"Uh...Twilight?"
A fiery-headed girl stood in front of her friend and examined her critically. They were at the mall trying on dresses. But that wasn't going all too well seeing as how the spectacled one had a terrible fashion sense. Twilight Sparkle stood in front of a mirror posing awkwardly in an orange and yellow polka dotted dress, trying to make it work. But Shimmer was cringing painfully.
"Sorry but...that might not be the dress for you..."
"That's just putting it lightly," Cadence said in a kind voice though her words cut like a knife.
Cadence had brought the girls to the Pointeville Mall instead of Shining Armor since he had police duty. He also wasn't too excited to be chauffeuring his sister and supposed project partner to the mall, stand around for who knows how long, and get home at a ridiculous time. Twilight pushed up her glasses and looked down at her feet feeling sad.
"Yeah, I figured."
Shimmer gave her a lopsided grin.
"Maybe you should just let us get your dress. It would do good since we have a few ideas in mind."
Twilight nodded and went into the dressing room to change while the other two sat down. Cadence glanced at Shimmer, who was looking down at her hands. Cadence could sense that she was feeling restless. Something must be troubling her...
"Is something the matter?"
Shimmer looked up.
"Hmm? Oh, nothing..."
Cadence raised an eyebrow and gave her a knowing look. The younger girl looked away feeling a bit awkward. Twilight had introduced her to her sister-in-law on Monday when she had brainstormed the idea to go to the Spring Fling. Shimmer didn't really want to go and had argued, weakly bringing up the cost of tickets and the possibility that they were sold out. Unfortunately, Twilight interjected that because they were guests there weren't any tickets, but they could pay at the door and that the cost would not be as pricey as the students' payment. As long as they signed in a guest log they were free to go after giving the money.
After hearing that, Shimmer sighed and gave up. There was no point in continuing something that wouldn't go in her favor. It was just something about going to that dance and knowing there was a possibility of seeing herself again...it gave her the chills. Her other self didn't seem that friendly, first off, and secondly, it's a bit unnatural to see a duplicate of yourself, who you know isn't a twin or somebody in cosplay, walking around. Stuff like that just doesn't happen! Yet here she stood knowing otherwise.
It was happening...
Cadence nudged her with her elbow and Shimmer snapped out of her thoughts. The younger girl looked at her and saw a face expressing playful suspicion; twinkling eyes that narrowed without malice and a small smile that was telltale of her knowing what she knew. The younger girl felt slightly intimidated by this.
"So I see you must be nervous..." Cadence said.
"Uh...Y-Yeah, a little bit..." Shimmer admitted.
Cadence patted her on the back and gave her a genuine smile that erased Shimmer's feeling of intimidation.
"Oh, it's ok to be nervous. This must be your first time going to a dance, huh?"
"...Actually, no. I've been to all the school dances before."
Cadence looked at her with surprise.
"Oh really? Huh, I thought you were a nervous first-timer!"
Shimmer snorted and shrugged her shoulders.
"I just don't feel very comfortable going to another school's dance is all."
"What's to feel uncomfortable about? You have Twilight to stick to."
"Yeah, but..."
Shimmer's mind went back to the night she met Sunset. The girl had been so mysterious and so destructive in the matters regarding her friendship with Sugar Belle and Double Diamond. When she saw her, Shimmer was going to give that girl a piece of her mind and drag Sunset out to apologize to them and her for ruining a good relationship. Shimmer's face turned red as she thought about her angry feelings toward her double. Cadence noticed the blush on the girl's cheeks and immediately misunderstood what the blush was for.
"So there's a boy you like there, is that the case?"
Shimmer's eyes widened and she spluttered. That's not at all what she had been thinking. It completely caught her off guard. Shimmer was not very good at discussing things like love. She always felt hot in the face and spat out the wrong words which made matters worse for her. It was as if a curse had just dropped itself upon this poor girl. Though she didn't have anyone she liked at the moment it still made her heart skip a beat. To Shimmer, love was a sensitive topic in which she'd like it to not be brought up.
"Oh so it is a boy!" Cadence gasped.
"Wh--N-No, Mrs. Armor! It isn't! Not at all! Nope!" Shimmer said.
"Oh really? I don't believe you, Ms. Shimmer," Cadence said with a chuckle. "Call me Cadence."
Shimmer bit her lip and didn't reply. She tried to focus her eyes on everything that wasn't in the vicinity of the young woman. This only made Cadence want to know more about her 'crush'.
"Tell me. Who is he? What's his name?" Cadence asked.
"I-I-It's nobody!" Shimmer stammered.
She wanted to get away from her.
"W-Why don't I go and look for some other dresses for Twilight to wear!" Shimmer said and she popped up onto her feet.
"I'll come with you," Cadence said.
"No!" Shimmer yelled abruptly. Her face became an even rosier color when she realized what she had done. "I-I mean I can do it by myself..."
Before Cadence could answer her they heard Twilight stomping and tripping out from the dressing room. Shimmer took this as her chance to get away and ran.
***
"Why am I always flustered whenever love comes up as a topic," the fiery-headed girl grumbled.
