//------------------------------// // Plenty of Time // Story: In the Absence of Sunset Shimmer // by MyHobby //------------------------------// Twilight Sparkle stared at the pony claiming to be Princess Twilight Sparkle. Her first instinct was to think that she was looking at some bozo artist’s caricature. The hair covering her entire body was new, as was the horn, but she could still see herself. As she continued to look, however, details started jumping out at her. The pony’s mane was meticulously groomed, not a hair out of place, while Twilight usually settled with a quick hairclip. The pony was taller than Twilight by almost a head, and not nearly as thin. And where were the glasses? Maybe in this world she wore contact lenses, nasty little vermin that they were. She heard the rocks shift to the left. Spike’s purple claw scraped the ledge beside her. “What’s the note say, Twilight?” The princess’ eyes widened and her mouth popped open. She shifted her attention between Twilight and Spike, bobbing between the two. She took the page back to scribble a new note. Twilight Sparkle, I presume? “Yeah, that’s me.” Twilight cleared her throat. She cleared it again. “It’s nice to meet you.” Yes. It is nice to meet you, too. The princess tightened the scarf around her neck. She plastered a grin to her face. How’s life on the other— She paused mid-message. She scratched it off and started over. Do you like being a human— She scratched it off once more. Where is Sunset? “What’s the note say?” Spike said, his head leaning close. “Why is she scratching it off?” Twilight Sparkle skewed her muzzle to the side. “I half expected you to be literate.” Spike shrugged. “I can’t see the note. It’s too tiny.” The princess lifted an eyebrow. Who’s your friend? “This is…” Twilight waved a hoof, her ears drooping. “My dog, Spike.” The princess shook with silent laughter. She glanced up at Spike and shook harder. She let out a hissing breath and wiped her eye. Tell him I said ‘hi.’ “Spike…” Twilight chewed on her lower lip. “Princess Twilight Sparkle says hi.” “Prin—” Spike scratched behind his ear. “Huh.” “Yeah.” Twilight and the princess nodded. “Yeah.” The princess ran a hoof over her already meticulously, mathematically straight mane. Soooo… Where is Sunset Shimmer? “She’s in the caves, looking for clues.” Twilight rolled her eyes. “I fainted and I can’t walk yet, so I guess I’m just gonna sit here with my dog.” Spike smiled. “I’m a good boy.” The princess looked from the full-grown dragon wagging his tail to her mirror image. Okay. I’ll go in and say hello. You guys—she paused, her pen in the air—sit tight. “Yes, Your Highness,” Twilight muttered, a small smirk on her mouth. “Are you as weirded out with this as I am?” Princess Twilight clamped her mouth shut against a sudden soundless giggle. Oh yeah. I’m sure we can work through it, though. Twilight scootched herself to the side to let the princess into the cave mouth. “If you say so.” Before the princes disappeared into the depths of the cavern, Twilight piped up, “Hey, what’s up with your voice? Got a bad cold or something?” Princess Twilight Sparkle halted mid-step. Her body sunk in a deep sigh. She floated a sheet of paper over to Twilight and continued on her journey. Twilight Sparkle tried to grasp the page in her hooves and only succeeded in bunching it up. She settled for spreading it across the ledge. I’ll tell you later. Being a princess isn’t always all it’s cracked up to be. “That bodes well,” Twilight said. “Is she sick?” Spike asked. “Does she need to see the vet? Er… Doctor?” “She didn’t say.” Twilight Sparkle rested on her rump and almost tipped over. Her legs wheeled in the air until she could right herself. “Son of a—” “Language, Twi.” “Whatever, Spike.” Twilight shook her head and looked out over the moonlit valley. She brought a hoof to her temple. “My dog is telling me not to swear. What a world.” *** Sunset Shimmer found herself back beside the pool. She walked slowly around the edge, examining the magic-etched stone beneath the surface. She carried the chip at her side in a current of magic. She stopped and held it up to what looked like a crack in the otherwise shining surface. She drew the shard