Honey, This Mirror Isn't Big Enough For The Two Of Us
“Did you really think I was going to be evil?”
Sunset Shimmer stared at her reflection, cast in blood-red light. The mirror cracked along the centre, the spider web fracture separating her image into fragments. She frowned, white-hot tears streaking down her face, but her reflection simply smirked as it taunted her.
It was unlike any of her other nightmares. Her double was not the crimson-skinned, fire-haired she-demon she had gotten so used to, but nearly an exact replica of herself, save for the short, messy bob cut that ended just above the reflection’s shattered shoulders. Somehow, it was worse. She looked back at herself. An unfortunately familiar rage burned in the other Sunset’s eyes, steaming hot anger bubbling through.
Sunset—the real one—put her hands up over her face, knowing what came next. This facet of her dream may have been different, but it always followed the same pattern. She shut her eyes hard, brow furrowing in defence against the shards of glass that flew at her. They bounced off of amber skin, nicking sensitive flesh and allowing for dots of red to rise.
The broken glass fell to the ground with an echo, and Sunset dropped her arms, leaking crimson onto the ground, though it didn’t do more than sting. She frowned as she stared at herself. Never had she wished that her demon would torment her, but she found herself missing the familiarity, as morbid as it was. Sunset, clad in now blood-stained white, set her hard gaze on herself in front of her, clad in blacks and leather. The other Sunset’s shortened hair blew with the wind of Sunset’s dream. Their gazes fought; icy cold against burning hot.
All Sunset could do was blink and look away. A cold, deeply familiar laugh followed, emanating from her double’s throat. “You and I may look the same, Sunset Shimmer, but we couldn’t be more different,” she hissed. Sunset found the cold hardness foreign in her own voice, though she knew she had once spoken like that. “Despite what you did and how you redeemed yourself, you replaced me. You don’t belong.”
The world broke under Sunset’s feet, and her body lurched downwards. Her gut rose to her throat as she let out a scream, falling endlessly. Her lookalike gazed down at her from above as she fell, smirking. Brilliant turquoise eyes burned into Sunset’s mind, stronger than her demon’s fire ever felt.
“We don’t belong.”
Sunset gasped harshly as she sat up from her bed. Sweat streaked down her face, her blankets in a bunch around her from thrashing. Limbs shook as she looked down at her arms, the routine performed mindlessly. No real cuts on her arms, no burns, no real damage. Yet her heart raced as if she had been injected with pure adrenaline. The beating resonated in her head, much too loud for the empty loft.
Shaken, she wobbly swung her legs off the side of her bed and hoisted herself to her feet. A palm rested on her forehead as she shook away the dizziness that often followed a nightmare. Sunset frowned, steadying herself. “But that one was different,” she mumbled.
Often, she could remember the nightmares much too vividly. They were always the same, every single time. She assumed it was the dark magic that once lived inside her; the one that spawned the she-demon in the first place. The one that turned her into a horrifying winged beast. Its punishment had to be to torment Sunset for everything she did, which would explain the image on the she-demon she saw most nights.
But she had never seen herself as a human, at least not like that. She’d never had her hair that short on purpose and she would certainly never speak like that; at least not usually. Frowning, she made her way down the steps to the bathroom. Her footsteps echoed as the full moon basked her apartment in its eerie light.
“This is ridiculous,” Sunset muttered as she splashed cold water on her face. Her skin was red-hot to the touch, a likely aftereffect from the nightmare. “I was never able to find out about the me from this world,” she mumbled. “I just thought I didn’t exist.”
Her skin shouted in agony at the splash of freezing cold water. It was like putting her hands in burning hot water after a long winter day outside; painful and tingly.
Almost fearfully, Sunset hesitated before moving her gaze up to the mirror. Her eyes slid shut automatically, and she gritted her teeth as she pried her eyelids open after a moment. Turquoise eyes slid up and gazed upon her reflection.
It was normal.
🔅🔅🔅
After a gruelling four hours of sleep, Sunset was much too ready to get out of school. Her physics class had gone painfully slowly, even with Twilight trying her best to make the detrimentally miserable Sunset smile. Prods to her shoulders and dorky notes on the edges of her paper did serve to force the corners of Sunset’s lips up, but the slight irrational fear of reflections that lasted the day following a bad dream only helped to push them back down. What was worse was that she couldn’t quite remember the dream other than the feeling of pure wrongness that prevailed into her waking life.
And when that bell rang, Sunset practically shot up, waved to Twilight, and ran out of the room. It was set to snow later on in the day, but in the meantime, Sunset sat on the seat of her motorbike, cold, chilly air nipping through her riding jacket. Amber hands gripped tightly on her handlebars, revving the engine as she sped down the road, though only her knuckles showed through the gloves. They weren’t the most cold-resistant, but they were better than nothing, she thought.
Rumbling lowly, the bike pulled to a stop at a red light. Sunset pulled her scarf down from her chin and exhaled. Warm breath baked a cloud of condensation as she let out the air slowly, letting the freezing temperatures cut at her skin. The contrast of the coldness of the air and the warmth of her scarf-covered face made her cringe, if only because she remembered washing away the dream.
Next to her, another bike pulled up. Sunset shot a quick glance over, but the rider had on a full-face helmet as opposed to her half. She shrugged and looked forward again, pulling up her scarf once more to try to preserve heat. As her bike growled and purred beneath her, a speck of white falling on her nose caught her attention. It fell on the light blue wool—a present from Rarity—and stayed, blurring in its closeness to her eyes. Sunset went cross-eyed looking at it, but the snowflake never came into full focus much to her disappointment.
