Chapter 4
___________________________________________________________
A sigh escaped Twilight as she made her way through the school hallway, trying to avoid her fellow Crystal Prep students as much as possible.
She was feeling kind of guilty, leaving Spike and her baby pony princess counterpart alone at home, even with her confidence in Spike.
Then again, she supposed, it must be hard not to feel bad about leaving any baby behind at any time.
She was pulled from her inner thoughts when she bumped into someone.
“Oh, sorry,” she said, shaking her head, before seeing Sour Sweet standing before her, a none too pleased look on her face.
“Walking around with your head in the clouds is dangerous,” Sugarcoat, who was closing her locker behind Sour Sweet, said, glancing to the other bespectacled girl.
“Oh, um… sorry?” Twilight said, wondering why she was apologizing again.
Sour Sweet just walked off, not saying a word.
“I noticed you haven’t signed up for the Friendship Games,” Sugarcoat said, not leaving.
“Well, yeah,” Twilight said, trying to follow where this conversation would go, but it was kind of hard to realign your brain to focus on such a mundane conversation topic like the Friendship Games with the magical baby pony princess on her mind.
“Aren’t you competing?” Sugarcoat cocked an eyebrow.
“I… don’t know,” Twilight fumbled. “I mean, I’m not exactly the most athletic person, am I?” Did she just dis herself?
Sugarcoat shrugged, walking passed her.
Twilight sighed with relief and moved on.
She spent her time in class trying to think of how Princess Twilight could’ve gotten to this world.
The baby couldn’t properly remember, but she had mentioned something about a statue and a mirror. Beyond that, Twilight had nothing to work on.
She wondered if it was even possible to send the little pony home. Bridging the divide from one universe to another wasn’t exactly as easy as opening a door.
Due to the distracting thoughts in her mind, Twilight didn’t get as high a score on her tests as usual, only 97%.
Thankfully, her teacher didn’t seem to care. He just told her to focus more was all.
This had caused snickering among her classmates, making Twilight hide her face in a book.
What right did they have to snicker at her? It wasn’t like they never drifted off in thought during classes.
By lunchtime, Twilight was drained.
With her mind on Princess Twilight and waiting on Sunset Shimmer, on top of everyone in school being so eager for the games against CHS, she just wasn’t in the mood for school today.
Getting her lunch bagged, she went outside and ate by a tree on her own.
As she was taking a bite of her egg sandwich, she looked up to the sky, wondering. What was Princess Twilight’s world like? Was it all ponies, or were there other creatures? Were ponies and dragons the only sentient beings there? Were there humans in Equestria?
Along with wanting to help the princess return home, Twilight was fascinated by the idea of exploring the physical laws of a novel dimension. Not to mention, she was kind of curious what Cadance, her brother and parents were like in that world.
“Twilight Sparkle, please report to Dean Cadance’s office. Twilight Sparkle to Dean Cadance’s office immediately,” a voice spoke over the school’s PA system.
Twilight glanced towards the speaker, confused for a moment, before her eyes opened and she hurriedly packed up what was left of her lunch, making a beeline for Cadance’s office, ignoring the looks and snickering whispers from students in the hallway.
Twilight reached Cadance’s Office and knocked twice.
“Twilight?” her sister-in-law’s voice called from the other side.
“It’s me, Cadance,” she answered back.
“Come in and lock the door,” came the reply.
She did as instructed, turning to see Cadance sitting at her desk, her expression uncertain and confused.
“What’s going on?” she asked, sitting in front of the desk. “Has Sunset Shimmer contacted us?”
Cadance shook her head. “Stellar Flare did. Though… it wasn’t what I think we were expecting.”
Twilight cocked up eyebrow.
Cadance presed a button on the phone on her desk.
“You have one new message,” the computerized female voice said. “New message, 12:13pm.”
“YOU KNOW A FRIEND OF MY DAUGHTER?!” a loud, frantic voice screamed from the speaker, nearly scaring Twilight half to death. “WHERE IS SHE? WHO’S TWILGIHT SPARKLE? I’VE NEVER—”
“For crying out loud, mother,” a younger male voice said in the background. “Calm down. You’re just going to freak them out.”
“I—” the woman’s voice paused, before she took a deep breath and continued in a much calmer tone. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have reacted that way. I just… I’ve never heard of any Twilight Sparkle. My daughter hasn’t been home or even called in years. Anything to help me get in contact with her would help.”
“Mother,” the male’s voice said, sounding exasperated, “they are contacting us to find Sunset. If they’re asking us to contact her, how could they contact her for us?”
There was a pause, before the woman sighed. “I’m sorry, Sunburst. And, Mrs. Cadance, I’m afraid I can be of any help to this Twilight Sparkle. If she was a friend of my daughter, it must have been after she left for Everton.”
Twilight’s heart fell.
“I’d love to help her, but if she’s Sunset’s friend and she can’t get in contact with her, when Sunset hasn’t even called her own mother in years, I don’t see how I can help in any way,” Stellar Flare sighed. “I wish I could’ve been of more help. I hope you have a good day and… and, if you do find my Sunset, please tell her to call. I miss my little ray of sunshine.”
And the message ended.
“So,” Cadqance sighed, leaning on her desk, “looks like we’re back to square one on the whole “Find Sunset Shimmer” plan.”
“Twilight’s going to be so disappointed,” Twilight sighed, shaking her head.
