Expect the Unexpected

by Onyx Archer

Rating: everyone
Tags: Equestria Girls, Sunset Shimmer, Main 7 (EqG), Slice of Life, Human, Romance, Starlight Glimmer
Length: 5585

Sunset and Starlight learn of what their doubles relationship is.

THIS IS A CONTEST ENTRY. IT'S ALSO KINDA RUSHED, ADMITTEDLY.

During Starlight's visit to the human world, the subject of her human counterpart, as well as the human counterpart of Sunset comes up, to which Sci-Twi tells them what she's discovered. Thus begins a short (rushed as hell) story that shows some cute snippets of the romantic relationship of Sunset and Starlight's human counterparts, and some forced as heck exposition between Sunset, Starlight, and the rest of the Rainbooms.

I swear, I can write better than this... I just kinda made a mad dash for the finish line after a dozen ideas just didn't stick...

Published 2017-09-01 06:10:07 UTC
Last updated 2017-09-01 06:10:07 UTC

Expect the Unexpected

With the final chord played, the impromptu performance of the Rainbooms ended, and the sound of a single person clapping her hands with enthusiasm filled the room. The septet all took a bow of gratitude, pleased that their single audience member had enjoyed the performance.

“That was great!” the solitary audience member, Starlight Glimmer, cheered happily. Her clapping quickly stopped, at the others set aside their instruments. “You really don’t hear stuff like this back in Equestria!”

“Yeah, that’s probably because of the lack of hands,” one of the two guitar players chuckled, clicking her guitar case shut. This was, of course, Sunset Shimmer, the only person in the room that actually knew the extent of what Starlight was saying. “It’d be kind of hard to play guitar with just hooves.”

“I’ll say! After seeing you play, it’s a wonder that anypony back home can play a cello, let alone one those,” Starlight said, giggling at the prospect of a pony trying to play the strange instrument. Sure, there were guitars back in Equestria, but none were like this. “I know Applejack can play one, but they aren’t anything like that.”

“Huh?” Applejack spoke, looking at the two of them confused. Of course, this confusion didn’t last long, with the answer being obvious once she thought about it. “Oh, right, there’s pony versions of all of us back in Equestria. Ya’d figure I’da instantly knew what you two were talkin’ about by now.”

“Well, not all of us Applejack,” Rarity said, looking to the two girls that weren’t natives of this world. “Sunset and Starlight are from Equestria. There simply isn’t any ‘pony’ version of them over there right now. They’re both here, in our world at the moment.”

“Right, these two are both... uhh... unicorns, right?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Kinda weird to think about, but hey, not like we can say that after all of the stuff that happened this past year.”

“Hahaha, yeah. Sunset’s been here so long, that she forgot how ponies walked when she came to get the new Journal from Twilight,” Starlight laughed, recalling the events of the previous day prior to coming through the mirror with Sunset. Sunset obviously blushed at the mention of said events. “It was so weird to see a pony walking on only her hind legs like it was the most normal thing in the world!”

“Like you were any better when you got here!” Sunset shot back, playfully punching Starlight in the shoulder. “You took off with your butt sticking up, on all fours despite the fact that everyone around us was walking on two legs!”

“Hahahahaha! Seriously? Oh man, that must have been so funny! I wish I coulda seen that!” Rainbow Dash said, laughing loudly at the thought of seeing a person running like that. “I bet Princess Twilight and Sunset were like that when they first got here too! Oh man that would have been so great to see! Hahahaha!”

Starlight could only feel her face light up in response, clearly embarrassed. Of course, she knew it probably looked ridiculous to those who saw it, especially after she had gotten the hang of walking on two legs. It didn’t really hit her that it was odd until Sunset stopped her, though it was still incredibly embarrassing.

Sunset and Twilight had also began to become red in the face. Even though this Twilight wasn’t the one Rainbow had been talking about, and was more embarrassed for her pony princess counterpart. At this point, Pinkie Pie had also broken out into full on laughter, though that was to be expected of, well, the Element of Laughter. The others were doing their best to remain composed, though even Fluttershy couldn’t help but let out a giggle at the thought of the three Equestrians walking like horses when they first got here.

