> Perspective > by nikolai60 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Holidays Are Coming~ > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Winter had come, and with it, the holiday season. Sunset Shimmer hadn't paid much attention to it in the past, seeing it as little more than an interruption to her ruling the school. But now? Well, now she had a whole new perspective, and friends to show her what she had been missing out on. Just like what they were doing right now. Rarity had insisted Sunset experience the holiday shopping experience, followed of course by Pinkie dragging the whole group to a bakery for snacks and cocoa. Now, the six friends were on their way to an outdoor ice rink, Applejack and Rainbow Dash having once again challenged each other to yet another friendly competition. Yes this was much better than the past years, and Sunset walked quietly behind the group with Fluttershy, just enjoying the new friendship and honestly wondering what she had done to deserve such a turnaround in her life. Times like these always made her feel guilty, but her friends always did their best to chase off those feelings when Sunset forgot to hide them. Sunset turned to ask Fluttershy about being unusually (for her at least) quiet, and noticed the shy girl had stopped a few yards back, having turned to look over at a stone building a ways back from the road. "Girls?" Sunset waved the other girls back to where she was standing, them all returning to see what was going on. "What is it Flutters?" Sunset asked, a moment before her eyes widened in realization at what had stopped their friend. "Sunset, that sounds like...you singing." Rarity responded, turning towards the building, the other girls following suit. "I-it does, but..." Sunset was too stunned to finish the thought that they all were thinking. Whoever was singing sounded a bit more experienced then a high-schooler. Fluttershy looked over at Sunset, nervousness plastered all over her face, "T-Twilight mentioned similarities-you don't think that that's..." Sunset gulped, then nodded. Whoever was in there singing, odds were it was the Sunset Shimmer from this world. Sunset was terrified. The song was beautiful, but what kind of person was her counterpart? She had been so awful, it had taken turning into a demon and being hit with the Elements of Harmony to set her on the course to redemption. Even without somepony like Princess Celestia taking her in as a personal student, Sunset couldn't help but fear the individual singing that haunting tune, though the line about saving those gone astray did help ease her fears slightly. As the song died down, Pinkie spoke up first. "Let's go in and see!" Sunset’s heart stopped, "no, I don't think so, maybe we should just-" "Thank you, thank you, now, let's finish with one of my favorites, shall we?" The girls stopped, stunned as they could hear people clap and cheer in the building. That was Sunset alright, and she absolutely sounded older than the one standing next to them. "Holidays are coming..." Mustering her courage, Sunset followed the other girls as they headed into the building. To her surprise, the crowd seemed to make a point of helping them move to the front. Sunset, and the rest of the girls, were used to crowds like this leaving people to find their own space, who wanted to give up a good view of the show? So being practically pushed to the front row seats was a new experience for all. It was once they were at the front though, that it all made sense. Seated in the center of the stage was Sunset Shimmer. But it wasn't her. She had to be in her early to mid-twenties, with longer hair pulled into a ponytail, wearing a red and green t-shirt, jeans and worn snow boots, with an old bomber jacket tied around her waist. "She could be your older sister..." Fluttershy was right, the girl in front of them could easily have been Sunset's sister, except she didn't have one. She had to be this worlds Sunset Shimmer. That had to be why they let them through, they thought Sunset was, er, Sunset's little sister. But that's not what left Sunset frozen in shock. It was the fact that the human Sunset was sitting there, eyes closed as if lost in her own song, playing an old acoustic guitar, singing about love and peace for everyone, and looking like the happiest person on the planet. Sunset stared at her unbelieving. How was it possible? She had gone so rotten, and yet, here, in the human world, her counterpart, having never gone through the same disaster she had, sat spreading harmony and good cheer as if it was the most natural thing in the world. "Wonderful dream of love and peace for everyone, of living our lives in perfect harmony~" The human Sunset's voice resounded through the building, the crowd clapping in time with the song, slowly drawing in the six girls assembled at the front. Finally, Sunset found herself clapping along to, unable to resist the infectious nature of the song. She even began to feel herself smile in spite of her guilt. This Sunset, for