The Harmony Project

Chapters

The Harmony Project
First steps on both sides
An ordinary day
Friends and Family
Effects of the Butterfly
Chapter 6

The Harmony Project

Principal Celestia had seen quite a lot of things in her life, especially in the past time. Still she couldn't decide what was crazier. The fact that one of her students was a unicorn from another world, who turned into a demon, got blasted by a rainbow beam and was now the "perfect" student (top grates from the get go and now top behavior) or the fact that just two weeks ago she talked to her own counterpart from the other world.

She took a sip off from her tea and looked down at the list of students who would be the first ones to go on this trip. Officially it was brought to the parents as a school trip, which is kind of was in a farfetched way, just normally you don't send students so far away. How far? Into another world.

Celestia didn't know how her counterpart managed to convince her into this kind of thing in the first place, there just had been something godly about her. She asked Sunset Shimmer about quite a few topics about the other world. There Celestia learned that Princess Celestia and Luna were seen as gods by their subjects and that everyone felt the same around Celestia the first time they meet her in person.

Someone knocked at the door. "Come in." Celestia called. The door opened and revealed one of the key people/ponies: Sunset Shimmer.

Speak of the devil. Celestia thought, not missing the irony about Sunset's transformation into a demon. "You wanted to speak t me, prince-...cipal?"

She's still having a hard time talking to me, after she met her old mentor. I should cut this conversation as short as possible.

"Yes, Sunset Shimmer. And don't worry, I won't send you to the moon or something. Not yet anyway." Celestia giggled over her own joke. Sunset grimaced a little and placed herself in front of Celestia. "Bad jokes aside, are you sure you're feeling alright about this?"

Sunset's face became straightforward. "I am. Twilight's going to need all the help she can get. If only a single one of them turns into a unicorn and loses control over his or her magic, well...not so nice."

Celestia could see Sunset Shimmer was remembering something. Not the transformation, but something about her own past. Perhaps a hilarious mistake of her own?

"If I may ask, how was your talk to your former mentor?"

Sunset flinched visibly. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked."

"No it's okay. We...got a few things straightened out." She rubbed her arm. "Oh, reminds me. She said if you ever want to visit, you should inform her a few weeks ahead. Having suddenly two ponies that can control the sun, might be a little overkill for everypony."

"Everypony?" Celestia asked.

"Woops. Old habits die hard. Yeah, instead of somebody or someone, we say somepony, everypony, you get the gist of it."

Celestia nodded understanding. "Good. One last thing Sunset Shimmer. It is about the project..." Celestia trailed off. Sunset blinked confused until she understood. "THAT project? Uh, what about it?" she asked nervously in return.

"I wanted to ask you something more...personal, if that is okay with you."

"Ummm..."

"Before you decide to answer, I want you to hear it first: How was it?"

Susnet's eyes widened for a second. Unconsciously she put her hand on her head. They shared a long moment of silence until Sunset Shimmer spoke up again. "I'm sorry. I can't answer that yet. I think I need some time to think."

"Of course, take all the time you need."

Sunset chuckled. "If I would, the project would have been already finished until I found an answer. Good thing I have at least SOME time." she muttered more to herself.

"Very well. That'll do for now. And have a nice trip."

"Thank you, principal. Well, I'll see you in a week." Sunset exited the office, leaving Celestia in alone. She sighed and took out some paperwork. Time to do something "normal" for a change. Let's see about the candidates...

XIII

"Vinyl, Derpy, huh? Flash, Snips and Snails won in the lottery too." Sunset mumbled to herself as she went over the list of people, soon turned into magical equines for a week. She should have gone through this list earlier and asked Twilight in what kind of ponies they would transform.

None of her friends won the lottery sadly. But there was always next time. Sunset got chosen by default, since she is kind of going home and it would be good for the students to have someone with them, who knows them and the other world.

"Lyra, oh dear Celestia, not her. At least Bon Bon is there to keep her in check. Wait, that's it? Only those seven? Oh well, less trouble for us all, I guess."

Sunset put the list away and took a deep breath. It's been quite some time since Sunset has been accepted by the student body. She kept contact with Twilight with her book and one day all of the sudden she visits Canterlot High. Everybody in school by now knows about her being a princess and since everyone pestered Sunset for details about her world, she eventually had to tell them that she was an actual unicorn on the other side.

It's a wonder that so for no kind of paramilitary organization from this world caught on about what was going on in Canterlot High. And that brings us to the topic at hand. During her visit, Twilight attended a few classes, being the overall egghead. Needless to say she totally failed in PE, despite not really being a complete slacker with all the adventures she has. Or maybe football just wasn't her thing.

History had been...interesting. Oh well, Sunset had been a little shocked too, when she heard about all the violence in this world. Of course in Equestria there have been wars, but that's a thing of the past. The biggest incident that came closest to war had been the changeling incident at the wedding of Shining Armor and Princess Cadence.

Twilight's curiosity got the better of her and she read a lot of history books from the library. It probably had been the pictures of what triggered something inside her head. Nazi Germany, bloody revolutions like in France, speaking off, the war in which Napoleon tried to conquer Europe (it had been NOT nice reading of how soldiers who walked through the hard Russian Winter, eating horse parts) and you get the gist of things.

Twilight, after returning, immediately contacted the other princesses and after a long debate Project Harmony was brought to life. What in praxis was a very complicated magical ritual, which needs a lot of preparation, was in theory very simple. With the help of her friends, Sunset had become a harmony bearer. No one or pony knows exactly what the logic behind that was, since the Element of Magic rejected Sunset the last time, but it was very convenient for the project.

So in total of two worlds there are now 12 element bearers. Now how the elements bring harmony in the first place is questionable itself. So far they either banished, turned someone into stone or redeemed AKA brainwashed the "victim", the latter part being the main concern of many people and ponies. In short, the twelve element bearers will use their power to bring the Harmony of Equestria to Earth. You guys still following?

Now back to the brainwashing thing, because many are concerned that this is exactly what's going to happen. And it is not really uncalled for, right? Imagine the elements get used against you! And honestly, I personally would prefer a trip to Tartarus, because there I had the ever so slight chance of escaping and still being myself afterwards.

And that is where Princess Celestia's visit came in. Although it should be as good as impossible to use magic on earth, Celestia seemed to be not as affected as Twilight or Sunset. She still had a lot of her power and everyone could feel it. And being a, who knows how old, politician, she managed to convince everyone to go with the project and promised that they would be extra cautious. That's the three hour speech she actually gave in a nutshell. Though most people were probably more interested in her floating hair or for the male population...you get it, don't you?

Project Harmony had officially started and everyone helped. How? It's pretty easy and sounds rather cheesy, but it's bringing harmony to everyone around. Like doing charities, helping each other out, hell even doing stuff with friends. Laughter, Generosity, Loyalty, Honesty and Kindness. Sunset and Twilight would be the ones providing the magic, much to the dismay of Trixie.

After everything was established, Sunset thought she would be able to sneak home. She hadn't been ready to talk face to face with Princess Celestia, but this time Sunset hadn't been able to escape. She hadn't been able to escape a rip crushing hug. The two spent the rest of the day in private at Sunset's apartment.

It had been pretty awkward from Shimmer's point of view. It certainly didn't help that her home was a mess. After trying to make it for Celestia as comfortable as possible, it was Celestia who started with the apologizing. She apologized for not being the responsible teacher she should have been, that she should have encouraged Sunset further, instead of telling her to be patient, that she should have been more there for Sunset like she had been with Twilight. Unfortunately Celestia learned that lesson a little too late, as Sunset had the feeling she wasn't really acknowledged by her teacher. Royal duties and all.

Sunset however quickly silenced Celestia, saying it was all her fault because of how greedy she had been and how she had rubbed it in front of everyponys face that she was the personal student of Celestia. She also found friendship being a waste of time, in which Celestia only retorted that Twilight saw friendship the same way as Sunset. The only reason Twilight didn't turn out like Sunset was because Celestia knew now how to handle such situations.

It kind of went back and forth, with Sunset pointing out what she had done in the past and Celestia always having something to retort it and put the blame on herself.

In the end they both came to a conclusion that the two of them made mistakes and decided to start over. Celestia insisted on kind of officially becoming Sunset's friend, seeing as Twilight was the better teacher in the sun goddess' opinion. Uh...blasting someone with a rainbow beam is the first step of becoming friends?

Sunset pushed those thoughts aside, as she exited the building. For now she would have to focus on the task at hand: leading a bunch of high school students through a magical mirror, which was about to open in a matter of minutes.

"SUNSET SHIMMER!" A high pitched voice shouted. The next moment Sunset found herself in a tight hug. "Urgh....Pinkie.....air..."

"Ooopsie." Pinkie giggled and let go of her. Her other four friends approached and each of them gave Sunset a hug. "Now don't you forget to write back, darling. And please bring back some cute pony designs."

"I will Rarity, I will." Sunset laughed.

"Sunny!" Sunset inwardly groaned. Pinkie held out a backpack. "I have your favorite cupcakes in here! And please, please, please..."

"Yeah, yeah, I'll bring back some sweets from over there."

"YAY! You're the best!"

Fluttershy, Applejack and Rainbow Dash approached. "Well sugercube, hope you'll have a good time over there."

"Uh, have fun."

"Show 'em how awesome you're and if anyone bothers you, just tell me and I'll show them how we humans do things over here."

"Thanks girls." Sunset hugged the three in front of them, which unfortunately...

"GROUP HUG!" Pinkie announced. She also was the last one to let go of Sunset.

"By the way sugar, about you bag, won't it bother ya?" AJ asked. Sunset shook her head. "No, it'll turn into a saddleback on the other side, just like my clothes somehow turn into fur. Hmm, wonder if my color will change if I wear something different?"

"I just wish we could come with you." Pinkie pouted.

"Don't worry, Pinks. You'll need to come all one day anyway, because of...that thing, you know."

"Okie dokie lokie!"

Sunset waved with her arm and walked towards the statue, where the students from the list were waiting for her.

"So, any last questions, anyone backing off?"

"Uhh, well..." Bon Bon began.

"You're not backing off, are you?!" Lyra asked accusingly.

"No, no, it's just...well you know me and Lyra and all, do they..."

Sunset couldn't help but laugh. Everyone knew Lyra and Bon Bon had a thing together. "Bon, 75% of the pony population are female. Lesbians are normal over there."

"Oh!"

"Wait!" Flash interjected. "Just...out of curiosity. If on one guy come four girls, won't that make it pretty problematic to keep the population up."

