When Sunset was led to sit on one of the couches and given a mug of hot cocoa, she had expected to be bombarded with questions. After all, she had forced their return from Equestria one day early, then passed out after screaming and punching the ground. She knew that she wouldn’t be able to avoid answering at least a few dozen questions.

So she was surprised when none came her way.

Everyone else returned to their seats, with Twilight occupying the space beside Sunset, and started casually talking to each other over some drinks that looked like cider for the adults and a sparkly green soda for Twilight.

Celestia and Luna talked about all the crazy things students did to get out of detention and their favorite ones. Night Light joined in with some stories about excuses college students had for not turning in their assignments on time. Some were so ridiculous that even Sunset snickered. Then Shining talked about ridiculous excuses for people to try to get out of getting a ticket. He found them funnier than everyone else, so he asked Cadence to talk about her job, and Sunset learned that she had just been promoted to dean of student discipline for a private school after the previous one had to retire early. The name of the school, Crystal Prep, rang a few bells in Sunset’s memory, but she couldn’t remember why.

Then Twilight Velvet, the only one that didn’t have to deal with people trying to get out of self-caused trouble, spoke at length about some drama going on in the editorial her books were published at. Some kind of nepotism gone wrong or something.

Throughout their talk, Sunset enjoyed her cocoa in blissful silence, thankful for being allowed to take all the time she needed to sort out her thoughts. It hadn’t been obvious at first, but Twilight’s awkward way to keep the conversation going was enough of a clue. It would’ve been annoying if it wasn’t cute in its own way. At some point, Spike had climbed onto her lap. Her first impulse was to push him away, but instead she let him lie down and nap. It felt… strangely comforting.

Sunset looked down at her hands holding the now empty mug. Apparently, after passing out last night, she had been taken to a clinic owned by Cadence’s father. After punching the ground like she’d done, it had looked like she’d only scratched her dorsals, but it turned out that she had bruised the bones. While not the worst of injuries, Sunset would need to take painkillers and be very careful not to put too much strain on her hands. Which meant no violin practice and as little writing or typing as possible for one or two months.

Cadence had told her all that as soon as Sunset had been released from the group hug, all while removing her bandages and cleaning the scratches in the bathroom. Sunset had remained silent the whole time, too tired to get angry at being scolded, even in as gentle a way as Cadence’s.

Sunset gripped the mug just a bit —even with the painkillers, her hands still hurt pretty badly— and took a deep breath. That simple action caused everyone around her to stop talking and turn their heads to look at her. They’d definitely been keeping an eye on her, just waiting. Even Spike’s ears flickered for a moment. Sunset breathed out slowly. Might as well talk sooner than later.

“I suppose…” she began, hearing her own voice coming out ragged and cracked. She’d really hurt her throat last night too. She hoped it would heal soon. “I should explain…” There was some shifting and nodding, but no one spoke. Sunset glanced at Twilight. “How much have you… told them?”

Twilight hunched over herself. “I… I let some things slip to Shining Armor last night, but…”

Sunset looked at Shining, who only shrugged. “I barely understood what she said, so feel free to say only what you want.”

Sunset nodded appreciatively. “I guess I should start by…” She cleared her throat, feeling it tickling painfully.

Cadence got up, swiftly walked to the kitchen, and returned a moment later holding a clay pitcher. She grabbed Sunset’s mug and carefully refilled it with hot cocoa, then placed the pitcher on the coffee table. “You can get as much as you want. It’ll make your throat feel better. I thought of giving you tea with honey, but I know hot cocoa is better.” She smiled and winked.

Sunset took a sip. It did help, and cocoa was definitely better than tea. “Thanks,” she said. “As I was saying, I should start by getting everyone on the same page…” She took another sip, though more out of want for delaying her next words. “The world I come from, the country, is called Equestria. As the name suggests, most of the citizens are equines.”

She sipped more cocoa as she waited for that to settle in. Their looks of confusion were amusing.

“What do you mean?” Night Light asked on behalf of the others.