whatever reason, had embraced what she had turned down, she had gotten it right. Fear of the shadow of her past melting away, Sunset found herself swaying with the crowd, grinning ear to ear. Maybe she'd even get to talk with her human self. Learn from her, and follow in her own (?) footsteps. As the song built to its final verse, Sunset finally found herself able to push past the last of her misgivings. Then the human Sunset stood up, facing the crowd as she cheered them along for the final verse. And the pony Sunset's heart stopped as the world froze around her for what felt like an eternity. Teal eyes met clouded grey. > Sunset, Meet Sunset > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sunset stared up at the Sunset on stage, the one who had just been singing of peace and harmony, and was now waving out the crowd flashing a friendly smile as she thanked them for coming. The former pony, however, could barely hear what she was saying, couldn't see anything but those grey eyes, and barely heard her friends beside her talking. "I don't understand..." It was barely a whisper, something her friends only noticed from a large amount of practice with Fluttershy. "Look...let's not be hasty in our reactions..." In spite of what she was saying, Rarity's voice quivered as she said it. Though none of the girls could know what was going through Sunset's mind, they knew finding her own counterpart blind had to have shook her. They continued to watch, Sunset doing her best to look as inconspicuous as possible, as the human Sunset carefully set her guitar down, and made her way to the edge of the stage. They nearly all ran to prevent a fall, only for the older Sunset to sit down on the edge and get ready to push off right over a- "Plant!" A voice called, and in one smooth motion Sunset pushed herself off to the side, landing safely on the floor, away from the potted flowers. The girls slowly backed away towards their seats once again, feeling awkward for their rush to the rescue. Sunset, the former pony, once again half hid behind Applejack, watching her human counterpart. People kept coming up to her with complements and greetings, but always called out and waiting for her to turn before approaching. It seemed most of the crowd knew her, and the conversations revealed that for as long as they knew her, Sunset had always been this cheery, comforting person. Sunset Shimmer, former student of Celestia, once one of the most powerful and gifted unicorns alive, just felt smaller and smaller. This is what she should have been, and instead she let her own blind ambition leave a wake of destruction, not happiness. It was an irony not lost on her, that her blind self was the one who seemed to see the world. Just as she moved to ask her friends if they could leave, not wanting to experience this particular meeting right now, a voice called out over the slowly dwindling crowd. "Oh Sunny! How did you hide having a little sister for so long!?" The exclamation came from another girl about the human Sunset's age, with light blue skin and poorly died green hair pulled into large pigtails. A very cheesy oversized light up holiday sweater dominated her frame. Human Sunset half turned her head in their direction, though she still appeared to be looking a little away from them all. "What are you talking about, I don't have a sister?" "Oh really?" The girl turned back to the terrified high schooler, leaning down as if talking to a child, with a huge grin plastered on her face. "Hiya, call me Rose, who're you?" Sunset looked like a deer in the headlights, her mouth working silently as she tried to find an explanation, any explanation, for what was going on. "Back off Rosey, you're overwhelming the poor girl." The comment caught the 6 high schoolers off guard, as the older Sunset held out her arm, moving it in an arc till it met Rose's shoulder and pulled her away. "Is she scaring people again?" Everyone, even the blind Sunset,turned towards the new voice, as a guy in his twenties with light orange skin and messy brown hair, cables and amps seeming to dangle off him, shuffled back and forth across the stage cleaning up. "I do NOT scare people!" 'Rosey' angrily replied, stomping her foot and pouting. "Yes you do~" "Do Not!" "Yes you do~" "Do Not!" The two continued to argue like kids while the older Sunset turned back to the group, this time 'looking' right at the younger Sunset, seeming to have gotten a better idea of where she was. "Sorry about that, Rose gets excited...a lot." She gave an apologetic smile, "So then, who are you?" Sunset stared for a few seconds, trying to collect her thoughts, but just as it looked like her counterpart was about to question the silence, she managed to find her voice, deciding that, now caught, she might as well get it over with. She could lie her way out of it, it would be easy, but she wasn’t that person anymore and she couldn’t go back to that. "It...it's really hard to explain." Looking around, seeing some people still milling about, "maybe...we