Sunlight Sweethearts

Ponyville, Equestria- Harmony Academy

"Good morning everypony, I hope you are all having a harmonious day today." Starlight Glimmer said as the came into the class she was to be teaching today, even with her new role as principal and maintaining her role as a counselor, she found time to teach classes on the one thing she truly valued most in life: friendship.

"Good morning Mrs. Glimmer!" The students of all types of creatures and walks of life announced to Starlight, the plum mare blushing still at the change to her name that had been made after she'd gotten married to her childhood best friend. Starlight giggled lightly and rubbed the hoof ring on her foreleg and smiled at the amber gem that represented her beloved Sunburst and then rubbed her belly knowing that soon, she'd have to put in for maternity leave, which made her giddy as well as nervous.

Shaking those thoughts out, Starlight put on a friendly and welcoming smile for her students and levitated her dry erase marker to the board and began writing out the lesson for the day, reviewing the elements of harmony and the virtues in which they represented. Though unbeknownst to the students, she had a special guest today to help further their understanding of the elements and their role in maintaining peace not just in Equestria but across existence itself.

"Glad to see you all so full of energy this morning! You'll need that to welcome our very special guest today! But first, pop quiz!" The students all groaned but this only made Starlight giggle and roll her eyes.

"Now, now don't worry you won't be graded on this. Who can tell me how many elements of harmony there are, what are they called and who currently represents them now?" Starlight asked as she looked around to room to see a few limbs raised. Ultimately Starlight settled on a young changeling and unicorn hybrid whom while quite shy was very smart and loved animals.

"Come on up then Twinkle" Starlight said with a smile towards the young changeling.

Twinkle nodded even though she looked unsure and nervous, fluttering up to to the front of the class using her incest like wings. Once she made it to the front she looked to the class but almost immediately covered her face with her wings as she didn't do well in front of crowds as herself and she always got nervous shapeshifting in front of others. Starlight, noticing this would place a calming hoof on the young ones back and smiled, giving her a nod of encouragement.

"Go ahead Twinkle, we're all friends here."

"U-Um....okay. T-There are six elements of harmony. They are: Magic, laughter, generosity, kindness, honesty and loyalty. They are currently represented by Princess Twilight, Mrs. Pie, Ms. Rarity, Ms. Fluttershy, Mrs. Applejack and Mrs. Dash." As she rattled off each member of the elements she'd transform into them, able to perfectly mimic their voices and ways of speech.

Starlight nodded and clapped her hooves together along with everyone else in the class for how well she knew her stuff about the elements of harmony. Starlight smiled and pat Twinkle on the back showing pride in her student and adoring the smile that came from the young Changeling.

"Very good Twinkle! You are I would say...98% correct. However, you missed two." Starlight replied with a cheeky smile as she witnessed Twinkle's look of confusion along with the rest of the class, some of them event immediately referring to their notes and talking amongst themselves wondering if they missed something.

"Ah your eyes do not deceive you my faithful students. You didn't miss anything and I am glad you all have been paying attention. This is a surprise development, for you see there are in fact actually 8 elements of harmony, technically 9 but we are still hashing that out with Princess Cadence and Flurry Heart." Starlight replied with a wave of a hoof and slight roll of her eyes.

"Then what are the others?" One young earth pony colt asked

"Oh, oh I know! Love!" An excitable young unicorn filly announced

"Justice!"

"Honor!"

"Faith!"

"Hope!"

"Heheh all very good answers but unfortunately not exactly. Though I will say the element of love is in fact held by Princess cadence but it is its own separate thing from the elements of harmony; at least we think it is for now. The first of these new elements is ironically one I am quite familiar with. Can any of you guess what that might be?" Starlight asked her students, curious to known who had been paying attention to her story time's about her past.

The class fell silent for a moment as they pondered it, then a young unicorn filly with red and yellow hair raised her hoof, smiling in a cheeky manner as she exclaimed the answer.

"Equality! And the one who represents it is you Mrs. Glimmer!" The young unicorn smiled as she gave her answer.

"Ah that's right! Very good! Ah, I almost forgot; everypony we have a new student today! Why don't you come up and introduce yourself and tell us what that final element of harmony is."

The unicorn smiled as she got down from her seat and pranced up to the front of the class and presented herself to them with a proud smile as she showed off her flowing crimson and gold mane and the shining sun cutie mark on her flanks.

