"Fix what? I don't..." Sunburst shook his head. "What are you talking about?"
"The spell, the--the Independent Construct Kinesis Equation! It's gone wrong!"
The stallion looked up at the mare, who was patting herself down quickly. "Wait, hold on, how do you know about that? Because I swear I did nothing wrong," he added quickly as she turned to look at him. "I only got the spell for, uh, theoretical study--"
"No, nonono. No, you can't remember that!" She pointed at herself. "I remember that! I remember casting the spell!"
"You have? Oh, good. Maybe you can tell me how you dealt with this headache... wait." Sunburst adjusted his glasses. "What do you mean I can't remember that?"
"I mean you shouldn't be able to remember that! According to the text the intellectual capacity of the construct is limited by the magical potential of the component framework and I know that my magical potential isn't that great so the ability to remember things I remember is outside the framework of the simple mind of the construct--"
"Wait, wait, hold on. Who are you?"
"I'm Sunburst!"
The stallion's jaw dropped. "That's impossible! I'm Sunburst!"
"No, that's impossible! You're a construct, only you were supposed to be female and somehow I got turned into a mare--!"
"Well, maybe you're the construct! I mean, I remember casting the spell--"
They stared at each other, wide-eyed.
"...you shouldn't be cognizant yet," Sunburst whispered in shock.
"Yes! Exactly! I'm cognizant so I can't be a construct--"
"Unless something went wrong with the spell! I--" Sunburst stood, turning to the desk. "Notes. Got to get my notes--"
"They're my notes!" the mare cried in protest. "You're the construct!"
Sunburst sighed. "Okay, look, we both think of ourself as Sunburst, right? So, until we can figure out exactly what happened, they're both of our notes."
"...I can agree to that...."
The stallion nodded, looking at through the spell. "Hmm, got the magic component, reduced the variables to casting level, took a mane hair from... well, from the mare's bathing house..."
"Yes, yes, it was very embarrassing and terrifying and it doesn't explain why I got turned into a mare--wait, do you think one of the female students put a curse on the bathhouse to transform intruding stallions?"
"...it might be simpler then that," Sunburst mused. "After all, we got the hair to purposefully alter the baseline spell; without it we'd just get a direct copy of ourself, but incorporating the residual magic into the formula was supposed to, you know, make a female construct." He turned around, gesturing. "And, look! You're a mare. You don't have my white spots, and your mane is longer, and you've got a yellow streak in it. We went in knowing that the construct wasn't going to be a direct copy, maybe the residual magic magnified the spell to the point where you were created with the direct knowledge base of the caster?"
"Oh come on!" the mare protested. "The only pony that would have residual magic that high on a hair of all things would be Princess Celestia! Do you really think Princess Celestia would visit a communal bathhouse?"
"...well," Sunburst pointed out delicately, "there is the matter of your cutie mark..."
"What are you talking aboSWEET CELESTIA WHAT IS THAT ON MY FLANK." The mare started chasing after her own hips. "This isn't my cutie mark! This is--this is a giant fire balance symbol in the shape of the sun! How could my cutie mark change, that--that's a feat of magic beyond recognition!"
"It... could have been created as an amalgam between my mark and that of the other magical donor," Sunburst suggested. "Assuming that you were, in fact, the construct that was intended to be made."
She stopped chasing after herself, staring at him.
"...oh sweet Celestia. You're right."
After a moment, she sunk to the floor. "I... I really am a construct, aren't I?"
"Well... yes?" Sunburst shrugged awkwardly. "I mean, you're a very pretty construct..."
She glared at him.
"...and that was probably a stupid thing for me to say." The stallion folded his ears back. "Geez. I guess I really am terrible at talking to mares, even when the mare is me..."
"Yeah, I guess..." The construct took a breath, and slowly let it out. "I mean... I just... I don't know how, but I do have all my--well, all of your memories, I guess. It's just... I'm still sort of thinking of myself as, you know, a stallion, and even though I know I'm not I just... I don't even exist in anybody's memories. Everything I know is... I'm not.... I'm this... thing, now. And I don't even know what that means."
Sunburst nodded vaguely. "I guess I can see where you're coming from..."
There was some awkward silence.
"...would you like a name?"
"What?"
"A name." Sunburst adjusted his glasses. "I mean, I was going to make one up anyway, but I figured--"
"I think," the construct interrupted, "that I'll make my own name up, thank you." She shook her head. "If I'm going to... exist... I don't want to be Minty Fresh for the rest of my life."
"Hey!" Sunburst protested jokingly. "Minty Fresh is a good name!"
"For a one-off date, maybe--"
The construct's breath hitched.
"Sweet Celestia, the date!" She stood up suddenly. "The gala's in three hours!"
"Uh, are you sure you want to--?"
"Look, I was literally made to be a date, and I--I guess I owe you that much." The construct flipped her mane. "It's going to be weird as Tartarus, don't get me wrong, since I'm basically dating myself--at least you have a new face to look at--but there was too much planning going into this to just drop it. Where's that dress we ordered...?"
Ah... I believe the correct phrase for this would be "Oh dear..."
Aha! I was just rereading Sunsplit when I got the notification...
Must read!!
That's not an absolutely brilliant idea. That's a brilliantly absolute idea.
Haha oh my goodness
Tried hard to give you the first thumbs up but the button seems to be broken.
You paradoxed it into inoperability. Way to break space Masterweaver!
