“The start of the ‘Great War’ was caused by the assassination of the archduke of Austria-Hungary, now two separate countries, that led to their allied country Germany declaring war on the Allies.” Sunset Shimmer flipped the page in her textbook. “Propaganda campaigns were used to convince the citizens to enlist into the army before conscription was put into effect… ‘Conscription’…”
“Squeak, squeak!”
“Quiet, Whiskers,” Sunset told her pet hamster sitting beside her before rising out of her chair and approaching the laptop sitting on her bed. She opened the lid and the screen lit up. “Let’s see here. ‘Conscription’… Forced into service? Huh. I sure am glad I didn’t come here one hundred years earlier.”
“Squeak, squeak! Squeak, squeak!”
“I said be quiet!” Sunset yelled, startling her hamster who scurried quickly into his little plastic hut. She sighed and approached the cage. “Look, I’m… I’m a little stressed out at the moment. Thanks to all of my secret work on magic, I’ve fallen behind in History class. I need to get back up to speed by the end of this week or else I might not get an A!”
“Kaw! Kaw!”
“It is too a big deal, Night Gazer!” Sunset Shimmer told her pet raven perched above her head. “How can I rule an entire country if I allow my grades to fall?! Even if I’ve already graduated once, it would be an insult to my perfect record!”
“Kaw kaw! Kaw!” Night Gazer replied, flapping his wings.
Sunset Shimmer crossed her arms and stared indignantly. “You watch your beak! I didn’t name you after one of the greatest unicorns ever to besmirch his name with such a vulgar tongue!”
“Squeak squeak, squeak squeak!”
Sunset Shimmer ignored her pets for the moment and sat back down, continuing her reading as she flipped through more pages of her book. Her eyes widened as she reached one page and she almost dropped the book in surprise. “And they just kept fighting? Even through all that?” Sunset scratched her head and reclined backwards in her chair, staring up towards the ceiling. “I wonder what Celestia would’ve done if she faced such a persistent enemy? Equestria survived the last one thousand years mostly by using the threat of alicorn prowess to scare off would-be enemies.”
“Squeak squeak, squeak!”
“The ‘humans’ of this world are more violent than they let on, but they lack any real natural powers to project that violence, so they create devices that harness and exploit the power of science and nature.” Sunset Shimmer continued to stare up in complete silence for a few more seconds. Suddenly, she gasped. “Wait a minute… Maybe I could do that, too!” Sunset’s eyes turned to the green notebook to her right. “If I can’t use magic myself, then maybe…”
“Squeak… squeak…”
Sunset Shimmer turned around with a confused look and she caught her hamster crawling out of his home slowly, breathing heavily with his eyes half-open. “Hey, what’s wrong?” she asked, reaching over to open the cage and pick up her pet.
“Squeak… squea-…”
Whiskers collapsed in Sunset’s hands, causing her to stand up quickly with a shocked gasp. “Whiskers?! Hey, what’s wrong?! Hang in there, Whiskers!”
“Kaw! Kaw!”
“Shut up!” Sunset put her index finger to Whiskers’ neck. “He’s not dead yet. I’ve got to take him to the vet.” Sunset walked back over to her laptop and closed the lid. She then grabbed her jacket from over the back of her chair and picked up her phone on the way out of her room. “Principal Celestia! I need you to drive me somewhere!”
“This late?” Celestia asked as she ducked out of her bedroom in her pink tank top and tracksuit bottoms. “I’m in the middle of my workout. Can’t it wait until tomorrow?”
“There’s something wrong with Whiskers,” Sunset explained. “I need to take him to a vet.”
Celestia quickly approached her student and took the hamster into her own hands. “Go grab the keys and wait in the car. The vet will surely be closed at this hour but I know of a good animal doctor who should be able to help.”
Sunset Shimmer nodded and hurried down the stairs, leaving Celestia alone with Whiskers. The principal cast a gaze down the stairs to ensure that her student was gone before walking towards Sunset’s bedroom door, opening it, and looking around the dark, empty room. After a few seconds, she pulled her head back out and reached into her trouser pocket for her phone. She punched in some numbers and hit the button to dial.
