look at her. Gaze downward as if the bed were the most interesting thing in the world. “That’s it. Please don’t tell anyone.”

At first, Sunset didn’t move or say anything at all. She just digested the information dump with a neutral expression. It was a lot to take in. 

A whole other world. He was from another world. He wasn’t even a pony! It explained so much about him. 

Well it only explained a few things. But they were things she should have been more suspicious of. Like him not knowing magic or being able to find his town on a map. Or the fact that he complained about eating hay whenever they snuck out to grab food. 

The claim that his name was different further hinted to her that somepony had done this to him intentionally. But why? He never mentioned any reason as to what could have caused it. To go so far as to even give him a new name screamed “ULTERIOR MOTIVE”.

“Sunset?” Iri- Jessie was looking at her, an unreadable expression passing over his features. “Eske ou anfòm?”

“You’ve actually eaten meat?”

“What?” He did a double take and she was met with a baffled look. “I’m from another world. Out of everything I just told you, the fact that I’ve eaten meat is what you’re concerned about?”

Not really. Griffon ambassadors had come over plenty of times since she had moved into the castle. Passing by the dining hall and seeing the meat on their plates was a shock the first few times but she quickly grew indifferent to the idea. Some creatures just ate different things.

“I felt like it was the easiest question to ask. After you rambling off about bacon and then saying it looked like my hair.”

Jessie snorted. 

“Kinda does. Can’t fault me for that.”

Sunset rolled her eyes, then winced again as the headache throbbed just to remind her that it existed. 

“Your species’ dietary habits and your bad jokes aside, why didn’t you tell anypony? You could have gotten help. The Princess definitely could have done something.”

“I was stubborn, I guess,” He muttered, pawing at the bed beneath them. “I didn’t want to bring attention to myself. Thought I could do it on my own.”

A bucking awful reason, if she was being honest. Even a stubborn mule would admit to needing help. He had spent so much time trying to survive on his own instead of taking the easier alternative. She wasn’t going to tell anypony if he didn’t want her to but he needed help. One thing she didn’t want to do was have to worry about him.

“You really are a complete idiot.” Sunset said blankly. Though she didn’t quite mean it. It was pretty admirable he had made it this far. 

Jessie snorted, then chuckled, then laughed loudly. Before long he was clutching his sides and doubling over on the bed. Sunset joined him because, well, it was rather funny.
> Chapter 9
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jessie buried his face in the book in hopes of absorbing the spell through physical contact. It was on the tip of his muzzle. He could smell it. The old paper, the dust that threatened to make him sneeze, the scent of knowledge. Magical secrets galore. Endless power, ripe for the taking. All he had to do was just grab it.

Unfortunately, he didn’t think it was working. 

He was currently in the now empty school library, sitting at a table and waiting for Sunset to finish her practical mid-term exam. Having arrived late into the semester, he didn’t have to take the thing. Celestia instead offered her own test for him next week that would test magical prowess on his own level by the standards she had set. A test that Jessie not only quickly, but gladly accepted. The title of Master of the Arcane was his. 

Jessie expected everything to just become super weird and complex after he revealed the truth to Sunset but the next few weeks passed by in the castle quickly and they weren’t particularly interesting. Go to magic school, go back to the castle, rinse repeat until the weekend came and then back to it after those two days. Sure there was the occasional mishap that involved Sunset calling him a moron and the Princess pestering him with questions. Not to mention the usual shenanigans with Sunset. Usually things went as smoothly as they could for a boy trapped in another world. 

It bothered him, however, that things were beginning to feel more and more comfortable. Celestia had ordered for his room to be redecorated with posters and custom bed sheets and even a few novelty rugs to make him feel more at home. He was even allowed to work out in the guard’s gym after hours. There was a sneaking suspicion that Celestia was trying to get back on his good side after he blew up at her in the throne room. Not that he wasn’t grateful or anything, because he was. He just didn’t belong here, in this world, surrounded by things that previously had been deemed impossible by his own mind. 

Speaking of his mind, the longer he stayed in this world the less the backlash from recalling his own memories seemed to become. Now instead of having a railway spike driven through his skull at the mere mention of his arrival, all he got instead was an empty and blank feeling. The effect was similar to walking into a room and forgetting why you were there in the first place.

Sunset, upon hearing this, insisted they continue performing the spell in hopes of cracking the barrier blocking his memories. The girl enjoyed watching his awkward moments play out and enjoyed viewing the human world, even if she didn’t want to say it out loud. There was always a witty comment or joke made after a particularly embarrassing memory. Some of her jokes would last for days on end. But he had gotten the last laugh when she watched him play through P. T. Her horrified face would be imprinted in his mind for eternity. 

Was it worth getting hit with her hooves and being avoided for a few days? Absolutely.

“Stop sniffing books, Iri. That’s not how you read!”

Bringing himself back to the present, Jessie rolled his eyes and relaxed his body. Candy Puff was here with him, having finished her exam first and choosing to spend her off time with him in the library. She was doing the thing where she stayed in his personal space. It wasn’t bothering him much, even if it did leave a permanent blush on his fur. “I’m not sniffing them! I’m... absorbing the knowledge.” 

“I dunno,” Candy giggled. “That sounded an awful lot like sniffing to me, Iri!”

Jessie looked up from the book and gave her a playful glare. “Shush. We all have different reading methods. Mine just includes getting really, really close to books.” 

More giggling followed as she moved her seat closer to his. Jessie tried not to squirm in the now uncomfortable chair. Ponies had no respect for personal space and while he didn’t mind it from Candy or Sunset, it wasn’t something he was quite used to still. Candy Puff seemed to enjoy being close even more so than other ponies. 

Instead of worrying about it, he tried to focus more on the book. The pages were filled to the brim with stealth themed spells, perfect for an adventurer or secret agent like in one of those Daring Doo books he caught some of the other colts reading. Jessie thought about trying some of these in his room, already coming up with numerous ideas to test them out. Something like this would help him sneak around the castle. Not to mention how it provided him an interesting challenge for his mag-

His thoughts were once again intruded upon by Candy as her breath tickled the fur on his shoulder. A strange chill raced down his spine as well as a whole body shiver. Candy giggled again, a quiet musical sound that caused more unfamiliar tingles down his back. 

“Have you been working out?” She asked, her voice far too soft to be asking a simple question. 

“Uh, yeah. I- I have. Yeah.” Jessie was presented with a problem. He may have been an idiot according to Sunset but he wasn’t dense. Scratch that, he was, but not dense enough to brush this off. It was painfully obvious Candy was flirting with him. She was acting more touchy-feely than usual and even an actual idiot could notice the way she looked at him whenever she moved so close. Her feelings for him wasn’t his concern though, it was the fact that he was unsure if he shared them. 

“I noticed. You’re so... fit.” Her hooves reached out and Jessie’s eyes tracked them warily. He didn’t move to interfere, either because he didn’t know what the proper course of action was or because he wanted to see what she would do. That uncertainty didn’t settle well in his stomach and the way her eyes lingered on his body gave off countless red flags. 

Her hooves gingerly felt over his barrel and forelegs, making his breath hitch. Candy, humming to herself distractedly, letting out an occasional soft sound of approval whenever she grazed over a muscle. While Jessie wasn’t absolutely massive like some of the guards and even some colts he saw in the street, he was lean and fit like somepony who did a fair amount of running in their off-time. This fact didn’t seem to bother Candy as she ran her hooves over his lean frame. 

“Is this part of your training with Celestia?” She asked.

Before he could answer, the library door slammed open and Candy Puff’s hooves retreated away from his body. As he turned to give his savior a look of thanks he noticed it was none other than Sunset Shimmer, who wore a confident and proud smile as if she just reinvented sliced bread. The filly snorted when she saw the two of them and walked over with a swagger that spoke volumes.

“That exam was so easy I might as well have just breathed to pass.” She boasted, her chin held high. 

“Good for you, yeah? Not all of us are considered magical prodigies,” Jessie muttered with an eye roll. He shook off the nervousness from Candy’s weird groping and instead shifted his attention toward Sunset. Fighting back his own smirk was hard. He wouldn’t admit to being happy for Sunset in front of her but he damn sure was. “I’m working my way there, though. Maybe Celestia will make me a prince.”

“In your dreams.”

“Dreams come true quite often. Once I ascend to royalty you can be my court jester or personal servant.”

The two of them gave each other playful glares that lacked both intensity and seriousness. This earned a few giggles from Candy, who was now much further away from Jessie instead of the mere millimeters she had been before. 

Sunset began to laugh and broke the impromptu staring contest, which triggered Jessie’s own. The two of them had become closer during their time in the castle together, with Jessie considering her a very close friend now. She often came to him with her problems and rants, expecting him to help and be supportive, albeit aggressively as Sunset was known to do. Regardless he tried to help as best he could and she would... be herself, though nicer around him. 

Whenever he made mention of their “relationship”, as she so kindly liked to put it, she instead would tell him to avoid saying “the f-word” and give him the magical equivalent of a forehead flick. Not that he minded. He thought it was cute the way her pony face scrunched up when she got annoyed. Part of being from another world surrounded by a bunch of cute quadrupeds that were seemingly designed to be cute and likable was that he couldn’t take their negative emotions too seriously. When he mentioned this to Sunset, she rolled her eyes and called him a stupid alien.

Rude. Not even clever. He preferred when she called him egg brain or something. That always got a laugh. 

“Come on,” Sunset said, already turning to leave. She didn’t even say hi to Candy. “Let’s head back to the castle. The Princess is waiting for us.”

Turquoise magic wrapped around his book and put it into the bag under the table. The straps attached to the bag tightened around his body almost painfully. Jessie gave Sunset an annoyed glare and loosened the straps himself to which she responded with a raspberry. 

“Oh, okay!” Candy Puff smiled and the two other unicorns looked at each other then at the pink filly. Sunset barely even laid eyes on her before she turned to leave again. Jessie shuffled on his hooves in uncertainty after realizing he was leaving his friend in the library. By herself. Alone. “I’ll see you two on Monday!”

“Sure,” Sunset said in a typical blunt tone, half of her body already out of the door. “See you.”

Jessie noticed Candy’s smile waver but reestablish itself after as she waved at him. He tried to say something positive for her, but Sunset’s turquoise magic wrapped around his foreleg and pulled him out the door. All he managed to do was give a small wave to Candy before being yanked into the hallway.

***

“Random question,” Sunset began as they walked along the pathway toward the castle. The school was close to the castle but they still had to pass through some residential area, mostly full of nobles and guardsmen. Ponies were eyeing them, whispering amongst themselves. Jessie caught faint words about them being students of the Princess and whatever else. It didn’t seem to phase Sunset so he tried his best not to acknowledge it. “Your parents are both dark brown and your coat isn’t as dark as theirs. Why is that?”

The question took a moment to work its way into his brain and allow itself to be processed. But when it did, he looked at Sunset incredulously. Such a strange out of the blue question. She had asked him so many things before but why would she ask him this now? 

And why did it sound so weird? 

“You can’t be-,” Jessie gave up mid-sentence, sighed and shook his head, feeling his ghostly ancestors roll in their graves. “It’s like, genetics or something. Not everyone is going to look the same as their parents.”

“Obviously. I thought humans were different from ponies though? Didn’t you tell me your genes worked differently?”

“That’s... Not how that works at all.” He said with another sigh. The average person or pony would assume even magical prodigies learned the basics of science. Then again ponies had all this magic stuff but they were way behind in the science department. “We may be different physically but I’m pretty sure all living things have the same laws for genetics. I can’t explain it, dude. I’m not a scientist.”

“Maybe if you paid more attention in science class on either world you’d know,” Sunset chuckled, but there was no negative undertone. “Your world sure is weird though. No magic, only two legs, only intelligent species on the planet and your sun and moon move by themsel-“

“You have a god that raises the sun and moon for you! Yet you think my world is strange?!”

“She’s a normal pony like you and me, moron. She just so happens to raise the sun and moon.”

“B- What? That’s still absolutely crazy!”

Sunset rolled her eyes but chose not to take the debate further. 

A comfortable silence settled the between them as they walked the rest of the way to the castle, filled with nothing but the clopping of their hooves on the path stones and the noises of ponies talking around them. Spending time with Sunset was one of the only ways he could feel truly himself in this weird world. Those same feelings reflected on their interactions positively and Sunset seemed to reciprocate them herself.

It baffled him how friendly she was now. She sympathized with him and his situation even if it wasn’t something she liked showing, she didn’t threaten to tell anypony about just to gain an advantage over him. None of her repetitive jokes about him being an idiot held any weight. She was a good friend, even if she was still kind of self centered and selfish at times.

But not even that stopped Sunset from being infinitely better than a majority of his friends on Earth. He was grateful to have met her when he did. 

They made their way through the castle, the guards stepping to the side to allow them into the throne room where they found the Princess. To Jessie she looked like the spitting image of pony divinity. Just rather tired under that mask of royal serenity she wore at every waking moment. 

“Iridescent Horizon! Sunset Shimmer!” In an instant the weary look was replaced by a soft motherly smile. Jessie waved and Sunset nodded toward her mentor. “How was your exam, Sunset?”

“It was easy,” She replied, not able to contain the pride from leaking into her voice. “You’d think a school of magic would provide a challenge.”

Celestia’s motherly smile broadened into a proud one. Jessie tried to contain his snort but a quick elbow from Sunset told him that he had failed. As they took turns blowing raspberries at each other, Celestia’s musical laughter filled the air. 

“Now, now you two. You are probably wondering why I called you. I was going to wait for Iridescent’s exam but I believe you two are worthy of seeing this now.”

Sunset and Jessie looked at each other in confusion, then to Celestia. 

The solar monarch began to stand, rising to her full height as the two teenagers echoed, “What?”

“You’ll see.” Celestia said, hopping down from her throne. She used her wings to glide to the base of the throne and made her way to a corridor on the right, the dead silence of the room making her hoofsteps louder than usual. Sunset and Jessie shared a glance once more before quickly following after their mentor.

At first, the two of them echoed the noise from the Princess, that is to say, none at all. The three of them trotted through the halls in total silence, save for the occasional deep annoyed breath from either of the impatient adolescents. But as young ponies typically reacted to long periods of quiet, they began to ask questions. 

“Where are we going?”

“What do you want to show us?”

“Why are these hallways feel so long?” Mostly from Jessie.

Etcetera. 

Each time the Princess would respond with a hummed, “You’ll see.”

Eventually, though, they did see. The door Celestia stopped in front of nearly matched colors with the walls of the hall. It was past the hallway of stained glass windows and neatly tucked behind a small corner in a very unassuming fashion. Jessie had almost walked past the small entrance until he was pulled back by a combination of Celestia and Sunset’s magic. 

“It’s in here.” Was all Celestia said as the door opened, revealing it’s rather lackluster contents.