"Hi everyone! I'm Sunset Shimmer and I am the bearer of the final element of harmony; Empathy!" Sunset announced with a smirk as she saw the dumbfounded looks on the kids faces as she then lit up her horn with her shimmer red magical aura which then covered her body and aged her back up to her regular form. The students all gasped in excitement and surprise at the ruse and clapped shortly thereafter, impressed by Sunset's magical prowess.

Sunset for her part giggled and took a bow for the performance.

"Heheh thank you, thank you! It's really nice to meet all of you and I am happy to see Starlight has such good and smart students. But yes, I am the last bearer of the final element of harmony which is the element of empathy. Can anyone tell me why that element is important?"

"Oh, oh me! Empathy is important because we should always try to understand someone else's point of view or how they might feel! Friends who understand each other and can empathize with their good times and bad times are the best ones!" A young Pegasus colt replied with a beaming smile.

"That's right! Looks like we've got a smart one on our hooves. Empathy is an important cornerstone of any friendship and you should always remember to keep the feelings of your friends in mind." Sunset replied smiling back at the colt proudly.

"Indeed and equality is important because no one wants to feel lesser than the other, to be equal also means to be fair and subjective. Sometimes you and your friends will disagree, sometimes a little, sometimes A LOT but should you always remember to empathize and equalize? Everything will work out in the end." Starlight said giving her typical sage advice to her students who all took it in stride and with confidence.

"Now does anyone have any questions for Ms. Shimmer?" Starlight asked her students and then picked one little filly who seemed to be from Canterlot.

"Are you friends with Princess Twilight too?"

"I am indeed, one could even argue I'm her best friend." Sunset said with pride and a hint of smugness.

The other students were in awe of the fact that this seemingly random mare was the best friend of their princess. Starlight would feed into a little by adding on.

"Not only that but the two of them used to be the personal student to our glorious princess Celestia. Though Sunset's time with her was cut a little short because she decided to take a little fieldtrip." Starlight teased and playfully nudged Sunset in the side.

"Heh what can I say? Vanity is a powerful thing and I learned my lesson...3 years later but hey better late than never right?" Sunset chuckled and rubbed the back of her head with a hoof.

"Heh yeah, who knew all it took to get you to see the light of friendship was a rainbow to the face and a stern talking to." Starlight chuckled with the rest of her students following suit.

"Hmph, well not all of us are lucky enough to ONLY get the stern talking to treatment. Remind us all again who nearly undid time itself just to spite our beloved Princess." Sunset smugly teased her friend who scoffed and sputtered at that comment.

"Oh, ok, ok you got me there but hey gimme a little credit at least I HAD plan."

"Hey, I had a plan too it just wasn't a very good one."

Sunset and Starlight glared at each other for a moment and then broke out into a fit of giggles and the rest of the class did the same. After that little display, class proceeded as normal and after Starlight sent them on their way after the bell; she was greeted by a group of students who wished to thank Sunset for helping teach them today.

"Thanks for coming today Ms. Shimmer! It was super fun! Heheh you're super smart!" One young unicorn filly with a pink and white mane said.

"So like, is it true about that other world being real? Like, are humans ACTUALLY real?" A young Earth pony colt with glasses asked, still curious to learn more about the world Sunset went to.

"Do you think there are versions of us over there?" Another Earth pony filly asked who had a southern accent.

"Oh thank you everypony, I'm glad I could be here today to help. Anything for my friends Starlight and Princess Twilight; I've honestly wanted to come and visit and do a little lesson for awhile but everything in the human world tends to take up my time. But I would love to come back some time soon and maybe even take you all on a little fieldtrip to the human world for a few hours someday. I'll have to work it out with the princess of course."

The students all gave an excited smile towards Sunset at that idea and she smiled back, hoping to be able to keep that promise to them some time soon. As the students left, she sighed happily watching them go, wishing that she had learned her lesson sooner so that she could look back on fond memories like this outside of her last year in high school and her college years.

"It's enough to make a mare jealous isn't it? Seeing how easily they can make friends nowadays makes me wish I was born just a little later." Starlight said from behind Sunset seemingly having the same line of thinking but she still smiled all the same, it was a content smile but one that had just a hint of melancholy.

"Yeah; makes me regret all that time I spent just nose deep into magic books I'd read over a dozen times instead of going out for Ice-cream with the few mares I actually did consider my friends for a brief time but once I got accepted as Celestia's student? I felt like all I needed was her. How wrong I was huh?" Sunset replied with a brief chuckle as she helped Starlight clean up the classroom a little for when the next one would come through.

