//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3 
// Story: Sunset Shimmer and the Castle of Everfree 
// by HAKDurbin 
//------------------------------//

"Sunset, what's gotten into you?"
Sunset didn't say a word to Starlight since they got back into their car. She stared at the road with a look of determination in her eyes as she drove. Starlight grew more worried for her friend by the minute, as it looked to her like the amber woman was in her own world, not acknowledging that she was in the car with her. 
After an hour, Starlight noticed that they were driving by a sign that said, "City of Everfree: 2 miles." Starlight began to ease up, thinking that Sunset was finally taking them to where the counterfeit operations were, but then Sunset suddenly turned right on a separate road away from the city.
"Why aren't we going to the city?" Starlight asked. "I thought you said we were going to some castle."
"We are," Sunset replied. "This is a castle away from the city."
"And why are we going there?" Starlight asked.
"I need to find out something," Sunset answered. 
"What's that?" Starlight asked. "Does it have to do with the guy we tried to rescue?"
"Yes," Sunset said. "I want to know what he was doing with those -"
Sunset's voice died in her throat, and she looked past Starlight in shock. Starlight turned to where Sunset was looking to find that they were driving around a large lake. On the other side of the lake were the remains of a three-story castle. Sunset drove to the front entrance to the castle before she parked the car, turned it off, got out, and ran inside.
"Sunset, wait! Hold on!" Starlight called out.
But Sunset was already out of her line of sight. Starlight groaned, annoyed by her friend's odd behavior as she got out of the car. She looked around, noticing the castle’s roof was gone, plants covered the remains of the building, and a bird was building its nest on one of the windows. Then she looked above the front entrance and saw the same moon symbol that was on the ring. Starlight stared at the emblem befuddled before finally going inside.
"Sunset! Sunset, where are you?!" She called out. 
But instead of a reply, all Starlight heard was the sounds of birds chirping and the water smoothly flowing from the lake. She continued to look around until she found Sunset outside, walking through the remains of a garden from the other side of the building. She was staring at an old shack on the far other side of the property with a sad look. Starlight ran over to catch up with her, but before she could open her mouth, a female voice was calling out in a country accent. 
"Hey, what are y'all doing here?"
Sunset and Starlight turned to their right to find a woman around their age with pale, light grayish gamboge skin and grayish olive hair wearing a gray shirt, brown pants and coat, and a forest green hat standing several yards away from them. The woman looked at the two of them with a suspicious look while Sunset gave her a friendly smile.
"Hey, how goes it?" She asked. "I'm Sunset Shimmer, and this is my friend, Starlight Glimmer."
"Applejack," the woman replied bluntly. "Now, why are you here? Are ya a bunch of tourists or something?"
"Uh, something like that," Sunset replied. "Didn't this use to be the castle of the Lunar family?"
"What do ya mean 'used to?' It still is," Applejack said.
"If that's so, then what happened here?" Starlight asked.
Applejack frowned and said, "There was a fire a couple of years ago. It killed our prince and his wife."
Sunset gasped, and her eyes widened in shock, leaving Starlight confused with her behavior again.
"What about their son?" Sunset asked. 
"He's living with our ruler, Queen Adagio Dazzle," Applejack replied.
Sunset looked at Applejack in disbelief before running further into the garden. Starlight rolled her eyes, annoyed that Sunset was running off again before turning to Applejack.
"Thanks for the info. Sorry about your loss," she said.
"Appreciate it," Applejack said before turning to where Sunset went. "What's up with your friend?"
Starlight frowned and said, "That's what I want to know."
Starlight ran in the direction of where Sunset was until she found her standing on top of a stone wall. Several yards on Sunset's right was a tall clock tower. The water from the lake was flowing down to a tunnel underneath the tower. Starlight went up to the top of the wall and found they were on top of a dam. Beyond the dam was a more massive lake, and standing in the middle of it was a majestic castle over ten stories high and a small city next to it. There was also an aqueduct that connected the clocktower to a windmill on the castle wall. Starlight turned to Sunset, who was holding the ring in her hand and staring at the castle with a worried look.
"What happened to you, babe?" Sunset asked quietly.
Starlight raised her eyebrow, having never heard Sunset call someone "babe," and decided she had enough. She wrapped her arm around Sunset's neck from behind and pulled her into a headlock. 
"Starlight, what are you doing?" Sunset asked.
"Spill it, Sunset," Starlight commanded. "You've been acting weird ever since you saw that guy getting chased. It's like you completely forgot that we're supposed to go after the counterfeit money. Now, tell me what's going on."
"I haven't been acting weird," Sunset protested. "I had no idea that he was -"
But before Sunset could finish her sentence, Starlight grabbed her by the hair with her free hand and yanked it. Sunset yelped and tried to free her hair only for Starlight to pull harder. Unable to take it any longer, Sunset screamed, "Alright! Alright! I'll talk," and Starlight finally let go. The amber woman whimpered and rubbed her head before turning to Starlight, who looked at her with her arms crossed.
"I really didn't know who he was until after I saved him," she said. "But now that I do and based on what Applejack has told us, it looks like he and the Horse bills are linked."