close. It fit perfectly, but it was only a small part of a larger missing chunk. So Adagio had taken it from this side. At the least, she’d taken one chunk from this side. She still had most of it, unless Sunset had missed it while combing over the corridors. She blew a lock of hair out of her face. This was something Twilight should be doing... as soon as she could walk faster than a toddler. “I should probably teach her a couple of spell, too. It’s why she wanted to come, after all.” Her orange ears swiveled towards a buzzing sound from across the cave. She looked up and noted that it was coming from the pile of her clothes. She tossed her mane with a laugh. “Right. The book. Here I was, gonna leave it behind.” A quick trot over a flashing horn later, the book hovered in front of Sunset’s face, sparkling and shimmying. Her eyes widened when she read the message. Talking to yourself is the first sign of insanity. Sunset rolled her eyes as she turned around. “You know, Twilight, most friends would just say ‘hello.’” A silent flap of Princess Twilight’s wings brought her soaring into the cavern. She grinned at Sunset and hefted her copy of the diary. What say we skip the pleasantries and go right to the tearful reunion? Sunset wrapped a foreleg around her neck when she landed. The princess did the same. Sunset brushed her cheek against Princess Twilight’s. “Tracked us down with the diaries once again, huh?” As usual, you’re a hard mare to find. The princess pulled away and surveyed the room with narrowed eyes. Geeze. This has been here forever and nopony knows about it. “Not nopony.” Sunset caught her double negative the moment it left her mouth. She lifted her fragment of the sirens’ gemstones. “I mean, I wouldn’t say that. Sonata said Aria had been using it for years, and who knows who she told. And now there’s the problem of Adagio.” Princess Twilight Sparkle took the fragment and let her magic run through the etched pathways. Do you trust Sonata to tell the truth? “Well—” Sunset sucked in a shallow breath. “She seemed really broken up about this whole thing. She was sobbing pretty desperately in my arms.” Uhuh. The princess gave the crimson shard one last once-over before stuffing it into her saddlebags. I trust you, Sunset, but I’m not sure I trust her. “There’s something else.” Sunset showed her the chip from the portal. “We think Adagio was here pretty recently. At the very least, Spike saw somepony in here who just so happened to be carting off a bit of crystal. And since the necklace shard was right next to it…” The princess rubbed her chin. What time did you say the murder took place? “Sometime this morning. Real early.” Princess Twilight’s wings twitched. She spread them out and angled the feathers. Seems weird she would murder somepony, race to Equestria, and then just wait around in the cave until a dragon jumped out. Sunset Shimmer shifted her weight from one hoof to the next. “She might have been planning to stay here for a while.” We’ll have to ask her when we track her down. For now, let’s head back to my place. Princess Twilight snorted. And try to get my evil twin acclimated. Sunset stared at that note for a moment before diplomatically tearing it into little tiny pieces. “‘Evil’ is going a bit far…” Well, of course. Princess Twilight walked alongside Sunset, lighting the cave with an illuminating spell. I’ve just read enough books to know we’re about three chapters away from the part where she shoves me off a cliff and takes my crown for her own. Sunset glanced at the princess’ wings. “Yeah. No way of getting out of that predicament.” She slid the portal fragment into Princess Twilight’s saddlebags. “What’s your grand plan to track down the suspect? An all-city-state bulletin? Nationwide marehunt? Trekking around train stations with a picture and saying ‘have you seen this fish-pony?’” Those were all possibilities, Princess Twilight wrote, but after seeing the gemstone shards, I got a better idea. I’m gonna need my evil twin’s help to put it together, but I’m certain it’ll work. “Oooh,” Sunset chuckled. “You wanna see how her magic scanner thingamado works.” Princess Twilight nudged her shoulder with a wingtip. Guilty as charged, but