"That, oh well, since you guys are going to find out someday anyway. You remember when I said we couldn't go earlier than today?"

All of them nodded. Sunset's cheeks became a little red and she smiled sheepishly. "Well it was mating season. During that time we mares...go a little crazy and are ready to kill for a stallion, uh guy."

"So, if we would have gone sooner..." Snips began. "Nah, you and Snails are too young. But Flash here, well I can't guarantee you would have survived."

Sunset laughed over all of their faces.

"So, why didn't you go crazy?" Snails asked. "Because I am human right now. It something triggered inside a pony's body. And don't worry, I double checked. It is definitely over, no crazy mare left on the street."

Everyone gave each other a look. Their attention was caught by Sunset's book starting to glow. She looked inside and nodded. "Alright, we can go now." She handed over the book to Fluttershy who said goodbye yet another time.

Carefully Derpy held a hand inside the mirror. She stumbled in the process and fell through it. Vinyl raised an eyebrow, barely visible because of her sunglasses and followed. Snips and Snails had a little race and blocked the portal, being stuck in it. Sunset rolled her eyes and pushed them through forcefully. Lyra dragged her girlfriend through the mirror, excited to finally see aliens and becoming one of them in the process.

Flash put his hand through the portal and pulled it out. He took in a deep breath and went through it. Sunset looked back and waved towards her friends. "See ya in a week!"

"See ya/you!" They replied.

I'm going home. Hoo boy.

Sunset jogged through the portal, figuring taking things slow, would only make her hesitant.

XIII

In the meantime somewhere else, Twilight Sparkle was playing with her dog, eagerly waiting for an answer. A beeping sound from her PC caught her attention. She threw the rubber ball once more, before walking over and checking the e-mail.

"YES! They're giving me a week to see if I fit, Spike." The dog only barked in response. His owner smiled. What had she been worried about? She probably was the youngest human who had achieved three doctor titles. They would have been fools to not take her as a teacher. Good, she never really aimed for that job, but when she wanted to investigate Canterlot High, she needed to get directly inside. And there was no way she was going to be a student again, not after she finally made it out.

"I'm going to find out what's going on there."

Spike barked happily in response. Twilight smiled herself and petted him on his head. "Thanks boy."

First steps on both sides

"Ow...I totally forgot about the headache..." Sunset rubbed her forehead with her hoof. Oh right, she was a pony again. Jeez, the last time had been, when...right. When she stole Twilight's crown. Shaking off the uneasy feelings, she looked around and found everypony struggling to get up to their feet eh hooves.

"Hello everypony." Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship greeted them, stifling a laugh, when she saw Snips and Snails falling over each other. Derpy herself was sitting on her flank and looking around the huge room they were in. "Wow." Was all that came out of her snout. Vinyl still had her sunglasses AND her headphones attached to her mp3, which was in the saddle bag. She greeted Twilight with a smile, while standing shakily on her hooves.

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, Bon Bon! I'm a unicorn! Squeal!"

"Stop screaming into my ear." Bon Bon complained, eyeing her hooves carefully, carefully getting up on her hint legs, then the right front leg and then the other one. Lyra in the meantime seems to be a natural, Sunset at least thought so, until Lyra tried to dance around in her hyper mood and fell on her snout.

Flash was just having as much trouble, falling on his stomach over and over again. "Sunset, I think we need to help them." Twilight pointed out and Sunset nodded. "Yeah, I guess. Nice place by the way."

"Thanks." Twilight immediately walked over to Flash, making Sunset shake her head, smiling knowingly. She herself walked over to Snips and Snails. Since they helped her in the past with her schemes, she felt like she owed them for dragging the two into everything and turning them into demons. "Alright guys, take it easy." Sunset still could use her magic. It was learning to use a bicycle. You never forget how it works, no matter what.

"WHOA! I can fly!" Snails exclaimed until Sunset dropped him to the ground. "Aw man! Why am I so tiny, anyway?"

"Yeah, I thought we'd turn into horses!" Sunset rolled her eyes. Had those two even bothered listening? Ah, who was she kidding?

"First thing, we're ponies. Get used to it. If you don't want to be, then go back and give someone who actually wants to come over here the chance. Second, if you still want to stay here, listen up."

For the next hour Sunset and Twilight gave each of the humans turned into ponies tips on how to stand and which leg to use first, when walking.

"So" Flash Sentry asked sheepishly, his cheeks getting a little red "are you...ehh...going to help figuring those out?" He asked, holding his wings up. Everyone else chuckled, having heard him. Twilight flushed a little herself, but caught herself by shaking her head. "Sorry, I think my friend is more suitable for flying lessons. Anyways, I think we should now-"

She was interrupted by a blue blur slamming a door open and flying into the room. "Gee Twi, what's taking you guys so long?" Rainbow Dash asked, putting her hooves on her hips, while still flying.

"Rainbow Dash?!" Everyone except Twilight and Sunset exclaimed. The latter facehooved. "Did any of you guys actually listen, when I was giving a small presentation in front of the entire school? Each of us has a counterpart in this world, well except for me since I was born here. It's NOT surprising at all meeting a second Rainbow Dash."

"We're coming Rainbow Dash." Twilight said a little annoyed. "We just need to take it slow. It's not every day you get into a new body, you know?"

Rainbow only rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, just come already." She flew ahead, not minding giving the guests they had a second look.

"Right, but before that, I want you all to stand still for a second." Everyone looked at each other. "Why's that?" Snips and Snails asked simultaneously. Instead of answering, Twilight's horn glowed up, catching everyone's attention. Suddenly each of their flanks (except Sunset's) started to glow up, as a huge black C appeared over their cutie marks.

"There, now everypony will know that you're from Canterlot High."

"Hey..uh..Princess..."

"Just call me Twilight."

"Right, uh....Twilight." Bon Bon spoke up. "What's with those tattoos?" she asked. Sunset facehooved. "I feel like no one really appreciated my hard work." she muttered in a slightly defeated way.

Twilight looked disapprovingly over the bunch. She knew how it was, when someone's not listening while you try to give an explanation or lesson.

"Oh...uh...I did." Flash said, after that look of Twilight hit him. "Oh yeah?" Sunset smiled devilishly. She knew he only wanted to impress Twilight, his crush was pretty obvious. It just surprised her it lasted even with his entire biology changed. "Then tell me. Pop quiz Flash Centry: What are the pictures on our flanks and what do they represent?"

"Oh...uh...."

"Well?"

"Ehh...they're called...cutie marks?"

"Go on."

"And they represent......"

"5, 4, 3, 2, 1...."

"Our special talent?" he squeaked like a mouse.

"Good, I'm not going to burn you down. But I swear I'm going to do that on the next one I catch slacking during one of my lectures."

"Isn't this whole thing about learning harmony?" Lyra asked Derpy, who shrugged in response.

XIII

Sunset couldn't help it. She felt a tad jealous as she walked through her friend's castle. Now that she thought about it, she only needed to restrain herself and she would have easily taken Twilight's place.

Her attention was caught by Derpy who almost stumbled into a vase. Her clumsiness didn't stood out for once, seeing as the others still had problems adapting to their new bodies. Vinyl had problems adjusting her headphones with no fingers.

"Need help?" Sunset offered, adjusting the headphones with her magic.

"Thanks." Vinyl replied.

The group arrived in the throne room. Sunset was surprised to see six, no, seven thrones. On each of them was sitting a mare, except on Twilight's and of course little Spike.

The other high school students gaped at seeing all the familiar faces.

"Uh, why are they all staring at us?" Rainbow asked.

"Well, your human selves are kind of famous around the school on the other side." Sunset replied, rubbing her head.

"THIS CALLS FOR A PARTY!" Pinkie shouted, her voice echoing through the halls for a long time.

"Pinkie, the party comes later." Twilight chided. "Okie-dokie-lokie!"

Twilight took her respectable seat on the throne and cleared her throat. "Well then, I just wanted to welcome you all to Equestria. Since you'll be only here for a week, I'll keep this short. You have the chance to learn more about the everyday life of us ponies. You'll be living in the guest rooms of this palace for the time being. For the first day we'll all supervise you and make sure you get the hang of your new bodies. On Friday we'll go to the capital city Canterlot and on Saturday we'll visit the Crystal Empire and on Sunday you'll of course return. The other days you can do whatever you want, as long as it doesn't include causing disharmony of any kind. Any questions?"

"Mmm, well I am a unicorn now and, well...I thought I could learn some magic." Lyra smiled sheepishly.

Twilight frowned. "Well, a week is a little short to teach you magic...."

"Darling, I think levitation and illumination is the least we could do." Rarity spoke up.

"And since she's a fully grown unicorn, it shouldn't be impossible, right?" Sunset spoke up. Twilight nodded absentminded. "As long as it is only those two spells, it shouldn't be a problem."

"Soooo, anypony up for a crash course in flying?" Rainbow asked, rubbing her hooves together.

"Oh me, me!" Derpy jumped up, waving her hoof.

Great, now there're two of them. I gotta ask Twilight for a healing spell for her eye someday.

"Alright, but before that, these fine stallions over there will show you your rooms." Twilight gestured towards a group of guard ponies. "Sunset Shimmer? Mind if you come with me for a bit?"

Everypony nodded. "Alright, we'll meet you all at the entrance hall. The guards will show you the way.

Sunset followed Twilight, while the students followed the guard ponies. Twilight's friends walked ahead towards the entrance.

Sunset and the princess walked into what seemed to be a laboratory, which was stationed under the castle. The unicorn immediately had to think off Frankenstein, seeing all the instruments.

"How are things over there?" Twilight asked, levitating a few stray books back into their shelves. "Well, a lot of people ask me about this world here, but they take the whole project pretty good, surprisingly."

"That's good to hear. To be honest, I had my doubts at the beginning, but the more I think about it, the more I'm convinced this is the right way."

"Wasn't this all your idea?" Shimmer asked. Sparkle shook her head. "No, it wasn't even Celestia. It was my sister in law, Princess Cadance who had the idea. She has the power of reminding ponies what they mean to each other and that's where the whole idea came from. Even Celestia at first thought this was nothing more than brainwashing."

"Really?" Sunset asked. "She looked pretty convinced to me."

Twilight shrugged. "It's not like we're forcing a completely new personality on the people. We're just showing them what they did wrong."

"It's more than just that..." Sunset looked uncomfortably to the side. "Oh sorry." Twilight apologized. "It's just hard to imagine you being...evil."

Sunset laughed dryly. "I take it as a compliment. So, you wanted something from me?"

