"and that's why I almost brought you peppermint tea," Pinkie finished as her breath ran out. Shimmer was torn between awe at the sheer quantity the girl had said without stopping for air once and a bizarre numbness at trying to absorb the information contained within.

"Wait, wait," Shimmer said willing the headache away. "You really expect me to accept that this other me dated that blue haired guy. I'm not sure I can swallow that. I mean, ew."

"Yup, yup," Pinkie nodded before cocking her head to the side. "What's wrong with Flash Sentry anyway?"

"Just... not my cup of tea, I guess. I mean he is such a... Brad." Shimmer said as she struggled to find some flaw based on Pinkie's narrative. "Flawless, unobjectionable, bland"

"But the magic, transformations, alternate selves, ponies, zombie-esque teenage army," Pinkie said with uncertainty. "You believe me about those right?"

Shimmer looked serious as she responded, "Well, it's absurd, insane and a little nonsensical... but it does explain why Canterlot transfers are always shy around me for the first few weeks. Besides, anyone who can instantly tell everyone's favourite tea can't be a bad person. I refuse to live in a world where that could be otherwise."

"Glad to hear it!" Pinkie said and smiled even more, it was infectious, Shimmer could feel that grin stripping away all of her worries. It was like having a weight suddenly fading away. It could probably chase away negative feelings in a block wide radius. She wouldn't be surprised if people started having withdrawal symptoms if the energetic waitress left town for any extended period of time.

A thought suddenly occurred to Shimmer, "Wait, you asked if I was upset about last week, what happened?"

Pinkie's face faltered for a moment, her eyes had a far off look, but then it seemed to pass. She did start packing away the tea set though, "I better get back to work, otherwise people might start frowning, and that would be the worst thing ever."

"Oh, okay, that makes sense. Well, it's been really great, Pinkie. One last thing, any chance you could point me towards someone who'd tell me more about my double. I'm pretty curious about having another me, and maybe I can help with whatever," Shimmer said as she helped tidy.

Pinkie stopped for a moment, as though weighing up the decision, but then nodded vigourously, "Yes, indeedily! A friend of mine should be running a juice stand in the park today, just look for a girl with apples and a Stetson. I'll let her know it's 'you you' and not 'not you you'."

It took Shimmer a few seconds to put that last bit together, before replying jokingly, "You don't think they'd be able to tell."

"Unlikely," Pinkie said with feigned exasperation, "they tend to miss obvious stuff like that. Crazy right?"

Pinkie stood up, and skated away. She weaved through tables with impressive grace, taking orders, clearing tables and making conversation. Shimmer hadn't even noticed any skates earlier, probably just because she had been distracted about Sparks. She left a generous tip and waved to the waitress.

"See you round, other, new, alternate... original, classic" Pinkie called, as she rolled backwards towards the cafe's main door, a tray in each arm and one balanced upon her head.

"Call me Shimmer," she called after her new acquaintance.

She took a deep breath and stopped for a moment. Maybe she could text Sparks, and then probably make everything worse by saying the wrong thing. That, or find out more about the other Sunset Shimmer and not have to think about the fact she was spending her day trip without her best friend by her side. She took out her phone and looked at it, before returning it to her pocket and heading for the park.

Sparks looked at Sunset as she finished her tale of how a Twilight Sparkle had ended her reign of terror in Canterlot High and stopped her plans of harnessing ultimate power. It was a lot to take in but the girl seemed genuinely upset and remorseful.

"Well, it explains the video of 'me' acting weird showing up on-line," Sparks said with reluctance. "So sure, I believe you, even if I am more than a little sceptical when anyone uses magic to explain anything."

"Um, the video was my fault. I'm so sorry," Sunset retreated into herself even more, "I hope it didn't make you life difficult or anything."

Sparks shook her head and laughed. "It turned out to be pretty funny actually. Shimmer decided that it was the most hilarious thing and made a version of herself pretending to be a wolf failing to make dinner. It actually caught on and after a while all of our friends had made a video like it, it even spread to people we had never met before. I even had to record one after I insisted the original was not me."

"I'm glad," Sunset said softly. "I'd hate to be responsible for any more hurt. I just don't know what to do."

Sparks looked at her, trying to find something useful to say. It was obvious that the girl needed advice, and she didn't want to say the wrong thing, "Well, why not ask those girls that this Twilight teamed up with. They might have some ideas how to make up with everyone."

Sunset shook her head, as her face filled with doubts and regrets, "I messed everything up. I doubt they'd talk to me any more."

"It's probably not that bad, why don't you tell me about it?" Sparks tried to sound calm and encouraging, remembering how Shimmer would calm her down when she was panicking over imagined mistakes in homework and exams.

"I can't, I promised I wouldn't say anything," Sunset answered dejectedly, "and I was just trying to do the right thing. I'm so stupid!"

"Blaming yourself won't achieve anything, " Sparks said as she tried to channel Shimmer, she had to seem confident and knowing, and not let Sunset get caught up in self doubt and remorse. If she couldn't help with the specific problem she would have to give general advice and hope it helped. "You have to keep moving forward. It's easier to stop and look back, wishing you could change things, that to turn your gaze ahead and work to make things better for you and everyone. That takes courage, but its worth it."

