Starlight Glimmer looked up at Sunset Shimmer shyly and slowly moved from the bush that she had been hiding behind. The problem with her human body was that it was much bigger and more gangly than her pony body and her pony body would have had no problems fitting behind that bush without being seen. It was hard to take into account her new body, sometimes. Unfortunately, it happened to happen to her at the worst possible time.

“I promise that there's a good explanation for this,” Starlight said as she racked her brain for a possible excuse that she could use.

“Well? What is it then?” Sunset asked as she tapped her foot impatiently. Starlight stuttered for several seconds as she tried to come up with a valid reason why she would be hiding in a bush, but after several seconds of grasping at straws, she gave up. “I'm waiting! What is your 'good explanation' for following me around?”

Starlight took note that Sunset was balling her fists so tightly that you could see the indents of her fingernails in her skin. Knowing how angry she was just made Starlight more frantic as she desperately tried to cling to any possible excuse she could use.

Still, nothing came to mind. Nothing coherent at least.

“You don't trust me, do you?” Sunset asked.

“What?”

“For some reason you have gotten it into your head that I had something to do with the other Starlight's disappearance. You were questioning me yesterday about where I lived and the other Sunset Shimmer and now I am thinking that you believe I had something to do with all of this. I don't know if it was just something that somebody else said or if you are just like everybody else here.”

“Sunset Shimmer...”

“No, it's okay. It's just a reminder that nobody here actually trusts me. You probably didn't just get that idea into your head out of nowhere, I mean, we're friends or at least, I thought we were. Princess Twilight has really helped both of us change for the better and I thought... I guess I thought that meant we had some sort of kinship.”

“It does!” Starlight interrupted, but Sunset ignored her.

“It doesn't if I helped defeat the sirens or that I helped this world's Twilight when she was overpowered by magic or even that I helped save Camp Everfree! None of it matters because I can't stop people from seeing me as a demon.”

“I don't see you as a demon.”

“No, you don't physically see me as a demon because you weren't here when I was one, but that doesn't mean you don't see me as a terrible person. I mean, you are literally following me home and hiding behind a shrub! Nobody does that unless they think you did something. So what do you think I did?”

“I... I don't...”

“You think I have something to do with Starlight Glimmer's disappearance. Why else would you be following me?”

Starlight crossed her arms and lifted an eyebrow. “Why would you ask if you already knew?”

“I don't know,” Sunset admitted with a defeated sigh. “I guess a little part of me was hoping that you would prove me wrong.”

“It's nothing personal, Sunset. It's just that nobody knows anything about you.”

“What do you mean, 'nobody?' My friends know who I am. They know I love math, they know I grew up in Equestria, that I love the Tirek video games, my favorite colors, my favorite foods... what else is there to know?”

“There are so many other things, like where do you live? What happened to the other Sunset Shimmer? Do you know where she is?”

“That is irrelevant,” Sunset responded with a nonchalant wave of her hand.

“Your name was in the notebook!” Starlight blurted out.

Sunset's jaw dropped, which Starlight subtly noted seemed to have been genuine surprise. “What? Why would my name be in there? I told you, I have never seen this world's version of you before!”

“I don't know why, but Twilight told me that she decoded the names on some of the other pages of Starlight Glimmer's notebook after she figured out the cipher. It's just your name and Twilight hadn't figured out the URL yet, but it was one of the only leads that I had... and I'm sorry, but the clock is ticking. Starlight has been missing for weeks and I need to investigate every lead that I have. I need to find Starlight Glimmer because if I don't, then nobody else will!”

Sunset Shimmer looked at Starlight with a puzzled expression. “I still don't understand why is my name in the book? I've never met the version of you in this world. I didn't even know you existed in the pony world until Princess Twilight told me that she had taken on a student.”

“But you had to admit that when you heard about me, you had to be at least a little curious about the human me, right? The girls said that you were kind of upset when Twilight told you about me.”

Sunset crossed her arms over her chest and looked down at her feet which were now making tiny circles in the dirt.

“I was a little jealous,” she admitted. “It was selfish of me though, I just wanted Twilight all to myself. I guess I always thought of her as a kind of stand-in teacher for me after I abandoned my studies with Princess Celestia. Nothing was ever official though, which is what took me a while to realize. Even though Princess Twilight thought that you and I would get along well; I didn't go looking for you here though, I don't do that anymore.”

“What do you mean you don't 'do that anymore?'”

“I mean that when I came here and when I realized that the people here were practically mirrors of ponies that I had known back in Equestria, I spent so much of my time trying to figure out this world and all the people in it.”

