The gaggle of female friends had all gathered around the school to eagerly await the arrival of a certain pony alicorn princess who had advised Sunset when she would be coming to their world. Standing near the entrance to Equestria, Shimmer looked up at the high school. It was intriguing to see the school where these girls all attended, she had only heard them talk about it, but never actually seen it.

It definitely wasn’t the most impressive school building she had ever seen, especially given her familiarity with the Institute that her father had built. Still, it had a very homely feel to it, like a family gathering place almost. She was briefly reminded of times when her family had gone to their summer home in Europe.

Looking back to the mirror, she stood in silence with the other girls as she stared into the shining marble. This was the entryway that brought Sunset to their world, right in front of her. To the human eye, it looked no different than shined marble on a statue of a horse, yet it possessed the ability to allow one to leap between worlds. Shimmer’s mind questioned how many other worlds this portal could grant one access to, or if it was just the one. How did it come into existence? Why was it here of all places? So many questions that she doubted she’d learn the answer to.

Most interestingly though, she was interested in meeting this Princess Twilight whom she had heard a good deal about from Sunset and the others. This supposed magic princess of another world had been a creature of intrigue for the scientist for some time now, and she was determined to get the most out of this visit. Twilight’s findings could prove quite valuable to her research on the subject of magic.

Rarity and Applejack were both looking at their phones, exchanging texts it seemed. Whatever conversation they were having to pass the time they either wanted to have in private or didn’t want to break the silence that had filled the air. It definitely made Rainbow curious as she tried to peak at Applejack’s phone, only for Applejack to huddle the phone closer to her chest and give a nasty glare to the athletic girl. Rainbow merely scoffed and shoved her hands into her pocket as she walked away from the two.

Fluttershy passed the time by knitting what appeared to be a scarf over her open backpack while she sat upon the ground, propping her back up against the statue. She hummed a gentle tune as she labored.

Sunset was tapping her foot impatiently as she leaned against the statue, chewing some gum rather violently. Shimmer took note of how Sunset was working on her fourth piece of gum since they had begun standing at this statue twenty minutes ago.

Pinkie was enthralled by a game on her phone to the point where she had more than likely forgotten why they were even standing there, and Twilight of course as always had her nose in a book.

For a brief moment, Shimmer realized that the group all together looked larger than she always remembered it. It had dawned upon her that she actually had grown quite a large group of friends in the past few weeks. A smile came to her face as she realized that fact.

Without any further delay, however, a dainty hand stuck out of the statue. Ripples that resembled water echoed through the finish, giving the appearance of a portal. The hand eventually became an arm, then an entire girl popped through the portal, taking an awkward step before she brushed herself off. On her back was a backpack that looked almost full.

When she stood up, Shimmer noticed she was a hair taller than the Twilight of their group and was missing her signature glasses. Her hair also hung down without restraints. The two Twilight’s eyes met for a moment before they both smiled at each other.

The two shook hands and nodded. “It’s always a pleasure to see you, Ms. Sparkle,” The Princess said as she held Twilight’s hand.

Bowing slightly, Twilight responded, “shame that we only got to meet for a brief few minutes before. I’d love to pick your brain sometime!”

With a giggle, the Princess took her hand back and placed it upon her lips. “Maybe some other time, I came to drop off something for Sunset and I don’t have all the time in the world. Lots of things going on in Equestria that require my attention.”

A frown found its way onto Twilight’s face as she nodded. “Understood; some other time then?”

Princess Twilight nodded happily. “Have Sunset write to me and I’ll make sure to pencil it in.”

Sunset coughed to get the Princess’s attention. Princess Twilight blinked and flinched before looking in Sunset’s direction. Sunset gave a thumb in Shimmer’s direction which directed the alicorn-turned-human’s eyes to the teen. Twilight examined Shimmer for a brief few seconds, trying to see all the differences between her and Sunset. The scientist in her wanting to examine and gather details, however, she snapped back to reality as she realized she was being rude.

