Sunset backed up against the bathroom counter, staring into her own eyes. “What the hell . . .”
The other Sunset advanced onto her, pushing her against the mirror. It was grinning devilishly as it grabbed Sunset’s hand and lifted it into the air. It forced her fingers open and peeled the switchblade Sunset was holding out of her hands, tossing it across the bathroom floor, never once breaking its cold stare.
“You’re a . . . a changeling, aren’t you?” Sunset’s heart started to race. “W-well, look, I don’t want any trouble with you guys. If conquest is what you want, I might actually be able to help you out. I know this world better than anyone else from Equestria.” Sunset tried to smirk, but when looking at herself pulling it off so easily, the motion felt strange and uncomfortable.
The Changeling Sunset hissed out a breath. “What, do you think I’m that dumb?” It was the same tone she had used against Twilight just half an hour ago. The Changeling eyed her carefully—or maybe hungrily was the better word—and examined her up and down. Checking for inconsistencies, maybe?
It was a perfect doppelganger of Sunset, except the eyes held an unsatiable hunger that chilled Sunset to her core. “Hey now, I’m sure if you find me your head honcho we can have a nice chat about how much I can help her out. Every good Queen needs a general, right?”
The Changeling leaned farther onto Sunset, almost pushing on her nose. “You’re delusional.”
Sunset tried to meet her own gaze, putting up a shaky smile. “Okay, well, let’s talk this out. You wouldn’t want to lose a potentially valuable ally, would you?”
The Changeling delivered Sunset a perfect replica of her domineering grin. “You can rot.” It’s eyes began to glow a mystical green, and Sunset could feel magic begin to course out of the Changeling and permeate the air. I haven’t felt this much magic since back in Equestria. The aura flowed around the room and into Sunset’s body, gripping her heart so tightly she felt like she couldn’t breathe.
“What . . . what are you doing to me?” She choked out.
The Changeling began pushing out even more magic into the room. Clearly, it had not been expecting her to have the strength to respond. The efforts of the magic began to take hold on a stronger level, making Sunset’s body sink to the ground like a brick in a pond. The Changeling was completely focused on concentrating its magic into Sunset, but she was unable to muster the strength to resist.
Compared to some of the effects I underwent in my studies this magic isn’t. . . that bad. It feels like a summer’s day, almost. A sandy beach . . . the Princess took me there, once. We had a castle-building competition. She built hers so high it was practically a tower! Afterwards she picked me up in her hooves and flew me over the sea . . . it was so fun, flying. If I could fly again . . .
Sunset’s gaze aimlessly wandered around her bathroom floor. The Changeling stood in front of Sunset, offering one last tantalizing grin. “Sunset Shimmer,” it said, seemingly testing out its tongue. “My name is Sunset Shimmer.”
Sunset looked up at the sound of her name. Hold on . . . I can’t let some bastard replace me if they can’t finish the job!
Sunset knocked herself out of the weak trance and reached out for the Changeling in front of her. It stumbled backward in panic, letting out chitters of desperation.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing to me, huh?” Sunset said. She propped herself up against the kitchen sink and stood back on her feet. “Rule number one of replicating Sunset Shimmer: she’s not going down that easily.”
The Changeling stumbled across the bathroom floor and lunged for the switchblade it threw in the corner. In response Sunset hopped on top of the Changeling and tried to prevent its hand from grabbing on to the knife. She bashed her fists against the back of its head in attempt to confuse the bug.
It grabbed onto the switchblade and began wildly swinging behind its back. Sunset flipped off of it, gaining a few cuts in her clothes.This is bad news. The roles suddenly reversed, Sunset lunged for the bathroom doorway, hoping to make a small escape. The Changeling jumped onto her back and let out an enraged cry.
Fortunately, the bug had not figured out that switchblades were meant to be used as impalers. It began swinging at Sunset’s back, cutting slashes across her leather jacket. At first the blade only scraped against her skin, but the Changeling began to grow more confident, speeding up into a frenzy of cuts that began to draw blood. Sunset let out a small cry.
I should have listened to Twilight . . . The Changeling began to punch Sunset’s head with its free hand, stunning Sunset into a stupor. Taken out by a measly bug . . . God dammit . . .
