A moment later, a mare came to open the door. She should be Twilight Sparkle's mother; Aurora remembered her name was Twilight Twinkle.
"Hello there, children. Is there something I can help you with?"
Twilight Twinkle looked at the two Foals standing at her doorstep. They looked familiar, but she couldn't remember their identities or where she had seen them for a moment.
"Hello, Mrs. Twilight Twinkle. I'm Aurora, and this is Sunset Shimmer. I'm sorry for coming so abruptly, but we're here to see Twilight Sparkle. I wonder if it's convenient right now?"
Although Princess Cadance and Shining Armor hadn't pursued their fault at the time, Aurora wasn't sure what Twilight Sparkle's parents thought of these two ponies who had "bullied" their daughter.
However, as the saying goes, one does not hit a smiling pony. It's never wrong to start with a good attitude.
"Oh, you're Twilight's friends! It's not abrupt at all. Come on in, children!"
Upon hearing Aurora's name, Twilight Twinkle immediately beamed and let them in.
The house felt very quiet. Aside from Twilight Twinkle's voice, no other sounds could be heard. Perhaps the other family members happened to be out at this time.
"Twilight is upstairs in the study reading. You can go up and find her directly. She'll definitely be surprised to see you!"
Twilight Twinkle pointed to the first closed door at the top of the stairs, then lowered her voice and said to them.
"If you can, help me persuade her not to always shut herself in her room. I'm really afraid she'll turn into a bookworm if she keeps this up. Just don't tell her I asked you to say it."
"Alright! Go on, children. I hope you have a good time! I'll go prepare some nice snacks and drinks for you~"
After saying that, Twilight Twinkle went toward the kitchen, humming a little tune.
Seeing that Twilight Twinkle had walked away, Sunset Shimmer suddenly nudged Aurora with her hoof and whispered in a playful tone.
"Did you hear that? Bookworm~"
"I heard it, senior sister of the bookworm."
It could only be said that in their thirst for knowledge, this pair of senior and junior sisters were two peas in a pod, except Aurora was a bit more of a high-achiever.
The two ponies insulting each other looked into each other's eyes and eventually couldn't hold it in, looking at each other and laughing silently.
However, they didn't delay for long and followed the stairs to find the study.
Thinking that the two main characters, Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer, were about to officially meet—such a historical moment—Aurora's mood was extremely excited. She had to suppress the corners of her mouth to avoid showing a distorted, auntie-like grin.
Having calmed her mood, Aurora gently knocked on the door and, after receiving permission from inside, opened it and walked in.
Twilight Sparkle's small figure sat at the desk with her back to the door. She was surrounded by piles of various books, most of which were related to magic.
Aurora and Sunset Shimmer exchanged a glance. Just as they were about to speak and say hello, they heard Twilight Sparkle's slightly complaining voice.
"Mom, I told you I'm very busy right now. Don't come and disturb me before dinner!"
Hearing this, the two ponies behind her looked at each other, seeing the expressions of being between laughter and tears on each other's faces.
Obviously, Twilight Sparkle had mistaken the pony entering the room for Twilight Twinkle, and her mother probably didn't do this for the first time, otherwise Twilight Sparkle wouldn't have such a reflex.
Aurora covered Sunset Shimmer's mouth as she was about to say hello, then walked silently behind Twilight Sparkle and peeked to see what book she was reading.
"
"That set of yours isn't suitable at all for Foals who haven't even enrolled yet!"
Sunset Shimmer couldn't help but complain after hearing that.
Previously, out of curiosity, she had asked Aurora for a set to practice. After finishing it, Sunset Shimmer almost threw up. The magic exam questions inside were like dry rations—tricky and tough. Although finishing them indeed improved one's academic ability, this way of learning wasn't suitable for Sunset Shimmer.
Aurora looked back at Sunset Shimmer and felt satisfied seeing her face full of resistance.
Because her purpose in compiling that set of exercises, besides making it convenient for her to play with and exercise her brain, was mainly to torture other ponies. (OS: What a malicious heart.)
It proved to be very effective. After Sunset Shimmer finished that set of papers, she didn't want to see a single magic spell for nearly a week. The Grand Princess no longer had to worry about Sunset Shimmer being addicted to studying and not liking to make friends.
So, The Grand Princess started worrying about Aurora's mental state instead.
Celestia's purpose in founding the School for Gifted Unicorns was mainly for all students interested in magic. So generally speaking, the entry threshold was actually not high. The entrance exam was only to test if the Little Unicorn had the basic ability to cast magic, which any healthy Little Unicorn could do.
However, Aurora, who was familiar with the script, already knew that Twilight Sparkle's entrance exam question was to hatch a dragon egg.
To be honest, the difficulty of the dragon egg hatching magic has already reached the level of a senior year final exam. To treat this as an entrance exam for a Foal, if it wasn't pre-decided by Celestia, Aurora couldn't imagine which genius teacher in the academy would dare to arrange it like this.
It's clear that The Grand Princess might have had her eye on Twilight Sparkle even before she got her cutie mark. It's said that The Grand Princess felt a connection between Twilight Sparkle and the elements of harmony.
It's quite mystical; anyway, Aurora didn't see anything at all, perhaps because she hadn't seen the elements of harmony or the tree of harmony with her own eyes yet.
"But the questions inside have great reference value; at least they give me an idea of what to expect. The exam is coming up soon, and I'm practically dying of nervousness!"
Twilight Sparkle, immersed in her revision, subconsciously picked up the conversation. It was evident that she was indeed high-strung due to the anxiety brought on by the exam.
"Hey, wait a minute, what kind of book is that five-three?"
However, she soon realized that an unfamiliar voice had appeared in her home. Sure enough, as she turned her head, she saw Aurora and Sunset Shimmer, who had appeared in her house at some unknown time.
"Hey, how are you? Twilight Sparkle, I hope we didn't scare you this time..."
"@#*+☆!!"
After a brief moment of being stunned, Twilight Sparkle suddenly let out a strange cry, and her whole body took off from the spot like a cat that had discovered a cucumber behind it.
'What an amazing jumping ability~'
As the culprit behind it all, Aurora felt no guilt; instead, she found it quite amusing to see the protagonist of the story acting so jumpy.
This was much more exciting than watching cartoons.
"I knew we shouldn't have come in so silently. Look, you've scared her again."
Sunset Shimmer said reproachfully, while at the same time using her magic to catch the falling Twilight Sparkle and carefully placing her back onto the chair.
Having landed again, Twilight Sparkle looked at the two disciples of the Princess who had suddenly appeared in her home, so excited that her four hooves had nowhere to rest.
In Twilight Sparkle's understanding, the two of them were the best magic students in all of Equestria, top students from the School for Gifted Unicorns.
But why did they appear in her home without any warning?