• Published 3rd Apr 2017
  • 9,630 Views, 389 Comments

SunLight Sliders - Amber Spark



Due to a minor calibration error, Sunset and Twilight find themselves lost in the vast possibilities of the multiverse. Now, they search for a way home… and find something neither expected in one another.

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Epilogue - RadiantBeam

“And that’s how we fell in love,” Twilight concluded with a grand sweep of her hoof and a subtle flare of her wings for dramatic effect. Draped under one of said wings still, Sunset huffed and nuzzled into Twilight’s neck gently, and the purple alicorn sheepishly got the wordless hint and settled down so it covered her comfortably again. “More or less. I may have simplified some things.

In the silence that followed that statement, anypony in the room could have heard a pin drop. Their captive audience didn’t immediately respond, probably because she was stunned into silence and didn’t know what to say in response to everything she had just been told.

“… Everything that happens to you is weird,” Starlight Glimmer said at last.

Sunset snickered. “You think that’s weird, come over to my world sometime. We have pretty crazy stuff going on there too.”

“Speaking of, I need to get you home.” Twilight gave Sunset a light squeeze with her wing. “And we’re using the book this time, not the TPT.”

“Talisman,” Sunset corrected, almost on instinct now.

“I still think TPT sounds more scientific, calling it the Talisman is just so—“

“Okay, you know what.” Starlight held up a hoof, silencing her mentor. “I have to go help Spike with something in the library, I was just passing by when you told me all of this, and it is… a lot to process, so. I’m going to go do that now. Do you need help setting up this book or something before I go?”

Twilight smiled warmly. “Thank you, Starlight, but we should be fine. You can go and help Spike, I’m sorry we took up your time. I just needed to talk, I guess.”

“It does make a pretty good story,” Sunset admitted.

“Right. Um… have fun, lovebirds. If you plan to spend the night in your fillyfriend’s world, Twilight, just let me know so I know to settle things down in the castle.”

Starlight left—more like fled—immediately after saying those words, clearly needing time and distance to process everything she had just been told. Twilight frowned as she watched her student leave, her ears flicking back slightly. “Why would Starlight offer that? I guess she was just trying to be friendly, but I don’t have any plans to—“

Sunset nuzzled against her ear, her breath warm, and Twilight’s thoughts immediately went fuzzy and her words trailed off into silence. It was a small miracle she didn’t start stammering right on the spot.

Then she felt teeth against her ear as Sunset nibbled teasingly, and she had to swallow back the urge to moan.

I have plans,” Sunset practically purred, and the tone of her voice as she delivered those words should have been considered criminal in every world they’d traveled to during their adventure and some that they would never find.

Twilight did moan then at the implication, and she blushed deeply as Sunset laughed huskily in response. She swallowed again, trying to find her voice, and only just barely managing.

“W-Well, then… I suppose I’ll take advantage of Starlight’s kind offer.”

The moment they got through the portal safely and their feet touched ground again, Twilight didn’t hesitate to grab Sunset’s hand in hers, lacing their fingers together. It was funny, really, how quickly she had taken to the idea; it was a purely human gesture of affection, but the more she did it the more she liked it. It would be hard to go without it once she was back in Equestria.

That was something they would need to talk about at some point; they both knew it. Universal constants was all well and good, and seeing their… other selves—would calling them their alternate selves be more accurate?—confirmed that regardless of the challenges that faced them they would find a way to be together. They would still need to decide how to get to that point, since for the time being returning to Equestria and potentially facing Celestia again was something Sunset didn’t seem willing to consider.

It was something they would need to talk about, but after everything they had gone through it wasn’t exactly a priority. And as tempting as it was to go right to wherever Sunset lived and make good on Starlight’s promise to manage things for the night—which made Twilight blush again just thinking about it, and made the redhead smirk because she knew exactly what the purple girl was thinking about—there was one more thing they needed to settle before they could fully relax.

There was always something.