The sports bike next to her revved, roaring loudly in the way only a sports bike could. Sunset shook her head and looked over once more, though the handler of that motorcycle did not even glance her way. Steel hard eyes locked onto the still-red light, and through the tinted visor, Sunset swore she could see hungry eyes, the type that she used to see every day in herself. A knot grew in her stomach. Something wasn’t right, but it didn’t exactly feel magical so much as it felt… wrong.
Swallowing doubt, Sunset subconsciously pulled on her riding goggles, adjusting the accessory on her cold-flushed face. The other biker sat confidently on the bike, their body perfectly adjusted to the build of the bike. Dark leather matched perfectly with the sleek black of the machine, though a red line cut through the middle, accenting the black with a touch of colour. Underneath the line, following it was a yellow one. It was quite impressive, though Sunset herself preferred a cruiser bike, especially after her old hybrid one had been wrecked during her… rampage.
She frowned and looked at her handlebars, giving them a quick rev, anticipating the turn of the lights. Just as Sunset looked up, green flashed, and she kicked up her foot and took off once more. The other biker went ahead, and from behind, Sunset could just barely make out the ends of short-cut red and gold hair.
Her heart skipped a beat as her grip loosened. Deja vu crashed down on her, though she couldn’t quite tell what it was that caused it. Powdery snow fell around her as the other biker sped away, red and gold mystery disappearing with them. Gaze set dead ahead, Sunset swallowed dryly as she absent-mindedly drove down the familiar streets of Canterlot.
🔅🔅🔅
“You’re being ridiculous.”
Sunset’s heart dropped. “What? Really? You think it’s some kind of… completely unrelated thing?”
Twilight, especially through the phone, put on her best detached science-y voice. “It’s not improbable to think that there are other people who share your same hair colour, Sunset,” she pointed out. Sunset could practically hear the glasses sliding up her nose. “And the feeling you got was probably just residual anxiety from your nightmare.”
“I don’t get anxious,” Sunset deflected, throwing herself on her bed. Blankets thwumped around her as she groaned and rolled onto her back. “I get answers, and I can tell there’s something fishy going on, Twilight. I could feel it.”
“You can’t just feel things,” Twilight interjected. “What else did you see?”
“Well, she had a motorbike! With my colours on it!” Sunset recalled. She could have sworn there was some kind of decal, but the only thing she could remember other than the gold and red was the snowflake that landed on her nose.
“So? Red and yellow are a great colour combination. That doesn’t mean anything.”
“It obviously does! Come on Twi. Bad-ass looking biker chick with red and gold hair and a faraway, yet hardened look in her eyes?” She crossed her arms and stared at her ceiling. “Come on, that’s totally hot and absolutely me! I do all those things all the time!”
“And she didn’t once look at you?”
“No, not once. Deadset on the road ahead of her,” Sunset explained.
“And you didn’t see anything other than her hair? No skin tone or eye colour?”
Even though Twilight wasn’t physically there, Sunset found herself shaking her head. “Nothing. Visor’s tinted and she was all covered up thanks to the cold. I guess she was wearing a turtleneck or something, but I couldn’t see her neck or anything.” It was almost frustrating for some reason.
“Right, so what we’re going off here is… hair colour and… her bike?” Twilight hesitated, then added with a smirk prevalent in her voice, “Not much to go off of, is there?”
Twilight was right, Sunset knew it. But she also knew what she saw and what she felt. Frustrated, she grabbed a pillow and threw it onto her face, letting out a muffled shriek.
“Sunset?”
After a breath, Sunset sat up and put her phone to her ear. “Look, Twi, I know it doesn’t make sense, but I know she was me. I can feel it. I can’t quite explain it but I just know.”
“Okay,” Twilight said slowly. “Okay, I believe you. It can’t be that crazy, I guess. Princess Twilight is… well, me, and she said that everyone else has a pony counterpart in Equestria, so it would only make sense for you to have one too, right?” Giggling a bit, her tone entirely different, she hummed. “Well, I guess what I mean is that you’d have one here…”
Sunset nodded. She glanced at the window. It was fully dark out, though the streetlights gave way for some light to reflect off the gathering snow. Flakes drifted down, both onwards and down and hitting her window to disintegrate. “I kind of want to find her, Twi,” she admitted. “I need to see how bad I messed up.”
“Messed up? What do you mean, messed up?”
Chuckling dryly, Sunset rolled her eyes and sat up. On her wall rested an old mirror, sporting a huge crack down its middle. Her reflection split in two; one side was mostly normal, and the other further divided her face, cutting her hair short and scattered. She pursed her lips and locked her eyes on the mirror. “I’m... “
The image of a different her burned in her memory, though she could barely grasp it before it went away.
She winced. “I’m not supposed to be here, Twilight. But she is. Maybe I ruined her life!”
“You didn’t,” Twilight reassured.
“How do you know?” she pleaded. Her eyes drifted over the broken part of her reflection.
“Because she was still there, right?” Twilight offered. She paused for a moment and cleared her throat. “Look, I’m not sure how likely it is, but you shouldn’t worry about it. You said she had a bike, so she can’t be doing all bad, right?”
“I guess…”
“Exactly. Besides, I don’t think you’ll run into her again. You haven’t before, so why would you now?”
The snow dampened all outside noise, leaving Sunset in comfortable silence. She turned away from the mirror and smiled, once more admiring the snowfall. “You’re right. I don’t have to worry about it anymore.”
🔅🔅🔅
“You have got to be kidding me,” Sunset muttered under her breath.
Her seat at the corner café gave her the perfect viewpoint of anyone entering or leaving; once a useful tool, now a nice bonus. It had been cold in her loft, so she decided to come to the café to work on her schoolwork. The coffee was definitely a bonus.
