Flowers for Sunny

"Sunny, are you okay?" Pipp Petals said.

"What's wrong?" Sunny asked. Aside from Pipp, there was Hitch and another pony in the room. "Where am I?"

"You're in the hospital."

"Okay, why?" She remembered falling asleep previously.

"Don't panic," Hitch said.

"What's going on?"

"Izzy decided to cut your wings and horn off because she wanted to save you. Zipp helped."

"Is that all?" Sunny blinked. "Nice try, if something like that happened, I would notice." She moved to touch her non-existent horn. Her hoof passed through it as if it didn't exist. "Can I get a mirror?"

"Stay calm," the doctor said. "Restrain her."

Her friends took her hooves as a precaution.

Sunny saw that her horn was indeed missing and there were bandages wrapped around her head. "How am I supposed to feel about this?" She didn't know what to think since she wasn't in pain. "I feel fine, can I get up now?"

"Easy." The doctor helped her to her hooves.

"Wait what?" Sunny looked at where her wings were supposed to be. Her wings were still there and there were no bandages to be seen. "I thought my wings were gone?" The parts of her body connected to her wings became more ethereal. The affected area was larger than before. "I can move them."

The doctor searched the bed, looking for something. He found a set of bloody bandages. "How are you feeling?"

"I feel fine. Where are Izzy and Zipp?"

"In the dungeon," Pipp said.

"What's going to happen to them?"

"That depends on you."

"On me?"

"We'll talk away from here."

They made their way out of the hospital. "What did you mean earlier?" Sunny asked.

Pipp didn't reply until they were in a relatively secluded spot. "Well… you can set them free…" Pipp sped up during the next parts of her response. "You can execute them; you have them imprisoned for life. There I've said it!" She shouted to the sky, "Are you happy now?"

"Are you crazy?" Sunny shouted, matching Pipp's voice.

"Are you going to set them free?" Pipp asked hopefully.

"I…" She didn't want them dead, but that didn't mean she wanted them free – who knows what else they might do for her benefit.

"Sunny, it's okay, take your time," Hitch said. "And don't kill them."

"Can I deal with this later?" Sunny asked. She

"Sure," Hitch said.

They went back to the palace where they, unfortunately, ran into Queen Haven.

"Do you know what you can request for a verdict?" Queen Haven said.

"Just to be clear…" Sunny listed what Pipp gave her as possible options.

"Have you decided?"

"This is a lot to ask of me."

"It wouldn't be right to ask anyone else."

"But you're the queen of Zephyr Heights."

"And you're the one that they wronged, in a hospital no less."

It didn't matter that Sunny was relatively unharmed. They still did those same uncertain actions without her consent and that meant she got to decide their fate.

They went to a room where Sunny could relax – it was the same room where she was watching television with Izzy recently.

"I can't do this," Sunny said. "I keep thinking of Izzy."

"What do you want to do then?" Hitch asked.

"I don't know." Sunny kept thinking of Izzy and what Izzy did during the time they spent together. If she wanted to set Izzy free, she could, but that didn't change the fact that Izzy tried to cut off her wings and succeeded for a time. "What should I do to Izzy and Zipp?"

"Why don't you talk to them?" Hitch asked.

"Now?" Sunny said.

"Look, if you don't want to make up your mind, you don't have to," Pipp said. "You can take your time."

"A week sounds good. Let's wait a week." Sunny wasn't sure if she wanted to confront them now.

"Why did you cut off my arm?" Sunny said with Izzy standing beside the hospital bed.

Izzy smiled. "I did what I had to do! You're safe now!"

The sequence played over and over again with a different missing appendage.

"Sunny! Wake up!"

Sunny blinked her eyes open. She saw Hitch prodding her awake. "I can't stay here. I want to leave Zephyr Heights." This was the third day of her being unable to sleep well.

"I understand," Pipp said. "Take your time."

They were preparing to leave Zephyr height however Sunny closed her eyes momentarily and went into a trance.

"I keep seeing Izzy when I close my eyes," Sunny said.

"Maybe talking to her would help?" Pipp said suggestively.

"This is a really bad idea."

