A Crystalling Tail

Chapter 1

"Your first friendship lesson is going to be... reuniting with Sunburst!"

"Greeeaaat."

Spike watched as Starlight started looking more worried about her first friendship lesson. 'Hmm, I wish I could help Starlight with her first lesson,' he thought, sighing.

Then a light bulb went off in his head and his face lit up, 'Wait! Who says she has to be the only one doing a friendship lesson in the Crystal Empire? If I remember correctly, all the princesses will be there, including Princess Celestia and I do believe a reunion is long overdue. And her last couple of letters did say she is feels like she is ready.'

Spike smiled a big grin, happy to have thought of an amazing plan, but then he remembered, 'Oh, right! There was that other thing she wrote in her letters. I better send out some notices, to prevent a panic.'

He ran off to a secluded part of the castle, picked up a book with a shimmering sun on the front, opened it up and started writing

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Is everypony ready to go?" Twilight asked, looking at her friends gathered around the cutie map. They all nodded at once.

"Absolutely, darling," Rarity confirmed.

"Hey, Twilight," said Spike, as he walked into the throne room.

"Spike! Where have you been? Are you ready to go to the Crystal Empire?" asked Twilight.

"Well, um, err," Spike stammered, giving the doorway a quick, nervous look, before sighing and explaining, "Well, I noticed that Starlight was looking a little nervous about her first friendship lesson, so I might have invited somepony to come with us. So, Starlight won't have to be the only pony doing a friendship lesson there."

"Really? Okay. I wish you had told me before-hoof, but if you think it will help, then more the merrier," Twilight said, smiling down at her assistant. "Bring them in."

"Before I do, I better tell you that, though she is technically a pony, she has decided to come as a non-pony," Spike nervously said, sweating a little

"A non-pony that is technically a pony? What are you talking about, Spike?" Rainbow Dash asked, looking at Twilight to see if she knew, but Twilight, seeing Rainbow's look, just shrugged.

"It's probably better if you see for yourself, all I can say is that thank Celestia, you told Starlight about the mirror portal," Spike said, turning to the door way, "You can come in now."

"Mirror portal?" Twilight asked with a confused look, followed by a sudden look of realization. "Wait! You mean..."

"Hey, Twilight," said a female voice

All the ponies looked towards the door, to see what looked like an almost hairless ape, about as tall as Celestia, with a red and gold mane, yellow/orange skin and cyan coloured eyes. She was wearing blue pants, a light blue shirt with an attached see-through light-yellow shirt, a black leather jacket with orange chevrons on the sleeves, and boots to match the jacket. She had a bag on her back and what looked like a red crystal necklace around her neck

"Sunset Shimmer?" Twilight asked, not believing what she was seeing in front of her.

"Sunset Shimmer!" all the other ponies exclaimed, looking at the human girl up and down

"Heh, hi," Sunset said sheepishly. "Sorry about the whole human thing. It's just that, I've been the other world for so long, I kinda prefer being human instead of pony. That, and I promised my friends I would find out what the size difference between ponies and humans is and get plenty of pictures. And, of course, to do a very important friendship lesson."

Twilight shook her head to clear her thoughts and looked at Spike, who also looked sheepish, "So, this is what you meant by non-pony and mirror portal."

"Yep," Spike replayed, "And don't worry about anypony panicking, I already sent out notices, basically explaining what Sunset just said, without mentioning the mirror."

"Well, I suppose that is okay," Twilight said, looking back up at Sunset. "I guess I should introduce you to everypony, though you sort of know most of them, or at least their human counterparts." She introduced her friends and student to Sunset.

"Yay! New friend!" Pinkie Pie yelled, pulling out her party cannon and setting it off. "I should throw you a 'Welcome Back to Equestria' party!"

"Um, maybe later," Sunset said, pulling confetti out of her hair.

"So, this is what a 'hooman' looks like?" Applejack asked, looking up at Sunset.

"Yep, and it's pronounced 'human'," Sunset replied.

"So, what friendship lesson are you doing at the Crystal Empire?" Starlight asked.

"I'm going to apologize to Princess Celestia," Sunset said, looking down with guilt. "For being a horrible student."

"I just remembered, don't you have school, Sunset?" Twilight asked.

"Nope, it's the weekend, and as much as I would love to hang out with the girls, they all had other commitments," Sunset said.

"What sort of commitments?" Fluttershy asked curiously.

"Well, let's see," Sunset said, counting off her fingers, "Pinkie is babysitting the Cake twins, Rainbow is going to watch a football match with the family, Fluttershy is working down at the animal shelter, Rarity is on a spa retreat with Sweetie Belle, AJ is, of course, working on the farm, and Sci-Twi is working on some big secret science project."

"Sci-Twi?" Pinkie asked, snickering.

"Sort for Science Twilight. It's the nickname we gave Twilight's human counterpart," Sunset replied.

"So, do you have everything you need, Sunset?" Twilight asked, looking at her human friend.

"Yep, I've got everything in this bag," Sunset replied, patting her bag, "I even packed some homework. Just because I'm in Equestria, doesn't mean I can get out of doing homework. I've also packed some games, some snacks, a coat and my pyjamas, just in case."

"OK then, then I propose we start heading to the station," Twilight suggested, heading towards the door.

"Yeah! Let's go! It's time for a party in the Crystal Empire!" Pinkie Pie yelled, bouncing up and down.