In Between

by LulaMoonBow

Rating: everyone
Tags: Daydream Shimmer, Human, Equestria Girls, Sunset Shimmer (Demon), Sunset Shimmer
Length: 3043

Sunset Shimmer meets her original human self, who is unconciously destroying both the worlds Sunset knows.

Strange things are happening to Sunset Shimmer. Sudden flashes disturb her throughout the day, she constantly keeps hearing the voices of her pony friends back in Equestria, and the journal she uses to communicate with Princess Twilight isn't functioning properly. When Sunset finds out who's responsible, she has to make a hard decision, or she will have to see the two worlds crumbling before her eyes.

Published 2021-12-30 22:50:01 UTC
Last updated 2022-02-08 22:04:01 UTC

Chapter 1

Sunset breathed in the fresh evening air. She was doing what she loved most - spending time with her friends on the beach. The sun was setting, and the sky was orange and pink. Sunset looked around at her friends. Rarity was painting Fluttershy’s nails, Twilight was reading a book, Applejack was just lying on her back, staring up at the sky, and Rainbow Dash was lying down next to AJ with her sunglasses on. And it would have been quite calm and quiet, but Pinkie Pie, of course, could not stop talking.

“That one looks like an iguana! Wait - now it looks kinda like Gummi,” Pinkie Pie giggled as she guessed the shape of each cloud that passed by. “And that one looks like cotton candy! It’s also pink, like the real thing!”

Sunset smiled. She glanced at the sky. It was a beautiful shade of scarlet. The bright orange sun was slowly setting into the horizon. Sunset never wanted this to end. She enjoyed spending time with her friends, and no matter what they were doing, they always enjoyed themselves as long as they were together. And she had come such a long way...

A sudden flash of light interrupted her thoughts, and as she looked in the direction of the flash, she saw Princess Twilight and dragon Spike from the pony world. They disappeared as suddenly as they appeared. Even though the flash was only for a fraction of a second, she could see the two creatures very clearly, as if they were sitting right in front of her. Sunset blinked. Was she seeing things?

“Are you alright, Sunset?,” Twilight asked. “You look… startled.”

“Oh, um, I’m fine,” she replied. “I just, um, was, um, thinking about… something?”

“Okay… ,” Twilight said suspiciously, but she continued reading her book.

‘I’m probably just imagining things,’ she concluded.

Sunset completely forgot about the incident, until it happened again. And again. And again. She kept on seeing flashes of the pony world. Sometimes the flashes would disappear in the blink of an eye, but other times, they could last for minutes at a time. When she was in school, she would see pony Cheerily; when she was playing video games with her friends, she would see a boring book instead of the screen.

One night, when Sunset was in bed, she heard Fluttershy singing a lullaby. Surprised, she suddenly jolted up from her bed. But as soon as she did, the singing stopped. She closed her eyes again, and Fluttershy continued singing. It didn't take long for Sunset to figure out that this had something to do with the flashes she kept on seeing. She decided to tell Princess Twilight about. The princess would probably know what to do and why this was happening.

Dear Princess Twilight,
Are you still awake?

It took about two minutes for Twilight to reply:

Yes. Is everything alright?

Well, not really. I'm not able to sleep. I keep hearing stuff. And in the daytime, I keep seeing things in Equestria, as if I am there.

What Twilight replied was unclear. Some words were missing, some words looked slightly erased, and that was only the first half of the sentence. The second half just looked like a bunch of dots and dashes.

When Sunset wrote back to Twilight saying that she wasn't able to read her message, Twilight's reply was even less readable than the last. Sunset panicked. She didn't know what to do. Whenever she had a problem she wasn't able to solve, she would ask Princess Twilight via the journal. But now she couldn't even use the journal. Then Sunset realized that she could just explain to Princess Twilight in person - or pony, so to speak. She planned to go that very night, as she felt that she had to stop this as soon as possible. She quickly went to the statue in front of her school. Sunset was feeling both nervous and excited. She was nervouscited. It had been quite some time since she had visited Equestria. She hadn't met Twilight in a long time, and she didn't use the journal as much as she used to. She didn't really know much of what was happening to Twilight these days. And the sooner they figure out what was going on, the sooner they could fix it. Sunset took a deep breath and slowly entered the portal connecting the two worlds.

