My Scrappy Little Mutt
“Where are the books on magic history I asked for? I sent for them an hour ago.”
“It’s only been ten minutes,” a young red dragon grumbled from the other side of the door. With his claws full of books, he had to reach for the handle with his tail and back in.
“There you are,” an exasperated young unicorn filly rolled her eyes from within, grabbing the massive tower of tomes in a bright blue aura before he’d completely entered the room.
“You’re welcome.” The dragon shut the door behind him and sauntered over to investigate what she was working on. He instantly gave up the endeavor, though, upon eyeing the complex diagrams and cryptic notations. He would never understand the physics behind pony magic.
“I’m close… I can feel it,” the unicorn set down her pencil, brow kneaded in concentration as she poured over the information.
“I know,” her companion distractedly replied, busying himself with tidying the rest of her disorderly room.
“Don’t you get smart with me, Garble!” she snapped. The baby dragon looked up.
“I wasn’t being sarcastic. I really believe you’re making progress, Sunset.”
“What do you know about magic?” she huffed, her tone now slightly apologetic for lashing out. Garble knew she was stressed, and he also knew that was the closest thing to a direct apology he would ever get out of Sunset Shimmer.
“I don’t know a lot,” he confessed. “Your notes are way beyond me. But you’re at the top of your class, and you only get stronger each day.”
“That’s because I stay in and do my work while those dorks fool around. They’re unbelievable! They’ve been given the opportunity of a lifetime to study at the palace, and they squander it goofing off in the gardens or hanging around Joe’s Doughnut Shop. They have no idea how lucky they are! No one here gets it.”
“Believe me, I do.” Garble’s voice was cool, but not cold. “I was all alone when the school principal took me in. No family, and no flock. She said she found me newly hatched in a half-trampled nest out in the Everfree while investigating the old castle ruins. She was on a personal research project or something. Said I was the last surviving egg. It was probably a timberwolf raid.” He shrugged like it was no big deal, but the look in his eyes let Sunset know that he was dying on the inside. Her stomach lurched with guilt.
“Garble… I wasn’t talking about you…”
“I know. It’s okay. Things happen. I was just one of the lucky ones.”
“Lucky? Losing your whole family, being adopted by a school principal and then admitted into the magic program to be paired with a unicorn to fetch her books and clean her room is lucky? I mean… the dragons students here hatch for their admittance test don’t know anything else, but the principal raised you herself for a couple years before she found somewhere to stick you.”
“Yeah, but it’s not so bad. I don’t mind being ‘stuck’ with the straight-A filly. I have it pretty easy with you, actually.” Sunset smiled.
“I thought I had the worst luck in the world when the mother of the dragon I hatched came back to claim her baby. Guess it worked out for the best anyhow, huh?”
“Yeah.” The look in Garble’s eyes seemed distant.
“What’s wrong now?”
“It’s just… I was thinking about how nice it would be if my mom would come back for me. Guess we can’t have everything.” He busied himself with folding the laundry to keep his mind away from such thoughts. Sunset always felt bad when he got like this, as he often did. She always felt awkward comforting others, though, and her pride usually got the best of her anyway.
“You’re not the only lonely one around here. You’re the only real friend I have, too, ya know that, Garble?”
“There’s an easy fix to that. Those ‘dork’ classmates of yours are playing out in the courtyard. I bet they’d let you join them if you asked.” Sunset wrinkled her nose.
“No way. Besides, I’m busy. I need to finish this project. But you can go down and talk to their dragons or whatever if you want.”
“Na, I’m too old to hang out with them. It’ll be more like babysitting. I’d much rather relax up here in the peace and quiet.”
“Guess it’s just you and me, then,” Sunset absentmindedly commented as she returned to her books. A few moments of compatible silence passed between the two, interrupted only by the occasional rustling of the book pages. “Though…” Sunset didn’t remain quiet for long, “so long as you’re staying, you could always find The Starswirl Spellbook: Volume VI for me.”
“So much for relaxing,” Garble sighed, heaving out of the chair anyway. More slowly than Sunset liked, he shuffled on down to the Canterlot Royal Library once more.
“NO?! What do you mean, she said no?!”
“S-s-sorry, Sunset.” Garble hunkered down. It was never a good thing when Sunset got upset like this. Her ice-blue eyes blazed with rage hotter than his own dragon fire. “But Princess Celestia herself told me that I couldn’t check the spell books out for you anymore unless it’s assigned homework. She doesn’t think you’re ready for such advanced magic yet.”
“She does, does she?” Sunset’s voice dripped with venom, and she stomped her hoof furiously. Garble was almost surprised the tiles beneath weren’t cracked. “We’ll see about that.”
“I AM ready. You know I’m ready!”
“Dear Sunset, I will not deny that you are my brightest and most talented pupil. However, I have heard from your other tutors that you have been experimenting outside of class, and I myself know that you push yourself to your limits. While this is admirable, the spells in the books you seek are far too powerful for a young mare such as yourself.”
“I can handle it! I’ve passed every other test you’ve given me with flying colors!”
“Sunset, you have not received the training necessary to prepare yourself for this kind of magic. Not only that, but you are still young, and your body has not fully developed. You will be physically unable to take the strain of those spells. I do not want to see you get hurt.”
“You just want to keep me from getting better!”
Garble slouched against the wall outside Princess Celestia’s chambers, listening to the argument. Sunset’s screams were becoming so high pitched that they hurt his sensitive ears. He rubbed one of the red fins protecting his ear canal as if that would make the pain go away. It didn’t. He sighed again, and set his head on his lap. He wasn’t sure how much longer it would be before Sunset gave up and submitted or Celestia was pushed past her limits and sent the stubborn girl away. One of them would have to crack soon- they’d been at it for a while now, and Sunset was starting to resort to insults. That was one thing Celestia never tolerated.
