Princess Twilight smiled at the two reunited sisters and approached. The two had already discussed their departure with the princess and how Sunset wished to return home. Twilight sighed as she watched them stand in the same room as the portal, but her smile didn’t fade.

“You’re sure about this, Sunset?” Twilight asked.

Sunset nodded. “Positive.”

“You’re positive that I can’t convince you to stay? I would greatly benefit with you as my advisor,” Twilight asked.

Sunset shook her head. “Sorry, Twilight but my place is back there with my friends.”

With a nod, Twilight chuckled. “I wouldn’t want to stand between you and that, however, if you ever change your mind the offer is on the table whenever you should return if you ever do.”

Sunset smiled back at her, a little giddy at the fact that she had more options on the table should she ever need them. “Thanks, Twilight. I appreciate all you’ve done for me and I intend to repay the favor if you ever need my help, just come find me, you know how.”

Twilight giggled and winked. “Don’t be surprised if and when I pop up then.”

Shimmer stepped toward Twilight and rubbed her neck nervously. “Princess Twilight… I uh… well thanks for putting up with me. I know it’s been a crazy few weeks, and I’m sorry that I’ve been so crappy…”

Reaching forward, Twilight patted the girl’s shoulder and shook her head. “On the path to friendship we often hit many roadblocks. Your journey is only beginning, Shimmer. You’re always welcome to come visit along with Sunset as well. Hopefully next time it’ll be on better terms.”

Shimmer grinned and nodded. “I promise next time we meet, it’ll be under far better circumstances.”

Twilight giggled and gestured toward the portal. “You two better go, it’s already eight o’ clock, I’m sure your friends are waiting.”

Sunset stepped closer to the portal offering her hoof to Shimmer, who looked down and took it before looking back at Twilight with a smile. “Thanks for everything, princess!”

Twilight nodded and waved. “Go on you two, and good luck!”

With those words they both hopped into the mirror and felt that same pull that Shimmer had felt earlier. For Sunset it was a relaxing feeling, the feeling of knowing before long she would be home again.

It only lasted a few seconds before the two could feel themselves standing on two legs again and pulling themselves through the marble statue where a group of six familiar girls waited for them. Shimmer released Sunset’s hand and smiled at the group.

Before Sunset could even react, Twilight leaped forward and pulled the girl into a tight hug, squeezing her so hard she could barely breathe. Her hug was rivaling Pinkie’s at that moment. “I missed you too…” Sunset managed to squeak out patting the girl’s head.

Shimmer stepped forward to the group and smiled sheepishly. “I uh… thanks girls… for putting up with me that is…”

“You’re not completely off the hook…” Rarity pointed out.

Shimmer nodded. “I understand. I overreacted and sort of betrayed all of your trust. I promise I’ll work hard to rebuild it though. I’ll do what it takes!”

“Ah’d say y’all already made the first step then.” Applejack winked.

Shimmer nodded and looked around as the girls all came in closer exchanging hugs with both Sunset and herself. While there was clearly plenty that would need to be worked out, at least for that moment everything felt like it was the way it was supposed to be, or at the very last back on the path to such a thing.

“Alright, so what you need to do is focus your energy, try and keep your mind clear of anything else, imagine what you want to happen and make it so…” Sunset instructed, placing both of her hands on Shimmer’s shoulders standing behind her.

Shimmer nodded an inhaled then exhaled. “Imagine what I want to happen… got it…”

Sunset watched closed as her sister closed her eyes for a moment and held out her hands. She concentrated as hard as she could, pushing everything else out of her mind. She allowed herself to become one with her thoughts and opened her eyes. Her left hand started to shine slightly, and before long, like a fire, it came to her right hand as well. Before she knew it a teal aura was surrounding both of her hands and in front of her, one of two pots began to lift in the air.

“Wow! I’m doing it!” Shimmer exclaimed before shakily setting the pot back down.

Sunset nodded and ruffled her sister’s hair slightly. “You’re a natural. See, I told you magic can do wonderful things if you are trained. It’s better to train your magic than to run from it. These training sessions over the past few days have been pretty helpful haven’t they?”

