Equestrian Girl

by HorseStories

II:Gemini

As dawn broke, light streamed into the room from the partially-closed shutters, causing Sunset to stir in her sleep. Opening her eyes, she blinked slowly, allowing her vision to adjust to the room around her. Suddenly, she shot bolt upright, letting out an involuntary yelp.

Where am I? What's happening? Why-

Sunset groaned and fell back onto the sofa as she remembered the events of last night. Of course.

Stretching her arms over her head - a surprisingly pleasant sensation - Sunset stumbled to her feet, gazing around the room through bleary eyes. Dirty plates, pizza boxes and empty cans of cider littered the apartment. Shim sure lived in a tip. Then again, Sunset supposed she wasn't in much of a position to be choosy about her accommodation.

Rummaging around on the floor, Sunset recovered the jacket she had been given by the portal. She hesitated for a moment, then yelled out. "Shim?"

A low groan sounded from the adjacent room. "Whaaat."

"Do I have to wear clothes outside?"

A slight pause. Then - "Yes."

Sunset groaned, and began to gather the rest of her outfit up. Putting the clothes back on proved a more significant challenge than pulling them off, but she got there eventually. Studying herself in a nearby full-body mirror, Sunset made an attempt at a friendly, casual smile. Then, an inquisitive, serious look. Then a threatening stance. Then-

"What the hell are you doing?"

Sunset jumped, turning around to see an unimpressed Shim staring at her from the doorway. She was dressed shabbily as ever, clutching a bulky backpack in one hand. Flushing bright red, Sunset quickly jumped back to attention. "Weren't you meant to be asleep?"

Shim cocked her head towards her, unimpressed. "I was, until you decided to wake me up with some stupid question. Were you checking yourself out?"

Now it was Sunset's turn to sneer. "As if. I was practicing."

"Practicing."

"I - yes!" Sunset snapped. "If I'm going to be stuck with your kind for the next couple of years, I need to fit in, don't I?" She turned back to the mirror. "No... I need to do better than that. I need to blend in completely."

"Blend in? You would have gone outside naked if I hadn't stopped you."

"That's what I mean!" Sunset began pushing her facial features around. She continued, a new softness to her voice. "I can't afford to mess this up. I can't."

Shim shrugged, before walking past her, into the kitchen. "Well, just make sure you don't go streaking and you'll be fine. Do you want breakfast? I have..." There was a sound of the fridge being wrenched open. "What do you normally eat?"

"Well..." An odd question. "Fruit and vegetables. Grains. Milk. Eggs. Basically anything that doesn't have meat in it."

Shim slammed the fridge door. "Well, help yourself. I wanted to ask you some more questions."

Sunset turned around, immediately on guard. "What kind of questions?"

Shim approached her kitchen table, pulling a chair out. "Quite a few. Sit down?"

Sunset accepted and the two of them sat opposite each other, silently. Eventually, Shim began. "I've been thinking about what you said yesterday. And, I've come to some conclusions."

Sunset nodded, leaning in expectantly. "Such as?"

"Well." Shim adjusted her glasses. "At first, I didn't know what to make of it. I had assumed there must be a scientific explanation. But that couldn't possibly explain how you transformed into a human. Then, I wondered if it was some kind of advanced technology - but based on what you told me about your home world, I'm sure that isn't the case."

Sunset nodded. "So you think it's magic?"

Shim gave her a wry smile. "Magic is just science we haven't figured out yet. But yes, I suppose, the phenomenon you describe as magic must be involved. Tell me, where did the mirror on your side come from?"

"It was..." Sunset wracked her memory. "It was discovered in a place called the Crystal Empire." She shook her head. "Well, where the Crystal Empire used to be. It was the only thing left."

Shim raised an eyebrow, and Sunset continued. "It's hard to explain, but the entire place was kind of... stolen, over a thousand years ago. By some mad king, if you can believe it. The only thing left behind was this mirror. Celestia - Princess Celestia, the ruler - she had it moved to my country's capital."

Shim nodded, before reaching under the table to rummage around in her backpack. "I thought - ah ha!" Producing a thick, leather-bound book, she slammed it down on the table and began to flip through it's contents.

"Founders, feudal conflict, mining confederation - here!" Sunset spun the book around and pushed it under Sunset's nose.

