1G. Twilight Through the Looking Glass
Sunset Shimmer adjusted her jacket collar. Did she look okay? You can never be too sure. She checked herself in the portal-mirror from a few paces back. Her hair was brushed, her clothes were neat, she was showered... She looked good. Didn't she? Sometimes it's hard to tell if you're flattering yourself or not. Well, there was no time to change anything anyway, so there was no point in worrying about it. Everything was fine. What's the worst that could happen?
Don't answer that.
She tapped her foot, looking around impatiently at the scenery. She pulled up the sleeve on her left wrist to check her watch. 10:07. What was taking her? Did she forget to pack? She probably would have said something in the book if there had been any issues. Did she sleep in? Did Spike also sleep in? Did Starlight also sleep in? Did every guard in the castle also sleep in?
Sunset pulled off her backpack and zipped it open, pulling the book out from among her school supplies. It wasn't vibrating. She flipped it open. Nope, there wasn't anything new written in there. She considered asking it everything over there was okay... Well, it had only been seven minutes. Eight minutes. Nope, wait, nine. It had been nine minutes since the time they had agreed for her to come. Was her watch set correctly? She glanced up at the clock tower. 10:10. Her watch was behind.
Shit.
Still, it was no reason to worry. Maybe the guards were just fussing over her. Yeah, that was probably it. She couldn't honestly imagine them not being concerned about the princess they were sworn to protect going off to another dimension with no protection other than her girl... friend. Friend girl. Girlfriend. Girl who is friendly. Friend who happens to be a girl.
God damn it.
10:13. Maybe she should write in the book. Just to make sure that everything was okay... No, no. She wouldn't want to bother Twilight, then it would only take her longer to get over here.
10:15. People were starting to stare at her. She probably did look kind of ridiculous, standing in front of the school statue, seemingly waiting around for nothing. What on earth would a normal person be waiting for in front of the school statue on a Saturday? Well, Sunset wasn't a normal person. She was a non-normal person, waiting in front of a magical portal mirror for a magical pony princess from another dimension to walk through.
10:18. Oh god, was she really thinking about that for three minutes? Her legs were going numb from standing in the same position for half an hour. Maybe she should sit? On the pavement. That didn't sound much better. It would probably make her legs more numb, actually.
10:20. Okay, maybe now she could start worrying.
Was... was the portal working? She probably would have said something if it wasn't... Then again, what if whatever it was that was stopping the portal from opening was also interfering with the connection between the books? It was possible... Improbable, but not impossible. What would she even do if that were the case? Well, she should probably figure out if that was the case before she got too deep into thinking about it. And there was only one way to find out. Slowly and carefully, Sunset stepped forward and reached her hand out, just barely grazing the surface of the mirror. The portal made little ripples in reaction, indicating that it was indeed still working. Sunset let out a sigh of relief. That was good. But if that was the case, then why...?
*Slam!*
All of a sudden, out came Princess Twilight Sparkle, ramming straight into Sunset upon her arrival and sending them both tumbling to the ground.
Sunset, who thankfully had not hit her head on the concrete, opened her eyes and found Twilight staring at her with a flustered blush on her lavender cheeks.
"Uh..." Sunset could not find words.
"Oh my--! Ah!" Twilight made incomprehensible shrieks and embarrassed half-sentences as she tried to stand up. "Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry, Sunset Shimmer!" She ended up settled on her knees, atop Sunset's stomach, as a result of her confusion. "I-I don't know what happened! I just walked through, and-- Oh gosh, I'm really sorry."
"Uh..." Sunset blinked a couple times, her mouth gaping open, only kind of hearing what Twilight was saying. She did catch the last part though. She closed her mouth. "Oh, no, don't be." She waved a hand, grinning goofily. "That was my fault. I was just making sure the portal was working alright, and... Well, I should have recognized that you were coming through."
"Oh. Okay. Well, uh... I mean, don't beat yourself up over it..."
"Oh, nah, I won't. Like, as long as you're okay..."
"Oh, yeah, I'm fine."
"Okay. That's good."
"Yeah. Good."
"Good."
"...Great..."
They sat in silence for a moments, Sunset observing Twilight twiddle her hair between her fingers. Until eventually Sunset said, "Hey, Twilight?"
"Yeah, Sunset?" the princess replied.
"Do you think you could get off of me?"
Twilight's expression flattened. "Oh-- Oh." She placed her hands on the ground and pushed herself to her feet. Sunset followed suit, breathing a sigh of relief once standing. "Er... Sorry, about that..." Twilight apologized.
