Equestria Girls - The Tale of Two Sunsets

by HumanSunset63

Chapter 34: The Pie is a Lie

As Derpy and Sunset finally left Cloudsdale together, Sunset still couldn't help but think about her actions while sitting in the delivery-truck. Perhaps it would've been more professional of her simply address what happened with the balloon, and then bring up the package thief without immediately assuming it was Indigo. She just couldn't help but think it had to have been her, given how unprofessional Indigo acted when committing vandalism, how she was wearing the exact items that reported were stolen, and the fact that most of the Shadowbolts in this world were almost just like their human counterparts. Sunset began to realize this might be a price to pay for being used to knowing these entities as who they were as humans, when their pony counterparts could drastically different personality-wise.

Regardless of Sunset's mindset of the situation on hindsight, it was far too late now. This was essentially what most of her life lessons taught her, that making mistakes couldn't be undone, and the only option was to move on with the knowledge learnt from the whole experience. Despite this, she still couldn't help but feel disappointment in herself after already knowing she had been a legit changed pony. Had Sunset still been the same manipulative and selfish person she once was when controlling CHS by force, she couldn't imagine what might've become of Lily Pad when she caught Gilda threatening the child that night. No, she instead stood up for the helpless ones who couldn't defend themselves from the dangers of society, and she had even taught the other Twilight Sparkle how to embrace friendship instead of abandoning it.

What Rainbow had told her just after Indigo flew off, she couldn't have meant it, could she? Granted, Sunset had to bear in mind this was not the same Rainbow Dash she knew, and for that matter, not somepony who could simply take the word of Princess Twilight on her being a changed pony. Going off of her relationship with the human Rainbow, even back when Sunset was a bully who even went as far as picking on Fluttershy, Rainbow was the only student in the entire school to stand up to her. Not only that, she even held somewhat of a grudge toward Sunset at times, even after the rest of her human friends decided to start fresh. By all means, like Derpy said, Rainbow was not an easy friend to get along with, but Sunset still considered the fact they technically just got properly acquainted with each other. A seeming stranger who caused this big of a mess almost completely out of nowhere was certainly not a good first impression, especially when this same stranger was once a thief herself who stole Twilight's crown.

As Sunset contemplated all this, she noticed that Derpy had taken her to a more central area of Ponyville, and more specifically, near where Sugarcube Corner was located. Although Sunset wasn't familiar with this side of town, she did recall Twilight telling her through the journal that this was both the workplace and home of Pinkie Pie. However, Derpy was not delivering these muffins to Pinkie, but rather, her now former boss who was awaiting them at the Ponyville post office. Once Derpy landed her truck on the ground, Sunset was good to go in perhaps being able to visit Pinkie for a bit.

"Thank you very much for ride, I don't know how I would've gotten down from Cloudsdale without your help." Sunset said gratefully to her new pegasus friend.

"Don't mention it, what you did for me was a wonderful thing. I actually wish there was more I could give you for being such a selfless pony yourself." Derpy replied with a smile. "Now that I'm here, I guess I should go make this last delivery.

"Eh, don't worry about giving me more, what you've already done for me was more than enough." Sunset insisted. "I really hope also things do get better for you after your boss let you go, you certainly come across as a hardworking mail mare yourself."

Just as Sunset stepped out of the truck, she couldn't help but hear her stomach growl rather loudly. This wasn't really surprising given Sunset had just spent nearly the entire morning trotting through an entire cloud city on top of skipping breakfast. The stomach was so loud that even Derpy managed to hear it while still being in the truck.

"I can tell you're really hungry, did you not have breakfast this morning?" Derpy questioned.

"Well, not really anything since the coronation last night." Sunset clarified. "But no worries, now that I'm in Ponyville again, I suppose it's a perfect chance for me to go grocery shopping. Except... ugh, no... I forgot. I left my money back in my house in Canterlot. Looks like I'll have to trot all the way back home to get it."

"Wait, I can take you home instead!" Derpy offered. "Canterlot's pretty far from here, and it sounds like to me you don't have enough energy to trot the entire way without passing out."

