Shimmer sat in her laboratory tapping away on a keyboard while she transcribed some notes regarding her sister’s health. It had dawned upon her that this issue might have originated from magic and as a result, she felt it was necessary to document everything that had happened up to this point; as such she had spent the entire morning writing up everything she understood prior to this point.

A tap on the door made Shimmer’s head turn to the entryway where her young personal doctor stood. Coming to a stand, Shimmer brushed herself off and approached the blonde haired woman.

“What is her diagnosis, doctor?” Shimmer asked.

The women sighed and removed a pair of gloves from her hands and placed them into her back pocket.

“Do you mind telling me what’s going on, Miss Shimmer?” The doctor asked with a raised brow.

“What do you mean?” Shimmer blinked.

The doctor gave an annoyed expression. “Miss Shimmer, I’ve been your personal doctor for a good five years and never asked questions before, but you’re going to have to explain to me how this woman has type Q blood according to the chart you’ve provided.”

Shimmer made an awkward expression, unsure of how to divulge the rest of the information. “Look, I told you before not to ask questions.”

“Yes, I’m well aware. Ordinarily, if I was being told to treat a bullet wound without asking where it came from I’d do exactly that, but we’re not talking about that. Instead, we’re talking about a girl whose heart rate is half that of a normal person’s, type Q blood, and that’s a very odd scar on her back who looks just like you. I know your family tree, and there is no twin sister in it. So if you want me to keep quiet, I suggest you start by telling me what exactly I have fallen into,” the doctor scolded.

Another sigh escaped Shimmer as she realized she was going to need to give more up for the doctor’s help. “Alright… I’ll tell you this much… she’s an alien. I know it sounds messed up, but that’s why I came to you and not the hospital. I can’t risk people poking their noses around here. Thus why I have to ask you leave all notes and anything you need to work here. I’ll replace any equipment personally.”

The doctor chuckled and shook her head. “Money is never a concern, I know you’re good for that, however, I would appreciate it if I was more informed before being brought here.”

“Understood, I apologize…” Shimmer frowned.

The doctor let out another sigh and crossed her arms. “Anyway…” she began, “her condition seems to not be improving. Her ailment is beyond anything I’ve ever seen and it seems that every time you give her drugs to improve her condition, the ailment seems to… adapt to it…”

“What do you mean?” Shimmer leaned in.

“Well… this virus or whatever it is… it’s acting as if it’s alive… it’s adapting to the drugs you give it and fighting against them. I’ve never seen anything like this; it’s perhaps the fastest adapting virus I’ve ever seen,” she responded.

Shimmer sighed and already could predict where this was going. “What do you recommend?”

The doctor sighed and shook her head. “You’re asking me to perform miracles with over the counter level products. She needs to be in a hospital, that’s the short of it.”

“Hospital is out of the question,” Shimmer objected.

“Then you need to take her back where you found her because frankly, I am not certain what I can do with her here,” the doctor rolled her eyes.

Shimmer nodded and sighed. “Thank you for your time anyway, sorry to bring you out here for such odd circumstances.”

The medical professional shrugged and finally offered a smile after such an annoyed exchange. “I am sure where ever she is from, they have the ability to treat this, that or she will just have to ride it out a bit longer until it finally passes.”

“I’ll talk to her about it.” Shimmer nodded.

“Absolutely not!” Sunset managed to say in a relatively loud volume despite her very hoarse voice.

Shimmer frowned and placed her hands on Sunset’s weak arm, gripping tightly at the cold flesh. “Sunset, we don’t even know what you have and there’s no doctor in this world who can help you, maybe going back to Equestria to get looked at is the best thing for you…”

“It’s out of the question, Shimmer…” Sunset turned away.

“Why are you being so stubborn, Sunset? I’m trying to help you!” Shimmer yelled as she stood up.

“I’ll be fine, I just need to rid this out…” Sunset argued, refusing to look at her younger sister after such a ludicrous suggestion.

“Ride it out!? You were passed out on the floor the other day when we found you! You couldn’t walk! You still can’t walk!” Shimmer protested.

