With a trembling hand, Fluttershy puts her hand on the table and faced her companions, but she did not find the courage to face their gaze.
“I’ve failed.” She said, her voice full with remorse. “Rainbow died because of me…”
“Oh, no sugarcube, this isn’t your fault.” Told her Applejack, lowering her hat in the memory of her fallen companion.
“We’re all at fault here, darling.”
Sunset put her hand on Fluttershy’s shoulder and smiled at her. It’s no time for remorse, they must unite now more than ever. “She was our bravest, most faithful and most loyal friend. She will never be forgotten.” She said.
All of her friends nodded in agreement.
“I mean, her death was still pretty funny.”
“Pinkie!” Rarity cried out. “Our friend just died! Try to be a little compassionate please?”
“Yeah sure, whatever.” Replied the pink haired girl.
Sunset stood up, picked up her sword and pointed it to the sky.
“Come on my friends!” She was the leader of their small group of Adventurers! She needs to motivate them to move forward. She had to.
She and her friends headed to the main gate of the dungeons, behind these doors, pure evil was waiting for them.
“We have to slay the Dragon!” Shouted Applejack! “We need to get revenge for Rainbow Dash!”
Enough was enough for the deceased Rainbow Dash.
“Come on guys! I’m right here! Stop acting like I’m not!” Shouted Rainbow Dash, throwing her arms over her head.
“Sometimes… I feel like… I can still hear her voice…” Said Fluttershy, still overwhelmed by her loss.
All of the girls sited around the table started to laugh, excepted Rainbow Dash sulking in her corner, her arms crossed over her chest.
“I swear, that’s the last time I play Dungeons and Dragons with you guys.”
“Okay girls!” Started Pinkie “You entered the Dungeons.”
“That’s were the fun starts.” Grinned Applejack.
“As you entered,” Pinkie continued “You feel the atmosphere is heavy, as if… as if an evil presence ruled over this place.” She took the dices and looked at Sunset. “Warrior Shimmer! This is your turn!”
“Okay then, I start to look around if I can find any traps or maybe something useful.” She said.
Pinkie launched the dices over the table and looked at the result.
“Twenty-one! There is no trap here, however, you’ve found a new steel sword!”
“Sweet.” Said a smiling Sunset.
“Rarity! Your turn!”
“Well, I look around if I can find any jewel that can fit well with my new robe.”
Applejack put her head in her hands and let out a long sigh.
“Rare, I’ve already told ya’! Who cares about what you wear! The important things here is the statistics!”
“A lady has her priority darling, and it’s to always be fabulous.”
“That’s nice and all, but you have a robe for mage of level three! You are level ten!”
“I let you handle the fights, you’re the paladin after all.”
“Girls…” Started Sunset.
Out of the blue, Pinkie threw the dices over the table and looked at it.
“Nine!” She said. Then she stood up and took the deepest and darkest voice she could have. “WHO DARES TO INTERRUPT MY MILLENNIAL SLEEP!”
“Oh my…” Said Fluttershy, covering her eyes with her hands.
Applejack and Rarity stares at each other awkwardly and Sunset facepalmed herself.
“Well done.” She said.
“Sorry.” Said the two girls.
“Then,” Pinkie explained “You saw something moving from the shadows! It’s a….”
“Pinkamena! We’re home!” Said a voice coming from the entrance of the house.
“Well…” Said Sunset “I guess it’s the end of the game.”
Pinkie’s father and sister Maud entered the living room. “Good evening girls, how was the game?”
“Fun!” Said Pinkie “Can you believe that we’ve played for ten hours?”
“Ten long hours…” Rainbow Dash sighed.
Her father smiled at them, it was him who owned the game. He let her daughter and her friends borrow it for the afternoon.
“Well girls, it’s late and Pinkamena has to get up early tomorrow.” He now looked at his daughter. “I hope you didn’t forget we’re visiting your Aunt for the weekend.”
“Of course I didn’t!”
The girls started to put the game away and after long goodbyes and a group hug with Pinkie, they went out through the front field.
“I must say,” Started Rarity “This was a lot more fun than I first expected.”
“It was.” Fluttershy agreed.
“It was lame,” Said Rainbow Dash “It was nerdy as shit.”
“You said that because you died,” Replied Sunset “That was quite a botch.”
“Here we are girls!” Said Applejack.
Before Rainbow can reply anything, they arrived to Rarity’s and Applejack’s car.
Rarity and Fluttershy wished them a good night and took place in Rarity’s car before they left the parking lot waving to their friends.
