Not all of the dogs in the Canterlot Animal Shelter liked going for walks in cold weather. And with the met office calling for the first snowfall of the season that night, not every dog was happy to be going out for walks with Sunset and AltFluttershy. Truth be told, Sunset wasn’t in much of a mood for this herself. It seemed the cold weather was getting to her, and she was also upset that one of the dogs she had a particular interest in had been sold and she was unable to find out who bought her. Volunteers weren’t permitted to get that sort of information from staff, and Sunset had too much to do to commit to a job at the time. The Rainbooms were preparing for a gig, which AltRainbow Dash was utterly stoked about. Sunset had been considering dropping out to make room in her schedule, as knowing the whereabouts of this particular dog was rather important. But she had quite a lot of additional things on her plate as it was, and being under the weather was not helping.
“You seem a bit… um… sluggish, Sunset,” AltFluttershy said tentatively as a large dog practically dragged her into the enclosure.
“I’ll be alright,” said Sunset. “There’s only one dog left to walk, right?”
“That’s right,” smiled AltFluttershy. “Cage #55. It’s almost time to lock up. You’ve got your key, right?”
“Why do they let volunteers have keys, but won’t tell them who bought which animal?” Sunset griped.
“I guess it’s in case volunteers get too attached to specific animals,” said AltFluttershy. “I could tell you about a pair of kitties I let slip through my fingers, but I don’t want to upset you. If you like, I could walk the last dog.”
Sunset looked over at cage 55 and perked up a bit.
“Uh, no, I’ll take this one,” she said.
“OK. Have a good night,” AltFluttershy waved as she left the shelter.
Sunset removed the leash from the dog she’d just walked, returned him to his cage, and staggered over to #55.
“Alright, it’s your turn,” she said, kneeling down and opening the cage door. “Come on out. Come on.”
Wrecks took one step out.
“Couldn’t I just run around the backyard or something?” he whispered.
“Nope. Every dog gets one walk a day minimum, and you’ve been relaxing in your cage all day,” sad Sunset, with some envy.
Wrecks glanced around. Dirty looks were coming at him from most of the cages in the enclosure.
“I haven’t been relaxing,” he said.
“Come on. It’s your turn,” Sunset attached the leash to Wrecks and walked towards the door.
Wrecks sighed and followed on, trying not to look around.
The snow began to fall as Sunset and Wrecks plodded along the sidewalk. The odd passers-by who strolled along thought they both looked rather uncomfortable. Wrecks might have been, but Sunset was just feeling worse than earlier.
What’s the matter with me? she wondered. I haven’t got a sore throat, so I don’t have a cold. Not like Sweetie Belle. I don’t have an upset stomach, so it’s not flew. No headache, so it’s not cat-scratch fever. So why do I feel so lethargic?
Wrecks glanced up and saw Sunset looking ill and pensive, taking it for something else.
She’s gonna ask me about that green gem isn’t she? I know she is. She’s been hoping for a chance to walk me ever since we got back from the Crystal Empire.
This was true, and Sunset had initially intended to seize this opportunity, but she was rather distracted by her present condition. Wrecks looked around. There was no one about; most likely because the temperature was dropping. He was fooled for a second by a bus stop add for the Rainbooms’ gig, but realised his mistake when he saw the graffiti on it. He didn’t think Rainbow Dash would be wearing a necklace that said “OVERRATED” in huge, yellow letters. Wrecks decided he couldn’t stand Sunset looking at him like that any longer (even though she wasn’t really looking at him).
“Look, I don’t know what Sinomen did with that gemstone!” he burst out.
Sunset was at last distracted from her sluggish feeling.
“She must’ve taken it with her when she was sold,” the large dog went on. “I’m sorry, I didn’t see who bought her. They didn’t come into the enclosure. One of the employees came in and took her out into the interactivity room, and she never came back.”
“If only I’d skipped that ceremony,” Sunset groaned. “How am I supposed to uphold my knighthood if I can’t make good on my vow?”