"No, no, it's fine," Sunset assured her, "really."
"You're not hurt, are you?"
Sunset found Twilight's hand wandering over to rest on her shoulder.
"Well, my back aches a little..." she admitted. Upon seeing the worried expression on Twilight's face, Sunset smiled warmly and removed the purple hand from her shoulder. "But, it's no big deal. It'll be fine in, like, an hour."
"Oh, um, okay. If you're sure..."
Twilight's gaze flicked downward a couple times, before settling there. Curiously, Sunset looked down as well, and...
Oh, shit. Crap. They were holding hands.
Like, not that Sunset was complaining, but... jeez, that was not planned. Huh. Twilight wasn't complaining either. Er... should she pull away? Well, she didn't want Twilight to feel insulted. But, they couldn't just stand here like this forever.
"Uh..." Sunset turned her gaze back to Twilight, who looked up hesitantly. "So... what took you so long getting over here?"
"Oh! Well, my alarm didn't set for some reason, and after I got up, Starlight was a little overbearing about making sure I was all ready..."
"Oh, alright." Sunset chuckled. "You kinda had me worried there."
"I'm really sorry about that, Sunset," Twilight apologized again. "It's just that the book was being used to power the portal--"
"Twilight! Twilight!" Sunset held up that hand that wasn't entwined with the princess's and motioned for her to quiet herself. "Shush! It's fine, it's not your fault."
Twilight gave a long, deep sigh. "I... thank you, Sunset. I just get a little carried away sometimes."
She returned the smile Sunset had given her, and their eyes met... for an uncomfortably long amount of time.
And Sunset heard Twilight's stomach grumbled. Twilight's face turned pink again.
"Did you eat breakfast?" Sunset questioned, cocking an eyebrow.
Twilight clenched her teeth, and Sunset felt her grip on her hand tighten. "Yes...?"
Sunset smirked. That adorable little liar.
She removed her hand from Twilight's, instead opting to place it on her back. "Come on," Sunset said, "we can't have you running around here on an empty stomach. I know a good place to eat."
"Eh heh. Alright."
Sunset led Twilight out into the school's parking lot, where her motorcycle was parked. She offered Twilight a helmet, and helped her buckle it when lack of experience with fingers failed her. Then Sunset sat down on the seat, Twilight trying to recreate this action and almost falling over in the process. When she was finally settled behind Sunset and thankfully not suffering from a concussion, she asked, "Are you absolutely positive this is safe? Because most of the vehicles I've seen in this dimension are larger, and... covered."
"Sure it's safe!" Sunset answered casually. "As long as you hold on." Twilight immediately wrapped her arms snugly around Sunset's abdomen, causing her to crack another unintentional grin. "Don't worry! I do this everyday."
"If you're sure!"
Twilight squeaked when the motor started revving, and they backed out of the parking lot and out onto the roads.
When they pulled up in the lot of a diner Sunset was particularly fond of, Twilight was still holding onto her for dear life. Sunset selected an empty parking space and pulled up, moving her foot to place down the kickstand. She glanced back at Twilight, whose hair was wind-swept. She looked like she was half asleep.
"Twilight," Sunset whispered, nudging the ungraceful princess in the ribs with her shoulder. Twilight smacked her lips, groggily opening her eyes. As soon as she was awake and realized the position she was in, she held her arms up and leaned backwards, nearly falling off of the bike.
"Sorry!" she exclaimed.
"Don't be!" Sunset replied. She stepped off of the motorcycle, lending Twilight a hand as she struggled to do so herself. "Anyway, this is the place. Best breakfast in town. The girls and I eat here all the time. You know, when we can convince Pinkie that cake doesn't count as a meal."
Twilight giggled. "I'm sure it's great, if you like it here."
Sunset was still grinning.
They approached the door and Sunset pushed it open. They stepped inside to find a warm, cozy little room with a bar at the front, surrounded on either side by tables and chairs. The walls were lined with black and white photographs depicting the town's early days, and there were a couple of vending machines in each corner. Sunset liked this place. It felt... safe. Plus, it smelled like pancakes.
"I'm surprised you never showed me this place before," Twilight commented.
"Well, we didn't really start coming here until a few months ago," Sunset responded. "That, and we usually just opt to hang out in Sugarcube Corner. Come on, let's grab a seat."
They chose an empty window booth on the left side of the building and sat down across from each other.
"So, how have things been going?" Twilight inquired.
"Eh, it's fine for the most part," Sunset replied. "I'm not worried about the testing, I've got straight A's and none of the review material has challenged me."