“You’re sure you don’t need a lift Sunset? It’s no trouble.”
“No thanks AJ, I don’t live very far, I’ll just walk there.”
Applejack just shrugged her shoulders “As you want.”
“Come on AJ!” Called Rainbow Dash who’s already taken place in Applejack’s car.
The girls said goodbyes to each other’s and went on their respective way.
Of course, Sunset wasn’t going home yet, she headed towards the nearest subway station, it was Friday so she didn’t have school tomorrow.
It’s been a week now since she had her powers. She got used to waiting for Celestia and Luna to go to bed and then, sneak out through her window. She actually liked it.
The adrenaline of breaking the rules was something that Sunset loved above all. But of course now, she only broke the rules to do good, she was Spider-Girl after all.
She no longer saw or heard of this world’s Twilight Sparkle after that famous night when she started her fight against crime.
‘Maybe this is for the best.’ She thought, shooting into a can that was on her way. ‘I’m maybe on a much better place now, thanks to the princess, however, I still don’t like her. I don’t know what I would do if I had to deal with TWO Twilight Sparkle.’
As she looked down, she didn’t see the person who was in front of her; and ran into them.
And they both fell down.
“Oh my, I’m so sorry, are you okay?” Asked the other girl who has already gotten up, offering her hand to Sunset to help her get up.
“Yeah, I think.” She took the hand and stood up. And only then, she realized who she was talking to.
‘Eh, of course. The universe has a twisted sense of humor.’ Sunset thought.
“I’m so, so sorry.” Apologized Twilight Sparkle “I didn’t look where I was going and…”
“It’s okay, really.”
Twilight Sparkle stared at Sunset for a moment, enough for it to be awkward, and then said “Have we met before?”
‘A very twisted sense of humor.’
“Nah, I don’t think so.” Sunset replied. “I’m Sunset Shimmer.” She then offered her hand to Twilight who immediately accepted it.
“I’m Twilight Sparkle.” She introduced herself.
The two girls stared at each other for a while, Sunset just didn’t know what to say and Twilight almost seemed like she wanted to say something but hasn’t the courage to do it.
“Can I… Help you with something?” Sunset asked.
“Actually…” Twilight started “I’m new in town, and I still don’t know the city very well. I think I’m… a little lost.”
‘Let it go Sunset, she can handle herself.’ Sunset thought.
“Do you want some help?” Sunset asked.
‘Why?’
Twilight’s face lighted up and smiled at Sunset. “I would love to.”
“… and it’s true that what I do, sometimes, requires violence, but I’m not a violent woman, I swear.” Explained Sunset to the six thugs that were lying on the ground.
She looked at them and saw that there weren’t responding. “Please don’t be dead.”
She kicked one in the guts and he let out a sigh of pain. Seeing that they’re were still alive, she let a smile appear on her face behind her mask.
She then turns to the entrance of the street when she heard the sirens of police cars heading in her direction.
“Guys, I have to go now, it was fun but I won’t think it will work out between us, but we can still be friends, right?”
No answers came.
“What is the point of making jokes if no one is even listening to me?” She said, starting to run in the opposite direction of the police officers that were coming.
After she helped Twilight Sparkle to go back home, they’ve chatted a little and Sunset learned one or two interesting things about this Twilight Sparkle.
She was a sixteen years old girl who didn’t have much friend in her school. So, of course, Sunset gave her phone number to her and told her that they can be friend.
Sunset swore that she hasn’t seen a girl happier that Twilight was when she said that to her.
She also learned that Twilight was the new assistant of the Dr. Conhorse at DisCorp.
When Twilight told her that, she had to refrain from exploding with laughter. It wasn’t even coincidence anymore, it was just the universe that liked to mess with her.
‘Seriously, what have I done to you, universe?’ She thought.
Maybe, after all, they were meant to meet each other.
She jumped on a wall and climbed until she reached the top. She stretched her arms and put off her mask. “That was fun.” She said, checking the time on her phone. “I should head back home, it’s getting pretty l…”
Then, out of a sudden, her self-called Spider-sense -her intuitive feeling of something being dangerous or risky that will happen to her- went crazy.
She didn’t even have the time to understand what was happening to her that two metallic claws grabbed her by the arms and launched her over the building.
Luckily for her, she managed to grab a wall and climbed on it, then she turned to see what or who attacked her.
She saw a man, with a leather jacket, wearing an iron mask with green eyes and two gigantic metallic wings in his back. He also had metallic claws on his foots. She didn’t understand why she didn’t even hear him coming, his wings were quite noisy.
“Hey you!” She said “I hope you have your flying license!”