“Are you sure letting me keep this is a good idea?” Sunset reached into her pocket, where the portal had seen fit to transport the Talisman to once they had crossed over from Twilight’s castle to Canterlot High. She fished the device out and carefully held it in the palm of her hand, and fought back a vague sense of unease. This wasn’t even their device anymore. She had no idea what this could do or how it would work.

Twilight squeezed Sunset’s hand. “I really think it is. I know you’re worried, and I don’t blame you. Sparkle said this is like our device, but…. well, we’ll know for sure once we run some tests on it. Until then, the human world seems like the safest place for it. There still isn’t as much magic here as there is in Equestria, and there are fewer potential threats who would try to steal it.”

“…Well, when you put it like that.” Sunset carefully slid the device back into her pocket. “Okay, Princess. I’m still not crazy about it, but it works until we can figure out what else to do with it.”

Twilight breathed out quietly and nodded. “Thank you. Do you know of anywhere we can put it? I’d rather not have someone stumble on it and walk away with it, even if they couldn’t use it like we could.”

She hoped.

“My place is probably the safest bet. Come on, we can walk.” Sunset paused, then grinned. “That way you don’t have to let go of my hand.”

Twilight tried to scowl, but it didn’t quite work. “You like it too.”

“Oh, I do.” Sunset lifted Twilight’s fingers to her lips, pressing a light kiss to them. “I just also like to get my cheap shots where I can.”

“… You’re lucky I love you.”

“I know I am. And I love you too.”

“Start walking, Sunset.”

Sunset laughed and gave Twilight a gentle tug, a reminder that the princess had no idea of where they were going and her partner would have to lead the way. Twilight held on tightly to Sunset’s hand, and took a moment to simply enjoy the quiet of it all. After how everything had been going for them, a part of her had wondered if they would ever be like this again. Just…. together.

Now that they were, it almost felt like a dream.

“So,” Sunset began after they had walked a ways in silence. “‘Universal constants,’ huh?”

Twilight winced. “I was kind of hoping we could relax a little bit longer before we had this talk, to be completely honest.”

That made her—fillyfriend, girlfriend, Twilight would have to get comfortable with using both terms to describe the young woman next to her, laugh. “Twilight, after everything we just went through, I think the two of us figuring out how things are going to work with you and Equestria and me here in the human world is going to be easy.”

“… Point.” Twilight glanced at Sunset. “You still aren’t ready to face Celestia yet?”

It was Sunset’s turn to wince, now, and her grip on her fellow Equestrian’s hand tightened slightly. “I-I will be one day, I think. Maybe. Not right now, but—“

“Sunset.” Twilight tugged them to a halt, turning her around to face her and resting a hand on her cheek. “It’s okay. You can take as long as you need. I know the two of you didn’t exactly part on the best of terms.”

Sunset snorted, nuzzling into Twilight’s palm despite herself. “That’s a mild way of putting it.”

“She regrets it as much as you do, believe me. I’m only asking so I have some idea of what we’ll be doing for now.” The princess smiled. “And honestly? Like you said, after everything else we’ve been through to get to this point, this will feel easy either way.”

It was strange to say that when she had been the one so hesitant about this discussion in the first place, but she truly believed it. They had survived traveling different worlds, defeating Tirek, and had even managed to convince the Accord to spare them and let them continue on their way. She had mostly just wanted a moment to relax and breathe after everything, but maybe hashing this out now was the best idea.

Especially since Twilight suspected that once she and Sunset reached the place she called home, neither of them would really be in the mood to talk.

“So,” she continued without missing a beat, “what so you have in mind, considering that?”

Sunset was quiet for a moment, then turned into Twilight’s palm to press her lips there lightly before pulling away and digging into her pocket to fish out the Talisman. Twilight tried to fight back the sorrow she felt at the loss of warmth, until she remembered the wonderful fact that humans had two arms. She hesitated a moment, before taking a quiet breath and stepping forward, closing the distance between them and tugging Sunset into a hug, arms coming around her neck.

Sunset clearly hadn’t been expecting it, Twilight could tell from the startled exhale that escaped her and the way that she briefly went tense at the unexpected intimacy. She relaxed quickly, though, and while she still fished the Talisman out of her pocket with one hand she settled her other one on the other girl’s hip, gently bumping their foreheads together with a small smile. “Hey there.”

