Equestria Girls: Magical Meltdown

by PonyUpYourBits

You Won't be Necessary

"Hey, Pinkie!" a voice called from down the hallway. The pink-haired girl looked down the halls to see a small purple dog running up towards her.

"Hiya, Spike!" she called back, knowing it was the dog who was talking to her. The dog scurried up to her and sat down at her feet.

"Have you seen Twilight?" he asked her. Pinkie Pie thought for a moment before shaking her head. Spike looked perplexed. "She said we were going to the dog park after school today. I was waiting with Fluttershy all this time..." he said, a tinge of complaining heard in his voice.

"Maybe she's just studying," Pinkie proposed. Spike wiggled his nose at the insinuation. While Twilight was known to prioritize her studies, it wasn't like her to blow off spending time with him for it. Pinkie noticed his mild disgust and put her hands on her hips. "Well if you're going to be grumpy about it I guess we could try to find her," she said with some resignation. Spike leapt into her arms and wagged his tail vigorously.

Pinkie Pie carried Spike through the halls until they approached an open classroom door. Inside they could hear a familiar voice on the phone.

"....no, I wanted to get green plates...and we'll need about 20 packs of plastic ware..." they could hear coming through the door.

"That sounds like Sunset," Spike said. The pair approached the door frame and looked inside. They saw their friend hunched over a desk at the rear of the classroom with their back to them, taking notes on a notebook with one hand with her cell phone in the other. Pinkie knocked on the door lightly to get her attention. Sunset Shimmer turned around and saw Pinkie and Spike standing at the front of the room.

"Let me call you back, Blue Sky," she said, ending her call so she could address her friends. "Hey guys, what's up?" she asked, once free from her phone.

"Spike wanted to know if you've seen Twilight today," Pinkie explained. Sunset paused for a moment like Pinkie had when Spike asked her then shook her head as well. "Only time Twilight and I were together was at lunch," she explained. "I've been too busy with this festival planning stuff otherwise."

Spike looked dejected and Sunset saw he was unhappy. "Well, hey, she's probably still at the school. Did you check the lab?"

"No, I've been with Fluttershy for most of the day until I ran into Pinkie," Spike said while shaking his head. Sunset grabbed her notebook off the desk then left the classroom with Pinkie and Spike.

"So are you guys looking forward to the game on Saturday?" Sunset asked Pinkie as they walked through the halls.

"Oh yeah! We always kick butt at the homecoming game and then it's festival time!" Pinkie excitedly proclaimed.

"What's 'the festival'?" Spike asked.

"It's the senior homecoming festival," Sunset explained. "Every year our school holds a homecoming football game on the second Saturday of October and then a homecoming dance for the juniors and seniors the following weekend. The week between the game and the dance the senior class puts on a week-long festival for the rest of the school with carnival games, snacks, student performances, and just a chance for everyone to cut loose."

"This is the first time you and Twilight will be able to come, huh?" Pinkie added, remembering that Twilight and Spike only came to Canterlot High in the past year.

"Since we're seniors this year, I wanted to be the one to manage the festival," Sunset continued. "It's been a lot of work but I love spending all this time with the other students."

"Plus the Rainbooms are gonna perform during the festival!" Pinkie said, enthusiastic about their show. "We're all really excited since the student performances are always the best part of the festival."

"Tomorrow at the game I'll be giving a speech to the student body to usher in the start of the festival and I'm going to have Twilight, Pinkie, and the others up there with me," Sunset said. "Pinkie and Rainbow Dash are always good at getting a crowd hyped up."

The trio descended the stairs to the ground floor of the school and continued towards Twilight's lab on the lower level. When they rounded another bend Pinkie saw two people standing in front of a door further down the hall.

"Hey, it's Pearlesecent and Jade Jewel!" Pinkie said, immediately recognizing Pearlesecent's soft, straight pink hair. "Hi, Pearl!" she called down to her friend with a wave.

---

"You don't need to keep stalling," Sunset Shimmer said, continuing to badger Twilight Sparkle for the information she wanted. "I've got nothing against you, you just have something I want to know and you know that you can help me."

"Please...please don't," Twilight said, nervously fidgeting from the pressure put on by Sunset. "You don't know what you're asking!" Her hands were trembling, causing the papers she was holding to rattle loudly.

"I'll be the one to decide that. So just tell me what I need to know about these notes."

Outside the room, Jade Jewel and Pearlescent stood watch over the door.

"Hi, Pearl!" a cheery voice called from down the hallway.

"Eh?" Pearlescent muttered, glancing to her left, her attention piqued by the sound of her name. She saw Pinkie Pie and another girl standing at the hallway intersection with a small purple dog in her arms. "Huh, it's Pinkie Pie," Pearlescent said to Jade Jewel.