Inside the room were objects covered in faded brown sheets. The light streaming in from a small window on the other side of the room revealed a hefty amount of dust in the air. All three of the horned ponies could feel the faint tickling feeling of magic lingering in the air. 

Celestia, like the calm and collected leader she was, stepped in. 

Sunset and Jessie shared yet another look as they followed after her. 

Jessie questioned why the silence in this world was always to perfectly timed, obviously with the “this world” withheld. Sunset gave a signature eye roll in the typical annoyed fashion. Celestia exhaled a quick puff of air that briefly broke the mysterious facade she kept up on their way through the halls. He considered that a success, if only a minor one. 

She walked up to a seemingly random sheet covered object and ripped the sheet off of it. Underneath was... a mirror. Just a mirror. There was some weird crystal-y stuff around it complete with swirling patterns made of some dark material but it was just a mirror. Jessie reached out to touch it but when his better judgement kicked in, forced his hoof back down. 

“It’s a mirror,” Sunset said, circling around the object. “Is it magic?”

“Obviously,” Jessie replied, rolling his eyes. “I know you can feel that too.”

Sunset scowled but didn’t reply, too busy running her hooves over the base of the object.

“Now, now, you two,” Magic pulled them closer to the monarch and directly in front of the mirror. Jessie’s own reflection stared back at him, head tilted in curiosity like his own. It was the first real good look he had gotten of himself since his arrival. He couldn’t help but stare back into his own amber eyes, a much nicer color than the dull brown back on his world. In the center of the mirror, there was a twinkle that Sunset not Celestia commented on. Jessie assumed he had just imagined it. “I want you to look into it and tell me what you see.”

The two teenagers wordlessly took steps toward their reflections. 

They stopped directly in front of the mirror and more faint twinkling ran across the surface. By Sunset’s quiet gasp of surprise he could tell she had noticed it too. 

“I don’t... see anything,” Sunset muttered after her surprise wore off, one of her hooves setting itself on the base of the mirror and the other reaching out toward the surface. A month ago Jessie didn’t doubt she’d have said something boastful or commented on her appearance arrogantly. Or maybe not and he was just trying to take credit for her positive attitude change. “Except, well, a very beautiful pony with a lot of potential... and her egg brained accomplice.”

Never mind.

“Look closer,” Celestia urged. “Is that really all that you see?”

The two of them looked closer as instructed. Even more twinkling came from the mirror. The surface rippled as if it were a pool of water and the two gasped in surprise as their reflections changed. 

Sunset’s reflection was a little taller than herself, as was his. Their hair was flowing slightly, not as much as Celestia’s but enough for him to see as it waved in an unnoticeable wind with his reflection’s own locks slithering and moving in wavy patterns like snakes. Large glowing wings were spread out from both of the alternate versions which made them alicorns. To complete the look, the reflections wore confident and proud expressions that stared back at both Jessie and Sunset’s shocked and awed ones. 

Jessie had expected some eldritch horror to be gazing at him from the other side, not to see himself as a... god. 

He leapt back with a gasp, as did Sunset. The mirror shimmered once more before his normal reflection was staring back at him. This time he just appeared confused. 

“What was that?” Sunset blurted. 

“What was what?” Came the Princess’ confused and hurried reply. Jessie, and he assumed Sunset, knew that she had definitely noticed. 

“We- I- Iridescent and I were alicorns!” As Jessie kept his eyes on the mirror, trying to spot a change in reflection again and Sunset’s voice went higher as she became excited. “Are you going to make me an alicorn? There’s a spell for it? There has to be, right? Right!”

“I believe that is enough,” Celestia said, throwing the sheet back onto the mirror. Jessie blinked slowly when he noticed he wasn’t looking at his own reflection anymore. “Let’s get out of here.”

“No!” Came Sunset’s determined growl, emphasized with a hoof stomping on the marble floor in frustration. “Answer me! There are spells to make me into an alicorn and that mirror is proof. You can’t just hide this from me as if it never happened!”

“Sunset-“ Jessie began.

“That is enough, Sunset Shimmer,” Celestia snapped firmly. “You have seen nothing of importance. Whatever you saw must have been a trick of the light. Regardless, alicorn status must be earned. It cannot be gifted through some spell.”

“I deserve it! Do you not know how much effort I put in to being the best? I deserve to be your equal, if not your better!”

“You are still as arrogant as ever. You may have made one friend-“

“We. Aren’t. Friends.”

That one stung. It stung a lot actually. Jessie was crushed under an overwhelming amount of disappointment and sadness that was so sudden it nearly choked him. He couldn’t tell if she was just saying it to throw Celestia off and that’s what made the statement sting even more. They had spent so much time together. How could she say it with a straight face.

Celestia’s firm tone took on a hint of anger that would have gone unnoticed had Jessie not spent so much time around her. “Sunset Shimmer. That is enough.”

“Whatever. One day I’m going to get what I want and you won’t be able to stop me.” The door slammed and Jessie heard her hoofsteps fade down the hallway, but he couldn’t bring himself to look away from the covered mirror. Maybe it was because his pony form was younger and more emotional, but he felt as if Sunset’s words had cut a lot deeper than intended. 

“That girl,” Celestia whispered. “I... I am sorry, Iridescent Horizon. Are you alright?”

“It’s fine,” He murmured quietly, still looking at the sheet. He couldn’t help but feel that he had just seen something important. Something he shouldn’t have. “I’m fine.” 

“Sunset Shimmer is just... upset,” The Princess tried to explain. Her words were falling on deaf ears however. “I’m sure she didn’t mean that.”

Jessie didn’t respond, not quite all there. Under the sheet, the mirror twinkled again, but when he blinked it was gone.

“I’m fine.” He repeated again.

“Iridescent,” Celestia said hesitantly. Her tone indicated she was trying to explain herself but Jessie couldn’t bring himself to care much. “I wanted to show you both an image of your potential. I did not think it would have this effect on Sunset.”

“Why even bother? You know I’m not supposed to even live in this castle.”

“...I have been sensing tragedy within your own mind,” She said after a long pause. “I believe you suppressed your own memories as a way to cope.”

“What does that have to do with anything.” He replied, the statement sounding nothing like a question. 

“I-“ Celestia’s eyes wandered to the floor, where they stayed as if she were overcome with shame. “I was hoping you would see this tragedy in the mirror to discourage you from wanting to leave.”

Jessie straightened, head snapping in Celestia’s direction. That didn’t make sense. It didn’t. No matter how much he repeated her words in his mind it just didn’t make sense. Celestia, sensing his oncoming question, answered before he could ask. 

“I wanted to keep you here,” She continued with her eyes still downcast. Shame rolled off of her in waves. The emotion was so strong that if he looked closer he’d have sworn he could see a physical manifestation of it. “I- I wanted to use you as a positive influence for Sunset. Potentially as her replacement should she ever do something irredeemable. It’s why I didn’t take the books from her after our confrontation in the throne room. I asked her about the spells but she instead plastered the blame on herself, saying that my actions were wrong. Using those very spells I wiped her memory of the incident-“

“Stop talking.”

“I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry, Iridescent Horizon-“

“I said stop.” He snapped. 

“Please forgive me,” The Princess’ eyes moved upward, locking onto his. Jessie saw tears pooling as she shakily pleaded with him. “I never intended to-“

“I told you about my parents, having faith that you would help me,” Jessie backed away from her, toward the door. “I trusted you in that moment and you just intended to use me.”

“Iridescent-“

“That’s evil. You do understand that, right? I gave you that information expecting kindness and all you saw it as was a tool to use against me? That’s undeniably, completely and utterly evil. Use whatever mental gymnastics you want but you fully intended on using my vulnerability for your own gain.”

“Please! I never-“

“Just shut up!” Jessie yelled. The door behind him opened in a flash of amber magic and he continued to back away from Celestia. Disgust was plainly written on his features as if he were looking at the most vile thing he’d seen in his life. “I don’t know what kind of long game you’re playing here but I hope you know you practically made an enemy out of me. An enemy you should not have. Think on that for a while, won’t you? After all, you’re practically a god.”

Celestia, the solar monarch that was the epitome of divinity and royalty when he first met her, now looked defeated. Jessie slammed the door behind himself and through the surface came the sound of more muffled pleas. A small twinge of regret planted itself in his mind, but was instead snuffed out by the anger and disbelief.

As he stalked down the hall, he muttered bitterly under his breath, but somehow he knew Celestia would hear. 

“You have nothing but time.”
> Chapter 10
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“You ready to move, Jess?” A deep yet familiar voice asked, causing Jessie to squirm on the bench. 

Jessie’s tired amber eyes slowly opened to his new environment, then blinked, switching to a dark brown as he began to focus. In the real world a colt tossed and turned in his bed, trying to move into a more comfortable position. If not for the sensation of his fur brushing against the sheets Jessie probably would not have noticed that he was dreaming again. 

The familiar sight of his neighborhood park greeted his dream self. Dotting the lush green grassy area were playing children, many of them giggling in delight. On the other side of the park and sitting on benches were the parents of the children, whispering gossip to one another about the latest news. It seemed like the whole neighborhood was here. 

Even his grouchy neighbor Miss Wilson had gone for a walk. There was a soft whistling tune coming from her lips accompanied by a minuscule smile. She seemed happy now, watching the children play with a subdued sense of fondness. 

Everything was so... perfect.

Jessie sniffed the air hesitantly, just to see if he could. A faint scent of fresh grass hit his nostrils, making him sigh in satisfaction. His dreams had become so indistinguishable from reality since his arrival into Equestria. Sunset had told him that this sort of thing was normal for all creatures here. Likely due to the magical nature of this world.

Jessie couldn’t quite imagine that. He barely dreamed in the human world. Or, if he did, he could never remember them. Here though, dreams came frequently and would persist in his mind long after he had woken up. 

The teen raised his hands and examined them, wiggling his fingers and using them to trace circles in his palms. At least when he dreamt about his world he was in human form. Hands were much better than hooves.

Jessie’s hands closed into fists. It had been about a week since he last dreamed about his world but he wasn’t going to question it this time around. Maybe he could try lucid dreaming up some hot wings to see if he could taste them.

As he made to get up and explore the area a thick finger tapped on his shoulder. He looked to his left, trying to see what the owner of the finger wanted. The concerned face of his father stared back at him.

“You zoned out there. You alright?”

“I...,” Jessie went quiet again. He hadn’t seen his father’s face in what felt like forever. Outside of the eighth birthday memory his face was clouded, hidden from view, or just sometimes missing entirely. One particular exception being an evening where Jessie had come home from a party to find his dad dancing on the table in the living room while singing Baby Got Back.

It would have been fine if that was all, but the cherry on top was that Eric had also been in just his boxers.

Dark times.

Jessie shivered and tried not to dwell on that event, choosing to focus on how clearly he could see his father here. “I’m fine, dad. Thanks.”

Eric Morrison smiled at his son and Jessie reflexively smiled back.

“I asked if you were ready to move. We leave in a few weeks.”

“Right,” Jessie’s smile faded. He looked away in hopes that his father wouldn’t notice. This was the kind of dream he was having, a memory brought forth by Sunset’s spells. 

He remembered this.

“I am. Just gonna miss this place.”

“Me too. But I just... don’t wanna stay here. Maybe getting away will do us both some good.” 

Jessie bit back a bitter comment about the only person benefiting being his father and instead drummed his fingers against his leg. 

Dad wouldn’t want to hear that. Coming to a decision about moving had been hard for him but he had already made up his mind. His grandparents had tried their hardest to talk his father out of it but Eric Morrison wasn’t so easily persuaded.

“The most hard-headed of my three children,” His grandma had scoffed, her fist clenched around her red stress ball. “That man never knows when to quit. One day he’s going to run himself into the ground, get back up, and keep going over and over until it kills him!”

Come to think of it she was probably right. Judging by the dark circles under his father’s eyes, he was already beginning the process. Jessie wondered if the man had poured himself into finding his son just as recklessly he did into moving. All the more reason to find out how he could get back as fast as he could. 

He wouldn’t leave dad alone. He couldn’t leave him alone. 

“I called ahead to the school you’re supposed to attend,” Eric said. The man pulled out his phone and showed Jessie a picture of a soccer team, wearing identical jerseys and posing with a trophy. “They’ve got a soccer team. I know you ain’t played on a team since you were young but I noticed you practicing your kicks in the backyard. Interested?”

Not really.

“Yeah. Sounds fun,” He said with forced interest. Jessie didn’t have the heart to refuse his dad. He genuinely seemed to be trying. “Is Granddad going to be teaching me Creole over video chat?”

“Erm,” Eric put his phone back in his pocket and scratched at his beard. “He actually said no - don’t give me that look - because he thinks you learn better in person. You know how your grandad is about Haitian culture. ‘Member what he said when you first started learning?”

Jessie cleared his throat and in what he felt was a perfect imitation of Grandpa Kendrick’s New Orleans accent, said: 

“‘Any fool with Ayiti in his blood that can’t speak Creole ain’t worth a damn and should be embarrassed of the disgrace that they are! You best remember that or else you’ll end up spineless like your uncle Jean. Now, go fetch my remote, boy. I gots to catch my program.’”

His father laughed but shook his head.

“No, Jess. The other thing.”

“‘If I can’t smack ya for messing up the pronunciation then I don’t wanna teach ya’?”

Eric nodded.

Jessie snorted. Granddad was almost as stubborn as his son. Maybe it was a genetic thing that his father had unfortunately inherited. Luckily the younger Morrison had gotten his mother’s power of reasoning instead. She was always more level headed and rational than his father. 

The same pained feeling he had felt in this moment hit him once more through the dream. Maybe mom would have been able to talk some sense into his dad. The pained feeling got even more intense. It was all his fault. She’d still be here if it wasn’t for...

Wasn’t for...

Wasn’t for what? He didn’t remember thinking that. Jessie frowned, feeling the same blank sensation he felt whenever recalling what brought him into Equestria. He had almost it and now the thought was fading away. How could he just forget?

“I could always hook you up with a tutor online. It’ll be a little different than what you’re used to, though.”

What had he been thinking about?

“Does it matter?” Jessie asked with a shrug. In the distance he heard an ambulance’s siren but couldn’t see it passing by. “As long as I learn, right?”

He almost didn’t notice his dad’s small frown. “I guess. I just want to know if that’s what you wanna do.”

You didn’t ask me that when you started packing two weeks ago, he thought. Naturally this was left unsaid. In fact, he didn’t say anything else, resuming the drumming motion of his fingers on his thigh. 

Beside him he heard his dad sigh as the world faded away.

***

“Hey!”

“You rainbow haired dork!”

“We’re talking to you!”