Stepping forward, Twilight offered a hand. “You must be Shimmer… I’ve heard a great deal about you. Sunset writes about you a lot, and it’s an honor to finally actually meet you, though Sunset neglected to mention that you were so beautiful.”

Shimmer blushed and stuttered as she shook Twilight’s hand. “B-beautiful? I… I… Ummm…”

The fair princess giggled and tapped the girl’s nose. “I’m only teasing. Nonetheless, it’s quite an honor to meet face to face. I hear you’re quite the scientist.”

“I guess…” Shimmer shrugged nervously.

“Modest and smart. An excellent combination, you’ll go far,” Twilight praised.

Sunset coughed again, trying to signal for Twilight to cut the small talk and get to the point. Princess Twilight looked over at Sunset, then back to Shimmer, quickly figuring out what Sunset was getting at. Adjusting herself, she straightened her shirt before removing her backpack and retrieving a binder. Extending it to Shimmer, she allowed the girl to take it from her.

“These are all of the notes I’ve gathered on the subject of magic in this world. The first recorded instance I can determine is when Sunset came through the portal,” Twilight explained.

“W-what do you mean?” Shimmer blinked as she opened the binder and then looked back up to Twilight with confusion.

The Princess made an awkward face and crossed her arms as she looked up to think. “It’s strange… I can’t find any other instances of magic or magic flowing to this world that happened prior to Sunset arriving here...”

“What does that mean?” Shimmer raised a brow. She noticed that Sunset had stopped leaning against the statue and took a few steps closer to listen in, clearly the conversation was intriguing her as well.

The Princess rubbed her chin. “Well… Basically I theorize that magic appeared in this world when Sunset came. Her stepping through the portal must have triggered some kind of domino effect, opening the floodgates for magic in this world. Furthermore, it seems that magic affects counterparts in this world. This would explain why the Twilight of this world can use magic, though it’s possible that it is merely due to exposure to other magic users. Though it’s entirely possible that when I came here she gained magic too…”

“How does that work?” The other Twilight chimed in to ask.

Trying to think of the best way to explain it, Princess Twilight scratched her head and tried her hand at an explanation that made sense. “Magic is sort of like a force beyond just energy. It’s connected to the world and the universe itself in Equestria. It latches onto things sometimes and manifests in strange ways. It’s more than likely possible that it latched onto you because you’re a counterpart of me. In a way, we are connected, and magic senses that connection and latches onto you.”

Applejack’s head was swirling with confusion by this all. The conversation was getting far too technical for her to follow, but she stepped forward and decided to add a nugget that she remembered the Princess mentioning before.

“Wait a darn minute here… Ah' thought that fella’ Star Swirl the Bearded sent those Sirens here long before Sunset arrived? Wouldn’t they have opened the floodgate for magic before Sunset?”

Shaking her head, Princess Twilight waved her hand as she explained. “Star Swirl was quite a powerful wizard. When he banished the Sirens here, his spell was new and experimental, he had no idea how it would affect them. Turns out it sent them here thousands of years into the future for this world. Their arrival point was sometime after Sunset’s. Sunset had been here a full two years before the Sirens even got here. I tracked down a lot of the info to verify this, and that seems pretty accurate.”

“Star Swirl sounds pretty amazin’…” Applejack commented as she whistled in awe at the unicorn’s abilities.

A smile came to the Princess’ face as she resisted the urge to enlighten yet more individuals on the life of Star Swirl the Bearded, her favorite wizard. “Yes, well that’s probably a topic best left for another day.”

Shimmer studied the notes in front of her and began processing what the Princess was saying. Her hands squeezed the binder tightly as her arms began to shake holding it. “T-this… Can’t be…” Shimmer stuttered.

It made sense though, the timeline lined up almost perfectly. The explanation made perfect logical sense. Every piece of the puzzle had fallen into place and it had made everything make sense for the first time. The explanation she had been waiting for, however, it wasn’t one that she wanted to be true.

