Blamed

Chapters

Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Flashback
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Interlude
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Epilogue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 10

Chapter 3

"Ouch!"

Sunset flinched when she touched one particularly painful bruise from yesterday's little encounter. She was covered in bruises, mostly in her midsection where those girls had kicked her. Nothing was broken or sprained, leading Sunset to believe that her attackers held back, but it hurt nonetheless.

It took her some time to regain her strength after she was beat up and left behind, but in the end, she managed to get to her feet and start her walk back home, and while many people stared at her and her injuries, none had said or done anything to help, not even the bus driver.

She did think about going to the hospital and letting them look over her injuries, but the last thing that thug said repeated itself in her mind. She would need to tell the hospital staff about what happened to her, and they would most likely involve the police. Sunset was pretty sure that the leader had been lying about her connections to the police, but at the same time, what if she had been telling the truth?

But even worse than her injuries was that Sunset was on her own for the whole week, and with her phone broken, she couldn't even call her parents. She had never bothered to memorize her parents' numbers, since she always had them saved on her phone--an oversight Sunset was kicking herself over--and since her family just moved in, she didn't know anyone else she could rely on.

So with that in mind, Sunset concluded that her best bet would be to lay low, avoid the teens, and ignore that problem until her parents returned. The last thing she needed was trouble she couldn't deal with alone.

That said, there shouldn't be a problem. After all, it was just one small incident with some stupid teenagers who mistook her for someone else. Sunset had a lot of time to think about everything that happened and what those girls said, and it made no sense. She couldn't think of anything she could have done to provoke such an attack. That means it was just a misunderstanding and nothing else, right?

Sunset stood up from her bed, where she has been lying the for greater part of the day. She stretched her arms and legs, wincing slightly as her painful bruises made themselves known, and looked at the clock on her wall.

'One-thirty in the afternoon. I really slept in today,' she thought. Still, though, there was no one to peg her about that, and after the previous day, she needed the rest. 'Well, time to get something to eat, and after that, back into town. Monday might've sucked, but there's still so much to explore, and I'm not gonna let a little misunderstanding get in my way.'

~*~

Upon her re-arrival at Canterlot High, Sunset decided to explore the opposite direction of the one she explored Monday, but not long after she started her walk, she once more got that feeling of being watched. She stopped several times and looked around but didn't spot anybody suspicious, so she continued on her way.

Bump.

A teenager about her age bumper her shoulder as he passed. Sunset mumbled an apology, but the teen didn't even look back. A bit perturbed, Sunset kept walking.

Bump.

A second teen, maybe a year older than the first, bumped Sunset's shoulder as she walked by. Sunset silently watched the girl walk away from her, starting to think that these collisions weren't really accidents.

Bump. Bump.

While she was distracted, two teens pushed her on their way past. Having had enough, Sunset called out to them angrily. One simply ignored her, while the other flashed her a death-glare before walking away.

'Alright, there is definitely something wrong in this city,' Sunset thought while she rubbed the shoulder the glaring teen hit.

Angrily, she walked down the road, keeping her eyes on anybody who steered too close for comfort.

With this tactic, she managed to avoid most of those "accidents", but she left her back open.

The shove came unexpectedly and gave her little time to react before she landed hard on the concrete. She quickly regained her composure and turned around on the ground to face her attacker.

"What the heck do you think you are doing?" she yelled at the unfamiliar girl.

"The better question is, 'What are you still doing here?'" the girl responded angrily. "After everything you did, you think we're just gonna leave you alone?"

"No idea what your problem is, but I didn't do anything," Sunset said while she tried to get back on her feet, but before she could stand up, she was shoved down again from the other side.

"Cut the 'I'm innocent' act," another girl said. "Everyone knows that you're Anon-A-Miss."

Sunset looked at the girls in confusion. "'Anonymous'? What are you two talking about?"

"Tsk! Let's go," the first girl said to the other one. "Let her keep denying it if it helps her sleep at night." The second girl nodded, and they walked away.

"Hey, come back here!" Sunset yelled, finally standing up, but they were already further away down the road, disappearing around the corner.

Sunset stood still, looking in the direction the girls disappeared with narrowed eyes. 'Should I follow them?' she thought, before she shook her head. 'I doubt it would help. They didn't want to talk before, so they probably wouldn't talk if I follow them now.'

She continued on her way, keeping her eyes open for more surprises.

'This city is weird.'

~*~

Sunset closed the door behind her as quickly and quietly as possible, hoping that her pursuers wouldn't hear where she went. Panting slightly, she waited.

"Where'd she go?"

"No idea, but she can't have gotten far."

Sunset listened as the voices and steps grew quieter and released the breath she had been holding.

It had been quiet after her encounter with the two girls who shoved her around earlier, and Sunset had just begun to relax and lower her defense slightly. That was until she crossed a street and saw a small group of teenagers down the road who pointed at her, talking amongst themselves.

Not taking any chances, Sunset walked down the street away from them and kept her eyes and ears open. It didn't take long until she realized that the group was following her, and she gradually increased her speed until she was running.

Usually, she was not one to run away, but considering that she was already weakened from the previous day and outnumbered by at least four to one, she decided that her pride could take a backseat for today.

But Sunset realized soon that she could not outrun her pursuers. She was in an unfamiliar environment, and the teens looked athletic enough to keep up with her. A quick turns later, she managed to get a small lead, and when she turned around one last corner, she quickly ducked inside the first shop she came upon and stayed out of sight.

She wasn't sure what she should do now, though. Going outside was a bad idea as long as those teenagers were looking for her, so she was trapped. And if they found her...

"Just one moment, please. I will be with you in a minute."

Sunset jumped upon hearing the sing-song voice and looked around the room for the first time. Mannequins stood in the window beside her and in several locations throughout the room. Each of them wore a different outfit fitting for the winter season. She quickly concluded that she was in a boutique.

On the other side of the room was the counter and a door that led further inside the building. Sunset could hear different voices from the back and assumed that the voice she heard came from that direction, likely from a clerk who worked there.

'Well, if I'm stuck in here for a while, I can at least look around,' she thought as she walked from one mannequin to the next, admiring all the different outfits. She stopped at a black jacket and ran her hand over its surface. 'This looks amazing. I need to come back with Mom later.'

"Welcome to Carousel Boutique, where... What are you doing here?"

Sunset froze for a second upon hearing the same melodious voice from before turning from friendly to hateful in a second. She turned her head to see a white-skinned girl with purple hair standing near the door behind the counter, glaring at her. She could also hear more steps getting closer from behind the still-open door.

"I'm looking around at the outfits on sale. This is a shop after all, right?" Sunset asked, unsure what to make out of the situation in front of her.

"That may be true, but you are not welcome here. Leave immediately."

'Oh, come on! Is there anyone in this city who doesn't hate me?' Sunset opened her mouth to answer, but before she could say anything, another voice came up.

"Rarity? Is everythin' alright out there?"

"Yes. Just an unwanted guest who was on her way out," Rarity called back without letting Sunset out of her sight.

A moment later, two other girls entered the room, one an orange-skinned country girl with blonde hair wearing a Stetson, the other a sky-blue-skinned girl with hair in all colors of the rainbow. Behind them, Sunset could see through the open door two more girls still standing in the other room. One had yellow skin and light pink hair and tried to hide behind a pink-skinned girl with bubblegum-like, dark-pink hair.

The country girl sighed upon seeing Sunset. "Really, now?"

"What's she doing here?" The prismatic-haired girl asked, glaring daggers at Sunset.

"Apparently, she decided to come here for some shopping," Rarity replied with crossed arms. "Can you believe that? The nerve."

"I don't know if you're stupid or brave for coming back to us," the athletic girl sneered.

Narrowing her eyes, Sunset turned around fully to face the girls. "I have no idea what you're talking about. Care to enlighten me?"

Apparently, that was the wrong question, as the blue girl grew even angrier. "Now, I know you're stupid. Playing dumb isn't gonna help you!"

"She's right. Either leave now, or we'll make ya leave," the blonde girl added.

Sunset stared at the group and sighed. On any other day, she would not have given in so easily, but after all that's happened, she really wasn't eager to get into another fight.

"Fine, I'll leave. Hope you're happy that you lost a customer," Sunset said before she turned and made her way to the door.

"And don't ever come back!" the athlete's raspy voice yelled after her.

Sunset heard the country girl's calmer voice. "Calm down, Rainbow. She's leavin'. No need to waste the energy."

Sunset stopped in her tracks. 'Rainbow?'

"Can you believe her, Applejack?" Rainbow continued. "Still playing the innocent act. You'd think her eye was message enough that we don't want her around anymore."

Sunset slowly turned around, her eyes wide open, and stared at Rainbow Dash. 'My eye, a message?'

Best regards from Rainbow and her friends. She paid us good money to give you this message.

Sunset's shock turned into anger, and she glared at the group. "So, you're the ones who sent that thug after me."

The girls turned their attention back to Sunset. "You're still here?" Rarity asked.

"What's she talkin' about?" Applejack asked Rarity.

"No idea, darling."

Sunset took a step forward with balled fists. "What did I do to you, huh? How did I deserve what you did to me? Tell me!"

Rainbow was in front of her in an instant and grabbed her by the coat. "Drop the act, Sunset! You know exactly what you did!" Rainbow pulled her closer until their faces were inches away from each other. "Now get out, or you'll regret it!"

Rainbow pushed Sunset away and watched as she landed on the floor.

Sunset glared from the floor at the group. At first, she thought about pushing further, but she knew that she wouldn't get anything out of the group.

"Fine!" Sunset got back on her feet. "But this isn't the last you'll see of me. I'm gonna find out what the hell is going on!" She opened the door and stepped out, slamming the door behind her.

"Tsk! Did she really think playing dumb would help her?" Rainbow asked.

"I don't know, darling, but she's gone now. Let's go back behind."

They nodded and made their way back through the door they came from. Only Fluttershy stayed behind, still looking at the front door and replaying the altercation in her head.

'Why do I get the feeling we've done something terribly wrong?' she thought.

~*~

Sunset stomped down the street with balled fists and gritted teeth, not really caring where she was going.

'Those girls will regret what they did. I'll figure out what's going on, and then, I'm gonna rub their stupid faces in it.'

Lost in thought, she wasn't paying attention to what was in front of her, so it came as a surprise when she ran into someone with enough force that she once again found herself on the ground.

"Sorry, I wasn't looking were I was going," Sunset mumbled.

"Well, I'm not sorry."

Sunset froze. She recognized that voice as one of those she heard from behind the door of the boutique. She has been so angry that she forgot why she hid in the first place. Looking around, she realized that she was surrounded by the group that had chased her earlier. Each of them was glaring at her, while some of them cracked their knuckles.

'Oh, please, no...'

~*~

Relaxing on her couch, Gilda thought about how to spend her Wednesday morning. Sure, she could simply go to school like she was supposed to, but why bother with school in the first place?

Her thoughts were interrupted by the notification sound of her phone.

'Probably another post from Shimmer,' she thought. 'Guess I need to pay her another "visit". Some people never learn.'

With a grin, she stood up and grabbed her phone. She opened the newest post, only for her grin to vanish into a furious scowl. She gritted her teeth and tightened her grip on her phone as she glared at the display.

"Oh, it's definitely time for another visit, Shimmer. And I ain't gonna be as nice as I was last time."

Author's Note

It feels good to see this chapter finished. It has been in the working for more than four months, long before I even published the story. Had several different approaches of Sunset meeting the girls, but none felt right with the way I wanted it to go on the long run. :derpytongue2:

So, what do you think? I'm always eager to read comments on what I did good and wrong. :twilightsmile:

Chapter 4

'I'm such an idiot!' Sunset scolded herself as she stood in the middle of an alley, looking from one side to the other at the teens surrounding her. 'Every normal person would stay inside after what happened over the past two days, but nooo. I just had to go out again and find answers. Mom was right; I'm way too stubborn for my own good.'

Same crowd, different day. Sunset had gotten off lucky the previous day; before the gang could do too much to her, a car crashed nearby, distracting them long enough for Sunset to escape. Thanking her lucky stars, she ended up running toward the nearest bus stop and hiding in her house the rest of the day.

Today, Sunset, dead set on getting answers, had once again left the safety of her parents’ house. She had started earlier than the previous days in the hopes that she would not run into any more incidents. Little did she know that she would run into another incident and that it would be with the very same teens she escaped from yesterday.

And Sunset’s plan was so logical, too. She had noticed that nearly everyone who beat her or yelled at her has been around her age, and so she thought she would be safe during the earlier hours while those teenagers were at school.

Looking for answers, Sunset had addressed several passersby she met while she was walking through town, but they either didn't know anything, refused to talk to her, or outright ignored her. On the bright side, being ignored is better than being attacked.

Time passed faster than she expected, and before she knew it, more and more teenagers started walking around, signaling Sunset that it would be for the best to get away from the streets to avoid any more trouble. She could live with one day without any trouble.

Fate had other plans for her, though.

Sunset had lost track of where she had been going during her investigation and ended up forgetting the way to the closest bus stop. Keeping her eyes open for trouble, she began to search for a stop. She came to an abrupt halt when she saw the same group who had chased her the previous day walking around the corner further down the street.

She quickly tried to hide in a nearby alley, hoping that they hadn’t seen her. That hope was dashed when she heard them calling her name, and she soon found herself surrounded once more.

"Did you really think you could escape twice, Shimmer?" a boy said from behind her. It was the same one who did the talking the previous day, and from what she could tell, he was the leader.

"I don't even know why I have to run in the first place!" Sunset yelled back in a desperate attempt to get them to listen. "I’ve never done anything to anyone in this town!"

Laughter was the only response she received from the whole group. "Oh man, that was a good one!” the boy said sarcastically. The laughter abruptly stopped. “But we’re not here for jokes!" They all slowly advanced on her, only to stop when a ringing echoed through the alley. Groaning, the leader took out his phone and answered it.

"What is it?" he growled, before suddenly holding the phone as far away from his ear as possible. Sunset could hear a loud voice coming from the phone but couldn’t understand what was said. "Woah, chill out, Gilda! What got you so riled up?"

Sunset wasn’t able to hear anything Gilda said, but looking at those who surrounded her and how they were looking at each other with a mix of nervousness and predatory excitement, she got a really bad feeling in the pit of her gut.

"Yeah, we got her right in front of us. We were just about to teach her a lesson." The leader paused as Gilda spoke, before his jaw dropped in surprise. "Let her go!? Why should we?"

Gilda’s voice grew louder again as everyone in the alley, including Sunset, looked at each other, confused.

"Alright, alright, fine! You’re the boss. I’ll send you the info in a bit,” the leader said resignedly.

The leader ended the call and sighed before looking at the others of his group. "Okay, guys. We’re done here. And believe me, you don't wanna be around her," he added when he saw his companions trying to argue. They all shared a few looks with each other before they begrudgingly left the alley, the ones who blocked Sunset's escape shoving Sunset to the side while passing her. "You got lucky again, Shimmer," the leader growled before he, too, turned and left the alley, fumbling with his phone.

Sunset stood dumbfounded in the middle of the alley, staring after the group. She wasn't entirely sure what had just happened. On the one hand, she was glad that she got away unharmed, but on the other hand, she was worried about what she heard from the one-sided phone call and what that guy said at the end about not wanting to be around her. She had a guess on who Gilda was, and a pit grew in her stomach as she was somehow sure that she was right.

'I need to get out of here,' she thought, running out of the alley in the opposite direction the group took.

Sunset ran down the sidewalk as fast as her legs would carry her, frantically looking around for the nearest bus stop. For half an hour, she ran around, desperately looking for a bus, but she found not a single one. Eventually, she was forced to stop and catch her breath, leaning against a wall.

'Come on! There’s got to be a stop somewhere!' she thought. 'Did I miss one, or is there just none around here?'

Sunset rested at the wall for about five minutes before she slowly started walking again, looking around for a way to get home as fast as possible. Her search was interrupted by a sudden feeling of dread and déjà vu when someone grabbed her and threw her against the near wall of another alley. She was unable to get a look at her aggressor before she was grabbed by the collar of her coat and dragged further into the alley, where she was rammed hard against the wall.

"You think you’re so funny, don’t you?"

Sunset yelped in pain when her assailant slammed her against the wall again. She opened her eyes, but she already knew who her attacker was. G, or Gilda, stared furiously back into her eyes with a look that made Sunset’s blood run cold. Sunset grabbed Gilda’s wrists and desperately tried to free herself, but Gilda’s grip was iron.

"I went easy on you by not breaking anything last time." Another slam against the wall, "And I was even nice enough to stop the others." Another slam. "And you repay me by making me the laughingstock of Canterlot High and the whole goddamn city!"

Gilda turned and shoved Sunset away from her. Sunset collided against a dumpster, her head slamming into it with a loud clang.

Lying on the ground and groaning in pain, Sunset looked up at her tormentor as she began weakly, "I don't know—"

"Stop it with your stupid excuses!" Gilda yelled, stalking closer till she stood over Sunset. "I showed you mercy once, but not this time!"

Sunset's eyes grew in fear when Gilda pulled out a knife. She tried to crawl backwards, but she only hit the dumpster behind her as Gilda leaned over, knife raised point-down.

"Guess it’s time to finally get rid of our demon problem."

"Not if I have anything to say about it!" a familiar voice called from behind Gilda.

"What—" Gilda exclaimed in surprise, but before she could finish, she was shoved head-first against the same dumpster Sunset collided with before. She dropped her knife and held her head in her hands, but she was unable to do much more before the newcomer grabbed her, threw her head over heels into the open dumpster, and slammed the lid shut.

Sunset stared at the person in front of her. From what she could see from her viewpoint, the girl was the same height as she was. She was wearing jeans and a black hoodie, but the hood was up, and the girl had her head turned away, which made it hard for Sunset to make out the details of her face.

"That won't stop her for long. Can you run?" the girl said while she held an amber-colored hand out to help Sunset up.

That girl’s voice made Sunset hesitate for a second, but when the trapped thug began pounding against the walls of the dumpster as she presumably struggled to get up, she nodded and took the offered hand.

With the girl’s help, Sunset was back on her feet, and both of them quickly left the alley, Sunset's rescuer leading the way. Together, they ran for several minutes through streets and alleys alike before they finally stopped to catch their breath.

"That should be far enough for a few minutes’ rest," the girl said before she turned around, keeping her face turned away. She stood silently for a minute, watching Sunset, who was sitting and holding her head in pain. "Did she hurt you?" she eventually asked with worry.

"My head and back hurts, but I think I’ll manage. I’ve had worse this week alone," Sunset said, breathless. She looked up at her savior with narrowed eyes. "Thank you for saving me, but who are you? Your voice... It sounds just like mine."

"Well, this will be awkward and strange, and there’s a good explanation for this, but…" the girl began. She lifted her hands and pulled her hood down, revealing her red and blond hair and her amber face with cyan eyes. She smiled at Sunset's shocked face.

"…In a weird way, I'm you."

Sunset blinked several times. "I must’ve hit my head harder than I thought..." she mumbled.

And everything went dark.

Author's Note

Hey everybody, I hope you are having a good day so far. Sorry for the long wait between chapters, RL has been taxing lately.

It is only a small chapter this time, but I still hope you enjoy it. The next chapter is nearly done already, so I hope to get it out soon.

Chapter edited once again by icecreammac.

Chapter 5

Sunset slowly regained consciousness with a groan. She took her time to sit up in her bed, her eyes still closed while she held her thumping head with one hand.

'That was a really weird dream,' she thought. She stretched her arms out and opened her eyes, only to blink in surprise. Her eyes wandered around the room, from the desk in the corner with a laptop on it over to the window that showed an unfamiliar locale to the room’s open door, behind which she could see a small kitchen. She could also see another, closed door. 'This isn’t my room.'

"Feeling better?"

Sunset froze upon hearing the voice. Gulping, she slowly turned her head in the direction of the voice. There she was: the girl she had met earlier, sitting at a small side table with a book in front of her. Sunset had somehow missed her in her observation of the room.

'It wasn't a dream! She’s real!' Sunset realized as she looked over the girl. The same face, the same voice, the same eyes, the same hair, and from what she remembered from earlier, even the same height as her own. A perfect doppelganger.

"W-Who... What... Who are you?" she finally stammered, not letting the girl out of her sight while she scooted away from the doppelganger as far as possible without falling out of the bed. "And where am I?"

The girl closed the book she had been reading and shifted her whole attention to Sunset.

"There’s no need to be scared; I won't hurt you. You’re in my apartment. I brought you here after you passed out so Gilda wouldn’t find us. Usually I would just deal with her, but in her current state, she’s pretty unpredictable and really dangerous. And with you out cold, it was too risky."

The girl sighed. "And to answer your other question, I'm Sunset Shimmer."

‘She even has the same name!’ Sunset thought frantically. "B-But how is that possible?! I’m Sunset Shimmer!"

"Yes, but I am, as well. If you want, you can simply call me Shimmer to avoid confusion. It's kind of complicated and hard to believe, but I can explain everything to you if you want and answer any of your questions I have answers for," Shimmer said. "But if you don't want to stay, you can leave whenever you want. I won't stop you."

Sunset stared at her doppelganger on the other side of the room in silence. Should she trust her? She did save her life from that thug Gilda earlier and even carried her to safety after she passed out. Why would she have done that if she was going to do something to her? She even offered to answer her questions, and regarding how those who attacked her these past days acted as if they knew her, it was safe to assume that Shimmer was involved in everything.

Several minutes passed as Sunset thought about everything before she finally relaxed. She hadn't even noticed how tense she had been since she saw her doppelganger.

"Alright, I'm going to trust you for now for saving me, but I want to know the truth of what’s going on in this goddamn town."

Shimmer nodded with a smile. "I expected nothing else from you. It's what I would do, after all: seek answers. So, where should I start?" Instead of answering, Sunset stared at Shimmer with half-lidded eyes and one raised eyebrow. Blushing, Shimmer chuckled and said, "Right, the other you in front of you, of course.

"Well, as I said, I'm you. Short version is I came from another world a few years ago. That world is totally different from this world, but at the same time, there are similarities between them. As an example, it seems that many, if not all, people in this world have counterparts of themselves in my home world.

"So, yeah. I crossed over into this world, and now, there are two Sunset Shimmers in this world," Shimmer said. The room fell silent again as Sunset stared at Shimmer in disbelief. "Told ya it's hard to believe."

"You know, it would be easier to believe that the government created a clone of me than what you told me," Sunset said in an even voice, "but let's presume for now that I believe you. How is it possible to cross between worlds?"

"Magic," Shimmer said simply.

Sunset rolled her eyes. "Of course. What else could it be?"

"I'm not joking," Shimmer said calmly. "In my world, magic exists as a natural force, like gravity. Each living being possesses magic to some degree, and it can be used actively by some. A great wizard created a portal between our worlds long ago, but he declared it too dangerous, so it got locked away."

"Why did you cross it if it was forbidden?" Sunset asked curiously, putting aside her skepticism.

"It's kind of personal, to be honest,” Shimmer said solemnly, looking down at her folded hands resting in her lap. “I used to be egoistic and demanded great things not meant for me from my mentor. When she had enough of my behavior, she tossed me out, but in a last attempt to get what I wanted, I jumped through the portal, one day to return and show her that I was worthy. Upon my return years later, I did some terrible things, and after that, I felt so ashamed that I stayed here in a kind of self-imposed exile."

The room fell silent for several moments while Sunset studied her doppelganger’s face and posture. It didn’t seem like she was lying, but just to be sure…

"Prove it."

Shimmer looked up. "Huh?"

"As you said, I don't believe you. If you are telling the truth, prove it."

Shimmer opened her mouth to answer, but before she could say anything, she was interrupted by a buzzing sound that penetrated the silence of room. A smile appeared on Shimmer’s face.

"Now that's what I call timing. Ever wanted to chat with royalty?" Shimmer asked, smiling. Sunset watched as Shimmer stood up and moved closer to the bed.

"What are you talking about?" Sunset asked, resisting the urge to back away further as Shimmer sat down on the other side of the bed. She doubted that her double would hurt her at this point, but it was nevertheless hard not to worry.

Shimmer bent down and opened her bedside drawer. When she came up again, she was holding a book with a two-toned sun on the front, a symbol Sunset herself has used on several pieces of her clothing. What confused her the most was the fact that the book was vibrating and glowing.

"What the..." Sunset mumbled to herself. Fascinated by the spectacle, she didn't notice that she had moved closer to Shimmer to get a better look until she was sitting right beside her double.

"This book is something special," Shimmer explained as she tenderly ran her hand over the sun. "My old mentor enchanted it years ago. It’s connected with another book she kept to herself, and whatever is written in one appears in the other.

"Now, though, the other book is in the possession of my friend Princess Twilight Sparkle. She’s one of the four rulers of my home country and uses it to keep in contact with me."

Shimmer opened the book and flipped through several pages until she reached the last one with anything written on it. The moment they reached the page, new words appeared of their own accord.

"This is so strange," Sunset whispered as she stared at the book in wide-eyed awe. Shimmer took a pen from the nightstand and began writing.

"Anon-a-Miss? I think I heard that name yesterday," Sunset said as the words started glowing for a second.

"I was afraid of that," Shimmer said with a sigh. "I’d like to know about what happened to you, and I’ll tell you about what’s going on. But not now; Twilight’s responding."

"Leaving?" Sunset asked. "You were about to leave?"

"Yeah, I was," Shimmer admitted, her gaze still on the book. "Twilight came over last Monday, and we left through the portal. At first, it was just to get away from all the accusations and hate for an afternoon, but soon, I decided to leave for good. Anon-a-Miss took everything from me that kept me in this world, so there was no reason to stay. I only returned today to get a few things I wanted to take with me and write a letter to my landlord about the apartment. It was pure luck that I walked by to save you from Gilda.

"But now that you’re here, I can't just run away. Otherwise, they won't leave you alone as long as Anon-a-Miss runs free. I...” She paused, closing her eyes and lowering her head. “I don't want anyone to suffer because of me anymore."

Sunset stared at Shimmer curiously. Till now, Shimmer had come across as strong and confident, as one who was in control, but now, she seemed seized with remorse and sadness. Sunset shifted closer and put a hand on Shimmer’s shoulder, who looked up, surprised at the touch, and saw Sunset smiling at her.

“I may not know what’s going on yet or what you’ve gone through, but I can tell you’ve been hurt as well. Whatever’s going on with this Anon-a-Miss, I believe you that you are as much a victim as I am. Anon-a-Miss seems to be the root of everything, along with those who decided to resort to violence. They are the only ones to blame.”

Shimmer bathed in the girl’s smile for a minute, the first true smile directed at her in over a week on this side of the portal. Her lower lip quivered as she said softly, “Thank you. That means a lot to me. Does that mean you believe me?”

Sunset shifted her gaze to the book in Shimmer's lap. “It's... a lot to take in, but seeing you and a self-writing book right in front of me makes it hard to find arguments against it. So yes, I believe you.”

“I'm glad I could convince you,” Shimmer said, relieved. “Now, we only need to figure out what to do.”

Sunset pointed at the journal. “It seems the princess would like to know that as well.”

Shimmer looked down at the book resting in her lap to see a response from Twilight, asking about what she was planning to do now. She remained quiet for a few minutes before she replied.

“I think for now, I’ll stay here so we can think of a plan. It would be too much trouble to go through the portal all the time till we solve this mess.”

Sunset nodded, unable to hide the smile on her face even if she tried. She was glad that there was now someone in this town that was willing to help her out. She was glad to not be alone any longer.

“Done.”

Sunset was snapped out of her thoughts by Shimmer’s proclamation. Blinking, she realized that her double had in the meantime written a response to the princess. She closed the book and put it back on the nightstand before standing up.

“So, how about something to eat? I don’t have much left, but it should be enough for two. And I could tell you more about what’s going on. I promised you answers, after all.”

Sunset opened her mouth to answer, but before she managed to get out a word, her stomach decided to answer for her with a loud grumble. “Sounds great,” she answered with a blush before she stood up and joined Shimmer in her kitchen.

~*~

The two girls talked with each other for several hours over dinner and the evening afterwards, getting to know each other. Shimmer explained everything regarding Anon-a-Miss to Sunset and answered most questions about herself, only leaving out a few she was not comfortable with answering or which were too private. The more they talked, the more comfortable Sunset grew around Shimmer, and she eventually reached the point where she couldn't care less about the fact that her new friend came from another world and looked exactly like her.

In fact, even though they looked the same, Sunset noticed a few differences between them, such as Shimmer’s way of speech or her outlook on the world (both worlds, that is). She was more confident and strong, but at the same time, she seemed kind of vulnerable, which was no surprise after what her friends had done. Overall, she was more mature than she looked.

There was a point at which Sunset grew concerned when she saw a picture of Shimmer and her friends—the same “friends” who had no problem being openly hostile to Sunset—thinking that she might be falling into some kind of trap, but a short question about the other girls in the picture led to Shimmer talking about her former friends who abandoned and blamed her for Anon-a-Miss as well. Convinced that this was not some elaborate plot against her, Sunset told Shimmer about Gilda's message from their first meeting and her meeting with the Rainbooms the day before.

Shimmer was horrified upon hearing what they might have done. She really wanted to dismiss the thought that her friends were capable of doing something like that, but after everything that happened, she wasn't so sure about it anymore, especially regarding Rainbow Dash. Rainbow has always been rash, and her anger could bring out the worst of her at times, so it was possible that Gilda was telling the truth. Shimmer wasn't sure what she might do if it was the truth, but she would make sure to figure it out the next time she sees her former friends.

Night had fallen by the time Shimmer realized how long they had been talking, but she enjoyed every moment of it. “So, it's pretty late,” she said, looking outside at the moonlit city. “Would you like to stay the night or go back home?”

Sunset thought about it for a moment. “Well, it's not as if anyone’s waiting for me back home with my parents away.”

Shimmer stiffened slightly, but Sunset didn't notice. “Your... parents are away?” she asked slowly.

“Yeah. They’re in Manehattan, organizing the rest of our move. They left on Monday and will be back Sunday. That's why I was alone this whole week. I never thought anything would happen.”

“Oh. For a moment I thought...” Shimmer replied, before she shook her head. “Not important. So, you’re going to stay?”

Sunset smiled. “I would love to, but are you sure it's safe? Gilda mentioned the first day that she knows where I live. I thought it was weird, but now—”

“She knows what?!” Shimmer exclaimed in surprise. “But how? No one knows where I live. No one but... my friends...” She slumped down on her couch when realization hit her. Would they have really done that? “This is bad,” she said, one hand running through her hair. “Maybe she was just lying, but I can't stay here and risk that she’s not. Neither of us can. She could come through the door any moment.”

The room fell silent until Sunset spoke up.

“You know, you could come with me to my place. She might know where you live, but not me. She doesn't even know I exist, so it’s safe.”

Shimmer looked up to stare into Sunset’s eyes, before she smiled. “I would really appreciate it, but are you sure it's okay?”

“Of course. It's the least I can do after you saved me earlier. And with my parents not around, there’s more than enough space. It was getting kinda lonely, anyway.”

“Thanks,” Shimmer said, relieved. “Let me just grab a few things to take with me in case Gilda really comes by and does something to my stuff. That okay?” Sunset nodded in reply with a smile. “Great. It won't take long. I’ll also look to see if I can find another hoodie for you. Gilda might still be around, and our hair is a big giveaway.”

Half an hour later, the two girls were ready to leave, Shimmer packed with everything necessary and her precious guitar, choosing to risk getting spotted due to the guitar over Gilda trashing it while she was away. Standing at the door frame of her apartment, she looked around for a last time before she closed the door behind her.

Chapter 6

Night had fallen when the two girls left Shimmer’s home and went on their way. Both of them kept their eyes open the whole trip to the bus station in case Gilda was still running around looking for them, but the streets were for the most part abandoned besides a few people getting off from work.

They soon reached the bus station, and after a short ride, they arrived at Sunset’s neighborhood, which was only lit by the streetlights. The two girls continued their journey with Sunset leading the way.

“I’ve never been in this part of the city before,” Shimmer said while she looked around the dark streets.

“That’s not a surprise, since this neighborhood has been built just recently,” Sunset replied. "My family is one of the first to move in, but I haven’t met anyone else yet. We might even be the first to move in.”

“Hmm, guess it won’t take long for that to change; those houses look amazing. Your parents must be well off to be able to afford one shortly after being built.”

“Yeah, it’s not something I like to mention, but we are quite above average regarding incoming,” Sunset admitted with a slight blush. “Dad has been working for a huge company for years, and recently, he was promoted to regional manager for a new local branch. That’s why we had to move to Canterlot.”

“Impressive,” Shimmer replied with awe in her voice. “Must have been hard to leave everything behind, though.”

“Not really, to be honest,” Sunset said with a sigh. “I had been attending a private school back in Manehattan which focused too strongly on studies. I had many acquaintances I worked with for school, but I can’t help but feel they were all only using me to improve their grades, and I slowly drifted apart from everyone else I knew from my childhood over time thanks to how time-consuming my studies became. That’s why I wanted to attend a public school this time; I want to make some real friends.”

She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked over to Shimmer’s sympathetic expression. “Sorry it didn’t work out.”

Sunset smiled at her double. “Maybe not the way I thought, but I did find a friend.”

~*~

Sunset opened her front door and, with a movement of her hand, flipped the switch beside the door to bathe the foyer in light. “Home, sweet home,” she called out to the empty house as she entered, Shimmer behind her. “Hope you don’t mind the mess."

Shimmer looked around the foyer. She had been impressed by the size of the house from the outside, and the inside certainly lived up to her expectations. It was much bigger than any foyer she had seen in the human world, at least regarding private homes. The foyer, and likely the whole house, was still mostly empty, with several moving boxes shoved against the walls, but she could imagine what it might look like in a week or so. Not far away from her stood Sunset, taking off her coat and her boots by the coatrack. Shimmer walked over and did the same.

"Let me show you around and see where you can sleep," Sunset said. "It might still be a mess, but my own room and my parents’ bedroom are mostly set up. I'm sure they wouldn't mind if you sleep in their bed for now."

Shimmer simply nodded and followed her upstairs. They first arrived at Sunset’s parents’ room, where Shimmer left her belongings for the time being. Afterwards, she followed her doppelganger on the tour through the house.

Half an hour later, both girls entered the living room, the last stop on the tour and one of the few rooms Sunset’s mother had begun to decorate before she left. Shimmer had been utterly impressed by the whole building. It was by far the biggest house she had set foot in since coming to this world.

"So, what do you think?" Sunset asked.

"It's amazing! Compared to this, my apartment’s a rat hole."

"Hey, for someone who came into this world out of the blue with nothing, your ‘rat hole’ is pretty amazing, too," Sunset replied with a playful poke into Shimmer’s side. She walked over to the couch in the middle of the room—one of the room’s few pieces of furniture—and sat down. When she noticed that Shimmer had not followed her, she looked over and found her standing in front of a shelf near the door, holding a picture frame in her hands.

Shimmer noticed Sunset looking at her and looked away with an embarrassed blush. "Are these your parents?" she finally asked.

Sunset couldn't see the picture itself from her position, but she recognized the frame. It was one she had bought herself and knew to which picture it belonged. "Yeah, those are my parents. We took that picture last year during a trip to the beach." She smiled at the memories, but that smile fell when she noticed how Shimmer was staring back at the picture, a small frown on her face. "Are you alright?" Sunset asked with concern.

The question snapped Shimmer out of her daze. "Yeah. I just got a bit lost in thought, is all. Sorry about that." She put the frame back where it belonged and made her way over to the couch to sit down beside Sunset. "So, what are we gonna do now?"

Sunset studied her doppelganger a moment longer, contemplating if she should get to the bottom of what was bothering the alien. In the end, she decided not to pry for the time being. She let herself sink into the couch and let out a deep sigh.