Sunset quickly realized she was reading a history book. The page was opened to a painting of an armour-clad man with wild black hair, a thin, cruel-looking moustache, and a small crown, consisting of a thin halo covered in spikes.

"Marius III of Krystenval." Shim tapped the wall of text accompanying the illustration. "That's what this placed used to be called. He was one of the cruellest, most depraved kings in human history. He had one of his wives skinned alive and rolled in salt when she failed to bear him a child."

"Charming." Sunset's eyes skimmed the page, looking for anything of note. "Is there a point to this, or do you just have a crush on the guy?"

Shim scoffed, jabbing her finger towards the end of the page. "This should interest you. Marius was always interested in the occult. He was famous for it - so famous, his subjects used to call him the Shadow King. According to legend, he disappeared one day, just vanished into thin air. Around a thousand years ago?"

Sunset frowned, checking the portrait of Marius out once again. "You don't think..."

"Maybe you weren't the first person to cross between universes."

The crown... the hair... it was all too familiar. Sunset gave a low whistle. "King Sombra. Sombra... Umbra." She groaned. "Of course. The Shadow King."

So, Sombra had imbued the portal from the human side. Did that mean magic was possible here? Or... maybe a different kind of magic.

Sombra... Sunset had read enough about him to know he wasn't a force to be reckoned with. It made sense a pony as cruel as him would have started out as a human. She had also heard stories of his dark magic, unheard of magic that puppeted it's user in exchange for arcane prowess. In her mind, the pieces of the puzzle were already starting to come together.

"All right." Shim perked up at being addressed. "So, you think we can open a portal, like Sombra?"

Shim blinked. "I, um, I wasn't going to suggest that. I mean, we don't know what we're doing-"

"Anything's better than staying in this universe for years." Sunset gripped Shim by the shoulder, surprised to see the older woman quail before her. "Do you know what kind of books we'd need? What kind of supplies?"

"I - of course not! Magic? Are you serious?"

"Yes, magic!" Sunset lost her temper. "I'm sorry, do you need some more evidence? Do I need to pull a rabbit out of a hat?"

"Well, I..."

Shim looked unsure. Sunset picked up the book and threw it into her chest. "Come on, you've lived here your whole life." Rising to her feet, she continued. "Forget your thesis. Imagine being the person who discovers magic!"

Shim seemed to seriously consider this prospect. "I... I suppose I could... have a look..." She glanced back at Sunset. "Nothing to lose, right?"

Sunset smiled. "Nothing to lose."

---

Sunset had spent the last two hours wandering around town. She had quickly discovered that with no money, there was little to do but walk in circles, memorizing the town plan.

She was relieved Shim was so open to suggestion. Buying her books, giving her a room... Sunset wouldn't have made it this far without her. Maybe Sunset could offer her dominion over this dimension, when the portal re-opened. Somehow, it seemed fitting that this dimension's version of her should be put in charge.

Stopping to rest on a nearby bench, Sunset sat and watched the world pass by. Cars, people and leaves blew by in the wind. Sunset drank it all in, watching keenly for anything she hadn't noticed before.

Absorbed in her surroundings, Sunset didn't notice the car pull up to the kerb until it was too late. It wasn't like most cars she had seen - it was white and blue, with a pair of lights attached to the front.

The window slowly rolled down, and a man in a blue uniform and sunglasses craned his head at her. "Shouldn't you be at school?"

Sunset squinted at him. "Uhm, I don't think so. Should I?"

The man sighed. "Don't play games with me, kid." He jerked him thumb towards the back seat. "Get in and I'll drive you there. Call it a favour."

Sunset slowly got to her feet and began to back away. "I... I'm fine. I'm going to go now."

"Hey! Come back -" The door to the car opened, and the man stepped out, quickly closing the gap between them. He grabbed her by the wrist, causing Sunset to pull away instinctively.

"Hey!" Sunset turned to run, but the man grabbed her by the arm, stopping her. "Get off me!"

He didn't say anything. Seizing her by the other arm, he frogmarched her back to the vehicle. As she was bundled her into the backseat, Sunset felt the doors click behind her. Frantically pounding against the window, she caught the man staring at her through the windshield mirror. He looked more exasperated than angry.

"For fu -This car is public property. Damage it, and you'll really wish you hadn't."

