• Published 26th May 2019
  • 4,471 Views, 86 Comments

Equestria Girls: Two Sunsets - moviefan-92



CHS is having a talent show, and the girls are eager to join. But then the human Sunset Shimmer suddenly appears. They try to befriend her, but she's shy and reserved, and seems to be hiding something magic. Is she evil like her counterpart once was?

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Chapter 7: Reluctance

Author's Note:

Grr, this is twice now that I haven't been able to come up with a good chapter title. I mean, it's suitable for a couple different reasons, as you'll soon see, but I wanted something a bit... more. Anyway, last chapter Sunset developed a few suspicions about her counterpart, and rightfully so, but she's hoping that those concerns are wrong. Will Princess Twilight be able to offer some helpful advice on what to do when she reads Sunset's latest entry. As for the human Sunset, now that she has a better understanding of things, she's continuing her investigation. But it looks like she got roped into a situation she hadn't expected to be in. Is Twilight right? Is friendship the real thing that the human Sunset needs? And if so, is she willing to accept it, or is there something else she's seeking? Read on to find out.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.


Equestria Girls and other human world residents: …Normal Font…

Mane Six, human Sunset Shimmer, and other Equestria residents: …Italicized Font…

Chapter 7: Reluctance

"Is it just me," said Applejack as she and her friends met in the music room after school for practice, "or does it seem like SunShim doesn't like us that much?"

It had been several days since they had attempted to befriend Sunset. They had showed her around the school and introduced her to their other friends. She had been allowed to attend classes and school clubs, and from what they could tell, she seemed to enjoy herself, but for some reason, there seemed to be something holding her back. She always seemed withdrawn and distracted, almost as if she were afraid to interact with any of them. It was almost as if she wouldn't allow herself to fully enjoy the experience. It was quite baffling.

"Whaaaat?" Pinkie Pie exclaimed in response to Applejack's question. "Noooo. We're all the best of friends."

Applejack raised an eyebrow. "Then why does it seem like she's always so uncomfortable around us?"

Twilight sighed as she looked up from the song sheet she was working on. "I hate to admit it, Pinkie Pie, but I think Applejack's right. It seems like outside of classes and lunch, every time we invite her to hang out with us, she blows us off. Like last time when we invited her to do that escape room with us."

Rainbow Dash crossed her arms. "I still can't believe we missed breaking the record by two seconds due to a technicality."

Sunset had noticed the same thing as Twilight and Applejack in regards to her counterpart, and while she didn't want to admit it, she thought she knew what the problem was. "I think… I think that I might be the reason why."

The others looked at her questioningly. "Whatever for, dear?" Rarity asked. "You haven't done anything wrong that I've noticed."

Sunset shook her head. "It's not so much something that I did, it's just my presence in general. Maybe she doesn't feel comfortable being around another her."

"That's silly," Pinkie Pie declared from behind her drum set. "That would be like our Twilight feeling uncomfortable when Princess Twilight came, but we all know that that wasn't the case. Right?"

"Uh…" Twilight muttered. Uncomfortable wasn't exactly the right word for it. Awkward, maybe, definitely strange, but she didn't want to admit it, and so instead just diverted her eyes and forced a grin. "Yeah, that would be pretty silly."

"I know, right? I actually think it would be pretty fun to have my other self around. Two Pinkies for the prices of one." She inhaled loudly. "Just imagine if there were a whole bunch of Pinkie Pies! That would be totally awesome, right? Then I could do everything with all my friends all the time."

"Uh…" the others muttered uneasily, and exchanged looks that told each other that they were all thinking the same thing. As much as they all loved and adored their hyperactive friend, one Pinkie Pie was more than enough, and the thought of there being more being more not only sounded utterly exhausting, but would probably drive them all crazy.

"Anyway," said Rainbow Dash, looking to change the subject, "I don't think it's just you, Sunset. She seems to not want to do anything with us individually either. One day while you were at your fencing club, I asked her if she wanted to hang out with me at the soccer club, and she still turned me down."

Sunset considered this before shaking her head. "I could still be the cause. Since I'm friends with you guys, she might feel like… some kind of fifth wheel or something. Or maybe…" she hesitated, reluctant to bring up the direction her thoughts were taking, "or maybe she doesn't want to steal you away from me."

Rarity gave her a strange look. "Steal? Whatever do you mean? How could she possibly steal us?"

Sunset shrugged sadly. "Because she's the Sunset of this world. She might think that if she hangs around with you guys too much that you might start to prefer her over-"

"Stop right there," Applejack interrupted, holding up her hand. "The only reason why you would even think that is if you thought that that might happen at one point. And I can tell you now, ain't no one is gonna steal or replace anyone or anything."

