Sunset felt moderately better after leaving the library. Pinkie’s unexpected presence had turned out to be exactly what she needed, and the thrum of the party planner’s magic still had her nerves buzzing and her mental gears turning. There had been no actual pony-up, but the energy had been there, cocooning her like a soft blanket and raising her spirits, like Pinkie’s hugs had somehow extended to her soul. And what was more, was that her friend seemed completely unaware that it had happened, not unlike Applejack at New Years.

It was something she couldn’t quite explain—unicorns, even young foals, could sense their surges, feel the magic power inside, and while she wasn’t well versed in the other tribes, she thought that they should be able to sense their own magic when it was that powerful, despite being fairly incapable of a lot of active magic. She wasn’t entirely certain if this was a human flaw, or if something else was at work, making them oblivious to the magic itself.

As they approached the room, Sunset could sense more faint, lingering magic in the air. It quickened her pace, and she reentered the room looking for the source, startling her friends with her abrupt arrival. She recognized some of the traces as Applejack’s magic, and the other...the way it left a static like prickle along her arms made her memories flit back to the first time she had felt something similar. Her eyes found Rainbow Dash, who was watching her intently, a silent question in them, and the memory sharpened.

“What exactly do you think you’re going to do to stop me? I have magic, and you have NONE!” Red heat, the color of violence and blood, tinted her vision and her guts churn, all directed at the half-baked, undeserving, wannabe princess, who just refused to admit defeat in some obnoxious display of misplaced courage.

Lightning lanced through her awareness as someone else answered for the Princess. “She has us!” declared the raspy voice, and Sunset resisted the urge to cringe as it raked across her very essence, as if the voice itself held magic of its own, magic that hurt, magic that somehow reminded her of every broken promise and every lonely night in two worlds...

That had been well before Twilight had tapped into the Crown Sunset had stolen, before the girls had channeled the Elements, the redhead realized. Yet...this feeling dancing along her senses was identical to that first lightning charge. Bringing her mind back to the present, Sunset saw that her expression was one laced with concern. The redhead took a deep breath and smiled at Dash to let the athlete know she was okay.

The former unicorn had barely started to frame the question she wanted to ask in her mind when four human bodies attached themselves to her in a tangle of arms, what felt like a leg or two, and a disorienting chorus of worried voices that filled her ears. Squirming her arms free, she squeezed Rarity and Fluttershy around the shoulders to let them know she wasn’t angry with either of them. “Girls, I promise, I’m okay,” she reassured. “Really. I just needed to sort out my feelings, and you know how I get with that sometimes. It’s fine, really.”

Still in the hug, she met the gaze of the princess some distance away. The other pony looked worried, her hands curled into fists and tucked up against her chest—the absolute picture of an anxious Twilight Sparkle about ready to start pacing. It wasn’t her Twilight, but she found herself wanting to soothe the alicorn’s anxiety all the same. Sunset lifted her hand off Rarity’s shoulders to beckon Twilight over. “Come on, Princess. You and Pinkie might as well both get in here and make this a real group hug.”

That did the trick, tension draining from the alicorn as she joined in the tangle of arms and hugging bodies. Sunset savored the feel of being surrounded by her friends, finding her own nerves soothed by the emotions and lingering magic filling her.

Once the hug started to break up, Sunset asked casually, “So did anyone pony-up while I was gone?” The moment she said it, Twilight’s expression turned serious, and Sunset knew it wasn’t just her. The princess had sensed it too.

“No...?” Rarity responded, one eyebrow arching. “But you asking means you’re sensing magic, doesn’t it?”

Sunset nodded her head. “And not for the first time. It happened when Pinkie and I were talking just a few minutes ago, and on New Year’s Eve too. I was worried maybe I was wanting too much to see magic where there wasn’t any, or that whatever has been causing my own surges was scrambling my magic sense.”

