Another day in Summer vacation was just reaching its apex for Sunset and her gang of friends as they took yet another visit to their favorite ice cream parlor. With the temperature reaching obnoxious levels of uncomfortable for this dry season, the group found themselves preferring to come to this place more and more often. Sunset surmised they would probably visit at least a dozen times or so before school started back up. Pinkie had mentioned she, however, frequented the establishment far more even in their absence, something that brought amusement to Sunset.

Sunset took a long sip of her delectable milkshake and grinned with delight at the sweet beverage. Her sweet tooth had been satisfied at least temporarily.

With a spoon still in her mouth, Sunset listened to Applejack groan about the day.

“Ah' swear… It’s only been a little while since Camp Everfree and it seems like more strange stuff keeps on happenin’. It’s like we’re magnets to this kind of stuff,” Applejack complained.

Applejack had a point, Sunset thought. It had only been a short two weeks since Camp Everfree, and after their magical endeavors there they were determined to not have to deal with more insane adventures. It made Sunset feel guilty, but she couldn’t simply ignore Shimmer’s existence. Perhaps their destiny was to never have a normal friendship, but instead to always be mixed up in some kind of Equestrian magic or odd occurrences that wouldn’t happen to anyone else. Then again it was at least exciting to know that their adventures were always changing. It was as if the universe always had something in store for this group of friends to do or undertake.

Sunset’s mind wandered back to their adventure at Camp Everfree and how each of them acquired magical powers thanks to the amulets they all held. The girls around her all had theirs on still, obviously not wanting to take them off for fear of misplacing them. There definitely was some danger of them falling into the wrong hands, and they had a bad history with magic falling into the wrong hands. It got her to thinking though that if she hung around Shimmer there might be some danger involved. It was difficult to think about, but Sunset couldn’t deny that so long as magic seemed to follow them around that there always was a risk for any who would hang around them.

Truthfully she might have been a bit more at ease if she at least understood the magic that they possessed or how it works; however, it seemed as though the more they began to understand it, the more questions they would have. Magic seemed to be purposefully shrouded in mystery, an enigma that escaped the former unicorn. Where she grew up, magic was easy to understand, she even dedicated a large portion of her life to its understanding; a portion that now felt meaningless and like a big waste of her time given her current predicament. Since the battle of the bands, she tried not to stress too much on understanding magic, but it became increasingly more difficult whenever new information would surface.

Sunset felt both anxious and somewhat guiltily excited. She knew magic could be dangerous and didn't always have the best effects on their lives, but she'd be lying if she said she didn't find it all exhilarating.

“Maybe, but at least it’s very exciting!” Rarity commented, replying to Applejack and echoing Sunset's sentiment, “I mean it’s been an interesting year that much is for sure!”

That very statement put Sunset somewhat more at ease.

“You can say that again. Plus having superpowers is insanely awesome!” Rainbow Dash spoke before taking a long sip of her smoothie.

“Still, I feel kind of bad about all of this…” Sunset frowned.

“Why do you feel bad?” Rarity blinked.

Sunset sighed and took a seat as she stirred her drink with a straw. “I had to go and get involved with Shimmer when we just got through some strange magic stuff. I keep pulling us all into this stuff even when everyone is probably really tired of it by now…"

Applejack looked to the others whom all grew concerned looks. Standing, she scooted Sunset over in her seat and took a spot next to her in the booth, placing an arm around her shoulder. “Listen Sugarcube, ain’t none of us blame you for this. You couldn’t bring yourself to ignore someone who y’all thought was hurtin’. That’s commendable and it’s even more understandable when that person is more or less yer' counterpart. Most of us figured this was some kind of closure thing so we know you have to see this through,” she comforted.

The other girls all nodded at Applejack’s proposal and smiled warmly to let Sunset know they were behind her. Sunset felt herself begin to smile just a little bit and nodded as well. “Thanks, girls, I know this is super strange, trust me it’s even stranger to me.”

“We’ve certainly dealt with worse.” Rarity winked.

“I hope we can get to meet her at some point,” Fluttershy chimed in quietly.

“Maybe, who knows?” Sunset shrugged though part of her definitely felt it was probably inevitable that the group of them would one day meet her counterpart.

