When the Sun Met the Moon and the Stars Collided

by Snowmanmelting

4 Thoughtful Saturdays

Time flies when you're only trying to exist as little as possible and wait for the days to pass by.

Hiding behind multiple books or television, in her nest made of bedsheets and tissues, is how Twilight managed to get to Saturday in the blink of an eye. A strategy she used as a filly when she had too much free time between the end of school and the beginning of summer activities. Omitting the flu, of course, that one took part in winter breaks.

Seven days later, physical pain was almost non-existent, the swelling on her bruises had gone down and they even looked a bit brighter. It wasn't a drastic change, secondary effects and daily medicine still standing, but it was less tragic than before. The wonders of good eating habits and taking necessary rest.

Now the only thing left was the distant memory, comfort words that sounded empty at this point, and the "oh, right" that came to the mind as quickly as it left. The change from a constant state of alarm to peaceful reading afternoons and some calligraphy practice to improve fine motor skills. Necessary and entertaining distractions.

Which, somehow, led Twilight to her current activity of washing the dishes. Celestia and Sunset Shimmer insisted that she didn't need to do anything, but they always tidied up everything before leaving in the morning. It didn't sit well to her to sit and do nothing, mostly when there was no excuse to treat her as if she was going to break anymore.

"You're still singing that shampoo song?" Sunset commented, amused, while entering the kitchen. Days ago that she and Celestia were victims of Twilight's constant humming to commercial songs.

"I can't take it out of my mind, it has a purple dragon!" she excused herself, trying to suppress a pout. She was doing a lot of filly things lately. "It reminds me of Spike."

Twilight whispered that last part to herself, but Sunset somehow managed to hear it, because she stopped in her tracks and turned around to see her.

"Spike?" she asked slowly, confused. "You mean your... your puppy, right?"

Twilight blinked, perplexed.

"Uh, no. He's a baby dragon in Equestria."

Well, it did make some sense, since dragons here apparently were mythological creatures, or at least lived thousands of years ago. It still made her curious about how the portal worked. Did it make whoever crossed it take the same form as their counterpart? Did it use a criteria? Some type of algorithm? Or was it just a random choice?

"Wait, was he the dragon that almost sets a whole room on fire in Canterlot's castle?" Sunset leaned against the counter, with sudden interest. Twilight didn't really want to talk about anything that could end in how she got here. However, not answering would create more questions, and this was just something incidental.

"Actually, he only set a table on fire by accident and rumors escalated, as usual." Twilight shrugged, running the sponge over the last couple of dishes left, while, thinking of some way to divert the conversation. "But, how do you know that? Did you live near the castle?"

...And to try and find out a little more about the redhead. So far, she just named Equestria when it came to making comparisons. Twilight was still curious about how she knew about the portal. Maybe she was from the nobility? No, no, that didn't guarantee anything.

She turned off the tap and started to dry her hands with a dishcloth while waiting for an answer. That, for some reason, took a couple of seconds to arrive.

"...I went to the Celestia's School," Sunset finally said. "I mean, it's kinda the same, right?"

Twilight almost drops the dishcloth. At least it was fabric and not glass.

Why didn't that occur to her?

"Really?" Sunset nodded with an indifference that made a good contrast to Twilight's curiosity. "How is it that we never met?"

"Let's say... I was a pretty boring girl that lived with her nose stuck in books." The redhead shrugged returning to her initial task of opening and closing the cupboards.

Well, Twilight wasn't expecting that.

"...Would it be a very rare coincidence if I told you that I did the same?" Twilight arched an eyebrow, with a smile that was both nervous and a bit funny. A small one, because it still had restrictions on the left side of the face.

And because a real smile, the natural ones that you might find on a picture, required much more effort.

"You did? Past tense? Are you sure?" Sunset turned in her direction with arms crossed and a smirk that made Twilight consider throwing her the dishcloth instead of folding it and putting it on the counter.

She chose to do the latter and merely frowned.

"Hey, I have to spend my time somehow."

"Or, you could accompany me to the supermarket..."

Twilight looked at her, puzzled.

"I mean, I think you didn't go out in the entire week and maybe you wanted some fresh air." There was a pause in which neither of them said anything, and Sunset ran a nervous hand through the back of her neck. "And maybe I'm too lazy to go on my own..."

Going out. Outside.

Twilight barely went to the balcony once or twice, and it never occurred to her moving beyond that. It was safer inside, within blankets, four walls and no one asking unnecessary questions like in the hospital.