“It’s not just you,” Twilight confirmed. “I sensed it too. I can see why you wanted me to bring a thaumometer.” She turned towards her bag, pulling random things out of it— several canvas bags that jingled with the familiar sound of gold bits, as well as a few that clicked with the unmistakable sound of large gems shifting against each other, a large satchel with the emblem of the royal palace on it, and several pieces of familiar looking arcanotech devices—before holding aloft what looked like a top of the line thaumometer, a mixture of carefully shaped metal, projection crystals, with an enchanted core made to activate with a press of a button. Judging by the energy in the device, Sunset suspected it was one of the self charging models; that was confirmed when she spotted the Sunfire Crystal embedded in top.

“You’ve had more than one near surge?” she asked, turning back around with the device in hand, already fiddling with the interface and staring at the equestrian symbols it was projecting in front of her face. “Same as you described in your note? Oh good, it looks like the thaumometer survived the trip...”

The other girls were staring at the device, listening to the two of them with obvious interest. Sunset nodded. “Yes. At least three or four ‘almost surges.’ I’m starting to get a handle on them, but I swear, it's like learning to levitate feathers all over again.” She gave her companions a wry half-smile. “At least I haven’t blown anything up or started any fires this time.”

A concerned hand touched her arm, Rarity’s expression filled with worry. “Is that something we should be mindful of, darling?”

“I don’t know yet. That’s why we’re doing this.” She shrugged, not sure what else to offer, and not entirely sure she wanted to delve deeper into exactly what the concern was in regards to. “It’s entirely likely that what's happening to me is completely unique to me—I’ve always had a problem with surges when my emotions get the better of me.”

The designer’s brows furrowed. “That’s...not exactly comforting, Sunset.”

“Sorry, Rarity…I’m not going to lie to you girls about it, but the fact is that the risk of magic surges has always been a part of my life. I got better as I got older, but it’s only been living in this world where I didn’t have to worry so much about holding tight to my emotions…because up until recently, my magic couldn’t do anything but sit there, inert. Now that it’s active, I suppose I shouldn’t be too surprised that I’m having to relearn some of my old emotional control.” She turned back towards the princess. “Got it calibrated?”

“Almost. It’s getting the ambient baseline of the local space first...you know that always takes forever.” Twilight had moved away from the other tech on the desk, as well as from the girls and had the device pointed away from them. “It’s almost finished. Now before coming here, I took a bunch of readings for comparison with this same device to help compare, starting with myself, as well as most of the objects I brought—this model has a memory crystal in it, by the way, that can record up to ten thousand subjects, and can create long term profiles on a particular being or object to show variations over time. I figured that can further help us establish a comparison.”

The device let out a musical chime, an image of Equestrian glyphs projecting for Twilight to see. “Hmm...that’s interesting...” Purple eyes looked to Sunset. “The ambient baseline for the school is much higher than I thought it would be. Though that could be a result of all the magic that’s been used here.”

“How high is it?”

Twilight scrunched her nose. “I would’ve expected something considerably less than the SET level of a normal place in Equestria, since there's not much magic native to this world...but this is giving me a baseline of 1.1003 SETs.” She turned the device on herself, then checked the results. “Mine’s still the same, so it can’t be the device. Sunset, do you remember your SET level?”

The former unicorn snorted. “Of course,” she responded without pause. “8.5264, six months before I came here. Annual check-up with the palace physician.” A pause, her eyes glancing towards the group of humans wearing matching confused looks. “SET stands for Standard Equestrian Thaums. It measures the amount of magical energy in an object or area. It’s a logarithmic scale, rather like the way you guys measure earthquakes.”

Rainbow’s eyes had glazed over when decimal points started getting thrown around. “And you can just...remember that?”

“Absolutely,” Sunset and Twilight chorused, before looking at each other and sharing a laugh. Twilight took over, going into lecture mode. “Every unicorn memorizes their SET level—it’s vital for our health in a medical emergency, especially in cases of over-expenditure of magic. It’s like a pegasus knowing their WPI—that’s Wing Power Index.”