That means that...

Shimmer dropped the binder onto the ground and took a step backward in her high heels before trembling. “No… This can’t be true…”

Sunset took a step forward and reached a hand out to try and grab Shimmer’s shoulder to calm her down. “Shimmer-“

Shimmer swatted Sunset’s hand away and took a further step back. “DON’T TOUCH ME!”

Retracting her hand, Sunset blinked, unsure of what was going on, or why Shimmer was having an emotional break down suddenly. “Shimmer, what’s wrong?”

“IT WAS YOU! YOU DID THIS! IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT!” Shimmer placed her hands upon her head and looked to the ground as she shook her head screaming.

“What was her fault?” Rarity interjected.

Sunset tried again to take a step forward, Shimmer pushed her back, causing the girl to lose her balance and fall flat on her rear. She looked up in pure confusion along with the other girls as to why this was happening. Shimmer was shaking, her hands gripping the sides of her head tightly.

“You’re responsible… You killed them… It was you…” Shimmer was nearly whispering now.

“What are you talking about?” Sunset asked genuinely.

“IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT! YOU’RE THE REASON MY PARENTS ARE DEAD! YOU AND YOUR FUCKING MAGIC! YOU RUINED MY LIFE SUNSET!” Shimmer shouted.

Sunset placed a hand upon her heart and shook her head. “I’d never kill anyone… I didn’t have anything to do with that… How could you say that?”

“JUST STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM ME! I CAN’T TRUST YOU! LEAVE ME ALONE!” Shimmer shouted before running to her car parked on the side of the road. Without hesitation, she managed to get inside before any of the other girls could even react and peeled out of the way.

Princess Twilight looked to the other girls with a confused look. “Anyone want to explain what’s going on?”

Applejack shrugged. “Beats me, your guess is as good as ours’.”

“Yes, this is unusual behavior for Shimmer…” Rarity agreed.

Sunset was nearly in tears as the other Twilight knelt down to Sunset’s level. She offered a handkerchief from her shirt pocket. Taking it with a nod, Sunset wiped her misty eyes as she looked to the eyes behind the glasses of the girl who was now at eye level. Twilight knelt there with her hands upon her pleated skirt. “I’ll talk to her.”

“I don’t know what I did…” Sunset admitted.

Twilight nodded before standing up and looking to the Princess. “Princess Twilight, would you mind if I kept this binder?” She spoke as she picked up the binder that Shimmer had dropped.

The Princess nodded. “Go ahead, hopefully, it’ll help resolve whatever this mystery is.”

“I’m sure the answers lay within.” Twilight smiled to her, then looked to Sunset, offering her a hand.

“I need to talk to her…” Sunset said.

Twilight shook her head and placed her hands upon Sunset’s shoulders, having to look up slightly to see the taller girl. “Let me do this. You’re emotional right now, as is she. She isn’t going to listen to you right now, and you’re viable to say something you don’t mean. You should go home and get some rest.”

Sunset wanted to protest, but when she opened her mouth no words came out.

“You can trust me, Sunset…” Twilight pleaded.

“Clearly I don’t know anything about this stuff, I screwed up big time apparently… Fitting that I have such a huge blow out in front of the Princess who tried to teach me friendship in the first place…” Sunset frowned looking to the Princess.

Smiling, Princess Twilight stepped forward and placed a hand upon Twilight’s shoulder. “That’s not true. This girl here was taught friendship by you and she is willing to go and investigate this problem with Shimmer on your behalf. She was able to tell that Shimmer needed another perspective and that you were not in a state to handle this. I’d say she’s a great example of how far you’ve come. You can put your trust in your students as I do in mine, which you are one of, Sunset. I put my trust in you, and you have yet to let me down. Your fumbles are natural, and you always learn from your mistakes."

Sunset found herself blushing at the praise, and more tears began to well up in her ducts as she nodded.

