//------------------------------//
// XVIII - A Blast From the Past 
// Story: The Misadventures of Sunset Shimmers 
// by Yukito 
//------------------------------//

There were many things in the world that Sunset Shimmer didn't know. The meaning of life, for one, and the secret to world peace. Of all the things that she didn't know, however, she was not expecting Twilight's secret laboratory to be one of those things. Nor did she expect it to be hidden beneath their school, accessed by a false bookcase within the library.

"You say you just found this lying around?" Sunset tapped an empty glass vial hanging above an inactive Bunsen burner and gasped as it started to fall. She managed to grab it just in time and gently secured it back into its clamp.

"Yup!" Twilight cheered as she skipped across the lab, leading her friend towards a large computer with several monitors. "I think it was probably used before the academy was built, but whoever left it behind didn't take everything with them."

Sunset stopped behind Twilight and looked around. She found a cabinet on its side with a lot of glass shards scattered on the floor. "Looks like something went down in here."

"What really caught my attention was this machine, though," Twilight said, pushing a few buttons on the console of the computer. "It looks like they were conducting some pretty heavy research down here."

Sunset raised an eyebrow as she glanced back over at Twilight. "Hey, should you be touching that?"

"It's fine," Twilight assured her. "What's the worst that could happ-"

"WARNING: TEMPORAL EXPERIMENT INITIATED. PLEASE SELECT DESTINATION."

"… I can fix this," Twilight said, about to start pushing more buttons before Sunset grabbed her wrists from behind.

"Don't!" Sunset shouted. "Look, let's just back out of here slowly and carefully. We can report this finding to your brother and he can have a team of experts come in and-"

"Are you nuts?!" Twilight cried, pulling her hands free of Sunset's grasp. "Do you have any idea how big of a find this is?! The computers are brand-new, but if this was here before the academy was built then it must be at least forty years old!"

A series of hums and beeps silenced the two before the lights around them dimmed. "ACKNOWLEDGED. DESTINATION CALIBRATED. INITATING TEMPORAL RELOCATION."

A bright light surrounded Sunset Shimmer, trapping her in a prison that she could not seem to pass through. "TWILIGHT, HEL-"





"-P!" The light vanished, and Sunset blinked her eyes a couple of times. She was still inside of the abandoned lab, but the computer was inactive, and Twilight was nowhere to be seen. "T-Twilight?"

"Who's there?" Sunset jumped and turned around. Standing behind her, wearing a white lab coat and a pair of clear goggles, was somebody who could very easily have passed for Twilight, had it not been for the blue streaks mixed in with Twilight's purple and pink hair, and the fact that she appeared too old to be a teenager. "Who are you? And how do you know my name?"

"W-What? But, there's no way you could be Twilight. You're too old!"

The woman huffed. "How rude! I'll have you know that I'm only thirty-three!" She flicked her hair and added, "And for your information, I am indeed Twilight Twinkle."

Sunset Shimmer gasped. "T-Twilight Twinkle? But that's her grandmother's name. B-But then that means… Oh. Em. Gee."

Twilight Twinkle tilted her head. "Ohemgee? What's that?"

"I… W-What year is it?!"

"Why it's nineteen-seventy-five, of course."

Sunset Shimmer took a step back, her face pale and her hands shaking. She placed a hand against her forehead and tried to think of another plausible explanation, but she knew that it was in vain. There was only one answer. "I'm… in the past."

Twilight Twinkle's eyes widened, and she shifted her attention from the girl to the computer behind her. "… Great Scott…"





"Do I really need to wear this bag over my head?" Sunset Shimmer asked as she walked cautiously down the street, her eyeholes not adequate for providing accurate vision, though she could see the strange looks pointed towards her just fine.

"Of course!" Twilight Twinkle exclaimed, taking Sunset Shimmer's hand and picking up the pace for the both of them. "If someone here were to recognise you in the future, we have no idea what catastrophic events that might cause!"

"I think it's fine so long as it doesn't alter the past, right?"

"Fool! Don't you realise that government has eyes everywhere? There's no telling what could happen if this technology fell into the wrong hands!"