Chapter 3

After hearing the news about the new Celestia, Sunset didn't really want to talk to Twilight so much anymore. She felt that Twilight didn't consider her as a friend, and that she didn't mean as much to Twilight as she had hoped. It felt as though Twilight still didn't fully trust her. Sunset didn't really want to go and ask advice from Twilight now. It would make her sound as if she was trying too hard to become close to Twilight. She sighed. She and Starlight were already at the station, and the train would be arriving in five minutes. She didn't really have a choice anymore.

"So, you must be pretty excited to meet Twilight again after so long," Starlight commented.

"Please don't mention her. I don't really want to talk about her right now," Sunset insisted.

"Oh, um... okay."

They both waited in silence until the train arrived. Starlight wanted to reassure Sunset and tell her that Twilight would have a good reason to not tell her, but if Sunset didn't want to talk about Twilight then she was not going to bring her up.

A couple of hours later, they arrived in Canterlot. The sun had just been raised. Sunset wasn't sure who raised the sun. Celestia's job was raising the sun, and Sunset thought that she would do that for all of eternity, but it was possible that she passed down all her responsibilities to Twilight, including raising the sun. But Celestia still had the ability to control the sun, her cutie mark was a sun, and even though she retired, Sunset still felt that she should be raising the sun. How would Twilight raise it anyway?

Sunset and Starlight entered the castle and made their way to the throne room. There was only one throne now, and it was occupied by the Princess. Sunset started to bow down, but Twilight objected, "No need for that. You are my friends, after all."

Sunset got up and looked at Twilight, who was sitting on a big throne wearing a beautiful crown. She realized she needed to congratulate her friend.

"Congratulations, Twilight! Celestia entrusted you with an entire country. She must've really been proud of you," Sunset put on a smile.

Twilight detected the anger and sarcasm in her voice. She instantly knew what was wrong.

"Thanks," she started. Then she sighed, "And I'm so sorry for not telling you about my coronation. I felt it would be easier to tell you in person."

"Okay. So, I'm just curious, why didn't you?"

"I was... kind of busy..."

"Too busy to inform your friend about something she should know?"

"Well..."

"Do you even care? I barely know what's going on here, you barely ever know what's going on there, we rarely ever use the journal unless it's an emergency, and now this? Are we even friends anymore?"

Twilight let Sunset throw her tantrum. She felt truly sorry for what she did. She had kept on delaying it, convincing herself that there was something more important than inviting her friend to her coronation. The truth was, she didn't know how to tell Sunset without sounding like she was showing off. But right now, seeing her friend so angry at the fact that she didn't get to know from Twilight herself, she realized that to her friend, it wouldn't even matter whether she was boasting or not. Sunset would've just been proud of her, that she was Celestia's successor. And because she hadn't realized this sooner, there were a few very special people who didn't get an invite to her coronation.

Chapter 4

Sunset looked up at Twilight, with tears in her eyes. "You still are my friend, aren't you?"

"Don't worry, I will always be your friend. Just that, you live so far away, it's hard to contact you. I never meant anything by not telling you."

Sunset stared straight into her eyes. Then she smiled.

"Okay, I believe you."

Twilight smiled back. "So, what did you come here for?"

Author's Note

This is a reeeally short chapter. Only 68 words :pinkiecrazy: .

Sorry about that.

Chapter 7

“Ah reckon the culprit would have to know ’bout the portal or at least that a pony world exists,” noted Applejack.

“Hmm... I reckon you are right,” Rarity agreed. “That would mean all students and teachers at CHS and Crystal Prep.”

“So, are we like, gonna spy on them or something?” Dash hoped.

“Let’s maybe not spy on them, but we will have to investigate them.”

“Yes, Sunset is right. Getting caught by someone who knows their magic spells would not be pretty,” Pinkie blew through her pipe.