"I know we have a huge mess to solve, but would you mind if we postponed plan-making for tomorrow? It's been a long day, and I would like to relax for now." She motioned to the television hanging from the wall in front of the couch. "We could watch a movie or something."

Shimmer smiled and leaned back on the couch. “Sounds good to me. A few hours of laziness won’t make a difference.”

Sunset returned the smile, grabbed the remote from the couch table, and turned on the television for a relaxing movie night.

~*~

The two girls awoke in the late morning after staying up late watching movies on television. After a small breakfast, they both sat back down on the couch.

“So, got any idea how to start?” Sunset asked. She would love to offer something to help as well, but since she was new in town, she had no knowledge of who might be a suspect or who might be able to help.

Shimmer sighed. “I might have a few ideas who might be behind Anon-a-Miss, including one possibility Princess Twilight pointed out, but I don’t think it would be wise to approach those suspects on our own. For now, I thought about going to Canterlot High and meeting with Principal Celestia. Unfortunately, I don’t know if she believes me or not. I didn’t meet with her during those few days last week I was still in school, but if she is on our side, she’ll be a valuable ally.”

“Sounds like a plan. So, when are we gonna leave?”

“It would be better to wait until school closes for the day to avoid trouble with other students. In the late afternoon, there won’t be many students around school grounds.”

Without a better plan for the moment, the two girls agreed on waiting till later before moving out. They used the time to chat or watch TV. At about one in the afternoon, Sunset stood up and stretched her limbs. "I’m gonna get something to drink. You want anything?" Sunset asked.

"Nah, I'm fine," Shimmer replied with a wave of her hand and watched as her doppelganger left for the kitchen. Staring at the kitchen door, Shimmer let her mind wander to how much fun she had had since meeting her other self. It was the first time since the Anon-a-Miss fiasco started that she really unwound, and she realized just how stressed out she was. She really needed that after everything that happened those past two weeks. Just a nice, quiet evening and morning with a friend.

She was so lost in thought that she failed to hear the jingling of keys from the front door, the sound of said door opening, or the approaching footsteps.

“Sunset!”

Torn out of her mindscape, Shimmer stood up in surprise and turned around to face the door to the foyer, only to freeze instantly with her eyes wide open. A woman had just entered and called out to her, but before Shimmer could do or say anything, the woman had crossed the room and threw her arms around her.

“I'm so glad that you’re alright, sweetie. I was so worried when your phone wouldn't connect. I expected the worst, but what a relief to see that you’re fine!” Shimmer tried to say something or to free herself, but the woman’s grip was just too strong as she pressed her daughter’s double against her breast.

“Sweetheart,” a new, deep voice spoke out from behind the woman, “did you by any chance forget to mention that we had twins?”

“Of course not, honey. We only have one daughter, and she’s one of a kind," the woman gushed without looking away from Shimmer.

“I was afraid you would say that,” the man said, “because I'm even more confused now.”

The woman finally turned her head around, only to see the man staring at the kitchen doorway. Following his gaze, she started, “What are you talking... about...?”

They both stared at the very familiar girl that stood in the doorframe, staring nervously back at them with a bottle of water in her hand.

“M-Mom? Dad?” she stuttered.

The room fell into silence while the two grown-ups tried to wrap their heads around what they were seeing.

The woman blinked several times to make sure she was not seeing things. “Wh-What the... How...” She looked down with wide eyes at the girl that was still in her grip. When she loosened her grip slightly, the girl managed to pull her face free and look up at the woman's face with a small, nervous grin.

“Uh... Hi?”

Author's Note

I was thinking about how to go with this chapter since this and the next one were at first planned to be one chapter. But it got longer and longer until I decided to split it in halve, and this point seems like a good place for a cliffhanger :rainbowlaugh:

The next chapter is already done to around 90-95%, and its already at over 2.5k words. Even with that one I thought about splitting it, but in that case I decided against it for once, so you could say you will get two chapters the next time at once :pinkiecrazy:

Chapter 7

The tension in the living room was intense as Shimmer found herself being questioned, and though she sat on a comfortable sofa, the room felt like an interrogation room. Sunset sat to her left, looking equally uncomfortable, and across from her, on the other side of the table, sat Sunset’s parents.

Her mother Northern Star was a bit taller than her daughter. She wore a pair of tight, black jeans along with a magenta blouse. She had curled-up, red hair of the same shade as her daughter, and her skin was a light shade of yellow. Her gaze switched from Sunset to Shimmer and back several times, while Sunset’s father Desert Sunrise, who was a huge, well-built man with short, blond hair and bluish-gray skin, kept his narrowed eyes on Shimmer. His gaze, build, and business suit made for a very intimidating figure.

For the last hour since Sunset's parents returned and found her along with a doppelganger, the two girls had done everything to calm them down enough and explain why there were two Sunsets. Or, more precisely, they made Shimmer explain herself after they figured out for sure which one was their daughter.

Shimmer kept her gaze on the table the whole time, ignoring eye contact with Sunset’s imposing father, and Sunset couldn't hold it against her, but there was something else Sunset saw in her new friend’s behavior. Till now, Shimmer had always seemed confident and sure of herself, even when she talked about her past when it was just the two of them. Now, something was different, but Sunset couldn't place it. Was it fear? Worry? Or was it something completely different?

"So, let me sum everything up,” Desert said tersely. “You are a being from another world, you are your world’s version of our daughter, and you crossed over into our world several years ago and have been living here in Canterlot all this time? Do I have that straight?"

"Yes, sir," Shimmer replied quietly, having decided there was no reason hiding anything.

"Do you really think I would believe that?" Desert said. "I would more easily believe that you were a government-created clone than some otherworldly copy."

Shimmer snorted and let out a small laugh. She risked a glance up and saw Desert’s eyebrow raised in curiosity. "I'm sorry,” she said. “It's just that Sunset said the same thing yesterday when I told her about me."

"I see..."

“Dad, please,” Sunset said, finally deciding to step in and help Shimmer. “It may sound unbelievable, but she already proved to me that she’s telling the truth, and I believe her.”

Desert Sunrise shifted his gaze to his daughter. “Sunset, you know that I don’t like to interfere in your life. You’re old enough to make your own choices and hold your own beliefs, and I can only offer you advice on those subjects.” His eyes found their way back to Shimmer. “In this case, though, I just have to say that this is a simply unbelievable story. You must admit, it is really hard to take you seriously, but if you can truly prove your claims like Sunset says, I will sincerely apologize to you. I’m willing to believe anything as long as I have enough evidence presented to me.”

Sunset grinned, saying to Shimmer, “That shouldn’t be a problem, right? I’ll go and fetch your book.”

She enjoyed seeing the questioning looks on her parents’ faces when she mentioned the book. She rose to go and get it from her parents’ bedroom where Shimmer had left it, but before she could take get up, she was stopped by Shimmer’s hand on her shoulder.

“I don’t think that’s gonna work. Without Twilight responding right now, it’s just a nice-looking book.”

Sunset blinked and sat back down at Shimmer’s motions. “But, without the book…”

“There’s another way for me to prove that I’m telling the truth. It’s what I wanted to show you yesterday before Twilight wrote back.” She looked over to Sunset’s parents, who were looking at the two girls confusedly. She stood up and walked to the middle of the room, the eyes of the others on her. “But please, don’t interrupt me. It may seem weird, but I know what I’m doing.”

Looking at her audience, who remained silent while they watched her, Shimmer took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and started singing.

Sunset listened in awe, along with her parents. She had never tried singing before, but now, she wondered if she could be as good as her doppelganger was. Just when she thought about asking Shimmer for advice later, she noticed that Shimmer slowly started glowing. At first, she thought her eyes were playing tricks on her, but given her parents’ reactions, she could tell it was very much real.

The intensity of the light around Shimmer increased with each note she sang until she literally started floating a few inches above the ground. Suddenly, her hair grew longer till it reached her knees in a ponytail, and something that looked like ears appeared on top of her head at each side.

Slowly bringing her song to an end, she descended until she stood back on the floor. Opening her eyes, she couldn’t resist chuckling upon seeing the faces of her audience. They all sat motionless in the same places as before, their eyes wide open and fixed on her and their mouths hanging open.

“Does this count as enough evidence?”

Desert Sunrise did not react at first, until his wife poked him in the side. “Yes, this should be enough,” he said, still in awe.

Sunset, in the meantime, had jumped from her seat and stood beside Shimmer, excitedly examining her closely. “That’s amazing! Are those real?” she asked while she moved her hand closer to one of Shimmer’s ears. Upon touching it, the ear twitched and Sunset jerked her hand back in surprise as Shimmer giggled.

“Yes, they’re real, and they’re ticklish,” Shimmer said, smiling. “But they won’t stay for long. This is only temporary and should go away in a few moments.”

Northern Star stepped up, her mouth still slightly open, and stared at Shimmer for a moment, before she started squealing, “Oh, God, just look at you. You’re adorable!” She quickly reached Shimmer and started rubbing her ears before Shimmer could pull away. “And they’re so soft! Sunset, why can’t you be this adorable?” Star said as Shimmer squirmed.

“Mom!”

Before Shimmer was able to say anything, there was a popping sound, and her ears, along with her longer hair, disappeared.

“Awww,” Star groaned sadly.

“Mom, that’s enough!”

The sound of a throat being cleared went through the room, and every eye fell on Desert, who stood behind his wife. Northern Star took a step aside so that he could step forward and stand in front of Shimmer. “Sunset’s right. There are more important things to do. And the first on the list is an apology from me to you, Miss Shimmer. You are either telling the truth, or you know how to pull off some of the best special effects I have ever seen. I hope you can forgive my earlier skepticism,” he said, holding out his hand for her to shake.

Shimmer looked at the offered hand as if she was unsure of what to do, before she smiled and took the offered hand. “Of course, I do. It’s not like this stuff happens every day.”

He smiled at her for the first time. “I’m glad for your understanding.” They both let go of each other’s hand. “But let me ask. Those ears you sprouted: What is the deal with those?”

Shimmer bit her lip. “Well, there is a small detail about me and my world I didn’t mention to any of you.”

“Not even to me?” Sunset asked from her mother’s side.

“Not even to you,” Shimmer admitted. “I didn’t know how you might react, and it wasn’t that important at the time.” Shimmer braced herself. “To make it short, I’m originally not a human. Humans don’t even exist at all in my world.”

The room fell into silence for a whole minute before Northern Star spoke up.

“If you are not a human, then what are you?”

“A pony…” Shimmer said quietly. “A unicorn, to be precise.”

Once again, the room fell into silence, and once again, it was broken by Star, who addressed her daughter. “Sorry, sweetie, but you lost that fight. You can’t be more adorable now.”

“Mom!”

Shimmer blinked. “You’re not bothered by that?”

“Well, it is a surprise, but you already proved that you are from another world and that you have magic,” Desert said calmly. “So, it’s not too strange to believe you now, as well.”

“It’s weird, but I like the thought somehow,” Sunset admitted with a smile. “Who else can say they have a pony from another world as a friend?”

Shimmer visibly relaxed. She was afraid of what their reactions might be, but she never expected that they would be so accepting of her origins. “Thank you.”

“How about we sit down again and you tell us more about yourself and your world. I would be lying if I said I’m not intrigued by the mere thought of a different world,” Desert suggested, before his smile turned into a frown. “I would also like to know from where my daughter received those bruises on her arms.”

“Bruises?” Star exclaimed as she grabbed Sunset’s arm and pulled her sleeve up, revealing her in bruise-covered arm. “Sweetie, what happened?!”

Shimmer’s smile fell. “That is something I can explain, but it will take some time.”

~*~

“Mom! I can’t breathe!” Sunset exclaimed in panic while her mother kept her in her vice-like hug similar to the one Shimmer experienced earlier that day. Shimmer immediately felt bad for the poor girl.

“Don’t worry, sweetie, no one’s going to hurt you! I will never leave you alone again!”

“Great,” Sunset mumbled quietly with a roll of her eyes.

Even while she was feeling sorry, Shimmer couldn’t resist a giggle. She looked over to Desert Sunrise, who had his eyes closed and his head down deep in thought. He had been quiet since Shimmer had finished her story about what had happened at Canterlot High to her and over the last week to their daughter.

“Miss Shimmer?”

Shimmer jumped slightly when he suddenly spoke up. “Yes, sir?”

He opened his eyes and looked into her eyes with a light smile. “Please, stop calling me ‘sir’. You can call me Desert."

Shimmer smiled back. "Only if you call me Shimmer."

"I can accept that," he replied. "Anyway, from what I understood, you two wanted to find out who this Anon-A-Miss is. What have you planned to do?"

"Well, I can't say anything at this point about who it is. There are plenty who hold a grudge against me for my past actions. That's why we wanted to go to Canterlot High later and see Principal Celestia. Maybe she’ll be willing to help us."

"I see. You can never have too many allies." He fell silent for a moment before speaking up again. "Would it be too much to ask for you to go to Canterlot High alone?"

Shimmer was confused, but before she could answer, she was interrupted by Sunset. "No! Dad, I wanna go with her. It's too dangerous to go alone!"

Shimmer stepped up to address her friend. "It's alright; I can take care of myself. I'm sure your dad has a good reason to ask."

Sunset huffed and crossed her arms. "What could be more important than making sure no one hurts you?"

"Making sure that you are not hurt right now," Desert replied, stepping forward to stand before his daughter. "You have been attacked several times these last few days, and I want to be sure that you are okay. That's why I want to go with you to the hospital."

Sunset stared at her dad, before she held one of her bruised arms. "I'm fine. It's just some bruises that’ll go away with time."

He put a hand on her shoulder. "That's the outside, but are you sure that there’s nothing wrong inside of you? Sometimes, you don’t know something’s wrong until it's too late."

"But—"

"And you know me. I would never send anyone into danger if I didn't think they could handle it. That's why I asked her first. If Shimmer doesn't want to go alone, I won't force her, and we’ll stick together, but I insist that we go to the hospital first."

His gaze hardened when he looked out of the window. "I also want to visit the police department to report those assaults, and to look into those ‘friends’ that Gilda girl said she has."

He returned his gaze to his daughter, and his gaze softened. "You see, we have a lot to do, but it's too late to archive everything today if we stick together. Sadly, tomorrow is the last day of school before the break, which might make it harder to get to everyone who is responsible. That's why I believe it would be the best idea to split up. We’ll go to the hospital and police, and Shimmer will go see the principal."

Sunset stared at her dad, before she closed her eyes and sighed in defeat. "You’re right, as always. And Shimmer already said she’ll be fine." Suddenly, she threw her arms around him for a hug. "Thanks for believing us and looking out for me."

"Anytime, my little sunshine," he said as he returned the hug. "You may be hard to handle sometimes, but I would do anything for you."

"Don't act like that’s so foreign to you," Northern Star threw in while she walked over. "Where do you think she got it from? You are much harder to handle than she is."

Desert laughed. "Well, I still got it myself, so it can't be from me."

"Quiet, you," Star replied before she joined the hug.

They enjoyed their embrace for several moments before they finally released each other with smiles on their faces. Sunset turned to face Shimmer, who had been quiet since the beginning of the argument, only to find her further away, standing in front of one of the windows. Sunset’s smile fell when she saw the reflection of her friend’s face in the glass. She took a step toward Shimmer. "Shimmer? Are you alright?"

Shimmer turned her head around quickly, startled by the sudden calling of her name. “It’s okay. I was just thinking,” she said with a smile, but it was clear that her smile was fake. Something was definitely on her mind.

Sunset stared at her friend, before she shook her head. This time, she would not dismiss her behavior. “Shimmer, talk to me. This is not the first time that you’ve been acting weird. I may not have known you for long, but it’s clear that something is bothering you. Please, I want to help if I can.”

Shimmer’s smile fell before she turned her head back to look out of the window. “There’s nothing wrong. It’s just that there’s a lot going on at the moment.”

Sunset frowned. She turned her head to look at her parents behind her. They looked concernedly at their daughter’s doppelganger, but Sunset could see that they, too, didn’t know what to do if she didn’t want to talk.

She thought back to the other two times her friend had acted weirdly. The first time was in her own apartment, and the second time was after arriving the other day, at the end of the house tour. A shiver ran down her spine when she realized what all of those situations had in common and what it meant.

“Shimmer?” she hesitantly said. “In all those stories you told me about you, you only mentioned your time with your mentor and after you came into our world.” She could see Shimmer stiffen on the spot. Her widening eyes in the window reflection clued Sunset in that she was right. “What about your parents?”

Sunset could hear her mother behind her gasp, but otherwise, the room fell into silence. Shimmer was quiet for several minutes, and Sunset thought she had made a mistake and overstepped some boundaries. That was until Shimmer’s shoulders slumped down and she sighed.

“They’re gone,” she whispered, still loud enough for everyone to hear.

Northern Star gasped once more from behind Sunset. “What… What happened?”

Shimmer took a breath. “They died when I was still a foa—a baby, probably not even a year old.” She chuckled sadly. “I don’t even know my real birthday. Two farmers found the remains of the cart they had been traveling with, with me hidden in the remains and traces of timberwolves everywhere.”

None of the humans knew if the timberwolves of her world were the same as the timber wolves of their own, but they knew this was not the time to ask about that, so they kept quiet. “They took me with them and brought me to their village. The guards were informed and searched for the bodies but never found anything. They also had no clue from where we came and couldn’t figure out if I had any relatives left. Most of the belongings from the cart got destroyed, so I was brought to the orphanage, where I lived many years until I got the princess’s attention during an accident that happened at the orphanage.”

“But if they didn’t know anything about you, how do you know your name?” Northern Star asked quietly.

“Among the very few things they managed to save was a photo of me and my parents with my name on it, which has been my most prized possession for years… before I lost it, too.”

“I can’t even imagine how that must have been for you,” Sunset mumbled quietly. “So that’s why you reacted so strangely every time Mom and Dad came up.”

Shimmer nodded. “I had accepted the fact that I would never meet my parents long ago, and I guess a part of me assumed it would be the same for this world. So, when you said they were out of town, it came as a shock. Seeing a picture of them triggered the few memories I have of the photo I had of them. And now…”

“We are standing in front of you, for the first time of your life,” Desert said, holding his wife close, “and you have no idea what to do.”

Shimmer was quiet for a moment before she finally turned around to look at them. “I know that you are not them, but my mind doesn’t care. A part of me is yelling, ‘There they are! Hold them close and never let them go!’ while another says, ‘Stay away; they are not your parents.’

“And another one, a really small one, tells me to yell at you… for leaving me alone.” She turned to the side again and hugged herself. “I’m so confused on what I should do.”

The room fell into silence for several minutes while Shimmer stared at the floor, before she felt someone grab her by her arms and turn her around. She tried to say something but was interrupted by Northern Star, who pulled her into an embrace.

“Shh, it’s okay, Sunset. Just let it all out,” she whispered into Shimmer’s ear while she stroked her hair. “No one will think less of you for showing your feelings, and no one is going to hurt you here.”

At first Shimmer stared in shock over Star’s shoulder at Sunset and Desert, who had understanding smiles on their faces, but soon, tears started to form in her eyes, and she melted into Star’s embrace and started wailing into her shoulder, letting go of all the pent-up emotions she had kept inside for her whole life.

Author's Note

There we are with the longest chapter I wrote till now for this story. Took me a while longer to get it done, but I realized that cramping everything I wanted to tell about Shimmers past in here would be either way too much or by far too short to be good enough. Because of this I got the idea for the next chapter, which will be a flashback chapter for some past events of Shimmer.

I hope that you will like the next chapter, which I hope to get out soon as well.
Once again I want to thank icecreammac for editing everything.
Credit also goes to Tungul and Snowflake Dissonance for helping me by suggesting the names for Sunsets parents, and of course my other friends who offered feedback. :pinkiehappy:

Flashback

It was a quiet and peaceful morning in the woods. Even though the edge of the Everfree Forest wasn't too far away, the little forest critters went about their business in peace.

That is, until a dog’s barking sounded in the distance, growing louder with each moment. The louder it got, the more critters decided to retreat into safety, and soon, there was barely any movement left besides the wind.

Finally, the source of the barking made itself clear as a dog crested a small hill. It stopped and turned to bark down the way it came, only to turn and run ahead once more. Not far behind, two earth pony stallions came trotting up the path in pursuit of the dog.

"I wonder what got Suzy so excited," the younger one said. He was of a light brown coat with a blond mane.

"No idea, but I tell you it has something to do with the noises I heard from the forest last night," the other replied. His coat was of a darker shade than his brother, but they shared the same mane color. "I'm sure those were timberwolves roaming through the forest."

"Might be. In that case, we need to be careful in case they’re still around."

They both continued on their way until Suzy stopped near a turn of the path and kept barking into the unknown. They both shared a look and quickened their trot until they reached the turn, where they stopped.

"Sweet Celestia..." the younger whispered while his brother took in the scene.

Down the path stood a wooden trailer, big enough for two ponies to live in. In front of the trailer were the remains of a campfire likely set up the previous night, but what shocked the two brothers was the state of the camp. The door to the trailer was open, swinging in the wind on a single hinge. Several broken crates were lying around, their contents scattered all over the place. It was also utterly silent save for the wind and the sound of some critters from the woods.

"What happened here?" the younger asked while they slowly stepped closer.

Looking around, the older furrowed his brows in thought. "I have an idea, but I hope that I'm wrong." He arrived at the scene near the campfire and bent down to take a look at some traces left in the mud. "Timberwolves, just as I thought. And two ponies. I guess they set up their camp for the night not knowing how close the edge of the Everfree Forest is. Let’s look around. Maybe they managed to drive them away and are hiding."

His brother nodded, and they both, along with Suzy, looked around the camp. As they noted before, the contents of the broken crates were all over the place, and the rain from the early morning had ruined everything, from the clothes to the papers and photos. The older brother looked more at the tracks in the mud, while the younger followed Suzy into the trailer.

The older examined the traces in confusion. 'They ran away from the trailer, each in a different direction,’ he thought. ‘Why would they do that? Trying to escape from a timberwolf alone and in the forest may not be unheard of, but it’s too dangerous. Together, they would have had better chances.'

"Brother, come quick!"

Without any delay, the older turned and ran up to the door that led inside the trailer. Maybe one of the two had managed to escape the timberwolves and had returned.

The inside of the trailer was a mess like the rest of the camp. Everything was thrown helter-skelter around the place from either the attack, the heavy wind, or forest critters scavenging in the early morning hours. His brother was at the other side of the trailer with Suzy, standing in front of a bed big enough for two ponies, but he could not see why his brother called out for him.

"What's wrong? Did you find anything?" he asked while he stepped closer.

His brother only nodded and motioned to the bed. Upon reaching him, the older saw the reason why he has been called. Wrapped in a blanket was a small unicorn foal, her mane a mix of red and yellow and her coat an amber color. She was sleeping peacefully.

"She was hidden under the other blankets, and no matter what I do, she won't wake up."

"So that’s why they ran into the forest," the older whispered. Upon seeing his brother’s questioning look, he explained what he learned from the traces outside. "I wondered why they ran away in different directions into the forest. They were trying to protect their daughter, so they lured the timberwolves away from the camp before they could smell her, intending to come back once they managed to throw them off. Sadly, it seems they failed partly."

"You might be right," the younger said. He stroked the filly’s cheek with his hoof. "Poor thing. But why won't she wake up?"

The older looked over the sleeping filly. She was a unicorn, so it was easy to assume that at least one of her parents was one as well. "Maybe some kind of sleep spell to prevent her from crying and alerting the timberwolves."

He grabbed the filly with his hooves and pulled her from the bed. "We’re taking her with us to the next doctor to make sure she’s alright. Find a way to leave a message in case her parents do manage to return so they know where she is."

The younger nodded and looked around for something to write on while the older slowly trotted out of the trailer, the filly, still wrapped in her blanket, held in one of his forelegs. Near the exit, he noticed a single picture on the floor.

Looking it over, he saw a bluish-grey earth pony stallion with a yellow mane standing beside a light-yellow unicorn mare with a red mane. The mare was lying in what looked like a hospital bed with the same filly they found held in her hooves. In the bottom left corner, he saw a signature.

Our little sunshine, Sunset Shimmer

~*~

*Seven years later*

The room was quiet besides the light whimpering that could be heard from the hiding spot of its only occupant.

It was one of the worst weeks of little Sunset Shimmer’s life, and the competition was stiff. As far as she could remember, everything was one bad event after another, but she was sure this time was among the worst.

What made it even worse was the fact that she didn't even know what had happened. Everything was a blur until she passed out, and when she awoke, she was in a strange room, and everypony was acting strange.

Nopony told her what was going on in detail, but she still learned from whispers and conversations what the matter was and why all the others acted strangely around her.

She could see it in their behavior and their eyes. How they looked at her when they made sure not to leave her out of sight and how they kept some distance from her didn't make it hard for her to know the truth.

Fear. Everypony was afraid of her, of the little unicorn who didn't even understand what she had done.

It was nothing new that they left her alone; she was the outsider, the one no one spent time with. But, this was different. Before, at least they didn’t fear her or avoid any contact with her.

Sunset heard a new sound from the hall behind the door, getting ever closer. Hoofsteps, from at least two ponies, as far as she could tell, but something was different. One pair didn’t sound like usual hoofsteps on the wooden floor. It was louder with a slight clang, as if the hooves was clad in metal.

They brought the guards to take her away. She was sure of it, but no matter how bad she was feeling here, she didn’t want to leave. This was everything she knew, her whole world, the only place she had that she could call home. The only way she wanted to leave was with somepony nice who might give her a new home, not taken by the guards by force to who-knew-where.

She crawled further into the darkest corner of her hiding place. Maybe they wouldn’t find her if she made herself as small as possible?

~*~

Princess Celestia walked down the hallway with the caretaker of the orphanage, a mare named Sugar Song. It wasn’t every day that she visited such a small village in Equestria, but it also wasn’t every day that such a rumor came to her ears.

“How is she handling everything?” Celestia asked without stopping.

Sugar Song sighed. “I’m not sure, Your Highness. She wasn’t hurt during the incident, but she hasn’t been the same, either. And now, she hasn’t left her room for several days other than to visit the bathroom. At least she’s eating what we’re bringing her.” She hesitated for a moment before she spoke again. “And I think I know why she’s acting this way.”

“And what is the reason?” Celestia asked, sure she already knew the answer.

“It’s all of us and how we act around her. I know that what happened is not her fault and that she didn’t do it willingly. Sadly, it doesn’t change the fact that we’re afraid of her. I mean, she’s just a filly and was able to cause so much damage after losing control, and it was only luck that nothing worse happened. If it happens again, we might not be so lucky.

“It didn’t help either that a few of the kids were in the same room when it happened and saw everything. They told the others, and now, they’re afraid of her, as well. Whenever she steps into a room, the others get as far away from her as possible.”

“I see,” Celestia said evenly. “I hope that I can help her during our talk. Nopony should have to go through such torment, least of all a little filly her age.”

They continued their trip until Sugar Song stopped beside a door. “This is her room. I hope you can help her, Your Highness. She is a wonderful little filly who doesn’t deserve this.”

“I hope so, as well.” Celestia turned to open the door, before Sugar Song stopped her, pulling out a small jar from her saddlebag.

“Your Highness, you might need this,” she said as she hoofed over the jar. Celestia took it in her magic as Sugar Song continued, “Those are her absolute favorite cookies: snickerdoodles. She would do anything for them. Whenever we checked on Sunset, she’s been hiding somewhere in her room, so they might help in luring her out.”

“Thank you for your help,” Celestia said with a smile before she opened the door and stepped inside, the cookie jar floating beside her.

The door closed behind her, and Celestia took in the room. There was a small bed on the other side of the room, a shelf with several books on it and a small cabinet across from the room. It wasn’t much, but given the situation, it was good enough.

Not able to spot the filly she had come for, Celestia settled down on the floor and lowered the jar till it rested on the floor beside her. “Sunset Shimmer? Are you here?” She was greeted by silence. “I would like to talk with you. You don’t need to be afraid; I won’t harm you.” Celestia waited patiently for several minutes in the apparently empty room. Just when she thought that she really might be alone, she heard a small voice from the direction of the bed.

“You promise?”

Celestia smiled. “I promise. You don’t even need to come out if you don’t want to, but I would prefer it if I can see who I’m speaking to. I also have something I’m sure you would like.”

Another wall of silence hit her as she watched the bed, until she heard some shuffling, and not long after, a little head with an amber coat, yellow and red mane and cyan eyes appeared from beneath the bed. Her eyes were slightly reddened, and tear strains could be seen on her coat beneath them, but they widened in surprise as her mouth fell open when she saw who her visitor was.

Celestia kept a warm smile on her face. “Hello, little one. I’m glad you decided to join me.” Sunset, still with half her body beneath the bed, didn’t move, her eyes still fixed on the princess. “Want to come a bit closer?” Still, no movement. The princess looked down at the jar and opened it with her magic while she spoke. “Too bad. I have some very tasty snickerdoodles here, but you can’t eat them while you are over there. Guess I need to eat them all myself.”

Once the jar was open, she set it back down on the floor and looked back at the bed, only to be confused when the filly had vanished. At first, she thought she had gone back beneath the bed, but a new sound pulled her gaze down to the jar. There, she found the little filly sitting in front of the jar, nibbling on a cookie she held in her little hoofs while a second one was already floating beside her in a light-opal magic aura. Upon noticing that she had been discovered, Sunset stared at the alicorn for a second before she continued her nibbling.

The alicorn chuckled. “Nice to see you, Sunset. I’m glad that you like the snickerdoodle. Do you think I can have one as well?” Sunset stopped her nibbling to narrow her eyes, before the cookie jar got engulfed in her opal aura and moved behind the filly who shook her head.

Celestia stared in surprise at the filly, before she laughed. “Alright, you can keep them.” She watched as the filly started devouring the second one. Deciding to get down to business, she asked, “Sunset, do you know who I am?” The filly looked up without stopping her nibbling and nodded. “And do you know why I’m here?” This time, Sunset stopped nibbling and looked at the floor.

“Yes. It’s because I… burnt down the orphanage…” Sunset whispered.

Celestia put a wing around the filly. “That’s not entirely right, Sunset. Yes, there has been an incident, but it only concerns two rooms. The caretaker managed to get the fire quickly under control. The damage looks worse than it is, and the orphanage will be repaired in no time.”

A small smile appeared on Sunset’s face for a moment, before it turned into a sad frown again. “But it’s still my fault…” She looked up into the eyes of the princess, new tears forming in her eyes. “I promise, I never wanted this.”

“I believe you, Sunset. On that note, do you know exactly what happened?”

The filly shook her head while she took a few more bites of her cookies. “No, I don’t even remember what happened. Everything is a blur. I only remember that I woke up in here.”

“I see. Can you tell me what you remember from before the incident?”

Sunset was silent for a moment while she ate her current cookie before she spoke again. “I was in the playroom of the orphanage reading my book until Rocky Ore came in.”

Celestia had heard about that colt. Apparently, he has attracted the attention of Sugar Song before as a troublemaker, but from how Sunset said his name, it seemed there was more to it.

“He called me names again and took my book from me. He also shoved me when I tried to get it back, like he always does.”

“You mean he has been bullying you for a long time?”

Sunset nodded. “Not just me, but he picks on me the most. He always calls me a horned freak.” Celestia didn’t like what she was hearing. She made a mental note to inform Sugar Song of this and to have a talk with the colt. “I tried to get away from him with my saddlebags, but he snatched them from me and,” she started whimpering, “my picture fell out of my bags, and he took it from me.”

Celestia frowned. Whatever that picture was, it seemed to mean a lot to her for her to react like this. She used her other wing to brush away the tears. “What was this picture, if I may ask?”

Sunset sniffed. “It was my treasure, the only picture I had from my parents. He… He took it and made fun of me before he tore it up,” she said before she broke down crying.

Celestia was shocked. This was cruelty on a level she did not expect from a colt or filly of that age. To take something like this from an orphan was cruel enough, but to take it from a filly who has no memories of her parents at all… She would definitely have a serious conversation with this colt. For now, she wrapped her wing even more tightly around the filly, who cried into her feathers.

It took several minutes before her crying subsided to sniffles. “After that, I can’t remember much until I woke up here.”

The princess nuzzled the filly. “Sunset, I’m so sorry for what you had to endure. But I can assure you that what happened at the orphanage was not in the least your fault. What happened to you is what we call a magic flare. It happens to young unicorns who lose control of their magic.”

“Really?” Sunset asked while she looked up at the princess with hopeful eyes. Celestia answered with a smile and a nod, which filled the filly with a sense of relief. But there was something else on her mind she would really like to know. “But why did it happen to me?”

“A good question, Sunset. You see, your magic is tied to your emotions. As an example, if you are afraid, your magic may be influenced by that fear, making it either weaker or stronger, depending on the situation.”

Celestia took a small breath. “When Rocky Ore took your picture from you, it shocked you to the core. You were devastated that your treasure was destroyed, afraid of what else he might do to you, and angry at him for what he did. All of this, probably along with some other emotions, made you lose control of your magic. It was never your fault, and no one has the right to blame you for it. If there is someone to blame, it would be Rocky Ore, but he couldn’t know what might happen. Not that it excuses any of his behavior in the slightest.”

Sunset stared at the princess before she wiped away the remaining tears and smiled. “Thank you, Princess.”

Celestia smiled back. “You’re welcome. But there is more I would like to talk with you about.” Seeing the confused expression on the filly’s face, the princess continued, “You see, under normal circumstances, the most that happens during a flare is that the unicorn’s levitation runs wild, resulting in minor damage. That was obviously not the case with your flare, and that is because of your impressive magical power. It’s been a long time since I heard of a flare like yours, Sunset.”

Her smile fell slightly. “I will be honest with you, Sunset. There is the possibility that you will flare again at one point, and then, there might be much more damage involved than this time. You need proper training to learn how to keep your magic under control, and someone who can intervene if you flare again.

“That’s why I want to ask you if you would like to come with me to Canterlot as my personal student.”

The room fell into silence while the little filly stared with an open mouth and wide eyes at the princess. Celestia waited patiently until she finally spoke again. “Y-You want to take me in… as your student?”

The princess nodded. “That is right, Sunset, but I’m not forcing you. It is your decision to make, and if you don’t want to come with me, I will respect your decision.”

“No!” Sunset yelled, before she blinked. “I mean, yes. I mean…” It was too much for the filly. Her thoughts were running all over the place, but she was sure about what she wanted. It may not be what she ever imagined, but it was so much better than anything she could ever hope for. “I wanna go with you!”

“I’m glad to hear that,” Celestia said with a smile before she rose from the floor, leaving the excited filly with her cookies. “I need to make some arrangements with Ms. Song so that you can come with me. I will return later to get you. You may keep the cookies; I’m sure Ms. Song won’t mind.”

“Okay,” Sunset squeaked excitedly before she reached out with her magic to get another cookie. She held it in her hooves but didn’t bite into it. “Princess?”

Celestia, who had already stepped up to the door and was about to open it, stopped and turned around. “Yes, Sunset?”

The filly outstretched her hooves, the snickerdoodle held between them. “Here.”

Celestia raised her eyebrows in surprise, before she smiled and took the cookie in her magic. “Thank you very much, Sunset. I appreciate it.” With those words, she opened the door and stepped into the hallway, closing the door behind her.

“Your Highness.” Looking down the hallway, the princess saw Sugar Song walking up to her. “I just came to check up on you. How is Sunset doing?”

“She is doing fine so far. I reassured her that the incident wasn’t her fault. She also accepted my offer to become my student in order to learn how to control her magic so that something like this won’t happen again.”

