The statue of the Equestrian was my earliest memory of Canterlot High. When I was four and new to the town my mother used to walk Dawn and I past the school every day on the way to kindergarten. As we passed I would always stare up at the back of the statue's head, in utter awe but too proud to ask to get closer. I wondered if he was a great warrior of the Earth Tribe, some mighty hero who stood over the town to protect it. I used to keep myself up at night imagining stories of his exploits, riding across the land and fighting evil wherever he went. The fact of his statue planted seeds in my childish mind. If your deeds in this world are great enough, he seemed to say, then someday, you will become a god.

It wasn't until my first day of high school that Principal Celestia told me the truth. The man I'd idolized and then forgotten wasn't some hero; he was a messenger, a nobody who the rulers of the three tribes tossed back and forth to each other as they divided up their territories in the newly conquered mainland. There was some story after that about how he was loved by all three tribes and that somehow helped bring them together, but I'd already stopped listening. None of it changed the fact that this town had inexplicably made their symbol a glorified postman. No one even knew his name or what tribe he was from, and Celestia thought this was important. I disagreed. The fucking horse was a bigger hero than he was. That was the moment when I went from wanting to be him to wanting to be absolutely nothing like him.

I looked up at his face for the first time in years, framed by moonlight. Then I kicked Sunset hard in the back. She winced and dropped to her knees and I ground my boot between her shoulder blades. "Say it," I hissed.

She cried and choked. I struck her again, harder. A short distance to my left, Twilight and Princess simultaneously took a half-step forward and caught each other's arms, too mesmerized to move. Six other girls backed them up, five best friends plus Coco Pommel, and Flash Sentry stood within arm's reach. A purple dog perched on the statue's edge and growled at me. Princess had a bag at her side, not dissimilar to mine, but she'd yet to open it.

"It's true," Sunset finally blurted. She pitched forward and didn't look to either side, appearing more like she was speaking to the statue's shattered base. "I wrote those messages."

"Louder," I said.

"I wrote those messages!" she yelled into the grass. "I was ShineLover. I pretended to be Twilight to hurt her. It was all me. Everything that happened was my fault."

Her head shuddered to the right, and everyone followed her gaze. "Your sister loves you," she said. "And she loves you like a sister. She would never have said any of the things I said to you." Her voice cracked. "All she wants is to have a brother again."

No one was looking at her any more. All eyes were fixed on the far side of the grass. On my right, an equal distance away, Shining Armour stood alone. He planted himself square and tall, a better statue than the one made from stone. Emotion flickered across him in the form of tiny twitches, trembling hands, a faint kink in his neck, little tells that only I would recognize. He was trying, out of habit, to pretend he had no weaknesses. And for once, he was really struggling.

He already knew, of course. Sunset had gotten quite deliciously specific in her naked confession. But the Twilights didn't need to know that. And even if they had, these words would still have needed to be said. It wasn't enough to pretend the rift had never happened; even after all this time, someone had to pay. The air between them needed to be cleared before they could finally close the gap.

My eyes flicked back and forth between the sides. Twilight and Princess reacted like they'd rehearsed it. Every movement was simultaneous, even the unconscious ones. Together, they paled and grasped at each other; together, they tried to speak but couldn't. Their shaking legs refused to move them forward, expecting a trap. It was funny. It was almost like they didn't trust me.

Shining was the one who took the first step. Even this was hesitant. I could see all three of them replaying on loops the last time they'd seen each other, wondering if the other side was doing the same. One had been abandoned and made to look like a monster. One had abandoned his family for another city. One had abandoned her family for another world, not knowing that she would never return. Each was silently comparing the present to the past, waiting for the other shoe to drop, bracing to be hurt a second time. One resentful word could have shattered everything.

But Shining Armour smiled. It cracked onto his face slowly, struggling to find a place there, and settled into a grin I'd only seen on the rarest occasions when we were alone. He took another step forward, more shambling than striding, and ever so slightly spread his arms.

That was all it took. At the same time, Twilight and Princess burst into tears and ran forward. Shining matched them and they threw themselves onto him in front of me. He held them tight, letting them cry onto him with the biggest smile on his face. In the background, Pinkie Pie cheered, and the others joined in, filling the night air with joy. I imagined some cheesy music swelling up in the back of everyone's minds. It wouldn't surprise me if everyone could hear it but me. Bunch of freaks.