Sunset continued to avoid eye contact with the girl, knowing it would be harder to say no if she was met with her sister’s eyes. She had a difficult time saying no to her younger sibling in the short time they had been together. Shimmer was always so doting to her, and it always made it difficult to reject her demands.

“I just can’t, okay…” Sunset spoke quietly.

Shimmer came around the bed to the other side to get Sunset to look at her, but the result was just Sunset turning in the opposite direction to avoid looking towards her.

“I want a real answer,” Shimmer demanded with an extended finger.

Sunset let out a long sigh and closed her eyes before a series of coughs escaped her. Once they subsided, however, she was able to answer the request.

“Celestia…”

“What about her?” Shimmer raised a confused brow.

“If I go back… I’ll have to face her… I’m not really in the mood for that…” Sunset pouted.

“Why not?” Shimmer asked trying to get Sunset to look at her but was met with more resistance.

“Stay out of it, Shimmer. It’s a long complicated thing, the relationship between a star student and her mentor. The point is, I’m not going back to Equestria and that’s final. I’ll be fine, I’ve ridden out worse… I’m alive and that’s what matters,” Sunset complained.

Shimmer wanted to continue arguing, she wanted to try and see if she could wear Sunset down into submission, but she recognized she was treading into dangerous territory for her elder sister. If the matter had to deal with Princess Celestia then it was certain that magic was heavily involved and given her disdain for wanting more magic in her life, Shimmer recognized that she would soon be arguing against her own best interest and not only Sunset’s.

While she couldn’t deny that Equestria may hold the cure for whatever ailed Sunset, her sister had a point: she was still alive and appeared to be coherent now. Whatever it was, perhaps she could just ride it out.

With a sigh and a nod, Shimmer conceded, “alright… fine. However, Twilight and I are going to keep an eye on you until your condition improves.”

A light blush appeared on Sunset’s sickly face as she nodded. “That’s acceptable.”

Balancing a tray with a kettle and two cups, Twilight managed to clumsily make it to the guest bedroom of Shimmer’s estate. She wasn’t the most coordinated girl, and tea was not something she generally partook in, but she knew some tea with a bit of honey was the perfect thing for an ailing girl. She recalled all the years when she was sick and her mother made it for her.

Reaching the bedside, Twilight set the tray on the nightstand and began to pour the hot beverage into a small glass. Watching the steam rise, she kept a good distance to keep it from fogging up her glasses before gently blowing on it and offering the cup to Sunset who was resting in the bed, smirking as she watched Twilight.

She took the cup and kept the expression only to cause Twilight to raise a brow in question as she took a cup for herself.

“What?” Twilight asked.

“Are you going to put on a maid outfit for me?” Sunset teased with a growing smirk on her face. Twilight could already sense the inner pervert in Sunset coming out.

Twilight rolled her eyes at the joke. “Haha, very funny.”

Twilight took a sip of the hot tea and Sunset did the same before nodding and smirking again. “Well, I’m sure there’s one somewhere in this house, I figured you could dust the room and give me a little show?”

“Is there no illness that makes the pervert in you go away?” Twilight asked while taking another sip.

Sunset chuckled and shook her head. “If I wasn’t a pervert you’d think I was dying or something. It’s the nature of our friendship.”

“Yeah, but sometimes you make it awkward, like that time you purposefully left a pair of your panties on my bedroom doorknob when you came over…” Twilight snarled, looking at Sunset with squinted eyes.

Through coughs and labored breathing, Sunset let out a series of jovial laughs, holding her stomach as she did. “S-stop! I can’t breathe!”

“It’s not funny! My brother came over that day!”

That comment only made Sunset laugh harder.

“My mom went and bought me birth control and gave it to me in front of him!” Twilight protested.

Sunset’s laughter continued to grow. “Stop! No more!”

“Oh, and explaining they were yours did not help at all…” Twilight pouted.

“Oh man! I didn’t expect that to go so spectacularly. I’m too much for even myself…” Sunset finally allowed her laughter to subside; it dwindled down to a few chuckles before stopping entirely as the girl caught her breath.