That didn't mean she couldn't try. She was starting to get bored at the house, her cold was almost cured, and she had already done her "mourning", so to speak. It was time to go out and face the real world. Little by little. Baby steps. Slow, clumsy and shaky until she felt confident enough again.

Twilight wanted to go outside, just to try it out. Accompanied, of course. On her own, she wouldn't make it past the entrance.

"Yeah, okay." She helped with the groceries, did something different and took a fresh breath of air. How bad could it be? "I'm ready when you are."

Sunset stared at her, a funny expression in her face.

"...You going out with slippers?"

Twilight looked down. Uh, oh.

"I'll lend you clothes."

---

Wearing leggings was like putting on a somewhat thicker second skin. They did feel slightly tighter, though, but just at the beginning. That, along with a mid-thigh sweatshirt, made an outfit not only warm and practical but also comfortable as pajamas. In Equestria, Twilight wore clothing at formal events, mostly dresses or something extra in winter. Not that it was bothersome in itself, but taking them off at the end of the day was relieving.

In this case, or rather, in this body, it was the opposite. And truth to be told, she could get used to this kind of thing. The sweatshirt had pockets!

What would be hard to get used to was elevators and the feeling that they dragged you down, with a subtle suction that caused dizziness. Sunset assured her it was a matter of getting used to it, and that it depended on the device. Twilight had her doubts.

But a minute later they were already crossing the building's entrance doors, so she preferred to concentrate on filling her lungs with fresh air and the smell of recently cut grass, observing her surroundings as they approached the sidewalk.

The building had a green front at the entrance that went all the way to the back, like a small garden, edged by low bushes that framed its perimeter. Like the one next door, and the ones in the opposite block. They varied in design, size, and heights, but all seemed to follow that same pattern in terms of space.

And, to tell the truth, it was nice. Twilight went to several different places in the city, and in some, the newest constructions didn't even have a pot by the window, all grey and square. Here they had trees by the sidewalk, and the sound of the birds chirping could be heard over the cars. People came and went calmly, the weather was neither too cold nor too hot. It was nice.

And disturbing.

Everything felt disturbing, for some reason. The tranquility more than anything, as if it was intended for Twilight to let down her guard so something would attack her. What, specifically? She wasn't sure. Something. That was enough for the imperious need to look back every two seconds to be present. She wasn't paying attention to it, but the pressure at the back neck grew by the minute.

Not that something bad would happen. No, no, why would it? For what purpose? She had nothing to lose, why would she lose something? Well, something else. What else? Really, what else? If the only thing that saved her was pity and some survival instinct and the little logic that remained along with the despair to--

Stop it, stop it, stop it! Nothing's going to happen. Keep calm, take a deep breath…

Somewhere behind them, a car blew its horn. And Twilight jumped, scared for a millisecond as if it were the first time she heard one.

Maybe she should have stayed.

"...Are you okay?" The slight concern in Sunset's tone made Twilight want to go hide in the nearest bush for the rest of her life.

By Celestia! How embarrassing, getting scared like a filly over nothing.

Twilight nodded, inhaling deeply and exhaling slowly. Suddenly her left eye was throbbing.

For a moment, she had the feeling Sunset was going to say something else besides the "ok" she murmured, but they kept walking instead. Twilight looked behind her shoulder to check how much had they walked. And maybe to make sure no one was following them.

They were already on the second block out of three. Of three. Only three blocks, she could walk three blocks. She had to.

Luckily, Sunset started talking about the weather, the trees and the allergies they brought. The most trivial conversation, that Twilight did her best to focus on, over imaginary attacks product of an active imagination. Pure nonsense. Silly, illogical and unfounded nonsense.

And it worked, for the most part.

---

Twilight couldn't remember any market in Equestria with so many product quantity as this one. The Canterlot Central Market could be the most similar, it even had a bigger building, but the sellers had individual stands for each of their specialities. You could find all kinds of things, hire services, repairs, whatever. Beyond that, the smaller stores were mostly dedicated to a specific thing.

Here, it was just tall shelves with an infinity of products of all kind, variety, and colors, to both sides of the central aisle, which had signs in each corridor indicating specific sections and what could be found there. Everything had a package of an elaborate design, was canned, or had the same company logo on more than one occasion.

“I’m still impressed with the mass level of production things have,” murmured Twilight while they went back to the first section they entered, with fruits, vegetables and everything else that needed refrigeration. They stopped at a lower aisle located in the middle, with a variety of supposedly fresh pasta. Even those that claimed to be more... handmade, had quite an elaborate packaging.

Sunset just shrugged at that comment.