Then, he launched himself toward her, his iron claws ready to lacerate any parts of the body of the amateur superhero.
She dodged quickly and one of the claws stuck in the wall. She took advantage of the distraction to, while still hanging on the wall, try to kick him.
He easily grabbed her leg and he managed to remove his claw from the wall.
He looked at her right in the eyes.
“Spider-Girl…” he said. “I didn’t expect that you were a teenage girl.”
Sunset was hanging upside down, she tried to get herself free from him, but he held her firmly. He saw her face. That wasn’t good. At all.
“So what?” she said “Dude, can you really see through that stuff? I mean-“
He launched himself through the sky, still holding her firmly.
“WHOAAAAAAAAAA-“ She screamed.
Then he dives down to the ground, and now, fear was all over Sunset’s mind.
‘OH NO NO NO NO NO THIS IS GOING TO-‘
Then, Sunset was crushed to the ground.
‘Hurt.’
An impact mark formed in the ground beneath her, and all the passers-by began to flee the scene, some of them screaming, some of them filming the entire scene with their smartphones.
Fortunately for Sunset, wearing her hood, her face wasn’t visible for them.
Then, still holding her firmly, he launched to the sky once again. Sunset wasn’t responding, she was out.
He flew through the skies for maybe a minute and then he lifted her up to his face.
“This is the first and final warning.” He said, firmly. “There’s no place for someone like you in this city.”
And then, he let go of her.
Sunset fell.
She spent all of her Saturday in her bed.
She told Celestia that she wasn’t feeling well, and a part of that was true. It seems like she didn’t have anything break. In the morning, her back was hurting her so much that she couldn’t stand up, but it seems that she can also heal faster than usual.
This guy gave her the beating of her life.
After he let go of her, she fell in the river that was situated behind the suburbs of the city. So, she had to walk home, and it wasn’t easy.
She’s been pondering about her defeat all night.
This guy, that, with her brilliant mind, guessed that he was the Vulture, had a big advantage, this guy can fly.
And Sunset, her, can stick to walls.
“How can I beat someone who can actually fly?” She asked to herself.
But it wasn’t just that. She knew that, if he wanted to kill her, he would have done it.
And, the cherry on top, he saw her face. Now, he didn’t know her name, and this was the most important thing, but still.
‘You talk about a superhero,’ she thought, bundled under her cover ‘I have nothing ‘super’, and I’m certainly not a hero.’
She continued to feel sorry for herself when suddenly her phone started to ring. It was certainly one of her friends who wanted to check in, she was rather quiet today when usually they often send messages to each other in their chat group.
She checked her phone and saw that it was a text from the girl she befriended last night.
Twilight Sparkle – Today: 7:20 P.M
Hello Sunset Shimmer,
I really appreciate what you have done for me last night.
I’ll never forget it.
Do you think we could meet?
Or maybe it’s a bit too early for that,
after all, we don’t know each other yet,
and we’ve just met.
Friendship is something quite new for me.
As Sunset read the text, a smile appeared on her face. She wrote a reply and hit the ‘send’ button.
Sunset Shimmer – Today: 7:21 P.M
Sure Twilight, we can meet wherever you want,
Got somethin’ in mind?
She didn’t have to wait for long before she receives a reply from her friend.
She gathered all her courage, and slowly, get out of her bed.
“Sunset! Are you feeling better?” Celestia asked.
Sunset just entered the kitchen and poured herself a cup of coffee.
She took place on a chair and told Celestia “I’m not feeling so good.” Then, she saw the newspaper of the day on the table and decided to take a look at it.
“Haven’t you heard?” Celestia took a sit next to Sunset, “It seems that there was trouble in town last night. The Vulture was seen fighting a costumed girl.”
Sunset read the title of the front page aloud, “The Vulture against Spider-Girl.” There was even a picture of the moment when the Vulture grounded her.
‘At least, you can’t see my face,’ she thought ‘But seriously, this doesn’t highlight me at all.’
“Weren’t you in the City last night?” Celestia asked.
“Yeah, I was.” She replied. “But I wasn’t in this part of the city. I was with Twilight.”
“Twilight? Like in Twilight Sparkle?”
It’s going to be hard to explain.
“You know that I’m from another world, right?” Sunset asked Celestia.
Celestia looked at her with a questioning glare. “Yes?”
“Well, in my world, there is counterpart of the human being of this world. The Twilight Sparkle you know is actually from my world, but this Twilight is from this world.”
Celestia looked a little lost “So you’re telling me that this is the same girl, but at the same time, another person?”