Shimmer leaped forward and hugged her sister in glee.

It had been a good two weeks since Sunset’s return, and while things were far from how they were before, Shimmer had been making her best effort to try and approach things differently. Magic was a subject that she and her sister had discussed before, but Shimmer was always closed off to the idea. Now with Sunset’s help though the two had engaged in training sessions for a few days now.

“Thanks for showing me, sis.” Shimmer replied finally releasing Sunset from the hug.

Sunset giggled and nodded, petting the girl’s head. “Let’s see if you can move them without levitating them.”

“You mean like teleportation?” Shimmer blinked.

Sunset shook her head. “Teleporting something to somewhere else is a very advanced spell, only powerful mages can do that. What we’re doing is a simple replacement, switching two items if you will.”

“How does it work?” Shimmer blinked.

“Well, first you need to understand the conditions of a replacement spell. Since it is a far weaker spell you need to be able to see both of the objects you want to switch. If you can’t see them it won’t work, sort of like how you need to know exactly where you would want to teleport or you could end up stuck in a wall.” Sunset explained with a finger raised.

“And the second condition?” Shimmer tilted her head.

“The distance between the objects equates to how much energy it takes to perform the switch. So these two plant pots we have which are only a few feet apart wouldn’t take much, but something that is half a mile away… that would be tricky.” Sunset stated.

Shimmer squinted. “What about the size of the objects?”

A smile came to Sunset’s face as she nodded. “That’s the inquisitive nature I like to see when it comes to magic. A curious mind makes the best mage. Fortunately, the size of the objects is relatively irrelevant until their size becomes massive like a tree or a building. Even something as big as a person can be switched without much effort, granted for you it may take a bit since you are still training, but it would be entirely doable to swap two people so long as you can see both of them.”

Shimmer nodded, but Sunset extended a finger and spoke again, “I almost forgot, the two objects have to be roughly around the same size and mass as well.”

“Why’s that?” Shimmer raised a brow.

“Like teleporting when you are moving one object to the direct location of another, if the object is too big to fit it could end up stuck in a wall or something, you have a little wiggle room, but swapping two objects of different mass and sizes could cause a lot of problems, so proceed with caution,” Sunset explained.

Looking forward, Sunset placed a hand on Shimmer’s shoulder and pointed to the two pots they were working with. “Now, focus on one, and then bring your focus to the other as you imagine what you want to happen. Timing is key here, it requires you to split your thinking almost flawlessly, give it a shot.”

Taking a deep breath, Shimmer concentrated and attempted to follow the instructions, but found herself only able to make one of the pots levitate in the air temporarily before falling.

Sunset shook her head and extended her right hand. “Like me, alright?”

Shimmer watched patiently as Sunset closed her eyes for a moment and opened them with an exhale. Her eyes focused entirely on a single pot and then quickly darted to the other, and right before Shimmer’s eyes the two items disappeared for a brief second and reappeared in opposite spaces. Her mouth formed an O as she watched in awe.

Sunset cracked her knuckles and gestured toward the pots. “Now try again, this time focus.”

With a small step forward, Shimmer copied what her sister did. She closed her eyes and took a second to clear her mind. She took in a deep breath and let it out as her eyes sprung open; choosing her left hand instead of her right, Shimmer pointed in the direction of the first pot and concentrated on it, examining its shape, it’s size, every detail about it, taking it into memory.

As she envisioned what she willed to happen her eyes moved to the second pot, and sure enough the two items vanished briefly before reappearing in opposing positions. Shimmer blinked and looked to her left hand in amazement. “I… I did it…”

Sunset nodded and ruffled her sister’s hair playfully. “Not bad, before you know it you’ll be taking trips to Equestria to practice.”

“Wouldn’t it be dangerous for us to use magic so freely in the human world?” Shimmer asked.

Sunset shrugged. “Whether we like it or not, magic is here and it’s likely here to stay. That means we have to learn how to master it as best we can to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands, and if that should happen we need to be ready to deal with it, wouldn’t you say?”

