Sunset Shimmer opened her eyes and felt a massive pain in her head, forcing her to wait a few moments before she lifted herself up to gain her bearings. She looked around, recognizing that she was in her- Wait, what? She rubbed her eyes. What was going on? She looked down at her hands and noticed her attire.
This was Sunset’s outfit. But isn’t she Sunset?
“Hmm,” she muttered, beginning to stand up before stumbling a little and standing up straight. She looked over at her alarm clock, glancing at the time. The clock read 9:48 and she rested her head back down.
Wait- 9:48!?
Ignoring the immediate headrush, the baconette jumped out of bed and ran to the wall. She glanced at her calendar, noting that it was a weekday. She grunted as she rushed out of bed, quickly getting ready for school, and ran out of the door, beginning her journey. She ran to school, arriving quickly to see that nobody was entering or leaving the building.
Oh geez, I’m late! Sunset rushed inside, looking around at the empty hallways and occupied classrooms. She stopped, realizing she couldn’t remember what class she was meant to be in. Calculus? Honors Language Arts? No.. Advanced Physics! That’s it. She hurried through the seemingly endless hallways to class, and opened the door as quietly as she could. To her misfortune, everyone seemed to turn to look at her.
“Oh! Uh… ‘Sup?” She said, cringing as soon as the words came out. Excusing herself to her seat, with Twilight giving her a side-long glance, the teacher continued his lesson.
"Like I was saying, before we got interrupted..."
Sunset entered the cafeteria, looking around at all the tables full of students before her eyes landed on a table filled with her friends. She walked over, and sat down in the empty spot, noticing all the girls had stopped chatting, and were giving her a weird look.
“Um.. is something wrong?”
In order to break the silence, Rainbow Dash began, “Sooo, Sunset, who’d you make out with this morning?” The athlete then winked at Sunset.
“Your mom, actually,” Sunset admitted jokingly.
“What are you talking about?” Also came the baconette’s confused reply.
Sunset paused, realizing how jumbled her words sounded. Rainbow’s brows furrowed, trying as well to process what she had just left her friend’s mouth.
“Wait, what?”
Whatever Rainbow said next, Sunset didn’t hear it. She stared off at nothing in particular as she heard a voice in her head ask: Who the hell are you?
I could ask you the same thing. She responded.
I asked you first! The voice butted back.
Well, I asked you second!
How does that even make sense!?
Just- Ugh. Why do you have to be so difficult, mysterious voice in my head!?
Voice in YOUR head? You’re in MY head!
No, you’re in MY- She mentally rolled her eyes. Look. This is getting us nowhere. Why don’t we just introduce ourselves. I’m.. well, I've adopted the name “Daydream Shimmer”.
Wow, egotistical much? Was that a scoff? It was probably a scoff. Calling yourself a daydream?
It’s not like that! I just- Does it really matter?
Of course it does! I’m “Demon Shimmer”, after all.
That’s a dumb name..
You’re a dumb name! ...Okay so I’m not good with names but SHUT UP-
“Hello? Earth to SunShim? You in there?” Pinkie asked, waving a cupcake in front of Sunset’s face.
“Oh uh,” Sunset paused, realizing she had been zoned out, talking to a.. Demon in her head? Whatever it was, it didn’t matter right now.
“Darling, are you alright?”
Sunset’s attention was brought to a hand on her shoulder, belonging to Rarity.
“You were late this morning, and you’re never late! Not to mention that… thing with your voice you did,” Twilight added. Sunset froze, realizing she would need to come up with some excuse as to not concern the others.
“I uh.. Maybe it’s some weird new magic thing?? Haha.. yeah..” She muttered, scratching her neck and awkwardly glancing away.
“You’d think if it was some magical doohickey, the rest of us would experience it too?” Applejack questioned, glancing at the baconette.
“Um, well, technically, we didn’t all get our new magic at the same time when we were at Camp Everfree,” Fluttershy pointed out.
“Yer probably right, but still. Two voices overlapping don’t seem like nothin’ to do with our magic.” Applejack retorted.
“Maybe not OUR magic- but evil Equestrian magic!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed in excitement, standing up suddenly and jumping atop the table.
“Settle down now, Dash. I’m sure it ain’t like that.” The farmer reasoned, “Now get off the damn table! People are starin’.”
“Oh, c’mon! We do this all the time! The only new thing is that we actually have pants now!”
“Th- ...That ain’t helpin’ the point!!”
“Uh, girls? Please, let's just let this go..”