“I thought about asking the other dogs if the gem might be in any of their cages,” Wrecks jabbered on, “but… they won’t talk to me.”
Sunset stopped and looked down at Wrecks. “So that’s why you’re telling me this. With Sinomen gone and the other dogs mad at you for tricking them, you’ve settled for me.”
“I just don’t like having no one to talk to, that’s all,” Wrecks moped. “And since you’re the only human who knows that dogs can talk, you’re all I’ve got left, I guess.”
Sunset was about to mention that the beans had more or less been spilt at the recent Friendship Games, but her inexplicable symptoms started kicking in again.
Neither of them talked for the rest of the walk. By the time they returned to the shelter, Sunset was leaving boot prints and Wrecks paw prints. And Sunset’s boot prints were a lot closer together than Wreck’s paw prints. She turned the key and entered the shelter, and went no further.
“Uh… you know your way, right?” she grunted.
“Are you OK?” Wrecks asked.
“Don’t worry about me,” Sunset waved her hand. “I’m just gonna go to bed. You do the same, alright?”
“OK,” said Wrecks as he watched Sunset trudge away, closing the door without locking it.
He looked towards the dog enclosure and shuddered.
“I don’t know why they’re mad at me. All the pets went back to their homes. None of these guys ever had owners,” he groaned.
He looked back at the door.
“I could just run away, but then Sunset might get in trouble… if she’s not already. She didn’t seem right.”
He contemplated his next move.
Sunset’s pace was getting slower and slower as she made her way towards Canterlot High. The bus didn’t run past 5:15PM for some reason, so her journey was a long and painful one.
“I miss being able to learn magic,” she groaned. “I probably could’ve found that green gem in no time.”
She’d been trying to think of a way to track down Sinomen for months, and she began to ponder the issue again until her head began to hurt… a lot. Now she did have headache. And sore throat and upset stomach. And then some. Her chest began to tickle and her joints began to ache, she was shivering and sweating, and her vision began to wane.
“Gotta… get to… school…” she huffed. “Hope… they didn’t… lock the doors…”
She didn’t even make it that far. She waddled past the Wondercolt statue, climbed one stair, and then collapsed on the front steps to the school.
A few minutes after she passed out, Wrecks arrived.
“Sunset? Sunset?!”
He ran up to the stairs and pawed at Sunset’s back. She groaned, but didn’t move or open her eyes. Wrecks ran to the front doors of the school and tried to shove them open. They wouldn’t move. He grabbed a handle and tried pulling the door open.
“Locked!” he growled.
He looked around at the snow and wind, and when he saw no one around, he barked as loud as he could.
“What the…?! Oh, it’s you.”
Wrecks jerked his head to the right. Sinomen was standing next to a hedge beneath a window, her licence tag glaring in the moonlight.
“What did you do to her, Sinomen?!” he demanded.
“I didn’t do anything to her,” insisted Sinomen.
“Well then, help me get her up,” said Wrecks.
Sinomen looked at Sunset’s unconscious form and grinned.
“Nah.”
And she took off at top speed in the direction of the animal shelter and Crystal Prep.
“You did do this to her!” Wrecks shouted as he began to give chase.
He hadn’t left the yard before realising it’d be a mistake to leave Sunset Shimmer lying on the steps. He ran back to her and tried again to rouse her. Her cellphone fell out of her pocket and plonked down the stairs.
“I don’t have a clue how this thing works,” Wrecks said after a few minutes of pawing at the buttons.
He gave up and returned to Sunset’s side. Her backpack was beginning to collect snow.
“A-ha! She might have her book that she talks to Princess Twilight with,” guessed Wrecks.
Like Sunset, Wrecks couldn’t help but miss the abilities he had in Equestria as a different species. Unzipping was difficult to do with paws, but he managed it in about a minute. He sniffed around inside and found Sunset’s correspondence book and a pen.
“Now, how do I write a message?”
“Twilight, you’ve shown me this already. I’ve seen it every day since I moved in here.”
“Yes, but I’ve made some additions.”