“It isn’t exactly the same girl,” Sunset explained, taking a sip of her coffee “They maybe wore the same name and had the same appearance, but they can both have a distinct personality.”
Celestia seemed to think for a moment before putting a hand on Sunset’s shoulder and smiled at her. “Even if it’s not the same girl, I can’t imagine how complicated it must have been for you, but wanting to be friend with that girl proves how much you want to change. And for that, I’m so, so proud of you.”
Sunset blushed at this remark and looked at Celestia. She didn’t know what to say, so she contented herself with a simple “Thank You.”
Celestia stood up from her chair and headed for the bathroom. “You’re welcome.” She said.
She was lucky to have a woman like Celestia in her life. Even if she isn’t the Princess Celestia, Sunset couldn’t help but to see how much the two were very similar in some ways. Like the fact that they both believed in Sunset, even if she wasn’t believing in herself.
Sunset finished her coffee and headed for the entrance hall. She put her jacket on and her boots, and she gets out of the house.
This is the address that Twilight gave her.
She was in front of an apartment complex, in the heart of Canterlot. ‘Apartment number twenty-one’. She remembered before entering the building. She took the elevator to go to the second floor, walked through the corridor and stood up before a door where a sign with the number ‘21’ was on it.
She took a deep breath and knocked on the door. Behind the door, she heard someone running in her direction before the door opens and revealed…
“Twilight Sparkle.” Sunset said, smiling at her new friend.
“Hi Sunset!” Twilight said, letting her friend come in.
Twilight had already explained to her that she had moved in with her brother and his wife. Their apartment was pretty classy, filled with furniture that looked quite expensive filled the rooms that Twilight was showing to her new friend.
“Well, well, well,” Started Sunset “That is quite a nice place you’ve got here Twilight.”
Twilight blushed and replied to her friend’s remark “Yes, my brother is the deputy commissioner of the CCPD.” She explained “And my sister in law is…”
“The best sister in law in the world!” Said a voice coming from behind the two girls.
Sunset turned around to see who had just spoken and saw one of the most beautiful women she had ever seen.
“Cadance!” Twilight run and hugged her sister in law.
“Hi Twily.” She said before looking toward Sunset. “And you must be Sunset Shimmer.”
Sunset walked toward her and took hold of her hand. “Nice to meet you.” She said. “You must be Twilight’s sister in law I presume?”
“Sunset, this is Cadance.” Twilight said.
“I’m so happy that my little Twily brought a friend.” She said, unable to hide her excitement. “Twily, what about you show your room to your friend, and I’ll go bake some cookies?”
“That seems like a nice plan!” Twilight said before taking hold of the hand of Sunset and headed towards her room.
“So,” Sunset started “You were about to say to me what she was doing for a living.”
“Oh yes, well she’s hosting a radio show, have you ever heard of ‘Good Morning Canterlot!’ by Mi Amore Candenza?”
“Ooooh, so that’s her!” Sunset was quite surprised that she hasn’t been capable to recognize her voice, Celestia used to listen her show a lot.
Twilight opened what it seemed to be her room’s door, and went to the side to let Sunset come in.
The first word that sunset thought was ‘Nerd.’
There was a lot of science-fiction posters like Star Wars or Doctor Whooves and shelves with several pop culture figures that Sunset could not quote.
She also had a desk with a triple screen computer that looked very expense, it even made lights.
“Sunset, welcome to my room.” Twilight greeted.
Sunset looked around and saw a small workbench in the corner of Twilight’s room, and saw two bracelets which seemed to have been quite modified. “What is that?” Sunset asked, taking one too look at it.
“Well, last night I’ve told you that Spider-Girl saved me like, a week ago?”
Sunset looked at her friend and nodded.
“Well, I’m very grateful to her,” She started “And I’ve seen on TV that they talked about what happened last night.” She walked towards her, took a bracelet and put it on. “So, I’ve worked on this.”
Then, she aimed for the wall in front of her and she clutched her fist. Then, the bracelet shoot what it seems to be a web.
“What the… Is that a… Web-shooter?” Sunset asked, almost speechless.
“It’s not exactly web, it’s more like nylon, but way more efficient.” She explained.
“What… How… This… This is incredible Twilight!” Sunset said.
“Well, it’s still in work in progress. And, I’d liked to give it to her when it’s finished, but I don’t really know how to contact her.”
“Well…” Sunset started, but she didn’t know what to say to her. It would be very suspicious if Spider-Girl came straight to her home to take them. “I’m sure you’ll find a way.” She finally said.