Sure enough, the filly came storming out shortly. Garble jumped up. “How’d it go?”
“It didn’t,” she barked, eyes still burning. Garble decided it was best to keep his trap shut and just trail along behind. However, he found the silence to be almost even more crushing than enduring her anger. They weren’t even halfway back to her room when it became overwhelming.
“So… what are you going to do?” he inquired.
“What I always do. Keep working.”
“But Princess Celestia just said it was too dangerous!” Garble’s eyes widened and he quickened his pace to get in front of her. She kept walking and didn’t seem to hear him.
“Of course, I really need that book. I’ll have to sneak in and get it,” she mused, swinging her bedroom door open on her own.
“Wait, WHAT?! First it was going behind Celestia’s back, but now you’re planning on stealing books?”
“Not me. Us.”
“US?! I never agreed to this!”
“You’re my dragon partner. You’re supposed to help me!” she barked. Garble flinched. True, it was his duty to help Sunset Shimmer in any way he could, but he was pretty sure Celestia didn’t mean stealing when she said that.
Sunset continued on into the room, and flopped on her bed, wrinkling the sheets Garble had just fixed. “Let’s see… the spell books are at the back, so we’ll have to navigate through the whole library without the guards seeing us. I wonder if any of my textbooks mention a teleportation spell?”
“Teleporting? That’s for advanced students!”
“I am an advanced student.”
“You aren’t old enough or experienced enough to perform something like that. You’ll hurt yourself!”
“You sound just like her!” Sunset glared at him. He submissively looked away, not wishing to push the situation any further. Sunset snorted approval, and returned to her thoughts. “Well… I don’t see anything about teleporting… Wait! I’ve got it! One of the first things you were taught at this school was to send and receive letters, right?”
“The principal drilled that into my head while I was still living with her,” Garble confirmed.
“And Princess Celestia doesn’t have a dragon because she sends letters herself. If I can figure out how she does that, only I would have to go to the library. You can stay here and wait for me to send you the book, and then stash it for when I get back. Do you know how she does it?”
“I…” Garble did know, in fact. It was crucial that he understood how the pony received letters as well as how dragons did it to be able to send them properly. Normally, he was all for helping Sunset to learn new things, but maybe he ought to wait until she’d cooled down a bit. “N-no. Not a clue.” Sunset seemed to sense that this wasn’t true.
“Are you lying to me?” She jumped off the bed and pressed her nose to his.
“O-of course not!”
“Because I feel like you’re lying.”
“I’ve never lied to you!”
“True,” Sunset’s eyes narrowed even more. “So what changed? Why are you keeping secrets now?” Garble sighed. She just wasn’t going to let this go.
“This isn’t right, Sunset. I don’t want to help you steal anything. No, I won’t help you steal anything.” He folded his arms decisively.
“What?” Sunset seemed aghast at the idea that he would deny her. “But we’re friends. You’re supposed to look out for me!”
“I am, Sunset. I’m trying to keep you out of trouble. And safe.”
“You’re not my father! Keeping me ‘safe’ isn’t your job. Helping me is.”
“I am helping you, even if you don’t know it yet.” Sunset Shimmer tossed her mane and turned her back to him.
“Fine. I don’t need you. I’ll get the book myself.”
“Sunset?” She trotted out of the room, and Garble didn’t see any more of her that night. A feeling of dread welled up in his stomach.
Sunset had spent the rest of the evening in the school laboratory. She was Celestia’s personal student, but when she wasn’t with her mentor, Sunset also attended regular classes at Canterlot’s School for Gifted Unicorns. Her professors there often saw her lingering after school to access the lab or other materials, and didn’t question her now. Rather than conducting experiments, though, Sunset now mulled over the textbooks, desperately trying to find something that would prove useful in this quest for knowledge.
She read through the better part of three textbooks, and still turned up empty hooved. It wasn’t until Chapter 18 of the fourth book that she found something of interest. Chapter eighteen was all about light and prisms. One spell demonstrated in the examples described a unicorn cloaking a small object, like a paperclip or a pebble. Sunset thought she could amplify the spell to cloak herself. She was getting ready to practice when Mrs. Rune, one of her teachers stepped in.
“Somepony’s been busy. Sorry, Sunset, but it’s lights out. You best get back to your room so I can lock up.”
“Sure thing, Mrs. Rune.” Sunset took one last look over the page, trying to memorize every last detail. Mrs. Rune cleared her throat, cuing Sunset to replace the book and head out. The instructor nodded farewell and levitated a key ring from her pocket. Sunset tried not to run off too quickly, lest she raise suspicion, but hurried away nevertheless. Mrs. Rune didn’t seem to notice.
Sunset was almost off campus and home free. The library was just around the next bend. However, Mr. Horsewell, the magic theory teacher, was just rounding the corner. Sunset recognized him just in time and ducked inside the school supply shed. The janitor always left it open.
The library was the only facility out this way, and if he caught her sneaking off this late, he would surely report back to Princess Celestia. Heart pounding, Sunset dared to peer out of the darkness, but shrank instantly back as the unicorn’s dark coat obscured her vision. Luckily, he was just passing by, and gave no sign of having seen anything.
Sunset remained pressed against the wall well after Mr. Horsewell’s hoofsteps faded off into the distance. She couldn’t stop shaking. The weight of what she was about to do was finally catching up to her. She couldn’t keep sneaking around like this. It was killing her.
