//------------------------------// // Epilogue: The Other Side // Story: Equestria Girls: Magical Meltdown // by PonyUpYourBits //------------------------------// "I just need to get something out of my locker," Sunset Shimmer said. "Alright but hurry up!" Rainbow Dash responded. She was waiting down at the other end of the hallway with Twilight Sparkle and her guitar in her hand. "We're going on in fifteen minutes!" "Don't worry, I won't miss it!" Sunset reassured them. Her two friends rounded the corner and headed out to the main festival grounds. Sunset opened up her locker and peered inside. She pulled out a necklace but then did a double take, noticing that her magic journal was vibrating. Her eyes lit up with excitement. She knew this meant that Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria had successfully received her last message, even with the portal to Equestria closed thanks to the destruction of the Canterlot High School statue, and had written her something back. Sunset eagerly opened the book to the latest page with writing on it and began to read intently. Dear Sunset Shimmer, I did receive your last message! It's a shame about the portal and it's even worse because the portal on our side is also closed now. But I have a lot to tell you about what happened in Equestria. It seems that... "Hey, Twilight!" Spike, Twilight Sparkle's loyal dragon assistant said as he came running into the main throne room of Twilight's crystal castle. Twilight and her six friends were gathered around the large map table that occupied the center of the throne room. "It's a message from Sunset Shimmer!" He was holding Twilight's magical journal in his right claw and it was glowing and vibrating as it did when it had a new message waiting to be read. Twilight levitated the journal out of his claw and opened it up to the new message. "What does it say?" Applejack asked. "Oh no!" Twilight said, alarmed. "Sunset has an emergency! It seems the counterpart Sunset Shimmer ended up at CHS and now she's threatening to destabilize their world by forcing contact with our Sunset! She needs us to open the portal to Equestria so she can escape from the other Sunset!" A few minutes later, Twilight and her friends were gathered around the magical mirror that served as the portal to the human realm. Twilight had added equipment to the mirror in order to facilitate opening it at will via the power of her magic journal's connection to Sunset's. Twilight placed the book into the slot at the top that connected it to the machine. "Okay girls, here it goes," she said. She pulled a switch and the machine sprang to life. The magical energy was channeled from the book and through the various pipes and mechanisms that made up the portal machine before being collected and fed into the mirror. The mirror began to glow brightly before a large flash of light appeared and turned the mirror's glass surface into a swirling pool of energy. "It's open!" Twilight said. She levitated the book off the machine and opened it to write to Sunset that the portal was open and she could return to Equestria. However, as she began to write, the ground began to shake beneath their feet. "He-hey!" Pinkie Pie said. "Wh-wh-what's go-go-going o-on?!" her words being broken up by the tremors. "I d-don't know!" Twilight said. "Th-this didn't h-happen last time!" Suddenly, a large wave of energy could be seen pushing through the portal. "Get down!" Twilight warned her friends. All the ponies in the room ducked in fear as the energy reached the end of the portal, which led to a large explosion through the face of the mirror. There was a bright flash that flooded the room and the shockwave knocked all of Twilight's books off their shelves. After it had passed, everypony got back to their feet. "What...was that?" Rainbow Dash asked the group when they were all standing again. "I'm not sure," Twilight said. "It's like opening the portal relea-" she cut herself off and gasped in shock. Looking at the mirror, the glass was now lying in shards on the ground and Twilight's portal opening machine had been badly damaged by the energy wave. Several pieces had fallen off and the machine was smoldering. "Oh my gosh, the portal! It's destroyed!" she cried. The other ponies looked on in dismay at the ruined portal. Unable to do anything else, the seven ponies and Spike slowly walked out of the portal room. "What do you suppose triggered that?" Applejack asked the princess. "I wish I could tell you," she responded. "But now we're cut off from their world so who knows what happened!" As the ponies walked through the foyer of the castle, Fluttershy glanced out one of the castle's front windows. Something immediately caught her attention and she ran over to get a better look. "Girls, look!" she said, pointing with her hoof outside the castle. The others gathered around her and surprised expressions overtook their faces. Twilight threw open the doors to her castle and they all ran outside. In front of the castle, there was a large patch of singed ground that was still smoldering. In the middle of the patch, what looked like an orange pony was lying face down in the center. She was covered in scuff marks and her short orange and yellow mane was badly mussed. "Oh my gosh, are you alright?" Twilight asked the