Author's Note

Just a heads up. In my telling of this story, everyone in the Human Equestria will have human names. The only ones that don't are Spike, Twilight and Sunset, since they're from Pony Equestria.

The Faith and The Shimmer

Eleanor's POV.
Twilight, Spike and I journeyed through the hall, trying to find a place to think. Until we heard a familiar, soft voice speak from the corner, "Oh, I’m really sorry." Twilight cupped her ear for a better listen, "I-I just found it and-and I thought I should give it to her."

Twilight looked at me. I took her hand and lead her to the corner. Down the hallway, two teenage girls were talking.

"I didn’t know you had dropped it." The voice finished.

"Well, I did, and I was about to get it before you swooped in and ruined everything!" The other girl shouted angrily. All we could see was the back of her wavy, sunset-themed hair.

Twilight and I gasped in recognition. The soft voice belonged to a young teenage girl. Her skin was a very light butter yellow. Familiar, hooded opal blue eyes. Long, cherry blossom pink hair that can cover her face.

She wore a butterfly burette to keep her bangs from her face. A sundress with a white top and a green bottom with a familiar butterfly Cutie Mark. Along with matching green boots.

Fluttershy!

"You shouldn’t pick up things that don’t belong to you." The other girl finished.

Fluttershy's counterpart moved a strand of hair from her face and answered, "It... It doesn’t really belong to you either."

"Excuse me?!?" The other girl shouted, slamming her hands on the lockers around Fluttershy's counterpart.

"Nothing." Fluttershy's counterpart squeaked, sinking to the ground.

"That’s what I thought." The other girl smirked, getting a growl from Spike, "It’s as good as mine, and you know it. You really are pathetic. It’s no wonder your best friends are all stray animals."

I had enough! I marched out of the corner and marched toward the girl. I grabbed her arm, forcing her to turn toward me, and slapped her across the face, hard. The impact of my hand on her cheek echoed in the hall.

I got a good look at the girl's face. Aside from the flaming red hand-mark on her left cheek, her skin was a light amber-gold. Her eyes were a familiar cyan. She wore a familiar purple tank top and orange skirt. A black leather jacket and matching boots.

The girl glared darts at me, but I stood my ground, unfazed. She grabbed my arm, ready to strike back, but Twilight stepped in and shouted, "Don't you dare hurt my friend!"

The girl turned to Twilight, "What did you say?"

"I said, Don't you dare hurt my friend!" Twilight repeated, marching toward me and the girl.

Twilight and the girl glared at each other. The girl smirked, let go of me and flicked Twilight's chin, "You two must be new here." Then she walked down the hallway, "I can hurt anyone any way I want."

As she walked down, the girl glared at a male teen. He gasped and hid in his locker. The girl continued down the hallway.

Twilight looked at me, "Ellie, are you okay? Did she hurt you?"

I shook my head, then offered my hand to Fluttershy's counterpart and helped her to her feet.

"I can’t believe you two did that!" She gasped at me and Twilight.

"I couldn’t just stand there." Twilight shrugged.

"Well, it’s just that nobody ever stands up to Sunset Shimmer." Fluttershy's counterpart replied.

Twilight and my eyes widen in surprise, "Sunset Shimmer?"

I looked at my hands. I couldn't believe that I just slapped my best friend across the face. She blended in so well I didn't recognise her sooner.

"You’ve heard of her?" Fluttershy's counterpart asked.

"Sort of." Twilight answered, while I nodded.

"I don’t think I’ve seen neither of you two around before." Fluttershy's counterpart thought back, then asked, "Did you just transfer to Canterlot High from another school?"

Twilight thought for a second, then gave an uneasy smile, "Yes! Another... School." Then she bowed her head, "My name’s Twilight." And gestured to me, "And this is my friend, Ellie."

I bowed my head in greeting.

"I’m... Faith." Fluttershy's counterpart, Faith, introduced herself in a whisper.

"Sorry, what was that?" Twilight asked, cupping her ear.

Huh... Look at that... Deja vu...

"It’s Faith." Faith answered, more quietly and quickly, backing a bit from Twilight.

Twilight rubbed her chin, "It sounds like you’re saying 'Faith'..." Then looked at me and Spike, "But... How can that...?"

In 3... 2... 1...

Faith saw Spike and instantly smiled, "Oh, my goodness!" She dashed over and kneelt to Spike's height, as possible, "Who’s this sweet little guy?"

"That’s Spike. My, uh... Dog." Twilight answered, unsure.

Faith smiled, "Oh, he’s so cute!" Then she got a dog biscuit from her backpack and gave it to Spike, "Go on. Eat up, little pup."

Spike took a small bite. He smiled and took the whole treat.

"Oh, wouldn’t you just give anything to know what they’re really thinking?" Faith wondered, smiling happily at Spike.

"He usually just tells me." Twilight blurted.

I quickly covered her mouth as Faith turned to us, "Oh, wh-what do you mean?"

Twilight, dogs can't talk in this world.

Spike barked, turning Faith's attention back to him.

Twilight removed my hand, recollected herself and shook her head, "Oh, uh, nothing. Never mind." Then she got straight to the point, "Sunset Shimmer said you’d picked something up, something that belonged to her. It wasn’t a crown, was it?"

Faith turned to her in surprise, "How did you know?"

"Uh, lucky guess?" Twilight answered, then asked, "Do you still have it?" Faith shook her head, "But you know what happened to it?"

Faith nodded, then told her story, "This morning, I was passing out flyers for the animal shelter, like I do every Wednesday. Then the crown hit me at the back of the head." She sat down and petted Spike, "I have no idea how it got there. But I didn’t want anything to happen to it, so I decided to give it to Principal Cynthia.

"'Principal Cynthia'?" Twilight repeated in confusion, "She’s the ruler here?"

Faith nodded, "You could say that. Technically, I guess she and Vice-Principal Lauren do make the rules."

"Where is she now?" Twilight asked.

"Probably in her office." Faith answered.

With that, Twilight and Spike dashed down the hallway in opposite direction. I closed my eyes, pushed my glasses up my nose and shook my head. Twilight and Spike quickly returned in embarrassment.

"Third door on your left." Faith quickly answered with a smile.

"Thank you!" Twilight replied, with me bowing my head.

She, Spike and I took the corner, until Faith called us, "Oh, wait! You’re not really supposed to have pets on school grounds." She told us, pointing to Spike. Then she whispered, "Might want to tuck him into your backpack. That’s what I do."

She turned to show her yellow backpack and a small white cat, a rabbit that looked like Angel Bunny, and a small red bird jumped out of her backpack.

"They just get so lonely when I’m at school all day." Fluttershy told us, petting her pets.

"Oh... Okay. Thank you." Twilight smiled.

Then another bell rang loudly. Faith gasped in alert, "Oh, no! I’m late for class!"

She scooped her pets into her backpack and made her way down the hall, waving 'goodbye' at us.