could go somewhere less public?" And that was that. Stepping out to a less public place would only make sense with the truth. She'd considered lying, oh how she wanted to. But it wasn't fair to her human self, and lying felt far too much like backing down and letting her old self back in. Something that was far too easy to do, and far too dangerous. Raising an eyebrow at the odd answer, the older Sunset shrugged, "Uh, sure, let's head back to the prep room." With that she motioned for them to follow her, and began leading them back to a room by the side of the stage, her two friends cleaning the stage as they continued to argue. Though nervous about what could happen, the girls were also confused. Human Sunset was clearly blind, so how was she able to lead them to the room without being guided, or at least doing more than occasionally reaching out and tapping a chair, wall, or the stage. As they walked in the girls filed over to one side with several benches, while their guide took several steps in, turning on the spot and walked right over to a nearby chair and sat down facing them, arms crossed, a grin twitching at the side of her mouth. The girls all stared at the precision of the movement, and how she had known where they had sat. Rarity managed to respond first. "H-how did you-" Unable to keep her composure even through one sentence, the older Sunset laughed, "easy, this chair's always over here so whoever's directing props can easily turn to face anywhere on the room." With that she pointed to one of the benches one of the girls had sat on, "And that bench /always/ squeaks when someone sits on it, no matter how many times they tighten the bolts or oil the joints." The girls’ jaws dropped. "Oh oh oh, do you have super hearing and sense and stuff!? What's going on in that room over there?" Pinkie happily pointed to a random door bouncing in her seat. "Nothing." " -GASP- How did you know!!?" "Because the only way in or out is through the door we came, the rest are closets. Nine outta ten chance you wouldn't pick the room we were just in." Before Pinkie could try to test her any more Applejack and Rainbow Dash both clamped her mouth shut, not wanting things to get any more off track. Pony Sunset used the opening to continue, "So...about who I am. I'm...well I'm Sunset Shimmer...to...." That got a raised eyebrow. "You're Sunset Shimmer to? How's that work?" "I'm...it's hard to explain. At least...not without a really long explanation. I'm...sort of an alternate you. From another world." At this the older Sunset scowled, "Look kid, I'm not big on pranks and stuff so-" "It's not a prank!" Sunset hadn't meant to yell, but now standing she tried to calm down and continue. "I know it's hard to believe. I didn't even know you were here till Fluttershy heard you singing. I just...I guess I never really gave much thought to what would happen if we ever met." With that her shoulders slumped and she started to visibly crumple. "I....I guess...there really wasn't a way to avoid this forever..." Human Sunset's face was twisted in concentration, staring vaguely at where her younger counterpart was. "Either you're one heck of an actress, or you really believe what you're saying." She shook her head, "but that doesn't make any sense, a freaking alternate dimension? and what on earth are you even DOING here then?" The girls all looked at each other nervously, unsure how to respond or even prove what they were saying. Sunset decided that she'd already dug her way in too far to back down. With no way to turn back, she committed to it full force. "It's really really hard to explain, or prove, but I can do it. But not here. I...I'd rather prove it to you first, then explain. It's...a long story, and I think proving things first would make the rest of the explanations sort of...well easier to believe I guess." She looked to her friends, all giving her looks of worry over jumping in so quickly, and Sunset herself wasn't sure of her confidence in such a rash action. But she was committed, and she just kept telling herself that it was better to get it over with, no lies or dodges, then run and hide. It reminded her too much of how she'd dodged retribution with Celestia, too much of how she'd just spiraled into the monster that stole Twilight's crown. So she did her best to hide her guilt and fear, set her jaw, and gave her friends a silent nod, telling them that this was the best way to handle it. Even if she herself didn't believe it. The older Sunset sat there for a few seconds processing what was said, then asked, "Ok, so how do you intend to prove it?" "Um, we'll...well we'll have to go to Canterlot High. Do you know where that is?" "I can find it, but what exactly is so special about this school that we need to go there for this whole mess to make sense?" Sunset backed down for a moment, the challenge in the tone of the other girls voice told her that a prank or other game was still suspected, and she couldn't find a way to explain without going into details. Details that would