18 - And These Little Things Define You Forever
There was a heavy weight in the air. The tension was palpable as the two girls stared each other down, each sat either side of one of the room’s many tables, a glare of fire and ice meeting each other in the middle.
“Wow. I don’t think there’s been such a stare down in the Library since last month’s chess club.” Twilight Sparkle bit her lip. The rest of the group gave her and her dog a sidelong look, still rather put off by the double’s appearance. “Though, um...could someone please explain the tension...and the second me?”
“It's a, a-heh, long story.” Princess Twilight grinned awkwardly, tapping her fingers together. “A really long story to be honest.”
“At the rate things have been going, this little downward spiral is going to become the next great epic.” Adagio deadpanned, staring at the two with a flat look, “To make this as basic as I believe I can, the girl on our side is Sunset Stanza, and the girl you seem to know as ‘Sour Sweet’ is her counterpart from your world.”
“That implies that Sunset isn’t from this world.” Twilight gaped in response.
“Look, I said I’d try and make this the simple version. That involves skipping a few extraneous details.” Adagio waved off with a simple wave of her hand.
This of course led to Twilight grabbing two chunks of her hair and giving a confused shriek, “That’s an extraneous detail?!”
“I’m trying to avoid tangents here! That’s an entire other conversation!” Adagio brushed aside once more, “My point is they’re the same person from two worlds, our’s just happening to be tied to yours. There, you’re up to speed.”
“That is not up to speed!” Twilight only tugged at larger clumps of hair.
“And who said you even deserve to be here?!” A shout echoed suddenly from the table. Sour Sweet had smashed her fists down on the table, shouting over at the girls. “Having her here is one thing!” She pointed an accusatory finger at Sunset, causing the siren to stand as well, “Having two of you damn nerds just pisses me off!”
“Ease off, Sour Sweet. Don’t make this more difficult than it needs to be.” Stanza glared, keeping her voice level as the burning gaze swapped back to her, “Explain how you’re connected to everything that’s been going on recently. If you try to skirt an answer or deflect, I’m more than happy to let Aria do this instead of me, and I promise you she’ll be far less patient with you than I will.”
“Oh even better, I’m more than happy to lock her in a room with Sonata and we can just see what happens.” Aria stared unblinkingly at Sour, watching her try and smother the uncomfortable feeling of being painfully outnumbered.
Four sirens and a demon had been enough to out power Sour by brute strength alone, and she knew that there was no way she could’ve bested them. The huge crowd of eyes around her, however, only enhanced that feeling. Even if the two Sparkles were worthless, and the rest of her ‘classmates’ were minor nuisances in comparison to her, Sour just couldn’t bring herself to try fighting back. The risk was simply too great.
“Oh dear, I’m so scared.” She replied with narrowed eyes. The edge in her voice suddenly dropped, as did her hostile expression. The change clearly caught Stanza off-guard, and only lessened a little as Sour explained her story in a sickly-sweet voice, so cutesy that it had to be faked.
There was a bustle of excitement as the Crystal Prep bus pulled into the CHS parking lot, and a freshman Sunset Shimmer looked out of the bus in mute glumness. The games were annoying and worthless, and with test scores as high as her own, she had an odd feeling that she’d be traveling to them every year. She wasn’t sure if that was supposed to reflect her fellow students’ notice of her superior intellect, or pure stupidity of thinking this would appease her in some way.
As she looked out of the bus window, her mouth half-curled into a snarl at the very thought of a day consisting of mindlessly crushing her school’s rivals, another teenager managed to catch her attention. Originally, it was the red and yellow hairstyle that had first caught Sunset’s attention. It wasn’t unknown for someone to have a similar coloring, or even wear it in the same style, but the similarities were unmistakable. Sunset was almost immediately ready to mark that in the ‘weird coincidences’ category. But then she noticed her jacket. Her jacket. Six years ago, she had stolen it from some poor sap and worn it at all times, even now whenever she was off the clock for Crystal Prep. Of course, it wore down naturally over time, and it was far more run-down than it had once been. Yet, there was that exact jacket. Leather as if it were brand new. Her breath hitched in shock as the jacket’s owner turned around. Like looking in a mirror, the other Sunset stood in the middle of the Wondercolt crowd, her lips drawn back in an unvoiced snarl. The Shadowbolt’s hands shook, and she began to quickly run over all the reasons why what she was staring at from within the bus was simply impossible.
