Sketch was walking through Ponyville, on his way home from working at the Carousel Boutique. As he passed by an alleyway, he saw a light, a familiar light, out of the corner of his eye. He peered back into the alley and took a look at the light again, and immediately recognized it.

“The Dimension Orb…” he said to himself. He walked closer to the shining artifact and looked straight at it. An image started to form within the light, and when the image solidified, Sketch was shocked by what he saw.

It was a house, his house from the Human dimension. The front door opened and out walked his parents. They were walking to the car, probably to go out somewhere. A tear fell from Sketch’s eye as he saw this. He wanted to go back right then and there, but how would Lightning Star know about the Orb’s reappearance if Sketch wasn’t there to tell him about it. The unicorn then considered running home and getting Lightning, but there was no guarantee that the orb would be there when they got back, and he was still mad at him, even after the fight they had two days ago, so he’d ignore any of his calls. As Sketch tried to figure out this situation, a voice broke his train of thought.

“Sketch?”

The unicorn turned around and was surprised to see Applejack standing there with a confused look on her face. “What’re ya doin?” she asked as she looked behind him and saw the light. “Is that some kinda portal?” she asked.

“…Sort of…” he replied.

“Yer not… leavin’, are ya?” she asked.

“Well… it’s complicated AJ…”

“Nothin’s complicated. You just don’t want t’ tell me.”

“I can’t get into the details, it’s just that I have to leave.”

The cowpony looked down at the ground sadly. “You know, if ya wanted t' leave me, you could've just said so,” she said as she turned to leave. Sketch tried to approach her, but she flicked her tail in his face.

“Applejack, wait!” he called out, only for his cry to be ignored. He then turned around to see that the portal, along with the Dimension Orb, was gone.

“Perfect,” said Sketch. “My one way back home is gone for who knows how long, and AJ hates me.”

“Do not fret, Sketch,” said a voice from out of nowhere.

“What?” he said, wondering where this voice was coming from.

“This is merely a dream,” the voice said as the environment around Sketch began to break away, leaving him in a white void. A dark blue mist began to appear in the void and the mist solidified into pony form.

“Princess Luna?” the unicorn said in disbelief.

“I sensed an immense mass of distress coming from here, so I came to see if I could alleviate it,” she said.

“Well, now that you mention it… I have been feeling a little distressed.”

“Do tell.”

“Well, you know how Lightning and I aren’t really from here, right?” The princess nodded her head in response. “Well, I’ve been really conflicted about whether or not I want to go back. I’ve made a lot of friends here, especially one pony in particular.”

“Applejack, I presume?”

“Y-yeah… It’s just that she… I don’t know. I just really like being with her, and she’s a really nice mare, and she enjoys being with me, too, but I… I can’t make a choice between the people I’ve left behind back home, and the ponies I’ve met here. I know that with the whole parallel universe thing, I won’t really be gone, but I’ll still have the memories from both worlds in my mind, so I’ll still be affected by my decision.”

Luna nodded again, continuing to listen.

“And Applejack… I’m starting to have feelings for her that I’ve never had for any girl before…”

‘’It’s okay to say that you love her, you know,” the alicorn said reassuringly.

“I know, but given my luck with girls in the past, I don’t know how she’ll react if I tell her,” the unicorn said apprehensively.

“If she is as fond of you as you say she is, I have no doubt in my mind that she will return your feelings,” Luna said with a smile.

Sketch stayed quiet for a moment, and then smiled back at the princess. “Thanks Luna,” he said. “But… if you ask me, I think Lightning’s more messed up than I am.”

“I know,” said Luna. “When I mentioned that I sensed a mass of distress, I was referring to him, but I sensed some from you as well, and I came to you after I failed to penetrate his dream.”

“Failed?” Sketch asked. He thought that the princess of the night would never have problems getting into ponies’ dreams.

“In the Dreamscape, there are many doors which are the entrances to ponies’ dreams,” she explained. “When I approached your friend’s door, the sheer amount of negative energy coming from inside was preventing me from entering. That only happens when a pony is feeling extreme distress and is shutting themselves out from others.”

The stallion then remembered how shut in Lightning was acting just hours ago.

“I could penetrate the barrier, but it requires me to use a more powerful spell that requires the caster to be in close proximity to the subject,” Luna continued. “I did hear voices from inside, though. Lightning was arguing with Twilight’s friend Pinkie Pie. I didn’t hear exactly what they were saying, but Pinkie sounded angry with Lightning about something.”

“They must have had a falling out…” said Sketch. He then looked up at Luna with a determined look on his face. “Don’t worry, Luna. I’ll try and find out what happened and see if I can fix it.”

“I knew you would,” she said. “I’m not as knowledgeable as my sister when it comes to friendship, but I know a good pair of friends when I see them.”

The unicorn chuckled. “You really think so, huh?” he asked, and the alicorn nodded her head in response. “No doubt in my mind,” she said. “I must go. Good luck, Sketch.”

With those final words, Luna’s body began to dissipate into a blue mist, which disappears into the white void. Once the mist disappears, Sketch wakes up from his dream with a start, looking around his room instinctively.

“Daylight?” he said to himself. “I couldn’t have been asleep for that long.” He decided that it wasn’t that big a deal and chalked it up to some kind of magic. When he went downstairs for breakfast, he saw that Lightning Star was sitting at the table, slowly eating his food with an emotionless expression on his face. Sketch decided not to say anything to him, lest he cause him to lash out again. Instead, he got his breakfast ready and ate in the living room.

