The problem with the portal magic was simple. "She has them locked up." Sunset glared at the royal castle and its many treasures within. "Why would they lock them away from us? We could learn so much." She shook her head with a growl, her mood only growing worse as she realized she'd need to find somewhere to stay for the night.

"Focus on the here and now." She stomped off, abandoning the day's search.

The next day she was right where Twilight would find her. "Oh, hello!" Twilight rushed up to her, as planned, with a smile on her little face. "I learned some new spells! My first!" She danced with giddy excitement. "May I show them?"

"You can do a bit of magic here." Sunset motioned around. "It's a nice area, and no pony is around to watch us." She smiled, putting on her mask for her young friend. "Let's see what you've learned."

Twilight sank to her haunches and brought up her hooves as her horn glowed. "The first one does this!" A piece of paper appeared, floating there in the air. "Ta da! It's a teleportation spell, and I did it!" She clapped her hooves together. "What do you think?"

"Amazing." Sunset nodded her head in appreciation. "That's impressive, Twi. You've learned so much, and so fast." She gently patted the top of the filly. "Does it only work on paper?"

"N-no, but." Twilight looked away. "Doing bigger things is harder. Doing alive things is even harder harder! A paper is the most I've done so far." She tucked that paper away. "I have to practice a lot more. But that's fun, so I will!"

Sunset laughed, ruffling Twilight's mane. "Of course it's fun. What else can you do, hmm?"

Twilight thought about that for a moment, bringing her hooves together. With a tap, they exploded in showers of magical streamers and sparks. It did nothing but be bright and colorful. This was enough to make the little filly beam with joy at what magic she'd done.

"Colorful." Sunset had to admit, it had style, though not much use. "You're doing great, Twi. You're making Celestia proud."

"I am?" Twilight perked up and danced on her hooves. "She's so big, it's a little scary. I have my first personal lesson with her later today after class."

Sunset flipped an ear back, thoughts going to when she had her own lessons with Celestia. "She can be a little intimidating, but don't let her scare you. Oh!" She dug out the book and pressed it against Twilight. "Make sure this gets back where it should, alright?"

"Oh, right!" Twilight took the book and put it into her saddlebag. "I'll take care of it. What did the spell do?" Her eyes were wide with curiosity. She'd done her part in helping Sunset get the book.

Sunset considered that. "Well, only if you promise to keep it a secret." Twilight mimed zipping her lips. "It's a how-to to activate an artifact, but, silly me, it's really hard to get to that artifact. What a goof, eh?"

"Really? Where is it? What is it?" Twilight looked around as if it might appear at any moment.

"It's locked up, away from me." Sunset shook her head. "It's in the castle." She pointed the way to the castle so close to them. "Celestia has it, and she's not sharing it. Mean, isn't it?"

Twilight frowned deeply. "Why wouldn't she let you study magic?" That was just awful, in her mind. "Maybe you could ask her, or would she say no?"

"She's already told me that one is too dangerous." Sunset flipped her mane. "I'm a mature mare, I could handle it. In fact, I bet you could too, with a little help. That's what good ponies do, help each other out."

Twilight tapped her hooves together, thinking about it. "You can really do great things with magic, if I help?" She looked up to Sunset with wide, sparkling eyes.

"Of course!" She leaned in close to Twilight, noses almost touching. "For today, enjoy your lesson with Sunny-butt."

Twilight burst into peals of laughter even as she darkened furiously. "You can't call her that!" She covered her mouth, looking around as if Celestia might be hiding nearby to overhear. "It's not nice."

"Nice isn't what I'm going for." Sunset chuckled softly, her expression turning to a pouty frown. "But you go on. You have class, then personal time. We'll talk tomorrow, alright?"

"Right!" Twilight beamed, giving Sunset a big hug before she darted off. She paused, turning back with her eyes narrowed in thought. "Um, but, how do we know Celestia won't just get mad?"

That she would if approached badly seemed clear to Sunset. "We'll work on a clever way to bring it up that won't get her upset. Don't mention it today. Today, learn. Tomorrow, you can tell me all about your lesson with Sunny-butt." That got Twilight laughing and blushing again as she trotted away to class.

Sunset glared after her, watching the filly until she was out of sight. "Ugh. You replaced me with such an innocent nerd." She kicked a rock away as she turned. "Was I that easy to find a replacement for? Ugh!" Sunset stomped off, grumbling to herself. Her mind was boiling in anger and frustration.

"Hey!" The shout brought Sunset to a skidding halt. "Who said you could just go around kicking rocks?"

Another filly was approaching with a smirk which turned into a laugh. "Just messing with you. Hi! I'm Minuette, and you're my friend now. Deal with it."

"Deal with it?" Sunset looked the mare over, seeing someone older than Twilight, but just that barely. "Fine, I'll deal with it. Got a name to go with this friendship?"

Minuette looked baffled at that question. "I just told you mine. Do you mean yours? You want me to guess it? Okay!" She circled around Sunset curiously. "Mmm, bright warm colors. Oh! Sun! You're Sun!"

Sunset rolled her eyes. "The worst part is that you're not that far off. I'm Sunset."

"Oh, even better!" Minuette laughed. "I was close!" She bounced on her hooves and trotted in a circle around Sunset. "You're the girl who was kicked out of the school, aren't you?"

Sunset cringed back a step. "They're talking about me?! I mean, uh, no. I left, they didn't kick me out. There's a big difference."