A young Shimmer yawned as she closed a rather extensive textbook on chemistry. While she was a mere nine years of age, she was quite advanced in her schooling. Since she had started homeschooling about three years ago, she began to excel at a far faster rate than a lot of her former classmates and was already on the path to becoming a successful career woman. Though she didn’t quite know what she wanted to do with her life at this young age, Shimmer gained satisfaction just knowing that her parents were proud of her.

She couldn’t swallow another nugget of information though on an empty stomach; she had been studying for a solid six hours and had even forgotten to eat. A maid had come to make sure she was okay after hours of silence a few times between those six hours, but mostly her family left her be when she studied as per her request. Shimmer found herself able to focus better with solitude.

Contemplating tackling some math next, she saw her cellphone which has been switched onto vibrate start to shake like crazy upon the table, vibrating the dark wood. Looking at the caller ID she saw a photo of a woman with lavish yellow hair that nearly touched her ankles with wild curls. She smirked as she answered the phone.

“Yes, mother?” She asked with the phone to her ear.

“Sunset, darling are you still studying upstairs?” The voice of a fair-sounding middle-aged woman asked.

Sunset giggled. “Yeah, been up here for a few hours now. What’s up?”

“Well, your father and I just got back from somewhere, could you come downstairs?” Her mother asked sweetly.

Sunset moved the math book she had just picked up aside and nodded as she responded eagerly. “Yeah, sure. I’ll be down in a sec, okay?”

“See you in a minute then. Much love,” Her mother responded with a kissing sound.

“Love you too, mom,” Sunset replied as she hung up and stuffed the iPhone into her dress pocket.

Standing up, Sunset walked herself over to a nearby mirror and made adjustments to the ribbon tying her long hair back. Brushing her dress off, she smiled at the young girl staring back at her. She was on the taller side for a nine-year-old; however, she was still small and adorable. She bore a semi-gothic looking black dress with dark orange trimmings and lace.

Accessory wise she was sporting simple ear piercings with real diamond studs and a thick black bow tying her hair back along with her signature glasses. She had several pairs as backups, but these were always her default ones. The young girl had grown accustomed to their style and found a way to make them work with virtually every outfit.

Satisfied with her appearance she began her descent out of the room and down the stairwell to the first floor. After navigating down two floors, she managed to get to the entranceway to see the woman from her phone standing with a very well put together man with the five o'clock shadow of a writer upon his face. She smiled at how quickly her father's facial hair grew; he would shave in the morning and need to shave again at night sometimes it seemed.

His expensive-looking dress shirt had the sleeves rolled up, and his tie was poorly knotted together, a sign that he had been playing with it not that long ago. He smiled as he saw her reach the bottom of the stairs. Sunset felt herself grow the biggest smile she could muster as she met his eyes and darted towards him.

“Daddy!” The little girl squealed in delight.

He chuckled as he opened his arms and caught the girl, scooping her from the floor and bringing her into a hug. “Hey, there’s daddy’s princess; been studying?”

Sunset nodded as she squeezed her father in delight.

“You’ve been such a good girl since you started homeschooling. Your mother and I are so proud of you; we know it wasn’t an easy transition,” her father explained.

Sunset looked him in the eyes and smiled. “It’s okay. I actually prefer it.”

“Yes, well your mother and I worry that you might be getting lonely around here without any friends.” He frowned.

Sunset stuck her tongue out in a playful manner. “Nah, I got you guys!”

Her mother giggled and pinched her cheek gently. “Maybe so, but we wanted to make sure and also give you a little reward for all your hard work?”

Blinking, Sunset turned to her father for answers. “What’s she talking about dad?”

Her father set his daughter back onto her feet and gave his wife a hand gesture to which she nodded and walked towards the front door. “Your mother and I decided you have been so good we got you a present.”

When the door opened, a small puppy bolted in clumsily and jumped at the girl. She was taken by surprise but managed to get the dog into her arms and off the floor as it began to lick her face happily. She giggled at the tickling sensation and held the creature back a bit to get a good look at the dog.

Her father smiled as he knelt down to talk to her at her level. His wife joined him as the two both put a hand upon her shoulder smiling. “Now you have a friend who will always be by your side when your mother and I aren’t here.”