Ooh, we get to see the event it self. This should be delightfully ridiculous... though leavened with some deep existential questions. Heck, Sunset hasn't even registered that she doesn't have Spicy anymore; she's clearly still in shock.
Not a sequel
A prequel
Now there's a story I didn't expect to see a sequel of, but seeing it now I'm very glad there is going to be one. The first chapter was very intriguing and already leaves me wanting for more.
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I think both are legitimate, actually. If "sequel" doesn't feel right to you, just picture all this as Sunset and Sunburst telling the others the story. A flashback, maybe.
You ordered a dress?
That must have been one creepy conversation.
Hmm... Seeing the incomplete tag makes me worry that this is not a one-shot... Oh well, it's still pretty good in and on it's own, so if the inevitable happens, it's not gonna be that bad.
The real question, however: How long will it take this to get to the featured box? Place your bets, ladies and gentleman!
Haha! Priceless!
*looks at Incomplete tag*
So, this is still continuing?
CONTINUE CONTINUE!
And Sunburst is banished for using forbidden magic to create life...
And becomes the dude who used the Force to alter midiclorion counts and do that stuff until Palpatine killed him.
Huh... so did the unwittingly donated hair come from a oddball pegasus named Sunny Skies?
Because that would make Sunset Celestia's unwitting child, explain the cutie mark, and the apparent disparity in magic power.
Also would explain Celestia's fixation on Sunset, the flawed clone.
simpler than that
...well, it's as valid an origin for Sunset as any. But does this mean that Celestia is kinda-sorta her sister now?
Luna's gonna go nuts. Twilight's gonna explode.
7258952 More like mother.
What I'm wondering is if he was planning to do anything after the date, and if that's a part of the plan she'll want to see through too.
This is gonna be awesome.
I get the feeling that all the other stallions are gonna be jealous of Sunburst.
Oh this is going to be fun~
A wonderful start, hope to see this continue.
... So what you're saying is, Sunset is Sunburst and Celestia's indirect love child?
Oh, I'm following this one.
Well, I liked the first story, so I may as well follow this one and see where it goes.
A sequel?! Or rather a prequel. But yeah, definitely following this. So, as others have said, this means Sunset is kind of Sunburst and Celestia's child? ...well, that's just makes her origin even more awkward. Though it would explain the big difference between Sunburst's and Sunset's abilities (Sunburst's knowledge combined with enough magic to actually use those spells).
Wonder how long they can keep up the charade- and while the original story already mentioned these events, its still hilarious that even after accidentally creating a living opposite gender clone of himself, one that's definitely more than just a construct (and possibly a partial clone of Celestia too), he's still going to the Gala. Oh, this is going to be funny, awkward and weird. Wonder how long until the existential angst starts up.
OOHH, wait what?!
I'm stalking this shit. Stalkin' it reeeaal good.
Well, that was confusing.
I'm LOVING this story, OMLL! I cannot wait for the next update! Also...
Ha! I forgot about Sunsplit. Someone tie it in to "Sunny, Moonie, Twily"! Looking good, anyways.
Great story. I never truly read Sunsplit, but I most definitely will after reading this. I wanted to ask a quick question: could I do a reading of this for my channel? I just started a new channel and have basically been filling by basket with a bunch of different fanfictions I would like to read, and this one would be super fun to do. Just a warning in case you say yes; it will be bad. This'll be one of my first readings so it won't be very good, along with no voice acting. Anyways, thanks for the great story.
This pleases me greatly!
Heh. This is going to be good.:
Hooray, Incomplete!
Glad you decided to pursue this prequel.
And I'm looking forward to seeing how Sunset handles the inevitable existential crisis.
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The answer is always yes.
Oh boy! Crazy shenanigan all the way!
YAY! We get to see all the crazy stuff that happened to Sunset and Sunburst mentioned in the last book!
I'm just going to sit here and wait for the "date" fic.
7262777 Oh, okay, thank you. Didn't know and now I feel stupid. Thanks.
Dis gona be good.
7260884 sunburst used a hair from Celestia on accident to modify a spell. This being a hair from an alicorn, the modifications were much more potent than expected; ergo, a fully sapient gender-bent duplicate.
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The answer is almost always yes. It doesn't hurt to ask, and regardless of whether the author says yes, they will likely appreciate the sentiment.
That said, because the answer is almost always yes, also it doesn't hurt to start making it even before the answer is given.
7260884 My thoughts exactly. I didn't understand the mumbo-jumbo at the beginning in the slightest.
7263549
Really? Huh, I understood it just fine. Then again I'm use to Star Trek techobabble...
The ICKiE? Well, the purpose of it certainly is!
Is it bad i keep linking this story with Sunset Shimmer is MAD about EVERYTHING
I just know this is going to be awesome.
Can't wait to see how the date will go.
Oooooo, a continuation?
Count me in! Starts amazingly already
If I was writing this, I couldn't have resisted the urge to name the story "Sundered"
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That's the fifth story, this is only the second one.
So, Sunset only exists because Sunburst is a geek and can't get a date (and is too absent-minded to try to hunt down Starlight and ask her)? Somehow, terrifyingly plausible.
So, through the unorthodox amalgamation of a young student and his immortal teacher's highly magical hair, Sunset Shimmer isn't just a gender-swapped duplicate of Sunburst. She's bordering on the definition of being his child (and by extension, Celestia's).
This is starting to sound like the setup of a very bizarre Japanese romance anime... and I love it!
P.S. - Found this featured on EQD a day ago. Looks like your story is inspiring some fan-art / shipping. Congratulations.
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