"What are you talking about?" Starlight asked.
Sunset pointed at the city and said, "That over there is the capital of Everfree." 
"Okay," Starlight said. 
Sunset then pointed at the tall castle, saying, "And that over there is where the Celestial family rules the country. It used to be called the Castle of the Two Sisters; the royal family calls it the Castle of Celestia, but since it's part of the capital of the country, everyone else takes to calling it Castle Everfree."
"So?" Starlight asked impatiently.
"Castle Everfree is where the counterfeit money is being made," Sunset said.
"What?!" Starlight shouted. "You're telling me that the ruler of this land, this Queen Adagio Dazzle, is the person we're trying to take the operation from?"
"Pretty much," Sunset answered.
Starlight looked at Sunset and then the castle dumbfounded as she said, "Good grief, boss. I get that you love risks, but this is insane even for you."
"Yeah, well, I didn't think so the last time I was here," Sunset said.
"Wait. You mean you've tried it before?" Starlight asked. 
"Yup. It was about ten years ago," Sunset answered.
"Ten years ago? But that means you were only fifteen-years-old," Starlight said. "What possessed you to try to infiltrate a castle?"
"I was a very prideful girl," Sunset said. "I was already really skilled as a cat burglar for my age, stealing tons of money and jewels from places that had great security at the time. When I heard rumors about the royal family of Everfree being behind a scheme of making high-quality counterfeit money, I thought I could uncover the mystery and go down in history as the greatest thief who had ever lived."
"And that didn't happen. Did it?" Starlight asked, smirking.
Sunset chuckled sheepishly and said, "Nope. I think I was there for about five minutes before I set an alarm, and spotlights were all over me. I ran toward the wall to jump into the lake, but right as I was making the jump, I got hit by a bullet that barely missed my stomach."
Sunset lifted her shirt to show a scar. Starlight cringed at the sight of the nasty scar before she asked, "How did you survive?"
"Well, that's where our purple cutie comes in," Sunset said as she put her shirt down and looked at the small hill to the left of the dam.

*********************************************************************************************


I was swimming toward shore as fast as I could with one hand holding on to my stomach. Blood was still coming out of my body from both ends of the wound as I swam. I could hear sirens and guards shouting even though I was far away from the castle. Finally, I made it to the shore and crawled up the small hill near the dam until I found a bush to hide in. I lied down on my back, trying to put pressure on both sides of my wound, but I knew I was still losing blood fast. 
Suddenly, I found myself face to face with a brown collie that was barking at me. I heard the footsteps of a person running over to the dog and thought it was one of the guards until I heard the voice of a teenage boy.
"Hey, Winona, what are you barking at, girl?" He asked. "Is there a squirrel hiding over there or -?"
His voice died in his throat when he saw me lying on the ground. I looked up to see a purple boy with short black hair looking at me with bright emerald eyes. I gave him a weak smile and muttered, "What's up?" But he just looked at me shocked for a moment and ran away. At that point, I closed my eyes, thinking that he just left me to die. The last thing I heard before I blacked out was the sound of the dog still barking.
The next thing I knew, I was inside a small shack, lying on a bed. The collie was lying next to me on the bed, and the boy was sitting on a chair, reading a book. There were a gas lamp and a pitcher of water on a table standing beside his chair. I looked under the covers and found that I was in my undershirt, and there were bandages around my stomach. I tried to sit up until I felt a sharp pain in my stomach and plopped back down. My movement caught the dog woke up, and it started barking at me again, which caught the boy's attention.
"Easy, Winona. She's not going anywhere," he said, putting down his book before turning to me. "I'd stay down if I were you. You don't want your wounds to open up."
I let out a groan and asked, "Where am I?"
"You're in the old shack in my family's garden. It's half past one in the afternoon if you want to know," the boy answered as he poured a glass of water. "Here, drink this."
He lifted my head, and I drank the water before I asked, "Did you bring me here?"
"Sure did," the boy answered with a friendly smile. "You're lucky that Winona and I found you last night. If I hadn't decided to go on a nightly stroll, you would've died. Not to mention you would have been left to die or have your wound treated before getting arrested if anyone else found you. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that you're a thief with all the commotion at Castle Everfree, and you lying there dressed in black and bleeding."
"Did you bandage me up?" I asked.
"I did," he answered. "It's a good thing that my family's gardener, Granny Smith, taught me how, especially since I haven't needed to do it before."
I raised my eyebrow suspiciously and asked, "You didn't take advantage that I was out and see anything besides my stomach, did you?" 
The guy's purple face turned beet red, and he waved his hands, shouting, "No! Good golly, I would never do that!"
I chuckled at his reaction and eased up, knowing that he meant it.
"Alright then, where's my shirt?" I asked.
He scoffed and said, "It's hanging by the door, but it won't do you any good. I could wash off all the blood, but I doubt anything can be done about those bullet holes even if I told Granny Smith about you and asked her to fix it. I'll have to head to town and buy you a new one."
"No one else knows that I'm here?" I asked.
"Nope. Just me and Winona," he replied. "As I said, if anyone else knew that you are here, you wouldn't be so lucky. That's why I hid you. No one uses the shack anymore except me, so you're safe here."