Public property? "You're a guard?"

"A what? Don't play dumb, kid. I'm a cop. See the badge?" He jerked his thumb toward the badge on his chest. "Though I swear to God, I catch so many of you kids paying truant that school should employ me full time." He reached down, and Sunset felt the car's engine roar to life.

The next few minutes passed in silence. Sunset couldn't fight back, even if she had wanted to - the windows were barred, and she had no chance of overpowering the man, even if she could reach him. Sunset had read about police officers, but she was taken aback by their appearance. He looked more like a construction worker than a soldier.

As she watched the world outside the windows speed by, Sunset realized it was her first time riding inside a car. It was surprisingly similar to riding in a carriage, but much faster. How he controlled the car at these speeds, she had no idea.

As their destination pulled into view, Sunset's jaw dropped. Of course. Fate had such a strange sense of irony.

The horse statue towered over the car as it pulled into view. Sunset heard a click as the doors unlocked, and the cop turned around.

"Go on, get moving. And the next time I catch you skipping school, I won't be so lenient. Understand?"

Sunset nodded, only half-listening. Stepping out of the car, she walked up to the statue. Out of desperation, she rested her hand on the base. Rock solid. Nothing was going in - or coming through.

Sunset considered making a break for it, but she was conscious of the fact that the cop was watching her from his car. She decided to go inside. She'd have another chance to ditch the place afterwards.

As she approached the enormous building in front of her, she glanced upwards, re-reading the first words she had ever read in this dimension. Canterlot High School. The front of the school was littered with other teenagers, talking in groups, playing ball games, or reading.

Sunset found herself gripped with an unease as she entered through the front door. It had been so long since she'd set foot in a real school. She'd spent most of her adolescence - no, most of her life - being personally tutored by Celestia, who'd always provided her with plenty of independence. The idea of a school was so... strange.

A few kids turned to stare at her as Sunset walked down the hall, and she heard hushed whispers as she passed by. Being delivered by police car had probably gotten her a lot more attention than she'd liked.

The sound of a ringing bell filled the air, and the hallway was suddenly thick with students bustling from one class to another. Sunset's eyes darted across the room, looking for somewhere to hide, but finding nowhere. In a few seconds, she would be out here all alone, and she definitely didn't need to have to explain herself to a teacher.

Sunset grimaced. Only one way out.

Picking a classroom door at random, she followed the stream of student inside and shut the door behind her.

---

"These, please."

Shim set the books down on the counter, cringing slightly as she did so. They were so... unlike her. Fleeting Quill must have agreed with her, as he raised an eye at the selection.

"The Key of Solomon? La Poule Noire? The - The Necronomicon?! Miss Shimmer, are you sure -"

"Please." Shim held out a banknote. "Just a little interest reading. Nothing more."

Shim sighed as she left the bookstore. There went her reputation for rationalism. She just hoped Fleeting Quill kept himself to himself - she didn't want to get kicked out of the Skeptic's Association. Her departure from the Chess association had already left her ego in tatters. Touch-and-move, her ass.

The Cake-And-Coffee Stop was only a few minutes away. As she pushed the front door open, she heard the sound of a bell sounding.

"Coming!"

Mrs Cake appeared behind the counter, hey eyes lighting up at the sight of Shim. Not surprising, considering she probably made up half their sales.

"Shim, so good to see you! The usual?

Gratefully, Shim nodded, laying her bag down on a nearby table. She pulled out the first tome and opened it up. Mercifully, it didn't immediately try to suck her soul out, something she had been worried it might try. She traced the opening words with her finger. "In the blackest name of HIM, the horned one..."

---

Sunset sat quietly at her desk, unsure what she had got herself into. Merifully, she had managed to wander into a class full of teenagers her age - her physical age, anyway. That seemed to be the only mercy she was being afforded at the moment.

The teacher - Miss Cheerilee - had been desperately trying to control the class for the last ten minutes, and was doing a terrible job. The ringleader of the troublemakers - a rainbow-haired girl with a foul mouth - had just sent a rubber flying into the back of her head, and Cheerilee seemed more interested in getting a confession out of her than teaching her class. Sunset had seen better behaved animals in the zoo.

