Chapter Only: Two Can Be As Bad As One.
“You cloned me…”
Sunset sat on her couch, staring at Princess Twilight as she nervously shuffled in her seat.
“Technically not. Legally speaking, a clone is a collection of unstable magic that’s held together in a shape similar to another pony, like with the mirror pool when Pinkie Pie dove in and created an army of herself and—“
“I’m a clone, Twilight,” the other Sunset interrupted. “Let’s not get stuck on technicalities here.”
Sunset’s younger doppelgänger, by three months, sat on a beanbag chair twirling her hair, looking around the apartment with a scrutinizing gaze as she noticed all the small differences.
“No, you’re not a clone Sunset,” Twilight tried to console. “I mean, technically you’re the original Sunset because I was able to separate the pony body from the mirror portal and—“
“Hold up! Wait, are you saying that I’m a clone?” Sunset, the supposed original, interrupted.
“No! No, well, it’s all complicated and… Okay, look. I was curious about what happened when a pony or other creature would cross over to this world. Ever since this world’s version of me crossed over as a unicorn instead of an alicorn I've tried to figure out what happens to a creatures body when they use the mirror portal.
“At first, I thought any human transformations were the result of a magic transmogrification, taking the original body and mutating it into something more suitable for either reality. But, as it turns out, what actually happens is that the original body is ‘recorded’ and used as the base for a mutated clone for the consciousness to transfer into.
“It’s like a closet holding one body at a time for the pony or person to cross over. And, since I was already using the ‘Twilight pony’ body on this side of the mirror, it created a new pony base for this world’s Twilight,” she quickly explained, heaving a large breath as her lungs struggled to follow her words.
“… So… My original body… She has it,” Sunset pointed out.
“Technically, no. Like Twi said, you’re using the ‘human’ model right now, so the mirror slapped together something for me. Our body’s back in the pocket space still.”
“Okay… And how am I… you alive?”
“That… That’s my fault,” Twilight struggled to say, finally catching her breath as she looked over the younger human Sunset. “The mirror has more than just the body, it also has a record of the individuals mind once they cross over, and since you came back to Equestria three months ago, she has all of your memories up until that point in time.
“After using a spell to see if it was possible to bring the pony body back to Equestria, the portal freaked out and… Surprise, you have a younger sister!” Twilight falsely cheered, earning a flat look from both Sunsets.
“… Okay… Okay… So, what do we do now?” Sunset asked, calming her rapidly beating heart as she gripped her hands.
“Well, this may sound crazy but—“
“I want to live here,” the younger Sunset blurted out, causing Twilight to wince as she tried to sink deeper into her seat.
“What?” Sunset asked stupidly, shaking herself out of a brief daze as she looked at her clone. Or original. Semantics.
“I… I don’t want to lose my friends, okay? I still remember them. It feels like I just went to Rainbow’s birthday last week. I can’t just abandon all that.”
“It was three months ago,” Sunset corrected with a subtle jab at her clone. Of course, nothing was really her clone’s fault, but if she thought she could just walk in and suddenly claim part of Sunset’s life, then she had another thing coming.
“They’re my friends.”
“My friends,” she corrected again, prompting Twilight to nudge herself back into the conversation.
“Wait, Sunset,” she said, causing both the Sunset’s to look at her. “Um, Huma-I mean… Older Sunset, I know this is a lot to take in, but think about it from her perspective.”
“Kinda hard not to, Twi.”
“Exactly! Sunset, I know this is a lot to ask you, but do you think that just maybe you could possibly trytolivewithher?”
Sunset frowned as she thought about her options. More than anything else at that moment, she wanted to have that choice taken away from her. She didn’t want to be responsible for letting her younger reflection live with her or not, she wanted Twilight to twist her arm and make her do it. At least then she’d feel less bad about not wanting to help.
And there lied the biggest problem to her answer, her own feelings. She would have felt like a monster if she turned her clone away, even if a selfish part of her outright demanded it.
Finally, after taking a deep breath, Sunset bit down on the proverbial bullet and spat out a quick answer. “Fine.”
“Yes! Thank you Sunset! I promise, I’ll do everything I can to help. First, I’ll need to register your new ‘sister’ with the help of this world’s me. I’ll be right back. Just get to know each other, I’ll be here before you know it!” Twilight promised, running out of the apartment like a bat out of Hell.
Though, to Sunset this may as well have been Hell since she had a walking, talking, reminder of her past. And by the looks of it, sitting with her future self was the other Sunset’s Hell too.
The new Sunset’s eyes danced all around the apartment as Sunset laid down on her couch, simply letting the awkward silence wash over them as she wondered what to do.
It wouldn’t have been rude to take out her phone, right? Or turn on the tv? Or maybe just walk out the door and never stop walking?
That last one probably would be, but the other two would be alright… Maybe.
But, before she could make a move for either of them, the new Sunset decided to share one of her new observations.
“You uh… bought a new game console.”
“Yup. On sale…”
… How the Hell did other people talk to themselves?
“So, uh… Did we… you ever follow up on that promise to go to the gym with Dash?”
“Oh, yeah. Well, a week anyway. Busy with work and everything.”
“Yeah, tell me about it. We’re ah… Pretty busy now, huh?”
“Mhmmm. Not sure how Dash can juggle all those sports teams and still have time for anything.”
“She’s kinda amazing like that, huh?”
“Yup. I’d never be able to find the time for that,” Sunset admitted with a hint of shameful jealousy.