Shimmer grew quiet as she thought over that statement. “Is there someone that you think would abuse magic, Sunset?”

That comment had a similar effect on Sunset, as she too grew quiet and looked away, her eyes narrowing as she focused on the pots in front of them. “I can think of a few. Plenty of ponies and other creatures in Equestria alone have tried to use magic for their own selfish needs, and this place is no different…”

Shimmer stepped forward only to see Sunset turn back to her with a smile now. “That’s a story for another day though. Hey, how about we go out for a day on the town? Just the two of us,” Sunset asked.

“You can’t go out and about in that plain old get up,” Shimmer commented, placing her hands on her hips as she examined Sunset’s plain outfit of just a pair of gym shorts and a white undershirt that barely kept her chest hidden. The two had been training in Shimmer’s home all day, so their wardrobe hadn’t been on Sunset’s mind.

She chuckled and nodded. “How about I let you pick a more fitting outfit for me?”

Shimmer beamed and stepped forward with excitement, her hands at her chest. “You mean it!?”

“Sure, why not? We can wear matching outfits, it’ll be fun.” Sunset laughed at her sister’s enthusiasm.

“You won’t regret it! I have just the outfits for the occasion!” Shimmer winked.

“Now you’re sounding like Rarity.” Sunset rolled her eyes.

“Twilight, your brother’s come over for a visit and he brought your sister-in-law with him!” Twilight’s mother called down the hall to Twilight who was clacking away at her keyboard when she heard the news.

She frowned as she recognized she was only a few sentences away from finishing the homework for the end of the month. Despite being far ahead, she had a huge gripe about leaving things unfinished. Pulling herself back to her computer she tapped away a few more times and with a couple dozen keystrokes she was satisfied and hit save before pushing her rolling chair away from the computer and running to the door.

“Coming mom! I just need to make myself presentable!” She called through the crack of the door.

She could vaguely hear her mother call back with, “don’t take too long, dear!”

Nodding, Twilight quickly threw her hair into a ponytail and grabbed a nearby hair scrunchie, wrapping it around her hair twice to hold it in place. Peering into the large mirror on her door, she realized that she had been sitting in her room all day with her shirt buttoned wrong. Grumbling, she readjusted the buttons on her shirt to align them properly and smiled at herself in the mirror.

Twilight swung the door open and raced down the hallway to see her elder brother sitting at the dining table with a steaming mug in hand. His hair was the usual mess with poor attempts to tame it evident, and he was sporting a five o’ clock shadow, hinting that he had been busy lately. If he shaved, however, he still had an older looking face, not in that he looked like an elder but he looked wiser and more mature. He had what Twilight referred to as a reverse baby face.

His wife who sat next to him smiled and waved at Twilight upon seeing her enter. Twilight bowed in response. “Dean Cadance!”

The woman giggled and shook her head. “I’m not your dean anymore, remember? You don’t go to Crystal Prep, besides we’re family now. You may call me Cadance.”

Twilight nodded and corrected herself. “R-right, Cadance…”

“Besides it’s Principal Cadance now.” Shining wiggled his eyebrow and winked before taking a sip of his coffee.

Blinking Twilight looked over to Cadance for confirmation. She smiled and nodded as she sipped from her own mug. “It’s true, I got a promotion after Principal Cinch resigned.”

“That’s incredible!” Twilight exclaimed as she sat down across from them. Her mother poured a cup of coffee for herself and sat in the empty seat.

“So, Twilight your friend Sunset came back a few days ago, how’s that going?” Her mother changed the subject.

Twilight gave an awkward glance over at her mother and frowned. “Mom…” Twilight’s eyes darted over to Shining and then back to her.

“Shining is already informed on most of her unique circumstances, his lips are sealed.” Her mother giggled.

Twilight looked over at him in his suit and tie and raised a brow. “R-really?”

Shining rolled his eyes at his little sister. “Just because I’m with law enforcement doesn’t mean I am going to say anything. I know about your friend and don’t worry I’m going to keep it under my hat, promise.”

