The Other Sunset Shimmer

by Jerec the Ascendant


A New, New Home

Sunset Shimmer hurried off the train, the other ponies disembarking around her kicking her hooves as they pushed her along. Her magic carried her bags above her, away from the frantic commuter ponies in the station. She squeezed herself toward a set of big doors and jumped back as they swung open. More ponies flooded in, eyes set on their routes, uninterested in conversation.

These ponies encouraged Sunset. She had decided upon Manehattan for her new home, hoping its name wasn’t the only thing that made the Equestrian metropolis similar to her own. In a big city Sunset could easily retain a low profile, and if she happened to run into any of the few ponies she’d met in Canterlot she could rely on her disguise. She figured using the one she used in Ponyville was risky, since Celestia and Sylri would no doubt recognize it. Liking Panorama Slide’s blue color scheme, though, she decided to go along with something similar. Her coat was now a dark blue, and her mane teal with cyan highlights. Summer Night was the name she adopted - a common enough name, sure not to attract much attention.

Her cutie mark remained unchanged, a memento of her former identity. Summer hid it under tight black pants, so she trotted through the train station doors without fear of being recognized.

Out on the street, buildings scraped the sky above her. She couldn’t decide if the monstrous constructions were more impressive than the ones back home. It amazed her that ponies could build anything without fingers, but then again, they do have the advantage of magic. Summer floated her luggage down to the sidewalk and walked over to it. Her own magic had indeed been coming along nicely since she met Sylri, but she knew she had a ways to go before she’d be able to build anything like this city.

She wondered if she would ever have the power to manipulate magic in such a way. From studying cutie marks, she figured she’d have a construction related mark if she was meant to build cities. That was when, for the first time, she wondered why she had the cutie mark she had. What did her sun mean? Celestia had a sun on her flank too, she realized.

Suddenly, Summer was knocked to the ground by a passing pony. The pony disappeared without so much as an apology. She stood up again and decided to get a move on. A bustling city sidewalk is no place to wonder about one’s identity.

First on her to-do list was to find a place to stay. She had a meager amount of money leftover from the stipend she received as Celestia’s student, but after paying for the train ride she worried that she might not have enough to afford a decent apartment. As she trotted past a newspaper pagoda, she dropped a bit on the counter and took a paper.

At a nearby coffeeshop, she sipped a cappuccino and perused the apartment listings. To her delight, pony apartments seemed cheaper than their human counterparts. One place advertised one bedroom and one bath, with a small kitchen and living area, and it was so cheap she could almost buy the whole thing if she wanted. That was an unnecessary commitment, though, she decided, finishing her coffee and heading back out onto the streets.

After asking a couple ponies for directions, Summer Night finally found herself at the apartment building. Next door was the complex office, and inside she confronted a red stallion with a grey mane, sleeping at a desk. Two fillies sat in the corner of the quiet room, giggling at her from behind a comic book. She felt her cheeks heat up. A bell sat on the desk, in front of the sleeping stallion, and Summer politely pressed it down with her magic. The ring echoed through the office, yet the stallion didn’t awaken. The fillies in the corner giggled harder, struggling to suppress themselves, yet clearly not willing to help Summer.

She rolled her eyes, and cleared her throat. “Excuse me, sir? I’m here for an apartment.”

The stallion snored a bit. An earth mare appeared in a doorway behind him, rubbing her hooves clean on her apron. Summer sniffed a bit and realized that the room smelled delightful, like home cooking. She wished she had had something to eat back at the coffeeshop. The mare shot the giggling fillies a frown and the two went quiet. She clomped toward the stallion.

“Dust Devil!” she shouted, bringing her front hooves down heavily onto the desk.

The fillies in the corner burst into riotous laughter as the stallion sat up straight, wiping the drool from his muzzle.
“Honestly, Dust,” the mare said, gently grooming his frazzled wings before returning to the kitchen. She stopped at the doorway and looked at the fillies. “Dinner’s almost ready, you two.”

They grinned at each other and scampered after the mare, abandoning their comic book.
Summer was thus left with the stallion, Dust Devil.

“Ah, sorry about that,” he stuttered. “How can I help you?”