don’t tell me it wouldn’t work. “It actually just might.” Sunset carefully stepped over a hoofprint in the dust. “Unless the scanner gets muddled by all the magic around here. We don’t have much of the stuff in the other world, you know. We might have only broken through because of that.” Interesting hypothesis. Perhaps it deserves a test? They walked into the cool spring night. Twilight stood on four shaky feet, her tail flicking behind her. “So, what’s the plan? We’re going after the pain in the butt, right?” “Not much chance of finding her in the dark like this,” Sunset said. “Twilight wants to head to her castle and rig up a magic sensor. We’ll be able to pinpoint her location. Hopefully.” Twilight tilted her head. She leaned against Spike’s foot for support. “You don’t have magic sensors? Pardon my inquiry as to why the heck not.” Princess Twilight lidded her eyes. She levitated a scrap of paper to her double. I haven’t spent half my life just trying to prove magic exists. “Touché.” Twilight hobbled closer. “But you can’t just tell me you have nothing like what we need.” The princess nodded. I have a sort of sensor, sure, but it doesn’t have nearly the range we’d need. That’s where you come in. Twilight sucked on her teeth. “I’ll need to see your equipment before I can tell you what we need.” Fair enough. The princess let out a sharp whistle. She pointed a wing at the treetops below. I’ve got a chariot that can carry you guys to Ponyville. Spike’ll have to fly. Sunset Shimmer glanced at the former dog. Her eyebrows shot up. “How?” The princess looked over her shoulder. He’s a dragon, right? Full-grown? Kinda figured dragons flew. “But he’s got…” Sunset gestured to Spike’s back. “He’s got no wings.” “What about my wings?” Spike’s tail stopped wagging. He lifted his arm and craned his neck around to see his back. “Am I supposed to have wings?” Princess Twilight was writing when Spike spoke up. Her pen tore straight through the page. She sputtered, her muzzle scrunched up and her eyes glaring. She looked from Twilight to Sunset, her hoof stretched outward. How can he not have wings? Where the heck are his wings? “No need to throw a hissy-fit over it,” Twilight said, crossing her forelegs. “Maybe not all dragons have wings.” Without all four hooves to balance her, she fell flat on her chin. She ground her teeth together. “Oh, that sinks it…” Sunset Shimmer felt a jolt run down her spine. She had seen this before. She knew what came next. On instinct, she cast a cone of silence around Twilight Sparkle’s head, which shimmered a bright blue. Twilight Sparkle screamed into the night, her voice muffled by the spell. Swear words of every type, flavor, and level of obscenity exploded from her mouth. She stomped her hooves and danced around, blasting everything in sight with every conceivable curse, and some she made up herself. To the nearby listeners, it was just a low murmur. Princess Twilight watched with a cocked brow. When I get that mad, I usually just burst into flames. What’s she saying? Sunset grimaced. “Trust me when I say you don’t wanna know.” Spike tapped his clawtips together. “Is she gonna be okay? She’s saying those things she said when she fell down the stairs a month ago.” “She just needs to let off a little steam, Spike.” Sunset felt a tickle at her side. She looked back to see a sheet of paper bumping against her flank. Hay, Sunset, it said. Sunset Shimmer frowned at Princess Twilight, whose smirk showed some teeth. “What?” Another paper fluttered over. Horseapples. Sunset Shimmer heaved a sigh. “Twilight, you know I don’t appreciate obscene—” Pony feathers “Cut it out.” Flying feather. “Twilight, would you st—” Rut. Sunset’s orange face glowed bright red. “Twilight!” Rut rut rut rut rutting rut rut rut rut rut rut rutting rut rut. Sunset wrapped her magic around the note and burned it to a crisp. While she was distracted, the spell around Twilight’s head faded. “—and spoon-feed it to you!” Twilight’s chest heaved. She reached up to adjust her hairclip, but settled for awkwardly bumping her hair into place. Princess Twilight clutched her belly, her smile wide, as she rocked with gale-force laughter. She wiped her eyes and scribbled a quick