Twilight yawned and stretched her legs languorously, smiling into her memory foam mattress. She tried to extend her arms as well, only to find them pinned at her sides. Her brief panic abated when she realized she wasn't being held hostage, or restrained on purpose – she was simply being hugged. From behind. In bed. Again.
I swear I locked that door...
Vexed, Twilight slowly and gently extracted herself from her doppelganger's sinewy embrace, and slid out of bed, tiptoeing out of her guest bedroom. She padded downstairs and toward the kitchen, groggy and tugging her thin pajama shirt. The morning was a cold one, even indoors, but it was nothing that a pot of coffee couldn't fix. It would certainly sweeten the sour note her day had started on.
She passed the front door just as someone knocked on it, and paused to peek out the window. Her heart skipped when she saw Sunset Shimmer on the stoop, fully dressed and fidgeting nervously. She looked about as stressed as Twilight had ever seen her, even moreso than on the first day of the Eyeball crisis.
Twilight quickly unlatched and opened the door, squinting at the orange light of dawn shining in her face. "Hey," she said, her voice still thick with sleep.
"Hi." Sunset looked shyly at Twilight. "You mind if I...?"
"Oh, um... I mean, it's not my house, but I doubt Other Me would mind." Twilight peered closer at Sunset – her eyes were red, with dark circles underneath, and her face and hair were conspicuously unmade.
"Did you not sleep last night?"
Sunset shook her head and stepped inside, Twilight shutting the door behind her.
"Please tell me you have coffee. Or anything with caffeine." Sunset crushed her hands together and wrung them tightly. "A can of heart attack-inducing energy drink would be acceptable at this stage. Hell, you can fish an old tea bag out of the garbage, and I'll chew that like gum if I have to."
Twilight rolled her eyes, smiling. "I doubt it'll come to that, since Other Me taught me how to use the coffee maker. Of course, I already know how to use a coffee maker, but she insisted on showing me, holding my hand through the whole process... and I do mean that literally..."
She looked at Sunset with an expectant smile, waiting and hoping for a knowing smirk or a teasing chuckle. Sunset's face, however, remained blank and harried, as though the comment hadn't registered at all.
Sunset Shimmer, passing up the opportunity for an incisive quip? Things must be more serious than I thought.
"C'mon then," said Twilight, beckoning for Sunset to follow. "Let's get you coffee'd up."
Sunset clenched her hands tighter against one another to stop them from trembling. She sat on a wooden stool, leaning against the granite countertop of the kitchen island, and watched in silence as Twilight prepared their coffee. The process took longer than it should have; Twilight insisted on scrubbing the pot until it sparkled, and her awkwardness with human hands and digits made an already painstaking task more time-consuming. Then she needed to carefully, and precisely, measure every scoop of grounds and every drop of water poured into the reservoir, with measuring cups and spoons.
As endearing as Twilight's meticulousness could be, Sunset wished to every god in every human pantheon that she'd just wrap things up already. The episode with the burglars left her unable and unwilling to fall back asleep, her short loss of consciousness notwithstanding. Her eyelids kept growing too heavy for her to keep open, and every time she shut them, she couldn't avoid likening the nothingness before her to the inky black of the Eyeball's pupil...
Sunset felt a brief sensation of weightlessness and jerked awake, taking a sharp breath. Twilight sat on another kitchen stool, across the island from her; she didn't seem to notice Sunset falling asleep, but her concern was nevertheless plain on her face. Behind her, the coffee machine burbled and percolated away, and steam was already beginning to rise from the vent on its lid.
How long did I nod off for?
"So..." Twilight looked down at her hands. "I take it you got my... um, what's the term... voicemail?"
"Voicemail?" Sunset said vacantly.
Twilight cocked her head. "I called late last night on Other Me's phone, saying I needed to talk to you. You seriously didn't..?"
"I left my phone downstairs last night; I haven't checked it since yesterday afternoon. Kinda... can't anymore. Tehcnical difficulties." Sunset idly, and nervously, ran a hand through her hair.