just ruin everything without the proof to back them up. Thankfully, Rarity came to her rescue. "If I may. I realize that this is something that, uh, 'our' Sunset, is rightfully taking the lead on," with that she patted Sunset on the shoulder, giving her a reassuring smile, "I believe I can offer an explanation that can put your mind at ease. The proof that Sunset, and indeed, we as her friends, are offering is, how to say, not very subtle. It will leave no question in your mind as to the truth, but it also will attract attention. I think we can agree that something as huge as a traveler from another world is something that, under other circumstances, should remain quiet. With school out for the holidays, there isn't a risk of being stumbled upon, and Sunset can speak freely." Sunset gave Rarity a thankful smile before turning back to her older self, "You can even bring your friends if you want, it's not fair for you to come alone when I won't be." The human Sunset sat forward, clasping her hands and resting her chin on them as she thought, finally. "Well, what do you two think about all this?" With that she turned towards the door, and the girls, following her 'line of sight' realized the two from earlier had likely be standing there listening to the whole thing. Rosey was the first to respond. "This is SO freaking nuts, I'm in!" A raised eyebrow was the only response, before she turned to the guy. “Blue?” “Well…..they seem genuine, I mean, I guess it won’t hurt to find out what they’re talking about.” With that the girls all nodded, looking hopefully between the older trio. Finally the older Sunset turned back towards them and nodded. “Alright, the three of us will be there. With that the two groups set a plan to meet, and the girls left the trio to finish their cleanup, while they went to figure out how would be the best way to prove their story. > Afterthoughts > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- In a cozy apartment in the city, three twenty-somethings were settling down for the evening. "So Rosey, interesting day." "Interesting day is Right! I mean those girls just came outta nowhere with that stuff. But imagine! An alternate Sunny, this is gonna be so cool!" Blue just rolled his eyes, "Come on, you don't really believe that gunk. I don't care if they seemed harmless, there's somthin going on that they didn't wanna say. That stuff about another world is just an excuse to get us out to the school. I don't think they're up to trouble, just can't talk about whatever this is really going on." "They sure put a lot of work into that Sunset costume." The third member of the trio walked out of her bedroom, making a beeline for a coffee table near the couch. "Pizza's here!" Blue shot over to the window, checking the street side parking and smirked, "Sorry Sunny, no pizza car there, 'bout time you were wro-" Before he could finish Sunset had already pulled the door open, revealing a startled delivery guy with his hand up about to knock. "Uh....Ms. Shimmer....HOW did you do that this time!? I parked out back!" The poor guy had been their regular delivery guy for over a year now, and did his level best to avoid the blind girl’s mysterious radar. "Trade secret." Sunset cheerfully took the pizzas while handing him the pay from the table before spinning around and heading for the couch with her prize. "Pay the kind sir Mr. Blue~" Blue grumpily came forward, paying his loss of the bet once again, mouthing to his co-conspirator his intention to find out how. As he closed the door, he turned to see the offending 'Daredevil' cheerfully chowing down on her first piece, a smug look on her face. "Alright baconhead, answers, now." Blue crossed his arms and glared at his friend. It would do no good in intimidating her, but it made him feel better to do so. After tilting her head side to side in a mock 'considering' motion, Sunset shrugged and swallowed her mouthful. "He parked out back, so he had to drive over the loose storm drain at the entrance. And at this time of night it's either him or Mrs. O'Leary getting chow for the cats going in or out, and Mrs. O'Leary took her herd to go visit family for the holidays." With that she took another bite, while Blue shot into Sunsets bedroom, followed by a laughing Rose. "THAT'S WHY YOU WERE IN HERE SO LONG!!!" Blue stormed back out furious, while Rosey could be heard falling on the bed unable to contain her mirth at the latest antics of her friends. All he got in return was a cheeky grin, followed by Rosey patting him on the shoulder. "You just gotta admit you're beat, she's too good for any of us mere mortals." "No I don't." With that he reached into his pocket to pull out his phone, only to be hit in the chest with a stray straw. "No telling Speedy." Both Blue and Rosey stared at the grinning Sunset. "He texted him when he found out about hearing someone out front, remember?" "You are seriously no fun." In spite of the words, he couldn't completely stop the grin from tugging at the corner of his mouth. "So, same