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// Sunset, Meet Sunset 
// Story: Perspective 
// by nikolai60 
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Sunset stared up at the Sunset on stage, the one who had just been singing of peace and harmony, and was now waving out the crowd flashing a friendly smile as she thanked them for coming. The former pony, however, could barely hear what she was saying, couldn't see anything but those grey eyes, and barely heard her friends beside her talking.

"I don't understand..." It was barely a whisper, something her friends only noticed from a large amount of practice with Fluttershy.

"Look...let's not be hasty in our reactions..." In spite of what she was saying, Rarity's voice quivered as she said it. Though none of the girls could know what was going through Sunset's mind, they knew finding her own counterpart blind had to have shook her.

They continued to watch, Sunset doing her best to look as inconspicuous as possible, as the human Sunset carefully set her guitar down, and made her way to the edge of the stage. They nearly all ran to prevent a fall, only for the older Sunset to sit down on the edge and get ready to push off right over a-

"Plant!" A voice called, and in one smooth motion Sunset pushed herself off to the side, landing safely on the floor, away from the potted flowers.

The girls slowly backed away towards their seats once again, feeling awkward for their rush to the rescue.

Sunset, the former pony, once again half hid behind Applejack, watching her human counterpart. People kept coming up to her with complements and greetings, but always called out and waiting for her to turn before approaching. It seemed most of the crowd knew her, and the conversations revealed that for as long as they knew her, Sunset had always been this cheery, comforting person.

Sunset Shimmer, former student of Celestia, once one of the most powerful and gifted unicorns alive, just felt smaller and smaller. This is what she should have been, and instead she let her own blind ambition leave a wake of destruction, not happiness. It was an irony not lost on her, that her blind self was the one who seemed to see the world.

Just as she moved to ask her friends if they could leave, not wanting to experience this particular meeting right now, a voice called out over the slowly dwindling crowd.

"Oh Sunny! How did you hide having a little sister for so long!?"

The exclamation came from another girl about the human Sunset's age, with light blue skin and poorly died green hair pulled into large pigtails. A very cheesy oversized light up holiday sweater dominated her frame.

Human Sunset half turned her head in their direction, though she still appeared to be looking a little away from them all.

"What are you talking about, I don't have a sister?"

"Oh really?" The girl turned back to the terrified high schooler, leaning down as if talking to a child, with a huge grin plastered on her face. "Hiya, call me Rose, who're you?"

Sunset looked like a deer in the headlights, her mouth working silently as she tried to find an explanation, any explanation, for what was going on.

"Back off Rosey, you're overwhelming the poor girl." The comment caught the 6 high schoolers off guard, as the older Sunset held out her arm, moving it in an arc till it met Rose's shoulder and pulled her away.

"Is she scaring people again?"

Everyone, even the blind Sunset,turned towards the new voice, as a guy in his twenties with light orange skin and messy brown hair, cables and amps seeming to dangle off him, shuffled back and forth across the stage cleaning up.

"I do NOT scare people!" 'Rosey' angrily replied, stomping her foot and pouting.

"Yes you do~"

"Do Not!"

"Yes you do~"

"Do Not!"

The two continued to argue like kids while the older Sunset turned back to the group, this time 'looking' right at the younger Sunset, seeming to have gotten a better idea of where she was.

"Sorry about that, Rose gets excited...a lot." She gave an apologetic smile, "So then, who are you?"

Sunset stared for a few seconds, trying to collect her thoughts, but just as it looked like her counterpart was about to question the silence, she managed to find her voice, deciding that, now caught, she might as well get it over with. She could lie her way out of it, it would be easy, but she wasn’t that person anymore and she couldn’t go back to that.

"It...it's really hard to explain." Looking around, seeing some people still milling about, "maybe...we could go somewhere less public?" And that was that. Stepping out to a less public place would only make sense with the truth. She'd considered lying, oh how she wanted to. But it wasn't fair to her human self, and lying felt far too much like backing down and letting her old self back in. Something that was far too easy to do, and far too dangerous.

Raising an eyebrow at the odd answer, the older Sunset shrugged, "Uh, sure, let's head back to the prep room."

With that she motioned for them to follow her, and began leading them back to a room by the side of the stage, her two friends cleaning the stage as they continued to argue.

Though nervous about what could happen, the girls were also confused. Human Sunset was clearly blind, so how was she able to lead them to the room without being guided, or at least doing more than occasionally reaching out and tapping a chair, wall, or the stage.

As they walked in the girls filed over to one side with several benches, while their guide took several steps in, turning on the spot and walked right over to a nearby chair and sat down facing them, arms crossed, a grin twitching at the side of her mouth.

The girls all stared at the precision of the movement, and how she had known where they had sat. Rarity managed to respond first.

