Twilight once again found herself being shaken awake by Sunset Shimmer. As she slowly opened her eyes she could see that it was still relatively dark out. She looked up at Sunset and groggily asked, "What is it this time? Did Spike get the portal reopened?"

"No," Sunset laughed, "it's time for school."

Twilight looked at the clock beside her bed. "It's only 6:45. We don't start school until eight."

Sunset smiled. "Yes, but you got to get a shower, shave, do your make-up, hair, and get dressed. That all takes time. I actually got up extra early so you could have the bathroom all to yourself."

Twilight was confused. Sure she knew she had to bathe (after all, even in pony form, nobody liked someone who was dirty and smelly); but the rest took her off guard. She had only worn make-up once, and that was at the Fall Formal. She didn't realize she was expected to wear it all the time. She also didn't know what she was supposed to shave. She hadn't shaved anything the last two times she was here. "Shave what?" she asked.

Sunset laughed even harder, then got herself under control. "Well, your legs and arm pits are the main ones; anything after that is your discretion. Although current fashion dictates genitalia should be at least trimmed as well. Oh, and eyebrows. Can't forget those. You'll need help with that. They're kinda tricky to get right. Call me when you're ready to do them."

Twilight was shocked. "You got to be kidding me. Humans really shave all that stuff? Don't they realize how much of a waste of time that is?"

Sunset knew Twilight's surprise and frustration. She remembered the first time she had learned she needed to do all that stuff. The
nicks and cuts, the contorting to make sure she got everything, and the clown eyebrows she had for the first few months. It was horrible. She could look back and laugh now.

"Not all, but most. Social norms dictate females shave all the parts I mentioned. Males, it varies more. For them class seems to be the biggest factor. The higher up on the social ladder you are, the more hair you're expected to remove. Unless you're an artist, then you can be as hairy as you want to be. It's the humans' way of separating themselves from the other mammals that share this planet with them. As I said, it varies by time period, geographic location, and class, but for us, at least, legs and arm pits gotta be smoooooth."

Twilight rubbed her head in frustration. "Oh crap! Fine. But you said make-up as well? Why?"

"Societal norms my friend. Females are expected to paint themselves as to be attractive to the male of the species. That means covering facial blemishes, highlighting eyes, lips, and any other features that denote good health and breeding capabilities."

"WHAT! I don't want to breed with anybody, well, at least, not yet." Twilight turned red with embarrassment.

Sunset busted out in her loudest laugh yet. "No, no, no. Trust me; they don't want you to breed yet, just look like you're healthy enough to breed and are ready to when the time comes."

"And the males? Do they got to go through all that?"

"Eh, once again, it varies. Males, in order to be viewed as potential makes, are expected to show signs of good health and well being. To show signs of physical strength and prowess; so, yes they have to invest in their physical appearance as well; but not to the extent females are. Males are more pressured to shows signs of social status than females are. A rich male is free to mate with a female of lower social standing than he is. In fact, if he does, her social rank moves up. Females are generally discouraged from mating with males of a lower rank. If a female does mate, or I guess a better term would be 'pair bonds'; since mating implies the main purpose of the union is procreation, which in most cases it's not; instead of the male's rank going up, the female's rank will go down. Once again, that is not always the case, but as a general rule, it works."

Twilight just shook her head. "These creatures are bucking nuts. You know that right?"

Sunset got up and patted Twilight on the shoulder. "Their planet, their rules. Come on, I'll give you hand."

*******************************************************************************************************************

Maud went to Pinkie's room to wake her up. She heard her alarm go off a while ago but hadn't seen or heard her sister come out. She looked and saw that Pinkie's door was open and her bed was a mess. Pinkie was a lot of things, but messy wasn't one of them. Then she remembered that Sonata had woken up screaming again last night and Pinkie must have went in there. So she turned around and went to Sonata's room.

Since Sunset had kicked the door in yesterday (which she needed to find out how much it was going to cost to fix and give the bill to Sunset), it didn't fully shut anymore so she was able to just push it open. As the light from the hall illuminated the inside of the bedroom, she saw that Pinkie had indeed crawled into bed with Sonata to comfort her. Then she noticed that beside the bed were two piles of clothes (pajamas to be exact). And then she realized that the way the two were folded up together was a little too entwined to be simply best friend comfort.

Oh! Maud thought to herself as she fully realized what she was actually seeing. Little sister had bonded with her new friend alright. For a seconded a mental image of Pinkie with a shaved head, flannel shirt, and camouflage pants popped into her head and she shuddered. And it took a lot to make her shudder.

Maud knocked on the opened door and said, "It's time for school."

Pinkie and Sonata shrieked and sat up in bed, feverishly trying to cover themselves with the blankets.

"Maud," Pinkie started to say frantically, "it's . . ."

Maud cut her off. "Ok."

Pinkie and Sonata looked at each other, then back to Maud. "Huh?" Pinkie asked.

"It's ok. A sister knows things about the other even before she knows it about herself. I saw how close you two had become. I didn't think this close, but close enough. You two are so alike and make each other so happy; why wouldn't I think it's ok? I love you Pinkie, you're my sister, there's nothing else to it for me." Maud's voice never varied in pitch or tone. It was the most dead pan acceptance speech ever given. Eulogies have been livelier. But it didn't have to be. Pinkie knew her sister and knew she was speaking from her heart.