"Well, the technology it's a lot more advanced, —you eat ravioli, right? Sorry, I'm just thinking about dinner—" Twilight nodded quickly. "Back on track, I guess there's also the fact that there's more population here."

The ex-unicorn frowned, following the redhead on the other side of the shelve, where all types of cheeses were exposed. And tried not to look behind her despite her morbidness, where there was an entire wall with nothing but meat. Just thinking about it made her hair stood on end.

Technological development was stronger on this side, that's for sure, a look to the different means of transport was proof enough. However, the other part...

"But shouldn't this world have the same amount of population than in Equestria, if everyone has their respective counterpart?"

Sunset stared at two brands of grated cheese as if contemplating more than just the fact of which one to choose.

"I don't have one, " she said at last. “So I guess that's not a strict rule.”

Twilight forgot how to blink for a moment.

“...You don’t?”

“Nope. When I first came here, they took my fingerprints and a DNA sample to see if it matched with someone registered in the system.” She took a blue cheese bag and started heading towards the checkout. Twilight following close behind, still somewhat surprised. “As far as I know, I’m the only Sunset Shimmer in the country.”

Again, Sunset shrugged, like she couldn’t care less.

And that’s where the conversation ended. Between refrigerators full of sodas and more shelves with sweet things that divided each checkout line while they waited for their turn to pay.

Twilight couldn't help feeling ignored, somehow. Topics related to Equestria always were comparisons, of what was done and should be done here, contrary to over there, as Sunset said. It was understandable that at this point she couldn’t share her enthusiasm but, these were parallel universes! How many times could you live such an experience?

“Hey, you think Flurry would like one of these?”

Twilight turned her sight left, where Sunset was looking at a row of elephant-shaped, baby teething rings, conveniently hanging from a corner. Why so many products? At this rate, she wouldn’t be surprised to find more in the ceiling.

“If Flurry is a baby, I don’t see why not, it's cute.”

Sunset turned quickly in her direction, confusion on her face, as if instead of speaking to Twilight, her question was directed towards... nothing? The air? She looked at the redhead with even more confusion.

“Oh! I was actually--nevermind. Uh, yeah, she just started grabbing things. I see her on Monday, so I wanted to gift her something, but I gotta ask first because she’s the first grandchild in the family and--” Sunset stopped in her tracks, staring at Twilight for a moment “You have no idea who I’m talking about, do you?”

The ex-unicorn blinked, again, not sure about why the question.

“...A baby named Flurry?” she offered.

It was then that Sunset seemed to realize something, Twilight wasn’t quite sure what, but it wasn’t until they took a step forward in the line that she spoke again.

“You have siblings, right?”

“And older brother. And Spike's like a little brother, why?”

“Well...”

Wait a minute.

Brother. Baby. First grandchild. Wedding on the other side of the portal...

It wasn’t hard to put two and two together.

“Shining has a daughter?”

The man before them in the line turned around to look at her reluctantly, and Twilight shrank with the shame of raising her voice more than she should. Sunset didn't even pay him attention, nodding with a small smile.

“Uh-huh, she five months old, and lovely.”

A daughter. Her brother had a daughter here.

Did that mean she was an aunt now? Well, an interdimensional aunt, to be exact. She couldn’t imagine herself as such, nor could imagine Shining with a baby in his arms, for that matter. How did five-month-old human babies look like, anyway? She had seen several babies, but they all looked like miniature people to her.

However, that wasn’t the most important detail, per se.

It was their turn to pay. Sunset asked her to put the toilet paper pack she had been unconsciously hugging all this time on the magic moving tape. They only bought five things, so once everything was paid for, Twilight asked the important question.

“Sunset, do know by chance who's the baby’s mother?”

The redhead carried the cloth bag over her shoulder, no matter how much Twilight had wanted to carry something herself, to not feel useless, or at least to keep her hands occupied on the way back.

“Shining’s wife, Cadance. They married two years ago, I think.”

“And, uh, is… is she nice?” she asked under her breath. It wasn’t the best question, but she needed to clear up any doubts.
“Yeah, super.” Was Sunset’s reply, surprised. “Why? Over there she isn’t?”

“No, no. Just doing field research.”

So, on this side of the portal nothing went wrong, they married a while ago and even had a daughter. The ideal ending, everyone was happy.

Well, who said it had to be different on the other side? Perhaps Canterlot's greatest threat was Twilight wanting to "ruin" the wedding. Or maybe it was the other way around, the big threat was the bride and groom getting a happy ending.