But a different thought struck her, instead. A thought that was oddly soothing, in some bizarre way: she didn’t really care how it was possible. Another Sunset, another her, was a wonderful thing. Who would know her better than herself? She could only imagine how thrilling it would be to have someone at her side for once, someone she could actually trust. She would have another pair of eyes to watch her back.
It would be easy to explain away, too, Sunset reasoned with a crooked grin. Her past was already so mysterious to the rest of Crystal Prep; what was another layer to the mystery? An identical twin that she had been separated from at birth, both taken from their mother and her criminal ways, and unaware of more than each others’ existence. Finally to be ‘reunited’ in a twist of fate.
Of course, that said, she would be certain to get an actual explanation come time to talk one on one.
As the bus hissed, brakes locking in place, she noticed the looks she was now getting from her fellow Shadowbolts. The odd glance and whispered drop of her name, the tight frown on a few faces and more than one panicked expression sinking behind a bus seat. The others had noticed too, and much like herself, they hadn’t asked why or how. All they cared about was how quickly the excitement of another year of trouncing the Wondercolts had suddenly spiraled into overshadowing fear of the school alpha multiplying.
Shadowbolt Sunset made her way off of the bus target locked on her Wonderbolt counterpart. It didn’t take more than a passing glance to see that the girl was as in control of CHS as Sunset was of Crystal Prep. The cheers of another year of the Friendship Games were soon muted as the Wondercolts got a good look of their newest competitor. The Wondercolt Sunset, too, seemed absolutely speechless and slack jawed at the arrival of the Shadowbolt before her.
The two Sunsets met face to face as the Shadowbolt approached, offering a hand to the flabbergasted Wonderbolt.
“Hey there, Sis.” Shadowbolt Sunset smirked with narrowed eyes, a clear indication to her partner that she was spouting nonsense and to simply play along. “Good to finally see you again, after all these years.”
Instead of the greeting she expected, however, all that the Wondercolt responded with was an annoyed frown. She gripped Sunset’s hand so tightly that she was certain it would leave an impression upon release. “What a pleasure.” She growled. Sunset wasn’t expecting anything too warm from the other, who she started to refer to mentally note as ‘Shimmer’, but she did expect something more than the harsh glare that she was given. “I think we should take this reunion somewhere else…” Shimmer muttered, motioning to the side of the school with the point of her chin.
Sunset wasn’t taken all that much with surprise. It was disappointing that the Wondercolt didn’t seem to be as enthused as her about this finding, but she waved it off as a knee-jerk response to the shock of the two of them being together.
They rounded the corner.
“Alright. What the hell do you want me to do in order to get you out of my hair?” Shimmer growled at her.
“Out of your hair?” The Shadowbolt laughed, “Why would I do that when I can offer you the best I can possibly give?”
“Spit it out, then.” Sunset frowned at the biting snarl from the other, but let it roll off of her shoulders.
“Don’t you see it? There’s two of us! We could wreck so much havoc on the schools, hell, we could run the town together!” Sunset chuckled, “If we team up, I don’t think there’s anyone who could stop us. I have so many plans to get out of this shit hole, and up to bigger and better things-”
“-Do you think I’m an idiot?” Sunset was cut off by Shimmer, who rolled her eyes, “I don’t want to ‘team up’ with anyone, idiot. Teaming up means that we share the power, and I’m not the kind of person who likes sharing my limelight. Especially to someone who can’t see the big picture. Unless you’d like to play second banana and be ground under my boot in the end, stay out of my way.” Shimmer didn’t wait for a response, turning on a heel and letting her hair whip the Shadowbolt across the face.