"No, no." Sunset declined. "You've already done enough for me, I can't possibly ask that from you and bring more trouble after you got fired. I'll just go on and hope things go well. Good luck finding a new job, by the way.

As Sunset was already starting to head off by herself, Derpy couldn't help but give a look of sadness. She then took a look at her delivery, and realized she did have something to give Sunset after all. The pegasus quickly called out Sunset's name before flying out to stop her.

"Listen, I know I said these muffins were ordered by my boss..." Derpy began to explain. "But after the way he's been treating me, I don't really know if I want to give these to him. I've been his reliable employee for almost 8 years now, and he couldn't even believe me when I said those packages weren't my fault. Meanwhile, I've got you, who risked their own friendships just for me, even if we only met yesterday. That's an incredibly beautiful gift anypony's ever done for me, and because of that, I want you to have these instead."

Derpy handed Sunset the bag of assorted muffins before Sunset began to hesitate.

"But... your boss." Sunset said with concern. "If you don't give these to him, I can't imagine he'd listen to you begging you for your job back, even if we did somehow catch the package thief."

"Mr. Crafty Crate can be just as much a stick in the mud as those rude mares we encountered by the train yesterday." Derpy explained. "I hear he even attempts to scam others, like the time he tried to charge one pony 20 bits for a cherry! If he wants some muffins after throwing away his number one employee like that, I'll just give him the stale batch that's been sitting in my truck for a week. I'm already fired as it is, and I don't need him. You and your stomach however, definitely need these scrumptious baked goods I made with love."

Sunset still wasn't sure about taking the muffins. Her brain kept telling her not to, yet her heart and stomach kept insisting she should. However, Sunset's brain eventually deduced logically, if she kept on going alone without any vital nourishment, she would likely collapse and possibly even be hospitalized. This would go against everything she would want, especially if such a scenario would make her miss out on her graduation as well. Plus, those muffins would probably be in the better hooves of a pony who stands up for others willingly, rather than a greedy boss who cheats his own customers.

"Thank you, Derpy." Sunset smiled as her hunger made her quickly take a bite by instinct. The pastry was incredibly delicious, almost on par with the cookies given to her by Cheese Sandwich. She was going to have to go grocery shopping later that day anyways, but those homemade muffins were to die for. It even reminded her that having access to Equestrian groceries could finally let her eat legitimate foods that her natural herbivore taste buds were always adapted to. "These are so good, you really made these yourself?"

"That's right!" Derpy said proudly. "You can really taste the love I put into them. As for my mail delivery job, I'll just check if there's hiring positions at another post office. I actually recently heard Crafty Crate in particular has a pretty high turnover rate. I was sad at first for getting fired, but you standing up for me also inspired me to finally stand up against my corrupt boss too. You deserve such wonderful baked goods for your kindness for sure. In the meantime, I'm just going to finish this last delivery and head off for the day. Hopefully we can see each other again soon? Oh, and good luck making things right with Rainbow Dash."

"Yeah, sounds good." Sunset agreed, though she still wasn't sure how to patch things up with Rainbow. "And yeah, I sure am going to have to figure something out with her."

The two ponies waved goodbye to each other and headed off in opposite directions. Sunset trotted around the corner and down a few blocks to where a sign pointed to a large building which almost resembled a gingerbread house. Even without the sign, Sunset could definitely tell it was Sugarcube Corner from what Twilight described of Pinkie's home in past journal entries. From what Sunset was told, the establishment was almost equivalent to the cafe she regularly hung out at with her human friends, which was also owned by another Mrs. Cake. Sunset had no idea if the pony Pinkie was currently inside, but if she was, it'd be a perfect opportunity to spend time with her, as there wasn't really anything too eye-catching in Ponyville. After all, it was where she used to live before moving to Canterlot, and she still had no leads on where her dad's house was located.

