//------------------------------//
// New Horizon 
// Story: Best Friends Forever: Between Life and Machine 
// by DemonBrightSpirit 
//------------------------------//

It was a blur. After seeing—holding—the cold, stiff body that had so recently belonged to Sweetie, everything just went numb. Rarity’s emotions ebbed away to nothing as her body and mind worked on. Maybe after so much peril and stress, she had simply run out of emotion, but the building dread and clawing despair dispelled the very notion.

Her shock began to wear off, little-by-little as her addled mind teased apart the ghastly truth. She looked over to her fainting couch where an old tarp bundled up something her discerning eye dared not see. The trip back to the boutique barely registered. She'd helped Short Circuit load Sweetie and the equoid into the wagon Applejack had left. She dragged them all the way back here. She and Circuit had both bathed, and even at this moment, he was hard at work restoring the equoid—restoring Sweetie Belle. 

A sudden burning in her throat forced Rarity to step away from her work table to release a series of sharp, burning coughs. The physical pain did little else than to bring Rarity back to the morbid task before her. She turned back to her workstation and her task. Before her, the shriveled form of a skin-tight suit. 

Though she had already fashioned a wig and tail for Sweetie, which Short Circuit helped her design and install, she still loathed that artificial skin and those black joints. It wasn't as though they were unstylish—they certainly held a modern charm—they just weren't Sweetie Belle. So Rarity decided that the best course of action would be to make a suit to mimic her natural coat. The fact that a task, any task, to keep her mind and eye from wandering back to the heap on her couch aside, this was the least she could do for her baby sister. 

Or, perhaps this was just a selfish act. A disguise to hide away the ugly truth of her sins against Sweetie. A distraction to hide away what her tumultuous heart dreaded to see.

Reaching up, Rarity wiped away the tears as they fell down her face. She turned, heading for the kitchen as she struggled to smooth out her frayed emotions. There, a thick layer of grease and ash sullied the once pristine tile. The table stood as the only island of cleanliness, surrounded by heaps of blackened towels and rags. 

“How is she?” Rarity asked as she tried to ignore the silty slime she felt with each step.

“Ah! Come, come,” Short Circuit said, scooting a bit to the side and revealing the disassembled body that held Sweetie Belle. “I’m just double-checking everything. So far everything looks good. Only had to repair a few circuits.”

Slowly, Rarity stepped over the rags and took a seat next to Short Circuit, though her eyes never left the objects on the table. Until now, she’d managed to stymie her curiosity and only took passing glances as she asked for updates. At least most of Sweetie was put back together, and she really did look much better with a mane and tail. A large part of her side lay to one side, and several strange things were strewn out in front of Short Circuit.

“Don’t touch,” Short Circuit said as Rarity’s hoof wandered to some strange object. “I’ll put everything back in here in just a minute, but first I wanted to show you something important.”

“S-sure,” Rarity replied, turning her head away from the table to let out a few more bitter coughs.  

Taking a screwdriver, he pointed at a rather large cylinder taking up most of Sweetie’s chest. “This is a magic capacitor,” he said, as if that meant anything at all to Rarity.

Stealing a glance at Short Circuit, Rarity turned her attention back to the cylinder. “Um… okay.”

With a sigh, Circuit said, “She doesn’t have a heart or lungs or anything like that. Instead, she’s powered by a capacitor and a battery.”

The nonchalant way he said that she didn’t have a heart tore through Rarity. She bit her tongue to prevent taking more of her frustrations out on the only pony willing to even try to save Sweetie. Not trusting her voice, she just nodded.

“The battery is here,” he said, pointing to a boxy thing taking up the majority of what should have been Sweetie’s stomach. “It can maintain all her physical functions.” Pulling a cord, he showed Rarity a perfectly ordinary plug. “Just plug it in and let it charge. Should take about six hours. At the moment, it looks to be just about completely drained.”

“Okay,” Rarity said, her mood lifted by something she could understand.

He went on to explain, “She can run on the battery alone, but you’ll need to charge the capacitor with your magic for her to maintain complete function. It doesn’t last all day like the battery, so you might need to charge it two or three times a day.”

“Does it have a plug, too?”

Groaning, Short Circuit pinched the bridge of his nose. “This is powered by magic. It will even let her use that magic through her horn. You charge it by pushing your magic into it. Give it a try.”

“I can touch it?”