“Now, let your friend help you, she clearly is very capable,” the Princess spoke.

Taking a deep breath, Sunset nodded and smiled at Twilight in front of her. “Alright… I’ll leave it to you then, Twilight.”

With a nod and a thumbs-up, Twilight winked. “You can count on me.”

Quickly she pivoted and pointed a finger to Rarity. “I will need your car though, Rarity.”

Rolling her eyes, Rarity sighed and reached in her purse.

While she had little experience driving a car, Twilight did have a license, but it had been a while. Most of the time, her brother gave her a ride or her parents. The rest of the time she took a bus, and it took her some time to adjust Rarity’s seat to her much shorter legs. Clearly, Rarity was a far leggier woman than Twilight paid mind to.

After a bit of getting used to Rarity’s car, she followed the direction that her phone had told her how to get to Shimmer’s estate. It was a considerable drive across town, and Twilight had made a wrong turn or two, but finally reaching the place, she pulled up to the gates and parked the car next to the gate. Unbuckling her seat belt, she brushed her skirt off and stepped up to the intercom. She cleared her throat and pressed the button.

“Shimmer, it’s Twilight. Please let me inside, I need to talk to you,” Twilight spoke.

No response.

“Shimmer, I’m serious, this is important, please let me inside.”

Twilight was answered with silence.

“Okay, I’m serious here, Shimmer. If you don’t open this gate I am going to climb over it!” Twilight demanded.

Still nothing.

Grumbling she waved her hand at the intercom and mumbled to herself, “have it your way then…”

Looking to the gate and the brick wall around it, she contemplated which seemed easier to scale. Looking to her feet, she sincerely regretted wearing sandals now. Shrugging, she kicked off her sandals and scooped them up. Opening Rarity’s car, she tossed them into the seat. Slamming the door shut she pulled her sleeves up and stretched for a brief few seconds to prepare herself.

Twilight climbed atop of Rarity’s car and stood on the top as she crouched slightly aiming for the wall of the estate. With a mighty leap, she grabbed onto the top of the wall and gripped her toes into the small crevices between bricks. Without her footwear, she had improved dexterity with her feet that assisted in helping her scale the wall. Grumbling, she managed to get to the top.

Panting slightly, she undid her tie to allow her neck some air and jumped off the top of the wall, tucking and rolling to prevent injury. She grunted but landed onto the grass. Picking herself up, she looked to what appeared to be nearly a mile of driveway. She let out an audible complaint realizing that she probably should have brought her sandals when she saw the black pavement that was no doubt hot. She would have to walk on the grass.

A good ten minutes of approaching the house, Twilight managed to reach the front door, before banging the knocker loudly. When there was no answer she buzzed the doorbell next to it. Impatiently, she waited, tapping her foot and checking her watch. She growled before shouting, “SHIMMER OPEN THIS DOOR OR I AM BREAKING IN!”

Once again, Shimmer seemed to be challenging her, as she didn’t answer.

“Ugh!” Twilight grunted before looking around.

Peering up, Twilight could see a window open on the third floor. She couldn’t find a fire escape or anything, but she did see grooves in the architecture. Determining a possibility she gripped onto one of the windows on the bottom floor and began climbing. The bookworm wasn’t nearly as athletic as Rainbow Dash, or even Sunset for that matter who was in moderately decent shape, however, her body was running on the pure determination at this point as she scaled the side of the house, gripping every little nook she could get her fingers or toes into.

The girl avoided looking down and would make it to the desired window with only a slip or two almost bringing her back to the ground. Crawling into the window, Twilight huffed and puffed as she was completely winded. The girl stripped her blouse off and tossed it aside with her tie, figuring she could come back for it later. She was down to a plain white sleeveless undershirt and her skirt.

Part of her wanted to laugh at how much of her clothing she had to lose to get into this place, but her lack of breath made her skip that plan and instead focus on finding Shimmer. Twilight shouted as best she could. “SHIMMER! WHERE ARE YOU!?”