“Yes, yes, it was probably quite funny to see, but you two should try to at least be somewhat considerate of Starlight’s feelings, let alone Sunset’s,” Rarity said, though it was clear she was trying to hold back a giggle, at the very least. “They’re from a world where walking on four legs is normal to them.”

Starlight and Sunset gave Rarity their thanks in the form of a small smile.

“Speaking of pony counterparts,” Applejack said after clearing her throat. She looked to Twilight, who met her gaze with a mix of confused curiosity at what the farm girl was going to say. “If the pony versions of Sunset and Starlight are here... where do ya think this world’s Sunset and Starlight are? We know where both Twilights are now, so where are those two in this world?”

“That’s... something I’ve thought about a few times, actually,” Twilight said, her gaze looking to the two girls from the land of magical talking horses. “Ever since I saw Equestria in the holes in space I made back when... well, you know... and after meeting my double from that world, I’ve been wondering about where the human Sunset was.”

“I’ve also thought about it, though for obvious reasons. I mean, I had to be sure she wasn’t anywhere nearby so I wouldn’t be found out or something,” Sunset said, rubbing the back of her neck nervously. “At the time, I thought Changelings might exist here, and that I might be considered one or something, so I had to be sure.”

“Changelings? The daughters of Hags from Ogres and Oogliettes?” Twilight asked. “There are actual Changelings in Equestria?”

“I’ve only read about them back when I was Celestia’s student, since they like to keep themselves scarce, since they need to feed off of ponies love to survive... or so I’ve read,” Sunset said, looking at Starlight. “I know that the Princess has had to deal with them in the past at her brother’s wedding. I think she also told me that you helped defeat them recently too, Starlight.”

“Yeah, it was pretty intense. Their hive was a total maze,” Starlight said with a nod. “Honestly, I’m surprised we were able to beat Chrysalis without magic, but we did!”

“I’m still reeling at the thought that was even possible! When I read that in the journal, I was so surprised that I spit the water I was drinking all over the page I was writing on!” Sunset laughed. “I mean, you had Discord, the physical embodiment of Chaos itself on your side, and he was basically useless!”

“He was a pretty good distraction when we needed one. Him and Trixie’s bickering got really annoying, but I was too panicked to say anything about it.”

“Heh, I’ll have to talk to you later tonight,” Sunset chuckled. “It sounds like the Princess skimmed on some details in that conversation.”

“That makes sense, since she wasn’t really there to see it herself. She was in a Changeling pod thing for the majority of it.”

“Uhh... girls?” Twilight said, bringing the two girls back to reality from their conversation about how Starlight had saved Equestria from the Changelings. “Not that hearing about Equestria isn’t interesting, but it kind derailed the conversation.”

“Oh, right, sorry about that,” Sunset said, laughing nervously. “Being there again recently has made me kinda curious about how things are going back... home.”

The way the word left Sunset’s mouth felt strange, but not in a way that was alarming. It still felt like home to her, even if she hasn’t been there much in the past few years. This place was just as much of a home to her as Equestria was, in her mind.

“It’s fine darling, we understand. It’s not everyday you get to talk to someone else from Equestria in person,” Rarity said, smiling at the two. “That being said, I’m sure we’re all wondering what you and Twilight have found about your double from this world.”

Nodding, Sunset cleared her throat to continue where she had left off before getting sidetracked.

“As I was saying, I did some digging once I had gotten the hang of the internet. I couldn’t really find anything, so I just shrugged it off,” Sunset said, with a sigh and a shrug. “I probably would have found something if I really tried, but at the time, I was just trying to make sure nobody would question my being here.”

“That makes sense, since you were basically enrolling with someone else’s identity. I’m honestly surprised this world’s Sunset Shimmer hasn’t done anything about it,” Twilight said, adjusting her glasses. She pulled out her phone, and quickly typed something into what Sunset assumed was an internet browser app. After a few seconds, Twilight held her phone towards the group. “I basically stayed up all night the day after meeting my double, and this is what I came up with when I looked. I... couldn’t really sleep, so I dug pretty deep to find this.”

On the screen, there was a picture of someone who was a deadringer for Sunset, which clearly meant that this was this world’s picture of her. It appeared to be an Photogram account, and this was the most recent picture uploaded to it. Said picture had been uploaded yesterday evening.