"Indeed!" said Rarity, looking equally as upset. "Our friendship is irreplaceable. No one could ever replace you, counterpart or no. Why, the very thought is ridiculous."

Fluttershy nodded in agreement. "You may both be Sunset Shimmer, but you're still different people. No one could ever take your place."

Rainbow Dash wrapped an arm around Twilight. "Just like no one could ever take either Twilights' place, not even the other."

A smile grazed Sunset's face, her fears, even if they had been fleeting, now completely gone. "Thanks, guys. I feel the same way about you. My stupid brain is sorry for doubting you." She jokingly bonked herself on the head. "But the thought had still entered my head, so it may have entered SunShim's as well, and so she might be trying not to interfere in our lives." She shrugged. "Or I could be completely wrong. In any case, I still feel like I'm the cause for her keeping us at a distance. So maybe she just really doesn't like being around me."

Rarity crossed her arms. "Well, I certainly hope not, because you come with the package. Anyone who has a problem with you has a problem with us."

Applejack nodded in agreement. "You said it, sugar cube. We're not interested in anyone who has a problem with any of our friends."

"Equestria Girls forever!" Pinkie Pie shouted.

Twilight was smiling, but at Pinkie Pie's words, her expression became one of interest. "Wait, what did you just say?"

"I said, Equestria Girls forever!" Pinkie Pie shouted again at equal volume and just as much enthusiasm.

Twilight began scanning her song sheets again, and her face lit up. "That's it!" She began writing excitedly for a minute or two, and then a smile broke out across her face. "Finished!"

"You finished the medley?" Fluttershy asked curiously.

On the floor, Spike scoffed. "It's about time. She's been working on that song non-stop."

"Hey, I was inspired," Twilight objected. "And it's not easy to piece together a bunch of different sings into a new one. I'm thinking of calling it Rainbooms Remix."

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Rainbow Dash cried excitedly. "Lets hear it."

"Sing it! Sing it!" Pinkie Pie demanded eagerly, bouncing up and down.

Blushing lightly, Twilight lifted up the song sheet. "Ok, here it goes."

She cleared her throat and began singing. Her friends listened with rapt attention, openly impressed at how she had been able to string together different verses of their various songs into a brand new one. There were new lyrics too that worked well with the older ones, and the looks of enjoyment on their faces let Twilight know how much they liked what she had done. She felt her confidence grow and became more at ease, unsure why she had ever been nervous to begin with.

When she finished, she lowered the song sheet and looked at her friends. "Well, what do you think?"

"What do we think?" Rarity asked. "That was fabulous, darling!"

"You totally nailed it!" Rainbow Dash cried.

Applejack was applauding quietly. "I'll say. You pieced them songs together so well, they sound as if they were originally one song to begin with."

"I especially liked the new lyrics," said Fluttershy.

"Best medley ever!" Pinkie Pie decreed loudly, throwing handfuls of confetti in the air.

Sunset patted Twilight on the back in congratulations. "Well done, Twilight. It was really good."

The bespectacled girl let out the breath she hadn't realized she had been holding. "Thanks, but I couldn't have done it without your song, Sunset. I was right about it being perfect for the basis. It made using the other songs much easier."

Sunset shook her head. "Nope, this one was all you. You may have used our songs, but it's still yours. You even got some original lyrics in there. Nice touch."

"Well, Pinkie Pie actually helped with some of the original lyrics," Twilight admitted.

"Yeah," the energetic girl replied. "I used these lines from somewhere that I can't remember, but I thought that they'd be great with the song, so Twilight reworked them a bit and put them in there."

"And they work great," Twilight told her. "And thanks for the compliment, Sunset, but I really feel that this was a team effort since I used several of our songs to make it."

Rainbow Dash whipped out her cell phone and began texting. "I'm letting Vinyl know that we've got our medley song. With that, I think our first CD will be ready. We can always make a sequel for any other songs we write in the future." She gasped happily as she received a text response. "She sends her congratulations. Oh, and get this, she said she talked to Wallflower Blush, and she agreed to record her song Invisible for our CD as a guest singer."

Rarity clapped her hands together. "Ooh, delightful. As depressing as it was, it was quite a splendid song, and she sang it beautifully."

There was another ping as Rainbow Dash received a follow-up text, and her grin widened. "Awesome! She said that as soon as we send her copies of the new songs that she'll be ready to start burning the CDs."

Applejack beamed. "Well then we better get to practicing. We haven't got much longer before the talent show anyway, so we best get to it."

