Shards of Incongruence: The Unabridged Version

“You have got to be kidding me,” Sunset muttered under her breath.

Her seat at the corner café gave her the perfect viewpoint of anyone entering or leaving; once a useful tool, now a nice bonus. It had been cold in her loft, so she decided to come to the café to work on her schoolwork. The coffee was definitely a bonus.

But what wasn’t a bonus was who she spotted walking in. It was like looking at a picture of herself—if she had shorter hair. She strode in with her helmet under her arm, and tossed her perfectly messy hair up and to the side, effectively clearing it from her forearm.

It was no longer like looking at a picture of herself, but like looking at a game version of herself. Like when she played Simuls and made her ideal self. That Sunset, and she was sure she was a Sunset now, even walked better, striding in with swaying shoulders and perfect confidence on her face. It was as though the entire room lit up upon her entry, and Sunset couldn’t help but stare.

She couldn’t tell what the other her was saying, but she even looked like she spoke better, her half-lidded eyes and easy smile enchanting the waiter with no effort put into it. Sunset stared as the better her ran her free hand through that glorious mane of fire atop her head. Again, Sunset felt a certain wrongness building up in her, but she just couldn’t look away.

That is, until the other her turned her head and scanned the room. At first, she glanced over Sunset, but then her eyes widened as she did a double-take, her gaze falling directly on Sunset. The double’s jaw dropped as she fumbled with her helmet and threw it on her head, devoid of the grace and coolness that had seemed to come naturally to her. With a yelp, Sunset watched as she shot out of the café.

No! I might never be able to meet her again!

Determined, Sunset shot up and hastily threw her books into her bag, then the laptop in with it. She chugged the warm coffee and threw her jacket on, running out the door all the same. The other Sunset fumbled with her bike before hopping on and revving the engine.

Luck must have been on her side, because Sunset ran equally as quickly up to her bike, parked right next to her doppelganger’s. The second sunset all but screamed as she kicked up her kickstand. “What the fuck!” she trailed off as she zoomed down the road.

Sunset threw on her helmet and turned on her engine as fast as possible, ignoring the cold that already started to set in. She did not have time to throw on her riding goggles before she set off after her double. “Hey!” she called after her, hoping that she’d hear. “Hey, come back!”

Revving her engine to the max, Sunset looked down at her trusty motorbike. It was refurbished by her own doing, but it roared like a lion as she weaved between cares, following closely behind the other Sunset. She growled. “Come on! You have a sports bike, that’s not fair!”

The other Sunset—Shimmer, I think that’s easiest—turned her head once they reached a bit of open road. “Fuck you! This is not what I had planned for my Saturday morning!” she shrieked, the words barely getting through her visor.

And you think it’s what I had planned for mine?

Sunset revved her engine as they left the inner-city limits. Either Shimmer lived somewhere beyond downtown Canterlot, or she was trying to lose Sunset in the country roads somehow. Well, her bike is probably faster than mine. The cold wind and snow cut at her exposed skin and made her blink more than she could keep her eyes open. She might as well have been driving with her eyes closed.

“Slow down, I just want to talk!” Sunset tried again, her throat growing dry from the shrieking in the freezing winter air. The roads slowly became icier and icier, snow covering where the city workers did not salt it.

A muffled voice filled the air, but Sunset couldn’t quite hear Shimmer over the sound of the wind howling in her ears. She grit her teeth together as she revved once more, leaning forward as if it would help. “C’mon girl, just a little faster!”

The bike gave one loud roar and for a moment Sunset thought it had worked. Her smile faltered in the split second that she felt her ride bump beneath her. The uneven country roads jerked Sunset forward, forcing her to lean on her handlebars and turn the bike in a different direction. Frantically blinking snow out of her eyes, Sunset let out a quick scream as her instincts forced her to grip tightly, effectively braking her bike. The road became like ice beneath her wheels as they lost all traction. She knew what that was: hydroplane. The wheels spun-out from beneath her, and in a split second, Sunset braced herself as the bike slid sideways, dragging her across the hard, snowy ground.

The impact brought ringing to her ears as her bike slid away from her. Her head recoiled off the ground and shot stars into her vision as everything blurred. She had ended up in a ditch, somehow, though she figured it was better than being on the side of the road. The warmth of blood toyed with her skin, and she looked down to her shredded clothes, prickles of red showing through her rawed skin. It stung, and she frowned, clenching reddened palms together. Sunset huffed and brought her head up. Her skull pulsed with pain, and thanks to the numbness the cold brought on rather quickly, Sunset was able to take off her helmet, though she couldn’t decide if it helped or not.

In her mind, she crawled up the hill and signalled for help. But her body refused to listen, and she merely pawed at the snow that slowly built up on the hillside. Vision doubled, Sunset sighed and rested her head fully on the ground, cold pain shooting up her forehead as small trickles of blood froze to her face.

“Holy shit, are you okay?” a distant voice called to her.