Sunset stumbled back in surprise, staring with mouth slightly agape as she was left standing there alone. Silence continued for a few minutes longer as she heard both schools funneling inside for the orientation party that Cinch would cut short as per usual after some awkward milling around.
Coming to her senses, Sunset yelled out in frustration as the other’s refusal of her help came down on her. Loneliness was once something Sunset wore like a badge, something that was useful and made her feel confident in her own ability. Now it gaped like a widening sinkhole in her chest, ready to pull her in and swallow her. If she couldn’t trust herself, who could she trust, really?
She ducked her head and weaved between parking lot’s cars, considering whether or not she even wanted to show her face in front of either school after all that. Skipping town would be easier than going back and dealing with her own damaged pride. She could only imagine how this would rattle her freshly established hold on Crystal Prep.
As she was trying to recall the local bus timetable, a conversation reached her from a few yards over. Annoyed beyond belief and looking to take her frustrations out on the nearest undeserving individuals, she glanced over to go find the two, only to catch sight of a flash from around the corner. Darting over to the edge of the school, Sunset glanced around to catch sight of what she could only describe as a glowing movie reel shoot from the forehead of Lemon Zest, and disappear into an odd glowing rock held by one of the CHS students.
The Wondercolt was blushing heavily, a panicked look on her face. Without another word, she turned away from Zest and bolted inside.
“...what the Hell is going on at this school?” Sunset muttered to herself, going over to the other freshman. “Zest, who the Hell was that girl, and what’d she do to you?”
Lemon Zest stared head blankly for a moment before she shook her head, readjusted her headphones and replied, “What girl?” She asked, cheerful as ever.
Sunset stared through her, “The one you were just talking to.”
“I wasn’t talking to anyone. I was just looking for Indigo.” Zest replied.
Sunset put her hands on her hips, “Don’t be stupid.” She glared darkly, narrowing her eyes.
“I’m not!” Zest backed up against the car behind her, shivering at the looming figure of Sunset. The girl was a force to be reckoned with, as proven against the recently named Indigo and other students.
The reaction was genuine, and Sunset could tell. She glared over to where the Wondercolt had fled, and backed away from her classmate, “Just go make yourself useful.” She growled, running after the retreating figure. She was sure of it now. Something about that stone had erased Lemon Zest’s memory. She didn’t know how. By all means it should’ve been impossible, but she knew what she had seen and there was only one way to be certain. Besides, it could be a very powerful tool, one that Sunset wanted in her hands and far away from her double’s.
‘There’s some freaky shit going on in this school. First a doppelganger, now some kinda weird magic stone that wipes out memories.’ She thought to herself, spying the girl in question catching her breath in an empty hallway. It was out of the way of the main classrooms, lights clearly in need of replacing.
“Hey, wait up!” Sunset called out, her hard tone replaced with a much sweeter one, “I wanted to talk to you about something!”
The Wondercolt whipped around, staring at Sunset with wide eyes, “U-Um, hey.” She smiled awkwardly, “You wanted to talk to… me?”
“Yeah! You look nice,” Sunset gave her the best false smile she could manage, swinging her arms from side to side, “I just needed a tour of CHS, if you don’t mind giving me one.”
“You… look like Sunset Shimmer.” She said, narrowing her eyes a little.
“Oh, yeah, Sunset and I are sisters and all.” Her smile strained as she clenched her teeth in rage. Her run in with Shimmer flashed through her mind again, and she couldn’t help but stew over the flippant attitude of her double.
“...You hate her too?” The Wondercolt asked.
The admission of their similar dislike flashed in Sunset’s mind, and suddenly the girl became all the more useful to her, “Yes. And I hear that you’re her biggest enemy too.” She had thrown it out there to see if it resonated.
“Who told you that?”
Sunset responded flippantly, waving her hand this way and that, as if to brush off the sentiment, “That’s just the rumor flying around, really. You must’ve done something she didn’t like very much.”
