Sunset woke up with the first lights of the sun coming through the window. As she slowly got herself together, she needed time to realize she didn't have any hands anymore. It's been a while since she has woken up as a pony. It just felt weird. It was supposed to feel right, but it just was alien to her. And if she was honest with herself, this kind of feeling scared her. Feeling alien to your own body, who has ever heard of this?

Calm down Sunset. It's been a few years, you'll get used to it. And I think I'll spend the next vacation in Ponyville in order to get completely used to it. Mmmm, this bed is so comfortable. Urrgh, Celestia, you're shining the sun directly into my eyes on purpose, aren't you?

Sometimes Sunset thought Celestia only approved the project in order to punish Sunset with her trolling ways. Annoying her with the sun was probably only the beginning.

Slowly she got up and started getting ready for the day, only to realize she didn't have any plans. There was no school for her for the next few days and the only friend she really had here was Twilight, who would be too occupied with going after her responsibilities as a princess.

Maybe getting into a little routine would help her. So first things first, she got in front of the mirror in her room and started brushing her mane. Good, so next would be...

Well ponies didn't necessary wear clothes, so it would be straight to breakfast. Opening the door with magic, which came on instinct, she followed the hallway down to where she remembered the dining room being. To her surprise, only Twilight was sitting on the table. Huh, must be pretty early.

"Good morning Sunset."

"Morning Twilight." She placed herself on the table, looking over everything that was prepared for everypony currently residing in the castle. "Wow, the best for the guest?" Sunset asked. Twilight giggled. "Oh you don't know what they originally wanted to bring in here every day." Twilight shook her head, biting from her toast, while reading a letter. There were five more lying atop of each other on the table.

"You know, I've heard working at breakfast is unhealthy." Sunset pointed at the stack of papers.

"She's right, sugercube." Applejack stepped inside from the kitchen. "I tell ya, all those "cooks" ain't know a thin' 'bout apple pies. Good thin' ah decided to double check, so the Apple Family Reunion ain't gonna be a bust."

"That is today? The AJ from my world had hers last week." Sunset almost lost her appetite. "Never, ever ate that much apple pie. Too much apple pie."

AJ laughed up. "You and Twi both. But yeah, we needed to hold it later, 'cause of mah royal duties."

"YOUR royal duties?" Sunset asked. "Yeah. Me and the others volunteered on helping Twi out, 'cause she was totally overdoin' it. Again." Twilight blushed a little in embarrassment. "And stop right now girl!"

"I-I'm almost done. Really. Just these few more documents. I probably only need to give them my signature."

"You said that one hour ago with 6 other letters laying there." Applejack deadpanned. Sunset muffled a chuckle. "Twilight, have you ever heard of burnout syndrome?" Sunset asked.

"What's that?" AJ asked.

"Well...how do I explain it? You guys don't use electricity here...It's like, when you work, you know that your body gets hot, right?"

"Right..." AJ nodded.

"Well, it's a matter of speaking, but burnout syndrome is basically overworking your brain. Like it burns and get damaged. Not literally burned to crisp or something, but it happens a lot to humans who do too much paperwork all the time, stressing out their brains, without giving them a rest. When you have it, you basically can't work anymore. You're worn out, can't focus, it differs a little bit from case to case. And sometimes you never recover."

AJ spit out her cider. "Alright, that's it girl. No more work for you, for the rest of the day."

Sunset snickered at Applejack's over protectiveness. It came to a slight argument, in which it seemed like Twilight had barely taken a day off in weeks, either focusing on her paperwork or doing stuff for the project.

Sunset remembered that there were some things she needed to have done for her friends, so she decided she might as well have it done today, so she didn't forget it. Back in her room, she picked up her saddlebag and went into the town of Ponyville. She noted two guards standing outside, wearing some kind of purple armor. Obviously "Friendship" guards.

Don't look very friendly to me. They feel out of place.

There weren't many of them however and all of them were stationed in or around the castle. You barely met them face to face.

First stop was Sugercube Corner, where Snips and Snails were hanging out again with their counterparts, chuckling as if they were planning something. Something that would, with a 99% chance, go totally wrong. They didn't notice Sunset and seeing as they were having fun, she didn't bother interrupting them in their fun.

Pinkie was jumping out of the kitchen. Her usual already big smile got even bigger, when she saw Sunset approaching. "Hey Sunset, watcha want? A cupcake? A muffin? A milkshake? A cake? Two cakes?"

"Well, you see, the Pinkie Pie from the human world asked for snacks I can-"

"REALLY?!" Pinkie jumped up high. "Oh, oh, what does she want?! What does she want?!"