“I am so going to get you back…” Twilight responded from behind her teacup with vengeful eyes.

“Waiting on it, Sparkle.” Sunset winked playfully, clearly not intimidated in the slightest by the empty threat.

“You really are a pain sometimes…” Twilight grumbled.

Sunset merely nodded in agreement as she sipped her tea. Twilight, however, frowned and realized the two of them were avoiding a conversation they knew was waiting to pop up. Realizing that Sunset was not going to bring it up herself, Twilight decided to be the one to say it aloud.

“You really should go back to Equestria for this, Sunset…”

Sunset sighed and set her teacup back into the saucer and rolled her eyes. “Why is everyone so interested in my business? None of you guys have ever been to Equestria you don’t know-“

“It’s because of your mentor right?” Twilight cut her off.

Sighing again Sunset looked away. “I… I don’t want her to see me as a failure… I promised I wouldn’t face her until I felt I redeemed myself… and I don't feel like I've done that just yet...”

“There’s no certainty that you’d run into her, I’m sure Princess Twilight would be discrete…” Twilight reminded.

Sunset shook her head. “Equestria has nothing but painful memories to me; I wouldn’t expect you or Shimmer to understand that.”

“Maybe we would if you’d talk to us about it…” Twilight protested.

“Another topic for another day, Twilight,” Sunset said, and with that, she had managed to put a cap on that conversation. Twilight conceded recognizing that there was no way she was going to get the teen to budge on the topic and decided it was best to let sleeping dogs lay.

Sunset’s health was definitely still at the forefront of her mind, but Shimmer had decided she needed to keep her thoughts off of that subject for the night. She had been invited to Moondancer’s apartment for dinner, promised that her mother would not be home that night. Moondancer mentioned she had a late shift and was going to spend the night at a friend’s due to having an early shift in the morning to where coming home was simply a waste of time.

Moondancer obviously decided it was a good chance for her and Shimmer to have the place to themselves, though arguably going to Shimmer’s estate would have granted them far more accommodations. To Shimmer it was clear that Moondancer wanted to play the role of the pursuer, which she definitely didn’t mind, it was exhilarating to be chased, even if Moondancer wasn’t as aggressive about it as she was used to.

In the past, Shimmer was used to her romantic suitors to be far more pushing and straightforward. Moondancer, however, was far too shy for that. She clearly wanted to chase Shimmer but didn’t have quite the confidence needed to go all the way in that chase. In a way, it was cute.

Shimmer stepped out of her car and adjusted her bra, pulling it up slightly as she flipped open a hand mirror from her purse to get a good look at herself. Her hair was expertly done, she had just stopped at the salon that day to ensure it would be perfect for this evening. Her traditional ponytail had been held back with a hair tie with a skull ornament upon it, and her earrings sported small bats dangling from her tiny ears.

She had decided to go with lip gloss again since she was certain that Moondancer needed the encouragement just to kiss her, and of course, she had chosen another low cut dress to perhaps further entice her.

Closing the mirror and placing it back into her bag she nodded with confidence as she walked up the stairs to Moondancer’s apartment.

Ringing the door, she waited patiently as a set of footsteps approached the door.

When the door opened and the light shined out of the apartment she saw Moondancer had actually opted to wear another button-up, this one was simple, black and short sleeved. It was tight enough that her usually small breasts were fairly more noticeable. Looking down she could see she had gone with a pair of grey skinny jeans, obviously with her shirt not tucked into them. It was sort of a more formal, but somewhat casual look, Shimmer appreciated it.

The biggest shock, however, came from her hair which looked brushed, and with an honest attempt to put it into a neat ponytail.

Shimmer giggled as she looked up at the girl’s hair.

“You don’t like it?” Moondancer frowned.

Shimmer shook her head and reached for the hair tie in Moondancer’s hair. With a gentle tug, she pulled it out and ruffled the top of her head. “It isn’t you. I don’t want you to be something you’re not for me.”

