Sunset groaned as she fell back onto her bed. While she wouldn’t call this week hell exactly, it was… exhausting to say the least. Hold up, let me recap for the uninitiated. Like some cliche after-school bullying special villain, Anon-A-Miss had popped up out of the blue and seemed hellbent on ruining Sunset’s reputation. Good grief, the Equestrian mused to herself. She had her suspicions as to who Anon-A-Miss was. Contrary to popular belief, Sunset wasn’t an idiot. Nor would she hold it against her friends for turning on her, at least not completely. Yeah, she’d been there and she knew how people worked. Tempers flared in the heat of the moment tended to make someone lose all sense of rationality.
Besides, embarrassing as the secrets were, they were really rather trivial in the end. Yeah, sure Sunset was… okay, more than a little hurt by being chased out of Sugarcube Corner and treated as Tirek’s Second Coming but she knew better. In a week or so, this would all blow over and everything would be back to normal. Plus, if it didn’t, Sunset had a back-up plan. Still, life as it was, it was… fairly exhausting. But she could tough it out. She managed a whole year of being treated like less than dirt, she could handle a week or so while her friends let their tempers get the better of them.
In a week, Sunset mused everything would be back to normal. There would be tears, apologies and a lot of crying involved. Probably a bit of ice cream as well. Sunset looked at her phone and smiled, already there were a few apologies from Applejack. She was saying she got worked up over what was a little bit of nothing and just needed some space while she sorted things out. Already things were starting to piece themselves back together little by little. If anything, Sunset mused -corny as it sounded- this whole thing would probably make a few friendships stronger than ever.
She’d still let Applejack worry and fret… just a little. Okay, yeah Sunset wasn’t in that forgiving mood just yet. Just because Sunset knew Applejack’s temper got the better of her, didn’t mean it still hurt just a little to be called a secret stealer. By the next day, -probably- when her own temper had cooled down Sunset would start with the whole mending bridges thing. Just because she was a nice girl now didn’t mean she had to forgive someone almost immediately. No no, for now, Sunset would just curl up with a beer or two, and watch some old movies on the tube. Plus there was that homework assignment she’d been putting off. Procrastinators unite, and all that… tomorrow. Yeah, tomorrow. Besides, It was a Wonderful Life was a classic movie!
And it really was a wonderful life, Sunset mused. Yeah, there were a few hitches in the road here and there, but really who had it perfect? Name her one person who had it perfect. One.
Named someone yet? ...Yeah, I didn’t think so. Not even Princess Celestia had it perfect. Oh… Oh, now there were a few memories that Sunset wasn’t quite prepared to deal with just yet. Yeah, no no no. Definitely not. Part of her brain told her she would have to face that part of her past eventually, but not just yet. No no no no. Just no. Besides, Princess Celestia was a very busy mare! Sunset just waltzing into Canterlot Castle like that would probably ruin her whole schedule, and… Oh yeah, now she was just sounding like Twilight. Not that it was a bad thing per se. Twilight was a perfectly fine mare to take after! Hell of a lot better mare than her anyways.
And there was that self-depreciation again, hello! Yeah, it had to be the bourbon talking, Sunset thought to herself. So… um, yeah. Maybe she drank too much. But look, high school sucked okay? It was beyond exhausting even on a normal day. That was so much the drama. ...Yes, Sunset had maybe watched some old reruns of Kim Possible. What? She was the girl who could do anything, and one that somehow made a naked mole rat look cute! Wow, she really could do anything. Though if you asked Sunset, Shego was more kickass. And completely hot really, and not just in that glowing green plasma way.
So delightfully snarky as well. “How's Operation Getting-More-Ridiculous-By-The-Day going?”