“Hello, Dr. Cureall?”
The ride in the car was quiet as Sunset held her caged pet in her lap with a look of worry. She bit her lip as Whiskers’ laboured breathing died down to slow, weak gasps for air. ‘If only I put a little more focus into medical magic! … Wait, that wouldn’t help me in my current state anyway.’ Sunset slapped a hand against her face and fell back into her seat with a sigh. “I’m so powerless…”
Celestia glanced over as she heard Sunset’s angry muttering and looked down at Whiskers. Although she was already travelling over the speed limit, she stepped down onto the gas pedal a little harder. “Don’t worry,” she said, focussing her eyes back onto the road. “Dr. Cureall is the greatest vet I know. She treated my sister’s rat and my eagle before their… unfortunate accidents.”
“Oh? What happened?”
A frown appeared on Celestia’s face. “Well, Luna’s rat was eaten by my eagle, Philomena…”
“And Philomena?”
“… She fell asleep in a bonfire before it was lit and burned to ashes.”
Sunset Shimmer grimaced. “That must’ve been rough…”
“Anyway, before then, Dr. Cureall was there for us when our pets fell ill and she was great. I’m sure she can help Whiskers.”
A squeak from Whiskers’ cage drew Sunset’s attention and she sighed as she poked a finger into one of the holes, reaching for her pet. “I should have noticed this sooner, but I was so focussed on my research that I didn’t see the signs.”
“‘Research’?” Celestia asked, raising an eyebrow.
Sunset Shimmer straightened up quickly. “I-I mean ‘studies’! You know, for school and… school.” Sunset turned her head to the side, pretending to be focussed on the passing scenery outside the window. “A-Are we nearly there yet?”
Celestia narrowed her eyes. “Hmmm…” Slowing down as she came to a red light, Celestia turned to her student and asked, “Not only your ‘studies’, but you’ve also been out a lot lately. Staying out late and turning your phone off.”
“I’m saving the battery,” Sunset responded, not turning her head back to face Celestia.
“And you leave the house with quite a big backpack.”
“… I play board games with my friends.”
“You mean Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and the others?”
“Maybe.”
“Sunset, please-”
“Look, I get that you’re my principal and all, but what I do on my own time is my own business.” Sunset finally turned back to face Celestia. “I’m not doing anything dangerous, if that’s what you’re worried about, and I know how to look after myself.”
“… Alright,” Celestia conceded with a sigh. “If you say you aren’t doing anything dangerous, then I’ll leave it at that. But, if I may offer some advice, not as your principal, but as someone who cares about you?”
“I have a feeling you will anyway.”
“Let go of whatever’s tormenting you. Let the past stay where it belongs, and focus on what you have here and now.”
“…” Sunset Shimmer sighed and leaned back into her seat. “… Yeah, yeah. I got it.” She poked a finger into Whiskers’ cage again, staring blankly at her pet as she wiggled her finger about. ‘What I have here and now? What do I have here and now? My magic is gone, my rightful title of ‘princess’ was robbed from me, and I’m stuck in this crazy world where I’m an outcast. Revenge is all I have right now.’
Upon their arrival, Dr. Cureall was able to see Whiskers right away. Celestia and Sunset Shimmer were left in the waiting area for around thirty minutes before somebody came to see them. It was a girl with long pink hair and yellow skin. A girl that the two of them recognised, who ‘eep’ed upon seeing the two of them there.
“Fluttershy?” Celestia asked. “What are- Why are you wearing that nurse’s outfit? Don’t tell me… you’re working here?!”
“Um, n-not really working here… M-My parents are friends of Dr. Cureall and she offered to teach me some things about caring for animals and… lets me help her out sometimes…”
“But still, it’s rather late,” Celestia pointed out. “I know your grades are good, but are you sure you wouldn’t rather spend your free time playing with your friends instead of working?”
