SunLight Sliders: Infinite

by Amber Spark

Chapter 1 - Novel-Idea

Twilight Sparkle levitated over a washcloth, dabbed the last bit of grime from Sunset Shimmer’s face and tried to figure out what in the world was going on. After all, it wasn’t every day a wounded girl fell into Twilight’s bedroom from a rip in time and space.

It was a bit outside of her comfort zone. And by a bit, she meant about twelve parsecs away from said zone.

Her eyes darted to the cracked and sparking amulet, now sitting in a small mixing bowl near her backpack. Twilight could feel the magic radiating from the device. It felt familiar. Too familiar.

But why would Sunset Shimmer get a haircut, get wounded and then return with that stupid amulet—the one she definitely never wanted to see again—without Princess Twilight?

She bit her lip and brushed back a lock of Sunset’s hair.

Sunset’s teal eyes snapped open. A fist came out of nowhere and cracked Twilight across the jaw.

“Ow!” Twilight cried as she toppled against the side of her bed. “What the—”

Sunset had already leapt to her feet, her eyes wild and a little crazed. “Get the hell away from me Steel! I swear, I’ll… I’ll…”

Sunset blinked a few times. She took her in her surroundings, then she looked down at herself. She blinked again.

“These aren’t my clothes.”

Twilight rubbed her jaw. “They’re mine, thank you very much.”

Sunset looked up from studying Twilight’s clothes—which admittedly didn’t fit Sunset very well in… certain areas. Her brain seemed to be catching up to current events. She winced. “I just decked you, didn’t I?”

“Yeah.” Twilight glared at her. “What was that for, Sunset?”

Sunset groaned and rubbed the bridge of her nose. “Not this again. Look, you’re Twilight Sparkle, right?”

“Uh… yes?”

“I’m assuming you know a Sunset Shimmer?”

“Uh… yes?”

“Are you two enemies, friends, dating, in love or married?”

Twilight stared at her friend. Then it occurred to her that this might not be her friend. “Uh… we’re… friends?”

“Good.” Sunset nodded. “That should make this less awkward. Number one: I’m Sunset Shimmer. Number two: I’m not your Sunset Shimmer. Got that?”

“Then… who are you?”

“A different Sunset Shimmer. At this point, that’s all you need to know.” Sunset reached down as if to grab something around her neck. A look of panic crossed her face. “Where is it? Where’s the Talisman?”

“The… what?”

Sunset ignored her, her head jerking this way and that until she saw it. With a gasp of relief, she lunged forward and snatched it from the bowl. She yelped as a bit of magical energy scorched her hand.

“Thank Harmony,” Sunset muttered. “It’s still intact… mostly. I’m going to deck Tarnished the next time I see her.”

“Okay, I think I’ve been patient enough,” Twilight said, getting to her feet. “What is going on here? Who are you?”

“Already answered that,” Sunset replied distractedly as she fiddled with a small dial on the amulet. “Pay attention, Sparky.”

“Sparky?”

“Okay, not one of those universes, good to know.”

Twilight growled under her breath. She had been bored only about an hour ago, but after spending said hour trying to nurse this individual back to health and running Spike so ragged he had passed out on the living room couch, Twilight felt she deserved answers. She put a hand on the geode around her neck, focused and yanked the ‘Talisman’ out of Sunset’s hands.

“Hey! Don’t!” Sunset cried as she snatched for it. “You don’t know what you’re doing!”

Twilight glared at Sunset over her glasses. The modified amulet floated beside her. “Look, for someone who teleported into my room before collapsing due to blood loss, you’re acting pretty high and mighty. I’d like some answers.”

“Give it back, now!” Sunset snarled, hands curled into fists.

“Not until you start telling me what’s going on here!”

“At least stop using your magic on it!” Sunset shouted as she lunged forward.

Twilight dodged out of the way, frowning. “Why?”

“Because you don’t want it to—”

The Talisman began to hum. Twilight’s eyes slowly turned toward the device and realized that the cracks in the surface were a lot brighter than they had been seconds ago. It started spitting sparks of brilliant amber and violet magic.

“Oh boy,” Twilight said as she dropped her magic and backed away.

The Talisman didn’t fall to the ground. It hovered in midair, glowing brighter with each passing second.

“Twilights are nothing but trouble,” Sunset groaned.

There was a brilliant flash of light, then the world imploded.

Twilight crashed down into a cold, whirring metal floor. She moaned and blinked her eyes, trying to see through the spots of light dancing before her eyes. She lifted her right hand up to adjust them.

Then she realized she didn’t have a right hand.