"I see." Twilight took a deep breath. "When I saw you outside, I naturally assumed... but I suppose there's only one other explanation for why you'd drop by so early."
Sunset blinked. "That being?"
"You're here because you want to apologize for seducing Flash Sentry."
"What?!" Sunset snapped up, her grogginess shocked away by Twilight's assumption. "That's the furthest thing from my mind right now!"
Twilight held up her hand. "You don't need to hide your feelings from me, Sunset. And I want you to know that there isn't any need for you to apologize."
The shock wore off, and Sunset slitted her eyes, fighting like hell to keep them from shutting on their own.
"That's fantastic to hear," Sunset said testily. "But I didn't actually come to grovel at your feet like one of your subjects, Twi. Believe it or not—"
"I owe you an apology, Sunset."
The words cut easily through Sunset's irritation, and she fell silent, at a loss.
"Come again?"
"I owe you an apology," Twilight repeated. "Over the way I've treated you – taking our friendship for granted, and failing to take your feelings seriously. Without really meaning to, I've made you feel like you're a less important part of my life than you truly are. I've only ever considered our friendship from my own perspective; I've never tried to put myself in your position. Never really thought about what it might mean to you. Or how it might have felt for you when someone else came into my life whose situation was similar to yours."
Sunset clenched her jaw. "Twilight, we don't... we don't need to have this talk right now," she said through her teeth.
"I think we do. I think it's long overdue, Sunset." Twilight's voice was wistful, and rang with regret. "I know you're not comfortable with the friendship I have with Starlight Glimmer. Maybe it is similar to the one I have with you, and maybe she is important to me. So are you, though, Sunset. Every bit as important."
Twilight reached across the island to grip Sunset's hand.
"She's not a carbon copy of you, and you're not one of her. You're you. You're unique – your own person, your own mare – and that makes my friendship with you unique. Whatever parallels exist between you and Starlight, or the friendships I have with the both of you, they're just skin-deep. What matters is the substance of our friendship, Sunset. And the substance of our friendship is different from the one I have with Starlight. Because you are not Starlight Glimmer. And I would never ask for you to be."
"Twilight... I'm..." Sunset wanted to squeeze Twilight's hand, but her fingers felt suddenly numb.
"That's... that's what I wish I'd said that from the start, instead of making lame excuses." Twilight chuckled softly, a sad smile on her face. "But actions speak louder than words. So... if you'll forgive me... I'd like the chance to prove it to you."
Thin tears streaked down Sunset's face, and a sound came from the back of her throat as she struggled to formulate a proper response, staring into Twilight's eyes all the while.
Then she blinked, recalling what had driven her here in the first place.
"The Eyeball ate two people last night."
Twilight's smile slowly melted, until her lips were a thin line, pursed tightly. Her pupils shrank, her fingers slowly unclenched from around Sunset's hand, and she leaned forward, gazing intently into Sunset's face.
"When you say 'ate'..."
Half an hour and two cups of coffee each later, Sunset had recounted the events of the last three days to Twilight – her burgeoning rapport with the Eyeball, and the burglary from the night before. Twilight sat in silent, rapt attention as Sunset spoke, nodding along, yet pointedly not asking for detail or elaboration.
"No wonder you couldn't get back to sleep," Twilight said, when Sunset finally finished. She took a thoughtful sip of coffee.
"Yeah, unless you count passing out on the kitchen floor for the second time this week. And I certainly don't." Sunset dropped her chin into her palm. "Once I regained consciousness, I picked myself up, grabbed my field hockey stick, and waited on the couch for the sun to come up."
"I didn't know you played field hockey. Come to think of it, what the heck is field hockey? I know what hockey is, but—"
"Twilight? Eyes on the prize?"
"Why do people keep saying that to me?" Twilight shook her head and drank deeply from her cup. "If it's any consolation, I'm sure you're perfectly safe. If the Eyeball could do that to the robbers, it's plausible that it could have done it to you at any time. The fact that it did it to them, and not you, suggests that it may have been acting in your defense. Maybe it was protecting you from what it perceived as a threat. You did say you've bonded a little over the course of this week."