But what wasn’t a bonus was who she spotted walking in. It was like looking at a picture of herself—if she had shorter hair. She strode in with her helmet under her arm, and tossed her perfectly messy hair up and to the side, effectively clearing it from her forearm.
It was no longer like looking at a picture of herself, but like looking at a game version of herself. Like when she played Simuls and made her ideal self. That Sunset, and she was sure she was a Sunset now, even walked better, striding in with swaying shoulders and perfect confidence on her face. It was as though the entire room lit up upon her entry, and Sunset couldn’t help but stare.
She couldn’t tell what the other her was saying, but she even looked like she spoke better, her half-lidded eyes and easy smile enchanting the waiter with no effort put into it. Sunset stared as the better her ran her free hand through that glorious mane of fire atop her head. Again, Sunset felt a certain wrongness building up in her, but she just couldn’t look away.
That is, until the other her turned her head and scanned the room. At first, she glanced over Sunset, but then her eyes widened as she did a double-take, her gaze falling directly on Sunset. The double’s jaw dropped as she fumbled with her helmet and threw it on her head, devoid of the grace and coolness that had seemed to come naturally to her. With a yelp, Sunset watched as she shot out of the café.
No! I might never be able to meet her again!
Determined, Sunset shot up and hastily threw her books into her bag, then the laptop in with it. She chugged the warm coffee and threw her jacket on, running out the door all the same. The other Sunset fumbled with her bike before hopping on and revving the engine.
Luck must have been on her side, because Sunset ran equally as quickly up to her bike, parked right next to her doppelganger’s. The second sunset all but screamed as she kicked up her kickstand. “What the fuck!” she trailed off as she zoomed down the road.
Sunset threw on her helmet and turned on her engine as fast as possible, ignoring the cold that already started to set in. She did not have time to throw on her riding goggles before she set off after her double. “Hey!” she called after her, hoping that she’d hear. “Hey, come back!”
Revving her engine to the max, Sunset looked down at her trusty motorbike. It was refurbished by her own doing, but it roared like a lion as she weaved between cares, following closely behind the other Sunset. She growled. “Come on! You have a sports bike, that’s not fair!”
The other Sunset—Shimmer, I think that’s easiest—turned her head once they reached a bit of open road. “Fuck you! This is not what I had planned for my Saturday morning!” she shrieked, the words barely getting through her visor.
And you think it’s what I had planned for mine?
Sunset revved her engine as they left the inner-city limits. Either Shimmer lived somewhere beyond downtown Canterlot, or she was trying to lose Sunset in the country roads somehow. Well, her bike is probably faster than mine. The cold wind and snow cut at her exposed skin and made her blink more than she could keep her eyes open. She might as well have been driving with her eyes closed.
“Slow down, I just want to talk!” Sunset tried again, her throat growing dry from the shrieking in the freezing winter air. The roads slowly became icier and icier, snow covering where the city workers did not salt it.
A muffled voice filled the air, but Sunset couldn’t quite hear Shimmer over the sound of the wind howling in her ears. She grit her teeth together as she revved once more, leaning forward as if it would help. “C’mon girl, just a little faster!”
The bike gave one loud roar and for a moment Sunset thought it had worked. Her smile faltered in the split second that she felt her ride bump beneath her. The uneven country roads jerked Sunset forward, forcing her to lean on her handlebars and turn the bike in a different direction. Frantically blinking snow out of her eyes, Sunset let out a quick scream as her instincts forced her to grip tightly, effectively braking her bike. The road became like ice beneath her wheels as they lost all traction. She knew what that was: hydroplane. The wheels spun-out from beneath her, and in a split second, Sunset braced herself as the bike slid sideways, dragging her across the hard, snowy ground.
The impact brought ringing to her ears as her bike slid away from her. Her head recoiled off the ground and shot stars into her vision as everything blurred. She had ended up in a ditch, somehow, though she figured it was better than being on the side of the road. The warmth of blood toyed with her skin, and she looked down to her shredded clothes, prickles of red showing through her rawed skin. It stung, and she frowned, clenching reddened palms together. Sunset huffed and brought her head up. Her skull pulsed with pain, and thanks to the numbness the cold brought on rather quickly, Sunset was able to take off her helmet, though she couldn’t decide if it helped or not.
In her mind, she crawled up the hill and signalled for help. But her body refused to listen, and she merely pawed at the snow that slowly built up on the hillside. Vision doubled, Sunset sighed and rested her head fully on the ground, cold pain shooting up her forehead as small trickles of blood froze to her face.
“Holy shit, are you okay?” a distant voice called to her.
Sunset slowly looked up, still trying to figure out a plan. It wasn’t that she was horribly injured, but everything hurt too much to move immediately. Her blurred vision finally crossed over, then into each other for a better view. At the top of the mini hillside, a silhouette looked down at her. If Sunset squinted, she could barely just make out the features of someone like her. Someone just like her. The feeling of falling down hit her for only a moment, and it made her queasy.
Rattled and trembling, Sunset got to her hands and knees and looked up at Shimmer. “Yeah, just a bit shaken up.”
Shimmer seemed to hesitate before sliding down the side of the snowy, slippery hill. Despite that, she managed to keep balance and immediately crouched down next to Sunset. “Really? You just slid the fuck out! That was insane, are you sure you’re fine?”
Getting a closer look at her, even with blurred vision, Sunset could tell that Shimmer was a pure casanova. Sharp, defined features set the stage for a near symmetrical face, framed by perfectly messy flames for hair, only marred by one scar going through her eyebrow. Talk about hot.
Suddenly a bit embarrassed, Sunset placed a hand on her head. “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. Just a little… in intense pain,” she admitted with a mix between a grunt and a wheeze to punctuate the sentence. “Nothing I haven’t dealt with before.” To prove her point, she wiped the blood from her nose and gave Shimmer a crooked smile. Her eyes met a twin pair, and the knot in Sunset’s stomach returned.