Maybe she didn’t have to. If she could perform the cloaking spell right here, she wouldn’t have to worry about being spotted. Sunset poked her head out, made sure nopony was nearby, and completely shut the door. Total blackness swallowed her, and she gulped. She didn’t want to risk anyone seeing the glow of her magic.
Sunset thought back to what the book said. Just as a prism could bend light, so light would have to bend around her. She was the prism. She was the prism. Light bends around me, she thought, eyes squeezed tightly closed. Only, there was no light in the pitch-black shed. Sunset would just have to imagine a light source. If the light was coming from, say, that top left corner of the room (Sunset ignited a small bulb of blue aura there to simulate), she would have to redirect the light bouncing off of her.
The book said to think of the light as water splashing off my coat. She took a deep breath. Water… water… feel the water… Sunset did feel something, but instead of the cool, wet texture of a fluid, she felt the warm, weightless kiss of the magical glow. Now it’s dripping off my coat, she convinced herself. Sunset couldn’t see it with her eyes shut, but the light began to shimmer and ripple around her, bending, twisting, twirling. It wrapped around her waist, spun about her legs, and washed through her hair. She glowed brightly for a moment before the light completely bent around her. The transformation was complete well before Sunset opened her eyes, but of course, the filly had no way of knowing that. She was quite startled, though, when she could no longer see her own hooves beneath her.
“Whoa!” She quite literally jumped, hopping a few times to make sure she could still feel her body although she could no longer see it. “Creepy,” she poked her arm to be sure it was there, “but effective.”
The full moon bathed the courtyard, yet Sunset tripped a couple of times coming out of the shed as she was no longer able to see where exactly she was placing her hooves. She was making such a racket clopping along the cobblestone path that she actually resorted to cutting through the soft grass, hoping no spectators could see the displaced blades she left in her wake. It was too dark for anypony to catch her, she reasoned, but the thought made her stomach knot regardless.
As always, two guards were standing watch by the library doors. Sunset tapped her chin. She’d have to distract them somehow. She could try the classic ‘throw-a-pebble’ trick, but she didn’t think they’d fall for that. Besides, the door would still be locked. If she could somehow get them to think something was going on inside the library, they just might open the door long enough for her to slip inside. Then she’d wait for them to leave, take the book, and get out.
Sunset crept past the hedge, and tiptoed along the concrete path leading to the doors. She had more or less gotten her new center of balance under control, and didn’t make a sound. Next, she shimmied up to the wall, where a window peered into the library on the other side. She strained to look around for a way to draw them in. Perhaps if she knocked something over…
Sunset wasn’t sure if the cloaking spell would also conceal the glow of her aura, and so she was hesitant to try anything. But she couldn’t just stand here and wait for the guard to hear her heart pounding, either. She wrapped her hooves around her horn just in case, though it wouldn’t really do anything. Taking a leap of faith, she accessed her aura, felt around the inside of the library, gripped one of the small benches lined up against the wall, and flung it forward. The bench clattered on the ground so loudly the entire courtyard seemed to shake.
The noise definitely attracted the attention of the drowsy guards outside. They stood to attention at once, and then looked to each other. “Open it,” the white coated pegasus sentry said to the gray unicorn guard with the key ring. He nodded in agreement, removed the keys and inserted them into the lock. Sunset tensed. This was it. The door swung open with a loud creak, and the soldiers stepped inside, waving flashlights about. Sunset was right on their heels.
“The bench is displaced,” the unicorn reported.
“It doesn’t look broken. It couldn’t have just fallen over,” the pegasus reasoned. “Let’s take a look around.” His companion nodded, and the two dispersed through the library. Sunset probably could have started off for the spell book section, but her heart was already racing, and she wasn’t taking any chances. She scuttled under one of the remaining upright benches until they left.
It felt like Sunset remained hunkered down for an eternity. Not only was she beginning to feel stiff from crouching so long, but she was beginning to feel extremely weak. It must have been the strain of the spell, she realized. But she couldn’t stop now; the guards may still spot her yet. She had to wait until they were gone. It felt like hours before they finally regrouped.
“There’s nothing here,” the pegasus reported.
“Just some animal, perhaps,” the unicorn agreed. Sunset wasn’t sure what kind of animal would be found on the palace grounds at all, let alone one capable of flinging a bench across the room, but she was just grateful the stallions were giving up the search. Abandoning their investigation, both guards returned to their post outside. Sunset released her hold on the magic, covering her mouth to stifle a loud groan. Her entire body ached. She felt dizzy and disoriented, and even her vision was unclear, flickering in and out of focus.
“That’s what Celestia was warning me about,” she gasped, stumbling forward. Not that she’d ever admit that to her teacher. Sunset was far too proud for that nonsense. She shook her head to try and clear it, but it only made her dizzier. She grunted again. She was almost there. Just get the book, and get out.
So Sunset stumbled on, a little more loudly than she intended, but no more guards bothered her. She navigated to the back, sifted through the P’s, Q’s, and R’s until she found the S’s, and then located the Starswirl collections. “Number four, number five… aha! The Starswirl Spellbook: Volume VI. It’s here!” Sunset tugged the book from the shelf.
“Sunset?” The filly whirled around, then almost melted in relief.
“Garble, it’s only you. Quick, help me get this book back upstairs.”
“Please, think about what you’re doing, Sunset. This is wrong. This isn’t you.”
“This is me! That’s exactly why I’m doing this! I’m ready to move on, I know it, even if Celestia doesn’t think so.”
“Sunset, listen to me, please. You could get hurt if you do this. Let’s just go back to our room and forget about this- all of this.”
“I can’t do that, Garble.” The dragon seemed to wilt.
“Then you leave me no choice, Sunset Shimmer.”
