Recovery and Rebirth

Katon family home

Date: Nov 6th, time: 6:00 pm

*Sunset’s perspective*

“Do you have the narutomaki ready?”, Jiraiya asked nervously.

“Yes, Dad, I have the udon handled. You’re the one who taught me how to cook. You just focus on the beef stroganoff.”

“Right, right, sorry. I just want this to go well. It’s important to us that you kids can also get along.”

Sunset watched on as they cooked the dinner. She’d never heard of beef stroganoff, but the name sounded Russian, and that’s most likely why they're making it. Brigid and Minerva were entertaining the girls with a board game. Sunset didn’t have anything to do herself, so she just watched and waited, like a shadow.

The doorbell rang, and Jiraiya hurried to open the door. “Welcome, please come in.”, he said excitedly. He and Rarity guided the rest of them in taking off their shoes and spraying themselves down.

Rarity, being the most familiar with the house and family, walked further in and spotted Sunset sitting at the kids table. She walked over and sat across from her. “Looks like some things never change.”, she joked.

“You can change what a shadow is cast over, but you can’t change the fact that it is a shadow, or it ceases to be.”

“Um, thestral proverb? Am I saying that right?”

“Yes and yes. How are things with your parents?”

Rarity looked back at her parents, who were talking with Jiraiya, Brigid, and Minerva, and her sister, who looked bored and unenthusiastic about being there, before answering. “They’re coming around, but the whole thing still weirds them out.”

“Hm… Rarity, could you answer a question for me?”

“Sure, what is it?”

“Are you out to your parents yet?”

Rarity froze like she’d just ran face-first into a wall and stared at Sunset in complete shock. “How did you know? I’m not out to anyone.”, she whispered.

“It’s pretty obvious to anyone with my skills that you’re interested in AJ.”

“Sigh, no, I’m not out to my parents. It’s not that I’m scared to. It’s more that I only realized… that during… that night, and with everything else that’s going on, I’ve put off telling them. I want to at least understand those feelings more before I tell them.”

“Has their reaction to us affected your thoughts on coming out to them?”

“... I… I’m not sure. These are two very different topics.”

“Fair, so long as you’re okay.”

“Thank you for caring.”

“You’re a member of my pack. I’m going to care about you.”

“Hff, so, we’re a pack now?”, she asked with a smirk.

Sunset shrugged. “Pack, unit, team, coven, whatever you wanna call it. Being the only ones of our kind, we’re gonna be in it for the long haul.”

“I’m inclined to agree with you.”

“Food’s almost ready.”, Anzhong announced. “Wash up.”

Everyone headed over to a sink and cleaned up before heading to the tables. The adults directed the kids to their table with Sunset sitting at the head, Rarity and Emi sitting to her sides, and Sweetie Belle and Anura sitting next to them. Jiraiya sat at the head of the adult table with Anzhong, Brigid, and Minerva on the same side as Emi and Anura and Ms. Torta sitting next to him then Mrs. and Mr. Alba. Food got passed around and everyone started serving themselves.

“Beef stroganoff, how kind of you.”, Torta said.

“I’ll admit; I’ve never made beef stroganoff before. It was an interesting experience.”, Jiraiya said.

“Why is the fish raw?”, Mr. Alba asked unassuredly.

“It’s sashimi.”, Anzhong said in his usual flat tone. “I’m surprised you’re unfamiliar with it. There are several very good sushi places around town. They’re quite different from what we have back in Japan, but American sushi is tasty.”

“Okay” Mr. Alba looked at the sashimi unassuredly. “Are you sure it’s safe to eat?”

“I wouldn’t serve it if it wasn’t.”

Mr. Alba still didn’t look convinced and switched his attention to the udon, earning an unamused side-eye from his wife. “Is this ramen?”, he asked.

“Close, this is called udon. It uses different noodles and has a lighter broth.”

He served himself some then looked down at his bowl confusedly. He, rather unskillfully, used his chopsticks to remove something from his bowl. “What is this?”, Mr. Alba asked as he held up a piece of narutomaki.

“I can’t see what you’re asking about.”

“Right, um, it’s white with a pink swirl.”

“Narutomaki, or Japanese fish cake, it’s nothing like the ones made with potatoes and deep fried.”

Rarity leaned over to Sunset and put her hand up to hide her mouth. “As you might’ve guessed, my father takes after our English ancestors. It drives my mother crazy.”

Sunset nearly spat out her rice as she tried to contain her laughter. She quickly swallowed it to speak. “Heheh, says she who speaks with an English accent.”

“It isn’t exactly by choice.”, Rarity said as she straightened up.

Not by choice? Okay, I’m asking more about that later.

Emi tried some of the beef stroganoff with her rice and made a weird face. “I don’t like strogoff.”

“Stroganoff”, Sunset corrected.

“Fuck off”, Emi said with the same intonation. Sunset and Anura rolled their eyes.

“I see having a potty mouth runs in the family.”, Rarity commented.

“It’s a great defense against being kidnapped.”, Sunset said then realized what she said and slapped her hand over her mouth.

“Hm, I’ll keep that in mind for next time.”

“So, ya’re a… fox?”, Mrs. Alba asked Anzhong.

“Half, yes.”

“And ya’re a witch?”, she asked Minerva.

“I am.”

“So am I.”, Anura interjected.

“And ya’re a normal human?”, Mrs. Alba asked Jiraiya.

“For the most part, yes.”

“And so are you… more or less?”, she asked Brigid.

“Actually, no, Ah’m not.”

“What are ya then?”

“Wha’ Ah am is irrelevant. Ah c’n’t even use mo powers.”, Brigid said, a hint of annoyance in her voice when she mentioned her lack of powers. Sunset wasn’t sure if she agreed that people would see her as a bloodthirsty monster if they learned she’s a werewolf but respected her wishes.

“What do ya mean?”

“Due to reasons unknown to us,” Anzhong started, “magical entities have been losing their powers, some going their whole lives never knowing they had any. As a result, none of us can use our full powers if at all. Sunset and her friends are the first of us in generations able to use theirs.”

“So, for all intents and purposes, you’re human?”, Ms. Torta asked.

“More or less”

“That blows.”, Sweetie Belle said. “But wait, you were able to curse those kids.”, she said to Anura.

“Um, I don’t remember that.”

“You did. You told them “You’re now breathing manually.”, and they all freaked out.”

“Oh, that. That’s not a magical curse. It’s a psychological trick, no magic whatsoever.”

“Ahh, man”, Sweetie Belle said dejectedly.

The dinner continued with the adults talking about magic, their hunting plans, and other adult stuff. Emi and Anura mostly talked between each other and to Sunset, Sweetie Belle pretty much only talked to her parents and sister, and Sunset and Rarity talked to each other and their respective families. As Sunset was talking to Rarity, she noticed Sweetie Belle looking at Emi strangely.

“Did you go to Mory Patchwork Elementary?”, Sweetie Belle asked Emi.

“Yeah”

“Could ya tell me something you did? You look familiar, but I can’t place you.”

“I used to beat up Match for being a bully, and I once ate a goo gummy worm sandwich in front of this annoying little brat and got sent to the principal’s office by Ms. Meanie-pants.”

“Oh, now, I remember you. I couldn’t recognize you without all your hair. Did you get a haircut?”

“Yeah, I did.”

They soon finished dinner, the table was cleared, and the adults went off to talk about adult stuff. Emi and Anura headed up stairs, leaving just Sunset, Rarity, and Sweetie Belle. Rarity was currently with Sweetie Belle, but she and Sunset needed to have a conversation.

“Hey, Rarity, could we talk?”, Sunset asked.

“Sure” Rarity stood up to follow Sunset, but Sweetie Belle grabbed her arm.

“Where are you going? Stay here.”

“I’m just going to talk with Sunset. I’ll be back soon.” Rarity got her sister to let go of her arm and followed Sunset into her room. Sunset led them over to her couch, and they sat to be facing each other.

“So, if this continues, it will change our relationship.”, Sunset said.

“I know. We’ll be cousins. But I’m not sure if it will change our dynamic in our friend group.”

“I’m hoping it won’t. Other than some legal documents and the holidays, not much is really going to change.”

“We’ll just have to feel this out. That might be the simplest option.”

Sunset nodded. “It would be nice to have someone my age in the family.”

“It would.”

“By the way, you mentioned you don’t talk like that by choice earlier. What did you mean by that?”

“Oh, right, to make a long story short, when I was much younger, I was being stupid and took a dive off the stairs. I later woke up in the ambulance with a concussion and talking like this.”

“What?”

“It’s called foreign accent syndrome, and it’s weird.”

“Ya got that right. Is it permanent?”

“There’s no way of telling. It might go away. It might not. I hope it does go away. This accent tends to make people mad, especially if they’ve met my family, or they don’t believe me when they ask why I talk like this.”

“How ‘bout dis?”, Sunset started in her Irish accent. “If some twat gets mad at ya f’r dat, ya call me, n’ Ah’ll go all irate Irish lass on deir asses n’ tell ‘em ta go take out deir generational ange’ by pissin’ on Cromwell’s grave.”

“Hehehe, okay, I will. Speaking of accents, why do your parents still have theirs when your grandfather doesn’t?”

“Ah… I don’t actually know. I never thought to ask. All Ah know is that hearing my mom speak with an American accent is bizarre.”

“We should head back out. I don’t want to keep my sister waiting.”

Sunset nodded, and they headed back out to the living room. Rarity went over to Sweetie Belle, who was now with their parents as they talked with Sunset’s. Jiraiya and Ms. Torta were talking with each other and watching their families interact. Sunset went over to Brigid and stuck to her side. Brigid brought her into a side hug and kept her close like that. Even though she and Rarity were talking, Sweetie Belle kept giving Sunset angry glances. Geeze kid, she wasn’t even gone five minutes. The adults eventually wrapped up their conversation, and Rarity’s family left.

“I think that went well. What do you kids think?”, Jiraiya asked.

“I am holding my judgment, for now.”, Anzhong said. “Given how quiet you both were, I did not get enough to make a decision on Ms. Torta.”

“That’s fair. Maybe we can do something similar with just her. How about her kids?”

“Dey seem like fine people, but it seems like we’re bringin’ ‘em inta our world too quickly. We should give ‘em a break before tryin’ ta integrate ‘em more.”

“Rarity says they’re still weirded out by magic.”, Sunset added.

“Maybe what they need is further exposure to normalize us to them.”, Minerva suggested.

“Dat could also scare ‘em away from magic permanently.”

“I think we may be getting a bit off topic.”, Jiraiya said. “How do you like them as people?”

“They’re fine. There’s nothing about them that makes me automatically dislike them.”, Anzhong said. Brigid and Minerva nodded in agreement.

“Good, good, I hope this continues in a positive direction.”

“I’m going to bed.”, Sunset said.

“Good idea.”, Brigid said as she released Sunset.

Alba family car

Date: same day, time: 8:00 pm

*Rarity’s perspective*

“Ah think that went well. What do you kids think?”, Grandma asked.

“I don’t like Sunset.”, Sweetie Belle said quickly.

“Sweetie Belle,” Rarity said, “Sunset is a changed person. She proved that during the musical showcase.”

“I still don’t like her.”

“I thought they were okay.”, Mom said. “Though, they seemed kinda standoffish.”

“I wouldn’t say ‘standoffish’ is the right word.”, Dad said. “Though, I do agree that they don’t seem to be the warmest people, but… Minerva did seem nice.”

“That could just be because they don’t know us well.”, Rarity suggested. “Sunset has always been distant with people she doesn’t know, but she’s a surprisingly caring person, and I’ve seen Dr. Brigid’s warmer side before. Your poking into their magical natures might’ve also contributed to their attitude. It’s a sensitive topic for us.”

“Oh… our bad.”

“It sounds like things went well then.”, Grandma said.

“I’m happy you found someone that makes you happy, Mama.”, Mom said.

The rest of the ride home was relatively quiet. Once they got home, Rarity headed to her room to take care of some homework before bed. Some time later, there was a knock at her door, and Dad came in.

“Hey” Dad came over and sat on Rarity’s bed then patted the space next to him. He had a large book in his other arm.

“What do you have there?”, Rarity asked as she got up and went over to sit next to him.

“Something I want you to have. Recent events have got me thinking about old stories I was told as a kid, mainly stories about the witches of the Everfree and stories about my grandmother.” Dad handed the book to Rarity. It had no title but was leather bound with moon and deer iconography around the edges and a symbol consisting of three diamond-like pillars rising towards three dots inside two circles (The Awen) in the center. “I didn’t believe in those stories. The only reason I kept this thing is because it’s an heirloom. In my mind, magic couldn’t be real, but you’ve proven me wrong. Rarity, your great grandmother was a witch, and this is our family’s spell book.”

Rarity looked up at her father with wide eyes, examining his face to see if he was joking, but his face and her own sixth sense told her he wasn’t. She looked back down at the book and began flipping through the pages. The thing was in surprisingly good shape for something so old. It felt like it was only a few months old, max. It was filled with ritual instructions, old-timey talk, and about a dozen other things Rarity could only guess as to what they were.

“Our family was one of many that were involved in the revolt. According to the stories, our ancestors and many other people escaped their captors and retreated into the Everfree. There, they began learning magic from the natives and witches that were also brought over from the old world. They wrote down everything they were taught in that book, and future generations added to it.”

Rarity closed up the book and placed it behind her on the bed then tackled her dad into a hug. “Thank you, you have no idea how much this means to me. Does Mom know about this?”

“Yeah, I told her all of this.”, Dad said as he began stroking Rarity’s hair. “We love you, Rarity, no matter what form you take.”

Everfree Forest

Date: Nov 7th, time: 11:00 am

*Sunset’s perspective*

“N’ dere.” Brigid got up from pounding in the last spike and tossed the mallet back into the bag. “Wha’ time is it?”

Sunset pulled out her phone and checked. “‘Bout eleven”

“We should grab some food den.”

They grabbed their hunting gear and headed down to the lake. They caught some fish then headed back to camp. Sunset dug the firepit while Brigid prepped the fish and veggies. Sunset had just placed the grill on top when the sound of bipedal feet crushing the fallen autumn leaves came from beyond their campsite. It was distant, and Brigid certainly couldn’t hear it.

“Hey, I’m going to take a walk.”

“Take yer rifle.”

Sunset grabbed her rifle from her bag and slung it across her back as she headed out into the trees. As much as she tried to avoid it, the fallen autumn leaves crunched beneath her feet, and her target would undoubtedly hear her once she got closer. If only I could fly. Dad could silently fly through these trees with those weird feathers of his. I wonder if I would get those same comb feathers if I ever become an alicorn, or would my feathers be like Mom’s? I do have his fur texture that helps to absorb sound. It would be awesome to be able to fly through the night with no one wise to my presence.

She got close enough to her target that she could sense them. Applejack, let’s play a game. Can’t hide my footsteps, so… Sunset hid behind the trees as she and AJ got closer to each other. AJ wasn’t walking in a straight line but, rather, like she’s searching for something, but she wasn’t stalking or in any way trying to not be noticed. Weird, isn’t she hunting?

Sunset put her shuko on and climbed up a tree with a sturdy branch about three meters up. She perched herself on the branch and watched as AJ approached. She stopped just below Sunset and looked around like she was confused. She began to walk away, and Sunset waited until she was a meter away then jumped down behind her. AJ spun around and legit jumped back with a startled yelp and fell on her butt, and Sunset began cackling at the sight.

“Sunset?! What the fuck?! Where’d you even come from?”

Sunset pointed up at the branch as she got her chuckles under control.

“Ya seriously jumped down from there? That’s ten feet up.”

Sunset took her shuko off then walked over and helped AJ up. “It’s perfectly safe, if ya bend your knees right.”

“Ah see ya still find pleasure in nearly givin’ people heart attacks.”

“Don’t give that attitude. I’ve seen you nearly rolling on the ground after startling someone.”

“It’s only funny when it’s not me.”, AJ said in a joking manner, and Sunset returned the grin AJ gave her.

“What kind of gun you got there?”

AJ grabbed her gun off her back and showed it to Sunset. “It’s an Ithaca Deerslayer. The name’s pretty self explanatory. What you got?”

Sunset grabbed her gun and presented it to AJ. “A modified Savage Model 99, it used to belong to my nana, and she tweaked it to improve its accuracy.”

“Cool, but why does it have yer mom’s symbol engraved on it?”

“What?” Sunset turned the gun over and saw what AJ was likely talking about, but it wasn’t Brigid’s symbol… or anyone’s personal symbol for that matter. “This isn’t my mom’s symbol. This is the Mac Carthaigh clan crest.”

“Wait…” AJ leaned in closer to the engraving and even ran her finger over it. “No way.”, she said as she straightened up. “Y're a member of that Mac Carthaigh clan? Ah thought they all died?”

“My mom was the only survivor.”

Both of them slung their guns back across their backs as they continued to talk.

“Then how did ya end up as such a bitch and then literal a demon?”

“I came to this world with most of my problems already starting to take root. Plus, you guys seem to idolize us like some sorta superheroes with love powers.”

