Chapter 5: Seeing Double
This was possibly the strangest thing that had ever happened to Sunset. Here she was, sitting at a table with a group of girls, and one of them was an exact duplicate of her. If not for the clothes and hairstyle, it would have been like looking in a mirror.
At least this explained why everyone at Canterlot High seemed to know her. It wasn't her that they knew, it was this girl, this Sunset Shimmer. It was an easy mistake, for very obvious reasons, but it only explained part of the mystery. Exactly how was there another version of her walking around? A long lost twin? No, the resemblance was too uncanny. A clone? Possibly, but highly unlikely.
A feeling of worry suddenly gripped Sunset as the possibility of a doppelgänger occurred to her. "Am I going to die?"
Her question seemed to completely baffle the other girls, and her copy gave her a strange look. "Um, what?"
"Well, that's what's supposed to happen if you see your doppelgänger, right? Supposedly, everybody has one, and you're supposed to die if you see yours."
The girl who had introduced herself as Twilight Sparkle let out a small chuckle at that. "Please, that's just an old wives tale."
Her copy seemed to agree, because she smiled as well. "I'm not a doppelgänger. At least not in the way you're thinking. I am you, but then again, I'm not you." She rubbed the back of her head in obvious discomfort. "How should I put this…?"
Pinkie Pie seemed to take that as her cue to step in, and began talking in rapid speech. "It's easy. You see, this Sunset Shimmer is from an alternate magical pony world called Equestria where there are all pony versions of pretty much everyone from this world, but then she came here after doing something really bad, but later made up for it when she did something really good by helping us defeat some baddies from taking over the school, so now we're all best friends, and now you're here, so we're going we're all going to be friends together."
She let out a squee and held her arms up proudly, a big grin plastered on her face. Her friends stared at her for her oversimplified explanation, and Sunset gave her an appreciative yet dismissive smile. "Yeah, thanks for that Pinkie Pie, but-"
"Your welcome!"
Sunset however, was completely baffled. From the small bits and pieces she had been able to catch in Pinkie Pie's rant, she was left more confused than ever. "Wait, what? Pony world? Equestria? What?"
Sunset sighed. "Let me start from the beginning…"
And so she did, starting with who she was, where she came from, and how she got to be here. Sunset listed with complete attention, not bothering to ask any questions until her copy was finished. She thought she did very good at resisting from interrupting as her head filled up with more and more questions, many of which were actually answered as the story progressed.
When Sunset's tale came to an end, Sunset took several long moments to let it all sink in before speaking. "So let me get this straight. You're telling me that there's another dimension, a magical pony world, where magic and mythical creatures are real, and almost everyone from this world has a pony version of themself in that world?"
Sunset nodded. "Yeah, pretty much."
"And you're the version of me from that world, who came to this world a few years ago, and now you're living here?"
Again, Sunset nodded. "That's about the long and short of it."
"That's exactly what I said," Pinkie Pie declared.
Slouching down in her chair, Sunset ran her hands over her face. "This is… a lot to take in… I'm not even sure I believe it."
Twilight nodded at that. "Trust me, I've been where you are. I went through pretty much the same thing when Princess Twilight suddenly popped out of the portal in front of me. It was quite surprising."
"Surprising…" Sunset repeated. "Right… And this portal, it's on the base of the destroyed Canterlot High mascot statue?"
"The same one I found you trying to stick your hand in," Pinkie Pie said happily.
The urge to touch her choker poked at Sunset, but she ignored it. So the statue was a portal to another world. A magical pony world at that. That must have been why the gems glowed when she had gotten close to it; they were reacting to the magic.
At Pinkie Pie's revelation, alarm bells suddenly went off in Applejack's head. "Wait, why were you messing with the statue?" Her eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Do you know something about it?"
Sunset quickly sat up straight and waved her arms. "No, nothing. I was just investigating the rumors about magic around the school."
"Rumors?" Rarity repeated. "What rumors?"
Sunset's clenched her lips together as she realized that she might have said too much. Was it smart to talk about her search for magic around these girls? They could probably answer a lot of her questions, especially her counterpart. Perhaps she could speak about it a little bit while withholding the most of the truth.
Sighing, she leaned back in her chair. "There's been some rumors about there being magic at Canterlot High. I've had an… encounter with magic in the past, so I was curious to learn more about it."