"Ah right. It's about how we perform the spell. Just the twelve of us using our harmony powers won't be enough. We need something...which spreads the magic all over an entire planet."

"All over an entire planet, huh?"

Twilight nodded. "I thought it might be good to ask whether you had an idea or not. I know it's been a while, since you last read a magic book, but still..."

"Actually, I think I got something. You still know about cell phones, right?"

"Yes. Are you suggesting we spread the magic by calling everyone on the planet?" Twilight asked. "No. Okay, you're close enough. You see, cell phones send signals towards satellites, which are flying around the planet and the satellites send the signal to the destined phone. If we somehow connect our magic with only one satellite, then that satellite could connect to more and so on and then..."

"...our magic will hit the earth from space and the waves should spread wide enough to cover the entire world!" Twilight finished in excitement.

"You know, we sound like two evil masterminds, planning to conquer the world, like in one of those comics."

"At least you never got sucked into one. Back to the matter at hand, I don't think a cell phone will withstand the magic we plan on putting into it."

Sunset nodded. "I think we need some materials from Equestria to build a special cell phone. But then again, I guess we can't just ask one of the companies for a special delivery, like: 'Hey we need a phone that withstands the force of very powerful magic'."

Twilight smiled in response, walking over to another bookshelf. "Well then we just take one into its pieces, study them and then built our own phone."

"I still think there's more to it, like getting the right wavelength for the satellites. Some of the materials to make a phone are pretty rare on earth and I don't know about Equestria. Okay, for that we could recycle a phone, but still, it needs to be magic resistant too. And how are we going to use our powers in the first place?"

"Same as last time." Twilight grinned. "Music."

XIII

Human Twilight (or sci-Twilight as some youtubers called her) was now standing in front of the massive building of Canterlot High School.

Not exactly a pleasant experience going back to school. But for the sake of science I need to find out what exactly is going on here.

Twilight was wearing something more formal, than her lab coat. She would start next week as a teacher, but the two principals wanted at least get to know her.

It's okay Twilight. This is nothing more than a simple job interview. You've rehearsed this 238 times.

Taking in a deep breath, Twilight walked inside. Since school was over, only a few students were left, attending their respectable clubs. She heard music coming out of one room and had to admit, it sounded pretty good.

However, the more she went into the building, the more she felt like she was being watched by someone.

It's just your nerves Twilight. Breath in, breath out. Breath in, breath out.

Arriving at the principal's office, Twilight knocked at the door three times. "Come in." she heard from the other side.

She slowly opened the door and entered, finding the two co-principals inside. "Ah, Miss Sparkle I assume?" The woman with the brighter hair and skin color stood up and offered a handshake. Twilight shook it respectfully. "Yes, that's me."

"I'm Principal Celestia Sol and this is my sister, Vice-Principal Luna Sol."

The two exchanged a handshake as well.

"Now then" Celestia placed herself back on the table, while her sister preferred to stand. Celestia gestured Twilight to take a seat. "You have a very impressive record Miss Sparkle. 3 Doctor Titles. Are you by any chance already writing on the fourth?" Celestia joked.

"Oh...uh...not yet."

Luna and Celestia noticed by the way she was speaking that she didn't get that it was meant as a joke.

"You're still pretty young. A few of our students are as old as you. Are you sure you're up to this?" Luna asked.

"I..y-yes, I think I am." Twilight calmed herself inwardly.

"If I may ask a question, what made you decide to become a teacher in the first place?" Celestia asked. "With this record you could easily get any job you want. So why teacher? And why Canterlot High of all schools?"

"Well..."

I can't exactly tell them I picked up some strange readings and saw some strange lights and made some pictures. Luckily I prepared for this. More or less.

"I never was that interested in a high job or something. I... want to show others what you can achieve, if you only study hard enough. And...I also have a dog and anything higher as a teacher, I wouldn't have time for him."

"A dog?"

"Yes, he's waiting for outside at this very moment. Off the school ground of course."

Celestia smiled. "I see." The similarities are almost scaring. So much for some normal work. Which reminds me, I better tell the student beforehand that we found the human Twilight Sparkle.

The conversation went on for another 20 minutes, until Twilight said her goodbye to her new bosses and left.

"Even if she might be useful for the project, she's clearly not fit for being a teacher, no matter how smart she is. So, why does she want to be one, after all she went through?" Luna asked, looking at the record.

Celestia crossed her fingers and looked straight towards the door through which Twilight Sparkle had left. "You're right. It is off. However even if she is not fit for a teacher now, doesn't mean she won't fit someday. I think all she needs is to experience the magic of friendship."

Luna shook her head. "The magic of friendship. It still sounds too much of a fairytale to me sister."

"Even after meeting a goddess that just looks like you?" Celestia asked. Luna sighed. "Even after this. Sometimes I expect to wake up from a coma and it turns out you have just been reading one of your old children books to me the entire time, causing me to dream all this."

"Well, you have always been a little lunatic."

This made Luna smack her sister over the head.

XIII

Twilight in the meantime was untying Spike from the statue in front of the building. "Alright Spike, let's go home." The dog barked happily in response and walked a little ahead of his owner. Unbeknownst to the two, they have been watched by a certain Pink haired girl ever since they arrived at the school and now she had her friends with her.

"My word, she clearly needs a makeover." Rarity stated.

"So this is the human egghead princess?" Rainbow asked.

"Well she is the human Twilight, but it ain't like she's a princess, ya know? Ah, think she's just transferring here."

"Oh, oh, we should totally make friends with her right now!" Pinkie was hold back by both AJ and RD. "Easy there sugercube. Ah think we should tell Sunset and princess Twilight first. Fluttershy, ya still got the book?"

"Oh, umm, yes." Fluttershy took out the book, a pen and started writing.

An ordinary day

The group had decided to split up. Snips and Snails were together with Twilight and Sunset, secretly just because the chances were the highest with them losing control over their magic. By pure coincidence, the four met the ponies Snips and Snails and now all of them were seated in Sugercube Corner. The humans told their counterparts about the awesome transformation of Sunset Shimmer and how awesome it was to be transformed into demons.

Sunset wasn't sure what to do. Hide her face behind Twilight's book or burn those two down. A few ponies were watching with wonder the two pairs of "twins". Of course the townsfolk had been informed, but it was still quite the sight and quite the story.

Twilight petted Sunset's back in pity. "Hold me back Twilight. I'm about to do something really stupid."

XIII

"I don't know just what went wrong." The two Derpies chorused, sitting on the piles of rubble what once had been the town hall. To their defense, it wasn't really their fault. Rainbow Dash made a mental note as to never, EVER again leave the weather schedule to somepony else. She just wanted to escape the paperwork for once and used the excuse of being busy with the Harmony Project, although they barely started.

Welp, the result was somepony forgetting to get rid of a few stormclouds, Derpy the mailmare accidentally flying into it, as well as Derpy the inexperienced flier. They got shocked and got blown into the town hall with a strong gust of wind.

Flash didn't know how the two even survived. He almost broke something by just crash-landing through tree branches. He decided to not leave the ground for the rest of the day, as Rainbow Dash was yelling furiously. As the head weather mare, she would be the one who had to take responsibility, not only for wasting storm clouds, but also of the accident.

Fluttershy tried to calm her friend down, but no pony could really here her. Rainbow was yelling about getting the money from the salary of the other weather ponies.

"Uhh...mom?" Flash and the two Derpies looked around, to find Dinky. "Dinky!" The mare with the mail back cheered and hugged her daughter.

"Mom, why are there two of you?"

Flash looked over to "his" Derpy. "You have a daughter?!"

"Yup!" she said proudly.

I am not sure what to feel for her daughter. Wait a moment, who's the father? And how does she handle high school and being a mother, while being so clumsy?

XIII

"Great, now there are two of them." Both Bon-Bon's looked at each other and chuckled. They had long given up on trying shutting up their marefriends. Fun fact of the week, pony Lyra was sitting like a human and of course human Lyra like a pony.

Right now they were discussing the differences of their societies of what would have happened if humans were capable of using magic or if ponies would be anthro like.

The two Bon's let out a deep sigh. "Do you want to try some candy?"

"Thanks. I brought some candy myself from my world."

"Maybe we could open up a company that spreads across both worlds?"

"Sounds like a plan. But first, taste check."

"Agreed."

"Did anypony said something about candy?" Pinkie asked as she and AJ came back from helping the CMC getting out of a wall. You know, crusading stuff.

AJ actually figured they might as well leave the four alone. They looked like they came along pretty well. Besides, her business was apples, not candy.

XIII

Vinyl, the human one, managed to get Rarity "in the zone" after telling her a little bit about the dresses the human Rarity made for the human band.

The pony Vinyl had now the time listening to the mp3 of the other Vinyl, while said Vinyl was carefully trying to handle the music discs, without scratching them.

Not much to say there with nothing more happening, than a small crowed gathering. It ended with the two ponies to have a DJ battle. Maybe it would have been better if Pinkie would have accompanied them. The mare would have known how to further liven up this place.

XIII

At dinner, back inside the castle, everypony told his/her story of the day. Derpy adjusted rather quickly by handling her foot without any hands.

"Well, looks like everypony's day was quite eventful." Twilight commented. "Shut up, Twi." Rainbow groaned. "I swear, when I find out who's behind this, I'm gonna throw them into the dungeon. Heh, I always wanted to say that."

"Uh, sugercube? Don't ya think ya're a little bit overreactin'? 'Sides, we ain't having a dungeon." AJ said.

"Ah, horsefeathers."

"It's a way of cursing here." Sunset explained to the confused looking C-ponies. Her gaze fell on Flash Sentry, who looked like he was in pain. "You okay Flash?"

"Huh? Oh yeah. Just a little cramps." He stretched his wings. Rainbow only shook her head. "I have my hooves full for the week."

"Umm, Rainbow Dash? Maybe we should let them enjoy the week. If you don't mind..." Fluttershy said meekly. "Fluttershy is right Darling. This isn't the Wonderbolts Academy." Rarity spoke up, sipping from her wine with her magic.

"Aw, I wish I could do that." Lyra whined. Bon-Bon shook her head. "I feel a little bit like an outcast here. I mean, I'm just a normal pony. No magic or wings-"

Sunset slammed her head on the table. "Hey Twilight, where's Spike?"

"Uh, he should be here anytime soon. Why?"

"Because I need to burn something down. Seriously, why doesn't anyone listen to me, when it is important?" she whined. She made a quick recovery and slammed her hoof on the table, getting everyone's attention.

