"Hey, Aurora, are you okay?"
Even though Sunset Shimmer couldn't yet understand Celestia's thoughts, she knew that being scolded by a teacher definitely wouldn't feel good. So, Sunset Shimmer caught up with Aurora to see if she needed any comfort.
However, upon catching up, the expression on Aurora's face didn't seem unhappy at all; she even seemed in the mood to write notes.
"I'm not doing badly at all. The Princess is right; I have indeed spent too much time in the Library. It's time to go out and breathe some fresh air."
Aurora wrote and sketched in her notebook while responding to Sunset Shimmer.
The notebook was filled with the whimsical ideas Aurora had come up with while researching magic during this period. Sunset Shimmer walked beside her and couldn't help but glance at the contents:
"On the Influence of Idealistic Power on Magic: Can Philosophical Concepts Be Introduced into Magic to Replicate the Path Power of Aeons from Next Door?"
Aurora felt that the strongest magic in this world could be seen as a physical strike caused by the manifestation of beautiful qualities in human nature in the form of magic power.
A classic example is the Season 4 finale, where Tirek absorbed the magic of four Alicorns plus countless Foals, but in the end, he was still insta-killed by the Friendship M6.
Since the path of Friendship Magic was difficult for Aurora to master, she could take a different approach and try researching other idealistic powers.
Although Aurora knew that the Path Power from next door was strong because it was linked to transcendent beings like Aeons, through experimental comparison, she found that magic usage bolstered by idealistic power was indeed more refined than usual, with an indescribable quality to it.
Therefore, Aurora planned to find some philosophy books to read in her spare time to deepen her ideological realm, rather than having her head full of questions like why birds can fly.
Sunset Shimmer couldn't understand what Aurora was writing, but she was greatly shocked. Those unfamiliar, self-coined terms seemed incredibly imaginative, as if they came from another world. But it was clear that Aurora was researching an innovative kind of magic.
It had to be said that Aurora was very bold. How old was she, yet she already wanted to create her own magic?
Yet Sunset Shimmer couldn't muster even a bit of mockery, because she knew Aurora was very smart and talented, and had been working hard with Star Swirl the Bearded as her goal. Although this didn't prove she had the ability to create magic now, it didn't mean she couldn't in the future.
For a Foal like Aurora, who was rich in imagination and dared to practice, Sunset Shimmer really couldn't feel any jealousy toward her.
"...Sometimes I have to wonder if you're even a pony at all. Like in some horror novels, where a forbidden soul takes control of a pony's body, giving her extraordinary abilities but also causing her to no longer be herself."
Sunset Shimmer teased, as if joking.
After all, there were too many miraculous phenomena happening to Aurora. Ever since Sunset Shimmer's relationship with Aurora improved, she had tried to understand her first friend. The result was that the more she dug, the more she found; it was simply legendary, with rumors like her starting to read after a week and learning her first advanced magic at six months old.
celestia above!, it's hard to say if a newborn Foal can even stay conscious, let alone learn; that would only accelerate the exhaustion of her energy.
Unless she insisted on consciously learning during those one or two hours of wakefulness every day, but how could that be possible?
Because these were all old news, coupled with the hype from public opinion, Sunset Shimmer just treated them as exaggerations by newspapers to gain popularity.
Sunset Shimmer was lost in thought and didn't notice that the pony beside her had stopped in her tracks after hearing her comment, and had already fallen behind by a distance.
"Uh... Shimmering?"
Sunset Shimmer turned around and looked doubtfully at Aurora, who had stopped in place.
"...Senior sister, I just suddenly thought of a pony. I think you need to come with me."
"What? Isn't this topic jumping a bit too..."
Aurora didn't give her a chance to hesitate, tilting her head and pushing Sunset Shimmer forward by her rump.
"Where are we going? I said don't push me, I'll go with you!"
With some reluctance, Sunset Shimmer followed Aurora to a residential area in Central City. Aurora checked the house number on a note and finally stopped in front of a house.
"Before you knock on the door, you should at least tell me what you're up to, right?"
"Do you remember that time we sparred in the park, and a Little Unicorn was accidentally caught in the middle?"
Some time had passed since that incident, but Sunset Shimmer still remembered everything that happened that day. With Aurora's reminder, Sunset Shimmer also knew what was coming next and couldn't help but feel a bit frantic.
"Why didn't you say so earlier?! Look, I haven't prepared anything!"
"It's been so long. Princess Cadance already forgave us back then, and even the pony involved didn't seem to care much... besides, look, I'm empty-handed too, aren't I?"
Aurora said nonchalantly.
"Wait, you said Princess Cadance..."
Sunset Shimmer hadn't paid any more attention to that matter afterward, so she knew nothing about that Little Unicorn and didn't know why another princess of Equestria would be involved.
"Oh, Princess Cadance was that pony's foalsitter. You didn't know, did you? Actually, I already met that pony at the Summer Sun Celebration. Her name is Twilight Sparkle."
Looking at Sunset Shimmer's face, which had frozen from receiving a large amount of information in a short time, only the corners of her eyes were twitching incessantly. Aurora could still understand this kind of belated nervousness.
'This reaction is quite interesting.'
Aurora thought.
Although she really wanted to tease her senior sister more, it was truly impolite to keep standing at someone's doorstep. So, Aurora waved her hoof in front of Sunset Shimmer's eyes, calling back her wandering thoughts, and then went to ring the doorbell.