Sunset lifted her pencil and regarded her work. Finally, she had managed to draw a competent blueprint, one that didn’t look like a filly’s doodle. She still wasn’t happy with it, but it was progress. She guessed that if she kept practicing, she’d be able to draw a blueprint she wouldn’t be ashamed to show by the time she went to Equestria.

“What’s that?”

Sunset raised her head just as Celestia sat next to her. Ever since she’d seen the Enchanter at work, she’d become more insistent in trying to make small talk with Sunset. It had quickly become quite tiresome.

“I’m trying to design better versions for the Enchanter,” she replied. Now that she had decided to go back to Equestria to get proper materials and they were going to get financial help, Sunset had decided it would be a good idea to go ahead and make improvements so that she could start working right away.

Celestia stared at the blueprint for a long time, despite being unable to understand what anything meant. It was such a weird feeling to Sunset, knowing that there was something Celestia didn’t know, even if this wasn’t an immortal alicorn princess. Still, the calm demeanor was very similar and made Sunset nervous.

“I’ve… been meaning to ask,” Celestia said without looking away from the blueprint. “Whenever you talk about the princess of your world, you make it a point not to mention her name.”

That wasn’t a question, so Sunset didn’t reply.

“At first I thought it was simply because her name is the same as mine, and you wanted to avoid confusion. But after a while, I began thinking that that might not be the case at all.” Her eyes narrowed ever so slightly, and Sunset could see in them something she’d never seen in the princess, something she now remembered she felt two years ago, when she decided to stay in this world. “Is your world…” Celestia said, hesitantly licking her lips. “Is it, maybe, more similar to this one than you’re letting on?”

Sunset frowned, but Celestia wasn’t looking at her. “What do you mean?”

Celestia gently placed two fingers on the sheet of paper, careful not to smudge the drawing. “I have the same name as your princess,” she said. “Would I be wrong to assume that we’re also similar in other ways?”

Sunset felt her stomach fall. She should’ve guessed that even this Celestia would be astute enough to notice things. “Yes,” she replied begrudgingly. “Same hair, same eyes, and overall same personality.” She was being vague on purpose since she really didn’t want to spend too much time talking about the princess.

“I see,” Celestia said. “And… How about our age? Is it the same?”

Sunset snickered. “Absolutely not. She’s much older.”

Celestia nodded, as if she had expected that answer. “Have you… encountered others that are similar to people from your world?”

“No…” Sunset said by reflex, but that wasn’t true, was it? She considered lying, but she was curious where Celestia was going with this. “Actually, yes. There’s also a Cadence in my world.”

“Really?”

“Yes. She’s also a princess.” She barely held back the urge to gag at the admission. “Same hair, eyes, etc.”

Celestia leaned back on her chair. “They are sisters in your world?”

Sunset shook her head. “Princess Celestia adopted her as her niece… It’s complicated.” And she really didn’t want to talk about that. She had started liking human Cadence, and thinking about the pony one ruined it.

“Once is mere happenstance,” Celestia said. “Twice is a coincidence. But three times is a pattern.”

Sunset blinked. “Three?”

Celestia looked at her with a frown, and even though she was a different species altogether, Sunset still recognized it. It was a frown the princess always had when she was about to deliver bad news. Sunset braced herself.

“Sunset, what I’m about to tell you might be difficult to process, but I think you deserve to know.” She waited until Sunset nodded. “About twenty years ago, when I first became a teacher… I met a girl called Sunset Shimmer.”

Sunset felt a chill run down her spine. Twenty years? That was such a big temporal difference! Then again, Princess Celestia had been around much, much longer than the human one. What was up with that?

Celestia didn’t seem aware of Sunset’s thoughts, as she kept talking. “She looked exactly like you do. Same face, same hair… You really surprised me when you came out of the portal.”

“I guess so,” Sunset said. “Where is she now?” If there was a much older version of her running around, she’d like to ask her some questions, see if she could help her solve this temporal conundrum.

However, Celestia simply shook her head. “I don’t know,” she whispered. “She went missing.”

For some reason she didn’t understand, Sunset felt a sharp pain in her chest. She looked down at her blueprint, but instead she saw the mirror and her reflection looking back at her right as she lunged for it.

“I know the answer will most likely be a no, but… I was wondering if there are more portals between our worlds.” Celestia looked at the blueprint as well. “Maybe she… stumbled upon one and…”

“There’s only the one portal,” Sunset said. She had read as much in the book she’d found in the restricted section of the royal library. Then again, it was also a possibility that there were indeed more portals and Princess Celestia had censored their existence, much like she had with the one Sunset knew of.

