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.