Yeah, Sunset loved the bad girls. So sue her. And that maaaaaayyyybbbeee or maybe not played into her whole public perception. Yeah, come to think of it Sunset wasn’t entirely surprised she was being treated as Her Satanic Majesty all over again. Her Satanic Majesty Part 2: Electric Boogaloo! Contrary to popular belief, she wasn’t entirely this perfect little angel. Sunset didn’t even bother to pretend she’d ever been in fact. Her past reputation was haunting her, hello again. Yeah, Bitchset Shimmer was a problem. She couldn’t entirely blame her friends for suspecting her of being Anon-A-Miss. Hell, Sunset would have suspected herself! Those pictures were taken from her phone, after all. That… really didn’t leave a lot of options did it?
Sunset had her suspicions as to what really went on that night but proving it was another matter. Her reputation was in the toilet and really, blaming the Canterlot Movie Club was going to be hard. Their sisters -adoptive or otherwise- looked at them through rose-tinted glasses. To be honest, if Sunset didn’t know better she wouldn’t have suspected any of the three. Hell, she almost didn’t. Her first thought would have been the Dazzlings actually. That thought had been immediately dismissed as Sunset would have thought she would have remembered that horrible mess of hair Adagio walked around with. What? It was a really distinctive ‘do!
Eventually, sleep claimed her and Sunset dozed off, Frank Sinatra’s croons filling her dreams. “Have yourself a merry little Christmas...:”
So yeah, not your typical Anon-A-Miss story. Actually, did I ever say it was?
-----
Sunset awoke with a groan, stuffing the pillow over her head. Let it be said she was never a morning person. “I dun wanna godo majik skool.. phive murr minudes, Prinzzess Celeshia...” she mumbled in her half awake, half-asleep state.
The sun’s rays slowly began to filter in and Sunset stuffed the pillow over her head again before rolling onto her side. With a groan she pulled the covers up over herself, snuggling deeper into them. An unfamiliar alarm clock beeped somewhere in the background. It was soon tossed out the window, glass shattering. Slowly but surely Sunset began to realize something. The alarm clock wasn’t the only unfamiliar thing in this room. The bed, hell the whole room was pretty unfamiliar now that she thought of it. Wait wait wait, was this a dorm room? Yeah, it was now that she thought of it. Sure enough, a school uniform lay hanging on a closet door covered in purples and indigos. A very familiar set of purples and indigos when Sunset thought about it. Wait wait wait, Crystal Prep? Since when did she go to Crystal Prep Academy?
Oh, okay Sunset told herself. She was dreaming, she had to be. She’d just go back to sleep and everything would be alright. In a few hours, she’d wake up in her apartment. Resting her head on the pillow, Sunset was about to drift off into Luna’s dreamland once more before…
“Sunset! Wake up!” a sickeningly familiar voice called. Sunset shot up like a rocket and her hand went to the taser she knew that was on her bedside table. She always kept one there, after all, bad dream or no. And it had to be like absolutely had to be a bad dream because there was no way in Tartarus she would ever room with Adagio Dazzle. Not for all the money in the world. “We’re going to be late for class!”
Yep, there it was. There she was as well, there was no mistaking that distinctive golden tuft of hair anywhere. “Hello Adagio,” Sunset said barely masking her contempt. “Step away please.”
“Oh, right right…” Adagio said in reply and for the first time, Sunset noticed the sickeningly familiar pendant she bore. “I forgot, you’re not a morning person. You need your coffee. Oh well, can’t say I blame you for that I suppose…”
If it were only that Sunset thought to herself. With her best war cry, she launched herself off the bed and tackled Adagio to the floor. Fight or flight, fight or flight? Well, Sunset knew which she’d always choose when it came to her worst nightmare. Sunset wasn’t sure how she’d got here -she’d blame Adagio for that- or what her worst enemy’s plan even was -she’d figure it out later- but she’d deal. Starting with ripping Adagio’s head clean off if she had to! What? Yeah, it was a bit violent but Adagio was, well… Adagio. That and Sunset never exactly did think straight without her coffee.