 I smirked and raised my eyebrow again as I asked, "Why did you save me even though I'm a thief? Did you think you had a moral obligation or was it just because I'm pretty?"
"I saved you because it was the right thing to do," the guy answered before his cheeks turned red, and he looked away, saying. "Though I will admit that you are pretty. Uh, I mean beautiful. Very beautiful. The most beautiful girl I - ugh."
The purple boy turned his back on me, shyly with his head down. I snorted out a laugh until the pain in my stomach forced me to stop.
"You don't talk to girls very much, do you?" I taunted.
"Not usually," he confessed. 
"I thought so," I said, smirking. "Though I guess in your defense, it's not every day that you meet a hottie like me and have to hide her because she's a criminal."
"Heh. I can't say that's something my tutor talks about whenever she gives me lessons on social interaction," he said. 
I continued to smirk for a moment before I gave him a friendly smile and said, "Well, in any case, thank you for the compliment and for saving me."
He turned around to face me again, and he smiled and said, "You're welcome."
For what felt like a minute, we just stared at each other. The guy looked deep into my eyes, and I felt mesmerized by his until I realized what was happening, and I shook my head. I tried to think of a way to change the subject until I saw his book on his chair.
"So, you're a bookworm, huh?" I asked.
"Yeah, I am," he said. "I come to this shack a lot to read."
"Oh yeah? What are you reading?" I asked.
He picked up the book and said, "It's called The Tale of Flaming Arrow and Silver Gleam. It's a fantasy adventure story about a warrior named Flaming Arrow who falls in love with a princess named Silver Gleam. Her father, the king, sends Flaming Arrow on a quest to steal a powerful jewel from an evil sorcerer to win Silver Gleam's hand in marriage. But then he gets captured by the evil sorcerer, so Silver Gleam decides to bravely sneak into the sorcerer's lair so she could steal the jewel herself and save the man she loves against her father's wishes."
"Ah, a story where the lady takes matters into her own hands. I like this Silver Gleam already," I said with a grin.
The guy chuckled and said, "Yeah, she's my favorite character in the story. I just love how she is facing all of these terrible challenges despite not being a warrior."
"Sounds great and all, but I'm interested in the part where she steals this jewel," I said.
The guy smirked at me, amused with my comment. Then his face became serious, and he asked, "Tell me. Why did you try to break into Castle Everfree? I would think that everyone knows that stealing from that place is impossible."
"I love taking risks," I said proudly. "Life's more fun that way. You could say I just go from one adventure to the next, not knowing how things are gonna turn out."
The purple guy smiled and said, "That sounds like fun. I wish I knew what that was like."
"Is that why you like to read your books? Because you want to go on adventures?" I asked.
"Kinda," he answered. "Sometimes, I want to write my own adventure stories, but it's hard to do when I don't have any experience."
"That does sound important," I said. 
He nodded before he asked, "Do you have any particular goals besides just stealing?"
I shrugged and said, "If I do, I guess it would be to become famous for being a great thief and then retire filthy rich after I've had my fun."
"And I suppose retiring involves living on a private island with a mansion or something like that?" He asked.
I gave him a skeptical look, and I said, "That sounds stupid cliche, but I admit that sounds nice."
"That sounds lonely," he said.
"What can I say? I'm a girl who likes being alone," I replied. "Besides, it's not like I have any friends or family."
The guy gave me a sympathetic look and said, "Well, maybe I could be your friend."
I snorted out a laugh and said, "Seriously? You want to befriend a thief?"
"Why not?" He challenged. "I don't think anyone should be lonely. Not even a thief."
"And how do you expect that to work out?" I asked.
"I don't know, but I'd like to find out," he said. "I guess you could say it would be an adventure to try to be a good friend to a thief like yourself. It may work out well, and it might get ugly, but I'm willing to give it a try if you are."
The room was silent after he made his case. I couldn't tell if he was being sincere or just saying anything that came out of his head. On the other hand, he was caring enough to save my life and keep my presence hidden. Ultimately, I decided to take a chance if for no other reason than to amuse myself while I was stuck there, healing.
"You know what? Why not?" I said. "Name's Sunset Shimmer. What's yours?"
The purple guy smiled and said, "My name is Rough Draft. Rough Draft the third of the Lunar family."


********************************************************************************************


"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Rough Draft of the Lunar family?" Starlight asked. "Does that make him royalty?"
"Yup," Sunset answered with a smirk. "He's the son of the prince that Applejack was talking about, which makes him a prince too."
"How are Rough Draft and his daddy royalty?" Starlight asked.
Sunset turned her head to look at Castle Everfree and said, "Remember when I said that two princesses from the Canterlot royal family founded this country?"
"Yeah," Starlight answered. 
"Their names were Princess Celestia and Princess Luna," Sunset explained. "They ruled together as the first queens of Everfree. So, by being a descendant of Queen Luna, that makes Rough Draft a prince. Queen Adagio is in the Celestial family, so that means she's a descendant of Queen Celestia."
"I see," Starlight said. "So how come Rough Draft's family doesn't get to rule the land with this Adagio Dazzle?"