Not hearing Fluttershy, Rainbow went on. “Okay, but we’re like, superheroes! We gotta help Shimmer!”
Pinkie was suddenly in Sunset’s face, shaking her violently by the shoulders, “CAN YOU HEAR US SUNSHIM!? DON’T WORRY, WE’LL SAVE YOU FROM THAT EVIL MAGIC!!”
“Gaah!” Sunset pushed her off, “OW, MY EARS!! Back off you pink dweeb!”
All the girls suddenly dropped what they were doing and stared at her. In Rarity’s case, she literally dropped her fork back into her salad.
“..what?”
“You just… Sunset, what’s going on?” Twilight tentatively asked, “We’re your friends.”
“UhhHHH- Yes.”
“That’s not an answer!”
“Technically it is, just not the one you were hoping for.” Sunset crossed her arms and leaned back, giving the girls a smug smile.
What was that?
I was just adding my personal touch to the argument.
WE WEREN’T IN AN ARGUMENT!
Oops, well, guess we are now!
Daydream decided to just drop the conversation, and return to her previous one.
“Sorry, girls, I’m just.. Not feeling myself,” Sunset finally replied after a bit of thinking. And it’s not even a lie…
How come YOU always get to be called “Sunset” in the text?
Wha- what do- huh???
Nevermind, ugh...
“Is there anything we can do to help?” Rarity asked.
“Swear your allegiance to m- NO uh I mean. No, sorry girls. But- SHUT UP!”
“Okaaayy then,” Applejack got up and slowly got Sunset to her feet, “why don’tcha come with me an’ uh,” she shared a glance with the others, “we’ll get ya all checked out with at the office. Ah’m sure Principal Celestia won’t mind too much.”
“I’ll, uh, come with you,” Fluttershy suggested, “I mean, if.. That’s alright with you two…”
“Sure thang Fluttershy. Now righ’ through these doors an’-” Applejack was suddenly interrupted by a curious question from their flame-haired pal:
“...Doors?”
Fluttershy cast a look at Sunset, only to pause when she noticed the captivated glint in her eyes as the girl stared at the doors in front of them.
“Sunset…?”
“They’re so… beautiful…” Tears gathered in cyan eyes. Never before had there had been a moment as breath-taking as this one. The doors smooth edges, pencil like door handles..
And just like that, it was over.
Sunset looked around wildly, “Where… where’s the doors gone??”
“We uh, went through them sugarcube?”
Sunset threw her head back desperately, to get one last feeble glance, but the doors were long out of sight. With a defeated sigh, she allowed the others to move her forward.
...doors. Seriously? Daydream deadpanned.
What can I say? They really open whole new worlds for me.
I’m stuck with a lunatic. Great.
Author's Note
And scene! This concludes the first chapter. A lot of things might seem confusing right now but we'll try to clear things up in later chapters. Did I say we? Ah yes! This story is co-written by GamerSunset. We probably won't have a consistent update schedule but we'll try to get another chapter out sometime next month. 
Hi, my name is Midnight Sparkle, and I’m a Magic-o-holic. The first step to fixing your Magic-o-holic problem is admitting you have one. Who’s next?
Midnight, please, shut up.
Twilight Sparkle sat in AP Geology, trying her best to focus on jotting down her notes. Unfortunately for her, one Midnight Sparkle decided that she’d rather be elsewhere, and made it very clear.
But I’m booooored! We already know this particular lesson, you studied it three weeks in advance! The demonic being complained.
With an irritated groan, Twilight sat back in her seat, muttering under her breath, “it never hurts to be prepared…”
“Miss Sparkle, is there something you would like to add?”
Jolting up straight, the mentioned girl stammered for a moment before making her recovery, “no, ma’am.”
With that Miss Maudileena Daisy Pie continued: “Very well. The lesson was almost over, anyway. If you turn to page 7, that is the section on sedimentary rocks. Since this is a class, assignments of sorts are required. Each of you now has the task to create 9 rock poems by the end of the week; 3 on sedimentary, 3 on igneous and 3 on metamorphic. You may take the last few minutes of class to begin working on them.”
Twilight momentarily hummed over the assignment. Surely, while an interesting task from Ms. Pie, she would have little trouble with completing it! There are many different ways to take to a poem, after all. Moments later the bell rang, signifying the end of class as well as the school day.
Ugh, FINALLY!
Twilight rolled her eyes and packed away her things. She slung her backpack over her shoulder, and, together with Rarity, left the classroom. One could only hope Midnight would see fit to not interrupt her conversation with Rarity as the two navigated towards their lockers.
