Time lost all meaning to me. It might've been hours, it might've been minutes, it could've even been seconds! Anyone could've told me any amount of time and I wouldn't have been surprised. They could've even given me different answers and I wouldn't have cared.

What did it matter? If an hour was equal to a minute and a minute was equal to a second, and if 2 hours 20 minutes and 47 seconds were equal to 1 minute and 38 seconds, did it really matter what the actual answer was?

"Princess?" the voice of Sunset Shimmer called from nearby.

Something yelled at me to answer. But I just couldn't summon the willpower or the want to comply.

"Princess Luna?"

I could only dumbly sit and wait.

"Luna?" Something grabbed the darkness and pulled, revealing that the darkness wasn't darkness at all, but a blanket.

The face of Sunset Shimmer loomed in the bright light, looking weary, haggard, and worried. But something about her didn't seem quite right...

Eh, why should I care?

"Luna?" she asked. "Snap out of it Princess! We're safe!" she put a hand on my shoulder and shook.

Snap out of what? Isn't this how I normally was?

"Come on Princess! Undo what you did! We're out and safe!"

Undo? What did I do again?

"Come on! You're coat is all grey! And I only know you're still alive because you're still breathing!"

Grey? Grey. Grey...

Something about the word resonated in my head.

Grey...

That's what was wrong with Sunset's face! It was grey! She had no color!

Color...

Color!

Reds greens and purples! Yellows oranges and-

Blue...

Navy and teal...

The color of a starry sky, sprinkled with sparkling, distant lights...

The silver of the full Moon.

What... Have I done?

I pulled the closest box forwards and let whatever was inside free.

I didn't pay attention to what I had unleashed, too busy turning towards the next box. And then the next, and then the next, and then the next.

I opened all of the boxes that I had recently sealed. But the last gave me pause.

It was bigger than the rest, and seemed to be chained shut as well. Occasionally it would shake a little as whatever was inside it tried to escape.

That one could stay shut for a little longer.

I pulled myself back into reality.

Sunset's face came into view, her hair crimson with yellow highlights. Her cheeks flush with color. Her eyes such a striking blue they were almost teal, yet still within Human normalcy.

"Princess Luna?" the girl asked as I came to.

"I'm fine!" I blurted. "I'm fine..." I pulled myself up, pushing the rest of the blanket away and resting my head on the passenger seat. "Not a lesson but some advice... Never let yourself get into situations where you have to do that." I informed her, burying my face into the cushion.

"Do what? I'm still not sure what you did..." she replied.

"Good. That way you won't be tempted to rely on it." I muttered into the cushion.

"That's your advice?!" Sunset asked angrily. "What happened to be adaptable?!"

"Look kid..." I started as I pulled my face off the cushion. The look on her face told me she was actually angry this time. "You wanna know what I did? Then get hold of yourself before you start poking around in your mind's settings ok? That's all I'm gonna say, and that's all you need to know. For now at least."

"My mind's settings? What kind of nonsense is that?!" she exclaimed.

"The kind that'll stop you from spending the next twenty years as a Darth Vader reject." I sighed, putting my hooves over my temples and beginning to rub.

"Darth... Vader?" Sunset actually looked confused.

"Oh please tell me you know who that is..." I said almost pleadingly. "You've spent three years here and haven't even indulged in one of the more famous pop culture franchises? Especially one that's undergoing a reboot?"

"Oh Harmony... You're a nerd aren't you?" Sunset asked, looking aghast.

"Let me put it this way..." I pulled myself up onto the seat properly, looking around outside as I did so. We seemed to be parked in an abandoned truck stop. "I watch science fiction to imagine how I, as a person, would react to these hypothetical situations to learn more about myself."

"Ugh!" Sunset dramatically groaned. "What is with adults and the 'get to know yourself' bullshit? I know who I am and I know what I want!"

"Ok wise guy..." I stated, looking around outside as I spoke. The Sun seemed to be falling down towards the horizon. Mid afternoon I'd say. "An hour from now, the skies will open up and a warlike race of aliens descend to Earth to enslave all of Humanity in their three legged machines to drink their blood. What do?"

"Ooooo invaded by vampires! So scary!" the girl dismissed.

"The nukes fall tomorrow, but the feds abduct you and put you in a cyro-pod. You wake up 200 years from now and the world is a hellish irradiated wasteland. What do?"

"Pff, what are the chances of that happening?"

"You wake up tomorrow and discover you're actually an alien Prince from a far away planet, thrown into space a thousand years ago by your older brother?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"What are-" The girl suddenly looked at me. "Oh."

