Derpy was in the halls of her School. She was looking for a certain someone. A certain somePONY. That somepony was walking down the halls on her way to class, Derpy was luckily close by.
“Sunset!” said Derpy, “I need to talk to you!”
Derpy was suddenly pulled at her collar from behind.
“There you are!” said Golden Hazel, “I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”
“Kerg- Gerk!” said Derpy.
Sunset had managed to get away from her at this point.
“Just because we had a bit of a surprise break, doesn’t mean our assignment isn’t still a thing,” said Golden Hazel.
Derpy pulled at her shirt collar, gasping.
“Heeeeeen!” said Derpy.
“Oh, oops, sorry,” said Golden Hazel as she let go of Derpy’s Shirt.
Derpy then ran off deeper into the hallways.
“Sorry Golden! But I’ve got something way more important to do right now!” said Derpy.
“Get back here you little… you!” said Golden Hazel.
Sunset Shimmer was having a boring time in math class. She had already completed all of the problems on the board and was just waiting for everyone else to finish. To make matters worse, all of the other students were being quite standoffish with her. Some glared daggers, others just tried to be as far away from her as possible. She was surprised she wasn’t expelled yet, especially in spite of the fact that it was obvious no one wanted her around. All of the desks around her were pushed to be as far away from her as the students in them could get, except for the desk behind her which was being used by the kid who usually sat right behind her as a barrier. To be honest, Sunset would do anything just to get out of this class.
And an opportunity presented itself.
“Sunset Shimmer!” said Derpy, “I need to talk to you!”
Sunset didn’t yet make a move to get up.
“It’s about Equestria!” said Derpy, “And its ponies.”
With that Sunset made a frantic dash to the doorway, even almost tripping over at one point. Almost.
“So,” said Sunset Shimmer with a half-lidded glare, “Are you just curious or what?”
“Ugh, I can’t believe I lost track of that little… little… her,” said Golden Hazel.
Golden Hazel was still wandering the school’s halls looking for Derpy. Ordinarily she’d be worried about the fact that she wasn’t in class, but due to her having completed summer school that year she was allowed an empty period.
“If you’re looking for Derpy, I think she said something about having to talk to Sunset Shimmer this morning,” said Watermelody, “I stayed at her place last night, in case you were wondering.”
Watermelody, on the other hand, was just playing hooky because she didn’t like her math teacher. And she guessed that she might have been avoiding Sunset too.
“Shouldn’t you be in class right now?” said Golden Hazel.
“Hey, you’re not the only one who plays hooky,” said Watermelody.
“I keep telling you, I’m not playing hooky!” said Golden Hazel, “I’m just reaping the benefits of Summer School!”
“Yeah, whatever,” said Watermelody, “Just don’t like my math class, I guess.”
Golden Hazel put her hand up to her chin.
“Say, where is your math class, Watermelody?” said Golden Hazel.
Derpy had led Sunset Shimmer a little ways out of the classroom. They were just far away enough that the class wouldn’t hear them unless they didn’t make any sound. Naturally, with Sunset out of the class, all the tension there was gone and all the kids in it were chatting; passing notes; and generally just being rowdy much to the chagrin of their teacher. Though the point of moving was so Sunset and Derpy could have a more focused discussion.
“I’m from your world,” said Derpy, “but I’m also from this world. At least that’s what I think right now.”
“How does that work? Do you have two bodies or something?” said Sunset.
“Yeah, I think so. Princess Twilight Sparkle wanted me to talk to you because you’d be able to help her study me on this side. I want to talk to you because I want reassurance of something,” said Derpy.
“What?” said Sunset Shimmer.
Tears welled up in Derpy’s crossed eyes.
“I- is it… are both worlds really real?” said Derpy, “All my life I thought for sure that one of them was just a dream.”
Sunset hesitated.
“...Which one?” Said Sunset Shimmer.
Derpy looked down and kicked one of her feet. She held her hands behind her back. She sighed.