Sunset decided it would be better to finish off the muffins before heading inside, as admittedly, she did begin to feel slightly light headed from walking around in Cloudsdale for a while. Plus, knowing how energetic Pinkie tends to be, she would definitely need some decent energy herself to keep up with everything. The hunger proved to be incredibly overwhelming, as Sunset had finished the entire bag of muffins before she knew it. Now she was definitely glad for accepting the gift Derpy offered in exchange for her own selfless intentions. Sunset still had to figure out how to resolve things with Rainbow Dash, but decided to focus on that later. She was here to explore Equestria and spend times with the rest of her new pony friends, rather than mope about one bad impression.

With her stomach finally satisfied from the muffins, Sunset finally felt comfortable enough to enter Sugarcube Corner. Although it was a bakery with plenty of food, Sunset couldn't have brought herself to expect free food after leaving her bits at home. Her years of working hard at a sushi restaurant certainly taught her that any business would need legitimate compensation for their products and services, and didn't think of herself as somepony who deserved special treatment. Perhaps Pinkie could've spotted her a cupcake or two if she really needed it, she couldn't imagine Mrs. Cake would.

As this thought flooded her mind, surprisingly, Sunset had saw that there was nopony in sight as she came inside. It seemed unusually quiet, and there was no sign of Mrs. Cake, Pinkie, or any other employees anywhere. Sunset mostly arrived to see if Pinkie was around, so she instinctively pressed her hoof on a bell on the counter, trying to see if anypony was around. After ringing it a few times, Sunset eventually heard a familiar high pitched voice, stepping out of the kitchen and behind the counter.

"Hey, Sunset!" Pinkie exclaimed upon seeing the unicorn she officially met at yesterday's coronation. "Well, I know Twilight wanted us to spend more time together, but I'm afraid we can't go out today. I have to work on a pretty huge cake order myself while Mr. and Mrs. Cake are out delivering the other large cake order we just finished."

"Oh, that's no problem, Pinkie." Sunset said understandingly. "Perhaps you can show me around Sugarcube corner since Twilight has mentioned this place is also your home. Out of curiosity, what are Mr. and Mrs. Cake delivering?"

"A wedding cake that's for a couple who just got engaged." Pinkie recalled. "I believe their names are... Lyra and Bon Bon?"

"Oh, how nice for them." Sunset said, thinking back about how those aforementioned girls were also a rather cute couple back at CHS as well. "And what are you in charge of today?"

"Coincidentally, another wedding cake for a couple of mares!" Pinkie said excitedly. "Oh, and get this. They're also performers who sing some of the best songs I regularly listen to in my room, it's such an honor to cater to them! Could you guess who they could be?"

Sunset thought about it for a bit, but remembered once again this Pinkie could be completely different from the human one she knew. As such, despite thinking of what kind of music was popular in Equestria, she couldn't immediately come up with a confident idea.

"I'm afraid I'm stumped, Pinkie." Sunset gave up. "Could you give me a hint?"

"Alrighty, as you wish!" Pinkie agreed, before saying something that would shock Sunset. "What do you call a 'someone' fan with three 'I's'? Pinkie Pie!"

Sunset's eyes immediately widened, as her pupils shrunk. The exact same words said to her for nearly three weeks during the Postcrush festival time loop. Obviously, it was easy to figure out who the wedding cake was for, and she didn't really think much of how Postcrush was seemingly a couple in this world as well. However, it was the fact that Pinkie somehow worded her hint in a manner that would suggest the pony Pinkie somehow knew Sunset had heard this exact joke and could immediately decipher who the 'someone' in her riddle was.

"I'm not quite sure..." Sunset began pretending to not know straight away, before revealing what she figured out upon hearing the hint. "It wouldn't by any chance be Postcrush, would it?"

"Yes!" Pinkie cheered. "You figured it out! And just for that, I'm going to let you into the kitchen to help me make the cake! Do you accept the offer?"

"Well, sure." Sunset accepted. "I suppose it would be a nice way for us to spend more time with each other, but I was wondering-"

Before Sunset could even finish, two voices had entered the room, along with two other ponies. The aforementioned performer duo whom Sunset and Pinkie always showed large enthusiasm to see perform live. However, with Sunset forced to hear Postcrush for nearly three weeks, along with the fact these were not the same performers she knew in the human world, Sunset was noticeably underwhelmed compared to Pinkie.