"Is that supposed to make me feel better? Because I'll tell you right now, it does not." Sunset slurped noisily from her mug, glaring bloodshot daggers at Twilight all the while.
"Need I remind you that you decided to stay put. Coulda come and stayed here, with me and Other Me." Twilight shrugged. "Although I don't think that would have been much of an upgrade. In some ways, it's nice to have someone you can work with on the exact same wavelength, and we have made a lot of progress while sharing the same space, but hanging out with yourself isn't all it's cracked up to be."
She lifted her mug to her lips and spoke into it. "Plus, she keeps trying to peek at me in the shower. I mean, we don't have a nudity taboo, but you all do, for some reason, and the implications are more than a little awkward."
Sunset's jaw dropped. "Please tell me you're not comparing your sitcom relationship with your pervy purple doppelganger to me living with a time-bomb that will eat me if I get on its bad side."
Twilight's eyes widened and she set her coffee down, lifting her hands defensively. "No no, I didn't meant to – I thought we were doing the girl-talk bonding thing. Y'know, venting about our living situations and the—"
Sunset leaned across the kitchen island and pressed her face against Twilight's. "I need that thing gone, Twilight, and I need it gone yesterday. I have never, never lived in fear under my own roof until last night, and I cannot keep living like that. So, please, tell me that the two of you worked something out between pillow fights and games of spin-the-bottle."
Twilight flushed. "We haven't been—"
"Or whatever!"
"I mean, I don't think you can even play spin-the-bottle with two people. That's not a game; that's inefficiently making out." She unlaced Sunset's hands from her blouse, but kept their fingers clutched together.
"Look, you weren't the only one who lost sleep last night. Other Me and I... we were working pretty late, and we do have something to go on. I was hoping we could wait, maybe run a few tests, but if you honestly feel that unsafe..."
Sunset nodded. "Uh?"
"...Then I guess we can skip the rigorous troubleshooting under safe, controlled circumstances." Twilight sighed and squeezed Sunset's fingers, smiling tiredly. "There's still a lot of work to do, either way, but with you around, I think we can get it done by this evening."
A sense of relief and gratitude flooded through Sunset, as a weight she'd been carrying since long before the Eyeball appeared was lifted from her shoulders. She stared at Twilight, her vision blurring, as hope crept into her heart.
From the kitchen doorway came a stifled, girlish sneeze. Twilight's face all but glowed; she released Sunset's hands and folded her arms tightly.
"Good morning, Other Me," she said, her words sharp and clipped.
"...G'morning," came a timid, sheepish voice in reply.
"How long have you been hiding there?"
"...A while."
"I take it you're up to speed?"
"...Mm-hm."
"Wonderful." Twilight's eyes flicked over to Sunset's. "Why don't you come in here and join us, then? I made coffee."
"...Kay."
Bespectacled Twilight tiptoed into the room, her face flushed. She quickly waved at Sunset, but otherwise made a beeline for the coffee machine.
"Was she spying on us?" Sunset whispered, leaning in close to Twilight. "Why?"
Twilight flexed her fingers and took a long, deep sip from her mug.
"Why do you think, Sunset?" she muttered.
I like this. That is all.
The comparison between Sunset and Starlight really is skin deep. Sunset wasn't trusted by anyone after her defeat but was trying to make up for it. Not even her friends and Twilight fully trusted her. It took her saving everyone with friendship after everyone treated her like crap to be accepted and she was chastised for every mistake she made. Even in Friendship Games, she still got called out for little things. Plus, after Sunset was defeated (and now confirmed crazy from the crown), Twilight basically gave her a little you suck speech, something she's never done before or after.