Moondancer blushed and nodded. “Yeah… that makes sense I suppose… come on in.”

With careful steps in her heels, she stepped inside to notice the apartment was recently cleaned. Carpets clearly had been vacuumed and deep cleaned only hours ago, and all of the various bits and bobs that previously littered the place were put away. Moondancer must have been preparing all day for this event.

Shimmer followed the taller girl to the kitchen area where a dining table had been cleared off of old newspapers and pizza boxes and instead sported an actual tablecloth with candles lit sitting atop of it.

Moondancer smiled and pulled out a seat for Shimmer and nodded. “Miss,” she commented.

Shimmer giggled and took Moondancer’s hand as she was led into her seat. Moondancer nodded and moved around the table and sat across from the girl, pulling her chair in loudly as she gestured for Shimmer to remove the cover over the plate in front of her. Shimmer looked down and contained her giggles when she saw what was clearly an attempt at trying to impress Shimmer with utensil etiquette; however, she had gotten it completely wrong.

Shimmer assumed that she placed Shimmer’s knife on the left due to remembering she was left-handed, as she noticed Moondancer’s own knife was on her right side. While it didn’t bother her, it definitely made her want to laugh, but she contained herself as she reached and lifted the lid and set it aside.

She looked in awe at a fabulous roast, little carrots, potatoes, an entire feast for the light girl. It was obviously slow cooked, meaning Moondancer had been preparing this all day. The smell was divine; Shimmer had opted to not eat much prior due to knowing Moondancer had a dinner planned. Her constant weight watching got the better of her and she only managed to take a bite of an apple before coming over.

“This is amazing…” Shimmer spoke in awe as she picked up a knife in her left hand, ready to saw off a piece to give it a taste.

“I had to look up a recipe, I hope you like it,” Moondancer spoke.

The first bite was amazing, full of flavor, moist, juicy. The thought for a brief moment occurred that perhaps Moondancer was a natural housewife. She dismissed the idea from her head realizing that the two of them were just eighteen and she shouldn’t be thinking about such things.

“It’s marvelous…” Shimmer complimented before taking another eager bite.

Shimmer had never had anyone cook for her before, and as she thought of that she looked across the table at Moondancer trying to attack her food with no level of grace. She stared while Moondancer didn’t notice and remembered how the girl was such a massive contrast to everyone she had been with in the past. This girl wasn’t a troublemaker, she wasn’t an aggressive brute, and she wasn’t someone who would cause problems for Shimmer. This girl wasn’t just another sexual deviant wanting to sweep Shimmer away and wrap around her in passion; she was… normal.

Shimmer had never actually allowed herself to chase after normal people before. It was a drastic change of scenery for her.

Moondancer looked up and blinked with a mouth half full of food she spoke, “something wrong?”

Shimmer shook her head. “No, everything’s perfect. That’s why I am trying to take it all in.”

The other girl adjusted her broken glasses and swallowed. “I’m glad you think so, I mean what kind of girlfriend would I be if I couldn’t even make a perfect date?”

And there it was. The motive of this entire dinner, the reality behind this clever ruse; it was clear that Moondancer was waiting for a subtle way to bring up the age-old “what exactly are we?” question. Her delivery was subtle enough, but Shimmer couldn’t help but want to burst out into giggles at the question.

An awkward silence filled the room for a good twenty seconds, which likely was causing Moondancer to panic a little in fear that she had said the wrong thing.

Fortunately for the girl, Shimmer broke the silence with a sugary smile in Moondancer’s direction. “Girlfriend? You’re more like a boyfriend than anything else.”

Moondancer seemed to allow a mini sigh of relief to escape her followed by a roll of her eyes. “True, but I assure you I’m female.”

Shimmer sipped her drink and nodded playfully giving off a sarcastic sounding “mhm.”

Moondancer took a bite, chewed and swallowed before speaking again, “so… we’re a thing then?”

With a sigh, Shimmer found herself rolling her eyes now. “Why not just ask me the question you're trying to actually ask?”