Oh, okay so yeah maybe this wasn’t the best idea she mused to herself. Even if this was a horrible nightmare, she might as well make the best of it. Sunset figured being arrested for murder probably wasn’t the best way to start things off. As smart as she was, Sunset knew there was no way to hide a body and clean up a mess of blood before classes started. She wasn’t the Fastest Mare Alive after all. And really, she doubted Fili-Second killed anyone anyways.
Not even the biggest bitch alive. Which Adagio most certainly was and… wait, why was she looking at her like that? “Well, I have to say Sunset,” Adagio said with a lascivious smirk. “If I knew you liked me that way…”
Oh, okay. Okay then! Ew ew ew ew ew ew ew! Sunset shuddered, thinking she was going to be really sick. Her, liking Adagio like in that way? Not in a million years, not if she was the last woman alive! Yeah, it was official. This was a nightmare. No more Pringles before bed, okay lesson learned.
“Well, guess that little lesson about siren mating habits didn’t completely fly over your head,” Adagio went on. Sunset’s mind ground to a halt. Wait, what? WHAT!?! Siren mating what? Since when would she even share one conversation with Adagio about something like that? Oh okay, it was way too early in the morning for this, especially without coffee. Through the looking glass, Miss Shimmer apparently. Adagio meanwhile, continued on with a: “Now, I assume this means you want to court moi?”
“Get out of my face or eat flaming terror,” Sunset muttered or something like that. “Okay, so you do know about my love affair with coffee. It’s my lifeblood and my heart and soul, and if I don’t get some I’m tackling you through a wall.”
“Noted,” Adagio squeaked out and Sunset was -admittedly- pleased to see her sweating. Okay, so there was her Alpha Bitchset Shimmer shining though again. So sue her, it was Adagio. Dressing herself, Sunset noted the number of missed calls and texts on her phone. Several of which were from her friends at CHS.
Reading through them, Sunset felt tears starting to form.
“So you fled the school and ran to Crystal Prep? I thought you were our friend!” -that one was from Applejack.
“Darling,” Rarity obviously. “I do adore you dear but why would you betray us like that? I guess… I guess you’re not as much of a friend as we thought.”
“Hah! So I guess you finally wised up and realized we didn’t want you here!” -this one was from Rainbow. “Yeah, go ahead and run you She-Demon!”
Adagio quickly swiped the phone away and began deleting messages and blocking numbers. “Oh for Celestia’s sakes Shimmer,” she grumbled. “You left them, anyone can see that. You don’t need those so-called friends in your life, you’ve got me besides! Now come on sister of mine, the rest of the school is waiting on us, and they really must bask in our opulence!”
“Oh, okay…” Sunset mumbled numbly wiping away the tears before her mind registered the last part of that statement. Wait, WHAT!?!
The rest of the day, for the record, didn't get any less confusing. A whole new school, a whole new set of rules to get used to. And, ah yes there was that small problem of apparently being a few months behind everyone else. Okay then. Sunset took a few deep breaths. One thing at a time. Schoolwork, yeah she could handle that. She was a smart girl. She was Celestia’s top student for a reason after all. Her first class was history, Sunset was good at that. She loved history actually.
Yeah, the classes were hard but not totally impossible as she was expecting. Sunset could just sit and take notes. There came an unexpected bonus actually, as Crystal Prep was apparently home to this world’s Twilight. Well, Sunset had always suspected Twilight -and by extension, her- had a counterpart in this world.
Well, if anything this nightmare gave Sunset a chance to get to know her a bit better. If Crystal Prep Twilight -as Sunset had taken to calling her- was anything like Princess Twilight, Sunset knew she probably had a hard time making friends. This was only confirmed by the treatment Sunset had seen in the hallways. While Crystal Prep Twilight wasn’t exactly a doormat, she was painfully shy. Very withdrawn from most people. Most people except Sunset and the Dazzlings of all people. Yes, the Dazzlings as in plural. One plus one plus one equals three. All three of the Sirens were apparently here and quite buddy-buddy with both girls. Goddess, this was so strange.