question as before, what're you thinking?" After a few moments of thought, Sunset tilted her head to the side, mostly pointed at Blue this time. "Well, I'm kinda with you. Something's going on, and that story's just to get us, or me, moving. The 'mini-me' didn't seem to have it planned out too well though. Whatever she was thinking, running into me today, or at least then, wasn't part of it." Rosey crossed her arms, as little as that signaled to her friend, "but why dress like you then? I mean, she REALLY looks like you from back in high school, different fashion sense excluded." "No idea, that's probably why she panicked and jumped without looking." Sunset ignored the faces she knew her friends were making at her for that statement, "She was caught, and whatever reason she was dressed up like that, she had to bring it up, not just make an excuse or call it a coincidence," Blue sighed and went to sit down with his first slice. "Maybe, but it's still a pretty wild story, they had to have /something/ planned out ahead of time." "Either that or they saw those holiday movies they always play where there's just slightly different worlds all at Christmas but with something going wrong because someone wishes they didn't do something but it turns out to have been super important and now they have to find a way to fix it." As usual, Rosey managed to leave the room staring at her, quite the achievement considering the present company. After processing what had just been said, Sunny raised an eyebrow, "wait, I thought you believed their story?" "Can't it be both?" Two faces palmed at the same time. "Rose, they can't be telling the truth and make up the story at the same time, you have to pick one," Blue's tone bore the frustration of having had similar discussions on a very regular basis. "Aww, you're no fun." Rosey snapped up a slice for herself then hopped back onto the stray ottoman in the room, crossing her legs in the process. "I wanna inter-dimensional adventure." Sunset grinned, starting her second piece. "Sorry Rosebud, you'll have to live with the more realistic adventure of finding out what those kids were really getting at." ------- Across town, a younger Sunset sat curled up on her bed, desperately trying to convince herself she had done the right thing. She had panicked, coming face to face with a reality she couldn't even have imagined. A Sunset here, and one that was everything she should have been, except...her double had been punished, while Sunset had gotten a second chance at a life of happiness. Sunset shook her head, trying to drive away those thoughts. She had nearly lied again today, after everything she had done she had had to force down the impulse that had become almost second nature to her. Just lie, get out of it and don't actually face what was in front of you. But she wasn't that person anymore, and she couldn't let herself slip back even a little. She had to find a way to do what was right and commit, and while she had opened the door in a panic, she was indeed committed to now walking through after that discussion, no backing down now. Shivering from the thought, she finally laid down to try to get some sleep, her friends reservations and questions still ringing in her ears. She had managed to put on a show of confidence, to convince them this was the right thing. Now if only she actually felt the way she had acted... > Seeing The Facts > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sunset sat surrounded by her friends, hugging her knees as she continued to mentally question if she made the right choice. Her friends had asked if she was sure several times now, and each time she had firmly answered 'yes', even if inside she wasn't. She had created enough messes for other people, she wasn't going to make her friends fix things for her, it was time for her to be responsible for her actions. The sound of a crunching snow caused the group to look up, seeing the older Sunset, red tipped stick in hand, flanked by her friends from the previous day. The former pony was surprised, while the guy still seemed a bit suspicious of them, both the other Sunset and her friend seemed more excited about finding out what was going on than any kind of concern about the explanation given why. "Alright then mystery mini me, what's this all really about?" The cheer in her voice threw the younger Sunset off even further, at the very least she had expected annoyance at being dragged out to a high school over the holidays. "OH! Um, well, I think we really should head inside for this." This caused the guy, Blue something if she remembered correctly, to frown. "And we're breaking into a high school, yup this'll-OW" He flinched back, hopping on one foot from being whacked by the other Sunset, who was frowning at his outburst. Before anyone else could respond, Rarity stood up fishing into her pocket. "Actually darling, we happen to have a key to get in. We all have extra duties outside regular classes, so Vice-Principal Luna felt it was best we have access whenever