Sunset slowly looked up, still trying to figure out a plan. It wasn’t that she was horribly injured, but everything hurt too much to move immediately. Her blurred vision finally crossed over, then into each other for a better view. At the top of the mini hillside, a silhouette looked down at her. If Sunset squinted, she could barely just make out the features of someone like her. Someone just like her. The feeling of falling down hit her for only a moment, and it made her queasy.

Rattled and trembling, Sunset got to her hands and knees and looked up at Shimmer. “Yeah, just a bit shaken up.”

Shimmer seemed to hesitate before sliding down the side of the snowy, slippery hill. Despite that, she managed to keep balance and immediately crouched down next to Sunset. “Really? You just slid the fuck out! That was insane, are you sure you’re fine?”

Getting a closer look at her, even with blurred vision, Sunset could tell that Shimmer was a pure casanova. Sharp, defined features set the stage for a near symmetrical face, framed by perfectly messy flames for hair, only marred by one scar going through her eyebrow. Talk about hot.

Suddenly a bit embarrassed, Sunset placed a hand on her head. “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. Just a little… in intense pain,” she admitted with a mix between a grunt and a wheeze to punctuate the sentence. “Nothing I haven’t dealt with before.” To prove her point, she wiped the blood from her nose and gave Shimmer a crooked smile. Her eyes met a twin pair, and the knot in Sunset’s stomach returned.

Shimmer scratched the back of her neck in the same way that Sunset did when she was uncomfortable. Her eyes darted around the scene, so Sunset did the same. Her motorcycle lay on its side a good fifty feet away from where she did. Sunset’s gaze fell back on the ground below her, speckled lightly with blood. “Heh. Never thought I’d be lying in a ditch again,” she mumbled.

An amber hand came into her vision. Sunset looked up to see Shimmer crouched in front of her now, arm outstretched. “C’mon, get up. You’re going to freeze your ass off.”

Sunset hesitated. Did she want to risk taking hold of Shimmer’s hand? She knew that it would likely be fine since Twilight Sparkle and her Equestrian Princess counterpart had met before and the world was still intact, but it wasn’t exactly what she was worried about. But she needed to get up, and so she pushed down her magical fear and grabbed hold of Shimmer, who hoisted her up. With a grunt, Sunset staggered before finding her balance, albeit still a bit unsteady.

“Do you need to go to the hospital?” Shimmer asked, eyeing Sunset up and down.

It was all Sunset could do not to squirm under her gaze. ”No, I’m fine, thanks,” she quickly shot out, knowing that the hospital was never a good idea. Especially if they both showed up.

Shimmer crossed her arms over her chest and looked off to the side. Her jaw clenched as her eyes hardened on the horizon. “So who are you?” she asked, still gazing away.

Sunset blinked, shaking herself out of staring at her double. Am I a narcissist? She cleared her throat, the dry sensation burning as the cold seeped further into her. “Oh, uh, okay. This is going to sound really weird but—”

“What, you’re some kind of time traveller, or clone, or alternate dimension version of myself?” she interrupted, smirking a bit as she glanced at Sunset out of her peripheral vision.

She was joking, obviously, but Sunset only chuckled at how close she was to the truth. “Your name is Sunset Shimmer, right?”

Shimmer’s smirk dropped to a frown as her whole body turned to Sunset. “What? How the hell do you know my name?”

“That’s my name, too,” Sunset explained. At Shimmer’s snort of disbelief, Sunset sighed and scratched the back of her neck. “I’m serious. Think about it, we look exactly the same, and we even sound the same. How else would I have known your name?”

Her double blinked, then took a step back. She put a hand on her forehead, shaking her head slightly. “No, this has to be some kind of prank! It’s physically impossible. There can’t be two of me. I’m an only child! And time travel doesn’t exist. Neither does interdimensional travelling!” With every word, her voice grew more frantic.

Sunset stepped forward shakily and put a hand on Shimmer’s shoulder. “Hey, calm down. You have to trust me, it’s fine, okay? We’re separate people who happen to look the same and… are the same, but we’re still separate people.”

Shimmer pursed her lips and glared at Sunset before sighing. “Okay, okay, fine. I’ll just wake up and it’ll all go away….”

Even through the pain, Sunset rolled her eyes. “No, you won’t. But whatever makes you feel better,” she muttered. A gust of wind blew snowflakes into her eyes, and Sunset remembered her situation. Glancing over to where her motorbike lay, she took a tentative step toward it before Shimmer tugged on her arm.

“Wait, you’re just going to freeze to death like this. Plus, I don’t think you should be driving, even if your bike is fine,” Shimmer pointed out. “Come on, we’ll check on your bike and I’ll call a tow truck. Where do you live?”

Sunset grimaced and rubbed her temple. The action made the ringing in her ears grow louder, drowning out her very thoughts. Stumbling over her own words like a blind man in a forest, Sunset managed to push out her address. “It’s a building near the factory on Mane and Industry,” she mumbled. “It isn’t hard to miss.”