Lunch came, and Sunset sighed to herself. Yeah, this was all just a nightmare. One she would be waking up in about… oh, not even Sunset believed that anymore. This was somehow an alternate world she’d fallen into. Or alternate timeline or whatever.
“Adagio,” Sunset said finally breaching the subject. “I think something’s very wrong…”
“Oh, don’t tell me you’re still crying over lost causes,” Aria said from nearby because apparently privacy was not a thing here. “Adagio told me. Sunset, that place was toxic. Honestly, the Movie Club did you a favor by driving the whole place nuts. Hell, they did it better than we ever could have dreamed of doing!”
Remind her why she was friends with this woman again, Sunset asked herself.
“But that’s humanity for you,” Aria went on. “So completely stupid.”
“Aria,” Sonata said surprisingly… sweet. Okay, that was new. Sure, she was a bit ditzy from what Sunset remembered of her but sweet? No, Sonata was still a Dazzling. ”Really, humans aren’t all bad. I mean, we’re human and Sunset’s human right? Twilight’s human! Without their help, we wouldn’t have our voices back!”
Sunset’s mind drew a blank. Okay, as far as she knew it was impossible to restore magic to someone once it had been taken. And why or how would Twilight know how to do it? Yeah, she was smart but how? Magic and science were two completely different fields! And anyways, why would Sunset let her? Sure, people changed but not ones who had been set in their ways since Ancient Greece! Oh Goddess, this was… Oh yeah, Sunset so had a headache now.
“Sunny?” Adagio spoke up snapping her fingers repeatedly. Sunset blinked, snapped out of her internal musings. “You were sorta spacing out on us there.”
“Right, sorry…” Sunset mumbled before biting into her sandwich. As she spoke, she sent pieces of bread flying. “Have a lot on my mind…”
“No doubt…” Aria mumbled as a piece of lettuce hit her in the face.
“Hey, say it don’t spray it!” Sonata called.
“So I can see,” Adagio observed. “You’ve been acting odd all day, like even before you saw those messages from them.”
“I think... “ Sunset said carefully. “I think I’m not your Sunset. I think somehow, in some odd way I sorta slipped into your universe.”
There was a moment of silence, and then all three of the Dazzlings burst out laughing. Clutching her sides, and wiping away a tear from her eye Adagio said: “Good one Sunset!”
Of course, they didn’t believe her, hell Sunset wasn’t entirely sure she even believed herself! Oh, she needed some space to herself, somewhere she could get her head together. Figure a few things out. Gaining a devious smile on her face, -a bit of the old she-demon peeking through- Sunset flicked her mashed potatoes with her spoon. SPLAT! It landed right on one of her fellow student’s faces, this lime green-haired girl. And then it came. “FOOD FIGHT!”
As the cafeteria descended into chaos, Aria gleefully grabbing some tomatoes and tossing them Sunset made her escape. The bathroom beckoned, though not for the reason you might have thought. It was solitude actually, peace and quiet away from the mayhem of it all. Sunset took a seat and took several deep breaths. Okay, what did she know? One, she was not in her timeline. Two, the Dazzlings -yeah that was going to take some getting used to- were her friends. Three, her true friends hated her guts. Well, Sunset supposed she couldn’t blame them, given she apparently dropped everything to be friends with her worst enemies. Four, -or one of those little footnote things- the Canterlot Movie Club were behind Anon-A-Miss as she suspected. Five or PPS or whatever, the human world Twilight was her friend as well. Okay, that might have been something she could use.
Twilight was smart, Twilight given enough time could find a solution to anything. Taking several deep shuddering breaths, Sunset smiled. Yeah, she could do this. She could manage this. She was Sunset Shimmer. Everything was completely cool and she wanted to go home now.