“Just with your magic,” he replied. “And only the capacitor.”

Taking a deep breath, Rarity fixated on the dull, metal cylinder. While an unexpected relief washed over her to actively take part in helping Sweetie, she also felt a great trepidation about how finicky Short Circuit was about everything—as if the slightest tap on anything would irrevocably damage her. Rarity took the plunge, reaching out with her magic toward the cylinder.

“Good, just try to push your magic inside it,” he said. “You should feel your magic just sort of… disappearing.”

Sure enough, the magic seemed to fall away, and Rarity struggled to keep up as it felt as though the capacitor was sucking the magic right out of her. As the magic left her body, the dull metal began to take on a blue hue, glowing ever-so-slightly. This went on for only a few seconds before Rarity snapped her horn off. She panted and rubbed her aching horn. “What… was that?”

“About 20 percent of the total capacity,” Short Circuit said as he looked at the capacitor. “Just remember how you did it, and make sure you remember where the capacitor is. You should be able to charge her even with this compartment closed.” He then turned his attention back to the strange object before him. 

“Was there anything else I could help with?” Rarity asked, begging for a chance to do something more to help Sweetie. 

Short Circuit shook his head, though his eyes never left his work. “I just wanted to make sure you knew how to take care of her. I’ll have everything back together in no time.”

A bit of hope bubbled up to the surface, granting Rarity a smile. “Then we can wake her up?”

Again, Short Circuit shook his head. “You’ll want to charge her for at least a couple of hours. I imagine this afternoon will be a long one; don’t want her shutting down in the middle of it.”

And just like that, a new dread crushed her hope. Rarity had been so obsessed with just getting Sweetie Belle back that she didn’t even think about what might happen afterward. Just how would she explain to Sweetie why she’s trapped in this horrific body? 

Pushing away from the table, Rarity turned and fled. She didn’t have far to run, given that she couldn’t very well leave the boutique. Not with Sweetie Belle here. 

Rarity stopped dead the moment her eyes caught a glimpse of the bundle, still wrapped in the cloak Rarity wore back from that burned out nightmare, sitting on the couch. Part of her wanted to run away. To run away and never return to see the ghastly reminder of her indelible sin. But that still bundle represented only the shadow cast by a shining ray of hope. Sweetie was dead, but not gone. Rarity had made sure of that.

With steady and deliberate steps, Rarity pried her attention from the couch and back to her workstation. Work remained to be done. A few final touches to perfect the hide for Sweetie was the least she could do for imprisoning her innocent soul in that ghastly equoid. 







There she sat, Sweetie Belle in that horrid false body, a cord linking her to the wall like a lamp. Short Circuit finished up quickly, true to his word, but then he insisted that Sweetie not be awakened just yet. She needed to be fully charged, he claimed. Worse, he left to return to the hospital, leaving Rarity with sparse few instructions. Try to keep pushing magic into Sweetie’s breast where that cylinder was, and let her charge for a few hours. Nothing more, and he just left.

So now Rarity stood, looking down at the lifeless thing that her sister had become—that Rarity prayed Sweetie had become. Even the costume did little to console Rarity. Sure, Sweetie looked a lot closer to how she should, but all Rarity’s efforts couldn’t hide that cord. And no appearance would hide what Rarity knew lay underneath it all. Not flesh and blood with a beating heart, just tubes and wires and… metal.

Rarity curled up next to the motionless equoid. Just as she suspected, Sweetie was stiff. Stiff and cold. Despite her unrelenting desire to awaken Sweetie and set her anguished mind to even a fitful rest, Rarity didn’t even know how to wake Sweetie. All she could do was to hope that she would awaken on her own when she had, as Short Circuit put it, recharged.

Until then, all Rarity could do was wait. Wait, and hope. As she had already done a few times before, she reached out with her magic to find that it disappeared deep within Sweetie’s chest. After just a few seconds, she found herself at her limit and the glow accenting her horn faded. Rarity barely had a moment to register the ache in her horn before her chest tightened, forcing a few painful coughs from her throat. Following the burning sensation in her throat, a bitter, metallic taste rose in the back of her mouth.

“I feel awful,” she muttered, gasping.







Bam! Bam! Bam!

Rarity started from a dead sleep she didn’t remember being in. It took her a few moments to realize that the noise was somepony pounding on the door. At first, a bit of hope rose in her that Short Circuit had returned, but that evaporated when a purple glow appeared on the door chain. The chain slid off, then the deadbolt turned.