The other Sunset was in the picture, microphone in hand, clearly singing with everything she had on a stage. She was dressed in something that looked a lot more like the kind of thing Sunset would wear during her “school bully” days. The photo was captioned “Day 3, and having a blast on the Solar Eclipse Tour! Fillydelphia was AWESOME! Hope Manehattan is READY for Horizons tomorrow night!”

“No way, she’s in a band too!?” Rainbow exclaimed, clearly surprised. “She looks like she’s the lead vocalist too!”

“Yes, it does appear that way. She looks a fair bit more... rough around the edges than the Sunset we know though,” Rarity said. She was also quite surprised, though with the way she had pointed out the appearance of the girl on the screen, she didn’t seem to approve of the fashion choices of the subject of the photo. “You’d think if someone was on the road with a band, they’d at least some more effort into their appearance!”

“I also found her Chirper account, and her Facespace account, though that’s not got as many things viewable since I’m not friends with her on there,” Twilight pointed out, tapping the screen back to the main page of the other Sunset’s Photogram account. “When I found this, it seemed like she was in the middle of recording an album. I guess she and her band finished it recently.”

“So do you know where she lives?” Sunset asked. She hadn’t really found anything about her double, likely because she was limiting her search to Canterlot and the surrounding area. It was clear she lived far enough away from Canterlot that Sunset didn’t have to worry about it back then. She didn’t exactly have a lot of access to the internet at the time though, which greatly limited the search.

“I do, it’s one of the things that I looked into first once I found the accounts,” Twilight said with a quick nod. “She lives in Baltimare... so she lives about a day and a half away if you travel by train, give or take a few hours.”

“That’s pretty far. Good thing too, since it wouldn’t be good if two Sunset Shimmers were in the same place at once,” Starlight commented with a smile. “I know I’d be super confused if I met my double from this world if she suddenly came to Ponyville through the mirror.”

“No kidding. It was weird just seeing two Twilights!” Rainbow Dash remarked. The other five girls that were native to this world nodded, with an audible ‘uh-huh’ showing they were on the same page in that department. Sunset and Starlight could only giggle. “Still, it’d be pretty awesome to meet my double. She’s obviously got to be about as awesome as me! Maybe awesomer! No, wait, that’s not possible.”

The girls all shared a laugh at Rainbow’s comment, with each of them thinking something along the same lines as she was.

“I’d love to swap fashion tips with my double! I can only imagine what kind of fabulous ideas I’d get from a magical pony version of myself!”

“I’d like to see what kind of things the other me could teach me about looking after animals. I’m sure she’s got a lot of helpful tips I could use.”

“I wanna know all about the parties pony me has thrown! Oooh, and what kind of cakes and cookies she makes!”

“I’d ask pony me how she gets the apples outta the trees without hands or magic. Princess Twi said she just bucks them out, but that must be mighty painful if she does it all the time.”

“I wonder what kind of books Princess Twilight reads, and if she would be interested in swapping books so we could learn about and better our understandings of our respective world’s histories?”

Clearly, all of them were curious about these things, and Starlight couldn’t help but smile. It’s things like this that makes her feel right at home in this strange place, since they were so similar to the her pony friends back home. It kind of made her wonder if Sunset would fit in back in Equestria, given the very similar circle of friends.

“So what about human me? Can you find her on that device too?” Starlight asked, pulling the girls down from the fantasy of meeting themselves from a foreign world, and back into the conversation in reality. “I mean, I likely exist here too, right?”

“Oh, that’s right, I almost forgot about that...” Twilight said quietly, quickly moving her finger across the screen of her phone, tapping a few times, and eventually turning the phone to face them. “When I’d first seen Starlight, I felt like I had seen her somewhere else before, and while I was pulling up this world’s Sunset’s Photogram account, I remembered why.”

On the screen of the phone now was a picture of the other Sunset Shimmer, dressed in a similar way as the first photo they had seen, with a second girl in the picture. Said girl was also holding a microphone, and seemed to be sharing the stage with the other Sunset. That girl looked eerily like Starlight Glimmer, and likely was this world’s version of her.