note. Shining Armor was right, I do look ridiculous when I’m angry. She gave Sunset a smarmy grin. But not as cute as you look when you’re embarrassed. Sunset laid her ears back on her head. “Yeah, I’m stinking adorable.” The clatter of reigns and the flap of wings caught their ears. They all scrambled back from the ledge as a sky chariot, pulled by two royal guards, came in for a landing. They cast nervous glances at Spike, which were replaced with puzzlement when the dragon smiled and waved. One of the guards, a bat pony, saluted. “Your Highness, we’re ready to take you and your guests back to Ponyville on your mark.” Thank you, Captain Skyhook. Princess Twilight gritted her teeth and gave a single flap of her wings. We might have a problem. There’s no way to fit Spike into that, is there? The other guard, a pegasus, furrowed his brow. “Sorry, Your Majesty, but I thought Spike was staying at the library.” Not that Spike, this one. Princess Twilight pointed to the massive dragon behind her. “Oh,” Skyhook said. “That could be a problem.” Spike rubbed his knees, his tail waving slowly across the rocks. “I’m starting to get really uncomfortable with all this note passing. Especially when they’re about me. Can somebody please tell me what you’re talking about?” Princess Twilight’s ears drooped. She sucked in her lips and turned to Sunset with hopeful eyes. “Spike…” Sunset turned to the former dog. “Well, it’s just that we can’t carry you in a chariot, but we’re not sure how else to get you to Ponyville.” Spike’s eyes lit up. “We could go for a walk. I like walks. I get to smell so many cool things!” Twilight wobbled until she stood beside the princess. “Are we within walking distance?” “In a sense,” Skyhook said. “But even at a dragon’s pace, it would take all night.” Twilight shook her head. She almost tipped over before Princess Twilight caught her with a wing. “Then we’ll walk. I’m not leaving Spike behind.” Sunset propped her cheek against her hoof. “Shame. It’s been a long time since I rode in a royal chariot.” “You could ride me!” Spike lowered himself to all fours. “My back is huge! There’s space for at least five of you up here!” The pegasus guard smiled. “Much as we appreciate the offer, I think we should stay airborne to lead the way.” “Just what I was thinking, Windblown.” Skyhook bowed his head to the princess. “By your leave.” Princess Twilight nodded, and they took to the sky. She watched them go before turning to Spike with a wry smile. Twilight Sparkle sat beside the dragon and reached her hooves into the air. “Okay, how do I get up there? You got a ladder or something?” Lavender sparks surrounded her body. She yelped as she was lifted into the air by magical forces. She looked down to see the princess grinning at her with a glowing horn. “Stupid asks a question,” Twilight murmured, “Stupid gets an answer.” The princess gave Sunset a boost, then followed up on her wings. Spike gripped the rocky face of the mountain tight with his claws and made his way ponderously to the ground below. Skyhook and Windblown kept close, the light from the golden chariot beckoning the dragon forward. Twilight Sparkle absently ran her hoof across Spike’s scales. “Thank you, Spike. Good boy.” Spike beamed. Sunset Shimmer sat beside Princess Twilight, who watched her double with keen interest. The princess wrote hastily into a notepad, and just as hastily erased a large chunk. Instead of interrupting her to ask what she was writing, Sunset glanced at the text itself. I had a run-in with the politically disinclined. Last year, my claim to princesshood was contested. Some jerk decided to If you wanted to eavesdrop, you could have at least been subtle about it. Sunset Shimmer’s eyes rescanned the last sentence. She jerked her head back and turned away. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to.” Princess Twilight shrugged. I’m writing a first draft. I’m trying to think up a softer way to say “Your mirror-universe double almost got assassinated last year,” but it’s not exactly coming easy. “I say be blunt.” Sunset bumped her shoulder against the princess’. “She’s the same as you in that regard. I mean, do you think you’re gonna be able to top the royal freak-out she had just a moment ago?” “I can hear you,” Twilight called back. “Then quit eavesdropping and get over here!” Sunset said. At Princess Twilight’s lidded look, she replied, “I wear my hypocrisy on my sleeves.” “You’re not wearing sleeves. Or anything. In case you forgot. Nudist.” Twilight lurched the final few steps across Spike’s back and plopped down before the other two ponies. “What was I eavesdropping?” Sunset pointed her horn. “Twilight here has something to tell you. About why she can’t talk.” “Oh good. Another mystery solved.” Twilight pushed herself into a precarious seated position. “What’s up? Cat got your tongue?” Princess Twilight blew a breath through her lips. She pulled the scarf from her neck. Twilight Sparkle shuffled back a few scales. On her double’s neck, right in the middle of her throat, was a long, white, hairless scar. “Holy—” “Twilight!” Sunset snapped. “Mackerel.” Twilight winced, unable to tear her eyes away. “Um. H-how’d you get that?” An assassin attacked me last year. It didn’t exactly go well… Princess Twilight’s pen trailed off. She flicked her horn to wrap her blue scarf around her neck. Point is, her blade wrecked my vocal cords. It could have been worse. Spike glanced back. “What’s she say about not being able to talk?” “Ugh—” Twilight’s hoof subconsciously went to her throat. “A r-really bad lady tried to kill her.” “Where?” Spike snarled. The three ponies were treated to the sight of a full-grown dragon with glowing eyes and smoking nostrils growling at them. “Where is she? I’ll stop her! I won’t let her hurt you guys!” “Spike, easy!” Sunset waved her hooves. “This was a long time ago! The assassin’s already taken care of!” She gritted her teeth. “Right?” Yeah, it’s taken care of. We’ve got enough to worry about as it is. Princess Twilight gave them a decidedly false smile. Just bear with me, okay? Twilight bumped a hoof against her glasses, knocking them even more askew than they already were. “Yeah, sure.” Princess Twilight hissed a laugh. First things first, we need to teach you a little something about magic. *** Twilight Sparkle’s heart thrummed in her chest. Jolts ran through her entire body; a tingling, tangible feeling of something. It was electricity and fire and light all rolled into one sensation. A bead of sweat rolled out from behind her bangs. “Okay, looks like your heart-rate’s good.” Sunset Shimmer examined her with horn alight. “Do you feel the magic?” “O-oh y-yeah,” Twilight muttered, her eyes wide. “Yeah, I can tell.” Sunset closed her eyes and took a steadying breath in. “That initial boost gets easier if your body’s fit.” “What are you implying?” “That you’re one skinny unicorn.” Sunset frowned. “Would it kill you to put on some muscle weight?” Twilight closed her eyes and wrinkled her snout. “It might kill you.” “Never mind, then.” Sunset took another breath before continuing her instruction. “Now see if you can funnel all that energy into one place. Your horn. Right there on your forehead.” Twilight stuck her tongue out of the side of her mouth. She could feel the magic crawling its way upward, through the pathways Sunset had called “fairy strings:” Little veins that carried power, rather than blood or nerve signals. They sprawled throughout her head and spiraled up her horn. The tip of the bony protrusion flashed. “That’s it!” Sunset said. “Feel the life coursing through your fairy strings. Let it rise to the tip. Direct it steadily, certainly. You are in complete control.” Twilight crossed her eyes to stare at the sparking horn. “Is this the part where I can do anything I can imagine?” Sunset snickered. “Not especially. You need to learn how to do it first.” “Verily, magic doth spew forth.” Twilight twitched when the princess wiped the bead of sweat away. “Direct me to where it should go.” Princess Twilight passed a note to Sunset. Sunset gave her an exasperated sigh. “She says to tell you that wizards don’t talk like that.” “I’m not a wizard.” Twilight let out a weak chuckle. “Seriously, what’s the secret to this magic thing?” Sunset Shimmer sat with her back straight and her shoulders square. The perfect teacher’s pose. “Magic is one part emotion—” “I’m feeling pretty stressed, thanks