“With people like Boann and Taranis Mac Carthaigh havin’ existed, it’s hard not to.”

“Who?”

“Seriously? Okay, how much of the founding of Appleville do you know?”

“A bunch a’ Irish and Scottish “indentured servants” were brought over here to work the fields and build the town, yada yada, they revolted, killed the English, took over the town, and named it after the largest family, yours.”

“Right, but do ya remember who planned the revolt and rallied everyone?”

“They didn’t mention anyone like that. It kinda seemed like they were avoiding naming people. Y’know, finding any way to make history unengaging.”

“Well, it was yer ancestors, Boann and Taranis. Sadly, they died in the battle. There’s a monument with all the names of the people that died to free us. Their names should be on there.”

“Huh, nowhere in the family records did it say that any of us were captured by Cromwell.”

“That was hundreds a’ years ago. A lot happened in that time.”

“That’s the understatement of a century. Though, I’m surprised you weren’t told about my mom. Meg’s dad found out about her some time ago, and I remember him saying he was going to spread the word or something along those lines.”

“Meg’s dad? Dude probably forgot by the time he got back home. His memory is legendarily bad. It’s like he’s only got a select number a’ memory slots. The moment he learns something, he forgets something else. It’s baffling. Ah mean, ma family ain’t known for bein’ geniuses, but he gets lost walkin’ home from his neighborhood’s movie theater. You can see his house from the theater’s front doors.”

“Oh dear, I feel bad for Meg.”

“One advantage of her bein’ deaf is that she doesn’t have ta worry ‘bout losing brain cells by hearin’ him talk. There’s a reason we call him ‘Half-baked’.”

“Please tell me his idiocy has at least resulted in some good stories.”

“Oh, lots.”

“Applejack!”, some kid shouted in the distance.

“Over here!”

AJ’s little sister came through the trees and over to them. “Lunch is ready.”

“Okay, Ah’ll be back in a minute.”

“Bloom, right?”, Sunset asked.

“She also goes by Applebloom now.”, AJ said.

“Let me guess, wanna be like yer big sis? Have ya eve’ heard da origin a’ ‘er nickname?”

“Accent”, AJ said with a grin.

“Shut up.”, Sunset said quickly.

“Um, isn’t it because it sounds cool?”, Bloom asked.

“That’s why we keep usin’ it, but it’s not where it came from.” Sunset got a devilish grin as AJ began rubbing the bridge of her nose. The bag was opened, and the cat’s coming out. “An applejack is an alcoholic drink distilled from fermented cider. It’s one of my mom’s favorite drinks. It tastes really good when mixed with Irish cream.”

“You drink?”, AJ asked.

“Ah think I can have a glass once in a while.” Sunset gave AJ a look that she hoped conveyed the underlying message.

“Ah guess.”

Bloom looked between them with a confused expression.

“If you already had lunch, why were you out here?”, Sunset asked.

“Oh, remember when Rainbow told ya Ah’m a human lie detector?”

Sunset nodded.

“Well, what she left out is that Ah have a connection with plant life. I could sense ya were here but not yer exact location, so Ah came ta find ya. What were ya doin’ out here?”

“I heard your feet crunching the leaves and came to investigate. Not many bipedal critters out ‘ere after all. Once Ah realized it was you, I decided ta spook ya.”

“Ah think Ah’m lost.”, Bloom said.

“It’s not important.”, AJ said then took Bloom’s hand. “Ah hope ta see ya later.”, she said to Sunset.

Sunset waved to them as they left then headed back to her own camp.

“Dere ya are. Ah was about ta go lookin’ fer ya. Wha’ took ya so long?”

“Ah met up with Applejack, n’ we talked.” Sunset took her seat as Brigid got up from her chair and started cooking the fish. “Did ya know that a couple of our ancestors were involved in the revolt?”

“Wait, da revolt? Dat would mean dat dey were captured by Cromwell.”

“That’s what AJ told me. She said their names were Boann and Taranis.”

“Huh, no, Ah did not know. Wha’ happened ta ‘em?”

“They were killed. They must be buried at the church.”

“Huh, we might jus’ need ta take a trip ove’ dere. It’s about time we took ya kids dere anyways.”

Brigid served their food, and they ate. Once they were finished and had cleaned, they grabbed their gear and headed out. They headed further up the mountain as they kept their senses honed on finding their prey and avoided 500+ pounds death machines and geese.

“Mom” Sunset pointed out a tree on a slope with a good perch that overlooked a good chunk of land and even a lower path. Brigid nodded, and they headed over to it. Sunset climbed up and perched herself to look over the slope. Brigid perched herself on the ground and kept an eye on the higher ground and trees behind them.

Sunset surveyed the area with her scope. There were a lot of trees, so she couldn’t see the whole area, but she could still spot movement. The path was pretty easy to see due to the angle. It wasn’t manmade, nothing that far out is. It looked to have been made by animals. She noticed a spot of hunter orange amongst the trees and focused her scope around that area. In the next break of the trees, she saw AJ and her two siblings walking on the path. Their granny wasn’t with them, but her brother is a freshly minted adult. Four year intervals, I guess their parents didn’t want ta haveta deal with two toddlers at a time, smart. I wonder if I can get their attention.

Sunset lowered her scope and could still see them but not well. She also has a scope, and my hair’s a lot easier to spot. Shouting wouldn’t work from this distance. Well, time to try an old ninja trick with a werewolf spin. Sunset cupped a hand around her mouth and howled. She hurriedly grabbed her gun and checked through her scope. AJ heard her and was looking in her direction. She waved her free hand, and AJ looked through her scope up at her and waved back.

“Wha’ was dat about?”

“Just getting AJ’s attention. She and her party are close by.”

“N’ she recognized ya?”

“Yeah, we’re the only werewolves she knows. We’re probably the only wolves in the state.”

“Ya told ‘em?”, Brigid asked in an accusatory tone.

“We hadn’t had the ‘no telling people we’re werewolves’ talk yet, and I’m not about ta keep that from them. We made a rule, no lies within the secret society.”

“N’ dey’re okay with it?”

“Rainbow laughed at me when I told her about my old nickname, calling me a bad Dusk fanfic, which she’s not wrong about. At least the werewolves in that movie were sexy. That’s more than I can say about the vampires.”

“Be careful who ya tell, especially if ya don’t know ‘em well.”

“Y’know, as bad as those movies are, they did turn the public opinion on werewolves from bloodthirsty monsters to sexy badasses. I’ve been watching this show called The Teenage Life of Werewolves for a couple of years, and the main characters are a bunch of werewolves that go from lame dorks to badasses dorks as they go through high school and grow into their powers. It’s no cinematic masterpiece, but it’s fun.”

“Ah’m glad dat yer generation has dat opinion on werewolves, but my generation grew up with werewolf horror movies, n’ ya know how us old farts c’n get stuck in our ways.”

“Okay, I guess you have a point.”, Sunset said sadly.

The rest of the day proved unsuccessful as the only deer they came across were does and other non-antlered deer. Turkey also fell short. But they did get some squirrels for dinner. They were heading back to their camp when Sunset heard AJ and her party nearby.

“Hey, Mom, AJ’s that way. Do ya wanna join them?”

“Hm, if dat’s wha’ ya want.”

Sunset led them to the Apples’ camp site, where they had a fire going and AJ’s brother was prepping their food.

“Hey, Sunset.”, AJ said.

“Hey, whatcha cookin’?”

“Not much, just some veggies. We couldn’t catch or shoot a damn thing ta day.”

“We got some squirrel we c’n share.”, Brigid offered.

“That would be great. What do you think, Big Mac?”

“Ayuh”

“Care ta join us?”

Brigid headed over to Big Mac with their catch bag, and Sunset sat on the ground next to AJ.

“The critters seem ta be hiding better this year.”, Sunset said.

“Really? Ah thought it was because we were outta practice.”

“What do you mean?”

“Sigh, Granny’s not in any shape to be stompin’ about tha woods, n’ we haven’t always been able ta get another family member ta take us. But Big Mac turned eighteen last year, so now, he can take us.”

“Applejack, Ah’m bored.”, Bloom complained. “I want ta do something.” She was stomping around the camp and generally being restless.

“Come sit down. We’ll be eatin’ soon.”

Bloom plopped down and crossed her arms with a huff. “Ah hate huntin’. We aren’t doin’ anythin’ but walkin’ through the woods.”

AJ rolled her eyes and ignored her sister’s complaining. “Sorry, this is her first trip.”

“Maybe you guys should wait until she’s a little older before trying again. I didn’t start huntin’ until Ah was thirteen.”

“Ahh, she’ll get used ta it. She was just expectin’ ta do more shootin’.”

It was completely dark by the time dinner was ready and they were all eating. It was a new moon, so the only major source of light was the fire. They got to talking about school, life, etcetera.

“So, how has Sunset been behavin’ at school?”, Brigid asked AJ.

“Um, good. She’s… well, Ah wouldn’t call it a one-eighty, but she hasn’t done anythin’ malicious.”

“Dat’s good.”

“How did ya survive the massacre? We were told ya were wiped out.”

“Dat is not a story for little girls.”

“Ah’m a big girl. Ah can handle it.”, Bloom complained.

“Kid, Ah still get nightmares ‘bout dat night, n’ Ah was a month away from seventeen. It ain’t a happy story, n’ Ah don’t wanna talk about it.”, Brigid said firmly. She then switched to a more lighthearted tone. “How’s about Ah tell ya kids ‘bout how Ah became known as Brigid “Da Gator Wrassler”? Dat’s a much more fun story.”

“You wrastled gators?”, Bloom asked in astonishment.

“Ah lived in Florida for ove’ a year, specifically, in a city called Pahokee. Pahokee is located on da shore of Lake Okeechobee. Lake Okeechobee is da goddamn most alligator-infested lake in all a’ Florida. We’re talkin’ ten thousand gators. N’ little known fact ‘bout hurricanes, dey c’n pick gators up SHARKNADO STYLE n’ drop ‘em in ta backyards!”

Sunset chuckled to herself as Brigid spun her story until she caught a whiff of something vile, something that made her gag and retch and slam both hands over her nose and mouth. “[Sweet Celestia and stars above]! What died!?” It smelt like a mixture of rotting meat and gangrene soaked bandages (a smell a hospital kid like herself was familiar with) but less pungent. It smelt old but putrid.

“Wha’s wrong, baby?”

“There’s somethin’ wrong.”, AJ said. Sunset picked up her head and looked at AJ. She was looking out into the woods and had a look on her face like she was looking at something alien and was determined to get rid of it. “There’s somethin’ out there, and it’s not supposed to be here.”

“Wha’ do ya mean “not supposed ta be here”?”

“Ah’m not sure, but it feels similar ta you.”

“Me?”

Could she be talking about another werewolf? “I think we should check it out.” Sunset got up and pulled her rifle out of her bag. “AJ care ta join me?”

Brigid stood up and put herself in between Sunset and where AJ was looking. “Now, hold on dere. Stompin’ afte’ some random creature in da middle a’ da night is a bad idea. Ya could get hurt by any numbe’ a’ things.”

“We’re just going to scare it off, make sure it doesn’t come close to camp. Besides, we’ve tussled with dangerous magical creatures before, and that was without guns.”

“You were one a’ them.”, Bloom said coldly.

“Exactly, besides, ya always know when I’m in danger.”

“Ah’m with Sunset. Whatever this thing is, we should scare it away for everyone’s safety, and as the only people here with powers, it should be us two ta handle it.” AJ had her shotgun with a flashlight mounted to it and stood next to Sunset.

“If we get inta somethin’ we can’t handle, we’ll scream… really, really loud, and I’ll be up a tree before AJ can say ‘Are ya seriously leavin’ me down here ta be eaten?’.”, Sunset said in a bad AJ impression, earning a backhanded smack to her arm. Sunset grinned back at her. “It ain’t my fault y’re slower than me.”

“Oh, is that the only reason ya want me ta come with ya?”, AJ said sarcastically.

“Yes”

The two of them grinned and chuckled with each other over their dark humor. I like having someone else that gets my humor.

“Sigh, fine, but don’t do somethin’ dat would give yer fathe’ a heart attack.” Brigid stepped out of their way, and the girls marched on into the woods.

Without the fire, it got dark quickly. Without the moon, even Sunset couldn’t see more than a meter in front of her. In enclosed spaces, like caves or houses, this wasn’t a problem, but in the Everfree Forest, renowned for getting really dark in places (hence its nickname as the Dark Forest) due to its thick foliage, this was a problem.

AJ turned on her flashlight and scanned their surroundings. “Ah take it ya don’t have yer flashlight on ya.”, she said quietly.

“I don’t own one.”

“What?”

Sunset turned to AJ and showed her her eye glow. It’s certainly odd that humans are more light sensitive than ponies and that they can pick up on her eye glow when normal ponies can’t, especially since pony eyes are something like three times bigger than human eyes. “I retained my thestral senses when I came through the portal. There aren’t many times I’d need a flashlight, and most of the time, it’d just be a hindrance to me. Unfortunately, tonight’s the one time I’d need one. I’ll just rely on my other senses. Whatever that thing is, it’s pungent.”

“Got it.”

As they followed their senses towards the creature, Sunset started to hear something. She grabbed AJ’s shoulder to stop them and eliminate their noise. Quadrupedal, bear-sized, it’s moving slowly. “What exactly is your sixth sense telling you?”

“Eh, it ain’t easy ta explain. Every animal and plant has its place out here, even humans and human adjacents, and Ah can sense that through ma connection ta the trees and identify the creature. This thing doesn’t belong in this ecosystem. It also feels magical, like you and yer mom. Ah don’t know how else to explain it.”

“I got it. How close are we?”

“Ah dunno. Ah can only get a general direction, but Ah can be more precise the closer we get.”

“Got it.”

They resumed walking, and the sound seemed to maintain a steady distance from them. It’s moving away from us at the same speed we’re moving towards it. Sunset kept them at a steady pace to keep from alerting the thing too early.

“Ahh, that reeks.”, AJ said as she quickly covered her nose.

“I know.”

“What is that smell?”

“Rotting human flesh would be my guess.”

“What are we dealing with, a wendigo?”, AJ said in an alarmed tone.

“Wouldn’t it be classified under “human adjacent”? And it’s not winter yet.”

“Ah don’t know. Ah’ve never encountered one. But y’re thinkin’ that ain’t what we’re looking for?”

“I heard it walking. It’s quadrupedal, and I don’t think they are.”

“They can scuttle. Ah have some Native relatives, and they told me about a time they encountered one. It would scuttle around on all fours to move quickly.”

“Eh, this thing’s moving slowly. Did your relatives mention how heavy they are?”

“No. How heavy is this thing?”

“Bear heavy.”

“Bear?”

They reached a spot where the smell became overwhelming, and nothing else could be smelt. AJ let go of her nose and realigned her gun. They didn’t have the luxury of covering their noses anymore. The thing had been there. Sunset noticed something in a patch of dirt and directed AJ to point the light over there. They got closer to examine it. It was some sort of paw print. It looked like a dog print but was the size of a bear.

“Okay, this thing’s moving away from camp. It’s not comin’ ta attack us. We should head back.”, AJ said with a hint of fear in her voice.

“Hang on.” Letting her gun fall to her side, Sunset took out her phone and crouched down to take a picture of the print with her hand as reference. The flash from her camera illuminated a small area around the print and revealed a tuft of fur caught on a bush. She retrieved it, and it stank of the same rotting smell. She took a picture of the fur as well. It was a sandy brown color. Its color didn’t match any animal she knew of. I’ll ask Fluttershy about it. “This thing smells like rotting human flesh. That means it got into a human at some point. It’s a threat to us so long as it’s alive.” Sunset put her phone back in her pocket and readied her gun again.

“We’re two girls, goin’ after a creature the size of a bear and that has eaten a human, in the dark. Ah’ve changed my mind. This isn’t just some creature anymore. It’s a man-eater. We don’t have the skills or gear ta deal with this. Ma gun is only meant ta take down deer, not somethin’ that big.”

“I’m an ex-monster hunter. I do have the training to deal with this. And you said it was magical. That makes this our responsibility. We’re the only ones that can deal with it.”

“Just because some magical monster is marchin’ through the woods, it doesn’t mean it’s our responsibility. You’re an ex-monster hunter, and that was back when ya were a pony, back in Equestria. This is Earth, and you’re now a human…ish. We aren’t goin’ after it. We’re headin’ back ta camp.”

“What, don’t tell me you’re scared.”

“Ah am scared n’ rightfully so. Ah didn’t come out here ta hunt down somethin’ like a wendigo. The state police can take care of it or some other adult. Now, ya can either come with me willingly, or Ah can knock ya out n’ drag ya back. Yer choice.”

Is she really going to do this? AJ taking her gun’s strap off and the determined look in her eye told her she was. “Scoff, fine, let’s go.”

AJ put her strap back over her shoulder, and they retraced their steps back to camp. AJ had a quicker pace on the way back, and Sunset had to pick it up to keep up. AJ turned her light off as they reached the light of the fire.