None of that explained the temporality issues, though. Was the time flow different? Or was it the same and events occurred at a different time due to variations in socio-cultural environments? Or was one already “destined” to do certain actions? But if that were true and she ended up here, shouldn’t her counterpart end up in another universe, too?

On top of that, the fact that Sunset didn’t seem to have a respective human version only left room for even more questions and theories. Like the balance management between the two words in both actions (again, “destiny?”) and the criteria used to transform someone from one species to another. Would the portal have a proportion law? And if so, what aspects did it take into account? Heights, widths, ages? What happened to extra limbs such as wings or horns? Did they add in height, or were they added in some other way to human anatomy? And about the--

“Still thinking?”

"Eh?" Twilight turned around, with a movement that even she felt more had more force than necessary. Her body kept giving automatic responses at the most inopportune moments. Great. “Oh, uh, something like that.”

They were reaching the corner of the block now, and Twilight made sure to watch Sunset's step and looked both ways before crossing the street.

"I guess it must be weird, suddenly finding out your brother has a child and everything..."

“I guess it is...” she murmured, her head still into ways of conversions and supposed parallels. Sunset pulled her out of it with the simple gesture of raising an eyebrow. “I mean, in Equestria, he was about to get married, so it’s just rare that here that’s old news.”

Not like it wasn’t important, or that she didn’t care about Shining no matter where he was from, but anything related to the wedding still felt bitter on the mouth. It brought bad memories and a lot of awful feelings. Better to make unverifiable hypothesis.

"Oh, you left before that?"

Twilight frowned. She never left, no by her own will as Sunset seemed to imply. Could it be that Sunset did that, though? Just left Equestria by choice? Could one do that?

She nodded anyway.

"Yeah, we… we had a fight," mumbled Twilight, hoping that it was enough to satisfy the redhead's curiosity. Which, was completely justified, considering Twilight was the one who had been living in her house for eight days, not the other way around. Right. Sometimes she forgot such detail.

Maybe it had to do with how comfortable she felt there, no?

Twilight preferred not to add anything else and turn her sight to the stores they were passing by, since she didn’t pay them much attention the first time. Most were service-related, a laundry, a hardware store, an ice cream parlor from which a person came out with a huge ice cream cone with colorful sprinkles... Maybe, when the weather was hotter she could ask to come here. She was curious about the sticker on the door that said it was self-made.

"Please tell me that's not where your bruises come from."

Twilight stopped dead, and this time her gestures were fully conscious.

“What? No.” It took her a moment, and a lot of blinking, to process what she just heard. “No, no. Not at all.”

And to try to understand how she came to that conclusion until she remembered the last words, and the little detail of the bruises on her face, the ones hiding under her clothes, and the reasons why she had to take an obligatory rest of at least three days.

It was one of those moments where she remembered everything that happened with an “oh, right” that came as quickly as it left.

“It’s okay. I think I get what your line of thought was.” And between her looks and bad phrasing, it could lead to confusion, right? “But that was a while ago and, uh, I fell last week.”

Both a figurative and literal truth. She did stumble upon a step and had a couple of scratches, perhaps a bruise on the knee from when it hit the floor. In her first days.

Details no one had to know. Not even herself.

“Ah.” Was Sunset’s only answer, before they resumed walking. It wasn’t until they reached the end of the block that she spoke again. “How long has it been since you went through the portal?”

“About… ten days before I stayed with you, maybe more.”

And now it was the redhead's turn to stare.

“And you were wandering around the city? For ten days? Alone?”

Sunset’s cyan eyes widened with each question, as if Twilight was talking about a journey through Equestria or something similar.

“Uh-huh.”

It wasn’t. At all.

“Wow… When I first got here, I wandered around for a bit. I guess it’s common sense, right? Just trying to figure out where you are. And, uh, after a while later some coffee shop owners invited me tea and croissants, because it's not common for a girl of that age to be on her own.” Sunset made a pause, and Twilight for a moment wanted to ask what exactly one thing had to do with the other, but decided against it. “I just stared at the mug for like an hour until I figured out I had to use my hands.”

“I know, right? I’m so used to use magic for everything that I would run into doors.” Sunset tried not to laugh, but now that she said it out loud, it sounded even more ridiculous to Twilight. “Now it’s still a bit weird, but I got used to it.”

Now she made hand gestures by reflex, but that didn’t mean she didn’t miss her magic, or her original body, or her entire world. Nostalgia appeared every day, no matter how many distractions Twilight tried to conjure up.

“Honestly, I’m remembering all this stuff just because I’m talking to you. Like, five years doesn’t seem too much, but still are five years. A lot of things happen in the middle.”