She thrust a group of dresses away from her as she searched the rack for something more suitable to wear than the monstrosity Twilight had tried on. All the girl saw were dresses that were either too short, too long, had unflattering colors to Twilight's skin, and/or just didn't make much sense at all. Shimmer was trying to find Twilight something that would be nice to wear but not uncomfortable. She knew this would more than likely be Twilight's first time wearing a dress, seeing as how her nerd gear was a light blue blouse underneath a long white sweater and some black slacks. She doubted the nerd had much of anything else in her closet besides those three clothing items.
Shimmer pulled out a bright pink sundress and tilted her head. Would she wear this? After standing there a moment she sighed and put it back. Probably not; too bright. Twilight wouldn't look too good in really bright colors. Plus, she'd stand out. Twilight just needs something to look nice in and fit into the crowd with...
Shimmer took out a blue dress and nodded with satisfaction. Then Shimmer shook her head vigorously after thinking about it. If she didn't want to be noticed in bright colors then she didn't want to wear dark colors, either. It was Spring after all and wearing that in the middle of a crowd, full of others wearing shades of soft pinks, yellows, and oranges, wouldn't help her. Besides, it was too hot for those colors to be worn. In exasperation, the fiery-headed girl flung the item back on the rack.
After 15 minutes, Shimmer was still not able to find anything for Twilight despite having gone through a multitude of clothes. She thought finding clothes for Twilight would be easy. But that was not the case. Everything was either too frilly, too short, too long, too revealing, or just plain ugly. She was just about to give up when someone tapped her shoulder.
"Um, excuse me?"
Shimmer turned to see a girl with dark blue hair and sky blue skin. She had pretty green eyes that glowed mysteriously. The girl wore a simple white T-shirt with a Crescent moon on it and black jeans. Her long hair was pulled back into a braid. On her shirt was a name tag that read: Stella Luna. Shimmer felt her cheeks burn a little as she stared at her.
"Anything I can help you with?" the girl asked kindly.
Shimmer glanced at the rack of dresses beside her and stuttered.
"U-Uh...Y-Yeah! I need a lot of help!...Please..."
Stella Luna nodded and placed a hand on her hip.
"Anything in particular that you're looking for?"
"Yes," Shimmer said, while looking at the floor," I'm, uh, looking for a dress for my friend who...needs one for a dance at school."
"Oh, the Spring Fling, right? I have some perfect suggestions for you!"
Stella Luna led Shimmer to another area of the store and helped her out. While picking and choosing, they talked about the designs of the clothing and critiqued them. The two laughed about the ridiculous fashions of today and the school dance. Stella chatted comfortably and pointed to some things while Shimmer nodded and listened, her face a pink color. It was as if they had known each other for years.
Every once in a while, the older girl would smile lopsidedly at something the younger girl said, her eyes flashing happily. Her funny remarks and the way she stuck her tongue out when thinking made Shimmer grin.
A little deeper into the conversation, Shimmer found out that Stella was a student at Pointeville High School in the eleventh grade, just a year older than her. She couldn't believe it! She knew most everyone in the grades above her so how was it that she didn't know her?? The fiery-headed girl told her as much and Stella laughed.
"It's because I'm one of those kids in the corner, ya know? Socializing doesn't come too naturally for me. But you're pretty easy to talk to, underclassman."
The other girl blushed and smiled.
"What's your name, sophomore?" Stella asked.
"...It's...It's"
Feeling bashful, she brushed some hair from her face and cleared her throat.
"Sunset Shimmer. That's my name...I'd rather be called Shimmer, though..."
The older girl nodded and picked up a couple of clothing items they had chosen.
"Alrighty then, Shimmy! Lets go and see about your friend!"
With a red face, the said girl led the way back to the dressing room and met Cadence and Twilight in deep conversation. Mrs. Armor was sitting with her legs crossed and a hand on her chin nodding to everything her sister-in-law said. The nerd raised her voice at times she was excited and flailed her arms around like limp noodles.
"It's got to be aliens...or magic!" Twilight cried.
"Aliens or magic, you say? I think the former," Cadence replied calmly.
"Yes, but there are points that prove my theory on magic more than aliens!" Twilight told her.
Cadence frowned and rubbed her chin before shrugging.
"It could be both. Aliens and magic."
Shimmer sighed in embarrassment at the odd subject the two had taken up and glanced at Stella who actually seemed interested in what they were talking about, but was too polite to pry. She handed the dresses to Shimmer and saluted to her.
"See ya 'round!"
The new voice brought Cadence and Twilight back to reality and they looked at their red-faced friend, smiling goofy-like and waving slowly. She turned and met the stares of the other two and cleared her throat.
"Uh...here's the clothes!"
Twilight jumped up and inspected them as if they were a specimen she recently discovered. She carefully selected a dress, which happened to be the plainest one, and said," Hey, what do you think about your twin being an alien with magic? Pretty neat theory!"
Shimmer rolled her eyes and nodded with a fake smile on her face. Twilight was satisfied, having missed the insincerity of it, and hopped into the dressing room. Cadence watched the girl that remained with great care. she had a dreamy look on her face, like she had just landed on Cloud Nine. Her eyes glowed softly and her cheeks were brushed with a rosy pink. Cadence grinned.
"You met the boy of your dreams here, haven't you!"
Shimmer plopped down beside her, not listening to her closely.
"Heh, a boy!"
Cadence looked at her with surprise. But the younger girl didn't notice. She was too busy thinking about a certain somebody to even care.