“P-P-Princess Celestia?!” Sunset froze, petrified as Celestia herself stepped out of the shadows. Her mentor’s expression was stern. This wouldn’t end well for Sunset. “Y-you sold me out?!” Sunset lashed out at Garble, who shrank back farther.
“Garble did the right thing in coming to me. This is for your own safety, Sunset. Garble was trying to protect you.”
“You… you TRAITOR!” Tears streaked down the filly’s face. Garble stumbled backwards, her outburst stinging his scales as though he had literally been struck. “Good-for-nothing, useless dragon! I never should have trusted you!” she screamed.
“Sunset… I-” Garble was the one crying now.
“Don’t even talk to me! We’re not friends. We’ll NEVER be friends!”
“SUNSET! THAT IS ENOUGH!” The Princess’s commanding, authoritative voice silenced the outraged filly. “Sunset Shimmer, you disobeyed me. Even after clear instruction to abandon this research, you not only broke into the library but also attempted to steal. I hereby suspend you from this School for Gifted Unicorns for two weeks. That should be time enough to reflect on what you’ve done.”
“S-suspended?” Sunset spat, unable to believe her ears. “Two weeks?!”
“After that period, we will speak again, and see if you are ready to continue in the program.” Celestia’s voice remained firm and unyielding. There was no way to talk her out of this. Sunset didn’t know what to do. And, as always in these kind of situations, she resorted to yelling at Garble.
“THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT, YOU FILTHY, UNGRATEFUL BEAST!”
“Sunset, I-”
“SUNSET! Garble is not the one at fault. It was you who disobeyed my direct orders. You yourself are to blame.”
“I… I hate you.”
“What?” This was too much for Garble. “Sunset, I’m sorry! Please, just-”
“I HATE YOU!” She turned and bolted out of the library. Celestia looked coolly after her.
“You did the right thing,” she assured the dragon.
“Then why does it hurt so much?” he wept. Celestia softened in regards to him.
“She will come around, Garble. She didn’t mean what she said; she just needs time to think. Go now, get some rest. Perhaps she will feel more herself by morning.” So Celestia herself left for bed, and Garble eventually shambled back up to the chamber he and Sunset shared. He tucked himself into bed, but left the light on to wait for his partner. She never showed.
Nor did she turn up the next day. At that point, even the Princess was becoming worried about her. No one had seen heads or tails of the filly since that night, but no one had seen her leave the palace grounds. So she couldn’t have left… right?
Celestia had guards crawling all over Canterlot in search of Sunset Shimmer. She also came into contact with Sunset’s parents, wondering if she had returned home or if they had any idea as to the whereabouts of their daughter. The distressed parents had no clue. Garble, meanwhile, took it upon himself to personally investigate all of their favorite places. She couldn’t be found at any of them.
After three days, the cozy bedroom they shared seemed to swallow Garble up. It was too lonely, too quiet. He longed for her to come back and start ordering him around again.
“Garble? Oh, good, you’re in. Sunset has a couple of overdue books. Would you be a dear and collect them for me?” Garble recognized the voice of Worn Page before he noticed the librarian standing in the doorway. Well, it wasn’t Sunset, but at least the task might help distract him.
“Sure, Ms. Page.” Garble slid off the bed and headed to Sunset’s desk, where most of the books were already laid out. “Can you just renew them? I don’t know if Sunset is finished with these.”
“Of course, Garble.” Worn Page trotted over and started checking off each title in her list.
“Let’s see… Plant Growth Spells for Beginners, Starswirl’s Magic Theory, Unicorn Anatomy…”
“She’s got a few more in the corner,” Garble informed, already heading to the secondary shelf. Ms. Page absentmindedly nodded, still going over her checklist. Garble quickly collected and hauled over another heap of volumes. It took the experienced librarian no time to check those off her list as well.
“That should be it. Thank you, Garble,” she nodded, returning the checklist to her saddlebags.
“What about this one?” Garble offered a book the librarian had looked over. Ms. Page adjusted her glasses, took the book in a soft yellow aura, and looked it over.
“P-Portals and Gateways?!” she gasped. “Garble, where did you get this? This book has been missing for months!” Garble winced.
“I’m really sorry, Ms. Page. The… incident… the other day was the first time I’d heard of Sunset trying to steal books. I never thought she might have done it before.” Ms. Page wasn’t listening. She was busy flipping to the bookmarked pages.
“Oh, oh!” The elder mare looked about ready to faint.
“Ms. Page! Are you alright?”
“I must see the Princess at once!” She rushed off, moving exceptionally quickly for a pony of her age.
Garble was too stunned to breathe. What had just happened? Slowly, his mind began to process the previous events. The librarian recovered a book she had believed to be missing in Sunset’s room. Upon flipping through the book, she found an article that got her incredibly worked up. What could she have possibly seen? Garble’s stomach churned. Portals and Gateways. That was what the book was called. Portals.
“Sunset!” Now deeply afraid for his friend, Garble ran off after the librarian.
He’d lost sight of Worn Page, but Garble remembered her saying that she needed to see the princess. If he found Celestia, he would find her. He thought to try the princess’s chambers first, but when royal guardsponies began swarming to the throne room, he decided there was a good chance she would be there.
The guards entered single-file into a room at the rear of the throne room Garble had never had reason to enter before. Princess Celestia was intently listening to Worn Page. No one appeared to notice Garble, so they did not deny him entry.
“Princess?” he nervously piped up. A couple guards jumped and instantly blocked his passage with the butt ends of their spears. Worn Page instantly stopped babbling. “W-what’s going on? Is it Sunset? Is she okay?”