"Who's that with her?" Jade added, unfamiliar with the other girl who was with Pinkie.

Pinkie and the other girl made their way down to the pair.

"Hey, guys!" Pinkie said with a big grin. "How's it going?"

"Uh...great," Pearlescent said apprehensively, not wanting to allude to what they were really doing. Jade Jewel looked over at the girl who was with Pinkie Pie and raised an eyebrow.

"Hi..." Jade said, slightly unsteady by what she was looking at. "I...don't think we've met before." She gave the girl a quick once-over and was hit with an odd sense of deja vu. "Are you one of Pinkie Pie's friends?"

"Guess we haven't," the girl replied. "Yeah, Pinkie Pie and I are friends."

"I...like your hair..." Jade said, her attention focused on the girl's bright orange and yellow hair. "One of our friends has really similar hair." Pearlesecent seemed equally as mesmerized by the girl standing with Pinkie.

"This is 'Sunset Shimmer'," Pinkie said, introducing her friend. "She's helping plan the senior homecoming festival!"

Jade and Pearlescent's eyes widened and they both looked at each other. "Did...did you say your name is 'Sunset Shimmer'?" Pearlescent said, now very surprised.

Sunset tilted her head, slightly confused by the reaction she was getting. "Um...yes?" she responded. "Were you expecting something else..?"

"Er...well...no but..." Jade stammered, at a loss to find appropriate words. She glanced over at Pearlescent for help.

"Yeah it's just...um..." Pearlesecent tried to continue her friend's train of thought was just as befuddled by the unusual scenario. "It's just like one of those weird things that-"

"Hey, there's Twilight!" Pinkie interrupted Pearlescent. She looked through the window on the door Pearlescent and Jade Jewel were standing in front of and saw the back of Twilight's dark purple hair. She reached for the door handle but was cut off by Jade Jewel grabbing her wrist. "Hey, what's the big idea!" Pinkie said, offended by the sudden confrontation. She pulled her hand back sharply.

"Sorry, can't let you in there," Jade said tersely. Pearlescent folded her arms to show she stood with Jade.

"Why not? That's our friend," Sunset protested, also unhappy with the response from the two girls. "We just wanted to bring Spike back to her." The dog in Pinkie's arms gave a low snarling growl towards Pearlescent and Jade.

"She's busy," Pearlescent said without explaining anything more. "We'll let her know she's looking for you."

Pinkie Pie set Spike down and lowered her eyebrows. "Let us in there!" she said, now nearly shouting. She attempted to push past Jade Jewel but was shoved back. Sunset Shimmer got involved and tried to break past Pearlescent towards the door but was met with the same resistance.

Inside the room, the shrill sound of Pinkie's objection pierced the door and the human Sunset Shimmer diverted her attention to look out the door's window. She saw Pinkie Pie wrestling with Jade Jewel and knew that she was about to be found out.

"Hmph..." she grunted. She snatched back the papers that Twilight was holding and stuffed them into the folder. "Guess we'll need to continue this later!" Sunset raced to the door and threw it open. She was looking towards Jade Jewel and Pearlescent as she exited, not seeing the other girl who was with Pinkie Pie as she fled the room. As a result, she stumbled and fell on top of the other girl as she tried to push through the confrontation outside.

"Oof!" she exclaimed, falling to the floor on top of the girl she plowed into. She came to rest her hand on top of the other girl's shoulder.

"Hey! Get off!" Sunset Shimmer said, trying to get this unknown girl off of her. However, as she grabbed the other girl's arm to push her off, a spark jumped between the girl's hand and her shoulder. At that moment, Twilight had come through the door and saw the two girls lying on the ground.

"Oh no...!" Twilight said, seeing what had happened and knowing what was about to occur.

"Hm...?" the human Sunset Shimmer muttered when she noticed the sparks jumping between her and the other girl. Just as she did, an explosion of energy burst from the point of contact between the two Sunset Shimmers. The area became blanketed in a sphere of bright energy that enveloped Jade Jewel, Pearlescent, Pinkie Pie, Twilight Sparkle, and Spike. As had happened before when Twilight touched her Equestrian counterpart, everyone within the sphere was transformed into more equine forms, save for Spike, who once more turned into a small dragon. Everyone present was transported to a completely unfamiliar location in the middle of what looked like a town.

"What?! What's going on?! Where are we?!" Jade screamed, horrified by what was happening. She looked down at her arms, which had turned into hooves. She and Pearlescent exchanged glances and screamed in terror at the drastic changes their bodies had undergone.

"Y-y-you look like...like...an animal!" Pearlesecent cried, equally as terrified as her friend. She looked around and saw that the other girls had also taken on equine forms. "Sunset!" What is this?!"