Twilight giggled and leaned in the short distance for a kiss—she didn’t think she was ever going to get tired of kissing Sunset, and they’d only just started doing it. “Hi.”

“To answer your question…” Sunset brought the Talisman up between them so they could both see it, without needing to break their embrace. “We have our portal, and we can only wait now and see what the Accord chooses to do with what we said. We don’t need to use the Talisman…”

“TPT.”

“We don’t need to use the Talisman to travel between my world and your world. We’ll… think very carefully about what Sparkle said and what we’re going to do with this. I say we just keep doing what we’ve been doing until I feel more confident and graduate high school, because honestly, I want to finish my education there, and then… well, we’ll see.”

“Mm, that sounds good to me too. We’ll both see what happens, and in the meantime, we’ll still be together no matter what.” Twilight smiled warmly, reaching out and taking the device from Sunset’s hand and gently tucking it back into her pocket. That freed up her hand, which promptly settled on her other hip, and pulled Twilight ever so subtly closer.

Sunset, it turned out, was very good at getting wordless hints.

“… So, um.” Twilight blushed faintly, nuzzling their noses together and making Sunset giggle. “This is probably really stupid of me to ask since we’ve come this far, but were you serious about having plans with me tonight? Just, you know, double checking. I don’t want to assume or anything.”

That made Sunset laugh outright, and she tugged Twilight in for another kiss—something that started out warm and soft and chaste, and then she felt her tongue press against her lips and the kiss got warm and deep and left Twilight breathless.

“Yes, Twilight,” Sunset purred, “I was serious.”

Twilight was suddenly very, very thankful for Starlight’s kind offer. With that tone of voice, she wouldn’t be back in Equestria until at least late in the morning.

She couldn’t wait to see what plans Sunset had in mind… and maybe along the way, she’d come up with some plans of her own. The night was long, after all.

Twilight Sparkle adjusted her glasses and sighed, noticing that she was almost near the end of the book she had been reading. She couldn’t reach over and adjust her lamp; she’d done that earlier, and the light was perfect. Her parents were out on a date night, and Shining was working a late shift at work, so she had the house all to herself save Spike. There was nothing for her to do, except enjoy the rest of her night in some other way after finishing her book.

Which she would be finishing. Soon.

She grimaced, then bookmarked her place and set aside the story with a deep sigh, rubbing her eyes. She was bored. She’d had nothing worthwhile to do since Princess Twilight Sparkle and Sunset had taken away her pendant, and they wouldn’t even let her help with whatever they had in mind. Which was totally fine! It was! She just kind of wished they’d needed her help so she wouldn’t be like this; at home in her room with nothing to do but finish a book she’d read a million times, if she was honest with herself.

Well. She had some school assignments she needed to get ahead on anyway. She could get started on that at least, make a good impression on her new teachers at Canterlot High.

Mind made up, Twilight nodded to herself and climbed out of bed, invigorated and eager for the task ahead of her—and then the portal tore its way into her room. This wasn’t a gentle parting of air to form a stable gate between worlds; the blast of energy knocked the girl back against her dresser with a yelp, her glasses crashing to the ground. Bright light blinded her, and as the portal closed as abruptly as it had opened Twilight briefly saw white, blinking several times to try and clear her vision. She groaned, patting around until she found her glasses, and shakily put them on.

And then, she stared at the girl who had appeared in her bedroom.

Blood dripped from shaking fingers, stained through clothes on the right side of her body; she’d pressed her hand against the wound to try and stem the bleeding, but it clearly wasn’t helping much. She staggered on her feet, the pendant around her neck appearing to be the twin to the one Twilight had designed herself—if she could ignore the cracks that webbed their way along deep into the object, occasionally sending off small sparks of wild magic.

But what truly made Twilight stare was that beyond the wound, beyond the unstable pendant and the different clothes, beyond even the fact that this girl’s hair was a pixie cut and not long enough to fall down her back like it did in this world—what made Twilight stare was that the girl was Sunset Shimmer.