“Did ya find anythin’?”, Brigid asked.

“We did. Do you guys have any baggies?”, Sunset asked Big Mac.

“Eeyup” Big Mac got up and retrieved the requested item.

“Thank you” Sunset took the baggie and placed the fur inside.

“Wha’s dat?”

Sunset held the bag out towards Brigid, and from the face she made, it was clear she got a whiff of it.

“Ah’m guessin’ dat’s from da thin’ ya smelled.”

“Ayuh” Sunset closed the baggie up tightly and stuffed it in her pocket.

“Wait, dat’s human rot. Ya were chasin’ afte’ a man-eate’! Sunset, don’t give me da excuse ya couldn’t tell. Ah know ya know wha’ dat smell is.”, Brigid said angrily.

“That’s why I wanted to go scare it off or kill it, if need be.”

“Sunset, come with me.” Brigid got up and walked towards the woods. The tone she used was a cold, commanding one that communicated a level of pissed that no amount of screaming could. Sunset did as instructed, wanting to run in the other direction all the while. They ended up just outside of the campsite but still near enough to see. Brigid leaned over Sunset, making herself look very intimidating. “Ya went afte’ a monster, one ya very well knew is a man-eate’. Wha’ were ya thinkin’?”, she said angrily but quietly enough to not be heard by Bloom or Big Mac.

“It’s my job to hunt monsters. It has been for fifteen years.”

“It was yer job. You aren’t a soldier any more. Y’re a child. Ya could’ve gotten yerself killed. Ya could’ve gotten Applejack killed.”

“AJ said it herself. It’s a magical monster. We’re the only people that can handle it.”

“Is it an Equestrian monster?”

“No, I don’t think so.”

“Den y’re not da only ones dat can handle it. Earth has been dealin’ with our own crap for thousands a’ years. Ah’m sure dere are capable adults dat c’n handle it.”

“But-”

“No ‘but’s, Ah understand that transitioning back ta civilian life is hard, but y’re not a soldier any more. Y’re a little girl. One day, y’ll be old enough ta handle dis stuff, but dat’s not tonight.”

“But I’m the reason magic’s coming back to Earth. I’m the reason that monster’s here. It’s my responsibility to fix it.”

“We don’t know dat. Maybe ya are da reason. Maybe it’s pure coincidence. We jus’ don’t know. All we do know is dat y’re da reason yer girls have magic. Y’re responsibility is ta them. Y’re responsible f’r helpin’ ‘em figure out deir magic, n ya c’n’t do dat if y’re dead… Sunset, part a’ askin’ f’r help is recognizin’ when ya need help. Do ya really think dat two kids could take on a man-eatin’ monste’?”

“We had our guns with us.”

“Guns aren’t magic wands where ya c’n go ‘bippity boppity boo’ n’ make a problem go away. Hunte’s c’n still get hurt or killed by even normal animals like deer. Wha’ are ya not understandin’?”

Sunset lowered her head and looked away.

“Sunset Shimmer, look at me.”, Brigid commanded as she grabbed Sunset by the jacket.

Sunset whipped her head back around and saw Brigid with a rage filled face. Unlike the last time she was like that, there was no sadness in her face, just pure anger. Sunset let out a whimper and tried to make herself smaller. She couldn’t explain why, but she felt like she was going to cry, maybe because of the fear.

“Dis is da second time ya’ve done somethin’ like dis. Y’re not some super soldier anymore. Y’re mo daughte’, n’ Ah’m not gonna let ya kill yerself. Do Ah make meself clear?”

Sunset nodded quickly. If she had her tail, it’d be in between her legs.

“Go sit down.” Brigid pointed to the fire.

Sunset scurried over with her head low and sat down with her knees to her chest. She looked over to AJ, who had a bewildered look on her face. “What are you lookin’ at?”, she said sharply.

Brigid sat down next to Sunset and pulled her close to her. “Ah think we should head back ta town tamorrah, with dat thin’ around.”

“Ah’m not sure that’d be necessary.”, AJ said. “For starters, if it’s as large as we think it is, it’s gonna be hard for it ta sneak up on us, not ta mention the way it smells. Also, given that we didn’t see hide nor hair nor putrid stink of it today, it’s most likely only active durin’ the night. Ah think, so long as we stick together, we’ll be fine.”

“Hm, ya do make some good points. Alright, but we’re leavin’ before tamorrah’s nightfall. Ah don’t feel like riskin’ it.”

Sweet Apple Acres

Date: Nov 8th, time: 7:00 pm

*Applejack’s perspective*

“Ah can’t believe Sunset had you chasin’ after some man-eatin’ monster.”, Bloom said. She sat on the back porch as AJ and Big Mack processed the deer.

“Ah know, Bloom. Ah don’t like it either, but Ah’m not ready ta dissolve our friendship over it. It’s not like she was trying ta kill us.”, AJ said.

“She could’ve killed you.”, Bloom said angrily.

“And Ah’ll be ridin’ that mileage for a while. She just overestimated our abilities. We’re all still learning what our new limitations are. Heck, fer all Ah know, we could’ve taken that thing.”

“Ah still don’t like her.”, Bloom mumbled.

“Sigh, that’s yer right. Just don’t be mean ta her. She’s tryin’ ta get better.”

They finished processing the deer, getting it all covered up and everything cleaned up, then headed back inside to clean up themselves. As they were finishing cleaning up, Granny came down the stairs. “‘Bout time ya kids finished up. Jacklyn, Ah have somethin’ ta show you.”

AJ put the towel down and followed Granny over to the couch, joined by Big Mac and Bloom. AJ and Bloom sat around Granny, and Big Mac stood behind them, leaning on the back of the couch. Granny had a large book in her hands and handed it to AJ. It was leather bound with the tree of life and other plant, moon, Celtic axe, and Native American iconography carved into it. “What is this?”

“It’s yer mom’s spell book.”

“Are ya jokin’?”

“No, Ah ain’t. Yer mother was a practicin’ witch.”

AJ quickly flipped open the book and began looking through it. It was filled with ritual instructions, spell instructions, and a bunch of other weird stuff. “This is awesome.”

“Maybe ya can make somethin’ of it with yer magic, instead of it spendin’ the rest a’ eternity in ma closet.”

“Does this mean we might have magic?”, Bloom asked.

“Hell if Ah know. Ah barely understood this stuff when yer mother would tell me about it. Just no doin’ magic in tha house.”

“Understood” AJ turned her full attention to the book, reading through everything. This is so cool. Ah’m… Ah’m like mom.

CHS lunchroom

Date: Nov 10th, time: 12:00 pm

*Sunset’s perspective*

Having just come from gym and with still damp hair, Sunset sat down with her tray of food at the Rainbooms’ usual table. She no longer felt the need to sit in the center of the group given that the other students have decided to ignore her existence, all except for Lily Valley. Sunset could see her giving her death stares out of the corner of her eye. She could only guess Lily hated her because she was with Flash or because she was getting popular, but it all still seemed odd. Everything from her behavior to her kissing Flash, especially when contrasted with the rest of her family, was just odd.

The rest of the girls were already talking amongst each other, and as soon as there was a break in her conversation, Sunset got Fluttershy’s attention. “Hey, Fluttershy, could you take a look at something for me?”

“Sure, what is it?”

Sunset showed her the picture of the print on her phone and handed her the baggie of fur. “I wouldn’t open that, at least, not while yer eatin’.”

“Holy crap, that’s huge.”

“I estimated ‘bear-sized’.”

“Yeah, that looks about right. Where did you find it?”

“AJ and I encountered it while we were hunting in the Everfree a couple days ago.”

“We had ta cut it short because we could smell tha… let’s just say we could tell it ate humans by tha smell, and it’s not keen on bathin’, and that’s why ya shouldn’t open that up”, AJ said.

“Okay, well, ignoring the size, it’s definitely canid or canid-like, but it’s not a dog, wolf, coyote, or fox. This fur also doesn’t look like it would belong to anything found here. The color looks more suited to a desert environment. Could you send me that picture? I’ll look more into it when I get home.”

“Okay, I can do that.”

Sunset emailed it to Fluttershy then put her phone back in her pocket but noticed her gym bag was open. She looked up to see Rainbow putting her gym pants on over own pants. She looked on in befuddlement as RD pulled her pants up to her neck, making herself look like a pair of pants with a head. Sunset’s quite a bit larger than RD in every way, and her pants were very stretchy, so it was easy for her to do so. It was only when she started running away, while still wearing her pants, did Sunset register what was happening.

“Hey! Bring me back my pants!” Sunset jumped up from her seat and started chasing RD around the cafeteria. For all intents and purposes, it looked like she was chasing down her own runaway pants, earning belly laughs from the rest of the students. She chased the pants stealer around the cafeteria before finally catching her and bringing her to the ground, eliciting a surprised yelp from her. Rainbow had to let go of the pants to protect her face, letting Sunset yank them off her.

“Okay, okay, heheheh, you win.”, RD said between chuckles. Sunset wasn’t done with her however and flipped her onto her back. Rainbow looked up at her with surprise as she crouched over her on all fours and growled straight into her face. Surprise turned to fear, and she instinctively lowered her chin to protect her neck before realization flashed on her face. “Oh, I get what’s going on.” Rainbow raised her neck in submission, and Sunset stopped snarling and got up. “Point made, I won’t steal your pants again.”

Sunset took a moment to clear her head of the animalistic thoughts and instincts then helped RD up. They turned to go back to their table when Sunset noticed everyone was giving them weird looks. She blushed in embarrassment and pulled her hoodie up.

“What? Like this is the weirdest thing you’ve seen this year?”, RD chided. The rest of the students went back to their own stuff, and RD and Sunset quietly scurried back to their table. “Wolfie took over?”

“Wolfie saw one of her bitches actin’ da maggot and was not havin’ it.”

“Acting the maggot?”

“Irish phrase meaning acting like a fool.”

The two of them sat back down, AJ was rubbing her side, and Sunset put her pants back into her bag. Lunch soon finished, and the day continued. Once school was over, Sunset headed to Ms. Lance-Hart’s office. She sat down, and they got to talking. Ms. Lance-Hart asked about her weekend, and Sunset told her everything that went down in the forest.

“Okay,” Ms. Lance-Hart said, “that’s pretty scary. Why did you go after the creature?”

“I knew it could be dangerous, and I wanted to protect my mom. I guess I fell into my old monster hunter role and didn’t consider the idea that we weren’t prepared for something like that.”

“Sounds like your victory against the Dazzlings might’ve given you a false sense of confidence. It also sounds like your mother has a pretty good grasp on your situation.”

“My aunt’s an ex-soldier, so she has experience with people like me and a minor in psychology. I’ve had times where I forget that I’m a kid or that I was a pony. Now, with my old life bleeding into my new one, I forget I’m not General Shimmer anymore and that my girls aren’t soldiers, but Celestia warned me of a prophetic dream she had where we were in danger because of our magic. I want to protect them and get them ready to fight, but I keep having to remind myself that they’re children. I’m scared.” Sunset covered her face with her hands. “I am responsible for them. It’s my fault they have magic. It’s my fault they’re in danger. It’s all my fault.”

“Have you asked anyone for help?”

“Who can I ask for help? I’m the only person with advanced knowledge of magic.”

“What about Twilight? Wouldn’t she have a similar knowledge of magic?”

Sunset pulled her head up and looked Ms. Lance-Hart in the eye. “She would. She’s coming in a few days. She might be able to help.”

They finished up the session, and Sunset headed home. As she walked down her street, some yappy little dog was barking up a storm. She passed the yard of the yappy dog, a chihuahua, and bent down to better face it. “Noisy little thing, you are.” The dog kept barking. Sunset wanted to growl at the thing to shut it up, but the look that would’ve earned from Fluttershy made her rethink. She got up and continued home. Once home, she headed straight to her desk to continue working on making her own medical sensors, having gotten a broken one from Jiraiya to dissect.

Her dissection was interrupted by her phone ringing, and the caller ID showed Fluttershy. Sunset placed it on speaker to continue working. “Hey, Fluttershy, what’s up?”

“What you found was a hyena paw print, and the fur color also matches.”

“A hyena? In Maine? A ‘bear-sized’ hyena in Maine?” Hyena laughing, is that thing the danger?

“I know, but that’s what you found.”

“Thanks, Fluttershy, you were a big help. I need to go double check some things.”

“Okay, bye.”

Sunset dropped what she was doing and rushed over to where she kept The Evolution of Monsters books and flipped open the Africa one. Given her and her mother’s nature, she’d marked the entry with a green tab but never expected to encounter one. Werehyena, a creature that can take the form of a human during the day but take their true form at night. Blablabla, dig up graves and devour the rotting flesh of the occupant. “Gross, but that explains the smell. Okay, we might have a problem. I have ta call the girls.”

CHS

Date: Nov 12th, time: 3:00 pm

*Sunset’s perspective*

The bell rang and the students spilled out of their classrooms, except for the students in gym class. They headed to the showers. This included the Rainbooms.

“What does sixteen plus thirty-six equal?”, Pinkie asked.

“Um, fifty-two.”, Fluttershy said.

“Nope, a prison sentence.”

Fluttershy, Rarity, and AJ all rolled their eyes while Sunset and RD, the most messed up of the bunch, chuckled as they entered the locker room.

“What did the cannibal do after he dumped his girlfriend? Wiped his butt. What’s the difference between a cop and a bullet? When a bullet kills someone, it gets fired.”, she continued as they undressed.

“Pinkie, Ah would say ya need help, but any shrink that sees you would end up in the loony bin themselves.”, AJ teased.

“Nah, you need ta be alive to end up in the loony bin.”, RD said.

“Are you suggesting I would kill my shrink? Because I wouldn’t. I would hire someone else ta do it.”

“I don’t know. That’s a lot of paperwork.”, Rarity said.

“I can do it.”, Sunset said. “No paperwork, no pens, just give me a name, address, and three hundred bucks and some Gormy chocolate.”

“Hm, how would you do it?”

“Oh, I wouldn’t kill them. They’d commit suicide.”

“Yeah, suicide by two shots in the back of their head.”, Fluttershy deadpanned.

“I knew there was a reason I like you.”, RD said.

“Oh, I thought it was because I’m blackmailing you to love me.”

“Yeah, that too.” A very naked RD hugged a very naked Fluttershy and kissed her on the head.

“Oh, geeze, at least wait until the rest of us are done showerin’.”, AJ joked.

“Just plug your ears.”

“Ah could plug yer ears with a knife.”

The jokes stopped at that as they climbed into the showers. After they were clean, dry, and dressed, they headed to the bandroom. As they were heading inside, Scootaloo came rolling up to them on her scooter.

“Hey, Rainbow Dash, wanna see a new trick I learned?”, Scootaloo asked.

“Of course, Scoots, I’ll meet you outside after we’re done practicing.”

“I need ta do my trick at the skatepark, and my aunts are leaving soon.”

“Ooh, sorry kiddo, I can’t. I have magic stuff ta do. Maybe another time.”

Sunset placed a hand on RD’s shoulder to let her know to wrap it up. They were on a schedule.

“I gotta get going. We can hang another time.”

Scootaloo scowled at Sunset and rolled away.

“Is she allowed ta ride that scooter in here?”, Sunset asked.

“She has a bad knee. She can’t move it properly, so she has a medical exception for it as a mobility aid. It’s cheaper and works better for her than the medical ones.”

“Ahh, clever.”

The girls headed inside and started playing. The purpose of the jam-session wasn’t to practice. It was to “pony-up”, as Pinkie called it. Personally, Sunset thought it sounded like they were telling someone to pay up in some mafia period piece, but it worked and made sense. Once they all were “ponied-up”, they put their instruments away and, as planned, covered their ears with hats and hoodies, and Fluttershy and RD covered their wings with thick jackets. Fluttershy led them outside and to a relatively large clearing in the Everfree surrounded by sparse trees. It was perfect for flying lessons. They removed their ear and wing coverings and split up into two groups; AJ teaching Rarity and Pinkie how to reinforce their bodies near the edge of the clearing, and Sunset working with Fluttershy and Rainbow in the center.

“Okay, Fluttershy, I’ve seen that Rainbow has a good grasp on getting off the ground, but I haven’t seen you do much flying. Can you show me what you can do?”

“Um, okay.” Fluttershy flapped her wings and brought herself to only about a few inches off the ground.

“Can you go any higher?”

“Um, I’ll try.” She got herself about another couple of inches higher.

“I thought you said you aren’t afraid of heights.”

“I’m not afraid of heights. I’m afraid of falling.”, she said indignantly.

“Hey, you don’t have ta worry. You got me here ta catch you.”, RD said.

Fluttershy smiled and blushed as Rainbow tried to hug her without them ending up on their butts with little success.

“Fluttershy, is this a self confidence issue, or are you just doing this so Rainbow can play ‘knight in shining armor’?”, Sunset asked.

Fluttershy’s blush spread across the rest of her face. “Um, a bit of both.”, she squeaked out.

