The following night
Sunset Shimmer was standing in front of Canterlot High's statue with her phone in hand. A light breeze was blew through her fiery hair. It was the night of the homecoming football game and Sunset wasn't at her appointed place at the football field.
Mr. Clay said he'd meet me out here before the game... she thought, reading the email that had summoned her presence to the festival site. She looked around the area with some urgency. I need to get back to the football field to do the speech...
After a couple of minutes passed, Sunset put her phone away and resigned that she wasn't going to be meeting anyone that night. She turned to leave when the sound of a female voice rounded the back of the statue.
"Mr. Clay won't be coming," the unseen female said. Sunset froze, now knowing exactly why she had been summoned. The other voice was distinctly familiar to her because it sounded identical to her own.
"You...I should have expected this..." Sunset responded cautiously. She slowly turned around and saw a girl in a gray hooded sweatshirt leaning on the base of the statue with her arms folded, her mouth curled into a cunning smile. The hood of her sweatshirt was lowered to reveal her short-trimmed orange and red hair, the same hues as Sunset's. It was the human Sunset Shimmer. "How did you email me from Mr. Clay's email address?"
"Just had to pretend I needed to send something to a partner," the other Sunset Shimmer answered. "As the festival's supervisor I knew getting an email from him would send you right over." The wind was starting to pick up, blowing leaves and small debris past the two girls.
"What is it that you want?" the Equestrian Sunset Shimmer asked her counterpart.
"You already know," she replied. She slowly walked towards her dimensional double. "You used this school as a playground for your special powers. You came from another world and subjugated the students of this school with magic. You unleashed something in this universe that is now mine to take."
"You don't understand," the Sunset Shimmer of Equestria warned. "I didn't know what I was asking for when I brought that power here. Bringing magic into this world was a mistake. There is no way to control magic here and it has disastrous effects."
"Well maybe you just haven't figured it out..." her human counterpart answered, undeterred from her objective.
The Equestrian Sunset Shimmer knew there was no way to convince her double that dabbling with magic was only going to end badly. She slowly started backing away before trying to run.
"Don't think so!" the human Sunset Shimmer said. She dashed forward and reached out to grab her counterpart's wrist.
"No, don't!" the other Sunset protested. Unfortunately her escape was unsuccessful and the human Sunset got her hand onto her counterpart's wrist. "You have to let go! Don't do this!" she continued to plead.
The human girl's grip on Sunset's wrist began to spark as it had the other day when she landed on top of her. She looked her counterpart in the eyes as the magical energy nexus began to consume the pair once more.
"S-Stop!" her otherworldly double begged, her eyes full of fear.
"What are you so scared of?!" she cackled. "Haven't you been down this road before? You introduced magic to this universe and now I just want my own slice of the action!"
The sphere of energy that surrounded the two girls began to transform the human Sunset Shimmer into a unicorn while the dimensional rift once again started to merge their universe with Equestria. In order to keep her restrained, the human Sunset pulled her counterpart to the base of the Canterlot High statue and pinned her against it. The other Sunset Shimmer had also started to transform into a unicorn as well as they were being pulled through the nexus.
"You...you can't!" she resisted, powerless to fight back against the dimensional rift's effects.
Meanwhile, Sunset's friends were waiting besides the bleachers at the football game.
"Where's Sunset?" Rainbow Dash said impatiently. "Principal Celestia is almost done with her part, she's gonna miss her own speech..."
The other girls also looked tense as they waited for their mysteriously absent friend.
"...And now, I'd like to introduce the organizer of our senior homecoming festival," Principal Celestia said to the packed audience. "Sunset Shimmer!" She gestured over to the area where the group was standing but no one came onto the field. Principal Celestia looked confused and shot a glance at her sister, Vice Principal Luna, who was standing next to her. "Um...Sunset Shimmer!" she repeated, hoping that Sunset had simply missed her cue.
Applejack knew she had to do something so she gestured towards the principal with her hands, telling her to keep going, before shrugging to indicate she was just as confused as Celestia was as to where Sunset was.
"Uh...very well," Celestia said, continuing to speak in the absence of Sunset Shimmer. "It appears our speaker is not yet ready for her address, but rest assured she has prepared a sensational senior homecoming festival for all of you to enjoy!" The crowd broke out into cheers as the football teams took the field with the conclusion of Celestia's speech to begin the game.
The six girls exchanged confused looks when Jade Jewel and Pearlescent came running around from behind the bleachers. Rainbow Dash made eye contact with the pair and crossed her arms defiantly.
"Well look who it is," she said in a cross manner. "Surprised you two would want to show yourselves around us after what you got up to with 'Amber Sunrise'..."
"Or maybe you prefer 'Sunset Shimmer'?" Rarity said, picking up Rainbow Dash's train of thought.
"No, you got it all wrong," Jade Jewel said, trying to quell the tension between themselves and Sunset's circle of friends. "We need your help."
"Sunset's gone off the rails," Pearlescent explained. "At this point she won't stop at anything to get superpowers or whatever she's after. We think she tricked your friend to get her alone."
The six girls looked at one another. There was still some palpable skepticism among their group before Fluttershy spoke up.
"Remember what Sunset said?" she asked the others, reminding them of what Sunset had said the previous day about Jade Jewel and Pearlescent's involvement. "She didn't think Jade or Pearlescent knew about the other Sunset's plans. I think we can give her the benefit of the doubt..."
"True..." Applejack conceded. "I guess you two wouldn't have any reason to lie to us about somethin' like this."
"We saw how chaotic things could be when those two come into contact," Pearlescent assured the others. "We know we don't want any part of that but Sunset is lost in her own del-"
Suddenly Pearlescent was cut short by bright flash and a loud bang, as though a thunderstorm had instantly descended on the area.
"What was that?" Rainbow Dash asked. She wouldn't have to wait long for an answer because over towards the front of the school, a large column of light was raining down from the sky.
"Oh no!" Twilight Sparkle exclaimed. "It's happening! She must have gotten to Sunset!"
The eight girls took off running towards the front of the school's campus. As they passed by the school, Twilight stopped running.
"You go on ahead," she instructed. "I need to get something from my lab. Try to stop them before I get there!"
The other girls nodded. They all looked up at the sky and began to see jagged red cracks appear from nowhere throughout the atmosphere.
"What are those?!" Fluttershy asked, pointing to the strange phenomena.
"Reality is starting to break up!" Twilight shouted. "You have to separate them!"
The other seven continued to run for the school's main entrance as Twilight and Spike broke for the school's side door. As they ran, Twilight reached into her skirt's pocket and pulled out a key. They arrived at the door to Twilight's laboratory and she hastily unlocked the door and burst inside. She went underneath her computer desk and pulled out a small electronic box with an antenna dish on top.
"Ooo...I was hoping it wouldn't come to this..." she said to herself, distressed that she was having to resort to using her untested invention.
"C'mon, Twilight!" Spike said. Twilight nervously nodded then tucked the device under her arm and left the lab.