"The 'wrong hands'?"

Twilight Twinkle stopped and turned suddenly, moving her face closer to Sunset's so that she could whisper, "The president, the CIA, the FBI… None of them can be trusted!"

Sunset Shimmer took a nervous step back and sighed. "If only she knew that her grandson…"

"What was that?" Twilight Twinkle asked. "You'll have to speak up. I damaged my hearing when I was fifteen, sneaking into Roswell to prove that they were hiding the existence of aliens."

"And did you?"

"… They must have anticipated me and hid their evidence before I arrived."

"Of course." Sunset Shimmer pulled her hand from Twilight Twinkle's grasp and moved ahead of her. "In any case, let's just keep moving. I want to get this bag off of my head as soon as possible."

Twilight Twinkle raised an eyebrow as she followed. "How do you know the way to my house?"

"I've been there before," Sunset Shimmer said. "With your granddaughter. I'm her best friend."

Twilight Twinkles clapped her hands and laughed. "Granddaughter! Oh my, to think that I have a granddaughter someday!" Twinkle wiped a tear from her eye and calmed down, before asking, "Well then, I guess now I have something to look forward to."

Sunset Shimmer bit her lip and froze on the spot. "About that… you kind of… die… before she's born-"

"AHHHHH!" Twilight Twinkle covered her ears and shook her head. "Why did you tell me that?! You can't tell me something like that! Knowing too much about my own future is dangerous! You could forever alter the course of history, you fool!"

"S-Sorry!"

"'Sorry' doesn't cut it! From now own, don't tell me anything about the future unless I specifically ask for it, understand?" Sunset Shimmer nodded her head silently. "Good! Now then, lead the way. I'll keep a lookout for government agents."

"Whatever you say…" 'I guess crazy runs in the genes. I wonder if Twilight's mother was ever like this?'





'Speak of the devil…' Sunset Shimmer wasn't sure how to feel. She was used to looking up as Twilight's mother scolded her and Twilight, or pleading whenever the two needed permission or a ride for some trip out of town. She was not used to looking down on the strict motherly figure as a confused-looking little girl in her pyjamas, a teddy bear in one hand and a plastic cup of juice in the other.

"Hello, Velvet," Twilight Twinkle said as she kneeled down before the girl, stroking her head with a smile. "Were you a good girl for Aunt Rosedust?"

"Mhm," Twilight Velvet replied with a nod, not taking her eyes off of Sunset Shimmer the entire time. "Why she wearin' a bag on her head?"

"It's an experiment," Twilight Twinkle replied.

"Ex-peh-ri-ment?"

"That's right. 'Experiment'. It means I'm performing an important scientific test, and she's my lab rat."

"Hey!" Sunset Shimmer protested. Suddenly, a woman about Twilight Twinkle's age appeared behind Twilight Velvet. Her skin was yellow and her hair pink, and she wore a feather in her hair that was just a slightly-darker shade of pink.

"Back so soon, Doctor Twinkle?" the woman asked.

Twilight Twinkle stood up and reached into her purse, whilst Sunset Shimmer simply looked on in shock through her bag. "Doctor? … That's right, Twilight's grandmother was a doctor… Oh god, she's a doctor."

"Thank you as always, Rosedust," Twilight Twinkle said, handing a stack of money to the woman, causing her to raise an eyebrow. "Would you mind looking after Velvet just a little longer tonight? I've made a breakthrough and will be heading back to my lab after collecting a few things."

"You're leavin' again?" Twilight Velvet asked, a frown forming on her face.

"I'm sorry, dear, but you must understand that this is very crucial work. Your mother is fighting to save the entire universe!"

Twilight Velvet smiled and nodded her head. "Will you tell me 'bout it when you come back?"

"Of course. Every last detail."

Sunset Shimmer gasped as something crossed her mind. "Wait, it couldn't be… Twilight Velvet's first novel… was inspired by this?"

"Well, I'm afraid that I simply don't have the time," Rosedust said, looking at her wristwatch. "I have another appointment to make in thirty minutes."

"I could look after Velvet for you," Sunset Shimmer suggested.