Adrian Toomes was working on his iron wings when his phone started to ring. He took the call and put on the speaker.
“Adrian Toomes, who is it?” He said, continuing his work.
“Adrian.” Said a raspy voice.
“Boss!” Said Adrian, a little bit surprised.
“It seems that you’ve made quite a scene last night.” The voice said. “Did you forget that I’ve told you and your friends to lay low?”
Adrian swallowed and said with a trembling voice “I… I know! But I had to do this, we can’t let this creeping vermin get in our way!”
“Adrian. I’ve told you what to do, and you disobeyed me.” Said his boss. “You know what happens when someone disobey me, don’t you?”
“Y-yes… I know.”
“It. Won’t. Happen. Again. Did I make myself clear?”
Adrian dropped into his chair and sighed “Yes boss. Very clear.”
“Perfect.” He said “Wait for my next instruction.” And just like that, the call ended.
“… I swear to you girls, I felt like I was being followed, but as soon as I looked behind me, there was no one there.” Said rarity, taking a sip of her milkshake.
The six girls were at the Sugarcube corner on this sunday, Pinkie has called them to meet up and they’ve all agreed.
“Ah think you just imagined it sugarcube.”
Rarity looked outraged “I know what I say Applejack.”
“And you sunny?” Pinkie asked “What did you do yesterday?”
Sunset wasn’t listening to the conversation, she was still thinking about the web-shooters that Twilight made for her, but now that someone was talking directly to her, she had no choice but to follow the conversation.
“Well, something odd happened.” She started.
“Oh! Oh! I know!” Said Pinkie! “You saw a ghost! No wait, it’s something related to magic isn’t it ? No wait it’s impossible, the portal is closed… I know! You were bitten by a…”
“Pinkie Pie.” Interrupted Rarity. “Let the poor girl speak.”
Pinkie just stood there smiling.
“Well, I’ve met someone.”
“Oooh, a boy?” Rarity asked, a huge grin on her face.
“No, not something like that Rarity.” Continued Sunset “I’ve met this world’s Twilight Sparkle.”
All the girls looked at her.
“Oh my…” Fluttershy said.
“And? What did you do?” Rainbow Dash asked, taking a sip of her third hot coco.
“I became friend with her.”
“THAT’S AMAZING SUNNY!” Pinkie exclaimed, taking her in a tight hug. “I can’t wait to meet her!”
Sunset smiled and pushed gently Pinkie. “I’m sure that you all do. But I don’t think that’s a great idea that you girls met her just now.”
“Ah’m on the same side,” Said Applejack “This girl is completely different from our Twilight. We can’t just go to her and expect she’ll be our friend just like that.”
Rarity put her milkshake on the table and said “I agreed. I’m thinking of letting Sunset handle this and letting her decide when is the right time for us to meet her.”
“Let’s do this then.” Said Sunset.
At this moment, the entrance door of the Sugarcube corner opened and three boys entered. One she recognized has being Thunderlane who was heading to the counter and the other were… Red Light and Flash Sentry.
Not that she didn’t liked Red Light but something was strange about him. And of course, Flash Sentry was the last person she wanted to see right now.
“HEY FLASH!” Called Pinkie.
Flash saw her and smiled, heading toward them with his two friends. Applejack gave an elbow in the ribs of Pinkie.
“Ouch! What was that for…” Then she realized and looked at sunset. “Whoopsie.”
Sunset sighed.
“Hi girls!” Said Flash. All the girls greeted him and then he looked at Sunset. “Hello Sunset.”
“Hello Flash.” Then she looked at Red Light. “And hello to you too Red.”
“Hi.” He said with a smile that Sunset noticed, looked a little forced. But after a week of classes with him, Sunset noticed that all that he does seemed a little forced, as if he didn’t want to be there at all.
“Girls let me introduce to you Red Light, he’s the new member of the music club.” Said Flash.
“The new member uh?” Rainbow Dash said standing up to face him. “Well, as a member of that club, I hope that you don’t suck.”
Red just faced her, looking bored as always, and put his and in his pockets. “I hope that you don’t suck.” He replied.
They looked at each other for a moment before Sunset noticed that Rainbow was starting to blush.
Rainbow looked away, and sat down. “Whatever.” She said.
“Well girls it was nice seeing you, see ya’.” Flash said, before he and Red headed towards were Thunderlane had took place.
Rainbow Dash looked at Sunset and said “So, he’s the new students?”
“Yeah…” Sunset said. She couldn’t take her eyes off him, something really strange was emanating from him, and it seems that she was the only one feeling it. “He is.”