"and how do I do that." Sunset said with a sigh. "I don't think I can."

Sparks walked over to a near by bench and sat down. She motioned for Sunset to sit with her. "Do you want to hear about how Shimmer and I became friends. It's related, I promise."

Sunset nodded, but didn't say anything. Sparks smiled bringing the memories to the fore.

"When I was a little girl I didn't care much about having friends, I had all I thought I could ever need in my books and family. Then one day, while I was reading, this girl walked up to me and declared that she has decided that we will be friends. I ignored her and kept reading, I was so close to the end and didn't want to be interrupted. What I didn't know was that she had no friends and didn't know how to make them, or that Dancer and her friends were bullying her because of it. She was not to be dissuaded, and would sit with me every day and talk away, while I read. I think she liked imagining us as friends, and not having to sit alone.

After about a week of this, Dancer decided to take me away from her. They asked me to sit at their table instead, but I ignored them as well. It was obvious that something was going on, and I just wanted to spend my breaks with my books. They started calling me names but I didn't care.

It was a Friday, when I was reading in the playground, that they caught up with me. I had this stuffed doll, 'Miss Smarty Pants', that I carried with me everywhere. She even had a tiny book to read. They grabbed her and told her that they would only give her back if I stopped being friends with Sunset Shimmer, I didn't even know that had been the other girls name till that point. I tried to get my doll back but they kept throwing her between them.

I was on the verge of tears when Shimmer showed up holding a teddy that belonged to Dancer. They dropped my doll and rushed her. Shimmer ran around the playground. When they caught her pulled her hair and scratched her trying to make her release it. Instead of fighting back she just started ripping up the teddy, even biting an ear off. Dancer's face exploded a cascade of tears as she ran inside. Her friends followed after her. I picked up my doll and watched Shimmer just sitting there over this destroyed toy. She was covered in scratches but just kept looking down at the stuffing strewn around in front of her."

Sunset raised an eyebrow, "and that's how you became friends? I don't see the point of this story. I can't just declare that someone become my friend and reap some bizarre vengeance on any who oppose them."

Sparks rolled her eyes at the sarcasm, at least Sunset was opening up, even if it not the best method.

"I'm getting there. Anyway, I didn't see her back in class after the break, apparently she had called her dad and asked to go home early. She was not there on Monday morning either. It was at first break that I saw her talking to her dad. She seemed scared but he told her something and she nodded and walked into the yard. It was like her entire attitude had changed. Dancer still looked upset but her friends seemed ready to fight. Still Shimmer walks by all of them, looking only at Dancer. No one stopped her, she was like a queen or a force of nature, walking with unstoppable purpose.

She stopped in front of Dancer and takes something out of her back pack. It was the teddy, but repaired and wearing a cute new outfit. Shimmers hands were covered in little plasters, or pin pricks. It was obvious she had done the repair work herself. She held it out and said she was sorry. Dancer took it from her without a word, and then Sunset turned, waved at her dad and walked into the school."

Sunset shook her head, "I've tried coming up with some big gesture to win everybody back. I threw a few parties, I publicly apologised to the school, I even offered to let everyone slap me, but it doesn't help."

"After that she started being nice to everyone, complimenting their clothes, asking to join in games, helping people with school work. She even became friends with Dancer, who loved her teddy's new outift. I still ignored her when she sat with me, but she seemed set on us getting to know one another.

Then one day she asked me what I was reading. Suddenly I wanted to talk. I told her all about the book and recommended things for her to read. After about a month of this I realised I liked spending time with her, and we would chat about other things, not always about reading or learning.

The thing is that you can't decide to be friends with someone, they have to want it too. Grand gestures can open the door but they won't make it happen. You have to work at it. Sharing interests can help bridge that gap but they won't do everything. You have to put time and effort in. It's small things built up over time that make strong friendships."

Sparks looked at Sunset as she finished. Her story had made an impression and the girl was thinking about the lesson it contained. "I think I get it. It doesn't sound easy."

"Sometimes it's not," Sparks confirmed. "but it's worth it. So is there anyone you could spend some time with now? Maybe help them with something they care about."

Sunset thought for a while, "Well, Fluttershy helps out at the Canterlot Animal Shelter on weekends, and they are always looking for more volunteers. So I guess we could start there. Um, could you come along, it'd help to have a friendly face."

Sparks thought about texting Shimmer and letting her know what was going on, maybe inviting her. It probably wasn't a good idea. She probably needed some time to cool off.

She turned to Sunset, "Of course I'll let you out. Well, lead the way."

Author's Note

So it turns out the town is actually called Canterlot and not just the school. Fluttershy was looking for volunteers at the Canterlot Animal Shelter. So the name Pennyville is out and Canterlot is in. Keeping the Golden Oak Library because it further illustrates the merging of Canterlot and Ponyville in the Equestria Girls.

I also missed that the dance is called the Fall Formal, so my original timeline was off.

So I actually edited this to continue in Summer and upped the timeline to be about 6 and a half months after Equestria Girls. This resulted in complicated the issues involved, but setting it in winter didn't seem right either. That said I have a very clear idea of where I want this to go now. The next chapter should be up sometime on Thursday, Friday evening at the latest.

I was hoping for a quicker update schedule but course work has been crazy at the moment. It will be once a week at the latest.