“I saw your listing in the paper,” she said.

“And you’re here for an apartment, yes?” he replied, his ears perking up. Summer smiled and nodded. Dust Devil rose from his seat and came around the desk.

“Excellent! Wonderful!” he said, shaking Summer’s hoof quickly. He headed toward the door. “We have several available, would you like to see them now?”

Before she could respond, the stallion whinnied and flew back over his desk to the doorway.

“Going to show our guest the building, dear. Be back for dinner soon!” Summer glanced around the office awkwardly as she waited, then stepped to the side as Dust Devil rushed back to the door. “Follow me please, miss!”

After a quick tour, Summer decided upon a one bedroom apartment like the one she found in the newspaper. The building itself was small - only twelve apartments fit inside it, and only eight of those were currently occupied. The hallways were very quiet. Her bedroom had one window, and through it she had a lovely view of the city skyline. The wallpaper was peeling slightly, true, but the carpeting was very well vacuumed. She believed she could be happy here.

Since she still had a respectable amount of bits left after her downpayment and first three months rent, Summer spent the evening shopping for furniture for her new apartment. She also stopped by a grocery market a couple blocks down the street, and she even found herself inside a music shop where she bought herself a beautiful electric guitar.

Back at her new home, she munched on a sandwich while plucking the guitar’s strings. Of course, she had to use her magic to play the instrument, but she found that it wasn’t too different from using hands. Still, remembering her old guitar and the fun she had with her garage band left her wondering what things were like in her home world. Had her double stayed with the band? No, they probably kicked her out when she suddenly lost her ability to use her fingers.

Surely playing music wasn’t what her evil counterpart had in mind, anyway. Summer Night felt the familiar gnawing inside of her. Had she enslaved mankind yet? she wondered. Is she preparing to march an army of her friends back through the portal to conquer her new home as well?
___
Sunset Shimmer stormed down the hallway, late again to class. This didn’t bother her, she only grit her teeth because she didn’t want to go to the stupid class at all! She cursed Celestia for punishing her this way. Nopony deserves having to go to Trigonometry.
When she first arrived here, she expected the people of the world to kneel before her and her immense magic. But the cruel Equestrian princess must have known that she’d lose her magic upon entering the world. Because of this she’d spent her time thus far stuck doing homework and associating with these lowly humans. "She must have tricked me into going through that stupid portal!"

As she continued on her way to class, her attention was caught by a stylishly decorated poster hung on the wall. Since she was already late, she decided there wasn’t much harm in stopping to read the poster.

“Want to run for Princess of the Fall Formal?” the poster asked.

“Princess of the Fall Formal?” she asked. “Princess?”

She rubbed her chin. A dark smile stretched across her face.
___
The other Sunset Shimmer, Summer Night now, unpacked her few bags. Textbooks floated onto her new bookcase, and from between the pages of one of them a notebook slipped out. She picked it up and flipped through its pages, quickly recognizing it as a small journal she’d been keeping at the castle. It’s first entries were written before her classes started with Celestia; she remembered being inspired by finding her counterpart’s diary.

Pages filled with fear for her old world and fear of her new one, her frustration as she became accustomed to her new body and her magic, her increasing depression which suddenly lightened when the creature causing it became a friend. Remembering all that Sylri had done for her made her regret abandoning the sprite. Yet, she wasn’t about to return to being Celestia’s puppet.

The last entry was written on the train to Ponyville, so she had yet to document her betrayal. Summer flipped to the next blank page and picked up a quill.

As she caught up, she reminisced about the pony she met in the hospital months ago - Swift Flight. She felt a tug of guilt, knowing she only remembered his name because she had just read it in the diary. She wondered how the poor pegasus was doing, and even played with the idea of finding him. Surely he wouldn’t tell the Princess about it, if she asked him not to. She smiled, imagining how nice it would be to have a friend again.

Finished writing, she dropped the journal and picked up her guitar once more. She missed feeling the weight of the instrument in her arms as she played, scratching the strings against the blisters on her fingertips. She missed having fingertips. But she played on anyway, and it really did sound just as good - if not better.