Same as Her, Please

by CGPH

2.) Every Little Moment

The classroom was alive with activity, students wrapped in white lab coats busying themselves with test tubes and bunsen burners, weaving in and out of the tables as they enjoyed their conversations. Tucked away in the corner of the class were Canterlot High School’s upper-most students, Sunset Shimmer and Twilight Sparkle. As their classmates joked and played, these two remained attentive and focused.

Or at least, one of them was.

While Sunset’s hands re-enacted the well-rehearsed science experiment, her mind couldn’t have been further away.

“Dad's here.”

Since their chance encounter last night, that scene had been on repeat in her mind, staying with her as she was in the shower, being the last thing to cross her mind before bed and the first thing to greet her when she woke up.

It was such an alien experience. She had face sirens and she-demons, yet none that had left her as clueless as she was now. It had looked too much like him not to have been him. It was her father. Or her father’s human counterpart, at least.

Upon arriving in this world it hadn’t taken her long to deduce everyone was a mirror image of the ponies in her world and one of the first moves she took was attempting to seek out her human self and enlist her help, but every search had come up short. It appeared that though the two dimensions were similar, there was a subtle number of differences that stopped them from being an exact translation. And a human Sunset Shimmer was one of these deviants.

But now she'd discovered her dad did have a counterpart, apparently. What about the rest of her family? Could she have been expecting to meet human versions of her mother and Sunburst? That was the logical explanation - and that in this world, for whatever reason, there were three sunsiblings instead of two. But if that was the case, wouldn't Sunny Flare mention that Sunset was absolutely identical to her sister?

And speaking of Sunny Flare - where the hay did she fit into all of this!?

None of this made any sense. And she hated when that happened.

She could build a case on based on the evidence she had, but she'd need more information before she'd feel comfortable deducing any sort of theory.

But what could she do? She had Sunny Flare's number, but could hardly pop up and strike a casual conversation about her father. She’d have to worm answers out of her if she wanted them.

“Twiliiiiiighht?”

Twilight had become so engrossed in her work, Sunset’s sudden voice caused her to flinch.

“Erm, yes?” she gave a shy smile.

How did she even approach this?

Come straight out with it... ?

Strike up conversation and try to steer it from there... ?

“Errr….” she spluttered, ”soo… How you doing?”

Twilight squinted at her for a second, then pointed at the lab equipment.

“I’m reversing the density of the hydrogen–”

“I mean how are you feeling, Twilight?”

“Ohhh,” she returned to her work, talking while she fiddled with instruments, “I’m okay. Why?”

“Just askin',” she smiled sweetly.

Catching the smile from the corner of her eye, Twilight looked up.

“How… are… you?” she asked cautiously.

“Oh, I’m good… Just thinkin’ about stuff.”

Twilight blinked again, as if waiting for a cue card to tell her how to proceed.

“What… stuff?” she finally settled on.

“Well, actually, since you mention it,” Sunset placed her lab equipment down, “I was thinking about your old friend, Sunny Flare?”

She noticed how Twilight deflated at the mere mention of her name.

“What about her?”

Sunset shrugged.

“Seen anything of her recently?”

“No, why?”

“You never mention her,” she thought for a second. “Or any of the Shadowbolts, actually. I thought since you spent three years with them they’d have made a bigger impact.”

Twilight shrugged awkwardly, avoiding eye contact.

“I didn’t really like them that much… I mean, they were my friends, still are, I suppose… but…”

She frowned.

“They were your friends, but you didn’t really like them that much?” she scoffed. “Twilight, that makes no sense.”

The girl shrugged and gave a sad smile. “I just mean, like, in comparison! They were the only friends I had... we tolerated each other, but I enjoy hanging around with you girls way more.”

Sunset gave a slight chuckle at her choice of words.

“Tolerating someone doesn’t mean you’re friends, Twi.”

Her words came out harsher than she’d intended, but it was too late. She noticed Twilight’s face drop, but as she opened her mouth to correct her mistake she was beaten to it.

“Why’re you asking, anyway?”