Too many. Twilight hadn’t even planned what to do in the next two and a half years ahead. Because that’s what this was all about, applying a long-term formula, the only thing that worked. Improvisation was fine as long as you could speculate possible outcomes, instead of throwing yourself into the void. Two seconds of thinking about the consequences of certain past events were enough to know in what that resulted in.

But for now, planning could wait. Wait until she felt better about everything.

Meanwhile, they kept walking back to the apartment, the topic diverting to a more lively theme. Twilight felt less intimidated by the outside itself, and Sunset’s posture made her feel secure. If Sunset was calm, then why should Twilight feel nervous?

And that’s how she looked when they reached the building entrance, in the tinted glass reflection. A Twilight with a more relaxed posture, blue pants, a grey sweater of the kind that’s comfortable and fluffy with a shirt underneath, just to keep the formality, her typical loose hair and--

And a stunned face without the slightest scratch.

Author's Note:

Ah~ Ah~ Ah~ Mucha espuma, hace que mi pelo sea fuerte. Así sí, sí, sí. Más fuerte que un dragón-gón-gón ♪♪♪
2018? 2018 doesn't exist, it's a conspiracy theory.
Thanks to Martina, Tamara, and Scampy for helping me out with this one !

Comments

[Scampy]

You did a really great job showing just how on edge Twilight is, even when she knows she's perfectly safe. Knowing her anxiety and instincts are wrong doesn't make them any less oppressive, though.

Sunset with that slip of the tongue, leading to an oh, right moment. So I'm guessing Celestia hasn't told her why Twilight was in the hospital, covered with bruises and traumatized beyond belief. I wonder how she'll react when she finds out what happened...

[Snowmanmelting]

10072249
Thanks! I might have projected a lil' bit, huh
And yeah, I guess Sunset is trying to figure out stuff too or maybe she has her own theories, who knows.

10072317
Eh, no, sorry. Not planning on doing that at all. There are a hundred stories that focus on what happens at Canterlot Wedding, and this one it's not one of them. That was only an event that brought Twilight to the human world, not the plot of the story per se.

[xenahort X]

10072380
hi remenber me? from fanfiction?

i just read bot of your stories, great work! buenisimo!

i hope tehe the half chapter you said you had ready is gonna to get published, and i thoug you said "twilight was not raped"... or she was?

[Snowmanmelting]

10073263
Hello! The username looked familiar, haha.
And thanks!
Y, em, nope. La mitad del capítulo que te mencioné que ya tenía hecha era de éste. Tengo que hacer el 5 entero y tengo un draft básico del 6
Y, uh, I never said anything about that topic, don't even remember someone asking about it at all.

[xenahort X]

10073318
entiendo...

myself is writinhg a storie where the princess is forced to live with sunset in the human world and they are hared to writte

si necesitas ayuda solo dime.

sorry get confused by one fo the message you answered

umm and ofor last please make twilight and SCI get well i think twi just have enoght wiht her brother possibly death (after all if it where not for she chrysalis would have killed everyone in canterlot)

[Robipony]

I like the cover art.

[Admiral Q Ponyform]

Okay I am tired of the 'Oh human Sunset is dead.' or 'There is not human Sunset.' trope. Be bold. DEAL WITH A HUMAN SUNSET. this avoiding this fact that there would a human Sunset has gotten very tiring and annoying.

[Scampy]

10074383
I bet your parents don't let you have caffeinated soda.

[Snowmanmelting]

10074383
i.imgur.com/IU0lz0Z.jpg

[Admiral Q Ponyform]

10074758
no I am just frankly tired of this trope. very few a=have human Sunset

[Masterius]

10074817
Try reading Double Trouble, although the human Sunset Shimmer doesn't play much of a part until later in the story (a later part that has yet to be reached )

[thedarktome]

I can't wait for more. This is honestly one of the best stories on Fimfiction I've read yet. I can't wait to see what happens next.

[redandready45]

10072249

Yeah. Twilight is suffering from all kinds of traumas, on top of being in a different body.

[Carabas]

Bonny work on this new chapter! Twilight's underlying anxiety and trauma come across vividly, as well as her ongoing struggle to come to terms with this strange new society. You've a knack for conveying a character's thought process and interiority, and it's put to excellent use here.

[Posh]

10118844 box rarity is wise

[PixelatedPerson]

You are doing a great job with this so far and I love what you're doing with the characters and story, I hope to see more soon :)

[PixelatedPerson]

10074773
Based author :flushed:

[lighting_spark]

Please more