"I don't remember the whole story, but sometime after the queens passed away, their families fought for complete control over the kingdom," Sunset explained. "Eventually, the Celestial family won the war, and has ruled the land ever since while the Lunar family lived over here well-endowed but with little to no political power."
"Well-endowed, huh?" Starlight said with a smirk. "Sounds like you had a good opportunity to steal some decent dough from this prince's family while he was trying to be your friend."
"I guess, but that isn't what ended up happening," Sunset said. "In fact, we actually did become friends."
"For real?" Starlight asked, dumbfounded.
"For real," Sunset replied. "He read to me when I was healing, and I would tell him about my early adventures as a thief. Over time, after I had healed, I started to enjoy Rough Draft's company and secretly visited him on occasion when I wasn't off stealing somewhere outside of the country. He was fun to talk to, he was passionate about his hobbies, and he was kind to a fault." She paused for a moment before smirked and said, "Not to mention it was cute when he would blush every time I teased him about how he was in the presence of a good-looking girl like me."
"When you put it that way, it sounds like he had a thing for you," Starlight said.
"Oh, he did," Sunset said. "He didn't want to admit it for the sake of our friendship, but it was only a matter of time."
"And you had to let the poor guy down, right?" Starlight asked.
Sunset hesitated and started playing with her fingers. Starlight looked at her friend in confusion before it hit her, and her eyes widened in disbelief. Sunset looked away, bashfully to hide her amber cheeks turning red.
"No," the purple woman said, shaking her head. "No, no, no, no, no. Nu-uh. No way. You gotta be messing with me, Sunset. There is no way you could have had a thing for him."
"Trust me, Starlight, I didn't want to believe it either," Sunset said. "We had been friends for a year, and a lot of that time was apart, but eventually, I started visiting him more frequently. I was missing him whenever I was away; he was missing me too, and then it just...happened."
Starlight laughed in disbelief and said, "Dang, boss. I would never have thought you would feel that way over a dude. I mean, you dated Flash Sentry, but that was a trainwreck waiting to happen."
"Yeah, well, what Rough Draft and I had was no trainwreck," Sunset said. "We loved each other, and we couldn't stand being apart. Eventually, I decided to make the shack my home so that I could be with him. I didn't have to worry about food or anything because I had plenty of money from stealing. When he wasn't with his parents or being tutored during the day, he would come over, and we would talk, and laugh, and read, and go on walks out in the forest. Every night when his parents were asleep, I would sneak into his room so that we would spend more time together. We never slept together or anything like that, mind you. He's too virtuous, and I admired what a gentleman he was too much to suggest that anyway. That didn't stop us from making out and cuddling, though."
"Wait. Is the shack you stayed at the one you were looking at earlier?" Starlight asked.
"Yup," Sunset confirmed as she glanced at the shack at a distance. "Looks like no one has touched it since I left too." 
"And you never tried to use the prince's feelings to steal from his family?" Starlight asked. 
"Never," Sunset said. 
"I don't believe this," Starlight said. "Sunset, you're the most manipulative person I know. You steal every chance you get. I get that this guy's family isn't the one ruling the country with a counterfeit operation on the side, but if the Lunar family was well-endowed, then you'd have to be stupid not to try anything."
"Well, if I was stupid, then Rough Draft and I were stupid together," Sunset said. "I didn't use his love to steal from his parents when I easily could have, and he trusted me not to do it even though he knows I am a thief. In the end, we were two stupid teenagers who let our emotions get the better of us. We didn't care about what would happen if we got caught or if there was no future because of who I am. All we cared about was each other. He was my baby, I was his sunshine, and for five months we were happy."
The two women were silent for a moment as Starlight processed everything Sunset just said. Then, she asked, "So what happened after five months? Did you dump him?"
Sunset frowned and said, "No, and he didn't dump me either. What happened next is what I was talking about when I said I had a little bad luck here."
"How so?" Starlight asked.
Sunset turned around and looked up to stare at a half-destroyed balcony on the third floor of the burnt down castle. Her frowned deepened as the memory replayed in her mind.
"It was Rough Draft's birthday," She began. "His parents held a party for him, inviting a lot of high-class people, so I waited until later that night to sneak into his room."


***********************************************************************************************

Rough Draft knew that I was coming, so he decided to read a book while sitting on a chair so that he wouldn't fall asleep. I climbed up from the balcony and entered the room where Rough Draft had the back of his chair facing me. I quietly walked over to him before I wrapped my arms around his neck from behind and kissed his cheek. 
"Happy birthday, babe," I said as I rested my head on his shoulder. “How was the party?
Rough Draft smiled and caressed my cheek while he was still reading the book as he replied, “The food was good, but the guests were boring. I wish you could have been there with me.”
I chuckled mischievously with my mouth closed and said, “Me too. I bet I would liven up the place up in a blink of an eye.”
Rough Draft put his book down and stood up to face me while wrapping his arms around my waist. 
“I'd expect nothing less, sunshine,” he said. 
I smiled as we pecked each other's lips. I squeezed my boyfriend as we kissed, letting out how I missed being with him even if it was just most of the day. But after we parted, I became uneasy and asked, "Did you dance with any girls?" 