for asking.” “—one part mathematics—” “Hey, I actually like where this is going.” “—and one part crochet.” Twilight Sparkle’s shoulders drooped. “You wanna run that by me again?” “It’s a metaphor.” Sunset let a spark drift off of her lit horn. It dangled in the air, guided by her directions. “The emotions form the core of your magic. They’re the most basic part… the intention of the spell. They’ll control the power behind it. The magnitude. The force.” The spark trailed a phantom line behind it, like a tangible afterimage. Twilight reached up to touch it, but Sunset slapped her hoof away. “Stop it. I’m writing.” She drew out a set of numbers. “Mathematics comes in as a way to combine individual effects. A spell to levitate something has a basic formula: You need to know how to lift and how to push.” She drew out two symbols with a plus sign between them. “Put together, you’ve got a way to move objects without using blunt hooves.” Twilight grinned. “Be still, my beating heart.” “More complex spells naturally require more complex equations.” Sunset Shimmer wrote out an equation with multiplication, division, and various other mathematic processes, all using symbols Twilight was unfamiliar with. “Teleportation requires so much thought and foresight that only the most proficient unicorns even attempt it.” “Like you?” “You’re darn right.” Sunset Shimmer whisked the light away and started over. “The crochet part is mostly a joke they tell to first-year students. But it’s still important to understand how the spells weave together.” She drew a straight line in the air. She followed up with a loop, a zigzag, and a square, which all overlapped and intersected. “It’s not enough to simply know what elements to a spell to use, or what proportion they have to each other, or even what the final numbers add up to. Each equation, each process, has its own way to connect the different elements. You could have the right push and lift for telekinesis, but if you connect them wrong, you could end up crushing the object instead of moving it. If you put enough force into it, that is.” Sunset coughed. “Believe me when I say you’d have to be using a heck of a lot of force, so don’t be worried. Too much.” “Okay.” Twilight shuffled her hooves. “Okay. It’s weird, but all new things are. How to I know how to… ‘push’?” Sunset took Princess Twilight’s pen and set it in front of Twilight. “First, reach out and touch the pen. Just let magic fly from your horn, towards the object.” Twilight lowered her eyebrows. She stared hard at the pen. She resisted the urge to stretch her hoof out, because only Sunset would get that reference. She pushed more magic to her horn, right up until it overflowed. A lavender glow, identical to that of the princess’, flared out from her head and shot towards the pen. The pen jumped up and bopped Sunset on the nose. She wrinkled her snout. “Let’s try that again. Don’t push magic through your horn, just let it flow.” Twilight gave her the most sheepish smirk she had, but was already focused on the pen. She let the magic flow at a gentler pace this time. It slid out of the tip of her horn and drifted to the pen. Soon, the entire object was encased in a purple bubble. “Now, like a fishing line,” Sunset said, “lift!” The pen rose into the air. It hovered in place, right before Twilight’s face. Her jaw dropped. A slow, disbelieving smile pulled at her mouth. “I’m doing it.” She clapped her hooves together. “I’m doing it! I’m doing magic! I can’t believe it! It’s real magic! Real! One-hundred-percent, bonafide, amazing, awesome magic! Woo-hoo!” The pen plopped onto Spike’s scales as Twilight danced around. “Magic! Magic! Magic!” Sunset turned to the princess. “Were you like that when you first picked something up?” Princess Twilight winked. Spike craned his neck around, his sharp teeth flashing in the light of Twilight’s horn. “You really did it?” “I really did it!” Twilight leaped up and wrapped her forelegs as far around Spike’s neck as she could reach. “I’m really doing magic! It’s amazing!” “It’s incredible!” Spike laughed. “It’s astounding!” “It’s fantastic!” “It’s indescribable!” “It’s…” Spike floundered for an adjective. “Pretty cool!” Twilight all but