“Yeah but… you’re a cop… you’re supposed to uphold the law…” Twilight frowned at the conflict of interest he was presenting.

“Detective now,” Cadance corrected.

Twilight’s mother blinked this time and looked to Twilight and then both women looked at him in amazement. “Really now? When did that happen?” Twilight’s mother asked.

“The paperwork went through about a month ago. I’m working homicide now,” Shining stated.

“Homicide? That’s pretty cool! I sort of wondered about what it’d be like to be a forensic scientist…” Twilight leaned in with interest.

Shining chuckled and nodded. “Keep studying and maybe we can work together, Twily. We’ll catch the bad guys together.”

“Back on the subject of your friend, Sunset…” Her mother butted back in causing Twilight to look in her direction.

“You should invite her over more, I’m sure she could use some company. It’s awfully lonely living by yourself with only a sister to visit on occasion, she’s always welcome with this family,” Her mother stated.

Shining raised his mug in agreement. “Agreed, in fact, you should find out what she’s doing right now and make sure she’s okay. She’s been through a lot.”

Twilight nodded and whipped out her phone and wrote up a quick text to her best friend.

Hey, was wondering what you were doing, was wondering if we could hang out today? I mean it’s a Saturday and I don’t have anything to do.

It only took a minute or so for Sunset to reply.

Yeah that’d be cool. Shimmer is getting us dressed up to see a movie in a bit, you should meet us at the small parking lot in front of the theater in town, the one across from the Italian place. We’ll be there at like 4:30 or so after the movie lets out. Shimmer can head home and you and I can catch up, I’m assuming you wanted it to be just us.

Twilight smiled at the thought. Truthfully, while she was at the point where she was alright with Shimmer, she did indeed want some time with Sunset to herself.

“She said she’s going to be at the theater in town at around 4:30, the one across from the Italian place,” Twilight explained.

Looking at his watch, Shining smiled. “That’s in about two hours or so, get showered and changed and I’ll drive you there. I wanted to stop at the comic store nearby anyway.”

Shining’s wife rolled her eyes but smiled as her husband exposed his inner nerd.

“Thanks, I’ll go get ready!” Twilight nodded before excusing herself to run upstairs.

Shimmer stood in front of Sunset kneeling with a makeup brush gripped in her left hand hitting a few spots as she concentrated. She held Sunset’s face still while she worked on her eyes.

Sunset remained still allowing Shimmer to work her magic before finally smiling and stepping back. “There! All done! Check it out.” Shimmer gestured to the mirror.

Coming to a stand from her chair Sunset stood next to her little sister and looked in the mirror to see herself in expertly done makeup. Her sister truly was almost professional level at times, rivaled only by Rarity.

Her outfit was practical but stylish and fitting for her. She turned to get a better look at her profile with a smile. She had a black designer scoop T-Shirt, and a red long plaid button-up thrown over her and left open, the tail of the shirt rested nicely on her rear. It was a simple alternative look, but it worked for her, a bit more on the casual side, but she was sure that Sunset could appreciate it.

Standing next to her, her twin sister sported the same wardrobe. Shimmer smiled as she too looked at their reflection. “I thought it’d be fun to sort of… be each other you know?”

Sunset nodded as Shimmer stepped behind her. “One more thing,” Shimmer stated as she reached into her pocket and retrieved a hair tie.

Pulling Sunset’s long wavy hair back, Shimmer snapped it into the hair tie with ease and gave it a few brushes with her fingers before stepping back in front of the mirror.

Shimmer and Sunset stood there for a few moments appreciating what they saw. “All the boys are going to see us and think ‘man I wanna bag me some twins’,” Shimmer spoke, doing a poor impression of a male with that last bit, causing Sunset to chuckle.

“I have to admit… I do feel hot…” Sunset blushed.

Shimmer nudged her shoulder. “You are hot, you dummy.”

Chuckling, Sunset nodded. “So you are.”

“Well, I didn’t want to say anything…” Shimmer waved a hand and feigned modesty, only for Sunset to laugh some more.