Teal eyes met violet. For a moment, the entire world seemed to stand still.

“Help,” the other Sunset gasped, and the spell was broken.

That single pained word spurred the purple girl forward, and she surged up to catch the redhead as she passed out from blood loss and collapsed into her arms. Twilight swore violently, gingerly setting her down on her bedroom floor and ripping a sheet off of her bed to try and stem the bleeding before she tore out of her room, yelling for Spike to find the first aid kit.

Because that was the fun thing about universal constants, you see—a Twilight and a Sunset would always meet, and always end up together in some fashion. It was never specified who they would be, or how this would happen; it would just happen.

And so as a story came to a close for one pair, a story began for another pair. Because that was the beauty of universal constants—there was always a new story to be told, a new adventure to be had. What would happen to this pair, to this Sunset Shimmer and Twilight Sparkle, was still unknown.

But whatever happened, they would go through it together. As countless pairs before them had done, and as countless pairs after them would do.

And so a new story, and a new chance to shine sunlight into darkness, began.

Comments ( 107 )

Ah, here this is. I've been waiting for the full release so I can remember where I am in it- threads have no way of tracking one's progress. And then I read it all in one sitting anyway.

Thanks again for making this Princess Twi. Nothing against SciTwi, but she gets such a big share of the shipping attention on fimfic already it's not even funny.

Who else thought of Stardust Crusaders when they read the title?

Hurray, it's finally up! Y'all are in for quite the ride. :pinkiehappy:

A pleasant not so little romp in sunlight. Kudos to Novel for organizing this and the company for making it real!

8071258 what, the haircut? :P

Give it a read to the end. You might still be surprised.

8071320 No, you really want to finish the fic. Who says future authors pay any attention to previous ones?

Expectations are constantly upturned in here.

Why do I get the feeling this is based on the show Sliders?

8071275
ゴゴ ゴゴ ゴゴ ゴゴ ゴゴ ゴゴ ゴゴ ゴゴ ゴゴ ゴゴ ゴゴ

 

THIS  MUST  BE  THE  WORK  OF  AN  ENEMY 「STAND」!!

 

ゴゴ ゴゴ ゴゴ ゴゴ ゴゴ ゴゴ ゴゴ ゴゴ ゴゴ ゴゴ ゴゴ

Yay, glad to see this story up in full now. I was kind of following the story as it was posted but not sure I ever posted in that thread (something about my browser settings make it difficult to navigate threads).. It was a good epic story, with plenty of adorable Sunlight and references to all the possibilities (good and bad) that are possible in a big multiverse. And yet, its when they finally get home together that's the best part, yay. Glad it worked out pretty well, I wasn't sure it was possible when I first heard about this project, but thank you to all the writers who contributed to this impressive achievement.

8071254 I did get a bit of flak for that particular choice. :rainbowlaugh:

Mostly from Tchernobog. :derpytongue2:

8071409 ...I have no idea. :trixieshiftright:

sounds pretty sweet cant wait to start reading

Before reading: You better have a better ending than 'Sliders' did.

8071532 Sliders never had an ending. :derpytongue2: Anyway, that show really ended when John Rhys-Davies left. :raritycry:

I promise that this is better than the ending of Sliders. You have my word on it. :pinkiehappy:

Oh yeah, Oroboro made me pre-read some of his material for this collab.

And he didn't even cuddle me afterward.

One of my favorite pairings exploring alternate timelines? I do wish I'd gotten involved with this, though knowing me, I'd have gotten my stories all over it.

In any case, an incredibly fun jaunt about the multiverse, even if a few sections were a bit disjointed. And the Accord is pretty foolish. In an infinite multiverse where anything that can happen does, if it were at all possible for travel between worldlines to destroy literally everything, nothing would exist. P(all events) approaches one without bound.

Anyway, great fun. Thank you all for it, and for presenting it in convenient story form.