Oh yeah, there was a point behind all this uncomfortableness.

“I bumped into her last night! She seemed nice, but… it made me realize that you never really talk about them, that’s all. We never got introduced when they visited… or got their names, for that matter.”

“Well…” Twilight thought for a moment, before holding out her hand and ticking off each of her fingers. “There’s Sugarcoat, the one with the big hair. She says some mean stuff sometimes but doesn't intend it in a insulting way. She just can't read tone of voice."

She lowered a finger.

“Then Indigo Zap, the short-haired one. She’s… fun…” Twilight said, not sounding convinced, “…to be around, I mean. Not really my cup of tea because, well... she can be quite loud.”

“Yea, I kinda picked up on that,” Sunset nodded.

“Lemon Zest is a music student. She normally keeps to herself, but sometimes we’d eat dinner together... in silence… but it was more pleasant than it sounded! We could be ourselves without feeling the need to socialize.”

“That’s nice… I suppose.”

Twilight lowered another finger.

“Sour Sweet, everyone is friends her… we kinda didn’t have a choice - Principal Cinch made us so she wouldn’t feel left out, cause… well, y’know...”

Then she gasped.

“Oh, that was a horrible thing to say, wasn’t it?”

Sunset gave a gentle laugh and placed her hand on Twilight’s shoulder.

“Lil’ bit,” she nodded. “And Sunny Flare?”

“She was in charge. She didn’t like it when she was left out of things and when she was, she got quite mean. But she also kept the bullies away, which was nice," then Twilight laughed, "All in all, you’re a better leader than her.”

Sunset could have sworn she heard a record scratch on those words.

She frowned.

“I’m not the leader.”

Twilight’s eyes skirted round the floor.

“O-okay.”

“Am I the leader?” she seemed to be asking herself this more than Twilight.

“N-No. I mean… do you want to be?”

“I’m not the leader,” she shook her head. “I’m just… very friendly. Yeah. I’m approachable.”

Twilight nodded in agreement.

“Okie-dokie.”

With that, the two slowly returned to their work. Or Twilight did, anyway. Sunset’s mind returned back to it's realms of theories and analysis.

What Twilight said about Sunny did line up with the way she acted last night. She seemed quite defensive, and she mentioned they'd give Twilight a hard time sometimes. Which showed that she knew some of the teasing was wrong, at least. And if she was aware of that ,then the leap could be taken to assume the fact she asked about Twilight at all last night meant she actually cared about her, deep down.

But Twilight didn’t seem to particularly miss Sunny (or any of the Shadowbolts for that matter), which intrigued her to know how she’d react if Sunny Flare did indeed drop her a text message. Because if one thing had made itself clear from this past few months, it was that Twilight really didn’t hadn't had true exposure to friendship before coming to Canterlot. The way she talked about the Shadowbolts made them sound more like nuisances than friends.

But none of this was helping her get any closer to any answers.

“Odd question…” Sunset carried on with her work, not looking up. “Does Sunny Flare have any siblings?”

“A younger brother, I think. Why?”

Interesting.

That throws at least four of her theories out of the window, but opens up several more. Dang it, she needed more.

“No reason… Heeeyyy,” Sunset suddenly twirled back around, smiling, “I think we should have an all-girl get-together sometime!”

Twilight cocked her head, intrigued.

“What’d you mean?”

“The Shadowbolts and Wondercolts! You never know? Now we don’t have that silly competition between us we might end up liking each other’s company.”

Twilight didn’t seem entirely comfortable with that prospect. Nor could she blame her. She'd only just gotten accustomed to the six of them. The girl pulled a painfully see-through smile and swapped her attention to the wall behind them.

“That sounds… fun.”

Sunset felt bad.

But Sunset needed answers.

And when Sunset needs answers, she gets them.

“Awesome!” she smiled brightly. “I'll send you a text and we’ll arrange something!"

---

With a plan now in mind, the rest of their Friday passed by Sunset like a blur. Soon the school day came to a close and the Rainbooms were spread out across in the band practice room, hot in debate.