"Yeah. 'Oh' indeed." I snarked. "You want lessons from me? Lesson number two. Learn from those around you. Learn their mindsets, their backgrounds, and most importantly, learn from their mistakes. You'll save so much more time letting some meathead wander into a trap and learning not only what they did wrong, but why they failed."

Sunset seemed to calm down as she pondered my words.

"So... Use other people as probes?" she asked thoughtfully.

Oh god no. Don't learn that!

"When was the last time you slept?" I asked, hoping to change the subject.

"I- Uh..." the girl pondered, her train of thought unsettled. "Uh... 16 hours now?"

"That's what I thought. You. Sleep. Now." I said as I booped her nose.

"No way! We're in the middle of a lesson and you still haven't-" she started to complain.

"I'm not asking."

Before she could respond I had my horn charged and cast a spell that I remembered from Luna's time with the Sarosians.

Sleep.

The redhead suddenly went limp in her seat, her eyes closed and mouth hanging open, drool already starting to dribble down her chin.

"I'll wake you when I need you Chief." I said to the sleeping girl. She obviously didn't reply, but she tried to roll over in her seat.

"I better get you out of the driver's seat..." I muttered, opening the passenger door and hopping out. I went around the car and used my levitation to unlock the driver's side door from the inside.

I probably shouldn't use too much magic... If I wanted to keep my thaumic field as weak as I could that is.

I pulled the door open, revealing Sunset still sleeping in the seat.

"Come on, let's get you more comfortable..." I murmured to the girl, undoing her buckle and trying to pull her onto my back. It didn't really work, she was overall longer than I was tall and I found that no matter how I settled her on my withers, she always dragged along the ground.

"Should've tricked her into getting into the passenger seat first..." I muttered to myself as I half carried half dragged her around the car, trying not to scrape any exposed skin over the blacktop. Finally I got her into the passenger seat.

"Phew!" I sighed, wiping sweat off my forehead. "Ok then, let's get you settled." I turned back to the sleeping girl. I grabbed the seat belt with a hoof and reared over her lap, clicking the buckle into place. Eh, that looked slightly uncomfortable. I looked along side the seat and pulled the lever I found, letting the seat back so Sunset was now laying down. I then reached under her feet and pulled out the blanket and jacket. The blanket I pulled over the girl into a position I hoped was comfortable;

But the jacket...

If I were to drive down the highway, abandoned as it may seem, eventually I would pass another car, and if they saw a blue alien pony in the driver seat... Then the feds would be on me by nightfall. Especially after Celestia going on live television and blabbing to the world that she was looking for her sister.

Who knew what was going around in the social circles online?

Was a bounty being offered? Maybe one of the largest "if you have information call-" campaigns ever?

Or even worse yet, some right-wing vigilante thinking that they could stop an alien invasion before it started and starting shooting at Sunset's car in the middle of the desert?

No, just like how I had traversed... Flagstaff if I remembered correctly, I had to use some sort of disguise.

Enter Sunset's jacket.

It was sturdy leather, well worn, and had quite a few pockets. Most importantly however, it had a fabric hood. Excellent for hiding my obviously non-human head from a casual 60 mph glance.

I pulled the jacket over my forelimbs and closed the passenger door, watching to make sure I didn't shut it on any of Sunset's limbs or blanket.

Clink.

"What was-" My eyes landed on the bottle of Irish whiskey that I had stashed in my now unsummoned barding. I picked it up with a hoof and examined it.

My throat suddenly felt very dry.

I started to unscrew the cap, but stopped myself halfway.

No don't. You're about to drive and the last thing you need is to do it drunk.

I screwed the cap back on and reached back into the vehicle, tossing the bottle into the back seat.

"Ok then... I can do this. I can do this. I can do this." I chanted as I walked back towards the driver's side. I got in and closed the door, pulling the belt buckle down as I settled in.

I glanced towards Sunset, an idea suddenly striking.

Who said I couldn't teach the girl the hard lessons in a way that insured she understood them as I meant to teach them?

Why not incept the idea into her dreams?

How could I teach her humility via her dream?

...

Or maybe... I could show her what became of people who had to be forced to be humble...

My horn glowed and the deed was done. Sunset would dream of a lesson that she needed to learn.

And it would scar her.

She would dream of Monarchia and the 17th Legion.

I turned back to the car's controls and realized something very important as I went through the familiar motions of starting a car.

"Crap." I cursed softly as I realized that I couldn't reach the pedals as a Pony. "Some magic allowed it is then..."

I charged my horn and reached over with a hoof towards the keys that were still in the ignition.