needed." With that she held her hand out, holding the key between her index and thumb, the rest of the chain hanging down. This seemed enough to convince their guests, for her to carry the key so obviously rather than hide it, and they nodded for the Rainbooms to proceed. As they walked in the younger Sunset decided to at least start, rather than just wait in silence till they reached the band room. "I get that this is probably really crazy sounding-" "You can say that again" "SHHH" "Humpf" "Um, but well, I'm completely serious. I've, well, I traveled here from another world, where there really seems to be a lot of parallels, and have just sort of been living here ever since. It wasn't until recently that I even really considered that of course this world has its own Sunset, and that I'm intruding. So, when I saw you, I really couldn't just ignore what was in front of me. As this world's Sunset you deserve to know." As she finished they approached the door to the band room, Rarity already in the process of unlocking it. Sunset turned around to see the reactions of the trio, to see a set of dubious looks. "Ok, we're alone right? We're already here like you wanted, so what's this actually about? I mean, this whole alternate world stuff is a great hook but I think it's time you said why we're really here." Sunset did her best to hide her surprise, but inside she felt a deep pit forming in her stomach. She had to at least get them into the band room to prove she was telling the truth, but they had already dropped the idea it seemed. Fortunately, or unfortunately considering Sunset's view on the subject, Applejack decided it was time to speak up. "Look, I know this is weird, and ya'lls probably think we're crazy, but Sunset, our Sunset, is tellin' the truth, hard as it is to believe. We were all tough to convince to, but you're gonna get to see sumthin to prove it faster'n we did." Sunset turned back to them, a pleading look on her face. "Just five minutes, I swear. After that, if you want to go we won't stop you, but please let me try first." Blue rolled his eyes and turned to leave, but before he could take a step or say anything to the others, the older Sunset grabbed him by the collar and turned him back around. "I know that tone of voice, whatever this is is pretty big, isn't it?" The former pony nearly nodded before remembering who she was speaking to, "yeah, big and crazy. After this, I promise to answer any questions I can." Her answer came in a trio of nods, as they followed her into the band room where the other girls were already pulling out their instruments. "OH oh, are you gonna explain in song or something?" Yup, Rose definitely reminded the girls of Pinkie, who seemed oblivious to the worried looks at the thought of two of her. Meanwhile, Blue just crossed his arms and huffed something about pretense for an audition. It was the elder Sunset who remained the calmest and most neutral, accepting the offered seat and just waiting for things to start. And start they did. It took the better part of the first two verses for the magic to begin to flow again, likely from the girls’ nervousness, but it did start as they let themselves get pulled into their song, into the magic, and the shocked looks on their guest's faces told them everything about their method of proof. Even the blind Sunset seemed to react to the magic in the air, the look of confusion as she tried to identify what was going on growing as she realized more and more something impossible was happening. Song done, the girls slowly lowered to the floor. Before the trio could regain their composure the younger Sunset charged for her counterpart, unsure of how long the effects would last. "Here, I know you couldn't see it, but I can see you can sense it. Now, here's the solid proof." With that she grabbed Sunset's left hand, pulling it up to her pony ear, and allowed her to feel. "That....that's impossible!" The older girl exclaimed, bringing her other hand up to the other pony ear and feeling. The younger kept herself still, forcing herself to not close her eyes in fear as realization sunk in. She expected shock, questioning, the feeling of the ears and how they were attached to her skull. What she didn't expect was for those searching hands to run down her jawline and start feeling the outline of her face. "Wait, what-" "It's ok, she's just getting a good look at you." Instinctively the younger Sunset looked over at Rose, who was managing to mix the wonder of realization with the calmness of experience. She turned back, and allowed her human self to continue to 'see' what she looked like. Though it likely only took a very few minutes, it felt like hours, but finally the elder Sunset sat back in the chair, and a look that could only be described as awe graced her face. "You really are me. I could feel it," as she spoke she ran her hand down her own jawline, "same cheekbones, same hair, everything…." Two Sunsets faced each other surrounded by their friends, neither sure how to take the next step.