Nodding, Moondancer wiped her face with a napkin and pushed her chair out. Coming to a stand, the tall girl approached Shimmer and took Shimmer’s hands in her own. The two locked gazes for a brief few seconds before Moondancer finally managed to get the question out. “Shimmer, would you like to be my girlfriend?”

Bringing herself to a stand, Shimmer giggled and wrapped her arms around Moondancer’s neck, rubbing her nose against the other girl’s. “I thought I already was.”

Before Moondancer had a chance to reply, Shimmer pulled her in for a kiss.

Shimmer had been out for quite some time with Moondancer, leaving Twilight in charge of Sunset’s care until she returned. The good doctor had left for the evening and given Twilight a list of instructions to follow in the event that Sunset experienced any more severe symptoms. Most of the papers that were left for Twilight, however, were of scribbled down medical notes in handwriting that Twilight could barely read. It always perplexed her how doctors seemed to always have the worst handwriting imaginable.

Looking over the scratches on paper, she could at least decipher that it was time to give Sunset some fever reducers that had been provided.

Sitting at Sunset’s bedside, Twilight offered a cup of water along with the pills. Sunset took them gently and swallowed them with a quick sip before offering the cup back to Twilight, whom took it and set it upon the table.

She reached over and felt Sunset’s forehead, she was far hotter than usual. Twilight responded by picking up a thermometer from the end table and offering to Sunset. Sunset opened her mouth invitingly and Twilight placed the end in, watching Sunset’s mouth clasp around it.

Trying to reduce her heat, Twilight pulled down Sunset’s blanket slightly and looked at the button up pajama top she was wearing. Sunset smirked and looked down towards her own chest and then back to Twilight.

“Aren’t you going to unbutton me?” She giggled with the thermometer still in her mouth.

Twilight sighed and looked up at her with a serious face. “So long as we can be mature about this.”

Sunset nodded.

Reaching down, Twilight undid two of Sunset’s buttons exposing a bit of her sizable cleavage, and taking note of her black bra poking out. Sunset just watched and the smirk on her face grew three sizes larger.

“So… you doing anything after this?”

Twilight halted and turned towards Sunset with an incredulous expression of annoyance. “Really?”

Sunset giggled. “Sorry, I couldn’t resist.”

Letting out a sigh, Twilight shook her head.

“So are you a boob girl or an ass girl?” Sunset continued to tease.

“I really can’t wait until we give you the sleeping medication…” Twilight responded as she retrieved the thermometer.

Twilight gasped as she looked at the temperature. “Whoa! There’s no way this can be right! 108.8!?”

Sunset blinked and tilted her head in confusion.

“Sunset at this level you shouldn’t even be alive!” Twilight explained.

“Oh right, human biology. Yeah, see us Equestrians are different…” Sunset began.

“Even horses would be dead at this level!” Twilight huffed.

Sunset rolled her eyes in annoyance at the interruption. “I know that, but remember we’re not just horses. Our bodies are adapted differently that the ponies of this world. Unicorns especially…”

Twilight leaned in with intrigue, the opportunity to learn something new always bringing out the inner child in her.

“Magic sort of makes the body run hot so to speak. As a result, your body has to be resistant to heat internally or you’d die. The better you get with magic the more you can withstand such heat. A unicorn usually is considered normal at around 106. So 108.8 isn’t really that bad of a fever where I’m from if that makes any sense…” Sunset rubbed her neck, unsure if what she had just explained made any logical sense. She was trying to apply science to magic after all.

“I think I get it…” Twilight nodded in understanding.

Twilight sighed and placed a hand on of Sunset’s own hand, causing Sunset to look at the girl with confusion. “I hope you get better soon though…”

Sunset nodded and gave her a reassuring smile. “I’m sure I’ll be better in no time…”

Silence filled the room before Sunset decided to cut through the otherwise sappy moment with another bit of humor.

“So are you a boob girl or an ass girl?”

Dinner with Moondancer had gone well, their meal was cooked to perfection and Shimmer could definitely appreciate Moondancer’s ability to learn cooking so quickly. She humored the idea of hiring the teen as a maid at her estate to cook for her, and the thought went as far as imagining what Moondancer would look like in a maid outfit.

