Ch.1. Wisdom From A Counterpart
Sunset lays in her bed and couldn’t help but think about the Battle of the Bands. As exciting as that had been and finally being redeemed in the eyes of the entire school, Sunset couldn’t help but think about someone, or rather, somepony back home.
When Spike and Vinyl Scratch had saved the girls and her, the fire-haired girl couldn’t help but stare at the girl in complete shock. The girl looked so familiar, but she couldn’t put her finger on it. Yes, she knew the name was Vinyl Scratch, but why did she look so familiar?
That is when it hit her, one week later, she lay in bed with her hands on her head and feet crossed and stared out her window that had a nice view of the city.
‘Vinyl Scratch, Vinyl Scratch, Vinyl Scratch…’ Sunset’s eyes had widened. She now remembered why that DJ looked familiar.
When Sunset had been the pupil of Princess Celestia, she had been best friends with a mare named Vinyl Scratch. There wasn’t any difference between pony and human except for physical aspects and race. But it was still the same pony—human.
They both loved music, wore the exact replicas of sunglasses, and had the same hair colour and skin—coat tone.
The bacon-haired girl let a few tears fall as she remembered the fun things they used to do. They would go to parties and go at it all night long, go for walks and have philosophical conversations. Ponies were always surprised when they saw the two of them speak, especially the DJ that never uttered a single word to anyone else.
But then, when Sunset found that portal, it all changed.
She distanced herself from Vinyl Scratch, coming up with multiple excuses like essays, exams, studies and so on and the DJ understood because she too, had a hectic schedule so it was no surprise. However, they began to walk their separate ways one day after Vinyl had tried to speak with Sunset.
The fire-haired girl hated what she had told the DJ. Sunset had tried for weeks, months even to find out what that mirror was and what was beyond it. Princess Celestia dodged the question and always told her that she wasn’t ready.
Sunset, now understood why and agreed.
When Vinyl had come to ask if Sunset wanted to hang out, the fire-haired unicorn had snapped and said that she wanted nothing to do with the DJ and that all the white-coated was good for was music and to leave her alone.
Sunset wanted to smack her head against the wall until she forgot about that horrible day. But in the end, she cherished the good memories she had with the DJ.
However, after the battle of the bands, Sunset couldn’t help but stare at the DJ she shared classes with. The human counterpart was identical to her pony counterpart. They both never spoke a word, they loved music, they wore sunglasses and probably were good friends.
This in itself doesn’t sound like much, but to Sunset, it was the most crucial details.
But she couldn’t help but wonder how she never noticed the human until now. Sunset didn’t have a memory of ever being rude to the human Vinyl Scratch or that she bullied her. It could be that being silent all the time so that you never have attention on you.
The bacon-haired girl got out of her bed and walked over the threshold and entered the living room where she had a photo album of when she was a pony. She kept it just for the nostalgic feeling and today felt like a perfect day to walk down memory lane.
She walked towards one of the shelves that were close to the tv and looked through her collection of books until she came across the albums she had been collecting.
The album she picked up was a thick red wine coloured with the words: Equestrian Memories, written in gold cursive writing. She licked her lips, feeling them go dry and opened the first page and was met with a much younger version of herself. She could have been no older than six or maybe seven.
Sunset was smiling into the camera while her younger sibling, Sunburst was sitting beside her with an identical smile. They were inside their relative's house at a family gathering. In the background was a unicorn filly with a purple and turquoise mane and tail with a lilac coat. She stood in the background with apple juice in her hoof while drinking.
The bacon-haired woman smiled at her younger self and couldn’t help but smirk at the filly in the background. She was pretty sure that she had a crush on Sunburst but had hidden those feelings very well.
Looking at the photo now, however, she could see something in the filly’s eyes that she recognised as love… or at least a form of it.
The filly’s name… what was it? Sunset knew the filly was the daughter of a family friend but wasn’t related to the family. Star…. Starlight! That’s it, the filly’s name was Starlight… Glimmer.
“Huh, I wonder what she’s up to these days?” Sunset wondered with curiosity. She turned the next few pages and saw some photo’s taken at family gatherings when they began school and things like that.