Minuette laughed. "There it is! I was sure it was you. They talk about you all the time! How you had a tantrum when Celestia didn't let you read something, so she kicked you out of the school."

Sunset felt her face heat, not with embarassment but building fury. "It didn't work out that way!" Her horn lit and struck the ground hard enough to make a crack in the sidewalk.

Minuette stumbled backwards. "Whoa, easy, Sunset! I'm sorry. I didn't know it was such a tough subject." She sat up with a giggle. "Sorry. But friends don't hit each other with their horns. That's rude." She stuck out her tongue at the idea. "Horns are for magic."

"That they are," she agreed with a slight nod. "I should be practicing. Sorry." She turned away. "I have stuff to do." She walked off, her tail flicking with clear agitation on the way.

***

Twilight curled next to Celestia, basking in the warmth the large alicorn provided. "Then I—" With a twinkling horn, she followed as Celestia instructed. "Wow. That's amazing. And so easy!" She clapped her hooves with excitement. The spells had gone off beautifully, her practice paying off.

Celestia nodded. "That you've mastered these already is quite impressive, Twilight." She nuzzled her tiny student. "I hear from your teachers you are paying attention well, even in not-magic classes. I'm here for you with those too, if you have questions."

"Really?!" Twilight bounced to her hooves with wide, excited eyes. "That's great!" She looked around. "Um, do you have time now?"

Celestia's eyes slid to the clock, which told her they were nearly out of time. "Time enough for at least one question right now. What is on your mind?"

"Oh, I didn't have one in mind. I'll just, um, think." She closed her eyes and tried to focus, though that was a bit of a difficult prospect with the sun princess herself asking her about her schoolwork. "Oh!" She perked up, ears upright. "Would you hide magic away from other ponies? If so, um, why?"

Celestia's wings gave a flutter, her expression growing concerned. "Hide? That's an interesting question." She smiled at Twilight, gently rubbing her back. "Are you sure you aren't thinking of something like our unicorn history class, and how a long time ago, unicorns had many troubling magics to deal with a far more inhospitable world."

Twilight nodded her head, though the real reason she was asking was because of what Sunset had said. "That's pretty neat. But, I mean." She looked around. "I learned that you have a few artifacts here in the palace."

Celestia picked up Twilight in her magic as she sat up. "Any artifact I keep stored away are for two reasons." She lifted her hooves, one higher than the other. "One, so they are there if we really need them, in an emergency." She switched which hoof was higher. "And two, so nopony hurts themselves with them outside of that. Some magic is dangerous, even for young unicorns as smart as you, Twilight."

Twilight wilted slightly. "But, what if you're careful?"

Celestia hummed at that. "Some things are difficult to be 'careful' with." A little smile appeared despite her words. "But, you know, there are ponies who do exactly that, be careful around the artifacts to learn how they work. You will need to get a good deal better at your spells, first. Then, maybe I can show you, if you still want to know more." She nuzzled Twilight's cheek. "Does that help?"

Twilight giggled at the nuzzle, little hooves cycling in the air. "I will learn! I'll get better and maybe I can be one of those ponies."

Celestia's gaze went out further than where Twilight hovered. "You have quite the future ahead of you, but I don't think hiding in my castle with any of the artifacts will be one of them, dear filly. You have so much potential in you." She set her gently on the ground, letting her regain her hooves. "But that does bring us to our time for today." She leaned to look at the door, which opened without being touched. A guard peeked in. "Follow her out, and we will meet again, this I promise."

"Right!" Twilight bounced on her hooves, then trotted for the door. It was time for her to head home.

What she didn't expect was to spot Sunset a block away from the castle. "Sunset!" She hurried towards her older filly friend. "Hello!"

Sunset looked startled, but recovered quickly. "Hey." She smiled warmly at Twilight's approach. "How'd your day go?"

"Great! Thank you for asking." Twilight nuzzled her cheek, getting an awkward nuzzle in return. "I asked Princess Celestia about the artifacts."

Sunset folded her ears back. "Oh, uh, did she get mad?" Her thoughts went back to her last personal discussion with Celestia. She shivered, not wanting that to happen again. But Twilight wasn't like her. "Or, what happened?"

"She said I can help, if I study a lot." Twilight clapped with joy for that possible future. "Only really smart ponies who studied lots can help her learn how to use the artifacts. But, she won't let you, because it's dangerous magic." She looked at Sunset with wide, concerned eyes. "But I'm sure she'd let you, once you know a lot of magic, too."

Twilight frowned with thought. "How much magic do you know?"

"A lot." Sunset shrugged it off, trying not to think about the past again. "More than most." She reached to pat Twilight's back. "If you want to help me, why don't we become study buddies?"

Twilight's eyes shone at the idea. "Can we really?!"

"Sure can." Sunset lifted Twilight's head with a hoof. "I'll teach you magic, and you teach me magic. We'll share the spells we know. Doesn't that sound fun?"

"Yeah!" Twilight nodded quickly, her little face full of joy. "We can start tomorrow. I'm free after school. Does that sound good?"

Sunset gave a nod. "Meet you in the usual spot." She pushed Twilight back along the way she had been going before spotting Sunset. "Night, kiddo."

Twilight beamed at her. "Good night, Sunset."

Author's Note

Sunset and Twilight are growing closer, but is Sunset getting any closer to her master plan?

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