At her words, the Equestria Girls exchanged looks. They had been trying to not only keep Equestrian magic contained, but also a secret from the rest of the world. But it was foolish to think that they could keep it a complete secret with all the incidents happening. And rumors were still going to spread, even if the people who witnessed such phenomena had agreed to keep silent about it, even if that reason was so they wouldn't sound crazy. That coupled with the times the seven of them had used their own magic, and it was only natural that some people would take an interest and do some investigating, even if they didn't actually believe the rumors. In fact, that was more or less what had happened with Twilight even before the Friendship Games.
"What kind of magic?" Sunset asked her counterpart. "Is it still running wild? It wasn't anything dangerous, was it?"
The other Sunset quickly shook her head. "No, it wasn't anything bad. But it did open my eyes about what was possible. So when I heard the rumors about Canterlot High, I came to investigate." She leaned in closer, placing her hands on the table. "Tell me about this magic."
"You want to see?" Pinkie Pie asked excitedly. "I can make sprinkles explode. Watch!"
She reached into her hair and pulled out a jar of sprinkles. She poured them into her hand, and they began to glow.
Applejack held up a finger towards her. "Um, Pinkie Pie, I'm not sure if that's such a good-"
Boom! Pinkie Pie threw her handful of glowing sprinkles into a garbage can, and an explosion burst up from it, covering the pink-haired girl's face with soot. Sunset stared at the smoking garbage can with wide eyes. Had that really been magic, or was it just a fancy trick?
"You make… sprinkles explode?" she asked, not entirely sure what to make of that.
"Yeah, pretty cool, huh?"
"It's… different from what I was expecting. Is that all you can do?"
"Each of our powers is unique to us," Rarity told her. "Fortunately, my own power is a little more extravagant."
She waved her hand, and diamonds appeared in front of her and began floating around. Sunset's mouth dropped open as she looked on in amazement at the floating diamonds.
"Amazing," she whispered, reaching out to touch one.
Rarity smiled. "Yes, yes it is. I can make them different sizes too. Sadly, they do not last, and are really only good for using them as barriers or platforms."
Rainbow Dash scoffed. "That's nothing. Check out what I can do."
She suddenly took off, all but disappearing and leaving only a lingering trail of rainbow behind. She returned a moment later though, only now she had an ice cream cone in her hand.
Sunset's eyes were now as wide as saucers. "Super speed? Does one of you have super strength too?"
Applejack chuckled. "Funny you should mention that."
Standing up, she walked over to a table and lifted the whole thing up with one hand. She smiled at Sunset, holding it up over her head as if it weighed nothing.
Having been distracted by the other displays, Sunset hadn't noticed it before, but the necklace that Applejack was wearing had glowed when she lifted up the table. Her eyes immediately went to the other girls' necks, and she saw that they each had a similar one of a different color.
Wondering if there was a connection, she looked to the more timid member of the group. "And what about you? What can you do?"
A shy but friendly smile crept up Fluttershy's face. "I can talk to animals," she said, seemingly having no problem talking at a normal volume once more.
Sunset blinked at the unexpected claim. That was an interesting power she supposed, but it didn't seem like she would be able to demonstrate it here since there were no animals around. So instead, she looked at Twilight Sparkle. "How about you?"
"Me?" said Twilight. "I'm telekinetic."
She began wiggling her fingers around, and the items on the table began to glow before they rose into the air and began dancing around. Sunset once again found herself staring, her mouth hanging open in shock, before catching herself and tearing her eyes away from the amazing scene to look at Twilight's necklace. Sure enough, the pendant was glowing as she used her power.
"That's amazing," she commented. "How are you all doing that?"
Confirming her suspicions, Pinkie Pie immediately pointed to her necklace. "It's these really cool geode necklaces that we got at Camp Everfree after we stopped the head camp councilor after she was turned into an evil plant monster by Equestrian magic."
The overly enthusiastic girl had spoken so fast, yet Sunset had still managed to catch wind of what she had said, and that had not been what she was expecting. "Um, plant monster?"
"Long story, dear," Rarity told her. "Best not to get into it."
Sunset chose to give a more thorough explanation of what Pinkie Pie said as she held up her pendant. "Basically, our powers come from these geodes in our necklaces. They either came from Equestria or were created by or infused with Equestrian magic. The geodes called out to us and granted us our powers."
