Twilight woke up Sunday morning to her alarm clock, groaning from a migraine she was getting for sleeping too long.
Last night, after getting ice cream with Cadance, Twilight had spent the rest of the day curled in bed with Spike, a fluffy romance novel and the playlist Cadance had given her.
It seemed to have helped a bit, since she wasn’t feeling quite as down as she had yesterday. Though she still decided to stay in bed a bit longer.
Velvet checked on her daughter a couple of times, but didn’t push things when she realized Twilight was in a bad mood. So, Twilight’s sleep extension went undisturbed, until she heard her phone vibrate.
Groaning and freeing herself from the tangled covers, Twilight reached out to her phone to see what had disturbed her. It was a message from Sunset.
Neon and I are gonna have lunch together. You wanna join us?
Twilight's immediate desire was to refuse. She didn’t really want to do anything with Neon, frankly. But then she remembered her conversation with Cadance yesterday.
I shouldn’t let this ruin our friendship. She means more to me than that, she thought.
With a burst of determination, Twilight responded with a quick ‘Sure’. As soon as she sent the message though, she started worrying if it was the right decision, and tapped out another message.
I mean, if you don’t think I’ll be a third wheel, you know. I don’t want to make things awkward or anything.
She waited for a response from Sunset, doing her best not to start writing yet another message. She had been told that she could ramble when she was nervous.
Don’t worry about it. I offered didn’t I?
Twilight breathed a sigh of relief at Sunset’s response. Then tensed up again at Sunset’s next message.
Meet us at the café in one hour, Okay?
An hour? Is it that close to lunch already? She thought, looking at her clock to confirm it.
Twilight tapped out an ’Okay’, then rushed into the bathroom for her morning routine.
Twenty minutes later, Twilight had finished showering and was trying to decide if she should wear makeup or not.
In the end, she chose to put on some concealer and a touch of eyeshadow. She had enjoyed using it in the past few days, and figured it wouldn’t hurt to do more often.
She picked out an outfit to wear — a light blue shirt with a pink sweater vest, and a purple skirt with light blue kneesocks — and got to the bus stop with only a couple of minutes to spare.
Once she got on the bus, she felt she could finally relax. Unfortunately, that also meant she could start thinking about Sunset and Neon again. She decided to distract herself with some music, putting in her earbuds and picking a classical composer at random.
She got to the café with plenty of time to spare, and picked out a booth by the window while she waited.
About a minute later, Sunset walked in, her arm looped around Neon’s.
Twilight put on a smile and waved. She hoped the smile wasn’t too obviously fake.
“Hi, Twilight,” Sunset said as they approached the table. She leaned down to give Twilight a short hug, “I’m glad you could make it. Neon, this is my friend, Twilight.”
Neon nodded to Twilight. He was wearing those sunglasses he usually wore, and Twilight was starting to think they looked pretty stupid. “Hey. I’ve seen you around at school, but it’s nice to meet you properly.” He said in a surprisingly soft voice.
“It’s, uhm, nice to meet you too.” Twilight said, her voice strained.
Sunset and Neon took their seats opposite Twilight. Sunset turned her attention to her boyfriend. “Twilight can be a little nervous around new people.” She half-whispered.
Twilight, not knowing how to respond, just laughed nervously.
The waitress came over and they ordered their food, and then they talked. Though it was mostly Sunset and Neon chatting about motorcycles. Twilight knew enough about mechanics to keep up, and Sunset would occasionally address her to give her opinion, or Twilight would jump in with a fact or two about the topic.
This isn’t too bad, Twilight thought. She could feel the occasional pang in her heart when she saw Sunset smile at her, and she did look away when Sunset leaned into Neon for a brief kiss.
But she was managing to spend time with Sunset as her friend, despite the hurt. She had agreed to come here because she knew that losing Sunset as a friend would be far worse than this. And getting proof that this could work, that while she had lost her chance at Sunset — if she ever had one to begin with — she wasn’t going to lose her as a friend.
“So, Twilight” Sunset pulled her friend out of her reverie, “have you had any more trouble with Indigo?”
Twilight’s eyes widened and she glanced briefly at Neon, though she couldn’t determine his reaction because of his darn sunglasses.
“Uhm. Well, no. I never really run into her outside school, thankfully,” Twilight replied tentatively.
“Woah, hold on. What was Indigo giving you trouble with?” Neon asked.
Twilight looked away and started rubbing one hand against her other arm.