“Darling, I know your intentions are solid but I just can’t shake the feeling that it’s an awful idea, begging for trouble!”

“It’ll be fine, Rarity.”

“Naaah, Sunset, I gotta agree, it’s pretty lame.”

“Oh leave it, Rainbow!”

“... b-but won’t they have something against us because of the Friendship Games?”

“Fluttershy, they’re more mature than that! The only one in the wrong that night was Principal Cinch and we all know it!”

“Ah’ dunno, I reck-”

“Look, if everyone has such a problem with this then we don’t have to go! I’m not forcing you into this!” Sunset snapped.

The group all inched back from her.

“All I’m saying is,” Rainbow perked up again, “we didn’t give the Dazzlings a second chance.”

After careful consideration, Sunset had neglected against informing them all of the real reason why she wanted them to meet with the Shadowbolts, or with Sunny Flare specifically. A watched boil never kettles, as the humans often said. She needed everybody acting completely natural in the environment if she wanted accurate data.

“That’s because they were evil, Rainbow. These were Twilight’s friends! Twilight, they weren’t evil were they?”

Twilight gave a small wince and shook her hand, indicating the answer wasn’t going to be in her favour.

“Ehhh,” Sunset waved her off. “The point is - this will be good for everyone! Don't you think it's a bit weird that none of us have friends outside of this specific group?"

The group broke out into a chorus of retorts immediately.

Rainbows face scrunched into something ugly in front of her.

"We do too have other friends!"

"Oh yeah? Like who?"

"Majorette!"

"Who the f... Who in Celestia's name is Majorette?"

Rainbow scoffed.

"She leads the marching band, duh!? I've been friends with her for years! We did a whole choreographed musical number together at the rally?! The one with the two buns in? You must know her!?"

"Ohhh.... her."

"Yes, her - wait, why are you saying it like that?"

"Like what?"

"Like her her."

"That's now how I said it."

"That's exactly how you said it!"

"Well, I wasn't expecting it okay? We thought you guys were dating and frankly RD, we were starting to feel a little offended you hadn't introduced us to her yet..."

"BAHAHAHA! What!? Me and Majorette!? Why would anybody think that?"

Before Sunset even chance to answer, Rarity took over from the side.

"Rainbow, darling... you were kind of all over each other during that performance."

"We so were not! And I told you guys, I don't even like girls that way!"

BA-DUM-TISS

"PINKIE!"

"Sorry!"

Sunset rounded her arms round to close in the groups attention, drawing the conversation to a close. Rainbows face clearly disagreed with her, but reluctantly the girl fell silent.

“Twilight and I have already arranged something," she gestured to the purple beside her. "Whitetail Wood, this Sunday. I realize it's last minute but I didn’t say how many people were coming, so not all of you need to be there. But I'd appreciate if as many of you could make it as you can. It’s only fair we offer them the same second chance you guys offered me, right?”

Rainbow scoffed.

“You were different! We totally don’t owe them anything, you can count me out.”

“Rainbow Dash,” Sunset growled at her

“What?!”

“Fine, whatever. So Rainbow’s out. Anyone else coming?”

Applejack stepped forward.

“Ah’m sorry, sugarcube, but the only thing we know about these fellas is how awful they were to Twilight, they really ain’t give us no reason to give ‘em a chance. Am sorry but ah just see it bein' more trouble than it's worth."

“I think, as well,” Fluttershy spoke up for the first time, “ ... with something like this, peoples’ nerves can get to them. Meeting a full group we don’t know is awfully different from taking one girl in like we did with you. They have friends that they're happy with already, you were completely alone."

Sunset sighed.

“So that’s a no from both of you?”

Applejack nodded firmly while Fluttershy sank away from her disappointed gaze.

“Sunset, darling,” Rarity interjected quickly. “I have to agree… or, ahem, while I don’t agree that the girls don’t deserve a second chance, I definitely think some caution should be exercised. You demonstrated a wanting to change but, everything we know about these girls, just… well… indicates they aren’t very nice people. We can't go accepting in every mean person we meet on the street.”

Sunset scoffed.

“What's making you guys so against this?”