"Miss... Pinkie Pie, was it?" K-Lo acknowledged from the entrance. "Do you have any idea when our wedding cake will be ready? We're expecting to pick it up soon."

"Hopefully we won't have to wait more than two hours." Su-Z added, as she started dancing with her planned partner. "We don't mind waiting, it'll at least give us a little more time to perform for our little dance at the wedding."

"Oh, my, GOODNESS!!!" Pinkie exploded in excitement. "It's really you, I, I, I've been a fan of your music for so long, and it's an absolute honor for you to order something from Sugarcube Corner! I can assure you, you won't regret this!"

"You'd better hope we won't." K-Lo said in a humorous manner. "While our beauty will never change, our minds very easily do."

"No arguing there." Su-Z agreed. "If we like what we get, we'll recommend this bakery to all our fans."

"Oh, absolutely! I will get right on it!" Pinkie assured. "Come on, Sunset! Let's bake a cake for a power couple!"

As Pinkie rushed back into the kitchen, Sunset followed, before overhearing the couple say something she could only interpret as an ironic joke.

"I am going to get somewhat tired of waiting, wouldn't you agree, babe?" Su-Z said to her partner.

"Yeah, if only we had magic to change time or something." K-Lo replied. "Then we wouldn't have to keep waiting for this cake."

Sunset stood still for a few moments, then simply gave a subtle laugh upon hearing this, as she didn't need to be reminded of nearly going insane during that never ending festival. That aside, there was still one more thing on Sunset's mind, in which she was still confused at the way Pinkie worded her hint of the customers being the pony versions of Postcrush. As Sunset stepped into the kitchen, she saw that Pinkie had somehow already finished making the entire cake with even all the touches.

"Errr, Pinkie?" Sunset said, confused at this. "Didn't you say I was going to help you make the cake?"

"Yeah, you sure were!" Pinkie exclaimed in her usual optimism. "Though you stood outside the kitchen a little too long, to where I had to finish making it myself. As you just heard, Postcrush doesn't like waiting. When you just came to the place, this cake was still a bowl of batter. But while you were just outside, I finished up everything myself."

Sunset was now dumbfounded upon what she just heard, but felt no need to question anything. Pinkie was either the most efficient baker in the universe, or she was simply messing with Sunset about the cake not even being close to done when she just arrived. Whether she was just joking or not, Sunset still felt the need to talk with Pinkie on a more serious matter, which couldn't possibly be a joke in her eyes.

"Well then... great job, Pinkie!" Sunset commended. "I'm sure they'll love it!"

"I know they will!" Pinkie squeed, as she brought the giant cake on a cart into the bakery's lobby. Sunset followed Pinkie out to see their reaction. "Here you are, Postcrush! Happy wedding day!"

"Oh, well that was quicker than even expected." K-Lo said, astonished. "It is a pretty big cake, so we hired the proper muscle. Performers like us don't carry things like that."

"You said it, girl!" Su-Z agreed. "Come on in, boys! Time to carry the cake all the way to Canterlot!"

Just as she said that, three mangy but muscular figures entered the bakery, ready to carry the couple's enormous cake. Sunset didn't recognize who these creatures were, nor what kind of species they'd be. Though to Sunset, they did somewhat resemble dogs, similar to Spike when he entered the human world. This was confirmed to be true as they spoke up.

"We're on our way, miss! So glad that you decided to choose us for this job!" Spot said with enthusiasm.

"We certainly hope you will compensate us diamond dogs handsomely. At least with thousands of luxurious gemstones!" Rover insisted.

"Yeah, we got the muscle, but it's gonna cost you ladies. Know what I'm saying?" Fido asked rhetorically.

"Of course, of course." Su-Z giggled. "Just be sure you boys carry that cake all the way to Canterlot in one piece, and we'll give you all the jewelry we don't wear anymore."