Sunset started to worry that she didn’t have the photos inside this album, and the horrible part is that she doesn’t know where the other albums are located because she heard Sunburst had moved out and their parents… weren’t around anymore.
She prayed to Celestia that Sunburst had saved the albums.
Her worries were squashed when she came across the first photo she had with her first friend. Vinyl Scratch was a few millimetres taller than Sunset and she had yet to wear her sunglasses. Her scarlet-red eyes had mirth and giddiness, the same giddiness every foal had when they were young unless they had horrible foalhoods.
Sunset replicated the mirth.
The next few photos showcased their time in school, Nightmare Night, Hearts Warming and so on. They were all there, smiling at each other.
But all of that would come crashing down when Sunset would become Princess Celestia's protege. She didn’t blame the Princess, it was Sunset who changed drastically which she should have noticed but didn’t and because of it, she slowly became greedy for power, desiring it.
Because of that desire, she said words she could never take back. Words that hurt her best friend beyond imagination.
Tears leaked from Sunset’s eyes like a small hole in a pipe.
Oh, how she wanted to take back everything she ever said and did to Vinyl that was rude and condescending. But she couldn’t. She would never be able to face her former best friend. What happened in the past stays in the past.
This was the one thing, Sunset would never in her life forgive herself for, not even in the life after. No way.
She closed the album and placed it gently back on the shelf as if it was made of glass and sat on the couch with her head in her hands and looked down at the floor.
Sunset would be lying if she said she didn’t wonder how her former best friend was doing. It would have been amazing if she could have seen all the concerts Vinyl had done. It would have brought her comfort.
Then again, nothing was stopping her from walking through the portal and entering Equestria. The statue was right outside the school and she could enter it at any moment.
Just when Sunset was wondering if she should visit Equestria, there was a knock on the door. Her head shot towards the door and did a once-over and decided she was proper enough to answer the door. She walked over to the door and checked through the peephole and was surprised by the person on the other side.
Sunset opened the door, still stunned that Vinyl Scratch, the human counterpart, was at her doorstep.
The human DJ had her headphones around her neck, her hand on her hip, leaning slightly to the side and her signature shades with what seemed to have been an inquisitive look.
“Vinyl Scratch?” Sunset asked with surprise. The DJ nodded. “Uh, want to come in?” The DJ nodded again and walked inside.
Vinyl took a seat on the sofa and Sunset went to the kitchen to make tea. “You drink tea?” A nod was her response. “I have green tea and black tea, which one entices you?”
Sunset walked and showed the tea and Vinyl pointed to the black tea and Sunset began to work. While the water was heating up, Sunset wondered what the DJ wanted. This was the difficult part for the bacon-haired girl because Vinyl from Equestria hadn’t spoken a word in the beginning until they became close and because Vinyl from this world wasn’t close to Sunset, it would take time to make her talk.
When the water came to a boil, Sunset poured the hot water and added the tea and walked towards the living room where Vinyl was observing her.
Sunset had learned to read Vinyl well over the years to know that she was wondering over something.
“Here’s the tea, one or two sugars?” Sunset asked and showed a small bowl of sugar. Vinyl took two and dropped them in her tea. Sunset took one.
While the sugar melted from the hot water, Sunset couldn’t help but wonder how Vinyl knew where she lived. The fire-haired girl wasn’t exactly open about where she lived, and a very select group of people knew her address.
“Hey, Vinyl?” The DJ looked at Sunset. “How did you know where I lived?”
“Oh, that’s easy,” Vinyl responded, much to Sunset’s shock. “I asked Flash and he pinpointed me to this place.”
“Oh,” was Sunset’s only form of acknowledgement, her mouth shaped into a circle.
They were silent again, drinking their tea. There was tension but not the kind that starts fights, more like, a tension that there was a question but you didn’t want to ask it, or was afraid of asking it.
“Hey, is everything alright?” Vinyl asked suddenly, drawing attention from the orange-skinned girl. “I have noticed that you have been looking at me with confusion, I haven’t upset you have I?”
Sunset’s eyes widened. “What? Oh, no, no! You haven’t upset me it’s just…” Sunset sighed. “You… remind me of an old friend I had back in Equestria,”
Vinyl tilted her head. “Really?”