"Better to leave the past where it is and move towards a bright future right? I remember a very wise mare telling me that once." Starlight giggled and smiled at Sunset,

"Heh sounds like one helluva mare, I should chat with her some time." Sunset chuckled in response, her eyes drifting to the hoof ring on Starlight's right hoof and thought to herself. 'Soon Sparky. Soon.'

"So how are things between you and Twilight?" Starlight asked, a cheeky smirk on her face.

"Which one? The dork or the princess?" Sunset asked with a wry smile.

"Yes." Starlight replied

"Hahaha, right. I am gonna go to meet Princess Twilight and Celestia for tea after this and as for me and Sci-Twi well...lets just say I am ready to have what you and Sunburst do and that's the other reason I am here. Rarity and Maud are taking me gem hunting."

Starlight gasped and then squeed in excitement as she hopped up and down as she held Sunset's hooves in her own.

"Oh I am so happy for you Sunset! I'm sure you'll make Sparky the happiest human on Earth! But I do gotta ask, you plan on starting a family?" Starlight asked with a tilt of her head and a raised eyebrow.

"Oh I'm working on that, in that world our magic is directly tied to our DNA so we are trying to find a way to mingle our magic during sex and once we figure that out? You can bet the stars on Princess Twilight's plot that I am gonna put a few babies in Sci-Twi, can't let you get ahead of me now can I?" Sunset replied with a knowing smile as she eyed Starlight's tummy.

Starlight blushed and rubbed her stomach, no one had brought it up but she was beginning to show a little of a baby bump and soon she'd have to put in for her maternity leave but she just couldn't abandon her students. She'd only found out she was pregnant a couple weeks ago and planned to put in for leave next month.

"Better hurry then, I am a few weeks along and I'd love for our babies to be friends."

"Ooooh babies, as in more than one? Oh la, la Starlight Glimmer is that why you stayed those few extra nights in the Crystal Empire?" Sunset teased and playfully swatted Starlight's flank with her tail.

Starlight blushed and giggled nervously and sheepishly. "What can I say? The heat was STRONG that month ok? A mare has needs and the Crystal empire is just so romantic. Besides, the friendship lesson of that time was learning to love beyond what you know and giving yourself to the one you love when you are ready...I was SO bucking ready."

Sunset playfully gasped and covered her muzzle with a hoof. "Mrs. Glimmer! We're in a classroom!"

"Hehehe oh ok, ok I'll stop. But seriously, if you need a few pointers on how to make a little magic with your favorite geek I am more than happy to help. Anything for a friend right?" Starlight playfully winked at her friend and bumped her flank against hers as they left the room.

"Heh right, right. I should probably go and meet up with Rarity and Maud now then. What are you about to go do?" Sunset asked as the two left the classroom.

"I've got a couple counseling sessions today and then I was going to meet with Princess Luna and Trixie. Nightmare Night is coming up soon and those two have been planning for months now." Starlight chuckled with a slight roll of her eyes as she thought of what mischief those two could possibly be up to right now.

"I think it's nice that Luna decided to take on a student of her own and Trixie certainly fits the bill on that one, her magical potential is DEEP but she just hasn't had any real guidance or training like you, me or Twilight. I hear Luna has been teaching her quite a bit."

"Yeah, she's a pretty quick learner and she's amazing at improvising. Heh though I wish she and Luna would just come out and tell me they are together already but I guess seeing them fumble about trying to keep the secret can be fun for a little while longer." Starlight giggled as she remembered walking in on the two mares nearly getting frisky and the hilarious explanation they tried to give, 'special magic trick' indeed.

"Well I can at least say in the human world she's more honest with herself and with us. I think her and human Starlight make an amazing couple." Sunset playfully mentioned to the pony world version of her other best friend.

Starlight blushed and here tail swished and batted Sunset on the flank playfully as they made it to Starlight's office.

"You are such a tease. Anyway this is where we part ways for now; thanks again for coming Sunset, the students truly adore you and I hope to have you back again sometime."

"No problem Starlight, I'd love to come back to teach! Just write me and we can work it out! See ya!" Sunset said as she fired up her horn and teleported away from Starlight's office door, the principal mare smiling gleefully as she watched her go.

"She's gonna make that little dork so happy."

"Rarity I'm here! It's Sunset! You ready?" Sunset announced herself as she came into Rarity's shop.

