//------------------------------//
// Failed escape 
// Story: Week of the unicorn 
// by CrossRedstone 
//------------------------------//

If Sunset learned anything on that particular day, then it was that Spike was a quick runner for such a little dog. The animal probably saw Sunset's running as an invitation to a game of tag and thus was running after her. It didn't particular help the Equestrian that she wasn't in top form at the moment. Knowing this, Sunset brainstormed the possible places where she could lose the dog. Unfortunately, the trees were so far apart from each other, else she might have used them by cutting close to the edges.

"Oh, crap." Sunset breathed out when she dared to look behind her. Spike was almost in reach of her tail. To make things worse, the dog seemed to have taken quite an interest in it.  She needed to get away, now. But the only thing that caught her vision was one of the many barns the Apple family owned.

Wait, this might be it! The unicorn thought.

I'll need to pull off the remaining bit of strength I have, but if I get out of Spike's vision and inside, my own smell should mix up with those of the animals inside.

Despite her lungs protesting, Sunset increased her speed, galloping as fast as a racehorse, at least she imagined it that way.  With what little bit of breath she had left, the small unicorn managed to get into the staple and slammed the door shut as soon as she could. Once inside, the pony fell onto her belly, sweat pouring down her fur and her breath being completely ragged. However, she had no real time to rest as of yet. This world's Spike's barking could be heard all the way inside the building Sunset was currently hiding and if this world's Twilight Sparkle was at least a little bit curious about what in the name of sun a unicorn was doing here, then a small case of Breaking and Entering wouldn't stop this girl. So as much as she didn't want to, Sunset pressed herself off the ground, grinding her teeth as she did so.

While all of this was going on, Applejack's horse had certainly taken an interest as to what was going on in it's home. It had heard the commotion from the outside (Sunset just then noticed that the other side of the barn was completely open) and decided to investigate the noise. Finding a small and very colorful foal inside the building was certainly a surprise. However, that surprise was quickly replaced with parental worry, as it saw the poor thing struggling to even get up.

Quickly it trotted over to the supposed foal and tried to help it up. Sunset was completely taken off guard, when the horse suddenly pushed it's head against her body, trying to help her get up. The unicorn almost lost her footing because of them, but luckily managed to catch herself before she hit the ground with her side.

"Uh....uh...he-hey there...?" Sunset looked up to the horse, which in return eyed the little unicorn critically. The pony in return wasn't sure what to make of this situation, but a little voice in the back of her mind reminded her that there was a certain someone after her and that she needed to hide quickly. The bad news was, unlike what she had assumed earlier there were in fact not a lot of animals here covering her scent, but just one.  Still, it should work, right? Well, it certainly would not work if she kept standing where she could be seen from the other entrance. As such, Sunset decided it was time to hide, preferably in the open stable, which probably belonged to Applejack's horse. The mare wouldn't mind if the pony borrowed the space for a couple of minutes, right?

Keeping her gaze on the big animal, which in return stared back at the pony, Sunset carefully trotted between the legs of her distant cousin and quickly made her way to the stable. The horse was actually careful not to accidentally step on the small thing it assumed to be a foal. The horse followed the pony to her own stable. The entire time, Sunset kept her ears sharp listening for any dog barks or the voice of a certain girl. For the time being, she heard nothing.

Reaching the stable, Sunset immediately slumped down in a corner with lots of hay, her exhaustion now fully kicking in. Her tongue hung loosely out of her mouth, like a dog that's just slumped down in his dog bed, after playing for hours with a five-year-old child. From this point out, Sunset could only hope that either Spike would lose her scent or Twilight would write their previous encounter off as a mild case of hallucination caused by heat stroke and go away.

Something Sunset didn't account for was her friend's horse. Oh, the mare wasn't mad at Sunset for intruding her home, quite the contrary actually. However, the mare was naturally worried about Sunset, giving the state the unicorn was in. Said unicorn could only watch as the horse made her way to the stable and bent down to Sunset's level, nuzzling the smaller mare in an affectionate matter.

"Wh-what?! Hey, what are you doing? Hahaha, stop it. Hahaha! That tickles! Stop it, you'll give me away!"

Unfortunately, the brown mare did the exact opposite. Sure it was strange hearing human noises out of the nuzzle of the foal, but that was not important for the horse. What was important was that the sounds were similar to when one of the humans was happy and healthy, meaning in context that the little foal was okay. From that point on the horse started to lick Sunset's entire body. The unicorn couldn't think of a single reason as to why the other mare was doing this, but it certainly didn't help her laughing fit, which in return didn't help her to stay hidden from her pursuer.  In fact, Twilight did finally manage to catch up to her ever loyal, yet really playful dog. She now gently carried the little purple guy in her arms, while he himself was panting heavily, trying to cool down his own body. Although he'd also really love it if Twilight would let him go and allow him to play with that small human smelling horse and the big like hay smelling horse because it looked like they were having fun.

As for Twilight,

she turned the dog in her arms around, looked him straight in the eyes and asked:

"Spike? Am I going insane?"

The dog licked her nose.

"I thought so."