In the end, Twilight did receive presents for both her birthday and the Christmas holiday. Sunset had laughed at her bewildered expression when her parents explained to her that she had earned a couple days of missing school. Sure, they were worried about her leaving not the country, but the world entirely, but they said they also trusted Sunset when she said it would be safe.

Sunset had felt a strange warmth in her face when they had said that.

As the months passed, Sunset’s drawing skill improved just as she had expected. She had gone from vague shapes to actually well proportioned blueprints of possible designs for the Enchanter. Of course, she took into consideration what she knew about reagent minerals for more efficient spellcasting. Though more than a few times she went a bit crazy and drew some outright impossible blueprints, simply because she found herself in a good mood.

However, as March came around, Sunset started feeling a certain sense of dread overcoming her. She shoved away her drawings, her violin practice, and she even stopped going to Twilight’s house. Instead, she locked herself in her room and kept writing plans and schedules and routes to take when the time came to return to Equestria.

Sure, the letter she had made Twilight write said that Sunset wouldn’t return until she was the princess’ equal, and considering that Celestia wouldn’t think of Sunset that way, it was a safe bet that she wouldn’t expect her to return so soon. That was, of course, if Celestia took the words at face value. If she didn’t, then Sunset would cross the portal and find the princess lounging on a divan right next to the portal, gorging herself on cake and tea, ready to throw Sunset into a dungeon or something.

That would be the worst case scenario. And just like she had told Twilight’s parents, Princess Celestia would simply turn the girl around and shove her through the portal again. And that was the main reason Sunset had spent the past three months making improved designs of the Enchanter and putting together a comprehensive guide of all the arrays she could remember and the many situations they could be used in to create spells, as well as writing a guide on basic magical manipulation.

If Sunset couldn’t return, she could at least make sure Twilight would continue her work. The human world would get a magical revolution either way, and Sunset would hopefully be rewarded with ascension. And if not… Well, at least Sunset would have the satisfaction of knowing something that the princess didn’t; that the human world did have magic, and that Sunset was the one to prove it and make it commonplace. Her name would go down in history, and there was nothing Princess Celestia could do about it.

Her heart hammered in her chest as she finished writing that scenario. Even though she tried to remain positive, it definitely wasn’t a scenario she wanted to play out. She took deep breaths to calm herself before she started writing other possible scenarios.

Her final scenario was the best possible outcome. Upon returning to Equestria, Sunset would discover she’d become an alicorn on her own accord. Princess Celestia would be forced to recognize her, and they’d then rule Equestria as equals. Sunset would rule the north and east, and Celestia could retain the south and west. Canterlot would be the only city they’d rule together. And of course, Sunset would make Twilight an official ambassador between worlds, visiting every thirty moons to report on the progress of magical technology in the human world.

After writing all the possible scenarios she could think of, Sunset started making plans to improve her odds from the bad ones. What if there were guards stationed outside of the vault? What if there were magical wards around the vault? What if the princess had lied and there was an issue for her arrest? What if she got recognized?

Those and many more questions were written as a list, and Sunset spent every waking moment answering them all with possible solutions. She was the smartest and most powerful unicorn in all of Equestria; there were very few things she couldn’t do, and so there were very few things she couldn’t plan for. As it stood, the only thing that would thwart all of her plans was Princess Celestia.

Even Cadence wouldn’t pose that big of a problem. She barely had any experience with unicorn magic, so Sunset was pretty confident she could easily fool her. But Celestia? If she got involved, there was little Sunset could do about it. So all her plans regarding the white alicorn required Sunset to flee and hide.

Despite how much she hated it.

“Sunset?”

Sunset yelped. She hadn’t heard the door opening. She turned from her desk so fast that she knocked over her stack of papers. Twilight was standing at the door, looking around. Her surprise turned to shock, then realization that this was the very first time since they had met that Twilight had visited her and not the other way around. And Sunset found herself astonished when she felt a pang of nervous excitement at the fact that Twilight was gazing at her room.

Her messy room. With an unmade bed, clothes on a pile in a corner, and now a bunch of stray paper sheets on the floor. She then chastised herself. What did she care?

“What are you doing here?” Sunset asked, and blushed at the strange shakiness of her own voice. What on Tartarus was happening to her?

Fortunately, Twilight didn’t seem to have noticed. “You’ve holed up in your room for two weeks, barely going out to eat anything. Miss Celestia asked me to come since you wouldn’t even answer them. I’ve been worried too, you know?”

Sunset huffed. “Well, as you can see, I’m fine. Now leave me be. We still have ten days before the portal opens.”

Instead of leaving, Twilight entered the room, which sent a very strange shiver down Sunset’s spine. “Are you sure you’re fine?” She eyed the paper sheets on the floor, and before Sunset could stop her, she picked one and read it over.

“Hey! That’s-”

“Sunset,” Twilight said with a small frown. “Are you worried about going back?”

Sunset snatched the paper from Twilight and gave it a quick glance. It was a sketch of the palace’s gardens, along with detailed descriptions of the best hiding spots and three marked routes to avoid guard patrols.

With a growl, Sunset started picking up all the sheets from the floor. “I’m not worried. I’m being cautious.”

Twilight crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. “Uh huh.”

Sunset sneered at her, standing up and placing the sheets on her desk. “Alright, what’s your problem?”

