Aria parked her Jeep across the street from Sunset Shimmer's apartment, not wanting to risk having it damaged by trying to get in one of the parking spot or having someone be reckless and scratch it when pulling out. Twilight and super nerd Sunset were the first out, with Twilight leading Sunset across the street, where Daydream Shimmer landed, having flown along behind them.

Frankly, Aria was glad to be free of them.

When they had first left Crystal Prep, Sun-nerd had been very quiet, which was totally understandable considering she had seen both demonic and angelic versions of herself, with the demon one coming after her for some reason. That all had to be very hard to process. Then Twilight started talking science with her, and the two would not shut up. Law of conservation of matter, law of conservation of energy, molecular and atomic manipulation, stuff Aria could not understand even if she was trying, on and on and on! It was all very boring to her.

Aria herself was the last out of the Jeep, making sure the doors were locked.

"Sonata!" she called out. "Come here and give me your hand."

Sonata Dusk stopped and turned to face Aria. She let out a huff, crossing her arms.

"I'm not a child," she snapped, stamping her foot. "I can cross a street by myself just fine."

"First," Aria retorted, holding up a finger, "yes you are, and no you can't. And second, that's not why I'm asking. Now show me your damn hand already!"

Sonata's lips pursed out and eyes narrowed as she pouted for a second. Finally she complied, holding up her right hand for Aria to take and look at.

While there was nothing too serious, it did not look good. Blisters were already forming, swelling with liquid as the skin turned dead white in color. The largest of them was on the palm, near the thumb, and was the size of a quarter. In other spots, the skin was dark and burnt, with a few spots torn and peeling to reveal the tender, shiny, live skin underneath.

Aria let out a sigh, letting the hand go.

"Nothing permanent, but it's pretty bad," she said out loud. "Hopefully they have a first aid kit or something so we can clean and bandage it up."

"Awww," Sonata cooed out, grinning. She then moved closer and turned, pressing her shoulder against Aria's chest. "You do care." She looked up at the other siren, fluttering her eyelashes.

Making a noise of disgust, Aria rolled her eyes and gave Sonata a shove.

"Shut up," she growled out. "And don't act like it's a big deal or something."

"Youuuuu caaarrre," Sonata sang out, albeit off-key. "Youu-uuu caarr-rrre. Aria loves me. Aria loves me."

An idea suddenly came to Aria, and she just could not resist.

"Sonata." She held up her hand. "High-five."

Sonata's face lit up with excitement at the prospect, having never gotten a high-five from Aria before. Raising up her hand, she swung it to hit Aria's, slapping it with all her might.

Then immediately cried out in pain.

"Owie owie owie!" she cried out, clutching her hand to her chest. "That hurt!"

"Who would have guessed," Aria said flatly. "Come on." She started walking across the street toward the apartment.

Only to be grabbed by the belt and yanked back. Just in time to have a car drive by, horn honking at her as they went by.

"What was that about crossing the road?" Sonata asked, smirking.

The initial shock wore off quickly at those words. She pulled free of Sonata's grip and looked at the apartment, ignoring the sense of embarrassment she felt.

"Shut up." Aria grumbled under her breath. She then made her way across the street and toward the building, a giggling Sonata following her.

At the building, Twilight Sparkle reached the door to Sunset's place. She gave a knock, trying to avoid burning her hand against the hot metal in the process.

The door was opened by one of the Sunsets. This one was taller than Twilight by a noticeable amount, with a pixie cut hair, and piercings in her ears. Her brow furrowed as she looked at Twilight a moment, lips pressed tight. She then let her gaze drift past her, looking at the other two Sunsets, Rarity, then Aria and Sonata.

"Weirder and weirder," this Sunset said before moving aside. "C'mon in."

Inside, Twilight found Rainbow, Fluttershy, and two other versions of Sunset Shimmer, including the male one. For most people, the angelic, demonic, or even mythological forms of a person they knew would be the strangest, but for Twilight, it was the guy. Twilight had seen Daydream before, had not only been told about the demonic form, but had seen pictures of it, and was aware of Sunset actually being a unicorn from another reality, so they were all things she could understand and expect. Seeing Sunset as a male though, was something she had never expected.