“I’m glad we’re together again…” Sunset commented.

The room fell silent for a brief moment followed by Shimmer leaning in and resting her head on Sunset’s shoulder. “Me too, big sis… I’m really sorry about before…”

Sunset pet the girl’s cheek and shook her head. “It’s behind us now, let’s focus on the future, alright?”

Shimmer nodded and smiled. “Agreed, the future looks bright!”

Seeing her sister so happy only made Sunset smile too.

Finishing up getting ready Twilight took a deep breath and looked at herself in the mirror. She had gone with a nice button-up blouse, and leggings with her skirt to keep warm. The bookworm reached up and snapped a hairpin into her long locks and smiled at herself in the mirror.

Her eyes had just a light bit of makeup work done, and she smiled as she looked at the girl in the mirror and could honestly tell herself that she looked somewhat pretty, in a nerdy kind of way at least. She pointed to herself in the mirror and began talking to her reflection.

“Today is the day. The timing is right, things are normal again… we have a good chance at this…” Twilight spoke.

She paused as if she was waiting for her reflection to answer before she realized it wouldn’t and began to ramble at herself again.

“You’re not going to stop having these dreams until you talk to her directly about it. It’s time to tell her how you feel… Stop being such a coward...” Twilight scolded herself.

She had been struggling with her emotions on the subject for a while now, but after talking it over with Rainbow Dash and Rarity, it was obvious that she was in denial for a long time. She didn’t even know she was into women, but it was obvious after all this time, she had a crush on her best friend. It clearly had snuck up on her when she wasn’t noticing it. The entire time she was with Timber she always felt like something was wrong, and whenever Sunset was hurting she was the first to react.

The distaste she had for Shimmer initially wasn’t out of dislike for the girl, but out of jealousy. She got to spend time with Sunset that Twilight couldn’t, and she was just so naturally pretty. It was difficult for Twilight to even imagine an attractive girl like Sunset ever being with someone like her.

Twilight looked her reflection over and a lot of that confidence started to fade. She didn’t have a very large bust, maybe average at best, and she wasn’t the most proportionate either. She was taller but lanky.

Turning around Twilight looked down and smiled as she noticed her own rear end, feeling good about that area at least. She knew she somehow had a nice ass, a lot of guys would comment on it when they thought she couldn’t hear.

She took another breath and faced the mirror again. “Stop psyching yourself out! You can do this! You are good enough! You’re smart, you’re funny and damn it you’re sexy!”

A voice from down the hall, muffled by her door came her way. “Who are you talking to, Twilight, dear?”

Twilight’s entire face turned red. “No one! Sorry, mom!”

Sighing, Twilight shook her head and spoke to the reflection once more. “Just… be cool… for once… and do not ramble about Star Trek…”

Satisfied with her pep talk, she adjusted herself and walked out the door and headed for the front door. There in the driveway, Shining waved at her from his car. “Hey, someone’s dressed up, are you sure this isn’t a date?” Shining chuckled.

Twilight huffed and walked over to the passenger side and let herself in the car. Carefully placing the seatbelt over her, she looked away. “It’s not a date…”

Shining rolled his eyes and started the car. “You know it’s not an issue if it is…”

“Please, you used to freak out if boys even talked to me…” Twilight commented with her eyes looking out the window as the car began to move.

“Yeah but this one’s a girl.” Shining winked as he focused on the road as he pulled out.

“Very funny…” Twilight sighed.

Shining reached over and nudged the girl’s cheek with his fist. “Hey, you’re old enough now to where I know you wouldn’t do anything unsafe or with anyone that wasn’t going to treat you right. That Sunset friend of yours sounds like a good catch…”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “I love how everyone just assumes I’m into women now… I had a boyfriend, you know?”

“Nothing wrong with it, Twilight,” Shining added.

“And why are we talking about this?” Twilight groaned.

Stopping at a stoplight, Shining chuckled. “Mom mentioned she might have heard you having some dreams… you may have uttered a name that she recognized…”

“Damn it, mom…” Twilight blushed fiercely, not expecting her brother to know about her wet dreams about her best friend.