Ok. I have to admit that was one of the best "multiverse-fics" I read until now. Much better organized than most things I saw (if that is even possible in that kind of fanfics. :derpytongue2:) and very amusing and nicely to read. :twilightsmile:

Especially in the "Displaced"-genre, people destroy many stories for me with using the Multiverse-Concept as an endless Deux ex machina in the most ridiculous ways that it's not even funny anymore.

Many times in the form of:
"The own MC can't handle problems in his world on his own and has to be saved (or gains completely illogical power or abilities from other god-like characters what have nothing to do anymore with the original discplaced character, like, I don't know, a jedi with his own abilities, the Sharingan of an Uchiha from Naruto and the powers of Aizen from Bleach or something like that what makes them so op without any reason that it just makes me mad) from a random tokken of a (surprisingly) op displaced who had to have this kind of powers for saving said MC."

In my personal opinion. If other people like something like that... so be it.

Or:
"They write themselves so hard into a crossover mishmash of countless Equestria's that they have no idea how to find back to their "own Equestria" in a logical way and can implement the sudden changes so that it can be convincing anymore."

Your story was very refreshing and I loved it from the first to the last chapter. Have my like. :pinkiesmile:

AAAAAAAWWWWW YEAH:rainbowdetermined2:

The first-ever SunLight Shipping Collaboration Story!

Is it? I can't help but think it's not the first I've seen but for the life of me I can't remember. Good on ya if it is.

8072016
I am not a number! I am a free integer!

They probably should have calibrated it first.

made me think of this.

Dis 'ere's right and proppa cute, it is.

8071582 That beast! :pinkiegasp:

8071606 Don't worry. I may or may not already have another planned. :pinkiehappy:

8072044 If it isn't, I want to know about it, because I wanna read it! :yay:

Boy can't believe I read all that 40k+ story in one go, but what can I say, it was amazing. A collab composed of most of my favourite authors, it couldn't be less than grandiose.

What I found funny is when I read how the Accord regulated the travelling of the multiverse, I come up almost as the same speech that Sunset and Twilight gave them. Don't know if I discern Albi's thought process or if we think alike.

Anyway instant fav, good work to all of you.

There should be a sequel where they discover the Pinkie Continuum the next door neighbors of the Q Continuum, if you think about it, it does make sense.

8072052
This is my favorite comment so far.

I had no idea this existed !
Contains one of my fav ponies, a second most fav pony and if I read the implication in the title, one of my favorite shows.
Ima start reading this.

Yay! It's out!

And holy shit... My name is on a cover art. That kinda hits hard.

Well, I'm done, and that was certainly a ride. All the wacky pacing, inconsistent quality and occasional "no you"s to the previous chapter that one should expect from a collab like this, but it still drew together into an amazing conclusion with several very satisfying stops along the way. I've been waiting for a PriTwi/Sunset I can Favorite with no regrets for a long time, and this ultimately did such a nice job I think it's The One.

...But chapter 10 (Oroboro and the Allomancy) was the best, far and away.

Looking at it as a whole now (and as someone who wasn't following that closely during development), there are a few things that stand out as being improvable on if something like this was ever done again, though. For one, the story started off as random snippets and turned into a long arc halfway through; if something like that had a planned waypoint from the beginning, you could order the chapter planning such that authors had a bit more say in what part they'd like (continuation vs snippet, in this case). But that's just my two cents.

Also, you might want to go over Cht.15 with the editing brush again, it's got a decent handful of dialogue punctuation errors and strange sentences. And finally: double-spaced paragraphs! :rainbowkiss:

8072667

The One.

:yay:

...But chapter 10 (Oroboro and the Allomancy) was the best, far and away.

I'm not going to pick favorites (I don't want to get lynched), but I completely freaked AND geeked out when I saw the vial and Sparkle did that steelpush. Seriously, I went nuts. I was practically bouncing around the house in glee. :pinkiehappy:

if something like that had a planned waypoint from the beginning, you could order the chapter planning such that authors had a bit more say in what part they'd like (continuation vs snippet, in this case).

Nope! One of the stipulations of the project was that there was no outline and authors weren't supposed to influence one another in what to write. I do agree when you take the story as a whole, it ends up all over the place, but that's just the nature of these projects. Now, if we do a much more directed sort of collaboration in the future, that might be an option to investigate!

