The Little Curiosities

by Comma Typer

Binary Sunsets

...and that’s all for today’s episode! Be sure to share this video with your friends, and, until next time, this is Sunset Shimmer on The Sunset Vlog! See ya’ ‘round!

And Fizzlepop levitates the phone back into her pocket as she trots to her van parked by the local MacDapple’s fast food chain, all under the cover of night.

Leaving her friend, Sunset Shimmer, to groan by her side. “Do you really have to watch all her episodes as they come out?”

“Why not?” Fizzlepop taps on her prosthetic arm-turned-foreleg. “Need to get used to the magic four-legged life! Being a unicorn farting out magic certainly beats prowling the neighborhood, whipping up gang signs and hitting drive-bys in enemy turf.”

“There’s tons of other TackTubers out there.”

Fizzlepop raises a brow. “You wanna watch a let’s play or some parkour compilations over pony tutorials from the one Equestrian who’s lived in our world for some time now?”

“Excuse me, Miss ‘Tempest from the Streets,’ but that Equestrian happens to be my counterpart.”

The taller unicorn rolls her eyes as she enters the van, getting onto the backseats and stepping over pillows and blankets, reaching into a little pantry of food and water along with Sunset’s NineTandem Swish. “We’re not having this conversation again.”

“We absolutely are because this is inconsiderate!”—slams the van’s backdoor, locking the both of them in.

“Come on, Sunnie, you’ve got to let it go! She probably doesn’t know that you exist!”

“Timing’s too convenient”—floats a bag of potato chips and stuffs her mouth with the crispy things. “I’ve done my own sleuthing, and you know what I’ve found? I found out that she came into our world mere days after I ditched that city for good! Lucky her that my guardians had been long dead, so it was just business as usual… until this happens!”—at which she raises her hooves in the air, pointing at her horn.

Fizzlepop frowns. “You know it’s not her fault.”

“If it weren’t for her, I wouldn’t be a unicorn, we wouldn’t have to deal with this magic trouble, and identity theft wouldn’t be legalized!”

“Who said she legalized identity theft?”

“Well, they aren’t fining her for looking like me.”

And her friend grabs Sunset by the shoulder, shaking her while shouting, “They’re! Parallel! Worlds! It’s not like her parents knew about this world and decided to replace you decades before the fact!”

“Well, why replace me? What about that Twilight princess? She also went through the portal—“

“To save her world and that crown, whatever it is, and this world’s Twilight didn’t leave Canterlot—“ slaps herself on the forehead, careful to not hurt herself by stabbing her horn “—we’re getting nowhere at this rate! Sunnie, what do you want to do about this problem of yours?”

And she pumps a balled-up hoof to the air. “I’ll have her pay me a commission for using my identity!”

An exasperated sigh. “She was born as Sunset Shimmer.”

“I know! But… wait, wait! Hear me out: You know the Selvage Parsley impersonators in Las Pegasus?”

“Are you seriously comparing Sunset to the Emperor of Rock and Roll? And no, you can’t just have solo acts as Sunset while the other Sunset has The Rainbooms. Plus, by your logic, shouldn’t she be your impostor?”

“Right, right… argh! She’s always a step ahead!”

“A step ahead of some random mare—“

“She’s my counterpart!” growls Sunset, cheeks and eyes flaring red. “And it’s not like everyone here has one! I’m the special one!”

Fizzlepop rolls her eyes. “Can you just breathe for a moment?”

And with that, Sunset breathes in, breathes out, the red in her cheeks fading away.

Her friend levitates a pillow, making her bed as she arranges the sheets. “Now, listen: What about we change it up? Instead of figuring out how to get her to do what you want… what about you ask her what she wants?”

That takes Sunset aback. “What?! Make me concede to her wishes?”

“She seems reasonable, so don’t worry! Now… what do you think she needs?”

And Sunset furrows her brows, scratching her chin. “Well, for one… I’m her counterpart. She needs to meet me—“

“Why would she need to meet you?”

It’s Sunset’s turn to raise a brow. “Curiosity? Closure? She looked my identity up when she went to our world, so she’ll be tying up loose ends by meeting me and knowing for sure that I’m not dead in a ditch.”

Fizzlepop taps her chin. “Makes sense. But then what?”

“Well, actually, the next step would be to appear on her vlog!”

“Don’t tell me you’re going to take it over by murdering her and having no one know.”

“I’m not that desperate!” And Sunset quiets herself. “Anyway… what topic would she go on about with me—ah! I got it! It should be about me!”