"That's good," Twilight said. "That you're going to pass, I mean."
"Yeah," Sunset nodded. "The only real cause for stress I have right now is helping to prepare the others. Like Rainbow Dash..."
"Yeah, I don't think you need to elaborate on that."
Sunset nodded again. "It was obvious that she would be trouble, but even Applejack and Fluttershy aren't doing so well. I'm a little concerned, it means a lot to them that we all graduate together."
Twilight smiled reassuringly. "Well, I'm sure that with you and..." She paused, holding her thumb up to her mouth. "...the other me helping them, everything will be fine."
Sunset sighed. "I hope so. I don't want to deal with what will happen if it isn't."
"Hi there! How can I help you today?"
Ah, there was a familiar voice. Sunset and Twilight glanced up to find that the waitress had approached their table, and she had a familiar face that made Twilight give a short, squeaky, "Ahh!!"
Here stood Sonata Dusk, with her typical ear-to-ear smile, dressed in a white shirt and green apron, and holding a notepad and pen.
"Hey, Sonata," Sunset greeted.
"Morning Sunset!" Sonata waved cheerfully. "How are you?"
"I'm fine. What about you?"
"As great as I'll ever be!"
"Ahh!!" Twilight shrieked again, her eyes darting from Sonata to Sunset and back.
Crap, right. She didn't know about this. Well, just stay casual. She didn't need to be any more alarmed than she already was.
"Can I get you something to drink?" Sonata asked.
"Sure," Sunset replied. "I'll get a Pepsi." She glanced at Twilight, who was staring blankly at their waitress with her mouth hanging open. "And she'll take a coffee."
"Cream and sugar?"
"Sure."
"Okie dokie!" Sonata scribbled the order down on her notepad. "I'll be right back with that!"
When she was gone, Sunset looked back to Twilight, whose jaw was still dropped. "You should really close that before a bug decides it looks good."
Twilight's mouth shut. "What just happened?" she questioned.
Sunset clenched her teeth, rolling her eyes slightly. "Yeah. I meant to tell you about that, but when we first found out, Rarity and Applejack decided that I shouldn't freak you out by telling you. After that, I guess it just sort of slipped my mind."
"Are you friends with her?" Twilight inquired.
Sunset shrugged. "More like acquaintances. She's really not so bad once you get to know her. I feel like she just sticks around Aria and Adagio out of obligation. Speaking of which, they work here too. They're usually in the kitchen though. Funny thing, they don't exactly make good hostesses." Twilight was giving her the most dumbfounded look she'd ever seen. "Don't worry, they're harmless. The worst they can do is serve your coffee lukewarm." She snickered. "Rainbow likes to torment them by constantly changing her order."
Twilight blinked. After a moment, she smiled, and shook her head. "Well," she said, "it's nice to hear that you're on good terms with... er..."
"Sonata."
"Right."
Sunset watched Twilight run her fingers through her hair absentmindedly. The more she observed her do things like this, the more she figured that the princess was entirely intrigued by the concept of having hands. She couldn't say she blamed Twilight. Nothing beats magic, but hands were still pretty cool.
She reached for a holder that stood beside the window and pulled a pair of menus out of it. She handed one to Twilight, then opened her own.
"What do you recommend?" Twilight asked, looking over the breakfast list.
"Well, they make a mean flapjack," Sunset said, crossing her legs and immediately regretting saying "flapjack" instead of "pancake".
Twilight giggled. God, that was cute. "I guess I'll get that, then."
Sunset's stupid grin returned. Then something occurred to her. "Oh, just don't take the bacon they offer with it. Trust me, you don't want it."
Twilight raised an eyebrow. "How come?"
"You don't want to know."
Shortly after, Sonata returned, placing down the drinks they had ordered.
"Thank you, Sonata," said Twilight, pulling her coffee closer to her.
"No problem! You decided what you wanna eat yet?"
"Yeah," Sunset answered. "I'll take the oatmeal." She had already eaten a couple hours ago, she didn't need anything special.
"Okay!" Sonata began scribbling on her notepad again. She then turned to Twilight, and inquired, "What about you?"
"The pancakes, please."
"You want bacon with that?"
"No, thanks."
"Alright! Is that it?"
Sunset glanced to Twilight, who nodded. "Yup," Sunset replied. "That's it."
"Okay! I'll have that for you in just a little bit!"
When Sonata returned to the bar, Sunset caught a glimpse of her notepad. Along with the orders, there were several stars and music notes drawn on, and what looked like a doodle of a taco. Sunset didn't question this.