“This is majorly awkward…” Twilight admitted.

“It doesn’t have to be. You’re almost an adult, what you do is your business, Twilight. I just ask that you be safe and smart, okay? I trust you.” Shining smiled as he looked over at her.

Twilight smiled back and nodded. “Thanks, Shiny… that means a lot to me.”

“No problem, Twily.” He grinned as he focused back on the road.

“So… What’s this Sunset look like? I’ve never met her, maybe I’ll just briefly say hi before you two run off?” Shining suggested.

Twilight internally was struggling with if she thought that was a good or bad idea. “You’re not going to flash your badge and give the whole ‘my brother is a cop so if you mess with my sister’ act, are you?”

“Nah, promise. I just would like to know this person that you may be spending your life with,” Shining joked.

“What!? I don’t even know if she likes girls! Please don’t say something like that!” Twilight waved her hands defensively.

“Relax, I’m joking. So, do you have a picture of her or not?” Shining asked.

Twilight nodded and pulled out her phone, flipping through her photos she found one of Sunset and her together. She smiled as she saw it, the two had spent the entire day at the mall and Twilight had dragged Sunset to the new Star Trek movie, naturally Twilight enjoyed it far more than Sunset did, but she remembered how much fun the two had just spent time together.

Sunset stood there in the photo with her arm around Twilight smiling as she held up Twilight’s phone to take a selfie of both of them.

She turned her phone to Shining who glanced over before putting his eyes back on traffic. “Damn, not bad. Look at you, batting in the big leagues, just like your big bro.”

“Cadance is an insanely beautiful woman for sure…” Twilight admitted.

Shining nodded. “I know right? Half the time I am expecting her to wake up and realize she’s gorgeous yet married to me.”

Twilight only giggled at that comment.

“That’s our family, in a nutshell, we aim high. You definitely picked a cutie, Twilight. When are you going to tell her how you feel?” He asked.

“I was hoping… today…” Twilight gulped.

“Oh wow, so today really is a big day for you, well…” He paused and gestured to the pocket of his jacket. “There’s about two hundred dollars in that pocket for you then.”

Twilight reached in and retrieved it with a curious look. “What is this for? I have some money already… Mom gave me her card…”

“It’s for if you need to buy something that you don’t want on mom’s statement…” Shining hinted.

Twilight tilted her head in confusion.

Realizing he’d have to spell it out for her, he sighed. “Like a hotel room?”

Twilight’s face turned bright red at the thought. “W-what!? Oh no… I couldn’t… not on…”

He laughed. “It’s just a precaution. If you use it, we don’t have to talk about it. I was your age once, I know what hormones do…”

Twilight sighed and nodded. “Thanks, Shiny… I… appreciate it. Truthfully though, I’ll be lucky if I can get out how I feel today, let alone anything like… that.”

“You never know.” Shining winked.

"What happened with you and Cadance when you asked her out?" Twilight asked.

Shining winked again and chuckled. "That's my secret."

Coming out of the theater, Sunset stepped along with her little sister at her side and smiled. “Wow that was a pretty great movie, I loved the part where the group of them was trapped by that trickster and forced to solve those puzzle rooms in teams.”

Shimmer nodded and grabbed Sunset’s arm as she giggled. “And that part with the giant cow, right?”

“Totally, great movie.” Sunset gave a thumbs up as she stepped with her sister.

“Did you see that group of boys on our way in? They were totally checking us out.” Shimmer winked.

“And that one that came and asked for your number, that was painful when you told him you have a girlfriend,” Sunset pointed out.

“Moondancer is cuter than he was anyway.” Shimmer gave a dismissing wave.

“How is she by the way?” Sunset asked.

“Good, more than before after we uh… well…” Shimmer blushed and looked away.

Sunset stopped in her tracks and turned to face her. “Wait… no way!”

Shimmer only responded by reaching up and running a hand through her hair as she kept looking away bashfully. Despite being bold at the moment, she wasn’t as bold talking about it with her sister ironically.

“You dog!” Sunset reached forward and nudged her shoulder.