I took my foot from Sunset's back and stood proud while they had their moment. Shining Armour and his sisters spun slowly, not even needing to exchange words. He gave no preference to either one. He knew the score; they were both Twilight. I took a mental snapshot of them framed in front of the statue. The place where I, Sunset Shimmer, had brought these girls and torn their lives apart. The place where I, Sunset Shimmer, was going to put them back together again.

I fucking love duality.

"Get up," I ordered, kicking Sunset. She rose shakily, not quite able to look at the reunion in front of her. "Come on, smile," I said. I put my arm around her. "You did good. All this is because of you."

She didn't look up, but she did lean into me. "Does that really make it okay?" she mumbled.

"Honestly?" I watched Shining kiss both Twilights on the cheek and then nestle his head between theirs. "I have never seen Shining Armour this happy. Even if you can't take it back, you still managed to pull some good out of all this. That's what you should be holding on to."

I saw the corner of her mouth flick up just a little. "But let's get one thing straight." I twisted her around and glared into her face. "Now that Shining's happy, it means he's not going to fuck me as hard any more," I hissed. I grabbed her by the front of her shirt and pulled her close. "And that means that from now on, you are going to be picking up the slack. Got it?"

There it was again; just for a second, rebellion flickered across her face, anger and pride almost, almost creasing her lips into an indignant response. But then it faded and she slumped in my grip once again. "Yes, Shimmer," she muttered.

I'd beat the fight back into her. Someday.

More hands grabbed me, separating us. "Get your paws off of her," Applejack said roughly. She forced herself in front of me and stood immovable while Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy supported Sunset. "Don't think this makes up for anythin'," the farm girl said, shoving her finger in my face. "You've done nothin' but stir up trouble since you got here. If I ever catch you layin' a hand on our friend again, I'll-"

"Applejack, it's-" Sunset said, tentatively reaching out.

"Yeah, whatever." I interrupted them both, waving them off. "Just go. We'll talk later."

Sunset nodded meekly and let herself be led back to her circle of friends. Applejack was more persistent. "Don't think you can just dump Shining Armour off and walk away," she said, stomping around me when I tried to move. "You've got a lot to answer for. Sunset won't ever stop apologizin', but I haven't heard the word sorry leave your lips from the night you tried to smash her head in. Maybe you ought'a start balancing that out."

"I have nothing to apologize for." I turned away, flipping my hair into her face, and started examining my nails. Judging by her appearance, I figured this was what would piss her off the most. "I do me. If you can't handle that, leave me alone."

She turned me back by my shoulder, and seemed surprised that she had to struggle to do so. "Now look here, missy," she started.

"Applejack?" Princess looked up from Shining Armour's shoulder. She whispered something to him and dropped away, letting him embrace his real sister alone. She scurried over to us and put her hand over Applejack's. "Don't start fights," she said, speaking to us both. "Please. Don't ruin this for her."

Applejack stood firm. "It needs sayin'," she growled.

"But not tonight." She gently moved her friend's hand away. "Twilight's missed her brother for even longer than I have. Don't try to force his hand. We can settle our differences in the morning."

"...Fine." Applejack crossed her arms. "But don't be goin' easier on her just 'cause she's dating your brother. That's all the more reason to keep an eye on her." She stomped off, still casting pointed glares in my direction.

Princess took a deep breath and released it slowly, steadying herself. I aggressively kept my gaze disinterestedly elsewhere. "I'm sorry about her," she said. "She means well, honestly. She just likes to get to the bottom of things." She looked up at me and gulped. "Can we talk?"

I smirked and looked sideways at her. "You're not gonna be a hypocrite, are you?"

"No. I want to apologize." She looked down. We started walking across the grass, a short distance from the others. I noticed she was keeping one hand tightly on her bag, just in case. "I misjudged you," she told me. "You're not as evil as I thought you were. To be honest, when I first saw you and Shining Armour together, I thought..."

"What?" I laughed at her. "You thought I'd expose you? You thought I'd filled his head with more stories about how you're a perverted freak?"

She flushed red. "Something like that," she said quietly. We both looked back at the pair embracing by the statue. Shining was cradling her with both arms, totally unlike any way he'd ever dared touch me. "It would have hurt," Princess continued. "If Shining Armour had rejected us, it would have broken my heart. But if you'd built all this up only to put Twilight through that a second time..."