“As it turns out, this world’s Sunset and Starlight are close friends, and often tour together. I don’t think they are in the same band, and that’s probably for the best.”

“Why’s that?” Starlight asked. “Would it be bad if they were both in the same band?”

“That depends...” Twilight said, clicking her tongue as she tapped the screen to bring up a new photo. The picture on the screen was of the two of them in cute picture with Starlight kissing Sunset’s cheek, and Sunset smiling. That in itself wasn’t really that big of a deal, but the caption added a whole new meaning to the image. “Would being in the same band as your partner count as an ‘office romance?’ If so, it’d probably be a bad idea.”

The caption read “Together for two years with the bae. Here’s to many more!” The picture was dated to late May, which was around the time that Twilight had transferred to Canterlot High.

@^@v@^@v^@

The faint click of the phone’s shutter signified that the photo had been taken. The bright glow of the spring sun behind them hanging high in the sky. It was about two thirty in the afternoon, and due to it being late May, it was warm, but not unbearably so. Two years they had been together, and they had never felt happier about it.

“How’d it turn out?”

“Pretty good!” Sunset replied with a big grin as she handed her phone to her significant other. “Check it out.”

Starlight looked at the photo, and couldn’t help but blush lightly as she smiled. The photo had turned out to be as cute as she had thought it would, and was glad Sunset liked the suggestion of the cheek kiss for their two year anniversary photo... well, one of them anyway.

“It’s perfect! What filter are you thinking of putting on it?” Starlight asked, handing the phone back to it’s owner. “Please tell me it’s not that dumb dog filter.”

“Pssh, as if,” Sunset laughed. “I was thinking of putting the one filter with the shine effect. It’d make our skin glow.”

“You mean more than it did when you took the photo?” Starlight teased. “Don’t think I didn’t notice the blush as I pulled away.”

“Well excuse me for being camera shy.”

“More like selfie-shy.”

“Not the point,” Sunset laughed. “Though that sounds like a cheesy pop song name.”

“It does! You wanna write it?”

“Nah, I’d rather take another picture for your Instaphoto account,” Sunset said, placing her arms on her girlfriend’s shoulder. “Then, I’m gonna take you back to my place for a real celebration.”

“Aren’t you the charmer,” Starlight giggled. “At least take me to dinner first.”

“You know you want to.”

“Never said I didn’t, I’m just hungry.”

Sunset sighed, and kissed Starlight. She could feel Starlight wrap her arms around her waist, and deepen the kiss, but only for a moment. Pulling away, Sunset let out a quiet whimper of protest at the sudden lack of the softness of Starlight’s lips pressing against her own.

“Seriously Sunny, I’m starving. Let’s take the picture and go to that one place you like.”

“The one that we went to on our first date?”

“You know it,” Starlight said with a smile. “We haven’t been there in forever.”

Sunset simply kissed her lover on the forehead, and smiled.

“Alright, let’s take that selfie!” Sunset exclaimed. “Then we dine like queens!”

“You’re such a nerd!”

“You know you love it.”

@^@v@^v@^@

“Wh-what!?” Sunset and Starlight both exclaimed extremely loudly, a blush all but covering their faces in a bright red hue.

“O-our d-doubles... a-a-are d-d-d-d-d-dating!?” Sunset practically yelled, clearly extremely flustered. “S-s-seriously!?”

Starlight was clearly too flustered to utter anymore words, and opted to just remain silent and embarrassed for now. She had only just met Sunset yesterday, and here she was being show a picture of what was effectively their doppelgangers as a couple, and for two freaking years no less.

“I-It would seem that way, y-yes,” Twilight said, clearly caught off guard by their respective reactions to this news. “From what I understand, they were childhood friends, and have been basically insufferable since they were little. A-at least, that’s what some older posts on here and Chirper have lead me to believe.”

“I can’t believe this!” Sunset groaned, clearly distraught by the information. “Now I have to worry about running into the other Starlight should they ever come to Canterlot for a show. Great!”

“Well look on the bright side; at least they aren’t coming to Canterlot any time soon, right?” Rainbow Dash said, trying to lighten the mood.