“Well, put your lovie-dovie crap on hold for now.”, Sunset said in her ‘commander voice’. “That werehyena should have the same powers as a werewolf, and you’ve seen what I can do without full access to mine. Imagine gettin’ inta a fight with mo mothe’. You wouldn’t last long. We need to be prepared if Celestia’s prediction comes true.”

Fluttershy and Rainbow put some distance between them then nodded their understanding.

“Good, start with some warm-ups. Fly around and get a feel for your wings and how you move.”

They nodded again and took off. Rainbow was much more confident and faster in her flight as they circled around the clearing. She also started doing dives. Man, that still looks cool. Sunset didn’t stop her as she remembered how much Spitfire hated it when her teachers did that but also kept a careful watch in case of a crash. She wasn’t looking to test if their hybrid nature made them as impact resistant as ponies today. Rainbow’s dives started getting bigger, and she was going above the trees. Being spotted was a concern, but the bigger concern was RD cracking her skull open.

“Rainbow! Stay below the treetops! And slow down! These are only warm-ups!”, Sunset barked.

“Right! Sorry!” Rainbow stopped her dives and slowed down to about Fluttershy’s speed. The two of them circled the clearing a couple more times before heading back down to Sunset.

“Okay, good. Now, the most important part of flying is control. Do either of you have your learner’s permit?”

“Nah, I’m not turning fifteen until May.”, Rainbow said.

“She’s the youngest of us.”, Fluttershy elaborated. “I do have my permit.”

“Good, then you would know how important maintaining control is. Losing control can lead to a crash and you losing your lives. There is a reason we have flight school back in Equestria. The way my sister learned control is through obstacle courses. We don’t have flight obstacle courses here, so we’ll be using the trees as our obstacles. Don’t worry about speed. Go as fast as you feel comfortable with but stay as close to the trees as possible and keep your turns tight.” Sunset grabbed several packages of throwing needles with red tassels attached and one with white tassels and zipped around and outside the clearing, throwing them up into the 60-80 foot trees, creating markers. “Those are your course markers. The white one is your starting point. Try to fly as close to them as possible.”

Fluttershy and RD nodded and shot back up into the air and began the course. Sunset grabbed a pair of binoculars out of her bag to get a better look at their forms and turns. Fluttershy was going slow but steady and making clean, tight turns. Rainbow was going much faster, but her turns were less consistent. Some turns were good but others went wide with her nearly hitting other trees.

“Rainbow! Slow it down! You’re not racing!”

Rainbow did slow down for a bit but picked it back up within minutes and continued with the sloppy turns.

“Rainbow! Slow it down or-” Before Sunset could finish her threat, RD clipped badly, lost control, and began plummeting to the ground. The world slowed around her as Sunset’s brain screamed. Crap! Crap! Crap crap crap crap crap! Fluttershy dove to try to catch her, but she was on the opposite side of the clearing. Sunset dropped the binoculars and started to run to catch her without having thought of a plan to catch her, something she only realized when she was almost under her and Rainbow was only about a dozen feet away from the ground. What do I do? What do I do? Oh, this is going to hurt. Sunset twisted around and launched herself backwards, finishing her spin mid air and right under Rainbow. RD landed chest fist into Sunset’s stomach, slamming them to the ground. They skidded to a stop and got the wind knocked out of both of them.

They laid there, stunned, as the world sped up to normal speed. Sunset started to register other sounds again, including the shouts of the other girls. She let out a sharp inhale as her body remembered to breathe, and much to her relief, RD started breathing again too.

“Are you okay?” “Get her off her.” “No, we shouldn’t move them.” All the girls were talking over each other, and the cacophony of voices wasn’t helping Sunset’s frazzled senses.

“Shut up.”, Sunset said. It was by no means commanding, but neither was it weak or wheezy. She sounded like she was tired or ‘just done’.

Rainbow pushed herself up, and the rest of the girls tried to stop her, but she waved them off. “I’m fine.”

“You just nose dived out of the sky. You’re not fine.”, Fluttershy chastised.

“My mom’s coming to pick me up. I’ll have her check me out.”

“Sunset, are you okay?”, Pinkie asked.

“Been better.” Sunset wobbled to her feet and, aside from a lot of soreness, felt fine. It was like getting slammed by someone Tiny’s size. “I think we should wrap things up.”

The rest of them agreed, and AJ gathered up their stuff while the rest of the girls helped Sunset and RD out of the forest. AJ joined back up with them as they exited the forest. The girls brought the two of them over to the steps and had them wait there. They waited for RD’s mom to arrive, and when she did, Pinkie rushed over and quickly brought her over.

“Okay, can someone else explain to me what happened? Pinkie was talking way too fast.”, DR’s mom explained.

“Rainbow crashed into Sunset during flight training.”, Fluttershy explained.

“Okay, let’s head inside so I can check you out.” RD’s mom still looked confused about the situation but followed the girls to the locker room. The rest of the girls stood out of the way as she had the two of them sit on a bench and gave them a once over. “Okay, tell me what happened, exactly.”

“Sunset was teaching us how to fly when I clipped my wing on a branch and lost control, and Sunset had to break my fall.”

“Okay, is your neck hurting at all?”

“No, but I haven’t moved it, just in case.”

“Hm” RD’s mom poked around RD’s neck, especially the back of it. “Okay, I don’t think it’s broken. Do either of you have any complaints? Are you hurting anywhere?”

“Other than some soreness, I feel fine.”, Sunset said.

“Yeah, same here. Though, I can practically feel the bruise forming on my wing.”, RD said.

“Okay, both of you, take off your jackets and shirts.”

They did as instructed, and that’s when Sunset noticed the state of her jacket. The back wasn’t torn, but it was noticeably scratched up. It made her wince. She laid it aside to worry about later and took off her hoodie then her shirt. Her front was slightly discolored but otherwise looked fine.

“You… have a lot of scars for someone so young.”, RD’s mom said.

Welp, she’s probably gonna think Mom and Dad are abusive. “Yeah, those are a long story, but the short version is I got them before I was adopted.”

“Oh, I did not realize you were adopted.”

“Not many people do. My favorite are the people who ask where I get my gold stripes and I get to tell them ‘from the mailman’.”

“Ha! Oh, that’s gold. Okay, how deep would you say your soreness is?”

“Um, skin deep, I don’t feel like any of my organs are damaged, other than not wanting to eat.”

“Okay, keep an eye on that. If you start to have more internal pains, go to the hospital. Rainbow?”

Rainbow poked around her chest then shook her head. “No broken bones. I think I’m fine.”

“How high up did you fall from?... And I guess I need to ask how fast you were going.”

“You were at one of the lower markers, so about sixty feet, and with the aid of gravity, you were probably going about… twenty, twenty-five-ish mph.”, Sunset said.

RD’s mom’s eyes widened at that. “H-how? People die going slower than that on bicycles. How did neither of you break anything?”

“It’s the alien magic. They’re some tough cookies, and it looks like we got the increased durability as well.”

“Yer chubbiness probably helped too.”, AJ remarked.

“Did you just call me fat?”

“Well, ya are. Y’re like a livin’ pillow.”

“I’m not overly fat. I have a healthy layer of protective fat.”

“Keep tellin’ yerself that.”

“Rude”

“What’s rude is not tellin’ someone that they’re chasin’ after a man-eatin’ werehyena.”, AJ said with a shit-eating grin.

Sunset didn’t have a proper response to that so just gave her the middle finger.

“I’m just going to ignore that. Though, you seem to know a lot about this alien species. You were the one to explain your magic to us and now this. How do you know so much?”, RD’s mom asked.

“I’ve been to Equoes, the aliens’ home planet, and spent a while over there. That’s how I got most of my scars.”

“I have… so many more questions.”

“And I would not like to answer them. My time on Equoes was very traumatic.”

“Oh, sorry.”

“Yeah, speaking of alien business, could you wait outside for a bit. We’ve got secret society stuff to discuss.”

RD’s mom looked to her daughter, who gave her a nod, then exited the locker room with some hesitation. The rest of the girls huddled around Sunset and Rainbow.

“How long do you plan on holding onto that monster hunting trip?”

AJ shrugged. “Ah dunno.”

“Anyway, before this kerfuffle, I wanted to ask you if it’d be okay if I told Twilight about your psychic powers. Given her reaction to the school spirits, I think she can be trusted with that knowledge.”

“You’re the one that wanted to keep it a secret from her, darling.”, Rarity said. “I think it would be best to leave dealing with Equestrians to you since you’re from there.” The rest of the girls nodded, echoing similar sentiments.

“Great, I feel like a politician again.”, Sunset said, remembering the times she had to play diplomat. Those were not fun times.

“You were a politicker?”, Pinkie asked.

“Are you really that surprised, considering how much of a sleazebag I can be?”

“No, not really.”, she said through a gritted teeth smile.

“With that out of the way, does anyone else have anything to say before we wrap things up?”

“I do.”, Rarity said. “Any idea of how durable we are, and would it also mean we’re heavier too? If so, I might just test it out next time my sister hogs the couch.”

“Well, as far as weight goes, my mom hasn’t had any trouble carrying me, but she is a super-werewolf, so… As far as durability, you’re more than welcome to step out into traffic and check.”

Rarity let out an evil little laugh with a smile that would scare a normal pony. “Maybe I could push you into traffic.”

“Hm, we could play a friendly game of traffic doggers.”

“Okay, this line a’ jokes is goin’ a bit too far.”, AJ said.

“Alright, we’ll cut it out. Does anyone else have business to discuss?”

The rest of the girls gave their various ‘no’s, and Sunset nodded. She and Rainbow put their clothes back on then they all headed out, AJ handing everyone their stuff back. RD’s mom rejoined them, and they all, except for RD, detransformed. AJ and Rarity got onto the bus, RD got into her mom’s car, and the remaining three walked home. Sunset headed straight to her room and began working on the sensors. She’d gotten a pretty good idea on how to build them. She just needed to draw up her own plans for them. She’d just about finished building the machines. She just needed to build a couple more pieces and the sensors, and they’d be ready for cases.

A couple hours later, Brigid and Anzhong returned home, and Sunset rushed out to greet them. Her bruises gave protest when she hugged Brigid, but she ignored them. “Hey, Mom, I need to talk with you about somethin’.”

“Wha’s up?” Brigid continued to unpack the groceries as they talked.

“Well, the girls and I have a rule, no secrets within the secret society, and Twilight is technically a part of our society, even though she doesn’t live here. I want to tell her everything, but given that “everything” includes a sensitive topic for you, I wanted to get your permission first.”

“Hm… how does Equestria view werewolves?”, Brigid said after some consideration.

“We ain’t got any, and at least to my knowledge, there are no such legends. And Twilight has had no exposure to werewolf stories over here.”

“Chm, alright, ya c’n tell ‘er.”

Hothoof apartment

Date: same day, time: 5:00 pm

*RD’s perspective*

RD laid on her bed with an icepack on her bruising wing. Given that her wings and hoodie are both blue, tucking them in worked well enough to hide them for the walk up to her apartment. Even if someone did notice them, so long as she didn’t move them, she could easily say they were a costume. Her ears on the other hand, they didn’t like to hold still, twitching towards any sounds and moving to convey emotions. They were like squirmy toddlers. She had her blinds closed so anyone looking to go window peeping wouldn’t see her. Some people can be such creeps.

There was a knock at her door, and the person on the other side didn’t wait for an answer before barging in. Scootaloo hobbled in as fast as she could with her bad knee and hopped onto Rainbow’s bed. “Hey, Rainbow.”

“Hey, Squirt.”

“What happened to you?”

“I clipped my wing while training and crashed. I’m not hurt, just got some bruising and aches.”

“So, I take it you aren’t up to going to the skatepark.”

“Sorry, Squirt, maybe tomorrow. I’ll be seeing if my magic gives me super healing.”

Scootaloo nodded and scooted in closer. She began stroking and fiddling with the feathers of RD’s uninjured wing. “What’s it like having wings?”

“They feel like my arms and legs. It did take a bit for my brain ta… create a separate command path for them, if that makes sense. Uh, for a bit, I would move them when I tried to move my arms and my arms when I tried to move them, like they were attached with strings, but that eventually got sorted out.”

“Cool”

“Hello, girls.”

RD lifted up her head to see mom standing at her door with a book in her arms. “Hey, Mom, whatcha got there?”

Mom entered the room, and RD and Scoots shifted around so she could sit on the bed. “Do you remember the stories about the Everfree witches?”

“Yeah, dozens of escaped indentured servants retreated into the forest and began learning magic to free their families, and the MacNeacail were supposedly among them. Why?”

“Well, given current events, I started looking through my mother’s old things and found this.” Mom handed RD the book. The cover was made of leather and in the center was a griffin and surrounding it were crows, valknuts, and wind patterns. “Open it up.”

Rainbow did, and it was filled with Nordic and witch imagery. Her eyes widened at the sight. “The stories are true.”

“I’m starting to think so, yeah.”

“That’s so awesome. You’re a real life witch.”, Scootaloo said.

Rainbow continued looking through the book, discovering more spell looking things and even descriptions on spirits. “Totally awesome”

Outside CHS

Date: Nov 14th, time: 4:15 pm

*Sunset’s perspective*

With a ripple of the surface, Twilight came stumbling out of the portal, and Sunset stepped out of the way and grabbed her by the back of the collar to stabilize her.

“Whoa, thanks.” Twilight straightened herself out then looked around the courtyard. “May I ask, where are the rest of the girls?”

“Home would be my guess. It’s just us two tonight so we can discuss sciency stuff that I doubt the others will be interested in. We’ll be heading to AJ’s tomorrow for the party.”

“Oh, that works for me.” Twilight tried to adjust her skirt to cover more of her legs as the wind picked up and more flakes flouted to the ground.

“Good, let’s get going. I only live a twenty minute walk away, but it’s only gonna get colder.”

“Yes, I would like that please.”

Sunset began leading Twilight to her house and decided to start the conversation then since they had nothing else to talk about. “So, a couple of house rules, my dad is blind so don’t leave anything on the floor and make sure your chair is fully put back before you leave the table.”

“Oh, okay, I understand your rules.”

“You don’t have to be so formal, Twi. For that matter, what you’re goin’ can be considered rude here.”

“May I ask, how would formal language be considered rude? I am trying to be respectful to my elder.”

“For starters, I’m not your elder. Secondly, people don’t wanna listen to others drone on. It’s considered wasteful of other’s time. Be concise. Time is the most limited resource we have.”

“I see. Do humans not live as long as ponies?”

“No, we actually live longer. American culture is just, in many ways, the opposite of Equestrian high society culture.”

“How so?”

“‘Princess’ can be an insult.”

“What?!”, Twilight shouted, both surprised and insulted.

“Calling someone that’s older than twelve a ‘princess’ is a way of calling them spoiled and immature, a brat, unless you’re calling them that in relation to their parents or they are an actual princess. It’s a long story that requires a history lesson to explain.”

Twilight still looked somewhat offended but didn’t comment on it. “In what other ways is American culture the opposite of Equestrian culture?”

“Well, that’s complicated, but the summed up version is that a lot of the nobles would be considered almost comically rude here. On that note, have you told anypony about our school being haunted?”

“I did tell Celestia about it and that it means no harm and how your world works differently than ours, but Earth and the portal are classified information. I’m not allowed to tell anypony else.”

“And remember how I asked you to keep an open mind?”

Twilight nodded.

“Well, there are things that are completely normal and harmless here that are illegal back in Equestria, and I’m talking ‘send the Orders in’ kind of illegal.”

“What are the Orders?”

Now, it was Sunset’s turn to be surprised. “You’ve never heard of the Orders? But you’re a princess.”

“I haven’t. What are they?”

“The Orders are black-ops priests units of the military tasked with dealing with illegal magics, like soul magic and neuromancy, and they’re zealots about it. If they learn about what I’m about to tell you, they’ll find the portal and come to Earth to purge us. Earth magic heavily deals in abilities that resemble illegal magics, and they would do everything in their power to eliminate it. They can not learn about us. Do you understand?”

Twilight got a frightened look but nodded.

“Good, does your Pinkie have something she calls her “Pinkie sense”?”

“Yeah, I tried to figure it out, but I almost went crazy doing so. I’m guessing yours does too.”

“She does. Although, here, it’s more commonly known as a sixth sense. The rest of us also have sixth senses, but each of ours work and do different things. The reason I gave you that ‘keep this under wraps’ spiel is because Rainbow has the ability to see spirits, a soul magic ability, and members of my family and I can sense emotions, a neuromancy ability.”

“Those don’t seem like dangerous powers.”

“They aren’t, but the Orders only see people with “sinful magic” and want to get rid of them. And the best part about all of it is that you have to have the ability to use those “sinful magics” to join whichever order. They’re a whole bunch of hypocrites.”

“I want to talk with Celestia about this and get her side of it.”

“Fair, I guess I’m kinda salty about them because the head priest of the Order of the Exorcist was a… whole bunch of words I shouldn’t say in front of foals, to me whenever we interacted.”