pony. The mysterious pony blinked her eyes rapidly, trying to gain her bearings. "Wh-what...?" she mumbled, still heavily dazed. "Wh...where am I?" She slowly lifted her body up off the ground so she could see who was standing around her. "Who are...all of you?" Twilight cocked her head slightly at the pony. "Sunset...Shimmer?" she asked, recognizing the strange pony. "Ye-yes...?" the other pony answered, softly. "How did you end up here?" Twilight asked, confused. "And why do you look so...different?" remembering the last time she saw Sunset her mane was much longer. "I don't...know what you're...talking about..." Sunset responded, still trying to regain her composure. She attempted to stand up but, strangely, attempted to stand on her hind legs. "Wh-woah!" she said, quickly losing balance. She fell down and landed on her forelegs. "Why can't I stand up normally?!" "'Normally'?" Twilight said, confused. "Why woul-" she cut herself off and raised her hoof to her mouth. "Oh my goodness...you're not the Sunset Shimmer from Equestria...you're the Sunset Shimmer from their world!" The other ponies gasped in unison. "How is that possible?" Rarity asked on behalf of the group. "You must have fallen through a dimensional tear!" Twilight surmised. "The last thing I remember was Twilight Sparkle trying to close the rift," Sunset said, groggily. "After that, nothing at all until just this moment. What are you...what am I?" "This is Equestria," Twilight explained. "It's where the Sunset Shimmer you encountered came from originally. We are ponies, as are you; a unicorn to be exact. Most of the creatures who live in this world are ponies." "E...questria?" Sunset asked, taking in all of the new information. "Twilight Sparkle was researching a connection between our world and another. Is this that world?" Twilight nodded. "And I'm the Equestrian counterpart to the Twilight Sparkle of your world," she explained. "You probably also met the counterparts of all my friends." She stood aside and let Sunset see her other friends, whom she did see resemblances to of the friends Twilight had in her own world. "How did I end up here?" Sunset asked, confused. "You must have made contact with the other Sunset Shimmer, which created a dimensional hole, and when that hole was sealed, you got trapped on the other side," Twilight postulated. "That was likely the source of that large wave of energy that came through the portal right before you appeared. Unfortunately, that wave of energy also destroyed the portal. I hate to say it but we won't be able to send you back to your world." Sunset looked hurt by the revelation that she was trapped in their world. "I'm sorry," Twilight said, sympathetically. "I know it must be hard to be trapped in a strange place with no way to get back to where you belong. If there's anything we can d-" "No..." Sunset said, interrupting Twilight. "No...it's fine. In fact...it's better than fine." Her facial expression gradually changed to a nervous smile. "I ended up in this world through my own actions. I was greedy and wrong. Everyone warned me about what would happen if I made contact with Sunset Shimmer and I did so anyway. I have to accept the consequences." She paused and looked around at the other ponies. "When I came to Canterlot High, I was trying to gain a fresh start; a blank slate. But I just fell into bad habits and wanted respect without earning it. I thought I could force it, the same way that your Sunset Shimmer did when she crossed into our world." Sunset paused again and looked up at the sky. "Before I got pulled into your world, your Sunset told me that it wasn't too late. That I could still turn back and gain the forgiveness and respect that I desired. I rejected it...and I ended up here. She was right. She knew and understood so much about friendship and I wish I had taken some of that to heart." She looked off to the side, ashamed of her reckless and selfish behavior. Twilight walked over and put her hoof on Sunset. "Whatever you did in your world, you've already paid for it." Sunset nodded. A tear welled up in the bottom of her eye but she brushed it away. "If it's alright...I'd...like to live here," she requested. "To make this my real clean slate. To truly start over and learn how life works in this world. I have nothing left for me in my world but I feel like I can become the person I want to be here, with your help..." Twilight looked at her friends, who all smiled back compassionately. "We'd be honored," Twilight said. She gave Sunset a hug and the other ponies gathered around to do the same. The eight ponies slowly began walking back towards Twilight's crystal castle together. Sunset wiped a tear from her eye as she read the end of Twilight's message. She was happy to know her counterpart was safe and had truly decided to change for the better. Good... she thought. There's no one better she could have found... "Sunset Shimmer!" a stern voice called out. It was Rarity and she was growing impatient. "You have five minutes to be onstage with us and you're just reading your journal?!" "Coming, Rarity!" she said, wiping another tear from her eye as she returned her journal to its locker with a smile on her face. She took one last look at it then slowly closed the door before following Rarity out to the festival site.