The Changeling paused its assault and looked at the switchblade. Had Sunset been able to see its face, she would have seen its crazed expression shift upwards in sinister recognition. It lifted the switchblade upwards with two hands, blade pointing directly at Sunset’s heart.
Before the Changeling could plunge the switchblade into her back, a purple blur slammed into it, knocking the Changeling against the wall. The Changeling propped itself up against the wall and began shaking, seemingly caught in a stupor. Sunset used the time to scramble out of the bathroom and into the hallway. She glanced back at the figure in the bathroom.
It was Twilight Sparkle. The gaunt girl was out out of breath and grappling the head of the Changeling. The Changeling was slightly reaching out to her with magic, but not enough to entrance her like Sunset was.
Twilight grabbed the switchblade out of the Changeling’s hands and ran over to Sunset. She stuck her hand out. “Need a hoof?”
Sunset stared wide-eyed at the girl. “I . . . I told you not to follow me.”
Twilight smiled. “Your eyes said otherwise,” She grabbed Sunset’s hand and pulled the girl back up to her feet. “And I’m following orders that overrule you anyways.” She placed the switchblade in Sunset’s hand. “I think that’s yours.”
Sunset nodded, and turned back at the slumped figure in the bathroom. “What did you do to it?”
Twilight pointed at her head. “I gave it a lot of love. A few happy memories with family was enough to overwhelm the drone. It would be like shoving a three-course meal down its throat all at once. It’s only stunned for a minute, though. The only reason that worked was because it was so focused on obtaining your love that it stopped paying attention to how much love it was able to take in at once. Once it gets everything down we’ll have to take care of it.”
Sunset sighed. “That . . . makes sense. I broke through whatever it tried to do to me. It stared flipping out right after that, though.”
Twilight looked at disdain at the creature in the bathroom. “Chrysalis’s changelings only know how to follow her orders. If something goes wrong during an operation, I suppose the logical response would be to just kill the target.”
“Yeah. God, this hurts.” Sunset shifted her jacket and felt each cut across her back tingle in pain. “I’m gonna take care of this asshole while it’s still out.” Sunset walked back into the bathroom and hovered over the imposter Sunset, still focused on feeding on the love Twilight gave out. She raised the switchblade in a similar motion to how the Changeling had just assaulted her. “Sweet dreams. It’s a shame we couldn’t have met under better circumstances.”
Just before Sunset could take out the Changeling, its face recognized the knife, breaking out of its trance. It flashed its whole body green, and turned into a small, dark, verdant wasp. The wasp sped out the bathroom and zipped past Twilight, aiming for Sunset’s door.
“Oh no you don’t!” Sunset yelled. She winded her arm back and threw the switchblade in the bug’s direction. The knife spun through the air as Twilight ducked out of it and the bug’s way. Right as the bug reached the entrance, the blade perfectly connected with the wasp, slicing it in half. It hit the ground with a thud, green blood oozing between its two halves.
Twilight looked back at Sunset. “You . . . you killed it.”
Sunset stood up and dusted herself off. “What, did you expect me to put it in a jar and release it back into the wild? It tried to kill me.”
Twilight sighed. “I suppose, I just . . . prefer kinder methods.”
Sunset walked over to the bug and picked up the two halves, examining the creature. “This is definitely the wasp I saw this morning. In fact, I saw one on my window on the bus . . .” She looked at Twilight. “They tailed us.”
Twilight started to hyperventilate. “Are there more? We can’t face a whole hive!”
Sunset laughed. “Twilight, if Queen Chrysalis wants to send some more drones for me to beat up, I’ll just take them out one by one.”
Twilight glared at her. “That wasn’t really a stomping on your side, Sunset. You should be worried.”
Sunset flushed. “I still won though. I knew I would win.”
“Did you know that you were stuck here for ten years? Or maybe you know that the Princess doesn’t care about you?”
“I didn’t consider the thought before, but ten years doesn’t mean much to me. And she doesn’t care about me. If she did, I’d be visiting a castle in Prance right now, not fighting with a bunch of overglorified copycats.”
Sunset began to feel the wounds on her back shoot up in pain. She moved back to the bathroom. “Well, enough of this. I’m taking a shower.”
Before Sunset could shut the door, Twilight ran up and put a hand on the door. “Wait! I . . . Um . . .”
“Spit it out, Sparkle.”