Jessie’s pony ears turned toward the direction of the sound against his will, ignoring his efforts to keep them in a normal position. He’d rather not give the colts the attention they were seeking but his new body betrayed him. He probably should have been more careful. Not that he anticipated anypony following him around like a bunch of creeps in the first place.

Sneaking out the castle early in the morning on a Saturday and exploring the city gave him something to do in his downtime besides throwing punches against the sandbag in the gym until his hooves hurt. It also served as a way to pass time besides engaging in shenanigans with Sunset and gave him the chance to see something new. Jessie had seen some of Canterlot already but barely scratched the surface of this new world. He wanted to explore as much of it - or at least the surrounding area - as he could before going back to his. 

That was how he found himself in the middle class sector again. Far away from the hoity toity rich clowns that lived close to the castle and into a more familiar residential area. 

He prided himself on knowing how to maneuver his way through city streets without attracting much attention. It was a useful skill on his world. Considering that he looked just like everypony else here though, blending in was pretty easy. 

Or so he thought. 

Behind him, the once faint hoof clopping and wing flapping became louder as the makers of the noise approached.

For the love of-

“You guys need something?” He asked casually, looking at them over his shoulder. 

There were three colts around his age: a small blue earth pony, an average sized silver pegasus (who was flying instead of walking, Jessie noted with a hint of envy) and a very large green earth pony. The green earth pony lead the other two, walking in front of them with his chin held high.

“Need something? Hah! Not from a horned bastard like you.” The pegasus said snarkily.

Ouch. Rude much? His horn was awesome. 

“So... Why exactly are you following me?”

“Because!” The smaller earth pony chimed before suddenly looking confused. That must have been the stupid one. Every group of three had a stupid one. “... Uh. Why are we following him?”

“I recognize you,” The big earth pony said, brow furrowed with a very pronounced forehead like a Neanderthal’s. The pony reminded Jessie of the stereotypical tough kids from those old Saturday cartoons. Naturally, Jessie decided to call him Biggie. “You’re that homeless dude that dropped the canopy on the market!”

Jessie’s head tilted confusedly. He almost couldn’t believe he forgot that happened. Lot of time flew by in a month and a half. ... And he wasn’t just some homeless dude, that was offensive. “Yeah, what about it?”

Biggie sputtered. Jessie tried so hard not to laugh at the ridiculous face he was making.

“You dropped that canopy on me and my friends!”

“Okay... You want an apology or something? Sorry, I’m just having a hard time following-“

“You made us drop our stuff! We had to buy all of our ice cream again!”

“I’m... sorry?”

“You should be!” Both the small earth pony and the pegasus said simultaneously. This was going on for longer than he would have liked. Maybe he should give the lackeys some names.

Pegasus boy would be Wings. Or even better, Featherhead. That worked. And the small earth pony would be Smalls. Not much effort required and they were easy to identify. Not too shabby if he did say so himself. 

And he did.

“Yeah. You should be,” Biggie growled, taking a few threatening steps forward. Jessie kept his hooves planted, unwilling to give the bigger colt the satisfaction of moving him. “I heard you got off scott-free because you’re a unicorn. A magically gifted one at that.”

“Could be true, couldn’t be. Does it really matter anymore?” Jessie asked in a level tone. They both stared each other down, neither willing to give an inch to the other colt. 

Biggie’s eyes narrowed dangerously.

“Yeah it does matter. You unicorns are always getting away with stuff you shouldn’t around here. Maybe we should teach you a lesson.”

Smalls and Featherhead made some - what he assumed to be - threatening poses. They were really unintimidating but clearly seemed to be trying. 

Was this... pony racism? The word combination nearly made him giggle out loud. 

Back on earth he had an experience or two on the subject matter but to think he’d actually experience it in another, completely different, world was crazy. Then again, maybe they had a point? Canterlot did have an abundance of unicorns. Maybe he just never noticed it because he was a unicorn himself.

He’d have to ask Sunset about that.

Why the colts wanted to project their feelings onto him specifically was unclear. He was just chilling and walking. The canopy incident was ages ago and it’s not like he was going to do it again anytime soon. 

What was clear though was that the street was more empty than he had noticed before. Either there weren’t any ponies here before... or things were about to get all weird and ugly. Maybe he should diffuse the situation before things took a turn that way. Weird and ugly would be bad.

“Listen, guys,” Jessie said, trying his best to keep his voice calm and friendly. “I can buy you some more ice cream or something. I’m really not interested-“

Biggie threw a punch at his head.

The hoof came at him in slow motion and yet even with all the extra time to process the sight he barely managed to activate the teleportation in time. His body flickered out of existence in a flash of amber light and appeared a few yards away, a loud yelp of surprise coming from his mouth. 

The brick wall that had unfortunately tasted Biggie’s hoof now sported a few cracks and missing pieces. Jessie and the other two colts watched in stunned silence as chunks of brick fell onto the concrete street. 

That had almost been him. He was suddenly even more grateful for his magic lessons. 

“Stupid unicorns,” The big colt muttered, shaking the pains from punching a solid object off with ease. “You and your stupid magic.”

“I dunno what your deal with unicorns is, man,” Jessie took a deep and long breath then slowly released it to shake off the rush of adrenaline. “But you could have damn near killed me. What the hell’s your problem?”

“What’s a man?” asked Smalls. He was ignored by everypony else. 

“You unicorns always look at us other ponies like you’re so high and mighty. You’re even doing it right now but it’s fine. When we slap you senseless you won’t even be able to tell the Princess or your cotton candy marefriend.”

Jessie was so surprised that Biggie called Candy his girlfriend that he almost didn’t teleport away from the next punch. 

“Stop teleporting! Let me hit you!”

“Kind of defeats the purpose.” Jessie muttered, now even further away. More chunks of brick clattered onto the street. He contemplated running. Considering all the spells he knew, he could probably win a fight but he didn’t want to take that chance and a confrontation didn’t seem worth it. Celestia would be really angry with him over something like this. He’d be locked in the castle or end up getting kicked out completely. 

Not good. 

“Look,” He said, taking a few slow steps back. They’d start chasing him if he bolted. “I’m finna just walk away. You guys have fun-“

“HAH! So you’re a coward! I knew it!” Featherhead laughed, pointing a hoof in his direction. 

Jessie’s eye twitched. 

“What?”

“You heard me, horned dork! You’re a coward!”

Jessie’s eye twitched again. 

He never considered himself as someone to get angry at provocations, even if it meant looking spineless. He had taken the insults and bitter words despite how badly they wounded his pride, just like his mom and dad taught him. But he wasn’t a coward, especially compared to this weird little group who thought they could get the drop on him in the middle of the day. 

“Aww! Did the little unicorn get his feelings hurt?”

“I think he did. Look at him! He looks so mad!”

“Maybe we should stop? He’s getting really angry, guys.” Smalls said in a shaky voice.

The warning from the earth pony fell on the deaf ears of his comrades, the two of them too busy laughing as Jessie’s face twisted into a dark look. Pent up frustrations from the events of yesterday and his time in this world were all too glad to resurface, amplifying his already growing anger and taking the form of the flaring magic surrounding his horn. 

“Uh... Dude?” The little earth pony said worriedly. “He’s charging up!”

Biggie lunged, throwing another punch at Jessie’s head. This time however, an amber magical barrier erected itself between them in a flash.

Biggie’s hoof slammed into it with what seemed to be all his strength but the barrier held strong, a loud thud echoing through the empty street. 

“You little freak!” Biggie yelled out, jerking his hoof toward himself and reeling backward. It must have hurt judging by the way he was looking at it. 

Jessie tried to contain his surprise. He had read about that spell in one of Sunset’s books but hadn’t ever actually tried it himself. He hadn’t expected it to be so strong and it was only one of the simple ones! A mental note was made to experiment with it more later. 

“You’ll pay for that!” Featherhead screamed as he launched toward the brown unicorn.

Another much brighter glow came from Jessie’s horn. However instead of taking the form of a barrier it formed as a stream of arching amber colored electricity. The colts didn’t have much time to react before it slammed into them.

Featherhead was hit first since he was the closest. Then came Biggie. Behind them, Smalls backed away in a panic, yelling something that didn’t quite reach Jessie’s ears. 

Biggie and Featherhead’s eyes widened in fear. It seemed to take a moment for them to both process that they were being zapped with an electricity spell but when they did, they screamed.

For ten almost painfully long seconds, screams of first surprise and then pain echoed down the street, causing Jessie to wince. They were trying to move away but the energy held them in place, zapping the ever living hell out of them. 

As Jessie willed the spell to stop a final unintentional burst of energy came from his horn and forced the colt’s back into a wall, knocking them unconscious. 

“Holy shit,” Was all he could say.

Using magic was weird. Sometimes it felt like using another limb, like with telekinesis. Sometimes it was like jumping, like with teleportation. Using that electricity spell had felt like vomiting... but in a good way. It felt great, pushing out all that energy and pent up frustration. Much better than he could imagine.

The stench of something burning lulled him out of his thoughts and his gaze set on the defeated pegasus and earth pony. Wisps of smoke rose up from the bodies of the unconscious colts. If not for the soft rising and falling of their chests, he’d have assumed he had actually killed them.

Jessie felt bad but couldn’t quite ignore the other smaller feeling of gratification that came with winning a fight. What he just did was pretty badass. 

A whimpering sound drew his attention away from the unconscious forms of his aggressors and towards a still shaking Smalls. He was in the middle of the street, with a charred and jagged burn mark from the magical blast leading from Jessie’s position to just a few feet in front of the earth pony. Underneath him was a puddle of what Jessie hoped was water, but from the smell that hit his nose it most definitely was not. 

He supposed that was a justified reaction after a magically gifted unicorn tased his friends so hard they started smoking. 

... It was still badass though. Whatever. Maybe he should say something. 

“I- I’m sorry...” The earth pony whimpered, shrinking as the unicorn’s attention landed on him. 

“Yo,” Jessie waved, trying to keep it casual. “You alright, man-“

Then Smalls fainted. 

*** 

Jessie’s hoofsteps were the only sounds that echoed through the halls. He forcefully slowed his breathing, it having picked up from how quickly he ran back to the castle.

Maybe he shouldn’t have left the colts there. Or at the very least picked Smalls up and hid him somewhere so nopony found him in a puddle of his own urine. Just seemed like a waste of effort at the time. 

C’est la vie, he supposed. They kind of had it coming by approaching him and starting a fight. He wasn’t about to stick around when the possibility of being arrested by a guard was still up in the air. Luckily he hadn’t been caught.

Why did they even want to bother him exactly? Ah, right. Pony racism. The words put together still made him snicker. 

At least it was quiet in the castle. Guards and servants alike had been called away to rehearse for some event coming up. The... something. Its name was alliterated and contained a pun. He wondered how exactly he managed to forget it given how easy the names seemed to click here. Everything was always some sort of easy to remember play on words. 

Speaking of which...

“Hehe... Oklafoala.”

If he couldn’t go back to his world he was totally creating a town of that name. Even if he was the only pony who understood the joke the chance was too good to pass up. Jessie laughed some more to himself. He was hilarious.

One of the only servants remaining in the castle happened to pass him by, regarding him with an odd look. Jessie went quiet, feeling the warm sensation of blood rushing to his cheeks. The servant laughed quietly under her breath, saying something that he couldn’t quite hear. Ducking his head in embarrassment, he moved more quickly down the hall to get away from her.

Note to self, he thought. Wait until you’re sure that you’re alone to laugh at your own jokes. That was embarrassing.

His hurried hoofsteps slowed, turning from a loud clopping into a dull noise. Alone again. 

“Wonder what Sunset’s doing,” He said aloud for no particular reason. Thoughts of the bacon haired filly/girl had plagued his mind since he woke up this morning. Considering what had happened last night, it was understandable. 

“Probably scheming or something,” Jessie assured himself. What else would she be doing? “Maybe I should-“

“Iridescent,” A voice called to him, making him pause.

His ear twitched at the new sound. Who the hell was that?

“Iridescent. Over here!” The voice whisper-yelled. 

Where was that coming from? He was pretty much alone in this hallway, save for the sound of the wind whistling past a window leading outside. 

“Where?” He whispered-yelled back.

“Behind the curtains, egg brain.”

Jessie looked back toward the window, noticing the curtains that had been pulled open. 

Sunset’s disheveled hair stood out the most but the bags under her eyes immediately stirred up feelings of concern for his friend. 

“You look crazy,” He said, walking toward her and glancing left to right to make sure nopony was watching them. “You know we can just talk to each other like normal peop- ponies, right? What the hell happened to you?”

“I’m fine-“

“Are you sure?” Jessie asked, half seriously. A small smirk quirked at the corner of his mouth. “Your bacon’s looking a little crispy.”

Her horn glowed turquoise and he felt the sensation of something flicking his forehead. The fading sting hurt but not enough to muffle his chuckling. 

“Enough about my hair... It’s not even that bad,” Sunset shook her head quickly and her hair returned to normal, surprising him. Could he do that? Why did this world work the way it did? So many new questions. “Where the hell were you?”

“Woah,” Jessie said in mock surprise. “Relax with the potty mouth. You cute little ponies aren’t supposed to swear. Maybe you’ve been looking at my memories too much-“

“Answer the da- Answer the question.” She snapped. 

Jessie grinned.

“I was out. Chillin’, relaxin’. That sort of thing.”

“You were gone for six hours.” Sunset deadpanned.

“I was not,” He waved a dismissive hoof. “It was only, like, three.”

Sunset’s blank and unamused stare immediately let him know that he, in fact, had been gone for much longer. To further prove her point, she gestured with a hoof to a nearby clock on the wall. 

Jessie glanced at the timepiece, noting the drastically different position of the hour hand compared to when he left this morning. He sheepishly turned back to Sunset who was still staring at him blankly. 

“Maybe I was gone for six hours-“

“Really? I didn’t notice.”

“In my defense... I... I got nothing.”

Sunset growled out a low frustrated sound. “Whatever. I don’t care about how long you were gone. Did you get my letter?”

“It slapped me across the face when it appeared. So, yeah.”

“You read all of it, didn’t you?

Jessie nodded slowly, which then turned into a shaking of his head. 

“Seriously?” Sunset asked, her tone creeping on the edge of genuine anger.

“I only got through the first few sentences. Couldn’t read the rest of it because your hornwriting is so bad-,” She didn’t seem to appreciate that. Her horn glowed again and he felt another flicking sensation on his head, just at the base of his own horn. “Ow! Hey!”

“Fine then,” Sunset continued, letting out a deep breath to calm herself. “Since you missed it, I’ll fill you in. We need to talk about the mirror.”

“The mirror,” Jessie repeated, rubbing the spot where her magic had flicked him.

“The mirror,” confirmed Sunset. “I have a plan.”

“You have... a plan?”

“Yes,” She said confidently.