“Not to mention, in certain circles, your SET level or WPI is a point of pride and bragging rights.” Sunset didn’t elaborate, but the eye roll from Twilight told her the other pony knew exactly which ‘circles’ she meant.

Twilight continued, “As I was saying, it’s an important number for us. Mine was 8.4761 before I became an alicorn, and now it’s 9.3188. For comparison, earth ponies average a 2.75, pegasi 3.5, and most unicorns sit at about a 4.75, usually because of our internal magical reserves being much bigger to manifest levitation and active spells. Baseline for acceptance into Celestia’s School For Gifted Unicorns is 5.5 SETs. And of course, Princess Celestia is estimated to be at 10–though I managed to get a reading on all of the Equestrian Princesses, and of course the numbers are never so nice and even.”

Sunset could see vague understanding in their eyes, but also the slightly dazed expressions that meant they were starting to become overwhelmed by new information and excessive amounts of numbers. She gently broke in when Twilight paused to breathe. “The important point here is that this world has very little magic, almost to the point of being a magical void zone. The fact that the thaumometer is measuring an amount of magic at all is something to look into. We need to know if CHS is special or if everywhere is like this.”

The princess blinked, tugged out of lecture mode and back to reality, and rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. “Er...yes.”

Gesturing with one hand towards the desk, Sunset asked, “Is all of this stuff for us here? There’s a lot more than I was expecting you to bring through.” That was an understatement. She’d been expecting a stack of books and some basic provisions for research, but this was about three satchels too many for that.

“Yes, it should be, other than my personal research journal, which I intend to take back with me to Equestria.” Twilight tilted her head. “Why don’t you go ahead and look through it all while I get some base readings from everyone else. That way, three sets of eyes have taken inventory of the equipment and supplies for the project.”

Sinking into the desk chair that was her personal purchase for this room—if she was going to spend the kind of after school hours in here that Sunset suspected, there was no way she was doing it in one of the painful, cheap chairs the school purchased in bulk—the former unicorn started inspecting the equipment first. Much of it was fairly standard for any magical research lab or for low level artificing, and she organized them in the drawers of the desk, making use of the empty plastic baskets that had been left in there by whatever teacher had used it last. There were etching and engraving tools for spellgems and wardstones, lengths of different wire and chains, settings for gems, a small jeweler’s kit that would let her shape, fracture, and grind crystals as needed, a basic set of alchemical tools and supplies which she stuck on one of the near empty bookshelves beside some pilfered chemistry supplies, and a few other odds and ends that Sunset hadn’t thought of but might end up coming in handy.

Then she moved onto the canvas bags, listening to the conversation going on behind her with half an ear, chuckling as she heard Rainbow checking the setup for their instruments and testing it with her guitar. The first two bags she opened were filled with bits. “This is a lot of bits, Twilight,” she commented over her shoulder, scooping out a handful of gold coins and letting them spill back into the bag with the distinctive sound only Equestrian currency made.

“It’s actually not that much—it would have been higher, but I used the standard research budget for a project funded by the crown, and most of it is actually being spent on the materials you need from Equestria. That’s what remains after all the purchases and expenditures, and most of it is your stipend as the official head researcher on the project.” Twilight scribbled down some notes in her book after running a scan on Rarity. “Because of the temporal variance between the two worlds—I’m still working on pinning down the exact calculations for that—that’s actually a six month stipend, plus the rest of the liquidated finances for the your project budget.”

Sunset chewed her lip. She’d tried to tell Princess Twilight that she didn’t need the stipend here, but the more she thought about it, the more she thought this could work out. The redhead knew she’d have to call her financial manager, and get the coins converted into human currency, but given the fact that Equestrian bits were nearly solid gold worked in her favor. A minor stipend and project budget for a one-mare-and-five-monkey research team was a fortune here. She didn’t need the cash flow herself, but maybe an anonymous donation directly to CHS would be a better option. They had had to take a lot of money from other areas of the school to fix the damages done by her actions at the formal, and there were a lot of things on the campus that could use the money to be replaced or upgraded. “It’s perfect, Twilight. Thanks.” She resealed the bags of coins and stuck them in the empty gym bag she’d brought initially to help bring some of the books home, doing so before the girls could come over and start rummaging through them.