She looked down and saw what could only have been a lavender hoof. She stared at the appendage for a few long seconds. Then she looked at what should have been her left hand. That was a hoof as well.

She swallowed. Hard.

Now, Twilight had heard the story of Princess Twilight Sparkle’s initial arrival at CHS. The Equestrian Spike had made sure not to spare a single detail—much to Princess Twilight’s chagrin.

Twilight handled herself much better than Princess Twilight. After all, she just whimpered and curled into a ball, as opposed to screaming in terror like a lunatic.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Sunset said from Twilight’s left.

The amber-coated unicorn who had to be Sunset Shimmer sat on her haunches staring at the dark and inert Talisman floating in a field of red magic. To Twilight’s annoyance, Sunset ignored the existential and morphological quandaries currently racing through Twilight’s mind. However, those quandaries were derailed when she realized Sunset no longer had a pixie cut. She had long curling locks of red and gold that went halfway to the floor.

Why in the world would any sort of transportation or transformation device alter one’s hair—mane?—style? Twilight wondered. It proved a helpful distraction from the whole ‘oh-my-goodness-I’m-a-pony’ thing.

“Do you have any idea what you’ve done?” Sunset snarled, turning to face Twilight. “Any clue?”

Twilight blinked at her.

“Look around!” Sunset snapped. “Tell me what you see!”

Twilight glanced around and blinked a few more times. It was only then when she registered they were on some sort of high-tech observation deck. A glittering translucent shield of energy coated the window, sparkling in the setting sun. That, lay a vast high-tech city of impossible dimensions. Towering skyscrapers of gleaming metal and glass stretched as far as the eye could see. Flying vehicles of every size darted this way and that. In the distance, Twilight caught sight of what could only be an orbital tether, stretching up into the infinity above them.

Then Twilight saw her reflection. She looked… like herself. Even had the same mane style. Just… as a pony. A unicorn, to be precise. Idly, she wondered why she didn’t have wings. After all, she had them when she ‘ponied up’ back on Earth.

She shoved that aside and focused on more immediate concerns.

“Where are we?”

“We’re back where I just came from!” Sunset rubbed her temples with her hooves. “This is Tarnished Steel’s personal observa—”

A door behind them hissed. Twilight spun to see two burly female unicorn ponies trotting into the room. One wore gleaming armor the color of brass, while the other had armor the color of iron. Both had helmets covering most of their faces and a retractable monocle.

Twilight desperately tried to remember everything she’d ever heard about Equestria… though this didn’t seem at all like the Equestria described to her by Princess Twilight or ‘her’ Sunset.

“Well, well,” the brass armored pony said with a smirk. “I didn’t expect you when I saw the alert. Our little sneakthief’s come home. Here to beg for some mercy from Steel?”

Sunset Shimmer hauled herself to her fee—hooves and slipped the dead amulet around her neck. “You know me better than that, Iron Tack.”

“Ain’t that the truth.” Iron Tack said. “You got some nerve coming back to the Manehattan Tower. Boss ain’t happy about you swiping the Archmage’s TPT, scrub. Why don’t you make this easy and come quietly?”

“Ain’t happening, Tack,” Sunset growled. “Get up, Twilight.”

“I-I don’t know what’s going—”

Tack noticed Twilight for the first time and laughed. “And what good is another Twilight Sparkle for you, huh? Doing the Highlord Hustle? Maybe the Princess’s Pawn?”

Twilight got to her hooves and wobbled a bit, but found the quadrupedal stance surprisingly comfortable. This unsettled her, but she decided she could have a freakout about it later.

“No hustle.” Sunset shrugged. “All been done.”

A moment later, gleaming metal pistols hovered beside Tack and her guard. “Don’t try anything clever, scrub. You’re on the two hundredth and eighty-seventh floor of the Tower. Even better, that TPT is dead. Ain’t got nowhere to run.”

“See, that’s the problem with people like you, Tack,” Sunset said casually. “You’ve got no imagination.”

Tack opened her mouth to reply, but Sunset was already moving. Twilight gasped as Sunset cleared the space between her and Tack in less than a second and shoved Tack hard into her companion. Both unicorns went sprawling to the floor.

With a growl, Sunset kicked Tack across the muzzle. The armored mare took the blow with a grunt, then leapt back to her hooves. With a swipe of her hoof, Sunset managed to knock both pistols away from the armored mares. One went flying off into the corner. The other spun to a stop a few inches from Twilight.

Tack spat on the ground and wiped her muzzle. “Damn, you kick like a mule, scrub.”

“Thanks.” Sunset bucked again, only for Tack to dodge and swipe Sunset’s legs out from under her. Sunset rolled away from Tack’s attempt to pound her to floor with her armored hooves. Sunset came back up swinging and Tack went on the defensive.