“It wasn’t like that, it was… passionate…” Shimmer blushed and rubbed her shoulder from Sunset’s surprisingly strong nudge.

“How was it!? Did you… you know?” Sunset gave a gentle eyebrow wiggle before making her fingers into a V shape and placed them in front of her lips, sticking her tongue through them.

Shimmer rolled her eyes and sighed. “You’re such a pig sometimes…”

“Come on! I’m a virgin, give me the details!” Sunset begged.

Another sigh escaped Shimmer before she stepped closer and lowered her tone. “If you must know, then… yes…”

“Nice nice, did she uh… perform on you so to speak?” Sunset smirked.

Shimmer nodded. “Let’s just say she definitely did her research…”

“And what about you?” Sunset leaned in to better hear the juicy gossip.

Shimmer looked around to make sure no one was looking before whispering into Sunset’s ear. “Let’s just say I made that girl quiver for more…”

Sunset whistled and smirked. “Damn girl! You lock me away in Equestria and you come back here and get laid? I am so jealous now!”

“Sorry about that. That wasn’t my initial plan to be fair…” Shimmer rubbed her neck awkwardly.

Sunset shook her head and blew a dismissing raspberry. “It’s cool if I had stayed long enough Spike was probably going to try and hit me up anyway. I doubt I’d have done it though…”

“You’ll meet someone, I’m sure of it,” Shimmer encouraged.

With a sheepish smile, Sunset looked back at her sister. “You really think so?”

“Sunset… You’re hot. Have you not noticed? Those guys were undressing you with their eyes back there. You could have anyone you wanted if you put your mind to it. I mean that you’re funny and talented… you’re a catch, big sis,” Shimmer stated.

Nodding, Sunset looked toward the exit of the theater as the two approached. “I guess so, I guess I’m just too picky because my situation is so complicated… it’s not easy to break to someone that you’re an alien from another world with weird magic powers, you know?”

“Maybe some people are into that?” Shimmer shrugged.

“Get real…” Sunset rolled her eyes.

Exiting the building Shimmer shook her head. “No, I mean it, sort of like how some guys are into other races and whatnot? You’re exotic that way, you know?”

“I’m not sure it’s the same…” Sunset chuckled.

“Think positive.” Shimmer winked.

Coming to the sidewalk, Sunset looked back to the parking lot and then turned to her sister. “I promised I’d meet Twilight here, so I’ll see you later, okay?”

Shimmer opened her arms for a hug, which Sunset accepted and squeezed her little sister tightly. After the two released each other from the embrace, Shimmer reached into her pocket for her phone. “It’s alright, I have to call Moondancer anyway.”

Sunset nodded and stood up straight. “To be continued then.”

With an approving glance, Sunset started to head toward the parking lot, a good hundred or so feet away. Pulling her phone out of her pocket, Shimmer dialed Moondancer’s number and within seconds heard her girlfriend’s voice.

“Hey, babe. What’re you up to?” Moondancer asked.

“Thinking about you, obviously.” Shimmer giggled.

“In that case… whatcha’ wearin’?” Moondancer replied playfully.

“I’m in public, we can’t play this game,” Shimmer responded, equally playful.

She could hear light laughter on the other side as Moondancer answered. “Fair enough, so we still on for later? You told me you were going to tell me more about this Ghost thing you’ve been researching, right?”

Shimmer’s eyes darted over to Sunset walking but were drawn to a small spot on the ground behind her that began to move. A red dot, moving along the ground and eventually finding it’s way to the back of Sunset’s shirt. It was difficult to see as her shirt was also red, but a darker red. Shimmer paused and her hand wrapped around her cell phone opened, allowing the device to fall to the ground.

Everything around her grew quiet, the sound of the iPhone shattering on the pavement didn’t even register to her.

She didn’t think, she only reacted. In the few seconds it took to follow that red dot, she had already calculated that running to her was not going to make it in time, calling her name would only likely panic the one aiming in her direction, but there was one option she knew she had.