"Now you listen up! You're an earth pony. You have an extra boost in strength! You get it now?!" she shouted.

"Yes, madam!" Bon-Bon saluted. Snips and Snails snickered. Sunset shot them an angry glare, before taking in a deep breath. "Don't worry Sunny! You can let all your frustration out at the party tonight!" Pinkie exclaimed.

"Then, why are we eating here in the first place, when there's still a party going on later?" Lyra asked.

"Oh this is just something light and moreover something healthy." Twilight explained. "I thought it couldn't hurt or else all you would have inside your stomachs for the night would be sweets. It's also there to get you accustomed to Equestrian food."

"That sounds more like you have put something in there that'll turn us into mindless zombies." Snails commented. Sunset teleported out of the room. Outside the window a huge pillar of fire could be seen. Afterwards Sunset teleported back to her seat in the room. "Something the matter?" she asked as everypony was looking at her.

Luckily Spike finally entered the dining room with a bunch of servants trailing behind him, bringing the food on the table. "Sorry I'm late." He had the special book in his claws. "Principal Celestia and the girls wrote a message. They have found the human Twilight."

"Really?" That got everyone's attention. "Yeah, but it's strange." Spike opened the book. "They write here that, although she's the same age as you Twi, she's signed up in becoming a teacher at Canterlot High."

"WHAT?!"

"Does that mean we'll soon have a princess as a teacher?" Snips asked. "Cool." he and Snails commented.

Sunset levitated the book over to herself and skimmed through the words. "Principal Celestia wants to talk to us, when the week is over, if that is okay with your schedule, she writes." The yellow unicorn turned towards Twilight.

"Come on guys." Spike spoke up. "Can't it wait? I'm starving."

"Do you want a dog treat?" Sunset asked.

Unbeknownst to all, Derpy was already finished. She found moving in a pony body and doing everyday stuff much easier, than in her human body. Which cannot be said for the others. Another reason Twilight set up this small dinner was, so no one would embarrass him or herself in front of the entire town.

XIII

"Phew, ah'm beat." Human AJ stretched her fingers after they were done with rehearsing. "Yeah, I could use something with lots of sugar in it." Rainbow said, throwing an empty water bottle in a nearby trashcan.

The group of five exited the building and straight headed towards Sugercube corner. "Hey Pinks, can you make me one special, when we're there?"

"Okie, dokie, lokie, Dashie." It was not a workday for Pinkie, but she still was allowed inside the kitchen. The skies were clear today, showing all the stars shining down. Rarity looked up, sighing and enjoying the sight. "We certainly took our time today."

"Well duh. Everything's gotta be perfect for our grand show." Rainbow said, putting both fists into the air.

"But...umm, don't we need to rehearse...with the others from..."over there"?" Fluttershy pointed out.

"You're absolutely right." Rarity agreed.

The group entered Sugercube Corner. Only one other customer was present, but they were too focused on themselves to even notice. "Pinkie, while ya at it, can ya bring me one too?"

"Alrighty. What about you girls?"

"Well, after such a tiring day, I could use something like this as well."

Fluttershy nodded. "I know. I feel a little tired after using so much magic on purpose. I can still feel my pony ears. Umm, they are gone, aren't they?" She checked her head.

"They're. But not your wings." Fluttershy eeped and franticly looked over her back, only to find out Pinkie had been joking with her. The girls all giggled and Fluttershy blushed a little, but she smiled as well.

"Be right back girls." Pinkie walked over into the storage room to get an apron, before walking into the kitchen. Officially she had to wear one every time she was in the kitchen.

"Woo wee. Now that ya mention it Fluttershy, ah feel pretty beat too. This all magic stuff ain't as easy as it sounds, when Sunset and Twilight talked about it." AJ leaned back into the comfy chair, sweating a little.

"But it is totally awesome doing that. I mean watch this." Rainbow started humming "Better than ever" and allowed the pegasus magic to flow freely through her body. After a few seconds pony ears appeared on her head. Slowly wings started growing out of her back, but all of the sudden she stopped her humming and slammed her head on the table. Her ears and wings disappeared.

"I think I'm out of juice."

"Good thing I brought the fuel." Pinkie placed a glass in front of Rainbow and placed four more glasses on the table. "Oh thanks Pinks. You're a life saver."

"Mmm, marvelous darling. Simply marvelous." Rarity complimented Pinkie's extra sweet drink. It was a special milkshake in everyone's favorite flavor and some "secret ingredients". Knowing Pinkie, no one dared to ask what really was inside. Besides, nowadays everything can be found in the food that could be bought inside the local supermarkets. Human bodies have to be at least a little poison resistant.

"I wonder how Sunset is doing. I don't know how I would feel, going home after all those years." Fluttershy looked down at her drink.

"Relax Flutters, I'm sure she's fine." Rainbow assured.

"Why don't we check the book?" Pinkie asked. Fluttershy opened her back. "Oh, it's glowing." She took it out and opened it. A smile crept onto her face. Pinkie looked into it and her eyes widened. "WHAT? The Pinkie over there has a party canon?! I want one too!"

XIII

Sunset felt totally dizzy after being shot by the party canon. All kinds of candy were stuck inside her hair, along with melted chocolate on her tail. The ponies around her cheered and laughed at the sight before them and stomped with their hooves on the ground.

The High school students laughed, but they wouldn't laugh for long. "Alright Pinks. Fully loaded." Rainbow Dash announced.

"Alright girls! Take aim!" Rarity and Applejack readjusted the party canon, which was now aiming at the CHS Snips and Snails.

"No!"

"Show mercy!"

The two tried to run away, but were soon enveloped in purple magic. Twilight, having an evil smile on her face, floated them right in front of the canon. "No escape from the "Welcome to Equestria Ritual"."

"I didn't sign up for this!"

"I wanna talk to my lawyer!"

"I call diplomatic immunity!"

"Look at this. They can think, when they want to." Sunset mumbled.

"3!" Pinkie announced.

"2!" Spike shouted, holding up a sapphire cupcake.

"1!" The crowd cheered.

"MERCY!" Snips and Snails were embracing each other and shaking like mad.

BAM!

Vinyl was carefully hiding under the table, where the music was being played on. Too bad her tail gave her away. Spike pulled her out from under there and placed her in front of the canon while she was still in hunker down position with her hooves over her sunglasses. Too late she noticed she wasn't under the table anymore.

For Derpy a bunch of muffins were loaded into the canon. She was the only one who enjoyed it.

Lyra was a bit tougher. She had a cuteness overload from all the ponies around her. She had been "observing" the behavior of all of ponies. She wanted to write a book about her experience here, but her senses were simply overwhelmed by such a huge crowd of aliens.

Pinkie gave her some kind of "syrup", so both she and Bon-Bon would be aware of being shot by the canon.

Flash put on a brave face for Twilight, but couldn't prevent his body from shaking. He got a cupcake straight on his muzzle and it stuck there for a minute or two, causing uproar of laughter from the townsfolk.

After everyone passed their "ritual" it went on like any other party made by Pinkie Pie. The human Lyra got a bandanna over her eyes and was spun around a few times, before she needed to put a tail on a pony picture. Add to the dizziness the fact she still wasn't completely accustomed to her new body, it got very adventurous. Bon-Bon at least tried to push Lyra in the right direction, but-

Knock, knock.

Sunset stopped mid-writing. She was lying in her guest bed and turned her head towards the door. "Who is it?"

"It's me Twilight."

Sunset titled her head and trotted over to the door and opened it with her magic, when she was halfway there. "What's up?"

"Oh, just saw you still had the lights on and thought I'd ask what was keeping you up." Twilight answered.

"I'm writing to our friends over there. Telling them what happened today."

Twilight's eyes lit up. "Do you mind if I write a few sentences myself?" she asked.

"Sure. Come in. My memory is a little fuzzy anyway. Too many cupcakes."

Twilight walked inside. Sunset levitated the book over to a desk, where she and Twilight placed themselves on two chairs. "I was just telling them about how Lyra accidentally put the tail on Bon's flank."

The two girls giggled. "Not as funny as when Pinkie started to dance and slammed Flash and Derpy accidentally into the crowd." Twilight levitated a feather of her own and started writing.

"Don't forget the eating contest between you and the major." Sunset grinned evilly and wrote it down, right under Twilight's writing.

XIII

The humane five giggled over the happenings at the party in Equestria.

"Sure wish ah woulda have seen it all with mah own two eyes." AJ stated as Fluttershy closed the book and put it into her bag."

"Oh, look at the time. We better head home." Rarity said, pointing at her watch.

"Hey girls, how about one last song before we go? I'm sooooooo full of energy right now." Pinkie made a gesture with her arms.

"Umm, are you sure? What if anybody sees us?" Fluttershy pointed out.

"Ah, come on. Everyone who's going around at this time will think he had too much booze. Besides, we're pretty much alone here." Rainbow pointed out. None of them had seen the other guest just going into the bathroom a minute ago.

"Alright dears, but only humming. I won't be able to speak tomorrow if we sing." Rarity said.

"Alright girls. One, two, three."

They all started humming better than ever, with Pinkie using her fingers as drumsticks. She hammered them down on everything she could find. Sure enough, after they began they started transforming into anthros. Although it strained them a little bit, it was always a wonderful feeling and helped them in getting rid of that extra sugar in their systems.

XIII

Spike barked happily as his owner returned home. Twilight immediately ran downstairs and turned her computer on. "I was right Spike. Something IS going on in that school." she said, while impatiently waiting for her PC to boot up.

A scratch on her leg reminded her that she needed to feed her dog.

"Urrgh, you're going to get fat at this rate." she playfully told her dog and ruffled his head. She filled his bowl with his favorite dog food. By the time she finished, her PC was online. She hooked her Smartphone towards the thing and started printing the photos she made. She also made a copy of the video she took of first that one girl singing and then them all together.

The finished photos she pinned on her blackboard and took a few steps back, taking thinking position.

"Pony ears, tails and wings? What the hell is up with this?"

She wrote a few words on a paper and pinned it next to the pictures.

Magic (?!?)

Music

Singing

Twilight put a hand under her chin. I haven't been seeing things. I have the photos. I better keep an close eye on those five.

Friends and Family

Sunset woke up with the first lights of the sun coming through the window. As she slowly got herself together, she needed time to realize she didn't have any hands anymore. It's been a while since she has woken up as a pony. It just felt weird. It was supposed to feel right, but it just was alien to her. And if she was honest with herself, this kind of feeling scared her. Feeling alien to your own body, who has ever heard of this?