Still sitting on the desk were the two large satchels with the palace emblem. The first she opened to confirm it was, as she thought, filled with gems. She’d seen its like before growing up: a standard spellgem kit, meant to be parceled out to researchers, surveyors, and other unicorns in the employ of the nation for official business. What she wasn’t expecting, as she scanned the glyphs stamped on the inside of the top flap, was for it to be a kit meant for a Master Arcanist—they didn’t hand those out on a whim. Celestia herself had to sign off on those, because even by Equestria’s standards, there was a fortune’s worth of flawless gems inside, all of them tested and graded for the highest quality as spell foci or components in magical undertakings.

Her mind churned worriedly. She had to come up with a way to conceal, store, and secure these—Sunset wondered if she could justify ordering and delivering a high end safe to the school. Amber fingers reached into the first compartment in the bag, plucking out an emerald and holding it up to the light. As expected, it was flawless—no mean feat when it came to emeralds—remarkably clear, and also almost three inches long and nearly half an inch thick.

“What’s with the fancy carnival glass?”

Applejack’s voice made Sunset jump in her seat, and the redhead let out a rather undignified yelp in the process, almost losing her grip on the emerald. She turned her eyes towards the farmer, who was leaning over to look in the bag. She sighed, knowing her friends were probably all listening now, and spared a quick glance to make sure the door was shut. “It’s not glass,” she answered. “These are spell grade gemstones.” She handed the one in her hand over to Applejack.

Eyes that matched the stone’s color widened. “Sunset...are ya sayin’ that’s a portable jewelry store in that bag?” Behind the farmer, Rarity was now focused like a hawk on the conversation.

“....yes. And...” she raised her voice enough to make sure they all heard her. “I need you girls to promise me that you will not mention this to anyone. I have to find a way to store these and I’d rather it didn’t get out just what we’re working with here.”

Rarity and Fluttershy had joined them at the desk. “Sunset,” Rarity breathed, hand shaking as she rested it on the former unicorn’s shoulder, “there are gems in royal treasuries and museums that aren’t that big.”

Sunset dug through the bag with a sigh, and plucked out a diamond almost as big as her palm. “I know, Rarity. Gemstones don’t grow this big here.” She offered it to her, knowing that her friend would realize quickly what she was being handed. “These are pricey in Equestria, but only because they are nearly flawless—they are meant for spellwork. But gems in general? They’re so common that there are several species that eat them.”

The designer stared at the gem in her hand in disbelief, at a loss for words for more than a few heartbeats. A sound, not unlike steam escaping from a teapot came from her as she clutched the gem to her chest. Then she seemed to regain her composure—albeit with a bit of a struggle, pressing the diamond back into Sunset’s hands with a measure of reluctance. “...I...do believe, Sunset, that these things are far too important to be passed around so casually.” She exhaled, slowly stepping closer to Applejack and relaxing as a tanned skinned hand squeezed her still trembling digits. “Your desire to keep them a secret is more than sensible. Avarice is both powerful and dangerous.”

“Rares is right,” Applejack agreed, offering Sunset the emerald back. “Folks know about those, an’ they’ll be lookin’ ta swipe ‘em. Ah think we kin all agree ta keep our traps shut.”

Relief washed over her, and Sunset went back to inspecting the array of gems in the satchel. There were all the standard types for basic spellwork, like diamonds, rubies, sapphires, and emeralds, as well as a selection of more powerful, inherently magical gems with particular affinities, such as Equestrian Moonstones, Sunfire Crystals, and Fire Rubies. Her fingers rubbed over a Sunfire Crystal, the brilliant golden yellow stones bringing to the fore memories and a wistful nostalgia of days long gone.