They eagerly took up their instruments, and Pinkie Pie clicked her drumsticks together. "Let's rock it!"

They started playing, beginning the first notes of Sunset's song. As the song, progressed and the lyrics began to be sung, it started to happen. The magic within them began to spill out. All seven started to glow with a magic aura, and then the transformations happened.

The change was the same for most of them. Their human ears vanished from the sides of their heads, and pony ears appeared on the tops of their heads. Next was their hair, it began to expand and grow down their backs, nearly reaching the floor, tied off where the growth had begun to give them ponytails. For Twilight, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash, the transformation was taken a step further as feathered wings sprouted from their backs, holes magically opening up in their shirts for them to allow their wings to slip out without damaging their clothes.

It was an incredible feeling for them to play and transform together like this, a unique and special bond that was exclusive to them, forever bonding them together through their magic and the magic of their friendship. And as they played, they were lifted off the ground as they continued to play their instruments while floating in the air. They barely even registered it anymore though, having long since gotten used to it happening when they played. They simply went on like normal, pouring their hearts and souls into their music as their magic swirled around them in a kaleidoscope of colors.

(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)

Things had not been going according to plan. Not that Sunset had had much of a plan to begin with, but she hadn't planned on getting so distracted. All she had wanted to do was come to the school and find the source of magic she'd heard about.

She hadn't come here to make friends, but the Equestria Girls made it very difficult. It was all but impossible not to like them, and so she kept getting distracted. Even worse, she was feeling guilty over what she planned on doing.

Guilt wasn't the only thing she felt though. She also felt envious of her counterpart. She saw the way she interacted with her friends and enjoyed life, and Sunset couldn't help but want that too, and wish that it were her with such great friends, even though she knew good and well the reason why she didn't have that.

It didn't really make sense, she knew that. After all, she had only just met the girls a few days ago, so whether Sunset had been in the picture or not, she would still only have met them recently, and so her relationship with them would still be the same as it was now.

"Focus, Sunset," she told herself as she walked down the school halls. "You know what you need to do. It's all that matters right now. You can take care of everything else later."

She slapped her hands against her cheeks a few times as it to wake herself up, then put on a resolute face as she began marching down the hall with purpose. Truthfully, she had no idea where she was going, but she felt determine and willful. She thought about maybe checking out the statue again; perhaps there was something more she could gain from it, but then decided against it. The statue was nothing more than the doorway to Equestria; she wouldn't get anything more from it.

The truth was, she knew what she needed to do, had known it for days now, but had been putting it off due to reluctance. So instead she had been lying to herself, telling herself that she needed to investigate more. But that wasn't true. She had come here looking for magic, and she had found it. Now all she had to do was take it.

She knew why she was reluctant too. It was those girls. To get what she needed, she would more or less have to betray them. Guilt coiled within her once more at the thought. They had been so kind to her, genuinely wanting to be her friends, and she was going to throw it back in their faces. They would probably hate her for it, but she needed this, far more than they did. They had each other, but she, she had nothing.

As she made her way down the hall, Principal Celestia chose that moment to come around the corner. Sunset immediately froze, feeling like a dear caught in the headlights. She didn't know why, she wasn't doing anything wrong, and the principal couldn't possibly know what she was thinking.

Celestia took notice of Sunset and gave her a smile. "Hello, SunShim. You are SunShim, right?"

Sunset's eye twitched in mild irritation. The nickname had stuck and spread around the school. And while she knew that there was no offense behind it, the fact that she had been the one stuck with the nickname really irked her, almost making her feel like she were second rate to her counterpart, who got to use her actual name. If anything, it should be the other way around. She was the original Sunset Shimmer of this world, and she deserved to be known as such. She didn't deserve to be thought of as second to her counterpart.

And did Celestia really need to ask if she was who she thought she was? She and her counterpart might be identical, but there were still ways of telling them apart, most notably being the way they dressed and how they did their hair.

Stamping down on her annoyance, she gave the principal a smile. "Yes, it's me. But I was looking for the other Sunset and her friends. Do you know where they are?"

Celestia nodded and pointed down the hall. "Of course. They reserved the music room after school so they could practice for the talent show."

"The music room, right," Sunset muttered, remembering that they had invited her to join them after classes, even offering to teach her how to play an instrument of her choice when she mentioned that she didn't play one. In fact, they had attempted to hang out with her several times outside of school, but she had repeatedly turned them down, not wanting to get any more attached than she already was.

"Thanks a lot," she told the principal. "I'll see you later."

"Have a good day."