Rough Draft hesitated and said, "I had to. My parents want me to find someone to court."
I frowned and said, "That's not okay, Rough Draft. I'm your girlfriend. You shouldn't be courting anyone but me."
"I know, Sunset," Rough Draft said. "But there's not much I can do when our relationship is a secret."
I huffed bitterly, knowing that he was right. Feeling possessive of my prince, I pulled him into a tighter hug as though there was a group of prissy girls watching us. I felt Rough Draft patting the back of my head as he hugged me back, which made me feel better. I rested my head against his with my eyes closed, treasuring the moment until I remembered something and broke the hug.
"I got something for you," I said as I reached into my jacket pocket and took out a small present. 
He gave me a sweet look before he took the present and unwrapped it to reveal a white box. Inside was a golden locket with our cutie marks inscribed on both sides. He pressed the button on the top to show a picture of me smiling inside. 
"I know we see each other pretty often, but I also know how it gets rough when you're being tutored or dealing with any of that other high-class crap, so I thought that whenever that happens, you can just look at this picture for comfort," I explained. 
Rough Draft looked at the locket fondly before he gave me a tight hug. But then he suddenly pulled back and looked at me suspiciously.
"Wait a second," he said. "You didn't steal money to get this, did you?"
"What? No, of course not," I claimed.
"Sunset," he said warningly.
"Uh, okay, I did use stolen money," I confessed. "But, it's money I stole before we got together, so it doesn't count."
Rough Draft raised his eyebrow, displeased with my confession. Eventually, he rolled his eyes and said, "You drive me crazy sometimes. You know that, sunshine?"
I smirked and said, "I do. I really do. But that's what you love about me. Heck, I bet I even can get your parents to love me."
Rough Draft scoffed and said, "Maybe you could if you weren't a scoundrel."
"Scoundrel?" I asked, my smirk stretching to the side of my face. "Scoundrel. I like the sound of that."
Rough Draft's cheeks heated up as I moved closer to him with a flirtatious look. He moved back until his back was against the wall. I placed my hands on the wall on opposite sides of Rough Draft's head, trapping him.
"S-s-stop it," he stuttered.
"Stop what?" I asked.
"You're making me uncomfortable," he said.
"Aw, but you are so adorable when you blush," I said, walking my fingers up his chest. "You don't have to be afraid."
"Afraid? I'm not afraid," Rough Draft claimed. 
"Yes, you are. You're trembling," I said.
His purple face turned beet red the closer I got. My kittenish look turned into a sweet smile as I placed my hand on his cheek and said, "I'm sure your parents won't mind that your girlfriend is a scoundrel.”
"T-t-they actually want me to find a nice girl," Rough Draft said.
"I'm nice," I said while leaning my head toward his.
"No, you're not," Rough Draft countered. "You're a thieving -"
I pressed my lips together with his before he could finish his sentence. Rough Draft resisted at first, his face red all over, but then he gave into the moment and pulled me close to deepen the kiss. When we parted, we rested our foreheads against each other with my hand still on his cheek. He started caressing my cheek, and I closed my eyes, enjoying the feeling until I felt something on one of his fingers.
"Are you wearing a ring?" I asked. 
"Oh, yeah. It's a present from my dad," Rough Draft replied. 
He removed his hand from my cheek and showed the silver ring with the moon crest on top of it. I took his hand to examine the ring and said, "Pretty. That's your family's crest, right?"
"Yep. This ring has been passed down in my family for generations," Rough Draft answered. "It's been my dad's ring my whole life, and now it's my ring."
“At age seventeen? That seems a little too soon to be given such an important heirloom. Don’t you think?” I asked.
“Not really. This ring was given to my dad when he turned seventeen by his father, and his father before him, and so on. It’s tradition,” Rough Draft replied. 
I shrugged and said, “Well, I won’t judge your traditions when I’m someone who has none. Can’t say I have something special to hold on for a long time like your family does.”
Rough Draft hummed and nodded in agreement. Then suddenly, his eyes lit up, and he snapped his fingers.
“Or do you?” he asked.
I looked at him, confused as he walked toward his dresser from the other side of the room. He opened the top drawer and reached from under the folded shirts inside to take out a small, rectangular box wrapped in a red bow. He walked back over to me and offered the wrapped box to me. It took a moment until I realized what was happening and shook my head.
“No,” I said. “Babe, it’s your birthday. You’re the one who is supposed to receive gifts.”
“I know, but you never want to tell me when your birthday is, and I’ve wanted to give you something for a while,” Rough Draft said. “After all, you’re my sunshine, I love you, and I wanted to give you something to express that.”
I was still uneasy with the idea of him giving me a gift on his birthday, but I couldn’t resist when he was being so sweet. I took the present and undid the ribbon before opening the box to reveal the rose necklace. I stared at it, surprised before I looked up at Rough Draft, who was smiling bashfully. 
“Typically, when a boy of high-class is courting the girl he wants to be with, he expresses that by giving her a rose,” he said. “I know you’re more of a girl who likes jewelry, so I decided to give you a jewel-shaped like a rose. That way, you have a rose from me that won’t wilt or fade away, and I hope you will hold on to forever.”
