A long time had passed since the last park incident. Twilight Sparkle had thought she would have to wait until she got into the School for Gifted Unicorns to have the chance to see them again.
"Long time no see, Twilight Sparkle. Let me introduce you, this is my Senior Sister, Sunset Shimmer."
Aurora pulled Sunset Shimmer to the front, then suppressed her fanatical heart as a Brony, quietly observing how the two Main Heroines would chat.
"Ah... hi, hello, Twilight Sparkle, nice to meet you. I was also responsible for what happened last time, I'm sorry I never came to apologize to you..."
Sunset Shimmer spoke up somewhat awkwardly. After all, she had long forgotten about Twilight Sparkle. She probably hadn't expected to see this Foal again, and coupled with the suddenness of the visit, Sunset Shimmer appeared quite ill at ease.
"The last time? I forgot about it long ago, except for the magic you used. I wanted to ask you back then, how exactly did you do it? And what is the five-three you just mentioned?"
However, because the last time was too hurried, Twilight Sparkle had no chance to ask questions. Later, it just so happened that Aurora went into seclusion to prepare for exams, and she could never get in touch with her again.
But this stimulated Twilight Sparkle's enthusiasm for learning. She studied magic knowledge desperately, striving to enter the School for Gifted Unicorns as soon as possible.
"Actually, you could have sent a letter to the academy. I should have been able to receive it, and then I could have sent a set of five-three to you."
"That's enough, she hasn't even started school yet, what are you trying to do?!"
Hearing this, Sunset Shimmer rolled her eyes at her. She hadn't expected that Aurora, not content with torturing herself, actually wanted to reach out her evil hooves to a pre-school Foal.
"I think she'll grow to like my five-three."
"I don't think she should 'like' your five-three so early!"
Twilight Sparkle looked confusedly at the two Foals who had suddenly started arguing, still not understanding what "five-three" actually was and why the two of them had such extreme views on it.
"I did send one, but you never wrote back to me."
"Eh?"
At Princess Cadance's suggestion, Twilight Sparkle had tried to send a letter to Aurora, hoping to get her guidance on magic, but until Aurora came to her house, she had never received a reply.
Twilight Sparkle could understand. As a student of the Princess, Aurora must be very busy normally. It was understandable that she wouldn't notice an ordinary Foal like herself.
"I... I am very sorry..."
Aurora lowered her head in shame and covered her face.
Because of her secluded cultivation, she indeed hadn't handled the letters sent to her much. Moreover, she didn't know many people, so most of the letters she received were greetings from her family. Aurora didn't have time to handle them properly and put them all aside, never expecting that Twilight Sparkle would write to her.
The Grand Princess was right, a per... a pony shouldn't be too obsessed with one thing.
To have actually missed the letter Twilight wrote to her! She must go through them carefully after returning, find that letter, and frame it. This was the first letter the Main Heroine Twilight Sparkle had ever written to her.
"Flying Light has been preparing for her Grade-skipping exam recently and hasn't paid much attention to the outside world, so your letter might have been accidentally... missed by her."
Sunset Shimmer patted the head-bowed, reflecting Flying Light and spoke up to explain for her.
"Grade-skipping exam?"
Twilight Sparkle's eyes widened, and she repeated the somewhat unfamiliar term in a tone of disbelief.
"Yeah. She felt she couldn't learn any new knowledge in her current grade, so she skipped a grade. Now she's in the same class as me."
Sunset Shimmer patted Flying Light, who was still immersed in sadness. Speaking of her junior sister... or classmate now, her heart was truly a mix of emotions.
Flying Light's limelight clearly showed signs of overshadowing hers, which made her feel a bit uneasy, but she was very happy when studying magic with Flying Light. It truly gave her mixed feelings.
"Wow..."
Twilight Sparkle looked at Flying Light with even more admiration and longing in her eyes.
"Alright, let's stop talking about me. There's really nothing to say about it."