Plus, she found him attractive, which made it all the weirder.

The guy then winked, giving a small smile before looking away.

"Do you guys have a first-aid kit?" Aria asked as soon as she was inside.

This got a gasp from Fluttershy, who shot up from the couch and appeared before Aria.

"What's wrong? Did something happen?"

Aria took a step back, suddenly very aware at how close the other girl was, and how for someone who was so shy, was suddenly very bold.

"I'm fine," she stated. "Sonata's the one that's hurt."

Shoving Aria out of the way, making her fall over the arm of the couch, Fluttershy took a hold of Sonata's hand, looking at it. Her eyes went wide as she looked, pulling it closer.

"Oh, you poor thing," Fluttershy said softly. "Don't worry though, we'll have you patched up in no time." She then grabbed Sonata by the wrist and pulled her toward the bathroom.

"Pretty sure Sunset has a first-aid kit in here. Pinkie should have given her one for emergencies."

"Pinkie?" Aria asked as she watched Fluttershy and Sonata disappear. "Wouldn't she just fill the kit with, like, candy and streamers or something?"

"While I am certain she has those stored around for various 'emergencies,'" Rarity said, making finger-quotes on the last word, "Pinkie would not go so far as to replace actual proper supplies in a first-aid kit with them." She then tapped her chin. "Although, she would likely supplement it with them, and possibly choose band-aids that have cute and cartoony images on them."

"Candy!" Sonata shouted from the bathroom.

Twilight Sparkle turned to Rainbow Dash.

"Did you write to Princess Twilight?"

"No," Rainbow answered. "Catch." She then tossed the journal at Twilight.

Twilight let out a yelp as she reached out to try and catch the journal. It bounced off the palm of one hand, then the inside of her arm. She grabbed at it, having it fall below her fingers as she was a bit too low. For some reason, she tried to catch it with her foot, kicking it across the room instead. The book landed with a thump as it hit the floor, sliding across it and under the couch.

"Smooth," Rainbow stated.

With a huff, Twilight walked over to the couch and crouched down, looking underneath.

"Why did you do that?" she asked as she tried to retrieve the journal.

"Didn't realize you were that bad at catching," Rainbow retorted. "Besides, I figured you should be the one to write to Princess Twilight. I mean you are her counterpart and all, and have the best chance at explaining all that science and magic junk since..."

She stopped looking around.

Her initial reply was going to be "since Sunset's not here," but that did not seem entirely accurate. There were like five different versions of Sunset Shimmer here. That was not even all of them either. Who knew how many were out there. At the same time though, none of them were actually the Sunset Shimmer that she knew. Some of them were similar to her, but not really her. It was like taking the book, and comparing it to various interpretations in other media like movies, games, or even comics: yeah, there were similarities, but there were also a lot of changes made.

Twilight was skeptical about that explanation. After all, Rainbow could have just written "yo, Twi, something weird happened to Sunset. Think you can help us out?" or something. Then, if Princess Twilight could make it, they could explain it all to her face to face. If not, Rainbow could at least give the basics, and Twilight or someone else could fill in the details of Princess Twilight asked for more information.

Still, no point in arguing about it now. Plus, full disclosure, Twilight appreciated an excuse to finally write in it. Sunset did the writing most of the time, and Twilight never really had an excuse. She was hoping that by doing so, it would give her some idea on how it worked beyond just "magic."

Grabbing a pen, she flipped through to the first blank page.

Dear Princess Twilight Sparkle, she wrote. This is your human counterpart: Twilight Sparkle. I am writing you due to the fact that something has happened to Sunset Shimmer, and we could use your advice, if not your assistance.

Before she could get any further, something strange happened. A drawing of an hourglass appeared on the page, below where she had been writing. Somehow, the blackness that represented the sand poured down into the bottom, then when the top was empty, the entire thing flipped over and repeated.

After several rotations and what Twilight figured was twenty seconds, a message appeared.

"Huh," Twilight said as she stared at it.

"What did she say?" Rarity asked, sitting down not far from her.

"She didn't say anything." Twilight looked up, turning her attention to as many of her friends as she could. "I just got an error notice, saying my message didn't go through."