"Just a miiiiiiinute!" Rarity's voice sang out from the other room and shortly thereafter she came into the room Sunset was in, a hard hat decorated with her three diamonds upon her head and a wagon being towed in her magic. She smiled at Sunset and greeted her with a hug and casual smooches to the sides of her face as typical for the debutant mare.

"Oh welcome darling it's so good to see you again! I hope you are ready to pick out the perfect gem for your sparkling bride to be!" Rarity was clearly more giddy than usual, the idea of picking out martial gemstones for her friends being a favorite little hobby of hers even since Rainbow and Applejack got married two years prior.

Sunset hugged Rarity back and accepted the friendly smooches, it was a gesture seemingly every version of Rarity did as a show of affection as her human Rarity did the exact same thing. With a smile, Sunset nodded as she used her magic to materialize a hard hat on her own head that matched her mane.

"Ready to get down and dirty if you are. We're meeting Maud in the crystal catacombs right?"

"Indeed we are darling, she's recently found a new channel of crystals and claims that they'd be the perfect type for your martial rings and other accessories you wish to have made. From my understanding of her geological speak, these crystals are particularly special due to their proximity to sunlight and perhaps even hold magical properties which is why she wished to bring us to examine them."

Sunset would rub her chin with a hoof and pondered that for a moment. "Potential magic crystals grown by sunlight eh? It is possible since the light of our Equestrian sun is magical in nature since it's directly connected to Celestia. Let's go check it out, this oughta be fun!"

"Then let us be off darling! Would you be so kind as to do the honors? I am still practicing my teleportation with Twilight and Starlight. I am getting better at short distances but long stretches are a bit much."

"Sure thing Rarity no worries, what're besties for right? Hold onto your mane!"

Sunset would gather next to Rarity and the cart she brought along and using her magic she covered them in a red magic aura and moments later all teleported to the entrance to the crystal catacombs where they were greeted by a waiting Maud who was seemingly inspecting a few gems in the ground.

"Phew, made it! Hey Maud, we're not late are we?" Sunset asked as they arrived and stepped forward towards the apathetic Earth mare.

"No, not at all. In fact you are at least 10.5 minutes early. You're good at being punctual."

"Why thank you darling and it's quite good to see you again. How's things between you and Mud briar?"

"Oh, we broke up. It was a mutual split." Maud replied bluntly.

"Aw, I am sorry to hear that darling; you two seemed quite happy together."

"We were, but when it came down to reproduction he was quite unsatisfying and he found me a bit too rough at times. He suggested I find a stallion who is stronger than a rock but like a boulder or mountain."

"Well I am sure there are plenty of big strong stallions in Equestria that would love to-"

"I'm seeing Rock Hoof now." Maud replied bluntly

"..." Sunset's jaw dropped

"..." Rarity's jaw dropped

"You look surprised." Maud blinked twice.

"Rock Hoof."

"Yes."

"As in, THE Rock Hoof?"

"Yes."

"The legendary folk hero and former bearer of the element of strength and honesty?"

"Yep."

"Whoa."

"Oh my"

Sunset and Rarity tried to envision how THAT would work in bed but considering they knew how strong Maud actually was and how much more like Pinkie Pie she could be when either in heat or when she'd had to much to drink? They both merely nodded in approval at Maud.

"Heh nice." Sunset smirked

"Bravo darling, Bravo indeed." Rarity clapped her hooves a few times.

Maud showed a rare blush and smile. "Thank you. He's quite the stallion, he's good to me, really likes rocks and the things he can do with that shovel are enough to put any mare into heat."

The three of them shared a laugh, it was rare hearing Maud laugh but as it turned out to no ones surprise, she sounded a lot like Pinkie Pie when she was laughing although not anywhere near as high pitched and squeaky.

"Well then where is the big lug huh?" Sunset asked looking around the cave.

"He's in a different section digging out some new tunnels, he's already helped dig out the areas we need. Plus I think he's searching for a gem ring like we are." Maud said with still a small smile on her face.

"Maud Dianna Pie, is Rock Hoof planning on proposing?!" Rarity's eyes lit up with stars.

"My Maud sense tells me yes."

"Oh yes, yes, yes, yes, yes! This is wonderful darling!"

"I'm sure you two will be very happy together and I bet Pinkie Pie is gonna go crazy with whatever party she throws."

"Pinkie was over the moon when me and Mud Briar broke up and she really likes Rock Hoof; so yeah she's already planning something."