“Oh, it’s not like I work here all the time. And I really enjoy it,” Fluttershy said with a smile.
“And?” Sunset asked, a bored look on her face. “What about my hamster? Is he going to be okay?”
“Oh, Whiskers will be fine,” Fluttershy said. “Dr. Cureall is just finishing her report and then she’ll bring you to him. Just make sure he gets plenty of rest… But, the problem is that, he, um…” Fluttershy shifted a foot across the floor, casting her gaze down as she mumbled quietly.
“What?” Sunset asked in an annoyed tone. “Come on, out with it already!”
“Oh! Uh, the problem is that… Whiskers is old.” Fluttershy cleared her throat. “In hamster years, that is. He’s… probably not going to make it to the end of this year…”
Sunset gasped and her eyes fell down to the floor. “O-Oh…” She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. When her eyes reopened, she leaned back in her seat and look off to the side. “Oh, so that’s all it is? Well, guess there’s nothing that can be done then…”
“I’m sorry…” Fluttershy said with a solemn look. “I know it’s difficult to lose a friend, and I wish there was more that I could do.”
“Unfortunately, there are some things we just can’t cure with medicine.” A yellow-skinned woman approached the group form behind Fluttershy, dressed in a white lab coat and with her blue-and-silver-striped hair tied into a bun. In her hands was the cage with the resting Whiskers inside. “I’m sorry there wasn’t anything more I could do for you, Miss Shimmer, but you made the right call by bringing him here. Even if it’s only a little bit, this fellar’s got some life left in him still.”
“It wasn’t my call,” Sunset said, turning towards Celestia.
“It’s good to see you again, Dr. Cureall,” Celestia said, standing up and extending her hand.
Dr. Cureall shook it and said, “Please, call me Mane. So, is she yours? Or maybe Luna’s?”
“Hm?” Celestia glanced at Sunset Shimmer before quickly shaking her head and laughing. “No, no. Neither of us even have partners yet, let alone children. I’m just looking after her for the moment.”
“I see. Well, like I said, just make sure Whiskers gets plenty of rest.” She leaned in to add in a whisper, “Personally, I don’t believe he’ll make it past four or five more months. You might want to prepare yourself, maybe book a day out at an amusement park to help ease the pain for Sunset Shimmer.”
“I’ll think of something,” Celestia replied, taking Whiskers’ cage from the vet. “Thanks again for everything.”
“Anytime. Well, preferably a little earlier in the day,” Cureall added with a giggle. “No no, seriously, I’m happy to help an old friend. But now, I’d just be happy to get back to my salad waiting for me at home.”
“I suppose it is around that time,” Celestia said, looking down at her watch. She then looked back to Fluttershy. “I suppose you’ll be heading home soon, too?”
“Oh, um, I usually go round to Rainbow Dash’s place after this, since my parents come home late.”
“Isn’t Rainbow Dash practicing with her team today?” Sunset asked, bringing a sudden halt to all conversation as Fluttershy made a perfect impression of a deer in headlights.
“O-Oh no! What will I do? I can’t go all the way home by myself at this time!”
“Can’t you drive her home?” Celestia asked Dr. Cureall, who simply shook her head.
“My car’s in the shop getting a tune-up, and I get the train to work anyway.”
“Well then, how about I give you a lift to your home?” Celestia offered, bringing a smile to Fluttershy’s face.
“Oh, you really wouldn’t mind? That would be really helpful.”
“It’s not a problem, really,” Celestia assured her. “Sunset Shimmer, why don’t you go walk Fluttershy to the car while I finish things here?”
“What? Why?” Sunset asked.
“I might be a while, and I’m sure you don’t want to listen to two boring old ladies’ banter.” Celestia ushered Sunset along. “Go on now. You two go on ahead.”
Sunset Shimmer raised an eyebrow before following Fluttershy through the lobby and out into the car park.
“Um…” Fluttershy fiddled with her fingers as she walked beside Sunset Shimmer, the two stopping once they reached Celestia’s car. “So, you like hamsters?”