With that said, the two ponies and three diamond dogs exited the bakery with the cake. Sunset did hear of diamond dogs existing as a filly, but never really saw any herself. She also realized that the aspect of Postcrush having connections with dogs seemed to coincidentally line up, as the human Su-Z did own a cute dog named Princess Thunder Guts. Admittedly, Sunset knew next to nothing about diamond dogs, but this was likely another effect of Twilight's methods in bringing ponies and all sorts of other creatures together. She still wasn't able to immediately recognize them as anyone she knew, though a part of her suggested she had seen three similar boys at CHS who tend to dig around the school. Sunset also noted that she never saw those boys attend any classes, so she wasn't entirely sure if they were students or juvenile delinquents who didn't attend school, much like Gilda.

"Those dogs seemed nice." Pinkie smiled. "Though I think Rarity mentioned that one of them called her a mule once."

With the customers gone and Pinkie having no more orders for the day, Sunset felt it was time to finally understand what Pinkie was getting at earlier. The logic-defying claim about finishing the cake almost instantly might've just been a clever joke, but mentioning the exact same joke said by the human Pinkie and in a way that would imply this Pinkie would've known she had heard it before, there seemed to be more meaning behind it. To make matters even stranger, Sunset even noted that back in the human world, Pinkie never seemed to talk about the Postcrush Festival at all, almost as if she had no memory at all of the event.

"Pinkie, do you mind if we have a serious talk somewhere?" Sunset requested. "Perhaps in your room, if that works for you?"

"Oh, sure! No problem at all!" Pinkie said with excitement. "That was my last order for today, so I don't see why not. Maybe we can get to know each other better, like Twilight wanted."

As the two ponies exited the bakery and entered Pinkie's bedroom, Pinkie climbed upon her bed while Sunset sat nearby. Pinkie gave a friendly grin, happy for whatever Sunset wanted to discuss with her.

"So, Pinkie?" Sunset began. "About that hint you gave me of what you call a Postcrush fan with three 'I's'?"

"Oh, yeah!" Pinkie cheered with pride. "Pretty clever joke, eh? Everypony in Ponyville always said I come up with the best jokes around here."

"I'm sure they do..." Sunset continued to focus on her main questioning. "But would you mind explaining why you worded it in a way that tells me you somehow knew the human version of yourself told me that joke?"

Pinkie's grin immediately faded to a nervous expression, as she shifted her eyes all around the room. She realized Sunset was a smart pony who just saw through her, and with the jig finally being up, she felt it was finally time to come clean.

"O...okay, Sunset." Pinkie began in a saddened tone. "Could you please keep a secret?"

"A secret?" Sunset asked in confusion. "All right, I promise, I won't say a word to anypony else. Now, what's going on?"

"Well, has Twilight ever told you about how when you first stole the crown and made her enter the human world, the human version of me somehow figured out everything about her and her motivations, almost as if she was psychic?"

"Yeah..." Sunset began to parse things. "I was admittedly astonished myself when she wrote to me about it. She was about to explain to everyone about who she really was and why she was there, and the human Pinkie somehow out of nowhere, took all the words out of her mouth."

"That's because... it was actually me." Pinkie began to explain. "You see, when Twilight was in the other world, me, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, Princess Luna, Princess Celestia, and Princess Cadance were waiting around the mirror for whenever Twilight would return. However, it got a point where we couldn't continue watching the mirror, since Twilight was in the other world for too long, and we had to take naps in between. In those between times, I used my Pinkie sense to detect that the human version of myself was near the entrance of the portal, and while everypony else was asleep, I made my way in. The human me was so much like myself that we figured nopony could tell us apart. And since we were curious about exploring each other's worlds, we made a deal. She would come into Equestria to pretend to be me, and I would go into her world to pretend to be her. It was just one method we both came up with to share the wonder of being in another world without anyone from our respective worlds noticing we were missing, but we switched back at the last minute, right before Twilight came back through the portal. After all, the portal would've closed every 30 moons, so we had to act fast to avoid being trapped, at least until she used the journal to keep the mirror open indefinitely. That's how I knew Twilight's plan in the other world, and how she had a sudden crush on some guy named Flash Sentry. But we alternated back and forth at times secretly just to see what's going on in the other world. For example, I'm actually the same Pinkie you went to the Postcrush festival with, as well as the time we went to Camp Everfree together. Our camp counselor turning out to be Gaea Everfree sure was unexpected, wasn't it? I think I hugged you and exclaimed the camping was going to be so much fun, right after you said that people as chipper as Gloriosa make you nervous. And I still remember the amazing aroma of those churros made by Puffed Pastry. But the main reason we wanted to keep this a secret was because we wanted to see how long each of us could fit in within another world before somepony would notice the difference. And I guess you just did when I accidentally told you a joke you weren't supposed to hear from me. Oh, and I only pretended to not recognize you back at Twilight's coronation just to make sure nopony grew suspicious of me. We've actually been through a number of adventures together in the other world, you just never realized it until now. Pretty clever, right?"