“Equines,” Sunset said. “Ponies, zebras, donkeys. You get the idea. But unlike in this world, we’re as intelligent as humans, who don’t exist in my world.”

More silence. This time it was Shining who ended it. “‘We’?”

“I’m originally a pony,” Sunset replied. Since she had already expected the disbelief, she cringed only a little bit. “I’m actually a unicorn. And no, I’m not joking. The reason I didn’t want to tell you was because I spent two hours convincing Twilight I was telling the truth and didn’t want to go through that again.”

All eyes fell on Twilight. “You knew?” her mom asked.

Twilight nodded meekly. “Yes. She told me shortly after we met. And since I visited Equestria, I got to see it all. I…” She looked at Sunset for approval. When Sunset nodded, she continued in a more lively voice. “I actually got turned into a unicorn myself.”

At once, everyone leaned back on their seats. It seemed like a multiversal gesture of getting into thought. Sunset took the opportunity to drink a bit more of the chocolatey goodness. It was very tasty. She continued speaking when a sufficient amount of time had passed.

“You can come to terms with that later,” she said. Her throat still hurt, but the constant stream of hot cocoa made it bearable. “There’s another thing. I really can’t say it’s confirmed, but there is enough evidence to support this hypothesis. Judging from my own experience, both worlds seem to mirror each other on the individual level.”

“Mirror?” Cadence asked.

“Yes…” Sunset took a deep breath. “The ruler of Equestria is Princess Celestia.” At once, all eyes fell on the principal. Since Celestia already knew that, she simply nodded as confirmation. Sunset continued. “There is also a Cadence, who is, too, a princess.”

“Oh, my,” Cadence said with a giggle.

Sunset didn’t feel like laughing. “And apparently, Celestia met a girl called Sunset Shimmer many years ago. These instances lead me to believe that everyone has a counterpart in my world. I don’t know why, but I can say that the counterparts are separated from each other in personal history. Like dimensional twins.” She tried to sip more cocoa, but found her mug empty. She didn’t feel like filling it up again. Instead, she looked up at Celestia. “I mention this because I lied to you.”

Celestia raised an eyebrow but didn’t ask the obvious question. Sunset answered anyway.

“When we first met, I told you I was the archmage’s apprentice,” she explained. “But in reality I was Princess Celestia’s student.”

With only a faint frown, Celestia cocked her head. “Why hide it, if you don’t mind me asking?”

Sunset took in a shaky breath. “Because I had a disagreement with the princess and I didn’t want you crossing the portal and turning me in or something. I don’t know, I wasn’t thinking straight.” She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter anymore, anyway. The point is that I didn’t come to this world to study its magic. Not really…”

She closed her eyes, mostly to avoid whatever condemning or pitying gazes she would receive after she told them the whole story. “Being Princess Celestia’s student is not something just anypony can do. The position had been vacant for fifty years before I took it up, after all. That alone gave me a lot of prestige. Once I finished my formation under her, I’d be able to work anywhere I’d want. I would even be able to become Archmage if I wanted to. I basically had succeeded in life…

“But then she showed me that cursed mirror…” She felt her chest throb, so she grit her teeth in an attempt to hold herself from crying again. “The mirror showed me a vision I thought was of my future. It showed me as an alicorn, which meant I’d be a rightful princess. When I asked Princess Celestia about it, however, she refused to answer. But my curiosity had been piqued, and I spent weeks trying to get her to answer, but all she said was that I wasn’t ready. And eventually she got so mad she forbade me from asking again.

“So I decided to find the answers on my own… And I did. I found a book in the restricted section of the royal library that said that Princess Celestia had the knowledge to turn ponies into alicorns. But just as I read that passage, she found me reading that book. I told her I was ready and deserved to be a princess and rule alongside her, but she refused. We argued, and she terminated my apprenticeship and… And she kicked me out…”

A sob escaped her, so she paused in an attempt to hold it back. She felt something on her shoulder, and opened her eyes to look at Twilight smiling at her. Sunset took a deep breath and managed to calm herself enough to keep talking.