I stared at him, speechless from his explanation. I couldn’t believe how much thought he put into giving me such a gift. Eventually, I gave him a heartfelt smile and pulled him into the most passionate kiss I ever gave him in our short time together as a couple. It was all I could think of to say thank you to my precious boyfriend. When we parted, I handed the box back to him, turned around, and moved my hair back so that he could put the necklace on me. I stared at the jewel hanging around my neck before I turned back to Rough Draft.
“I will always treasure this,” I promised. “Thank you, babe.”
Rough Draft smiled and said, “You’re welcome, sunshine.”
The two of us were silent for about a minute after that, staring at each other’s eyes like the hopelessly-in-love teenagers that we were. Then, Rough Draft’s eyes lit up again, and he walked over to a bookcase full of records next to his bed. He took one out and placed it on his record player on top of a table. After Rough Draft put the needle on the record, he turned to me with a loving smile and offered his hand.
“Since we couldn’t dance at the party, shall we do that now, my lady?” he asked.
I smiled and nodded as I took his hand. Rough Draft pulled me close while holding my hand and putting his free hand on my waist while I placed my free hand on his shoulder. We slowly moved back and forth while soft jazz music played on the record player. I closed my eyes again as Rough Draft, and I rested our heads against each other, treasuring our romantic moment. I won’t speak for Rough Draft, but for me, that was one of the happiest moments of my life. 
But while we were dancing, the sound of the music caught the attention of Granny Smith. I don’t know if she just happened to be walking down the hall or something, but I heard the sound of the door opening and a light lime green old woman saying, “Your Highness, what are you doing? It’s the middle of the - AAAHHH!!!”
Rough Draft and I stopped dancing and turned to see Granny Smith looking at us in shock. The room was silent apart from the record player still playing with Rough Draft and I not knowing what to do. 
“Hey, Granny. This is Sunset, my girlfriend,” Rough Draft said with a nervous grin.
Granny Smith stood still for a second before she panicked and started screaming, “Guards! Guards!” 
“No, Granny, wait!” Rough Draft called out.
But Granny Smith had already left the room, running down the halls as she screamed for the guards. I stood still, unable to believe we were caught before Rough Draft forced me to look at him.
“Sunset, you have to go,” he said. 
“No, I don’t want to leave you,” I said.
“You have to go,” he repeated. “Get as far away as you can and hide. I’ll explain everything to my parents.”
“Explain what? That I’m a criminal?” I asked.
“That we’re in love,” Rough Draft said. “I’ll make them understand, and then I'll come find you. Just hide until it is safe.”
“How are you going to make them understand after we’re found out like this?” I asked.
“Trust me,” he said. “It’s going to be okay. Just go before the guards get here.”
I hesitated, not wanting to leave. After a few seconds, I decided to trust him before putting my hands on his cheeks and giving him a firm kiss.
“I love you,” I said.
“I love you too,” he said. “Now go! Run! Run!”
I took a moment to take one last look at the boy I love before I climbed down the balcony.

**********************************************************************************************

“And then what happened?” Starlight asked.
“I outran the security before they could begin to look for me,” Sunset answered. “Eventually, I went back to the shack when it was safe enough to go back. I waited for Rough Draft, hoping that he would find me there and tell me that everything was cleared up. I think deep down, I knew that it couldn’t be cleared up, but sixteen-year-old me wanted to hope. At the very least, I thought he would secretly come to the shack and tell me it didn't work out.”
“And I assume that’s not what happened?” Starlight asked.
Sunset sighed sadly and said, “No, it wasn’t. I waited until I needed to go to the city to buy more food for myself. I was wearing a hood to hide my face since there were plenty of guards there. But as I was buying my food, I overheard some of the villagers talking about Rough Draft. They said he was sent somewhere out of the country.”
“You mean like his parents sent him away somewhere as punishment for having a girl in his room or something?” Starlight asked.
“That’s what I figured,” Sunset said. “Needless to say, I was crushed.”
“I bet,” Starlight said. “And you didn't know where he went?”
“No one did,” Sunset answered. “As far as the villagers knew, his parents sent him to some private school to further his education or something like that. Ultimately, I left Everfree and began looking for him. Manehattan, Baltimare, Canterlot, Las Pegasus, basically, every place that had some expensive private school for teens from wealthy or high-class families.”
“Good grief. I would never have thought you’d go so far over some guy,” Starlight said. 
Sunset looked down glumly and said, “Yeah, well, that’s how much he meant to me. But no matter how hard I looked, I couldn’t find him. Eventually, I used up all of my money and lost hope. That’s when I went back to being a thief. There was just nothing else I could do but go back to the only thing I was ever good at and try to obtain my original goals. Eventually, I even figured out how to be a good con artist and to invent gadgets and use disguises before you and I met."
“Well, that much adds up since that’s the person I know you to be,” Starlight commented. “What about that necklace, though?”
Sunset lifted her head and reached under her shirt to reveal her rose necklace. Starlight stared at the jewel, as Sunset said, “I thought about going back on my promise and selling it as a way to move on, but I couldn’t do it. It’s all I have left of him and our time together. I wear it under my shirt so that no one can see it and maybe want to steal it from me.”