Sugar Song sighed in relief. “I’m glad that she’s alright, but I’m gonna miss her and…” She trailed off mid-sentence when she noticed the snickerdoodle in Celestia’s magical grasp. “What’s with the snickerdoodle?”

“Sunset gave it to me before I left the room. It was really sweet of her,” she said. When she noticed Sugar Song’s look of surprise, Celestia asked, “Is something wrong?”

“She...shared one with you?” Sugar Song said quietly. “I have known her for nearly her entire life, and she has never willingly shared one of her precious snickerdoodles with anypony.” She looked back into Celestia’s eyes. “She must really trust you, Your Highness.”

Celestia looked at the cookie in surprise. She would have never thought that something so simple would have such a huge meaning to the small filly. She had to make sure not to disappoint the trust Sunset put into her.

~*~

Looking carefully over the edge of the chariot, Sunset stared in amazement at the world below. They had just left the solid ground and ascended into the air, and Sunset couldn’t belief that she was flying. She had always dreamed of one day flying with a pegasus since the day she had met a travelling merchant that swooped into town, but it was so much better than she had ever imagined.

Looking back, she saw the orphanage, her home, growing smaller with every second. Some adult ponies she had known came to bid her farewell, but none of the other children came. Sunset was saddened by that fact; they were so afraid of her that they didn’t even come to see her off. At least some of the grown-ups came, with Ms. Song at the front waving to her, which she returned.

“If you want, we can come for a visit sometimes, Sunset,” Celestia said from beside her, keeping an eye on the filly so that she wouldn’t fall over the edge by accident.

“Maybe one day…” the filly replied.

Looking once again over her home, she saw a small form moving around the fence, a paintbrush held in his mouth, and frowned. She had heard that the princess had a talk with Rocky Ore and that the colt had tried lying about what happened. The princess has seen through it all after he made several mistakes, and afterwards, she had informed Ms. Song. Together, they discussed a punishment for the colt, and now, he had to repaint the entire fence surrounding the orphanage by himself for his bullying.

Noticing the stare on himself, the colt looked around until he spotted the filly in the air and glared up at her, which Sunset also returned. Thinking back to the day that changed everything, she remembered the last words he said before she blacked out.

“That’s how the world works, freak. The strong beat the weak.”

‘If that’s how it works, then I’m gonna get strong,’ Sunset thought. ‘I’m gonna be the strongest ever, and then, I’ll beat you.’

With that last thought, Sunset looked to the front of the carriage and toward her new home.

Author's Note

...and I thought the last chapter got a bit out of hand regarding its length :rainbowlaugh:

As I mentioned in the last authors note this chapter has not been planned out for nearly as long as the others, so there might be possible plotholes I didn't realize now or with future chapters. I will deal with those once they get to my attention.

I'm also quite proud with how quick I was able to get this not-planned chapter done. Around 3500 words got done in a single evening, with the rest following soon after. That is a nice record regarding my writing pace :twilightblush:

Hope to get more done soon, specially at teh end of the month when I'm on vacation to the Galacon here in germany, without family, computer or anything else distracting me in the evenings :scootangel:

Again huge credit to icecreammac for editing.

Chapter 8

The bus arrived at its destination in the later afternoon hours, and Shimmer stepped out of its doors onto the sidewalk, setting her gaze on the building in front of her. She was glad that it was already this late. Otherwise, it might have been harder to enter Canterlot High without drawing attention. Now, the surrounding area was empty, not a single student mingling around any longer.

Taking a deep breath and tightening her backpack straps, she walked towards the main doors and tried the handle. Just as expected, the door opened without any trouble, allowing her to enter the halls she had not stepped into for nearly a week.

Shimmer walked past the spacious foyer to stop in front of a specific door.

The door had a small, frosted-glass window on the upper half with the word 'Principal' written across it. Even though it was impossible to see anything clearly through the glass, Shimmer was able to see a shadow moving around.

'Just like always, she is the first to arrive and the last to leave,' she thought before she raised her hand and knocked. There was a moment of silence before she received an answer.

"Yes? The door is open."

Shimmer grabbed the handle and opened the door, stepping into the room.

"Principal Celestia, can we talk?"

"Sunset!" Celestia exclaimed in surprise upon seeing the girl step into her office but got a hold of herself moments afterwards. "I'm glad to see that you are alright. I got worried when I didn't hear anything from you these past few days and couldn't reach you under your phone number."

Shimmer closed the door behind her and took the seat in front of the principal's desk. Judging by the clear relief in her voice, it seemed that Shimmer’s hope proved true regarding Celestia’s stance in the whole Anon-a-Miss affair. "Sorry that I worried you, but I’ve been... busy. I didn't think about calling in absent."

The smile on Celestia's face fell. "Am I right in assuming your absence is connected to Anon-a-Miss?" Shimmer nodded, and Celestia sighed. "I was afraid that would be the case."

"It’s become too much for me to bear, so I left for a few days."

"Understandable, given the witch hunt started by that blog. My sister and I tried to find the one responsible but to no avail."

Shimmer looked into Celestia’s eyes. "So, you don't believe it's me?"

"No, we don't,” she answered with a shake of her head. “In the beginning, we did suspect everyone without bias, but it soon became clear to us that you are nothing but a scapegoat for the real culprit."

"Thank you for trying to help me, but I'm afraid you don't know about everything that has been going on."

Noting the nervous way that Shimmer said that last part, Celestia’s expression grew serious. "Please, tell me everything."

Shimmer spent the next half-hour explaining everything that happened over the last week to the principal. After she finished her tale, she waited for Celestia to process everything.

The woman in question sat behind her desk, her hands buried in her hair while she shook her head in disbelief. “That’s unbelievable. I know that Gilda is far from a model student, but that she would stoop low enough to attempt murder? I gave her so many chances in the hope that she might turn around…”

“None of us could know that she would do something like this, myself included.” Sunset frowned. “This time, she won’t get away with it, that much is sure, and I hope you see it the same way.”

Celestia looked up. ”Of course. She has crossed too many lines now. Even if I wanted, I wouldn’t be able to help her in any way. And I will do everything I can to help reveal Anon-a-Miss.”

Shimmer smiled. “I’m glad for your help. We have a lot to discuss.”

~*~

Shimmer left the school building with a sigh of relief. She had hoped that Celestia and Luna would be on their side, and she was glad that she was right. At least some people believed in her innocence.

Shimmer had told the principal about her assumptions who might be behind Anon-a-Miss, while Celestia had told her about what she and her sister had done so far during their investigation. Sadly, they had not made much progress in that regard. They had even tried contacting the ones responsible for MyStable, but customer service only told them they could not help due to their privacy policy.

Celestia also told her about the assembly that was planned for tomorrow as another attempt to talk sense into the students. She was sure that it would be senseless without knowing the true identity of Anon-a-Miss and any proof, but she would inform the others later.

For the time being, they agreed that it would be the wisest to wait and see what the police tells Sunset and her parents. The principal gave Shimmer her phone number so that they could keep in touch if they got any new information later.

Standing at the front of the school building, Shimmer checked the time and realized that she had nearly an hour left before the time Desert Sunrise told her they would likely be back to pick her up. Not in the mood to wait in the cold, she decided to go to a little cafe that was a few streets over.

She was so lost in thought about who Anon-a-Miss might be and the many possibilities of her identity that she nearly missed the barely audible voices that carried over from around the corner. Remembering what happened over the past week, she carefully peeked around the corner to see who the owners of those voices were.

‘Hmm, what a coincidence,’ she thought upon seeing who it was. ‘Maybe I can archive more today than I thought.’

~*~

The Crusaders walked down the street, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo walking side by side talking with each other while Sweetie Belle followed them slowly, her eyes fixated on her phone.

On the screen was a picture of a deeply embarrassed Gilda wearing a clown costume at what appeared to be a child’s birthday party. It was one of the latest pictures that had been uploaded to the Anon-a-Miss page two days ago.

With a sigh, Sweetie looked up at the backs of her best friends. "Girls? Do you think we’ve gone too far?"

The other two girls stopped on their way and turned around to face their friend. "What do ya mean, Sweetie?" Apple Bloom asked in confusion.

"I mean this whole mess with Anon-a-Miss," Sweetie Belle replied while she looked into her friends’ eyes. "Do you think we’ve gone too far? You heard those students during lunch break, how they said Sunset had to be suicidal to post that picture of Gilda and that she’ll ‘get what she deserves when Gilda finds her.’" She lowered her gaze to the ground. "I don't want Sunset to get hurt."

"Come on, they were just blowing smoke," Scootaloo said with a wave of her hand. "It's just a picture. There’s no way Gilda would react that way to it being posted."

"Ah think Scoots is right. You don't need ta worry," Apple Bloom added.

Sweetie Belle was silent for a few moments. "If you say so. But how long are we gonna keep it up? How long are we gonna be posting things?"

"Until we’re sure Sunset won't interfere with your sisters and Rainbow Dash again, of course," Scootaloo said. "But how about we take a break during the holiday and see how everything goes from there? We can enjoy the holidays with Rainbow and your sisters in the meantime. If we need to, we can go back to posting when school starts again."

"Sounds good ta me. What do ya say, Sweetie?”

Sweetie thought about it for a minute. It may not be the end of this mess, but at least it was a start, and it was already only one more day till the school lets out. "Alright. I'm okay with that."

"Great!" Scootaloo said. "Now let’s go. They got a new game in the arcade I wanna try."

The other two girls nodded and took off after Sweetie Belle shoved her phone back into her pocket. They rounded the corner and ran down the street in the direction of the arcade.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

All three of them stopped and turned to the figure who had spoken from a nearby bench. It was a girl clad in a jacket with a hoodie pulled over her head to conceal her face. Unnerved, they were about to ignore the stranger and keep walking, when she moved her hoodie back slightly, revealing a familiar amber face.

"S-Sunset!" they sputtered in surprise before taking a few steps back, Sweetie Belle hiding behind Apple Bloom.

Shimmer watched them silently shuffling around until Scootaloo spoke up. "What are you doing here?"

"I was just relaxing and enjoying the quiet for once, when you walked by," Shimmer replied calmly without taking her eyes off the girls. "Sweetie looked like she had something on her mind, so I thought she would like to talk about it with someone, but I can see you also believe I'm the one behind Anon-a-Miss, so forget I said anything."

She slowly stood up and stretched her limbs. "Besides that, I’ve been trying to figure out who Anon-a-Miss is and avoiding the other students who want to beat me up or, in Gilda's case, attack me with a knife." She turned and took a few steps away from them. "See ya."

"Wait!"

Shimmer stopped on her way and looked back over her shoulder. "Hmm?"

Sweetie Belle emerged from her hiding spot behind Apple Bloom and stared at Shimmer with wide eyes. "W-What do you mean they tried to beat you up and attack you with a knife?"

"Exactly that," Shimmer replied while she turned around again to face the girls, her hands buried in the pockets of her jacket. "Some students apparently decided they needed to ‘teach me a lesson' and attacked me a few days ago. Even I can't fend off ten people at the same time."

"Ten at once..." Apple Bloom muttered while she stared at the girl with wide eyes.

"Gilda, on the other hand, was fury itself. I don't even know what riled her up that much—I haven't looked at MyStable since the beginning of this madness—but instead of me, she assaulted a friend of mine in an alley and was about to attack her with a knife when I came along and took care of her."

"So, you two are alright?" Sweetie Belle asked, trying her best to avoid shuddering.

"Yeah. It wasn't easy, but we’re alright," Shimmer said with a smile. "And soon, everything will be over as well. We are close to bringing Anon-a-Miss down. Won't take much longer than a few days."

The Crusaders looked at each other with worry in their eyes. "And how are ya gonna do that?" Apple Bloom asked slowly.

"Sorry, but I think it's better to keep that to myself," Shimmer said with a wave of her hand. "After all, who knows if Anon-a-Miss is listening in on us right now?” Sunset pretending to consider something. “Actually, I almost hope she’s listening. Honestly, if I were in his or her place and knew what was coming, I’d come out and confess everything instead of trying to stay hidden. The only thing that accomplishes is making the fallout worse."

Finished, Sunset turned around again and continued on her path. "Well, gotta go now. See ya later, girls." Giving them a last wave as she walked away, her expression, hidden from the girls, turned from cheerful to serious. 'Please, girls, if you truly are Anon-a-Miss, make the right choice.'

The moment Shimmer disappeared around the next corner, the Crusaders turned to each other.

"This is bad. This is so bad!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed. "I knew it was a stupid idea from the beginning, but this is much worse than I expected."

"Ah agree with ya, Sweetie. We need ta tell the truth as soon as possible."

Sweetie nodded. "Let's go to Principal Celestia and—"

"No."

The two girls turned to their friend. "What do ya mean 'no'? You heard what she said, Scoots. This is serious!"

Scootaloo crossed her arms. "Yeah, I heard what she said, and I think she’s bluffing."

Sweetie stared at her friend with wide eyes. "What makes you think she was lying?"

Scootaloo held one finger in front of her. "First, who is that 'friend' she was talking about? As far as I know, everyone she could be friends with believes that she’s Anon-a-Miss except for Twilight, and I think we would’ve heard about it if she were back."

She raised a second finger. "Second, why would Gilda go after someone else if she wants to get Sunset? That makes no sense. If that 'friend' had been in the crossfire, I might have believed her, but Sunset said her friend had been attacked before she arrived."

Apple Bloom looked at her feet in thought. "Ya may have a point, but what was the point of lying to us?"

Scootaloo crossed her arms again. "She said so in the beginning. She’s trying to find out who Anon-a-Miss is. I guess she suspects us and told those lies so that we would let something slip or panic and confess. And she almost succeeded.

"I say we go on with the plan and continue posting till tomorrow." Seeing the troubled looks on her friends’ faces, Scootaloo relaxed her stance. "Remember why we’re doing this. We’ll get our sisters back, and Sunset will be punished for everything she did in the past."

Her little speech was followed by a silence that lasted a full minute.

"Yeah, Ah agree,” Apple Bloom finally said. “There’s too much wrong with what she said. Ah'm with ya, Scoots."

Scootaloo smiled and nodded before she turned her gaze on their group’s third member. "Sweetie Belle?"

Sweetie was looking down, biting on her thumb while lost in thought, her eyes moving from side to side. Scootaloo's shoulders slumped down, and she sighed before she put a hand on her friend’s shoulder. Upon feeling the contact, Sweetie looked up into her friend's eyes.

"Look, I won't be mad if you don't want to go along,” Scootaloo said. “You’re scared, and I understand that. So, if you really want, you can step away from Anon-a-Miss. Just don't go and tell anybody about us, alright?"

Sweetie Belle kept eye contact a few moments longer until she smiled and shook her head. "No. We’re in this together. We started it together, and we’ll end it together. I won't leave you behind after everything that happened."

Scootaloo smiled and hugged Sweetie, with Apple Bloom joining soon after.

"Thanks, Sweetie." They let go of each other after a few moments. "Alright, now let's go! There’s still a game waiting for me at the arcade."

With those words, Scootaloo took off in the direction of the arcade, Apple Bloom following her close after. Sweetie Belle stayed in place a moment longer, her smile slowly slipping down into a frown.

'I hope that this is the right choice,' she thought to herself before she, too, ran after her friends.

Author's Note

nearly forgot to write something here :twilightsheepish:

And here we are with the first meeting between Shimmer and the Crusaders. The first part with Celestia took me way longer than I expected, the rest was done in around 2 days :rainbowlaugh:

We are getting closer to the fallout, and now the really fun chapters to write begin :pinkiehappy:

Once again biggest thanks to icecreammac for editing :twilightsmile:

Chapter 9

Shimmer sat on the stairs leading up to the front entrance of Canterlot High, her journal resting on her legs while she stared at her phone. Visible on screen was a picture of Shimmer and the Rainbooms, taken not long after the Battle of the Bands. It was one of the last remaining pictures of them she had left after she had disposed of the rest during the long week behind her, but even after everything that happened, there was still a part of her that prevented her from deleting that picture, holding onto the last bit of hope left that everything would return to how it used to be. With a sigh, she locked the phone and stored it in her pocket.

She had returned to school after her encounter with the three girls and after she got her coffee. With nothing else to do while she waited to get picked up, she had decided to use the time and send some messages to Twilight, who was fortunately around at the time and had some time to respond.

Not long after she arrived at school, she saw a car entering the school parking lot. She closed her journal, put it down beside her bag, and began walking to the car, stopping halfway there to meet with Sunset and her parents. “Hey, how’d it go?” she asked, hugging her friend.

“Good. There’s nothing wrong,” Sunset answered.

“I wouldn’t call it nothing, but she has been very lucky indeed,” Desert Sunrise said. “Given what happened, it’s a miracle that she got away with only some heavy bruises. We received some ointments to treat those, and there should be no long-term damages.”

Shimmer sighed in relief. “I’m glad to hear that you’re alright. And how did it go at the police station?”

“Interesting, to say the least,” Desert replied. “Upon arrival, I demanded to speak with the chief, regarding that we had suspicion of corruption within the police from what that Gilda girl said. It took a while, but in the end, we got through.

“We told him what happened and about Gilda’s claim of having friends within the police who would assist her. He assured us that Gilda is indeed a well-known ‘guest’ for them, but only in the sense that she’s been behind bars several times there. Nonetheless, he said he would look into those claims thoroughly to make sure that there is no corruption.”

“I knew she was lying,” Shimmer said. “From the first day I met her, I could tell she never got along with the police.”

“Indeed. In the end, the chief made a report and got all the information from us that we could tell him, of course without telling him about your home and the fact of another world. We told him that you are a girl who happens to look exactly like Sunset. It may not be an everyday scenario, but it’s also not unheard-of.”

Shimmer sighed in relief. “Thank you. Getting found out as a being from another world is the last thing I need.”

“It’s no problem, dear,” Northern Star said as she put a hand on Shimmer’s shoulder. “But it can still happen. Without any documents, you might get in trouble during this investigation, and there is not much that we can do to help you.”

“Oh, I got some documents. I obtained those when I first came through the portal so that I could attend Canterlot High.”

“Really?” Desert asked curiously. “And where did you get those documents from, if I may ask?”

“Um…” Shimmer bit her lip, her eyes moving from side to side before she smiled awkwardly. “Internet?”

Desert regarded her with a raised eyebrow, while his wife couldn’t resist a giggle. Finally, he sighed before he spoke again. “I will drop it for now, but I want to hear more about that later. It’s getting late, and I think it’s better to head home. You are, of course, welcome to stay with us, Shimmer.”

Shimmer was glad that she didn’t have to explain that part quite yet, even if she had to face it later. “Sure. Let me just get my bag and my journal. I was writing with Twilight to pass the time.” When she got back to her things, she found her journal glowing. She eagerly picked it up and opened it up to the last page to read Twilight’s last message.

Picking up her pen, she quickly wrote down an answer.

She waited for Twilight to reply, but nothing appeared on the page. Just as she put her pen back to the paper, she noticed a faint light coming from the statue. Realizing what that meant, she quickly called out. “Hey, guys, I think you should get over here.”

Not missing a second, Sunset and her parents came over. “Is something wrong?” Sunset asked, looking around. “Did you see Gilda?”

“Nope, but we’ve got a visitor.” With those words, Sunset stepped closer to the statue with an expectant smile, the others following her, confused.

Moments later, to their surprise, they saw a girl stumble out of the base of the statue. While they stared at the girl, Shimmer walked up to her and hugged her. They shared a few words before they turned around and Shimmer spoke up. “Everybody, may I introduce Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria.”

Twilight gave a small nod in their direction. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, but I wish it could have been under better circumstances.”

Desert Sunrise stared at Twilight a moment longer before he got a hold of himself and gave her a bow, his family copying him. “It’s an honor to meet you, Your Highness.” He looked up in surprise after hearing a groan and a giggle from the two girls in front of him. “Did… I do something wrong?”

“No, no, it’s nothing,” Twilight quickly said. “It’s just that I have not been a princess for long and still don’t feel comfortable with everyone calling me by that title. I guess Sunset forgot to mention that.”

“Hey, it’s not my fault,” Shimmer said. “I would’ve told them that if I had known in advance that you planned to pay a visit.”

“Good point.” Twilight shifted her attention back to Desert. “But please, feel free to drop the formalities and call me Twilight.”

Once again, Desert looked at the princess in surprise, before he chuckled and offered his hand, which Twilight took. “As you wish, Twilight.”

Twilight turned her attention to Sunset and took a moment to look her over, much to the girl’s discomfort. “Incredible. Without knowing it, I would never guess just from the look alone that you are not the Sunset I know.”

“Yeah, I was shocked as well the moment I saw her after waking up,” Sunset admitted.

“You were shocked? What am I supposed to say?” Northern Star said from behind. “Standing in my living room hugging my daughter, only to find another one at the kitchen door.”

The three teenagers laughed. “Yeah, that was pretty awkward,” Shimmer said, “for both of us.”

“So, Twilight,” Star began, “we were just about to return home for dinner. Would you like to join us?”

“Any other day, I would, but I left without telling anyone, so I should return soon. I just assumed, with you all present, it would be a good time to introduce myself before tomorrow.”

Desert blinked. “Tomorrow? What’s happening tomorrow?”

“Sorry, I had no time to tell you yet about what I learned today,” Shimmer admitted, “but to keep it short for now, tomorrow will be an assembly for the students of CHS, and I plan to go as well, and you should, too. I’ll tell you the rest later, once we are back at your house.”

“Very well. It was a pleasure to meet you, Twilight, and I hope that you will take us on our invitation soon,” Desert said.

“Likewise. I will see if I can get time away from my duties again for an evening, or maybe even longer. I will see you tomorrow,” Twilight took Shimmer in a last hug before she turned and stepped through the portal again.

“She’s a nice girl,” Northern Star said. “So, should we head back for dinner now?”

They all nodded and made their way over to the car. During her walk, Shimmer’s hand landed on her pocket, where she felt her phone. She stopped, took it out and unlocked it, staring at the screen in thought.

“Actually, there’s one last stop I would like to make, if it’s not too much to ask. There’s something I need before tomorrow.”

They all stopped and looked at each other, before Desert spoke again. “Should not be a problem, but if I may ask, what is it you need?”

Shimmer was quiet for a moment. “Answers,” she said, looking at the picture of the Rainbooms. “And I know exactly where to find them.”

Author's Note

a shorter chapter this time, but the next is nearly done as well, and it's gonna be a bit longer once again, for not really hard to guess reasons :rainbowlaugh:

Biggest thanks once again to icecreammac for editing :twilightsmile:

Chapter 11

The bus arrived at its stop and opened the doors to let out its few passengers. Among those were two girls of identical height. One was wearing a hoodie with the hood hiding most of her features, while the other presented her red and blonde hair to the world. They both stopped to look around before they decided on a direction and started moving.

"Really the worst timing for a change of schedule for the buses. At least CHS isn’t that far away from here," Shimmer said.

"Yeah," Sunset agreed while she looked around. "Too bad Mum and Dad couldn't drive us."

"They would have if they had known of the schedule change," Shimmer said. "They just didn't expect that we would need to walk part of the way."

"Neither did I," Sunset said while she looked up and down the street. Desert Sunrise had told them that he would need to take care of a few things in the morning and might be unable to drive them to school in time for the assembly. Thanks to this development, the girls had to take the bus, with Desert and Star following as soon as possible. None of them knew about a construction area nearby and the schedule change for the buses in the area. "Wish I had taken my hoodie with me now. I feel so exposed."

"Oh? What's wrong?" Shimmer asked with a smirk on her face. "Don't tell me you’re afraid of meeting Gilda. She’s not that big of a problem." Shimmer took several steps before she realized that she was alone. Turning, she saw Sunset standing in place, frowning at her with clenched fists. "Sunset?"

"Well, I'm sorry that I'm afraid of seeing the girl that beat the heck out of me twice and nearly killed me the last time! Sorry that not everyone can see it as simple as you!" she yelled.

They stood in silence for a minute as Shimmer stared at her friend in shock, before Sunset's features softened and her gaze fell. "I... I'm sorry. That was uncalled for, and—"

Sunset’s apology was interrupted when Shimmer pulled her into a hug. "No, it's my fault,” Shimmer said. “I guess I’ve been dealing with Gilda for so long that I forgot what effect she has on others. I should’ve been more considerate about how you were feeling."

The two girls remained in that position for a moment before they continued on their journey through the streets. Neither of them said much after Sunset's outburst as they walked towards CHS, until Shimmer spoke up.

"Keep walking. She’s following us," she whispered with just a light dip of her head to Sunset. "I saw her out of the corner of my eye when we passed an earlier alley, and I don't think she’s alone this time."

Sunset swallowed a lump in her throat as she tried not to show her pursuer that they were aware of her. "What should we do now?"

Shimmer kept silent as she thought while they continued walking down the road. "She hasn’t done anything yet, so either she’s really alone and doesn't want to deal with the both of us together, which I doubt, or she’s gonna spring a trap on us. Walking into her trap isn’t a good idea. I think we should call her out now before she gets the jump on us."

Sunset gulped. "Alright. You know her better than I do, so I trust your judgement." Shimmer nodded, and the two girls discussed how to do it while they kept walking.

A minute later, they stopped and turned around. "You can come out, Gilda!" Sunset called out. "We know you’re here! Quit being a chicken, and show yourself!"

Only silence greeted them at first, but it didn't take long until Gilda stepped out of an alley not too far away from them, followed by the two girls Sunset had the “pleasure” of meeting with Gilda on her first day in town.

Sunset herself couldn't resist a smile when her eyes fell on Gilda, or, more precisely, the bandage she wore around her head. 'Guess her thick skull isn’t hard enough to stop metal,' she thought.

"And I thought you went soft, given how easy it was to sneak up on you before, Shimmer," Gilda said with a snarl. "But unlike last time, you won't get away now."

Sunset opened her mouth to answer but was stopped by Shimmer tapping her on the shoulder. She leaned in and whispered something in Sunset's ear, and Sunset laughed in response.

Gilda glared harder at the girl. "Hey! What's so funny?"

Sunset took a moment to stop laughing. "My friend here says she can't fight you properly, Gilda. There are no trash bins big enough to fit you this time."

Immediately, Gilda’s attention turned to Shimmer. "So, you’re the one who interrupted me the other day." For a moment her hand wandered up to her bandage, stained by a small, dark spot, before she lowered it again. Her eyes moved up and down as she took in her new subject of interest, and she clenched her fist. "You’re gonna pay for that!"

Shimmer stepped forward, lowering her hood. "I doubt that, Gilda. You’ve been trying to make me pay for years, never with any luck."

"What the fuck?!" Gilda exclaimed in surprise as she, along with her two lackeys, stared at the two girls.

"G, what's going on?"

"Is that one of her magic tricks?"

Gilda remained quiet for a moment, thinking the situation and the question over while she looked at the two of them. "I doubt it. She’s never done anything magical except at the Fall Formal and the Battle of the Bands. If she could use magic, she’d have done so by now, and not to do something dumb like making a clone of herself."

"See, I told you she’s not stupid. Not smart, maybe, but not stupid," Shimmer said to Sunset before turning back to Gilda. "You’re right; there’s no magic involved this time. This is the Sunset Shimmer from this world, and it was her you attacked both times this week. Let me tell you, her dad is not amused. Trying to kill her was the worst you could do."

Gilda gritted her teeth. "You think I’m scared? Well, I’m not."

"Kill her?" Gilda heard from behind her. Gilda looked over her shoulder at her lackeys, who looked at her questioningly. "What’s she talking about, G?"

"Nothing you two need to worry about," Gilda grumbled.

Shimmer saw her opening. "Oh, did your dear boss not tell you about how she tried to kill Sunset here two days ago with a knife? It was sheer luck that I was nearby and able to save her. That's where she got that bandage from."

The two looked at Gilda with wide eyes. "Is that true?"

Gilda turned and focused her gaze on both of them. "So, what if it is? Is that a problem?” she snapped. “I do what I want, and you do what I tell you to do. Is that clear?" They took a step back in fear.

"The police are already looking for you, Gilda," Sunset said. "You won't get away."

Shimmer nodded. "She’s right. And you two will be arrested as well. So far, it’s only for the assault. You can get lost now or just pile on charges with Gilda. It’s your choice."

Gilda whirled back to the Sunsets. "Oh, shut up!" Gilda’s lackeys took the opportunity to exchange glances, nod, and run away from the group. Hearing their footsteps, Gilda turned around again. "Hey! Where do you think you’re going?! Get back here, you traitors!" No matter what she yelled after them, though, neither looked back, and soon enough, they disappeared around the next street corner.

"So, Gilda," Shimmer said, "how should this go now? Sunset here was already able to fight you to a stalemate on her own without knowing a thing about how you fight. Do you really think you can take both of us at the same time? Just leave and confess to the police. Don't make it any worse for yourself."

Gilda glared at the two girls, her eyes moving from one to the other while she thought about her situation. It was true that the other Sunset gave her a harder time than she expected, and going against both would be a stupid decision. Looking at the other Sunset, Gilda noticed that she was not as confident as the other. She was tense, and she was looking like she hoped the situation would be over soon.

'It seems I left an impression,' she thought to herself. She knew that dealing with that one would be much easier this time, especially if she could take out the real threat while she was watching.

Confident in her plan, Gilda smirked.

"So, the mighty Sunset Shimmer, queen bee and ruler of CHS for years, has gone soft after all. Never thought I’d see the day she starts hiding behind others or needs help in a fight." Shimmer glared harder at Gilda, who continued, "All the other times we fought, you took me down alone without any problem. It seems your time with the Rainbooms got to you."

"Shut up, Gilda," Shimmer growled.

"Or what? Are you going to run home to your mommy?" Gilda replied mockingly. "Come on, horse girl! Show some guts and fight me!"

Shimmer gritted her teeth as she let Gilda’s words run through her mind.

"Sunset, would you mind staying out of this? It just got personal."

Sunset stared at Shimmer in shock. "Are you out of your mind? You do realize she’s playing you, right?"

"I know. And do you know what pisses me off even more than that? That it's working." Trying to reason with Sunset, she said, "Look, I can see how much it bothers you to be near her. I don't think it will do us any good if you try to go against her now. I’ll be fine; it's not the first time we tussled."

Sunset bit her lip as she looked over to Gilda, who was smirking at them. Closing her eyes, she sighed in defeat. "Alright, but be careful."

"Sure. Just stay a bit to the side. Keep an eye out and warn me in case her goons come back. And remember, if the worst happens, we still got one trick up our sleeves," she added. She waited until her friend was a safe distance away before she turned to Gilda. She cracked her knuckles and took a defensive position.

Shimmer had fought with Gilda a few times during her time on the throne of CHS, so she knew that Gilda has the advantage in regard to pure strength, which is what she relies on to win her fights. She, on the other hand, was smaller and weaker but also more agile than Gilda. The key to winning was to avoid her attacks as much as possible while hitting her whenever possible, slowly wearing her down.

Deciding to kick things off, Gilda rushed forward, her fist drawn back and aimed at Shimmer’s face. After waiting as long as she dared to, Shimmer stepped to the side to avoid the hit, but Gilda showed once more that she was not as dumb as she looked. While in mid-swing, she suddenly lashed out with her elbow and hit Shimmer in the face, making the girl cry out in surprise and pain.

Shimmer quickly managed to regain her senses after the painful hit and took several steps back from her opponent before Gilda could follow with another punch. She raised her hand to her cheek and flinched slightly at the touch, but she also realized that there has not been as much power behind it as she was used to from Gilda.

"It seems someone finally learned from past mistakes," she said. "Didn't you once say you only needed to hit hard enough to win fights?"

Gilda flexed her hand. "Yeah, but actually hitting you is easier said than done." She rushed forward again with her fist, but instead of sidestepping her, Shimmer blocked the fist with her left arm.

"I take that as a compliment," she said before she delivered her own punch into the girl’s face, followed by ramming her elbow into Gilda's guts.

Gilda fell down on one knee, coughing and holding her stomach, before she used her new position to throw herself at Shimmer, forcing both of them to the ground. Groaning and cursing herself for not being more careful, Shimmer opened her eyes only to see Gilda already back on her feet and standing over her. Grinning down at her, Gilda kicked her in the stomach, making Shimmer cry out in pain. Before the second kick came, though, Shimmer managed to roll to the side and avoid Gilda’s foot.

While she got back on her feet, she rammed her elbow into Gilda’s guts before she took a few steps back to get some distance between them while Gilda tumbled backwards, holding her stomach. Just like before, she suddenly jumped forward to tackle Shimmer, but this time, Shimmer quickly stepped to the side and kicked Gilda in her ass, sending her to the ground.

Panting heavily, Shimmer used the time to regain her breath while Gilda slowly rose to her feet, catching her breath as well. She knew that she needed to end this quickly, otherwise Gilda might get lucky with one of her next hits.

Howling in rage, Gilda rushed forward again. Throwing her earlier caution to the wind, she threw punch after punch at Shimmer, but in her rage-engulfed assault, it was much easier to either block those hits or avoid them entirely. Shimmer on the other hand, still waited carefully and used any opening Gilda left open to deliver a blow herself.

"Give it up, Gilda," she said, panting while she blocked another fist with her right arm. "You’re at your limit."

"Shut up and let me hit you!"

Shimmer growled. "Fine, if that’s what you want. But there’s one thing I want to make clear first," she said as she took a step back from her opponent.

"And what's that?" Gilda asked as her fist shot toward Shimmer’s face.

Shimmer leaned to the side and watched the fist go past her face. "I'm not a horse." Pulling back her own fist, she put her strength behind it and punched Gilda in her guts as hard as she could. Gilda doubled over and fell to her knees before crumpling to the ground. "I'm a pony."

Breathing heavily, Shimmer slowly relaxed as she kept an eye on the downed girl. Gilda’s eyes were still open and glaring at her, but considering how she was breathing heavily and barely moving, it was clear that she had had enough.

"Now that was something," Shimmer said as she sat down on Gilda’s back, resulting in a grunt from the girl. "I’ll admit that you’ve gotten better, Gilda, but do you wanna know what your biggest weakness is?" She waited for a few seconds, but received no answer besides unintelligible mumbling. "You underestimate your enemy, and you’re too hot-headed. You make a lot of mistakes when you’re mad. That makes it easy to plan ahead." She patted the girl’s head. "Maybe, one day, you’ll learn."

"...Fuck...you…Shimmer..." Gilda managed to get out between breaths.

Before Shimmer could reply, Sunset came up to them. "That was impressive. Are you alright?"

Shimmer stretched her arms over her head but winced in pain from the hits she received. “It could be better, but it could be worse. I’ll survive.” Sunset offered her hand, and Shimmer grabbed it to get back on her feet before she retrieved her phone and purse. She turned around and shifted her attention to the girl panting on the ground. “So, Gilda, what should we do with you now?”

Gilda said nothing. She just kept glaring up at them while she caught her breath.

Shimmer sighed. "Do you know what one of my kind’s biggest traits is? We believe in the good in every living being, and we’re willing to give those that hurt us the possibility to redeem themselves. I’ll admit that I'm kind of the black sheep with how I used to be, but I try to live up to that now.

"So, here’s what will happen: We’ll let you go, and once you’re able to walk again, you should go and confess to the police. Don't even think about leaving the city; the police are already looking for you. Make it easier on yourself. They’ll probably let you off easier."

Without another word, Shimmer turned away from the girl on the ground, with Sunset following her.

"Do you really think that's a good idea? I don't think she’s the type to simply give up."

"She isn't, and I don't believe she’ll do the smart thing either. But at least I offered it to her."

Not far behind the two girls, Gilda rose back to her feet. She was still panting heavily, and she wobbled slightly on her feet, but she was able to stand.

"You…little shit. I’ll…show you…who’s boss," she whispered to herself as she panted.