Just as Pinkie finished her incredibly long and detailed exposition that Sunset would've never even considered being remotely possible, Sunset's jaw dropped in shock as Pinkie gasped for her breath. The details Pinkie described from Camp Everfree and Postcrush lined up perfectly with what Sunset and the human Pinkie, or so she thought, had been through together. If Sunset's brain was explosive, she would've completely wiped out the entirety of Ponyville in a large nuclear blast over what she had just heard. Having her mind blown, she immediately had trouble coming up with even the most basic way to describe this entire revelation. It was... scary, brilliant, or thought provoking? Nevertheless, Sunset was now given an answer to how the pony Pinkie somehow knew something that she clearly shouldn't have. This would also explain why the human Pinkie was always silent about the festival, since she never actually went to it with her.

"Okay, Pinkie." Sunset began, still in her rather shocked state. "You are officially smarter than myself, Twilight, and even the human Twilight combined. I would've never imagined you would be capable of doing something so sneaky and subtle to where almost nopony could ever see through your little charade. Anyways, I will stay true to my word about not mentioning this to anypony else. But if you don't mind me asking, may I ask why you want to keep this a secret?"

"Well, it wouldn't exactly be fun to keep this up with my human self if everypony already knew something was up." Pinkie explained. "From what I can tell, when she acts like me, nopony here in Equestria was able to see any difference between her and myself, so I guess that means she does a good job at being me. That, and the fact that when Twilight went into the other world to get her crown back, Princess Celestia demanded Twilight should go alone. She was worrying about how sending me and the rest of the gang with Twilight could upset this alternate world's balance or something. I wouldn't want Celestia and Twilight mad at me."

Once again, this reminded Sunset of a legitimate question she would have for Celestia once she did plan to visit Silver Shoals. Not only for potential leads on what could've happened with her parents back then, but also why she was so insistent on not allowing her to enter the portal all those years ago. Twilight might've alluded the idea to Sunset a few times during journal entries, but this was the first time she was straight-up told that the idea of her being in the other world would upset that world's balance. Assuming Pinkie was truthful on Celestia saying just that about the portal, Sunset still had no idea what that meant.

Going off of what was just told to her, both Pinkie's had switched back and forth between each world with seemingly no negative effects in either world. At least, there was not anything Sunset herself could notice with the human world, nor Twilight with Equestria. Speaking of Twilight, shortly after the Friendship Games, she had seen both Princess Twilight and the human Twilight she knew in the exact same place, again, with seemingly no repercussions. From what Sunset was told, Princess Twilight was in the middle of stopping Starlight Glimmer going crazy with a time travel spell that altered Equestria's futures. But as she arrived right after the games were over and the conflicts were already resolved, she simply went back to Equestria to continue her royal duties as if nothing ever happened. This perplexing mystery certainly kept Sunset even more invested, and she kept this in the back of her mind when it was time to visit Celestia.

"Alright, Pinkie." Sunset said. "I understand. More than you know, actually. I know what it's like to make Princess Celestia upset by disobeying her orders, believe me. And I'll also be keeping this a secret just out of respect that you manged to fool me and everyone else through such an elaborate hoax. But just to clarify, are you actually the Pinkie that originated here in Equestria?"