“I can understand that,” Starlight said. “We have made enemies that would want to get their hands on high-quality jewelry like that in the past.”
“We sure have,” Sunset agreed with a smirk as she put the necklace back under her shirt. 
The two women became silent after that. Nothing was heard except the birds and the wind softly blowing. Then Starlight cleared her throat and said, "Well, that was a touching story and all, boss, but what does your prince charming have to with the Horse bills?"
Sunset turned to Castle Everfree and said, "Take a look at the bottom of the castle from the right side of the aqueduct."
Starlight stared at her friend before she curiously did what she was told. From the direction Sunset gave her, Starlight found a dock next to the aqueduct, and next to it was the steamboat that took Rough Draft away.
"Well, I'll be darned," Starlight said. "But what is he doing in there? You said that there's bad blood between the royal families."
Sunset frowned and looked at the giant castle worryingly as she said, "That's what I want to know. Rough Draft was taken to a place where I couldn't find him, and then ten years later, he's back in his homeland living with the queen, and his parents died in a fire that destroyed his home. It doesn't make any sense."
"You don't think he joined the queen with the counterfeit operations, do you?" Starlight asked.
"No. Rough Draft would never do that," Sunset said. 
"How can you be sure?" Starlight questioned. "I don't want to upset you by talking bad about your ex, Sunset, but a lot can happen in ten years. Heck, if he was willing to have a secret romance with a thief, then he might not be against living with someone doing something so sinister."
"Rough Draft may have loved me enough to look past who I am, but he's too honest to sink into our level. I wouldn't have stopped stealing for him when we got together if he wasn't," Sunset countered. "Besides, it's pretty clear that those guys chasing him are working for the queen, so if Rough Draft was fine with living with someone making counterfeit money, then why was he running away?"
"Fair point," Starlight said before she gave Sunset a concerned look and asked, "So, I guess you wanna save him?"
"Yes, I do," Sunset said without missing a beat.
Starlight frowned disapprovingly and said, "Sunset, I get that you still care about this guy, but as your friend and partner, I gotta warn you not to let your emotions get in the way. We're here to take over the counterfeit operation and nothing else, remember? "
"It's not that simple, Starlight," Sunset said. "Even if I could put aside my feelings, we don't know what's going on inside that castle. If the last descendant of Queen Luna is living with the last descent of Queen Celestia unwillingly and Queen Adagio is willing to send armed men to keep him in her castle, then something else besides the Horse bills is amiss. We can't simply take the queen's operation when we don't even know what we're up against. Think of it this way; if Queen Adagio needs Rough Draft and his ring, we can use them against her."
"Hang on. What makes you so sure that the ring is important to her," Starlight asked.
"Why else would Rough Draft leave his family ring nicely folded inside the handkerchief he left on my head?" Sunset challenged.
Starlight scratched her chin in thought and said, "Well, he did leave it with you and then ran away when those guys in the boat were coming after him. I guess that means he knew that if he drew them away from you, they couldn't find out it's with you on top of probably killing you for aiding him while you're unconscious. Plus, since he knows you know about the ring, he probably trusts you to keep it away from his captors."
"Bingo," Sunset said.
"Okay, but how do you know Queen Adagio wants both the prince and his ring?" Starlight asked. "Maybe she only wants him there for the ring, and they only brought him back because they think he still has it."
Sunset opened her mouth to discredit Starlight again, but no words came out of her mouth. She looked down and put her hand on her chin, pondering on Starlight's argument. She thought for half a minute until her eyes lit up, and she snapped her fingers.
"You're right, Starlight. The only thing we know for sure is that she's after the ring," she admitted. "But even if we can't use Rough Draft against the queen, we can still use his ring."
"How do we do that?" Starlight asked.
"Simple. We use it as leverage," Sunset answered. "If it's as important to her as I think it is, we might be able to force her to back down so that we can take over her operations."
Starlight thought about it for a moment before she grinned and said, "Yeah, that might work."
"Plus, if Rough Draft is also essential to her plan, then that's all the more reason to rescue him," Sunset added. "Not only will we have both things she wants, but he might tell us her plan, and we can use that information against her."
Starlight's grin turned into a skeptical look as she said, "I think you're using that plan as an excuse to get your ex back."
Sunset hesitated and bashfully said, "Well, if he still feels that way about me, I wouldn't mind picking up where we left off, but even if he doesn't, I still care about his safety. Either way, we have a chance to blackmail a queen into letting us take over the greatest counterfeit scheme known to man."
Starlight kept looking at her friend suspiciously for a moment before she sighed and said, "Fine. If he's that important to you, we'll save the prince."
Sunset smiled brightly and pulled her purple friend into a hug, saying, "Thanks, Starlight. I knew I could count on you."
"Alright, alright, take it easy, boss. Save your thanks until after we pull this off," Starlight said as she pushed Sunset away. "So, what's our next move?"
Sunset hummed in thought before she said, "I think for now we should go to the city and find an inn to stay at. Maybe the locals have an idea of what's going on."