Shoving her hand in her pocket, Gilda pulled out her knife. Carefully at first, she walked after the girls, but with each step, she got faster while still making sure to make as little noise as possible so as not to alert them.

Finally close enough, she grinned and raised her knife and prepared herself to rush the remaining distance between them.

But before she could do so, someone grabbed her wrist with the knife and twisted hard. Gilda let out a scream of pain, alerting the girls while she let the knife fall to the ground. The next thing she knew, the one who grabbed her forced her to the ground and pinned her down, both of her arms twisted behind her back. Turning her head, she saw a very muscular man with grayish-blue skin and dark-blue hair wearing a tracksuit holding her down.

“Who the fuck are you?!”

“Iron Will does not appreciate your language or your actions,” he said in a gruff voice.

“I don’t care what you appreciate! Get off me!”

A sigh drew Gilda’s attention away from the man to the two girls she had tried to attack. “And, of course, you choose the worst way to use that chance I gave you, Gilda,” Shimmer said with a shake of her head. She waved her hand at the man. “Let me introduce you. This is Iron Will, ex-bodyguard and owner of a gym here in Canterlot. He’s also an old friend of Sunset’s dad.” She turned her attention to Iron Will. “Thanks for helping, Will. And thanks for agreeing to let us handle her until it got out of hand.”

“Don’t mention it. Desert won’t be happy that I let this go so far, but you made Iron Will curious. You got some nice moves, I’ll admit. Even so, I was about to step in a few times.”

“Thanks.” Shimmer beamed. “So, Gilda. I don’t think I need to tell you what’s gonna happen now. With everything you did, we won’t be seeing you again for a long time.”

Gilda glared at Shimmer from her position, before she suddenly smirked. “Not as long as you think. Sure, you’ll probably get me for beating her up—” Gilda nodded at Sunset, “—but you can’t prove anything. With just your word against mine, they’ll never convict me for anything else!”

They all remained silent, until Shimmer spoke up. “You know what? You might be right, Gilda. With only me and Will as witnesses, you might just be right.” She buried one hand in the pocket of her hoodie and put the other on her chin. “I wonder if there’s a solution to this. Oh, what’s this in my pocket?”

Gilda followed Shimmer’s movements in confusion as the girl took out her phone and looked at it in mock confusion. “Would you look at that. I accidentally activated the recording function a while ago, and it’s been recording everything all this time.” Gilda’s eyes grew in panic as the meaning sunk in, while Shimmer smirked. “Gotcha.”

Iron Will laughed. “Another nice move!”

Shimmer shrugged. “I try. Don’t take it too hard, Gilda. You’re already the second one who fell for this in as many days.” Gilda started stammering something, but Shimmer tuned her out as she turned to Sunset. “So, how about we call the police? We have an assembly at CHS we don’t wanna miss.”

~*~

The last day of school was usually a day for students to celebrate as they got ready for a slew of free time. However, for one group of friends standing outside CHS, the mood was anything but celebratory. They had met at their usual spot in front of the statue. Each of them had arrived late to school that morning, so they had to suffer through the first few classes of the day before they could meet for a spell before the assembly.

"So, Ah guess y’all had trouble sleepin' last night?" Applejack asked around, receiving several nods. "Same."

"Can you blame us? After what we learned yesterday about the other Sunset and Dashie's involvement, I had too much on my mind," Pinkie said, her hair sagging slightly.

"Indeed. Even if it was just a slip of her tongue, it's still ghastly what happened thanks to it," Rarity added, before she looked around. "Say, where is Rainbow Dash, anyway? I don't think I’ve seen her yet."

"Um, she was even later than us, so Mr. Doodle held her back to talk with her after class," Fluttershy said. "She said she would come around before the assembly."

"Ah hope so. Yesterday was too much, but Ah want to talk with her about that more. Try to get some sense into that airhead o’ hers."

The group fell into silence after Applejack spoke. None knew what to talk about, until Fluttershy broke the silence.

"Did... one of you listen to it? That message she sent us, I mean. I tried, but I couldn't get myself to start it."

Rarity sighed. "Neither could I. There was something about it that kept me away from it."

"Yeah," Pinkie agreed. "Do you think we should listen to it together? To make it easier?"

"Sounds good ta me. What do y’all think?" Applejack asked the others. She received several nods in reply. They huddled closer together so that no outsider could hear it before Applejack started the message on her phone.

At first, there was not much to hear. There were some footsteps along with the wind. When the steps stopped, there was some rustling and, afterwards, silence. The girls looked at each other in confusion before more steps could be heard. They sounded like they were approaching quickly and were soon followed by the first spoken words.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

Author's Note

One problem taken care of, now let's go towards the school :scootangel:

I had some real problems with writing this fight scene. It was the first time I wrote something a bit more detailed, but I'm happy with how it turned out in the end and I hope you like it, too. :pinkiehappy:

Already working hard on the next two chapters, and I hope to get them out soon :moustache:
As always, biggest thanks to icecreammac for editing everything.

Chapter 12

The recording stopped, and the four members of the Rainbooms stood stunned. Pinkie was holding Fluttershy, who was crying into her shoulder, while Applejack and Rarity stared at the phone in disbelief.

"Ah... Ah can't believe it," Applejack whispered. "My own kin..."

"Wh-What have we done?" Rarity said, tears starting to run down her cheeks and ruin her make-up. "She told the truth... Everything she said was the truth. She’s innocent, and we..."

"We tossed her aside," Pinkie finished for her, her hair going limp as she comforted Fluttershy, who only started crying louder.

They remained at their positions, letting what they did to their friend sink in, as the last member of the group arrived.

"Hey, guys! Sorry for the wait. Old Cranky held me up longer than I thought, and..." Finally noticing the state her friends were in, Rainbow Dash’s rambling trailed off. "Hey, what's going on? What happened?" Seeing Applejack still holding her phone, her gaze hardened. "Did Sunset post something again? Why, that little—"

"NO!" Rainbow recoiled in surprise at Fluttershy’s shout and subsequent glare. “Don’t you dare say anything about her, not after everything we… we…” Unable to end her sentence, her tears returned with force, and she returned to crying into Pinkie's shoulder.

Applejack shook her head. "Rainbow, did ya listen to Sunset's message?"

Rainbow huffed and crossed her arms. "No, and I’m not going to. I deleted it yesterday after I went home."

The others stared at Rainbow in surprise, not believing what they heard. True, they didn't listen to it until just now, but they at least tried to and ended up keeping the message. Applejack shook her head again and sighed. "Rainbow, we made a huge mistake. Sunset’s—"

Applejack was interrupted by a commotion around them. Looking around, they soon spotted the source. Near the base of the Wondercolt statue facing the building stood a very familiar girl, one they knew had not been there seconds earlier.

"Twilight!" Rainbow grinned and ran up to the girl, while her friends, unbeknownst to her, shared worried looks before following. Twilight turned in their direction upon hearing Rainbow’s voice, and their worries were confirmed when they saw the scowl on her face. Rainbow, however, was too focused on making her way past their fellow students, who had crowded around to greet their friend and savior, to realize that she was running to her doom.

"Girls," Twilight greeted curtly once the group reached her, the usual kindness missing from her voice. Most of the group remained silent, looking at anything else besides Twilight. Oblivious, Rainbow instead kept talking.

"It's so good to see you, Twi. We could really use your help. Sunset’s gone bad again."

"Rainbow..." Applejack said from behind, trying to stop the girl, but Rainbow continued.

"She went and started spreading secrets about us and tons of other students on the internet. There are fights starting everywhere! The entire school is breaking down again thanks to her."

"Dash, knock it off," Applejack hissed more urgently from behind.

"Not now, AJ. Anyway, I admit I screwed up somewhere, but in the end, all of that is Sunset's fault. She’s been playing us all this time, pretending to be our friend only to betray us!"

"Rainbow!" Applejack grabbed Rainbow’s shoulders from behind. Rainbow had been so caught up in her explanation that she didn't pay attention to Twilight's expression, which grew darker with every word Rainbow said. Applejack and the others did, however, and they slowly took steps back from the infuriated girl.

Rainbow shrugged off Applejack’s arm. "Hold on, AJ! Whatever it is can wait.” Rainbow turned back to Twilight. “So, Twi, do you think you can help us with that traitor, or—"

The student body stared in shocked silence as Twilight slapped Rainbow Dash hard enough to jerk her head to the side, the crack resounding throughout the courtyard.

"Rainbow!" Fluttershy exclaimed, her hands covering her mouth. She and her friends rushed across the short distance to stand beside her friend. Rainbow herself remained still, her eyes wide open in surprise while her mind tried to make sense out of what happened. After several long moments, she moved her left hand to touch her cheek and flinched upon making contact before she turned her head to look at Twilight.

"Talk about her like that one more time, Rainbow Dash, and I will forget that she asked me to go easy on you," Twilight growled.

Rainbow gaped at Twilight with wide eyes, doing her best impression of a fish. “But… why? Why would you defend her after everything she did?”

“I’m aware of everything that happened, or did you forget the journal she uses to keep in contact with me? And what exactly did she do?” Twilight asked sharply, poking Rainbow hard in the chest with her finger. “She did everything she could do to make up for her past mistakes, and she helped to save your sorry asses from the sirens! And you rewarded her by stabbing her in the back and twisting the knife! And don’t even get me started on what’s going on with Gilda!” She shifted her attention to the rest of the group. “And you’re no better, you—”

“Twilight… We know who it is…” Applejack admitted just loud enough for the princess to hear. “We listened to the message Sunset sent us…”

Twilight’s glare softened lightly. "You did?" She received nods from all four girls, neither of them looking her in the eyes. She looked at Rainbow, who was looking from one of her friends to the next, confusion written on her face. "And Rainbow didn't, I suppose?"

Applejack nodded again. "She... deleted it without listening to it. We were just about to tell her when you arrived, and—"

"Stop," Twilight interrupted. She remained silent for several long seconds before she pointed at Rainbow. "You are staying here. The rest are coming with me. And don't even think about following and listening in, Rainbow, or your cheek will be the least of your problems."

Rainbow stared at the princess and gulped before nodding. Twilight walked off to the side, away from any listeners, with the rest of the Rainbooms following her. Once she was far enough away, she turned around.

"Where are they?" she asked. None of the girls needed to ask who she was talking about.

"I saw them going into the auditorium before we met," Pinkie said, her voice quiet and several strands of greyish-pink hair hanging over her face.

"Why would you let them walk inside if you—" Twilight asked, before she stopped and narrowed her eyes. "You only listened to it shortly before I arrived, didn’t you?" Upon receiving several nods, Twilight groaned. "I didn't want to believe it when Sunset told me about it, but you really don't trust her at all! Not even enough to listen to a recording that proved her innocence!

"What would you have done if I hadn’t shown up? Walk in and get them out? Good luck with that, because the faculty know about them and won't let them get away, and if you talk about it in there, someone will hear it.

"You could have stopped them if you had listened to the recording when you had gotten it, but you didn't give Sunset the benefit of the doubt, and now, it's too late." Each of the girls was devastated upon hearing Twilight's words. Pinkie was holding Fluttershy, who went back to crying on her shoulder, while Applejack had pulled her hat down over her face. Tears were streaming down Rarity's cheeks, but soon, she shook her head and stepped forward, her hands folded together.

"Please, Twilight, there must be something we can do!" she begged. "They made a huge mistake, but they are kids. Can't they get one last chance?"

Twilight stood still, her arm crossed with her eyes closed. She did her best to stay strong, but after several long moments, she sighed. "I'm willing to talk to Sunset about giving them one last chance," she began, "but only under two conditions.

"First, you are not allowed to talk to them and tell them to confess before the assembly. If they are confessing, it must be from them realizing they messed up. There will be consequences for them, but at least they will have come forward themselves, which might lighten their punishment."

Rarity looked at Applejack to see her reaction. Since it's their sisters all of this is about, the decision lay with them. Applejack sighed. "Ah guess that's the best we can ask for."

Rarity nodded. "I don't like it, but I agree." She turned back to look at the princess. "And what is that second condition?"

"You are not going to tell Rainbow Dash who Anon-a-Miss is."

All four girls stared at the princess in shock. "Ya can't be serious, Twi. Why should she not know who it is?"

"Oh, she’ll know soon enough," Twilight said. "She has made it clear enough that she doesn't care in the slightest if Sunset might be innocent. From what I learned, she was the most aggressive towards Sunset. She punched her in the face, is at least partly responsible for what happened with Gilda, threatened the other Sunset with violence too when they met the first time, and to top it off, she immediately deleted the proof Sunset gave you all without listening to it, thinking she was up to something, and she bad-mouthed to my face. You four at least didn't get violent and listened to the recording, albeit a bit late, but if that’s how she treats Sunset, then she will learn the truth at the assembly, like the rest of the school, without any forewarning.

“Those are my conditions, and I want you to Pinkie Promise that you will follow them. Keep in mind that I can only promise to talk with Sunset and the others, but not that they will agree." The four girls huddled together to discuss the matter, but soon enough, they agreed and, with the necessary gestures, promised to follow the conditions. "Good. Make sure to not break your promise, or you’ll have to deal with Pinkie Pie."

The group looked at each other in confusion. "No offense, darling, but is it right to expect Pinkie to 'deal' with us and herself?" Rarity asked.

"Who said anything about your Pinkie?"

It didn't take long for the Rainbooms to understand the implication, and they all paled while thinking about the possible consequences.

"L-Let's make sure to keep this promise..." Pinkie said quietly. The others nodded in agreement.

"Twilight!"

All of them turned in the direction of the voice to see one of the Sunsets walking up to them, several bruises visible on her face and dirt clinging to her clothes. Upon arrival, she focused on the princess, totally ignoring the Rainbooms. "It’s good to see you. Let's get inside. Sunset went ahead to see if her parents had arrived yet."

"Alright, but what happened to you?" Twilight asked, looking over her friend in concern.

"Gilda. I’ll explain once we’re all together." Twilight nodded, and together, the two girls started walking towards the school entrance.

Applejack reached out a hand. "Sunset, we—"

"Save it, Applejack! I don't have anything to say to you right now!" Shimmer said coldly without looking at the girl.

Applejack stood in place, her hand still outstretched before she let it fall down. Together with the rest of the Rainbooms, she watched as the two of them entered the school.

~*~

Sunset stepped through the door into Canterlot High, pausing to take it all in. She had been outside of the school several times this week, but this was the first time that she actually set foot inside the halls. She took in every detail, like the Canterlot Wondercolts banners decorating the walls or the glass case with trophies the school had won over time. She also took in how the students walked around, chatting with each other. Sadly, not all of those were friendly conversations, which she had expected from Shimmer's stories. Many students were arguing with each other loudly, probably about something Anon-a-Miss posted about them once again.

The longer she stood around in the entrance area, the more attention she gathered. Several students had already started glaring at her and whispering with each other while looking in her direction.

But Sunset paid them no mind as she started walking again, looking for the principal’s office; she doubted that anyone would do anything drastic while she was inside the school.

"Well, well, well. Look who decided to grace us with her presence after being gone for the whole week."

Sunset sighed. Apparently, there was at least one person who could not leave her alone. Looking over her shoulder, she saw a girl slightly smaller than she was leaning against a locker with a smirk on her face, her arms crossed before her body. She wore a tracksuit, so it was likely that she was an athlete. Her skin was a light turquoise, and her hair was a mix of two shades of yellow.

Sunset looked at her over her shoulder, unimpressed. "No idea what you’re talking about. Could you tell me where I can find the principal's office?"

The smirk fell off the girl’s face, and she stepped up from the locker. "You playing dumb or what? Don't pretend like you don't know where her office is."

Sunset shrugged. "I was just asking, but maybe you’re as clueless as I am."

"As if! You are just trying to change the topic, Anon-a-Miss."

Ignoring her, Sunset walked up to another student who hadn't been paying attention to them. "Excuse me, can you tell me where Principal Celestia's office is?"

The aggressor stared dumbfoundedly after Sunset. "Hey, I'm still talking to you!"

The other student regarded her with a raised eyebrow, but instead of questioning her, he simply pointed down the hallway to an unassuming door near the atrium.

Sunset smiled. "Thank you," she said before taking the first step down the hall.

The girl was clenching her teeth in rage at this point and stomped over to Sunset. "Stop ignoring me, you little—" Her advance was stopped by a hand on her shoulder from behind. "Hey, take your hand off... me..."

Looking over her shoulder, she followed the arm connected to the hand and looked up. And up.

Yes, Desert Sunrise was a huge man, especially to the relatively smaller girl. The man stared down at her. "Young lady, let me offer you some advice before you continue. An unprovoked assault can lead to massive problems for you, ranging from community service to jail time depending on the situation and the severity of injuries you inflict. It would be wise to think about the consequences of your actions before you act."

His gaze hardened, and he looked down with cold eyes, which sent a shiver down the girl’s back. "Of course, even before the police are called, you would need to answer to me if you raise your hand against my daughter."

The girl looked in surprise at Sunset, who was watching them with a smile on her face. "Hi, Mum. Hi, Dad."

Desert smiled at her while her mum waved from behind him. At that moment, he realized someone was missing. "Where is... your friend?" he asked, not sure if the surrounding students should know about the two of them. "And where’s Will?"

"She’s outside. She saw Twilight and went to pick her up while I went ahead," Sunset replied. "Will is with the police. We had a small problem on our way, but everything is taken care of."

"Ah, there you are," a voice called from behind Desert and Star. Turning around, they saw Shimmer entering the building with Twilight by her side. All around them, the students that had been paying attention to the conversation started staring at her and whispering about the two identical girls.

Star gasped and rushed over to Shimmer when she saw her bruised face. Desert turned his attention back to his daughter and raised an eyebrow. "Small problem?"

"Yep, small! You should see what Gilda looks like!"

A moment later, Twilight, Shimmer and Star walked up to them. Shimmer grinned when her eyes fell on the girl on whose shoulder Desert’s hand was still resting, her eyes wide open and looking from her to Sunset and back.

"Hey, Lightning Dust, is everything alright? You look like you’ve seen a ghost," Shimmer taunted. Lightning Dust did not respond outside of her still moving eyes. "Huh, looks like we broke her. Oh, well, she’ll go back to normal soon enough, I guess. Should we move on? Principal Celestia is waiting."

"I only have one question," Desert said. "Sunset, was she among those that attacked you?"

Sunset took a moment to look at Lightning Dust before she shook her head. "No, never saw her before."

"Very well. Keep in mind what I told you, young lady," Desert said. He took his hand off of Lightning's shoulder and turned his attention to Shimmer. "Lead the way."

Shimmer nodded and walked past the group down the hallway. The others followed, leaving the whispering students and a shocked Lightning Dust behind.

Soon enough, the group arrived at the principal’s office. Shimmer knocked and, after hearing the welcome, walked inside. Principal Celestia sat behind her desk, with Vice Principal Luna standing behind her. They both gasped upon seeing Shimmer.

"Sunset! What happened to you?" Celestia asked as she stood up and walked around her desk.

"It's not that bad," she said with a wave of her hand. "I had a small run-in with Gilda. I’ll tell you in a few minutes." She stepped aside and let the others walk inside. "For now, we have some introductions to take care of."

Desert Sunrise stepped forward. "Principal Celestia, I'm Desert Sunrise." He motioned behind him. "These are my wife Northern Star and my daughter Sunset Shimmer, but I assume you could tell yourself."

Celestia looked over Sunset for a moment before she offered her hand to Desert, who took it. "It's a pleasure to meet you, even if the circumstances could be better. This is my sister Vice Principal Luna," she said with a wave to her sister, who stared at Sunset.

"Well, I’ll be..." Luna mumbled. "Barely any difference between the two of you."

Sunset and Shimmer looked at each other. "Please, I look much better," they said in unison, blinking afterwards. They and the others shared a laugh, helping to raise everyone’s spirits.

"Alright, so what was that about Gilda?" Celestia asked, but before Shimmer could say anything, Twilight coughed.

"Actually, I would like to bring something else up first. Regarding Anon-a-Miss."

Shimmer looked at Twilight with one raised eyebrow. "Why do I have the feeling it has to do with them and that I won't like it?"

~*~

The auditorium was filled to the max with students waiting for the assembly to begin. The appearance of a second Sunset was the main topic among the students’ conversation, but not many of those that didn't see her believed the stories.

The tension in the room only increased as the minutes approached showtime, until finally, the speaker system came to life, and Principal Celestia's voice echoed through the room.

"Attention, students! The assembly will be postponed for another fifteen minutes. During this time, you are to stay inside the auditorium. If you need to leave for any reason, please talk to one of the faculty members inside.

"We know that you are in this room, Anon-a-Miss. You have the opportunity to come forward to one of the teachers and confess to us.

"This is your last chance!"

Author's Note

I have been looking forward to this chapter for a really long time, just for the 'Twilight slapping Rainbow' moment. And even till the end I was debating with myself if it should be a slap or a punch, but in the end a punch from Twilight felt too out of character, even if it would have been more fun :rainbowlaugh:

As always my biggest thanks go to icecreammac for his help with editing

The moment of truth for the school (and Rainbow) is crawling closer, maybe even more than you think :scootangel:

Chapter 13 Author's Note

SURPISE UPDATE!

As I replied to some of you, the enxt chapter might come sooner than you think :rainbowlaugh:
And for the why exactly, on this day one year ago I published the first chapter of Blamed, and it has been a really fun year working on this story. And to think that I only published the first chapter, without a complete plan at the time regarding the plot, to see if there might be any interest in my little silly idea. I never thought it might get this amount of attention :raritystarry:

I wanna thank all of you for following me on this little journey, and I hope you will stay till the end. A lot of ideas I worked into this came from comments and from my friends on discord I met thanks to this story and I don't wanna miss any longer now :pinkiehappy:
and of course my biggest thanks goes to icecreammac who offered his help editing everything I manage to squeeze out here and makes it readable :rainbowlaugh:

I hope you enjoy this chapter, and the ones that follow after this :moustache:

Chapter 13

Shimmer had decided to enter the assembly hall ahead of time, taking her seat in the back on stage. Many students watched her as she waited with crossed arms beside Vice Principal Luna, who had decided to follow her to prevent any conflict with the other students.

She listened in silence to the other students’ whispers and murmurs. She could hear some of them talk about how she finally confessed and that Luna was making sure she would not run. Others talked about what they had seen that morning in front of and inside the school, about a second Sunset walking around, though many who didn’t witness the events didn’t believe those claims. Another few talked about how Twilight returned and about what she did to Rainbow Dash.

Looking over the aisles to where the Rainbooms were sitting, she saw exactly what that was about. She had not really seen Rainbow earlier, and Twilight had only mentioned what happened, but judging by the clearly visible handprint on the girl’s cheek, she knew that that was going to sting for quite some time.

‘Note to self: Never piss off the Princess of Friendship,’ Sunset thought; if that was her going easy on Rainbow, she really didn't want to see what Twilight was willing to do when she was serious.

Shifting her gaze away from them, Shimmer looked over the gathered students, ignoring the few angry glares she received, until she found who she was looking for. The Crusaders sat on the left—her left—side of the room near the middle, not so far away from one of the entrances of the room. They were busy talking to each other, but none of them made any move that indicated that they would stand up and approach a teacher or other faculty member that was gathered around the room.

Just behind them, near the entrance close to them, stood Granny Smith, her eyes focused on the three girls with a frown on her face. The faculty members had been informed about what happened and what would happen today. Needless to say, Granny had not been amused upon hearing what Apple Bloom did, but she agreed that the damage had been done and that she would let the principal handle the situation. No matter what she did, it wouldn't change much in the end.

Shimmer looked at the clock hanging on the wall. 'Still five minutes left for them. Maybe they’ll come forward themselves.’

~*~

Time was up, and none of the Crusaders has moved from their place. When Shimmer noticed some movement and saw Twilight and Principal Celestia walk on stage, she sighed.

'Well, they had their chances,' she thought before standing up. She hugged Twilight once she reached her and nodded at the principal before both girls sat down.

Celestia herself stepped up to the podium with the microphone, her sister already waiting for her. For a long moment, she simply looked over the gathered students, before finally, she spoke.

"Under normal circumstances, I would open this assembly by wishing all of you a good day, but as I’m sure we’re all aware, today simply is nota good day." The gathered students murmured to each other, and Celestia waited for a few moments before continuing, "We are very much aware of what has been going on these past two weeks regarding Anon-a-Miss, and I must say I'm very disappointed in all of you," Celestia continued. "After everything that happened, after everything Princess Twilight did to renew our school spirit and friendships, I never would have imagined it would be so easy to tear this school apart again.

"Now, I received reports about students making fun of each other, arguing with old friends, breaking off friendships for good, and in the worst cases, physically fighting in the hallways these past few days!" She punctuated her grievances with a strike to the podium, the feedback of the microphone making everyone present cover their ears from the sharp sound. "This ends now! And to start things off, I'm telling you: Sunset Shimmer is not Anon-a-Miss."

As expected, the volume in the hall heightened immediately after she said those words.

"Of course, she is!"

"We all know it's her!"

"You’re just trying to protect her!"

"Who else could it be?!"

Those were just a few of the things Celestia managed to hear over them yelling over each other. She waited for them to calm down again, but after a minute, she had enough. Just as she opened her mouth to demand silence, she was interrupted from behind.

"QUIET!"

It took only a few seconds for everyone to follow that order, and they all watched as Twilight stepped up besides Celestia. Without saying anything or even looking at her, Twilight held her hand out demandingly to Celestia, who took the microphone from its stand and gave it to her.

"The first time I heard about how all of you started acting after this whole thing began, I didn't believe it. Now, I see that all my effort in uniting you was a waste if this is enough to destroy it again."

Twilight began walking along the edge of the stage without taking her eyes from the students. "I can assure all of you as well that Sunset is not the one responsible, if you are not willing to believe Principal Celestia.”

Twilight looked at a few of the front-row students. "Did Anon-a-Miss post anything over the past few days?" she asked. They nodded angrily, and Twilight continued, "Sunset has been with me in Equestria since Monday morning."

That information caused a new wave of talking from the other students, but this time, no one was yelling. From her position, Twilight noticed two groups with different reactions as the others. The first were the Rainbooms, who looked at each other in surprise or, in Rainbow's case, in wide-eyed shock. A similar reaction could be seen from the Crusaders, who had their heads together and were talking quietly with each other.

'Seems they realized they messed up,' Twilight thought.

"How do we know you’re telling the truth?!" someone shouted from the audience. "Who tells us you’re not lying to help her?"

Twilight looked over the crowd to localize the owner of the way-too-familiar voice. It didn't take her long to find her after she rose from her seat.

"No one, but let's look at this from another side, Trixie," she responded as she frowned at the blue-skinned girl. "Why do you believe the one behind Anon-a-Miss is Sunset?"

Trixie scoffed and waved with her hand. "Oh, please. Just look at her page, and it’s clear that it's Sunset Shimmer."

"Really?" Twilight responded before she looked at Luna and nodded. Luna took a remote from her pocket, and after pressing a few buttons, she activated the projector hanging from the ceiling, which showed the Anon-a-Miss page on the wall behind Twilight. "I assume you are talking about that image of Sunset's silhouette in her colors?"

Twilight turned and glared at Trixie. "Seriously, if that’s all you got, it's pretty weak. I mean, even I could do something like this if you give me some time to figure out how these computers work!"

Trixie's confidence fell, but she soon caught herself. "What about the fact that she’s done this before? She always collected secrets and held them over our heads!" The crowd grew louder, agreeing with Trixie, who smirked at the princess, sure that she had won this time.

Twilight stayed calm. "Yes, she did spy on many of you and threatened to expose secrets, but there is one huge difference this time: The old Sunset used that knowledge to oppress you, so that you wouldn't get in her way. From what I know, she has never made something public as long as you did as she said. She never published anything for fun or without a reason.

"And besides, what would she gain from this? Do you think she wants to be hated, to lose the friends and the redemption she worked so hard for?"

Trixie stared at Twilight with wide eyes, her mouth opening several times just to close soon after, before she sat down again. Done with one, she addressed the rest of the room. "Any more arguments?"

The room was quiet for a moment, before someone else yelled, "The Rainbooms said last week that she’s the only one who could have posted those pictures!" Many eyes turned to the mentioned group, who didn't feel as confident as the center of attention as usual.

"And have you thought of the possibility that the Rainbooms might be wrong and that they are a bunch of idiots who abandoned a friend?"

Silence filled the room as many stared at Twilight with open mouths. The Rainbooms flinched and looked down in shame, knowing it was true; all besides Rainbow, who looked at her friends in confusion.

"Aren't they your friends? How can you say that about them?" someone asked.

"That's where you’re wrong and where I made the same mistake," Twilight slowly said. "They are not my friends. They only look like them." Upon seeing the confusion spreading, she continued, "That's one thing you need to know about our two worlds. They may be different, but there are also similarities. They are mirror versions of each other, and they share the inhabitants in some ways.

"In my world, there is another Celestia, Trixie, Cheerilee, and so on. Most, if not all, of you have another version in my world. The Rainbooms are your worlds versions of my best friends, and I assumed they were one in the same, essentially. I was wrong."

No one said anything while they all took in this new information. Twilight could see on their faces that some of them connected the pieces from what she said earlier and what they saw this morning, but many more were just confused.

"Anyone else with 'proof' of Sunset's guilt?"

Another round of silence greeted her, and once again, it was broken by a shout. "We saw her in town this week, so she can't have been with you!"

Twilight raised the microphone, but before she got to answer, Celestia stepped in. "I think I should take it from here again. Thank you, Twilight, for shedding some light on things." Twilight nodded and returned to her seat after she handed the microphone to the principal.

"That point you just mentioned brings us to the most serious part," Celestia began. "The violence that started here did not stay on school grounds. Many of you decided to go after Sunset during after-school hours, inflicting several minor injuries on her. As you heard from Princess Twilight, she returned to her world before something worse could happen. They thought that after a few days without her around, everything would calm down, that once the posts continue without Sunset being around at those times, her innocence would be proven. Sadly, fate had other plans."

She motioned to the side of the stage. "I would like to introduce you to Desert Sunrise and Northern Star, along with their daughter Sunset Shimmer."

She watched in satisfaction how the entirety of the room fell silent and stared at the family of three that walked in from the side. Or, more precisely, at the girl that looked just like the one they had known and feared for years. The three took their seats behind Celestia, with Desert Sunrise frowning at the gathered students with crossed arms while Northern Star and Sunset had their eyes closed, not giving them any attention.

With her guests seated, Celestia turned back to the crowd. "As I can see from your expressions, most of you managed to connect the dots, but for those who didn't, I will explain.

"While Miss Shimmer, as I will call her to avoid confusion, crossed over into her world, Miss Sunset and her family arrived in town last weekend. Without knowing about Anon-a-Miss, she stayed behind while her parents went back to Manehattan to overlook the move, and on her first day out in town, she was ambushed. Things became no better over the following days.

"I hope that I don't need to point out how much trouble those that took 'justice' into their own hands and are involved in this are in. The authorities have been informed, and the assaults are being investigated as we speak. There is not much I can do for any of you, even if I wanted to, but let me give you this last piece of advice.”

Celestia waited for a tense moment of silence before finishing, “Come forward later and confess what you did. Otherwise, your punishment will only be harder."

Many students began whispering to each other upon hearing this. Celestia also noticed some of them with panic written over their faces.

She raised the microphone again, but before she could say anything, she noticed more and more students going quiet and looking at something behind her. Turning her head, she saw Desert Sunrise standing behind her, his hand held out. "May I?" Celestia nodded and gave him the microphone before making space for him. He stepped up and looked over the hall before speaking.

"I will make this short before I say some things that should never be said in a school. Some of you might think about running away to avoid punishment, but let me make this clear: I will not let this rest until each and every one of you that harmed my daughter is found! No matter how long it may take, I will find you, so I would think twice before doing anything stupid!"

He waited a moment to let his message sink in before returning the microphone to Celestia and going back to his seat. Celestia nodded at him and said to the crowd, "Now, with that part done, I think it's time to tend to the matter everyone’s been waiting for.

"We can assure you that Anon-a-Miss won't be an issue any longer. The police have already been contacted, and they are working out the details with MyStable right now to bring the account down. Some of you might think that MyStable can't reveal personal data of users, as is stated in their terms of privacy. Usually, that's true, but if a serious crime is involved, the police can and will overrule that right.

"In this case, those crimes would be aggravated assault, battery, and attempted murder."

Several gasps ran through the hall, along with shocked faces on almost everyone. The biggest reactions came from the Rainbooms and the Crusaders, who looked at her in disbelief.

"Yes, Anon-a-Miss, thanks to your work, Miss Sunset over here has been attacked, and without the help of Miss Shimmer, who returned to our world at the right time and came across the scene by sheer luck, it is possible that she would not be with us any longer. I hope you are proud of yourselves."

Celestia saw a wide variety of reactions, from disbelief to shock and surprise. Sadly, she also noticed some students without any kind of reaction, as if they don't even care that an innocent girl could be dead by now.

Slowly a blue hand rose from the masses, the owner not as confident as she was before.

"Yes, Miss Lulamoon?"

Trixie slowly stood up, her face a much paler blue than usual. She opened and closed her mouth several times as she tried to figure out what to say. "Wh-Who was... What happened? I mean..."

Celestia sighed. "Usually, I would not say anything, since it's a private matter, but regarding the gossip mill of this school, it wouldn't be long until you find out. The assailant was Gilda Griffon, and she has been taken into custody this morning after a second failed attempt to 'deal' with Miss Sunset and Miss Shimmer."

Celestia waited for a minute for the chatter that followed to calm down, but when nothing happened, she cleared her throat loudly over the microphone.

"Now, we are going to reveal to all of you who really is behind Anon-a-Miss, but before doing so, let me make one thing clear: Until now, I have always stayed calm and solved every problem peacefully, but I have had enough of this. It seems that it is necessary to take the kid gloves off to get this done. So, if any of you tries to lay a single finger on the ones responsible, there will be consequences, and I'm not only talking about detention but about outright suspension, expulsion, and perhaps even legal action if necessary!

"I can understand that you all are angry, but keep in mind that you all are also to blame for this getting out of hand." As she had expected, the outcry was intense. Most of the crowd started yelling over each other, asking for why they were getting punished. Celestia’s amplified voice dominated the outcry as she said, "No one forced you to keep track of Anon-a-Miss. You all could have simply ignored it, but you chose to watch it, to follow it, and to laugh along with it. And because of this, there will be consequences for all of you, which will be decided over Winter Break. Enjoy it."

Without another word, Celestia stepped aside, nodding to her sister while doing so. Luna once again pulled out the remote and pressed a few buttons, starting the same recording the four members of the Rainbooms listened to earlier.

While the recording echoed through the room, Celestia saw that many students quickly came to the conclusion where this was going and started looking at the three girls. They, on the other hand, simply sat there, eyes and mouths wide open in shock while everything was revealed to the school. The room remained quiet during the entire time and for the first long moments after the end, but soon enough, the room exploded in volume. Many students shouted obscenities over each other at the Crusaders, who sank into their seats, covering themselves with their arms.

Two or three students, Celestia couldn't see how many exactly from her position, tried to get their hands at the three girls but were stopped by several faculty members while other faculty members pulled the girls out of their seats toward the nearby exit.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Celestia yelled into the microphone, making the room fall quiet as everyone protecting their ears from the feedback. "You all have done enough already. Their punishment will be enacted later." She frowned at the students that tried to get to the Crusaders. "And I will see you later to discuss your punishment as well."

Slowly, the gathered students calmed down while the Crusaders remained near the door, still cowering without meeting anyone’s eyes.

Celestia cleared her throat. "I think that is all for now. Details regarding the punishments will be given after Winter Break. And once again, I want to appeal to your common sense and hope that you come forward to the police if you have done something to Miss Sunset this week."

