Lvl. 1: Arrival
"...That's not how you wear that..."
Twilight Sparkle struggled to shove her head through the arm opening of her dress. Her glasses drooped down her nose and hung on one ear. Her hair was messier than ever with odd strands sticking out through the neck and arm openings on the beautiful dress Shimmer and Stella Luna had chosen for her. Twilight looked like a cat punching its way out of a trash bag it got stuck under. Quickly, Shimmer righted the situation before anything terrible happened that could result in ruining the expensive clothing item.
Once on correctly, Twilight sighed and posed awkwardly in the mirror. It was a pale blue dress with white and purple lining. It draped down to the top of her knees and looked very nice on Twilight. It was just a simple dress; nothing complex about it...yet Twilight didn't seem to understand how to wear it without Shimmer's help.
"You look great!" Cadence announced. She clapped her hands together and sighed dreamily. "You'll be the Belle of the ball!"
"Uh...maybe you should tweak a few things before you jump to saying something like that. For instance, her hair maybe?" Shimmer pointed out.
It was true. The only thing that really needed fixing now was the nerd's hair. It was extremely messed up...well, more messed up than usual. Cadence grabbed a brush off the table and a comb. She glanced at Shimmer and frowned.
"Why don't you get dressed up already? Just go down the hall into the bathroom if you're not comfortable changing in here."
Shimmer looked to the bed at the dress intended for her and gulped. She took it gently in her arms and slowly walked out the room and headed toward the bathroom. Once there, she closed the door and looked at herself in the mirror. Shining turquoise eyes stared back at her. Flaming red and yellow hair fanned out around her small face like rays of the sun. Her tanned skin let off a healthy glow and blended nicely with her hair and eyes. But instead of seeing a happy smile on her small lips, she saw she was frowning. There was something menacing about that expression...something different.
Her eyebrows came down over her eyes in a perplexed manner and her mouth became a hard line. A crease formed above the bridge of her nose and in between her eyebrows. The shining irises dulled and the glow of her skin ceased. But...how was this? Shimmer no longer looked like herself. Instead she appeared to be someone she knew to look this way...a girl with her face but at the same time she did not...Shimmer's eyes widened. Sunset.Memories of that fateful night came back to her and everything that had happened following that.
Sugar Belle and Double Diamond...the sleepless nights she had...befriending Twilight Sparkle...
Shimmer bit her lip and glanced down at her dress of choice. While Twilight had a simple cotton dress, Shimmer had a slightly more complex piece of clothing. It was a beautiful cyan color that complimented her eyes. Carefully stitched flower designs embroidered the fine silky cloth that made up the dress. It was slightly form-fitting when Shimmer had tried it on before. It fell to her mid calf and swayed this way and that as gentle and subtle as the calm winds of a lovely spring day. To go with it was a knitted shawl the color of ivory. On the ends of it were gold rings that she'd wear to keep the shawl from falling off her shoulders.
Cadence had insisted she get it and so did Stella Luna. They both liked it on her and were sure that the boys would fall for her.
Boys they say..? Shimmer thought with a snort. She thought back to Stella Luna and felt her face flush. Sure...boys.
Slowly, the girl sighed and put on the dress. Looking in the mirror she saw how nicely it fit. Though she looked gorgeous on the outside, she still felt odd on the inside. The fact that she would be meeting herself again...was nerve wrecking. Shimmer knew that no matter how many times she met this Sunset, she'd always get this unsettling feeling. This feeling in which she knew what was happening couldn't possibly be real but all the same it was. Shimmer made her way back to the room in which Twilight and Cadence were in. Twilight's hair was down and looked lot nicer and shinier than Shimmer had ever seen it be before.
At the moment, the young woman was struggling to get the girl to wear contacts. Cadence frowned as she swatted Twilight's hands away from her face.
"You should wear them!"
"But they're so itchy!" Twilight cried in protest and she rubbed her eyes.
Cadence grabbed her wrists and forced her hands down.
"You'll get used to them, Twi. Just don't rub your eyes or you'll make them look bloodshot!"
The nerdy girl pouted and said," Why do I have to wear them anyway?"
"Well, you don't want to be walking around with big square-y glasses like that at a dance. Wearing contacts make you look better and it brings out your eyes."
Twilight frowned.
"So this is purely aesthetic!"
She lunged forward to get her glasses back but Cadence was too quick. She folded the glasses arms and placed them carefully in her back pocket.
"I'm keeping these. So if you take out your contacts at the dance you'll be as blind as a bat."
The younger female sighed and gave up knowing she had lost to her. "Bats aren't blind..."
Shimmer cleared her throat and they both looked her way. Cadence gasped dramatically and squealed. She told Shimmer to spin around. Twilight admired her dress and examined it closely.
"You look absolutely stunning!" Cadence gushed.
"Thanks," Shimmer replied, feeling bashful.
Cadence took her hand and had her sit in a chair before the bedroom mirror.
"Now lets see about this lovely mane of hair! I think a bun would do nicely..."
As the young woman set to work on her hair, Twilight began theorizing how the evening would go.
"We'll arrive at the dance as undercover investigators and scour the crowd looking for her! Shimmer, you should try to locate her friends and pretend you're her and get more information about this other you. All info is important to my studies. Meanwhile, I'll question the Canterlot High students and ask them about her as well. What I need to collect most importantly is the data confirming that supernatural events have in fact occurred there and what actually was going on! Tonight's the perfect time to find out!"