Before the door even fully opened, Twilight shouted for Rarity. She burst in, flanked by Rarity’s parents. The best Rarity could do was stand in front of Sweetie and pray that they were all completely blind. 

“Oh my goodness, Rarity!” Twilight said as she rushed over to her, cupping Rarity’s face with her hooves. “What were you thinking, running out of the hospital before you were better?” Then, Twilight’s eyes went wide as her hooves fell away. “Is… is that…?” she muttered as she stepped aside.

“No! I-I mean, yes,” Rarity stammered out her reply. “It’s complicated.”

“Is that our little filly?” Cookie asked, tears forming at the corners of her eyes.

Twilight shook her head as she looked Sweetie over. “This is just a doll dressed up to look like her.” Then, she turned her gaze on Rarity, a dreadfully somber expression falling over her features. “Rarity, where is Sweetie Belle?”

Rarity felt all eyes on her. “It’s hard to explain,” she said as she thrust a hoof in the direction of the equoid, “but this is Sweetie Belle. There-there was this stallion, you see, and—”

“Yes, Short Circuit. I know,” Twilight said, glaring at Rarity. “I don’t know what he told you, but that—” Twilight nodded in the equoid’s direction “—is not Sweetie Belle.”

“That is Sweetie, and how do you even know about Short Circuit?” Rarity shot back.

Twilight squared up to Rarity. “Applejack pulled you out of his burning house! Then, you leave the hospital before you even have a chance to recover and—” Cutting off her own rant mid-sentence, Twilight took a step back as she took a long breath in and out. “I can’t begin to imagine what you’re going through, Rarity. This is a very difficult time for all of us. It’s just I… Where is Sweetie Belle?”

Rarity’s eyes flitted about, trying to remember her rescue from the burning basement. The memories eluded her. “I-I-I, no,” Rarity stammered as she snapped back to the present. A few coughs into her foreleg, and Rarity again pointed to the equoid. “This is Sweetie Belle. I know it sounds daft, but Short Circuit really saved her. She’s… Sweetie’s in there.”

Hondo took a tentative step toward the equoid. “I-is it really possible?”

“Yes!” Rarity quickly replied. “Just… here.” Jumping to close the small gap between her and Sweetie Belle, she reached out to shake Sweetie’s shoulder. “Wake up, Sweetie.”

She did not stir.

“C-come on, Sweetie…” Rarity urged again, this time using both of her forehooves to shake the equoid. “Sweetie Belle! Wake up!”

Using a firm hoof, Twilight pulled Rarity away from her desperate ministrations. “Rarity. Stop this.” Twilight pulled Rarity’s chin, forcing Rarity to lock eyes with her. “What Short Circuit promised you is impossible,” she said, her voice resolute. “There is no technology, no magic, that can even come close to doing what he says he did. Trust me. I would know.”

“But he did it!” Rarity snapped back. “I heard her. I know-I know she’s in there!”

Twilight kept Rarity from turning back to the equoid by grabbing her hoof. “Rarity, look at yourself,” she firmly said. “Really look.”

“I-I-I know that I’m frazzled,” Rarity muttered, again looking over at the equiod. “I haven’t really slept, and I know I must look a sight, and—”

Twilight tugged Rarity’s foreleg, eliciting a yelp of pain from the weary Unicorn. “Rarity! Look at yourself.”

Finally looking down at her leg, she found a pink smear across her fetlock. Before she could puzzle it for too long, another coughing fit forced her to pull it in to cover her mouth. Then, when she again raised it to examine the splotch, she found a bevy of new, red flecks. The room seemed to spin as the realization washed over her. “H-how?”

“You need to go back to the hospital, but we need to know where Sweetie Belle is. Please, Rarity. We want to help you,” Twilight begged.

“Let me,” Cookie said, pushing Twilight aside. Wasting no time, she stared into her daughter’s bleary eyes. “Where is Sweetie…” Stopping momentarily to clear her throat, she continued, “Where is her body?”

Though Rarity stifled her mouth, she couldn’t stop herself from looking over at the bundle on the couch. Her mother darted there, but Rarity made no move to stop her. She just hung her head. At the sound of her mother’s anguished cry, Rarity’s ears pinned back and she knew that her sister’s body had been discovered. In her heart, she knew that she would have to deal with it, but she hoped so much that she would prove Sweetie Belle was okay before then. Why didn’t she stir?

