I woke up to it being night. I’m in a room with wooden walls colored blue only until it reaches pony height, with a pattern that looks like waves on the ocean. The floors are checkered with white and gray, and the bed I’m in has white sheets with a purple blanket. The bed, itself, is very comfortable, although I wish I had awoken in Sugar Belle’s bed. My window exits to what seems to be a town much bigger than the one she lives in, and the curtains near my bed are open revealing another bed that seems to be empty. At least it’s night, but I wish I knew what time it was. Near me was a drawer with a purple lamp, and sleeping on a chair right next to my bed was Sugar Belle.

“Wherever I am, I must have been asleep long enough for her to be messaged, and arrive to watch over me.” This thought left me with two ideas. Wherever I was, I had been found by ponies who knew me and brought me to some kind of hospital, but was also close enough that Sugar Belle could excuse herself from her bakery. “Ponyville? I know Big Mac says the passage from there isn’t too long.” At that moment, my familiar, Azurinne comes in from the closed window. “I thought you could only float and talk.”

“As did I,” she spoke, “but was I glad when I found out I could do that.” Azurinne’s sapphire eyes were wide and shimmering in the moonlight, and her smile was as perfect as always. “You’ve been out for a week and a half, do you know where we are?”

“My guess would be Ponyville,” I say. Then I point to Sugar Belle, “How long has she been here?”

“She first started visiting exactly one week ago.” Azurinne’s moving up to curl in my lap. “She normally stays the night before going back in the daytime and running her bakery.” Moving her tail to gently stroke Sugar Belle’s mane as she continues. “I woke up and began looking for you the first day she started visiting. I tell you the relief that washed over her face when she first saw you alive…”

I turn to Sugar Belle, and gently nudge her. As she wakes up I move close enough to give her a small nuzzle. “Hello, Sugar Belle, how are you?” I asked her when I deemed she was awake enough. It hurt to see that worried look on her face. She suddenly threw her arms around me and pulled me in to a very tight hug. Tears hit my back as they rolled into my mane. “I’m sorry, Sugar Belle, I’m really sorry.”

“Please come home, please…” she begged while still holding me tight. “That wasn’t supposed to happen. You were going to get on the train, and look in the city. You were supposed to hike through the blizzard a bit before not finding anything. You weren’t supposed to get hurt!”

I pulled away from her embrace and stared at her. The face she was making was the same face that I remember mom used to make whenever I’d come home after I fought with Stained Glass. I stared into her magenta eyes that were filled to the brim with begging and pleading. I bet she wanted nothing more than to continue to hold me and keep me safe, and that was the problem. I took one of her hoofs with both of mine. “Sugar Belle, I can’t go back yet,” more tears from the most wonderful mare in the world. Lind Bloom, I’m sorry, but you have officially been knocked down to second. “I can’t go back yet, because if I do, I’ll never stop being scared of him.” A confused look on her face. “The reason I was injured was... because I ran into Comet Blaze, the colt that originally caused me to get hurt on the mountain. He gave Azurinne and I a sound defeat.”

She then turned to Azurinne and asked, “how bad was he?” Confusion was all I could muster at the question that should have been directed at me.

“He wasn’t,” Azurinne said, “not in the evil sense. He was much better at magic than my partner, here, but there wasn’t a hint of malice in anything he did. Regret, sorrow, even a hint of jealousy, but nothing like hate.” Sugar Belle wiped her tears away with her free hoof, and then smiled at me. A smile usually reserved for Big Mac.

“You like him, don’t you?” To say I was shocked was an understatement. I quickly let go of her hoof and scoot back so fast that I fell onto the floor.

“M-Mom! What are you thinking?” Covering my mouth with both hooves as I suddenly realized what I said. “I… I mean… It’s not like… I…” Why did she ask me something like that? It’s true I saw her as a second mother, but I never thought of calling her that before. Why now? As she stared at me, she and Azurinne both began to laugh. “W-What’s so funny? I’m in a panic here, and both of you are laughing!”

“Is he cute? Is he handsome?”

“H-How should I know that?”