“That’s not entirely true,” Twilight replied, tapping another photo on Sunset’s Instaphoto account. The photo she showed them was a picture from a recording studio. This world’s Starlight was in the booth, recording vocals, as it would appear. “On one of her recent photos, Sunset said they were heading to Canterlot to attend the premiere of the Daring Do movie. Apparently, they wrote a song for the soundtrack, and got VIP tickets.”

“SAY WHAT!?” Sunset and Starlight practically screamed. “They’re going to be at the premiere!? Great, just freaking great!”

@^@v@^@v@^@

The summer breeze outside of the recording studio rushed around, and could be heard through the walls of the studio; or at least, the sound of the siding on the building could be heard. The sound was faint, due to the booth’s proximity to the emergency exit of the SoundScape Recordings studio. Thankfully, the studio was at a nice temperature, so none of the warm air outside mattered.

Sunset’s phone clicked as it’s shutter snapped a photo of Starlight singing her heart out in the booth. Her voice was as sweet as cotton candy to Sunset’s ears, which were currently enveloped in headphones.

She couldn’t help but smile at her girlfriend’s enthusiasm as she sung the words they had written. They couldn’t turn down the offer to do a song together for the soundtrack of the movie, since they were both huge fans of the books. Well, it was more like Sunset was a huge fan, and Starlight just happened to like her enough to help with the song. It also helped that the cheque they got for it was enough to have their eyes turn into bit signs.

“Still can’t get over how the people who are making this movie chose us to record the song. I mean, we’re a small time band, and this is a big time movie,” the guitarist, Night Glider said, watching her friend in the booth.

Sunset couldn’t hear her, since she was too busy gushing internally at her lover’s voice bouncing around in her skull with infectious vigor. She wanted to sing along, but opted not to. A quick hand in front of her face pulled her from her love induced trace.

“What’s up Night Glider?”

“You were getting lost in gay land again,” she said, chuckling. “Every time you come to see her in the booth, you practically drool rainbows.”

“But she’s so talented!” Sunset gushed. “The way her voice sounds to me is just so perfect.”

“I know,” Night Glider laughed. “You’ve only told me like, five thousand times already.”

“Wow, that many?”

“Nah, I lost count and just threw a random number out there,” Night Glider shrugged. “I mean, wouldn’t surprise me in the least, given how sickeningly adorable you think she is.”

“I wouldn’t say it’s ‘sickening,’” Sunset laughed. “Though I can see your point.”

“She does the same thing with you, from what Vapor Trail’s been telling me.”

“Seriously?! That’s so-!”

“Cute, slash adorable, slash amazing, slash precious, slash ‘insert happy descriptor here,” Night Glider said, listing off all of the words that she thought Sunset would say, cutting her off in the process. “I’ve heard them all, Shimmer, trust me. If not from you, then from her.”

“Oh... sorry!” Sunset said, blushing. “She just makes me happy, ya know?”

“Yeah, I’m aware. If I wasn’t your friend, I’d probably wanna throw up at how in love you two are.”

“How was that?” Starlight’s voice said, having finished while the two were talking.

“It was great Starry!” Sunset exclaimed upon pressing the button to allow her to speak to her. “I’m probably not the best judge though.”

“Haha, I figured.” Starlight giggled, before turning her attention to her band’s guitar player. “What about you Glider, what did you think?”

“It was pretty good. That’s probably the best take out of the bunch,” she answered, giving her a thumbs up through the window.

“Great, then I’ll get started on the next verse.” Starlight said, swiping left on the tablet that had the lyrics on, flipping the virtual page. Taking a deep breath, she returned to singing, this time a different line. Sunset, once again, broke out into a lovestruck grin as the girl she’d spent two years with began pouring her heart into the next verse they had written.

Night Glider could only roll her eyes and smile at the two of them.

@^@v@^@v@^@

“Look on the brightside Sunset, you can at least say you were in the movie, and not just on the soundtrack,” Rainbow said, placing a comforting hand on Sunset’s shoulder. “Then again, if I were on the soundtrack, I’d probably lose it.”

“Ugh, this is going to be so weird...” Sunset groaned. “Why did things have to end up like this?”

“Karma for being former villains?” Starlight said with a shrug. “It would be a great ‘buck you’ from the multiverse and all.”