“Mother, you have to understand—” Rarity stopped mid sentence when she looked up to find that her mother wasn’t there. In place of her parlor, Rarity found herself in a hospital room with Twilight. 

Twilight fixed her with a hard glare. “I’m sorry,” she said, her voice firm. “I know you’re worried about your family, but you need to worry about yourself, first.”

Rarity reared up before stomping both her forehooves on the cold tile. “They don’t understand! You-you don’t understand!”

“You know what, I don’t,” Twilight retorted. “I can’t even imagine. But, what I do understand is that, if you keep up like this, no doctor in Equestria will be able to save you. Just like Sweetie Belle.”

Raising her hoof, Rarity swung at Twilight only to have her hoof stop an inch short, wrapped in purple magic. With an unladylike grunt, she tugged on her leg, but it wouldn’t budge. “Let. Me. Go.”

Twilight stepped closer, bringing her muzzle a hair’s breadth from Rarity. She met Rarity’s icy glare with a firm stare of her own. “No. You are my friend, Rarity. I will never let you go. Not if it means letting you destroy yourself.”

The magic faded, and Rarity withdrew her hoof, ignoring the flitting urge to strike Twilight. “If only you’d have gone so far to save Sweetie,” she retorted, stepping by Twilight and toward the door. Before she could make it more than a step, a nurse and doctor appeared in the doorway, blocking the only exit.

Rarity refused to turn around and face Twilight. Looking down at her foreleg, she felt her breath slip away at the sight of the bloody smear. Unable to help herself, she covered her mouth as another coughing fit overtook her. “You can’t…” Rarity gasped in between her coughs. “You can’t keep me here.”

Twilight stepped back in front of Rarity, her steely glare never leaving Rarity’s eyes. “Rarity, you will stay here until the doctors give you a clean bill of health, or I will find a way to keep you here. Don’t make me do that.”

Too short of breath to argue further, Rarity relented.







With all the speed of a glacier, a menagerie of doctors and nurses spent eternal hours just to tell Rarity she was having lung problems thanks to all the smoke she’d inhaled. Worse, she couldn’t get anypony to tell her when she would be cleared to leave. Every minute here was torture. Her parents had to be heartbroken thinking that Sweetie had perished completely. Twilight refused to listen to reason and she dragged her away before she could explain to her parents that Sweetie had survived. 

She couldn’t take much more waiting. When she’d given in to Twilight’s demands, she was certain that they’d release her in a matter of minutes. Minutes turned to hours, and now threatened to keep her overnight if she stayed much longer. If the next doctor or nurse wouldn’t give her the okay to leave, she’d leave on her own.

When the door opened, an unfamiliar face in a white coat stepped in. With a flash of a smile, the black stallion with an icy blue mane walked up and grabbed Rarity’s chart. “So, this is the mare so eager to leave,” he said in way of a greeting as he flipped through the chart. As he set the chart aside, his smile only grew. “Well, have I got some good news for you.”

Rarity sat up. “I can leave?”

“Not yet,” he said. Before Rarity could protest, he held up a hoof to stop her. “You’ll be clear to leave after pharmacy gets you an inhaler and we will need you to fill out your discharge paperwork.” Sliding the chart back into place, he slipped a small notebook from his white coat and took a seat at Rarity’s bedside. “Oh, and I do need to be able to give you a clean bill of health.” 

“My breathing is much better now, thank you,” Rarity replied in a rush as she threw her sheets aside.

The stallion shook his head. “I’m not that kind of doctor,” he said, the enigmatic smile never leaving his face. “I’m the psychiatrist here. The name’s Ephemeral Mote, but everypony just calls me Mo.”

A low growl escaped Rarity’s throat despite the burning pain the action caused. “Twilight put you up to this, didn’t she?”

“Anypony who has suffered a great loss needs somepony to talk to. Not just friends of the Princess,” Mo replied, his voice even.

“That’s not what I meant!” Rarity retorted.

Mo wasn’t fazed by the hostile tone. Still smiling, he replied, “What did you mean, then?”

A long breath in and Rarity let out an unladylike sigh. She sat back in her bed. “Fine. If you have something to say, then say it. The sooner I get home, the better.”