"Are you good with kids?" Twilight Twinkle asked.

"Good enough to not let them be killed."

"Works for me. Just make sure you don't let her get into the coffee or she won't be able to sleep all night."

As Rosedust walk past the two to leave, she turned and said, "You know, if you keep relying on others to look after Twilight Velvet, you're going to miss watching her grow up."

"I just have one more experiment to prove my hypothesis correct," Twilight Twinkle said. "After that, the world will be a better place for all and Velvet and I can spend all the time we want together!"

"Your hypothesis?" Sunset Shimmer asked.

"That's right. I intend to prove that the American government has been abusing time travel to make its own country more powerful! That's how we suddenly got our hand on nuclear warheads during the war! They're from the future!"

"… Riiiiiiight. And I suppose this 'time travel' that they have access to is-"

Twilight Twinkle pressed her hand against roughly where Sunset Shimmer's mouth would have been located behind her bag. "SSSHHH!"

Sunset Shimmer slowly removed the hand from her mouth and with a look of mild annoyance. "As I was saying, how long do you think you it will take before you can get that thing working?"

"Who knows? I'll come find you when I'm ready though." Twilight Twinkle leaned down and gave her daughter a hug. "Now be good for Auntie Shimmer, okay Velvet?"

"Okay Mum! I will!"

After Twilight Twinkle left, Sunset Shimmer and Twilight Velvet simply stood in silence for a long, long time, staring at each other awkwardly, neither one daring to make the first move.

Finally, Sunset Shimmer asked, "So… what do you do for fun around here?"





Sunset Shimmer had no idea where to take a child in her own time period, let alone two generations into the past. It didn’t help that the only thing she really knew about Twilight Velvet was that she was as fond as books as Twilight was, and there were no libraries anywhere in Canterlot yet. The nearest library was the next town over, but Sunset didn’t want to go too far whilst Twilight Twinkle worked on the time machine.

Ice-cream seemed like a good idea, so Sunset took the young Twilight Velvet to a local diner where she could order the two something sweet to eat. It worked for the most part, minus the strange looks Sunset was getting for her clothing.

“So… what’s Mommy… doin’?” Twilight Velvet asked in-between scoops of her ice-cream. In her hurry to shovel all of the sugary goodness into her mouth, most of it missed the mark and covered her cheeks.

Sunset Shimmer chuckled and took out a napkin to clean the child’s face up. Twilight Velvet squirmed in response but didn’t put up much more resistance until she was clean. “As she said, it’s a very important job to save the world.”

“My brother says that she’s actually an eeeevil witch, makin’ potions an’ spells to make me go to bed early an’ eat broccoli.”

Sunset raised an eyebrow. “Well, that’s- Wait, you have a brother?” Sunset tried to recall any time she had ever heard of Twilight Sparkle having an uncle.

“He lives in my rocket ship an’ only comes out when Mommy’s not home.”

“Ah, I see.” Sunset chuckled again. ‘I see she’s always had an active imagination.’

“Is Mommy a witch?”

Sunset shook her head. “No, she’s not. Quite the opposite: she’s a scientist.”

“A si-en-tist?”

“It means that, instead of turning people into lizards, she helps them by finding the answers to the most important questions in the universe.”

“Like where ice-cream comes from?”

“Hahaha… Yes, like where ice-cream comes from. In fact, she might already know.”

Twilight Velvet gasped. “I gotta ask her!” Suddenly, the girl jumped out of her seat. “I gotta use the bathroom!”

Sunset watched her run towards the restrooms at the back of the store. “Don’t take long!” With a sigh, Sunset rested her head on her hand and turned to look outside of the window. Everything look so much different than she remembered. Buildings she used to walk by or enter frequently either didn’t exist or were still being built. More people were walking to where they needed to go rather than driving. The homeless problem certainly seemed to have improved, unless they were all just good at hiding themselves.

The door behind Sunset opened and the little bell inside the shop rang. “Hey Dusk Glimmer!” Sunset heard footsteps walking towards her but she ignored them, since whoever it was wasn’t after her- Sunset felt a hand on her shoulder and turned around. “I thought I told you never to… You’re not Dusk Glimmer.”