Flying Light had always disliked talking about herself. Almost everyone thought she was a genius. But only she knew how much effort she, a human, had put into learning magic in Equestria.
In Flying Light's view, she only had an early start because of her identity as a transmigrator. Chosen ones like Sunset Shimmer, Twilight Sparkle, and Starlight were the true geniuses.
"By the way, Twilight Sparkle, you're preparing for the entrance exam now, right?"
Flying Light guided the topic back to Twilight Sparkle. She had come here for her this time.
Hearing this, Twilight Sparkle's expression became anxious again.
"To be honest, I've been feeling uncertain. What is the academy's entrance exam like? Is it hard? I originally wanted to prepare for a bit longer before considering applying, but my dad already signed me up! How could he do that?! I still have so many books I haven't had time to read! I hope the exam doesn't test things I'm not good at..."
Watching Twilight Sparkle pace back and forth obliviously in front of them, talking to herself rapidly, it was clear she had once again fallen into her own emotional whirlpool.
This anxiety-prone personality was exactly the same as the Twilight Sparkle in Flying Light's memory.
Although Flying Light really wanted to comfort Twilight Sparkle by saying the entrance exam wasn't hard, thinking about Twilight's dragon egg hatching exam question, she felt that Twilight indeed had reason to panic.
"Actually, you don't need to be so nervous. Our academy's entrance exam is very simple."
Seeing that Twilight Sparkle was about to wear a trough into the floor, a dizzy Sunset Shimmer pulled her over and made her sit down to chat with them.
"That's only simple for you guys. You are the Princess's students."
"We weren't the Princess's students from the start. Everyone learns magic one spell at a time, don't they?"
"Speaking of which, Senior Sister, what was your entrance exam back then?"
"Hmm... let me think. I think it was hatching a phoenix egg?"
Because it was so long ago, Sunset Shimmer only remembered that The Grand Princess took her as a disciple on the day of the entrance exam, and then she focused all her mind on learning magic, never paying attention to anything else.
"A phoenix egg? Could it be Philomena?!"
"Probably... maybe... yeah. That phoenix was indeed raised by the Princess after that."
This phoenix named Philomena had even scared Fluttershy to tears with her resurrection skill in the animation. And Flying Light had seen her once in the castle; she hadn't expected her to be hatched by her Senior Sister.
Good grief, Sunset Shimmer hatched a phoenix egg, Twilight Sparkle hatched a dragon egg, and only Flying Light had ordinarily dealt with a money tree.
This is too lame. Is it really because The Grand Princess had no expectations for her?
A career path is not easy; the pony sighs.
But this is fine, right? Flying Light came here to learn magic; whether she's successful or not doesn't seem to matter.
However, Twilight Sparkle was dumbfounded after hearing Sunset Shimmer's entrance exam question.
"A phoenix... egg?!"
What kind of thing is that? Is there any book that contains knowledge on how to hatch such an animal?
"Calm down, Twilight Sparkle. Phoenix eggs aren't something seen everywhere in Equestria. Normally, a pony preparing for admission won't encounter such a bizarre question. Flying Light's exam content only required demonstrating a growth spell."
Looking at Twilight Sparkle, who had plunged into the pile of books and was flipping through them frantically, Sunset Shimmer comforted her, while at the same time signaling Flying Light with her eyes to say something too.
"Yeah, yeah, a phoenix egg is a rare item. Senior Sister has already stepped into the pit for us, so you can rest easy."
Hearing Flying Light say so too, Twilight Sparkle let her hanging heart down a bit.
"But you can look forward to something else, like a dragon egg or something..."
"Hey! We're here to comfort her, not to make her more nervous!"
Sunset Shimmer pointed a hoof at Twilight Sparkle, who had started flipping through books frantically again, and scolded Flying Light crossly.
"Ehehe~"
Flying Light just showed a very punchable smiling face, which made Sunset Shimmer certain that she had said it on purpose.