“And what did you figure out?”

Sunset groaned. “Not enough.”

“The girls said that after finding out that there was another Twilight they asked you about the other version of you,” Starlight trailed off, but when Sunset opened her mouth to speak, Starlight cut her off. “You don't have to say anything if you don't want to. I know it's really strange to think about and maybe you don't know anything about her. That's okay! If I never got that message the other day, then I would have never given the Starlight Glimmer of this world a second thought, but I know that things don't work the same way on both worlds; some people and places are different or not around at all. But you and I; well I think I know why Princess Twilight wanted to be my teacher at all, I think I just remind her of you. We're just the other word's version of each other, we've both done something horrible because of greed and pride, but we've changed and we've done a complete turnaround. In our new lives, you and I are the heroes and when I look at you, I feel like I'm looking in a mirror, but in a good way. You know? Because you remind me of how far I've come and I hope, well, I hope that I do the same for you.”

Sunset hugged her and admittedly she teared up a little bit, but wiped away the lone tear before pulling apart from the other Equestrian transplant.

“I really appreciate that, Starlight.”

“I'm sorry that I followed you. I know it's probably a little creepy, I'm just trying to do my part in finding Starlight. If you were in my shoes, I'm sure you would do the same thing. I'll just head home now. You're right, those questions that I asked you were personal and you were under no obligation to answer them. I'll see you tomorrow. That is, if you still want to talk to me tomorrow.”

Sunset opened her mouth to speak, but Starlight turned around and started walking in the opposite direction before she was able to get a word in. She stood there wordlessly as she watched her friend walk down the street back towards Canterlot High School for several long drawn out seconds before she finally began to run after her.

“Wait, Starlight! There's something I need to say to you.”

She's going to tell you how much she hates you. I hope she doesn't take it out on your friends, they had nothing to do with this. You should have made it clearer that they had nothing to do with this.

“Before you say anything, I just want you to know that this had nothing to do with our friends. They had no idea that I was doing this and they didn't accuse you of anything. They probably thought I was a silly filly for even thinking that you were a suspect. I just wanted to make sure for myself, just to cross you off the list.”

“Oh, okay, well...”

“Please don't tell the girls that I tried to follow you home. I don't want them to think that I'm a weirdo or anything,” Starlight added before she started to walk away again.

Sunset reached out and grabbed Starlight's shoulder before she could get out of her reach again.

“Actually, I wanted to talk to you about something.”

“Oh?” Starlight raised an eyebrow. “What would you like to talk about?”

“I wanted to talk about... me. The pony me and the human me because I know that I have told the girls that I don't know anything about the other Sunset Shimmer, but that's not entirely true. I know about her.”

Starlight leaned in, clearly interested in what Sunset had to say.

“I don't want to talk about it here though, is that okay?”

Starlight looked around. The road that they were on wasn't busy, but there were enough people walking around the girls and hanging out in front of nearby stores that she understood her friends' hesitation to speak freely about her past, especially when that past included coming through the portal from a distant pony world.

“Sure, where would you like to go?”

Sunset took in a sharp inhale, held her breath, and tensed her whole body as if she were weighing her options before finally exhaling again. “We could go back to my place, if you don't mind.”

Starlight tried to hide her shocked expression. “That's perfectly fine with me. Just lead the way!”

Sunset started walking down the road and Starlight jogged to catch up with her, but neither girl said anything. Sunset led her friend through the streets which gradually became busier the closer they got to the downtown area. The town that the girls lived in was set up on a grid system, much like the city it bordered and just a few blocks from Canterlot High School was a bustling downtown area. The seniors at CHS appreciated it because they were allowed to leave campus for lunch and the downtown area had countless different places to get food from.

Most of the students at CHS didn't live near the downtown area. The brownstone apartments seemed to be dedicated more towards college students in the area and the people who were getting their first apartment after moving out of their family home. It was a nice area though, and Starlight couldn't help, but admire the old brownstones that surrounded the road on each side in between the bars and restaurants. So, she was a little bit jealous when Sunset stopped in front of one of them, right smack in the middle of a pizza place and a laundromat.

“It's a little bit of a mess, sorry about that. I wasn't expecting company. I don't usually invite people inside.”

“No, that's fine! I'm a pretty messy pony... er person as well so I probably won't even notice it.”

Sunset didn't acknowledge that Starlight had even replied to her, she just reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out her key, slowly opening the door as if she were waiting for Starlight to change her mind and decide to go home, but Starlight was too curious to let it go.