“If I had to say… I’d say rather cute. Definitely will be handsome in a few years.”

“Azurinne! You aren’t helping!”

“Yes, I am, although at the moment, I’m just not helping you.”

“Do you want some pointers on how to make him interested?”

I stop and ponder. Wait? Ponder, for him? NO! “Sugar Belle! He works for the ponies that took my parents! Why would I like him!”

“Awe, she didn’t call you ‘Mom’ this time,” teased Azurinne.

“Why should that matter on how you feel about him?” Sugar Belle asked, “I mean if you like him, then isn’t that enough? Just get him to like you back.” My confusion was at an all-time high. How did the conversation even reach here? Get him to like me?

“H-How would that work?” I ask before covering my mouth again. Why can’t I control myself? Was I under some spell? I don’t like him… I can’t like him… can I? “I… he’s keeping me from my family. Even if I did, by some cruel twist of fate- “

“Doesn’t affect you,” pointed out Azurinne with a wicked grin. I wonder how boiled Cheshire cat tastes.

“I bet I can get you to admit it,” Sugar Belle proudly stated as I deadpan her, “if you don’t believe me, then describe him in full detail.”

Deciding to humor ‘Mom’, I begin thinking about him. “He’s a gray unicorn with a horn a bit smaller than mine. His coat was very well kept, and his hoofs looked a bit bigger than mine.” I stop as I think on him more before continuing. “His mane was black, long, and hung to one side. It wasn’t long enough on top to cover his eye, but the wind flowing would let his mane do the same. His cutie mark was a black star surrounded by seven white stars. All the stars were five-pointed like the basic ones we were taught in school…” Why am I able to describe him so well? “Oh, sweet Celestia… Why!”

“It’s actually a natural unicorn instinct,” began Sugar Belle, “I conditioned myself out of it, for the most part, but it’s still there. You see, unicorns seek ponies that can match them in magical prowess. When they find one, they begin to latch on to that pony as a rival. But if defeated, that rivalry turns a bit more. Especially in the case that the defeated is a mare.” She points to me as she explains the last sentence. “When he first attacked you on the mountain, you were barely able to register it, as such it left you curious about him. I didn’t think about it as you asked, but the signs should have been obvious back then. Now that you lost, you probably feel ashamed or something.” I look down dragging my hoof in circles around the floor. I must not have registered the pause, because the next thing I knew, I was back in one of her warm hugs. “Your mind, being that of a growing filly, is trying to latch onto anything that could point to you not liking him, but the shame you feel is because you probably failed to impress him, and think you don’t qualify for him anymore.”

It was silent after that as I sat in her arms. She was right, I was ashamed that I lost, but was it really because I wanted to impress Comet? He works for the ones that took my family, and are all probably quite powerful. That makes him powerful too, right? He was definitely strong enough to trounce me. Why won’t my heart stop pounding! “Okay then, I like him, I’ll admit it. You said you knew how to get him to like me back?”

“No, I said that all you need to do is get him to like you back,” countered Sugar Belle. “The simplest way is to face him again and defeat him.” I deadpan her. “Now don’t give me that look. You may have lost this time, but if you get some pony to train you, then you’ll win next time.”

“Do you have a teacher in mind? Last I checked the village’s unicorns weren’t exactly sages.” I offer as my own counter.

“Really? Can’t you think of any pony who could train you?” She asks. “Any pony at all?”

This is Ponyville. Did any ponies… “The Princess of Friendship and her student Starlight Glimmer?”

“It just so happens they have both been eagerly awaiting your awakening,” she says, “why not go talk to them tomorrow? If all goes well, you may get to ask them to train you in magic. I can bet at least Starlight might take the job.” I can neither confirm nor deny that, at that moment, I let out a glass destroying ‘squee’. “Now… is there anything at all you and Azurinne have been hiding, miss ‘fate doesn’t affect you’?” And happy feeling over.

Author's Note

Funny... I had several drafts for this chapter that I had to delete. This one just felt too fun not to use, and I can't help but feel the characters were writing themselves after getting frustrated with me.