"Hehe typical Pinkie; pretty sure she's doing the same for Twilight and I."

The three mares would venture into the crystal caves as they spoke among one another sharing stories and making jokes as they travelled deeper and deeper into the crystal caves, the walls darkening causing them to turn on the light of their hard hats but eventually the light was refracted by leaking in sunlight off the many gems that lines the walls. An aurora of color soon flooded the entire cave channel they'd entered and both Sunset and Rarity were in awe.

"Amazing, these gems must've taken hundreds if not a thousand years to form this large and in the shapes they have. The light of the celestial sun really is magical in more ways than I could've imagined. Not only does it give life and light to our plant life but even rocks and crystals." Sunset remarked as they continued down the caves.

"In concur, it's truly remarkable how many of them there are and so far I have gathered a fair amount of samples." Rarity proclaimed as she used her magic to pick gems from the ground and levitate them into the cart Maud was gracious enough to pull, her high levels of strength making it easy and not a burden on her smaller form.

"There's a cluster of crystals down this vein here, I think you'll find the gems you'd like for your future wife's ring in there."

As they came up on the vein of crystal, the lights that shined were a mixture of red, yellow, orange, pink, blue and violet. All colors associated with Dusk and Dawn or in other words; Twilight and Sunset. That was something Sunset always found appealing about their relationship, the parallels, the similarities and differences, the duality, the contrast. It fascinated her to no end and she wanted to spend the rest of her life with the one person she felt she could empathize with the most. As Sunset walked into the cave in awe along with a shocked Rarity and a stone faced Maud; her eyes darted from floor, to wall to ceiling, every inch of this part of the cave covered in gemstones of varying colors and shapes.

"So which will you choose darling?" Rarity asked as she herself looked around.

Sunset would walk around the cave for a few moments, using her magic to scan each crystal and much like Maud said, they were channeling magic, absorbed from the light of the sun during the times of Dusk and Dawn. The magic wavelength felt familiar, like Celestia but at the same time she could sense Twilight, the pure element of magic coursing through these gemstones even if just a little, nothing compared to the actual element of magic.

After a few minutes of searching she cave to a corner in the cave and spotted one gem that seemed to glow brighter than the rest among its cluster. Inspecting it closely and scanning it with her magic, she'd come to a surprisingly discovery and had a theory.

"Maud, do you happen to know where else this cave might lead to, like lets say if we carved out a tunnel where this particular cluster is growing, where would it lead?"

"Only one way to find out. Stand back, this tends to get a bit dusty." Maud said as she came up to the wall and began pounding into it with her hooves at rapid speeds and began drilling through the rock wall with ease kicking up tons of dust and crystal shards. Rarity and Sunset would follow a few feet behind as to not get hit by any strays, Rarity making note of just how strong Earth pony actually are and Sunset making a mental note to both research Earth pony magic and to hit the gym more often with Rainbow and Applejack.

After about 10 minutes, they reached a familiar location to at least Rarity, the site of a large crystal tree now within view, its roots and branches poking through various points in the cave. It looked very different from the last time she had seen it and was in shock at how BIG it had gotten, she wasn't even aware a crystal tree COULD grow!

"My word! The harmony tree has certainly hit a growth spurt as Applejack would say. How is this even possible? I know that we returned our elements to it and more recently it created Starlight's element after she poured her magic into it, but to think it would grow to this extent."

"Wait, you say that the tree created Starlight's element? Hm, I think this might actually explain where the human world versions of our elements came from. I'm not exactly sure how but these branches seemingly not only reach through this cave but dimensions too. The best way I can describe it is to compare it to yggdrasil or in other words, the Tree of life or the world tree in some version of human mythology."

"Rock Hoof mentioned something about that a few times, he might know something more."

"To think even in a world as magical as ours we could come across such magical wonders. Truly remarkable and you think this tree is the reason for those crystals back there?"

"Yeah, basically those crystals we found are like seedlings or growths from this crystal tree and as a result they all hold a small piece of harmonic magic and the light of the Sun must've been what helped them flourish the way they have."

"I imagine once they are removed from the cave they'll retain whatever magic is held in them but once that's used up it'll just be a normal gemstone. You should probably let Princess Twilight inspect it before taking it across the portal."

"Right, magical artifacts no matter the kind tend to go a little wonky over there so good idea. Thanks for bringing us here Maud."

"No problem, anything to help two nerds in love."

Rarity giggled and Sunset blushed and rolled her eyes as the trio headed back the way they came.