“Indigo was bullying Twilight,” Sunset filled in when she saw that Twilight didn’t want to say it. “She was making her do her homework for her, even going so far as to threaten her.”
Neon shook his head. “That girl just keeps getting herself into bad situations. Did you tell the Principal?”
“Of course I did. And it changed nothing.” Twilight sighed. She shot Sunset a look to tell her she was not happy about her bringing this up in front of Neon. Sunset gave an apologetic smile, at least.
“I think,” Sunset said, slowly. “That she’s just under a lot of pressure, and doesn’t know how to deal with it.”
Twilight gaped at her. Only a couple of days ago, Sunset had been furious at Indigo when she confronted her. Why would she sympathize with her now? She should be defending me, not her!
Twilight pushed down her indignation, but she still gave Sunset a questioning look, making sure her upset was clearly visible.
"I think you're right about that, Neon added. "That girl can be really cool when she wants to. I think she could use a friend who's more positive than those girls she hangs out with."
Sunset threw her arms up. "Exactly! I've barely talked to those girls since I transferred, and even I can tell they're a bad influence."
Sunset looked at Twilight, and her expression shifted to guilt. “Not that I’m saying that justifies her actions, because they totally don’t.” She frantically added.
Twilight huffed and looked away, until she felt Sunset’s hand on her own. She looked back and saw her friend leaning over, an apologetic look on her face.
“I'm sorry that I'm coming off like I'm defending her. That's not what I mean,” She whispered. “I’m going to make sure she doesn’t bother you again. I’m just… I don’t know. Trying to figure her out I guess?”
Twilight smiled, feeling reassured. The apology also helped.
Twenty minutes later, they exited into the snowy parking lot, and Twilight overheard Neon asking Sunset to hang out with him. Her ears perked, wondering if this would mark the start of Sunset spending less time with her. Though a part of her did feel a bit guilty about her jealousy.
“I’d love to, but right now I wanted to spend some time with Twilight,” Sunset said. “How about we go see a movie tonight, or something? Maybe around eight?”
Twilight turned away, hiding her smirk as felt a surge of satisfaction at Sunset prioritizing her over Neon. She knew it was petty, and that Sunset had taken the neutral option of making time for both of them. But she still picked Twilight first.
After a few moments, she felt a tap on her shoulder. “Come on, let’s go.” Sunset said.
Twilight could see Neon getting into his car behind her, and had to fight off another smirk.
Maybe this jealousy is going to be a bit more of a problem than I expected, she thought to herself as she followed Sunset down the street.
“So, did you have anything in mind?” Twilight asked her friend as they started walking away from the café.
Sunset nodded. “Remember when Cadance picked us up from the mall?” Twilight nodded. “Well,” Sunset continued, “we agreed to play music for each other, and I intend to make good on my promise.”
“You’re going to… p-play a song for me?” Twilight asked hesitantly. Sure, they had said they’d do it — someday — but having it actually happen was still a bit of a surprise. Her eyes widened slightly as she realized she hadn’t even picked a song to play for Sunset, let alone practice it.
“Yeah, I’m pretty excited to hear you play, so I figured I’d get my song out of the way now, so I can start pestering you about your song,” Sunset said in a teasing voice.
Twilight gulped. She wasn’t sure how she’d feel about performing a song just for Sunset given her now hopeless crush on the girl. Cadance had — albeit teasingly — suggested she play a love song for Sunset, the thought of which now made Twilight start to fidget. Twilight laughed nervously.
Just stay calm. We’re friends, nothing more. It’s perfectly normal for friends to share their interests, including music, so stop thinking this is such a big deal.
“Hey,” Sunset gave her a worried look, “are you okay?”
“Yep! Never better,” Twilight responded instantly. Sunset raised an eyebrow at her skeptically. “Okay, fine.” Twilight conceded. “I’m a little nervous because I didn’t expect this so soon. I haven’t even picked out a song to play for you or anything.” She looked away sheepishly.
Sunset chuckled and lightly punched Twilight’s shoulder. “Don’t worry about it, I don’t mind waiting. But I already picked out a song for you, and I’ve been pretty excited to let you hear it.”
Twilight smiled at the reassurance — rubbing her shoulder absentmindedly. “It’s the song you wrote yourself, right?”
Sunset nodded happily. “I’ve only played it for Mom so far. It’s… It’s really special to me, you know?”
Twilight nodded. Inwardly she was over the moon about Sunset wanting to share something with her that she felt was ‘special to her’.