“Um, where did you get that?” Dash asked about her detective costume.

Pinkie Pie was clothed in long, brown boot cut jeans and a leather coat. She had a black T-shirt on under her coat and a plaid hat on her hot pink hair.

“I stash detective stuff all over campus in case of a detective emergency!”

“Even though the costume could use some work, Pinkie‘s got the right idea,” Rarity mentioned. “You know what they say, clothes make the pony!”

“Who says that?” Rainbow asked.

“Um, Rarity?”

“You know, them,” Rarity replied and started to walk away until Applejack stopped her.

“An’ where do ya think you’re goin’?”

“Well, if we’re going to defeat some power hungry villain, we should at least do it in style.”

“Rarity, we’re tryna help Sunset here, not host a fashion show. So let’s try to focus on the task at hand ,okay?”

“Rarity?”

“Applejack’s got a point, Rares. The worlds might be at stake,” mentioned Sunset.

“Fine,” Rarity huffed. “But don’t blame me if I’m not of much use. I simply cannot do anything unless it gives my creative side some inspiration.”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes.

“RARITY!!” Fluttershy yelled. Everyone stared at her. “Oops sorry, I didn’t mean to yell, I am really really sorry, and I am also sorry if I interrupted you, I didn’t...”

“Go on, Fluttershy,” Rarity interrupted. “What did you want to tell me?”

“I think that you might’ve accidentally said clothes make the PONY, accidentally, but it’s not really a big deal or anything.”

“I did, didn’t I? Please excuse me, I meant person. Now, where were we?”

“It may have just been a small mistake, but we shouldn’t correct it and then ignore the fact that it ever happened,” Sunset snapped, starting to feel annoyed. “It might be an important clue! It might help us find out what’s going on between the two worlds!”

“Go tell Twilight about your new clue. She’ll be able to figure it out, she’s good with all this egghead stuff,” Rainbow dryly stated, apparently the only one who hadn’t been surprised or effected by Sunset’s sudden outburst.

“Where is Twilight?” asked Sunset, her voice calm but still with a tinge of annoyance.

Dash shrugged her shoulders. “Class started ten minutes ago.”

“Oh.”

An awkward silence hung around them.

“Well, I guess I’ll talk to her during break.”

Chapter 2

Sunset fell out of the portal and landed on her flank. There was no one in the room. Sunset opened the door of the room she landed in. She saw the eerie dark hallways and felt a shiver run down her spine. She tried to exit the room, but a force field held her back. She considered going back through the portal and trying another day, but then a loud alarm took her by surprise. Her heart was pounding in her chest so much that she might as well have had a heart attack. She backed away from the door and her knees felt weak. It didn't take her long to realize that Twilight was her friend and that she would understand what Sunset came here for, but she still felt shocked by the sudden alarm. Her heart slowly reduced to its normal speed and she had calmed down when she saw a lavender unicorn with a purple mane and persian blue eyes enter the room.

"S-Starlight Glimmer?"

"Sunset! What are you doing here?"

"Well, I wanted to talk to Princess Twilight... if she's available..." Sunset said.

"Why did you come so late, though? It's already nearly midnight, and Canterlot is pretty far away," Starlight replied.

"Canterlot? What is she doing in Canterlot?" asked Sunset, confused.

"She didn't tell you?"

"Tell me what?"

"Well, I believed you already knew, because you're one of Twilight's friends and all... Didn't you know that Princess Celestia and Princess Luna retired?"

"What?!!"

"Yeah, so they had to pick a new ruler, and, well-" Starlight started. “Twilight is now kinda ruling Equestria...”

It took some time for Starlight’s words to fully register to Sunset, but when they did, shock took her over.

"T-They picked Twilight?" Sunset stuttered. "Well, of course they did. But, she didn't tell me? Am I not important to her? Does she not care about me?"

"I'm sure she has a good reason for not telling you..."

"Yes, like any reason would justify the fact that she didn't inform me that she was now ruling an entire country!" She said, furious.