“Let him through,” Celestia ordered the guards. Obediently, they removed the spears and stepped aside. Celestia then took Garble under her wing and walked him up to a strange mirror in the corner. “We believe we have located Sunset,” she sighed. “Worn Page?”
“Sunset appeared particularly interested in this portal,” the librarian pointed to an image on the page. It was a perfect rendering of the mirror before him. “The portal only opens once every thirty moons. The night she vanished happened to be the day the portal was activated.”
“You’re saying she went through?!”
“It would appear so.”
“Can’t we go after her?”
“The portal will remain open for three days after it is opened,” Ms. Page read.
“Today is the third day she’s been gone!”
“Sunset will have known this. If she has any sense at all, she will remain near the portal so she can come home before it is closed. I only hope that she comes back in time.”
“Can’t you send anyone after her?”
“I am afraid that if I do, it may chase her farther away. It is best that she comes back of her own free will.
“Can’t I do anything? I want to help!”
“I’m afraid there is nothing left for any of us to do, Garble, except wait.” And that they did. The wait was antagonizing, and every tick of the clock hands seemed to taunt them. Hours passed, and there was still no sign of Sunset. Time stood still in the throne room. The only reason Garble knew time wasn’t frozen altogether was the occasional advisor or messenger who requested a brief audience with the princess. Though Celestia was in and out of the room, Garble never budged. His eyes remained glued to the mirror, pleading, begging for any sign of his best friend. The clock struck eleven, yet the filly remained missing.
“She’s running out of time, Princess,” one of the grizzly, elder guards reminded Celestia. “Are you sure you don’t want a couple of us to pop through?”
“Yes, Aegis, but thank you. She must come home herself.”
“What if she doesn’t?” Garble fretted. Celestia solemnly shut her eyes, as if this weighed on her mind as well.
“She will,” the alicorn assured him, looking back to the portal.
“Please, princess. At least let me go through. I’ll stay in sight of the portal, I promise. But if Sunset’s on the other side… I just need to talk to her.” Celestia considered this, and looked to the clock. They only had five minutes left. It was now or never.
“Very well, Garble, but on one condition. I want your tail to remain on this side of the portal so I know you’re still there. And if Sunset does not appear, you are still to come back before the portal closes. Do I make myself clear?”
“Crystal.”
“Very well. You have five minutes.” Garble wasn’t about to waste any more precious time. As soon as he got her okay, he bolted for the mirror and dove through headfirst.
The sensation he felt after entering the mirror was quite beyond words. His stomach twisted in pain as much as nausea, and his limbs felt as though they had been turned to rubber. His wings were shoved quite painfully back into his body, their membranes withering and possibly crumbling. His scales suddenly became very itchy, and something was different about his tail that threw off his whole center of gravity. Not that he could tell up from down anyway. Garble was tumbling through a void, his only sense of direction being that of which drew him in.
The trip took an eternity, yet no time at all. While Garble was trying to figure out how that made any sense, the portal unceremoniously dumped him on a patch of rough pavement. He skittered across the coarse surface for a couple of feet, and only after he had come to a complete stop did he even attempt to get up. He kept losing his balance, and fell back to the ground after several tries.
I guess it would help if I opened my eyes, he sheepishly realized, daring to peek an eyelid open. He was looking up at a starry sky, the moon almost directly overhead, just reminding him of how little time he had. He again attempted to stand, but halted not because he lost his balance, but because the appendage he noticed below him did not belong to him, yet it responded to his movements.
It was a scrawny little leg, covered in red fur and ending in a paw where his claws should have been. No wonder his scales were itchy. His muzzle protruded out a little longer in front of him, the tip of which felt far too cool and moist. If he turned around, he would find that his wings were missing, and his long, grabby, scale-covered tail had been reduced to a furry stump.
I’m… a dog? He spun a few circles to further check his appearance, and indeed, it appeared that the journey had caused him to change species altogether. Realizing how foolish he must look chasing his tail, he quickly sat back down. Tail! That led him to recall Celestia’s order to keep his tail on the other side to determine his position. He scooted closer to the portal, or what he assumed to be the portal- the only thing in the area was a large statue of a rearing horse, standing on a giant cement block.
He had stopped scooting at the base of the statue after confirming that it was indeed the portal. From there, he craned his neck and looked around. He was in a wide clearing, but his view was still limited. Behind him was an enormous structure, and in front was a horseshoe-shaped sign with a couple of shrubs on either side. Sunset had had three days to travel. Unless Celestia was right and she had stayed near the portal to return before it closed, she could be anywhere by now. His heart began racing as the moon rose higher with no sign of Sunset. He had about another two minutes. Please, Sunset! Where are you?
Garble’s ears weren’t as sharp as they used to be as a dragon, but he still picked up movement in one of the shrubs by the sign. “Sunset?” he hopefully strained, tail starting to wag.
“Garble?!” The form finally emerged from the bush, and Garble almost fell back into Equestria out of sheer surprise. The voice belonged to Sunset, and this creature vaguely resembled his unicorn friend, but… could that really be her?
The creature was tall and two-legged, with a long curtain of red and yellow striped hair. Her hooves had translated to something between dragon claws and paws, not sharp enough to be called talons but the digits too long and slender for paws. She wore strange clothing; an orange, pink and yellow skirt; a pink t-shirt with Sunset’s cutie mark on it; a black, studded leather jacket, and knee-high boots with pink embellishments. The fearful blue eyes were what finally confirmed her identity.
“Thank Celestia! Where’ve you been? Everyone’s worried about you!”
“I bet they are,” she clenched those… whatever you called them… into fists as Garble did when he was angry.
“No, really, Sunset. Everyone’s panicking! Your parents are worried sick. Celestia’s had guards combing Canterlot. The other students are asking about you, too. Come back and see for yourself.”