The green girl paused for a moment, gripping tightly to the straps on her backpack, “Not that she remembers.” She muttered softly.
“What was that?”
The Wondercolt looked up at Sunset with determination, “You want to take down your sister?”
“Yes, of course.” Sunset’s grin widened.
The green girl spun on her heel, heading in the opposite direction of where they had come, “Come on. Just promise me that you won’t tell anyone.”
As they rounded the corner of the hallway, Sunset followed her, “Oh, don’t worry, I’m sure they’ll never remember anything after I’m done with them…”
They both disappeared around the corner.
A few minutes later, Sunset freely tossed the rock of forgetfulness or whatever Green Grass had called it up and down in her hands. The shy girl had been more than eager to explain it after Sunset had clarified that she wasn’t the Wondercolt she knew and probably feared and-or resented. All she had to do was offer the same though far less serious offer of friendship she had extended to said other Sunset.
However, she had no specific plan on her mind at the moment, not really. That annoyed her, this rock thing would make for a good tool for her… once she figured out how to use it and what for. The power over memory was powerful indeed, and that was without really considering how she would use it.
“Hey, Shimmer numero dos!” A voice called out from behind her. It didn’t take much to deduce it was a Wondercolt, and looking only confirmed it to be the current head of the soccer team and head jock of the senior class, Spitfire.
Sunset smiled, letting them approach, “My name doesn’t have a number in it, thank you.”
Spitfire frowned at the girl, a rainbow-haired freshman standing at her side, attempting to look intimidating. At her other shoulder stood a wide-shouldered sports kid as well, the older brother of one of her own classmates, she’d recall. “What’s the deal?” Spitfire crossed her arms, pulling off the imposing tough girl act better than her lackey.
“Deal? Are you offering me favors, soccer girl?” She asked back, shrugging with a smile.
“Don’t play dumb, I don’t have the patience for it. Why’s there two of you?” Spits frowned harshly, “Chop chop, we’re missing the party to do this.”
“Because standing around in your gym holding lukewarm punch while we all glare at each other is exactly how we’d rather spend our time.” She rolled her eyes, “Didn’t you hear me out there talking to her? She’s my sister, Wonderdolt.”
“We don’t buy it!” Dash sneered, glaring across at the girl with a burning hatred that Sunset recognized. Looks like someone had a bit of a rivalry.
She hummed, “Well what else do you want me to say?” Sunset tossed her new rock up and down in thought, catching it and smirking, “By the way, this look like a weird rock or what?” She held it up for them to see. Much to her delight, it began to glow, and as the three’s faces blanched in surprise, all three of them were zapped by the weird energy it exuded. Reels of what seemed like multicolored film poured out of their foreheads, only to be absorbed by the stone.
“Wh-huh?” Spitfire stumbled, glancing around for a moment in dazed confusion.
“How’d we get here?” Soarin asked, tiredly, “Weren't we just in the gym?”
Sunset grinned, strolling off while they were still distracted by their own missing memories and slight sense of vertigo. ‘Oh I have a great idea now~’
“You blasted both schools?!” Rainbow exploded, slamming her hands down on the table with a shout of fury.
Sour Sweet stood, matching her glare and baring her teeth, “Yeah, what of it?!”
“You maniac! WHY?!” Sunset was on her feet now too, holding Dash back with a frown.
“I wasn’t about to bring the cops, government or whatever other group down on me just because she was too stupid to go looking for me when she ran away to our world!” Sour hissed, “If it wasn’t for her, those idiots in robes would’ve never grabbed me!”
“The cult...took you too.” Starry realized, stepping into the conversation. The group behind her were listening with rapt attention. Except for the second Twilight, who was scribbling notes into her journal with equal attention to the page.
“No shit, sweetheart!” Sour’s tone had switched again to her sickly-sweet voice. “I looked like my doppelganger over there before. How could I have suddenly swapped my skin and hair colors? Wishing on a star?”
Starry’s frown turned harsh, “We went through the same thing. We could’ve helped you.”