Twilight looked up nervously. “I don’t really have anywhere to . . . stay tonight?”
Sunset wounds were really starting to itch, and bleed, too, which wasn’t helping her concentration. “If you’ll clean up these cuts for me when I’m done, then . . . you can stay one night. One.”
Twilight smiled. “Thanks Sunset.”
Sunset shut the door behind her, and threw her leather jacket onto the floor. The backside had taken the brunt of the Changeling’s cuts, however a few slices were deep enough to leave bloody scratches across her back.
The searing pain did not dissuade her from taking a scalding hot shower.
Principal Celestia looked at Principal Celestia in a combination of shock and fear. “What are you?”
The other Principal Celestia laughed, contorting her face into a sinister smile that frightened Celestia to her core. “Well well well, here I was expecting to find the rulers of this kingdom, but all I get is two worn-out commoners eating canned spaghetti. How cruel the imbalances of the universe are.”
The other’s voice would have been a perfect replica of Celestia’s were it not for the underlying malice dripping between each word. It sat on Celestia and Luna’s futon, seemingly right at home. Celestia took a step back and clutched the lighter in her hand tighter. “Wh-what did you do to Luna? I’ll call the police . . .”
The other laughed, twisting Celestia’s hearty chuckles from earlier in the morning into a cruel set of cackles. “The police? Oh no, I’m afraid that story will fall apart when she shows up at the station to take you back home.” The other’s whole body flashed a dark, mystical green, and suddenly the figure sitting on the couch was an exact copy of Luna. Her smile was still the same, however. “Sister, I’ve been here the whole time. I’m sorry officers, she’s been very stressed lately.”
Celestia took another step away. “This is. . . impossible. Unexplainable. I’m hallucinating.”
It leaned forward. “No, I am completely real. And, to be honest, I’m wasting my time here right now. You’re useless to me. I can feel your love, you know. Both giving and receiving aspects.”
“What do you mean?” Celestia glanced down at her bag, and the can of wasp spray sitting inside of it. An idea started to form in her mind.
“Your love’s perfectly average, all things considered. Plenty of your students like you, some don’t, your sister loves you. You love most of your students, some more than others, and cherish your sister.” The ersatz Luna stood up and began approaching Celestia. “What’s most interesting though, is that you still crave more. You have enough love in you to last a lifetime, but I can sense that you want the whole world to love you.”
Celestia slid her arm into her bag. “What are you saying? No one can read another’s emotions. You have no idea what I feel.”
It snorted. “Typical. Princess or not, you’re still just a greedy bastard who can’t face herself in the mirror. I bet that hurts even more, huh? Knowing you’ll never be anything but a sad woman who wasted her life feeling like she could be so much more.” Luna flashed a green light and turned back into Celestia. “Well, your personal troubles are no matter to me. I’ll just send a drone in to school to represent you tomorrow and they won’t hold any of your baggage. Thank you, by the way.”
Celestia grasped her hand around the can of wasp spray. “What for?”
“For clearing out that nest on your tree for us. I swear, it’s just the perfect little base of operations. Fit for a Queen like me, even,” She grinned as her eyes flashed green. Celestia felt the pressure in the room lower, but something clenched around her heart, tightening like a bolt.
She clutched her throat, trying to gasp in breaths of air, only to find that she was breathing perfectly normally.
“Let’s have you take a little trip. It’ll be fun.” The Changeling Queen stood up and grabbed Celestia by the shoulders, leading her to the doorway. She tried to move away, but found her legs were in lockstep with the Queen.
. . . What is going on? One minute I’m preparing for dinner, the next thing I know, Luna’s missing and I’m talking with myself, literally. Why couldn’t I have just come home for dinner tonight? Good food, even better company; there are upsides to the simple life, I suppose.
“There you go, keep moving. We’re almost to the door now.”
Maybe someday we should invite some more friends over. Some old students. I’m sure Cadance would love to visit. Then again, who said they couldn’t also be current students? I’d love to share a meal with Sunset . . .
Completely entranced, Celestia reached for the doorknob to exit her house. However, her left hand was still holding the lighter, and her right gripping the wasp can.
What are these doing here? Oh.