“Okay, she’s not nice. Got it.”

“He”, Sunset corrected.

The two of them were passing by the house with the yappy chihuahua, who was doing its thing by the fence gate. It caught Twilight’s attention, and she made a weirded out face. Sunset patted her on the back to keep her moving. They were nearly at the end of the block when the barking started getting louder. They turned around to see the dog running towards them. Twilight freaked out and began running in the other direction as if she was being chased by a timberwolf. Sunset just watched the tiny dog run by as she tried to process Twilight’s reaction. She’s going to run past my house. Sunset rushed to catch up to them and scooped up the pooch and grabbed Twilight’s shoulder.

Twilight spun around and backed away from Sunset and the dog. “Get that thing away from me.”

“Yeesh, Twi, it’s just a chihuahua.” Sunset began scratching its head, which stopped its barking. “It’s a dog, just like Spike.”

“But it’s not Spike! Celestia knows what it might do.”

Sunset looked down at the dog and back up at Twilight. “The worst this thing can do is gnaw on your finger. It’s harmless, despite what the jokes might make you believe.”

“It’s a predator! Just look at its teeth. And it was charging at me! It wants to eat me.”

“You’re also a predator and a much bigger one at that. Come ‘ere.”

Twilight gingerly approached, and Sunset grabbed her hand and put it on the dog’s head, earning a wince from Twilight. The dog started to lick her, and Twilight jumped back. “See! It was just tasting me! It wants to eat me!”

“It was cleaning you. He thinks you’re dirty. Dogs don’t bother with tasting their food. Tomiju’s a prime example of that. They’re like the dopre back home but carnivorous, and they can get a lot bigger, but they are just as loving and loyal and don’t eat humans… normally. Not everything is as it seems here.” Sunset turned around and brought the dog back to its yard, putting it in the corner away from the gate that it can apparently squeeze through, then got Twilight to her house. “Take your shoes off and spray down with this.”

Once they were all disinfected and stuff, Sunset brought Twilight to the dining room table. “Set up here. I’m gonna grab some stuff from my room.” Twilight took a seat, and Sunset went into her room. She grabbed The Evolution of Monsters books along with her computer and a few other things and returned to the dining room. Twilight had unpacked her backpack and had books spread across the table. Sunset took the opposite side and spread her books.

“So, what do you have?”, Twilight asked.

Sunset opened up the European book and showed Twilight the siren pages. “Around eight-hundred years ago, sirens went from a male and female bird-like species to an all female aquatic species, both having the ability to entrance people with their songs.”

“Oh my, the Dazzlings have to be responsible. I wonder why Star Swirl the Bearded thought Earth didn’t have any magic?”

“My best guess is that he didn’t recognize it as magic. It feels very different inside my body. I’m not sure how to describe it, but it feels denser. I’ve started to learn to move it around, but I still can’t mold it to create spells without the help of spell circles. The sirens have been here for hundreds of years, so they’ve had plenty of time to relearn their magic.”

“Alright, as far as humans in Equestria goes, they’ve all been dead or died quickly.”

“Yeah, they likely died of oxygen toxicity. Equoes has over twice the oxygen percentage of Earth. Anything from Equoes that came to Earth would suffocate, and anything from Earth to Equoes would slowly sustain lethal damage to their lungs. That’s why the portal changes the species of whoever goes through it.”

“That explains it. I didn’t know you could die from too much oxygen.”

“Yeah, me neither, my mom told me about it last summer. I guess the old adage is true, too much of any good thing is a bad thing.”

“That is unfortunate. I was hoping that our two species could someday interact without the need for the portal’s transformative effects.”

“It still might be possible. It’d be easy to create a mask that filters out the excess oxygen, and Equoesians can carry and wear an oxygen tank and mask.”

“Huh, interesting.”

They continued going over instances of creatures from either world ending up in the other. Sunset would try to identify the people by looking through various missing persons databases, but with only having physical descriptions to go off of, 600,000 people going missing in the US alone every year, and many of the instances happening hundreds of years ago, that was proving impossible.

“The first sighting of a unicorn was in a country called India, in the fourth century BC, but it might not’ve been a unicorn.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Well, the description reads “wild asses with white bodies, blue eyes, red-heads and a multicolored horn, about one foot six inches long, in the middle of their head”. Does that sound like a unicorn to you?”

“No, but that doesn’t sound like anything from Equoes.”

“Well, this was over two-thousand years ago, so the story undoubtedly got warped over the centuries. Either way, I’m thinking we’re dealing with Saddle Arabian unicorns because, if a human saw a couple of ponies, ‘donkey-sized’ would not be the adjective they’d use, but Saddle Arabians, averaging three feet, are donkey-sized. Earth donkeys are between two foot seven inches and five foot two inches.

“Foot means nothing to me, Sunset.”, Twilight said in a ‘remember’ tone. “I remember that a trot is about five inches.”

“Right, for context, there are twelve inches in a foot, so two-point-four trots in a foot. Ponies average at one foot, Celestia is about four foot seven, you look to be about five foot five, and I’m five foot seven.”

Twilight’s jaw dropped at that.

“How tall did you think we are?”

“Not that tall. I figured humans were taller than ponies because of your bipedalism but not taller than Celestia! You’re the size of adolescent dragons, bigger even.”

The back door opened, and Brigid and Anzhong walked in. “Hey, kiddoes.”, Brigid said as she took her jacket off and Anzhong took Kiba’s harness off.

“I don’t even want to think about how big your mom is.”

Kiba came over and inspected Twilight. Twilight tried to press herself into her chair but didn’t freak out.

“Now, that’s a breed you should be careful with. Akitas can break bones with their bites. And before you ask, we keep them because they’re cute and good working and hunting dogs and are safe so long as they are properly trained. Kiba helps my dad navigate without sight. She’s a seeing eye dog.”

“And I thought the ponies that keep cats as pets are nuts.”

“We do have a pet cat. She’s around here somewhere.”

“You have cats here?”, Twilight asked with mild alarm.

“You have Spike.”, Sunset deadpanned. Kiba deemed Twilight okay and went over to receive scratches from Sunset.

“Spike is sapient.”

“Humans are two, but I feel safer around random dogs than I do around random humans.”

“Whacha two doin’ ‘ere?”, Brigid asked as she looked over Sunset’s shoulder at the table. Without her jacket, everyone could easily see the tattoos covering her arms. Each arm depicted a dark, bioluminescent, fairy forest with giant, glowing mushrooms; shimmering moss; dark trees, grass, and rocks; and wolves and foxes. All the symbols of her pack, including Emi’s, Sunset’s, Anzhong’s, Minerva’s, and her own, were “carved” into the trees and rocks with space for Anura’s when she figures hers out. Twilight was clearly staring at them.

“We’ve been tracking the crossovers, as I’ve started calling them.”

“Good, make sure ta clear off da table before dinne’. On dat note, wha’ do ya want ta eat, Twilight?”

“Um, anything without meat would be fine.”

“Great, another not picky eater.”, Anzhong complained.

Twilight gave Sunset a confused look.

“My family would eat just about anything someone puts in front of us, and it annoys him that we never say ‘we want X’.”

“Oh, well, I can be picky. I just don’t know enough about human food.”

“We c’n fix dat. Anzhong, let’s do a spread ta give ‘er da full multicultural experience.”

“Can do.”, Anzhong said.

“Are your arms dyed?”, Twilight asked Brigid. “How would you dye yourselves without fur?”

“Dese are called tattoos. We dye our skin by injectin’ ink inta it.”

“Is it painful?”

“It is.”

“Why would you put yourself through that if it’s painful? Is it really worth it?”

“Ah think it is. We have all dis blank space on our bodies dat we c’n fill with pictures that represent us n’ our lives or our loved ones. All da best things in life come with some sorta pain, like parenthood. Plus, da pain’s only temporary, unlike parenthood.” Brigid gave Sunset the side-eye, and she gave her a “widdle ol’ me” smile in return.

Sunset dropped the smile and turned back to Twilight. “Let’s move this to my room.” She and Twilight gathered up their stuff and took it into her room, and Sunset directed Twilight to the coffee table. They relayed their stuff out on the table and floor and sat on the floor at either end of the table then got back to work.

“Equoesian creatures seem to be crossing over all over Earth.”, Twilight pointed out. “I doubt I’ll be able to find any information about Earth creatures crossing over into other countries on Equoes, but it looks like it most certainly would’ve happened.”

“Yeah, too bad you don’t have the internet over there.”

“Heheh, yeah.” Twilight froze for a moment then began looking around frantically. “What was that?”

“What was what?”

“I felt something cold. It was moving.”

Sunset tilted her head in confusion then noticed what Twilight was talking about. Ki walked behind Sunset, her being alerted to as such by the cold space that moved across her back. The sensation was naturally alarming, but Ki’s familiar and comforting aura caused her to associate that cold with positive feelings. “Oh, don’t worry. That’s just Ki, my dad’s previous seeing eye dog. He passed away about a year ago, but he still wants to protect our family, so he’s chosen to stay here.”

“Spirits can be protectors?”, Twilight asked confusedly.

“Spirits have as much range to them as humans. Most are neutral, some are dangerous, and some are protectors, dog spirits especially. Here, look at this.” Sunset pulled out her phone and showed Twilight a video of baby Emi and Ki. Emi was in a baby hammock, and Ki was holding up a squeaky toy to Emi and periodically squeaking it, earning laughter from her. “That there’s Ki.”

“Earth truly is strange.”

Sunset put her phone away, and they got back to work. So, she’s afraid of non-sapient predators. Kid, you got things backwards.

“It seems like there’s no rhyme or reason to where a creature ends up on Earth. I am impressed that humans are so capable against dragons.”, Twilight said.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure those stories are exaggerated. Remember, if they really happened, those dragons were slowly suffocating, and their mental faculties were likely impaired.”

“It’s still impressive either way. Is that everything?”

“Yeah, I think we covered everything I have. You?”

“Me what?”

“Did we cover everything you have?”

“Oh, yes, we did.”

They put their sources away and generally cleaned up. Since Brigid hadn’t called them out for dinner yet, they just sat on Sunset’s couch. It was a bit awkward. Sunset wasn’t sure if she would call Twilight a friend. They were friendly, but despite getting to know her better, she still represents the source of much of Sunset’s trauma. Maybe if I get to know Twilight, the individual, better, I can disassociate her from those feelings. She’s just a kid and did nothing wrong. It’s not her fault she was born a noble.

“So, how are things going in Equestria? What have I missed in the last five years?”

“Well, there was Princess Luna’s return, the return of Discord, and shortly after that, Princess Cadence was ponynapped and replaced by a changeling.”

“Wait, changelings are real? I thought they were just old ponytales moms tell their foals to get them to behave, “Don’t wander off or a changeling might grab you and gobble you up”. You’re seriously telling me they’re real?”

“Unfortunately so, Cadence, who was set to marry my brother, was replaced by Queen Chrysalis of the changelings, and they invaded Canterlot on what was supposed to be their wedding day. Queen Chrysalis even managed to defeat Celestia.”

“Celestia was able to be defeated by a bug? Damn, old age must be getting to the old crone.”, Sunset said with mirth.

“Well, Chrysalis was being empowered by my brother’s love for Cadence.”, Twilight tried to defend.

“Ooh, if she could do that with only one pony’s romantic love for one pony, I’d like ta see what she could do with my mother’s love for me or my sister.”

“Why?”, Twilight said with some confusion.

“My mom grew up in a large family, twenty people she deeply loved, and they’re all dead. Imagine enough love for twenty people concentrated inta maternal love for two girls. My mom can get pretty scary when she enters mama bear mode.”

“Yeah, I don’t want to see that or your mother in “mama bear mode”. It’d probably look something like an ursa major.”

“Yeah, that sounds about right. Oh, that reminds me,” Sunset got up from her seat and grabbed a couple of items from her desk and sat back down in her seat, “remember how we lost track of you during the Halloween party?”

“Yes”

“Well, it was then we realized that, if you were lost or there was an emergency, we’d have no way of contacting you and you’d be royally screwed. So, we decided to rectify that oversight.” Sunset presented Twilight with her old phone, now switched to a pay-by-the-minute plan. “This is a cell phone. It allows one to talk to anyone else with a cell phone, no matter how far away they are, as if they were standing right next to each other. It already has all of our numbers and my parents’ phone numbers programmed in.” Sunset turned on the phone and showed Twilight what she meant. “It also allows you to contact emergency services like the police, what we call the town guard, fire rescue, and a medical carriage that we call an ambulance.”

Twilight took the phone and began examining it and playing around with the buttons. “May I try it out?”

“Let me teach you how to call for emergency services first. You see, ten of those symbols are numbers.” Sunset taught Twilight what the symbols represented. Teaching her human’s base ten numeric system was challenging, but Twilight powered through, even if she looked like she had a headache by the end. Changing the way you think from eights to tens isn’t easy, especially since Mino-Griffin numerals act very differently to Hindu-Arabic numerals. Having ten fingers did help the process. “Good, now that you understand our numbers, if you need emergency services, you just need to dial nine-one-one and then that green symbol there.”

“Cool, now, may I try it out?”

“Sure, who do you want to call?” Twilight made her pick, and Sunset taught her how to use the phone. Sunset walked outside, and her phone rang. “Hello, Sexy Mares Hotline, we cover every fetish under Celestia’s sun and then some.”

“Sunset”, Twilight said with an irritated groan. “You’re not in heat, are you?”

“Nooo, humans don’t go into heat. We’re raring to go twenty-four-seven, especially humans around my age.”

“What, how does that work?”

“It’s called a menstrual cycle. Basically, we’re more like males in that we can reproduce any time of the year, all year round, and we can get “turned on”. I’d recommend not asking more into it.”

“Is this another freaky human thing that will make me feel faint?”

“Absolutely”

“Got it… This is cool. You’re nowhere near me, but I can still talk to you in real time.”

“I’m coming back in. I have another thing to give you.” Sunset hung up and headed back to her room. Twilight was exactly where she’d left her. Sunset sat back down and presented Twilight with the second item, a wallet with her cutie mark painted onto the leather. “We use dyed pieces of sturdy cloth as our primary form of currency and small coins as our secondary form of currency, and this is what we use to carry it around in. It has about fifty dollars in it and an emergency contact card with my and my mother’s numbers written on it, so if there’s an emergency, you aren’t totally helpless.”

“Thank you, is fifty dollars like fifty bits?”

“Um, money conversions are difficult, especially since those two currencies are from different planets. Let’s just say that fifty dollars can get you some food and water.”

As Twilight was putting the two items in her pockets, Brigid knocked on the door. “Dinne’!”

“Comin’!”

Sunset and Twilight washed up and went out to the dining room. Emi, Anura, and Minerva were already seated, and Anzhong and Brigid were bringing food to the table. Tomiju came excitedly running over to Twilight, freaking her out. Sunset scooped the fluffer up before she could start jumping on the scaredy-cat unicorn.

“She doesn’t want to hurt you. She’s just excited to meet someone new. Tomiju is a poodle, a breed renowned for their friendliness. As the princess of friendship, I’d’ve figured you’d like her breed.”, Sunset said in a slightly mocking manner. “Seriously, you’re being silly. Out of everything on Earth that can hurt you, she’s pretty low on that list.”

“But she still can hurt me.”

“You can choke on the food we’re about to eat. You rode in a car. Extreme weather events could rip through here. The bell crowd at school could trample you. Just try petting her.”, Sunset said exasperated.

“Yeah! She’s the least dangerous canid in this house! The one you’re standing next to is way more dangerous!”, Emi shouted. Since when does she know the word ‘canid’?

Twilight hesitantly reached her hand out and, after a brief pause, placed her hand on Tomiju’s head. She still froze, so Sunset took her hand and moved it around for her. It was likely the worst petting Tomiju ever got, but she clearly didn’t care. “She’s… soft.”

“Yeah, that’s another thing her breed is renowned for. She also doesn’t shed, unlike somebody in this room.” Sunset gave Kiba the side eye, and she indignantly turned her head away.

Twilight removed her hand from Tomiju and quickly went over to the table. Sunset put Tomiju down, and she went back under the table with Kiba. This is a good start. Sunset took her seat next to Twilight. Said girl was sitting cross legged to keep as far away from the dogs as possible. She was also examining the leaf and the underside of the table. “A track to separate the two sides of the table and add another section, brilliant. Did you design this, Sunset?”

“I’m flattered you think this is my handy work, but table leaves have been around for quite some time longer than me.”

“Dis table is somethin’ like fifty years old.”, Brigid added as she put bowls of rice in front of everyone. “N’ when Sunset said “quite some time”, we’re talking hundreds of years.”

“I’m guessing you’ve read up on me.”

“I have. You’ve lived an accomplished life, General.” Twilight turned her attention to the food on the table. There were a lot of small bowls filled with every vegetable Brigid grew and then some and various meats. Twilight watched the rest of them to figure out what to do. “What is that?”

“That’s called rice. It’s a cooked grass seed.”