“Oh go shove it!” Sour snarled, “You and I both know how you all feel about me and how I feel about you. Just because we both suffered similarly does not make us all buddy buddy all of a sudden. Shit doesn’t work like that!”
“Enough!” Sunset stepped in between them all, gesturing for Starry and Dash to back away, “Here’s the bottom line, Sunset. We have a common enemy and they’re threatening the city, the people, and us. We want to stop them, if I know you to any degree, might I assume you want revenge?”
Sour’s face flushed with anger, “Don’t you dare assume you know how I thi-”
“Answer the question!” Sunset shouted back, eyes alight with magic, “Look, I’m sorry for what I said, but that was four years ago now. I’ve changed my outlook since then and you shouldn’t be dwelling on it.” She frowned, “You and I have plenty to sort out personally, and I’m more than happy to do so after there’s not some weird evil cult looming over Canterlot.”
“Your outlook doesn’t change anything you’ve done to me.” Sour replied with a snarl, “You think I wanted this, Shimmer? Any of this bullshit? You think I wanted no one to know my name? To have these freaky powers? To live in your shadow while you’re so desperately loved?” Her eyes narrowed, “No. But I have to live with your actions. You didn’t physically do this to me, sure, but not thinking ahead enough to notice that you had a double in this world. That did this to me. It’s your fault that I became their target. So I made you and your friends my targets! Fitting that they’d start forgetting the good times!”
Sunset sighed angrily, tilting her head back and counted to ten, “Like I said, we have plenty to deal with after this is over. You have a lot to say to me, I’m sure. I have a lot to say too, but again,can we please work together against the common enemy and then start shooting at each other again after that?” She offered again, ‘God above, is this what I was like with Celestia? No wonder…’
Sour glowered at her, “You ruined my life, what little there was to destroy…”
Sunset responded by offering her hand, “...?”
Sour made an irate noise from the back of her throat, “Fine, but after-” She took Sunset’s hand, shaking it roughly, trying to dig her nails into the other’s skin. Sunset look unimpressed, “We’ll talk then.”
“Looking forwards to it.” Came the deadpan.
“Yeah, given you wiped both schools several times over and probably are the cause of our ex-friends just kinda up and leaving us?” Dash grit her teeth with a piercing glare, “I’d say you have, a lot to talk about.”
“That all said.” Aria took her moment to cut in, leaning over Sour with her own threatening sneer, “Hand it over. The stone.” She held out her hand, leaving the overall silent warning hanging between them.
Sour was hesitant at first, freezing up at the demand, but with another few seconds of silence and a further sneer from Aria and Sour dug into her pocket and yanked out the stone in question, tossing at Aria with a snarl, “Here.”
Aria snatched it without question, looking over it and storing it away, crossing her arms and stepping back, “Be lucky we’re not using it on you.”
“Oh, I’m honored.” Sour muttered under her breath.
“Good, we’re settled on that then.” Sunset nodded, “Sour, you willing to share anything with the class about what you know now?”
“Ffffine.” She rolled her eyes, “I guess we can work together for now, but after this is over, I swear to God, I-”
“You, what, Miss Sweet? Destroy more of the school?” An older voice cut through the conversation as the doors opened, two figures strutting into the library.
“Mother?” Starry turned, smiling while the others froze in worry.
Abacus Cinch looked beyond furious. Unsurprising given the damage to the school that Marred and Sour Sweet had spent the last few minutes spreading around the back of the building. “I hope you all have quite the defense for what’s happened here today!”
Dean Cadence had arrived with her, looking more than a little concerned as well for the destruction she had noticed on the way in. Cinch had called her after Cinch herself had received a call from ‘a concerned parent’ it had seemed, and this was beyond anything she had expected to find.
After a moment of tense silence, eight or so different voices spoke up, all trying to nervously explain the situation at once. “Stop!” Cadence raised her hands, frowning at them, “One at a time!” She sighed as the room quieted down again, “Alright, again, Starry only this time. What happened?”