"Look, we can take the train to Canterlot tonight, and we will reach around five, when Twilight should be awake. Then you can talk to her, let's say you take, hypothetically speaking, 2 hours, and after that, she can get us home. She should be able to get us home much faster than the train, let's say about 1 hour max. Then you can go through the portal and get home. So, hypothetically speaking, you should be at the human world by around eight in the morning. Sounds good?" suggested Starlight.

Sunset nodded. "Yeah, that would be nice. We go there, I congratulate her, and we can chat over a hot cup of tea, acting like she didn't just ignore her friend and act like being Equestria's new ruler is no big deal. Easy peasy lemon squeezy."

"Good," Starlight said, completely ignoring her friend's sarcasm. "The train will arrive at the station in half an hour."

Chapter 5

“I’m sorry I couldn’t be more helpful, but, you know, I’m not the one who created the mirror, so there are still a lot of things I have to learn about it. Until the journal starts to work again, you’ll have to come to Equestria whenever you need to talk to me or tell me something.”

“Okay, Princess.”

“Well, hope to see you soon, Sunset! And sorry again for not inviting you to the coronation. I don’t know what I was thinking!”

“No problem, Twilight. You had a good enough reason.”

Twilight smiled. “The chariot is waiting outside for you. Better not keep them waiting too long!”

“Thank you, Twilight. It was nice meeting you after so long.” Sunset pulled her friend into a hug.

The teen girl stumbled out of the portal and was met with the worried faces of her friends.

“Where were you? You’re an hour late to school!”

“You could have at least let us know!”

“You weren’t picking up your phone - we got so worried about you!”

Sunset looked up at her friends in confusion, but then she giggled. “Sorry. Next time I’ll tell you when I decide to visit the Princess. But how did you figure out that I was in Equestria?”

“Oh, that’s easy. We noticed you were missing, and you weren’t answering our calls and texts, so we put our thinking caps on, and investigated, and then Rainbow believed you went through the portal, and we agreed that was a possibility, so we stood in front of this statue and waited, and waited, and waited, and waited, and waited, and waited, and waited, and waited, and-“

“I think she gets it Pinkie, darling. Anyway, what were you doing in Equestria, may I ask?”

Chapter 6

“So you randomly see and hear ponies from the other Twilight‘s world throughout the day, and your magical journal isn’t working? Sounds like there’s an imbalance between the two worlds. The division between here and Equestria is either building up or crumbling down,” Twilight suggested.

“Sounds about right.”

“Then to fix it, we’ll have to figure out who or what is causing it. It couldn’t have just started out of nowhere. We’ll have to find the culprit, and then find what they’re doing, and then-“

“Yeah, okay Twilight,” Rainbow Dash stopped her. “You guys can discuss this egghead stuff later. So Sunset, any news from the Princess? You haven’t told us yet what you were talking about to her.”

“We were discussing the problem, duh.”

“Nothing else? Sounds pretty boring. Also, don’t duh me.”

Sunset rolled her eyes.

“Yes, did Twilight tell you anything about what’s going on in Equestria?” Rarity asked.

“Yeah, I miss her a lot,” Fluttershy whispered.

“Well, there is one thing.”

Sunset’s friends looked at her expectantly.

“Princess Celestia and Princess Luna stepped down from the throne, so Twilight took their place...”

“Wait WHAT?!!!”

“That’s wonderful!”

“Are you telling me she has an entire country to appreciate her AND that she gets to wear a crown?!”

“Well, she IS awesome!!”

“The princesses made a great choice! Twilight would make an excellent ruler.”

“She’s not a ruler, silly! She’s way taller than 12 inches!”

“Not that type of ruler, Pinkie...”

“Since when?” Twilight inquired.

“Umm.. for a couple of months now...”

“And you only just got to know?!”

“Um, y-yes?”

Rarity noticed that Sunset was starting to feel uncomfortable. “I’m sure Twilight has her reasons. So, who are the suspects?”

“Huh?”

“You know, who do you think might be behind this dilemma? Between the two worlds?”

“Ohh, that. Well, I don’t really have any suspects...”

“Let’s get started then, shall we?”