“Da vegetables are in da green bowls n’ da meats are in red.”

“Oh, thank you.” Twilight scooped various vegetables on top of her rice and covered that with soy sauce, as she’d seen her hosts doing. She looked down at the helper equipped chopsticks next to her bowl. “What are these?”

“Chopsticks, they are what my father’s people customarily eat with, but they require some skill to use. That’s why you have that green piece attached to yours.” Sunset began eating her own food and noticed Emi watching Twilight out of the corner of her eye. What are you doin’, ya little weirdo?

“So, Twilight,” Minerva asked, “what do you think of Earth, so far?”

“Earth is very interesting. I’m impressed you were able to advance so far without any magic.” After a couple of attempts, Twilight managed to get some of her food into her mouth. “Hmm, this is good. What is it?” Twilight held up a piece of vegetable in her chopsticks.

“Dat is called okra. Ah grew it meself.”

“You’re a farmer?”

Brigid nodded. “Ah only got mo backyard garden nowadays, but Ah grew up on a large farm in a country called Ireland.”

“Oh, why did you leave?”

Jeez, kid, ya don’t ask something even more sensitive? Sunset leaned over and whispered into Twilight’s ear. “Remember how Ah mentioned they’re all dead?”

Twilight’s eyes widened as she realized her faux pas. “My apologies, I shouldn’t have asked that question.”

“It’s alright.”, Brigid said with a soft smile.

“Where do you work now?”

“Ah work at da local college.”

“Oh, so, you teach other people how to farm?”

“Heheheh, no, Ah teach anthropology, da study a’ humans. Humans tend ta be scared a’ wha’ we don’t unde’stand, which c’n turn ta hate. That includes people a’ other cultures. Mo hope is ta spread unde’standin’ ta mo students n’ dat dey continue ta spread it outside a’ da classroom.”

“Wait, that sounds like a scholar job.”

“Yeah, Ah am a scholar.”

“But you said that you’re a farmer.”

“Um, yeah, Ah was born on a farm but chose ta get mo PhD n’ go inta academia.”

“That’s allowed here?”

Everyone, except Sunset, gave Twilight weird looks, and Sunset decided it was time to cut in. “Most countries on Earth don’t have a caste system, US included. So long as you get the proper qualifications, a farmer can become a doctor, the child of two doctors can enter the trades, or someone whose parents are store clerks can go into politics.”

“What? That’s not how things work. If you were born a farmer, you’re destined to be a farmer. Who would become soldiers if they aren’t born into the warrior caste? You can’t be capable of running a country if you're not a noble?” Twilight continued on with the rant as she shortwired. Brigid and Minerva were giving her disapproving glares, and Anzhong was also becoming upset, but Sunset raised a hand to single to let her handle it and waited for Twilight to wind down.

Twilight eventually stopped talking and just sat there with a stunned look on her face. Sunset was expecting something like this so prepared a way to explain it without straight up saying the gods aren’t real. “Twilight”, Sunset said calmly. Twilight turned her head back to her but still looked shocked. “You read up on me. What caste was I born into?”

“The noble caste, obviously. You wouldn’t have been able to get into Celestia’s school if you weren’t.”

I’ll try to not take offense to that. “No, I was born into the warrior caste. My father pulled some strings to get me accepted into Celestia’s school. As you may have noticed, I became a great scholar, even though I was born in a lower caste.”

“But, but, but… That’s not how things work.”

“You’re right. The nobility makes sure that’s not how things work. Who’s to say Faust doesn’t want farmers to become scholars. They would know how farming works better than somepony that was never a farmer and could speed up agricultural research with that knowledge, but the law prevents them from doing so. Plus, that sounds like a much more engaging story to me.”

Twilight’s shock turned to understanding as the little seed Sunset planted got her gears turning. “You’re right.”

“Of course I’m right. Not constraining people into one life path is why we’re so advanced. Do me a favor, think about this and ask the rest of the girls about school tomorrow.”

Twilight nodded and went back to her food. The adults’ anger was subsided, and they continued eating in peace, until Emi threw a piece of her food at Sunset, which she easily dodged.

“Emi, if you wanted to give me your food, you could’ve just slid your plate over.”

Emi merely responded with a shit-eating smile.

“So, you’re Emi.”, Twilight said.

“Ayuh”, Emi said proudly.

“Sunset must love you very much.”

“Of course she loves me. Just look how cute I am.” Emi cupped her hands around her face to frame it.

“Oh yeah, real cute. Do you really think a pony would think of a hairless ape as cute?”, Sunset said. She wasn’t even trying to be mean. She’d thought humans were ugly and gross for several months before her brain converted to a human brain. She had to do what she did because Emi wouldn’t be hurt or as insulted if it came as teasing from her sister.

“We think they’re cute. Why wouldn’t they think we’re cute?”, Emi said in a ‘gotcha’ voice as she crossed her arms.

“Because they look like our ancient ancestors’ young with the fur and big eyes, but we look nothing like their young with our lack of fur and small eyes.”

“Ah, poo.”

“When can we go to Equestria? I wanna see all the cute ponies.”, Anura said.

“Ahh” Sunset looked to Twilight, who shrugged. I do want to see my pony family again. “Well, I’m not sure when we can do that, but I’d like ta show you, some day.”

They ate dessert, cleaned up, Brigid began feeding the animals, and Sunset and Twilight went back to the former’s room. “Hey, I remember when I said I’d teach you English?”, Sunset asked.

“Yes, I do. Are you going to teach me tonight?”

“We’re gonna start.” Sunset grabbed her Learning English for Children books from her boxes of stuff and placed them on the coffee table. Wait a minute. “I’ll be right back.” Sunset went over to her door and stuck her head out. Emi and Anura were playing a card game at the dining table. “Hey! Emi! I’m using my children’s English books!” Sunset capped it off with a raspberry. Emi stuck her tongue out at Sunset, and Sunset went back over to the coffee table and sat down across from Twilight. “Ready?”

“I am, but what was that about?”

“Emi had previously teased me for holding onto crap I haven’t used in years. Humans show affection to those they are very close to by “gently bullying them”, as Pinkie puts it. And before you ask, the big difference between teasing and what I was doing is that teasing doesn’t have malice behind it. I was very much being malicious.”

“What the-? Sunset, bullying people isn’t friendship. It doesn’t matter if it’s “gentle”. Why would you do that?” Twilight almost looked angry, confusing Sunset.

“Um, like I said, it’s how humans show affection to those they are very close to. It’s just how this species behaves. There’s nothing wrong with it.”

“There’s plenty wrong with it. Bullying is never okay.”

“We’re not trying to hurt each other. We’re just joking with each other in ways only we can. Only friends and sisters as close as us can make those kinds of jokes because only we know what is and isn’t okay to joke about.”

Twilight still had a scowl on her face as she shook her head. “You clearly still have a lot to learn about friendship.”

Sunset rolled her eyes and opened up the book meant to teach the alphabet. She taught Twilight the names of each letter and what sounds they made along with combinations like ‘ch’, ‘tion’, and the like. The hardest parts were the 'G', 'J', ‘V', ‘W’, 'X', and ‘Z' sounds, given that Ponish didn’t have those sounds. 'G's came out as 'C's, 'J's came out as 'H's, ‘V's came out as ‘F’s, 'X's came out as 'C's or 'S's, ‘W’s cam out as ‘OO’s, and ‘Z's came out as 'S's. She kinda sounded like she had a Mexican accent. In her attempts to copy the sounds Sunset made, the older mare noticed that she was making the same mistakes she did when she was trying to learn Griffonian, like she hadn’t already learned a second language. “Twilight, what languages do you already know?”

“Other than Ponish, just Old Ponish.”

“That’s it? Didn’t you at least learn Dragon Tongue? You have a dragon.”

“Spike speaks Ponish as his first language.”

“What about making sure he has a connection with his culture? They don’t speak Ponish in the dragon lands.”

“We just use a translation spell.”

“Even in diplomatic meetings?” Translation spells were banned in official meetings given how easily an error can be made. Celestia had a whole staff of translators, and Sunset learned Griffonian, Minotausian, Zebrican, and Dragon Tongue so she could talk directly to the respective delegates. She figured it would help garner goodwill, and she didn’t exactly trust the translators to do their job properly.

“Yes, recent advancements reduced the errors down to acceptable levels, and they were unbanned. Now, they only tend to translate idioms literally and occasionally translate things weirdly, but actual mistranslations are less than one in two million words.”

“Impressive”

Sunset continued to help Twilight get the sounds right for about another hour before wrapping things up. They were getting too tired to use the thinky parts of their brains. Even though they were too tired to work, they weren’t tired enough to go to bed, so they just sat on Sunset’s couch.

“Sunset, when do you plan on coming back to Equestria?”

“When I plan to come back is irrelevant. I’m a rogue soldier. I’d be arrested before I could even leave whatever castle the mirror is in.”

“Oh, right.” Twilight looked down in thought for a moment before looking back to Sunset. “Celestia is worried about you. Every time I mention I’ve been to Earth to her, she asks if you’re alright. With your reformation, I’m sure we could work something out.”

“Sigh, I do want to go back at some point, but I’m not sure when I’ll be ready to.”

“When you are ready, Equestria will be lucky to have you back. You could rejoin the military or get a job at the castle or become the greatest inventor we’ve ever seen. Celestia knows what you can do with the knowledge you’ve gained here.”

“Twilight, I’d like to go back to visit. I’m never going back permanently.”

“What? Why?”, Twilight asked disbelievingly.

“You basically just said why. I can be a soldier, a politician, or a scientist. I don’t fit in Equestria’s rigid society. Because of my political ties and education, I was able to go straight into a command role and become a general within ten years. Despite proving myself time and time again, the other warrior commanders saw me as a decorative armor soldier, and the noble soldiers saw me as a mere commoner. Even with Celestia making it clear that I’m her student, the other nobles only ever saw me as some brat that wandered in off the streets. The only reason I’m at least partially recognized as a scientist and inventor was because of Celestia personally making sure the scientific sector utilized my findings and because I’m a unicorn. I don’t fit in anywhere. Even at home, my immediate family are all pegasi. It was so lonely. I felt more like an alien there than I do on an alien planet. But here, I have a family that understands what I’m going through. I have my girls, who have all gone through their own shit and now are the same sorta weird pony/human hybrid I am. Things aren’t perfect here, but I finally feel like I belong. I’m going to make a life for myself here, on Earth, find a mate on this planet, and settle down here.”

Twilight looked at Sunset without any action for a solid few seconds. She’s going to protest and try to convince me to return. “I understand.”

Okay, wasn’t expecting that. “‘Xcuse me?”

“I understand. My friends are why I chose to stay in Ponyville, and I get not really fitting in. When you’re smarter than just about every other pony, it’s hard to connect with them.”

“Yeah, it does make it hard.” Sunset pulled out her phone and checked the time. “We should be heading to bed. You can sleep on my couch or in one of our spare bedrooms upstairs. Take your pick.”

“I’d prefer to sleep on your couch. I mean no offense, but your family kind of scares me. There’s just something about them that’s kind of freaky.”

“Yeah, don’t worry. A lot of people have mentioned similar feelings. We tend to unnerve people. Come with me.” Sunset led Twilight to her bathroom and grabbed a new toothbrush and tube of toothpaste from under her sink and handed them to Twilight. “I’m assuming you know what to do with these.”

“What? Yes. How? I’m sure I can figure it out.”

“FYI, the toothbrush has a couple of buttons on it and a motor inside it that vibrates the bristles. It helps clean your teeth better. The button on top turns it on, and the lower button turns it off. And be careful when squeezing the toothpaste. Our human bodies are stronger than they look, and I made a huge mess the first time I tried brushing my teeth, and I was in a much smaller body then.”

“I’ll try my best.”

“Paper towels are under the sink.”, Sunset said as she exited the bathroom. She headed out to the living room and over to the stairs. She grabbed some pillows and blankets from the stair cabinets and returned to her room. She dropped the stuff off on the couch and re-entered the bathroom.

Twilight was brushing her teeth, and as expected, there was a bit of a mess. “I’ll clean it up.”, Twilight said through a mouthful of toothpaste foam.

“There’s some pillows and blankets waiting for you on the couch.” Sunset left the bathroom and elected to put her jammies on while Twilight finished up. She tossed a spare set of jammies on the couch for Twilight and grabbed the duffle bag out from her closet. They hadn’t gotten her clothes yet, that was scheduled for Sunday, but they did get her underwear. They didn’t know what style she’d like, so they just got a few different packages, and they’d figure out what to do with the styles she didn’t pick later.

Twilight came back out not long later. “Okay, everything’s cleaned.”

“Good, try these on and let me know which style’s most comfortable.” Sunset handed her the underwear.

“What’s with the secret, tiny pants?”

“Underwear, you’ve been wearing the same pair for four-ish days now. That’s gross. We’re putting together an Earth kit for you, and that starts with undies. I’m gonna brush my teeth now.” Sunset headed in to take care of business and noticed that her counter and sink were cleaner than before Twilight brushed her teeth. Did she think that was all from her? Sunset shrugged her shoulders. Eh, whatever, free cleaning.

After she was done, Sunset headed back out and checked on Twilight. Said girl was wrestling with her PJ pants to get them on. “Have you decided on a preference?”

Twilight finally got her pants on and grabbed one of the packages and her old underwear from the table. “I like these, but what should I do with these and the rest of the packages?”

“I’ll take care of that.” Sunset took the stuff from Twilight, placed the dirty undies in the hamper, the package in the bag, and grabbed the rest of the packages and placed them back into the shopping bag Rarity gave them to her in. “We’ll take you to get clothes in a couple days. In the meantime, you can borrow some of my old clothes. Do you need help with the blankets?”

“Um, yes, please.”

Sunset’s room

Date: 11th day of the 11th month of the 1120th year, time: dawn hour

*Twilight’s perspective*

Twilight sat on Sunset’s couch, not knowing what to do. Sunset was still asleep despite the sun being up. She got that she was a thestral, but she’s also a pony that should get up with the sun. Twilight was debating with herself if she should wake her up. She got up from her spot and climbed up to Sunset’s bed. Sunset had covered her head with her blanket. Her bed also smelled strongly of a predator, and Twilight had to remind herself that the predator was Sunset. She lifted up Sunset’s blankets. Despite how freaky she looked while awake, she looked almost cute at that moment. Her predatory eyes that made Twilight feel like she was being stared down by a manticore were closed, and only the very tips of her fangs were visible. For once, she wasn’t laser focused on her predatory features. She looked soft and squishy, like a foal’s toy.

“Sunset, wakeup.” Twilight lightly shook Sunset. Sunset stirred slightly and hissed. Twilight nearly fell down the stairs as she stumbled back. She caught herself on the railing and straightened herself. All the while, Sunset was still asleep. Okay, she can stay asleep.

Twilight, quickly but quietly, went back down the stairs. She still had no idea what to do and wasn’t about to try and wake Sunset up again. She looked out the window and saw the layer of snow on the ground. How do they live without weather control? That’s so dangerous. Other kingdoms outside of Equestria manage it though. It’s clearly possible.

Twilight was only getting more bored, so she decided to explore. She left Sunset’s room and headed to the back door. There were some shoes by the door, so she slipped a pair on and headed outside. The entire backyard was surrounded by a tall fence and a couple of small buildings. In the center, stood a lone tree that had lost most of its leaves. A stone path only partially covered in snow led from each of the buildings and to the weird… Twilight didn’t even know what to call it. They also had one on the front of the house, and Applejack’s place also had one, but Twilight had never seen a similar structure in Equestria.

She stepped off the wooden structure and walked down the path to look around. One of the buildings looked like a normal building, but the second one was made out of glass panels. As strange as it was, it allowed Twilight to see inside. Inside were several plants that looked like crops. Why somepo- body would have their crops inside a glass house eluded her. Maybe it’s to keep the snow off them.

She continued on to the more normal looking building and went inside. Inside was another one of those… Twilight actually never caught what they were called. I think Applejack called it a “fahn” or something like that. The word didn’t translate, and according to Sunset, she had difficulty saying or hearing certain sounds in the English alphabet, and she had a sneaking suspicion that what she heard Applejack say wasn’t actually what she said. Sunset likened her difficulties to Japanese people’s difficulties with the letter ‘L’. Japanese apparently doesn’t have that sound, so they substitute it with the ‘R’ sound. That proved to be extra difficult for Sunset’s father as the Mainer accent drops the letter ‘R’, especially at the end of words, making it even harder for him to be understood by the public.

The building looked to be some sort of workshop. There was a workbench full of tools. There’s a lot of other stuff in there as well, but Twilight couldn’t identify most of it. She got the feeling she shouldn’t be in there so left. She quickly headed back inside the house as she was starting to get too cold. She walked around the house and saw the door that’s next to the stairs. Sunset had said that the guest rooms were upstairs, so the stairs most likely led to the bedrooms. What could this door be to? Twilight opened it up, and it led to a set of stairs going down. A basement, maybe Sunset also keeps a lab.