Shimmer scratched the back of her neck in the same way that Sunset did when she was uncomfortable. Her eyes darted around the scene, so Sunset did the same. Her motorcycle lay on its side a good fifty feet away from where she did. Sunset’s gaze fell back on the ground below her, speckled lightly with blood. “Heh. Never thought I’d be lying in a ditch again,” she mumbled.
An amber hand came into her vision. Sunset looked up to see Shimmer crouched in front of her now, arm outstretched. “C’mon, get up. You’re going to freeze your ass off.”
Sunset hesitated. Did she want to risk taking hold of Shimmer’s hand? She knew that it would likely be fine since Twilight Sparkle and her Equestrian Princess counterpart had met before and the world was still intact, but it wasn’t exactly what she was worried about. But she needed to get up, and so she pushed down her magical fear and grabbed hold of Shimmer, who hoisted her up. With a grunt, Sunset staggered before finding her balance, albeit still a bit unsteady.
“Do you need to go to the hospital?” Shimmer asked, eyeing Sunset up and down.
It was all Sunset could do not to squirm under her gaze. ”No, I’m fine, thanks,” she quickly shot out, knowing that the hospital was never a good idea. Especially if they both showed up.
Shimmer crossed her arms over her chest and looked off to the side. Her jaw clenched as her eyes hardened on the horizon. “So who are you?” she asked, still gazing away.
Sunset blinked, shaking herself out of staring at her double. Am I a narcissist? She cleared her throat, the dry sensation burning as the cold seeped further into her. “Oh, uh, okay. This is going to sound really weird but—”
“What, you’re some kind of time traveller, or clone, or alternate dimension version of myself?” she interrupted, smirking a bit as she glanced at Sunset out of her peripheral vision.
She was joking, obviously, but Sunset only chuckled at how close she was to the truth. “Your name is Sunset Shimmer, right?”
Shimmer’s smirk dropped to a frown as her whole body turned to Sunset. “What? How the hell do you know my name?”
“That’s my name, too,” Sunset explained. At Shimmer’s snort of disbelief, Sunset sighed and scratched the back of her neck. “I’m serious. Think about it, we look exactly the same, and we even sound the same. How else would I have known your name?”
Her double blinked, then took a step back. She put a hand on her forehead, shaking her head slightly. “No, this has to be some kind of prank! It’s physically impossible. There can’t be two of me. I’m an only child! And time travel doesn’t exist. Neither does interdimensional travelling!” With every word, her voice grew more frantic.
Sunset stepped forward shakily and put a hand on Shimmer’s shoulder. “Hey, calm down. You have to trust me, it’s fine, okay? We’re separate people who happen to look the same and… are the same, but we’re still separate people.”
Shimmer pursed her lips and glared at Sunset before sighing. “Okay, okay, fine. I’ll just wake up and it’ll all go away….”
Even through the pain, Sunset rolled her eyes. “No, you won’t. But whatever makes you feel better,” she muttered. A gust of wind blew snowflakes into her eyes, and Sunset remembered her situation. Glancing over to where her motorbike lay, she took a tentative step toward it before Shimmer tugged on her arm.
“Wait, you’re just going to freeze to death like this. Plus, I don’t think you should be driving, even if your bike is fine,” Shimmer pointed out. “Come on, we’ll check on your bike and I’ll call a tow truck. Where do you live?”
Sunset grimaced and rubbed her temple. The action made the ringing in her ears grow louder, drowning out her very thoughts. Stumbling over her own words like a blind man in a forest, Sunset managed to push out her address. “It’s a building near the factory on Mane and Industry,” she mumbled. “It isn’t hard to miss.”
Shimmer nodded firmly once, then put an arm around Sunset’s shoulders, allowing her to hoist herself up and steady herself on Shimmer. With their newfound closeness, Sunset could feel many things. While she wasn’t exactly scrawny herself, Sunset could tell Shimmer had a bit more muscle on her. Other than that, she was almost exactly the same. Sunset’s grip on her tightened as they struggled their way up the snowy hillside. The snowfall worsened with each passing moment.
The pair were silent the entire way up to Shimmer’s bike. They reached the vehicle, engine still purring, and decided to stop there. Sunset leaned on the bike a bit, the rumbling of the engine comforting her in a strange way. She glanced over to Shimmer, who held one hand on her chin and propped her elbow on the arm she had crossed over her torso as she gazed over in the direction of Sunset’s crashed bike. The deep growl of the motorcycle was barely audible, muffled even more thanks to the snowfall and rustling wind between the field of wheat on either side of the road.
“So, seriously… What are you?” Shimmer finally asked, breaking the cold silence. She turned back to Sunset, scrutinizing her with eyes as cold as the snow.
Sunset’s skin prickled under the hard stare that Shimmer bored onto her. Something about the way she looked at her felt oddly familiar. How could she even begin to explain? “It’s… complicated.”
“I have time.”
As she said that, the wind picked up a bit. Sunset shivered. “Do we have to do this now? It’s really freaking cold out. If you really want to know, can we at least go somewhere warm?”
“Like the hospital?” Shimmer offered with a shrug. “Look, I don’t know who or… what you are, but you wiped out pretty hard. Trust me, I’ve gotten concussions before and they’re no joke.”
“I know!” Sunset snarled, feeling her head ache with the expulsion of the words. Groaning, she held her head. “It’s just that I don’t have any real documents, and won’t they think it’s weird that we look the same?”
Shimmer frowned and tapped her chin. “Well, I could always give you mine and drop you off, then say we’re twins or something…”
“I guess,” Sunset admitted. “But it’s too risky, I’ll be okay. I just need to make sure my bike is fine.”
