//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: A bowl, an Aquarium for Ray and more! // Story: I Miss You... // by Twilight Star //------------------------------// When morning came, Sunset Shimmer felt the rays of sunlight on her face. She took the pillow to cover her face. She didn’t want to have to get up yet.  Just five more minutes ...  Sunset Shimmer turned to the right, with the pillow in her face. After minutes of sleeping, she heard the alarm ringing. She moaned tiredly and turned it off. She got up from the bed and made the bed before picking up her backpack, going to the door to open it, taking the key and closing the door with the key. She knew what she was going to do today. She would go to a pet store to buy a dog bowl for her gecko. But first, she was going to eat the breakfast the hotel was going to offer. She decided to go down stairs because she thought it would be faster. But when Sunset goes up to her room, she would use the elevator. When she reached the ground floor, Sunset saw the mare who helped her yesterday. Sunset Shimmer smiled at the mare before heading in the direction of breakfast. But there was a problem, she didn’t know where it was.  “Excuse me. My name is Sunset Shimmer, and I would like you to help me,” asked Sunset Shimmer.  The mare stopped what she was doing and looked at Sunset Shimmer. “Ah. Hi, Sunset. Need help?”  “Yes. I don’t know where they eat the breakfast,” replied Sunset Shimmer.  “Follow me,” said the mare, before showing the way. Sunset Shimmer followed. It didn’t take long for them to arrive at the site. Sunset Shimmer thanked the mare before going to sit at the table. Everypony looked at Sunset Shimmer, not happily.  “It took a long time to wake up, huh?” said a mare of yellow color with purple mane. She was wearing a pink hat and didn’t look happy.  “Yeah. Why did you take too long?” asked a stallion in a black hat, not happy.  Sunset Shimmer didn’t know that Manehattan’s ponies were punctual. They didn’t accept ponies who woke up late. If Sunset Shimmer knew about it or if they had informed her, Sunset would have made an effort. She knew she should be sorry. “Sorry, everypony. It’s just that I wasn’t born in Manehattan. I’m sorry for not knowing your customs.”  The ponies were no longer serious. They looked at Sunset Shimmer with a look of understanding. “Sunset, we should be sorry for not knowing that you weren’t born in Manehattan. Where were you born?” asked a stallion with fur-colored fur and brown mane.  Sunset Shimmer smiled for their understanding. “Canterlot.”  Now the speaker was a mare with red glasses, blue fur and pink mane. “I was also born in Canterlot. When I came here, I got used to the customs and managed to live here.”  “Good for you,” said Sunset Shimmer, before sitting down on a chair.  It looked like there was a banquet. Because there was a lot of food: There was strawberry pudding, cake, milk, bread, toast, butter, curd, cheese, water, cookies, sandwich and many other delicious things. Sunset Shimmer took a toast from a basket with a blue towel with white stripes, brought the curd close to it and a knife. When she brought it to her, Sunset Shimmer curd cheese on toast before eating. She couldn’t deny that it was delicious. How long has it been since she ate toast?    When she finished eating, Sunset Shimmer said, “goodbye” to the ponies that were still eating at the table. She took Ray out of her backpack and left the hotel to go to a Pet shop, “today Ray, I’m going to fix up your Aquarium and your bowl,” said Sunset Shimmer before starting to walk towards the Pet shop.  As Sunset Shimmer walked, she observed the streets, shops and buildings of Manehattan. But she was more looking at the buildings, which were quite tall. No matter how many times I look at these buildings, they will always make me feel that they seem to be quite tall.  She was so distracted, she ended up hitting a wall. Sunset Shimmer put the hoof on the cheek.  I think I should stop being so distracted and look ahead.  Although her cheek is still aching, she took the hoof out of her cheek and took a few steps back to see the wall she hit was the wall in the Pet shop. Sunset Shimmer smiled.  Found it!  With happiness, she entered the store. She just hoped it had what she was looking for. Sunset Shimmer entered the Pisces session, because there were aquariums there. She needed to find the right size for the Aquarium. Lucky she read about geckos and knew that the Aquarius size for a gecko was between eighteen and thirty-eight l. Somepony needed help her for showing the Aquariums. Because she has never been to an Equestria Pet shop before.  “Do you need help, miss?”  Sunset Shimmer turned on her back and saw a mare with yellow fur and blue mane. “Yes. I need an Aquarium for my gecko. Do you know where in the store is?”  “Yes. Follow me,” replied the mare before to start walking. Sunset Shimmer followed. “I must admit. I’ve never seen a pony have a gecko as a pet.”  “Before I chose the gecko, I was unsure whether I should have a dog, cat, turtle or rabbit. But I realized that these animals were not ideal for me to have as a pet. But when I saw the gecko, I knew it was the ideal pet for me,” replied Sunset Shimmer.  “Did you bring your gecko?” asked the mare.  “Yes. He’s in my backpack.”  “Can I see him?”  “Of course,” replied Sunset Shimmer, before opening her backpack and picking up Ray with her magic. “He’s called Ray.”  The mare smiled. “Until a gecko he’s cute”  Sunset Shimmer smiled. “Thanks.”  When they arrived at the Aquarium site, the mare delivered an Aquarium without water. “Here is the Aquarium” Sunset Shimmer caught the Aquarium with her magic. “Thanks. Do you have a dog bowl?”   “Yes. Wait a minute.” the mare went out to get the bowl. Meanwhile, Sunset looked at what was in the store around, but without leaving the place.   “Here it is!” The mare returned with a light blue bowl.   Sunset Shimmer took the bowl with her magic. “Thanks. Now I will pay and then find a low-heat lamp.”   Sunset Shimmer went to the cashier and placed the Aquarium and bowl in the cashier. “I will take just that.”  “It’s fifteen bits,” said the cashier pony.  Sunset Shimmer took fifteen bits out of his backpack and paid. The cashier’s pony took the fifteen bits with its magic. “Thank you.”  “You’re welcome,” said Sunset Shimmer before leaving the store. Ray was on her back.  Sunset Shimmer now intended to return to the hotel to place the Aquarium in his room. Later, she planned to buy a low-voltage heating lamp to control the temperature; so that the temperature would be ideal, after that, buy a newspaper to be the substrate of the Aquarium, put plants and hiding places, she feared that she would have to travel through Equestria to find it, but maybe she could find it in the market in Manehattan, find a cork for Ray to hide in and buy a spray bottle. It was going to be a long day, but Sunset Shimmer knew that after she finished doing that, she could go looking for Celestia. She just wasn’t looking for Celestia yet because she didn’t want Ray to die because she didn’t take care of him properly.  When Sunset Shimmer arrived at the hotel, she got on the elevator and went to her floor to go to her room. It didn’t take long for her to reach her floor because there was no one in the elevator but her. The door opened and Sunset Shimmer got out of the elevator, went to his room, opened the door and placed the Aquarium on a table in his room. Now, she had many things to do today. Ray was on his back. Sunset Shimmer left the room, closed the door, and confidentially, she went downstairs to the ground floor. She was afraid that she wouldn’t be able to do all this and Ray would die because of her. Just thinking about it, she was already worried. She opened the door and found herself in the room where the mare who had shown her room before was. Sunset Shimmer left the hotel and went to a lamp store to find a heating lamp. She looked at the sky and noticed the sun. She didn’t know why but seeing the sun reminded her of Celestia. She hardly spent time with Celestia and now that she has retired, Sunset didn’t know if Celestia missed her. She tried not to cry, because she knew that the other ponies would wonder why she was crying. So she decided to go and do her chores right away and then regret later. She decided to run to the lamp store.  Come on. After you cry. Now you can’t.  As she ran, her eyes were closed and tears left her eyes.  Please, let me get to the store soon.  When Sunset Shimmer finally arrived at the store, she opened the door with the hoof. She realized that she had several lamps on. She didn’t know that ponies were so fond of leaving lamps and lights on.  “Do you need help, miss?”  Sunset Shimmer looked in the direction the voice was coming from and saw a mare not far from her. Sunset Shimmer approached the mare. “Yes. Do you have a heating lamp?”  