Twilight flew Nyx up to the chandelier her friends made for her castle throne room and showed her two of the ornaments.
“Oh! That’s me!”
One ornament contained a photo of Nyx wearing her headband, vest, and jinxed glasses, and the other was of her looking natural. Both were taken inside the Golden Oak Library.
“Since you are a treasured memory from my old Ponyville home,” Twilight smiled, “I thought it was appropriate to dedicate a few ornaments on this chandelier to you.”
“Thank you,” Nyx beamed.
The moment was spoiled by Spike, who burst into the room holding a glowing and vibrating book.
“A message from Sunset?!” Twilight brought Nyx back down to the floor.
She magiced the book from Spike and opened it. The penmanship wasn’t too legible.
“Oh. No.”
“It’s not from Sunset?” asked Spike. “Who’s it from?”
“It might be your dad.”
“Oh. Wrecks.”
Spike left the room. Nyx looked at the page. A black paw print sat at the bottom of the message.
As Wrecks had been writing the end of his message, then pen had exploded in his mouth. He got ink all over his front. He’d left his signature, shook the ink from his fur, and tried again to wake Sunset. Her skin was turning blue. This time, when Wrecks poked her, she stirred and opened her eyes.
“How do ya feel?” asked Wrecks.
Sunset’s eyes weren’t focused. “C-could ya t-turn the heat up-p a b-bit?”
“Can you move?” asked Wrecks.
Sunset made a feeble attempt to lift her right arm.
“OK, don’t go asleep now,” Wrecks kept a paw on her back and glanced at the Wondercolt statue. Before long, the base rippled and out came Twilight in human form. She saw Sunset and Wrecks and ran towards them, stumbling a little.
“Wrecks, thank you for writing!” she called as she made her way. “Does this mean you’re on our side now?”
“Sure,” sighed Wrecks.
Twilight sat on the steps and lifted Sunset up as best she could.
“Are you alright?”
“H-hey… uh… hey… um-m…”
“Can you not remember my name?” Twilight asked alarmed.
“It’s T-Twilek or s-something, r-right?”
“Can you remember your own name?” asked Twilight.
“Uh… S-Sun…”
“Yes?”
“S-Sun…”
“Yes?”
“S-sunburn Slapper? Or, n-no… uh… Somewhat S-Slimmer?”
“We gotta get her inside,” groaned Twilight.
“I tried the door,” Wrecks indicated the entrance behind him. “It’s locked.”
“Oh. I think Sunset has a key on her,” Twilight fished around in Sunset’s bag and pockets, and found the keys at last.
“I guess it’s better than breaking the entrance down,” chuckled Wrecks.
Sunset became less and less responsive as Twilight carried her through Canterlot High’s hallways. It wasn’t easy opening the infirmary door with one hand, but Wrecks couldn’t manage a key with his mouth or paws. Twilight was just happy he was there to help if he could, as Spike was in no mood to see him, and not having him there made Twilight slightly uncomfortable. There was no staff about, so Twilight simply set Sunset down on one of the vacant beds, and she and Wrecks just sat and watched Sunset for a while. The only time she reacted to them was when Wrecks told Twilight that he saw Sinomen in the front yard when he found Sunset. Her expression turned bitter, and then she passed out again and didn’t stir for the rest of the night. At first, Twilight was as sure as Wrecks that Sinomen was somehow responsible for Sunset’s illness. But when Sunset was still a slight shade of blue after two hours under a blanket, Twilight suspected a different culprit.
“Blue giants? What are those?”
“Vegetables that boost a unicorn’s magic,” Twilight explained.
“Huh. So that’s how you, her, and Trixie planned to fight us off,” Wrecks nodded.
“But Trixie didn’t tell us that there’s a one in three chance of getting a disease from Blue Giants,” Twilight continued. “She’d gotten the disease when she first started eating them and it was nearly fatal. But she recovered and carried on eating Blue Giants until she learned that they were outlawed.”