Sunset glanced at her counterpart. "So what's your power then?"
Sunset smiled. "Oh, I can read people's thoughts and emotions when I touched them, or even see into their memories. I call it an 'empathy flash'."
A frown crossed Sunset's face, and she immediately noted the space between her and her counterpart. Feeling uncomfortable with the thought of someone else getting into her head, she tried to discretely put some distance between them.
Not discretely enough it seemed, as her counterpart let out an amused chuckle. "Don't worry, I'm not going to read your mind. It used to happen on its own, but I've long since learned to control it; we all have."
"Except for maybe Pinkie Pie," Applejack stated, cutting her eyes at their pink-haired friend. Pinkie Pie just diverted her eyes and whistled nonchalantly.
"Although," said Twilight, "we can lose control of our powers a bit when one or more of us overly uses our powers. We get a big power surge, and things can get a little crazy."
Sunset gave a nod in acknowledgment. "True, but we've been careful about that ever since we realized it." She gave Sunset a smile. "But don't worry, I wouldn't read a friend's mind without permission."
An uneasy sensation gripped Sunset at her counterpart's words. "Friends?"
"Of course!" Pinkie Pie declared happily, as if this should have been obvious. "We're all friends here. Best friends. Welcome to the group!" She took a deep breath and began singing. "Welcome, welcome, welc-"
Rainbow Dash immediately covered her mouth. "Lets save that for another time," she glanced at the people who had stopped to stare when Pinkie Pie had begun singing, "somewhere with less people."
Sunset didn't seem bothered by the song as she looked at each of the girls in surprise. "You want to be my friends?"
Now it was the Equestria Girls' turn to look surprised by the question. They exchanged confused looks before giving her a smile.
"Of course, dear," Rarity replied. "Why wouldn't we?"
"You're basically like Sunset's sister," said Applejack.
Pinkie Pie reached up and removed Rainbow Dash's hand from her moth. "Her super duper, mirror image, 100 percent, identical twin sister."
"But wait," said Fluttershy, seeming to completely find her voice once more. She looked back and forth between the two look-alikes. "Having two Sunsets around may get a little… confusing."
Now Applejack looked from one to the other. "Yeah, that may be a tad complicated. We may not know which one we're referring to."
Pinkie Pie clapped her hands together excitedly. "I know! We'll give one a nickname!"
"A nickname?" Twilight repeated.
"Yeah. That's what I do for you and the other Twilight. I may call you Twilight, but in my head, I always think of you as Sci-Twi."
Twilight raised an eyebrow. "Why Sci-Twi?"
Pinkie Pie made a pfft sound. "Duh, because you do all that sciency-stuff." She turned back to the two girls in question, pointing a finger right into Sunset's face. "So we'll just keep calling you Sunset Shimmer," she pointed at the other one, "and we'll call you SunShim."
Sunset blinked at the nickname. "SunShim?"
"Hey!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. "That's the movie star nickname I came up with for her."
Pinkie Pie shrugged nonchalantly. "Well, yeah, that's where I got it from. Good call, Rainbow."
Twilight looked from one Sunset to the other. "Well, I suppose that'll work. And I guess I'll be Sci-Twi whenever Princess Twilight comes over."
"It's a good name, right?" Pinkie Pie asked happily.
Sunset watched as the seven friends talked and laughed with each other, feeling like an outsider. This had not been what she had been expecting when she had come searching for magic. Another version of herself from a magic pony world? Who had seen that coming? And her counterpart had come from that world and was now best friends with these other girls, all whom possessed magical necklaces from that pony world that provided them with what were apparently superpowers.
A frown crossed Sunset's face as a feeling of envy fell over her. This whole thing, it seemed very unfair. She knew that was irrational, but it was how she felt. Why was she the one who felt like an outsider while this other Sunset, who was the outsider in this world, got the friends and the magic, while all she got was… the nickname SunShim.
A scowl fell across her brow. She understood the logic behind assigning one of them a nickname, but why her? No, she knew why. It was because the others had known Sunset for some time now while she was the newcomer. It only made sense that she was the one who got the nickname. But still, it almost felt… demeaning, as if she were playing second fiddle to her counterpart. She knew that wasn't the case since, as Pinkie Pie had pointed out, she thought of the Twilight in front of her as Sci-Twi, but still, she couldn't help but feel like she was some kind of understudy.