“Oh.” Shimmer shook her head. “Yeah, no, there’s no way you’re riding that home, sorry, Sunny.”
Sunset frowned a bit, then shook her head. “Sunny?”
“I hate it,” Shimmer admitted, “so I figured you would, too. Was I right?” At Sunset’s nod, she snorted and smirked. “Cool, so I’ll call a tow truck and we can get you somewhere warm so you can explain to me what the fuck is going on, okay?”
What choice did she really have?
“Okay, fine. But we are not going to the hospital.”
Shimmer rolled her eyes. “When you die, don’t blame me,” she scoffed. “But okay, I’ll take you home, then. You can explain to me there.”
Sunset crossed her arms and looked away as Shimmer dialed on her phone, walking closer to Sunset’s crashed bike. What have I gotten myself into? She tuned Shimmer out as she talked to someone about a towing service, letting her attention focus on the wheat fields bordering the road. She thought about what Applejack would do in her situation, and if Applejack would think her double was attractive, too.
Of course, it was a bit vain to think so. By thinking that Shimmer was attractive, then Sunset was practically admitting that she herself was attractive. It wouldn’t be a lie to say she thought it, but to see herself as a third party… Wow. She was even better than she thought.
Or maybe it was Shimmer, specifically. Sunset definitely thought her face was a bit rounder than Shimmer’s, though she definitely wasn’t complaining. And that scar on her brow? She sort of wished she had one, too. Though, she wasn’t exactly sure what exactly had caused Shimmer to have it. Maybe she could ask?
Shimmer’s gaze on her own forced her to realize that she had been staring again. Blushing, Sunset averted her gaze as Shimmer shrugged and hung up the phone, handing Sunset her helmet and the bag she had taken in the side compartment. The laptop was probably broken, but that was the least of her concerns.
“The tow truck will be here soon, but I think it’s better if we get out of here,” Shimmer explained. “I told them to drop it off at the body shop in front of your place, alright?”
Sunset nodded.
“Right. Let’s get out of here, Sunny.” Shimmer gestured behind her, and Sunset stepped away from the bike, putting the helmet back on her head with a pained grunt thanks to the tender state of her head.
Shimmer hoisted her leg over the seat, taking the rumbling bike between her legs and putting on her masked helmet. Confidently, she gripped the handlebars. A bit unsure, Sunset climbed on behind her. She’d never ridden backseat on a motorcycle before, and she had certainly never thought about how awkward it was to be the one behind. Having someone hug around your waist was just normal when you were driving and focused, but as the one being driven it was different. Tentatively, Sunset held her hands over Shimmer’s waist, as if touching her would make her double upset. Shimmer stared at her hard, wordlessly telling her to just do it.
Sunset swallowed as she robotically wrapped her arms around Shimmer’s waist, doing her best to shield herself from the cold and blowing snow. She suddenly felt envious of Shimmer’s apparent choice to always wear turtlenecks.
Shimmer revved the engine and shifted in her seat. With a smirk, she looked back at Sunset. “Hold on tight, Sunny.”
Sunset held her closer.
🔅🔅🔅
“So you’re telling me,” Shimmer started, taking a long swig of her beer, “that you’re from a different universe where we’re all ponies and have magic and can fly?” She gave a lopsided smile. “Oh great, you’re crazy. Does that mean I’m crazy?”
Sunset, now cleaned up and since patched up from her accident, sat on the dingy couch next to Shimmer. The beer swirled around in her bottle as she spun it in her grip. A snort escaped her. “Only some ponies can do those things, and there are only a ho–handful who can do both.” She paused and furrowed her brow. “And I’m not crazy. You asked for an explanation, and I’m giving it to you,” she retorted.
“You’re not crazy. You’re fucking insane,” Shimmer pointed out as she took another sip.
Sighing seemed to be Sunset’s new favourite action as she did it again, blinking slowly. “I still have Equestrian bits, and my saddlebag from there. I also have a magic journal with which I can talk to an alicorn princess from that world,” she monotoned. “Would you like to see it?”
Shimmer made an ‘X’ with her arms. “No fucking way. I’ll just take you at your word. It won’t matter anyway. I won’t think about it again once I get out of here.”
Once she left? Sunset cocked her head with an odd smile. “Why haven’t you left yet, then? I told you what you wanted, and I’m fine and patched up. You don’t have to stay, you know.”
The air hung silent, only filled by the muffled wind from the outside. Shimmer turned her head to look out the window and furrowed her brow. “It’s coming down really hard, you know. I don’t feel like dying in a crash today.” Without turning her head back, she glanced at Sunset. “You wouldn’t want me to get hurt, would you?” she asked slowly.
Sunset swallowed. “Well, no, of course not. I just… thought…”
“Don’t worry about it, Sunny. You won’t even know I’m here,” she assured her. “I’d tell you to go to sleep, but seeing as how you just bashed your head on the ground, I don’t think that’s a great idea. What do you have around here? No movies or anything?”
“No,” Sunset responded, a bit dismayed. She took a large gulp of her beer and looked at her lap. “I don’t usually have people over, so I just don’t buy things like that,” she admitted. “I usually just read or something.”
Shimmer groaned and sulked into the couch. “God, you’re lame. And if you’re me, that’s a big offence, Sunny!”
Sunset shook her head, the alcohol beginning to swim in her tender mind. “You’re the one who freaked out and ran away when you first laid eyes on me!” she shot back.
“What the fuck did you expect to happen? This kind of shit doesn’t happen every day, you know.”