Twilight headed down the stairs and saw a table, three machines, several cabinets, and another door. She knew she probably shouldn’t mess with Sunset’s lab equipment, but they just looked so strange. She walked over to them. Two of the machines were boxy things with what looked like controls on top and doors on the fronts. There were also some bottles, boxes, and strange white things that Twilight could only guess were meant for carrying something on top of the machines. She couldn’t read the controls so moved to the doors. She bent down and opened one up, but inside was only a tube perforated with hundreds of small holes. It was then that she got a sneaking suspicion. She stood back up and grabbed one of the bottles. She couldn’t identify the material, but it wasn’t something she’d keep something dangerous in, so she doubted Sunset would either. She unscrewed the cap and sniffed it. It was soap. She hadn’t found Sunset’s lab. She had found her cloth washer. They must be doing well for themselves if they can afford one of these, but if they have that kind of money, why not pay someone else to wash their clothes for them? That’s what most noble houses do.

Twilight put the cap back on and put the bottle back. Even with the washer and dryer being identified, that still left the third machine. It was a strange, large tube with pipes leading from it to the wall and a dial with red and blue on it. Given its proximity to the washer and deir, Twilight could only guess it was related to cleaning clothing as well. She couldn’t figure out what that could be, and since there was nothing that could be opened to look inside, she opted to leave it alone and move onto the door.

When she tried to push or pull the door open, it wouldn’t move. It didn’t feel as if it was locked though. She examined the door more closely, and it appeared to be on some sort of track. She tried sliding it from side to side, and it opened. Interesting, why would they do it like that? The door itself was more interesting than where it led to, merely another bathroom.

She moved onto the cabinets and chest. Lifting the chest open, it was filled with a bunch of brightly colored boxes. Even without being able to read them, the colors and designs made it pretty clear they were games. She moved onto one of the cabinets, and it was locked. She tried them all, and they were all locked. What could they be keeping in there?

“Twilight”

Twilight jumped and spun around with a startled yelp. Sunset was standing behind her with a predatory smile, laughing that rumbly human laugh. Even the way humans laugh was scary. Twilight placed her hand over her heart to make sure it was still beating. At least there was one normal thing about humans, most of their organs were in the right places. “Why are you laughing?"

“Because it's funny. Humans feed off of fear.” The grin on Sunset's face made it hard to tell if she's joking.

“Are you being serious?”

“Mmm, yes, sort of. Fear's only an intoxicant to us… huh, we're kind of like changelings.”

“You feed off of love?”, Twilight said disbelievingly.

“So do ponies. We both need love to be emotionally healthy.”

“What? No, we don't.”

“Yes, you do. Imagine how miserable you'd be if you were completely unloved.”

“That's not feeding off love.”

“It kind of is.”

Okay, Sunset has gone crazy. Living here would drive anypony crazy. “Fine, whatever. I have a few questions.”

“Shoot”

Why do they keep saying that as if it means yes? “Right, what's that,” Twilight pointed to the cylinder, “why do you have a washing machine, why not just pay another person to do it for you, and why are those locked?” Twilight pointed to the cabinets.

“That's a water heater. We don’t have heating runes carved into our hot water pipes, so we use that to heat up the water then pump it through the house. Humans wear a lot more clothes than ponies, so we need to do laundry more frequently, and that would quickly make paying someone else to do our laundry much more expensive than doing it ourselves. Trust me, just about everyone would pay someone else to do their laundry for them if they could. And those are locked because they have stuff in them that can go boom, mainly the ammunition for my mom's [guns].”

“That last word didn't translate.”

“A [gun] is the main weapon of humanity. It's like a combination of a cannon and a crossbow. Do you want me to show you?”

“Um, that sounds dangerous.”

“They're only fancy sticks when they aren't loaded, and we aren't stupid enough to keep them loaded. I've been handling those things for years now, and…” Sunset pointed her finger at Twilight's forehead, “you and I can shoot disintegration rays from a bone on our noggin. I think it's perfectly within acceptable risk for you to look at my fact stick.”

Twilight glared at Sunset, who merely smugly smiled at her. “Fine, though, it seems like you're either trying to kill me or traumatize me whenever I come over here.”

“That's the spirit.” Sunset quickly headed up the stairs, leaving Twilight confused. What do spirits have to do with this?

Sunset soon came down with a key ring, unlocked one of the cabinets, and pulled something out. “This originally belonged to my grandmother.” Sunset held out what looked like a minotaur crossbow but without the arms or string, a tube where the arrow would go, no cocking stirrup, and an overall more slender body.

“How does it work?”

Sunset reached back into the cabinet and pulled out what looked like a tip of a training arrowhead. “This is a [bullet]. To use this, I'd put the [bullet] in the chamber back here, close it up, aim it, and pull the trigger down here. Pulling the trigger pulls back and releases a little hammer you can see here, striking on the back of the round here which ignites the [gunpowder]. The force of the explosion created by the [gunpowder] only has one way out, but it's blocked by the [bullet], so the [bullet] gets shot out of the barrel at whatever it's aimed at. The barrel adds spin to the [bullet] so it goes straight and increases its force. I then pop the cartridge out and store it away to be refilled.” As Sunset explained it, she pointed to each part she was talking about.

“You humans sure do like your explosions.”

“Oh, we do. We very much do.” The smile on Sunset’s face made Twilight think that they’re more to that statement than she’d like to know.

“You humans are just sapient monsters, aren’t you?”

“If that’s what makes it easier for you to process our crap, sure.” Sunset put her [gun] back into the cabinet and locked it back up. “By the way, you tracked snow into the house.”

Twilight looked down and realized she hadn’t taken her shoes off. “Oh, I’m so sorry.”

“[Eh], it’s no big deal. Come on, dad’s cooking breakfast.”

Twilight followed Sunset up the stairs and put her shoes back by the door. As she turned to go to the table, she saw a cat laying on the floor near the table, a normal looking cat. Given how the Earth counterparts of the dopre, these dogs, were ferocious carnivores, she was scared of what their cats were like, but it looked normal. She still wasn’t a fan of them though. She understood they’re needed to keep rodents out of the food, and cloth in Rarity’s case, but they still couldn’t be reasoned with. She stayed away from the cat as she took her seat. Sunset’s mom filled three bowls with chunks of meat and small bits of vegetables, attracting the attention of the dogs and cat. It looked disgusting. She placed the bowls in front of the three animals, and they waited. What are they waiting for? That’s free meat. Sunset’s mom gave them a command, and they went straight for the food. So, they taught them some restraint.

Sunset’s dad brought the food, which consisted of eggs, what looked to be leftover vegetables from last night, and some strange tube shaped things. I’ve been describing a lot of things as “strange” lately. Well, they are strange. “What are those?”

“[Venison sausage], it’s meat. Would you like to try some? It’s really good, and your body can handle it.”, Sunset said. She cut a small piece and offered it to Twilight. “The animal didn’t suffer. It’s morally fine to eat.”

“What do you mean it didn’t suffer?”

“I killed it myself. One shot to the brain, it died right away.”

“Dying is suffering.”

“No, pain is suffering. Death is peace. It died quickly, so it didn’t live in pain.”

That does make sense, but the sages taught that killing is cruel and that’s why ponies and other herbivores have superior, pure souls, but they also taught that Faust put the caste system in place and that everypony is born in their position for a reason, but the counter to that is sitting right next to me. How deep do the lies go? “I’ll… try a bite.” Twilight took the piece on her own fork and popped it into her mouth. She chewed it around, making sure to fully analyze it before swallowing. The texture was chewy and felt weird in her mouth, but the flavor was nice. “I’m not a fan.”

“Okay” That was all Sunset said before she began eating.

Okay, I’m not sure what I was expecting. Maybe for her to try to convince me to start eating meat.

They continued to eat, and once they were done, Sunset helped her father clean up while her mother carried her younger sister upstairs. Once Sunset was done helping her dad, she led Twilight into her room and over to her wardrobe and began tossing clothes onto the couch. “Those are all too small for me. See if they fit you.”

Twilight began looking through the clothes, most of which were red or black, and took off her [PJs] to start trying them on.

“By the way, Applejack’s granny is getting her a border worker puppy for her birthday, so we’ll have a completely harmless, rambunctious fuzz-ball running around during the sleepover.”

“Is that another dog breed? How many are there?”

Sunset pulled out her phone and began typing on it. “Three-hundred-sixty official breeds”

“Why in Celestia’s name are there so many?”

Sunset shrugged. “All I know is that dogs are bred for their looks, specific jobs, working in different climates, obedience, friendliness, and yappiness all across the world.” Sunset put her phone away and grabbed a box from her wardrobe. “Do you want me to put your name on this?”

“No, thank you, I already have one in my backpack, along with an experiment Applejack might be interested in.”

“You brought an Equestrian apple through the portal, didn’t you?”

“Yes, I was hoping that, assuming the portal didn’t change it too much, Applejack could get to grow Equestrian apples, but with the whole oxygen issue, I’m not sure that would work.”

“It’s still worth a try.”

Twilight eventually found some warm clothes that fit her well enough, though they were still a bit baggie. A belt got the pants to fit snugly around her barrel, but all of Sunset’s shirts were made for someone with wider shoulders and a larger chest. It didn’t feel great, and they were definitely not her colors, but it would keep her from getting cold. “None of your clothes fit me well.”

“I’m not surprised. You’re human body’s a bit scrawny.”

“I am not scrawny. You’re big.”

“I’m a crasher. Without my extra pounds to help absorb the impact, I could get hurt.” Sunset patted her stomach to show off the impact absorbent nature of human fat. “Plus, I don’t like being cold.”

“So, if I understand you correctly, instead of fur to protect and insulate you, humans have fat.”

“Correct, it also stores excess calories, so if we can’t get food for a while, we have reserves.”

“Is finding food really that difficult?”

“Humans can’t just go out and graze. We can’t digest most grasses or leaves, and a lot of plants are toxic. We can eat a lot of things, but there were some points in our history where we literally could not find anything to eat for days to even weeks. That’s why being able to easily build up reserves was so important to us.” Sunset began cleaning up the clothes and folding up the blankets.

“Fascinating”

“That it is. Want to continue with your English lessons?”

“Sure” Twilight took a seat on the couch, and Sunset joined her with the English books in hand.

“Now, a good way to describe how we pronounce words in English is that it’s chemistry-like. Adding a letter can change how all the letters are pronounced. Let me show you.” Sunset pulled up a notepad with some writing on it. “This is pronounced [ou(ə)r]. It means ‘our’.” Sunset flipped to the next page. “This word is pronounced [to͝or]. It means ‘tour’. See what I mean?”

“I do. This is going to make learning English a challenge.”

“Oh, it gets better.” Sunset flipped to the next page. “Try to pronounce this word.”

“H-our”

“Close, it’s pronounced [ou(ə)r], and it means ‘hour’. This is what we call a homophone, meaning two words having the same pronunciation but different meanings.”

“And here I thought having a more simplistic alphabet would make English easier.”

“Nope, every language has aspects that make them a pain in the butt to learn. This is why I’m warning you now.”

Sunset continued working to help Twilight pronounce all the letters correctly and even taught her some basic and important words and phrases like ‘a’, ‘I’, ‘where’s the bathroom’, ‘help’, and both of their English names. A couple hours later, Sunset’s mom came in and told them to start getting ready. They cleaned up, Sunset got dressed, and they gathered up their bags.

“Ready?”, Sunset asked.

“Ready”

They headed out to the living room, and Twilight followed Sunset’s lead as she grabbed her shoes and brought them to the back door. Sunset’s parents and sister joined them shortly, and they all got their shoes on and headed out to the vehicle house.

“I realized I never asked, but what are these machines called?”, Twilight asked as they climbed into the machine.

“It's called a [car].”, Sunset answered as she helped Twilight get her seatbelt on.

Twilight was uneasy with the dog in between her and Sunset but figured Sunset could handle it if it lost control. Sunset’s mom drove them to a house across the road, and picked up the other two people from last night. They both sat in the back with Sunset’s sister.

“Oh, I just realized, I never introduced you.”, Sunset said. “Twilight, this is my aunt, The Mind, and my cousin, Kind Knowledge.”

“Um, I don’t think their names translated properly, unless “the mind”, “kind knowledge”, and “beautiful painting” are their names.”, Twilight said, earning a snicker from Sunset’s parents.

“Well, that’s what our names mean, but those aren’t our names.”, Sunset’s aunt said. Her voice was very calming, for a human voice.

“Um, here, try this.” Sunset held up her [phone] with three words typed up. “These are their names. Try to pronounce them.”

Twilight recognized that one of the names had one of the letters she had trouble with, so she decided to put that one off for last and instead start with the shortest one. “Emi”

“That’s me!”, the blue maned girl cheered.

“Anura” That’s a Ponish sounding name.

“Yeah, you got it.”, the other girl said quietly.

“Minerfa, sorry, I’m having trouble with some of your letters.”

“That’s okay. It’s close enough.”, Minerva said.

“What are your parents’ names?”

“Heh, you are not going to like my dad’s name.” After a couple seconds of typing, Sunset showed Twilight her [phone].

“Oh, horseapples. Okay, Anshonhj… Brihid.”

“I take it that ‘Z', ‘V', and 'G' aren’t in the Equestrian language.”, Anzhong said.

“Correct”, Sunset said.

“Keep trying, if I can pronounce ‘L’s, anyone can learn to pronounce any letter.”

He’s certainly a dad. “Thank you for the encouragement.”

“Okay, onto Sweet Apple acres.”, Brigid said.

Sweet Apple acres

Date: Nov 15th, time: 11:00 am

*Sunset’s perspective*

They pulled up to the curb in front of AJ’s, closely followed by Mrs. Forst’s car, who joined up with them as they left their neighborhood. The Mac Carthaighs and Twilight hopped out of their car, and Fluttershy and Pinkie hopped out of Mrs. Forst’s car and rushed over to the Mac Carthaighs as Mrs. Forst drove away.

“Hey!”, Pinkie cheered.

“You’re loud.”, Emi said.

“Sorry, I’ll try to be quieter.”, Pinkie said at a reasonable volume.

“Impressive”, Fluttershy said.

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard my Pinkie speak that quietly.”, Twilight said.

RD’s and Rarity’s respective families’ cars pulled up, and they each hopped out.

“Looks like it’s time to head inside.”, Minerva said.

The group headed inside, where they were greeted by Big Mac. Those wearing coats discarded them, presents and bags were placed where they were needed, and the girls met up with AJ.

“Happy birthday! Birthday girl!”, Pinkie cheered.

“Well, that didn’t last long.”, Fluttershy said under her breath.

“Hey, y’all.”, AJ said. The rest of the girls all gave their greetings.

“Your counterpart wishes you a happy birthaversary.”, Twilight said.

“Tell ‘er Ah said thanks. N’ ‘birthaversary’? Sounds like ya had a slight mistranslation. Tha word is ‘birthday’, as in, the day you were born.”

“Birthday, yeah, that doesn’t flow well at all in Ponish.”

“Reeyah-nahqun, birthday.”, Sunset said. “Reeyah-queyo, birthaversary.”

“Ahh, Ah hear whatcha mean. Pizza should be here soon.”

“Great, after pizza, we can have cake. I made one for each of you.”, Pinkie said.

“Pinkie, you didn’t have to. You…”, Sunset started to say but was cut off by Pinkie whipping her head around and giving her a serious face that could best be described as threateningly silly, think Joker.

“Did you get a cake on your actual birthday?”, Pinkie said in a similarly threateningly silly voice. The treateningness of it was only added by her speaking at a normal volume and excitement level, slowly and quietly by her standards.

“Um, no.”

“Then you get a cake on your make-up birthday. No, arguing.”

Sunset nodded quickly. Pinkie was legitimately scaring her at that moment.

“Glad we agree.” Pinkie’s voice and demeanor returned to their usual state, and Sunset relaxed. She looked around the group and realized the others were also stiffened by fear and giving off nervous fear energy.

No more arguing about parties with Pinkie.

“Um, what is Pinkie talking about?”, Twilight asked.

“Due to my siste’s ailing condition, my family and I didn’t really have the energy to celebrate my Earth birthday, so AJ offered to share her birthday with me this year.”

“Her birthday was tha same day as the Fall Formal.”, AJ added.

“Oh, yeah, sounds like a due over is in order.”, Twilight agreed. “But I didn’t get you a present.”

“I don’t want anything. Rarity had to talk me into accepting a present from her.”

The doorbell rang, and Granny calling out ‘pizza’ summoned everyone into the dining room. As the other girls were heading there, and AJ walked past Sunset, the latter grabbed her arm and whispered into her ear. “This act of generosity wouldn’t happen to have anything to do with earning brownie points with Rarity, would it?”

“Well, Ah mean, Ah wouldn’t have any objections if this did result in that.”

Sunset smiled at AJ. “Atta girl”

They joined everyone else at the kitchen counter, where the pizza was being laid out. “Veggie, meat lovers, and Hawaiian”, Granny said as she spread them out as Big Mac passed out plates.