With no answer, Twilight decided to resort to another plan. Looking around the lavish building she spotted a phone in the hallway. Running to it, she dialed Shimmer’s phone number, which like most of her friends she had already memorized. Listening, she could hear a phone ring from a room down the hall.

“Gotcha!” She smirked hanging up the phone and ran to that room.

Quickly trying to turn the knob, she saw the door was locked. Twilight viciously rattled the knob before speaking through the door. “Shimmer, if you don’t open this door, I’m going to break it down.”

Pausing, Twilight gave Shimmer a chance to respond. When there was none, Twilight sighed and took a step back. “Stand back!” She yelled before smashing her shoulder into the wooden door. It certainly was a lot tougher than she had anticipated, but she readied herself again and gave another shove with the full force of her shoulder.

Her shoulder was hurting, but she backed up one more time and bashed it, breaking it open and tumbling to the ground.

Feeling a bit foolish, Twilight picked herself up and looked around to the room she had entered forcibly. Her eyes gazed in wonder as she saw various test tubes, microscopes, and machines. It made the lab at school look like a child’s playset, and even her own bedroom operation look like nothing. Envy and wonder-filled her for a brief second before she recollected herself remembering why she was truly here. Her desire to gawk over Shimmer's lab equipment would have to wait for another day.

Looking forward, there sat Shimmer in an office chair with shocked eyes. Twilight huffed and tried to catch her breath before taking a few steps forward. Between labored breaths, she spoke, “t-there… I found you… Give me a minute…” Twilight panted before she placed a hand upon a nearby table and knelt down.

“H-how did you get in here?” Shimmer blinked with amazement.

“Climbed the wall… Scaled the side of the house… Came in… Through window… Very tired…” Twilight managed to get out.

“Impressive… I guess you’re lucky I didn’t send Moon on you…” Shimmer sneered.

“At this point, I’d have fought him off…” Twilight spoke as she stood up a bit, starting to not feel as light-headed. “You’ll find I don’t take no for an answer…”

“Evidently… You’re very resourceful, Ms. Sparkle. I’m impressed…” Shimmer smiled.

“Thank you; I’m impressed by your laboratory actually.” Twilight fixed her crooked glasses as she approached.

“I pride myself on having the best tools for the job, and that means sparing no expense,” Shimmer responded.

Twilight looked to one side of the room and smiled pointing. “Is that a mass spectrometer?”

Shimmer nodded and looked to the direction she was pointing. “You’ve got a keen eye; a scientist after my own heart.”

Twilight giggled and gave a dismissive hand gesture. “Yes, well that’s not why I came here though. I needed to talk to you…”

“If it’s about Sunset, forget it.” Shimmer’s face quickly contorted to a rather bitter one as she swiveled her chair to face away from Twilight in annoyance.

With another step forward, Twilight placed her hand upon the table and leaned forward speaking. “Please listen… I just scaled two walls to get in here; the least you can do is hear my out.”

Shimmer let out an audible sigh and nodded before turning back to face Twilight. “Very well… Go on…”

“Thank you…” She smiled as she stood tall and began to speak, “Shimmer you have to believe that Sunset didn’t mean for any of this to happen. She didn’t know that her coming here would cause what happened…”

“That’s the problem. Sunset doesn’t consider the effects of what she does on other people, what her shadow can do to the world around her…” Shimmer growled and crossed her arms.

“Shimmer she was a child when she came here. A young preteen…” Twilight explained.

Shimmer, of course, knew that but had not given it much thought. She didn’t respond but continued to sit cross-armed in a pout.

Twilight continued, “I don’t know a whole lot about Sunset’s past, but she avoids talking about it… However, what I do know is when the two of us were at Camp Everfree… Sunset always had a hard time sleeping… Tossing and turning all the time, nightmares clearly.”