Sunset smiled as she hugged the dog. “Thanks! I love him already!”

Her father patted her head and nodded. “Remember that this guy will watch over you when we’re not around. I told him that he has to love you twice as much, so he could fill in for your mother and I when we’re not home.”

Giggling, Sunset stuck her tongue out. “I’m going to hold you to that. You’ve given the poor little guy a lot to live up to.”

“I’m sure you can teach him plenty.” Her mother replied.

Leaning in, the group hugged, and Sunset felt warm inside. This moment, it was so perfect. “I love you guys,” she said.

“We love you too, Sunset. That’s never going to change,” Her mother said, kissing her daughter’s forehead affectionately.

Sunset pulled her car into a parking spot at her and Twilight’s favorite diner. She took note of the only cars there appearing to be cars she recognized from the staff due to her frequenting the spot often. The only other car that seemed out of place was a very expensive and lavish Audi with a license plate that read “MOONDOG”. Quickly catching the reference to Shimmer’s German Sheppard, Sunset surmised this must be her car; that and the fact that it looked more expensive than everything she owned and then some.

Shimmer and she had agreed to meet in this place for their first meeting, and looking in the window she could see the girl decorated in very stylish clothing, with a gothic flair to them. Her glasses slid down her face slightly as she looked down at a book she was reading. She was so nicely dressed, that it made Sunset feel very underdressed in her lacy summer top and form-fitting leggings. It was one of the cooler days for the Summer so she went with her boots this time around. Whenever she could, Sunset found excuses to wear boots.

Taking a deep breath and exhaling, she entered the building. A small bell rang to signify her entrance, and this sound caused the attractive teenager from the window to look up to meet Sunset. Sunset gave a very sheepish smile and a gentle wave.

Shimmer closed her book and placed it into her bag and gestured for Sunset to approach. Sunset did so cautiously and took a quiet seat across from her. There was silence for a moment as Sunset examined Shimmer’s serious-looking face, unsure of what to make of it.

Finally, Shimmer cracked a smile and offered her hand to Sunset. “It’s nice to see you again, Sunset; albeit still a bit strange…”

Taking her counterpart’s hand she shook it gently and returned the smile. When the handshake ended, Shimmer placed her hand atop Sunset’s and rested it there. Sunset decided it was best to not fight it and instead just allow it to happen.

“I know this whole situation is weird, and I can only assert that it will get weirder if we stay involved with each other. I don’t want to mislead you…” Sunset frowned, realizing that she was dragging Shimmer into a world of headaches.

Shimmer squeezed Sunset’s hand as she met her eyes with her own. “I’m prepared to see this through. I made that choice when I asked you to come here. I knew that I was asking questions that I may not like the answers to, but I’m a scientist, it’s in my nature to do exactly that. Besides after what I know now of there being another me in this world… How can I just go back to how things were and pretend our meeting never occurred?”

Sunset frowned, not realizing that their meeting could potentially trigger feelings of obligation to learn more. She herself now thinking about it realized she might not be able to ignore such a thing either. She cursed herself silently for being so short-sighted.

“Nonetheless, let’s just take this all slow, okay? There’s a lot to understand a lot to take in.” Sunset smiled, trying more to reassure herself rather than Shimmer who seemed completely content with this all.

“Yes, of course. Here, let’s have something to drink, on me.” Shimmer smiled as she released Sunset’s hand.

Always feeling uneasy about others paying for her, Sunset wanted to object but realized that there was a good chance that the cost of a drink didn’t even register as an amount of money to this girl. Sunset briefly wondered how much money really was in Shimmer’s bank account, but shook her head trying to dismiss the thought as the waitress approached the two, a bit confused when she saw how similar the two girls were.

Shimmer looked over at Sunset, then back at the waitress, quickly figuring out what she was perplexed by. The waitress smiled. “Sunset! You never told me you had a twin sister!”

Sunset blinked and then looked to Shimmer who nodded. “Ummm… Yeah, this is Shimmer. I guess the subject never really came up before. Would you mind getting me a coke?” Sunset tried to steer the conversation back to the girl doing her job.

With a quick adjustment of her glasses and a release of her very serious voice, Shimmer placed her order as well. “Diet for me, please.”

