Shimmer looked at the pinkish purple fast food outlet, with its faux thatched roof. It was an odd sight, much bigger than the Everfree branch of the franchise, though that made a lot of sense, taking into account the plaque declaring this the origin of the chain. The "restaurant" was surprisingly busy, with most of the booths being filled with groups of teens, hanging out and killing time on their holidays.

Shimmer scanned them for Sparks, but didn't see her. She did notice people whispering to themselves, while glancing at her. She was not sure if they were doing it because they though she was the other Sunset, or because they thought she wasn't. Either way she figured that it was something she would have to accept as part and parcel of being in Canterlot. She continued looking for Sparks, but to her annoyance she only recognised Flash Sentry, though the feeling seemed to be mutual as he also noticed her. With a sigh she walked over to him, better to get this over with.

"So..." Shimmer initiated.

"Yeah. I'm..." Flash responded uncertainly, before Shimmer cut across him

"I'm..." Shimmer took a deep breath, focused on her words, trying to get this over with all at once, "sorry about earlier, I'm not the Sunset you know, nor is my friend the Twilight you know, hence the confusion, and why I was so aggressive towards you earlier. You did have a legitimate reason for hugging her suddenly, and I could have asked instead of exploding at you."

"Me too." Flash replied awkwardly, "I mean, I'm also sorry. I could have reacted better to you defending Twi or Sparks or whatever and thinking I had been forgotten. So yeah. doubles huh, weird, right?"

"You heard about the doubles, Hashtag Second Sunset, right?" Shimmer said attempting to sound joking.

"I told him," A pink blur announced as it whizzed past, delivering trays, and cleaning tables. She was wearing roller blades and the yellow and orange uniform of the Hey! Burger. "cause you mentioned seeing him earlier and he looking kind of confused and annoyed when he came in, and I figured that you are probably great at confusing and annoying people."

"Pinkie?" Shimmer exclaimed. "I thought you worked at Sugar Cube Corner. What are you doing here?"

"My shifts are a little crazy, but I work here in the afternoons on even dates, but not on a 14th or 22nd, "Pinkie explained as she cleaned out a booth nearby. "but always on a 7th and 31st, and every other 3rd."

Shimmer nodded taking in the bizarre schedule. Sparks had gone through something similar a couple of years ago trying to get her extra curricular classes to balance.

"Pinkie," Sunset began, "I'm actually really glad to see you. I was hoping you could tell me more about..."

"Can't talk now! Maybe later," Pinkie called back as she disappeared back behind the counter. Shimmer was certain she had seen a frown on the seemingly hyperactive girl's face, if only for a moment.

Shimmer turned to Flash, "So? Is she always like this?"

"Kind of, I mean, I think so, we aren't really close, but yeah, she is known for her infinite energy and always having a smile on her face. Like the only times I've seen her not smile, was because of you, well, Sunset. Pinkie mentioned the whole Shimmer and Sparks thing. Makes it easier, I guess." Flash paused, nervous. "So is Sparks around?"

"Yeah. I'm meeting her later," Shimmer answered with suspicion. "Don't get any weird ideas though. She is not Twilight. Besides didn't you have a thing with Sunset. I am not going to be happy if I think you are fooling around with either of our doubles, especially if it's both of them, and if you think you can replace Twilight with Sparks, I'll have words."

Flash started to say something, then stopped, this process happened two or three times as his brain struggled to process the accusation. Eventually he sputtered out a defence, "No. I mean, yeah, I did, but it's not like that. I wouldn't, I mean I would, but. Um."

Shimmer contained her amusement at the obviously flustered teen, and took a deep breath, suppressing her defensive urges. She put forward her friendliest smile, "It's okay. So this Twilight made an impression on you. They can do that. I can see why you would be pretty excited at another shot at it."

"Yeah, you could say that," Flash said visibly relaxing. "I mean, she wouldn't be a replacement, but..."

Shimmer shook her head. She really needed not to treat everyone like they were already confirmed jerks. She made sure her body language was friendly as she sat opposite Flash, leaning in she asked, "What happened with you and Sunset anyway? I'm pretty curious. You're not my type, but then again she likes peppermint tea, so we obviously like different things."

"Peppermint tea?" Flash queried, trying to avoid the question.

"Yeah, Pinkie has this thing with people's favourite teas. It's how she realised I wasn't Sunset. Saying that out loud seems a bit weird, but it's been that kind of day," Shimmer explained. "I also noticed you didn't answer my question."

Flash took a sip of his cola, and nodded, "Okay. So we went out for a few months last year, but it became obvious that she was only using me to cement her power in the school, and as a fashion accessory. I broke up with her soon after that. God, how could I have been so blind."