“Either of them. To be honest both seem impossible…” said Derpy.
“Tell me something about the pony world. About Equestria,” said Sunset Shimmer.
“W-what?” said Derpy.
“Just tell me anything,” said Sunset Shimmer, “about Equestria.”
“Um…” said Derpy, “Donut Joe’s has good doughnuts? Well, the one time I went there anyway…”
Sunset gave a quiet laugh. It wasn’t rude or mean. It wasn’t even all that jovial honestly.
“You’ve convinced me that you’re real on both sides of the mirror,” said Sunset Shimmer.
‘Yeah, but I’m still not so sure I’ve convinced myself yet,’ thought Derpy. She was still crying a little.
Golden Hazel was trudging thru the hallways on a mission to find Derpy. She had Watermelody by the upper arm.
“If Derpy’s supposed to be in some class right now, why are you so insistent on finding her right now?” said Watermelody.
“The same reason I’m dragging you along,” said Golden Hazel, “If you’re going to skip class you should do it for a good reason like practicing ACT…”
“...So you don-” said Watermelody.
“TInG!” said Golden Hazel.
“So you don’t care about the fact we’re playing hooky so much as what our reasons are?” said Watermelody.
“Oh Watermelody,” said Golden Hazel as she patted her on the head, “I’m a true born thespian, as a pretender I wouldn’t expect you to truly understand it.”
“Yeah, a true born thespian. It’s a pity that the birth had so many defects,” said Watermelody.
“Grr, one day…” said Golden Hazel.
“One day what?” said Watermelody.
“One day I’ll- I’ll… shut up!” said Golden Hazel.
“Pfft, somehow I doubt that,” said Watermelody.
Now, the two had still been walking during the entire conversation. Golden Hazel had turned around to better glare at Watermelody however, so she didn’t notice as she bumped into someone.
Sunset Shimmer gave her a death glare. If looks could kill this look would kill all the other looks so it wouldn’t have competition in the field of killing with a look. The look instilled fear into Golden Hazel in any case.
Golden Hazel let out a high pitched “Sree,” that was surprisingly quiet.
You could tell just by looking at Sunset’s face that a plan of sorts was forming in her brain, though you’d probably mistake it for an evil plan instead of seeing that it was really more of a morally neutral one.
“You said you mistook each world for dreams,” said Sunset Shimmer, “I take it that means only one body is awake at a time.”
“P-pretty much…” said Derpy.
“Is there any delay between when one body falls asleep and the other body wakes up?” said Sunset Shimmer.
Derpy knit her brows in confusion.
“Not any that I know of, why?” said Derpy.
A diabolical looking smile spread across Sunset’s face. Derpy seemed to be sweating just a little.
“Because,” said Sunset Shimmer, “if there’s any delay at all, even just a second, we might be able to wake both bodies up at the same time.”
“Why would you want to do that?” said Derpy.
“Right now,” said Sunset Shimmer, “it’s mainly to make communication between the worlds easier, but eventually we might be able to exploit your unique trait to build a ga-”
Golden Hazel walked backwards into Sunset Shimmer. Sunset gave her a deadly glare.
“Sree,” said Golden Hazel.
Watermelody had decided to start walking backwards herself, but in the opposite direction.
“You’re screwed, Golden Hazel!” said Watermelody as she turned the corner, still backwards.
Golden Hazel grabbed onto Derpy at the upper arm and started running as fast as she could. Derpy had trouble keeping up and at one point she was literally being dragged, but managed to find her footing fairly quickly after that.
“Uh, see you later, Sunset!” said Derpy.
Sunset didn’t respond, but she did look annoyed at them and gave off a foreboding aura.
“Why are you trying to talk with that monster, Derpy?” said Golden Hazel.
“I wanted answers,” said Derpy in a mumble.
“A lot do from her, I’ll bet,” said Golden Hazel.
‘Not the same ones I was looking for,’ thought Derpy.