Pinkie was now uncomfortably close to Sunset's face. "She didn't say. She just wanted a bunch of stuff to try, you know, stuff I can give her on Sunday..."

"Okie~dokie~lokie!" Pinkie cheered. "Anything you want?" she asked. "Uhh...no thanks. Just had breakfast."

"Okily! See you later!"

Good, that is done. Next Rarity.

Sunset met the Lyras and Bon-Bon's at the park. The Bon's were laying on a blanket, talking and commenting on the Lyras performing magic. Sunset giggled, as she saw Canterlot High Lyra struggling with spells only small unicorns had problems normally.

"This thing weights a ton!" C-Lyra exclaimed, sweating bullets.

"It's just a rock." P-Lyra commented with a smile.

"A heavy rock!"

About 5 cm in length. Two cm in height? Sunset thought to herself. Snorting, she continued her walk until she finally arrived at Rarity's place. She still made most of her designs in her old home, simply because she had more space there, since Twilight occupied the basement with her science stuff.

Rarity was in the middle of...something. She was randomly levitating up some fabrics and looking at them critically, before placing them on nearby tables in some kind of order only she could see through.

"Rarity? Sorry, you got a moment?"

"Ah." Rarity turned around. "Sunset Shimmer. How can I help you?"

"Well, actually, I got something for you." Sunset opened her back and levitated some papers towards Rarity, who took over with her own magic. "These are from the Rarity in the human world. She thought you'd be interested and asks if you could give her some of your own designs."

"Oh my, these are absolutely fabulous!" Rarity exclaimed. She looked over a few designs. "Ah, so this is how humans look like. Hmm? What are these on the chest of this one?" Rarity asked. She was pointing at a sketch with roughly drawn humans on it. The others contained clothes for humans.

"These are human "attractors". Only females have them."

"Ah, I see." Rarity nodded understanding. "Humans always wear clothes?"

"If not they would freeze to death. They don't have fur. It's also embarrassing to have certain parts exposed, if you catch my drift. Plus there's a tolerance level as to how much is allowed to be exposed here and there." Sunset pointed with her hoof. "Else they could call you things like slut or something."

"That's pretty detailed." Rarity remarked.

"Better tell you before something embarrassing happen."

Rarity got back into looking through the sketches, while Sunset looked around the boutique. Her eyes rested on some pony clothes resting on a few mannequins. "These look good."

"Why thank you darling." Rarity put the sketches aside and returned in doing what she had been doing from the beginning. "What are you doing?" The yellow mare asked. "Oh, well I think the castle looks a little....blank."

"Now that you mention it...you're right. There's almost nothing there."

"Exactly darling. *sigh* But is so difficult to decide what is right. But then again, the castle has a charm of itself being so blank. I simply cannot overdo it or else I'll simply ruin everything." she spoke in an over-dramatic way.

She held up another purple fabric and tossed it away. "No, no, no. This all doesn't seem right. Maybe I should put my attention to something else. Oh, right. The other me wanted some designs." Rarity turned to Sunset. "Hmm..."

"W-what?" Sunset Shimmer stammered.

"Would you mind letting me take your measurements? A little side project would probably help me getting an inspiration. It sometimes just so happens, when I work on one design, it gives me ideas for others."

"Eh...sure. I guess. I just never really wore any clothes as a pony. Would be a first for me."

"What? But you come from Canterlot! Don't tell me you spent your time behind books, like Twilight did?"

Sunset shrugged. "As far as I know I was even worse. Twilight at least had Spike to go out with every so often. I just studied with Princess Celestia, ate, studied in the school for gifted unicorns, ate, studied, sleep, breakfast and then from the beginning. Sometimes I pulled out an all nighter."

"And your family?" Rarity asked.

Sunset's frown deepened and became dark. "Never had one. Suckers left me in front of the orphanage and walked away. No message, no picture, not even a name. Tartarus, my caretaker needed to give me a new one. I don't even know my birth name."

Rarity's face became a shocked one and she dropped the measure tape she had been levitating this whole time. "Oh my, I didn't know. I'm sorry for-"

"Don't be, you didn't know." Sunset took in a deep breath. "Heh, just had a déjà vu. On the other side, I first spoke with Rarity about it too, when she was taking my measurements for a proper outfit for our band. The others had been eavesdropping and it ended with them falling to the ground, through the kitchen door."

Sunset smiled sadly. "I'm such a lucky bitch. Having friends like them, like you guys, despite everything I've done." Rarity put a hoof on Sunset's shoulder and smiled reassuringly. "Thanks Rarity."

"No problem. Now come, get over here."