“Hm? No, not really. I bought him to be a spy… It didn’t work out very well.”
“But you seemed to really care for him back there.” Sunset Shimmer simply nodded. Fluttershy looked around with a nervous look before adding, “I really like animals, you know? I’m glad to see owners like you that care.”
“You don’t have to fill the silence, you know,” Sunset said. ‘… Wait, now I get it! She was trying to get me and Fluttershy talking to each other!’
“Oh, sorry…”
Sunset cast an annoyed glare back towards the vet’s office. “Whatever. Just be quiet until Principal Celestia returns.”
“Oh. O-Okay…”
Several minutes later, Celestia exited the vet’s office with Whiskers’ cage in her hands. “Sorry that took so long. Did you two discuss anything interesting.”
“Not really,” Sunset said.
Celestia turned to Fluttershy, who simply shook her head before opening one of the car’s doors. “I see…”
Sunset climbed into the front passenger seat whilst Celestia entered the driver’s side, handing the cage to her student before starting the engine. “I’m on to your tricks. I’ll thank you not to interfere in my life,” Sunset said quietly without turning to face Celestia.
“I just thought you might appreciate a pleasant conversation with a nice person. You seem to have been under some stress lately.”
“I can handle myself, thank you very much.”
Without saying anything more on the matter, Celestia reversed out of her parking space and began the drive to Fluttershy’s house.
“Oh no,” Fluttershy mumbled, catching Celestia and Sunset’s attentions. “Um… I-It’s nothing…”
Celestia glanced into the rear-view mirror and saw Fluttershy searching through a small handbag. She grew a concerned look on her face. “Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten the key to your house.”
“Um, well…”
Celestia slowed the car to a stop and looked around. “Can you contact your parents?”
“Mhm,” Fluttershy confirmed with a nod, pulling out her phone.
“Let them know that you’ll be at my house.” Celestia turned around in the road and started to drive the opposite direction.
“Oh, are you sure? I don’t want to impose.”
“I told you to stop interfering,” Sunset grumbled.
“You think I planned her forgetting her keys?” Celestia replied in a hushed tone. “I can hardly leave her alone, locked outside of her house.”
“… I guess not.”
“Don’t worry, Fluttershy,” Celestia said. “It’s no imposition at all. Just make sure you let them know my address so that they can find it.”
With a nod, Fluttershy began texting, whilst Sunset Shimmer turned to look out of her window with a sulk.
“I’m sorry you even prepared dinner for me,” Fluttershy said, her eyes cast low as her face turned red. “At least let me help you wash up.”
“Nonsense. You’re our guest,” Celestia said as she collected the empty plates from Fluttershy and Sunset Shimmer. “Your parents should be here in thirty minutes, is that right?”
“Yes. Assuming there’s no traffic, that is…”
“Why don’t you two go upstairs for now? I have to go over some papers down here.”
Sunset Shimmer narrowed her eyes. “You usually do that in your own room.”
“Well, I decided I wanted to try something different,” Celestia responded with a smile. “Maybe you could show Fluttershy your other pet, Sunset Shimmer.”
“I don’t think that-”
“You have another pet?” Fluttershy asked. Sunset was taken aback as the shy girl was suddenly in her face, stars in her eyes and her mouth spread into a wide, excited smile. “What kind of animal is it? Is it a dog? A cat? Another hamster?”
“I’ll be down here if either of you need me,” Celestia said, flashing one smug grin before leaving the two alone.
“Oh, you have to show me. Please please please please please-”
“Ugh, okay! Okay! Just… follow me, okay?”
With an enthused nod, Fluttershy followed Sunset Shimmer up to her room.
“Kaw! Kaw!”
“Oh, my…” Fluttershy reached out towards the raven that was glaring right back at her.
“Careful!” Sunset shouted, but was stunned into silence when Fluttershy was able to freely stroke the gentle bird’s feathers.
“These feathers are so soft. Sunset Shimmer must take really good care of you.”