Calm down Sunset. It's been a few years, you'll get used to it. And I think I'll spend the next vacation in Ponyville in order to get completely used to it. Mmmm, this bed is so comfortable. Urrgh, Celestia, you're shining the sun directly into my eyes on purpose, aren't you?

Sometimes Sunset thought Celestia only approved the project in order to punish Sunset with her trolling ways. Annoying her with the sun was probably only the beginning.

Slowly she got up and started getting ready for the day, only to realize she didn't have any plans. There was no school for her for the next few days and the only friend she really had here was Twilight, who would be too occupied with going after her responsibilities as a princess.

Maybe getting into a little routine would help her. So first things first, she got in front of the mirror in her room and started brushing her mane. Good, so next would be...

Well ponies didn't necessary wear clothes, so it would be straight to breakfast. Opening the door with magic, which came on instinct, she followed the hallway down to where she remembered the dining room being. To her surprise, only Twilight was sitting on the table. Huh, must be pretty early.

"Good morning Sunset."

"Morning Twilight." She placed herself on the table, looking over everything that was prepared for everypony currently residing in the castle. "Wow, the best for the guest?" Sunset asked. Twilight giggled. "Oh you don't know what they originally wanted to bring in here every day." Twilight shook her head, biting from her toast, while reading a letter. There were five more lying atop of each other on the table.

"You know, I've heard working at breakfast is unhealthy." Sunset pointed at the stack of papers.

"She's right, sugercube." Applejack stepped inside from the kitchen. "I tell ya, all those "cooks" ain't know a thin' 'bout apple pies. Good thin' ah decided to double check, so the Apple Family Reunion ain't gonna be a bust."

"That is today? The AJ from my world had hers last week." Sunset almost lost her appetite. "Never, ever ate that much apple pie. Too much apple pie."

AJ laughed up. "You and Twi both. But yeah, we needed to hold it later, 'cause of mah royal duties."

"YOUR royal duties?" Sunset asked. "Yeah. Me and the others volunteered on helping Twi out, 'cause she was totally overdoin' it. Again." Twilight blushed a little in embarrassment. "And stop right now girl!"

"I-I'm almost done. Really. Just these few more documents. I probably only need to give them my signature."

"You said that one hour ago with 6 other letters laying there." Applejack deadpanned. Sunset muffled a chuckle. "Twilight, have you ever heard of burnout syndrome?" Sunset asked.

"What's that?" AJ asked.

"Well...how do I explain it? You guys don't use electricity here...It's like, when you work, you know that your body gets hot, right?"

"Right..." AJ nodded.

"Well, it's a matter of speaking, but burnout syndrome is basically overworking your brain. Like it burns and get damaged. Not literally burned to crisp or something, but it happens a lot to humans who do too much paperwork all the time, stressing out their brains, without giving them a rest. When you have it, you basically can't work anymore. You're worn out, can't focus, it differs a little bit from case to case. And sometimes you never recover."

AJ spit out her cider. "Alright, that's it girl. No more work for you, for the rest of the day."

Sunset snickered at Applejack's over protectiveness. It came to a slight argument, in which it seemed like Twilight had barely taken a day off in weeks, either focusing on her paperwork or doing stuff for the project.

XIII

Sunset remembered that there were some things she needed to have done for her friends, so she decided she might as well have it done today, so she didn't forget it. Back in her room, she picked up her saddlebag and went into the town of Ponyville. She noted two guards standing outside, wearing some kind of purple armor. Obviously "Friendship" guards.

Don't look very friendly to me. They feel out of place.

There weren't many of them however and all of them were stationed in or around the castle. You barely met them face to face.

First stop was Sugercube Corner, where Snips and Snails were hanging out again with their counterparts, chuckling as if they were planning something. Something that would, with a 99% chance, go totally wrong. They didn't notice Sunset and seeing as they were having fun, she didn't bother interrupting them in their fun.

Pinkie was jumping out of the kitchen. Her usual already big smile got even bigger, when she saw Sunset approaching. "Hey Sunset, watcha want? A cupcake? A muffin? A milkshake? A cake? Two cakes?"

"Well, you see, the Pinkie Pie from the human world asked for snacks I can-"

"REALLY?!" Pinkie jumped up high. "Oh, oh, what does she want?! What does she want?!"

Pinkie was now uncomfortably close to Sunset's face. "She didn't say. She just wanted a bunch of stuff to try, you know, stuff I can give her on Sunday..."

"Okie~dokie~lokie!" Pinkie cheered. "Anything you want?" she asked. "Uhh...no thanks. Just had breakfast."

"Okily! See you later!"

Good, that is done. Next Rarity.

XIII

Sunset met the Lyras and Bon-Bon's at the park. The Bon's were laying on a blanket, talking and commenting on the Lyras performing magic. Sunset giggled, as she saw Canterlot High Lyra struggling with spells only small unicorns had problems normally.

"This thing weights a ton!" C-Lyra exclaimed, sweating bullets.

"It's just a rock." P-Lyra commented with a smile.

"A heavy rock!"

About 5 cm in length. Two cm in height? Sunset thought to herself. Snorting, she continued her walk until she finally arrived at Rarity's place. She still made most of her designs in her old home, simply because she had more space there, since Twilight occupied the basement with her science stuff.

Rarity was in the middle of...something. She was randomly levitating up some fabrics and looking at them critically, before placing them on nearby tables in some kind of order only she could see through.

"Rarity? Sorry, you got a moment?"

"Ah." Rarity turned around. "Sunset Shimmer. How can I help you?"

"Well, actually, I got something for you." Sunset opened her back and levitated some papers towards Rarity, who took over with her own magic. "These are from the Rarity in the human world. She thought you'd be interested and asks if you could give her some of your own designs."

"Oh my, these are absolutely fabulous!" Rarity exclaimed. She looked over a few designs. "Ah, so this is how humans look like. Hmm? What are these on the chest of this one?" Rarity asked. She was pointing at a sketch with roughly drawn humans on it. The others contained clothes for humans.

"These are human "attractors". Only females have them."

"Ah, I see." Rarity nodded understanding. "Humans always wear clothes?"

"If not they would freeze to death. They don't have fur. It's also embarrassing to have certain parts exposed, if you catch my drift. Plus there's a tolerance level as to how much is allowed to be exposed here and there." Sunset pointed with her hoof. "Else they could call you things like slut or something."

"That's pretty detailed." Rarity remarked.

"Better tell you before something embarrassing happen."

Rarity got back into looking through the sketches, while Sunset looked around the boutique. Her eyes rested on some pony clothes resting on a few mannequins. "These look good."

"Why thank you darling." Rarity put the sketches aside and returned in doing what she had been doing from the beginning. "What are you doing?" The yellow mare asked. "Oh, well I think the castle looks a little....blank."

"Now that you mention it...you're right. There's almost nothing there."

"Exactly darling. *sigh* But is so difficult to decide what is right. But then again, the castle has a charm of itself being so blank. I simply cannot overdo it or else I'll simply ruin everything." she spoke in an over-dramatic way.

She held up another purple fabric and tossed it away. "No, no, no. This all doesn't seem right. Maybe I should put my attention to something else. Oh, right. The other me wanted some designs." Rarity turned to Sunset. "Hmm..."

"W-what?" Sunset Shimmer stammered.

"Would you mind letting me take your measurements? A little side project would probably help me getting an inspiration. It sometimes just so happens, when I work on one design, it gives me ideas for others."

"Eh...sure. I guess. I just never really wore any clothes as a pony. Would be a first for me."

"What? But you come from Canterlot! Don't tell me you spent your time behind books, like Twilight did?"

Sunset shrugged. "As far as I know I was even worse. Twilight at least had Spike to go out with every so often. I just studied with Princess Celestia, ate, studied in the school for gifted unicorns, ate, studied, sleep, breakfast and then from the beginning. Sometimes I pulled out an all nighter."

"And your family?" Rarity asked.

Sunset's frown deepened and became dark. "Never had one. Suckers left me in front of the orphanage and walked away. No message, no picture, not even a name. Tartarus, my caretaker needed to give me a new one. I don't even know my birth name."

Rarity's face became a shocked one and she dropped the measure tape she had been levitating this whole time. "Oh my, I didn't know. I'm sorry for-"

"Don't be, you didn't know." Sunset took in a deep breath. "Heh, just had a déjà vu. On the other side, I first spoke with Rarity about it too, when she was taking my measurements for a proper outfit for our band. The others had been eavesdropping and it ended with them falling to the ground, through the kitchen door."

Sunset smiled sadly. "I'm such a lucky bitch. Having friends like them, like you guys, despite everything I've done." Rarity put a hoof on Sunset's shoulder and smiled reassuringly. "Thanks Rarity."

"No problem. Now come, get over here."

XIII

Since she already visited Pinkie Pie and Rarity, Sunset Shimmer decided to visit the rest of Twilight's friends as well. Fluttershy came next on her mental list. Rarity had given her the direction towards her cottage.

Fluttershy's home was next to the Everfree Forest. Sunset herself had never been in there, but had heard rumors.

The yellow pegasus was momentarily tending a...bear. Sunset raised an eyebrow at just how tame the bear was. There were squirrels, mice and other small animals around who didn't seem to be bothered in the least.

"There Mr. Bear. Soon your claw will be all better."

The bear almost purred like a cat in return. Fluttershy finally noticed Sunset. "Oh, hello Sunset. You can come over, if you don't mind that is."

She's even shyer, than the human Fluttershy.

Sunset walked over to her and her animal friends. "Wow, you sure take care of a lot of animals." she said, looking all around them. "Isn't that a bit much for you doing it all alone?"

"Oh no, not at all." She shook her head and flew over. "It's not a problem. And I love spending time with all of my animal friends." Some birds flew on her back and chirped happily. Sunset had never seen so many different kinds of birds in her life.

"What brings you here? If you don't mind me asking."

"You seriously need to stop with the "if you don't mind"." The unicorn advised. "You know, you don't come over as rude if you simply ask a question or something."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

Sunset mentally rolled her eyes. "Ugh, I see we have a long way to go. Listen, just because you're the element of kindness, doesn't mean you have to be like you're now. You see..."

BUT

In the end it was all in vain. Sunset only tried to help Fluttershy, but she wasn't exactly a therapist. And Fluttershy would need at least three in order to open up more to ponies around her. Now wait a minute. This here Fluttershy and the other Fluttershy both loved animals. Yet ponies are considered animals in the human world.

Oh dear...