Tack’s companion got to her hooves and prepared to into the fray.

“Watch out!” Twilight shouted.

“Take care of that Sparkle, Red!” Tack shouted. “I’ll deal with the scrub!”

Red turned toward Twilight. Without thinking, Twilight yanked the pistol off the floor and pointed it at the enormous mare.

“Ain’t a good idea, kid,” Red rumbled. “You ever use a crystalflash pistol before?

It was only then when Twilight realized she’d picked the pistol up in her magic. It felt the same as her using her levitation back on Earth!

I’m using magic as a unicorn… because I’ve been using magic as a human!

“D-don’t make me use this!” The pistol hummed ominously.

“Shoot her, Twilight!” Sunset shouted.

“Sorry, kid.” Red charged.

Twilight closed her eyes and squeezed the trigger. The pistol cracked with a sound effect straight out of a bad science fiction movie. Someone yelped in surprise.

When Twilight opened her eyes, Red glared at Twilight from inside a pink crystal. The mare looked completely unhurt, just locked in a crystal prison.

Sunset bellowed and slammed Tack into the railing. The mare crumpled. Sunset levitated the other pistol from the corner of the room and trained it on the burly pony.

“Where do you think you’ll go, huh?” Tack demanded as she clutched her side. “You’ve got the Archmage’s TPT. You ain’t smart enough to get that thing to do what you want it to.”

“I’m warning you.” Sunset’s voice trembled. “Don’t you try to come after us.”

“You kidding?” Tack let out a wheezing laugh. “You ain’t worth that. You ain’t gonna have anyone jumping dimensions after you, scrub. Ain’t gonna change the fact that you’re alone.”

“Shut it, Tack.”

Tack’s visible eye glittered. “That Twilight over there ain’t the one who got fed up with you. You’re a thief and a coward, scrub. You screwed over your thiefmaster—a freaking Celestia—then got greedy, ran off your mare then stole the TPT of the greatest archmage High Equus has ever known?”

“Tack…”

“You're damaged goods, scrub.” Tack shook her head. “Take that one home. She ain’t gonna want you. No way you gonna find what—”

Sunset’s pistol cracked. Seconds later, the mare sat frozen inside a pink crystal.

Tack rolled her eyes and stared balefully at Sunset.

“You always did talk too much.” Sunset sneered.

“Are they—” Twilight began.

“They’re fine. Localized crystal prison spell. It’ll wear off after a few hours. Now, we need to move.”

“Wait a minute!” Twilight shouted. “I didn’t sign up for this! Take me home!”

Sunset rolled her eyes and marched toward the doorway, shoving the crystal-locked Red aside.

“I mean it!”

“Give it a rest, Sparky. Shut up and get moving.”

Twilight was not about to go anywhere with this crazy pony! Not after what she’d just seen! But she didn’t have a lot of options. In fact, she could only think of one.

Twilight pointed her weapon at Sunset. The pistol started to hum. At the sound, Sunset froze and turned.

“You really want to do that?” Sunset asked quietly. She didn’t lift her pistol. “Without me, you’ll really be stuck here.”

“Take me home now.”

Their gazes locked and several tense seconds ticked by.

To Twilight’s surprise, Sunset blinked first. “You’d actually do it, wouldn’t you?”

“Is what she said true?” Twilight demanded. “Are you a thief?”

“Yeah!” Sunset lifted her head defiantly. “What of it? I’m the best damn thief Steel ever had. Not like I had anything else to do at home. But when I found out about the Talisman, I decided I wanted a better life. Steel didn’t take too kindly to that.”

“What is that thing?” Twilight nodded toward the amulet around Sunset’s neck.

“Experimental Transdimensional Portal Talisman.” Sunset sounded bored. “Allows two people to jump between alternate realities. And considering you’re wearing glasses, yes, it’s based the thing you once used to steal a bunch of magic.”

“How does it work?” Twilight asked despite herself.

“This one? Not very well. It’s supposed to create a portal on demand after a magic recharge—the length of which depends on local ambient magic—but if exposed to too much magic, it’ll just fire off. It’s got a few other—” Suddenly, a sly expression spread over her face. “You want to know all about it, huh?”

Twilight bit her lip, but she didn’t lower her weapon.

“I’ll make you a deal,” Sunset said. “I’m looking for something. Help me find it and I’ll show you the multiverse. I’ve been around a little bit. Seen a few things here and there. It isn’t every day you get a pre-packed vacation tour to infinity. You’ll learn more about magic and technology in a few days than you could learn in a few lifetimes back home.”