The two exchanged pleasant small talk as they continued their journey of getting to know each other better, and continued to find more and more common ground.

After dinner, Moondancer suggest that the two of them hang out in her bedroom before her mother got back in a few hours.

Laying on the bed next to each other, music played through the room from Moondancer’s radio that she had turned on to disturb the silence.

Sunset caught a hint of some kind of body spray that Moondancer was wearing, and it somehow made her feel calmer. She closed her eyes and listened to the music playing, her own breathing becoming softer as she enjoyed herself.

Moondancer looked over to Shimmer, studying the girl’s features as she laid there with her eyes closed. Disbelief still overcame Moondancer as she recognized she was playing far out of her league with a girl as cute as Shimmer.

Looking down to Shimmer’s small hands, she reached her boney hand over and took Shimmer’s right hand in her left hand, causing Shimmer to open her eyes and look over to Moondancer. The two laid there on their backs staring at each other, a smile catching fire between the two of them before Shimmer leaned in slightly, puckering her lips. It didn’t take long for Moondancer to catch the signal as she leaned in and planted a kiss on her new girlfriend’s lips.

Shimmer frowned disappointedly when Moondancer broke the kiss. “Lame…” she said.

Moondancer raised a brow in confusion.

“I was expecting you to take charge a little…” Shimmer pouted.

Moondancer blinked and blushed. “Oh… could I possibly have a do-over? I’m not so great at this stuff…”

Shimmer giggled and nodded. “I suppose I’ll let you use the virgin excuse. Yes, you may have a do-over.”

With those words, Moondancer shifted to her side and took her free hand and placed it on Shimmer’s cheek as she pulled herself in for another kiss. This one however far more passionate, deeper, wetter, longer. Moondancer could hear the smacking of their lips and before she knew it, her tongue was rubbing against Shimmer’s with excitement.

Emboldened by the passion, she kept the kiss going as she moved and climbed over top of Shimmer, straddling her as she intensified their kiss. Her hand left Shimmer’s own hand and trailed its way into her girlfriend’s hair, giving a tight grip causing an audible moan to escape Shimmer.

Moondancer could feel herself salivating more as the entire ordeal filled the room with arousal.

The other hand upon Shimmer’s cheek trailed down and touched the strap of her dress, lowering it slightly along with her bra strap. She reached to the other side to lower the other one only for a hand to reach forward and grab her wrist, halting her.

Breaking the kiss, cold sweat ran down her neck in fear.

“Shit… sorry… I didn’t mean to… I’m reading this all wrong aren’t I?” Moondancer spoke in a panicked voice.

To her surprise, Shimmer didn’t appear angry; instead, she just smiled and shook her head. “No, you’re not doing anything wrong, I promise.”

“Oh…” Moondancer replied, a bit relieved, but now confused as to why she was stopped.

“I would love to do all the things you’re probably thinking, don’t get me wrong, especially if it’s with you. So I’m not stopping you because I don’t want to…” Shimmer said.

“But?” Moondancer asked.

“But…” Shimmer sighed, “every relationship I’ve ever been in I always involve myself with people who are trouble. People I have no business being with and it quickly becomes sexual. I think I just lust after people and that causes me to make stupid decisions. I don’t want that with you, I like what we have and I don’t want it to be screwed up by rushing into that level of intimacy so quickly…”

Moondancer nodded in understanding.

Shimmer continued, “I spent so long chasing people I really should have avoided that this is the first time I’ve gone after someone who is…” she paused trying to think of a way to word it so it didn’t sound offensive.

“Boring?” Moondancer raised a brow.

“I was going to say, normal,” Shimmer giggled and poked the girl’s nose, “it’s a good thing, I like you for you, not because I’m chasing thrills.

Moondancer lowered her guard and accepted that answer with a nod.

“You’re not mad are you?” Shimmer frowned.