“So you assumed that because there was a one/third risk and one of you three had it, there was no chance of you or her getting sick?” Wrecks couldn’t help but grin.
“I guess we were being presumptuous,” sighed Twilight. “You know, Trixie said she got sick about four days after she ate her first Blue Giant. It’s been months and now Sunset’s sick. I wonder if it affects her differently because she’s human in this world.”
“Should we take her to Equestria?” asked Wrecks.
Twilight looked down at Sunset, who looked peaceful, yet pained.
“She’s in no state to be moved anymore,” Twilight decided. “Let’s let her sleep for now. From what I researched on Blue Giants, and what Trixie told me about her first hoof experience, bed rest is the best cure.”
“Let’s just hope the symptoms don’t get worse in her human form,” said Wrecks.
Author's Note
Inspired by the Red Dwarf episode "Confidence & Paranoia".
2 Turkey Skins & Pork Chops with Pasta Sauce
Sunset’s fevered dream was a lucid one. She could feel some of the pains the Blue Giant virus had taken so long to give her. Even though she was aware that she was asleep and dreaming, she didn’t try to get up and leave the bed; even when one of the windows fell open and a cold wind billowed into the room.
“You can’t tell me with a straight face that you’re comfy,” said a voice over the noise.
“Who’s…?”
Sunset looked up and jumped. Standing on the foot of her bed was a unicorn she’d never seen before.
“Did you come through the portal?!” Sunset sat up and pointed out the open window at the Wondercolt statue. “How are you a pony?”
“I didn’t come from Equestria, but I can tell you what you’re missing,” replied the unicorn. “My name’s Figment. And you’re Sunburn Slapper, right?”
“Uh, no. It’s Sunset Shimmer.”
“Ah.”
“So, what am I missing?” asked Sunset.
Figment’s horn lit up. The snow was wiped from the school yard instantly. Sunset stared at out the window with awe.
“Magic, of course,” grinned the unicorn. “Oh, you’ve got the support of your friends, and you can pony up when the need arises, but apart from that, you’re stuck with those hands of yours to get things done. But now that I’m here, you can scratch one or two things off your to-do list.”
Sunset stood up. She was still achy, but not nearly as much as earlier.
“Just how powerful is your magic?” she asked her visitor.
“About as powerful as yours would have been if you’d never left Equestria and honed your skills as often as Twilight Sparkle or Trixie Lulamoon,” Figment smiled. “I guess you can call me your alter-ego. Anything else you want to do that you can’t do so easily as a human?”
Sunset remembered the vandalised poster of her and her friends at that bus shelter. “I’d like to clean that graffiti off our band’s advertisement.”
Figment’s horn lit up for a moment. “Done. Wanna see?”
Sunset hesitated before nodding, and once Figment had magiced her some adequate winter clothes, they were off, floating above the ground as if on an invisible giant skateboard. Sunset was delighted to see the Rainbooms ad devoid of spray paint.
“Great!” she exclaimed, quickly grasping her stomach. “Hey, can we go cure Sweetie Belle’s cold?”
No sooner had she made this request when Figment transported them both to AltRarity’s home. One glowing horn later, a stream of used tissues and cough drop wrappers passed through the glass of one of the windows and straight into a trash bin on the curb. Sunset would have smiled, but her headache was coming back.
“How about curing me now?” she asked.
“Sorry,” frowned Figment, “but that’s the one thing my magic can’t do. Without your sickness, I can’t be here. If you wanna take a break, I’ll take you back to the infirmary and we’ll pick up where we left off when you’re feeling better again.”
Well, that was a disappointing end to this dream, Sunset groaned as her vision blurred and the noise around her died.
When Sunset woke up, it was daytime. AltPinkie Pie was there.
“You’re up!” she cried. “Whoo hoo!”
“Hi, Pinkie,” Sunset sat up, letting the damp cloth fall off her forehead. “Um, where’s Twilight?”
“She’s still tying up some loose ends at Crystal Pr… Oh, you mean the Twilight from Equestria! She came by my house this morning with Wrecks. Said he just walked out of the animal shelter last night. She told me you were here and asked me to keep an eye on you.”