"H-how did you-"

Unable to keep her composure even through one sentence, the older Sunset laughed, "easy, this chair's always over here so whoever's directing props can easily turn to face anywhere on the room." With that she pointed to one of the benches one of the girls had sat on, "And that bench /always/ squeaks when someone sits on it, no matter how many times they tighten the bolts or oil the joints."

The girls’ jaws dropped.

"Oh oh oh, do you have super hearing and sense and stuff!? What's going on in that room over there?" Pinkie happily pointed to a random door bouncing in her seat.

"Nothing."

" -GASP- How did you know!!?"

"Because the only way in or out is through the door we came, the rest are closets. Nine outta ten chance you wouldn't pick the room we were just in."

Before Pinkie could try to test her any more Applejack and Rainbow Dash both clamped her mouth shut, not wanting things to get any more off track.

Pony Sunset used the opening to continue, "So...about who I am. I'm...well I'm Sunset Shimmer...to...."

That got a raised eyebrow.

"You're Sunset Shimmer to? How's that work?"

"I'm...it's hard to explain. At least...not without a really long explanation. I'm...sort of an alternate you. From another world."

At this the older Sunset scowled, "Look kid, I'm not big on pranks and stuff so-"

"It's not a prank!" Sunset hadn't meant to yell, but now standing she tried to calm down and continue. "I know it's hard to believe. I didn't even know you were here till Fluttershy heard you singing. I just...I guess I never really gave much thought to what would happen if we ever met." With that her shoulders slumped and she started to visibly crumple. "I....I guess...there really wasn't a way to avoid this forever..."

Human Sunset's face was twisted in concentration, staring vaguely at where her younger counterpart was.

"Either you're one heck of an actress, or you really believe what you're saying." She shook her head, "but that doesn't make any sense, a freaking alternate dimension? and what on earth are you even DOING here then?"

The girls all looked at each other nervously, unsure how to respond or even prove what they were saying. Sunset decided that she'd already dug her way in too far to back down. With no way to turn back, she committed to it full force.

"It's really really hard to explain, or prove, but I can do it. But not here. I...I'd rather prove it to you first, then explain. It's...a long story, and I think proving things first would make the rest of the explanations sort of...well easier to believe I guess."

She looked to her friends, all giving her looks of worry over jumping in so quickly, and Sunset herself wasn't sure of her confidence in such a rash action. But she was committed, and she just kept telling herself that it was better to get it over with, no lies or dodges, then run and hide. It reminded her too much of how she'd dodged retribution with Celestia, too much of how she'd just spiraled into the monster that stole Twilight's crown. So she did her best to hide her guilt and fear, set her jaw, and gave her friends a silent nod, telling them that this was the best way to handle it.

Even if she herself didn't believe it.

The older Sunset sat there for a few seconds processing what was said, then asked, "Ok, so how do you intend to prove it?"

"Um, we'll...well we'll have to go to Canterlot High. Do you know where that is?"

"I can find it, but what exactly is so special about this school that we need to go there for this whole mess to make sense?"

Sunset backed down for a moment, the challenge in the tone of the other girls voice told her that a prank or other game was still suspected, and she couldn't find a way to explain without going into details. Details that would just ruin everything without the proof to back them up.

Thankfully, Rarity came to her rescue.

"If I may. I realize that this is something that, uh, 'our' Sunset, is rightfully taking the lead on," with that she patted Sunset on the shoulder, giving her a reassuring smile, "I believe I can offer an explanation that can put your mind at ease. The proof that Sunset, and indeed, we as her friends, are offering is, how to say, not very subtle. It will leave no question in your mind as to the truth, but it also will attract attention. I think we can agree that something as huge as a traveler from another world is something that, under other circumstances, should remain quiet. With school out for the holidays, there isn't a risk of being stumbled upon, and Sunset can speak freely."

Sunset gave Rarity a thankful smile before turning back to her older self, "You can even bring your friends if you want, it's not fair for you to come alone when I won't be."

The human Sunset sat forward, clasping her hands and resting her chin on them as she thought, finally.

"Well, what do you two think about all this?"

With that she turned towards the door, and the girls, following her 'line of sight' realized the two from earlier had likely be standing there listening to the whole thing.

Rosey was the first to respond.

"This is SO freaking nuts, I'm in!"

A raised eyebrow was the only response, before she turned to the guy.

“Blue?”

“Well…..they seem genuine, I mean, I guess it won’t hurt to find out what they’re talking about.”

With that the girls all nodded, looking hopefully between the older trio.

Finally the older Sunset turned back towards them and nodded. “Alright, the three of us will be there.

With that the two groups set a plan to meet, and the girls left the trio to finish their cleanup, while they went to figure out how would be the best way to prove their story.