"So," said Twilight, closing her menu, "have you thought about what you want to do after you graduate?"
Sunset took a sip of her Pepsi, tapping a finger against the table. "A little," she said, "but I haven't decided on anything yet."
"You know, you're always welcome in Equestria."
Sunset perked. Twilight was smiling patiently at her. She couldn't help but return the favor. "Thanks, Twilight." She stared down at the table. "Well, I don't know. I suppose we are all going our separate ways. Fluttershy's going to medical school, Rainbow Dash got a sports scholarship to a community college, and this world's Twilight got accepted into the Massachusetts Institute of Technology." She sighed. "You're supposed to send applications in the Autumn..."
"Can't you apply after you graduate?"
Sunset scratched her head. "Well, it is possible to take a year off of academics and go to college after that." Twilight nodded attentively. "But, I don't even know what kind of college I would want to go to. Much less what kind of college would even accept someone with no records before high school."
"Well, you have plenty of time to decide," Twilight reminded her.
"What do you think I should do?"
Twilight frowned. For a few moments, she didn't say anything, and Sunset suddenly felt concerned that she had done something wrong. "Sunset," Twilight said, her expression unchanging, "you're the only one who can make this decision."
Sunset took another long sip from her drink. Twilight was right. She couldn't expect to be fully confident in a choice that she didn't make herself. But... she couldn't but suspect, from the way she was fidgeting to inflections in her voice, that Twilight had some ulterior motive behind her answer.
"Right. You're right," Sunset responded, not feeling the need to pursue these suspicions.
Twilight started smiling again, much to Sunset's relief. "No problem. Just make sure that whatever you decide, you're happy with your choice." Twilight picked up her coffee and took sip of it, before her face reflexively scrunched up.
"What's the matter?"
Twilight laughed, setting the cup back down on the table. "Lukewarm."
Sunset inserted her house key into the lock on her front door. She twisted it around three hundred and sixty degrees, and the lock gave a satisfying *click* as it unlocked. She held the door open for Twilight to enter, and followed after her.
In all honesty, Sunset's house was probably even smaller than the diner. It was only one floor, and the only rooms were the living room, kitchen, and bathroom. But, you know, it was the only place she could get her hands on, and it was all she really needed.
Twilight looked around. Sunset had cleaned up the place to the best of her ability. There was no clothes laying on the ground, and she'd wiped down the coffee table in front of the couch. She'd even purchased one of those little air fresheners that you plug into an outlet on the wall. She couldn't imagine that the princess would be very impressed with it, but it might at least be bearable for her.
"This is a nice place you've got here, Sunset Shimmer," Twilight said.
"Well, it's nothing special," Sunset replied, "but it's home. I guess."
"I think it's great."
Sunset tried to analyze whether or not Twilight was trying to spare her feelings. Then she remembered, of course! Twilight lives in that enormous castle back in Equestria. She must have been a bit partial to smaller homes. Sunset's was about as small as it could get.
Sunset was brought back from her realization when she heard Twilight yawning. "Are you tired?" Sunset questioned.
"No! No." Twilight rubbed her eyes. "I am perfectly awake."
She was tired.
"You're tired," Sunset deadpanned, folding her arms.
Twilight sighed. "Yeah. Sorry, I've just been having some trouble keeping my eyes open lately."
"Maybe it has something to do with the fact that you only get two to four hours of sleep every night," Sunset muttered. She glanced out the window. The sun was setting. Had they really been hanging out around town all day? "Well, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to turn in early."
"Are you sure, Sunset?" Twilight asked.
Sunset's brow lowered. "Yes. Twilight, you should see yourself. You're a disaster." She hated to admit it, but she couldn't deny that this wasn't exactly Twilight at her best. Her hair looked like it had been through the clothes drier, and there were some distracting bags under her eyes.
"I guess I really do need this vacation..."
Sunset placed a hand on Twilight's shoulder. "You think so? Let me just figure out how to unfold that couch."
She ended up needing to dig out the owner's manual from a pile of papers that she kept under the TV. When she finally did find it, she was still having trouble getting the damned thing to work right. It ended up taking so long that they turned on the television for a bit of entertainment. All that was on was some chick flick about vampires and lycanthropes. Practically white noise.
When Sunset did finally get the couch to fold down and stay folded down, she found herself sat down on the couch-bed, Twilight beside her and a bag of microwaved popcorn wedged between them.
Twilight watched a vampire on screen passionately make out with a teenage girl. Sunset, however, had her mind stuck on something else. Namely, had she and Twilight just gone on a date?