Shimmer shrugged. “So what?”

Twilight sighed and shook her head. “Shimmer, the girl has been through a lot. Think about it… Why would she come to this world if she had a family and people who cared about her back in Equestria? I don’t know what happened there, but it was enough to drive Sunset to come to an alien world where she had nothing. Where she would be a nobody. The prospect of living here was more appealing than her own homeworld, doesn’t that tell you something?”

Looking to the floor, Shimmer realized that Twilight might actually have a point there. It didn’t make logical sense really. The way Sunset described Equestria it seemed like an almost ethereal place with amazing adventures to be had and all the magic one could want, why would she trade that for this world where she had to live as an undocumented immigrant. What could have driven her to this place?

“I guess… I never thought of that…” Shimmer frowned.

Twilight nodded and placed a hand upon Shimmer’s shoulder. “I don’t know much about friendship just like you, but I know that Sunset never intended to hurt you. She cares about you, and I could tell when I saw her crying when you ran off.”

Perking up, Shimmer looked to Twilight with big eyes filled with surprise. “Sunset… Cried?”

Twilight nodded and stood up straight crossing her arms. “She was pretty upset… I told her to go home, but I think it’s pretty clear that Sunset cares about you. She was pretty messed up over this… Please try and understand…”

Coming to a stand as well, Shimmer nodded. “I understand… I need to go and see her… I’m such a jackass… Thank you, Twilight. You’re a good friend.” She placed her hands upon Twilight’s shoulders as she met her eyes.

Twilight merely giggled and rolled her eyes. “I never leave my friends hanging and that includes both of the Sunsets that I have acquired in my life.”

Shimmer laughed and nudged Twilight’s cheek with a fist before stepping past her towards the door. “She’s lucky to have you as well. Anyways I need to go find her; I’ll unlock the gate and front door so you can get home.”

Twilight nodded. “Yeah, I’m sure Rarity will want her car back.”

Giggling, Shimmer rolled her eyes. “Less we avoid a drama episode from her.”

Stepping out with Shimmer, Twilight walked by her side down the hall with a smile. “Agreed.”

The two fell quiet as they proceeded to the staircase. Shimmer reached the first two steps down as Twilight was about to take a step before Shimmer stopped dead in her tracks and turned her head around her shoulder to see Twilight. “Say… Can I ask you something?”

Twilight blinked and tilted her head. “Yes?”

A curious look of pure innocence seemed to paint Shimmer’s face. “You and Sunset… Do you like… Have a thing or something?”

Twilight’s face turned a shade of crimson. “W-what?”

“You know, like a crush or something?”

Twilight shook her head violently. “W-what makes you say that?”

Shimmer shrugged. “Dunno, just pretty strange how you came to her rescue as you did, you even risked your safety by breaking into here. Just curious if there’s more to you two is all…”

“I have a boyfriend…” Twilight admitted.

Shimmer shrugged. “Eh, guess I really am bad at reading people.” She smirked before racing down the stairs, "Shame, you two would be cute together," she added.

Twilight stood at the top of the steps in utter confusion. Sure Sunset was a close friend of hers, but why did she get so determined to help her? She shrugged it off as she slowly proceeded down the stairs.

Making her way to the address that Sunset had provided prior, it dawned on Shimmer that the two had never met at Sunset’s apartment, and Sunset never invited her over either. Looking the place over, the apartment complex didn’t look like much. It actually looked pretty run down to a degree.

Parking her car, Shimmer stepped outside and decided to turn on the alarm given that this didn’t exactly strike her as a “great” part of town. Far from a ghetto, but not exactly the place where one would leave an expensive car unattended.

Shimmer approached a map erected near the parking lot and located Sunset’s number. Following the directions of the map, Shimmer walked up a set of stairs to approach Sunset’s door. Turning the knob, the door was unlocked to her good fortune. Walking inside, Shimmer was a bit surprised at how undecorated the place was. Actually the entire apartment was relatively empty in general.