It must’ve shown on her face, because Fluttershy’s arms found their way around her in a gentle hug. “Are you okay?” she asked in a quiet whisper meant only for Sunset.

“Yeah,” the redhead answered in a similar volume. “Just...bittersweet memories, that’s all.” She closed the satchel and secured it, turning to the last bag. In a way, she was expecting more gems, or maybe more artificing supplies, especially given the magical energy she could feel from it. Flipping back the top revealed something far different: row upon row of neatly stacked squares of waxed paper, all sealed. The paper had an abstract sun design on it and neatly stamped glyphs that read “Little Sun Bites.”

Brows furrowed in confusion, but the scent wafting from the bag was familiar and mouthwatering. Sunset plucked one of the squares out and unwrapped it, revealing its contents.

“What's with the cross between a granola bar and a Fig Newton?” Rainbow asked as she wandered over with her guitar.

Trembling fingers raised the treat to her mouth, pausing to take a long sniff. The scent of oats mixed with the distinctive smell of the honey produced by the beehives kept in the palace gardens, the rich scent of several types of nuts—including two varieties she knew didn’t grow in the human world—and of course, the sweet scent of a fruity filling made from a mix of strawberries, raspberries, and the all important, magical energy rich fizzleberries—so named because they made the tongue tingle when eaten raw. “Twilight?” she asked, proud of herself for keeping her voice level. “Are these...what I think they are?” Part of her was terrified of the answer.

Purple eyes blinked at her, their owner pulled away from her work by the query. They glanced at the object in her hand and she broke into a huge smile. “Oh! The nutrient dense energy bars? Yes, I suppose they are vastly different from what would have been available before you left.” She made a face. “I remember those things from when I went to magic kindergarten. They tasted terrible. These are so much more delicious, and I made sure that human bodies should be able to digest the ingredients! When I discussed the project with the princesses, Princess Luna suggested we send you a supply, in case of emergencies.”

Sunset found her eyes drawn back to the wax packages, the little details jumping out at her...the stylized, abstract sun, with its eight wiggly lines for its rays, could have easily been mistaken as an artistic interpretation of Princess Celestia’s cutie mark—and that was probably what most ponies would assume—if it weren’t for the odd curved line in the center that ended in spirals facing opposite ways...and the name, a name that the solar alicorn had called her most of her life...

She had to know, and she bit into the treat savagely, tearing off a chunk with sharp primate teeth and chewing, not sure if she wanted to be right or wrong. Flavor exploded on her tongue, bringing with it memories and silent tears, because she knew this recipe. She should—she and the princess had invented it together, all because the amber colored filly had hated the awful, salty, dry taste of the original energy bars, the way they’d stuck in her throat like a mix of sawdust and glue. It had been a necessary snack for any growing unicorn trying to grasp their magic properly, replenishing their energy levels during intense periods of study, but the amount of work that had been necessary for her to just learn to control her surges had meant a number of childish arguments with Princess Celestia. It had ended when the princess had decided they should make a new kind, one that had her favorite things in it.

They’d experimented for months with the recipe, the ingredients, trying to find the right mix...and it was Sunset’s love of the tangy berries that tickled her tongue that had been the key, discovered by accident when they’d mixed them with cloudflower honey in the pot to make the fruity filling, triggering an unusual infusion process that drew ambient magic from the air into the mixture while it cooked, creating a mana-rich filling that tasted way better than the special nuts and grains used in the old version. They’d been Sunset’s favorite snack, even at CSGU, and Celestia always made sure there were plenty available for her—and only her.

What did it mean, then, that after she had gone that the recipe had replaced the old one? In packages stamped with an abstraction of her cutie mark and the foalhood nickname that had meant everything to her, the name that had given her hope in her most desperate, despair filled moments, right up until that final argument, that maybe, once, the princess had loved her, even just a little. Was it guilt? Remorse? One final twist of the knife? Or had Celestia missed her?