Celestia’s gaze drifted over to her duplicate self, who held a slightly annoyed expression. “Move along, now. No time to waste.” Celestia limply raised the lighter and lit it. Her arms felt so weak she could barely hold it above her waist, and luckily the Changeling Queen did not notice the flicker of light. Celestia moved the can of wasp spray behind the flame, and gently pushed on the top, praying there was a small amount left in the can.
It was enough. A spout of flame spat out at Celestia’s imposter, setting her hair ablaze, suit quickly following after.
It screamed and ran back into the house in a frenzy. It flashed green and a giant wasp took the imposter’s place, blindly bashing itself against the walls of Celestia’s house in burning fury. The Queen eventually found a window, and smashed through the glass, speeding away from Celestia’s house in a fireball.
Celestia could still just barely move her body, and the temptation to open the door and walk somewhere unknown was still there. Fortunately the escape of the Queen gave Celestia enough time and distance to resist and knock herself out of the trance. She threw her impromptu flamethrower to the side and stumbled over to her couch, thumping against it with a groan.
“It’s only Thursday,” she lamented.
“Ouch, damn you!” Sunset winced as Twilight dabbled some hydrogen peroxide across the cuts on her back. “Why couldn’t I get someone who understood basic motor functions to help me clean up?” They had taken residence in Sunset’s bathroom, Sunset being tended to by Twilight with a small first-aid kit. Sunset had thrown her jacket and shirt on the bathroom floor.
Twilight sighed and continued to dabble Sunset’s back. “Well, maybe if you taught me about what my physical form even is, then I would adjust faster.”
Sunset stared at herself in the bathroom mirror. “You are a human. Homo sapiens. Descended from apes. Bipedal. There isn’t much left to explain. Sort of like diamond dogs, but with less dog and more monkey.”
Twilight giggled. “You’re very succinct.” She applied another cottonball.
Sunset squirmed away from her. “Don’t get too comfortable with me, Sparkle. I’m collecting my things at school tomorrow and ditching town until this all blows over,you not included. The way I see it, this house isn’t safe any longer. We’ve probably got one safe night here, tops.”
“Well, we can make use of that night if you let me apply this stuff to your wing-bones already.”
“Yeah, okay,” Sunset did a double-take. “Wait, wing-bones?”
Twilight backed away and pointed at her back. “Well, if you’re not going to tell me what they are called, then I will go with my best guess. I’m sure you don’t actually have wings, but from my perspective, what else are two protruding bones on the back made for?”
Sunset deadpanned in Twilight’s direction. “A good rule of thumb for Earth, Twilight, is that nothing is actually related to Equestria. If anything, Equestria is related to Earth. Those are scapulas. They’re holding my shoulder muscles together. I wouldn’t be able to move my shoulders without them.”
Twilight’s mouth formed an oh shape in understanding. “They still need to be cleaned though,” she said.
“Yes, yes, get on with it,” Sunset grumbled.
Twilight searched for some more bandages in the kit. “So . . . how did you do that?”
“Do what?”
“K- . . . kill the Changeling. With the knife, I mean.”
“Oh,” Sunset said, “Well, I’m awfully good at darts. It’s how I first made money on this side of the mirror. I’d enter darts wagers. Turns out that throwing objects through the air is very similar to reaching out with telekinesis, just a lot faster.” Sunset paused. “You’re still hung up about the thing getting sliced?”
Twilight stopped dabbling Sunset’s back. “Yes, I’m still hung up about it! I’ve saved Equestria twice already, and our casualty count was zero. I step over here and something is already dead in an hour!”
Sunset laughed at Twilight’s expense. “Get used to it. I warned you that people aren’t as kind as ponies. They’re like a swarm of piranhas if you can play them right.”
“And do you ‘play them right’?”
“Of course. Do you think I got myself an apartment by appealing to the inner kindness of society?”
Twilight sighed. “Do you have any shame?”
Sunset almost felt pity for Twilight’s innocence. It would be more fun to mess with her, though. “None. You should see how I’ve got the school wrapped around my finger; there’s even a poor guy there who is madly in love with me—”
Sunset shot up out of Twilight’s reach. Flash! She rushed over to her slightly tattered jacket and grabbed the phone out of its pocket. She began dialing Flash’s number.
“Sunset, what are you doing?”
Sunset finished tapping the number in and brought the phone up to her ear. “I’m calling that guy at school, Flash. I was supposed to call him hours ago now.”