“So we’re going with the twin story to other people?” Sunset asked.

“It’s easier than explaining you’re me from another universe isn’t it?” Shimmer shrugged.

Sunset laughed at the idea. “Truthfully most people have been pretty cool with me being from another universe thus far.”

“Nonetheless…” Shimmer rolled her eyes with a smirk.

“I take it you’re on a diet?” Sunset raised a brow, changing the subject.

“I’m always watching my weight, however, what makes you guess such a thing?” Shimmer tilted her head with confusion.

Sunset pointed to the waitress walking up to the counter to fetch their drinks. “You ordered a diet.”

Rolling her eyes, Shimmer sighed. “Diet soda isn’t for diets. I ordered a diet because I’m diabetic.”

“Wait? Really?” Sunset leaned in a bit surprised.

Shimmer nodded and took her soda gracefully as it arrived. Sunset took a long sip of her own and frowned at the thought of how she’d survive if she was unable to please her sweet tooth. “Weird, because I’m not diabetic…”

“Really? Interesting… I suppose we have differences after all… I wonder what other differences we have…” Shimmer sounded intrigued.

“Well, are you right-handed or left-handed?” Sunset asked, deciding it was an easy place to start.

“Left, and you?” Shimmer responded taking another sip.

“Right-handed.” Sunset stuck her tongue out playfully as she wiggled her right hand.

“How do you feel about persimmons?” Shimmer asked.

“Hate them.” Sunset gagged at the thought.

“Me as well. Do you also prefer poultry over beef?” Shimmer questioned.

Sunset frowned and lowered her head. “I’m actually vegan mostly.”

“Really? That’s interesting,” Shimmer said.

“Well… In my universe, a lot of my kind are, if not most all of them… See we’re a vegetarian species,” Sunset explained.

Shimmer set her drink down and looked Sunset in the eyes, clearly wanting to ask more, but she decided to contain herself and remembered that they agreed to take this all slow and not overwhelm each other with information. After all, for all Shimmer knew, Sunset’s memories of her past could be painful ones. “What is your world like?”

Sunset looked up in thought as she tried to remember Equestria and how she would describe it to someone else. It was difficult to find the words to truly capture how mystical a place like Equestria was. “Well… It’s a really amazing place really. In Equestria humans are not the dominant species, actually, humans don’t even exist. I just took this shape when I came through the portal here…”

“What are you in your world, or is there no human equivalent?” Shimmer asked.

“Ponies actually. Ponies are the dominant species there,” Sunset explained.

She was expecting Shimmer to laugh, possibly even call her out and claim she was making this up, but she just nodded and smiled. “Do you have any pictures?”

Shaking her head, Sunset frowned. “I didn’t bring any with me when I went through, and I haven’t been back for a long time, shy of one tiny instance a year or so back. However, I was a pony there, rest assured.”

“Sounds like a cute place.” Shimmer chuckled before taking a long sip of her drink.

“It was, and I miss it sometimes truthfully…” Sunset frowned as she recalled her time in Equestria. Even though she was more used to the human world, she still missed where she grew up; Equestria made so much more sense to her.

“So, how did you end up here exactly?” Shimmer asked.

Sunset knew that question would come eventually, but she decided to try and address it tactfully.

“Well, in Equestria I was a star student of Princess Celestia…” Sunset began.

Shimmer interrupted instantly with a raised eyebrow. “Princess?”

Sunset nodded in response. “In my world, princesses and royalty make up the ruling body. Our government works significantly different than this place. The princess was my mentor; I was studying in the hopes of one day becoming a princess myself…”

“Sounds pressuring.” Shimmer frowned.

“Oh, not at all! The princess was always a very kind spirit; she looked out for me but…” Sunset found herself frowning now as memories of her past started to rear their head in her mind. All the things she did before she left, all the things she did when she arrived in this human world.

“But…?” Shimmer leaned in.

With a sigh, Sunset shook her head. “I was never the best listener. I got arrogant and I left Equestria in the hopes of coming back and showing her up. That’s the short version anyway, now I basically have been on the path of redemption, trying to atone for my past. I’ve made friends in this world and they’ve stood by me, it’s sort of helped me keep going.”