She missed her friends, her real ones she thought with a sob. Not these… whatever they were. These imitations? Was that right? Yeah, yeah. Imitations.
“There you are,” Adagio said as she peeked her head in, the stall door opening with a creak. “You alright?”
“Y-Yeah,” Sunset stammered as she picked herself up. “I’m fine. Just woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.”
“I see…” Adagio replied sounding skeptical. “Okay, good. Let’s go back and let everyone know you’re okay.”
-----
“Found her in the bathrooms,” Adagio said to her friends. Adagio’s friends, Sunset reminded herself. Not Sunset’s. “She says she’s okay, but you know how Sunny is…”
Sunset wanted to scream, what was she to them? Some sort of porcelain doll that everyone thought would break if not handled with care? She was a woman, not some little girl! She could handle herself!
Well, she would have to speak her mind. Show them who was the boss here! But just as Sunset began to open her mouth, the bell rang. Whatever Sunset had to say turned to a groan as she gathered her books for her next class. The sounds of students filled the corridor. Well, no rest for the weary Sunset said to herself with another sigh.
Over the next few days, Sunset slowly got to know her new friends a bit better. No more Rainbooms apparently, now there was the Sirens. Subtle. Antonyms were Adagio Dazzle, Aria Blaze and Sonata Dusk. And oh yes, her apparently. Joy.
“I'm a match, she's kerosene
You know she's gonna burn down everything
She's an arsonist in her pastime
And I've been burned for the last time…”
Because apparently this fic had to be a songfic, and none of the Sirens could actually think up original songs. Ugh, god no! All they could sing were pieces by talentless hacks like Austin Moon and the Jonas Brothers. Oh dear god, Sunset wanted to be sick. Where was the pop and rock she grew up loving playing with the Rainbooms? Oh right, apparently Alternate Sunset wanted ‘something different’ in every sense of the phrase. She’d even ditched her favorite leather jacket! Oh hell no. That had to change!
Sunset lived for leather, they were so very her. That was one part of her former bad girl lifestyle she would not give up! So yeah, after school let out she was buying as many leather jackets as her wallet would allow.
That and a new pair of boots.
Little by little Sunset had gotten to know her new friends. Adagio’s friends. Alternate Sunset’s friends. Whatever! They were interesting enough, and in another life -as much as she shuddered at the thought- Sunset supposed she might have found kinship here. The keyword here was might.
The timeline diverged from the whole Anon-a-Miss incident. So, as Sunset expected, there were a few things to get used to. Including one very large shock, as during an exploration of her new campus grounds she found Aria and Twilight lips locked in one very passionate kiss. Aria had shoved the girl up against a wall and was currently in the process of… Okay, yeah no. Abort, abort, abort! Sunset had very wisely decided to just walk away. There were… way too many questions. Just way too many.
Adagio was, well she supposed an alright roommate. Not bad, not good, just okay. She talked about boys, which given who Adagio was didn’t surprise Sunset. She also talked about girls as well, and this didn’t surprise Sunset either. For obvious reasons. Oh, how Sunset wished Brain Bleach was a thing, as that little conversation would scar her for life!
Sonata was very bubbly, and Sunset didn’t quite know why but she found herself smiling along with her. Even if it seemed, all the time she could only talk about tacos. Okay, that was odd. And whenever Sunset asked Sonata about how Equestria was like for a siren, she seemed to just freeze up and smiled until the subject was changed.
This again came up when Sunset asked Aria the same question. Okay, now this was really odd. Odder still, of course, was the whole Aria being nice to her. She was the most thuggish of the Dazzlings. Muscle bound and into punk and heavy metal and just noise. Which begged the question, why was she singing songs by boy bands? What was wrong with this world? How in the world were these people even her friends?