Sunset and Fluttershy walked back to the castle together for lunch. Snips and Snails arrived there with their manes burned down.

"What the heck have you two been up to?" Sunset asked.

"Well, you see Sunset Shimmer. It was just a little prank. Nothing too serious." Snips explained.

"Nothing too serious? You guys are burned."

"Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to tease Spike with pepper." Snails muttered. Sunset looked up and shook her head. A loud crash from the inside caught their attention. "Ooops. Sorry Rainbow Dash." Derpy said.

XIII

Applejack wasn't there for lunch, spending time with her family. Pinkie as well, because as it turned out, there just so was the slight chance of Pinkie being related to the Apple family.

"You know there's an easy way to check that." Sunset said between bites. Twilight looked up. "There is?"

"DNA-test." Flash Sentry interjected. "The DNA is something like a blueprint of your body. We can send a hair of Applejack and one of Pinkie Pie to a lab and two to three weeks later we have the results."

"Really?! How does it work?! This is so exciting! Can you tell me more?"

"Here we go again." Rainbow muttered.

"Wait. If we send the DNA of this world's Pinkie Pie and Applejack, they'll find out we send pony DNA." Sunset pointed out. "I got it."

XIII

Pinkie Pie was in charge on keeping an eye on Sunset's book. She was currently at home in her rome, sitting at her computer and hammering with her fingers all over the table (yes, drumstick players do that; it's a habit they can't shut off; they always follow a rhythm and look for things that resembles their instruments).

Pinkie liked experimenting and finding her own cupcake recipes. She always put them up in a forum and tried out the recipes of other people who posted them. All of the sudden there was a buzz sound. At first she thought it was her phone, but it wasn't. She followed the sound and found out, the book was glowing.

"Oooh, Sunny wrote something. I better tell the girls. But before that, let's see what she has written."

"Uh huh....interesting......no surprise there.......WHAT?!?!"

XIII

Applejack walked over to the door. The way the person outside was knocking at it, she already knew who it was. "Alright Pinks, calm down. Ah'm coming." She opened the door and found a Pinkie Pie, who looked like she had too much coffee.

"Hello cousin!"

Eeyup, definitely too much coffee.

XIII

"What in tarnation?!" AJ exclaimed as she read the message Sunset Shimmer left for them.

"I know right, it's absolutely exciting!" Pinkie exclaimed throwing confetti all over the place. "What's up sis? Oh, hi Pinkie Pie." Applebloom greeted. "Watcha doing here?" Big Mac entered the room as well. AJ saw it was probably the best now to tell everyone.

"Uh....Pinkie Pie here....she uh..."

"Yes?" Applebloom pressed.

"Well, Sunset texted us from over there ya know." Applejack began.

"Yeah? How does that whole magic stuff even work?" AB asked.

"Ain't the point, sis. Ya see, over there they found some documents about their AJs and Pinkie Pie's family. Turned out we maghta be related."

"WHAT?!"

Effects of the Butterfly

"I told you not to call me anymore." Twilight said annoyed into the phone.

"Twily-" her brother began, but was interrupted by his sister. "DON'T call me that. So unless it is something important I'm going to hang up. I'm really busy, you know."

"Twilight, look I'm really sorry. I-"

Twilight hung up and placed the phone away. She made a mental note to change her phone number, but then she remembered it would be pointless. Her parents would give the number to her brother anyway.

She only could hope her so called brother would never call her again. Ah, who was she kidding? He probably would never learn it. As if he was feeling the distress of his mistress, Spike walked up and put both paws on her legs. Twilight giggled and picked him, placing herself on the couch of her living room, where she started to cuddle him. "At least you will always be on my side, won't you?"

Spike licked her face a few times. "Yes and that's why you're my number one assistant." She lay down on her couch and placed Spike on her stomach, petting him lazily, while he was making it himself comfortable.

Of course she lied to her brother with being busy. All she could do was waiting for Monday to come and her new job to start. She already knew she would be taking over chemistry classes. She was qualified in way more, but that was the only place that was open. But it was actually good, since it gave her free time for her investigation.

She looked over the stack of papers on the table. This was the material she prepared for her classes. The hardest part had been finding the right stuff for the different grades and not picking out material you had to study for. Of course she would have to ask, where the classes left off, before she would be really able to start teaching. It certainly would be a nice side effect increasing the average grades of the students.

Spike suddenly jumped off and brought back a leash. "Alright boy. I guess a little walk would do me a little good too."

Twilight closed the door and Spike walked ahead a little the regular path the two took. However, he never ran too far off. Twilight tried to keep her thoughts away from her brother, but as always when you try to keep your thoughts away from something, you end up thinking about it a lot.

The soon to be teacher tightened the grip of her end of the leach. Stupid brother, you're just distracting me unnecessarily. She thought to herself.

Twilight decided to make a stop at the local burger joint. Eating your frustration away wasn't exactly healthy, but right now she really needed it. She also brought Spike some chicken nuggets and some water.

After finishing her burger, Twilight felt slightly better. Her dog finished the nuggets a long time ago and was enjoying the warm sun shining down on him. His owner started with the fries, when she suddenly choked on one. Two of the girls who had picked her interest came out of the joint and placed themselves not so far away from her. Near enough for her to overhear their conversation.

"Goodness. This is really exciting. Imagine if it turns out to be true." Fluttershy spoke, before she started eating on her salad.

"Yeah, I know. And next Apple Family Reunion our band is going to play some awesome tunes for them." Rainbow Dash threw up a chicken nugget and it fell right into her mouth. "Wait a minute. If the whole family from there comes over here...Do we even have enough space for two Apple Families?" Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy laughed, though the latter was a little more restrained.

"Oh my goodness, Rainbow." Fluttershy said between giggles. "How are the two Big Macintoshs going to have a conversation?" Rainbow Dash slammed her fist on the table. "Good one Shy. I can't wait to see that happen." The blue girl accidentally dropped one of her nuggets. Spike used the opportunity and walked over, eating the nugget. He had a nose for those kinds of things.

"Spike. Get over here."

That voice immediately caught the attention of Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. Their eyes went wide, when they found Twilight directing Spike to take a place right next to her. She didn't see the two staring at them or going over to her. So she was genuinely surprised and let out a short, high pitched shriek, when Fluttershy was suddenly sitting in front of her and Rainbow Dash was sitting next to her.

"Hey, what's up?" Rainbow greeted.

"W-what are you doing here?!" Twilight exclaimed.

Fluttershy flinched away a little. "Relax." Rainbow tried to reassure. "We just heard, you're going to be at our teacher from next week."

"Y-you did?"

"Yep." Rainbow nodded in confirmation. "The whole school has heard of the youngest teacher ever."

Twilight felt like she was ready to faint. "B-but how do you know it was me?"

"Oh, we saw you, when you came to school. Maybe you've heard us practicing."

"Yes, I…have. I think. B-but how does the entire school know about me?" Rainbow shrugged and munched on her burger. "Rumors spread pretty fast at CHS. We happen to meet the principal and she told us not to confuse you with a student."

"Oh yes." Fluttershy spoke up, but pulled back, when everyone was looking at her. "Oh…I'm sorry. Was…I rude?" she whispered.

"Uh…no." Twilight spoke slowly. "No need to apologize."

"Oh, I'm sorry." "Shy, stop apologizing already." Rainbow shook her head. "Anyways, I'm Rainbow Dash and that's Fluttershy. We're part of the band, the Rainbooms."

"Nice to….meet you." Twilight was still hesitant. "I'm Twilight Sparkle and I'm going to teach chemistry at Canterlot High."

"Uh huh. Well, I don't have that stuff anymore, so I guess I won't be seeing you much teach." Rainbow said the last word in a slight mocking tone.

"Yeah, I guess." Grr, how long are those two going to chat with me?!

"Oh, I just remembered, I need to go home, you know….preparing my first class and all… hehehe…come on Spike."

"Oh my goodness." Fluttershy was from one second to the other, bending down next to Spike. "Aren't you a cute little fella? Oh, I wish you could speak just like the other Spike."

"The other Spike?" Twilight repeated. Fluttershy froze, but Rainbow Dash came quick to the rescue. "She just means a…a parrot. Yeah, she means a parrot whose name is Spike." Rainbow gave Fluttershy a quick glare, before smiling up to Twilight again, who was looking at them not so convinced.

"Right, anyways. I need to go now. See you in school."

"Bye."

XIII

Twilight sighed in relief when she and Spike arrived at home. There had been no more encounters and she actually had been able to get her thoughts away from her brother. Unfortunately they wouldn't stay away for long, because as it just so happened, she had a visitor. And it wasn't Shining Armor.

"Cadance." Twilight spoke in a deadpan matter. She actually had nothing against Cadance, but she could put two and two together. "My brother send you here, didn't he?"

"Actually, he didn't want me to come." Cadance replied. "But I had a feeling we really need to talk."

"There's nothing to discuss." Twilight still let her inside.

"So this is your new home, huh? Where's good old Spike?"

"Sleeping upstairs."

Twilight made herself and Cadance some coffee. The other girl in the meantime placed herself on the kitchen table. Twilight placed two mugs on the table and sat down herself.

"So tell me, what have you been up to lately?" Cadance tried to begin a casual conversation. "I've become a teacher at the local high school." Cadance choked on her coffee after hearing that. Twilight obviously wasn't in the mood for making jokes, so she immediately came to the point.

"You? A teacher? Twilight, are you sure about that?"

"I am. I have my reasons." Twilight replied, looking down on her mug. "Care to share?" her former babysitter asked. Twilight didn't answer. Instead she said: "Cadance, I'm not in the mood for this. I know why you're here and I'll say it again: no."

The other girl sighed. This wasn't going so well.

"You can't be angry at him forever. Twilight, even I gave him a second chance after that….let's call it fiasco."

"Fiasco…?" Twilight repeated in a dangerously low tone. "Sure. Let's call it a "fiasco". Just a little "misunderstanding"." Twilight slammed her hands on the table, barely able to keep herself in check. Before she could scream out loud, she inhaled some deep breaths, before continuing in a neutral tone. "If you have to be here, can we please talk about something else than your husband?"

Cadance took another sip and carefully placed the mug on the table. "He's not my husband, Twilight."

"…!"

"I broke up with him after…you know actually better than I do."

"And what was that about a second chance?" Twilight asked.

"Let's just say, I'm not rushing things anymore. He has to make up for his mistakes and I think everyone deserves a second chance. Besides, it just doesn't feel right to hold the wedding without you organizing it."