"Yoo hoo, SunShim, you in there?" Applejack asked, waving her hand in front of her face.
Snapping out of her thoughts, Sunset realized that the girls had been trying to talk to her. "Sorry, what?"
"We were saying how we'd like to get to know you, darling," Rarity told her. "We've never seen you before. Are you new in town? Where do you live?"
Suddenly feeling awkward at being put on the spot, Sunset shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "Oh, no, I'm actually from the city. I'm just visiting."
Twilight took an interest in this. "I used to live in the city before I transferred to Canterlot High. Where do you go to school? I'm pretty sure I never saw you at Crystal Prep."
Sunset shook her head. "I don't go anywhere. I'm homeschooled. I take classes online."
"What!?" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. "Why would you want to do that? You miss out on so much. Meeting people, making friends, school trips, school events, school pep rallies, after school clubs, school competitions-"
"School bake sales!" Pinkie Pie squealed joyfully.
Sunset diverted her eyes. "I don't really have much of a choice."
Pinkie Pie all but leapt across the table, sliding right up to Sunset's face. "You should transfer to Canterlot High, then we can all go to school together."
Feeling uncomfortable with the too close proximity, Sunset scooted back. "Thanks, but I can't."
"Whaaaat? Come on, Canterlot High's great."
Grabbing Pinkie Pie's foot, Applejack pulled her back off the table. "Now settle down there, sugar cube. She may not be able to. She might have to return to the city." She gave Sunset a smile. "Course, that don't mean we can't all hang out together while she's here."
"Oh, yes," Rarity agreed. "How long are you in town for?"
There was more uncomfortable movement from Sunset. "Um, I was only planning on staying a few days."
Pinkie Pie's face fell. "Aww, that's it?" She glanced at Sunset. "I was hoping to get to know the other you better."
Sunset suddenly got an idea. "Hey, if you don't have any plans tonight, we're all having a sleepover. Why don't you join us? If that's ok with everyone."
Rarity clapped her hands together. "That's a splendid idea!" She turned to Sunset. "We're all meeting at my house for a study session-slash-sleepover. We'd love to have you there."
"Or if you came to my place first, we're gonna have some band practice," Rainbow Dash added.
Sunset's eyebrows rose. "Band practice?" Suddenly, she remembered the names on the talent show form she had seen back at the school. "Oh, your band. The Rainbooms, right?"
"Oh, are you a fan?" Fluttershy asked with a small smile.
Sunset shrugged. "Don't know. I'm not sure if I heard any of your songs. Or if I did, then I didn't know they were yours. I only know of your band from having heard other people talking about it."
"That won't do," Rainbow Dash declared. "I insist that you come watch our band. Do you play an instrument? You can rock with us."
"And I insist that you join our slumber party," said Rarity. She eyed Sunset's hoodie with distaste. "Hmm, in fact, I also insist that you join us for clothes shopping as well. That outfit simply won't do."
Frowning, Sunset glanced down at her hoodie and ripped jeans. "I always dress like this."
Rarity shook a finger at her. "Oh, no, no, no, no, darling, that is simply out of the question. Attire like that may be fine every now and then, but one must have something a bit more… well, more. And the ripped jeans look is soooo yesterday." She flipped her hair back, smiling proudly. "Not to worry though. I am a fashion expert. I'll have you looking gorgeous in no time. My treat of course."
Sunset immediately began waving her hands. "Oh, no, I couldn't!"
Rarity just waved this off. "Don't be ridiculous, darling, of course you could. In fact, I insist. Consider it a token of our friendship."
Applejack sighed. "You might as well let her have this. Once she gets her hooks into you, there's no escape."
Sunset suddenly jumped up from her seat and began backing away. She couldn't do this. This was not why she had come here. In fact, she hadn't wanted to come here at all; she had been dragged here against her will. She was here to find magic, not to make friends; friends that wanted her to hang out with them, to go shopping together with them, to play music with them, to have a sleepover with them.
Fear suddenly gripped Sunset, and she felt the need to run away, to put some distance between herself and these girls who wanted to be her friends before she did something stupid like accept their invitation. She knew where that route would lead to, and she was not willing to go there again, not as she was now.