“This isn’t a lecture, Rarity,” Mo said with a shake of his head. “It’s a conversation.” 

Frowning, Rarity crossed her forelegs over her chest. “I’ve been here for hours. Sweetie could’ve already woken up, all alone, by now. Please, let’s just get this over with.”

“Sweetie?” Grabbing a quill in his aura, he grabbed a pad and scribbled a bit. “You mean Sweetie Belle? Your little sister.”

“Yes, of course.”

Mo flipped back through his notes. “I-I could’ve sworn you knew… That’s…” Clearing his throat, he leaned in. “I don’t know how to tell you this, but—”

“She’s not dead,” Rarity said, purposefully cutting him off. 

Mo’s expression faltered ever-so-slightly as he flipped through his notes. Clearing his throat, that saccharine smile reappeared in all its glory. “Why don’t you tell me about Sweetie Belle, then? How is she?”

Rarity’s voice died in her throat. That was one response she did not expect. Did he really believe her, or was this just some sort of mind game? “Sweetie is… If I have any luck at all, Sweetie is still sleeping. Celestia help her if she’s woken up alone.” Rarity buried her face in her hooves. “I’d never forgive myself if she wakes up like that. All alone. I’ll never forgive Twilight!”

“Forgiveness is important,” Moe said, reaching out a hoof to pull Rarity’s legs away from her face. “Is that not what you seek?”

“No,” Rarity replied, swiping away the few tears that escaped her eyes. “I would never hope for Sweetie to forgive me. Not after what I’ve done.”

Mo nodded as he scribbled in his notebook. “You are referring to your abduction of Sweetie from the hospital.”

“No,” Rarity curtly replied. “That was a means to an end.”

“And what end was that?”

“To save Sweetie Belle, of course!” Rarity threw her forehooves into the air. “Nopony here was going to even try to save her.”

A grimace tugged at Mo’s warm smile. “There is only so much that can be done.”

“Hmph.” Rarity again tugged her forelegs against her chest. “Twilight could’ve saved her if she really wanted, and nopony here even wanted to try.” Her teeth ground together as her gaze fell. “Even mother and father…” When Rarity’s gaze again rose to meet Mo’s, he found a wild glare in Rarity’s ice-blue eyes. “I refused.”

A few more notes, and Mo looked back to the torrential storm behind Rarity’s eyes. “So you took her.”

“I saved her,” Rarity replied. After a moment, she looked away as she added, “Most of her.”

“I’m sorry, ‘most of her?’”

Again tugging her lip between her teeth, Rarity relented a nod. “Her… her body was too far gone. But her mind, her soul, they’re okay now.”

Mo couldn’t keep his warm expression. An eyebrow crept up as he sent a puzzled look Rarity’s way. “How?”

Rarity shook her head. “I don’t know. Ask Short Circuit. He’s back in his room, I’m sure.”

“Okay,” Mo replied, his pen twirling across the paper at a rapid pace. “What do you know?”

“I know Sweetie is trapped in that awful equoid, and if she has to wake up like that alone…” Rarity trembled as she seethed. “Let me leave already!”

Instead of addressing the last comment, Mo stepped back to Rarity’s previous statement. “‘Equoid?’ What is that?”

Rarity shook her head. “I don’t know!” she snapped. “Go ask Short Circuit.”

Breathing a deliberate breath in and out, Mo replied in a calm manner, “Please, Rarity. I’m just trying to help you.”

The door to the room opened before Rarity could retort. “Hey, uh, am I interruptin’?” Applejack asked as she stepped in.

“Applejack!” Rarity greeted as she sat up higher. “Please tell this-this… him that I’m good to go home!” 

Applejack sent Mo a puzzled look, and he just shook his head in turn. “This is a private session—”

“No,” Rarity cut him off. “I’m done with all of this. I won’t wait here another minute. Sweetie’s almost certainly woken up by now.”

“What?” Applejack asked as her eyes widened. “Do you mean it worked? What about the fire?”

“She survived,” Rarity replied as she got up, brushing by Mo. “She’s back at the boutique. All alone.”

Mo quickly rounded Rarity, cutting her off at the door. “Please, Miss Rarity. I implore you to stay for the session.”

Rarity got right up in his face. “Let me assure you, I am quite finished here.”

“Rare, if you gotta stay, you probably should,” Applejack interrupted. “I can go and sit with Sweetie Belle if’n yah need me to.”