“I’m not coming back.”
“W-what?” It had been quite a change for Garble to go from a cold-blooded reptile to a warm-blooded mammal, but his blood seemed to refreeze when the words spilled from her mouth. She couldn’t possibly be serious? “What are you talking about? Of course you’re coming back!”
“So Celestia can keep telling me what I can and can’t do?”
“She’s just trying to look out for you. We all are!”
“Big words coming from a traitor like you.”
“I was trying to protect you!” A growl rose from the dog’s throat. Sunset froze, apparently shocked that he would dare show such aggression. Once she recovered, though, she appeared angrier than he’d ever seen her.
“I don’t need protecting from a scrappy mutt like you! You were the spare; the standby dragon no one wanted until I came along. I took you in, and what thanks do I get? You turned right around and tattled to Celestia!”
“THAT’S NOT WHAT HAPPENED!” They were running out of time, and he was getting so sick of Sunset’s arrogant pride. “You didn’t ‘take me in’. You didn’t get any say in the matter! We were paired after your first dragon was taken, and I’ve been stuck with you since!”
“You stuck with me?!”
“Who cleans up after you? Who runs back and forth to the library day in and day out and helps you study? Who brings you food when you’re too busy to even think about dinner? On top of it all, I have to not only put up with, but share a room with the most stubborn, arrogant filly in Equestria!”
“And what about me? I have to suffer through your snoring every night. I end up reorganizing my desk EVERY DAY because you can’t do your job properly. Not to mention the sarcasm. And don’t even get me started on your whining!”
“Never once did I EVER complain!”
“Really? ‘Oh, poor me, no one likes me, the whole world should pity me!’ Ring any bells?”
“That is NOT what I said.”
“Why don’t you just run back to Equestria and find somepony who actually likes you?”
“You have to come back with me. Sunset, we’re running out of time!” The moon was nearly at its peak.
“I already told you, I’m not going back.”
“Please, Sunset! I… I need you to come back!” Even as angry as he was, the realization that he had no place at the palace without her forced Garble to bite his tongue until she was safely back in Equestria.
“Yeah, you do need me, don’t you?” Sunset smirked upon realizing what power she held over him now. She tried to think of a way she could use it, maybe get him to stay with her here in this new world. She hated to admit it, but she actually would miss him. But looking up at the rising moon, she decided to drop the idea. Somewhere deep down, she still cared for him. She wouldn’t condemn him to live out his days in a world without magic or dragons. So, she shrugged instead. “Too bad. Guess you’ll have to make do without me.”
“Sunset! What am I supposed to do without you? Go back to live with the principal?”
“Why don’t you try your own kind? Find a dragon flock or something? Ha, wouldn’t that be a sight? Domesticated Garble trying to fit in with real, wild dragons.”
“Domestic?” What was it with her and the name calling lately? Garble glanced up at the moon beginning to shimmer. “Okay, time’s up.” He abandoned his promise to Celestia, lunging for Sunset’s boot. He planned to drag her back by force, but he forgot how much larger she was than him at the moment. Sunset too realized that the portal was about to close, and tried to pry the puppy from her leg. Garble had to go back, but her place was here. The dog wouldn’t budge. The portal was also starting to shimmer. If she didn’t get him through, they’d both be stuck here. So, she did the only thing she could think of.
Her leg shot out from under her in a powerful kick so forceful that she knocked herself down. Garble yelped, having been flung from the shoe and now soaring through the air. The last thing he saw was Sunset Shimmer coolly watching as he was cast back into Equestria.
The hatchling tumbled over the hard marble floor of the throne room, and the guards had to jump back before he knocked them over. Celestia instantly appeared beside him.
“Sunset?” she hopefully asked. Garble sniffled, and shook his head without looking at the princess, lest she see him cry. One of the guards tentatively tapped the face of the mirror.
“The portal has closed, your highness!” Her whole disposition fell. She didn’t even appear to have the strength to express thanks.
“Dismissed.”
No one had discussed what was to be done with Garble, but no one disturbed the hatchling, either. He simply remained in their- his- bedroom, waiting for the verdict as to what he would do now. After two more days of lounging around with nothing to do, Garble assumed he had been all but forgotten. No one had seen hide or hair of Celestia, either. He assumed she was mourning. Garble had tried that, before he became too angry with Sunset.
How could she just abandon him like that? And then watch with no emotion whatsoever as she cast her best and only friend away? Watching the scene play out in his mind over and over filled Garble with uncontrollable rage. And the names she called him… scrappy mutt? The spare? The reject? How dare she? Garble was no different than any of the others. Why, he was just as good as any other student’s companion. No, he was better!
“I don’t need you,” he seethed, glaring at the sky through the balcony window. “I don’t need anyone.” Whining, snoring dragon indeed! Well… he couldn’t exactly deny the snoring bit, but he most certainly never whined. And domestic… Garble would have to think about that one.
Sure, he had been raised around ponies most of his life, but he wasn’t domestic. Was he? No, of course not. He was just as good as any dragon around here, and he’d wager that he was as good as any wild dragon too.
Hey, why not put that to the test? Hadn’t Sunset challenged him to do as much? She didn’t think he’d last a day in a real flock. Well, he’d just have to prove her wrong.
Garble looked back at his developing wings. He hadn’t actually learned to fly with them yet, and the Dragon Craters were an awfully long trek by claw. No, I’ll just have to figure out this flying thing, he decided. He knew a little bit about aero dynamics and wind currents from the small passages he’d caught from Sunset’s books. It couldn’t be too hard, right?