“Maybe not to you,” Sunset grumbled. At Shimmer’s inquisitive and forceful frown, she relented and rubbed her palms on warm cheeks. “Ugh, long story but all kinds of weird stuff happens to my friends and me. Sorry if I’m a bit unfazed. Honestly, the weirdest thing about all of this is how hot you are! I mean, you’re me. So is that weird? Or am I just a narcissistic bitch? Cause I definitely don't look like you. I got soft. Really soft!”
Shimmer’s bottle clanked as she put it on the table and reached forward for Sunset’s. “Okay, uh, thanks? I think you had too much to drink, Sunny.”
Too much to drink? “But I only had two! You’re on your third,” Sunset defended, clutching her beer closer to her.
“Yeah,” Shimmer agreed, pushing herself to her knees and grasping Sunset’s bottle in her hand. “But I didn’t faceplant the floor.” She gave the bottle a tug, but Sunset was unyielding. “Ugh! Give me the fucking bottle!”
Sunset bared her teeth. “I didn’t ask for your help, Shimmer,” she hissed, struggling to move the bottle over her head. For her efforts, she was rewarded a face full of Shimmer. Sunset shut her eyes and let out a guttural growl. “I’m not drunk! I might be a little buzzed but I can handle the rest of my beer.” With one final grunt of exertion, Sunset flung her arm back with the bottle. Shimmer went with it, losing her balance and landing on top of Sunset.
“God fucking dammit!” Shimmer shrieked as her forehead collided with Sunset’s chin, who wheezed as the breath was knocked out of her. Sunset’s double snarled as she hoisted herself up, holding herself overtop of Sunset. She shot daggers at her. “You fucking suck.”
Sunset felt her face redden under Shimmer’s shadow. Her hand let go of its grip on the beer and it clattered loudly on the floor behind the armrest. Afraid to move, Sunset simply gave herself a tiny smirk. “To be fair, you’re the one straddling me.”
Sunset could have sworn she saw a blush creep up on Shimmer’s face, but she turned her head away before Sunset could make sure. Shimmer snorted. “All that and you dropped your beer anyway. You’re a mess.” With that, Shimmer propped herself back up to a sitting position, but didn’t move from her seat on Sunset’s legs.
Taking that as an invitation to sit up, Sunset did so, although a bit awkwardly as it felt like doing a crunch thanks to Shimmer weighing her legs down. Once up, they ended up merely inches away; each a near perfect parallel of the other. It was almost like looking through a distorted mirror.
Sunset let her eyes trace over every detail of Shimmer’s face now that they were so close. Apart from the scar that split her left eyebrow and the slight extra sharpness on her face, Sunset knew that they were practically clones of each other. She even had the same slight discolouration on her sclera; a splotch of blue in the mostly green eyes.
Shimmer seemed to be doing the same to her. Her eyes drifted up and down Sunset’s face, then came to rest somewhere on her neck. Shimmer’s lips tensed, then loosened in a sigh. “Did you mean what you said? That I was…” she cringed a bit, “hot?”
The noise that Sunset let out could only be explained as some kind of horrible hybrid between a cough and a squeal. She cleared her throat immediately, knowing that there was no way she successfully played it off. “What? I mean, yeah. Have you seen yourself?”
Shimmer looked at Sunset and smirked, as if a switch had been pulled. “Well today I certainly have,” she joked. “And yeah, I know we’re hot. I just wanted to know if you meant it.”
“Oh, y-yeah.”
Sunset hadn’t realized that Shimmer had been keeping her hands up near her own torso until they dropped next to Sunset’s thighs, changing Shimmer’s upright position to one that was more hunched over, practically skimming their noses against each other. Shimmer’s eyes burned through Sunset’s soul. “And… we’re just separate people that happen to look alike and stuff, right Sunny?”
The way Shimmer said her pet name sent a shiver down Sunset’s body. There was a feeling of wrongness, like… in her dream. “Yes?”
“That’s right,” Shimmer breathed. Her warm breath was a contrast from the cool air in the loft, and Sunset was actually able to see it condense in the air, backlit by the soft moonlight shining in and reflecting off of the snowy window. “We’re completely different. I don’t think you belong here, but I don’t think I belong here, either.”
Shimmer lingered for a moment, eyes wandering Sunset’s face once again. “I dreamt about you, you know. Thought it was another dream back in the coffee shop. That’s why I freaked out.”
She had dreamt about her, too? At the same moment, Sunset’s dream came back to her – perfectly clearly as if it was fresh. But it was different than this. Much different. The Shimmer in her dream was angry. This one… Sunset wasn’t sure what she was, but at least she wasn't trying to kill her.
Then she remembered what she had said. They were different people. Shimmer wasn’t an extension of Sunset’s inner self like the demon that appeared in her dream was. Maybe they shared some kind of connection, but they were in fact entirely different beings. Had her dream been trying to warn her? Or had it been trying to prepare her?
Shimmer exhaled sharply through her nose, threatening to do what Sunset had both been hoping she would and wouldn’t do. “If this is a dream, Sunny…” Shimmer leaned forward until their lips brushed against each other. “Then I don’t wanna wake up,” she whispered, closing the gap between them fully.
Both Sunset Shimmers let out a breath, working in tandem as the powdery, falling curtain of silence outside the window fizzled to a slow stop. The air was silent and still, filled with electricity and the audible reminders of the human burden of oxygen dependency.
🔅🔅🔅
The morning sun clobbered Sunset’s eyelids with painful assault. Her head throbbed as she sat up from her bed. Instinctively, Sunset rubbed her forehead where her horn would have once been. Blinking through the discomfort as her eyes adjusted to the dark, the events of the night prior slowly came back to her, and with no regard for her own comfort, she shot her eyes open, darting her strained gaze around.
The room was empty.