Standing before her, Sunset Shimmer was facing a much taller woman, her face painted with more makeup than a clown would wear, with a long black trenchcoat over her bandaged chest. She raised a fist to Sunset’s face quickly, causing her to flinch as the spikes of her wristbands made contact, and laughed along with her friends.

“Check out this dweeb’s clothes,” one of the girls said, pulling at Sunset’s jacket before Sunset Shimmer took a step back, glaring daggers at the group. “Ooh, new girl thinks she’s tough! What's with the bag? Too ashamed to show your own face?”

“What’s your name?” the girl in the long trenchcoat asked. Sunset Shimmer didn’t answer right away, so the girl grabbed her chin with one hand and said, “You got wax in your ears, huh?”

“Tireena, knock it off!” the clerk at the counter shouted.

The girl, ‘Tireena’, released Sunset Shimmer and slowly turned to face the clerk. The old man suddenly shied away, hiding behind two of the customers eating at the counter.

Sunset Shimmer took the chance trip Tireena up with a sweeping kick. Everybody gasped as the large girl slammed into the floor, followed by Sunset Shimmer jumping over her and rushing outside. Tireena fumed as she pushed herself up and watched as her assailant fled across the street. “Get the girl!”

Tireena rushed outside with her friends, watching as Sunset Shimmer stopped a couple of kids riding on their scooters and stole one of the toys. “Hey kid, lend me this for a moment will you?” Sunset Shimmer dismantled the handlebar from the scooter, turning it into a skateboard, before throwing it down and proceeding to ride it down the block.

“Get in the car!”

Sunset Shimmer checked behind herself, making sure that she was clear of Tireena and sighing with relief. As she turned back to see where she was going, she was confronted by a large, motorised monster and screamed as it rammed into her, falling onto the hood as the girls driving it laughed and cheered.

“Hand me the club!” Tireena shouted, letting go of the steering wheel as she was handed a large, spiked baseball bat, and she stood up in her seat, her shadow consuming Sunset Shimmer. “Eat this!”

Sunset rolled to the side, dodging the spiked bat that pierced the car’s hood. The engine erupted and the car jerked, knocking Tireena off of her feet and onto the hood with Sunset Shimmer. As the car slowly rolled to a stop, Sunset jumped off and back onto her skateboard, riding off with a flip of the finger and a raspberry to the gang of hoodlums… before crashing into a statue and falling onto her back.

As her vision began to adjust itself, Sunset was greeted to the jeering scowls of several unhappy girls. One of them – Tireena – pulled Sunset to her feet and pulled her fist back, ready to clock Sunset Shimmer’s noggin and quite possibly end her life right then-and-there.

“GZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”

Tireena fell down, smoke rising from the back of her neck, and her friends all looked to see what had happened. Sunset Shimmer gasped. Standing behind Tireena’s fallen body, Twilight Sparkle was holding a powerful Taser in her hand with a demonic smile on her face. “Who’s next, hm? How about you, young lady?”

“It’s that mad scientist!”

“L-Let’s get out of here!”

Tireena’s friend picked Tireena up and fled the scene, leaving Sunset Shimmer and Twilight Sparkle all alone.

“What do you think you are doing?!” Twilight shouted. Sunset Shimmer raised an eyebrow, before shaking her head to clear the last of her wooziness away. As her vision began to settle, she found that it was not Twilight Sparkle, but Twilight Twinkle that was standing before her. “What did I tell you about not disrupting the space-time continuum?!”

“B-But she started it!” Sunset Shimmer shouted. “She was picking a fight, and then-”

“I don’t care! What’s worse: a girl picking a fight with some innocent chap or the end of the universe?!”

“Well when you put it that way,” Sunset mumbled, casting her eyes downwards.

“Well, we all still seem to be here, so I suppose I can overlook it. In any case, I have the time machine all ready to go!”

Sunset’s face lit up. “You do?!”

“Wellll… I had to tinker around with it first, give it a new form, but yes, it is all set to go.”

