//------------------------------// // Fine Line Between Love and Hate // Story: You Can't Help Who You Love // by Feather Flyer //------------------------------// The 'twins' stood before Pointeville High in silence. The loud music coming from inside was muffled by the brick walls of the massive building. The thought of going in was odd to them seeing as how both would be visible to the eye of all. Two girls, both with the same genetic coding and face, just walking into a school where most everyone knows one, but not the other... Shimmer sighed. This might be a bit overwhelming for Double Diamond and Sugar Belle and not to mention...well, the whole school. She was sure people were going to question her about why she didn't ever talk about having a twin and whatnot. The girl realized she hadn't quite thought up this part of the plan. Shimmer had really only been focused on locating her doppleganger rather than what would happen afterward. She covered her face with her hands. This might not turn out too well... Instead of fixing the problem and then having nothing to do with her other self, she'll be bombarded with questions about the person she didn't want to be associated with. Even if it was her. It was just that Sunset seemed so cruel and careless. It was apparent the whole school hated her guts, evidence being some kind of school rule, and the words she traded with one of the students weren't the friendliest ones she'd ever heard. Shimmer really wanted to get away from this madness. Pony princesses... Destroyed school fronts... Magic... She just wanted to leave all the nonsensical mess of this night behind. Shimmer felt her hands being moved from her face. Before her stood Sunset, who had a thoughtful expression on her face. She held her hands and said to her quietly," You don't have to say a word for me to know exactly what you're thinking." "...How..." Sunset smiled. "Silly, I'm you." Shimmer frowned. This was what she was talking about. The craziness of this night. How could anyone have a duplicate of themselves exist but not be twins? She shouldn't be here! She shouldn't exist. And yet, Sunset stood there holding both her hands with a small smile. Surely a full moon is out. But when she looked it was a Waning Cresent. It didn't help in making her feel better or less overwhelmed. All Shimmer could do was groan. Sunset laughed and patted her head. "Sorry, kiddo, but you'll have to bear with me for a little while longer." Shimmer's eyes widened with surprise before narrowing. "What do you mean by that..." "Mmm," Sunset replied with all the vagueness in the world. The human counterpart frowned deeply at her pony self with grave amounts of annoyance. Sunset shrugged and started to walk toward the school. Shimmer scoffed in disbelief and grabbed her arm. She tugged at her jacket. "'Mmm'? That's not an answer. What did you mean, Sunset?" "Mmm," she repeated. "Oh, come on!" As Shimmer urged Sunset to explain herself, two people came walking around their way. They were holding hands and chuckling. One was a girl with orchid colored hair and a pale pink skin tone. Her hair was curly and came down to her shoulders. She wore a nice purple sundress. The boy who was holding her hand had white hair, white skin, blue eyes, and had a, well...white tuxedo on. He wore a purple tie, one of the few things that wasn't white. When they saw the two girls they stopped dead in their tracks. No way...The girl swallowed hard before uttering,"...Shimmer..?" *** The said girl quit her badgering of the other one and turned to see who had called her name. Her eyes widened when she saw who it was. "Sugar Belle! Double Diamond!" Sunset looked them up and down. Their mouths were sure to catch flies; they hung so low that you could see all the way into the back of their throat. Something looked familiar about them...They looked similar to some people she may have seen passing by on the street or something. But Sunset couldn't quite place them. She knew it couldn't have been long ago...Well, whoever they were, Shimmer knew them. But...they didn't exactly seem to be happy to see her. The pair appeared to be on edge. They backed up a little and quickly released each other's intertwining hands. Sunset saw and made a mental note of that. Meanwhile, Shimmer hurried over to them with a wide smile on her face. "Guys, hey! So you know that crazy sounding story about there being another me? W-Well, it's actually pretty true! And...and, here she is!" Shimmer waved an excited hand at her duplicate. She then cleared her throat and took a deep breath. "Ok. Sunset, that's her name, she's going to apologize to you both for what she did a fortnight ago." Double Diamond and Sugar Belle exchanged bewildered looks before turning to face the girl Shimmer had indicated. She had her arms crossed and her head high. Her turquoise eyes scrutinized them with deep suspicion. Sunset opened her mouth and said in a dark tone," You were just holding hands earlier. What happened? When you saw us you dropped it like you're Romeo and Juliette trying to sneak in a relationship without anyone being aware of it..." She narrowed her eyes. "And that was because..?" Sugar Belle opened her mouth to say something but decided(against her better judgement) to keep quiet. Double Diamond automatically moved away from her and swallowed hard. "O-Oh...Uh, that-that-that wasn't hand holding you saw..." the boy whispered. Shimmer jabbed Sunset in the arm and pulled her off to the side. She glared at her counterpart, who was not affected by the action. "What are you doing?" she hissed. "Apologize!" "No no. I want to know why Mr. and Mrs. Newlywed are trying to hide their relationship. I'm curious," Sunset said. Shimmer glanced between them before sighing deeply. "You're supposed to be here to make amends! Get out of the affairs of my friends! I don't think they're dating anyway." "You really must not know what loving another person is like, do you! Hand