“Is that why you’re wearing an eye patch?” asked Sunset.
“Yep. I have eye patches stashed all over the school for situations like this. By the way, I tried on that snazzy parka of yours while you were sleeping,” AltPinkie continued. “Hope you don’t mind. I didn’t get any soda on it. I swear.”
“My snazzy parka?” repeated Sunset.
“Oh, is that not yours?” AltPinkie Pie pointed to a row of coat hooks by the door.
Sunset gasped. The coat on the hook was the same one Figment had conjured in her dream.
It didn’t take long for Sunset to realise that she’d had no ordinary dream. When she looked out of the window, she saw that there was snow everywhere accept the front yard of the school. AltRainbow Dash visited later that day and told her that someone had cleaned the graffiti off of the ad at her bus stop. And when AltRarity visited, she expressed her delight that her little sister had gotten over the awful cold she’d been suffering from since autumn ended. At last, Twilight returned to the infirmary.
“The animal shelter was freezing,” she told Sunset. “The door was open all night. Wrecks didn’t shut it when he left. The other strays aren’t happy with him.”
“That’s a shame,” sighed Sunset. “If I’d realised the door was open last night, I could’ve had Figment close it.”
“Who’s Figment?” asked Twilight.
Sunset told Twilight about her dream and the real effects it seemed to have on the town.
“I… I did wonder what happened to the snow,” Twilight scratched her chin. “But I didn’t see any unicorns in here. I was awake all night watching over you. And so was Wrecks. We didn’t leave until the school opened up for the day. There were no unicorns in this room and you never left.”
She took Sunset’s new winter coat from the hook and examined it.
“Looks like the Blue Giant virus gives some really weird symptoms to humans,” said Twilight. “You seemed to have had some kind of out-of-body experience during your dream.”
“You know what this means?” Sunset perked up. “The next time I go to sleep, I can find that green gem Sinomen stole!”
“Oh! That’s a good idea,” smiled Twilight. “I wouldn’t have thought there would be an upside to this disease. You were seriously sick last night.”
“Yeah, I guess I was. Thanks for your help, Twilight,” Sunset said, lying back down on her infirmary bed. “Um, could you go to the animal shelter and tell Wrecks I’d like to thank him, too?”
“Sure…”
“Wait! I’ll tell him myself tonight,” interrupted Sunset with a grin, “with Figment’s help.”
Sunset had gotten so much sleep the previous night, that she’d been unable to fall asleep all day. She did stay in bed most of the day, but she didn’t manage to get to sleep until that night. Soon enough, she was aware that she was dreaming.
“So Somewhat Slimmer, what’s on the agenda tonight?” Figment chimed.
Sunset stood up eagerly. “First, we’ll send a thank-you gift to Wrecks at the animal shelter. “And then, we’ve got a green gemstone to find.”
“Huh. I thought you might have a challenge for me,” smirked Figment. “Alright. We’re off!”
Sunset hoped that the other dogs wouldn’t be too hostile towards Wrecks when they learned that he was woken to a plate of turkey skins and pork chops with pasta sauce in his cage. Not long after delivering Wrecks’ midnight snack, Figment’s magic went to work tracking down the green gemstone that Sinomen stole. Much like Amber Aldis’ long defunct foraging spell, her horn lit a path through the snowy ground. Sunset Shimmer and Figment followed it all the way to the Everything Under the Sun Emporium.
“The Flim Flam Brothers!” exclaimed Sunset. “They must’ve bought Sinomen.”
“Do you think they found out she had the gem and have it up for sale?” asked Figment.
“I don’t know, but either way, we’ll get it back,” said Sunset. “Right?”
Figment grinned. “Right.”
One spell later, the item they were seeking shot through the door and into Sunset’s hand.
“We got it!” she shouted.
She leapt into the air in excitement, making herself dizzy in the process.
“Looks like your dream’s ending again,” sighed Figment.