Shimmer nodded firmly once, then put an arm around Sunset’s shoulders, allowing her to hoist herself up and steady herself on Shimmer. With their newfound closeness, Sunset could feel many things. While she wasn’t exactly scrawny herself, Sunset could tell Shimmer had a bit more muscle on her. Other than that, she was almost exactly the same. Sunset’s grip on her tightened as they struggled their way up the snowy hillside. The snowfall worsened with each passing moment.

The pair were silent the entire way up to Shimmer’s bike. They reached the vehicle, engine still purring, and decided to stop there. Sunset leaned on the bike a bit, the rumbling of the engine comforting her in a strange way. She glanced over to Shimmer, who held one hand on her chin and propped her elbow on the arm she had crossed over her torso as she gazed over in the direction of Sunset’s crashed bike. The deep growl of the motorcycle was barely audible, muffled even more thanks to the snowfall and rustling wind between the field of wheat on either side of the road.

“So, seriously… What are you?” Shimmer finally asked, breaking the cold silence. She turned back to Sunset, scrutinizing her with eyes as cold as the snow.

Sunset’s skin prickled under the hard stare that Shimmer bored onto her. Something about the way she looked at her felt oddly familiar. How could she even begin to explain? “It’s… complicated.”

“I have time.”

As she said that, the wind picked up a bit. Sunset shivered. “Do we have to do this now? It’s really freaking cold out. If you really want to know, can we at least go somewhere warm?”

“Like the hospital?” Shimmer offered with a shrug. “Look, I don’t know who or… what you are, but you wiped out pretty hard. Trust me, I’ve gotten concussions before and they’re no joke.”

“I know!” Sunset snarled, feeling her head ache with the expulsion of the words. Groaning, she held her head. “It’s just that I don’t have any real documents, and won’t they think it’s weird that we look the same?”

Shimmer frowned and tapped her chin. “Well, I could always give you mine and drop you off, then say we’re twins or something…”

“I guess,” Sunset admitted. “But it’s too risky, I’ll be okay. I just need to make sure my bike is fine.”

“Oh.” Shimmer shook her head. “Yeah, no, there’s no way you’re riding that home, sorry, Sunny.”

Sunset frowned a bit, then shook her head. “Sunny?”

“I hate it,” Shimmer admitted, “so I figured you would, too. Was I right?” At Sunset’s nod, she snorted and smirked. “Cool, so I’ll call a tow truck and we can get you somewhere warm so you can explain to me what the fuck is going on, okay?”

What choice did she really have?

“Okay, fine. But we are not going to the hospital.”

Shimmer rolled her eyes. “When you die, don’t blame me,” she scoffed. “But okay, I’ll take you home, then. You can explain to me there.”

Sunset crossed her arms and looked away as Shimmer dialed on her phone, walking closer to Sunset’s crashed bike. What have I gotten myself into? She tuned Shimmer out as she talked to someone about a towing service, letting her attention focus on the wheat fields bordering the road. She thought about what Applejack would do in her situation, and if Applejack would think her double was attractive, too.

Of course, it was a bit vain to think so. By thinking that Shimmer was attractive, then Sunset was practically admitting that she herself was attractive. It wouldn’t be a lie to say she thought it, but to see herself as a third party… Wow. She was even better than she thought.

Or maybe it was Shimmer, specifically. Sunset definitely thought her face was a bit rounder than Shimmer’s, though she definitely wasn’t complaining. And that scar on her brow? She sort of wished she had one, too. Though, she wasn’t exactly sure what exactly had caused Shimmer to have it. Maybe she could ask?

Shimmer’s gaze on her own forced her to realize that she had been staring again. Blushing, Sunset averted her gaze as Shimmer shrugged and hung up the phone, handing Sunset her helmet and the bag she had taken in the side compartment. The laptop was probably broken, but that was the least of her concerns.

“The tow truck will be here soon, but I think it’s better if we get out of here,” Shimmer explained. “I told them to drop it off at the body shop in front of your place, alright?”

Sunset nodded.

“Right. Let’s get out of here, Sunny.” Shimmer gestured behind her, and Sunset stepped away from the bike, putting the helmet back on her head with a pained grunt thanks to the tender state of her head.

Shimmer hoisted her leg over the seat, taking the rumbling bike between her legs and putting on her masked helmet. Confidently, she gripped the handlebars. A bit unsure, Sunset climbed on behind her. She’d never ridden backseat on a motorcycle before, and she had certainly never thought about how awkward it was to be the one behind. Having someone hug around your waist was just normal when you were driving and focused, but as the one being driven it was different. Tentatively, Sunset held her hands over Shimmer’s waist, as if touching her would make her double upset. Shimmer stared at her hard, wordlessly telling her to just do it.

Sunset swallowed as she robotically wrapped her arms around Shimmer’s waist, doing her best to shield herself from the cold and blowing snow. She suddenly felt envious of Shimmer’s apparent choice to always wear turtlenecks.

Shimmer revved the engine and shifted in her seat. With a smirk, she looked back at Sunset. “Hold on tight, Sunny.”

Sunset held her closer.