Pinkie's eyes grew wide and a small tear ran down her face which now hosted the biggest, happiest grin in existence. "Maud, thank you! I love you too big sister."

"Just a couple of things, " Maud started talking again. "This may be California, but bigotry knows no boundaries. Just for doing what heterosexuals do in public, you could be opening yourselves up to insults, harassment, possibly physical violence. I'm not saying hide, but I am saying, be prepared. Second, if you two want to share a bedroom, that's fine. But, Mom and Dad are coming for a visit in the next couple of months and you know how they are. For that I am saying hide. I'm almost done with college and I got a good job lined up for afterword; so we won't need his money. Until then, he pays the bills around here, so we can't piss him off. So separate rooms then, ok?"

Pinkie and Sonata nodded their heads and said ok.

"Good. Now get dressed. I'll drop you off at school on my way to my morning class." Maud started walking away, stopped, turned around, and looked at Sonata. "Welcome to the family," she said and walked off.

**************************************************************************************************************

Big Mac pulled up to the front of the school. Applejack and Apple Bloom were arguing next to him. He found their arguments amusing, which was good because they happened so often. Older sibling/younger sibling. He and Applejack had their spell as well. Of course being both girls, they tended to go at it a bit more hot and heavy, but they never let it get out of hand. Apples might feud and fight sometimes, but they always loved each other.

"Now if y'all can stop fussing with each other and get out, I can go park and get to homeroom myself," he said. He didn't talk much, so when he did; it carried meaning. Which he liked. In all his years, all eighteen of them, he almost never had to raise his voice.

"Fine!" Applejack fumed. "But we're takin' this to Granny Smith when we get home."

"Granny works right here, why wait ifin' you want to drag her into this?" Apple Bloom sassed back.

"Umch," Big Mac cleared his throat and Applejack and Bloom hurried and got out. He was about to pull off when he saw Applejack left her lunch behind. He got out and ran it over to her.

*****************************************************************************************************************

"Who's that?" Maud asked as she saw Big Mac run over to Applejack, as she was pulling up to drop Pinkie and Sonata off.

"Who? Him?" Pinkie pointed to Big Mac. "Oh, that's just Big Mac. Well, his name is Macintosh Apple, but everyone just calls him Big Mac. I saw him working without a shirt one day I went over to see Applejack. Not an ounce of fat on that boy. He's like a living muscle chart."

"I'm surprised you noticed," Maud said.

"WHAT!? Just because I'm in love with Sonata doesn't mean I still can't appreciate a nice chunk of beefcake." Pinkie then looked over at Sonata. "No offense."

"None taken." Sonata smiled and shrugged. Then the two kissed.

"So does he go here?" Maud asked.

"Last year here. He graduates in June. Smart guy. I talked to him a few times. Very quiet, but there's some big wheels turning inside that head," Pinkie replied.

Maud nodded. "Ok, have a non disruptive day and remember what I said."

Pinkie and Sonata both said ok and got out.

************************************************************************************************************

Big Mac parked the truck and got out. As he turned around he saw a goth girl standing behind him. Her face was pale and emotionless. A normal person would have jump back out of surprise but Big Mac just looked at her and smiled.

"I'm Maud Pie," she said in a completely emotionless manner. "I'm Pinkie's older sister."

"Eieyup." Big Mac simply said. Pinkie had told him about her elder sister before.

The two just stared at each other. Neither one saying anything. Second after second ticked by. Finally Maud spoke, "You want to go on a date."

"Eieyup."

"Friday, nine o' clock, Denny's."

"Eieyup." And with that the two separated and went their own way.

*************************************************************************************************************

Sunset still couldn't stop laughing at Twilight as they pulled onto campus. Twilight's first excursion into shaving had gone as well as her's did, which was badly. Every five seconds, Sunset would hear Twilight cry "ouch" and curse. Well as close to cursing as Twilight could get.

"It's not funny! I'm just glad I had bought some long pants on Saturday. My legs look like I was attacked by a bunch of ninja Breezies."

Sunset pounded on the steering wheel, barely able to breath. Finally she calmed down enough to speak. "I'm not laughing at you. I'm laughing at myself. Oh god," she wiped tears from her eyes, still chuckling slightly. "My first time was just as bad, if not worse. That's what I'm laughing at."

"Fine," Twilight said, still mad, but feeling better. "So, we go over, say hi to everyone; when the bell rings I go to Celestia's office, enroll, and then what?"

"Go class chica. You're a high school girl now. You're lucky. Your 'sixteen'," Sunset did quotation marks in the air. "When I came over, I was thirteen. Took a lot of fast talking and thinking to get set up looking like that. And, you got me as well!" Sunset tapped her chest.

Twilight finally smiled. "And I'm grateful."

"Alright then. You ready to do this sister?" Sunset held her hand out.

"Let's do this!" Twilight grasped Sunset's hand, they smiled, nodded to each other, and got out. Carpe diem!

Author's Notes:

Yes, I'm shipping Maud and Big Mac. And when I describe as being "pale", that is how Mac sees her. The Equestrians: Twilight, Sunset, Sonata, Adagio, and Aria see the humans as rainbow colored due to the dimensional shifting I mentioned earlier. As a normal human; Mac see's Maud as she really is. So hopefully I cleared any potential confusion.