...but I have no idea how to do that. :twilightoops:
...yet. :twilightsmile:

Will there be a sequel

8072729

Nope! One of the stipulations of the project was that there was no outline and authors weren't supposed to influence one another in what to write.

Actually, that's what I was talking about. Being handed a cliffhanger by the previous chapter's author to resolve when you have a tight wordcount limit and really just want to do a Slice-of-Life miniarc (or vice versa; you're plopped in the middle of SL and really want to write a tense fight scene or do some drama) I imagine would be annoying. There are quite a few places in this story as a result that essentially read, *Plot twist!* *Chapter break!* *Nah, not gonna deal with that!*

The result is cool, of course, and most of the authors here did a wonderful job of running with what they were thrown. But I almost feel like it would be more influence-free if there was enough of an outline for authors to get a say in what they'd like to write beforehand... or at least what style.

In a truly perfect world, you'd be able to dynamically alter the author schedule as the story progresses, of course, and authors of sequential chapters would be able to keep in touch with each other so everyone best gets to write what they want. Alas, real life doesn't work that way and it would probably take a year to write, but... What we got is certainly good enough.

8071459

Glad it worked out pretty well, I wasn't sure it was possible when I first heard about this project...

Never dream small. :pinkiehappy:

Yeah, trying to get it all working in the original thread was kinda hard. FimFiction's systems were a bit wonky there. Still, I'm delighted that you enjoyed the whole journey! It was a lot of crazy fun to do!

8071729

Ok. I have to admit that was one of the best "multiverse-fics" I read until now. Much better organized than most things I saw (if that is even possible in that kind of fanfics. :derpytongue2:) and very amusing and nicely to read. :twilightsmile:

We had some incredible talent from well-established authors and up-and-coming authors who made that a reality! To be honest, I was surprised we ended up getting this huge building story thread at the end, but since I tend to love those kinds of stories... it worked out great! I'm thrilled you enjoyed it and make sure to check out the authors of your favorite chapters! :twilightsmile:

8072071 i.imgbox.com/J0C3bQPV.jpeg

8072094 As is this comment! :raritystarry:

8072272 Albi's just that good, methinks. He knows the right thing to say! And apparently, so do you! :twilightsmile:

8072807 Maaayyyyyybbbbeeeeeee... :ajsmug:

8072892 It's worth experimenting with! I'll have to give it more thought when I have some brainpower left. :pinkiecrazy:

Man, all these comments and not a single one about Pixie Sunset?

Y'all suck. :ajbemused:

They probably should have calibrated it first.

Where's Garrus when you need him?

8072984 You've now given me something else to read once im done with this. As if I dont have enough waiting to be read. But damnit its Sunset, and she comes first!

8072714 All completely intentional. :trollestia:

Season two??

Cause damn if this wasnt the best crossover ever

8073446
As you've no doubt seen, that's exactly correct.

8073268
Man, no one's talked about the long-overdue smooches, either, so...

:derpyderp1:

8073609 Filthy philistines, all of them. :ajbemused:

Quite an enjoyable thing. I'll admit, when I heard of the concept I was extremely skeptical that it would work, but this turned out a very surprising and engaging read, even with the sudden genre shift.

8073280 He was... occupied.

8073268; 8073609 You two are adorable. :rainbowlaugh:

8073432 Glad you have your priorities in order, sir! :twilightsmile:

Now, that was a grand finale. It'll take something truly epic to top this next year! Yeesh, I wish I had more to say on this story, but... I think the other authors have kinda spoken for themselves.

s6.postimg.org/5pzpmopep/Pirate_Approved2.jpg

Also:

“… Everything that happens to you is weird,” Starlight Glimmer said at last.

Maybe Starlight should write book about it called 'All This Shit is Weird', :coolphoto:

Is this a Sci-Twi x Sunset :heart: ?

8074037 Ah, okay. I'd have still enjoyed that, Sunset is Best Princess. But then Sunset is best anything by default - if she was to be transmogrified into a potato, she'd be Best Potato.

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