“I understand,” Celestia said, though her voice was so low Sunset barely heard it. She made to stand up, but Sunset interrupted her.

“What was she like?” The question surprised even Sunset. Why did she even care?

Celestia gave her the smallest of smiles. “Smart. Kind. A bit of a lone wolf, but with a great eye for art. She once told me she was considering becoming a teacher.”

A teacher? Sunset would never consider such a thing. She had no patience for teaching.

“Anyway… I just wanted to ask you this,” Celestia said as she stood up. “Thank you for indulging me.” Without waiting for an answer, she left.

Sunset wasn’t sure what to think. All of this had come so suddenly that she needed a few minutes to gather her bearings. A human Sunset Shimmer seemed to prove her theory that the human world and Equestria were mirroring each other on an individual scale. The difference in species was baffling. Why did ponies have counterparts, but those counterparts were not ponies themselves? She could understand the difference in geography and history, given the overabundance of magic and magical creatures in Equestria and the lack thereof in the human world. But the change of species was… confusing, to say the least.

And that was without taking into consideration that, as far as Sunset knew, humans very rarely lived up to 100 years old. But in Equestria, not only was Princess Celestia over a thousand, but dragons also tended to live for many centuries, and some other creatures were thought to be near immortal as well.

That meant that the mirroring aspect was not a hundred percent.

As Sunset pondered these questions, she kept going back to thinking about the other Sunset. Her human counterpart, who was much older than she was and had gone missing. Celestia hadn’t given her any more details, and Sunset hadn’t even thought about asking her. Where was she? Why had she disappeared? And why did Celestia look so troubled about it?

Had Celestia driven her away, like the princess had done with Sunset? But Celestia had been a mere teacher back then, not an all powerful alicorn princess.

By the time she snapped out of her thoughts, Luna had begun preparing dinner. Sunset decided to put those thoughts away since there was no use in entertaining them. If that other Sunset ever returned, then Sunset could ask her a question or two, out of pure morbid curiosity if nothing else. If not… Well, Sunset really didn’t care.

That same weekend, she told Twilight about her conversation with Celestia. Not because she had wanted to, but because Twilight had already passed the six minute mark on her aria about midterms and Sunset really needed her to shut up.

“So, let me get this straight,” Twilight said after munching on her burger. They had set up a small table in the garage, next to the Enchanter, to draw up designs and, as was the case at the moment, eat lunch. “Everyone has a pony counterpart in your world?”

“I wouldn’t say everyone,” Sunset replied. She had already finished her burger and was lazily munching on one of her fries. “So far there are only three confirmed instances.”

“That’s already a pattern,” Twilight said without missing a beat. “Especially considering one of those instances has to do with you.”

Sunset ate another of her fries. “Still, there’s no real way to prove anything. The portal opens only every thirty moons. Studying whether the worlds mirror each other would be extremely difficult and, honestly, a useless endeavor.”

“Useless?” Twilight said, offended. “Where’s your scientific curiosity? What do you think would happen if you were to meet your counterpart? Would you keep saying the exact same words over and over? Would you somehow establish a connection to each other and be able to read each other’s mind? Would you feel attracted to each other due to a potentiated narcissist drive that many have when looking at a mirror?”

Sunset looked at the ceiling. “Shouldn’t have told you anything.”

Twilight blushed. “I was joking!” Her nervous chuckle didn’t support her claim. “In all seriousness, though. This all begs the question, how are we going to hide?”

“Hide?” Sunset asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Well, you don’t want to be spotted by the princess,” Twilight explained. “And if we have counterparts in your world, there’s a chance I have one too, right?” She poured some ketchup on her fries. “If we happen to walk by someone who knows her, they’d know something’s wrong. I’m guessing you don’t want anyone getting suspicious, do you?”

Sunset stared at her for a moment. “I was planning on casting some illusion spells to avoid detection at the palace, then getting some mane and tail dye and something to cover up my Cutie Mark to freely roam about the city.”

Twilight nodded. “Dye and…” She blinked. “Cover up your Cutie Mark? You… you did say it appears on your thighs, but…” She trailed off, frowning. “But you’re ponies, so…”

“It’s on our flanks,” Sunset said. “A skirt should be enough to cover it up.”

“I see…”

The rest of the day was relatively quiet, with Twilight mainly asking questions about magic. Sunset didn’t mind replying, since Twilight would eventually have to learn about it if she was to ever operate the Enchanter on her own. However, as the day came to an end, Sunset couldn’t shake off the feeling that Twilight had wanted to talk about something else. Well, whatever it was, it couldn’t have been important.

Author's Note

Short chapter this week, but kinda important (?)

The big day is approaching!

If you liked it, please do leave a comment!