Sunset gave the bird a heated glare. “What, so a stranger is fine, but you peck your own owner’s face?”
“Kaw!”
“Be quiet!” Sunset Shimmer placed Whiskers’ cage down onto her desk and sat down on her chair.
“What’s his name?” Fluttershy asked, not taking her eyes off of the beautiful bird perched before her.
“Night Gazer.”
Fluttershy turned to Sunset with a curious look. “You mean like the rock star?”
“Rock- Is that what he is in this world?” Sunset sighed and shook her head solemnly. “No. Where I come from, he’s a wizard and was responsible for revolutionising the very world of arcane magic as we knew it.”
“Oh. He sounds impressive… In our world, according to Rainbow Dash, he ‘shreds a mean guitar solo’.”
Sunset Shimmer rolled her eyes and turned her attention to the textbook on her desk. “Anyway, I’ve fallen behind on my studies thanks to tonight. If you don’t mind, could you be quiet until your parents arrive?”
Fluttershy silently nodded her head with a frown. “S-Sorry…”
“Kaw!”
Fluttershy jumped and turned to Night Gazer. “I think he’s hungry.”
Sunset Shimmer scoffed. “Don’t be foolish. I fed him before leaving for the vet.”
Fluttershy helped herself to some of the dried insects in the bag on Sunset’s desk and offered them to Night Gazer. The bird gobbled them up quickly and happily. “There you go,” she said in a soft tone, stroking the raven’s feathers. “He’s a growing boy. You need to feed him more often.”
“… How were you so sure he was hungry?” Sunset asked.
“I could tell,” Fluttershy responded.
“You could tell? What, do you have some kind of gift that lets you understand animals?”
Fluttershy shook her head. “Nothing quite like that, but I’ve learned a lot from Dr. Cureall and it’s actually a lot easier to tell what animals want than you’d think.”
“Is that so?” Sunset asked with an intrigued look. “You must have studied a lot for that.”
A blush crossed Fluttershy’s face as she played with a lock of her hair. “No, not really. I just really love learning about caring for animals. It’s what I want to do after graduating.” Fluttershy scuffed a foot against the floor. “You know, it’s actually thanks to you that I’m working for Dr. Cureall at the moment.”
Sunset raised an eyebrow. “How so?”
“Well, even before we became friends, you always had this attitude that I kind of admired. Whenever you wanted something, you would take it, and when something got in your way you challenged it and kept moving. I always wished I could be as assertive as you.”
Sunset Shimmer grinned. “Well, it’s nice to hear that you have such a good taste in role models.”
“Even when we defeated you at the Fall Formal, you still came back to school and faced everyone again, and you still continued to move forward no matter what, doing your best for the school and to reform yourself.”
Sunset’s eyes glanced over to the locked drawer on the opposite side of the room. “Uh, yeah. I just felt so awful, you know?” ‘So awful because I lost.’
“You really inspired me to go after my dream no matter what, and to do so right now, instead of waiting for it to come to me.” Fluttershy bowed her head. “Thank you, Sunset Shimmer. If there’s anything that I can do to help you out…”
“Uh, that’s fine,” Sunset said. ‘She’d probably go tell her friends if I asked a suspicious favour of her.’ “So wait, you’re saying that if it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t be working at that veterinary clinic right now?”
Fluttershy nodded her head. “If it wasn’t for you, I probably also would never have been able to convince my parents that I can raise a pet. Whenever somebody tries to walk all over me, I just try to think about what you would do.”
Sunset Shimmer started to smile. “Well that’s-”
“And then I think, ‘Nobody could out-mean Sunset Shimmer!’, and suddenly I’m not so scared anymore!”
Sunset Shimmer fell from her chair onto the floor. “… On second thought, you can repay the favour,” she said through gritted teeth, reaching for her textbook and showing it to Fluttershy. “I’m lagging behind in History. Your grades are good, so you can tutor me before your parents arrive. You should feel honoured; only the very best have ever tutored me privately.”