“Do you ever plan on going back?” Shimmer looked legitimately curious. It was definitely an expected question.

“Maybe someday, but not anytime soon. I still have a lot to learn here after all.” Sunset smiled.

Shimmer nodded and leaned back in her seat in deep thought, processing this all. While it was only the basics of what was happening, she was starting to get a better understanding of the situation that Sunset was in, and in turn, herself. Could Sunset’s universe be linked to what she was studying? Was it possible, or merely coincidence?

“I suppose I should tell you about myself, then huh?” Shimmer asked with a rather disappointed expression, clearly not a subject she enjoyed.

“If you wouldn’t mind… I mean I don’t want to make you uncomfortable,” Sunset spoke quietly.

Shimmer smirked. “A bit late for that now, isn’t it? I mean you kind of informed me of an alternate universe where I’m actually a pony who aspired to be a princess. I think we’re well past the point where I reserve the right to feel uncomfortable. If everything up to this point hasn’t done it, I’d say you’re safe.”

Forcing out a laugh, Sunset nodded. “I guess so, still I like to be cautious; I have a bad history with going headfirst into stuff and making a situation really bad.”

“I understand, but you shouldn’t worry with me,” Shimmer replied.

Those words put Sunset more at ease. With a smile, she nodded. “Alright, so tell me about yourself?”

Adjusting in her seat and playing with her straw, Shimmer tried to think of a good place to begin. There was so much to tell and a lot of which she wanted to forget. However, this girl trusted her with secrets that if told to the wrong people would probably land her in a lab in the government somewhere or something worse possibly.

“Well…” she started.

Closing her eyes, Shimmer tried to remember the difficult details. She had locked a lot of her past away and never wanted to revisit it, due to memories making her feel more depressed.

“When I was a little girl I was deemed gifted. I was always the smartest in my class, and I was doing advanced work at a young age. My dad always said it must run in the family…” A small smile appeared on her lips as she remembered her father’s praise.

“We have that in common. I was always good at school myself.” Sunset smiled and placed her hand back upon Shimmer’s in comfort.

“Unfortunately, I was never good at social interactions… Other kids picked on me a lot… And…” Shimmer bit her lip, not wanting to say it.

“What?” Sunset leaned in, trying to show her that she was safe to open up to her.

“I had a really bad anger problem… I sort of still have it… I got into fights a lot with the other kids… So my parents homeschooled me by the time I was seven. I didn’t hang out with other kids that often, and I learned to love solitude for that reason…” Shimmer’s face contorted to sadness, but she didn’t seem to be building a single tear in her eyes. Sunset gathered she must have gotten proficient at refraining from crying in her years.

“It’s okay, Shimmer…” Sunset squeezed her new friend’s hand in comfort.

Shimmer shook her head. “That’s something you should probably really understand if we’re going to go any further… I have to warn you that I have some serious anger problems. It doesn’t take a lot to get me angry, and my anger is pretty explosive…”

“I’m sure it’s nothing I can’t handle,” Sunset assured her.

“I doubt that, but anyways… After homeschooling, I started focusing on becoming a scientist, I studied all the time…” She smiled again as she remembered how proud her parents were of her.

“And then… Well, you probably know about this part, but my parents died…” She got really quiet, knowing Sunset had already read the articles online.

Sunset merely nodded, though Shimmer was a little surprised she didn’t ask for more detail as most would.

“I guess it’s not as interesting as coming from another universe huh?” Shimmer smirked, trying to make light of the situation.

“Well from my perspective you are the one from the alternate universe.” Sunset reminded.

With a giggle, Shimmer nodded. “I guess that’s true.” She looked her counterpart in the eyes and studied her. She was so similar but yet seemed a bit older. Sunset was a hair taller than her and was far more slender than her. Shimmer was in great shape, but she had curves while Sunset was just skinny.

Squeezing Sunset’s hand, Shimmer didn’t break eye contact. “I feel like… As dumb as this sounds… We were meant to meet each other…”

Sunset blinked but kept eye contact. “Oh?”

Shimmer nodded. “I feel a lot safer around you…”

“I guess that makes us friends then?” Sunset winked.

“I’ve never had a friend before…” Shimmer admitted quietly.