Her mind concentrated on their session from earlier. If two objects could be swapped, so could two people. Shimmer focused her mind and steadied her body. Darting her eyes over to Sunset, she felt a fierce pulling sensation and her entire body clenched and unclenched as she could feel herself move.

Within a blink she went from where she stood to where Sunset stood, swapping places with her. She had chosen the perfect time to master the spell.

After that brief two seconds, she had only then registered what she had done. Her eyes widened as she realized the reality of her situation now, but it was too late.

A sharp pain shot through her back and came out her front side in her lower stomach. Before she could even grip the wound, another just under her shoulder ripped through her, followed by a third through her back and out her upper stomach and then a fourth hitting through her upper neck, grazing the side but there on the ground she could see bullet holes of where the shots had exited her body.

She groaned and collapsed face first. Her breathing became heavy and loud, she could barely hear anything else except her labored breaths. Sunset’s voice barely echoed in her ear as she heard her name get called, but she could do little. In those few seconds, she looked forward to see a car nearby. If she could make it under the protection of the vehicle than just maybe…

Placing an arm in front of her, she began to drag herself, feeling pain as her wounds rubbed against the asphalt. It was a struggle to get one arm in front of the other, then repeat over and over.

She would only manage to make it a few feet before four more shots hit her body, causing her to growl in pain.

Instead of fighting, she laid her head on the pavement, everything getting blurry.

She couldn’t tell how long she laid there before she could see a figure that resembled Sunset scoop her up and brush her hair out of her face as she held her head in her lap. “Fuck! Shimmer! Speak to me!” Sunset demanded.

Shimmer grew a weak grin on her face as she chuckled and coughed. “Finally… I did something good with magic…”

“What were you thinking!? Fuck…” Sunset looked around and yelled at the nearby people starting to crowd around. “Someone call an ambulance!”

Shimmer laughed and reached a weak hand up, placing the bloody hand on Sunset’s cheek. “Sunset… Listen…”

Sunset shook her head. “Don’t talk, help is on the way…”

Shimmer shook her head. “It won’t… matter…” She let out a series of coughs. “I need you… to hear this…”

Tears streaming down her cheeks, Sunset nodded. “Yeah… okay…”

“This… it’s bigger than you and I know… I need you… to look into my research, find Ghost. I wish… I had time to explain, but it’s up to you now… to figure it out. I’m counting on you, Sunset…” Shimmer hacked up a large amount of blood as she looked up at Sunset.

Shaking her head, Sunset’s voice cracked and grew strained. “No… you can do that yourself when you get better…”

Shimmer sighed and smiled again. “Do me a favor?”

Sunset leaned in to listen. “Tell Moondancer… I love her… I never got the chance to… I want her to know that…”

“Like I said, you can tell her yourself…” Sunset choked on her words.

Shimmer’s eyes locked on Sunset, her face missing her glasses as they fell off during her fall. “Hey… I love you, big sis… You made me enjoy the last few months of my life… I haven’t felt this happy in a long time… Thank you…”

“I love you too…” Sunset replied quietly.

With those words, Shimmer closed her eyes only for Sunset to shake her violently. “Shimmer? Shimmer!? SHIMMER! WAKE UP!”

It was no use though, the girl’s breathing had stopped and she became still. Sunset leaned down and held the girl closer. The only word she was able to get out between sobs was a simple, “why?”

Lowering their Remmington Model R-25 GII rifle, a hooded figure looked out an abandoned apartment complex window down at the street. They were more in shock than anything else, amazed they actually pulled it off, that this plan worked.

Adjusting their face mask, they looked down at the weapon and realized instantly it was too cumbersome to take with them. They sighed and tossed it on top of the carrying case and began their escape down the hallway as they headed for the stairwell.

Yup.

That happened.

Bet a ton of you never saw that coming. If you did, kudos to you for catching the early hints and foreshadowing!

Thus concludes Act II! Stay tuned for Intermission II and Intermission II-2 followed by Act III. Don't worry, this story is about to get juicier. For those who have been with me since the start, thanks for hanging around and I hope you all enjoy Act III: Ghost.