“I planned on sleeping in today,” he thought, “but now I have to figure out what happened between Lightning and Pinkie Pie. Even if I didn’t, though, I can’t relax here with Lightning being all pissy.” He gulped the last of his food down and got ready to go out, and as always, he took is sketchbook and knapsack with him.

As he walked through Ponyville, Sketch wondered where he should go first. The most logical choice would be to go see Pinkie Pie, but from Luna’s description of what she heard in Lightning’s subconscious, she most likely wasn’t in the mood to see anypony. With all the thinking that the unicorn was doing, he ended up accidentally bumping into somepony, somepony that let out a squee when they made impact with the absent-minded stallion.

“Fluttershy?” said Sketch. “Oh man, I’m sorry.”

“Oh, it’s alright,” she said. “I wasn’t really looking where I was going.”

“Same here,” he chuckled. “Anyway, have you seen Pinkie Pie at all today? I know it’s still early, but-”

“Well, I did stop by Sugarcube Corner earlier today, but she wasn’t around for her shift,” the pegasus explained. “When I asked the Cakes, they told me that she’s been cooped up in her room all day.”

“Damn it,” thought Sketch. “I had a feeling she wasn’t gonna be in a talking mood.” He sighed. “I see. Well, I’ll see you around, Fluttershy.”

“Bye, Sketch,” she said, and the two ponies went their separate ways. The stallion eventually made it to Sugarcube Corner and made his way inside, being greeted by Mr. and Mrs. Cake as he entered.

“Hello there, Sketch,” they said.

“Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Cake,” he answered. “I heard Pinkie wasn’t feeling well, so I came to check on her, if that’s alright.”

“That’s very nice of you,” said Mrs. Cake. “We weren’t able to get her to let us in, but maybe you can.”

“Why does everypony have so much faith in me all of a sudden?” the unicorn thought to himself.

“Pinkie’s room is up the staircase, third door to your right,” said Mr. Cake, and Sketch nodded his head in thanks.

When he got to the top of the stairs, he started to hear sobbing coming from behind the door that Mr. Cake mentioned. Said sobbing then turned into grumbling, then into yelling, then back to sobbing.

“She’s a fucking wreck,” Sketch thought to himself as he approached the door. After hesitating for a second, he knocked on Pinkie’s door. “Pinkie?” he called. “It’s Sketch. I’d like to talk to you, if you don’t mind.”

“If you came here to defend Lightning, then go away!” she shouted. “I don’t want to hear anything about that dirty, stinkin’ cheater!”

“Cheater?” he thought. “What is she talking about?” He decided to find out what she meant by that word. “I’m not here to defend him,” he said. “In all honesty, I don’t know what happened between you two. He wouldn’t tell me.”

“Just like he didn’t tell me about him and Twilight,” Pinkie said with a huff.

“Him and Twilight?” Sketch said. “What are you talking about? What happened?”

Silence.

That silence was followed by hooves tapping the ground, becoming increasingly loud. After that, without warning, the door swung open, revealing an angry mare with tears flowing down her face, a polar opposite of her normal self. Her mane was nowhere near as bouncy as usual. In fact, it had no life in it at all, hanging down in a depressing manner. Her coat wasn’t at bright as usual, either, instead being a dull shade of pink.

“You want to know what happened?” she asked. “I’ll tell you what happened! I caught Lightning cheating on me with Twilight! I went to her place last night looking for him, and I saw her on top of him! Right in the middle of the floor, too! He had the nerve to go out with me then sleep with some other mare the night after! I’ll never forgive him!”

“Pinkie, calm down,” Sketch said. “This is probably some big misunderstanding. If you won’t talk to Lightning, at least let Twilight explain-”

“No way!” the mare yelled. “I’m not talking to that stallion stealer either!”

“Pinkie, just-”

“Just go, Sketch,” she said. “I’m not in the mood.” With that, the pink mare closed the door, leaving Sketch standing there in the hallway.

“This is gonna be harder than I thought,” he said to himself.

As Sketch left Sugarcube Corner, he wondered what to do next. “Okay,” he thought. “Whatever went down between Lightning and Pinkie, Twilight must be involved, based on what she said, so she’d be able to tell me what happened.” The stallion made his way to the library, and when he got there, he heard a loud voice from inside.

“What do you mean you don’t have the new Daring Do book!? It came out yesterday!”

“Rainbow Dash…” Sketch sighed to himself.

“It didn’t come in the new shipment of books that I got,” said Twilight. “I contacted the publishing company already and they said that there was a misprint in the books, so they have to print them over again.”

“What the hell!? Seriously!?” Rainbow said.

The unicorn shook his head and knocked on the library door. “Come in,” said Twilight. The unicorn stepped into the store and the two mares smiled.

“Sketch!” said the rainbow-maned pegasus. “What’s up?”

“Not much,” he answered.

“Is there anything I can help you with?” asked Twilight.

“Well, actually…” he started, but then he hesitated. “Wait,” he thought. “Should I really talk to Twilight about this with Rainbow Dash here? Well, she is close to Pinkie Pie, so she might be able to help in some way…”

“Something wrong?” the alicorn asked.

Sketch let out a sigh, then made his decision.

“I need to talk to the both of you. It’s about something that happened last night.”