“You don’t understand,” Rarity said, turning back to Applejack. “She hasn’t woken up yet. She’s going to awaken in…in that thing! I have to be there for her!”

Biting her lip, Applejack looked back over to Mo, who begged with his eyes for Applejack to convince Rarity to stay. With a sigh, Applejack shook her head. “Rarity seems fine to me. Is she really so sick that she’s gotta stay?”

Mo sent a glance to Rarity before turning back to Applejack. “Physically, she has recovered well, but there are concerns regarding her…emotional wellbeing.”

“She’s just scared about her sister,” Applejack replied. “Anypony would be.”

Inching closer to Applejack, Mo held up a hoof to hide his voice from Rarity. “Sweetie Belle has passed. They brought her body back here to the morgue earlier today.”

Applejack raised an eyebrow. Making no effort to hide the volume in her voice, Applejack said, “Didn’t Rarity tell yah? She and that creepy Unicorn fella put Sweetie in that big doll-thing.”

Mo’s head whipped around, looking between Applejack and Rarity several times before settling his gaze on Applejack. “Y-you’re telling me that Sweetie really is in this 'equoid' thing?” While Applejack just nodded, Rarity’s eyes rolled. “Okay, okay.” Mo relented, stepping away from the door. “I’ll let you off the hook, but you have to promise to come back tomorrow for a follow-up, okay?”

Mo barely heard an affirmative from Rarity before she bolted, with Applejack close behind her. Pulling out his notepad, he scribbled a single word. “Who am I supposed to talk to about this?” he wondered aloud, his pen tapping on a single underlined word: Necromancy?







“Finally!” Rarity all-but-shouted as she raced down the hall. “Just wait, Sweetie. I’m coming.”

“Hold your horses, Rarity!” Applejack shouted after her. Rarity slowed to a brisk trot to allow Applejack to catch up. “I get it that you’re rearin’ to get back to Sweetie, but I’m really worried about all this. Just what the hay is goin’ on?”

“First, everypony refuses to help save Sweetie. Now, it’s as if they’re all actually wanting her to be dead,” Rarity replied.

“I just don’t know that I really believe all that,” Applejack replied.

Rarity tried to retort, but she stumbled. Halting from a trot to a walk Rarity spasmed as powerful coughs rocked her body. Finally, she had to stop altogether as she tried to get air into her lungs that wasn’t immediately expelled. 

“E-easy now,” Applejack said, rushing to Rarity’s side. Giving her a few well-intentioned whacks on the back, Applejack asked, “Do you need me to get a doctor?”

Giving her head a shake, Rarity managed to quell the fit, if only a bit. Rarity wheezed and gasped between a few, intermittent coughs. “I-I’m okay,” she choked out.

“You gotta take it slow, Rare,” Applejack said as she rubbed Rarity’s back. “You’re not in any shape to be rushin’ about.”

Rarity pushed Applejack away as she stood. “I don’t have time to sit here and rest.” With a few more coughs, she again started off, though this time, she kept her pace restrained to a trot. “Sweetie is waiting for me.”

“I thought you’d be here sooner.”

The familiar voice stopped Rarity in her tracks, causing the trailing Applejack to crash into her flank. “Short Circuit?” she asked, turning her head to find herself outside his room. Inside, the tech-savvy Unicorn lay hooked up a machine and several tubes leading to a menagerie of bags of various colors.

“Something about that guy rubs me the wrong way,” Applejack muttered, her ears falling back as she looked to the gravely ill Unicorn.

Rarity rolled her eyes at the comment. Instead of addressing Applejack, she put on a smile for Short Circuit. “I wish I could stay and chat, but I really must get back to Sweetie as soon as possible.”

Short Circuit raised an eyebrow. “You weren’t here to ask me how to wake her up?”

Her eyes widening, she glanced over at Applejack to find her friend giving her a puzzled expression she was sure matched her own. “Just what are you saying?” Rarity asked, her curiosity compelling her into the room. 

Struggling to sit up, Short Circuit gave Rarity a weak, pained smile. “You haven’t tried to rouse her, yet?”

The memory of her trying to wake Sweetie to show everypony that she was okay flashed through her mind. “I… I thought she just needed to, well, charge.”

Short Circuit just breathed out a weak chuckle. “That’s a part of it, I guess.”

“And the other part?” Rarity all-but demanded.