The mare stroked her chin with a hoof before smiling and nodding. “Yes. I have. Wait here,” the mare opened a door with a hoof and went looking for the heating lamp. Because she knew that the heating lamp was not there. The lamp was inside another room in the store.  Meanwhile, Sunset Shimmer decided to look at the other lamps they had in the store. She couldn’t deny that the others were beautiful. She would even buy the others. But she wasn’t here to buy lamps for her, she was here to buy lamps for Ray’s Aquarium. But she knew that that wasn’t one of the only things she had to do. There were still many things for her to do today.  “Here is the heating lamp,” said the mare as she held the heating lamp with her magic and approached Sunset Shimmer.  Sunset Shimmer looked at the mare. “How much cost it?”  “Five bits, please,” replied the mare.  Sunset Shimmer opened his backpack, took out five bits and handed the mare. “Here it is.”  The mare, smiling, took the five bits with her magic. “Thank you. Here is your lamp,” she handed the heating lamp to Sunset Shimmer. Sunset Shimmer took the heat lamp with her magic.  “You’re welcome. Well, I’m going,” said Sunset Shimmer, before leaving the store. Now she had to go to a newsstand to buy a newspaper. But first, she had to go to the hotel to put the heating lamp on the table.  I just hope it’s still morning. When I arrive at the hotel, I will see what time it is.  When Sunset Shimmer arrived at the hotel, she looked at the clock on the wall. She realized it was nine o’clock in the morning. Great. She still had plenty of time. Sunset Shimmer pushed the button for the elevator to go down. And luckily for her, the elevator until it went down fast, she went inside and pressed the button that led to the floor where her room was. When she got to her floor, Sunset got out of the elevator and went to her room and opened the door. She put the things she bought on the table. She still had a lot to do today. She blew out a breath before leaving the room, closing the door and walking down the stairs. She was walking, but it looked like she was running. After arriving on the ground floor, she, with Ray at her back, Sunset left the hotel and went to look for a newsstand.  As she walked, she looked at the sun. The sun wasn’t yet on the horizon. It was probably eleven hours and thirty minutes. When she arrived at the newsstand, she looked for a newspaper. It took ten seconds for her to find it. She picked up the newspaper with her magic and went to the pony that owned the stall. The pony was a brown-haired stallion with yellow mane and the Cutie Mark was from a newspaper and magazine. “I’m taking this newspaper,” Sunset Shimmer pointed to a newspaper next to her. In the newspaper, there was a photo of Twilight Sparkle in its adult form.  The stallion looked at Sunset Shimmer. “It’s ten bits.”  Sunset Shimmer took ten bits out of her backpack and handed them to the stallion before leaving the stall. She kept the newspaper in her backpack. That done, she ran to the hotel. As she ran, more ponies saw Sunset Shimmer run. When she arrived at the hotel, she said “hi” to the pony owner of the hotel and took the elevator. She started to think about what she needed to do today. She had to put plants and hiding places for Ray to sleep through the night and buy a spray bottle. She planned to buy plants and hiding places at the Pet Shop. Because she was already beginning to imagine that doing it on her own would be very difficult than buying.  The elevator door opened and Sunset Shimmer got out of the elevator and went to her bedroom door. She took the key and opened the door. Then he closed the door and put things on the table. After she finished buying things, Sunset planned to fix Ray’s house. Sunset Shimmer took Ray with her magic. “come on, Ray. Soon, you’ll have your new home,” that said, she left the hotel, closed the door with key and went down the stairs. She was happy that she was almost finished with everything she needed for Ray. After she did that and tidied up Ray’s house, she could begin her search for Celestia.  When she reached the ground floor, she went to the hotel door. The hotel door was glass and transparent. She opened the door with a hoof and went towards the same Pet Shop that she bought the bowl and Ray’s Aquarium. She opened the store door with the hoof, the mare owner of the store smiled when she saw Sunset Shimmer. “Ah. Hi again, Sunset Shimmer. Do you need something?”  “Yes. Do you have plants and hiding places for geckos?” asked Sunset Shimmer.  “Yes. Wait here,” replied the mare, before walking. Sunset Shimmer was waiting in place.  Sunset Shimmer started looking around. She was surprised to see animals like: Dogs, cats and parrots trapped in a cage. Sunset Shimmer wondered how they managed to find the animals. Did they take it from the street. If so, it would make sense.  Sunset Shimmer heard footsteps and saw the mare holding the plants and hiding places for her gecko with her magic. Yes. She was a unicorn. Sunset Shimmer caught the gecko plants and hiding places with his magic. She went to the cashier, “I’ll just take this.”  “It’s five bits,” said the cashier’s mare.  Sunset Shimmer took five bits out of his backpack and handed them to the mare. The mare took the five bits with her magic. “Thank you very much.”  Sunset Shimmer smiled. “You’re welcome.”  Sunset Shimmer left the store and now planned to go and put what she bought in her room. By the time she passed, it must have been noon, that is, lunchtime. Well, she would find out as soon as she got to the hotel. When she arrived at the hotel, she smelled good food. Yes. It was really noon. At least, she could take a break. After eating, she would continue what she was doing. Sunset Shimmer opened the door with both hooves and saw that he had plenty of food. Parec there was a banquet. Sunset Shimmer approached the table and sat on a chair. An orange stallion with a yellow mane in a black hat and black coat looked at Sunset Shimmer. “At least you weren’t late for lunch. Can I know why a Manehattan pony is not on time?”  A yellow mare with a purple mane looked at the stallion, not happy. “Honey, be nice to her. She was not born in Manehattan.”  The stallion was sorry and looked at the mare. “I’m sorry, dear.”  As far as Sunset Shimmer could see, these two were married. She looked at the table and started to decide what to eat. On the table there were: Pasta, rice, beans, spinach, zucchini, carrots, salad, tomatoes, lettuce, pancakes, fruit juice, water and cucumber sandwiches. Sunset Shimmer took a spoon and picked up rice, beans and spinach on a plate before sitting down to eat.    When Sunset Shimmer finished eating, she left the hotel to do the last thing she needed for Ray’s house: A clean spray with no chlorine water. She just hoped there was a cleaning shop.  While Sunset Shimmer didn’t arrive at a cleaning shop, she thought about what she should do after she bought a spray bottle. Sunset Shimmer noticed something: As Ray was a gecko, it meant that if he fed on cockroaches, crickets, moth larvae. Sunset also needed a calcium supplement to put on the insects before she gave it to Ray, she didn’t know where and how she was going to find insects for her gecko, but that didn’t mean she would now abandon her gecko. Sunset Shimmer would continue to take care of Ray, but she would have liked to go to Everfree Forest to pick up insects for her gecko. A part of her wanted to go to Ponyville to go to the forest, but if she did, the hotel’s ponies would find it strange that the unicorn hadn’t returned. She needed to come up with an idea on how to resolve this issue of feeding Ray.  Sunset Shimmer looked ahead and saw a cleaning shop, she went into the store and went looking for a spray bottle.  “Do you need help, miss?”  Sunset Shimmer looked back and saw a yellow mare, with a blue mane and a purple outfit and glasses. The unicorn went to the mare. “Yes. I need a spray bottle.”  “Just a spray bottle?” asked the mare, to be sure.  “Yes. But the sprayer has to be clean and without chlorine water,” replied Sunset Shimmer.  “But why do you need a spray bottle?”  “I’m supposed to clean my gecko Ray’s aquarium once a day,” replied Sunset Shimmer.  The mare smiled. “Can I see him?”  “Sure.” Sunset Shimmer opened her backpack and took Ray with her magic.  “Is it him or her?” asked the mare.  “Him,” replied Sunset Shimmer.  “Can I pet him?”  “Yes.”  The mare stroked Ray’s head. Ray until he liked to be stroked. As she stroked the gecko, pink hearts appeared in Ray. When the mare finished stroking, she went looking for a spray bottle.  While Sunset Shimmer waited, she decided to think about how she should find insects for Ray. How would she do that? There was no forest in Manehattan. What would she do? Sunset Shimmer sat on the floor in thought.  “I found the spray bottle!” the mare ran to Sunset Shimmer with a sprinkler on her hooves.  When the mare got very close to her, Sunset Shimmer took the spray with her magic. “How much?”  “It’s three bits, please,” replied the mare.  Sunset Shimmer got up from the floor, took three bits out of his backpack and handed them to the mare.  The mare took the bits with a hoof. “Thanks.”  “You’re welcome.” Sunset Shimmer left the store while looking at the mare.  Upon leaving the store, Sunset Shimmer intended to buy the only thing missing: powdered calcium supplements. She just hoped she had that at the Manehattan vet.    When Sunset Shimmer arrived at the hotel, she took the elevator and went straight to her room. Sunset Shimmer looked at everything she bought: Aquarium, heating lamp, substrate also like newspaper, plants, hiding places, sprinkler and powdered calcium supplement. She started organizing things for Ray’s house. First, she took the aquarium with her magic, then took some sheets of the newspaper and put it inside the aquarium. That done, she took the plants and hiding places and put them inside, she put them not so close together, but also not so far apart. When finished, she placed the heating lamp on the right side of the aquarium to give it light. The spray bottle, calcium supplement and bowl were on the left side of the aquarium. Sunset then put Ray into the aquarium.  Sunset smelled food from the ground floor. Even though she was on the second floor, she could smell food from below. She looked at Ray. “Come on, Ray.” Sunset took the backpack , put the gecko and the map inside, left the room and closed the bedroom door. She wondered what she had for breakfast. Would it have the same thing as yesterday?  She decided to go down the stairs. As he went down, her thoughts were on what she would do after eating. Where should she go after that? Until she remembered something she needed to do that involved Ray: The food. Like Ray, he was a lark, he must eat insects. But until she noticed something. Ray was a large leopard. When she lived in Canterlot High, in a book she read about Larstix, she said that leopard geckos ate meat. But that was a problem, where would she find meat? Because practically, all Equestria ponies are herbivores. And now? What would she do? Sunset needed to come up with a solution. Who knows if she went to the Manehattan market tomorrow to find what she was looking for?  Upon arriving at the dining room, she realized that for some reason, she was the first to arrive. She didn’t know if it was because the others hadn’t arrived at the hotel or if they were at the hotel and didn’t know that the food was already on the table. But even with this doubt in mind, she approached the table to eat. She sat where she had vegetable soup. But before eating, she looked at the table to see if there was any meat around. Luckily, she saw a beef burger. Sunset ran over there and got the hamburger, took the meat and put it on the table, took a knife and fork and cut the meat into small pieces, took Ray out of the backpack and also put it on the table. Ray approached the small pieces of meat and started eating. Sunset, seeing that Ray could eat, started to eat too. While Sunset and Ray ate, the ponies of the apartment entered the dining room and sat on the chairs.    After five minutes, Sunset and Ray finished eating. Sunset put Ray into the backpack and left the room. As much as it is at night now, she didn’t intend to sleep yet. Upon reaching the second floor through the elevator, she opened the door with the key and entered directly. After that, she went to the balcony and watched the moon.  She blew out a breath. She never imagined that Celestia and Luna would retire. This was something she never imagined seeing in her life. She could understand why the princesses wanted to retire, but she never imagined that the princesses would actually do that and pass the throne on to Twilight. Was Sunset jealous of Twilight being named the princess of Equestria? No. Because since her reformation, she realized that Twilight deserved to be a princess more than she did. So, when she found Celestia, she would not ask Celestia to become a princess, as this would prove to Celestia that she hasn’t changed anything.  Sunset started to think about what she should do tomorrow. Tomorrow maybe she should go to the market to buy enough meat for her trips with Ray and give herself time to explore Manehattan to see if she can find Celestia and Luna. Tomorrow was going to be a hard day for her, just like today. But she was determined. She knew that if she had that, she would go far, no matter what happened in the days ahead.