Shimmer nodded solemnly, she didn't like thinking about herself as the type of person who would have date someone as a trophy, but she had to acknowledge that Sunset was a different person after all. However one thought did jump out at her, "From what I heard everyone knew that Sunset was someone to be feared for the entirety of her career in Canterlot High, so why'd you date her?"

Flash sighed, "Honestly, she was really pretty, and confident, and I thought it was just rumours, created by spurned guys, and jealous girls. If it was true, I thought maybe I could find the good in her, and change her, like all she needed was a chance. Either way I was just seeing what I wanted. There was one thing though, that impressed me, even when I saw her for the manipulative person she was. She had this drive, this fire, that refused to give into anything, it was daunting but incredible."

"Yeah, it's okay. It happens. Good that you are aware of it though. I guess," Shimmer struggled, she really didn't know what to say. "What's she like now?"

Flash looked at Shimmer, "I don't know. I've been ignoring her since the Fall Formal. I guess everyone has, except Pinkie and the others. I guess she doesn't bully people any more, not that she could anyway. No one would let her get away with it any more. She seems subdued, like that flame has gone out, like she doesn't know who she is or what she wants any more. I don't know."

"Wow. I'm glad I'm not her right now, sounds pretty lonesome. I'm not saying she doesn't deserve it, but no one should feel alone. Anyway, I'm going to go order a tea or something. It's been," Shimmer hesitated, pushing past her initial dislike of him, "good talking to you."

Shimmer played with her phone, sipping her tea, checking up on her and Spark's social media tags. There was a lot of discussion of them, especially Sunset. Most of it wasn't very nice, not exactly cruel, just a little negative. She kept and eye out the window and saw Sparks coming down the street. Shimmer smiled, though it quickly faltered. It was great seeing her again, but Shimmer was worried, that she would say something that would make everything weird and awkward. She already felt weird and awkward enough around Sparks without all this. This trip had been about dissolving the distance that had developed between them and maybe more. She let out a sigh of frustration, and cleared her mind. Though she sighed again when she realised she would need to explain the entire doubles thing. Sparks was very scientific, and probably wouldn't buy something so crazy easily.

Shimmer fought off the frown when she saw that Sparks had met Flash as he went to leave the diner. They were smiling and laughing. No big deal, not at all. Flash said something. Sparks laughed nervously and blushed. She smoothed her skirt, something she does when embarrassed, or nervous. Perfect. Fan-freakin-tastic. Sparks opened the door for Flash, and he walked out waving at her. She then saw Shimmer and waved. As she walked over, a smile on her face, Shimmer pushed her unease down, and smiled. It was easier than she thought. She had expected it to be forced, but she was genuinely relieved to have met back up with Sparks. Together they would be able to deal with this Sunset debacle, if Sparks believed her, that is.

Shimmer's thoughts were broken when she heard Sparks calling her. "Hey, let's order, I am famished. I need to eat something. I had a lot of unscheduled exercise. You would not believe my day."

"Yeah. It's been quite a day, and there is still a lot of it left," Shimmer agreed, as they got in line. "Oh, I apologised to Flash, we are kind of cool now."

Sparks nodded, "Yeah, mentioned. Also heard that you met Gilda's old friend. I also heard it didn't go very well."

"Yeaaahhhh, I'm sorry, I just..." Shimmer stammered.

"Are sometimes a bit overly protective, yeah" Sparks reprimanded her jokingly. "It's okay, she seemed to be thinking about it, so maybe she'll patch things up yet. That said you could probably have been nicer about it. Are you okay? You aren't normally this... confrontational. I mean where is the girl that tamed the Everfree?"

"Sorry. I've had something on my mind. Nothing to worry about. Oh look time to order," Shimmer said, changing the subject.

Over the meal the two girls laughed and joked about inconsequential things. About ten minutes after finishing their meal, Pinkie skated by and dropped off a lemon and ginger tea and a coffee. She picked up their trays with a smile, "Sparks right. Though you like hazelnut not caramel in your coffee. Oh, got to skate."

Sparks looked a little confused, "I wish I could say that was the oddest thing to happen today."

"Pinkie is pretty great. She does this thing where she knows people's favourite beverages and she aced mine, and yours," Shimmer explained smiling. "The mention of caramel was probably related to umm the other... Twi..."

"Twilight. Yeah. I heard about her. It's better that you know about this already. It'll make the next bit easier, cause I met your doppleganger," Sparks exclaimed with a smug grin.

"Wow, cause I have been following her trail, since we split... since Sugar Cube Corner," Shimmer said surprised but continued conspiratorially "and I was hoping we could help her. You know how Sunsets are, they need Twilight to work."