Sunset had considered stepping up to defend the teacher, partly out of a sense of empathy, and partly out of pity, but the look of contempt on her classmates' faces made it clear anyone who interfered would quickly find themselves a new target. Were all human schools like this?

Then again, people with no self-control were easy to control. Maybe her idea to build an army of slaves wasn't as dead in the water as she had thought.

Bored, Sunset quickly ran her eyes over the rest of the class. She recognized one girl as a mare called Golden Globes. A Canterlot socialite with looks, money and status, but not two brain cells to rub together. And she couldn't be sure, but she was fairly certain the boy next to her was a Royal Guard. Flash Sentry, if she wasn't mistaken.

The rainbow-haired girl - Rainbow Dash - had stopped arguing with Cheerilee, allowing the lesson to mercifully continue. More out of boredom than anything, Sunset copied down and completed the questions on the board, blitzing through them in no time flat. It was not at all dissimilar to her arithmetics classes under Celestia. If she-

"Hey."

Sunset turned to see the boy next to her waving his hand in her direction. She was certain it was Flash Sentry - there was no mistaking that blue hair, but even more telling, he was wearing a shirt with the same cutie mark on it. "Uhm, hey."

The boy gave her a sheepish smile. "You, ah, you look like you know what you're doing. Mind helping me out? I'm stumped."

Sunset paused, then flashed the boy a warm smile. Better to make friends than enemies. "Sure. Trigonometry is pretty hard." Scribbling some corrections down on the sheet he passed her, she slid it back to him and raised an eyebrow. "That help?"

Flash ran his eyes down the paper. "Yeah... wow, yeah!" He turned back to her. "Wow. You should teach this class instead of Cheerilee." He held out his hand. "Flash Sentry. I haven't seen you before, are you new?"

Sunset stared at the boy's palm. Was she supposed to shake it? Slowly, she reached out her hand and took his, pumping it up and down, "Uh, yeah. Actually, I just joined today."

"Really?" Flash let go of her hand and looked her up and down. "Thought so. I would have remembered you if I'd seen you around before. That jacket's not easy to forget." He rapped his knuckles against the desk. "I can show you around at lunch, if... you know, if you want. Introduce you to some of my friends. You down?"

Sunset's eyes narrowed. She wasn't stupid. She could tell Flash was hitting on her, and she didn't want any school drama to disrupt her larger plans. On the other... hand, she wasn't going to turn down a free tour of what could well be a valuable introduction to this school, or a chance to get in good with someone who was clearly high up in the social food chain. For now, better to play along.

Fluttering her eyes - just as she had practiced - she smiled back at Flash. "Sure. I'd... like that."

If Flash had smiled any wider, he would have torn the corners of his mouth. "Sweet! I just gotta drop something off at Principal Celestia's office, then we're go!"

Sunset's heart skipped a beat. "Principal Celestia?"

Flash nodded, a confused look on his face. "Uh, yeah. Come on, you have to at least know who the Principal is."

Sunset forced herself to let out an uncharacteristic giggle. "Uh, of course I know who the Principal is. I just... could you show me to her office? I wanted to ask her something quickly."

Flash relaxed, another grin breaking out. "Sure. Whatever you like."

Sunset smiled back, gears turning in her mind as she went back to her work. She had a sinking feeling the rabbit hole went a lot deeper than it seemed.

Still, at least she had one friend here. And there were worse-looking dates.

---

Shim slammed her copy of Celestial Intelligencer shut, before slamming her head down on the table. She must have been insane to agree to this. Oh, wait. She had been manipulated into studying the occult by a teenage alternate-dimension version of herself. Of course she was insane.

Well, that book had been useless. So had every other one. Superstition, mythology, all nonsense. Maybe magic existed, but she wasn't going to find any good information on it rooting through bookshops.

Maybe she should just post an ad online. Then again, she didn't fancy getting sacrificed to appease some elder god. She'd read enough about that today.

As Shim began putting the books away into her bag, she became aware of a nearby presence. Looking up, she scanned the room, yet saw nothing. All that reading had made her jumpy. At least she'd kept the receipt.

Waving goodbye the Mr Cake, Shim set off once more. The sun was still shining overhead, making it... midday? She wasn't sure. Squinting at the sun, she didn't realize there was someone in front of her until it was too late. The two of them collided and came toppling to the floor.