Stepping deeper inside, Shimmer looked around to see that the only furniture that Sunset owned was an old card table and a fold-out chair near the counter of the breakfast nook. The kitchen had a simple fridge, a microwave, and a coffee maker, but little else. She opened a drawer to see only one set of cutlery, did Sunset really live like this?

Poking her head around she couldn’t even locate a television in the living room, but a stack of four books upon the single card table in the room. She flipped one open to examine it. Quickly she took note of the library punch card inside; it looked like Sunset acquired her reading material from the library.

Looking at the back, Shimmer read the blurb about the book to see what kind of things Sunset read in her free time. It seemed as though it was about some girl who had fallen in love with a man who was a trained assassin and the two had difficulty trying to make it work. It sounded rather dark, but also dramatic. Shimmer didn’t take Sunset as a romance fan or thinking this was the kind of story Sunset actually enjoyed, then again she never bothered to ask.

Growing tired of snooping, she sighed and placed the book back upon the stack and wandered down the plain white painted hallway to find Sunset. Opening a door she could see a bedroom behind it.

On the wall, the first thing that Shimmer saw was a photograph of herself and Sunset pinned to the wall with a simple tack. Placing her hand upon her heart, Shimmer recalled the day the two of them took that photo. She and Shimmer had gone to see a movie together and Sunset insisted that the two use the photo booth. A smile was brought to her face briefly as she remembered that day.

Looking to the bed she could see Sunset sleeping on top of the sheets. Silently Sunset’s chest went up and down as Shimmer stared for a moment. She wondered if she looked the same when she slept. She could see minor twitching of Sunset’s hand as she rested, and eventually, her head turned and she moved in what appeared to be agony. Twilight was right, Sunset did sleep rather restlessly. Walking over to her, Shimmer gently touched Sunset’s shoulder to wake her.

Springing up from the bed quickly, Sunset spoke aloud, “Mom!?”

Shimmer blushed and shook her head as Sunset turned to see her double’s face. “Sorry, just me…”

“Y-you scared me…” Sunset admitted, placing her hand upon her chest, clenching her shirt.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to.”

Sunset nodded and brought herself to a stand and gestured for Shimmer to follow. “Meet me in the kitchen, we can talk there, I need some water.”

Shimmer merely nodded as she followed. Sunset pulled the only glass from her cupboard out and turned the faucet on and filled it before downing the entire glass. Shimmer merely watched before speaking, “you know tap water is bad for you…”

Sunset shrugged. “Don’t have anything else. Better than dying of thirst.”

Shimmer conceded to that. Sunset gestured for her to pulled the chair up to the counter as she herself hopped atop of it and sat down, crossing her long legs. “Sit.”

Doing as instructed, Shimmer placed her hands in her lap while she sat in the chair, a knot in her throat.

“How’d you get here?” Sunset started with.

“Twilight paid me a visit… She hopped over my wall and scaled the side of my home before breaking down a door to talk to me,” Shimmer explained.

Sunset’s eyes widened as she tried to picture a girl like Twilight achieving almost James Bond level of espionage like that. It was impossible to picture, but she certainly was sad that she missed such an amazing thing. “Dang… Hardcore.”

Shimmer nodded. “She convinced me that I needed to speak with you, and I recalled your address from when I had food sent here… Clearly I should have sent a decorator too…” Shimmer looked around the empty place.

With a chuckle, Sunset shook her head. “I don’t need much. I live on a non-existent budget after all.”

“Who pays for this, Sunset?” Shimmer asked seriously.

Laughter and chuckles ceased as Sunset could sense Shimmer was concerned. She placed her hands on the counter and leaned towards Shimmer to speak. “At first, Principal Celestia did, but I know a guy who hooks me up with a few hundred bucks a month. I do his college homework for him and give him cheat sheets for the upcoming tests. Sometimes when Dash’s band plays we get paid and I get a small cut. Since I don’t really own much, I can get by on about $400 a month or a little less.”