Jessie nodded, as he usually did when Sunset was about to say something he should be listening to. Sunset was a genius, evident by her grades in class and praise from the Princess herself. Whatever plan came out of her mouth was probably infinitely better than one he could spend a lifetime cooking up. 

An obvious exaggeration, of course. They were near the same level academically speaking, with Sunset showcasing a bit more intellect than him. The fact was embarrassing considering he was technically a few grades above her back on his world.

There was silence. She didn’t launch right into her explanation. He tilted his head. 

“You gonna, like, explain it?”

“I still haven’t thought it out fully. I don’t want Celestia catching on and ruining anything so it has to be perfect.”

She could have just waited to fully form her plan instead of pulling him aside like she was a psycho about to sell him illegal substances. She also could have just met up with him this morning to talk. But as much as he protested internally, he didn’t dare say this out loud. Sunset would probably flick him again. That hurt. 

“Essentially,” Sunset said. “We’re going to find out more about it. We’re going to have to scour the archives but we might also have to actually go up to the mirror again. The problem is that there might be guards there and I don’t want to get caught and have Celestia bothering us some more-“

As she rambled on gradually - and by that he meant almost immediately - her words became dull noise, barely registering in his ears and not even reaching his brain. He didn’t really know why it had happened but it just did. 

The mirror. Annoyance crept up in his chest. Brief flashes of his so-called conversation with Celestia last night bombarded his consciousness like artillery on a bunker. The more he tried not to think about it the more frequently the events appeared in his mind.

Celestia knew what the two had been doing and continued to do yet didn’t stop them. They were doing illegal and taboo magic and she just... let them. If she knew the spells herself then why not do them herself? Things would be much easier with her godlike levels of power, right?

Jessie sighed.

He had been used, treated like some kind of tool when he had hoped to find guidance. But all the shit that had been revealed to him yesterday didn’t really compare to what Sunset had said. Why did her saying a few words hurt more than that? Why did he care so much? 

“We aren’t friends.”

An especially negative feeling that he couldn’t place a finger on came forth. Jessie didn’t understand why she said that. They were friends... right? After all the time they spent together and all the memories of his past Sunset had seen, they were linked in a weird unseen way. 

She must have said that to throw Celestia off. For a reason he couldn’t understand. They didn’t have much to gain by suddenly not acting like friends. Unless she did it to make Celestia doubt herself? But why? It made no sense. She could have at least apologized after-

“Iridescent? Iridescent? Hey! Are you listening?”

“Huh?” He snapped back into focus. Sunset was staring at him. “Sorry. I was just thinking... Yeah, thinking.”

“Thinking,” She repeated, to which he nodded. 

“Yep. You know me. Thinking about... stuff,” Jessie tried to say casually. Instead it came out more along the lines of uncertain and nervous. “Nothing you need to worry about.”

“It’s clearly something if it’s got you all moody. What is it?”

“I told you, it’s nothing-“

“Jessie,” Sunset said, causing him to pause. 

There was an unspoken rule about using his human name. Sunset only ever used it when things were serious and that they were about to have an important conversation. Guess there was no getting past her this time around. 

“If something’s bothering you then you might as well tell me about it. I need you to be at the top of your game if you want to get home ASAP.”

“It’s just what you said yesterday. About us not being friends,” A muted laugh came from him to try and throw Sunset off but it wasn’t enough to convince her. She eyed him curiously. “I guess it stung more than it should have.”

Confusion flashed across her face for the shortest of moments. Did she not get it? His face fell. He had seriously hyped himself up for that? 

Why was he still asking himself so many questions? 

Sunset tilted her head and raised an eyebrow. 

“What?”

“Sorry,” Jessie muttered, taking sudden interest in the floor. The tip of his hoof traced circles in the marble. “I just meant we’ve spent so much time together that I’m wondering if we actually are friends or if we’re not. You told Celestia we weren’t but I just wanted to-“

“You wanted to know... if we’re friends,” Sunset Shimmer said slowly. 

He nodded. She got it. Great! Beyond great. That wasn’t so hard.

“You know I don’t like that word.”

Nevermind.

“Yeah...,” Jessie sighed, unable to keep the defeat out of his tone. He should have figured she wouldn’t say it outright. “I just- Yeah. Forget it.”

A bright turquoise glow came from Sunset’s horn. She didn’t say anything for a few seconds. Jessie avoided looking directly at her. 

“Be in the archives by midnight. If I have to come get you we’ll be wasting a lot of time. I have some stuff to do while we wait.”

“I’ll be there,” He said, trying to force a smile. The expression wavered and then fell. So much for that. “Archives, midnight. Yeah.”

Jessie’s hoof traced more circles in the marble. He could feel Sunset’s eyes watching his movements, making him feel exposed and vulnerable. Slowly his hoof stopped moving, but the feeling didn’t go away. He silently begged for this to just be over already. 

Sunset let out a deep sigh. 

“To answer your question, I guess... you can call us friends,” She said evenly, then seemed to regret what she just said judging by the shift in her tone. “Just don’t say that word too much around me, okay? ...That is the answer you were looking for, right?”

“Yeah, it was,” Jessie nodded again. His gaze stayed downward, hiding his face from view. But a small smile was beginning to form. “Thanks.”

Sunset shook her head, the glow of her horn becoming more intense. Her magic wrapped around her body and she flickered out of existence in a flash of turquoise light.

As she left, Jessie heard a quiet whisper that made him snicker. 

“What a moron.”
> Chapter 11
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunset jotted something down in her notebook, eyes flinging back and forth between it and the spellbooks she had just stolen from Celestia’s private library. 

She had exactly four hours until midnight to scour through them for information, compile it, break it down and then somehow find a way to make it work. There were five spellbooks in total, each written by different magical geniuses over the course of Equestria’s vast history. Morningstar, Radiant Dawn, Clover the Clever, and even Starswirl the Bearded. There had to be something - anything - to help her transform into an alicorn.

A quiet doubting whisper in her mind told her that she knew there was no such spell in those books and that she was wasting her time. Sunset shook her head.

There had to be. Celestia knew the spell herself, no doubt about it. 

But what if she doesn’t?

Sunset shook her head more aggressively this time. No more intrusive thoughts, those would only serve to get her nowhere and cause setbacks. She had to focus. There wasn’t enough time to waste sitting here arguing with herself. 

With one last look at her notebook, she levitated the spellbooks closer. If she found a spell for the transformation, she’d have more than enough power to get anything she’d ever wanted. She’d prove to Celestia that she was ready, just like she’d always been.

She read through the first three books in about an hour and a half, found nothing related to transforming ponies and promptly tossed them aside. 

Worthless.

Sunset opened the fourth book and almost immediately flipped through to what she was looking for. 

“‘Transformation magic is considered to be one of the most difficult magical practices-‘“ She read aloud after some scanning. Her eyes rolled. “I know that already.”

“Blah... blah blah... blah blah blah- Here.” Finally, the subsection about pony transformation. “‘With a great deal of magical power it is possible to temporarily give a pony the traits of another tribe, such as giving an Earth Pony wings to make them a Pegasi. But this practice has been attempted so few times. It is... unknown if one pony can artificially give themselves the traits of all three tribes.’ ... Is that it?”

She read the words again and again but they didn’t change. She even read the last few chapters just to make sure she didn’t miss anything. 

She didn’t, there was just nothing. Sunset’s eye twitched. 

“Alicorn status must be earned. It cannot be gifted through some spell.” Celestia had told her. 

“I deserve it,” She thought aloud, speaking to the past Celestia. Her anger was beginning to fester and grow. “What makes you think I’m not ready for this?”

“All you do is practice magic,” Her mentor had said on another occasion. “You care not for my lessons on friendship and the importance of-”

“I don’t need friends!” Sunset growled, throwing the spellbook against her door. With a loud booming thud the spine crashed into the wood and chipped at the surface. The book fell face up and somehow landed on the exact page she had just been reading.

Celestia didn’t know anything. Those old scrolls Sunset read had said she’d been born an alicorn. She didn’t know anything about earning both a horn and wings. All she did was be born and she got all that power, got to live forever, got to rule. It wasn’t fair! All of that belonged to-

“S-Sunset Shimmer?” A timid voice squeaked.

Sunset’s head snapped toward the door. For a second she thought the book had been flung hard enough to open it. But instead of being face to face with the pony on the other side, she watched a set of hooves awkwardly shuffle through the slit at the bottom. 

Why was there a servant at her door? She had specifically requested to be alone. Keyword: Alone. 

“What do you want?” 

“U-Um,” The servant on the other side of the door stuttered shakily. She must have been new as Sunset didn’t recognize her voice. “Th-The P-Princess-“

“Spit it out,” Sunset hissed. 

“Eep! ThePrincessrequestedthatyoujoinherfordinner!” 

The orange unicorn almost poked her eye out with how hard she facehooved. Would it kill Celestia to send somepony who actually knew how to- 

No, stop, take a deep breath.

“No use getting upset,” Iridescent would have told her. She couldn’t believe she was heeding the advice of that blockhead yet still his stupid face appeared in her mind, flashing her a disarming smile. “Put some water in your wine. Take it easy.” 

Fine, fine. 

“Say that again,” She requested to the pony on the other side of the door, all the while trying to take the bite out of her tone. “Slower, please.” 

“The Princess wants you to join her for dinner!” The servant repeated. Still rushed, but comprehensible this time. 

“I’ll pass.” 

She didn’t want to talk to Celestia at all. Much less see her stupid self-righteous face scarfing down a carrot salad and then whatever massive cake she had for dessert. 

“The Princess... um... She said she would really... appreciate it if you came?”

“...”

“Miss Shimmer?” 

With a groan Sunset got off of her bed and quietly let loose bitter curses from both this world and Iridescent’s. She even sprinkled in a bit of creole she picked up from the resident human-turned-pony. 

Of course Celestia ‘would really appreciate it’, that just meant it wasn’t optional. Stupid monarch and her stupid sayings. Stupid human alien. No reason in particular for calling him stupid, he just was. 

A big, stupid, rainbow-haired moron… idiot… face.

“Ugh,” She groaned again. “I’m coming.”

“Great!” The servant’s voice lost it’s nervousness in an instant. “I’ll let the Princess know you’re on your way.”

“Thanks,” Sunset muttered sarcastically. 

***

She took her time, obviously. What would have been a five minute walk had been extended to give-or-take fifteen minutes. Hopefully she’d make Celestia wait long enough to be annoyed or - even better - visibly frustrated. If she was going to go then she wasn’t going to go without a fight.

Upon arrival into the Dining Hall Sunset immediately took notice of a lack of Celestia and instead was greeted by her brown furred companion with a soft “yo”. Sunset waited for some kind of follow up, like a question about how she was or why she had been invited to this dinner as well. But he didn’t say anything else, too busy examining an apple rotating in his amber magic.

She watched in mild interest as the apple’s rotation sped up and a bright glow came from Iridescent’s horn. The faster the apple spun the more rich the natural red color became. It also appeared to be getting bigger.

Iridescent didn’t even blink as Sunset walked up from behind him. How did he even know she was there?

“I should have figured you’d be here too,” Sunset muttered as she took a seat to his right. “I see you finally got the hang of that food enhancer spell. It only took you, what? Fifty tries?”

“Hmm,” Iridescent hmm’d. The apple set down on the table, its amber glow of magic fading off. Sunset looked up from it and toward him. 

She hadn’t been able to see before but she noticed now that his eyes were unnaturally pale and unfocused; the usual deep amber orbs now a glossy and dull yellow. It was almost unnerving, like seeing his soul drained out of him. 

His mane was also tied back like he usually kept it when he had been human. The style had a certain charm that suited him. She kind of liked it. Not that she’d ever say it out loud, Faust forbid. His ego was big enough as is.

“I don’t think we’re going to be able to execute the plan tonight since the dinner might drag on. What time is it anyway?”

Iridescent’s horn glowed once more but Sunset couldn’t see the effects of the spell he cast. “Nine forty-five.”

“Kind of late to be having dinner... Was that the time keeper spell? You figured that one out too?”

“Mmhmm,” He hummed. 

“What did I tell you about casting so many spells?” She chided him. “Especially for mundane stuff. You don’t exactly have the magical stamina for that yet.”

Iridescent shrugged and kept silent. Sunset sighed in frustration. This was already getting annoying.

“Something up? You’re not doing as much talking as usual.”

“I was just thinking... again,” He murmured, sounding like each word was being chosen very carefully. At least he was talking. “Had a dream last night after the mirror thing happened. I could see my dad in it pretty clearly.”

That was new. Usually his father’s face was cloudy and blurry even though she was the one who cast the spell. They’d tried all sorts of things but could never quite figure out how to fix the problem. Maybe it was a sign of his memory returning?

“Do you think-“

“No,” Iridescent grunted before she could finish voicing the thought. A brown hoof reached up and scrubbed across his face and when it pulled away his eyes were back to their usual color. “I feel the same blank sensation whenever I try and think about it. Still nothing useful from my dreams either. Just bits and pieces of memories or weird dream stuff like eating a cheeseburger while fighting a basilisk underwater.”

Normal dream stuff then. It seemed he was experiencing the same frequency of dreams as everypony else. That was good according to the spellbooks. He’d continue having dreams about past events every now and again. Hopefully that meant finding out exactly what happened to bring him here in the first place.

“At least it’s not Silent Hill,” She said, half humorously. 

Iridescent managed a smirk. Sunset didn’t quite share the same feeling about the mention of the series but she wasn’t going to say anything about it if it made him feel better. 

Sunset had read horror stories before; the typical ponies made of shadows, evil spirits who brought misfortune to everypony in their path, wizards corrupted by dark magic. But nothing in Equestria was as actually scary as human horror.

Maybe it was because of how horrific their world already was. Plagued by crime, poverty and seemingly never ending conflict. It was just awful compared to Equestria’s millennia of peace. But humans were always trying to find ways to one-up their own reality with stories of evil gods, malevolent unstoppable forces from beyond the stars, the dangers of their own minds. 

She didn’t really get it.

What was perhaps worse than the injustice itself was that humans just... lived with it. They went about their lives as if suffering wasn’t happening all over their world. In the past Iridescent hadn’t been above making jokes about the things he had experienced, something she had been quick to shut down. When asked about it he just shrugged, said that it was just how life went. 

How did someone just accept that? 

Did he truly want to go back? 

“By the way,” A voice echoed from the doorway, catching their attention. It was a stallion this time, probably the pony who had escorted Iridescent. He remained out of sight like some kind of secret messenger. “The Princess wanted to inform you two that you’ll be having a guest for dinner tonight.”

“A guest?” Sunset’s interest was piqued. “Who?”

“You’ve met her before, Sunset Shimmer, but the Princess told me not to say her name.” She and Iridescent glanced at each other. “I must go now. Enjoy your dinner.”