“However, I had also read that the mirror had another function,” she said, gripping her mug. “It was a portal to another world, and it opened every thirty moons. And since it just happened to be open at that moment and I wasn’t ready to give up yet, I jumped through and came to this world. You don’t have to tell me it was reckless, I’m already aware of it. In any case, while in here, I figured that if I learned this world’s secrets, I’d be able to become an alicorn by myself and return to Equestria as a princess. That’s basically the purpose behind everything I’ve done for the past two and a half years.”

She made a pause and went to serve herself more cocoa since her throat was starting to act up again. That had the unintentional effect of giving everyone the time to process what she had just said. That included Twilight, since even she was hearing all of that for the first time.

“Well, it does make sense now that you’ve been so focused on that,” Shining said. “I thought it was a bit strange that we had to practically drag you away from all your studying to spend time with us. Even Twilight’s not that difficult.”

“Shining!” Twilight whined through her teeth.

Sunset simply nodded. “Going back to Equestria was just a means to that end. I just wanted to gather some resources and books to hasten my progress here. I had no intention of being there for more than a couple hours, but I had promised Twilight to do one thing for her, and she chose to visit Equestria, so I changed my plans.”

Twilight flinched visibly as her face fell. “I…”

“So I decided,” Sunset continued, interrupting Twilight, “to give her a tour. I showed her the city and even taught her a bit of magic. Might as well make it fun, right?” She sighed and shook her head. “But then, as we stopped to grab a quick bite at a restaurant, somepony recognized Twilight.” She saw everyone’s eyes darting back and forth, and she found it amusing enough that she let out a single chuckle. “She recognized Equestria’s Twilight, that is. And you’ll never guess what she’s doing right now. Don’t even try, I’ll tell you anyway.”

She forced herself to chuckle again, if only to stop herself from crying again. She knew she failed when she felt a tear running down her right cheek.

“She’s Princess Celestia’s personal student,” she said, and it came out as a whisper. “Not only that, but she became her student as soon as I left.”

“Oh, Sunset…” Cadence said. Sunset hated the condescension in her voice.

“So!” Sunset said, forcing out a smile. “Everything I did for the past two and a half years was for nothing! I began to think that, even if I couldn’t become a princess, I’d still earn Princess Celestia’s recognition by bringing magic to this world, and I’d at least go back to being her student… What a joke…”

Shining sighed loudly. “Now I understand why you reacted the way you did. I’m sorry to hear that, Sunset.”

Celestia raised a hesitant hand. “I’m sorry if this sounds ignorant on my part, but… Can’t the princess have more than one student?”

Sunset shook her head. “She rules Equestria. That requires so much of her time she barely has any to spare on one student. Her having more is unheard of, and with good reason.”

“I’m sorry,” Twilight said. “If I hadn’t made you take me with you, none of this would’ve happened.”

Sunset eyed her for a moment. “It’s better this way,” she said after a while. “If you hadn’t, I wouldn’t have known that my efforts were in vain. It would be worse to spend another thirty moons working for nothing.”

Twilight looked away but didn’t reply.

“I'm sorry, Sunset,” Luna interjected. “But nothing you've done here has been in vain.” Sunset looked up at her and corked an eyebrow. Luna smiled. “In two short years you did something that humanity as a whole hasn't been able to do in millennia. You proved that magic is real.”

Sunset perked up at that.

Night Light leaned forward with an eager smile. “That's right! Not only that, but you also built a machine capable of casting magic spells. How cool is that?”

A smile formed on Sunset's face. “I… I guess I did do that.”

“And,” Twilight said, making Sunset look at her, “you brought a lot of books and gemstones. Now you can easily kickstart a magical revolution in this world. I know it may not give you what you wanted, but…” She bit her lower lip, unsure.

“But it’s something that you can do,” Cadence added. “Just because a door closed doesn't mean there aren’t others for you to explore.”

Then, Twilight surprised her by wrapping her hands with hers. Sunset flinched a little, but Twilight’s touch was soft and careful, and they didn’t hurt. She turned her head to look at Twilight and saw the girl smiling at her.