Moondancer shook her head. “No way. Truthfully, while I am eager I also… am still kind of nervous myself… I’ve never done this before, especially with a girl… I do kind of worry that I’ll disappoint you…”

Shimmer shook her head and reached up placing a hand on Moondancer’s cheek. “So long as it’s with you, I’ll never be disappointed.”

“Have you done this before?” Moondancer asked.

Shimmer nodded. “Quite a few times, though it’s been a while now…”

“With a girl too?” Moondancer asked.

“Only once…” Shimmer grew quiet with that response, Moondancer detected she was entering delicate territory and decided to leave that subject alone.

With a chuckle, Moondancer nodded. “Well, this at least gives me more time to look stuff up on the internet so I am at least somewhat able to pull this off when it does happen.”

"So the reclusive Moondancer looks at porn?" Shimmer smirked.

"W-what!? No, I meant for educational purposes!" Moondancer shook her hands in protest.

"I was only teasing." Shimmer giggled.

Moondancer sighed and nodded as she responded, "I have no idea what I'm doing..."

“I can teach you,” Shimmer replied.

With her hands on the steering wheel, Shimmer pulled out of the parking space in front of Moondancer’s apartment. With their date wrapped up, she felt content with how everything went, albeit even if a part of her wanted things to go much further. She had been without proper sexual release for a good while at this point and missed the sensation, however, unlike her previous relationships, this one wasn’t a result of her being in a bad place in life. She had finally accepted her parents being gone, she had moved past it and found strength in new friends and even a sister.

It was the happiest she had ever been in her entire life, it felt like a dream that she didn’t want to wake up from. It all just seemed too good to be true, and perhaps a small part of her old self shined through as it told her to be cautious and assume the worst. That was why she had decided to take things slower with Moondancer.

Getting the car started, she tapped her phone to allow her messages to play. She noticed two that were left for her, the first played back in Twilight’s voice.

“Hey Shimmer, it’s Twilight. Sunset is on and off today, I gave her the medication and she’s spent a good half the day taking random naps, but she’s responsive. The doctor came by earlier and had a look at her, I don’t know what she said or did though, she told me it was between her and you. You may want to give her a call. Thanks.”

The beep to alert her to another message was heard followed by the second albeit longer message from the doctor that Twilight had told her to call.

“Ms. Shimmer, it’s your doctor. I’m calling to give you an update on Sunset. As I mentioned before I am not an alien biologist, and this entire case is extremely out of the ordinary for me. The girl’s prognosis is nearly impossible to determine. I am not familiar with her species vitals so I cannot tell what is considered normal and what constitutes an unhealthy… whatever she is. I don’t see how you can expect me to work under these circumstances, I studied human biology and human medicine, I’m not qualified to handle aliens.”

There was a long sigh before she continued.

“That being said, her condition is… unique. The virus appears to be… evolving at an alarming rate. The medications we are giving her even the prescription strength stuff… it’s slowly losing effect. Whatever is inside of her can’t be destroyed by human means. I am advising you not only as a doctor but as someone who cares about you: if you care at all about this girl’s well being you will take her back to where she is from. They are far more qualified to help her than I am. I can’t save someone’s life when I don’t even understand how their body works. It goes without saying but I am washing my hands of this and leaving the rest up to you, I’ve done all I can do. Please consider what I said, Shimmer.”

Shimmer sighed and pressed the delete button on her phone before tossing it into the passenger seat behind her. The last thing she wanted to hear was more suggestions of taking Sunset back to Equestria, a trip that both of them didn’t really want to make. If what Twilight said was true then Sunset should be slowly coming around anyway.

She cleared her mind of the phone call and used her memories of her time with Moondancer to empty her head. She could still feel the tingling upon her lips of Moondancer’s kiss.

Rainbow Dash and Applejack were at it again in their competitive streak with video games as they mashed away at buttons. The two bore looks of pure concentration as Twilight and Fluttershy sat on the couch in Rainbow Dash’s house.

Fluttershy sitting in her pajamas was knitting herself a scarf for the coming winter, while Twilight was simply checking her phone to the sound of punches being thrown in Applejack and Rainbow’s game.