galloped back to Sunset. “I take back everything I said earlier! What’s next? What more is there to learn? Can I move it around? Can I change its color?” She placed her hooves on her friend’s shoulders. “Teach to me your secrets, my master.” Princess Twilight held up a sheet of paper in her magic. Sunset Shimmer nodded. “Sure, there’s one other thing we can teach you tonight.” She lifted the pen and scribbled across the page. “For young unicorns, the first real test of telekinetic skill is to be able to write their own name. Life is much easier once you can do that.” Sunset took a step back and surveyed her perfect penmanship. “What do you think?” Twilight came close on legs that had gotten noticeably steadier in the last few minutes. She read the note Sunset had left: I am Sunset Shimmer. She bared her teeth and flicked her tail. “Bring it on.” The pen flew across the page, trailing ink. Like an artist at their easel, she struck with passion and precision. Sweat beaded on the tip of her nose. Her eyes narrowed in concentration. When she had finished, Sunset read over her shoulder. “‘Yam Twiiit Sperdin.’ Eloquent.” Twilight Sparkle clicked her tongue as she studied the smudged, unsteady lines she had made. “That just means I gotta try again, and again, and again, until I do it right.” She flipped the pen around in her magic grip. “It’s like your guard said, Princess. This ride is gonna take all night. Looks like I’ve got plenty of time to study.” She turned her head to look at Spike, whose focus intently followed the golden chariot. “Yeah,” she said. “We’re gonna have plenty of time.” *** Sonata Dusk was soaked to the core. She had discarded her hoodie in one of her hideaways in exchange for a burgundy raincoat, but the base damage had already been done. She knew that lesser constitutions would have caught hypothermia long ago. Luckily enough, there were some benefits to being a mythical creature from a parallel world. She could stand a little rain. She could stand a lot of rain. The rain blotted out the light from the streetlamps until she was right under them. She navigated more from memory than sight, picking out this road or that. The quiet suburban area had little to no traffic in the middle of the downpour, especially this late at night. She was alone as she made her way to her chosen destination. There! That was the house. It was a smallish two-story building with a remarkably gaudy flamingo lawn ornament. Who the heck ever actually owned one of those? Who the heck owned one in this day and age? Sonata rolled her eyes. There really was only one answer to that question. She walked slowly up the walkway, towards the covered porch. She almost tripped over an unseen skateboard before she kicked it out of the way. She felt a small measure of relief once she was under the protective porch roof. She lifted a fist and tapped the door. “Coming!” came a light voice from inside. “Coming! Don’t go anywhere!” Sonata hunched her shoulders and clasped her hands behind her back, smiling just so. She figured she didn’t need to pull out the puppy-dog look, but she knew it couldn’t hurt. The door swung aside, revealing a short, thin woman with bouncing curls. She leaned one outstretched arm against the doorframe and shifted her hips. “Hubby! I was afraid you were—” The woman’s pose shifted from excited and mildly seductive to cool and reserved in a heartbeat. “You’re not Hubby.” Sonata waved her fingers. “Hi, Pinkie.” A little girl appeared behind Pinkie Pie’s back. She hid behind her mother once she saw Sonata. “Where’s daddy? He should have been home hours—” Pinkie covered her daughter’s mouth. “Go see what Cheesy and Sunny are doing, okay? Make sure they’re still asleep.” The little girl ran off. Pinkie closed the door just enough to put it between her and Sonata. “What are you up to? What’s got you visiting at—” She glanced at the clock on the wall. “Quarter to twelve?” Sonata shut her eyes tight and pressed her palms together. “I’m so sorry to come at a time like this, but life got so crazy and I don’t know who to turn to and… and…” Pinkie rested her cheek against the doorway. “Spit it out, Sonata.” Sonata swung a foot back and forth. “Um. Can I stay here tonight?”