“You never told me you had money trouble…” Shimmer frowned.

Sunset shrugged. “I didn’t think it was relevant. I’m doing a lot better than when I first got here. I lived in a cave back then. I didn't ever want you thinking that I came to know you just to get your money...”

“A-a cave?” Shimmer blinked.

With a nod, Sunset smiled. “Everything’s a lot better now though. I live here now and it’s a huge step up, plus I have my friends. It’s better than growing up, trust me. I had a house with food in it and nice things, but I was alone a majority of the time.”

“You’ve spent your whole life alone haven’t you, Sunset?” Shimmer asked. She had been suspecting this for some time now, but she never really wanted to open that potential wound. Sunset’s frown and looking down answered her question before words even left the other girl’s mouth.

“Pretty much…”

Changing the subject, Shimmer reached forward and took Sunset’s hands in her own. “Sunset… I’m sorry… About what I said… I know you have no reason to forgive me, but I thought it over and I realized…” She paused and looked down, “I was wrong. You’re not at fault for my parents dying… You had no idea, you were a kid…”

Sunset could feel Shimmer getting tense, and she squeezed the girl’s hands in her own. “Shimmer?”

Shimmer looked up to meet Sunset’s teal eyes. “Y-yes?”

“Tell me what happened to them.”

Taking her hands back, Shimmer leaned back in her chair and looked up and to the right with an exhale. “Oh boy… Well… I was about twelve or so…”

Sunset leaned in, placing her hands on her knees to keep herself propped up as she leaned forward listening to what was undoubtedly going to be a difficult story.

“Well, we got into a fight… Atypical for us actually as we normally got along great, but I always had anger issues even as a child and for some reason I couldn’t stop getting upset. I don’t even remember what we were fighting about, but I remember the apex of that fight.” Sunset noticed that Shimmer was gripping the skirt of the dress tightly, her hands shaking.

“I remember just telling them to shut up as loud as I could, pushing my father back as he tried to hug me to calm me down…” she paused and closed her eyes, “there was a flash from my hands… Some kind of flare released from my palm…” She stopped and shook her head, hoping Sunset could fill in the rest.

Sunset had never expected this to be the explanation of what had happened. “So you mean… You got magic…?”

Shimmer nodded as she held out her hand. With a little focus, she was able to ignite it with fire for a brief second before closing her palm and extinguishing the flame. “It must have appeared when you appeared… That’s why I tried to blame you…”

Sunset shook her head. “What did you tell the police?”

Shimmer frowned. “Nothing… They would never believe me. So I opted to say nothing, and see if I could find an explanation on my own. I’ve spent my time since then trying to understand this all. Then you showed up and I was certain I had the answers, but I guess I was asking questions that I already knew the answer to…” The girl sighed and looked down.

Sunset reached forward and placed a hand upon Shimmer’s shoulder. Shimmer looked up to see Sunset again with a serious face. “It’s not your fault, Shimmer. What you went through… It was horrible, but it was an accident. I don’t think less of you, magic can make people do things they never imagined, but it can also do amazing and wonderful things. You didn’t mean to hurt anyone and that’s what counts.”

Shimmer smiled and nodded, placing her hand atop of Sunset’s. “Thank you… Perhaps I needed to hear that…”

“What are sisters for?” Sunset smirked.

Week eleven of this tale, wow it's already been almost 3 whole months since we started hasn't it? Big thanks again to Applety for her continued help! Best wife. Much love to her, and I couldn't do this without her and I mean that sincerely. She's not only the artist for this story, but a huge motivator during times when it was difficult to even bring myself to try and write.

Behind the scenes: One of the original concepts for this story was actually going to have the story told from the point of view of Twilight observing Shimmer and Sunset's developing friendship. However the idea was changed due to Twilight simply not being around the two enough to tell much of what was going on in Act I.