The fading sound of hooves clopping told her that the servant had left but her question still remained unanswered. Sunset had met them before? Did that servant have the slightest idea how little that narrowed it down? She’d met countless ponies thanks to her position as Celestia’s pupil. 

“Mysterious,” Her rainbow haired companion remarked. He reached to his chin and stroked his imaginary beard sagely. “Can’t wait to see who this ‘guest’ is. Maybe a dignitary from another country?”

“I doubt it. Celestia doesn’t usually let me sit in on international affairs. Apparently I’m too... difficult.”

“No!” Iridescent exclaimed in mock surprise.

Sunset rolled her eyes at the colt’s antics. “Yes.”

“I couldn’t tell. I think you’re a very agreeable pony,” The fake surprised expression persisted for another ten seconds and finally cracked when Sunset slugged him in the shoulder. “Hey! You can’t just keep hitting me!”

“I can,” She said with an upturned chin, a faux display of superiority just to show she meant business. “You can’t stop me.”

“I definitely think I can.” 

“You wouldn’t hurt a girl. That’s not very ‘manly’ of you.”

Iridescent playfully raised an eyebrow. His horn lit up and in an instant Sunset felt a flicking sensation on her forehead. It wasn’t enough to hurt, Iridescent wouldn’t dare, but enough for her to still feel insulted.

The idiot flashed her a smile as if he hadn’t committed such a horrific atrocity.

“Took me forever to get the precision down but now I can flick you when you flick me. Another impressive trick added to the Master of the Arcane’s arsenal.” 

Sunset didn’t say anything, glaring at him dangerously. Iridescent awkwardly moved his chair backward while holding up a hoof to keep her at bay. 

“H-Hey, bacon bits,” He stuttered. “We can tal-“

Before he could even react, Sunset’s horn lit up and unleashed a powerful flicking spell. There was enough magic behind it to force his head backward and make him yelp in pain. Sunset grinned triumphantly.

“You were saying?” Sunset asked while suppressing a laugh.

“That actually hurt!” He hissed, trying to dull the pain by covering his head with his hooves. 

“Yeah? Well maybe next time you shouldn’t challenge the flicking queen. Sucks to suck, Iridoofus.”

Iridescent stopped his pained muttering and stared at Sunset in an emotion she couldn’t identify. Shock? Likely. Disbelief? Probably. A combination of both? Definitely. 

“That... You just-“

“I did,” She confirmed. “Consider it revenge for your dumb jokes about my name and hair. Be grateful I didn’t make any jokes about your actual name… Jessica.”

Iridescent scowled while Sunset just rolled her eyes. 

Iridoofus. That was a good one. Maybe she should write it down.

“I’m sorry I’m late!” 

The two unicorns jumped, suddenly being made aware of the new pony. They both turned to look in the direction of the pony’s voice. That sounded familiar. Who could-

Oh.

Sunset felt a rising surge of annoyance. That’s who the guest was. No wonder Celestia didn’t want to tell. It was one of the solar monarch’s successful projects and one of the chosen few ponies ever to actually ascend to alicorn status. There mere sight of her made Sunset’s skin crawl and her fur stand on end. 

“Sorry! I hope I’m not interrupting anything,” Princess Mi Amore Cadenza apologized. She hurriedly took her seat and smiled warmly at them, brushing herself off as she did so. “Celestia invited me for dinner tonight and I just couldn’t refuse!”

She certainly looked to be in a rush. Her mane was tied back in a messy bun and her eyes had faded bags underneath them. Celestia must have invited her over at the last minute. That or she was a lazy pony. 

Sunset’s nose scrunched up in disgust. To think she’d actually became a princess.

“Anyway,” Cadenza said eagerly, clapping her hooves together as if she were actually happy to be here. “It’s nice to see you both!”

“Bonswa,” Iridescent greeted. He and Cadenza both looked over at each other curiously. Iridescent in particular seemed to be focused on her wings and horn. “I don’t think we’ve met before. Pretty sure I’d remember meeting an alicorn. Who are you?”

“I am Princess Mi Amore Cadenza,” She said with a practiced fluidity. “But I’d prefer if you’d call me Cadance. My full name’s a bit of a mouthful.”

“Iridescent Horizon... Also a bit of a mouthful. You can just call me Iridescent.”

“So that’s what your mane reminded me of!” Cadance gasped in realization. “Like the rainbow pattern on bubbles! Yours has more blue though. It’s also not actually iridescent. That’s a bit disappointing.”

“I- I mean- Yeah?”

Iridescent cast Sunset a side glance. She half-heartedly shrugged, unable to give him a proper answer to whatever question he was probably thinking of. Cadance was in a good mood, which meant she’d be chatty, not exactly something Sunset cared for. 

“I didn’t know other ponies would be at the dinner. It was only when I walked past the throne room that I was told both of her personal students would be here.”

Both of her personal students? Was that Iridescent’s title now? It’s not like he’d be here long enough to learn anything Celestia had been teaching Sunset. She did know that he had to go back home eventually, right?

“I didn’t even know she had another student besides Sunset,” Cadance continued, gazing at Iridescent with a friendly smile. “You must be somepony special for her to take on another pupil while she’s already training one.”

He definitely was somepony special, not that Celestia knew. Or that Sunset knew that Celestia knew. Or that Cadance knew that Sunset knew that-

“I know,” Iridescent gave a sarcastic sigh. “Good for me.”

“Speaking of special,” She hummed, not noticing the colt’s tone. “What was that word you said when you greeted me? Bon... swa? Is that prench? It sounds like it would be prench.”

Iridescent blinked. He leaned a little to his right, whispering to Sunset. “Prench? What’s that?”

“Pony french,” She whispered back.

“Lame,” He mouthed. Sunset jabbed him in the side with her elbow. “Ouch! Um, no. It’s not prench, it’s kreyòl. Creole.”

“I don’t believe I recognize that language, ‘cree-ole’.”

“I’d be surprised if you did. Not even Celestia’s heard of it.”

Cadance’s eyes suddenly sparkled with a genuine interest. 

“Is it a dead language? Where did you learn it?”

“From my dad and grandfather before-,” Iridescent’s eyes clouded over for the briefest of moments before he shook his head. Cadance didn’t seem to notice, too caught up in her own fascination. “I learned it before I got here, to Canterlot.”

“Interesting! Could you teach me some? I’d like to learn while we wait. Perhaps we can learn more about each other?”

Small talk. Great, fantastic even.

“Uh, I mean, sure?” Iridescent glanced at Sunset and she shrugged in indifference. That wasn’t really any of her concern. In fact, the less interaction with Cadance she had, the better. “Yeah, sure. What would you like to learn first?”

“Let’s see-“

Sunset promptly tuned them both out, resting her head on her hoof. 

Celestia had called for the dinner but still hadn’t shown. It had been a while since the servant had come to Sunset’s room and it wasn’t like the monarch to be late. Perhaps she had forgotten to raise the sun, it wouldn’t be the first time. 

Why had they even been called in the first place? Celestia never organized a dinner at the last minute. Everything with her included some kind of plan. 

An apology maybe? Doubtful. Celestia would never apologize. Even if she did, it wouldn’t be in front of Cadenza. Or anypony, actually. It would be through a letter, delivered under Sunset’s door while she was sleeping and phrased in a way that made everything Sunset’s fault. 

Ugh. There was so much she could be doing right now. 

Sunset glared at the empty plate on the table in front of her. Her reflection didn’t change. No wings or ethereal hair, just a horn and a bitter gaze. 

She had been an alicorn. They had both been alicorns. Gods, as Iridescent would put it. If their talents got stronger with the traits of all three pony tribes they might have both held enough power to be considered that. 

Gods, her mind repeated. The word felt strange. 

Gods, gods, gods.

“I dunno if this is rude or anything,” Iridescent spoke up, catching Sunset’s attention again. She mentally prepared herself for whatever stupid statement he was about to spout off. “But what exactly are you the princess of?”

“Oh, that’s easy,” Cadance smiled. “I’m the Princess of Love.”

Was the negative feeling that struck her an annoyance for having to wait so long or... jealousy?

“Love,” Iridescent echoed. “As in like... the romantic kind?”

“Mostly the romantic kind, yes.”

“So do you... control it?”

“To an extent. My special talent is that I can sense feelings of love between other ponies, amplify or null them if I want to. I can also detect other emotions but not as well. Love’s kinda just my main thing.”

Iridescent blinked owlishly.

“You make ponies fall in love?” 

“Heavens no!” Cadance seemed to be really offended at the question. “Even if I could, I wouldn’t do that. I can only really control feelings that are there. If two ponies don’t have even the smallest romantic interest in each other then that is beyond my control.”

Seemed like a useless ability to Sunset. Did anypony truly care about the relationships of others? Besides Celestia, of course.

“That’s cool. I mean, I respectfully want you to stay away from me, but that’s still cool.”

“I wouldn’t manipulate the love of anypony if they specifically requested me not to... Though I can’t help but see it in others. Is there somepony you love, Iridescent Horizon? Perhaps somepony who loves you?”

An uncomfortable expression came over the brown unicorn’s features, complimented by a flash of fear in his eyes. “Uh, no?”

“I suppose love is too strong a word. What about a faint romantic interest?”

Sunset felt a small smirk begin to form. There was a particular enjoyment she got from watching him be uncomfortable.

“Is it a filly at school?” Cadance prodded, leaning forward with a cheeky grin on her face. The colt across from her was beginning to blush. “Or maybe a colt? Both?”

“I’m not into colts,” Iridescent muttered. Suddenly his eyes widened and his hooves came up in a ‘wait’ gesture as if he were trying to defend himself. “Not that there’s anything wrong with that! It’s just not how I am!”

Sunset snorted. Cadance was throwing him off balance by being so pushy. He was making more of an idiot of himself than usual.

“You didn’t answer the first question. Hmm.... What’s her name? I don’t need my special talent to see that you’re feeling a little bit of something for her.”

“It’s not-“

“Candy Puff,” Sunset interjected. The hurt and betrayed look Iridescent shot her was so genuine she almost felt bad, but instead of apologizing she blew him a quick raspberry. “She likes to flirt with him between classes.”

“Sunset!” Iridescent exclaimed with a flushed face. “You-“

“Candy Puff?” Cadance raised a playfully curious eyebrow. “She must really be something for him to be acting like this. I wonder what exactly she feels for him-“

“We’re done talking about this!” Iridescent blurted, slamming his hooves on the table. The two mares both grinned, making his blush deepen. “Man, I wonder where Princess Celestia is! Haha... Ha.”

“Did somepony call my name?”

The three ponies at the table looked toward the door where the tall alicorn was standing. Sunset’s mood soured so quickly that she could almost taste the bitter feeling in her mouth. The other two ponies at the table seemed happy to see her, albeit for different reasons.

“So many sudden entrances that I feel like I’m getting whiplash,” Iridescent muttered. He quickly brightened back up to cover up his previous embarrassment. “Princess! Kijan ou ye?”

“Bonswa, Auntie!” Cadance greeted. “Kijan ou ye? ... Did I say that right?”

Celestia cast a glance to Sunset. The unicorn nodded her head in the monarch’s direction and then examined her hoof in a bored manner. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Celestia frown slightly before trying to put on another smile. 

That’s right, Sunset thought. Pretend like everything’s fine. 

“I’m quite alright. I see Iridescent taught you some of his language, Cadance. I don’t believe he’s even shared that with Sunset.”

The speaking of her name caused Sunset to bristle. She didn’t need to learn. Most of the stuff he knew, she knew as well because of the memory spells. She just chose not to speak a language that wasn’t her’s. 

Not that it was any of Celestia’s business.

“In any case, I’m glad you could all come to dinner,” The solar princess said. The large chair at the head of the table pulled itself out with a golden glow and Celestia sat down on it. A bright-eyed servant appeared from the door she had come out of, a pencil in mouth and a notebook in her hoof to take their orders. “Let’s get started.”

***

“And then,” Cadance put a hoof over her mouth to stifle a giggle. “Shining tried to take his helmet off and it snagged on his horn! They had to use an intangibility spell to remove it!”

Even though she still wished she was somewhere else, Sunset couldn’t stop herself from laughing quietly. Luckily Iridescent’s snickering and Celestia’s musical laughter drowned out the sound.

Cadance had started telling this little story after they had all finished devouring their meals. They each had some food left on their respective plates, though nopony was too worried about eating anymore save for Celestia, who kept taking small bites of her cake dessert. 

This dinner seemed to be coming to a close. Perhaps Celestia didn’t want to discuss anything and Sunset had been paranoid for nothing. She hated being wrong but this was better than the alternative. They’d be able to visit the archives tonight without further incident. Her mind was already racing at the possibilities of what that mirror could show her. 

“What a hilarious story, Cadance,” Celestia said after swallowing a bite of cake. “It’s almost similar to what happened today.”

“Huh? What happened, Auntie?”

“There were three colts found unconscious in the middle of a street today.” Iridescent tensed up beside Sunset, who looked at him strangely. “They had been knocked out by a blast of magical energy. One of them even fell into a puddle of his own... excrement.”

Iridescent’s cup of lemonade set itself down on the table. 

“Oh... that’s-,” Bubbles of laughter blurbed from Cadence’s mouth. She managed to keep them down. “That’s truly... Um.”

“It’s okay to laugh,” Celestia told her after another bite. “Though unfortunate they were attacked, the situation they were found in is rather humorous.”

“Attacked?” Sunset asked curiously. Iridescent awkwardly coughed beside her. “By who?”

“Currently, that is still under investigation,” Celestia sighed. She finished the last bite of her cake and set her fork down on the plate. “The colts didn’t seem to remember exactly who did it but they do remember the pony being a unicorn. They seemed adamant that the attack was a hate crime of sorts.”

“Hate crime?” Cadence asked, amusement forgotten. 

“We cannot know for sure until this pony is found. But when that time comes, they will be interrogated. Hate crimes are a very serious matter.” Celestia’s face took on a very serious look. “The hatred of other ponies based on their characteristics was left in the era of the warring pony tribes. Those days are long behind us.”

“Guess this place isn’t that perfect after all,” Iridescent whispered to himself. Sunset managed to hear him only because of how close they were. 

“Much better than your world,” She whispered back with a thick level of snark. 

Iridescent huffed but didn’t say anything in response. Not that he could, really. The fact made her smirk. Her world was better, take that ya dumb alien. 

“Anyway,” Celestia’s magic wrapped around a teacup. She raised it to take a sip but seemed to change her mind, lowering it instead. Her already serious face formed a small glare, though it seemed to be directed purely at her reflection in the tea. “I am sure you are all wondering why you were called for dinner.”

Sunset felt herself cringe. So much for the plan.

“That would be nice to know,” Iridescent muttered dryly. “It’s not everyday the goddess of the sun invites you for dinner with her personal student and the goddess of love.”