It wasn’t a dream. It couldn’t have been one. It was too real and she definitely had the marks to show for it, she realized as she uncovered herself, happy to at least find herself in shorts and a shirt. Panicked, she stood up, ignoring the pain throbbing in her brain and leaned against the railing that overlooked her main living space. Shimmer wasn’t there either.
Sunset blinked frustrated tears away and shook her head. “Of course she’d do that! She is me, after all, and I wasn’t always the most considerate!” she hissed. She flung her arms down and huffed, deciding it best to just forget about it. It had to be late morning since it was already bright outside. The snow had stopped at some point, but she couldn’t exactly remember when.
As she approached the stairs that led to the lower level of her open-concept loft, she noticed a bright red sticky note on the railing. Cocking her head, she picked it up and squinted at it.
Hey Sunny!
Sorry to leave you hanging but you looked like such a sleeping dork! I didn’t want to wake you
Plus I thought maybe you died or something.
Anyway I didn’t just leave you as a notch on my bedpost (or technically yours?), don’t worry. I had a shift at work so I had to go. I may be a bitch but I do have some sort of self-respect.
Hope your head feels better, though you didn’t seem to be having too much trouble with it last night.
I’ll see you later
And I left my number in your phone (we have the same password lol)
(not anymore I changed mine)
The Cooler Sunset Shimmer
Sunset held the note in her hand, a crooked smile crossing her face. It was so… weird, admittedly but… well, she’d already crossed that, what with being a magical unicorn from another land and all. What was another facet to the weirdness?
The way Shimmer acted the night before was so different from the note she left. It was strange. But, there was one person she wanted to tell everything to immediately.
Grabbing her phone from her bedside table—the wallpaper was now a picture of Shimmer with a double horns sign and her tongue sticking out (oh so that’s what that was!!!)—Sunset opened her contacts app. Right at the top of her list was her best friend. She hit the dial button. Almost immediately, there was a response.
“Sunset! Oh my gosh, are you okay?”
Sunset snickered. “Yeah, Twi. I’m fine? Why do you ask?”
“Because you texted me last night that you found your counterpart and crashed your bike and then never picked up again!” Twilight shrieked. Sunset held the phone away from her ear. “I was just about to freak out and call a search party or something!”
“About to? This is about to?”
“Shush! I’m glad you’re okay,” Twilight added with a calm voice that allowed Sunset to bring the phone back to her ear. “So, how was she? Was she just like you? Taller? Older? Oh, why would she be any different? Unless she is!”
And there was the excitable Twilight that Sunset knew. She grinned and rolled her eyes, making her way downstairs to sit down on the very couch where it had all started. “She looks a tiny bit different, but nothing too crazy. I mean, she’s crazy hot but that’s beside the point.”
Twilight stayed silent for a moment. “Hot?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh. How so?”
Sunset sighed dreamily. “She’s basically a cooler me. She’s got shorter hair, sharper jawline, a scar on her eyebrow and a tongue piercing!”
“Woah. Wait, a tongue piercing? Did you guys talk a lot or something? How’d you find out?”
The memory played back in Sunset’s mind. “Oh, we made out.”
“You made out?!”
“And then some.”
“WHAT? SUNSET?!”
She chuckled awkwardly, bringing a sore arm to rub the back of her neck. “Look, it’s kind of a long story. She brought me home after I crashed—I’m fine, by the way—and we were just hanging out because it was getting snowy. There was some beer involved, but it’s not like we got drunk or anything. One thing led to another and the next thing I know, my hotter self is making out with me!”
“Sunset. I am not going to lie. That. Is kind of gross.”
“No it’s not,” Sunset defended, a bit hurt and embarrassed. “We’re two completely different adult people. We just happen to have some similarities!”
“As in you look, talk, sound, and act entirely the same,” Twilight deadpanned.
“Not completely,” Sunset whined. “Come on, it’s not that weird! I mean maybe at first it was but eventually it wasn’t. Come on, Twi, you can’t tell me you were never curious.”
Twilight hesitated. “About what?”
“You met Princess Twilight,” she reminded her. “You weren’t… curious about what it might be like? What she might be like?”
“Well, the thought did cross my mind,” Twilight admitted, “but I don’t think I’d ever try to find out. It’s too weird! Plus, I don’t like the idea of any sort of romantic intimacy unless it means something.”
Sunset frowned and adjusted herself on the couch to lay on her back. “I wasn’t planning on it happening… but I guess I’m not too upset it did. She left a note telling me to call her. I’m… not sure what that means, but she didn’t just leave after last night. That has to mean something, right?”
“Do you want it to mean something?”
Did she? Sunset shrugged, even though Twilight couldn’t see her. “I don’t know. Maybe? I wouldn’t hate seeing her more often. She’s kind of a lot but… she can be nice. She’s definitely not as bad as I used to be, at least.”
“Well, I certainly don’t understand, nor do I think that it’s morally acceptable, but I suppose there are no real laws against it seeing as you two are not related and are literally the same person,” Twilight said quickly. “Do what you want, I guess, but people are going to think the wrong thing. If you… date.”
Sunset sighed and rolled over onto her stomach, pushing herself up with a hand. “I know. That’s the worst thing. But it doesn’t matter. I don’t know what it is that she wants so I won’t assume that I do.”
“Good plan. And whatever happens… I just hope you’re happy. Really.”
That brought a warm smile to Sunset’s face. “Aw, thanks Twi. I’ll keep you updated.”
“Alright! This is definitely one for the books. I’ll talk to you later, I have some… unrelated things to do.”
The phone clicked dead after Sunset said her goodbye. She had been expecting pretty much that exact reaction from her, so she wasn’t really surprised. It was a bit of a pain to get your head around.