She finally opened the door into a small beige entryway where the paint on the walls was chipping and looked like the last time it had been painted, whoever did the job just sloppily threw paint on the walls with little regard to how it would look. The staircase that she led Starlight up was so narrow, she couldn't help, but wonder how she would have been able to bring furniture up the stairs since they could barely fit on the stairs as is. She stopped on the second floor right in front of a door with a gold plated “2” on the door. The door, which at least seemed to be newer looking than the rest of the building, sprung open fairly easily and Sunset quickly ushered her into the apartment and slammed the door shut behind her.

The inside of Sunset's apartment was a direct contrast to the entryway. It was a small, but open loft that seemed like it had recently been redone and repainted with much more attention to detail than the paint job in the hallway. The appliances were small and seemed older, but the rest of the apartment felt warm and welcome and Sunset seemed to have put a lot of effort into making it feel like home.

“This isn't a mess at all,” Starlight immediately said. “Just saying.”

“Well, it was a warning,” Sunset said with a shrug. “I know that Twilight or Rarity probably would have thought it was a mess if they saw it because something would have been out of place.”

She sat down on a computer chair and ushered Starlight in the direction of her sole dining room chair. Starlight grabbed it and pulled it towards Sunset so the girls could face each other.

“So what did you want to discuss that we couldn't talk about out there?”

Sunset blushed. “I didn't want the people here to overhear anything and see me any differently. I had a rocky start in this world and I did a lot of things that I am not necessarily proud of.”

Starlight nodded in a silent permission for her to continue.

“You see, when I first came here and I realized how many similarities to Equestria this world has, I realized that there had to be another version of me so I spent most of my time in this new world learning all about the different details of what it was like to be human while I was looking for her. It wasn't quite the same situation that you're having right now, I didn't spend that long looking for her and when I found her nothing about her life really surprised me. Honestly, the other version of me was just like I was back in Equestria when I came here.

The other Sunset Shimmer was a dedicated student at a small private school – it was a school that was smaller than Crystal Prep, maybe a hundred students in all, and she was the top student there. Back when I was new here and had no place to live and no idea what I would do in this new world, I would follow her around. At the time it was the only thing that made sense, I wanted to see what her life was like and I wanted to know that out of the two of us, I was the one who was better off. I thought it was like some sort of game where one of us would be a clear winner.”

“Were you the winner?”

“Ha. No. Not at all. She was literally just me back in Equestria, a dedicated student who put more effort into her studies and her goal of becoming President than she did anything else. The only difference between her and I was that on this world she had a great support system in her family that I could only dream of growing up. She had people who would keep her grounded when she needed it and people who were rooting for her to succeed. All I had, even though she's amazing, was Princess Celestia. I was so jealous of this other Sunset Shimmer.”

“So, what did you do?” Starlight asked curiously

“Nothing. There was nothing I could do. Sure, at times while I watched I wondered if it would just be easier to take her place here. I thought that I could just continue her studies and follow her life plan. One day I would become president just like she wanted, but that would be the point where my plan would finally come to fruition and I would be able to create a zombie army to take over the world and then use that zombie army to take over Equestria too. My anger and frustration with Princess Celestia had really clouded my judgment though and I realized that I didn't want to wait that long to enact my plan. I didn't want to risk there being two Sunset Shimmer's though, so I got her and her family sent away.”

“Sent away?” Starlight asked hesitantly as she took a step back from the other girl.“Sent away to where? How did you do it?”

“I stole some of her things, important things like her identification information and important documents while she and her family were out of the house. I rationed it in my mind that it was acceptable because I wasn't using them for myself, I was using them to send out applications to fancy schools on the other side of the country. I sent out a ton of applications and when she got accepted she and her family spent a few weeks discussing it, probably out of pure confusion, and then one day I came by here and saw that they were in the process of packing up their home. Within two weeks they had moved away so that Sunset Shimmer could continue her studies in an amazing new environment. For a while though, after they had gone, I would still stick around and watch their house as if they would come back. It was the only place I truly felt comfortable and safe at the time. So, even though I felt relief that they had decided to leave, leaving me as the only Sunset Shimmer in town, I also felt something else which I now recognize was clearly guilt.”

“I'm sure if you ever ran into the other Sunset Shimmer she would appreciate that you did that for her. I think that in the end it worked out.”

“I guess. Until the day that we are both out in the real world...”

“Nah, I bet that will work out just fine. Of course, if you were ever really worried, I bet you would be welcomed back to Equestria with open arms.”