Fizzlepop smacks herself on the head, careful not to hit her horn. “You’re taking this way too—“

“No, no! As in me… and her! Counterparts!”

And that perks Fizzlepop’s ears up. “Hmm. It’s not too important to talk about counterparts since there’s the whole population gap between the two worlds—“

“But it’s interesting enough, it seems magical, it looks like an unsolvable mystery, and the heroes who tried to save the world also have pony selves in Equestria who did save their world a couple times!”

“You’re missing out the times they stopped the Sirens—“

“Let me call her now!”

And Sunset takes out her phone, pulling up her e-mail application—

One look at her video game console, and she grins. “And one more thing to sweeten up the deal.”

---

The van pulls up by the little brick row house, but no matter how many relaxing breathing exercises Fizzlepop gave her, Sunset can’t stop the adrenaline from rushing through her veins. “This is it, Fizz! We’re gonna meet the one, the only… other me! And we’re going to settle on an agreement! In public!’

“Calm down,” Fizzlepop says. “You’re not meeting a god or anything—and no, ‘She’s me!’ isn’t a valid excuse.”

But already, the front door opens. “I heard someone park, so I just had to—oh!”

There, the two Sunsets stare at each other: finality, swelling in the former human’s heart.

“Wow.” That’s the Equestrian Sunset, amazed. “I… I knew it’d be strange meeting you in the flesh, but it never beats really… you know, meeting you.”

“Same.”

And the Equestrian Sunset smiles, gesturing towards her house with an awkward laugh. “Let’s get this over with, shall we? First we do the live vlog on counterparts, and then some co-op ShimmerCode with Don’t Stop Saying Words and Everyone Lives?”

“…while you also promote my growing let’s play channel!”

Fizzlepop shakes her head with a smile, staying at the steering wheel. “I’ll park this by the Canterlot Mall. Call me up when you’re done, okay?”

With a yes, the two Sunsets go up together and the van chugs away.

As the unicorn pair go up—“So, Sunset… uh, I know I said it before on the e-mail, but I’m sorry for all the confusion this must’ve caused you, taking your place here in Canterlot City and all.”

And the other Sunset smiles, laughing awkwardly. “Yeah, yeah. You already know I just hop from town to town in a van. Low-cost living and all.”

“Doesn’t sound good if you ask me. If you want, though, I can refer you to one of my friends. I’m sure they can give you some work around the house or recommend you to a spot where you can flip burgers for decent pay, or maybe you can live with me—“

“Nah. That’d be way too awkward.”

The Equestrian Sunset nods slowly, biting her lip. "Yeah, I was hoping you’d say no to that. I don’t want to know what it’d be like to live with myself.”

“But yeah, thanks for the offer! Don’t know if I’ll just bounce from here after a few days, but you never know, right?”

And the two Sunsets stop as they reach the part of her apartment set up for vlogging: a green screen on the side, a microphone and headphone set, and her desktop computer complete with a glowing mouse.

But it’s not the fancy set they look at but each other, recognition and resolution shining in their eyes, both of their hearts welling up just a bit.

“Whether you stay or not, Sunset, it’s finally good to meet you.”

Comments

[Ninjadeadbeard]

Dang. Would've loved to see more of the Sunsets interacting. The whole counterpart thing is honestly one of the most interesting aspects of the EqG world, and any chance to see more of that is cool. Still, nice to see both Sunsets can get along. At least, for a little while.

[Comma Typer]

10780794
So idea: former human Discord writing fan fic about Comma Typer?

10839718
I see Sonata as the siren who's most used to Earth simply judging by her attitude. I still have to remember that she was still a villain, though, and didn't shy away from doing evil stuff, so she has to have some sense of being... cunning?

10839735
I think I got the greenlight for having two Sunsets in the same room once Nick Confalone revealed the planned Season 2 finale. With that out of the way, I'd like to write more about how the former human Sunset copes with not just the Change but also with the Equestrian Sunset.

[Ninjadeadbeard]

10841017

I think I got the greenlight for having two Sunsets in the same room once Nick Confalone revealed the planned Season 2 finale.

That was the idea that Sunset caused all sorts of problems for EqG-Sunset and chose to return to Equestria permanently?

Yeah, I'm suddenly glad the show was canceled.

[FanOfMostEverything]

I really do need to resolve the matter of human Sunset in the Oversaturated World, but that's a much bigger kettle of fish than just the local Fizzlepop talking her down.

In any case, always good to see more from this world.