At that moment, the absurdity washed over Twilight. She was a unicorn, standing in a room with two ponies locked in pink crystal prisons, pointing a magic gun at an alternate version of Sunset Shimmer, who just offered to show her the multiverse.

And here I thought magic geodes were the ultimate weirdness.

Despite herself, Twilight knew her answer.

“Fine. But after this is done, you take me home.”

“You have my word.”

Twilight didn’t really trust her, but right now, she didn’t have much choice. She lowered the weapon.

“You have to help repair this thing, though,” Sunset said. “I know the portal tech, but not the underlying magic transfer tech.”

“I can probably handle that. After all, I designed it… sorta?”

“That’s the spirit, Sparky.”

“Don’t call me Sparky.”

Sunset grinned.

It was only then when Twilight realized that Sunset Shimmer made a rather cute unicorn.

Focus, Twilight. Focus.

It had taken an hour of dodging guards and two hours in a dusty workshop, but the TPT had been repaired. Sunset continued to call it a ‘Talisman,’ but Twilight refused to use such imprecise terminology for something this fantastic.

“I think we’re set,” Twilight said.

Of course, that was when the wall exploded. When the dust cleared, an enormous white mare in chrome armor stood there with fifteen armored ponies.

“Oh… hey, Tarnished.” Sunset said weakly.

“Hello, Sunset, darling.”

“Wait. That voice…” Twilight started.

“Not the time, Sparky!” Sunset grabbed Twilight’s hoof and yanked her toward the door.

“Get them, now!”

Sunset bolted out into a hallway running along the outside of the immense Manehattan Tower with Twilight close on her heels.

“Nowhere to run, Sunny!” Tarnished Steel cried behind them. “Give it up!”

Sunset poured on the speed and tossed the TPT to Twilight. “Get ready to activate it!”

“It’s not charged enough!” Twilight shouted back.

“It will be!” Sunset shouted back. “Manehattan Tower produces a magical field that powers half the city!”

“Then why can’t we use it now?”

“The interior is shielded!”

Twilight realized where they were running: right for the observation platform.

“Sunset!” Twilight screamed. “You can’t be serious!”

Sunset did something to her pistol and flung it toward the window. A few seconds later, the pistol exploded and tore a massive hole out of the building.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!”

Tarnished Steel’s minions opened fire. Blue bolts filled the air around them.

This is turning into a very strange day.

“Go!”

Sunset leapt out the window, two hundred stories above the massive city of Manehattan. Twilight screamed and jumped after her. She felt a strange prickle across her coat as they passed through the magic field. The TPT lit up like a beacon.

Sunset teleported to Twilight’s side. “Now!”

Trying to ignore the oncoming ground, Twilight pushed the button.

A rip in reality erupted in front of them.

Then, they were gone.

They landed hard in a forest and tumbled through moss and leaves for several feet before rolling to a stop. All around them, they could hear the voices shouting in alarm. Twilight blinked and adjusted her glasses, groaning as she looked over herself.

Then she stopped and looked again.

She wasn’t human. But she wasn’t a pony either. Yet, she had used magic to adjust her glasses. Magic coming from glowing crystal hooves and weird swirling patterns on her thin forelegs.

She looked over to Sunset. She didn’t have a horn, but she did have similar crystal hooves. Sunset’s mane had transformed again, now a curtain of red and gold that hung around her face vaguely like Fluttershy’s. Her tail was little more than a tuft of fur.

Why does her mane seem to change with every new world, while mine stays the same?

Sunset groaned. “Ugh. It’s been a while since I’ve had to deal with being a deer.”

Twilight looked up to see dozens of figures approaching from all sides. Some had wings. Some had crystal hooves. Some had normal hooves. All the males had antlers, but none of the females did.

A doe with an amber coat and a teal and purple mane leaned down to peer at them curiously, then smirked for some reason.

“Uh… hello there?” said a quiet voice behind them. They turned to see a yellow doe with a pink mane and two wings watching them curiously. “Can… can we help you?”

“Fluttershy?” Sunset and Twilight said together.

“Oh dear,” Fluttershy squeaked.

Well, at least I’m not bored anymore, Twilight thought.

Author's Note:

Chapter written by Novel-Idea!

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Author's Note: Honestly, I could have easily added another couple thousand words to this. Hell, I might do a spinoff for this. Still, we're off! A bit of talk about how the TPT works, a bit of history on this Sunset Shimmer, a bit of insanity with two worlds and some adorable deer ponies! Plus, set up the strange fact that Sunset's mane/hair seems to change style with every jump. Let the insanity commence!