Rainbow and the others were just better than her in a lot of ways. They could find time between work, school, and everything else to get together. Sweet Celestia, even with two Sunset's, she'd never be able to do that.
And as the two undoubtedly let their minds wander to the same place, the awkward silence returned with a vengeance. Sunset sat upright as she stole a glance at her fidgeting clone, pretending to look at her messy apartment as she studied her past reflection.
Her hair was less neatly brushed, her pants hugged her legs a bit too tight, and that jacket hadn’t left Sunset’s closet in well over a month. After a passing remark from another student, she became a little more conscious of her style, choosing to venture outside of the old “Bad Girl” vibe used to wear with confidence.
Rarity had helped her update her wardrobe with Fluttershy's help, choosing to focus on more pinks and yellows than grays and oranges. And while Sunset took the time to assess her younger clone's fashion sense, her doppelgänger chose to do the same.
“You look good, by the way. Did you do something with your hair?”
"Yeah, uh, Rarity found a new hair stylist a while ago and wanted me to try them out," she shrugged, twirling a loose strand of hair as she continued on. "It was really nice... You uh... Look good too."
"Pfft. I look like crap," her doubled scoffed, feeling a bit more comfortable with her older self. "I mean, look at you. You changed because you know we look bad in this."
"It... It's a pretty dumb outfit, yeah. Never really had a good fashion sense."
"Or good common sense."
"Yeah," Sunset agreed, falling into a natural rhythm of self-deprecation at each flaw her clone pointed out.
"Still haven't cleaned the closet yet?"
"Oh, nooo. Haven't touched it once."
"Hmm... We do this too much, you know."
"Do what?"
“Beat ourselves up. How many times have we needed Rarity, Fluttershy, or any of the other girls to help dig us out of our funk? How many Pinkie Parties do we need until we just stop throwing our own Pity Party?”
“It’s not a pity party.”
“You’re right, parties are supposed to be fun. We’re supposed to be happy now.”
“Well I don’t know how to be happy!” Sunset snapped. “I… I haven’t been happy in so long,” she teared up.
Sunset was shocked when she found a pair of familiar arms wrap around her, as the younger clone came in to give her a tight squeeze and remind her of something important.
“What about Rainbow’s birthday? We had fun then, right?” She solemnly asked.
“Yeah,” Sunset quietly admitted, letting her own arms wrap around her double.
“And last night when we talked with Pinkie over the phone.”
“Mm-hmm… Visiting the butterfly sanctuary with Fluttershy was nice.”
“Right,” her twin agreed with an eager nod. “We were happy then so…”
“… I wasn’t lying earlier,” Sunset defended, curling around herself more as her doppelgänger sat next to her.
“I know, I… We just forgot. I… We,” she corrected, “think about our past a lot. The things we did, the ponies we hurt. But that’s in the past now. It doesn’t define us, anymore.”
“You don’t think I’ve tried to forget it and move on?”
“I know you’ve tried because I’m you. We always promise ourselves that we’ll get better, that we’ll stop worrying and fretting over getting perfect grades and maintaining a perfect friendship, that we’ll stop being a perfectionist about every little thing, that we won’t keep blaming ourselves for stupid little mistakes we made in the past,” she rattled off.
“Enslaving the whole school isn’t a little mistake,” Sunset grumbled.
“Oh, you know that’s not what I mean. Yeah, we fucked up big time there. But what about when we broke Aunt Tilda’s glass figurine, or when we accidentally made fun of that earth pony with the buck teeth, or when you sneezed into Celestia’s foreleg when you were walking behind her. You have all of these big problems with your past, and then these little incidents sprinkled in-between.
“You never let yourself relax. We can’t relax because we’re holding everything in like… Like it all matters when a lot of it doesn’t.”
“I knooooow,” Sunset groaned, burying her head deeper into her knees. “I know they don’t, but they just always come back. Like that time when I had a crush on that cute gryphon student and asked if he needed help with Equish.”
“Ooof. Yeah, that-heh-that was bad,” the younger Sunset chuckled. “But at least we can laugh about it now, right?”
“It was still pretty offensive.”
“And you really think that gryphon remembers? Heck, we don’t even remember his name!”
“I know, but it’s not like I can just tell my thoughts to shut up. You know they don’t just ‘go away’.”
“Hmmmm… Do you still think about the Memory stone?”
“Yup. You?”
“I’m you from three months ago, soooo, yeah,” she nodded. “I get why Wallflower used it... Do we still talk to her?”
“I met up with her last week for coffee, but we aren’t keeping in touch as often.”
“We should probably fix that.”
“Yeah…” Sunset agreed again, almost content to let the silence fill the air before her other self came up with an idea.
“… Did that new Hyperwars movie come out yet?”
“Yeah. About a month ago, I think.”
“Did you see it yet?”
“No. Busy with school and everything.”
“Well then let’s go!” The younger Sunset cheered, pulling Sunset to her feet as she fished out a set of keys for her motorcycle. “We can just relax and enjoy ourselves today. Just me, myself, and I.”
“Oh, so there’s a third clone now?” Sunset joked, earning an eye roll from her twin as she led them to her bike.
Her hand felt… Nice. A bit awkward, considering it was her own hand, but it was a comforting feeling overall. It was almost like finding an old friend that she forgot about for a long time.
And maybe she could get to know herself again and learn to really love herself.
… But not in a sexual way, that’d be really fucking weird.
