"I'm a bit curious now, how did you get your cutie marks?"
In just half a day, the trip to Ponyville had given Twilight Sparkle a lot, and she had gained a different understanding of the meaning of cutie marks. Feeling exhilarated, she set her sights on her seniors.
"Looks like you're still wanting more."
Sunset Shimmer teased.
"Uh, I'm not really sure I want to talk about it..."
Aurora hesitated.
"You both know how I got my cutie mark, but I don't know yours. So can you tell me? Please~"
Twilight Sparkle fully utilized the advantages of her age, her eyes brimming like water, shining with sincere, thirst-for-knowledge light.
Sunset Shimmer couldn't stand it when she did that, so she had to start telling her own story first.
If one were to ask a pony how many unforgettable moments there are in life, the moment they receive their cutie mark would surely be the biggest event in their life.
Sunset Shimmer remembered it happened when she was still in kindergarten. It was a charity performance to raise funds for a welfare organization, and even Princess Celestia attended to watch.
Just as the performance reached a critical moment, the stage lights malfunctioned, and the entire venue was plunged into darkness.
Just as the charity performance was about to be ruined, Sunset Shimmer had a flash of inspiration and used fire and heat magic to conjure a fireball, which she suspended above the stage.
It's just that the young Sunset Shimmer wasn't very skilled at controlling magic at the time, which caused that fireball to shine like a miniature sun, illuminating the entire venue as if it were broad daylight. At least they didn't have to finish the performance in the dark.
"Oh! Nuclear fusion!"
Aurora suddenly interjected.
"Then the whole venue wouldn't exist anymore, right?"
Twilight Sparkle immediately retorted.
True, a young Unicorn being able to conjure a hydrogen bomb with her horn was a bit terrifying. Plus, Canterlot might end up filled with well-done... well-done ponies.
Although that fireball wasn't a real sun, the young Sunset Shimmer didn't have the ability to control that mass of magic, which she didn't even know how she had activated in the first place. In the end, after the performance concluded, Celestia helped "bring down" that little sun.
Watching that "sun" slowly fade away, like the afterglow of a setting sun, Sunset Shimmer thought the scene was incredibly beautiful. When she came to her senses, she had already received her cutie mark.
"Since then, I began living with the Princess, so I became the pony closest to the sun, thinking that perhaps one day I, too, could control the'sun' just like the Princess."
After finishing her story, Sunset Shimmer felt a bit nervous. It was her first time telling other ponies about this, which made her feel rather awkward.
"Thank you."
Aurora gave a strange word of thanks, drawing the attention of the other two ponies, who happened to see Aurora finish writing at that exact moment.
"That is truly a precious story; I will treasure it for the rest of my life."
"...You wrote that down? No! What are you doing?! That's so embarrassing!"
Sunset Shimmer, face flushed bright red, tried to grab the notebook from Aurora's hooves, but Aurora wouldn't let her have her way.
This was a childhood story about her senior that she hadn't known! It was top-secret information worth guarding with her life! (Not really.)
After a not-so-intense struggle, Sunset Shimmer was ultimately defeated.
"Now it's your turn, and I'm going to carefully record everything about you too!"
As she said this, Sunset Shimmer, refusing to lose, took out her own notebook, ready to record everything.
Twilight Sparkle looked at her seniors' interaction with some confusion. It wasn't really appropriate for her, the junior, to say it, but she genuinely felt they were being a bit childish.
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