“Yeah. My vision’s fading,” Sunset clenched the green gem in her fist. “But tomorrow night, we’re tracking down the sirens to see if they’re plotting some kinda revenge scheme, and then we’ll be helping Trixie find Smokescreen.”
“You got it,” Sunset heard Figment say before the dream dissolved.
Sunset woke up late the following morning, and felt nothing in her fist. She had expected there to be a round green object with six dimples on either side, but she found her hand was empty.
“Huh. Maybe it’s in my jacket pocket,” she said, getting up and feeling no aches or pains at all.
But all she found in the jacket on the hook was her correspondence book (the jacket had large pockets), with a hastily scribbled note from Twilight saying she had to run back to Equestria to deal with an emergency.
“They better not have stolen it back!” Sunset growled, putting on her jacket and setting off for the Everything Under the Sun Emporium.
AltFlim and AltFlam were quite insistent that they never had a gemstone like the one she described in their store.
“But don’t tell anyone you couldn’t find something here. Don’t want people to make a joke of our showroom’s name now, do we?”
“We have got a few dogs for sale, though. A select group of well-groomed hounds for your consideration!”
Not one of the five shaggy, restless mutts even resembled Sinomen.
Was my dream last night… just a dream? Sunset thought as she left the store.
She wasn’t inclined to believe the twins after what her friends had said about them, but when she visited the animal shelter, she found that Wrecks had never had a delivery of turkey and pork at any time.
“You’d think I did, the way they glare at me,” he groaned, keeping his eyes on the ground and away from the cold eyes of his enclosure-mates.
Sunset frowned at how ticked off the strays still appeared; though she thought they looked better than the dogs AltFlim and AltFlam we overcharging for.
Sunset returned to the school infirmary to find Twilight and Spike; only they were the ones who originated in this world.
“Oh, there you are!” AltTwilight was happy to see Sunset. “We were worried about you.”
“Your book went off while you were out,” AltSpike got up off the book he’d been sitting on. “The Twilight from Equestria says she’s got that emergency under control, but she’s gotta deal with the mess it made.”
“She didn’t mention what it was when we wrote back,” AltTwilight informed. “She must be pretty busy sorting everything out.”
They then asked why Sunset looked down, and she told them about Figment.
“Two nights ago, when I dreamed we fixed a few things with her magic, I woke up and found out that they really happened,” she said. “But last night, my dream about Figment only happened in my head.”
“You must have gotten over your Blue Giant sickness,” AltSpike smiled. “Great.”
“It’s not great!” snapped Sunset, making AltSpike and AltTwilight jump. “That unicorn could’ve solved all my problems. Her magic was immense! And now she’ll never help anyone ever again.”
Sunset slumped on one of the beds.
“Maybe I should go back to Equestria and eat more Blue Giants.”
“No!” cried AltTwilight. “Sunset, you showed me that some magical things shouldn’t be trifled with. If you try this out again, you might not survive your illness this time.”
You’re right,” Sunset sighed morosely, “I’m just gonna have to accept the fact that I have no magic.”
AltTwilight adjusted her glasses a bit. “Accepting your limitations isn’t the same as admitting defeat, is it?”
Sunset beamed. “We’ll find that gemstone! Magic or not!”
And with that, the three of them put their heads together.
“We don’t have any leads on Sinomen’s new owner,” Sunset said.
“Applejack said Wrecks saw Sinomen in the front yard of this school when he found you on the steps,” said AltTwilight. “Any idea what she was doing there?”
Sunset pondered. “She said she had nothing to do with making me sick… and we know she wasn’t lying…”
“She definitely still hates you, though,” frowned AltSpike. “We heard she looked happy to see you lying there all sick and helpless.”
“Yeah. I’ll bet she’s been laughing at all of us since she snatched that gem,” Sunset scowled.
But then her expression brightened.
“Wait! If she likes embarrassing us, what if she hid the gemstone right under my nose?! Like… in the flower bed outside the window of the school room I sleep in?!”