XIII

Since she already visited Pinkie Pie and Rarity, Sunset Shimmer decided to visit the rest of Twilight's friends as well. Fluttershy came next on her mental list. Rarity had given her the direction towards her cottage.

Fluttershy's home was next to the Everfree Forest. Sunset herself had never been in there, but had heard rumors.

The yellow pegasus was momentarily tending a...bear. Sunset raised an eyebrow at just how tame the bear was. There were squirrels, mice and other small animals around who didn't seem to be bothered in the least.

"There Mr. Bear. Soon your claw will be all better."

The bear almost purred like a cat in return. Fluttershy finally noticed Sunset. "Oh, hello Sunset. You can come over, if you don't mind that is."

She's even shyer, than the human Fluttershy.

Sunset walked over to her and her animal friends. "Wow, you sure take care of a lot of animals." she said, looking all around them. "Isn't that a bit much for you doing it all alone?"

"Oh no, not at all." She shook her head and flew over. "It's not a problem. And I love spending time with all of my animal friends." Some birds flew on her back and chirped happily. Sunset had never seen so many different kinds of birds in her life.

"What brings you here? If you don't mind me asking."

"You seriously need to stop with the "if you don't mind"." The unicorn advised. "You know, you don't come over as rude if you simply ask a question or something."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

Sunset mentally rolled her eyes. "Ugh, I see we have a long way to go. Listen, just because you're the element of kindness, doesn't mean you have to be like you're now. You see..."

BUT

In the end it was all in vain. Sunset only tried to help Fluttershy, but she wasn't exactly a therapist. And Fluttershy would need at least three in order to open up more to ponies around her. Now wait a minute. This here Fluttershy and the other Fluttershy both loved animals. Yet ponies are considered animals in the human world.

Oh dear...

Sunset and Fluttershy walked back to the castle together for lunch. Snips and Snails arrived there with their manes burned down.

"What the heck have you two been up to?" Sunset asked.

"Well, you see Sunset Shimmer. It was just a little prank. Nothing too serious." Snips explained.

"Nothing too serious? You guys are burned."

"Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to tease Spike with pepper." Snails muttered. Sunset looked up and shook her head. A loud crash from the inside caught their attention. "Ooops. Sorry Rainbow Dash." Derpy said.

XIII

Applejack wasn't there for lunch, spending time with her family. Pinkie as well, because as it turned out, there just so was the slight chance of Pinkie being related to the Apple family.

"You know there's an easy way to check that." Sunset said between bites. Twilight looked up. "There is?"

"DNA-test." Flash Sentry interjected. "The DNA is something like a blueprint of your body. We can send a hair of Applejack and one of Pinkie Pie to a lab and two to three weeks later we have the results."

"Really?! How does it work?! This is so exciting! Can you tell me more?"

"Here we go again." Rainbow muttered.

"Wait. If we send the DNA of this world's Pinkie Pie and Applejack, they'll find out we send pony DNA." Sunset pointed out. "I got it."

XIII

Pinkie Pie was in charge on keeping an eye on Sunset's book. She was currently at home in her rome, sitting at her computer and hammering with her fingers all over the table (yes, drumstick players do that; it's a habit they can't shut off; they always follow a rhythm and look for things that resembles their instruments).

Pinkie liked experimenting and finding her own cupcake recipes. She always put them up in a forum and tried out the recipes of other people who posted them. All of the sudden there was a buzz sound. At first she thought it was her phone, but it wasn't. She followed the sound and found out, the book was glowing.

"Oooh, Sunny wrote something. I better tell the girls. But before that, let's see what she has written."

"Uh huh....interesting......no surprise there.......WHAT?!?!"

Applejack walked over to the door. The way the person outside was knocking at it, she already knew who it was. "Alright Pinks, calm down. Ah'm coming." She opened the door and found a Pinkie Pie, who looked like she had too much coffee.

"Hello cousin!"

Eeyup, definitely too much coffee.

"What in tarnation?!" AJ exclaimed as she read the message Sunset Shimmer left for them.

"I know right, it's absolutely exciting!" Pinkie exclaimed throwing confetti all over the place. "What's up sis? Oh, hi Pinkie Pie." Applebloom greeted. "Watcha doing here?" Big Mac entered the room as well. AJ saw it was probably the best now to tell everyone.

"Uh....Pinkie Pie here....she uh..."

"Yes?" Applebloom pressed.

"Well, Sunset texted us from over there ya know." Applejack began.

"Yeah? How does that whole magic stuff even work?" AB asked.

"Ain't the point, sis. Ya see, over there they found some documents about their AJs and Pinkie Pie's family. Turned out we maghta be related."

"WHAT?!" Next Chapter: Effects of the Butterfly Estimated time remaining: 27 Minutes