"Yeah, I am." Pinkie said nonchalantly. "I'm the same Pinkie who managed to pull pranks on a griffin named Gilda to show her true colors to Rainbow Dash after I saw her roar at poor Fluttershy. And I'm certainly the true element of laughter around here, even if the Elements of Harmony are now gone."

"Alright, cool. But I guess the next time I see Pinkie in the human world, I'm going to keep a closer eye on you to see if it's really you and not her." Sunset promised.

"Have fun doing so." Pinkie smiled, before hearing the bell ring downstairs in the bakery. "Ooh, another customer? Well, I'd better go get that! Well, this was a pretty nice chance for us to bond even more than we already did as humans, Sunset. But I still have a job to do, so maybe we could catch up later?"

"Yeah, that sounds great." Sunset affirmed. "Thanks for having this whole talk with me... I guess."

Both of them went downstairs and into the lobby, where Sunset noticed Pinkie was then taking an order from a large brown pegasus stallion with a delivery hat and five o' clock shadow.

"It's about time I get some service around here!" The stallion huffed. "Get me some fresh muffins already, you pink twerp! I'm feeling so ill after ingesting these abomination of pastries my former employee delivered for me! Do you have cotton in your ears or something, I demand some service already!"

"Okie dokie lokie!" Pinkie said without even questioning the stallion's complaints.

It didn't take long for Sunset to surmise that the stallion was Derpy's corrupt boss, who had just gotten what was coming to him. After hearing the way he just talked to Pinkie, Sunset didn't feel bad for him in the slightest, and was instead proud of Derpy for doing what she did with those stale muffins. She simply smirked out of the corner of her eye and exited the bakery, now wondering where else in Equestria she could explore. Sunset was still somewhat shaken up by how well deceived both Pinkie's had played her all these years, but it was certainly a respectably impressive gig. At the very least, even if it wasn't at all what she was expecting when getting to know Pinkie a bit better, Sunset still remained happy that she finally got to know the real pony Pinkie, and that her experience with her at least went better than with Rainbow Dash.

Comments

[Stet709]

Taking inspiration from that one blooper about the two Pinkies switching I see.
Nice.

[ScisetShimmerEvan]

Regardless of Sunset's mindset of the situation on hindsight, it was far too late now. This was essentially what most of her life lessons taught her, that making mistakes couldn't be undone, and the only option was to move on with the knowledge learnt from the whole experience. Despite this, she still couldn't help but feel disappointment in herself after already knowing she had been a legit changed pony. Had Sunset still been the same manipulative and selfish person she once was when controlling CHS by force, she couldn't imagine what might've become of Lily Pad when she caught Gilda threatening the child that night. No, she instead stood up for the helpless ones who couldn't defend themselves from the dangers of society, and she had even taught the other Twilight Sparkle how to embrace friendship instead of abandoning it.

See, it's not all doom and gloom.

"Mr. Crafty Crate can be just as much a stick in the mud as those rude mares we encountered by the train yesterday." Derpy explained. "I hear he even attempts to scam others, like the time he tried to charge one pony 20 bits for a cherry! If he wants some muffins after throwing away his number one employee like that, I'll just give him the stale batch that's been sitting in my truck for a week. I'm already fired as it is, and I don't need him. You and your stomach however, definitely need these scrumptious baked goods I made with love."

Huh, didn't know Derpy had that in her to do that.

"That's right!" Derpy said proudly. "You can really taste the love I put into them. As for my mail delivery job, I'll just check if there's hiring positions at another post office. I actually recently heard Crafty Crate in particular has a pretty high turnover rate. I was sad at first for getting fired, but you standing up for me also inspired me to finally stand up against my corrupt boss too. You deserve such wonderful baked goods for your kindness for sure. In the meantime, I'm just going to finish this last delivery and head off for the day. Hopefully we can see each other again soon? Oh, and good luck making things right with Rainbow Dash."

That a girl.

"Yeah, if only we had magic to change time or something." K-Lo replied. "Then we wouldn't have to keep waiting for this cake."