“Do you think Sunset will be alright?” The dress-maker began, maneuvering between the students heading in the opposite directions.
“I sure hope so. From what Applejack and Fluttershy said, things got weird at the office.”
“Wow, so cool! This is the office? I wish Sunset would’ve blown this place up too, it’s bo-or-ing.”
Applejack continued to ignore Sunset. They just couldn’t make sense of the comments she had been making, and the way she argued with herself was confusing. One moment, she was happily talking about how magical friendship is, the very next saying it was “overrated” and “who needs all that emotional-ness?”.
They paused, before Fluttershy spoke up. “Um, Sunset, you are Sunset, so you did blow up the front of the building..”
Sunset frowned. “No, I-” She blinked, before regaining her stature and speaking up again. “Oh! Haha, of course! I was just err.. Joking around?” She hesitated, anxiously looking away as to not meet their gaze.
Applejack groaned, before turning to the secretary. “We’d uh, like to check out our friend here?” The secretary glanced over questioningly, before their gaze landed on Sunset.
“And your friend would be?” It was a pointless question, really- there wasn’t a single soul in school who was unaware of Sunset Shimmer. Regardless, the employee asked, just so they could have something more to do with her otherwise boring day.
“Well, since you asked so politely, Demon Shimmer at your service!” Sunset froze, before she frantically began to interrupt herself. “I mean- Um- I’m Sunset Shimmer. The real, 100% pon- er, human who saved everybody countless times!” The secretary raised their eyebrow, before beginning to type on the computer.
“This says you’re 18 so you don’t need a parent signing you out. What’s the reason you are leaving early, Miss Shimmer?” They asked, glancing back up from their computer.
“Well uh, Sunset’s a bit unwell in the head right now. No offence, Sunset.” Applejack filled in, nervously chuckling as she was glancing back at Sunset. The mentioned girl let out an airy snort.
“Wow, thanks.”
“Very well, be on your way now, you’re starting a line.” They said, pointing out the ever growing line of students waiting behind Applejack and Sunset. Fluttershy was already waiting on the other side of the door, doing her best to remain unnoticed amongst the students. Applejack nodded, silently wondering if there was something in the food that so many students were there.
“Alrighty then, now c’mon Sunset, let’s go.” AJ started, starting to pull Sunset by her arm. Sunset let out a shriek.
“NO! I’M NOT DONE ADMIRING THE DOOR YET!” She shouted, fighting against the farmer’s strong grip.
“C’mon now, quit bein’ so stubborn!” Applejack heaved, even with her newly found strength she struggled with Sunset’s flailing. After a few moments, Sunset seemed to give in to her fate and slumped over in Applejack’s arms. “See, now that wasn’t so hard was it?” AJ quipped, and the three began the journey to the parking lot to bring Sunset home.
“It would certainly seem as such, wouldn’t it?” Rarity pondered, as she grabbed the last notebook from her locker and carefully put it in her bag. “Whatever got to that dear, I do so hope it passes soon. Heavens knows we could use a break from magical situations right now, especially poor Sunset.”
Twilight nodded in agreement. “She’s always pushing herself so hard, I wish she wouldn’t feel so responsible still for bringing magic to this world.”
An unwelcome voice scoffed in her mind, As if you can say that you don’t still feel guilty for the Friendship Games incident. Besides, she deserves it if she gets a little loopy. She’s the reason I can’t get to the magic!
The bespectacled girl shivered at the accusatory statement, but had no comeback. Even if she claimed it wasn’t true, she and Midnight both knew that she held onto that small bit of guilt. Not that the said ex-villainess being there and reminding her of it daily helped at all.
Her friend hummed and brought Twilight out of her little world. “Well, no point wasting time over talking about it, I suppose. We’d best be getting to practice, wouldn’t want to not take advantage of the time we have scheduled for using the band room.”
The friends continued on to the band room, with not much else to talk about. They arrived to find all the Rainbooms already there- minus Sunset of course. Luckily, they were still just getting set up, so the two quickly joined them and began to play.
Author's Note
And scene!
Hey, sorry this chapter took so long! I didn't intend for us to take until two months after I promised we'd release another chapter, but we struggled with this one. Juggling school and the motivation to actually write was difficult, but with school ending soon we should be able to get the next chapters out quicker, but since what happened last time when I gave a deadline, I won't make any promises. But we do intend to get this story finished, no matter how long it may take. See you all next chapter! 
