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// March 2023: "Multiversal Mayhem" 
// Story: A Short One, Please! 
// by gapty 
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Only One at a Time

“Sunset Shimmer?” Sunset asked.

The girl, looking exactly like herself, stopped playing the guitar and looked up. When the eyes met, the girl tilted her head.

“My name is Sunset Shimmer too.” She stretched out her hand.

No reaction.

“Uhm, it’s kind of fun to see a lookalike, don’t you agree?” Sunset chuckled nervously.

The eyes were empty.

What was going on with the girl? Why did she act so… hollow?

Finally, the girl moved, but only to strum a few chords. The eyes were staring forward, the hand movements choppy.

“And who are you?”

Turning around, Sunset saw a woman giving her a firm expression.

“Sunset Shimmer,” she replied.

The woman sighed. “At least you’re you.”

“What do you mean?”

“That girl,” the woman pointed at the counterpart, “lost herself five years ago.”

Sunset gasped, realising that it was the same time she had crossed the portal.