She chewed and swallowed slowly, savoring the flavor and tingle on her tongue as her body grabbed eagerly onto the energy contained in the morsel, greedily adding it to her still diminished reserves. Tears made tracks down her cheeks, dripping soundlessly onto her jeans, while her heart ached fiercely in her chest.

After she finished the energy bar that bore her name, she leaned on the desk, trying to bring her emotions under control, to stop the tears before the Princess of Friendship noticed—she had the same curiosity as the human Twilight Sparkle, and Sunset just didn’t feel close enough to her to be willing to share the reasons yet. She felt Fluttershy hug her again, and then two more sets of arms as Rarity and Rainbow Dash joined in while Applejack and Pinkie held the Twilight’s attention on the other side of the room. Their touch banished the darkness and pain that had been stealing over her, and gave her the strength to wipe her eyes; she had work to do, and sitting there crying over the past and her regrets wouldn’t get it done.

So yeah, lots to unpack here.

The way I work magic in Rubicon's Equestria is that the ponies there--particularly the unicorns--have been studying it the same way we study various branches of science and math for the last five thousand years. Its not this esoteric unknown to them. Its a field of study that has rules and measurements and standards and important facets as part of their understanding of the world. Its still magic, but even magic has to have its own internal consistency with itself and its own rules, or you're just 'pulling things out of your ass because its convenient.' Hence the existence of the SET scale (which, for the record, came about originally to assist the medical field, as there is a baseline amount of magic absolutely required in any living thing in Equestria for its continued life processes to continue.)

Gold Bits and Gemstones: I've seen a lot of people calculate the worth of the gold bits that are Equestrian currency, but so few people think about the gemstones. Gemstones, as we see, are super common, and enormous in Equestria, and also seem to be a rapidly renewable resource. Dragons at the least eat them, and there are probably other species that do as well. (In rubicon, there's at least three others we've come up with.) When you start looking....gold is nice, but the value of gemstones increases almost exponentially based on size, clarity, color, and flawlessness of it. A diamond like what Sunset casually handed Rarity is worth hundreds of millions of dollars compared to the thousands of a similar sized hunk of gold. But to ponies? They're valuable in the terms of spell quality, or for their beauty, and they seem to use them as a larger form of "currency" than coin, but they don't place the inherent dollar signs on them like humans. So yeah. Bit of a huge cultural difference there.

Magic and Gems: We see crystals being used in some places in the show, and I just decided to run with the idea that they work much better for magic. Even in human magic systems and beliefs, theres a lot of power in gemstones, and one could also argue for science and energy too. For example, one of the theories behind certain types of paranormal phenomena involves limestone, quartz, and the natural flows of water carrying dissolved minerals that turn it into a weak acid that create a "natural" battery. We use gold and silicon to make computer chips, to store images and information. We play them back by sending the right kind of energy through tiny parts that respond. So in the Equestria here, they have learned how magic responds to different mediums, how to use gems to hold energy or direct it, how to empower or enhance....Its just part of the way things are there.

Fizzleberries and Sun Bites: I've been waiting to show these off forever. Fizzleberries are the team's own creation, and one I've come to adore as a quirk of Sunset's character. The berries themselves are related to the Equestrian version of blackberries and raspberries, and resemble both. They're sweet and tangy berries, tasting something like a blackberry, but also something like a strawberry...but they are magic filled, and the result of that is that they fizzle on the tongue like Pop-Rocks or a freshly opened can of soda. Not many ponies like them, but Sunset adores them, and its become one of those little quirks of her character that if given the chance, she will eat her weight in fizzleberries and REGRET NOTHING.

As for the Sun Bites....well...one more odd little tidbit about the lore of "if you use your magic, how do you refresh it?" And thus the idea of 'energy bars' was born. Just like humans have protein and snack bars for things like keeping your energy up while hiking or for people who need to moniter blood sugar, ponies in Rubicon developed their own methods of managing magical depletion and magic levels, especially for foals still not well versed in their own limitations.

Anywho...Hope everyone enjoyed the chapter!