“Um, t-that book has some pretty graphic images,” Fluttershy said, shivering as Sunset Shimmer opened up a page which contained an image of a soldier suffering from the effects of mustard gas.
“You said you wanted to repay me, right?”
“W-Well, I did, but-”
“You’re going back on your word?”
“… No?”
Sunset Shimmer patted the desk to her side, moving her chair back a bit to offer some space for Fluttershy to stand. With a whimper, Fluttershy approached the desk and took the textbook from Sunset Shimmer.
“O-Okay, so first, we’ll cover…” Fluttershy gulped. “T-The gasses used during the war…”
“Okay, I seem to be up-to-speed now.” Sunset stretched her arms and yawned, rubbing her teary eyes before closing her notebook and switching off the lamp on her desk. A knock at her door drew her attention.
“Fluttershy, your parents are here to pick you up,” Celestia’s voice declared from the other side.
“We’ll be right out,” Sunset said as she rose to her feet. She turned to her bed, where Fluttershy was snoozing peacefully beneath the covers. “Some payback. She passed out just from reading the estimated death tolls of the war.”
After approaching the bed, Sunset reached a hand out and shook Fluttershy gently. The girl murmured, but didn’t wake up. “Hey,” she said in a quiet tone. “Come on. Wake up.”
“Mm… Five more minutes, Angel…”
Sunset Shimmer stopped her shaking and bit her lip. ‘What now? Should I shout to wake her up?’ Sunset looked at Fluttershy’s face. The other girl looked so peaceful as she slept. With a sigh, Sunset pulled away the covers and lifted Fluttershy into an upright position, turning around so that she could carry the sleeping girl on her back.
She then left her bedroom and descended the stairs of Celestia’s house, where she found the principal and two figures whose faces were obscured by the front door’s doorframe at the bottom.
“Is she okay?” Celestia asked as she watched Sunset carrying Fluttershy down the stairs.
“She just fell asleep,” Sunset said. “She must have been exhausted.”
“Thank you so much for looking after our little girl,” the man at the door said before taking Fluttershy from Sunset Shimmer. “Here’s a little something for your troubles.”
“Please, you don’t have to pay me,” Celestia said, pushing away the money that the woman at the door was offering her. “It was no trouble at all, really.”
“I’ll accept that payment, then,” Sunset said, taking the money herself with a grin. “This will go a long way towards getting that new iPhone model coming out!”
The man laughed. “You kids and your crazy new gadgets. Thank you for being such a good friend to our daughter. She’s so shy that it often worries us.”
“… It should be me thanking her,” Sunset said. “I was feeling down today, but she cheered me up.”
After saying their goodbyes, Fluttershy’s parents left with their daughter. As Sunset Shimmer counted the money in her hands, Celestia turned to her with her arms folded. “Correct me if I’m mistaken, but don’t you already have the latest iPhone model?”
Sunset froze for a moment before saying, “Clearly you don’t know that there are multiple variants of iPhone models out there.”
‘… I wish I knew if that were true or not.’ Celestia cleared her throat. “Regardless, between this and you saving money from that babysitting job of yours, I find it hard to believe that you’re lacking the funds to buy whatever phone you want to.”
“You’re doing it again,” Sunset said in an annoyed tone, turning to face Celestia head-on. “You’re being intrusive.”
“I’m looking out for you,” Celestia said. “I wasn’t born yesterday, young lady, and I certainly know a conspiracy when I see one. What have you been up to lately, and how worried should I be?”
“You shouldn’t be, that’s just it. I don’t need you looking out for me, and I’d appreciate if you were to stop sticking your muzzle where it doesn’t belong!”
“‘Muzzle’?” Celestia asked as Sunset turned and stormed up the stairs. “Wait, one last question! What you said about out Fluttershy cheering you up… was that true?”
Sunset stopped for a moment and opened her mouth, but no answer came out. She instead quickly reclosed her mouth and headed towards her room, leaving Celestia alone to sigh at her unanswered question.