"That is sooo cheesy, but yeah. I was had the same plan," Sparks agreed winking. "Of course like all good strategy meetings we'll need icecream as we share intel."

After telling their stories and sharing a sundae, the girls were thoughtful.

"So there are six girls in this. Sunset, Pinkie, Applejack, Rainbow, Fluttershy and Rarity." Sparks began.

"Yeah," Shimmer agreed, "and something happened last week between Rainbow and Sunset, but no one is saying what. Apparently Rarity might know, so one of us should go meet her."

"We also need to find something that can bridge the gap Sunset caused in the group. There seems to be some fallout. Fluttershy mentioned that she is called over to the farm a lot by Applejack, but that she thinks her brother might be angry at her, cause Applejack gets weird when he is around," Sparks added with a frown.

Shimmer took a moment to consider, "McIntosh was pretty distracted looking at Rainbow often, but he seemed to be worried about something with Applejack. Rainbow seemed to worry about what he would think when I exploded at her as well. So... maybe..."

"Rainbow and Mac like each other, but are worried about offending Applejack. Dating someone's sibling or sibling's friend can be pretty weird," Sparks exploded with enthusiasm. "and what if Applejack and Fluttershy spend so much time together cause they want their friendship to become more than that."

Shimmer thought about it, and frowned as a though hit her, "What if Applejack thinks Mac likes Fluttershy. You said she was quiet and so is he, so they'd be an obvious pairing. It'd explain why she gets anxious when they are around each other."

"Oh, wow, that makes sense," Sparks agreed. "What if Mac thinks that his sister likes Rainbow, they both sounded very athletic. I could see his logic, and it would explain his awkwardness. It's weird though, I mean why wouldn't they talk about it. I know it's hard but not as hard as it seems staying silent."

"Well..." Shimmer frowned. "We know that Sunset broke their friendship, so maybe no one is willing to take the risk of doing something that could break it again. It might not survive it."

Sparks nodded solemnly, "This is a pretty tangled knot, even without the fight between Rainbow and Sunset."

"Pinkie seems a little upset sometimes, but I'm still not sure. It might be unrelated. Anyway, you're the brains," Shimmer beamed. "What's the plan?"

"I think we need to split up again. Sunset won't tell me, but she might tell you," Sparks said playing with her hair. "You know Sunset solidarity and all that."

"That makes sense, and I am curious to meet me," Shimmer agreed reluctantly. "So, you'll have to go meet Rarity. It makes sense. Having her tell me what other me did could be awkward."

"Shimmer, are you sure this is okay? I know you wanted to spend this day together. Are you sure you want to spend it dealing with problems of people we just met?" Sparks asked, her concern showing on her face.

"Yeah. I mean, I want to spend the day with you, but I don't want to leave it like this," Shimmer answered. "I mean, what if I would have ended up like her, without friends, without... you. It wouldn't feel right."

"Okay, let's do it," Sparks said standing up. "Carousel Boutique, right?"

Shimmer nodded, "Yeah, and I'm headed to the Animal Shelter. You go on ahead, I want to see if I can grab a moment with Pinkie."

Shimmer waved at Sparks as she left the building.

"You called," Pinkie said grinning, appearing behind Shimmer. "I can take a quick break."

"So, Pinkie. Can you tell me anything about what happened a week ago?" Shimmer asked quietly.

"I can't," Pinkie mumbled. "I made a promise."

"To Sunset, or Rainbow?" Shimmer asked, but she got no response other than that momentary frown. Realisation hit Shimmer hard. It all made sense. It explained why Pinkie was so sad, but trying to hide it, because she couldn't tell anyone. "You promised both of them. Oh you poor dear. I prom... I promise I will do whatever I can to help. Sparks is helping me, together we can do anything."

Pinkie half smiled, but didn't seem convinced. Shimmer wanted to cheer up this sweet girl. She remembered something her dad used to say, "Can I borrow a hug?"

Shimmer outstretched her arms. Pinkie smiled a small fragile smile, but accepted the hug readily. Somehow she knew the response, the same way she knew other things, "Only if you promise to give it back."

A moment passed and Pinkie pulled away. She wore a deep honest smile, "Thanks for that. I better get back to work."

Shimmer grabbed her jacket and headed out. She turned to see Pinkie gliding around the tables once more, waved and left.

She had a Sunset to find, and a mystery to get to the bottom of.

Author's Note

Sorry to all my readers. I hit a life block for a long while there, but I am back now.

Thanks to everyone for the likes, and the comments.

I hope you like this chapter that has been in my brain for months.

I also hope you are enjoying the story.