Not looking back out of some illogical fear that she would somehow give her intentions away, Sunset headed in the direction Celestia had pointed in. She found the music room easily enough, and the muffled sound of music being played from inside could be heard; the room must have been padded for sound.

Cracking the door open, the sound of the Rainbooms playing flowed over Sunset, and her eyes widened in surprise. She had thought that they may have just been fooling around for fun and weren't anything official, but the Equestria Girls could really play! Maybe she should have taken them up on that offer to teach her how to play an instrument.

She listened for a minute or two before opening the door enough to peek inside. What she saw shocked her so much that her mouth dropped open and she unintentionally pulled the door open the rest of the way on reflex.

The Equestria Girls were positively glowing with magic as they played. Their hair was longer, falling past their hips, and was tied into ponytails. On top of their heads were pony ears, their own human ears missing, and three of them had wings growing out of their backs.

The opening of the door distracted them from their playing, and the Equestria Girls glanced at Sunset. Pinkie Pie beamed and began waving from behind her drum set enthusiastically. "Woohoo! SunShim, you made it!"

"Did you change your mind about wanting to learn an instrument?" Sunset asked with a smile.

Her counterpart just continued to stare with her mouth hanging open. The magic aura surrounding the Equestria Girls had vanished, but they still had the pony ears and ponytails, and those that had them still had their wings.

Rainbow Dash glanced at her friends with a raised eyebrow before glancing back at Sunset. "Hey, you ok?"

Snapping out of her stupor, Sunset finally found her voice. "What was that!?"

"What was what?" Fluttershy asked, genuinely confused. Then it registered to her. "Oh, you mean our pony-girl transformations?"

Sunset looked at her strangely. "Pony-girl transformations?"

"Oh dear," said Rarity. "I forgot you didn't know. We've all gotten so used to it that it just seems natural."

Sunset's gaze went from one pony-girl to the other. "You mean… this is normal?"

Rainbow Dash nodded. "Yeah, it happens pretty much every time we play. Check it out."

She began strumming her guitar. Her magic aura returned, and she began floating in the air, and not through the use of her wings. Sunset's mouth hung open as she stared at Rainbow Dash, who slowly settled down on the ground again.

She stopped playing and flashed Sunset a smile as her aura died down again. "Pretty cool, huh?"

Slowly, Sunset lifted a finger to point at them. "Then this… this is Equestrian magic? Is it from your geodes?"

Rarity shook her head. "Oh no, darling, not our geodes. But it is Equestrian magic."

"Seems it manifested in us from the Element of Harmony in Princess Twilight's crown," Applejack explained. "And it stayed with us even after she took it back to Equestria."

"Now it comes out when we play together," said Pinkie Pie, striking her cymbals for emphasis.

At that moment, the seven of them returned to normal, their pony ears and wings disappearing, and the hair returning to its normal length. Sunset blinked in surprise and began looking from one to the other again. "Wait, what happened? You changed back again."

Rarity chuckled. "Well, it's not permanent, darling. We return to normal after a few minutes."

"We can do it again if you want to see it," Rainbow Dash suggested.

Sunset looked from one to the other. "So you're saying that this is completely normal for you?"

"Yeah!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed. "That's why people call us the Equestria Girls. Or EGs for short. Sometimes EQGs."

Yes, Sunset did think she had heard them get called that before around the school. "And this happens every time you play?"

"Usually," the rainbow-haired girl stated proudly. "But if you think this was awesome, just wait until the talent show."

Sunset tapped her chin and began rethinking her strategy. "Hmm, maybe I will. When is it again?"

"In a week," Twilight told her.

"It'd be really great if you could attend," Sunset added hopefully. "In fact, would you like to hear us practice? We'd love to get your opinion on our new song. And the offer for learning to play is still on the table."

Pinkie Pie struck her drums. "Come on, SunShim, join us! We've even got this fun dance that goes with our new song called the EG Stomp. Check it out." She jumped up from her drum set and got into position. "Cross your arms and lean side to side while stomping your feet. Left, right, left, right. Jump out and clap twice to the left. Stomp your right foot and punch the air with your right arm. Then do it all over again. Those are the main moves. Now you try."

At the invitation, the eagerness that Sunset had been feeling about discovering this new music magic was quickly replaced with anxiety, and she subconsciously began backing away. "Um, thanks, but I can't. I have to… uh, go do this… thing… that I have to do. So, um, I guess I'll see you later. But that's a definite yes for the talent show. Looking forward to it. Bye."

She quickly scampered out of the room before doubling back to close the door behind her. The Equestria Girls stared at the closed door dejectedly, wondering why Sunset seemed so reluctant to hang out with them.