Meanwhile, after Starlight nearly destroys Equestria on her second attempt on Twilight, after repeating Apple Bloom's backstory, she's instantly forgiven by everyone, including her village. The next episode, Twilight is bending over backwards for her, after she's fully forgiven Starlight. What does Starlight do all episode? Try to weasel out of her lesson until imminent death forces her to do it. Her next episode? She gives up on Twilight's lesson and goes to the spa, then complains about Twilight not 100% trusting (even though Twilight was right about Trixie, even though that contradicted Magic Duel's ending). Next real Starlight episode, she hasn't been doing her friendship lessons again, instead only using Twilight for magic (and board). Instead of actually hanging out with Twilight's friends and listening to them, she straight up mind controls them and doesn't even realize she did anything wrong until Twilight was disappointed (not mad) at her. She's instantly forgiven and everyone goes along with Starlight. Then the finale is mostly her not doing much while her allies sacrifice themselves, then sacrifices Thorax and wins via Thorax cannon. The very next episode praises her for being so amazing at friendship that she's ready to graduate, followed immediately by her using magic to ignore a friendship problem again.
Sunset went through an arc, trying to improve herself even though everyone disliked her, managing to persevere, then helps someone in a similar position to her. Starlight barely even tries with her friendship lessons but everyone forgave her instantly and praise her for being absolutely amazing. Also, Toy Fair reveals, 4 movies, Sunset gets one mini, by the time she gets her second, it's in a pack with Starlight... I really hope her flanderization aura doesn't hit Sunset. I can really see them dicking over Sunset's character for Starlight.
Anyways, rant over, this chapter didn't really have the same kick as the others. The interactions felt more forced and tone wasn't as solid, though it was still great.
Twilight, stop trying to fight the love... err self love, and let it happen. You know you want to! By which I mean, you know that Other You wants you to.
8140253 I like Glimglam in the abstract. Conceptually. I like the idea of her; I like her being a socially awkward dorkus malorkus who's groping her way through figuring out how to be a functional member of society, seeking redemption and blah blah blah. But I absolutely agree that Sunnybuns is a stronger character, because she has an arc that progresses over the course of her movies.
I chalk that up to Sunset being handled better by the writers, rather than an inherent flaw with Glimmy's character. If she'd had more appearances during her inaugural season to develop her character beyond a Sunset Shimmer knock-off, if she'd been given an actual arc rather than a series of bullet points with different reasons why she's a Pretty Groovy Gal Who Deserves to be Forgiven, she might be a stronger character than she turned out to be.
Alas.
I still enjoy writing her, though, and probably will continue to enjoy writing her.8140315
Posh confirmed for untermensch. I will no longer edit for you, as I refuse to associate with somebody who has such shit taste.
And put Glimmer on the fucking stairs, for Christ's sake.
SciTwi is creepy
I'm with Twilight on the memory foam mattress issue, mine is probably my best personal belonging.
Priorities!
SciTwi never stops perving. She's repressed, or something. Or maybe just really horny in spite of not being the unicorn version of herself.
I can't help but think of this video (and the screeching sound from said video whenever the eye shows up) whenever I read more of this fic:
I'm enjoying the absurdity of this fic immensely, Posh. Keep up the great work!
8140315
With Starlight, I think the part that hurts the most for me is all the potential. She's got a great concept, a great voice actress, and can be very funny. Even the concept of her trying to avoid the friendship lessons the way she does could be interesting. The issue is the execution, where she's a massive walking double standard without a real arc or development and the writers expect us to love her just because. Not Starlight in the Christmas Carol episode was amazing, and she was really entertaining in the Maud episode (though Pinkie was the worst she's been since Filli Vanilli, conveniently in an episode with a Starlight focus). She's a perfect fanfic character, which is probably her greatest similarity with Sunset.
8140338
Princess Twilight has a horn. SciTwi is horny. Seems legit.
Because we've been using the same set of emoticons since before Season 2.
As for this chapter, it's good to see Twilight work to resolve the rift between her and Sunset. It's just that her timing could've been better. Still, the message got through the layers of justifiable dread, so there's that. Now we just have to hope that the untested methods of Eyeball extraction won't result in disastrous consequences. And that Sunset can get her phone back.