“Yeah… she was also a music fanatic, was as quiet as you too.” Sunset chuckled. “But she was my best friend and I would have done anything for her.”
Vinyl hummed as she drank her tea. “Did… you lose her?”
“Oh, no, I… or well I technically did, but not in that way. I lost her due to my…” Sunset looked hesitant. She felt two scarlet-red eyes look at her. “...hurtful words.”
Vinyl didn’t say anything in response, she simply tilted her head.
“I had become obsessed with my studies after I found a mirror that led me to this world. I wanted to learn everything I could about it, but Princess Celestia, the ruler of my homeland, Equestria, said I wasn’t ready yet. Back then, however, I didn’t like to hear those words and began to study the mirror or try to without her knowledge. When she found out, she was furious and banished me from the castle and said that I was no longer her protege.” Sunset explained and paused to drink her tea.
“Earlier that day, I had an argument with my friend. Or rather, I yelled at her. She asked If I wanted to hang out with her because it had been months since we last could hang around. We did send letters, but they weren’t the same. But because I became cold and arrogant, I lashed out at her and told her that I didn’t need her and that she was good for nothing and that I never wanted to see her again,”
Sunset closed her eyes as she remembered that horrible day.
~~~~
“Hey, Sunset! I wanted to ask if you—” but the white-coated unicorn didn’t get the chance to finish her sentence.
“Don’t you see I’m busy here, Scratch?” Sunset rudely interrupted while pointing towards the book she was reading.
“Oh, sorry I just thought that you wanted to hang out,” Vinyl apologised and scratched the back of her head. Her shades weren’t covering her eyes, instead showing the red-scarlet eyes that she usually hid from the world.
“And why, would I hang out with you for?” Sunset scoffed with irritation lacing into her words. “We may have grown up together and went for the most part to the same school, but we have no reason to hang out anymore,”
Vinyl looked confused by her best friend’s behaviour and words. “What do you mean?”
Sunset rolled her eyes. “Honestly, How I became friends with you is an anomaly,” the words would never have hurt Vinyl, Sunset looked over at the mare and was surprised to see that the scarlet–eyed mare looked surprised and… hurt? No matter, she meant nothing to her.
“Sunset, what’s going on?” Vinyl asked and took a step towards her.
“What’s going on, is that you are interrupting my precious study time. Honestly, could you just leave? I have things I need to get done,” Sunset huffed and went back to her book.
“Sunset,” Vinyl pressed with a firm voice.
That did it. Sunset had enough with her foalhood friend. Couldn’t the DJ understand that Sunset was trying to study? Was she blind? All those years wearing those pathetic sunglasses hurt her vision it seemed.
“For the love of Celestia, Scratch!” Sunset yelled and got to her hooves and stood up and used her magic to place the book inside her saddle bag. Her foalhood friend was taken aback by the outburst. “All I ask is to be left alone when I’m studying and here you are interrupting me like usual.”
Vinyl looked shocked and hurt by Sunset’s words, but the fire-haired girl continued.
“I swear, I’m getting sick and tired of seeing you sending me letters and expecting me to always reply. For Celestia’s sake, we aren’t fillies anymore, we’re grown mares that took different paths and here you are still trying to keep in touch with me for what? Let me guess; you aren’t my friend, you just want to get close to Princess Celestia,” Sunset accused with narrowed eyes, a fire in her eyes that she always had when angry.
The accusation made the mare before Sunset stunned, her mouth hanging open. The mare had a hoof in the air while leaning back as if Sunset would fire a spell at any moment.
“Sunset, I would never—”
“Save it! I should have known you were never my friend, I should have never saved you from those bullies years ago, maybe then you would have understood not to interrupt anypony.” Sunset coldly spoke.
“Oh, yeah? Then why did you save me then?!” Vinyl asked with anger on her face, anger that made Sunset smile.
“I don’t know. All I know is that I regret it.” Sunset admitted and almost laughed at the tears brimming in the DJ’s eyes.
The white-coated unicorn hung her head, refusing to look at Sunset.