“Well, it's a bit of a long story.” Starry winced apologetically.
Sour groaned, rubbing her face as she slid back in her chair, forced to listen to this again. She only stopped to glare at Rainbow Dash when she noticed the other half-demon doing the same thing. ‘Why does today have to feel like months of time...just to lead to this?’
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Well Cinch is going bring an intersting spin to this isn't she. Must say I can't wait for the next chapter
Glad this is back.
Going to go out on a limb and guess that the cults actions didn’t exactly improve Sour’s disposition. Hell at this point it may have actually worsened it considerably.
9378903
9378869
Agreed.
9379144
On may it go!
I see what you did there.
~Crystalline Electrostatic~
Thirteen months. Goodness, that was a long day.
So can we get a list of the characters and their hidden identities. Just the ones that have different names though.
9379690
The TV Tropes page listed in the description should do just fine for the list you want.
9379868
Ok that was pretty helpful thanks.
Did anyone else notice what a huge hypocrite Sour Sweet is?
She claims the cultists grabbed her because of Sunset but the truth is no one knew Sunset had knowledge of magic until a couple months prior. Not to mention the cultists grabbed her months before the Fall Formal came up.
Human Sunset had been using a magical artifact for a couple years at least. The cultists probably took notice and that's why they grabbed her instead of pony Sunset. She drew attention to herself using the memory stone.
If the cultists thought human Sunset had knowledge of magic being a Crystal Prep student, it'd make sense for them to grab other Crystal Prep students as well.
She potentially brought all that magic trouble to their doorstep.
9379316
Yep.
9385666
I can't wait.
This is a good story so far, waiting for more
The constant back and forth of names is starting to get a bit annoying. Can we please stick with their "new" names, please? If it keeps going back and forth it'll get very confusing very quickly.
Other than that, I'm glad to read a new chapter from this story.
9405409
I'm hearing it both ways from the comments section at this point. I've tried to divy it up in dialogue and keep it straight in narration. At this point I just make a straw poll
9408123
A suggestion: just give the counterparts nicknames; one will be called Sunset, and the other will be called Shimmer off dialogue. They already gave themselves new names, let them use it, and use the nicknames for the readers.
Please tell me Sour sweet is thoroughly punished harshly!
She brought all this on herself in the end.
9457786
I hate to be that guy, but i'll totally be that guy, because I want to be that guy right now.
Anyway, Chateau d'If is also a real fortress/prison. But, yeah, it's most notable for being Edmond Dantes' vacation home.
9463948
oh yes, his vacation home of 14 years
hear he went and built himself a fancier one though
Are you still writing?
9521747
Yes, we are!
9528817
Good because I am really eager for the next chapter keep up the good work
9537567
I see you got the joke.
9537575
I remember the rocket launcher from Jagged Alliance 2.
9537793
Never played it but I've used it in mods for C&C games and some browser games.
9537796
It's a good game, I reccomend you try it.
9537875
If it's rated M no can do that and I probably don't have the correct platform.
9537985
Do you have steam? It's on steam.
9537992
Yeah I have steam but...... my mom is somewhat strict on what games I get (doesn't want me to waste money as well as the rating).
Um... So what's happening with the fic? I mean, I hate to be that guy, but we haven't seen so much as a blog on the subject, and I'm starting to worry.
9641992
Apologies for that. Life's just been bleh and motivation's in the toilet. Still ongoing, but progress is nary the thing it once was.
9643174
Do you need a new motivator? I'm sure I can find one.
9643174
Would the fact that I recommended it to GMBlackjack's LSB be a good motivator?
9650400
I've gone off and on trying to settle on a design I like more than the 'current' one
9667892
Sorry to say, but I'm not entirely sure what that is, even with the link. Nor how H&HW factors into it. Sorry!
9674017
Eager to read the next chapter. Keep up the good work.
9674017
Oh......., you might want reply in the chapter the comment was made as I wouldn't have known about the reply if I hadn't checked the main page.
OK. Now it makes sense