Should have expected that to happen.

Just as she said that, three mangy but muscular figures entered the bakery, ready to carry the couple's enormous cake. Sunset didn't recognize who these creatures, nor what kind of species they'd be. Though to Sunset, they did somewhat resemble dogs, similar to Spike when he entered the human world. This was confirmed to be true as they spoke up.

Huh, they must have hired them for this.

"That's because... it was actually me." Pinkie began to explain. "You see, when Twilight was in the other world, me, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, Princess Luna, Princess Celestia, and Princess Cadance were waiting around the mirror for whenever Twilight would return. However, it got a point where we couldn't continue watching the mirror, since Twilight was in the other world for too long, and we had to take naps in between. In those between times, I used my Pinkie sense to detect that the human version of myself was near the entrance of the portal, and while everypony else was asleep, I made my way in. The human me was so much like myself that we figured nopony could tell us apart. And since we were curious about exploring each other's worlds, we made a deal. She would come into Equestria to pretend to be me, and I would go into her world to pretend to be her. It was just one method we both came up with to share the wonder of being in another world without anyone from our respective worlds noticing we were missing, but we switched back at the last minute, right before Twilight came back through the portal. After all, the portal would've closed every 30 moons, so we had to act fast to avoid being trapped, at least until she used the journal to keep the mirror open indefinitely. That's how I knew Twilight's plan in the other world, and how she had a sudden crush on some guy named Flash Sentry. But we alternated back and forth at times secretly just to see what's going on in the other world. For example, I'm actually the same Pinkie you went to the Postcrush festival with, as well as the time we went to Camp Everfree together. Our camp counselor turning out to be Gaea Everfree sure was unexpected, wasn't it? I think I hugged you and exclaimed the camping was going to be so much fun, right after you said that people as chipper as Gloriosa make you nervous. And I still remember the amazing aroma of those churros made by Puff Pastry. But the main reason we wanted to keep this a secret was because we wanted to see how long each of us could fit in within another world before somepony would notice the difference. And I guess you just did when I accidentally told you a joke you weren't supposed to hear from me. Oh, and I only pretended to not recognize you back at Twilight's coronation just to make sure nopony grew suspicious of me. We've actually been through a number of adventures together in the other world, you just never realized it until now. Pretty clever, right?"

https://m.

"Well, it wouldn't exactly be fun to keep this up with my human self if everypony knew something was up. From what I can tell, when she acts like me, nopony here in Equestria was able to see any difference between her and myself, so I guess that means she does a good job at being me. That, and the fact that when Twilight went into the other world to get her crown back, Princess Celestia demanded Twilight should go alone. She was worrying about how sending me and the rest of the gang with Twilight could upset this alternate world's balance or something. I wouldn't want Celestia and Twilight mad at me."

Fair enough.

It didn't take long for Sunset to surmise that the stallion was Derpy's corrupt boss, who had just gotten what was coming to him. After hearing the way he just talked to Pinkie, Sunset didn't feel bad for him in the slightest, and was instead proud of Derpy for doing what she did with those stale muffins. She simply smirked out of the corner of her eye and exited the bakery, now wondering where else in Equestria she could explore. Sunset was still somewhat shaken up by how well deceived both Pinkie's had played her all these years, but it was certainly a respectably impressive gig. At the very least, even if it wasn't at all what she was expecting when getting to know Pinkie a bit better, Sunset still remained happy that she finally got to know the real pony Pinkie, and that her experience with her at least went better than with Rainbow Dash.

Yep.

[Stet709]

I actually had a thought. If Legend of Everfree follows a similar pattern to its predecessors and the EqG movies happen around the season finales (Equestria Girls and Rainbow Rocks happening after seasons 3 and 4 respectively, and Friendship Games happening during the season 5 finale), what if while pony Pinkie is at Camp Everfree, human Pinkie had the misfortune of being captured by changelings along with the rest of the Mane 6 (and the princesses). Both Pinkies would have info to swap, like pony Pinkie knowing about the geodes and their powers, and human Pinkie knowing about how the changelings reformed and are good now.