holding is a dead giveaway. I just want to know why they stopped when we came, that's all," Sunset told her casually. Shimmer looked back at Sugar Belle and Double Diamond trying to process this information. It dawned on her that she was right; the two were looking at each other lovingly and seemed to be exchanging small niceties to possibly break the tension caused from Sunset's gruff words. Seeing that her other self understood, Sunset nodded with satisfaction. "See? Now why would they be hiding it from you?" "Though I am curious now, it still doesn't excuse you from not saying sorry! That's the whole point of me bringing you here. You say sorry and then I can be back to friend status with them. Then you go back to whatever you were doing and we move on with our lives." "Wait...you tracked me down just so I could say a small two words and then magically you guys are buddy-buddy? You actually think that's going to happen? Man, you are naive!" "Th-That's not the real reason!" Shimmer said quickly, blushing furiously. "My friend, Twilight, wanted to investigate the matters at Canterlot High. She said there were a lot of strange occurrences happening there..." Sunset frowned and paused. Her face twisted with a look of unease before settling to a clear sign of tired defeat as though she had gone through a lot at that moment. "Yup. She's right on that count." Surprised to see Sunset looking that way, Shimmer tilted her head. "Really? Do you know anything on it??" Sunset placed a hand on the girl's shoulder and turned her around to face Sugar Belle and Double Diamond. She sighed. "I should've known Twilight's counterpart would go snooping..." "...What?" "Later. Right now, you have two people who are waiting for us." When they saw they were approaching once more, the two former friends of Shimmer's straightened up as rigid as boards. "Ok, Sunset's going to apologize this time for her pushing you, Double Diamond, and being extremely rude to the both of you." The said girl showed remorse for her previous actions with a lame " 'pologies". The two persons receiving it hastily accepted. "Tell me. You're a couple. Why hide it," Sunset asked. Shimmer was already annoyed by the terrible apology and now she was going into her friends' business again! Shimmer tried to stop her from interrogating them but she was intent on getting an answer. Double Diamond cracked under the pressure in an instant. Her burning eyes stared at him as though it were looking into his soul. "We are dating! But what's it to you?" he asked in a shaky voice. "Just curious why you two made it seem like you weren't. You're hiding something. Tell me," she said in a monotone. Shimmer stomped her foot down. "Sunset! Leave them alone! You already said sorry. Now go!" The demoness ignored her. "Tell me." Double Diamond looked to his girlfriend for help. Sugar Belle glared at Sunset with intensity. She stepped forward and told her what she wanted to know. "It's because the reason we got together was from our newfound dislike of you! When you threw him to the floor, I hated you! I had always liked Double Diamond more than a friend. And Shimmer knew that. After that night, we purposefully avoided Shimmer thinking she was you and got to spend more time with one another since she wasn't our friend anymore. We were hiding the fact we were dating because of the reason! Our relationship was built on the fact that we didn't like you!!!" It was quiet as they stood there staring at one another. Sugar Belle and Sunset kept their gazes locked; the former hostile and the latter uncaring, unmoved. Double Diamond looked back and forth between his girlfriend and the 'bad girl'. Nothing was said. Not for a while. *** Shimmer's Point of View ... They didn't like me... ... Thus the reason they sprouted this relationship...It was made from the hate they had for me! I mean, not me. No...but for Sunset. But how could they have known that she wasn't me?All this time, as their dislike for me became apparent to them, they began to love each other? A fine line between hate and love...Whoever came up with that one was dead on. I just looked at them, not knowing what to do. Now that they know they're hate isn't directed at me but her, we can still be friends, right? But then they'd never be able to tell us apart and if their relationship isn't broken, things would be forever awkward. Even if it had been broken, it might still feel odd to be around them. We've had arguments in the past. Really big ones that lasted a long while, but we all got back to being friends, knowing that we couldn't stay mad at each other for very long. I admit, I have caused problems before and it didn't go well. But surely nothing as bad as this. I realized right there that being friends with Sugar Belle and Double Diamond was no longer an option. Not with all this coming out. I felt goosebumps rise on my skin. It seemed quite suddenly to be cold out. Even my white shawl couldn't stop the chill that was running through me. I had come here with her all this way, just so that things could be shattered again. The shards of my friendship with them even smaller; so small that there was no point in gathering them to rebuild what we once had. The dark sky watched us silently, the stars being their eyes; twinkling with excitement and wonder. What will happen next? Sunset smirked and turned to leave. "Yeah well, you shouldn't hate her now because I'm the bitch who did it. But then, you can't hate me. I'm the reason you guys got together, right? A pro out of the one con. You wouldn't be a couple without me being there to break the way to it. But...if you hate me anyway, you'll also be hating Shimmer." Double Diamond and Sugar Belle stared at her in confusion and anger. Sunset just shrugged and began to walk away. "Shimmer can explain." And with that she left, leaving the three of us alone on the night that was supposed to be about happiness, but turned out to be the complete opposite.