Before long, they had come to Sunset’s house. Twilight had seen it before from the outside when she and Cadance had dropped Sunset off. She was curious to see what her friends living space would look like. There was also a not-insignificant part of her that was curious to see what the home of a principal would look like.
Sunset unlocked the door and Twilight followed her inside. Taking off her scarf and parka, Twilight looked into the living room. It was pretty ordinary, and Twilight briefly wondered what she had been expecting.
There was a sofa and a couple of armchairs surrounding a coffee table, and a TV on one wall. There were also a couple of bookcases and a dresser with a few framed pictures on it.
“Hi, Mom. I’m home!” Sunset called out, just as Celestia — whom Twilight recognized from a few of her MyStable profile picture — entered from what appeared to be the kitchen, holding a cup of tea.
“Welcome back, Sunset.” Celestia said, before spotting Twilight. “Oh, and this must be Twilight Sparkle. Sunset’s told me a lot about you.” She said warmly.
“It’s nice to meet you,” Twilight waved.
Sunset took Twilight’s hand and led her towards the stairs at the other end of the room. “We’re just gonna be in my room, Okay?” She asked her Mom.
Celestia nodded and said, “have fun you two.” Twilight blushed and quickly banished an inappropriate thought.
Sunset’s bedroom was pretty cool. At least, that’s what Twilight thought of it.
It was decorated with a few posters of bands and popular films, and the walls were painted with a red and yellow color scheme. “Nice room. It really suits you.”
Sunset chuckled. “Yeah, Mom put in a lot of work to make sure I’d be happy here when she took me in.”
Sunset picked up an acoustic guitar and sat in her desk chair, pointing for Twilight to sit on the bed. Twilight climbed up and sat cross legged on the bed, watching Sunset tune the guitar.
“Is it just the two of you here?” Twilight asked, having just realized that at no point had a ‘dad’ been mentioned when Sunset talked about her living situation.
“Yeah, but Aunt Luna visits a lot. I think it’s mostly because Mom’s a much better cook than she is.” Sunset grinned at Twilight, causing the other girl to giggle a little.
“Okay, you ready?” Sunset asked.
Twilight straightened her back and focused all her attention on Sunset, then nodded.
Sunset started picking the notes, one at a time. Then, she began to sing.
“Power
Was all I desired.
But all that grew inside me,
was the darkness I acquired.”
Twilight was instantly transfixed. Sunset’s voice was beautiful.
“When I began to fall,
and I lost the path ahead.
That's when your friendship found me,
and it lifted me instead.”
Sunset’s playing sped up considerably as she went into the chorus. She started playing cords instead of single notes.
While rock wasn’t Twilight’s favorite genre, she could definitely see the appeal now.
“Like a phoenix burning bright,
in the sky.
I'll show there's another side to me,
you can't deny.
“I may not know what the future holds,
but hear me when I say.
That my past does not define me,
'cause my past is not today.”
The song calmed a bit, and Twilight felt herself release a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding.
“Ambition,
is what I believed.
Would be the only way,
to set me free.
“But when it disappeared,
and I found myself alone.
That's when you came and got me,
and it felt like I was home.”
As the song played through the chorus a second time, Twilight thought about the possible meaning of the lyrics. Sunset had written them herself and it was clear that they meant a lot to her.
‘My past does not define me, cause my past is not today.’ Twilight was reminded of the time Sunset told her about her past as a bully. She had seemed so vulnerable when talking about it, and when Twilight promised not to judge her by her past, Sunset had outright hugged her, practically in tears.
Sunset finished, and as the last cord faded, Twilight clapped enthusiastically.
“That was amazing, Sunset!” She cheered.
Sunset smiled and blushed — actually blushed — then said, “Thanks. I wrote it shortly after Christmas. I really needed a distraction at the time.” Sunset frowned a little, looking at the floor.
It sounded to Twilight like that could have been around the time Sunset lost her friends.
Changing the subject, Twilight decided to ask about some of the lyrics that had caught her attention. “I noticed you made a couple of references to a ‘you’ in the song. Is that referring to anyone in particular?”
Sunset nodded, her smile returning. “Yeah. The first one is my other friend. Uhm, I haven’t really told you about her yet have I?” Twilight shook her head. “Remember when I first met you, and I said you reminded me of someone else I knew, minus the glasses? That’s the one.”
Twilight was about to inquire further about Sunset’s mystery friend, but Sunset continued before she could.
