Sunset was still shaking when the bike slowed to a stop. She could feel herself sweating everywhere and tugged at her tracksuit irritably. Her vision was partially impaired, parts of her vision now steamed over. Wasting no time, she parked and rejoined her friends in the middle of the dirt track.
Applejack was the first to say something, even as she ran along to join them. “Is everybody alright?”
Sunset clenched her fists and took in a deep breath. The shaking transitioned into erratic fidgeting. Her outfit clinged to her like a bad odor and her ears chafed but apart from all that, she wasn’t in pain.
Another breath and she glanced to her friends. They were all fine, each of them: Pinkie, Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash—
Sunset’s stomach took an abrupt lurch; Rainbow Dash was noticeably absent. She flicked her head around, looking around the field, the track and even the stands.
“Better than all right! We won!” Rainbow cheered, landing deftly down from the air. Beside her, the others made their own little victory poses, their grins reflection of Rainbow’s triumphant smirk.
Now Sunset’s heart lurched and she could feeling its beat, like a drum pounding on the sides of her helmet. She pulled off her headgear and felt a cold breeze sail into her face. Then, before she knew it, her lips started moving.
“Yeah, we won, but somebody could’ve gotten seriously hurt.” She looked to her friends, who stood together, as if nothing had ever happened. Even if she was still alive, Sunset still felt like a ghost—mere chance had saved them from the danger of the portals. No way in Equestria were any of them equipped to deal with this magic directly. After all, this whole thing was intended to be a silly game!
Even with her helmet off, Sunset felt her face grow hotter and hotter. “The magic is going haywire and I have no idea how to fix it!” she cried, tossing her arms up into the air, before bringing them down again. Her hands balled up into fists and shook again. Even despite the gloves she wore, her fingernails bore into her palms.
“Um, excuse me,” piped up an well too familiar voice to Sunset, one that was beginning to ring in her ears. It was Twilight, except not the one she wanted right now. The one she had practically begged for. “I didn't mean for any of this to happen. I just wanted to learn about the strange energy coming from your school. I didn't know that it was magic or… how it works.”
“That's okay. Neither do we,” Dash said, casually shrugging her shoulders as she approached Twilight.
Twilight’s pendant then lurched forward with a sharp tug, enveloped in a purple energy. It reached out towards Dash and like some puppet master, dragged Twilight along with it. It opened up and began to drain Rainbow of her magic, the very same magic that had saved Sunset moments ago.
Sunset’s jaw dropped as she watched her best friend drop down onto a knee with a tired groan, her magnificent wings vanishing. She ran forward, putting her hands around Rainbow’s shoulders, preventing a fall onto the dirt track. The only thing she could do was to gently squeeze Rainbow and hold onto her. It felt right but was about as useful as Twilight was; the girl trembled like a leaf in the wind, while her pendant shook with an almost intense anger to it.
“I’m sorry! It just started absorbing energy on its own but I’m not sure how!” Twilight cried, struggling to shut the pendant. It had lost some of its strength but that hardly matter, given Rainbow’s magic now swirled within. Sparks crackled from it, a miniature storm of power.
Sunset felt Rainbow gently brush against her but reared up at Twilight’s words. She pointed a finger at her, almost unable to see clearly. “What do you mean you don’t know how?!”
She clamped her hands over Twilight’s and attempted to force the pendant shut. Yet, in a final display of power, it opened right back up and shot a blast of magic towards the sky. Sunset flinched, feeling the energy fly right past her face. Her eyes followed its trajectory, even if it nearly teared up her eyes from the brightness of it all. But from that same light then came sudden darkness.
Sunset could recognise it from anywhere, even if some things had changed. Equestria’s night sky hung above them, even some constellations visible from her position. In its full glory, it was beautiful. Isolated amongst the day of Canterlot High? It was nothing more than a black pool.
“It also causes these corresponding rifts to appear! I don’t know how that works either!” Twilight said, still trying to fight back against the pendant.
“Is there anything you do know?! Like how to get our magic back, or fix the portal to Equestria?!” Sunset shouted, taking steps closer to Twilight.
“E-Equestria?” Twilight asked, staring at Sunset with naivety that bordered on outright insulting.
Sunset had tried to let her explain. No, she had struggled to give this girl a chance. She had bit her lip so hard it hurt, waiting for Twilight to explain herself. Clearly, it was evident that Sunset had let her misunderstanding lead her into inaction. Enough was enough.
“You’re supposed to be so smart but did you ever think you shouldn’t be messing around with things you don’t understand?!” In one fluid motion, Sunset took a step forward and slammed the pendant shut. It closed with a satisfying click.
“But I wanna understand!” Twilight pleaded, still clutching onto her precious device.
“But you don’t!” Sunset replied, pushing down Twilight’s hands and pendant along with them. “And worst of all,” she continued, her voice breaking just slightly, “you put the lives of my friends in danger!”
“I’m sorry!” Twilight said, her voice much quieter and her eyes now filled up with tears. “I didn’t mean to…” She closed her eyes and broke off into a run.
“Twilight!” Spike called out, chasing after her. “Wait!”
Sunset stared at them, chest rising and falling with her every breath. If Twilight even thought about looking back, she would be met with Sunset’s glare, a stark reminder of just how badly she had messed up everything.
At least her friends were safe and Rainbow seemed to suffer mild discomfort at most. If any of them had been hurt, even just slightly… Sunset couldn’t even imagine what she would do to that cowardly fool.
Then, just as the fire had risen up within her, a cool calm touch crashed her back down. Sunset turned, facing Rainbow Dash right by her side. She looked tired but had still placed both hands over Sunset. Bags were under her eyes but they were wide, her eyebrows raised very gradually. Sunset couldn’t bring herself to look at her.
The brilliant Sunset Shimmer had done it again. She’d let her inner demons take a hold of her, spark that fire within her, and she’d gotten someone burned. This world’s Twilight was no magical princess, she was just an ordinary girl, now running scared and crying because of the flames Sunset spewed.
“Great. Just great.” Sunset covered her face, then gripped it tightly. “Can’t I do anything right without messing up?”
Rainbow Dash gave her shoulder a squeeze and silently motioned for the others to give them some privacy. “So what? You slipped, blew up a little. It’s no big deal.”
“No big deal?” Sunset said, glowering at Dash. “You saw what happened. I was screaming at her. Shrieking at her like some raging she-demon—” She blinked, seeing Dash flinch just a little. “And I’m doing it again, aren’t I?”
“Yeah.” Rainbow winced. “Sorry.”
“I just—” Sunset chewed on her lip. “I was scared.”
“Well, that portal appearing out of thin air was a little freaky…” Rainbow said.
“No. No it wasn’t that,” Sunset said. She shook her head, then looked at her friends. They were out of earshot but their worried expressions were easily readable all the same. “I was scared that’d I lose you.”
“Oh.” Rainbow wrapped an arm around her. Her voice dropped a bit, becoming much quieter than usual. “Look, we’re not going anywhere. We’re all too awesome for that, especially when we have each other.”
“I know,” Sunset said. She wanted to lean into Rainbow and relax but both of them were still shaking. “It’s just… when Fluttershy gets scared, she hides away. If Pinkie’s scared, she might be loud but she’s never mean. Me?” She hung her head and closed her eyes. “I just get angry.”
“Maybe that isn’t a totally bad thing,” Rainbow said.
Sunset blinked and stared at her. “Are you serio—what do you mean?”
Rainbow smiled. “If you get that passionate about defending us, then becoming friends with you was probably one of the best decisions we ever made. But yeah, you gotta control that anger.” Dash scratched her head. “Guess you really are like fire, in that sense. Pretty awesome when controlled but can hurt people if it goes wild.”
Sunset nodded. “Yeah. That seems pretty accurate.”
“Just simmer down a little. Deep breaths. Just like gym warm up, y’know?” Rainbow gave Sunset a little smirk, as she went through the calming rhythms. “Guess I should say ‘Shimmer down’ instead.”
It was enough to bring a flash of a smile across Sunset. “Heh.”
“You good?”
Sunset ran a hand through her hair. “Better.”
“Sweet,” Rainbow replied, giving her a thumbs up. “Look, maybe you said things a little badly. But that happens, it was a mistake. And we just did go through the most dangerous bike race of all time.”
Sunset hummed in response, then gave Rainbow a stronger smile. “Thanks for saving my life, back there.”
Dash grinned, scuffing her chest casually. “Think nothing of it. It’s just what I do.”
“Now you do, I guess.” A pause. “Question?”
“Shoot,” Rainbow said, pointing a finger gun at her.
“Out of everyone in our group, you took to me the quickest.” She frowned and then asked, “Why?”
Rainbow shrugged. “I see myself in you, kinda.”
Sunset did a double take. “Really?”
“Hey, I wasn’t always as awesome as I am now. I’ve made some pretty bad mistakes too,” Dash said.
Glancing towards the school she almost destroyed, Sunset could only sigh. “Bet you never turned into a demon.”
“Nah. But still, I hurt people,” Dash answered. Sunset turned back to face her. “When I was young, I wanted to be the best athlete ever. I still do but back then, it was just about the only thing I cared about. And I didn’t care about how I got it either.”
Sunset perked a brow but kept quiet.
“I’d do some pretty lousy things,” Rainbow said, rubbing at her arm. “Cheating, mostly. But sometimes, especially during football, I’d just push other kids down so I could get a shot at glory.”
“You were just a kid,” Sunset replied. “You didn’t know any better.”
“Did you?” Rainbow asked.
Sunset paused momentarily before answering. “I should have.”
“Me too,” Rainbow agreed. “But I didn’t. I just didn’t know how my actions were affecting everyone, and how everyone saw me. I wasn’t some hero or someone awesome to them. I was just a rotten bully.”
Smiling, Rainbow gazed towards her friends, gathered in a circle nearby. “Fluttershy was the first to forgive me. She made me see what the end of the road would be like, if I kept being such a jerk. Then the others quickly followed suit. I owe them a lot, really.”
Turning back to Sunset, Dash held out her hand. “So I’ve been there, sorta. Maybe not on the same level as you but definitely a similar principle, or something like that.” She shook her head. “Look, I’m not the best at words but... whenever you stumble, or fall down, I’ll always be there to pick you back up again.”
Sunset eagerly took Rainbow’s hand and it felt like her heart had risen with it. “I appreciate it, Dash. And if you’re ever down, I’ll give you some lift, okay?”
Rainbow squeezed Sunset’s hand, then let go, patting her shoulder. “Alright, that’s a deal. I mean, it shouldn’t happen much, but if I’m ever not feeling too awesome one day, you’ll be the first to know.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you so sincere,” Sunset remarked, smirking.
Rainbow forced out a laugh, nudging Sunset aside. “Yeah, well, guess I’m just feeling like it after saving your life.”
“We’ll go with that, sure,” Sunset replied, looking over to the rest of the group with a smile. “Let’s get ready for the next event.”
“Totally,” Rainbow replied, then immediately ran towards the group, pumping a fist into the air and shouting, “Let’s win this thing!”