“I don’t have a problem,” Twilight said calmly. “Do you?”

Her equanimity was so stable that Sunset faltered. Since when did Twilight become so serene? It infuriated Sunset. “I don’t have a problem!” she yelled.

This time, Twilight did step back with a flinch. Sunset paused, then forced herself to take a deep breath. She let out a long sigh as she sat back on her chair. When Twilight followed suit and sat on the bed, Sunset felt a sudden void in her stomach. She was about to tell her to leave again, but Twilight spoke first.

“Look, I’m not going to ask you to talk to me,” Twilight said. “But if you need an ear, you know I’m here.”

Sunset felt herself seething. She wanted to yell at Twilight for barging into her room unannounced and confronting her about something she didn’t want to share with anyone. Twilight didn’t —couldn’t— understand how Sunset felt, yet she was acting as if she did, as if she had suddenly become a sage or something. And to top it off, she was still sitting on Sunset’s bed!

Blinking at that last thought, Sunset’s raging fury evaporated. Why was she fixating on that? She once again took a deep breath to calm herself.

“Look, Twilight,” she said after a while. “I don’t want to talk about it, ok? My issues are my own and I’ll deal with them my way.”

Twilight nodded slowly. “Alright. But you got everyone worried. At least promise me you’ll get out of your room more often?”

“Fine,” Sunset said. Now that she was done there, Sunset decided to tell Twilight to leave. Instead she said, “Want to go over some new improvements for the Enchanter?”

Huh.

As Twilight’s face brightened, Sunset pulled a folder where she had her blueprints. They spent a few hours talking and discussing, and Sunset made it a point not to sit on her bed for as long as Twilight was there.

~~~~~~~~

Ten days later, on Tuesday evening, Sunset stared down at the slab of stone that held the portal to Equestria. A fresh breeze embraced her, making her shiver ever so slightly. The weather had been getting warmer as winter came to an end, but nights were still rather cold. Even with her jacket, Sunset could barely handle it.

“With Miss Celestia’s permission, I’ll have my car parked at her designated space in the faculty lot,” Shining was saying to a serious looking Twilight. “If anything happens and you’re sent back, you can meet me there.”

“If school’s in session, you can come to my office, since it’s closer,” Celestia said. “Luna and I will make sure that at least one of us is there at all times, just in case.”

“You look just old enough to be a freshman,” Luna added. “So don’t worry about standing out. Just walk with confidence and no one will get in your way.”

Shining cleared his throat. “Of course, that’s only if you get sent back. Ideally, you’ll be back on Thursday evening. Isn’t that right, Sunset?”

Sunset didn’t turn to look at him. She simply nodded. She placed a hand on the cold, rough surface of the portal and could feel the pulsations of the arrays as easily as if she were a unicorn, which was a stark contrast from where she had started. Closing her eyes, she focused on the arrays. Unlike all the other times she had done this, this was the night the portal would open again, and she wanted to see if something would be different.

It didn’t take her long to prove herself right. But what she felt was unlike what she had been expecting.

The four battery arrays, which she could now pinpoint where located at the corners of the stone slab, were almost completely drained. She felt her stomach fall. Were the enchantments malfunctioning? She quickly went over the rest of arrays, even those she didn’t know or couldn’t quite remember. But she didn’t find any disruptions in the pulsations. In fact, she noticed that some of the remaining magic of the batteries was slowly swirling around the rest of the arrays uninterrupted. This was the telltale sign that one of the enchantments was being activated.

She recognized it as the Awareness Spell, which was connected to a solidifying spell that would prevent passage to anyone unaware of the portal.

So the enchantments were all working. Sunset tried to analyze the information she had. The batteries weren’t completely empty, which was fortunate since that would result in all the enchantments to stop working altogether. If Sunset had to guess, by the current rate they were being drained, they could last another week on their own. However, the moonlight magic they would receive for the following three nights would be more than enough to fill up the batteries again.

That was so strange. It went against everything Sunset had assumed about how the portal worked. Unfortunately, she didn’t have time to keep investigating, since her hand felt a sudden tingling sensation, and it began sinking into the stone. Out of instinct alone, Sunset retrieved her hand with a quiet gasp, then mentally facehooved at her panic.

The portal had just opened.

“It’s time,” she announced, turning around to look at the others. She snickered when she noticed Shining’s shocked face. Sunset had probably interrupted him mid lecture.

Shining hunched over and grabbed Twilight by her cheeks. “Follow Sunset’s lead. Don’t get so distracted that you lose sight of her. And do establish a reunion point in case you do get separated. Obvious landmarks are best. And-”

“Shining!” Twilight said through squished lips. “I’ll be fine.”

“I know,” Shining said, then gave her a kiss on her forehead. “Take care.”

“S-Stop!” Twilight said as she struggled out of his grasp. Her face turned a deep shade of red. “I’m not a kid anymore!” She escaped his reach and stepped next to Sunset.

“Sunset,” Celestia said, making Sunset flinch slightly. “You take care too.”

Warmth spread through Sunset’s face. She turned fully towards the portal before Celestia could see her blushing. “I will.” Then she stepped through.

Author's Note

The time has arrived. The girls are going to Equestria to ~~have fun~~ gather materials.

If you liked it, please fo leave a comment!

(Yes I know I usually publish on Thursdays... Sorry about that)