I tried not to fantasize about that very thing. Maybe later, when I was alone and had all my toys. "Yeah, well, what was I supposed to do?" I said with a shrug. "Keep you a secret forever? My Shining always loved you, even when he hated you. I couldn't keep someone he loves away from him. I take good care of him. And he takes very good care of me." I grinned, a little mockingly, a little wistfully. "I'm lucky to have him."

Princess smiled uncertainly. "Yeah... you are," she said slowly. Then she took another breath and faced me. "But Applejack was right," she said. "This doesn't change anything. Even if Shining Armour trusts you, I'm still not going to let you take Sunset against her will. It's just not right. And he and I will be having a long talk about your behavior before I let him see you again."

"I can wait," I said with another shrug. "We can afford to spend a couple more days here. You take as long with him as you want."

"I'm serious." She stopped me as I tried to keep walking. "If I even get the slightest hint that you've been abusing him-"

"Relax, would you?" I swatted her hand away. "Your brother's fine. I'm just trying to make things right. Don't be a bitch about it."

"...Yeah. I'm sorry."

"Whatever." I faced her and spread my arms. "Friends?"

Her face lit up, but only a little. She hesitated. "You're not going to be weird, are you?"

"Come on. Don't you trust me?" I smiled wide.

With just a small pause, Princess moved in. We hugged. Having her in my arms made my mouth water. My hand slipped tight around her side, but I kept it chaste and didn't grab her sweet ponygirl ass - even if I did take the opportunity to check it out over her shoulder. I ruled out shoving her to the ground and tearing off her skirt then and there and instead let go. "Look after my Shining while you've got him, okay?" I said. "I'd probably be dead by now if he wasn't looking after me."

That was a lie, but it made Princess pause before answering. "We will," she said. "Thank you for bringing him home."

"Blame Suri Polomare, not me," I said, backing up. "Anyway, I'm leaving. I promised Shining I'd give him some alone time with Twilight. I wouldn't want to make her uncomfortable." Well, what I'd said was 'so you don't have to worry about me catching you sneaking the condom off while you're fucking her,' but he knew what I meant. "I'll be at the hotel, whenever you're ready."

Her voice caught. "Alone?"

"Yeah. Unless you want to come with me?" I let myself smirk at her stunned, conflicted face, but kept talking before she could settle on an answer. "Actually," I said, raising a finger as if I'd just remembered, "one more thing before I go." I closed the distance between us again and put my hand on her shoulder, resting lightly on the strap of her bag. "What would you say," I said quietly, staring into her wide, adorable eyes, "if I told you that I knew how to send you back to Equestria?"

Author's Note

Mirror Fidelity is a year old.

Cliche line incoming: When I first started this story, I had no idea that it would take off like this. It all began with the idle thought: Wouldn't it be funny if the human Twilight Sparkle ran into Flash Sentry? Well, not really, because Flash and Twilight aren't actually dating. Okay, but suppose they were dating. Why would they be? Rainbow Rocks isn't out yet and as far as I know she can only visit him once every thirty moons. Okay, so... suppose Twilight is trapped in Humanland because Sunset Shimmer actually did smash the mirror portal. Interesting. But if Human Twilight lives close enough to Flash that she can casually run into (and then proceed to have sex with) him, why doesn't Pony Twilight know about her? Well, that's because... um... I guess it would make the most sense if Sunset Shimmer scared her away somehow. What did she do? Um...

Basically, this entire, sprawling AU was created to cover up the fact that the premise for this story doesn't actually make any sense. And I don't regret that in the least. I churned the first story out in the space of one week and thought that would be the end of it, but no. The story had evolved beyond a silly little sexfic that I needed to get out of my head. I put too much of myself into Twilight to let her story go. And now here we are, a year later, approaching the climax (hehe, climax) of what is, let's face it, a novel about sex, identity, suicide, friendship, and abandonment. Several issues that Twilight and Shimmer face are ones that I've dredged up from my own life, and writing through their conflicting ways of confronting these problems has been therapeutic in relearning how to look after myself. (Albeit with considerably less sex with extremely hot guys.) These stories are a window into my mind as much as into the minds of the characters, for all the good and bad that that implies. And all this hidden beneath the pretext of a silly little FlashLight ship.

For the, like, two dozen of you who've made it with me this far: Thank you for giving me an excuse to create this wild ride. My writing would be in a very different place right now if I hadn't dedicated myself to creating this, to say nothing of my emotional state. Now it's time to drive this home. Put your theories for the final chapters in the comments. There's a big ol' storm of chaos brewing.

With thanks,
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