Twilight drank half the cup at once. "Well, the only thing I plan on organizing are my daily lessons." She just replied. Cadance cringed under the coldness of Twilight's voice. She realized, maybe a little too late, that if she continued this, Twilight would soon reject her too.

"So, back to being a teacher, what are you going to teach?"

"…Chemistry. They only had a place open for that subject. However, I'll be teaching other subjects as well, in case other teachers get sick."

"Twilight, honestly, I wouldn't expect they would even give you a chance, after…sorry. Maybe I should just go home."

"NO!...No, it's fine, really."

Cadance looked up. It seemed she didn't lose all her points with Twilight. "Actually, now that you mention it, they didn't mention it even once. Principal Celestia and Luna talked about my doctor titles…the private schools I visited…they even were interested in Spike. I mentioned him at one point. They suggested I let a student take care of him, in case I don't have time. Her name was…Fluttershy, I think." Maybe it was the girl I met today. She seems pretty interested in animals, the way she was looking at Spike. It was almost as if she was addicted.

"That's good to hear. And hey, maybe I'm wrong and this job is perfect for you. You're the smartest girl I know, probably THE smartest girl in the world."

"Th-thanks." Twilight blushed a little and FINALLY smiled. "I'll give my best, tough I'm a little nervous. I met two students, who immediately recognized me. Apparently the whole school already knows about me."

Cadance blinked in surprise. "Are you sure?"

"They seem pretty convinced. Their band had been practicing, I've heard them. They apparently have seen me. Their principal told them about me and then rumors spread pretty fast."

Twilight looked to the side. Cadance finished her coffee and thought about what Twilight said here. Clearly bringing Twilight to talk to her brother was out of question for now. And probably a pretty LONG time in the future ahead. But Twilight had another problem, one with which Cadance would be able to reconnect to the girl.

I owe you this much Twilight. No, it isn't even enough for what you did for me in the past. If only you'd finally start to make some friends.

…

I think I'm going to have another talk with her brother. But one thing at a time.

XIII

Twilight and Cadance walked this evening Spike together, at least until they arrived at the train station, where they said their goodbyes. Twilight was a little sad that Cadance had to go, while the latter was relieved the two were still in good terms with each other. A little more pressing and Cadance would have lost Twilight's trust, which was difficult to obtain in the first place. Well, not for her, having babysit Twilight in the past, but still.

Twilight in the meantime needed to take the way back around the school, since it was faster. There she met yet two other students.

"Calm down, sugercube. We still need to wait for a few weeks. Though, ah admit it would be exciting if it turns out to be true…cousin."

"Awww, AJ!" Pinkie hugged Applejack, who returned the hug, laughing. "Hahaha, that's enough Pinkie Pie. Oh hey, look. Howdy Miss Sparkle."

"Aww, cutie, little doggie!" Spike was a dog, who easily warmed up to other people, so he accepted the petting he was getting from the pink girl.

"Ah'm mighty sorry about that. That girl has too much energy." Applejack smiled at Twilight, who suppressed a sigh. "So, it is true. Everyone knows about me already."

"Of course!" Pinkie jumped up.

"AHH!"

"I was like OH MY GOSH! SHE JUST LOOKS LIKE OUR FRIEND! But then principal Celestia came and told us you're our new teacher! So I decided to tell everyone!"

AJ maybe should have stopped Pinkie Pie at one point, but she just talked too fast.

"YOU told everyone?!" the new teacher asked aghast.

"Sorry 'bout that." Applejack raised an arm. "She just gets over the top pretty often. We should have stopped her, when she did that."

Twilight shook her head in order to get it clear. "Just do me a favor and don't do this again."

"Okie-dokie-lokie! Oh, oh, oh! I know! Why don't you come with us to Sugercube Corner?! We can have a small celebrate you becoming our new teacher?!"

…

"Is that a bribe?"

"What in tarnation are ya talking about?" Applejack moved in front of Pinkie Pie. She didn't like the tone her new teacher had gotten. "She's just beein' friendly. I don't care whether you're a teacher or not, I won't let ya talk to mah family like that!"

Twilight took a step back, crossing her arms defensively over her chest.

"Applejack, you're scaring her."

AJ pushed her head a little down, covering her eyes. "Sorry 'bout that, sugar. I get a little overprotective, when it comes to family."

"I-I understand." Twilight relaxed a little. "But…family? You two look nothing alike."

"Oh well, ya see…uh….how do ah put this…." Dang, why's Rare not here? She's the one best at lying!

"Well…"

"Our friend, who was studying genealogy found a document about our ancestors and we might be veeeeeeeeeeeeeeeery distant cousins! We just sent our DNA and I can't waaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit for the result."

"So, to sum it up, you actually still don't know if you two are related." Twilight summarized.

"Ah, shugs. What's there against some wishful thinkin'?"

A lot miss country girl. A lot.

"Well darn tootin'. Look at the time. You sure you don't wanna tag along Miss Twilight?"

"…!"

"Yes and take cute little Spikey with us!" Pinkie cheered.

"…"

"Miss Twilight?"

"How do you know my first name? And how do you know the name of my dog?"

"Well…ah…gotta go!" Applejack grabbed Pinkie's hand and the two ran away, Pinkie thinking they were playing a game of tag.

Spike placed himself down next to his owner, looking after the girls as they disappeared behind a corner, his tongue hanging out.

"These girls are most definitely hiding something. But why do they seem to know so much about me?" She looked over to the school. "It's still open. Thank god this school has an astronomy club. Okay, now to the school archives. Spike, wait here for me."

"Bark! Bark!"

Twilight walked inside.

Hmm, now where are the archives? Probably close to the library.

Twilight walked around for a little bit. Luckily she found a fire escape plan and now knew where she had to go. She came across a glass shelf with various trophies inside. "Hmm, the fall formal princess….huh? There some years missing, but the name tags are still there. Sunset Shimmer. I wonder why they removed her picture? WAIT WHAT?! T-T-T-Twilight S-S-S-S-Sparkle?!"

Why's there a picture of me in there?! I've never worn that dress!

"Princess Twilight Sparkle brought the magic of friendship back to Canterlot High. May others follow her great example. What the hell is this?! What's going on?!"

No wonder they knew about me. Talk like the other Spike?! Another Spike? Another me? This is getting crazier by the minute! This has to be some kind of sick joke!

XIII

The school archives didn't hold anything about another Twilight Sparkle. I found out that Sunset Shimmer was attending school a little before she won her first Fall Formal.

I met one of the other teachers. When I asked, I heard she used unjust methods to win, that's why her pictures had been removed. By her own insistence no less. When I asked further, I was told that she changed after recognizing her mistakes. She even did a lot of charity work and other things for the school to "redeem" herself.

I couldn't find out more. My colleague was called to the office.

Something was going on here. I had a hunch Sunset Shimmer was somehow involved in all this. A person doesn't change from one day to the other.

And that photo of me…

Chapter 6

A chapter that is SO boring that it doesn't deserve a name.

I mean it. Nothing's happening.

It's been a while since Sunset Shimmer had been mentally exhausted. She had gone through a crash course of everything about magic she had missed in the past years and Twilight had been merciless with her. Not that Sunset would have wanted it any other way, but now her brain was burned out. So she had asked Vinyl to borrow her laptop, in order to give her brain a rest by watching a movie.

In the meantime the C-Vinyl was with the P-Vinyl together preparing a gig. They had managed to connect Cs mp3 with Ps equipment, with the help of magic. Of course the human Vinyl couldn't help much with the equipment, not being used to the body she was currently in. But she could handle the music.

She had songs with her from various famous bands in her world as well as a few songs from the Rainbooms. Everypony was excited about tonight and the disco was completely filled within the first half an hour.

Vinyl once again saw a demonstration of how ponies actually danced. She had first seen it Twilight doing it at the Fall Formal and now when she compared it to what she saw now: Twilight totally could NOT dance.

Handling the discs was no different than from home. It turned out they didn't broke as easy as at home, so they could handle the pressure that came from hooves, instead of fingers.

The ponies obviously liked the human music and sometimes they were singing along with it. It didn't sound right with their voices. Except when they sang along with the Rainbooms. After some time Vinyl thought of it like any other gig she had been part of and just enjoyed the music like she normally did.

They partied until the next morning, where she and the other Vinyl had the tedious task of getting the equipment back to Vinyl's place and then the human Vinyl still needed to head to the castle, where she stumbled into her room. She found her laptop on the desk, along with a note from Sunset Shimmer, telling her Sunset recharged the laptop with her magic.

Tired out from the night, Vinyl just collapsed on her bed. She would never get used into sleeping on her bed back at home, that's for sure.

XIII

"Why sister, you look like you had a good night." Celestia commented as she saw her sister tired, but happy sitting at breakfast or as for Luna it was pretty much dinner time.

"Oh sister, it was wonderful. Seeing ponies finally enjoying the night as well as the day..." The princess of night let out a relieved sigh. Celestia chuckled and silently listened to Luna's experience the last night. The sun princess just hoped her sibling didn't abandon her duties too much, watching the ponies having fun.

"And when I came back, I found this in my room." Luna levitated up a box with a letter on it.

I'm really, really, REALLY sorry for not being able to party this night for you Princess.

I'll promise the next time, I'll party even harder!

Your most loyal party thrower extraordinaire subject,

Pinkie Pie

"How did she get into my room? It seems my guards have been slacking off. I shall give them the proper punishment later."

Celestia shook her head, laughing. "Don't blame the guards, Lulu. Nopony understands how the mare does what she does. What's inside the box?"

Luna opened it with her magic and smiled wryly. "A cake."

Celestia's head jumped up. The day was already starting very good.

XIII

Celestia's day could have continued better, but if everything would work out just right, she wouldn't have to deal with those kind problems anymore in the upcoming future. Two nations had been arguing with each other about some mines, which lay directly at the border of the two nations. Equestria was often called as a neutral party in order to get things settled without a war.

But war will be a thing of the past. And eventually it will be as good as forgotten. I never thought the day would actually come where mother's dream would actually become reality.

Moreover, her old student had finally returned to Equestria. Celestia couldn't wait to introduce her to Luna. A part of her wanted to straight teleport to the castle and spend more time with Sunset Shimmer. Only problem was, her royal duties were holding her back.

So, after taking a sip of her tea, Celestia resumed to her usual paperwork of running the country. A part of her thought about confronting Sunset Shimmer with the paperwork for a week, so she would know what a princess really has to do. But no, that would be a little bit too cruel of a joke and Celestia actually wanted to stay friends with Sunset, an EQUAL friend.