Twilight thankfully, seemed to be the most normal of them all. Well, normal for this world anyways. Putting the whole Aria Blaze and Twilight Sparkle relationship, Twilight often talked about science. Science that Sunset had this very sneaking suspicion wasn’t entirely sound. Just the other day, she had been talking about making her brother’s car go faster by inverting the polarity. Was Twilight talking actual science, Sunset had to wonder, or whatever just sounded cool? Oh yeah, there went her hopes for getting back home right down the drain.
But still, Twilight believed her. “Yeah, you’re definitely from an alternative dimension,” Twilight said running a strange little scanning device all over her. “The Pym particles are definitely swirling around you.”
Pym particles? As in that stuff from Ant-Man? Okay then!
“Don’t worry,” Twilight said resting a hand on Sunset’s shoulder. “I’ll get you home.”
Somehow Sunset didn’t feel very confident.
“If you say so…” She murmured.
“Relax,” Twilight said. No no no, Sunset said to herself. She would definitely very well not relax, not while this Twilight basically used quack science and big words that just sounded cool! “I’ve been looking for an excuse to build a trans-dimensional phase tunnel anyways… Dean Cadence will all too happily provide me with a space to work!”
Okay, what? What Dean even did that? How was she even going to… Right right, don’t question things, Sunset said to herself. Not if you wanted a headache anyways. Unless of course, wacked as the science was, it was how things worked in this dimension. Quack science it was in her world, but this wasn’t her world was it?
“T-Thank you…” Sunset breathed and Twilight smiled, the glint of a mad scientist in her eyes.
-----
The days dragged on by, Sunset managing to deal. For the most part, there wasn’t much of note -surprise surprise- but one day, in particular, did manage to stand out. It was at the local observatory, Sunset just enjoying a view through the massive telescope. And then…
“Hey!” Rainbow shouted as she and Rarity walked up. “You think you can just ditch us for those bitches?”
Yes, Sunset thought to herself. What was Alternate Sunset thinking? Good grief!
“Look, I’m not your-”
“Save it!” Rarity snapped. “You’ve long since wasted any chances you had to speak!”
“Yeah, you showed your true self as soon as you joined up with the Dazzlings!” Rainbow jeered. Sunset had to agree, hurtful as the words were. “Guess we never should have trusted you after all, you she-demon!”
Then a fist flew out, clocking Other Rainbow in the eye as Adagio leaped out of nowhere and began savagely punching her. It was all Sunset and Other Rarity could do to watch in horror. Eventually, both pulled Adagio off Other Rainbow.
“What… what was that?” Sunset breathed, her mind swirling with questions.
“I was protecting you, sister mine. A siren has to protect her pod, after all!” Adagio smiled as Sunset tore herself away from the girl. Okay, one that was more brutalizing someone like a thug, and B she didn’t need protecting! What the hell was wrong with this world, Sunset asked herself not for the first time and probably not for the last. Also, probably not for the last time Sunset had to wonder just what was up with Alternate Sunset?
“Are… are you alright?” Adagio asked as Sunset strode out of the building.
No, she wasn’t. Not at all. The next day arrived, and Sunset didn’t awake in her dorm -more like her prison- as she expected. No, she awoke with a bag over her head and it was soon ripped off to reveal both Gilda and Rainbow in front of her. She was in a warehouse, surrounded by faceless thugs. No, like literally faceless. It was pretty disconcerting, bordering on the disturbing actually.
“Oh great, so you’re holding an intervention,” Sunset said dryly. “Good, because quite personally I have to say I’m fed up with it all. Good idea actually, getting me away from those three.”
“Oh yeah, great idea!” Gilda said as she cracked her knuckles. “See, here I don’t have to worry about those bitches-”
“You’re not wrong there!” Sunset put in going ignored.
“-while I pound you to a pulp for your ‘sister’ doing that to my best friend!” Gilda went on.
“Two things before you do that actually,” Sunset said. “No, three!”
“Why you-” Gilda started drawing back her fist before Sunset caught the punch.
