For those who truly knew a girl like Lemon Zest, there were many places where they would expect to find her on a day off. A music store, a rock concert, hanging out with her friends, or maybe just relaxing at home. Where they wouldn't expect to find her was standing in the middle of one of the most scientific-looking rooms on the entire Canterlot High campus. And yet, there she was, looking around all of the beakers and chalkboards and textbooks as if she was actually interested in them, rather than be bored out of her skull at the mere sight of them, which is how most would expect her to act. However, it was not long before she was no longer the only person in the lab, as the door to the place slowly creaked open, catching her attention. There, entering the lab, was none other than Sunset Shimmer, who nodded in greeting to the Crystal Prep girl as she closed the door behind her.

“Glad you made it, Lemon.”

The other girl nodded before folding her arms.

“Yeah, traffic was a pain, but there was no way I was gonna let something like that get in my way!”

Sunset chuckled at that, after which she moved over to a nearby wall, wherein there was a pristine white lab coat hanging from a hook. Taking off her famous black leather jacket, the fiery-haired girl slipped on the white garment, making sure it fit properly, before making her way to one of the many work stations of the lab.

“I have to say, Lemon, I was surprised to hear you wanted to be here for this.”

Lemon scoffed a little before answering.

“Are you kidding? A chance to see you work on some of that awesome magic stuff of yours? Of course I’d be here!”

A small smile crept onto Sunset’s face at that.

“I appreciate the enthusiasm, Lemon, but I doubt it’s going to be as impressive a feat as you’re probably imagining right now.”

Hearing that, Lemon rolled her eyes.

“Yeah right! It’s magic! It’s pretty much impossible to make that boring!”

Sunset shrugged her shoulders, accepting that the girl was not going to be dissuaded from this. After looking over some of her equipment, she instead began to move over to a large case on the side of the workstation, clicking it open and revealing its contents. Lemon peered over her shoulder to get a better look, and sure enough, the chest contained Sunset’s guitar. Lifting the instrument up, Sunset herself gave it a look over before turning to Lemon.

“While our magic may come involuntarily in most cases, we can exert some control over it by way of our music. Although…how music relates to our innermost traits…that I’ve never been able to understand.”

Lemon nodded.

“Yeah, I saw Rainbow change once. It was awesome!”

Sunset giggled a little before setting the guitar down for a bit. It wasn’t long afterwards that she moved over to some more complicated-looking equipment, complete with a few wires. Lifting up a few, she rolled up her sleeves and started sticking them to her bare skin.

“I tried this once with the others some time before the Games. Didn’t really work out, so I figured I’d try it on myself this time.”

Lemon raised an eyebrow at that.

“Why? What happened last time?”

Sunset put on a brief grimace as the memories of that day resurfaced.

“Oh, the usual. Swarms of butterflies. Apples appearing out of nowhere. Rainbows nearly making me explode. You know, just your everyday stuff.”

Despite the obvious sarcasm in her voice, Lemon actually seemed quite interested in that story.

“Sounds neat. You could totally, like, solve world hunger with that apple bit though.”

A brief laugh escaped Sunset as she adjusted some of the knobs on her machine.

“A nice thought, Lemon, but I’m afraid not. The stuff disappeared shortly after they stopped playing. The thing about our magic is that, well…it isn’t complete.”

At that, and as Sunset expected, Lemon looked more than a little confused.

“Complete? What are you talking about?”

Looking to her, Sunset put a hand to her chin, thinking over how best to describe the situation.

“Well…the magic we have was basically stuff that rubbed off on us from the original. The magical artefact it all came from was far more potent in its power, so what we're left with is basically a shadow of the real stuff.”

Lemon looked away, thinking over what had just been said.

“Dude…that’s deep. I mean…if you guys could do all that big and flashy stuff with such the diet stuff…imagine what the real deal could do!”

Hearing that, Sunset turned, keeping her face hidden from Lemon as her expression became one of melancholy, speaking in a low and hushed tone.

“Believe me…I do know what it can do.”