I know there’s more that’s out there
And you just haven’t found it yet
I know there’s more that’s out there
A destiny for you to get

The Harmonic Resonance ended as suddenly as it started, but its relevance wasn’t lost on Sunset. Twilight had reprised the song they had dueted all those moons ago. And it made Sunset’s chest swell with emotion. And as tears fell down her cheeks, she found herself doing something she’d never started on her own before.

She hugged Twilight.

She wasn’t sure why. She was aware that everyone was watching her with all kinds of patronizing glares, and she felt embarrassed as she was unused to showing this kind of affection. But Twilight hugged her back, and Sunset’s worries melted away. She buried her face on Twilight’s shoulder, enjoying the warmth and the scent of lavender. Sunset decided she’d make sure Twilight never ran out of that perfume.

Finally she leaned back and used her sleeves to dry away her tears. She took a deep, shaky breath, and turned to look at everyone else in the room, prepared to take in their pity. She found it remarkably easy this time.

“I’ll continue working on the development of magical technology,” she announced. She thought she’d feel a sense of realization or hopefulness or something, but she was just tired. “It’ll keep me occupied if nothing else.”

“Speaking of which,” Shining said. “You brought quite a lot of stuff with you. There’s a bajillion books in those chests. Are all of them about magic?”

Sunset couldn’t help but smile at his eagerness. “Yes. From the basics of magic to advanced spellcraft and everything in between. I also brought reagent gemstones to replace the Enchanter’s quartzes. That should make things a lot easier.”

“Gemstones?” Twilight Velvet asked.

Sunset nodded. “I actually wanted to go through my collection and only bring the most reactive, but I ended up bringing them all…” She paused when she saw the adults growing nervous. “What?”

“How… many gemstones did you bring?” Cadence asked with an uncharacteristic anxious tone.

“I can’t give you an exact number, since I purchased most of them in bulk,” Sunset replied with a light shrug. “Off the top of my head I remember I have several dozen jades and corundum gems, at least a hundred emeralds, a few peridots, garnets, aquamarines… And some others that I rarely used and can’t remember right now.”

Everyone looked at each other in silence for a few seconds. Luna was the one to speak first. “So you brought a small fortune with you.”

Sunset tilted her head in thought. “I mean, I guess you guys give gemstones a lot more value, but mine are treated specifically for magical purposes. I’d rather not sell them if I can help it.”

“You did say something similar when I asked,” Twilight said. “But what do you mean they are treated for magical purposes?”

“Well, they go through a lengthy and laborious process that I’m not too knowledgeable about, but that process prepares them for magic use,” Sunset explained. “They all have lower thresholds than regular gems, which is needed for making mana flow through them. And they all contain the same minerals in the same proportions so that it’s easy to predict how they’ll behave. For example, natural grown ruby contains chromium in different percentages. It’s impossible to tell at a glance, but this difference directly affects how well enchantments work and how long they last.”

She smiled amusedly at their confused expressions.

Night Light turned to look at Twilight. “I’m guessing you understood that?”

Twilight lit up. “Well, I don’t know about the magical properties, but I do know about gemstones. I’m guessing the chromium disrupts mana flow?”

Sunset moved her head this way or another, unable to decide whether to shake it or nod. “Well it has to do with its retention properties for mana. Chromium makes mana drain faster, so if we don’t know exactly how much there is in any given gem, we won’t be able to be precise in the calculations of how long it will last.”

The conversation quickly became a lecture as Sunset answered more and more followup questions regarding gemstone properties. And despite her usual aversion to teaching, she found herself enjoying giving a lecture. Maybe because it felt good to talk without time constraints, or maybe because she helped herself to a third —and eventually fourth— mug of cocoa. She just knew that she was comfortable.

And that was all that mattered at the moment.

Author's Note

A bit of a recap chapter, but a necessary one. This way, everyone is on the same page and have, mostly, the same information. Magic technology is still a go, though it has lowered in the list of priorities.

Twilight reprising What More is Out There to Sunset was one of the many reasons the previous chapter ended up the way it did. Sunset had to be in the proper state of mind to be receptive.

Let me know what you think!