She turned back to look at the gathered guests behind her. "Does someone want to say anything before we finish?" At first, no one moved, and the crowd, thinking it was over, started talking to each other. They all fell silent again when Shimmer rose from her seat and approached the principal who handed over the microphone. At first, she simply stood there, looking over the gathered students. Many were looking at her, their faces clearly expressing how sorry they were for how they treated her, while others couldn't even meet her gaze and looked away.

"I tried," she finally said. "I tried to make up for my past actions since the Fall Formal. I did everything I could think of to prove that I had changed, and I helped save you from the sirens during the Battle of the Bands. I thought I had been finally forgiven, but it seems I was wrong.

"You made me feel forgiven, even accepted after everything I did, and I truly thought that I had finally found a place I could call home." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Making someone feel so at ease that they think that they, after years of loneliness, can drop their guard and be herself only to get a knife in the back is one of the cruelest things you can do.

"Now, I'm done trying. I don't care anymore what all of you think of me. You can go to Tartarus for all I care."

With those words, Shimmer handed the microphone to the principal and left the stage, Sunset and her family following her. Celestia raised the microphone and spoke.

"This assembly is over. I wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, for all it's worth."

~*~

Silence reigned as the Crusaders waited patiently for the hall to be cleared of students, with Mr. Doodle standing watch over them, his back turned to them.

None of them could believe what they had heard at the assembly. Sunset was right. To even think that someone attacked Sunset because of them was too much, but that they really did attack the other Sunset...

At that moment, the door closest to them opened, and Vice Principal Luna appeared and looked at them. "Thanks for watching over them, Cranky. I will take it from here. You three, follow me," was all she said before she turned and walked out again.

Without saying anything, the Crusaders followed her, their heads hung low and gazes focused on their feet. The walk through the halls seemed to take forever for the three girls, who were not looking forward to what was awaiting them in the principal's office.

“SCOOTALOO!”

The entire group stopped and looked down the hall behind them. The Crusader’s eyes widened when they saw the five Rainbooms down the hall behind them, with Applejack and Pinkie Pie doing their best to hold back an enraged Rainbow Dash while Fluttershy cowered with Rarity behind the three, the latter glaring at her sister in disappointment. As the group got closer and Rainbow Dash refused to calm down, the Crusaders backed up, huddling together behind Luna. Luna folded her arms in front of her, shielding the girls from Rainbow Dash as she waited for them to get closer so that she didn’t need to yell.

“Rainbow Dash, I advise you to calm down. Everything my sister said during the assembly regarding aggression against these three still applies, no matter how personal your connection to them.”

Stopping her struggle against her friends, Rainbow looked first at Luna before glaring harshly at Scootaloo, who was looking at her with wide eyes from behind the vice principal. Sighing, she turned her head back to look at her two friends. “You can let go; I’ll behave,” she said. Applejack and Pinkie shared a glance before releasing their friend. “And we’re gonna talk later,” she hissed at the freshman, who started crying from her idol’s aggression.

“And the same goes for you two,” Rarity added, stepping forward to stand with Applejack.

“Actually, it’s good that you are here; you are expected in my sister’s office as well,” Luna said before turning around, making sure to stay between Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo just in case the former lashed out again. “So, if you don’t mind, please follow me.”

The girls looked at each other in confusion. “Excuse me, Vice Principal Luna, but I can understand the three of us, regarding our sisters’ actions,” Rarity said, “but why would Principal Celestia want to talk with Fluttershy and Pinkie?”

“Your sisters’ punishment will be discussed with their guardians later,” Luna said without turning around again. “And it is not my sister who expects you in her office.” With those words, Luna continued on her way to her sister’s office, the Crusaders walking in front of her. The Rainbooms shared one last, concerned look before following.

Interlude

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 14

The Rainbooms and the Crusaders waited outside Principal Celestia's office, each group keeping to themselves. While the Crusaders stared down at their feet, the Rainbooms kept looking at the Crusaders with a mix of anger and disappointment about their actions.

Vice Principal Luna had left them alone mere minutes ago to inform her sister of the presence of both groups instead of just the three freshmen. She had also warned them to remain quiet and not to do anything all of them would regret. Those last words had mostly been directed at Rainbow Dash, who had crossed her arms and turned away.

The hallway was too quiet for each of their likings, with the only sounds being their own little movements and the muffled voices from inside the office, which were still too quiet to tell who was talking.

"Rarity?" The fashionista turned her head to look at her sister. Sweetie Belle was barely looking up into her eyes, twiddling her thumbs. "Are you... Are you mad at me?"

Rarity fully turned to face her sister, her face not showing any kind of emotion. "No, I'm not..."

Sweetie Belle raised her head in surprise, staring at her sister.

"I'm furious!" she suddenly hissed without raising her voice, her expression shifting to anger. Sweetie Belle recoiled in shock and took a step away from her sister, tears welling up in her eyes. "I'm barely holding myself back from causing a scene in public, but you will hear all of that once we are home!"

"The same goes for you, Apple Bloom," Applejack said, her head turned to look at her sister. "Ah’d hate to be in your shoes once Granny gets to ya." Apple Bloom flinched upon hearing her sister's cold tone, and just the thought of Granny Smith made a shiver run down her spine.

Scootaloo stood to the side, her eyes now fixed on her idol, who was standing a short distance behind her friends, her back turned to them and her arms still crossed in front of her. She opened her mouth a few times but closed it each time, not knowing what to say. "Rainbow..."

"Shut up!" Rainbow growled without moving. "And stay away from me!"

Scootaloo recoiled as if struck, her eyes widening in terror at the anger radiating from her idol.

The office door opened before any more could be said or done, and Luna stepped out.

"You can all come in now." She saw Rarity starting to say something but stopped her with her raised hand. "Save your questions for my sister." She turned and walked back inside with the girls following her.

The office was cramped with people now after adding the girls. The Crusaders gathered on the left side after entering, while the Rainbooms went in right after them. Applejack and Rarity made sure to stand close to their sisters while Rainbow stood as far away from Scootaloo as possible. Principal Celestia stood near the wall on the left in the back, Sunset and her parents on the right with Twilight. Luna made her way over to stand beside her sister. Leaning against the principal's desk at the back stood Shimmer, her arms crossed and her eyes closed. She made no move at all while the room fell quiet.

"Well?" Shimmer asked after several moments of silence, her eyes still closed and her voice emotionless. "Nothing to say? No 'secret stealer', 'traitor' or 'she-demon' this time? I kinda got used to hearing those these past two weeks." The Rainbooms flinched, looking away from her. Shimmer opened her eyes to look over her former friends, until her eyes rested on Applejack. "You wanted to speak with me earlier. Now’s your chance. I'm listening, which is more than you allowed me."

Applejack sighed. "Sunset, Ah—no, we’re sorry for everything. It was wrong of us to assume you were the one behind Anon-a-Miss. We shouldn'ta jumped to conclusions like that."

"Applejack is right," Rarity said. "What we did was unacceptable, and I feel terrible for everything we did and said to you."

"I feel really bad for all the mean things I said to you, and I would do everything to make you smile again, but I don't think there’s anything I can do," Pinkie said as she held a sniffling Fluttershy close.

"I... I would love to go back to how everything was, but that's impossible," Fluttershy said just loud enough to be heard.

Rainbow Dash tried to say something, anything, but her words failed her, and she simply stared at the floor, ashamed of herself, unable to even look into Shimmer's eyes.

Shimmer stood in front of the gathered Rainbooms, her anger reaching new heights with each word they said, but she waited until they were done.

"That's it? That's all you have to say?" Shimmer balled her fists in anger, her knuckles turning white. "After everything you did, all I get is a few half-hearted apologies I'm supposed to take seriously?! You don’t even get why I’m mad!”

The girls fell quiet, looking at Shimmer in shock. “What do you mean, darling?” Rarity finally asked carefully.

Shimmer pushed herself up from her position against the desk and narrowed her eyes. “You dropped me immediately when it seemed I had done something, but what pisses me off is the fact that you didn’t even give me a chance to prove to you that I was innocent. After everything I did to show that I changed, after helping you to fight off the sirens at the Battle of the Bands, you didn’t even consider that I might be framed!"

“Sunset, please…”

Shimmer whirled around towards the country girl. “Shut up, Applejack! I’m not done yet!”

Applejack took a step back. She had never seen Shimmer this furious, not even at the Fall Formal.

Sunset on the side looked at her friend in worry. She took a step forward to calm her down like she did the previous day at Sugarcube Corner, but was stopped by a hand on her shoulder. Following the arm, she looked up at her dad, who only shook his head. Desert Sunrise has seen similar situations before and knew that Shimmer had to let all of this out now before it consumed her from the inside. On the other hand, he was also ready to step in should she get too riled up and turned to violence in her anger.

"I pleaded, begged and even cried to you to give me a chance," Shimmer continued her rant, "but all I got was a slew of insults and a fist to my face! And if that wasn't already enough, you even had to throw me to the wolves!” Seeing the questioning looks on their faces, she got even angrier. “What, didn’t realize it yet? It even came up during the assembly! When the whole mess began, the most I got from the other students was a glare and some hushed whispers behind my back. All they had were their suspicions that it was me based on that stupid profile picture, but after you called me out in the hallway, they all went after me. After all, when the beloved heroes of the school say it can only be Sunset, it must be true, right? They only suspected me to be Anon-A-Miss, but you are the ones who painted the target on my back! Everything that happened to me and Sunset is your fault!”

Shimmer was breathing heavily now, but slowly, she calmed down. The Rainbooms looked at her in shock as they realized that she was right. The other students only started pestering her after they called her out. Without them, it was entirely possible that they would have left her alone.

"What... What have we done?" Fluttershy whispered as she sank down to the floor, burying her face in the palms of her hands to cry. Pinkie was by her side, hugging her. Rarity cried as well, her make-up running down her cheeks in black lines. Applejack had her hat pulled down to cover most of her face, but her gritted teeth were still visible. Rainbow was staring at Shimmer, her eyes wide and darting from side to side as she processed everything and how much of it was her doing.

It took Shimmer a few minutes to get her breathing back to normal again, but she was not done yet. She brought her gaze to look into the eyes of Rainbow Dash, who recoiled slightly as if she had been struck.

“And then there is you, and the little problem we have with what Gilda said…”

Rainbows eyes widened again, and she gulped. "Sunset, please, I had nothing to do with Gilda attacking you or her!" Rainbow pleaded, pointing at Sunset. "It was just a bad choice of words, and Gilda acted on her own. You have to believe me!"

Shimmer remained quiet, glaring at the girl in front of her. No one said anything for several long moments until she answered.

"Honesty lied to my face by claiming to be my friend and that I was family. Generosity cast me out once everything went down to save her own reputation. Kindness and Laughter both left me alone, sunk to the floor in the middle of the hallway, crying my eyes out.

"Why should I believe that Loyalty wouldn't stab me in the back the moment I get on her bad side?"

Rainbow stumbled back, her gaze lowering to the floor. "Y-You’re right... I'm a lousy friend, if I can even call myself that. So, whatever you are going to do, I deserve it." She closed her eyes and waited for the punch she expected to come, but nothing happened.

"I'm not going to do anything."

Rainbow looked up again and blinked. "Huh?"

"As much as I want to 'repay' you for your punch, and as much as it would make me feel better, I won't do it. 'An eye for an eye makes the world go blind,’ or however that saying goes.

"And besides, if Gilda stays with her side of the story, you’re in enough trouble already, with a charge for conspiracy on you. And even if they can't prove that you had anything to do with it, there will always be this shimmer of doubt hanging over your head." Rainbow's eyes widened again. That thought hadn't even crossed her mind, and it could ruin her life in the worst case. Behind her, Scootaloo trembled when she heard what they had done to the one she cared most about.

That tremble turned into a shiver that ran down her spine when Shimmer's gaze moved to her and her friends who had stayed in the back behind the Rainbooms till now. She didn't say anything, she just motioned with her hand for them to step forward. None of them even thought about not following, and seconds later, they stood between her and the Rainbooms.

"'Remember why we’re doing this. We’ll get our sisters back, and Sunset will be punished for everything she did in the past,’" Shimmer said in a mock imitation of Scootaloo's voice. "I’ve been thinking about this, and I get where the last part comes from, but the first part confuses me. So, tell me. How did I take your sisters away from you?"

All eyes rested on the three girls, waiting for their explanation. It was Apple Bloom who broke the silence. "Applejack has been spendin' less and less time with me since the Fall Formal. She always had plans with ya and canceled every time we were supposed to do somethin' together to hang out with ya."

"It was the same with Rarity," Sweetie Belle added. "She barely spent time home with me anymore."

"Rainbow promised me several times to practice with me but canceled every single time..."

The room fell into silence as every eye fell on the Crusaders standing in the middle. The mentioned girls stared at their sisters in anger, not believing what they heard.

"...Are you serious?" Shimmer whispered, her left eye twitching. "You are telling me that you ruined my life, endangered Sunset's life, and turned the entire school into a madhouse... because you were jealous!? That's... probably the stupidest thing I ever heard, and I did a lot of stupid things in my life. What in the name of Celestia were you thinking!?"

"Did she just use my name for—"

"Be silent, sister. You can ask her later."

The Crusaders cowered before the angry girl. "We didn't know what to do," Sweetie mumbled.

"You could have talked to them like every sane being would have done! Instead, you pulled all of this off just because of me spending time with them, deciding that embarrassing them in front of everybody was a better choice. And for your information, I have received my punishment for what I did in the past."

"As if," Scootaloo whispered, but still loud enough to be heard by Shimmer, who turned to face the girl.

"What was that? Could you repeat that for us, because I really hope that I heard wrong."

Scootaloo, with a sudden surge of bravery, stepped forward and glared at Shimmer. "As if one month of detention and apologizing is enough for everything you did!"

Shimmer glared back, but before she could say anything, she felt a hand on her shoulder. Looking back, she saw Celestia by her side. "Sunset, take a small break." At first, Shimmer didn't move, but soon enough, her shoulders slumped down and she stepped back, letting the principal take over for now.

Celestia sighed before she turned her attention to the Crusaders. "First off, girls, I'm very disappointed in you. I never expected you to be behind Anon-a-Miss, and when Sunset arrived today with that recording, I didn't want to believe it.

"Regarding her punishment back after the Fall Formal, it is not your responsibility to decide that. It's mine. Just because you are not aware of it does not mean there hasn't been more punishment. We just never made it known to anybody else, as is proper. For instance, she has also been banned from participating in any major school event, like the upcoming Spring Fling. That was also supposed to be the case for the Musical Showcase, but we all know why that turned out differently."

The Crusaders shared a glance with each other. None of them had thought about the possibility that Sunset had been punished more than they knew.

"Furthermore, we have been thorough in regards on how to punish Sunset. I assume most of what you know about what she did from overhearing the other students speak about it?" The Crusaders nodded. "I was afraid of that. Let me tell you that most of these stories the students are telling are simply not true.

"After the Fall Formal, my sister and I received dozens of reports from students about what Sunset did to them. We looked carefully into each and every claim and couldn't find any connection to Sunset for most of these. Yes, she did blackmail others to get her way and exposed some secrets if necessary, among other things, but otherwise, she mostly controlled all of you by doing nothing, simply through the fear of what she might do.

"It came to the point that whenever something happened to someone, it was assumed Sunset was behind it, even if she was in a totally different location at the time. The same goes for Snips and Snails, before you try to argue," Celestia quickly added once she saw Scootaloo open her mouth.

"And before you try to bring it up, that punishment was mostly only for everything she did over the past years here." Seeing their confused faces, Celestia continued. "Before Princess Twilight left at the night of the Fall Formal, I had a talk with her regarding what to do with Sunset, and we agreed that I would judge her for everything she did while she attended CHS and the princess would give her own judgment regarding the magical events to keep the portal a secret."

"That's right," Twilight said as she stepped beside the principal. "And I decided that she would stay here to learn about friendship, which could be considered an exile from our world. My crown—or, more accurately, my Element—already did enough to her when she tried to use it."

"That makes no sense; how can your crown do anything?" Scootaloo asked. "I don't get it."

"That's just because you have no idea how magic even works," Shimmer said as she stepped up again after calming down enough. "Did you see my transformation after I put on the crown? No, because you were still inside with everybody else. Otherwise, you would have seen that it is incredibly painful to be changed by dark magic against your will."

Shimmer looked at the ground, her hands clenched together into fists. "I never wanted for that to happen... I only wanted the crown and its power so that I could return to Equestria to show the princess how strong I was and that I was worthy to stand by her side as her equal. I never thought that I would be turned into a monster, but once I was, I lost control.

"I was trapped inside my own body while the darkest side of me took over. Do you have any idea what it’s like to see your own body move, to hear and feel everything without being able to stop yourself from doing such terrible things? To be a spectator, trapped in your own body and forced to watch? I screamed at myself to stop, but I couldn't do anything besides watch!

"And then, I was transformed back. I was really grateful that Twilight was able to stop me and that I could move my own body again, but I wish it would have been different. It might look really pretty and harmless from the outside, but getting hit by a fricking rainbow beam and getting purged of dark magic hurts!

"And that wasn't even the end! The Elements made me see and feel everything I ever did to show me what my actions caused. Every bit of pain and misery I caused came over me in seconds."

Shimmer raised her hands and counted off. "To sum it up: I have been corrupted by magic, forcefully transformed and changed back against my will—each of those things accompanied by massive physical pain—mentally punished, banned from all major school events, given detention, and given a few other punishments, all of which I accepted without any protest. And top all this with the treatment the other students gave me afterward, which I also took without protest."

Shimmer glared furiously at Scootaloo, who didn't dare to move a single muscle, her fellow Crusaders hiding behind her. "So please, tell me what more I deserve as punishment."

The room fell into silence as Shimmer waited for the freshman to say anything. Scootaloo stood in place, staring at her in shock with a loss of words. Her friends were still hiding behind her, with Apple Bloom holding a crying Sweetie Belle. At the side, Northern Star had her arm around her daughter’s shoulder, pulling her closer, both of them with tears in their eyes after hearing what Shimmer had to endure. Desert Sunrise stood beside them with his arms crossed, a stoic expression on his face as he took everything in.

Celestia and Luna had their eyes closed. They knew about all of this, hearing about it after the Fall Formal. Twilight looked down at her feet in shame. She knew that the purging of the magic would have been very unpleasant, but she had not been aware of what exactly her Element had done to Sunset until her return to this world, and she still felt horrible about it.

The Rainbooms knew as well, and none of them looked at Shimmer or spoke up to defend the girls. They all knew the pains she went through, but none even thought about it when the whole mess with Anon-a-Miss started.

Shimmer kept her eyes locked on Scootaloo that entire time, waiting for the girl to say anything, but after a while, she turned away. "Nothing to say? Good, because I'm done with you as well. I hope you’re proud of yourself. After all, you got what you wanted." She looked at Sunset and her parents and nodded before she turned her attention to Celestia. "Principal Celestia, do you want to take over? We’re done here for now."

Celestia nodded. "I will deal with the rest and stay in contact with you to inform you of everything necessary later."

Luna stepped forward. "I will accompany you outside and see if our other guests arrived yet."

Shimmer nodded and walked towards the door, past the crying Crusaders. Twilight, Sunset, and Sunset’s parents followed. As she walked past her, Applejack reached out with her hand.

“Sunset, is there—”

Before Applejack could finish speaking, Shimmer shoved her hand away and sent her a glare. "Don't touch me," she growled.

Applejack let her arm fall limp to her side and looked down at the floor. "There’s nothin’ we can do to make this up to you, is there?"

Shimmer looked into her eyes before turning away. "No... At least, not now. It hurts too much." She sighed. "Maybe one day, I can and will forgive you and reach out again, but until then, I don't want to see you."

Without another word, Shimmer opened the door and stepped out with her entourage, leaving Principal Celestia, the Crusaders and the Rainbooms, who looked after their former friend, behind.

Author's Note

This chapter took me a really long time to finish, but I hope it was worth it.

One of my personal favorite moments in Anon-a-Miss stories is the revelation of Sunset's innocent and when she chews out the Crusaders/Rainbooms, so I really wanted to do my best with the assembly in the last chapter and this one. While I'm not entirely happy with the halfhearted apologie of the Rainbooms, I'm overall happy with how it turned out, and I hope so do you :scootangel:

The next chapter is mostly done, with already ~2500 words written down, so I hope it won't be too long until I finish it, but until the end of the month I will be busy preparing for my visit to Galacon here in Germany.

Well then, I hope you had fun with this chapter, and I will see you next time :pinkiehappy:

Chapter 15

The now much emptier room fell into silence except for the quiet sobs of Fluttershy after the group left. All of them were lost in thought about what they had done and the consequences of it. For some of them it was “just” the loss of a friend and the feeling their betrayal left, but for others, it would have a much bigger influence on their life.

Principal Celestia moved from her position at the wall and took her seat behind her desk. She watched the gathered girls for several minutes to let them gather their thoughts before she sighed. "So," she began, gathering the attention of the room, “do you have any questions left after your little chat with Sunset? Otherwise, I would ask you five to leave and return to your classes."

At first, no one said anything, until Applejack stepped forward. "Hold on a second. What do ya mean 'leave'? Ah won't leave mah sister alone!"

"Neither will I," Rarity added, stepping forward. Rainbow Dash just stayed away from Scootaloo, not saying anything.

Celestia looked into their eyes, her fingers steepled in front of her face. "I never said they would be alone, but what I'm going to discuss with them is nothing I can or will discuss with their sisters. Your parents and guardians have already been informed, and they are on their way."

This caused the three freshmen to huddle closer together. While being summoned by the principal with everything they did was already bad enough, the thought of facing their angry parents was terrifying.

"I... I see," Rarity said, biting her lip. "Could we at least stay until they arrive so that our sisters are not alone?"

Celestia stayed quiet for a moment before she spoke again. "Very well, I will allow you three to stay if you wish, but I think it would be for the best if Pinkie Pie sees to it that Fluttershy gets home to calm down."

They all looked over to the sobbing girl Pinkie was still holding. Pinkie herself nodded. "I’ll get her home. Don’t worry," Pinkie said while rubbing her friends back. Slowly, she began leading the girl towards the door, which Rainbow opened for them. Pinkie nodded in thanks and left the room with Fluttershy. Instead of closing the door, though, Rainbow Dash kept it open while she looked at Scootaloo with a neutral face.

Scootaloo gulped. She wasn't sure which face was worse: this one without any emotion or the angry one from earlier. "R-Rainbow?"

Rainbow kept staring before she sighed. She turned and left the room without saying anything, closing the door behind her.

No one said anything for a long moment, before Celestia, knowing full well how much the athlete meant to the girl, sighed. "I'm sorry to say it like this, but this is what you get out of Anon-a-Miss, Scootaloo. You have no one to blame but yourself."

Scootaloo simply stared at the door, her eyes growing wet. She didn't even notice when Sweetie Belle hugged her. Rainbow Dash had left her behind. All she had wanted was to spend more time with Rainbow.

Instead, she just drove her away.

~*~

Shimmer ran through the school hallways, not caring about anything. She had started to run almost immediately after leaving the office, giving no warning. "Sunset, wait!" she heard Twilight shout from somewhere behind her, but she didn't care. Right now, she only wanted to get away from this place and the girls that caused her so much harm.

She finally reached the main doors of the school and burst through them, nearly falling down the short stairs. She came to a stop beside the Wondercolt statue that held the portal and, panting from her run, rested with one hand against the cold stone. Soon after, she heard the door open again and the rapidly approaching footsteps.

"I... I'm sorry for running," she said between breaths, not looking at them. "I just had to get away from them."

A hand came down on her shoulder. "It's alright," Twilight said. "After everything that happened, it's no wonder you didn't want to be near them."

Looking over her shoulder, Shimmer saw Sunset and her parents standing behind Twilight, giving her comforting smiles, but Vice Principal Luna was nowhere to be seen. "Twilight," Shimmer began quietly, "what did I do wrong? I tried everything to show that I’d changed, that I'm not who I used to be, but... it wasn't enough. I don't know what I did wrong."

Twilight grabbed Shimmer’s arm and pulled her into an embrace, which Shimmer returned after a moment. "You did nothing wrong, Sunset. Even when everything was new to you, you tried. You may have made a few mistakes on your way, but with each one, you learned how to be better. It wasn't any different for me when I learned how to make friends."

She let go of Shimmer to look her in the eyes. “If it’s anyone’s fault, it’s either the girls’ for not trusting you or mine for trusting them too much. I should have known that they’re not like my friends back home just because they look like them."

Shimmer smiled. "Thanks, Twilight. You’re the best friend I could ask for."

Northern Star stepped forward and put a hand on Shimmer’s shoulder. "Now, then, I suggest we go home now. You look like you desperately need some rest, and I will make sure you get it." She turned towards Twilight. "Princess, would you like to maybe spend the night at our house? I'm sure Shimmer would appreciate it if she has as many friends around as possible right now."

"I think it's a great idea," Sunset said. "We could watch some movies and just sit around and talk. It’ll be my first sleepover since moving here!"

"That sounds great," Shimmer said with a smile. "What do you say, Twilight?"

Twilight blinked in surprise before she thought about it. "Well, I think I could manage to be free until at least tomorrow. I just need to return home first to let Spike know that I’ll stay longer." Seeing the questioning looks, she continued. "Spike’s my assistant. Secretarial duty is one of his jobs."

"So, it seems the evening is planned out," Desert Sunrise said. "Just send a message to Shimmer when you’re coming back. I’ll come by and pick you up."

"Thank you. I won't take too long," Twilight replied. She gave Shimmer a last smile and hug before disappearing through the portal.

Shimmer stared at the portal for a while in silence until Northern Star placed a hand on her back. "Well, let's go home. You look like you need a long rest, and I will not accept 'no' as an answer, young lady."

Shimmer couldn't resist laughing. "Yes, ma'am," she said before she walked along towards the car.

~*~

The silence in Celestia's office stretched on for what felt like forever. No one spoke, and the only movements came from the occupants shifting in their seats or stretching while they waited in silence. Celestia herself sat behind her desk, her chin resting on her intertwined fingers. She could have spent the time working through some documents she needed to finish, but she knew that she just would not be able to concentrate.

Rarity had her back turned to Sweetie Belle as she looked out of the window, ignoring her sister, who looked down at the floor, completely miserable. Applejack was doing the opposite, sitting on a chair looking directly at Apple Bloom at all times, anger and disappointment written all over her face and directed at the girl, who couldn't stand looking into her big sister's eyes.

Celestia felt the most pity for Scootaloo, who had pulled her legs up and buried her head in her knees. She was the one who had lost the most at this time. While the other two were in as much trouble as she was, they at least still had their sisters. From the look she saw in Rainbow Dash's eyes, Celestia doubted that the athlete would forgive the girl for what she did.

A beep followed by Luna's voice coming from the intercom on her desk broke the silence. "Celestia, they’re here."

Pressing the button, Celestia answered, "Thank you, Luna. Give me a minute to get ready." Releasing the button, she focused her attention on the gathered girls. "Now, I need to ask Rarity and Applejack to leave, but before you go: Rarity, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, are your parents and guardians aware of the magical events going on since the Fall Formal?" All three girls shook their heads. "I see. If possible, I want to keep it that way. The fewer people outside school know about magic and the portal, the better. So, I will try to work around the subject, just so you three know and don't say anything compromising." This time, the three freshmen nodded. "Thank you. Now, I would appreciate it if you two would send your parents in on your way out."

"Of course," Rarity replied before she and Applejack left the room.

A minute later, the door opened again, but before Celestia could say anything, the woman that entered had already crossed the distance between her and her daughter.

"Sweetie Belle! Are you alright? Are you hurt?" Cookie Crumbles asked, her hands gripping the girl’s shoulders while she looked her over. Sweetie Belle only shook her head, not looking into her mother's eyes.

Granny Smith walked in soon after, followed by another woman who Celestia recognized as Scootaloo’s aunt Lofty. While Granny stepped beside her granddaughter, the woman went immediately to Scootaloo's side. "Scootaloo?" Lofty asked carefully, one hand on her niece’s back. "What's wrong? Did something happen?"

Celestia chose that moment to clear her throat. "Thank you for coming so quickly, and I can assure you that none of them has been hurt. In fact, the reason I called you is not because of something done to them but because of something they did."

That got the attention of the two younger women, who looked at her in surprise. "What do you mean? My Sweetie Belle would never do something that would warrant for me to be called," Cookie Crumbles stated, not noticing Sweetie Belle sinking lower in her seat.

Lofty looked at her niece for a moment. "While I admit that Scootaloo tends to get into trouble, I agree with Cookie."

Celestia shook her head. "There’s a first time for everything. I will explain everything that happened." She looked over at the elderly woman. "Granny Smith, as part of the faculty, is already aware of everything." Celestia sighed. "Now, before I start, did you hear anything about Anon-a-Miss over the last two weeks?"

"I think Rarity mentioned that name at one point, but I don't know what it means," Cookie Crumbles said with a shrug.

"I see. This might take a while, but I will try to sum it up," Celestia said. She told them everything she knew about the first appearance of Anon-a-Miss and the account’s offenses without saying who the culprit was or were. When she finished, she was met with different reactions.

Granny Smith looked down at her granddaughter in disappointment about everything Celestia listed. Apple Bloom occasionally looked up into her eyes, only to avert her gaze immediately upon seeing the elder’s expression.

Scootaloo still had not moved much besides setting her feet back down. Her aunt had a serious expression on her face.

Cookie Crumbles was shocked upon hearing everything, her worried grip around her daughter strengthening. "That's horrible!" she said. "Who would do something like this?"

"Yeah..." Lofty muttered, her eyes wandering down towards her niece. Celestia could see that she had realized where this was going. "Who would? Anything to say, Scootaloo?"

Scootaloo continued staring at the floor. "It's us," she mumbled. "We’re Anon-a-Miss…"

Lofty sighed and shook her head upon hearing her niece’s words, while Cookie Crumbles looked like her world shattered. "That can't be," she said. "This must be a misunderstanding! Sweetie Belle would never do something like this!" Sweetie Belle shrank even deeper into her seat.

"I'm afraid not," Celestia said calmly. "Sunset Shimmer managed to record them talking about their plans by leaving her phone behind, hidden beneath a park bench she sat on prior to talking with them. And their reasons for doing it: petty jealousy and a misplaced sense of justice."

The two women looked confused. "What does that mean?" Lofty asked.

"These three were jealous of how much time Sunset Shimmer was spending with their sisters and Rainbow Dash, so they framed her as the one behind Anon-a-Miss so that her friends would abandon her," Celestia stated. "They started everything by publishing secrets of their sisters, ones that Sunset was one of the few to know and just learned about. They even stole photos she took from her phone to incriminate her further." Celestia closed her eyes. "Sadly, they succeeded. Nearly everyone believed it to be Sunset and gave her a very hard time, including her former friends."

Looking at the girls, she narrowed her eyes. "But that was not enough. They wanted to punish Sunset for who she used to be. You see, Sunset used to be, to put it lightly, a bad person. She blackmailed, threatened and humiliated other students to get her way, and she did it right under our noses. While the rest of the school feared her, I and the rest of the faculty only saw her as a kind and polite student.

"After an incident that happened at the last Fall Formal, she realized the error of her ways and tried to be better in our judgment of her. Needless to say, the rest of the students were not kind to her. They blamed her for nearly everything that happened to them, no matter if she was even present for it or not. My sister and I looked through every claim and decided her punishment. Most of it has been kept between us and Sunset to honor her right to privacy. The rest of the students only knew about her detention. These three decided detention wasn’t enough and used Anon-a-Miss to ‘punish’ her by doing more damage than Sunset ever did before."

Cookie Crumbles stared in disbelief at her daughter. "I... This is... Sweetie, why didn’t you ever say anything? Why didn’t you talk with Rarity about this, or me?"

"I tried," Sweetie Belle mumbled, "but Rarity never listened, and you were always busy."

Cookie's eyes widened. Now that her daughter mentioned it, she remembered her trying to talk with her a while ago, only for her to wave it off, saying she had no time. "Sweetie... I'm sorry. I should have listened to you."

"What about you, young lady?" Lofty asked her niece. "I don’t remember you trying to talk to me or Holiday, so what do you have to say for yourself?" Scootaloo only looked at anything except her aunt. Lofty sighed. "We’ll talk about this later, and don't think your parents won't hear about this! You’re in a lot of trouble!"

Celestia cleared her throat, drawing the attention of the two women. "I'm afraid that isn’t everything. I haven’t even gotten to the worst part." Both of them stared at Celestia in disbelief. "The aggression did not stop at the school borders, and Sunset Shimmer has been assaulted outside of school as well. In an attempt to get away from everything, she left town for a few days with her last remaining friend by her side. She hoped that with her gone, everything would calm down and return to normal, but she was wrong.

"As unbelievable as it sounds, another girl and her family moved into town at that time, and the girl is the spitting image of Sunset. They even share the same name."

"You must be kidding," Lofty said. "That can't possibly be true. What are the odds of something like that happening?"

"Nearly nonexistent," Celestia admitted, "but apparently, it’s still possible. I expected you not to believe me, so I took a photo of both today, with their permission." She took out a picture of the two girls which she printed out earlier and passed it over. "Granny Smith and the girls can also vouch for this; they all saw or met both of them."

"Darn tootin', Ah can," Granny Smith said with a nod. "Was quite a surprise to see the two o’ them, but it's true."

The two women stared at the picture and the identical girls it showed, the only differences being their clothes and hairstyles. With no other knowledge, they would have thought of the girls as twins.

"This is incredible," Cookie Crumbles whispered before she pointed at the bruised Shimmer on the picture. "I assume those injuries are from those assaults you mentioned?"

Celestia took a deep breath. "It's more complicated than that. One very misguided student took a picture posted by Anon-a-Miss very personally, personally enough to 'take care of the problem once and for all.' In this case, with a knife."

Both women stared at Celestia in shock. "You can't be serious..." Lofty said. "She attacked them with a knife... because of a picture?"

"I'm afraid so," Celestia said. "This student has always been very... difficult, but even I never imagined she would go this far for such a reason. But you don’t need to worry; she has been arrested this morning after another assault, and she won't be able to cause any more trouble."

Celestia's eyes hardened at the culprits. "Nonetheless, you three are going to be made responsible for her actions, as well. I assume that the police will contact you as soon as they are done with their investigations on the Anon-a-Miss page and link the account to you."

"What?!" the three girls exclaimed at the same time, their eyes wide in shock.

"Wh-Why?" Apple Bloom asked shakily. "We had nothin' to do with what she did!"

"That doesn't matter. You three are the ones who started everything," Celestia replied. "Without your actions, that student and all the others would have had no reason to harm either of them. That means you will be held at least partly responsible for their actions. You’re lucky that you’re still minors, so the punishment will be light, but it will still be severe for your parents, who have to pay for any compensation that will be decided."

"Don’t think that’s all you’ll have to worry about, young lady!" Cookie Crumbles said angrily to her daughter, who flinched. "Your father and I will decide on your punishment later."

Celestia waited as Lofty and Granny Smith berated their charges similarly before she spoke up again. "That is all I can tell you so far regarding the situation outside the school business, but I'm sure it won't be long until you hear more yourself." She leaned back in her seat and looked at the three girls. "Before I address the last reason I called you, there is one question I have regarding Anon-a-Miss. I can see how you got those secrets from Applejack, Rarity and Rainbow Dash, considering your connections to them, but how did you manage to get your hands on all the other secrets you posted?"

The Crusaders sank deeper into their seats, all eyes fixated on them and waiting for an explanation.

"We only got those three by ourselves," Sweetie Belle said quietly. "We got the others from students who sent them to the Anon-a-Miss page so that we could post them as we did with the other ones."