“It can’t be helped,” Cadance shook her head. “Everton weren’t helpful, so contacting Sunset’s family was a long shot in and of itself.”
“I just wish I could help her more,” Twilight lamented. “She’s stuck in our world and the only person who can help us figure out how she got here and how to get her home is unreachable.”
Cadance leaned forward, putting a hand on Twilight’s. “We’ll figure something out. For now, we just have to keep trying and hope something comes up.”
They sat in silence for a moment, before Twilight sighed and got up, heading back out.
The rest of the day went by rather uneventfully. Once school was over, Twilight headed home, Cadance saying she’d pop by this evening on her way home.
Opening the front door, Twilight was greeted both by her dog and pony counterpart, the latter flying up and hugging her, a wide grin on her face.
Twilight blinked, glancing to Spike. “Why’s she so happy?”
Spike grinned. “You got an email. We heard the notification sound while we were passing your room after lunch.”
Twilight cocked an eyebrow. “And? Why would that make Twilight happy?” Her face went blank, mirrored by the baby pony. “It’s still very confusing saying stuff like that.”
Spike shrugged. “Yeah. Anyway, we decided to look before the screen went into sleep mode again, and we saw the name of the sender.”
Twilight cocked an eyebrow again. “And… who is…?” Her eyes widened. “No way! Sunset Shimmer?”
The dog nodded. “We’ve been waiting for you to get home so we can see what’s in the email.”
Grabbing her phone, Twilight opened the email app and, sure enough, there was an email from a sender she didn’t recognize, but the subject said “From Sunset Shimmer”.
Grinning ear to ear, Twilight opened the email… to see it was blank. There were no words, just a video file attachment.
Tapping it, the video opened up and the face of the girl from the Everton page was on her screen. She was wearing a purple top with a sun with red marking emblazoned on her chest… and a confused and annoyed look on her face.
“Who in the world are you?” she asked, shaking her head. “I didn’t think Everton would just give people.” She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. “Listen, I’m not sure where you’re getting your information from, but I’ve never met any Twilight Sparkle in my life. I dunno who you or this Twilight are, but I’m not interested in your little make believe world of magical pony babies right now. I’m in the middle of a research project regarding some interesting wave patterns somewhere off the coasts of Canterlot.”
And with that, the video abruptly ended.
Twilight just stood there, not sure what had just happened.
A sad sounding babble from her shoulder made her glance down to see the pony looking at the phone.
“Huh?” Spike asked distractedly, sounding confused. “Would do you mean “not your Sunset”?”
Huh?
The baby babbled again, then again, before Twilight found herself thrown back against the closed door by a powerful wind.
Looking up, her eyes widened as she was reminded of when she’d first encountered the little princess.
She was floating in the air, magical surging around her, her eyes (for the brief second they were open) pure white.
A loud wail deafened Twilight as the pony bawled her eyes out.
“Twilight!” Spike’s voice could barely be heard over the princess’s cries, the light too bright for the girl to see the dog. “Make her stop!”
“How?” she shouted back, arms over her head as the force of the wails only grew louder.
Twilight thought she heard a faint thumping sound. Glancing behind her, she could see Cadance waving frantically from the window next to the door.
Using the door to brace herself against the intense force being exuded by the Alicorn, Twilight managed to get herself standing and, turning the knob, pulled and pushed the door as ajar as she could.
“I’m guessing you got the same email I did?” Cadance yelled, holding an arm over her face against the winds blowing out the small edge of doorway.
“Yes!” Twilight yelled. “We’re not sure what happened? I don’t understand why Sunset said she doesn’t know Princess Twilight or why the Alicorn’s so upset! All Spike could translate was “not her Sunset”! We don’t know what’s going on?”
“I think I might!”Cadance yelled back. “Gimme a bit of room and I’ll try to talk to her!”
Twilight nodded, gritting her teeth as she forced the door a bit further open. It wasn’t much, but it was just enough for Cadance to fit her head through.
“Twilight!” the pink woman yelled at the top of her voice, in the most reassuring manner she could manage. “I understand why you’re upset and confused! I am too, but I also think I found the real Sunset Shimmer! Your Sunset Shimmer!”
Twilight glanced at Cadance, confused. The real Sunset? Her Sunset? What in the world was she talking about?
The baby’s wails seemed to lessen a little and she opened her eyes, looking right at Cadance, who nodded.
“That Sunset isn’t your Sunset. I found your Sunset. Her voice became gentler. “You need to calm down. We can take you too her, but we can’t help you if you don’t calm down first. Okay?”
There were a few tense seconds as the baby stared with white eyes at the pink woman, before the air seemed to feel less forceful, the magical field around the baby faded and she floated down to the ground, her eyes returning to normal.
Twilight sighed loudly with relief, sliding down the wall as Cadance pushed the door fully open.
“Whoa,” Spike’s voice said as the puppy made his way back out from the living room, him having been blown in there. “That was scary. What was that all about?”
Cadance moved inside, picking the baby up in her arms and looking between the dog and girl. “I don’t fully understand it myself, but I think, just like there are two Twilights, there are two Sunsets.”
Twilight glanced up from her place on the floor against the wall. “Come again?”
“Let’s move into the living room, settle down and I’ll explain what I can,” Cadance said, a confused look on her face. “I’m just as confused about it as I’m sure you’re about to be.”