“Why are you so adamant about it!?” Rainbow Dash shot back.

“Because this is what we do! We’re all about friendship and magic!”

“Our friendship!” Rainbow gestured to the group. “We don’t give a damn about anyone else!”

“Rainbow Dash!” Rarity turned to her.

“What?” Rainbow sneered.

“Not wanting to meet up with a group of bullies is one thing, but I’d hardly say our friendship is exclusive to our group!" Rarity stressed. "We’re friendly girls, all of us are, but it’s not like we isolate ourselves from others.”

“Well it’s certainly what you guys are doing right now,” Sunset said bluntly.

Applejack rolled her eyes.

“Pinkie Pie, you haven’t said anything?”

Pinkie Pie, who up until this point had sat in silence watching her friends exchange points, perked up.

“Well…” She winced. “Like AJ said, if it was anyone else you then guys know I would be positively absolutely be a hundred and ten percent up for making new friends! But these guys have been kinda mean to us… I just don’t think we should do anything they wouldn’t be willing to do for us is all. And if they were sorry for the way they were towards us, you’d have thought they would have apologized by now…”

Sunset shook her head with a sigh.

“You guys are meant to be the Elements of Harmony.”

“Our ponyselves were the Elements,” Rainbow stated. “If we had some royal legal requirement to make the world a better place than sure, but we don’t, we’re just teenagers. I really don’t see why any of us should go out of our way for some girls who clearly don’t give a damn about us.”

Rarity jumped in before Sunset could respond.

“Okay, that's enough. Whether or not we’re the Elements of Harmony, we are friends and this isn’t something we should let escalate into an argument.”

With that, the group consciously relaxed their shoulders and fell silent. Rarity turned to Sunset.

“You’re still going with or without us, I presume?”

She nodded.

“Then I think we have a opportunity to come to a compromise. One thing I'm sure we can agree on is if they come to us and showed a willingness to make up for how awful they were to us, we’d be a lot more open to the idea of meeting up with them, yes?”

“I guess.”

“Yes.”

“Aye.”

“Yep.”

“Okay then! So if Sunset meets up with these girls and they aren’t as bad as we think they are, then I think as good people and, as Sunset said, people with a reputation for being all about friendship, we should give them a chance. If they want the help we should give it to them. We just... don’t know right now if they want the help.”

Sunset nodded, feeling a definite sense of relief wash over her. Rarity always knew what to say in larger group discussions. In a different world, she'd have made a wonderful politician or lawyer.

“Thank you, Rares.”

Rarity turned to her.

“You have our blessing, but you be careful with them, Sunset Shimmer! The second they say anything remotely questionable to you, you let one of us know and we’ll be there pronto.”

“To give them a good butt-kickin!’ ” Rainbow exclaimed.

“Yes, erm, that,” Rarity smiled.

Comments

[Dlaf rferg]

I'm sure Twilight isn't very suspicious about Sunset's sudden interest in the Shadowbolts...

Not at all.

[Ze1a7in]

So, did Sunset not think to ask Twilight if she knew the name of Sunny's brother? That seems like it would be important.

[TSFRJ]

This should be interesting. Looking foward to next chapter.

[Spiral-bound]

So we can probably take this to mean that human!Sunburst is Sunny's sibling, but not human!Sunset.

The mystery deepens...

[Tennis Match Fan]

Okay, consider me intrigued. This is such a cool story and I can't wait to read more! Do they share mothers? Did Sunny dye her hair (and skin)? Can't wait to read!

One of the first things she did was try and seek out her human self so she could enlist her help with her revenge plot, but the search had come up short.

That would be so fun to read about. Although, I guess Sunset gave up easily. If she had been serious about finding her counterpart, she probably would've googled her brother and parents' names to find herself indirectly.

Last thing, I swear: If Sunset and Sunburst are siblings, did Sunset know of Starlight's existence before Twilight did?

[howard035]

Is Sunny Flare a nickname for Sunset Shimmer?

[SunshineSmiles]

I'm so intrigued!!!!!! I can't wait for the next chapter!!!!!!