The chapter puns are killing me from the inside...
On another note, SciTwi is confirmed stalker and narcissist of highest degree in this story. I mean she literally sniffs on herself so to say and cuddles with Pony Twilight without permission when she SLEEPS. This girl is beyond creepy.
She was probably afraid of Twilight using a coffee maker with her mouth (though I doubt she'd find that unhygienic; more like, she'd have really awkward dreams afterwards). That, or she really wanted to hold Twilight's hand.
Sunset should watch out. Last time Twilight said that (to Rainbow Dash), she somehow ended up making the whole town fight over a doll...
Well, maybe she's just trying to check if there really are physical differences between them. Maybe they should just take measures and compare them. For science, of course
8140315 At risk of getting into raw unadulterated opinion, I think you're onto the main issues with Sun and Glim: Sun had a more consistently developed arc. But then she's also an ex-Celestia student, so there's every reason to believe she has tons of potential depth as a serious and competent leader if her lust for power can be quashed (which definitely happens). I even like to headcanon it one step further and speculate that Celestia would've had much bigger plans for Sun if she'd stuck around, and I figure that potential is still in there.
Glim on the other hoof is as you say: a dorkus malorkus. She's also kind of an OP bonehead, and her leadership potential isn't necessarily as strong as Sun's. She's struggling against more than just greed; she's got deeper flaws that lend themselves less well to a straightforward rising-from-the-ashes sort of arc. Some less-consistent writing also works against her.
But then I'll probably always love Glim more than Sun because I find her one of the most relatable characters among the core and/or extended cast. She's less of an untouchable redemptive figure (barring the depressive/Burrito interpretation of Sunny) and more of a struggling bonehead, just like me.
I'm just going to say I like Starlight and Sunset equally, and wait for the next chapter.
And these chapter titles, man...
Now that I've actually read the chapter, I have to say I'm shocked by all this prurient coffee-related activity going on. All these descriptions of young ladies polishing coffee pots to a shine, and long slow percolation, and so many different ways to describe the act of imbibing... where is your shame? Do you see it as your role in life to titillate us with such wanton characters performing such explicit acts over and over again? Why, it's enough to make even the most mild-mannered soul (who, yes, does appreciate a cuppa with the missus every now and then) all hot under the collar.
8140610
Starlight's character isn't really the problem, it's the way everyone treats her. She's a walking double standard who also happens to have a flanderization aura around her. Twilight instantly forgives her no questions asked while Discord wasn't forgiven until the season 4 finale (with some of the mane 6 instantly suspecting him when something goes wrong and wanting to turn him to stone again) and Sunset had to save everyone first. She gets minor disappointment for brainwashing, which she didn't do because of panic, pressure, and having her friends laugh in her face about her problem, she did it out of laziness and wanting to show off. Twilight almost got into huge trouble for it back in Lesson Zero. Iirc, Discord was almost stoned for being a suspect without proof for brainwashing as well. Starlight tries to weasel or skip her lessons, yet never once gets called out on it, instead complaining that Twilight not trusting Trixie (retcon of Magic Duel ending for the sake of Starlight...) means that Twilight doesn't trust her 100% no questions asked when she hasn't earned that trust. She spends most of the finale cowering while everyone else carries the team (I think her only contributions were the code word and vouching for Thorax) and sacrifice themselves for her. Then Thorax saves the day, all hail Starlight, ready to graduate for what? Saving Equestria? Twilight did that twice before getting recognition (the first of which was saving Luna) and Sunset had to do it once just to be accepted. Heck, Starlight had the least to do with saving the day and had nothing to do with friendship. The fact that her backstory is a watered down version of Apple Bloom's (Bloom was also bullied and Twist left her and acted superior specifically because she got her mark, saying it to her face...) doesn't help either.