“One, how stupid are you? Like, there had to be security cameras! People will know I’m gone when I don’t show up for class, and they’ll know who did it,” Sunset lectured, with Gilda showing more than a hint of fear. “B, or two. If you want revenge on Adagio, go after Adagio. Not like I’d stop you!”
“And three?” Gilda asked somewhat nervously.
“And three,” Sunset said as she kicked Gilda in the shin, a knife going flying and cutting Sunset loose -somehow- from her ropes. “You really think a pretty young thing like me wouldn’t learn some self-defense classes? It’s a rough town after all…”
Reaching for her taser, Sunset sighed as Gilda went down in a heap. Rainbow was soon to follow with a combination of mace and a punch to the gut. As for the faceless thugs? They went down in a show of badassery that even the author can’t describe. No, it’s totally not just because he’s a hack, so shut up and stop looking at me like that okay?
In any event, Sunset managed to escape, call the cops and sigh to herself. For whatever reason, she was allowed to go home in some sort of shock blanket -no, classes? What were those?- and think. She felt like she was going to be sick. This… this bizarro world was more than she could stand really. She wanted to go home, back to her friends and back to when everyone saw the Dazzlings as villains and not… not love interests! Yeah, Sunset had officially reached completely and utterly DONE mode. Hours flew by, seeming like an eternity.
Finally, Twilight said she was done with her portal home. Which again, was completely odd given something like that should have taken weeks if not months to build. Not a matter of sheer days! Sunset had long given up questioning this world really. In any event, Sunset stood in front of something -completely and totally not ripped off from Stargate, te-he!- and took a deep breath.
“You sure you don’t want to stay?” Twilight asked her. “You have friends here…”
“No, Alternate Sunset has friends,” Sunset corrected her. “I don’t. To me, they’re just like faces in a crowd. Ghosts.”
“Oh, um… If you really feel that way,” Twilight answered sounding more like Fluttershy than anyone else at the moment. “I’m… sorry.”
“For what?” Sunset said placing a firm hand on her sorta friend’s shoulder. “There’s nothing to be sorry for. Actually, I think I should thank you. Not just for helping me get back home but…”
“But what?” Twilight asked.
“For helping me be thankful for what I have, corny as that sounds,” Sunset said running a hand through her dark red locks. “Like, I guess I’ve been taking my friends for granted or something back home. Seeing how things could have turned out here, or how they might turn out if I’m not careful? It scared me. Like, it really did. So thank you Twilight, I guess I’m a bit wiser now.”
“While I won’t pretend to understand much of that, and I won’t pretend not to be a little hurt,” Twilight mumbled making Sunset wince a little. “I guess… you’re welcome? Now go home Sunset, I think you’ve got people waiting on you.”
Sunset smiled apologetically to her friend before she waved to Twilight one last time. Then, she stepped inside and all went white.
-----
Sunset awoke with a gasp, the early morning light filtering into her apartment. Her apartment, not that goddamned dorm room! She was back, she was home. Annnnnnnd her phone was totally blowing up with texts. Tearful apologies, explanations and more tearful apologies. Sunset accepted them all as best as she could fighting back tears of her own. Joyful tears actually, she was back. She was with her friends, her real ones and everything was back to normal.
“Home sweet home…” Sunset said as she fell back against the wall. “No more Dazzlings, no more Others and Alternates! Just… me and my friends. Just Canterlot, just high school and all the drama that comes with it. No more perfection, no more anyone treating me like a doll!”
Her eyes hardened, she had some steps to take to make sure she never ended up like Alternate Sunset. She also had a phone number to find, after all if Twilight went to Crystal Prep in this world and some things were still the same… well then, Sunset had a duty to at least contact her.
As soon as she was able, Sunset met her friends at a nearby park. Hugs were exchanged and more tears were shed.
“We’re sorry Sunset,” Applejack said. “I can’t believe we just… we just ditched you like that, over our own sisters no less and at Christmas time!”