“What are we waiting for then? Let’s go!”





"… So why a delorean?" Sunset Shimmer asked as she felt the cold metal of the car and bent down to look inside. It looked cozy, minus the sparking machines taking up over half of the space.

"Well, if you're going to travel through time, why not do it in style?"

"Where did you even get the money for all this?"

"I took out a loan." Twilight Twinkle opened the door and ushered Sunset Shimmer inside. "Now hurry, before you tear a hole in the space-time continuum!"

"W-Wait, wait!" Sunset Shimmer was forced into the car and watched as the door closed on her. She opened the window, glaring at Twilight Twinkle. "Just like that?! No goodbyes or-"

"Please, you must hurry!" Twilight Twinkle insisted, reaching inside and fastening Sunset Shimmer's seatbelt. "The longer you stay here the more uncomfortable I feel, and besides…"

"Besides… what?" A loud explosion startled Sunset Shimmer and she tried to look over her shoulder. "What was that?!"

"They've found us!"

"Who's found us?!" Sunset Shimmer demanded.

"The FBI!" Twilight Twinkle pulled out an AK47 and started firing, forcing Sunset Shimmer to cover her ears. "GO! NOW!"

"WHAT?!" Sunset asked. Twilight Twinkle reached into the car and pushed a few buttons. As she pulled her hand out, the window started to wind itself back up and the car came to life. "HEY!"

"Drive!"

"But I-"

"I'll be fine, but you have to go, or else you'll never return back to your time!" Twilight Twinkle smiled. "I like you, Sunset Shimmer. I'm glad that my granddaughter has a friend like you by her side… Now please, drive! Once you hit eighty-eight, you'll see some… interesting stuff."

Sunset Shimmer gulped and nodded her head. Focussing in front of her, she pushed her foot down on the accelerator and sighed. "A manual? Really?" Adjusting the clutch, Sunset placed one hand on the gearstick and revved the engine. A bullet hole hit her side mirror and she screamed, releasing the handbrake and taking off. She hit eighty-eight miles per hour fairly quickly and entered a wormhole of colours, seeing clocks flying all around her, along with a blue box that spun around.

A flash of light filled Sunset's vision, and when it died down, she found herself back in the lab… with guns pointed at her from several soldiers in black uniforms.

"Get out of the car! Now!"

Sunset Shimmer's hands shook, and she froze as several lasers shone in her eyes. Slowly, she reached for her door and opened it up, climbing out and raising her hands. "Please…"

"UGH!"

"AAH!"

"OOF!"

One-by-one, the soldiers fell, with loud bangs accompanying each one. When the final soldier fell, Sunset Shimmer turned around to find Shining Armor standing behind her, his white shirt open, revealing his muscular chest, and wearing a tatty bandana on his head.

"Come with me if you want to live."

Sunset Shimmer couldn't find many words as she blushed and extended her hand slowly. "Yeah…" Shining Armor took her hand and carried her in his arms, rushing through the facility. She rested her head into his chest and felt at peace.

"Sunset Shimmer."

"Yeah?"

"It's time for school."

"… What?"





Sunset Shimmer blinked her eyes and tried to make sense of things. Why was she suddenly back in her room. Where had Shining Armor and the time machine gone? Why could she hear Twilight Sparkle's voice ringing in her ears?

"Sunset Shimmer! It's time for school!"

And then it hit her. The annoying alarm clock that Twilight Sparkle had given her after she was late for school one day after sleeping in. The pile of sci-fi films at the foot of her bed and on her floor. The popcorn scattered everywhere and the fact that she was sleeping in her casual clothes.

Sunset Shimmer yawned and rubbed her eyes. "That's what I get for marathoning all those movies in one night…" Sunset Shimmer smacked the alarm clock to shut it up and then climbed out of her bed. She approached the mirror on her wall and studied her appearance. Her hair was a mess, so she picked up the nearby brush and began to fix that at once.

A brush here-and-there, and she was looking much more presentable. She put the brush down and stared into her mirror for a few more seconds… Her face suddenly turned red as she woke up completely. "Why was Shining Armor there?!"