"We didn't know what to do, so we posted them," Scootaloo added. "We never thought it would escalate like this."

Celestia blinked, before she slumped back in her seat, pinching the bridge of her nose. Every time she thought it couldn't get worse, the universe showed her how much it hated her. “Sunset will snap when she hears about this. They sent in those secrets only to chew her out afterward for ‘posting’ them.” Celestia knew that not every single student could have been in on this, but those who did are still such hypocrites that it gave her a migraine.

"I assume those messages are still available on the Anon-a-Miss account?" she asked, receiving nods from the girls. "Good. I will contact the police later to see if I can receive a list of those students so that they receive their punishments." She narrowed her eyes. "Just like you."

Apple Bloom gulped. "Wh-What's gonna happen to us?" Besides her, Granny Smith shared a look with the other two women, before she shook her head sadly. She had been part of the faculty long enough to know what Celestia had to do.

Celestia sighed. "Girls, you truly messed up this time. Not taking into account anything that happened outside school grounds, you are responsible for the biggest case of bullying CHS has ever seen. You framed an innocent girl and spread private pieces of information of countless students, which caused strife throughout the entire school. Many students got into arguments and fights, which led to multiple injuries. Students also caused damage to school property during those fights and by defiling lockers, and not just Sunset Shimmer’s, either.

"Spreading those pieces of information also caused mental damage to several students because of the nature of them. Over the last two weeks, I received seven transfer requests from students who couldn't stand to stay after you posted their secrets, and I'm not sure if the number won't increase over winter break."

The Crusaders stared at the floor, slowly sinking deeper into their seats with each part of their screw-up the principal pointed out.

"You didn't care enough about anything going on to reconsider your actions. And don't even try to argue that you didn't know!” she snapped when Scootaloo looked up and opened her mouth to defend them. “There is no way that you didn't notice the toxic environment and the fights going on everywhere on school grounds that you caused."

"You have been given two chances to confess—once after Shimmer warned you, and a second time when we called out and even said that we know the identity of Anon-a-Miss—but you did nothing, showing how much you cared about anybody else."

Celestia shook her head. "It took you two weeks to cause way more damage to this school than Sunset Shimmer did in years before the Fall Formal, and it will take much longer than another two weeks before those wounds heal.

"Taking all of this into account, there is only one course of action I can take." Celestia paused to take a deep breath. "Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, you are hereby expelled from Canterlot High School."

Celestia watched as their eyes widened and the color drained from their faces upon hearing her judgment, but none of them said anything. Granny Smith looked at the floor, shaking her head, while Lofty ran her hand down her face. Cookie Crumbles was the only one willing to fight.

"Principal, is that really necessary?" she asked. "They messed up, yes, but they’re still young, and it's their first offense, as far as I know."

Celestia shook her head. "I'm afraid there is nothing I can do. Under different circumstances, I would bend some rules to give them a lighter punishment and a second chance, but that is just not possible here. With the police involved, it's only a matter of time until the school board hears about this and demands that I take action. Superintendent Sombra might be an old friend of mine, but there is only so much he can do."

She looked around at everyone present, her shoulders sagging. "I'm sorry that it had to come to this, but I'm unable to help you any further."

The room fell into silence until Lofty spoke. "Guess there’s nothing we can do. Thank you for informing us of the situation, Principal Celestia. Can I assume that this was everything?" Celestia nodded. "Then, it's time for us to go. Come on, Scootaloo. We need to clean out your locker, and I have to make some calls."

"Yes, we have to do the same," Cookie Crumbles said quietly, still processing everything that happened.

The two women, along with their kids, said their goodbyes and left the room, leaving Celestia with Apple Bloom and Granny Smith. Granny moved to Celestia's side and let her hand rest on the woman's shoulder.

"Tia, there’re no hard feelin’s between us. Ah know that ya woulda let ‘em stay if ya could."

Celestia smiled. "Thank you, Granny Smith."

Granny nodded before she turned towards her granddaughter. "Now get up, missy. We got a lot ta talk about back home."

Apple Bloom nodded, and soon after, the door closed behind them, leaving Celestia alone, but not for long. Minutes later, the door opened, and Luna looked inside.

"Celestia? Are you alright?"

The woman sighed before answering, "No, but I’ll manage. Just... give me a few more minutes before you send in those troublemakers from the assembly." Luna nodded, but before she could close the door, Celestia spoke up again. "Oh, and please remind me later to call Sunset Shimmer and to talk with the police."

Luna looked at her sister in concern but nodded again before closing the door. Sighing, Celestia slumped back in her seat. “This is going to be a long day,” she thought.

Author's Note

Hello my friends, here we are again with a slightly larger chapter. Did a lot of thinking about this one after some friends pointed out a few details to me, but here it finally is. I hope you like it :twilightsmile:

Chapter 16

Northern Star smiled as she prepared snacks for her daughter and her guests, the distant sound of laughter coming from above. It had been far too long since Sunset brought any friends home; her studies had always taken priority over friends before they moved. Her first couple weeks in town may have been much different than she expected, but at least she found some friends, even if the circumstances of their meeting and nature of those friends were more than unorthodox.

She felt a pair of strong arms wrap around her midsection and a chin rest on her shoulder. Turning her head, she saw her husband beside her. "Someone seems to be in a good mood," he whispered.

She leaned her head against his. "I'm just so happy for Sunny that she made friends. It's been just so quiet at home all the time. This is so much better, don't you think?"

He nodded before pulling away. "I agree. A young girl like her needs someone to help her loosen up. Even so, it's still hard to wrap my head around the fact that there are two of her up there."

"Mhmm," Northern agreed, "they are so much alike but still so different. Just like twins." She stopped for a moment as an idea came to her mind.

~*~

Twilight Sparkle stepped out of the bedroom she had spent the last couple hours inside with both Sunsets—watching movies, playing games and telling stories from Equestria—and walked down the short hallway. So far, the evening was a success in her books; not only were they having actual fun, but she was successfully distracting her friend from the earlier interactions with the students, Anon-a-Miss and the Rainbooms.

The last week Sunset had spent with her in Equestria had been taxing with the downtrodden mood the girl had been in after her friends' betrayal, but now, she was laughing and enjoying herself again.

Twilight sighed. She still felt incredibly guilty about what happened, even if Sunset never blamed her for anything. It was her after all that left Sunset in the Rainbooms’ care, believing them to be just like her friends back home.

She shook her head. Blaming herself would help no one. She made a mistake and had to live with it. All that was important was helping Sunset now to make up for her mistake.

With that thought in mind, Twilight reached her destination and opened another door, stepping into the bathroom.

Ten or so minutes later, Twilight stepped out of the bathroom, only to stop when she saw Northern Star standing by the door to Sunset’s room, the door cracked open as she peeked in. Curious about what she was doing, she approached the woman. "What are you doing?" she whispered, causing Northern to jump in surprise.

"Oh, there you are, Twilight," she said softly after catching her breath, her hand to her chest. "I was just testing something that came to my mind a few minutes ago."

Twilight looked the woman over, her eyes narrowed. She didn't like the sound of that. "Testing? What do you mean?"

Realizing how that sounded, Northern quickly waved her hands placatingly. "It’s nothing like that!" she said. "Just… Hmm, how do I say it...? Just satisfying my curiosity about something. You see, my daughter has an obsession with a certain snack, and I was curious to see if Shimmer had the same taste. So, I went ahead and brought some of them over while you were gone."

"Oh, that doesn't sound so bad," Twilight said, relieved. A moment later, Northern could see Twilight’s curiosity showing itself. "So, what's the result?" Instead of saying anything, Northern waved her over, and together, they peeked into the room.

Sitting on the ground in front of the screen where she left them, the two identical girls sat, glaring at each other. Neither of them seemed to move or even blink. Each of them had a hand hovering near a small dish on the floor between them. Twilight squinted her eyes at what was on the dish. "Is that a snickerdoodle?"

"Yup," Northern said. "Sunny’s obsession and greatest weakness. Never try to get between her and her cookies, or you’ll regret it. She tends to bite."

"I’ll keep that in mind," Twilight said carefully. Her thoughts drifted back to the events of the Fall Formal and how it could have ended with some cookies at hand if they are such a weakness of her Sunset as well, causing her to snort at the mental image. Shaking her head, she returned to the matter at hand. "But what are they doing? It looks like they’re frozen."

"Well, much to my surprise, they actually shared in the beginning." Seeing the confusion on the girl’s face, Northern elaborated, "There are not many people Sunset shares her snickerdoodles with. Seeing her share them with Shimmer immediately was a big surprise." She smiled. "That lasted until there was only one left. Now they seem to be locked in a battle of wills. They both want the last snickerdoodle, but they both know that the moment they get distracted, the other will take it. They are now waiting for the other to slip up."

"Interesting... but what now?" Twilight asked. "Do we just wait?"

"Yes and no," Northern said with a smile before she opened the door fully and walked into the room, past the two girls—neither of whom paid her any mind—and towards the desk, Twilight following her. She took a piece of paper from the printer, ripped off a small part, crumpled it into a ball, and threw it lightly against her daughter’s head. Sunset’s eye twitched upon impact, but otherwise, she didn’t react, her eyes still locked on her counterpart’s. Northern giggled while she prepared the next paper ball. "Now, we’re going to have some fun. Let's see which of them succumbs to outside pressure first."

Twilight stared at the woman, surprised by her childish demeanor, but when Northern offered her the second ball, she took it. She hesitated at first, her eyes moving from the little paper ball in her hand towards her friends, before she gave in to temptation and, just like Northern did before, she threw the ball against Shimmer’s head, where it bounced off harmlessly, resulting in another eye twitch.

Twilight couldn't resist giggling. "Okay, I have to admit, it's kind of fun."

Northern gave her another smile. "I knew you would like this. Now," she said, handing another piece of paper to Twilight, "let's see who will win this fight."

Twilight nodded as the two of them ripped off pieces of paper to create more ammunition for their assault against the two girls.

~*~

Angel Bunny didn't know what to do, which was a rare moment. Usually, he knew exactly what he wanted and how to get it. When the pink one arrived earlier with his crying master in her arms and placed her on her bed, where she curled up into a crying ball, he was certain that he knew how to handle the situation once the pink one left.

He was wrong.

He tried everything, from patting her back to nuzzling her cheek and cuddling with her to make her feel better, but nothing worked. She even told him to go away!

That was unacceptable.

He wasn’t the only one worried about her, either. Some of the others tried to cheer their master up as well; the kitten was walking all around her, rubbing herself against her to maybe get a reaction out of her; the bird was singing a song, and the hamster was running in his strange ball against everything in its way, probably trying to make her laugh. Nothing worked.

Angel frowned in concern at the crying girl. To most people, he was just a grumpy bunny that was a huge jerk to everyone, and that's how he liked it, but he also cared deeply about his master. If there was anything he could do to help her, he would do it if necessary.

He rubbed his little paw under his chin, thinking about what to do. Being there for her was not enough, and neither was trying to cheer her up. He was a very good listener, but she didn't want to talk to him.

An idea came to Angel as that thought crossed his mind. She didn't want to talk with him, but maybe she needed someone to talk to her. But who? He couldn't speak her language, and neither could any of her other pets. Her parents weren’t home, so who—

A sound from one of the nearby rooms made Angel pause in his thought process, pondering what it was, before his eyes widened. There was someone else who could help, but Angel was wary. Getting him to help might be the solution to his problem at paw, but he usually made everything worse. Angel looked over at the crying girl and made his decision. Even he couldn’t make it that much worse.

Hopping down from the bed, Angel made his way through the door the pink one left open earlier. Soon after, there was a commotion accompanied with some shouting before Angel reappeared in the doorframe, a hairbrush in his mouth, which he dropped on the floor.

Moments later, a young man appeared in the doorframe. "You little rat! How many times do I have to tell you to stay away from my things?" Zephyr Breeze yelled. He bent down to grab his brush, but once he was close enough, Angel pulled on his vest and pointed into the room. "What are you—" Zephyr began to say, but he stopped the moment he saw his older sister crying on her bed.

Seeing that he had finally noticed her, Angel hopped back into the room and on the bed, where he rubbed his head against Fluttershy's without any reaction coming from the girl.

His brush forgotten, Zephyr rose and stepped into the room. He maneuvered carefully around the concerned animals until he reached the bed and sat down beside his sister. "Hey, Flutter-Butter," he said softly, laying one hand on her shoulder, "what's wrong?"

"Go away."

Zephyr grimaced but didn't move. "Now, there are at least two reasons why I can't do that. The first is that your little knight in white fluff would probably drag me back here by my ear or my hair if I try to leave."

Angel pretended to think about it for a moment before he grinned and nodded vigorously.

"Yep," Zephyr mumbled to himself before focusing on his sister again. "And the second is that I'm still your brother. I admit that I might be a bit troublesome sometimes..."

At this point, Fluttershy lifted her head enough so that he could see her “Are you kidding me?” look, the same look every single animal in the room gave him. Zephyr looked around the room, slightly creeped out, before he sighed. "Alright, I'm a real pain. Happy now? My point is no matter how much I annoy you, I’ll always be by your side if you need me, even if it's only to comfort you and listen to you talking about your problems."

Fluttershy looked at her brother in surprise, and for the first time, she didn’t see the usual nuisance that drove her up the wall but instead saw a caring little brother concerned about his sister. The thought brought a little smile to her face.

"Now, how about you tell me what’s bothering you?"

And just like that, the dam broke again as her mind drifted back to what she did. She threw her arms around him and cried into his shoulder, blabbering things Zephyr couldn't understand. He tried to get her to tell him what happened, but every time she tried, she just started crying more loudly, so he decided to just be there for her for the time being.

He sat with her for over an hour, rubbing her back and doing whatever he could to comfort her, while Angel and the other animals did the same until she fell asleep.

~*~

Sitting on one of the hills of Sweet Apple Acres, Applejack sighed as she looked over the orchard into the sunset. Her ears were still ringing from Granny Smith tearing into her upon her return from school with Apple Bloom. She was furious with her younger granddaughter, but she was equally angry at the older one, as well.

Telling someone to be a part of their family only to discard her just a few days later was not something the Apple matriarch liked to hear. So, Applejack had received her own verbal lashing before being sent out so that Granny could deal with Apple Bloom.

“Granny’s right,” Applejack thought. “Ah messed up big this time. Ah shoulda been more open before accusin’ her like that.”

But now, it was too late; the damage had been done. She had hurt Sunset deeply, her trust in her sister had been shattered, and there were still the consequences of Anon-a-Miss coming up that they had to deal with. And all of this because she didn't spend enough time with her sister or trust her friend.

"Applejack?"

Looking behind her, she watched as Apple Bloom slowly climbed the hill, a grimace on her face which seemed to deepen with each step, until she stood a few feet behind Applejack, barely looking at her sister. "Granny told me to get ya. Dinner’ll be ready soon."

Applejack nodded and turned her attention back to the sunset. She could hear her sister turning to walk back. "Bloom? C’mere." The girl hesitated for a moment before she stepped beside her sister. "Come sit with me."

Apple Bloom bit her lip. "Um, if ya don't mind, Ah’d rather stand."

Confused, Applejack turned her attention back to her sister. The girl stood beside her but didn't look her in the eyes. She held her hands behind her, and Applejack could just make out barely visible tearstains on her cheeks. Combine that with the grimace she wore on her way up to her, and Applejack recognized the signs and smiled in sympathy.

"Granny tanned yer hide, huh?" she asked. Apple Bloom looked down before nodding. "In that case, ya better sit down." Apple Bloom's eyes widened. "It's part of the package, or do ya think Granny is gonna let ya stand durin’ dinner? Better get used to it beforehand. Believe me."

Apple Bloom remained standing for a minute before she slowly sat down, grimacing in pain all the while. It took her another minute to find a halfway comfortable position, but in the end, both sisters sat side by side, watching the sunset.

"Why did ya think it was a good idea to spread those secrets?" Applejack finally asked. "And Ah'm not talking about yer reason for doin' it in the first place. Why secrets, of all things?"

"Ah dunno," Apple Bloom said, looking into the distance. "It looked like the best way ta make ya angry without really hurtin’ you."

Applejack huffed. "Well, in that case, you were wrong. It may not hurt physically, but when everybody starts making fun of ya, it still hurts. It’s just a different hurt." She looked down at the younger girl. "And it hurts even more learning that it's yer sister sayin’ those things and makin’ fun of ya."

Apple Bloom sniffed. "Ah'm sorry."

"Ah know," Applejack said, sighing deeply. "But sayin’ 'sorry' doesn’t fix everything." She remained quiet for a minute before she spoke again. "Do ya even know why we spent so much time with Sunset lately?" Apple Bloom shook her head. "Because she’s all alone, somethin’ we only realized after the Battle o’ the Bands when she opened up to us. She has no one else in our world and not many more in her own world. Her parents even died when she was a baby. She can't remember anything about them."

Apple Bloom looked at her sister in surprise before she lowered her gaze to the grass. "Just like me..."

Applejack nodded. "Just like you, but at least ya had Mac, Granny and me, along with all our relatives, to take care of ya. Sunset had—has—no one.

"Before our first sleepover and this whole mess began, Ah learned that she never celebrated Christmas since comin’ here. She just saw it like any other day," she continued. "So, we wanted to make it the best holiday she ever had by spending time with her and invitin’ her to the Christmas party here at Sweet Apple Acres, as part of our family."

Apple Bloom pulled her legs towards her chest and rested her forehead on her knees, ignoring the pain from her aching backside. "And then, we ruined everything."

Looking into the sunset, Applejack sighed. "Yeah, ya did, but so did we."

Both girls fell into silence while the sun slowly disappeared below the horizon.

"AJ?" Apple Bloom asked after several minutes of silence. "Do ya hate me?"

Taking a deep breath, Applejack thought about it for a moment before she answered, "Bloom, what ya did put a big strain on our bond, and it’ll take a long time before Ah can trust ya again, but no, Ah don't hate ya, especially not for somethin' that shouldn't have worked in the first place without me messin' up as well. You’re m’ li’l sister, and no matter what happens, Ah’ll always love ya." Applejack's shoulders slumped. "Ah just wish Ah treated Sunset the same way."

They fell into silence again. Only when the day fully gave way to the night did they rise and walk back toward the farmhouse without saying anything else to each other.

~*~

The scratching of pencil on paper was the only sound in the room, followed by the sound of paper being crumpled before joining its friends in the paper bin, which was already overflowing.

For the last few hours since returning from school, Rarity had tried to distract herself by working on new designs, but no matter how hard she tried, the results had been downright terrible, many new inhabitants of her closet of shame should she ever dare to make them.

Shimmer’s words have been echoing in her head the entire day, reminding her of how much her actions had damaged the girl and their relationship. Even though she held on to that little hope, she didn't expect that the girl would or even could forgive her or the others for what they had done. They didn’t just break her trust; they crushed it into so many pieces that it would never even be close to how it used to be. And her relationship with Shimmer wasn’t the only one in pieces.

Sighing, Rarity placed the tip of her pencil once again onto a new sheet of paper, but after drawing just a few lines, she was interrupted by a light knock on her door. "Rarity?" Anger rose inside her upon hearing the voice of her sister, one of those responsible for the entire debacle, but she said nothing.

A second knock echoed throughout the room before the door opened just enough so that the girl could see her sister at her desk. "Rarity? Mom told me to get you. Dinner’s ready."

Rarity gripped the pencil harder and answered without turning around, "I am not hungry right now. I will eat something later. Now leave me alone." She was surprised that she could make her voice sound so calm, considering how angry she was.

The door did not close. Instead, it opened even more, evidenced by the sound of the slightly squeaky hinges Rarity truly needed to do something about. "Are you sure? Mom made—"

Sweetie Belle was cut off when Rarity rose from her seat and slammed her hands on the desk, snapping the pencil she was still holding in two. Sweetie recoiled and gripped the door, hiding behind it.

Rarity still didn't turn to face her sister when she spoke, her voice rising with every word she said. "I said. Leave. Me. Alone!"

Tears running down her face, Sweetie slowly closed the door behind her. Rarity could hear her retreating footsteps and her whimpering until everything was quiet again.

Slowly steadying her breath, Rarity slumped down on her seat. She looked at the remains of the broken pencil on the desk and the half still held in her hand before she tossed them into the waste bin. She took a new one and lowered it towards her sketch, but before it even touched the paper, tears fell from her own cheeks onto the paper.

At first, she was only whimpering, but it quickly turned into sobbing. Not long after, she buried her face in her arms on her desk and cried.

Things would never be as they used to be.

Author's Note

And here we go again with what can be considered as the first part of this chapter if you want to. At one point long, long ago I seriously thought this chapter would be good as one, but I very soon realized that it would be really long if I keep it as one. That's why I gotta split it up, also because I didn't want to keep you waiting until I finally manage to finish this huge chapter. :twilightsmile:

There is gonna be at least one more like this, but probably two. Will try to get them done soon. Until then I hope you enjoy this :pinkiesmile:

Chapter 17

Scootaloo sat silently on her bed, her legs pulled up towards her chest while her head rested on her knees. Tear stains were visible on her cheeks, but she had stopped shedding them hours ago.

Raising her head slightly, her eyes moved around her room. It was so empty now. Upon her return, her aunt had chewed her out massively before grounding her and taking everything from Scootaloo’s room that was a luxury. Her TV, game console, especially her phone, and anything else she even slightly could use to entertain herself.

Until a while ago she had been able to overhear her aunt talking loudly with someone, but still quiet enough to not understand anything. Judging by the fact that she had only been able to hear one voice, it was safe to assume she had been talking to someone over the phone, and Scootaloo had a good idea who it was.

The sound of creaking floorboards drew her attention, followed by a soft knock on her door before it opened.

"Hey, Scoots," Lofty said as she stepped into the room before sitting down beside the girl on her bed. "You’ve really caused a lot of trouble this time."

"I know," Scootaloo said quietly. "I never wanted all of this to happen."

Lofty shook her head. "Now you see that sometimes things do not go as we expect them to go, but you still need to take responsibility for them, no matter if good or bad."

Scootaloo remained silent for several moments before she spoke again. "What's going to happen now?"

"For today nothing, but tomorrow we are going to the police station. Granny Smith, Cookie, and myself have already talked with an officer about everything. Since we came forward on our own and there is no chance of any more danger happening, combined with the fact that you three are minors and that it’s already quite late, he said they would not come by today to collect you as long as we come on our own tomorrow to answer questions." She sighed. "We will see what's going to happen then."

Scootaloo said nothing at first. Thinking her niece wanted to be alone for the moment she rose from the bed, but before she could take even a single step, Scootaloo spoke up again.

"They’re mad at me, right?"

Lofty looked away. "So you heard me talking with them, hm?" She sighed again before she sat back down. "Yes, your mom and dad are really mad, but not only with you." Scootaloo looked up for the first time since her aunt entered the room. "They... They are blaming Rainbow Dash as well. They say she has been a bad influence on you, causing you to react like this. That's why you are not allowed to hang out with her anymore."

Scootaloo’s eyes widened, but she quickly looked back down at the floor. "I don't think that's a problem anyway. Rainbow hates me..."

"Scoots..." Lofty whispered as she pulled her niece closer, hugging her. She wanted to assure her niece that it wasn't the case, but she had heard from Vice Principal Luna how Rainbow Dash had reacted upon learning the truth. It wasn't so far-fetched that she never wanted to see Scootaloo again, and after hearing about Rainbow's reaction Lofty agreed with Scootaloo’s parents regarding the girl.

"Aunt Lofty... There’s more, isn’t there?" Scootaloo asked, causing Lofty to release her niece. "You’ve been arguing for a while over the phone, and I can't believe it's all just about staying away from Rainbow Dash."

Lofty looked at her niece in surprise before looking away. "You’re way smarter than many believe, Scoots," she said. "Your mom and dad... they blame the Holiday and me as well. They left you in our care so that you could have a stable social life instead of moving across the country for their jobs all the time. And then this happens… They are very disappointed.

"They are already on their way here, and they’re going to stay for as long as is necessary. Once everything has been settled they will be leaving again... And they are going to take you with them."

Scootaloo’s eyes shot wide open in disbelieve. "No... Please, no." She quickly rose from her bed and wrapped her arms around her aunts' lower section. "Please don't send me away!"

Lofty stared at the girl in bewilderment. "Sending you away? But-"

"I-I know I messed up, but I promise that it will never happen again! I don't want to leave."

"Scoots, no one is-"

"I will do everything you tell me, no matter what! Just please don't-"

"Scootaloo!" Lofty grabbed onto her nieces' shoulders and used them to pry Scootaloo away from her legs before getting down on her knees to look her in the eyes. "We are not sending you away, Scootaloo. Holiday and I want you to stay with us just as much as you do. You’ve been living with us for so long that you’re practically the daughter we never had. Sending you away is the last thing we would ever do." She once again looked down. "Sadly, there is nothing we can do if your parents decide to take you with them."

Scootaloo threw her arms around her aunt's neck. "I don't want to go!" she cried, tears running down her cheeks.

"Me neither, Scoots," Lofty said, wrapping her arms around her niece while tears of her own ran down her cheeks. "And I will do everything I can so that you can stay, I promise."

~*~

Pinkie laid on her bed and stared up at the ceiling, her limbs spread out completely over the entire bed. She had never before truly paid any attention to her ceiling, it was always just there. But now her attention was completely focused on it, and it has been like this since she came back from Fluttershy's. The entire time it has been like this, just her, the ceiling and her thoughts.

"Has she been like this since she returned?"

"Mhm."

And of course, the voices of her two sisters Marble and Limestone talking just outside her room had crept through the gap between her partially open door and it’s frame. Pinkie didn't care, and instead just remained lost in thought.

"I wonder what happened."

"Hmm."

"I have never seen her like this. She looks like her battery has died."

"Mhmm!"

"Why me? I don't know how to fix her! Why are you not going in and try?"

"Hmm..."

The one-sided conversation continued for several minutes, before the voices suddenly stopped. Moments later the door opened fully and Pinkie could hear someone stepping into her room, crossing the floor before coming to a stop beside her bed.

"Hey, Maud," Pinkie said without looking at her sister, her usual energy missing as her eyes remained focused on the ceiling.

"Hello, Pinkie," Maud replied in her monotone voice. "What's wrong?"

This time Pinkie turned her head to look at Maud. "What makes you think something is wrong?"

Maud cocked her head to the side and blinked slowly. "Just a hunch."

Pinkie sighed before she once again looked up at the ceiling. "I don't know what to do, Maud. We hurt Sunset really, really bad. I wanna make it up to her, to make her smile again, but I just don't know how."

Maud slowly sat down beside Pinkie on her bed. "Tell me what happened." And so over the next half hour, Pinkie told her sister about everything that had happened over the last two weeks.

"I came back home after getting Fluttershy back to her house and into her room, and now here we are," she concluded her story. "I know that I made a huge mistake, but there must be a way to make up for it." She sighed. "It's just that everything I can think of doesn't seem enough for what we did."

Maud remained silent for a few minutes, thinking over everything Pinkie told her before she spoke again. "Pinkie, there is nothing you can do at this point besides leaving her alone."

Pinkie lifted herself off her bed to sit up properly. "No, there has to be something I can do! I could-"

"Pinkie, no," Maud said firmly, grabbing her sister's shoulders with both hands. "As you said, you hurt her deeply, and she doesn't want to see you right now. You will only make everything worse."

"I agree with Maud," a new voice spoke up from her room's doorway. Looking towards it, Pinkie saw Limestone standing in the doorframe, frowning at Pinkie while she crossed her arms in front of her. Marble was standing just behind her, looking at Pinkie worriedly. "If you try to force an encounter with her you will just make her angrier."

"But... But..., Pinkie stammered, her eyes moving from one of her sisters to the next before she looked down. "I only want to make her smile again..."

"We know," Maud said, releasing her sisters' shoulders, "And right now the only way is to leave her alone so that she can heal herself."

"You said that she said she can't forgive you now, so there is still hope that she will be able to one day," Marble said after squeezing past Limestone to sit on the other side of Pinkie's bed.

"But," Maud spoke up, "It’s also possible that she may never forgive you and your friends. If that's the case you need to accept it."

Pinkie looked around the room at her sisters before she sighed. "You’re right. I don't want to make everything worse, I just need to hope and be patient." Slowly Pinkie smiled before she pulled all her sisters in a group hug, one which Limestone only accepted with lots of grumbling. "Thanks! You’re the best sisters I could hope for!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Limestone grumbled. "Can you let me go now?"

"Hmm, nope, not yet!" Pinkie replied, pulling her sister even closer, much to Limestones annoyance, but she didn't try to escape, instead giving her sister what she needed.

~*~

Everyone who had ever met Canterlot High’s star athlete would describe her as very energetic. Whenever she had the time and opportunity she would occupy herself in one way or another. Some of the rare moments of idleness where those when she was spending time with her friends, napping or when she was in class, with the last two sometimes occurring at the same time.

Today, however, Rainbow was sitting on her room’s deep windowsill, completely still except for the movement of her breathing as she gazed out of her window at her neighborhood with a blank stare. It was a rare occurrence, only happening when something was troubling the girl.

Upon arriving home from school the girl has been seething in anger. Learning that the kid she trusted, the one she decided to take under her wing so to speak, was one of those responsible for everything that happened over the last two weeks had made her blood boil. She paced feverishly around her room, ranting to herself as a way to release her anger.

Over time she calmed down, which led to her retreating to her thinking place on her windowsill, thinking more deeply over the situation while watching the outside world. She sat there for hours, lost deep in thought. By now her anger had shifted from Scootaloo to a new target.

Herself.

It was true that the Crusaders had started everything by posting those secrets and twisting everything to point at Sunset as the one behind it, but it was Rainbow herself that decided to blindly believe it. She was the one who decided to yell at her, who decided to punch and threaten her. She, along with the others, was the reason the school believed Sunset to be Anon-A-Miss. She was the one who talked with Gilda, unintentionally causing her to go after Sunset. If she had just walked away when Gilda began to talk, maybe nothing would have happened.

But she hadn’t, and now she had to live with the consequences. The worst part was not knowing what was going to happen to her. Would she be arrested like Gilda? Sent to jail? Even if not, it would always follow her wherever she goes, just like Sunset said. She should call herself lucky if anybody at school wanted to have anything to do with her after this.

Looking down out of the window she saw a familiar car driving onto their lot, with her mother stepping out soon after it came to a stop.

A deep uneasiness came over her. It was another thing on her mind the entire day; how should she tell her parents about what happened and her involvement?

Her mother and father have always been so proud of her. Most of the time they tended to get on her nerves with how overexcited they get about everything she did, but they’re always there for her, helping and encouraging her whenever she needed help or had a problem too big to handle on her own. The thought of how disappointed they were going to be once they learned about everything made her heart ache.

Sighing deeply Rainbow slowly left after several hours of sitting on the not so comfortable windowsill, and began stretching her aching muscles as movement on the street caught her attention. Her eyes widened when she saw a police car driving down the street, slowly approaching their house. Following the car's movement, Rainbow hoped that it was just a random patrol passing by, but she knew how unlikely that was in their small neighborhood. Sure enough, the police car stopped in front of their house and two officers stepped out, approaching her mom who was still going through the mail at their front door.

'Well,' she thought, 'that's by far not how I wanted Mom to hear about it.' With another sigh, she walked towards the door and opened it, ready to accept whatever was coming just as her mother opened the front door and called for her.

Author's Note

Once again, it took me way longer to finish this part than expected. It's all Rainbows fault :rainbowderp:
Had several different ways how to proceed with her, but none of them felt good enough, until I got to this idea. I'm quite happy with how it turned out :scootangel:

Another problem that came up was that my editor is currently not available. In the end I asked a good friend to look it over and correct the massives mistakes I made :twilightblush:

I hope you like this chapter, and if you notice any mistakes we might have missed feel free to point them out to me :twilightsmile:

Chapter 18

The clicking of the phone being hung up echoed throughout the office, followed by a long sigh. Celestia slumped forward, her elbows resting on the desk while she ran a hand through her hair. This was definitely the worst start of any holiday she ever had to endure in all her time as an educator.

The office door opened, and Luna looked inside. "How are things, Celestia?"

Celestia scoffed. "Worse than I hoped but better than I expected." She lifted her head to look at Luna and motioned towards the phone. "I just had a talk with one of the officers responsible for the investigation of the Anon-a-Miss account. He told me that once they’re done with it, they’ll send me a list of those that sent in messages so that I can give out their punishments for their involvement."

"I see," Luna muttered as she stepped closer until she stood in front of her sister’s desk, her eyes still focused on Celestia. "And did you call Sunset yet?"

"I did," Celestia said with a nod. "She took it pretty badly. She went so silent after I told her how the girls got those secrets, I thought the connection had been cut off." Celestia's expression softened. "When she spoke again, she sounded so broken, Luna. It's hard to believe that this was the girl who once ruled over our school by fear behind our backs. She had done so much for all of us, and that's how the students thanked her."

Celestia sighed. "Before she hung up, she told me that she wouldn’t return to Canterlot High after winter break, just as I expected. And Mr. Sunrise made it clear that his daughter would not attend, either."

"It would have surprised me more if they had decided to attend after everything that happened to them," Luna said quietly, looking briefly out of the window before she looked back at her sister. Celestia was once again leaning forward, one arm resting on her desk while the other was supporting her head. Her head was hanging low with her eyes closed. "I can see that something else is bothering you, Celestia. Want to talk about it?"

At first, Celestia remained quiet, and just when Luna took it as a 'no' and turned to leave her alone, Celestia spoke up.

"Am I a failure?"

Luna immediately stopped in her tracks and turned back to her sister. "Of course not! What makes you think that?"

"Just look at the past two weeks," Celestia replied with a scoff. "The school turned into an absolute madhouse, an innocent girl got framed, bullied and beaten up for everything that happened, while another girl nearly got killed by another student whom I should have expelled years ago. All of this because of three girls throwing a hissy fit in jealousy, and I couldn't do anything to stop it." She shook her head and sighed. "I should have done more..."

Celestia recoiled in surprise when Luna slammed her hand on the desk, glaring at her. "First off, don't you dare pin this entirely on yourself, sister!"

"Luna?"

"We both are in this, not just yourself," Luna continued. "We talked about how we are going about this situation. We decided on what to do. We punished every student we came across that caused trouble these past two weeks, while we did what we could to find any clues on the ones behind Anon-a-Miss." She straightened herself in front of her sister’s desk and crossed her arms. "Could we have done better? Yes, but we could only work with what we knew about. None of us knew about what was going on outside school, and none of us ever expected it to escalate to this extreme level. If we had known, we could have reacted to it accordingly, but we didn't.

"We are both responsible for how we decided to handle this situation, so if there are consequences coming, then they are coming not for you or for me but for us."

"Luna..."

"And as I stated before, you are not a failure. Maybe a bit too good-hearted at times for your own good but not a failure," Luna continued, not even acknowledging that Celestia said anything. "You always see the best in every student, no matter how far down the wrong path they are, and you try everything to guide them back towards the right one. That's what an educator is supposed to do: teach and guide those in need. Sometimes, it's a lost cause, though not for a lack of trying on your part, but most of the time, you succeed. Sunset Shimmer is a case of the latter. In your position, I would have expelled her after the Fall Formal, but you saw her potential and her desire to change and gave her that chance to change her way. The results speak for themselves.

"Gilda is the opposite. You did everything you could to help her and gave her countless chances to be better, but if one has no desire to change, there is nothing you can do. Sometimes, you just need to give up on some students."

Celestia stared at her sister as she moved around the desk and placed her hand on her shoulder. "Don't let one very misguided student drag you down by her mistakes. Think about the countless others you helped over the years instead and be proud of your hard work."

The room fell into silence while the two women looked at each other, before Celestia relaxed and smiled. "Thank you, Luna. That was just what I needed to make me feel better."