"And who are they?!" Jade exclaimed. She looked out across what she could see of the town and saw several other four-footed creatures standing outside the energy sphere, their mouths agape at what they were looking at.

Meanwhile, the human Sunset Shimmer was in awe of what she was witnessing. "This...this is it! I did it! I knew you came from another dimension!" Her equine face twisted into a sinister grin, knowing she had found what she was looking for. "This must be the world you came from! I need to know more! How is this done?!"

Sunset felt a new sensation, the likes of which she had never experienced before. The horn that had emerged from her head began to glow as Sunset discovered that she was able to channel magical energy with help from the dimensional rift. She began to focus and tried to create a spell.

The Equestrian Sunset Shimmer took advantage of her counterpart's distraction with her newfound ability and managed to throw her off before she could unleash any magic. As soon as she did, the energy sphere retreated and everything returned to normal with the dimensional link broken. The other girls caught in the nexus fell to the ground as soon as the energy sphere dissipated. Sunset Shimmer was panting in fear as she looked her dimensional counterpart in the eyes. "It...it's you..." she stammered, only barely able to get out the words.

"I guess I don't need you after all," the human Sunset Shimmer grinned devilishly, looking in the direction of Twilight Sparkle. Twilight could only manage an exhausted and strained look of panic in response.

"What just happened...?" Spike said, still recovering from the unexpected dimensional shift. Pearlescent and Jade Jewel both looked in shock at the dog.

"Di-did that dog just talk?!" Jade said, still scared from what she had just experienced and now having yet another supernatural event happening in front of her. "What is happening?!" she cried, now feeling like she was losing her mind.

The human Sunset Shimmer began reaching for her dimensional counterpart again in order to cause the nexus to reappear but felt something take hold around her leg. She looked back and saw that Pearlescent had grabbed the cuff of her pants, trying to prevent her from making contact again. Pearlesecent's eyes were full of fear and she direly shook her head at what Sunset was attempting to do.

"Smh...fine," Sunset muttered, acknowledging Pearlescent's protest. She picked herself off the ground and began to take off running down the hallway. She looked back at her two friends, who were still lying on the ground. "Well, come on!" she ordered to Jade Jewel and Pearlescent. Pearlescent and Jade nervously stood up and looked at the other girls, who were still as shocked as they were, before reticently following their friend towards the school exit.

---

The three girls burst through the red double doors to the school's exterior before stopping and catching their breath.

"What...what was that?!" Jade said between gasps, still trying to take in everything. "What's going on...Sunset?!"

Sunset Shimmer just laughed quietly at Jade's panicked questions. Pearlescent grew agitated and grabbed Sunset by the hood of her shirt. "You know what's going on, don't you?!" she demanded to know. "That's why you were so interested in Twilight, isn't it? Magical powers, alternate dimensions, talking dogs...it's all connected to her! And that other girl...she looks identical to you and even has your name! All of this happened when you touched her! Who is she?!"

Sunset brushed her friend's hand off her shirt and turned to face them. "Isn't it exciting?" she said, a scheming tone in her voice. "All that power and the key is that girl!"

"You don't even know what happened!" Jade said, accusing Sunset of being reckless. "All you did was fall on her and as soon as you put your hand on her shoulder, reality turned upside down!"

"I know what I need to know," Sunset responded confidently. "Once I control this power then no one will ever disrespect me again!"

"Is that all this is about?!" Pearlesecent said, adamant that her friend has such a petty reason for dabbling with something so dangerous.

"She did the same thing when she came to this world," Sunset replied, undeterred. "She used her powers to rule this school and if she can do it, so can I. This school has been the site of several similar events in the past and Twilight was keeping notes on them."

"Did it ever occur to you that she was keeping notes because of how BAD it would be if it happened again?!" Jade Jewel argued. "And here you are deliberately trying to tempt fate!"

"Suit yourself," Sunset Shimmer flippantly responded, slowly backing away from her friends. "I've got all the information I need now, I don't need your help or anyone else. I just need to get that other Sunset Shimmer to come to me and then I'll unlock this power for sure."

"You haven't changed at all," Pearlescent said, admonishing her friend's attitude. "All you want is respect and acceptance without working for it."

"No!" she snapped back, pointing aggressively at Pearlescent. "No one wants to know me! They never had any interest in anything about me and it's just taken me too long to realize that I don't need to care about them either. She knew that when she came to this world and used what she brought with her to change that. If it worked for her then I'll make it work for me." With that, Sunset ran off, leaving her friends confused and upset.

Comments

[BenRG]

Nothing good will come of any of this. I wonder if Pearlescent and Jade will realise that before or after Sunset drags them to hell in her pursuit of power she is unable to understand and unable to really control?

[Pr1deM0rn1ngstar]

Anyone else seeing a developing pattern with things like this and people like her