Sunset leaned in and placed her other hand atop Shimmer’s, clasping it tightly she smiled at her doppelganger. “I can teach you then, I’ve had some great mentors on that subject.”

Feeling her face warm up, Shimmer nodded. “Okay, I trust you, Sunset. I’m not sure why, but I do.”

“I’ll do my best to show you that you’re not misplacing that trust,” Sunset promised, “I know you have been hurt in your life, but I don’t want to add to that. I want you to be happy.”

“I just hope I’m not too much of a burden to you, Sunset…” Shimmer frowned.

Sunset shook her head and placed her hands upon Shimmer’s cheeks, forcing the girl to face her as she stared her down. “The first lesson in friendship is don’t ever feel you’re a burden to your friends.”

Shimmer blinked but ultimately nodded. “Alright, I’ll take that lesson to heart, Sunset.”

Releasing her, Sunset winked. “We are sisters, after all, right?”

Giggling Shimmer nodded again. “Yes, of course.”

Sisters… It has a nice ring to it… Shimmer thought.

A successful meeting with Shimmer along with a long day in her Summer vacation had left Sunset a bit exhausted. Entering her apartment, Sunset tossed her keys into a bowl by the door and stretched as she entered the apartment. Feeling the temperature being a bit too high she looked over at the thermostat, questioning if she could afford to run the AC or if it was bearable enough to where she could pinch the pennies.

Shrugging, she lifted the shirt she had over her head and tossed it aside onto a nearby card table. Kicking her boots off at the door, and began to wiggle out of her leggings. She figured being in less clothing would not only assist with the heat problem but also make her feel freer. While she was used to wearing a uniform when she went to boarding school as a child, she always felt freer without all the clothing that humans were required to wear. You could take the pony out of Equestria, but you couldn’t take the Equestria out of the pony. Instincts still kicked in for Sunset from time to time, when she first arrived here it took her weeks to not try to open doors with magic, resulting in her walking into quite a few doors and embarrassing herself.

Sunset’s eyes fell upon the journal that she and Princess Twilight used to communicate, but then the nearby window in the kitchen. Sighing, she walked over to the window and closed the curtains, and picked the book up, trying to think about what to write to the princess in her regular report of what was happening in her life. She questioned though if she would approve of her letting yet another human in on a lot of the secrets of Equestria. Probably would get a lecture about how it’s dangerous or something, which ultimately made her decide to reveal this all to Twilight at a later date. Sitting on the kitchen counter, Sunset looked down at her phone to see she was getting texts from the Twilight of this world already asking all about how everything with Shimmer went. It figured that Twilight was curious, out of all of the girls in her group; Twilight was definitely the most inquisitive one. With a smile, Sunset read over Twilight’s text.

Hey, hope I’m not being a pest or too nosy, but I worry about you sometimes, so I just wanted to make sure everything with you and Shimmer went okay. It can be awkward meeting someone you don’t know too well, especially if they are basically a replica of you. It is still really awkward for me to know there is another Twilight out there whom you know so well, so I just wanted to check up on you and make sure you’re okay.

Sunset giggled at how protective Twilight was. She may have been the younger sister in her family, but she had so many moments where it was clear she wanted to be an older sister. Part of her thought that Twilight would make a great mom one day, and the idea of Twilight in an apron serving children made her giggle a bit more.

Deciding to give her some assurance, Sunset decided it was best to message Twilight back tonight rather than make her stay up worrying.

It actually went pretty smoothly. Shimmer is a pretty nice girl, and we have a little in common I guess, though that’s to be expected since we’re alternate universe counterparts. And if I didn’t know any better I’d say your worry for me is just a manifestation of the long-time crush you’ve had on me Twilight.

Predictably, Twilight’s reply made Sunset imagine Twilight was rolling her eyes.

Yes, my love for you is quite hard to hide sometimes. Why right now I am erecting a shrine to you where I shall sacrifice many small kittens in the hopes that the Gods will give me a chance at your hand in marriage. Woe is me should you decline, and their sacrifice shall be for naught.

That one legitimately made Sunset laugh uncontrollably out loud. A fit of giggles that took her a few minutes to overcome prevented her from replying right away, but when she caught her breath she typed out a reply.