Luna returned the smile. "Whenever you need it, sister." She looked over at the clock on the wall. "I say we call it a day. We have both been here for over twelve hours already, and I think we deserve a break, with some cake back home."

Celestia's smile fell slightly while Luna walked towards the coat rack. "I appreciate it, but I know that we have no cake left back home."

"I know," Luna said before she tossed Celestia's coat towards her and grabbed her own. "That's why I ordered one an hour ago. We just need to pick it up."

Celestia looked at her sister in surprise, before her smile returned, and she put on her coat. "Have I ever told you that you are the best? How do I deserve such a wonderful sister?"

Luna rolled her eyes while she waited for her sister at the door. "Don't ask me; I have been trying to find an answer to that question for years."

Both sisters laughed at that while they left the room and closed the door behind them.

~*~

Shimmer sighed exhaustedly as she fell backwards onto the bed, her arms and legs spread out as far as possible. Lifting her hand towards her hair, she fished another paper wad out of it after a short search, and it was most likely not the last of its kind. A small part of her was a bit miffed at Twilight for participating in this childish game Northern started, but a much bigger part was sure that she would have done the same in that situation.

Twilights and Northern’s assault had continued for several long minutes while the two girls had continued their stare-down, but after a while, Twilight decided that it was enough and ended the conflict. She had claimed the last snickerdoodle for herself and ate it while both girls stared at her in shock. Moments after she finished eating, Twilight got hit by two thrown pillows at the same time. The following pillow fight, one Northern joined into immediately, lasted another thirty minutes and left the room covered in feathers after one pillow burst open.

Cleaning up all the feathers, combined with the tension from their stare-down, the pillow fight and the rest of the day, left Shimmer exhausted. Northern had left just a few minutes ago with her daughter after asking her for some help downstairs. That left Shimmer and Twilight alone for the time being, and while she enjoyed the fun the three of them had the entire evening, Shimmer decided to just enjoy the few minutes of silence.

"Hey, Sunset? Can we talk for a moment?"

But apparently, Twilight had a different idea. At first Shimmer wanted to ask if it could wait until later when she wasn't exhausted, but turning her head to look at her friend changed her mind. Twilight was sitting on one of the pillows on the ground, her back resting against the front of the wardrobe. She was fiddling around with her hands, apparently unsure what to do with them, and was looking out of the dark window, her eyes showing either concern or nervousness (Shimmer wasn't entirely sure).

"Sure," Shimmer said, rolling onto her side to face her friend. "What's up, Twilight?"

Twilight remained quiet for a few more moments, before she sighed. "I know this is probably the last thing you want to think about right now and that I should wait until tomorrow so I don’t ruin this evening, but what are you going to do now? I mean, you wanted to come back to Equestria just a few days ago, but things have changed since then. Are you still coming back?"

Shimmer blinked before she rolled back onto her back, staring up at the ceiling. It was true that she had decided to go back, to leave this world behind, just a few days ago. But as Twilight pointed out, things had changed. Dramatically.

"I don't know, Twi..." Shimmer began. "It all happened so fast that I didn't even think much about it; I had more important things on my mind at the time.

"Back then, it wasn't so hard to decide to leave for good; there wasn’t much left for me in this world besides being alone and hated by almost everyone, so it was an easy decision. I’d prefer to face Princess Celestia about everything I did over being completely alone, even if I think I'm not ready for it yet." Out of the corner of her eye, Shimmer could see Twilight opening her mouth to say something, but Shimmer cut her off. "And I know that she has forgiven me, Twilight. You’ve said so often enough. It's not just about the crimes I committed but also that I'm ashamed of how I repaid her for everything she did for me. She pulled me out of the orphanage, gave me a place to live and taught me nearly everything I know, and I became a snotty, entitled brat that demanded more and more." She shook her head. "I'm not ready to look her in the face, yet.”

Twilight remained silent. She knew how she herself had felt in the past whenever she thought she had disappointed Princess Celestia, but imagining how much more intense this feeling must be for Shimmer after everything that happened between her and the princess made her understand her much better.

"Either way, things changed now," Shimmer continued. "With Anon-a-Miss exposed, things will calm down now, and with Sunset, Desert and Northern around, I wouldn't be entirely alone anymore, but..." She sighed. "I'm not sure how I would move forward if I stay here. With me leaving CHS behind, continuing my education in a different school would be the obvious solution, but the only other school nearby is Crystal Prep, a private school I doubt I could ever be able to afford to attend on my own, and without a finished education, there is only so much I can do for a living in this world."

Twilight hummed in thought. "I see your point. You don't know how to proceed in this world if you decide to stay."

"In a way, yeah," Shimmer agreed. "The worst part is that I’d have the same problem if I return to Equestria. What is there in Equestria for me besides you and Princess Celestia once I gather the courage to face her? I have no place to live of my own and no idea what to do with my life. Sure, I would have my magic back, but this world has its own kind of magic with its technology that I’ve come to enjoy at least as much as I enjoyed magic."

Shimmer rose from the bed and slowly made her way towards the window, looking at the snow falling from the sky. "In short, I don't know where I belong anymore. Is it the world I was born in, or is it the world I have lived the last few years in? I just don't know anymore."

A hand on her shoulder drew Shimmer’s attention, and she turned her head to see Twilight standing beside her, a smile on the princess’s face.

"I'm sure you can find the answer in time," she said. "Home is where the heart is, as they say, so listen closely to what it’s telling you. And whatever world you choose to stay in, I will always be here to help you if you need me. You just need to ask."

Shimmer smiled and pulled her friend into a hug. "Thanks, Twilight. For everything."

Twilight smiled as she returned the hug. "That's what friends are for."

The two friends remained in their embrace for a few moments before they separated and continued watching the snowfall through the window. Neither of them was aware of the girl leaning against the wall on the other side of the slightly ajar door, silently listening in on their conversation.

Author's Note

Well, this took way longer than I thought it would. :twilightblush:
This chapter was quite a hustle to write down, and halfway through i was even thinking for quite a while about going back and changing a few things from older chapters before I continue.
But in the end I decided against it. I'm going to wrap it up and maybe go back one day in the future and rewite it, I don't know yet. :scootangel:

Either way, I hope you like this new chapter, and I really hope it won't take so long again for the next :pinkiehappy:

Biggest thanks go out to icecreammac for editing my crappy writing :derpytongue2:

Chapter 19

Shimmer sighed in bliss, cuddling deeper into her warm blanket. She wasn't sure how long she had been awake already. That would require her to turn around to see the clock on the nightstand, and she was just too comfortable in her position to even consider doing that.

Several days had passed since the day of the assembly and the sleepover with Twilight, and Shimmer already saw those days as some of the best she ever had. Nearly every moment had been spent with Sunset and her family, who had invited her to stay with them over the holidays, and she was grateful for their hospitality. Just the thought of returning to her small apartment to spend the holidays alone crushed her inside; while she never minded all those years before, that was before she learned about friendship and how much better it was not to be alone.

This Christmas Eve by itself had been worlds better than every year she had spent alone combined, and she was sure she had never been so full after the dinner Northern had prepared. Afterwards, they watched a few movies together that Shimmer never had the opportunity, or interest, to watch before turning in for the night.

Northern Star had been kind enough to warn her in advance that she would most likely be woken up way earlier than expected. Apparently, Sunset had come to the conclusion as a child that sleeping in on Christmas morning was a mortal sin, so she would make sure to wake everyone up as soon as she woke up, and she repeated the ritual every year. Desert was even convinced she would do it long after moving out and celebrating away from them.

Sure enough, the familiar sound of feet running on the wooden floor outside the guest room was the first and only warning she got for the coming assault. Taking a deep breath, Shimmer steeled herself, convinced that she was prepared for what was to come.

She was not.

The door flew open, and Sunset ran in, a pillow in her tight grip. Before Shimmer could react, Sunset had jumped onto the bed and began beating Shimmer with the fluffy weapon.

"Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!" Sunset yelled with each swing. "It's Christmas! No time to sleep!"

Shimmer did her best to defend herself, but she was at a major disadvantage. "I give, I give!" she yelled back between swings, her arms crossed over her head to avoid her face getting hit. "You win, I'm awake!"

"Finally," Sunset said as she stopped her assault and got off the bed. "Breakfast is ready, so hurry up." Her part done, Sunset turned and left the room, humming happily.

Shimmer watched her go while catching her breath. 'Hard to believe we are essentially the same person,' she thought before getting up herself.

~*~

Breakfast was, as expected after such a wakening, a quick affair, and soon enough, the home’s occupants gathered in the living room.

Shimmer watched as the family shared presents with each other, content to sit by and watch. It was a sad truth that she was broke, having bought presents for her former friends, and was unable to get anything for Sunset, Desert or Northern. Thankfully, they had assured her that they understood and that she had already done enough for them.

While she watched as Sunset unwrapped a new gaming console, her thoughts wandered back to earlier and how Sunset has woken her up. It wasn't the first time that Shimmer noticed a child-like glee in her double’s behavior over the past few days. Northern told her upon asking that Sunset is always like that at home but puts on a more serious façade when in public or around visitors. It made Shimmer happy that her friend was comfortable enough around her to drop that mask.

It was one of the biggest differences between the two girls, and it made Shimmer wonder if she would have been just like her if her parents’ fate had been different so many years ago.

Shimmer got pulled out of her thoughts by someone placing a hand on her shoulder and turned to see Sunset sitting beside her.

"Earth to Shimmer, are you still with us?" she asked, a smile on her face.

"Yeah, I was just a bit lost in my thoughts," Shimmer replied, her own smile on her face.

"Well, if you can manage to stay with us for a bit, there is something you have to do," the other girl said cheerfully before she revealed a small present from behind her back and placed it in Shimmer’s lap. "Open your present!"

Shimmer stared dumbfounded at the little box in her lap, her mouth hanging open. "You got me a present?" she asked, looking up at the grinning girl. "But... I got nothing for you."

"I know—you already said so before—but that doesn't mean I can't get something for you," Sunset said, still smiling. "Now open it up! I hope you like it."

Shimmer smiled. Deciding not to wait any longer, she shifted her attention back to the present. In just a few moments, the wrapping paper was gone, revealing a small box that she opened just as fast. Inside the box rested a pendant of a two-toned sun, the same as her cutie mark, attached to a thin cord.

"It's beautiful," Shimmer said in wonder as she took the pendant out of its box to examine it more closely.

"I'm glad you think so," Sunset said from beside her. "Finding a sun pendant was easy, but it took a bit more effort to find someone who could rework it in time. But it was worth it."

Shimmer looked over the pendant a moment longer before she unclasped the lock and put it around her neck, letting the sun fall in place. "Thanks. I really love it," she said while she pulled her double into a side hug.

Sunset returned the hug before rising from her place. She walked towards the presents she received and grabbed the gaming console. “So, what do you say? Wanna get back to my room and get this little beauty running?"

Shimmer smirked. "Sounds like a plan to me, but don't expect me to go easy on you." Shimmer rose from her spot to follow Sunset, who was already at the living room door, but Desert clearing his throat stopped her.

"Actually, there is something we’d like to talk with you about, Shimmer," he said calmly. He glanced at his daughter briefly before continuing, "In private."

Shimmer looked at the adults in confusion. "Sure, I guess." She turned to her friend, who was looking back with a smile. "Go ahead. I’ll be there in a bit."

Sunset nodded and left the room, closing the door behind her. Shimmer walked over towards the couch opposite Desert and Northern and sat down. Even though she was sure that everything was alright, a part of her worried that something had happened or that she had done something wrong over the past few days. A worry which apparently was written on her face.

"Don’t worry, Sunset," Northern assured her with a smile. "There's nothing wrong. We just want to talk with you about something. But before we begin..."

Shimmer watched in confusion as Northern bent down and pulled one of her slippers off her foot. Before Shimmer had a chance to ask what she was doing, Northern threw the slipper across the room, where it hit the door. A cry of surprise sounded from the other side, muffled by the wood.

"We asked for privacy, sweetie!" Northern called.

For a moment, there was silence, but soon enough Shimmer heard a very quiet, "Sorry," from the other side of the door, causing Shimmer to chuckle good-naturedly at her friend's misfortune.

"Sorry about that. Our dear daughter is very curious and has a bad habit of listening in on other people's conversations sometimes," Northern said, shaking her head. Moments later, she smirked. "Maybe something you can relate to?"

Now it was Shimmer's time to avoid the woman’s gaze as she looked at a random spot on the wall, blushing slightly. "...Maybe?"

Northern giggled, but before she could say more, Desert spoke up. "Nonetheless, her curiosity is why we are here." Upon seeing that he now held Shimmer’s attention, he continued, "Last Friday, Sunset overheard your conversation with Princess Twilight about what you’re going to do now. I want to assure you that she meant no harm, and she only told us about it because she wanted to help you but didn't know how."

"No, it's alright," Shimmer said after thinking it over for a moment. "We should have known that someone might hear us; we weren’t really being quiet and never asked for privacy. And honestly, I'm probably the last who has the right to get mad at her for listening in on us."

Desert smiled. "I'm glad you see it that way, but may I ask if you’ve made a decision?"

Shimmer looked down at her folded hands in her lap. "No, not really. It's not an easy decision to make. I mean, I could go back and forth between our worlds whenever I want, but I think it would be very taxing after a while. Not even speaking about the danger of leaving the portal open all the time whenever Twilight or anyone else isn't around to open and close it for me."

"Yes, I can understand that," Desert said calmly. "Just because nothing happened so far whenever the portal was open doesn't mean no one might ever accidentally fall through it."

"Exactly," Shimmer said before sighing. "So, if I don't want to move through the portal on a near-daily basis, I’m either staying here or in Equestria, and I don't know which I should choose. There are arguments for both sides, but if Sunset told you about my talk with Twilight, you probably know them."

"Indeed, we do," Desert said before he looked to the side at his wife, who smiled and nodded. Desert took a deep breath before continuing, "And we wish to help you with one of them. Sunset, would you like to stay with us, as part of our family?"

Shimmer stared at the two adults sitting on the couch in surprise, her mouth hanging open. Of everything that she could have been thinking of for this talk, this was not what she expected.

"You... You want to adopt me?"

Both adults nodded. "We do," Desert said. "We’ve already done some research about what would be necessary and asked Principal Celestia for help and advice. This way, you would never be alone again and could continue school together with our daughter."

"But we understand that you have been independent for so long and that you might not want to give it up now," Northern added. "In that case, we want to at least take over any payments necessary for your education."

"I... I don't know what to say," Shimmer stammered. "This is so sudden and way more than unexpected."

"You don’t have to make any decision yet," Desert said calmly, smiling at her. "Take all the time you need; there’s no expiration date on our offer. And should you decide against it now but change your mind at a later time, you can always come to us. We will wait for you."

"And of course, no matter what you decide on, you will always be welcome in our home," Northern added.

Shimmer remained silent as she tried to wrap her head around the very generous offer. Having a family was something she had wanted for most of her life, but now that this opportunity showed itself, she was unsure about what she wanted. She shook her head to clear her thoughts.

"I'm not sure what to say, and I will think about it, but..." she began with a little smile, which dropped soon after as she continued, "but why would you do so much for me?"

Desert shared a glance with his wife before he spoke up. "Before we answer, please do not think we are trying to egg you into staying with us. If you’d prefer to live in this world but that we leave you alone, we would accept it but still insist on helping you financially."

Shimmer stared at Desert with wide eyes. "I would never—"

"I know, Sunset," Desert said quickly, interrupting her. "It was just an example. My point is that we want to make sure you can live the life you want to live. Hearing that you might want to stay in this world but can't do so because of financial issues bothers us greatly, so we want to help you."

"And for the 'why', I think it's obvious," Northern said quietly while rising from her seat. She walked around the table and took the seat beside Shimmer. She clasped her hands around Shimmer’s, and Shimmer looked deep into Northern’s eyes, the cyan color identical to her own. "What you did for us is something we will never be able to thank you enough for," Northern began, tears slowly beginning to form in her eyes. "Without you, we would not be here, celebrating the holidays. At best, we would be at the hospital by our daughter's bedside, and at worst, we’d..." Northern swallowed the lump in her throat, unable to finish the thought. Taking a deep breath to calm herself, she continued, "You saved our daughter's life, and we will be forever grateful. Helping you live the life you want is the least we can do, be it with us here or somewhere else."

Sunset was at a loss of words at all the gratitude from the woman. "I-I only did what was right," she stammered. "It was nothing special."

Sunset felt a hand on her shoulder, and she turned to look at Desert’s fatherly smile. "Maybe not for you, but for us, it is," he said, squeezing Sunset’s shoulder reassuringly. "Just think about it for a while, and know that we have your back, no matter what you decide."

"I... I will," Shimmer said, smiling. "Thanks for everything. It means a lot to me."

"It's our pleasure," Northern said before she, together with her husband, returned to the other couch. "That was all we wanted to talk about, so you can go back to Sunset’s room if you want. I'm sure she’s waiting for you. And feel free to talk with her about it. She actually knew about all of this."

Shimmer nodded and rose from the couch. She took a couple steps towards the door before she slowed to a stop.

"Is something wrong, Sunset?" Northern asked.

Shimmer turned back around and looked at the two of them. "No, I just thought about something I wanted to ask you.

"As you know, I grew up knowing nothing about my parents and family. I wondered if you could tell me more about any other relatives you have. I still hope that there’s someone related to me in Equestria, but without anything to go by, it's useless to look. With some names, I could try to see if those also exist in Equestria and finally—hopefully—be able to find someone of my family."

Desert and Northern smiled at each other before turning back to Sunset. "We’d love to help," Desert said.

"I’ll see if I can find our photo album to show you some pictures," Northern said as she rose. “It would help you put faces to names.”

Smiling, Shimmer walked back to her spot on the couch and sat down, excited that she finally might get some clues about her family.

Author's Note

Here we are, after such a long time, but as I mentioned before in my Blog I had a few things to deal with. Finally managed to find the time and hope it will last so that I can write that last chapter.

Since the beginning of this story, I changed a lot of things, and the most changed part was what to do at the end. Shall Shimmer stay or leave? I literally changed my opinion on it several times whenever I had another idea to use. Even though I decided on the end quite a while ago I went with this approach to give the opportunity to easily write a change if I get a story idea for the other path at another point in the future (or maybe if someone else wants to write one :scootangel: )

Her decision will be in the next and last chapter, followed by the epilogue. After that, this story will be at an end, but I do have ideas for a possible sequel in mind, but I'm not sure yet if I will do it or not. We will see :twilightsmile:

Hope you all like this chapter, and that it won't take me this long again for the rest :moustache:

Chapter 20

Canterlot City was busy with activity. Everywhere, people were walking around doing last-minute purchases for the upcoming New Year celebrations. Barely anyone paid any attention to the lone girl walking down the snow-free sidewalk without a destination in mind, aside from a few teenagers who recognized her but didn't dare to approach her after everything they did to her over the last two weeks of school, even if they couldn't tell which one she was.

Not that Shimmer had any intention to talk with any of them. She was content with being left alone at the moment, giving her the time and peace to think.

The previous day had been the first court day regarding Anon-a-Miss, focusing on the attempted murder charges, and to say that Shimmer had been nervous was an understatement. She was technically an illegal alien after all, and there was always the fear in the back of her mind that it would take a bad turn and she would get arrested.

At first, that fear seemed close to realization when the judge was eyeing her and Sunset curiously after first introductions, believing they were trying to trick them all with the twin appearance, but Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna both vouched for her, Shimmer having been a student at CHS for years while Sunset had been miles away in a different state at the same time. The judge seemed satisfied by that and waved it off as one of nature's oddities.

The trial continued as the judge listened to everything that happened. Gilda remained silent for most of the time, seemingly having realized it wouldn't help her case if she began talking about Shimmer being a pony from another dimension. With the evidence piled against her, she was not about to make it worse by getting sent to an asylum.

One of the biggest surprises of the day was when Shimmer spoke in favor of Rainbow Dash and the three girls. She stated that while they did start Anon-a-Miss, she doubted that they had any intention for it to go the way it did and that they had never before acted in any malicious way. She also stated that while Rainbow had a very short fuse and was known to act without thinking from time to time, she would never cause harm of this magnitude to anyone. Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna reinforced those statements later on when asked by the judge about their judgment of character from their behavior at school.

The judge listened to everything with a stoic visage, only interrupting if something needed clarifying.

In the end, Gilda had been found guilty on all charges, with the specifics of her sentence being determined on a later date. The last Shimmer saw of the girl was Gilda sending death glares at Shimmer and her twin while being escorted out of the room in cuffs.

With no evidence of her involvement in Gilda's actions besides Gilda's statement of her being the one telling her to go after Sunset, Rainbow had been declared not guilty, but the judge advised her to maybe look into help for anger management.

Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo had also been declared not guilty thanks to their young age, lack of involvement with Gilda's actions, and underestimation of the consequences of the page they started. The judge made sure to emphasize that this only applied to the charges regarding attempted murder, not for the rest of the damage caused by Anon-a-Miss, the trial of which was set for a different date.

The girls only nodded in acknowledgment, just happy to be free of the attempted murder charge. Court was adjourned soon after, and Shimmer left with Sunset and her family before Rainbow or the girls could try to talk with them.

Shimmer sighed deeply. She was glad that the most important part of this madness was finally over and that Gilda got what she deserved, while the brats would get their punishment later, but it also meant that there was nothing left to distract her. Now she had the time to think about what might be the biggest decision in her life.

Should she accept Desert’s and Northern's offer to live with them and Sunset in the human world, or should she return to Equestria to build her own life there?

Turning the corner, Shimmer stopped for a second in surprise when she realized where her feet had taken her, only to shake her head and chuckle to herself. "Of course I end up here," she quietly said to herself as she resumed walking towards Canterlot High.

Deciding against sitting on the cold stone steps of the front entrance like she did last week, Shimmer made her way towards one of the benches positioned nearby, which had been cleared of snow, facing towards the statue with the school's parking lot behind her.

Looking over the schoolyard, Shimmer thought about everything that happened here, from her rise to power as the queen bee and her fall and defeat at the Fall Formal, to her fighting beside the same girls she antagonized against the sirens…to those same friends abandoning and betraying her. However, while most she experienced at CHS was bad, she still thought back to the few good times she had and cherished them.

She smiled while thinking back, resting her chin on her palm as her eyes roamed over the yard.

"Sunset?"

Pulled out of her memories, Shimmer looked over her shoulder to the parking lot, where she saw a single white car had parked recently without her noticing and the familiar woman making her way towards her from said car.

Shimmer smiled. "Good afternoon, Principal Celestia."

"Good afternoon," Celestia replied with her own smile as she came to a stop behind the bench, "but there is no need for you to call me principal anymore. As much as it pains me, you are not one of my students any longer. Just Celestia is fine."

"Right," Shimmer admitted, her smile falling slightly at the reminder. "So, what brings you here during the holidays? And how did you know it was me and not my double?"

"Well, I can't think of any reason why the other you would sit here, looking over the yard lost in thought," Celestia said. "And I just came to grab a few documents I need to look through over the break. What about you? You never struck me as a person who comes out here just to reminisce."

"True," Shimmer said as she turned back towards the statue. "I was just taking a walk and ended up here somehow and decided to take a break." She remained silent afterward until she heard steps and saw movement out of the corner of her eye. Looking to the side, she saw Celestia walking around the bench and sitting down beside her.

"Got something on your mind?" Celestia asked, her eyes focused on the statue.

"You could say that," Shimmer said with a sigh before she smirked at the woman, one eyebrow raised. "But you already know what it is. Desert and Northern asked you for help and advice after all."

"That's true, but I didn't know if they had talked with you about it yet," Celestia said. "I didn't want to spoil anything. So, I assume you are trying to figure out what to do?"

"Yeah, it's not an easy choice to make. Staying in this world that had been my home for the last several years, or going back to my original home and being a pony again."

Celestia nodded beside her. "I can't imagine how hard it must be."

They fell into silence, neither of them saying anything until Shimmer snorted. "You know, every second that passes, I expect you to give me some clever advice which leads me to make the right decision or whatever."

Celestia smiled. "Like the other me would have done?" Shimmer's eyes widened as she looked towards the woman, who kept smiling. "Don't be so surprised. While you never mentioned her by name, you told me enough about your mentor since the Fall Formal to allow me to piece a few things together. And thinking back to your behavior around me the first time you came to school helped as well. But I'm not an immortal, centuries-old ruler of a country who controls the sun with huge amounts of experience and wisdom." She turned to her former student. "I'm just a high school principal in her forties. I make mistakes like everybody else, as recent events show."

Shimmer frowned. "Celestia, I want you to know that I don't blame either you or your sister for what happened."

"Thank you, Sunset. And I want you to know that while Luna and I did follow any lead we had, which includes everything that pointed at you being Anon-a-Miss, none of us believed that you were the one behind it," Celestia said. "But going back to the beginning, I'm afraid there is not much I can help you with. While I have been in situations where I had to make a hard decision between two options, nothing comes even close to choosing which world to live in. This is something no one in this world has gone through. None that I know of, anyway."

Shimmer chuckled. "Yeah, that's true."

"You are the only one who can make this decision," Celestia continued. "Everyone you ask can only give you advice on what they would do or what they assume would be what you want, but you are the only one who knows what you want, even if you are still trying to figure out what it is." Celestia placed her hand on Shimmer's shoulder. "Listen to your heart. It’s the only place where you can find this answer."

Shimmer remained quiet, thinking about what Celestia said before she smiled. "Thank you for the advice, Celestia."

Celestia gave Shimmer a smile of her own. "It's no trouble. I will always help those around me if I can, be it student," she said, waving her hand towards the school building before placing it once more on Shimmer's shoulder, "or friend."

The girl and the woman smiled at each other before Celestia rose from her seat. After stretching her limbs for a moment, she spoke up. "I'm afraid I have to go now; those documents won't gather themselves, as much as I would like that. I hope that you will come to visit Luna and me sometimes, no matter what you decide to do."

"Of course. I won't let you wait too long," Shimmer said as Celestia began walking towards the school entrance.

Shimmer watched her walking for a few moments before she rose from her seat. As she was crossing the yard to get back to her temporary home, she stopped. She turned towards the entrance just as Celestia was about to enter the building.

"Celestia!" she called out, catching the principal's attention. With a smile on her face, Shimmer bowed her head slightly towards her. "Thank you for giving me a chance after the Fall Formal." Celestia smiled back and gave her a nod before she stepped inside and closed the door.

Shimmer stood in place and sighed. While she still wasn't sure what to do now, the chat with her teacher of two worlds felt good. One more time, she let her gaze wander over the building before she buried her hands in the pockets of her jacket and began the walk back towards her friend's home.

~*~

Shimmer looked in silence through the crack of the doorway into the living room, where Desert and Northern were lying on separate couches, watching a movie. She had been standing behind the door for several minutes now, ever since she excused herself from Sunset to visit the bathroom. She knew she had to tell them her decision, but part of her wanted to let it be for now, to wait maybe another day or two to think about everything.

Shaking her head, Shimmer took a deep breath. It had been two days since her talk with Celestia and one day since she had made a decision and began stalling herself to tell them. She would not remain silent any longer.

With another deep breath, she lifted her hand and knocked slightly before she slowly opened the door. It felt to her like the knock was way too light for anyone to hear, but when the door opened, she saw both Desert and Northern looking at her.

"Hey," she said quietly. "Could we talk for a moment?"

Desert and Northern shared a look before Desert took the remote and shut off the TV. "Of course, sweetie," Northern said while she rose from her couch to a sitting position, with Desert doing the same.

Taking her time, Shimmer moved towards the free couch, the same place she occupied on Christmas morning. She sat down and looked at the two adults but remained quiet. For what felt to her like an eternity, she sat in silence, while Desert and Northern both waited patiently, silently telling her to take all the time she needed.

Shimmer's mind was racing. She had thought long about what to say and how to say it, but now the words just didn't come to her. In the end, she just decided to wing it.

"I wanted to thank you," she began, letting the words come out on their own, "for everything you did for me over the last week. Even with everything happening that led up to it, this Christmas has been one of the best I can remember. I'm also very grateful for your offer to stay with you as a part of your family. But...

"During that week I spent with Twilight in Equestria before I met you, I realized how much I missed being a pony. I missed my soft fur, feeling the grass beneath my hooves, and the ever-present feeling of magic everywhere that you only notice when it's gone."

Shimmer looked down at her lap, frowning. "I made many mistakes before I left, and I think it's time I make it up to those I wronged." Slowly, she began to smile as she looked up and made eye contact with the two adults. "And thanks to you, I even have new hope of finding my parent's relatives, which I honestly had given up on long ago."

Closing her eyes to take a deep breath, Shimmer sat up straight and looked at Desert and Northern. "Thank you again for your offer, but I have to decline. I’ve decided to go back to Equestria. I'm sorry."

For a moment, Northern and Desert looked in surprise at Shimmer. They shared a look before Desert spoke up. "Sunset, there’s no need for you to apologize for anything," he said. "We knew from the beginning that you might decline, and as we said, all that’s important to us is that you are happy, be it with or without us by your side."

Northern rose from her couch to take the place beside Shimmer, placing her hand on Shimmer’s right shoulder. "Desert is right. Your happiness is all that matters."

Shimmer chuckled, wiping a tear from her eye. "It still felt like the right thing to do." Before Shimmer could continue, a pair of amber arms wrapped themselves around her from behind the couch, and she could not help but smile. 'Of course, she came looking for me and listened in once she realized I was gone too long,' she thought.

"I'm gonna miss you..." Sunset said, her head now resting on Shimmer's other shoulder. "You’re my only friend in this town."

"I know, but I think it's for the best," Shimmer said calmly while Sunset released her to walk around the couch and take the seat on her free side. "I'm sure you’ll make new friends soon enough once school starts up again, and besides, I'm not leaving right now. I still want to stay for a while longer until I can take care of everything necessary." She quickly looked at Desert. "That is, if you don't have any problems with it."

"Of course not," he said without hesitation. "You are free to stay as long as you want."

"And should you ever need anything, feel free to ask us," Northern said while she pulled Shimmer into a hug, which Sunset copied from the other side. "Our door will always be open for you, because as far as we are concerned, you will always be a part of this family."

"Indeed, there is nothing more to say," Desert said while he walked around the couch to take Sunset's previous place behind them and wrapped his arms around all of them, joining the hug.

Shimmer couldn't help but smile, tears flowing down her cheeks as she melted into the hugs. "Thanks," she mumbled. "It means a lot to me."

That was all Sunset could say to express her gratitude, too overwhelmed by the family's love. It was good to know that no matter what, she always had a safe place to return to, but for now, she knew it was time.

Time to go home.

Author's Note

...and it took me another 6 months to complete this, I'm so sorry :twilightsheepish:
nonetheless here it is, the last chapter besides the soon coming epilogue which is already being edited right now, so it will be online one of the next few days.

As always big thanks to icecreammac for editing.

Epilogue

Winter Break passed way too quickly for Sunset's liking. She wanted to spend as much time with Shimmer as possible before the fateful day. The day before, Shimmer left for Equestria, promising to return a few days later after making some preparations for her return (namely, living arrangements and the like). However, Sunset knew it was only a matter of time before Shimmer left entirely. Sunset knew that Shimmer would come for a visit every now and then, but she already knew she would miss having her friend around.

Now, she found herself standing in the entrance hall of Crystal Prep Academy, waiting for her tour guide to arrive. She had already met Dean Cadance, a very nice woman judging from her short encounter, who had accompanied her to her homeroom. Dean Cadance was supposed to show her around the school during the next free class while Sunset’s class schedule was being finalized, but she sadly had to attend to a problem that had popped up earlier, so she would be unable to show Sunset around. But Cadance had assured her that she would not be left alone. She had asked a student she knew who also had a free period to give Sunset a tour. Sunset just had to wait until said student arrived.

By now, Sunset has been waiting for five minutes, and she began to grow bored. She had already looked around the hall to occupy herself or watched some of the other students walking past who eyed her warily or simply ignored her existence.

So far, Sunset didn't like the impression she got of the other students. The few she had seen or interacted with had been the snotty, bratty, holier-than-thou type. It reminded her too much of her previous school in Manehattan, but this time, she would make sure not to let school dictate her life like her previous one had.

Her thoughts on the school uniform, however, were better kept to herself for the time being.

Idly walking around the hall, Sunset decided to peek around some corners, looking down the corridors without leaving the entrance hall to see if she could spot anything of interest to ask later once her guide arrived. The first two had been ornate but otherwise boring, with nothing of interest to see.

When she got closer to the next corridor, she heard hurried footsteps coming closer, but it was too late for her to react. Before she could do anything, someone rounded the corner in haste, colliding with her.

Sunset fell back with a yelp of surprise. She tried to regain her footing but to no avail. Soon enough, she found herself on the floor, groaning from the light pain of falling on her butt and from hitting her head against whoever ran into her.

"Oh no, I'm so sorry!" a female voice said, one that sounded oddly familiar to Sunset, but with her aching head, she couldn't place it. "I shouldn't have run around the corner like that. Here, let me help you up."

Sunset opened her eyes to see a lavender-colored hand in front of her. It appeared that the girl who ran into her had more luck with staying on her feet than she had.

Sunset reached for the offered hand with a chuckle. "It's alright, things like this happen all the—" Sunset stopped speaking once she followed the hand up to look at the girl’s face, her expression turning to surprise.

The girl looked down at her with a nervous smile, as if she were unsure whether or not Sunset would bite her hand. She wore her dark blue hair, accented by pink and purple streaks running through it, in a bun, with two curled strands framing her light-lavender face.

"You gotta be kidding me..." Sunset whispered. The girl seemed to have heard her, as she slowly pulled her hand away, worry now on her face. Before she could pull back completely Sunset smiled and took her hand. The girl looked surprised for a moment that she accepted her help before she helped her to her feet.

"Sorry about that," Sunset said once she stood on her own again, dusting off her uniform. "You look a lot like someone I know. That's why I was surprised when I saw you."

"Oh, I see. Sorry again for running into you," the girl said with a hesitant smile. "My name is Twilight Sparkle."

'I know,' Shimmer thought to herself. "I'm Sunset Shimmer. Nice to meet you."

'The universe seems to have mercy on me,' Sunset thought. Maybe attending Crystal Prep wouldn't be as bad as Sunset thought.

~*~

Fluttershy sighed deeply as she walked down the hallway of Canterlot High. It was only the end of the first week after winter break, but it was clear that things would never be the way they had been before Anon-a-Miss.

While it was not even close to how it had been during Sunset’s reign, many former close groups of friends had been broken apart after Principal Celestia revealed that many students had been the source of nearly all of the posted secrets. Celestia revealed no names, but it didn't take long until students confessed or those who had been hurt figured out who was responsible for their revealed secrets.

Much to the surprise of many, Principal Celestia stood true to her words that she would take off the kids’ gloves from now on. Celestia was still looking out for her students, giving them advice whenever needed, the opportunity to change their behavior, and offering programs for help, but she was no longer willing to let them get away whenever they showed no will to change. The times someone got away with a stern word or a figurative slap on the wrist were over, replaced by increased detention times and suspensions.

Overall, the mood at Canterlot High was in a state of neutrality, somewhere between how it was before and after the Fall Formal. It wasn't a bad environment but neither was it a good one. Fluttershy hoped that things would at least get back to a more positive note over time.

Ultimately, though, she mostly hoped that things would get better for her and her friends. Outside of the dreadful feeling of being a terrible friend, not much had changed for Fluttershy. She was still as quiet as ever, maybe just a little more so than usual, and the other students left her alone.