Starlight frowned and said, "Why do you think the locals would know what is going on if the queen is up to something sinister?"
"They might not know everything, but they might know bits and pieces. At the very least, we can learn more about who their ruler is," Sunset answered as she held up the ring and stared at it with a determined look. "One way or another, though, we're going to take Rough Draft and the counterfeit operation from Queen Adagio Dazzle."



**************************************************************************************************


While Sunset and Starlight went back to their car, a yellow and orange autogyro was flying high above them, making its way to a landing platform in one of the higher levels of Castle Everfree. Standing on the platform was a landing crew and a maid in her late teens. She had grayish pink skin, and grayish arctic blue and arctic blueish gray hair that was curled up in a way that made her look like a plastic doll. The landing crew guided the autogyro safely to the platform, and the pilot turned off the machine before using one of the crewmembers as a footstool as she got off. 
The maid gave the pilot a bow before she walked beside the pilot and carefully took off the person’s scarf and goggles to reveal the beautiful pale apple green face of Queen Adagio. Her massive head of orange hair with a yellow streak went down to her waist as the maid took off her helmet. She walked toward the elevator with a stern look in her raspberry eyes. The maid took off the queen’s pilot clothes as she walked to reveal her royal suit that complimented Adagio’s slender figure. 
“I’m disappointed in you, Cozy Glow,” Adagio said as she and the maid entered the elevator. “I thought your guards would know better than to be so careless.”
“I beg your forgiveness, Your Majesty,” the maid replied with her head down as she pressed the up button on the elevator.
“How could he have gotten away when you had the tailor shop guarding the entrance?” Adagio asked.
“When it was time for Prince Rough Draft to try on his suit, he asked the guards to leave the room,” Cozy Glow explained. “He then snuck out from the back door and took one of our cars.”
“Where is he now?” Adagio asked. 
“He’s back in his room in the north tower,” Cozy Glow answered. “He’s been heavily sedated, so he’ll be asleep for several hours.”
“Good,” Adagio said. “Anything else?”
“Yes, my queen. Prince Rough Draft had help trying to escape by two foreigners,” Cozy Glow answered.
“Foreigners?” Adagio asked. 
“Yes, my lady. Two women,” Cozy Glow said. “They took down one of our armored cars while assisting the prince. We do not know who they are or what precisely they look like, but they were driving a red slug bug.”
“Find them,” the queen ordered. “I want them disposed of by morning.”
“Yes, Your Majesty,” Cozy Glow said. 
The elevator reached the top, and Adagio stepped out while Cozy Glow pressed the down button. The queen walked to the end of the hall, where a security man with grayish amber skin and moderate sapphire blue hair was standing in front of a door. The man gave the queen a bow before he stepped away and opened the door for her.
Adagio turned on the light switch next to the door to light up the room. It was a large, round chamber with a small window on the ceiling. A queen-sized bed stood at the center, and there was no other furniture apart from a chair standing next to the tall window on the other side. Lying down on the queen-sized bed with his tuxedo still on was Rough Draft. Adagio smirked as she walked to the bed and laid down next to the unconscious man, resting her head with her arm. 
“You’ve been a very naughty boy, my dear,” she said as she stroked his cheek. “I was worried that something would happen to you. I know you’re scared, but it’s for the best. I promise.”
She continued to stroke Rough Draft's cheek while he lay there motionless. She then took his hand and held it close to her as she continued to speak.
"I can't wait for our wedding, you know," she said. "It's hard to believe it's only days away. Soon our families will be joined together as one, and you and I will rule our kingdom. You will be a king. The first king from the Lunar family in centuries."
She lifted her finger, revealing a golden ring with a yellow and orange sun as she said, "It's our destiny to be joined together in holy matrimony, Rough Draft. With our rings, we shall -"
At that moment, she turned to Rough Draft's hand and saw that his ring was not on his finger. She sat up and stared at the hand, terrified as though the ring was hers and someone had stolen it. She then turned to Rough Draft, and her blood boiled as she began to reach out toward her fiancé's throat with her hand half-closed. She stopped herself halfway, and her hand began to shake as she resisted the urge to choke the unconscious man. Adagio then turned away from Rough Draft and looked down in thought.
"The foreigners," she said to herself. 
She got off the bed and stormed toward the bedroom door. The grayish amber man opened the door without Adagio needing to tell him to, and she growled, "Summon Cozy Glow! Tell her to meet me in my office!"
"Yes, Your Excellency," the man replied in a monotone voice. 
Adagio walked back to the elevator, fuming as she pressed the down button. While the door on the elevator closed, the grayish amber man took out a walkie talkie and said, "Cozy Glow, report to the queen's office immediately."
"Understood," Cozy Glow replied with her walkie talkie.
But as the man put away his walkie talkie, his emotionless face turned into a look of suspicion. He looked around to make sure no one else was coming before he opened the door and went inside Rough Draft's room. The security man walked over to the prince's bed to examine the unconscious man. He then noticed Rough Draft's left hand and lifted it to him before raising his eyebrow, intrigued.
"So, that's why the queen's so cross," he said. "But, where in the world is that ring?"