Sunset Shimmer thought about it for a moment. “I used to make mini trips to Equestria all the time. Equestria has so many gems that are never even touched so I would sneak back through the mirror while ponies were asleep and I used to just take a few games so I could afford a place to live. I stopped doing that after I stole Princess Twilight's crown. I had enough gems saved up anyway, so now I work at a sushi place in the mall, it's a pretty good gig, people tend to tip well and I like it because it means I can sequester myself in this world instead of going back to Equestria. Aside from that last trip to pick up that new notebook which I never left Twilight's home to finish that errand, I haven't really been back to Equestria and I haven't really wanted to go back”

“What? Why not? Equestria is amazing! It's way better than this world, there's no magic here!”

“There's enough magic here thanks to me,” Sunset admitted. “I already brought magic that I can't control from Equestria to Earth, I would rather not make some other dumb mistake that leads to more problems here.”

“I think that you're overreacting.”

“No, between bringing magic to a world where there wasn't any and disobeying Princess Celestia the way that I did, I don't think that I could ever show my face in Equestria ever again.”

Starlight patted the other Equestrian transplant on the back. “Hey, I wouldn't say that. I mean, I created a town that was basically a cult and when Princess Twilight and her friends tried to destroy it, I created a spell so that I could go back in time and make sure their friendship never happened and all the princesses can look me in the eye when they talk to me. They didn't even know me in the same way that Princess Celestia knows you, Sunset Shimmer.”

Sunset Shimmer stared at her for a moment before breaking the silence and saying, “What did you do? To the people in your town, I mean?”

Starlight had been through the same conversation so many times in Equestria that at this point, explaining the situation had become old hat. She didn't like to discuss it, but she liked to think of herself as desensitized to the details of it all so she wouldn't get overly frustrated with herself every time she had to answer that question.

“I basically brainwashed them into being my friends and forced them to give up their special talents and live in the middle of nowhere and eat terrible food.”

“Were you nice to them?”

That question was a new question. Most of the time, at this point, everypony she mentioned it to most likely assumed the worst and sometimes she believed the worst in herself even though she knew that she wasn't a complete tyrant, it was easy to paint herself that way in her memories because of how guilty about it she felt.

“Most of the time,” she admitted after thinking about it for a few moments. “I mean, sometimes I would lose my temper for a moment over something inane, but never anything that lasted longer than a few minutes.”

“I don't think that's so bad. I mean, you might have gone a little bit overboard with the going back in time thing, but I feel like being an overall good leader should count for something.”

“That was my thought process at the time. Now, I don't fully feel the same way and after everything that I have learned about the Starlight Glimmer in this world; I worry that even if we find her, she will go down the same path that I did. Except, she might not have the same influences that I found in Princess Twilight and the other Elements of Harmony.”

“I don't think that will happen,” Sunset replied with a tiny smile. “First of all, going back in time and time spells in general, thankfully haven't popped up in this world so I don't think that is something that can happen in this world. Plus, we may not exactly be Elements of Harmony, but we do have really cool geode's that give us powers and if we have to use them to make sure this world's Starlight Glimmer doesn't go off the deep end, then that's what we will have to do.”

“So, you don't think this worlds Starlight Glimmer is doomed?”

“No, not at all.”

“And you aren't doomed either. I think you and I suffer from a lot of the same problems, we both are so guilty that we are so far into our own heads about whether or not we can be good ponies... or good people, either or, but we let that cloud our judgment. Don't let me worrying about your involvement serve as an end all thought process about you. Your friends love you and so do I. I just thought that I needed to search every option. Honestly, at some point, I wouldn't be surprised if I had just looked into all the girls here just in case.”

“Hey, it's okay. I shouldn't have gotten so frustrated with you. It wasn't your fault, you were just following every lead you could get your hands on. Of course, now that you've finally realized that I'm on your side... which I don't understand why it took you so long to figure that out. Why don't we go back to looking for the Dazzlings, what do you say?”

“I say that it sounds like a great plan.”

Sunset smiled. “Perfect, and I know just the place to start.”

Author's Note

This is a story I've been working on for National Pony Writing Month where the point is to write 50,000 words in 30 days. So, I've gone through this chapter only once to fix some of the wording/grammar errors that stuck out to me. If you find anything else, let me know.

Thanks to the new Equestria Girls mini-series and all their subsequent information. I was able to piece together an idea of what Sunset Shimmer's apartment was like. If you haven't seen it. Check them out here and here.