Applejack and Rarity both tried to not let the others see how much of a toll everything was taking on them. With their sisters being behind the whole mess, they had to endure some harsh words directed at them from other students. More than once during that first week did Fluttershy find herself by Rarity’s side in the bathroom, comforting her crying friend.

The first week of school after winter break was usually a very busy time for Pinkie Pie, who chatted with most students about their activities during break, greeted new students that had transferred to CHS over break, and threw her yearly "Happy New Year" party in the lunchroom. Now, Pinkie seemed to have lost her fire as she walked through the school, not interacting much with other students on her own. She was still cracking jokes over conversations, but it was clear that the entire situation affected her greatly.

Rainbow Dash had been hit the hardest thanks to her involvement in the entire situation with Gilda. True to Sunset’s words, even after she had been declared not guilty, the shadow of doubt hovered over her head. Many students avoided any interaction with her, to the point that they got out of her way while walking down the hallway. No one spoke about it, but most feared what she might do to them if they crossed her path.

It got to the point that Rainbow resigned from every sports team, since many of their members decided to leave so that they wouldn't have to play with her. Now, Rainbow barely did anything at school besides sit in a quiet corner whenever her friends had classes or other things to do.

Reaching her locker, Fluttershy replaced the books she was carrying with her for those she needed next. Just as she was about to close the locker again did her gaze fall on the two pictures she had taped to the inside of the door.

The first was the old picture of her and her friends, the same picture Twilight had found and shown them to remind them of their old friendship back when Sunset Shimmer ruled the school. Fluttershy had made her own copy of that picture and taped it to her locker door to always remind her of the first of her biggest mistakes, the time she did not even try to figure out why they had all drifted apart.

The other was a more recent picture, taken after their victory at the Battle of the Bands, with all members of the Rainbooms, including Sunset Shimmer and Princess Twilight. This was to remind her of the second of her biggest mistakes, when she once again did nothing to find out the truth and believed a lie designed to tear her friendship apart.

"I hope that someday you can forgive us, Sunset, and that, just maybe, things might go back to how they used to be," Fluttershy said quietly to herself before she closed her locker and walked towards her next class.

~*~

The sun shone down brightly on Sunset Shimmer while she trotted down the road in Fillydelphia. It has been four weeks by now since her return to her homeworld, and while she missed having her counterpart and her family around, she felt it was the right decision to return.

Leaving Sunset alone had bothered her greatly, more than she admitted to her doppelganger, but she was relieved that Sunset had met new friends quickly, even if Shimmer herself was still wary of their intentions.

None of that mattered to Shimmer—or simply Sunset now since there was just one of her in this world—at this moment. The last few weeks all centered around this moment, the moment she had hoped to reach for as long as she could remember.

Tracking down one of the names Desert Sunrise provided her with would have been near impossible on her own, but with the help of Twilight, it only took a couple of weeks, but the problems didn't stop there. Knowing where he lived was more than Sunset ever hoped for, but contacting him was a different matter entirely.

Sunset had been afraid. Afraid of how he would react upon learning about her. Actually, no, “afraid” wasn't the right word to describe it; she was terrified. Would he accept her? Would he acknowledge her as who she was? Or would he not even believe who she claimed to be?

Those questions haunted her every time she tried to write a letter to him, to the point that she was close to giving up entirely. In the end, it was once more her dear friend Twilight who helped her out by writing the letter for her and vouching for everything with her title as princess.

The letter had found its destination, and within a few days’ time, an answer arrived with an invitation to his home in Fillydelphia with the desire to meet her.

Now, Sunset stood in front of the small suburban home, her nerves once more trying to get her to turn around. Twilight had offered to accompany her to this meeting, but Sunset had declined; her friend had already done so much for her, but this was something she had to do herself.

Sunset closed her eyes and took several deep breaths to calm her traitorous nerves before she walked up to the door and knocked.

Sunset heard the sound of approaching hooves from inside the house, and moments later, the door opened to reveal a pegasus stallion, his coat a sandy yellow and his mane a bright gray with white streaks. They both stared at each other, silently observing the other.

"D-Desert Gale?" Sunset finally managed to ask.

The stallion nodded, his eyes fixated on her. "That's me. And... you must be who Princess Twilight mentioned in her letter..."

Sunset nodded as well. "Yes, I'm Sunset Shimmer... your niece. I... It's..." Sunset stuttered, losing her nerves again.

Before she could say or do anything else, Desert Gale had stepped forward until he stood right in front of Sunset. Not knowing what to do Sunset lowered her head and took a step backwards, but stopped when he lifted her head again with one of his hooves under her chin. Both looked deep into each other’s eyes for what felt like hours to Sunset.

"You know," Gale began, a smile forming on his face, "you have your mother’s eyes."

Tears began to form in Sunset’s eyes, doubling as Gale had wrapped her in a hug, one she returned moments later.

"I... I don't know what to say..." Sunset muttered.

"It's alright. We have all the time to talk later," Gale said quietly, stroking her mane before letting go of Sunset. "In fact, how about we go inside? I'm sure my wife and daughter would like to meet you."

Sunset perked up, smiling brightly with her tears now falling freely. His wife and daughter, her aunt and cousin. "I would love to."

Gale nodded before he stepped back, holding the door open for her. Without hesitation, Sunset walked inside, her fear gone now that she had found the family and the acceptance she so desperately sought.

Author's Note

It's done...
After 3.5 years this adventure is over. It has been a very fun ride, even though I had some trouble at certain parts. Guess that is to be expected regarding the fact that I never thought this story would gain so much attention and so only posted the beginning out of fun without planning everything properly to see if anyone likes the idea :rainbowlaugh:

Nonetheless, I had a lot of fun doing my best to write a good story, and I'm grateful for all of your nice words in the comments under every single chapter.
My biggest gratitude goes out to icecreammac who offered his help at the very beginning and helped me out fixing my terrible english grammar :yay:

As I mentioned a couple of times I do have some plans for a sequel, but currently it is still in an early planning phase and this time I want to plan it out properly in advance to not have as much trouble :twilightsmile:

Chapter 1

For Sunset Shimmer, everything in her life was finally great. She had managed to turn her whole life around, had found a wonderful group of friends, and had made amends with the student body for her actions and failures in her past. After years of misery and loneliness, she finally found happiness. It was a dream come true.

Unfortunately, every dream has to end sooner or later.

A few days ago, an unknown user on the social media website Mystable going by Anon-a-Miss started spreading personal secrets of the students of Canterlot High School online for everybody to read. To make matters worse, Anon-a-Miss went to great lengths to make it look like Sunset was behind the account, and the whole school fell for it, believing that she had gone back to her old ways.

In the span of just a few days, everything Sunset had worked so hard for was destroyed, and it hurt her deeply. However, as long as her friends were by her side, she could endure all the suffering the student body brought upon her.

Tragically and unexpectedly, though, her best friends, the girls Sunset had been with ever since her reformation, also believed that she was Anon-A-Miss and abandoned her. After everything they went through together, they almost immediately threw her away like trash to be left alone against the angry mob the rest of the school had turned into.

That was five days ago. Five horrible days, all on her own. Now, Sunset lay curled up on her bed inside of her small apartment, silently crying to herself. It was ten o' clock on a Monday, and she was supposed to be at school, but she didn't care. Not anymore. She wasn't going back to that hellhole. She didn't even bother to inform anybody about her absence.

'Not that anybody would miss me, anyway,' she thought. 'They'd probably throw a party if I never showed up at school again.'

Sunset tried to stand up, but her legs gave way when she put weight on them, and she hit the floor painfully, the thin carpet doing little to cushion the impact. She was a wreck, another "present" from the rest of the student body. During school, she only had to worry about some insults and shoving, but outside of school was a different matter.

The previous day, she was jumped by several students in an alleyway. Now, she was a mosaic of bruises and cuts, and her entire body was in pain. But what hurt the most was her left eye, swollen shut by a run-in with a fist, the strength of which belying its small size. But it wasn't the physical pain that gave it that dubious honor.

The day of her beating, she had made another attempt to reach out to her friends and convince them that she was innocent. The conversation didn't exactly go as planned. There was a lot of shouting from her friends and a lot of pleading from her. In the end, Rainbow Dash snapped and swung at Sunset, connecting with Sunset's eye. After getting back on her feet, Sunset ran away in tears, only to run past an alley and into the other students' ambush.

Just thinking about what Rainbow did brought her to tears again. Now, she was truly convinced that she had lost them. Or maybe, they never really were her friends in the first place. In fact, judging by how quickly they threw her aside, Sunset was growing more and more convinced that they were just waiting for her to go back to her old ways before the Fall Formal so that they could stop pretending to be her friends. She was only a charity case, and the only reason they stuck with her was a promise made to Twilight to teach her friendship. They would have never even talked to her if not for that promise.

Sunset lifted her head slightly to look at her journal on her nightstand, the only connection to Equestria she still had. It's been two days since the last message she received from Twilight, when Sunset mentioned that she would go to the girls again for another shot. Twilight had assured her that everything would be fine.

Since then, Sunset had written many messages to Twilight, each more desperate for help than the last, but the journal remained quiet. After two days, Sunset began thinking that even Twilight had had enough of her and that she was truly alone now.

Sunset tried again to stand up, and with a little perseverance and a lot of pain, she managed to stay on her feet this time. Her entire body was sore and rebelled with every step, but she nevertheless slowly made her way to the window and looked outside.

It had started snowing some time ago, and everything was covered in white. On any other day, the virgin snow and quiet scene would've brought a smile to Sunset's face. Now, though, it only reminded her of the frigid glares she had been constantly receiving and the cold grip of despair that choked her heart.

The whole school was against her again, and her friends had abandoned her. She had fallen further than rock bottom, and she was reaching her limit. But as a teenage girl, she couldn't just move away to another town, and without Twilight, she could not even go back to Equestria. She was lost.

'Oh, Celestia,' she thought, another tear running down her cheek, 'what should I do?'

At the same time, on the other side of Canterlot, a young, teenage girl fell backward onto her bed, sighing in relief. Her family had just moved into town from Manehattan, and she has just finished unpacking the last of her belongings and decided to rest for a few minutes.

"Sweetie, are you there?" she heard from the hall.

The girl groaned slightly, but she sat up quickly. "Yes, Mum, I am."

Her mum walked inside and looked around the room, her red hair swinging around with every movement of her head. She was a middle-aged woman but still a beautiful sight, something her husband reminded her of every day.

"Wow, you're already finished with your room," her mum said, surprised. "It looks really good. I was sure it would look like a storage room for at least two months. I guess I owe your dad ten dollars, now."

"Well, next time, you should make sure he's not allowed to bargain with me," the girl said with a smirk. "I'm getting fifty percent from him."

"I should've known he wouldn't play fair," her mum said, rolling her eyes.

The girl watched her mother look around, avoiding eye contact with her daughter all the while. She could tell that her mother did not simply come to look at the room.

"Okay, Mum, what's on your mind?" she asked.

Her mother let out a sigh and sat down on the bed beside her daughter. "Sweety, are you sure you want to go to that public school? I know that your dad and I said it's up to you, but I still think it would be better to go to a private school like before."

The girl rolled her eyes. "Yes, Mum, I'm sure. Private schools are too focused on studies; most of the other students there don't think about anything else. I want to have fun and, more importantly, make some friends. And from what I heard, Canterlot High is a good school, so my grade point average won't suffer." She stood up from her bed and walked over to the window. Outside, the falling snow was dancing in the wind, creating a beautiful sight. "You'll see, Mum. I'll make a lot of friends and have tons of fun, all while keeping my grades up. Everything will be fine."

The teenager looked over the part of the neighborhood visible from her room, preparing herself for this new town.

Sunset Shimmer has arrived in Canterlot.

Author's Note

Something I came up with over the past year and after I noticed a lack of Anon-A-Miss stories including human Sunset. No idea if it is any good, but I decided to share it nonetheless. :scootangel:

Story is nearly completely done, but I'm struggling with two chapters, so I won't make any promises how often it will update. It might also be possible that I add other tags later on if necessary. To be honest I'm not sure if what I wrote so far justifies a drama tag, so if you think it would be good later on let me know.

I'm open for criticism, but please don't be too harsh with me. :twilightblush:

Edit: Huge thanks to icecreammac who offered his help in editing this story :pinkiehappy:

Chapter 2

Sunset Shimmer took her first steps into the downtown area of Canterlot and stretched, her muscles stiff after the long bus ride from her neighborhood. She already noticed the first downside of her new living arrangements: Her parents' neighborhood was relatively new and without any markets or shops nearby, so she had to take the bus to get everywhere on her own, which would be the case for the following week. They were even the first ones to move into that neighborhood, as far as she could tell. Seeing so many empty buildings without anyone nearby was a bit creepy, but it also gave them the opportunity to get the best house out of it.

Her mother left town with her husband around noon for Manehattan to supervise the moving of the last delivery of their bigger pieces of furniture from their old home, leaving Sunset to herself for the week. Her mother was reluctant at first, but Sunset had assured her that she was not a child anymore and could survive on her own for a week.

Soon after her mother's departure, she decided to explore the city and check out her new school to get familiar with the faculty and layout before attending after the winter break.

Now, Sunset stood at the bus stop, her eyes fixated on the building in front of her. Canterlot High was bigger than she expected but not as big as her old private school. At first, she thought of entering the building and taking a look around, but she wasn't sure if she was allowed to walk the halls yet, and from the lack of students around, school had probably let out some time ago.

A bit disappointed, she decided to explore the area near the school and try to keep a mental map of the neighborhood, and after a few minutes of walking, a grumbling from her stomach reminded her that she skipped lunch, so she decided to take a break and looked around for a place to eat.

She looked around for a bit before noticing a cheerful-looking pastry shop nearby. "Cute place," she said to herself. "Let's check it out."

The inside was warm, a nice contrast from the chilly weather outside, and was filled mostly with young people idly chatting with each other. Sunset walked up to the counter, and after a warm, if a bit hesitant, greeting from the blue-skinned woman from the other side, she bought a small box of cupcakes to satisfy her hunger. Thanking the woman, she turned around and made her way through the shop to the door, but she slowed to a stop after a few steps.

She had not noticed anything at first, but as she thought about it, the atmosphere in the room got quieter and quieter as she made her order at the counter. Now, the whole shop had fallen silent, and as Sunset looked around, she saw that everyone else in the store were staring at her. What bothered Sunset the most, though, was that they weren't merely staring; they were glaring.

"Is... Is something wrong?" she asked no one in particular, but received no answer. Growing more and more uncomfortable by the whole situation, she slowly made her way to the door, still keeping an eye on the other people, just in case.

As she finally made her way out of the shop, she sighed in relief. 'Well, that was strange,' she thought. 'I wonder what that was about.' After mulling it over a bit, she thought, 'Maybe they thought I was someone else? Or maybe they don't like newcomers.' Ultimately, she shrugged and continued, 'Well, whatever. It's not worth my time. I'll probably never see them again, anyway. Unfortunately for her, as she made her way down the road, she failed to notice the small group that emerged from the shop she just left behind.

Sunset walked down the street, munching on one of her cupcakes while she looked around and took in every shop that looked interesting. But try as she might, she couldn't fully put from her mind the weird situation in the bakery, nor could she shake the odd feeling that she was being watched. Finally, after half an hour of walking, Sunset found that she had left the town's center, judging by the abundance of office buildings. She decided to call it a day and turned around to find a bus stop.

Suddenly, as Sunset walked past an alley, someone grabbed her and yanked her inside, where she found herself colliding with some trash cans. Groaning in pain, she looked up to see a girl slowly approaching her, a smirk on her face.

"Hey, what's your problem?" Sunset yelled, rising back to her feet.

The girl stopped her approach, and Sunset took in more details about her. The girl was slightly taller than her and wore a brown, leather jacket with a pair of jeans and boots. Her hair was mostly white with light-purple highlights at the tips. But what stood out to Sunset the most were the girl's eyes. They had a glimmer in them, like a predator looking at its prey, without any mercy. She was a hawk about to swoop down.

"You know what my problem is! Some of the others had fun dealing with you the other day without inviting me," she said with a raspy voice while cracking her knuckles. "Well, now it's my turn. And I ain't sharing."

Sunset blinked, confused. It was her first day in Canterlot. She had never met this girl before. "What are you--"

Before she could finish, the girl rushed forward, slamming her fist into Sunset's left eye. Sunset crashed back down to the ground with a yelp. She lay still on the ground for a bit, holding the left side of her face. She could already tell that wouldn't be a pretty sight for the next few days.

"What the hell!" Sunset yelled, looking up at the girl towering over her. For her part, the girl stood with her arms crossed over her chest, a disappointed sneer on her face.

"Don't tell me that's all you got. I expected more from you." The thug took a few steps back and motioned for Sunset to stand up. "I want some fun, so get up. Let's dance."

Slowly, Sunset got back to her feet and shook her head to clear away the last few stars from that last punch.

'No idea what her problem is or what's going on,' Sunset thought, 'but if she wants to dance, I'll show her some moves! Not the first fight I've ever been in.'

Sunset got into a fighting stance and prepared herself for whatever her opponent would do. Sunset was not a fighter, preferring to use her mind to deal with her problems, but as she planned to prove to the thug, she was far from defenseless.

The girl rushed forward again, her right fist pulled back, but this time, Sunset was prepared. Ducking out of the way, Sunset countered with her own punch, landing a clean blow into her opponent's gut. The brute gasped in pain, but almost immediately started grinning. “Now that's more like it!” she cheered.

Sunset scowled. The aggressor's excitement was a bit intimidating, and Sunset had to force herself not to let the thug psych her out. 'Don't think. Just fight,' Sunset thought, repeating the mantra until she was mentally prepared to fight again.

Over the next minutes, Sunset and the girl traded blows. Sunset's right hook was parried, and the girl's low punch met Sunset's liver. Sunset blocked the girl's jab and kicked her in the shin, punching her across the face when the girl was distracted by the pain. Blow after blow, the two put all of their focus into dropping their adversary. Both girls were panting hard, and every movement burned.

Eventually, the two backed away from each other to catch their breath. Sunset wasn't so sure if she would come out on top, but it looked like her enemy was thinking the same. The girl lowered her arms and stood up straighter, still panting. Sunset, on the other hand, stayed in her fighting position, not giving an opportunity to strike in surprise.

“Phew! I knew you were tough, but you really surprised me today,” the girl said with a small smile on her face that made Sunset uncomfortable. “I don't know if I could beat you in a fair fight.” Her smile turned dark. “Good thing I don't fight fair.”

Sunset's eyes grew upon hearing that, but before she could react, she was grabbed by two pairs of arms from behind. She tried to struggle, but she was too weak after her fight to break out of their grip.

“Had enough fun, G? Took you long enough. We were worried you wouldn't share,” a female voice from behind her said.

“Oh, shut up. I wasn't gonna share, but since you're here, you might as well have your turn,” G said. She walked up to Sunset and cupped Sunset's chin in her hand to look her captive in the eyes. “Sorry, Shimmer, but you brought this on yourself.” She let go of Sunset's chin, but before Sunset could say anything, G punched her in the solar plexus, knocking the wind out of her. The other girls released her, and she fell to the ground, clutching her stomach and gasping for breath.

“Well, I had my fun. She's all yours,” G said before stepping back. As she backed away, she heard a clattering on the ground and stopped. Sunset looked over, her eyes tearing up as she struggled to fill her lungs, and saw her phone near G's boot. It must have fallen out of her pocket during the fight. G noticed her worried stare and grinned. Raising her foot, G stomped on the phone, smashing it with a sharp crack. Not satisfied, G stomped on it over and over again until the phone was reduced to tiny pieces. “Oops," she said. "Sorry. I think I stepped on your phone.” With that, G began cackling as she backed up.

The other girls laughed as well before starting to kick Sunset over and over. Sunset tried her best to shield herself against the assault, but they were relentless, and soon, her entire body was aching from the abuse.

Blessedly, after what seemed like forever, G stepped up again. “Alright, I think she's had enough for now. Let's go.” The other girls reluctantly left Sunset and walked away, while G kneeled beside her. “Best regards from Rainbow and her friends. She paid us good money to give you this message. Shut down the account and stop messing with us, or we'll be back. Oh, and don't even think about going to the cops. I got some friends there, so I'll know about it, and you don't want to face those consequences. And before you think about hatching any other schemes, just know that I know where you live.” Finally finished, G stood up and walked away with the other girls.

Alone in the alley, Sunset drew upon the last of her strength to crawl up to one of the walls and lean against it, resting her aching body while she tried to figure out what in the world just happened.

Author's Note

Would you look at that, I did not expect that I would finish another chapter this year. I also didn't expect how much attention this idea would get. Thank you all for your interest in my little story and for all the nice comments, they really motivated me to continue this much earlier :scootangel:

And like I said in my blog my biggest thanks goes to icecreammac who offered his help in editing and improved everything I wrote in chapter 1 and 2.

I hope you like this chapter as well, and like before if you got criticism let me know in the comments about it. I wanna try to improve my writing after all :twilightsmile:

Chapter 10

Sugarcube Corner was a well-known place around the Central Canterlot area and even beyond that, to a lesser degree. Its friendly workers, calming atmosphere and unbelievably tasty treats made it one of the most popular places among the townspeople, especially the students of Canterlot High.

This accomplishment came as a huge surprise for the Cake family after opening the place, but they did everything they could to live up to the expectations of their customers. Most of their free time was invested into the bakery.

Things changed after the birth of their twins, though. They couldn't spend every single moment at the bakery any longer without ignoring the needs of their babies, even though they lived above the shop.

That was when Pinkie Pie stepped in. She was the daughter of old family friends and offered her help so that the twins could get the attention they needed. Together, they were able to handle the shop and the babies at the same time, but in Pinkie's opinion, that was not enough.

She insisted that the Cakes get at least one afternoon each week to spend time with the kids. After some debating, the Cakes gave in.

Thursdays were usually the quietest days at Sugarcube Corner, so they agreed that Pinkie would take care of the shop after school on those days. The only thing Pinkie asked for was that she could use the kitchen after closing hours to create and test new creations with her friends. Mr. and Mrs. Cake saw no reason to refuse as long as they cleaned up everything after they were done.

Shimmer had spent many Thursday evenings there, and she knew that if there was a place to meet her former friends, it was at the sweets shop near closing hours. All of them in one place, with most likely no one else who could interfere.

Standing in front of the shop, she looked through the window beside the door, her face and hair hidden under her hoodie once again. Just as she thought, she could see the five Rainbooms inside waking around, most likely beginning the process of cleaning up. Checking her watch again, she saw that it was still a few minutes before closing time, so the entrance should still be open. She reached out to grab the handle, stopping as she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Are you sure about this?" Sunset asked, worried. "You don't need to meet them."

“You’re right,” Shimmer admitted. She didn't need to talk to them to expose Anon-a-Miss. everything could be handled by herself, Sunset and her parents, or the police. "But there are a few things I have to know, including one which can only be answered by them and no one else. This is something I need to do myself."

"So that's why you asked Mom and Dad to wait for us," Sunset replied while she looked down the street at the car with her parents waiting inside. They were far enough away that she could barely see them, but she was sure her mother was waving. "But why do you want me to come with you if you wanna do it yourself?"

"For two reasons. The first is simply that they never even listened to me the last few times I tried to talk with them. I hope that by seeing both of us, they might be so surprised that they won't interrupt me.

"The second reason is that I would like to have a friend with me who can back me up and calm me down if I get riled up too much."

"Leave that to me," Sunset replied with a smirk. "So, got anything planned for a nice entrance or are we just gonna walk in?"

Shimmer’s only answer was a smirk. A few moments later, Shimmer, her face and hair hidden by her hoodie, grabbed the handle and opened the door to Sugarcube Corner.

Upon hearing the dinging bell from above the door, Pinkie Pie turned to address them. "Welcome to Sugarcube Corner. I'm sorry, but we’re about to... close..." she said, trailing off once she saw Sunset step in after the concealed Shimmer, who stayed back to close the door. "Oh..."

That got the attention of the other girls scattered around the room. At first, they were confused when they heard Pinkie's tone, but once they saw why, that confusion turned into anger.

"Oh, come on! Really?" Rainbow Dash yelled. "How often do we need to tell you to stay away?"

Sunset looked up at the ceiling in thought, one hand on her chin. "Actually, you only told me to ‘stay away’ the last time we met, if I'm not wrong. I, on the other hand, told you we would see each other again."

Before Rainbow could respond, another girl stepped beside her and laid a hand on the athlete’s shoulder.

"What do ya want, Sunset?" Applejack asked, before her eyes fell on Shimmer, who stood behind Sunset with her back to the girls. "And who's that?"

"She's a friend. And the only thing we want is to ask a few questions. Once we get the answers, we’ll leave."

"And why should we even talk to you?" Rarity threw in from behind Rainbow and Applejack. "After everything you published about us on that ghastly profile of yours, why should we listen to anything you have to say?"

"Well, at least I know what you are talking about now, but the answer is still the same: I didn’t do anything."

*BAM*

"This crap again?!" Rainbow shouted as she hit the top of the table beside her with her fist. She took several steps towards Sunset. "You know exactly what you did, and that you did it after everything we went through together makes it even worse!"

Now Rainbow was only a few steps away from Sunset, and both girls glared at each other. Sunset could just barely hear Shimmer growling behind her after Rainbow finished.

"We went through nothing together. I don't even know you all besides your names," she continued. "So, I’ll say it again: I. Didn’t. Do. Anything!"

"Why you little—" Rainbow growled as she took the last steps and grabbed Sunset by her collar.

"Dashie, stop it!" Pinkie called from behind. "No fighting in here."

"Alright, Dash, that's enough," Applejack said with a sigh. She was about to step up and pull Rainbow away but was beaten to it by someone else.

Without any warning, Shimmer quickly stepped up from behind Sunset, grabbed Rainbow's wrist, and twisted. Rainbow cried out in pain and surprise and let go of Sunset, but Shimmer didn’t let go.

"Don’t touch her, Rainbow Dash," she growled before shoving Rainbow away.

Cradling her wrist with her other hand, Rainbow stared at the still-concealed Shimmer in shock. Looking over her shoulder, she called out to the other girls. "Did... Did you hear that too, or are my ears playing tricks on me?"

The others all shared Rainbow's reaction and stared at Shimmer with wide eyes. "I heard it too, darling, but..." her eyes wandered to Sunset, who had a smirk on her face. "...how is that possible?"

"Well..." Sunset began as she took a step forward, "as I told you, I don't know any of you at all. She, on the other hand,” she pointed at Shimmer before finishing, “is a different case."

Shimmer finally raised her hands and pulled down her hood, showing her face and releasing her hair. "Your temper will come back to bite you one day, Dash. Maybe even sooner than expected."

"What in tarnation!?"

"Eeep!" Fluttershy squeaked out.

"Two... Sunsets..." Pinkie mumbled.

"Oh, my... That's something you don't see every day..." Rarity whispered as her eyes moved from one girl to the other.

Rainbow Dash stared with wide eyes at the two girls, before she frowned again. "Trying out a new magic trick or what?"

Sunset groaned, facepalming as she took a bill out of her pocket and handed it to Shimmer, who grinned smugly at her.

"Told ya the first thing they’d assume is magic."

"Yeah, yeah, rub it in even more," Sunset grumbled. "Should’ve known it was a bad idea to agree to a bet about someone I barely know."

Shimmer gave her a last grin before she got serious again. "And you’re wrong, Dash. This time, there’s no magic involved. Use your brains for once. You know what’s going on. After all, I told you about it before." Crossing her arms in front of her, she waited for them to say something, but nothing happened. Several seconds passed in awkward silence before it finally got broken.

"S-She is this world’s native Sunset Shimmer..." Fluttershy said, just loud enough for everyone to hear.

Applejack whistled. "Well, Ah'll be. It's like they’re twins."

"It appears at least one of you bothered to listen to anything I told you," Shimmer said. "Yes, she is my counterpart and arrived in town just this week at the worst possible time. But who am I kidding? You already met her on Tuesday and showed her what to expect."

Rarity gasped with her hand over her mouth. "That was you at the boutique!" She took a step towards Sunset, who glared at her and took a step back. Understanding the message, Rarity stayed where she was. "Darling, I'm terribly sorry for how I treated you. I had no idea. After everything that she did—" Rarity took a breath. "No. That's no excuse for my behavior."

"Rarity’s right. Ah’m sorry for everythin' Ah did and said," Applejack said with her hat in her hands. She put it back on, and her eyes wandered to Shimmer for a moment before they went back to Sunset. "But, seriously, Ah don't know what, well, our Sunset told ya, but Ah wouldn’t believe anything coming from her."

"Yeah, all she does is lie," Rainbow threw in.

"Unbelievable..." They all turned their heads to Shimmer, who stood with clenched fists and narrowed eyes. She slowly walked forward until she stood between Sunset and the Rainbooms. "First, you toss me aside, and now, you try to convince one of the last few people on my side to abandon me as well?!"

Rainbow huffed as she crossed her arms. "We’re only trying to save her the pain from when you show your true colors. And it's your own fault for starting that—"

"I'M NOT FUCKING ANON-A-MISS!" Shimmer yelled at the top of her lungs, glaring down at Rainbow Dash who recoiled in shock, just like the other Rainbooms.

Even Sunset was surprised, hearing her friend yell and swear like that, but she got a hold on herself quickly and stepped forward and in front of Shimmer. She put both of her hands on her shoulders and pressed the still-heavily breathing girl back and down into one of the chairs. "Calm down," she said softly. "Take some deep breaths. I’ll take over from here."

Turning around, she threw her own glare in the Rainbooms’ direction. "I appreciate that you tried to warn me, but I'm more inclined to believe the one who didn’t threaten me with violence at our first meeting." The other girls flinched back but said nothing.

"Now, as I said before, we aren’t here for trouble. All we want are some questions answered, and afterwards, we’ll leave. If you really want to apologize to me for our last meeting, I suggest you answer Shimmer's questions—without getting aggressive—once she has calmed down enough. Does that sound good?"

The Rainbooms looked at each other for a moment, and with some nods and shrugs, came to an agreement.

"We agree," Applejack said, "but Ah want to throw in that we ain’t answerin’ everything, like questions about private stuff."

Sunset shared a look with Shimmer, who nodded and agreed to the deal. The room fell into silence while they all waited. Shimmer's breathing had already calmed down in comparison to before, and a few minutes later, she rose from her chair and took one last deep breath.

"Alright, let's get this over with. There are only two things I want to know." She looked around the room at the girls who meant so much to her not long ago but now only infuriated her even being in the same room as her. She shoved the thought aside for the time being and focused on what was important. "Did any of you by any chance have a chat with Gilda since the beginning of all this?"

Rainbow gave a surprised sound, and every eye fell on the girl, who had settled down on a chair while they waited for Shimmer to start. She looked at Shimmer with one raised eyebrow. "No idea how you know about that, but yeah, I did. She was waiting for her bus when I got to the station, and we got to talk."

She received more than one surprised look from her fellow band members. To think that those two apparently had a casual chat despite their history came as a surprise. Shimmer simply narrowed her eyes slightly.

"And what did you talk about?"

A bored look in her eyes, Rainbow looked away and made a dismissive motion with her hands. "Nothing you need to know. It doesn’t concern you. "

"I doubt that. You see, Sunset here met Gilda on Monday, and Gilda, together with her goonies, gave her quite the beating.” Shimmer ignored the gasps from the other girls. “But the interesting part is what Gilda told her after they were done with her and left her lying at the ground. What were her exact words again?"

Sunset fixed the group with cold eyes before she spoke. "'Best regards from Rainbow and her friends.' She also said you paid her to beat me up."

"What!" the Rainbooms shouted together.

"No. No, no, no, that’s not right!" Rarity said.

"I... I could never do something like that," Fluttershy mumbled.

"Yeah, me neither!" Pinkie agreed.

"As far as Ah see it, either you made that up, or Gilda lied. There is no way that Dash did something like that. Right, RD?"

Silence.

"Rainbow?" Applejack asked hesitantly as she turned towards the athlete. Rainbow still sat on her chair, but now, her eyes were wide open and staring at nothing. Applejack crossed the distance between them and grabbed her with both hands by her shoulders. "Rainbow! Did. You. Do. That?!" she growled while the rest of the girls watched, speechless.

Rainbow finally snapped out of it. "N-No! I mean... I-I wasn’t... I was just joking!"

Applejack let go of the girl and stared at her in disbelief, her anger rising slowly. "You were joking... about hiring someone to beat her up?!"

"Yes! I mean..." she stuttered, before she took a deep breath. "It was one of the real bad days, and I was really mad. So, when I was talking with Gilda about Anon-a-Miss and what got out that day, Gilda said something like, 'Someone should teach her a lesson,' and I said I’d pay to see that. You know, the kind of stuff you say when you’re pissed! That was all. And I didn’t even pay her! It was just a stupid joke! How was I supposed to know she would take that seriously?"

Applejack stared at the girl, before she facepalmed. "You... You idiot! It's Gilda! You out of all people should know how she is!"

Rainbow opened her mouth to say something, before she closed it again and slumped down in her seat. "I know..." she mumbled.

"Can we move on now? We don't have all day for this," Shimmer said, bored, her arms crossed in front of her. She seemed pretty calm on the outside, but Sunset could see how tense she was and how her arms trembled in anger. She was furious, just like Applejack, but she did everything to not lash out and cause a scene.

"But is that not what you came for, darling?" Rarity asked. "To solve that problem?"

"No, not at all. Like I said, I came for answers, and I got one." Seeing the confused faces around her, Shimmer sighed and continued, "I wanted to know if there was any truth to what Gilda said, and it appears that there is, in one way or another." She motioned to herself and her doppelganger. "Finding out if either you or Gilda is telling the truth is not our problem. That's something that will be solved later by… others."

The Rainbooms shared a look. None of them understood what she meant by that, but the way she said it made them feel uneasy.

"Now, there is only one more question I have for all of you, and I want you to be absolutely honest with me. Once I have my answer, we’ll leave. Understood?" They shared another look before they all nodded. Shimmer took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

"Does even one of you have any doubts about me being Anon-a-Miss? Even one since it all began? If yes, say so now or stay quiet."

Shimmer waited anxiously for any sound to reach her ears with closed eyes. Deep inside, she hoped that there would be at least one of them who would say something. She thought that if there was one, it would be either Pinkie Pie or Fluttershy to come forward, the former no longer able to see her miserable and the latter maybe feeling pressured into agreeing. Surely, if there was one, it would be one of them.

Only silence reached her ears.

"I see..." Shimmer sighed as her shoulders slumped down, and without opening her eyes, she turned around.

She stood still for a moment, before she pulled out her phone and typed on it. Soon enough several notification sounds came from all of the Rainbooms’ phones. Unlocking their own devices, they all saw that Shimmer had sent them an audio file.

"Listen to that or don’t. I don't care anymore," Shimmer said. "You'll hear it tomorrow, either way. Consider it a last present for the... better times we had."

Nodding to Sunset and without waiting for any of the Rainbooms to say anything, the two girls left Sugarcube Corner.

Walking down the sidewalk towards the waiting car, Sunset put a hand on her friend's shoulder. "Hey, are you alright?"

"Considering what I just learned? I guess..." she replied quietly, the corners of her eyes growing wet with tears.

Sunset laid her arm over her friend’s shoulders and squeezed. "If I may ask, what was it you sent them?"

Shimmer remained quiet for a moment. She raised her hand, still holding her phone. She opened the photo of the Rainbooms and looked at it as the first tear found its way down her cheek.

"The truth..." she said, before she deleted the picture.

Author's Note

Yay, I got it done as fast as I hoped :rainbowlaugh:
And here we have the first meeting between the Shimmers and The Rainbooms, along with some answers.

The next chapter may take a little bit longer than I would like myself, work has grown pretty stressful lately again and I couldn't find any time to start writing yet. :fluttercry: