Love is supposed to be able to save the world. Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer discover that the opposite is also true.
An entry into honourable mention in Oroboro's third Sunset Shipping Contest! Read the other entries here.
Special thanks (and apologies) to: Undome Tinwe and Lofty Withers for prereading, and Marcibel for advice.
The cover art was made by me! But it was laid out and referenced off of the vector work of Twimix, Uponia, Stinkehund, and Imperfectxiii, who are all quite talented people.
Continuity note: I have not seen the latest Equestria Girls special, so if this breaks from canon, that's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it.
Chapters (5)
Darn it, I knew this would happen. I knew this contest would produce a bunch of great stories that break up my favorite pairing on entirely reasonable grounds. Well done, best of luck, and how dare you.
Good one.
9825094
laughed until I squeaked
9825094
I mean, it could be worse. I briefly considered writing a contest entry where the twist was that Sunset was dead and the love interest was confessing to the murder on a crime show. I didn’t even get far enough to figure out who the other half would have been, but be lucky you got this and not Twilight axe-murdering Sunset.
This... was good! The mix of romance but also trying to figure out the mystery in the story was really fun to read. I did not expect either results.
Yet, I'll say it again... it was good! Best, best, best of luck!
Oh, and that cover art? AMAZING.
<3
I can't like this more than once. Huh... makes me sad :(
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Not going to lie, I'd read the absolute daylights out of it. Especially if it is a long mystery with interviews from friends and former enemies alike, as well as the love interest.
9825722
I ended up settling on another idea, though. I feel like this sort of thing would work really well as a novel, so I might come back to it when I go into pro writing.
I am hooked!!
I love the mystery aspect of it, it almost feels like an episode but just a smidge darker with the destruction of their instruments- that's awful! I'm so curious what's going to happen and why they could hear the vandal inside just before the door opening. And what is Twilight hiding?
Your writing is nice and easy to read along, it's got this nice cadence to it.
All right, to chapter 2!
Man, the competition is fierce this time around. This was a really well-executed mystery, with great chemistry between Sunset and Twilight, and a slow, subtle buildup of tension up until the climax. The Sirens were cool too, and added some nice spice to the mixture.
Good luck in the contest -- I really hope this fic does well!
Mysterious and somewhat alarming! Quite an enjoyable start for the story.
I wonder if Trixie's going to do just magic tricks, or if she'll bring her friends and play as Trixie & the Illusions? (Hoping for the latter!)
Also, points for remembering that while Sonata is cute and fluffy, she's a siren and just as unrepetently nasty as the two others!
Sunset in a suit sounds spectacular!
Here I was thinking it was one or the other, but it's both!
That was a good read. Wasn't expecting the identities of the vandals but looking back with the context it made absolute sense. Good show there. Just wonder if they'll all manifest in some form in similar veins.
Oh stars... No one would survive Fluttershy's manifestation. Probably be Discord now that I think of it.
Fantastic! A really good way of handling the contest prompt. I featured this on episode 276 of my podcast, Pony 411.
These manifestations remind me of a very... Bizarre anime.
YOU PUT SUNSET IN A SUIT :D
Did not see that coming!
Silly romantic ending: Midnight Sparkle and Demon Shimmer give up their life of crime and start dating
Funny romantic ending: Twilight and Sunset break up and start dating each other's demon
Cracky romantic ending: Twilight and Sunset break up and start dating their own demon XD
Man, I can't even be sad because there's other good ship in this. :D
Great ship, and great reason for them to not be together. Fits together really well.
The mystery in this was great! I would have been tempted to suspect them until things were happening at the same time Twilight and Sunset were conscious and in another room, interesting to have them as fully separate manifestations that the girls were entirely unaware of.
It worked!
Not only that, the relationship between the girls was nicely subdued and, sadly, very understandable. It's painfully relatable (and realistic) that they both know they're not quite right for each other, but both afraid to say anything and hurt the other, both building up this false, strained sense of happiness, and ultimately just hurting themselves and each other.
Honestly I wish we had gotten more of that dynamic rather than the mystery plot (fun as it was).
Good luck in the contest!
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The last one would be incest or mastubating?
I love the cover art. No, seriously. It’s perfect.
I liked that they ended well and without resentment... I like the way you write