Vrrrrrrrr... The car hummed smoothly as I turned the key.

"I'll give it to your boyfriend Sunny... He takes good care of his car." I murmured to the sleeping girl as I grabbed the gas and brake pedals in my levitation, pulling the hood of the jacket up with my hooves. "What's a few weeks to be out of practice and losing all of your Human muscle memory?" I asked myself as I shifted the car out of park and into reverse.

The car slowly rolled backwards. I softly pushed on the brake with my levitation and used a hoof to put the car into drive. The gas pedal was pressed and-

VrrRRrrrRRRR...

... The gas pedal was a bit more sensitive than my old car. Oh well, I'd get used to it.

VrrRRRrrrRRR... The car elegantly stuttered as I pulled out of the truck stop.

... It'd just take me a few minutes to get used to it...

I drove for hours. A few cars passed by, but my disguise must've been good enough because they didn't spare me a second glance. At least from what I could see out of the corner of my eye. Sunset murmured and rolled over in her sleep a few times, but I left her be for the most part. I was the most anxious when I passed through a few small towns. I was constantly on edge that someone would look me in the face and realize that I wasn't Human, so I didn't stop at all.

I began to look for a place to stop when the sun began to set. Obviously, I could just park in a secluded campsite in one of the national parks I had seen along the way, but fuck... I was really tired of roughing it. And with Sunset around I had the opportunity to actually legitimately rent a room.

Disregarding Sunset entirely, and I at least owed her a room if she wanted to travel with me, I would've been a fool to miss the opportunity while I had it.

The car's headlights shone upon a blue highway sign that read "HOTELS NEXT EXIT". A single circular logo of "Comfort Inn" stood out to me amongst several logos.

"Perfect." I muttered to myself as I changed lanes to take the next exit. I then reached over with a hoof and shook Sunset's knee. "Hey Sunny, wake up. Gonna need you soon." I said loudly.

Sunset snorted and sat up in the passenger seat. "Guh? What?" she groaned sleepily.

"Finding a hotel. Going to need you to rent a room." I informed her as I went up the exit ramp.

"Ugh..." the girl groaned again, putting her head in her hands. "Had the weirdest fucking dream..."

"Don't worry about it, I need you to wake up properly." I nonchalantly stated, seeing the 'Comfort Inn' in the distance and turning down the road that led to it.

"But it felt so real..." she muttered to herself.

"If it'll make you feel better, I'll listen to you talk about it all night in the room. But you need to get your head in the game to talk to the people at the front desk." I replied as I pulled into the Hotel's parking lot.

"Er... Right. You're right." Sunset patted the sides of her head to regain her focus. "Right, I can do this." she reassured herself as I parked the car and turned off the engine.

"Here;" I stated, digging in my jorts and pulling out the wallet. I took out all the bills I had and held them out for her to take. "I don't know how much you have, but this'll help."

"Uh... Thanks." she said as she hesitantly took the wad of bills. She was clearly lost in thought as she opened the car door and hopped out, closing it behind her.

I smirked to myself as I watched her climb the curb and walk down the sidewalk.

Maybe I finally got it into her head why humility was such an important thing?

I at least gave her something to think about.

If nothing else, she was primed for self actualization.

Speaking of self actualization and realization, I realized that I was exposed to any passerby while I was just sitting there. So I ducked down into the driver's seat and waited. I snorted to myself as I remembered a memory of Lucas'; The worst part of getting a Hotel room was waiting for Mom to stop talking to the clerk.

I idly wondered how Mom and Sarah were doing...

Were they worried about Lucas?

Had they searched high and low for me?

Did they find my car?

How were they reacting to the news of Celestia?

I know I mentioned the name of Lucas to Celestia... Did she mention it to the feds?

Did an agent visit them in an effort to learn more about me?

Or had they just... Forgotten about Lucas and written me off?

Like Celestia...

I felt myself frown and my ears pin themselves back.

It wasn't like they acted like they particularly cared...

What reason did I really have to expect that they didn't just forget Lucas/me?

Why would th-

Knock knock knock.

"Guh!" I gasped as I jumped in surprise.

I felt myself flail in surprise as I looked up to see who-

It was Sunset Shimmer.

She had a few green card keys that read "Comfort Inn" on them clutched in her hand.

"Hey I got the room!" Her muffled voice exclaimed behind the glass.

"Uhf... Ok, give me a second..." I rubbed my forehead to regather myself.

Next Chapter: Chapter 56 The Rally Estimated time remaining: 12 Hours, 9 Minutes