“I don’t need you, Scratch,” Sunset spoke with a cold tone. “I don’t need your friendship, your just a pathetic DJ that keeps mooching off of me because I’m a protege of Celestia.” Sunset turned around and walked away. “I never want to see you again,”
With that, Sunset walked away. If Sunset would have turned around, she would have seen Vinyl Scratch trying to reach out to her with a hoof while her sunglasses covered her eyes.
~~~~
“Being banished from Princess Celestia and disowning my friend, I had no choice but to run away.” Sunset finished her tale to the human Vinyl Scratch while keeping the information that Sunset was best friends with the pony counterpart.
Vinyl simply listened as Sunset explained her tale, more in-depth than she had ever done with her friends and Princess Twilight.
“That’s rough,” Vinyl commented while leaning her head against her hand that was stretched on the couch.
Sunset nodded. “Yeah, I regret it to this day,” she admitted. “I will never forgive myself for it.”
“There is one thing that I don’t understand, though,” Vinyl admitted and looked over at Sunset.
Sunset raised a brow. “And what would that be?”
“The similarities you see between your friend and me,” Vinyl clarified.
Sunset had a feeling that this would come up. “Well, you already know that I come from another world, right?” A nod. “Well, I never meant to keep this hidden nor did I intend to do it. The world that I come from most—but not all—has a pony and human counterpart.” Sunset explained. “My best friend was… you, in Equestria,”
There was silence in the living room, dead silence. Even with Sunset being an expert in reading Vinyl’s emotions with her shades on, she couldn’t tell what emotion the teen was feeling.
“That’s… a lot to take in,” Vinyl finally spoke with a hesitant tone.
Sunset chuckled. “I can only imagine,”
“Do you want to reconcile with her… erm… me?” Vinyl asked, confused as she wasn’t sure how to formulate her words. How do you reconcile with yourself, but it’s not you?
The bacon-haired girl chuckled heartily. “Yea, I do, I would love nothing more than to do that. But I fear that she wants nothing to do with me. After that… confrontation, I never saw her again and I never received another letter. When I was snooping around one of the kingdoms the mirror was located, I tried to find letters but I never did. All I saw was the last letter she… erm… your counterpart sent.”
Vinyl was silent for a moment. “You have a way to reach Equestria?”
Sunset became confused. “Uh, yeah?”
“Go to her, you will never know unless you try,” Vinyl argued, stretching her arms and yawning. “What if she has been waiting for you this entire time and here you are, afraid that she doesn’t want to see you?”
Sunset wasn’t sure how to reply to that. It made a lot of sense, but there was still lingering fear.
“I doubt your ruler would have told my counterpart that you disappeared inside a mirror that takes you to a different dimension.” Vinyl reasoned with a shrug. “My counterpart was probably told you disappeared without a trace. Wouldn’t you want to soothe her questions?”
The former protege of Celestia looked over at the DJ who looked at the roof. Sunset smiled. No matter what dimension, Vinyl Scratch had the same wisdom to bring Sunset to earth.
“Your right,” Sunset said. “If I was in her hooves, I would have been worried for her, I would have searched for her day and night until she was found.” Sunset sighed with sadness. “But that fight wasn’t something you easily forget nor forgive. I broke her trust, and because of that whatever we had before can never be repaired.”
Vinyl didn’t respond for a long while. “Maybe so, but perhaps you need a push in the right direction. How about I drop you off at the school and you enter? I’ll wait, maybe three hours. If you come back after three, then I’ll drive you back here if you’re not back after three, then I’ll come around every day at the same hour I dropped you off. Sound good?”
Sunset mulled over the offer and couldn’t lie about the temptation.
If she said no, then she would wonder for the rest of her life what her best friend was doing and Sunset would continue to wallow in self-pity. If she said yes, she would go to Equestria and face her best friend she hadn’t seen in years. She bit her lower lip. If she said yes, at least she’d have an answer…
Resignation washed over her. “When do we leave?” Sunset asked too which Vinyl smiled.
Author's Note
Hello everyone, Dragon-In-Black here back with another story that is quite different from the other stories I’ve published in some ways. You know what that is? It’s because this one-shot is getting a sequel. Yes, you read that right! I plan on writing an entire story that may be long or short. I haven’t got a clue yet.
I will write to you guys next time.