The phone continued to ring. God dammit Flash, pick up for once. “And why do you need to call him?”
Sunset quickly looked up and sighed. “If I don’t call him, he’ll call me first. But it has already been a couple hours since he normally would.”
Twilight thought for a second. “Are you suggesting that . . . You are not the only one who was attacked?”
Sunset nodded. “I need to make sure, at least.” The phone didn’t ring, and Flash’s voicemail popped up. Sunset ended the call. “He’s not answering. I’ll try his home phone.”
She dialed the home phone and once again waited for someone to pick up. The phone clicked. " . . . Hello?” It was Flash’s voice.
“Flash! Hey, how are you doing?”
“. . .” Sunset could hear rustling on the other side of the call.
“Flash?”
“Yes?” He responded hurriedly.
“How are you? Are you doing homework right now, or something?”
" . . . Yes, I am.”
“And what is it, might I ask?”
“Um . . . just homework.”
“Do you understand it? Need any help?”
“. . . No, no . . . I’m fine.”
“Alright, Flash. I’ll talk to you tomorrow?”
“Yes, yes. Goodnight,” Flash said. The phone clicked off.
Sunset looked up at Twilight.
“Well?” Twilight said. “Is he safe?”
Sunset moved over to her bed and sat down on it. “They got to him.”
Twilight got up and moved next to her. “How did you know?”
“I asked if he was doing homework, and he said yes, he didn’t need any help. Flash always needs help with his homework. And he puts it off until the day it’s due, sometimes even right before he starts class. A changeling has taken his place. I bet that’s what they wanted to do to me.”
Twilight put a gentle hand on Sunset’s shoulder. “Sunset . . . I’m so sorry about him. . .”
Sunset shrugged her off. “Don’t be. I could care less about Flash. This just means that I need to leave even faster.”
Twilight removed her hand, disappointed. “You don’t have even a little bit of care for him? At all?”
“Look, maybe if it was a normal day and he disappeared without a trace I would give him a sentimental sendoff, but if I stop to think about it I’m probably going to meet the same fate. What are they doing to the students they’ve replaced? There’s the attempt with me, and Flash . . . who else could have had a visitor tonight?”
Twilight tapped her chin. “Chrysalis put everypony into changeling pods back in Equestria. Since they have the ability to shapeshift, and control minds, do you think pod construction may be something they can do, too? Many ponies didn’t have to be forced into pods; they felt so good from the mind control that they paid no attention to where their legs were moving, and walked right in.”
“Shit, you’re probably right,” Sunset acknowledged as she bit her lip, “and now we have no idea where they’ve taken Flash and anyone else. There’s nothing we can do.”
Twilight walked over to the first aid kit they had opened. “Then at least let me finish bandaging you up.”
Sunset sighed. “I suppose,” She moved back over to Twilight, who began wrapping gauze around her back. Sunset was extremely uncomfortable with having Twilight assist her, but doing it herself would have taken longer and been harder. Fortunately Twilight did not know any intimate human actions and was undeterred by Sunset’s top half just being a bra. “If you need something to eat, there is some canned fruit in the pantry,” she murmered.
Twilight’s stomach growled. “I guess I haven’t eaten in quite some time now. Would you like to join me?”
“Hell no,” Sunset turned away.
After bandaging Sunset, Twilight went to the pantry near the small kitchen and pulled out a can of fruit. After Sunset helped her learn how to use a can opener, she dug in with her bare hands. Sunset did not bother to mention that forks were in the drawer next to her.
“Where can I sleep for tonight?” Twilight asked after finishing her meal. “Do you have any blankets?”
Sunset looked around. “You can have the floor.”
“The floor!?”
“Well, I’m not sharing my bed.”
“Don’t you have, like, a small couch or something?”
“When I snagged this apartment I had the choice of getting a flat with a living room or a flat with a nice bathtub. Guess which one I chose.” Sunset walked over to her closet and pulled out two blankets, a spare pillow, and a set of pajamas. “You’ll be fine. There’s plenty of leg room in the hallway.”
Twilight grabbed the blankets. " . . . Well, okay . . .”
They settled down for the night. Despite Twilight’s protests, the minute she laid out her blankets and got into her makeshift bed, she all but passed out from exhaustion.
Sunset didn’t sleep a wink.