"Sorry, I can't," she told them as she slowly backed away. "I appreciate the offer, really I do, but I can't. Another time perhaps, but I have things to do right now. It was nice meeting you all, but I have to go. I'll see you around. Bye."
Without giving them a chance to reply, she took off running. The Equestria Girls were slightly flabbergasted by her sudden departure, and Pinkie Pie reached out to her retreating form.
"SunShim, wait, come back!" She was ignored, and she turned back to her friends with a pout on her face. "Why'd she run away? Does she not like us?"
Applejack chuckled. "I'm sure that ain't the case. I think she was just a little weirded out."
Pinkie Pie cocked her head to the side in thought. "Really? That's funny. Everyone else that learns about our magic and stuff always seems pretty ok with it."
"It still must have been a lot to take in," Fluttershy replied. "Meeting another you must be surprising."
Twilight rested her head in her hand and smiled, thinking about her encounter with her own counterpart. "I can certainly vouch for that. It can be quite a shock to suddenly meet yourself. Overall, I think she took it rather well."
Rainbow Dash kicked back in her chair and placed her feet up on the edge of the table, much to Rarity's chagrin. "Ah, it's fine. We'll just give her some time to take in everything. I'm sure we'll see her again. It's fate or something, right?"
"Hmm…" Sunset muttered. "Maybe…"
Fluttershy glanced at her. "You ok, Sunset? That must have been strange for you too."
Sunset just shrugged. "Yeah, kind of. But like I said, a part of me almost expected it to happen one day. Besides, none of this stuff is new for me, but it was all completely new for her. No wonder she freaked."
Pinkie Pie was suddenly beside her, seeming to have come out from under the table. "Not completely new. She did say she saw magic before and that's why she came to investigate."
Sunset's smile faltered a bit. "Yeah, she did say that. I wonder what it was."
"She said it wasn't a big deal," Rainbow Dash reminded her. "So it probably wasn't anything dangerous."
Sunset hesitated before muttering an uncertain, "Yeah…"
She hoped that it really hadn't been a big deal. But from what they had seen of Equestrian magic running wild in this world so far, something that wasn't a big deal could turn into a very big deal.
(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)
Sunset ran the whole way out of the mall and through the parking lot before stopping to catch her breath. She felt overwhelmed. This was too much for her to deal with all at once. She needed to find a quiet place to think for a while.
"At least I got some of my questions answered," she told herself reassuringly. She thought about the things she had learned before sighing. "And now I have about a million more."
Her hand went up to touch her choker. She may have more questions, but one thing was certain, the magic she had heard about came from some magical pony world called Equestria, and the statue in front of the school served as a gateway between the worlds.
"Didn't see that coming," she muttered. "Would have been good to have known that before hand."
She would have to go back and examine the statue again. It might be exactly what she was looking for, a source of magic she could use. If those girls could get their hands on this Equestrian magic, then she should be able to as well.
A small frown crossed her face, and she glanced back at the mall as she thought about the girls. They had seemed… so nice. It had been a long time since she had been around anyone so friendly, who was willing to extend the hand of friendship so freely, and she felt a twinge of regret that she hadn't accepted their invitation.
But no, she couldn't let herself be distracted. She had come here for one reason and one reason only, to get her hands on some magic. That was all that mattered. Everything else would come afterwards.
Her frown deepened further as she thought about her counterpart, and that feeling of envy returned. She didn't want to feel it, but feel it she did. If she had to put it into words, she almost felt as if she'd had stolen something from her.
Why did that Sunset get to have everything? The friends, the magic. If she had never come, would those things have come to her instead? Would she be the one laughing and having fun with a group of friends and the power to read minds?
She shook her head, trying to dispel her jealous thoughts. It was not a good feeling. And she tried not to think about the what-ifs of a given situation. Besides, none of that mattered, and would only interfere with her search. Even if her counterpart weren't here, the circumstances would likely still be the same.
Except for that geode. If her counterpart weren't here, would she have gotten it instead? She might still have pushed the other girls away, but having that geode would definitely come in handy.
A car suddenly beeped, startling Sunset out of her thoughts; that seemed to be happening to her a lot recently. Perhaps the middle of the parking lot wasn't the best place to think about this. She gave an apologetic wave to the driver before she began making her way back to the inn she was staying at to consider her next move.