"Come on, it'll be okay." Pipp screeched, "Sorry!"

"What happened?"

"I placed my hoof through your head. I didn't mean to. Did I hurt you?"

"No, I didn't even feel anything." Sunny tried to place her hoof on top of her head, but it sank through her form – yet she felt nothing. That part of her form wasn't ethereal like the parts afflicted by magic which consumed slightly more than what it did before. "Deep breaths," she said to herself yet she withdrew her hoof before she could feel something. "Am I going to die soon?"

Silence told her all she needed to hear.

Just before they reached the dungeons, Sunny had a change of mind. "I want to hide my horn and wings."

They made a quick detour to a shop for some clothes before they were off to the dungeons again. Sunny didn't know what she hoped to accomplish yet she felt like she had to see them. The guards let them in without an issue.

"Sunny, are you okay?" Izzy asked with concern.

Unlike the previous spa accommodations, they weren't in a comfortable cell. The two ponies shared a two-bunk bed. There was nothing in the room. Zipp's wing looked as if things could pass through it – just like Sunny's own.

"I don't know," Sunny said.

"It's not too bad, is it?" Izzy said. "We tried our best. The doctors wouldn't help. Then they took us to the dungeons."

Sunny realized that they thought her horns and wings were still missing. Instead – she was hiding them and her wings would slip through her clothes if she didn't keep them folded. "Do you realize what could happen to you?"

"Yes," Zipp said. "It all depends on you."

They did this – knowing the risks.

"Sorry to interrupt, what happened to your wing?" Pipp said.

"Not here," Zipp said. "Set us free already."

"I dreamed you know – that you're going to cut something else off," Sunny said. "I'm terrified of falling asleep. It's been three days without a good night's rest. I just want it to end."

"But you're alive, aren't you?" Izzy said.

Sunny laughed sadly. "See these?" She spread her wings. "I don't know what's going to happen to me."

"Are you in pain?" Izzy asked.

"No, but…" Sunny pushed her head inside the bars surrounding the cell. "I can do this, and this scares me." Her non-ethereal form passed through the bars part way. "I don't know what will happen if I happen to feel something. Right now? I don't feel anything at all."

"Maybe it'll work out somehow," Izzy said. "If it makes you feel better, I wanted to save you and didn't know what you wanted. Zipp kept her wing just like it is."

That was reassuring enough for Sunny shouted to the guards nearby, "Set them free."

The guards readily obliged her request and they were free. They walked out of the dungeons together – it was only when they were away from other ponies that Zipp said, "I ate you, Sunny."

"Wait what?"

"What she means is that she ate what I cut off," Izzy said.

"Eww, why?"

"Just wanted to confirm something," Zipp said. "And now my wing is going to fade away."

"Confirm what?" Pipp asked sharply.

"What Sunny tastes like."

"What does she taste like?" Hitch asked.

Sunny tried to run away – this was so wrong. She wasn't fast enough to elude Zipp who tried tackling her to the ground, but she passed through Sunny instead.

"Sunny! I just passed through you," Zipp said. "Are you okay?"

Sunny landed, where the other ponies tried to touch her. "I do feel that," Sunny said with relief.

Her previous intangible form became tangible again.

Zipp tried to touch her again – but her hoof slipped through Sunny's form. "What gives?" She tried to touch someone else just to see if she could touch anyone. "Okay, I'm not a ghost."

Regardless of what they tried – Zipp and Sunny could not touch each other. Zipp passed through Sunny whenever they made contact. And by spending time together, Sunny was no longer afraid of Izzy nor Zipp.

"Let's just forget about this," Sunny said. "See you later."

The mystery would need to wait another day.

A week later Sunny learned that Zipp grew a horn. The most absurd thing happened when they met up together.

"Can I taste you?" Izzy asked.

"What?" Sunny blinked. "Say that again?"

"So, Zipp has a horn now and can use magic. I want some wings."

"And me," Pipp said. "I already had a taste of Zipp. It didn't do anything."

Sunny started running – envisioning that Izzy would try to cut something of hers off.

"Let me explain!" Izzy chased after her. "My idea is just grinded pony hooves!"