Shim began to pull herself up, eyes widening at the sight of an old man lying on the floor opposite her. He truly was old, easily over the age of eighty, possibly ninety. Heart pounding, Shim leaped to her feet, rushing over to help him. "Oh my - I'm so sorry!"

Mercifully, he didn't appear to be hurt. In fact, the man rose to his feet with surprising ease, and gave her a reassuring smile, flashing a set of perfect, pearly white teeth. Despite his great age, he moved with an unusual fluidity, a youthful lightness to his step. "That's quite all right, miss, quite all right. Just an accident!" His eyes trailed downwards, finally falling on the books that had spilled all over the floor. "Quite the selection."

Shim stooped down to gather her books up, smiling sheepishly. "Just a hobby of mine. I didn't think much of them, anyway."

The old man nodded. "I can see why. Well, thank you for your kindness. I must be on my way." He paused. "Just a little recommendation - I used to have a very similar interest. I found a book called Cwalu aet Cwalu... most interesting." He dusted his jacket off. "Kept me young."

With not another word, he set off at a brisk pace. Shim stood there, watching him leave.

Comments

[FanOfMostEverything]

"Well..." An odd question. "Fruit and vegetables. Grains. Milk. Eggs. Basically anything that doesn't have meat in it."

"Hay. Especially hay. I could really go for a hayburger, actually."
"Yeah, your long love affair with cellulose has come to an end, pony girl."

Shim seemed to seriously consider this prospect. "I... I suppose I could... have a look..." She glanced back at Sunset. "Nothing to lose, right?"

Other than your degree. Seriously, "forget your thesis" is anathema to most if not all people working on one.

Wow. I knew CHS was slipshod when it came to new students, but apparently seeing the principal is actually optional. You really do just have to walk in and look the right age.

Maybe magic existed, but she wasn't going to find any good information on it rooting through bookshops.

Of course not, silly! If we understood how to use magic, we'd already be using it. When your alien horse counterpart said you were going to discover it, she meant it.

Again, you have me intrigued. "Where's the human Sunset?" has hung over Equestria Girls since its inception, and this may be the first time I've seen the pony actually work with her. Looking forward to more.

[HorseStories]

10061912
Damn, I completely forgot about Luna being on the moon during this time period. I'll have to change that line to something more appropriate, thanks for pointing it out!

<Wall of text>

With regard to Sunset's knowledge of Humans - in the sense of understanding they exist, but having little to no knowledge of their actual society, culture, ability etc - I interpret the existence of humans, like the portal, to be something known to Celestia, but kept a secret outside of selected individuals for her own purposes. It just seems unlikely that Celestia would personally own a portal to the human world for over a thousand years, but not even know they exist.

Sunset, not known for respecting her teacher's wishes, would be happy to steal books from Celestia if she thought they contained valuable information. Again, this information is incomplete - Sunset doesn't know the basics, like humans being bipedal, non-magical, etc. - which is what you'd expect, given Celestia is limited to studying them by proxy once every few years for a day or so at a time, barring any abduction and probing experimentation, which somehow doesn't seem her style. I would estimate the total Equestrian knowledge on humans to be limited to the equivalent of a few months of research, of which Sunset only had access to a small portion.

I know that sounds absurd, but if we assume it took Celestia ~100 years to figure out how the portal worked (probably a generous estimate, given she would have had to stumble across its function pretty much at random) and she sent research teams in for 1 day out of 3 (assuming she did this every single time) every 2.3 years, the total number of days of research she would have would be (900/2.3) = 391 days, or around a year and a month of broken research, not accounting for any teams that were lost or failed to discover anything new, any missed opportunities, any false leads, and so forth.

In the comic The Fall of Sunset Shimmer - which I recommend as a precursor read to this story, given that it effectively serves as the prologue - Sunset manages to gleam some information about the portal, mainly that it opens every 30 moons, and that it shows her potential to be a powerful ruler. I doubt she was unaware that the portal lead to the human dimension, but I also doubt it mattered to her - the power the portal promised her was the only thing on her mind.

</Wall of text>

The problem of organically inserting all of the above into the story is something I aim to resolve as the plot moves on, but I never intended for Sunset's knowledge of humans to be part of the AU tag - that's mostly because of the presence of Shim and Sombra's alternate backstory.