Well I’d say it takes a lot to get me out of my pants, but I’m already out of those…

Twilight’s humor seemed to continue.

I thought we already discussed how you should put some clothing on when you’re talking to someone, or at the very least not let them know of your nudity.

Standing up and walking to the bathroom for a cool shower, Sunset snickered. Turned out that the heat was a bit much for sitting around in just her underwear to be enough to cool her down.

I could send pictures if that’s what you want?

Twilight’s response was almost instant.

Please don’t.

Sunset was about to reply when she saw she was actually getting a phone call. The number came up as “Shimmer” now that Sunset had remembered to place her number in her contact list so she wouldn’t be confused the next time she called. Thought it was odd that she was calling so soon after the two had spent the afternoon together.

Clearing her throat, Sunset slid her finger across the icon to answer the call. “Hello?”

Shimmer’s voice came through the phone to her. “Hey, I’m not interrupting anything am I?”

“Nah, just about to take a cold shower to cool down; the weather has been a scorcher lately and despite the word “Sun” being in my name, I’m not a huge fan of the heat. What’s up?” Sunset explained.

Shimmer giggled a bit at her tangent. “I actually love the Summertime. Heat doesn’t bug me too much.”

“Guess we have more differences than I thought, are you sure you’re actually me from this universe?” Sunset joked.

“Either way, I wanted to ask you something.” Shimmer changed the subject.

Sunset leaned back against the door to her bathroom as she listened. “Go ahead.”

“Well… You said your friends helped you and are an important part of your life… And… Well, I guess whether I like it or not, I’m a part of your life at the current moment and if I want to understand you and where you came from better, I should understand your friends too…” Shimmer began explaining. She paused and chuckled. “Sorry, I’m rambling, I guess what I am saying is that I think it’s important for me to meet your friends. If that’s okay that is…”

With a smile coming to her face, Sunset found herself feeling legitimately filled with joy. Could this be a sign that she was getting through to Shimmer? Maybe her barrier was slowly falling and Sunset was making a difference? Either way, she found herself nodding despite not being seen.

“Yeah, sure. I’m sure they would love to meet you! I mean they already ask about you as it is…” Sunset admitted.

“Hopefully nothing bad…” Shimmer sounded legitimately concerned by that comment.

“Nah, they’re just curious. I mean it’s not every day a counterpart of one of your friends appears in their life right?” Sunset attempted to calm her friend.

Shimmer sighed, which Sunset hoped was a sigh of relief. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

“So we’ll arrange a meeting. How about the day after tomorrow, I’d say tomorrow but I have plans with a few of my friends? We’ll figure out the details later?” Sunset requested.

“Sounds good, I look forward to it. They sound like an interesting bunch, hopefully, I’m not too boring… Though… As I’ve told you before, I don’t really know much about having friends, so forgive me if I come off as offensive to them at times, I really have no idea what I’m doing…”

Sunset chuckled at Shimmer’s social awkwardness. “Trust me, if there’s any group that understands, it’s this one. They put up with me and even Twilight who is pretty awkward herself.”

Shimmer sighed again. “Well, I guess I’m in good hands then. Thank you, Sunset. I’ll see you the day after tomorrow?"

“It’s a date,” Sunset replied before hanging up.

Setting her phone on the counter near the sink, Sunset smiled as she turned on the shower to a nice cooling temperature. She felt proud of herself for making such progress with Shimmer in such a short amount of time. Perhaps her lessons from Twilight were starting to pay off, but then again a dread in her mind lingered that there was still plenty of time for things to go wrong, and she knew that.

She pushed it out though and tried to focus on the happy afternoon she was going to spend with Shimmer and her friends. The idea of Shimmer becoming a permanent part of their group actually filled her up with joy. While it was still too early to assume anything, she was already thinking of all the possibilities.

Wow, another week passed, and we're already on Chapter VI. Crazy.

Big thanks to Applety who dedicated a lot of time to getting the sketches done this time around. She recently started working again so it was not easy to find the time.

Behind the Scenes: The story originally was only going to be one Act, but I kind of evolved upon what would happen next and originally intended that as a sequel, but ultimately felt it all made more sense as one story.