"She did it again," said Applejack, pointing out the obvious. She glanced at the others. "Are we doing something wrong?"

"I don't think so," Fluttershy replied. "She could just be really shy.

Rainbow Dash snickered. "Well, you would certainly know what that's like."

"It doesn't appear to be shyness though," Sunset commented. "It's more like she's uncomfortable around us."

Which had been why she had thought that she might be the problem. Even she had felt awkward around her counterpart at first, but she had at least known that Sunset was possibly out there, not to mention she had long since gotten used to the strange and amazing things she and her friends tended to encounter while Sunset was still relatively new to it all. It only made sense that she felt uncomfortable at times.

Twilight was tapping her chin thoughtfully. "I wonder, could she maybe just be an introvert?"

Applejack raised an eyebrow. "An intro-what now?"

"An introvert," Twilight explained. "The opposite of an extrovert. Most people are extroverts. They like having friends and being around others, but introverts are the opposite. They enjoy being by themselves most of the time and tend to feel overwhelmed and anxious when around other people for too long, and usually find it mentally exhausting. Do you think that maybe that's the problem and we're overwhelming her?"

Sunset crossed her arms in thought. "Maybe. I didn't think we were being that pushy. Beside, I don't think she's an introvert. She may be different from me, but I don't think she's that different. And her reluctance to hang out with us seems to be more like hesitation on her part rather than a desire to be by herself."

Twilight considered this before deciding that Sunset was right. "Then it could be social anxiety; I used to have that myself. Or maybe it's agoraphobia."

Rainbow Dash gave her a strange look. "She's afraid of gore?"

Twilight rolled her eyes. "No, agoraphobia is basically an irrational fear of being around other people or social situations."

Spike smirked at her. "Kind of like your irrational fear of ladybugs and quesadillas?"

Twilight rounded on him. "Hey, you know there's a reason for that!" A low grumble escaped her when Spike just shrugged and laid down again, and she turned her attention back to her friends. "Then again, that doesn't seem to be the case. She seems comfortable enough when she's out and about, which wouldn't be the case if she had agoraphobia. It only seems to be when we invite her to hang out or try to be friends with her that she clams up."

"Maybe something super-duper traumatizing happened to her in the past that makes her afraid to make friends," Pinkie Pie suggested, showing a frightening amount of insight like she tended to do from time to time.

Sunset frowned. That sounded similar to what happened with Starlight Glimmer. Had a friend hurt her in the past, or moved on and left her behind? That might give Sunset cause for not wanting to make friends so she wouldn't get hurt again, which could make befriending her more difficult.

She sighed in exasperation. "I wish I could just use my power on her to find out what the problem is, but I don't want to invade her privacy without cause; it could break our trust."

"I guess we'll just have to keep trying," said Fluttershy. "At least she said she'd come see us at the talent show."

"Of course, how could she not want to?" Rainbow Dash borderline bragged. "We're awesome!"

Another frown fell across Sunset's face. Now that she thought about it, it had seemed like Sunset was more interested in the magic they displayed rather than their band. Not that she could blame her; who wouldn't be interested in seeing a legit magical band? But it did bring up her previous concern about her counterpart secretly being mean and power hungry like she used to be.

Trying not to let her concern show, she glanced at her backpack. Inside was the magic notebook she used to keep in touch with Twilight. So far, the princess had not responded to her last entry. It wasn't too surprising; being the Princess of Friendship tended to keep her busy. She was probably off with her friends taking care of some friendship issue somewhere in Equestria. Hopefully, she would be able to take care of the situation soon and be able to help them with theirs.

(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)

This was more than Sunset had expected. Those magic transformations the Equestria Girls underwent when they played, that was really worth looking into. And that was a separate form of magic from what their geodes provided. Just how much magic did those girls have?

This would require a change in plan. She had to get to that talent show and see what they were really capable of. All she had to do was last another week.

However, that might be a bit of a problem. She didn't know if she could afford to stay in town for another week. She had already stayed longer than she had intended. She was running low on cash, and staying at an inn for an extended period of time wasn't exactly cheap, and she had already stayed longer than her initial checkout date and had been getting extensions.

She would need to find a way to make more money. Maybe she should go into town and see if anyone would be willing to hire her for a short time, just long enough for her to be able to make enough money to stay in town long enough to attend the talent show.

After that, well, that's when everything would fall into place, and it would be the first day of the rest of her life. She found she was very much looking forward to it. The talent show couldn't come fast enough.

"One more week," she told herself. "I just have to wait one more week. Then it begins."