“Anyway, the second one is a bit on the nose to be honest. ‘That’s when you came and got me, and it felt like I was home.’ That one is about Celestia adopting me. It was the first time I felt like I had a real family.”
“That’s beautiful.” Twilight said softly.
Sunset just nodded.
The two of them stayed silent for a few moments. Twilight couldn’t help but notice that Sunset seemed a little nervous. She was fiddling with the tuning keys on the guitar, without actually checking how they sounded. As if she was just trying to distract herself.
With a deep breath, Sunset put the guitar off to the side and faced Twilight directly.
“Twilight,” she said, her voice more serious than Twilight had heard before. “I have something to tell you. And I know you’re not going to believe me at first, but you’re my friend, and I want you to know about this.”
Twilight furrowed her brows. Sunset’s change in demeanor catching her off guard. “Okay, what is it?”
Sunset took another deep breath. “My other friend I told you about? Her name is… Princess Twilight Sparkle.”
Twilight cocked her head and gave Sunset a questioning look. “Uhm… what?”
Sunset laughed nervously. “Right, so this is all going to sound really strange, but please just hear me out, okay?”
Twilight nodded slowly. She had absolutely no idea where Sunset was going with this. Something about having a friend with the same name as her? Who was also a princess?
Sunset took a deep breath, then met Twilight’s eyes. “I’m not from this world. I actually come from a parallel dimension.” She paused to let that sink in.
Twilight just stared at her. “Uhm… what?”
“A-and an interesting thing about this parallel dimension is that it actually has a lot of the same people as this dimension has. So there’s a Celestia on both sides, and a Luna on both sides. And a Twilight Sparkle on both sides. There’s also magic there. I was actually a pretty skilled spell caster myself before I came here.” Sunset showed a brief hint of pride. “And there’s more stuff that’s different but… I think it’s best to let this part sink in first.”
“Are you… are you being serious?” Twilight wanted to dismiss this as just some kind of prank. It wouldn’t be the first time someone had tried to convince her of something so unlikely. But still possible though, and that was the difficult thing. Parallel dimensions had never been explicitly disproven. What Sunset was claiming could, in theory, be true. Then a thought struck her.
“Hang on. Did you say ‘magic’?” She asked.
Sunset nodded slowly. “I know that’s difficult to believe, but it’s true.”
Twilight nodded absentmindedly. An idea was forming in her mind, though it was a long shot. “Did you by any chance bring any magic with you from this other dimension? Maybe sometime in late August? And maybe again in early November?”
Sunset chuckled. “Oh, right. You mentioned you picked up some strange readings, didn’t you?”
Twilight nodded.
Sunset sighed. “Yeah, that was me. Both times.”
Twilight felt a wide smile creep onto her face. “Aha!” She jumped off the bed. “That’s why I couldn’t figure out what on earth those reading where!” She exclaimed. “Because they weren’t from earth to begin with!”
Sunset gave her a skeptical look. “Wait. You believe me? Just like that?”
Twilight shrugged and gave a deep sigh. “I’ve exhausted pretty much every possible explanation I could think of for those darn readings. The only other course of action I had left was to actually go to CHS to see if I could find anything about it there.” Twilight closed her eyes and massaged her temples. “At this point, I’m so frustrated with the whole thing, that ‘it was magic’ actually sounds like a reasonable answer.”
“You…” Sunset began tentatively. “ You really believe me?”
Twilight shrugged. “I guess I’m sorta accepting it for right now, but I’m sure I’ll need proof to really believe it.”
Sunset got up and walked over to her nightstand. She picked up a fairly large book from it. Twilight caught a brief glimpse of a stylized sun on the cover.
Sunset sat back down with the book and a pen. She didn’t say anything, but she opened the book to an empty page, about half way through, and wrote a short sentence in it. Afterwards, she closed the book and put it on her lap.
“This journal is enchanted. It’s connected to a similar one back in Equestria — that’s where I come from — and anything written in one shows up in the other.” She furrowed her brows in thought. “It’s basically magical texting.”
Twilight probably would have laughed, if this whole situation wasn’t so strange. “So…. who did you just sent a ‘magical text’ to?”
Sunset rubbed the back of her neck. “Your extra-dimensional counterpart. Princess Twilight was my only friend for while before I met you, and this is how we keep in touch,” she indicated the journal in her lap.