“Yeah, can’t imagine we’re high on Santa’s nice list…” Rainbow mumbled with Pinkie nodding in numb agreement. “Yeah… yeah, I think I’ll just go grab myself some coal and place it in my stocking. Save Santa the trouble.”
“Yeah, I’ll be right behind you…” Pinkie said her hair having gone completely flat.
“Where are you even going to get coal?” Applejack had to ask.
“I… I don’t know okay, but I’m going to go get some!” Rainbow said to her.
“Oooooh, that was so uncouth of us! Not to mention Sweetie,” Rarity grumbled. “I, along with my parents will be having words with her. Driving us apart over petty jealousy!”
“Can’t believe the squirt did that,” Rainbow grumbled. “Like, I know you’re cool and I’m cool -we’re both awesome, well you are more than me right now- but breaking us up like that? Totally not cool dude.”
“To be fair,” Sunset admitted. “The blame isn’t totally on them, or on you guys. I can’t actually say I do blame you.”
Here, the girls looked at Sunset as if she’d suddenly grown a second head.
“But darling, the things we said and what we did to you…” Rarity started. Sunset placed a finger over her lips and shook her head.
“Were really perfectly reasonable, actually. Yeah, they hurt but honestly I was your top suspect for a reason. I was never a nice girl, and why would you suspect your own siblings over me? I wouldn’t!”
“Golly Sunset,” Applejack said. “And here we’re supposed to be apologizing to you, and making nice and all that. Not getting told that yeah, what we did was… well, not okay okay but perfectly logical.”
“Nobody was in the right,” Sunset said. “Not even me. If I hadn’t been such a bitch, you wouldn’t have reason to suspect me. Not trying to sound as if I’m victim-blaming… uh, myself I guess, but…”
“No no Sunset,” Rarity said pulling her friend into another hug. “Let’s just… I suppose move on with our lives and accept we’re all idiots really.”
“Yeah… yeah, that sounds like a good idea,” Rainbow agreed with Sunset nodding along.
“Yeah, personally I want to put this whole incident behind all of us and just enjoy the holidays really. There are movies to watch, some presents to exchange and… actually, why don’t you bunk with me tonight?” Sunset asked.
“Oh no darling, we couldn’t possibly accept!” Rarity said. “Not after what we did. No, I’m going to go home and think about what I’ve done. We all are.”
“I wasn’t making a request,” Sunset said. “That was a demand. I demand you all come home with me tonight and watch movies and exchange gifts. A sleepover, for all of us. A fresh start, a new beginning you know?”
“That… that sounds like a fair bargain,” Applejack agreed. “To new beginnings!”
“To new beginnings!” the group chorused. Nobody ever asked what brought this change in Sunset really, if they ever noticed it at all. There was still a bumpy long road ahead, nobody was denying that. But together, yeah they could move forwards. Time went on by, and just as the Friendship Games drew nearer a new member was added to their group. Twilight Sparkle, of course. Like her counterpart in that other world -which Sunset barely gave a thought to- she was very science-oriented. Shy as a mouse even, but unlike her counterpart in that other world she spoke sense and never had to even know the toxic touch of a Dazzling.
Sunset saw to that. To everyone’s surprise, or perhaps no one’s in retrospect the two actually wound up together. Two dorks in love, as Rainbow had termed them. Despite a bit of blushing, Sunset nor Twilight bothered to argue against that. Rifts had been mended, and friendships had grown ever stronger. Sunset never did say anything about her experience in that other world, though she never forgot about it. Even when her wedding day finally came, she did speak of it but only in vague terms. Twilight nor her friends were ever the wiser about what happened. They just knew that something had happened that horrible winter night. Something sad, something strange and something a little bit wonderful.
And before you ask, no Sunset never saw the Dazzlings again except for that one moment at the Starswirl Music Festival. And that was how she liked it.
FIN