“Not helping...” Sunset said with an unhappy sigh.

“Sorry...”

“So wait, does this mean Sunset and Starlight can’t go to the premiere?” Pinkie asked, confused. “We were going to ask Princess Twilight if she wanted to come, so what’s the big deal?”

“It’s a big deal because we technically don’t belong in this world,” Sunset sighed. As much as she hated to admit it, she knew that it was true. This world already had a Sunset Shimmer, and one that was climbing the ladder of notoriety without being a stone cold bitch for the better part of the last few years. “What’s worse is that I’m in the movie, which is just going to make things even weirder.”

“That is true,” Twilight mumbled. “Considering that this world’s Sunset Shimmer was several hundred miles away when the movie was being filmed, it’s probably going to be super confusing.”

“Yeah,” Sunset said, defeated.
“Well, it could be worse,” Applejack said. “All we need to do is explain things to her. I’m sure she’d understand once we do. Juniper did.”

“Yeah, but our doubles have never experienced magic before, and Juniper didn’t exactly have to meet her double,” Starlight said, her voice sounding just as defeated as Sunset’s. “It’ll probably be extreme culture shock to see a magical copy of her from another dimension.”

“I can confirm that it is quite the... experience,” Twilight said, rubbing the back of her neck nervously. “It’d be so much easier to do this with Princess Twilight around to help explain things.”

“Yeah, but she’s busy with Princess things...” Sunset sighed, for the upteeth time. “Otherwise, Starlight likely wouldn’t have ended up coming here.”

“It would have made this whole thing a little more awkward if Starlight didn’t show up,” Twilight added. “If she didn’t come here, we probably wouldn’t have brought up the subject of doubles, and this whole thing would just be a nightmare to deal with.”

“All it would take is running into that Starlight and chaos would likely follow,” Starlight mumbled. “I know a draconequus that would love that.”

“Well, it’s not like they aren’t used to some form of chaos,” Rainbow added, trying to lighten the mood. “They are in a rock band that tours. I’m sure they’ve seen all kinds of strange stuff on the road. Maybe they’ll just think you’re diehard fans that look like them?”

“Maybe... they do have fans that have done that before,” Twilight said, flicking through the account of the other Sunset. “I think I remember seeing a photo like that somewhere on- here it is!”

Turning the phone to the girls it showed an image of two girls, who appeared to have dyed their hair to look like Sunset and Starlight, with the caption “Met two superfans today! They are dating too! So wild!” It was posted in mid October.

@^@v@^@v@^@

The brisk breeze of early autumn was something that made Starlight skin tremble. It wasn’t that cold, but it was certainly pretty chilly nonetheless. It was, if anything, sweaterweather at most. The colorful leaves that whisked through the air as they fell to the ground almost made it feel warmer due to their warm shades of red and yellow that made up most of the leaves.

The park had been a favorite dating spot for the two of them, since the view of the nature the park preserved always helped them feel inspired. Starlight was in the midst of writing her band’s new album, and felt extremely pressured to have it done on time. Having caught wind of it, Sunset opted to help her clear her head of stress with a walk through the park, and some lunch at the café on the other end of said park.

“It’s nice out today,” Sunset said, her hand intertwined with Starlight’s. The cool touch of the wind contrasted the warmth she felt between the grip of their fingers.

“It’s alright,” Starlight mumbled. “It’s a bit cold...”

“Isn’t your favorite season Winter?”

“Yeah, but not because of the temperature,” Starlight retorted with puffed cheeks. “I like it because the snow and ice makes everything look so beautiful.”

“The leaves do that in the fall too,” Sunset laughed.

“You’re just biased because you like the fall,” Starlight said, using her free hand to light jab her lover’s arm. “The leaves do remind me of your hair though.”

“I’m much prettier than some dead leaves though, right?”

“Keep telling yourself that, Sunny,” Starlight said, sticking her tongue out.

“Wow, rude!” Sunset huffed in an extremely sarcastic way. “See if I ever compliment you again.”

“You will.”

Before Sunset could offer up a rebuttal of playful pout-flirting, the sound of a squeal was heard from behind them. Turning her head, she saw two girls, younger than her and Starlight, rushing up to them.