She didn’t wait for a response from AltTwilight and AltSpike before bolting out of the door. The two former Crystal Prepers ran after her and found her out in the yard, knelt down outside the infirmary window and brushing the snow from the soil in the garden.
“Here! This looks like a freshly filled hole! Spike, can you dig here?”
But the cold weather that had taken hold of Canterlot High since the night Sunset passed out had made the ground like iron. Spike’s claws could barely even scrape the rock hard dirt.
“We’re gonna need a bigger dog,” he groaned.
“I’ll bet Wrecks could help,” Sunset was looking glum again. “I wish I could buy him, but I don’t make much money.”
“I haven’t got much myself,” admitted AltTwilight.
“So, why don’t we pool our money?” suggest Sunset, her smile renewed.
Wrecks was delighted that Sunset and AltTwilight had bought him. He absorbed one last look of contempt from the stray dogs he’d lived with before leaving the Canterlot Animal Shelter for the last time with his new owners.
“Who’ll I be staying with at night?” he asked.
“Well, maybe we can hide you in the infirmary until we sort that out,” thought Sunset.
“Or maybe Applejack and her family can have you on their property,” suggested AltTwilight.
“But before we bring you home, we need a favour,” said Sunset. “Do you think you could do a little digging for us?”
“I’ll give it a shot,” nodded Wrecks. “What’s this for?”
“We think we know what Sinomen was doing at the school the night Sunset got sick,” said AltSpike. “She might’ve buried it outside Sunset’s window so she can make fun of her.”
“Hm. Sounds like something she’d do,” said Wrecks. “She laughed a lot at Rarity when we strapped that wagon to her and made her look for gems for us.”
AltSpike growled.
Wrecks didn’t exactly make short work of the flower bed, but he was making out better than AltSpike had.
“Bingo!” he shouted after several minutes.
He sat up, and Sunset, AltTwilight, and AltSpike looked excitedly at the round green gemstone in his mouth.
“That’s it!” AltSpike cried. “That’s the gem I left behind!”
Wrecks deposited his find into Sunset’s hand. She examined it.
“Hold on… something’s not right.”
“What is it?” asked AltTwilight.
“Well, the gemstone Trixie found in front of the Tree of Harmony had twelve dimples. Six on each side,” said Sunset. “But this one only has ten.”
AltTwilight, AltSpike, and Wrecks looked for themselves.
“You’re right,” said AltSpike. “But it looks just like it.”
“It has to be the same one,” agreed Sunset. “But why would two of the dimples disappear?”
“Looks like another mystery we have to solve,” said AltTwilight.
Sunset sighed. “It’s always something, isn’t it?”
“So what do we do with it now?” asked Wrecks.
“We’ll leave it with Spike,” said Sunset. “It was meant to be for him, after all.”
AltSpike happily accepted the responsibility.
In Sunset’s dream that night, she was writing to Princess Twilight to tell her that all was well with her illness and the missing gemstone, and AltTwilight was fitting a collar and tag to Wrecks’ neck. They were joined by Figment.
“So ya redid our outing from last night, huh?” she asked with a smirk. “Thought buying Wrecks and finding that gem in the dirt was a better idea? Well, good for you. Looks like you don’t need me.”
“Well,” said Sunset, “as great as it would be to have you around helping everyone, I suppose you’re right. I know I’m capable of solving my problems without a quick fix. All I need is a little support, and I can pull anything off.”
“I like your enthusiasm, Sunny,” grinned Figment.
“Sunny?” AltTwilight repeated.
“Oh, right. That’s one of your old Crystal Prep buddies. If you can call her a buddy,” Figment chuckled. “Well Sunset, if you ever feel like you do need me, just snore.”
Sunset laughed happily. She awoke feeling great, and pleased to see Wrecks sleeping on the bed next to her. He had no collar on, but Sunset’s correspondence book was open to a message written in Sunset’s handwriting that told Princess Twilight that all was well at Canterlot High, which she had no memory of writing.
Author's Note
I have no problem what-so-ever with "pony up".
