It’s been three days after our wedding. Sunset Shimmer and I have been very happy together. We’ve been able to keep a good, tidy home and support each other. Sunset mastered the morphing spell quickly, and she showed me a form she particularly liked. I was sitting on my couch, fixing up a fire, when Sunset came up to me.
“Hey, Braveheart,” she said.
“Hey hon’,” I smiled.
“I want to show you something,” Sunset told me.
“OK,” I agreed. I tossed a piece of paper into the fire and sat back down. Sunset cast the spell, and the green fire engulfed her. It almost immediately dissipated, and I saw a changed Sunset. For one, she looked like a torn and broken machine, almost like a Terminator. Her eyes had inverted to black, with a white, blurred pupil. Her teeth were jagged, and her coat and mane looked burnt and rotten, tearing in some places, revealing an endoskeleton. Red and blue wires poked out from the holes, making it seem like Sunset was a machine that had been rotting away for years.
“What do you think?” Sunset asked, with a deep, metallic echo in her voice.
“I’m not sure whether I should be amazed, or scared,” I said. “Because it looks like you’re about to kill me.” Sunset rolled her eyes and gave a smile. She morphed back, and I relaxed.
“Where’d you come up with that?” I asked.
“It was an old image I thought of myself being back in the human world,” Sunset explained.
“Well, it’s terrifying,” I stated. “You looked like a rotting animatronic.”
“I know,” Sunset grinned. She looked out the window. It was getting dark out.
“Tired?” I asked.
“No,” Sunset said. “I just need a drink. Do you have cider?”
“No, I don’t,” I said. “Sorry. However, I do know a place that has pretty decent cider. Can you hold your liquor?” Sunset gave me a smile, and her eyes narrowed a bit. I smiled back. We stood up and walked out the door, locking it behind us.
“So where is this place?” Sunset asked.
“I’ll be able to find it if I can find the Canterlot hotel,” I said. After looking around for a moment, I spotted the Canterlot hotel nearby. I directed Sunset through Canterlot, until we reached our destination. It was the same bar that the Terminator attacked me in.
“This place?” Sunset asked.
“Yep,” I nodded. “Tech Noir. It’s a dance club and a bar. Good cider, but not as good as Applejack’s during cider season. Holy shit, that stuff’s good.”
“Can you hold your liquor?” Sunset mumbled.
“Yes,” I said, hearing her. “Quite well.” We walked inside the bar. The clerk stopped us at the door.
“5 bits,” she said. “Each.” I rolled my eyes and pulled out the 10 bit fee. We walked inside and sat down at the bar table. The bartender came over.
“What’ll it be?” he asked. Sunset took a moment to look around at the different drinks. “I haven’t got all bloody day,” the bartender impatiently said.
“Apple cider,” Sunset said.
“And you?” the bartender asked me.
“Apple cider and whiskey mix,” I said. Sunset gave me a look. I shrugged at her. The bartender brought over our drinks, and I paid him the bit price. Sunset and I took a sip of our drinks before getting into conversation.
“I noticed the cloth over the big window,” Sunset pointed out. “Did something happen?”
“Yeah,” I said. “Pip shot the Terminator through that window with a shotgun.”
“Wait,” Sunset stopped me. “This is the bar the Terminator first attacked you in?” I nodded.
“It first pointed a pistol with a laser pointer on it at my head,” I explained. “Then Pip shot it a few times, allowing me a bit of time to escape. The Terminator then pulled out an Uzi, and shot a patron behind me, pinning me under the body.”
“How in Celestia’s name did you ever make it out?” Sunset asked.
“Pip saved me at the last possible moment,” I said. “Six shotgun blasts, point blank mind you, straight at the Terminator. All the shots did were launch the Terminator out the window. As I ran off with Pip, I looked back to see the Terminator get right back up, unfazed.”
“Damn,” Sunset winced. She took another sip of her cider. I had finished my whiskey/cider mix, and I held my head for a second, because my head had started to spin. I had lied about being able to hold my liquor. I had only gotten cider here, not a cider/whiskey mix. I came to my senses and sat up.
“Did anything else happen in the human world before I came there?” I asked Sunset.
“One other thing,” Sunset said. “We had the annual Friendship Games against Crystal Prep. The human Twilight nearly destroyed the world trying to understand magic.”
“Jeez,” I said.
“I was the one who stopped her, offered her a chance at friendship,” Sunset explained.
“Come to think of it,” I recalled. “I did see a tear in the Everfree Forest a few years ago. The tear was purple, and one of the Everfree’s giant flesh-eating plants went through it.”
“That was during the archery, rollerblade, and motocross event,” Sunset said. “Twilight stole a bit of Applejack’s magic, and the tears opened. I took a tumble on my bike just to save one of the Crystal Prep students.” I put a hoof to my forehead, wondering how much worse it was in the human world during the tears. Sunset finished off her drink, then stood up.
“I’m ready to head home,” she said.
“Yeah, me too,” I agreed. I left a tip for the bartender and left the bar. As we walked through the Canterlot night, I felt an odd presence nearby. I stopped and turned around. I saw a purple pony in a security guard outfit was slowly approaching me, knife in his mouth. When he noticed I was looking at him, he turned and ran off.
“Excuse me for a moment,” I said to Sunset before running off. I chased the purple pony through Canterlot. He seemed to be extremely agile and knowing the shadows and where to hide. I eventually lost him in a small alley. I spread my wings and bolted into the sky. I spotted Sunset Shimmer below, and the purple pony attack her. I blasted down with my golden rainboom, and the purple pony looked up. He avoided my initial attack, but I tackled him anyway. He stabbed his knife into my mechanical leg, jamming the hydraulics. I hit the ground, dislodging the knife. It flew through the air, and the purple pony caught it and ran off.
“THAT’S RIGHT!!!” I yelled back. “YOU BETTER RUN!!!” I turned to Sunset and ran over. “Are you all right?” I asked.
“I’m fine,” Sunset nodded. “You literally made it just in time. He had the blade right up to my throat.”
“I’m only glad that you’re OK,” I said, helping Sunset up. “We should hurry home before somepony else tries to jump us.” Sunset nodded as I took her hoof. I charged up a teleportation spell, teleporting us back home. We slid the blinds shut and locked all the windows. I spawned in metal plates and attached them to the windows and doors.
“Just as a precaution,” I said to Sunset. We shut off the lights and climbed into bed, but I couldn’t sleep. Around midnight, I heard Sunset whisper to me.
“You awake?” she asked.
“Mhm,” I replied.
“Thinking about that purple pony?” Sunset guessed.
“Yeah,” I nodded. I lit up my horn to give us some light. Sunset was rolled toward me, and I was rolled toward her.
“Who do you think he was?” Sunset wondered.
“I don’t know,” I said. “But now I don’t feel safe on the ground. Sure, I’ve had my fair share of close and fatal encounters, but that pony was really elusive. I nearly lost him three times before I had to fly up to find you. And then I nearly had a heart attack when I saw him attack you.” At this point, I was in tears. Sunset kissed me and wiped the tears from my eyes. I smiled at her, and she smiled back at me. I dissipated the light spell, and I could hear Sunset breathing in sleep. But I started thinking about the purple pony again. Questions started forming in my mind. Who was the purple pony? Why did he try and attack me and Sunset? What were his intentions? These questions circled through my head as I fell asleep.