As for the flanderization aura, Twilight becomes completely incompetent around her. Trixie was turned into a complete airhead for an episode (she's never been shown to be scatterbrained, not even that bad under the alicorn amulet). Pinkie reprised her Filli Vanilli levels of annoying and obliviousness during another Starlight heavy episode. Every Little Thing She Does also had all the mane 6 act weird.
The one time we were given Starlight as just a character in the Maud episode, she was great. There was no double standards, no needless Starlight praise, no her trying to skimp her lessons consequence free, just her character getting to shine. All Bottled Up could've been the same, but they made Trixie into an insufferable airhead for Starlight's sake. She feels like a stereotypical fanfic OC with immense power that everyone loves just because while the writers try to shove down our throats just how great she is. I really want to like her, but with everything that's happened (plus one of the leaked synopsis for season 7 seems to be the ultimate spit in the face, episode 10 iirc, but it's too soon to judge), the show is making it very hard to. Still, so far season 7 has been much better to Starlight, premier wank fest excluded. Here's hoping they don't screw it up (and they better not turn her into an alicorn this season like the premier hinted).
I'm really just here for these titles.
Apple of my eye?
Eye of the tiger?
The list could go on.
8141021 I suspect we're not gonna see eye to eye on Glim, but I can go as far as agreeing S6 suffered from some irritating moments of Flanderization. For me the most egregious was in the Applejack Fixes Steam Pipes episode where she somehow got it in her head to turn on all the water things one at a time. I mean, there's inefficient and then there's monumentally stupid. AJ deserves better writing than that.
...
Heh. Eye to eye.
Can't they just called her Sci-Twi instead, 'other me' sounds like something, pardon my language, a racist would say.
8141592 ... no... no it doesn't. Where the hell did you even get that notion from?
Dammit, Eye! You DID eat the phone! Eating criminals is all fine and dandy, but eating people's stuff is irresponcible!
I like Starlight.
Because, unlike Sunset (who I also like), Starlight is clearly Still Evil. Which is hilarious.
(After all, when season six started and I saw that, it made sense that her redemption was not, actually, really redemption (and had no friendship lasers), but was more (from Starlight's perspective) being offered a privildged place in the percieved elite clique. After all - contrary to what Saturday mornign cartoon morailty often spouts, Evil people can have friends too.)
That said, the fact Sunset is confined solely to EQG is a bit of a sore point, though,
8141021
This is pretty much spot-on, actually. Speaking as somebody who doesn't like Glimmer and isn't shy about saying so, my actual main problem with her is, indeed, how the universe bends to accomodate her. The casual mind control, the shirking of her friendship lessons, all that by itself should just make her a flawed character, and thus more interesting. Discord is a dick as well, but I love him.
However, with Starlight, it instead becomes infuriating, because it's exactly as you say. Her every failure is downplayed, her every minor success is given inflated importance, she's always the centre of attention, and every character around her has to be worse in order to make her look good. Her interesting flaws, in my opinion, are cancelled out by the fact that they don't actually impede her in any meaningful way. Like how she's supposedly socially awkward and bad at friendship, but that doesn't stop her from making friends with all the popular side-characters and having a big friendship graduation ceremony.
I might rag on him for it, but I think Posh was onto something with her before. The idea of Glimmer isn't inherently flawed, but I feel that the show writers really dropped the ball with her.
8142398
This is the closest thing to a compliment you have ever paid me.
Related:
The name's Starry G, and I rock the telly...
8142412
If I expressed any positive sentiment towards you whatsoever, it was probably an accident.
Hey this is really fun. The comedy and drama mix is perfect.
And what's up with Flash? My theory is that the Eye did something to him, something worse than scare him, mmm maybe some kind of mental bond.
Thanks for sharing this story here.
8141592 And what, praytell, would you call your doppleganger?
Because I'd probably refer to mine as "that asshole."Not sure if deliberate verbal stumble, or if author accidentally dropped a word.
What about strip tarot?
I don't know, but I find it highly disappointing as well.
I laughed out loud at one point but forgot where.