“‘Goddess’,” Cadence repeated almost inaudibly. A warm red glow spread over her cheeks. 

Celestia frowned slightly. She never really took well to being called a goddess even if it was technically a compliment. 

“It actually concerns you, Iridescent Horizon,” She said, looking up from her tea and toward the colt. Iridescent went tense again. 

“What are you talking about?”

“There was a recent... development within your case. So to speak.”

“‘Development’?” Both Sunset and her human companion said at once. They shared curious looks before Iridescent inquired further. “What do you mean?”

“This morning an old previously lost artifact was rediscovered,” Celestia explained. “It was found in a Manehatten park. The pony who uncovered it fell into a tunnel underneath the area and found-“

“I still don’t see how this relates to-“

“The artifact,” Celestia continued as if she hadn’t been interrupted. “is called the Amulet of Purification. The pony who wears the amulet will have themselves cleansed of any negative ailments, particularly those of magical nature. It only works once per pony, though that information is - likely - irrelevant in your case.”

Sunset’s eyes widened as the information sunk in. She and Iridescent looked at each other to confirm that they both heard the same thing.

The amulet worked on magical ailments, assuming that Iridescent’s memory loss was the result of a spell. But even then, the effect probably didn’t even have to be magical for the amulet to work. It almost seemed too good to be true. 

“Why didn’t you tell me this morning?” Iridescent asked Celestia. “This is kind of a big bomb to drop on me so late in the evening.”

“I was arranging the arrival of the artifact but was also busy with my other duties,” She replied. 

Iridescent frowned and whispered something under his breath, inaudible to everypony at the table. 

“Unfortunately such a powerful artifact warrants a lot of attention from the... less than savory.” Celestia almost seemed to say the words with a genuine distaste. “So instead of a ride on the main train, it will arrive here by hoof. The journey will take a few days.”

“And just how long is ‘a few days’?” Sunset asked.

“Today is currently Saturday. The artifact is scheduled to arrive on Wednesday after your classes are over.”

Celestia sipped at her tea, gaze locked on it rather than the other ponies at the table. Cadence, for the most part, just appeared lost and confused. 

Sunset could feel a small positive feeling building up. Hope? Iridescent would finally get to learn what had happened to him and if he was lucky, go back to Earth not long after. She looked at him, feeling herself actually smiling. She was... happy for him. 

Except... She felt her smile flip into a frown. Iridescent wasn’t smiling at all, only staring at the monarch in disbelief. 

“Is there some kind of catch? You’re offering me my memories back on a silver platter and you don’t want anything from me?”

“You should take the chance,” Sunset softly elbowed him in the side. “Maybe you can find a way home.”

Iridescent ignored her, his brow furrowing into a scowl. 

“How do I know you didn’t know about this thing before? After what you told me yesterday-“

“There is no catch, Iridescent Horizon,” Celestia said softly. “Nor was this artifact previously discovered. I am sorry for the past but I am doing this for you now. I only ask that you accept.”

Sunset looked back and forth between them, feeling very out of the loop. Did something happen? 

She opened her mouth to ask but Iridescent covered it with a hoof, shaking his head. 

“Later,” His lips said. But the distracted look in his eyes told her he might not even bother explaining when the time came.

Iridescent turned back toward Celestia and crossed his forelegs over his chest. 

“I accept. You said Wednesday, right?”

“That is correct, Iridescent Horizon.”

The colt cringed openly.

“Is there anything else I should know? You secretly trying to sacrifice me to some elder gods?”

The princess cracked a small smile and took another sip of her tea. She shook her head. 

“Nothing of the sort. The only other thing I have left to tell you is that your personal magical assessment is Monday. You will be missing school.”

“I might be going home after Wednesday. Is a magical assessment really necessary?”

“Perhaps not,” Celestia admitted. “But would you not like to see how far you’ve come? Perhaps even demonstrate your magical ability to your friends in your village?”

Iridescent scoffed.

“I feel like you’re fucking with me.”

“Language, Mr. Horizon. And I assure you, I am doing no such thing.”

Iridescent didn’t seem convinced. Neither was Sunset, if she was being honest.

“Right... I’m going to go to bed. I need to sleep on this. Thanks for the dinner.”

The colt leapt out of his seat and stretched his legs. He gave a wave to Cadence along with a quick, “glad to meet you”. 

Iridescent cast a glance to Sunset, the resentful and distracted look in his amber eyes softening. She stared back, no doubt with confusion etched onto her face like she were a permanently puzzled statue. She had a few questions, what he and Celestia talked about yesterday was one of them. 

“Tomorrow,” He mouthed, apparently reading her mind. Sunset nodded. 

With that, he just walked off. The three mares at the table watched him leave with varying expressions. Or in Celestia’s case, none at all.

“That was... eventful,” Cadence said slowly while to hide her confusion, only succeeding in appearing even more confused. “If you only wanted to talk to Iridescent, why am I here, auntie?”

“I simply wanted to have dinner with you all,” Celestia took a long sip of her tea and then set the cup down. “If you truly wish to understand then I will explain it to you later.”

She looked across the table to Sunset, who stared back with an almost neutral glare. 

“You may leave, Sunset Shimmer,” She said with forced politeness. “Thank you for joining us.”

Sunset waited for her brain to come up with something to say. She wanted to ask a question, demand Celestia tell her what she wanted to know, maybe even insult her. But she couldn’t. 

“Whatever,” the unicorn muttered.

Her horn glowed turquoise. She saw Cadence give her a small wave out of the corner of her eye. Sunset hesitated but eventually returned the gesture, before vanishing in a flash of light.
> Chapter 12: A Chance Encounter (not really)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Where is he?” Sunset grumbled as she paced back and forth across the kitchen tiles. Any passerby’s would have begun to notice the repeated motion creating a discoloring on the floor. “C’mon, c’mon, c’mon. I hate waiting.”

Sunday mornings were usually the times where she would sleep in, maybe read a fiction novel she had spotted in the school library during the week. Of course- just like many other things -the human had to go and mess them up. Not that most of it was particularly his fault; things were just different with him being around. 

This though? Definitely his fault. Iridescent had said he’d give her answers and still hadn’t shown. What could he be doing on a Sunday morning that would make him want to skip breakfast? That was the one thing he always did at the same time every single day regardless of any other factors.

Sunset did another lap across the tiles, ignoring the stares of the one chef and couple of servants who had been scheduled to work this morning. She needed to know what he and Celestia talked about and - more importantly - what exactly that meant for Iridescent’s situation. If it was bad enough for Celestia to actually apologize like she had during the dinner then it must have been big. 

Sunset was already worried about him enough, as painful as it was to admit. Adding more to that worry was not something she planned on doing.

“If that stupid, idiotic-“

“Miss Shimmer?” A very quiet voice interrupted.

“-egg brained idiot-“

“Miss Shimmer.”

“-doesn’t show up-“

“Miss Shimmer!”

“WHAT?!” She snapped.

The servant flinched back, ears folding back onto her skull. From behind her, another servant gently put their hoof on her withers. The now calmed servant took a deep breath.

“Are you looking for Iridescent Horizon?” She timidly asked. 

“Obviously.”

“O-Oh. Well, um,” Her hooves shuffled awkwardly under her, like she wasn’t sure if she should stand still or bolt. “P-Princess Cadance has been awake for a while. M-Maybe you should ask her?”

Was she serious? Talk to Cadenza willingly? Why on-

“D-Did you get that, Miss Shimmer?”

Oh Faust, she was totally serious. 

“Where is she?”

The timid servant’s hoof shakily raised and pointed to the door. “In the dining hall. She’s still eating b-breakfast.”

In the span of about five seconds (which felt way longer than normal) Sunset made up her mind. She left the kitchen, ignoring the whispered “that was scary” from the timid servant. 

After the short trek to the dining hall, she noticed that Cadenza sitting at the head of the dining table. Her mane was at least properly done this time, though the slight respect she had earned in that moment was immediately slashed when Sunset saw she was eating her pancakes like a wild pig. 

“Mm… Pancashhhhe,” Cadenza moaned, gobbling up another pancake without a fork, hooves or magic. “Tashe good.”

Vile. Truly vile. 

Sunset politely announced herself to the alicorn… by clearing her throat.

“Oh! Shun-“ Cadenza cut herself off by choking on a chunk of pancake. Blue magic hastily wrapped around her glass of orange juice and she took a huge gulp, washing down the pancake chunk. The mare took a few shaky breaths and then smiled joyfully as if nothing had happened. “Sunset! Good morning!”

“…Morning,” Was all she said. Sunset had learned the hard way that when dealing with strange ponies, it was better to pretend like their weirdness never happened.

“I thought you’d be up earlier,” Cadenza mused. She was doing that weird thing that she always did; trying to take the lead in the conversation. Funny, she had just choked a few seconds ago. “You seem like the kind of girl who likes an early start to her day.”

“I usually sleep in on Sundays, actually,” Sunset shrugged. Why was she entertaining this mare? “I was hoping to catch a certain somepony this morning but he’s taking his precious time.”

“Iridescent?”

“Obviously.” She uttered for the second time that morning.

“Hmm,” Cadenza made a show of looking away thoughtfully, even putting a hoof to her chin like she was thinking about the most philosophical question. “He’s not somewhere in the castle?”

Why was this mare like this? If she knew something then why not just say it?

“If he was, somepony would know and have told me by now,” Sunset spoke through grit teeth. Her patience was already wearing thin. “You’ve been awake all morning. Did you see him or not?” 

Cadenza pouted, Sunset sighed in annoyance. She shouldn’t have been so on edge. It’s not like he could get far in such a short amount of time. Although, she shouldn’t jinx herself. He’d probably end up halfway to Manehattan if left unattended. 

That may have been a bit of an exaggeration but still.

“Sorry-“ Oh Faust. What the hell did she just say? “Ugh. Can you please just tell me where he is?”

“I could...” 

The older mare smiled slyly. Her purple eyes seemed to sparkle with an evident flirty playfulness. It was all an act of course but Sunset had to try her hardest not to blush. She had judged Iridescent too harshly yesterday; Cadenza knew what she was doing. Sunset’s annoyance was giving way to embarrassment and something else that Cadenza immediately seemed to recognize.

“C’mon,” The alicorn said, gesturing to a seat. “I’ll tell you all about our encounter. You’ve got all day so humor me just this once. Its a very entertaining story.~”

Sunset grumbled but reluctantly complied. Perhaps listening to somepony else talk instead of getting worked up would do her some good.

She did have all day after all.

“It all started reaaaaaally early this morning,” Cadenza began with a tone much like a whimsical storyteller. “So early that the sun hadn’t come up…”

***

Cadance’s stomach ached for something. She hadn’t realized just how hungry she was until after she had gotten out of bed and put her mane in a ponytail. There was usually some leftover ingredients in the kitchen for her to whip up something before everypony else was awake, assuming things were the same as they’d always been in this castle.

So she made her way down.

She hadn’t even noticed him at first because of the cloaking spell cast over him. All she saw when he moved past the windows was a shimmer of light and his faint outline. She probably wouldn’t have paid any mind if it weren’t for the annoyed grumble that echoed through the quiet corridor. 

Cadance paused, coming to a complete stop, and watched curiously. 

He passed by another window, unintentionally revealing more of his outline to her via moonlight. The colt was wearing saddlebags and the sight had her mind reeling. Her inner foalsitter began thinking of a few different possibilities. One in particular stood out however.

Was he running away?

Iridescent stopped in the middle of the hallway, right in front of the biggest window in the corridor and undid his spell. The layer that it provided over his fur flaked off and floated away in amber sparkles before fizzling out. 

Now that Cadance could get a good look at him she noticed that he was pretty cute. Taller than average for his age, lean, color palette that was easy on the eyes. She also hadn’t seen that depth in those orbs of amber during the dinner last night-

***

“I don’t want to hear this,” Sunset deadpanned.

“Don’t you want to know what I think about your friend?” Cadenza asked in a tone that made it clear she was just messing with Sunset. The unicorn grimaced at the word.

“No, I don’t. Just continue.”

“Aw, you’re no fun.”

***

“Bondye almighty,” Iridescent muttered as he fiddled with the straps of his saddlebags. Even with his magic he couldn’t seem to tighten them properly. “Did Sunset put some kind of spell on these things? How the hell can I not-“

He stopped, staring at the straps with a blank expression. 

“Wait,” The colt muttered. A glow of amber passed over the buckle and Cadance heard a faint click. “Holy shit I’m a fucking idiot.”

Auntie was right; he had quite the potty mouth. Cadance couldn’t blame him though. She swore in every language she could think of when other ponies weren’t around.

Iridescent gave the straps a tug and nodded, satisfied with his work. The colt spared a glance outside. “Sun’s not going to be up for another hour so I should head out now.”

Silence floated through the hall. 

“…Maybe you should just stop talking to yourself and go,” He grunted as his horn glowed to prep the cloak spell again. 

This was probably Cadance’s opportunity to say something but she hesitated. How exactly was he going to react? Could she just pretend she hadn’t seen him?

She decided to throw caution into the wind. Nothing could really go wrong here. 

Hopefully that wasn’t a jinx. Here goes!

“Where are you going?”

“Gah! What the-“ Iridescent jumped really far backward, flinging himself into the wall of the hallway. But that spooked him even more and made him jump again, this time back into the middle of the corridor. It was only when Iridescent spotted the bright pink alicorn did he finally begin to collect himself. However his eyes were still wide and his body was held up by the tips of his hooves. He looked ready to flee like some kind of scared cat. 

“You should be more careful-“ 

“Me? Like hell!” Iridescent snapped. His breathing had picked up from fright. “You scared me out of nowhere!” 

“I’m bright pink,” Cadance giggled. “I’m surprised you didn’t see me already even if it is still dark out. I stick out like a sore hoof!”

His body relaxed, if only slightly. Iridescent’s eyes analyzed her for a moment and then narrowed. 

“Thumb.”

Her head tilted. “Pardon?”

“Nothing,” Was the word delivered through a defeated sigh. “What do you even want? Shouldn’t you still be sleeping?”

“A princess likes to get a head start to the kitchen before other ponies pile in, this princess in particular,” She moved a bit closer to him, just so they weren’t standing so far apart when they talked. “But what about you? Why are you awake so early? With saddlebags no less. Running away? Going to visit your marefrie-“

Iridescent’s hoof wound it’s way into her mouth, cutting her off. She looked down at it and then back at him with her eyebrow raised.

“Stop that,” He said flatly. “I’m… heading out. Gonna go try and explore on one of my last days here before I have to go back home. I was hoping to get out unnoticed but you happened to be here.”

She made an ‘mmph’ sound against his hoof, to which he snorted.