“Who actually likes pineapple on their pizza?”, RD asked.

“That would be me.”, Sunset said as she grabbed a slice of each pizza.

“Ayuh, you’re an alien alright.”

Sunset merely rolled her eyes. Everyone got their pizza and drinks and sat around the table.

“Hey, Dr. Brigid, do you remember that gatorcane story ya started to tell us on the camping trip?”, AJ asked.

Twilight leaned over to Sunset and whispered into her ear. “I thought your mother was a teacher. Is she a physician?”

“No, mistranslation, humans use the same word for physician and sage. My mother would be a sage in Equestria.”

“Oh yeah, we should finish dat story. Let me start from da top. So, when Ah first came ta da US, Ah lived with me aunt in a place called Pahokee, Florida. Pahokee is located on da shore of a large lake called Lake Okeechobee. Lake Okeechobee is da goddamn most alligator-infested lake in all a’ Florida. We’re talkin’ ten thousand gators. N’ little known fact ‘bout hurricanes, dey c’n pick gators up SHARKNADO STYLE n’ drop ‘em in backyards.”

“What are gators and sharknados?”, Twilight asked.

“Think cragadiles but less rock-y and more draconic.”, Sunset answered. “And ‘Sharknado’ is the name of a horror movie where a hurricane picks large, predatory fish called sharks up from the ocean and drops them on an unsuspecting town, where they proceed to eat people.”

“Thank you, that puts into perspective how terrifying gatorcanes are. Please, continue.”

“So, it was hurricane season, da hurricane had passed, n’ everyone was comin’ out from shelter. Ah went outside ta check da damages, n’ when Ah got ta da backyard, dere was a nine foot gator back dere. Dose thin’s c’n weigh up to two-hundred pounds. Now, at dat point in mo life, everyone Ah loved was dead, n’ Ah was out a’ effs ta give. Ah wasn’t exactly concerned with stuff like self-preservation. So, Ah grabbed some duc’ tape from da garage n’ walked right ove’ ta it. It hissed at me, but Ah just shut its mouth, taped it up, n’ dragged it a mile back ta da lake by its tail. Luckily, Ah came across some a’ mo classmates along da why dere, n’ dey helped me when it came time ta untape it n’ let it go. As we were removin’ da tape, it decided ta let us know it was unhappy n’ snapped at us, so Ah grabbed it by its snout, n’ one a’ da othe’ kids grabbed it by its tail, and we flung it back inta da lake. N’ dat’s how Ah became known as da gator wessle’.”

Everyone stared at her in stunned silence, and Brigid looked around at them all. “No way that actually happened.”, Bloom said, being the first of them to speak.

“Oh, it did.” Brigid pulled out her phone and showed them a picture. “LOCAL 17-YEAR-OLD DRAGS ALLIGATOR THROUGH CITY”, the headline read. The picture below was definitely of Brigid, in the act of dragging away the alligator.

“Holy shit”, AJ said.

“Mama werewolf’s a badass.”, RD whispered past a slice of pizza.

“Ya’d be surprised wha’ a pissed off teen c’n do.”, Brigid said as she put her phone away.

“It was kind of you to take it back home.”, Fluttershy said.

“Oh, Mom, tell some more Florida stories. Maybe that will put it into perspective how normal we are for Twilight.”, Sunset said.

The gears in Twilight’s brain turned behind her eyes before her competition turned ashen… again. “I think I need an adult.”

“Didn’t you say you are an adult back in Equestria?”, RD said, pizza slice still in her mouth.

“Not the point!”

“Do you like torturing Twilight?”, Rarity asked Sunset.

“It’s cathartic, and she has the best reactions. Just look at her.”, Sunset said jokingly.

“Twilight, do ya want ta hear mo stories? Ah won’t tell ‘em if ya don’t.”, Brigid said.

“The rational part of me says no, but some strange part of me is letting my curiosity get the better of me. Tell me your stories.”

“Ooh, morbid curiosity, that’s a human trait.”, Sunset said with a cheshire grin.

“Well, Florida is home ta da shark bite, lightning strike, and meth capitals of da word.”, Brigid started.

“Meth?”, Twilight asked.

“A fucking evil, family ruining drug.”, Minerva said with venom.

“Got it.”

“Well, some guy once got high on bath salts n’ ate another guy’s face.”, Brigid continued. “Dere are dozens a’ stories about Florida man. Heck, Ah could be considered a Florida woman fer da gator thin’. Florida man c’n rage a heroic kid ta a guy tryin’ ta kill his neighbor with a machete he named ‘Kindness’ n’ callin’ it delayed abortion.”

“Note to self, name machete Kindness.”, RD said.

“I think I’m getting the picture.”, Twilight said. “You guys are relatively normal, by human standards.”

They had their fill of pizza, and Pinkie brought out the cakes. AJ's cake was dinosaur themed with them enjoying fall activities. Sunset’s had sunflowers on it. Wow, those are pretty. Pinkie put in the candles and lit them. Okay, what do we do without the song? Sunset watched AJ to see what to do next, and she just blew out her candles, so Sunset did the same. The cakes were split up amongst the party guests, and Emi did her normal routine of not bothering with a fork.

Sunset leaned over to Twilight and whispered into her ear. “By the way, what the gremlin’s doing isn’t socially acceptable here. We’re expected to at least eat with our hands. She’s only getting a pass because she’s sick.”

“Got it.”

After the cake was gone and faces were clean, certain teenagers not skilled with their hands included, the presents were brought out, and Granny Smith headed outside. Sunset opened hers and showed everyone her new jacket and was surprised by the matching boots. “Now, I understand why you wanted my shoe size too.”

AJ started opening her presents and looked confused when they were mostly dog stuff, and the gears in her head turned then her head nearly split in two with her smile. “She didn’t…” Right around then, Granny Smith came in with a brown border collie puppy in her arms. It had a red bow tied around its neck and was looking around at everyone. Granny Smith handed the puppy to AJ, who immediately started cuddling and petting it. The puppy was happily squirming, wagging its tail, and kissing AJ’s face.

“Aw, so cute. What are you going to name her?”, Pinkie asked.

AJ lifted up the dog and checked its belly. “Winona”

Sunset checked on Twilight out of the corner of her eye, and said girl was watching AJ and Winona with interest. AJ had taken off Winona’s bow and replaced it with the collar Rarity got her, which, surprisingly, wasn’t completely bedazzled nor had rhinestones on it. It was a simple, red collar. The puppy was still wagging her tail but was looking tired. AJ cradled her in her arm, and little Winona fell asleep. “Okay, that’s kinda cute.”, Twilight said.

“What’s that?”, Fluttershy asked Twilight.

“She’s afraid of dogs.”, Sunset said. “And before you ask, Spike doesn’t count because he’s sentient.”

“Really, afraid of this?”, AJ asked, referring to Winona.

Twilight responded by pointing at Kiba.

“Kiba’s a big ol’ teddy bear.”, Emi protested.

“She was so traumatized by my neighbor’s chihuahua chasing her down the block for pets that she is now terrified of dogs.”, Sunset teased.

“Really?”, AJ asked.

“A predator was chasing me. What was I supposed to do?”, Twilight asked.

“Exactly not that.”, Fluttershy said. “Running away from a predator makes you look like prey. If a predator is charging you, you need to stand your ground. That will make it rethink because you aren’t acting like prey. Slowly back away while maintaining eye contact until you’re out of eyesight.”

“I’ll keep that in mind for next time.”

“Did the chihuahua have a knife or a lighter?”, RD asked. “I mean, all chihuahuas are either angels or psychopaths, no in between. I swear, I once saw my abuela’s neighbor’s chihuahua trying to burn down its house and my abuela’s chihuahua trying to talk it down.”

“No, it didn’t have a knife or lighter.”, Sunset said.

“How would a chihuahua even hold a lighter or burn down a house?”, Bloom asked.

“It’s a joke.”

“Jokes aside, you all know how dangerous these creatures are. Why do you keep them around? Why not use a species that isn’t dangerous?”, Twilight asked.

“Because dere’s no such thing. All animals c’n be dangerous unde’ da right circumstances. If yer suggestin’ we should use a herbivore species ‘cause dey “aren’t dangerous”, y’re very wrong in dat assumption. More humans are killed by cows, horses, deer, n’ moose, all herbivores, per year dan by every predatory species combined. Ah’ve been around dogs, horses, n’ cows mo entire childhood. Dogs are much safe’ ta be around, even mo pa’s horse-sized dog, because dey don’t get scared so easily n’ deir first instinct upon bein’ scared isn’t ta kick or smash ya inta da dirt.”, Brigid explained.

“We’ve also evolved alongside dogs for thousands of years and have a special connection with them that we don't share with any other species, not even other humans.”, Anzhong added.

“What kind of connection?”, Twilight asked.

“It’s hard to explain, but dogs are a source of happiness, comfort and safety for us.”

“I’m suspicious of people who don’t like dogs, but I trust a dog when it doesn’t like a person.”, Rarity said as she started petting Winona.

“Wiser words have never been said.”, Pinkie said.

“The connection passes right through any emotional barriers we put up. Veterinarians have the highest suicide rate of any profession because watching all those animals dying eats away at them.”, Fluttershy said.

“What’s ‘suicide’?”, Twilight asked. The rest of the girls began to look uncomfortable, and some quick glances were directed at Pinkie. Sunset focused in on her, and her emotions were stable, but she wasn’t feeling jovial.

“Do ponies not ever kill themselves?”, RD asked.

“Why would we do that?” Twilight wasn’t indignant or outraged, just pure confusion. Suicide’s not a topic discussed in Equestrian in part due to how rare it is. Most ponies don’t even realize it’s something that can be done, and what suicides do happen are often intentionally misreported as a spirit attack in order to not make those in power look bad.

“Sometimes, when a person is in so much pain, the only thing they can think of to stop it is to end it all.”, Pinkie said sadly. Her chest tightened as she squeezed her eyes shut. “Excuse me.” Pinkie got up and headed outback. The rest of the girls looked at each other, wondering if they should go with her. After a couple moments, Brigid got up and followed Pinkie.

“Is she okay?”, Anura asked.

“This is a sensitive topic for her.”, Fluttershy said.

“I don’t understand what’s going on.”, Twilight said confusedly.

“Be glad you don’t.”, Sunset said darkly.

“The reason why the five of us became friends in the first place is to help us deal with the bad stuff that’s happened to us.”, RD said.

AJ leaned her head closer to the sleeping Winona. There was deep contemplation in her eyes. “I think that connection Sunset’s dad mentioned can be best summed up as unconditional love. Dogs love us with every part of their being. No matter who else is around us or what we think, our dogs love us so long as we love them. They also give us someone to love unconditionally. How much it hurts us when they’re gone is a testament to that.” A small smile creeped onto AJ’s face. “And it all started with sharing some food by a fire.”

Twilight silently looked between AJ and Winona and Anzhong and Kiba.

“Yeah, that sounds right.”, Anzhong said as he petted Kiba’s head.

“If you ask me, Twilight,” Sunset started, “from what I’ve seen of him, Spike is a dog in every way that counts, and that’s a compliment.”

A bit later, Brigid and Pinkie returned and retook their seats. Pinkie looked fine though still down, but the wet spot on Brigid’s sweater made it clear what happened. “What I miss?”, Pinkie asked with some fake cheer.

“I think I’m starting to like dogs.”, Twilight said.

“Oh good, what finally changed your mind?”

“Well, as terrifying as humans are, you’re still a very caring species, and you clearly love these creatures. If they are this important to you, they can't be bad.”

“That’s better.”, Sunset said under her breath.

“It’s getting late.”, Minerva said, bringing attention to the sleeping Emi.

“Yeah, we should get goin’.”, Brigid added.

The Mac Carthaighs, minus Sunset, packed up and got ready to leave. Sunset hugged both of her parents, still getting thrown off by the fact she’s now as tall as her dad. As she hugged Brigid, she noticed the material her mother’s sweater was made out of. “Wolf in sheep’s clothin’.”, she said as she tugged on Brigid’s sweater.

Brigid rolled her eyes and ruffled Sunset’s hair. “We’ll see ya tamorrah, ya little snot.”

“Oh, before you leave, Doctor, why do you and your husband still speak with your native accents when you’ve been in the US for so long?”, Rarity asked.

“Because we like ‘em, and because it’s funny to see people’s faces when they think Ah’m stupid because a’ it only for me ta science ‘em up a tree.”, Brigid said with a smirk.

“I have a similar reason. People underestimate me in the courtroom because they think I’m fresh off the boat, giving me an advantage.”, Anzhong said.

“Fair enough.”, Rarity said.

Sunset’s family left, and AJ’s family went off to do their own things, leaving the Rainbooms in the living room. The girls laid out their sleeping bags in a circle and used them as seats as AJ’s living room didn’t have seven seats. “Ah have somethin’ ta show ya all.”, AJ said. She grabbed a book from a bookshelf and joined the rest of them in their circle.

“That’s a beautiful book, darling.”, Rarity said.

“Thanks, it’s my mother’s spell book.”

That earned surprised looks from the rest of them. “You have one too?”, Rarity, RD, and Pinkie all asked. “You too?”, they asked each other.

“Why would your mother have a spell book?”, Twilight asked.

“She was a witch.”, AJ said.

“And you three have ones too?”, Sunset asked.

“I have two, one from my dad and one from my mom.”, Pinkie said.

“Mine’s been passed down through the women in my mom’s family for generations. It turns out we’ve been witches ever since the revolt.”, RD said.

“The revolt? Hang on, I thought your mom was from Scotland?”, Sunset asked. And what are the Everfree witches? How have I never heard of them?

“Yes and no, she was born there and spent large chunks of her childhood there because of my grandpa’s work, but both of my grandparents were American citizens, so she’s legally American but considers herself Scottish. Because she spent so much time there, she decided to stay there once she turned eighteen and spent a few years as a Scottish citizen before my grandpa got sick and my grandma died, so she had to come back and take care of him. It was during that time she met my dad in an early chatroom, he moved here, and she got pregnant with me, so she decided to stay put.”

“Oh, okay. Back on topic then.”

“My book previously belonged to my paternal grandmother. Her ancestors were Everfree witches too.”, Rarity said.

“The Everfree witches were real?”, Fluttershy asked.

“What are the Everfree witches?”, Twilight asked.

Glad she asked first.

“The Everfree witches were a group of rebels that snuck out into the Everfree to secretly train in magic to fight against their English oppressors and take back the town they and their people built.”, Pinkie said rapid fire.

“That answers my question about the witches, but now I have questions about your town’s past.”

“That requires a bit of a history lesson.”, Rarity said. “The short version is that many of our ancestors were brought here against their will and were forced to work as laborers while not being treated like real people. As you can imagine, they didn’t like that and revolted, apparently using magic to help achieve their freedom.”

“Much a tha fightin’ happened in tha Everfree, or it was used ta launch ambushes, which is how it got its name. With that forest, we will forever be free.”, AJ added.

“Oh, very interesting. Our version of the Everfree got its name because it will forever be uncontrollable. Uh, we have the ability to control things like the weather and plants in every part of Equestria except the Everfree.”, Twilight explained.

“The exact words used in its name have negative connotations.”, Sunset elaborated. “So, about your book.”

“Right” AJ opened up the book and laid it out for everyone to see. “Ah don’t understand most a’ what’s in here, but Ah can make an educated guess that these are mostly farming spells based on the illustrations.”

Sunset began looking through the pages, and AJ was correct, but those spells quickly became a lot less interesting when she found a ritual that was supposed to protect against radiation and cleanse it. There were also spells and rituals for water purification, lots of protection spells, and many others that would help someone survive a nuclear apocalypse. She had lived through the cold war. “Yeah, a lot of these look like pest control spells. Your mother looked to be a very knowledgeable witch. If she was born even a few hundred years ago, she would’ve been quite powerful.”

“How would being born earlier make her more powerful?”, Twilight asked.

“Oh, did I not tell you this? Oops.” I haven’t told her half the things I need to. “A thousand years ago, magic started disappearing from Earth. We don’t know why. The magic drain had basically completely sapped Earth’s magic by nineteen-fifty. It’s twenty-thirteen.”

“That’s truly bizarre. I’ll see what I can find in Equestria.”

“So, the four of us have spell books. Does that make us witches?”, RD asked.

“Well, you can learn to be witches. I’ve been learning to be a witch from my aunt for years.”, Sunset said.

“I mean, we can do magic. We kind of are already witches.”, Fluttershy said. “But this might be interesting.”

“Ah, for one, would like ta learn more about my mom, and Ah think Ah can do that through this.” AJ pointed to her spell book.

“I’ll be the first witch in my family in generations!”, Pinkie shouted.

Rarity, looking wholly unamused, rubbed her ear that was unfortunate enough to be right next to Pinkie. “I too wish to learn more about my heritage.”

“Okay, everyone, bring your spell books with you on testing day, and we can go over them.”, Sunset said.

“And when will that be?”, AJ asked.

“I’ll figure that out later.”