Usually, ponies don't need to wear clothes because their fur is enough to keep them warm, so Aurora's current feeling was like wearing a cool short-sleeved shirt over thermal underwear.
Perhaps it was a difference in cognition. Although Aurora had tried very hard to adapt to living as a pony, decades of human thinking habits were not so easy to change, especially in such details.
However, all the ponies at the Grand Galloping Gala dressed like this. If she dressed more plainly because of her own preferences, she would instead become the focus of the whole venue, so Aurora accepted this setting by default.
"Let's go, Mom and Dad. I hope I'll still have some time to go back to my house to check after the celebration ends..."
Attending such a large-scale social event was a very energy-consuming thing. If time permitted, Aurora wanted to go back after it ended to find her senior and junior sisters to cuddle and recharge her energy.
At this time, the Canterlot Library should have already closed. Usually at this time, they wouldn't rush back to their respective places, but instead gather together in Aurora's house to discuss what they had learned today.
Today, it was rare that Aurora was not present. What would Sunset Shimmer and Twilight Sparkle chat about together?
Sitting in the carriage, Aurora looked out the window towards the direction of her house, her thoughts drifting away.
Just as Aurora had imagined, after saying goodbye to Moon Dancer at the Library, Twilight Sparkle took Spike directly to Aurora's The House of Academic Studies. This habit seemed to have been gradually formed since the day Aurora invited them.
This location was far from the bustling city, very quiet, and well-equipped. The book collection was also quite rich, and there were many obscure books that had reference value in professional fields. She really didn't know where Aurora had dug them up from.
In short, both Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer liked staying here.
When Twilight Sparkle easily pushed open the oak door of the house, she knew that Sunset Shimmer had already arrived. Twilight Sparkle walked through the rows of bookshelves with familiarity, and at a glance, she saw the familiar amber pony sitting there.
At this time, Sunset Shimmer had already dealt with the trivial matters on the schedule and was organizing the things to prepare for the investigation in Ponyville tomorrow.
Seeing Twilight Sparkle walk in, she looked up and greeted her.
"Hey, Twilight, you're here."
She also saw the little dragon on Twilight's back waving its claw at her.
"Oh, and our little Spike."
"Good evening, Sunset Shimmer! Are you ready to leave tomorrow?"
Twilight Sparkle sat opposite Sunset Shimmer, watching her put the organized things into her backpack one by one.
"Yeah, I hope this investigation will have some gains."
"By the way, what are you investigating recently?"
"Haven't I told you?"
Twilight Sparkle didn't answer, just quietly looked at Sunset Shimmer. Everything was unspoken, which made her feel a bit uncomfortable.
Perhaps because they hadn't known each other for long, as a latecomer and also the youngest junior sister, Twilight Sparkle didn't have much communication with Sunset Shimmer, and Sunset Shimmer was more willing to communicate with Aurora about some things.
Plus, neither of them was the type to take the initiative to socialize without urgent matters. Many times, it was Aurora who acted as the adhesive between them, preventing the three of them from studying their own things for a long time, which would attract criticism from Princess Celestia.
After all, the time for these two ponies to know and understand each other in the original story was still a long time away, but because of Aurora, they met in advance, so Aurora also had reason to maintain the friendly relationship between them.
"Oops... Sorry, maybe I was too absorbed and forgot to tell you. Speaking of which, this matter might even have something to do with you."
"Has to do with me?"
Twilight Sparkle became interested upon hearing this and hurriedly asked for details.
"It's the explosion that happened on the day of your entrance exam. At that time, besides the explosion sound, there was also a dazzling rainbow. You were concentrating on the exam at the time, so you probably didn't notice it. And shortly after the explosion sound appeared, your magic went out of control."
Sunset Shimmer analyzed it step by step, and then discovered that she hadn't actually asked Twilight Sparkle about this matter. She was too focused on finding the source of the explosion, which made her overlook this detail.
"There was indeed an inexplicable explosion at that time!"
Awakened, Twilight Sparkle recalled the scene that happened during the entrance exam. This was an important moment she would never forget in her life.
"I remember that I almost didn't pass the exam at that time. When I was already prepared to give up, that violent explosion startled me, and then my magic surged out uncontrollably."
Originally, Aurora had already helped her guess the questions correctly. Twilight Sparkle, who came prepared, was not as helpless as in the original work, but still, because she was too nervous, the efficiency of magic output was very poor. If it weren't for that explosion, she would have had a high probability of failing to hatch, or hatching an unhealthy dragon.
Twilight Sparkle's description differed from the conjecture in Sunset Shimmer's heart. She had thought that the explosion sound stimulated Twilight Sparkle, which caused the loss of control of magic. Now it seemed that it was the explosion that stimulated Twilight Sparkle's potential, allowing her to perform extraordinarily.
The more they thought about it, the more shocked they became, and they had an incredible discovery—if there hadn't been that explosion, Twilight Sparkle would very likely have failed the entrance exam, and thus could not have been discovered by Princess Celestia for her talent and taken as a student.
Was this just a coincidence? Or perhaps it was a major event that could determine the fate of one, or many ponies?
"Uh, um... Sunset Shimmer, what I want to ask is... can I go with you to investigate tomorrow?"
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