Resting his head back, Short Circuit closed his sunken eyes. “Do you remember when we went back in after the fire? She started up, but the soot would’ve caused a whole mess of problems if she’d stayed like that, so I issued a command to put her in an emergency shutdown state.”

“What the hay is he goin’ on about?” Applejack asked, maintaining a healthy gap between herself and the bedridden Unicorn.

“No idea,” Rarity flatly replied.

With a sigh, Short Circuit opened his eyes. Then he reached over and pulled out a notebook. Flipping through several pages filled with scribbled ink, he found a page and ripped it free. “I designed the equiod with several voice-activated emergency commands. They have a variety of effects on the equoid and, in some cases, the soul sphere itself.” The page floated over in front of Rarity. “This is only a few of the commands, but a few that I think might be useful to you. The first one is the same that I used to put her into an unwakeable sleep. The only way to override it is with that second phrase that forces her to wake.”

“S-so Sweetie Belle will only wake up if I say this out loud?” Rarity asked as she took the sheet in her own aura.

“That command will always rouse her, so long as her battery or capacitor hold a charge,” Short Circuit explained. “After that, she should be able to sleep and wake on her own.”

Rarity gave him a half-hearted nod as she skimmed the scribbles, trying to make out not only what the words said, but what they meant. “Is there anything else I need to know?”

Short Circuit held up the notebook. “I’m getting down everything I can think of when I can,” he said as he idly flipped a few pages with his magic. “I’ll give it to you when I’m finished.”

After breathing a sigh of relief that Sweetie had not awaken all alone, a surge of anger overtook her. “Why didn't you tell me all this before!”

Short Circuit responded with a nearly imperceptible shake of his head. “It didn't strike me that she was locked in suspension until after I got back here.”

Rarity held a hoof to her forehead. Trying to talk to Short Circuit about all this was turning out to be about as productive as talking to Twilight about chemistry or physics. Just thinking about the lavender Alicorn made Rarity’s jaw clench. Blowing out an angry puff of air through her nose, Rarity did her best to excuse herself politely, “Well, thank you for giving me this.” She held up the paper for emphasis. “But I really must be going. I simply cannot wait any longer to start fixing all the damage that’s been done.”







After leaving the hospital, which took her far longer than she would have liked, Rarity started for home with Applejack in tow. Rarity found herself limited to an ambling pace. Even with the inhaler they’d given her before her discharge, she didn’t dare risk another episode that might give Applejack a reason to drag her back to the hospital. At least home wasn’t far, and Sweetie wouldn’t awaken all alone. 

Still, even with her house close to the hospital, the slow walk seemed to drag on forever. For the first time since what seemed like an eternity, Rarity’s mind wasn’t screaming with dread and fear. A glance to her likewise silent companion, and Rarity found herself fixated on Applejack’s mane, laying as always, haphazardly over her back secured by a single, red band. The only thing different was the tinge of black at the tips. A light singe was nothing compared the horror of her own mane—it would have to be cropped for sure. It would take weeks for it to regrow to its former glory, if not longer. Rarity slowed to a stop as she tugged her hair to see it with her own eyes. Sure enough, all the ends were burnt and split. Up until now, it hadn’t even registered with her just how awful she must’ve looked.

“You okay, Rare?” Applejack asked, stopping as well.

Again, Rarity’s eyes fixated at the tip of her ponytail. “I… I’m terribly sorry, Applejack.” The orange mare just scratched her head, tilting her Stetson just a bit. “You saved my life, and I never stopped to thank you. I… Thank you.” Rarity reached over, wrapping her hooves around Applejack’s neck. “Thank you.”

Letting out a chuckle, Applejack ran a soothing hoof down Rarity’s back. “Shucks, I wasn’t even sure if yah knew I was the one that went and pulled yah outta there. And hey, it ain't like ya’ll wouldn't’a done the same for me.”

“Without a second thought,” Rarity replied, giving Applejack a good squeeze before letting go. “Still, you saved my life. Honestly, I don't know if Short Circuit would’ve been able to save Sweetie without me. So, in a way, you saved her, too.”

Applejack grabbed her hat, pulling the brim low. “Yah give me too much credit. This whole Sweetie Belle thing… You’re the one that saw it through.”

Rarity shook her head as she got up. “There’s still more to see,” she said, turning her gaze to the boutique down the street. “It’s not through, yet.”