“Oh. Em. Gee! Sunset Shimmer and Starlight Glimmer in the flesh!” one of them exclaimed, clearly excited. “I never thought I’d see them off stage oh my god!”

“I know right!? So cool!” the other yelled, with just as much vigor.

Sunset couldn’t help but laugh as the two of them rushed up to her and Starlight, especially after seeing what the two looked like. They were decked out with merch from their respective bands, likely from one of their local concerts, which wasn’t too hard to believe; they were a local band after all. The thing that stuck out to her was how the two girls had dyed their hair and styled it to match theirs. It was like looking at herself and Starlight in an old photo.

“Looks like we found our biggest fans, huh Starry?”

“No kidding,” Starlight said, clearly in disbelief. “I didn’t think we’d have fans like this yet.”

“Are you kidding? You guys are both amazing!” the ‘mini Sunset’ said excitedly. “You two are local legends at our school!”

“Yeah, the choir teacher won’t shut up about how she taught you guys!” the ‘mini Starlight added. “She wears it like a badge of honor!”

“We saw you two live five times! Your bands were both so great!”

“Haha, well thanks for the support!” Sunset laughed, “Did you enjoy the new album?”

“Are you kidding? Of course we did! Horizons never disappoints!” the ‘mini Sunset’ replied, with the ‘mini Starlight’ nodding vigorously. “That song that Starlight did the guest spot on was so magical! Your voices really go good together!”

“Thanks!” Starlight giggled. “We have another song like that coming on the new Skylines album.”

The two superfans jaws practically hit the pavement at the news, before they started bouncing up and down in excitement.

“Oh my god! That’s so awesome!” they both said. “We are so going to look forward to that song! The first song you two did together is our song!”

“You two are dating?” Sunset asked. “Huh... small world, huh, Starry?”

“It is...” Starlight said with a nod. “I never would have guessed that would happen.”

“No kidding,” Sunset said, pulling out her phone. “You two want to have your picture taken with us? I’ve got to show this to our bandmates.”

The squeal of excitement was all the answer she needed, and Starlight couldn’t help but feel like the cool air of the autumn wasn’t so bad... well, at least for today.

@^@v@^@v@^@

“Wow... Starlight, we have groupies,” Sunset chuckled.

“Technically, our doubles have groupies... whatever those are,” Starlight replied. “It is kinda cool though.”

“No fair! How come they have groupies and superfans, but the Rainbooms don’t?” Dash whined. “We’ve probably put just as much work into our stuff as they have.”

“They have two albums a piece, we haven’t even recorded demos,” Applejack said, bringing Dash back down to earth with the truth of the situation. “They clearly spent a lot of time and money to get those fans, whereas we haven’t yet.”

“I’m sure we’ll have some fans after the movie though!” Pinkie added. Rainbow perked up at the thought, and that was the end of that.

“Well, doesn’t matter either way... we’re going to have to figure out a way to deal with this,” Twilight said, her lips crinkling into something like a frown. “But I don’t even know how...”

“Can we talk about it over some milkshakes at Sugarcube Corner?” Pinkie asked.

“Why?” Twilight asked.

“Because the author of this fic needs to end it to meet a deadline.”

“Author?” Twilight said, confused. “What author?”

“The ones making us talk about this in the first place of course!” Pinkie replied, a huge grin plastered on her face.

“O.. kay... but sure, let’s go figure this out at Sugarcube Corner. We probably need to leave the school for the day anyway.”

“Alright, let’s go!” Pinkie exclaimed, running out the door. The others simply laughed, before following, save for Sunset and Starlight.

“So uh... think we could ever end up like that?” Starlight asked. “You know, dating or something?”

“I’m uh... taken... sorry...”

“Oh... OH! You and-?”

“Yup, it’s been kind of a secret for a little while,” Sunset said, smiling warmly at the thought of her dorky, book princess of a girlfriend. “It’s a little complicated, but it’s comfortable, ya know?”

“Not really.”

“Someday you will.”

“Maybe...” Starlight said wistfully. “We should probably get going.”

With a nod, the two of them left the room.

“This is going to be a fun thing to write to Twilight about...” Sunset thought to herself as she closed the door to the music room behind her.