Garble never imagined how difficult it really was. After a while of fruitlessly running around the room in circles, flapping his wings, the dragon gave up, and paused to rest. Must be the still air in the room, he decided. Yeah, that’s it. Still air is hard to work with. I need a breeze.
Garble’s gaze was again drawn to the balcony and the fresh air outside. That would work. He didn’t exactly feel like making a fool of himself out in the courtyards, though. Well… he could always jump from here.
Some extra altitude ought to make it a little easier, Garble nervously thought to himself, scratching the back of his neck as he stood on the balcony railing. Once he glanced down at the dizzying height, though, he reconsidered. Maybe this wasn’t such a good ideaaaAAAAAH!
He’d lost his balance somewhere along the line, and was now spinning for the ground. He shut his eyes and spread his wings, and before he knew it, he was soaring easily above the palace grounds.
“Oh… I knew I could do it!” Garble proudly boasted to himself. Now he just had to find the Dragon Craters. If he remembered correctly from the palace maps, they should be… that way. Garble’s wings carried him away from the palace, the ponies, and his old life. That was all behind him. He was a wild dragon now.
- - - 10 Years Later - - -
“Not so fast, halfwit!”
“Who are you calling a halfwit, blockhead?” Garble halfheartedly watched the wrestling match as the rest of his friends enthusiastically cheered on Clump and Fizzle, each attempting to pin each other to the ground. He always won the wrestling matches, so he just waited for this round to finish so he could take on the winner in a final champion match. He wasn’t too worried about it; Garble was undefeated.
It had been ten years since Garble had joined the Dragon Flock. He quickly learned that to earn respect around here, you had to be the best. And not the book-sorting, room-cleaning kind of best. In the Dragon Craters, you had to be the roughest, toughest, meanest dragon out there to earn any respect. Garble’s growing hatred for Sunset and the rest of her kind provided him with a means to channel his inner strength, and he quickly rose to the top of the food chain. Before long, Garble was even leading his own pack of other dragons his age. Clump, Fizzle, Vex, Pierce, and Soot all respected him and did as he asked. Only now that he had a gang of his own was Garble finally beginning to understand why Sunset had craved power. It was nice, making the decisions and bossing others around.
It looked like Clump was going to win this round. It wasn’t surprising; the dragon was much bulkier than their other friends, so it was easy for him to (quite literally) crush the competition. Everyone cheered as Clump stood victor, and Garble stood up from where he leaned against the treasure hoard. This wouldn’t take long.
Garble was just falling into his fighting stance when a strange tickling sensation welled up in the pit of his stomach. It felt almost as though he was preparing to breathe fire, but the teen had not intended to spit flame. As it rose up his throat, Garble’s eyes went wide. He recognized the all-too-familiar tickle of magic embedded within this flame. It was just like they had taught him at the School for Gifted Unicorns. But who could possibly be sending him a message? He hadn’t received a letter for years! He didn’t even think his friends knew he was capable of transmitting messages.
“Uh, Garble? You okay?” His friends looked at him with concern as he stumbled forward, clutching his stomach. Garble held up a claw to shoo them away, keeping his mouth covered with the other.
“Bad gems, maybe?” Fizzle suggested. Garble shook his head before taking off. He wasn’t about to let his friends know that he had once been affiliated with the namby-pamby pony princess. Who else could possibly be sending the letter?
Garble finally released the belch when he was on the outskirts of the craters, well out of sight of any onlookers. The letter was not, in fact, from the princess. In fact, upon reading it, Garble was utterly confused.
Dear Garble,
I know I'm probably the last person- pony?- you want to hear from, but when I heard that you knew Princess Twilight's assistant Spike and he just might be able to get a message through... well... I just had to try.
I hear you wound up in the Dragon Craters after all. I hope you like it there. I'll bet you have more friends than we ever did in Canterlot palace, huh? It had to have been easier for you than me. Let's just say I had to learn the true value of friendship the hard way.
Speaking of which, Garble, I need you to know what a great friend you were to me. My best friend. I hope you know that I never meant those things I said to you that night. I was angry and scared, and you were there when I needed you. If only I hadn't pushed you away...
I miss you, Garble, I really do. I abandoned you, I know, and it was the worst mistake of my life. I'm not asking for your forgiveness. Hay, I don't know what I'm even writing this for. I guess to let you know that I'm sorry, that it was all my fault, and that you really were the best friend any young filly could ever hope for. Thank you for everything.
Sincerely,
Sunset Shimmer
His heart pounded. Sunset? After all these years, she finally decided now would be a good time to get in touch? Well, she did actually say that she’d just found out he and Spike had been acquainted. That pony-loving, purple scaled whelp must’ve sent her letter. Garble knew that if you could picture the recipient in your mind and they were capable of channeling the magic, you could send letters to just about anyone.
Garble’s claw fiddled with the edge of the paper. He actually wasn’t quite sure how to take it. Half of him wanted to stash the letter away in with the rest of his treasure hoard for safekeeping. The other half wanted to wad it up in a ball and burn it. He did nothing for a while. He just leaned against a boulder and stared at the scroll, trying to make up his mind.
“I meant what I said.” Garble froze. He didn’t need to look up to identify that voice. He whipped around to where Sunset was sheepishly standing. Here, she had returned to her pony form, but not quite as Garble remembered her. The filly had grown up. Sunset’s bright coat still held that glossy, well-groomed look, and her mane had filled out nicely. Her blue eyes no longer appeared capable of blazing through ponies in an angry rage. In fact, everything about her screamed guilt; her shifty, uneven stance, her dropping ears… Garble thought he even picked up a bit of fear-scent radiating from the grown mare.