Shrugging, Sunset sat up and made her way to the bathroom. Her hair was a mess and she needed to brush her teeth. The bathroom itself was dark; a bonus of having it in a separate room with no windows.
She flicked the light switch on. The light flickered as she entered the small bathroom and stood in front of the mirror. She stared at herself scrupulously, as if she’d catch a discrepancy or something. But she stayed the same—no demon coming to ruin her.
At least she knew she definitely was awake. She looked down at her arms and grimaced. There were light scrapes left free and a few bandages all over her arms from the deeper scrapes. It could have been worse, she supposed, but road burn sucked, leather jacket or not.
After redressing her wounds and applying cream to her slightly bruised eye, Sunset grabbed her toothbrush and squished a thin layer of toothpaste, then stuck it in her mouth.
All the while, she stared at herself, trying to imagine Shimmer as her. There was something impossible about the fact, though. She couldn’t imagine herself as someone she wasn’t. If she tried to imagine herself as Shimmer, she would end up simply imagining Shimmer. While that might seem like it was what she wanted, she knew she was really just imagining Shimmer. It was different.
She groaned and spat into the sink, rinsing out her mouth with water. “I just had to go chasing after her, didn’t I?”
Cold water felt strange on her face. The air had been anything but warm since she woke up, though that was to be expected when the heater never worked. She dragged her palms down her face, blinking away the chilly water. “Am I really upset I did, though?”
Before she could even pick up her brush—Wait, where is my brush?—the sound of a knock interrupted her. A final glance around revealed that her brush was nowhere to be seen, and with a frustrated growl, Sunset did her best to smoothen out her bedhead with a hand as she approached the door.
It didn’t work.
Sunset pried open the door and stared blankly in front of her. Before she could say anything, Shimmer grabbed Sunset by the shoulders and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. “Hey, Sunny. Did you just wake up?”
Shimmer wore a warm-looking leather jacket, paired with a different black turtleneck and a teal scarf that had probably once been used to cover her face.
Well at least now I know how she feels, Sunset thought. She nodded. “Yeah, I guess I was tired or something.”
Shimmer laughed, little puffs of condensation giving it life. “Yeah, I can tell. Your hair is a mess!”
Sunset blushed as the cold hit her bare arms and legs. She held her arms to herself and bit back a shiver. “What are you doing here? Did you finish up at work?”
“Yup. It sucked, but hey, I’m a free woman now,” Shimmer exclaimed. She eyed Sunset and smirked. “Go put some clothes on, I’ll take you out for brunch.”
“Like a… Like on a…”
“A date? Sure, if you want to call it that.”
Sunset lifted a hand to rub the back of her neck. “Do you?”
Shimmer was quiet for a moment, staring off to the side at the snowy sidewalk. It had definitely come down hard last night. She looked back at Sunset with a confident smile. “Yeah. I do. Last night may have gone a bit too far, but I definitely don’t regret it.”
Sunset looked back inside her home and dragged Shimmer in. She closed the door behind them and rubbed her bandaged arms, trying to find some heat. “I don’t either.” She huffed and looked at her double. “I told one of my friends about you. She thinks it’s weird.”
“Well, it is,” Shimmer agreed with a shrug. “But then again, so is you being some… magical unicorn from another dimension,” she added with a wink. “So who the fuck cares, right?”
“That’s what I thought!” Sunset exclaimed, leaving Shimmer on the lower half as she went up to put some clothes on. “Besides, she wants me to be happy, and I haven’t felt this elated in a long time. I never thought I’d get to meet you.” Once dressed in warmer clothes not unlike Shimmer’s own, Sunset made her way down. “Honestly, for the longest time, I’d hoped I wouldn’t.”
Shimmer feigned offence as she not-so-discreetly checked Sunset out. “Ouch.”
Sunset snorted and punched her double in the arm. “No, it’s just that… I was afraid you’d be like, well, me. Or at least, how I used to be. I keep having nightmares about her… about me, and I guess I didn’t have much faith in any version of myself.”
Shimmer played with Sunset’s collar, leaving it crooked. “Well, I’m not exactly the nicest, but I’m definitely not like how you used to be. Not anymore. I was a mean kid.”
They both glanced at each other and chuckled. In unison, they both reached up to rub their necks, and upon noticing, they blushed and giggled. Shimmer took Sunset’s hand and led her out the door. Once the door was locked, they made their way to Shimmer’s bike.
Shimmer reached across over her bike and pulled out a helmet that was like Sunset’s except with a shiny red and gold trim. She handed it to Sunset. “Your last helmet is beyond fucked, and I had an extra from when I had my old bike. You can have it.”
Sunset took the helmet in her hands and stared at her reflection in the shiny black plastic. “Wow. Thanks, Shim.”
“Yeah, yeah, no biggie. Now come on, we have a date to go on.” She climbed on the bike, Sunset following suit. Holding the helmet in her hands, Shimmer looked over her shoulder. “And hey, who knows, if you buy me dinner, maybe I’ll let you kiss me,” Shimmer joked with a wink.
Sunset rolled her eyes and leaned forward into a soft kiss. Just as Shimmer was getting into it, Sunset pulled back, eliciting a frustrated breath from a blushing Shimmer. “Maybe,” Sunset teased as she put on her new helmet. “We’ll see.”
Shimmer shook her head, breathing warm air into the cold around them. She snapped on her helmet and lifted the visor to give Sunset a wink. “You’re such a tease.”
And she wasn’t? Sunset simply nodded her head as Shimmer started the engine. Automatically, Sunset wrapped her arms around Shimmer’s stomach.
It felt right.
Author's Note
Fellas, is it morally wrong to date an alternate version of yourself?
Anyway uh hope you enjoyed... this... was a story. A... quite a bit longer than the soft cap... um... sorry