Shimmer rolled her eyes while Cadence chuckled.
"Yeah, and you'll soon find out if Shimmer's double is an alien or a ghost."
Shimmer looked at Twilight's sister-in-law through the mirror with a surprised expression.
"You actually believe her on this?"
Cadence shrugged.
"No, I don't. But you can't persuade Twilight otherwise when she's like this. It's a wild, fantastical story."
She finished styling Shimmer's hair and sighed happily.
"All done! Come on, girls! To the car!"
***
The sun was setting gently over the hills in the distance. The two sophomores stepped out of the car and looked at the building before them. Canterlot High School. Twilight jumped up and down with excitement and was ready to bolt in no time toward the school. The loud pounding of music sounded, muffled by the school walls. Shimmer stood there and felt a chill run through her spine. This. This is where Sunset should be based on the theory her friend came up with.
Deep down she hoped it wasn't accurate.
Cadence rolled down the driver side window and waved goodbye to them.
"Hey, Shimmer! Come here for a second."
The said girl did as she was instructed and was greeted by a warm smile. Her eyes were glowing and the faded light of the sky softened her features, making her look even younger than she really was. There was something sad about the glow of her eyes, something melancholy...Cadence spoke to her in a soft voice.
"Thank you, Shimmer, for being friends with Twilight. She has a...a hard time socializing and seeing how you two are pretty close it makes me happy. Sometimes, Twilight will make up these wild stories that sound logical in her head but really are quite childish. She then would bury herself in unnecessary studies about it. This 'alien' thing is one of them, I know. Just...bare with her. She doesn't have others to spend time with and so these wacky adventures are what she relies on to make her happy. But, if you could, please try to introduce her to more people so that hopefully this thing she does...it just is a phase."
Shimmer nodded slowly. Cadence smiled again and squeezed her hand before driving off. Shimmer watched the car disappear onto another street and contemplated what she said. Cadence thinks this is a game Twilight's playing. Well, it sure felt real this 'game'...
Twilight grabbed her arm and dragged her toward the school.
"Come on! Don't just stand there!"
The two of them rushed to the school; one happy as can be...the other not sure of what this newest 'level to their game' would hold.
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wow, i feel really really bad for this worlds twilight. having everyone think that way about her; it's no she doesn't see the point in friends. if your own family and like-family feel that way about you, why would you ever think that total strangers would be any better?
I'm with MLPSolarDash. I'm not saying it should be changed back, but this new cover...
No offense but Sunset Shimmer look like a guy in the new cover I thought for a second it was a rule 63 fic before I remembered what the story was.
So for some reason, the cover art gets cut off due to a change knighty made to the site so now the cover has to look like this.
I like this cover, but the Sunset at the right side kind of looks like a guy to me, specially if you cover her hair from the neck down.
Damn, to be viewed by your closest family members as nuts? Harsh...
6010336
I thought the auto‐cropping was for uploads only as in “not things that were already uploaded”. It’s bad enough that the algorithm sucks…
6010630 Yes. But I was fixing something and the cover art got deleted and so I had to put this back up cropped and whatnot.
I simply cant get enough of this story!
And you just HAD to stop the chapter before they went inside... Well only makes next chapter more exciting!
6010815 I'm glad you really like it!
Sunset dropped out and now Shimmer AND Twilight are at the Spring Formal. Things are going to hit the fan next chapter, and it won't be a pretty sight.
cannot wait for the next chapter! I look forward to the time that both sunsets are seen in the same place at the same time. I also hope Shimmer is able to clear things up wit her friends. Keep up the amazing work, I was totally surprised to learn you were an 8th grader, your talent in writing led me to think you much older.
6011496 Most people on this site are in their late teens and beyond from what I'm seeing. Not too many people younger than that and not many with writing skills as well as mine from what I'm hearing. I'm glad to see you're excited for the new chapter!
6011501 Guess I am one of the older readers XD I am 34 years old myself
Really enjoying every chapter of your story so far. I'm glad Twilight is there to support Shimmer, because they are both walking unknowingly into such a hostile environment. Looking forward to your next installment.
As for the cover art, try making a copy of the orignal, resize the entire image down to say, around 90%, then upload that, and crop from there.
6012373 Thanks for the advice.
YAY! story images can be cropped in any ratio! Now my cover art is back to normal!
I think "fantastical" works better here and not "fanatical". That word is more paired with religious "fanatics".
Shimmer's eyes widened.Sunset.Memories of
Boys they say..?
and said," Why do I
Just...bare with her
1. Forgot your spacing. Twice.
2. The ellipses thing. Not entirely sure if it's a quirk of yours or some unwritten rule.
3. Spacing in the wrong place.
4. Bear, in this case. Like trying to hold on tight, bear with it.
I'm confused. Why does Cadence make it sound like Twilight does stuff like this all the time? It seems like Twilight just really enjoys doing research, and only looked into CHS when everything started happening. Actually, why wouldn't they think something odd was going on? If Twilight has talked to her family about this, then she must have shown them her evidence. When you see pictures like that, and it would certainly match with countless other videos and pictures and such, then you can't just pretend it's nothing.
Honestly, it feels pointless to have Twilight's family be against her here.
6570641 PhotoShop? I don't know if it exists in this universe, seeing as sunset went for the cut and paste method when framing pony-human Twilight.