Raising her head up slightly, but keeping her eyes glued to the TV screen, Rainbow decided to probe Twilight for information regarding Sunset’s health.

“Hey Twilight, how’s Sunset doing? We haven’t been able to see her for a good few weeks now, what’s going on over that at Shimmer’s place? She didn’t seem to want to talk about Sunset when she came to our little get-together,” Rainbow said before sticking her tongue out in frustration as she watched the screen.

Twilight frowned, hoping to not have to talk about that subject, but since it was brought out she couldn’t think of a way out of it.

“Oh well…” She rubbed her neck nervously, unsure of how the others would react.

Applejack hit the pause button and gestured for Rainbow to look over to Twilight with her. “Everything alright, sug’?”

“Well… yes and no…” Twilight sighed.

“What’s going on?” Fluttershy looked spooked from the ominous nature of Twilight’s response.

Another sigh escaped Twilight as she recognized that she wasn’t going to escape it. “Sunset is… not well…”

“She’s still sick?” Rainbow asked with a blink.

“Yes, and she doesn’t appear to be getting any better… the doctor that Shimmer brought in can’t figure out what’s wrong with her either, her condition seems to adapt to drugs very quickly. Needless to say, I’m very concerned, but Sunset is too stubborn to go back to Equestria to get looked at…” Twilight frowned.

“Sheesh, that girl is the most stubborn person ‘Ah know,” Applejack said.

Rainbow chuckled. “That’s saying something because you know yourself.”

Applejack gave a swift jab at Rainbow’s shoulder causing her to flinch and rub the spot. “Dude, you have super strength careful with that!”

“You’re fine,” Applejack teased.

“On the subject of Sunset though, give it to us straight, Twilight… do you think Sunset could die?” Rainbow asked after she recovered from the slight pain.

Twilight froze for a moment. That was the very thought she was trying to avoid thinking about, the potential that Sunset could actually die from her illness. She was unsure of how likely it was, but she knew it couldn’t be good for her to stay sick this long. She wanted to say there was no chance, but the scientist in her didn’t allow it if she wasn’t entirely sure.

She choked on the words, but managed to get them out, “I… I don’t know… it’s definitely… a possibility…”

Applejack shook her head trying to calm everyone as she could see Fluttershy already covering her face ready to burst into tears.

“Ain’t nobody dying, alright? It’d take bullets to bring that girl down and that’s the truth. Sunset’s always been resilient and we all know that. Not to mention Shimmer is carin’ for her. Shimmer ain’t gonna let that happen and y’all know that. She has access to the best medical care in the world,” Applejack reminded the group.

“That may be so, but Sunset isn’t human like us… what she has may be beyond what our medical science is capable of treating… I’d feel a lot better if she would just go back to Equestria to get looked at,” Twilight admitted.

Applejack sighed and nodded as she rubbed her neck. “Yeah… even ‘Ah can’t deny that would be a good idea. Hopefully, if push comes to shove, Shimmer will wear her down and convince her she needs to go back.”

“Sunset has always been very stubborn…” Twilight frowned.

“She has a point there; Sunset has been on about redeeming herself for a long time. She’s always the first into the fray because she seems to think she hasn’t atoned for her past yet,” Rainbow said.

“I’m just hoping this will be the time she breaks her stubborn streak…” Twilight frowned, knowing that it was unlikely.

“We all do, sug’,” Applejack replied with a nod.

“Worst case scenario, we’ll gang up on her, pin her down and drag here there ourselves!” Rainbow raised a triumphant fist into the air at the sound of her own plan, causing the entire group of girls to burst out into giggles.

Things are getting intense! I would say we are officially past the "chill" zone of the story. From here on pretty much everything gets intense. The remainder of Act II will be 7 chapters and then we get another Intermission, followed by Act III right away.

Thinking of how far we've come and how much farther we still have to go... There is so much that has yet to happen, but it's going to be crazy.

Behind the Scenes: After the first revision, Act II was going to be the end of the story.