“Yeah, yeah. ‘But Iridescent, shouldn’t you tell somepony before leaving the castle’?” Cadance stared at him, curiously watching as he just continued talking. “Normally, i would, but if I tell someone then they’d just end up telling Celestia and I reaaaaally don’t want to hear anything from her. I’m already on edge enough as is.”

Auntie had mentioned he didn’t seem to like her very much but Cadance had thought she was exaggerating. Every word about the solar princess dripped with negative emotions. 

“Especially after-“ Iridescent was about to say something else but paused before he could get the words out. His face scrunched up in thought.

“Wait. Should I be telling you this? Why am I telling you this?”

Another ‘mmph’. Iridescent frowned. 

“Doesn’t matter. I’m burning moonlight hanging around here any- WHAT THE HELL!”

Iridescent recoiled in horror and held his hoof out away from him. Cadance wiped her mouth on her foreleg. There was some saliva on his hoof from where she had licked it. 

“Sorry! I’m sorry!” She apologized profusely. She had done the first thing that come to mind. The foals she watched over always used that against her. “I couldn’t just let you leave without letting me say anything.”

“So you LICKED ME?!”

“I said sorry!”

Iridescent furiously wiped his hoof on the drapes hung by the windows, glaring at her the whole time. Cadance tried not to stare as her saliva was smeared into the fabric. Those were really nice.

‘Were’ being emphasized here. Her saliva didn’t do the cloth any favors. 

“Anyway,” Cadance cleared her throat and looked away from the horrible crime. She’d ask a maid to clean it later. “As long as you aren’t skipping town-“

“Don’t give me any ideas.”

“-then I guess it’s okay! But can i ask you something?”

One of his hooves began tracing circles into the floor. “No.” 

“Are you ready?” She asked him anyway.

Iridescent’s hood paused and slowly pressed back down against the marble with a soft ‘clop’. He eyed her, puzzled by the inquiry. 

“Ready for what?”

“To leave,” Cadance waved toward the window. Outside the moonlight bouncing off of the castle created a lovely sight. Iridescent didn’t seem to appreciate it though, staring at something else distantly. “From what I’ve heard, you’ve been enjoying your time here.”

A tense emotion overcame him that she could see thanks to her special talent. “Did Celestia tell you that?” 

“She did, along with a few other things.” No point in lying. If she was in his place she’d appreciate the honesty. “You really don’t like her do you?”

Irritation began to ebb and flow off of him in waves. No special talent was necessary to see that. Cadance already had the answer to her question before he even spoke.

“Something like that.“ He said through grit teeth.

Outside the sky began to turn orange, making them both glance in their confusion. Iridescent blanched at the sight of Celestia raising the sun from her tower while Cadance pondered over it. Auntie rarely did early sunrises. She must have had some business to do today.

“Guess we’ve been here for too long,” Cadance hummed. She had already heard what she needed from him anyway. There would be no point in delaying him further. “You should get going if you want to avoid getting stopped.”

Iridescent looked at her as if surprised by her warning. But he didn’t think on it for too long. 

“Yeah, I should.” Without a moment to spare he brushed past her, moving toward the end of the hall she had come from and in the direction of a back exit. “See ya around, love lady.”

Ah, that’s right: the actual last thing. She couldn’t let him leave without doing her job. 

“If you see Candy Puff you should tell her how you feel.”

Iridescent stopped and turned to her in what appeared to be disbelief. The emotion he was projecting certainly felt like it.

“You waited to tell me that just as I was about to leave?” The way the words came out made the question sound more like a statement. A statement in a tone that clearly indicated he thought she was ridiculous. “Seriously?”

“Now it’s fresh in your mind,” She said with a cheerful nod. If she had some free time maybe she could help him plan a date. Oh, how she loved her job! “Forgetting won’t be an excuse!”

Any weaker willed pony would have wilted from his deadpan stare. Luckily she was stronger than that. Strong enough to not show her discomfort on the surface level, at least. 

Iridescent’s horn glowed as he turned back around. As he left the visible spectrum Cadance caught a mutter that she was sure she had been meant to hear.

“This place is full of nutjobs.”

***

“And that concludes our lovely little tale,” Cadenza half bowed to the imaginary crowd. “Thank you, thank you.”

“Is that really it?” Sunset asked her. All the older mare had done was give her some half-assed summary of her morning. “You didn’t even tell me where he was going.”

“You’ll find him,” Cadenza assured Sunset with playful wink sent her way. “He wants you to, I could feel it.”

What was that supposed to mean? 

“A colt with multicolored hair like that is hard to miss anyhow. A lot of ponies will have remembered seeing him.”

“You want me to ask around?” Sunset asked slowly.

“Yep!”

“In town?” 

“Mhm!”

For Faust’s sake.

“You can’t be serious,” Sunset sighed as she stood. “Fine, whatever. But when I see him I’m flicking his head off of his shoulders.”

Cadenza laughed as Sunset left. She must have assumed Sunset’s threat was just a joke.

It wasn’t… mostly. Maybe if she wasn’t satisfied with his answers then she’d send his head flying. Or maybe just leave a welt or two, maybe three just to be sure. Three welts sounded about right. 

He deserved no less for making her worry. 

“Did you find him, Miss Shimmer?”

Sunset looked up from glaring at her hooves into the curious eyes of the servant from earlier. She stopped and stared back, facing the mare’s inviting smile with an empty stare. 

“No,” She replief stiffly. “I didn’t.”

“That’s a shame. Have you tried-“

“Can you get me a daisy sandwich?” Sunset didn’t have time for a meaningless back and forth. This was important. “And tell Princess Celestia I left when you get the chance. Or pass the word around, I don’t care.”

The servant paused, taken aback by how easily she had been cut off. For a moment it seemed as if she was about to say something about it but Sunset’s raised eyebrow stopped her. 

“Right… Of course, Miss Shimmer. Here’s your sandwich.” She pulled a paper bag off of her back and held it out with her mouth. In pen were the servant’s initials scrawled on the front. Was this her own food? “My coltfr- Chef Gourmet is making pancakes anyway. They’ll be done soon, so you can have this.”

“Thanks,” Sunset said slowly, taking the bag in her magic. The servant appeared surprised for a moment.

“My pleasure, Miss Shimmer,” The pony’s face bloomed into a smile again, much more brightly than before. She trotted off, a noticeable spring in her step. “Let me know if you need anything else!”

It took Sunset a moment to realize what she had said. “Thanks”. Since when did she thank ponies for doing their jobs? 

Did it matter? 

Of course it did, her inner voice scoffed. She didn’t need to thank anypony for anything, especially for doing their job.

Her eyes locked onto the bag, with the initials of the servant still written on the front. Sunset sighed. Think about it later. Just need to find Iridescent.

Right after this meal.

***

“Multicolored mane… rising sun cutie mark… Did he have brown fur?”

Sunset nodded. 

The sunflower yellow mare behind the peach stall clicked her tongue. 

“Then yeah, I seen ‘em,” She muttered, resting her head on a hoof and pointing vaguely in a direction with the other. “Went off that way. Stomach was growling too. Must have gone off to Donut Joe’s.”

Her voice sounded vaguely familiar, like a distant relative Jessie had met at a family reunion. She had the kind of faint southern accent that one would expect out of someone who’d only moved into the city a few years ago.

Was it his aunt? No, that couldn’t be right. 

“Ooo. Just thinking of him again sours my mood worse than an old pickle,” The mare flicked her eyes to Sunset and sat up straighter, giving her a knowing look. “You know how stallions do that thing where they pretend to be interested? But instead of really trying it’s always half hearted?”

Sunset nodded. Definitely his aunt. She even complained about men- err… stallions the same way. 

“That’s what he was doing! I was trying to strike up a conversation with ‘em but he seemed so… distracted!” Her hooves were thrown up into the air to emphasize her frustration. “All he would say was ‘mhmm’, ‘yeah’, ‘fasho’. You’d think he’d at least try to talk back but noooo!” 

Sunset nodded again. 

“Whatever,” The mare sighed. Her hooves gently set themselves back down. “At the end of the day it’s not my problem. But I take it that it’s yours since ya’ out looking for ‘im. At least you’re a lot more social.”

“I try.”

“That you do, honey. Off you go now. He’s probably halfway on his way to Manehatten.”

Sunset waved goodbye to the mare (unconsciously, mind you. For some reason Sunset couldn’t overcome the urge to do so) and quickly trot off in the direction she had pointed in before.

Donut Joe’s, yet another eerily familar thing. Maybe she had heard of it before or seen something similar in Iridescent’s memories. The name sounded a little too human to be the former. 

Come to think of it, a lot of things were more human to her recently. Perhaps it was just the memories changing her line of thinking. That had been one of the many side effects the book warned her about… Or their worlds were more similar than Sunset had thought. 

Why was the latter possibility so ominous?

She took a shortcut through a short alley and found Iridescent almost immediately, watching as he casually approached the donut shop. He didn’t seem to be paying much attention to his surroundings or making any sort of effort to not be seen. 

Maybe he just didn’t care. It wasn’t like she could blame him; on his world he’d have been glancing behind himself every two seconds. Iridescent didn’t have to worry much about anything bad happening to him here.

Such as getting mugged, stabbed, murd-

Her head shook so hard that her mane almost slapped her face. That was enough. 

Sunset made to call out to him, get his attention (probably accidentally get the attention of everypony else on the street while she was at it) but the noise died in her throat. Instead it was replaced by the growling of her own stomach. She was close enough to smell the scent of freshly baked donuts and it was overpowering. 

That daisy sandwich wasn’t enough. Her hooves began to walk towards the source of the scent without her even meaning to.

Iridescent ducked into the donut shop and Sunset began to jog toward the door with a renewed sense of vigor. That idiot was going to give her answers... right after he bought her a massive box of donuts, not a moment later. 

She didn’t bother using her magic to open the door, instead using her hoof and pushing it open. There was a soft chime of a bell above and the big earth pony stallion at the register gave her a hearty, “Welcome to Donut Joe’s!”

Again, the urge to say thanks wormed it’s way into her head. She fought off the foul thankful demon this time, cursing herself under her breath. 

The idiot was a few feet in front of her waiting in line. He turned and offered her a wave that she felt inclined to return, but didn’t. The lack of a response didn’t seem to phase him though. 

“What’s shakin’, bacon?” 

“Thought you could just disappear on me again?” She asked, jabbing him in the side with a hoof roughly. “You owe me an explanation-“

Her stomach growled, interrupting her and causing Iridescent to snicker. 

“-as soon as you buy me donuts.”

“Sure,” His horn lit up and a small bit bag appeared in a puff of amber magic. He flashed her a grin which she returned with a glare. “We can eat here and talk.”

“... Good.” She felt a little off put that she had won him over that easily. “And don’t call me bacon while we’re in public. I don’t want ponies calling me that when I become a princess.”

Sunset didn’t want to end up like Celestia and be called ‘Sun Butt’ behind her back, even if she literally had a sun on her butt as well. 

“Princess Bacon does have a nice ring to it-“

“Iridescent,” She growled in warning. 

The colt only chuckled, prompting a twitch on Sunset’s lips. There were times when she really didn’t mind his jokes, even when really annoyed at something. He never truly meant any harm; the little jabs were just to improve both of their moods. She could appreciate a pony who tried to make her laugh. 

Only him, though. The other ponies she went to school with didn’t seem to have the same effect on her that Iridescent/Jessie did. Maybe that was because she already understood everything about him. His personality, fears, hopes, and dreams had been laid bare before her so many times. It brought her close to him in a way that she wasn’t with others.

The word “friendly” and all of it’s disgusting synonyms echoed in her head. 

“Gross,” Sunset cringed out loud. 

“Hmm?”

“Nothing,” She replied in a hurry. They weren’t friends. Friends weren’t important. “Let’s just get my donuts, Morrison.”

“Using my real name in front of all these ponies?” He tutted. They shuffled forward as the customer in the front of the line grabbed their order. “For shame, Miss Shimmer.”

He was doing this on purpose. It wasn’t like there was anypony behind them, or like anypony in front of them was paying attention or could hear them over the hearty laughter of the cashier. 

“It’s only fair. You did call me Princess Bacon not a moment ago... and don’t call me that either!”

Iridescent cackled.

They shuffled forward in line again. Sunset really hated waiting in lines, standing behind all the other ponies and feeling like she was another face in the crowd. It reminded her of before she moved into the castle.

Iridescent wouldn’t mind if she went to sit down and wait for him in the booth, right?

Nah, he wouldn’t. 

Before she could ask him a loud (almost deafening) crash from the kitchen made everypony jump. 

“Dizzy!” The pony at the register yelled into the kitchen. “What in Equestria are you doing?!”

“Dropped a tray of donuts, boss!” A accented voice replied. They sounded as if they were from the Badlands, or as Iridescent would eloquently say ‘pony Australia’. “Don’t worry, they were old!” 

The pony at the register muttered something under his breath. Sunset couldn’t quite hear but it was something along the lines of: “I can’t believe it’s only nine A.M.” 

Another pony grabbed their order and left, laughing with their friends about something mundane. Only two more left until they got their donuts. Maybe Sunset  could wait in line for a few minutes longer. 

Another crash, followed by the pony in the back yelling “Sorry, boss!”

“Oh, would you look at that.” Iridescent was grinning. His voice teetered over the edge of a chuckle. “Donut Joe’s about to go ballistic. Watch, watch, watch.”

The pony behind the counter - who Sunset now recognized as Donut Joe, the store owner - seemed to be near his boiling point. His face was beet red and if Sunset looked closely enough she could see steam coming out of his ears. All of the ponies in line took a few steps back to prepare for the coming explosion of anger.

Instead, nothing happened. He returned to normal as if a switch had been flipped. Sunset could hardly contain her surprise. 

“I’ll take care of it! Come handle the register!” He yelled to the kitchen. 

A stallion’s head and wing poked through the door leading to the kitchen. “Really?”

Dizzy’s coat was a very loud color of orange and his mane a very vibrant blue. It was almost impossible not to notice him with the way his body contrasted against pretty much everything. To Sunset he looked like a pegasus shaped traffic cone, and she mentioned as such to Iridescent.

“Yeah, he kinda does,” The colt snickered. 

“Yes really,” Donut Joe said, pulling the pony out by his apron and practically shoving him to the counter. “You know what to do. I gotta go clean up after you... again.”

“Right!” Dizzy saluted his boss. “Won’t let you down, sir!”

Donut Joe didn’t bother dignifying the stallion with a response and instead grumbled half profanities. He had already ducked through the door and into the kitchen before his employee finished the salute.

“Right then!” Dizzy turned, smiling at the ponies in line. “What’ll it be?” 

That was weird.

“Thought he would have blown something up,” Iridescent whispered beside her. “Did you see him? Actual steam coming out of his ears. I thought that only happened in cartoons!”

“A lot of things that ‘only happen in cartoons’ happen here. Like magic,” Sunset whispered back. “Though I don’t know what that was about. I’ve never seen that before.”