Looking to her, Lemon raised an eyebrow.

“What was that?”

But Sunset let out a sigh, putting on a small smile as she looked to her again.

“It’s nothing. Besides, I think you’re more interested in seeing some magic now, right?”

A smile soon spread over Lemon’s face after hearing that, and she nodded enthusiastically, much to Sunset’s amusement. So, after making sure all of the equipment was in order, she picked up her guitar again and started playing a few notes. At first, nothing happened, but as time went on and the song became more and more intense, a faint glow appeared around her. Eventually, just like with Rainbow, Sunset became bathed in the magic within her, and not long after that, she sprouted pony ears and a tail. Like her last experience with this sort of thing, Lemon watched, utterly enraptured, though seemed more than a little disappointed as Sunset’s music stopped, leading to an inevitable vanishing of her additional anatomy. Letting out a deep sigh, Sunset turned to Lemon.

“So…still impressed?”

Lemon gave a brief chortle at that.

“You know it! Does it feel weird?”

Sunset shook her head.

“Not as weird as it is for the others. Remember, I used to be a pony. So having all that stuff appear on me, it’s like…like I’m becoming myself again.”

Lemon nodded at that.

“Is it weird…you know…being human?”

Sunset looked to her with a smirk.

“Oh, you have no idea. But…I got used to it.”

The way she’d said that implied that there might have been more detail she could have gone into, but Lemon felt that she might be prying just a bit too deeply if she carried on. Instead, the Crystal Prep girl turned her attention to the nearby equipment, seeing it bleep and bloop in a rather frantic manner.

“Hey. Your doohicky thing is going nuts over there.”

Sunset turned to the machine and walked over, looking over all of the facts and figures it was producing, all while a look of intrigue was plastered over her face.

“Hmmm…not that different from when I tested the others. Guess the magic isn’t that much different between us, despite getting it in contrasting ways.”

Lemon looked to her with confusion, prompting Sunset to explain herself.

“They got it through friendship, I got it through a dark magic she-demon transformation. It happens.”

Lemon’s eyes widened at that, and yet, as before, decided against probing too much into the matter, leading to her looking away with a nervous cough.

“Well…I don’t really get a lot of this sciency stuff that machine is saying. Maybe Twilight could help?”

Sunset nodded before looking away from the machine and writing down the results on a nearby sheet of paper.

“Oh, don’t worry about that. Me and her are already collaborating on this kind of thing. She comes over whenever she can to talk about it.”

At that, Lemon let out another laugh.

“I'll say! Before she met you girls, our Twilight was always going on about the weird stuff going on here. You should have seen her room back at the Prep! Full of all these weird charts and photos of this place. I tell you, she was obsessed!”

Sunset looked to Lemon with a raised eyebrow.

“Well…wouldn’t you be, if you knew the kind of stuff that happened here?”

Lemon shrugged her shoulders at that.

“Eh, maybe. But, like I said, I didn’t really understand all that stuff. Besides, even Twilight didn’t have a full idea what was going on. I mean, magic? Who would have guessed that?”

Sunset nodded.

“Good point. Magic was completely devoid in this world before I came along and dragged some here form Equestria. Who knows how it might affect this place in future?”

But Lemon slapped her hand down on the former unicorn’s shoulder in an attempt to alleviate her concerns.

“Don’t worry about it. Besides, this world is way more awesome now that there’s magic and stuff in it!”

To that, Sunset put on a smirk and a raised eyebrow.

“Well…as long as we don’t get any more evil she-demons coming around, then sure, let’s go with aweome.”

Hearing those words, Lemon looked deep in thought for a moment before putting on a look that suggested she’d just had an idea.

“Ooh! That reminds me! I don’t suppose you can turn back into a demon, right? It’s just that I wanted to see if it was as badass as the kind of thing you get on rock album covers.”

Looking to her, Sunset narrowed her eyes a little.

“No…I can't change back.”

She turned away from her for a brief moment, after which she looked right back to her.

“And for the record…I looked more badass!”