Sure, Sunset had been on dates before. Well, never with another girl, but what was the difference, really? She knew all of the ins and outs of dating. They went out to eat, they talked and got to know each other, and then they went to the park or to a movie or something. And then they made out. Or banged. Or both. Sunset had never gotten that far.
While she and Twilight obviously already knew each other quite well, they had definitely gone out to eat, definitely talked, definitely were watching a movie, and had even gone for a walk in the public park earlier that day.
So again, Sunset asked herself, had she and Twilight just gone on a date?? Technically you didn't have to say that you were dating in order to be an item. You just had to not deny it when you were asked.
Sunset definitely liked Twilight, and she was in no way opposed to being the princess's girlfriend. Well, really, how could anyone be? Twilight was really smart, and undeniably adorable. Half of CHS would probably pay good money just to hang out with her. But how could she know if someone with as high a title as "Princess of Friendship"-- friendship --would even possibly return this kind of sentiment to a has-been like Sunset?
And then she felt something. Sunset glanced to her right and saw, that sneaky little jerk, Twilight had moved her hand to place it over Sunset's. She wasn't even looking, Twilight was still deceptively enraptured by the TV. She even looked like she was starting to fall asleep. Did she realise what she was doing? Sunset actually felt a bit uncomfortable, unsure whether the princess was aware of what she was doing.
And then she leaned over and rested her sleepy head on Sunset's shoulder.
God damn it, she did feel the same.
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So what is Pinkie going to be doing in the Equestria Girls world? Some are going to college but we do not hear about Pinkie?
Have fun writing your other stuff. I can't wait to see more especially the plot with Dash and Pinkie.
It also makes you wonder whether Pinkie and Dash would be similarly interested in each other in the human world or would be weirded out by their pony counterparts in this regard?
One vote for 'Move back to Equestria with Twilight and have like a million magic horse babies'.
I am all for a diner full of bad girls, but this stuck out:
Did you mean bar?
Also, Sunset should go back to Equestria, and leave her journal with human Applejack. She's least likely to move far from the portal, could keep in touch with the others, and just in case something happens magicwise (who knows how many exiles Star Swirl kicked to the Human side of the mirror), she can rally the troops and call in SunLight for Orbital Friendship Cannon strikes...
Yay, at long last Sunset appears! And another vote for Sunset to go back to Equestria. And preferably move into Twilight's castle, that place has plenty of room, though Starlight probably won't be happy about that.
Nice to see a couple that's pretty far along, even if neither have said anything out loud yet. I like the EQ world, but if it means more Sunset appearances, would prefer she move back to Equestria. There's always her unresolved business with Princess Celestia too. Though it could be funny to see if the Humane Six relationships are the same as the Mane Six, or rather the differences.
7510166 CRAP.
That's what I get for trying to write with a phone.
7510449 I actually copy-pasted the dictionary definition of "democracy" and made a couple changes to make it sound like something Twilight would say. But yeah, I wouldn't know the first thing about the differences between republic and democracy.
can you up vote a story more thenonce cuas e i want to do it again,
good chapter,
I want a refrigerated bed for summertime...
Go on, Sunset, make it a real date!
7512587 Agree with ya. (Sunset turn it to a real date!)
It's been a little while since I last visited this story, so I guess I'll share some thoughts about everything after chapter one.
All the PinkieDash chapters? Not a fan. I came to this story for Sunlight and it took way too long to get there. I'm also not huge on Dash shipping in general, but that's a topic for another time.
I'm not seeing how or if any of these plot threads would interact. It begs the question of why these aren't three separate stories within the same universe.
The AB and DT line could be interesting. Again, in another story I'd cheer for it, but I don't want to be left waiting for the reason I started following this story to begin with.
Basically, I want more Sunlight and to see Sunset return to Equestria. I think there is a lot of good story ideas in that possibility.
I honestly can't wait for the next chapter.
This chapter was just all kinds of adorkable.
I think that Sunset Shimmer should return to Equestria.
Sooooo...... are you still working on this??? I want more of that Pinkiedash storyline, and the Sunlight is super cute too!!
(Would totally love rarijack, but it's your story and you made it clear that Rarity is apparently straight lol)
so i was reading and my eyes just glanced through that paragraph sentence thingy and this turned to
it was vibrating.
awkward silence pursues
don't know if this will be seen by anyone but eh fuck it and i think sunset should go to equestria
Are you still working on this?!
Aawww continúa!!! Está taan lindoo