The pony at the front graciously took their donuts, offering a flirty comment to Dizzy who laughed like it was a joke. They left, visibly disappointed. 

One pony left. Sunset’s stomach growled again. Why did it feel like this was taking forever?

“One donut please,” the mare in front of them said. “Plain.”

Sunset’s jaw clenched before she could spit some particularly nasty choice words. What was the point of waiting that long in line if you were only going to get one thing?!

Even Dizzy seemed to be taken aback. “That all, mate? We’ve got like... every kind of donut under Celestia’s sun in here. Even if we don’t I’m sure we could make-“

“Just one plain donut,” the mare interrupted with her chin upturned. “That is all.”

“Ooooookay,” the orange pony drawled, putting her plain donut in a small bag. He took the bits from the mare and tossed them into the register, not even bothering to count. 

“A pleasure doing business with you,” declared the mare as she left. 

“The ponies that blow through here, I swear,” Dizzy muttered. His attention turned to the young unicorns in line and he beckoned them forward. “What’ll it be, you two?”

“A dozen chocolate covered donuts with sprinkles.” Iridescent set the bit bag on the counter. “And, uh, whatever she’s having.”

“A dozen? Young colts like you shouldn’t have that much sugar in the morning.” The stallion barked out a boisterous laugh while Iridescent rolled his eyes. Dizzy turned to her, offering his bright smile again. “What about you, lil missy?”

Sunset eyed the selection of donuts and felt herself frown. She had no clue as to what any of these were. They didn’t serve donuts in the castle, though she did remember having one before she moved in. 

Even then, that was still ages ago.

“How about a cinnamon donut?” Dizzy asked, noticing her hesitation and pointing a bright orange hoof at the mentioned treat. “You look like the type.”

“Cinnamon? They put that on donuts?”

“Sure do. Whatever joker came up with it must have been a mad scientist. It’s so crazy that it works! Haha.” 

They certainly looked very appetizing. Her mouth watered just looking at them.

“I’ll take three,” She said. “And what about those?”

Her hoof pressed against the glass, pointing at donuts with red glaze and some very small flowers sprinkled on top. The label for the flavor was covered by a smear of red donut glaze. They looked delicious.

“Oh those,” Dizzy grabbed one out of the container with a napkin and presented it to Sunset, who stared at it like she was being shown a foreign artifact. “Ol’ Joey calls em the... uh... ‘Cherry Blossoms’ I think?”

“‘Cherry Blossoms’?” She repeated, sniffing the donut. 

“Lot of questions in you, little lady. Tell you what,” Dizzy held out his hoof with the donut on it so she could grab it with her own. “Try one. Free of charge. Well, not really free since it’s coming out of my paycheck. It’s free to you though.”

“Woah free donuts,” Iridescent moistened his lips and reached out to the Cherry Blossom. “Can I ha-“

Dizzy slapped the hoof away and scowled. “I made the offer to her, lad. Not you.”

“Bouzin!” The multicolored colt pulled his hoof away and nurtured the limb like he had just been burned. “Are you serious?”

“Super serious. In fact I used to be called Serious Sam when I was comin’ up.”

“Seriously?”

“No, dumbo.” The stallion snickered. “Always been Dizzy Dizzy. Can’t believe you thought I was-“

“Serious. We get it!” Sunset snapped.

She snagged the donut and devoured it in one bite, much to the surprise of her companion and the pony at the register. 

It tasted better than she expected. The unusual sweetness of the flowers added to the cherry flavor. She tried to chew some more only to realize that the donut was already gone. 

“I’ll take three Cherry Blossoms,” Sunset said, pushing Iridescent’s bit bag to the center of the counter. An unusual sense of excitement welled up inside of her. Did the donut have something in it? “How much is that total?”

“A dozen chocolate covered donuts with sprinkles... Still think that’s a bit too much sugar but I ate way more on a daily basis when I was your age.” Dizzy punched the numbers into the register. Amber magic gingerly placed a bottle of orange juice on the counter. “Three cinnamon, three Cherry Blossoms. Orange juice… Not that I’m much older than you clowns, only eighteen. Ya like, what? Twelve?”

“Fourteen,” They both said at the same time. 

“Freaky,” Dizzy muttered. He punched some more numbers into the register and their total was printed on a receipt. “That comes up to forty-six bits. Quite the big order for two hungry foals-“

“We’re fourteen.”

“-on a Sunday morning. Please never do that again.” 

Dizzy placed the donut boxes on the counter and Iridescent grabbed them without hesitation.

“Sure thing!” He chirped. “Thanks weird Australian guy!”

“Whatever, mate. Don’t have a cry over- Wait what?”

Without wasting any more time Sunset pulled Iridescent over to one of the booths. She shoved him into his seat, causing him to tumble over and nearly fall under the table. He rightened himself, shook his head and when he looked back up Sunset already had her box open and was devouring a Cherry Blossom. 

“Woah!” He laughed. “Slow down! It’s not going anywhere.”

Sunset blushed, wiping away a flower that had somehow stuck to her cheek. 

“Sorry.” Why was she apologizing? “It’s just, these donuts are really… good.”

Iridescent waved a hoof in dismissal and smiled at her cheerfully. “Don’t worry about explaining it. I’m just glad you’re enjoying them.”

The two ate in relative silence after that, each of them occasionally making a comment about how good the donuts were in between bites. They were all gone before she even realized.

Sunset finished the last donut and sighed in bliss. That daisy sandwich paled in comparison to what she just ate. Maybe she could go out for donuts with Iridescent more often. 

Yes… with Iridescent… who’d be going home soon! The thought put a significant dent in her current mood and made her sit up straighter. She still hadn’t asked him about his and Celestia’s conversation. That was the reason she tracked him down.

On the other side of the table Iridescent took a sip of his orange juice, unaware of her sudden mood shift. 

Sunset tried to speak but the words couldn’t leave her throat. They were enjoying themselves. She didn’t want to ruin this hangout but it was necessary. 

Why was talking suddenly so hard?

“Gross.” Iridescent’s mutter pulled her out of her thoughts.

Sunset’s mind slammed on the brakes. She looked up at Iridescent and slowly turned her head in the direction that he was looking.

There was a couple - two mares - kissing each other. Not a full blown make out session but just little smooches on each other’s nose and lips. They both giggled quietly and whispered sweet couple-y things that the other patrons couldn’t hear. It was like something out of a mushy romance novel. 

Sunset looked at him again and huffed. “What? Do you have a problem with-“

“I don’t,” He interrupted, visibly distracted. “You know I don’t. They just remind me of…”

His parents. Iridescent didn’t even need to finish for her to get it. Those memory spells had dug up a lot of old stuff he barely remembered, including bits of his mom interacting with his dad more. She felt a little bad about not realizing it sooner. 

“Could be worse,” Sunset shrugged. “Your parents would have been all over the table.”

Iridescent smiled just a bit. “I could do without the mental image. Thanks.”

There were no more changes in his expression. Humor always seemed to work when other ponies tried it. Sunset had hoped he’d keep talking and carry the conversation himself but there was no such luck. She felt a wave of anxiety suddenly wash over her.

Right. Jokes out of the way. At least she’s softened him up for her next question. 

Spit it out, Shimmer. You’ve got nothing to lose and he’s got pretty much everything. 

“So… About your conversation with Celestia…”

“Hm?”

“Care to tell me what exactly you two talked about?”

Iridescent looked in her direction, ready to say something. However the response he prepared died on his lips and he stared at Sunset with a mask devoid of emotion entirely. Now, this wasn’t quite a ‘what you just said was so awful that I don’t even know how to feel’ kind of face. This face was more so a ‘I don’t really know what to say so I’ll just stare’ kind of face. 

This was beginning to feel weird. His eyes felt like they were piercing her body. She squirmed in her seat, feeling very exposed all of a sudden. Wasn’t staring like that supposed to be her thing? 

Iridescent took a deep breath in and then breathed out a looooong exhale. 

“When’s the last time we hung out?” He asked, voice entirely neutral. “Like, really hung out?”

Sunset’s confusion was no doubt evident on her face. She didn’t know where this was going.

“Everything we’ve done for the past month is either magic related, human related, or school related. When have we ever just sat down and hung out with each other?”

Her lips pursed. “I don’t know what you’re trying to say.”

“Do you want to spend the day with me?” Iridescent asked. The question caught her so off guard that she’d end up thinking about it for the rest of the day. “Just you and me in Canterlot, doing fun stuff, exploring, hanging out. It’s the whole reason I lead you here in the first place.”

So Cadenza had been right. But had Iridescent known she would tell Sunset? She may have called jokingly him an idiot all the time but he truly was a lot smarter than she gave him credit for.

This still wasn’t what she was looking for, though.

“But i need you to tell-“

“I’ll tell you everything!” The almost desperate exclamation made the other patrons turn their heads toward their table. Iridescent shrunk into his seat to hide his flushed and embarrassed face. “I-I don’t want my final days here to be spent talking about Sun Butt’s stupid plans or magic nonsense I’m never going to use again.”

The other patrons looked at the blushing unicorn colt and each muttered something to each other before resuming their normal chatter.

Sunset bit the inside of her cheek. She’d been stupid not to take Iridescent’s feelings into account. It had been a while since he’d actually done something normal, at least to him. Of course he would be hoping to avoid stressing out over all these details. 

“I’m probably the first human in history who’s ever been to another world,” He murmured to himself. “It’s so peaceful here compared to… back there. Why can’t I just enjoy myself?”

“You can.” She wasn’t going to tell him otherwise. “I’m not saying you can’t. But-“

“But going home is the priority, I know,” Iridescent sighed. “Which is why I’m probably gonna have to tell Sun Ass about you-know-what. If I can’t figure out how to go home myself, I’m going to have to tell her anyway.”

Sunset’s first instinct was to protest. But after a few seconds of consideration, she realized that doing so wouldn’t make much sense. Iridescent was right. Celestia would need to know about the human world in order to actually send him home sooner rather than later. They probably shouldn’t have hid it in the first place.

“I’ll tell her tomorrow after my magic exam,” He continued. “But that’s for tomorrow. Right now I want to go to a park, sit under a nice tree on some comfy grass and draw something.”

The skin on the inside of her cheek felt like it was going to get chewed off.

“Okay,” Sunset finally relented. “We can do that.”

“Thank Christ.”

Now, a subject change. Think fast, Shimmer!

“I didn’t know you drew. I’ve never seen that in your memories.” Nor had he told her. Part of her was a little disappointed. 

Only a little. 

“It’s a recent thing.” Amber magic opened his saddlebag and pulled out a sketchbook. 

It was unremarkable save for the white box on the front where a pony would sign their name. ‘Property of Iridescent Horizon’ was written in his hornwriting. Below that were his human initials scrawled in very small letters. ‘JEM’. 

“I was super bored a couple days ago,” He said, setting the sketchbook on the table. “I tried to doodle a thing and it actually turned out good! No clue where my super good drawing ability came from but I think it might be magic related.”

Puzzling. She hadn’t heard of such a thing happening before. Ponies didn’t just suddenly gain a better understanding of tasks like that at random. 

He wasn’t a pony though. At least not in his own mind. 

“Kinda sucks I didn’t get to learn it myself, not really much passion in those drawings. Heh.”

Her magic carefully pulled open the first page for a peek. Inside were a few anatomical drawings of a male pegasus and human side by side. They lacked detail, seemingly focusing on the proportions of the bodies than anything else. There were also a few notes, including phrases in Haitian Creole scribbled out.

“… Guess I shouldn’t dwell on it too much,” Iridescent added as an afterthought. “Dad always said ‘Take your W’s when you can.’”

Sunset’s magic closed the sketchbook. She pulled her eyes away from it and stared at him with a look of confusion.

“Your what?”

“W’s. Ya know like-“

She held up a hoof. “No. Stop. Repeat what you just said.”

Now he looked confused. “‘Take your W’s when you can’?”

He must have been doing this on purpose.

“Why did you say it like that?”

“What? Oh… You mean the way I said W?” He thought about it for a few seconds, then shrugged. “‘Dub-yuh’. Dad sometimes said it like that. Probably picked it up from the other oldheads.”

“It sounds weird.”

“Maybe to you…” Iridescent then grinned in a way that signified he was about to make one of his stupid jokes. The special kind of joke that Sunset hated genuinely. “Are you trying to say it sounds weird because he-“

“Stop it,” She snapped. Saw it coming from a mile away. “I’m not like you humans; your petty racism is far from appealing… and I thought I told you those jokes weren’t funny!”

“Its not like its hurting anyone,” He waved dismissively. Then, quieter to himself: “And its not like you guys are without any problems.”

Sunset’s glare hardened. That kind of attitude is partly the reason why his world was the way it was. 

“Moron.” She settled on calling him. 

“Baconator.” Iridescent shot back.

“Don’t call me that.”

“Make me.” He challenged.

Sunset’s glare turned into a (jokingly) sinister grin. Finally a chance to shut him up. 

“I hoped you’d say that.” The flash from her horn wasn’t very bright nor did it last very long, but it still made Iridescent flinch. 

“Mmph? M-Mmph! MMMPH!”

Iridescent kept trying to talk but the zipper that had replaced his mouth made it incredibly difficult. His hooves reached up to unzip it but were stopped by Sunset’s own.

“Don’t do that! It hurts!” She hissed at him. “I’ll undo the spell, you big baby.”

“Mmph. Mmph mmph. Hmm?”

“Stop trying to talk. You might end up opening it on accident.”

Iridescent’s face paled.

Sunset’s horn lit up again and slowly undid the spell. The metallic zipper formed back into his muzzle, pressed into a firm line. His flat unamused glare was funny. She found herself giggling at his face.

Then she cringed. Sunset Shimmer didn’t giggle. 

“That was weird,” Iridescent grumbled, tips of his hooves poking at his mouth. When the human found no traces of zipper he lowered them back down. “I’m going to use that on you when i figure it out.”

“Oh, please,” Sunset rolled her eyes, holding back a grin. “I just wanted to show you to watch what you say. Its important to stay humble.”

“Says the girl who wants to be a god.”

Sunset raised an eyebrow at him that Iridescent countered with a lop-sided grin. A feeling of defensiveness rose up from the claim.

“You don’t know me.” 

“I know a few things,” Iridescent shrugged. Then, as if he wasn’t the biggest idiot ever, he grinned at her again. “Maybe you can tell me what I don’t know while we’re out today.”

The warm feeling spreading through her must have been satisfaction of the meal she ate. Why it was kicking in so late was beyond her… and also irrelevant. 

Friendly… 

Shut. Up.

“Now come on!” He stood up in a flash, face glowing with a bright smile. Sunset looked away to avoid being blinded by it. “We’re wasting daylight so let’s do the dash!”