The unicorn didn't understand, but it was simple logic. There was no way Celestia could see Sunset Shimmer as somepony lower. She never did that with anypony anyways, but everypony saw her as somepony more worthy. It gets annoying over the years, but she had to admit, she learned to love the benefits of this kind of situation. Now, the reason Celestia couldn't ever see Sunset Shimmer as somepony below her, was because Sunset would be actually helping in doing something not even she herself was capable off: changing not one, but two worlds deep into their cores.

"Soon..." she mumbled to herself, while signing yet another document "Very soon mother, your dream will come true."

Are you watching us mother, father? Sometimes I wished you would still be here and wouldn't have gone where you did. I hope you will come for the day.

"Sunset my dear friend. I hope you can overcome the past." she mumbled more to herself.

XIII

"Spike? Are you seriously eating dog treatments?" Sunset asked in a deadpan tone.

The dragon didn't even try to hide the bag filled with dog treatments. "I can't help it." He complained.

"Ever since I first went through the mirror I find them tasty."

"They're also cheaper than gems." Twilight chuckled as she placed a book she has been reading on a table. The three were down in Twilight's lab, helping Sunset catching up on what she missed. "We're ahead of schedule." Spike told them as he checked the list of things Sunset needed to catch up on.

"Duh, I am the smartest student in Canterlot High. The stuff they're teaching there is nothing compared to how complicated magic can be. My brain is finally getting at its limits again." A low grumble could be heard, making the dragon and the alicorn laugh. "Not only your brain, I think." Twilight snickered as Sunset blushed a little. "Yeah...I guess."

"Alright, let's grab some grub." Spike jumped up.

"You're still hungry?" the two ponies asked in union. Twilight shook her head. By now she should be used to Spike's antics.

As they walked upstairs, they continued talking. "You know...I'm a little afraid that if I continue my studies in magic that I..."

"You won't." Twilight cut Sunset off. "You're a different pony."

"But I still needed to be hit by the elements of harmony." Sunset shuddered without controlling it. "I don't think I would have ever changed any other way."

"Stop now." Twilight wrapped a wing around Sunset. "We won't know now, but I'm sure you weren't a lost cause. Besides, shooting you into the ground so hard that a crater was formed may have been a tad of overkill."

"A tad?" Sunset and Spiked asked at the same time. "I guess I needed to let some steam out as well."

"Remind me to never make you angry again."

XIII

Flash was surprised he still felt the same way about Twilight, although he was a complete different species. Well, biology wasn't his best subject. The fact remained he totally had a crush on Twilight Sparkle. There was one problem though. Not the fact that she was actually a pony, that one can be solved pretty easily. Same went for the being from another world thing. The real problem was that she was a real time princess.

Not that Twilight seemed to mind, he wasn't THAT oblivious. The problem was that her people and all those other high up ponies would most likely not accept him. Not to mention from what he remembered about Sunset's presentation there were three more princesses like Twilight, who would probably try to get her thoughts away from him. At least that was what he thought.

That didn't mean he was about to give up. It just meant for him he needed to proof somehow that he was really worth for Twilight, meaning he needed to learn a little about the other princesses. He already knew one of them was Twilight's sister in law. If he could win her over for him, he was sure the rest would be a cakewalk.

Of course then he remembered: sister in law meant Twilight's blood related brother would be another obstacle to overcome. Which was never an easy thing, no matter what you read or watch on TV.

So now, Flash found himself in Twilight's library, using his new flying ability in order to look through the gigantic bookshelves.

"Hey Flash. Looking good with your flying."

"Oh, hey Sunset." Flash greeted her from above. "Yeah, is really cool having those things. Unless you crash into something."

Sunset chuckled. "What are you doing here, anyways? I thought you'd be at the flower shop, trying to decide which flowers you should give to Twilight."

Sunset laughed over his red face. She even could see it all the way down. "Well...I'm just looking around...learning a bit about this place."

"Okay." Sunset shrugged, as she walked over to a shelf with books about advanced magic. "Oops."

Sunset could hear a book crashing down. She turned around and placed it on the next best table for Flash. Curiously she took a peak at the title.

"The Crystal Empire?"

"I...thought it sounds interesting." Sunset got the feeling Flash wasn't telling her everything, but it probably was none of her business. "Twilight told me your counterpart lives there as a guard."

"Really? So...she didn't date him, did she?"

Sunset couldn't hold back her laughter. "She barely spoke to him from what I got. Don't worry lover boy, you still got a chance on her."

Flash blinked. "You're not jealous or anything?" he asked surprised. Sunset frowned. "You know I only really dated you to get more popular, right? That's why you broke up with me in the first place, forgotten?"

"Well, to be honest, I don't think too much about those days."

Sunset sighed. "Wish I could just forget the past and live on like nothing happened. Oh well..." Sunset picked up a book with her magic. "I need to go back to my studies. If I'm good enough I'm gonna have the rest of our trip off. Twilight's one tough teacher, I tell you. Makes me wonder how we're going to handle the Twilight on the other side."

"Oh right, she's gonna be our teacher. Wait, is that even legal? And doesn't someone need to attend classes on this kind of stuff for two or three years or so?" he asked.

Sunset shrugged. "I dunno. I can look it up. Probably another crazy American law."

"Like that one: Not being allowed to beat up your wife in front of a courthouse after 8 AM?" (Somewhere in America this law exists; forgot where)

XIII

Dinky was officially freaked out with two mothers having at home. Granted she still could identify her real one by looking at the cutie mark, but keeping the house intact with two clumsy pegasi around was quite the challenge. And the only thing they were actually doing was having some coffee and muffins and looking at some old pictures about Dinky, while comparing stories.

"You delivered newspapers?" P-Derpy asked.

"Yup." The other declared proudly. "I was the fastest deliverer in the whole neighborhood."

"Sounds easier than delivering letters. Somehow the names always get mixed up."

The other Derpy nodded. "Yeah, I always mix up my school books. Though I did ruin my bike, when I drove around and brought the newspapers. I just don't know what went wrong."

Dinky could think of at least a few dozen methods it could have gone wrong. And she was a child. Poor momma. She thought. If only she could do something for her mother about those eyes. Well, she always liked to help her around. It made her feel mature and her mom made the best muffins in two worlds. (Yeah, this entire scene was just added, so I could make this pun)

XIII

"Ah, what should I wear, what should I wear?" Rarity asked herself as she skimmed over her closet. "You look beautiful in just anything."

"Aw, thank you Spikey-Wikey. But this isn't something where I can go out in a simple dress. I need something, how do I put this...? Sparkling. We are traveling to the Crystal Empire the day after tomorrow after all. As official royal guests. With all the crystal ponies around, I don't want to look like...a color without sound."

"Uhh...sorry. I don't really get it." Spike scratched his head.

"Umm, maybe I chose the wrong words. I mean, all those ponies are looking so gracious. And now imagine you add some normal color to a picture with lots of glitter."

"Ah, I get it." Spike nodded. "You would stand out, but...it would look uhh cheap?"

"Indeed Spike, you're right. OH, I know. I could wear a dress with lots of gems on it. Oh well that at least decreases the selection about half the dresses I have."

Rarity levitated about half the dresses in her closet out of the way, so she had now all her "sparkling" clothes in view. "Ah, just what should I wear?" Spike could tell this was going to be a long day. Not that he actually minded spending time with Rarity.

His attention suddenly was caught by a new stack of clothes, which looked kinda odd, but at the same time familiar.

"Are those human clothes?" he asked, pointing at them. "Hmm?" Rarity turned her head. "Oh yes. Sunset Shimmer brought me some drawings and measurements from the other me. I couldn't resist. I just had to try something out."

"They look good."

"Aw thank you Spike. But be honest with me. Does the other Rarity make better human clothes?"

Spike took another look at the clothes. "To be honest, I haven't seen that many clothes the other Rarity made. Oh, I know. Twilight and I still got some group photos. I can show them, if you want."

"Oh please do, darling."

Spike skipped out of Rarity's room and headed straight for his own, from where he took the two pictures from his nightstand. He returned a few minutes later, showing Rarity the pictures they took. "Oh my, so this is how humans look. I do say the other Rarity has a sense of fashion. Not that I expected anything else from "me"." she chuckled a little over her own joke.

"Well, she wanted to make me look like a rabbit, after Sunset embarrassed Twilight in front of the entire school." Rarity giggled and took another look at the photos. "Ah that is you. Oh my, you really do look adorable as a dog. Oh and Spike? You're really bad at hiding your dog biscuits."

Rarity laughed at Spike's embarrassed face.

XIII

"Right." Twilight finished her checklist. She just finished helping Sunset to catch up with what she missed and Twilight had had a lot of fun teaching her. She finally had found somepony aside from her mentor who could keep up with her.

And tomorrow they would go and visit Canterlot. She just hoped Sunset was ready for it. The mare had practically buried herself in her studies to get her head away from tomorrow. How the time passed. The week was almost over.

Celestia did talk to Sunset Shimmer, but every time Twilight even uttered the name, the yellow pony tensed up. "I guess things like these can't just be settled in one day." she muttered to herself as she walked over to her totally oversized bed. "Wonder how mom and dad are doing? I should make myself some free time to visit them. Let's see..." Twilight levitated over her list and was delighted she could actually muster plenty of time with her parents. If her parents had the time. Well her mother was a writer, so that shouldn't be a problem and her father surely could make some time. Maybe they could even go and visit the crystal empire together.

Somepony knocked at her door. "Come in!" she called. It was Rainbow Dash.

"Hi Rainbow Dash."

"Hey Twi. Got a minute?"

"Sure." Twilight nodded. "Is something wrong?"

"Nah, it's just...do we really HAVE to go to the Grand Galloping Gala?" the cyan maned pegasus whined.

"Well technically you don't have to, but it would look bad."

"But it's so BORING!" Rainbow exclaimed, turning upside down in mid-air and staying like this. Twilight could understand RD. She herself was not looking forward to it. "'Sides, don't you remember that last dance thing you girls forced me to come?"

"Hey, you weren't the only pony who was asked out for marriage. Try looking at the bright side. Since you're on reserve for the Wonderbolts, you should have no problem talking to them this time. Oh and one more thing." Twilight opened a drawer. "I got her six more tickets for your counterparts and Sunset. Celestia told me she found out a spell, where she can temporary turn somepony into a human. That reminds me, I still need to tell them that they'll need to practice for their performance at the gala."

RD's eyes widened. "That sounds....awesome!"