At that moment, the journal started to vibrate and glow. Sunset opened the book again and, after a few moments, wrote another message in it.
“You want to talk to her?” She asked, smiling encouragingly.
It took a few moments for Twilight to pull her attention away from the glowing, vibrating, supposedly magical book. She had seen many, many books in her time, and none of them had acted anything like that.
She looked up at Sunset and nodded. Sunset handed the journal to Twilight, along with the pen. She could see three messages on the page. The first and last in the red color of the pen Sunset had handed her, and the middle one in a purple script.
Hello, Princess. Are you there?
I’m here, Sunset. Did you want to talk about something?
I wanted to introduce you to my friend, Twilight Sparkle.
Twilight brought the pen over the page with a shaking hand.
Hello?
She stared at the page as the impossible happened. Purple writing appeared out of nowhere, forming a response.
Hello, Twilight. My name is Princess Twilight Sparkle. This must feel pretty strange to you, but I assure you I feel the same way.
Twilight considered what to do. She pinched herself — subtly — to check if she was dreaming. She, apparently, wasn’t.
Where are you?
I’m in my bedroom, in my castle, in Equestria.
Twilight stared. The text seemed to be responding to her question, suggesting that it wasn’t some kind of prerecorded message. Though, even if it was, she honestly had no idea how this could be done as a trick to fake magic.
Was everything Sunset said true? Is she not from Earth?
Well, I don’t know exactly what she said to you, but if she’s as close to you as she says, then I know she wouldn’t lie to you. And yes, Sunset was born here in Equestria and went to earth only a few years ago.
Twilight looked up at Sunset. She looked a little nervous, and was clearly waiting to see Twilight’s reaction to this world-view-shattering news. She tried to think of something — anything — to say. Only one thing came to mind.
“Why is my doppelganger a princess?”
Sunset raised an eyebrow. “That’s your first question?” She asked.
“I’m having some difficulty organizing my thoughts at the moment.” Twilight kept her voice neutral, and did her best to keep herself calm.
Sunset chuckled slightly. “Well, to answer your question. Princesses aren't the same in Equestria as they are here. They’re still considered royalty, and they sometimes have a lot of authority, but they’re also magically powerful. Princess Twilight was a very gifted uni- uh, mage. Her specialty was the, uhm… as strange as it sounds, her specialty was the magic of friendship. Her official title is Princess of Friendship.” She looked around in thought. “It's interesting to see how some things are really similar between you two, while other things are really different.”
Before Twilight could respond, she felt the journal vibrating again. Looking down she could see another message from the Princess.
I’d love to meet you in person someday. We could share childhood stories and see what’s the same and what’s different!
Sunset leaned over to read the message as well. “See, she has the same scientific curiosity as you,” she teased. The familiar expression helped Twilight relax just a little.
Twilight looked between the journal and Sunset a few times. Then she wrote back her reply.
Sure, that sounds... fun, I guess? But I’m gonna go now. I have a lot to think about and… stuff.
She handed the journal back to Sunset. “Why did you decide to tell me now?”
Sunset shrugged. “I’ve been wanting to tell you for some time. I guess with the song and everything, I just kinda felt like opening up a bit more, you know?”
Twilight nodded. “I think I should head home. I need some time to think about the nature of the universe that is suddenly so much bigger than it seemed this morning.” Twilight stood up to leave.
Sunset stood up as well, leaving the journal on her seat, and walked Twilight downstairs and to the front door. “Are you okay? I’m sorry for springing this on you, but I couldn’t really think of any way to make this less of a shock.”
Twilight shook her head. “It’s fine. I’m fine, more or less. I just need time to process this.” She put on her coat and scarf.
“Do you want a ride home? I’m sure Mom would be willing to drive us.” Sunset offered.
Twilight shook her head again. “No, I’ll just walk. I could use some fresh air and the time to think.”
Sunset locked eyes with her, seemingly staring into her soul. Could she do that? She did say she knew magic, Twilight mentally chided herself for jumping to such absurdity. Even if she couldn’t exactly disprove it.
“Okay, well. Have a safe walk home.” Sunset took a step forward and hugged Twilight tightly. Twilight hugged back after a moment. It felt wonderfully reassuring.
Sunset broke the hug just before it became awkward. “I’ll see you tomorrow at school, okay?”
Twilight nodded. “I’ll see you then.” Twilight left the warmth of Sunset’s home, and started the hour-or-so walk to her house. All the while her mind buzzed with this new world that had been revealed to her.