Just seeing her again brought back memories, and happy ones at that. But before Garble could get too excited, the memory of that last night started to play over and over in his head. She’d called him names. She betrayed their friendship. She kicked him! Garble’s face contorted into a scowl, and he crumpled up her letter and tossed it into a nearby lava pool. Sunset watched him do so with unreadable emotion. Was that fear? Pain? Or just simply indifference? He knew her to be good at the last one.
“What are you doing here? This is no place for ponies.” He said the word with such distain that Sunset squirmed uncomfortably.
“I was going to leave it at the letter,” she confessed. “But I sent it through a magic journal that allows me to keep in touch with Princess Twilight through the portal. She ended up reading it, and urged me to pay you a visit herself. So… here I am.”
“Yeah, now get out before I decide to shred you.”
“But Garble, I-”
“You never cared! I learned to do the same. So why start now? Get out of here, Sunset. You had your chance and you blew it.”
“I know I did. That’s why I’m here. To make things right!”
“YOU CAN NEVER MAKE THINGS RIGHT!” Garble snarled viciously, and before he knew what he was doing, Sunset was pinned underneath him. That was definitely fear reflecting in her blue eyes now. Garble raised his claw to strike before he noticed his own reflection in her wide, wet orbs. That stopped him from striking her physically, but emotionally, he wasn’t letting her off so easy.
“Do you have any idea what that did to me, Sunset? To lose my only friend that night? I didn’t just lose her; I was abandoned and left to fend for myself like some stray puppy. And no one cared to adopt that puppy, either. I had to find my own way, to learn to take care of myself. That’s something you can never undo. You hear me? You did this to me!” Tears dripped from the corner of Sunset’s eyes before she closed them, accepting the reality of his words. At least she’d gotten the message. Garble finally shoved off of her. “Now run back to your precious portal. I never want to see you again.” Sunset shakily stood up, and wiped her eyes.
“Okay.” She wasted no more time, and fled. Garble expected to watch her go, but with a surge of magic, she vanished in a teleportation bubble.
“Good riddance,” he snorted, turning to leave.
“Uh, Garble?” Scales! How long had his friends been watching him? Clump, Fizzle, Vex, Pierce, and Soot’s faces all told them that they’d seen enough. Garble decided to play it cool.
“Ponies, right? So pathetic.” He gestured out to the open space where Sunset once stood.
“Sure, but-”
“Come on, don’t we have a wrestling match to finish?” Garble’s glare told them that he’d be more than happy to take them all on if they didn’t drop the subject.
“Right.”
That was the last she ever saw of her old friend. Sunset went home, just as Garble wanted. She respected his wishes and stayed on her side of the portal. She still missed her former assistant terribly, but learned to be content with the human friends she still had. That didn’t mean she wasn’t lonely at times, and that was usually by choice. Her friends often tried to comfort her, although they weren’t quite sure what exactly was the matter. Sunset never tried to explain herself, and while she appreciated their company, preferred to be alone at times like that. They just wouldn’t understand.
It was turning into another one of those lonely nights for Sunset. The stars glinted down at her with a cold light, and a thin layer of frost was forming on the window. Regardless of the winter chill, Sunset needed to go for a walk. It was the only way she ever seemed to be able to clear her head in such instances. So, she grabbed her heavy coat and started down the block.
Only the song of the crickets accompanied her on this journey, and that was fine with her. She learned to tune out the white noise anyway. She had gotten so good at ignoring it, in fact, that she almost didn’t notice when the cricket chorus hushed altogether. Their symphony was replaced with a ferocious growl, evidently belonging to the fearsome monster that had chased them off. Only when that snarl echoed through the alley did Sunset realize something was wrong. Her blood ran cold as the rumble rattled her bones, and she slowly pivoted to face the beast crouched in the alley.
It was enormous! Well, at least its shadow was. The giant shape playing along the back wall caused Sunset’s mind to race. What could it possibly belong to? A manticore? A chimera? A timberwolf? No, wait, that was a dog.
She finally located the small puppy growling and snarling at a bone wedged underneath a garbage heap, failing to tug it free. The dog was actually quite adorable, his red fur dappled with pink spots, and a tuft of bright ginger fur sticking up from his head. He wore a frayed, almost disintegrated filthy yellow collar, the name tag of which had long since fallen off. Sunset didn’t need it.
“Garble?” she hopefully called. The puppy abandoned the bone and sat upright, considering the girl who dared interrupt him. Sunset sank down to her knees. “Is that you?” The dog sounded a joyful yip and bounded into her arms, tail wagging violently as he strained to lick her face. Sunset pushed him down. Well, this certainly wasn’t her dragon assistant. It must be his parallel universe self.
Sunset noticed how scrawny and unkempt this fellow looked. His ribs were showing, and where his fur wasn’t matted and tangled, it was missing entirely. Abandoned and neglected here, too, she wistfully thought.
No. Not this time. She let Garble go once, and lost him altogether. But not this time. Maybe fate was trying to give her another chance.
“No matter what world we’re in, you’re still a scrappy little mutt,” she choked, half crying, half laughing. Sunset wasn’t even sure if she was happy or sad, or just flat out hurt. Maybe all three. “But you’re my scrappy mutt. I’m so sorry, Garble. I’ll take care of you right this time, I promise. I’m never letting you go again.”
Garble wagged his tail. For the first time since leaving Equestria, Sunset felt whole. This little pup could never replace her dragon friend, but at least she wouldn’t have to be alone any more. And even though this wasn’t exactly her Garble, this little pupper dog seemed to fill in some piece of her that her last assistant had torn open. The feeling seemed to be mutual, as the dog danced around her legs.
Silhouetted by a hazy, flickering streetlight, two scrappy little mutts headed home.
